Back to the Drawing Board

So it's back to the drawing board time. I just completed a month of competing and other competition like preps for each weekend. When I walk that path I always find personal growth as well as a noticed jump in my technical skill. I really get a chance to hone myself and as a fitness professional I'm able to take those conversations that I'm having with myself as far as mental coaching through tough sets, detailed exercises and rough spots as far as energy is concerned and translate them into common language and reapply them. I get a little bit smarter and a little bit better every time. But towards the end, when I have to shut it down and not train, I find that to be the hardest. I hate having to say "NO!...STOP WORKING OUT!! " I know that you grow when you rest, and I've played around with resting a day or two into a competition or shoot for that matter. It works, but it doesn't get any easier with that knowledge. Those are the times I remember the why. The why do I do it. I've competed twice this summer and this was probably my 7th show. After my 2nd physique show I thought I knew what I was doing and that "I got this" What I got was the same placing as the show before. My great training prep, the support I got going into the show. My awesome tan, the support for my fellow competitors back stage was all throw away because my expectations of the outcome were not met. I went into a little depression until I got the pictures and my eyes didn't lie. Everything was as I imagined, except in my imagination I could control the final outcome and I always finished victorious. The lesson was learned. now instead of worrying about that which I cannot control, I control the factors that are controllable. I keep my personal expectations of what I'm capable of achieving at their highest and that is the height for which I reach. As I place my bar higher I drive myself to out do the older version of myself. Why shouldn't that model be outdated. I'm smarter, I've gained more experience. Why should accept not getting better in some capacity? So now after the dust of the competition has settled it's time to get back to work, although I can hardly call this work. I get to build all the things I had on my wish list as I was putting the finishing touches on the last model. Can't wait for day 1 of the redesign!

How to use the Glycemic Index as a tool to carve away fat

                 Before we get into anything we need to have a basic understanding of what the Glycemic index is. From that knowledge we are granted the power to put it to use for us. The glycemic index (GI) provides a measure of how quickly blood sugar levels rise after eating a particular type of food. The effects that different foods have on blood sugar levels vary considerably. The glycemic index estimates how much each gram of available carbohydrate (total carbohydrate minus fiber) in a food raises a person’s blood glucose level following consumption of the food, relative to consumption of pure glucose. Glucose has a glycemic index of 100.

                 Now some of you might be thinking, what does this mean to me? Ah, a further look at the role insulin plays in the body and you'll see that it's something like a big deal.  Insulin is a hormone that causes most of the body’s cells to take up glucose from the blood (including liver, muscle, and fat tissue cells), storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle, and stops use of fat as an energy source. When insulin is absent (or low), glucose is not taken up by most body cells and the body begins to use fat as an energy source.

                Now the last little tid bit of knowledge to complete the big deal behind low GI foods is that  they are absorbed more slowly, they stay in your digestive tract longer. This is why these foods are sometimes called slow carbs. These foods may help control appetite and delay hunger cues, which can help with weight management. Balanced blood sugar also can help reduce the risk of insulin resistance.

Glycemic Index Food List

LOW GI (< 55)	MEDIUM GI (55-70)	HIGH GI (> 70)
Apple and apple juice Apricot Barley Baked Beans, dried beans, butter beans, chick peas, soy beans, lentils Breakfast cereals (oats, muesli, bran) Whole grain / nutty bread Cherries Custard Fruit Loaf Grapefruit Grapes Milk, Yogurt M&M's Oranges Pasta Peaches Peanuts Pears Peas Pineapple Juice (unsweetened) Plums Corn (still on cob) Salad Vegetables Sweet Potato	Banana Basmati Rice Bread (white and brown) Couscous Ice Cream Orange juice Pineapple, mango, melon Pita bread Pizza Popcorn Potatoes (new) Potato chips Raisins Rye bread Yam	Rice Potatoes Pumpkin Waffles Sports drinks Water melon Crackers and crisp breads Carrots Parsnips Nachos Honey Broad beans Pretzels French Fries

One more piece of useful information is the creative use of hi GI foods. The best time to actually consume those is post workout. This greatly aids in the restoration of Glycogen, or the stored fuel in your muscles. The rise of insulin also post workout also has been shown to aid in protein uptake.

                    So the long and short of it is that, sometimes the situation can seem very daunting and sciency, but if you focus on eating foods lower with lower GI and GL (Which is glycemic load, I'll get into at another time) Most of the time and shift to higher GI foods post workout then for the most part your golden. The trick is to find the combination of foods that fall into those categories and fall into the most important category. The foods that you don't mind, and actually enjoy eating ;)

Tailor your life

whenever you have a suit that doesn't fit quite the way you would desire, you have a couple of options. Option A) get rid of the damn thing. The extreme a little bit extreme. Option B) is to never wear it. At least should the occasion arise and you should need to break that sucker out, it won't hold it against you. It doesn't like how you look in it, so I guess you guys are even. There's a moment to be lived, make nice and do your best. The third and in my opinion best option C) to get the suit tailored. Now, you may have guessed the suit is not a suit at all. Well not really. The suit is your life. Now a big part of your life is the vehicle that your concesness travels around in. But to get that to fit you the way you desire your going to need to cut some things and sew a couple of things up. Sometimes a slight adjustment here and there can make a huge change in the efficiency of your daily oppoeration. Now with that added efficiency you can utilize your freed up time to really begin to direct the flow of your life. Now its your responsibility to see where you can gain that efficiency. It might be going to sleep earlier, so you can get up earlier. Could mean cooking all of your meals on the weekend. Maybe studying on you break or listening to books on tape as you drive. The most important thing is to decide how you want your life to look or feel and decide to act with urgency. Waste not a moment longer wearing that out of style suit. Know that for the most part, someone has achieved most lifestyles that many of us desire. It can all be done. Reverse engineer it. If you want to be some visionary, by all means go out there and show em how to do it. Change the world or just change your world. Never settle, always maxout.

Selfish selfie

"A selfie is a type of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. In August 2013, the term selfiealso made its debut in Oxford Dictionaries Online's quarterly update where it is defined as "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website."^[1] Selfies are often associated with social networking andphoto sharing services such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat where they are commonly posted or sent. They are often casual, are typically taken either with a camera held at arm's length or in a mirror, and typically include either only the photographer, or the photographer and as many people as can be in focus. Selfies taken that involve multiple people are known as "group selfies". In August 2013 the Guardianproduced a film series titled Thinkfluencer^[2] exploring selfie exposure in the UK." says wikipedia. For years I talked to clients and colleagues about the awesome test. In my mind I call it the Austin test....Ok sometimes I do it out loud. Anyway, the Austin test is pretty much the eyeball test. I think this is the best form of measurement for most all people. The small category of competitive athletes who are required to make weight requirements are excluded from this, but in certain situations this is also a good thing to factor in to their training and nutrition. 

                            For a little over a year I worked at a weight loss camp. During my time there I got the chance to work with a great deal of dedicated athletes that worked day and night to for the sole purpose of changing the physical quality of their lives. In my opinion through that change they would be able to derive strength and confidence and facilitate change in other areas of their lives as well. On several occasions I had some people who would have tremendous results in performance, they would feel and look great and the scale would only reflect a 2 to three lb loss in a week. A couple times people would have a set back nutrition wise due to the feeling that they were spinning there wheels. 

                             Now wither your in really good shape , really bad shape or in between. The camera pics up everything. Sometimes weight and measurements don't necessarily tell the entire tale. I like to talk to people about developing a mental image of what they aim to realize. Focus on moving towards that image as opposed to chasing a number. There's a couple of cases or two where you can over shoot it. You pass your perfect and land smack dab the nation of in emaciation. Not sexy. Realize this is a personal journey that is special and specific to you. You don't have to share it with anyone. But it definitely is an exercise in honesty and commitment. You have to be honest with yourself about the results and you have to stay committed to the mental picture you set. The last thing is since we're talking about being selfish, I want you to swing for the fences. Redesign yourself as awesome as you can possible imagine and then go out and build it. 

the Full Mount: Dominate your life

The full mount, it's a dominant position. Needless to say that you'd rather be the mounter as opposed to the Mountie. If you happen to be the Mountie there's a pretty good chance you well on your way towards being dominated..... Moving right along, to the current topic of discussion,the weekly evaluation of your life using Brazilian Jujitsu terms. Are you in the full mount, are you in guard. Have you managed to get in half guard. Have you turned the tables and got life's back? For those who don't train, we'll stick with full mount, guard and being mounted. Guard is a push. You can hold ground and defend. Your still on the defensive but the opportunity arises and you can reverse your fortunes. Being mounted sucks. Your really close to getting you skull crushed. When your in the top position in mount your virtually in control, but don't get to reckless you can end up snatching defeat from the jaws of streaking victory. A simple glance at a week in the life of  you will reveal how good a job you've done in your world beating. Now this exercise is between you and your world. If you feel like your world's kinda kicking your ass then adjustments need to be made stat. Now when your in this situation quick action is crucial. What we need to have you do is find a way to better your position from your current position. You may not be able to instantly win the fight from this next step but we need to create a better opportunity. If your in guard or The coveted mount position then the next step is trying to finish this fight, and move on to the next. Preserve the position and conquer the opponent. Simple principles. Assess, adjust and advance. Make it a happen to take the time to really assess your position with and objective eye and respond accordingly.  

Deadlift video study= coaching opportunity

I got the opportunity to coach myself, and pick out weak points of certain moves. The deadlift is my all time favorite exercise, so I felt a certain type of way to note that my form was on the cusp of being garbage. Not hurt your back terrible but far from Austin. Now the lesson learned from this is that it's always a good idea to have some system of form or spot check to give you feed back that the signals that your body is sending you is actually a conformation of correct form and not a false positive. With the heavier loads it's not a safe idea to side mirror check with most exercises. There's a lot of nerves running through your neck and at close to maximal loads everything is firing so it's a good idea to keep all that gawking around at a minimum. In your warm up sets its a good opportunity to reset your form and ramp up from 100% form positive. A common practice for experienced lifters is to warm up with a empty bar on some exercises. Now as far as outside feed back is concerned. Make sure your getting it from someone who actually knows what good form looks like.This is a pretty important element in a potential spotter/ coach for a day. If your coaching yourself post action, be honest with yourself, and make the adjustments in form, focus load or whatever needs to be done the clean up that form and make in immaculate. In my case, I'm back to pulling with straps, and I'm totally cool with that.

The Jab(straight lead)