Want to get lean? This treat will assist you on your way!

Protein fluff!!

Have been wanting to make this for quite a while now, finally got around to doing it. It's kinda tricky to make the perfect protein fluff, but it's worth the try!! This fluff is extremely filling, very low in calories, and full of protein and healthy carbs. 
If you are on a mission to get lean, you are going to be hungry, and you will be craving desserts etc.., I strongly recommend you trying this delicious fluff of yummyness! This is what you need:
40g of 100% casein protein powder (ex: Optimum whey)
200g of frozen mashed berries (blueberries,raspberries, strawberries), also the rumors out there is that mashed bananas works as well!
0,5dl of skim milk, almond milk, water. 

Ok, the next part takes a bit of skill. 
Mix the liquid and berries together and mash them slightly with the mixer, then start adding the protein. Keep on mixing it, in a "u shape" way, until the whole thing starts fluffing up to several times it's starting size. This can take about 8-10minutes, so don't stop. 
The whole thing is only around 200calories, and extremly filling. The flavour of the protein powder is up to you, but I have tried with vanilla and peanut butter chocolate, and they are both great. Perfect to have for a big post-workout meal, or as a dessert after dinner =). 

I have no problem downing protein fluff, eggs & veggies, and a big bowl of oats after training! :D

Give it a go!

Morten

Nutrition rules!

People say they are afraid of being changed in to something \ someone else. I think this is really stupid, because I really think that people never change.

Yes, we get older, more experienced, wiser, fatter, leaner, stronger, but our inner nature? I think it is always the same.

So, with all the nutrition “rules” out there, I think they are silly, because they try changing you, which is impossible.

Actually, when writing this, I just finished dinner, and I am now drinking my third Pepsi max, and finishing of a small snickers bar for dessert. I am not going to change this, because the Pepsi max and the piece of treat for dessert is something I really like to have. If I stay away from it for a week, which usually is impossible(!!), I end up in the peanut butter jar with a tablespoon, then a pack of snakes, finishing of with 2-3 chocolates. Any diet or “rule” that force me to quit this habit is going to mean problems, and end in failure. 

To change to a healthier lifestyle, and a way of eating, you need to understand yourself. If you don't, you can never respect yourself, and therefore you are easily influenced by others.. ending up jumping from diet to diet, fail to fail. By others, often meaning “experts” or “trainers” who are excellent in giving out “good” advice, but who actually never do what they tell others to do themselves. How trustworthy is that? 

If a friend keep telling you that this and this is the best thing to do, but he's not doing it himself, would you do it? I see this SO many times, ALWAYS. Personal trainers, or nutritional “experts” giving out advice which seems pretty logical, but they NEVER do it themselves, that's just not right is it?

So anyway, to be successful at weight loss and changing your body, you need to know WHO you are, and WHAT you like, and work around it, this way you need to be self-reliant. 

To start with, you have to recognize what you have to work with, and what works best for you. Also, you have to get your eyes up, and understand that if you actually want to improve, you have to do something. It does not help how much knowledge you have about nutrition, weight loss, and training, or how much you want to start doing what you need to do, or how many times you set yourself the “this is the day” it's going to happened, it doesn't matter, the only thing that counts is actually DOING IT. 

Also, you need to know the food you really can't do without. The “bad” habits that you have, that you don't want to give up! 

I am not willing to give up having some cold beers whenever I feel like it.

I am not willing to give up my huge spoon of peanut butter in my oats

I am not willing to give up eating a lot of sweets one day a week, and having small treats for desserts every now and then. 

So, I just have to work around this then..

I never tell clients what they can and can't eat. Off course, I give simple advice like choosing less calorie-dense food, or filling up on proteins and veggies before pasta,rice, & breads, but I don't make any rules.

What you are going to eat and not is up to you (what, I can eat what I want?!!?). Yes, you can actually  eat WHAT you want and still lose weight, but you can't eat how much you want. How good you are going to feel on a chocolate diet though, that is another question.. This allows you to work with your self-reliance. Rules try forcing you to change in a way you usually don't want to. 

So, wrapping up. Don't think that losing weight means changing yourself, rather try improving how you are, in a way that fits who you are..

Success is easier this way..

Morten

Training early in the morning?

A lot of people do their training really early in the morning, either it's before work, Uni, or just because some of us like getting up early and actually doing something with the day. One of many nutrition "rules" out there is that eating breakfast is something you HAVE to do, and that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you don't have breakfast when you wake up, your metabolism will slow down, you will get fat, and die, everything is just ruined right?!  Well, I am telling you now, our bodies do NOT work like that. If you wake up not feeling hungry, guess what? Your body is telling you, "I am not hungry yet", so why should you eat then?

Anyway, I am working on a long article about debunking some nutrition myths, and it will be posted this week. I just wanted give an example of how a morning workout session without breakfast should take place. When you wake up, take a cup of coffee and tea; write down your program and goals for today's training session. Take either 20g of pure protein isolate or 20g of BCAA, and a pre-workout drink if you have one. You may want to take a small piece of fruit if you are doing a longer session with cardio etc, but it's not really necessary. Go to the gym, and finish of your workout. Since you are training "fasted" or without having eaten, your session should not be much longer than 45min. Maybe you finish your workout at 8, and then have class from 8-10. That's fine. After the workout, take another 20g of protein or BCAA. Maybe you even have one more class, from 10-12, that is also fine. When finally you have time to eat your first meal, let's call this your "post-workout" meal, it should be BIG. This is the time to eat stuff you really like, add a lot of carbohydrates as well. The picture is my post-workout meal today, didn't quite fill me up so had some more fruit after. The point is, you do NOT need to force feed yourself breakfast, or if you are in a rush, just skip breakfast, and have a big meal after training.

Morten

Get busy between the sets!

Martin doing ball throws between sets

Far too many people sit on their ass doing nothing between their sets, why not use the spare time for something more meaningful than reading the paper, looking in the mirror, or watching TV. What you should do between the sets depends on how your program is put together. For example,  if you are doing heavy load deadlifts, you shouldn't be doing anything with much effort between, but you could still put in some flexibility \ mobility drills to make use of the time. Usually, your heavy lifts are, and should be done in the beginning of the workout, so later in the workout when you are doing more assisting exercises, you can put some more effort in the exercises you do between sets. So, let me show you some examples:



 Full body workout example: 
A1: Heavy deadlifts 
A2: Scapular wallslides \ ankle mobilization \ Shoulder rehab \ Spine mobilization
B1: Bulgarian split squats
B2: Clap pushups \ Dumbell pullovers \ Inverted rows \ DB bench press
C1 :Chin ups
C2: Bridge \ Crunches \ Landmines \ Core work..
D1: Face pulls \ Shoulder rotation \ Band pull-apparts
D2: Stretching

Upper body workout example:
A1: Bench press
A2: Pull-ups
B1: Pushups from bench
B2: Seated Rows
C1: Zottman curls
C2: Reversed Flies
D1: Ab-wheel
D2: Chest stretch

A1, A2, etc means.. you do one set of A1, then straight over to one set of A2. Then you do a 2-3minute rest, and do it all over again for prescribed sets and reps. This way you always keep busy, but you do not hit the same muscle groups with the exercises, this way you can give 100% every set. This is different from traditional supersets in the way that people usually superset the same muscle group. Example: Bench press - Triceps . Doing it like that will exhaust your triceps, so you can't give 100% effort in the main lift, which is bench press. Give it a go, you will see great results, ,it will keep your heart rate up, AND you will be doing your workouts in shorter time.

Morten

What The H*#L Are You Doing?

This is the question I keep asking myself at least ten times when going around at gyms. I usually just do my own thing, and never say anything, unless some friends are with me, just listen to my music, train, and get the hell out of there.

But, when I am resting between sets, I can't help looking around in the gym, and just watching what other people are doing, and always, every single time, I see something that makes me wanna ask this question.

Why are people doing squats standing on a stability ball with a barbell on their back, and doing one leg deadlifts on a bosu ball. Whats with the trainers making overweight older people doing jumping split squats, and sprinting on the treadmill. And the Guys who can't do a proper pushup or a proper squat, pushing way too heavy weights in a bench press or in the almost useless smith machine. I am just waiting for the day when a big guy with two dumbells standing on a bosu ball falls over me while I'm doing my stretching on the mats....it's gonna happened. WHAT THE H*#L ARE YOU DOING?!?

The trainers should take their part of the blame, trying to make their clients feel like the workout is worth their money, by coming up with some ridiculous exercises and workouts.

On the other hand, some people feel like they need to show off by doing “strange” workouts with wobble boards, bosu balls, and balancing on stability balls.

Lastly, mostly it is people who just don't know what they are doing, and sadly read a magazine to get workout advice or watch some other equally clueless person in the gym, and then copy what they are doing.

And off course, the people who do these ridiculous things who make me think: “ WHAT THE H*#LL ARE YOU DOING?” are almost never people who I consider being in good shape...

So.. they are doing all this weird crazy stuff, and it's not doing anything to help them get a better looking body... If anything it just make them look more stupid.

Then again, people who I see that have a great physique, they just stick with the BASICS and put the necessary time and effort in to get their body in great shape.

So, the point here is that no fancy piece of equipment or bizarre techniques is going to get you to your dream body any faster than hard work and a well designed workout program. Leave wobble boards, bosu balls, and stupid machine exercises to the people who want to show that they “know” what they are doing...which they don't. Get busy with dumbbells, a bench, barbells and some serious effort and you are going to reach your goals way faster.

So, while some “strange” exercises are useful for people who needs rehabilitation training, example: ankles, shoulders, knees etc, this is not what most people need to do.

I feel like including a short list of exercises you SHOULD be doing, and NOT be doing, if you actually want to get anywhere with your strength program.

Include:

Deadlifts
Squats \ Single leg squats
Bench press
Rows
Chin ups
Shoulder presses
Dumbell bench presses, squats, deadlifts, rows.
Core work: Bridges, woodchops, cable lifts, landmines, walking lunges, roll-outs.

What not to include?

Bicep curl machine
Smith machine
Pec-deck machine
Row machine
Triceps machines
…......................
Pretty much all the machines!!!

Why?

Your body DOES NOT work in locked movement patterns. Machines make your body do movements you usually never do in real life...
Machines poorly train your stabilizing muscles
Machines are not made for your body composition
Machines do not train your body in compound functional movements
Machines are usually busy, but they shouldn't be
Machines usually require you have to sit on your ass


Morten

Power smoothie!

Feeling warm, lazy, and superhungry? Try this power smoothie after your workout or as a lunch! It's quick, and it contains pretty much everything  to get you going again!

Ingredients (long list)
5 large tbsp of low sugar vanilla yogurt
1 scoop (30g) of vanilla\chocolate protein powder
200-300g of frozen blueberries
1 banana
1 tbsp of coconut crunch
1 tbsp cottage cheese
1 tbsp linseeds
1 ts of peanut butter (optinal)
Sweetner & cinnamon

Put everything in blender, then mix in 20-30g of cashew nuts, eat with a spoon!

Check out "Healthy recipes" for more good stuff!

What you should have in your fridge!

I've said it before, and I have to mention it again. Keeping your fridge and house clean of  "bad" foods is the easiest way to stay away from them. So, when you have gotten rid of all the calorie dense, processed, non nutrient foods, what should you fill up your fridge with? This a list of what I usually have in my fridge:





- Big bottle of cold lime\fruit water
- Fresh fruits, fresh and frozen veggies

- Lean meat (chicken breast, eye fillets, turkey, pork, Aldi's 5% fat lean mince)
- Fish \ tuna in spring water
- Low fat cottage cheese
- Low fat, low sugar, low calorie yogurts
- Eggs
- Frozen berries (for smoothies etc)
- Minced garlic, chili & ginger
- Sauces (ex soy, hoy sin, salsa, cranberry, oyster, & apple sauces).
- If needed: Fish oil, calcium, multivitamins.
- Macadamia nut oil
- (Ice cold beer and pepsi max)


Putting this on your shopping list is a step in the right direction for starting a healthier lifestyle. Next article I am working on brings up an important question: Getting in shape, whats more important: exercise or diet?

Recent research say that Exercise in general doesn’t really do much in helping weight loss. Adding cardio type exercise to a weight loss diet doesn’t always increase the weight loss results. Cardio or weight training doesn’t really affect weight loss. It’s essentially always comes back to diet, and calories in vs calories out. Some people may totally disagree in this, and it's a interesting question!

Morten

Massive Chicken Salad!

Coming home from a workout, and need to put together something quick? This salad is super-healthy, full of proteins, and healthy fats!
Eating healthier seems pretty simple if you enjoy eating quick and good tasting dishes like this one. 

Ingredients:
100-200g diced chicken breasts(I used 400g :P)
20 g Cashew nuts, or other nuts
Soy sauce, chili, garlic, cumin, salt & pepper
Low fat cottage cheese
Salad of your choice.

                                                              Directions: 
Cut the chicken and start stir frying it in the pan
Add: 1Tbsp soy sauce, 1ts minced chili & garlic. Spice it up with pepper, salt and cumin. While chicken is cooking, make yourself a good salad, I used
Lettuce, capsicum, tomatoes, red onions. When chicken is cooked, mix the chicken & salad together. Add some nuts and a couple spoons of cottage cheese.

Kcal: 464
Protein: 56,2g
Fett: 23g
Karbs: 7,2g

Favorite Lunch.

Spicy scrambled eggs & veggies 

This is by far my favorite, and most used lunch. I have this almost every day. Sometimes I like to add some fresh tuna, or some good meat from the day before. This dish takes you 5 minutes, is 100% healthy, and fills you up really good.

Ingredients: 

200-300g frozen veggies

1 tbsp soy sauce

1-2 Tomatoes

2-3 eggs

1\2 onion 

Spices (chili,  garlic, pepper, salt, cumin, basil, etc)

Low fat Cottage Cheese                              
   Optional: Tuna, salmon, prawns, chicken.

Directions:

Stir fry the veggies & onions for 2-3minutes until cooked. Add 1tbsp soy sauce.

Add the eggs and all the spices you like, stir for 2 minutes.

Serve on a plate with fresh tomatoes, cottage cheese, and if you are a crazy tuna-can lover like me, get some of that too. The clue here is to fill up your plate as much as possible. This is low calorie food, eat until you drop. 

My dish (About 650g of food)                 vs            "Typical toast lunch (about 350g of food)

3 pieces of toast with: banana, peanut butter & cheese + a glass of orange juice. = around 900calories (!!)

= Around 500 calories (With 100g tuna)

12 week body transformation!

Yesterday at physiqueology I started a 12 week body challenge with four lovely girls'! My job is to assist them through the 12 weeks, helping them with everything from eating plans, training, motivation, meal suggestions, etc.The 12 week challenge consists of two group sessions a week, and one personal training session with me once a week, which makes it a total of 3 sessions. Even though we are going to give it 100% in the gym, the major change has to happen outside the gym. The goal is to improve the girls' eating habits outside the gym. Pushing it hard in the gym will make them in better shape, stronger, fitter, and able to do daily activities much easier, but for weight loss, the nutrition HAS to be good. A good exercise program can NEVER out beat a poor diet.

There is so many out there thinking that a bit of exercise can do miracles without changing their way of eating, well it's not like that. When that is said, people tend to think it's awfully complicated to lose weight, and following all the "rules" out there is not very easy. Well, let me tell you one thing: The point is that anything that can help you stay on track and focused on your weight loss goal is worth doing. If it means having a special coffee or tea twice a day then go for it. If you think you should  rather have a post workout protein shake and it helps you avoid going crazy with the ice cream in the evening then the post workout shake might be critical to your success.

My tip of the day: In the morning, wake up 20min earlier, start your day with a big glass of cold water, deep breaths, and go outside for a short walk to get some fresh air. Then, set yourself 2-3 small goals to do for the day, write it down on a note. This can be something practical that needs to be done, doing some exercise, standing up every 15min if you are a office worker, or try to stay away from sweets, etc. It will feel great when you accomplish the goals, even if they are not too ambitious.

"You’re the only person who knows your weaknesses and barriers when it comes to exercise, weight loss and eating. So once you find a system and ritual that works for you, stick with it."

Lets look at some simple tips that can help you reach your weight goal:


1) The easiest is to eat less calories than you burn. This means less calories than your BMR or your daily energy expenditure. Sadly for most people their BMR accounts for all the daily calories burned. (the other things that can burn calories are purposeful exercise and lifestyle activity)
2) Increase your lifestyle activity level. But this only works if you don’t compensate by eating more calories. This is actually tougher than it seems. Most people who have a busier or more active day just end up eating more and erase any weight loss benefit from being more active.
3) Do more exercise (or start exercising). This is different from lifestyle activity because exercise is usually for shorter periods of time and at higher intensity. Again this only works if you don’t compensate by eating more calories.
4) Take a supplement, or coffee, or green tea, or anything that you think will help you stick to your weight loss program. This is likely more of a placebo effect than anything, but going through the ritual of taking a vitamin supplement or a workout supplement might just make it all seem more real and keep you focused.

"Real weight loss success comes from consistency, and consistency is usually rooted in rituals that make you feel good about the process and that remind you to stay on course."

Challenge: 

Try  to do one exercise ‘thing’ per day for your fitness, and one ‘good nutrition/food’ thing per day

Do you want help with your nutrition, training, or both? I will teach you the SIMPLE way to do it, it just takes 100% commitment from you part.  Contact me at: morten@physiqueology.com.au

Morten

Protein Pancakes!

Made these delicious pancakes today, and they tastes awesome! This is the perfect meal to have after a workout. A good mix of "good" carbs, proteins and fat. Check out the recipe