Basketball Power article

Optimizing Basketball-Specific Power

-Paul J. Connolly, NSCA-CPT

Wav Oaks Athletic Club Pers. Training Director

Introduction

As a basketball enthusiast who both plays the game and trains others who do, I’m constantly seeking out the best methods to enhance and optimize the performance of my clients.  If there’s a way to jump higher, enhance agility, or simply improve overall conditioning levels to avoid getting winded, I want to know about it.  Admittedly, you’ll often find me scouring the Exercise Physiology journals and attending seminars featuring the industry’s top strength and conditioning specialists to not only discover what works, but more importantly, what works the best.  The purpose of this article is to review some basic principles of what an overall basketball strength and conditioning program should possess.  My focus in this article will be power-specific training and will not include conditioning-specific workouts (i.e. cycling and treadmill interval workouts).  I’ll include two specific exercises to incorporate into your training that you should be selecting over others that have little direct transfer onto the court.  

Movement Patterns & Exercise Selection

Think about the sport of basketball for a minute.  Consider the movements your body is engaged in throughout the course of a practice or game.  Your thought process should include actions such as accelerating (sprinting on a fast break), decelerating (leading a break and stopping on a dime for a jump shot), and arguably most importantly, power/vertical jumping ability (leaping as high as possible for a rebound).  These three aforementioned movement patterns constitute a large portion of what your body will go through during a practice or game.  The next step is, of course, to consider what exactly you should be doing in the weight room so that the benefits of your resistance training workouts carry over onto the basketball court.  

Suggestion number one would be to eliminate over-isolation type movements.  These are exercises that typically target only one joint and one muscle group during an exercise.  Leg extensions are my favorite example to use for only the knee joint is involved and the muscles being worked (quadriceps) are done so in isolation.  When in basketball do we isolate the front of the thigh?  If you said “never,” you’re exactly right!  A great lower body exercise that incorporates power (to improve vertical jump) is the “Jump Squat.”  This exercise is a type of lower-body plyometric (jump training) activity.  Go from a standing position into a mini squat and then jump straight up as high as possible, extending the hips and squeezing the glutes while simultaneously reaching as high as possible to stretch the lats.  Performing this movement rather than leg extensions 3 times/week for 3 sets of 6 repetitions should help improve your vertical jump, allowing you to elevate higher for a rebound or even throw one down, a la Kevin Durant.

A second exercise that doesn’t make sense from a basketball standpoint is the classic machine seated chest press.  While the exercise can be beneficial for upper-body strength, it does not improve one’s power.  To improve a basketball player’s horizontal pushing power (think a quick outlet pass to start a fast break), he/she must practice releasing the resistance.  On a chest press machine, the upper back muscles fire/activate at the end of the pushing phase, subsequently slowing down/decelerating the movement.  We never want to slow down an outlet pass.  Sure, we may want to decelerate our momentum as we pull up on a break for a jumper (see page 1, paragraph 2), but never a pass.  

The medicine ball chest pass can be done with a partner (see middle figure below) or against a wall (make sure you are using an appropriate medicine ball that is made for bouncing and a sturdy wall).  Starting from a knees bent position, (I prefer the body position of the figure to the far right below as it portrays a more accurate/safer landing phase after skying for a rebound) throw a chest pass to your partner (or against the wall).  Make sure to throw as hard as you can, extending your arms straight forcing all the upper body muscles involved in pushing and extending your arms to engage (primarily the pectorals, triceps, and anterior deltoids.).  This exercise is considered an upper body plyometric movement.  Like the jump squat, it can also be performed 3 times/week for 3 sets of 6 repetitions.  It can also be used as part of a warm-up (as can the jump squats) prior to the start of a game or practice.  

Conclusion

My hope is that you will consider adopting the aforementioned exercises as part of your basketball strength and conditioning program.  They’ve each been proven to be far more effective than their respective counterparts to improve power- a major variable when it comes to basketball.  As I mentioned, leg extensions and chest presses can improve strength, but certainly not athletic power.  Jeff Green, Blake Griffin, and Dwight Howard are not spending time on leg extensions to improve their power (as an important and often overlooked side note- genetics plays a large part in determining one’s ability to develop jumping ability via the type of muscle fibers one possesses).  Lebron James and Kevin Durant are not practicing machine seated chest presses to improve their explosiveness either.  Rather, they are engaging in powerful movements like medicine ball chest passes to enhance their outlet passes to their respective point guards, initiating the fast break.  I think you should be doing the same!

About the Author

Certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, Paul Connolly has been involved in the fitness industry since 2003, splitting his time between personal training, lecturing, and running group exercise programs.  He maintains an online wellness blog (www.pcconditioning.blogspot.com), and officiates basketball year-round.  Paul can be reached via email at paulconnolly123@gmail.com. 

4 Nutrition Facts

-I recently posted this at the facility I train clients at.  Some of my favorite foods....and super tasty!

4 NUTRITION FACTS

Ø  Bananas have less potassium than Kiwi, Apricots, and Avocado

Ø  Greek Yogurt is high in protein, which helps promote fullness. A typical 6-ounce serving contains 15 to 20 grams, the amount in 2 to 3 ounces of lean meat.

Ø  Blueberries have one of the highest antioxidant capacities among all fruits, vegetables, spices and seasonings. They rank only second to strawberries in popularity of berries in the United States.

Ø  Sardines are one of the most concentrated sources of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, which have been found to lower triglycerides and cholesterol levels.  They are named after Sardinia, the Italian island where large schools of these fish were once found.

Love me some Bison!!

I've been recommending Bison to my clients for several years, and so many have enjoyed it.  I typically have it once/week.

Outstanding Closing Commentary by Bryant Gumbel on the latest "HBO Real Sports" re: A-Rod

“Finally tonight, what are we supposed to do with Alex Rodriguez? Embrace him? Pity him? Scorn him? I can easily understand any or all of those reactions because I think he’s a liar and a fraud. But what I don’t understand are the expressions of shock and outrage over his alleged drug use because, frankly, this country’s crazy about drugs.

Modern Americans reach for a drug for any and everything – for problems real and imagined. It’s why we consume more pills than any nation on earth and why TV ads are relentlessly selling us Xarelto, Abilify, Stelara, Prodaxa, and dozens of other drugs we never ever guessed we supposedly needed.

Americans are only about five percent of the world’s population yet we take 80% of the world’s painkillers and a whopping 99% of the world’s Vicodin. We have four million kids on Ritalin, 22-million women on antidepressants, over 30-million adults on sleeping pills, 32 million on Statins, 45 million on another drug I can’t even begin to pronounce. The list goes on and on.

So think what you will of Alex Rodriguez but when so many moms and dads are active parts of a national drug epidemic, let’s stop crying that a ballplayer’s the one setting a bad example for kids. And let’s skip the expressions of outrage and shock because however you may choose to view A-Rod’s alleged drugs use, there’s no denying the ugly reality that that’s become the American way.”

2013 Dirty Dozen

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has updated their “Dirty Dozen” list of produce items that typically contain high levels of pesticides.  The current recommendation is that, if financially possible, you consider purchasing the Organic option of the following items:

-apples

-strawberries

-grapes

-celery

-peaches

-spinach

-sweet bell peppers

-nectarines

-cucumbers

-potatoes

-cherry tomatoes

-hot peppers

What does 200 calories look like??

Recent Positive Feedback

A mentor of mine once told me that a little unexpected positive self-affirmation is good for the soul.  That being said, I was very pleased this week to receive some great feedback from a couple of participants who were enrolled in my Weight Loss Boot Camp. The comments were as follows:

"Paul Connolly worked so well designing his exercise routine for the age group. It got increasingly more robust with each class which was great and helped several of us with foot/knee, etc. issues use substitute moves during the class. I loved the stretch cords we got and used throughout the class and at home! He answered all of our questions/concerns about exercise thoroughly and completely. Wonderful instructor! "   (-Newburyport, MA participant)

"I really enjoyed the class with Paul.  It was a pleasure to meet Paul.  He was really a delight. At his young age, Paul is great at making a group of women feel successful about any positive changes they can make in their lifestyle."   (-Bolton, MA participant)

Suggested Warm-up Routine

This is a great pre-workout mobility routine designed by my colleague, Tony Gentilcore.  Our colleague, Alli McKee, is the model demonstrating the exercises.

Great Lecture from Mark Bittman

Reading, MA Weight Loss Boot Camp Success!

Great article here on some recent success I had in Reading, MA with their town employees:

Reading Employees Succeed with Weight Loss Boot Camp

Posted on April 25, 2013

 

    

 Upload Photos and Videos                                              For Pat Iapicca, it was the combination of dietary changes with exercise – and the encouragement to track all meals and snacks – that were key to helping him lose 11 pounds during Weight Loss Boot Camp, an 8-week wellness program offered free of charge to Reading employees and their families by the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association (MIIA), the town’s health insurance provider. Iapicca is one of 20 local participants who completed the program on April 1. During the instructor-led Boot Camp, participants met each Monday after work for hour-and-a-half training sessions at Parker Middle School, and were encouraged to track food intake and physical activities throughout the week. The group lost a total of 67 pounds during the course of the program – the most for any MIIA Boot Camp Program to date.

         Pat Iapicca, a police officer with the Reading department for 30 years and married father of three, has lost a total of 35 pounds since he began participating in MIIA’s wellness programs five years ago. In 2008 he also completed Heart Matters, an 11-week multi-disciplinary program designed to promote cardiovascular health, and in 2010 he participated in New Directions in Weight Loss, which included components focusing on nutrition, weight loss, and relaxation through hypno-therapy.

“I love the common sense approach of all of these programs and the combination of nutrition with exercise in particular,” Iapicca said. “There is very little pressure, the approach makes sense and works out very well. Participating in something every year or so helps reinforce what works and keeps me on the straight and narrow.” Although his weight had inched up a few pounds over the last year, Iapicca noted that the recent Boot Camp helped him get back on track and down to his ideal weight.

During the Monday afternoon meetings, local participants learned to integrate both nutrition and exercise recommendations into their lifestyle to promote weight loss, improve cardiovascular fitness and increase strength. Program leaders, Sandy Sarni, a registered dietitian and MIIA’s Nutrition Specialist, and Paul Connolly, a certified exercise trainer, led the sessions – which focused on a variety of topics including goal setting, food tracking, portion control, smart snacking, and the relationship between activity level and weight loss. Participants spent half the time each week learning diet and nutrition tips, and the other half doing cardio and stretching exercises. Iapicca noted that Connolly was “really great” with showing group members how to get their heart rates up quickly and achieve the most exercise benefits in a short period of time and with suggesting ways to incorporate exercise into a busy lifestyle. “Sandy taught us proper eating habits and Paul taught us that it doesn’t have to be a three-hour workout every day,” he said. “Just incorporate walking, keep moving and keep track – it makes sense and works well.”

Reading Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner said he is happy the town can offer opportunities such as MIIA’s boot camp to municipal employees. “Research tells us that weight control through diet and exercise are a key to being healthy, and common sense tells us that healthy employees are a key to health insurance cost containment and improved productivity,” he said. “Programs such as this boot camp help establish and maintain healthy habits among our employees to the benefit of the employees and the Town. Pat Iapicca and the other participants deserve a lot of credit for participating and carrying through on this program.”

Reading Boot Camp participants weighed in at the beginning of the program, halfway through, and again at the end. They each received a training notebook with curriculum materials, background information and resources, and were encouraged (but not required) to track food intake and exercise either manually or using a smart phone app. Each week, group members motivated each other and discussed ideas for making healthy food choices and getting on track with exercise in everyday life – such as tips for dining out and staying active despite foul weather. Post-program survey results revealed that 70% of the participants lost weight, improved the quality of their diets, and are more physically active after completing Boot Camp.

According to Sarni, the program always ends on a positive note. “Participants appreciate the support of the group and are typically sad to see it end, but are also energized to continue incorporating the changes they’ve made into their everyday lives,” she said. “When they see how we put healthy eating and exercise together, they really come to value the process, see how it works and realize they can do this. We like to instill a positive energy and enthusiasm they can carry forward.”

For his part, Iapicca plans to continue tracking meals and exercise after completing Boot Camp, and he looks forward to getting outdoors for more walks as the weather improves and to participating in a recreational volleyball league this spring. He was the only police officer to complete the Boot Camp in Reading this time, but notes it would be fun to complete a local fitness challenge sometime against the fire department.

Reading is the third municipality to complete the Weight Loss Boot Camp program, which MIIA launched last September, with two other districts currently in progress. MIIA offers the Boot Camp and other innovative “Well Aware” programs at the work site free of charge to employees and at no cost to participating towns as a membership benefit. With this program, Reading continues with its commitment to helping employees and family members adopt and maintain healthy behaviors through convenient, unique and engaging wellness programs. Over the long-term, creating new habits and making such changes can improve employees’ health and quality of life as well as lead to bottom line savings on the districts’ health insurance costs.

Six Steps to Teaching Push-Ups

http://www.strengthcoach.com/Six.pdf

Quality of Sleep Improves Basketball Performance

Snooze you win? It's true for achieving hoop dreams, says study

BY MICHELLE L. BRANDT

Cheri Mah

Young basketball players spend hours dribbling up and down the court aspiring to NBA stardom. Now, new Stanford University School of Medicine research suggests another tactic to achieving their hoop dreams: sleep.

In a study appearing in the July issue of SLEEP, Cheri Mah, a researcher in the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory, has shown that basketball players at the elite college level were able to improve their on-the-court performance by increasing their amount of total sleep time.

The study suggests that “sleep is an important factor in peak athletic performance,” said first author Mah. In the paper, she and colleagues wrote that “athletes may be able to optimize training and competition outcomes by identifying strategies to maximize the benefits of sleep.”

It’s no secret that lack of sleep can have negative consequences. Extensive research has shown the impact that sleep debt has on cognitive function, mood and physical performance. But, as Mah and her colleagues point out in the paper, very few studies have looked at the opposite: the effect that sleep extension can have on performance. And few other groups have looked specifically at the effect of sleep on athletes.

While things such as nutrition and physical training are part of an athlete’s daily regimen, Mah said competitive athletes at all levels typically do not focus on optimizing their sleep and recovery. They are usually just told to get a “good night’s sleep” before a competition.

“Intuitively many players and coaches know that rest and sleep are important, but it is often the first to be sacrificed,” she added. “Healthy and adequate sleep hasn’t had the same focus as other areas of training for peak performance.”

In 2002, Mah conducted a study on sleep extension and cognitive function in Stanford undergraduate students. By chance, several participants were collegiate swimmers and mentioned that they had beaten personal swim records during the portion of the study in which they slept more than normal. A light bulb went off in Mah’s head. “We had been investigating the effects of sleep extension on cognitive performance and mood, but I was now curious if sleep extension may also impact physical performance,” she said.

Mah began working with sleep expert William Dement, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and they turned their attention to the men’s basketball team. Over the course of two basketball seasons, Mah and colleagues worked with 11 healthy players with a goal of investigating the effects of sleep extension on specific measures of athletic performance, as well as reaction time, mood and daytime sleepiness.

The researchers asked the players to maintain their normal nighttime schedule (sleeping for six to nine hours) for two to four weeks and then aim to sleep 10 hours each night for the next five to seven weeks. During the study period, players abstained from drinking coffee and alcohol, and they were asked to take daytime naps when travel prohibited them from reaching the 10 hours of nighttime sleep.

At the end of the sleep extension period, the players ran faster 282-foot sprints (16.2 seconds versus 15.5 seconds) than they had at baseline. Shooting accuracy during practice also improved: Free throw percentages increased by 9 percent and 3-point field goal percentage increased by 9.2 percent. Fatigue levels decreased following sleep extension, and athletes reported improved practices and games.

Using a questionnaire-based sleepiness scale at the beginning of the study, Mah and her colleagues also discovered that many of the athletes had a moderate-to-high baseline level of daytime sleepiness — indicating that they were carrying sleep debt accumulated from chronic sleep loss. She called this one of the most surprising aspect of the study.

“The athletes were training and competing during their regular season with moderate-to-high levels of daytime sleepiness and were unaware that it could be negatively impacting their performance,” she said. “But as the season wore on and they reduced their sleep debt, many athletes testified that a focus on sleep was beneficial to their training and performance.”

The findings suggest, Mah said, that it’s important for sleep to be prioritized over a long period of time, not just the night before “Game Day.” She called optimal sleep an “unrecognized, but likely critical factor in reaching peak performance.” She said the findings may be applicable to recreational athletes and those at the high school, semi-pro or professional level.

Mah and her co-authors noted several limitations to their study. The sample size was small and the players’ travel schedule made maintaining a strict sleep-wake schedule difficult. (Mah noted, though, that this was an unusual opportunity to study actively competing elite athletes.) It’s important to note, also, that the study didn’t focus on in-game performance: The team aspect of basketball makes it tricky to do so, she said, but future studies could focus on swimming, track and field, or other sports more conducive to examining individual performance.

Mah has already laid the groundwork for this research. Over the last several years she has investigated sleep extension in other Stanford sports teams including football, tennis and swimming. She has presented abstracts with preliminary findings on these sports that suggest a similar trend: More sleep led to better performance.

Mah now works with many of the Stanford sports teams and coaches to integrate optimal sleep and travel scheduling into their seasons and also consults with professional hockey, football and basketball teams, in addition to continuing her research. She hopes to next turn her attention to the quality, versus quantity, of athletes’ sleep.

Dement was the senior author of the study. Kenneth Mah, MD, a pediatric cardiovascular ICU hospitalist at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, was also involved in the research. The work was funded by the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory.

One of my fav Videos (Derek Redmond)

Are You Too Busy To Get Better?

Business experts and business coaches often talk about the difference between working in your business and working on your business. If you are always working in your business, you are no more than another employee. You need to spend time working on your business for your business to thrive. In coaching it is the same principle. If you are always coaching but never trying to learn, you eventually fall behind. It’s like playing game after game with no practice.

Don’t be too busy to get better. Set goals for yourself. Set a goal for the number of seminars you want to attend this year. Set a goal for the number of books you will read and DVD’s you will buy. Maybe even set a goal for the number of other coaches you intend to visit this year. I attend a lot of seminars as a speaker and ask anyone, I also sit and listen to the lectures. In addition I set a goal of attending at least one seminar a year as a participant, not as a speaker. Ask yourself honestly “have I been too busy to get better?”.

Michael Moss interview with Jon Stewart

PART 1

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

PART 2

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The "Third Place"

The following is one of my fav articles from strength coach Alwyn Cosgrove:

Starbucks has changed the service industry forever. They took a commodity — the coffee bean — and transformed it into an experience. I’ve studied them since the first day we opened our gym, and continue to do so.

Consider this — in the last fifteen years, the value of the S&P rose 200%, the Dow rose 230%, the NASDAQ rose 280%, but the Starbucks stock?–5000 percent!
Despite that tremendous growth – Starbucks has maintained it’s quality while expanding at a current rate of 5 stores per day, 365 days per year.

There is a concept known as the “Third place”. Most people have work, home and one more place that they spend time. It’s the idea behind the “local” in terms of the pub culture in the UK (as embodied in the TV show “Cheers” – ‘where everybody knows your name’…”).

The coffee shop (as seen in the TV show “Friends”) has become that – actually more specifically – Starbucks has become that for most people.
That’s why I study them – as I want my gym to become that “third place” and overtake Starbucks.

Do yourself a favor and pick this book up immediately — and then STUDY it! We recently interviewed the author of the book – Joseph Michelli – for our coaching group.

I’ve mentioned this book before, but I re-read it on a recent flight. If you’re in the service business — or you own a studio — you need to forget about just looking within our industry for ideas — look outside of your industry.

Maple-Glazed Salmon Salad with Walnut Oil Vinaegrette

Yield: 4 servings

A heart healthy salad, full of Omega 3s and satisfying enough to be the full dinner.

Ingredients

Walnut Oil Vinaigrette:
• ¼ cup walnut oil
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
Salad:
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp sugar-free maple syrup (I used Nature's Hollow) OR 2 tbsp real maple syrup
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp maple extract (omit if using maple syrup)
• 1 lb salmon filet
• Salt and pepper
• 6 cups salad greens, spinach or a combination
• 2 red peppers, chopped
• 1 cup walnuts, lightly toasted

Instructions

1. For Walnut Oil Vinaigrette, whisk all ingredients together and set aside.
2. For the salad, preheat oven to 425F and brush a large glass or ceramic baking dish with olive oil.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together Dijon mustard, maple syrup and maple extract.
4. Cut filet into 4 even portions and arrange in baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and brush with glaze.
5. Bake 9 to 11 minutes, until fish is cooked through and flakes easily with a fork. Remove and let cool 10 minutes.
6. Divide salad greens between 4 large plates.
7. Sprinkle each with chopped red peppers and walnuts.
8. Top each with a salmon portion.
9. Pass dressing at table.

Notes

Serves 4. Each serving has 11 g total carbs and 5 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 6g (If using sugar-free maple syrup).

Banana Berry Protein Smoothie

• 1C Unsweetened Almond Milk
• 1/2C plain Greek yogurt
• 2 TBspn chia seeds
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2C blueberries
• 1 scoop vanilla Whey "Anytime Protein" (http://www.shopabouttime.com/?Click=6817)      powder
• Handful of ice cubes

Macros

• Cals: 456
• Protein: 38g
• Carbs: 54g
• Fat: 13g
• Fiber: 12g

2012 Sports Illustrated Kids SportsKids of the Year, brothers Conner and Cayden Long

Great Tip for KB/DB Deadlifting

Health Club Consumer Report

I just came across the 2012 Health Club Consumer Report from the International Health & Racquet Sportclub Association (IHRSA).  They are as follows:

• Members visited fitness facilities an average of 102.5 times in 2011.
• Consumers paid an average of $42.55 in monthly membership fees
• 6.4 million Americans used personal training in 2011
• Those members who visited their club at least 100 days per year were...
• more likely to be male than female
• about 42.9 years old
• had at least a college degree
• had been a member for an average of 5.4 years 

How Many Pull-ups Does It Take To Make A Female Marine?

With the recent announcement of women being allowed in full combat in the U.S. Armed Forces, I was curious about specific physical fitness testing.  The New York Times ran a good article in today's paper about this very topic.  Check it out here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/us/politics/first-pull-ups-then-combat-marines-say.html

What Is The Single Best Thing We Can Do For Our Health?

It's All About The Glutes

Great article from ESPN.com....
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8132777/david-fleming-importance-athlete-butt-espn-magazine

Today's "Moment of Zen"

Certain things really make me happy, one in particularly receiving funny emails from certain people.  Without fail, I got this cute email from one of my friends today who teaches spinning at my gym:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, I walked into gym last night to teach my spin class and was looking to kick off 2013 with a little PC Conditioning motivation?? What?? Nothing?? I didn't know what to do? Then I thought...mmmmm how very zen of Paul... The message was to take time for some self-reflection, the answers are within yourself.... i get it! Very powerful ....nice job...☺!
Heehee Happy New Year!

Coaching Anti-Extension Core Stability

Coach Greg Robins did an outstanding job with this video on teaching Anti-Extension.

Bison Meatloaf....SO Good!!!

Very BASIC & EFFECTIVE Single-Leg Exercise

Can Money Buy Happiness?

How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body

Good article from the New York Times to check out: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wreck-your-body.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210&pagewanted=all&

Protein Banana Walnut Bars

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rolled oats

6 scoops vanilla protein powder (3 scoops unsweetened, 3 scoops sweetened)

2 cups walnut meal (grind the walnuts in a blender…that’s it!)

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

2 medium bananas (very soft, mashed)* I used frozen, thawed over-ripe bananas from my freezer

2 large Omega-3 eggs

2 Tbsp pasture butter

2 Tbsp water as needed

Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Then mix the two bowls together. If needed, add a tbsp or two of water to mix well.

Heat oven to 350F. Place ingredients in a metal 7 x 11 non-stick baking pan and bake at 350F for 12 mins until a knife comes out clean from the SIDES of the pan (not the middle). It should be slightly undercooked in the middle when you first take it out. If you bake this too long it will be very dry.

Makes 15 small bars ** I have horrible cutting skills as noted by the picture above...

Nutrition Facts: 190 calories, 12 g protein, 8 g carbs, 1.7 g fiber, 12 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 1.5 g omega-3 poly fat, 6 g omega-6 poly fat, 33 mg cholesterol, 33 mg sodium

Brian Regan- Hilarious Nutrition Standup

Julie Foucher

Fat Loss Tips from Precision Nutrition

5 Questions for Fat Loss
Most people have heard about how to eat for fat loss. But
they just can’t figure out what to eat when it comes time for a meal. And that’s largely because they’re asking themselves the wrong questions.
That’s why we created this simple cheat sheet. It helps you ask the right questions at the most critical time – when it’s time to pick up the fork and spoon. To get the most out of this cheat sheet, simply print it out, fold it up, and make sure to ask yourself the following questions before your next meal.
Q1. Are you eating too much food?
When fat loss is your primary goal, you should stop eating when you’re about 80% full. This will leave you satiated but not belly-rubbing full. So, for this next meal, do you plan on eating a little less than you normally would?
You can eat from a smaller plate than usual. You can leave a little on the plate, instead of finishing everything in front of you. Or you can stop at one serving instead of going back for seconds. Whatever strategy you use, make sure you’re decreasing your calories compared to what you might normally eat.
Q2. Are you eating enough protein?
Your protein intake determines whether you’re going to lose body fat or lean muscle. (Obviously, we want to lose the first and keep the latter.) So, for this next meal, is there enough lean protein included? Men should eat about 2 palm-sized portions and women should eat about 1 palm-sized portion.
You can choose from sources including: lean meats (chicken, turkey, fish, lean beef, lean game meats), lean vegetarian sources (tofu, tempeh, legumes), or powdered protein supplements. Whichever type you choose, make sure you’re eating more protein than what you might normally eat.
Q3. Are you eating too many sugars or starches?
Too many starches and sugars in your diet can prevent fat loss (or even cause fat gain). So, for
this next meal, are there too many starches, particularly processed ones like bread or pasta? Men should eat less than 1 fist-sized portion and women should eat less than 1⁄2 fist-sized portion. Also, the amount of sugar should be minimized.
Starches in the diet include grains, pasta, potatoes, rice, bread, and other carb-dense foods. And added sugars can be found in pop/soda, fruit juices, salad dressings, desserts, sweet snacks, and more. Again, you don’t have to cut these out completely. You just have to be sure to eat fewer of them than usual.

Copyright © 2011 by Precision Nutrition Inc.

Q4. Are you eating enough vegetables?
By replacing your grains with greens, you’ll still feel satisfied at the end of a meal while also increasing your intake of fiber and other important vitamins/minerals. So, for this next meal, are you eating enough vegetables? For fat loss, men should eat about 1 cup while women should eat about 1⁄2 cup.
While most people think of salads when veggies are brought up, many other options are available. Baked, grilled, sautéed, or steamed veggies all count. As do foods like pesto or even kale chips. Regardless of which veggies you choose, make sure you’re eating more than usual.
Q5. Are you including enough healthy fats?
Highly processed fats, often found in processed foods, can ruin your health and lead to fat gain. However, a healthy mix of other naturally occurring fats is important for fat loss. So, for this next meal, are you eating some healthy fats?
You can choose from sources like olive oil, avocados, raw nuts (not roasted), raw seeds, and omega-3 rich fish oils. Whichever type you choose, make sure you’re adding healthy fats to your diet while replacing the unhealthy ones.

Copyright © 2011 by Precision Nutrition Inc. 

My New Affiliate Nutrition Company

Click HERE: About Time Nutrition Products

How to Foam Roll the IT Band

Unclutter Your Mind

3 Exercise Training Circuit

• KB Goblet Squat
• KB Swing
• MB Slams

Protein Pancakes- Yum!!!

"Call Me Maybe" Tempo Controlled by Heart Rate

One of my research projects in college was to analyze physiological responses to varying genres of music.  One area I didn't focus on, however, was manipulating heart rate and music  tempo simultaneously.  Pretty cool stuff here!

100+ Facts about 25 Well-Known Foods

Did you know...

• Asparagus is a good source of vitamins A, C and E, B-complex vitamins, potassium and zinc
• An avocado has more than twice as much potassium as a banana.
• Broccoli contains twice the vitamin C of an orange
• Onions are a rich source of quercetin, a potent antioxidant.
• Kale eases lung congestion and is beneficial to the stomach, liver and immune system

Al the above....and much more...can be found at the following: http://www.mercola.com/nutritionplan/foodalert.htm

Study Shows Fast FOod Leaves You Depressed

A new study in the journal Public Health Nutrition showed people who frequent drive-thrus and load their shopping cart with Entenmann’s and Twinkies suffer more depression.

Check out the following for more info: http://jonnybowdenblog.com/fast-food-depression/