What I Eat to Stay Lean, Strong, and Healthy

When I sit down with a nutrition client, the first thing I evaluate is their food log.  The food log gives me access to an important piece of the fitness puzzle.  I examine things like handwriting, number of meals recorded, how many days the client forgot to log food, and so much more.  What? You thought I care about what they eat?  I do, but the FIRST thing I look for is if this client is actually aware of what they are putting in their body, both food and drink.  A common remission I see is clients who don’t record what they drink.  This is usually due to embarrassment of consuming drinks daily after they get off of work.  Those “few beers” or “just a glass of wine” are usually a little bit more volume and often than the client even knows, but without WRITING IT DOWN we can never put the problem in front of us to change.

Just to give you an idea, this is what a one day food log from yours truly:

6am-Wake-Up

7am-12oz Cold Brew Coffee (black)

7:30am-RX Oats with 1/4 Cup Whole Lactose Free Milk, 1 Tbsp skippy peanut butter, 1/4 cup frozen blueberries

10:30am-workout

11:45am-smoothie (1/2 cup frozen mixed berries, 1/4 cup cranberry juice, 1/2 scoop protein egg white powder, 1 scoop colleen protein)

12:15pm-4 whole eggs (pastured), 2 strips thick cut bacon (nitrate/nitrite free), 1/3 cup lactose free cheese, 1/2 cup onion/peppers mix), 16oz. water

3pm-8oz. Sliced Turkey Breast (nitrate/nitrite free), 1.5 cups trader joe’s cassava chips, 16oz. Pellegrino soda water, 1/4 cup white rice, 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds

6pm-12oz Grass-fed Skirt Steak, 2 Cups White Rice, 2 TBSP Peter Lugar Steak Sauce, 16oz. Pellegrino Soda Water

Don’t worry about what I am eating, look more at the detail and clarity of the actual food log.  What it tells you is that I am aware of everything that I put into my body.  That is why logging food is so critical to making nutritional changes.  We can’t measure what we can’t change.  Up your food log game, and see your body composition change accordingly.

Need help with YOUR food logging?  Book a free assessment today, and let’s get started on the path to a better diet.

The Hardest Core Exercise I Do

I am a big fan of anti-extension exercises like planks, hollow body holds, and carries.  I like to change up my core movements and give myself a challenge every once in a while.  That’s where the incline barbell roll-out comes in.  The nice part about this exercise is that you don’t need any fancy equipment, just a barbell and an incline like a hill or driveway.  I prefer doing roll-outs on a slight incline so gravity can assist the return back to the starting position.  Obviously, if you are strong enough to do this on level ground, more power to you, but I try to go through the full range of motion with the arms completely overhead.  The arms overhead has the most transfer to other exercises that I utilize like handstands and overhead presses.  My goal is to keep a completely rigid core, maintain a hips tucked position, and get some upward rotation and elevation of the scapular so that my shoulders don’t impinge.  If you focus on these three factors, the movement becomes INCREDIBLY challenging, even on an incline.

Looking to improve your core strength? Then maybe it’s time for a personalized training program.  Click the link in my bio to set up a free assessment today!

3 Tips For Sticking To Your Diet...

Let’s be honest, dieting sucks.  You don’t get to eat the foods you want.  You have to constantly be on guard of letting unhealthy food sneak into your kitchen. Heck, you may even have to abstain from certain social situations because of the food or alcohol involved.  As I have said to many of my nutrition clients before, “When you are changing something BIG, you can only measure what you are losing, not what you are going to be receiving.”  I’ve seen proof of this time and time again.  Most of the time, nutrition clients are only eating and drinking a certain way because it’s all they know.  However, once we make these changes and they stick, it’s easier, gives them more freedom, and makes them feel and look better.

Here are three tips that you should be using right now!   

1. Be mindful of what precedes a cheat- When first working with a client, I don’t ask them to stop eating poorly.  Why?  In the long run, I don’t want them to have to rely solely on willpower, so determining the why behind the cheat is important.  When eating junk or drinking booze, what thoughts, feelings, and emotions preceded the treat?  Are you exhausted from work and looking to unwind?  Did you have an emotional argument with a spouse? Until we determine the motivating factors behind the poor nutrition choices, it’s always going to be lurking in the shadows, ready to strike when our willpower drops off.  

2. Stay out of the kitchen- You’d be surprised at how strong the association between being in a specific place triggers a physiological and psychological response.  My advice is if you are bored, STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN!

3. If you feel hungry, wait 10 minutes- For those of us who are just starting a new nutrition routine, it’s tough to tell whether or not you are hungry out of habit, or you are actually in need of nourishment.  A good way to determine the difference is to give yourself a little time after you start to feel hungry.  If after 10 or so minutes you are still hungry or more hungry, it may be time for a meal or snack.

Need some more dieting and nutrition tips? I’m here to help.  Click the link in my bio to set up a free assessment today!

I Didn't Say It'd Be Easy, I Said It'd Be Worth It...

While on a zoom call, Charlie chirped with a smirk on his face, “Man I hate these lunges.  They are so hard for me!”  I replied, “I didn’t say it’d be easy, I said it’d be worth it.”  Charlie pondered for a moment, laughed and said, “I’m stealing that.” 

Charlie Kenney and I have been working together since the beginning of the pandemic.  First remotely as he was spending the summer in the northeast, but now in person since he is back down to south Florida for the winter.  We meet at the local park three days a week for an hour session including stretching and mobility, strength work, and conditioning.  I bring all the necessary equipment, Charlie gets a great workout, and he goes back on with his day.  However, Charlie sees it as more than just a workout.  Charlie gets to take an hour away from the grind of work and other responsibilities to work on himself.  It creates a ripple effect through the rest of his day and it will pay dividends for years to come.    

Charlie shows age is just a number, and he plans on continuing his healthy lifestyle for good!  It’s never too late to work on your own fitness.  Let’s get started today!  Click the link below to book a free assessment!

Are All Sweeteners The Same?

I commonly receive the question, “(insert sweetener) bad for me?”  My response, “It depends.”

First off, why are you using the sweetener, and how much are you using?  Secondly, what are your fitness and health goals?  After answering these questions (honestly), I can give recommendations on what an individual should do about adding sweeteners to their diet.

Let’s take a dive into some common sweeteners before I give my commendations:

1. Sucrose-Table sugar, honey, white sugar, confectioners sugar, sugar in the raw, are all made up molecularly of a glucose and fructose molecule (equally). 

2. Fructose-These include agave, maple syrup.  Though fructose has a lower glycemic index than table sugar or glucose, the gut cannot absorb fructose.  Fructose must be processed by the liver into glucose so it can be used by the body.  This reaction is called fructolysis.  If 30g or more of fructose are ingested, the excess sugar conversion causes an increase in triglycerides, a precursor for cardiovascular disease.  Moreover, fructose is also the sweetest tasting sweetener, we’ll learn why this is important later on.

3. Dextrose- Corn Syrup/Cassava Syrup-Though this is a high glycemic sugar that will affect blood sugar, it bypasses the liver. 

4. High Fructose Corn Syrup-Found in sports drinks and soft drinks.  Think of HFCS as sucrose on overdrive.  Up until the 1970s, soft drinks used cheap sugar: corn syrup.  Corn syrup is made up of glucose, which doesn’t taste as sweet as fructose on the pallet.  Rather than using sugar, Scientists combined the sweetness of fructose with the cheap cost of corn syrup to produce a super cheap and addictive substance that runs havoc on your liver and blood sugar.  HFCS-55 contains 55% fructose and 45% glucose.

If your goal is improving body composition and long term health, then you should RARELY be consuming sweeteners. RARELY.  Notice I did not say sugar.  Sugar occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables, however it is VERY hard to over consume sugar when you eat whole foods, but EASY to over consume sugar when you are drinking juices or eating dried fruit.  For instance, to get the sugar in one 8 ounce glass of orange juice, you would have to eat 3 oranges.  Add in the fact that you are consuming a lot of fiber which slows down digestion and negates the spike in blood sugar, and you are working with two completely different scenarios.  My recommendation is to keep sugar consumption below 30g each day and consume your sugar as fibrous foods.

There is so much more to unpack about sugar, but hopefully you can look behind the BS when the next sugar company says, “Sugar is sugar,” or your buddy tries to feed you muffins and says they are healthy because she used, “Agave Syrup.”

Looking for more advice with your diet?  I’m here to help.  Click the link in my bio to set up a free assessment today!

Merry Christmas!!!

From Elliot, Lauren, Lincoln, and I, have a merry Christmas!

The Perfect Total Body Workout

I get it. You are pressed for time and need to get a workout in between meetings or while the kids are napping. Maybe you are on the road, and all the hotel has is dumbbells. Have no fear, Floch Fitness is here! Enjoy this total body workout with a warm-up and cool-down included! If you like the video, please subscribe, like, and leave a comment in the description below of what you thought.

Looking for more personalized workouts?

I'd love to help. Click the link below to set up a free assessment today!

I Wish I Knew THIS Before I Started Training...

A brand new episode of the Fitness, Wellness, and Longevity Podcast is now available! You can download now wherever you listen to your podcasts or click the link below.

Scott and I didn't always have our heads on straight when it came to intelligent training. We learned from out mistakes but we also came across influential people that allowed us to call an audible and reassess what our training looked like. Today we share some of our biggest changed that we made. If you are looking for direction in your training, you won't want to miss this!

If you have any questions for the podcast please send them my way: sean@flochfitness.com

See you next time!