Vitamin D and Calcium and Fat Loss

Vitamin D and Calcium and Fat Loss: "Vitamin D And Calcium. POTENT Fat Fighters.

By Kevin DiDonato MS, CSCS, CES


Are you fat, tired and unhappy with your appearance?

When you look in the mirror, do you see a protruding belly and NO SIX pack abs?

Have you tried everything from exercise to eating right- all to no avail?

What may be happening is this: you may be lacking essential nutrients in your diet which may INCREASE your fat burning potential.

But more importantly if you find yourself overweight, you may some deadly tissue growing inside your body.

And it may be wrapping itself around your organs"...READ MORE

'via Blog this'

Change = Chaos

I changed jobs recently and I thought being it would be steady days for the 1^st few months I’d have more time to work out and write----wrong!

I’ve had a lot less time to do both, but sadly tried to continue my workouts, which led to overtraining. This of course lead to weakened immune system, burnout, bad sleep patterns, etc. So I’ve backed off the training, somewhat forced due to the flue. As fate would happen I received an email about a book “5-3-1” by Jim Wendler, which was so appropriate for my situation. It is a minimalist approach to making strength gains, doing 4 lifts, squat, deadlift, bench, and press. Of course as I am feeling better I will be making it my own 5-3-1 +KB sport+ fullbody strength conditioning, but this time mindful of overtraining. {There are several options with 5-3-1 program that include fullbody, cross training, etc, in the Ebook version}

So far my rough version of a workout looks like this:

 - 5-3-1

 - (2) 1 minute sets either of Kettlebell Jerks or snatches. I will alternate doing snatches on upper body days, and jerks on lower body days, this right here giving me a fullbody workout.

 - Strength conditioning

The strength condition will vary at first, but I will settle on 4 workouts so I have a way of marking my progress, either timing how long it takes me to complete a workout or density sets, or distance.

I’ll post my final, if it can ever be called final, version of this workout as I fix it up.

Being it is a new year, some of my fitness goals this year to do an obstacle run, signed up for  a Spartan Sprint in June, enter a Kettlebell competition this year, possibly another ½ marathon or 2,even though after my last one I said I was finished. Notice I didn’t say lose weight. I did gain some being sick and want to lose it, but I’ve learned if you do something like the items I mentioned above, the training for them will force you to get in shape and lose weight. It is sometimes [ some will say always]better to do it this way. Find an event and train for it. Buy new clothes and train to make them fit. Always tell supportive people about your plans, someone that will guide you on your journey.

FREE Prograde “Workout” shake drink click here!!

Until next time ….soon…

BTW I am now taking on Health Coaching clients contact me via facebook [and like my pageplease ] for more info for more information

Bored and a bit over trained

Making Changes

I have been following the workout I posted in my last blog, as with anything, I’ve learned I need to make a few adjustments.

One thing I’ll be able to do is back off “some” of my running, my ½ marathon in Savannah is this weekend [11/5/11], so I wont have to run as much. I’ll be running with my brother, Misfit Runner, and his family so it should be fun, I’m also raising money for Cancer  - Team DetermiNation.

What I’m going to do is as follows:

 I will keep the 10 minute EDT block in the beginning followed by the 2 minute cardio divide.

My kettlebell training will change, instead of [not sure if this was listed] doing 5 – one minute sets with one minute breaks then decreasing the breaks until I am at 30 seconds  rest, and raising the weight. I will now raise the work time start with 4 sets at one minute and when I get to 1:40, raising:10 a week, raise the weight and go back to 1 minute. Eventually I will work to 32kg then stay there until 3 set of 2 minutes…then see what happens from there. [This is for both the “jerk” & the ‘snatch”

I will also add 2 sets each of :30/:30 of the next weight that I am working at ex. If I am using 24kg on the 1 minute sets, I’ll use 28kg on the :30, just to get a feel for the weight.

I will then combine GPP [general physical preparedness] & Cardio [ie.Cardio Strength]

An example is what I’ll do today, 30 seconds each of pull-ups, push-ups, swings, and medicine ball triple crush slams, rest 1minute -3-4 times.

What are “medicine ball triple crush slams” you ask.  Hold the ball with a neutral grip “crushing it”, curl it, then press it, then tricep extension, then slam, repeat. I’ll see if I can do a video of it

Until then feel free to ask question

Health coaching and training available – contact me!!!

Now that I am Certified…

I recently earned my IKFF CKT certification, during which I got the Kettlebell Sport Bug. So now I want to add that element into my training without sacrificing other types of working out that I’ve been doing. Granted when I do enter a contest the Sport lifting ratio will increase. In case you do not know what KB Sport consists of it is timed events, either a biathalon which is 10 minutes of Jerks a rest the 10 minutes of Snatches [1 hand change]], or the long cycle which is 10 minutes of clean and jerks. Now during these ten minutes you can rest in the rack or overhead {snatch only in the overhead. of course} position you can not put the bell down or your time is finished. There are different Kettlebell weight requirements, and you are using a competition style bell.
Right now I still have to get the lifts down so I have added them to my workout as follows, note the changes

Each workout will start with 1 of 4 10 minute EDT sessions
1. Turkish Get-up

25lb club & 48kg Bell

2. Deadlift
3. Long Cycle
4. Squat

These will be followed by a 2 minute “Cardio Divide”

Then practice of the Jerk and Snatch
Mondays, I will do ladders [timed] with a lighter bell
Wednesdays, interval – start with 30/30 a heavy bell
Fridays a timed session

On days in which the EDT is the “Long Cycle” I will add an extended pause at the top and rack positions [of jerk & press] to practice “resting”

2 minute “Cardio Divide”

GPP & Cardio [or combined]

What do you think? All suggestions are welcome!

The Best Workout?

The Best Workout…

First I’ll start out by discussing another “slight” change to my previously mentioned workout. Maybe when I finally finish fine tuning it I’ll publish it as an “e-book”. I changed the “Cardio Divide”, sort of; I now mainly do hand to hand kettlebell swings for 2 minutes. Also on days I workout post work [I work 12 hour shifts] my finisher is jumping rope for as long as I am able, this is only 3x a month.

Ok I just finished reading an article on misleading research regarding high intensity interval training [HIIT]. The article was very well researched and written but my reaction to it probably was not the author’s intent. It got me thinking, does it really matter? The main thing for the majority of people is to get up and do SOMETHING. Steady state cardio, HIIT, tabatas, the “As seen on TV” flavor of the week, it doesn’t matter do something. Sure the “shake weight” looks stupid and I wouldn’t buy it, but if it gets one person off the couch doing something, great. Maybe it will become a “Gateway” tool for the person.

For anyone interested there will be an IKFF CKT Level 1Course - Hoboken, NJ - August 20 - 21, 2011 – spots are almost filled act quickly!

Getting Results?

Looking for results?

My last post was about a new program I designed and was doing, I made a few changes to it and have made some excellent results!

The main change I made was the between the “Density” strength training block and the “Circuit/supersets” block I added a 2 minute “cardio divide”  in which I will do some cardio [duh], for example when I workout in my yard or garage I like to jump rope at this time. I find this gets more blood pumping throughout the body for the “circuit/supersets” block.

Also I changed the reps on squats and deadlifts for the “Density” blocks,  I find I am getting better results by doing this. I increased squats to 5 reps and deadlifts to 4.

I may increase all this next time around – bench and presses to 5 reps,  squats to 8, deadlift stay at 4.

The “finishers” have been fun changing everyday, form running intervals to tabatas, to anything I find posted like this today from Josh Henkin of Sandbag fame:

I know the one thing that make this workout or any workout work is journaling your progress, especially in the density block.

Safety note, those who like working outdoors remember it is getting hotter [in the northern hemisphere] so hydrate! Also do not get disappointed if your workouts drop off the 1^st few times your are in the heat, you are working harder when you add the heat factor!

New workout

Ok so it has been a while since my last post…again

No real excuse, been to a few real good seminars with Troy Anderson/Josh Henkin and James Smith [of Diesel]/Steve Maxwell. Both seminars were tremendous, learned a lot and will be sharing the info soon. Right now I just want to post my latest workout. It is sort of a mixed bag as far as what muscle fibers are being hit.

It starts off with strength/power in an EDT  {escalating density training} type format, 10 minutes with a weight you can do 4-6 reps with, but you do 3 reps and get as many as you can do in 10 minutes. If after a while you can not get 3 reps, do not lower the weight, either rest longer or get only 1 or 2 reps. Using a training log is very important here, record the total reps so you know if the next time you hit say dead-lift for example, you what you need to do to improve on last workout. I will stay with a weight until I can get over 21 reps in 10 minutes. This part of the workout is for strength/power.

Next part is circuit/ supersets, 8-12 reps 3 set. I put circuit/ superset because if I go to the gym and can not set up a circuit I know I can at least do superseted format. Going for size pump here and I do the same exercise the following workout as I did in the previous workouts EDT session. Example Bench for chest back to back workouts but different rep range. You can change up the other exercises for body parts and I recommend that you do and use various training objects. {notice no arm exercises – not needed]

Final part is the finishers!

If at the gym I will do a “pace“ style treadmill workout – sprint for @45 seconds, walk/jog until heart rate drops @20% then repeat 4x. In my garage/yard I will mix it up, intervals with various “tools” [sledge hammer, kettlebells, sandbags, etc] Maybe do another EDT type session like my new favorite, which I will have videoed soon, using an 80lb d-ball, picking it up tossing it running to it, burpee then repeat for 10 minutes, pretty good workout! [give that one a try if you can]. Well here is the workout, let me know what you think…..

Apr-June workout

1^st exercise 10 minutes EDT Start with 3 reps with  5-6 rep weight

Day 1

Bench

Circuit or superset

Incline dumbbell press

Dead-lift

High Pulls

Goblet/bear-hug Squat

Day 2

Squat

C or S

RDL

OH Press

DL

Bench

Day 3

OH Press

C or S

Upright Row

Decline Bench/Dip

Squat

DL/Atlas Stone [or finish with stone]

Day 4

Deadlift

C or S

Bent-over row

Inc Flies

Squat

OH Press

Finish each wo with 10 minute finisher or Pace Treadmill

Finisher