SCHOOL RECESS-THEN AND NOW.

Ray Salomone, Personal Trainer and Wellness Activist

 Flashback to 1974. School Recess, Bedford Hills, New York

When I was ten years old, recess was my favorite part of the school day. Looking back with the benefit of time, what I remember most is the absolute chaos that occurred. We sprinted out of the school building and continued to run, jump, fall, organize games of tag, kickball and anything else that allowed us to play. Of course there were also a few schoolyard fist fights that only add to my fond memories. The teachers had to demand that we return to the classrooms, often times the principal was called for added weight. Rarely, if ever, did I return from recess without breaking a sweat, skinning a knee or being out of breath.

 Flashforward to 2009. Upper East Side of Manhattan.

 I am jogging with a personal training client past the school yard of an elite private academy. It is recess time and the children are listlessly milling around, many of them standing in small groups looking into their iphones.

 This scene says so much about where are children are heading.

 

 Ray Salomone   Personal Trainer and Wellness Activist

Dr. Katina Ioannidis, Chiropractor

www.GrecoRomanWellness.com

Blog: www.GrecoRomanWellness.wordpress.com

The Most Provocative Wellness Blog on the Planet

 

Eat Fresh, Whole Foods. Exercise Intensely

PLAY ROUGH AND LIVE LIKE YOU MEAN IT!!!

 

Contact Me Directly at: Ray@GrecoRomanWellness.com

 

Coming Soon to bookstores:

The Greco Roman Road to Wellness

by Ray Salomone and Dr. Katina Ioannidis

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Greco-Roman-Road-Wellness-Old-World-Times/dp/0982139209/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243604904&sr=8-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ray Salomone   Personal Trainer and Wellness Activist

Dr. Katina Ioannidis, Chiropractor

www.GrecoRomanWellness.com

Blog: www.GrecoRomanWellness.wordpress.com

The Most Provocative Wellness Blog on the Planet

 

Eat Fresh, Whole Foods. Exercise Intensely

PLAY ROUGH AND LIVE LIKE YOU MEAN IT!!!

 

Contact Me Directly at: Ray@GrecoRomanWellness.com

 

Coming Soon to bookstores:

The Greco Roman Road to Wellness

by Ray Salomone and Dr. Katina Ioannidis

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Greco-Roman-Road-Wellness-Old-World-Times/dp/0982139209/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243604904&sr=8-1

How to make a coffee protein shake

Today I was a little rushed in the morning because I prolonged my shower . So I grabbed something simple for a snack and ran out the door after breakfast. My snack which was a larabar was very tasty, and convenient of course.

When I got home I was pretty hungry. My lunch wasnt much, 5oz natural turkey, 2 small pieces of bread, and an orange. Enough to fill you up but not from 11:00am to 3:00pm. So I made a coffee shake before my run.

Sean’s Coffee Shake

The first ingredient I always add to my shake is low fat milk. This is so the harder/powdery stuff doesn’t stick to the blender. Low fat milk is a liquid protein that plays the base of our shake. You can use soy milk for the vegan option, or water if you want to trim 80cals.

The next ingredient I add is almond butter which is your healthy fatty acids. I usually use 365, or blue diamond almond butter. Almond butter is semi healthier than peanut butter, and gives the shake that nice almond taste.

For a complex carbohydrate I use Quaker quick oatmeal. This will give the shake texture and give you long lasting energy for your runs or workouts.

Instant coffee for that caffeine kick we always want. It also makes the coffee shake taste like coffee, duh . Add enough coffee to meet your needs. I usually add 1-2 tbsp.

1 scoop vanilla whey protein, I use whey protein which is from milk, you can use soy, or almond milk in place for vegetarian options. This is your main source of protein.

Once everythings in the blender, blend for 60 seconds into a dark “coffee shade” liquid.

Pour and enjoy the delicious, sustained energy shake!

After my 4 mile run, which went ok. I was a bit congested but 10x better than Tuesday. I had a Clif bar. After I munched down my snack I did a small upper body workout downstairs.

Shortly after my workout mom came home with Greek salad and hummus for dinner, Yum!

A very colorful assortment of delicious veggies.

Coming soon: posting!

Yes, that’s right. I will post on my blog. Eventually. There has just been a lot going on. Some of it good, some of it bad, some of it painfully stressful. But, since I am sitting up at work (at night. again.) I figured I would give updating a shot.

The Husband: He has completed his first three weeks of the police academy, so we’re making a dent in that one. Just seven more to go. He’s gotten to the stage where he is allowed to call home. It’s just once a week, and they only get about 5 minutes, but it’s something. Weekends are getting harder and harder. It’s great to have him home, but it’s difficult because we know he’s not staying. By the time we fall into a good weekend rhythem, it’s time to pack the bag and load up the car again.

The Boy: Is thrilled that Cub Scouts is working out. Kind of. We had a meeting last Thursday and another one this week. He’s really looking forward to it. He’s working on all kinds of badges and stuff- one of them is for Physical Fitness which I am really excited about. And no, I didn’t pressure him to choose it. My kid’s just weird (like his Mommy) and thinks exercise is fun.

He lost his first tooth this weekend, too. The darn thing was loose for about a month, and The Husband finally convinced The Boy to just pull it out. He seemed a little scared by the process, but he’s excited over the prospect of the tooth fairy. We aren’t sure how to play that one yet. So, for now the tooth is in a safe place and next weekend The Husband and I will figure out what exactly the tooth fairy will do in our home.

The Girl: Has reverted back to “attached to Mommy’s hip” stage. She does this every time our routines get thrown off and, with The Husband gone more than he’s home, she’s having a difficult time adjusting. The good news is, she’s four now. And this stage is a lot more fun now than it was when she was one. Instead of just constantly crying and waking up in the middle of the night, she’s wanting to do stuff. Fun stuff! We read a lot of stories together, play with princess dolls and my little ponies, and cook. The Girl is loving being in the kitchen. Her Christmas wish list right now is an apron, a wooden spoon, an easy bake oven, and a bike. (Ok, so we can’t cook the bike, but we can use it to burn off the calories from all the stuff she plans to bake for me!)

The Mommy: Is a mess. Where to begin?

• Smoothie challenge- update will be coming soon. I have been making them, but haven’t had time to post because (until last night) I did not have internet at home, and goofing off time at work has been limited.
• Banking- Ok, so that budget I carefully created? Useless! Without internet at home, we couldn’t deposit any checks. So I watched our account get lower and lower as things were taken out, and the stack of checks waiting to be deposited got higher and higher. Things should be set up now, but it’s been a really scary experience, and now I have to straighten out that mess and see if I can repair the damage to the budget
• Work- :::bangs head on desk::: I am really hating my job right now. So, so, so much. I am trying to like it, but it’s a struggle right now. I spend a lot of time having to play the bad guy talking to people who were sent to collections, and I just flat out don’t like to do that.
• Sleep- Have you heard of it? I have. Once, a long, long time ago. It sounds wonderful. I wish I could get some. I even went out and bought some new sheets for our bed. The Husband and I have been looking for t-shirt sheets for a queen mattess for seven years now and finally found them (on sale, yay!) They are soooo comfy and I thought they would help me with my inability to sleep. But no. At least I am tossing and turning and lying awake all night in a very cozy bed now.
• General Diet/Health/Fitness- is coming and going. I get on track, and then weekend come along and I get emotional and eat. And then I get on track again. And I get sick and can’t workout. Then I get on track again. And then I have to work extra shifts every night for a week.

Keeping on the sunny-side

I feel so bad for the people in the Philippines right now. All this rain we’ve been getting in Japan is coming from the two typhoons that have recently hit the Philippines. I should start counting my blessings instead of complaining so much. It’s so easy to forget how much worse my life and situation could always be.

I’m setting a new goal for myself: No more starting blogs with complaining… things could always be SO much worse. Besides, who wants to read negative thinking all the time? Not me! And probably not you either.

After a less than stellar start to my morning, today ended up not being so bad.

I made sure to drag one of our heavier covers out of the closet and wash it today. This girl will not be having trouble sleeping tonight because of being cold.

Lunch:
My breakfast was super filling and tided me over until after I returned from the grocery store, which was close to 12:30! I was super hungry, though, and wanted a “real” sit down kind of lunch.

Leftover sloppy joe mix on wheat bread, 1/2 an Asian pear, and a salad

Our refrigerator was REALLY full after my visit to the store, so I used some leftovers to make my sandwich. The wheat bread I bought a few days ago is so thick that I couldn’t even imagine putting two pieces together again for a sandwich. So, I cut one piece into two and used that. It was easy to do and a good idea.

See my cute new salad bowl? Inside of this bowl is some lettuce, spinach, sprouts (!!!), onion, green pepper, green onion, craisins, and a little drizzle of Italian dressing. Yes, I did try the sprouts again, and once more, I enjoyed them. I think we can officially say that Maria is a sprouts lover. And what’s not to love about that?

I bought a new variety of tea than my usual today. The package was so appealing and I thought the tea would probably have a good flavor, too.

My thoughts? The tea smelled amazing! That alone might have sealed the deal for me. Lucky for me, it tasted good too. The strawberry flavoring wasn’t very strong. It tasted more like regular black tea than strawberry tea, but it still had a nice taste. I would buy it again, for sure.

Snack-time:

Some more of my weird crackers, along with a soft cheese, were my snack between lunch and dinner. They weren’t too bad when I added a little cheese on top of them. Still probably never buying this kind again.

Dinner:

Tacos with a little bit of beef, lots of lettuce, and onion, and a reheat of mac ‘n cheese with some frozen veggies thrown in.

I didn’t put much beef in mine, since I just ate sloppy joe leftovers for lunch. Instead I loaded up with veggies tonight… even skipping the cheese since I already had some on my macaroni. So proud of myself for that. It’s been a veggie day for sure.

——————————————————–

Had a great ST session and yoga practice today instead of the run that I had scheduled in on my GCal. I knew that if I insisted on the run it would never, ever happen. The odds of me convincing myself that running outside in the cold, windy, rain were zero to none. It was a much better idea (and more likely to actually happen) to switch my workouts around for this week depending upon the weather. So, today’s run will wait for another (and hopefully more pretty) day.

Super excited to figure out today that I am able to listen to my favorite radio station from back home online! I was so happy to have some tunes while I worked today.

Do you like fishsticks?

The best part of waking up… is knowing you’re going to have an awesome breakfast. Okay, maybe that isn’t completely true because there are a lot of great things that get me out of bed every morning. But when my eyes popped open at 7 this morning I was looking forward to my blueberry french toast and scrambled eggs–a pretty heavy breakfast for me, but perfect since I went on a 6 mile run about 45 minutes later.

My run was so good today. It was hard, challenging, and a true test of my willpower, but those things are what make running worth it for me. Unfortunately my HRM watch was being wonky again, so here are my “kind of” splits, adjusted a little so not perfect:

• 10:38:31 (not correct, would be closer to 10:02 but my lap button was malfunctioning)
• 9:48:62 (definitely not correct)
• 10:22:46
• 10:45:32
• 10:43:60
• 10:40:31

Total time=1:03:00

I was pretty pleased with not only the run, but also my time. I tried to maintain a comfortable pace and not push myself too hard since this was my long run for the week, but I didn’t hit any 11:00 miles, which always makes this girl smile. My legs felt surprisingly good after just running 5 miles on Friday. I think the key to this was some major icing after Friday’s run, along with rolling out my legs. Also, I swam in some pretty cold water yesterday while we rafted and soaked in the hot water at the onsen, too. Add all of those things together and you get legs that felt like they were fresh-off-the-conveyor-belt-at-the-factory good.

Besides my run and a few household chores, I decided today was going to be my day. I don’t get to take advantage of the weekend and just do things that make me happy very often (being an adult sure has its downside, doesn’t it?) so I wanted to really milk today for all it was worth while I can. I know I have a busy week ahead of me, so enjoying today was a top priority! I made a Caitlin list to make sure I got the most out of it:

Started off by changing into a tank top post-run. It is supposed to rain here all this upcoming week and rumor has it that after that the warm weather will be nowhere to be found. I’m pretty sure the person who told me this is right since all the shops have started setting out their winter goods and supplies. Oh yay… not. I hate winter. So this is probably the last time I’ll be wearing a tank top for a few months, which is too sad.

Then I decided it was a perfect time to bake! I scribbled down a recipe I found online for chocolate chip cookies and halved it (no, it’s really not necessary to have two dozen cookies sitting around my apartment screaming for me to eat them, I decided).

The recipe was really easy and made some super yummy cookies, J said.

I agreed, obviously, since I ate 2 3 of them.

After the cookie baking extravaganza, I headed to the grocery store, which I do not consider a chore. I love to grocery shop… maybe a little too much. For me, wandering down the aisles and looking at all of the food choices is a bit like turning a kid loose in a toy store. Didn’t find a ton of new/fun foodie items, but I did buy two different new yogurts that I will try soon. One is a 0% fat one, so maybe it will be a little bit like Chobani or Oikos? I hope! That would make my week. Also I picked up some sprouts for the first time, so I’ll have to get back to you on how those go.

When J and I got back from grocery shopping I decided it was FINALLY time for lunch (oh it was only 4:30!). Despite my 6 mile run earlier this morning my body just wasn’t too hungry. Maybe it was the banana I snacked on after my run, or the three cookies?

I baked two pieces of white fish that I found at the grocery store today and made some pasta for the side. I made too much pasta! I knew I’d end up putting about half of that in the refrigerator for a different meal. I actually ended up putting almost all of it in the refrigerator because the seasoning I used on it was way to spicy for my taste. I felt like my mouth was on fire after only two bites. Whew! Not for me. The fish, however, was delicious, and was appropriately dipped in ketchup, which is the best way to eat fish if you ask me.

Dinner was a little more creative than usual, for me.

I had already promised J we could do quesadilla tonight, but when it came time to make them I wasn’t feeling it. Mexican was just “meh.” So, I threw some broccoli in the microwave until it was hot and melted some cheese and chicken in with the broccoli to make my quesadilla. It was really good, actually, and the broccoli gave it a good flavor.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum! And oh yeah, check out the new plates I picked up today. They’re clear, which is okay, but they are nice because we don’t have too many plates, having just moved into our own place.

It’s movie time and then off to bed. One more day of helping J at school and then I’m DONE!

Thanks for nothing, weather.

I was originally going to haul my ass downtown today to see a movie, but at the moment it is literally down pouring, and the forecast for later is “heavy rain and a thunderstorm;” I may be dedicated to the cinema, but I’m just not willing to perish by way of lightning attempting to get there. I have to walk, you see, as I am not in posession of a car at my college location. Alas. I think I’ll just hit the gym and the grocery store and then call it a day. The grocery store requires walking, too, but that’s only a mile from campus as opposed to the movie theater’s two mile distance.

I think I’m going to have to start replacing a day of running with a day of walking; whereas before, when I was doing three miles per session, it wasn’t a big deal to run hard two days in a row, running five to six miles two days isn’t a row just isn’t doin’ it for me. I woke up last night with a mad cramp in my leg, and while before I looked forward to going to the gym to see how far I could go, today going to the gym holds all the appeal of … well … going to the gym to run in place for an hour. Let’s not get over dramatic, here. So, I may start following my day of running with a day of walking. I figure it’ll recharge my batteries and I’ll the same distance I would usually run, so I’ll burn the same amount of calories.

Blergh, I already had my pre-workout snack (peanut butter on wheat, again—I had to use a heel of the bread, oh the horror), so I guess I should hit ye olde torture chamber before breakfast rolls around and I’m hungry before having even worked out.

Productive, Busy Bee Day

Could today have been any more productive? Dang! I got a lot done.

I started by waking up at the butt-crack of dawn (6 a.m.) to get ready for work and meeting my new co-workers.

Back home, I spent a good hour and a half thinking and planning out tomorrow’s lesson for my students. Followed by a great leg and abs ST session and some yoga practice. And add in two loads of laundry on the side.

I didn’t even get hungry for lunch until after 2 o’clock. The English muffin with peanut butter and grapes I had this morning must have really filled me up. Well, that and the nashi pear I enjoyed as a snack while I worked on my lesson.

(Sorry… no pics of those items since this morning was a whirlwind of “Oh my gosh! I’m going to be late!” and running out the door.)

Lunch:

It took a while to make lunch today because I whipped up stuffed peppers that I’ve been wanting, but not had the time to make, all week. They were really easy to make and tasted amazing. Completely amazing. These would be great to make in advance, freeze, and reheat for lunch during the week.

I used a basic stuffed peppers recipe, but I didn’t cook my pepper before stuffing and baking it (I enjoy a little crunch). Combined rice, some ground beef, onion, chili powder, garlic powder, diced tomatoes, and fresh cut-up tomato in a pan. Added in a dollop of sour cream for a zing (well, that and it was about to go bad). Stirred that all together and spooned the mixture into my peppers. Threw the rest of the rice mishmash into the bottom of the pan with the peppers. I baked the peppers for forty minutes on 350 degrees. They were perfectly done and ready to eat.

Enjoyed my pepper/rice while continuing to work on tomorrow’s lesson, and then finished it while watching more of Biggest Loser Australia Season 1.

Had a banana for a snack between lunch and dinner while the husband played video games.

Dinner:

Super easy dinner tonight (and really filling). I was happy to have already cut and prepped many of the veggies I needed to make my vegetable soup. That made for a happy Maria because it was as easy as throwing dinner in a pan. Can’t beat that some nights. Especially when you’ve had a busy day.

I’m so excited to start work tomorrow (officially) and to meet my students. Wish me luck!!!

Don’t forget the question of the day:

What are your October goals?