Monday, March 30, 2015

Tactical Athlete Priorities

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U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Elizabeth Merriam

Building a body that is built to endure and hard to break is simple, but not easy.  It requires constand reevaluation of your program to ensure that you are prioritizing what you should.  Most tactical athletes prioritize wrong.  They emphasize what is a lower priority and leave the highest priority items completely off the table.  This is common.  You may be able to get away with this in the short term when you are young, but it will eventually catch up with you and drag down your performance or worse, end your tactical career.  Here is my take on prioritization, from most to  least important:

1.  Rehabilitating injuries:  This must be #1.  No compromises.  In the tactical professions you are only as strong as your weakest link.  Due to the unpredictable nature of the job, you simply cannot count on being able to compensate for an injury.  An injury can compromise the mission and put you and your teammates in jeapordy.  You must make this your top priority.  Your entire conditioning program should be organized around rehabilitating any existing injuries.  When NFL great Adrian Peterson tore his ACL, he made rehabilitation the #1 priority in his conditioning program (and perhaps #1 life goal as well).  As a result, his recovery was phenomenal. How do you think he would have fared had he just continued his usual conditioning program?

2.  Injury prevention:  To use another football analogy.....NFL players have a saying, "built like Tarzan but plays like Jane."  They know that football performance is not built primarily in the weight room.  It is built primarily on the field, doing football stuff.  The same is true for tactical athletes.  As a result, the primary focus of your conditioning program should be injury prevention, with performance coming from practicing your tactical trade.  Strength and conditioning coaches who work with athletes in collision or fight sports focus on injury prevention first, and performance second.  The focus should be on spine stability (strength) and mobility, strong shoulders, hips and core.  Take a look at your tactical profession and see where most injuries happen on the job.  I'll bet you $1 that most injuries do not occur from horizontal pushing (i.e., bench press) movements.  Build your program around preventing those injuries.

3.  Strength:  Strength is the quality that takes longest to achieve.  Initial strength gains come quickly in novice lifters due to neurological adaptations.  Beyond that, gains come more slowly, especially in experienced athletes.  Because of this, strength training should be a constant, long term focus.  The best strength training programs focus on the fundamental human movements, push, pull, squat, hip hinge, and carry/core.

4.  Endurance/stamina:  When we use the term "endurance" we are generally talking about sustaining an activity for an extended period of time.  Stamina generally refers to the ability to recover from intermittent work over an extended time.  A long ruck is endurance.  Fire and maneuver is stamina.  Endurance is generally built with endurance training.  Stamina can be built with a combination of endurance training and work capacity (metabolic conditioning - METCON) training.

5.  Work capacity:  Work capacity, or the ability to perform high intensity work, is most often trained using METCON.  METCON ability is built quickly.  You can just about max out your METCON fitness with 4-6 weeks of METCON training.  Additionally, too much METCON interferes with building strength and hypertrophy.  Because of this interference, and the ability to ramp up quickly, it is a much lower priority.  Also, METCON is potent medicine.  A little bit goes a long way.  It should be thought of as a "side dish" in a training program and not a "main course."

Friday, March 20, 2015

If you're upper back is weak, you just outed yourself...

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I'm sure that readers of my blog know that I'm generally a fan of keeping things involving my training somewhat simple.  After all, one of the whole points to my blogging is to show off to the world how much worthwhile training can be accomplished with less equipment than the rest of the world would have you believe.  This minimalist mindset often times leaks over to advice I dispense. 

So, that's probably why I find the deadlift form check videos on my facebook feed could throw me into a frothing rage if I had slightly less self control.  Simply put, deadlifting is taking shit off the floor.  Doing that properly isn't esoteric knowledge or missile-construction complex.  Still, this is weight training and people find a way to complicate things.  A few  reasons why people's deadlift sucks come up and one interests me at the moment:  upper back weakness. 
Me, doing 360 lbs for 12, not really giving a shit about getting form checked. 

Gyms, and their inhabitants, these days make me want to scratch my head...or smash their heads.  Just like collective senility set in about picking heavy things up properly off the ground has infected the houses of iron, so has the inability and lack of desire to work hard.  If anyone's wondering about how I connect the dots of lazy and bad pulling, it's simple:  if you're opining that your upper back is weak, you've just told the world you don't work hard enough. 

An upper back is made strong by a variety of movements.  You can build muscle back there with a shocking variety of rows, pull-ups, rope climbing, carrying heavy stuff, just about all deadlifting, lat pull-overs, etc.  Things that some people might consider to be THE BASICS

Next, most of this stuff works best if done in high volume.  Very simply put:  the upper back muscles can take a pounding.  So, to get them to grow and get strong, you've got to force them to do a lot of work.  Not only can they do a lot of work in a single session, it's possible to work them 3-4 times a week in such a fashion with  no detrimental effects.  

So, if the key to getting a strong upper back is doing the basic strength training movements with enough volume often enough, what other conclusion could be arrived at for having a weak one in the first place?  

Since I'm not in the blogging-business of mindlessly ranting about everyone's shitiness without giving solutions to the problems (to me that qualifies as being an asshole with no redeeming quality), I'll give you a few things that I like to do to keep my upper backs strong when I throw upper back work into my prayer sessions.

  • I heard about this from either Chip Conrad or Matt  Kroczaleski (I can't remember who; look I can spell his last name!):  100 pull-ups.  Do 100 pull-ups, however many sets but do 100.  Try to keep the time down to do it.  Being Matt Kroczaleski, he claims 5 sets of 20.  I generally do a set of 15 and 10 until I hit 100.  It ususally takes me around 12-14 minutes. 
  • I've blogged about my take on pyramid sets in the past.  I've also got a weighted pull-up take on things.  I'll normally start at 50 lbs pull-ups for 10.  Then, I'll add 10 lbs and drop off two reps until I get to 90 lbs (which would be for two reps).  Then, I'll do 90 for two until I can't do any more sets.  Then, I head back down. 
  • Pedlay Rows.  I love these with an axle.  Its pretty much the most idiot-proof row that can be done without machinery.  5-8 reps...until I just can't do any more sets (generally 8-12 sets). 
  • Double rope climbs.  Oh, this is a latest favorite of mine.   I've got two-1 inch ropes hanging in my garage.  Each hand has  rope.   I've got several ways I'll attack this.  Sometimes, I do just bodyweight, several trips up the rope.  Other times, I'll grab some 10 lbs chains, wrap them around m body, bandoleer style, and make trips up the rope, pyramid-style as described above with the weighted pulls.  Other times, I'll just put 20 lbs on and go up for five trips. 
  • Bent Pressing.  I'm still using a 100-110 lbs (either kb or db) for accessory work for my deadlifts.  I'll do three on each side, three times.  A bent press "rep" is a lot of time under tension.  So three sets of three on each side can be killer.
So, there's my normal variety of familiar with an odd twist or just flat-out odd.  You don't need to be this strange, even if I highly recommend it.  Just pick out a movement and do as much as your body will allow you to do...and a bit more after that.  I can't guarantee that this will fix your deadlift form since using your head doesn't come from upper back strength.  At the very least, I can hopefully instill a work ethic. 

Sunday, March 15, 2015

SnM: Supplements Not Miracles

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Since I am going to be posting several supplement reviews in the near future, I decided to write this precursor to what I will call my SnM series. Because while it may seem obvious when you think about it, most people really believe, or at least suspend their logic so they can proceed to blindly hope, that what they buy at Vitamin Shoppe is going to be their secret pill to massive gains. As if Beta Alanine is the missing ingredient, the reason why you're still benching 175 lbs. for the last three years.

Before I start let me say this is not an anti-supplement article. I use them everyday. But I am smart about it. I buy what works, make educated decisions, and am not easily fooled by flashy marketing or obviously false promises.

Nevertheless, I get it. Everyone wants that miracle drug. We all want to put on 20 lbs. of muscle this year. We want to lose 50 lbs. of fat without restricting calorie intake. Infomercials have been preying on this for decades, and most of the fitness industry is based on this powerful desire. We want these things so badly that we suspend our rational thinking every time something new comes out. Oh yeah, that Ab rocker didn't work but the Ab BLASTER is totally going to get me ripped.  But if you do just a little research you can see that the people having success are all doing the same basic things. They might frost it differently, but they're all using a very similar cake recipe and baking it in the oven for a similar amount of time.

What you have to realize with supplements is that anything that is super effective is going to attract the attention of "the man", in this case big pharmaceutical companies. Anything that really works the way you want it to work, which is to say like a potent drug, is going to get restricted, classified as a drug, and handed over to Big Pharma to either package and sell (which will require a prescription and all that nonsense) or just locked away so they don't have competition. Whether or not it is safe no longer matters, it's just about money and control. So for this very basic reason, a supplement is never going to be drug-like in effect, which is to say, significantly potent. And if it is, it won't be around for long. You must keep that in mind when choosing to buy a new product.

This doesn't mean supplements don't work. It just means that an herbal libido enhancer or test booster isn't Viagra, not even close. In all likelihood it won't do anything very noticeable, and it certainly won't raise your test like stee-roids. Pre-workouts are not methamphetamine. Stimulants are actually the most effective supplements in terms of doing what they say they will do. But they aren't cocaine. As said, when something halfway decent comes along and gets popular the FDA bans it for being "unsafe."

Which leads to the title of this article. These are supplements, not miracles. Their effect is not going to be huge. And if you have other aspects of your life off point the supplement might not do anything at all in terms of getting you positive benefit in your muscle building endeavors. Which brings me to the second point.

Gamma Rays probably won't have the same effect on you, but neither will whatever you bought at GNC last week.
You know what's more important than a pre-workout? Sleep. You know what else is more important than caffeine? Calories. If you're sleeping 6 hours a night and eating 1500 calories a day you are compromising your strength in the gym and you're not going to build much muscle, if any. A pre-workout, which is often just a glorified cup of coffee, isn't going to change that.

By the same token, if you're not sleeping, and not eating enough fat, and you're depressed because you hate your job, an herbal test booster isn't going to give you a raging hard on. But you know what might? Sleeping 10 hours a night, eating the materials your body needs to make the hormones you need, and fixing your life so you don't hate waking up everyday.

You can't make a cake using only frosting. You have to make the cake first, then worry about frosting it. Supplements aren't going to fix you. Used properly they might slightly enhance you if you're doing the basics right already. This being true, you can imagine that most of the stuff in a Vitamin Shoppe probably isn't all that useful. I don't want to make this a "what supplements should I take" article, but what is useful?

Creatine Monohydrate - We know it works. There's no debating. But what it actually does is something a lot of people don't know. They think it "builds muscle" and "adds strength" because that's what the label says. What it does is saturates your muscles with ATP. This is the energy you use when you lift weights. So the end result is that you can perform longer (get more reps) and recover faster (less rest between sets). This is good, obviously. It's more fuel. This doesn't mean it "builds more muscle" though. It is still something you should take and it's dirt cheap.

Omega 3s - These are anti-inflammatory fats. Whether or not you get them from fish oil is up to you. Fish oil is the common way to supplement them. They counteract omega 6s, of which modern food is loaded. So chances are you're eating too much 6s and not enough 3s. That's why it's beneficial to supplement omega 3s with fish oil.

Vitamins and minerals - there are too many here to list. It's a hornets' nest to sort out. There is research to suggest that we don't get enough of anything from our foods, and apparently being deficient in one of these is theoretically devastating. There are things like Magnesium and Vitamin D that you don't want to be deficient in, but almost certainly are if you are not supplementing them.

However the same can probably be said for everything. As such I'm not getting into it. There's too much here. Take a multivitamin that probably doesn't have enough of these things anyway, and who knows how much gets absorbed. I'm just not going to touch this topic because it's too messy and I don't have the answers. You could spend a fortune supplementing quality forms of all the vitamins and minerals you need so you'll have to make your own decisions here.

Protein - Whether it comes in bar, powder, pre-mixed liquid, or some other delivery system, protein is food, and it's necessary for muscle gains. Do you need to supplement it instead of just eating food from the grocery store? That's up to you. It depends on what you eat from the grocery store. Protein supplements definitely have their use.

Stimulants - we know for a fact that stimulants work. Caffeine is obviously the big one but there are definitely other things that increase your energy. However, there's also a lot of fluff that isn't really going to do anything. It's always a good idea to simply try caffeine pills at $3 a bottle first instead of going for C4 or Jack3d. Chances are the biggest factor in your preworkout is caffeine, and caffeine is cheap. There are definitely more stimulants than caffeine, although most companies don't really use them.

There are also other compounds that have use pre-workout that aren't necessarily stimulants. There's Beta Alanine, for example. Taken in a high enough dose, it makes your skin tingly / itchy. This makes you want to get up and move around, so in that regard it serves a purpose. In my experience it doesn't last particularly long, but it's a nice effect.

Pain Killers - reducing pain and inflammation is a good thing. There's no debating the efficacy of such drugs. Of course, they are only useful if you are actually hurting.

Vasodilators - which is to say things that make your veins bigger to move more blood. In other words, pump products. Again the effect is cool. Whether or not it results in any increase in strength or muscle gain is up for debate. And that brings me to another point.

The Placebo Effect is real, and taking something because you believe it works is a valid strategy. Taking something that produces a desirable immediate effect is also legit, if you think it's cool and it makes you feel good about yourself. It might not result in getting bigger and stronger, though. So as long as you are cool with that, then it's all good.

That's hardly a comprehensive list but it's most of the broad strokes. But the bigger point is that even when supplements work acutely, which means an effect in this moment, what effect does this have in the long term goal? Are you going to be bigger and stronger in two years because you took that pump product, compared to if you hadn't taken it? Maybe that test booster does acutely raise your test levels a bit, but does that mean you build more muscle as a result? Maybe the pre-workout got you psyched to go lift for a 5 lb. PR that one time, but does that mean you put on an extra pound of muscle that month? And perhaps creatine allowed you to bang out 2 extra reps each week, but what long term affect does that have? Can you even measure it, and better yet, can you notice it without sensitive measuring devices?

I got ninety-nine ingredients but divine intervention ain't one.
The fact is, if you have everything on point, supplements might add a tiny amount of actual measurable progress over the long term. But most average people don't have everything on point. And these people would be far better off fixing their diet, sleep, training, and attitude. This isn't to say that supplements don't work if you're not already perfect. They can certainly take you from shit show to immeasurably less of a shit show. But most often people go in with stupid expectations, see nothing of the effect they were looking for, and just end up wasting their money. They then proceed to buy more and more ridiculous products in their effort to find the holy grail of gains. Illegal Anabolics are the holy grail of gains. So unless you're willing to do that, stop looking for magic in a jar and get your shit in order.

Sleep 8 to 10 hours a night. Yeah, you want to put 8 hours as the ceiling, I consider it the floor. If you're lifting in a brutal fashion, and working full time, you should be pretty damn tired, so sleep instead of checking facebook for 2 hours a night.

Eat enough food, dammit. You know how it's enough? You'll gain weight. If you're not gaining weight, you're not gaining muscle. So unless you're already ripped, siting at your desired body weight, you're probably looking to build more muscle. You're going to hit a hard wall if you try to build strength without adding muscle mass. Obviously there are mechanisms for this to happen but it's really better off done at two points in time: Your first few months of training ever, and after you've reached your desired lean body weight. Otherwise you're better served by actually building new lean tissue, which requires that you gain body weight. So if you're not gaining weight you're not eating enough, in general. And I don't care how many calories you eat, or whether or not you think that it's a lot of food. Bar don't lie, and scale don't either. Small and weak? then eat more, and stop whining about how hard it is, genius. Actually, I don't care if you whine or not, as long as you eat more you'll see them gains.

Eat enough protein. I'm not going to debate what's enough. 0.8 grams per lb. of body weight is the minimum. It's what science seems to say will max out your muscle building endeavors. So I'm going to put that as the minimum recommended figure. Going less than this is dumb because studies show that you are giving up gains when you do it. There is nothing negative that comes from eating more protein so there really isn't any practical ceiling. I like the 1.5 grams per lb. of body weight but I concede that it might be a bit high. I think 1 gram per lb. is a good starting point in general.

Don't be a sad cunt, as Zyzz would say.  Emotional stress has profound effects on the body. How motivated are you going to be to go to the gym when you hate your job? If you struggle to get out of bed because you spend 1/3 of your life doing something you dread, that stress is going to leak into the rest of your life. Now maybe this makes you mad and actually want to go to the gym, but maybe it makes you depressed. If so then that is going to fuck up your gains, even if you do manage to train well. Short term physiological stress is what makes the body grow, but prolonged psychological stress is not a good thing. In other words, find a way to enjoy your life. You can't be sad 8 hours a day and expect positive things to result. At the very least get pissed and use that energy to lift heavy things after work. Anger is always better than sadness. Sad cunts make no gains, angry people do. Happy people do too. My point is that there is a tipping point on the emotional scale, below which you can kiss your gains goodbye, if you stay there chronically. Sounds dumb, I know, but it's true. But if you can stay pissed off or better you're probably good to go.

Once again I'll reiterate that I am not trying to knock all supplements, just wanting you to put things in perspective, because they are supplements, not miracles. A stimulant based fat burner is not going to burn off 1000 calories in a day for you. It's going to burn off a very small amount, and maybe suppress your appetite, as stimulants tend to do. It's still up to you to not eat that damn Big Mac. You have to do the basics, you have to intake less energy, or you're not going to lose fat. It's not rocket science and your problem isn't a lack of pills. Conversely if you aren't gaining weight you need to eat more and lift more. If you want those calories to come from Serious Mass then so be it but your issue isn't a lack of supplements, it's a lack of food.

With all that being said, you can expect a few supplement reviews in the near future. I plan to review several Chaos and Pain brand supplements, starting with their pre-workouts Ferox and Aggro, as well as their test booster, Cannibal Alpha. And probably their upcoming sleep aid Hypnos, and perhaps their pump product Permaswole. Yeah, it's all CnP stuff for now because they are an awesome company, and I can't very well review basic stuff like creatine and multivitamins and protein powder, right? Just go buy Vitamin Shoppe brand or whatever is cheapest and tastes good to you.

I just wanted to throw this article out there first. Supplements are not miracles, and the sooner you learn that the better. Also understanding that, unlike in the past, modern supplements are far less drug-like than most of us want them to be. And understanding this will put you in a better position to make wise decisions. This doesn't mean you don't buy any supplements, it just means you understand what you are buying so that you can buy what you can use instead of buying some dream in a bottle that never pans out.

Now if you're not willing to do what it takes then that's fine, but save your money if that's the case. Because supplements aren't going to make up for chronic lack of sleep and food. And you would be better off spending that $40 on chicken and a comfortable pillow instead of going to GNC.

Back From the Dead

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Father forgive me for I have sinned. It has been two years since my last post. Actually, as you know, it hasn't; since I posted two recent articles lately, but before then there was a dry spell of about two years. However, I have been making some changes to the blog lately. The most noticeable is the new logo design and updated color scheme. That's just the start of it. I plan to be far more aggressive with my content creation than I have been in the recent past.


Homemade Strength originally started as a way to simply post my DIY projects so others could duplicate them if they wished. I used to be fairly active on a particular forum and I kept hearing guys say or do one of the following pieces of bullshit:

1. There is no gym in my area within reasonable driving distance that has a squat rack.

2. I lift from home but can't afford the right equipment so I don't do any useful lifts.

3. [posting pictures of 2 bar stools with a loaded bar balanced on them, likely because of reason #2]

My response was to make my own home gym (literally make it) and then post stupidly detailed, possibly redundantly so, instructions to make it all seem super complicated so that nobody who was complaining would actually do it anyway. Joking aside, that's why I made the blog. And after I completed the basic stuff I moved on to more obscure and less useful gear, not all of which I still even have. After that I ran out of stuff worth making.

And you'll notice that there is a period of several years which we can call the Dark Times, where I did not post anything at all. Looking back I can't believe it has been that long. Even so it didn't feel like I abandoned the blog, as I would respond to comments. There was just nothing new to make. That's not really different now. There is only one project which I have upcoming in the near future. But that leads to the point of this post.

If all I do is post DIY gym projects I may never post again, and I'm not cool with that because I like to write, and I like to lift, so I like to write about lifting. As such, I'm going to expand the blog to be a general blog about lifting. This will include supplement reviews, music posts, and articles about diet and anything else that pertains to lifting. I have done a few of these in the past but now I'm giving myself free reign to do it regularly. The focus is still lifting from home, after all, it's called Homemade Strength.

In addition to updating the look a bit, I've also put up a Facebook page, and an Instagram page, in addition to the blog and the Youtube page (which primarily exists to host videos for the blog. The facebook page has actually been around for a while but I haven't posted anything to it. I'm not a huge social media guy so I'm not 100% sure how often it will get used but it seems a useful platform for smaller topics on which I don't have pages of things to say. Instagram seems like a fun idea to use pictures to achieve a similar thing. In any case, I know people like social media so I figured I'd expand things a bit. At the very least it's a way to keep you guys updated about new posts so you don't have to check the blog all the time, now that I plan to be posting more regularly.

This doesn't mean I'm going to be posting like crazy, bear in mind, as I work nearly 60 hours a week and during week days I literally eat / sleep / lift / work  / repeat. But with anything (pertaining to lifting) being fair game I should have enough freedom to put up regular content.

I have several supplement reviews in the works, and by several I mean three, and probably an additional two after that. I have a DIY Big Ass Dumbbell project planned. It's actually already done. I just have to film a video showing you how to to do it (it's totes easy as the kids would say).  A music post is long overdue so will likely happen sometime soon as well. Also a bluetooth headphone review is in the works. Again I'll probably do a video / article combo for that one so you can choose your preferred form of media. And then there's the review of the Rogue Ohio Power Bar. That will most likely be a video, as how much is there to really write about a barbell, but I do want to give my brief opinion of it.

The most interesting news is I'm about to start bulking again. I had always been skinny and I hate to eat. My first two years of training I went from 120 lbs. to 180. And when I say "I went" I actually mean "I clawed my way with my fingernails, inch by inch, out of hell"; Al Pacino from Any Given Sunday style. I know the struggle that skinny guys have and I have always been interested in helping the "hardgainers" so I figure I might do some kind of project involving this bulk.

I'm sitting at a lean 160 right now. I might just take it up to 200 for lols. I have to go past 180 at the very least on principle. I was thinking 190, but since that's so close to 200 I might just go all the way. The time frame on this probably being a year. The point being to show those struggling how it can be done. Not by someone who weighed 170 without training. Not by someone who eats 3500 calories a day with ease. Not by someone who has no issue getting up to 235. But by someone (a man) who weighed 120 lbs. at 5' 10" at 27 years old. Someone who is just like you, but knows how to power through to get results. It sucks for me to bulk. And I think that's what might make this an interesting project. Although I'm sure, looking from the outside, people will assume it's not hard for me, I can assure you it is. Cutting, on the other hand, is pretty damn easy.

That's just an idea for now. I'm not completely sold on it, as it will be a lot of work, since I plan it be a video series, not simply an article written after the fact. But it might be a fun project. We'll see.

In any case, that's what is going on. And to kick things off, immediately after this, I will post the pre-cursor article to my supplement reviews, just to clarify my position on supplements in general, because I know a lot of younger guys, just starting out, find this blog and often think that GNC is the answer they need.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Andy Kirkpatrick | view | D.F.Y.U |

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Andy Kirkpatrick | view | D.F.Y.U |



This is really good.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Quest Chips Review

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When Quest chips came out I was definitely interested in trying them. But I didn't want to order a few bags online and no stores near me had them. However, the other day I went into Vitamin Shoppe and they had them, so I picked up one of each flavor. In the interest of putting out some useful but non-labor intensive content, I decided to do a review of them for you guys.


I remember when Quest first started releasing products. They only had a few flavors of protein bars. I got a free sample, and like most people, enjoyed them. I never bought a Quest bar because at the end of the day they cost over 10 cents per gram of protein. It's not ridiculous compared to other ready to consume animal based protein products, but it's still expensive.

Quest chips currently come in 5 flavors: Plain (salt), Sour Cream and Onion, Salt and Vinegar, Cheddar and Sour Cream, and BBQ. Before I review the taste, let me get to the things that are the same for every flavor.

TEXTURE

To call these "chips" in America might not be the most technically accurate description. Most people are going to think potato or corn chips. These are closer to crackers in my opinion. They are very light and airy, not greasy in the least. and have the texture of a super light saltine cracker.

They have a good initial crunch to them and no bad aftertaste. There is a point while you're chewing that you become aware that you are not eating a typical cracker or chip. Grainy is the word I want to use but might not be the best choice. On the plain chip it's unpleasant to me, but on the flavored ones, particularly the flavors I like, this seems to disappear.

NUTRITION

The macros on these are pretty good. They all have 120 calories and 21 grams of protein per bag. The protein is from whey. They have numerous other ingredients depending on the flavor, and it's no surprise that the flavors with the longer lists of ingredients tend to taste most like their potato based friends. They have no soy protein in them and only 5 grams of carbs. The size of the bag is comparable to any small sized one serving bag of chips.



TASTE

This is subjective, of course. And I have to say that I tested them plain, like you would snack on chips. You can also add them to chili or soup, which makes them much better.

The Plain chips are unpleasant to me. It ultimately tastes like a saltine cracker but as I mentioned there is a point when you're chewing that isn't great to me. I personally would not buy this flavor again.

I was expecting the Sour Cream and Onion to be quest chips with that awesome pringles seasoning on it. I can literally lick that stuff off of pringles it's so good. Unfortunately what you get is more like Onion chips. The onion flavor is there, but not much else. They are still much better than the plain. But once again I wouldn't buy these, they are not flavored like normal sour cream and onion chips are.

BBQ has an initial nice barbecue flavor, but it fades quickly and you're still left with that mealy not so great mess in your mouth before you swallow. Once again not as bad as the plain flavor but basically on par with the sour cream and onion in terms of my taste. I wouldn't buy these again either.

Salt and Vinegar is a flavor that not everyone likes. I personally love Buffalo Wild Wings Salt and Vinegar chicken wings. These chips, however, I do not like. The vinegar gives the flavor a little staying power but there's still that mid point where it's not so pleasant. I wouldn't buy these again either.

Cheddar and Sour Cream was the first flavor I tried where I wanted more when the bag was empty. It tastes just like it's potato based brethren. These were good, and if I was going to buy more quest chips I would definitely get  this flavor.

So in review, just based on enjoyment of eating them I would buy Cheddar and Sour Cream, but not any of the other flavors. If I wanted 20 grams of lean protein in a convenient form immediately I would buy a quest bar long before I forced myself to eat one of the 4 disliked flavors of chips. But like I said, the Cheddar was so good I actually wanted more when the bag was done, just like regular potato chips. i could snack on those just the same and rack up 100 grams of protein and minimal calories if I was so inclined and I liked to burn money like Quincey C. Fancypants.

VALUE

The value isn't non-existent, but it's an expensive product. Just the same as a quest bar, or other protein bar, or pre-mixed shake. You're paying $2.50 for 21 grams of protein. That is 4 to 5 times the price of protein powder.

This doesn't mean they have no use, it just means that in terms of price per nutrition it's not very good. But it is a bag of chips. So if you're using it to diet it might help you feel better than a protein shake. Or it might make you want another bag. But then again it's basically just protein with a tiny bit of carbs so that's not necessarily a bad thing. If it keeps you out of the pringles can and away from the donuts then maybe that's worth it. It's not cheap though.

I personally don't have issue losing weight. I'm usually on a bulk because I suck at eating enough. As such cramming in extra protein is useful to me, but by the same token if I'm eating 4000 calories a day, getting enough protein shouldn't be a problem anyway. For that reason I just don't see myself buying these. They are too expensive and I just don't need them.

But for what it's worth the Cheddar and Sour Cream get my seal of approval, if I had one, which I don't. Everyone's taste is different though. But if you feel like you could use these chips and you're okay with the price then try them out.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Simple but tough treadmill based ruck training session

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Photo By: Cpl. Tyler Giguere, USMC.mil

Stop letting weather or time keep you from getting your legs in ruck shape.  You can do this in little time and on the treadmill if you are smart.  Sometimes it is logistically difficult to grab a ruck and find some hilly terrain to train on during the week.  This is especially true for the time constrained tactical athlete.  However, you can still get a very effective ruck woorkout on the treadmill, and it does not have to take long.  Below is a simple workout given to me by a collegue who is an elite warrior.  It looks simple on paper.  Don't underestimate it until you try it.  If you find this workout easy, you need more weight in your ruck!

It is a 20 minute workout total. Pace is 4 mph.  It starts deceptively easy but ramps up quickly!  By the 6th minute, you will be glad that you did not go out too hard.

% Grade Time
0 1 minute
1 1 minute
2 1 minute
3 1 minute
4 1 minute
5 1 minute
6 1 minute
7 1 minute
8 1 minute
9 1 minute
10 1 minute
9 1 minute
8 1 minute
7 1 minute
6 1 minute
5 1 minute
4 1 minute
3 1 minute
2 1 minute
1 1 minute
0 1 minute

An absolutely brutal variation is to insert a set of a strength training exercise between every minute.  In this case, you do the minute on the treadmill as prescribed, pause the treadmill, do the strength training set, then immediately get back on the treadmill and do the next minute.  This generally stretches the workout to 40 minutes or more.   You cannot fool around when doing this.  You need to yave your weights set up so that you can move quickly.  This works best with a partner.  Hand off the ruck and keep moving.  The easy way to do this is to keep the treadmill running and manually increase the % grade. 
 

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