6 miles

today i decided to take a day off from the weights and just do cardio. i woke up surprisingly feeling good considering i drank quite a bit of rosé. it was a overall fun night. i went on a 6 mile run and took the dogs for a hour walk. my friend sunil which is also a trainer has been working out with me for the past 2 weeks and i set him up on a nutrition plan that he’s not following 100 percent but he’s improving by the day to follow the meal plane sense his goal is to put on 15lb of lean mass. he just told me yesterday that he has put on 5lb already sense he starting with me so i was very happy to hear that! this was a pic from last night. he was dressed as antwan dotson.

food log day 6

forgot to put this up yesterday so here is my log. meal 5 was a small carb up meal because at that point i felt like hell and was fading out and starting to get light headed. after coming home from the halloween party had the late night munchies so that’s the reasoning for my last meal.

1. 7:30am 1/2 cup oatmeal w/ one scoop protein, protein shake one scoop
2. 9:30am 6oz tilapia,3tbsp cream of wheat
3. 11am 50g whey,1 banana
4. 12:40 6 eggwhite devil egg salad one yolk
5. 2:40 1/2 cup oat,1 scoop whey protein,1 banana,1 box of raisens,1 tbsp natural p-nut,1 tbsp 100% fruit preserve
6. 5:50pm 5 oven-baked turkey meatballs,1000mg flaxseed oil
7. 12:30am 2 cali clubs,1 banana,1tbsp pnut butter,2 small dove chocolates

shoulders/calves/abs

* incline bench bb front raises back against bench superset upright rows
* one arm reverse cable laterals
* 2 sets giant set of seated db laterals 30lb for 10x 20lb for 15x 10lb for 20x and 5lb for 30x
* bb shrug 4×12
* seated calve raise superset rope crunch
* standing calve raise superset hanging leg raises
* oblique cable one arm crunches

no cardio today. feeling pretty drained but i’m ready to have a good time tonite. in the spirit of halloween i figured i'd do my progress pictures cosumed up. happy halloween everyone!!!

Importance of Skincare

Skincare is very important as we age. I’m getting ready to turn 26 in November and I’’ve really started to focus on skincare for the past 6 months. I’m already noticing changes as i have not ever taken care of my skin before. Here is a couple of things that I use for anti-aging and overall care.

• Retin-A (I use every other night) one of the best researched and most effective skin treatments available on the market today. And the availability of Retin A products is increasing, with more than 300 new Retin-A products marketed since 2003.

• While originally prescribed as a treatment for acne, Retin-A quickly showed additional skin benefits, including improvements in skin texture.

• It also works to reverse photo damage in the form of wrinkles and age spots.

• Lavender Mask (I do twice a week) Lavender has a host of benefits when used in skin care products, but has great value in helping the skin heal itself, stimulating cell growth, reducing inflammation, preventing scarring and balancing the production of oil.

• Curel (once a day before bed) this is a basic body moisturizer I use before bed because i don’t like to put lotion on during the day then go to the gym and have slimey skin.

food log day 5

this has been my most successful week i just weighed myself tonite and i’m little over 200lb. of coarse i feel pretty flat but that’s from lack of carbs so i might do a little more sunday.

1. 8am 1/2 cup oatmeal w/ one scoop protein, protein shake one scoop
2. 10:30am 4 oven-baked turkey meatballs,3 tbsp cream of wheat
3. 12:40pm 50g whey protein, 1 banana
4. 2:30 6oz tilapia,1000mg flaxseed oil
5. 5pm 6 eggwhite devils egg salad
6. 7:30 2 cans low sodium tuna (tuna celery sticks)
7. 10pm 50g whey protein,1000mg flaxseed oil

Tuna Celery Stalks

1 can low-sodium chunk white tuna,rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped apple
2 tablespoons fat-free plain yogurt
ground black pepper
12 ribs celery,rinsed and ends trimmed

directions

1. put the tuna in a small bowl and break it apart with a fork. add vinegar and mix.
2. add onion,apple,yogurt,and pepper to taste. mix well
3. spoon tuna salad into gutter of each rib

back/bi/hiit

despite being lower on calories i’m getting some of my most amazing workouts. getting tighter and feeling great. for todays routine i always start my back workouts with chins because it’s something that i really feel like i need to get better at. i usually do 3 sets to failure which would be first set 15 reps, second 10 third 8. i feel like i always just fatigue easy so i started today a new technique that i suggest anyone that wants to improve in overall back strength while boosting your chin reps to give it a try. here’s the routine

• wide grip chins - first set bodyweight 5 reps,2nd set add 10lb 5 reps,3rd 25lb 5 reps,4th set 45lb 5 reps,5th set 45lb 5 reps take the weight off then do body weight to failure i got 8. and on the last 2 reps i did negatives
• seated cable narrow grip row - 3×12 one dropset
• reverse grip pulldowns - x12 one dropset
• standing db row - 3×12 one dropset
• row machine,tbar rows,deadlifts 3×12 did it as a tri-set
• cambered bar 21’s 3 sets
• 20 minutes stairclimber hiit 1 min 5.0 2 min 8.0 back in forth to 20

i’m going back up to the gym later on today to do 20 minutes of hiit again and some light ab work. posting a music update later on!! happy halloween!!

food log day 4

1. 5:15am 1/2 cup oatmeal w/ one scoop protein, protein shake one scoop
2. 8:45am devils egg salad (7 eggwhites 1 yolk),1 banana
3. 10:45, 50g whey protein
4. 1:30 6oz skinless chicken breast,3tbsp cream of wheat,1000mg flaxseed oil
5. 3:45 devils egg salad 5 eggwhites 1 yolk,3tbsp cream of wheat
6. 6pm 50g whey protein,1000 mg flaxseed oil
7. 7:30pm 5 oven-baked turkey meatballs,1 cup broccoli
8. 10:15 devils egg salad (7 eggwhites), 1000mg flaxseed oil

chest/side delt/tri/ab/hiit

just got home from yet another sick workout. here’s the routine

• flat hammer strength press 4×10-12 one drop
• slight incline db fly 3×12
• incline press machine 4×10-12 one drop
• db pullovers 3×12
• fst-7 cable flys 7×15
• vbar pushdowns superset standing lateral raise 3×15
• side oblique cable crunches
• captain’s chair weighted knee raise 3×12 (first time i tried these with weights and dammmn all i can say is painnnnnnn!)
• 20 minutes HIIT stairclimber

Devils Egg Salad

this is a new favorite for me if you like deviled eggs this is what it taste like...to me at least. it's cheap, quick and very tasty. depending on your protein and fat needs you can add more whites or take the yolk completely out. i had this twice yesterday and the first time i had it with 2 yolks and the second time i just had 6 whites. enjoy!!

ingredients

-2 whole hard-boiled eggs
-4 hard boiled egg eggwhites
-1 heaping tbsp dijon mustard
-dash of ground pepper
-dash of cayenne pepper

directions

1.in bowl chop up all the eggs to your liking
2.add pepper and cayenne and dijon mustard
3.mix well and enjoy!

directions for boiling eggs

1.place 12 eggs in pot and add water about an inch over the eggs
2place on high until its starts to boil, then reduce heat to med and cover, cook for 10 minutes
3after 10 minutes move to cool part of stove and let them cool off for 10-15
4drain water and peel (it’s easyier if you peel under cold water but they are still kinda a pain in the ass)

food log day 3

1. 5:15am 1/2 cup oatmeal w/ one scoop protein, protein shake one scoop
2. 8:30am 8 egg whites,1 banana
3. 10:45am 50g whey protein
4. 1pm 6oz tilapia, 3tbsp cream of wheat,1000mg flaxseed oil
5. 4pm 50gram whey protein, 1 b-complex vitamin w/C
6. 5pm egg salad (6 egg whites 2 yolks)
7. 8:30pm 6oz tilapia,flaxseed oil 1000mg
8. 10:15pm 6 egg whites salad

i have found a new favorite with the egg salad i’ll post the recipe tom!

today was leg day and to get my legs nice and warm before the workout i rode my bike to the gym which is about a 10 minute ride. once i got there i got right into the routine

• wide foot stance leg press superset lying leg curl machine one leg kickbacks
• squats superset with leg ext
• stiff leg dead lifts
• lying leg curls
• 20 minutes hiit stairclimber (level 5 one minute then level 8 one minute back in forth)

went heavier then i normally would today everything was 4×10-12. now i’m about to go get a halloween costume this will be the first time i’ve dressed up sense i was a kid lol.

America...Get Moving

When reading the magazine reps I came across another article that is not only scary but sad and disturbing too. "According to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every three American adults is obese, and two out of every three are overweight. Among children and teens the numbers aren’t much better: roughly 17% of children aged 2-19 are considered obese. The obesity rate among women and children hasn’t changed measurably over the past decade, and it’s remained largely flat among men for the past five years. America spends over $140 billion each year on obesity-related health issues, almost double what it spends on cancer." It feels great to be a very small help to this epidemic by being one personal trainer helping my clients but I hope to one day be a huge help somehow with getting America in shape!

whole wheat flat bread PIZZA

ingredients
-1 whole wheat flat bread pizza (can’t remember the name brand mama mia maybe?)
-jar of sauce (i try to find the one with least amount of sugar)
-olive oil
-low fat mozzarella shredded cheese
-tomato
-banana pepper rings
-italian seasoning
-garlic powder

directions

-preheat oven to 400
-coat flat bread with olive oil (i don’t measure make sure its spread out and covered)
-add sauce
-add cheese (add to your liking i don’t measure this either. i learned to use a little more though then not enough)
-add toppings that you like (my personal favorite is tomato,pepper rings,mushrooms)
-add seasonings
-bake for 15 minutes. let it cool a bit before cutting.

food log day 2

yesterday i posted my nutrition plan. i will post it daily now.

1. 5:15am 9 eggwhites,1 bananna
2. 8:15am 4 oven-baked turkey meatballs,1/2 cup brown rice
3. 10:30am 50g whey protein shake
4. 12pm 6oz tilapia,1/2 cup oats,1000mg flaxseed oil
5. (pre-workout)4pm 50g whey protein,1 tbsp almond butter,1000mg flaxseed oil,1 b- complex w/C vitamin
6. (post-workout)6pm 50g whey protein shake
7. 7:15pm 6oz skinless chicken breast,serving of broccoli,1000mg flaxseed oil

i have never been on this restrictive of a nutrition plan so i’m pretty excited to see the results!

arms/calve/abs

love arm day! here's the routine

- straight bar preacher curls superset standing straight bar close grip curls 4x12
- cable rope kickouts superset dips 3x12 ropes and 3x20 on dips
- seated db curl superset cable straight bar seated behind next curls 3x12
- spyder curls superset one arm reverse press downs 3x15
- wrist curls superset reverse wrist curls 3x20-30
- seated calve raise 4x12 one drop set
- chair leg raises 3x15 superset rope crunches 3x20
- jump rope 10 minutes

Oven-baked Turkey Meatballs

ingredients:

1.5 pounds 93/7 turkey ground meat
2 egg whites
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup quaker quick cook oats (plain)
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt-free all purpose seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

directions

preheat oven to 400 and coat a baking sheet with aluminum foil and pam
place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together well with hands
make 16-20 golf ball size meatballs and place them on baking sheet
bake for 7 minutes. turn meatballs, then bake for 8-13 minutes, or no until no longer pink

current nutrition plan

1. 5:15am 8 eggwhites,3 tbsp cream of wheat
2. 8:15am 6oz tilapia,broccoli
3. 12:30pm 6oz chicken breast skinless,grilled sweet potato rounds (1 medium size potato),1000mg flaxseed oil
4. 4pm (pre-workout) 50g whey protein shake,1tbsp almond butter,1000mg flaxseed oil,1 b-complex w/ C vitamin
5. 4:30pm directly before the gym i take 2g of arginine ethyl ester,400mg niacin,200-300mg caffeine anhydrous
6. 5:45pm directly after workout 50gram whey protein
7. 7:15pm oven-baked turkey meatballs (4) serving of broccoli,1000mg flaxseed oil

this is pretty much what i’ll be having everyday. the order of my meals will depend on when i work out.this will be for the next 2 weeks no cheat meals.

shoulders

even though being low on carbs i was still able to get full and a nice pump today. these high rep sets are really doing the trick! here's the routine.

• standing one arm reverse lateral 3x15
• seated db laterals 3x12
• standing one arm behind back lateral raise 3x15
• upright rows 3x30,20,10
• incline bench front raises (chest on bench) 3x12
• bent over db laterals superset db shrugs 3x12-15
• standing one leg calve raise bodyweight 3x15
• standing calve machine 4x12 one drop on the last set

it has been nice that i've gotten to back off of cardio and let the nutrition do the work now. i'm still going to run at least 12-15 miles a week and jump rope a bit also but i'm not doing no where near the amount of cardio i had been doing. looking forward to tom for arm day :)

back attack

here is today's routine

• chins 2 sets wide grip and one set reverse narrow grip did all three sets to failure
• tbar rows 3 total sets first set 30 reps, second set 20 reps and last set 10 reps
• narrow grip pulldowns 3x12
• reverse grip bb rows 3x12
• seated row superset standing rope rows 3x12-15
• one arm db row on bench 3x12 superset hyperext 3x15

finished up with 2 exercises for bi's just to get some blood in them.

• spyder curls 3x15
• seated concentration curls 3x15

i'm going to take the pups for a hike and relax the rest of the day watch some football and dexter later on. hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend!

cali club

here’s my version of one of my favorite sandwiches. i first had this at a nyc deli and was hooked. so had to come up with a healthier version.

preheat oven to 350
place whole wheat sub rolls on aluminum foil cooking sheet
add turkey, then avocado, reduced fat provolone cheese.
bake for 3-4 minutes or however long you like for it to be toasted
while the sandwich is baking microwave turkey bacon in paper towels for 2-3 minutes
once done add bacon to sandwich,tomato slices,and alfalfa sprouts
last is add fat free mayo.

music from the week

• yelawolf f/ raekwon - i wish
• game f/ pharell - bounce
• j cole - i’m on it
• kanye west - dark fantasy
• kanye west - hell of a life
• kanye west - never look down
• lloyd banks - when i get there
• n.e.r.d. - nothing on you
• pusha t - arm piece
• the black eyed peas - the time (dirty bit)

heres what’s been playing in my ipod this week…enjoy heres the link if interested

http://www.zshare.net/download/819059954eae2d23/

chest day

another good one down and ready to enjoy the rest of my saturday!

• incline db press 4×8-12
• flat hammer machine press 3×20 superset boise ball pushups 3xfailure
• flat db fly 3×12
• db pullovers 3×12 superset machine press 3×15
• one arm cable kickouts 3×20-30

cardio for the day was a short 15 min jog after the gym i was originally going for 6 miles today but my legs are fatigued from yesterdays routine. here’s a digital i took yesterday. weighing about 204lb. i’m pretty stoked because i’ve never been in this shape before.

quick bite... chicken,tuna,avocado

this is a quick bite that i’ve been eatting when i need somthing quick and don’t have time to cook my meal.hickory smoked flavored tuna pack

5oz canned chicken

1/2 avocado

mix it all up and enjoy…next time i have this i’m going to try it with a couple tbsp of apple cider vinegar

legs

just finished up a killer leg workout. decided to do the best of both worlds. lighter weight high reps and heavier weight lower reps. heres the routine

the first thing was a giant set. so i did squats then lunged to the lying leg curl machine which was about 15 steps then did leg ext and lunged back to the squat rack

• squats,lunge,lying leg curl,leg ext. 3×30,20,10
• close feet stance leg press superset stiffleg deadlifts 3×30,20,10
• bench step ups superset bench jumps 3×10 on each leg of stepups and 20 bench jumps
• seated calve raise 4×12 with 3 drops on the 4th set to failure.

hope everyone has a good weekend!

dog walking

was reading the magazine REPs and came across a interesting article
“a recent study in Clinical Nursing Research showed that walking a dog for as little as 20 minutes per day, five days per week for 50 weeks resulted in a weight loss of more than 14 pounds! Even more remarkable was the fact that participants had a mean adherence of 72% to the program.”

arms/abs/run

today's arm routine was just ok. i base my workouts on how my pump is. and i think sense yesterday was extremely low carb day i wasn't able to really fill up today. i didn't do as much as i normally would either for this reason. regardless it was ok. here's the routine

• standing straight bar curls 3x8-12 one drop superset cable straight bar kick outs
• incline db curl superset overhead one arm db ext 3x10-12
• one arm seated preacher curl superset straight bar skullcrushers 3x10-12

for forearms and abs i did a little circuit for about 10 minutes i jumproped for 2 min then went straight into reverse seated wrist curls for 20 reps then bench crunches for 30 reps then back to the rope for 2 min.

i just got back now from my usual 6 mile course that i do and i think it's a bit too chilly to be running without a shirt on now because i was cramping most of my run which was hell. but i pushed through it and ended up running it in 46:22 not my best time but i can live with it.

shoulders/abs/calves

just finished up a shoulder routine. this was the first time i tried 50 rep sets for laterals and they are awesome! your delts will go numb and fill up with blood quick. crazy pump! i had to take a couple few second breaks during the sets and was only using 12lb dbs. here's the routine

• standing db lateral raise 3x50
• bb upright rows 4x10-12 one drop set
• db front raises 4x10-12 one drop
• reverse pec dec 3x10-12 superset with partial laterals (top half of rep)
• smith machine shrugs superset db shrugs 4x10-15

i did intervals with abs and jump rope. i would jumprope for 2-3 minutes then knock out a set of abs here is what i did for abs

• hanging leg raises 3xfailure
• standing cable straight bar crunches superset one arm cable oblique crunches
• ball twists on sit up bench

finished off with leg press machine calve raises 4x12. today was a low carb day so my energy was definitely low. running off of 25g from my first meal.... the 300mg of caffeine anhydrous is what helped get me through this one.

Moderation

from the very beginning the reason why i got into the health and fitness lifestyle was to gain confidence and have a better overall life. through the course of 7 years i’ve tried different ways of doing this. i’ve been the extremest and went through a bodybuilding phase where i just wanted to be huge and i never thought i was big enough. then i tried to slim down for fashion modeling and stopped weight training all together and that made me lose all of the confidence that i had originally gained and became very unhappy with myself. I believe when you try to do anything extreme and force things that are not supposed to happen that you’re setting yourself up for failure. i live my life now in moderation. when i was going through my bodybuilding phase i didn’t have much of a social life. then when i slimmed down i started to party and drink way too much and didn’t follow a healthy nutrition plan. moderation is key when living the health and fitness lifestyle because you still want to be able to go out and be social, have drinks, have your weekly cheat meals or day whichever you do because from my experience your not going to be a happy person if you totally restrict yourself or over indulge. downfalls of total restriction that had happened to me was being very irritable,non social,no energy, and the feeling of guilt when i had something that wasn’t on my “diet” and just not being happy. then when i did the complete opposite and overindulged in everything the downfalls from that were loss of all my confidence,low self-esteem which led to no sex drive and just not feeling healthy and i was out of shape. who wants to be or feel like that?! i don’t think anybody should! this is not the way to live life. as i’ve said before, life is too short and most people if not all get into the health and fitness lifestyle to improve overall well being, not to destruct it. since taking on this whole new approach to my life for the past 6 months i’m a totally different person. my confidence is back, i enjoy going out on the weekends and being social, having my weekly junk food and i’m in the best shape of my life. also since i’m not forcing things to happen everything seems to be falling into place so i’m very excited to see what’s to come in the future.

back/bi

this morning back routine

• chins 3x15
• standing db row 3x12
  
• wide grip pulldown 2x12
• reverse grip pulldown 3x12 one dropset
• reverse grip bb row 4x10-12 one dropset
• seated cable row narrow grip 3x12
• deadlifts superset rope standing pulldowns
• standing db curls 3x12 and one set of 50reps

taking the day off of cardio.

maximize pump

quick tips to maximize your pump during your workout

• drink a minimum of one liter of water (sipping in between sets)
• minimum rest between sets 45-1 min max
• contract muscle group your working in between sets
• stretching muscle group your working
• contract and squeeze as hard as you can on each rep of each set.

Chest/tri/calves

this morning was a great chest routine even though i slept horrible last night. my friend sunil also a trainer at my gym trained with me. it’s been a nice extra push for me to have a training partner my last couple workouts because sense getting back into weight training again i’ve been hitting it solo for the past 7 months. i do want to add that i don’t think it’s important to have unless your training to failure and need a spot which i never do. here is my routine

• Hammer strength flat press 4×12 with 2 drops on the final set
• cable flys 3×15
• incline db press 4×10-12 2 drops on the last set
• db pullovers 3×12
• incline db fly 3×12
• one arm reverse cable pressdown 3×10-12
• standing calve raises 4×12

later on tonite i’ve got to work a couple of hours then i’m going to do some abs and light cardio. i will pick 3 random exercises and train each 3 sets to failure in a triset non stop circuit. this picture was taken summer 09 nyc.

Chicken Parmesan

• Preheat oven to 375
• Preheat a nonstick pan to med/hi on stovetop
• cut all fat off the chicken breast and rinse off in cold water
• put the chicken in a gallon ziplock baggie and add 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (enough for 3 breasts)
• shake the bag untill all the breast are covered in the flour
• spray your preheated pan with pam and add breasts
• cook on each side for 2-3 minutes until the flour browns
• now place breast on cooking sheet with aluminum foil sprayed with pam
• add italian seasoning,garlic powder,pepper
• bake on 375 for 25 minutes the last 2-3 minutes take the chicken out and add low fat mozzarella cheese then place back in oven to melt.
• once done pour your favorite marinara sauce and enjoy!

what's in my ipod

anybody that knows me knows that i’m obsessed with music. it’s always been something that i absolutely love. when i was high school me and one of my friends lee bradberry which he’s still doing music now used to make hiphop. i would make beats using a mpc2000xl and asr-10. i’ve been messing around randomly on fruity loops lately. i can’t imagine not working out to music. here is a few songs that i’ve been working out to the past couple days.

1. Spank Rock - Backyard betty
2. Far east movement - girls on the dancefloor
3. spank rock - b.o.o.t.a.y
4. far east movement - like a g6
5. pimp c - since the 90’s
6. krs-one - step into a world
7. wiz khalifa - in the cut
8. gucci mane - might as well
9. a day to remember - the plot to bomb the panhandle
10. jadakiss and 50 cent - dump
11. kanye west - take one for the team
12. jamie foxx rick ross - livin better now
13. lloyd banks - start it up
14. white zombie - more human than human
15. young jeezy - sleep when i die

today i took the day off from weights and just did some cardio. ran 6 miles in 44.20. there’s a 10k next weekend that i’m going to run in. this will be the first time i’ve done a race. looking forward to hitting some chest in the am! here is the link to download these songs if interested i just uploaded a rar file so you just have to unzip and enjoy.

http://www.zshare.net/download/81668153febacca5/

this pic is from summer nyc 2009

Protein Pancakes

ingredients
4 egg whites
1/2 cup dry oats
2 scoops whey protein
2 heaping table spoons of fat free cottage cheese
ground cinnamon as much as you want
pumpkin spice as much as you want
tsp vanilla extract
2-4 packets of splenda

have a skillet preheating on med/hi
add all ingredients in blender. pour in skillet slowly to the size you want. wait until the top sets a bit and flip once. add sugar free syrup and enjoy.

so today woke up totally dehydrated and a bit hungover from last nights shenanigans. drink of choice was vodka cranberries and a couple of glasses of pinot before going out. it was a fun night but right back at it today for legs…here’s my routine.

• lying leg curls 4×20,15,15,12
• squats 4×20,15,12 then a drop for 20
• bb stiffleg deads superset with one leg db stiffleg deads 3×12-15
• leg press ( wide feet) superset leg ext 3×15
• walking lunges 3×20 steps each way 40 total for one set
• one leg smith machine squats superset standing calve raises 3×12

for cardio today taking the dogs on a long hike and enjoying this gorgeous weather. in the 70’s in mid october definetly nice change from last year already wearing winter clothes by now in nyc. this picture was taken jan 2010 nyc

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients
2 sweet potato's
cayenne pepper
garlic powder
italian seasoning
cajun spice
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 400

start off by cutting the ends of the potato's then cut them length wise in half then cut the halves into preferred size, the thinner you cut the crispier they will get. put fries into a gallon bag...add as much seasoning as you like and 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. seal and shake bag. place fries on a baking sheet with aluminum foil sprayed with pam and cook for 50minutes. cook a little longer to make crispier.

i dip mine in 100% Natural Hunts ketchup

also you can season these however you want. i've tried a few different ways.

ARMS

after feeling like sh*t all day yesterday and even taking a afternoon nap woke up still felt worthless i decided to carb up a bit. damn i love me some carbs but then again who doesn’t? for my first carb up meal i had 4 pieces of whole wheat toast 2 of them i put natural peanut butter and sugar free syrup on top and the other 2 i put some i can’t believe it’s not butter and sugar free jelly and had 3 15g detour protein bars. for dinner which was about 4 hours after that i grilled some burgers and had 2 whole wheat buns then had some sweet potato fries. i woke up this morning feeling full of energy and excited about hitting some arms. so here is my routine i did.

• rope pressdowns superset with overhead rope kickouts 4×10-12 with one drop set a piece after the last set
• spyder curls superset one arm preacher curls 4×10-12 one dropset on last set just with spyders
• db skullcrushers superset close grip press 3×10-12 with one drop set on last set
• standing cambered bar curls superset db hammer curls 3×10-12
• standing concentration curls superset dips 2×12 on curls and failure on dips (around 20)
• seatred reverse wrist curls 3×20
• seated calve raise 4×12
• leg press calve 3×12

today was the first time i’d ever trained arms like this. supersetting two exercises for bi and the same thing with tri’s instead of doing like i usually do which is bi with a tri. also it was the first time i had did a carb load at night time i usually do carbloads just during the day..and i definitly am going to start doing it this way. this is what i mean by you have to experiment with what works best for YOU and YOUR body as I stated in a previous post.

these images were from a men’s workout magazine i tried to make them bigger but they looked distorted..can’t remember what issue it was from.

Positivity

“the mind is the limit as long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something you can do it. as long as you believe 100 percent” - Arnold Schwarzenegger
This quote has been one of my favorites and it’s something that I truly believe in. As I stated before in one of my previous post Beating the mind I believe that a good percent of your results in the gym and outside of the gym come from mind control.

The power of positive thinking has been key to my recent ventures. Recently I have moved to a new city and once I got settled in it was time to get a job before I start school in Jan (which Ill be majoring in Exercise and Physiology). When I first got here I really wasn’t liking it considering I just moved from NYC so right off the bat I was a negative person and was putting off negative vibes. For a good two months I was still jobless. I applied for jobs everywhere from restaurant server, warehouse positions, and to every gym I could to do personal training or any position that was hiring. After hearing nothing from any place but the same story that they wanted someone with experience except the gyms they just were not hiring I thought how the hell are you supposed to get experience if you can’t even get hired. Needless to say I became more pissed and more angry and was pretty much just a grump. Until a couple of weeks ago I had to take a step out of myself and see that I wasn’t going to get anywhere being negative all the time so I told myself I’m going to be positive and patient and something will happen. That whole week I changed my attitude completely and was just a happier person in general. By the the beginning of that following week I got a phone call from the gym owner that I’ve been working out at and he offered me a position. So now I’ll be doing sales along with personal training. My moral of this story is to put positive energy out and positive things will come your way. Now I feel like everything is back on track and things are falling into place like I’ve wanted them to. Life is too short to be negative and grumpy.

shoulders

despite dragging ass and really not feeling it today i still managed to focus and push myself to get a good workout in. here is my routine that i did

• seated one arm db lateral raises 4x 15
• bb front raise superset one arm cable reverse (for rear delt) 3x12-15
• standing db laterals 3x10-15 with 2 drops on the last set for a total of 5 sets
• upright rows superset bent over laterals standing 3x10-12
• db shrugs 3x12 with 2 drops total of 5 sets

its been nice that i've gotten to back off the cardio and my body is still tightening up. i'm going to see how i feel later and i might go do 30 minutes. looking forward to arm day tom. i'm going to start getting some video footage soon of my workouts.

this picture was from men's workout magazine. can't remember what issue but was shot fall/winter 2009 and was my last fitness shoot before i decided to slim down and take the fashion route.

Baked ground beef and portobello Mushroom

preheat oven to 350

patty ground beef,season how you like (gourmet burger season is awesome)
place on a baking sheet with aluminum foil sprayed with pam

clean the inside of the mushroom (all the black stuff and stem)
rinse off and place on a different baking sheet
add a tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
italian seasoning,garlic powder, and dice tomatoes.

bake together for 22-25 minutes depending on how you like the beef
add low fat mozzarella let melt and enjoy!

back

this morning i had a really good back routine. did a lot of drops and a couple supersets. heres my routine

• chins - 3xfailure
• pulldowns wide grip 1 warm up set then 2 working sets of 12
• reverse pulldowns 2×12
• narrow grip pulldowns 2×12
• reverse grip cambered bar rows 3×10-12 and a drop on the last set for 10
• seated row superset incline bench db rows 3×12
• rack deadlifts superset rope standing pulldowns 3×12

later on tonite i’m going to do 40 minutes of cardio and some abs. i’ve backed off of my cardio a little bit the past few days and cut out my session directly after my weight training sense i made a few adjustments to my nutrition plan. i’m going to see how i look at the end of this week to determine if i need to add it again or make more adjustments to my nutrition.

pre and post workout nutrition

pre and post workout nutrition is very important and if you want to maximize your results don’t sell yourself short by skipping this or doing it half assed. if your like me and chase the pump and want your muscles to be tight and full as possible during your workout this is effected by your pre workout meal. starting about 90 minutes from the time you will be working out start drinking one liter of water. at the 45 to 30 minute time before the gym is when you want to get your meal in. some type of lean protein and slow digesting carbohydrate. a typical meal for me would be any type of protein….skinless chicken breast,egg whites,steak,ground beef, pork,fish along with a slow digesting carbohydrate which is usually either oatmeal,brown rice,or a sweet potato. depending on what day it is either low to no or high carborhydrate day depends on the amount i take in. no more then 1 cup brown rice and 1/2 cup oatmeal or 1 sweet potato is the most i’ll eat at once. experiment with what works for you. this week i incorporated brown rice back into the mix and my energy levels are better and my muscles are staying fuller. post workout is just as if not more important then pre. personally i consider them equally as important. directly after your workout you want to have a protein shake. depending on your protein needs will depend on how much to take. i take 50grams of whey and to replenish glycogen levels that were just burned up i use 2tbsp of POMx Recovery which is a fast digesting carbohydrate. about an hour or so after the shake i have another meal. depending on what time i workout at and what day it is it will be the same as my pre-workout meal. the reason is i cycle my carbs so sometimes i will not eat carbs with my post workout meal on certain days. bottom line is you got to find out what works for your BODY.

chest/tri

after letting my upper body rest for 3 days i had a great chest workout today. i got pumped quick after the first couple sets..that’s when you know it’s gonna be a good one. here’s my routine i did

• flat db press 5×8-12 first 2 sets were just warm up
• pec dec 4×12 i really went slow on the the negatives of these today
• incline bb press 3×10-12
• tri-set - decline hammer press,db pullovers,incline db fly 3×12
• straight bar cable pressdowns 4×8-12

the tri-set at the end of my workout was a great way to fill up my chest and target it from 3 different angles to maximize the pump.

this is a picture taken this past sat. i'm getting closer to where i want to be i have a little more fat to drop which a few minor adjustments with my nutrition plan should do the trick.

Buffalo Chicken Tenders or Wings

sense football season is here theres not a better way to enjoy your game day food then a healthier version of the traditional chicken tenders or wings.

Ingredients

3 chicken breast or 20 Wings
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 cup liquid i can't believe its not butter
1/2 cup franks red hot wing sauce

Directions

cut all fat off chicken breast, then cut chicken breast into preferred size strips. rense off cold water then dry with paper towel, put the breast into a gallon size ziplock baggie
(if your going to do wings make sure to dry with paper towel)

add the flour,cayeene pepper,garlic,salt into the bag and shake the chicken until each breast or wing is covered in the flour mix

place the strips or wings on a baking sheet with aluminum foil sprayed with pam and place in refrigerator for 30-45 minutes (this allows the flow to stick to meat)

preheat oven to 375 for strips or 400 for wings
mix the wing sauce and butter together in a bowl and dip each piece and put it back on the baking sheet

once all are covered (you might need to make extra sauce) place in oven

strips cook for 25 minutes on 375
wings cook for 50-60 minutes on 400

i dip mine in fat free ranch. enjoy!

ended up being legs...

was planning to do chest today but forgot that legs was next up for me. so i got to give my upper body another day of rest…day 3 now. so for my leg routine i rode my bike to the gym to get my knees nice and warmed up and here is my routine.

• leg press 6×15 - i pyramid up in weight so really the first 2-3 sets are just warmups
• stiff leg deadlifts 4×12
• lying leg curl superset leg ext 3×15
• squats 4×20
• walking lunges 3×20 steps each way for a total of 40
• one leg leg press machine 3×15
• seated calve raise 4×12
• standing 3×12

came home had a protein shake w/ POMx recovery added and then hour after that 2 chicken breast w/ mustard and 1/2 cup brown rice and serving of broccoli. now i’m about to head back to the gym to get some abs and cardio in. i plan to do

• hanging leg raises 3×20
• bar rollouts from bench 3×10
• bench crunches 3×30
• jumprope 10 minutes and 20 minutes stepper to finished off trashing my legs for the day

Asian Flank Steak Salad

Ingredients:

SALAD
* 1 lb flank steak
* 2 teaspoons olive oil
* 1 cup napa cabbage, shredded
* 1 cup carrot, shredded
* 1 cup fresh bean sprout

DRESSING

* 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
* 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
* 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
* 2 teaspoons sesame oil
* 1/2 tablespoon sesame seed

Directions:

1.Slice steak across the grain into strips (about 1/4-inch thick by 2 inches long).
2.Heat oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat and cook meat for 5 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle; drain and set aside.
3.cook carrots first until almost done then add cabbage, bean spouts after the vegetables are done add to flank steak strips.

PREPARE DRESSING:.
Prepare dressing in a small bowl; whisk together all dressing ingredients. Pour over steak and toss gently.
Let steak cool and, for best flavor, refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving salad. (Will last in refrigerator for up to 4 days.).

Chicken Burrito

1 Mission - carb balance whole wheat tortilla large burrito
Low moisture part skim mozzarella cheese
1 Chicken breast - seasoned how you like (i use cajun spice)
yellow jar peppers
bbq sauce

when preparing your skinless chicken breast make sure to always cut all fat off and rinse in cold water.
bake on 375 for 25 minutes.
chop the breast up when done, add and peppers on top add favorite bbq sauce..i use sticky fingers carolina sweet.
roll up and enjoy...quick and tasty meal.

beating the mind...

this happens to me every single workout that i do. i have to mentally overcome my mind wanting to give out before my muscles do. once you can do this on a regular basis your going to see your results faster then ever not only physically but mentally also. with any particular workout,set,rep,and cardio session your mind is going to be the first to give out and start telling you to either stop or tell you that you can’t get 1 or 2 extra reps. beating the mind will make you stronger and push past limits you thought were unattainable. after your done your going to feel so much better about that workout and it will give you a mental high knowing that you conquered what once you thought was as far as you could push.

keep the body guessing!

my theory on working out and staying lean year round (besides the obvious nutrition) is to keep the body guessing. shock that fucker up! what i mean by this is each time you go to the gym do something different. there are so many different exercises, techniques, and workout splits that you can do. training this way will also help to keep you from getting bored and keep the progress on track and not hitting a plateau. each time i hit the gym i do a lot of the same exercises for that particular day but i either switch the order up, do drop sets, do light weight high reps or heavy weight low reps. supersets, tri sets and giant sets are also a awesome way to keep things interesting. rep tempo, negatives, and rest pause are good too. i’ll go into detail now of a quick definition of what i mean by these if you don’t know. it’s going to be broken into 2 parts i’ll post the second part tom.

• switching up the order is key. for example if one week you do 1.incline bb,2.flat db, 3.incline fly,4.hammer incline press. the next week try 1.hammer flat press, 2.incline db press,3.pec dec,4.pullovers.
• the workout split i’m using currently and i’ve see the most progress i ever have is day 1 chest, day 2 back, day 3 shoulders, day 4 arms, day 5 legs, and day 6 i repeat..so week to week my days switch that i do particular muscle groups on.
• i do drop sets every workout. its a way to get that extra squeeze and absolutley go to failure and fill up with as much blood possible. example of a drop set would be db curls start with 30 for 12 immediatley drop to 20s for 15 then drop to 10 for 20 reps. i do dropsets on any exercise whenever i feel its needed.
• light weight high reps and heavy weight for low reps. i train for the feel of the muscle contractions and chase the pump so sometimes i’ll do a exercise for 20-30 reps but or i’ll go heavyier and the least amount of reps i ever do is 8. anything under 8 i feel is too much weight your putting yourself at high risk of injury and in my opinion your using a lot more stuff then the actual muscle your trying to target. but if your training for power and strength more power to you!
• supersets,tri-sets,giant sets - i almost use supersets every workout. a superset is just 2 different exercises done back to back for one set. i’ve tried it doing to different muscle groups or the same muscle group targeting two different areas of that muscle. for example yesterday i supersetted deadlifts with reverse grip pull down. one hitting mostly lower and the other hitting mostly upper. a tri-set is a step up…which is three or more exercises. and a giant set is four or more. give each a try sometime and see what you think.
• rep tempo is somthing i keep switched up all the time depending on the exercise. when you go slow and controlled you can really feel the muscle contraction and release once you really lean the mind muscle connection.
• negatives kind of go hand in hand with rep tempo. i always control the negative. i see so many people training and just letting gravity drop the negative instead of the muscle do the work. also you can do soley negatives for a set. put extra weight that you normally couldlnt do on a positive and get someone to assist you on the positive and you control the negative fighting gravity the whole way down…killer burn!
• i typically don’t use rest pause to often but i do sometimes. for example if your doing a chest press put a weight on there that you can normally get 8 times or so and once you get to the 8th rep rest for 10-15 seconds then get another rep…rest for 10-15 seconds and so on till failure.

hope this post was helpful to anyone wanting to give a shock to the system with different styles and techniques.

lifting smart vs. ego lifting

i can’t stress enough how i feel the importance of lifting smart is. i remember my first couple years of lifting i would try to lift as heavy as possible and sacrifice my form and for what? i thought i was being cool and impressing people. i’ve watched a lot of people in the gym do this for the past years and there is some at my gym now (and these aren’t young guys these are middle aged men). it wasn’t until i really dropped the weight and focused on my form and getting the best contraction on each rep that i noticed my body responded and took off. the only thing that ego lifting got me was a cortizone shot in my rear delt 4 years ago, and other minor injuries as well. the moral of my story is my philosy towards weight training is don’t get consumed by the numbers. i never write down the amount of weight i use because i could really give a shit less. the way i track my results is what i see in the mirror. so don’t lift with your ego. lift smart because if you injure yourself your going to have to take time off or adjust somthing thats going to slow your initial progress down.