The USDA: Looking Out for You

I was calculating my macronutrients for a diet the wife and I are doing (2-weeks of insanity; I'll post if we finish it), and I had a horrid bout of curiosity. As I built up a goodly deal of protein and fat, I wondered: WWUSS? (What Would Uncle Sam Say; a highly apropos acronym for the USDA, by the by.)

Greg Newbold's brilliant parody of a classic; all too fitting for American nutrition.

So, what ought a 5'9", 185 pound, active, 32 year old male be consuming on a daily basis? Here are my numbers, according to the USDA:
3210 calories
361-522g carbs
67g protein
71-125g fat

I'm speechless. "Retarded" really isn't a strong enough word.

Just for reference, let me walk you through a day with macros similar to those above:
I'll start off the day with a Super Sized Coke (not sure they even offer this, anymore; maybe I'll just have 2 Large Cokes).

Next, I'll down a bag of cheddar Kettle chips. Yes, the whole bag.

After I wake up from a 4 hour nap, I'll settle in with a nice dinner. Maybe, I don't know, 4 cups of spaghetti topped with a country fried steak.

Shut up and eat your carbs!

No gravy for me; I'm watching my weight!

Another 4-hour-insulin-coma later, and I'm awake again. Time for a little snack before bedtime. We'll go with one more Super Sized Coke and a King Size Snickers; because it really satisfies!

Grand total:
552g carbs
85g fat
67g protein

After falling into yet another coma, I get to wake up and do it all over again tomorrow! And they wonder why heart disease is on the rise, despite their best "education" efforts.

For those of you interested in a real take on how many carbs one ought to get in their day, take a gander at this blog:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-carbohydrate-continuum/

Now, go eat some bacon! (Don't worry; the delicious is worth the sodium bloat.)

Skipper's Challenge: Push

Here's what you'll need:


Prowler x 1

Expanse of space that can be scratched up x 1

Minutes x 15

Take the Prowler and load it up with some weights (I'm pretty weak, so I only loaded it with 280 pounds). Start the timer. Push it to the end of the expanse, turn it around, push it back. Repeat until you're out of minutes.

This exercise is pretty surprising. On the way out, you think, "this is easy." On the way back, you think, "I really ought to add more weight." When you stop after your first "rep" (there and back), you think, "huff puff huff puff . . . Nah, this weight is good."

It'll sneak up on you, but it's a fun way to get some cardio/resistance training in.

Go out there and, as Salt 'n Peppa says, Push It!

Skipper's Challenge: Nutrition

This is an easy one (though I have some tough, nutrition challenges up my sleeve for you all). All you have to do is watch a movie.

Hold it, there, tiger! Not any ol' movie you want; I have a specific one in mind.

I know you had your heart set on this. Too bad.

Grab some popcorn and Junior Mints and settle down with Fat Head. It's a documentary rebuttal to Super Size Me, because that one was stupid. Don't worry; it's as entertaining as it is informative (OK, maybe a little more informative than entertaining). On second thought, it might be best to skip the popcorn and Junior Mints; you may not feel like eating them during this film.

Hulu Link

Happy watching!

Skipper's Challenge: Get Out of Town

Every now and again (read: as often as possible), you need to get out and experience the world. I'm not talking about running off to Paris to settle that lingering, mid-life crisis; I mean enjoying the bounty of nature that God has provided us instead of sweating in an enclosed room with a rubberised floor and a bunch of poser dudes in sleeveless shirts and backwards hats.

Seeing that I live in Colorado Springs, it's practically cheating when it comes to enjoying nature. No long drives, no romanticising of boring landscapes; just miles and miles of picturesque, rolling mountains bathed in sunlight and draped with evergreens. The above photo was a quick shot taken from my phone camera. It really is that beautiful, here.

My wife and I took a couple of dogs and a couple of friends and headed for the hills for a little steady-state cardio. Nothing too crazy, here (we'll save the crazy hike for another post); just a little elevation and a lot of scenery. The hike itself was a little better than 2 miles, and about 415 ft. in elevation gain (I told you it was pretty tame). Still, I can think of worse ways to exercise over the weekend.

Get out there!

Skipper's 3/30 Challenge: 300 in 10

The deadlift. It's a great exercise, because you can't cheat in it. You can perform it with improper form, to be sure; but you can't cheat. Pick up the weight, stand up. Put it back down. Easy peasy.

I didn't have much time for a workout, today, so this is a nice, quick challenge. Warm up and work your way up to 300lbs. Do as many reps at 300lbs. as possible in 10 minutes.

I was only able to bust out 15 reps before I ran out of time, so it's an easy score to beat. Get to it!

Resistance Training - Good for the Bones & Posture

3/29/11

Back Squats are a wonderful exercise for a number of reasons. First, it works that good old posterior chain: gluts and hamstrings and I know I could use the work there! Secondly, any kind of weight lifting has been proven to be great for building bone density and, if you're a female, this is very important since we tend to loose that quicker than the boys do. Thirdly, squats take form and concentration. This is one great way to wear your body out physically to prepare for a good, solid night of sleep ;)

Here is how I performed this exercise:

70 lbs including the bar (bar, 2 10's, and 2 2.5's). I've worked up to this weight, which might be way too light of a load for you, so work at the load of weight that works for where you're at.

7 reps in the first set, rest 1-2 minutes (preferably less time), 6 reps in the next set, rest, 5, rest, 4, rest, and so on down to 1 rep in the last set.


The key to any kind of squat is getting your thighs below parallel. This will give you a full, deep squat, which really targets the hamstrings and gluts. Really, though, this is a full body exercise and you'll feel it in your hips, abdominal region, upper and lower back (stability muscles for this exercise), and possibly even your calves. Focus on good form: beach chest (pop out those girls!), shoulders back and down, tight/taut back, toes slightly pointed outward and about shoulder width apart, sit back and down when squatting, and thrust hips forward and squeeze gluts when coming back up.

Sometimes I just crave getting under the bar. I believe that my body has built up a good auto-response to weight lifting. It expects that I will do it and yearns for it.

Now, if you don't have a bar and weights to use or are just a beginner, you could do air squats like this:



Again, be sure to use proper form. If you can't get to parallel or below parallel, get as low as you can and work your way to getting lower in the squat. Additionally, use a rail or solid object to brace yourself in the event that you need something to stabilize you as you perform the exercise.

If you feel that you can do squats with some weight, but don't have access to a gym or bar, then I would suggest loading up a back pack with flour, rice bags, or whatever you have lying around that could be used as weight in the bag and then performing the squats.

The second exercise in today's challenge is alternating Pull Ups and Chin Ups. I use bands to assist in a Pull-Up and Chin-Up as I am not able to complete even one of either without assist at this point, but I'm working up to it.

I put my feet in the handles of my straps, but you could also use them like this .

Here are what my bands look like:

I was able to complete 3, 4, 2 for Pull-Ups and 3, 2, 2 for Chin-Ups. Not much, but I was running out of time and doing my sets back to back, so I believe I could bust out more given time. 

If you don't have this equipment, complete sets of Push-Ups: normal form if possible and from the knees if need be. This way you're still working your upper body for today's challenge.

Get moving and enjoy the benefits of using the body God gave you!

Skipper's 3/29 Challenge: Pull/Chin Ups x50

Can you do 50 pull and/or chin ups in a set? I hate you!

For the rest of us, this is an all day challenge. Do 50 pull and/or chin ups during the day. The number of sets and reps doesn't matter; just see to it that you get over the bar for the 50th time by day's end.

These exercises are basically just pulling yourself up from a dead hang; at least chin over the bar, but try to touch your chest to the bar when you come up (I can only do that on the chin ups; almost there on the pull ups). Pull ups are palms away, and chin ups are palms towards you. Pull ups ought to have your hands slightly wider than shoulder width, and chin ups hands slightly narrower than shoulder width.

Get that chest up to the bar, pretty boy!

This is where your chin ups should terminate.

Proper arm width for the pull up.

I'm blessed to have access to a pull up bar at work, so I did most of these throughout the work day. I did them all in alternating sets of five, alternating pull ups and chin ups. Basically, a set of five pull ups, then a set of five chin ups, then a set of five pull ups, etc. I hit 50 by the end of the work day (25 total pull ups, 25 total chin ups).

The great thing about this challenge is that you can easily do it along with another workout for the day.

Happy pulling!

Danielle's Daily Challenge 3/28/11

My daily challenge yesterday consisted of the following:

5 minutes of Burpees (completed 25)

5 minutes of Swings (25lb weight - completed 88)

30 inverted rows (completed in 4:11)

5 minutes of jump rope

This may not sound like too difficult of a challenge, but trust me, you heart will be pounding and your lungs on overdrive :)

When doing the Burpees, I really tried to push through and not take too many rests. If I did have to rest, then I marched in place with high knees so as to not stop moving. For those of you that are not familiar with Burpees, below is a picture showing the movements: from a standing position, squat down, jump back with both feet landing on your toes, hands on the ground underneath your shoulders, complete one push-up, jump forward, and then jump high up in the air; repeat.

I eeked out 25 reps of this brutal bodyweight exercise and I definitely felt it in my shoulders, abs, and quads later on.

The second exercise I completed was weighted swings. This will not only work your posterior chain, but also your grip. I used a 25 lb circular weight to swing with keeping my back straight and taut. I swung the weight back through my legs, lowering my quads and butt when going in between my legs and then thrusting my hips forward and squeezing my gluts when swinging the weight up and in front of my chest. Remember to keep your shoulders up, back, and down and your back straight and taut.

Next, do 30 inverted rows. You will want to bring your chest up and try not to use your legs for assistance. If you feel like you can do more, then have at it!

Last, but not least, time to be a kid again and bust out the jump rope. Have at it for the full 5 minutes. Set a stop watch or count down timer and take it outside if it is nice enough!

On my bucket list and my ultimate favourite form of jumping rope:

Skipper's 3/28 Challenge: 30 Minute Push-up Sit-up Challenge

The push up and the sit up. Two fitness staples from time immemorial.

These are two of the most ubiquitous exercises in our modern world. Sure, they're not "ideal." Arguably, there can be problems associated with their overuse (though some would argue that strict form and a little bit of manning up will offset any injury risk). Despite this, there are few exercises, other than running, that are more regularly used to gage overall fitness levels. From law enforcement to the military to your local high school, push ups and sit ups are a common denominator from which to pull an assessment.

Today's challenge is simple: pick a number for each, and try to hit those numbers in 30 minutes. You can, of course, simply do as many as possible in the allotted time; but I personally find that I will push a little harder when I'm hungry for those one or two extra reps to hit a goal number.

The actual amount of push ups/sit ups required for this challenge will vary by individual. I suggest starting with a number that you can perform in a single set that isn't very taxing, and then multiplying that number by 10. For me, I can very easily do 20 push ups at a time and 10 sit ups (can you tell I suck at sit ups?). I can do 50+ push ups in a set and 30+ sit ups, but the numbers of 20 and 10, respectively, are what I can do before I start to feel it.

So for me, multiplying these numbers by 10, I had 100 sit ups and 200 push ups to do in that 30 minute time span. Here's how my sets broke down:
Push Up Sets:
20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 10, 10
Sit Up Sets:
20, 20, 20, 10, 10, 10, 10

Challenge completed with 1:38 to spare. Kind of close, but having those goal numbers really pushed me to finish it up (I almost didn't finish the push ups). In retrospect, I ought to have started out a little stronger; maybe a set of 40 push ups and a set of 30 sit ups and worked down from there. It got done in the end, but barely.

So, what were your numbers? Did you complete the challenge? Remember: your only competition is yourself. If you did 500 push ups and 600 sit ups, but it was very easy, you failed the challenge. Set a higher bar, next time. However, if you did only 15 push ups and 20 sit ups, but you fell flat at the end from muscle exhaustion, you beat the challenge.

Good luck!