Tuesday's Workout and A Great Breakfast Recipe!

I finished up with TT's Lean and Jacked over the weekend. It was a great workout program and I really enjoyed my 4 weeks doing it. I've never done a workout before that has you lifting heavy for one part and doing high repetitions/low rest the other! I will say that Lean and Jacked is named correctly!!

Today I started the newest Turbulence Training workout, TT Fusion 2K9. Since Craig always varies his workout designs to keep your body guessing, I did something today I haven't done in almost 2 months!! HIIT on the treadmill! I have been purposely avoiding the treadmill because of my bad ankle and have been trying to do tabatas as my HIIT. Today I got back on the treadmill and it felt great to do something different!

Oatmeal Pancakes

This recipe is from Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle. It is a really healthy breakfast that you can prepare a night or two in advance and stick them in the fridge for breakfast the next morning.

Ingredients:

¾ cup Quaker quick oats or old-fashioned oatmeal
4 egg whites
1/2 apple, diced
1 scoop protein powder
1 Tsp. Cinnamon

Yield: 1 large pancake

Directions:

1.) Put all ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Stir until the mixture has a semi-liquid pancake-batter-like consistency.

2.) Spray some non-stick spray on a frying pan and pour the mixture into the pan.

3.) Cook on medium heat. When one side is lightly browned and solid enough to flip, turn the pancake over with a spatula and cook the other side until lightly browned and firm.

Serving Size: 1 pancake
Calories: 423
Protein: 39.5 g
Carbs: 53.5 g.
Fat: 6 g.

NOTE: This makes a really filling breakfast! I was NOT able to finish 1 whole pancake. My recommendation is to use a less oatmeal so it is not so filling.

Today's Workout and Menu

Here's my meals and workout for today:

Meals:

Breakfast: Blueberries, Strawberries and Walnuts top with fat free milk (this is my healthy substitute for cereal)

Lunch: Omelet - 2 eggs w/ 4 egg whites with half a green bell pepper, mushrooms and onions. Slice of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter.

Snack: Banana and almonds

Dinner: Chili with a salad. The salad had 2 hard boiled eggs and was topped with a little balsamic vinegar.

Workout:

I didn't have time today to get my Turbulence Training workout in so I did an interval workout around Tabatas. The intervals included exercises that use weights and body weight so you get a resistance workout and cardio workout at once. My goal for this contest is to train like an athlete.

Tabatas: 20seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. I moved on to the next exercise with minimal rest.

DB Snatch/Clean/Press - 35 LB DB - Did each arm for 3 intervals

Jump Squats - 3 intervals

Push Ups - 3 intervals

Step Ups onto bench - Each leg 3 intervals

10 minutes walking on the treadmill @ 3.5mph at an incline of 5.

It was a very short workout, I finished in around 25 minutes, but it was a great workout. I was drenched in sweat and was really struggling to catch my breath after the Tabata's.

Transformation Contest #5 Results!!

I officially finished the Turbulence Training Transformation Contest #5 last Monday. I managed to drop another 12lbs during these 12 weeks and really am showing a lot of definition now! So far this year I have lost 31lbs using Turbulence Training!!

I am also a lot closer to my long term goal of 10% body fat and ripped 6 pack abs!!

Check out my pictures, stats and final essay:

------------------------194lbs --------------------------182lbs!!






Stats:

Day 1 – May 11, 2009

• Height: 5’10’’
• Weight 194
• Waist 34''
• Neck 15.75''
• Biceps 14''
• Bi's Flexed 15.5''
• Thighs 22''

Day 84 - August 2, 2009

• Weight 182lbs
• Waist 32.5''
• Neck 15.25''
• Biceps 13''
• Bi's Flexed 15''
• Thighs 22''

Change

• Weight minus 12lbs!!
• Waist minus .5''
• Neck minus .75''
• Biceps minus 1''
• Bi's Flexed minus .5''
• Thighs minus 1.5''

Essay:

Essay Just in case my pictures do not do enough justice, let me put it into words how much Turbulence Training has changed my life.

I enlisted myself in TC4 and saw great results. I liked the competition because it kept me accountable. After all, I don’t want to submit before and after pictures with no results. Plus Turbulence Training has become more of a lifestyle for me that I plan to use to get to my ultimate goal of body fat below 10%.

I must admit that TC5 was a lot tougher than the last contest. In TC4 the fat just fell off of me, but now that I was down to my last 10-20 pounds of fat, I knew it would not come off as easy. I was religious with my Turbulence Training workouts and even threw in some fun off day workouts which consisted of hitting the heavy bag, swimming and soccer. The best off day workouts were the long walks with my wife, newborn son and our dog.

My workout programs consisted of the Turbulence Training for Reformed Meatheads, Turbulence Training Hardcore Fat Loss and Turbulence Training for Buff Dudes and Hot Chicks. I followed Craig’s instructions for the workouts very strictly and used my watch to make sure I adhered to the 60 seconds of rest in-between sets. The great part about these workouts is that I was in and out of the gym in 45 minutes or less, or I could even do some of them from home! No long cardio is another great factor of TT. 20 minutes max on the bike or treadmill while doing HIIT cardio was great and effective!!

Now for the hard part, the diet! Actually it wasn’t hard and I wouldn’t consider it a diet either! I plan to follow this for the rest of my life. Basically, I stuck to natural, whole foods and tried to avoid anything out of a box or bag and processed sugars. My diet consists of plenty of fruits, vegetables and lean proteins. I also used Brad Pilon’s Eat-Stop-Eat for the contest and fasted 1-2 days per week.

I lost 12 pounds during this contest and now weigh 182lbs. At first I was not very happy with my results, but when I went and looked back at my starting pictures I was amazed! Wow what a difference! I plan to keep on going until I can see my 6 pack abs. (Please see my other measurements above).

If I had to sum up my success during this transformation, it would be accountability and patience. To see any success you need to be accountable to yourself, especially with your diet. Patience is key because everyone expects to see a 6 pack after a couple of weeks, if not sooner. What you must remember is that it took you years to get fat, so you’re not going to get lean a couple of weeks. Remember this should be a lifestyle change, not some crash diet/exercise program.

Craig thanks again. So far in 2009, I’ve lost 32lbs using Turbulence Training!

1 Month into TC#5, 1 Month Closer to 6 Pack Abs

This Monday marked 1 month into Turbulence Training's Transformation Contest #5 for me. I am proud to say that my weight is down 6lbs from the start of the contest and I now weigh 188lbs.

With the arrival of our new baby, I have not had time to do any measurements (I have barely had time to sleep, lol!), but I can see the results in the mirror so I know a majority, if not all, of my weight loss is a reduction in fat and not muscle.

The beginning of this week also marked a new Turbulence Training program for me. I started the TT Hardcore Fatloss program and think I am really going to like it! I change workouts every 4 weeks to keep my body guessing. I think this workout will have my body asking mercy after the 4 weeks!

Don't get me wrong TT for Reformed Meatheads was an awesome workout program. The super-sets really melted the fat away but I was also able to use heavy weights too! But it's always nice to change it up and surprise the body with a new workout!


TT Hardcore Fatloss is very different from any other TT program that I have done before. The program calls for 5 or 6 days of working out (1 day of HIIT is optional), where a normal Turbulence Training program has 3 workouts and leaves the other days of the week as optional 30 minutes of fun activity.

TT Hardcore Fatloss also varies the HIIT which is always nice. Craig has me doing intervals on the bike, treadmill and body weight circuits. I love the variety and the resistance part of the workout should allow me to still use heavy weights.

I am really motivated to try and become a finalist for this contest. I think that will allow me to prove that you can get your 'dream body' even if you have a busy lifestyle. I believe that if I can lose 8 more pounds of fat that I will have body fat at or below 10% which should allow everyone to see my 6 pack!!