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Is it a chicken wing? Those french fries? or is it that daily Coke or Pepsi you gotta have? It is officially time to get off your ass and get your diet “ON!” Eat clean, if you don’t know what that means find out and define it clearly. For me, it is reducing simple carbs and eat complex carbs with a low GI Index. GOOGLE IT! I cycle them 2 low carb days, 1 hi carb day, 3 low carb and the 4th day a cheat meal, NOT A CHEAT DAY!
Now that I have spent the past 5 weeks allowing simple carbs (CAKE,PASTA AND BREAD) back into my diet, I am having cravings that I didn’t have before. After a couple weeks and a sure eye on the prize these cravings will disappear. I also cannot remember feeling as sick the past six months, headaches, allergies and a lot of naps since Thanksgiving dinner (4lbs+is also a side effect). Whatever the case, I doubt if I will be straying away from eating clean diet anytime soon. I did a 2 day detox and I feel renewed, great way to kick start the new me.
Next, I ask myself what does it all mean? Why? Many people start the year and say I want to lose weight, this is not enough. The goals have to be concrete and S.M.A.R.T. I need numbers, dates and vision.
You have to think about specific goals in 2009. As far as my training goes, I really would like to get my mid-section tight and tight obliques. This means getting my waist down to 30″! These are the areas that separate the well-trained from the average. Do we want to be average? Therefore, I have to be consistent in my diet and training. I will incorporate HIIT into my training on a regular basis (3x/week) and do two-a-days while working on performance. I also want to alternate with long steady cardio to mix it up. One thing I learned this year is when I get to 205 on the scale, I reward myself, this has to stop!
I’m in the process of developing my regime and goals, they have to be specific and concentrated. Why? So my focus can be laser like, busting through obstacles and striving no matter what life throws at me.
In the great words of Mr. Cheeks:
Is you down to go pound for pound, Toe to toe, blow for blow, round for round
It won’t be easy and you won’t be alone. Many will come and many will fall. Take all the images of fitness you have in your mind and become it. It’s a NEW YEAR… a NEW YOU… let’s get our BlackFitness ON!
Of course, you have already heard it a hundred times, Drink water! I had a family friend who use to say “Water is life”. It is important to note that a majority of dehydration occurs during the winter months. Between chopping wood and shivering to keep the body warm a lot of hydration is required during the winter too. Drink WATER!
As if it were summer, drinking water improves energy, improves your mental and physical capabilities and reduces cardiovascular stress during workouts. Protein and amino acids the building blocks of muscles, need to be synthesised using water.
8 glasses a day (64 oz) is a good way to start. I carry a gallon around personally, especially on the days I hit the gym. If you consume an excessive amount of protein Drink WATER!…if you drink and excessive amount of coffee, coke or any other kind of soda, Drink WATER!
Any form of fitness i.e. loss weight, diet or athletic fitness will be stunted without proper hydration. You are really missing out on one of the cornerstones of a healthy, youthful and resilient body without water.
More Great Benefits From Drinking Water
*Aids Digestion
*Helps Body Absorb Nutrients
*Reduces Risk of Kidney Stones
*Increases Metabolism
*Natural Appetite Suppressant
*Regulates the Body’s Temperature
*Facilitates Proper Blood Flow to Organs
*Did We Mention Losing Weight?
Not sure if I made my point clear, but you don’t need a resolution to start Drinking WATER!
Whether you are already a health nut or just starting out on the road to healthy living, we all can use some help to stay on path. There are many health applications on your iPhone that can help you reach your new year’s resolutions for fitness, strength, and general well being. From tracking weight loss to simply breathing better these apps are easily downloaded to your iPhone. Here is a list we have compiled that we think will help you manage a healthy and more fulfilled life in 2009.
Diet & Weight Loss: Keeping track of your diet & weight can be a hassle. Here are some ways the iphone can help.
Diet: If you are dieting while you are traveling this application will give you nutritional information and calories for over seven thousand foods sold nationally and internationally.
Weight Tracker: Keep record of your weight on a day to day basis. You can also set goals to help you reach your target weight loss.
Trim For Life: This is a new high protein diet application. It allows you to measure your body fat percentage (BFP) and keep a daily log of your weight. There is also a list of foods that will help you satisfy your hunger for a lot less calories. You can add your own foods and Trim for Life will let you know how helpful they are to your diet.
Sensei for Weight Loss: A weight loss app that learns about your preferences and lifestyle to develop a program suitable for you. Sensei provides motivational messages and advice from experts and community members.
Gluten Free Diets: Offers recommendations and instructions on creating a Gluten Free diet. Can also help you locate restaurants that offer Gluten free food on their menu.
Exercise: These applications can aid you in exercising to maintain good health.
iPump: Hiring a personal trainer can be costly. With videos, images, and audio coaching you can have a personal exercise program right at you fingertips. This total body workout targets all the major muscles in the body. There is also an iPump series that includes Yoga, Pilates, and Swiss Ball.
iMapMyRun: This app works with your GPS to give you speed, distance, pace, running maps, training logs and more. They also have iMapMyRide for cycling workouts.
StretchZ: If you sit in front of a computer all day, this app allows you to access regular stretching routines for your work environment. It can help relieve neck, shoulder, and backaches. This is good because most jobs will not let you install software on a company computer.
Fitview: Manage and track your aerobic activity, strength training, and vital statistics. Data is recorded over time and will show you accurate graphs to track trends.
Steps: By wearing you iphone on your waist or in your pocket you can use it as a pedometer. This will also help you determine your speed, distance and calories burned.
Health & Medical: Here are some surprising abilities your iPhone has that just might improve your quality of life.
Pocket First Aid & CPR Guide: Be prepared at anytime for a medical emergency. This is a great application that gives you precise instructions on anything from CPR to seizures. You can also enter medical, doctor and insurance information along with emergency contacts, allergies, and medications.
My Life Record: Put an end to waiting for results to get from one doctor to another by giving you instant access to your entire medial chart. Keep detailed track of all your medical records including lab results, medications, and imaging.
Doctors: Locate a doctor in minutes with this app. Whether you are local or traveling you can find specialists, hospitals and even pharmacies in your location.
Significantly Glucose-Charter: For patients with Type 1 & 2 Diabetes, this is the ideal tool for keeping an eye on your blood glucose, insulin and other medications. A comprehensive food list has a number of means to help you assess the foods you are eating. There is also an option to report this information to your doctor every 30 days.
Breath Pacer: Studies have show that slower breathing makes for better health. With this app you can learn how to pace breathing with visual and audio encouragement for twenty minutes a day.
Nutrition: Whether you are a vegetarian or just trying to eat healthy, these apps can give you needed information on your food intake.
Food Additives: This app lets you quickly get access to over 450 food additives. You can avoid those that are potentially dangerous to your health & see which ones are safe. Great for parents, vegetarians, and the health conscious.
Calorie Tracker: Search for foods you consume during the day and this app will tally up the calories. It also shows fat, carbohydrate, and protein intake.
Restaurant Nutrition: If you are someone who likes to eat out then this application is for you. Choose a restaurant and find out calories, carbs, fat, and fiber content for listed menu items.
FDA for iPhone: Get current announcements such as recalls, news releases, and MedWatch safety alerts from the US Food & Drug Association. There is even a FDA warning letter search.
8h2o: An easy application that lets you know if you’ve consumed the recommended 8 glasses of water a day.
Folks, the goal here is to use technology to improve your health. That doesn’t happen if you just read the article but don’t actually pick a few of these applications to try out. While some of theses apps are free, most only cost a dollar or two and are great ways to keep your health in check. So for the price of a Starbucks coffee, give a few a try this week.
The most important relationship you will ever have is the one you have with yourself!. After running around during the holidays and eating like a pig, I am in major damage control right now. When you love yourself you want to be happy, feel good, succeed, and put thoughts into action. And yes, I haven’t gain weight but the goal of being the best me was derailed.
Thick thighs. Narrow hips. Thick lips. Thin ones. Big nose, small boobs. Flat butt, fat butt. Dark skin, light skin. You got what ya got. Can you find the courage to love it all…right now?
Awesome quote, isn’t it? But I do feel, loving it all means making the necessary changes when needed. There are a lot of ways of loving ourselves and we can talk about this all day. I did a few things this weekend for numero uno…myself.
I brought a juicer. Now, this is some no name brand called “the Mustang” but it get the job done. I did the apple and carrot juice thing and loved it. The pulp was a mess but I experimented and made some carrot muffins.
We moved into a new house, and have hard water and my skin is getting a little rough shall we say. So I purchased a water filter. Besides getting rid of chlorine and other harmful chemicals there are dozens of reasons why this is good. I’m not going to get technical on y’all, but go out & get one, period! allaboutwater.org
Finally, I brought the G5 Grilleration and since I’m king of the grill, this works great during the winter months. “Knock out the fat” a la George Foreman need I say more?
You may want to “treat” yourself to things like a massage, a facial, a pedicure, or a gym membership.
So, go ahead. Love yourself. Be good to yourself. Treat yourself well. Replenish yourself. I use to get brownie points with the ladies with these comments. In the end it’s true you’ll discover that, the more you love yourself, the more you will be able to give love to others. Loving yourself will ultimately benefit yourself and the lives of others you love.
DO IT NOW! You don’t need a New Year’s Resolution, a tramatic situation or a life changing moment you can start NOW! Love U, Love yourself.
So, for those that know me, I’ve been doing more dynamic workouts instead of the heavy lifting. To get a more physical body instead of a bodybuilder / muscle head type. Nothing is wrong with either the bodybuilder or muscle head but since I don’t play sports or plan to compete …why? I’ve done the Lebron James workout and the 300 Workout , both are giving me the results I want…leaner and athletic.
So now I’m doing 20-25 pull ups like nothing and when I’m really pumped, I’m doing pull-ups with weights 10′s and 25′s(low rep/high sets). So with my chest all swole & pumped, beating my chest like a silver back gorilla. Some guy approaches me and asked ”Have you ever heard of BARTENDAZ?” And like the next cocky negro, I was like “yeah…yeah ..yeah!” So I go home have my protein shake, watch these guys on youtube and deflate my chest.
So I really thought I was working out….compared to these guys I was warming up!
These guys have actually started a movement that promotes physical fitness and self-empowerment through calisthentics, and they preach that “Movement is Medicine”.
They’ve done T.V., The Iron Ring, BET’s Reality MMA series, when they were working with Ludacris’s team, seminars and self improvement programs. If you’ve never seen these guys before, just be prepared to pick your jaw off the floor!
Yasin’s Giant Thinking presentations and Bar-Tendaz demonstrations offer a powerful and inspirational self-awareness program that empowers participants to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their lives. Demonstrations and presentations leave participants with concise actions they can immediately take to work toward achieving their goals. Though most of his efforts are aimed at helping inner city youth obtain and maintain a sense of worth and positive destiny,the training transcends age and station in life
Punctuated with thought-provoking examples and exercises, Giant Thinking Inc. and Bar-Tendaz presentations and seminars are proven in enabling participants to set and achieve goals, establish values by which to live, and face challenges and opportunities in a manner that will bring about success. Giant coined the phrase “Exercise Evolution” to describe his unique blend of calisthenics, physical and mental fitness exercises.
We believe that when offered together a Giant Thinking seminar and Bar-Tendaz presentation are the unbeatable one-two combination for success!
Hassan Yasin is certainly dedicated to making sure that Giant Thinking / Bar-Tendaz becomes the premier program for those who seek to better themselves and our youth.
I’ve never attended any of their presentations and in working with children and coaching myself, I know there are techniques and principles that have to be kept in mind. I can not attest nor vouch for these guy in this arena. But if they are as intense with their workouts, as they are with their teaching priciples, a youth seminar with these guys can only be a win, win situation.
No Money, No Problem…No Motivation, No Problem. Today I give you 1-2-3 BARTENDAZ! Check ‘em out better yet give them a call!
Too many Americans suffer from poor fitness and obesity. African-Americans are at particularly high risk, a new study shows.
Carl J. Lavie, MD, is co-director of cardiac rehabilitation and preventive cardiology at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans. Lavie and colleagues collected data on more than 5,000 men and women aged 52-74 who underwent treadmill heart stress tests at the Ochsner Clinic.
The major findings:
On average, African-American men in the study were three years younger than the white men, yet African-American men’s fitness capacity was 7% lower than that of white men. The difference is considered significant.
On average, African-American women in the study were four years younger than the white women. Yet African-American women’s fitness capacity was 3% lower than that of white women. This difference is not considered significant.
African-American men were more likely to be obese than white men: 44% vs. 33%.
African-American women were more likely to be obese than white women: 37% vs. 27%.
African-American women were also more likely than white women to be severely obese: 19% vs. 11%.
“Even correcting for obesity, African-Americans are slightly less fit,” Lavie tells WebMD. “Everyone in the country needs to be thinking about their weight and their fitness. Our data support [that] this is of even greater urgency in African-Americans.”
Lavie’s study appears in the December issue of the journal Chest.
Lavie notes that the best predictor of premature death is poor physical fitness. He points to studies showing that the best way people can reduce their risk of early death is to improve their exercise capacity.
“The message here is that both obesity and fitness are very important to all races and genders,” he says. “But in African-Americans, we need even greater attention not only to reducing weight, but in improving fitness. The two go together but are separate, too.”
Obstacles to Fitness
Sheila P. Davis, PhD, is professor of nursing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. She has studied African-American children living in the rural south and found high levels of obesity and low levels of fitness.
“Being African-American myself, I can conjecture about what is happening,” Davis tells WebMD. “In the South, in terms of obesity, the differences are not that marked. To call it a black obesity problem is to miss the point — we have an obesity problem. In terms of fitness, we are more similar than dissimilar. There are no genetic differences. But there are things within the culture that we incorporate that might be responsible for some of the differences.”
Unfortunately, she notes, many African-Americans face restraints on becoming more physically active. Children in poor communities attend schools that lack gyms and physical education teachers. And a person can’t just put on running shoes and go for a jog or a walk in a community where personal safety is an issue.
“Those restraints exist,” Davis says. “If they were removed, we would see more equalization in terms of fitness.”
This does not excuse poor diets or sedentary lifestyles, Davis notes. She says there is a critical need for aggressive interventions to improve diet and exercise for African-American children and teens.
More info can be found on blackdoctor.org and the articles source from webmd better information/ better health website. Interestingly enough its been 4 years since the article has been written and I don’t believe a single thing has changed. In the words of Spike Lee “WAKE UP!”
Current Stats: Weight 212, Waist 32.7, Moral OK, Eating: Poor
Some people say …”Wow your lucky you can eat anything you want!” Only if they knew or “You see… your body type lets you pack on muscles pretty easy!” only if they knew…Here is to all of those that say “I was born like this” or ” Why restrict yourself?… you can die tomorrow getting hit by a car”.
There is hardwork and then there is … I dont want to work hard…thats it!
For the longest I’ve been promoting this bodybuilding website for the longest. It gives me inspiration and motivation through out the day. Here is another amazing transformation from a sister who is a Grad student, instructor,wife and mother. Damn are there really an excuses now?! If I met this lady I’d give her a hug on the spot and then ask her to spot me, time to hit the gym!
Before and After
She did so well that the BodyBuilding community put her up as Transformation of the Week (Women). I can’t say enough about before and after pictures, accountability and hard work. She displays all of it and more. I can rant and rave all day but when will you be the next Amazing Transformation?
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