Hey everyone,
I’m excited to announce that Earn Your Cheat Day is now called GoHealthyGoFit.com!!! Everything is the same, just an easier to remember name. Make sure to update your RSS feeds and bookmarks. If you haven’t already added us to your RSS feed, now would be a great time to do it! If you have any questions about how to do that, let me know!!!
All the Best,
Andrew
photo provided by flickr user Tyson Cecka
Posted in General health & fitness | Tagged earn your cheat day, earnyourcheatday.com, go healthy go fit, gohealthygofit.com | 2 Comments »
To start it off, there is no one right answer because everyone has different exercise needs. So then how do you know what type of shoe will best fit your needs. Well, I’m gonna break down a few different types of people who work out:
The Walker
Walking shoes, above all else need to be comfortable. On The Walking Site, they describe some key elements for a good walking shoe which include:
Other than the basics, you want to think about how and where you’ll be walking. If you’re walking at night, make sure you get reflective shoes. If you’ll be walking in or around water, ask them to waterproof it.
The Hiker
First and foremost, you should never go hiking in regular tennis shoes. The main reason why occurs on behalf of ankle support. Most tennis shoes are low-rise and don’t provide the ankle support that you need in order to go hiking. The less ankle support, the better chance of getting a sprain. That said, you don’t have to get high top hiking boots for every hike. I personally use a multi-sport pair from Vasque to do everything from casual hikes to hiking Half Dome in Yosemite.
Second, you want to identify what type of hiking you will be doing, whether it’s mountaineering, backpacking, standard hiking, trail running or amphibious hiking. Identify what type of hiker you are and that will really narrow things down for you.
Next, understanding the brands is very important..Hiking and Backpacking has a great article that lists some of the more popular brands of hiking shoes. Everyone knows who the established running shoe manufacturers are, but not many know who are the established hiking manufacturers.
The Weightlifter
I’ll bet you’re saying “Why would you have to have a special shoe for weightlifting?” I’ll tell you why! Running shoes are all about decreasing shock. Weightlifting shoes are all about transmission of power, traction against the floor and control according to Lon Kilgore, Ph.D. and Mark Rippetoe, CSCS in their Weightlifting Shoes 101:
When we lift weights we want two things to happen; (1) all the force our body produces under the bar should contribute to moving the weight and (2) the weight needs to be controlled in a safe manner. If we lift in a running shoe, it’s akin to trying to lift while standing on a giant marshmallow… But in the weight room, shoes should provide for the efficient transmission of power between the bar and the ground…
To be stable and perform optimally, a weightlifting shoe needs to be snug fitting, provide exceptional support, and have a noncompressible wedge sole with neoprene or crepe for traction against the floor.”
So if you are engaging in weightlifting with free weights, don’t make your running shoes be dually designated as your “gym shoes”!
The Runner
Ah yes, the cornucopia of choice! This one can be tough. Questions to ask include: Are you a sprinter (HIIT training)? Are you a long distance runner? Are you a casual jogger? All three of these questions will yield different shoe choices. They’re just like tires on a car. You wouldn’t put Nascar tires on an RV, so give your feet the same type of specialization and attention.
Here’s a two part article on Cool Runnings that can really help you decide what type of running shoe is right for you.
If you’re the typical run-to-exercise person like I am, I would suggest sticking with Nike and New Balance. Why? Well, New Balance provides in depth measuring including the width of your feet and Nike pretty much wrote the book on running shoes. If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
Next time we’ll take a look at different types of footwear for specific sports… so stay tuned!
photos provided by Flickr users h.koppdelaney, suburbanbloke, rich115, ericmcgregor
Posted in General health & fitness | Tagged ankle support, backpacking shoes, different exercise needs, exercise apparel, exercise shoes, hiker, hiking, hiking shoe brands, hiking shoes, jogging shoes, mountaineering shoes, runner, running apparel, running shoes, shoe choice, shoes, shoes that fit, standard hiking shoes, trail running shoes, walker, walking, walking shoes, waterproof shoes, weightlifter apparel, weightlifting shoes, why do we need different shoes to workout, workout shoes | Leave a Comment »
No one tailgates like ASU!!!
Ok, so given the extreme popularity of the last post titled “Tailgating recipes”, I’ve decided to make it a weekly post for the rest of the football season! So here are some more great healthy tailgating recipes:
Well, wouldn’t you know it… there’s a tailgating.com! So I researched the site and picked out the healthiest recipes I could find!
Lobster
Not sure whether or not Lobster is healthy? Check out this article by Articles Alley that quotes the American Heart Association!
“Put in large lobster pot, half gallon of water that has been well salted. Bring water to a boil and place lobster head down, (Mary Tyler Moore will appreciate this!) Cover and boil for 10 to 12 minutes. Shake the lobster, when the antlers come right off, the babies are done!!! Use real butter only for dipping!! This amount of water should cook 15 lobsters, less lobster…..less water!”
Turkey Chili
Note: Cooking with Olive Oil = awesome!! White beans are a great source of fiber! As for the cheese… we’ll let it slide if you share!!
3 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 each Chopped bell pepper
1 each Chopped Anaheim Pepper
2 each Diced red onions
2 stalks Diced celery
1 Tbs. Chopped garlic
4 cups Cooked white beans
2 cups diced tomatoes with juice
1 lb. Diced cooked turkey meat
1 cup Fresh corn on the cob kernels
1 qt. Chicken stock
2 Tbs. Chili Powder
1 tsp. Cayenne pepper
1 tsp. Black pepper
2 Tbs. Ground cumin
1 cup Sliced green onions
1 cup Grated cheddar cheeseIn a thick bottom soup pot add the oil and saute the peppers, onions, celery and garlic for about 3 minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes, turkey, corn kernels and chicken stock. Add the spices and let simmer for about twenty minutes on a medium heat. Remove and top with the green onions and the cheddar cheese.”
San Diego Fresh Salsa
No tailgate is complete without salsa and chips (try substituting tortilla chips for Pita chips!)
“4 cup chopped, peeled fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 to 4 Jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. vinegar
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp. cumin
salt to tasteIn bowl, combine all ingredients, mix well. Let stand for about 2 hours. Serve at room temperature. Store in refrigerator.
Makes 3-4 cups”
So that should get you started! This weekend is gonna be jam-packed with great college football… enjoy!!
NOTE: SINCE THIS IS AN ONGOING WEEKLY POST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN HEALTHY TAILGATING RECIPES FOR NEXT WEEK’S POST!!!
photos by flickr user andrewyang, mjecker, florian
Posted in Nutrition, The weekend warrior | Tagged best tailgate recipes, college football tailgate recipes, college gameday recipes, cooking at a tailgate, health, healthy food, healthy grilling, healthy tailgating recipes, how to tailgate resonsibly, lobster tailgate, low calorie tailgating, salsa recipes, salsas for tailgating, tailgate recipes, turkey chili tailgate | 3 Comments »
Here’s part two of the top ten tips of avoiding injury at the gym:
6. When you’re exhausted, it’s time to go
This one is actually much more complicated than it seems. There are differing schools of thought. Some say that exhaustion is an “event” while others view it as something that can take place in the middle of the workout, indicative to an endspurt of energy that provides peaks in performance, both of these topics discussed in a great post by The Science of Sport.
The overall point I’m trying to get across is that most people exercise to stay healthy and attain goals. So set those goals ahead of time, recognize if you’ve truly “got nothing left in the tanks” and work towards improving your strength and endurance over the long run, not that day! It’s a journey towards improvement, not something that is defined by a last ditch effort, so to speak.
.
7. Drink lots of water
I don’t need to point to a scholarly journal on this one! It’s simple, dehydration can cause lapses in judgment, lack of focus and an overall decrease in performance. So drink lots of water!
8. Enlist the help of a spotter
If you are weightlifting to increase your strength, you have to increase the weight you’re lifting gradually. Sometimes its hard to gauge just how much should add on to a specific workout. So don’t be shy, people at the gym really don’t mind spotting you on an exercise because it’s an understood part of the gym culture.
9. Maintain a proper diet
The food you put into your body is similar to the oil and gas you put into your car. Since I truly believe that everyone has the makings to be a Ferrari, then you should only fuel your engine with the best. I mean, if you put 89 grade gas into a 575 Maranello, you’re not going to get the best performance. Therefore, if you’ve got a crappy diet, you won’t be able to perform to the ability that you think you should and may try to overcompensate, which can lead to injury.
10. Workout all of your muscles
Although most guys and girls have a set of muscles that they care about aesthetically, it’s important to workout all your muscles. For example, if you don’t workout your lower back, your core won’t be strong enough to do certain exercises. This can lead to unexpected injuries that could be prevented from a balanced workout routine.
photo provided by Flickr user Celeste33
Posted in Proper exercise form | Tagged all muscle workout, conditioning, dehydration and performance, drinking lots of water, eating right, exhaustion, fitness, full body workout, get a spotter, gym spotter, improving your core strength, lower back strengthening, preventing injury, proper diet, reducing the risk of injury at the gym, sports injuries, spotting, work out all muscles, workout buddy, workout spotter | Leave a Comment »
Well, I have unfortunately been injured and so I was inspired to write this post (it’s really hard to type, so I hope you enjoy this!). Although it was unavoidable, there are many injuries that ARE avoidable, especially in the gym! Here they are:
1. Always use proper form
I’ve touched on this in many posts, especially the video tutorials. Using bad form while lifting weights can lead to all kinds of injuries. Injury on account of bad form occurs because of a transfer of stress from weight that is placed on an unintended part of the body. For example, if you’re doing a bicep curl and you’re swinging back and forth, the stress is switched from your bicep to your lower back and shoulder. Check out this article by SG Fitness, it talks about this very same exercise.
2. Never lift more than you can manage
Why’s that so important? Here’s some food for thought from Peak Performance:
Thinking about strength training from a different angle, it is interesting to consider the fact that muscles are attached to tendons and that connective tissue runs parallel to the muscle fibres through the muscle. This means that in many athletic movements the force is produced not just from the muscle contraction but also from a release of elastic energy from the tendon component. Therefore it is useful to think of force production as coming from a ‘muscle tendon unit’ (MTU) working as one system, whose two components may come into effect at different times.”
That brings me to my point. While weightlifting and strength training does strengthen your muscles, it might not do the same for your tendon. Therefore, your muscles could be capable of lifting a certain amount whereas your tendon might not be at that level. So by overlifting, you’re putting too much stress on your tendons and therefore could injure yourself because the tendons, not the muscles, are incapable of handling more weight.
3. Stick to a certain amount of reps and sets
The University of North Carolina Campus Health Services say:
The benefits of exercise quickly become apparent. You feel great. You want to do more, run further and lift heavier. Beginners often try to do to much to soon, and find themselves getting injured.”
By getting ahead of yourself and trying to push it, doing more reps and sets, you can push yourself too far, causing injury. Listen to your body. By all means, you want to work out hard, but don’t overdue it. Use your head and you’ll quickly identify what you can and cannot do.
4. Always give your muscles time to recover
This is one of the most important parts of exercising. It is well known that when you strength train, you tear muscle fibers. Well, when you rest, you rebuild bigger muscles. That’s the point. So how much rest is necessary? Dr. Miriam E. Nelson of Tufts University says:
It is important to take a day off between exercising each muscle group. If your muscles continue to be very sore, wait one more day.”
5. Stretch
This one can prevent SO many injuries. However, HOW you stretch may make all the difference. In a study done by MedScape, their findings indicated that:
Ten cycles to 50% of failure force resulted in an increase in muscle stretch at failure with no change in the force at failure or energy absorbed. When muscles were cyclically stretched to 70% of failure force, macroscopic evidence of failure was seen even before the 10 cycles were completed. Thus, cyclic stretching appears to be beneficial and stretching that leads to forces in excess of 70% may make the muscle more, rather than less, susceptible to injury.”
So make sure you don’t push yourself too hard while stretching, it may do more harm than good!
We’ll look at the other tips for avoiding injury at the gym in the next post.
Posted in Proper exercise form | Tagged building muscle, exercise, fitness, heavy lifting, injury on account of bad form, manageable weight, muscle fiber, muscle growth, muscle recovery, muscle rest, muscle tendon unit, Proper exercise form, proper form, reducing the risk of injury at the gym, reps, sets, strengthening your muscles, strengthening your tendons, stretching, stretching after workouts, stretching before workouts, taking a day off from the gym, tearing muscle, tendon, trying too hard at the gym, why do you need to stretch | Leave a Comment »
Here’s yet another exercise that is susceptible to bad form and thus opens one to incurring injury. Too often, you’ll see people upping the weight when maintaining good form with a manageable weight is all you need. So here’s a video tutorial on how to do a proper front shoulder raise with dumbbells.
Posted in Proper exercise form | Tagged dumbbell exercise form, front shoulder raise, how to lift properly, how to maintain proper form at the gym, incurring injury from bad form, lifting weights, maintaining form, Proper exercise form, shoulder exercise, upping the weight, video tutorial on front shoulder raise, video tutorial on proper form, video tutorial on workouts, working out | Leave a Comment »
If you tend to hang out at nutritional supplement stores longer than you should like I do, lol, you’ve definitely heard that flaxseed oil is the best source of Omega 3 fatty acids. But is it the best choice? Well, Mark’s Daily Apple posted a great article recently about why flax seed oil can lead to prostate cancer. In the article, Mark mentions that:
My advice would be to use fish oil as your primary omega-3 source and keep the ALA [found in flax seed] on the lower side.
If you’re a man? Particularly an older man? I’d definitely suggest you make fish oil your principal source of omega-3s.”
So what are the best, natural food sources that can provide essential Omega 3 fatty acids? Let’s see:
As the above graph shows, a resonable amount of Walnuts and Salmon can provide you with the daily recommended value of Omega 3 fatty acids.
So what about fun recipes that incorporate these foods rich in Omega 3’s.
Salmon
Walnuts
Don’t forget, if you can’t find the time to make foods rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, you can always supplement. In the Fish Oils section of Healthy Oil Planet, you can read about all of the different benefits you get from taking fish oil supplements.
Those are just a few recipes and ideas that can help you incorporate more Omega 3’s into your diet! Let me know if you have any other recipes!
photo provided by flickr user DawnsRecipes
Posted in Nutrition | Tagged benefits of salmon, benefits of walnuts, best sources of Omega 3 fatty acids, fatty acids, fish oil, fish oil supplements, foods high in Omega 3 fatty acids, foods rich in Omega 3s, Healthy Oil Planet, healthy oils, Omega 3, omega 3 fatty acids, Omega 3 foods, Omega 3 recipes, salmon, salmon recipes, supplementing fish oils, supplementing Omega 3 fatty acids, walnut recipes, walnuts | 2 Comments »
Hey all,
Here’s a couple of Blog Carnivals that Earn Your Cheat Day has been featured in this week. In case you were wondering, a blog carnival is a blogging event that features multiple blog posts on a specific topic.
Total Mind and Body Fitness Carnival
Another Earn Your Cheat Day article was included in yet another blog carnival. You can find my article as well as a bunch of other great articles at Fit Buff’s Total Mind and Body Fitness Carnival 69. Look under the “Nutrition” section to find a link to my post on Body Fat Percentage.
Weight Management and Fitness Forum
I just wanted to let you guys know about a great blog carnival on Weight Master that Earn Your Cheat Day was included in! Check it out, there are some great articles about weight management and fitness.
Workout Blog Carnival
Here’s a blog carnival by Workoutebooks that focuses on working out tips. They’ve featured Earn Your Cheat Day’s video tutorial on hitting the heavy bag!
Healthbolt Blog Carnival
My article outlining the Lactagen program was just featured in Health Bolt’s new health carnival!
Check these out and let me know what you think!
All the Best,
Andrew
photo provided by flickr user wallyg
Posted in General health & fitness, Nutrition | Tagged articles on eating healthy, articles on staying healthy, articles on working out, blog carnival, Fit Buff, fitness, health, health and fitness carnival, healthy blog carnivals, maintaining your diet, managing your weight, Nutrition, nutrition carnival, staying fit carnival, Total Mind and Body Fitness Carnival, Weight Management and Fitness Forum, working out carnival, Workout blog carnival, workoutebooks | 2 Comments »
I always seem to know when I should have my cheat day, but then I try to fight off the temptation. That’s what I love about this site, it helps remind me that having a cheat day is a good thing.
Meal #1
Protein shake
Meal #2
Smoked Salmon
Kudos bar (Yeah, It was wort it)
.
.
.
Meal #3
Garlic and Permesan Pita chips
Guacamole
Meal #4
3 egg whites
Broccoli
1 Kiwi
Meal #5
1 slice of pizza
1 Coca-cola
Dried strawberries
.
The dried strawberries should really be a separate entry because after I got back home from eating the pizza and coke, I really had a craving and probably ate too many strawberries. I think that the dough and cheese in the pizza really threw my metabolism for a loop, seeing as I don’t usually eat either.
This is another great example on why it’s good to have a cheat day. Everyone knows it’s hard to fight those cravings, like the one described above. So by limiting your intake of the foods that stimulate those cravings (you know what those foods are for you) to your cheat day, it keeps you from binge eating everyday. Now, I’m not saying that you should ever binge eat, but at least by eating your 5 to 7 meals a day, 6 days a week, you will take away the temptation and provide yourself with a consistent foundation of health to work on!!
photo provided by flickr user Harris Graber
Posted in Cheat Days | Tagged cheat day, creating consistency in eating, fighting cravings, foundation for healthy diet habits, is a cheat day good for you?, kudos, pizza, preventing binge eating, understanding cravings, understanding your metabolism, what I ate on my cheat day, what to eat on your cheat day | 1 Comment »
After one of my last posts when we talked about body fat percentage, I decided to take a look at some of the different, most practical ways to test your body fat percentage to see which was the most accurate.
Calipers (A.K.A. Skinfold measurement)
If you buy calipers, this is a body fat percentage test that you can do at home, but I would recommend going to a gym and having a personal trainer do it for you. They will be more accurate most of the time. So that’s what I did. I went to my gym and had a personal trainer measure my body fat using the caliper system
Basically, the caliper measurement system takes readings from various parts of your body (in this case, I was tested on my bicep, tricep, love handles, and on the back [subscapula]) to determine the skinfold thickness when pinched by the calipers. Here’s a great article from ABC Body Building that explains just how to use the caliper system.
Once the measurements are taken, they are plugged into an equation to determine your body fat percentage. This particular measuring technique put my body fat percentage at 13%.
Benefits:Â This is a chep, easy to use device for calculating your body fat percentage
Drawbacks:Â User error can alter the percentages quite a bit. It’s recommended that you follow the instructions and take multiple readings on each testing site of the body to gain more accuracy.
Bioelectrical Impedence Method
This is a more private way to test your body fat percentage that doesn’t require another person to be involved. The device looks almost like a video game controller! Basically, this particular method sends a minute electric current through your body in order to determine your body fat percentage (Don’t worry, it’s completely harmless!!)
Given that the current moves slower through fat as opposed to lean body mass (water, muscle, bone), the device can calculate body fat percentage based on the time it takes for the electric current to travel through the body. In an article by New Fitness:
Impedance is greatest in fat tissue, which contains only 10-20% water, while fat-free mass, which contains 70-75% water, allows the signal to pass much more easily. By using the impedance measurements along with a person’s height and weight, and body type (gender, age, fitness level), it is possible to calculate the percentage of body fat, fat-free mass, hydration level, and other body composition values.
I decided to buy a Bioelectrical Impedence device in order to test my body fat percentage. The device calculated my body fat percentage between 11.2% and 12%, depending on when I tested it. The instructions recommend that you test it when you wake up, 2 hours after breakfast before lunch (I love how they’re basing the schedule on a 3 meal a day plan!!! HA!!!), 2 hours after lunch, and 2 hours after dinner. I tested at all of those times.
Benefits: This is also fairly cheap (GNC sells this device for $39.99, but support your local nutritional supplement stores for everything else please!) and it provides you the privacy of being able to test your body fat percentage in the comfort of your own home without anyone else being present.
Drawbacks: Whether or not you are hydrated has a HUGE outcome on the reading. I decided to make myself dehydrated and when I tested, it told me that I was at 7.4% body fat!!! Wow, if only that were true. My suggestion is to take multiple readings at the times suggested above.
Home body fat percentage test:
Here’s one of the more popular body fat testing techniques. This can be done on a website such as Cholesterol Network and basically utilizes measurements taken from your waist, neck, hips, forearm, and wrist in conjunction with your age, weight and sex. It’s simple, you take the measurements and plug them into the website and based on the information you provide, the website estimates your body fat percentage.
I measured myself and plugged in the information and the website guessed that I had about 12.5% body fat.
Benefits: It’s private, easy to use and you only have to have a tape measure and a scale to do it!
Drawbacks: While it is based off of studies that have been done, it’s still just an estimate. Also, if you are a person that is “skinny, but not fit”, the numbers can be a little off.
Overall, I tested on three different techniques and got a number that was consistent (maybe even accurate?) across the board + or – 1%. That’s pretty good! Of course, the “gold standard” of testing body fat percentage is the underwater weighing method, but other than university labratories, the closest testing center is in San Diego! I’m working on finding a place to test this to validate my findings using the other three methods most commonly used.
photo provided by flickr user Darren Hester
Posted in General health & fitness, Weight Loss | Tagged best body fat percentage test, bioelectrical impedence, bioelectrical impedence method, body fat calipers, body fat measurement, body fat percentage, body fat percentage testing methods, body fat percentage vs. weight, caliper, home body fat percentage test, how to get your body fat percentage, is your body fat percentage an indicator of your overall health?, skinfold measurement, testing your body fat percentage, understanding body fat percentage, water weight, why should you test your body fat? | Leave a Comment »
Earn Your Cheat Day 