Ever feel like your plate couldn't get any more full than it already is. Like there's no room left on the bench because of a fat guy with a ukulele? Well, that was me for about 3 weeks, but, after a brief hiatus from blogging, training and basically living a normal life, I survived, I'm stronger and now I'm back.
It's been a rough few weeks - I had the flu, the kids got sick, my wife got sick and worst of all, my dad suffered a heart attack (last week) and underwent a quadruple by-pass (on Monday). He's up and recovering now and will hopefully be home for Christmas!
So I'm going to make an attempt at a light workout tomorrow and I'm busy planning for a successful 2008! Here's what's in-store...
-I'm putting the final touches on a bonus that I'm doing for my friend Craig Ballantyne from www.ttmembers.com
-I'm in the process of compiling my list of the TOP 10 THINGS I LEARNED IN 2007 and that will be up next week. It's a combination of training, rehab and general lifestyle enlightenments that I'm sure will help everyone in some way (if not for just pure entertainment)
-In late November I started working with a TEST GROUP of individuals to test a new training program based on my own short, intense 20-minute workouts. Due to the responsibilities that I mentioned above, I had to put this on hold. Well, it'll be back up and running Jan 1, so stay tuned for some amazing B & A's.
-Finally, and the most exciting of all, I will be launching my first e-book based on the workouts mentioned above. It's taken a lot of work and dedication to complete, but it's just about ready and will be set to launch by late February/early March, SO STAY TUNED!
So that's it for now. Keep a lookout for the top 10 list coming next week. Until then, here's wishing you and yours a very Happy and Healthy Holiday Season!
-Chris Lopez
The Busiest Dad in the World
I've been sick all week. The whole house has been sick, in fact. I felt something coming down hard last Sunday (crazy headache and nausea...and that kind of stuff never happens to me), so I decided to take it easy and spent most of the day Monday at home. I caught up on some work, sent some emails out, paid some bills. It was a catch-up on health and (what my friend Dax Moy likes to call) "closing open windows" day. I got to bed early that night and woke up the next morning and felt pretty good. Up at 5am, downed the oatmeal, fish oil caps and 3 glasses of water and out the door as usual. The afternoon rolled around and I felt like I needed a good butt whoopin' in the weight room. I didn't feel great, but I figured a good workout was all I needed.
I tried some programming that I got from training genius Chad Waterbury. I borrowed from his 10-10 book, a rep/set scheme that was geared towards fat loss. It called for an 8 sets of 3 protocol using multi-joint , compound movements with weights that equaled your 4-6 rep max.
Here's exactly how it went...
2:25pm - started foam rolling, stretching my hip flexors and a CB "hot spot" bodyweight circuit (10 each of prisoner squats, spiderman push-ups, prisoner reverse lunges and stick-ups x 2)
2:31 - Hauled Ass
1) Hang Clean - Front Squat - OH Press @ 135lbs x 3 reps
Rest 30s
2) Weighted Pull-Ups (w/a 45lb plate chained to my waist) x 3 reps
Rest 30s
REPEAT 8 TIMES
2:45pm - Downed a 1L carton of lactose-free chocolate milk (my usual post workout drink) and a teaspoon of BCAAs
I felt great right after. The endorphin rush was unreal. But 3 hours later, I was done. My immune system must have been completely depleted and with the type of workout that I did earlier, that must have just pushed my body over the edge. The next morning, I could hardly get out of bed. I felt like a truck hit me. My joints were sore, I had a fever, I couldn't eat anything.
I've been sick ever since. I'm back at maybe 75% today, but the damage is done and the lesson has been learned....
-CL
THE BUSIEST DAD IN THE WORLD
P.S. If you don't "get" the picture above, GOOGLE "1997 NBA Finals, Game 5" or
"The Flu Game"
There's been a lot of talk lately about the plastics in water bottles. Some studies have shown that drinking out water bottles will actually increase the amount of estrogen you comsume (which is not a good thing if you're looking to gain muscle and/or lose fat). Same for eating out of plastic containers, and that gets even worse if you microwave your food in them. For a few years now, scientists have warned against having polycarbonate plastics come in contact with your food or water.
Recently, plastic water bottles made by a very popular "camping and outdoors" manufacturer went under the microscope. What the study found, was that the Lexan plastic (a type of polycarbonate plastic) used in these bottles when coupled with a cleaning agent (like a detergent that you would use at home to wash the bottle) caused birth defects and developmental abnormalities leading to miscarriages in mice. Without going through the entire science of it, the effects of the detergent caused the plastic in the bottle to attach to a chemical that mimics the female hormone ESTROGEN (called bisphenol or BPA). Research has now shown that even low levels of BPA have had an adverse effect on prostate development, tumors, breast tissue development, sperm count and ENLARGEMENT OF FAT CELLS IN THE BODY.
THE BOTTOM LINE...
Pick-up either a glass or aluminum water bottle for you and your family and try as much as possible to use either ceramic or glass containers to store and re-heat your food. I use a SiGG bottle similar to the one above and have recently bought one for my wife and my 2 older daughters. They are a little more expensive than the plastic ones, but I don't really need the extra estrogen (hint of sarcasm) seeing as I live with 5 women already.
-CL
The Busiest Dad in the World
I was recently speaking to a client who was considering getting Human Growth Hormone (HGH or GH) Therapy. GH is naturally produced in the body by the pituitary gland. When released into the body, HGH stimulates tissue growth and is essential to maintain a healthy body composition and metabolism. Various drug companies make a synthetic version of GH that is the same substance that is banned by various sporting organizations for it's apparent effects on performance. This was allegedly the same stuff that Mark McGwire (left) used leading up to and during his record breaking home run season a few years back.
Let me give you the background on my client...He's a fit, lean, middle-aged male with amazing genes. This guy has 8% body fat, 6-pack abs and can do 25 chin-ups from a dead hang. When I asked why he wanted go on GH, he simply said, "I'd like to reverse the aging process". As much as I appreciate his quest to "stay young", I told him that he wouldn't have to go as far as paying thousands upon thousands of dollars (and trust me, he can afford it) because he was taking all the right steps to increase GH NATURALLY.
Intense exercise and a sound nutrition program will always trump invasive synthetic injections. Click Here to learn how Nutrition Expert and Author of EatStopEat, Brad Pilon abuses GH the natural way.
I'm going to hit the weights now and try to get done within 20-minutes to try to jack my GH levels up. Here's what's in-store for today.
1) Foam Rolling & Activation work
2a) Back Squat (3 working sets of reps of 225...after a good warm-up of course)
2b) Neutral Grip Chins (3 sets of MAX -1...my max last week with this grip was 19. I know, I'm slowing down)
3a) Bulgarian Split Squats (3 x 8)
3b) Incline DB Press (3 x 8)
4) 2 - minute Plank
That's it. Very basic. Incredibly effective.
Then it's off to pick-up the kids.
CL
-The Busiest Dad in the World
I think everyone in my house is sick (physically having a cold, I mean). I got up to my usual 5am alarm clock to go out and train a client for 6am. Then, I jetted home to stay with my 2-year-old, Frankie, as she has been battling a bad cold since I got home from travelling earlier in the week. My wife will be taking the 2 older ones to school and then head over to the store to prep for a class. I'm on morning duty, she's got afternoons.
So, as always, being the busy dad that I am, I didn't really have that much time to train...or did I? I've been preaching on these 20-minute circuits that I've been doing for a while now. So between folding the laundry and making sure Frankie gets to the bathroom (did I mention she's potty-training right now?) and checking-in on my 3-month-old who's still asleep, I managed to do the following workout...
1) 5-mins of foam rolling (mainly t-spine, lats & glutes), quick static stretching for my hip flexors and a set of 15 stick-ups
KB snatch - Chin-up - Push-up Reverse Ladder
2a) KB snatch (5 x 10, 8, 6, 4, 2) w/54lb KB
2b) Chin-ups (5 x 10, 8, 6, 4, 2)
2c) Push-ups (5 x 20, 16, 12, 8, 4)30s Rest, then repeat
KB Swing/V-Sit Superset x 4
3a) 50 KB Swings w/24kg
3b) 25 V-sits
60s Rest
That's it, quick, simple and (not so) easy.
Baby's up...gotta go!
-CLToronto's Top Trainer and THE BUSIEST DAD IN THE WORLD
Welcome to my first post. I just got back from my good friend, Craig Ballantyne's, OnLine Super Profits Seminar in sunny (I was told it was sunny, but I didn't see much of it) Palm Beach Florida. There, I was mingling and exchanging ideas with an elite group of fitness industry professionals. I came away with a ton of million dollar ideas, some great contacts and some new friends. It was hard for me to take off from the family for a few days. It was tough sprinting through O'Hare from one end to other almost missing my connecting flight (they were closing the door to the gate as I was pulling in), but it was well worth it.
So this morning, after getting the kids up, changing them, making them breakfast, taking the trash out, driving the kids to school and meeting my beautiful wife and our 3-month-old for breakfast at her scrapbooking store, I was able to work on my blog.
That said, here's a list of 12 random things that I learned while sitting in a conference room in Palm Beach...
12 Random Thoughts and Things I Learned at CB's OSP
- Dax Moy was in the Special Forces.
- Self proclaimed "anal freak" Vince DelMonte is the next Superstar to come out of the fitness industry.
- Holly Rigsby is the YummyMummy.
- Fellow Canadians Nutrition Whiz Brad Pilon and Strength Coach John Barban will soon be taking over the world...so watch out.
- Barry Lovelace, although we didn't get a chance to connect all that much, must be the nicest guy in the world.
- I can now pronounce CIM-R-HAN-ZEL.
- Ryan Lee may be just as good a comedian as he is an entrepreneur.
- Mike Geary found a place on the East Coast where you can ski/snowboard in 5ft of powder...and it's NOT in Canada.
- Always ask Clay Hyght what he thinks. You'll learn a lot. (You may be there for an hour listening to him, but you'll learn a lot.)
- Super Trainer Erik Ledin and myself DID NOT want to go out for a steak dinner on Saturday night.
- Canadian trainers aren't afraid to eat cake or key lime pie at an industry event in front of other trainers...C'mon, I know you guys wanted some!
- Marines run 3 miles, Army guys run 2.
BONUS #13. Craig Ballantyne throws a bad-ass conference and should definitely do it again next year!Until next time.I'm off to the gym now.-CLToronto's Top Trainer and THE BUSIEST DAD IN THE WORLD
