So, should I be upset? I mean, I'm a little upset right now. I was just about to go off to bed and feed the ego a bit by seeing if my pageviews have increased. It's stupid I know but I won't deny that its cool when the numbers go up. I flip open the laptop, type 'ridiculously fit' into the google search bar and, as usual, my blog pops up. This time I notice, however, that some facebook page is titled the same thing so I curiously click on said link.
It's some gal hawking meal replacement shakes and filling up her page with 'inspriational' pictures that have catchy get tough and get moving type statements. Then, Horror of Horrors I see her tagline. "Are you Ridiculously Fit? So, why don't we learn a few things and then DO a few things and see what happens!" Until just a week ago, I had the EXACT same thing....I thought of it......I wrote it.......I put it up on MY blog back in July when I started this thing. Along the way Blogger came out with this nifty new template with flipping cards for your posts and customizable views for readers. It was ok, but the main header left off half of my tagline. SO, I decided to delete it and then ultimately, I just went back to the regular page layout you see here. I wish I hadn't done that now!
This was the old one I had, "Are you Ridiculously Fit? Yeah, me neither. SO, why don't we learn a few things, then DO a few things and see what happens?" I thought it was cool in a, "We're all in this together," type of way. Apparently so did she. Now, to be fair, I haven't written anything regularly for a few months and she just joined Facebook in February. So, I suppose it might be possible to argue that she determined that my blog was dead and that my tag was fair game. But it still feels, I'll say it, shitty.
Then, I was thinking, "What the hell is shakeology?" If you like, you may do your own 10 minute internet search but I'll give you the cliff's notes. It is a massive cross product marketing campaign which seems to be run by the P90x people. A certified Shakeologist comes from the college of Beachbody Coaching and can help you achieve all of your fitness dreams. It's a great supplement to your homebased workout programs like, the aforementioned P90x, Insanity workout, Turbo Fire, and let's not forget the Brazil Butt Lift.
The reason I know that it's a great supplement to those programs is because when you type in 'Shakeology the first three autofill words are "review", "cleanse", and "scam". Let's take each of these in order shall we.
"Shakeology review" results bring you not impartial third parties doing consumer watchdogging. Rather, each 'reviewer' appears to be one of these Beachbody Coaches reviewing their own product. My favorite is one that isn't even a person it just says, "Unbiased review" and then at the top of the page is a Shakeology ad. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure Leonardo DiCaprio can't write a review of Inception, but I for sure know that Eddie Murphy wishes he could.
"Shakeology Cleanse" brings more of the same with detailed instructions on how their fantastic program works. Again we see some of the same websites but that seems to be expected.
"Shakeology Scam" was showing promise! Not only has my intellectual property been usurped by some powder peddler but it's also a scam to boot! My righteous indignation shall be justified! Gleefully I clicked on the top result, "Shakeology Scam - DO not buy Shakeology!" This has to be my favorite part. THIS GUY IS A BEACHBODY COACH TOO! It's a bait and switch headline. He gently tells you that it's ok to be skeptical but that it worked for him and it can work for you too. The next 10 or so results for 'scam' are also ALL in the affiliate program.
When earning your Shakeologist badge at the Beachbody Coaching camp I imagine that the camp's Director stands at the podium and divides everyone into groups.
"Alright boys and girls, listen closely, Listeeeeennnn!, the Left side of the room is our reviewers. The right side...yes, Johnny, I know that's my left hand...your right, the right side of the room. You folks get to take the scam angle, and the center....(claps hands together in gesture)...The center of the room you may pick either and also put up the 'how to' posts. Also, the weekend social is on hold until I get some volunteers to wash the egg off my car." (crowd groans in disappointment while a small section chuckles)
It's not like I had copyrighted that tagline, and if she was just some other trainer/shake seller in Ohio I might even be able to go so far as to feel flattered I guess. But for her to be part of this huge corporate conglomerate multi-level marking scheme made it seem rude. At this point all I can hope for is that I've mentioned Shakeology enough times to warrant a spot on the search results and toss a little monkey wrench in their well oiled machine.
Who knows? They may read my posts about juicing and decide that I'm a perfect scholarship candidate for a Shakeology degree. I can't wait for the weekend social!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
It's called a fast. So, why does it take so long?
Read the previous post for the lead up to my juice fast.
Day 1 - Leading up to my 3 day juicing fast I tapered how much food I was eating and started drinking more juice to minimize any difficulty not eating food today. For breakfast today I did have 1 small cup of coffee and polished off last nights green juice. Been tapering coffee as well and won't have any tomorrow or Saturday. I'm doing a fruitier juice for mid-morning and felt a bit hungry for food but nothing really terrible. Have been warned about 'blowouts' but not really having that, which is good. I worked up to my fast so perhaps I'm a bit more cleaned out than if I had started strictly today.
The rest of my first day was more difficult. I kept experiencing this strange feeling of fullness and hunger. I'd polish off a jar of juice and feel my full stomach and yet would feel like if a burger was in front of me i could chow down no problem. My lovely wife called to ask me to pick up some Thai food for lunch. That was tough, the car smelled great.
Day 2 - No coffee today, really wanted to but just pushed through it. My morning rescheduled for later in the day so being able to sit and wake up slowly sure helped. Chugged down some pretty standard green juice but added grapes. That was pretty yummy. Not bacon and eggs yummy, but good nonetheless.
"Lunch" pretty well sucked. I tried a recipe that called for purple cabbage. If you are thinking of doing a juice fast avoid purple cabbage. It's pretty rank in juice. My favorite part is closing the lid for a while in the fridge and then opening it later for a lovely puke smell. That made it tough to choke down, and I was at work so I couldn't just dump it out and start over.
As day 2 came to a close I was definitely craving food. Any kind of food and let me tell you, watching television does not help. I don't know who Ci-Ci's pizza is and I'm pretty sure it's terrible for you but it was looking pretty goddamn good last night. The Olive Garden got a nice middle finger from me as well.
Day 3 - So, day three is more of the same. I don't feel weak or tired, my energy levels haven't really changed at all. This morning was a lot easier to get going even though I had no coffee again. I think I'll stick with a juice in the morning to keep my coffee from getting out of control.
Definitely not feeling amazing or anything like that. It's possible that I wasn't very toxic to begin with. People talked about 'blowouts' and surges of energy but I haven't really experienced that. I did have a mild headache yesterday but I don't know if it's related, felt muscular to me.
The Recap -
One of the great things I can take away from this experience is that it really illustrates how limited your palette is. I can think I'm eating veggies and fruits all I want to but until you have to cram it into a juicer you find you really aren't eating that much at all. I didn't even know what Swiss chard was. Also, it was nice to see that I could juice my way to a good morning rather than raid the dishwasher for our largest coffee mug.
On the other hand my fast ended with a general feeling of self punishment. I don't know if I ever achieved a sense that it was something I could do on a 10 or 14 day basis. Nothing over the past few days was as enjoyable as my first actual meal.
One of the problems was definitely the hunger factor. As a novice juicer, I followed the suggested recipes from the Reboot website. Unfortunately, the yield was often not much more than a glassful and that was just not enough for me. As a result I ended up juicing a lot more often and didn't get into a good rhythm on timing and portions until well into the second day.
Experimentation is key. Be prepared to waste juice and money trying out different recipes. You absolutely have to try different things leading up to your fast, otherwise you end up stuck at work with the purple cabbage puke juice.
For those needing an extreme change in lifestyle in order to bring their lives into balance a juice fast is probably a great idea. It's clear that one can definitely become healthier and more vital following this type of program. Though I never got past 'hungry' I never felt tired or sluggish, my mind felt clear and I was able to multi-task and accomplish things while food free. Also, I still like the fact that its real foods going into your body as I think that translates well when transitioning back to a food based diet.
As for me, I finished my breakfast this morning with a nice half jar of kale, cucumber, celery, apple, pear, grape juice and feel great.
Day 1 - Leading up to my 3 day juicing fast I tapered how much food I was eating and started drinking more juice to minimize any difficulty not eating food today. For breakfast today I did have 1 small cup of coffee and polished off last nights green juice. Been tapering coffee as well and won't have any tomorrow or Saturday. I'm doing a fruitier juice for mid-morning and felt a bit hungry for food but nothing really terrible. Have been warned about 'blowouts' but not really having that, which is good. I worked up to my fast so perhaps I'm a bit more cleaned out than if I had started strictly today.
The rest of my first day was more difficult. I kept experiencing this strange feeling of fullness and hunger. I'd polish off a jar of juice and feel my full stomach and yet would feel like if a burger was in front of me i could chow down no problem. My lovely wife called to ask me to pick up some Thai food for lunch. That was tough, the car smelled great.
Day 2 - No coffee today, really wanted to but just pushed through it. My morning rescheduled for later in the day so being able to sit and wake up slowly sure helped. Chugged down some pretty standard green juice but added grapes. That was pretty yummy. Not bacon and eggs yummy, but good nonetheless.
"Lunch" pretty well sucked. I tried a recipe that called for purple cabbage. If you are thinking of doing a juice fast avoid purple cabbage. It's pretty rank in juice. My favorite part is closing the lid for a while in the fridge and then opening it later for a lovely puke smell. That made it tough to choke down, and I was at work so I couldn't just dump it out and start over.
As day 2 came to a close I was definitely craving food. Any kind of food and let me tell you, watching television does not help. I don't know who Ci-Ci's pizza is and I'm pretty sure it's terrible for you but it was looking pretty goddamn good last night. The Olive Garden got a nice middle finger from me as well.
Day 3 - So, day three is more of the same. I don't feel weak or tired, my energy levels haven't really changed at all. This morning was a lot easier to get going even though I had no coffee again. I think I'll stick with a juice in the morning to keep my coffee from getting out of control.
Definitely not feeling amazing or anything like that. It's possible that I wasn't very toxic to begin with. People talked about 'blowouts' and surges of energy but I haven't really experienced that. I did have a mild headache yesterday but I don't know if it's related, felt muscular to me.
The Recap -
One of the great things I can take away from this experience is that it really illustrates how limited your palette is. I can think I'm eating veggies and fruits all I want to but until you have to cram it into a juicer you find you really aren't eating that much at all. I didn't even know what Swiss chard was. Also, it was nice to see that I could juice my way to a good morning rather than raid the dishwasher for our largest coffee mug.
On the other hand my fast ended with a general feeling of self punishment. I don't know if I ever achieved a sense that it was something I could do on a 10 or 14 day basis. Nothing over the past few days was as enjoyable as my first actual meal.
One of the problems was definitely the hunger factor. As a novice juicer, I followed the suggested recipes from the Reboot website. Unfortunately, the yield was often not much more than a glassful and that was just not enough for me. As a result I ended up juicing a lot more often and didn't get into a good rhythm on timing and portions until well into the second day.
Experimentation is key. Be prepared to waste juice and money trying out different recipes. You absolutely have to try different things leading up to your fast, otherwise you end up stuck at work with the purple cabbage puke juice.
For those needing an extreme change in lifestyle in order to bring their lives into balance a juice fast is probably a great idea. It's clear that one can definitely become healthier and more vital following this type of program. Though I never got past 'hungry' I never felt tired or sluggish, my mind felt clear and I was able to multi-task and accomplish things while food free. Also, I still like the fact that its real foods going into your body as I think that translates well when transitioning back to a food based diet.
As for me, I finished my breakfast this morning with a nice half jar of kale, cucumber, celery, apple, pear, grape juice and feel great.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Real men juice before a workout!
Yeah, that's right. I'm going on the juice. I'm pretty sure it will improve my workouts and cut a few extra pounds off me as well.
Oh, right. First off....Hello again. It's been a while since I posted anything here and I'm committed to not falling totally off the wagon anymore. The nice thing about writing a newsletter and a blog is that it does improve your visibility and thus, increases business. However, an increase in business isn't so good for writing a newsletter or maintaining a blog. Thanks for all the complaints I've received regarding my slacking nature so I promise to be more disciplined about scheduling my writing and will have regular things for all of my one person to read from now on.
Back to me getting on the juice. Winter season was especially busy and as a result, I stagnated a little bit in my ongoing efforts to become ridiculously fit. Running Bloomsday again this year was something I'm committed to do so I've stepped up my training for that. However, I felt like that wasn't quite enough to energize and excite me. Then, this Sunday I watched, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" over the internets. It's a great film about this businessman Joe Cross who is very overweight and suffers from a terrible skin condition for which he takes medication he doesn't like.
The movie chronicles his descision to go on a 60 day juice fast while traveling across America talking about why we eat the things we eat. By the end of the movie, he looks great and we sound pretty silly talking about why we eat fast food everyday. Along the way he gets people to try his juice and some like it enough to try their own fast. I won't spoil it but there's a pretty amazing story in there and I really enjoyed it.
Now, am I doing 60 days? Hell no. Upon visiting his website (free btw) I see what they refer to as a 'Reboot'. Essentially, a 3 day detox that I think would be a good idea. I'm gearing up for it by working in a couple of glassfuls each day. The plan is to start on Thursday and end on Saturday night. I think it is just what I was looking for in terms of a jump start to my own training.
I get asked about detox programs all the time and I've been hesitant to recommend any that have you only drinking lemon water or use costly shakes as meal replacements. I like this idea that I'm using actual foods and getting a super sized jolt of micro nutrients over the course of a weekend. Plus, I'll actually be able to talk about my experience for those interested in such things. I'll let you know how it goes.
Fit Topic of the Day - Running Mechanics
Spring time brings out the walkers and runners. It also brings out the foot/ankle/knee pain too. One fundimental aspect of gait that I see a lot is from folks toeing out. Duck walking with one or both feet is just not mechanically efficient for force production in running. It's often the result of over active external rotators in the hip. This tension rotates the femur outward, hence the duck foot.
In order to get the foot in position to strike the ground for the next stride the leg comes forward and rotates inward in time to hit the ground. Then, at the last second externally rotates again for the duck foot. This constant planting/rotating/planting pattern puts torque through the ankle and knee and is very often the cause of pain.
You can help yourself a bunch by doing some foam roller work on the outside of the thigh. A table stretch will attack those external rotators as well. Place one leg onto a waist high(or close) flat surface with the leg bent 90 degrees at the knee and the thigh pointing straight away from you. Lean forward and do your best to get the knee flat on the table. You'll feel a good stretch running outside you butt.
Then, the next time you walk or jog, take the first few minutes to get those feet turned more parallel to eachother. It'll feel weird at first, but stick with it.
Ridiculously Fit Person of the Day - Joe Cross
I'm going to stick with my movie for this post and go with the guy who dropped a load of weight, eliminated his skin disorder and got himself off of medications all by drinking some juice. I'm pretty sure he eats food now so I'm glad he's not too freaky about it. Also, he did start up a really helpful website with plans, recipes, community pages and forums to discuss juicing. All for $0 to boot!
It ain't always about the abs people. Sometimes you've got to focus on that good feeling.
Me and My iPod
Workout -
I'm back to running regularly so last week I did 3x at 30 minutes for a nice base. This week we'll throw in an interval or two in addition to adding on about 5 or 10 minutes to a steady state run. The weather sucks so I'll stay indoors this week most likely.
What I'm listening to - Loving me some 'Flo Rida'. I love that he makes a name out of a State. 'Good Feeling' and 'Club can't handle me' are superb. Also, going old school 80's metal: Judas Priest, Dio, Scorpions are beyond awesome. Queen also never gets old.
As usual WTF podcast was good - Bill Maher was interesting. This American Life continues to be good every week.
Take care people, I'm going to get my juice on!
Oh, right. First off....Hello again. It's been a while since I posted anything here and I'm committed to not falling totally off the wagon anymore. The nice thing about writing a newsletter and a blog is that it does improve your visibility and thus, increases business. However, an increase in business isn't so good for writing a newsletter or maintaining a blog. Thanks for all the complaints I've received regarding my slacking nature so I promise to be more disciplined about scheduling my writing and will have regular things for all of my one person to read from now on.
Back to me getting on the juice. Winter season was especially busy and as a result, I stagnated a little bit in my ongoing efforts to become ridiculously fit. Running Bloomsday again this year was something I'm committed to do so I've stepped up my training for that. However, I felt like that wasn't quite enough to energize and excite me. Then, this Sunday I watched, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" over the internets. It's a great film about this businessman Joe Cross who is very overweight and suffers from a terrible skin condition for which he takes medication he doesn't like.
The movie chronicles his descision to go on a 60 day juice fast while traveling across America talking about why we eat the things we eat. By the end of the movie, he looks great and we sound pretty silly talking about why we eat fast food everyday. Along the way he gets people to try his juice and some like it enough to try their own fast. I won't spoil it but there's a pretty amazing story in there and I really enjoyed it.
Now, am I doing 60 days? Hell no. Upon visiting his website (free btw) I see what they refer to as a 'Reboot'. Essentially, a 3 day detox that I think would be a good idea. I'm gearing up for it by working in a couple of glassfuls each day. The plan is to start on Thursday and end on Saturday night. I think it is just what I was looking for in terms of a jump start to my own training.
I get asked about detox programs all the time and I've been hesitant to recommend any that have you only drinking lemon water or use costly shakes as meal replacements. I like this idea that I'm using actual foods and getting a super sized jolt of micro nutrients over the course of a weekend. Plus, I'll actually be able to talk about my experience for those interested in such things. I'll let you know how it goes.
Fit Topic of the Day - Running Mechanics
Spring time brings out the walkers and runners. It also brings out the foot/ankle/knee pain too. One fundimental aspect of gait that I see a lot is from folks toeing out. Duck walking with one or both feet is just not mechanically efficient for force production in running. It's often the result of over active external rotators in the hip. This tension rotates the femur outward, hence the duck foot.
In order to get the foot in position to strike the ground for the next stride the leg comes forward and rotates inward in time to hit the ground. Then, at the last second externally rotates again for the duck foot. This constant planting/rotating/planting pattern puts torque through the ankle and knee and is very often the cause of pain.
You can help yourself a bunch by doing some foam roller work on the outside of the thigh. A table stretch will attack those external rotators as well. Place one leg onto a waist high(or close) flat surface with the leg bent 90 degrees at the knee and the thigh pointing straight away from you. Lean forward and do your best to get the knee flat on the table. You'll feel a good stretch running outside you butt.
Then, the next time you walk or jog, take the first few minutes to get those feet turned more parallel to eachother. It'll feel weird at first, but stick with it.
Ridiculously Fit Person of the Day - Joe Cross
I'm going to stick with my movie for this post and go with the guy who dropped a load of weight, eliminated his skin disorder and got himself off of medications all by drinking some juice. I'm pretty sure he eats food now so I'm glad he's not too freaky about it. Also, he did start up a really helpful website with plans, recipes, community pages and forums to discuss juicing. All for $0 to boot!
It ain't always about the abs people. Sometimes you've got to focus on that good feeling.
Me and My iPod
Workout -
I'm back to running regularly so last week I did 3x at 30 minutes for a nice base. This week we'll throw in an interval or two in addition to adding on about 5 or 10 minutes to a steady state run. The weather sucks so I'll stay indoors this week most likely.
What I'm listening to - Loving me some 'Flo Rida'. I love that he makes a name out of a State. 'Good Feeling' and 'Club can't handle me' are superb. Also, going old school 80's metal: Judas Priest, Dio, Scorpions are beyond awesome. Queen also never gets old.
As usual WTF podcast was good - Bill Maher was interesting. This American Life continues to be good every week.
Take care people, I'm going to get my juice on!
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