Saturday, January 2, 2010

Paleo Food!


After the holidays I need to get my butt back in gear with some cleaner food.  I think getting back in a routine will help with that, but in the meantime I have been trying creative ways to eat healthier. Ill be sticking with no gluten, no dairy, and no processed food for the month of January.  Then the food I choose, I will try to stick mostly with the healthiest vegetables, fruits, lean meats, nuts and oils. 
 The bottom picture is some fresh Halibut and shrimp I picked up from a fish market in Monterey Bay CA, after leaving the Monterey Bay Aqyuarium.  Haha, I guess I was in the mood for fish after seeing all those cute creatures.  My girlfriend helped cook all this as I baked the fish perfectly and had a hell of a time peeling off all the shrimp legs before grilling those guys.  The fish turned out great and was the freshest fish I have had in a long time.  This was sitting on top of spaghetti squash with an olive oil based pesto sauce.  This tasted just like pasta and it was so good.  On the side my girlfriend made brussel sprouts with prociutto.  This turned out to be a perfect side but was a little salty.  First she boiled the sprouts for a few minutes then put them in ice water to stop the cooking.  Then she fried up the prociutto in olive oil with garlic until crisp before adding low sodium chicken broth and the brussel sprouts.  It turned out well but beware that prociutto along with the chicken broth are high sodium.  Everything paired up perfectly especially the Edna Valley Chardonnay I had from the Central Coast of CA.  Oops thats not Paleo but it was such an extravagant meal I wanted to make it complete with just a little wine to wash down the fish.  Can you tell I loved the meal, and overall it was pretty healthy and Paleo friendly.  For all of you that say you get bored with the Paleo diet, here is a perfect example of how to be creative.  And there was so much more fresh fish at the market that I wanted to try. 
The top picture is my Mothers version she made the next night.  It is spaghetti squash with fresh basil and tomato drizzled with olive oil.  She grilled shrimp and got fresh crab from the farmers market in Paso Robles, on the central coast of California.  It looks like she added parmesan cheese, Ill give her a slap on the hand, but I bet it was good though.  Then she cooked a lamb shank for my Dad which would be another good meat to be used on top of the squash. Too bad my dad wont eat the squash, hes Italian so he wont have anything but real pasta. So there are many ways to fix this meal just like there are many ways to have pasta at an Italian restaurant.  So don't tell me you're bored with the Paleo diet!

Tonight Im going with some steak, I've been eating like a king this holiday break.  But soon Ill be back to left over chicken and spinach salad with broccoli.  So im enjoying this.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

OPT workout

Training:
A. Build quickly to a tough but not 1RM in the Power Clean - take no more than 7 minutes; rest 60 sec ONLY after last set before B
B. 1-10 CTB chin up ladder for time; rest 60 sec before C
C. AMRAP DB Burpees in 2 minutes - 25/15#/h

Video of part B.

Video of part C.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

New phase!

So after 5 days rest, Im back at it.  I did some light stretching, jogging, and rowing for active recovery, but I also ate like crap.  And I felt it today.  It felt like I was going to meet pukie a couple times which has not happened in a looooong time.  I guess its time to get back on track with nutrition and start hitting it hard again.  I need some huge gains this cycle and plan on committing to it 100%.  I meant to film todays workout but forgot the camera.  I will try to post more videos from here on!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

New PRs!

So I knew a bunch more PRs were coming.  I recently PRed in the squat clean and the clean & jerk.   I also was only 10lb off my best bench press ever dating back to college when I was about 10lb heavier playing football and lot more of a power lifter then.  Last night I felt my best ever during a Fran and improved by 56 seconds from the last time I did it.  Here is my first time attempting chest bar Fran.  I feel like I even look a lot more out of shape and pale.  Below is the video of my PR in Fran.  Such a huge improvement!!!