Motivational Mondays!

14 05 2012

Good Morning, GymGeeks!!!

I have decided (after an awesome start to Phase 2 on the “Shortcut to Size”) to sort out what gets rolled out at NerdyGymRat.com on what day.  As you can tell from the title of this post, Mondays will now be forever known as “Motivational Monday.”

Now, what exactly does this mean for you guys?  It means that you’ll be getting all sort of motivating stuff from me, including playlists, movie quotes/clips (depending on if YouTube hasn’t shut it down yet) and even some good articles to kick your ass into the gym, even though you’re dreading walking into the office after an awesome weekend.

I always feel re-energized after my rest day and want to hit the weights (and hit them hard), so that’s all the motivation I need…but what about YOU, GymGeeks?

I’ll leave a link to the playlist on Twitter and Facebook from now on so that you guys can subscribe (as some of you already have…you guys rock, by the way), but I’ll also embed it in this “Letter from The Editor”-esque Monday morning post I’ll start with every Monday.

So I’ll ask one more time…what motivates YOU?

Jonathan


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Categories : Playlist of The Day, Updates

Mother’s Day/Rest Day

13 05 2012

Happy Mother’s Day!

Hope everyone did something good for the woman in their life.  I actually spent the weekend with my mom (and dad) in South Florida this past weekend.  Nice little weekend with a cheat meal at J. Alexanders (Scottish Grilled Salmon & Orzo…I do love me some salmon!), some lunch from Whole Foods and a brunch on the beach today.  Couldn’t have asked for a better way to recharge the batteries.

While we were at the beach, my mom did give me a suggestion on a post I should do, which I’ll work on this week.  It’ll be in the same vein as the Cinco de Mayo Survival Guide, but geared towards something a LITTLE bit different…

A lot of people have given me some great ideas for what to write up this week, including products to look into (apparently I’ve neglected Syntha-6, a product I actually use) and some more switches to your workouts. Hell, I have people subscribing to my playlists on Spotify!  I really hope you guys are digging them, since they’re helping ME through Jim Stoppani’s “Shortcut to Size” program.  Phase 2 begins tomorrow…

You’ll see these coming more often in the coming weeks.  Any other stuff you guys want to see, feel free to leave in the comments section.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some tilapia to cook and some cottage cheese & pineapple to portion out for the week!

Jonathan


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Categories : Healthy Choices, Nutrition, Updates

Potential Ideas for NerdyGymRat.com

11 05 2012

Today feels like the kind of day where crowd participation is encouraged…

Normally on a Friday, I would be writing up (curating, for now) about a recipe or talking about how to navigate through a nutritional pitfall of a holiday (I realize Mother’s Day is Sunday, but she’ll probably want a light brunch so you’re solid).  Since I’ve already done the first and the second is pretty simple…

I’d like to open up the floor to my GymGeeks as to what type of content you guys are loving or would like to see here!  I know you all loved the Gym Pet Peeves, so that is MOST DEFINITELY sticking around.  I’ve gotten some great ones via Twitter (even text messages from friends).  This is a collaborative effort, as healthy living SHOULD be.  We may have different goals within that lifestyle (be it bodybuilding, fitness modeling or even just losing weight), but as a collective, it should be every person helping another.

So as a community, let’s make this movement count!  How do we make this happen?

The floor is officially open…


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Categories : Updates

Playlist of The Day (5/5/12)

11 05 2012

Happy Friday, GymGeeks!

Today is a big day for yours truly: Week 4 of Phase 1 in Jim Stoppani’s “Shortcut To Size” program is in the books!  There is nothing quite like squatting 300 lbs. four times, stopping for a 15 second count, THEN going for another three reps to burn out.  Only proves I’m ready for more in four weeks!

I’m really digging the concept, too!  By next week, you go BACK to 12-15 reps per set, but you’ll have physically (and mentally) prepared yourself for more weight.  As long as you’re following the diet plan (remember, 80% of fitness is the diet), you’ll definitely see gains.  I sure as hell have!  I’d show the results after four weeks, but I don’t want to be one of “those guys” who puts up camera phone pictures.  Looks cheesy to me.

Now, because of the intensity of the workout today, I stuck with the same leg playlist as last week.  A ton of nu-metal (hey, I was in middle school when this stuff was popular!) and a classic warm-up with AC/DC:

So what’s going into YOUR ears, this morning, GymGeeks?  Tweet, comment on Facebook or even leave a comment!  I’m always open to new music!

Jonathan


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Categories : Healthy Choices, Playlist of The Day, Technology, Updates

Black Beans: The Magical (Muscle Building) Fruit

10 05 2012

I know I talk a ton about efficiency in the gym. Between stretching, warming up and beating the hell out of the weights, I’m in and out in 90 minutes at the absolute most.

That wouldn’t be possible if not for one of the many secret muscle-building superfoods: black beans.

Legumes in general (as mentioned in a comment by a dear friend of mine, Janine) are an essential part of any GymGeek’s diet. The black bean’s soluble fiber content alone helps in lowering the risk of heart disease (much like the essential fatty acids found in fatty fish and fish oil supplements). It’s also been linked to blood sugar regulation (no spikes in sugar levels), cancer prevention (due to the eight flavonoids and antioxidant properties) and, most importantly, physical performance and endurance.

Just one cup of (dry) black beans contains 30% of the body’s daily need for magnesium, which is what makes the performance and endurance possible.  As a GymGeek, the magnesium is most DEFINITELY essential for this reason alone.  There’s nothing like getting halfway through a workout and just feeling completely gassed (no pun intended).

There are countless ways to incorporate black beans into your diet.  If you’re feeling like having a little Tex-Mex, you can always add them as a side dish or into burritos.  If you’re a guy and want to impress at the next party you go to, you can add them (along with your homemade guacamole, fat-free cheese and greek yogurt…no one has to know this!) and make a layered dip, which you can serve with some baked chips.

One word of caution:  Go for the dry stuff, not canned.  More often than not, the canned pre-cooked black beans (even if they’re labeled as “organic”) are preserved with the help of salt.  The sodium content of a single can will set you back for your daily allowance.  Not only that…buying dry black beans in bulk is CHEAPER.  I’m a frugal GymGeek, so this is a huge deal to me.  Sure, the preparation, soaking and cooking of the black beans may be a little time-consuming, but at the end of the day, the trade-off will be worth it, both for your wallet AND your body.

If anyone has another way they use black beans, feel free to share!  I know I’ll be doing black beans and (wild) rice next week for my lunches, but I’m open to suggestions from my fellow GymGeeks!

Jonathan


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Categories : Healthy Choices, Nutrition

My Definition of “Nerdy”

9 05 2012

Let me step out of my comfort zone for just a second…

While I was in a pseudo-skype chat (and by that, my microphone was fried so there were a lot of stares and typing sounds) with Eric Wang at “Health Demystified,” talking about some ideas for helping our sites out, he posed a very VERY good question to me that left me in a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights state:

“I hate to ask this…but what makes your site different from <name of site here, as to not give them free press>?”

Not even knowing the site existed, I took a quick peek and all I could say in my head was W…T…F!  This guy’s story is almost EXACTLY the same as mine!  The only differences were that he was a skinny stringbean who made the change and started writing about it three years before I did.  To be perfectly honest, I had a split second feeling of defeat, followed by a few moments of “I’m gonna blow his site out of the water!” swagger, followed by the feeling of knowing I’d have to actually think about this one…

Then it sort of came to me in the middle of the night.  A revelation, if you will.  When I went back to his site, his content, while very extensive and of high quality, was geared at the stereotypical nerd.  This meant a ton of references to gaming and not much else to make parallels to.  It made me think about what it means to really be a nerd.  I looked it up in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary at work and this is what popped out:

“One slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits.”

That is such a broad definition that, if not for the fact that YouTube has tightened the copyright infringements on film content, I’d have a great speech from the end of “Revenge of The Nerds” linked RIGHT HERE:

Sorry; Couldn’t find any Omega Mus….

Essentially, what it would have conveyed is that all of us are nerds in one way or another.  For some of us, quoting Monty Python skits makes us a nerd.  For others, it’s figuring out Randy Johnson’s WHIP from the years he pitched for the Seattle Mariners.  Maybe you wear Iron Maiden t-shirts and pretend all other genres of music created after 1986 don’t exist (or as I like to call it, Jonathan, circa-2004).

If you have a devotion to learning or discovering something, you are for all intents and purposes, a nerd!

It’s that devotion and desire to learning how to live a healthy life that brings us all together as a community, which is what it’s all about!  We can be a nerd in so many different ways, but as long as you have the desire to learn how to get fit, YOU are my demographic.  YOU are who I’m hoping to help with this site, the Facebook updates,the tweets and any other places I share content (this is where you click and go to Pinterest or follow me on Instagram – TheNerdyGymRat)!

I’m not going to pander to just gamers or kids who played “Magic: The Gathering” growing up.  They’re great groups of people (I’ve been known to get my butt kicked in Madden on XBox Live), but why pigeonhole them?

So this is my promise to each of my newly minted “GymGeeks” (you’ll see that hashtag quite a bit from here on in):  I will continue to share and research fantastic content for you as long as you want to share and learn from it!

Viva Las GymGeeks!

(And with that, I have completed my quota for awful Spanglish today.  Have a good night, everyone!)

Jonathan


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Categories : Updates

Five Fitness Apps For Your Smartphone

8 05 2012

I’m sure by now, you guys are wondering why I’m the NERDY gym rat.  I mean, all I’ve talked about to this point is protein powders, lifting weights and how to make good nutrition choices.  All that does is solve two-thirds of the name!

Well good news!  The nerdy side is coming out with this post!

I think we can all agree that setting goals with health and fitness are crucial if we’re going to see improvements.  We can also agree that 90% of the world has a smartphone permanently attached to their hand for 16 hours a day (because we’re all getting our eight hours of sleep, right?).  The great thing about this is that we can use that addiction to our advantage, with the development of apps for each format (Windows Phone, Android, iOSwhatever-version-they’re-on).

Now, like most apps, there are good-to-fantastic ones and there are those that are…well…not.  Here are a few of my favorite from each of the platforms.  (Note:  I’m reviewing the FREE versions of these, since I’m a bit on the cheap side with the apps on my phone.  Sadly, CheapskateNerdyGymRat.com was taken.)

RunKeeper (Available on Android & iOS)

I’ve had this app on my Motorola Atrix (and before that, my iPhone 3Gs) since the date of purchase.  As a person who hates long distance running, the integration with my playlists makes the run a whole lot easier on me (especially the one a few weeks ago that went for 8 miles).  Whenever I have that moment of wanting to just stop, I have the music to help me push through (as well as an optional coach, updating you on your current pace/distance at certain intervals).

Psh…someone’s doggin’ it!

My only complaint with the app is that, while it has an on-board GPS to track where you’re running, it can get a bit spotty, depending on your provider. Mine being AT&T, I haven’t had that big of a problem running around Orlando.  However, if I go on a jog in Gainesville or New Smyrna Beach, I’ll fall off the map.  For a free app, it’s pretty fantastic, though!

MyFitnessPal – Calorie Counter (Available on Android and iOS)

Weight Loss 101:  Calorie deficit = loss of pounds.  With this app, you can track your caloric expenditure throughout the day.  It actually has a pretty good database to pick and choose from (restaurants included) and also lets you punch in the serving size of whatever it is you ate.

Very Nice Design!

This may be me being a little nit-picky, but I have one big problem with calorie counting apps (including the Weight Watchers one).  Sure the less calories you take in/burn off in the gym, the lower your weight will be…but what about the other important nutritional information?  This is sort of like seeing a 100 calorie pack of Oreo’s.  Sure, it’s 100 calories, but they’re EMPTY calories.  If this app allowed you to also punch in information like, say, grams of protein or fiber, I’d find it to be much more effective in assessing your overall health.

Nike Training Club (Available on iOS)

Now THIS is an app I can get behind!  While aimed towards the female demographic (something the interface design does quite well in conveying in tone and color scheme), men can appreciate the exercises listed in here if you’re looking to tone up.  The Nike Trainer Club allows you to customize your workouts, as well as work out to your playlists.

Perfect Form!

The only fault I could find in this app is that it only allows tracking of one user at a time, so no sharing between mother & daughter.  However, this is something that I’m sure Nike will fix, as they have with their other apps (Nike+, for example).  Once they refine it a bit more (and maybe have it join forces with its male counterpart, the Nike BOOM), they’ll have domination of the fitness app world, especially since you don’t need to buy a special $100 pair of sneakers for it to work!

Bodybuilding.com (Available on Android and iOS)

I’m actually a big fan of Bodybuilding.com as a website.  The store usually runs good deals, the database of workouts is solid and there are countless articles that span over years of research from credible people in the fitness world.  The app is a great extension of that.  In its most recent update, it allows for you to shop from their store, something that wasn’t available in older versions.

Yeah, like I was going to miss a chance to screencap Jamie Eason!

The biggest problem with the app, however, is its tendency to freeze and shut down on Android phones.  With so much traffic going to the site, it may just be an issue of a lack of bandwidth to handle everything at once.  I’d suggest a purge on the website of articles from 2007.  Maybe that will help reducing the frequency of crashing.

Restaurant Nutrition (Available on Android and iOS)

I will admit: I’m the guy who researches nutritional information PRIOR to going out to dinner with friends.  I’m sorry that I’m not sorry for that.  This has been a staple on my phones since my first smartphone and has been a godsend.  Knowing every detail of information from most major chain restaurants lets me know that I’m better off with two “fresco style” tacos over a grilled stuffed burrito at Taco Bell (a bit obvious, I know, but still a good example!).

Big Macs are unhealthy, you say…

Unfortunately, it only does chain restaurants.  It may just be me wishing, but with the capabilities of GPS location in this day and age, there should be a way to access local restaurants nutritional info, if available.  For example, chains in the southwest (i.e. In-n-Out Burger) should pop up when I’m in Las Vegas.  Again, I’m sure this is something that can easily be fixed as we move ahead in the world of technology.

Well, hopefully that gives you a good starting point of apps to download (if you haven’t already).  With the help of some of these, you should have no problem keeping yourself accountable.  Your phone will happily be your buddy on the road to a healthier lifestyle.


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Categories : Healthy Choices, Reviews, Technology

Fat Loss Recipe of The Week: Baked Tilapia

8 05 2012

I hope you all enjoyed last week’s recipe for “Spicy Salmon.”  I actually made a few this week for my dinners (pairing it with a salad).  Hoda over at “Cooking Up The Cure” gave me a great piece of advice in the “Comments” section and I have to say: the parchment paper inside the foil made cleanup TONS easier and saved me the chance of aluminum finding its way into the fish.

This week, we’re still gonna go into the deep blue sea with a recipe for baked tilapia.  This is one of those flaky fishes that are phenomenal for people trying to lose weight.  I suggest buying fresh and NOT frozen.  It may seem expensive when you look at the “per pound” pricing, but it takes three or four fillets to get to that pound!  Flaky, light AND inexpensive!

Don’t forget the parchment paper!

If you’d like to take a peek at the recipe, run over to “Muscle & Fitness” for their version.

Like I mentioned with the salmon, there are a million things you can do with this recipe.  For example,  I like to use lemon juice instead of white wine when I make my version.  I happen to think it gives the tilapia more of a zest.  Toy around with spices and find something that you enjoy.  Think of these recipes as “guidelines” and not rules.

Let me know what you think (and DEFINITELY tell me any modifications you made to your version).

J


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Categories : Healthy Choices, Nutrition

Playlist of The Day (5/7/12)

7 05 2012

And so begins Week 2 of The Nerdy Gym Rat!

As it just so happens, it also was the beginning of Week 4 (Phase 1) of Jim Stoppani’s “Shortcut to Size” for me, as well.  My chest/triceps/calves day was pretty intense, as it called for 3 to 5 reps per set (6 to 9 for the calves portion).  I will say this, though; it…is…working!  Without the need for a spotter, I was able to pump out four reps of 225 lbs. on my bench press for the first time!  I now have the NFL Combine numbers of a punter or kicker! =P  It made my post-workout shake of organic soy milk & ON’s 100% Gold Whey taste that much sweeter!

Pretty much the scene at 5:00 AM at any gym…just the way I like it!

Since I’m a member at Planet Fitness, what makes this achievement even MORE impressive is that I was able to lift with such intensity and high weight and NOT set of their “Lunk Alarm.”  I think it can sense that I’m not a musclehead with no neck and I’m there to get fit and stay ripped.  It’s a little 1984 for my taste, but cest la vie!

Because of the intensity of the workout, the playlist had to match it up.  It most definitely did the trick, even though I put a lot more rap in there than I’m used to (good staples are Jay-Z, Kanye West & Beastie Boys – RIP Adam Yauch, by the way).  Here’s what was keeping me going this morning (aside from a tremendous breakfast and some MusclePharm Assault):

And as always, I’ll throw the playlist link up there a couple times today on Twitter. Welcome to all my new followers! Sorry you have to go through the validation process, but I want to make sure that I’m getting REAL people who want REAL advice, as opposed to bots or porn links. I hope you enjoy the tweets and share them with others.  It’s about information sharing with this site, so however it gets out there (either links on Twitter or Facebook) is OK by me!

Start your morning out the right way. If you start the day focused, getting through the rest will be a walk in the park!

Jonathan, The Nerdy Gym Rat


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Categories : Playlist of The Day, Updates

Shifting Back To Neutral

6 05 2012

Now that the Miami Heat game is over (the only team that can never win…either it’s “LeBron choked” or “LeBron didn’t get the ball!”),  I’m mentally in a good place to write a quick post for tonight…

I wanted to go into why I love & encourage the rest day.  Personally, it allows me to relax, while also being super productive.  I was able to cook my meals for the week, portion them out and do laundry, all while posting & tweeting!  I do this all on one day because my weeks are hectic.  Between working out, my day job of being an Audio Engineer and this new venture, I have a 80-90 hour a week job now.

Mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-day snack all ready to go!

Like the title of my favorite book from a User-Centered Design class back at UCF, “Don’t Make Me Think” about the stuff that I consider time wasters.  When you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail (example:  if you don’t plan/portion your meals, you’re more likely to indulge in a fast food alternative or frantically make something without a second’s thought of what it is you’re putting in your body).

Not only does it give you a mental rest, the rest day also gives your body a chance to shift back to neutral (yes, we have now come full-circle with the post title).  As I’ve mentioned before, the only time your muscles are able to repair from the damage you do to them in your workout is when you rest.  Sleeping eight hours a night is a great start, but a full 24 hours of active rest (I took my dog, Layla, on a walk at the dog park) allows the body to recover while also not being in a sedentary state.

Truth be told, I love it!  To be able to say I’ve worked out, walked the dog, gotten some writing in ALL before most of my friends & family hit the snooze button is a great feeling.  Aesthetically, the proof is in the pudding (as you can see from previous posts).

Anyways, that’s my soapbox speech for the night.  Get ready for another week of intensity from me, The Nerdy Gym Rat!  This video is all the motivation I need to get revved up for the morning.  How do you guys start YOUR Mondays?


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Categories : Updates

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