Jun152013

Hiking for Fitness

Chris often says that hiking is a tougher workout than running. Master Kim, our old Tae Kwan Do teacher, said that hiking is the best form of exercise besides Tae Kwon Do itself. If you believe anyone about fitness and life, it’s that guy. I like to go hiking sometimes when I’m planning not to run that day. And almost always, I am passed out on the couch afterwards, zapped of energy. Which is a good thing! I know we are lucky enough to be in Colorado and thus have a seemingly-infinite amount of hiking trails, but there are hiking trails everywhere. Yes, even in Iowa. You just need to go find them.

A dam

This post is encouraging people to hike for fitness and not just spend all of their time in the gym. And there will be pictures from my most recent hike in Lyons, Colorado at Button Rock. Now, as you all know, I have nothing against gyms–nothing at all! In fact, we spend 2 hours there per day, usually. But we must never forget the beauty of nature and what we can enjoy outdoors. We must always find a balance between the indoors and the out.

Hiking is a great form of exercise. It (usually) costs nothing, spare the gas or parking fees, and it is almost enjoyable. Some people detest gyms and if you are one of those people, take a hike! Hiking has an extraordinary amount of benefits including cardiovascular endurance training or as we like to shorten it to “cardio.” Not all hikes are uphill, but I know that ours definitely was. Hiking is walking on steroids. As you continue going upwards, the air gets thinner, and your body has to work harder to gain its homeostasis (basically, the “normal” state of our body at rest). And even if you’re not necessarily going straight uphill, the terrain of hiking is often unsteady, thus your body fights to maintain balance and recruit muscles to stabilize yourself.

My friend and her dog

There are incredibly cardio benefits to this (in fact, it is almost just as powerful in this way as running is, as your body has to try to regulate your breathing just as it does while you run or jog), but there are also just as many muscular benefits as well. After I’ve hiked, I feel that I ran a 5k and did a heavy leg workout. It of course has these effects, because of the strain you put on your “cardio” system (as we spoke of earlier) and the amount of work your poor muscles have to do!

Her dog loves to be thrown sticks and retrieve them in the water

After a hike, I can almost certainly not do a heavy leg workout. I remember one time I did this hike and it was a planned leg workout that night. As soon as I got home, I passed out on the couch for an hour and then I dragged myself to the floor to do some leg work without weights. Just when your body is trying to balance upon the unsteady terrain, your legs (all the way from your feet to your glutes and even core) recruit all the muscles they can to maintain that stability. Your glutes help you power up the steep hills and rocks, your quads help slow your descent downhill, your calves help to delicately step up a pile of boulders, and your hamstrings keep you going. It is a fully functional total leg workout. And the legs almost never get a break the whole time!

Even with just the slight amount of benefits I’ve already told you, why aren’t you lacing up your hiking boots already! Take a day off from the gym, or even combine the two, and go for a hike! My traps even feel sore afterwards too. If the workout benefits haven’t convinced you, then maybe the rest of these pictures will! Or you could just decide to take it to another level, kick up the intensity, and run the trail instead. For more information on the best trail running shoes, check out Gear We Are! Go hiking to stay hungry and fit!

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Jun142013

A Great Way to Lose Weight

This is for everybody, but mostly aimed at parents, kids, those trying to lose weight, or maintain weight. My message is simple: Food should not be a reward. I’m not really one to talk, but now I try to follow this too. Of course, we look forward to special dinners, nights out with friends, and barbecues with families, but what I speak of is different. Think about this situation: reminding your child before you drop them off at kindergarten that if they are good all day and don’t cry, they get to go to McDonald’s after!

Who thought eating at Wendy’s could be so seductive?

Now, what’s wrong with that situation? Well, many things, you might say. But think about the habits that it forms. Child thinks…do not cry, get to go to McDonald’s. Being good = deserving yummy food. They then depend on it. This doesn’t just revolve around children because children tend to grow up into adults. And then we develop emotional eating.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced emotional eating at one point or the other whether it be happy (like the McDonald’s child) or sad. Every time, we feel we deserve a reward, we often think of food…cupcakes, an ice cream, you name it. It just sets us up for failure if we’re trying to stay on a healthy lifestyle or lose weight. We aren’t dogs (although, I tend to resemble one when it comes to churros) and we shouldn’t treat ourselves like dogs. When you’re sad, or when you were a child and became sad, doesn’t the thought of ice cream cheer you up? Stop your tears right in their tracks? Now it’s time to reverse that habit.

This takes a lot of time, effort, and willpower to reverse this bad habit that is so constant in our society. Whenever you feel like you deserve something, that you did something well, instead of celebrating by binge-eating that batch of brownies your partner made, go out dancing, to a museum, to a convention, on a trip! Find other ways of rewarding yourself. Put this into your mind! Think about it and let it seep into your life. Food is not a reward. It is an energy source. There are so many other things we can reward ourselves with.

Girl Scout cookie madness

This is so important for those trying to lose weight. Again, sometimes I do this myself (I could argue I’m not trying to lose weight, but it’s good to set examples), but I’m urging you to simply get out of the habit of rewarding yourself with food to avoid emotional eating or setting triggers for yourself. Let’s set ourselves up for success, not failure.

Yup.

Feel free to comment or contact us in regards to any questions with how to break this. I hope you enjoyed these ridiculous pictures of Chris. Cheers! Use this post to stay hungry and fit!

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Jun132013

THANK YOU, EVERYONE!

Today’s post is going to be short! It’s not because we are feeling tremendously lazy due to the heat and long work days. It’s not because we’ve run out of ideas… we have pages full of ideas that will last us until 2014. It’s simply because we’ve been very much into what we have been doing on our blog at www.hungryandfit.com (this site!) ever since we started last year. In fact, we are becoming continually more enthusiastic about it, as you can tell by the additions and innovations to the website.

Sajah being adorable on a hot summer day

For months, we have been tracking our progress and setting some unofficial goals. Obviously, we don’t make much money off of the blog… we simply love to offer some advice and tell fun stories to people who are interested. While we continue planning to expand upon our free and paid-for services, such as online comprehensive training and free YouTube videos (and MORE), we will keep the blog alive. So let’s get to the main point because I’m speaking without thinking about structure since I’m so happy. Just today, we passed the 1,000 follower mark, whatever that means. We’ve been aiming for it for quite some time and we hope you continue to refer us so that number can grow and the number of people we entertain and educate can expand.

Getting ready for a wedding…Chris the self-proclaimed French hairstylist

Thank you again for all the love and support. And please look on our other pages besides the blog posts. We have some interesting stuff to see and it will continue to get better. Please let us know if there is a topic you would like us to talk about so we can add it to the list!

Stay hungry and fit!

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Jun122013

Workout Smart: Speed vs. Contraction and Form

Working as a trainer in a gym, I see all kinds of people working out. Some are experts, some are beginners, and some are just plain doing it wrong. I never like to judge: people workout and train for all kinds of purposes and goals, which means they workout differently. However, there are still ways you can workout the wrong way, despite training differently for various goals. It’s not just annoying to see this, it worries me. Working out the improper way doesn’t just make you look silly, but you could seriously hurt yourself too.

This is where the topic of today comes in: speed versus contraction and proper form. Some guys and girls, usually teenage boys (but sometimes 60+ men which is the most worrisome), will try to do reps of exercises–whether it be curls, rows, pull-downs, you name it–as fast as they can. I’m not sure if it’s because they can’t properly handle the weight so they try to get it done as fast as possible or they are trying to show off their abilities. They are wrong in both reasonings. They might even think that doing it as fast as possible is the right way to do it–WRONG.

Proper form

Don’t get me wrong, I will give an exception where fast training is okay. Plyometrics. Athletes. Competition trainees. These are the few exceptions. Athletes need to use plyometrics (training muscles to exert maximum force in the smallest amount of time possible with the most power possible) to get better at their sport. They improve their speed and power this way. You will see athletes doing plyometric jumps or lifts as well as other agility drills. This is okay! People who are training for certain competitions also need to do power-lifting, in which you will see a lot of jerks and snaps for getting their weight up. This is also okay!

I’m talking about the people who aren’t training for competitions, but just working out to achieve certain goals. The average gym-goer. Form is my #1 priority with my clients and they know it! They learn so well that they are able to point out others’ bad form in the gym while we are training. And because I love good form so much, I hate bad form even more. Attention weight lifters: you do not look cooler, sexier, or fitter when you yank that bar down so fast you pull a muscle.

Us in the weight room

Weight-lifting is all about control. Control is power. It’s not even all about not injuring yourself (although working out in jerky, fast motions without proper muscle control is a quick road to injury), it’s about maximizing gains and muscle strength. We could get very detailed about how fast repetitions should be based on what you’re looking for (muscle endurance, hypertrophy, strength, power, etc.), but that’s for another post.

Let’s just go to the basics. You will “feel” the reps more when you slow down. You will feel your muscle working, breaking down, and getting stronger. If you don’t believe me, try it out for yourself. Try a set of bicycles (lay on your back, knees up, elbow to opposite knee, repeat). Do 30 seconds of it fast, and then try 30 seconds slow. I’ll bet your abs will feel it a lot more when you go slower. I always have my clients slow down, for example, doing rear delt flyes, even on machines like leg extension, you will get such a better workout if you just slow down.

Just think about it. When you slow down, and thus get the full repetition, you are allowing your muscle to go all the way through the motions, feeling it at each range of motion. Also, another quick note: don’t skimp out on the “negative” motion of a muscle action (aka the release, the elongation, the extensionof a biceps curl, not the actual curl). Many are tempted to quickly let go of the muscle tension and let it “fall down” to the starting place rather than controlling it. Again, we control it, we gain strength, we show power. If we cut it short, then we don’t get to strengthen the muscle at the most important part: the elongation of the muscle where it feels it the most.

Gunz from lifting with CONTROL (haha jokes)

Next time you hit the weights or the machines, remember about good form and slowing down. Don’t hunch, keep your shoulders back, and your heart strong. Use these tips to stay hungry and fit! Cheers!

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Sajah hiding

Jun112013

A Sweet Tooth’s Delight: Peddler’s Creamery (Los Angeles, CA)

While we were back in my home town (Santa Monica, California), we traveled to where my brother lives–in Downtown Los Angeles. Not exactly my most favorite part of LA, but what are you going to do! He shares a really nice apartment with his awesome girlfriend, Sophie. And there’s two Famima!!s right underneath them–you really can’t do better than that. Anyways, onto the good stuff-THE FOOD! Sophie works at a fantastic local ice cream shop called Peddler’s Creamery, and that, my friends, is where the magic happens.

She works there as a “Maker,” meaning she literally develops and creates ice cream flavors. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Best job ever, am I right? And Peddler’s is special because not only is it locally-owned, but the ice cream is made by them using a bike to churn it. Get a workout and then eat ice cream–sounds like a good day to me. I love how unique this place is and that they literally churn their ice cream by using a bike. And not only do they use organic ingredients, but they use fair trade ingredients too! A huge plus for me.

Sophie, my brother, and my mum

It’s a small little shop with some outdoor seating–very cute. You can see an old-fashioned bike in the front and the one they actually use in the back. We met the owner, who gave each of us a handshake and a genuine greeting–it’s not often you get that from the owner of a food joint, very nice guy. When we visited, the scooper was patient and very friendly as we all (my family and Chris) took awhile to decide between all the unique flavors.

The inside…there’s Sophie!

Now the flavors. These flavors change daily and are subject to season (another awesome) and are probably the most unique ice cream flavors I’ve seen to date. Some special ones are Mexican Chocolate, Chile Mango, Honey Lavender, and Kumquat. I got the cinnamon (I have a crazy obsession with cinnamon-type desserts, see: CHURROS) and boy did I make the right choice! Each bite was infused with the creamy “spicy” flavor of cinnamon. It was a melt-in-your-mouth kind of deal and also a where-did-my-ice-cream-go moment too. I was reluctant to share with my family, but I did. They got some yummy ones too like the Honey Lavender and a Mocha one.

Cinnamon flavored ice cream…SO GOOD

If I worked there, I would be as big as a balloon and probably get fired for eating too much on the job. If you are anywhere in the Los Angeles area, GO HERE. I have linked the website with the address and everything several times throughout this post, but here it is again. This adorable, eco-friendly local shop serves top-notch quality ice cream with interesting flavors and great service to boot. You’re missing out if you don’t find this gem! I will always be hungry (and fit!) for Peddler’s Creamery!

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Jun102013

Some Help on Training Splits and Achieving Goals

This is going to be a fairly short post compared to what I can say on the topic but it was prompted by my own changing of my split. Obviously, there are many muscle groups in your body. Major muscle groups include pull muscles, push muscles, lower body, core, and so on. Some people like to split them up even further into back, biceps, triceps, chest, abs, quads, calves, and even more. Some people like to split them up even more but I won’t do that to you.

Depending on your fitness goals, you might be trying to focus on certain muscle groups more than others. If you’re trying to lose weight, you’re probably targeting all those groups equally in some intense interval training paired with lots of cardio to cut down. If you’re trying to gain mass and strength you might be methodically working out each group in detail in order to build clear-cut muscles so your arms don’t fit in your shirt. Either way, it is very intelligent to plan your approach to achieving your goals.

Every personal trainer initially assesses their client’s health conditions, background in fitness, personal goals, nutritional plan and diet and so forth. This information helps the trainer create the most fitting workouts and lifestyle for their client to achieve these goals. Even personal trainers and professional bodybuilders have trainers and nutritionists that help them achieve their goals so don’t think that you’re too good or smart for some help. It’s always helpful to have someone objective pushing you and leading the way, constantly motivating you to achieve your own goals. It’s hard for me to push myself to failure when I don’t have that motivation or person telling me try harder. Whatever your motivation might be, some extra push can help if the person with you knows what they are doing.

Splits have many depending factors, such as time. How often do you plan to do strength workouts? Every day? Every other? Maybe every 3 days. Depending on which one, you want to plan your workouts accordingly to give enough rest and recovery time. What happens when we don’t give ourselves proper recovery time? We overtrain and lose progress. So plan to give yourself proper rest in between each muscle group to avoid overtraining.

You typically wouldn’t want to go to the gym and work your chest out every day. This would not allow proper time to recover. Depending on your personal recovery rate, you may be ready to workout a certain group every other day, although that is rare. I typically allow somewhere around 4 days before repeating a workout that is targeting the same muscle group if they are intense workouts. If you plan on doing full body workouts multiple times a week and are not trying to gain massive amounts of strength, power, or size, less rest is necessary.

Some of the greatest bodybuilders of all time have claimed to workout only two to three times a week while some workout six days a week doing double sessions every day. No matter what you decide, to do make sure you are allowing proper recovery time. If you have any questions about how to fit “cardio”, strength training, performance training or whatever you do together to maximize results, please let us know in the comment section below. With these tips, we hope you can stay even more hungry and fit!

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Jun092013

Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner: Tofu Scramble

Now this is another recipe from the great book my lovely client got me: the McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook. It’s full of delicious, healthy recipes that don’t take the whole evening to prepare. My client encouraged me to try the tofu scramble and I finally did. I am very thankful I did so, and I was rewarded by having it for many meals since it makes plenty of servings. This recipe is healthy and easy to make, especially for those who take lunch to work. You can have it any time of the day with anything–toast, eggs, stir fry! It is SUPER easy.

Feel free to spice it up!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 packet firm tofu
1/2 cup water
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 cups mushrooms, chopped
1 cup spinach
2 tbsp mustard
1/2 tsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp paprika

Directions

Put the water in a medium frying pan and turn on heat
Put in the chopped mushrooms and bell pepper

Ready to be cooked!

Once the mushrooms and peppers have been somewhat cooked, throw the spinach in as well. Feel free to season how you’d like

While it continues to cook, take out your tofu and put it in a bowl. Mash it up, reeeal well. Keep going!
Put all your seasonings in with the tofu and mix it around the mash
Add the tofu to the veggies and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until you see fit.

You can serve with potatoes, tacos, eggs–whatever meal it is and whatever you are in the mood for!

I, of course, opted for the tacos

Feel free to spice it up!

It may not be pretty, but it is nutritious and delicious! It’s easy to whip up (I did it after a long workout) and it kept me fed for a few days after I made it! Definitely worth it. There’s so many ways you can change it around. The original recipe calls for onion, but I say whatever vegetables you have in the house, throw them in! This is the perfect recipe to stay hungry and fit!

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Bed cuddles

Jun082013

YOU PICK! H&F Logos

Happy Weekend, our fellow bloggers and followers! This is a post where we leave our fate up to you. Our graphic designer, Amanda Grzymala, has come up with some truly brilliant logos here for us at Hungry and Fit. But there’s a problem…we like them all too much to decide! So we leave it here for our fans, our followers, our fellow bloggers, friends, and family. Pick A, B, or C! Enjoy.

I know, I know–they’re all great. That’s our problem. We figure that enough feedback will help us decide. Sorry for the short post, but you’re helping us out here! As always…stay hungry and fit!

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Jun062013

New Page Added: Giveaways (FREE STUFF)

As some of you might have noticed we have been working to update the website as often as possible. We are trying to expand what we do and can offer. Fit and I constantly donate items to the Salvation Army and other non-profit organizations. We are firm believers in recycling, up-cycling and being generous. While we might not be wealthy individuals in terms of what is in our bank accounts, we have more than enough and are very happy. That is why we have created a new page on the site that can be found under the tab “Giveaways.” Every month, we plan on giving away one or so items. There will never be any monetary requirement. Anyone with access to the internet and this website is eligible to try to win.

Some months we might just have you leave a comment on the Giveaways page to be eligible in the drawing and some times we might require you to compete for the prize by sending in a story or video. Again, these are completely free and all we will require is your mailing address so we can send it to you! These are going to be internationally available so all of our viewers that live thousands of miles away can enter as well. The shipping and handling is on us!

For our first giveaway, we are going with something simple but very important during these Summer months in the Northern Hemisphere where we are. This month we will be giving away three pairs of Moosejaw Sunglasses with heavy UV protection. They are unisex, red and light-weight glasses. All you have to do is enter a comment at the bottom of the giveaways page in between today and the last day of June to be eligible. We will throw everyone’s names into a hat and randomly pick three. We’ll contact you, you’ll send us your address and you’ll have a brand new pair of awesome sunglasses. Remember to protect your skin, eyes, and even lips from harmful UV rays. Proper protection is all a part of staying hungry and fit!

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Jun052013

Nerds Unite and Stay in Shape!

Fit and I are considered “interesting” individuals because we are a mix of very physically active and extremely nerdy. Somehow, we find a way to balance everything and although we aren’t quite as fit and don’t have as much time to play video games as we want, we still get the best of both worlds. Sometimes it is difficult to balance busy lives, and sometimes there isn’t motivation to do something that you don’t want to do but we are always stressing to individuals to stay healthy and active.

You don’t need to be a professional athlete, bodybuilder, or martial artist to be healthy and active. You need to maintain a healthy ratio of lean muscle mass and body fat, eat nutritional and wholesome foods, stay hydrated and well-rested, maintain proper hygiene and be able to control your own body. Absolute strength is your total power output, but relative strength is your strength to weight ratio and your ability to handle your body. I am proposing that everyone, even those nerdy people that love to sit down for hours and play MMORPGs (we would love to do this when we have time), try to achieve what I consider a healthy and active lifestyle and here’s a few steps of how we can do that.

1. Eat healthier! I know that Red Bulls, Mega Monsters, and Mountain Dew are great ways to keep you awake through your dungeon raids but they are nutritional black holes! Consider other electrolyte heavy drinks such as Gatorade, Powerade, Smart Water, Vitamin Water, or even some supplements to keep your energy levels more naturally high. I logged 72 straight hours of Final Fantasy XII the night that it was released and I didn’t have one energy drink or sip of soda the whole time. My good health helped me stay energized and if you can increase your endurance and conditioning it could help with long nights of playing.

Captain American: Master Chef

2. Exercise! Working out helps us increase muscle mass, decrease body fat, create definition in our muscles, increase our metabolism and more. You don’t need to buy expensive clothes, equipment or memberships to work out. If you’re reading hundreds of issues of manga or comics at a time like I do, try to set goals. Every week when my new manga are released I blaze through them in minutes. After waiting a week and sometimes more! Make the volume last a little longer by doing 10 pushups and 20 crunches after every few pages. Set goals for yourself. Try to do body weight exercises such as pushups, variations of pushups, crunches, abdominal and core exercises, planks and more every few pages. If you’re playing a video game, set requirements for every time you level your character up or beat a major boss. These little things can make a big difference.

Planking–keep it tight!

3. Sleep enough! I am not asking you to sleep 10 hours a night. Try to get at least 6 hours of sleep or quality rest every 24 hours. Really try to get 7 hours and push yourself to get 8 on the weekends if you can. Your body needs to rest and recover to continue operating at a functional level. If I tried playing a hard platform sequence in Ninja Gaiden while I was exhausted, then I would have no hope. If I’m playing Settlers of Catan and can’t think straight because my brain is trying to sleep, I won’t be able to compete against my opponents if they’re well-rested.

Zzz

I am speaking out of experience and trying to help my fellow nerds. And please do not take offense to the term nerd. You could be a console gamer, PC gamer, manga fan, anime fan, comic book fan, RPG fan or any other person who enjoys these types of fun activities. We enjoy all of them and are proud of it. So if any of this relates to you, if you think that you could better your diet, exercise, and sleep then please consider some of our suggestions. If you are really interested in turning your life around contact us for our help because that is what we love to do. We want everyone to stay nerdy while being hungry and fit!