Monday, January 9, 2012

Pan seared lodon broil with sweet potato and greenbeans.

6:01 PM  Shane A Sorensen  No comments

Mom's Pan-fried London Broil Steak

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Time to prepare about 5 minutes, time to cook about 5 minutes.

What you will need:
4 oz of grass fed London broil
1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen green beans
1 medium sweet potato
8-10 grape tomatoes
Olive oil or organic canola oil
Himalayan pink salt or non refined sea salt
pepper
cinnamon

This recipe will produce a steak that is around medium rare depending on thickness of the meat, if you would like your steak more well done you should add about 15-90 seconds on each side as desired.

Prep:
First take about a 4 oz serving of London broil out of the refrigerator and leave at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Next, place a pan on the stove top on medium-high heat without any oil.  Quickly wash off the sweet potato making sure to scrub off as much visible dirty as possible, poke five sets of holes in the potato on both sides and place in the microwave on high for 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Your pan should be hot now, so while your potato is cooking, lightly salt and pepper your steak and throw it in the pan.  The pan should be very hot and there may be some smoke while your steak cooks (this is normal just turn on a fan).  Let your steak cook for 1 minute and 30 seconds on one side making sure not to move it until the timer goes off.

Quickly put some olive oil in a pan and set it to medium heat and allow the pan to heat up.

Your timers should be going off now so flip your steak over to the other side and set the timer for another 1 minute and 30 seconds.  Then flip over your sweat potato, lightly cover in some oil and put back in the microwave for an additional 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Your second pan should be hot now, so add the green beans to the pan with the oil.  Lightly season the beans with some salt and pepper and stir them occasionally with a spoon or spatula.

After your steak has cooked for 1 minute and 30 seconds on each side place it on a plate to rest for five minutes and place the sweet potato on the plate next to your steak when they are both done cooking.

After cooking your green beans for 3-4 minutes add the grape tomatoes to the pan along with a small amount of additional salt, pepper, and oil; and cook for another 1-2 minutes as needed.  When they are finished place the green beans on the plate with your potato and steak.

Before eating your London broil cut it in thin strips with a serrated knife going with the marbling of the meat.
Put a cut down the middle of your potato and add cinnamon and a little organic butter if desired.

You have here a quick, simple, and healthy meal.  This meal is loaded with: fiber, healthy fats, protein, complex carbohydrates, and nutrients.  For more healthy 10 minute meals, make sure to follow Chasing the Dream on facebook or subscribe for email updates!

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Sunday, January 8, 2012

Power lifting for women? You must be crazy... right?

5:38 PM  Shane A Sorensen  69 comments



Today I'd like to talk about something that might make you uncomfortable, especially if you are a woman.  Today I want to talk about something the mainstream fitness world is completely wrong about, women lifting weights.  I want to show you how you can get the toned and sexy body you have always wanted, (and men, this is the secret to getting your girl to look like a fitness model), become stronger and more confident, and feel good about yourself everyday.  To your surprise it doesn't involve endless cardio on a treadmill, or sets of 50 repetitions with a 2lb dumbbell, it involves one main thing... HEAVY WEIGHT TRAINING.  Read on and I will prove to you that most of the things you know about weight lifting for women are a lie.  I believe in heavy lifting enough to recommend it for my own wife, and she has seen some seriously positive results since switching up from high rep, low weight workouts.

I would like to start off by telling you ten reasons why lifting heavy weights will NOT make you bulky (like most trainers would tell you it will), but instead tone, and give you your dream body.
1) Women do NOT have the levels of testosterone that men do.  Unless women have an abnormally high level of testosterone (naturally or from steroid use), they will NOT gain muscle mass like a man will.  It just isn't in a women's genetic code to be 180lbs of solid muscle.
2) The women body builders you see on magazine use testosterone, this is the only reason they are as big as they are.  You can tell that their levels of testosterone have been modified just by looking at them, evidence of this can be found in: increased muscle mass, deepened voice, increased hair growth, and acne.
3) Toning is developed through strength training.  Toning essentially means that as a muscle becomes trained to handle higher loads it becomes denser and more easily excitable at rest, this causes muscles to look more defined and causes your body to have a more desirable shape.
4) High volume exercise causes muscle gain, not heavy weights.  Reps in the range of 8-20 (what most trainers would recommend for a female looking to "tone up"), are actually what cause muscle growth (hypertrophy), for instance a body builder will typically use 3 sets of 8-12, with about four exercises per body part, this type of training causes significant micro trauma and as a result, bigger muscles.
5) Heavy weights promote strength not bulk.  Lifting heavy weights within 20% of your one rep max primarily works thorough training the Central Nervous System, this leads your muscles to be able to perform more weight and stay more "tense" during rest leading to increased strength and muscle tone, without significant muscle gain.
6) Your personal trainer probably is not your friend!  Most personal trainers are frauds, yes complete frauds! Trainers have been taught to make you sweat, make you sore, and most of all make you come back for more!  There whole program revolves around pushing you, but not too hard so that you stay happy and keep coming back.  Let's face it, heavy weights are tough, especially when you aren't used to them, most people won't actually do what will help if it's "too hard", but a true friend will tell you truth whether it pisses you off or not, that's why I am telling you not to always trust what your trainer says, ultimately they want your money not your satisfaction.
7) Getting huge muscles takes time.  Getting "huge" isn't an overnight process, it takes many men months just to add 5-10lbs of lean muscle to their frame, even if you somehow start getting bulky it won't be irreversible and it takes time for it to happen.
8) Bulking up is dependent upon calorie intake.  If you eat more calories than you burn you will gain weight, if you lift heavy weights and eat more than you burn you will gain weight, if you do high reps and eat more than you burn you will gain weight.  If you are lifting heavy weights and "bulking up" it is because you are eating too much (unless you are looking to get bigger).  Eat less, eat a better diet, or add some cardio to your training and you'll stop gaining weight.  If you want a great looking body you are going to have to work for it, a small and lucky group of people look great without exercise or diet, but for the rest of us the path is hard but the reward is great!

Heavy lifting will help tone your muscles, make you stronger, and make you feel better, but it won't magically melt fat away.  Unfortunately for women, one of the side effects of having high estrogen levels is fat storage.  If you have extra body fat, you will need to take in less calories than you burn.  The most effective way of doing this (in my opinion) is not calorie restriction but through the metabolic diet, and restricting carbohydrates.  You can read more about the diet and carbohydrate intake here>http://everystepblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-carbohydrates-affect-your-body-part_04.html

If you have extra body fat you want to lose, I recommend doing heavy weight training for 6-12 weeks with a mild calorie restriction and some light cardio a few days per week.  Gaining strength and subsequent muscle tone will be easier to achieve without a strict diet change.  After you have begun to see the results of your hard work (more toned muscle, more shapely curves, and some fat loss), you will be more motivated than ever to stick to a diet and really dig deep and work hard in the gym.  Depending upon how much extra fat you have to lose, you can begin to see significant changes in your body in 3-6 months by following the strong lifts lifting program, changing up your diet, modifying your carbohydrate intake, and adding some cardiovascular training, you will be well on your way to getting the body of you (and every guys) dreams.  Make sure and check the link below to another post in my blog to help you plan out your lifting schedule.  http://everystepblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/beginners-guide-to-power-lifting.html

Lastly I'd like to add a few pictures of women who used power lifting to get their bodies into a shape that any girl would be jealous of.  Just some inspiration if you are still on the fence.

Jean Fry 415lb Squat, 375lb Deadlift, 250lb bench press at 123lbs bodyweight.

Simitah Sing, mother and powerlifter

If you still don't believe me then check out the links below on three different (very attractive) females (pictured above) who use heavy weight training/power lifting in their fitness routines both to look good, and in two of their cases to actually compete in power lifting.




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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Building muscle on a budget- Chocolate Milk

4:44 PM  Shane A Sorensen  2 comments

Horizon organic chocolate milk is my choice for post workout for price, convenience, and taste!
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Chocolate milk is in many ways the perfect post workout drink, and its incredibly affordable if you are on a budget.  I'll give you some of the top reasons why making chocolate milk your post workout drink is a great idea for your muscles, and for your wallet.

1) Taste  Who can deny that chocolate milk tastes great?  Seriously, I have never met a person who doesn't like chocolate milk (no offense if somehow you don't like the taste).  I personally drink chocolate milk at the end of my weight lifting sessions, and even though it always tastes great to me, it tastes even better right after a workout when your blood sugar levels are low and your glycogen stores are empty.

2) Price  Chocolate milk is pretty cheap.  Milk and eggs are about the cheapest sources of complete proteins you can buy.  You can pick up a 1 gallon jug for about $3 or $6 for organic milk (which I use), both have 16 servings in a container, for less than 40 cents you can get a quality serving of carbs, protein, and healthy fats (if you go with organic).

3) Protein As I stated above, chocolate milk is an excellent source of protein.  Protein is important to take in post workout to help promote muscle growth and repair.  Working out puts stress on your body and causes an environment where fat, glucose, glycogen, and even amino acids are burned for energy.  As muscle breaks down from the stress of a workout it is important to give it a serving of protein immediately after a workout to promote recovery and repair of muscle.

4) Simple Carbs  Simple carbohydrates like sugar are not only good after a workout, they are ideal.  As you workout (especially during weight training) your body burns blood glucose and then glycogen (your body's store of carbohydrates for energy) to fuel the work.  Towards the end of a workout your glycogen stores may be completely diminished, taking in simple carbohydrates post workout can help replenish glycogen stores, provide an insulin response that can shuttle nutrients and amino acids into the muscles, and promote muscle repair and recovery.

5) Ideal protein to carb ratio  There is some debate over what the "ideal" protein to carb ratio actually is, some say 2-1, 3-1, or 4-1.  Whatever the ideal ratio is, most studies have shown that a ratio of carbohydrates to protein somewhere in this range promotes recovery much quicker and more effectively than consuming either carbs or protein alone.  This combination also triggers a stronger insulin response and has been shown to cause up to 100% more glycogen to be retained in the muscle.  A glass of chocolate milk has about 8 grams of protein to 22 grams of carbohydrates, about a 3-1 ratio.

I always recommend choosing organic foods especially when dealing with animal products like eggs, meats, and dairy, but you must weigh the costs and benefits of organic versus traditional grown food on your own.  If you are interested in learning more about carbohydrates and how they affect the body check out my five part series on carbohydrates here. http://everystepblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-carbohyrdrates-affect-your-body.html

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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The dynaflex, serious grip training for BJJ.

12:58 PM  Shane A Sorensen  No comments


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I would like to talk a little bit about the Dynaflex.  Dynaflex is a company that makes a series of gyroballs that provide a very intense hand, finger, and forearm workout.  I have personally used the Dynaflex to help with my grip strength and endurance for BJJ.

The dynaflex works by using the g-forces created by a gyroscope to create a tremendous amount of torque and resistance from a relatively light object.  A small ball that weighs less than a pound can create up to 60 lbs of torque (trust me it's a lot harder than it sounds).



When you first start using the dynaflex it takes a little while just to get used to it.  There is technique involved  that you have to figure out before you can really start improving your grips.  I recommend starting out with the base model and using it for several months before moving up to the next model.  You can find the best price here at amazon, the base model can be found for around $20, not much of an investment for the gains you will be able to make.

The next step up would be the premium metal series balls.  These gyroballs weigh a little bit more, but provide a VERY intense grip and forearm workout.  I do NOT recommend purchasing this model without first purchasing the base model I have listed above.  Not only is this model more expensive, but it is probably at least three times as effective as the first model.  I suggest buying the base model for around $20, using it for a few months until it becomes easy and then upgrading to the steel model.  Doing it this way will allow you to build your forearm and grip strength up a little bit before you jump into the steel model, and will also PROVE to you how effective this device can be for grip and forearm strength.  If you start out with the cheaper ball, you will notice very quickly how effective it is, and the steel model won't seem expensive at all.








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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

How to fight a cold naturally.

6:38 PM  Shane A Sorensen  No comments


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I have been sick with a pretty intense cold for about 6 days.  I very rarely get sick, usually about once a year, and when I do get sick it usually doesn't last more than a day or two, so for me to be out of training, and run down for 6 days is pretty rare.  I would like to share some of the things I did to relieve my symptoms and helped me stay sane without using medication.





1) Apple cider vinegar.  Apple cider vinegar is something I usually drink everyday, whether I am sick or not, it has numerous health benefits and has been used for hundreds of years as a health tonic.   Make sure to always buy raw, organic, and unfiltered ACV, I recommend Bragg's. When you are sick with a cold, ACV has some particular properties that are very desirable.  ACV is acidic and helps to liquefy secretions (it helps break down the congestion in your chest and nose), it is highly alkalizing in the body (which helps keep the virus under control), it is good for the immune system, aids in digestion, and helps to detox the dead virus cells and toxins from your body.  I normally take 2 tablespoons before bed mixed with a little bit of water, but when I am sick I usually aim for 2 tablespoons, three to four times per day.  I mix the apple cider vinegar with raw organic honey, cayenne pepper, ginger, and turmeric.

2) Cayenne.  Cayenne pepper and its spiciness have a handful of benefits for someone with a serious cold.  Cayenne is a vasodilator (it relaxes smooth muscle, which increases circulation), it raises body heat and metabolism, it increases secretions which can help flush bacteria from the eyes, throat, and sinuses, and it also a strong immune system booster.

3) Raw honey.  Honey has very strong antibacterial properties.  In some studies it has been shown to be as effective as the leading treatment for people with severe burns and preventing infection in their wounds.  The enzymes in honey help the body to heal and fight infection.  Honey is an old time remedy for sore throat since it can help soothe the inflamed tissues.  Honey has also been shown to be a strong antioxidant that can boost the immune system.

4) Turmeric.  Turmeric is a powerful inflammation fighter.  A not very well known fact, is that a large amount of the congestion present in a cold is from inflammation.  With a cold, the nasal passages become inflamed and irritated, the mucous is then unable to drain out of the nasal passages causing congestion; often the mucous ends up backing up and running down the back of the nasal passages into the throat which cause irritation and a sore throat.  By addressing the problem of inflammation the nasal passages are able to drain more naturally and can shorten duration of congestion.

5) Ginger.  Ginger works along the same lines as turmeric.  Ginger is a popular spice that promotes circulation, detox, alkalinity, and is also a strong anti-inflammatory.


6) Lemon.  Lemon is packed with vitamin C.  Vitamin C helps to boost the immune system and increase the white blood cell count.  Lemon is also a well known food for cleanses, and lemons help to clear the build up of toxins from the cold virus.

Combine all of these ingredients into a tonic and drink it three to four times per day.  Make sure to drink a lot of fluids, as water will also help to flush the virus from the body and also keep mucous thin.  The next time you get a cold try these remedies and compare your results to a time where you used only medication and I bet you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.  I hope you don't get sick this year (or next), but if you do, try these tips and you'll be better before you know it!

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Monday, January 2, 2012

The only muscle building supplements you will ever need.

7:24 PM  Shane A Sorensen  3 comments


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In order to cover everything sufficiently in this article, I would like to retouch upon two of the supplements I mentioned in a previous article as these supplements should be a staple in every athlete or fitness minded person's diet.  Then I will cover a few supplements that I use specifically to increase muscle mass when I am looking to add lean muscle to my frame in the off season.

1). Whey Protein-  Whey is basically a major building block for all forms of muscle development. It helps muscles repair and grow, provide calories, encourages muscle building and fat loss, and even helps maintain muscle mass while losing body fat simultaneously.   Read more about about whey protein here  http://everystepblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/three-supplements-every-athlete-should.html. I recommend 1 scoop of 25 grams three times daily if you are looking to add mass.

2). Glutamine-  Glutamine is another staple for anyone who is training to increase performance or build muscle. Glutamine protects your muscle mass from break down and aids in recovery after a tough workout. You can read more about Glutamine here http://everystepblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/three-supplements-every-athlete-should.html as well.  I recommend taking 3-5 grams three times daily.

3). Creatine.  There are a variety of different forms of creatine on the market: ethyl ester, monohydrate, AKG,  kre-alklyn, pills, powders, and liquids.  I personally have had 0 success with any form of creatine in a pill.  I have also had no success with kre-alklyn despite it's popularity.  My favorite forms of creatine are either pure creatine AKG, or creatine monohydrate.  I personally use creatine AKG as it comes with a little less bloating than the traditional creatine monohydrate.  I have also used ethyl ester, and while it has very little associated bloating, I don't feel it was anywhere near as effective as AKG or monohydrate.  I recommend taking 3 grams of Creatine AKG after weight lifting, and 3 grams in the morning on off days.  http://everystepblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/creatine-most-tried-and-tested.html

4). Arginine.  Arginine is precursor to nitric oxide (not to be confused with nitrous oxide).  Nitric oxide is a powerful compound in the body that causes smooth muscle relaxation.  Smooth muscle is a type of muscle that is present in the arteries, and allows them to dilate and contract to regulate blood flow to the tissues.  Arginine teams up with nitric oxide synthase to increase blood flow to the muscle, and this translates into: increased endurance, increased strength and recovery, and increased lactic threshold.  Arginine can be purchased in many different forms including l-arginine, arginine AKG, arginine ethyl ester, and many others.  Usually doses are around 9 grams per day, in divided doses three times daily with an empty stomach.

Taking these four supplements along with a healthy diet, heavy lifting, and a caloric excess will ensure that you are able to gain a lot of muscle and mass.  The main thing you need to know if you are looking to gain muscle mass is to eat.  You must eat, and eat often if you are looking to add mass.  For some, it will come easily and adding a few extra foods like potatoes each day will add weight to your frame, for others, measures are more drastic.  Sometimes a "hardgainer", a person who has problems gaining weight, may need to eat until they are uncomfortably full several times a day, or even drink 1 gallon of whole milk each day.  Remember though, if you are not taking in more calories than you burn each day you will NOT add muscle or weight.  Good luck and may 2012 give you the body you want, but only if you are willing to work for it!

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Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year, let's all set goals for 2012!

7:40 AM  Shane A Sorensen  No comments



If you haven't given any thought to what you want to achieve in 2012, do it now.  I am not talking about the new years resolutions that many of us write down and forget about by the next year.  Make some goals!  Figure out what you want from 2012, because anything you want to get out of 2012 you can!

Happy New year again, and be sure to make 2012 everything you want it to be.  There has never been a better time to take control of your life than now.


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