Vic and Arianna’s WOD

My co-worker and fellow trainer, Arianna Arias and I work out together a lot. I’m all for workout buddies, someone to push you,  bounce rep ideas off of, get a little competitive and just make it more fun in general. Go get your person and get cracking with our sweat inducing workout just for you!

Warm up

10 jumping jacks

10 High knees with forward arm circles

10 Butt kicks with backward arm circles

10 push ups

10 squats

Circuit one x 3

15 Barbell squats with 30lbs barbell

15/leg  pendulum lunges with 30lbs barbell

1 minute rotational burpees

Circuit 2 x 3

15 dead rows with 30lbs barbell

15 Crow push ups

1 minute of mountain climbers

Circuit 3 x3

2 minutes of jump rope

30 crunches

2 minutes of jump rope

30 bicycle crunches

2 mintes of jump rope

cooldown

sterch

LET’S GO!

Quick nutrition crash course

 

Who says eating clean can’t taste good. Take a quick look at all these yummie treats that are not only packed with flavor but do wonders to your body. Take your pick!

A time to speak up

 

I haven’t posted in  a while, because life happened. Some things went down that affected me more than I cared to admit. I’m great at giving advice, but when it comes to taking it or listening to reason, I’m out. I feel like I need to handle things on my own and not admit how much they actually affect me. I was listening to this week’s Jillian Michaels podcast where they talked about co-signing people’s bullshit, validating their feelings, enabling certain patterns at our very own expense. We don’t call people out, we don’t share our feelings and we don’t communicate. For the most part it’s because we’re uncomfortable bringing it up, or as in my case, we have an innate fear of confrontation. Instead we’re fuming on the inside, we’re confused, and put ourselves and our actions in question. That is exactly what happened to me. I dove into something, soard sky high and took a hit. I got burnt, I hurt, and instead of speaking up and expressing my feelings to the other person, despit being given the opportunity, I opted out. I couldn’t face the answers, or the possibility of having to relive certain moments. I also felt that it wouldn’t make a damn difference to the outcome. Instead I remained, and still do in some ways, in a state of limbo. I know what the right thing would be to do, yet I’m unable to. I created  a status quo, a degree of cordiality and I settled. It made the numbness and some of the churning feeling go away, but certainly didn’t give me answers. I also became unfocused and very disconnected from my job and my environment. That’s what I get for being afraid of getting angry, shying away of confrontation and not really voicing how this makes me feel. I put on my “it’s all good, I’m over it” mask and carry on.

This has been a lifelong pattern for me, though I have been making great improvements. I have been more open about issues that bother me. While I’m not always direct enough, I have been slowly getting my point across. Yet  some situations remain a challenge, specifically when it comes to feelings. I can’t be the only one. It’s not healthy to let things build up, and for the most part, people will have more respect for you when you do speak up. As for those who can’t handle it, they need to take a look at their own issues and ego.

Here’s my challenge for you for this week. Face an issue. That’s all. Something that you’ve been avoiding, that makes you uncomfortable to tackle. Let me know in the comment sections how it goes! 

A healthy tuna melt

To me, tuna melt usually means bread topped with tuna rolled in mayo with an obscene amount of cheese melted on top. May sound delicious to your taste buds, but can really wreak havoc in your body. Just think of all the fat and sodium you’re inhaling with every bite. Of course you don’t have to take it off your menue for good, just be smart about the preparation. Here’s my healthier version that’s just as tasty, if not better.

Spread a think layer of avocado on a slice of whole wheat/grain bread, topi it with 1 oz of canned tuna, 0.5 oz of low fat cheese, put some spinach leaves on top and throw it in the microwave for about a minute for the cheese to melt. Depending on the type of bread you use, this portion comes in between 80-100 calories, just under 3 grams of fat, 180mg of sodium and 6 grams of protein.

Add a side salad with loads of greens for the extra fiber. Not only are they good for you, they will help you feel fuller and the fiber will help keep post meal “clean up” on schedule. Bon apetit!

A little tushy talk

My dear friend, Poupak is getting a colonoscopy and isn’t afraid to talk about it. Read her  post here, and be sure to follow her blog if you’re into great finds, informed articles, some silliness and occasional rants.

http://poupak.tumblr.com/post/45603422431/butt-action

Burpee Equivalents: Understanding Junk Food in terms of Your Favorite Exercise

I don’t know how  you feel about them, but Burpees are my least favorite. Doesn’t matter in what way shape or form they come, I just can’t worm up to them. After reading this great article 

by Dr. Jeff Godin, Ph.D., CSCS, & Spartan Coach

I’ll think twice before I indulge in anything potentially harmful. Just a thought of having to burpee it off makes me want to pay twice as much attention to what goes on into my body. You be the judge!

Occasionally we slip up with our diets and sneak in some junk calories. When we do, we have to pay the price…In Burpees!  At Spartan Coaching HQ we have been conducting research to quantify energy expenditure during the Burpee exercise.  Here is what we found:

	Calories (kcals)	burpees for 130lb individual	burpees for 180lb individual
1 large French Fries	500	524	349
1 IPA beer	195	204	136
1 Slice of Dominos Peperoni Pizza	260	272	182
1 8 ounce Ted’s Bison Cheesburger	730	765	510
1 scoop of Ben Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream	270	283	189
1 12” Roast beef sub from Subway	970	1016	677
1 Cola soft drink	200	210	140
1 Fried Calamari Appetizer	700	733	489
1 Plain Bagel	320	335	223
1 Slice of Cheescake	1000	1048	698
1 Egg McMuffin Sandwich	300	314	210
1 Cadbury Creme Egg	59	62	41

 

First we calculated the amount of work being performed during the Burpee. We calculated work as:

-  Work (w) = force (f) x distance (d)
-  f = weight of the individual in kilograms
-  d = distance from the floor to the maximal height of the head during the jump in meters.

Example:

Male Athlete A:

-  Height: 71 inches (1.80 meters)

-  Weight:  180 lbs ( 81.8 kg)

-  Average Vertical jump during 5 minute Burpee test:   5 in. ( .12 m)

-  Total vertical displacement from the floor to maximal jump height:  1.92 m (height plus jump height)
-  work = 81.8 x 1.92
-  work  = 157 kg/m
-  Given:  1kcal = 426.4 kg/m
-  Thus, 0.368 kcals of mechanical work per Burpee

External mechanical work or the work that is being performed does not equal the amount of work that is being produce internally, humans aren’t 100% efficient.  Efficiency during running and cycling is about 25%, thus for the body to perform 25 kcals of external work, it must produces 100 kcals of energy internally. That means that the body has to produce 1.47 kcals of internal energy to produce 0.368 kcals of external mechanical work per Burpee repetition.

We can also calculate energy production during the Burpee exercise by measuring oxygen consumption with metabolic cart.  We had several athletes perform the Burpee exercise at a constant rate for 3 minutes while wearing a portable metabolic measuring system that continuously measured oxygen consumption.  The average Burpee rate was 10 Burpee repetitions per minute and average oxygen consumption during the last minute of exercise was 35 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml O2/kg/min). We found the measured oxygen cost of a single Burpee repetition to be 3.5 ml O2/kg/Burpee.

To convert oxygen cost to energy expenditure we did the following:

Example same athlete as above:

-  Total oxygen consumed during a single Burpee is calculated as the product of body weight (kg) and O2 cost in ml/kg/.min
-  81.8 kg X 3.5 ml O2/kg/Burpee =  286 mlO2/Burpee or .286 liters (l) of O2/Burpee.
-  One liter of oxygen is equivalent to about 5 kcals.
-  0.286 l O2 X 5 kcals/l  = 1.43 kcals/Burpee.

As you can see , there is good agreement between the 2 methods (1.47 and 1.43 kcals/Burpee respectively).

Founders Breakfast Stout is one of my favorite beers. If this athlete had 2 beers at 250 kcals per beer he would need to perform 349 Burpees to burn off those calories.

2 slices of Domino’s pizza = 600 kcals or 419 burpees

Pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough = 980 kcals or 685 burpees.

Use the chart below to figure out your Burpee equivalent of junk food calories.

Energy Expenditure During the Burpee Exercise (kcals/Burpee)
Body Weight (lbs.)	120	130	140	150	160	170	180	190	200	210
kcals per Burpee	0.95	1.03	1.11	1.19	1.27	1.35	1.43	1.51	1.59	1.67

Example –  for a 140 lb person:

2 slices of Domino’s pizza = 600 kcals

600kcals/ 1.11 kcal per Burpee = 540 burpees

You can have your cake and eat it too, but be ready to pay in Burpees!

A great website and a new challenge

I recently came across this site as part of a challenge, and I absolutely love it.  

http://www.dietbet.com/

 The whole idea behind it is to create a somewhat competitive environment to help you lose the weight in community. There are many games going at any given time, and you can always start your own. Every participant places a set bet in the pot at the start of the game. Whoever accomplishes the final goal gets to split the total bets. It’s a controlled environment and they have all sorts of methods to prevent cheating. I’m currently involved in this game,

http://www.dietbet.com/games/9856

started by BL’s Hanna & Olivia. All I have to do is lose 4% of my body weight in 4 weeks to get a piece of the “pie” and the chance to win a trip to NYC, dinner with these two ladies and hang out with them. Now if that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is!

This site has many components of successful weight loss: a community, experts on hand, accountability, and most importantly, a final goal. Knowing what you’re working toward and WHY is crucial in weight loss. Until you have something specific and personal to really motivate and push you through it, you will most likely fail. While I have been consistent in working out and watching my weight, I haven’t stepped up my game in a while. Here’s the perfect opportunity. The final prize of going to NYC and spending time with them is definitely worth putting in the extra effort. My starting weight is 156, goal is 150. I got four weeks to do this. Who’s joining me? Leave a comment if you’re game!:)