Food is by far my favorite thing to write about, but exercise is another essential component of my healthstyle and many readers have asked me to share my weekly routine.

To be honest, however, I have avoided posting my workout regimen for several reasons. First, I am not a trainer and this is in no way intended as a training program for anyone. These exercises are just what work for me and you should not assume they will work for you as well. I also worry that some fitness snobs will come out of the woodwork and accuse me of doing everything wrong, a criticism I have no interest in refuting or discussing.

That being said I have been a consistent gym goer for the past 18 years and feel very comfortable in the weight room. As of this publication I’m even the Foursquare mayor of my gym (w00t!).

My routine has changed over the years, but I am very happy with my current fitness level. At 30, I feel confident saying I’m in the best shape of my life and it feels awesome.

A few points to start:

• I work out 3-5 days a week and start every session with half hour of cardio. The only thing that keeps me out of the gym is scheduling conflicts. I love exercise.
• I almost always workout with a partner–a male nearly double my size–and our workouts are approximately the same (obviously using different weights).
• We rotate cardio equipment between treadmill (either running or brisk walking at a steep incline), stationary bike and elliptical machine, trying not to repeat the same exercise 2 days in a row.
• For strength training we focus on 2 or 3 muscle groups per day, and try to get through all the major muscle groups twice in a week (but I’ll settle for one time per week if that’s all I can fit in).
• I do an abdominal workout every time I’m at the gym, rotating through a few different exercises throughout the week.
• I always wear gloves when I weight train to avoid callousy man hands. (BTW, these aren’t hot on men either). They also make me look tough while I’m lifting.
• I try to do my lifting slowly and controlled in both directions of the movement. But sometimes I forget.
• For most of these exercises we use free weights, but once every week or two we’ll use the machines to mix it up.
• In addition to my weight training sessions, I make an effort to walk extensively each day. According to my Fitbit pedometer I take between 8,000 and 17,000 steps per day (this includes my workout). This is intentional and I do it for both stress relief and fitness purposes.

On any given training day we do two or three of the following sets of exercises after our cardio workout. If we anticipate being able to workout every weekday, we will use the last two days of the week to push harder and complete the entire set in just 2 days.

Muscle Groups

Shoulders

My shoulder workout consists of shoulder presses and lateral raises in a superset (each exercise back-to-back, then rest). I do 3 sets of ~12 reps using dumbbells.

Biceps

My only bicep exercise is dumbell curls. I alternate each arm and do 3 sets of 20. I superset my bicep workout with lunges, still holding the dumbbells.

Triceps

I do tricep workouts on the cables using the rope attachment. We do supersets of bent-over tricep extensions and tricep push downs.

Back

I use specific cable machines for back exercises. We superset cable seated rows and cable pulldowns, usually 3 sets of ~12. For lower back I do lifts using the Roman chair, usually holding a single 10-pound barbell weight to my chest.

Chest

For chest we superset bench presses (I just use the 45-pound bar) and flies using dumbbells. For these I’m happy to get through 3 sets of 10.

Legs

I’m not fond of the quadricep and hamstring equipment at my gym (my partner uses them), so I only use the machines for V-squats and hip extensions. I do 3 sets of 20, and superset if the gym isn’t too busy.

Abs

Each day we rotate between the various abdominal equipment we find in the gym. This usually includes hanging leg raises, incline crunches and a few others.

Final Thoughts

As a female I was reluctant to begin almost every one of these weight training exercises, besides abs.

Nervous, I started with biceps and triceps, then shoulders and back. I gave myself a 6-month trial period and said if I thought I was getting too “bulky” at that point I would stop. The opposite happened and I became more adventurous in the weight room.

Six months later I reluctantly worked chest exercises into my routine and was again pleased with the results. I only recently started my leg workouts and, again, was blown away by the unexpected awesomeness of the transformation.

I became stronger, thinner and my clothes looked better after each exercise I added to my regimen. From my perspective, strength training is infinitely more rewarding than running marathons.

Has weight training helped you reach your health and fitness goals?

Tags: Exercise, fitness

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

In case you missed it, check out the interview I did with the Irish Times about the ineffectiveness of traditional weight loss diets. It turned out to be the most popular article on their site the day it came out.

Also be sure to read Michael Ruhlman’s beautiful piece about cooking in American culture. Unfortunately though, Ruhlman’s insight is overshadowed this week by the myopic and painfully unenlightened BS article of the week in The Atlantic about the supposed evils of Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard program. I’d love to know your thoughts on both.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

Links of the Week

• Bin diets – get slim for less <<I was interviewed by Conor Pope of the Irish Times about avoiding diets and getting healthy. Conor has a fantastic perspective on health and fitness, pop over there and let me know what you think. (Irish Times)
• America: Too Stupid To Cook <<This is a brilliant piece by Michael Ruhlman. Why is it so many of us dismiss cooking as being too hard or too much effort? Maybe it is because that’s what we’ve been raised to believe. (Michael Ruhlman)
• Protection of Food Supply Faces Problems <<Did you know that 25% of Americans get food poisoning each year while only 1% of French do? Our industrial food supply is the likely culprit. (CBS)
• Counting of Calories Isn’t Always Accurate <<Another reason to stop counting calories–labels are wrong. Just eat real, healthy food without labels on it and news like this won’t bother you. (New York Times)
• Cultivating Failure <<BS of the week. This very controversial article is one of the most irresponsible pieces of journalism I’ve ever had the displeasure to read. The Atlantic FAIL.
• 7 Exercise and Fitness Beliefs You Need to Overcome <<Don’t like exercise? Time to get over it. Stick with a fitness routine a little while and I bet you’ll change your mind. (Dumb Little Man)
• Does your diet require a Ph.D.? <<Turns out the simplest diets are the most effective. As someone who has finished the better part of a PhD, I promise you don’t need formal training to eat healthy. (Booster Shots)
• Genetic causes of obesity: 1%? <<To me it always feels silly to talk about the genetic causes of obesity, since obviously the problem is relatively new and started around the time we embraced the low fat (high sugar) lifestyle. But it is always good to examine the data supporting any hypothesis. (Food Politics)
• Roasted Beet Salad with Tahini Yuzu Kosho Dressing <<I’m embracing root vegetables for the rest of the month, and this recipe for roasted beets with tahini dressing has inspired me to grab some beets this weekend at the farmers market. (Chez Us)
• Should You Eat or Drink Your Fruits and Veggies? An Experiment. <<I often get asked about juice and people are sometimes surprised by my answer. I’m not a big fan, and generally treat juice as a special occasion food. This post by my friend Travis Saunders will help explain why. (Obesity Panacea)

What inspired you this week?

Tags: B.S. of the week, calories, Cooking, fitness, genetics, industrial food, Irish Times, juice, recipe

Photo by laurenatclemson

I’m thrilled to have JC, author of JCDFitness for today’s guest post. I don’t read many exercise blogs, but JC has such a refreshing approach to fitness and exercise I can’t help but love it. I asked him if he would share some of his wisdom with us here at Summer Tomato.

JC writes about fat loss, building muscle and everything else fitness related at JCDFitness.  He takes a No-BS approach to the health and fitness lifestyle and prides himself on his relaxed, comfortable approach. Check out his free ebook, A No-BS Approach to Looking Great Naked and follow him on Twitter (@JCDFitness), if you’re into that sort of thing.

Increase Your Activity, Improve Your Life

by JC

If there is anything I am truly, madly in love with, it’s food. So you might guess that I was once a chubby kid; okay, a really chubby kid.

But I am not here to tell you how or what to eat. If you’ve been hanging out on Summer Tomato for more than a few minutes, you already know how.

So, while I trust you are eating all the unprocessed foods and in-season produce available, how are you doing with the other part of the healthstyle equation? What does your daily physical activity look like?

If you live in America, chances are your life is busier than ever, even more so now that the holidays are upon us.

Here is a simple plan to increase your physical activity, which will greatly improve your quality of life.

Exercising is Fun, Taking the Stairs is NEAT

First off, we have two ways to get active and expend more energy throughout the day. The first one is deliberate exercise, which I will cover in a bit.

The second way to increase activity is through something called NEAT. This little acronym stands for Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Basically, NEAT is everything you do outside of deliberate exercise; it’s the energy you expend at your occupation, while doing household chores, picking up the kids, bathing your boa constrictor or painting your grass during the winter season.

Unfortunately, sometimes things are not so neat for a person who works at a desk and gets a slap on the wrist every time they move an inch away from their computer screen. So, if your current occupation or daily duties do not include much movement and you want to incorporate some extra activity into your daily routine, it’s time to get creative.

If you work on the 85^th floor in the office building downtown, I don’t expect you to take the stairs all the way to the top. However, you can take a few flights before getting in the elevator and, when you come down for the day, you can do the same. Over time, you should aim to increase a flight or two every so often. Ideally you will be able to do all 85 flights within a month.

I kid.

But taking the stairs is a great way to get extra exercise if you can’t do a formal workout.

Another option is to walk instead of drive to your next destination. I know this is not possible for everyone, but once in a while if I want to increase my NEAT I will simply walk to school. I, however, only live 1.5 miles away from the farthest part of campus, so this is very easy for me.

If you take a train or bus, walk to the station if it’s not too far from your home.

When you do your grocery shopping, park in the very back of the lot; this way you’re forced into some extra activity. If it’s the only exercise you get outside of pecking the keys 8 hours per day, it’s definitely better than nothing.

For more NEAT tips check out: 6 Ways To Get More NEAT

Benefits of Strength Training (Deliberate Exercise)

The benefits of strength training could be an entire article in itself, as there are many positives I could ramble on about. For the sake of not boring you to death, I will hit the highlights.

The person who incorporates some form of resistance training a few times per week is going to be far better off than those who do not.

Now don’t get this confused with going to the gym and working out with all of the meathead bodybuilders. You can practice resistance training in the comfort of your own casa if you wish. You really don’t need a whole lot of equipment, if any at all. Heck, if you’ve never trained before, all you need to be doing is body weight exercises anyway, at least to get you started.

So give me some benefits!

• Increased bone density
• Increase in lean body mass
• Improved appearance
• Boost in confidence
• Injury prevention due to joint stabilization through increased strength/muscle mass

Think of strength training as an insurance policy. It’s usually not much fun paying your dues and putting in the extra hard work, but you will be thankful later on in life as the rewards are great in terms of health and longevity.

As we age, our bone density diminishes; our muscles lose their tone and become weak. As a result, our chances of injury later in life increase exponentially. On another note, setting strength goals and achieving them will do wonders for our confidence and self-image.

So how might we put it all together?

Keep It Simple, Please

A strength training routine should never take up all of your time. In fact, it can (and should) be rather quick, unlike training for a marathon.

All you need is a few non-consecutive days per week to train; any more is likely unnecessary.

Keep in mind, I am writing for the general population here, so the guidelines are amendable and should be altered to suit your needs. However, here is a sample, full-body routine to get you going in the right direction.

Sample weekly exercise program

Training frequency is 2 times per week: Monday and Thursday morning before work (pick the days best for you, it’s just an example).

You will do the same routine each training day and increase weight and reps whenever possible.

The guidelines are to pick 1 exercise for chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps and 1-2 exercises for legs.

If you have access to a gym, your routine would look like this:

• Chest Movement (bench or machine press) 2 x 10-12
• Back Movement (lat pulldown, chin up, rows) 2 x 10-12
• Shoulder Movement (vertical barbell press, DB press, lateral raises) 2 x 10-12
• Bicep Movement (curls with barbell, dumbbells or resistance bands) 2 x 10-12
• Tricep Movement (extension with dumbbells, machine or bands) 2 x 10-12
• Leg movement (squat or leg press) 2 x 10-12
• 2^nd Leg Movement (leg curl or straight leg deadlift) 2 x 10-12
• Abdominal Movement (crunches, planks) 2 x 10-12

If you do not have access to a gym and want to work out at home doing body weight only exercises, do 4 sets of 12 of the following:

• Push ups
• Chin-ups
• Chair dips
• Squats
• Lunges

As you progress, the exercises will become less challenging, so eventually, you may need to move onto free weight/machine exercises or make your body weight work more difficult. This can be done by adding bands for resistance or making each movement more challenging.

For instance, if you want to make body weight squats more difficult, do a 1 legged squat or use dumbbells for extra resistance. Instead of regular push ups, do handstand push ups. You must get creative if you plan on doing body weight exercises only.

Cardio, Anyone?

On top of the strength training, some low to moderate intensity cardio is perfectly fine to do as well. I encourage those with sedentary lifestyles to incorporate 2-3 days of cardio into their weekly routine. My reasoning is, the more exercise we get, the more likely we are to maintain a healthy weight.

Examples of simple cardio workouts are walking the dogs when you get home from work, riding your bike through the trails, jogging in the morning before class, etc. Of course, you can use a treadmill, but I despise them; they are boring and usually inside a smelly, uncomfortable building. I prefer to do my cardio in the fresh air whenever possible.

So there you have it: a perfectly sensible plan to get active, improve your fitness and increase your quality of life.

What does your current exercise routine consist of? Let us know in the comments!

Tags: cardio, fitness, guests, gym, JCDFitness, NEAT, strength training, workout

By regelzamora

Today’s guest post is by Travis Saunders, MSc, Certified Exercise Physiologist. Travis and his colleague Peter Janiszewski, PhD Candidate, MSc, are both PhD trained scientists who have a fantastic blog (sound familiar?) Obesity Panacea.

While Summer Tomato is more food-centric, Obesity Panacea focuses on exercise and physiology.  Perfect match, right?

I asked Travis if he would be kind enough to write a post on how to get more exercise without having to actually go to the gym (NEAT), something both busy and lazy people alike can appreciate.

Personally I’m a big believer in NEAT. A year and a half ago I stopped taking BART to work and started walking instead. To my surprise this added only 5 minutes to my commute time and is infinitely more enjoyable.

Even though I already logged 4-6 regular cardio and strength training workouts per week, this added mileage caused me to drop another 3-5 lbs that has never come back. It also gives me time to listen to my favorite podcasts!

But what is NEAT exactly? For that I’ll turn the mic over to Travis.

Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis – It’s NEAT!

by Travis Saunders

For decades, we have been told of the benefits of physical activity, and with good reason – regardless of body weight, people who exercise live longer, healthier lives than people who don’t exercise.

In the past, the focus has been on performing structured sessions of moderate or vigorous exercise (e.g. 30-60 minutes of aerobic exercise on a bike or treadmill).

While intense physical activity has a tremendous health impact, a growing body of evidence suggests that accumulating short bouts of low-intensity physical activity throughout the day can also have substantial health benefits, which may even rival those associated with more vigorous sessions.  This low-intensity physical activity is known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT.

The concept of NEAT was proposed by Dr James Levine, who defines it as:

“…the energy expenditure of all physical activities other than volitional sporting-like exercise. NEAT includes all those activities that render us vibrant, unique and independent beings such as dancing, going to work or school, shoveling snow, playing the guitar, swimming or walking in the modern Mall.”

I can understand why some people would be skeptical that activities like gardening or mall walking could have a measurable impact on health.  After all, those things aren’t exercise, right?

Fortunately, it turns out that the body doesn’t care whether those activities are exercise.  James Levine’s work has shown that NEAT burns an average of 330 calories per day in healthy individuals (and up to nearly 700 calories/day in some people!), and that obese individuals perform drastically less NEAT than their lean counterparts.

Levine has also made convincing arguments that NEAT could burn up to 1000 calories per day when properly incorporated throughout the work day.  These results suggest that NEAT can burn a tremendous amount of calories, which has obvious implications for weight maintenance and obesity prevention.

But the other key benefit to increased NEAT is that it reduces sedentary time, itself a strong predictor of both death and disease.

Independent of total physical activity levels and other risk factors like abdominal obesity, recent evidence suggests that time spent being sedentary (e.g. sitting or lying down) is a strong predictor of metabolic risk, as well as mortality.  This means that regardless of how much they exercise, people who spend more time sitting are at a higher risk than those who sit less.

New research has even shown that merely taking more frequent breaks from sedentary activities (e.g. standing up) is also associated with reduced metabolic risk and abdominal fat levels.  The reasons for these associations are still being worked out (it probably is to due to changes in LPL and glucose transporter protein activity in skeletal muscle, which are altered by even short bouts of inactivity), but the findings are consistent and have been observed in both adults and children.  Since NEAT includes activities like standing and walking, any increases in NEAT will obviously result in reductions in time spent in sedentary activities.

So, how can you reduce your time spent being sedentary and increase your NEAT levels?  Luckily, it’s not very hard.

Here is a brief list, and for more suggestions, please read “10 Ways to Become More Active”, which can be found on Obesity Panacea.

6 Ways To Get More NEAT

1. Buy a Pedometer

Pedometers are beeper-sized devices which are worn on the waist and keep track of the number of steps taken each day.  They are cheap (a good one costs about $20), and are a great way to assess your level of NEAT.  Each week, try to increase your daily step count by 1,000 steps/day, with a goal of reaching at least 10,000 steps per day.  Friendly step-count competitions with co-workers can also be surprisingly fun, and are a great way to promote increased physical activity within the office environment.

2. Take the Stairs

This one is obvious.  I can’t tell you how often I see people taking the elevator up or down one single floor.  It doesn’t save any time, and it deprives people of physical activity.  You don’t have to walk up twenty flights of stairs to make this worthwhile – try to walk up at least one flight, and down at least two, and build up to more flights as you feel up to it.  If you have to go further than you can walk comfortably, take the elevator the rest of the way.

3. Active Transportation

Walk or bike to work and when performing errands whenever possible.  If that is not an option, consider taking public transportation, which almost always involves a short walk at both ends of the trip.  And if you absolutely have to drive, park as far from the door as possible.  It might only add 5 minutes of walking to your day, but that’s 5 minutes you wouldn’t get otherwise.

4. Drink Plenty of Water

This sounds odd, but it’s a trick that I’ve been using for years. If you are constantly sipping water throughout the day, you are going to have to pee at least once every couple hours. Every time you have to pee, you have a guilt-free excuse to go for a 5-minute walk to the washroom and back! To crank it up a notch, use a washroom in another part of your building, which may give you an opportunity to use the stairs as well.  It’s easy to forget to take a 5-minute walk-break every hour, but it’s impossible to forget to go pee.

5. Have “Walk” Meetings

These types of meeting are becoming increasingly popular at my workplace.  Think of all the times that you need to have a 5-10 minute chat with another co-worker or superior.  Instead of doing it at your desk (and potentially annoying your colleagues), why not talk while casually strolling down the hall?  This is another great way to accumulate activity without even noticing that it’s happening.

6. Walk During Your Lunch Break

If you are one of those lucky individuals who has a daily lunch break, why not use it for a short walk?  A ten or twenty minute walk on a daily basis can add up over time, and you’ll almost certainly feel better than if you spent your whole break sitting at your desk.

These are only a few examples, but I hope they illustrate how easy it can be to incorporate more NEAT into your daily life.  Give it a shot, and good luck with your healthstyle!

Let’s have a big round of applause for Travis!

Tags: Exercise, fitness, guests, NEAT, Obesity Panacea

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

I had to make some tough cuts again this week, but I really wanted to share some new studies vindicating the benefits of dietary fat. I also love Yoni Freedhoff’s exposé of the crooked dairy industry trying to pretend their products don’t kill you. Added bonus: I included 2 recipes this week–couldn’t choose.

If you’re a food blogger trying to grow your brand on Twitter, I collaborated on a post with Danny Jauregui at Food Bloggers Unite! Reinforce Your Brand and Solidify Your Identity With Twitter

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

For The Love of Food

• “Good” dietary fats trim body fat in diabetic women <<It is so strange to me how much nutrition science used to demonize fat since all the data indicates the opposite is true. Fat is awesome, eat more of it. (Reuters Health)
• Diet-Heart Hypothesis: Another Nail in the Coffin <<More evidence supporting the health benefits of (most) fats, in case you didn’t believe me the first time. (Advanced Mediterranean Diet)
• Milk prevents colon cancer? <<Maybe, but it also CAUSES prostate cancer and other scary diseases. Blogger Yoni Freedhoff has been on a tirade against the Canadian dairy industry lately and I love it. (Weighty Matters)
• Sprouted-grain breads: The facts <<B.S. of the week I can’t think of anything more pointless then discussing nutritional differences between sprouted bread, whole grain bread and “regular” bread. Do you know how much bread you’d have to eat for these differences to matter? Way more than is healthy. So who cares? This is nutritionism at its worst. (Los Angeles Times)
• A Response To C. Kimball <<The Amateur Gourmet penned an eloquent response to Cook’s Illustrated editor Christopher Kimball for calling out food bloggers for the demise of Gourment Magazine. It’s short and worth reading.
• 15 Ways to Save Time in the Kitchen <<Great tips to make cooking less of a chore from Macheesmo.
• How Sustainable Is Your Diet Approach? <<This is sustainable in the “can you keep it up” sense, not the “sustainable agriculture” we’d all like to see develop sense. I love JC’s approach to fitness and health. (JCDFitness)
• Georgian Cilantro Sauce <<I heard about this recipe on The Splendid Table podcast I mentioned earlier this week. It’s from Georgia the country, not the state. It has dried apricots, walnuts, spices, tons of herbs and even more cilantro. If you make it for me I’ll be your best friend forever
• Eat at your desk: Squash and Cauliflower Salad with Salsa Verde <<This seasonal recipe from Savour Fare looks really healthy and delicious.
• Serious Eats Pumpkin Carving Contest <<I just wanted to show you a picture of pumpkin cannibalism. Unfortunately I can’t publish the photo here because it isn’t released under creative commons. But it sure is cool, huh? (Serious Eats).

What are you reading?

Tags: B.S. of the week, Christopher Kimball, dairy, fat, fitness, Gourmet Magazine, photography, pumpkins, recipe