Better Is Better

What’s THE Most Evil “Health” Food?

This is the first in a series called FitFoodie Friday. We’ll be exploring a myriad of topics as they relate to food and fitness. And I’m sure you’ll find a healthy and delicious recipe here from time to time...

I recently spent time with relatives. Great people trying to make good choices for their family. So I was shocked when they reached for the margarine.

If you’re not shocked, we’ve got a problem. You should be...

Margarine is one of the biggest mistakes — turned into one of the greatest lies — in our modern history of food and medicine.

A handful of misguided scientists and doctors convinced the world that saturated fat was evil and that we’d all be better off eating man made super-processed fats like margarine and Crisco.

Not only were they wrong, they actually made the situation they were trying to fix — heart disease — worse. These fake fats are made from highly inflammatory vegetable oils like soy, canola and corn.

And if that weren’t bad enough, they need to be highly processed to make them stable and palatable. And that means things like hydrogenation, which is as good as turning it into a trans fat…

So what about cholesterol? Turns out it ain’t so bad after all. In fact, the only time it really causes much trouble is when you create inflammation with things like excess carbs and inflammatory oils!

Even if you DON’T care about your health — which would be crazy — and are only concerned about how you look, margarine will contribute to your weight gain and even give you wrinkles! Those trans fats mess you up right down to the cellular level, changing the make-up of your cell membranes.

Once they’re jammed up with trans fats, they no longer work the way they are supposed to. So nutrients and energy that SHOULD be shuttled into lean tissues is turned away. And guess where it all ends up — fat cells...

So ditch the margarine and eat the real thing: butter. It tastes so much better too! But get the organic pastured stuff, not the crap that’s readily available. I’ll tell you why in the next edition of FitFoodie Friday.

In the meantime, if you want even more detailed information on this topic and many other important questions relating to your health and physique, you really should check out an eBook I recently discovered called Fat Burning Kitchen.

I was surprised and delighted to discover this little gem of a book a few weeks back. If you’re like me and care about what goes in your mouth and how it affects you, this is a great resource. I’m pretty picky about this kind of thing and I can honestly say that I agree with 99% of what the author, Mike Geary, has to say.

Click this link to check out Fat Burning Kitchen.

Check back next week for another edition of FitFoodie Friday. We'll explore the health benefits of good old butter!

Cheers,
Adam  

Sonnon Kettlebell Video Library

I’m so jazzed up on kettlebells right now that I’ve been going back through everything Coach Sonnon has ever said about them. That includes my notes from private coaching, the Foundation DVDs and every clip he’s ever put up on YouTube.

Brilliant stuff! I wish I could share it all with you. But the notes are from private sessions, so that wouldn’t be right. And I can’t very well bootleg his DVDs for you. But I can make it easy for you to view all his KB videos on YouTube. You’ll find them all below.

And if you’re looking for exhaustive and innovative ways to put kettlebell exercises together into workouts for any goal, check out the new Kettlebell Revolution from Chris Lopez.

You can still grab it for 50% off (the sale ends tomorrow though—so if you’re interested don’t forget…).

And I’m still throwing in the three extra goodies I mentioned in this kettlebell post.

Kettlebell Revolution <= Check out Chris’s program in this link.

The Sonnon Kettlebell Video Library on YouTube

Scott Sonnon Kettlebell and Clubbell Yaw Press

Scott Sonnon's #2 Top Kettlebell Mobility Drills

Scott Sonnon's Official Kettlebell Foundation DVD Series

RMAX Kettlebell Push Press Pull Part I Scott Sonnon

RMAX Kettlebell Push Press Pull Part 2 Scott Sonnon

RMAX Kettlebell Push Press Pull Part 3 Scott Sonnon

The Best Kettlebell Exercise for Fighters

The Best Kettlebell Exercise for Groundfighters

Kettlebell Core — CST KB8 Exercise

In this recent kettlebell post, I pointed out some of the advantages of training with this time tested tool. A little imagination, and the help of a solid technical foundation, allow you to use your KBs for practically any goal.

The most no-nonsense and universally applicable approach to understanding KB mechanics is Circular Strength Training’s 7 Key Components of Structure…

1. Spinal Alignment
2. Shoulder Pack
3. Arm Lock
4. Grip Confirmation
5. Core Activation
6. Hip Recruitment
7. Leg Drive

All 7 keys are present in any movement. But every exercise requires particular attention to certain keys, and can be used to develop certain aspects of your structure.

In the following clip I present my current favorite kettlebell exercise—although my favorite exercises change constantly as my focus evolves. You’ll be able to see which of the 7 Key Components I concentrate on.

It’s also a great exercise for the core. And here’s an extra tip. The faster you try to get the KB around and back through the legs, the more your core is going to have to work. So forget boring—not to mention injurious—crunches and put the KB-8s to work on your six pack!

Kettlebell Workouts

 Kettlebells are a great tool.

It’s a perfect stepping stone. It leads away from the flat world perspective of conventional fitness towards the 6 Degrees Of Freedom attained with innovative equipment like the Clubbell®.

Kettlebell workouts can make us stronger, faster, leaner and sexier. But more importantly, if we use them right they can make us better, more coordinated and more healthy.

There are so many innovative ways that fitness pros around the world are using them. And I’ve got a really good one I’d like to share with you (and an awesome deal for you), but first I want to look a bit more at what it takes to get the most out of your kettlebell experience.

You can’t just pick up a bell and start swinging away. Like any training implement, you need to learn the fundamentals. This is true even of two-dimensional exercises like the bench press. But it’s even more crucial for tools like the kettlebell which add open chained variability to the mix.

I’m lucky. I was spoiled. My technical foundation comes straight from Coach Scott Sonnon. No one breaks kettlebell training down like he does. And that’s because he bases it all on the Circular Strength Training® 7 Key Components of Structure. I got to learn from him first hand in Bellingham, Washington, but his Official Kettlebell Foundation DVD series is the next best thing. I’ve gotten tons of useful reminders and nuances by going back through this material recently.

But don’t take my word for it. Check out this clip of him teaching a key CST kettlebell exercise. Pay attention to all the nuances…

The other thing I love about Coach Sonnon’s approach to kettlebell workouts is that he takes what works and makes the most out of the tool. He doesn’t rely on dogma or on superstition. He doesn’t limit himself to just one “school.” He relies on his Circular Strength Training® foundation and adapts the tool to his bidding.

By taking that approach, you’re free to explore what’s around you. As I said earlier, there are tons of very cool kettlebell workouts from innovative coaches all over the world.

And it just so happens that I met one of them this past winter in Toronto.  His name is Chris Lopez. He’s an awesome coach and the father of four beautiful girls. So obviously he’s all about finding effective ways to stay in shape with limited time. This means he’s been doing lots of experimenting with various kettlebell training methods.

He sent me a copy of his new Kettlebell Revolution program last week. (Hmm, did Ryan and I start something with the Bodyweight Exercise Revolution?) It’s full of great ideas on how to use kettlebells for various goals.

My only criticism is based on my earlier affirmation that my exposure to Coach Sonnon has made me a total technique snob. Some of the exercise descriptions and demonstrations lack the nuances that I look for. But if you apply your CST Kettlebell foundation knowledge to Chris’s programs I think you’ve got a real winner.

Kettlebell Revolution is going to be available starting on September 8th. And Chris told me he’ll be offering it at 50% off for the first few days, along with some other bonus gifts to get things rolling.

But because I want to help Chris get the word out, and because I want to add a little CST power to your kettlebell workouts, I’m going to throw in a few goodies of my own if you buy Chris’ stuff through the link below.

Here’s what I’m going to give you…

Kettlebell Compensation Flow -> Everything we do repeatedly causes an over specialization that we need to deal with. If not, our training leads to diminishing returns and eventually injury. I created this Prasara Yoga flow for some of the kettlebell swinging students in my online personal coaching program. This flow truly is exclusive, you’ll be the first to see it other than a handful of my private students.

Kettlebell Keys Primer -> This short clip will give you the basics of proper kettlebell mechanics. For the full deal you’ll have to pick up Coach Sonnon’s Foundation series.

Intu-Flow Joint Mobility Primer -> Kettlebells can be tough on your joints, and the only system I’ve EVER seen address this properly is Circular Strength Training®. This little primer runs you through some of the basic Intu-Flow movements that’ll keep your joints healthy even under the load of heavy kettlebell training.

There you are. Three valuable goodies that I’ll throw in with Chris’ Kettlebell Revolution package.

Kettlebell Revolution <= Click here to visit Chris’ site

You can register to receive an update as soon as the program goes live. And you’ll automatically get your extra goodies from me when you order (through some special computer voodoo magic that I don’t fully comprehend).

In the meantime, if I get 15 comments on this post I’ll be back next week with a video tutorial of my current favorite kettlebell exercise. It’s one I picked up from Coach Sonnon’s Tacfit program. And it’s lots of “fun.” But I’m only going to film it if we get those 15 comments.

Cheers,
Adam

Super Availability

 

There’s just TOO MUCH FOOD available.

I’m on my way back from the big Circular Strength Training® Certification event in Bellingham, WA. I’ve decided to fast on the voyage home. It’s just the easiest way to avoid eating a bunch of junk.

I’m one of those people that can easily plunge down slippery slopes. Give me one piece of somewhat junky food, and the next thing you know I’m eating an espresso brownie from Starbucks.

It was my buddy Brad Pilon, author of Eat Stop Eat, who first gave me the idea to fast while traveling. And I’ve had good success with it on many occasions. For me, it just seems easier to turn off the valve completely than to try regulating the flow of crappy travel food.

But the problem is the sheer volume of tasty, but empty, food that’s all around me. I’m not particularly hungry. But the lemon cranberry scone over in the Starbucks display is weighing on my will power with the heft of a Bruiser Clubbell®.

So I’m thinking, no wonder we’re having so much trouble maintaining the kind of health and physique that we’d like and we deserve! We were never meant to have so much abundance. This Super Availability of sheer calories is completely counter to the bodies that our evolution has provided us with.

So the next time you bow down to “just one” espresso brownie (and you will–so will I) just give a moments thought to how long it would take you to gather that many calories if you were dumped into the wild. Assuming you had the skills to do it, how much energy would you expend to gather that much “food energy”?

It’s an interesting experiment...

Dumbest Things I Saw In The Gym Today

Gyms aren't all bad. There are lots of useful things you could be doing in a health club. Of course, you know that I think the majority of your time would be best spent outdoors or at home with your bodyweight, a Clubbell, a kettlebell, a sandbag or any number of other exercise modalities that take you closer to the movements of life and sport. But that's for another time.

The point here is that there are some downright dumb things that happen in gyms. Some things are just sad because they represent so much wasted time. Others are just plain d-u-m-b!

Today was a beautiful day here in Quebec City. There were tons of people outside on bikes & rollerblades or just out for a stroll. It was great to see. I had to be in the gym for some clients for a while. The place was almost empty (bravo). But our number one dumbest thing I saw in the gym today was...

Somebody climbing steps!

For one thing, it was beautiful outside. For another, Quebec City has more flights of long steep steps than any other city I've ever seen. So if ya wanna climb steps, get out of the gym!

The other thing they were doing wrong is just climbing, climbing, climbing at the same slow pace the whole time. Why not hit them hard for a bit, then slow the pace for a while. Or better yet get off the climber between intervals and do some joint mobility or flow yoga (à la Intu-Flow and Prasara).

Training with intervals has been proven time and again to outperform steady state cardio for fat loss and cardiovascular benefits. Why do we insist on maintaining our clutch on the chronic cardio?

The prize for the second dumbest thing I saw in the gym today goes to someone who was confident in the "functionality" of what he was doing.

Heavy biceps curls with each foot on a balance disk.

It looked like a circus side show.

First off, I'm not too keen on biceps curls to begin with. They have their uses for certain people at certain times. But if I'm using them with someone, it's to specifically address certain concerns related to hypertrophy or strength of the elbow flexors. At that stage, we're a long way off from applying that strength functionally. So why would you add instability to such an isolated exercise? I thought about that all the way home in the car and couldn't come up with any decent reasons.

And even if I was trying to add functionality to an exercise, rarely would I add the balance challenge to the bottom of the feet. It is very rare to a apply force in real life or in sport from a position of instability at the contact point between the ground and the foot. Even in sliding sports like skiing we create a solid platform between the snow and the foot through the edges of the ski. In cutting during field sports the foot is planted solidly to allow the application of force.

Very rare are occasions when the foot is not in solid contact with something. So why are so many trainers using instability under the foot? Doesn't it make much more sense to apply instability from the other end of the chain? That's why I love Clubbells so much. They're the perfect tool to add instability and chaos to the structure while working through a solid foundation underneath.

Anyhow, those are the two dumbest things I saw in the gym today. What have you seen lately? 

Gazpacho - A Healthy Summer Meal

Gazpacho is a raw vegetable "soup" that's great for hot summer days. It originates in the hot climes of Spain and Portugal. Generally, the star ingredient is tomatoes. And traditional recipes also included stale bread, but we'll skip that for our purposes. You can put all kinds of fresh veggies in a gazpacho. The sky is the limit really.

The one I threw together tonight was a concoction of what we had in the fridge and what was available in the garden. My daughter and I went out with a bowl and pair of scissors and just started smelling and tasting different herbs to figure out what we wanted in our soup.

Here's a list of what we came up with.

From the garden:

• Basil
• Lemon thyme
• Parsley

From the fridge:

• 3 large tomatoes
• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 small red onion
• 1/4 English cucumber
• wedge of lemon

From the cupboard:

• 1/2 clove garlic
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• Celtic sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• a touch of stevia

Once you decide what you want in your gazpacho, the rest is pretty easy. Roughly chop your veggies and herbs (except the cukes - put them aside). Then throw them all in the food processor with a couple good glugs of olive oil, a few splashes of balsamic vinegar, a pinch or two of sea salt, a few turns from the pepper grinder, the juice from your lemon wedge and your touch of stevia. Keep a few sprigs of parsley aside for garnish.

Let the processor go until the gazpacho takes on a smooth soupy consistency. Then you can give it a taste and season to your liking with sea salt and pepper. Once you get it how you want it, take it off the food processor base, cover it, and put it in the fridge for anywhere from a half hour to a couple hours.

When you are about ready to serve, finely dice your cucumber. Take your gazpacho out of the fridge and give it a quick whiz. Pour it into bowls and garnish with a sprig of parsley and a handful of your finely diced cucumber.

Enjoy!

If you've experimented with your own gazpacho recipes, I'd love to hear what you've come up with. I've heard avocado is also a great addition. Let me know in the comments.

Will You Achieve Your Health & Fitness Goals?

How likely are you to succeed?

Before you read this post, you need to complete a little task. Don’t worry, it’s not complicated (but it may be hard). Pick one goal that’s been ruminating in your mind for a while. It should be something that you really want to achieve. Now, rate your level of motivation to execute on that goal. Your rating should be a number on a scale of 1-10 where a 10 is utter commitment.

Don’t read on until the task is done…

OK, have you picked your goal and rated your motivation? If it was a 10, congratulations. Your chances of success are extremely good! In fact, you’re wasting your time if you continue to read this post. If it was less than a 10, what would it take to bring you up to a 10?

We all have dreams. Whether we allow them to manifest themselves as conscious thought - not to mention verbalize them - or leave them buried in our subconscious, each of us has goals and aspirations. What makes the difference between those that seem to consistently reach those aspirations and those who simply dream?

Why do some people lose the weight and keep it off? How do some people manage to transform their lifestyles and pursue more healthy habits when others languish in energy draining habits that sap their health and vitality? Why do some people soar to great professional heights while equally or more talented or intelligent people stay stuck in the mail room? What’s the difference?

Well, some people wish they could achieve their goals or hope that they’ll be able to make the grade. Other people simple decide that they're going to reach new heights. And that's the number one difference between those that achieve great things and those that don’t. There is no magic secret.

Success is the constant drip of small actions towards something magical. And the only way to stay the course and maintain that constant drip is to believe 100% that you will achieve your goal - that you will become the person you have decided to become.

This cumulative effect of small things is something that may be easier to understand with a physical example. If I took you through one session of Intu-Flow joint health & mobility, you may be tempted to think it’s just an odd collection of interesting looking movements. Some people will immediately feel benefit from that one session, but more often than not it’s the cumulative effect over a week or two that gets people’s attention. And after consistently practicing for months or years the true magic in the system is discovered.

But what if you didn’t believe after that first session? Would you have the staying power to continue your Intu-Flow practice? If your motivation for improving your joint health was a 7 out of 10 (which sounds pretty good), you might stick it out for another session or two, but chances are you’d give up on it before you really started to see results. However, if you were a 10 out of 10, you’d probably have the gumption to stick it out and reap the rewards of that constant drip of personal practice.

And that simple principle holds true for any goal. If your motivation is high enough, you’ll start to believe that your goal will come to fruition. And it’s that belief and drive that will allow you to do the daily personal practice that brings the goal to life. The secret isn’t something mystical. In fact it’s very practical. It’s the accumulation of daily effort.

But only those who start with the belief, have the motivation, and focus on the process will end up with the staying power to make it all the way to the finish line. They’re the only ones who will have the perseverance to make the tough little decisions on a daily basis. Because when it comes to short term comfort or long term happiness, consistently opting for the latter is only possible when you have a vision for the future.

So if you didn’t give your goal a 10 out of 10 on the motivation scale. Your homework is to figure out how to fill in the gap. Where are you going to go get those other 2 or 3 points to bring you up to a 10? Once you figure that out, your chances of success are through the roof.

As a society we’re obsessed with wellness but we keep getting sicker. The information we need is out there. But our ability to embrace it seems to lack zeal. Do you have any advice for achieving big things? What has worked for you? Please share your thoughts in the comments. We’ll all benefit.

Delicious spur of the moment sautéd scallops

Sometimes the best recipes are impromptu creations. Yesterday I found myself with a nice bag of frozen scallops, but without a plan. I looked around at what we had at hand and came up with what turned out to be a delicious dish.

If you want to make a great whole food, healthy and delicious meal quickly, give this one a try. Below is for one person (guy with a healthy appetite). You can adjust the portions up or down depending on your needs. You don't really have to be exact with any of it.

• 200 grams small scallops (I got a bag of frozen)
• 1 cup green beans (fresh or frozen)
• 1 tsp organic butter
• 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• Splash of good quality balsamic vinegar
• 1 ripe organic tomato
• 1 tbs homemade pesto (optional - recipe in future post)

Grab your steamer and put the green beans on to steam. Keep checking them until a fork passes through them, but with resistance. You don't want soggy beans.

While the beans are cooking, pat the scallops dry with some paper towel or a clean dish towel. Heat a frying pan over high heat and then add your butter and olive oil. Throw in your scallops and sauté them until they turn from translucent to opaque.

Quickly dice your tomato in large chunks while the scallops cook.

Put the scallops aside while leaving juices and oils in the pan. Put the pan back on the heat and throw in your diced tomato. Sauté until they start to soften. This won't take long. Add your balsamic vinegar and continue to cook over high heat until the sauce thickens.

Take your pan off the heat. Add your scallops back in along with your green beans. Toss everything together and add Celtic sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Serve it up in a pasta dish and voila...

Bon appetit!

You Can't Reap What You Don't Sow

Many cultures around the world measure mastery in decades. Ancient professions and arts require patience as a fact of life. In the west, we pay lip service to patience as a virtue, but it is far from a revered and required element of our daily lives.

We live in the land of the mail-order black belt and the instant ab machine. We expect the 10 Minute Trainer to change our lives. We believe in the power of the $15,000 Range of Motion Machine to deliver our dream body on only 4 minutes of exercise per day.

Don't get me wrong. It doesn't require hours per day of incessant repetitions on the bench press and interminable miles on the treadmill. That's not efficient or effective. But at the same time, getting fit and healthy takes time and it takes commitment.

We're coming from an evolutionary past where our forebears were constantly on the move. They walked up to 12 miles per day. And that's when they weren't running away from something, running after something, lifting something heavy or throwing something really hard. And what do we do all day...?

So we don't live in caves anymore, and that's great. I don't think we'd want it any other way. But we have to somehow supplement for that. Just like we judiciously supplement our nutrition to make up for any insufficiency in our food supply. We need to supplement our movement in the same way.

But that means putting in some work. You can't make up for a day's worth of activity in four minutes. You need to sow some seeds if you want to reap lasting benefits. It CAN be done in 30 to 45 minutes a day of focused and efficient training. But you should also pepper your day with as much movement as you can muster outside of your training.

Walk down the hall to talk to your colleague instead of sending an email. Walk or bike to work if you can. Take a stroll after supper. Take the stairs instead of the escalator. Instead of circling for the closest parking spot, take the the furthest one and walk.

Do a few rounds of FlowFit on your lunch hour and some Intu-Flow periodically throughout your day.

Not only does this stuff add up, it mimics the way our bodies evolved to move. Start methodically sowing some seeds. Spend a bit of time tending them each and every day. Before you know it you will be reaping a harvest that you could never have imagined.