Cycling - I'm luvin' every minute of it!

Well, it was an interesting day and I learned a few things. I already knew that mountain bikes with knobby tires on the road is a lousy and tough ride. The wind was sometimes in my favor today and sometimes not. The loop I did turned out to be 26 miles and it took me 2 hrs. to complete - that's not so great. It means I averaged only 13 mph and I was pushing myself pretty hard. I was in the tallest gear on the bike and unless I was sprinting, I really couldn't average a higher speed on that bike. Had I been on a real road bike, I would have covered about 40 miles in the same time @ 20 mph.

I also learned the importance of cycling shorts and a racing saddle. Yesterday's ride was very hilly and I was standing up a lot. Today it was a relatively flat smooth ride and I was sitting probably 95% of the time. Ladies cover your eyes if you choose.... I had some circulation issues and had a tingling and a slight numbness feeling in my package from time to time throughout my ride. I tried to keep moving around to get some circulation but it was tough. A real racing cycle seat has a cutout down the middle exactly for the purpose of circulation. The may look small and uncomfortable but they're really not and they are a must have if you are going to do any serious cycling. The spandex cycling shorts, that look kinda strange on men, also have padding which is another huge help not to mention they, as well as the shirts, are far more aerodynamic than the track pants and t-shirt I was wearing. I'm not going to chance anything and am going to set myself up right. I'm really enjoying this new sport of mine and I have to protect myself by chance I decide to have kids some day. I also want to be comfortable so I can enjoy what I'm doing.

Still reading up on road bikes and they get quite expensive. The more I read, the better bike I want... or at least one with a high-end frame and components for the performance and them lasting a long while. To be at the entry level of an excellent quality road bike - you're looking at the $2000 - $2500 range. They go way up from there if you want all titanium and carbon parts etc... you can build a $10,000 bike easily. But for my purposes, the $2k range is fine. Plus I have to buy the gear... shoes, outfit, road helmet, some spare parts etc... I'm looking at a $3,000 investment! I've got to put some serious thought in to this - that's a lot of scratch for a bicycle but I am falling hard for this sport!

The rest of my day was mellow. I came home and had lunch of a big ass spinach salad with some leftover chicken from my kebabs then went down to the beach (by car!) and sunk in the sand, under the sun, for a couple of hours. It was great!

Right now, I've got a fresh batch of Son of Grok's organic & primal BBQ sauce on the stove and I'm BBQ'n some pork ribs for dinner as soon as it's done which should be in about 45 mins.

Someone come over... I have a ton of ribs to cook - and I spent the entire day by myself, I could use some company and good conversation!

Primal Italian Wedding Soup

Growing up this soup was a tradition in my family. Although it wasn't primal since it was usually served with orzo pasta and included the high sugar and carb veggies of parsnips and carrots.

I made this the other day, primal style, and it was outstanding!

For those that do not know, Italian wedding soup is an Italian-American soup consisting of green vegetables and meat in a chicken broth. My family traditionally used escarole and mini meatballs.

According to Wikipedia, the term "wedding soup" is a mistranslation of the Italian language, minestra maritata ("married soup"), which is a reference to the fact that green vegetables and meats go well together.

Making it primal was a simple task using homemade chicken broth from an organic chicken, grass fed ground beef & organic cage free egg for the mini meatballs (they are the size of marbles and a tedious task to make but well worth it), organic spices (black pepper, parsley, garlic powder, sea salt), 3 eggs, escarole, celery and onion.

Here's the deal with the escarole... 1) You will never find organic escarole in any store ever. 2) You must boil it separately in a pot of water then strain it before adding it to the soup to avoid it's bitter taste. Cooked escarole should have a sweet buttery taste when you add it to the soup.

This is another reason I want a greenhouse at my place because you can order organic escarole seeds online - yet another veg to add to my list for the greenhouse.

Here's how you make it:

Put the cleaned chicken in 3 quarts of water, bring it a boil and cook for one hour and 15 mins. The chicken will practically fall apart when you take it out.

In a separate pot, saute your cut up celery and onion in olive oil. I used one large stalk of celery and a half of a medium sized onion for this amount of soup and it was perfect.

For the mini meatballs... 1 lb. of meat mixed with 1 egg, sea salt, black pepper, and garlic to taste. No need to add crushed pork rinds to the mix (to replace bread or bread crumbs) as you would normally do for a regular sized meatball. After you have it all mixed up, roll them (marble sized) in the palms of your hands then pan fry them in a little butter.

Once you have everything cooked up you add all your ingredients to the broth (except the escarole) and bring it to a boil then back down to a simmer for another 20 minutes. At the very end you lightly scramble 3 eggs and drop it in the soup while stirring it. Once the eggs have cooked (about one minute) you then add the escarole, stir and taste to make sure your seasonings are one the money.

Let it cool a bit and enjoy!

It is an excellent (and ridiculously healthy) soup which tastes even better the next day after all the flavors come together.

Oh... and the left over chicken breast is great to use for chicken salad and the wings, legs and thighs I spice then heat under the broiler to crisp the skin for yet another meal.

Buon appetito!

I know I've been slacking

Hey Folks!

Sorry for the long delay in my blog here. I want to welcome my new follower, Mimi.

Not much to say today - kinda feeling on the lazy side on this lazy Sunday but I wanted to update with my latest pic taken last night.

I have had some changes in my routine though. I'm looking to deflate a bit and have cut my protein intake in half and swapped lifting weights for body weight exercises only. I'm going to continue on with this for a while - I'm on a mission to lean out as much as possible. Over the past week, since I started, I have dropped 4 lbs. and it is visually noticeable so I decided to update with a pic.

Back on track after a week off from being sick

I think I mentioned previously that I had what I thought began as my typical - this time of year allergies - which turned into a nasty head cold, then traveled down to my chest. This had me down and out for over a week. Eating only scrambled eggs and chicken broth more the majority of it because once it reached my chest that was about all I was able to get down.

This broke before the weekend but I still allowed myself another couple of days rest to be sure I wasn't pushing myself and I was actually over this bug.

All was well and I was back in the gym yesterday. I did workout A of my 5X5 at the same weights that I left off with and I felt great... well rested and strong. By no means did my strength suffer and I easily could have gone +5 on all my lifts but I'm in no hurry... This was more of a test for me being out for so long. Aside from being sick, my body clearly needed the break from lifting.

I'm just going to walk today and on Wed., when I do workout B, I'll go +5 and get my mojo workin' again.

Feels great to be be back!

Rendered my first batch of beef tallow today.

It was so easy even a caveman could do it!

My butcher has a ton of beef suet (raw beef fat) in stock and I wanted to give it a shot so I bought a couple of lbs. for my first time. It was only .39 cents per lb.

I googled some info and found the easiest way to make it was the dry oven method - 2hrs. @ 250 degrees.

I took these two large slabs of frozen fat, sharpened up my butcher knife and cut it up into 1" pieces. I put a drop of water in a large oven proof pot, put the fat in there, and in the oven it went for two hours.

When it was finished, I let it cool for a bit then double filtered it through a mesh strainer lined with a triple layer of cheese cloth.

It came out perfect! Nice and clear, no odor at all (made sure to remove any traces of muscle or blood first) and the 2.25lbs. yielded exactly one pint of pure beef tallow.

Great stuff for cooking with - it's smoke point is super high @ 425 degrees and I plan on cooking some nice stir fry, all my pan seared steaks and a nice batch of seasoned chicken wings in it this week.

Ah... pure animal fat - the healthiest of them all and a fraction of the cost of buying any quality oil.

A lot of people seem to like to cook their eggs in tallow which I'll give a shot at tomorrow morning for breakfast but I might find that I like my ghee better for eggs - ya can't deny that natural butter taste with farm fresh organic eggs!

The mission continues...

I took advantage of my down time to reevaluate my diet and fitness goals and have come up with a far more feasible daily routine. I've decided that instead of drawing up this picture in my mind of what the finish line looks like, I'm just going to live like I'm already there. I have high expectations of myself because I believe in myself. I am not a cocky person at all - I simply know that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to.

I admit that one of my faults is that I can get ahead of myself at times... I set unrealistic goals which wind up backfiring on me. This is what happened with both my food and my workouts over the past couple of weeks. I was trying to eat too much and was trying to overextend my workouts to a level that A) I'm not conditioned for and B) learned that no one is conditioned for.

I took the advice given to me and have a reduced protein intake for the upcoming week. I have also readjusted and leveled out my workout schedule. Don't get me wrong, I do not fool around in the gym - I lift as heavy as I can without chancing an injury and I always strive to add more weight - but his new plan takes a lot of pressure off my back.

This is a lifestyle that I have chosen because I have fun with it and because it enables me to increase my health and brings my fitness level to my maximum potential which is not something I have always taken advantage of throughout my life. To maintain this, I have come to the conclusion that I need to "Act as if". Meaning I'm going to live like I'm already where I want to be and just continue doing my thing like it's second nature. Otherwise, I find myself caught in the perfectionist mold of never being satisfied. This is a bad habit that I'm working to overcome. OK, that's enough of a public therapy session for me. I've had a strange and very disappointing day today and am in an even stranger mood tonight.

Tomorrow my mission shall continue - without the stresses - and I'll be back in the gym and eating clean, as always. It's time for me to put the fun back into what I've got going on here. Because quite frankly... if I don't, it sucks.

I'll update my workout and my foods tomorrow and promise to be in a better mood :)

Minor Rant

Since last Thursday I have had what I thought began as my typical - this time of year spring allergies - but it wound up escalating into more of a semi nasty head cold that has had me fairly useless for the past 4 days. In fact, I didn't even make it to the gym on Friday which is the first time I missed a workout in over a year. I also had to decline an invitation to go out on both Friday and Saturday nights because I was trying to nurse myself to Sunday where I had bigger and better plans which wound up falling apart anyway. Such as life - and my bitchin' is now complete. Sometimes ya just gotta get things off your chest and there's no place better to do this than on my own blog.

Friends are great to have!

A guy I met from an online forum that I belong to gave me some great information on how I can easily adjust my plan and continue with my progress. I'm not sure of his real name but he goes by the name Stack Diesel and for very good reason... He clearly knows his stuff when it comes to bodybuilding and I'm grateful for his advice. I'm going to paste his reply to me after reading of my struggles.

Greg,

I've always found it difficult to consume more than 140-150g of protein a day from whole food. Aside from rare occasions, I've always had to supplement with shakes to get at or over 200g/day.

That being said, and after years of protein guilt and paranoia, I do think protein needs have been exaggerated, even as to hard-training athletes. The "1g/lb. BW" rule of thumb was cooked up by a supplement company back in the early 90's and has since become gospel. I don't dispute that it's best to err on the side of caution and consume too much rather than too little, but the most credible clinical study (in my opinion) done on the protein requirements of athletes, by Dr. Lemon, suggests an intake of 1.6g/kg of BW maintains positive nitrogen balance and supports recovery and growth in hard-training athletes (assuming an otherwise energy-dense and nutritionally adequate diet). A 220lb man weights 100kg and thus would require an intake of 160g protein/day. 40g doesn't seem like a big difference but, for me, seems to be the difference between being able to meet my protein needs with whole food and having to rely on supplements. Again, I do agree that it's best to consume too much rather than too little protein, but just some food for thought.

Also, you are killing your legs 5 days a week. Although it may seem counterintuitive at first, most strength and conditioning coaches advise that sprints be performed on the same day as squats/heavy leg training, to maximize the recovery period between workouts. Walking can be done for active recovery/general physical activity on the rest days, but not to the point/pace of turning it into a full-blown conditioning session. If you are doing your 5x5 on M/W/F, I'd suggest sprints on M and F. Do the sprints after your squat workout, not before. Will this compromise sprint performance somewhat? Of course, but something's gotta give, and when you really start pushing up the weight on the squats, you are going to stall hard and fast if you are not getting adequate recovery between workouts.

-Stack

Great advice that I plan on incorporating into my routine starting with next week's schedule.

Many thanks, Stack!

Did I bite off more than I can chew?

That's what is going through my mind right now. This new plan has me eating more food than I can physically fit in my body. This is why bodybuilders, who ingest a massive amount of protein, get half their intake from whey shakes. It's a much harder task to get all your protein from whole foods than it is from knocking back a couple of shakes throughout your day.

I am still pushing forward with this mission I'm on; I'm not a wuss - however, I may have to reevaluate my plan of attack. I am not going to substitute real food with whey powder but I may go back to an egg white protein shake in place of at least one of my meat meals... probably my last one of the day. After I eat a nice steak dinner, the last thing I'm looking forward to is another 12oz. of chicken a few hours later.

I'll get it sorted out!

Another thing is my workouts - My legs are getting hammered! Yesterday, I hit the trails on my mtn. bike and had to call it quits after 3 loops including my sprints. This was 15 miles and it was only my 2nd time out on the bike this season. Let's not forget about my lifting days, on M/W/F, which have me doing heavy squats. So thinking I could pull off 4 loops of 20 miles, 2 times per week - on my "off" days - in addition to my lifting... well what was I thinking?

Yet another part of my plan that has to be reexamined. I can tell you that tomorrow, I'm just going to walk and give my wheels a rest! I'm headed off to the gym in a little while for Workout B:

Squats
Overhead Press
Deadlifts
Pull Ups
Planks

I'll think about how I'm going to adjust everything over the next few days and have it all set, with a more reasonable yet still progressive plan, for the following week. In the mean time, I'm just going to cut out that last meal of the day for the rest of the week. If anyone wants some nice tender grass fed chicken breast, c'mon over! I'll cook it any way you like it :D

"Build It and They Shall Come"

A big hearty welcome to my fourth follower and to those of you who have been leaving comments on my posts. I appreciate the feedback and it drives me to write more. I know that lately my posts have been leaning towards my own personal diet and fitness program rather than the low carb / primal lifestyle that I had started my blog with but the good news is I've got some really good topics in the works that I plan on writing in the upcoming week or so. I'm going to be writing on the evolution of the agricultural industry (and it's detrimental effect on the well being of the human species) and another on essential fatty acids. These two topics will be in addition to our regularly scheduled program of Greg's quest for optimal health :-)

Last night, I added a poll to the blog asking viewers to vote based on their impression of what I've been writing. So far I've only had one voter (thank you!) and I'm still alive! The poll will close at the end of the month so please take a minute and cast your vote.

Have a good day friends!

Day 1 of my 7 week mission

Today was my fist day on my new program and it went smoothly. It is, indeed, a lot of food and I still have one more meal to go! What I need to do to be successful at eating this much fat and protein is space my meals accordingly. Start early and eat one meal every 4 hrs. - hungry or not, my workouts are extreme and my muscles require this amount of food to grow.

My lifting was great tonight. I had two full days rest and was primed and ready to go.

I did Workout A - Up 5lbs. on all weighted lifts and extended reps on exercises to failure.

Squats
Bench Press
Inverted Rows
Push Ups
Reverse Crunches

Tomorrow I'll be hitting the trail on my mtn bike and see how many laps I can do. The loop is 5 miles and I'd like to hit it 4x with my sprints on the flat portions of the loop.

My New 7 Week Mission

All right!

I have a whole new 7 week plan that I've put together for myself. This is serious, repetitive (possibly to the point of boring), provides me with a massive amount of protein - and exactly "what I think" is going to take me to my next level.

Starting tomorrow, April 12th (which is my 38th birthday!) through May 31st, I'm starting on a 7 week mission.

I am going to eat exactly the same foods every day, heavy lift on M/W/F, cardio & sprints on T/Th and rest on Sat. & Sun.

I've entered all my foods into FitDay and have come up with the following results:

Protein: 232g
Fat: 179g
Carbs: 6g
Cals: 2500

Fat: 63%
Protein: 36%
Carbs: 1%

My daily foods are:

1. 6 cage free organic eggs scrambled in 2T of organic ghee

2. 12oz. free range chicken breast sauteed in 2T of organic virgin coconut oil

GYM

3. 12oz. grass fed ground beef or steak

4. 12oz. free range chicken breast sauteed in 2T of organic virgin coconut oil

This will NOT change, nor will I be posting daily menus.

My workouts will remain on the same schedule with my 5X5 lifting program and by the end of the 7 weeks this will add a total of 52.5 lbs. to every one of my lifts.

My cardio and sprints will be out in the woods alternating between mtn. biking and hiking - rain or shine!

I will still continue to post on my workouts, how my day went and other assorted things that come to mind - but this is it. This should, without a doubt, bring me to a whole new fitness level and mindset. I will not be weighing myself again until the end of this 7 week mission... The morning of June 1st.

It will not be easy, but I'm well prepared and pumped!

Working hard at upping my protein

I had a great workout tonight... up 5lbs. on all lifts and right on schedule! My body is absolutely beat to a bloody pulp at this point. This week has been, hands down, the toughest and most rigorous workout week I have ever done in my life. I am very much looking forward to resting the next couple of days. No weights, no sprints... nada - maybe a casual ride on my bike if I'm feeling up to it.

Workout B

Squats
Overhead Press
Deadlifts
Pull ups
Planks

Grub for the day:

1. 6 soft boiled cage free organic eggs with 2T melted ghee

2. 6 oz. grass fed burger patty and a salad with mixed organic veggies w/ evoo and fresh squeezed lemon juice

3. 3 scrambled cage free organic eggs cooked in 1T of ghee (pre workout)

Workout

4. 2 grass fed broiled lamb chops and a side of organic squash and wild mushrooms sauteed in ghee with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper

As always, a ton of water throughout the day.

So here I am, physically eating as much whole food as my body can handle while trying desperately to get my protein intake up to 200g per day. It's so hard to do with whole foods alone. My protein intake today was just under 150g. My body can't fit much more food. I'm going to try and do it slowly by adding an extra egg to my meals or an extra ounce or two of meat when I can. I think spreading my meals out further will help too. I am not going to reach the muscle gains I'm looking for if I can't get my protein up over at least 1g. per pound of body weight.

It's tough being a natural bodybuilder. Those guys who cheat and use performance enhancing drugs are doing serious damage to themselves in the years to come.

Growing my blog

Well I'd like to welcome all 3 of my blog followers - Thank you for checking out what I've got to say and appreciating it enough to stick around for more!

And... to the two people who dropped by to leave comments on a couple of my posts.

I'm new at blogging and as much as I'd like to write daily, sometimes life and it's responsibilities prevent that from happening. However, the more people dig it, the more I want to write. So... I am going to put more effort into it as I had originally intended. I also need to add tags to all my posts so people can find me and I can attract more visitors.

Thanks again, guys... Hope you all are having a good day and living life to it's fullest!

Greg :-)

Inflation can be deadly!

Here we are in the 2nd week of April and we're having some beautiful weather in NY. As I mentioned, I've been looking forward to taking my cardio and sprint days outdoors once it warmed up and today seemed like the perfect day to start. So, I'm thinking to myself, what do I want to do?? Ah ha! I'll go get my Mtn. bike that's been sitting in my parent's shed for the past 3 yrs. (I know, shame on me) and I'll hit the trails for a nice long ride and some all out sprints.

I bought this bike, oh about 13 yrs ago lol. It's a Trek and it was a pretty good bike back in the day... I bought it the same summer I bought a brand new Jeep Wrangler because it looked hip hanging off the back of my new Jeep! Nah, I really wanted to get into riding - and I did for a while - but then... well you know how it goes. It sat for a while, then I got into it again, then parked 3 yrs ago - and haven't touched it since.

So I go to get the bike and the tires were low and needed some air but they seemed to be holding some so I thought a quick trip to the gas station down the road for air and I'd be good to go! I also needed to dust some of the cobwebs off and lube the chain.

Anyway, here I am down at the station, filling up the back tire and BAM!!! IT EXPLODED! Sounded like a gun shot and my ear seriously rang for a good minute or two. The tires had dry rotted and just blew apart on me.

So, I head down to the bike shop to get some new tires and tubes put on and unfortunately they only had one in stock so I'll have to wait until tomorrow when the shipment comes in and my bike will be ready in the afternoon (too bad it's supposed to rain tomorrow!). While I was there, I picked up a new helmet (never had a bicycle helmet but I should be wearing one), a pair of riding gloves and a water bottle to attach to the bike frame. We are looking at a nice weekend though, so I'll go and hit the trails then for my first ride of the season.

In the meantime, it's now after 5pm and getting chilly so I'm not going to start a two hour hike in the woods... I'm going to go to the gym and maybe I'll do my savage bear crawl mountain climbing routine I did the other day. Or maybe I'll try something else... I'll figure it out when I get there.

Bear Crawl Sprints!

We've got the Cybex Arc Trainer at my gym and I love this thing. It's kind of like an elliptical machine but with longer strides and even lower impact - you can use the arm bars for a full body workout or just balance yourself and do legs. I go for the full monty!

At it's lowest incline it simulates x-country skiing, then elliptical, then stair stepping, then hiking, and finally mountain climbing.

Of course, I max it out and put it on 10 (mountain climbing mode) and the resistance up to 100 (also max) and grab the handles on the heart rate sensors and slowly climb the mountain while maintaining my HR at 120bpm (fat burning zone).

I set the timer for 60 mins - and every 5 minutes, i reach forward and grab the front handles and I do a 40 second all out sprint. This raises my HR to about 173bpm at the end of the sprint. The sprints are insane though - It's similar to a bear crawl sprint up a mountain. In 60 mins, it said I burned 1365 calories but I'm not sure how accurate that is... all I know is my legs are shaking and feel like they left my body when I'm done. It's an absolutely insane workout.

Now that the weather is starting to get reasonably warm, I'm going to take my cardio out in the hilly woods and play... I can't wait!

Old school is still the best!

As I get more involved in my lifting program (and lifting heavier weight), I've noticed the difference between the types of shoes I wear and what their purposes are. For my cardio and sprinting, the running sneakers I've been wearing fit the bill perfectly. However, these are not for lifting heavy weights! Especially when doing squats and deadlifts.

This is from the website of the lifting program I'm doing:

"Lifting shoes: Shoes with air or gel filling are compressible, impairing power transfer & stability. Wear shoes with hard soles. Chuck Taylor’s, weightlifting shoes, socks or barefoot are better than running shoes."

So... I went ahead and bought myself a pair of old school Converse Chuck Taylor's - Black, of course!

These things bring back some memories from various phases of my life. When I was a kid, in the 70's, that's all I wore - then in the later 80's - mid 90's, when I got into the Grateful Dead scene, I went back to the Chucks again - I still have that pair that I wore to all those shows (about 100 GD shows and a dozen or so Jerry Garcia Band shows) and they have many miles on them. They're beat to hell because I wore them for 6 or 7 years straight - from Boston to Florida and as far west as Chicago... and many other cities and venues in between. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to see the boys out on the west coast!

Now, here I am again, with a brand new pair in 2010, used for a more specific reason then the style or comfort (which they're really not all that comfortable for an every day shoe). Although, in my opinion, they still style in a simplistic, retro sort of way. Most importantly, they'll allow me to have the stability to lift heavier and not get injured!

When I reach the point of passing my body weight in squats as a full 5X5 set not just a one time max (which shouldn't be too far off in the distance!), I'm going to treat myself to a real pair of weightlifting shoes. Adidas makes a sweet pair called the Adistar Olympic Lifting Shoes. Only $199.00 but I'm worth every cent of it :D

Back to the old neighborhood sweat shop!

Back in February, I made the grave mistake of joining Planet Fatness (I mean Fitness). Brand new place, a few minutes away, open 24 hrs. a day throughout the week, only $10 per month - seemed too go to be true. This place was the oddest gym I have ever stepped foot in. It's really a cardio dance hall more than a gym. First of all, if you get there anytime after 4pm, good luck finding any one of the 100+ cardio machines available to use. The place is packed! Mostly with college kids who dress like they're on their way to a club - hair done, makeup and all.

More importantly, let's get to the free weights area... Wait a minute! What free weights area? Sure they have all the different plate machines (which, I suppose, do serve their purpose - just not my purpose) - again, packed with the college guys struttin' their stuff to impress the girls.

The dumbbell rack stops at 80 lbs.; the fixed bars stop at 60 lbs.; they don't have a weight bench - nor do they have a real Olympic barbell. What!? What kind of place is this... how is a man supposed to get a real workout in a place like this. Well... you don't, nor do they want you to. They want to keep it a "family like atmosphere".

Check this out - they actually have something called a "Lunk alarm". Which means if you happen to grunt or make any type of noise while you're lifting - or god forbid drop or clank a weight... a siren goes off! If you don't believe me, google it - I do not lie!

But wait, there's more! One Friday of each month is pizza night and one Tuesday of each month is bagel Tuesdays. Who are these people kidding?

If you don't like it... go somewhere else - which I did. Adios Planet Fatness, I'm going back to the old standby - my original gym. It's small, it's clean, they have real equipment, an awesome staff and are never crowded. I am so glad to be back!

I did Workout A of my 5x5 today:

Squats 5x5
Bench Press 5x5
Inverted rows 3xF
Reverse Crunches 3x12
Push ups - 5 sets of mixed reps - totaling 48 perfect form, military style, push ups.

I don't think I mentioned this in a previous post but I'm now in week 2 of a 6 week program to complete 100 consecutive, perfect form, push ups. I'm gonna make it for sure by the end of the 6th week.

Needless to say, my chest is on fire right now!

I also added 10lbs. to the bar for each of my workouts to catch up from last week. I should be adding 5lbs. to the bar each time I work out, as per the program I'm doing, but Planet Fatness didn't even have 2.5lb. plates for their smith machine so I wound up having to stay at the same weight for the past two previous weeks - glad that's over with.

Awesome workout tonight!

Ah... Mondays

I'm not one of those people who dread Mondays... though it was a very long day for me. I had an early rise and had to go to the hospital for a complete set of lab work that my doc had ordered for me. I'm excited to get these results (which I will next Monday at my appointment with him) because it's been 6 months since my last lab work was completed and I'm looking forward to seeing where my levels are at. The longer I eat and treat my body this way, the more positive my results are. Last time, my only real issue was a vitamin D deficiency - I've since been taking 2000 IU's daily but will probably cut that back to 1000 pending my lab work. Now that spring is around the corner I'll be able to get out in the sun a lot over the next 6 or 7 months - which would be my ultimate and first choice for vitamin D supplementation!

I'm re-adjusting my macronutrient ratios to benefit me with my recent switch in my workouts for maximum results. I have upped my carbohydrate intake to about 30g per day and upped my protein way up to 200g per day. For the first time ever, I entered in all the foods I eat in one day into an online program called FitDay. It's a real cool website that you can chose foods from the list (they have every food you can imagine in their database) or add your own custom foods to and it comes up with the exact ratios both numerically and as a pie graph.

After some tweaking, I finally got everything exactly where I wanted it to be. Fat at 60% - Protein at 35% - Carbs at 5%. Perfect! If I cared about calories, I'd further emphasize that this puts me at 2500 calories per day, which according to the "gurus" of body building and weight loss, is exactly 500 calories below my maintenance level and optimum for fat loss and building muscle. But I don't... Just put it out there because it was part of my results once my foods were entered and my macros were figured out.

Also, for the first time ever, because my protein and fat consumption is very important to me, I actually weighed out my all my meats today. I used a digital postal scale that my brother gave me a while back. Did you know a paper plate weighs 0.2 oz? Bet ya didn't! lol

Food for the day:

B: 6 cage free scrambled eggs cooked in 2T of clarified organic butter w/ some green pepper slices mixed in.

L: A big salad w/ lettuce, sliced green and red pepper, fresh mushrooms, cucumber, 8 oz. grilled chicken breast, 3T olive oil, 1T fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Pre-workout: 4 oz. roasted beef and 1T of organic virgin coconut oil - this stuff is so good I can drink it - which I did... right off the spoon :)

Workout

D: 8 oz. of roasted beef, steamed asparagus sauteed in 2T organic clarified butter with some sea salt and pepper.

As always, a ton of water throughout my day.

The Primal Food List

Here is the list of all primal foods that I eat or have tried in the past. There are, of course, additional foods out there such as exotic fowl and other wild animals that could be included on this list - but they are not available in my region nor have I tried them.

Eggs (Cage free / Organic)

Fish (Wild caught)

* Catfish
* Cod
* Crab
* Flounder
* Grouper
* Haddock
* Halibut
* Herring
* Lobster
* Mackerel
* Perch
* Pike
* Pollock
* Salmon
* Sole
* Swordfish
* Trout
* Tuna
* Octopus
* Shrimp
* Squid
* Tilapia

Meats (100% Grass fed / Free range)

* Beef
* Buffalo
* Chicken
* Duck
* Elk
* Lamb
* Pork
* Turkey
* Veal
* Venison

Vegetables (Organic)

* Artichoke hearts
* Asparagus
* Broccoli
* Brussels sprouts
* Cabbage
* Cauliflower
* Celery
* Chicory
* Collard greens
* Cucumber
* Eggplant
* Endive
* Garlic
* Kale
* Leeks
* Lettuce
* Mushrooms
* Mustard greens
* Onions (Preferably red or green)
* Parsley
* Parsnips
* Peppers (all)
* Pumpkin
* Radish
* Seaweed
* Spinach
* Squashes (all)
* Watercress

Nuts

* Almonds
* Almond butter
* Brazil nuts
* Hazelnuts
* Macadamia
* Macadamia nut butter
* Pecans

Flour

* Almond flour
* Macadamia nut flour

Oils

* Coconut oil
* Ghee (Clarified organic butter)
* Macadamia nut oil
* Olive oil
* Palm oil

Primal Protein Shake

I was experimenting with different ways to come up with a dairy free primal protein shake and wound up with this concoction... I gotta say, it's pretty darn good!

12 oz. filtered water
1/2 cup 100% egg white powder
1/4 tsp. organic almond extract
1 Tbsp. organic unrefined virgin coconut oil
Ice cubes

Simply mix it all up in a blender. The combination of almond and coconut make for a unique but pleasant taste. If you choose to add a sweetener, that's optional - but I don't use artificial sweeteners and either did cavemen :-) Believe me you won't miss it!

You can experiment with different extracts too. For example, if you used an orange extract (no worries, the oil in the extract is drawn from the rind and contains no fructose!) you'd have a nice tropical shake with the coconut and orange flavor.

32g protein
1.8g carbs (from the egg whites)
0g sugar
14g fat
270 cals - even though we know this is irrelevant ;-)

I'm going to have one of these before workouts because I'm trying to get my protein up to 200 grams per day and it's tough for me simply because I just can't physically eat that much food. However, between my eggs for breakfast and beef, chicken, pork or fish for lunch and dinner, I've got the rest covered.

Fruit Part II (For the super geeks!)

In my previous post, I talked about how once a glucose molecule gets inside our cells, it is converted into cholesterol as well as triglycerides. Well just last week, I was on a forum that I frequent and was having this discussion with some people who were interested in the topic - when in steps a genuine Biochemist telling me I was wrong!

His claim was that he didn't THINK either glucose or fructose can actually be converted to cholesterol in the body, but did agree that both glucose and fructose are converted to triglycerides (fat).

So... being I'm not a biochemist myself, I had to take a step back and let this dude explain himself in super geek terminology that I don't think anyone else in the conversation understood, including myself.

I listened to what he had to say (as best as I could understand it) and as he got deeper into his conversation, he started to think back to his studies and thought... well maybe, just maybe, he was wrong himself!

He then said... hang on just a minute - let me pull out one of my biochem texts and see if I can find the exact answer.

Now based on what I have learned, and how it was explained to me (which was in an easily understood sort of way - not in super geek terms of biochemical pathways that would make the average person's head explode) I knew what I was saying was correct but with my limited knowledge of in-depth biochemistry, I was in no position to put up an argument with him without the absolute detailed facts.

Anyway, he comes back and said - You're right and I'm wrong!

Sweet, I'm thinking to myself - this was like beating a professional poker player, in a heads up match, as an amature, without showing your hand :-)

So here was his reply and this is the exact, factual, biochemical explanation of how fructose converts to cholesterol in the human body:

Found it! Cholesterol can be synthesized from acetyl CoA, which is the intermediate molecule that both fats and sugars are metabolized into before they enter the krebs cycle (where most of the energy is generated). Glucose and fructose can be shunted into a side pathway (as opposed to their usual conversion to acetyl CoA several steps down) called the pentose phosphate pathway, which modulates NADPH levels (a way of carrying protons around the cell for doing certain types of chemistry).

Among the things its used for is one of the major steps in cholesterol synthesis (conincidentally, the same step that statins inhibit). The pentose phosphate pathway, however, doesn't tend to drive NADPH levels up any higher than basal levels for long (NADH and NADPH levels are very tightly regulated by a series of feedback mechanisms), so they're not going to have much of an effect there.

So in short, sugars convert to cholesterol, but so does fat.

Still, I'm always excited to be wrong on something! It's the only way you learn.

____________________________________________________

Just what you all wanted to read, right? lol

The bottom line is, fruit is not a necessary or beneficial food group for human consumption - unless, of course, you're looking to raise your bad cholesterol and get fat!

There are plenty of other food sources that provide us all the nutrients and antioxidants our body requires for optimal health. Eat more meat, fat and the right vegetables!

Is eating fruit really good for us?

Let me begin by saying that although biochemistry, particularly nutritional biochemistry, is a fascinating subject for me, I am not a Biochemist (yet). A lot of what I write comes from the studies of my mentors, what they have written and how it has been explained to me. The chances of my friends, family or anyone else who comes across my blog finding this information published in medical journals, biochemical textbooks or anywhere else for that matter is slim to none - so I'm simply passing the info along on topics that I enjoy and apply to my life.

Here's the lowdown on fruit (fructose):

Lets begin with Sugar is Sugar is Sugar.

This includes fructose... which means it doesn't matter what the source is - be it sugar from fruit, brown rice or cakes and candies. This is a biochemical fact; not a belief.

A lot of people adhere to the incorrect thinking that our body's somehow use a glucose molecule differently, if it comes from different food sources. For instance, the medical profession, registered dietitians and nutritionists alike, think if a glucose molecule comes from whole wheat bread it is somehow treated differently than if it came from a cake or candy item. The glucose molecule will be treated the same by our body no matter where it came from.

What happens once the glucose molecule gets inside our cells is that it will be converted into plaque forming deadly cholesterol as well as the fat we call a triglyceride.

The sugar fructose, found in fruits, will also be converted into plaque-forming deadly cholesterol. Again, this is a fact. For some reason the medical profession thinks that the sugar fructose is somehow better for us, but the facts are that it is transformed into cholesterol and triglycerides faster than glucose.

Claories Calories Calories!

Oh no... The calorie! It amazes me that some people freak out and count calories for everything single thing they eat throughout their day - let alone, some going to the extremes of putting themselves on a strict caloric deficit in their diet in an attempt to lose weight. Not only are they potentially doing irreparable damage to their metabolism, they are starving themselves!

This one of the big dietary myths out there - You HAVE to count calories to lose weight! - but the scientific truth is that the calorie is completely irrelevant in human nutrition. This is a biochemical FACT!

Here's why and here's the real deal on what a calorie is:

A calorie is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water 1 degree celsius from 14.5 degrees to 15.5 degrees. It's a quantitative heat chemists tool which they use to determine how much heat is given off when you burn something.

I don't think anyone would adhere to the reasoning that when you eat a steak it travels down into your stomach and blows up!

However, that's exactly how a calorie is determined - you'll take a piece of meat or whatever food product - you'll put it in the calorimeter and you'll burn it - you'll turn it to carbon - a heat is released into the water which raises the temperature on the thermometer. So to determine a calorie - it's nothing more than a combustion process.

What does this have to do with human nutrition? Absolutely nothing.

So my point in explaining this is it is a huge dietary myth that you HAVE to count calories to lose weight. This is absolutely false. So STOP the nonsense with the calorie counting already!

However, if we are talking about a person who is a professional bodybuilder looking to get down to a low, single digit body fat % for a competition, the story and demands of a caloric deficit do change... this is neither sustainable or healthy for any extended period of time.

For the avg. Joe (or Mary) this is doing far more harm then good. Pay attention to the types of foods you're eating and your carbohydrate intake and forget the calorie even exists.

So... what did I eat today

Being Primal - I eat all meats, fowl and fish, eggs, animal fats, healthy oils (olive oil, macadamia nut oil, coconut oil), nuts (particularly macadamia and almonds) and select vegetables. I do not eat any dairy except for ghee (clarified organic butter). Although they get pricey, it is ideal to eat organic veggies and 100% grass fed meats for many reasons... One of the main and most important reasons, aside from the humane treatment and slaughter of these animals, is that the essential omega-3 to omega-6 ratios of grass fed animals is far superior to the traditional, grain fed meat from a mass production meat plant you'd typically find at your local market. This is yet another topic I will blog on in the future - man, I've got a lot of writing to do!

I will also explain why I say select vegetables another time in another post because it's a long story. However, the primal veggie list consists primarily of the low carb, seedless type, such as: any and all green leaf lettuces, kale, spinach, escarole, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, zucchini, squash, peppers... the list goes on. In fact, I'll post up a list shortly comprised of all the great foods on the Primal menu.

I eat according to how I feel - listening to your body is extremely important. If I'm hungry, I eat; if I'm not, I don't. It's that simple and I never eat past the point of satiety. Some days, I'll have two meals and other days I'll have five. Again, it all depends on what my body is asking for.

So with that being said, let me get to what I had to eat today - which was a typical day of eating for me.

Breakfast: 4 cage-free organic scrambled eggs cooked in clarified organic butter and topped with sauteed mushrooms and peppers.

Lunch: A big salad w/ lettuce, cucumber, sliced mushrooms, green and red peppers, two pieces of grilled chicken, olive oil and a bit of fresh squeezed lemon juice

Snack: A small handful of macadamia nuts

Dinner: Skirt steak (one of my favorite cuts - especially marinated!) and sauteed fresh asparagus.

My Workouts

In the past I was trying all sorts of different methods of exercise - Isolated weightlifting, pyramid lifts, 4 day splits, high rep / light weight, no weights - just massive amounts of cardio, etc. The end result - sure I made some progress but nothing in comparison to what I've been up to lately!

As I mentioned in my last post, Primal exercise consists of mimicking the gathers & hunters of years past. Slow walking (or any type low intensity cardio), sprints and lifting heavy objects.

Now I'm not out in the woods with a spear hunting down animals and then carrying them over my shoulders back to camp for dinner... so how did I incorporate all this in to a modernized version that benefits me with strength building and getting leaner?

Two ways. For my heavy lifting, I'm doing StrongLift's 5x5 program which is absolutely killer! A massive core and mass building routine that requires heavy lifts and a shorter time spent in the gym. It's a win win situation! I do this on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. There are two workouts as part of this plan - Workout A and Workout B - which I alternate back and fourth each time I'm at the gym. I will explain what the workouts consist of in just a few. For my low intensity cardio and sprints, which I do 2 days out of the week (not on lifting days of course!) I switch things up with walking, cycling, or hiking. I go at least 1 hour at a moderate pace so I don't elevate my heart rate too high - I like to keep it right at around 120 bpm, which for my age and weight is right in the fat burn zone. For the sprints, this can be obviously done with any of the aforementioned exercises by incorporating a 20 second max push back to your moderate pace for ten seconds, then repeat. I do this at least 8-10 times over the course of my hour.

The StrongLift 5X5 Program

Workout A

Squat 5x5
Bench Press 5x5
Inverted Rows 3xF
Push-ups 3xF
Reverse Crunch 3x12

Workout B

Squat 5x5
Overhead Press 5x5
Deadlift 1x5
Pull-ups/Chin-ups 3xF
Prone Bridges (Planks) 3x30sec

For those who may not know 5x5 means: 5 sets with 5 repetitions per set. 3xF means: 3 sets with each one to failure.

Seems simple enough right?

Well let me tell you, as you progress by adding 5lbs. to the bar each time you workout, regardless of what pound weights you were able to start with from day one, and no matter how much of a man (or woman) you think you are, this routine will push you to your absolute limits in no time at all. It is BRUTAL!

Today, Friday, I finished up the week with Workout B and plan on a casual 5 mile hike through some local trails tomorrow... it's supposed to be up in the 50's and sunny. I'm looking forward to it!

The Primal Life

Most of my family and friends know how I choose to eat and what my exercise routine consists of. Some have an understanding and agree with my views; some think I'm out of my mind.

In a nutshell, The Primal Life brings us back to the day of the caveman. A time when life consisted of hunting & gathering, survival from the elements & wild animals, lots of exploration, relaxation and play time. In today's modern society, this is not only beneficial to us as humans but it's still very achievable on most levels.

Now I don't live in a cave and spear my dinner (although I wouldn't mind giving it a shot sometime), I do live a modern version of this lifestyle adjusted to my own liking, from my research, and from the teachings of my mentors.

Regarding how I choose to eat: In 2008 I met a terrific doctor, Dr. James Carlson, who is my physician, mentor and friend. He educated me and showed me a path of proper eating that I never knew existed. Not only is he a practicing family physician, he also holds degrees in biochemistry & medical law, among a host of other credentials. Simply put, the man is a genius.

Back then, I was eating like garbage. The standard American diet accompanied by large quantities of fast food and sugars. I was in very poor health at the time. My cholesterol and blood pressure were off the charts and I needed to lose weight desperately. I was not only headed towards diabetes and a possible stroke but also cirrhosis of the liver. I was in bad shape and only 35 years old! This is supposed to be the prime of my life; not a time wondering and worrying if I was going to check out an early age.

Dr. Jim introduced me to the low carbohydrate way of eating and educated me on how this is how we all should be eating. This is a biochemical fact; not a belief - contrary to the propaganda endorsed by America's leading medical associations.

Now I'm not going to get in to a long discussion on biochemistry at the moment (although I probably will somewhere down the line), but the results I have achieved through eating low carb have been astonishing. I have lost a lot of weight, I am no longer on any medications, my blood work is textbook perfect and I am also no longer in any danger of developing cirrhosis of the liver as a result of a change in my food choices and eating habits. This all happened within about a year. A miracle? No. I am not an exception to any rule - I'm just a normal guy who implemented these changes in my life and let nature take it's course.

I eventually reached a point where my weight loss plateaued and my exercise routine was way out of whack for my goals. This is where, in my research, I came across a book written by a man named Mark Sisson called The Primal Blueprint. In this book, I have learned that as humans we are still genetically the same as we were 2 million years ago. It wasn't until about 10,000 years ago, when the agricultural industry began to develop, and in turn, began to diminish the human body via the intake of grains.

This is just a basic outline of nutritional evolution, in it's most simplistic form - I will get in to far further depth in future blogs. I highly recommend reading the books The Primal Blueprint by Sisson and Genocide (How your doctor's ignorance will kill you!!) by Dr. James Carlson. There are also many other books I've read and will mention as this blog progresses but these two books are a fantastic start if this is something that sparks your interest.

Back to my Primal Life... that was the title of this entry right? I get lost in my own mind sometimes :-)

Primal eating consists of exactly what man ate millions of years ago. All meats, fowl and fish, animal and other healthy fats and oils, nuts and wild vegetation. Primal exercise consists of mimicking the movements of the hunters and gatherers - slow walking and exploration (hiking is a good example), heavy lifting and sprinting (to catch prey or hopefully avoid being the prey!). A Primal lifestyle also includes proper sleep, rest and play!

I will also get in to further detail on how I adapted to these principles, how I include all of them in my life, and where I'm at with each of them in future blogs.

That's all for now - I've got to get my mojo on and get some important things done today.

Until next time, peace and primal love!

Welcome to my blog!

Greetings and welcome to my Primal Blog!

My name is Greg, I'm 37 years old and I live on Long Island, NY. I'm excited to keep this (hopefully daily) blog rolling with updates on my Primal lifestyle, my eating and exercise routines, my career or anything else that's on my mind at the moment.