How I Eat Healthy, Cheap, and Often – Lunch

Since my last food post seemed like it got the attention of more comment spam bots than normal, I figured it was worth continuing on to the next meal of the day. So without further ado, lunch!

There was a carrot here…but I eated it.

As you can see, my normal lunch consists of assorted vegetables and some kind of meat (usually fish, sometimes a pork chop if I’m feeling indulgent). My choices of vegetables tend to include bell peppers, spinach, carrots, eggplants, and pretty much anything else which tastes good with minimal preparation. The only thing I need to prepare this is a contact grill, and it doesn’t take that long, either.

I start by plugging in the contact grill and letting it warm up, which usually takes a few minutes. While this is happening, I do whatever prep I have to do for the vegetables – peel the carrots, etc. – though there really isn’t that much. Grill the fish for a few minutes, it shouldn’t take too long to cook, especially if it’s thawed already, and then throw the spinach on for maybe 30 seconds and the eggplant for maybe 1-2 minutes. Add salt/pepper/any other condiments to taste (I occasionally add sweet chili sauce or Tapatio hot sauce), but if you’ve got a flavorful fish, like salmon, you may not need anything. Also, there isn’t anything that needs to be cleaned except the dishes you use and the grill, which is easier to clean when warm. I’m not sure exactly what the recommended protocol for cleaning a contact grill is, but I only clean mine once a week or so and I don’t seem to have much of a problem with it.

In general, fish and nutrient-rich vegetables like spinach and carrots (both of which show up in Berardi’s superfoods!) are a good bet for a healthy meal. The fish is a good source of lean protein, and if you include the skin (which gets nice and crispy on the grill, mmmm) you get a good dose of omega-3 fatty acids as well.

Advanced nutrition/fitness geeks might note that this meal lacks any carbs outside of vegetables – if I’m eating lunch an hour or two post-workout, I’ll usually add a small handful of pasta with olive oil and a little bit of parmesan to this dish. Yum. Lose the pasta, though, and it’s fine for an any-time meal.

This meal manages to hit the wallet pretty easily, too. Of course, I’m in Japan, so the prices here might not be quite applicable to the US, but it goes something like this:

3-Pack of salmon fillets: $3

Pack of spinach (don’t really know how much is in here, but I use about 1/3rd of it per meal): 70 cents (average – I’ve seen it as low as 40 and as high as $1.80. Shop around and stock up!)

Pack of 7 carrots: $1.20

Pack of four small bell peppers: $1

That means each meal costs about $1.80. Not a bad bang for your buck, if I do say myself – and this is in Japan, when food prices are rising. Yum!

pat m.

Links 4.30.08

This is the stuff that’s caught my attention lately:

One is a video series called “Underground Wellness” that I came across on YouTube a few days ago. The specific episode that caught my attention was on the amount of sugar that’s in a bottle of Pepsi – complete with a visual aid at the very end – but if you check his other videos, there’s plenty of interesting stuff on diet tips and working out. That’s a lot of sugar.

Two is the first installment of a biographical story about Carlson Gracie – a good read for anyone interested in boning up on their BJJ history, though it sounds a little bit hyperbolic at times.

Three is an hour-long interview with John Berardi that’s up on YouTube. I haven’t watched the whole thing – the first segment or so seems to be mostly just an advertisement and basic explanation of his stuff – but it might be worth checking out if you’re thinking about checking out Precision Nutrition or the Grappler’s Guide to Sport Nutrition.

Four is a list of Fifty Ways to Use Bacon. I don’t think bacon is exactly the best fuel for MMA/BJJ competition, but god damn do I miss it. Mmmmm.

pat m.

Training Journal 4.29.08

Starting to taper off my workouts a bit – six days until the Rickson Gracie Cup! So this morning workout consisted of a ten minute jumprope session and seven hill-sprints-that-aren’t-really-on-a-hill. I think the virtual lack of sleep on Sunday, my only scheduled off day, is getting to me, so the tapering will be good.

I’m not going to delve into my personal life much here, but suffice to say that I’ve discovered over the last year or so that the energy I use to train comes from the same place that my energy that I use to go to class, or work, or even maintain relationships does. Even though going to class hardly constitutes significant physical effort, it’s still enough to tire me out earlier when it comes to training. Same thing with a relationship; if it’s going well, I can be at the top of my game, but if it’s not, my shit just plummets.

I got to watch some of the Dream 2 fights, too. Really, the highlight for me was the Aoki-JZ fight. Holy shit. SPOILER ALERT:

It was awesome to see a BJJ guy – and an underdog, at that – win a unanimous decision against a guy everyone said was going to knock him out. Seriously, I want a guard so bad-ass that I can go to my back as much as I want and people aren’t gonna want to fuck with it.

Evening training was just an open mat for an hour or so, since today’s technically a national holiday. Every so often I have to remind myself that a lot of the guys at Alive are some of the best around here, that I’m rolling with totally legit competition every day, that I am getting better, and the fact that the guys who are in my weight class give me hell is a Good Thing. Today was one of those days. On the plus side, the ankle feels okay.

pat m.

Training Journal 4.28.08

Morning workout today consisted of 15 leg-lift-pull-up-burpees and a light jog around the ‘hood to warm up, then Tabata sprints, then 50 burpees for time (2:30). Kind of all over the place, but a good workout. 50 burpees in 2:30 is a completely different kind of pain than 100 burpees for time. I was barely able to get my feet off the ground towards the end of the second set (I did a set of 30, shook my legs out, and did another set of 20).

Evening practice: I tapped my instructor! (The lead instructor at Alive, not Amazon.) Wooooooooo. Got him with that overhook gi choke from guard. He got me triangled, though, and basically made fun of every submission/sweep/escape attempt I made before any of that. Also got ankle-locked by another guy pretty zealously and now my shit is sore. Fuck.

pat m.

Gear Musings, and Why Bull Terrier Shorts Suck

I’ve made two trips to the American Casual store since picking up the Killer Bee shirt, and come away empty-handed both times. The first time, at least, I ran into Amazon there, which got me a shoutout on his blog, along with a somewhat disapproving “So, you think that the martial-arts t-shirt stuff is cool, huh?” Today’s trip didn’t even give me that, though – saw a neat Reversal RVDDW orange t-shirt with a funky picture of a hamburger stuffed with black belts and a caption that said Vale Tudo, but it wasn’t my size. Broke my heart, too – it was only 800 yen. Alas.

I wish MMA wasn’t such a white bread sport. Then maybe we’d see clothing designs that don’t have gothic motifs. Only white people wear that stuff. Yuck. Stupid Affliction.

There are three reasons I’m hating on the Bull Terrier combat shorts, which I’m wearing in this picture:

One: they cost fifty bucks, and those flames are damn ugly. My instructor said it’s cheaper than other combat shorts (Reversal, Inspirit, etc. cost about $75) because the guy who owns the Bull Terrier shop designed them himself instead of hiring a designer to do it. Fifty bucks could have gotten me a pair of Sprawls if I was in the US. Stupid Japan and its stupid gear prices.

Two: they ended up being a waste of money because I didn’t end up competing in the tournament I bought them for, since no one else entered in my weight class. I guess that’s not the shorts’ fault, but still. Grrrr.

Three: the flame print started deteriorating after two rounds in the washing machine. Seriously, that’s some shoddy work.

Yeah, I guess it doesn’t really matter what my shorts look like when my thighs are wrapped around the necks of sweaty men, but come on. That was fifty bucks. Shame, Bull Terrier. I’m saving my money for some Korals or Sprawls when I get back home.

I suppose there is a plus side – they’re soft and comfortable, though I find myself having to readjust them rather frequently while rolling because the pant leg can bunch up on the mats. So they’re not too bad. Just overpriced.

pat m.

 

Training Journal 4.26.08

Did some long-distance roadwork today. Well, “long-distance”.

All the reading and training I’ve done lately makes me wonder why boxing has had a traditional focus on long-distance running for cardio for so long. Certainly in other combat sports it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense – while certain physiological elements of cardiovascular conditioning, like improving your VOMax, might be useful in both running and fighting, it doesn’t change the fact that your body and mind are being trained to do two completely different activities.

I used to run for cardio (nothing tremendously impressive, maybe three miles or so) before I got into HIIT (“High Intensity Interval Training”) -based conditioning methods. I haven’t done a whole lot of it recently, but I’ve been trying to work in a long-distance session every now and then, to keep my cardio well-rounded as well as provide me with a little bit of a break at the end of the week. So I went for a good, sweat-breaking run around the neighborhood that lasted, oh, maybe twenty minutes or so (there aren’t any good running areas nearby – no turf, grass, or track – and my running shoes are practically shot through so I try not to go too long) in total. Confident that I had gotten a good, solid run in, with my legs starting to protest and my pace faltering ever so slightly, I go ahead and plot my route on Google Maps…

…And find that I ran just a bit over two miles. That’s about two ten-minute miles. That’s…not really that impressive.

At all.

I’ll have to add that to the list of Things to Work On.

Speaking of cardio, I noticed a thread on the Sherdog Conditioning forums that’s actually been around for a while – early morning GPP (“General Physical Preparedness”) workouts that can be done in 5-10 minutes, just as a way for someone to get a light sweat and a little physical exercise in the morning, ideally before breakfast. Hardly a complete exercise regimen, of course (you’re gonna need more than 5-10 minutes for that, sorry), but a good supplement to an active training schedule.

Evening practice went okay – my body is sore and bruised in all kinds of places from going to practice six days in a row, so I’m welcoming the day off. I’m in a good place for weigh-ins, too. Here’s hoping I don’t get sick – there’s been a bug going around the gym lately, and it doesn’t seem to stop people from coming in and training. Neither does ringworm, apparently – I think I trained with a guy who had it on his FACE today. Needless to say, I showered as soon as possible. EW.

pat m.

Links 4.26.08

Thought I’d throw up a few links on the stuff I’ve been looking at lately.

One goes to Mark’s Daily Apple, a neat blog run by the owner of a supplement company that talks a lot about eating well. It’s got plenty of interesting reading material (community-supported farms! Eating lamb!) and it’s updated surprisingly regularly.

Two is the GMap-Pedometer, a simple little Google Maps hack that lets you easily plot points to figure out how far you’re running.

Three is a thread on Sherdog Conditioning for people who are doing the 50 Burpee Challenge as a way of working up to the 100. I might do this.

Four is a thread on Lockflow’s forums about training injured. Uh, don’t do it.

pat m.

Training Journal 4.25.08

Tired tired tired. Again. Don’t have much to write today, though.

Morning workout: 100 burpees for time. (5 sets of 20) Managed to do them in 6:55, which beats my previous time (8:40) quite handily. Go me!

Evening practice: no-gi sparring session. Working the new half guard stuff and loving it! Thanks to David Saetang for recommending a setup for an arm drag from half guard – I hit it twice today, and I never get arm drags.

Yaaaaaaawn.

pat m.

Training Journal 4.24.08

I am so tired. So tiredly awesome.

Managed to do the fifteen-minutes-of-hell workout again this morning and felt pretty good about it. The awkwardness of using a duffel bag for certain exercises kind of mimicks the feeling of gripping someone’s gi sleeves in spider guard, oddly enough, since my hands aren’t pulling and pushing at the center of the weight like they are with a dumbbell. 

Evening training was a blast. Thursdays are technique-heavy days, because the head instructor teaches two technique classes in a row. In the first session (basic techniques) he taught a few things off the pendulum sweep – ways to finish into an armbar/triangle/other armbar. Nothing particularly special but worth drilling since I’ve had moderate success with the move. He did also teach a neat little trick when you’re going for the sweep (one arm under their opposite leg and all that) but they have good posture – he called it a tobitsuki (“flying”) triangle from the bottom, because you really get your hips up into and over them, then walk your body backwards to break their posture. Advanced technique session linked some X-guard stuff they teach every now and then to the guard pass we worked Tuesday and Wednesday, which made for a pretty dope sequence. Then we rolled for about ~40 minutes or so, and I got some good rounds off with Kuriyama, Amazon, and a few other blue belts. What really made my day, though, was the last ten minutes or so after class, where my instructor pulled me aside and showed me a few improvements I could make to the half-guard stuff I’ve been working lately – namely, the mistake I make when I go for the underhook that lets me get smashed flat, and some pointers on knee positioning and a neat little transition from the forearm-on-throat frame I’ve been playing with lately to prevent from getting smashed, where the emphasis is more on my elbow against their shoulder and my knee in their armpit. From there, I push with my hips and elbow (“just like the move you like, the hip sweep”, says the instructor), and when they push back down, rotate the elbow around and through to get the underhook and take their back. It’s like I’ve got a new toy!

pat m.

Training Journal 4.23.08

Phew. Another good day.

Slept well last night and worked out well this morning – ten hill sprints and then a set of 25 burpees to finish it off. I don’t think the hill is long enough or difficult enough to make them worth my while, so I’m going to stick to Tabata sprints (ugh) for my sprint-work, though with the condition my running shoes are in I don’t think I’ll do much of them. Tomorrow I’m planning on doing the 15 minutes of hell workout that I did on Monday. Yum.

Evening training went well – skipped kickboxing because I’m focusing on BJJ, and during BJJ sparring I got to roll with Amazon three times! The modifications I’ve made to my half guard have been paying off in spades lately, even against Amazon – although he was exhausted and probably overworked from his inhuman training schedule, I nonetheless managed to start out, go to half guard, and work from half guard to reconstitute a few times, and I didn’t make it easy for him to pass – as evidenced by the crazy-ass noises and facial expressions he was making. Seriously, he looked like a manga character.

Afterwards, he told me I had gotten stronger (!!). Then he reminded me that he had fought, and beaten, plenty of Americans in BJJ tournaments. Including Mike Fowler (that’s the fourth time he’s told me that).

Time to swoon myself to sleep.

pat m.