Remember when you were kid and your parent or guardian grilled up some pancakes for you in the morning?
Remember the smell of the pancakes cooking and how they taste with fresh butter and warm maple syrup?
Well now you can have that again but you don’t have to feel bad about it. I have been enjoying protein pancakes for the last 10 years of my life and now you can too. So, without further delay allow me to introduce you to… the protein pancake recipe!
The Recipe
1 cup of whole wheat pancake mix
2 scoops of your favorite protein powder, I recommend Optimum Nutrition
1 cup of low-fat or non-fat cottage cheese
2 egg whites
1/4 cup of water
Preheat a frying pan or skillet on the stove or oven, coat lightly with non-fat cooking spray.
Blend egg whites, cottage cheese, and water in a blender until it reaches a liquid consistency.
Mix the protein powder with blended ingredients in a bowl. Stir until lumps are gone.
Next add the pancake mix and stir until mixture is fairly uniform.
Do not over stir!
Add additional water only if mixture is not to your desired consistency.
Pour onto skillet, cook until edges start to turn brown, then flip and cook for a couple more seconds.
Pancakes and fruit – eat fruit with your pancakes; put no sugar added jelly on them; drink some OJ with the meal; just get some fruit in you. I recommend strawberry.
Pancakes and syrup – feel free to use all natural maple syrup if you wish to add 40g of sugar per serving to your meal. Otherwise use a light syrup or a sugar free syrup. I still prefer to spread no sugar added jelly on mine.
PB and pancakes – if you have any leftovers you can make a high protein peanut butter sandwich later on. Add jelly to make a protein fortified PB&J.
Protein flavors – experiment with various flavors of protein. Often, then chocolate protein powder does not make for great protein pancakes. Try vanilla, strawberry, banana, or anything else you can find.
I recommend Optimum Nutrition protein powder. It’s good stuff and it’s cheap!
According to reports from the American scientists at the diabetes association, approximately 7% of US population, about 20 million people, suffer from diabetes. By 2050 diagnosis of type 2 diabetes will be confirmed for about 48 million people in the United States. We always knew diabetes is a very serious disease as it causes loss of hearing, loss of sight, nervous system disorders, amputation of extremities, and now we find out that diabetes is responsible for hormonal imbalances including low testosterone.
A recent study of 69 men with type 1 diabetes and 580 men with type 2 diabetes has confirmed that low testosterone levels are directly related to the existence diabetes. Blood samples were taken from the groups initially and after a 6 month period. Both groups of men exhibited a lower level of total testosterone than the average male without diabetes.
Insulin Resistance is the Culprit
Since men with low testosterone typically show signs of depression, loss of libido, impaired physical and mental performance, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, this study confirms that men with diabetes to have a legitimate overall heath concern as they grow older.
Typically men over 30 begin to show signs of decreased testosterone levels and often benefit greatly from testosterone replacement therapy. Now these men will have a better understanding of what is happening to them and why, and they can procure proper medical treatment in order to continue to lead happy and healthy lives well into their 70s and 80s.
Men who think they have a legitimate problem with strength, mood, or performance now have a reason to seek testosterone replacement therapy, especially if they have diabetes or think they might be insulin resistant.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy
While the use of testosterone replacement therapy has not show significant promise when trying to reduce insulin resistance, this type of therapy has been directly responsible for bringing hope to the lives of men with low testosterone. Testosterone replacement therapy reverses the effects of hypogonadism, which is an impairment of the reproductive system that limits the testes effectiveness at producing natural healthy levels of testosterone.
Supplementing with additional testosterone helps to decrease body fat, increase muscle mass, improve mood, improve physical endurance and strength, and also combat the threat of cardiovascular disease. The only downside is that there are no long-term clinical trials to report on the long term side effects of testosterone replacement therapy. But we do know that the short term effects definitely improve the quality of life for those with low testosterone.
Testosterone Supplementation
By now everyone knows that testosterone and other steroids are illegal. Even prohormones such as androstenedione and nor-androstenedione have been banned. So what do we have left?
Tribulus terrestris – Tribulus serves as a Luteinizing-hormone secretagogue (LHS). In other words, it causes the release of Luteinizing hormone, which in turn signals the testes to produce more Testosterone. And of all the natural T-boosting compounds on the market, Tribulus is the most powerful. Each of the active compounds in a Tribulus extract, including protodioscin must be available in the proper ratios to make it a super-effective all natural testosterone booster.
Vitex agnus castus – Vitex also works as a Luteinizing-hormone secretagogue (LHS), but it also acts as an anti-progesterone and anti-prolactin agent. This means Vitex works to lower progesterone and prolactin concentrations in the body, which means less estrogen, easier release of body fat, and decreased depression. Scary enough, prolactin is even known to cause lactation in men. By lowering progesterone and prolactin you will increase Testosterone through various feedback mechanisms.
Eurycoma longifolia – Eurycoma works by selectively controlling conversions of naturally occurring androgens, including DHEA, into Testosterone. It even works when the testes are non-responsive to Luteinizing hormone. As long as the substrate hormones are present Eurycoma works; thankfully those substrates are present in everyone.
At $19.95 a bottle, Biotest Tribex Gold (50 Tablets) is the only product that I have come across, which measures up to expectations and is affordable as a permanent nutritional supplement. Most other products fortify their supplements with protodioscin, which makes those products inferior due to their unnatural ratios of active compounds. Tribex Gold is a product you can stay on for a while and will noticeably increase your natural testosterone levels, making you stronger, leaner, quicker, and happier.
At $49.99 a bottle, Biotest Alpha Male (74 Tablets) is worth the investment, as it is the most complete natural testosterone booster on the market today. Alpha Male contains Tribulus, Vitex, and Eurycoma in super concentrated, highly effective ratios. A cycle of Alpha Male should run 4 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on, 1 day off, repeat, for at least 4 weeks. I recommend using it for a full 2 months before taking a break. Alpha Male also contains an additional muscle building supplement called Carbolin 19.
Carbolin 19 – Biotest Carbolin 19 (60 Capsules) is a carbonate ester of a naturally occurring diterpene called colforsin (aka, forskolin). Foreskolin actually exhibits an anabolic effect in the body, which means this supplement is especially effective at building and maintaining muscle mass while you are also attempting to lose body fat. As it is completely non-toxic, Carbolin 19 can be used year round, and is available as a stand alone supplement as well as being included in Alpha Male.
One Possible Cycle
Tribex Gold alone is a good supplement to stay on permanently, as is Carbolin 19. Alpha Male is a great supplement to boost your training for a couple months here or there. For those of you suffering with diabetes or insulin resistance, it looks like perhaps if you tried boosting your testosterone through natural means like this, you might feel a whole lot better.
If you wanted to go all out, I might recommend getting some Tribex Gold and Carbolin 19 in addition to your Alpha Male, and take the former two supplements when you are off Alpha Male, whether for 1 day or 1 month. No matter what, don’t forget to bust your ass training.
When I am in the gym or in the dojo, I make every attempt to bring maximum intensity and pure focus. Throughout my life this is the attitude that I have known to foster success. As an example, most of the local gyms tend to blast Britney Spears music or perhaps some Justin Timberlake. These folks rolls up into the speakers babbling about love and dancing with their crooning voices and loose hips. Well I am not training for love. I am not training to dance. I am training to either lift more weight than you can comprehend or to knock your head off if you threaten me.
Some inspiring lyrics from some rock groups that know how to bring it… “Yeah! You push it! Yeah! You push it!” – Static-X
“Heavy! I want it Heavy!” – Disturbed
“DIG! Bury Me! Underneath! Everything that I am!” – Mudvayne
“Get this or die! Get this or die!! Get this or DIE!!!” – Slipknot
So what exactly is your point?
When you are training you need to be in The Zone. Not the Zone Diet, not the Phantom Zone, and definitely not the Game Zone. Too many folks saunter into the gym with Britney Spears’ intensity. They walk up to the dumbbells, sigh, and hit the same number of reps, sets, and weights they’ve been using for the last 5 years. These are the same folks that won’t squat because it hurts their back, they won’t run because it hurts their knees, they won’t use a barbell because it hurts their hands! I feel like saying, “pick a spot on the ceiling, focus on it, grab the bar, do your set, THEN worry about the condition of your fingers”. Your back hurts? Spend a couple minutes figuring out how to rehab that thing back into working condition… then squat! Knees hurt? Try interval sprints, try the elliptical, try kickboxing!
The guy to avoid at all costs
Late in the evening when I’m trying to finish up my super-set so that I can get in one more exercise before the gym closes, I have to listen to, “I like to exercise late because there isn’t really anyone here to watch me. Maybe if I was in a bit better shape I wouldn’t mind so much, you know?” NO! I don’t know, buddy! I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about! I like it when other people are working out around me. Guys like me start up unspoken competitions with other similar athletes. We watch intently to see if our rivals hit their deadlift max this week. We check out the shredded guy’s calves to see if ours are still bigger. But there’s one thing you don’t need to worry about: we do not, under any circumstances, watch YOU. In fact I don’t really care what you do because you add absolutely nothing to my training, but please move away from the decline bench so I can finish my last set of weighted decline sit ups!
Today’s Lessons
Focus on the task at hand and nothing else.
Strive to set a new personal best or personal record each time.
Avoid those that do what you don’t want to do.
Avoid those that don’t have what you want to have.
Surround yourself with those that do have what you want to have.
Use the environment (music, video, pictures, quotes) to keep you on track.
You need to want it more than anything else in the moment
If you want to make progress you need to DIG! You need to want it HEAVY! You need to PUSH IT!! Eat what you know you need to eat. If you don’t know what to eat, read and learn. Lift more weight every single workout no matter what. Kick harder today than you did yesterday. Jump higher! Do more situps! Get in that zone so you can block out the rest of your life, so that the only thing you see right now is that bar on the floor or the heavy bag, and you know that today, right now, you’re about to lift 5 lbs more on this exercise than you’ve ever lifted before, and hell if you can get an extra rep you’ll do that too. Know that you’re about to jump rope for 5 minute straight without it getting caught on your feet. Know that you are about to knock that heavy bag right off the damned ceiling! Get IN that zone, because it’s time to DIG!
“Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning; but give me the man who has the pluck to fight when he’s sure of losing.”
If you are anything like me or the rest of the bodybuilding / powerlifting / weightlifting world, you answered “ME ME ME!” to both questions. If so, this recipe is for you. I could not post an easier recipe and prepping a meal can’t be quicker unless you are unwrapping a protein bar. That said… on with the recipe!
The Recipe
1 scoop of protein powder; chocolate, vanilla, or peanut butter 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter milk or water
Mix all ingredients together in a small glass bowl. If the resulting mixture is too thick add a couple drops of milk or water to loosen it up until it reaches your desired consistency. Since it is already in a glass bowl, microwave on high for 30-45 seconds. Mixture should come out to a cake/brownie like consistency.
Many friends of mine have doubted this recipe, thinking the peanut butter protein brownies would be mediocre at best. Instead what they find is a protein party in their mouths. Give this one a try for a quick high protein, high ‘healthy-fats’ snack.
Today’s Lesson About Plastics
The reason I make a big deal about the use of a glass bowl, is because you do not want to be cooking anything in microwave safe plastic containers. Plastic containers contain trace amounts of phytoestrogens, which seep into food when it is stored or cooked inside such containers. A lifetime of these estrogens can have a negative impact on testosterone levels and they tend to promote cancer in laboratory animals. It might not kill you, but your best bet in today’s toxic society is to avoid anything that could possibly be related to cancer. Every little bit helps.
Looking for something to take with you on the road, or a snack to munch at your desk? Forget about those awful Powerbars and other various soy bars. Granola bars are OK, but they don’t have much protein. High quality protein bars are available at the store, but for $5 a pop! We are looking for something cheap and easy, and here it is. Do-it-yourself, homemade protein bars.
The Recipe
3 1/2 cups rolled oats 1 1/2 cups dried milk 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1 cup lite syrup 2 scoops protein powder 2 large egg whites or 1 egg 1 1/4 cup orange juice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup raisins or dried fruit
Start by preheating the oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper, or spray on some non-stick butter flavored Pam spray. In a large metal bowl, mix all the ingredients until the oats are well coated. Spread the mix onto the cookie sheet and press down to make 10 cutting lines so you can separate them into 10 protein bars later. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, cut them apart and allow to cool before wrapping. The bars can be stored airtight at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Optional Upgrades
Nutty Bars – use 1 cup chopped nuts instead of dried fruit or raisins.
Fruity Bars – experiment with various extracts other than vanilla to change up the flavor.
The Protein Bar Diet – make a whole bunch of these bars with various fruits and nuts, and various flavors of protein powder. Eat the bars for 3 out of 5 meals each day and make the other two meals small. Do this for a month and see if you don’t drop a couple pounds.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again and again and again. You know you’ve always loved pancakes ever since you were a kid. Well you can eat them today AND you can stay on your diet.
The Recipe
2 c. Bisquick Heart Smart baking mix 2 bananas, mashed 1/4 c. Eggbeaters 1 1/3 c. skim milk 2 Tbsp. granular Splenda (optional) 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. banana extract 1 tsp. almond extract water
Mix together all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, either with a spoon or with a whisk. Batter will be thick, so add water until the batter is to the consistency that you like. Thicker batter makes smaller thicker pancakes, while thinner batter cooks quicker and spreads out to make thin pancakes. Be sure to grease the pan with either fat free Pam Spray or with a Healthy Balance type of margarine spread. Pour batter by 1/4-cupfuls onto a hot griddle or frying pan.
Makes approximately 18 pancakes. 67 calories each.
Optional Upgrades
Protein Pancakes: Add a scoop of either banana or vanilla flavored protein powder. You’ll just have to add extra water to thin it out more.
Banana Jelly Cakes: Spread a thin layer of no sugar added jelly, I prefer strawberry, on the top of the pancake. Replaces high-sugar maple syrup as well as that grotesque low-calorie syrup that you find in the diet aisle.
Add Calcium: Just have a nice glass of skim or 1% milk with your pancakes.
We know cardio is essential to improve the cardiovascular system. This goes without saying. When many people don’t realize, is that cardiovascular exercise can be useful for losing weight as well as gaining weight; for increasing endurance as well as increasing power, size, and strength. The difference is in training energy systems. You can train your anaerobic energy system (builds power and strength) while participating in a cardio workout, just as easily as training you can train your aerobic energy system by performing super-high-rep circuit training on the weight machines (boo).
When trying to determine which form of cardio you should do, you need to evaluate your goals. Are you trying to:
Lose as much weight as possible without regard for muscle or strength?
Train for a specific athletic event such as track or a marathon?
Improve leg power and leg speed along with cardiovascular endurance?
Build as much muscle as possible in the shortest amount of time?
Endurance Cardio
If you want to be skinny and have high endurance but very little muscle you will probably want to do endurance running; long distance cycling; or use the elliptical trainer to prevent wear and tear on your ankles, knees, and hips. Other monotonous exercise equipment includes rowing machines, treadmills, stair climbers, and stationary bikes. These are all OK for burning calories and ‘toning’ but they will not make you stronger, faster, or more muscular.
Intense Cardio
If you want to be thicker, stronger, more powerful, and develop aesthetically pleasing muscle tone, you should give interval sprints or weightlifting complexes a try. When you use maximal force in your cardio workout, as you do with sprints, you are training the anaerobic energy system and facilitating neurological efficiency to those muscles. This will increase speed and strength, and will ultimately help you gain muscle. For you women out there, this will do a better job of ‘toning’ than those treadmills and stationary bikes.
Interval Sprints
With interval sprints, you can sprint on a flat surface, up hills, or up stairs. Sprint for 30 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, repeat 10 times. On your first sprint workout you might want to consider sprinting for 20 seconds, walking for 180 seconds, and repeating only 5 times. Each workout should become progressively harder. At one point in my training, I was sprinting stairs, timed by a stopwatch, for between 50-70 seconds and only resting enough to walk back down the stairs.
Complexes with Weights
With complexes, you will want to string together several compound exercises like deadlift, hang cleans, push press, and back squats, into one constant exercise. Do 5-7 reps with perfect form, rest 30-60 seconds and repeat 5 times. I talk about this complex all the time in this blog. There are about 1000 different exercise combinations that you can turn into complexes so be creative.
If you get tired of all this stuff, give thai kickboxing or jumping rope a try.
Don’t forget to stretch and drink lots of fluids. I recommend Gatorade.
If you have ever heard of the UFC, then you know about MMA cage fighting. At Tokyo Joe’s in Hooksett, NH we have a team of amateur and professional MMA fighters. The team is Team Woo, and their current record (as of 3/16/08) is 19-4. Not too shabby. Roger Woo of Team Woo is promoting his company’s first ever cage fight promotion. You should come!
Black and Blue Entertainment, LLC presents its first ever cage fight mixed martial arts (MMA) event!
If you live anywhere in or near southern NH and you enjoy MMA, Cage Fights, or UFC, please attend this event to help establish a new following. There will be many more events like this to come so help us generate some momentum for our sport!
Welcome to Project Swole 2.0! This swell new layout goes right along with my new goals for Project Swole. I am still in love with powerlifting and strongman training, but I have found vacant spot in my heart for martial arts and conditioning.
The Old Goals
Previously in my training career, it was all about size. I trained like a bodybuilder, in the 8-12 rep range, 5 workouts per week, keeping myself lean, with medium weight. Progress was acceptable. My muscles got slightly puffy and I looked OK naked. The downside was that I looked big when I was pumped up after a workout, but much smaller half a day later when the pump was gone. I wasn’t very strong either. My lifestyle was that of diet logs, egg whites, bodybuilding forums, and posing. This left something to be desired.
Next I Decided to Take Up Powerlifting
I learned the ‘secrets’ of The Westside Barbell Club and followed the writings of Louie Simmons, Christian Thibideau, and Dave Tate. My diet became much more liberal, my reps dropped down to 1-5, training frequency to 3-4 workouts a week with heavy weight, and my exercise scheme moved to a max effort, dynamic effort protocol. The results were good. I maintained my pumped up bodybuilding appearance full-time as my muscles became dense and strong. On the downside, my tendons and joints hurt at times, my cardiovascular health went out the window, and I bulked up to about 210-220 lbs. Over time I realized that 190-200 was the upper limit of a comfortable body weight for me.
On the upside, my efforts to learn all the best exercises really paid off:
bench press – with chains, boards, max effort, dynamic effort, floor-press, wide grip, narrow grip, etc…
deadlift– off blocks, off racks, half-rep, quarter-rep, with chains, bands, stiff-leg, max and dynamic effort
squat – back squat, front squat, jump squat, half squat, box squat, one-leg squat…
overhead press – seated, standing, behind head, in front of head – this is a key exercise to overall strength!
rows – barbell, dumbbell, t-bar, etc… “Big back, big bench” – a powerlifting mantra
abs – heavy crunches, weighted situps, rotations – your abs are at the core of every movement you make
curls, flys, leg extensions, cardio, calves, forearms – directly training these things is a waste of time and energy that could be better directed towards powerlifting (this is not one of the powerlifting beliefs that I necessarily support)
The next phase of my lifting career saw me try to embrace olympic lifting and functional training in combination with powerlifting. I started training 2-3 times per week with full body workouts, and added an extra workout or two per week with olympic lifting complexes. This resulted in my staying strong, my cardiovascular system got healthy, my tendons and joints stayed strong, and my muscles stayed strong as I kept the powerlifting aspects as part of each workout. The downside is that I got bored. Each workout consisted of bench, squat, deadlift, overhead press, abs, and calves. On a bad day, I would push through the workout and it would take me over 60-75 minutes to get everything done. I limited myself to the most effective exercises only, and rarely tried anything new. For some folks who only care to lift weights, this IS the best form of training. For me, I still needed something else.
Enter Mixed Martial Arts
MMA, Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo, Judo, Karate, Kenpo, Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do… call it what you want, martial arts are great. Of course I learned and practiced by watching Bruce Lee and Jean Claude Van Damme in my teens and early twenties. Chuck Norris is the man, Bruce Lee is the king, we all know these things. But what could I learn by myself? I had always wanted to take martial arts classes, but had never had the time or resources to get involved. Recently I discovered a Thai Kickboxing class at my local Toykeo Joe’s karate school. Finally I could get in shape with serious conditioning, learn a martial art, possibly get involved with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu down the line… exercise was finally looking fun again.
Future Goals
I still hunger for powerlifting and olympic complexes, for strength and conditioning. On the other hand, I refuse to give up my newfound love for martial arts training. Thus my plan is as follows:
Thai kickboxing 2-3 nights a week for 1 hour.
Max effort (1-5 reps) bench, dead, squat, overhead press, once every other week.
20 rep bench, dead, squat, overhead press, try to get one workout in per month.
If possible squeeze in one Olympic complex once every two weeks.
If possible squeeze in one bodybuilding style workout once a month.
Eat heartily: high protein, moderate everything else, lots of water.
Proper supplementation: vitamins, 5-HTP, melatonin, amino acids, Bone Boost, and anything else that I think can contribute to proper over-all health, recovery from workouts, provide energy, and isn’t too expensive.
Watch strongman and martial arts competitions for inspiration.
Join me in my quest to kick some ass, have emergency strength, stay healthy, and look good naked! Project Swole is a place where we can discuss these matters at length; where we can teach each other and learn from our mistakes. Motivate yourself to get Swole!
