Rigged Up Suspension Trainer: Works Fine, Costs Less

     Its always good to have some options around the house to switch things up a bit and challenge yourself in new ways.  I have wanted to get a TRX suspension trainer for a while, and though it appears to be a quality product, I wanted to improvise a little and see what it was like before I spent any money (TRX is not cheap).  What I came up with is slightly more sophisticated than a rope and a piece of pvc pipe.  I tried it out today for the first time and it works great.  The workouts you use with this type of device are great because you can easily scale them to any ability level.  Also the equipment is really easy to tote, so this kind of thing is great if you are on vacation or business travel.

Here is what the set up looked like.

Pretty simple.

     I wanted quality handles so I spent 22 dollars on some "go fit" ones from amazon.  I have had good experience with this brand in the past.  They came as a set with a 40 lb exercise band, so that was a bonus.  Below is a closeup of the handles.

     The straps I used were just an old set I have to tie things down in the truck, they are cheap.  All together you are looking at about 30 bucks or so.  I'll put a couple product links below, you can see there is some price difference between the two.  The TRX website has some good videos for workouts and setups.  This stuff is harder than it looks.  The workout I went through today was fun and it definitely hurt.

 


 

Quick Thoughts on the Afterburn Effect

     The afterburn effect simply means that your body will continue to burn fuel after your workout is over in order to return itself to a resting state and adapt to the stresses that are being put on it.  As you exercise, your body depletes energy stores and incurs small amounts of damage to the muscles and connective tissue. After the exercise is over your body must repair the damage that was done, replenish energy stores that were depleted, and adapt so that it can handle similar stress in the future.  All of these processes require the body to use more energy after a workout is over before it can return to a lower metabolic baseline.  The longer the transition to baseline, the more calories that will be burned as a result of a single workout.

     Afterburn is also known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), and though it does dissipate relatively quickly over a couple of hours, the effect can be shown to linger in some small amounts for up to a couple days.  As the intensity and duration of a workout increases, so does the amount of stored energy that is depleted and the amount of tissue damage that is done.  So naturally the afterburn effect will last longer after high intensity workouts and workouts that last longer.

     When designing workouts, there is a balance to be had between intensity and duration.  The longer a  bout of exercise lasts, the less intense it is likely to be.  For example, think about the intensity difference between a sprint and a long distance run.  As duration goes up, intensity must at some point go down.

     A popular way to maximize the amount of intense exercise that can be done in a small amount of time is to separate bursts of intense exercise with small periods of rest.   This is known as "High Intensity Interval Training" or HIIT, and is an excellent way to take full advantage of the "afterburn effect".  One easy way to mix HIIT into a program is to finish a workout with a Tabata Interval, which is simply 8 rounds of 20 sec maximum intensity exercise followed by 10 sec of rest. 

     

   


 

Today's Workout 8/15

Do the following with as little rest as possible:

100 pushups <  2 minutes, any variation
100 inverted rows
25 one leg squat to chair, each side
25 dips
50 standing curl 25 lb dumbbells
50 standing overhead tricep extensions 25 lb dumbbells
20 lateral raises 25lb dumbbells
20 handstand pushups

Picture I took at the Color Run, a charity 5k my wife and I ran in the spring.

Simple Chicken Soup

Today was a little rainy and I had some extra time so I made a chicken soup that will last us a couple days.  Cooking the whole chicken provides nutrients you wouldn't get from the meat alone, and the leftovers only get better with time.  This recipe does take a couple of hours, but only about twenty minutes of real work.  It's worth it. Easy to do, hard to mess up.

What you need:
1 whole fryer chicken, preferably organic and free range, more for the nutrients than the hippie factor.
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
2 leeks, sliced
5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
Pinch of dry cilantro
Pinch of dry turmeric
Pinch of dry thyme
Pinch of paprika
Pinch of cayenne powder
Teaspoon minced garlic
2 bay leaves
Fresh ground pepper
Sea salt
32 oz low sodium organic chicken broth

What to do:
Place the chicken in a large pot, pour in the broth and add water till the chicken is covered.
Bring to a boil and then drop the heat and simmer for an hour.  
While the chicken is cooking, chop the vegetables.
Remove chicken and use a fork to separate the meat from the bones.
Replace the meat back into the broth along with the vegetables, herbs, and spices.
Let simmer for an hour or two.

Oven Roasted Chicken with Carmelized Shallots and Blackberry Salad

This recipe comes from  David Lebovitz.  I was looking for something quick and easy that I could do in the little time I had to work with today.  This turned out great and was really simple.  I'll make it again for sure.  I made a side of carrots and squash to roast, and put together a quick salad while everything was in the oven. Can't get much more low maintenance.

You need:
8 pieces of chicken, I used four drumsticks and four thighs, bone in
3 tablespoons of olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce, I used lower sodium
salt and fresh ground pepper
It called for 4 large shallots, peeled and minced, I used 3 and I think for me that was plenty
1 handful flat leaf parsley

For the salad:
One small handful of baby field green salad mix per person in a medium bowl
large handful of fresh blackberries rinsed and dried gently
top with pecans and dried cranberries
no dressing

For the side:
1 cup of baby carrots whole
2 small squash cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

What to do:
In a glass casserole dish, mix the olive oil, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, salt and pepper, and shallots.
place the chicken in a single layer in the dish, and use your hands to mix the chicken with the marinade until the chicken is coated.

In a separate dish, coat the carrots and squash with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Put both dishes in a a 425 degree oven.
Turn the chicken once after about twenty five minutes, when it is beginning to brown.  Let the chicken cook for another twenty five minutes or so until the skin and shallots are nice and brown.  Let the carrots and squash cook the whole time the chicken is in.  When they are ready, remove from oven and garnish chicken with parsley.  Serve with the blackberry salad. 

Chipotle Chicken with Strawberry Salad and Sweet Potato

 Marinade 1 lb chicken breasts in glass casserole dish with Lowry's Baja Chipotle 30 min marinade
( I'll let you guess how long)

While chicken is marinating:
Preheat oven to 400

Peel and cut sweet potato into rounds of similar size (you may have to cut some into halves).
Place potato into a different glass dish large enough for each piece to touch the bottom, salt and pepper lightly, add 1 tbsp olive oil and mix with hands until potatoes are coated evenly.

Make salad
     2 cups arugula and baby spinach salad mix
     Handful of strawberrys sliced small
     Add small bits of honey goat cheese to taste
     Top with small handful of crushed pralines
     No dressing
     Set in fridge


When chicken is ready, place it and the potato in the oven on the middle rack.
Bake 1 hr and serve with salad.

Gaining Strength Simply

If you have never lifted weights, or if it has been a good while since you have done any strength training, Developing a good base is the place to start.  You need a solid foundation on which to build. The best way I have found to go about this is through the Stronglifts 5x5 program. This program is very simple. It is comprised of only five exercises. The squat, deadlift, barbell row, bench press and shoulder press. The plan is layed out so that you perform only three of these exercises per workout. You do three workouts a week, which should last less than an hour each. Don't let it fool you though, done right, that three hours a week will be exhausting. It is one of my favorite programs simply because it is fun, and you make serious headway in a small amount of time. The point of this program is to add weight each time you go to the gym. When I am doing this program I always see strength gains quickly, which is encouraging. There is also a free app that will track your progress for you and guide you through the program. Check out the program here . They will ask for an email, but the program is legit and I rarely get any emails from them. Download the free report, don't let the hype at the beginning scare you off, just scroll down and check out the program layout. The most important part of this thing is to not get ahead of yourself. Do each lift with strict form and start out LOW on the weight, you'll be adding it on quickly enough, trust me. If you are a beginner this program will really get you started on the right track for maximum strength gains. Intermediate and advanced lifters I think will benefit from this program as well. I use it to get motivated and get my body back into the swing of things if I've been away from the gym for a while. When I plateau I move on to a different program.