How to do a Backflip

Posted July 14, 2009 in Conditioning 1 Comment »

No, I can’t do a backflip. In fact I’ve never really tried. But honestly I wish I could. I’d throw down backflips all day long if I could. Hell, I wouldn’t even walk anywhere, I’d just backflip to wherever I had to go.

Not sure if you can do a backflip, but I found someone who can. This dude will teach you step by step how to do the backflip. I might eventually try this at home. If you try it, please do NOT hurt yourself. It might be a good idea to have someone spotting you.

Check this out:

Lesnar Vs. Mir – UFC 100

Posted July 13, 2009 in Martial Arts 5 Comments »

OK, I know how it ended but I have yet to watch the fight. I’m getting antsy to see this video but I’m not sure when it will be out or how to find it! It’s been pulled from every online location I can think of.

If you don’t know, Lesnar won by ref stoppage… not sure if he knocked Mir out or just whupped his ass good, but he won.

In anticipation, please enjoy these 2 big ass heavyweight MMA fighters weighing in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4jQ4bLAPgI

Next, enjoy an ESPN video with highlights of the fight. Plenty of blood spatter here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FwAe9pZs8M

Finally, enjoy the first meeting of Lesnar Vs. Mir in UFC 81, but you have to go to a different website to do it:

Lesnar vs. Mir UFC 81

How to Build Muscle Mass Fast with Kaatsu Training

Posted July 9, 2009 in Research, Weight Training 12 Comments »

Douglas Robb at HealthHabits posted the other day about the Occlusion/Kaatsu training method, which is popular in Japan. While not necessarily useful to me, I found it a very interesting read.

Kaatsu Training
Kaatsu Training / Occlusion Training

What Kaatsu Training Does

Kaatsu training looks like it can increase muscle hypertrophy significantly more than regular resistance training over an extremely short period of time. In fact the results of the studies show that 2 weeks of Kaatsu training increases muscle mass to a higher degree than 5 weeks of regular resistance training.

Read the rest of this entry »

I Have Been Hacked!

Posted July 5, 2009 in Business No Comments »

HackerIf anyone has been wondering why Project Swole has been randomly out of order over the last month, my primary server has been hacked.

I keep checking on the site to remove any offending code, and you are perfectly safe surfing, it’s just that every once in a while some malicious script overwrites the bottom portion of code on some of my files, causing a syntax error when your web browser tries to interpret the code.

I am still trying to get to the bottom of it, but everything should be cleaned up soon. Please don’t stop visiting. =)

I went on vacation for the 4th of July, so I haven’t posted in a couple days, but I am back now and a useful post will be coming soon.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Motivational Video

Posted July 2, 2009 in Motivation 5 Comments »

The Austrian Oak was the man. If you are feeling lazy you should watch this. It will either depress you or make you go squat 500 lbs.

What do you think about Arnold?

Study Says 66 Percent of American Adults are WAY too Fat!

Posted July 1, 2009 in Medical 2 Comments »

You guys are still eating too many french fries!

Obesity
Obesity

In the past year adult obesity rates have continued to climb. Two advocacy groups said on Wednesday, 23 US states reported that their citizens are fatter now than they were a year ago. In fact, two-thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese.

No states reported a decrease in obesity.

Affecting Health Care Reform

Executive director of Trust for America’s Health, Jeff Levi reportedly said, “Our health care costs have grown along with our waist lines,” as part of a warning that the US obesity epidemic could interfere with efforts by lawmakers to reform the nation’s health system.

Read the rest of this entry »

Venom Energy Drink Review: Mojave Rattler Low Carb

Posted June 29, 2009 in Product Reviews 6 Comments »
Venom Mojave Rattler
Venom
Mojave Rattler

Lately I’ve been addicted to the Mojave Rattler Low Carb Venom energy drink. I must have purchased about 5 of these things in the last 7 days.

Manufactured by the well-known Dr. Pepper/7-UP Inc., I had initially heard the commercial for this drink on the radio station, WAAF in Boston, maybe 4 or 5 times in the last month. Heard it a couple days in a row and thought to myself, “Venom eh? Sounds like it could be powerful. If I see that stuff in the store I’ll try some.”

So I walk into my local convenience store the other day and there it is at the front of the energy drink section: “VENOM ENERGY: Piercing Energy that Strikes Back”! Score.

Presentation A+

The best part of this drink is the can.

The first thing you see is a big purple angry snake eye surrounded by scales. Above the eye you see Mojave Ratter, and below the eye is the word VENOM printed all spooky to look like fangs.

The can itself is really hard and could probably be used as a small missile. I would feel like a tough guy walking around in public with it, and I would feel safe if I had one during a mugging as it could render some serious damage on my attacker’s cranium.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Good Morning Protein Shake Recipe

Posted June 26, 2009 in Recipes 6 Comments »

Need protein powder?

Shakeology

Check out Shakeology – it’s not just your average protein shake!

  • Whole-food ingredients curbs cravings and burn stored fat
  • Over 20 phytonutrients and antioxidants
  • Reduces risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke
  • Probiotics to assist digestion and nutrient absorption
  • Tastes awesome mixed with plain cold water!!

Click here to order or learn more about Shakeology.

If you are looking for a pure protein powder, check out Optimum Nutrition. Optimum Nutrition protein powder comes in about 20 different flavors, and is available in 1 lb, 2 lb, 5 lb, and 10 lb containers.

Click here to order or learn more about Optimum Nutrition.

Protein Shake
Protein Shake

Here are a couple recipes that I’ve been using either for breakfast or for a post workout meal.

Keep the portions small and limit the fats for a tasty, low calorie, high protein meal replacement. The Good Morning Protein Shake is good for as small meal or a snack.

Crank up the healthy fats from flax oil and peanut butter if you are a skinny person trying to bulk up. Drink a couple of these The Good Morning Weight Gainer Shakes a day to really pack on the pounds, but you best be lifting HARD or you will get fat.

Meet halfway in the middle to blend yourself a super healthy, moderate calorie protein shake. Perfect for replacing a whole meal whether you are dieting or just trying to eat healthy. You can choose The Good Morning Peanut Butter Cup or The Good Morning with Flax.

Be sure to add in the cinnamon, since cinnamon helps regulate your blood sugar.

Read the rest of this entry »

Death Watch: Michael Jackson Dead – RIP

Posted June 26, 2009 in Healthy Lifestyle 3 Comments »

I sure am sorry to hear about Michael Jackson’s death.

I have several of his albums and grew up with Thriller on MTV. Sorry to say I missed out on that whole Jackson 5 scene, but solo Michael was groundbreaking music and his dancing was stupendous. After all, he gave us The Moonwalk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tqYUTjQIc0

No matter what you think about Michael Jackson’s controversial personal life, you have to admit that he truly was a good man, especially earlier in his career. He honestly cared about the well-being of children.

Sure, Michael had some major issues.

Read the rest of this entry »

How to Flip Tires

Posted June 22, 2009 in Conditioning 3 Comments »

Tire flipping is great!

How can you integrate tire flipping into your workouts?

Tire flipping is great for the following kind of training:

  • Strong men doing strongman training.
  • Powerlifters needing extra workouts, or trying to increase their work capacity.
  • High intensity interval training (HIIT): 10 flips, rest 60 seconds, repeat.
  • Conditioning training in groups, usually moving from station to station.
  • Conditioning for martial arts, especially when prepping for a fight.
  • Odd object lifting programs such as with sandbags and kettlebellssandbag core training, training with sandbags.

So what is the best strategy for flipping tires?
Do you deadlift the tire?
Is it more of a push?
How do you use your legs?
How do you position your arms?

I can’t put it any better than Josh puts it in this instructional tire flipping video:

This is what happens when you train your ass off and get real good at flipping tires: a 600 pound tire flip:

I personally am not too sure if I could even move that thing, never mind flip it.

YouTube Video: Freestyling on Bars

Posted June 20, 2009 in Motivation No Comments »

This dude Hannibal (no relation to Lecter) does some pretty sick moves on the bars. There are bunch of videos like this on YouTube, but this one is short and sweet.

How to Manipulate Insulin for Fat Loss & Muscle Gain

Posted June 18, 2009 in Diet, Medical, Supplements 8 Comments »

Insulin can be a touchy subject when it comes to fat loss, muscle growth, and weight training. It is extremely important that we understand the role of insulin in the body and how the foods we eat affect our health and physiques.

What is Insulin?

First, we must define what insulin is:

Insulin in a peptide hormone composed of 51 amino acid residues, which is produced by the beta cells of the pancreas and released when any of the several stimuli is detected. These stimuli include ingested protein and glucose in the blood, produced from digested food. Insulin has expansive effects on metabolism and other bodily systems.

Fat Loss

What Insulin Does in the Body

Let us look at what insulin does when it is present in the body.

When present, insulin causes the uptake of blood sugar (glucose) by the vast majority of bodily cells. These cells include muscle, fatty tissue, and liver cells.

Insulin is primarily responsible for storing glucose as glycogen in the liver and muscles. When insulin is at high concentrations in the body, it prevents the use of fat as an energy source.

Read the rest of this entry »

Naughty and Nice Oatmeal Protein Acai Cookies

Posted June 17, 2009 in Recipes 5 Comments »

Acai Berries + Oatmeal Cookies + Protein Powder + Sliced Fruit = Naughty and Nice Oatmeal Protein Acai Cookies.

Here is a recipe for some great cookies that combine some of the healthiest muscle building foods on the planet.

Oatmeal Cookies
Oatmeal Cookies

Thank you to Amy, the winner of the Zola Acai juice giveaway for her unique Naughty and Nice Oatmeal Acai Cookie recipe that combines some of the healthiest muscle building foods on the planet. (I will contact you shortly about shipping information for your Zola products.)

Anyway, this already seems like a sweet recipe, but I went ahead and Swoled up her recipe to include protein fortified Oatmeal cookies.

Read the rest of this entry »

How to Calculate Your Target Heart Rate

Healthy Female Jogger
Female Jogger

You are trying to lose fat and you want that adipose tissue to just melt off your body.

Option #1 is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), which uses both anaerobic training to build muscle and elevate the metabolism, and aerobic training to burn fat and increase cardiovascular endurance. This is the option I typically recommend. However, some people are either not able to, or not willing to, even attempt HIIT training.

This then leads us to option #2: cardiovascular endurance training. While I don’t recommend it, I know people will do it, so here’s how to do it right…

Read the rest of this entry »

How to Maintain Muscle Mass When Dieting

Posted June 10, 2009 in Your Questions 4 Comments »
Your Questions
Your Questions

I get plenty of questions in various comments throughout the website, but I also get comments and questions via the Project Swole Contact Form.

Generally I address those questions through e-mail, but often I do not have the time to reply to each and every question personally.

From now on I want to take a more proactive approach to answering Your Health Questions by posting them separately in the blog. This way we can be sure that everyone benefits from the Q & A.

Atreyuh wrote:

“Hi Steve,

You have given others such wonderful advice and I was wondering if you could do the same for me.

I am a 5’9″ male weighing approximately 159 right now (use to weigh 168). At 168 I was very muscular but not very lean.

My goal has been to drop bodyfat and get ripped. I have been running alot lately but still lifting heavy. I have lost strength but have slimmed down alot as well.

I am currently consuming around 1500 calories a day, 100 grams carbs, 170 protein, and 50 fat.

My goal is to be shredded or at 7% bodyfat. Am I approaching this the right way? I know diet is 80% of the game.”

Read the rest of this entry »

How to Exercise With Your Pet

Posted June 9, 2009 in Healthy Lifestyle No Comments »

… and now for your viewing pleasure I am honored to present you with the Cat Workout website.

Cat Workout is a place where you can learn how to exercise with your kitty, provided your kitty doesn’t make you into a human fish fillet when you wrangle him for a set of cat lunges.

It’s not as much fun as LOL Cats and the exercises on the site are about as useful as a 10,000 lb dumbbell, but I do enjoy cats so maybe you will have a laugh if you enjoy cats too.

Read the rest of this entry »

Swole in Two Months

If you are someone who trains for a month then takes a week off because life gets busy, you are just like me.

If you are someone who normally trains 4 days a week and then can only get in the gym once in a 9 day stretch because life gets busy, you are just like me.

And like you, I put together than occasional plan to commit for a solid 3 months, eat right, train 4-5 times a week, and make some real progress.

We are not lazy, we just get busy or have to deal with family situations. Right?

Excuses, excuses…

Lazy Man
Lazy Man – This is not me and it better not be you!

Read the rest of this entry »

Skip the Cheat Meal, Fatty

Posted June 3, 2009 in Nutrition Tip 6 Comments »
Dr. John Berardi
John Berardi

Since the late 1990’s Dr. John Berardi has published 8 scientific abstracts; 15 scientific papers and textbook chapters; presented at nearly 50 scientific, exercise, and nutrition related conferences; and published countless articles online.

His first articles at Testosterone Magazine so many years ago, provided me with the basis for everything I know about nutrition today. Now I will turn some of that knowledge over to you in the form of Nutrition Tips written by Dr. Berardi himself.

Today’s Topic – Cheat Meals

Read the rest of this entry »

Last Day to Win Free Zola Acai Juice

Posted June 1, 2009 in Contests No Comments »
Acai Smoothie
Acai Smoothie

Hello everyone.

I am extending the Zola Acai giveaway contest through the end of today.

This is your last day to get in on it.

You could win 7 free bottles of Zola acai juice and smoothies, a t-shirt, and a Zola acai bracelet, which is actually kind of cool, especially since the proceeds go to a good cause.

Read about the contest at the Zola Acai Juice contest page, and sign up before midnight EST on June 1st 2009.

Good luck!

Get Acai Berry in France

Posted May 31, 2009 in Diet, Supplements 6 Comments »

Get Acai in France

The Project Swole Three Step Full Body Detox Plan is the most effective detox and weight loss plan ever. Combine the supplement plan with a full body fat loss exercise routine for record breaking fat loss results!

Step #1 Acai Berry Detox Get a Free Trial or Buy a Full Supply
Step #2 Colon Cleanse Get a Free Trial or Buy a Full Supply
Step #3 Fat Loss Routine: full body fat loss for men or full body fat loss for women

Acai berry is one of the best foods you can eat for fat loss and good health.

France

Acai will help speed up your fat loss considerably if you already follow a moderate fitness and nutrition plan, and you can definitely use the high concentration of antioxidants in acai to keep you healthy and young for the rest of your life!

Constantly I get asked the question:
How can I get a 14 day free trial of acai shipped to France?

Well now finally I can say:
Get your free trial of Acai Berry shipped to France using the link below.

Get a Free Trial of Acai Berry Shipped to France

Read the rest of this entry »