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Celiac Awareness Night at the Phillies
July 20, 2012
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Category: My World

0 KC and CC: Raw Energy

  • September 26, 2012
  • Brian Heilweck
  • · My World · Physical Fitness

KC  &  CC:   Raw  Energy

Sit back and get comfortable for a moment because I’m going to tell you a little story with a few words of wisdom mixed in. I say mixed in because I want you to read my post and not skim to the bottom for the quick answers. Don’t worry; it’ll be worth the read.

Once upon a time, I was in the gym and noticed this mother and son team working out with a type of raw energy I don’t typically see. They were doing total body workouts which I later learned is named the Spartacus workout. Now when I say total body workout, I’m not talking about a small amount of exercises that target the whole body. I’m talking about many exercises that target the individual parts that COMBINED target the total body. It’s a lot of work. Being a person that targets no more than three body parts in a session, I definitely noticed them.

Before I go any further, you are probably wondering who this mother/son combo is? You likely already know the mother as guest blogger KC. Her son is Christian Crowell, otherwise known as CC. That’s right…….KC and CC. Below is a picture of KC and CC to help give you a better visual as you’re reading this post.

Now back to my story…… Eventually I was able to meet KC and CC and I was able to learn their little energy secret. Are you ready for the first words of wisdom I had promised? Good, it’s chia seeds. I had written a post about my personal experience with chia seeds. If you haven’t read it, that’s a major shame. But no worries, you can still read about my chia seeds experience. While I had initially used chia seeds occasionally when needed, KC and CC had been using it daily as part of their regular routine. Both KC and CC are fanatic about chia seeds. Ahhhh…….now the mental picture was starting to form.

If that wasn’t enough, I found out another little energy secret. Here are the next words of wisdom: eating more raw foods. KC wrote a nice little post about the benefits of raw foods.  Check it out.

That’s it. This chia seeds/raw foods combo is what gives them their uniquely high energy levels. Their secrets are now revealed for you to use in your own little quest for energy. KC and CC motivated me to start eating chia seeds daily and I’m slowly beginning to eat more raw foods. I say slowly with the raw foods as it’s still a bit of an adjustment; I love my barbeque and especially my tri tip steaks and I don’t part too easily from these foods. But even with just the chia seeds and the occasional raw foods, I noticed a big difference in my energy levels. Am I at the point to rival the energy levels of KC and CC?  Hell no. But I’ve come a long way. You can too. Take the time and post a comment if you notice similar energy spikes from their little “not so secret” secrets.  Shhhhh……just remember you didn’t hear it from me.

0 Strength vs. Stamina

  • August 24, 2012
  • Brian Heilweck
  • · My World · Physical Fitness

Strength vs. Stamina

Strength vs. stamina…..it sounds so simple doesn’t it? It’s just as easy for me to write it as it is for you to read it. But the truth is that it’s not that easy. In fact, it’s downright hard. I literally got my butt handed to me by KC when I made the mistake of thinking that strength and stamina were basically one of the same. If you have good strength, you also have decent stamina, right? Wrong!!!

I’ll start with strength. I consider myself pretty darn strong. On my heavy lifting days when I decide to use the cable weight machines, I not only lift the entire weight stack, but I have to place an additional weight plate around the pin that inserts into the weight stack. To accompany my strength, I also have pretty decent mass (214 pounds with around a 33/34 inch waist).

Now comes the stamina portion. Maybe you’ve seen people doing some stamina exercises. One stamina exercise I used to snicker at was watching people do walking lunges from one end of the gym to the other. For some reason, I always got the mental picture of a retarded duck trying to walk straight. I just realized that the word retarded may be politically incorrect. I doubt if I offended any “mentally challenged” ducks but I do apologize to those who may love such ducks.

Anyway, the day came where I was talked (coerced?) into trying such exercises. What’s the big deal, right? I have the strength and I have the size. I can surely walk like a retarded duck (again, my apologies) or any other exercise KC can fathom. WRONG! It is damn hard. I’ll be the first to say that it is much easier to hoist a heavy weight around than it is to do half the exercises KC had me try.

How did I ultimately do?  You guessed it……I sucked. While I look good and can lift heavy, I’m no match for this thing called muscle stamina. Strength and stamina are two completely different things. Muscle size and strength don’t do a whole lot to help your stamina, as I painfully found out. While I can’t quite say I have a newfound respect for the “duck walkers” in my gym, I can at least appreciate their efforts (BTW, I still snicker).

Will I do it again?  I’m sure at some point I likely will. Hopefully the second attempt will be the charm. I’m just not going to mention these stamina exercises to KC for a while with the hope she may forget! Hopefully KC isn’t reading this…..

 

 

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