• 1 cup unsalted almond butter, stirred well
• 3/4 cup Sucanat
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 3 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa or greater), broken into small pieces

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, stir together first 5 ingredients until blended. Stir in chocolate.
2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and let cool for 15 more minutes.

by Jenny Grothe

This little concoction includes NO flour. So, the texture will be just a bit different, but it’s still good going down. Pair this with a vanilla protein shake, and you’re set.

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup bran cereal
• 1 tbs ground flax or flax seed
• 1 tbs old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tbs raisins
• 1 tsp chopped walnuts
• sugar substitute to taste
• a little water (enough to cover the cereal, flax, and oats)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Add cereal, flax, and oats to a small pot on stove. Add just enough water to cover and cook over medium until doughy. Add a small amount of water if needed. Remove from stove.

Stir in cinnamon, vanilla, raisins, and chopped walnuts. Allow to cool slightly.

Cut a piece of parchment paper and place on a cookie tray.

Form dough into 5-6 balls. Place balls on paper. Bake in a 350 oven for 10 minutes or until the edges start to brown.

Nutrition:

• Calories 194
• Calories from Fat 32.1
• Total Fat 3.57g
• Saturated Fat 0.34g
• Cholesterol 0mg
• Sodium 10.72mg
• Total Carbohydrate 46.52g
• Dietary Fiber 25.36g
• Sugars 5.59g
• Protein 5.11g

Happy reading!

Developing Foot Speed and Agility
By Michael Boyle

A couple of threads on the StrengthCoach.com forum got me thinking about the question of foot speed and athletes. I can’t tell you how often I hear a parent or a coach ask, “How can I improve my son’s/daughter’s/ athlete’s foot speed or agility?” It seems everyone always wants the shortcut and the quick fix. The better question might be “Do you think you can improve foot speed?” or maybe even the larger question, “Does foot speed even matter?”

That begs the larger question, “Does foot speed have anything to do with agility?” I know coaches or parents reading this are asking, “Is this guy crazy?” How many times have we heard that speed kills? I think the problem is that coaches and parents equate fast feet with speed and agility. However, fast feet don’t equal speed any more than quick feet equal agile. In some cases, fast feet might actually make an athlete slow–often I see fast feet as a detriment to speed. In fact, some of our quick turnover guys, those who would be described as having fast feet, are very slow off the start.

The problem is fast feet don’t use the ground well to produce force. Fast feet might be good on hot coals, but not on hard ground. Think of the ground as the well from which we draw speed. It is not how fast the feet move, but rather how much force goes into the ground. This is basic action-reaction physics. Force into the ground equals forward motion. This is why the athletes with the best vertical jumps are most often the fastest. It comes down to force production. Often coaches will argue the vertical vs. horizontal argument and say the vertical jump doesn’t correspond to horizontal speed, but years of data from the NFL Combine begs to differ. Force into the ground is force into the ground. In spite of what Brett Contreras may say, vectors don’t seem to matter here. The truth is parents should be asking about vertical jump improvement, not about fast feet. My standard line is “Michael Flatley has fast feet, but he doesn’t really go anywhere. If you move your feet fast and don’t go anywhere, does it matter? It’s the old “tree falling in the woods” thing.

The best solution to slow feet is to get stronger legs. Feet don’t matter. Legs matter. Think about it this way: If you stand at the starting line and take a quick first step but fail to push with the back leg, you don’t go anywhere. The reality is that a quick first step is actually the result of a powerful first push. We should change the buzzwords and start to say “that kid has a great first push.” Lower body strength is the real cure for slow feet and the real key to speed and to agility. The essence of developing quick feet lies in single-leg strength and single-leg stability work… landing skills. If you cannot decelerate, you cannot accelerate, at least not more than once.

One of the things I love is the magic drill idea. This is the theory that developing foot speed and agility is not a process of gaining strength and power, but rather the lack of a specific drill. I tell everyone I know that if I believed there was a magic drill we would do it every day. The reality is it comes down to horsepower and the nervous system, two areas that change slowly over time.

How do we develop speed, quickness and agility? Unfortunately, we need to do it the slow, old-fashioned way. You can play with ladders and bungee cords all you want, but that is like putting mag wheels on an Escort. The key is to increase the horsepower, the brakes and the accelerator. I think the answer for me is always the same. I wrote an article last year called “Is ACL Prevention Just Good Training?” In much the same way, development of speed, agility and quickness simply comes down to good training. We need to work on lower body strength and lower body power and we need to do it on one leg.
I love ladder drills. They provide excellent multi-planar dynamic warm-up. They develop brain-to-muscle connection and are excellent for eccentric strength and stability. We do less than five minutes of ladder drills, one or two times a week. I don’t believe for a minute that the ladder is a magic tool that will make anyone faster or more agile, however I do believe it is a piece of the puzzle from the neural perspective. People waste more than five minutes on biceps curls, but we have long debates about ladder drills.

These are also a great tool to show to coaches who want “foot speed.” Sometime it’s easier to “yes” them than to argue with them. Give a guy with “bad feet” a jump rope and you get a guy with bad feet and patella tendonitis.

PSS- I have never used the term “speed ladder.” We always call it an agility ladder if we call it more than the ladder.

I did in fact come up with a crust too that is totally wheat free (I’m a bit sensitive to it) and I can’t believe it turned out! It was a bit crumbly at first, but once baked it was AWESOME!!

Pie Crust:

1/2c canola oil
2/3c milk
1/4c egg whites
2 2/3c brown rice flour OR oat flour (I used brown rice)
1tsp sea salt
2tsp cinnamon (I love cinnamon and it’s a very good anti oxygent!)
Makes two pies

1. mix dry ingredient together
2. mix milk, oil and egg
3. fold wet ingredient into dry and mix with hands
4. roll out into a 1/8 in circle (I put mine on parchment paper and then put the pie try on top, and flipped the dough and pie plate over using the paper)
5. trim off excess dough and form edges with a fork.
6. set aside in freezer.

Pumpkin filling:

3 cups canned pumpkin
3 cups egg whites
1 whole egg
3 scoops vanilla protein
1/2 cup splenda
nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon to taste ( I like to add alot! Like 1tbs cloves and cinnamon and 2tsp nutmeg

blend all together
fill into pie crusts (makes 2 pies)
bake 350 for 40 mins approx
top with walnuts (if desired)

On Facebook a very famous fitness model, Jamie Eason was talking about him, and her post got a huge reaction from alot of different people, some good, and some bad.  In response he blog in answer to the comments on Facebook: http://bretcontreras.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/will-the-real-glute-guy-please-stand-up/

This post just cracked me up. Not because I think it’s all that funny, but just because it hit’s close to home, as we fellow boxers all know. Everyone has to have their opinion and apparently everyone is an expert.

I get it all the time; after an awesome win in a boxing match I get at least 5 or 6 people (sometimes other coaches) come up to me and say “good job, but you should have done this or that. You need to work on your conditioning more, and do more road work!”  Everyone has to get in their two cent’s.

Hey man, the proof is in the pudding! The way I see it, if you’re winning,  you must be doing something right!  And as for what I should be doing, I guarantee you, I’ve done it all.  I’m quite sure that I do more roadwork then the average competitive RUNNER.  And as for conditioning, I currently have a conditioning coach, who I work with once a week, I do conditioning 4 times a week.  I’ve also trained with professional body builders, sports therapists and fitness competitors.  So I’d like to think I’m pretty well versed in what’s out there.

The nice thing about being involved in this sport for so long (and having tried every method out there available) is eventually you get to know your body quite well and you begin to realize what works best for you.  For instance, I need to keep my conditioning light and fast, otherwise I gain to much weight and get really slow.  I also find that I do better on a higher carb diet (as appose to a higher protein diet), as strangely enough I am able to manage my weight like this.  I know I have a very defensive style of boxing and that works best for me.  I’m also quite happy to work on the inside, despite my height and reach.  Of course, this is just me and I would never say it’s the be all end all.

But the advantage of knowing your self well is that you can take all the “know it all’s” comments, sift through them and select those few that could benefit you.  The worst thing an athlete can do is be closed minded to something, but at the same time it’s important that they realize the advice isn’t the be all, end all (Unless it’s coming from my husband/coach, or so he would think )

Anyway, I love this guys blog, his advice advice is golden, and I intend to totally blog and twitter about him from now on! Thanks!

Feel free to substatue items on the list each day.  If you have any questions you can email me at info@astoriaboxing.ca

I also do sprints as my cardio, rather then doing a long cardio session.  I find this gets my heart rate up and keeps it high for my whole workout.  Because I’m trying to burn fat I do cardio first but if you want to build muscle you should do it after weights (if you’re not to tired).

Here’s my workout:

Day 1:
Weighted squats
Sumo squat
Walking lunges
Leg extensions
Step ups
Leg press
Toe press
Seated calf raises

Day 2: Chest & Tris
Bench Press
Incline press
Incline DB flys
Tri push downs
Tri cable extensions
Bench Dips with weight (med ball)

Day 3: Hams, Butt & Shoulders (My fav day!)
Cable kickbacks
Bridge with weight (med ball)
Stiff leg dead lifts
leg curls
weighted hip extensions
Alt side lat raises
Alt front lat raises
DB shoulder press
Reverse cable flys

Day 4: Back & Bi
lat pull down
seated rows
single arm row
dumbbell alternating curls
incline hammer curls
cable curls

So when did this sport stop being fun?  I seriously pondered this last night with Dave.  Because I remember a time when I actually was enjoying and having fun participating in this sport. (Now, if you’re currently sitting there saying “well quit complaining Jaime and stop boxing” then maybe you should reread this post, because you’re totally missing the point!) Seriously thought, I think there were a number of years when this sport was alot of fun for me.  I enjoyed going to shows, seeing all the people involved and getting in the ring to fight and win.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love to compete.  However now my biggest concern isn’t ‘am I going to win’, it’s ‘am I going to get robbed’ because those who are the decision makes may not “like” me.  My biggest fear is that I won’t be judged fairly in provincial competition because someone wanted to “teach me a lesson”. And we’ve all seen it before.  Most of us who have fought have been given an unfair decision, but lately I’ve seen more and more decisions made on the bias feeling and rules conformed to suit the “rule makers”.

It truthfully makes me question my involvement in this amateur sport.  On many occasions I’ve stated that I’m “going pro”, or even considered joining a different association (I think I’d kick ass in MMA ).  But then I have to ask myself, what about my dreams?  What about my goals for 2012.  Haven’t I always said I’m going to work as hard as I can and get as close as I can to going to the Olympics in 2012, and then go pro for a year and then settle down.  So do I toss that all away because this sport has now become mainly about the politics and the unfair rules or do I bite down, play my part and do my best, even when I feel hopelessness and emptiness is in store for this sport.

Ingredients

1 eggplant
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I use coconut oil, but olive or canola is fine)
1  teaspoon cumin seeds
1 medium onion, sliced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
1 large tomato -  diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup chick peas

Directions:

1. Microwave eggplant for about 5 – 7 min  until the flesh is soft and the skin is blistering off.  Turn as needed for even cooking. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, and scoop the flesh out of the skin. Discard the skin; chop up the flesh, and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the cumin seeds, and let them crackle for a few seconds and turn golden brown. Be careful not to burn them. Add the onion, ginger and garlic; cook and stir until tender.Stir in the tomato, and season with turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander, cayenne pepper. Cook and stir for a few minutes.

3. Place the eggplant pieces in the skillet as well as peas, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes so some of the moisture evaporates. Taste, and adjust seasonings if desired. Cover over chicken, brown rice or couscous, and serve.