Want to be inspired? Then watch what Will Smith has to say about life and getting what you want. Training others to be really fit may not be his area of expertise but this is one inspirational dude! Watch what he says about the treadmill… I got fired up!
For those of you in your second week of the Athlon Challenge, heed his advice…
Just KNOWthat you're going to succeed and achieve your goals. Don't even think about having a Plan B. That will only distract you from Plan A: having the body, fitness and performance of your dreams.
Now go get it! Create yourself an amazing day!
And for those of you not training with us here at Athlon yet… WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! We'll help you get the body, fitness and performance of your dreams!
The Athlon "Biggest Winner" Fitness Challenge started this week. For all you procrastinators (like me) you still have a shot. You can join in on one of the teams up until Tuesday of next week.
First of all, we'd like to thank everyone who came out and helped make our Farmer's Market Booth a GREAT experience to kick off the new year in SLO County! We had lots of fun giving the people of SLO County an experience of what Athlon Elite has to offer- including a tire pull for time, a vertical jump, and even flipping the tractor tire!!
(Below are a couple pictures from Farmer's Market!)
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We had two categories in our testing competition last week- A forward tire drag for time over 20 yards, and a vertical jump for max height (both male and females were eligible!) Below are the winners of the competitions! Come down to the gym and pick up your free t-shirt!!!
MALES:
Vertical Jump: Travis McDaniel (31 1/2")
20 yard Forward Tire Drag: Titus Shelton (4.01 seconds)
With the “Got Milk” campaign bombarding people with milk messages I kinda wish I had access to that milk money to promote some other stuff, stuff that actually helps folks get leaner and healthier. For example, fiber. If more people focused on fiber (instead of milk), overall health in North America would improve dramatically.
So, why am I so high on fiber? Well, first of all, let me tell you what fiber is all about. Fiber is basically an indigestible nutrient – the two main types being soluble and insoluble. Since soluble fiber is the kind most beneficial, I’ll focus on that type here.
Soluble fiber is the kind of fiber that dissolves in water and absorbs water. Once you eat it, the body turns it into a kind of thick, viscous gel, which moves very slowly through your body. This is a good thing as soluble fiber fills you up and keeps you fuller longer, providing that sensation of fullness we call satiety.
In addition to these benefits, soluble fiber also slows the absorption of glucose (sugar) into the body. This means you’re going to avoid those nasty sugar highs and lows. Last but not least, fiber inhibits the re-absorption of bile into the system. Bile is a fat emulsifier and therefore if you inhibit bile re-absorption, your liver needs to get its cholesterol fix from your blood. This means lower blood-serum cholesterol levels.
With its ability to lower blood sugar, decrease blood cholesterol, increase satiety, and improve colon health, the important question isn’t “Got Milk?” The important question is “Got Fiber?”
Getting More Fiber In The Diet
How can you get more fiber in your diet? Well, rather than using fiber supplements, which simply aren’t necessary, the easiest way is to eat fiber-rich foods such as oats, fruits, veggies, and, perhaps most importantly, legumes. And I say legumes are the most important because they offer the most fiber per calorie when compared to other foods.
For example, lentils offer about 30g of fiber for every 60g of carbs. That’s a 1g of fiber for every 2g of carbohydrate. Oats, on the other hand, offer only about 10g of fiber for every 60g of carbohydrate. That’s 1g of fiber for every 6g of carbohydrate. From this it should be clear that if you want to eat a high fiber diet without overloading on carbs, legumes are the way to go.
No Longer The Magical Fruit
Of course, legumes have a bad reputation for producing both auditory and olfactory offense. Guilty as charged, the seemingly innocuous legume has been the source of many bouts of embarrassment, anguish, and undoubtedly the source material for some of the best movie quotes of all time. “I fart in your general direction” will immediately ring a bell for Monty Python fans.
What is the source for such noxious miasma? Beans pass very slowly through our digestive tracts while we try to break down the complex carbohydrates contained in beans – known as oligosaccharides. The problem is that we do not have the particular enzymes in our digestive tracts needed to break down these sugars, so they just sit there fermenting in our gut, thus producing the unwanted side effects.
Fortunately, proper soaking significantly reduces oligosaccharide content, as well as total sugars and starch. In particular, soaking with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) causes remarkable reduction in these sugars and starches.
Although some people claim that soaking beans in a baking soda solution damages their nutritive properties, a study found that a sodium bicarbonate solution reduced only antinutritional factors, while protein digestibility was actually increased. (It should be noted that lentils and split peas do not need to be soaked.) Also, most people experience much less flatulence with lentils and split peas than other varieties of legumes, which is a huge bonus since they lead the pack in the carb:fiber ratio.
To soak beans, first rinse them, then place them in a large pot and add water at a 4 to 1 ratio (water to beans). Allow the beans to soak anywhere between 12 to 24 hours at room temperature for the best results. After soaking, drain and rinse the beans, pouring all of those nasty anti-nutrients down the drain. Then you’re ready to cook them up.
Stay-tuned to the Athlon Elite blog-site for more strategies, tips and recipes that will assuredly improve your health, physique, and performance.
What do you like better… exercising in the morning or evening?
Did you know there's often a difference in your heart rate (and potentially performance) between exercising in the morning versus the evening even though the workload is the same and your perceived exertion is the same?
There's also some other interesting differences that maybe you've experienced before but never really payed attention.
Congratulations to Jesse Gillespie of the USC Water Polo Team, previous stand-out athlete at Arroyo Grande High School and Athlon Elite! They just beat UCLA for their second straight national championship!!
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