Monthly Archives: October 2009

15 Healthy Lean Breakfast Choices

Posted by Doug Doug 23,October 2009 Leave a comment

brfeakast

People ask me all the time to give them a diet menu for breakfast.  So, here’s a quick list of 15 healthy and lean breafast choices to get and/or stay lean.   Increase the quantity if you need too.  However, it’s best to eat small frequent meals throughout the day.

  • 2-3 egg whites/ 8 ounces protein smoothie
  • 1/2 cup cottage cheese/cup of blueberries
  • 1/2 cup organic oats/sliced fruit
  • 1/2 cup oatmeal/crushed raw nuts/organic blueberries
  • 1-2 cups organic fruit/2-3 slices all natural turkey bacon
  • turkey or chicken breakfast sausages/slice eziekiel toast with almond butter
  • low fat greek yogurt/organic granola/small fruit
  • slice eziekiel toast with almond butter and sliced banana
  • 1 cup Natures Path bran flakes cereal/sliced fruit
  • hard boiled egg/8 ounces fresh squeezed orange juice/1 cup Greek yogurt
  • veggie drink (spinach, kale, carrot), slice eziekiel toast with 1 tsp earth balance butter
  • hand full raw almonds or nuts, veggie drink (see above)or protein smoothie, organic oatmeal bar
  • 1/2 cup oat bran, grapefruit with agave sweetener
  • 2-3 ounces salmon, sliced melon
  • 1/2 cup organic oatmeal with crushed raw almonds or flax, sliced banana and berries

Well, I hope this gives you some ideas of “get lean” breakfast ideas.  Do you have to always eat all these types of foods.  No, you can eat your standard cheerios, waffles, etc…but you must watch your calories.  Plus, like I have voiced in most of my diet blogs, ” It all depends on your goals!”.   If you want to get real lean, then you’ll have to sacrifice not eating processed baked goods and most foods that are high in sugar,fat and salt. You can get healthy, lean and fit by making smart choices.

Please note: protein bars are not a source of quality protein but just a glorified candy bar.  Your better off with an all natural oat or nut bar.

15 Lean Lunch Ideas.

Please give me some of your favorite “get lean” breakfast samples.  I’d like to see them.

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Why do you want to diet?

Posted by Doug Doug 19,October 2009 Leave a comment

girl eatingI  have at least 50 people a month ask me if they can eat this or if they can eat that?

Well, what is your goal and how serious are you to reach that goal????  Why do you want to go on a diet?

  1. Look like a super model?
  2. Lose 25 lbs?
  3. Be a body builder?
  4. Firm up and be a healthier mom?
  5. Lose some water weight?
  6. Run a marathon?
  7. Prevent breast cancer and eat all natural?
  8. and the list goes on!

Again, why do you want to diet?  For example, if you want to lose 23 lbs in 5 weeks then most likely you’ll have to eliminate baked goods, extra fats (bad fat), flour, sugar and as much alcohol as possible.

In reality, a calorie is a calorie. Yet, eating 100 calories of lean protein vs 100 calories of baked cookies would make a great difference in your physique if you were training right!

In summary, if you want to just lose weight then counting your calories and burning off more than you take in will definately help you drop pounds.  Believe me, I was a pro at dropping 20 lbs for wrestling season while maintaining my strength and stamina.

I would rather see people change their eating habits such as get rid of processed and genetically engineered foods that are also stuffed with all those shiny preservatives.  If you have a cookie or potato chips then find an all natural version and treat yourself sparingly.  Workout smart and try to come up with a healthy lifestyle rather than a crash diet.  If you want to eat like a bodybuilder than go ahead because there is nothing wrong with eating clean, bland food( i.e. boiled chicken).

Yet, if you’re like most people.  Then go with your usuall foods but try to break them up into smaller portions and find a healthier alternative to the foods that are unhealthy and fattening.

Here are 3 examples of 3 totally different diets and you tell me which one you would pick?

Body Building:

  • Meal 1: 1 cup organic oatmeal, water
  • Meal 2: 2 egg whites, almonds, green tea
  • Meal 3: 3 ounces boiled chicken, salad greens, small yam, broccoli, water
  • Meal 4: protein drink, apple, water
  • Meal 5: 3 ounces salmon, 2 cups steamed veggies, salad, water

All Natural Food Plan

  • Meal 1: 1/2 cup organic oatmeal, 4 ounces fresh squeezed orange juice, sliced melon
  • Meal 2: Greek organic yogurt,  almonds
  • Meal 3: open faced all natural turkey on sourdough with sliced tomato and avocado, cup veggie soup, piece of fruit
  • Meal 4: water, veggie juice (spinach, kale, carrot)
  • Meal 5: fish stew (tomato base), salad greens and glass of wine

Regular Standard Diet

  • Meal 1: 1 cup cheerios, coffee, fruit
  • Meal 2: luna bar
  • Meal 3: grilled chicken salad with ranch dressing, bag of baked chips
  • Meal 4: cheese stick, bag of pretzels
  • Meal 5: 1 slice pizza, salad and glass of wine

3 diets to lose weight but with an intense workout plan, your body would look different after 5 weeks from all 3.  Do you want to look muscular, tone or just skinny?  You make the choice.

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Push Up Training: Power of 5

Posted by Doug Doug 13,October 2009 Leave a comment

imagesPower of 5

  • Regular Push ups with or without knees 5 reps
  • Power Push Ups 5 reps
  • Pulses 5 reps
  • Plank     30 seconds
  • Triangular Push Ups
  • Up Downs  30 seconds
  • Jumping Squats 30 seconds
  • Push Ups on one foot (each side 5 reps)
  • Bicycle (abs) 30-60 seconds

Description:

  • Regular Push Ups:keep hands 1-2 inches wider than shoulders.  Make sure your chest is aligned up with your hands. Don’t: lean back so your hands are in front of your shoulders when your going down.  Push ups on feet:  keep feet together and navel pulled in throughout the exercise.  Head is neutral with your spine.   Don’t let lower back slump.  Push ups on knees: make sure there’s one long line from knees to hips to shoulders.  Everything moves down as a unit.
  • Power Push Ups: plyometric push ups with no clapping.  Go down and push off ground with all your force so your arms straighten out and your palms leave the ground as far as you can go up.  Land with slight bend in elbow and go back down to your lowest position without hitting your chest on the ground.
  • Pulses: get onto hands and feet into regular push up position.  Go down 2-3 inches and return to top.  Repeat these smaller pulses.  Most of the emphasis should be your triceps.
  • Plank: regular push up position or place your forearms on the ground.  Keep feet and legs tight together. Squeeze your butt throughout entire plank and keep your navel pulled up tight.  You can alternate lifting one leg down and one leg up.  Keep your foot flexed  and squeeze your butt so your foot that’s raising only goes up 1-2 inches above your hip level.
  • Triangular push ups:  place your hands at an angle so that they create a triangular shape.  Fingers turned slightly in with fingers and thumbs at a 90 degree angle. When lowering your body, your face or chest should hit the center of the triangle.  If your wrist hurts while going down then separate your hands slightly wider until no pain.  Go down slow, fight gravity.  If you can’t go all the way down then pulse.
  • Up Downs (birpies) : jogging in place, every 5 seconds, squat down and throw hands onto the ground, arms straight and throw back feet at the same time at slightly shoulder width apart (sprawl).   Don’t let your lower back sag into the ground to prevent back injury. Throw your feet back under you and stand to repeat jogging. When throwing your feet back, keep your head slightly up to prevent rounding your back.  Do NOT do a push up at any time during this exercise.
  • Jumping Squats:  Feet shoulder with apart.  Squat slight above 90 degrees.  Hands bent into curl position with a fist.  As you return to the top to jump off your toes and throw your fist down at a fast pace to accelerate your jump into the air.  In the air your legs should be locked, pointed toe and extended arms with a fist.  Returning to the ground have a slight bend into knee while landing on your HEELS.  Squat back to slightly above 90 degrees and bend arms.
  • Push ups with one foot: Same as high plank on hands but your doing a push up with only one foot on the ground.
  • Bicycle: ab exercise.  click here for full detail.

How to perform:

beginner:  1 set of 5 reps of each exercise

advanced: 3-5 sets of 5 reps of each exercise

Very Fit: 6-8 sets of 5 reps of each exercise

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Perfect Example of High Intensity Training!

Posted by Doug Doug 12,October 2009 Leave a comment

runningmoutnThe other day I got an email of how I would describe High Intensity Training.  This video I’m showing you is not typical!  Yet, it will give you an example of high intensity.  It’s not one of these good looking model trainers pushing some weights around and adding some sprints and jumping jacks.

It’s high intensity because it’s pushing your threshold and putting you at 80 percent of your max heart rate.  I encourage everyone to create a high intensity workout for themselves.  Obviously, it will never be like this video.  However, it’s high intensity because it pushes you to work above your usual workout level for quick burst and a small time period. 

Hire a qualified professional trainer to create a high intensity training regime for you.  It should take into consideration your age, medical history, fitness level, motivation and goals.  These workouts are  at your own risk.  These workouts shouldn’t be performed daily unless your a serious athlete.   They can cause injury.  Also, make sure you have a progressive program.  Add intensity to your workouts slowly over 1-2 months.

High intensity workouts are fun, exciting and will help you burn calories like a furnace.

Check out the video below!

Exercise for women to create their own High Intensity Workout

  • Stairs, bleachers
  • Push Ups to Failure
  • Sit Ups toFailure
  • Run to Sprint
  • Skipping to Sprints
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Hill Sprints, run up backwards, sideways
  • Jump Rope
  • Kickboxing, Boxing
  • Jumping Jacks to Push ups to boxing to Sprinting
  • For Beginners: walking to trotting to lunges to jump rope and/or jumping jacks
  • Box jumping to push ups to jump rope
  • Kettle bell swings to kickboxing to running or walking on high incline:treadmill

I could go on but really you should create your own and as a favor I will tell you what I think. Just sign in on the front page and I’ll give you some suggestions.

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