I had stupid crazy bounce for 300 lb shooting guard...
For as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to be able to dunk. My infatuation with dunking began when my mom purchased my the Reebok Pumps back in the early 90′s unfortunately these shoes failed to provide me with the vertical lift necessary to take my game above the rim. Neither did the multiple Air Jordan’s I used to collect, talk about a sham. Spike Lee once said “It’s gotta be the shoes!” Well my four eyed brother it aint.
My inability to dunk is frustrating, besides the fact that I’m 5’11″ on a good day and my arms are short and compact, I should be able to dunk since my calves were designed by the Greek god’s themselves. So part of my new year’s resolution was to try and be able to dunk by June 1′st of this year. Part of that is getting down to 200 lbs im at 215 as of this morning, down 10 lbs from January 1st. The second Part is Plyometrics.
Plyometrics is a type of exercise training designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system. The intended goal of this type of training is to improve athletic performance.
In plyometrics a muscle is loaded and contracted in rapid sequence, using the strength, elasticity and innervation of the muscle and surrounding tissues to improve athletic performance. The plyometric workout I have recently started using in my own workouts are designed to increase my jumping ability. I actually tried to plyometrics about a year ago, and the results were impressive. I blocked a kid’s lay-up on the backboard. Probably the highlight of my rec-ball career. Aside from the obvious athletic benefits, Plyometrics have been shown to help reduce injuries in the lower extremeties. After breaking my ankle in 2008, I think I would rather not have sex (not that it matters I’m a virgin) than lose the ability to run and play basketball.
So over the past 3 weeks, Ive changed my leg days to incorporate the flowing
Rapid Lunges- Using a 145 pound barbell I rapidly do lunges alternating my left and right feet.
Calf Raisers-Maximum Load-not sure why I do this. It kind of sucks when I buy my straight leg jeans and my calves bulge out the back
Weighted Box Jumps- using 25 pound parbells I rapidly jump unto a 36″ box and back down, 3 sets of 10.
Power Cleans- The grand-daddy of all dynamic weight lifting. 185 lb power clean 3 reps of 10
HIIT Training- To lower my body feight and get me down to my playing weight.
I havent noticed any particular improvement yet but I know it takes time. Hopefully by June 1′st I can dunk and declare for the NBA draft if this whole accounting and MBA thing dont work out.
In the last blog post I disussed some of the trait of the endomorph somatype and how they should diet and eat. Now I’m going to take it to the other extreme and dicuss the ectomorph body type.
I'd like to ecto into her morph....
The ectomorph is characterized by long and thin muscles and limbs. They typically have low fat storage and are characterized as being slim. In other words these are the douchebag who can eat whatever they want and never worry about gaining weight. Hopefully, there is a special place in hell reserved for thee fools.
As an ectomorph you are naturally slim, but what if you’re not happy with your frame and you want to bulk up and get ripped? Without the proper diet and exercie you would find it very hard to add any significant muscle gain because your metabolism is naturally high and your body type does not pack on muscles
Exercise
Ectomorphs should focus on doing heay lifting and avoid too much cardio. Thirty minute of cardio 3 time a week is sufficient to maintain cardiovascular health. As an ectomorph it is important to focus on weightt training. Your workouts should be fairly heavy in weights and workout pace slower (longer rest periods between sets) a you are trying to build muscle and not definition. Weight training is very important to an extomorph and its recommended that they incorporate strength training into their workout at least 3-4 times a week. It is important to keep your sets low and a pyramid workout scheme is encouraged.
Diet
As ane ectomorph you tend to lose weight fairly easily due to your metabolim, but dont be fooled. You’re still susceptible to chronic diease such as diabete and high blood pressure if you’re diet is piss poor. In order to gain muscle an ectomorph must eat a diet high in calories and full of complex carbohydrate and proteins in order to pack on the lean muscle mass and get ripped. It is important that they get more calories from the proper sources in order to fuel their muscle gain
If you have any questions please feel free to hit me up and I’ll answer your questions or point you in the direction of someone who will…
I was trying really hard to incoporate Battle of the Lap Bands Surgery into the title but I figured it was already cornier than John Kerry catching a football so I omitted. However the message behind the horrible post title is important: I(tim of jimgetsslim.com fame) will be competing against my friend Jamie(a fellow former fatty AND a girl, omg omg omg) in a healthy weight loss competition(no laxatives allowed).
If Jared from Subway had boobs
Realizing that we both wanna lose a little bit of extra weight and seeking some external motivation other than our fear of being ugly and alone forever, we have decided to challenge eachother to see who can hit their weight loss goal first. Jamie currently weighs 150(skeptical as to whether or not she actually has girl parts because she was pretty forthcoming with her true weight) and is looking to get down to 125. I currently weigh 210(in my reebok pumps) and want to get down to my old (video game)playing weight of 185 so that I can finally have a sixpack ontop of my stretch marks. We have set August 1st as a deadline for the contest so if neither of us are able to hit our goal by, whoever has lost the most weight will be the winner(jk, we will both be losers).
Cocoa Butter ASAP
I know everyone is going to want to follow our competition by the minute so I will try to post updates here and on our twitter along the way(“quit my job to workout 3 extra hours today”, “ate some carbs but threw them up 2hrs later”, “should i cut off my dick to lose an extra .09lbs?” etc..). Here’s to healthy competition and horrible writing!
Bravo to Boston for taking a simple yet quite effective step in trying to make it’s inhabitants healthier. Soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages account for up to 10 percent of total calories consumed in the U.S. diet, and are known to be major contributors to obesity. In fact, it is estimated that if someone is a regular soda drinker they can lose upto 30 pounds just by cutting out coke(coca cola) from their diet.
Coke makes Santa Claus fat
This article led me to think about what kind of snacks/drinks are found in vending machines at gyms across America. Why does my gym offer regular sprite in their vending machine next bottled water and gatorade? Why do they sell candy bars at my gym next to protein bars(never mind that most protein bars are actually candy bars… no wonder bar that tastes just like a snickers, its because its probably worse for you than the real thing).
The worst offender in this category I’ve ever seen is a Planet Fitness in Maryland that has a pizza night at their gym every month. I guess its a decent way to keep people coming back, not only for the free meatlovers and 2 liters of coke they serve but also because their members are going to stay morbidly obese because the last time I checked, eating a slice while on the treadmill is counter productive(in addition to being as sad as schlinders list).
"Just finish 45mins on the elliptical? Have a Sprite -- b/c diabetes is nothing, thirst is everything!"
Here’s hoping that more places(especially freaking gyms) follow Boston’s lead and start getting rid of these 12 oz containers of empty calories from our vending machines and then maybe America will stop being the fattest country in the world and let Australia take our title from us(apparently kangaroo and koala bears are not lean protein).
Often times when people think about exercise the first things that come to mind are more rigorous activities: running, jogging, biking, lifting weights, etc. What we often fail to realize is that something as simple as walking can be all the exercise we need to jump start our way to weightloss and wellness!
Walking is also great for a first date... even if youre old and she's a hooker!
I’m sure sure some of you may have heard the age old saying that walking a mile and running a mile are equally beneficial to your fitness.While it may sound as crazy as some of the stuff Charlie Sheen has been saying recently(no, tiger blood isnt good for you), it is actually very true. This holds true because the amount of calories you burn relies more on the distance you move not so much the speed youre working out — of course, it’s going to take you alot longer to walk 3 miles as opposed to running 3 miles so keep that in mind. So for those of you who may not be able to run or jog(be it due to injury, level of fitness, you hate getting sweaty etc…) then walking is a sound exercise alternative.
Here are some more tips to consider when starting a walking program:
The average person will burn about 100 calories per mile walked. This number will increase or decrease based upon other factors such as the incline of your walking route and your own weight.
If youre using a pedometer to measure calories burned it is about 10,000 steps per pound of bodyweight burned. Doing simple things like parking further away from your destination or taking the stairs instead of the elevator can help you reach this daily step goal.
Walking is a great activity for those who have any orthopedic problems(knee or back pain for example) as unlike jogging it is a low impact exercise causing less stress on your joints. In fact, studies have even shown that walking daily for 20-30minutes can reduce the symptoms of osteoarthiritis by increasing the production of synovial fluid(your body’s own WD-40) in the effected joint structures.
It is important to wear the appropriate footwear when walking — while you may look good in a pair of UGGs, wearing something other than tennis shoes or sneakers can actually negatively affect your gait causing you to fatigue faster and increasing the potential for injury.
As is the case with any workout it is important to stretch the bodyparts you exercised afterwards. With walking, you want to stretch your calves, hamstrings, and quadriceps in the very least. Check out this link for some good stretches
Now regardless of your physical condition or level of fitness you have no excuse for not having a suitable form of exercise that is easy to do and effective at the same time!
Meal 1. Oatmeal
Meal 2. Salad and Chicken Breast
Meal 3. Salad and Chicken breast
Meal 4. Hershey Kisses and mini resees cups. (its busy season)
Meal 5. Carrots with hummus and peanut butter.
It’s about that time of the year when people turn into gym owner’s most favorite customers — the ones who signed up for an entire year but stop going about 2 months into their new years resolution. Have you fallen into that category? Have you taken the G out of GTL? Is your treadmill back to being your secondary closet with all of your wolf t-shirts and designer jeans hanging from it?
If so, maybe you just need to realize what youre missing out from exercise as the benefits of physical activity are hard to ignore. Here are some of the most important improvements in your life that can come about from adopting a simple workout routine:
Improve Your Energy Level – Physical activity delivers oxygen and nutrients to the tissues throughout your body. In fact, regular exercise helps improve your entire cardiovascular system( the circulation of blood through your heart and blood vessels ) work more efficiently. When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you’ll have more energy to do the things you enjoy… like working hard right until 5pm!
Sleep Better – If you struggle to fall asleep at night did you know that exercise can help regulate your sleeping patterns? Regular physical activity will help you fall asleep faster as well as improve the quality of your sleep. Keep in mind though that if you exercise too late in the night, you may be too energized(see #1) to fall asleep when you’ like. Exercising earlier in the day, like going for a walk on your lunch break, will help you fall asleep earlier in the night.
Feel Better – We all go through bouts of depression and anxiety from time to time. Physical activity stimulates the chemicals in the brain that make you feel happier and more relaxed than you did before you worked out. This is in addition to the fact that working out will help you look an d feel better which in turn will help boost your confidence and self esteem!
Look Better – Everyone knows that in order to lose weight you have to diet but you also have to get off the couch to burn some extra calories. Even making simple changes like parking father away from your destination or taking the steps instead of the elevator add up and go a long way in the battle for the bulge!
There is a lot of misinformation on what you need to do to lose weight. However, the key ingredient to losing weight is burning more calories than you consume. Thats all there is to it. Your body normally burns calories just through everyday activities. When you exercise you are burning more calories and with a healthy diet you can create a caloric deficit. But how do you know how many calories you are consuming daily? Many restaurants now offer nutritional information that tells you how many calories are in the food they serve. However, what about foods where the nutritional information is not readily available? Thanks to technology there is now a remedy for that.
If you have a smartphone the ability to keep track of your calories is in the palm of your hand . With calorie counting applications you can measure how many calories you are consuming and determine how best to modify your diet to reach your fitness goals. Here are a few of the more popular ones by platform.
IPhone
LoseIt!- This application allows you to count calories of what you eat and what you burn. It additionally can send reminders and even create calorie budget plans
Calorie Tracker - This is a free app from LIVESTRONG.com. It allows users to up and track daily caloric, fat, carbohydrate, and protein intake. Did I mention its free?
Blackberry
Calorie Counter – This is a free application from FatSecret. The program allows you to find nutritional info for the food you eat and to keep track of your meals, exercise and weight. Additionally it stores your info online so you can access it from anywhere.
Calorie Facts Nutrition Diary -This is a simple but powerful tool that allows you to search for complete nutritional data for over 5000 different types of foods and drinks. You can also add customized foods created by you and figure out how many calories you are consuming daily.
Android
Calorie Counter-This is another free app but based on its features it may be the best of the bunch. The app comes with a bar code scanner feature that displays the nutritional info of the food. Additionally it also has a food diary feature that allows you to document what you eat by the type of meal. It also t keeps track of calories burned through various activities like sleeping, walking, swimming, etc. This app is also done by FatSecret and has online capabilities as well.
Calorie Counter Pro -This app by MyNetDiary seems to have the highest reviews online but its not free. However, for $2.99 its affordable. This app allows you to do food time tracking, personalized charts to show nutrient and measurement . The Food Score feature allows you to see which foods are healthier when you can’t decide. It also has a database of over 100,000 foods and is supported by an online community with a registered dietitian.
With summer in the rear view mirror and fall before us, the time of the year has come where people tend to settle down and become paired up for the cold months ahead. Many of us spent the summer getting in great shape and flaunting our goods by wearing as little as possibly during the sweltering summer months. However, the weather is changing and that Hunky Harry you met at the beach has some nice qualities and you can see yourself settling down. Or maybe you’re a guy and Tight Tammy or Busty Brenda has other qualities besides a bodacious bod and you get the crazy notion she might be the “One”.
Unfortunately Working Out Together Didn't Change the Fact that Kim is Unwifable... Ray-J Really?
That’s all fine and dandy but be careful you don’t want your stud to turn into a spud, or your hottie to turn into a hog. Its like buying a Porsche, and watching it morph into a U-Haul Truck. People have a way of letting themselves go during the winter months and when they’re in a relationship. The colder temperatures and holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas allow for some people to put on winter weight. Additionally without the incentive to stay in shape to attract potential lovers many people let themselves go. Its key that you avoid this trap and maintain your fitness throughout the winter months and in your relationship. Here are some things that you can do to make sure you and your lover don’t start to look like a double pack of twinkies.
Gym Night- I have long been a believer in using exercise as a way to meet the opposite sex (or same sex if thats your preference) and even as a great first date idea. It’s cheap and you can learn a lot more about a person by working out with them than an overpriced dinner. If you’re already in a relationship you can schedule an exercise night instead of a movie night.
Dinner Night- Instead of going out to eat, stay in and cook a healthy meal together, its fun and healthy. The couple that cooks together looks good together.
Boxing Class- Taking a boxing class together is a great way for both people to let out a little frustration. Sometimes you can’t really communicate what you want to say. A quick left hook may just get your point across, at the same time you’re building up stamina and staying fit
Train for a Marathon,Triathlon- There is no better way to train than to have somebody you care about pushing you along the way. Having two people with a common goal can make this difficult task seem easier and the results are well worth it.
Diet Keeper- Another thing couples can do is keep track of their daily diets and exchange notes at the end of the day. The partner who cheats on his diet is required to do the other person a favor. This activity helps build trusts and keeps both of you committed to a common goal: Staying in Shape
Why walk by the beach when you can jog by the beach?
Here is a couples workout from Scott Herman Fitness.
