Articles on Conditioning, Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Strongman, Diet, Nutrition, Martial Arts :: Project Swole | Hooksett, NH

Matt’s Meat - An Atkins Style High Protein Meal

At times there can be a benefit to scheduling some zero carb, high protein, high fat eating in your diet. You might consider going on a 3 week Atkins-style super-low carb diet to kick start a hardcore fat loss phase in your training. For this, you will need to eat lots of meat, cheese, and vegetables, and not much else. I have the perfect recipe for this; it’s called Matt’s Meat and I wish to share the story of Matt’s Meat with you.

Back in 2004 I was living in a house called “The Deuce” with 5 other guys. These were the college days, so I was pretty dedicated to training and nutrition. Aside from class and homework, I didn’t have much else to focus on. One day one of my roommates, we’ll call him Matt, tossed a bunch of meat and spices into a frying pan and cooked it up. We ate it with cheese and either blue cheese or ranch dressing and it was like a party in my mouth. The meal was henceforth dubbed “Matt’s Meat”, and today I would like to share the recipe with you.

The Recipe

• 1 pound of extra lean ground beef (or pork, turkey, chicken)
• two large green peppers
• a sprinkle of every non-salt based spice you can find in your cabinet
• 1/4 cup of your favorite hot sauce
• 1/4 cup of crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup of ketchup
• 2 tbsp of mustard
• a sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese
• chunky blue cheese or ranch dressing

First thing’s first, dump the meat in a frying pan and cook it on medium until the fat starts to separate and boil around the meat. While you are waiting, cut the peppers into small squares. Once there is considerable fat in the pan, point you want to hold the pan at an angle, push all the meat to the top, and try to dump out as much of the fatty grease as possible. Now that the grease is gone you can add the peppers, spices, mustard, and hot sauce.

The final ingredient is optional if you are going for a die-hard zero carb meal, but it really makes the meat tasty. Sort of gives it a sloppy joe flavor. Anyway, add the ketchup and mix it up.

To serve, top 1/2 cup of meat with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese, heat for a couple seconds to melt the cheese, and finally top with 1-2 tbsp of chunky blue cheese dressing.

I have no idea how much fat and protein is in this meal, but I’m betting it’s high. This is a good meal for a strict low carb diet and will probably satiate your appetite for at least 4 hours due to the fat content. Just remember, do not add anything with carbs other than the peppers and ketchup or you will lose the whole purpose of the meal.

Tags: atkins, high-protein, low-carb

Quit Smoking! 64% of Deaths in Smokers are Attributable to Smoking

I have never smoked cigarettes. My dad smokes, many of my extended family members smoke or used to smoke, several of my friends in high school and college smoked, but I don’t. Given all the teenagers that pick up cigarettes to ‘fit in’ or ‘be cool’, I am just glad that I didn’t succumb to the peer pressure at a time in my life when I was probably one of the most unpopular kids in school.

Recently I read this study about smoking, which is really not all that different from most of the other studies. Essentially it can be summed up like this:

“If you smoke, you have a much greater chance of dying from smoking related diseases. If you quit today, you will be 50 percent better off in 5-10 years, and 100 percent better off in 20 years.”

That’s reason enough for me to tell you to quit smoking today.

The Study

Within five years of quitting smoking, major health benefits include a 13 percent reduction in the risk of death from heart and vascular problems. But quit today, because it can take decades to rid yourself of the increased risk of lung cancer and for your body to repair respiratory damage.

A study says that after 20 years, on average, the risk of death from smoking-related causes is the same for folks that quit smoking as it is for those who never started smoking. Within five to ten years of quitting we see an 18 percent reduction in the risk of death from respiratory problems; within twenty years the risk is similar to that of nonsmokers.

The study says good things about the risk of lung cancer, as there is a 21 percent reduction within five years, but it took 30 years to alleviate the excess risk caused by smoking in the first place. Thus I say again: quit smoking today!

Who Was Involved in This Study?

The health histories of a group of 121,000 American women were followed and recorded from 1976 to the present. Although this study involved only women, similar findings were recorded for men who also stopped smoking.

The most powerful message that I retained from this study is that 64 percent of deaths in people that currently smoke are directly linked to smoking, as are 28 percent of deaths in former smokers. In fact, quitting reduces additional risk of death for all major causes examined in the study. This is a significant statistic that makes me want to slap all those teenagers that even bother picking up a cigarette for the first time. If your kids smoke, help them quit!

Calling All Parents

Additionally, the study states that people who start smoking later in life do not incur as high a risk of death for the predominant causes, as someone who starts smoking early. The downside is that studies all across the board show us that kids are picking up cigarettes earlier than ever.

As a parent, I am calling you out. Be responsible, talk to your kids about smoking. Not just that, but talk to them about peer pressure, about feeling comfortable within their own skin. Kids need to know that they are great people, that they can accomplish anything in life if they just stay focused and put their minds to it. There is no need to poison their body with chemicals and toxins just to fit in. That is my rant for today.

If you follow the quit smoking links in this post, you will find a product called ZeroSmoke. This product is guaranteed to help you quit smoking in 30 days. Click on the link, read about the product, and purchase it if it sounds right for you. This is one of the best product on the market to help you quit smoking.

I will leave you with this: if you smoke, QUIT SMOKING TODAY; if you don’t smoke, don’t start.

Tags: health, smoking

Kickboxing and The 300 Workout

Yesterday I went to my thai kickboxing class where my lungs were served to me on a silver platter. After taking about a month off from kickboxing, I have lost most of my endurance. Not all that surprisingly, my lungs still don’t really seem to be working properly, as I am able to take only half breaths when my heart rate starts to rise. This is one of the reasons (aside from family and job issues) I started to slack at kickboxing for the last month. I attribute this to one of three things:

1. My lungs really are damaged from the incorrectly diagnosed blood clots (pulmonary embolisms) I had about 4 years ago. Thanks so much RIT Student Health center for diagnosing me with pneumonia for weeks on end resulting in me almost dying in my apartment, even after you had me get X-rays and an MRI. I wish I could sue them.
2. I have developed some sort of asthma perhaps?
3. I am in such horrific physical condition that my lung capacity has regressed to less than 2/3 of what it used to be.

The 300 Workout

My original blog about the 300 workout I will be starting is here: The 300 Workout for Total Body Conditioning. I have not really started this yet, but I am preparing myself.

This is the tree on which I have been practicing my pull-ups. A couple weeks ago I was only able to get about 5 pull ups in a row, something that I used to be able to do with a 45 lb plate hanging from my waist. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Anyway, I can see in this picture my lack of width and girth, and the decrease in the circumference of my arms. It will be good to get swole again.

This is the bench on which I will be doing step ups and any other exercises that might require a bench. Just to get back into the swing of pressing, I will probably bust out some high rep 45 lb Powerblock presses using this bench like I would an Olympic bench.

This is the park in which I will be doing any sort of running or carrying exercises. Any exercise that doesn’t involve a stationary tool of some sort will be done in the park.

PR of the Day

As of today, I am back up to 9 consecutive pull ups without cheating. My goal is to hit 20, something I’ve never done before, but if I practice this all summer and keep my weight down through conditioning drills, I should be able to attain this before next winter.

Tags: kickboxing, The 300 Workout

TopSitesFitness.com - A Networking and SEO Resource for Fitness Websites

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In addition to helping us by listing our blogs and communities, TopSitesFitness.com will also blog about search engine optimization (SEO), website traffic utilization, analysis tools, monetization strategies, and so much more. Although TopSitesFitness.com is designed for the fitness community, the majority of the content will be geared towards improving your blog or community, and providing the most value to your visitors.

Visit TopSitesFitness.com today to complete the two step procedure to improving your traffic and your content.

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Join me today in creating a top SEO and networking resource for web publishers in our fitness community.

The 300 Workout for Total Body Conditioning

By now everyone has heard of the movie 300, and most strength and conditioning athletes know about The 300 Workout. This is how all those ripped actors in the movie got into such great shape. The 300 Workout is well known as a pretty hardcore conditioning program. Not everyone can complete this workout, and those that do have seriously trained for it before attempting the final challenge.

Most of the actors trained 5 days per week for 8-10 total weeks, while Gerard Butler (the star, King Leonidas) trained for 12 weeks. This is something that anyone reading Project Swole can accomplish, and this is definitely something I can accomplish in 10 weeks. Let’s take a look at the original workout:

The 300 Workout Challenge

• 25 pull-ups
• 50 deadlifts at 135 pounds
• 50 push-ups
• 50 box jumps with a 24-inch box
• 50 “floor wipers” (a core and shoulders exercise at 135 pounds)
• 50 “clean and press” at 36 pounds (a weight-lifting exercise)
• 25 more pull-ups — for a total of 300 reps
• 300 Total Reps

I have heard of versions of this program where you have to complete the desired number of reps by alternating exercises. For example, you might perform push ups as a superset to pull ups, performing 3 sets of 10 reps each to hit a goal of 30 before moving on to the next exercise. I will incorporate this strategy for my first two sets only.

Some 300 Workout routines consist of bodyweight only exercises, while others are apprised strictly of plyometrics. I have included some bodyweight exercise in my attack strategy, and hope to phase in some plyo movements as I get back into shape.

My 300 200 Workout Challenge

• 15 Pull Ups on a tree branch
• 25 Push Ups with push up handles
• 25 DB Deadlifts with 45 lbs on Powerblocks
• 25 1-arm clean and press 35 lbs on Powerblocks
• 25 18-inch bench jumps (box jumps)
• 25 Burpees
• 25 1-arm clean and press 35 lbs on Powerblock
• 20 Jumping jacks
• 15 Neutral grip chin ups on the tree
• 200 Total Reps

I have a stopwatch, which will be nice for measuring progress and setting goals. Some goals will be about adding a new exercise, some goals will be about completing more reps or more weight, while yet others will be about beating my previous time record. I also have to force myself to take pictures and measurements both before and after. All of which I suppose will be posted to this blog.

My weekly schedule will consist of The 300 Workout and Thai Kickboxing. The plan is to exercise 5 days a week. On the mornings when I do not have kickboxing the night before, I will complete a 300 Workout. Other mornings will be off. I must make up missed workouts on the weekends. Eventually I will be doing a true 300 rep workout. My 200 workout is just to help get back into shape again.

So, this is the plan and I am going to stick to it for 10 weeks. There is plenty of room for flexibility, so I should be able to get in at minimum, 4 workouts per week, but I will strive to hit 5. Before and after information will be posted. So who’s with me?

Caution

If you are not in shape, have a heart condition, or some other serious health ailment, please consult your physician before starting an intense exercise program. You should not attempt to complete the original 300 Challenge if you are not already somewhat in shape from conditioning and exercise.

Tags: 300 workout, Conditioning, Workout Routines

1 Rep Max Calculator for Weightlifting and Strength Training

There are many strength training programs that involve calculating your 1 rm or 1 repetition maximum. Some programs want you to use a % of your 1 rm, which is sometimes even harder to calculate. Most of us do not how how to figure out this number without performing the actual rep itself.

The problems with finding your 1 rep max by doing the actual reps:

• If you do too many warm up sets or too many attempts, your 1 rm will be lower due to fatigue.
• If you are having a bad day either in life or in the gym, your 1 rm will be lower due to stress.
• If you are using steroids or supplements, your 1 rm will be higher due to the supplementation.

What I have provided here for you today, is a simple 1 rm calculator. Simply plug in the weight you used and the number of reps you completed before failure, without assistance, and you will have an idea of what your 1 rm is.

The problems with the calculator:

• Everyone’s body is different. If you are built for endurance, the calculator result will be too high.
• If you are built for absolute strength and explosive power, the calculator result will be too low.
• You should use 3 different weights at 3 different rep ranges, and average those numbers to get a closer approximate result.

Like I said, these numbers could be off depending on the way you train and your genetics. They are probably accurate within 10-20 pounds on either side, but these are the numbers I would suggest using in a weight lifting program if you don’t already know your 1 rep max or any of the other percentages. Now go lift!

Tags: calculator, powerlifting, strength

Play Games to Increase IQ, Intelligence, Memory, and Problem Solving Ability

A recent study has determined that playing certain games really does boost intelligence, problem solving skills, and memory. These brain exercises are a fun way to keep our brains alert and capable. In the study, a Swiss-American research team reports on how they used a computer based brain-training method to improve general problem-solving ability.

Games like Sudoku, crossword puzzles, Scrabble, and memory games all result in improved memory and expanded vocabulary. The young an the elderly can benefit most from these types of games, while the rest of us can use this as a tool to stay sharp and articulate throughout the years.

Many psychologists had thought the only way to improve problem solving ability, was to actually practice the specific problem solving task you wanted to get better at. However, this theory is overturned in the work by Dr. Susanne Jaeggi, Dr. Martin Buschkühl and additional colleagues at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and University of Bern. These experts have determined that anyone can improve general problem solving by participating in unrelated mental exercises and puzzles.

The Experiment

In the experiment, the team gave 35 volunteers a series of mental training exercises designed to improve their working memory, while they also had 35 more subjects who did not undergo the exercises.

Those who underwent the tests were shown a sequence of squares appearing one after another on the computer screen every three seconds. The task was to decide whether a certain square was at the same position as another one previously seen in the sequence. At the same time, participants heard spoken letters and had to decide whether the currently heard letter was the same as one presented two or three steps earlier in the sequence.

If a participant did well the tasks became harder, while if they performed poorly it became easier. This experiment went on for between 8 and 19 days, after which participants’ problem solving ability was assessed and compared to the group who had not taken part in the exercises.

The Results

According to the results of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group who took part in the puzzles had significantly improved their problem solving ability. In addition, the more the participants trained, the more problems they could solve.

Motivation appears to be an important factor in this exercise. The experts suggest that people have to be committed to mental exercise to reap the benefits. Haphazard gaming will not produce the same effects as ambitious mind training. This finding is no surprise considering the general rule that ‘practice makes perfect’. After all, you wouldn’t expect a couch potato to get up and run a 5k. Nor would a beginning weight trainee walk in the gym and squat 550 lbs. Nor would a football player step out into the national spotlight without daily, hardcore practice and training.

This study provides the first evidence that mental exercise improves intelligence and general problem solving ability. You can now take solace in time well-spent on crosswords, Sudoko, Scrabble, or any other thought intensive games.

Tags: intelligence, memory

Back to Kickboxing and Back to Weights

Whew, I have been in a major slump due to income worries, work hours, family problems, and basically being WAY too stressed out. Well today I am taking a step forward by getting back into kickboxing after about 2 weeks off. It should be great!

I plan to be very tight and very slow. My lungs will probably feel close to bursting. Lactic acid just might shut my body down, especially if Roger has us doing duck walks. Oh, and my wrist hurts a bit from lugging around a 200 lb air conditioner whilst cleaning out my garage this weekend, so hitting the pads should be sweet!

Basically though, I have to get back into it. Once I go tonight, I will be psyched, and I will look forward to going back on Wednesday too.

How to Get a Workout and a Clean Garage at the Same Time

Follow these five simple rules to turn garage clean-out into the best workout of the month.

1. Stock your garage with 5 ft long boxes filled with books and clothes.
2. Keep several 40+ inch TVs in your garage.
3. Put a 200 lb air conditioner all the way in the back of the garage, knowing full well you will need to hook it up this summer.
4. Decide to clean the garage out 100% then reorganize everything and put it back.
5. Don’t ask for help lifting anything! Do it all yourself.

Just remember that no matter how heavy anything is, you must lift with your legs, not with your back. This is key to being able to move the next day. My garage clean-out took all of Saturday and half of Sunday, and when I was finished I still had enough energy to scratch up 3 inches of dirt and lay down seed and fertilizer in half of my back yard and half of my front yard. So how do I feel today? A little sore, but my back, legs, and abs are perfectly healthy.

Back to Weights?

I dug out my Powerblocks, my ez curl bar, and all my nasty plastic weights during the garage clean-out. The bar is a bit rusty, but the Powerblocks are still nice. I intend to use them, and the rusty free weights, to ease myself back into weightlifting since I am so busy that I can’t really make time for kickboxing and going to the gym. Every time I attempt I do pull-ups lately I am able to add 1 rep. This weekend I knocked off a set of 8, which is up from 6 two weeks ago.

Man, if I could just get serious about the lifting and the dieting, it I could end up looking like I did in summer of 2006. This type of mindset is what Project Swole is all about; if I could just start making more money than I spend on bills every month, I would have much more free time in the morning and the night… I’d be golden.

Tags: kickboxing, Personal, weightlifting

The Hulk: A Pistachio Protein Shake Recipe

When you’re on the run, a protein shake could be your solution for hunger. What better way to kill the doldrums of protein shakes, than to whip up something unusual? Sick of strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla? Try this wholesome pistachio protein shake that could even entice a kid. Get shredded with the water recipe or bulk up by using cream or whole milk; you can even use skim or low-fat milk to add calcium and a little extra protein to the shake.

The Recipe

• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 tbsp sugar free pistachio pudding mix
• 8 oz. cold water
• 4 ice cubes

The instructions for this shake are very easy. Blend all the ingredients together and pour into cup. The shake is light green even without the food coloring but if you want it to be Hulk-green just add a few drops.

Optional Upgrades

Hulk Out: turn this guy really green with a few drops of the green food coloring
The Spicy Hulk: add a kick with 1 mint leaf or a few drops of peppermint extract
Hulk Bulk: blend the ingredients with cream or whole milk instead of water or skim

Tags: protein shake, recipe

Question of the Week: At What Age Did You Start Exercising and Why?

We all know how beneficial exercise is to maintaining a healthy body. Kids do not usually know this and teenagers do not usually care. Therefore I must ask, at what age did you start exercising and why did you start exercising? I don’t mean at age 6 when your parents enrolled you in little league or mighty mites soccer. I mean, when did you really make an effort to start training your body for a specific reason?

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Did you lift weights for football in high school? As a kid, did you start training outside of Karate class so that you could be faster and stronger than the rest of the kids in the class? Perhaps you started walking / jogging / running for the first time ever at age 45 because you grew tired of the spare tire?

The Beginning

For me, it was when I was 16. From age 12 or so I messed around with weights in my dad’s garage, doing bench presses and curls of course. But when I turned 16 and got my license, I got a membership to Worlds Gym in Plaistow, NH and started doing… well, bench presses and curls… but that’s not the point. That membership lead me to examine the ways in which I could really start to fill out my clothes develop increased muscle size and definition all over my body.

By age 17 I had learned how to train my full body. I was using a small variety of exercises including leg presses, stiff leg deadlifts, bench presses, lat pull downs, triceps push downs, curls, and crunches. At this time I investigated a crazy program by some professional bodybuilder that included 2 workouts per day, 6 days per week. I attempted to follow the program for several months, but ended up overtraining, seeing minimal gains, and getting burnt out. In desperation I finally asked the resident personal trainer Ted for advice.

Ted the Personal Trainer

He scoffed at the crazy program I was trying to follow, muttering something about professional bodybuilding, steroids, and overtraining. When I returned a gaze of complete bewilderment, he sighed and brought me out onto the floor for a bit of tutoring. Ted put me on a 4 day split, training 2 or 3 muscles per day, and emphasized proper form, proper weight progression, proper nutrition, and proper supplementation. Ted introduced me to creatine and enlightened me with the knowledge that I can build millions of different kinds of workout programs. The rest, as they say, is history.

Why I Started Lifting

I have one word for you… girls. My build was what I would now call ’skinny-fat’. I still had a layer of baby fat, with nasty love handles, a slight double chin, and tiny ass arms. My hair was long, I had acne, and quite frankly, girls were scared of me. In order to remedy this