Hard to do, but great for you

Day 2 of the recovery week, and my first time doing the core synergistics. I had heard that the workout was a tough one. It was not so bad, but you could tell that I was doing a lot of moves for the first time. I am wondering why this routine is not included more in the induction weeks, as the workout is all that and a bag of beans.

I got up this morning again at the crack of night, and it seems to work out for me. I am back down to 198, and I think it may be diet related. I need to look into that more.

Tomorrow is another new routine, X Stretch. I am so looking forward to it. Until then, BRING IT!

Warrior 2 is one of the money moves in Yoga X

Hey! I thought this was supposed to be a recovery week. If you think that means you won’t sweat, you are sadly mistaken!

I have actually gained weight from the last three weeks, and now I have broken the 200 pound mark. I can see definition in my muscles, so I am putting my trust in the program. The goal is to look fit, like a beast, and get rid of the belly fat. My numbers are looking better, even if I ate like crap on the weekend.

I always feel so calm after Yoga X, like nothing can get to me. If I keep this up, I may even look to get off those silly pills that were prescribed to me. One can hope.

Tomorrow brings us Core Synergistics. I have heard it is a tough workout. Bring it on, I say!

Until tomorrow, Namaste, and BRING IT!

Photo courtesy of lululemonathletica of Flickr under CC by Attribution 2.0

Hello all, I am taking a rest today from working out, and cooking. It has been a glorious 7 years with my wife, and I think she deserves some special attention today.

Have a great Labor Day everyone! I’m off to make my wife’s favorite meal – Belgian waffles.

I am really digging working out in the morning. I feel refreshed, and the shower makes for a great start to the day. Granted, it is still my long weekend, so it remains to see what it will be like for a workday. I am thinking it means I will have to get up at 3h30 in the morning to make it a routine. Which means I will need to get my butt into bed before 10 AM.

I really, really miss Karate with the Kenpo routine. I think it is time to consider getting back into martial arts. If I can find a class that is in English, and runs once a week, I will adjust the schedule to fit. The bonus in that is I would like my son to participate in that as well, when he gets to be of age. Nothing spells self confidence and discipline like martial arts. The playground bullies will be in for a surprise.

You might notice that I worked in the Ab Ripper X workout here. I got interrupted yesterday, so I figured I would fit it in today. I really should have done it before the Kenpo workout. The good news is that I can do half of the repetitions for the ab exercises. When I first started I was lucky to get in 5. I feel like I can do the moves more, and it is burning less in the back. Something is working here.

I really have to buckle down and focus on the diet. I find I am eating way too much protein, fat and carbohydrates. One of my main weaknesses are peanuts. If I have them available, I will eat them like there is nothing left in the house to eat. I am going to have to drop them from the market list. Too dangerous.

More vegetables, more fruits, and whole grains are in order. Of course, more fats and proteins, but then again, I never have a problem there. We have a barbecue to go to today, so perhaps a real nice tomato and basil salad would be in order.

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. Lucky for me, it is a rest day, so I will be sure to spoil my wife. Perhaps with some very naughty Belgian Waffles. Whipped cream, and strawberries. I won’t be eating them, of course.

Until Tuesday Morning, BRING IT!

I was just at a birthday party yesterday where the host gave a bit of his home brew beer. Very delicious! I saw the coolest blog post that made me think of his beer collection, and how it might help you out on this fine, hot Labor Day.

I present to you, The Ice Beer Caddy!

Please enjoy responsibly!

Arrggghhh! Have you ever been interrupted in your workout with only like, 3 minutes to cool down? My son called me this morning, and so I went. I was feeling the burn in my legs as I bounded up the stairs to comfort my crying son.

The workout was all that and a slab of ice cream cake! I switched to early morning for the workout to test out how that would go. I love that the house is all quiet, and getting the blood pumping first thing. I do have to worry about waking up my boy, but with the door closed, it probably should not matter.

I am thinking that it would be better to do the workout first thing, that way I can have the rest of the night with the family. What that means is I will have to wake up at 4 AM for most mornings, and 3h30 for Yoga X days. I guess that getting to bed earlier would be in order. It reminds me of a quote from Benjamin Franklin – “Early to bed, early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

So true.

I got to visit Popeye’s today, and I picked up a huge tub of neutral flavored protein powder. I figured that way I could play with the flavor profiles of my post workout drink. If I want a chocolate taste, then I can put in the good cocoa powder. Expect a recipe soon! (Perhaps a cafe mocha protein drink would be in order?)

It was Liam’s birthday party today, (a friend of Boo’s), so we ate like shit. A whole slice of ice cream cake! Good thing I fasted first thing in the morning. I am sure my blood sugar will be a problem first thing in the morning.

Can’t wait until Kenpo X tomorrow. Until then, BRING IT!

I love Yoga X. It kicks my ass in ways I thought was not possible, but of all the X routines I have encountered so far, Yoga X is by miles my favorite. I have tripled my flexibility since I started, and that is a good thing. I find myself calm after the workout, and that is also a good thing.

I have taken to doing my routines in the afternoon as I get home from work, before I pick my son up from daycare. It seems to work out well, as that window is perfect.

Another thing I have been doing is planning my meals well in advance. I need to stop going the takeout route. It is ironic that a chef would eat take out, but those who have been there understand why.

I look forward to my Legs and Back routine tomorrow. I am starting to see some definition in the muscles, and my calves have finally split. Something is working here. Now, if this infernal gut would just leave!

Until next time, BRING IT!

Wow. What a workout! I blasted my arms and shoulders today with the new set of weights that I bought. I upped most exercises by 5 pounds each, and my arms were feeling it by the end of each set.

I am trying to stick to the nutrition guide as much as possible. I think that is important because every review that I have read states you will get better results by following the plan. The only modification I am making is to add in more fats, and making saturated fats okay. The program was designed with the paradigm of saturated fats being poison. I don’t follow that line of thinking.

Things are going well with P90X. The only complaint I have is that I have aggravated my back/side muscle on the right side again. I will have to take it easy and do more stretches. It is like a pinched nerve or something, and it is really annoying.

Until tomorrow, BRING IT!

I recently showed you how things can go horribly wrong when you over-think a dish. Today I am going to give you the original recipe, with an explanation of how it is executed.
I got the idea for this dish when I was looking through the excellent resource “The Flavor Bible.” If you are a serious cook, the book will help your creative juices by giving you a list of flavor profiles that go well with ingredients. (The link goes to my Amazon store.)
I knew that I wanted to do something with Star Anise, so I jumped to the section of Asian ingredients. I was thinking of Teriyaki as well, but not the cliché sauté you see pulled off. I saw oranges listed, and I immediately remembered about fennel braised in orange juice. Add in Shaoxing into that mix, and the whole package is neatly tied together.
I just mentioned that I did not want the cliché stir-fried teriyaki for this dish. Instead, I cut the chicken legs Chinese style. What does that mean?
You would normally separate the leg and thigh through the joint in the middle. With the Chinese cut, you put an additional cut through the middle of the thigh, and through the thick part of the drumstick. The idea is better portion control, even cooking, and a reduction in cooking time.
The problem with putting the components together and cooking them is that the chicken has a far longer cooking time then the fennel. Each component must be braised separately, the braising liquid combined for the final sauce, and then the construction of the final dish.
I prefer a low and slow braise for the chicken, and a quick braise for the fennel. It is important to do each separately, or you risk mushy fennel for the dish.

Loveliness on a plate!

Star Anise Chicken with Braised Fennel

Servings: 4 (2 protein, 1 fruit, 2 condiment, 1 vegetable)

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken legs with back attached, cut in the Chinese style
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar, grated (if you do not have palm sugar, brown sugar will be fine.)
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 pod star anise
• 1 teaspoon ginger, grated
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ cup Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
• 1 ½ cups orange juice
• 1 bulb fennel, top removed
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 orange, segmented
• 1 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped roughly
• 1 green onion, sliced on a bias

Method:

1. Add palm sugar and water to wok over medium high heat. Caramelize the sugar until almost black. Add the chicken to stop the caramel. Toss around in wok to get a good sear on the chicken. Add the ginger and garlic, star anise pods, orange juice and Shaoxing wine. Bring the mixture to a boil, then transfer into an oven at 275°F. Braise until the chicken is just cooked through and tender. (About 2 hours at that temperature.)
2. While the chicken is working, cut the fennel bulbs into wedges leaving the core intact. Place wedges cut side down in a shallow pan. Add chicken stock to the pan and place it over high heat, and bring it to a boil. Lower temperature to minimum needed to maintain a simmer. Cover the pan and braise the fennel until it is just tender. (About 30 minutes.) Remove fennel from the cooking liquid, add the cooking liquid to the chicken braising mixture.
3. Once the chicken is cooked, remove chicken pieces to a resting area. Reduce braising liquid over medium high heat until just thickened to sauce consistency, adjusting with cornstarch and water if needed. Taste and adjust the seasoning of the sauce, then strain it.
4. To build the dish, place orange segments and braised fennel in the bottom of the dish in an interesting pattern. Place braised chicken pieces on top of fennel and oranges, ladle a bit of sauce over that. Finish up with the coriander and green onions.
5. Serve with rice, if desired.

Whew! As usual, Plyometrics kicked my ass. I HATE IT, but I LOVE IT. My heart gets pounding, my blood sugar drops, and I sweat like a 2$ call girl in a seedy motel. (Well, ahem, not that I know what that is like.)

I actually got a little worried half way through the workout, I had to press pause and call up my Diabetic nurse. I worked out first in the afternoon after doing my inventory at work. I took less insulin than normal for lunch, and ate a bowl of pasta. I even had a workout shake before exercising. I went low twice, and had to correct. Even when correcting, I was burning through the sugar almost as fast as I was taking it

I had paused too long, so I cut the workout after 40 minutes. After 1 hour, I was at a normal blood sugar of 5 mmol.

I had a burger for dinner, with those ugly onion rings. (I know, I know! I was so hungry I could eat a horse!) I took 4 units less than I normally would. After dinner, the wife and I took a walk with my son and dog. At the ice cream shack, I tested my blood sugar again, and found myself sitting at a normal range again. Damn! I should have been flying higher than that.

Back home, after my son was put to bed, I made another workout shake more like the book. Again, during the warmup, I was fine, but into the workout, I was again going to lower amounts. I finished off the last 20 minutes of the workout, sweating like crazy. I tell you, the pool was so refreshing after that workout.

The diabetes nurse told me that I need to cut my insulin even further back on those days that I am doing cardio, and I definately need to supplement with carbohydrates. I tend to agree. While the whole “carbohydrates are bad” line of thinking is bad for normal people, or perhaps type 1 diabetics, for people who are insulin dependant, you need to up the carbs a little bit in order to make your way through the workout. Otherwise, you will just go low.

One thing a person can do is cut the amount of insulin they take. It really depends on the amount though, and how resistant you are to insulin. The more you exercise, the lower your resistance to insulin becomes. That is actually a good thing, because your body listens to what the harmone is telling it to do. The trouble is, if you get into a pattern of going hypo, then correcting it, you run the risk of roller coastering your blood glucose averages.

Trust me, hypos suck. I think the solution is to go with the Fat Shredder for the weight lifting, and the Endurance Maximizer for the cardio workouts.

If that doesn’t work, I will have to consult with my Endo on what to do next. I am not going to give up my exercising, it is too much fun, adn I get a great feeling out of it. If I need to go back on medication and cut my insulin to next to nothing, that’s okay by me too. Perhaps I can reverse some of the damage I have already done, and truly manage this by diet and exercise. That would be a dream come true.

Till then, CRUSH IT and BRING IT!