We have finally produced the second meditation in our meditation series! It’s a Hungry & Fit team effort–Fit writes and records the meditations and Hungry edits the video and adds effects. So we finally collaborated and got ‘er done and we’re quite happy with the result! You don’t need to watch the video, you just need to listen to it.
All you need for this exercise is either dumbells or a barbell (our example pictures are with a barbell). Or really any object that you can lift. Maybe your cats are the perfect weight to be your dumbbells! Just kidding (kinda, only if you’re gentle can you do that!). We’re all about doing a workout ANYWHERE so we encourage you to get (safely) creative. So, what exercise are we talking about today? Reverse curls.
What are reverse curls? Reverse curls and curls (lifting something toward you by extending your elbow), but flipped! What does that mean? Basically, instead of the soft (under) part of your arm facing you, your arms will be faced downward in their neutral position. To put it most simply: your palms are facing down instead of up. And then you latch those strong hands onto a weight and bend your elbow, bringing it toward your face/chin. You won’t be able to do as much weight this way, because it’s a bit harder on your muscles.
It depends! That is one of the most common answers in the health, wellness and fitness industries. Why? Every single person is unique and reacts differently to various stimuli. That is why there is not a universal training program that works for everyone. That is why there is not a certain diet that works for everyone. In this situation, it really depends first and foremost on whether you’re having trouble sleeping or not. There are countless sleep-based research studies that have been conducted. Private companies trying to promote their revolutionary, or not so revolutionary, products often conduct their own studies. Universities and wellness institutes do the same since sleep is often considered the most crucial way to recover, and recovery is seen as one of the three core competencies when it comes to your general health. (The other two are physical activity and what you consume.)
In college, I operated at an extremely high level while sleeping four hours or so a night. At the time, I did take a mid-day nap for about an hour. I was training nearly six hours a day and consuming well over 12,000 calories a day. While I was completely drug free, I would take a multi-vitamin everyday and also took some supplements, including fish oils, glucosamine and even melatonin. Melatonin is the most common sleep aid on the market. It is made by many companies and its single ingredient nature makes it less intimidating to most consumers. First, will melatonin make a difference in your sleep and second, how much do you personally need to take?
Even after you find the right amount, any supplement to your health routine might not necessarily maintain its effectiveness over time. You can often build tolerances and find that you need a higher dosage to feel the same outcome. Even if you find it to make a positive difference, the cost over time might outweigh how much better you’re sleeping. It becomes a question of whether you’re willing to make a small investment at first, in order to see if you can sleep better. Those investments can come in many forms, other than pills or tablets. I’ve tried buying expensive pillows, fancy sheets, using a fan at night to stay cool, sleeping with ice packs under my lower back and shoulders, playing sleep music throughout the room, using blackout curtains and more. I’ve tried Neuro’s sleep drink and also Ronnie Coleman’s Resurrection supplement. Why? Because I understand the importance of optimizing recovery.
Most people aim for 6-8 hours of sleep a night. Those are the recommended numbers, according to most sleep research studies. I don’t care as much about the number of hours that I lay in bed at night. My focus is getting in bed, immediately falling asleep, not waking up in the middle of the night and waking up fresh enough that I can instantly roll out of bed at 5:30 in the morning and get right to work. My goal, with my current life schedule, is to be in bed from 10:30 pm-5:30 am and do nothing other than get quality recovery time. Right now, in an effort to do so, with the blistering temperatures and lack of air conditioning in our LA apartment, as well as my insanely, unimaginably impossible schedule, I’ve started using a new product called Sleep Complex by ORB. They reached out to us to see if we would like to try out their product. For honesty purposes, we were paid for this post, but that won’t stop us from giving our honest opinion.
Note that I didn’t say rest. There are some people out there (looking at you, Hungry) who believe in zero rest days and that’s okay as long as they balance properly. I (Fit here) go for one rest day a week and sometimes it’s a rest and recovery day.
What is a recovery day? A recovery day could mean a full rest day where you don’t workout, letting your muscles recover. Other forms of recovery days include yin yoga to really stretch, massage (self or professional), using heat (like a bath or heating pad), self myofascial release (think: rolling out muscles with a hard object), incredibly light lifting to just get your joints loose, or maybe a long walk or easy hike. As you can tell, a recovery day is really up to you. It’s about what you need that day after a week (or a few days) of workouts. It’s about getting in tune with your body and actually listening to it rather than forcing it. For example, my recovery day today consisted of a short yoga session focused on upper back stretches and using a massager on my back. If you can’t tell, my upper back is bugging me.
Yesterday, we talked about one aspect of a lot of our recent life changes; we’ve been going to Fortune Gym for a few months. Hungry has been recovering from two (new) significant injuries over the past year: a torn quad/adductor in his right hip girdle and a torn soleus/gastroc in his left calf. Therapy has only yielded minimal results and rehab workouts have been hindered by a lack of consistency. Finally, after having some success, Hungry has decided to transition his full rehab training plan into one that is a bit more dynamic. While the full workout split hasn’t been completed yet, since today was only day three (started Monday), and it takes weeks/months to make sure a performance based program is created properly, Hungry was relatively happy with his full body bodybuilding session today, so he wanted to share it.
It is approximately 60 minutes long, with no warm up or cool down. Rest is minimal in between sets and it isn’t truly a bodybuilding workout. It is bodybuilding-inspired in the movements, but mainly focuses on accessory lifts to complement weightlifting exercises performed on Mondays and powerlifting exercises performed Friday. The sets and reps vary between 3 sets of 20 reps or 4 sets of 12-10-8-6 reps depending on the exercises. We’re still working out those details, but here are the exercises that were performed.
There are more fitness facilities in LA than anyone would ever want to count. When I managed a very large fitness facility in West Los Angeles, we had dozens of significant competitors in walking distance. It was brutal and trying to offer the same classes that these specialized locations hosted was a massive challenge. With such an impressive selection, there isn’t ever going to be a consensus best “gym in LA” or anything along those lines, but there are certainly places that are undisputed gems.
We’ve talked about, on the blog or in person, some of the best deals in LA. Whether that means off-the-wall places like Tempest, amazing communities such as Barbell Brigade, cost-free natural selections including the Santa Monica Rings/Runyon Canyon or the unmatched intensity you’ll find at Gold’s Venice, LA has something for everyone. As Hungry & Fit, we do, however, need to give an edge to the facility that we personally use. Obviously, that says a lot about a place.
Since we do fairly well and are fiscally responsible, we don’t limit ourselves to budget options/chains including 24 Hour Fitness, LA Fitness, Planet Fitness and the YMCA (though we do love the Y!). We prefer to pay more and avoid dealing with people who aren’t serious about their training; we don’t want to fight people who are on their phone while sitting on equipment. Also, we like to avoid budget options since they often have higher traffic; we don’t want to wait for equipment, in order to keep our workout intensity higher.
Yesterday was a rest day, but it started with a relatively in-depth test called a DXA Scan. This seven minute x-ray gives you more detail about your body composition than calipers, scales and hand-held devices and while it costs $45, there are massive benefits to using it. While we generally don’t find it necessary to track every rep and count every calorie, measuring your progress and results are often crucial to success. When you consider someone who is extremely fit, you might think of an Olympic decathlete. Whether they’re throwing, jumping or running, the world’s best measure every inch and second, because that allows them to improve.
‘Measurables’ hold us accountable and therefore allow us to get better every single session. If you lifted 10 lbs for 10 reps one day with a certain technique, you wouldn’t necessarily be very happy if you used that same technique and only lifted 10 lbs for 9 reps the next time you performed. You’d want to either lift 11 lbs for 10 reps or 10 lbs for 11 reps, if you’re maintaining all of the other factors taken into consideration while exercising, such as rest intervals and technique based numbers such as eccentric/concentric timing, etc.
Hooray! It’s lunch time! Or even if it’s not, hopefully you have some break throughout your day for a bite to eat and a breather. You might have five minutes, thirty minutes, or an hour. Use some of that time to nourish your body with filling, healthy food. On top of that, I’m challenging you to also nourish your soul with a lunch break meditation. The day’s event can sweep you up into a tide of stress and imbalance. Maybe you haven’t really taken a second to step back and catch your breath or allow your shoulders to lower from your ear lobes.
Whatever your day is–work or not–it’s important to take a break. And one of the most productive breaks you can take is a meditation break. It will refresh mind and body. You don’t need to sit in the middle of your office floor, legs crossed, shoes off, and be humming an ‘om.’ You just need a quiet place where you won’t be bothered for a few minutes. Maybe that’s your desk, a conference room, a table outside, even the bathroom. Find a spot. You don’t even have to be seated. If it’s loud around you and you can’t escape the sound, listen to some calming music. I have a “yoga” Spotify playlist that has some wonderfully soothing tracks (such as Home Again by Drala). Try to block out the outside noise, but don’t stress if you can’t. This will only take a few minutes, but try to give it your full attention.
Nature is always a great place to find some peace
Cycling was first introduced to the public in the 19th century with the advent of draisines and velocipedes. Today, the bike family includes road bikes, cyclocross bikes, mountain bikes, fitness bikes and other types. Much more than a hobby, cycling is an effective way of incorporating an exercise routine into your daily schedule. It has since been more than just a sport – it is a lifestyle for many people. It also goes without saying that cycling has a positive impact on the well being and overall health of the cyclist.
Yesterday, we walked 17 miles just because we wanted to. It was a planned event with family and I don’t even think it was Hungry or my idea to start in the first place. Originally, it was for training purposes for my basically sister-in-law to get ready for a marathon walk, but we ended up just doing it after the event, still. It was a walk across Los Angeles. We started in Los Feliz and ended in Santa Monica. It was a journey and an adventure. We went through so many different parts of the city, experienced so many different emotions, and somehow made it until the very end. I won’t lie to you, sometimes we wanted to quit, but luckily we had a strong group, and made it to the very end. My feet are sore as I write this, but I’m very proud of our group! We all had different fitness levels, different workout regimens, and were different ages–but we completed the journey and had fun doing it!
