Southern Fried Things

See that fried pork chop?  It's healthy for you.

Yep, healthy.

I used rice flour instead of regular flour and pan fried it in coconut oil.  You could use almond meal.  Make sure it's a good meal, not that Bob's Red Mill saw dust junk.

Take a pan, get it hot, add coconut oil.  Two large spoonfuls should work.

Put flour on a flat plate, crack some eggs in a bowl and beat them, then dreadge desired food item for frying through egg then flour.

Add to hot pan with hot coconut oil, cook to desired cookedness.

I highly suggest adding seasoning to the flour.  Salt, pepper, spices, meat dust, etc.

As Chris Shugart has shown in his thread here you can use this on all sorts of things.

The rest of the dish was a gluten free mac - n - cheese dish from Kroger.  Then roasted tomatoes, asparagus and brussels sprouts.

Resolutions are for losers.

You know who makes resolutions?  Losers.

That's right.  Losers.  Did you make a resolution?  Loser!

This seems harsh but in reality many of you are going to fail your resolution, and badly, like a loser.  New things are always shiny and awesome.  Then not so much.

Look it's hard to complete a change.  I know it, everyone and everything is going to be against it.

You know how to win?  Stop trying to change.  Do it.  Grit your teeth, push through and do not take no for an answer.  Nothing is going to change unless you make it happen.

So what are you waiting for?  Ohh that's right, January 1st, that's what.  So suddenly on this day you're going to change?  Give me a break.

You're not going to change, you're still going to be what ever the hell it is you are now.

Lets face it, 90% of these resolutions are probably about diet and exercise.  

Are you really going to sit here and tell me you need January 1 to make your goals a reality?  What is holding you back?

You are holding yourself back.  Not me, not the world, not even the holiday smorgasbord of food.  You.  You ate that fudge, you ate that cake, you had to have 9 holiday parties filled with shit foods.  Yeah, shit foods, because they made you look and feel like shit.

Why do I say you're going to fail? It's because you've got no willpower, you don't have the mental fortitude to deal with it.  Sure you're going to start off great, then it's going to start getting hard.  Someone will have a birthday and you'll want cake.  Then you're too busy, so you hit up the Golden Arches.  Before you know it your diet is blown to pieces, your weight has climbed back up and you've got a new gym membership you'll probably keeping paying on for the next few months.

Everyone will turn against you and your goals, you're at the gym too much, gosh why are you eating so healthy, you look fine, come-on live a little.  Without giving a giant middle finger to every inconsiderate self centered whale and guilt projecting tard burgler  you will never make it through this.

Controversy.  That's when you know you're doing something right.  If people are trying to sabotage your goals, don't worry, call them out and then keep going.  Fuel your fire.  I dare you.

Seriously, prove me and everyone else wrong, because as far as I'm concerned, you're a loser and are incapable of doing it.


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Note: this is meant to either make you or break you.  If you personally feel attacked, good, that means I did my job and hopefully you're going to excel.  If this did nothing for you, then you've already failed.

Do not be afraid to ask for help from someone if you need help reaching your goal.  You'll only appear weak if you don't ask and fail as a result.

I Sure Don't.

No one cares.

It's a cold hard truth.  In reality no one cares about you.  Not your employer, not your "friends", and chances are most of your family doesn't care.

A lot of people wont agree with me, but I'll tell you what, no one is going to look out for you but yourself.  You might be one of the fortunate people out there who really truly has some people that care about you, however at the end of the day if it comes down to you or them, they will pick themselves.

That's Okay.

Then are two classifications in the world for people.  Them and You.  At the end of the day that's how it always breaks down.

The "its me versus the world" mentality can actually take you pretty far into life or it can cripple you until you've forced out everyone and then it really is just Them versus You.

On the positive side if you acknowledge that no one cares about you and your own but yourself, you can become self sufficient.  No one is going to make sure you have a job or your kids get fed but yourself, so you will do all that you can to make sure it happens.

For a turn to the negative, taking this standpoint of life can exclude you from other people's lives.  No one wants to be around a Debby Downer.

 There needs to be a balance, you can't expect anyone else to look out for you and yours, but you should also still allow yourself to be taken care of by others.  This may leave you vulnerable to let downs, but you can't stay shielded for forever.

This is one of the benefits of having a life outside of life.  My life outside of life is training at the gym.  Yours could be cooking, hunting, fishing, playing sports, reading books, or any other activity. Getting away from it all could be the best thing to keep everyone from getting away from you.

This is an interesting concept for many, myself included.  Let more people in and maybe you'll have someone willing to pick you up in the case of a broken down car.

Or don't listen to me and keep being an asshole, because you know what, sometimes it's nice.

Play your violin some other day

The alarm clock sounds and Frank is  rolling out of bed.  He goes and cooks breakfast for the family trying not to be too loud so they can sleep in a bit longer.  Pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and oatmeal for the little one.  A few presents still need to be placed from Santa under the Christmas tree so he brings those in.

It's Christmas morning and time to wake the kids and wife.

Breakfast is done, dishes are clean, wrapping paper has been cleaned off the floor, and the kids are playing with their new toys.  Frank is packing his gym as a family friend stops over to say Merry Christmas and drop off some cookies.  The friends husband asks "Off to the Gym on Christmas?  Can't you take a day off or something?".  Frank just smiles and says "I could" .

Franks Gym is open every day of the week 24 hours a day except for Christmas, the owner feels it's nice to close the gym at least once a year.  So Frank is headed to a buddies garage, they don't have all the fancy equipment they need, but they've got a mastadon bar, a monolift and a couple hundred pounds of chains.  It'll do for some squats.  Frank just hopes the space heater is working today.

Many people who train are just like Frank.  You can substitute the holiday for any other holiday or event throughout the year.  The friends husband can be anyone as well, a friend, a family member, or a co-worker.

For those who train it's not simply an option to just skip days whenever we feel like it.  We're not some pencil necked, popped collar polo shirt wearing, two pounds of gel in our hair, over tanned douche bag, cheat curling the 50 pound dumb bells, Guido.

You wouldn't ask a violinist if they could just "take a day off from practicing" would you?  Those of us that train do it for a reason.  Whether it's the power lifter who has a meet coming up, the body builder needing to add more thickness to his lower lat tie in, the oly lifter who needs to strengthen his catch position of the snatch or just the better than average joe who is trying to beat his personal demons and make himself even better.

Yes days off are going to happen, yes sometimes we over obsess about making a training session, but you know what?  We don't stress about catching that episode of America Idol either.

This is a way of life for many people, we look to get in a session whenever  we can, early morning, late night, mid afternoon, what ever will work.  Now if you don't mind I have a family Christmas gathering this afternoon and I need to go get to the gym so I can keep my week some what on track with my training.

Yoda wears Nikes.

"Do or Do Not.  There is no Try."  Master Yoda.

The above statement is more about a mind set.  You don't "Try" to do something.  You do it.

Look at any successful person.  No matter their area of success.  You will see people who sought out to do something.  Either they did, or they did not.

"Try" is something people with the luxury to do so, do.  If you've got a paper due by 10am on Friday, you don't "try" to turn it in.  Your name's been called, you've got 2 white lights and 900lbs on the platform, you don't "try" to pull it.

Trying leads to failure, failure from trying leads to never doing.  Children have no cohesive thoughts of trying to do something.  I do not believe they even get frustrated when attempting to walk.  We as parents, grand parents and other relatives may think they are frustrated with something they are attempting but very small children can't be frustrated.  They don't know what the end goal is.

When a child falls on their butt they usually get startled then go back to working on "doing" what ever it was previous to their fall.  How many times have you seen a child fall and be fine only to cry once you say something?  It's a learned behaviour.

When a baby is trying to walk they keep getting back up over and over and over again.  Not out of willpower but because they HAVE to walk.

We could do well to steal from this mindset.

I'm not selling the secret or pretending to have it, I can say that this mindset is very important to me.  When we try to do things we fail in a cycle that just breaks us down.  If you want to do something, do it.

When you decide to do something, do yourself a big favor, pour yourself into it and do it.

Not quite perfected, Perfect Granola

2 cups minute oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
boat load of penzy's cinnamon
nutmeg
melted 80% cacao ( about a serving )
finely diced candied ginger
1 TBSP coconut oil
pinch of salt
pecan pieces
1/4 cup of splenda

Pre-heat oven to 350

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Then mix in 1/4 cup of water a little splash at a time.  The oatmeal mixture should be clumping together You might need more than 1/4 cup of water.  I just kind of winged it, maybe closer to half a cup.

Once the mixture is mixed well and clumpish, stir in melted cacao and melted coconut oil.

Spread across coconut oil greased glass baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.  Check firmness by breaking granola into pieces.  If the granola is still damp or moist, return to over in 15 minute intervals checking on it.  It should take about 1 hour total.

Variations: Add pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, other seeds/nuts as you see fit.

Serve over greek yogurt like the attached photo or perhaps in a bowl of almond milk

Notes:

A lot of granola recipes call for lots of sugar ingredients such as sugar, molasses, honey, agave and olive oil.  I wanted to make a better granola.  This recipe is the first step.  I will experiment with it a bit more.

I've also seen where you could use a nut butter as a binding agent.  I may play around with that in the future when I work on granola bars.

Alarm Clocks, Ladies of the dance and Paul

Frank has three alarm clocks.

One to turn off, the second to remind him he really needs to get up and the third is there to make sure he's up.

He's not lazy, he just works 18 hours a day and drives an hour each way.  On his only day off Frank sleeps for 18 hours.  Just enough time to wake up and shower before his week starts all over again.

Teri-lynn gets off work at 6am and smells like Vanilla.  She's a stripper while she goes through law school.  She even has a 4 year old son named Tomas Caine, or TC for short.


No one ever see's Teri tired.  Frank looks like something Dr Frankenstein created.  Teri excels in her classes and her dancing.  Frank's on a performance improvement plan.

Frank and Teri-lynn have one thing in common.  Sleep deprivation.   Where the differ is how they handle it.  Frank drinks gallons of coffee a day to little affect.  Teri-lynn takes Spike tablets before class and library visits.   She's even been known to drink a spike shotgun while at work.

Enter Paul.  Paul drinks a spike shooter in the morning, has an expresso with lunch and knocks back a spike double shot before lifting.  He usually drinks a shotgun throughout the day.  Paul is ALWAYS tired, on edge and his workouts suck, let alone his mental capacity is severely diminished.


Spike is a line of energy supplements by Biotest.  They are very potent and should be used tactically and with care.

Take the case of Teri-lynn.  She takes full dose (2) spike tablets only before heavy cram sessions, for regular classes she takes just half a dose (1).  If she has the day off, she'll stay away from Spike.  As for the shotgun, she only drinks it at work when she's just got in from a big exam and needs a little extra oompf for her pole routine.

Paul - the habitual abuser of spike products has fried his nervous system.  He can't function even with all the spike products in the world.  The only thing that can save him now is to cut out the spike AND any external caffeine source.  He'll need to back his workouts down to light explosive work, make sure his diet is on point and get plenty of sleep every night.

Frank, poor frank.  If only he'd buy some spike.  He'll be able to function better and get off that performance improvement plan which will mean he wont have to work so much and can grab some sleep for a change. He'll need to back off the caffeine from coffee, cutting it to Zero would be very wise with the spike consumption.  For frank I'd recommend drinking a Spike Shotgun throughout work day starting by drinking half of it first thing in the morning.

Here is my breakdown of spike products and how to use them properly:

Spike Shooter: need to run through a brick wall? beat a deadlift PR? this is the drink for you.  Half a can is most people's needed dose for power and focus.  A whole can is very powerful and often too much for a normal workout/activity
Spike Shotgun: the daily slow drinker.  it brings the punch without the jitters
Spike Double shot: it's like 5 hour energy, except it works, great before a workout without over amping you
Spike Tablets: 1 tablet is enough for plenty of mental energy tasks such as all day of classes, 2 tablets is a little extra for when you need to stay up all night studying.

You can apply the three cases above to anyone, in Paul's place you can replace spike products with any other energy drink.  Too much can be harmful.

Spike is my energy product of choice, and thus this is my post on Spike's useage.  Not everyone needs spike.

Kiss My Candied Yam

It's the holiday's.

For those of us whom are not Jews, it's only 2-3 days of actual holidays.  Though we'll probably drag it out into 6 weeks of Candied Yams that aren't really yams but I digress, fudge brownies triple dipped in sugar crack, fruit cake that's so dense you could use it to power an Alcubierre Drive if you converted it to energy, and what ever other scrumptious delicacy we can  muster into our ever growing gullets.

Here's how we can fight the 6 weeks without becoming a shut in and still save our diets.

For the normies, those who do not partake in my passion for training nads out until we're nothing but a pile of gelatinous goo, this bit is for you.

So you've made it through thanksgiving and are now up 4 pounds.  After all miracle whip and turkey sandwiches go so well together.  Your office will probably be filled with everyone's "holiday cheer" aka toilet fodder.  What can you do to not end up 10 pounds heavier this winter?

Cut out your daily starbucks.  If you need caffeine drink Coffee.  It comes in a can labeled Folgers, and it's black just the way I like my metal.  This will cut out a metric crap ton of calories alone.

If someone offers you a cookie- I know you're going to eat it, you know it, don't stress your willpower too much, save it for something like showing up to work - don't eat it then, save it for your next meal THEN eat it.  This will help reduce binge eating.

Control the food you can, get up in the morning and cook a solid breakfast of protein and fats.  It wouldn't hurt to get some fiber in here.  Might I suggest weight control fiber tablets.  Protein, fat and fiber will help keep you full and somewhat resistant until at least 3pm when your blood sugar crashes from either lack of lunch or that crap you just got at McDonalds ( make your lunch fool!! ).

Get on a treadmill every few days, crank the incline up as high as it goes, but for the love of that sweet porcelain baby Jesus figure, don't hold the hand rails, it defeats the purpose.  30 minutes of good solid cardio is what your thighs need.

Back to the hardies -- no not Hardees.  Calm Down.

Use some of this extra holiday meal time to fuel some intense volumized workouts.

Don't carb backload during this time of year.  You're just asking for trouble.

Extra prowler sessions, skip the handles, press into the posts and get to going for distance.  Squeeze your glutes and quads the whole way for extra boom.

Squat twice a week.  1) it's always a good idea 2) it'll help turn that glowing rudolph pastry into something useful

Since you're no stranger to forcing yourself to do things you don't want to, have a carb day once a week. Keep your carbs lower during the other days.  Yes this is technically a cheat meal, but if you're going to do it, have some purpose.

For everyone, don't STRESS enjoy the holidays, indulge a bit, just don't get carried away.  If you do go nuts, tighten up your diet for a few days, curb the damage as best you can.

The holiday's aren't about getting fat, they should be about having fun.  You still don't get to eat french fries though, that's not holiday food.

Quick Mexican Casserole

Ingredients:
2 cups of dry long grain white rice
1-2 pounds of lean meat ( beef, chicken, turkey )
mexican seasonings of choice
1 can enchilada sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 pound of lower fat shredded cheese

Optional:
beans
salsa
anything else

Pre heat Oven to 425
Make rice according to the instructions the rice came in.
Cook meat with seasonings, drain, return to skillet and mix in tomato past and enchilada sauce.
Spread cooked rice across casserole dish bottom, then layer on the meat paste and top with cheese.

If using the optional ingredients simply add them in, I like rice, bean, meat, salsa, cheese.

Put casserole into oven and let the cheese get all melty, bubbly and tasty.

Serve on plate, bowls, or eat the whole dish.  Top with fat free sour cream if wanted.

The Original Snow flake.

No two snow flakes are alike.  Each and every one is different.

Let’s start with an introduction on snowflake formation. As you’re probably aware, evaporation from lakes and rivers send water vapor up into the atmosphere. That water vapor gathers in clouds.

Water molecules in clouds engage in a complex dance of phase changes. Variables such as temperature, pressure and even the presence of dust can affect snow formation. When it gets cold, the gaseous molecules want to enter the liquid phase, but it’s much easier for them to do so if they can find a solid on which to settle.

A cloud is essentially a mass of water vapor molecules that have found dust particles and condensed into water. As a cloud cools, a few of the droplets begin to freeze, while others resist turning to a solid. Some even evaporate back into their water vapor form. When the water vapor molecules come into contact with a frozen droplet, they freeze into a solid. Skipping the liquid phase is crucial to the snowflake process: It’s the difference between getting an ice droplet and a flake.

Infant snowflakes show little variation in their hexagonal design. If the process stopped here, all snowflakes would be visibly indistinguishable, 10-molecule structures. But it doesn’t stop there. Parts of the growing snow crystal have rough edges, or bonds, dangling off their sides, which are better at attracting other water molecules than the smoother parts of the hexagon. As more water vapor molecules settle on these bonds, the rough edges become a relatively large protuberance with its own rough edges, which attract more water molecules. Through this process, the rough edge becomes a branch of the crystal. Eventually the branches develop their own rough edges, which develop into sub-branches of the original branch, and so on.

The temperature and humidity also affect how new water vapor molecules bond to the growing snowflake. Warmer, drier conditions tend to create solid plates and prism shapes. As conditions in the cloud get colder and more moist, the beautiful winter-wonderland-type snowflakes become more common.

Now that our physics lesson is over, let's move on.

Sam and Justin just started working out.  Sam's done all of the research on what tempo, rest times, movements and weights to use.  Justin picked up Arnold's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding

Justin gets up in the morning and does some fasted cardio before his breakfast shake, he might drink some black coffee if he's needing a kickstart.  Sam on the other hand slams some Mag-10 and does some light brisk walking on a treadmill before his breakfst.

When it comes time to hit the gym Sam goes in and does foam rolling, dynamic stretching, and drinks his peri workout nutrition before he goes and starts his routine for the day.  Sam's got a big day of bench pressing ahead, just bench pressing. He'll eventually work up to a training max for the day, drop the weight a bit and crank out some heavy clusters and some other out of the "norm" stuff.

Justin walks in the weight room, warms up with some jump rope and push ups.  He's barefoot, in some short sorts and no t-shirt.  He starts his routine off with some dumbbell bench pressing before moving to the inclined bench for some heavy sets of 8, then he moves to the cable station for some cross overs, sets of 15, you can see the strain in his face and his pecs contracting at the top of each rep which turns out to be short of a full range of motion.

Two guys, same goals, different approaches.  Why?   Is Sam trying to be "original"? Or is Justin trying to mimic the "original".

We see this in the fitness industry a lot.  Someone comes out with something different from the "norm" suggesting it's the latest and greatest.  Sure it could be, but is it?  Or are they just trying to be different?

It's often said people aren't snow flakes.  What works will simply work.  While that may be true, we need to take other things into account.  Fitness level, strength levels, training age ( 5 months, 5 years, 15 years ), personal preferences, goals, etc.

Originality Complex is what I call it when people create something "new" for the sake of being different.  Everyone needs their thing to make them unique, this is a good thing.  However it's a bad thing when it's done and they completely ignore time proven methods and instantly dismiss them.

Everything works until it doesn't.  Results are what matters, however the path to get there is important.  You don't want to go on a road trip and have 2 blow outs and over heat twice, do you?  No, you want to make it to Vegas with the least amount of bumps in the road and minimal traffic.

I'm not picking one side over the other.  I have my personal feelings based on what I've learned and tried.  So should you.  Do not blindly follow a method, whether it's in the gym, school or work.  Ask questions, find what works best for you.

In this regard we are all special snow flakes.  Just remember when you learn something "new and original" that it's probably recycled from something from a few years ago.  Everything comes full circle.

Now excuse me, I've got mag-10 to go drink and sets of 15 cable cross overs to do.

Ultimate Peanut Butter Cookies

I like peanut butter cookies. Who doesn't? Ohh you don't? Well there's the door, feel free to let it hit your butt on the way out!

Now for those of us still here, the cool people. I bring to you, Peanut butter flour peanut butter cookies.

1 large egg ( 2 medium eggs )
1 1/4 cup sugar substitute ( I used splenda )
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups peanut flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 TBSP coconut oil ( melted )

Preheat oven to 375°F and grease baking sheet.

Beat together egg, sugar, baking soda and vanilla. Beat in the peanut butter. Add peanut flour until you have a firm dough. You might need to let it sit after mixing to solidify a bit.

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet, pressing lightly with the back of a fork to slightly flatten ( make that cool X pattern!! ). Bake for 5-7 minutes, until lightly set.

Let cool thoroughly on cookies sheets ( no sneak eating, you'll thank me )

You're living your life wrong.

I recently asked a question on facebook: "Have you looked at your life lately? Is there something you're doing that you shouldn't or something that isn't needed?".  I didn't get many responses, okay I got Zero.  I didn't get many likes on this one either.  I was slightly taken away for a moment but then I realized why - It's a hard question and an even harder task.

Would you want some total stranger coming up to you and telling you that you're doing something wrong with your life?   Of course not.  You also wouldn't want someone to tell you that you're wasting your time with an endeavor.

People like to think they are perfect, we're not.  I'm not.  You're not.  The cute barista is not, remember that one time they forgot the extra non-fat double shot of organic fruit milk?

Most everyone has something in their life they could do without.  It may be something small, like staying up late for the daily show.  Maybe it's something bigger, what about that "friend" who only drags you down and makes you feel bad.  Others it's junk food, gambling, smoking, lying, being a jerk, porn, drinking, or too much xbox.  The list could go on.

Not everything we do is "bad" for us in a physical/mental way some things are just time sinks that could have the energy focused elsewhere.

Roll the clock back 3 years.  It's 2009.  The night before thanksgiving.  My sister's soon to be in laws were in town for the first time, as a family group we went out for Mexican for dinner.  As was my tradition at the time, I got hammered on tequila and margaritas.  On the way home, I had my then girlfriend stop so I could get beer.  I was down 2 bottles before I made it back home.  I vaguely remember some conversations taking place before I had to go "sleep".  It was more like pass out drunk.

A switch went off some where, I don't know exactly why or how, but Thanksgiving day I decided to stop drinking.  With the exception of 1 margarita, 10 shots of tequila, half a pitcher of Dos Equis and maybe 5 glasses of wine I haven't had a drink since then.  With Zero alcohol since May 2011.

The mexican booze is a story for another day, maybe.

Now lets let time flow to October 2010.

I had a friend I was madly in love with.  In reality I was so emotionally attached that it was bad for both of us.  I chose to end the friendship.  Granted I did things wrong and probably should of behaved better I did what I did.  It's taken 2 years for us to be able to say hello in public without it being some weird cut the tension with a strand of hair thing.

Now back to my point.  There's always something that is in your life that you need to re-evaluate.  Those over attached bonds to things or friends may not be good for you.  Your vice may not be good for you.  Do you have a tendency to procrastinate before a project or event and then you get into a mad sleepless and angry fury?  Yeah, that's not good for you either.

Some things you should just stop now, like smoking or getting drunk 4 nights a week.  You know it's bad for you so strengthen up and stop.  Ask for help if you need it.

Other things might require a bit more thought as it "is this bad for me".  I don't have the answers for everything or everyone, but take a good hard look.  See if there is anything in your life that's a negative, either turn it into a positive or let it go.

What did you call me?

"You're just a Weekend Warrior."

That's not very nice sounding is it?  Let's look at the phrase, weekend warrior.  Everyone wants to be a warrior, but put weekend in front of it and instantly it sounds like a negative.

Ponder this: powerlifting meets, body building contests, strongman events, olympic weightlifting, all of these happen the majority of the time on the weekends.  Would you call a competitive powerlifter a weekend warrior?  Only if you wanted your head chewed off.

Lets back up a bit first.

Im at the gym 5-6 days a week.  I don't eat crappy foods, I don't drink alcohol, I get 7-8 hours of sleep every night, I don't party and I don't skip meals.  I could go on and on and I'm not even as extreme as some!  I wouldn't call myself a powerlifter or a body builder , I'm simply a guy who loves lifting, wants to be big, strong, and healthy.  I do what I love and I love what I do.  For me, what you see as a sacrifice is just payment towards my goals.

I'm not a weekend warrior.  Not because I think it's a negative phrase, instead I feel it's a postive phrase.  However it's reserved for those warriors that compete on the weekends: Body builders, powerlifters, olympic lifters, tough triathletes , or anyone else that gets out there on the weekends and gives it their all.

What do you call me you ask?  Porter to many, Ron to others or to some "hey guy".  Enthusiast isn't the right word either, I feel enthusiasts are those that just sit around talking about something and never "doing".  Sure, you might go to the gym five days a week on a perfect week, but what about when someone wants to go out for dinner or you don't feel good?  Suddenly you've only gone in two days a week.

There's nothing wrong with someone that uses the gym as a tool so they can eat out and not feel guilty.  They are still probably better off than those that don't make it to the gym.  They aren't weekend warriors though.

You can't simply label everything.  I know why I train.  Notice I said train.  I don't workout, I train for a specific goal and purpose.  Every session has a reason and builds upon the others.  At the end of the day, I don't care what you call me.  I'm in this for me and me alone.

Are you going to let someone else's label affect you?  I sure wont.  Get out there and do your thing, don't worry about what you're called.

Long life tomato soup

Ingredients:

2.5 pounds of mixed tomatoes, preferably vine-ripened
Several cloves of garlic or a couple of spoonfuls of pre-minced jarred garlic
2 yellow onions
Half a cup of extra-virgin olive oil
1 quart reduced-sodium organic chicken stock
2 bay leaves
Pink sea salt and fresh ground pepper
4 tablespoons omega-3 Smart Balance stick butter
1/2 cup of fresh basil or a few tablespoons of dried
3/4 cup of half-n-half ( optional )
Avocado

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Wash and core the tomatoes, cut into halves. Slice onions. Peel garlic cloves if using whole ones.
3. Add tomatoes, onions, and garlic to a baking tray and drizzle with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 20 to 30 minutes. They should look caramelized.
4. Transfer it all into a big pot. Add chicken stock, bay leaves and butter. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until liquid is reduced (evaporated and thickened) by about a third.
5. Add basil to pot, then use an immersion stick-style blender to puree the soup until fairly smooth. I like to leave mine a little grainy and chunky.
6. Return soup to low heat, add half-n-half if your diet goals allow for it, then add more chicken stock if you want it thinner.
7. Add more sea salt and pepper if you want, pour into bowl, and garnish with avocado slices.

-- Recipe borrowed from my buddy ChrisShugart

Goes great with some turkey bacon crumbled on top or even better a roasted poblano pepper stuffed with a touch of goat cheese and turkey bacon!!

Reeses peanut butter pie

You can make this and eat the whole thing without feeling like a total fat person.  Just a partial one!
 Note: you can make this fattier and carbier if you wish.  Use real peanut butter and a pre-baked pie crust.
Ingredients:

Crust: diced walnuts
4 oz fat-free cream cheese (half a standard package)
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup Splenda
8 oz Cool Whip, sugar free
2 scoop chocolate Metabolic Drive
butt load of PB2 ( available at large grocers or online )

Directions

1. Line the bottom of a pie tin or bowl with diced walnuts

2. In a bowl, mix up the cream cheese, sour cream, and Splenda with a fork.

3. Fold in thawed Cool Whip, PB2, and Metabolic Drive ( add more protein powder or PB2 to taste ).

4. Pour over "crust."

5. Chill for a few hours in the fridge or one hour in the freezer.

6. Eat the whole thing whole watching Glee. I won't tell.

A different coin purse.

Time: We all use time like it's money, it's the measure of all things. Especially during the work week.

We evaluate whether it's worth it to cook breakfast or just hit Mc Donalds, or skip it entirely. We erroneously speed because we really value that extra 2 minutes we shaved off our daily commute. We find time for Jonnie's soccer practice, Susie's ballet, book club, desperate house wives, and

two for one at chili's.

Strangely we never spend time on what really counts, Ourselves.

Think about the last time you spent on yourself, no really the last time you took the time to do something for you.  We as a society spend so much time just doing.  We don't use the time for good, we don't use it for bad, we just use it.  Yet we're always late and in a rush for things we don't even need.

It's Sunday night, that means AMC's The Walking Dead is on.  We made sure we got to watch it tonight, yet we didn't cook dinner because we didn't have time.  How's that Taco Hell heartburn treating you?  Think about your day's, what all do you make time for?  Now think about the things you don't have time for.

Some of you might be in graduate school with a legitimate reason for not having time or maybe you've got a hyper demanding job, heck some of you have 5 kids!  I understand we can't always have spare time to do what ever we please, however there's always time for something that we just don't really need to spend our precious time on.

If we think of time as being finite in a day, from the moment we wake, we are "wasting daylight".  

Tick. Tock.

What if we stop looking at time as a finite resource for each day?  What if we instead look at it in chunks?  Is there 15, 30, 60 minutes a day you could carve out for yourself?  Time for you to do something positive for yourself.  A hot bubble bath?  A fresh cooked dinner for a change?  Maybe it's just a cup of coffee and getting lost in your thoughts?  Maybe you'll finally get a chance to kill those pesky aliens.

How much time did you waste Facebook stalking today?  Find some time and spend it doing something positive for yourself.  Set aside as much as you can and do anything!  Make it personal, make it useful to you.  You will thank me.

How are you doing?

Having a rough time lately?  Is your boss jumping down your throat, did your girl friend leave you, or maybe you've just had bad luck?

Get over it.

Life throws us obstacles, some more than others.  If you can complain about it on facebook, twitter, work or to your friends and family, let me just tell you right here, right now: It's not the bad.

Greg's Dad died earlier this year.  He's buried friends this year and had others diagnosed with cancer.  Greg even got diagnosed with prostate cancer.  He's prepping for a power lifting competition while under going treatment.

That girl at the coffee shop that screwed up your order?  Yes, the moronic one who couldn't grasp the concept of a "Non-fat, extra foam, 3 shakes of cinnamon, hold the sugar, use splenda, double expreso shot Venti Mocha Latte", I mean your two year old knows what that is, Gosh.  She miscarried 3 days ago, but because she needs her job, she's at work.

Lance Armstrong just lost all of his titles.  Regardless of your outlook on doping usage, he's probably feeling pretty shitty right now.  I doubt he's complaining on facebook.

This author, the one who is typing this, he's got Chronic Myeloid Leukemia.  ( Here's the Wiki entry: CML feel free to read up )  This is my first public post that my friends will see about it.  I've known about about 18 months now.  It's just a part of life.

I remember two days after I was diagnosed, I was in the gym on the lat pull down station.  Paige, the ever cute and pretty gym worker asks "How are you doing?".  Between reps of what was probably 50 pounds I muttered "I'm good, except I've got cancer" and kept going.  She kept going until she realized what I said.

Sure you don't know Greg, Lance or little miss can't make a latte right, heck some of you don't even really know me.  This isn't to belittle your life's complications.  It's more of a shout out, you're not the center of the universe.  Your life isn't that bad.  If you can whine about it to the world on Facebook, then life isn't so bad.

Everyone is the center of their own universe, which is great, in mine, I'm the Universal Dictator.  My people call me Uni Dick.  It's catchy.  However, we're not the actual center of the universe, life went on before us and you bet your "Non-fat, extra foam, 3 shakes of cinnamon, hold the sugar, use splenda, double expreso shot Venti Mocha Latte" it's going to be beating someone else up after you're gone.

Now it's ask that again "How are you doing?".  Things might be shitty, but hopefully, just maybe you've realized you need to suck it up and keep pressing forward.