I owe $1. Chocolate covered digestive cookies. That is all.

Train hard my friends,
Quan, OUT

Temptation vs. Need

It has been 2 days of the FMC and I have managed to restrain and divert my cravings for food that truly serves no functional purpose to my body. It does take a complete change of the mindset in order to take on such an endeavor. I don't doubt that there will be times of weakness and caving but if I can maintain adherence to this challenge 95% of the time. I think it will be a success. It also helps to have Matthew looking over my shoulder at lunch.

This mornings workout was a challenge but has opened the door to endless combinations of activities and workouts. Also this Friday is July 1st. 8 weeks until the conclusion of summer. There is work to be done.

Train hard my friends,
Quan, OUT

A New Beginning...

It has been quite sometime since this blog has seen a post but for good reason. OutFit has been busily training, perfecting our craft and making ourselves useful bodies of the world. As we constantly try to challenge ourselves physically and mentally we devised the challenge called "Fat Man's Club". Now this is a club where membership is frowned upon and exile from it is seen as euphoric. Our newest member to the OutFit team is Taylor West. He is a literary mastermind who's quirky 19th century English quotes often add confusion and looks of "WTF" to our workout sessions. Nevertheless, he has developed a constitution of the "Fat Man's Club" which we will abide by.

Propositional Rules for the 2011 "Fat Man's Club"

Any good Fat Man's Club has a constitution so, what follows, is my modest proposal for the rules of our club.

1) Any consumption of obvious candy (chocolate, ice cream, etc.) shall result in a donation of $1

2) Any consumption of luxury baked good (cookies, muffins, croissants, etc.) shall result in a donation of $1

3) Consumption of fried foods (wings, fries, jalapeno poppers, etc.) shall result in the same.

4) Pops, sodas, soft drinks, root beer floats shall fall under the category of "candy"

5) Donations will add together when various rules have been broken (i.e. wings and fries shall result in a donation of $2)

6) Beer, for the sake of not ruining summer will fall under a special category. All beers beyond the 3rd of the week (i.e. beginning with 4) with result in a $1 donation. However, the first three are exempt.

7) Clear cases of pigishness (that 3rd hot dog, second pound of wings, second burger, etc.) will be a $1 donation

8) The pot will be spent on sweet gear.

As with anything we do here there is a purpose to this. Many of us function on a work to reward ratio. This Club works on the same basis. It is a motivator for us to make healthy nutrition choices but also adds the element of competition, something we are all to familiar with. Competing with friends to see who can lift the must, run the fastest, jump the highest or eat the cleanest are all tools with the same purpose, to elevate your game. Find a friend with similar goals as you and challenge them to see who can lose the most weight by a certain date, who has the better 5k time or who can rep out the most pull ups. Make fitness and your goals fun.

Train hard my friends,

Quan, OUT

11 Things I wish I had known.....

I don't know anyone who doesn't like reading a good list. Letterman has his Top 10 every night, ESPN has their top plays of the night and everyone tunes in for the greatest songs of the year during the holidays. I've come up with this list mostly because I've made some mistakes along the way, followed poor advice and read into misconceptions and fad training tips. After reading this you may think "Oh shit. I've done that!" or "Hell no. You must be an idiot to think that." And in no particular order...

1) Getting big does not mean getting strong. I recently read an article on AnimalPak.com about looking like you can bench 600lbs doesn't mean you actually have to be able to do it. This makes no sense to me whatsoever. I'd rather be the guy that doesn't look like he can bench 200lbs but then settles under the bar and punches out 315. Me and my two buddies in high school were so focused on "bodybuilding" that we didn't care what we were doing as long as we were getting bigger. I'm talking about "Squat Days" where we would just rep the crap out of our legs and believed because we couldn't walk for the next 3 days we were doing something right. Train for strength. Being big is great if your into contact sports and what not, but being strong has a lot more advantages and is far more impressive in my mind.

2) You can't out train a shitty diet. Ha! I remember coming home from a tough workout and just ravaging the fridge for anything that had a lot of protein in it. I'd be making 8 egg omelette's and drinking down a protein shake with it. Or having steak as an appetizer and then wolfing down something my dad cooked which was usually a carnivore's dream. If I had worked out during the day and was with my friends at night, I could justify eating 3 Burger King chicken sandwiches or mowing down 50 wings at Duff's. It was insane! All the while, I'm wondering why my pants are getting tighter, and my shirts aren't starting to fit as well. Ummm.... Ye. You're getting fat(ter). I didn't believe this, I just assumed I was getting bigger and stronger. Sure in high school being labelled as the big kid only helped personify my hard work in the gym, but I was on track to looking like an NFL lineman and being labelled by my rugby coach as part of the "Tragically un-fit". Fuel your body the way you want it to perform.

3) Train for a purpose. I've said this before. To motivate your training, you've got to have something to reach for. We're not all trying to enter a strongman competition, or entering the NFL combine but we can at least train like we are. Getting your mind right as to why you're training is the first step to really being serious about fitness and your health. That's why we see gym attendance spike in January and February and then by March it's dead. People want to lose the 15lbs they gained over the holidays and when they've lost 10lbs they're ecstatic and take off. Ummmm... do the math! Ever wonder why all those gym specials happen in spring? Because sign up is slow and the only way gym's make money is if they sign new members. So no matter what your reason is for training, make it something worth while and something you've given thought to. Wanting to look good is fine, but wanting to be purposeful with your body is even better.

4) Read! Read! Read! I'm not talking Men's Health or Oxygen Magazine here. I'm talking about books, journals, encyclopedia's. Those things you get at the library and need a card to borrow. Magazine's make money by selling you crap information. Sure they can cite studies, but you don't know who was involved in the study. You don't know how it was conducted. A magazine article reads "Increase your bench by 40lbs in 3 weeks". Sure that's achievable, use this program the University of Miami uses with their football team. You're only getting one side of the coin. They don't tell you what the diet is like, tempo, testing protocol and whatever else. Read scholarly journals where you can actually dissect where the information has come from. And always question what you're reading. Me and my two buddies from high school bought Arnold Schwarzenegger's New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding and considered it to be our bible in high school. It now sits on my book shelf and hasn't been looked at in 4 years.

5) Pull more than you push. One of the first exercises I see people doing when they get into the gym is Bench Press. Second is probably bicep curls, but I don't have room for that rant in my list. Everyone's always talking about "Hey, whaddya bench?" Bench Press is a staple exercise. No doubt. But if you don't balance out the push exercises with the pulls, you're gonna end up looking like an ape with forward shoulders, an aching back and injury prone. I was a big fan of the squat. It was my meat and potato leg exercise which made me neglect the deadlift. Big mistake. I should have done both but I didn't. I only started seriously training deads a couple of years ago and I'm still no where near where I should be for my size. My brother on the other hand... I wish I could dead like him. Advice: for every 1 push exercise you do (bench, military, squat) do at least 1 pull exercise (pull ups, deadlift, db rows). I'd even go as far as saying 2 pulls for every 1 push. Chances are you're probably already severely imbalanced so you've got work to do.

6) Conditioning and cardio are not the same. Sometimes you'll hear Joe Rogan talk about a UFC fighter's conditioning. Georges St. Pierre is a conditioning freak. But what if I told you that Vince Wilfork is also a conditioning freak. Or any other NFL lineman (minus Albert Haynesworth). Conditioning refers to being able to sustain a performance intensity RELATIVE to your activity. Could Vince Wilfork last five 5 minute rounds in the UFC? Hell no! Likewise, could GSP last a defensive drive in the NFL? Ye, I didn't think so. Cardio is schelpping around on an elliptical for 45 mins with no real purpose... Unless that is your purpose, schlepping. Plan your conditioning to suit your goals whether it's a 1okm race, a triathlon, football, rugby, hockey, basketball, whatever. Look at the performance and energy systems needed and train them. Quit wasting your time on the treadmill watching CNN or Dr. Phil.

7) Pride has no place in a workout. Just because you squatted 400lbs last week or benched 315 the week before means nothing. There is someone else out there doing more than you. More importantly, there is someone out there who knows more than you. I don't pretend to know everything and I really dislike people that think they do. If you don't know something or want to find out why that guy in the gym is standing on a BOSU ball squatting, ask him/her. The only thing you'll do is make them feel better because you noticed them. Training is not a race. It's a journey. If you approach every workout with the mindset of "I'm here to blow out the competition and show everyone that I'm better than them" you're never going to get anywhere. The best workouts I've had are when I've failed or didn't hit my mark. That humbles me. That's what makes me plan and come back at it again tomorrow.

8) Use the stuff no one else is using. Ever walk into a gym and wonder why all the cardio equipment and weight machines are placed at the entrance or near the windows? And all the dumbbells and squat racks are hidden in the corners? Because that's what the gyms want you to see. They know that having treadmills with TV's makes people "Oooooo and Ahhhhh" or having a $4000 lat pull down machine will lure in the Fortune 500 business exec. No one thinks an impressive gym is a squat rack, 1000lbs of weight plates and some dumbbells. That doesn't look cool. I'll tell you right now, if you walk into your gym and just use the dumbbells, barbells, squat racks and pull up bar for your workouts, you are well on your way to an efficient gym session and training with a purpose.

9) "This is not talk-out, this is workout!" Ah yes, one of my legendary phys-ed teachers from high school would shout this out when he saw too many kids in my class standing around in the weight room. And he's right. If your going to the gym to try and pick up (not weights) then please leave and go to the nearest bar. 1) You'll make space for those of us who are actually there to train and 2) You'll make it easier for us to pick up when we go to the bar because you'll be "tragically unfit". Me and my buddies would spend 2 hours at the gym after school. Seriously though, a workout session should not last longer than an hour. This changes if your training for an endurance event, but even marathoners don't weight train for longer than an hour. Be efficient with your gym time. Get in, go to work, get out. It's that simple. Most athletes train the same way. That's not to say their practices only last an hour but a workout session will.

10) Water. Drink it. I can't say it more simply. Water makes up more than half your body. It's a vital nutrient to your health and you should be consuming it on a regular basis. No, having a venti non-fat mocha frappaWhateverTheHellIsIntThis does not count. Nor does downing a case of beer every weekend. Your muscles need water to stay healthy and repair themselves so feed them what they want. I definitely didn't drink enough water while working out in my earlier days. I'd go to the gym and sip my creatine shake and then chug down a protein shake post workout. Hell, I think I was drinking 3 meals of just shakes. That's no way to live. Post-workout shakes and whatever have their place, but water should be your staple.

11) Rest. We are constantly faced with doing more, eating more, buying more. When it comes to training, sometimes less is more. I used to think that if I was feeling tired during a workout I was weak and needed to push through it. Missing a workout was like missing a meal for me. Absolutely unacceptable. But this is part of the training equation that I really neglected. I was always thinking, I've gotta do more, train more, lift more, sweat more. I read a quote from EliteFTS.com that said "The guy that under-trains will take longer to reach his goals but the guy that over trains will never reach his goals." And it's that simple. Over training will lead to mental fatigue and worse it'll lead to injury, which will set you back even longer. Listen to your body and don't fill yourself with guilt if you can't make it to a workout. The important thing is to stay consistent for the majority of the time. Is missing a workout this week going to impact your entire training program? Probably not. Think "Big Picture".

So there's 11 things I wish I had known. I'm sure there are a lot more but I'll have to save those for a different post. One thing I know for sure, is that there's a lot of stuff I still don't know and I'll continue to make mistakes in training and in life. I'm just hoping to learn from them and not make the same ones again. Keep working hard and moving forward. If you can be better than yesterday you've done a lot more than everyone else.

Train hard my friends,

Quan, OUT.

Success and Safety in Sports

This is a little out of scope for a fitness blog but it needs to be said.

Safety is key in no matter what sport you are playing.  If you are running, stretch and wear the right shoes.  If you are lifting weights have a spotter and know your own strength.  In football, don't try to run through a set of linemen with your helmet off.

With Hockey's general managers meeting currently in Fort Lauderdale there is a lot of talk on how to make the game safer.  But no one is saying what needs to be said.  The equipment is an issue.  There have been major advances in helmet technology with extra padding being added to prevent concussions.  How is no one addressing the fact that helmets pop off all the time when players are hit.  I have known since a child that if my bike helmet is too loose and falls forward, and I fall off my bike, I am getting a head injury.

There is so much talk about the players taking onus of knowing when they have someone in a vulnerable position.  How about the players take onus to wear their equipment properly.

It is ridiculous.  Wake up hockey.  You want to stop concussions and head injuries, wear your helmets like you mean it, not like you are a super cool dude who doesn't need it.

Necessary Evils.

They exist everywhere in our lives, these necessary evils. Whether it's the morning traffic jam called a commute, or sitting beside the most annoying guy in the office, they find their ways into our lives and we have two choices. We can either endure and be unhappy or we can change. Everyone has a different necessary evil. For me, it's long distance cardio. The thought of running farther than 100m makes me cringe and to be honest I've neglected the long distances ever since I stopped training for a triathlon about 4 years ago. I've been on and off with it but never really found the motivation or the point really. I got caught up in HIIT, Interval Training, HIT, Tabata, Turbulance, Ballistic and other acronyms to describe high intensity training. I assumed that because I was busting my ass doing these workouts, panting and completely exhausted at the end something beneficial must have been happening. The physiological benefits were there, but I wasn't happy at the thought of not being able to just simply run for awhile. I felt imbalanced and inadequate in that area. After re-evaluating my goals and prioritizing the importance of longevity, I've re-introduced the long distance cardio to my workouts. I'm not training for a marathon here but using it to balance my fitness approach. It MUST find it's way into training. Quick story, during my undergrad at U of T, we had to do a 12 minute run fitness test for one of our classes. Being in Phys-Ed, I assumed everyone would have no problem with this, should be a walk in the park. But after about 7 minutes in I say the struggle in people's eyes and was just shocked. How could we be the fitness ambassadors of tomorrow and not easily run for 12 minutes. RIDICULOUS!!!

After a smack in the face of reality and some research, distance cardio is back... and back for good in my training program. If you're looking to incorporate long distance work in your training I'd recommend starting with 1-2 times per week and building from there. Everyones definition of long distance work will vary but I'd say building up to 45 min plus would be a safe bet. If you can find a park to run in or trails, your ankles, knees, hips and back will thank you later on in life. Really take a look at your current training program and see if it's meeting your needs for a balanced fitness approach. If your one of those people wanting to shape up for the summer, now is a great time to start planning that out. A well planned and balanced fitness approach will trump a fad program any day. It's about outfitting your body for what you need it to do.

Quan, OUT

Ryan's Journey - Yoga Part 2

So since my last post I haven't done as much yoga as I initially intended but its still been really good.

I went last night to a Moksha Flow class.  It was fantastic.

There are so many intricacies to yoga that I don't think I can ever master, but an understanding of can help one be a better athlete and train better.

One principle that I think can apply to anything is being in the here and now.  We all do it, we let our mind wander.  For example, just now I was studying respiratory physiology, but I could not get a blog post out of my head, so here it is.  I could not stay in the here and now with my studies and it will probably come back to bite me later.  But it applies everywhere.  In yoga they say to focus on your breath to bring you back.  But whatever it is, focusing on the moment can give you excellent results.  It can help you push for that extra rep or set and it can help you better yourself.  I for one will try to do that more often and I am hoping it will help my training.

The flexibility is a long haul.  As some who know me have pointed out in the comments of my last post, I cannot cross my legs very well.  Its not comfortable for me.  But yoga is helping me change that.  I feel better even though I have only gone a few times.  I will continue to go and I know I will keep making gains on my flexibility.

I am also strengthening my feet.  This may sound weird, but I have horrible feet.  They are flat... like really flat.  No arch at all.  That makes them hurt, it makes them weak.  It makes it hard for me to balance because my feet hurt.  Not my leg muscles, the soles of my feet.  I can feel yoga straining these muscles in ways that I have not felt in other forms of exercise.  I look forward to seeing some gains from that.

I am easily the worst person in my class.  I go with my workout partner here at school.  He has done yoga for quite some time and is quite good at it.  I can't hold Dancer's Pose for more than 5 seconds.

But you know what.  I'm not giving up.  In fact, being this bad has only strengthened my resolve to do more and to get better.  I encourage you to give it a try too.  Don't let it replace your strength training routine, let it me a day off kind of thing.  Go, stretch and feel good.
I feel unbelievably good when I'm done.  I hope you will too.

Find me @Applesunltd