vince_andrich’s BodyBlog

To maintain a feeding pattern consistent with building a rock solid body many successful bodybuilders have learned the art of assembly line cooking one day per week. Although you can pick any day that best suits your schedule, most bodybuilders who use this method often designate Sunday as the day when they plan, purchase and prepare all of their road meals for the week. The best way to do this is to break up your food preparations into three categories, which are proteins, starchy carbs and fibrous carbs. This way all you need to do is mix and match these three components to create awesome meals on the go.

The Proteins

Making sure each of your meals contains adequate protein is key to successful bodybuilding. Protein foods arguably require the most planning due to the fact that if not prepared and stored correctly you not only will be wasting hard earned money, you may even get yourself some type of food poisoning along the way. On top of the bodybuilders portable protein pyramid we have chicken breasts, lean ground turkey or hamburger, lean cuts of read meat and water packed tuna. The first thing you’ll need to know is how much protein per meal you need and how many portable meals you will be cooking during your assembly line project. So lets say your diet calls for 35 grams of protein per meal and you want to prepare 3 meals per day for 5 days. This means you’ll need 15 meals and since your 35-gram protein portions can be met with one large chicken breast (ribs attached) your goal could be attained simply by cooking and storing 15 large chicken breasts. Now if you want variety you may want to cook only 5 chicken breasts and split the other 10 meals with ground turkey and water packed tuna. Cooking off five-7.5 ounce turkey patties and stockpiling the necessary canned tuna in your pantry can easily achieve this. No matter which way you choose to divide up your protein portions keep in mind that they only make up part of each meal. So plan according to the total meal. For example chicken breast, brown rice, broccoli, corn and salsa make a nice meal but could get monotonous. At any rate make sure you immediately store the cooked proteins in Tupperware (standard equipment for the bodybuilding road warrior) and refrigerate. Another good investment is a small Igloo style beach cooler which will serve as a traveling carrying case for your supplies.

The Starches

Depending on your diet goal each meal should contain at least some carbohydrate. Starches are easy to prepare and also build your muscle glycogen stores effectively. The best starchy carbs are yams, baked potatoes, brown rice and steel cut rolled oats. Later we’ll discuss adding fibrous carbs or using a fiber supplement so don’t drive yourself crazy trying to make each meal glycemically “perfect. Once again you’ll need to calculate how many grams of carbohydrates you want to consume each meal. You will basically be prepping 15 carbohydrate portions so just get a handle on how much per serving and start steaming, baking, or micro waving those glycogen filled treats. For example one medium sized baked potato (a large fist) yields about 30 grams of carbs. A good resource for carb content in basic foods is the Nutrition Almanac, which can be found in your local health or bookstore. Remember to prep with the total meal in mind so that you don’t wind up with oats at every meal. You should store your carbs the same way as proteins, using Tupperware then refrigerate.

The Fibrous Carbs

To ensure good health and to alleviate any wild blood sugar swings ample amounts of fibrous carbs should be eaten at each meal. The only exception is that if the starchy carb (like steel cut oats) contains ample fiber or if you are in a pinch use a fiber supplement such as Metamucil. The best bet here is to purchase blends of frozen vegetables from your local supermarket and microwave several 1-2 pound bags and store them just as you would your proteins. There are several good varieties that can found virtually in any good grocery store. Many of them have ethnic styles such as fiesta blend (Mexican) as well as Italian, Japanese and Oriental. It sure beats the heck out of shopping, dicing and slicing produce.

Putting it All Together

Now the hard work is done. All that’s left is to throw each set of meals together in the evenings to prepare for the next day. This is also the time you can choose any condiments, special fats or spices that provide the finishing touches to each meal. Don’t worry you can still enjoy eating fresh food for dinner and the smell of oats in the morning but now you’ll never worry about what you’ll have for those three meals you always need on the road.

Vince

 By Vince Andrich

I’ve been on the road quite a bit and so frequent visits to the airport knick knack shops are the norm. Since I am in THE business, I always take a look at the current issues of popular fitness magazines. Now, unless I am imagining it, nearly every big budget magazine takes a crack at a fitness theme every 3-months or so. Rags for women like Vogue (the Shape Issue), Allure (Look Younger Now), Fitness (De-Jelly Your Belly) sure exploit the idea of getting a better body, yet deliver everything you want to know about fitness that won’t help you one bit. No doubt, the programs are easy, so you feel good, and of course the magazines look great on your coffee table. That is, if you need that kind of validation from your friends. If so, you might want to rethink you reasons for getting a better body, and if you’re still serious read on….

Much like the popular women’s magazines, for Men we have such fashionable staples like GQ, Esquire, Men’s Vogue, and even Maxim who feature UFC fighters, WWE Stars and other athletes on their covers, in an attempt to grab a slice of the wanna bee male exercise consumer set. Nice ploy to grab more readers, and although the men’s fashion rags don’t try this as often as their female counterparts, they stiill can’t resist trying to make a guy who is looking for a new watch do broomstick twists.

Some of the magazine’s in question are on the bubble, as in not so bad. In this category, we have high gloss magazines like Men’s Health, Best Life, Self and Shape vying for the ever so fickle fringe exercisers. Don’t get me wrong, the not so bad magazines have some decent information, but compared to the big promises they make on their covers (like Lose Your Gut in Two Weeks), they fall extremely short. Once again, the big fitness promise’s combined with targeting the, “never gonna stick to types”, is a ploy big budget magazines use to ask for more mainstream ad dollars for clothing and cologne. In my experience, these magazines are only for people who want to amuse themselves with the idea of following a real exercise program that gets results.

So whats my point? Well if you’re looking to get into better shape, let me give you a few clues as to which magazines might be good for you. First you need to do a little test. That is, for each magazine you’re thumbing through, count the amount of ad pages for NON-FITNESS related products. These items include cosmetics, clothes, shoes, booze, beer, cigars, cologne and watches, to name a few. Then go over to an enthusiast magazine, like Surfer, for duh, Surfers, or Hot Rod Magazine for Speed Freaks and count the ads for products NOT specific to Surfers or Speed Freaks.  Get the point? Sure you do. The point is, if you’re serious about a particular interest, the best place to get information is the same place the most fanatical consumers in every industry do. Here’s a hint, they don’t read magazines about their favorite subject that is clouded by products they can read about in a dozen other titles.

For getting in shape the fanatics still go for Muscle and Fitness, FLEX, Oxygen, Fitness Rx, Ironman, REPS and Muscular Development. Now, if youre more advanced you’re out here on the web getting your advice from real people who have the SAME goals as you do. The moral of the story is; big advertisers (NON-Fitness related) will never spend much money in the real serious fitness magazines.

On the other hand, you can bet the serious fitness information will never be found in a magazine that cares more about living the good life than working nard to get a better body. One more reason, you should subscribe to my BodyBlog! You can bet on it, the information that can help you understand how to finally get healthy and fit will be found right here…

Vince

So you’re ready to take your physique to an entirely new level and make believers of your family, friends and even some enemies. To make this happen, you know you can’t keep doing the same old things, over and over and expect a different result, as that would be insanity. You need to be creative, insightful and diligent. You need to unleash what I call, your "body transformation genius." Now, don’t misunderstand, what I’m telling you is that even if you’re not a certified genius, you can use the same strategies as Beethoven and Einstein, to harness the power of your creative mind, to better develop your health and fitness future and build your dream body.

The following eight strategies push you to think productively, rather than reproductively, in order to arrive at solutions to your health and fitness goals. These strategies are common to the thinking styles of creative geniuses in science, art, and industry throughout history. Now, let’s get started.

1. Look at problems in many different ways
In other words, find new perspectives that no one else has taken (or no one else has publicized!)

Note This: Leonardo da Vinci believed, that to gain knowledge about the form of a problem, you begin by learning how to restructure it in many different ways. He realized that the first way he looked at a problem was often too biased. By reconstructing the problem, you will find new solutions and break down personal barriers.

Try This: Not enough time to train, then take a new perspective that says. it will be most beneficial for you to ONLY workout 30 minutes per session. Make your workouts a race against the clock to improve intensity and new gains will be yours in no time.

2. Visualize!

Note This: When Einstein thought through a problem, he always found it necessary to formulate his subject in as many different ways as possible, including using diagrams. He visualized solutions, and believed that words and numbers as such did not play a significant role in his thinking process.

Try This: When looking for ways to improve a specific body part, draw your physique and then make notes about how you train each muscle area. Is your focus and concentration the same for your weak bodyparts, as it is for your strong ones? One sure fire way to re-focus your efforts on your weaknesses is this; if a bodypart is too small train it with weights 3 times per week. If a bodypart is too large, (or fat) train it only every two weeks. This method allows your body to build your weak body parts up, while systematically causing your larger body parts to shrink. Of course, diet and overall metabolic rate is necessary to burn off the extra fat, but in combination, this method allows you to put maximum energy against the most difficult areas to build.

3. Produce!

Not surprising, but one of the most distinguishing characteristics of genius is productivity.

Note This: Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents. He guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas. In a study of 2,036 scientists throughout history, Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California at Davis found that the most respected scientists produced not only great works, but also many “bad” ones. They weren’t afraid to fail, or to produce mediocre in order to arrive at excellence.

Try This: Don’t expect a perfect workout every single time. On days you feel less energetic, you can allow yourself a “cruising”  workout, with a focus on form and deep contractions. This will serve as an active rest, and the lack of pressure to perform may actually help you find new ways to connect to your muscles like never before.

4. Make novel combinations!
Combine, and recombine, ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no matter how incongruent or unusual.

Note This: The laws of heredity on which the basis for the modern science of genetics came from the Austrian monk Grego Mendel, who combined mathematics and biology to create a new science.

Try This: Start each training session with a different bodypart. This means you don’t always have to do compound movements before single joint exercises and vice versa. You can also do high reps, for multi-muscle teamwork exercises like the bench press or squat and low reps, for machine lifts like leg extensions. Other variations are, foot and hand positions and rest between sets. Mix it up, you may just find your perfect recipe for a great workout almost any time.

5. Form relationships; make connections between dissimilar subjects.

Note This: Da Vinci forced a relationship between the sound of a bell and a stone hitting water. This enabled him to make the connection that sound travels in waves. Samuel Morse invented relay stations for telegraphic signals when observing relay stations for horses.

Try This: When doing individual exercises, focus on the area of the muscle where most of the tension or burn is being developed. This way you can make better exercise choices when targeting specific areas of each muscle. In addition, like in strategy #4, make mental notes of small changes in hand, feet and height positions when doing specific movements. You are a sculptor and you must understand how each tool (the weights) are best used to alter your physique.

6. Think in opposites.

Note This: Physicist Niels Bohr believed that if you held opposites together, then you suspend your thought, and your mind moves to a new level. His ability to imagine light as both a particle and a wave led to his conception of the principle of complementarity. Suspending thought (logic) may allow your mind to create a new form.

Try This: You’ll see dramatic changes if you’ve been eating a high protein low carb diet, then switch to the exact opposite for 1-2 days. Also, if you’re used to dieting and feeling hungry, try to eat one meal every 48 - hours that completely fills your stomach, or until you can’t eat another bite. The trick here is to eat water rich steamed veggies, small amounts of brown rice, loads of greens and fiber. Top this off with ample amounts of fresh water and your body will be tricked into thinking it gets to eat until it pops, thus breaking the chains of deprivation that wreak havoc on your ability to mentally handle dieting.

7. Prepare yourself for chance.

Note This: Whenever we attempt to do something and fail, we end up doing something else. That is the first principle of creative accident. Failure can be productive only if we do not focus on it as an unproductive result. Instead: analyze the process, its components, and how you can change them to arrive at other results. Do not ask the question “Why have I failed?”, but rather “What have I done?”

Try This: Keep an exercise, nutrition and supplement journal, and use it to note how your body feels when eating certain foods, the time of day you eat, train and how much rest you get between workouts. Be sure to note even slight changes in your workout system and how your body responds mentally and physically. This journal is your personal roadmap to success.

8. Think metaphorically.

Note This: Aristotle considered metaphor a sign of genius, and believed that the individual who had the capacity to perceive resemblances between two separate areas of existence and link them together was a person of special gifts.

Try This: Go through the strategies above and make new links to fitness related issues in each of the sections. This way you’ll be taking proven concepts and metaphorically linking them to your fitness goals.

Vince

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