I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving yesterday…

Time to work-off some of that goodness!  Do the following workout as fast as you can get it done focusing on form and performing each movement through a full range of motion.  You don’t need any equipment just a little motivation.  Go to a park or do it right from your front yard.  Get it done!

3 Rounds for Time of:

• Run a 1/2 mile
• 20 Sit-ups
• 30 Push-ups
• 40 Walking Lunges

Some tips on making Thanksgiving healthy:

*In your stuffing substitute olive oil for butter, whole grain bread for white bread, nuts and dried fruit for sausage.

*Put half the usual sugar in your cranberry relish recipe, just make sure you have some good cranberries to start with.

*Use two egg whites in place of one large egg in your baked desserts.  It won’t affect the texture or taste but will reduce the fat.

*(For us country-folk…) Substitute smoked turkey for the ham hocks in your collard greens.

*Workout harder on Friday (see our post-Turkey Day workout on the blog this Friday) or run or walk longer than usual on Thanksgiving morning to compensate for the extra calories later.

*Use fat-free chicken broth to baste the turkey and make gravy.

*Fill your plate up with salad and veggies before diving into the main course.  It will help you fill up before you get to too much of the bad stuff.

*Put small amounts on your plate, and eat slowly.

*Limit yourself to one plate and skip seconds.  You can do it, just wait 15 minutes after eating the first plate before you go back for seconds… I’ll bet you won’t even want them.

*Focus on the sweet potatoes (and not the ones with marshmallows all over them):

They’re a superfood.  One medium sweet potato is rich in beta-carotene and meets your daily need for vitamin A.  It also provides nearly a third of the vitamin C you need each day.

They’re packed with fiber.  When eaten with the skin on (roasted whole or cut up into oven fries), a sweet potato has as much fiber as half a cup of oatmeal, for about 100 calories.

They’re versatile.  Try sweet potato soup with ginger, garlic, and curry or sprinkled with olive oil or rosemary rather than the typical "candied yams".  You can also include sweet potatoes in casseroles, meat stews, and cinnamon laced quick breads.

*But most importantly…

Enjoy the holiday by focusing on your friends and family and loved ones and giving thanks for all that we have!

There was an interesting article in the New York Times on Saturday about a new doping agent that might be catching athletes’ attention.  Viagra, as many already know, has a significant effect on blood vessels, making them dilate and carry more blood.  Could that be beneficial to athletes that compete in sports that require a lot of oxygen to be delivered to the muscles, e.g., running, skiing, cycling at high altitudes??  Probably.

Click here to read the New York Times article.  It’s an interesting read…

This morning I was writing in deadlift weights for a couple of our female members during their workout and noticed that all of them were finishing the day with at least 200lbs (a proud day for a strength coach)…

A member of our fitness center walked by and asked "isn’t lifting heavy weight like that going to bulk that girl up?" (mind you this was a hundred-and-nothing pound model to which he was referring) I didn’t want to get into the details of it with him right then, but I told him to check out the Athlon Elite Blog today… so here is the answer to that question:

NO, Absolutely not, no way, not a chance, lifting heavy weight will NOT bulk you up. In fact it’s quite the opposite… but you gotta’ do it right!

Many gym-goers looking to "tone" up are trained, or have read in Muscle and FICTION that high volume, low intensity (high reps, low weights) programs are the ideal way to tone up those muscles and burn fat in those problem areas. These people hit the fitness center, select a few machines, primarily ones that isolate those problem areas, and knock out 10 reps move along to another machine and repeat.

There are two problems with this method…

First, there is no such thing as "spot reduction." Working-out your problem areas in order to burn the fat around them is a myth and something we will get into at another time.

Second, though, there is a toning effect from training in this fashion, it is temporary, has no carry over to the "real world," and is lost as soon as you miss a day or two in the gym.

Here’s an example..

make a fist right now… now make it tighter… tighter… crush your own hand… come on SQUEEZE!!!  Notice that as you squeeze harder and harder the muscles in your forearm start shaking, and then your biceps and triceps and eventually your shoulder all kick into action. This concept is called "neurological tension". As the muscles in your forearm start to get tired your brain will start to pull from other muscle groups in order to keep that tension in your hand.

This is the key, tension; tension = tone!!!

By performing a low volume, high intensity (low rep, heavy weight) exercise you force the brain to recruit all the muscles fibers in the area and extra muscles in order to keep that tension.

So, doing these really heavy deadlifts you recruit all of your butt and leg muscles and you recruit the muscles of the abdomen, chest, shoulders, arms, and back as well to help out. The result is a total body, functional, toning-lift that lasts!  And since you only did a set of five reps you didn’t stimulate the brain to build a whole bunch more muscle tissue (i.e., "bulk-up").

Of course the key is to do it right!  Come into Athlon Elite and get a taste of one of our low volume programs and see if you can keep up with the powerful and sexy "tone" of some of our "little ladies…"

Rest and recovery nutrition are very important parts of training, and usually overlooked.  Here’s a great example…

I recently performed my best ever power clean ever (245 lbs.)!  I couldn’t believe it.  I’ve never lifted that much and felt that good doing it.  And here’s the strange thing… I haven’t been trying to lift heavy in a while.  In fact, I’ve been doing pretty moderate workouts comparatively speaking.  So how was I able to lift so much?

I believe the key was adequate rest (I’ve been getting 7 hours per night on the weekdays and 8+ on the weekends) and adequate recovery nutrition (I take my Fluid after every workout and work hard to keep my meals small and frequent).

I see so many people wanting to improve some aspect of their body (strength, power, body fat, etc.) and only focus on exercising harder and harder rather than focusing on the other aspects of performance enhancement that occur outside the gym (namely, rest and recovery nutrition).

Are you getting your rest and recovery nutrition in?  Contact us for a free consultation to discuss ways that you could improve your training outside the gym (click here)

The video below is Dave Brown, Founder of Fluid Recovery and one of the original trainers at Athlon Elite, discussing recovery nutrition for serious athletes…

Joe Welch makes the International Rugby Team!

Joe trained with us for his final month of preparation before heading to Salt Lake, Utah a couple weeks ago for the National Rugby Team’s first test match against Uruguay.  He was on the cusp of making the team and had to have an excellent showing in the test match.  Well needless to say he went in there and kicked some serious tail… and made the team!  He called this week to thank Athlon Elite for our help in preparing his body for the challenge.  Great job Joe!  You’re a Spartan Warrior for sure.

Some Stats from the USA Rugby National Team webpage…

Joe Welch
    
Height:                                  5′9
Weight:                                 200
Position:                               hooker
Caps:                                    0 (first assembly with National Team)
International Scoring:        no international scoring record
Current Club:                      Cal
Birthdate:                             October 30, 1984
Born:                                     Sacramento, Calif.
Hometown:                         Sacramento, Calif.
Residence:                         Carmichael, Calif.
 
Highlights:     Joe first started playing rugby when he was 16 years old so he could play a spring High School sport. He played for Jesuit High School until he graduated in 2003 and then played for Cal untilhe graduated this year in 2008. He was a U-19 in 2003 and made the 2008 All-American side, before making the Men’s National Team for the ASM and Munster assemblies.
 
Personal:     All three of Joe’s younger brothers also played rugby. Besides graduating with a Political Science degree from University of California, Joe also likes to hunt, fish and surf.
 
Did You Know?     Joe was a San Jaoquin Section Title winner in H.S. Football, going 13-0 in 2002.

Great Job Joe!!

Ok Folks!  As of tomorrow, Wednesday November 12th, there are only 50 days left in the year!  So, we’ve decided to celebrate the end of the year… Athlon Elite style!

This is the kind of celebration that’s going to get you a flat, rock-hard stomach, toned and trimmed thighs, well developed pecs and upper body tone and a few percentage points of body fat less!

—The Down & Dirty, Doin’ Burpees, Century Club—

Here’s how it works…

• Starting tomorrow, do burpees every day until the end of the year, starting at 2 and increasing by 2 every day until you get to 100 burpees on New Year’s Eve (50 days from now)!
• Example: Do 2 burpees tomorrow before you get into the workout of the day, then do 4 on Thursday before the days workout, then 6 on Friday, etc., etc.

Rules:

1. You must do a full burpee to count it (full = it must contain a push-up, you must land flat on your feet after the push-up, then you must get four inches of vertical jump)
2. You can complete each days burpees at once or  broken up and done at different times throughout the day (we’re on the honor system here so don’t lie)
   
3. If for some reason you miss a day, you have to make-up the missed burpees the following day.
   
4. If you don’t start the “Down & Dirty, Doin’ Burpees, Century Club” Challenge tomorrow, (the first day), you can “buy-in” at ANY time buy doing all the missed days’ burpees on your first day.
   

An example of a burpee…

So why would you want to do this?…

Well for one, they say that 1 burpee burns 3 calories.  Imagine having that extra help in the “calories department” as we get into the holiday season soon!

But secondly everyone who legitimately finishes the “Down & Dirty, Doin’ Burpees, Century Club” Challenge gets one of our very cool, very sexy Athlon Elite T-shirts.

That’s worth it alone!

Report your burpees progress to us each day you come in and train.

Good luck!

I hate all the talk about the economy right now.  Just hate it!

I know that our economy is not in the best shape its ever been and that we are all headed for some changes (which were probably needed anyway), but I can’t stand to listen to the “doomsayers” in the newspapers and on the evening news every day and night preaching fear.

This “fear mongering” makes it possible for those with, lets say, “a little less scruples” to convince us as a nation to do things that are not really in our best interest after all… (can you say “weapons of mass destruction?”)

Sorry that’s another blog post for another time… (back to today’s blog)

There’s a lot of talk these days about a recession, even a depression, being on the way!  And even though I’m not letting this talk effect me… and even though Athlon Elite is doing better than ever… there probably are a lot of other people paying more attention to their budgets right now and spending less.

If this is you, don’t sacrifice eating “clean and green,” for cheaper more unhealthy alternatives.  Make your food budget stretch to cover healthy choices, it will pay huge health dividends and end up being way cheaper than doctor’s visits and lost time at work.

Here’s a food budget strategy for continuing to eat “clean and green” in tough times:

• Buy in season -Trying to eat organic summer vegetables in the winter will quickly put a dent in your food budget. Right now, root vegetables, potatoes, and winter squash are at their cheapest and their tastiest. Apples are also fresh and reasonably priced, and citrus comes into season around the holidays. Use in-season vegetables and fruits to fill your family’s table with affordable nutritious goodness.
• Think ahead - Shop once a week, and don’t shop for food while hungry. Buying all of your food on one trip avoids the trap of running to the store several times, which burns extra gas and can add extra impulse buys to your basket.
• Make a plan - Planning your weekly meals and sticking to it keeps you from buying whatever sounds good when you’re shopping. Always shop from a list.
• Buy in bulk - Try to have the staple foods on hand at all times, buying a month’s worth or more and storing it in the pantry. Many co-ops and health food stores offer discounts for case quantities and bulk bags of grains. Most grains, beans, and flour is sold in 25 or 50 pound bags. 20 pounds of beans fits perfectly in a 5 gallon bucket, keeping it fresh and safe from bugs or rodents. Check at hospitals or school cafeterias for free food-grade buckets.
• Cook at home - Eating out will burn up your cash, and many restaurants serve food with dubious origins, so cooking from scratch makes the most sense to us.
  
• Eat simple - For families that eat meat, cutting back meat-based dishes to once or twice a week means being able to afford organic or grass-fed choices (which are much more healthy for you on account of the omega-3 fatty acids in it). Fill out a dish with grains or beans. Making a casserole or soup can keep the menu simple and affordable.
• Make extra - A large meal cooked once a week and served as leftovers or sent for lunches helps to save energy and water. It’s less stressful for the cook as well.
• Raid the fridge - I’m the king of the end of the week random ingredient meal. I make a pot of rice (or beans, millet, etc.), sauté onions and garlic with other random veggies, mix together, and serve wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla or over a bed of brown rice.

Stay green and clean, and stay under budget…