Many of you have requested meal plans or paleo recipes. For those of you who are limited on time and want to eat clean try this “recipe.” I use quotations because it seems obvious but maybe it’ll add some variety to your routine. Justin and I make this once a week or so because it’s quick, easy, and relatively cheap. I’m going to preface this recipe with saying burgers are almost ALWAYS better on a grill, but if you’re pressed for time, or just lazy, this way works too. I recommend starting the potatoes first since they take a while to cook thoroughly (~20-30 minutes). Depending on how strict you are with eating clean, a good burger sauce is: equal parts mayo, ketchup (Simply Heinz has no HFC), and relish. It’s the closest thing to In-N-Out sauce you’ll get east of Nevada. Without the bun these “hamburgers” are really just ground beef steaks, so if you’re hankering for a burger but don’t want the bun you can always top with sliced tomatoes, sauce, and wrap in a lettuce bun. Justin and I do that when we’re feeling fancy.

Potatoes:

Ingredients
– 2 large sweet potatoes
– 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
– 1-2 teaspoons of the following: onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, thyme

Steps
1. Dice two large sweet potatoes into small, bit-sized pieces. The smaller the pieces the quicker they’ll cook. Try to make them uniform so they cook evenly.
2. Heat a large skillet to low-medium heat and add grease (bacon grease, olive oil, Pam, you get the idea).
3. Add diced potatoes and stir to coat with grease.
4. Add 1 teaspoon of each of the 5 spices.
5. Stir regularly to keep from burning. After about 15 minutes taste one of the potatoes for doneness and flavor. If too crunchy cook an additional 10-15 minutes. If too bland add the second teaspoon of each of the seasonings.

Hamburgers:

Ingredients
– 90-93% ground beef
– Burger seasoning

Steps
1. Form ~1/2 lb patties (slightly larger than palm and ~1” thick). You can add seasoning before forming the patties, but unless we’re throwing burgers on the grill we keep it really simple and just sprinkle both sides once they’re formed.
2. Heat a large skillet to low-medium heat and add grease (bacon grease, olive oil, Pam, you get the idea).
3. Cook burgers to desired doneness. It’s better to keep the skillet heat super low and it take longer to cook than to burn the seasoning on the outside and have the patties rare in the middle. You can determine doneness by the patties firmness (obviously firmer is more done) or by cutting into one (although that is not preferred as you will lose all those delicious juices).

I hope you enjoy. If you have recipe requests or a simple paleo recipe you like put it in the comments below.

-Aly

Warming up is an incredibly important part of training, but even experienced trainees don’t utilize or understand it. This video teaches you the physiology behind both general and specific warm-ups and how to do them. By understanding the physiology, hopefully you’ll have a proper respect for doing it.

What kind of warm-ups do you like? What other benefits do you see in warming up properly?

Joint approximation is manipulating joints into a better or optimal position to restore function. It facilitates stretching and is effective at preparing certain joints for training. I give a brief explanation of it, and then show a very effective way of applying posterior distraction on the hip to open up the hip flexors.
Have you used joint approximation stuff before? What have you found to be beneficial? Does this method help open you up for training?

The holidays let me have a breather by slowing life down. It almost makes me yearn for a life where there isn’t much going on. I always think of the movie “Hot Fuzz” where Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are cops, and they get off work and literally don’t have anything to do. Their primary options are to go to the pub or go home alone and do nothing. What a life! To never have a care or a worry beyond the 9 to 5.

But that’s not what makes success.

“Great” isn’t a 9 to 5 gig. Trying to achieve your potential in life is a round-the-clock deal. The easy part is when you’re clocked in for work or class; the other hours of the day are where you acquire, develop, and perfect your ideas, knowledge, and skills.

Not having anything to do at the end of the day is coasting. It means you either don’t have something you’re working towards, or whatever it is you think you’re working for isn’t terribly important to you. Do something about it.

You can think of this in terms of training: when you leave the barbell, your real work begins. Your sleep, your consistent, quality food intake, and your mobility work will lead you to be strong, capable, and jacked.

But, I don’t want you to be limited in just worrying about training; it’s an important part of life, but if you don’t implement the lessons from under the bar, it’s all for naught.

If you’re someone who has a clear goal with an end state, do you have a consistent and quality attack plan to achieve it? When you get home from work, are you studying, practicing, organizing, or developing? You don’t need to stay up late and burn the midnight oil, but you should actively work to improve in your spare time.
Caption for pic: But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time?

Do you have that 9 to 5, yet you pretty much chill out when you clock out? Then you’re under performing. You will never be in a steady state of accomplishment. “Achievement” is a moment in time, not a constant. People think success is a thing, but instead it’s a process. If you want to get strong, you must squat multiple times a week for a long time. If you want to do great things in life, you work on it every day. Do not settle for the minimum; the great never do.

Do you not have anything to pour your spirit into? It’s about time to figure it out. What do you want to have? What do you want to be? What do you want to do? Our society spends so much time observing other people doing great or fascinating things. Instead, decide to be one of those people instead of watching them. Go out and DO. Figure it out, make a plan, and start taking steps each day to achieve it.

Look, if life is easy, you’re doing it wrong. Test your mettle by putting yourself in positions that require consistent, hard work. Go beyond the realm of normalcy and possibility. Don’t stay locked into your specific job or social circle. Go, learn, do, and think.

Think big. Be big. Be 70’s Big.