Monthly Archives: June 2014

Our Weekend in Pictures

Lots of yummy eats

Lots of yummy eats

Cute kitties

Cute kitties

More good eats

More good eats

Cute snakes

Cute snakes

World Cup!

World Cup!

Cuddles

Cuddles

Getting rid of stuff

Getting rid of stuff

Almost got a new kitten

Almost got a new kitten

Being weird

Being weird

Studying and working out

Studying and working out

Saw Edge of Tomorrow based on this book...was actually great!

Saw Edge of Tomorrow based on this book…was actually great!

Cuteness

Cuteness

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Top 3 World Cup Commercials

With all great sporting events, come great commercials. The World Cup is certainly not excluded in this. True, not all Americans will “get” them because Americans aren’t super into soccer. But still, I think anyone can appreciate these commercials. It was tough to choose between the many that different companies have put out, but we have narrowed it down to a Top 3 with a few honorable mentions. 

3. The Last Game (Nike). This commercial is long, so you will mostly likely not see the entire thing aired. However, it is awesome. It’s set in the future where they’ve replaced the “Greats” with clones who can do no wrong. Ronaldo goes around to recruit the Greats back from where they’ve slunk off to (Neymar turns into a barber). They train together and face the Clones to bring back true football. Who will win?!

2. House Match (Adidas). This is just hilarious because you get two all-time “retired” greats–Zidanne and Beckham. You also get two current players, Bale and Moura. The younger players are playing themselves in a video game and Beckham proposes they play actually football. The hilarity ensues as they play two on two, wrecking Beckham’s house. Pure classic. 

1. #BecauseFutbol (Hyundai). Although it’s the shortest commercial of the bunch, I think it’s the best. It has the most genuine, puts-a-grin-on-my-face feeling. A pregnant couple walk into the hospital, only to be surrounded by other expecting parents. Nurses are struggling to find places to put newborns and wonder what happened 9 months ago. And what of course was 9 months ago in this commercial? The Spain winning the World Cup. It shows a flashback and shows the genuine joy you feel as your team wins. I love it. It always leaves a huge smile on my face. 

Honorable Mentions: You can see for yourself…it was tough not to put these in the top 3. 

1. Adriana Lima Transforms a Man Cave (Kia). Simply classic making fun of Americans. 

2. “Avoidance” (#BecauseFutbol) (Hyundai). Literally me at work. 

I hope you enjoyed our selection of favorite World Cup commercials. I could watch them over and over. I hope you are enjoying the World Cup itself, as well! Cheer on! As always, stay hungry and fit!

*Question of the Day: What’s YOUR favorite World Cup commercial?

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A Yummy Way to Eat Your Vegetables

Easy as…garliclemon…and salt! But really, I know many people our age and even beyond who still don’t like their vegetables. Although this is baffling to me, I still want to help them out. And my way of doing it is also easy for people who aren’t natural cooks or don’t have the time! It’s a simple, yummy way to cook your vegetables in a way that doesn’t require much skill or effort. And it might even introduce a love for cooking and vegetables! Well, at least the house will smell nice afterwards. This is the simplest recipe of them all, let’s get started! 

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Sautéed Mushrooms and Broccoli
Serves 3
A yummy way to eat your vegetables
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
10 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
10 min
Ingredients
  1. Box of mushrooms
  2. Head of broccoli
  3. 1 lemon
  4. Garlic pepper & salt (can use regular)
  5. 4 cloves garlic
  6. 1 tbsp oil
Instructions
  1. Chop up the mushrooms and broccoli into bite-sized pieces
  2. Salt and pepper the veggies
  3. Heat up a pan with the oil in it (medium heat)
  4. Cut up the garlic or crush it. Put it in the heated pan with oil
  5. Put the mushrooms and broccoli into the pan
  6. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the pan while stirring
  7. After 5 minutes, put a lid over and let it steam
  8. When vegetables are tender, take out and serve immediately
hungry and fit https://hungryandfit.com/
You can really serve this with ANYTHING! I chose to serve it with penne, red sauce, and morningstar. You can eat it with other grains, meats, whatever you fancy. It’s so delicious I couldn’t stop eating it out of the pan. And hey guess what–it’s CHEAP and easy to make. There you have it…a yummy way to eat your vegetables. As always…stay hungry and fit!

BONUS PUPPY PIC

A ridiculously silly picture of Noke

A ridiculously silly picture of Noke

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Hungry, Fit & Co are Moving!

The whole family is packing everything up again and moving to the West Coast! Los Angeles here we come. At first, we’re going to be staying in Santa Monica but our goal is to eventually move to Korea Town as soon as possible. We would love to stay in Santa Monica or another beach part of LA, but with Alana certainly going back to school, and Chris possibly going back to school, it’s just not going to be affordable!

The chances are Alana will be going to school part-time and maybe eventually full-time for nursing and Chris will start to take part-time classes working towards a Masters in Physiological Science. Therefore, Alana could be working part-time, full-time or just managing Hungry & Fit, while Chris probably works full-time. You, or we, never know until we’ve made the change and hopefully we have good like in finding a place to live and good jobs! All those things could change! A huge part of the excitement of moving is the adventure; we love adventures… like hobbits… well Bilbo, and Frodo. We will be sure to keep you all updated on what we choose to do.

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We will be leaving Boulder August 1st and should get to Los Angeles August 2nd. It is two days of driving and we’ve done the trip before but not with all these animals in the car. We will have to take extra care and make sure to control the climate in the car. Again, it should be exciting and build character! Once we get there, we’ll figure out all the necessary evils such as where to live and how to pay the bills. Chris will probably try to be beach lifeguard, walk dogs, and do personal training… all things he has a lot of experience doing and enjoys. Alana will figure out a school and work schedule that is reasonable. 

There is not a whole lot more to tell you other than this is the big announcement and we better get in high gear to start preparing for the move. Lots of items are being sold on Craigslist and we will be having a garage sale soon. Let us know if you are in the market for anything! We are really trying to be minimalists for this move and prevent Chris from hoarding and collecting things he never uses. He promised to change this time so we’ll see!

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Hopefully, we get to see even more friends and family as a result of this move. We get to spend more time at the beach and although Chris will miss his whiter winters, we will hopefully be travelling to the East Coast more than when we were in Colorado. We like LAX a lot more than DIA. So if you’re living in LA and want to meet up at some point, let us know. We have friends there but building a new network is going to be a challenge. You make something out of yourself in one place and then decide to pick up and start from scratch again. I hope it all works out well for us! Thanks for all your support and look forward to an even better Hungry & Fit in LA!

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Fresh Caprese Salad

It’s hard for me to make a recipe for you to follow and I apologize for that… but I don’t! For me, recipes can be a little too formulated and strict because above all else, you need to make sure you taste your food and season it accordingly to make sure it has that perfect flavor when it is served. Preparing good food is about using the freshest and highest quality ingredients you can find, and also seasoning it properly! With that being said and taking that into consideration here is the best recipe I can provide you. 

What you need:

  • Spinach – only use the undamaged leaves
  • Tomatoes – preferably Roma tomatoes
  • Cheese – preferably a fresh, soft mozzarella
  • Olive Oil – Extra virgin, please
  • Balsamic Vinegar – I only use Balsamic Nectar
  • Salt – a coarser grind, I like Pink Himalayan
  • Pepper – Fresh ground black pepper from a mill

As for quantities, it depends on how much you are serving and what ratios you prefer. You can tell by my pictures what I prefer. Everything after the first three ingredients is to your taste, so those amounts are not designated. If you want to make it a good first course for yourself, two handfuls of spinach, a tomato, and a half a ball of mozzarella is my preference.

  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: Zero Minutes

Obviously, nothing is cooked.

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First, thoroughly sort and clean your spinach. Only use leaves that are not bruised or wilted. Clean them without damaging them. Remove excess water.

Next, wash your tomatoes and chop them into about twelfths, if they are romas. With larger tomatoes, consider cutting them into sixteenths. A thicker tomato provides more texture to this salad and butchering them less helps retain some of those delicious natural juices. Add them to the spinach. Apply some olive oil, salt, and pepper to the two ingredients and taste. You want to be able to taste all of the elements if you have seasoned properly. I usually coat the ingredients in olive oil, toss lightly. Six to eight cracks of pepper, and a teaspoon of salt, sprinkled from 18 inches above the mixing bowl. 

Next, slice your cheese carefully, especially if it is soft as to not create messy cuts, into quarter to half inch cubes. Relatively large, I know. Again, this is meant to be a salad with larger components so that every bite can include one of each of the three main ingredients. If they are cut or added in large enough pieces, a fork can easily pierce and hold all three components. 

You are nearly finished. Add the balsamic at this point and toss lightly. I usually add half the amount of olive oil that I used.

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Now comes the most important step, take a bite of your salad. All three components at once. How does it taste? What does it need? At this point I usually add a drop of the liquids, a crack or two of pepper, a healthy amount of salt. I think the salt helps bring out the other flavors in the dish and cuts the acidity of the tomatoes and the balsamic. The cheese is the only rich component along with the olive oil so the salt has a significant effect in this regard. 

Toss lightly again to ensure that every piece of the salad is dressed evenly and then drain the salad. Yes, drain it carefully. Remove the excess dressing. At this point, the salad has been treated so carefully that every component is dressed and the juice in the tomatoes will help keep the salad moist. If you dressed it properly, draining it will have no negative effect. You can save the dressing, obviously for other uses. 

The salad is ready and it is time to plate. You can take the rustic approach and use a pasta fork, much more delicate than tongs, to scoop a portion onto a side plate. I prefer serving on a plate rather than a salad bowl because of the composed nature of this salad. If you take this path, make sure that your ratios are correct and there is spinach, cheese, and tomatoes in the serving. Otherwise you can technically and methodically place the spinach first, topped with tomatoes, and finally cheese. That is up to you. A final crack of pepper, sprinkle of salt from above, and without adding final liquid components, serve with a fork. 

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French, obviously

You can also serve with a slice of good toasted bread and make a crostini. Leave that option to your guests, or yourself… whoever is eating. Note: You can actually finish with olive oil and balsamic, just make sure you do so and immediately serve to prevent the pooling of juices in the bottom of the plate. If the liquid components do pool, make sure you have a piece of bread or something to scoop it up with!

BONUS KITTY PIC

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The World CUPDATE!

Cute name, right?

So here we are over a week into the World Cup! Who else has been waiting four years for this moment? We most certainly have and we are also looking forward to the Women’s World Cup in Canada, which we will be attending. Come meet us in Vancouver as that is where we will be setting up base camp and watching games live in person.

Yesterday, four teams were sent home and four were sent to the round of 16. We were happy to see Brazil go through as the host country, but preferred Croatia advanced rather than Mexico. Mexico’s keeper has been one of the absolute stand-out players of the cup thus far. Spain, the defending champions and top team in the world, were sent home after some coaching decisions on older and tired players didn’t work out for the best. David Villa did end his WC career scoring a goal, which was great to see. We look forward to having him in New York. Netherlands asserted themselves once more as a dominant force and potentially the most impressive team thus far. Most people think they will win and it’s hard to argue with that. Chile is the other advancing team, who will face the hometown boys in the next round. That will be a good showdown. 

 worldcup

In terms of teams that have not yet advanced or been eliminated… there are tons! We always pull for underdogs so African and Asian teams are our favorite. If Ghana and Cote d’ivoire make it to the final, we would be thrilled. Also, we are always rooting for the Koreans and Japanese, although both are as good as gone and the Koreans have been playing miserably and even worse have been very boring! The Japanese simply don’t have enough good players to take them through in their group. Furthermore, Hungry has always been a fan of France ever since he saw Zizou and Henry led them to glory over a decade ago. France in the final would give them the opportunity to make up for that horrendous showing in Germany in 2006. Also, of course, part of us wants the US to make it as far as they can. Unfortunately, in the Group of Death, an injured Cristiano Ronaldo and the Germans, who have one of the deepest benches in the history of the World Cup, will not let that happen easily. 

Today, we get to see who advances out of ColumbiaCote d’ivoire, Japan, and Greece in Group C (we think Columbia and Cote d’ivoire will go through, but it could be easily not if Japan or Greece wins and Cote d’ivoire does not). We also get to see who of Group D gets to pass through. Unfortunately, England is at the bottom, which is just painful to see for us. Costa Rica leads Group D with Italy and Uruguay tied behind. Fit thinks Costa Rica and Italy are going to advance as Uruguay haven’t been doing great. But you never know–that’s what we love about the World Cup. It could be anyone’s game. 

Love of the game runs in the family

Love of the game runs in the family

 All in all, we’re just some ex-futbol/soccer players that are willing to put on our boots and play anytime and anywhere. We aren’t reliving the glory days but we recognize how great of an event the World Cup is for the world. Countries come together that usually don’t have diplomatic relationships with the rest of the world and participate as equals. It is a beautiful game and an opportunity for cultures and traditions to be shared. We’re not asking you to watch the event, but try to acknowledge what it means to so many people around the world. Futbol is the most popular sport in the world, factually, and in America it is not even one of the three most popular sports. This doesn’t have to change, and I know that some players and countries give the sport a bad name by flopping and acting so often, but it is a great way for countries that don’t get along to pick each other up and respect one another. We’re all in! As always, stay hungry and fit!

  • Question of the Day: Who are you rooting for? Who do you want to host the World Cup in 2014?!

 

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Fitness Meets Virtual Reality

Today we bring you something truly awesome. Something future-like that we’ve always dreamed of. Something bordering on virtual reality. Something that heightens fitness to another level. Enter Immersive Fitness from Les Mills.

Tell me that doesn’t pump you up and you’d be lying to me. Our journey to fitness shouldn’t be a drudgery, it should be fun. It should be empowering. You should look forward to your workouts. This is what Les Mills is trying to encourage.

We know you can’t throw yourself into different worlds without some help. With Immersive Fitness, there’s a huge screen in the fitness studio, immersing you into the scene or action. The instructors cue the exercise moves for the class to go along perfectly with the music, graphics, and excitement to truly get you into it. So as the video fights monsters, you’re doing a synchronized kickboxing routine. As you’re trying to flee pursuers, you’re pumping hard on the bike or sprinting. It’s exciting! It’s not run-of-the-mill stuff, it’s Les Mills. Combination of creative design, exercise design, and technology.

lesmills

As you know, Hungry and I work at a gym. We take and teach our fair number of group classes. I’ve never even come close to taking a class like Immersive Fitness. Yeah, it’s fun to work on fitness in a group, but imagine kicking virtual reality butt at the same time! That’s what I’m talking about! You can see in the above and below pictures that instead of just focusing on how much your legs are burning, you can zip down a virtual race path or settle into a peaceful pose in front of a beach. 

I’m hoping this will come to a studio or gym near us as soon as possible! I would love try it out, it’s something that perfectly suits my interests. To stay up to date with this new program, follow @thepr0ject on Instagram and their site. And seriously, watch that video again! I love it! With this sneak peek into the Immersive Fitness program, I know that many people will be excited. Cheers for making fitness into an adventure! And for even more bonus points? Les Mills was founded in New Zealand! As always…stay hungry and fit!

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Let us know if you have any questions about this program and we can be sure to answer them or steer you in the right direction!

The next level of fitness is here. IMMERSIVE FITNESS™ surrounds participants with cinema quality video content projected onto screens of a purpose-built studio.  Exercise moves synchronize perfectly with music and graphics, creating a truly immersive fitness experience. Learn more

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Les Mills. The opinions and text are all mine.

 

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Shoulder Defining Exercises

Happy Friday! Or should I say…Happy Fitness Friday! Today, we will focus on one of Hungry and I’s favorite muscle groups: the shoulder group. People just think of the “top” of their shoulders when they think shoulder group, but there’s so much more to it. We are just going to offer four exercises for you to squeeze into your day. These should all preferably be done in the gym, but you can modify them to fit a home workout. 

1. Shoulder press. Let’s start with a standard exercise…the shoulder press. This is what builds the “tops” or deltoids of your shoulders, as well as some other parts. Start from a right angle level with your shoulder line and simply press up until your arms are extended. Then return back to start. Try doing it seated as it prevents you from using other muscle groups to help your shoulders. You can use dumbbells, EZ bars, barbells, etc. Try for 3-5 sets of 10-12 reps. 

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2. Shrugs. This is something you do often, but without weights, in normal day-to-day life. You can do this using dumbbells, a barbell, a hex bar, and other weighted things. Stand tall straight up with weight in your hands and shrug your shoulders up to your ears and squeeze it there, then release. Shoot for 3-5 sets of 10-12 reps. It should be considerably heavy weight. This works on your trapezius or “traps.”

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3. Face pulls. For this, you will need a cable machine or resistance bands. On a cable machine, grab the horse rope (see picture below), stand a good distance away and pull the rope directly towards your face. Using resistance band/tube, you will need to hook it around something so that you can grab both sides of the band and pull towards your face. This works your rear deltoids (what makes your “upper” back look nice!). 3-5 sets of 10-12 reps. 

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4. Plate-loaded shoulder press. Just to get those sexy deltoids once more…let’s move to plate-loaded where we can really push ourselves in a set position. This can only be done at a gym on a literal machine. However, if you are planning for this to be a home workout, just do a different type of shoulder press (with a barbell, or maybe an Arnold Press instead). I like this machine/apparatus because it sits you in a set position to appropriately move the weight you want. 3 sets of 10-12 reps. 

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There you have just four shoulder-defining exercises that can improve your shoulder muscles and shape today! Try them out today or this weekend. The sets and reps are just suggested numbers, you can do as much or as little as you’d like. Let me know how these work for you or if you have any questions about how to properly execute these. Happy Fitness Friday! And as always…stay hungry and fit! 

*Question of the Day: What is your favorite shoulder exercise?

BONUS PUPPY PIC

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Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Whew, that’s a title that takes a breath out of you! And it should, really, because it is darn delicious! I love it when I have a reason to bake (even though I don’t always need one). This time it was for a co-worker’s birthday. I had just recovered from the flu, so I didn’t want to leave the house for materials. So after using the thinking cap for a moment or two, I came up with the perfect idea–chocolate chip cookie cake. Perfect for celebration as a cake, but great because I always have ingredients to make cookies. To throw a healthy spin on it, I used whole-wheat flour and not much sugar at all. One of the best parts about this recipe is that it is super simple and easy!

Start with the dry...

Start with the dry…

Fold it all together

Fold it all together

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Nom nom nom

Nom nom nom

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
A healthier version of the cookie cake
Write a review
Print
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
10 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
10 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
  2. 1/2 tsp baking soda
  3. 1/4 tsp salt
  4. 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  5. 1/4 cup brown sugar
  6. 1 egg
  7. 1/2 cup butter
  8. 1 tsp vanilla extract
  9. 1/2 cup milk
  10. 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F
  2. Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl
  3. Get a big bowl out and either a beater or your best whisking-arm
  4. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamed
  5. Continue to mix the egg, milk, and vanilla extract in
  6. Now, beat in the dry ingredients--flour, baking soda, and salt
  7. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips. Not with a beater but with a whisk or a spoon
  8. Spread the dough out on a 12-13" baking sheet. Make it nice and even
  9. Put in for 8-12 minutes
  10. Take it out, let it cool, decorate (optional) and then serve!
Adapted from 100 Days of Real Food
hungry and fit https://hungryandfit.com/
Next time you’re thinking of baking a cake, why not go the simple route! It’s easy and everyone will be complimenting your baking prowess. It’ll be between you and I that it wasn’t too tough to produce. 😉 Have fun with it, put decorations on it! You can also add nuts or raisins, whatever be your fancy. Let me know how the recipe turns out for you! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

BONUS PUPPY PIC

My baking partner, best of the best

My baking partner, best of the best

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Painmaster: Dealing with Pain the Right Way

It’s no secret that I am battered and beaten from my years of physical activity. Many trips to the emergency room for injuries ranging from internal bleeding to a separated eye. Nevertheless, as a personal trainer and fitness coach, I try my best to keep my body in the best condition possible. I have battery-powered stims at home, heat pads, cold pads, anti-inflammatory pills and pastes, etc. I might not have a sports medicine office with infrared lasers and ultrasound, but I have almost everything accessible to the average Joe or Jane at a reasonable price. 

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So what do all of these solutions have in common? They’re all a pain in the rear end when you’re constantly on the run like myself and can’t afford to lay down for 30 minutes without moving. Or, on the other hand, it’s not just some digestible you’re throwing into your body everyday. I don’t know about you but I’d rather not take 2 Tylenol daily. It makes me feel like my stomach lining is going to be disintegrated at a young age. And I don’t want that to actually ever happen, especially now.

Can go anywhere!

Can go anywhere!

This is where I heard about PAINMASTER. I know, it’s a pretty awesome name. Its claim to fame in the pain relieving game is convenience and consistency. This guy has about 250 hours of battery life and is made to deliver micro therapeutic signals that stimulate blood and nutrient flow through an area that needs recovery. It essentially expedites the body’s natural healing process without any of the inconveniences that other products provide. That means no forgetting to put the ice pack in the freezer, no replacing those octopus-like sticky pads on your stim every month, no having to set down for a half an hour at a time, and absolutely no painful or uncomfortable shocks, freezes, or burns on your body. This for humans is like a shark and a remora: a perfect symbiotic relationship. 

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Now, I am not saying that this product will cure diseases, fuse broken bones, repair torn ligaments, or provide any other kind of magical results for your severe injuries but it can most certainly help you deal with the pains, aches, and bruises of living an active or not so active life. If you bruise easily, cramp up often, have a “bad shoulder or knee,” or any other of those issues that the doctor can prescribe nothing other than painkillers for, give this a shot. Wear it on the area of concern all the time, except when you’re in the shower or a body of water, and within a few days that hurt area should feel some relief

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It comes in a nice little box with directions and the product itself. It’s two little circular devices connected by wires that attach to two adhesive pads. With the directions, it’s very easy to apply it in the right place. If you have any questions about where to put it, just look online for more information or contact someone capable of helping you find the right spot. If you work in an office and wear professional attire this little guy can slip right under your shirt or pants without anyone noticing. I hope this new option for dealing with the pain in your life provides you with some relief in the near future. And as always, stay hungry and fit!

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