A Few of My Favorite Things

Ironman Prep Day 6

I was done with training by 11 am today. I broke a rule too. I’m not supposed to hit the gym until I have at least 2 of my 6 meals behind me. We had a Birthday party at noon to go to though and Gold’s only has am childcare on weekends. So I set my usual alarm for 6:15 am and had 30 min of cardio, breakfast, and a shower behind me before Charlie woke up. Then we were off to Gold’s where I warmed up on a rowing machine, did triceps and biceps, and wrapped up with 15 min on the stepmill.

A few of my favorite (fitness related) things:

1) Suits by Amy – Amy Ardizzone designed the suit I wore at Emerald Cup. She’s great to work with and turns out beautiful custom suits. www.suitsbyamy.com

2) Gaspari MyoFusion – My longstanding favorite protein powder. I should warn you though, once you go MyoFusion the texture of all other proteins will suck by comparison. It’s a mix of whey, casein, and egg albumin. This makes for a good all-purpose protein, the only caveat being that it is a little higher on cholesterol than some other protein powders. It’s available most places: Amazon, GNC, and Bodybuilding.com to name a few.

3) Dave’s Killer Bread The Good Seed Sprouted Wheat – I love bread in general, but the DKB brand makes extra scrumptious bread you can actually feel good about eating. The one mentioned above has 110 cals / 17 g carbs / 3 g fat (0 sat fat) / 6 grams protein / 4 grams fiber. Higher protein and lower carbs than your average slice. Yes, there are a zillion 70-80 cal per slice breads out there, but they aren’t satisfying. This slice is satisfying, and it had better be; my current nutrition plan only nets me 3 slices of bread a week. DKB bread is available at most grocery stores. Just stay away from the loaf called “Sin Dawg.” It is a little cinnamon loaf, maybe 10” long with a 2” diameter. That tiny loaf has 1,600 cals and tons of fat! Scary! I tried it once, prior to reading the stats. It is DELICIOUS, but deadly ;)

4) Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey and 100% Casein Protein Powders – I have a 5 pounder of the whey in Cake Batter (great flavor!) and a 2 pounder of casein in Chocolate Peanut Butter. These are great protein powders because they’re reasonably priced and are loaded up with 4-5 grams of glutamine and 5-5.5 grams of BCAAs per serving. I prefer this over taking a bunch of separate supplements.

5) GNC Glutamine 2500 Power Chews in Grape Berry – I know I just said I don’t like taking separate supplements, but glutamine is one that I sometimes take in contexts where I’m not eating, such as prolonged exercise. These chews are handy to pack and they’re as flavorful as a grape Laffy Taffy.

6) HTC Incredible aka my phone – Think this is an odd thing to list? Not really =) Each and every video clip posted on this blog and just about every picture has been captured with my phone. I also have an app on it called JEFIT Pro that shows me animations for a ton of different exercises and sorts them out by muscle group for easy on the fly referencing. Lately, I’ve started using the stopwatch to time my rest time between sets. Naturally I scan Facebook and catch up on emails on it during my am cardio. My Amazon app lets me cross-check prices when I’m in GNC and sometimes save a lot on my protein, I’ve even ordered it from my phone. I love my phone; it’s a figure girl’s best friend ;)