Friday, May 15, 2009

Friday 5-15

May is already half over? Holy Crap.

First off, I finally scheduled my ACE exam. June 3rd in Buffalo. Ahhh!! Why I have test anxiety is beyond me. Scared I am rushing a bit fast into it maybe? Who knows. We'll see none-the-less come the 3rd!

Breakfast: - V-Bean oatmeal with an orange.

-1/2 cup instant oats nuked with 3/4-1 cup water. (Yes, water. Not milk. But you can use milk if you want.)
- Once you get the consistency you want, add 2 Tbsp vanilla whey protein and a Tbsp of vanilla extract and stir it in.
-You can opt for some cinnamon too if you'd like to add that!

Had an orange with it. The heck with orange juice, eat who fruits.

Fitness: Yesterday was a brutal cardio session, so my lower body split is still recovering. Did a good chest/back routine today with a focus on pre-exhausting muscling groups with isolation moves before doing compound.

1a) bent rows with dumbbell
1b) Inverted rows on a power rack
2a) Chest flies
2b) Incline barbell bench
3a) Wide grip pull ups
4a) decline push ups (elbows/arms <-- keep them close in your body)

Did a running in place, burpees, and jumping jack body weight interval to finish it off.

Faith: 2 Tim. 4: 7 - I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

I felt like it was time to take a quick step back. Many of my faith blogs have revolved around the simplicity of Christianity. I wanted to take todays to remind everyone, being a Christian is brutal, tough, hard, consuming, draining, and even possibly burdening at times. Sure, I just made it almost seem like it's a bad thing and makes life harder, right? Well, I over exaderated a bit to convey an emotion that hey, nobody ever promised you a free ride and people speak too much for Gods word, rather then letting God speak his word through us. You don't declair war, then win it right away. It takes time. Battle. Fighting. Pushing onward. Producing a rigerous offense. Most of this, I mean spiritually/mentally. Not literally.

If I had to make a list of the top five things people have done to absolutely rip apart Christianity, one would definitely be this (excuse my silly way of summing it up).

-****Ohhh, come to God. It's so easy. He'll take away all your burdens and lift you right up on high. It's so much easier with Christ.****

False. Shut up whoever you are preeching that. Scripture does talk about leaving your burdens at the door and also on God helping you with them. BUT, scripture also talks about coming to God WITH your burdens. You cannot escape life. It's impossible. You still have to likely go back to dealing with whatever it is you are dealing with even if you do accept Christ. One of the BIGGEST difference between a believer and non-believer, is simply the way we look at things. Being Christian changes our perspective completely. Doesn't make us any different from a non-believer, just see and think differently. We're all humans, regardless.

I struggle too. I'm no super Christian. I have days of my doubts and hardships. I have days where I just want to crack. I see the disgusting filled garbage of this world, and even find myself getting too involved with it at times. I see people hate on this faith I value sooo much daily and it isn't easy. But todays simple few word scripture is an amazing reminder to keep up the good fight.

You don't walk into a boxing ring, and ask your opponent to drop his gloves and let you punch him in the face for a free win. You have to fight to your victory. You have to protect yourself from defeat. You have to keep pushing and pushing until you almost want to puke. Yet you STILL keep pushing because you want that victory soooo much. Brothers, Sisters, let us keep the heart. We should be in this for the long haul. I don't go down to the gym, do 1 push up, then leave and never return. I go to the gym about daily to keep progressing and it gets harder.

Life is full of curve balls, unexpected bumps in the road, crazy roller coaster twists, and so much more. Let us remember that Christianity is not as easy as woofing down a whole ice cream pie from DQ (That sounds like a legit cheat this weekend for me!). It's more like trying to take a bite out of a 4 inch thick piece of steel.

“I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.” -Jewish proverb



Have a wonderful weekend everybody. Keep the heart. Push onward. Keep truckin'.

-Adam

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Tues 5-11

May 11th and we're still dealing with frost/cold issues... Wickedddd.

Breakfast: Very Berry Smoothie.

Liquefy in a blender with either 8 oz skim milk or 8 oz water:
-1/4th cup blueberries
-1/4th cup blackberries
-1/4th cup strawberry halves
-Tbsp of whey protein powder

I'd recommend the berries be frozen. Makes for a more thick and refreshing breakfast smoothie.

Fitness: Did some classic sprints today at the soccer field. Incorporated hill sprints as well.

~8 intervals. Each being ~20 seconds of sprinting all out as hard as you can.
For the rest phase, I walk back the distance I just sprinted, once I get to the starting point, I start my next interval. If I feel I need a bit more recovery, I take a few more seconds after walking back. I try to never take more then 100 seconds of rest.

Felt really awesome after sprints. Decided ehh what the heck, went to the gym and did some planks and stability ball jack knives for abs and jumped rope for a few minutes.

NOTE:: It is vital, for any high intensity cardio training, that you properly warm up and cool down. Don't just go jet into sprints. Heck, don't start sprints if you are very aerobically unfit.. Work into it.

Faith: We live by faith, NOT BY SIGHT. 2 Corinthians 5:7

Listen. For anybody that wants hard physical proof of a God, count yourself out I guess. I've met too many people that walk away from the life of following Christ because they have no concrete evidence, science, or any other mumbo-jumbo crap to account for proof of a God. "I'm tired of praying to air', 'If God is real, I want to see him with my own eyes'. Blah blah blah. Guess what buddy, you're screwed! That's not what this faith is all about. Sure, we have miracles and other crazy fathoms that we could attain to as a 'God-send'.

The issue is, what would be the use of faith, if we had concrete proof of God? If we knew it was all said and done, then what would be the use of fighting this good fight? Someone once argued with me 'well, if you saw God and it was concrete, wouldn't that only strengthen your faith in him?' Not really. Why? A part of faith, is hope. A part of hope, is trust. These things kind of become eliminated once you can say 'OH, yup. Gods got it. No problems'. We wouldn't struggle, ever. It would always be a God send.

Why is it that majority of our generation is taking on this 'take risks/chances because we don't know tomorrow' yet won't take a chance/risk with God? Our generation has greatly adapted this motto to REALLLYYY play with fire. You have NOTHING to lose with giving God a chance. There are no negative risks involved. Period. Tell me one flaw about trying to build your own personal relationship with God? Oh, you have to stop having promiscuous sex? Oh, you should probably quit drinking/smoking? Hmm, all these sound worthy of dropping for time being rather you want to give sincere Christianity a try or not.

Now granted, nobody said you have to try and be perfect to become a Christian. It's JUST NOT POSSIBLE. We'll never be .0001% of Jesus left hand alone. That's why I hate this 'I try to be more like Jesus' thing. Sure, we strive to be better, but quit trying to be like Jesus. Be you, just strive to be better. I'm NO better than a lying, stealing, cheating drinking, smoker out there. God loves him as much as he loves me. Heck, God probably loves him more because that person needs Gods love! We all have room for improvement.

When we kiss, we go according to the feeling. Why do you think everybody kisses intimately with their eyes closed?! The BEST things done in life, are unseen! haha. When we love, we feel it in our hearts, not literally see it floating around.

So keep the hearts folks. Remember, even concrete can still have cracks and break. Faith, Hope, and Trust. We can give it to our friends, family, and spouse. Even when we can't see our spouse, and they go away to war for 2 years, we trust them. We have faith in them. We love them. Even when we won't be able to see em'.

Shine bright and smile big!

-Adam

Monday, May 11, 2009

Monday 5-11

a week of summer so far, and it already rules. Started training my grandparents. They were scared at first, but now realize wow, I need this. Stoked about getting them fit!

Breakfast: Cocoa oatmeal

-1/2 cup instant oatmeal
stir in a Tbsp of Dark Chocolate pure cocoa powder
Then add a cup of skim milk
Nuke for 3-5 minutes. Stir it every 30 seconds.
Cut up a banana in it.

Enjoy an extremely delicious form of oatmeal.

Fitness: My back was sore all weekend from a brutal body weight interval session Saturday. Good thing I relaxed yesterday and did nothing. Today was simple.

1a) Deadlifting a bit
2a) Barbell Bench
2b) DB Flies
3a) Decline push ups on a bench
3b) chin ups

Cool down.

Faith: Dear brothers, you have been given freedom: not freedom to do wrong, but freedom to love and serve each other. Galatians 5: 13

Amazing. One absolute amazing piece of scripture. Now granted, this is generally turned into a HUGE debate with the whole 'If God is so loving, why does he let bad things happen'. -or- 'If he gives us the freedom to love and serve each other, then why are we so rotten?' It's almost as if God is saying hey, I'm programming you to do good. Don't do bad. Right? Wrong. Why? Let's take a step back and examine 1 word that makes a huge difference in all this.

'Programmed'

God did NOT create robots. When we were conceived at the moment of conception, we were not programmed like robots to an exact pin-point. Sure, God has a plan and program for us to follow, but let me just say this...

If God programmed us completely, then what would be the use of life on earth? We have to screw up, to understand good. We eventually end up 'sinning' to understand right from wrong. Sure, scream all you want 'it doesn't take a christian to understand that kind of difference'. Well why God then? 1 word answer (and seemingly generic) Love. If we ONLY ever knew good, and no bad... Would it be 'good'? I mean this is going to sound crazy but hear me out...

Why can't robots feel emotions? (Unless its a DNA computer based machine! Sorry, geek alert). Why is it that they are constantly at basically the same state of mind. Doing the same thing over, and over, and over. Never complaining, never whining, never upset, never 'happy', neither sad. Because they don't understand one, without the other. That and they just don't have a brain. If God gave us life, and only a life of 'happiness', how would we truly feel/know it's happiness? We have to have bad days, to experience good days. If God made everything good and great and ONLY that ever, it was the only thing we experienced, how would we truly know the feeling of 'good, great, etc'.

We're not going to change the world. It's impossible. There is always going to be 'evil' or bad. What's that? Look at what Gandhi did? Or Martin Luther King? Yeah, they made a HUGE impact and are in history, but things are still as bad, IF not worse. Freedom doesn't come free. Period. Good feelings doesn't come always. Period. The idea is, God did make people to be good, but he had to allow us freewill. If he didn't, then we would be programmed robots with no emotions and human nature/life. We would go through everyday, as if it never changed before.

Now take this or leave it. Argue it or share your opinion. Call/Text me if you want to discuss it more. I am quite frankly tired of the faith I value so much, being ruined and ripped apart by these TV-evanglist who steal money, 'pastors' or 'priests' that are doing an amazing job of ripping the church apart, people saying their Christian, and just living complete garbage without a frail attempt to be better lives. These are the people, that make even certain Atheists look like good people. And I agree. I've met Athiests who are honestly wayyy better then Christians. But then are they Christians? No. Is that my place to say though? Not really. I just know it's those 'Christians' who are making the faith I value, look bad. Then again, maybe I am too? Maybe I suck as well and don't know it?

According to Christianpost.com """
Christian Research indicates that by the middle of last year, 2.14 billion people made up the world’s Christian population – a 140-million-person increase from five years earlier. Christians, therefore, now make up one-third of the world’s population of 6.45 billion people."""

How many of these are legit 'Christians'They should probably re evauluate that number. It's off by 100 fold.

Have a great Monday and week! Be blessed everybody.

-Adam

Sunday, May 10, 2009

A day in my life of nutrition/diet/food.

I get asked this allll the time, so here we go.

So many of you probably think I pencil down every calorie, carb, fat, and protein that I take in huh? I know the stuff I eat alone spins heads, but here is your answer,

No, I have never counted and never will the point values of my food.

Why not, Adam?
Lifting/Nutrition/Fitness isn't my job, it's my hobby/passion. The minute I start having to pencil down every single thing that I eat, I'll burn out fast. Now mind you, this doesn't work for everyone and some actually like to journal/log their stuff. Hey, more power to you. But it's not for me. I may do it a bit with lifting, but not nutrition.

Now, how do I follow my diet? How do I eat? When? All these questions. Here is the sum up.

A)
I eat 5-6 times a day (3 major meals being Breakfast, Lunch Dinner, then a small snack between each major meal. Sometimes one later after dinner).
This is my general eating times:
7:00 AM:: Breakfast
10:00 AM:: snack
1:00 PM:: Lunch
3:30-4:00 PM:: snack
7:00 PM:: Dinner
(Optional 6th snack around 10:00 which is usually cottage cheese, or a tall glass of milk with a little scoop of chocolate whey just to flavor it.)

This doesn't work for everyone. Some people don't like to have to eat this much. That's fine. Eat 4 times a day. Just make sure your daily calorie intake is split among all you eat. Don't eat 1 meal that's 1,200 calories, then three 200 calorie meals.

B) Carbs Carbs Carbs. Majority of my carb sources (no I don't count, but I am talking like breads, oatmeal's, smoothies, fruits etc) start first thing in the AM and slowly shut down by dinner. Our body is more sensitive to carbs early and slows down digesting them through out the day, so they just generally become stored but if you eat some carbs at dinner, it's no sweat. (As long as it fits in your macros). I'm not afraid to eat an apple at 10:00 PM if I must. It's better then gorging on the cookies or sweets we seem to crave late.

C) Mix it up. DJ's have their own job/career for a reason. They mix stuff, make things sound neat from the norm/regular sounds. So many people eat chicken and veggies everyday for lunch and dinner. Yuck. VARIETY is the spice of life. Menshealth.com has a fabulous recipe database, check it out to spice up your life. Throw that steamed broccoli in a bowl with some brown rice, black beans, and add some hot sauce instead. Make your oatmeal with skim milk and add a banana or some cocoa powder rather then just oats and water.

D) Stop crying about fruit carbs. I refuse to worry about how much fruit/veggies I eat. Honestly, where has there been a case of fruits or veggies making you fat? 'Ahhhhh, bananas are high in sugars and too starchy for me though!' Cry some more baby. Jeez. (Unless they are all fried up or added with syrups, dried, sugars and crap). Sure, I imagine people could gain weight on a 30 bananas a day diet, but that's just silly. I am not afraid to kill a couple pieces of fruit in one sitting. I am not afraid to destroy any vegetable at ANY time. They are both good. Eat up. Enjoy.

E) Stealth Super foods. Got the top secret gourmet super mega over powered foods in my diet. What am I talking about here? Foods that instantly add 9 inches to my biceps (not really). Actually, they are foods that I DEMAND I wear a cape while eating. Or at least flexing. Quinoa, Goji Berries, Acai berries, Buffalo meat, Almond Butter, Shirataki Noodles, Flax Seed, Whey protein powder, Wheat Germ. These are just a few of many typical super secret weapons I use in my diet. All have amazing profiles.

F) Drink Green tea! Holy Crap. If there was one secret I would want to reveal which isn't so secret, it's to drink green tea (and other teas like non-caffeine teas later at night). Wake up and boil some water, steep a bag or two of organic green tea, and have that rather coffee. There are TREMENDOUS studies showing the relationship between green tea and weight loss. Look at 90% of the Asia population. Thin. Not fat. Period. They drink green tea like it's their water. NO, not that Lipton added sugar green tea you buy in the stores for convenience. I am talking straight tea bag green tea.

G) All eating created equal. Another simple, yet general standard I try to follow is try to have a bit of all three macro nutrients with each meal/snack (Carbs, Proteins, Fats). Oatmeal (carbs), A Tbsp of olive oil or little bit of natty peanut butter (fats, but could also be your protein source as well), and a little tablespoon of whey protein powder (protein). There is a perfect 3 macro nutrient dense breakfast. Another example, Yogurt with some Almonds (Also a super combo since calcium from yogurt helps the digestion of the Vitamin E from the Almonds).

H) Fiber Fiber Fiber. It's no secret. It's pretty publicly known that we don't get enough fiber. Too much eating of processed foods anymore (white carbs) and not solid dense complex carbs. Fiber is a blessing. A HUGE blessing. Oatmeal with flax and a banana = ~15g fiber. About a little under or half your fiber needs alone. Sure, it's better to split your intake through the day, but you can get it pretty easily.

I) If it comes in a box, just stay away. Okay, this can be debated obvious. I buy some oatmeal's and certain things in a box. heck, I order certain super foods and it comes shipped in a box (lololzz!) But ~85% of processed, junk, candies, pastries, chips, etc come in a box or bag. If man made it/process it, stay away. If it came out of the ground or off a tree, devour it. Except for those really poisonous black berries that look good! Stay away from those. They may just ruin your day (or week).

and my final and what I fee is my most basic tip or fact about me....

J) Live Loose and DON'T hang up on your mistakes.

We all know that you don't want to eat grains like a horse all week. We all know that eventually, you miss that pizza, some wings, a beer or soda, a donut, or whatever it is that you just are weak in the knees for. For me? Ice cream. I could eat it 10 times a day everyday. For 1-2 meals a week, No bars are held about what I eat. Granted, for those of you who know me well, I enjoy eating good and the way I eat, so I barely ever 'cheat'. If I eat 3 major meals a day, 7 days a week. That's 21 meals. 90% of that is 18.9, which we can call 19 meals. I strongly believe that as long as I am eating nutritionally dense and good meals/foods 90% of the week (aka 19 meals), then I can afford a cookie here or there. i can afford a few slices of pizza on occasion. for 2 (I would recommend one for people trying to slim down) meals a week, I am okay with eating a little off topic for my foods. I'll have that medium size ice cream cone. I'll eat 3 slices of pizza. It's that simple. This is assume that my snacking stays solid. For every 2-3 times you snack on something not so good, I just lost my cheat meal.

Another thought is, honestly, I make mistakes. Sure, I had two cheat meals, but I just went to visit friends and there was a bag of Doritos or some cheese-it's they were eating. What do I do? Eat like 2-4 servings worth.. Gosh dang it! Blow it off. Don't hang up on it and think 'time to go run a mile or work extra hard tomorrow'. It happens. Just don't make it a habit/excuse to slip up. If you make a mistake, get over it, move on, keep working hard.


I don't diet because it's good for you, but because I feel good doing it. I enjoy feeling good alllll day long. Not needing naps because I am tired. Sleeping every night from 11:30-12:00 until 7:00 Am. I wake up and jump right out of bed feeling great and ready to take the day on. Having tremendous amounts of energy for my work outs (Thank you green tea in the AM!). Look sharp and punctual and always being on time. Feeling good about myself and my lifestyle.

Lots of info. Hopefully you enjoyed it. There is so much more, but this blog was 1. big enough and 2. I'd like to write a book someday so I can't release everything for my secrets. : )

God bless and Enjoy!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Monday 5-4

No breakfast. Doing an Eat-Stop-Eat fast.

Fitness: Just a few simple compound exercises today

1a) Inverted rows on a barbell/power rack
1b) Bench Press
2a) Pull Ups (alternative and wide grip)
2b) Push Ups


That's all. Simple yet sweet.

I have a big list that is still accumulating of personal goals this summer. Today, I would classify as the first initial day of summer and I already accomplished one (one of the harder ones).

Was not expecting to get 1 arm pull ups, but I got a few today, and surprisingly, with each hand! I'm so excited about it. Figured it would have taken me a lot of time, but amen none-the-less!

Faith: Good weather. Friends. Family. Good food. Need I say more

Amen. Let's start this summer with a smile on our face, and enjoy the people currently in our lives. Let's appreciate what we have more. We never truly know what we have, until it's gone. So generic, yet seems so true.

-Adam

Friday, May 1, 2009

Friday 5-1

Aprils gone? Holy crap. Schools out for summer? Holy crap.

Breakfast: Strawberry Banana Chocolate smoothie

3/4 cup milk
1 frozen banana (broken up into pieces)
2 Tbsp strawberry whey protein powder
1 tsp dark chocolate cocoa powder
2 ice cubes.

Blend, drink, savor. Mmm!

Fitness: Went and saw X-Men Origins Wolverine last night. Hugh Jackman inspired me to do a shoulders routine.

1a) Over head press
1b) Lateral raises with dumbbells
2a) up-chucks
2b) Medium grip pull ups
3a) dumbbell bicep curls start pronated then supinate hand as you raise arm. (yes did some biceps today too)
3b) close grip pull ups.

Faith: Amen. That's all I have to say. Nice job on finals week everybody. Good luck to anyone who has yet another week in school, and keep trucking. God has provided a way.

Let's focus on greatness this summer. Nothing but smiles, humbled hearts, loving each other, family, friends, and cherishing what we have. Too many times, Christians try too hard to 'serve' God as much they can. Take time to step back and just appreciate others. Write someone a letter. Help others. Love people. We all have our personal walk with Jesus. Let's work on our personal walk with our humanly relationships.

Keep the heart with summer starting folks. Be blessed. Smile bright.

-Adam