Ready to Rock... And get in shape

Everyone knows about the Wii with its “Fit”, “Sports” and “Resort” games. Xbox and Playstation are each coming out with their own versions of body mechanics controllers and games as well. Its obvious that this is a definite trend in the video gaming world and it is here to stay.

The question is… “Is there really any validity to exercising with a TV and a video game console or is it all just a joke?”. “Does fitness gaming have any true business claiming itself in the fitness world?”.

My answer may surprise you…

YES

I say “Yes” these games and this movement absolutely have a PLACE in fitness and staying healthy. Anyone that goes out and buys a Wii Fit and expects to instantly lose 200 pounds is an absolute idiot but that does not mean that it is not exercise and that it isn’t good for you at all. I used to scoff at these type of video games and laugh them off as a complete joke. As I am getting older though and care less about my dignity and image I am much more open to trying new things even if they may make me look like an idiot. I have actually tried most of these new body movement and fitness related video games and straight up… they are not only exceptionally fun but you can work up a mean sweat in the process!

I don’t think that a fitness program can or should be based on any of these activities but they make a great supplement to or part of any healthy lifestyle or fitness routine.

One of the most important aspects of these types games is that they are fun. I am a firm believer that getting your exercise through fun activities kicks the crap out of planned, scheduled, repetitive workouts anytime.

I recently picked up a couple of Dance Dance Revolution games and pads for my xbox and am absolutely hooked. I used to make fun of the kids that played DDR but it is SO much fun now that I gave it a fair shot. I play this game until I am pouring sweat, exhausted and about to collapse. My main regret is that I can’t play it more often because it IS truly hard and it IS truly a work out so I actually need recovery time between marathon sessions!

I haven’t stopped working out because I am getting exercise by playing this game but it has offered me unbelievable fitnes related benefits. I can tell you that because of these DDR sessions, my stamina is on a level I have not experienced in an extremely long time.

So my advice is to embrace these new activities and this movement and to enjoy it and reap the benefits and the entertainment. Just don’t expect a miracle as you shouldn’t with anything these days. If you have scoffed these types of activities I challenge you to at least give them a try.. you may find them more challenging, and heck more fun than you ever expected. When you are ready to challenge the SoG in a DDR dance off… you let me know!

- The SoG

Volcano in the distance

I live on the edge of town in a High Desert Plateau. It is about 6,500 feet above sea level and there is not a tree in sight. It is a barren windy, sandy plain and it is where Roger De Rok and I like to hike, explore and do arroyo sprints. It is pretty brutal… rarely is there a cloud in the sky, as mentioned earlier there are NO trees and literally NO shade. There is typically a stead state wind of 25-30 miles per hour with gusts usually of around 45. Temperatures average anywhere from 90 to 110 and the dryness and the altitude just add to the brutality. I would equate each mile you travel out here to about 3 miles anywhere else as far as how taxing it is on your body.

Anyways, about 6 miles from my house across these high desert plains and mesas are a series of old volcanoes. I have always wanted to go out and climb around on them but just never got around to doing it. For the last year or so Roger and I have talked about bushwhacking out there and we finally decided to do it yesterday. Fortunately the temperature was only about 90 degrees but the sun was unrelenting and the wind was punishing.

I was prepared with my vibrams, light clothing, a light long sleeve shirt (Believe it or not cooler in these conditions), a boony cap and a pack full of water and lunch food:

Me

Roger on the other hand does not own a single piece of clothing that is not black! (even his vibrams are black lol).

Roger De Rok

Ultimately when we got out to the base of the first volcano, we ran into a vicious barbed wire fence that ran as far as the eye can see which is why I say that the government won in the end. Still we had a good adventure, good exercise and we never would have known if we hadn’t done it.

So Close

Along the way we did find this little basalt pit that was pretty neat. Walking on these rocks in vibrams though was killer on the feet!

Basalt Pit

In a world where hardly an inch is left unexplored, most people don’t even think about unleashing their inner explorer. As man, we have this inherent desire to see and conquer new places that is a very basic primal urge. I urge and challenge everyone to get out there and explore something new to you know. It doesn’t matter if you live in the middle of a big city or out in the middle of nowhere. Pick something that you have been wanting to explore for a long time but haven’t done it yet (It could even be a museum). If possible make the journey on foot and get some good exercise along the way!

Do you have place that  you have been wanting to “explore” or an adventure that you have yet to embark on?

-The SoG

Lean in that the portions are so small?
Lean in taste and flavor?
Lean as in lean forward as your gut drags you around?

Whatever the reason, the Lean Cuisine name makes it sell. It is crazy how well these things sell.

I brown bag my lunch most days. I bring an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack to keep my lunch cold. It isn’t that we don’t have a fridge at work…. Its just that there is no room in it. The fridge AND the freezer are literally packed to the brim with Lean Cuisines. This is not an exaggeration… they are completely full with the little cardboard boxes. With the exception of an occasional egg-o waffle box or Marie Calendar pot pie, 90% of these cardboard boxes say “Lean Cuisine”. It is crazy.

Now I am not going to lie. There have been times in my life where I lived off little freezer boxes. Michellina’s and the generic cheapies were sometimes all I at 3 meals per day. They were cheap and easy to make. They were VERY cheap and VERY easy to throw in the microwave.

Occasionally when they were on sale I got the Lean Cuisines too. You know what? They were terrible! I think I once ate the cardboard box that it was in on accident because it indeed did taste as good as the meal. That and it doesn’t really matter how many of these gross little meals I ate, I was inevitably still starving afterwards.

Now on to the speed and convenience of Lean Cuisines. The simplicity of opening the box and tossing it in the microwave is completely negated at my work. Come lunch time, there is actually a line the forms at the microwave. People queue their food up and actually tell each other “Your turn” as they retrieve their heated plasticy cardboard contraptions. Considering that each meal takes 3-5 minutes or so to heat up, it can easily be 20-30 minutes before it is your frozen cuisines “turn” to get fried. Me? I whip out my lunch bag and dive into some delicious egg salad, nuts, pork rinds, veggies. No wait… instant delicious gratification.

Ugh and the smell of these things. It doesn’t even smell like food. During the Lean Cuisine Queue at lunch, an awful aroma fills the office. It is funny because sometimes I do bring leftovers that need reheated. Once I heat up my meatloaf etc., I usually get quite a few people coming by my desk asking what that “Delicious smell” is and also frequently get told “did you bring enough for me?” Funny, though Lean Cuisine appears to be bountiful enough for all, no one really seems to enjoy eating it.

Usually by the time I drive to a restaurant, get seated, order, wait for my order, eat, wait for the check and pay… I could have whipped up an amazing meal and enjoyed myself more in the process.

Then there is the issue of food quality. Cooks at 90% of restaurants really don’t give a damn about how much effort they put into your meal. Its just the facts. They are pressed for time, limited to crappy ingredients and most of them are paid like poop. I realized something interesting the other day when I had to go to a business meeting over lunch at a restaurant. How often have you gone out to eat with someone and heard the question asked “How is yours?” How often has the response been “Its ok” or “its alright” or its “so so”? This just isn’t something that has happened to me since not eating out anymore. The food is always excellent or phenomenal and if it isn’t… its my own darn fault.

Then there is the issue of cost. A meal at a half decent restaurant for just the wife and I always seems to put me back at least $30. I can cook whatever I want, grass fed, top shelf and organic for way less than that! I always leave a restaurant feeling a little like I just got robbed.

Kind of tying in with that is the issue of service. How often do you really get good service anymore. Admitted I do get better service when traveling than I do here locally (you other Albuquerque locals can probably vouch for this as well) but you just don’t get decent service anymore. It seems tipping has become a given requirement now and no one feels that they should have to work for it. I am not kidding… the last 3 times I have gone to a restaurant, I have had to stand up, track down my waiter/waitress and demand a refill on my water. When I get good service, I am a generous 20% tipper but it seems that never happens anymore. It is a “gratuity”… it iss meant as a gracious gesture for me to show my gratitude for being taken well care of during my meal. A lot of restaurants these days have even started automatically adding the gratuity to your bill for you thereby deciding for you exactly how much gratitude you posses for your meal.

And then there is… you know what? Never mind. I am just getting myself aggravated. 

08/08

08/09

I almost missed it. This month one year ago, I decided to turn my life around and started moving towards a primal lifestyle.

Wow… I never could have imagined that I would be where I am right now.

Here are a few things I have learned along the way:
- It is WAY easier to be fit and healthy that you would expect
- A lot of people are going to think you are crazy
- You have to do it for you
- The outdoors is an awesome place to be
- Over-analyzing and over-sciencing your approach is a waste of time
- Food is more than something to tide your hunger over. Real food is delicious.
- I love cooking
- I really can live without bread and french fries and chips and corn and sugar… and live well!
- Eating fat can make you NOT fat
- I really do have abs under there!
- Most people really do have no idea how to get healthy
- Most people do not realize how much of an impact what you eat has on your health
- I don’t think that I ever want go back
- Much much more that I neglected to mention here!

So here is to my success… and yours!

This is my idea of a "fun" workout

“I Hate Working Out”

I hear this a lot (mostly from Roger De Rok).

If this is you or how you feel as well then I have some good news for you.
YOU DON”T HAVE TO WORK OUT TO BE HEALTHY AND IN SHAPE.

If you think that what I just said is unprimal… think again.

How often do you think Grok thought “Man… I need to work out more”?
He didn’t.
Instead he thought “Man… I need to get some food” or “Man… I need to build some shelter” or “OH CRAP THAT THING HAS BIG TEETH… I NEED TO RUN AWAY”.

All these things translated into exercise which we do need to be healthy and in shape. “Working out” is not the only way to get exercise though. Planned and scheduled “workouts” do not have to be part of the equation.

Working out is indeed a good way for us to get exercise and for us to make up for all the things that Grok did standard that we no longer do. Working out is also quite convenient when you don’t have the time, weather, or opportunity to get exercise in other ways. Some people even enjoy working out itself and more power to them. I myself have been working out 1-3 times a week depending on how active I am outside of working out. I have been doing a fair amount of outdoors activity lately and so have not felt a need to work out too much. I have been going to the lake the last couple weekends which involves a lot of swimming, jumping, climbing etc.

If you hate working out though, don’t stress! Just make sure that you are getting your exercise through other means. This can be done any number of ways including playing a sport, taking a hike, exploring, yard work, home improvement projects. Just be active!

If you can find a manner of exercise that you enjoy, then getting exercise will never seem like a chore. Also, if you get bored of getting exercise one way, switch it up and find another. It is why the workout crew likes to switch up their workouts so they don’t get monotonous.

Don’t let your lack of motivation or your distaste for working out keep you from a healthy happy you!

Ready to jump back down!

My health is the easy one so I will hit that first. Before going primal, I was on a fast track to an ailment and medication riddled future. My lipid profile straight up sucked. No better way to put it. My HDL levels were critically low and the doctors were talking statins. No matter how hard I worked to improve my health via conventional wisdom routes, I could not improve. Hell… I couldn’t even maintain as I slipped slowly further into the abyss of western medical issues. It took less than 3 months… yes three months of going primal to not only improve my health and lipid profile but to actually bring them to an extremely healthy level. Primal poer baby.

The other tremendous improvements that I have experienced all have to do with the hormone stabilization involved with going primal. These benefits are so great that they almost outweigh even the health benefits!

A little background: I have long been an emotional nightmare to be around. Even as a little kid, one second I might be a perfect angel and the next a total nightmare. You can ask my family. This has always made me pretty darn hard to be around because you never knew what Erick you were going to get. I could flip in heartbeat too. Things were actually so volatile with my family that I moved out at an early age. This personality volatility did not stop after my childhood and continued into my adulthood. You could probably even make the case that I was borderline bi-polar. I also have gone through times of severe depression due to this.

Going primal has truly regulated my hormones. I no longer have the spikes of serotonin or the poor abused and beaten up serotonin receptors. I am a much MUCH more stable person. This is not just via my own observation but has been pointed out to me repeatedly by my mother, family, friends and my wife. I am all around a much less stressed out and much happier person.

This has benefited me in several ways:

Family and Relationships
I get to see my family a lot more. They visit more often and we are allowed to visit them more. It has really helped me to build some of those relationships that were fully developed when I was younger.

Marriage
I am not going to lie. when I went primal, I was on the verge of an early divorce. My relationship with my wife was bad… and quickly getting worse. It was both of our fault but my mood swings certainly were not helping things. We were talking the big D word and only 2 months into being married! Stabilizing my (and her) hormone via living primal has helped us beyond belief. I can now openly call our relationship phenomenal.

Career
I am good at my job and I like my job… but it is a stressful and demanding job. In the past, I have let this stress get to me to a very unhealthy level. This has cause me severe work relate anxiety and depression in the past.I have also not always been the most fun person to work with on major projects. I always get the job done but I built a reputation for being a little shrewd, demanding and not very understanding. Since going primal, my relationships have greatly improved with my co-workers. I am still known for getting the job done but I am considered much more pleasant to work with lol.

All in all, I can not describe with enough enthusiasm the improvements that primal living has made in my life. I am like a new person. I am still me, but I am a much much MUCH happier healthier me. I feel like I am living life the way it is supposed to be lived. I no longer view life a suffering as I once did.

Roast Rabbit For Dinner

The leftover rabbit made an EXCELLENT green chile stew. This post over at MDA has had me thinking for a while now. It is a post by Chuck and he talks about hunting your own food and the ethics of such. It got me to thinking…

“Do I deserve to eat an animal that I could not have prepared myself”?

I have decided the answer to that question is no.Sure I support local sustainable farming and yaddah yaddah. But what is more humane than having to treat the animal that you are going to eat yourself. I foresee a somewhat spiritual connection there that I have yet to experience. How can you truly appreciate meat that you see for the first time when it comes out of the freezer wrapped in plastic?

In light of this, Roger de Rok and I have started planning some hunting trips with his father who is an experienced hunter. I am greatly looking forward to this experience as I think it is one that I should have.

Am I saying that I am only going to catch my own food from now on?NO, not by any means. I will continue to shop the local farm store and support local sustainable farming. However, I think that I should have the experience of the whole salami (lol) to better understand and appreciate my food.

The rabbit above is part of my effort to open my mind to this process and different foods. Survivorman often eats a rabbit on his ordeals. I said to myself the other day “I have never eaten rabbit”. So we ate rabbit as it is a food that you would probably actually eat if you were grok in the wild. We actually bought this rabbit from the local farm store… I did not catch it myself… but one step at a time.

My challenge to all of you:

I challenge each and every one of you to do at least ONE new thing this weekend.Eat a new meat that you never would have thought of, a new vegetable, do a new activity. Just try ONE new thing this weekend. Post what that one thing was or send me an email to sog@sonofgrok.com. I mould love to hear about it!

My forearms were screaming!

This was the reason I was in such a good mood after the weekend. 2 hours of rock climbing and I felt like I had just taken a 2 week vacation!

We were having so much fun that I only thought to take that one bad (really bad) picture.

I am now an addict.We went to our local indoor climbing gym. It was amazing. It was like being in a giant cave of fun wonders. They had beginner areas with fixed belays (safety thingies) that they just allowed you to go wild on. They also had more complex areas that I am going to have to work up to. Another fun thing they had were areas for “bouldering” or climbing without ropes. Those were fun as well and really really difficult. The people doing that were amazing!

This was a killer workout. It was so much fun that you didn’t even realize that you were working out but before you knew it, your hands and forearms were cramping and freaking out in ways that you never knew were possible. One thing I noticed is that of all the people in the climbing gym… almost every single person was in decent shape! It was a nice change. Once you do a little climbing, you will know why. You can just feel the benefits of this exercise almost immediately.

My new goal is to try to go at least once a week (for my weekend workout). I can’t emphasise this enough… GO… TRY… IT… OUT! Look up your local climbing gym. This is an amazing experience.

The Guy on the Right must be "Too Skinny"

*p.s. those are supposed to be PG rated moobs (also known as man boobs). We keep things family around SoG.com

I cannot count the number of times that I have heard the following:
“You are too skinny”
“You need to put some meat on you”
“You need to come over so that we can feed you”

To be perfectly honest, I am absolutely SICK of hearing this. Sick sick sick. This usually comes from someone overweight too.

Lets get something straight, I am NOT too skinny… I would actually consider myself acceptably “beefy”. There are other people around too that are far skinnier than I am that I don’t hear being subjected to this rubbish. Is is because I used to be fat (?)… by comparison maybe I look very skinny from what people are used to seeing me as. That is the best that I can figure. OR maybe we as a society have gotten so overweight that being healthy DOES look too skinny.

When someone tells me that, I am half tempted to rip my shirt off, flex my abs and dare the person “Call me to skinny now! I dare you!”. Unfortunately this usually happens to me at work where this would be a wholly unacceptable practice.

Speaking of unacceptable… when did it become socially acceptable to make a comment to someone like that?Would it be acceptable to respond to someone who tells me “You are too skinny. You need to come over so I can feed you” by telling them “You are too fat. You need to come over so I can put you through a workout and feed you some real food.” No, this would be considered completely out of line. I would have HR and lawsuits up my butt faster than Richard Gere with a gerbil (I think that was the urban legend when I was a kid).

You know what though?Next time someone tells me something like “You are too skinny” (which seems to be an at least weekly occurrence) I am going to say something that I probably shouldn’t (or actually probably should). I will let you know how it goes.