Lizzie's Paleo Experience

After Shane had gone through many different diet plans to shed those few pounds he had put on after his bodybuilding show, it seemed like he had had enough.  Nothing was working for him. So he told me he was going to try the “Paleo” diet where you can’t eat anything a caveman in the Paleolithic era wouldn’t have had. I told him “That is just silly.” I did NOT plan on doing this dietary idea with him. I liked my carbs and cheese way too much! Especially since I’m already skinny, I thought if I started a diet with no whole grain, no bread, no dairy,  I  would get TOO skinny.

Well it turns out that when you’re married to a hungry man you can’t keep ANYTHING against his diet in the house, even something healthy like wheat bread or yogurt. I would wake up in the morning to like 5 empty cups of yogurt by the bed. Then he would get all sad because it went against his diet and he ate it all in the wee-hours of the night when he would wake up hungry.  I felt bad because I knew he really wanted to keep up this diet. So I was forced to try this diet with him. I kept only “Paleo” food in the house so he wouldn’t sleep eat.

We started out doing Paleo not knowing exactly what to do. We were just like “Ok only meat, veggies, and fruit.” But there is so much more you can do! As we got more into it, the more recipes and cool stuff we found out about Paleo. All of our trainers started joining in with it too. What really sold me was when I saw my face start to clear up. I have always lived with those nasty pimples on my face and I would try everything to get them gone! Finally something worked! Shane lost 33 lbs and is back to his competition weight. He is so happy and that makes me happy! So now I’m hooked!!  …I still haven’t completely given up on my coffee or cheese yet… it’s my only vice! But it’s ok to not be super strict! You can join in  on the Paleo idea and not give up EVERYTHING! But I think you’d be happy to find you can replace almost any treat you love with a Paleo recipe!

I know you will love this too, so we’re having a free seminar on “What is Paleo?” to educate El Paso about this new dietary idea that is working miracles! We hope to see you there Saturday at Noon!

Does the Paleo Diet work?

         I have always told my friends and my clients, “you need to have a nutrition plan to see results, I don’t care if its Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Low Carb Diet, Paleo Diet, etc. If it works for you stick to it!” I have clients that have lost a lot of weight doing weight watchers and the only small adjustment I made was increase their protein slightly because they will be doing weight training so they need the extra protein for recovery and muscle building.” I have come to a conclusion like many of you have, that as we get older the harder and longer it takes to lose weight and get toned. For the past 6-8 years I have been following a low carb meal plan with a high carb day. This is also called Carb Cycling, the whole science to this is that you are shocking your body and not letting it get plateaued! This has been working for me for the longest time until now. I literally tell myself, I don’t eat junk food why in the world am I still fat!! How does that make sense? You guys might not think im fat but we usually are our own worst critics, and with all the sacrifices I have been doing, I better have an 8 pack!!

My Diet Observations:

oatmeal for bodybuilding

        I have noticed lately that certain foods bloat me up. Oatmeal is a staple in every bodybuilders diet. Since Arnolds time it was oatmeal in the morning, high in fiber and a low glycemic carb. Another great carb is brown rice, low glycemic and good fiber. Why are these carbs bloating me up? A lot of my old nutritionist would tell me to be careful with bread because since its processed it loses a lot of its nutritional value, maybe the same thing happens when you eat oatmeal and any other carb that has been man made.That is why Paleo dieting struck an interest in me.

What is Paleo Diet:

          Im going to keep it short and simple so I don’t have to bore you with a super long blog. Paleo Dieting is basically sticking to foods that cave man would eat in the Paleo-lithic Era. Everytime you want to eat something you have to ask yourself, “did the caveman have oatmeal, rice, etc.” the answer to many of these questions is no. The easiest way to keep this plan is to keep it simple. I have people trying to confuse me about certain foods if they are paleo and I tell them, first of all I would never eat that weird food you are telling me, and second I eat very simple foods to make my life so much easier. Working 12 hours a day with clients, 1 hour of marketing for the gym, oh and my facebook/instagram obsession there is no way I can keep a very elaborate menu.

If you do Paleo you are cool!

  I don’t know what it is but when you do Paleo, you feel so cool and you feel like a rebel! Its silly but when I normally would diet I would just tell people I have a low carb diet and it sounded so boring! Now when I tell people that I do Paleo its like if you are part of this hippie cool clan. It is a challenge to find things that are paleo but it’s a fun one. I have applications on my iphone that tell you if certain things are Paleo or not, and even some restaurants around town are known as, “that’s where the crossfit people go eat and hang out!” if you don’t know by now, Paleo Dieting and crossfit go together like organic peanut butter and sugar free jelly! Lol. But the Paleo wasn’t specifically designed for Crossfit people, Wikipedia states that it has been around since the 1970’s made by a Gastro doctor. 

Shanes Paleo version:

            I have been doing a modified version of Paleo Dieting and it has transformed by physique.

Meal #1- 6AM             4-5 organic egg quiche 

Paleo Quiche 

 Snack:- 9:30AM         Green smoothie shake w/ Protein Powder ½ a pear

green smoothie- recipe in last blog

Meal #2- 12:30pm:      8oz Flank Steak w/ ½ of sweet potato

flank and 1/2 sweet potato

Snack: 4:30pm            Green smoothie shake w/ Protein Powder

green smoothie

Meal #3- 9PM             Salmon or Tilapia w/ Asparagus

Salmon/Asparagus

Detailed Instructions:

1.  Do the carbs the same Monday-Friday 
2. Saturday i go Zero carbs cuz that is the day that i can cook something delicious because i don't work the whole day. 
3. Sunday i go back to the menu above. i do this for 1-2 weeks.
4. Shock your body and eat 2-3 sweet potatoes one day and go 0g carbs the following day usually after 2 weeks of this diet. 

This has been doing wonders to my physique and my energy levels! i am not tired anymore like i sometimes would get a with a low carb-cycling diet. 

$1.20 @ Albertsons

I buy those yams/sweet potato that you put in the microwave and they are in a steam bag, and I know that the caveman didn’t have Protein powder. I basically keep all the rules to the Paleo except for protein shakes, skinny vanilla latte from Starbucks, and light cheese on my morning breakfast.

 How many carbs can you have a day on Paleo?  

          Everywhere I have looked it just tells you that it all depends on your level of exercising and how much you exercise. Well…That doesn’t work for me. I need to know! i modified this diet by carb cycling the Paleo carbs and i am still just eating carbs for breakfast and for lunch. No carbs after 3 pm because your metabolism slows down at night. 

Abs are made in the kitchen!

So there you have it, the moral of the story is that not every diet or meal plan works for everyone. God made us all different shapes and sizes and works for me might not work for you. that is why try different meal plans, workout plans, and once you find that sweet formula for success, hold on to it and dont let go. I can meet with anyone of you guys if you need nutritional counseling just send me an email @newyougym@gmail.com 

Thank you so much for reading my blog! i started writing it because i always have so many questions and everybody contradicts each other when giving advice. So I'm writing it to share my experiences!

God Bless you and remember that we honor God by taking care of our bodies!

Shane Martinez

        

JUICING VS NUTRIBULLET what to buy

When juicing you leave all the pulp on the side to waste doesn't your body need all those nutrients as well, all the fiber etc?

    I started doing my green smoothies and i am obsessed!! i feel great, coffee energy lasts me exactly one hour and green smoothie energy lasts me 2-3 hours. i remember seeing the infomercials about how energized you feel etc and i was like whatever! and how great jack la lane looks because of juicing. now i am a believer!

Jack LaLane

    I started getting obsessed and i started researching what else i can add to my smoothie to help me.

current smoothie ingredients:

1. 1/2 pear (want to keep it low glycemic and low sugar) 
2. spinach (handful)
3. kale    (handful)
4. celery (2 sticks)
5. cucumber (1/2)
6. ginger root (small piece cuz it might get too spicy. just enough to add zing)
7. hemp seeds (found these to be better than flaxseed)
8. peanut butter (1 tbls)
9. Protein Powder (Elite Fusion-7 is the secret for taste)

My Green Smoothie using Nutribullet. Consistency is way better than on a blender

As you can see all these ingredients are awesome and it doesn't take forever to add them and the benefits are amazing. 

These are the benefits that i have been getting aside from all the great anti-oxidants, vitamins, anti-cancer preventions, etc.

1. amazing energy
2. when you go number 2 in the restroom it doesn't smell
3. your breath smells super clean
4. your sweat doesn't smell
5. my abs started popping out more
6. my face is super clear

What started happening is that my smoothies stopped being smoothies and felt more like i was chewing instead of drinking. It reminded me of the old days when our Mexican moms would put all the ingredients they could find to  make us our school breakfast! lol. 

       After 2 weeks of this i wanted to look for other alternatives so i got a juicer from my amazing friend Adrian. i literally got 2 cups of juice after juicing like 3 lbs of fruit and veggies. What happens to all the pulp doesn't your body need all the fiber you are throwing away? 

Pulp might be used for bread etc, but it doesn't look appealing  to me

      The juicer was so hard to clean up after. i thought of making juice on Sundays and having it at least for 2 days and everyone told me it was dangerous and i would lose all the benefits if i don't eat the juice fresh. i was very sad because i wake up at 4am everyday so that means i cannot juice that early in the morning as it is we have to cook our meals sometimes. 

Unfortunately juice cannot be stored for days because you will lose nutritional value and fruit might rot! FML! 

      My client and friend, David Llarenas told me to buy a Nutri-Bullet and i saw that it costs $100!! i told him, its a friggin blender for $100, no way! but he told me its very powerful and easy to clean up and it blends everything smooth! i tried it and i loved it! i don't feel bad throwing away the pulp and fiber anymore. The consistency is super smooth and not lumpy at the top of the blog i attached a pic of how smooth the shakes look.

       My conclusion is if you have the money to purchase both, you should do it in case you get bored of the consistency of the nutri-bullet and want juicing. Juicing is better for super hard stuff like beets and other things. if you are just going to make the Green Smoothie Experience get the Nutri-bullet its $100 but its very worth it!  

Thank you so much for reading my blog! i started writing it because i always have so many questions and everybody contradicts each other when giving advice. So I'm writing it to share my experiences!

God Bless you and remember that we honor God by taking care of our bodies!

Shane Martinez

        

GREEN SMOOTHIE EXPERIENCE

Green Smoothie Experience

      My wife and i started watching a documentary called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." i didn't want to watch because i figured watching one documentary like "Forks over knifes" would be enough gross torture to turn you organic. In other words you seen one, you have seen them all! But this documentary attracted me because the producer of the film says that he always worked hard to be able to provide for his family and worked in wallstreet and made a fortune. by the time he was able to workout and eat healthy he already was seeing 6 different doctors and taking 12 pills a day that included High Cholesterol pills. He even got this strange disease that with a simple hand shake he would get irritated palms that look and felt like mosquito bites. 
     the man got on a 60 days juicing diet where he did not eat anything but shakes that included fresh fruit and greens. I liked the documentary because it broke down all the information in cartoons so that i can even understand. 
So if you guys have a chance to watch it on netflix please do. 
     While thinking of my nutrition i realized that i was not eating enough greens. first of all the only way i can eat greens its if Lizzie makes me grilled asparagus or steamed broccoli. and since we are always on the run and sometimes work 11 hours a day we can hardly make a full balanced meals. my meal will always include chicken and brown rice but no veggies. So this past Sunday i embarked into a Green Smoothie Experiment. 
       I asked around with some clients and asked to see what the most important greens are and the top two that always came up were spinach and kale. i don't like the texture of either of them, the only greens i like in my salads is lettuce and they say that its not highly as nutritious as spinach.
i decided to put them in my protein shakes instead that way i don't have to chew them. 
So my diet is as follows:
Meal #1:    6am   6 egg white omelet/ 2 Ezequiel wheat toasts
Snack:       9:30   Green Protein Smoothie ( cup Kale, cup Spinach, protein powder)
Meal # 2:  1pm    6oz Flank Steak  1 cup brown rice
Snack:      4:30pm Green Protein Smoothie "same"
Meal #3:   8:30 pm   6 oz Chicken (by itself cuz I'm not usually hungry)

i normally try to follow this plan, but since this Sunday i lost 3lbs and i can honestly say that i owe it to the green smoothies. Its not a placebo effect, i feel more energized and my abdominal fat has gone down dramatically. 

The thing i regret the most is not been doing this earlier, i always tried to buy Micro Green powder or take pills to get all my greens. I cannot believe how lazy we have become that we try to find ways and shortcuts to not eat what we have to eat. If you guys have more ingredients and suggestions to my green shake please comment. i just tried to make the shake low carb and low in sugar because all the Green Shakes i have been finding online suggest pears, bananas, etc. i know that they are good for you but my metabolism is so slow that just by smelling bananas i get fat! lol. 


Thank you for reading my blog and i hope it can inspire you to add more greens in your diet! 

God Bless you and remember, "When we workout we are honoring God for the blessing of good health."
Shane Martinez

P90X v.s. INSANITY


        Today one of my Facebook friends asked me which program is better for him and his wife to try at home, P90x or Insanity. 

What is the difference between both programs?

      P90X is a 90 day workout program that is based on the principle of muscle confusion. (never doing the same workout everyday that way you keep the body guessing and not used to the same workouts) When a person does the same workout at the gym or at home, after a while you stop seeing dramatic results and you tend to hit a plateau.

      Insanity is a 60 day program that is based of Interval Training. The philosophy of this principle is to do bursts of high intensity exercises followed by short rest periods that can range from a couple of seconds to a couple of minutes. By doing this your metabolism is sped up throughout the day. (Crossfit uses this principle)

Which one is more intense?

       They are equally challenging. Through my experience Insanity is harder because its non-stop pace and then you only rest for a couple of seconds. 

How long are the workouts?

Insanity during the first month the workouts are 40 minutes long, cardio abs is 20 minutes. during the second month of the program the routines are from 50-60 minutes.
P90x in average the routines are 55 minutes long with the Ab Ripper being 16 minutes long and the yoga routine is 92 minutes long. 

Which one is better to do at home?

With p90X you are required to get extra equipment like a pull-up bar and resistance bands. 
Insanity all you need to do is move some couches out of the way and you are set to go!

Supplements?

        I have seen the P90X and Insanity supplements and they are very good in quality. the only bad thing is that they might have alot of sugar specially the recovery drinks. i know that you need it to help you recover, but i have never been a big fan of high carb or high sugar anything! i would suggest to just get a regular Protein supplement that you can find and a supplement store, a multi-vitamin, and a fat burner. Anything else that you take is an added bonus, but the minimal is what is listed above. Some of my friends take digestive enzymes, fish oil, CLA, L-Carnitine, etc and its fine i am just very bad with taking supplements i tend to forget to take them. 

Conclusion and my Opinion
       In my opinion i like P90X so much better than Insanity. What i like about P90X is that you use resistance bands, weights, and pull-up bars. so not only will you lose weight but your body will look tight and firm. With Insanity I think you will just lose weight and get some definition. I read on the internet how some people would do a combination of the two. That is a great idea! Combine the cardio of insanity twice a week with the muscle building workouts of P90X the other days is a formula for success. 

Here at New You we use both Principles in our personal training. we like to include high interval boxing or cardio between our workouts that Insanity is famous for, by doing this your metabolism will be sped up throughout the whole day. We use weights and resistance bands the rest of the workout and we try not to do the same workout twice, that way we use the muscle confusion principle. 

Crossfit V.S. Weight Training

CROSSFIT VS. WEIGHT TRAINING

Im going to explain what is the difference between both into a very simple an understandable explanation. 
        
         At first i used to think that Crossfit was just a fitness craze, but actually its getting more popular now more than ever. over 4,400 gyms or "boxes" exist right now. Crossfit is a training program that includes functional movements with climbing rope, sprinting, rowing, and other high intensity movements. WOD- or Workout of the Day are normally 20-30 minutes. 
       
         Notice how i underlined functional movement. Let me give you an example of a funtional movement. If you have to lift groceries from the floor, you don't curl the grocery bag, you actually bent down; squat and stand up. then why should you workout doing isolating movements like bicep curls. in order to be fucntional in your everyday life you need to be working out with fucntional movements like power cleans, burpees, push press, squats, etc. these compound exercies are going to make your life so much easier. 

        Weight training has been around for 100's of years, and it involves isolating movements like bicep curls, bench press, shoulder presses, etc. Even the greeks used weights. In my opinion to reach the body and the look, there is no substitution than weight training. I have numerous friends that have tried crossfit and they say they feel like they are in the best shape of their life but they dont look as good as they used to look when they lifted weights. 

Which is better? 

         In my opinion a combination of both would be ideal, why not get the best of both worlds! isolating movements with compound movements and be a double threat ;). 

           The way i train myself and my clients, is that we split up our bodyparts to 2 body parts a day split. ex: Chest and Back on Monday, Legs on Wednesday, and Shoulders and Arms on Friday. I like to throw in crossfit movements in our workouts, like i said combine the best of both worlds. The only difference is that i realize that i am not 18years old anymore and i don't do upside down pushups or run outside with a sandbag in 100 degree weather. I don't know how people do that. my hats go off to them. 

To look for crossfit style training visit www.bodybuilding.com and there are alot of instructions on how to perform these exercises. 

Thank you so much for reading my blog, if you have any questions or subjects you might want me to discuss please inbox me on my facebook. 

Thank you and God Bless you!

Shane Martinez 

SUPPLEMENT REVIEW: EVOGEN CELL K.E.M.

New Supplement Cell K.E.M. Review

                                                                                       

    My workout partner and I feel like we need a recovery supplement. Lately we have been very sore, maybe its the old age. lol. 

      On my quest to find the latest supplement i always like to look at the bodybuilding forums to see what everyone is trying. i just don't go into GNC and ask the salesman what to take. In my opinion, you have to do your research and the best recommendation is by other trainers or workout fanatics like us! 

      The product that kept coming up has been CELL K.E.M. by a company called EVOGEN. The brains behind this company is Hanny Ranbod, Jay Cutler and Phil Heath's trainer. The claim is the supplement will help you recover, and make your muscles feel full and hard for the rest of the day with the help of packed amino acids that are necessary specially after working out. When we workout we use alot of energy and nutrients to finish the workout and this product will help you replenish your body. 

       I have been using it for 3 days and the claims look like they have been true. I feel like i just left the gym the whole day my muscles feel hard. We always tell ourselves, man i wish my arms look this big the whole day, well this product helps you. 

       This product is a little pricey it ranges from $45-$55 for a month supply. The way i like to think about it, is i spend the money on stupid things might as well spend it on bettering my body. If you wish to purchase it, we have it available at our gym or you can go to our partners at Supplement Xpress here in town. 

Overall I reccomend Cell K.E.M. i give it 4 stars out of 5.

Thank you so much for reading my blog, i will continue posting reviews on supplements, recipes, workouts, events, etc. Please leave a comment below. 

Your Fitness Friend,

Shane Martinez -New You Fitness Owner