Monday, February 28, 2011
The WOD's
Workout 1
20 minute AMRAP:
6 back squats
3 thursters
12 push ups
Workout 2
Complete the following for time:
50-40-30-20-10
Burpees
Air squats
KBS
Workout 3
Partner workout
Complete 5 rounds of:
Buddy push ups 10 reps
Buddy jump overs 10 reps
Jump lunges 10
Rest 2 minutes after each all out effort
Eating Like a Caveman to Lose Weight
Eating Like a Caveman to Lose Weight
3:07 PM, Feb 18, 2011 | 7 comments
Written by
Corinne Hautala- FILED UNDER
- Local News
- Good Morning Jacksonville
- Special Reports
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A popular diet has people eating like cavemen and many say they are seeing incredible results.
Alissa Kochis of Jacksonville says she's never felt better. She credits her increase in energy and strength to her daily workouts and her diet.
Kochis is currently on the palaeolithic diet, also known as the caveman diet.
"It is mainly meat, veggies, fruit, seeds and nuts," said Kochis.
Justin Bergh, is the owner of CrossFit on the southside and is a physical trainer. He says he's seen positive results from the diet, too.
"If you're walking through a grocery store if a caveman wouldn't recognize that thing as food, don't eat it," he said.
Claudia Sealey-Potts, a professor at UNF and a registered dietician agrees there's health benefits not eating processed food, but says the palaeolithic diet restricts too much.
"We need whole grains. There is absolutely no milk and cheese, so there's no dairy in there and we need some dairy," she said.
Bergh disagrees.
"We don't need whole grains. Whole grains are a convenience source of food for a lot of the world, but we don't need it," he explained.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
CrossFit enthusiasts form fitness communities
As the co-owners of CrossFit 717 in Lemoyne, they are turning midstaters into lean, mean CrossFitting machines.
The international fitness trend — with roots in military-style training — is rapidly becoming popular for its measurable results and its sense of community. Everyone from mixed martial arts fighters to retirees are breaking a sweat in the box — CrossFit lingo for “gym.”
“We refer to our members as athletes. We coach athleticism,” said Aldo Morelli, co-owner of CrossFit 717, who got involved with CrossFit two years ago. A longtime gym and health enthusiast, the Harrisburg firefighter was shocked to find himself completely exhausted 15 minutes into battling a fatal fire in 2008. “What I was doing in the gym was not translating to work,” he said.
So when a colleague mentioned CrossFit, Morelli decided to give it a shot. After one workout he was hooked.
What is it?
Gym goers won’t find juice bars and tanning beds in a CrossFit box. They will find intense, hourlong classes focused on proper movement and form run by coaches who are equal parts group instructor and personal trainer.
Members tackle WODs — workouts of the day — that include repetitions of squats, sit-ups, pull-ups, kettlebell exercises, sprints and weights.
The WOD is posted daily on the main CrossFit website, www.crossfit.com, and is designed to build on previous workouts to maximize results and create a consistency between affiliate gyms. In a class, everyone performs the same exercises scaled to their own abilities with the support of coaches correcting form and motivating the exhausted.
“I’m already in the best shape I’ve ever been in since high school,” said Erin Pryor, 24, of Hampden Twp., who works out at CrossFit 717 with roommate, Tiffany Wentzel.
CrossFit’s definition of fitness is based on an individual’s proficiency in 10 areas, including cardio endurance, stamina, speed, balance and coordination. WODs based on these tenets can last anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes and are timed so participants can measure their improvement.
“The hour you spend in the gym prepares you for the 23 you spend outside of it,” said Tim Steel, owner of CrossFit Hershey.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
2011 CrossFit Games
What are the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games?
The CrossFit Games are the ultimate test of fitness, and the winners are crowned Fittest on Earth. It's a grueling multi-day competition in which the world's fittest athletes compete in a variety of workouts. What are the workouts? Each year they change, and the details of them are not announced until a couple days before the event. This means that all year long, the athletes are training for a competition whose format is almost completely a mystery.
The 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games
The 2011 Games will take place at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles on July 29-31 with a $1million total purse. There are five main competitions: Men’s Individual, Women’s Individual, Affiliate Cup Teams, and Men’s Masters and Women’s Masters (each with four age divisions: 45-50, 50-55, 55-60, 60+). The Fittest Man and Woman on Earth will each receive $250,000 cash, provided by Reebok. There will also be many cash and material prizes for the other winners and top performers.
Qualifying for the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games
All the athletes who compete in the Games must qualify first. The top few athletes from each of the 17 Regional Qualifiers are invited to the Games. The athletes competing in each of the Regional Qualifiers are the top 60 men and 60 women from the CrossFit Games Open, a six-week, worldwide competition. The top 30 teams in the Open from each region also compete in the Regional for the opportunity to qualify for the Games.
Get Ready for the CrossFit Games Open!
The 2011 season will start with the CrossFit Games Open on March 15th. The Open is a six-week-long competition open to anyone in the world. There will be one workout per week, and athletes must submit a validated performance, either by uploading a video of the workout or by performing it at a Registered Affiliate. Everyone will be ranked instantly with everyone else in their region and with everyone else in the world.
The new website will go live on March 7th, and will have all the rules, regulations, and registration options in full detail. The cost will be $10 in the US and Canada, $5 in the rest of the world. The Open will also screen the top athletes and teams for Regional Qualifiers, and Masters athletes directly for the Games. All aspiring Regional and Games competitors must register on the Open Website no later than March 20th at 17:00 PDT. Each week athletes from around the world will complete the same workout, and submit their validated times or video proof to the Open Website. The best athletes and teams will progress.
Next are the Regional Qualifiers. There will be 17 Regionals around the world, with 10 in the United States and 7 abroad. They will be held over four weekends between May 27th and June 19th. Each Regional will send approximately 3 athletes of each gender and 3 teams to the Games, depending on the region’s size. Full details will be released shortly.
Gluten-free and well-fed: the sneaky stuff
Bragg is an Editorial Producer in CNN’s Money Unit. Previously - Celiac? To heck with that!
When it comes to food - and pretty much everything else in my life - I have always been a creature of habit. This gets me into what I refer to as food ruts; I eat the same thing for breakfast or lunch (or both) for days, weeks, even months at a time, until I wear myself out completely and decide I can’t stand the sight of said food anymore.
Such was the case recently with almonds. I loved them. I couldn’t get enough. I put them on yogurt, oatmeal, salads, and ate ‘em by the heaping handful. Then, out of nowhere, my almond joy vanished.
This is not the first time this has occurred. I have worn myself out on everything from soy crisps to dried apricots to a certain brand of vanilla yogurt. In college, I think I ate the same turkey sandwich for lunch for about a year.
This is not the first time this has occurred. I have worn myself out on everything from soy crisps to dried apricots to a certain brand of vanilla yogurt. In college, I think I ate the same turkey sandwich for lunch for about a year.
These days, I attribute my rut-eating to the you-can’t-eat-that feeling I get when I walk into a grocery store, a restaurant, or the CNN cafeteria. I have been living with celiac disease and, as a result, eating gluten-free for quite some time now.
I’m not saying I get overwhelmed by a trip to the grocery store or a menu - I just get lazy. If I know what I am going to eat, and more importantly, what I CAN eat, I don’t have to read labels or ask multiple people whether or not this soup contains gluten. Finding the gluten in everyday foods can be a chore - sometimes, one I am not ready to take on.
Gluten hides in some not so obvious places. Not every brand has the same ingredients, but small amounts of gluten can be found in some things you would never imagine. Here are a few that threw me when I first started eating G-free:
Please, FDA, won’t you implement a rule that forces all food manufacturers to label gluten ingredients? Nothing fancy. Perhaps a fun little grain symbol in the corner of the label?
In the meantime, to ensure you are not ingesting any gluten, your best plan is to read the label on everything you eat. And if you aren’t sure about the ingredients in something you are about to shovel into your G-free pie hole - ASK!
Good advice from the girl who eats the same salad for lunch everyday, huh? But quite frankly, it is difficult to keep my food detective hat on all the time. For the time being, I’m comfortable in my rut, thank you very much.
Stay tuned as Jennie dishes on the gluten-free trend: when did G-free become sexy?
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Junk food diet linked to lower IQ - study
Toddlers who have a diet high in processed foods may have a slightly lower IQ in later life, according to a British study described as the biggest research of its kind.
The conclusion, published on Monday, comes from a long-term investigation into 14,000 people born in western England in 1991 and 1992 whose health and well-being were monitored at the ages of three, four, seven and eight and a half.
Parents of the children were asked to fill out questionnaires that, among other things, detailed the kind of food and drink their children consumed.
The conclusion, published on Monday, comes from a long-term investigation into 14,000 people born in western England in 1991 and 1992 whose health and well-being were monitored at the ages of three, four, seven and eight and a half.
Parents of the children were asked to fill out questionnaires that, among other things, detailed the kind of food and drink their children consumed.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
7 Foods So Unsafe Even Farmers Won’t Eat Them
7 Foods So Unsafe Even Farmers Won’t Eat Them
Posted on June 11, 2010
'Conventionally-grown' apples are saturated with toxic chemicals.
By Laurel House
Planet Green
Smoking was proven to be cancer-causing, tanning beds were shown to be on par with arsenic, but what about canned tomatoes, corn-fed beef, conventionally grown potatoes? What would it take to convince you to clean out your pantry and change your eating habits? Scientists, doctors, even farmers were asked what foods they refuse to eat. The responses had nothing to do with things like donuts due to fat content, or white bread because of the concentration of empty carbs. We’re talking seemingly healthy things like tomatoes, beef, popcorn, potatoes, salmon, milk, and apples. For them, it’s all about how they are produced and packaged.
Seven experts in fields pertaining to both food and the environment answered one simple question: “What foods do you avoid?” Their answers, published in an article entitled “7 Foods the Experts Won’t Eat” on Yahoo! Shine, will make you re-think food. When it comes to food and its affect on your health and the health of this planet, this is what they answered:
1. Canned Tomatoes
The Expert: Fredrick vom Saal, PhD, an endocrinologist at the University of Missouri who studies bisphenol-A.
The Reason: Tin cans are lined with a resin that contains the synthetic estrogen bisphenol-A, which has been linked to a slew of health problems including heart disease, diabetes, reproductive problems, and obesity. But that’s not the biggest problem. The acid in tomatoes breaks down that bisphenol-A, leaching it into the food, and not just in insignificant amounts. According to the article, Saal comments that “you can get 50 mcg of BCA per liter out of a tomato can, and that’s a level that is going to impact people, particularly the young.” That’s why he’s not touching the stuff.
The Solution: If you l0ve the taste of “canned” tomatoes but prefer to skip the bisphenol-A, select glass bottles instead.
2. Corn-Fed Beef
The Expert: Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farms and author of half a dozen books on sustainable farming.
The Reason: Cattle are naturally grass eaters… not grain eaters. In order to fatten the animals (and profit margins), farmers feed them corn and soybeans. And while the farmers are beefing up their earnings, they are minimizing the nutritional benefits. The article mentions the findings from a recent USDA-conducted study comparing corn-fed beef and grass-fed beef showing that grass-fed beef is “higher in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), calcium, magnesium, and potassium; lower in inflammatory omega-6s; and lower in saturated fats that have been linked to heart disease.”
The Solution: Pretty straight forward: Opt for grass-fed beef instead.
WATCH VIDEO: Why Grass-Fed Beef? Emeril Answers
3.Microwave Popcorn
Posted on June 11, 2010
'Conventionally-grown' apples are saturated with toxic chemicals.
By Laurel House
Planet Green
Smoking was proven to be cancer-causing, tanning beds were shown to be on par with arsenic, but what about canned tomatoes, corn-fed beef, conventionally grown potatoes? What would it take to convince you to clean out your pantry and change your eating habits? Scientists, doctors, even farmers were asked what foods they refuse to eat. The responses had nothing to do with things like donuts due to fat content, or white bread because of the concentration of empty carbs. We’re talking seemingly healthy things like tomatoes, beef, popcorn, potatoes, salmon, milk, and apples. For them, it’s all about how they are produced and packaged.
Seven experts in fields pertaining to both food and the environment answered one simple question: “What foods do you avoid?” Their answers, published in an article entitled “7 Foods the Experts Won’t Eat” on Yahoo! Shine, will make you re-think food. When it comes to food and its affect on your health and the health of this planet, this is what they answered:
1. Canned Tomatoes
The Expert: Fredrick vom Saal, PhD, an endocrinologist at the University of Missouri who studies bisphenol-A.
The Reason: Tin cans are lined with a resin that contains the synthetic estrogen bisphenol-A, which has been linked to a slew of health problems including heart disease, diabetes, reproductive problems, and obesity. But that’s not the biggest problem. The acid in tomatoes breaks down that bisphenol-A, leaching it into the food, and not just in insignificant amounts. According to the article, Saal comments that “you can get 50 mcg of BCA per liter out of a tomato can, and that’s a level that is going to impact people, particularly the young.” That’s why he’s not touching the stuff.
The Solution: If you l0ve the taste of “canned” tomatoes but prefer to skip the bisphenol-A, select glass bottles instead.
2. Corn-Fed Beef
The Expert: Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farms and author of half a dozen books on sustainable farming.
The Reason: Cattle are naturally grass eaters… not grain eaters. In order to fatten the animals (and profit margins), farmers feed them corn and soybeans. And while the farmers are beefing up their earnings, they are minimizing the nutritional benefits. The article mentions the findings from a recent USDA-conducted study comparing corn-fed beef and grass-fed beef showing that grass-fed beef is “higher in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), calcium, magnesium, and potassium; lower in inflammatory omega-6s; and lower in saturated fats that have been linked to heart disease.”
The Solution: Pretty straight forward: Opt for grass-fed beef instead.
WATCH VIDEO: Why Grass-Fed Beef? Emeril Answers
3.Microwave Popcorn
Monday, February 21, 2011
Da WODs
Workout #1
"Murph"
Complete the following:
Run 1 mile
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 squats
1 mile
Workout #2
Part 1:
10 minute AMRAP
10 toes to bar
10 floor press
20 double unders
Part 2:
10 minute AMRAP
10 KBS
5 burpees
10 push ups
Workout #3
Part 1:
7 minute AMRAP
12 calorie row ping pong
Part 2:
5 minute AMRAP
5 burpee ping pong
Part 3:
7 rounds of:
40 second ping pong run
Why you're not seeing fitness results this year
(CNN) -- Remember those resolutions in the beginning of the year -- you were going to get in shape, exercise regularly and take fitness classes?
It's now the end of January. Are you still doing it?
It's cold -- there's snow outside. Work and family demands are too much. There's no time to squeeze in a workout.
January is the busiest month of the year for Mike Littrel, president and CEO of X3 Sports gyms in Atlanta.
"January is the natural reset point for people -- it's the beginning of the year. The holidays are over. It's a natural time for people to make a change and a shift in their life," he said.
The yearly ritual begins with newbies flooding the gym.
"Within the first three weeks, they fade away from the goal or the intensity of what they're committing to," Littrel said. "From what I see, it takes 28 days to create a habit. They're quitting before the 21st day."
Their biggest complaint: They don't see any results.
CNN.com asked fitness experts why we don't see changes despite best efforts at the gym, and how to reboot our fitness routine.
1) You're not changing what you eat.
A lot of people hit the gym, but don't watch what they eat, said Jordan Yuam, who trains "Twilight" actor Taylor Lautner. They get impatient because they don't see dramatic changes in the first few weeks of working out.
"When starting out an exercise program, if you want to see a successful outcome, you work on food first," Yuam said.
This means fewer calories, or at least better-quality nutrition. Eat foods like an apple or cottage cheese that take more energy for your body to digest, he suggested. There are too many junk foods packaged and marketed as health foods, Yuam said, so he recommends cutting back on processed foods.
The bottom-line diet: Eat less
Fad diets don't work, especially the ones that require cutting out an entire food group like carbs or fats, Yuam said. Those don't work in the long run, because they're unsustainable.
"You want long term," he said, stressing a well-balanced diet.
It doesn't have to be deprivation. If you really need that pizza slice or Chinese food, pick one meal in a week where you can have that guilty pleasure, and put it down on your calendar.
2) You're not having fun during your workout.
"It has to be fun," said Tracie Rogers, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise. "If you're absolutely miserable and you dread going, you can find another option. There are too many options where you can find one to be fun and happy with."
Rogers suggests asking friends and trying fitness options like Zumba, spin, kickboxing and sports leagues until you find what you like.
"A lot of people think their only option is going to a giant gym," Rogers said. "Some people are extremely overwhelmed and intimidated, so they never go. That's not the only option. There are boutiques doing all sorts of things. Shop around and see what feels right."
Watching the clock during a fitness routine is a bad sign. It means your motivation isn't there.
How one man's shame sparked a 300-pound weight loss
"It's about doing something for yourself," said Rogers, a sports and exercise psychologist in Phoenix, Arizona. "A lot of us are busy with family, work and so many commitments. The workout time can be viewed as the one hour of the day you dedicate to yourself."
It's now the end of January. Are you still doing it?
It's cold -- there's snow outside. Work and family demands are too much. There's no time to squeeze in a workout.
January is the busiest month of the year for Mike Littrel, president and CEO of X3 Sports gyms in Atlanta.
"January is the natural reset point for people -- it's the beginning of the year. The holidays are over. It's a natural time for people to make a change and a shift in their life," he said.
The yearly ritual begins with newbies flooding the gym.
"Within the first three weeks, they fade away from the goal or the intensity of what they're committing to," Littrel said. "From what I see, it takes 28 days to create a habit. They're quitting before the 21st day."
Their biggest complaint: They don't see any results.
CNN.com asked fitness experts why we don't see changes despite best efforts at the gym, and how to reboot our fitness routine.
1) You're not changing what you eat.
A lot of people hit the gym, but don't watch what they eat, said Jordan Yuam, who trains "Twilight" actor Taylor Lautner. They get impatient because they don't see dramatic changes in the first few weeks of working out.
"When starting out an exercise program, if you want to see a successful outcome, you work on food first," Yuam said.
This means fewer calories, or at least better-quality nutrition. Eat foods like an apple or cottage cheese that take more energy for your body to digest, he suggested. There are too many junk foods packaged and marketed as health foods, Yuam said, so he recommends cutting back on processed foods.
The bottom-line diet: Eat less
Fad diets don't work, especially the ones that require cutting out an entire food group like carbs or fats, Yuam said. Those don't work in the long run, because they're unsustainable.
"You want long term," he said, stressing a well-balanced diet.
It doesn't have to be deprivation. If you really need that pizza slice or Chinese food, pick one meal in a week where you can have that guilty pleasure, and put it down on your calendar.
2) You're not having fun during your workout.
"It has to be fun," said Tracie Rogers, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise. "If you're absolutely miserable and you dread going, you can find another option. There are too many options where you can find one to be fun and happy with."
Rogers suggests asking friends and trying fitness options like Zumba, spin, kickboxing and sports leagues until you find what you like.
"A lot of people think their only option is going to a giant gym," Rogers said. "Some people are extremely overwhelmed and intimidated, so they never go. That's not the only option. There are boutiques doing all sorts of things. Shop around and see what feels right."
Watching the clock during a fitness routine is a bad sign. It means your motivation isn't there.
How one man's shame sparked a 300-pound weight loss
"It's about doing something for yourself," said Rogers, a sports and exercise psychologist in Phoenix, Arizona. "A lot of us are busy with family, work and so many commitments. The workout time can be viewed as the one hour of the day you dedicate to yourself."
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Thanks Uncle Sam, but We Already Have Lots of Diet Gurus
January 31, 2011, 3:03 PM
Thanks Uncle Sam, but We Already Have Lots of Diet Gurus
By JEFF GORDINIERLars Klove for The New York Times
“I must admit personally that I never read the dietary guidelines until I got this job.”
That delightful moment of candor came from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this morning, as he kicked off a news conference to talk about the latest update of the government’s core document when it comes to nutrition.
In case you missed it, these are the 2010 dietary guidelines, even though most of the country has jumped ahead to 2011 by now. So O.K., the report’s a little late, but that’s certainly understandable, since gobs of time and effort and science have gone into it. Secretary Vilsack, speaking in front of a backdrop of pictures of broccoli and peppers and grainy brown bread, made a point of stressing that this was “a comprehensive, science-based effort.”
Note the emphasis on science, as opposed to “what some dude down at the taco stand told me about genetically modified mangoes.”
In that sense, though, it’s hard not to wonder whether the revised dietary guidelines aren’t actually late by a decade or two.
Americans no longer get their nutritional gospel from one central authority (if, indeed, they ever did), and the way we eat has broken down into a fractal mosaic of countless competing belief systems. There are those who bow before Michael Pollan and those who worship at the house of Jenny Craig. There are vegetarians, flexitarians, vegans, locavores, South Beachers, Atkins adherents, and raw-food zealots. There are traditionalists who opt for Weight Watchers, and pioneers (or, well, maybe way-way-back traditionalists) who find their gastronomic answer in the Paleo Diet. There are those who just watch a ton of cooking shows on Food Network and eat whatever they want.
We’re a nation of food tribes.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Scientists find gene clue to athletic endurance
Posted Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:00am AEST
Sprinters such as Jamaica's Asafa Powell have a different genetic make-up to endurance athletes. (AFP: Emiliano Grillotti)
Map: Sydney 2000 If you were a prehistoric human, would you prefer to able to sprint very fast for short distances or to jog comfortably for kilometres?
That is one of the questions thrown up by the so-called "gene for speed," known as ACTN3.
One of the most intriguing genes discovered, ACTN3 encodes a protein that governs metabolism in "fast twitch" muscle fibres, which generate force at high speed.
Around 18 per cent of the world's population has a truncated variant of the gene that blocks this protein.
The stubby variant, called R577X, is common among successful endurance athletes, previous research has found.
On the other hand, elite sprinters, who need explosive speed, are likelier to have the reverse - a functioning variant of ACTN3.
Sprinters such as Jamaica's Asafa Powell have a different genetic make-up to endurance athletes. (AFP: Emiliano Grillotti)
Map: Sydney 2000 If you were a prehistoric human, would you prefer to able to sprint very fast for short distances or to jog comfortably for kilometres?
That is one of the questions thrown up by the so-called "gene for speed," known as ACTN3.
One of the most intriguing genes discovered, ACTN3 encodes a protein that governs metabolism in "fast twitch" muscle fibres, which generate force at high speed.
Around 18 per cent of the world's population has a truncated variant of the gene that blocks this protein.
The stubby variant, called R577X, is common among successful endurance athletes, previous research has found.
On the other hand, elite sprinters, who need explosive speed, are likelier to have the reverse - a functioning variant of ACTN3.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Work Out So Hard You Vomit
Work Out So Hard You Vomit
The rise of P90X, CrossFit, and the "extreme" exercise routine.
By Annie LowreyPosted Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011, at 10:51 AM ET
It's late on a cold night, and I am holding two large Italian-style tomato cans and vigorously swinging my arms in forward and backward circles. One arm comes up forward—whoosh!—while the other heads backward—crack! Crack, as you might imagine, was not the sound I'd been hoping to hear. I am trying to stabilize my core, which is trying—valiantly, but falteringly—to stabilize me. I wobble. I am sweating. I am exhausted.
This is CrossFit, and in trying it out I am joining some uncounted yet increasingly muscled masses—millions, perhaps, but at least hundreds of thousands of Americans. But I am failing. Perhaps this is because, earlier in the evening, I had my first encounter with CrossFit's sleeker cousin—P90X, a powerful, 90-day extreme workout system, hence the menacing acronym.
I am an intermittent runner, and I'm not in terrible shape in the scheme of American corpulence. But I am a lover of all things butter, and someone who has been castigated for her lack of "core and upper-body strength" by a Pilates teacher who mainly caters to elderly women. When I started asking around about how to get leaner and more buff, CrossFit and P90X were the two names that kept coming up. "You get so strong!" one friend cooed. "That shit should be illegal!" said another, apparently positively.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Piss people off in order to define your customer base
Something I found online.....
I work in Fitzroy. As such I am blessed with an abundance of café choices. For someone who mainlines coffee, this is a Godsend. Brunswick Street is my strip and I hop from café to café to try the weird and wonderful ways the various barristas put a coffee together.
The truth is most of these cafés could be run by the same people. They’re all going for something like the quirky Fitzroy feel. The problem with that is they don’t differentiate themselves and therefore they are trying to please too many people. What they really need to do is piss a few people off and attract a bunch of raving fans to call their own. Mario’s has been doing this for years.
In my opinion if you’re not pissing anyone off you’re not trying hard enough. You can’t be everything to everyone. In order to be of great service to your kind of customer you have to make it clear that you don’t cater for the other lot. Sounds harsh but it’s the absolute gospel of good business.
Mario’s is – as far as I am aware – the original Brunswick Street café. They’ve been going strong for about 20 years, starting back when Brunswick Street wasn’t all that happening. They do what they do well and they don’t go out of their way to accommodate people who don’t fit the customer base that they have defined for themselves.
Mario’s has a somewhat unadventurous menu. Breakfast is muesli or toast or bacon and eggs and extras with a few special dishes. If you want Morrocan eggs you’ll have to go elsewhere. However, the food is good. It’s just good old café-style food. No frills. No BS.
Coffee is where Mario’s really splits the flock into lovers and haters. At Mario’s there’s no soy, no skinny milk and no decaf. If you don’t like it bad luck. Go somewhere else. The wait staff never apologise for the lack alternatives. They are coffee purists and aren’t going to change for anyone. The truth is they make good coffee. I’ve never had a bad one their regardless of who was working the machine.
At Mario’s you can pay by cash, cash or cash. This is a little bit of a pain in the ass I’ll agree but they’ve got their ways and they are sticking to them. As a business owner I understand the desire for cash. They do have an ATM up back and no doubt score some income from it too. It’s a win-win for them.
My point? Piss some people off. Divide your prospects into lovers and haters. Make it black and white. You want your customers to love you to bits. You want them to rave about you. And the haters? Let them eat cake. They were never for you anyway.
I work in Fitzroy. As such I am blessed with an abundance of café choices. For someone who mainlines coffee, this is a Godsend. Brunswick Street is my strip and I hop from café to café to try the weird and wonderful ways the various barristas put a coffee together.
The truth is most of these cafés could be run by the same people. They’re all going for something like the quirky Fitzroy feel. The problem with that is they don’t differentiate themselves and therefore they are trying to please too many people. What they really need to do is piss a few people off and attract a bunch of raving fans to call their own. Mario’s has been doing this for years.
In my opinion if you’re not pissing anyone off you’re not trying hard enough. You can’t be everything to everyone. In order to be of great service to your kind of customer you have to make it clear that you don’t cater for the other lot. Sounds harsh but it’s the absolute gospel of good business.
Mario’s is – as far as I am aware – the original Brunswick Street café. They’ve been going strong for about 20 years, starting back when Brunswick Street wasn’t all that happening. They do what they do well and they don’t go out of their way to accommodate people who don’t fit the customer base that they have defined for themselves.
Mario’s has a somewhat unadventurous menu. Breakfast is muesli or toast or bacon and eggs and extras with a few special dishes. If you want Morrocan eggs you’ll have to go elsewhere. However, the food is good. It’s just good old café-style food. No frills. No BS.
Coffee is where Mario’s really splits the flock into lovers and haters. At Mario’s there’s no soy, no skinny milk and no decaf. If you don’t like it bad luck. Go somewhere else. The wait staff never apologise for the lack alternatives. They are coffee purists and aren’t going to change for anyone. The truth is they make good coffee. I’ve never had a bad one their regardless of who was working the machine.
At Mario’s you can pay by cash, cash or cash. This is a little bit of a pain in the ass I’ll agree but they’ve got their ways and they are sticking to them. As a business owner I understand the desire for cash. They do have an ATM up back and no doubt score some income from it too. It’s a win-win for them.
My point? Piss some people off. Divide your prospects into lovers and haters. Make it black and white. You want your customers to love you to bits. You want them to rave about you. And the haters? Let them eat cake. They were never for you anyway.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Portrait of weight loss: Trying the 'paleo' diet
When Iain Jones hit 223 pounds last October – the heaviest he’d been in three years – he decided it was time to get serious about his diet. He hired a personal trainer, who put him on a strict nutritional regimen. The 33-year-old, who is a learning professional for the Ontario government and lives in Toronto, has had his struggles with what he can and can’t eat, but he’s well on the way to reaching his goal of losing 35 pounds and cutting his body fat in half from 30 per cent. And he’s always got cheat day to look forward to.
The diet: “I had tried losing weight, but my main problem was I didn’t really adjust my diet. I was focused on just hitting the gym with a vengeance. I did drop some weight, but the problem was if I slacked off even slightly the weight would come back. Three years ago I dropped 50 pounds, but because my diet wasn’t stable I regained 30 pounds. I sort of went Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. I like to play soccer, but it’s a pretty physically demanding sport. Playing with an extra 30 pounds around your waist isn’t the easiest thing to do.”
The biggest challenge: “Cutting out the bread and the dairy wasn’t as bad as I thought. It’s changed my coffee habits. I used to be a double-double guy. I can still have coffee, but it has to be black. It was a tough adjustment. I’m now really picky about the coffee I drink because it actually has to taste like decent coffee. Eating out at restaurants can also be a pain. I try to look at menu items and see what’s close to the diet I’m on, and then look for things I can either ask them to hold back or things I can push to the side when the plate comes out.”
The current plan: “My trainer turned me on to a paleo diet system. It’s sort of going back to earlier diets of paleolithic man before we started such a heavy reliance on grains and dairy products. The main piece of it is eliminating dairy, taking out things like breads and pastas and rice, and reducing sugars. When my trainer first told me about it, it just seemed completely bizarre to me. But I was willing to go along with it. I think he sold me when he said I could have bacon every day if I wanted to. And I hit the gym four to five days a week. I do weights three days and cardio on two days.”
The goal: “So far I’ve dropped just over 20 pounds, so I’m making pretty good progress there. And my body fat is down from 30 per cent to about 20 per cent. I’m still working consistently, but I put a lot of that success on the diet. The paleo diet requires a lot more planning. It’s really easy to make bad choices for breakfast, whether it’s quickly making some toast or oatmeal. I have to get up a little earlier because I have to make eggs or bacon and some vegetables.”
How it’s going: “I allow myself one cheat day a week, like on a Saturday I’ll get my junk in. I try not to go too crazy. Even on my cheat day I’m pretty picky. I only get this one day, so I’m not going to waste my cheat day on a piece of toast and cream in my coffee. I’ll still drink all black coffee, but maybe have some wings and a beer. I have that to look forward to all week. I’m playing soccer more regularly now. I find I have more jump in the last part of the game than I used to.”
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)