The effect of training on diet

I have no scientific basis for this. There's no "true fact" here. Observational, possibly correlation, possibly excuses...

I've been hitting the kettlebell training pretty hard. Not for strength, but for time. The One Hour Long Cycle is coming up, and I must be prepared!

Saturday, I made it up to 30 minutes of Clean and Jerk with the 24kg kettlebell. Then I "collapsed" on the floor of my garage...

Sunday, I took a break from the kettlebells to do some standup paddling around Dana Point Harbor with Galya.

We hit up the Hummingbird House Cafe, which is a Bulgarian (masquerading as Greek) restaurant. I was starving, and I get a lot of food there.

kufte

shopska salad

bob s lutenitsa (salad with huge beans)

I was full, but after another hour, I had to eat more food. A banana at Trader Joe's, then at home, curry, then too many of these sweet potato desserts that Gal is testing out, much of my daughter's ice cream, a can of tuna, an apple, some nuts, some cheese, and some misc stuff that's too much to remember.

I chalk it down to training hard, and this morning I feel fine, but if you find yourself eating out of control or merely with ongoing ridiculous hunger levels, look to your activity levels, not necessarily your diet.

Eat to support your activity, but make sure your activity levels don't undermine your eating, too.

One hour long cycle '11

October 22nd, 2011, my friend Jason Dolby is holding the 2nd annual One Hour Long Cycle, this time to raise money for the Japanese relief effort.

The whole world is keenly aware of the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the ongoing nuclear tragedy that continues to this day. We feel for them all, but for Jason and Orange Kettlebell Club, it's personal; Mutual friend and OKC founder Nazo is from Japan and was there in Tokyo even as it all started. Thankfully she is safe, but the people of Japan, including the family and friends of Nazo, my good friend Aya, and many more are still there and living amidst this ongoing disaster. Won't you help us help them? Please follow the link to join me in the event or just to donate.

Thanks!

Now, please excuse me while I change the tone a bit...  

One Hour Long Cycle 2011

This marathon kettlebell lifting event was brutal last year. I remember it well. One hour of straight kettlebell lifting, without putting the kettlebell down. Last year I used a 20 kilogram kettlebell, and it kicked my butt. I lost track of my reps in my attempt to finish the hour (I did finish), but it was somewhere around 340-350 reps.

Last year, we raised a good deal of money and broke a ton of records.

Jason did an hour straight with TWO 20kg kettlebells. One hour without setting them down and unable to switch hands back and forth like the rest of us could. Amazing.

All in all, there were over 20 of us lifting for an hour, and we all proudly finished!

This year, my plan starts with bumping my kettlebell up to a more manly 24kg. That's almost 53 pounds to those of us who don't speak metric!

I've been training with my 24kg kettlebell for the past week and a half, and I'm prepared to commit to this weight. I'm practicing maintaining six reps per minute, and I'll have to see how this goes. So far, so good!

As of this morning, I have three serious training sessions under my belt, up to 20 minutes of the 1 handed kettlebell clean and jerk (aka One Arm Long Cycle) with a 24kg kettlebell, and a seemingly doable 6 reps per minute... I'm in! What about you?

On packaged food nutrition... trust, but verify

I stopped in at the local Mediterranean market for some produce and lunch, yesterday. While I was there, I picked up a few jars of Bulgarian "relish;" lutenitza and guvetch. I'd never tried guvetch, which is an eggplant, tomato, misc veggie, and pepper relish, slow cooked forever, with sunflower oil. I'm not a fan of sunflower oil, but since the jar has 5 servings and only 1g of fat per, this isn't a huge problem when eaten in moderation. It looked pretty good!

At home, I pull the jar out and Gal snatches it up. "Back in Bulgaria, this stuff is made with soooo much oil."

"Not this one," I said, "Only 5g in the jar." I point to the nutrition label.

She opens it up and dips a spoon inside, scooping up an easy teaspoon of oil and looks at me, smugly.

"This is more than 5g right here, and this is just the stuff floating on top..." she states. She makes a little hole in the super thick relish, and we watch yellowish oil flow quickly into to the hole. This stuff has tablespoons of sunflower oil...

I will continue to eat my foreign foods, but it's good to keep in mind that not all manufacturers are careful and accurate. Treat is like you would a trip to a restaurant, eat it (like most foods) in moderation, and learn to spot the signs that make it too good to be true.

The Gallery of Unusual Fruit #6

mmm...

My top ten gluten free foods

At lunch the other day, after the sideways glance at my bunless burger and french fry plate, I was asked a few questions about whether I was avoiding gluten, carbs, or just bread. Seems my friend was looking into  the gf thing, but found it too complicated finding items that were gluten free.

"Hey, Roland, Do you have a good list of gluten free foods?" he asked.

"Why yes, yes I do!" I responded.

Roland's Top 10 Gluten Free Foods

1. Meat
2. Fish and shellfish
3. Eggs
4. Poultry
5. Vegetables
6. Fruit
7. Cheese
8. Plain yogurt
9. Herbs and spices
10. Fats and oils

GF foods, numbers 1, 2, 5, 9, & 10

Please note, that if the food has an ingredient list, in and of itself, you will need to do your reading and your research. Some things, like sausages, sauces, and dressings, may contain wheat based ingredients. Even soy sauce can contain wheat, just so you know... Stick to simple, raw ingredients, and your reading time is shortened and you get to eat that much quicker!

Why just ten items? Because, while things like rice and beans are gluten free, I think healthy diets should be centered around the above items, not grains and legumes. Avoiding gluten is just at the top of my list of the most important changes you can make to your diet. To quote David St. Hubbins, "or so I have said."

What's Barney's Starbucks name?

Wollen?

The Gallery of Unusual Fruit #5

it's some sort of eggplant

I forgot about the kettlebell...

and my hands paid the price!

In my recent quest for strength and size (up to 198, as of this morning), I toned down the kettlebelling and toned up the barbells. I won't tell you that you can't get big on a diet of kettlebells, but I have been having fun with a high frequency, low(ish) volume barbell and corrective exercise routine, courtesy of Dan John and Galina Ivanova [Denzel].

Back to the kettlebells...

I don't own a 32kg kettlebell, so it was fun to push myself on some near max reps up at Chris's EFL this weekend! When Chris and I last met up to lift I was unable to get a 32kg overhead without a serious jerk, much less a push press or a simple press! I am happy to report that I'm now able to press the 32 with both the right and the left (that's each, not using both hands...) AND be able to clean and jerk the heavy round metal dude five times in a row for three sets of five!

I then took advantage of a 28kg, which I also don't own, but should. I did plenty of swings, cleans, and jerks while I had the access!

That being said, I did have to cut the workout short for fear of a torn callus. I was craving longer workouts with the kettlebells, but having torn them before and been down for over a week, I wisely stopped short of ripping things open. I was able to finish up with sets of swings. Even those were painful, but not the kind of painful that rips the skin off your hands.

New prescription: weekly kettlebell cleans or snatches, just to keep the hands ready to work. If I can work in even more kettlebell work, better still.

32kgs, far left, in red...