Archive for Fitness
Exercise Training: Goat Milk?
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I have heard the saying, “don’t say what you won’t do”. Have you ever heard it? I have some well defined boundaries about things I won’t eat or drink. I am sure there are things you just won’t eat or drink as well. For example, when I was a kid I had a tough time eating liver and when my grandmother would make it, guess who would run and hide? She told me many times how good it was for me, but I really didn’t care to hear it especially at the age of 10. I did have a cousin who loved liver and I would sit and gag as I watched him pour ketchup on it and eat it like it was his last meal before the electric chair. I have fallen in and out of love with different foods and drinks on my journey from a boy to a man. I still have my list of things I will absolutely not touch, but I have learned to open up to new and difference experiences as I have matured. Why am I telling you this? Stay with me… there is a method to my madness. I happen to have picked up an ebook from a fitness guru who happens to be a little off the cuff. What do I mean by that? This guys doesn’t follow the mainstream when it comes to fitness and he has some definite ideas about what people should be eating and drinking to rid their bodies of fat. I am half way through the book right now and I can tell you my ideas about eating were flipped upside down and turned inside out. It was like I was Neo from the Matrix trilogies and Morpheus was asking me if I wanted to take the red or green pill. You ever felt like that?
I wrote a blog post sometime ago on milk. Do you remember it? If not you can go HERE . Two Fox News Reporters wanted to expose the milk industry for the unfit milk they were producing and selling for human consumption. The reporters were later fired because they were tampering with corporate america’s cash and that just can’t happen… corporate america controls everything and they care little about what is healthy for you. I’ll say it again, its all about profit. Ok… let me slide down off my soapbox and give you the real “diggy” about the post and why I am talking about milk! At the urging of the fitness guru I told you about earlier, I finally tried goat milk and I absolutely loved it! Hmmm… you might be saying goat milk, yuck! Well doesn’t your other milk come from a cow? I know we are “conditioned” to love cow’s milk but here are some bet you didn’t “knows” about goat milk:
- Goat’s milk closely resembles mother’s milk in human beings
- It can be digested in 20 minutes while it takes 2-3 hours for cow’s milk
- It contains trace elements, enzymes, and electrolyte
- It alkalinizes the digestive system
These are just some of the benefits of consuming goat’s milk. The main benefit for me was not gettting bloated and having gas like I do when I drink cow’s milk! If you have access to goat’s milk, open yourself up and try it… you’ll like it.
Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist
Exercise Training: Is Walking Enough?
Posted by: | CommentsI live in paradise. South Florida is warm almost all year round and its a great place to live if you are health conscious like I am. One of the things I notice in my neighborhood every morning before I head to work are people walking. I see them walking along the street, walking in the parks, walking everywhere. Get the picture? I had a thought the other day and I wanted to share it with you. Is walking enough? What do you think?
The body can adapt to exercise very quickly. You have to vary the stimulus on your body over time to see results. If you are walking at the same pace every day, chances are you aren’t varying the stimulus enough to see greater results. I see most “walkers” going the same pace all the time and over a period of weeks they still look the same. There is no fat loss and there is no overall improvement in cardiovascular health. Walking at the same pace every day is just “maintenance” at best, but at least it is exercise. If you want to vary the stimulus on the body, then walk a further distance and vary your walking speed or even your weight. How can you vary your weight when you walk? You can carry a set of dumbbells or even buy a weight vest to increase your weight. You might also try varying your walking elevation by walking up hills or if on a treadmill changing the incline. Walking is enough if all you want to maintain is your present levels of fitness, but if you want to improve you need to add something to it. Until next time, see you on the lean side.
Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist
Exercise Training: Women and Exercise… 1 hour?
Posted by: | CommentsI rarely watch the News. Why? I think the News is negative and I want to stay away from negative things. I do think things happen for a reason. I happened to be watching the news the other day and saw a report which commented on women and exercise. The report was quite disturbing as it put a negative spin on women and weight loss. In the report, it explained how women are likely to put on weight as they age. Hello! Men and women are likely to put on weight is they age. I know women may have some special circumstances such as childbirth and hormones that might work against them but maintaining and losing weight is realistic.
For the most part, we all live sedentary lives. Exercise is more important as we grow older and for women it can be the difference between gaining pounds or maintaining an ideal weight. Women will gain weight as result of childbirth and this is unavoidable but I think the female population suffers from a lack of knowledge when it comes to fitness. What do I mean by this? For example in the report I watched and later read, it made the point of convincing women an hour of exercise is too much. You might even think so as you are reading this but the fact is it really isn’t too much time if used wisely. How do you use it wisely?
As a woman ages, “strength training” becomes important. Many women are afraid to pick up a weight or lack the knowledge to use weight machines in an effective manner. This is why females are more susceptible to all the crazy diets. Here is the truth in simple terms. If women participate in a progressive strength training program it is much easier to maintain weight or lose weight if so desired. Women and men need to be educated about the right foods to eat and sadly most don’t have a clue when it comes to this. An hour a day is not too much to exercise if you have a plan and know exactly what to do. Time is a four letter word but when the time is spent wisely and not haphazardly its not a waste. We can find the time for anything we want, it just has to be made a priority. Until next time, see you on the lean side.
Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist
Exercise Training: Critical Thinking
Posted by: | CommentsEvery Year the city of Miami Gardens hosts a festival called, “Jazz in the Gardens” and I attended it yesterday. I got a chance to see Mary J. Blige and Robin Thicke. I am from the “old school”, so it was really great to see Teena Marie doing her thing at the festival as well. Jazz in the Gardens was complete with all the trimmings including vendors and food. This festival was attended by “grown folk” and even some younger adults. I don’t know if I am being a bit too critical and maybe its because I am a health nut but 90% of the people there were overweight. It was really sad and it left me worried and wondering why people don’t take better care of themselves. If you have the answer for me, please send me a comment because I really would like an answer. It is a known fact that obesity is now an epidemic and my eyes were really opened as a result of attending this festival. Is growing old a rite of passage to get out of shape? It seems that way by what I saw yesterday and I am starting to believe that people don’t really care. I even saw some younger adults in really bad shape. I wonder if this would have happened years ago?
I was very discouraged by what I saw out there. I carry my business cards with me all the time but I just don’t think I had enough cards to give out on this day. I could have given out 5,000 business cards easy at this event and still would have needed to give out another 5000. What is the problem with our society? Why is it not an option to have healthy snacks and healthy food at these events instead of fried foods and sugary drinks? I guess it is just not as enjoyable as the bad stuff. What do you think? Until next time, see you on the lean side.
Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Exercise Training: “Mind Chatter”
Posted by: | CommentsI hope your week is off to a great start! An interesting thing happened to me last week while I was working out in my garage. I was doing a circuit of exercises back to back with no rest in between, it was a 8 total exercises to be exact. Its called the crazy “8” and was invited by Craig Ballantyne with Turbulence Training. You may think it is easy to do but think about this, you are challenging your body to cardio and resistance in the same workout. Its only eight exercise but I can tell you after I finish four rounds of “Crazy Eights” I am exhausted to say the least! Well, this isn’t about “Crazy Eights,’” although I am going to give you a link where you can get the workout and try it for yourself at the end of this blog post. This is about what happened in my mind as I continued to work through the circuit and got tired. I started to hear what I call “mind chatter.” Have you ever experience this phenomenon?
Mind chatter for lack of a better word, is the place within you that tells you to give up. I have experienced it on several occasions during some grueling workouts. I start hearing this little voice saying, “quit” and “its not worth it”. I am not going to lie it is hard to ignore it, but I do. Why? I like a challenge and I want to improve. What about you? Do you listen to your “mind chatter?” Has it ever gotten the best of you? I believe people listen to it way too soon and normally it occurs just before a major breakthrough, but its hard to fight through the pain, right? Yeah, it is… but it is in these times that you’ll find what you are made of and if you are going to sink or swim. Do you sink or do you swim? I would love to hear about your experience with “mind chatter” and whether you listened to it or ran right through it and how it affected you. Until next post… see you on the lean side.
Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist
