Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

“If the upper is broken, work the lower.”

“If the lower is broken, work the upper.”

“If both are broken, work the middle.”

These words from Tony Horton ring out in my head everyday right now.  I remember being in Dallas in September of 2010 with him at a Beachbody event and hearing him state this.

And yet I SUCK at this.

To be honest, not being able to do what I want to do bums me out.  Not quite a clinical depression, but close enough to cause me to lose motivation.  All I want to do is push-ups and pull-ups, darn it!  But, with one surgery in the books (and in the middle of Physical Therapy to get it back up and going) and another one to come soon, I realize that upper body work is not going to be my friend.  For a while.  Possibly a LONG while….

I’ve had to remind myself of Tony’s words.

“Work the lower, Brent….work the lower!”  So I have been this week.  I have a pretty good routine setup, and now I just have to follow it.

Sundays is cardio.  Monday is legs.  Tuesday is cardio.  Wednesday will be a rest/stretch day.  Thursday will be tabatas on the bike.  Friday is is cardio.  Lot of cardio in there, but with the limited nature of how I can do resistance with the legs, I’m on machine weights only.  Don’t want to overdo it on the legs.

And I’ve been reintroduced to my old friend DOMS.  DOMS delayed his visit longer than normal on legs workouts, showing up more than 24 hours after I completed.  I have not done leg curls in years.  My muscles are reminding me of that right now.

I’m a realist and know that this work will pay off, but I must follow good dietary measures first.  Paleo has been good to me, minus the intense headaches so far.  5 days of VLC, and now transitioning into a period of slightly larger carb intakes.  I will still take a cheat meal once a week as long as I’ve held to 80/20 or better on my nutrition.  So far this week I’m hitting around 90/10 or better.

Today I reintroduced Shakeology.  I needed that stuff.  Over the next 2 weeks I’ll keep using it to see how it detoxifies the system while maintaining a relatively clean diet.

In the meantime, I’m going to keep working the lower and looking forward to getting surgery #2 scheduled, over with, and begin rehab on it.

Brent Fitness Tips, Nutrition And Diet, Primal/Paleo Eating, Shakeology, Shoulder Surgery exercise, exercise after surgery, fitness, fitness when injured, shoulder surgery, slap tear repair

My blogging has been, well, lacking.  And there’s a good reason.

I have not done much of anything lately.

If you’ve followed my blog, you know I have had chronic inflammation in the shoulders for a while.  After 12 months of physical therapy, it was time to take further action.  I’ve been seeing a shoulder specialist and plan to have surgery in 3 weeks.

Honestly, this decision scares me a bit.  It’s common on the internet to read the bad and ugly, and that’s all I’ve seen.  I’m not saying I have not seen success stories, but the positive reviews said it took months (4-5) for a shoulder to completely recover after the type of surgery I’m having.  My therapist seems to think 3-4 weeks with as much work as we’ve done, but the uncertainty is not comforting.

My PT and I have been working on a few things to help, though, and thus I consider this phase 1.  The biggest thing we’ve worked on is endurance of the shoulder.   Simple high reps, low weight exercises to build up the muscles ability to thrive under long periods of stress.  I will be increasing the amount of work I do at home with this over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, I’ve limited other upper body work.  My wife and I have done a bit with RevAbs and I will continue to do some of those workout until time for the surgery.  I’ve also bee doing Couch To 5k (C25k) and am just about to complete that program.  I’m not a fan of running, although I’ll say that I am enjoying it more now (mainly because I am outdoors doing something).

Diet has been bad, but in the days heading into the surgery and post surgery I plan to move to a highly anti-inflammatory diet.  I’m hoping this will help swelling and inflammation as well as promote recovery and tissue repair.  I am trying to do some research on Shakeology to see how to be utilize it to promote healing while decreasing inflammation.

So starts road to recovery continues, but with a new, most likely more painful chapter.

My goal coming out of having both shoulders worked on:  Ultimate Reset and then Body Beast:  Cleanse the body, then build the muscles.  After that?  P90X2 and/or Crossfit.

Brent Fitness Tips

Let’s face it:  We all need to exercise.  My dad and I were talking the other day about a new “study” that came out that linked NOT exercising to an increase risk of cancer.  While I never really buy into these studies, it does bring up a great question:

What can I expect from eating clean and regular exercise?

Let’s take weight loss/fat loss out of the equation.  We all know these are the biggest reasons why people start a diet and begin to exercise.  I don’t want to discount weight/fat loss (everyone who reads this blog knows my story or can read more about it), but there are more benefits to it than just getting skinny.

I’m going to outline benefits I’ve noticed as well as others I’ve read about:

1.  More Energy

This one is the most obvious to me.  I work an office job.  I sit in front of a computer every day.  It is easy to want to eat junk, but when I did, I felt tired, lethargic, not as sharp, etc.  But when I’m really focused on nutrition and regular exercise (like my Insanity + Shakeology routine I’m on now), I feel steady energy all day.  I never feel like I’m crashing.  I can focus better.

Outside of work, I have more energy to play with my kids and do things with them.  I can exercise more than once a day a few extra times a week, burn some more calories, and not feel out of it.

2.  Better Sleep

True story:  During the fall, I get on a sugar kick.  Usually the sugar kick starts around 8:30-9pm at night and last until I go to bed.  When I do this, my stomach does not feel as good and I do not sleep as well.  During this past fall, due to the shoulder issue being a bit of a bummer, I quit exercising outside of physical therapy.  And I didn’t rest as well, had a hard time wanting to wake up each morning, etc.

Just a few days into what I’m doing now and I’m resting better than ever before.  I’m going to sleep faster, waking up refreshed, even if I only get 6-7 hours of sleep.  And getting better sleep leads back to my first point:  More energy!

3.  Improved Self-Confidence and Image

I’m proving to myself that I CAN do something with I eat clean and exercise daily.  I show myself that I can focus, be consistent, and accomplish goals.  Combining that with the fat loss (that yes, after one week, I can notice a bit of), makes me feel better about myself.

4.  Less Irritable

I’m a lot nicer person to be around after an Insanity workout.  Just ask my wife.

5.  Increased Libido

I’m neither going to confirm/deny this (I don’t “kiss and tell”), but I get emails from Men’s Health magazine and have read some various diet books that boast this.  And it make sense.  For a male, eating certain foods and exercising seems to give a boost in natural testosterone.  And it produces sweat, which they say is a pheromone.  And pheromones seems to turn women on.  Or something like that…

For women, there’s actually been ladies reporting climaxing while exercising!  If that isn’t libido increasing I do not know what is!  Along with that, though, having better self image (#3) and a less irritable husband (#4) seem to help this happen a lot…umm…..easier (that’s a good word for it).

Don’t believe me?  Google it.

6.  Stronger Bones

I’ll admit I don’t know the science behind this, but it has been reported that strength and resistance works actually helps with bone density.  My mom is living proof of this:  Combined with some calcium treatments, she has moved her bone density away from a dangerously low level by lifting weights.

7.  Better Health/Quality of Life

This is probably the most important, although many people simply overlook it.

Sure, do all of the above, but the best thing is what happens on the inside.  The better you eat, and the more you keep toxic foods and fat off and out of your body, the better your health is.  Eating foods that prevent chronic inflammation and producing mild exercise-induced inflammation is good for you.  People can move away from being diabetic by doing these things.  They can reduce their chances of stroke and heart attack.  They can reduce their cancer risks and other things simply by eating clean and working out.

So from these reasons, which ones do you want to have happen to you?  To your spouse?  Let’s discuss this in the comments section!

Brent Fitness Tips, Nutrition And Diet diet, exercise, health, insanity, libido, nutrition, Shakeology, sleep

I’m just three days into my Insanity + Paleo + Shakeology 8 week plan.  Man, I feel AMAZING!  Who knew that eating 100% clean and paleo, drinking my shake, and exercising would provide this much energy.

First, my routine:  I wake up, take some Beachbody Energy and Endurance, and wait 15-20 minutes, and then get my butt kicked by Insanity.

Then after I shower (and continue to sweat for a while), fix my breakfast (2-3 eggs scrambled in coconut oil, Shakeology with coconut milk and almond butter), put together my lunch, go to work, eat lunch, eat an afternoon snack, come home (or to PT then home), and then eat supper.

My proteins have been over 100g (tonight was close to 130g), my carbs have been around 100g, and fats have been around 100g.  All of these are within the ranges I’m aiming for.

Here’s what I’ve noticed:

1.  No crashes.  I have sustained energy throughout the day.

2.  Cravings are decreasing.

3.  I wake up energized.

Over the next few days, I’m expecting to have better sleep.  Some things take some time to adjust, especially coming off of a sinus infection.  I’m aiming for 7-8 hours a night and have been successful in hitting that.  I just feel incredible!

Who knew that eating well and exercising could do this?

Brent Fitness Tips, Nutrition And Diet energy, exercise, nutrition, paleo

I have not written much recently, and with good reason:  I cannot seem to completely shake a sickness!

A week ago I woke up running a high fever (well, high for me) and went almost a full day without eating anything.  Once the fever was gone, I was fine, but eating for the next couple of days was limited.  As soon as I finally start getting my energy back, I hit a sinus/allergy issue that is zapping me again!

Ugg!

So today, a plyometrics session did not happen.

Which made me start to think:  Hey, this would be a great blog topic to revisit.  What do you do when you are sick?

Here are my thoughts and opinions.

First, no, you should not exercise.  Two things cure sickness naturally:  Rest and fluids.  If you are taxing your body through exercise, it spends its resources recovering from the workout and not treating whatever ails you.  It is okay if you miss a few days of exercise.  You’re not going to gain back massive weight, get completely out of shape, etc, if you do not press play, hit the gym, hit the road, or whatever it is you choose to do.  Take enough time to get over it completely.

Once you think you’re over it, assess your energy.  Usually, when I get sick, for a day or two after (or longer, depending on how long I was sick) you’ll still be sluggish.  There’s no shame in scaling back a workout at this point.  You’re body is still recovering.

If you have not eating much when you were sick, this is not a free pass to eat whatever to “gain energy back.”  At least, that is the excuse I often use.  Sometimes when I’m weak, I don’t care what I eat, as long as I eat.  But this can be counter productive to recovery.  And yes, I’m pointing all my fingers at myself right now!

Eat nutritious foods.  More fruits and veggies are good.  Shakeology is better.  Eat something that will give your body the nutrients, not just a lot of calories.  Yes, calories ARE important here, but eat foods that will give you the most bang for your buck.

I’m sure others have great tips too.  What do you do to recover from sickness?

Brent Fitness Tips, Nutrition And Diet exercise, illness, recovery, sickess

I’ll be real with you:  Life is busy.  I have a demanding job where sometimes I’m working late into the night.  At times, the job is stressful.  The late hours, things going wrong, having to react at a moments notice, all of these things raise the stress levels (which releases a hormone called cortisol, which is not good.  I’ll explain later).

Along with that, I have my family:  Three young girls who really love spending time with their daddy.  I’m glad they do, and realize when they are older it may not be that way, but it takes time to spend time with them.

With all of this, how do I find time for my fitness, and how can this help you?

First, realize that you have to make time for you.  You need to find time to sleep, and you need to find time to take care of your body.  For me, this takes some discipline.  I’m a big believer of exercising when it fits your schedule.  I never know how long I’m going to work one day to the next.  I never know if I’ll have to log in at night.  The only thing I do know is that first thing in the morning I have time to myself, so that is when I exercise.  I generally wake up between 5am and 5:30am to exercise, get ready for work, prep my lunch, eat breakfast, and get out the door.

At night, since I’m waking up early, I try to make it a point to be in bed around 10pm.  Now, I’m not always successful, and that is not good either (lack of sleep also fights your body’s ability to lose fat).  I am for 7-7.5 hours of sleep a night.  My goal is to eventually push this to 8 hours, but that requires even more discipline in some areas for me, such as prepping my lunch the next day ahead of time, or even better breakfast planning

Doing this allows me to work, come home, spend time with the family, cook my supper, help get my kids to bed, and then focus on the other things I do each night.

Along with that, unless work has me tied up, I choose to spend Friday night with my wife.  It’s the one night a week where we unplug and I actually watch some television.  This is our “husband and wife” time, which I believe is very important to our marriage and my stress levels.

What are you doing to balance out life, work, family, etc?  We can all learn from each other here.

Brent Fitness Tips fitness, life balance, sleep, work

I’m ranting a bit here, so hang with me…

Believe it or not, there are some people that get frustrated hearing me talk about fitness, nutrition, etc, or reading my blog or Facebook statuses about it.  They don’t like the talk about exercise.  They think it’s “obsessive.”

And they are probably some of the ones who need it the most!

Listen, I’ll be honest:  If I had to choose between exercise and not exercise and still get to where I want to go, I’d choose no exercise.  It takes time.  It takes sweat.  It’s not always easy.  It’s hard waking up at 5:15 or 5:30 or earlier every morning to make sure I do what I need to do.  And it’s even harder when I’m injured or slightly sick and having to modify or work through things.

Do you think I want to give up things that taste awesome?  I MISS CHEESECAKE!

I love all of that stuff.  I love sleeping until just enough time to get ready for work, getting my job done, and then sitting on my butt watching TV snacking.  I love all of that.

But….I hate how I feel.  I hate looking fat and bloated.  I hate feeling like I’m not building any strength.  I hate not having the same level of energy I have when I exercise.  I hate feeling less accomplished.

More than that, I hate the horrible example I set for my kids if I do not take care of myself.

You see, talking about exercise is more than just me trying to run my Beachbody business.  It is something I’m ingraining in myself.  It’s something that I constantly have to motivate myself to do, and being accountable and talking about it online is just one way of going about it.  I know by doing this, I’ll do the work.  I’ll set the example.  My kids will learn good eating habits, the importance of exercise, etc.

They won’t grow up lazy and obese.  They’ll want to play.  They’ll want to be active.  Why?  Because they see their mom and dad being active.

I’m sorry I want to be around a long time for my kids.  I want to be there to walk all three of my girls down the alter.  I want to avoid type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and all the other nasty stuff that comes with being overweight and obese.

Sure, I want to look good, but this goes way beyond that.

So I don’t apologize for my lifestyle, or talking about it online.  If you don’t like it, feel free to not follow my statuses.  But do me one favor first:  Put on a bathing suit and look at yourself in the mirror.  Go ahead….do it.  Do you like what you see?  Do you want to change?  I’m not saying you have to be a muscled out male model, or a Victoria Secret Angel….but do you REALLY like what you see?

You see, I didn’t.  I still don’t.  I want to look better.  But more than the aesthetics, I know that living this lifestyle is something I need to do for my family as much as it is for me.

No, I don’t apologize for my lifestyle, or posting it.  Why?  Because if keeping me accountable helps just one person change their life, then I’ve done my job.  If doing this keeps my kids healthy, then I’ve done my job.

What example are you setting for your kids?

So no, I don’t apologize.  Don’t like it?  Don’t read it.  But don’t complain about the way you look and feel, either.

Brent Fitness Tips, Nutrition And Diet exercise motivation, nutrition, workout motivation

So I’m at a crossroad with my P90X routine.

This week is a recovery week, which means lots of Yoga, Core Syngerstics, a day of stretching, etc.  And, at the same time, I’m fighting a bicep tendon issue in my left arm as well as shoulders still not being 100%.  So I had a choice to make:

Do I do the P90X recovery week as prescribed, or do I rest/rehab this week?

I chose rest and rehab.  Those routines will always be there for me to do.  But my shoulders and biceps need rest.  They need a chance to not be strained for a bit and get the therapy a chance to kick back in.  So, for 2 weeks (not 1), I’m concentrating on PT three days a week, a day of extra cardio, a day where I will stretch, and then not much else.  I want to focus on recovery.  I want to feel better.  And I’ll watch my calories and primal eating that much more closely these two weeks.

I still plan on measuring this week and will probably choose to measure next week as well.

The point of this post?  This is a “listen to your body” moment.  I could have pushed through, and I could have hurt myself.  Instead, I’m taking it easy for 2 weeks, re-evaluate then, and make the right decision.

Brent Fitness Tips, Fitness VIdeos

Being one month into P90X and having dealt with shoulder issues this entire time, I feel like I can comment a bit about what causes shoulder issues with the program and modifications that have worked for me during this rehab period.

First, let me stress that you should always listen to your doctor or physical therapist.  They know best.  If you want to continue to train with P90X, ask them about it first, and then follow any modifications they may have.

Here is what I have discovered is best:

Push-ups:  Doing these from plank is okay if you can do them pain free.  But, if you are having shoulder issues, you probably are not pain free doing these.  Here’s my suggestion:  Do them from your knees.  Focus on form.  Bring your shoulder blades together, keep your body tight and straight, and only go through a pain free range of motion.

As you get stronger, incorporate medicine balls and do not go as deep.  Instead, focus on form and keeping stable.

Pull-ups:  If shoulders are bothering you, do the pull-ups to a 90 degree angle with the upper and lower arm, but never go past that until released from your doctor or therapist.  Make sure to use an assist too.  I personally use the pull-up assist Beachbody sells and it works great for this.

Bicep Curls:  You wouldn’t think that bicep work could cause shoulder issues, but if you are dealing with impingement in the front of the shoulder you may notice that bicep work causes inflammation, tenderness in the upper arm and up by the collar bone (just below it, near the shoulder actually).  You can still do curls, but you may want to lighten your load.

Triceps:  Do these through a pain free range of motion, and may want to consider less weight.

Shoulders: Overhead/Military Presses/Deep Swimmers Press – Be careful here!  If you are impinging, these will not feel good.  Talk to your doctor/therapist before attempting these.

Upright Rows – Usually pretty safe if you are in a strengthening phase of rehab.  Again, focus on pain free range of motion.

Shoulder Flys – Pain free range of motion only.  When doing straight arm shoulder flys do not go directly out to your side.  Instead bring the weights in a bit.  It puts less stress on the shoulder, will cause less injury, but still works the same muscle groups.

Back work (Lawnmowers, back flys, etc):  I have not had too much discomfort with these.  My therapist did like the idea of me working these muscle groups.  If you can do these without pain, do it.

More than anything (and read this in your best Tony Horton-esque voice):  Modify, modify, modify if you need to!  Listen to your body and do the right thing.

Brent Fitness Tips, P90X P90X, p90x impingement, p90x physical therapy, shoulder pain

Over the last week I’ve had the chance to try out Beachbody’s new Energy And Endurance pre-workout supplement.

I was not sure what to expect with this.  The only pre-workout anythings I’ve ever taken before were a banana (or some fat/carb/protein mix of food) and some pills made by Body Fortress that were to boost nitrous oxide for your workout.

So taking a drinkable pre-workout supplement was something new to me.

I’ve heard a lot of people using things like Jackd3, NOXplode, and similar type drinks, but have always been a bit leary of putting stuff like that into my body for several reasons:

1.  How would I feel while it was working through me:  Jittery, nauseated, wired, etc.

2.  How would I feel after it wore off (i.e. would I crash).

3.  Would I like the taste?

4.  Cost

I know a lot of people take BCAA’s either before or after a workout and that seems to work for them.  So when this came out, I knew I wanted to try it being all natural and good for you, but just a bit…nervous to try it.

So here’s my experience with it:

First day I used it was a Legs and Back day.  I did not feel jittery.  I did not feel all jacked up on Mountain Dew either.  I did feel a bit more awake (which is good for early morning workouts) but did not feel like I was going to bounce off the walls either.  During the workout I never felt depleted.  Again, this is something good for someone working through a Primal style ketogenic diet.  More than anything, I felt good after the workout.  I got extra reps in.  I got to push harder.

And yes, I felt it the next day!

Second time was Kenpo.  I cut the serving in half (one scoop instead of two) and it worked well.  In fact, I was able to skip all the breaks in this one and just workout straight through the routine.

Next was a Chest and Back day.  Again, felt energized.  I had more energy, could push harder (maybe not a good idea with my bicep tendon inflamed, but that’s a different story), more reps, etc.  Did not feel wiped out after the workout.

Plyo Day.  Here is where I thought it would get it’s real test.  The amount of energy I had sustained throughout this workout was amazing!  Even better is my heart rate stayed in controlled ranges the entire time.  I ended up burning just shy of 700 calories skipping the bonus round.  And I felt good after the workout.

Today, final day before this review, was Shoulders and Arms.  Same thing:  Great energy, good endurance (even after waking up earlier, getting to bed slightly later, etc).

The taste?  It’s not the best, but its not bad.  It comes in a Lemon Lime flavor.  It taste a bit tart and has that slight stevia aftertaste, but it manageable for me.  I usually just chug it anyways!

The most amazing thing is no crash.  No jitters.  Just sustained energy.

20 calories, 5g carbs with 4 of it being sugar.  Nothing too alarming there.

So there you have it.  I definitely suggest it as a pre-workout supplement to try.  It is affordable and it works!  I cannot wait until I can fully do P90X and give it a whirl…can you say soreness city?!

Brent Fitness Tips beachbody, energy and endurance, P90X, pre-workout supplement