Optimal Strength & Fitness

Monday

Monday 100531

 

"One Nation Under God."

 

Freedom is not Free!!!

Sunday

Sunday 100530

 

Some Squat Therapy

 

"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."
~ Marcus Aurelius

 

Saturday

Saturday 100529

 

REST DAY

 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another."
~ Galatians 5:22-26

 

Friday

Friday 100528

 

A Small Reason Vegetables Are So Expensive!!!

 

 

Almost every diet program out today has the same recommendations. One of those recommendations is to eat more fruit and veggie's. However when you walk through the grocery store and see how much fruit and veggie's cost you may feel like it is going to cost and arm and a leg to eat right. Why is is one pound of meat roughly the same price as 1 bell pepper? One head of lettuce is almost 2 dollars. Doesn't this seem a little much? The government put money into farming, and depending on what is farmed helps determine the price. If you look at the above picture you will see that Fruits and Vegetables should make up about 1/3 of our diet (according to the above pyramid) however only .37% of all government money for farming goes to fruits and vegetables. Seventy three percent of the federal subsides goes to meat, and almost 14% goes towards farming grains. Why is it that the foods that are the healthiest for us receive the lowest amount of government subsides? So, as a consumer what should we do? there are several options, one is to support your local farmer and buy at farmers markets. Most times you can get cheaper prices on fruits and vegetables. Another option is to grow your own. Simply planting a few heads of lettuce in the back yard can go a long way in saving you money.

 

 

 

Thursday

Thursday 100527

 

REST DAY

 

 

“We don’t know who we are until we see what we can do”
~ Martha Grimes

 

Wednesday

Wednesday 100526

 

Weakness is a choice, get stronger!!!

 

Tuesday

Tuesday 100525

 

THE PROBLEMS WITH CONVENTIONALLY RAISED BEEF
Article Courtesy Mark's Daily Apple

As mentioned in our Red Scare commentary a few weeks ago, beef gets a seriously bad rap these days. “Saturated fat!” the status quo shrieks, running in all directions, hair on fire, arms flailing, gnashing their teeth. Let’s set the record straight here. You know our decidedly pro-fat leanings. No need to go any further there. But what else is there to like about beef? To its credit, beef offers among the biggest boost of protein per ounce of any traditional food. (Yes, insects and other underappreciated delicacies in some cases offer more. We’ll let our good readers fill in the options here.) To boot, beef is an excellent source of niacin, vitamins B6, B12, K2, phosphorus, selenium, as well as iron, potassium, and riboflavin. In its best form (and we’ll get to that), it also serves as a good source of conjugated linoleic acid (more on this in a minute) and omega-3 fatty acids. (See why we were so compelled to defend red meat’s honor?) 

The inevitable caveat, however, is this: not all beef is created equal. (Yesterday it was cheese, we know. It’s really about fact, not fussiness.) Most of the beef consumed today is not, by any stretch, what your great-grandparents (let alone Grok) would’ve eaten. Modern day CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) do a real number on the nutrition of today’s beef cattle. Forget the happy cow image of relaxed, casual grazing on healthy, nutrient-rich grasses. CAFO cows are fed a diet of grains typically mixed with soy product and, honestly, whatever the farmer sees fit. (We seriously know a beef farmer who fed his cows those orange jelly candies. Why? Because he got an enormous load of them cheap from the local candy manufacturer since they were “defective.”) But there’s so much more. Let’s break it down….

Grass vs Grain Fed

What is the big deal with grass-fed beef anyway? Well, for one, the conjugated linoleic acid content. As mentioned in yesterday’s cheese post, CLA is believed to offer anti-cancer properties. It can also help decrease the risk of insulin resistance. Another big difference? A pastured diet results in a nearly 1:1 ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. This is the ratio believed to characterize our hunter-gatherer ancestors(you know, Grok and company). What does a grain-fed ratio look like? Try 6:1. A skewed ratio is a prescription for inflammation and possible precursor/risk factor for chronic disease.

Finally, there’s the E-Coli issue. With all the concern about food safety in the last decade or so, one fact doesn’t get enough if any real press: grass fed (and finished) beef is considerably less likely to be infected with E-Coli (abstract), particularly acid resistant E-Coli that cannot be effectively “disarmed” by our digestive systems.

It’s worth noting that many cattle start off grass-fed early on in their lives but are nearly always switched to grain in the months before slaughter. Most of the initial omega-3 stores and other nutritional benefits are lost during that time. Grass-fed and –finished are not synonymous.

Antibiotics

Continue reading here...

 

Monday

Monday 100524

 

The Crossfit Women Phenomena

Article by Keller Williams
2009-09-16

When you talk to women about exercise or workouts, the pervasive fear is that of becoming big or bulky. It is therefore understandable that when a woman first hears of Crossfit and what it entails, she is apprehensive. Crossfit is a fitness system found at Crossfit.com that combines gymnastic movements, running, powerlifting, Olympic lifting, and some exercises most people have never heard of. Yes, that is right, power and Olympic lifts. The Crossfit workout of the day or WOD as it is called, commonly includes powerlifts such as the deadlift and back squat and Olympic lifts such as clean and jerk. Go to any Crossfit gym though and you will quickly find out that women not only do Crossfit, they excel at it. These women have discovered one of the best-kept secrets for women’s fitness. Let us look at some of the advantages of Crossfit.

Many would assert that Crossfit is a surefire way to produce what women do not want, bulk. The truth is that Crossfit methods in a drug free individual will not produce the competition-size mass seen in most bodybuilding magazines. What it will produce for women is functional lean mass and a reduction in body fat. Crossfit WODs not only produce outstanding results for women, they are scalable, quick, and functional.

To begin, all the WODs are scalable. Every workout can be scaled or adjusted to the individual. For example, the WOD “Elizabeth” entails doing twenty one repetitions of squat cleans then twenty-one ring dips, then fifteen repetitions of each exercise, then nine repetitions of each exercise for a total of 45 reps for each exercise. The workout is done as fast as possible and the weight prescribed by Crossfit.com is 135 pounds for the squat clean. The weight is for an average male. Therefore, the weight would be too much for an average female and this is where scaling is used.

If the WOD Elizabeth were scaled for a woman of average strength and size who was relatively new to Crossfit, the result would be the same rep scheme with lower weight. The squat cleans would be performed at 65 pounds and push-ups substituted for the more challenging ring dips. To scale down even further, lower the rep scheme to twelve, nine, and six. Lessen the weight for the squat clean to 45 pounds and instead of regular push-ups, complete the push-ups from the knees. By scaling, the workout becomes manageable and appropriate for a novice or beginner.

Crossfit WODs are quick. Of course, most people desire more free time. Finding time to exercise can be especially challenging to busy women and mothers. Compare a Crossfit WOD to the typical half hour or more of cardio or aerobics and then low intensity weight training. Crossfit WODs usually run between ten and thirty minutes. Total workout time is cut in half.

Crossfit is functional. Functionality is a glaring omission from many workout routines that women engage. Ask any mother of young children though, how many times a day they lift loads from the floor or a low position in the form of kids, car seats or laundry baskets. The deadlift and related lifts are training for this type of movement. How many times does a mother squat down during a typical day?Again, the point is that performing functional movements such as squats will only increase the ability to function in day-to-day life.

Women all over the world are finding that Crossfit, the fitness system that involves intense weight training, is just what they have been looking when it comes to toning and building lean mass. It is scalable to any fitness level, quick and efficient, and functional. For many women, this shift in the paradigm of women’s fitness is long overdue.

Sunday WOD

Sunday 100523

 

YOUR LEGS ARE GOING TO BURN !!!!

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"Victory and defeat are each of the same price."
~ Thomas Jefferson

 

Saturday WOD

Saturday 100522

 

Run or Row 5K

 

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"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
~ George Washington