Tuesday Training - "McNicholas"

"If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough." 

A few weeks ago I reached out to the readers of this blog and asked for some of your contributions; whether it be nutrition, advice, workouts, or anything relevant to the content normally provided in this blog. Well, Patrick McNicholas sent me this email a few days after so I wanted to share with you all. I know that each and everyone of us can bring a different perspective on life, fitness, and health that will help each other in reaching our goals. . .so feel free to email me anything you would like to share on this blog. Thanks! richard@rxactionapp.com

How has NOX changed my life?

When I started NoX I was intimidated.  Before I started I saw the NOX Training Facebook cover picture and it was Mike, Dick, and Chuck doing rope climbs I think.  I was like, “no way a fatboy can hang with these guys”.   I never thought I could do a pull up, run a sub 8min mile, actually lose weight… etc., list is long.  With the encouragement of everybody my attitude has changed.  I now have the courage to try anything new or what seems humanly impossible and to never say no I can’t, maybe, or no I wouldn’t.  I now feel like an athlete again and not like a fat lazy bum.  And trust me when you feel like a fat lazy bum you have a whole list of other mental problems going on that really do not warrant a conversation.    

2014 Reebok Spartan Race

My mentality towards life, fitness, and nutrition has changed 180 degrees.  Instead of eating whatever I want, staying up all night, getting intoxicated, and getting no sleep I knew I had to commit to being healthy.  

Within six months I lost nearly 70lbs due to working out and changing my nutrition.    You cannot just be great at working out and expect full results.  You really have to commit to your workouts and being strict with your nutrition.  You have to have both nutrition and exercise down to get the full results.  Nutrition + Exercise = Full Potential. 

No lie, that is most of the time, seemingly impossible, but if you really want the results you WILL make both happen.  Thanks to NOX, I now have a real understanding what nutrition is and how functional fitness is ideal for our bodies to achieve the goals we have set.

What Drives Me?

I want to be healthy.  I want to live a long life.  I want to have a hot wife... Duh.  

But seriously, I just want to have low body fat, muscles of the gods, and to beat Mike in a WOD. That’s it.  

What drives me is the fact that I need change.  Being stagnant in life should make you mad.  You should always be working towards change.  The fact that I know I can change my current situation and get better every day is what drives me.  Until the pain to change is greater than the pain to stay the same you will always be stuck.  I want to go through adversities and hardships because I know the trials you go through will shape and mold your character for the better.  Being a better me is what drives me.     

NOX Training, Riverside CA.

Also, the fear of failure and letting others down is a huge drive as well.  There is nothing worse than feeling like you failed miserably and ruined a good relationship.  

Who Pushes Me? 

I know a lot of people say haters are motivators.  But to be honest, I don’t really give into the haters.  I know they are there but honestly I am not worried about them so it doesn’t even matter.  

The people I surround myself with are usually the ones who push me.  Iron sharpens iron.  So in order to get better you have to surround yourself with people who work just as hard.  To go through the struggles and adversities of trying to live life but also fulfill all your commitments and obligations.  It is nice to go through similar situations with people.  So when they depend on you, you better make sure you do not let them down.  Sometimes you crash and you may not come through with all your plans, but knowing those people are still there ready to lend you a hand and get you back even stronger.  Those are the people who push me.


Thanks Patrick for providing this information. If you liked this post please share it on facebook or send it to someone you think might like it. This blog is a hobby and when you share it, share the pictures from it, and "like it" on facebook motivate me to keep it going. I am always open to ideas on how to make this blog better so feel free to put in a request in the facebook comments or in my email inbox: richard@rxactionapp.com 




Tuesday Training
"Gymnastics Complex"
5 rounds of unbroken sets of the complex
1 bar muscle up + 3 toes to bar + 6 butterfly chest to bar pull-ups + 9 butterfly pull-ups

3 rounds:
30 kb swings
30 hand release push-ups

2x [1 power clean + 2 full cleans] @215

3x [1 power clean + 2 full cleans] @230

5x3 snatch balance @115-130#

5x3 push press @170

1x5 muscle snatch @115
1x4 muscle snatch @120
2x3 muscle snatch @130

Meal Prep Mondays - Grocery Shopping List

Here we are again, another Meal Prep Monday. As promised this post will be primarily dedicated to meal prepping, diet, and/or nutrition. More specifically this post is dedicated to a grocery shopping list. Many of us put in numerous hours of work in the gym in hopes of becoming stronger, fitter, and healthier. However, most people don't understand that the foundation of a good fitness program is nutrition. Without a good foundation you cannot build the level of fitness and health that you would like.

My rule of thumb when grocery shopping is that if one cannot grow or raise it, you should not buy it (for the exception of the blue can on the far left of the picture and an occasional cheat meat/snacks). 

My second rule is to keep it simple. Buying too much variation can leave you overwhelmed and being overwhelmed is not good when it comes to nutrition. I am not going to list how much of each item is in the picture but rather just list what is in the picture. There are mostly fruits and vegetables in the picture but what is not shown are the meats, chicken, and eggs.

This picture is taken in my kitchen, which is what everyone sees right when they enter into the house. I like to keep everything shown outside of the refrigerator because it always reminds me of what I should be eating, and keeps the unhealthy stuff out of sight (out of mind). I walk in the door after training very hungry and the first thing I see are these fruits and veggies so its much more likely that I will put good stuff in my body. We usually go through this stuff pretty fast so we normally don't have to worry about them going bad on us (sometimes we have to store half of it in the fridge during the summer). 

In this picture:

Zucchini, Cucumber, onions, apples, bell peppers, red peppers, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, bananas, yams (sweet potatoes), pears, cabbage, avocados, broccoli, oranges, lemons...

Now, in addition to these you should also buy some beef (steak or ground beef), Chicken, eggs, and uncured bacon. Now you have hundreds of combinations of meals that you can make. In my next weeks post I will start mixing this stuff together in case you don't have any ideas. Stay tuned. 

PALEO PANCAKES

A couple weeks ago I asked if anyone had information that I can post on this blog...and there were several of you that sent me some stuff...so thank you for that. I will start posting the stuff little by little over the next couple of weeks. But this week I wanted to show you what Sam sent me. For those of you who do not know Sam, he started at NOX a couple months ago and before NOX he used to train at a CrossFit Gym. He had stopped training for a few months before coming to NOX due to a slight knee injury that he got during training. Sam is now back on track to reach his health and fitness goals. He is a hard worker both in and out of the gym and is planning on competing in a competition sometime later this year. He usually eats a clean diet but every once in a while he will enjoy a cheat meal (We both went to Carls Jr over the weekend and ordered the Diablo Burger combo). Anyway, He sent me some photos of his Paleo Friendly pancakes that he makes for breakfast. This seems like an easy recipe that anyone can follow so i'll definitely be giving it a try soon. 

Almond butter, 1 egg, 2 bananas, coconut oil.

 Mash up the bananas (I mash it with a fork),.   Coconut oil to grease up the pan. Cook at low flame. If the consistency is a little too liquidity, use butter to hold that ish together. Breakfast! Stuff your face! #satisfaction

  toss in one egg, mix it up

 Add two spoonfuls of Almond Butter, mix again.

 Boom! Pancake batter!

 Coconut oil to grease up the pan. 

Cook at low flame. If the consistency is a little too liquidity, use butter to hold the batter together.






Today's Training Log
5 x (1 power snatch + 2 full snatches) @130
5 x 3 Jerks @160-170
2 x 7 clean pulls @305
3 x 5 clean pulls @305
1 x 8 Back squats @300
1 x 8 Back Squats @325
1 x 6 back squats @350
2 x 6 back squats @375

4 rounds:
1 minute max hang squat cleans (115#)
1 minute max barbell lateral burpees
1 minute rest

5 minutes:
3 muslce ups every 30 seconds

 I ended up leaving my memory card for my camera at home so I didn't take too many photos other than these from my phone. I'll start taking more photos tomorrow.