Year of Push 3.4 Milkshakes & 10 Point Turns

by | May 18, 2017 | Blog

Remember back in drivers ed when you were taught the 3-point turn? You needed this skill so you could make a complete direction change in as few moves as possible.

I have to ask, who picked the number 3? Is that just an average? Sometimes you can make a u-turn, sometimes it’s a 10-point turn and 3 seemed like a reasonable average? #justcurious #why3

I mean, who here hasn’t made a 10 point turn, improving your position only by inches with each attempt, not quite sure if you’d be able to make it happen?

I know I have! At best, it’s more like a 4 or 5-point turn on a good day!

(I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of men, especially the ones who have been passengers in my car, are rolling their eyes right now. Uh huh. I understand. My point is a valid one though…)

Here’s why I’m bringing up the so-called-3-point-turn: it seems like many of us approach change with the expectation that we should be able to make a simple U-turn.

We hold ourselves to this standard that with a simple decision, we should be able to do a behavioral or nutritional U-turn.

Guys, life is more like the 10-point turn. Behavior change, improvements in fitness, healthier food choices, they all come about as a result of many, many, many 10-point turns.

We make a little progress…whoops, back it up, readjust…a little more progress…straighten out…inch it forward, inch it back…

Why are we so frustrated by that?

That is LIFE.

Stop expecting it to be so easy just because you want it to be.

One of the primary reasons we give up and give in is because we resent the 10 (or 100) point turns in our lives. Then, we give up.

Well, if you keep giving up, you’ll never get there.

Instead, keep inching forward, readjusting & staying patient.

Get patient. seriously. Get patient.

Staying patient was the name of the game in today’s workout. Freakin’ running again. Sure, it was only 200m but with a 20 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes), there were a LOT of runs.

On top of that, I thought it would be a good idea to do goblet squats with my 55 lb kettlebell while watching TV last night. Not a bad idea in general, but my glutes are screaming that I might have overdone it…and they screamed the loudest during all this morning’s running…

“Hells Bells”
AMRAP 20:
200 Meter Run
14 Kettlebell Deadlifts (70’s/53’s)
2 Rope Climbs

Instead of getting frustrated with my speed and fatigue on the runs, I focused on getting a little bit better with each round. “Better” doesn’t always mean faster, but I’d focus on keeping my upper body relaxed. I’d focus on keeping my steps quiet and quick. I chose to focus on an improvement instead of on the fatigue and difficulty.

I won’t get better at running because I want to and my improvements won’t be fast or obvious. It will be tiny inches of progress like that 10-point turn.

I started to get tired at many points throughout the afternoon as it was a day of computer work and webinars. I stopped when I could to do small sets of pushups and then, before my last webinar, I did 100 burpees for time in my living room. Why? Because it sure as hell wakes me up and it feels WAY better afterwards than coffee or sugar!

Tired? MOVE!!

On the food front:

My friends, the warm weather is here in the Boston area! With all the outdoor running in the heat, yesterday’s muscle soreness and today’s challenging workout, I was craving a milkshake.

Here are some of my issues with most “protein shake” or “whole food milkshake” recipes I find online:

  • They are loaded with sugar in the form of multiple servings of fruit and or honey
  • People treat them like a snack instead of what most of them should be: a meal
  • They use highly processed powders with ingredients we don’t need or aren’t as bioavailable as real food

I decided to play around with something that would be refreshing, satisfying for hours and help me recover from some of this muscle soreness.

I don’t regularly eat fruit or starch and when I do, as per the Golden Rules of Carbs & Fat Loss, it’s either with my evening meal or post workout. Today it was in the post workout window. And: it was a MEAL for me. Not a snack. Not a post workout drink.

A meal.

I don’t want to make a shake that is going to have me hungry an hour later, but I also don’t need a 700 cal meal or a blood sugar bomb. So, this is what I came up with.

Milkshake Meal

  • 1.5 cups unsweetened almond milk (you could sub coffee for a mocha flavor)
  • 1-1.5 cups frozen cauliflower (1 cup if riced, 1.5 cups if florets)
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 2 heaping tablespoons of coconut milk solids (the solid part of canned coconut milk)
  • small handful of cashews (you can skip this if you want to lower the cals)
  • 1 tbsp cacao powder (or unsweetened cocoa powder)
  • Optional: stevia to taste (I didn’t add stevia)
  • Optional: collagen powder  (I did add this)

I use the frozen cauliflower in lieu of ice and the key to making this delicious is having a great blender. If it’s chunky, that won’t be too fun. I use a vitamix.

I’m really happy with how full it kept me for many hours! Around 2pm I had 4 grilled chicken strips with Primal Kitchen Chipotle Mayo for dipping.

Dinner was simple, courtesy of Paleo Power Meals: steak and veggies.

Make the rest of your day the best of your day!

PS: If you’re new to these posts, listen to this podcast episode to get the scoop on what changes I’m making in my life and you can start back at my first daily post here.

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