Drink Tea

Sometime today try to drink some tea. Tea has incredible antioxidant capacity because of the phenols and polyphenols in it. White tea has the most antioxidants, followed by green, then black (which all come from the same plant, just picked at different times). Herbal teas also have a lot of antioxidants including red tea (Rooibos), blue eyes, blueberry, lavender, peppermint, and chamomile just to name a few. Teas that you would get at restaurants are good to, just processed more so not as good. Also, try to stay away from those "pre-made" green teas with artificial sweeteners in them. Good tea brands that come pre-made in a bottle are: Honest Tea and Teas' Tea just to name a couple. Have a great day and make sure to drink your tea!

A Few of My Perfect Meals:

1.) Egg whites scrambled with olive oil, grits/wheat toast/oatmeal, 1 avocado (can be mixed in with eggs), turkey bacon and/or seared turkey breast, and fruit of your choice.

2.) Sushi or sashimi made with BROWN RICE if they use rice. Edamame (soybeans), miso or clear soup, bean sprout salad. (favorite sushi restaurant on the Northshore is Megumi) Order Lulu's Special, tell them Brandt sent you.

3.) Chicken Breast(s), sweet potatoes, and another veggie of your choice, ex: broccoli, green beans, carrots, beets, squash, brussel sprouts, etc..

4.) Lean steak, buffalo, ostrich, antelope, elk (some have limited availability based on where you live and/or shop. New (red) potatoes, and veggies of your choice.

5.) Grilled fish, brown rice or wheat pasta with some olive oil and light parmesan cheese.

Check out my website for Nutritional Advice.

Please email me directly with any questions about your diet or nutritional consultation.

Pain

In one of my books, "The Breath of God", Swami Chetanananda illustrates and writes as one of his journal entries that "Pain is God's Love". Nothing could be closer to the truth. Pain is a reminder that we are human beings. Without it, all of us would be perfect and would already be at our greatest potential. Think about it: many of the experiences that we learn from are painful experiences. When we think of pain, we think of primarily physical pain. Although that is one type, what about the emotional, spiritual, and mental pain that we may experience as a result of many different situations. These pains also help us to grow and become who we are, and are a sign of God's love toward us. Without these "pains" or tension in our life, we may not have learned the lessons we were supposed to, or helped a friend in need, and ultimately, would not have learned and become who we are supposed to become as part of God's ultimate plan. Doing what I do, I see a lot of each of these pains everyday. Not only do I see the physical pains, but while people are moving, sweating, and hurting physically, all of their mental, emotional and spiritual pains are expressed and dealt with. As coaches, trainers, and health wellness and fitness professionals, we also become psychologists in a way, who lend an open ear to our clients, young and old alike, when they do open up and spill a lot of these pains and tensions to us.

Tension

Swami Chetanananda also talks about how tension is just crystallized energy. Think about it, tension is crystallized energy, what does this mean? Tensions in our life are usually things that we hold on to, and do not let them go or have resolve by communicating them to someone or simply to pray or meditate on that particular tension until it is released. Just like pain (tension is pain in a way just not the ideal pain we think of), tension can manifest itself in several forms: mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual. Examples of this include: Mental--being stressed out about school, work, performance etc., and holding on to that tension instead of resolving it or letting it go. Physical--having tightness, or tension, in the joints, musculature, or intestines. Sometimes one tension or tensions can lead to others. There is usually a way to resolve these tensions without using prescription drugs, or the infamous ibuprofen. Yoga, Pilate's, hot/cold contrast therapies, Epsom Salt baths and other treatment modalities (which are all natural) can be used to treat and help alleviate your physical tensions. Emotional--sometimes we have strong emotional tensions and turmoil, which usually starts itself out as a mental tension of some sort. This mental tensions cascades into emotional tensions. Just like mental tensions, if we reflect, pray and/or meditate on the certain tension and letting it go, we usually realize that its not that important to hold on to and there are more important things in life that we should shift our focus to, to get away from that tension, such as, family, friends, what we love doing, helping others in need etc. Spiritual--people have spiritual tensions in many ways. Sometimes situations arise that make individuals question their faith. Remember, pain is God's love. Life is not always going to be easy. I tell our athletes, if we were already perfect, we would have nothing to work on or shoot for, and life would be boring. We are impermanent beings. What does that mean? We will all die someday. Death is a part of life. It will come for us sooner than others, and sooner than we would like for some of our friends and family, and is something that we do not talk about a lot because we want to believe that we'll live forever and we are never going to die. Let's be real, and truthful though. A lot of people question their faith at these trying times and gives rise to spiritual tension. Others question their religion, and religious practices of others etc. Many people ask for God's help with several things, but how much do you take a step back, sit in silence, and listen to God? Try that, and not just for 30 seconds. Sit in silence and breath for at least 10 solid minutes, with an objective mind. As a thought arises, recognize that thought but don't hold onto it,let it go and let another arise or if there are no thoughts that's fine too. Do not look at your thoughts subjectively and analyze them, simply recognize them and then let them go. Hopefully this will help you with some tensions in your life! Have a great, tension free day!

Weekly Triathlon Training Schedule

Tuesday: spin easy at AB (aerobic base)

Wednesday: light, easy .5 mile swim, core, stretch/yoga/lift

Thursday: light 2 mile run at AB, you can do some tempo work here if you're feeling good, increase intensity by running at an incline or increasing speed until you reach or get close to AT(anaerobic threshold), then take it back down, STAY AT AB UNLESS YOU ARE FEELING UP TO TEMPO

Friday: light .5 mile swim, lift/core/yoga

Saturday: 7am spin, just do the class and push, followed by a light swim of your choice on distance.

Sunday: rest and take an Epsom Salt bath to help you to recover quicker

Upset Stomach?

Try drinking peppermint, lavender, or chamomile tea. Also yogurt, because of a good intestinal flora called lactobacillus acidophilus, which you can also purchase in the store as a supplement as well. It's found naturally in cottage cheese and yogurt though and aids in digestion. Ginger root is also great for aiding the digestive process and is served with sushi, and it also sold at the store in root form and can also be purchased in nutrition stores as a supplement as well. Essential Oils can also be used: next time you are sick, or just want to settle your stomach and sleep like a baby, run lavender and/or peppermint essential oils all over you feet, top and bottom. I hope this helps with any of your stomach ailments!

Supplemental recommendations for any person/athlete needing to gain lean mass:

Life Essentials Multi Vitamin--for a solid foundation, to make sure you get all the basics, essentials, and phytonutrients into your diet

Juice + Fruits and Vegetables--to ensure that you are getting all of your fruits, vegetable and their nutrients, this is actually fruit packed into pill form (or gummies), tons of antioxidants, fiber

Opti Pro APS--weight gainer with whey protein and complex carbohydrates

Opti Pro M--leaner protein to be mixed with the APS with electrolytes, flax-seed meal, digestive enzymes and soy and whey protein

HMB--amino acid protein breakdown suppressor to stop your body from eating your muscle tissue for fuel, and helps to rebuild tissues that are broken down

ZMA--taken before bed, zinc and mono-methionine and magnesium help your body to get more restful sleep, where you can grow and gain lean tissue

OptiATP--creatine complex to help maximize your gains and give you more fuel for extra few reps for strength and size

L-Glutamine--most abundant free form amino acid in the body, used to rebuild tissue through neural impulses and cognition

L-Arginine--amino acid vasodilator to ensure all of the extra nutrients you are taking in will be delivered properly and used more to help you build

Pycnogenol--incredible antioxidant that has 50x more antioxidant capacity of green tea to help protect your cells which we break down a lot as athletes

Alpha Lipoic Acid--incredible antioxidant that helps the body to use any and all nutrients to the best of its ability and protects the cells

Circadian Rhythm

Our body "clocks" are set to the sun.  We are not nocturnal animals, rather, we thrive during the day.  Our peak hormonal production time is around 8am.  If we get an adequate amount of rest and sleep at night, these hormones will be at peak production, during the peak times and will stay at that peak longer.  The less rest we get, the least likely we are to peak and stay there for a great duration of time.  In the evening, when the sun starts to go down, we get drowsy because of a hormone that is released into our bloodstream called melatonin.  Melatonin makes us drowsy and tired.
Listen to your body at this time, and go to sleep!  If we get to bed before 11pm, our adrenal hormones (epinephrine and nor-epinephrine) can recharge fully.  They recharge between the hours of 11pm and 1am.  We use adrenaline all day everyday in some capacity or another.  Just walking and talking requires both of these hormones, not just physical, strenuous exercise and stressors!  Get to bed before 11pm!
If we get an adequate amount of rest, and we get exposure to sunlight before 9am, we will set our bodies up to naturally produce more performance and life-enhancing hormones, most notably growth hormone, which then works to increase every other hormone in the body as well. 
Set your Circadian Rhythm the right way, and reap the benefits of living a healthier, more energetic lifestyle and perform better in all aspects of life!

Passion

Have Passion for what you do:  If you do not love what you do then why are you doing it?  If we love what we do that shines through our work, and if we do not, just the opposite.  Love what you do and live life with passion, train with passion, work with passion for what you love and believe in!  Be passionate about the steps to achieving your goals, dreams, and aspirations, and you will be successful in achieving them! 

Free Radicals and Antioxidants

Free radicals are generated when and extra oxygen molecule sneaks into one or more cells in the body. These free radicals that are generated eat up our cells, cause damage, disease, cancers, and a plethora of other horrible things as well. This is where antioxidants can help you tremendously. Everyone always tells you that you need more antioxidants in your diets and supplements, but they very rarely tell you why. You need the antioxidants to antioxidize the extra oxygen molecules (free radicals) that sneak into your cells to cause damage. Of course you can get tons of antioxidants through your diet: berries, fruits and veggies, tea, fish, just to name a few. Also, there are some supplemental antioxidant superpowers, and the three most notable are: Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA), Pycnogenol, and Melatonin. There are also plenty other foods and supplements that are also antioxidants.

Move Your Body to Reduce Stress

Our Bodies are Made to Move. Exercise is the best way to prevent health issues and disease. It seems as though after several, several years people are starting to see this. From an evolutionary perspective, our bodies are made to move, and if we do not, the body will generate free radicals that eventually (and sooner rather than later for some) create and cause disease, cancer, illness, etc. The flight or fight response is still ingrained in our bodies from the beginning of time. Although our stressors are not running from dinosaurs and fighting prey for food for the family, we still do have our share of stress. Bosses yelling at us, kids yelling and screaming or getting bad grades, a peer that tries to make life miserable for you.....this is all called distress, or bad stress.
Eustress is good stress and examples are laughter, exercise, etc. Both kinds of stress give us an adrenaline response, some greater than others, and with that comes a higher heart rate and cortisol levels.
Here's the question: when our heart rate does go up, how long does it take after that stressful situation to go back down to a resting level? This is one of the things that tells us how fit we are, how fast our heart can recover after going up to a much higher heart rate. Exercise is a way to ensure that our stress responses and recovery are great, thus lowering our risk for several diseases and cancers, and overall free radical generation.

Supplemental Recommendations to Lose Body Fat

Supplemental Recommendations that were done for a client looking to increase energy on a daily basis and to get rid of a last little bit of adipose tissue (BODY FAT):

GABA, DMAE----these things work on cognitive function and promote a great mood and well-being, they also work to improve neurotransmission. I, and others, use these as a remedy for ADD or ADHD, instead of Adderrall, Ritalin, etc.---these are great and are definitely are worth a shot, I take them every day of my life and love them and what they do for me on a daily basis.

Fish Oils--work in conjunction with GABA and DMAE. Full of rich Omega 3's and 6's. These have incredible benefits for the body in a lot of different capacities. If you eat a lot of fish you do not need to take this in supplement form.

Multivitamin would also be great to keep you balanced and fueled properly if you do not already take one.

Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA)--incredible antioxidant, one of the best, along with the next few that I list. ALA helps our livers to assimilate and breakdown proteins, carbohydrates, and fats more efficiently.

Pycnogenol---a French Maritime Pine Tree Bark with antioxidant capacities outdoing green tea by 50%

Melatonin--a hormone secreted by the pineal gland that regulates our light/dark cycles and circadian rhythm. For more restful sleep if you have broken sleep right now, this is an incredible antioxidant. You can also just take it when you know you have some time to rest on the weekends and know you need more recovery.

CLA--good fats that take the place of your bad fats in the body. Incredible non-stimulant fat burner that is great for you heart and cardiovascular system. CLA decreases existing adipose tissue and inhibits any new fat storage.

Acetyl-L-Carnitine--an amino acid that acts as a powerful fat-burning catalyst

Opti-Pro M--if you do not take this already, this will help you to rebuild, repair, and regenerate your muscle tissue and prevent breakdown of muscle tissue and storing of fat. Has several great things in it: soy/whey protein, electrolytes, fiber, digestive enzymes, vitamins and minerals, amino acids, good fats, flaxseed meal, and good carbs from maltodextrin and the soy content.

Metabolic Testing--we can test your resting metabolic rate to determine exactly how many calories you burn per day at rest, and adjust your diet and exercise according to you specific weight loss goals and aspirations. We can also do an EMR (exercise metabolic rate) on you to determine aerobic base, lactate threshold, and VO2max. Then, we can design certain workouts and zones for you to stay in while you are doing your cardio workouts without us to be more specific for your goals. We can also get you a polar watch to allow you to track your calories and your heart rate and zones while training.

Rest--make sure you are getting at least one full day of complete physical rest per week. On this day, you can stretch and breathe, but nothing too much. Your body needs this time to regenerate and if you do not give it that rest time, your body will store more adipose tissue because you are at a caloric deficit.

Alcohol--one glass of wine or a beer per day is ok, but realize that anything over this will cause adipose tissue storage and will not allow you to recover and feel energized the way that you would like to.

Tea--has great antioxidant capacities from the phenols and polyphenols in them. White tea has the most with less caffeine, green is the 2nd best with a little more caffeine, and black is in the same family but has more caffeine. There are also herbal teas with no caffeine and antioxidant capacities as well: Rooibos (Red Tea), Peppermint, Lavender, Blue Eyes, etc.

Just let me know if you need any of these things and I will be glad to get them for you!

100%

Why give less that 100% in anything that you do?  Why show up to train and go through the motions?  You're not going to get anything out of that, or very little at most.  I tell our athletes, kids, and clients all the time, if you train at 50%, then that's what you'll compete at, and you're only going to get better at going half-speed, not full speed.  In essence, you'll only get 50% better.  Then I tell them that if they get a job, and give anything less than 100% what happens?  They'll be fired for not doing their job.  Start practicing GREAT, not good or poor habits now so that 100% is programmed into you for the rest of your life in anything that you do:  whether an athletic event, taking an exam, putting together a proposal, training, etc.  Give everything that you have and then some to reap the benefits of anything that you're doing.  You'll be able to look at yourself in the mirror, and know that you gave everything you had with no regrets.  If you give less than 100% you'll have regrets and you'll always wonder, what if i would have given 100% effort in what I was doing at that time?  Where would I be now?  Have no regrets, give 100% at everything you do, and you won't!

Vasodilation and Vasoconstriction

These may not be words that you hear everyday of your life, but they may come up from time to time.  Vasoconstriction is the constriction of the vessels of the body:  blood vessels, arteries, arterioles, capillaries, veins, etc.  Vasoconstriction happens and can be induced by the following:  cold temperatures in the atmosphere or water, from drinking caffeine or taking some kind of stimulant, etc.  Vasodilation is just the opposite.  It's the dilation of the vessels of the body, when our vessels expand and look like they're full with blood. This can been seen when someone looks very "vascular" and their veins stick out from their bodies.  Vasodilation can be induced by the following:  eating nuts--any kind, hot temperatures via water or atmospheric heat, taking L-Arginine, an amino acid, and more blood flow to an area from muscular contractions--ex:  doing bicep curls will cause more blood to flow to that specific area, thus, causing vasodilation.  Lately, people have been supplementing with NOS products (nitric oxide delivery systems).  These products do promote vasodilation, yes, but also promote inflammation.  So, you'll be very vascular and have more of a chance for injury.  The theory is that with more vasodilation, more of the ingested nutrients can be delivered straight into the cells for fuel and to rebuild muscle tissue after breaking it down in a workout.  Instead of taking these products, and  leaving yourself with a chance or chances of being injured, simply eat nuts or supplement with l-arginine, a safe, proven, effective amino acid that will produce the same effects.  L-Arginine is the active, natural ingredient in nuts that promotes the vasodilation!  Eat more nuts!

Rest

The most overlooked, most important part of any training program.  What most athletes don't realize, is that rest is essential to adapting to the specific demands that you place on your body.  when we train, we tear down our muscle fibers and other tissues of the body.  It is the responsibility of our immune system to go back and "clean up" those tissues, to repair them to be bigger faster stronger leaner, etc.    If we never rest and continue to break our bodies down, what do you think will happen?  2 things:  you will get sick, and/or you will injure yourself badly.  If you rest for at least a day or two out of your training week, watch and see how you take off with your gains and goals.  If you don't rest, at some point, you're going to get sick or injured, it's just a matter of time.  So, to have a much better response to stress, a stronger immune system, larger and leaner muscles, stronger and faster muscles, more explosiveness and force production, REST.  There is also something called active rest or active recovery work, such as:  yoga/pilates, playing ping pong, leisurely swimming (not swimming 2 miles!), any other fun and enjoyable games where you are not going all out, 100% (which most of us athletes have a problem doing).  I recently had an athlete (last Thursday) at a speed session black out several times and almost pass out.  She said she had been eating often and her diet was good.  I told her to sit out from that point on and gave her some food, but she snuck back into the group when we were doing 300 yd shuttles.  Halfway through the first one, she blacked out and fell down.  I asked her what she was doing back in and she threw a temper tantrum because she just couldn't figure out why this was happening.  I asked her when her last day of rest was, and she had to think about it for more than 15 seconds, so before she had a chance to answer, I told her that was the problem and she needed to take a week off and just do yoga and then go home and read some good, interesting books.  Do not overtrain yourself, get your rest, and reap the benefits! 

Let Your Legs Be Your Engine

Where do you work? Where do you go to school? Is it safe? If you live within 10 miles of work, play, school, or wherever you may roam on a daily basis, why not walk, ride a bike, take your ripstick, scooter (leg powered), NOTHING WITH A MOTOR, REMEMBER YOUR LEGS ARE THE MOTOR!, unicycle, upper body cycle, etc! Europeans use this age-old, cave man form of simplistic, yet effective travel and they are some of the healthiest human beings on the planet with long life expectancies! Their diet is also stellar as well!
Main point: use your body and mind more! Doing this prevents many things: parkinsons, alzeimers, high blood pressure, high bad (LDL) cholesterol, high cortisol levels, obesity, artherosclerosis, and the list goes on and on.............to find out more contact BQuick Fitness!

Essential Oils

Go to your local health food store or marketplace and ask where the essentials oils are. There are many types, but most are all natural, plant derived oils. They can help with many things: nervousness, nausea, muscle soreness, bruising, trauma,strains and sprains,, dizziness, concentration, healing, breathing, etc. Some examples are: lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, chamomile, lemongrass, grapefruit, tangerine, frankincense, myrrh, sage, and many others!

Epsom Salt Baths

Everyone should take epson salt baths! the reason being, is because epsom salts are magnesium sulfate. The magnesium soaks into our bodies, and is great for minor, strains, sprains and overall repearation of the tissues of the body and overall recovery! A bag can be purchased at your local drugstore or grocery store, and will only cost you maybe $5-$6 for a giant bag. Your instructions are easy too: fill up your bathtub to whatever temperature your heart desires, then sprinkle in as much epsom salts as you'd like. If you'd like to spice it up even more, put some essentials oils in too, such as: lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, and any others that you may like! Please read into the Electrolytes section of the blog, to find out why magnesium is so good for you and your mind and body! Coming up next........Essential Oils and their benefits!

Massage: Why should you get a massage?

Massages are great for relieving stress: physical, mental, and emotional! On a physical level, the more active we are, the more passive things we need in our lives, such as massage. Our lives are so active on a daily basis, whether we exercise or not, life is simply busy! Massage works to eliminate "metabolic waste" or all of the junk and byproducts of all those muscular contractions and releases and all of the chemical reactions that take place in our bodies on a daily basis. By drinking tons of water after massages, we work to get rid of this metabolic waste that can cause problems if left over in the body.
Mentally, taking the time to allow your body and mind to be in a passive state, where you're not necessarily "in control", is a great thing. Most of us simply do not like to "let go" of what's going on in our lives to take the time for ourselves which is so important for health, vitality, and longevity.
Emotionally, massage helps us as well because it helps us to get away and detach from what's going on in our lives to just focus on ourselves. Massage also helps us to be more mindful of what's going on with our bodies, so we can take care of ourselves and not allow hot spots to lead to more debilitating injuries. Get a massage!

Fruits and Their Antioxidant Capacities

Gac, pomegranate, and acai' are some of the most potent along with blueberries raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, dark chocolate is a beast, and 2 blocks (not the entire bar) has more antioxidants than 2 giant bowls of blueberries.....tomatoes--incredible superfruit, avocados--
WOW, tons of great fats (mono and polyunsaturated--great fuel for anyone's mind and body), oranges and apples and their families---great vitamin c of course, but also potassium, a key electrolyte that sometimes gets overlooked due to all of our salt intake from salts hidden in restaurant and processed foods. we have to live balanced. balance you electrolytes....always sodium with potassium and always calcium with magnesium. more salt means more water in your cells, more potassium, less water. calcium controls muscular contraction along with many other things and magnesium controls muscular release along with many other things.

Everyday take 10 deep breaths (at least): inhale until your lungs feel like they can fit no more air, then inhale a little more until you cant, then release the air until you almost have for that next long deep inhale.....as you inhale allow your belly button to rise away from your spine, and as you exhale, pull your belly button towards your spine and up. this will help to cleanse and detoxify your body, supply your body with more oxygen making you feel incredible with tons of benefits, it will decrease your heart rate and blood pressure..make sure you sit with great posture, your spine straight and long, this will also help to stimulate cerebrospinal fluid, which lubricates our spine and the spaces between our brain.