053011

Press
165 5-5-5

Deadlift
340 3-3-3

3 rounds
15 dips
20 back extensions
15 floor wipers

Erg

After rowing a few months of crew I'm college I vowed never to sit my ass on am erg again. About 10 years later I just bought on knowing the full body benefits capable on this machine. Plus, its one of the core machines needed to finish off my Rusty's box; slowly but surely I'm piecing it all together.

Cost: $200 on Craigslist and in great condition, which isn't bad considering that this machine retails for $1300 new.

83

First day of golf in over 2 years and immediately fell back in love. Aside from the guys I was playing with talking/moving during my swing, the day was so peaceful and therapitic.

Like most times I start a season, the first round went better than expected. I attribute this to the fact that I am apprehensive and thus try to have a nice easy swing. As the season progresses I do get better but iI often become a mental basket case as I start thinking too much.

I've made a promise to myself to act as though EVERY round of golf from here on out will be played mentally like its the first one coming back from a long hiatus:

- pre shot routine
- visualize good ball path (ball landing high and soft)
- light grip
- think of nothing (zone)
- let the body do its thing with a nice easy swing and get the club to do all the work

Luckily I've played long enough that the muscle memory to zone out is trained well enough to get the club on the ball for a solid strike. I'm sure there are mechanics issues that can be refined but the key is not to overthink. Like Yogi Berra said, "how can you hit a baseball if you're thinking." So true and maybe moreso with GOLF. Enter the zone and let your body do what its been trained to do. Don't over-complicate with the mind and you'll fond yourself striking the ball how you've visualized in your preshot routine.

052711

6am

Squats
270 5-5-6


Bench
225 5-3-2


2 rounds
10 pullups
20 pushups
15 situps (roman chair)

052411

6am

Deadlift
335 3-3-3

Clean and Jerkoff
175 5-5-5

Quarters Galore

At work I've set up a candy (peanut M&M's) and trail mix coin-op machine. After a few months of refilling the goodies (mainly the M&M's) I went in to collect the profits. Result...

$221.02

Not shabby for a side business of scraping quarters from coworkers.

* pic of $100 in quarters.

052111

Squats
270 5-5-4

Press
165 5-5-4

3 rounds
10 pullups
12 dips
15 situps (Roman chair)

051911

6am

Bench
225 5-4-3


Deadlift
330 3-3-3

051611

6am

Squat
265 5-5-5

Clean and Jerky
170 5-5-5

051211

6am

Press
165 4-4-4

Deadlift
325 3-3-3

Email to My Mother-In-Law

*Paleo Pyramid from http://www.healthhabits.ca/2010/01/25/paleo-recipe-resource-page/

Below is an email I drafted for my mother-in-law, Jane, who has taken on the Paleo diet with a fierce vengeance. It's great to see her get into the program and make such remarkable improvements in weight (lost 15 pounds, but now hitting a perceived "plateau"), and not to mention, further evangelize the lifestyle to others in her inner-circle of friends. It's always nice to have another success story and ambassador.

Here's the email...

--------------------------------

NOTE: I started this email as a quick guide and it completely got out of hand once I started composing it and turned out MUCH longer than expected. Hope you find it useful!


Hi Jane,

Happy Mother's Day, again...it was great to see you, Jack and Laurie and hope you guys made it out to LI without much traffic on Monday.

I wanted to quickly follow up with some workout suggestions since you sounded interested and couldn't get to much into the specifics. With what I've learned there are some refinements that will help further your progress on body composition and overall health and longevity.

But before getting into the details I wanted to say that it's great that you've embraced the diet as that is a huge step in the right direction to promote wellness regardless of age. What's even better is that you've also shared the story with others and that they, too, have been receptive...it's so much common sense that it's often dismissed given media's dietary recommendations (and the dodgy medical studies that have enforced the low-fat diet.) If you find the information I'm about to share useful then please feel free to forward it along to any of the folks you've already recommended a paleo lifestyle.

If you're interested in learning more from educated/trained sources I'd highly recommend a book I just finished, Protein Power (LINK) that provides a solid and easy-to-read perspective into the science. It's not "paleo" per-se since they talk about eating grains, beans and other problematic foods, but the science into a lower-carb lifestyle to control weight is insightful. There's tons of other literature and also liked The Primal Blueprint (LINK) for a decent background into the science, workout and diet. Another interesting read is Why We Get Fat (LINK) that highlights and refutes/debunks studies that have proven as the blueprint for the current "healthy" diet recommendations (this one is a GREAT read but gets you a little frustrated why the medical community keeps prescribing low-fat diets to obese patients.) Vegetarian Myth is also a good eye-opener (LINK). Regardless, you'll keep seeing the steady theme that the issue with weight and other terrible diseases is linked to insulin, not high-fat/cholesterol diets that doctors have been decrying for years.

Based on what you're saying about your diet you've been following the directive with a high level of compliance with occasional treats in the form of ice cream (I'm guessing Run Raisin) and wine. Keep it up and don't be scared to venture into eating more protein and fat (in the form of fatty meats, nuts and healthy oils like olive and coconut) as the fat is your new energy source, and your body will need it to stave off hunger (eating fat will NOT make you fat, instead it helps to balance the hormones involved in releasing STORED fat as an energy source.)

What would be interesting to see if what would happen if those "treats" were fully eliminated for a set period of time and how that impacts your goals. It's an extreme approach but a scheduled timeframe will help keep you focused and test if those might be some of the contributing factors in your current plateau. From what I'm reading/hearing, even 2-weeks would be a sufficient timeframe to start seeing potential results.

Speaking of your plateau, it sounds like you have been working out pretty crazy, which can be both a good and bad thing. One thing to keep in mind that even though your "weight" has remained steady, your body composition is changing as a result of the diet and your physical activity and there might be an offset that you're losing fat AND gaining muscle. This is exactly what you want to do so get the perception of "total weight" as the measurement for success out of your mind. In Carley's case, she's complained that the diet has led to a higher number on the scale, but fails to accept that it's been in the form of healthier lean muscle (the definition in her arms, legs and back are remarkable to the "skinny" girl she was before.)

Don't think of progress of weight it as a "total number" and you'll have success staying with a healthy lifestyle. Remember, just because someone is skinny doesn't mean they're healthy.

Well, that was a lot longer diatribe than expected around the diet piece of things but hope you find it helpful.

As for the workouts, I'll try keep it short and simple. I'll explain some of the "why's" as I go but for the most part if you're going to work out let's give the regimen that gives you the biggest-bang-for-the-buck.

The activity baseline from The Primal Blueprint is actually one of the best I've seen for the general population and would be my recommendation for you to follow:

1. Move frequently at a slow pace (This is as simple as walking, which sounds like you already have a great habit of doing...keep it up! In terms of frequency, I'd do #1 [walk] as much as you can fit it in. No need to go crazy on the walking but just know that just because you're not working up a sweat doesn't mean it's not beneficial for health.)

2. Lift Heavy Things (Use multi-muscle movements using the biggest muscle groups, and avoid the useless dinky weight movements like those silly tricept extensions and bicept curls...those are a waste of time compared to doing multi-functional movements that focus on your legs, butt and back. Building muscle will protect you from injury by strengthening the smaller stabilizer muscles that are often ignored and cause the issues of injury, building muscles releases hormones ["human growth hormone"] that will also drive up metabolism and proper function of fat release from fat cells as an energy source, muscle has a higher resting metabolism so you'll be able to offset any potential calorie overloads, and weight-lifting puts stresses on bones that help it from deteriorating [a big issue with women in later ages...if you don't stress the living bones they will naturally release their volume, and the major reason why older generations fall apart; they no longer stressing their bones/muscles]. There's TONS of other reasons why muscle is great but hopefully these will motivate you to try and build 'em up...plus, who want's to be weak? :) Frequency should be 2x-3x/week. I've listed some exercises below that you should consider and the workouts should only take about 30-45 minutes.)

3. Sprint (Seems kinda crazy and, possibly, embarrassing but the benefits are incredible in releasing ideal hormones that promote fat loss and muscle gain...again, this is our friend "human growth hormone". NOTE: don't be scared, you won't be getting all body-builder-esque because of this HGH; the levels are minor [but impactful] and women don't have the testosterone levels to put on crazy mass unless they're friends with our pal, Barry Bonds. When women say they want to be "toned," that just really means they want muscles...see #2 above. You should aim to do this once a week.)

Here's a link to a blog-post of Mark Sisson (the author of The Primal Blueprint) highlighting his theory: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-succeed-with-the-primal-blueprint/ (I'd recommend poking around that blog as he's got a ton of great info there on a multitude of healthy living topics.)

As you can see, the only things of "high intensity" are needed only about 3-4 days a week. If you're doing the RIGHT exercises you'll get better returns than working out doing chronic-cardio workouts 60-minutes a day 7 days a week. TRUST ME! If you cut down the cardio workouts you'll reduce the body stress (cortisol) and you'll reduce the propensity to store fat and a slew of other secondary mechanisms I can't get into at this time.

You might be asking, doesn't lifting weights create a stress event and release cortisol? Yes, it does, BUT with weight lifting you're releasing a different set of hormones that are on the proper pathways to curb appetite and build muscle (remember, muscle is good.) Cardio does not promote muscle repair in the same fashion, and, thus does not have that favorable hormonal release. Instead cardio depletes energy stores in the body that cells end up asking for replenishment (in the way of hunger) and often times at a HIGHER level than was burned, and ultimately being counterproductive to the original goal of having an energy deficit that would result in weight loss. This is why all too often people who work out on a low-fat/calorie restriction diet for an extended period of time eventually fail...their hunger gets the best of them (you can only fight your natural urges for so long.) Incorporating the right workouts with the right diet you will balance your hormones while eating as much food as you want to feel full. There's never a feeling of hunger and, thus, you're more likely to succeed!

OK, this email has gotten WAY too long. Jeez. Here's a quick look at the workouts you would do in a given week (I can work with you on the form and weight recommendations.) It may seem a bit boring but these simple exercises will be your key to yielding the most remarkable returns you have seen from ANY workout routine you've EVER done. Again, TRUST ME!


Day 1
- Squats: 3 sets of 5 reps

- Bench: 3 sets of 5 reps

- 3 rounds (as fast as possible):
10 pullups
20 pushups
20 situps


Day 2
- Deadlifts: 3 sets of 5 reps

- Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 5 reps

- 3 rounds (as fast as possible):
10 pullups
20 pushups or dips
20 back-extensions


Day 3
- Sprints: 200 yards x10



You may be wondering...is that it? Workouts only 3 days a week? But my doctor says I need to get 30-60 minutes of high-intensity a day 5-6 days a week? Remember, your doctor is also recommending whole grains and orange juice for breakfast and to stay away from egg yolks and bacon.

As skeptical as you (or your friends who might receive this) might be, all I ask is that you try the workouts and high-protein/high-fat paleo diet at 100% intensity for ONE MONTH. Worst comes to worse you'll know that this does NOT yield the results you're looking for (fat loss, improved strength, improved energy and mental clarity, and general well being.) But, in the chance that this DOES work (which I strongly believe that it will), you will notice a remarkable transformation that will change your perceptions of diet and exercise for a lifetime.

If you prefer to take this one step further, you may want to get blood work before beginning on the program and then once again 30-days later and see how things do/don't improve. Either way, let's commit 2 to 4 weeks and see how things shake out before calling this program/diet ridiculous.

Soooo...this email totally got out of hand. I just got started and couldn't stop. If you have ANY questions, don't hesitate to email/call.

Oh, one last thing...sleep as much as you can (8-9hrs if you can) and take some fish oil pills. Both of those will help normalize your body's chemistry and hormonal balancing.

-DG

051011

6am

Squats
260 5x3

Bench
225 4x1
225 3x1
225 2x1

2 rounds
10 pullups
25 pushups

050811

Deadlift
320 3x3

Clean and Jerk Chicken
165 5x3

3 rounds
10 pullups
20 pushups
20 back extensions

050611

6am

Squats
255 5x3

Press
160 5x3

2 rounds
10 pullups
10 dips
10 situps (roman chair)

1 round
5 pullups
10 dips
10 situps (roman chair)

050311

6am

Bench
220 5x3

Deadlift
320 5x3

2 rounds
10 pullups
25 pushups
20 back extensions

1 round
5 pullups
15 pushups
20 back extensions