Whatcha swingin’ there son?
The kettlebell…have you used one? If not, you’re missing out on something great! Up until a month ago, I had never touched a single kettlebell. Now, I don’t think I’ll ever do another workout without one…and I think the other donkeys agree. Ever since I’ve been interested in fitness, I’ve been a traditional weight lifter. I’d do squats, deadlifts, bench, military, pullups, etc. You know, the basics. Now, my workouts include things like the Swing, the TGU (Turkish Get Up) and the Windmill. There are also a few that sound familiar, like the Snatch and the Clean. But, they’re done very differently than I’ve even done them before.
In this article, I’m not going to cover all of the lifts I do, but I am going to cover my favorite. Its called the Turkish Get Up, but the rest of the donkeys and I jokingly refer to this exercise as “The Man Maker.” After your set, they’ll leave you on the floor for a second to recompose yourself…and regain control of your limbs. For more info on the TGU check out this page at My Mad Methods. While you’re there, spend a little time looking around the rest of the site. The kettlebell bug just might bite you as well.
Where Have We Been???
Hey everyone…sorry there hasn’t been anything new up on fitnessdonkeys for quite a while now. It seems that all three of us got pretty busy with work, family, traveling, and just life in general, and the blog suffered. The good news is, our workouts did not. We’ve been very consistent with our workouts, and its showing. I think some picture updates are in order very soon. So, with that said, we’ll try to do better about posting on here. Keep checking back, there will be plenty of new posts coming.
When you’re injured
So, injuries suck. Anyone disagree? If you raised your hand, you’re probably into that pain stuff…aren’t ya? Anyway, last Friday I was participating in a company Punt, Pass, and Kick competition. Of course, before something like this, I didn’t think to stretch out. “Meh…I don’t need it,” is most likely what went through my mind. Finally, it was my turn to kick. I took a few steps back, lined up, approached the ball and HOLY WHAT THE!?!?!?! I got this amazing pain in my left quad. It hurt pretty bad, but I just kinda walked it off. I didn’t want to be “that” guy.
The next morning though, that sucker was really hurting! It hurt so bad it made me walk with a weird hobble, which in turn made my screwed up knee hurt. I tore my ACL like 10 years ago and even though its been repaired, it seems that any small thing will bother it. When it came time for our Sunday workout, I thought I would just train through the pain. The very first exercise was lunges. I took two, maybe three lunges and WHAM!!! That’s all she wrote. I was done lunging for the day. I decided its probably better to just skip an exercise, than it is to injure my muscle further. In fact, I also skipped our Monday HIIT session to allow it to heal even more. Today, my quad feels great! Its amazing what a little R&R can do for an injured muscle. And as a perk, since my quad is better, my knee stopped hurting. Its a win/win situation.
I guess if there’s a point to this post, its that sometimes its better to give your body a little break instead of just pushing and pushing. I probably could have just pushed through the pain I was having during the lunges, and I probably could have done the HIIT session. But there’s always the possibility that one of those activities could have left me with a much worse injury that would have taken much more time to heal. Taking a few exercises, or even a few workouts off isn’t going to destroy your progress. Your body will repair itself, and you’ll be ready to come back strong and ready to keep making progress.
The Power of Habits
Humans are creatures of habit. We get into a routine and it becomes second nature to stick with it. Unfortunately, it often seems much easier to fall into a self damaging routine. This was definitely my case, for more than 10 years I ate crappy food and didn’t exercise, and generally felt like crap. The really cool thing is this: good habits are just as hard to stop too.
For a long time I thought about making changes in my diet and starting to exercise, the only thing stopping me was my own laziness. Then one day I decided that I was done. I prepared myself to start making changes in my life, thinking it was going to be really hard to make the needed changes and stick with them. Just two weeks later, I was amazed by the fact that I had a whole new set of good habits. I stopped eating junk. I had made vegetables the focal point of my meals. I was going to the gym three times a week. I was looking for a healthier option when eating out. It was amazing how addicting that this new lifestyle had become. And it only took two weeks.
So to anyone reading this, give it a shot. Try changing your routine for a few weeks. Pick a few things off of this list if you need somewhere to start. You will be amazed at just how powerful habits really are.
Donkeys Behaving Badly – The Man Lunch
So far, the Donkeys have all been doing really well with our new lifestyle changes. We’ve been eating cleaner, working out, and just making better decisions about our health in general. But sometimes, you just need a little filth in your diet. You know what I mean. You’ve been really dialing in your food intake, but you just want a big piece of pizza or a nice juicy burger. So, do it! Yep, go get your hands on that filthy grease bomb and NOM NOM NOM NOM until you’re barely able to move. One meal isn’t going to ruin your weight loss efforts. It will barely even put a dent in your progress. What it will do though, is save your sanity.
The guys and I have started calling this meal “The Man Lunch.” Its crazy hard to eat perfectly all the time, and trying to be 100% with your diet can even start leading to guilt if you do decide to indulge. Like I said, don’t worry about it. Just know that you no longer eat food like that on a regular basis, and feel good about that fact. Enjoy your treat, and then get back in the game. If you can eat healthy 90% of the time…you’ll be golden. Oh yeah…if you were wondering, the burger to the left was AMAZING!
NOTICE: When I talk about “diet” in the above post, I’m referring to your food intake in its entirety. I’m NOT referring to some crappy scam thing you once tried where you ate cabbage and dry toast every meal of the day for 6 weeks. Those “diets” are BS and will do absolutely nothing for you…..unless you’re looking to become malnourished.
You NEED a Foam Roller
Ever heard of a foam roller? If not, you’re missing out. With a foam roller, you can do a little something called Myofascial Release. Just in case you’re not a fitness dork like myself, the definition of Myofascial Release is:
A safe and very effective hands-on technique that involves applying gentle sustained pressure into the Myofascial connective tissue restrictions to eliminate pain and restore motion. – www.myofascialrelease.com
I can hear ya now. “Ohhhhhh……..nope, still no idea what you’re talking about.” Well, basically you’re finding knots in your muscle tissue, and rolling it out on a round piece of foam like the black ones to the left.
Now basically, there are 3 areas that cause people the most problems. The first is the IT band (iliotibial band), the second is the piriformis, and third is the hip adductor. For a better idea of how to work these areas on a foam roller, I’ve linked to 3 videos. Check them out.
IT Band, Piriformis, Hip Adductor
After watching those videos, you’re probably thinking that doing this looks like you’re humping the ground. Yep. No getting around that. There’s nothing I can say to make that less so. But, if you like to lift weights, you should invest in one of these puppies and get rollin’ those muscles. The good news is, they only cost 10 – 20 bucks! That’s not much money for all the benefit they provide. Just to make it even easier to get one, here are some links for foam rollers on Amazon. Buy one…NOW!
Frendship Fitness: The Power of the Friend
We humans are creatures of habit. Routine and pattern make us comfortable. For most people, if we are left to our own devices it would take a pretty significant source of motivation to usher in any change of significance (and actually stick with it!). The good thing is we don’t have to go through life alone and deal with our problems all by ourselves. That’s what friends are for! Having companionship and support in your weight loss journey will make all the difference in the world.
I will say this: If you want to change something about yourself, don’t keep it a secret. Tell your friends what you are planning to do, and how you’re doing it. In the case of donkeys, when I began changing my eating habits to be more healthy I was pretty proud of myself. I noticed a positive change in my energy levels, and started to feel the pants getting a little looser. We would talk about these things on breaks and whatnot. Ideas are contagious, and before long Ryan and I were both changing the way eat and would share our successes and challenges. I haven’t drank pop regularly in years (beer makes up for that though) – but Ryan kicked his habit recently. Having these things happen around you and seeing change in you and the people you care about keeps you going.
This is case in point with the gym; I know I couldn’t do this alone. It was one of those ideas I toyed with, especially recently, but it was Matt asking us that motivated me to do it. The scary gym wouldn’t be as scary if I went there with my friends. So we started this together – a commitment if you will. We all know we would let each other down if we didn’t go, and none of us want to do that. We can encourage each other to finish that last grueling set and then ease the exhaustion and pain with silly jokes. All that aside, its just damn fun doing things with your friends. We are each others’ fitness support systems.
Whatever change you want to make in your life, find your support system. It will make all the difference in the world if someone walks the path with you. The companionship will keep you going, keep them going, and probably bring you all closer together!
And yes, it was my intention to have the title of this post sound like a bad knock-off of Lord of the Rings. Perhaps there is more to come in the Friendship Fitness series.
I can’t believe it’s almond butter
Unleash the power of almonds
After wanting to try this for awhile, I finally picked up a jar of almond butter. Ingredients? Almonds. No sugar, no salt, just almonds. I made a sandwich on some whole wheat bread and was shocked how fantastic it was. If you have not tried this yet, I highly recommend it. It was a little pricey, about 6 bucks for the jar, but it will really made a decent healthy snack or quick lunch. I’m anxious to try slapping some bananas on the sandwich next time.
Our New Weapon
Here we have the Donkey’s new secret weapon. It’s the Omron HBF-306C…a hand held bio-impedance body fat monitor. Now, I know these aren’t the most accurate way to test your body fat, but they are pretty consistent. For example, if it says you went from 25% down to 20%…you probably actually lost 5% body fat, but you didn’t necessarily start at 25% and end at 20%. You may have started at 28% and ended at 23%. Ya following me? It also helps if you’re really consistent about what time of day you do the test. So, we’ll be using this as another tool to track our progress and keep us motivated. I’ve done a few tests today with it, and its been +/- .2% every time. Seems pretty consistent! Seeing all of your hard work pay off by watching that number drop makes it all worth it.
It’s all about getting back on the wagon
No matter how hard you try at some point you will always fall off the fitness wagon. Let’s all admit it, being healthy isn’t easy. I have been on and off for years but one thing always remain the same. I have never given up. Even though I may eat like garbage from time to time and not workout for a week or two I always get back on board and go at it again.
Too many people get on a diet and fitness program and quit too quickly. Rarely does this come from a fitness plateau but from falling off the wagon. They think to themselves, I ate that entire pizza last night so there is no point of staying on my plan. BS! Just forgive yourself and get back to it. Being healthy is a life long goal not a quick fix.
