Workout Wednesdays – ‘Drop a quick pant size’

Wednesday, 18 Feb 2009

Instead of talking about food for once now we are going to talk about obtaining visual results in a hurry. We all at times retain more water then we would like, either by eating foods high in sodium or just plain drinking tons of water. For most people and myself, I retain a lot of my water weight in my mid-section (waist) and hate it when jeans or pants are fitting so tight you question whether you are going to wear sweatpants to a wedding instead of fitting into your suit. I recently had a wedding and had to buy a new suit. I’m happy to say I hover around the waist size of 33/34 which is a long cry from what I used to be at a size 40. When I set out to buy my suit I didn’t realize I was in the middle of a cardio heavy week where I busted my ass really hard to get my legs caught up because I was behind in working them out specifically. Definitely not a good idea to get sized up for a suit that you only wear sporadically when all your water weight is basically drained. The suit fit like any suit would fit, snug and comfortable, not baggy and loose. Stashed the suit away for about a week and didn’t think one bit about it. Dressing up is definitely the last thing I would like to be doing, I rather a enema over dressing in a suit for an event. To not make this a long drawn out story, I started taking Muscle Tech’s IntraVOL which is a pre/during workout supplement that contains a little bit of creatine and such that makes you definitely hold onto your water weight a little more to assist more powerful workouts. I loved how the IntraVOL was working but i noticed a little bloating in myself, not that it would be noticeable to anyone but myself. Again fast forward to about 2 days before the wedding, I try on my suit just to make sure I have the whole setup looking good. I put on the pants and there is a slight problem, without even tucking in an undershirt and button down shirt the pants were VERY TIGHT. Too tight to be able to go through a whole wedding trying to be comfortable and not hyperventilating. I needed a quick solution to drop the water weight the supplement made me gain before the wedding.

Introducing the saving grace to my problem, the solar belt. Now for this to work I needed to stop taking my supplement while hitting the gym for the two days before the wedding. I still carried on with my normal lifting routine and such but now I was doing all of it with my solar belt on. Talk about really simple to use, you basically just place it around your waist and make sure you can breath comfortably but without it being too loose to come off then work out. Between the two days I did about 140 minutes of cardio and burned well over 1000+ calories, not including what I burned while lifting. I would take off the solar belt it would be drenched in sweat, give it a quick rinse and hang it up to dry and just use it the next day. It worked like a charm I was fitting into my suit pants with no problem and room to spare on top of an undershirt and button down. The belt works in a way of making your body sweat more at where its applied to basically drain the water weight by raising the temperature of that area naturally. Its basically a rubber belt that is 3/4 feet in length by 1 foot width by 2/16th of an inch with Velcro on one end of it. Its probably the simplest design out there. There are a handful of companies that make it and they all are reasonably priced at $10 a belt. They last very long and are great wear when wanting to get that extra burn around your mid-section. You can wear it under your shirt or sweatshirt without it showing much and being embarrassed. That is one of my best tips I can give when you need a quick fix to slim down the waist in a hurry. You don’t need no equipment and the cost is very low so for the person on a budget this is a great alternative just put it on and go for a run.

Submitted by Brian

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Workout Wednesdays ‘Eat your Snacks!’

Wednesday, 11 Feb 2009

Going with the weekly theme of ‘Workout Wednesdays’ (WW) I once again will bring you something to benifit you in your daily life. Whether it be working out, dieting or todays topic SNACKS! I know in the post last week I said I was going to discuss ‘Lunch Time’ but before we get to that we need to fill in the gaps. It is very important snack in between the 3 main meals to make sure you are keeping your bodies metabolism going. My mantra will be ‘your body is a fat burning wood fire, you must feed it to keep it burning’. By snacking I mean consuming healthy snacks help your cause of fat burning. smart pop

I have a TON of healthy snack ideas so I never grow bored with my choices and always have something to choose regardless of availibility. One of my most common snacks to endulge in is popcorn. Before you start going to the movie theater ordering buckets of popcorn with a 30-second count of butter, hold up. Popcorn naturally is a healthy food for you, its the shit they put in the bag with it that makes regular buttery microwave popcorn bad for you. The key is to buy the Orville Redenbacher’s 100 calorie packs or buy the Orville Redenbacher Smart Pop Popcorn. It’s great how its 94% fat-free, is made with whole grains and still tastes pretty damn good. Now a bag of either the 100 calorie or the SmartPop will not run you into the high calorie range at all. With a 24g of carbohydrates (SmartPop Regular Bag) and 4g of protein this is a snack that will surpress any hunger to the next big meal. Another great snack fresh fruits and raw nuts. Does not sound enticing right? Well this is where you change it up a little bit. Get fruits you never tried before like papaya or mango’s so you don’t find your snack to be mundane. I personally got into cherries and apples over the summer, where I was a regular at the fruit cart on broadway. Nuts are a great source of protein and are great for you in the fact of they keep the food cravings monster away. There are some nuts out there you should stay away from like peanuts are bad in excess but small amounts are perfectly fine. My favorite nut to snack on is the Almond. I love almonds. Anyway you make them, I will eat every single last one of them. Two favorites are just raw and DRY ROASTED which are not bad for you. When you decide that nuts are going to be your snack don’t over indulge on them which is easy to do, but about a 1/4 of a pound (most stores minimum) and snack on a handful. If you get full stash them away for another time or to have with your next big meal. Remember your snack isn’t supposed to be a huge helping of food. It’s basically a meal where you eat little smart foods to help surpress hunger so you don’t reach your next big meal and BINGE because you ‘have not eaten in a while‘. Earlier in the first WW post I shared another secret to surpressing food cravings which was the ABB Protein Shake, which is packed with Protein 35g for the 12oz can, which can be used as well. glennys bbq crisps

My last snack is Glenny’s Soy Crisps which I get in my favorite flavor of BBQ. I know what your thinking “Soy tastes like shit!”, oh no THIS soy does not. Here are the nutrition facts before I back up how amazing these little crisps are: 70 calories, 1.5g fat, 4.5g protein, and 1.5g of fiber. With nutritional info like that you must think its too good to be true and these things are horrific to stomach. I am going to say I WOULD PERFER THESE OVER ANY CHIPS YOU COULD GIVE ME BAKED, REGULAR OR OTHERWISE. Pretty bold statement to say no? I found these little jems at a local bodega in NYC and thought I would never find them anywhere else to snack on, I was soon proven wrong. Duane Reade carries them, Wallgreens and I’m almost postive I saw them at Waldbaums last time I was there. The small amount of fiber and protein are just enough to hold over even the worse hunger pains. The other flavors aren’t the best but stomachable but if you try the BBQ flavor you will have a new love in life which are Glenny’s BBQ Soy Crisps. Well thats it for this weeks WW, just remember snacks are important and its even more important to snack healthy. Keep your bodys fire burning and you’ll be seeing results in no time.

Submitted by Brian

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Workout Wednesdays – Dieting/First Meal

Wednesday, 28 Jan 2009

Since so many of us at DirtyDalerz.com work out pretty much 4 to 5 times a week at our local gyms. Why not each week feature something about working out? A majority of our crew have great knowledge and experience. A couple are certified personal trainers (MattMatt & Martin) while some have been taught from college professionals (John, Tom, Timmy & Walter). Lets not to forget the ones who research through many book then use what they learned as well as take advice from everyone mentioned above to try them all out (myself). It could be beneficial to everyone if we all share our knowledge with not only each other but you the reader. Now every Wednesday we will feature some tips, advice or just experiences in working out. What ever your goal out of one of the many people who will contributing weather it be weight loss, building muscle or simply toning up I’m sure you will be able to pull something useful out of the entries to come. My first Workout Wednesday, which will be referred to in shorthand as ‘WW’ will be about something I know much about dieting. I have always fluctuated in weight throughout my life but only started to control it later on in life. At my thinnest I was 165 pounds, which was unhealthy for a person like myself who is always very active. I have little to no muscle tone and was just very thin. I ballooned up to 220lbs soon after because I needed to put weight back on so I wouldn’t be pushed around in sports. I started eating worse and worse, which in turn ended up in me, less active. I came to realize that dieting and eating habits play a major role in weight loss. There are too many people out there who think they know the sure-fire way to lose weight and diet. Majority of them are not right at all and talk out of there asses. I BELIEVE in eating frequently and methodically. In order to burn fat you need to think of your body as a furnace. You have to keep that fire going but you can’t have it burning at 100% all day or else your going to run into a problem which is making it too hot and basically over eating and negating your fat loss. Simply put you need to learn how to feed your body the right way. I’m going to use my diet as an example. I eat roughly 6 times a day. Now before you call me a fat-ass let me tell you where the fire burning / fat burning comes into play. When you have this fat burning fire going its going to be in all different intensity’s. After a nice nights sleep you need to start the fire, everyone knows starting the fire takes the most time and effort. Basically you need to have a big meal to start the fire. Your biggest meal of the day should be ‘Breakfast’ which needs to happen at least 1 to 2 hours after you wake up. I know its hard sometimes to get it in within that time frame due to being late to work or catching a train but when there is a will there is a way. For days where I might not be able to get my first big breakfest meal in before the 1 to 2 hour period I make sure I use my snack then which can be anything from a fruit to simply a granola bar. Of course all the time you are putting liquids into your body like tea or water to help get yourself hydrated for the day. Here is a ‘on-time’ morning for me where I will eat my big meal first and then just explain the rest of the day without detail but will in later posts.

6:00 am – Wake up 6:30 am – Drink a cup of tea with one packet of Sweet-n-Low 7:30 am – Two egg whites with Cheese on Whole Wheat Toast, Cup of Fat-Free Vanilla Yogurt and wash it down with a 12oz. Strawberry Propel Water. 9:30 am – One ABB protein shake 12oz. can 35grams of Protein. 11:30 – 12:00 pm – Lunch Time (next post)

With the information I just provided you, you can basically tell your biggest meal is coming in the morning to help kick-start your metabolism. Everyone has different ways of explaining this but I think it’s the simplest like this. If your day of eating was on a see-saw your morning breakfast is on one side and your lunch and dinner are on the other and they are basically equaling themselves out and staying level. Now for your snacks you basically want to look at it as if your throwing twigs into the furnace not whole logs to keep the fire going. Choose healthy snacks like fruits or protein drinks whenever possible. Protein to me is what keeps all my body’s hunger under control, so putting protein in my tank makes me feel full. I like protein shakes that are VERY LOW in fat like the one I drink is only 160 calories, 0g fat, 35g of protein they are made by ABB PURE PRO (American Body Building) which aren’t that hard to find and are easy on the pocket at usually $2 a 12oz can. Basically that is it for this installment, As I was told today Matt Matt has a crazy exercise for you next week that I will be actually shooting with my HD video camera for all of you to enjoy.