NiaShanks.com

Strength Training and Eating

• Posted 04/14/2010
• Tags:
  conditioning, diet, fat loss, nutrition, strength training AND weight loss.
• 11 Comments

I have received several requests to reveal what I eat and how I train, and today that is what I am going to share with you.

Disclaimer: in an effort to keep swords from being drawn and people fighting to the death in the name of veganism, carnivorism, paleoism, low carb dieting, and any other nutrition philosophy, please know that I am sharing what works for me and what I am trying at this time.

Okay. Now that that is out of the way, we can move on to the requested information.

What I Eat:

I have a few basic principles that I follow when it comes to my nutrition habits:

1) Eat whole, natural, unprocessed or minimally processed foods. This one is self explanatory, but eating natural foods is very important, in my opinion. You will get more vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other good-for-you-stuff if you eat whole foods. Don’t underestimate the importance of this one.

2) Eat when hungry. This means that I usually don’t eat “breakfast” until 11 o’clock or so. I don’t like eating on a schedule and instead prefer to listen to my body and feed it when it’s hungry. This means I usually eat three meals (sometimes two) each day. If I only eat two meals I’ll usually have a snack or two.

In the past I tried the whole “eat five to six times a day” thing and I hated it. I felt like I was a slave to the clock and it was very inconvenient. However, if it works for you – do it. I’m just letting you know what works for me right now.

3) Drink a lot of water. Unlike eating when I’m hungry, I drink a lot of water throughout the day, and nothing but water for the most part. Exceptions include coffee on the weekends and the occasion Guinness.

4) Eat fruit and/or vegetables at every meal. I strongly believe in eating as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible. As a result, the meals I cook usually revolve around veggies.

Here is a sample daily menu from the other day:

• Meal 1: Shake with frozen mixed berries, blueberries, banana, pineapple, pea protein powder, Brazil nuts, almonds, and several handfuls of spinach.

• Meal 2: Omelet with three omega 3 eggs, lots of green peppers, onions, mushrooms, a little mozzarella cheese, fresh herbs, and I topped it off with several spoonfuls of homemade salsa. I also had some fresh strawberries.

• Meal 3: Penne with roasted vegetables (you can find the recipe here). This was a big dish that had whole wheat pasta (or rice pasta), roasted green peppers, onions, squash, zucchini, mushrooms, and some fresh mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

I regularly eat beans and rice as well (different versions but one of my absolute favorites can be found here). Another breakfast I eat is mixed fresh berries and mixed nuts, and my homemade muesli (you can find that HERE).

As you can see from above I don’t eat meat. However, I occasionally will have some fish or seafood but I eat meat very rarely. This is due to personal reasons, which I can share later.

5) Once a week eat a meal that doesn’t necessarily follow the above guidelines. Basically once a week (maybe twice) I will eat something like pizza and ice cream or homemade cookies. However, even when I do eat pizza I get it loaded with vegetables; just my personal preference.

Okay, that basically sums up my current nutrition habits and hopefully you were able to learn something, or at the very least you got a few new recipes you can try.

Now we can move on to training.

How I Train:

Over the past few weeks I had to change up my training schedule. I was strength training four days per week, but as you’ll see I switched things around.

1) Strength train three days per week. Right now I am only lifting weights three days per week. The past few weeks, and currently, I have been using total body workouts. I’ll stick with total body training until I get burned out or lose motivation with this program, and then I’ll switch back to an upper/lower split.

2) Use big compound exercises. Most of the exercises I perform are deadlifts, squats, lunges, dips, pull-ups, push-ups, inverted rows, overhead presses, bench presses, rows, and their variations. I also include some ab exercises as well as direct arm work at the end of my training sessions.

3) Lift heavy. I have been saying it for years that men AND WOMEN should lift heavy. There are dozens of benefits, but that’s another article. My main goal is to increase my strength and so lifting heavy is a must; plus, it’s fun! I also perform sets with higher rep ranges (6-12) because going heavy all the time would burn me out really quick and the higher reps have different advantages as well.

4) Conditioning work three to five times per week. I must admit that I have neglected my conditioning work the past few months, but I have definitely put a stop to that. Three to five times per week I perform conditioning work in the form of burpees, kettlebell intervals, bodyweight circuits, sprints, or other exercises that can be completed in about 10-15 minutes. Fast and effective.

5) Mobility work, foam rolling, and stretching throughout the week. I foam roll each time before I go the gym, and I’m starting to include it during my off days as well along with stretching. Before every workout (and even some off days) I perform various mobility drills. You do too, right?

6) Include light, enjoyable activity. At least one day a week I like to go hiking or for a nice long walk outside. The conditioning workouts I perform can become too much if I do them everyday, so I like to substitute lighter activity sometimes such as hiking or playing soccer with my dog.

Well, that is my current eating habits and strength training guidelines that I am following right now. I post my daily workouts at my old blog, and you can check those out HERE.

So now it’s your turn: what eating habits do you follow, and what does your training program look like?