Getting Strong: My Lifting Philosophies...

In general, I follow a Leangains style approach to lifting and diet, with a few tweaks of my own thrown in... I realize Martin probably wouldn't be too pleased, since changing up the protocol is what gets people in trouble, but for me it's worked pretty well so far. First of all, my diet is Paleo/Primal so no cheese cake (well, maybe a little bit, haha). Second, I tend to be on the low carb side of the diet. So, on days that I don't lift I generally eat VLC (no carbs besides those naturally in veggies), and on days I lift (generally Mon, Wed, Fri) I eat the equivalent to one good sized sweet potato or 1 cup of rice PWO, the rest is protein and fat (see The Leangains Guide for specifics on macro/calorie/timing/intermittent fasting specifics).

Now, for the lifting variations... I like Martins Reverse Pyramid Training, and I use it as part of my workout rotation (I generally switch it up every month or so, with a rest week thrown in-between). However, through all my experimentation with everything from high rep/lower weight to low rep/heavy weight lifting (and everything in between), I've come to the conclusion that my body works best when I lift relatively heavy. So, with a little bit of trial-and-error I've come up with a style of training I like to call Incremental Fatigue (IF). I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this, and probably not the first person to write about it, but this is the method I use to train with the Big 4 lifts (Bench Press, Chin-up, Dead-lift and Squat):

Personal Paleo Code!

If you've been hesitant about going "Paleo", thought it was too complicated or just wondered where to even start this might be the program for you... Chris Kresser L.Ac (check out his amazing site too!) does a great job bringing together the evolutionary based diet, supporting science and then laying out a plan of how to apply this to your life. This is more than just reading a book, and applying a diet. This is a personally tailored complete lifestyle change. He doesn't just give you a cookie-cutter diet plan and send you on your way... the Personal Paleo Code is a step-by-step process to find what "diet" is best for YOU.

If you've already got the "Paleo" thing figured out and you're just working on optimizing that last 5%, this is probably not going to help you much... but if you're just getting started, and are lost in the "diet" craziness, this could be exactly what you've been looking for...



Personal Paleo Code

Kombucha!!! Starter Guide:

I've been planning on putting together a blog post on my experience with Kombucha with tips and tricks for a while now, but just haven't found the time... I still haven't found the time, but I wanted to put together the basics so that you can get started. I'll add more details, tips and tricks over time ;-)

Start by reading here, here and here...

Basic Equipment:

1) Large stainless steel pot to make the sweet tea (size appropriately for the culturing container)

2) Large glass container for culturing your Kombucha... avoid metal and glass due to interactions with the acidic Kombucha culture. Ceramic and high quality stainless steel (18/8 or similar) are ok, but I like to see the culture as it develops! The best glass containers are wide mouth (better air flow) jars with a good lip (for pouring and to hold the cloth on the top w/ a rubber band). I looked around for a long time for the perfect jar (and most economical), the two best are below (1 gallon and 2 gallon, I personally use the 2 gal.):

• Anchor Hocking 1 Gallon Clear Glass Jar

• Anchor Hocking 2 Gallon Clear Glass Jar

3) Glass bottles for your Kombucha after it's done culturing... I use clear all glass 1 Liter jars from Weck to store my extra SCOBYs. To store the Kombucha I use 16 oz brown glass flip-cap bottles that work perfectly and produce a naturally carbonated brew:

• 1 Liter All Glass Extra Large Straight Side Jars from Weck

• 16 oz Brown Flip-Cap Glass Bottles


Basic Ingredients:
Ingredients for 1 quart, multiply amounts proportionally to get gallons (4 qt. = 1 gal.)


• 1/4 cup Cane Sugar, preferably Organic (Not brown sugar, molasses impedes fermentation)
• 1/2 tablespoon Black Tea, Organic (Numi Organic Chinese Black Tea)
• 1/2 tablespoon Green Tea, Organic (Numi Organic Gunpowder Green Tea)
• 1 quart non-chlorinated/fluoridated water (RO system?)
• 1 Kombucha Culture (SCOBI), and 1/4 cup starter Kombucha (Organic ACV works as well)


Basic Directions:


I make 1.5 gallons in my 2 gallon jar... these are the steps I take:
• Pour 4 quarts of water into the steel pot, bring to a boil and shut off heat. Add the sugar and tea, stir occasionally and steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the tea leaves with a slotted spoon (don't worry about a few stragglers) or strainer and let your sweet tea brew cool over several hours.
• Once you can touch the pot without burning yourself, pour the sweet tea mixture through a metal sieve into the 2 gallon jar. Add the remaining 2 quarts cold water to bring the mixture to near room temperature. If it's still a little warm, wait until it's barely warm to the touch and then add the Kombucha SCOBI and pour the starter Kombucha on top (in my case, 1.5 cups). It's important that the starter Kombucha be added last to protect the top from unwanted bacteria contamination.
• Cover the jar with a close knit kitchen towel (chese cloth works well) and fasten to the top with a rubber band.
• Leave the Kombucha culture for 7-14 days in a warm area protected from direct sunlight... I like to put mine in my cupboard.
• After 7-14 days, stick a straw in the Kombucha culture and taste it... if it's tart you should be good to go. If it's still sweet, leave it for a few more days... it really varies on room temp (colder temps result in longer brew times). I've left a culture fermenting up to a month before and enjoy a stronger brew... Ultimately, ferment it to your taste!
• Once the Kombucha is done, pour it out into the bottles or jars and age it in the bottles/jars at room temperature for 5 days, then move them to the fridge (this builds up carbonation, so if you prefer it flat just put the bottles/jars directly into the refrigerator).


You're Done!!! Enjoy your fresh Kombucha!



*Update: (1/29/2013)*

After making my 2 gallon batches for a while, I decided to upgrade to a 5 gallon batch process to save time overall... it takes a little longer to make a full batch, but I only have to go through the process about once every few months! Of course, this only works if you either drink a lot of Kombucha, or you don't mind a strong brew (result of long brew times)... I'm more of the latter, so letting the Kombucha ferment for a month or two is actually preferable (almost no sugar). If you're interested in trying it out, here are the links to the 5 gallon glass barrel and larger 1 Liter Amber bottles I've been using to bottle the second ferment.

• Libbey 20 Liter Barrel with Lid

• CASE OF 12 - 32 oz. EZ Cap Beer Bottles - AMBER

As Nature Intended it... Raw Milk!

I've read a lot of posts and articles about Raw Milk over the years; everything from better vitamin/mineral content/bio-availability to less protein/CLA decomp and improved lactose/lactase ratios... but the article from Underground Wellness really does a great job describing these things and more, so I thought I'd share it with you.

http://undergroundwellness.com/under-the-microscope-raw-versus-pasteurized-milk/

Meat Glue: What is your steak made from?

You might think you're getting a nice juicy steak at a restaurant, but after watching this video I'm not so sure anymore, especially from the big chain restaurants...



Just another reason to get to know your farmer, and buy meats locally!!!

US News “Best” Diets: The Paleo Diet Misinformation

Many of you may have already heard of or read the US News piece published last week, I'd just like to pass on a very in-depth rebuttal to that piece written by Dr. Loren Cordain, Maelán Fontes Villalba and Pedro Carrera Bastos. Their response on the subject is copied in its entirety below per Robb Wolf's request to pass it on. I'd also like to add that if you go to the link below and look over the US News rankings you will notice something a little off... the diets ranked highest aren't the ones that the majority of people think actually work!!! In fact, if you go by the "Did this diet work for you?" ratings the Paleo Diet is by far the best! I'm not sure how unbiased these ratings are either (are ip addresses logged so multiple votes don't count, etc...), but nonetheless it is interesting that the "worst" rated diet has the highest success rate among site visitors.

http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/paleo-diet

http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-overall-diets

Good Science, Bad Science... Who can you really trust?

I've read over a few posts lately regarding research papers and how to interpret the results of these studies and I thought I'd summarize everything here and include an awesome presentation by Tom Naughton on the subject (and maybe make you laugh a little too).