Galya Talkington

Starting the Food Revolution

2010-04-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

Of all the things we could use in life, inspiration to make things better for our children is one we can use every day.

If you haven't already signed Jamie Oliver's petition, please do so. This is not about the perfect diet for your child, it's about a better diet for all children. Steps in the right direction need to be made and I hope signing the petition makes your day!

Lack inspiration to make a change in your environment, your kids and their future? Watch Jamie Oliver speak at TED!

It's out! Officially out!

2009-12-22T05:17:00.000-08:00

More exercises than you ever imagined, impressive photography, top trainer created workouts

Maybe today will be the last day that your workout is a run to the bookstore, because this book will give you so many ideas for training, you will feel like you will never need another book.

What's awesome about this book?

It was put together by Adam Campbell, a man who knows the fitness world better than anyone else. He knows what works and knows how to get you to do it.

The world's top trainers worked hard to create individualized programs for any training need, so you never worry about the next phase of your training.

You will find workouts that will address every phase of your life, whether you are going to have a baby, or getting ready for a competition, or needing to lose a few pounds for a wedding party.

You will never again wonder how to progress from one version of an exercise to the next. The exercise variations and progressions in this book will open your eyes to a world of possibilities.

You will have the artistic enjoyment of looking at state of the art photography, and get inspired with the beauty of fitness.

Well, last but not least, you will read the workouts that I specifically created for you, moms to be. Prenatal training is not for the unprepared, but if you are prepared, then you will enjoy your new changing body every minute of the day and be ready to deliver safe! You will be in shape to enjoy your newborn and properly take care of her.

With the holidays just around the corner, this makes a perfect last minute gift for anyone in your family who may be looking to lose weight, get stronger bones, or just loves to read about fitness. This is one that should be on every healthy and smart woman's bookshelf!

GET THE WOMEN'S HEALTH BIG BOOK OF EXERCISES HERE

Or jog to your closest bookstore :)

A blog that needs sharing

2009-10-18T14:53:00.001-07:00

Get inspired. Photos. Colors. Food. Amazing.

How many fingers?

2009-10-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

5, and they are toes.

I fell in love with the Vibram Five Fingers the first time I saw them. Now that I have owned them for a few months and I have ran, jumped, lifted, walked, been on sand, mud and leaves with them, I have to say, I want more of them , and faster.

I truly loved seeing us on Birthday Shoes, an amazing blog with all the five fingers I lust after.

Blame it on the comfort, there is no going back.

Unlike other diets a CO2 diet is unavoidable

2009-09-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

We've known for some time. Some of us say 'No' to the plastic bag in the supermarket and walk an unmeasurable distance to the recycle bins so they can securely place their hopes for the future, hoping that the paper box will turn into another paper box and then happily return years later to be recycled again. Some of us don't want Jeeps, we want Smart cars, Hybrids, bikes...

In Bulgaria, everyone says an individual is too small to change anything, ask the big companies, ask the government, but please let me drive my SUV and keep all the TVs on in my house, because I just made a hell lot of effort trying to secure my family the biggest screens ever made.

We are so caught up in surviving, that walking to work (which in my case would take an hour) is simply unthinkable. We are so late to pay bills that we end up buying cheap plastic cases instead of nice recycled ones, we are so busy with fashion, we spend our paycheck on fancy shoes, instead of investing in Simples.

We don't care because we are too busy, then asked if we care, we say, yes we do...but do we really?

We just watched the world premiere of Age of Stupid and before you say you are sick of green propaganda, please watch it, then shoot me an email and explain why it's all BS, but please at least care to back your inactivity with some valid reasoning.

If you weren't as lucky as us to witness the world premiere as well as witness the lack of local politicians in the audience, it's time to watch the movie and see what your part can be in making the world livable.

There are many things I loved about the way the world was portrayed, faceted, different and scarily validated for all the participants in its destruction.

Starting today, I am at least taking part in making our politicians sign the Copenhagen agreement in December. What are you doing? Maybe one of these things :)

On a more hopeful note, remember how things still are and how they could stay if everyone did their little part in saving the world.

People who don't exercise

2009-08-05T08:23:00.001-07:00

Are the norm. Look at gym penetration rates, look in your park, ask your friends and coworkers. Then there are the ones who say they exercise, but the last time they did it was 4 weeks ago, and then there are the guys who can crank out 50 push ups, but alas, haven't done it since they did military service back in 1975.

So who are the exercisers? Those less than 10% of the population who exercise half as frequently as they brush their teeth? The ones who hike on the weekends? The ones who have less heart disease, rarely develop diabetes and enjoy wearing smaller size clothes than the rest of the population? They are the ones who actually enjoy being active.

I don't care what got you to exercise in the first place, whether it was because your parents showed you into the karate studio, whether it's because you lost weight for your prom, or because you married a marathon runner, what kept you in the gym, on the track, on the trail, or on a stationary bike in front of your TV was the fact that somehow you ended up enjoying exercise. You might enjoy the journey, or the end destination, but there is a feeling of happiness, fulfillment and enjoyment connected with it.

Of course, you'll say you know someone who hates exercising but does it because they have to. So how could they enjoy it? Well, they enjoy what they see in the mirror, or how productive they are after a workout, or how energized they feel, or how their backs don't ache anymore. Whatever the reason, they get some pleasure out of it.

So what have you found in exercise? Are you still using it for punishment after bigger meals? Are you still using it for anger management? Do you loathe going to the gym and what are you doing to change that into the simple joy of being able to move and create a healthier happier you?

More about the active lifestyle, here:

Fast Food Snob

2009-07-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

I am one. So what?

I remember way back when I watched a John Berardi lecture, where he explained what a perfect day was. You wake up, you have your perfectly planned balanced breakfast, your post workout shake, your prepacked lunch, you afternoon snack in your car, then a great healthy perfectly acid base balanced dinner...and then you think oh I am having a perfect day, and another one, and another one, and then life happens.

Then you come home, starved, dehydrated, you've missed the last three meals, you are so stress ridden from traffic your hands are shaking, your back aches and you can barely remember waking up...was that even today? There are days, when you can't wait to get your veggies out of the fridge and cut them up, where all the meat looks bland, and the thought of an egg sounds like too much work to even start cracking on. If you were a normal person, you would have gone through the local drive through and enjoyed your local choice of fast food. А burger, or two, with fries, or not. Me...I'm a fast food snob, so I go by the store, pick up the best whole wheat bread with apples and cinnamon, a pack of the most delicious gourmet goat cheese, some fresh butter and I am off home, to make two pieces of toast with plenty of great tasting cheese and enjoy it with a glass of very well chilled Pinot Grigio. 100% satisfaction 0% crap 200% fast food.

Midnight Biker

2009-06-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

I was coming home from a late dinner tonight and driving, I saw a guy on a bike, going pretty fast. He was wearing jeans and sneakers and t-shirt, no helmet or protection. He proceeded to ride in front of me, took a turn around my building and went to the playground they built for skating, biking and rollerblading. Picture the extreme competition type platforms.

As I was walking home from my car, I was listening to him do jumps and turns and flips...with no protection, in the middle of the night.

What drove him there? The midnight cool air. The lack of other kids. The feeling of being alone under the light with no one to watch. No one to watch him mess up. Yet no one to watch him do his best flip. Maybe he just had a fight with his friends and needs to be left alone. Maybe he's celebrating his new bike, or the start of summer break. Whatever he's doing, he can do that thing alone. I silently admire that. I have the same admiration for the 7 a.m. guy that I see in the gym, and the busy mom who ran for her appointment with me in her lunch break. Hats off to all these people for staying in touch with their bodies.

Gym Gems

2009-06-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

Too bad that Guido and Luigi no longer exists as a comic strip. Neither does Unfit.
Those were very cool.

Little did I know that comic strip worthy people existed in the 24 hour gym that we go to, here in wonderful and crazy fit California.

I usually wear my headphones and don't hear much of what people say and while I have written about what some people do in the past, I have never heard what are best described as gym gems :)

Last night might as well have been a comic strip, featuring the following characters:

100 rep cable crunch PT

" Yeah man, I love this personal training job, before that I worked in a bar for a while, before that in real estate, but nothing is this good man, my client just lost 24 lbs in 3 weeks and I am like wow dude, the best next thing to this is being a doctor. Love the job, man..."

Formerly 236 lbs bodybuilder guy

"I lost so much weight last week, was very sick, couldn't eat man, so I am down to 225 lbs like a week later and everybody is saying man you look so huge...and I am like so much lighter. What's wrong with these guys?"

Manga hair wifebeater guy

" It's all about the protein, bro. You need to maintain your weight, this is at least 150 grams of protein and this is just to m-a-i-n-t-a-i-n. And alcohol dude, that stuff is catabolic. That means it eats your muscle, so if you drink it cancels all the muscle you made that week. And you must eat eggs, like egg whites and remove the yellows."

Spanish Diva

" So this is how you do this for your legs and they look great"

As she proceeds to do a romanian deadlift all wrong, even though her legs do look great.

I wish I could draw better :)

Buffet lunches, large waistlines and other jiggly thoughts...

2009-06-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

This is a small dessert spoon. It's sitting on top of my coffee cup. The small dent in it is all I ate of that artificial tasting cube of jello, one of the desserts at a Sunday buffet. There wasn't really much choice, brownies, ice cream, strawberry mousse, muffins, apples and oranges.

There were all sorts of people at the buffet: families with macaroni and cheese eating kids, moms with lettuce laden plates, dads with two bowls of chili each...and then there were the really really large people next to our booth.

We were starved and exhausted from working out when we got there, so each of us got salad with plenty of cheese, soups with the most meat and some corn bread. We splurged on a piece of bread each, and I had two slices of orange for desert, while my partner had some ice cream. I did want to try the jello and you can tell how great it was from the picture of the leftover of my first and only serving of it. As I was trying to take that photo, I noticed that the girl from large couple sitting next to us was enjoying another serving of dessert, after ice cream. She was having 10 of these same jello things that I had just tried. They were the most nutritionally empty choice she could have made, given there were apples, ice cream and cottage cheese...so I wondered is it that people have no choice. I will admit that I love watching heavier people eat and shop because it gives me an insight into their choices and the power they have to choose what's good for them and what's not. This girl had already chosen a pink sugar drink, baked potato with chili and sour cream and cheese and now was digging into a second desert. Given the metabolic and mental complications most bigger people have to deal with, I can imagine those choices didn't help.

We can argue until tomorrow on the health and genetic origins of being heavier and having a hard time losing weight, but when you watch a couple engaging in the same behavior you can't ignore the strong relationship. Could we be the larger couple? Sure. We would just have to choose to not exercise and eat at much as we want at the buffets we go to. Oh, and I might need to learn to like jello.

Third World Squatter

2009-05-21T12:02:00.001-07:00

We were at the annual JP fitness summit last week and looking over the pictures, Roland said I was a third world squatter. Squatting was never hard for me, pistol or no pistol, and believe it or not the only squat that makes me cry is the Bulgarian squat, but I hadn't noticed how I just dropped down into a squat every time I was tired and didn't feel like standing up. It made me read an excellent article over again, too, and also gave me the cruel idea of bottom up progressions of static low squat positions that my clients will surely hate once I make it back to Bulgaria.

No bottomless bowl

2009-05-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

During a lecture at last week's Fitness Retreat we were discussing how much is enough to satisfy a craving. In the context of emotional eating, where we are filling a nearly bottomless pit, the answer is closer to infinity. And yes, every conscious eater finds the following to be true:

whether you have a little or a lot, you eventually come to the end

It could be the end of a piece of candy, a red vine, a bar of chocolate, a box of chocolates, the bottom of a box of ice cream, your safe stash of super duper healthy double organic raisins, or a bottle of juice, sooner or later, 50 or 500 or 2500 calories later, it's over, diet goals be damned.

In Mindless Eating, a brilliant book I picked up last year, they invariably show that if food is available and easy to see, it will be eaten. If you are one of those people that come home with the intent to eat clean only to finish off a bar of chocolate that was meant to last a week, consider the following no bottomless bowl laws:

1. Sooner or later, you've eaten it all. You'll digest it, assimilate it and some of it will go on top of your hard earned muscle. You'll see abs "some other time" as we say in Bulgarian. Knowing this, choose to beat the quantity, not the quality. Have a piece of chocolate, fully conscious that one more won't add more taste or more satisfaction, it will add more time to your goal. It will add more fat to your body. More dissatisfaction, more sacrifice. You don't want it THAT bad. Limit yourself to 10% of your calories for the day in happy foods and you've had enough.

2. Doughnuts aren't love. We all need to feel good. It just so happens that most feel good foods are not feel lean foods. Face the feelings that overwhelm you at moments when you want to eat. Find alternate ways to show yourself that you love your body and you give it the best it deserves. Some of us want to mask a feeling, by coating it with a thick layer of sugar, others want to make food disappear, because they want to make a problem disappear. Honestly, will it?

3. It's all in your head. Have you even spent the afternoon thinking of going home and destroying whatever is in the fridge. Taking a break. Doing it all for fun. Sometimes the thought of food excites us so much that it paints a picture we crave even more. Try this simple NLP exercise. Imagine your food like it's on a TV screen, watch it and think of how you are going to enjoy it. Then make the image black and white and shrink it to the bottom right of the screen until it's so tiny you almost can't see it. This simple tricks works great. If it doesn't work, go back to law 1 and use the 10% rule.

There is really no magic to beating emotional eating, sometimes it takes months and years to face the real issues behind it, if one is willing and patient, but I have seen the damage from food minimized, until real solutions present themselves.

Easter: West vs East

2009-04-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

Easter comes a week later in Bulgaria. In the west of the Christian world, Easter lunches and early family dinners are long forgotten, digested, assimilated and worked off. Here, we are still battling the drama of Easter bread.

It's easy to spot the differences between the typical North American Easter meal and the Orthodox Christian traditional meal. Most people in the US, for example, will have one family gathering, where salad, ham and potatoes and possibly some cake will be present. Less of a feast than Thanksgiving and very similar to Christmas. If you happen to like Peeps, and end up roasting one of the poor things, you might have one before you've had enough.

Here, in the east, the nutritional drama begins with baking the traditional Easter cookies, usually on Thursday, ones rich in lard, butter and sunflower oil, sprinkled with sugar crystals and smelling so good, that all neighbors want to come and exchange recipes with you. Thus, Friday starts with coffee and one two or three of grandma's cookies. Saturdays see the making of traditional Easter bread, a yeast based fluffy, doughy treat, that is both sweet and not very filling, one that you can have a lot of and one that mates beautifully with butter and jam, dunks famously in milk and coffee and is best eaten with a bowl of fullfat plain yogurt. Since most families are serious about their Easter bread, they use the same dough to make mini scones and rolls and fill them with plum preserves, raisins, almonds and walnuts. These are best eaten warm out of the oven, and cause zero satiety. which is why two or more of them are usually what one eats while making Easter Bread. Dinner on Saturday is served after and before a piece of the aforementioned treat and Sunday breakfast is mostly the same bread with boiled eggs that fell victims of egg fights (in an egg fight, you just hit two eggs together, there is no throwing happening, much to the contrary of what some foreigners imagine). Sunday lunch is traditional lamb roast with rice stuffing, also followed by eggs and Easter bread. Of course, tea and coffee in the afternoon are accompanied by each faimily's traditional cookies and Easter breads, but now joined by their neighbors' and relatives's recipes too, since it's a tradition to bring those to people you love and care for...

To sum up, Orthodox Easter looks like your normal menu with the following additons:

Thursday night: warm cookies
Friday morning: cookies
Friday night in front of TV: cookies
Saturday: warm scones and rolls and Easter Bread
Sunday: now colder Easter Bread with butter and jam and plenty of eggs and lamb

After 4 days like this, most of my clients show up slightly bloated and needing extra training sessions to offset the calories they consumed.

Luckily, it's hard to eat over 4 lbs of Easter bread, which is how much it takes to put on 2 lbs of fat.

Commercial? All the way

2009-03-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

I am grateful for the 4 years I spent working out in a personal training studio. But now I want to share something completely different.

The commercial gym, and it's wonderful absurdities:

1. The broomstick guy: only this time he is twisting left and right with a 22 lb barbell. And he's doing it sitting.

Better idea: try stabilizing your core through bracing your abs and actually rotate through the thoracic spine. You can do that without the stick, just so you know.

2. The incline chick: okay, I understand incline walking burns more calories that touring the mall, but c'mon girl, you must have noticed that walking upright where your whole body is leaning away from the treadmill isn't very natural. Let go of those handles and see yourself slide down like Borat in his YouTube treadmill debut.

Better idea: walk incline while leaning forward just a bit at the hip. Think climbing a mountain.

3. The machine tricep extension guy. It takes him a million seconds to adjust the pads to the right height, the weight to the right resistance and the form to something that doesn't look like a robot that was put together all wrong. He loads his triceps just enough to feel the burn, yeah right.

Better idea: push ups, and their variations using narrower positions for your hands. Works like a charm, every time. Bored? Try clap push ups. The go to the tricep machine guy and help him adjust his pads.

4. The behind the neck smith machine sitting shoulder press guy. WTH? There is no better way to shorten your neck muscles and overload your shoudler joints.

Better idea: standing military press. Works your whole body, spares your shoulder capsule.

I could go on and on and on. Just don't be that dude, or that girl. Try to justify the things you choose to do in the gym. If you can't, it might be time to get help.

Survival of the fittest

2009-02-20T04:02:00.000-08:00

I've just been back from a half a day of work and running errands, that started at 6 a.m. and now, at 2 p.m. I am ready for a glass of hot tea, or better yet, a glass of hot whiskey, hoping it will bring my heart rate down. Why the physical over stimulation?

I start my day early, walking probably 100 feet to my car. I spend a serious amount of time uncovering it from thick snow. It's cold, the wind is blowing and I want to be somewhere else, like my bed, or at least a place with no winter. In my moonboots, I dig through snowdrifts to come back to my building, where I hastily fit in an early morning conversation, getting ready for work, grabbing meals in ziplocks, talking on the phone and getting dressed all at the same time. With 3 bags and a thermos of coffee, I make my way into the blizzard, get to my car and find it's covered again, so I uncover it one more time.

After about 10 minutes of snow and straining to find the path to drive in the tracks of other unfortunate cars, I finally stop shivering with cold and I can almost feel my hands on the wheel.

Half an hour of traffic jams and avoiding traffic accidents later, I arrive at the parking lot at the gym, far away from the entrance. Moonboot walkining again, and running for my late appointment with a client. Two workouts later, I run some errands, ending with shopping and carrying heavy grocery bags an unnamed distance to my covered in snow car...oh not again. I'm cold, tired from walking in the snow and whiny like a city girl.

I sit in my car, find that two or three contracts aren't going on time for me to meet some financial issues, talk to a few people that are wishy-washy, avoid some accidents, plough through more snow and dirt and after 100 feet of moonboot walking I am home.

I am officially wiped out and I still have half a work day ahead of me. Post office, workouts, lots of driving, picking up packages...

I am mentally and physically destroyed not by the tasks of today, but by the physical demands of this thick white cold natural mess that is this city. I think of myself as a wimp, but then think of оur ancestors, who only had the physical stressors, no meetings to be late for, no late payments, no deadlines and definitely no cars to uncover.

The paradox is that I am actually in shape to meet the demands of uncovering cars, walking through thick snow, facing the wind and doing it a few times today. What happens with all the people who never exercise? Your average Sofia computer bound guy?

I have no clue, and I hope I never find out for myself.

I've been tagged

2009-01-20T07:22:00.000-08:00

My initial urge to complain about it is quickly overtaken by the feeling that this is fun. So here it is, my blog tag randomness.

I've been tagged by Roland, whose blog must now be moved to the "people who chain letter" section in my sidebar. No hurry though, he can stay in the Friendship section for a few more days.

The Rules of this game go like this:

Link back to the person who tagged you
Share 7 random or weird facts about yourself
Tag 7 people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs
Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

1. I started drinking coffee when I was 13. There are some studies that show that coffee consumption may stunt growth, but since I grew to a notable 5 ft 3' I think we can cross that out as BS. My first coffee was boiled on the stove, and I drank espresso with a passion until I moved out on my own. After finding that filter coffee is something you can have lots and lots of, I quickly switched. There are some very expensive coffees that I find disturbingly nasty. My favorite blend is Jacobs Monarch, very simple and delicious, and I tend to like Blue Mountain Coffee, more for the origins than for the taste.

2. I was blond for the past 9 years. Going back to brunette was extremely depressing and stressful. For one, none of my outfits looked the same anymore and then hailing a cab became way harder. On a different note, I've had more people listening when I talk.

3. I own a pink computer. It was love at first sight at Best Buy. While most girls cringe at the girliness of it, many end up staring at it with the same eyes they stare at Josh Holloway, knowing they want him, but are too shy to confess. My next computer will be light brown. With flowers.

4. Growing up, I wanted to be an artist or a writer. I painted. Then I wrote. Then I became neither. Now that I want to be a full time writer, all my family members have taken on a : "she's so cute, oh...." attitude, maybe as a flashback to how they viewed me about a quarter century ago with my cute little notebooks scribbled up and down with illegible gibberish.

5. I suffer very well and very deeply. Being broken and put together on a daily basis is sort of an emotional hobby of mine, one that I have very well overcompensated with love for small things and true amazement at the craziness and beauty that life is.

6. I have order disorder. I like things to look nice, clean and organized. My closet is the only exception to this rule because of number of vertical challenges that usually end with a pile of t-shirts devastatingly scattered on the floor after the bottom one had been swiftly removed, as if from under of orderly deck of cards, which are no more. I have friends that swear I am as bad as Monica on Friends. "I take pride in that", I answer back.

7. The only dog that's ever bitten me was my very own Pinchi, a white and brown cocker spaniel who lived to the old age of 17 and passed along two years ago. He has attacked and bitten me many times, and my most memorable scars are on my feet and forearms. The places he guarded with ferocious ambition were his bowl of dog food and a particular armchair we were both very fond of. My blood spilled over that same armchair many times. Those are some fond memories.

Oh, now I have to tag 5 more people....oh man....

Emil Genov - also known as Emo Aerobikata....do it buddy

Petya and Kyle - a couple of unceasing inspiration, I can't wait to see 7 facts about you guys

Vanichka (Vissi) - a person who made chocolate the new diet food

Mr. Fass - you biomechanical genius, is there something we don't know about you?

Dianka - my favorite photographer in the whole world

100% natural

2009-01-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

Double muscle, mmm...some bodybuilders would so take you up on that...

I think it's just scary how "natural" selection produces animals that weigh over a ton...

I have a few questions now...

Do you think they "naturally" select the guys who take care of the cows? It takes a certain kind of attitude to feel good about "shaving the animal to expose the muscle"

Does such "natural" selection happen in the human world? Doubt it.

Where does natural end, is it at the point where they mention artificial insemination or is it where we add the preservatives after we've got a hold of the "lean cuts" ?

Oh, and if the Belgian Blue was grass fed, how many acres of land would it take to grow one in 100 years?

My Math Sucks

2009-01-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

and other random Jan 2 thoughts, some of which related to fitness and nutrition...

My math sucks, and it has sucked, my whole life. I got through high school all right, with a GPA of 6.0 (of a max of 6.0) because I got my math done by the guys, in exchange for A+ worthy argumentative essays in English as a second language. Calculators have always been there for me and before that we had these:

So here I am, googling "lbs to kg" trying to free my head of the three digit monster that was my weight on the scale...this morning, that is the morning of Jan 2, 2009, 6 months after I stopped working out.

I will spare myself (and you) the detailed story of WHY I stopped working out, since it's heavy on drama and even heavier on Kleenex, and I will just say, in the words of my shrink, that "that's life" and "sometimes things happen in the growing up process that may leave us quite surprised at who we really are" and "that to build something new you need to destroy the old to make space for it". One ended marriage, one ended business, one ended home, and one ended year later, I am ready to move on from "having fat is interesting, I've never had that before", to "okay life is not kicking my ass anymore, so it's about time to step on the scale..."

The scale said 134.6. If that was metric, I would be dead, or a whale...but it's not...so I'll likely live through this, at least until I find out what it is in metric. Then I might have an aneurism, because...

I know that's a lot, I know women that weight that and they pay me well to help them lose fat, so it must be a lot....I know that's a lot, because my very baggy linen pants are not so baggy anymore. I know it's a lot because I was 126 in spring and I was 120 in Cayman, and I was 118 when I was small and happy with my legs... I know it's a lot, because I only see the outline of my abs if the light's right and I know it's a lot because I really really haven't been looking or caring. I've been busy surviving. When life looks you in the face while its ugly twin sister is kicking your butt, you don't really care about fat. When you don't know if you slept or ate or if it's Monday or Friday, you really don't remember what calipers were either...

But I'm not surviving anymore, so it was time to look and find out. It's not like I freaked out until I found that google converter and finally got the number down to 61. something...and went...****, that's a lot for a small chickie.

Or is it?

My body's been very kind to have packed the fat well and pretty. I went through a huge hormonal crash where my pituitary took a long vacation and was not signalling my body to do anything but : "ground". So it grounded me. The months of July, August and September were months of imminent extinction for a few million hazelnuts and a few hundred balls of mozzarella. I didn't eat bad foods, I just ate more good foods than my bed ridden dragging remains of a body could deal with. And my mind was starving for answers, so they came ready, in neat little bags of nuts, packets of cheese and what I believe is the biggest jar of all natural peanut butter that ever inhabited the otherwise clean shelves of my tiny kitchen. I believe I put on over 10 lbs in 2 weeks in the form of very hard and not at all flabby fat. Most of my friends never noticed. I did, but I just rolled with it (no pun intended).

So is 61.something kilograms a lot...I don't know. Compared to when? Compared to who?

I did start working out a few weeks ago and to my amazement I can still do chin ups and pull ups. They come in singles, but they come. I can still deadlift 150 lbs, well below my 220 potential, but who cares...and I can still hold a plank...well. sort of.

But I've been so cured of the " I must" mantality now...I am so not willing to take the pressure or losing 1 lb a week for a contest, for my work, for a client, because I need to take it slow, enjoy it and make it work for me and my happiness.

So why am I freaking out, now in metric? Because I know how much work it's going to take. I know how much time it's going to take...to do this...

S

L

O

W

I am totally willing to give myself time. Take it slow. Freak out slow.

So I need to lose anywhere from 10 to 15 lbs. 10 sounds very good right now. 1 lb a week is 3 months. 0.5 lb a week is 6 months. I like this. I am not freaking out anymore. I need to google 0.5 lbs to kg to calm down even more. My math sucks, remember?

I am calm and happy. I have faith. I have no plan, since my body knows what to do. My appetite is very normal, getting me around 1300-1500 cals on most days. I fast some days, when I'm not hungry, so that works great. I am not doing anything with a goal in mind this time, I find this to be a great chance to look at things like we do at natural and spontaneous language acquisition, one word, one phrase at a time, until the paper doesn't look like random gibberish anymore, but foreign words start to clump into meaningful phrases, titles make you smile and you start buying the local paper in that once foreign language you now speak, without cramming grammar for days on end, very much like we cram workouts or torture ourselves with diet, just to prove that we're worthy of calling ourselves thin, pretty, strong, sexy...it's all an ego trip, like learning Spanish in 3 months. Can I do it...sure...will I...hell no :)

So I wrap this up with the same lack of urgency to change my body that I feel towards learning the language of Cervantes, and taken by the same craziness that Don Quixote might have experienced not knowing what's ahead of him, but knowing he's going there, all ramifications aside.

Summer gone breakfasts

2008-11-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

I love it when seasons change, for a few weeks you get to see your body adapt so readily to anything nature throws your way. I was just thinking of all the changes that we get to experience in fall. Unlike spring, when everything wakes up, the fall is a time of relaxation, reflection and conservation. The cold of seasonal change gets offset by new preferences for food and drinks. This is also where most of my clients will stop losing bodyfat, unaware that they had two extra cappuccinos, three spoons of honey in their tea and a few extra bowls of hot soup. Your body knows how to call for heat. You rarely think digestion takes energy, but cold foods need to start falling off the breakfast menu. If you've been listening to your body, you probably had something like this today:

PB vanilla oatmeal

1 cup cooked oatmeal
1 tsp pumpkin spice
1 tbsp crunchy all natural peanut butter
1 scoop vanilla protein powder

Once you're done cooking your oatmeal, set your pot outside so it cools off fast, but keep the lid on. It would take about 10 minutes till its the right temperature. Stir all other ingredients into it, then eat with patience. A great way to enhance this would be to heat up two tablespoons of butter (if you have clarified (ghi) butter, it's best), then add the spices for a few seconds and pour on top. This adds extra calories, but it also lets your neighbors know you are serious about your spices.

Other spices for cold weather that you can play with:

anise
cloves
turmeric
cumin
cinnamon
mustard seeds (careful when you heat those up in butter, they tend to explode)
nutmeg
dried ginger
chili pepper

Things that warm you up you didn't know about:

honey
butter (ghi)
sour cream
almonds
walnuts
peanuts

Something else you didn't know:

Oatmeal actually cools you off on its own, so adding any of the above to it will both neutralize and bring it up in energy.

Listen more, eat warm, and if you have no cold mornings where you live, you can always turn your AC up.

Sacroiliac joint

2008-07-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

Some images are just worth sharing!

The Bill Hartman Experience Part II

2008-07-04T08:20:00.001-07:00

I've been working with Bill Hartman for a little over a year now. Setting me straight seemed like a long time investment back in the spring of 2007. I had a horrendous anterior pelvic tilt, pretty limited shoulder range of motion, weak abdominals, tight hip flexors, lower back pain, shoulder pain, and pretty serious gluteal amnesia. A year later, I am free of lower back pain and shoulder pain. I am closer to having good posture for the first time in my adult life.

I came back to Indianapolis a month ago to get reassessed. I would like to say we've had great progress, but we've also narrowed down new areas to work on. I never thought of Bill as a personal trainer, he is a brilliant coach and physical therapist, those who call him "the smartest man in fitness" know what I am talking about. I have never seen a combination of such an analytical mind, keen eye for detail, and ability to keep open to interpretations.

I would like to say that Bill is my coach, but to me he's like a portal to another dimension, every time I get to see him I get to peek in through a little door and see world of knowledge that I had never believed existed before. He gives you paradigms to work within, where you can try, test, expand, and see your body and your mind change.

Bill just got a new facility together with Mike Robertson and it rocks! They will be training both athletes and health and fitness oriented clients, but the facility looks like it can accommodate any need, both in terms of assessment and rehabilitation and athletic performance.

What you can't tell from the picture is that I am working hard on keeping my shoulderblades back and down, stuck to my ribcage. It hurts right under the medial border and right through the lower traps, right at the spot that you're supposed to activate.

I feels both good and bad knowing it will be about a year before I see Bill Hartman again and see how my new issues have resolved, but in all honesty I look at my year truly happy knowing I have an awesome future of successful and effective training ahead.

Cholesterol

2008-07-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

I loved this video on cholesterol. I was reading Paul Chek on cholesterol and inflammation this morning and this video came very timely. After spending a few long weeks in the USA I realize people here are even more confused than Bulgarians about cholesterol. At least we still have some respect for lard back home...

Getting my butt kicked in bootcamp class

2008-06-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

JP has legendary bootcamps. I do work out, believe me, I do. Those bootcamps make me feel like I have never trained before. Conditioning can really kick your butt.

Today's circuit, as designed by Mike Wessel, who was kind enough not to call me a wimp after all the curses I used to describe how I feel.

I warmed up learning how to do sledgehammer slams, then did 1 minute of each with 30 second break of:

sledgehammer slams
med ball twists
neck twists
single arm chest press
plate pushes
bag punches
assisted pistol squats

By the third circuit I was ready to see my breakfast again. It was a humbling experience. Makes me dream about doing rack pulls tomorrow.

Boris Bojinov

2008-06-16T14:58:00.001-07:00

It is a great day of pride and joy to see our very own Boris Bojinov win a gold medal. I was proud of him when he won bronze a few weeks ago, too!
Long jump is hard, I get frustrated every time I watch him compete, especially on failed attempts...I just want to go...damn that plaster thing that he steps on, such a minuscule thing to screw up a long jump like that...and we are talking millimeters here, where the actual jump is like 8 meters and above...but I love the consistency, the perseverance, the character and all the hard work him and Milko have put into this. We all love him, go Boris!

We'll see that guy at the Olympics, mark my words :)

More Boris on POWERWINS

Words of wisdom from Mike Boyle

2008-06-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

I was reading a presentation from Mike Boyle and there is a quote I wanted to share, very applicable both to life and training.

"Pain never precedes dysfunction, it follows it"

So think about this today, become aware of dysfunctions and take action to avoid pain.

COLOR

2008-04-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

I came upon a site of inspirational value. Life is so much about color, sound and touch. We need to think less and perceive more. In your training, in your driving, in your touching, be aware.

Look at the sky:It's estimated that we do as much as 90% of our daily activities using matrices and patterns than we have adopted in the past, without much thought of reason, feeling or understanding. Putting awareness back into simple things is key to success in a life that moves faster than we do. Whether you want to be a better trainer, father, partner or manager, putting awareness back into simple daily tasks will bring you amazing insight, free you of the pressure of tasks and bring joy back.

My favorite awareness drills:

1. Looking for small detail, for example, checking out the patterns in floor tile and details in shoes.

2. Listening to your own breathing and being aware of the feeling of breath on your lips and in your nose while lifting weights.

3. Smelling minor smells

4. Listening for sounds that are covered up by louder sounds, like birds singing in the city

5. Listening to your heart before falling asleep

My favorite thing today is to look at color. For more color:
Whole site here!

I can do this!

2008-04-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

We watched this video with my trainers this morning and while the sit up to stand looked terribly hard, I can do it! It's a great feeling to be fit enough to try and manage! Can you do it?

p.s. Get someone strong to hold on to you ;)

On self renewal - “The Turn of the Tide”

2008-03-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you end up doing two things simultaneously that just fit together perfectly. I was listening to Norah Jones and at the same time I was reading the story below, it's a classic worth passing on!

“The Turn of the Tide” by Arthur Gordon

Arthur Gordon tells of a time in his life when he began to feel that everything was stale and flat. His enthusiasm had all but disappeared; his writing efforts were fruitless, and the situation was getting worse day by day.

Finally, he decided to get help from a medical doctor. Observing nothing physically wrong, the doctor asked him if he would be able to follow his instructions for one day. When Gordon replied that he could, the doctor told him to spend the following day in a place where he was the happiest as a child. He could take food, but he was not to talk to anyone or to read or write or listen to the radio. He then wrote out four prescriptions and told him to open one at nine, twelve, three, and six o’clock.

“Are you serious?” Gordon asked him.

“You won’t think I’m joking when you get my bill!” was the reply.

So the next morning, Gordon went to the beach. As he opened the first prescription, he read, “Listen carefully.” He thought the doctor was insane! How could he listen for three hours? Nevertheless, he had agreed to follow the doctor’s order, so he listened. He heard the usual sounds of the sea and the birds. After a while, he could hear the other sounds that weren’t so apparent at first. As he listened, he began to think of lessons the sea had taught him as a child—patience, respect, and an awareness of the interdependence of things. He began to listen to the sounds—and the silence—and to feel a growing peace deep within.

At noon, he opened the second slip of paper and read, “Try reaching back.” “Reaching back to what?” he wondered. Perhaps to childhood, perhaps to memories of joy. He tried to remember them with exactness, and in remembering, he found a growing warmth inside.

At three o’clock, he opened the third piece of paper. Until now, the prescriptions had been easy to take, but this one was different; it said, “Examine your motives.” At first he was defensive. He thought about what he wanted—success, security, recognition—and he justified them all. Yet then the thought occurred to him that those motives weren’t good enough. That perhaps therein was the answer to his stagnant situation. He considered his motives deeply and thought about past happiness, and at last, the answer came to him. In a flash of certainty, he wrote, “I saw that if one’s motives are wrong, nothing can be right. It makes no difference whether you are a mail carrier, a hairdresser, an insurance salesperson, a home-maker—whatever. As long as you feel you are serving others, you do the job well. When you are concerned only with helping yourself, you do it less well—a law as unrelenting as gravity.”

When six o’clock came, the fourth prescription didn’t take long to fill. “Write your worries on the sand,” it said. He knelt and wrote several words with a piece of broken shell; then he turned and walked away. He didn’t look back: he knew the tide would come in!

If you need to, take a day like that. If you don't have time to, make time, life is short.

A thought to start your day

2008-03-28T23:21:00.000-07:00

Goethe taught, "Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be."
As personal trainers and coaches, we work as problem solvers, so we tend to classify people. We live our professional lives very much like we live our social lives, we have our hidden fears, prejudices, ways to feel secure. We dissect, piece things up, find solutions and look for results. We are goal driven.
Today, take a minute a think what drives each person that you meet. How can you treat them as responsible, growing, learning and searching individuals, barring all prejudices and personal judgment. Look for their inner fire and don't put it out by being a problem solver.

Shaking things up!

2008-03-27T13:17:00.001-07:00

I was just writing some shake recipes for a client and I though, why not publish them here!
To me, food is just one more way to experience the world, very much like music. Every now and then you hear a new song and you play it every day until it gets old. These shakes have had the exact same effect on me, that's why they are my favorites!

All you need is a blender and 30 seconds :)

Coffee Delight
1/2 cup cold coffee
½ cup milk or 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
½ pear
1 tbsp walnuts
dash of cinnamon

Green tea rise and shine
1 cup strong green tea - cold
4 cubes of ice
1 scoop protein powder
1/2 apple

Berry Burst
1 cup yogurt
1 dash vanilla extract
1 tsp sweetener (Stevia)
½ cup frozen berries
1/3 cup ricotta cheese

Mint lemon shake
1 cup yogurt
Zest of 1/3 lemon
1 tbsp mint leaves
½ cup ricotta or cottage cheese
1 tsp Stevia

Strawberry and protein bar shake
1/2 protein bar (chocolate)
1 cup strawberries
1 cup yogurt

Enjoy shaking things up :)

THE HEALTHY FOOD BANK

2008-03-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

I am both happy and touched by the new initiative that John Berardi and the PN team have started. The least I can do, is spread the word!

Yesterday I ate 7 meals and 4,500 calories. Yet millions of people in the US and Canada didn't eat one. What a contrast! And trust me, the irony isn't lost on this big eater. Most people think of hunger as something that only affects remote areas of the world, or the homeless you see living on the streets. Call me a slow learner, but I recently realized that this is FAR from the truth. Recently, I learned that tons (millions, in fact) of everyday people, especially children, single parents, and the elderly, go hungry each day right here in our own states and provinces. The amazing thing is that these children are kids we know, these parents include some we hang out with, and these elderly are your peers, your parent's peers, and your grandparent's peers. Sure, they hide it well. But that doesn't make them any less hungry. Learning all this, and being touched personally by hunger, inspired me to take action. As a result, for the last year, the entire Precision Nutrition team and I have spent a lot of time thinking about how we can help bridge "the gap." What gap? >>The gap between those who buy and eat the best >>foods . . . >>. . . and those who can barely afford to buy any >>food at all. In the end, we came up with something we're very proud of: >>The Healthy Food Bank. And although we've been working hard behind the scenes for nearly a year on this project, this month we're officially spreading the word. So, what's the Healthy Food Bank? >>The Healthy Food Bank is a registered charity that >>purchases nutritious staples - good food - for local >>food banks and shelters around North America. And today, I'd like to send you to our new web site: http://www.healthyfoodbank.com In doing so, we'd like you to know about the new project and we'd also like to give you access to some food articles we think you'll find very interesting. Further, we'd like to announce something special. >>For the next 45 days, if you purchase a copy of our >>highly acclaimed Gourmet Nutrition cookbook, 10% of >>the sale will go directly to the Healthy Food Bank. What this means is that by boosting the health quotient of your own food, you'll also be helping to boost the health quotient of the kids, the single parents and the elderly in your own city who can't afford to eat tonight. Hey, I hate clichés, but if there ever was such as thing as a "win-win," this is it. So pick up a copy of Gourmet Nutrition today, and let's help do some good for a lot of people in need. http://www.gourmetnutrition.com

What to do with a whole salmon?

2008-03-23T05:45:00.000-07:00

Why eat salmon? For me, it combines almost everything I need out of a meal: high quality protein, sufficient fats (hopefully most of the Omega 3 stay after cooking), high satiety and less fishy taste than most other fish. Cooking it is clean and easy and leaves your kitchen smelling good, unlike other types of fish.

It seems like a waste to just bake a whole salmon. First, I don't see 6 lbs of meat go in one day, because we are a one fish eater household, second, there is something to steamed salmon fillets that I just love. So there I had it in front of me, shiny, cold and ready to go.

I found a great link that shows how to cut salmon fillets.
I took it a step further, and cut a couple of cutlets, too. Once you get to the thickest part of the fish, you can cut beautiful cutlets, and save the rest for fillets.

What I had left in the end was 4 cutlets, 6 fillets, two smaller fillets from around the head and the spine, tail and head. The last three are turning to soup in a few hours and all the rest went in ziplocks to be frozen for easy cooking during the week.

I usually cook all my meals the night before, so here are two simple steamed one person salmon recipes:

Ginger salmon

Put the fillet in steamer, cover and steam for 12-15 minutes. You can do this directly with frozen fillets, and it takes a few minutes longer. While the fish is steaming, prepare the sauce:

1/2 cup pineapple (chopped up)
2 tbsp fresh ginger (chopped up)
2 tbsp coconut milk
1 tbsp butter (or ghi)

Melt the butter and quickly stir in the pineapple and ginger. Simmer with the coconut milk for 2-3 minutes on medium heat, occasionally stirring.

Rosemary salmon

Put the fillet in steamer and cover with fresh or dried rosemary leaves on top and bottom. Steam for 7 minutes. Open, cover with 2 tbsp of sour cream, sprinkle some black pepper on top and cover again to cook for another 5-7 minutes.

I intend to cook my mother's fish soup later, that includes carrots, peeled tomatoes, onions and celery, depending on the outcome, I will be posting the recipe here later :)

Тony Robbins tells Rocky story

2008-03-16T05:01:00.000-07:00

"The greatest revenge is massive success"

А story about who you are, and about how you persevere is more important than what anybody says to you. I love it. It's also a story about how you should never sell your dog, unless it ends up with a movie part.

Omega 3 fats fight weight gain

2008-03-16T01:49:00.000-07:00

We have to thank mice, again. Researchers in Japan, fed overweight mice a diet that was 30% fat. One group of mice received 8% of that in the form of fish oil. 5 months later, the mice that were given fish oil had significantly reduced weight gain than the poor fellas that were given no fish oil.
The cool thing is that the fish oil had an effect on lipid metabolism genes, as well as lipid metabolism related enzymes. The fish oil group also had higher levels of fatty acid ß-oxidation. Even though this study was looking at one of the mechanisms in which fish oil could lower body fat, namely intestinal lipid metabolism, it's another piece to the puzzle that will let us appreciate the many ways fish oil reduces fat levels.

abstract here

Lyle McDonald Speaks

2008-03-12T23:58:00.000-07:00

When I first got acquainted with Lyle's work, I was avidly interested in anything low carb, figuring whether PSMF was better than CKD or TKD, going crazy over what went wrong with my calculations, asking why my body fat was not rapidly approaching the zero mark. Funny now that I think back, since human physiology is a lot more complicated than that and there is a lot more to the "thoughts in and food in" side of the equation. I was over at the bodyrecomposition forums, reading, soaking in the information and becoming very critical of notions that were very black and white before I heard Lyle speak about them.
I am glad Lyle has a blog now, where I can get more critical insight into topics that move me. He makes it a light read, and certainly one that you cannot regard as blogging for blogging's sake.

My favorite so far:
How many carbohydrates do you need?

A Quick Start to the end of a gym membership

2008-03-11T22:59:00.000-07:00

thought provoked by the Life Fitness Academy Training and great Life Fitness trainer Gavin Aquilina

Treadmills - if you look at the reports, the program that most members choose would be Quick Start. Time they spend on the treadmill - 20 min. What trainers told them - "Get on the treadmill and do 20 minutes of cardio. See you later".
Since I own a PT studio, I've never thought of this non exact prescription as being detrimental membership retention. First, we have no treadmills (there is a park across from us and we invested in learning all the fun tracks instead). Second, we don't lose members, so I never have to think about what cardio has to do with it.

The quick start option could be chosen by one of two people: one who memorizes and plans out their workouts (like I do, well, my coach does), or someone who has no specific idea about what time, resistance, incline, speed, etc, they are going to use. If you don't know those variables, you are screwed for two reasons: first, you work without a goal, that means pretty soon you'll be bored out of your mind and see your results through a "crooked macaroon" (the Bulgarian way to say "never"). Second, you have no way of knowing whether you've improved, and without improvement, no one would stay in the gym anyways.

So, how do you get out of this? Give specific instructions to the person involved in aerobic training. Assess their needs, their level. Write them a program, make it fun, and make them follow it. Chances are, if you have planned a nice 4 week progression, they will be excited to get to the next phase. And in the next phase, they will get an even greater fun out of more advanced protocols, like intervals, fartlek, etc.

Most cardio machines nowadays offer a myriad of programs, you can sure use those, but make sure you plan progressions in intensity and duration during the different phases, this way you can focus on intensity this month and on duration next month, one building on the other, to make sure your client is in better shape at the end of the program. Have them on a good nutrition program, and they will also see considerable fat loss. A client who is getting fitter, seeing results in the mirror, and enjoying a goal oriented workout plan, is most likely going to stay a member.

The next time you see someone use the quick start program, make sure they are doing it for a reason, that they have a goal in mind, if they don't, it is your calling to give them one. If you are someone who has hired a trainer and all they tell you is : " give me 20 minutes on the treadmill", it's time to look for a new one.

Coconut chicken lemongrass soup

2008-02-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

Intuitive eating led me through a spice filled counter, where I found a few attractive stalks of lemon grass. Then I thought how wonderful, there are no lime-leaves in Bulgaria to make Thai coconut chicken soup, but I can modify and see what happens. An hour later, we ate an absolutely mouth watering-second-helping-for-everyone soup, the recipe follows:

1 lb. raw chicken breast, diced
3 tbsp butter
2 cans coconut milk
2 fresh lemon grass stalks, white part only, chopped
1.5 tbsp. chopped fresh ginger
1 tbsp lemon pepper
1 cup hot water
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1 lime
sweet salt to taste (I used Himalayan pink salt)
fresh cilantro

Melt the butter and cook the chicken in it. Add all the spices and the lime zest. Stir. Add the coconut milk and water, cover and boil at medium heat for 20 minutes. Serve with cilantro on top.

I love coconut and coconut milk, because the fats are very nutritious, while the chicken is too lean, so these two complement each other wonderfully. Medium chain fatty acidsfgive me a lot of sustained energy, lemon grass is antibacterial and antifungal and chicken is very calming. I claim this the perfect anti-stress food.

It's not what Stevia can do for your sweet tooth...

2008-02-15T03:44:00.000-08:00

...it's what it can do for your blood sugar!
When a 200-some lb. guy says half a packet of Stevia gave him low blood sugar after a meal high in protein and fat you can't but think twice about all the research you've read. I truly like to sum it up like this:

- Stevia is sweet. Sweeter than sugar.
- Stevia is safe compared to other sweeteners like aspartame.
- Stevia has an effect on pancreatic beta cells, thus lowering blood sugar (both acute and in long term studies)
- Stevia can lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure
- It has a mild diuretic effect

Any or all of the effects could have caused him to feel hypoglycemic, he could have been had low blood pressure, but never checked.

In addition, Stevia is known to have anti-inflammatory properties, to kill fungi, bacteria and viruses. It's also known to help ward off caries. Coming from a cavity-prone genetic tree, and a culture where Calcium was not added to anything in my young years, I find this pretty cool.

I have used Stevia many times, in food preparation (it's heat stable), and in drinks (lemonade, shakes). I have never ever experienced any acute blood glucose lowering effects.

If you are suffering from treated diabetes whether it's type 1 or 2 I would suggest you measure your blood glucose after ingesting Stevia, and check with your endocrinologist about the dosage of your medication. If you are healthy, see if having a non caffeinated drink with Stevia causes you to feel sleepy, lethargic, or weak, nauseated and shaky. If it does, check if drinking it on a full stomach makes a difference. I think feeling low after Stevia would be a concern for people following either a low carb or a lower carb low calorie diet, as it naturally causes them to have lower blood glucose. Then again, I have been following a lower carb plan for over 4 years and have never been hypoglycemic because of Stevia.

I believe that if used in moderation, Stevia extract is a great alternative to sweeteners and sugar, but like everything else, bear in mind that individual reactions may vary.

To read more about Stevia and check out a list of studies, follow this source!

The Stevia product I enjoy most for taste and convenience is made by Now Foods.
The box has little packets you can take anywhere, they are flavor free, which makes them great for cooking purposes too. I am not a fan of the liquid versions as I like containers I can transport safely and easily.

The imdb wants me - part II

2008-02-14T12:28:00.000-08:00

Another day of filming. My scene was rushing into a room, finding a girl, covered in blood and a guy with his guts out. I scream, then collapse in a corner. Police rushes in.

I was very nervous about this scene. I had to do a lot of visual facial acting, not so much doing acting. I had to scream, I had no idea how.

When it came right down to it, I produced a series of very loud scary screams, ones I had no idea I could do. What really amazed me is that waiting between cuts, I was shivering and scared. Screaming made my hair stand on end, I was defensive and felt a bit like an animal being chased.
That reminded me that I had another lesson today.

It's what you perceive as real, not what is real, that shapes your present.

Your body reacts to everything you think and do as if were the actual truth.

You don't have to prepare for situations you've never been in. If it's about staying alive in any sense of the word, you already know what to do.

All the more reason to get real in life, my friends :)

The imdb wants me

2008-02-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

I got a role in a movie. A two day part, playing a girl named Katie. She works at a college, and in the scene we shot today, she is picking up the clothes of a recently killed girl. The movie is a horror sequel to Boogyman 2 and is the number 3 in a series I will never watch. 5 hours of shooting. My first movie, ever. Looking back, I see my paycheck and my name on imdb is not all I am walking away with. It's all about experience in this level of existence, or we would be better born as seaweed.

Never be afraid of doing something for the first time
Whether it's talking up the guy next door, learning how to perform a task, studying a line, going for a job interview, pulling a heavy weight, it's all about doing it. If you are afraid, chances are you'll fail. There is nothing to be afraid of, when you are performing at your best.

Pay attention to detail
Because if you don't someone else will and eventually you'll have to do the same thing over and over and over again until you get it right. You get that special chance on camera, but in life it's rare, so keep your eyes open.

Look at things from all angles
See the big picture first, then try to see it from the point of view of each participant. Empathize, merge, relive. When you have it all covered, you'll make the best decisions. If you are stuck in a situation, always, always look at it from every point of view.

Know your whys
Whenever you do or say something, whenever you look at someone, smile, cry, touch or attack, always as yourself "why am I doing this?". And you better have a good reason, because how healthy , happy and successful you are largely depends on being you, a justified you, in every minute.

Look for the good in people and tell them about it
If someone just did something for you, don't just say thank you. Say why you appreciate it. Have you done that, today?

Have patience
A great moment might be in store for you, but if you don't have the patience to wait for it, you might never enjoy it. Know that good energy put to work, combined with patience, will always get you more than just hard work. You'll have times when you're fed up with waiting, but do know that those times will end.

Rest like a king
When hard work is over, rest. Put your feet up, have a drink and look forward to another day of lessons.

Faster Fast Food

2008-01-29T11:32:00.000-08:00

Just when you think you've seen fast food. Forget your drive through. The 3 calories you spent оrdering from the comfort of your vehicle can now be spent on opening this!

It's a no-kidding-cheeseburger-in-a-can. The world has officially gone crazy, my friends. There is always balance. To every bag of organic spinach bought, I am sure somewhere a cheeseburger can pops open.

It's got a whopping 14 grams of protein, 12 grams of fat, and 21 grams of carbs. I am sure it's as satisfying as 257 calories get.

Next time your McDonald's eating buddy goes camping, you know what to get him :)

Intuitive eating or new age BS?

2008-01-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

Is there a way that our bodies know what they need at a particular time?

Part of me has heard 'Oh, I just need something sweet in the afternoon" and answered "No, you just need real food, because you're hungry for nutrients" so many times that it wants to say c'mon, leave the new age BS behind. Another part makes interesting spontaneous choices at the grocery store or the fruit stand.

Consider these occasions.
Last winter I was walking home feeling a bit nauseous. I walked by the fruit stand and saw a pineapple. I hadn't bought one in a year. I ate pineapples all week, then got tired of them. At the time of choice I was convinced I needed it. After eating it, I felt great.
A few days ago I bough salmon and spinach. Just like that. There was nothing else I wanted. There were plenty of options.
Today I bought eggplant and garlic and made a rich and quite smelly salad that tasted great. I hadn't made it in 6 months. I had the conscious conviction that this was the best for me at the moment.

So here comes the question? If part of me believes that the need for "something sweet" in the afternoon means that you are just hungry and if a part of me believes that you cannot 'need" processed foods, then does another part believe that you can intuitively choose what's best for you at the moment.

Is there a way that food may connect us to past experiences. When your brain says "pear", does your memory say " eating a pear with Peter on the bench and feeling happy!". When your brain says "pineapple" does it need the digestive enzymes or your childhood memories of feeling safe and cozy?

Is there a map in our subconscious minds of what foods are good when, and if so, is it possible that we can only read it when we don't abuse our bodies with processed foods, alcohol, sodas, etc?

Does the map change with our beliefs?

Stretching the Blues Away

2008-01-20T08:35:00.000-08:00

The winter blahs. The cold time downs. Whatever you call it, it feels exactly the opposite of how you want to feel.

I don't have the energy for a workout, yet I want to get back in touch with my tired body.

So I pull out the ingredients:

1. A soft chill out mix
2. A few candles
3. A mini resistance band
4. A foam roller
5. A chair

I spend a few minutes focusing on the candle light. Amazing how much it changes. Hopefully by now my mind is not racing. I stretch all the muscles gently, holding for 15 to 20 seconds. I use the mini band to stretch my hamstrings and calves, the peroneals and ITB. The foam roller is a great finisher for all this, and I follow it with some cat camel and sun salutations. 20 minutes of peace and lack of intense light and I am back to normal. My body feels better, nothing is too tight. I feel in control. I should do this every day. With the chance of some quiet time reducing stress levels, that should help fat loss, work performance, and improve sleep quality.

December in Barcelona

2007-12-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

My mom turned 50 on Dec 16. I thought that would be a scary time for her, so I came up with a distracting gift, I thought, let's give her a one week vacation as a gift. Thinking of places to go, Barcelona sounded the best. I knew it had architecture, beaches, history and mild winter climate. I thought it would be good to be in a place where I can read the signs and speak to people. I thought I could speak Spanish until I got there I found out that while they do understand it, the people of Catalonia won't really speak it.

On arriving at the airport, I spoke to a kind information office lady and bought a detailed map of the city in which our hotel was at the opposite end of where we landed. Got a cab, told the guy where to go in Spanish and proudly took off. 30 minutes and not one traffic light stop later we were at the 4* Vincci Con dal Mar, a very pleasant hotel, with a minimalistic design and very Zen atmosphere. I chose a hotel that was close to the beach, the metro station, and was in a new area built for the Olympic games. That same afternoon we went out for our first walk and our first meal.

My first impressions was that the neighborhood was stunningly clean, with very well organized traffic. We took a walk in a very futuristic looking park, then took off to a mall to get something to eat. We had some great Thai food, and were happy that the sea is so close that all seafood was fresh and tasty. We planned the first day.

THE GOTHIC TOWN

We spent the whole day exploring the heart of the Barri Gothic, with small winding streets, hidden yards, cathedrals and small antique shops. Beautiful trees, happy looking people and not too many tourists.

The main tourist street which takes you from the square to the sea port is about 1.5 km long and was planned as an architectural parade of modernistic houses, everywhere we looked, there were building upon buildings of beautiful architecture. The facades didn't look old, on the contrary, they blended in with contemporary construction. Anywhere we looked, I just wanted to pull out my camera and use up all my shots.
We had our first coffee at a chocolate and coffee shop over 100 years old, in La Rambla, the main walking street. Very deep and penetrating bite of chocolate served with each coffee made it worth every second. The exterior of the shop was amazing - colorful mosaics, shiny windows and fairy tale decoration. The waiters were fast, a tad snappy and very busy. I was proud to order in the local speak!

Here are a few pictures from the cafe!

The beautiful exterior!

I love small alleys like this and the old town abounds in them!

The house with the umbrellas. Used to be an umbrella shop, now houses a bank! Juan Miro is author of the dragon on the side!

This dragon!

The Gothic town is like unwrapping a present. Inside the stone walls are cathedrals, museums, churches, hidden courtyards, geese, tangerine trees, palm covered alleys, birds, small markets.

Like this little balcony, on one of the entrances to the Gothic town!

Or think about walking through a dark alley and stumbling on this yard, that turns out to be a plaza!

Placa del Rei!

Fountain in the Barcelona Cathedral yard.

Unfortunately, the beautiful exterior of the cathedral itself was being restored!

Too bad!

So we kept exploring the streets like this:

Every door, every lamp is worth marveling at!

We kept finding small squares everywhere, like the back of the archaeological museum here!

Or the entrance to this building! It houses administrative staff and the fountain and palm tree. The mosaic walls are centuries old!

The museum itself is so large it would take you over 3 days to look at it all, we only had time to walk under the remains of the old roman wall, very well preserved before the museum closed for a 3 hour afternoon siesta! I think most people would be pleased to have seen just the exterior, with the high walls, thick shadows and complex ornaments!

The museum has a few levels, and a fully preserved church inside!

From La Rambla, we went west, to try to find an old church and monastery. One tricky thing about having a map as your only guide is that you eventually end up in a bad neighborhood, with no tourists around and small shops with dead chickens hanging off the ceiling, weird smelling cafes and small dingy bakeries. People smiled though and my mom proudly said this used to be a really bad neighborhood but look now, how much better they made it, no drug dealers or nothing. I am just glad we made it here after they made it safer.

Iglecia de Sant Paul de Camp

Funny, on the way back, we saw a huge cat sculpture, that turned out to be the work of Colombian Artist Botero! No guidebook told about it and it seems like the statue has been in Barcelona for over 20 years!

From the back, it looks like a huge hipo and is known as the Fat Cat Sculpture!

Here is Botero's version of the Mona Lisa!

The Gothic town also hides official buildings, like the town hall, and government palace, which I didn't find all that striking, but the commotion around them was. We kept walking toward the Picasso Museum, which had an entrance you could reach from 4 sides, and thanks to my Spanish language skills we made it inside after not too long of a misunderstanding.

The museum contained over 3000 pieces of his work, some of which so popular it's hard to believe they actually exist in original. There is something about seeing a piece of art too much that makes you marvel at the fact it really exists somewhere, in a semi pristine version. I was most impressed by his ceramics and early work, before he went into the experimental and cubist phases.

We ended this trip walking down to the central train station, and sitting for some wonderful coffee! We saw this interesting fountain like structure that just made us wonder!

There is something about Barcelona that makes you want to paint, play music or at least fall in love! It would be a wonderful place to write a book.

Started two of the most sightseeing filled days at the central Plaza de Catalonia in the famous cafe Zurich...again, the best coffee in town. We got on those blue touristic buses that let you get off at sites so you can make the most of your day.

A CITY OF GAUDI

What gives Barcelona its architectural splendor, it's fairy tale like atmosphere and growing beauty is definitely due to the genius Gaudi, who lived a humble and charming life, away from society, but immersed in beauty. He had the chance to live in an era where people revered great minds and in a country where his genius was supported so that his visions could come to life.

The Casa Mila, also known as the rock quarry, with its ocean like exterior and chimneys like smoke. We had the chance to look inside, where apartments from the early 20s look amazingly modern, spacious, well-lit, and lavishly furnished. I can only imagine waking up and walking on one of those balconies!

A beautiful place to take a walk if heights are your thing!

And if you enjoy stairs!

We went on to the Sagrada Familia, a project Gaudi knew would take more than his lifetime to complete. He meant it to be a a cathedral for people to worship their lord together. He wanted it to be built entirely of donations. Strikingly, it's such a huge endeavor, it's taken almost a hundred years to build what we see today and it's constantly in construction. It's a miraculous site, mixing what was built while he was alive, what his contemporaries made of his drawings and what will probably take wild imagination to complete! It's nature built inside stone. It's trees that turn to ceilings and battle scenes that thrust swords inside walls, it's nature and fruits and animals and gardens and sand and trees all rolled up into one ever growing cathedral!

First view of the cathedral!

When Gaudi was asked if he is worried he will never see it finished, he said that he is building for someone who has all the time in the world. The Lord is in no hurry, he said. Indeed.

Right above the entrance! Тhe details are stunning!

Gaudi's works were very much inspired by the ingenuity of nature. Even the columns inside were meant to look like tree tops, for the light to shine down like it does through a tree canopy!

This section was done while Gaudi lived, and you can tell!

The park Guell was built to show that Barcelona could have it's own British style beautiful gardens, funded by Guell and designed by Gaudi, the gardens are breathtaking, on a nice small hill, where now there are houses, private schools, shops and restaurants. It was a refreshing hike up to see a fairy tale land unfold!

The two houses at the entrance all made of ceramics/mosaics! Sugarlike!

The world famous lizard fountain!

The columns make you feel like you are in the deep heart of the forest, among century old trees and support a very large terrace, laced with beautiful benches!

The pointy house was where Gaudi lived and now is turned into a museum!
He lived a humble and beautiful life, most of the objects in the house were handcrafted as if from another world! Soft lines, touches of nature and lots of wood and color are everywhere!

They say Gaudi had his workers sit in the benches so they could be molded perfectly to the back!

Walking on the sides of the terrace overlooking all of Barcelona all the way the Mediterranean, there are what seem like sandcastle molded columns, very much like sea waves, supported by women statues, as if suddenly appeared in the stone.

Feeling small here!

On the way back, the bus turistic stops at the Barca football stadium. Most of the people get off here to look around and take a tour. We just didn't feel like football that day.

THE PLAZA ESPANA AND MONJUIC

A cold and windy day followed, but the weather was kind, no rain. We proceeded to the Placa de Espana, something as big as the red square. You are met by two large red columns that open space to a long succession of water fountains, then in the distance is the Museum of art, which used to be a castle!

Not extremely ornamental, but very impressive!

Museum of Art! They have a ton of stairs, since this is actually Monjuic hill, that has a lot of sites on it, some of which we proceed to see!

The people of Barcelona had the foresight to build a small village that contains replicas of typical Spanish village buildings, each carefully marked. The site also contains craft shops, galleries, restaurants, it's wonderful, clean, realistic and picturesque, it's amazing that they did it almost a hundred years ago!

As we enter, small shops open up to the left and right! There is glass being blown, clay baked and embroidery made, very very calm and inspiring atmosphere!

There are stairs, alleys and entryways everywhere you look that take you to a different spot!

I love the Mediterranean looking part!

You could almost believe you are in a real village!

On the way back, we looked at the port from the high point of the Miramar gardens, the weather was not welcoming, but the view was great! Here is a low point in our trip when we got somehow lost on the map and could not locate the famous cactus gardens. We walked around confused, got very cold then went on to see the aquarium!

Тhe Barcelona Aquarium is famous for its 80 meter glass tunnel. I was stunned at how huge the sharks are. Having worked in the waters of the Caribbean, I knew these weer full size reef sharks. I loved seeing the stingrays, my favorite see creatures! It was a wonderful trip underwater, even if for a couple of hours.

The coolest creature that I saw was this tiny seahorse that looks like a piece of floating grass!

Back outside we had some wonderful fish at the port and kept exploring!
We walked out into a neighborhood I wanted to see, because the beach was there. It was all parallel streets, wonderful small houses...

...and churches like this! Barceloneta is wonderful!

To the west, the Port Villa opens up!

We finally made it to the beach where the wind was insane, but it was wide open space, the sound of the waves, people walking against the wind and the feeling of this place being absolutely gorgeous when the weather was nice, but oh well!

Can you way "wiiiind!"

Shortly after dusk, we got terribly lost in that small neighborhood, ended up walking in the wrong direction, felt dumb for about half an hour, then asked for directions and got back safe! If you have to get lost, this is the perfect place for it!

We left the walk in the Ciutadella park for the last day. The weather was kind, some drizzle, but just enough to make the air fresh and not to dampen our tourist spirit.

One of the two statues at the entrance of the park, where funny enough, you can even drive, if you keep it under 10 km/hr.

The Catalan Parliament. You can get very close even during working hours. I didn't seem like it was open for visitors that day.

Another major sight in restoration. Despite the cold, ducks, gulls and swans are walking around, swimming and creating commotion.

This is what it looks like when not in restoration!

The museum of zoology, apparently not in restoration!
There were many many school children all over the park writing assignments. They were also using tangerines from the trees to throw at each other :)

This was right at the north exit from the park and on our way to look for the Arc de Triumph!

The broad walkway is boarded by ornamental lights, benches and tall palm trees.

The arc! This enormous brick arch served as the entrance to the 1888 World Exposition site.

Close shot of the ornaments! Remarkable!

Every night, we would think of the picture of the Santa Ana cathedral and wonder how we missed it. We set out on a small trip to find it in the late afternoon. We sure did! It was a block away from the Picasso Museum and well hidden among the walls of the Barri Gothic.

The entrance with its ornamental doors!

It's truly amazing that from the inside all these windows are painted, but you couldn't tell from the outside!

See?

We later had a wonderful cup of

cappucino!!! One of the best ones in my life :)

We took a walk to a shopping mall, by the amazing skyscraper called Torre Agbar. It was built to look like the peaks of the Monserrat mountain, but it's more like a huge out of place geyser.

Pedestrian view!

We did some shopping, had some wonderful salad and calamari for dinner and spent our last night happy that we had done our best to see and feel Barcelona. We decided that we would spend the next morning walking around the Gothic area again, we just wanted to breathe that atmosphere again!

Needless to say, that last day we saw some old buildings that we had missed. Sometimes what's so close can seem invisible. Like these lights at the hotel. I only saw them seconds before leaving!

They were free hanging from the ceiling, like soap bubbles!

In recap, I am planning another trip to Barcelona. I would like to learn the language better before I do that, and visit more of the surroundings. Fall sounds like the best season for it!

The body image Grinch

2007-12-28T01:43:00.000-08:00

I closely observe how judgmental people can be of others’ looks. While the politically correct spirit of today forces us in the right direction, in my culture, it’s acceptable to make a negative remark of someone’s looks. While this fact doesn’t make it more pleasurable, the holiday season abounds in body shape judgments. Take for example a family get together for Christmas Eve. Food abounds, people are jolly and merry and someone says:” hey, don’t you think Joe is a tad heavier, he’s grown a belly or something”. Or take my high school class reunion from last night. We hadn’t seen each other in 9 years. First thing a guy says is: “hey, aren’t you a bit heavy for someone who works out?”. While Bulgarian culture is known for not making a difference between muscle and fat, and girls you see in the street have the body composition of a gummy bear, this is not exactly what I want to hear. Being a girl, all sorts of memories from high school body image issues resurface, and I have to spend half of my last day of Christmas vacation, fighting them and bringing myself to normalcy.

I have discussed this many times with clients, since the same things happens to them over and over again, and while the small imperfections that prove that people are not walking billboards don’t normally bother us, finding that they bother our closest friends and relatives is definitely a holiday downer. I call those body image critique specialists body image Grinches (BIGrinches), because they tend to steal the spirit of the holiday season. Funny enough, they are often the ones that don’t like to be in the BIGrinch’s spotlight.

At the same time, a lot of us have reason to be one way or another, and while some changes in body composition are often the result of being inactive and having a poor diet, the target of the BIGrinch might just be another person going through a hard situation or fighting through a time of bad health in their life. So think twice before you pass your judgment on:

Cousin Pete – over the past few years every time you see him for Easter of Christmas he looks like he’s working out, but he always eats too much, looks tired and he has a beer belly. He doesn’t drink, which makes it even weirder. This Christmas he looks strong and fit, his arms and legs look great, but his belly is bigger than ever. What you didn’t know is that he has diabetes type II and the triglyceride levels of a 70 year old heart patient. He feels tired all the time, so getting to the gym takes him a lot of effort, he is still not used to his medication and feels a bit depressed over losing his favorite foods. Not chatty this year, Pete? Let’s see if poking some fun at you over the arctic survival pack is going to make it better.

Aunt Lila – whatever happened to that happy, vital spirit? Aunt Lila looks tired and down. She’s gained at least 20 lbs since Easter and she’s lost some of her wonderful hair. She has bags under her eyes. You ask her if she has problems with eating too much sweets, and she breaks down. What you don’t know is that she has gastritis, which doesn’t let her absorb vitamin B, she is on antidepressants because uncle Jack is cheating on her and she sent her kids off to college this fall. See if her pounds will magically melt off if you buy her a gym membership. No worries, you have a whole year to think of another gift.

Your mom – you haven’t seen her in three months. You take her shopping and find out that she now wears a size larger than the last time you did that together. It’s sad in the changing room and you know better than to make a witty remark of her growing waistline. She’s been on a diet this whole time, to no avail. Her waist to hip ratio has grown and since you know that she has a history of thyroid problems, you get her a doctor’s appointment. Smart kid!

Your nephew Jim – he used to be the coolest kid in school, smart, strong and on the basketball team. His skin looks thin and pale, he doesn’t smile and looks like he hasn’t slept in months. He’s gained some weight in his hips and chest and he looks wimp and unmotivated. What he doesn’t want you to know is that he was just diagnosed with a hormonal imbalance and his testosterone has hit rock bottom. See if getting him a beer will cheer him up, don’t think so!

Your sister-in-law Gina – she’s a fitness trainer, former volleyball player and the high school beauty. She won a pageant once. You want to mention something about her hips, they always seemed sort of out of proportion with the rest of her body and those arms, they just can’t be all muscle. She is no longer a teenager and her job makes it hard on her to keep in the best shape possible. What you don’t know is that she has an estrogen imbalance, a metabolic condition where her body cannot utilize estrogen properly, so her thighs look big and bulky, while she boasts flat and beautiful abs. Don’t mention thunder thighs, unless you want to test her kung-fu.

So, the next time you see the ones you love most, don't steal the holiday spirit. Better yet, focus on you!

No need to feel low about low carb

2007-12-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

Most people cringe at the thought of cutting out carbs drastically. They report initial weakness, tiredness, feeling a lack of energy in the gym, loss of muscle tone and a general feeling of no well-being.
Our studio is a huge low carb lab. We have the rare chance to watch hundreds of compliant and not so compliant people that have chosen to follow the low carb approach and have modified it to suit their lifestyles. Very often, while explaining the benefits of a low carb approach to a new client, I get...well, I did the protein thing and it didn't work. I got so and so side effects, I lost some weight, but I felt terrible. When did the low carb approach become high-protein?

Let's look at the composition of a low carb diet:

* low carbs
* moderate protein
* high fat

It's as simple as that, yet many people disregard it's simplicity. They fight against the fat that is going on their plates harder than they fight the stubborn fat on their abs.

The people that report feeling low on low carbs usually have done one or more of the following:

* limited calories and carbs at the same time
* did not eat high fat
* ate too much protein
* ate too rarely and too little

There is an inherent need to do things right when cutting out carbs:

* eat at maintenance at first and only lower calories if fat loss does not happen for 2 weeks
* set your protein anywhere from 0.75 to 1.25 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight depending on physical activity and gender
* set your fat intake above 65% of total calories
* choose highly nutritious foods that naturally contain both fat and protein
* do not rely on dairy to fill your protein and calorie needs at least at first, since most people report unwanted digestive trouble when they do that; use dairy as a flavor, not as a main staple of your meals
* follow the approach for a long time, e.g. 3-6 months before you judge how you feel

Here are some of the benefits on eating lower carbs that I have experienced during the past 4 and a half years:

* improved body composition
* improved immune system status
* higher amount of muscle
* better mental clarity and improved concentration
* less frequent blood sugar drops
* improved digestion
* improved sleep
* improved joint health

I have frequently asked does one need to stay in ketosis to reap the benefits of low carb? I believe it is not so. I think the only times we need to drastically reduce carbs (e.g. <20-30 grams a day) is when we want to remind our bodies they need to rely on fat as a fuel source. Appropriate times are:

* after a number of days with higher carbs
* after a high carb cheat meal
* during a fat loss plateau
* before periods when discipline eating will not be possible
* in the beginning of a longer dietary cycle that includes calorie restriction

I also believe that the food choices are what makes the low carb approach successful. I constantly see frustrated people that have eaten nothing but chicken breast and white fish and greens and feel terrible.

Here are my top favorite low carb staples:

PROTEIN:

lamb
pork
salmon
beef
liver
cod liver
whole free range eggs
parmesan cheese
feta cheese
cottage cheese
whole yogurt

VEGGIES:
celeriac
celery
broccoli
spinach
cabbage
zucchini

FATS/OILS:

butter
olive oil
coconut oil

A typical day would therefore include:
(for a 125 lb female on a weight/fat loss cycle)

Breakfast:
3 eggs
cup of yogurt
broccoli

Lunch:
salmon
cabbage salad

Snack:
cod liver

Dinner:
spinach with butter
cottage cheese

I have recently discovered the convenience of canned raw cod liver, which is extremely rich in vitamins and essential fatty acids and ranks very high on the satiety scale.

A lot of people like to take a meal off a week, and I think that is perfectly fine if you are reaching your goals. If not, I find that strict dieting can still be fun with foods like:

peanut butter
coconut milk and cream
sour cream mixed in with protein powder
all natural hot cocoa

Last, but not least, limiting carbs still leaves place for limiting calories. Since most low carb foods are also rich in nutrients and energy, measuring and weighing becomes an important factor to success. Truth be told, 80% of my clients have great results without ever tracking quantity and relying on their body's ability to self regulate. Those of us that have a long history of dieting and hard time shedding body fat should definitely respect the calorie law. We are also the ones that would mostly benefit from refeeds, calories cycling and other approaches we can integrate withing the low carb lifestyle.

Spider Games 2007

2007-11-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

You outperform when faced with the only option of winning. Sunday, Nov 18, was the first competition in my life. I never competed in anything, because I never trained any sport that I was serious about and honestly, I never had it in me to go out and play against others. Last year, Milko had the idea to start an annual competition with 12 events that would give our clients, friends and other trainees that work out religiously, something to train for. He called it Spider Games and the trial competition was such a great success that we were happy to have it again for a second year! I decided to compete a few months ago mostly for the fun of it, but when the time came, I felt determined to win.

Here are shortly, the feelings, thoughts and events of November 18!

The waking up part
It was a mixture of sleepy, excited and anxious. I drank tons of water and coffee, made some scrambled eggs, had an apple and took a long shower. I visualized going through the events that were hard for me.

The shoulder part
I woke up with pain in my left posterior shoulder. I got it slightly impinged a week ago and it had gotten better, but here it was again! I thought could this be just psychosomatic, maybe I am scared of losing. I was dreading the push ups, one of the events I could be easily beat in, had the pain persisted.

The husband part
Jonas was extremely supportive, talked to me, calmed me down, rubbed my shoulders and the world seemed brighter. Sometimes I feel like he's right out of an American movie, but I guess that's what I get for marrying an actor.

The rain part
On the day we had 4 events outside, it was raining and the temperatures were freezing. Just the type of motivating weather I wanted to see through the window. I jammed more warm clothes in my bag.

The music
On the way there, it was all about getting high on music. Disturbed did it.

The competition site
The competition was happening in a large hall where there were about 100 women dancing with touring aerobic instructors from all over the world. It was extremely noisy and we set camp at the farthest end. The music was loud and it both helped and didn't help focus. Loud music numbs your brain, but if you need quiet to focus, like I do, you are screwed.

The support
My mom and dad came. Some of our clients were there, taking pictures and cheering! Most of my trainers were there, and most were also competing. I didn't lack support!

Тhe sound of "alone"
Once the events started I thought man how am I going to focus, but then as soon as it was my turn, everything shrank to insignificant sounds and sights, people and friends and family disappeared and I was all alone doing what I was supposed to do - my best.

The events

1 RM deadlift

Out of the 7 women, most lifted over 80 kgs. The only girl that could beat me can't deadlift all that well, so I thought she won't do over 80. I had planned to lift 90 kgs and save my strength for the other events. She did 90, and I went crap, what now...I went for 92.5 and it was no problem. Then the boys said go for 100 kg. So I did.

1 RM Military Press

I had only done 35 kgs for max attemps. I lifted 37.5 kg. It was ugly hard.

1 RM lunge
I was sure noone could beat me here and I had done 65 kg before. To my utter surprise the girl next to me did 70. I did 72.5. It was scary, but I did it. I was amazed at how concentrated I was after I failed one of my attempts because my step was too short. This one was thanks to Milko, who believed I could do more. To me, the 72.5 kg attempt was the absolute max.

Push ups

This was never my strongest. The girl, who was my only competition is a natural born athlete, really broad shoulders and she could always do a lot of push ups and pull ups. She got 28 and I got 19. Milko didn't like her form on 11 and mine on 1, so I ended up winning. Close, huh!

Airborne Lunges
The most a girl did was 10 per leg. I cranked up 35 with my right leg and then stopped at 12 with the left because I had already won, I didn't need to show off. Truth be told, I could have done 50 per leg, it's just easy for me. Тhis was the only event where I was smiling!

The L-sit
With the L-sit, there was no way to win, I had to stay there, hold and not listen to the pain in my palms, hold, stay and just bite it. All I got was 46 seconds, enough to place second.

weighted pull up
The mechanics of how I do a pull up changed dramatically with posture correction so I lost a lot of my strength there. I feared I wouldn't be able to do 1 but I got a pull up with 5 kg weight on my waist. I attempted 6.25kg and failed. I placed second.

pulls ups
At this point I was so exhausted that I only got 3. I would have gotten more fresh on a good day. Not my strongest and something to really focus on for next year.

By the time we got on the track for shot put, long jump, sprint and 1200 m run, I was tired, cold and beat. Waiting between events was the hardest part. The sprint, I ended up second. The run was the event that was going to win it for me. So I ran. The first two laps I was ahead of all runners, even the guys. Milko told me to slow down. Even then, the freezing rain and cold got me. The last two laps were agony. Then I beat the girls.

Here are the videos from the inside events:

Still not losing fat?

2007-11-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

I spend at least an hour a day explaining to frustrated people why their fat loss has stalled, slowed down or not ever happening. I see a lot of explaining, complaining and meet a lot of resistance when people find out they need a pretty accurate estimate of how much they are eating! I loved this video that Leigh Peele shot to portray just how easily we can fall into the trap of thinking we are doing everything right!

Here is my list of foods that people love to measure more of!

* olive oil

* peanut butter

* nuts

* cheese

* butter

* sour cream

* fruit

* honey

* cream or milk in coffee

I have been measuring and eyeballing food for more than 12 years now. While some people might find it obsessive, I feel that being aware of not only what you eat, but also how much you eat is a key to maintaining or changing your physique. If you're not progressing toward a goal, the quantity of your otherwise healthy food might be where you need to look for an answer!

Timing

2007-11-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

When I design training programs I play with sets, reps, load, tempo, rest intervals, just like I hope every other trainer or trainee does, whether aware of it or not. Becoming truly aware of those components is what will distinguish a brilliant working plan from a plan that will just work, compared to no plan.
It's been long since I sat and thought of that specifically, but I've had exceptionally great workouts in the past few days thanks to my new toy, the Timex Ironman Triathlon.
The manual was too long for the technically challenged, so I went to the good part that explained laps and split timing and I was done! I easily figured out that little girly watch can time 100 laps,remember 50 of them and make all the right noises! Funny enough, seems like time goes by faster! Talk about time perception and distortion!
Unlike loads and sets and reps, rest intervals and tempo are often overlooked. You never hear anyone say: oh yeah and I rested for 30 seconds between sets of squats and pull ups today! Most trainees will brag about their numbers and will rest until they are done talking, reading, switching songs on their i pods or when they feel like it's time to start. And that's absolutely fine, unless you are actually training for something.
Rest will always be based on your primary goal, whether it's strength, energy hypertrophy, or different types of endurance. Then rest will be based on your loads and the primary requirements of your sport or event. You won't take 30 second breaks preparing for a maximum lift, nor will you take 5 minute breaks getting ready for a kick boxing match.

Here is a quick recap of major RI schemes:

reps 1><3><6><10=><12=>12 = 30'-60' RI
Energy System Training = maximum rest interval equals max length of maximum effort, try to decrease RI each training micro-cycle.

Learning to time your rest intervals is just as crucial for training success as are reading the numbers on the weight plates and learning proper form. If you are not doing it, start doing it today. Match your goals to your rest intervals, then time, then adjust accordingly the next time you plan a change in your training program.

Getting ready for Spider Games III

2007-11-06T09:07:00.001-08:00

It's been intense this week. I am working hard on my program with Bill Hartman, and the added work for Spider Games is still not putting me over the edge of what I can handle, but I get close some days.

Good news is that nutrition is very easy, this is how my day goes now:

Upon waking up:

500 mg L-lyrosine
1/2 cup half skim coconut milk
coffee

Breakfast:

3 eggs with 1 tbsp butter
2 oz feta cheese
cup veggies

Lunch

4 oz meat (fish or pork)
1 cup veggies or 1 apple

Dinner
3 cups vegetable and meat broth
1 oz cheese
2 cups plain yogurt

I am not a crazy fan of supplements, usually I only take fish oil, but I've added some for a few weeks:

fish oil - 9 caps a day
Abs + - 3 a day
BCAAs - if I am feeling weak and tired from work, that helps me push through workouts
creatine/glutamine - on heavy lifting days (2-3 times a week max)

Lifts so far go like this:

Military press 1 RM = 35 kg

pull ups = 3 good ones with neck touching bar

push ups - 16 great ones

lunge 1RM = 65 kg

deadlift 1RM = 87.5kg

L-sit = 50 seconds

airborne lunge = 30 per leg

I am running these days to see how sprints and 1200 meters are.

I am feeling strong these days, want to stay focused on the goal, while still having fun.

These guys have made the process awfully easy!

Getting ready for Spider Games II

2007-10-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

I am still getting ready for Spider Games. I am mentally ready, especially after the seeing the guys qualify on Sunday.

Two things I have improved on:
airborne lunges - I can do 30 per leg, with pleasure
push ups - while I still don't kick ass, I am so much better, I can get 16 with great form and 20 with some compromises in depth
My bench is growing, which will affect my performance.
L-sit - 30 seconds, not that hard anymore, are you?

Nov 18 is close! These last few weeks have been very demanding, both physically and emotionally! The sources of strength are abundant! Nature is kind, and so it my music :)

Writing vs. lecturing

2007-10-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

I've just had a week of heavy writing, that is not yet over. Being a fitness editor for a pregnancy magazine is lots of fun. I have the freedom to take whatever photos I like and include whatever exercises I choose provided I do not go overboard with nutritional strictness. My job also includes lecturing at the motherhood school that some of the readers attend. Today I was talking about postnatal recovery and the need to take charge of your own body just hours after you gave birth.

Here are some random thoughts on observing and talking to the 60 women that attended today:

1. Pizza, ice-cream and juice were the main staples eaten at the lecture. Every time I mentioned clean eating I got a lot of understanding looks and no one seemed to connect what I was talking about to what they had chosen to eat while listening. Waiters were still bringing cake and ice-cream at the end of the lecture. Knowing vs. doing is a powerful opposition.

2. Women care more about weight loss that about lower back health.

3. They will carry a growing baby around and will walk upstairs with a stroller under their arm, but they will refuse to join a gym because weights are not good for them.

4. They would rather take supplements and use anti-cellulite lotion than do a set of lunges, because it takes less time.

5. They will postpone starting an exercise program until they are done breastfeeding. I find that is the same type of women that procrastinated before they got pregnant, found a reason not to exercise while they were pregnant and will look for more after birth.

6. They will eat olive oil, but they won't eat lamb. Did you know that half the fat in lamb is monounsaturated?

7. They will not face the fact that taking care for a baby is hard physical labor, and they need to be prepared. I am thinking of starting a prenatal strength and conditioning program, where deadlifting, barbell rowing and snatching are staples.

8. Doctors fail to give adequate advice and will err on the wrong side. At least Americans have ACOG. We have nothing like that.

9. 100% of the mothers that attended love my articles and recipes. None of them ever tried the exercises or the recipes.

I am working on a large multimedia presentation that I have to show in 12 towns in a month. I will meet over 1000 women. I will repeat the phrase " take responsibility" over 200 times.

Have an apple!

2007-10-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday night. I've had a hard medium length workout, two small protein rich meals, a long and fun dinner with friends and a sweet tooth. Why we humans want sweets is not a mystery. Beyond satisfying immediate energy needs through fast sugar pathways we need it to feel loved and comforted. I would be the last person on Earth to urge someone toward eating sweets or have unnecessary carbs, however at the end of my week, my friends, an apple feels just fine! 20 grams of sugar, some fiber and all the satisfaction I need, all rolled up into a premade serving size! 1 apple to rule them all:)

Getting ready for Spider Games

2007-10-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

Once a year we have a competition that is entered by some of our trainers, clients, friends and other people who train and want to participate. The main goal is to give trainees something to train for, rather than just going to work out. It also allows us to compare how people have developed through the year. I am doing it this year first because there are only a handful of women competing and also because I want to have fun lifting with and around other people.

I am given a few days break between cycles with Bill and I am working on some of the main lifts.

Here are my numbers so far, and I have three weeks till the competition, which is on Nov 18.

Pull up 1 - I have lost a lot of my pull up strength, first because I am carrying more bodyweight in my lower body and second because I haven't been doing them since we started realigning my back. I use my muscles in new patterns that I am not used to.

Conventional Deadlift - 87.5kg 1RM - I can do more but I don't want to do maximum attempts right now

Lunge 60kg 1RM - knee should touch floor so I am not pushing for higher loads now

Push ups 15 - I know I can do better, maybe shoot for 25 for the competition

Airborne lunge 20 per leg - it's not hard to get them with the knee hitting the floor, but it's hard on my sensitive knee, so I train those rarely

L-sit on push up handles off the floor - 30 seconds

military press 32.5 kg 1RM

I am going to use this entry as a workout diary, so I can follow my progress till the competition! I have never competed in anything, so this is exciting!

Setting me straight

2007-10-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

When you have worked out for a few years, there are goals upon goals of history, some achieved, some not, but having goals is a major drive in the game of training. My goals were always to be healthy, strong and leaner. Strong was going fine, healthy and lean were not. I had some chronic aches and pains, and body fat would not come off. I trained too hard, payed too much attention to diet and missed a major point: my body was not built to do what I wanted it to do.

Back in April, fate was kind to me. I met Bill Hartman, for an assessment of a number of problems that had been ailing me for years.

1. Shoulder pain
2. Anterior Pelvic tilt and low back pain
3. Knee pain (left)
4. Foot pain (left)
5. Difficulty losing fat

After a long and interesting session, most of my fears were confirmed and a few new training goals emerged. We needed to realign my posture, fix the anterior pelvic tilt, loosen the anterior hips, work on ab strength and upper back mobility. My glutes and upper back were happily asleep and needed to be woken up. Interestingly, while my body wasn't functioning properly, I could happily do 10 pull ups and do a 1RM deadlift of 203 lbs. Thinking back, the scary part is I could actually do that weight with half of my muscles not even taking part.

Bill put me on a program as soon as I came back to Bulgaria and we are currently finishing the fifth cycle of it. It involves a lot of mobility work, activation, targeted stretching, strength training, self release and EST training.

Between May and June I dropped 2% body fat, a rate I had never witnessed before. I felt better, lost most of my pain, especially the lower back and shoulder pain. I continued on that path, getting a bit leaner and building muscle. I never wrote about my experience until now, I wanted to wait, but I got very excited by my recent progress shots! At the end of each month I take progress pictures so he can assess my progress. I usually only compare the last month to this month's progress, but I chose a picture from the end of my first month and the difference in posture was truly obvious. I am feeling a mixed cocktail of joy, reward and anticipation for more hard work and results. I have always worried that I never looked athletic, and for the first time in my life I feel like I am working towards a base of developing a body that I would totally enjoy having and working with!

So how do you measure progress: 1)how you look 2) how you feel

If you are working toward a goal of your own, don't forget that pictures are a powerful means of tracking progress! Take them often and compare, but also be prepared that it will take months and months of added effort before you can say wow! I did it. That feeling, my friends, is worth waiting for and working for.

Sometimes I wonder what to say to Bill about how I feel when I run, or lift or stand or get out of bed in the morning. Stability and mobility can be very emotionally empowering. Being able to DO is so much different than wishing or thinking you are ABLE TO DO. Without knowledge no hard work will help you find the difference between the two!

IT

2007-10-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Women that come to me, often point to a soft triceps and say : "I want IT to be firmer, but I don't want to build muscle". IT is an interesting substance in the minds of people who have never exercised. On one hand we have the unwanted fat, the loose skin and the shaky looks, on the other we have the absolute fear of growing muscle and a deep voice. IT is what women want - that sexy substance that's not fat and not muscle, but shines with health and feels hard to the touch!

Thinking vs. Doing

2007-10-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

thoughts on training smart people

I had an interesting conversation with one of my clients today. She's in her early 30s, a successful university professor and thriving architect. Wе were discussing how results in the gym are very much related to other results in other spheres of life. If one is successful and responsible as a business person, they usually apply the same qualities that got them where they are in business, to training and nutrition. They will invest their money, time and effort wisely and walk out in better shape and better health. However, there is a catch. A vast majority of successful and intelligent individuals will transfer their habit of thinking to become successful instead of doing to become successful to their training. And this is where they'll fail. Changing and improving your body has a lot more to do with doing than with just thinking about it. I know people that overanalyze, weigh in plans, approaches and more and never get to actually acting out the plan. In business this would be fatal, and since there is no punishment for lack of immediate action in the gym, most people practice this forever and that takes them to me. Now I can act on their plans.

To sum up:

Thinking + Action = sucesss

Brilliant Idea + No Action = possible success in a future moment

Act more on things related to your body! Whatever ideas and plans you have, start putting in the time today. There's no tomorrow when it comes to you!

The Training Conspiracy

2007-10-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

as seen by Jonas Talkington

We just got done watching a movie called Zeitgeist. The plot in a nutshell: religion, education and the world order have only one goal: to make sure people believe myths so they get enslaved to produce money for the international bankers. Point taken.

I jokingly said to my husband: you know if there exists a training conspiracy, you must know about it, because you avoid working out like you would getting a chip inplanted by your government!

And here is what he said:

1. You are forced to spend money on fitness
2. It gets you used being under someone else's control
3. It releases angst, anxiety anger and aggression that can't be turned towards other things
4. It creates a heavy self-interest, so that social interaction is reduced
5. Creates a perpetual image of I-am-not-good-enough, I-should-be-better
6. It creates a subtle dependence on the medical industry (this was a long rant that went through insurance companies and entering the system as a geriatric patient)
7. It's a form of social control where people who do not possess the physical characteristics of good fitness cannot make it higher in the social hierarchy
8. It makes people believe (indirectly) that physical strength is more important than intelligence

Oh he could go on and on to play devil's advocate...it's always a pleasure to have a good midnight discussion!

Sources of strength

2007-10-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

When it comes to living, lifting, playing and following your dreams you can't succeed without the basic pillars of strength. Here, body and mind become one, so it's hard to say which fuels which:

*Food - eat well and you know your results will follow. You'll think better, perform better and look like you deserve for your hard work!
*Supplements - take your fish oil. Just do it!
*Water - a gallon a day keeps you well hydrated, alert and productive, do it!
*Caffeine - I don't consider a drink than makes me feel better, lift heavier and stay awake when I am spotting a client at 7 p.m. bad for me. On the contrary - I enjoy a few cups of coffee each day, just make sure it's mostly organic and I mix decaf and regular in a 1:1 ratio so I don't overdo it and become jittery!
*Sleep - we don't get enough - sleep as long as possible and as often as possible. Mini naps are a killer solution! I had one on our balcony this afternoon and it changed my whole day! Better hormonal regulation, faster recovery and easier fat loss are not to miss!
*Reading- anything from your internet t-nation articles to a good book of fiction will feed your soul the necessary nutrients to thrive, grow and learn. Learning something everyday is what makes you tick!
*Training- one of the core experiences, along with falling in love, finding a soul mate, having children and saving the planet from global warming! We had a discussion about the enjoyment from sex and workouts today. Training is a solo, well-planned battle you win each time! You can't beat it!
*Being responsible- recycle, reuse, support local farmers. Giving back to the planet is a blessing, and experiencing it is easy.
*Allowing to get inspired - let people push your good buttons, let them inspire you! Spend as much time as possible with people you like, admire and enjoy. Learn and grow, charge your batteries as often as possible!
*Spend time in nature - immerse yourself in nature at least every few days. You don't need to go hiking. Watching the bushes outside your window, and appreciating life and nature will do just fine!
*Family time - make sure you communicate with family members, take them out, send them packages, organize surprise parties for them, do anything to see them and appreciate them
*Respect your body- treat your body with love, and it will speak back to you. Never complain with how it looks, never speak bad to it. Your body will always reflect how you treat it and address it.
*Visualize - see everything you want to achieve before you set on the path to achieving it. Images are powerful means. Fill your thoughts with the things and emotions you want to attract and they will come to you!

Dare to outperform

2007-10-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

I was just listening to Dos Remedios on Maxout Radio make a great point: we underestimate how resilient the human body is. Just how much can you throw at yourself so you do better, look better, perform better, eat better, love better? I've had a long day and it hasn't even come close to ending yet. I have to prioritize, perform, enjoy and do it all over again tomorrow. I am tired, but you know what, my writing is getting better and my clients are getting stronger, my legs hurt from training and standing, but you know, they are also harder, and I like how my arms look and I totally dig carrying all my week's groceries 4 flights on my own.

Chocolate flavored Sunday

2007-09-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

One of my (ex)trainers and one of our clients/friends are looking at starting a super cool project. They want to make their own homemade chocolate and chocolate cakes. They want to only use natural ingredients, no sugar, artificial sweeteners or taste enhancers. The winner ingredients are nuts, butter, cream, honey and molasses and organic cocoa.
They asked a few of us to taste a batch of test products that we would taste and name and also brainstorm for a name for the website. It was a very filling and warm experience.
We tested some muffins, chocolate, a cake and a cream I can't really describe that looked like butter with chocolate mixed in.
It was tasty and energizing.

The great thing about their chocolate is:

1. You can't eat much, it's very chocolaty. The taste fills you quickly and overwhelms your receptors.

2. It doesn't have too many calories, I think a piece of cake comes up to 100.

3. You can have it more often than regular chocolate and it's not addictive like regular store-bought stuff.

4. You can be a good girl and a bad girl all in one, and that alone is worth it!

If you're living in Bulgaria, email them at totalchoc@gmail.com and get your chocolates today :)

Mobile technology for your upper back

2007-09-30T02:47:00.000-07:00

As trainers we often talk about motivation - motivation to eat well, to train hard and to rest smart. It's interesting how humans have undergone a critical shift in priorities and not exactly in the right direction.

YOU CHARGE YOUR MOBILE PHONE AT NIGHT SO IT DOESN'T DIE IN THE A.M, YET YOU SKIP BREAKFAST

YOU TAKE YOUR CAR TO THE SHOP EACH TIME YOU GET AN OIL LEAK, YET YOU DON'T GO HOME WHEN YOU GET A COLD

YOU WILL NOT USE YOUR HUSBAND'S/WIFE'S SHAMPOO YET YOU'LL EAT THEIR DESSERT

Here's my suggestion, shift some of that care you show your things to the care you could show your body.

Start with how mobile you can be. After you charge your mobile phone, charge your upper back with more mobility. You can do it at night, or you can do it before your workout.

1. Use a foam roller for about 1 minute to mobilize your upper back.

2. Do the following exercises:

- quadruped thoracic rotation for 10 reps each side
- cat-camel for 10 reps
- 4 point rock for 10 reps
- reach, roll and lift for 10 reps each side

3. Use a foam roller again for about 1 minute and move on to a workout or a more mobile day.

Want more mobility? Pick up a copy of the Inside-Out. It's the most comprehensive tool you'll ever need to improve your performance and the way your upper body feels while sitting, standing, walking and working out!

Bodybuilding

2007-09-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

When I first became interested in how people train I got my fair share of Muscle&Fitness radiation. Back in those days I knew little about training aids, how the body works or what was possible. To me, bodybuilders just did "more" of what other people did. I admired them for the discipline, the time it took to get where they are and the courage to stay at the top. Eating, training and sleeping were all rolled up into one devoted end result - to compete, win and ultimately, be satisfied with who you are. Back in those days I knew who Arnold was, I could recognize Franco Columbu from any shot and I knew who won the Olympia. That was a long time ago, seems like ages separate me from the awe and respect I had for those guys.

Enter the year 2007. I am an NSCA certified personal trainer, more knowledgeable than ever before and climbing a steep and steady learning curve. I don't train like a bodybuilder, and I could describe my current goal as "corrective fat loss". I train weight loss clients, deconditioned housewives, lazy teenagers and promising young career people. I don't train bodybuilders and I probably never will, since I am on the health and happiness side of the business. I will gladly share the iron and brass tools of the trade with the guys from the covers of magazines, but I will not play. It's just not who I am.

Enter last night.
My husband calls me and says: "Hey, do you know who Flex Wheeler is? " and I'm like "Yeah, do you know who Arnold is, c'mon?". Then he says: "Do you want to go out with him, he's in Sofia". So we do. The guy is super nice, friendly and giving. We talk about life, training and happiness. I was really excited to meet him. The hard work someone at his level has put in has layered his personality with extra energy and true charisma.

Here is what got me! I was quite surprised at how much joy and inspiration I felt. The last 5 years I have been so far from the bodybuilding world that all the emotion I had was built on what I once felt for it. The same way a bad emotional memory can come up to the surface, I had a happy emotional memory spring up from my past. Flex's partner asked if I wanted to train with them in the morning, and I said yes, you can't miss such an opportunity, sore trap or no sore trap!

Sunday. I meet them at a large bodybuilding gym, where I find out I will be working out with Flex and all the other people that are gathered around the protein bar are just there to meet him, but will be waiting till we get done.
We move on to work out and there's this large crowd just standing there. There were competitors in skimpy tops, excited girlfriends, and very important people I didn't know. He says: are you ready to go? And we go. I don't know why, but I didn't expect it would be just us two.

He starts and I follow. Bicep/tricep day.
My functionally trained body rebels. I am here to learn, so I have this mixed feeling of...dang I will be sore for my strength workout and my trap is not healed and then the waves of excitement drown all my concerns.

We start of with hammer curls, move on to tricep pushdowns, follow it with one arm bicep curls on machine, then overhead extensions then scott curls, ahhhh. 4x10, 4x15, 4x20. I would rather squat till I fall any day. At one point we were doing machine curls and I said, man...I am not doing another set, this machine sucks. I don't see how the benefits can outweigh the discomfort. So he says, you know what, you're right, let's move on.

What impressed me about the way he trains:

- He looked proud with what he does. It looked like he completely enjoyed and took pride in his training.

- He did what feels good to him. Now that he doesn't compete, I guess he just does what he loves most

- He had rhythm. I tried to talk to him about tempo. He said he just feels it. Wanted me to get a nice music going there for me.

- Focus: Flex was focused and I mean focused. None of what we did was super heavy or scary looking, but he was all into it, thinking and connecting.

He used supersets, short rests, tons of reps and could really push past the point of tired. It might have looked like he was only going to get 8 reps and then he got 20.

Flex was very generous with his time, counting every rep I did with the calm of a partner, didn't push me in a way to make me feel small or incapable. He was attentive, very particular about form and truly supportive. It felt like having a workout buddy, an older brother, just one that really feels comfortable with his game.

I never do any of the isolation work we did or if I play with a curl or extension it's for a very short time. The volume we did was crushing to me.

We were done in a bit over an hour and we decided to see a football game together that same night. Signed photos were in order and then we parted.

I had trouble using my arms for the rest of the day and two days later my arms are still recovering. My soul still rejoices because I encountered a long buried joy with training. I rediscovered a feeling, not exactly the approach to how we built our bodies. I've been very strong in my workouts this week, partly because of that rekindled spirit. It's the same feeling you get when you fall in love, only now you already play the game and you enjoy it more.

Shiny nails!

2007-09-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

I was looking at my nails a few days ago and thought they have a strong glossy shine, they never used to before. I have switched to a GNC brand of concentrated fish oil, and also added CLA (Tonalin or Abs+ depending on the week). I have always been super skeptical of nail and hair vitamins, miracle beauty from the inside supplements and quick promises to get healthy nails in a pill. This time I'm impressed!

Unilateral Times

2007-09-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

If you are squatting, deadlifting and performing olympic lifts you are ahead of 99% of the training population. You can proudly stand on both feet! The only thing more important is that you can proudly stand and perform on one foot!

A lot of beginners will shy away from single leg movements, because they look difficult, but they should do their best to get good instruction and master them. Advanced trainees forget them, because the weight on the bar isn't as impressive as they wish. Busy people think they take too much training time. These are just some of the excuses that people have. And I ignore them all.

Why I love unilateral work:

* It helps to even out imbalances. Just imagine squatting a 5RM with just one of your glutes firing on time

* It allows you to load your lower body without overloading your lower back. Just compare a 100 lb lunge to a 220 lb squat!

* It helps you work your core without performing extra work for your core muscles

* It's metabolically expensive. It takes more calories to perform a longs set of lunges than a shorter set of squats and it will surely stir metabolic havoc for hours after you are done training

* It has immense carryover to work on both feet. Next time your deadlift stalls, include a one leg dealift variety for a month and then go back to conventional deadlifting

* It translates to a stronger and more injury free YOU every time you sit in your car, climb upstairs, go downstairs, step and lift something off the floor, get in and out of bed and run to catch a taxi

Here are my top 5 favorite unilateral exercises along with some tips:

1. PISTOL SQUAT
It's the beauty queen of lower body single leg work. Start holding on to a partner, a high pulley set to enough resistance to pull you back up,or a thick resistance band. Work your way to negatives and full pistol squats. Adding weight to the exercise is tricky, using a plate to hold in front of your chest is the best you can do. Kettlebells are also an option. If you lack flexibility, you can do airborne lunges instead.

2. SINGLE LEG ROMANIAN DEADLIFT

You can keep your rear leg on a bench or just bent behind you. Make sure your pelvis stays straight and does not rotate during the movement.

3. REVERSE LUNGE

I like front reverse lunges, but back loading will do, too. Make sure you lunge straight up before you take your step forward.

4. BULGARIAN DEADLIFT

The pride and joy of all Bulgarian gyms. Just kidding, no one's even heard of it. Place your barbell in front of a bench and prop the rear leg behind, as in a Bulgarian squat.

5. LATERAL LUNGE

It will break you if you do it right. Take a step to the side and sit back. Make sure you use your glutes to squat and push back out to starting position.

Try to include at least two of them each time you plan a new workout cycle! It's worked wonderfully with most of my clients and females love the aesthetic results!
It only comes to show better performance precedes better looks!

The cost of fresh fish

2007-09-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

Oh, fish, how I love thee!
It helps being an English major when I lack the words to describe my favorite source of protein. Fish has the taste, texture and smell that both excites and fills me up. Given the miserable amount of calories it offers, the abundance of healthy fats and the variety of fish I can choose from, it practically never gets old eating fish.
I usually buy ready to cook trout or salmon, bass, carp and mackerel. Sofia is not exactly the fish capital of the world, and having lived in the Caribbean I am not exactly low maintenance when it comes to my fish.
Back to my fish story. Today was a high calorie day and I strolled aimlessly down the fish aisle, knowing there was beef for dinner and knowing I have some salmon in the fridge for tomorrow's low day. I passed some beautiful shiny long fish that go by the name Zargan here. I got excited about cooking something new, plus this fish is so abundant in phosphorus I though my brain could use some of it in place of the salmon.
So I proudly took my fishies home and unpacked them at the sink. To my surprise the fish was not cleaned, and as whole as they come. Let me tell you what I know about cleaning fish: nothing, zero, nada.
One long phone conversation later, here are the DIY tips for cleaning a long skinny fish:

1. Wash fish and grab a sharp knife.
2. Cut a slit along the belly
3. Using a plastic bag and trying not to look hook your fingers and pull all the insides into the bag
4. Wash fish entirely and make sure there is nothing left on the inside
5. Make sure you lock the cat away since it's almost impossible to be gutting the fish and not kill the cat with the knife

I hated every minute of cleaning that fish with the proud knowledge that nutrition comes first and being grossed out comes second. The fish ended up baked with some fresh lime juice, salt and pepper and the green bones were hell to remove, but it was an effort all worth it!

No fitness vacation for you, some back in 3 days

2007-09-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

Every spring, in May, me and Milko Georgiev take a group of people on a Fitness Vacation. This year, we planned to do another one in September, which didn't happen for a number of reasons. I promised two of the girls that I was going to accompany them on a three day trip to the mountains, work out, eat well and make up for not going on a one week fitness vacation trip. Bulgaria is famous for using national holidays to take days off work, so we left for Unification Day, which was the beginning of a long weekend. It was nice, given that September can be pretty cold. We had some awesome food, slept well, hiked, did bodyweight workouts, sprinted and talked a lot about dieting, working out, publishing, and men-related issues. At times I felt like they were filming The Biggest Loser behind my back and then at others I felt like a star in a new episode of Sex and the City. I came back happy and refreshed, although forgetting my foam roller at the hotel marred my mood for the afternoon.

I love picture stories, so here is one:

The shiniest cows I have ever seen, the type I hope milk comes from

The place where we stayed, after the rain

The cute baby doe that lives on site, only 1.5 months old

The whole deer family

Batak Lake as I saw it for the first time

Batak Lake, near the wall

The greatest thing about sharing activity, healthy food and relaxing time with long time clients is that I get to learn more about the complexity of characters that I work with every day. There is magic in the trainer-client relationship that goes beyond instruction, where appreciation and sharing positive results speak louder than results themselves.
It's only when we can detach ourselves from results for results' sake that we can truly achieve transformations, whether in body or soul.

The bodyweight a.m. workouts from the 3 day trip coming soon!

To Fitday or Not to Fitday

2007-09-08T12:13:00.001-07:00

I've been using Fitday for as long as I can remember to track my calorie intake and macro breakdown, as well as to calculate the value of recipes, client intakes, etc. I use the free online version.
Why I love it:

* It's online, so I can access it from home and work
* I can share my daily log for people to see when I want to discuss it
* I can customize foods
* I can look at my food log in detail and have a reliable place to keep track of what I did in the past and how it affected me

Why I don't:

* It overestimates expenditure from activity (huh, I wish it didn't because then I could eat a boatload)
* It doesn't chart changes over long periods of time (one month might sound like enough, but sometimes I need to look at a longer period)

I have been keeping a detailed food and training log for the last 13 months, during which I have been very active in experimenting with different macro set-ups, caloric intakes and refeed schemes. I couldn't have done it without a reliable software to track my intentions and monitor my actions.

I spent the last three days without any internet access, right at the foot of a great mountain, surrounded with wonderful people, great tasting healthy food and enjoying plenty of time for activity and relaxation. The whole time I took notes on my phone, so that when I returned I could enter the foods in my log and calculate my intake. I am currently calorie cycling, but since those 3 days were very active, I chose to eat around maintenance and let my body choose how much my intake would be. I came back and entered my foods and to no surprise I averaged 1650 calories, the same amount I average between low and high calorie days during cycling and while calculating with Fitday. One reason is that subconsciously I make choices similar to the choices during my planned days, another is that my body is already used to an intake that it chases based on expenditure. The truly interesting thing is that I usually have 6 meals a day, while when on vacation they were brought down to 3 a day and yet I still averaged the same.

I am often asked " to count or not to count", "to Fitday or not to Fitday"?
My answer is yes for people that need to estimate their intake so they can make changes in it, yes for all of us that are manipulating calories on a daily basis and yes for all the beginners that have no idea what they are eating and need to learn how much they consume, so that they can learn to eyeball and manage portion sizes.
My answer is NO to all people who haven't learned to plan their intake around high quality foods, people who are on diet break, those who are good at judging their intake, and who already well manage food according to their goals.

To simplify:

Are you achieving your body composition goals without counting calories?

YES->DON'T COUNT
NO->COUNT

Are you eating high quality protein, vegetables and fats (or unprocessed carbohydrate)?

YES and I am acieving my body composition goals->DON'T COUNT
YES and I am not acieving my body composition goals->COUNT
NO->DON'T COUNT, focus on food quality

On a different note, keeping track of calories is only one way to track intake, but I find it very uniform, always simple, and very reliable. It also "translates" easy. It's always easier to explain that you easily add lean body mass when you eat 150 grams of protein and 1800 calories, rather than trying to add up 6 servings of protein, 5 servings of fat, 3 servings of carbohydrate and 10 servings of fruits and vegetables.

Calories are the money of the diet world where the market allows exciting exchanges. Would I rather have a cup of fat free yogurt with some casein or trade that for a tablespoon of peanut butter and some cottage cheese before bed? Should I keep that peach for the morning or have it now? Seе, nutrient timing makes the whole thing as crazy and unpredictable as the black market. Calories get devalued, prices skyrocket and new investments become risky. I am thinking of investing in a cup of tea right now due to some unwise purchases I made earlier this evening!

Need energy?

2007-09-02T02:56:00.000-07:00

It's a peaceful Sunday morning, here in humid and cool Sofia. We had some rain last night, so both me and my husband got a good night's sleep. I had been very busy this week and hadn't spent much time with him so we decided to have a nice Sunday breakfast and plan a few important events for the week. Breakfast is a sacred meal for me. I need my protein, veggies or fruit and fresh coffee. My husband either skips breakfast or has a protein shake on his way to work.

This morning he looks at me and says: " I haven't had American pancakes in a year" and then smiles like I think children do when they know they will do something naughty and their mom can't prevent it. So I give in and break out a box of pancake mix from the secret stash of I'm-homesick-foods. Funny how my secret stash of American food has a couple of boxes of tea and his is a pantry-full of Jello, lifesavers, pancake mix and mac and cheese.

I start making two breakfasts at the same time:) When they are ready we have two different worlds that share a table! On one side:

My breakfast:

a large flax and oatmeal patty
covered with cream cheese and dried tomatoes
a large cup of coffee
a large cup of water
my wake up supps:
green tea
CLA
fish oil
chromium

...and then his breakfast

6 large pancakes
heavily smothered with margarine
pine syrup
cherry jam
1 liter of milk

I eyeball it and think man, his must be like 400 grams of carbs right there.

Truth be told, he only eats like that once or twice a year but when he does, it makes a great impression on me.

Half an hour later, at 11 a.m. I sat down to answer my emails and he went back to bed. He said he was feeling a tad tired, don't know why.

seaside weekend

2007-08-26T10:58:00.001-07:00

I spent the last two days in Varna, which is right on the coast of the Black Sea with a dear friend of mine who left Bulgaria to live in Vancouver. It's been peaceful and relaxing, my body has needed sleep and recuperation. It's interesting how tiring swimming a long distance felt, and my back feels great today. I believe every now and then we should challenge our bodies to unexpectedly practice skills we haven't used in a long time. It's a wonderful celebration of being in good shape!

The cape of Kaliakra

Fortress walls on the cape of Kaliakra

Balchik, the coast and part of town

Just jump off the boat and swim!

Going back...

...and making waves

Comfort Zones

2007-08-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Personal training has a lot to do with comfort zones. I think of them as still frames of (not necessarily) pleasant satisfaction with the world. They are heavily defined by familiarity. Sometimes your comfort zone is a place of comfort only compared to other zones. You can find comfort in misery, self-pity, guilt, sympathy, work, ambition, even mediocrity. A key function of comfort is that it freezes change and doesn't allow one to grow. Personal growth is the truest reflection of inner desires and dreams. Sometimes people drift into comfort zones they don't even consider natural, but familiarity makes them easy to accept over time.

dream-->desire-->breaking-->action-->end result-->feedback-->corrected action

Breaking equals acting. As a personal trainer I deal with action, and I teach people to act on their dreams. Whether it's asking for help, inviting the girl next door out to coffee, changing your job or changing your body, act now. Practice stopping the still frame that life sometime becomes.
Do you have a dream you haven't fulfilled? Do you have a goal you haven't reached? Write down the steps to achieving your dream or getting to your goal and act by breaking the familiarity of today. Dare to challenge, learn, succeed or fail.

A trip with the end in sight

2007-08-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

I was traveling on a bus back to Sofia this weekend. The vehicle was meant for 20 passengers, yet somehow held over 40 of which I was one - stuck way back at the end with a wonderful book, smiling neighbors and the determined desire to last the trip which promised to be hot and stuffy. It was more than that, there were swirls of humidity and droplets of heat that danced like crazy around me. I took my hat off, and sank deeper in my book, knowing the end of the trip was near. 3 hours is not a long time, I thought.
Sometimes you have a goal that you can clearly see, yet when you set off to reach it, you find yourself thrown mercilessly out of your comfort zone, way out there. It takes the secure knowledge of a promised happy end for you to stay and persevere. It's crucial then, to be on the right bus.

The Future of Stubborn Fat

2007-08-16T05:26:00.001-07:00

Looking in the mirror every morning I see little positive changes in body composition, nicer deeper curves of muscle or gentler skin folds here and there and then I rejoice, I leave for work triumphant.
At work the scale awaits. God forbid the possessed instrument shows a higher number than the one I have carefully implanted in my sensitive female brain and my dreams all turn to dust.
This is still a part of me. The little ballerina wanting to dance in the front row, the part that was told if you weigh less you dance in front and if you work really really hard and then if you weighed less that the others...well, then, the sky is the limit. It's also the part that gave me discipline, direction, focus and unusual patience, so it's not all bad.
I have taught hundreds of women to throw the scale away, to look in the mirror and celebrate the growing beauty that their leaner self brings. I've taught them to disregard numbers, cultivate happiness and focus on action rather than observation.
I sometimes become aware of my own emotional dependence on numbers and just sit and marvel at the little ballerina that won't grow up.
Last night I was listening to the fat loss teleconference that Bill Hartman had and later lied in bed thinking the only thing that separates regular fat from stubborn fat is time.

(time x effort)+happiness = change

24 hours is not enough

2007-08-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

I am ending my week thinking that 24 hours is not enough to work, write, train, create, dream and connect. Sundays are doomed to late mornings, later and richer breakfasts, late schedules, afternoon workouts, article deadlines and empty laptop batteries. Mondays are a blessing.

A new home for thoughts and visions

2007-08-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

It has been an exciting day. I'm starting a blog, I'm ending a workout cycle, I just cooked the first four meals of a new project. I am at the beginning, midst and end of countless things all rolled up into a warm summer night. Life is endlessly exciting, every minute counts. Be inspired.