Battle the Ropes

10 04 2018

Once in a while I need to get in a quick ten to twenty-minute workout between clients. With the limited time, I don’t want to waste it on moving from one machine or bench to another, nor do I want to fight over the free weights. Coming up with a workout that involves some added resistance, but doesn’t include a lot of equipment takes some creativity. I could go with a personal favorite, the TRX suspension trainer, and add a weight vest, but it doesn’t help if you don’t have a weight vest. In times like these I turn to…(fade in angelic music and point spotlight on) battle ropes.

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I’ve come to respect the simplicity and effectiveness of battle ropes. This bundle of threaded, nylon joy has what it takes to get my heart pumping and my muscles burning. With only one piece of equipment, I’ve turned a twenty square foot area into my battle arena. It’s me versus the rope and I’m determined to sweat it out till the end. Believe me, all you need is twenty minutes to feel accomplished. Keep reading and I’ll explain how you can equip yourself for a great match with the battle ropes.

Arm Yourself
If this is your first time swinging battle ropes be prepared for your arms (as well as the rest of your body) to be sore. The thickness of the ropes cause your forearms to work harder as they grip tightly to swing the ropes at various speeds. This constant grip will tax the forearm’s muscular endurance, so it’s a good idea to give yourself more rest time between sets. In addition, you’re constantly moving your arms which will expend more energy in your shoulders, biceps, and triceps. You’re done when your arms are done, so warm them up really well. If you don’t, good luck trying to swing the rope with you teeth.

Concentrate to the Core
Your abs and back should stay engaged throughout the entire movement phase. One common error is to round the back because the rope is pulling you forward as you swing the rope. This can cause back pain and possible injury. Another reason you have to start slow and get the rhythm down before speeding up the cadence of the swings. If you lean forward, remember to hinge from the hip and not from the waist. Perform planks and deadlifts to create a solid core that will hold your body upright and withstand the blows of the rope.

Get a Leg Up
Even though battle ropes look like an entirely upper body workout; don’t be fooled. Similar to any explosive movement, the lower body generates the power that you see when someone is making waves or slamming the rope in all directions. Aquring a good strength base in your legs will help make it easier to control the rope’s movement. Don’t focus on using machines to get the strength though. Exercises like lunges, squats, lateral lunges or sumo squats will get your legs conditioned to go the extra rounds.

It’s All About Rhythm
So now that you have the strength and endurance to pick up the rope and swing it, the final part is making the movement smooth like a fine tuned machine. Focus on the midsection so that the hips can move freely, while engaging the abs and back. Let the shoulders relax so each wave that comes out of the rope is fluid. Tightening up the arms and shoulders too much will result in a choppy and irregular waveform. Think of counting in your head, “1,2,1,2,1,2.” You can also use a power song or a song with a heavy down beat to keep your rhythm. Whatever you do, don’t force the muscles to move sporadically.

Now that you’re ready to go a round with the nylon beast, keep in mind that it does take time. Don’t get discouraged if you lose the control of the rope. Just remember to stay relaxed and hang on tight. You might find that you’ll be a champ at this like you are with your fitness goals.

For a great total body blast, try the following workout.


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Argentinean Cuisine

12 10 2014

My wife and I headed down to Miami to visit some friends and I tried to find a good place to do some snorkeling. Unfortunately, the tides were rough and I never made it out to Jose Cuervo Reef down in South Beach. I did get to swim and catch some rays while watching the paddle boarders and surfers catch some waves.

On the way home, we decided to venture to a new restaurant in Doral, FL named Olivos Restaurant. When finding placed to dine out, there’re a lot choices, but sometimes finding the ones with healthy options are hard to come by. We were happy we found this location. The food there was delicious and when I asked to speak with the chef about the ingredients he used, I was very pleased to know that everything was natural and fresh. I had the Seafood Saffron Risotto with Asparagus (Chef Mariano Araya provided me with the ingredients which are below) and my wife had the Breaded veal scaloppini “Milanesa.”

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When going out for meals, ask your server if they can get you the recipe or the ingredient list for the food you want to order. This will help you better plan if you’re training or stay on track if you’re trying to work on weight management. If they don’t have a written list, ask to speak with the chef. Many places are fine with the chef coming to your table to speak with you about their dishes. Make sure you ask them about food allergies, measurements, artificial additives, and calories. Asking the questions will not only give you more insight on what you’re consuming, but also give you a better understanding of how the meals you’re ordering can affect your future workouts and goals.

Seafood Saffron Risotto with Asparagus
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Serving Size: 4
Ingredients:
2 Tbs Butter
4 Tbs Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic
1/2 Onion
12 Shrimp
12 Scallops
8 Clams
8 Mussels
1/2 lb Calamari
Pinch of Saffron
1 Bunch Asparagus
2 Cup Vegetable Stock
2 Cups White Wine
2 Cups Arborio Rice

 

**Note: Any reviews posted here were not in favor of the business nor were there any compensation for the post. All opinions conveyed within this article were honest and written with the sole discretion of the author.


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Pushing Through Your Workouts: Overloading vs. Overtraining

21 09 2014

A couple weeks ago, I woke up with a bad headache, felt lousy, and my energy was very low. My wife wasn’t able to sleep all night so I was up a lot trying to help her fall back to sleep. I got through my day at work and the time came for my workout. I wasn’t looking forward to it since my energy level was still sluggish at that point. However, I felt that if I didn’t do something, I would start off my week down a day. So I warmed up the best I could and went to the weight stack to tackle my first set of squats. My muscles felt like they were fighting  against each other rather than working together on the first set. My body didn’t communicate with each muscle group making 20 pounds feel like 100 pounds. I struggled though the first set and re-racked the weights and sat down. I started to think what my game plan should be for the rest of the workout. “Suck it up, get pumped, and push through the fatigue,” I thought “or take the day off and reset so I can come back to it fresh tomorrow?” This choice doesn’t seem to be a hard decision to make, however, some gym goers and athletes feel that if they push harder, they will break though that fatigue.

To make improvements in your body, you must work your muscles just beyond the normal demands of your body. The stress of the work must be challenging for the body resulting in adaptation to the difficult task and thereby allowing the body to endure and eventually overcome the same stress the next time it is encountered.  This concept is referred to as the principle of overload. A couple reasons many gym goers don’t see results after two to three months of beginning a new exercise routine, which ultimately leads to quitting, is because they don’t want to push their bodies to this state of exertion, or are afraid because they don’t know how hard to push themselves.

Those afraid of pushing themselves too hard are smart and should not proceed without proper guidance from a certified personal trainer. There is always an outcomes spectrum of benefits and consequences with everything we do related to health and fitness. Too little done and the benefits diminish but too much of the stimulus can also lead to diminished results.Results

When the spectrum is applied to our workouts, as mentioned before, too little stress on our muscles results in our bodies staying stagnant and improvement stops. Too much stress on the body will also lead to diminished results which could have fatal consequences such as injury. This principle is known as overtraining. If our bodies are subjected to constant stress and breakdown of our muscles, more time is needed to repair that muscle. If the time needed for repair is not present and the exerciser continues to add more stress to the damaged site, the stress becomes too great and injury may occur. Consistent balance between workload stress and repair time must be provided to generate safe and timely improvements.

So coming back to my workout a couple weeks ago. I knew that my body needed more time to rest and even if I pushed through my workout, the demands imposed on my body might have been too great which would have left me with an injury and caused me to miss more than just that one day. I could have gone easy on the weighs but the improvements would have been minimal in my state. Knowing all this information gave me the answer I needed. I cleaned off the bench and went home.


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Black Bean and Quinoa Burger

6 09 2014

Black Bean and Quinoa Burger A tasty meal for anyone looking for a vegetarian option. I found this recipe from my “Allrecipes” app and made a little modification by using red lettuce instead of a bun and adding salsa for a different flavor.

Servings per Recipe: 5-6
Serving Size: 1
Calories: 245
Fat: 10.6 g
Carbs: 28.9 g
    Protein: 9.3 g

Ingredients:
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup minced yellow bell pepper
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon hot sauce (such as Tabasco)
1 egg
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 head red lettuce, washed and trimmed
5 table spoons salsa

Directions:
1. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Roughly mash the black beans with a masher leaving some whole black beans in a paste-like mixture.

3. Mix the quinoa, bread crumbs, bell peppers, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, hot sauce, and egg into the black beans using your hands.

4. Form the black bean mixture into 1 1/2 inch thick patties.

5. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.

6. Cook the patties in the hot oil until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

7. Place two leaves of lettuce on a plate and place a patty on top of the lettuce.

8. Top burger with a tablespoon of salsa and serve.


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Take a Stand and Live Longer: Why Sitting Too Much Could Be Life Threatening

15 09 2013

I wanted to start off this article by saying that I wrote this entire piece while standing, but I couldn’t find a countertop that was high enough for my keyboard to reach my fingers. Therefore, to make my point, I will state that this is a great example of how many people in the world are forced to be confined in a seat for most of their day. Despite a recent surge of articles, news broadcasts, and studies over the past few years, people are still sitting more than ever, and as a result, putting their health at risk, and we’re not just talking about obesity.

We are aware that sitting can lead to obesity and cardiovascular problems due to not enough physical activity. Research has also shown a link between prolonged sitting and depression. The research that should get everyone standing up while reading this piece has been in numerous media outlets that have reported on the health problem of too much sitting; NPR, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, CBS,  Runner’s World, and Time. It is clear that being on your rump all day can actually be life threatening. According to a 2012 research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers found that those who spent each day sitting for longer than 11 hours were 40% more likely to die earlier than those who sat less the 4 hours a day. The kicker is that even that hour to the gym seven days a week doesn’t cut it. People just need to get up and move more often.

Many people in today’s technology driven world are behind desks tapping away at a keyboard for 8 to 10 hours a day. When we’re not sitting behind our desk, we’re probably still sitting, but this time it’s in a restaurant, car, couch, or even a bathroom stall. NPR posted a clip with advice on Beating the Cubicle. The take home message is to take a stand, not a seat. Stand up, move more, and free yourself from the dangers of begin glued to the chair. As mentioned before, even those who exercise on a regular basis still need to be more physically active in their daily life. A way to do this is to use a watch instead of a pedometer. Counting the number of steps is great if your goal is to take a certain number of steps in 4 hours. However, we don’t do this because we don’t have 4 hours to allocate all at one once to standing. A good recommendation is to wear a watch that has a stop watch. When you stand up, press the start button and stop it when you sit back down. Don’t reset the watch, but let it continue counting by pressing the start button when you stand again and repeat the process. At the end of the day record the time that you spend standing. You’ll be surprised at how little it may add up and even more shocked when we take that number and subtract it by 24 to see how many hours we actually are sitting/lying down.

I’m not telling anyone that they should start buying treadmill desks, or sleep standing up (Did you know that there is not a Guinness World Record holder for someone standing the longest. However, Suresh Joachim holds the Guinness World Record for standing on one leg. His record is 76 hours and 40 minutes.)  We all need to sit once in a while. There’s nothing wrong with relaxing and kicking up your feet at the end of a long day. The trouble begins when we find ourselves picking up a remote and for the next 4 hours of football, we’re stuck to the couch. Find those little pockets of time to stand and move. I have heard people say that they don’t sleep because they have time for that when they die. I think the same goes for standing. Stand and move now while you still have the chance.

My brother on Mt. Adams

My brother on Mt. Adams, NH


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When to Throw In the Towel

7 09 2013

In the movie Rocky IV, Apollo Creed (who, in case you never saw the films, fights Rocky Balboa in the first two Rocky installments ) decides to fight Russia’s newest boxing sensation, Ivan Drago.  During the big match between Apollo and Ivan, both Rocky and Apollo’s trainer, Duke, know that Apollo is taking a beating and the end result won’t be pretty. Duke begs Rocky to throw in the towel to end the fight, but Rocky, honoring his friend’s request to never stop the match, doesn’t toss the towel. In the end, Apollo takes such a beating that the final blow kills him.

This scene is a great analogy of that human potential trifecta for competitors; body, mind, and spirit. Apollo represents our physical body. Going up against all odds, we push our bodies to the limits. We kep going regardless of the puddles of sweat and painful ache to prove that our muscles can take the constant pounding not only in competition, but also in training. Then there’s the brain represented by Duke’s character. The voice of reason telling us that we should begin to back off or even quit because the result of continuing might be detrimental. Every painful step blasts a signal to our nervous system, letting us know that the body can’t take much more. We think about listening to that voice in our head, but then something else speaks louder. We hear Rocky, our spirit, cry out and tell us not to back down. If we dig down deep enough, we can tell ourselves to forget what the mind is telling us and hold off on throwing in the towel. We are then able to push just a little more, never knowing if the result will be success or utter defeat. We always want to imagine that it’d be the first.

You might have recently seen more articles of runners collapsing during a race in your daily paper or on the news. Headlines warning people of the dangers of long distance running. The stats are in, we do have more people involved in competitions and exercise. There are also reported cases of people getting hurt or evening dying from their participation in long distance races. However, a study by John Hopkins University published in 2012 compared the number of marathon participants and mortality rates between the years of 2000 and 2009 and showed no significant increase in mortality rates compared to the increase in entries.  They also indicated that the data that was collected were from media reports. These findings prove that the death toll of marathon runners are not increasing, but more so, the media attention of these occurences has increased. So why did these individuals have a fatal finish? One possible reason could be related back to our start of this article; the training of our physical abilities or lack there of.

Individuals must know to listen to their bodies when training or competing. It’s also important to have a trainer or coach who also understands your ability level and knows how to progress your training safely. People start to get hurt when they take only the Rocky approach and never tune in to their heads. Undertraining for an event can be as detrimental to your body as overtraining. Those who are getting injured in a competition may be a result of being undertrained and underdeveloped to meet the requirements of the challenging requirements. An article that led to the large research from John Hopkins highlighted a man who passed out during a marathon. Days after, he commented that he was not listening to his body. When training and competing, our state of mind changes and we begin to fight through all the adversaries that come in our way. From the sore muscles, to the dire weather conditions, we tell our bodies that we can persevere. Train smarter and compete smarter, by knowing when to call it quits. Your body, mind, and spirit is a perfect triangle balanced on its point. Knock off one side and the other two will fall also. If your body wasn’t prepared for that last mile hill climb, quitting isn’t failing, but deciding to be wise to come back to it when the complete triad is ready.

As we continue to exercise and train to improve ourselves, it is important to know when the time is to throw in that towel.  Progress your training accordingly and train speifical to your goals. Always modify your exercises if necessary to reduce the wear on your bones and joints. Lastly, ask yourself before running that first marathon, “Have I trained enough and if I come to that point where all is failing, will I know when to stop?”


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A Journey to Renew My Mind, Body, Spirit

23 08 2013

Looking back at last month, my mind had been preoccupied with work and the realization that I was leaving the country to explore a place unfamiliar to me. The weeks leading up to my trip to Spain was filled with mixed emotions. Questions that plagued my mind at night included, what should I bring, how will I navigate with only my wife versed in the language, what neat and amazing things will we experience, and how will I keep up with my exercises. I had been so busy with my work that when the month prior to leaving snuck up on me, I was flabbergasted by how quick two years had gone by since my wife and I had started talking about taking this trip. Although, I hadn’t a clue where I was going (I left it up to my wife to choose the itinerary for the whole trip) and I didn’t know what to expect, I knew that I was going to take some time to renew my mind, body, and spirit.

New Day in Madrid

Landing into Madrid, Spain as the sun rose from behind the mountains.

The trip began with the appreciation of  how quickly the human mind can adapt. Typically, I am a person who needs to know enough about my surroundings to feel competent and confident so I can interact with people.  I’m an extravert and human interaction is necessary. This journey took my out of that comfort zone and thew me into the great unknown. I was a man in a large country that spoke a language that was not familiar to me. Renew my mind might be the incorrect choice of words; more like enlighten my mind. My brain became a sponge and I soaked up as much of the language as I could possible retain in one sitting. My appreciation for the history and culture of the land and people was overwhelming. I became obsessed with the history and culture of the little towns and provinces that my wife and I visited. Each day we would explore a new area of the country and spend hours taking in the beauty and magnitude of our natural surroundings. I would work on the language everywhere we went and slowly was able to speak to someone patient residents. We learned why the villages were erected in specific ways, how the locals ate, and how the landscape had changed over time. We also experienced first hand the slow pace of life when the only form of transportation were your very own two legs.

At the top of Picos de Europa with a mountain goat.

At the top of Picos de Europa with a mountain goat.

The time spent walking and carrying my hiking pack gave me all the exercise I needed for the time I was gone. My body felt well worked by the end of the trip. The people in Spain normally take a siesta during the middle of the day. I don’t know why my wife and I didn’t follow suit, but by the time midnight came around and all the people of Spain came pouring out of their homes and restaurants for their “happy hour,” my wife and I were nicely tucked under our covers in our nice cozy beds. The feeling of fatigue doesn’t usually hit your muscles all at once. No, it enjoys creeping up slowly, toying with your body as to say, “you never know when I’ll put a stop to all your movement.” That came around lunch time one afternoon in Segovia after we had walked all over the village and seen the Alcazar, our bodies had started to let us know that we needed to rest and replenish our nutrients. We happily gave in to this respite at a mom and pop restaurant where I learned more Spanish because the hosts could not speak English and we were able to get all the nutrients that we needed for the next long trek on our journey. Traveling on foot gave us great pleasure in seeing the sites that would have been missed by taking a car or public transportation. (Traveler’s note: If you ever go to Spain, keep hydrated. The dry air and changes in altitude can be deceiving to your perception of thirst.  Plan on buying all your water or bring a couple of water bottles, as we did, and fill them up at the local watering holes.)

Wife getting water at a water hole on the outskirts of the village in Segovia.

My wife testing out a water hole on the outskirts of the village in Segovia.

Many of our stops along the way brought us to magnificent churches, cathedrals, and basilicas. The history of each one and the famous artists who helped create these masterpieces entranced my spirit and gave me much appreciation of life’s great gifts.  The architecture and structures found inside and out were amazing. The commitment found throughout these structures exemplified that nothing spectacular can ever be done quickly. Success is only possible, when one has a plan, support, dedication, and time. In the end, I was blown away by the sheer beauty and awe of everything that I saw, experienced, and learned.

Catedral de Santa María de Regla de León

Catedral de Santa María de Regla de León

As I reflect on the trip, I also reflect on the lessons that were gained from all that I had seen. We as individuals need to step back and take in all the accomplishments that we have made in our lives. Too often we are pushed to get things done as quickly as possible. We are becoming a society where instantaneous gratification is more favorable than the long haul even if the latter is stated to be healthier.  This journey made me realize the importance of taking my time and enjoying life’s every moment. By the end of the trip, I was able to come back to my life’s routine with a refreshed perspective on what I want to achieve and how it will look getting there. Remember that a journey is defined as the act of traveling from one place to another. Don’t lose sight of the end, and always keep your eyes open on the journey.


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