Just a quick blog for this week.
I had my annual physical yesterday and am incredibly happy with the results. I had a full work up done and everything checked out in the ideal range except for random glucose - that was still within acceptable limits but not ideal, so no worries - and this is the first time it's all been this good. This is a concern as there is type 2 diabetes in my family history. I just need to tighten back up on my use of raw sugar and the occasional junk that has made it's way back into my diet, and focus more on lower glycemic fruits.
In the past when I was weighing 220-230 my BP and lipid profiles were always a concern and not in good ranges - this was my main health concern for switching from a cannibal diet to a predominately vegetarian plan and it's worked very well based on yesterday's results.
As a Cannibal:
BW-220-230 lbs
blood pressure - usually around 125/85 when it was "good" to 135/90 when it wasn't "good"
total cholesterol - 220 mg/dL
HDL - 41 mg/dL
LDL - 130 mg/dL
triglycerides - best was usually 135 mg/dL worst was just over 300 mg/dL
As a Pescatarian:
BW-178-182 lbs
blood pressure - worst was 112/72 best was 102/67
total cholesterol - 151 mg/dL
HDL - 43 mg/dL
LDL - 95 mg/dL
triglycerides - 65 mg/dL
To say I'm thrilled with the results is an understatement! My goal now is to continue to improve these levels and continue getting healthier. Screw aging gracefully, I'm kicking ass the entire way to my next lifetime!
Stay Strong AND Healthy!
-Scott
Showing posts with label extreme conditioning and fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label extreme conditioning and fitness. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2012
Friday, August 3, 2012
Barbells and Kettlebells - Two Great Tools that Go Great Together!
It's been a blog-free July, not that I didn't have anything exciting to write about, it was just a busy month for me. It's also the month my wife and I take a couple of weeks off and take a road trip through State College and Pittsburgh, PA for the PSU Arts Festival and to visit family.
In addition I've had a couple of business ventures pop up and have been busy working on those.
Since we have the 2012 GA State Kettlebell Championship (click here for info on the meet) coming up in a couple of weeks I figured I would write a blog on one of the biggest questions I get - how do you combine barbells and kettlebells in an effective training plan?
It's really not that difficult and was the major topic of my book, "Kettlebells for Sport, Strength and Fitness" (despite the fact that many who've never read my book claiming it is strictly a GS - or kettlebell sport - book). Click here for this and all of my other books and e-books.
I prefer to split up my barbell workouts by the main lifts over either a 3 or 4 day training plan. The lifts I focus on are the squat, bench press, deadlift and standing press and for the past 7 1/2 months I've been following Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 protocol exclusively for the barbell lifts. On the 4 day plan I have two upper and two lower days, one for each of the above lifts. Currently I'm experimenting with a 3-day plan in which I've put the press and squat together on day 1, bench on day 2 and deadlift on day 3. It's been working great so far and most of my supplementary work has been more of a higher volume bodybuilding approach, as I am trying to regain some of the size I lost during my near 50 lb weight loss adventure that began in the fall of last year.
Adding the kettlebells into the mix.
I know there are about a billion and three kettlebell exercises, but honestly only a handful have made it into my gym - I prefer swings, cleans, press/push press/jerk (as well as the long cycle variations of these) and snatches. Anything else to me is pointless and can usually be better performed with barbells and dumbbells. However, the traditional kettlebell lifts done for higher reps offer many benefits to the seeker of strength including GPP and strengthening weak points (shoulders, grip and lower back in particular).
I have found the best way to work the kettlebell lifts into the program is to pic 1 or 2 lifts and perform them after the primary strength work. I like to plug jerks, clean & jerks and swings in on squat and deadlift days and snatches, cleans and press exercises in on upper body days personally - although I suggest you experiment and see what works best for you.
Here is a plan I've had much success with in the past and continue to use it regularly in my programming:
Day 1 - squat, squat accessory work, kettlebell jerks, kettlebell swings
Day 2 - bench, bench accessory work, kettlebell snatches or cleans
Day 3 - deadlift, deadlift accessory work, kettlebell clean and jerks (long cycle)
Day 4 - standing press, press accessory work, kettlebell snatches or cleans
As far as programming, experiment and find what works for you. For general conditioning I favor 5:00 + sets of the kettlebell exercises performed after strength work. I have also used more of a kettlebell sport training plan as well as the WKC Elite Fitness protocol with traditional strength training plans for myself and many of my clients and athletes.
Regardless of your goals combining kettlebells and barbells is a GREAT idea!
Stay Strong AND Healthy!
-Scott
In addition I've had a couple of business ventures pop up and have been busy working on those.
Since we have the 2012 GA State Kettlebell Championship (click here for info on the meet) coming up in a couple of weeks I figured I would write a blog on one of the biggest questions I get - how do you combine barbells and kettlebells in an effective training plan?
It's really not that difficult and was the major topic of my book, "Kettlebells for Sport, Strength and Fitness" (despite the fact that many who've never read my book claiming it is strictly a GS - or kettlebell sport - book). Click here for this and all of my other books and e-books.
I prefer to split up my barbell workouts by the main lifts over either a 3 or 4 day training plan. The lifts I focus on are the squat, bench press, deadlift and standing press and for the past 7 1/2 months I've been following Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 protocol exclusively for the barbell lifts. On the 4 day plan I have two upper and two lower days, one for each of the above lifts. Currently I'm experimenting with a 3-day plan in which I've put the press and squat together on day 1, bench on day 2 and deadlift on day 3. It's been working great so far and most of my supplementary work has been more of a higher volume bodybuilding approach, as I am trying to regain some of the size I lost during my near 50 lb weight loss adventure that began in the fall of last year.
Adding the kettlebells into the mix.
I know there are about a billion and three kettlebell exercises, but honestly only a handful have made it into my gym - I prefer swings, cleans, press/push press/jerk (as well as the long cycle variations of these) and snatches. Anything else to me is pointless and can usually be better performed with barbells and dumbbells. However, the traditional kettlebell lifts done for higher reps offer many benefits to the seeker of strength including GPP and strengthening weak points (shoulders, grip and lower back in particular).
I have found the best way to work the kettlebell lifts into the program is to pic 1 or 2 lifts and perform them after the primary strength work. I like to plug jerks, clean & jerks and swings in on squat and deadlift days and snatches, cleans and press exercises in on upper body days personally - although I suggest you experiment and see what works best for you.
Here is a plan I've had much success with in the past and continue to use it regularly in my programming:
Day 1 - squat, squat accessory work, kettlebell jerks, kettlebell swings
Day 2 - bench, bench accessory work, kettlebell snatches or cleans
Day 3 - deadlift, deadlift accessory work, kettlebell clean and jerks (long cycle)
Day 4 - standing press, press accessory work, kettlebell snatches or cleans
As far as programming, experiment and find what works for you. For general conditioning I favor 5:00 + sets of the kettlebell exercises performed after strength work. I have also used more of a kettlebell sport training plan as well as the WKC Elite Fitness protocol with traditional strength training plans for myself and many of my clients and athletes.
Regardless of your goals combining kettlebells and barbells is a GREAT idea!
Stay Strong AND Healthy!
-Scott
Friday, June 29, 2012
End of my Raw Month - It's a Wrap!
So that's it. One month on the raw plan. I'll try to keep this a short wrap up as I'm sure you guys are sick of reading about food.
Progress
Progress
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| At the start of this month I was at 190 lbs and down from 220 when I started a mostly raw diet at the end of September 2011 - I haven't been south of 180 lbs since 2000.
As you probably read in my last blog post the most dramatic drop is in my bodyweight. The cool thing is that I've actually cut back on my training volume and intensity - this proves that if you want to lose weight it is mostly about nutrition, not training. The old saying "you can't outrun a doughnut" is definitely applicable.
My body-composition has changed for the better, I'm much leaner with better definition. My energy during training is outstanding and my focus and mental clarity (particularly during taiji class and practice) is great.
My joints feel really good, even after periods of heavier training.
My eyes are very clear and my skin is good - no cracking or drying - I attribute this mainly to the good fats in avocados, flax seeds / meal and flax oil -- but I could be wrong, sounds good anyway!
Planning
It's true!
The raw foods diet was very easy for me to follow. Probably because I've been eating predominately raw vegan foods since end of September 2011 this wasn't a very dramatic change, I could see how it'd be tough to jump in 100% if you don't eat that well right now.
Here's what I recommend if you want to give this a try:
I could go on and on so if you have specific questions about my experience post a question or email me directly at sshetler613@gmail.com.
Where do I go now
Now that the month is up I'm going to stay mostly raw, my goal was 80-90% for the end of this. I never planned on staying 100% vegan, as I will most likely eat some eggs and a little fish or cheese occasionally; but over time I see me getting closer and closer to pure vegan nutrition - but for only doing this a little over a year now (April 2011 is when I stopped eating meat and fowl) I've made some huge improvements in my overall health and fitness.
Mainly I'm looking at getting my training dialed in and building my strength back while maintaining a lighter body-weight right around the 180 I'm at now.
Thanks for following this month long experiment! I hope it inspired you to take a look at your nutrition and maybe make some changes for the better!
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
|
Monday, June 25, 2012
6/13/11 to 6/13/12 - My Fitness Year in Review!
Last year for my 36th birthday I decided to do a fitness test. Joel Jamieson has an online assessment tool, Bioforce Testing Protocol, that he built to test the overall physical preparedness of combat athletes. While I certainly am not a combat athlete, I liked this tool as it measured the following things: strength, muscular endurance, aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness, explosive power and gave you a total performance index, an upper body and lower body strength profile and an upper body and lower body power profile. In addition the tests were easy to implement.
Keeping with my plan I performed the same battery of tests one year later - this jived well with my eating raw vegan for 30 days plan!
1 Year Fitness Comparison
-bodyweight: 2011 = 220 lbs; 2012 = 179 lbs
-resting heart rate: 2011 = 90 bpm; 2012 = 54 bpm
-maximum breath hold: 2011 = 36 seconds; 2012 = 1 minute 19 seconds
-max push-ups in 10 seconds: 2011 = 13 reps; 2012 = 17 reps
-double leg triple jump: 2011 = 20' 3.5"; 2012 = 21'
-max push-ups (no time limit, reps must be continuous and never break form): 2011 = 30 reps; 2012 = 45 reps
-2 minute sit-up test: 2011 = 35 reps; 2012 = 55 reps
-max dead hang (NON-KIPPING) pull-ups (i.e. REAL pull-ups): 2011 = 8 reps; 2012 = 20 reps
-squat x 5 reps: 2011 = 240x5; 2012 = 245x5
-bench press x 3 reps: 2011 = 195 x 3; 2012 = 195x3
-1.5 mile run: 2011 = 19 minutes 10 seconds; 2012 = 13 minutes 33 seconds
Bioforce Test Indexes
-strength: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 5.5
-muscular endurance: 2011 = 1.5; 2012 = 3.5
-aerobic fitness: 2011 = 1.0; 2012 = 4.5
-anaerobic fitness: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 6.0
-explosive power: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 5.5
-total performance index: 2011 = 2.5; 2012 = 5.0
-strength profile: lower body 2011 = 6; 2012 = 7 -- upper body 2011 = 4; 2012 = 6.5
-power profile: lower body 2011 = 5; 2012 = 5.5 -- upper body 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 6.5
So, there you have it. Bodyweight went down 41 lbs and everything else improved, some better than others. While my strength certainly isn't anywhere near what it was when I was competing in powerlifting, I am happy to see that the numbers went up slightly in the squat and maintained in the bench - as these two lifts are very negatively affected by big drops in bodyweight.
Ultimately at 37 I'm happy with the results. My focus over the next year will be to maintain my lighter bodyweight and continue to build back the strength and power that I lost from my days as a fat, red-faced powerlifter and in addition keeping my new levels of health, mobility, flexibility and overall-fitness in check.
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Keeping with my plan I performed the same battery of tests one year later - this jived well with my eating raw vegan for 30 days plan!
1 Year Fitness Comparison
 |
| Scott - before @ 220 |
-resting heart rate: 2011 = 90 bpm; 2012 = 54 bpm
-maximum breath hold: 2011 = 36 seconds; 2012 = 1 minute 19 seconds
-max push-ups in 10 seconds: 2011 = 13 reps; 2012 = 17 reps
-double leg triple jump: 2011 = 20' 3.5"; 2012 = 21'
-max push-ups (no time limit, reps must be continuous and never break form): 2011 = 30 reps; 2012 = 45 reps
-2 minute sit-up test: 2011 = 35 reps; 2012 = 55 reps
-max dead hang (NON-KIPPING) pull-ups (i.e. REAL pull-ups): 2011 = 8 reps; 2012 = 20 reps
-squat x 5 reps: 2011 = 240x5; 2012 = 245x5
-bench press x 3 reps: 2011 = 195 x 3; 2012 = 195x3
-1.5 mile run: 2011 = 19 minutes 10 seconds; 2012 = 13 minutes 33 seconds
 |
| Scott - 2012 @ 180 |
-strength: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 5.5
-muscular endurance: 2011 = 1.5; 2012 = 3.5
-aerobic fitness: 2011 = 1.0; 2012 = 4.5
-anaerobic fitness: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 6.0
-explosive power: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 5.5
-total performance index: 2011 = 2.5; 2012 = 5.0
-strength profile: lower body 2011 = 6; 2012 = 7 -- upper body 2011 = 4; 2012 = 6.5
-power profile: lower body 2011 = 5; 2012 = 5.5 -- upper body 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 6.5
So, there you have it. Bodyweight went down 41 lbs and everything else improved, some better than others. While my strength certainly isn't anywhere near what it was when I was competing in powerlifting, I am happy to see that the numbers went up slightly in the squat and maintained in the bench - as these two lifts are very negatively affected by big drops in bodyweight.
Ultimately at 37 I'm happy with the results. My focus over the next year will be to maintain my lighter bodyweight and continue to build back the strength and power that I lost from my days as a fat, red-faced powerlifter and in addition keeping my new levels of health, mobility, flexibility and overall-fitness in check.
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Friday, June 22, 2012
Day 22 or Raw for 30 Days!
As I write this blog it's Day 22 of my Raw for 30 Days birthday plan. So far it's been an outstanding experience! This morning my body-weight was at 180 lbs. I haven't seen 180 lbs since 2002, and I'm definitely a lot leaner and carrying more muscle than I did back then, so at least something good came from being a fat and bloated 220 lbs for all those years.
Despite the lack of "direct" protein consumption I have not atrophied, gotten sick, become "skinny fat", or spontaneously combusted. Yet.
If anything my body composition is changing for the positive, I'm leaning up, getting tighter and definition is improving and the cool thing is I train less than I did before. I still put effort into the workouts, but I have cut my training time down tremendously. Plus my recovery is better and overall I feel a lot better.
As a side note - I recently read Dr. Gabriel Cousens' book and watched his DVD on reversing diabetes naturally, due to the fact I have relatives who are diabetics as well as knowing many people who suffer from this horrible disease. It was incredibly informative and enlightening, then my friend Antony posted a link about Dr. Cousens recently on Facebook which reminded me about this - his approach to treating diabetics and getting both Type 2's and 1's OFF insulin and medications is a raw food nutrition plan. Here's a great video intro of his program:
And here's a link to the preview for Dr. Cousens' video I purchased my father:
I'm looking forward to seeing what the last week has in store! Also, last year for my birthday 6/13/11, I conducted a personal fitness test. I repeated the test for my birthday this year and will be posting my 1-year comparisons in the upcoming week.
Thanks for reading!
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
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| #1 question I've been asked for the past 22 days - Where do you get your protein? If I had a dollar for every time, I'd have a Bugatti by now... |
If anything my body composition is changing for the positive, I'm leaning up, getting tighter and definition is improving and the cool thing is I train less than I did before. I still put effort into the workouts, but I have cut my training time down tremendously. Plus my recovery is better and overall I feel a lot better.
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| This cracked me up! It's funny, this is the type of crap I always used to say about vegetarians and vegans - now I'm on the receiving end. Karma I guess. Oh well - you can't argue results!
Where do I go from here?
With one more week left on my 30 day experiment I've been thinking about this quite a bit. Will I stay 100% raw vegan? Nope. That was never my intention. My goal was to improve from the 70-80% raw vegan plan I was following since September of last year. I wanted to go the 30 days for a couple of reasons, one to prove to myself I could do it since one of the biggest obstacles I see with my clients is motivation and discipline to change their nutrition habits.
Look, I'm just as busy as everyone else. I work 6 days a week, run my own business and do all the domestic stuff everyone else does. I still have time to eat healthy and workout.
I'm sick of hearing excuses from people. You are responsible for what you put into your mouth and it takes the same amount of effort to put a handful of goji berries into your mouth as it does a handful of M&Ms. More people need to take ownership of their lives and stop making excuses.
In addition my goal was to use this 30 days to detox and cleanse a bit as well as tighten up my nutrition so that I can maintain an 80-90% raw vegan plan with only 10-20% coming from cooked vegetarian foods. Basically I will continue to follow what I'm doing now with 1-2 servings of cooked food a day. However there will probably be 2 or 3 days a week that are 100% raw and I will continue to do 100% raw periods as well as periods of juice fasting throughout the year to detoxify and maintain the improved health I am experiencing now.
One reason is personal, I want to be healthy and have a very high quality of life through my twilight years and when it's time for me to trade this body in I want to make that transition as strong and healthy (mentally, physically and spiritually) as possible.
I also need to be a role model for my clients. How can people take health, weight loss, and training advice from someone who doesn't embody what they teach? One of my top rules "Don't be the fat trainer selling a fat loss program, DVD or book!"
 |
And here's a link to the preview for Dr. Cousens' video I purchased my father:
I'm looking forward to seeing what the last week has in store! Also, last year for my birthday 6/13/11, I conducted a personal fitness test. I repeated the test for my birthday this year and will be posting my 1-year comparisons in the upcoming week.
Thanks for reading!
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Friday, June 15, 2012
15 Days into Raw for 30 Days!
And 15 more to go!
After two weeks of raw vegan eating I feel like I'm in the groove with it. This is good and bad. It's good from the standpoint that I can pretty much find the right kinds of foods no matter if we are going out to eat or staying home. It's bad because I can see how falling into the trap of eating the same limited menu over and over would become easy. However this was a problem before I switched to vegetarian nutrition as well.
Preparation is simple - that's one of the things I love about eating this way, nothing to cook! The foods that take the longest are things that I have to prepare in the dehydrator, but even with that it's like 10:00 of prep time to get it ready to dehydrate.
The dehydrator has really opened up some great new options for raw foods, my favorites so far have been the raw sweet bread and flax seed crackers. In addition I've made some guacamole and some awesome raw hummus to eat with them.
Since this was my birthday week, I loaded up on some raw desserts - raw cheesecake (macadamia nuts, sea salt and dates for the crust and cashews, honey, lemon juice, coconut oil and vanilla for the filling) and some raw chocolate (raw cacao, honey and coconut oil).
As I wrap up week two I have to say the experience thus far has been great. I feel better, I recover faster after workouts, my energy is great, my body composition is changing rapidly, I'm much leaner and tighter and my weight is down to 181.5 lbs as of today (190 lbs when I weighed in on June 1).
Even though I only have two weeks of my 30 days raw plan left, I am definitely going to keep up 80-90% of my daily nutrition as raw vegan, and most likely a lot of days will be 100% raw.
I'd have to concur with legendary turn of the century strongman, George "the Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt, who in his book "The Way to Live in Health and Physical Fitness" said, "I believe I am right in asserting that our Creator has provided food and nutriment for every being for its own advantage. Man is born without frying-pan or stew-pot. The purest natural food for human beings would, therefore, be fresh, uncooked food and nuts."
I'll have another update at the end of week 3!
Until then,
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
After two weeks of raw vegan eating I feel like I'm in the groove with it. This is good and bad. It's good from the standpoint that I can pretty much find the right kinds of foods no matter if we are going out to eat or staying home. It's bad because I can see how falling into the trap of eating the same limited menu over and over would become easy. However this was a problem before I switched to vegetarian nutrition as well.
Preparation is simple - that's one of the things I love about eating this way, nothing to cook! The foods that take the longest are things that I have to prepare in the dehydrator, but even with that it's like 10:00 of prep time to get it ready to dehydrate.
The dehydrator has really opened up some great new options for raw foods, my favorites so far have been the raw sweet bread and flax seed crackers. In addition I've made some guacamole and some awesome raw hummus to eat with them.
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| Guacamole! |
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| Raw Flax Crackers! |
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| Raw Hummus - a MUST with the Flax Crackers! |
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| Raw Cheesecake! |
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| Raw Chocolate! Happy Birthday to ME! |
For my birthday dinner we went to R Thomas Deluxe Grill in Atlanta for dinner. R Thomas has a very healthy, diverse menu with tons of vegetarian and vegan meals and for the resident cannibals they use only free-range hormone-free meats. They have a great selection of smoothies and juices as well. I got a raw vegan entree that had flax chips, sweet potato chips, a mixed veggie salad, mixed veggies, hummus and a couple other raw spreads. I also had a green smoothie and raw apple pie for dessert. Lisa had a raw vegan entree with a veggie / fruit juice. The meal was amazing and if you are in Atlanta check out R Thomas-great food!
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| Birthday Dinner at R Thomas Deluxe Grill in the ATL! |
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| Scary but this is probably closer to the truth than we'd like to admit! |
I'd have to concur with legendary turn of the century strongman, George "the Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt, who in his book "The Way to Live in Health and Physical Fitness" said, "I believe I am right in asserting that our Creator has provided food and nutriment for every being for its own advantage. Man is born without frying-pan or stew-pot. The purest natural food for human beings would, therefore, be fresh, uncooked food and nuts."
 |
| George "The Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt |
Until then,
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Sunday, June 10, 2012
30 Days Raw - Week 1 Recap
So 1-week of 100% raw vegan eating is in the bag. It's actually Day 10 as I'm writing this and going 100% raw vegan has been an awesome experience so far. I do not plan to do a daily update as the nutrition is pretty similar on a daily basis - I outlined my typical day in a previous blog post. From hear on out I'll only do 1 or 2 updates weekly on the blog as writing, and for you reading, the same daily nutrition over and over will be quite boring.
Here is what I've experienced after the first third of my 30 day experiment.
-weight is down about 7 lbs (190 - 183) in the first week, getting tighter and body composition is improving, I'm even starting to see those ab things I haven't seen in about 12 years
-caffeine headaches last about 2-3 days, after the third day everything just started getting clearer
-energy is great, I get about 4-5 hours sleep a night and honestly I am waking up at 3am during the week without much of a problem
-energy and strength during workouts is great
-sleep is good, I feel pretty well rested when I wake up
-skin / complexion is clear
-eyes are clear
-recovery post workout is improved, I don't experience much fatigue either, endurance is good
-greater mental clarity
-better focus during work, writing and reading
One of the things that I am really liking is raw foods taste amazing and are very satisfying. I am never hungry. I don't experience any reflux like when I was eating a lot of meat.
Based on a lot of the things I've read particularly the work of Dr. Max Gersen, who's raw juicing and vegan approach to nutrition has successfully helped many people survive horrible bouts with cancer, and Dr. Gabriel Cousens, who has helped numerous type 2 and a handful of type 1 diabetics go completely off ALL insulin and oral meds, raw nutrition is definitely beneficial in healing disease. One of the things I plan to do is get my annual physical toward the end of this month, I can't wait to compare my lab work to my last physical when I was a 225 lb hardcore carnivore!
Raw foods are very easy to prepare as well. Just chop some things up, blend some things up, whatever, prep time is basically but in half.
This past week I have experimented with some of the "transitional" raw foods, some of which require preparation in the dehydrator.
I've made some raw sweet bread, raw flax chip, raw oatmeal, raw banana crepes, raw pad Thai, raw macaroni and cheese and raw cheese cake and it all tastes amazing. It's pretty crazy to eat some of the stuff and think that it is 100% healthy.
My Omega 8006 juicer and my Vitamix blender are the rockstars of my kitchen. While the dehydrated and "transition" raw vegan foods are awesome for some flavor and variety, nothing beats loading up on raw fruits and veggies and the juicer and the vitamix make it super easy. Through the vitamix alone I get anywhere from about 10-20 servings of green veggies and fruits daily-the blender is awesome because you are getting 100% solid food nutrition as it utilizes the entire fruit and vegetable-, plus the juicer adds in the highly concentrated micro-nutrients from fruits and veggies. Between the juice in the morning and the 1-2 blended green smoothies I am getting about 64-96 oz. of super high quality raw veggie and fruit nutrition daily on top of the raw fruits and veggies I eat.
One of the benefits to the blended drinks and juices are that they ensure the extraction of the good stuff in the greens, the chlorophyll, that's locked up in the cellulose. When you eat raw green veggies you really have to chew them up well to break down the cell walls to unlock all the good stuff in the greens (think about cows and horses grazing, all they do is chew). The blender and juicer take care of that for you and ensure you're getting access to all of the health promoting and healing nutrients in the veggies.
Even after my 30 days of 100% raw are up, I plan to be tighter with my nutrition. Prior to this I was about 60-80% raw vegan and 20-40% cooked vegetarian foods for my daily nutrition. I hope to maintain closer to 80-90% raw vegan after this month is up. Travelling will be the hardest, but Lisa is eating more raw now and enjoying it so that will make it easy.
Training has been good as well. Basically I am practicing Taiji and Qigong daily with three classes at my Shaolin School. I'm weight training with conditioning 2-4 days per week, and doing a LOT of mobility, stretching and Indian club work.
Overall I feel much healthier and more fit than ever. Granted due to the fact I've lost about 40 pounds since last September my strength dropped as expected with that much weight loss, but I have begun building it back even though I am still losing weight. Also - contrary to everything I've ever heard non-vegans say about this type of diet, my muscle has not vanished and my bones are not brittle. Body-fat has disappeared pretty quickly though. I guess I am getting a sufficient amount of protein as I have not turned into Captain Atrophy yet. The funny thing about training and vegan nutrition is that no-one talks about real plant-based vegan foods. Everything I read on the internet is usually something to the extent of "vegan nutrition is bad for training, all that fake meat, soy based crap is poison." Um. Yeah. It is. It's hysterical to me that following a vegetarian or vegan diet means loading up on processed soy. Where is the "vege" in vegetarian?!?! It's raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Anyone I've talked to who is raw vegan, vegan, etc. who trains hard stays away from processed soy like the plague. If you decide to try this nutrition - do your research first. Eat real plant based foods, not processed crap. See video below.
I'm definitely looking forward to what is in store for the next 20 days of this experiment - but raw will continue to be the majority of my nutrition lifestyle for the remainder of my days in this human experience.
Stay Strong and Healthy!
Scott
Here is what I've experienced after the first third of my 30 day experiment.
 |
| Juicing the healthy way! A typical breakfast. |
-caffeine headaches last about 2-3 days, after the third day everything just started getting clearer
-energy is great, I get about 4-5 hours sleep a night and honestly I am waking up at 3am during the week without much of a problem
-energy and strength during workouts is great
-sleep is good, I feel pretty well rested when I wake up
-skin / complexion is clear
-eyes are clear
-recovery post workout is improved, I don't experience much fatigue either, endurance is good
-greater mental clarity
-better focus during work, writing and reading
One of the things that I am really liking is raw foods taste amazing and are very satisfying. I am never hungry. I don't experience any reflux like when I was eating a lot of meat.
Based on a lot of the things I've read particularly the work of Dr. Max Gersen, who's raw juicing and vegan approach to nutrition has successfully helped many people survive horrible bouts with cancer, and Dr. Gabriel Cousens, who has helped numerous type 2 and a handful of type 1 diabetics go completely off ALL insulin and oral meds, raw nutrition is definitely beneficial in healing disease. One of the things I plan to do is get my annual physical toward the end of this month, I can't wait to compare my lab work to my last physical when I was a 225 lb hardcore carnivore!
Raw foods are very easy to prepare as well. Just chop some things up, blend some things up, whatever, prep time is basically but in half.
This past week I have experimented with some of the "transitional" raw foods, some of which require preparation in the dehydrator.
I've made some raw sweet bread, raw flax chip, raw oatmeal, raw banana crepes, raw pad Thai, raw macaroni and cheese and raw cheese cake and it all tastes amazing. It's pretty crazy to eat some of the stuff and think that it is 100% healthy.
My Omega 8006 juicer and my Vitamix blender are the rockstars of my kitchen. While the dehydrated and "transition" raw vegan foods are awesome for some flavor and variety, nothing beats loading up on raw fruits and veggies and the juicer and the vitamix make it super easy. Through the vitamix alone I get anywhere from about 10-20 servings of green veggies and fruits daily-the blender is awesome because you are getting 100% solid food nutrition as it utilizes the entire fruit and vegetable-, plus the juicer adds in the highly concentrated micro-nutrients from fruits and veggies. Between the juice in the morning and the 1-2 blended green smoothies I am getting about 64-96 oz. of super high quality raw veggie and fruit nutrition daily on top of the raw fruits and veggies I eat.
One of the benefits to the blended drinks and juices are that they ensure the extraction of the good stuff in the greens, the chlorophyll, that's locked up in the cellulose. When you eat raw green veggies you really have to chew them up well to break down the cell walls to unlock all the good stuff in the greens (think about cows and horses grazing, all they do is chew). The blender and juicer take care of that for you and ensure you're getting access to all of the health promoting and healing nutrients in the veggies.
Even after my 30 days of 100% raw are up, I plan to be tighter with my nutrition. Prior to this I was about 60-80% raw vegan and 20-40% cooked vegetarian foods for my daily nutrition. I hope to maintain closer to 80-90% raw vegan after this month is up. Travelling will be the hardest, but Lisa is eating more raw now and enjoying it so that will make it easy.
Training has been good as well. Basically I am practicing Taiji and Qigong daily with three classes at my Shaolin School. I'm weight training with conditioning 2-4 days per week, and doing a LOT of mobility, stretching and Indian club work.
Overall I feel much healthier and more fit than ever. Granted due to the fact I've lost about 40 pounds since last September my strength dropped as expected with that much weight loss, but I have begun building it back even though I am still losing weight. Also - contrary to everything I've ever heard non-vegans say about this type of diet, my muscle has not vanished and my bones are not brittle. Body-fat has disappeared pretty quickly though. I guess I am getting a sufficient amount of protein as I have not turned into Captain Atrophy yet. The funny thing about training and vegan nutrition is that no-one talks about real plant-based vegan foods. Everything I read on the internet is usually something to the extent of "vegan nutrition is bad for training, all that fake meat, soy based crap is poison." Um. Yeah. It is. It's hysterical to me that following a vegetarian or vegan diet means loading up on processed soy. Where is the "vege" in vegetarian?!?! It's raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Anyone I've talked to who is raw vegan, vegan, etc. who trains hard stays away from processed soy like the plague. If you decide to try this nutrition - do your research first. Eat real plant based foods, not processed crap. See video below.
Quick - someone tell these guys to eat some meat or get on the anabolics before they atrophy!
I'm definitely looking forward to what is in store for the next 20 days of this experiment - but raw will continue to be the majority of my nutrition lifestyle for the remainder of my days in this human experience.
Stay Strong and Healthy!
Scott
Friday, June 1, 2012
Getting a Little Strength Back and Raw for 30 Days Begins!
Alright - today was a big day. Aside from being 12 days away from my birthday, and today being the day we pulled the trigger on a sweet new business venture, I finished my 6th 4-week strength training cycle and had PRs in all lifts and today is day 1 of my Raw for 30 Days to ring in my 37th year on this planet!
The Strength Stuff
Basically my strength has gone down the crapper since losing 30-40 pounds last September. Truth be told I don't care about competitions anymore. All I want now is to rebuild my strength while maintaining good levels of conditioning, flexibility and mobility. My main focus lately has been on my practice of internal martial arts. However, I do love lifting weights so I wanted a good, simple strength program to rebuild the strength I'd lost due to such rapid weight loss.
Enter 5/3/1
I decided to follow Jim Wendler's now legendary 5/3/1 supplemented with some kettlebell work and have made good, slow, steady progress.
When I weighed a sloppy 220-225 my best lifts were a 350 squat, 255 bench, 375 deadlift and a 135 overhead press. I had considerably better lifts in powerlifting competition with the use of powerlifting gear (squat suit and bench shirt) but that isn't important. Right now just basic, raw strength development is my goal. I may or may not compete again. Meets are a blast-but it's so far off my radar of interests right now I don't even care to think about it.
Last September I made a huge nutritional change and began eating about 80% raw vegan and about 20% cooked vegetarian or pescatarian food. Basically 80% raw fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds with about 20% beans, eggs, fish and a little bit of rice and sprouted breads. This resulted in a 40 lb drop in weight in about 3 months from 220-225 to 180-185. With this drop in weight came the equivalent drop in strength. I decided that since I was going to continue eating mostly raw vegan (I'm actually gravitating towards >80% - more on that in a second) that I wanted to do the impossible and rebuild my strength even though my weight is decreasing.
So I set the initial goal of regaining the numbers I had at 220-225. On 12/23/11 & 12/24/11 I tested my gym lifts and hit the following: squat x 245, bench x 185, deadlift x 275, overhead press x 115, and bodyweight was 186 lbs. Yes these numbers sucked and I know many women who warm up with these weights but honestly I don't care. With how good and healthy my body feels from the reduction in fat and clean nutrition I'm fine with it.
The following week, using these numbers as my baseline I began Wendler's 5/3/1.
This week marked the end of my 6th 4-week cycle (I did the program as laid out, 4 days per week, 3s in week 1, 5s in week 2, 5/3/1 in week 3 and deload in week 4-and didn't alter anything). My results this week were bodyweight at 184 lbs, squat x 275 x 1 rep (30 lb increase), bench x 205 x 1 rep (20 lb increase), deadlift x 315 x 1 rep (40 lb increase) and overhead press x 120 x 2 reps (only 5 lbs over my initial max but this was for a double not a single, so it's definitely an improvement).
While these numbers are nothing spectacular, it is improvement. The program is great, it's flexible and doesn't require a ton of time in the gym-it's perfect for me considering most of my interests are outside of the gym and the gym and training / coaching people is my business which consumes a considerable amount of my time.
Day 1 of 100% Raw Vegan
I am not going to list my daily nutrition in detail every day, but I do want to give an overview.
bodyweight - 190 lbs (okay, pigged out a bit last night! Damn sprouted grain bread and raw almond butter!)
3:30am - wheatgrass juice + 2g blue green algae and chlorella
4:00am - fresh juice: kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, carrot, apple, pear, lime & raw apple cider vinegar
7:00am - strawberry & banana slices w/ cinnamon, apple, blueberries
8:00am - (prior to deadlift training) a couple handfuls of raw almonds and walnuts
9:30am - (post training) 1 orange and 1 grapefruit
10:00am - hot tea
12:30pm - green smoothie compliments of my Vitamix: kale, spinach, collard greens, dandelion greens, broccoli, chard, apple, banana + a handful of pumpkin seeds, 1 tbsp. flax oil
1:30pm - (business meeting at Panera Bread) unsweet iced tea w/ lemon
3:30pm - home made trail mix: raisons, goji berries, dates, walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans (all raw)
5:30pm - large salad: mixed greens, tomato, carrot, mushroom, almonds, walnuts, raisons, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
6:30pm - hot tea
7:30pm - raw oatmeal (raw oats, almond milk, 1-apple, raisons and cinnamon - made in Vitamix)
*Also drank a LOT of water throughout the day
Supplements - vitamin C, vitamin D3, chlorella, blue green algae, bee pollen / propolis, zinc, magnesium
Training - early morning - meditation, qigong, tai gong, taiji practice; mid-morning - deadlift, 45 degree back raise, sit-ups, kettlebell swings.
So that's basically it. I plan to follow a similar approach for the 30 days. I probably won't be so detailed in future blog posts but I plan to try to post daily updates or at least 4-5 a week and discuss more that I learn following the raw vegan approach as well as the effects I'm experiencing. So far, so good!
"And the times have changed my friend, I'll be here til' the bitter end, and I'm here to make my stand, with a guitar in my hand." -Social Distortion, Still Alive
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
The Strength Stuff
 |
| The ECF Gym - Atlanta, GA |
Enter 5/3/1
 |
| 5/3/1 - Get it at www.jimwendler.com - Now! |
I decided to follow Jim Wendler's now legendary 5/3/1 supplemented with some kettlebell work and have made good, slow, steady progress.
When I weighed a sloppy 220-225 my best lifts were a 350 squat, 255 bench, 375 deadlift and a 135 overhead press. I had considerably better lifts in powerlifting competition with the use of powerlifting gear (squat suit and bench shirt) but that isn't important. Right now just basic, raw strength development is my goal. I may or may not compete again. Meets are a blast-but it's so far off my radar of interests right now I don't even care to think about it.
Last September I made a huge nutritional change and began eating about 80% raw vegan and about 20% cooked vegetarian or pescatarian food. Basically 80% raw fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds with about 20% beans, eggs, fish and a little bit of rice and sprouted breads. This resulted in a 40 lb drop in weight in about 3 months from 220-225 to 180-185. With this drop in weight came the equivalent drop in strength. I decided that since I was going to continue eating mostly raw vegan (I'm actually gravitating towards >80% - more on that in a second) that I wanted to do the impossible and rebuild my strength even though my weight is decreasing.
So I set the initial goal of regaining the numbers I had at 220-225. On 12/23/11 & 12/24/11 I tested my gym lifts and hit the following: squat x 245, bench x 185, deadlift x 275, overhead press x 115, and bodyweight was 186 lbs. Yes these numbers sucked and I know many women who warm up with these weights but honestly I don't care. With how good and healthy my body feels from the reduction in fat and clean nutrition I'm fine with it.
The following week, using these numbers as my baseline I began Wendler's 5/3/1.
This week marked the end of my 6th 4-week cycle (I did the program as laid out, 4 days per week, 3s in week 1, 5s in week 2, 5/3/1 in week 3 and deload in week 4-and didn't alter anything). My results this week were bodyweight at 184 lbs, squat x 275 x 1 rep (30 lb increase), bench x 205 x 1 rep (20 lb increase), deadlift x 315 x 1 rep (40 lb increase) and overhead press x 120 x 2 reps (only 5 lbs over my initial max but this was for a double not a single, so it's definitely an improvement).
While these numbers are nothing spectacular, it is improvement. The program is great, it's flexible and doesn't require a ton of time in the gym-it's perfect for me considering most of my interests are outside of the gym and the gym and training / coaching people is my business which consumes a considerable amount of my time.
Day 1 of 100% Raw Vegan
 |
| Breakfast |
Alright, 30 days is underway! Today was great, it wasn't much of a challenge as I had been eating this way most of the time anyway, but today starts 100% total immersion in raw vegan eating! I just finished my last meal for the day as I type this and I feel great. Energy has been great all day, despite averaging 4-5 hours sleep at night. I thought coffee would be the toughest thing to cut out, but I feel good so far.
Here's a totally awesome video of Danny Dalton, a raw vegan bodybuilder - this is what inspired me to pursue raw instead of just vegetarian nutrition. Oh, don't forget to tell this guy he needs to eat tons of meat to build muscle!
Here's a totally awesome video of Danny Dalton, a raw vegan bodybuilder - this is what inspired me to pursue raw instead of just vegetarian nutrition. Oh, don't forget to tell this guy he needs to eat tons of meat to build muscle!
I am not going to list my daily nutrition in detail every day, but I do want to give an overview.
bodyweight - 190 lbs (okay, pigged out a bit last night! Damn sprouted grain bread and raw almond butter!)
3:30am - wheatgrass juice + 2g blue green algae and chlorella
4:00am - fresh juice: kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, carrot, apple, pear, lime & raw apple cider vinegar
7:00am - strawberry & banana slices w/ cinnamon, apple, blueberries
8:00am - (prior to deadlift training) a couple handfuls of raw almonds and walnuts
9:30am - (post training) 1 orange and 1 grapefruit
10:00am - hot tea
12:30pm - green smoothie compliments of my Vitamix: kale, spinach, collard greens, dandelion greens, broccoli, chard, apple, banana + a handful of pumpkin seeds, 1 tbsp. flax oil
1:30pm - (business meeting at Panera Bread) unsweet iced tea w/ lemon
3:30pm - home made trail mix: raisons, goji berries, dates, walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans (all raw)
5:30pm - large salad: mixed greens, tomato, carrot, mushroom, almonds, walnuts, raisons, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
6:30pm - hot tea
7:30pm - raw oatmeal (raw oats, almond milk, 1-apple, raisons and cinnamon - made in Vitamix)
*Also drank a LOT of water throughout the day
Supplements - vitamin C, vitamin D3, chlorella, blue green algae, bee pollen / propolis, zinc, magnesium
Training - early morning - meditation, qigong, tai gong, taiji practice; mid-morning - deadlift, 45 degree back raise, sit-ups, kettlebell swings.
So that's basically it. I plan to follow a similar approach for the 30 days. I probably won't be so detailed in future blog posts but I plan to try to post daily updates or at least 4-5 a week and discuss more that I learn following the raw vegan approach as well as the effects I'm experiencing. So far, so good!
"And the times have changed my friend, I'll be here til' the bitter end, and I'm here to make my stand, with a guitar in my hand." -Social Distortion, Still Alive
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Monday, May 21, 2012
Strength Training for Fighters - It's Going in the Wrong Direction
I've had the pleasure of working with fighters from different
disciplines including boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts, Brazilian jiu
jitsu and Muay Thai and one thing I've found is none of them were "strong
enough".
I hear so often that strength training isn't important and that fighters
should just focus on technique. This is bad.
A fighter, just like any other athlete, needs to be concerned with
strength, power, speed, agility, mobility, flexibility and specific skill work.
Of course the levels of each depend on the requirements of the sport and what
the athlete's current level of preparation is.
What a lot of fighters don't realize is that there are essentially two
types of physical preparation for their sport - general physical preparation
(GPP)-which constitutes strength training, power training, speed training,
agility training, flexibility training, etc-and specific physical preparation
(SPP)-which is essentially fight training, technique work, sparring, etc.
 |
| Kettlebell training is great supplementary work for fighters, just make sure to do it AFTER you've done your squats, presses and deadlifts! |
When you say strength training, people automatically assume you mean a
super fat, highly immobile powerlifter. No. That's not the case. I say that if
you have two fighters squaring off, both of equal skill levels, and one of them
spends a bit of time getting stronger while the other only focuses on technique
development, I'm putting my money on the guy who's lifted some weight.
I remember a couple years ago talking to my friend Brian Gausman during one of our training sessions about fighters and strength training. Brian is a pretty damn strong guy himself and knows a thing or twelve about MMA and fight preparation so this comment from him was absolute gold-he said, "If strength isn't important to fighters then why the hell are so many of them getting popped for steroids and performance enhancers?" Logic at its finest. That's Brian for you.
It's also important to note that increased strength has a positive impact on speed. Doubt that statement? I remember reading an old squat training article by the great Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell in which he made the comment that sprinter Ben Johnson had made a 620 lb squat at under 200 lbs bodyweight. I'm sure if you checked the training logs of many other good sprinters you'd see some impressive squat numbers.
I remember a couple years ago talking to my friend Brian Gausman during one of our training sessions about fighters and strength training. Brian is a pretty damn strong guy himself and knows a thing or twelve about MMA and fight preparation so this comment from him was absolute gold-he said, "If strength isn't important to fighters then why the hell are so many of them getting popped for steroids and performance enhancers?" Logic at its finest. That's Brian for you.
It's also important to note that increased strength has a positive impact on speed. Doubt that statement? I remember reading an old squat training article by the great Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell in which he made the comment that sprinter Ben Johnson had made a 620 lb squat at under 200 lbs bodyweight. I'm sure if you checked the training logs of many other good sprinters you'd see some impressive squat numbers.
Think of strength training as one tool in the tool box - don't make it
the ONLY tool, but why wouldn't you spend some time developing that physical
quality, just as you would spend developing the cardiovascular system, specific
skills, etc.?
The best cure for this is to lift barbells. Heavy ones.
Please understand I am not suggesting fighters start killing themselves
under 1-rep max loads like a powerlifter-but I am suggesting that adding more
weight to basic movements like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, barbell rows,
etc. is a great thing for all fighters to do.
 |
| Granted, most fighters don't need to be as strong as Derrick - but adding a plate or two in an awesome lift like the deadlift would be time well spent for ANY fighter! |
Also - keep in mind, strength training is only one spoke in the physical
preparation wheel, there is mobility / flexibility, aerobic and anaerobic
conditioning, speed, power, agility and specific physical development.
Thus a fighter's time spent lifting weights should accomplish his or her
goals with the fewest number of exercises and not interfere with the other
physical qualities that need attention.
 |
BJJ purple belt Jason Gaskill doing a little technique work with kettlebells. Heavy kettlebell clean and presses can make a great tool in a fighter's strength & conditioning tool box.
|
That's all. Two days a week. Why so little? Because he had four days of
BJJ training, 2-3 days of low intensity cardio (cardiac development work) and
1-2 days of anaerobic work (various types of sprints).
Results? He dropped about 40 lbs, got a lot stronger, and into the best
shape of his life. He also had the best showing out of everyone from his BJJ
team that participated at Pan-Ams.
Keep in mind that you don't need to go in the gym and spend hours and
hours doing every exercise or machine under the sun. A basic program of squats,
deadlifts, bench presses, chins, rows, overhead press, some jumps and heavy ab
work will do wonders for most fighters.
How strong do you need to be? Who cares. Just strive to add more weight
to the lifts-whether it's for 1 rep, 3 reps, 5 reps-I don't care. More weight
and / or more reps mean you've gotten stronger. Leave the fancy formulas to the
Exercise Physiology geeks. Just use good technique and common sense and you
should be fine.
There is no reason to turn your weight room time into another
conditioning session - you should be getting plenty of that from your road work
and your sparring and skill training - save the weight room time for what it is
intended for - to get stronger!
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Monday, May 14, 2012
Introduction to Indian Club Training Workshop - 6/23/12 at the ECF Gym
Are you interested in getting healthy, strong and mobile shoulders, improved posture, enhanced recovery from upper body training sessions and much more?Indian Clubs are a great form of training and make an excellent addition to GPP for all strength and power sports as well as offering tremendous benefits for the general fitness enthusiast.
This workshop will teach you the fundamentals of Indian Club training as well as help you refresh and build upon your current skill level.The course will run from 9am - 12pm.
If you currently have a pair of 1 lb. Indian Clubs you may register for $60. You WILL need tobring your clubs to the workshop as we are ONLY providing clubs to those who register for that option.
If you do not have clubs we are offering a registration option for $85 which will provide you with a set of 1 lb clubs in addition to the workshop.
Cost is:
-$85 if you need clubs
-$60 if you already have clubs
Registration and payment:
If you are registering and need clubs, the cost is $85. Choose this payment link:
https://www.paypal.com/
If you are registering and already own a set of 1 lb. clubs that you can bring with you the cost is $60, choose this payment link:
https://www.paypal.com/
The instructors will be Scott Shetler and Angel Rosario. Scott is the owner of Extreme Conditioning & Fitness Gym and his partner Angel was a personal student of Dr. Ed Thomas-the man responsible for popularizing Indian Club training in the United States-for over four years in the early 90's.
Scott with Dr. Ed Thoms at the ECF Gym
Here is a brief description and sample of how we are using Indian Clubs at the ECF Gym:
Location of workshop:
ECF Gym
2375 Button Gwinnett Drive
Suite-500
Atlanta, GA 30340
For more information contact Scott at:
770-403-1363
scott@extreme-fitness.org
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Durian Custard - my Favorite Raw "Dessert"!
I'm not a recipe guy by any means, but I came across this simple way to make an extremely healthy raw dessert when I read a great e-book by Markus Rothkranz titled "Heal Yourself 101".
Markus is a big fan of durian fruit. Durians are extremely nutritious and often called king of the fruits. They hail from southeast Asia and are readily available in your local Asian markets. I regularly find them at a couple different Asian supermarkets and one farmer's market all very close to where I live.
The durian is a little bigger than a football and has a hard spikey outer shell. It also has a pretty distinct odor which is why it is better to buy the frozen durian, the smell isn't as strong. You'll just need to let it thaw overnight then prepare it the next day.
Durian is a fruit you either like or don't like. Some people say it "tastes like heaven but smells like hell".
The part of the durian you eat is the custard-like pods located inside the pockets of the fruit. There is a fairly large seed inside each custard pod you'll want to remove.
You can eat the durian straight, or blend it with coconut meat and water from a young Thai coconut to boost it's nutritional value and flavor. This is my favorite way to eat it!
Durian Custard
You'll need one durian and two young Thai coconuts and this will make enough for one or two people for a few days.-cut open each pocket of the durian and extract all of the custard pods
-remove the seeds from each custard pod (there should be one seed per pod)
-extract the water from two young thai coconuts and put into a high power blender (I use a Vitamix)
-next split the cocounts and scrape the meat out of the inside (I like the young Thai coconuts for this, the meat is much easier to extract than the other coconuts)
-next place the coconut meat and durian fruit in the blender with the coconut water and blend on high, in the Vitamix I let it blend for about 30-45 seconds
-you're done! Pour into a storage container and seal to keep in your refrigerator
Total prep time is about 15-20 minutes. This makes for an awesome meal or snack! For a fruit, durians are pretty high in protein and fat and has high amounts of tryptophan as well as potassium and vitamin c.
Some other things I like to do is add a little raw honey and eat this after a workout or sometimes mix in other fruits like blueberries or goji berries.
Hopefully you give it a shot and enjoy the benefits the durian has to offer!
Stay Strong AND Healthy!
-Scott
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