Yummy Fitness

Healthy Video Recipes - Parmesan Crusted Salmon Sticks With Mandarin Pistachio Salad

May 30th, 2008 . by Sean Bissell

Video Recipe Is At The Bottom Of This Post

Ingredients: (1 serving)

•4oz Salmon (Preferably wild caught)
•1/2 Tbsp olive oil
•1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
•1/2 Freshly squeezed orange juice (from the actual orange, not the stuff in the carton, jug, or can)
•1/4 cup mandarin oranges (canned)
•1/4 cup whole wheat flour
•1 Tbsp parmesan cheese
•1/2 egg white
•1 Tbsp pistachios (without shells)
•Salad greens (your choice of lettuce)

Preparation:

Cut the salmon into strips. Put the flour, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper into a zip lock bag, throw in the salmon strips and shake it all up. Then take out the salmon strips and put on a tray, lightly coat in olive oil (with a brush to keep the olive oil controlled) and then put it under the broiler for about 5-8 minutes or until brown and the salmon is cooked through.

While the salmon is cooking, squeeze a whole orange and roll it around on a table until you can hear the juices squishing around inside the orange peel. Then cut a small hole into the orange and squeeze the juice into a bowl, and add the lemon juice. Next put salad greens into another bowl and place the pistachio nuts and mandarin oranges on top, and then add the orange juice and lemon juice combination on top of the salad as a dressing.

Take out the salmon strips, and enjoy!

Nutrition Info: ( Note: This one is weird in the fact that we can’t tell you the exact nutritional information because not all the parmesan and flour sticks to the salmon. Also you probably won’t use all the oil either. But to be conservative we’ve estimated the nutritional facts on the high end. Realistically, you can probably estimate less carbohydrates, less fat, and therefore less overall calories. In my estimation, it could be actually 100 less calories. And that’s good :) especially because even if it’s less calories, the protein won’t be less because that mostly comes from the salmon.)
Calories: 420
Protein: 31
Carbs: 26
Fat: 22

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How To Have Fun Relax And Stay Fit While On Vacation

May 29th, 2008 . by Sean Bissell

This year we have sailing trip planned to go around the San Juan islands for about 2 weeks.

I really believe that when on vacation you should have as much fun as possible, and while you’re out, you also want to keep fitness in the back of your mind. It’s important to integrate fitness into your vacation so you don’t set yourself too far back on your goals.

When on vacation it’s easy to just go crazy, eat way too much food, have a little too much of the “silly juice” and go off into “vacation crazy world.”

If you know me, you know I like to have fun while I’m on vacation, and I don’t really hold much back. In fact I often need a vacation from my vacation when I get back because we did and saw so much while we were out. But I like that.

I also like to eat a ton of great food, I like to go out to eat, and I do like to drink the “silly juice.”

So how do you integrate going buck wild crazy, truly enjoying yourself, and not setting yourself back light years on your fitness goals?

What I like to do is to experience as much as I can, so that means trying to go on great hikes, renting bikes and exploring cities/towns/islands, walking around and exploring town, etc. Basically, be adventurous, be active, and really enjoy and experience where you are!

You don’t want to spend your vacation locked up in a hotel room, or driving around in a car. Why not go smell the smells, breathe the air, go see what’s around the next corner. Keep moving.

Now, you don’t have to keep moving all day long, but at least a good part of your day could be spent moving, and having a great time while you do it.

The best part about this is that it doesn’t really feel like exercise at all because you’re just exploring, your not exercising. You’re not hiking, your enjoying nature, and the great scenery. You’re not biking just to burn calories, your enjoying the breeze, the wind in your hair, and the countryside.

Enjoy your vacation and you’re sure to burn tons of calories.

And when you burn a ton of calories, guess what… you can eat a ton of calories, and you’ll be just fine.

You might not lose weight if that’s what you’re trying to do, but you probably won’t gain weight if you’re really experiencing your vacation. And as an extra bonus you might just rev up your metabolism by eating lots of great food, so when you get back you’ll be losing weight at an accelerated pace.

If you’re trying to gain muscle, just remember that challenging hikes and bike rides can be great for those leg muscles. And remember to get lots of protein rich foods at the great restaurants you go to. Also remember that a “strategic deconditioning” period for 2 weeks is actually recommended by many muscle building programs. (Strategic Deconditioning basically means taking a rest from lifting weights so your muscles can recover, and actually are more primed for growth later. This term was created by Bryan Haycock’s Hypertrophy Specific Training, which is a great program by the way.)

Anyhow, remember to have fun! That’s the key.

I just found a video slide show I made of Lindsey and myself on our last sailing trip in September of last year. This was before we even knew we’d be making a blog, and to be honest I haven’t seen the slide show in many many months.

But I hope you enjoy watching us being silly, and maybe you’ll get some ideas of your own.

Have fun and enjoy!

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The Professional Bodybuilder Who Ate Junk Food, Hardly Went To The Gym And Almost Beat Arnold Schwarzenegger

May 28th, 2008 . by Sean Bissell

His name was Mike Mentzer (picture included below courtesy of Amazon), and he was probably one of the most controversial, and revolutionary professional bodybuilders to ever enter the sport.

Mike challenged almost every element of conventional wisdom regarding how to build muscle like the pros. And his results spoke for themselves, he held many professional titles including Mr. America in 1976, and Mr. Olympia (HeavyWeight Over 200 Pounds) in 1979.

But what made Mike so controversial?

Mike believed in that “a calorie is a calorie” and many stories have been told of Mike being backstage during bodybuilding competitions eating danishes just to torment the other bodybuilders who were on very strict diets before their shows.

Mike also did not believe that you needed to eat 2x-3x your bodyweight in protein every day to get great results.Mike Mentzer
In addition, Mike strongly believed in the “less is more” principal and his entire training philosophy revolved around training one set “to failure” (when you can’t pick up the weight any longer in good form) instead of many sets back to back resulting in hours in the gym.

Mike would only spend 3 days in the gym a week and only train 7-9 sets per workout total. This is completely backwards from many other workout programs, professional and non-professional. Most exercise programs would tell you to workout at least 3 sets per exercise and 5 exercises per day which would result in 15 sets per day.

Many professional bodybuilders would train many more than just 5 exercises and would also train 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day. This could total in 180 sets or more a week where Mike’s training only called for around 24.

Mike’s principals were deeply rooted in a training philosophy called High Intensity Training otherwise known as just HIT. But he had modified the program a bit and called it “Heavy Duty Training.”

Throughout Mike’s career he was ridiculed quite a bit for his unconventional diet and exercise practices, but no one could argue with his results. Except in 1980 during the Mr. Olympia contest, some say the judges turned against Mike to rekindle the spirit of the bodybuilding sport, after Mike lost to Arnold Schwarzenegger when Arnold suddenly came back into the sport one time again after a 5 year break.

Many people feel that Arnold was not in shape for the contest but won regardless. Mike maintained that the show was rigged up until the day he died in 2001.

Mike was definitely a controversial character, he had many counter-culture ideas, and took the elements of bodybuilding and distilled them into some of the core elements that worked well for him and others. He did not take the strict approach that many people trying to build muscle take, instead he ate the foods he wanted to eat, and he only exercised as much as he needed to get great results.

Personally, in the past I’ve followed the principals behind High Intensity Training and I’ve experienced great results. It gives results and gives you back time.

In addition, my strength really shot up very quickly by using the HIT principals.

I don’t think that everything Mike did was correct, but in the end no one is ever 100% right, and I respect Mike for speaking his mind and for being real and true to himself.

I think Mike is living proof that you can still have the life you want to live, eat the foods you want to eat, spend little time in the gym, and still get great results.

Rest in peace Mike.  

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