Roasted Red Pepper Chicken and Avocado Salad

Looking for a cool salad to fill you up this summer? Here's a delicious recipe from my partners over at Prograde Nutrition for you.


Roasted Red Pepper Chicken and Avocado Salad

1 medium ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 bag (10 oz.) torn romaine lettuce (about 10 cups)

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 medium tomato, cut into wedges

1 small cucumber, sliced

1/4 of a medium Vidalia or Walla Walla onion, chopped

½ cup Red Pepper

1/2 cup Light or Fat-free Italian Dressing

¼ cup Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Toss avocados with lemon juice in large salad bowl.

Add lettuce, chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions; mix lightly.

Add dressing; toss to coat.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Serve immediately.

Hey, if you like that one they've got 196 more! Seriously, Prograde has a really cool 197 Healthy and Delicious Fat Burning Recipes ebook for just $4.95!

Check it out here: http://nathan.getprograde.com/prograderecipebook.html

Yours in health,

Nathan

PS - If you've been on the lookout for simple and nutritious meals then look no further than http://nathan.getprograde.com/prograderecipebook.html

Are you eating right for your goals?

As of this morning, the 6 Week challenge is sold out and filled. During the next 6 weeks challengers will not only get the best training in Colorado Springs, but will also be coached on how to eat properly for their own individual bodytype, goals and lifestyle factors.


Most trainers and even dieticians will just give you a calorie based meal plan and let you loose, every so often giving a few tips in between training sets. Less than 10% of the population is even mentally capable of following a calorie based meal plan, none the less a custom meal plan with the same foods every day.

Here at Fit Body Bootcamp we utilize the Precision Nutrition System. And it's exactly that..A system. Fad diets are woefully inadequate(I totally just used my phone's spell checker for that :p). Ever known a co-worker, family member or even yourself jump on a diet, only to gain the weight back and then some? Why is it that three diets with completely different food choices can have similar short term results?

Here's what the big diet book sellers don't want you to know. In order for a diet to be successful for millions of people, they are designed with extremely low calories. Same with Nutri-System. The average Nutri-System meal is just over 100 calories!! Eating 10 of their 'meals' a day is the equivalent of a concentration camp diet! But here's the catch, your body is way to smart to let you starve yourself. So instead it burns muscle and stores fat! And muscle is what helps you burn fat.

So yes, after a 'diet' you may be smaller, but chances are you've not only not lost a single ounce of fat, but chances are you've gained some. Then when your body is like 'mo more of this crap', you ditch the diet and now your body stores every single thing you eat because it thinks it might have another 'famine'(self induced in our modern world).

So who else wants to eat more, enjoy tasty food, become healthier and burn fat while maintaining muscle tone?

Even though the 6 week challenge is closed, I'm opening up 5 spots to the nutrition coaching for the next 6 weeks, that will get you on the right track of healthy habits.

Still not convinced a system is better than a diet? Check out how the Precision Nutrition coaching client lost 70 pounds and 20% bodyfat! Not only did he lose 50 pounds during the first 6 months, but he's learned the new healthy habits to keep it off.

What if I can't make it to the coaching sessions? Well you're in luck, the same Lean Eating Coaching program the above client went through will be open very soon. My inside contacts are saying they will announce it in about a week or so. Your results are guarunteed and you have a chance to win $10,000. They only take on a select few and almost all the spots go to the early bird list here.

And if you're training at Fit Body Bootcamp, I'll make sure to get you a copy of the Precision Nutrition System and a discount on training IF you make it into the Lean Eating program.

If you're here in Colorado Springs, this may be your last chance to get local nutrition coaching for awhile. Like I said there's 5 spots open for local coaching of the same principles in the Precision Nutrition System and Lean Eating Coaching program. And when the Lean Eating early bird list is notified it will be your last chance for at least 6 more months, maybe longer.

Whether you don't know the difference between a carb and protein or are at a high level of athletics(even GSP uses the PN principles) the Precision Nutrition System, whether locally coached(Fit Body Bootcamp) or remotely(Lean Eating Program/One-on-One) is probably what you've been looking for all these years to get the body of your dreams and play your sport at the highest levels of performance.

Don't miss out on these two opportunities before they are closed out. If you'd like local coaching you can call me at 719-494-3508. For the Lean Eating Coaching program and a chance to win $10,000, get on the waiting list here

Nathan

P.S. I'm only taking on 5 more local nutrition clients till Wed at 7pm MST 719-494-3508 to reserve your spot

P.S.S. Check out this PN member dropping 50 pounds in the first 6 months here

Lies and Myths of the Weight Loss Industry

I love my partners over at Prograde Nutrition because I truly believe there isn't another supplement company on the planet that tells it like it is.


Seriously, you will NOT believe what they are about to tell you. They literally EXPOSE the biggest weight loss scams out there. They pull back the curtain and reveal the truth about all those BS pills like:
Hoodia
Chitosan
Acai Berry cleanses

If you're ready for a serious wake-up call then you've got to get all over this. You can either listen to the recording OR read the transcript. Whichever you prefer.

And I'm not kidding, you're going to find out exactly how the shady marketers out there prey on your emotions - and your wallet.

Click on the link below RIGHT NOW and become exposed to the truth. Trust me, your body and your bank account will thank you for it!

http://nathan.getprograde.com/lies-and-myths.html

Yours in health,

Nathan

PS - What are you waiting for? This very well may be some of the MOST important information you ever discover.

http://nathan.getprograde.com/lies-and-myths.html

More thoughts on SWAT testing

I received another message literally days after the first question on operator training. This one was in reference to testing procedures. This is unedited and may be a bit all over the place, but hope you can pick out the good stuff out it.

For an actual testing process, I would use some form of obstacle course that involves what you'll see 90% or more of the time. The old school o-courses aren't actually all that bad. The problem with a realistic test is to be efficient, the varibles won't always end of successful. Say you start with a few exercises to get the adrenaline stimulation up, then have a ballistic micro-fight, the variables of a fight could shift the results of the operators performance.

Maybe have a combination of exercise based testing(40 yard sprint, long jump, metcon workout, power clean, etc) in combination with an o-course and some scenario's. But the last two would take a bit of resources and time to put together.

For just exercise route, concentrate on a few things. Athleticism, power, coordination, mental agility/toughness. The secret service has a kettlebell snatch test that has absolutely nothing to do with your physical ability, it's to see how tough you are mentally, as many snatches as possible in 10 min. Athleticism is huge. A guy can be strong as hell, but if he can't coordinate his movements and have the ability to quickly recover from a mistake, all the strength goes to waste. Power. When it's go time, it's all about being in Grog smash, face ripping, bad guy slinging, Testosterone rage. Adrenaline can get you there, but training power will get your body to do it efficently. Coordination, you gotta be able to do multiple things at once sometimes.

Does that make sense?

The Secret Service Snatch Test actually works almost all of these. I would toss in a long jump, short sprint, maybe an agility ladder/course and some form of weighted pullups(full kit).

So for small area and resources do the SSST(that's the acronym you'll find it under on the kettlebell forums) and pullups in kit(I'd do pullups before the hands get tore up). For a bit more space and resources, a 40 yard dash followed by an agility drill, then the SSST, but this time instead of pullups have a 6' wall and see how many times back and forth you can get over it in a set period of time, say two minutes, again in full kit. Give about 2-5 min rest in between each event. And of course feel free to toss in some tactical skills or scenario's, just remember variables are going to influence it, so it may be best to just be part of the test but not necessarily pass/fail.

Hope that answers your question a bit better. Look around the dragondoor forums. Before crossfit, Pavel and the kettlebell were the dominating force for tactical tests. There might be a few gems hidden in there. Not sure if you met Jeff Martone at DARC, but hit him up, he's got a lot of good stuff as well.

Here is my follow up reply to a few more points

I think the SSST is basically 10 min, as many snatches as you can do. You can set it down, you can use whichever hand you want. Pretty much you can do whatever you want but quit. Here's an article on the SSST http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/369/


Here's a link to a phone interview with Dan John. I was the guy asking about the military/law enforcement question But overall, he's got a ton of knowledge on this stuff. http://kettlebellinterrogations.com/dan/call.html

One thing to be aware of with standardized testing is it can be gameplayed just like IPSC shooting or football combine. With the SSST and wall climbs, I think there will be enough carry over that even if you do gameplay it, it will still make you a better operator.

Something to look into for your agility drill, is find some Parkour(The crazy dudes jumping and climbing buildings) exercises and use a circuit of those. It'll transfer into the tactical arena very well on top of assessing agility skills.

One thing to watch for is maybe reversing the order to have range first, then scenario's, then physical. With kettlebell snatches your hands get pretty chewed up and wouldn't be very conducive to shooting well Also when you think of training, you generally want to try and train the most neurologically demanding first, then as the skill gets easier it gets pushed down the priority list. I know crossfit has kind of tossed that idea out the window, but their focus is general fitness, not specific skills training.

Glad I could help out. Feel free to paraphrase this and push it out if you think others would benefit from it.

Could the chance to win $10,000 help you get in shape?

When Dr. John Berardi dropped me an line the other day,
telling me all about his new program, I thought for a second
the guy had lost his mind.

PrecisionNutrition.com/win40k

Now, don't get me wrong. I respect Dr Berardi. He's
recognized as one of the top nutrition coaches in the world.
And his programs get people results. Fast.

However, when I watched this video he sent over, and learned
that he's giving away $40,000 of his own money, he
definitely got my attention.

Check out this blog post for yourself.

PrecisionNutrition.com/win40k

Now, to qualify for this reward, you have to participate in
the Lean Eating program. But that's a no brainer. You
should want to do that ANYWAY if you're interested in body
transformation because there is nothing else like it.

You get 6 months of world class coaching, the type of
coaching you can't find, well, anywhere. And, during these
6 months, if you achieve the best body transformation,
you'll win 10K.

PrecisionNutrition.com/win40k

Worst case scenario, you come out with the best body of your
life. Best case scenario, you come out with the best body
of your life, and 10 GRAND.

So, I highly encourage you to check out this post below. In
it, Dr Berardi shares with you two critical components for
body transformation success.

And then he tells you exactly how one man and one woman are
going to swoop in and claim $10 G's of his own money.

PrecisionNutrition.com/win40k

Now, this message is time sensitive. No, it's not gonna
self-destruct or anything. However, spots are limited in
this program. And LOTS of people want in.

So, if you're interested in finding out exactly how to eat
to get in the best shape of your life, click the link below.
10 grand may be waiting for you on the other side:

PrecisionNutrition.com/win40k

Thanks for all of your support!
Nathan-Precision Nutrition Practitioner

Thoughts on SWAT conditioning

I recently received a message asking about strength and conditioning for law enforcement, speciffically a SWAT breacher. Below is my reply on my thoughts on it.

Hey (insert silly false name here to protect identity), first off thanks for protecting your local citizens every day. It's a job not many respect until they need you.

Here's my philosophy on Law enforcement training in general. For a patrol officer, the most common thing they will be doing is slinging people not objects. You already do MMA, just make sure you include grappling of your choice that meshes with your dept policies and programs. So that could be considered your strength work. Now for operator duties you'll need a little bit extra juice for breaching, crarrying around extra weight, assaulting objectives, mental clarity for long periods during a stand off, etc. For that you can work in any quality strength program. Joe DeFranco, Jim Smith/Diesel Crew, Dan John, Alwyn Cosgrove, Charles Staley are all excellent choices.

Again for patrol officers, the grappling will be sufficient conditioning and very specific. To expand for you team role add in a crossfit metcon or some kettlebell snatch work twice a week. Also some sledgehammer work laterally against a target about the same height as your average door breach along with some med ball twisting throws should work some nice specificity into your hoolie work, when dynamic breach isn't acceptable.

So putting it all together, couple different ways. cycles of four days of ramping intensity, I've found to work better than any other protocol I've used. It will force you to recover so you can actually go all out on your high intensity days. Each cycle of four days consists of a day each of no intensity, low intensity, moderate intensity and high intensity.

On the no intensity days, do a ton of joint mobility work, you can also think of this as the 'off' day. But it's not off, it's active recovery.

You'll follow this up with a low intensity day. On this day practice your tactical skills, dry fire or live fire if possible, and also use this day to work on your flexibility. PNF, dynamic flexibility, foam rolling or yoga type stretches are all good here. Think of this as your active recovery day, feel free to break a light sweat, but nothing above 60%. Concentrate on opening up your upper back, pecs, shoulders and hip flexors as those are the most tightened by body armor and sitting in a patrol car.

Next on your moderate day is either your strength or conditioning work. Whichever you feel is currently the better of the two, you'll place here and they can be flip flopped every few weeks if needed. Usually most place their strength here, preferably full body work. Deadlifts, squats, weighted pullups, gymnastic skills or any other difficult strength/strongman work you like here. If you do any sparring or want to take your body for a test drive in some form of competition, approximately 4-6 hours after your moderate workout is the opportunity.

Last is your high intensity day and most will place their conditioning here. If you decide on one of the programs from the guys I listed you may have to put your strength here because many of them are just too intense to have anything follow them. But for conditioning a high intenisty metcon of at least 20 min can go here. About once a month or so ensure to get a longer metcon or a weighted hike for some mental challenge. And of course you can put any kettlebell conditioning work here as well. I like the snatch VO2 protocol.

If you prefer 5 day/week cycles, not to fear. Just do your moderate on Mon and Thurs. High on Tue and Fri. Mobility and active recovery/flexibility improvement on Wed.

Just kind of my philosophies on things. Let me know if you need anything else at all or have any questions.

Nathan

Something I forgot to mention is make sure your training does not interfer with your job performance. Some sore muscles may not slow you down too much on the exterior, but it's not worth risking not knowing how it's actually affecting you on the inside.

Top 3 uses of a kettlebell

Hope every one had a good thanksgiving. Short post here. This is just my philosophy on the use of kettlebells as a tool in a broad spectrum training program.

• Work capacity
• Portability for travel or deployments
• 'Feeder' Exercises

Work capacity is pretty self explanitory.

The small size makes it easy to take just about anywhere for a total body gym. Going on deployment? Shove a couple in a conex and take an adjustable one on the plane. At work all day and don't have much time or space to get a workout in? Tote it along and knock out some short work throughout the day. Your co-workers may think you're a little nutty, but that's ok you've got the six-pack and he that sports the six-pack makes the rules.

Jumping straight into olympic lifts is a very techinical sport and takes years of training. Kettlebells allow you to start training the gross motor movements(hip extension, coordination) with more room for not quite perfect form. And just as the kettlebell clean and snatch are slightly more complex, you can start just about anybody on swings and have them slowly progress to those exercises and if they so choose to trasition to the bar versions, they will have many of the mechanics already set.

So those are my top 3 uses of the kettlebell. The reason I break it down to these three is for whatever reason I see people trying to make the kettlebell things it's not. I'm not talking about the guys that actually use kettlebells only, that's their thing cool. I'm talking about the gym idiots that are doing curls with them, when there are freaking dumbbells right next to them. If you're trying to bodybuild with kettlebell front raises.....you're probably not a very successful bodybuilder, might want to find a new hobby.

Use them to become a workhorse while on the road because when you get back you want to get into olympic lifts. Don't use them in front of a mirror or you will have your man card revoked....for life.