RossTraining.com Blog

A friend of mine recently passed along the article below:

Unhappy Meals

One excerpt that you may enjoy includes the following:

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“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy. I hate to give away the game right here at the beginning of a long essay, and I confess that I’m tempted to complicate matters in the interest of keeping things going for a few thousand more words. I’ll try to resist but will go ahead and add a couple more details to flesh out the advice. Like: A little meat won’t kill you, though it’s better approached as a side dish than as a main. And you’re much better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products. That’s what I mean by the recommendation to eat “food.” Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in the supermarket. These novel products of food science often come in packages festooned with health claims, which brings me to a related rule of thumb: if you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat.”

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Enjoy,

Ross

Train hard and the rest will take care of itself, right? 

Wrong!

Working hard in the gym is not enough.  You must follow up the hard work with common sense recovery and restoration techniques, and this does not mean popping every recovery pill that you can find at your local GNC. 

If the concept of active recovery/restoration is new to you, check out the two articles below:

Recovery and Regeneration

Some Aspects About Restoration and Work Capacity

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For a more detailed discussion, check out Sports Restoration and Message by Mel Siff and Michael Yessis.

With a proper restoration strategy, you will recover much faster, which means that you can accomplish much more through your training. 

A fresh athlete is a strong athlete.

Ross

According to a new report, British women spend an average of six months a year counting calories and more than a fifth are on a permanent diet throughout their lifetime in a seemingly never-ending quest for the perfect figure.

Average woman spends 31 years on a diet, researchers say

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This study confirms the obvious.  Diets don’t work.  Forget about counting calories.  Life is too short to live as a food micro-manager.  Cavemen didn’t sit around the fire counting calories.  Cavemen also didn’t struggle with our society’s current obesity crisis.

If you simply eat real/natural foods in moderation, there will be no need for fancy food calculations.  The nutritionists of the world may not want you to hear this… but nutrition is really a very simple concept.   

Keep your food intake simple and natural, and bust your ass in the gym.  That’s the only “secret” to getting in shape. 

Ross

Everyone should take the time to bookmark, and then read through the material presented within the link below:

The Great Eugen Sandow

As you will soon learn, many of today’s modern breakthroughs in physical training are actually far from modern.  Many of the greatest advancements in physical training have already taken place. 

Don’t get caught up in the need to always look forward.  Often times, you can learn more by simply looking back in time.

Ross

ConsumerLab.com recently released a report of 21 multivitamin products for adults and children.  Problems were found with more than half — including unacceptably high levels of lead, and too much or too little of a particular ingredient.

Testing finds lead in vitamins, other problems

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The full report is available at the consumerlab.com site.  As stated in the link above:

“The company, based in White Plains, New York, is privately held and provides consumer information and independent evaluations of products that affect health and nutrition. According to the company, it is neither owned by nor has a financial interest in any companies that make, distribute or sell consumer products.”

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As a member of the consumerlab.com site (who has read the full report), I can say that the 4 billion dollar a year vitamin industry will not be very happy with these results.

Ultimately, no supplement can contend with a nutrient rich diet. 

Ross

 A new study suggests that:

“Endurance sports may cause changes in the hearts of some athletes that can lead to a rare but life-threatening condition which causes an abnormal heart rate and rhythm.”

Endurance sports may harm the heart

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As an athlete and trainer, I recommend a faster/more-intense style of conditioning. 

This research report (link below) should be required reading for any coach.

Sports Conditioning

Ross

In a recent journal, the British Psychological Society suggests that:

“Dogs can directly promote our well being by buffering us from stress, one of the major risk factors associated with ill health. The ownership of a dog can also lead to increases in physical activity and facilitate the development of social contact, which may enhance both physiological and psychological human health in a more indirect manner.”

Improve Your Health, Become A Dog Owner

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I strongly agree with the results from this study.  I take my dogs running or walking every day.  I find that getting outside with the dogs helps me to relax and clear my head.  I wouldn’t have it any other way! 

A recent study suggests that drinking the equivalent of two cups of coffee before exercise may reduce post-workout muscle pain by nearly 50 percent.

Caffeine May Ease Workout Pain

I’ve never been a huge fan of pre-workout stimulants, as I’ve seen athletes become dependent on such stimulants (ie. they begin to believe that they cannot perform without the supplement), but this study is certainly interesting. 

Ross

Below is a video that was posted to my old blog.  This is another motivational video that definitely deserves a re-post. 

Our world is filled with excuses.  Watch this video of Rohan Murphy and you’ll realize that most excuses are worthless.

Enjoy,

Ross

I am happy to report that I have some new RossTraining.com apparel available through the site. 

RossTraining.com Beanies 

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And long sleeve shirts

Front View:

 Back View (pull-up power!):