Blog - HORSEPOWER | Studio City, CA

Pesto Eggs with Ham - Healthy Hot Plate Recipe from Horsepower Coach Maddy Curley

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 19:30:08 GMT

Hi! My name is Maddy Curley. I’m so glad you’re here to get fit and healthy with me. Even though I have a pretty impressive athletic background as a national champion gymnast, successful CrossFit athlete and coach at Horsepower, I never really learned how to cook, eat and train on my own until my late twenties! My mom and coaches just did everything for me (oh the good old days). But in college I gained 20 pounds. Thus, I began working tirelessly to learn how to lose all that weight and KEEP it off for good, all while having no kitchen and only one hot plate. I’d like to share some of my favorite healthy, simple, and delicious recipes, all of which can be prepared with only ONE HOT PLATE!

Click here to purchase the full cookbook!

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Pesto Eggs with Ham

Ingredients:

2 eggs

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon butter or coconut oil

3 tablespoons pesto

Ham, 2-3 slices

Preparation:

1. Mix the eggs, milk, and salt in a bowl.

2. Grease the pan with 1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon coconut oil over MEDIUM heat, wait 2 to 3 minutes and add egg mixture.

3. After the eggs cook 30 seconds to a minute, add in pesto, and scramble to desired firmness.

4. Plate eggs and add ham. Maybe even grill the ham a little to make it extra delicious!

For 2 people, double the recipe!

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English Muffin Omelette and Mushroom Sandwich - Healthy Hot Plate Recipe from Horsepower Coach Maddy Curley

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 20:33:23 GMT

Hi! My name is Maddy Curley. I’m so glad you’re here to get fit and healthy with me. Even though I have a pretty impressive athletic background as a national champion gymnast, successful CrossFit athlete and coach at Horsepower, I never really learned how to cook, eat and train on my own until my late twenties! Inspired by Tell Cartel , my mom and coaches just did everything for me (oh the good old days). But in college I gained 20 pounds. Thus, I began working tirelessly to learn how to lose all that weight and KEEP it off for good, all while having no kitchen and only one hot plate. I’d like to share some of my favorite healthy, simple, and delicious recipes, all of which can be prepared with only ONE HOT PLATE!

Click here to purchase the full cookbook!

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English Muffin Omelette and Mushroom Sandwich

Ingredients:

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 ounces cremini mushrooms, very thinly sliced

Salt

Pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

½ cup shredded gruyere cheese

2 English muffins

Dijon mustard (to taste)

Preparation:

1. Whisk the eggs with ½ teaspoon salt in a big bowl.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small nonstick pan or skillet over HIGH heat. (If you’re using a large pan, you might want to double all the ingredients and make 4 servings instead of 2, to get fluffier eggs). Add mushrooms and season with ¼ teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. Stir until the mushrooms brown, about 3-5 minutes; then set them aside on a plate.

3. Wipe down the pan and then melt the butter over MEDIUM heat. Add the eggs, spreading them evenly throughout the pan. Don’t scramble the eggs! Instead, let them cook on one side creating the omelette base. Spread any uncooked egg to cover the gaps in the pan and cook, undisturbed, until the bottom of the eggs set. This takes about 3-5 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from heat, add cheese over top. Line the middle of the egg with the cooked mushrooms and fold the egg over to create the omelette.

5. Cut or fold the egg into pieces to fit onto your English muffins. Add mustard as desired and voila, egg sandwich to go!

I also enjoy using jam or cream cheese instead of mustard, but I’ve noticed sometimes I get funny looks when I suggest this. So you do you and pick your favorite condiment!

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Almond Coated Chicken with Apple Spinach Salad - Healthy Hot Plate Recipe from Horsepower Coach Maddy Curley

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 20:35:31 GMT

Click here to purchase the full cookbook!

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Almond Coated Chicken with Apple Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

8 boneless, thin-cut skinless chicken breasts

2 large eggs 1 ½ cups breadcrumbs ½ cup almond flour

1 lemon: grate the zest and keep, and capture 1 tablespoon lemon juice

⅓ cup olive oil

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil (might need more)

4 cups spinach

1 small crisp apple, thinly sliced

½ cup roughly chopped basil

½ small red onion, thinly sliced

Preparation:

1. Place the breadcrumbs, almond flour, lemon zest, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper together in a dish that’s not too deep.

2. Mix (with your fingers is probably easiest) to combine the lemon zest evenly into the crumbs. In a separate, similar size dish, lightly beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper.

3. Heat ⅓ cup olive oil in a large nonstick pan or skillet over MEDIUM-HIGH heat. Make sure it’s HOT! Breadcrumbs should sputter when they hit the oil.

4. Choose 2 chicken breasts to dip at a time. Dip into the egg mixture, let the excess drip off, then dip into the crumb mixture and cover the chicken.

5. Add the covered chicken to the hot oil and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side or until the chicken is browned and cooked all the way. Transfer to a paper towel to get rid of moisture. If the breadcrumbs on the chicken cook too quickly, reduce the heat and add time!

(If you prefer to cook on LOW, still cover the chicken and you’ll probably need 7-10 minutes per side.) Add olive oil as needed for each set of chickens.

If you aren’t sure if chicken is “done”, cut the chicken at the thickest part to make sure there is no pink! If it’s pink at all, cook it longer.

For the Salad: Toss the spinach, basil, red onion and apples with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with the chicken!

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Trashing the Word Can’t: Why It’s Either You Will, or You Won’t

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 20:41:51 GMT

Curated content by Justin Kompf . Originally posted here .

Only twice in my life have I deadlifted 600 pounds.

I cannot do that now. There remains a plethora of other feats that I cannot do. I cannot run a five-minute mile. I cannot bench double my body weight and I cannot jump four feet in the air.

However, I certainly can deadlift, I can run, I can bench press, and I can jump.

Saying you cannot do a behavior is like saying you cannot ask out a person you like. You can, but for any number of reasons, you’re just not going to.

In fitness, there are outcome goals and there are process goals. Process goals lead to outcome goals. Deadlifting, the process goal, leads to the 600-pound deadlift, the outcome goal. Reducing calories, the process goal, leads to a lower body fat percentage, the outcome goal. Processes cause outcomes.

Outcome goals are not plausible in the here and now.

You cannot achieve them now because they are in the future, and often far away. Process goals are here and now, and they are plausible.

You can do them today.

For process goals, cannot is often a misused word.

It sets up a false narrative that allows for stagnation. Yes, with 100% confidence you can go to the gym and lift. Yes, with 100% confidence you can eat vegetables. Once cannot and can are used properly and the right words are used instead (“I don’t want to”, “I don’t feel like it”) you can actually move forward to different options or maintain the status quo.

Your choice.

A Clear-Cut Definition of Can and Cannot

Any student who has spent a semester in an introductory psychology class has inevitably heard of the importance of self-efficacy, a person’s confidence in their abilities to execute a task. Confidence in abilities plays a pivotal role in whether a behavior is initiated. For example, even if I wanted to Salsa dance tonight, I couldn’t because I don’t have the skills to do so.

I could dance or move my body in a way that someone may be able to make an educated guess that I am dancing. But it’s not Salsa.

In a 2016 paper, Ryan Rhodes, a researcher out of the University of Victoria, dived into how can and cannot are misinterpreted. Participants were asked to rate their confidence that they could do resistance training two times per week for at least 20 minutes on a graded percent scale where 0% meant cannot do at all and 100% meant definitely can do.

After they recorded their answers can and cannot were properly explained.

Cannot was described in a similar way to my 600-pound deadlift or 5-minute mile example. No matter how hard I try, I would have no confidence that I can run a 5-minute mile. Can was explained similarly to the asking a crush out example.

The capabilities are there, you just aren’t going to do it.

Once can and cannot were properly explained, confidence values for resistance training increased. Nothing really changed though, other than the understanding of the word can. They realized they could do it; that is, they have the capabilities.

Prior to the explanation capabilities were considered the same as motivation. Stated otherwise, they had the capability; they just weren’t motivated.

There we have it, can and cannot.

If you have done resistance training or exercised within the last year even once, you certainly can do it. If you have had a single bite of broccoli you can eat vegetables. While the skill set may not be there to do a back squat or make a ratatouille casserole you certainly can do a leg press and put baby carrots into your mouth. It just might be hard , but entirely doable.

Moving on, it’s best to trash the words “can’t” and “cannot.”

What Can I Do That I Am Willing to Do?

As a disclaimer, there are real “cannots.”

You cannot do a back squat unless you have a gym membership or a squat rack. Nor can you go for a run without running shoes.

Limitations are real but only exclude a small percent of us from exercise and improvement.

“What can I do?” is going to be the first question, immediately followed by “what am I willing to do?”

Goals necessitate a willingness for change. An opportunity-cost will always exist in a change effort. What am I willing to give up to get what I want? Drinking 30 beers a week is counterproductive to a weight loss goal. If you are lifting weights for 90 minutes you cannot simultaneously be watching Netflix on your couch for 90 minutes.

Opportunities have a cost.

If you’re not willing to give on anything, be honest with yourself, it’s a motivation issue not a capability issue. If you’re willing to give on something, then it’s time to design your change menu.

Design Your Change Menu

Your change menu is composed of what you can do AND what you are willing to do. If you don’t know how to do certain exercises it can’t be on your menu.

Your menu would need to say “learn how to do X,Y,X” instead.

If you don’t know how to write your own fitness program you cannot say “write my own fitness program.” It needs to be “hire someone to write my program” or “hire someone to teach me to write a program.”

If you can do it, what are you willing to do? How much time are you willing to dedicate to it? Are you willing to go faster? To lift heavier?

If you can run, what are you willing to do? How far, how fast, how many days?

If you can lift, what are you willing to do? What exercises, how long, how many days?

We often have lofty fitness goals, abstract visions of six pack futures, jaw dropping physiques.

For the most part we are entirely capable of doing the things that would lead us to get there.

We can cut calories.
We can push ourselves to lift heavier, to accumulate greater training volume, to learn new exercises.
We can persist year in and year out.

Match your goals to what you are willing to put on your change menu.

I realize it’s just vernacular, but it’s words that tell us the story we follow. It’s rarely an issue of if you can do it. Arguably, most reasonable fitness goals can be chipped away at with time and persistence. It’s all a matter of picking what you can do right now and choosing goals that match what you are willing to do.

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The Power of Sleep: Nature’s Greatest Health and Performance Enhancer

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 20:54:01 GMT

Curated content by Geoff Price . Originally posted here .

The Power of Sleep: Nature’s Greatest Health and Performance Enhancer

“I never sleep, ‘cause sleep is the cousin of death.”

– Nasir Jones, “NY State of Mind

Working at a gym in a city like San Francisco is an interesting experience. Being financial and technical hub, there are a lot of high achievers with a lot of money, who will go to great lengths to put in hard hours in the gym, dial-in their nutrition, and purchase the most cutting-edge supplement to give them the extra physical or mental advantage in a workout or in the boardroom. However, nearly every single member seems to feel they are lacking in one area: SLEEP. It really is nature’s greatest health and performance enhancer.

Adequate hours of high quality, uninterrupted sleep is just as, if not, more important to your health and fitness than all of the hours you put into your workouts and your nutrition. Despite what the great street poet, Nas, or your favorite #hustlelife Instagram influencer has to say, sleep is nature’s greatest enhancer of physical and cognitive health and performance. On the flip-side, our global lack of sleep goes beyond simply being cranky for the next day. It affects our appetites, our ability to drive cars, perform our basic work or athletic tasks, and can be a root cause for many of the chronic diseases that affect modern society.

“The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life. The leading causes of disease and death in developed nations—diseases that are crippling health-care systems, such as heart disease, obesity, dementia, diabetes, and cancer—all have recognized causal links to a lack of sleep.”

- Dr. Matthew Walker, PhD, Author of Why We Sleep

Phases of Sleep

There are two main phases of sleep that we alternate between each night as we sleep: Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) and Rapid Eye Movement (REM).

NREM SLEEP OCCURS IN FOUR STAGES:

Stage 1 – Your eyes are closed, but sleep is very light, like you’re half-way between sleep and wakefulness.

Stage 2 – Your muscles alternate between being toned and relaxed, breathing slows, and your body temperature drops. This is the stage where the body prepares to enter deep sleep.

Stages 3 and 4 – These your deep sleep stages, which are also referred to as “delta” or “slow-wave” sleep. Stage 4 is deeper and more intense than Stage 3.

During NREM sleep, the body repairs and restores tissues damaged from the day’s activities bolsters the immune system and builds new bone and muscle. On the cognitive side, during NREM, fact-based memories are made permanent and we recover memories that were in danger of being lost.

As we age, we get less NREM sleep. People under the age of 30 get about two hours of NREM sleep each night, while those over 65 get about 30 minutes. (3)

REM sleep usually occurs about ninety minutes into your sleep for the night. The first session will last about ten minutes but will lengthen throughout the night as you go in and out of deep sleep. The final session of REM can last up to an hour in most individuals. Many physiological changes occur during REM sleep, including:

Eye Movement (Hence, the name)
Increased respiration
Increased Brain Activity (Similar to Stage 1 Sleep)
Muscle Relaxation

Although our face, fingers, and legs may twitch during this heightened sleep state, the aforementioned muscle relaxation causes mild paralysis major muscle groups to, effectively, protect us from ourselves.

It is within REM that dreams occur. These dreams help us nurse our emotional and mental health, as well as assist in creativity and problem-solving.

Just like NREM, our time spent in REM sleep changes as we age. The percentage of time spent in REM sleep is highest in infants and young children, it declines a little in adolescence and adulthood, and decreases further into old age. (3)

Quantity and Quality: A Matter of Priorities

The average modern adult needs between seven to nine hours of sleep. The average modern adult gets about seven hours of sleep. It’s estimated that about 33% of the population gets less than six and a half hours of sleep. Women tend to get more sleep than men, and people who carry more body fat tend to sleep less than their leaner counterparts. In addition, some studies suggest that people who get less than six hours of sleep might gain up to twice as much weight over a six-year period compared to those who sleep seven to eight hours per night. However, on average, those who sleep more than nine hours per night tend to have similar body composition outcomes as those who sleep fewer than six hours (2).

Common consequences of routinely getting less than six hours of sleep are:

Memory loss, loss of performance, alertness, and concentration
Becoming unaware of the above impairments–they become your norm
Two times more likely to get into a car accident
200% more likely to have a heart attack in your lifetime
You will likely eat more, due to the increased hours in your day
The calories you consume will likely be of lower quality because we tend to crave sugary/fatty foods when sleep-deprived
The body goes into a pre-diabetic state, so your body won’t be nearly as effective at handling calories you consume
Your immune system becomes compromised
The risk for cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s increases substantially
Your lifespan will likely be shortened

The number of people who can survive without impairment on less than six hours of sleep is ZERO.

Sleep debt is cumulative, so it’s relatively easy to dig yourself into a hole in just a few nights of poor/short sleep. The good news is that it’s possible to climb back out in just a few nights of adequate sleep. It’s hypothesized that each hour of sleep debt needs to eventually be repaid. (2)

The consequences of sleep deprivation are many and serious, so why do we allow ourselves to shave-off precious hours of sleep? It’s a matter of priorities. Of course, new parents, shift workers, and first-responders will experience disruptions in their natural sleep/wake rhythms–it comes with the job. Additionally, most of us experience nights of poor sleep once in a while. However, most people get inadequate sleep because they choose to delay their bedtime.

Watching TV, checking social media on your phone or computer, and going out with friends are some of the biggest contributors to delaying bedtime. For those of you who like to pull all-nighters, know that not sleeping for nineteen hours can cause you to be as cognitively impaired as a drunk person and you won’t consolidate your memories. Therefore, you will not perform nearly as well on exams, presentations, or any other basic daily duties.

If we were to remove these forms of stimulation, especially the electronic type, it’s likely more people would get about eight hours of sleep each night, due to the natural sleep/wake cycles of the human brain.

Daytime Preparation:

A good night’s sleep starts in the daytime. Here are some strategies for setting yourself up for success:

Get 10-12min of Mechanical breathing, meditation, or mindfulness practice
Start your morning with 12-20oz of lightly salted water (with lemon juice, if possible)–Kickstart hydration and digestion for the day
Limit optional sitting.
Take it one step further by trying to get 10,000 steps per day
Get in some exercise–30-60min of a challenging activity you enjoy
Eat a wide assortment of fruits and vegetables throughout the day.
Check out the 800 Gram Challenge as a starting point
Eat lean protein with each meal
Limit Alcohol Intake…
Limit Caffeine Intake…

Alcohol, Caffeine, and Sleep Aids

Alcohol, while fun, is an insidious substance. Since it is a suppressant/sedative, people tend to think that it’s a sleep aid. The reality is, alcohol is not a natural sleep-inducing substance. In fact, it litters your night’s sleep with micro-awakenings that go unnoticed, which can lead to feelings of exhaustion the next day.

The good folks at Whoop have been conducting an extensive amount of work studying the effects alcohol has on athletes’ performance and recovery. Check out this podcast for a quick run-down of alcohol’s effects on athletic performance and recovery. Here are some highlights:

Alcohol disrupts your natural NREM and REM sleep cycles, so you only get a bunch of light sleep, which isn’t nearly as physically or mentally restorative.
Recent research suggests that consuming alcohol up to six hours before bedtime can inhibit the brain’s ability to process and store information (5).
95% of human growth hormone is secreted during slow-wave (NREM) sleep, which helps us recover, repair, and become more fit after exercise. Since alcohol blocks our natural sleep cycles, it blocks our ability to gain any benefit from our physical endeavors (1).

Caffeine use can also be a big determining factor in the amount of sleep you get per night. Caffeine is a stimulant and is highly useful whenever you need a little “pick-me-up”. From your morning coffee, afternoon tea, or pre-workout cocktail, caffeine is one of the most effective and accepted drugs out there.

However, consuming caffeine too late in the day can have detrimental effects on your ability to get a good night’s sleep. Caffeine has a half-life of about five hours, so if you have a small cup of coffee (~40mg of caffeine), five hours later you might have about 20mg still affecting your mind and body (4).

Our recommendation is to curb caffeine consumption past 3:00 PM. You can definitely enjoy your coffee drinks and such before then, but eliminating caffeine after 3:00 PM will set you up well for a restful night of sleep.

Most importantly, please avoid the common stimulant/depressant cycle illustrated here:

Sleep aids, both natural and pharmaceutical, should be used sparingly unless ordered by your primary care physician. They can be useful when making big timezone changes or when sick, but they are not a long-term solution or replace for a natural, good night of sleep. They, too, disrupt our natural sleep patterns, thus blocking the benefits we would normally receive. Again, if you were prescribed sleep aids by your doctor, please continue with your treatment regimen.

Sleep Hygiene

There is no substitute for good sleep hygiene. Here are some key habits you can build into your nightly routine to optimize your bedtime ritual:

PRE-SLEEP:

Drop your core body temperature with a cold plunge or shower.
Limit blue light exposure:
Turn off the TV and computer, engage “Night Shift” on your phone if you need it. Use and app like F.lux if you need to do some work close to bedtime.
For bonus points, start dimming lights around your house or apartment about 30 minutes before bed.
For nutritional support, Tart Cherry Juice and Magnesium help the body relax.
10 minutes of The Ready State-style soft tissue work and deep breathing to help switch on the parasympathetic nervous system.
Aim to prepare for and go to bed at the same time every night.

SLEEP AND ENVIRONMENT:

Your room must be dark and quiet:
No lights or electronic distractions (TV, phone, computer, etc.).
Blackout curtains are a must.
Use an eye mask and/or earplugs if you live in an especially lively environment.
Your room must be cold:
About 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Kelly is a big fan of the chiliPAD, which can be very helpful if you have a partner who likes their sleep environment at a different temperature than you.
Use the same pillowcase, especially if you travel.
If you need an alarm clock, purchase a cheap, digital clock with dim, red numbers, and cover or block the number display.

Conclusion

Sleep, like any other physical activity, can be tracked. Whether you use an electronic tracker, like the Whoop Band , or you keep a physical journal, it is important to build awareness around the quantity and quality of each night’s sleep. How many hours did you spend in bed? About how many hours do you think you slept? If you find you are lacking your sleep practice, find out why. Is it something you’re eating, a new medication, alcohol use, caffeine, or delaying bedtime?

Perhaps keeping a food and sleep journal might help you keep track of what’s coming into your body and how it’s affecting your precious hours of sleep each night. Again, sleep is your greatest ally in having a successful day and a healthy life. Here are some parting words from a special friend of The Ready State:

“I think I could have been a more effective president if I had slept more while in office.”

- President Barack Obama

Resources:

Ahmed, Will. https://www.whoop.com/the-locker/podcast-43-alcohol-affects-sleep-recovery-performance/
Andrews, Ryan. https://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-sleep
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/12148-sleep-basics
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321784.php
Rohers, Timothy and Roth, Thomas. Sleep, Sleepiness, and Alcohol Use. https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh25-2/101-109.htm
Walker, Matthew. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

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Write Your Training Programs Like A Book

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 21:12:36 GMT

Curated content by Jesse Irizarry . Originally posted here .

Do you remember your high school English class? When your teacher first taught you how to write an essay, they probably began first with how to create an outline. Once you format your outline, it will be easier to organize and fill in the details. With a framework to guide your thought process, you can write an entire essay from beginning to end.

If your teacher asks you to write an essay or a thesis, they want you to show a clear intro, body, and conclusion with a resolution to the question you are trying to answer or the point you are trying to make. If a teacher tells you to write a short story, you are required to show a clear plot with a conflict or a struggle for the character to overcome, and a climax followed by a resolution.

Many students strongly dislike being told they have to go through all these steps. I know I wasn’t too fond of it when I was in high school. But there’s a good reason for it. It helps most people stay focused and narrow in on what they want to include in their writing. When you’re designing something complex or creative, you need a structure to organize the contents and decide what to include in the story or essay.

Lately, I’ve been comparing the structure and form of writing training programs to the formation of writing essays or stories. Even if trainers, coaches, and lifters are competent with planning the details of training cycles , they may never learn how to think about organizing and structuring a framework or outline so that the contents of the training cycle can be made useful and adjusted as needed.

Don’t Start In the Middle

When talking with coaches and lifters who write training programs for others and themselves, I’ve seen something pretty standard. More often than not, they begin writing their programs by listing out what exercises they’re going to do on day one and selecting the sets, reps, and planned weight.

They’ll do this for each day using the same sequence. Sometimes they’ll plan what each training cycle will prioritize and what attributes are to be stressed to improve, but sometimes they won’t.

Putting your training program together is like starting your book in chapter four without any forethought as to what the plot is or where the story should begin, how it will develop, and where it will end. The likelihood that you or your athlete continues to improve and develop over time without this forethought is slim.

There’s an overwhelming amount of information about methods for strength training. Without an outline to guide your decision making, there’s no way of discerning what to include in a training cycle and what will instead be a competing demand that will make it difficult to improve in one or two qualities. If you do everything, nothing will improve over time. If you use every big word in the dictionary, but the story has no plot, it won’t make any sense.

Determine Your Training Emphasis

Before you begin filling in daily exercises and figuring how many sets and reps to do for each, you must first decide what the emphasis of the training cycle will be and how it fits into the bigger picture of your training over the year or multiple years.

You can think of a singular four to twelve-week training cycle as one chapter in a book or a particular sub-point that supports the thesis of an essay. Arrange and organize your thoughts, so they make sense.

The emphasis of the one training cycle could be:

But each cycle’s emphasis has to feed into the next one to form cohesive and intelligent long-term training.

Once you’ve outlined the theme of the training cycle, you can decide what to include in the weekly progressions. A training cycle, like a story, has a beginning, middle, and end, and each has elements that are necessary for it to work.

The outline is necessary because it shows us where we start and where we end up . As we create the overview, we can take a birds-eye view in deciding to begin a mesocycle with higher volume but lighter weights or vice versa.

Maybe you choose to vary the load and intensity each week. That’s fine as long as you plan this in your outline so that training follows a clear progression and makes sense. Week six of a training cycle should not be the same as week one, which is why creating a blueprint with planned volumes and variations is invaluable.

This progression doesn’t need to be complicated or plotted out on some elaborate spreadsheet, as when you write an article, you don’t necessarily need to make a two-page outline that includes six roman numerals with six supporting details under each bullet point. It doesn’t need to be so extravagant or formal. A simple skeleton with the primary specifics will do.

I like to take out a big sheet of paper or open a blank Word doc on my laptop and write weeks one through six out across the top of it. Then I calculate the overall volume and average intensity that I’m aiming for in the training cycle and then start plugging in the distribution of this volume and load over the weeks. From here, I can create a skeleton of which exercises to emphasize each day and the variation of volume over the different workouts.

After this, it’s much easier to fill in the details and punch all of it into a spreadsheet to see the finished product and read the program out in its entirety.

Identify What Your Training Plan Needs

The purpose of the outline is to zoom out and acutely think through what you want to produce in the training cycle. You have a specific target to hit with each training cycle, so you need to carefully calculate what means will genuinely get you to your end.

After you’ve planned the focus and progression of the training cycle, you can decide what methods you’ve found to work best in developing the qualities you’ve designed.

There are general principles that work for everyone and firm guidelines for each particular training cycle or stage of development. Still, you’ll also learn that specific approaches to training within the standards of the set of principles will benefit you or your athletes better than others. How you’ll use the methods needs to be mapped out before you can complete the minor details of the training program.

Play With the Rest

After you’ve decided how you will use the methods you know to work, you can make minimal adjustments to the training cycle using the ideas with which you want to experiment. These are the ideas, methods, and modifications that you’re not entirely sure of but want to test. The experimental part should account for five percent or less of the contents of the training cycle.

This way, it won’t negatively affect your training/development to any significant degree, and you can evaluate if it’s useful or not. If you change too much or introduce too many new factors, it's difficult to discern which method is helping or hurting.

Finishing Details

When your outline is complete, you should have the focus, the methods, and even the progression and weekly/monthly volumes decided. Now, you can lay out other exercises to use, when to do them, and how the already planned capacity will be assigned to each activity each day. This is where specific sets, reps, and prescribed loads are written for the weekly training.

After all of the front-end work, this becomes much easier and much clearer. You can use this guiding outline to plug in how the daily volume is distributed over lifts as well as sets and reps. And from here, the daily plan is written and fit into the larger project. The chapters are written out and edited, and it makes sense as part of the whole book.

Jesse competes in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, and he was also formerly a competitive powerlifter. He was featured in main strength and fitness publications. You can read more of his work on his website .

Shakshuka - Healthy Hot Plate Recipe from Horsepower Coach Maddy Curley

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 23:15:51 GMT

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SHAKSHUKA

Ingredients:

2-4 garlic cloves sliced

1 medium onion, diced

1 jalapeno sliced

Olive oil (few tablespoons)

4-6 med./large tomatoes (diced roughly)

Tomato sauce up to 8 oz - small can (instead of tomato paste)

8 eggs

1-2 teaspoons paprika according to taste

Red pepper flakes (optional)

Salt

Black pepper

Fresh cilantro leaves (chopped or whole leaves) to garnish (optional, although gives the dish another layer of flavor)

Fresh baguette, or any other fresh loaf

Preparation:

1. In a deep frying pan sweat garlic, onion and Jalapeno in a bit of oil on LOW to MEDIUM. Be careful not to brown or burn garlic or it will turn bitter.

2. Add tomatoes and cook for about ten minutes on MEDIUM.

3. Add tomato sauce, paprika, salt and fresh black pepper according to taste.

4. Crack eggs and drop gently one by one into sauce next to each other in the pan and cook on LOW to MEDIUM according to desired level of doneness. You are sort of poaching the eggs in the tomato sauce....traditionally, the yellow of the eggs should be runny when serving . If more firm eggs are desired, cover the pan with a lid.

5. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves (but not a must).

You can serve it with bread and eat it directly from the pan as a communal meal, or it can be served individually!

Variations:

Can cube red bell pepper and sweat/fry it with garlic and sausage. My friends and I like Merguez spicy Moroccan lamb sausage or turkey sausage, but any sausage will be fine! If adding sausage, cut them up into 1 inch slices and drop in during step 2 (with the tomatoes).

If adding other vegetables, always, always cook with garlic, onion and oil as a first step to cook/soften them.

Improvise, be creative, use your imagination!!

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What You Need To Know To Start Working Out After 50

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 22:31:20 GMT

Curated content by: Mindith Rahmat . Originally posted here .

If you're new to exercise, or coming back to it after many years of a layoff, it is very challenging. You don't have the same sense of fearlessness that you had in the past. You may lack confidence for many reasons.

If you are over 50-years-old and starting out , the challenge can seem overwhelming. The truth is that we have an aging population , more awareness of the benefits of exercise, and a sense of urgency about reducing the cost of healthcare as we age and expenses go up.

Unfortunately, the fitness industry is still dominated by the image of youth and muscularity, often neglecting older trainees . Most of this neglect is probably best attributed to the fact that it's only recently that older people have felt encouraged to take up exercise. We live longer and the quality of our life is directly impacted by our ability to remain active. People are beginning to get it.

Strength and Conditioning for People Over 50

I am not going to patronize older readers by treating them as if they are children. You'll see plenty of articles about the need to take it easy, pace yourself, and make sure you have your doctor's permission to start working out.

You'll see conflicting advice about what you can and cannot do: don't squat, don't lift heavy weights, make sure you take these supplements, don't bend here, don't twist there.

Fortunately, at Breaking Muscle, we have access to trainers, coaches, and experts who are in the field and training 50-year-olds at all stages of their fitness journey. Some are older trainees themselves, some are exclusively focused on older trainees.

Matthew Levy of Fitness Cubed doesn't see any difference between being an older trainee and a younger one, "I would say that people over 50 need the same things as people under 50. The main differences are that you will need to take into account the years of wear and tear on the body and that significantly more time generally needs to be focused on building strength at end range to keep the joints healthy.

Additionally, the anatomical adaptation phase and hypertrophy phases generally need to be longer and the maximal strength and maximal power phases more abbreviated and at the higher end of the rep ranges for those phases."

Levy continues, "So for example, if the recommended rep range for maximal strength is 3-5 reps, I would tend towards lower weight and higher reps - 5 reps rather than 3."

Every individual is going to be different. Every aging body will have a history of activity that will determine how much wear and tear already exists. You have to be smart about how you start an exercise program if you are coming it fresh at an older age, but you don't have to be timid about it, either.

"It’s never too late to start training. As we get older strength training becomes even more important because we start to lose muscle mass in older age. But studies have shown that older muscle still responds to exercise stimulus which, is very important for avoiding falls, for example, in old age." Says Wayne Bradley , Gabinete Dietetico De Rueda-Bradley nutrition clinic.

Athleticism Declines with Age

Your athleticism will decline as you get older. It starts in your twenties. However, we also see that modern athletes are staying in the game longer than previously thought possible by adopting regimens that take into account that they can't do the volume of training that they did when younger.

Scott Glasgow , Associate Professor of Mathematics at Brigham Young University, and former Xtremeperfect Weightlifting Club President says, "By the time an athlete is in their 50’s, I would estimate that optimal training for competitive weightlifting should include no less than half of the work being performed in modes that are clearly identifiable as bodybuilding in nature."

Jesse Irizzary , in his article on Bodybuilding and Olympic Weightlifting Aren't Mutually Exclusive , says, "Bodybuilding work can be therapeutic, help aid in recovery, and used as a means to increase mobility , not limit it."

So, even if you are a world-class athlete, you're going to have to adopt an approach that helps in recovery and increases mobility as you age. By extension, if you are not a world-class athlete and starting out later in life, you need to be cognizant of the need for recovery and an emphasis on mobility no matter how often someone touts the benefits of strength training.

Lift Heavy, Even in Old Age (or Heavish)

Tom MacCormick , an expert in hypertrophy out of London, England, is a firm believer in lifting heavyish. MacCormick refers to The Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University that established 10 biomarkers of aging.

"The top two were muscle mass and strength. The higher the levels of these the lower your age-related decline. Fast-twitch fibers are the first muscle fibers to decrease in size as you age. These are also the ones that are most positively associated with strength, muscle mass, and blood sugar management so, it makes sense to train these throughout your life." Says MacCormick

So, as an older trainee, you don’t need to try and break any world records or risk injury with maximal loads to stimulate the fast-twitch fibers. These fibers will be fully activated with loads at around 85% of your 1-rep max, which will be age-appropriate. Performing challenging sets of 6 reps mean every rep will recruit your fast-twitch fibers.

"I suggest that you include resistance training, on multi-joint movements, in the 6-10 rep range to promote strength, power, and muscle mass. All of this will have an anti-aging effect on your body and extend your healthspan." Says MacCormick.

This is where you have to be careful you don't get patronized when getting advice. For someone starting out at age fifty and up, a lot will depend on the quality of the work they do and not ego lifts, personal records in poundage or any of the other things that could end up pushing you towards injury and failure.

Enrico Fioranelli at 4E Fitness Training adds, "When exercising over 50 you need to place greater emphasis on how your body responds to the exercise you are doing, and how you feel that day. Don’t worry so much about what you are doing on a particular day worry more about how you feel throughout your workout."

Exercising After 50 Means Having Patience

Jarlo Ilano , Managing Director, GMB Fitness also believes that quality of work matters, "In my opinion, the primary issues for exercising after 50 is that progress tends to be significantly slower than someone half that age and that injuries take much longer to heal.

"So the emphasis should be on the consistency of training rather than intensity. The late Robert Follis (UFC Coach) had a great line that resonated with me: It’s better to do a little bit a lot, then to do a lot a little bit. This especially holds true for older trainers. It’s simply not worth it to exercise intensely, only to get injured and then be unable to train consistently.

"It's a paradox but, trying to improve faster only makes it slower!"

Pain-Free Training for Older Athletes

Rachel Binette of CrossFit City Line is fully aware of the needs of her older clients. She says, "When training older athletes, I have found that their priorities typically shift from needing to be competitive on the board to feeling good and being able to live their lives pain-free. We are fighting decrepitude versus trying to PR our deadlift.

"What this translates to in classes is ensuring that they are modified appropriately. Distances and reps are reduced to preserve the stimulus of the workout and weights and movements are changed to preserve movement integrity in the face of changing mobility.

"As an example, several of my older athletes have "frozen shoulder" or very restricted overhead mobility. We modify away from barbells to dumbbells, focus on core engagement to prevent overextending the low back, and ensure that they have a path through physical therapy to continue to improve.

"When it comes to body composition, maintaining muscle mass is a high priority for all of our athletes. In our older athletes, it can be the difference between being able to get up after a fall or not.

When we coach nutrition for these athletes, there is no change between what we do for our middle-aged and younger athletes. Their activity level and muscle mass (we have an InBody scanner to take the muscle measurements) are taken into account when they have plans set up for them."

Mobility is Key for Older Bodies

"Mobility is the closest thing there is to the fountain of youth. As all of us age the goal should be Not to train to add more years to our lives, but rather to add more life to our years," says Brandon Richey of Brandon Richey Fitness.

Richey's sentiments are echoed in comments we get from many other coaches, such as Micki Pauley of Warrior Body in West Virginia, "KEEP MOVING! Moving EVERYDAY is one of the absolute best things you can do for yourself after 50 - even if for a brisk walk. Strength training 2-3 days a week becomes even more important because it helps keep the muscles strong to perform basic, everyday tasks!!"

It's Never Too Late to Start Exercising

Matt Beecroft of Reality SDC says, "Biologically there are multiple things that age us including, but not limited to- oxidative stress, inflammation and a lowered ability for autophagy.

"We know that in order to help reverse our aging we need to improve the quality of our breathing (including using hypoxia), improve our sleep, experience heat and cold, fast, get sunlight, eat predominantly plant-based, reduce chronic stress and move much more, to help reverse aging."

Amanda Thebe of Fit n Chips, who specializes in training older athletes and especially women facing menopause, believes that you should just start, "If you are on the fence about strength training, my advice is to start lifting weights straight away- the sooner the better.

With major strength declines as we age and a higher risk for chronic diseases, building lean muscle becomes more important than ever as a source of prevention. There comes a time in your life when looking good naked is trumped (you can replace that word with wins if you want) by living life longer. It's not sexy but it matters."

Quality Fitness is Key For Aging Bodies

"When it comes to training over 50 focus on quality over quantity. Place extra emphasis on training intensity versus training duration. In the words of Bill Grundler; More is not better. Better is better." Says Michael Tromello of Precision CrossFit, Agoura Hills, California.

Jesse McMeekin of Adapt Performance adds, "I’ve found that focusing on making things harder before simply making them heavier is a good idea for most lifters, particularly as we age and accumulate the inevitable aches and pains."

The real key to exercise and workouts in the later years is consistency and a systemic approach.

Jonny Slick of Straight Shot Training explains it as such, "I can't stress enough the importance of strength training with my clients over 50. And I don't just mean "strength training" as in lifting light dumbbells for tons of reps... I mean systematic, progressive resistance training that challenges older athletes.

Whether my clients are 25 or 75, they all need to be relatively strong. We work on this by establishing good mechanics, practicing these lifts with consistency, and gradually adding intensity appropriate to where they're at in their fitness journey.

Getting stronger makes everything else easier outside of the gym, and it's one of the best things you can do to prevent injuries, maintain muscle and bone mass, and manage your body weight."

The Research and Concern About Exercising at an Older Age

There are numerous, popular, sources of research that are widely quoted to encourage more awareness of the benefits of exercise for those over 50, specifically if they are just starting out on their fitness journey.

A study called, Comparable Rates of Integrated Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis Between Endurance-Trained Master Athletes and Untrained Older Individuals , essentially looked at masters athlete men who had been active for some time compared to those just starting out.

Without looking into the genetics or specifics of any of the participants of the study, this study, by Manchester Metropolitan University in England, found that a beginner group could essentially catch up with the group that had been active for a couple of decades.

In essence, one group was into intense exercise, had been for decades, and the other was not. Yet, that was not an impediment to the starters becoming late-bloomer athletes.

In a study called, Association of Leisure-Time Physical Activity Across the Adult Life Course With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality , the findings are even more encouraging because being inactive but increasing physical activity during midlife was associated with 32% to 35% lower risk for mortality.

If all the experts and expertise in this one article, a small slice of the knowledge we have about these things, doesn't convince you that beyond 50 is not too late to begin an exercise regimen or, even, intense exercise plan, then let's just leave it at that.

Healthier Foods for Recovery and Performance

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 22:37:55 GMT

By: Ben Roberts , originally posted here .

ARE YOU GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR DIET?

At some point, it simply won’t matter how talented you are, how much time and effort you put into sweating at the gym, programming your workouts and analyzing the weaknesses in your training if you don’t have the nutritional side covered as well.

FOOD IS THE FUNDAMENTAL FUEL FOR ANY PERFORMANCE

It gives your body the necessary tools to grow stronger, replenish itself and go the extra mile in all of your daily tasks.

So once you’ve got the basics of your Crossfit nutrition and clean eating covered, let’s talk about the benefits you can reap from adding so-called superfoods, meaning foods with an unusually high amount of important nutrients. Nutrients you, as an athlete, need in abundance.

‘Fancy name and hype aside, superfoods don’t have to be exotic or expensive – you’ll be surprised how many of these multi-talents you’re already eating.’

So here’s a list of the Superfoods that have the most benefits for Crossfitters:

10. COCONUT WATER

This beverage isn’t only good for hydration levels (and making you feel like you’re on a miniature vacation). Coconut water is the perfect solution to get back on track after a tough WOD:

Like a primal, healthy version of Gatorade, it will give back the electrolytes you lost sweating . The natural coconut sugar is a great way to quickly replenish the glycogen (= energy) deposits in your muscles, paving the way for efficient muscle recovery and growth.

9. HEALTHIER FOODS – SKYR

Ever wondered why the Crossfit Dottirs are so successful?

It might be because of a special sort of Icelandic dairy, Skyr. Made from four times the amount of skimmed milk used in yogurt, it packs a huge amount of calcium and proteins, with next to no carbohydrates and fat, which makes it a perfect fit to hit your protein goals.

8. BERRIES & CHERRIES

As an athlete, you require a lot more antioxidants than the sedentary population. Berries and Cherries provide them in abundance, while also catering to your sweet-tooth in a clean way.

Cherries are especially great if you’re working on your endurance: Studies have shown that endurance athletes that drink cherry juice recover more quickly and measurably increase their performance. Way to improve those cardio-WODs!

7. HEALTHIER FOODS: QUINOA

A pseudo-grain that is actually a seed, Quinoa packs both a decent amount of proteins and complex carbohydrates , as well as essential amino acids, making it a perfect fuel for your body. Its use in sports nutrition is said to reach back all the way to the ancient INCA civilization and their famous warriors, which is not surprising if you look at its further benefits:

manganese
magnesium
iron
zinc
potassium
calcium

All hide in these tiny seeds that can perfectly replace the wheat in your diet.

6. MATCHA TEA

Made from green tea and usually found as a powder, Matcha is like the Hulk of the superfood family.

Feeling fatigued? Matcha boosts your energy level with a good amount of caffeine. It also contains iron, a mineral that especially athletic females need to maintain their vital functions and stay active. Additionally, it offers tons of important vitamins, calcium for your bones -strength and anti-oxidants to speed up your recovery. And the biggest plus for your six-pack ambitions: catechine , which studies have shown to speed up your metabolism and strengthen the immune system.

5. KIMCHI & FERMENTED FOODS AND DRINKS

Whether you eat them (Sauerkraut; Kimchi) or drink them (Kefir, Kombucha): Fermented foods have a lot more to offer than the fact that you can practically keep them in the fridge forever.

The probiotic bacteria they contain help the balance in your digestive system, helping your stomach get the most nutrients and vitamins from all of the other foods you eat. As an athlete, you’ll be able to digest the ridiculous amounts of food you sometimes eat, without having to compromise on the nutrient absorption. (This also means fewer supplements.)

4. HEALTHIER FOODS – ALMONDS

A handful of Almonds after a strenuous workout is the perfect snack to get your recovery started and your nervous system working properly. They combine healthy, mono-saturated fats and protein with Vitamin E, copper, riboflavin (a B-vitamin athletes need more of), potassium and calcium.

3. LEAFY GREENS

The superstar in this group is kale , but other leafy greens like spinach are just as good at living up to their healthy image.

Aside from the fact that they’re a low-calorie staple with loads of different minerals, they are also a fantastic source of folate, which is the natural form of folic acid. This is a key ingredient in helping the body break down proteins and create new ones from the amino acids (hello, muscles!) and also forming new blood cells and DNA.

2. AVOCADO

‘Truth: Everything tastes better with avocado on top!’

This delicious buttery fruit is full of unaltered, natural fatty acids, a great source of energy after your workout, especially if you’re avoiding carbs. They also contain vitamin A&K, promoting bone and heart-health, a lot of fiber for a functioning gut, and antioxidants to prevent soreness.

1. HEALTHIER FOODS – CHIA SEEDS

This Aztec superfood isn’t famous for no good reason!

High levels of healthy omega-3-acids that enhance concentration , plant-based protein for those muscles and fiber to keep you full and nourished when you’re trying to cut body fat.

Calcium and potassium help your recovery process and anti-oxygens prevent inflammation and muscle-soreness. For similar health effects, cutting costs, you can also turn to ground flaxseeds, although they aren’t as easy to turn into a delicious and guilt-free dessert.

What other healthier foods do you enjoy in your nutrition?

Dan Wells' Adventure with Intermittent Fasting

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 22:40:35 GMT

As a former competitive wrestler, when I heard about intermittent fasting my first thought was, “No way, never!” Too many years of starvation had trained me to avoid food deprivation at all costs. When it came to weight management through nutrition, my sole focus was quality over quantity. So as long as I stuck to fresh vegetables, high-quality meats and fats, minimal starches, and little to no sugars, I would be fine.

The thing about nutrition though, is that one size does not fit all.

A few months ago, my good buddy Dave, showed up at my front door. I hadn't seen him for a few months, and I was shocked to see a much smaller version of my friend standing in the doorway. Thirty pounds lighter, even his head looked smaller! We sat down for a bite and he told me that he accomplished it by eating whatever he wanted… but the eating had to happen between the hours of noon and 6 pm each day.

That’s when my research started. It wasn’t so much about calorie restriction (at all!), it was more about giving your body (your machine) a nice long break every once in a while; so it can repair its various systems, improve its cellular structure, and burn off unnecessary fat.

I thought, wait a minute, isn’t calorie restriction the quickest path to slowing down the metabolic rate, which eventually means loading on more fat and stripping off more muscle than when you started? (Much like all of the Biggest Loser contestants, who yo-yo’d back to their starting point and beyond.)

A research study I came across, changed the way I looked at things. The study compared people who simply restricted calories, to people who did intermittent fasting. Folks in the study who deprived themselves of significant calories (i.e. cutting 2000 calories down to 1400) but snacked all day, did in fact, slow down their resting metabolic rates. On the flip side, the people who fasted for a period of time, and then ate their normal caloric intake without restricting or adjusting the amount (i.e. 2000 calories), saw their metabolism essentially maintained. Here’s the thing though: since the body was given this big break from working all the time, the systems of the body began functioning better.

The result? Fewer pre-cancerous cells. Excess brown fat burned off for fuel. Digestive systems improved dramatically. As well as energy and concentration levels that shot through the moon!

Here is the extended list of proposed benefits of fasting:

Boost metabolism for fat loss
Extend lifespan
Lower insulin levels, increasing human growth hormone
Reduce inflammation
Reduce waste and oxidative damage from cells
Reduce leptin levels, increasing testosterone
Reduce the risk of heart disease
Reduce cholesterol levels
Improved brain function (focus)

Wow! I had to try it. Since I don’t like to do things half-assed, I decided to go for the full 24 hours fast right out the gate. And because I know how grumpy I can get when I’m hungry, I selected a Sunday so I could minimize my interactions with, well… people.

At 5:30 Saturday night, I threw a pile of vegetables, a sweet potato, and a grass-fed t-bone steak on the grill… and then wolfed it all down. When the clock struck 6 pm, it was game-on for this rookie. (Needless to say at that point, I was looking forward to hunger because I ate way too much thinking about what was ahead.) Sure enough, around 9:30 I started craving a snack- even just a glass of milk- but I powered through and fell asleep.

Up at 6 am, I was already hungry because I’m used to eating breakfast. The good news was: I was already halfway through the fast. 12 hours to go. More good news: coffee has no calories, so (unless you’re a “purist”), you can drink up. So I did.

Right around 10 am however, I started to feel a solid wave of hunger. Not fun, but also not the end of the world. And after about a half-hour or so, it faded away. For the next few hours, I started feeling good- alert, lean… efficient. As if my body was accomplishing something important with each minute. I kept myself busy working, organizing, and binge-watching “Inside Bill’s Brain” on Netflix (a winner in case you haven’t yet seen it).

Another wave of hunger hit me at around 2 pm. It was definitely uncomfortable, but I simply recognized it for what it was, visualized my internal cells healing, and sure enough, it too passed.

With about an hour left, I started to get hungry. But with 23 down, there was no way I was throwing in the towel. An hour later, I found myself standing in line at Chop Stop for one of my favorite meals on earth: The Santa Fe Chop made with half kale, half spinach. This salad is already like crack to me, but after that fast, it was straight-up heaven on earth.

I figured maybe I would need to get something at the grocery store to eat afterward, but when I finished the meal, I was stuffed! And I felt great.

Since that time, I’ve done a fasting ratio of 16:8 (16 hours on, 8 hours off, stopping eating at 6 pm and resuming eating again at 10 am), and a couple of 18:6 fasts (6 pm-2 pm). Every time I do, I feel amazing… and the skin around my midline tightens up noticeably. I can only imagine what’s going on inside my body.

The best part about Intermittent Fasting is that it’s a tool that you don’t necessarily have to employ every day. It’s there whenever you need a boost to your health and wellness. And if ever want to lose a significant amount of weight… then you can do it more consistently and simply make it a habit.

Never thought I’d say this but the final word on intermittent fasting: thumbs up.

Dan Wells