Huntington Surf Session

I suppose I was inspired by the Vans US Open of Surfing...

I went down there on Sunday to check out the Men's Finals with my roommates. It was packed. Thousands of people crowded the pier and beach area. I got there just in time to see the two Brazilian finalists go head to head. When the guy in blue won (it was announced over the speakers), he put his hands to his head and his competitor in yellow pointed at him as they both caught a wave all the way into shore. Hundreds of people came into the water to congratulate him. He won a hundred thousand dollars. I think the other guy got some Vans. There were cool Vans too of every stripe- from high tops with Yodas to classic designs, a lot of hats and apparel. The surf industry almost seems more about style, fashion, and merch than surfing. It's sort of the bad boy, rebellious image that people relate to- and I think Dogtown and Z Boys showed that from the start, skating and surfing drew from that same well; guys that were rejected by society or from poor backgrounds, that devoted themselves to performing dangerous physical stunts. Guys like Kelly Slater, Laird Hamilton, and Rob Machado have brought it to a class of professionalism and athleticism. But even still, in the US, surfing is often looked at as an escape and not a destination.



The waves have been small all summer, though Huntington usually has a significant size. I was down there mid-week two weeks ago to see a different bit of the competition and it was tiny. So going back yesterday, it wasn't clear what I'd find, besides serious traffic. I left at 3:30pm but it took until about 6pm to actually get there. It was windy driving down from the north and there were a lot of kitesurfers- always a bad sign if you want to surf. But beyond the pier there were a few guys in the water. I parked and changed into my wetsuit and hit the water. It was nice to be in again. I think it'd been a few weeks- possibly since the Ocean Park surfing competition on 7/15. it was already late by the time I got in the water but also, the wave formation wasn't great. Waves would crumble before getting to you or split in different directions. They had size but it dissipated. There were probably three fields of waves to get through before the line-up (though only about ten of us there). One of the nice things about Huntington is how broad the break is. Waves seem to be the most competitive to catch near the pier, but they break all over.

For more than an hour I sat out there on my board, bobbing around, waiting for something. There was a current drawing me south away from the pier but I kept trying to stay somewhat near the other surfers. I had only put two dollars in the meter. As the sun started to set behind the pier, I was getting bored and thought- this was a dud...when I saw a nice set roll in. It's weird but I knew I would catch the first one. Normally you skip the first one so you don't get caught in the impact zone of the second one. They usually come in 3-4 waves. But I grabbed the first and it was large. There was a big drop- felt like 5' but not really sure. I was riding a 7'8 board and caught it and stood, and it moves so quickly when you're riding them. But I was able to turn some and ride it into shore almost like the Brazilians had done a couple days before. I was so stoked and psyched about the drop. That's normally where I fall. But I think all the MMA conditioning has actually improved my balance a lot. We've also been doing a lot of squats and jump-squats and core work, so all of that seems to be helping. I paddled back out enthusiastically- and the next one I caught was stronger. It had already broken actually- but was so big it was still breaking, and it felt like I was going about 90mph. I wasn't able to stand in time and ended up bodyboarding it. But the final wave was cool and made me feel good. I stood again on a good size drop and bottom turned, which is the first step towards real surfing.



It's amazing how long it takes to learn to surf. It takes real dedication too- just to get out to the waves on a consistent basis. But as I was in the water out there yesterday watching the sun set behind the pier, and the moon is out, and it's just me on this frontier of nature and society, it felt really beautiful and good. I remembered what I loved about surfing- because I got pretty negative on it for a while. I kept cutting my feet open on rocks or wiping out or just not getting good rides. But for me, it's really about that sense of unity with other things and that sense of peace and relief you have when you're out. You're tired in a good way and sort of proud. Changing back into normal clothes you're grateful or basics like water and heat, or a good song on the radio. It's just such an awesome feeling... and so rare that people feel that way in regular society- maybe because it's such a physical activity, and so many of us are in our heads all day. Find me on Instagram at @devastrado1 if you want to see more photos.

Cheers-
GPR

MMA update- August

So it's been about a month of Intro MMA at Robot Fight and Fitness twice a week with a couple Crossfit style strength sessions thrown in and some surfing. I have to say- I'm feeling in pretty decent shape. I'm back on Paleo for the most part but have been eating more carbs- specifically rice, with sushi and with Mexican food. Corn chips and beer also sometimes make an appearance- but I have to say, overall, I'm doing pretty well with the course.



While the first four weeks focused on the basics of Muay Thai: punches, combos, blocks, and kicks- as well as overall conditioning; now the training has turned towards Braziian jiu jitsu- specifically take-downs. The conditioning is still a factor and I notice my abs are stronger and I have lost some size in my shoulders and arms. Legs are feeling strong and we've been doing ample jump squats and squats which I think has helped my pop-up in surfing.



I've lost touch with Joe for the most part- who's busy with teaching and gigging and doing Crossfit. Sounds like he's had some brutal workouts. I'd recommend Robot Fight and Fitness in West LA. Good people, facilities, and the Intro package is only $75 per month, which is a lot less than Krav Maga was.



Beyond MMA:
Drink water. Watch your posture. Smile. Get enough sleep. Breathe deeply. Spend time with friends. De-stress. Make money. Cultivate health.

Best,
Gabe

Robot Fight and Fitness- MMA in West LA

I joined Robot Fight and Fitness in West LA and froze my membership at 24 Hr Fitness.



So far it's been very cool. I've done three classes total- all Intro MMA. I took some boxing classes when I lived in Brooklyn and did Krav Maga a few summers ago- so this is similar to those. Honestly, it's been so nice just to wrap my hands again or pt on gloves and throw some punches.

It feels more like ballet class at this point- learning routines in slow motion, practicing things over and over so they're ingrained. Eventually, the idea is that you put these moves together in a sparring session...but that's at least 8 weeks from now. For now, you focus on form; you tap your motivation; you try to get back in shape- like real shape...which is good. And classes are good too, since there's a coach and a team and a purpose. Self defense skills are good to have and women like a guy with fight skills. They think it's sexy- which is good.

So here's what I've learned from Coach Robbie at Robot so far:

1- how to wrap your hands
2- to keep your right hand up to your brow to protect yourself; and to bring your left back after you throw it
3- footwork
4- dodge and pivot as a person charges at you
5- shadow boxing- keep it slow, focus on one thing
6- train in 3 min intervals
7- hold pads in front of you not out to the side, so your body can help absorb the hit
8- walk the red line between the mats when exiting
9- put shoes on as soon as you get off the mat
10- bow and shake before and after each session

It's been fun and different. I think that's important with fitness- finding new challenges and being open to new things. You bring certain things with you- pushing through pain (holding your hands up stresses your shoulders, similar to paddling through difficult waves), pacing yourself (if you're doing timed calisthenics- pick a number in your mind of reps- don't just go as hard as possible), and attitude (you have to be loose and have fun but strong and determined too. And it's fueled the old metabolism too... I can feel my body craving protein, among other things.

It's a two month summer membership- and the people there are all very cool...so seems like a great place for me- and a good outlet .

7/5



Just did a strength/conditioning course with Coach Andrew. 11-12pm. Crossfit style.
Stretching- 10 min
Metabolic Conditioning- 10 min- kettlebell swings to burpees (10 rounds x 1 min each)
Strength circuit- 30 minutes (6 exercises x 5 rounds)
- pullups- 5x
- pushups- 10x
- split squat (5s)
- back (x5)
- clean (3-2-1)
- lunge (16)

I thought it was only ok...granted I wasn't in a great mood and dehydrated from drinking last night.

7/8

Went to Robot yesterday for Fight class. It was crowded- their Mon night Intro class.
After basic conditioning- sets of timed push ups, air squats, mountain climbers, jump squats, shadow boxing, core work, we partnered up and did dodging drills and thengot gloves and practiced taking hits followed by jab hook cross blocking drills. It's tough to keep your hands up for that long and throwing punches you feel it in your lats...Also sidestepping and being on your feet is good general conditioning. It's a good workout- you sweat a ton and I feel it in my core right now and shoulders, and glutes are sore too.

Integrity, Owen 2, and Muhammed Ali

The other unique aspect of Owen's workouts are his Integrity days. Integrity is a word I've been thinking a lot about. A quick google search brings up this definition:

in·teg·ri·ty
inˈtegritē/
noun
1.
the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
"he is known to be a man of integrity"
synonyms: honesty, probity, rectitude, honor, good character, principle(s), ethics, morals, righteousness, morality, virtue, decency, fairness, scrupulousness, sincerity, truthfulness, trustworthiness More
antonyms: dishonesty
2.
the state of being whole and undivided.
"upholding territorial integrity and national sovereignty"
synonyms: unity, unification, coherence, cohesion, togetherness, solidarity

Muhammed Ali exemplified Integrity in and out of the ring:


The idea as it pertains to fitness has more to do with definition two. Owen's Wednesday workout focuses on smaller, more injury prone areas- specifically shoulders and knees. I've added PT exercises also. In November 2012, I injured my scapula, which is a back muscle behind the rhomboid. It wasn't a tear but some sort of nerve pinch involving dead lift to high pull and pull-ups, outlined in a hypertrophy workout from Alwyn Cosgrove's New Rules of Lifting. Joe and I had teamed up just before to start the podcast and had completed the entire book of New Rules of Lifting for Abs- which is another awesome book focusing on building core strength. I defintiely got stronger on that workout and we met 2x a week in Altadena at the 24 Hr Fitness there. We did lifts and metabolic conditioning, and it was cool to have a workout partner. Since the injury though we went our separate ways. Obviously, I've been surfing a lot and Joe has been doing Crossfit.

I really like Owen's Integrity workout though. Oddly the M, F workout is called the Core workout, so they don't quite match up. One theme through the book though is how Owen has gone straight from his party days in USC and after, and met his wife on the beach. She basically told him to clean up his act or they had no shot and he did. They got married and had a son, Blaze- and in the book, from 2003, the kid is a baby that Owen says he runs up the Stairs (a Santa Monica fitness mainstay) and up the Hill with. So maybe the Integrity workout was about that, and also strengthening some of his weaker areas to integrate fitness throughout (or make whole). He talks about how he views injury as an opportunity to concentrate on other areas- and also pool exercises he's done to improve, when injured. So this book was totally useful to me through that period- and even still (as in NOW), I use it to focus and get back on track, and use Owen as a role model.


Owen McKibbin with his family (How many workout books have a whole redemption story built in?)
(From The Cover Model Diet, by Owen McKibbin)

As far as the first definition of integrity- re: strong morals and being honest, standing up for your principles; that's a good one to work on too- though a little harder than a shoulder workout. So many amazing role models there- yeah, Muhammed Ali and also my grandfather, Judge Max Rosenn comes to mind.

Anyway here's today's workout. Been rope-skipping every morning (1000 skips) before coffee, reducing alcohol, etc.



Sample breakfast:


Love this. Thought of this while rope-skipping today:

Two Week Tweak

So it's a two week countdown to my birthday- and I'm trying to reign in my excesses. I always like to feel like I'm getting better with age. Every year, I try to get in "the best shape of my life" for my b-day. It's a little foolish since I end up partying that night usually anyway. But my long- term goal has been to stay in shape for life. Along those lines, one of the first fitness books I really dug was (wait for it) Staying Hard, by Charles Gaines.



Gaines was a writer in the 70'ss/80's and friend of Schwarzenegger and helped produce the film, Pumping Iron. Staying Hard (1980) is a total classic and is basically about not "losing your hard" over time. Gaines was not a bodybuilder but just a bad-ass writer who stayed in shape. He was lean and cut and his routines are still worthwhile. I once dated a personal trainer and brought the book along on a lunch date at the Grove to get her opinion. I think she thought it was endearing and cute in a dated way... One important tip Gaines recommended was "make water your beverage of choice". He also advocated chewing your food. It's a very cool book- though one I don't consult much anymore. (There's all kinds of esoteric advice for "keeping your hard" like studying the Plains Indians and eating butterscotch over other candies). Definitely worth the $1.99 or whatever on Amazon. (and for the longest time btw, I wanted white short shorts to work out in).



My current favorite book though is (gulp) Owen McKibbin's Cover Model Workout. It's a Men's Health publication from 2003 and McKibbin is one of MH's most used cover models (hence the name of the book). More than that, he's a pro personal trainer, former USC volleyball player, and soccer player. He's had a ton of injuries (which is how I discovered the book after my shoulder injury last year) and his book rocks for motivation. It even has a chapter: Family- Friend or Foe..(think I know the answer to that one).



Owen comes through as a guy that's been around (a former "party dog" as he says); the kind of guy you'd like to get a smoothie with (jk). He used to arrive hungover to modeling shoots, and somehow stumbled upon clean living. Most of my workouts these days are modified from that book. When you cut out the booze and get to bed at a decent hour, Owen's plans work. His version of the "Two Week Tweak" however is for real. It's only in the hardcover edition of the book, but it's basically doing morning interval training and ab work (empty stomach) and afternoon lifting. His lifts aren't easy and there's plenty of unusual rep schemes like doing 20 hammer curls. Many Crossfit people (I won't name names) look down on workouts like this thinking it's bodybuilding type stuff- but no joke, his workouts deliver (and fyi- guys like Mark Wahlberg and Hugh Jackman do high rep- arm workouts). His diet does allow for some "dry carbs"- mostly in the morning (toast or oatmeal)- and also the book recommends cutting egg yolks and chicken skin (along the conventional "fat makes you fat" line) but it's easy to just eat Paleo and train like Owen- who's in his 50's and still killing it.



Posted above is Owen's Fat Loss- Phase 4 workout which I'll be doing for the next two weeks while ditching all my vices (except Thai masages). I'd suggest buying the book off Amazon if you're into it and starting from the beginning. This workout is not one to just jump into (rope-skipping intervals are tough). So raise your protein shakes to following through...and to being fit for life, whatever route you want to take.

Paleo thoughts- Art De Vany's New Evolution Diet

"To call a diet on which humans lived for millenia a fad is just ignorance. In fact, it is the modern fad of eating a high-carb, high grain, high-sugar diet that is harmful." p50, The New Evolution Diet, Arthur De Vany



The New Evolution Diet continues to be the book that I come back to when I stray from "Paleo" eating. Art De Vany has a blog he maintains and is considered the grandfather of the Paleo movement- though he doesn't use that term. He simply began a personal study of what foods reduced insulin levels naturally in his diabetic son and wife in the 70's. He was an economics professor so studying data came naturally to him as did publishing papers. His first paper with his thoughts on Fitness and Diet was "Evolutionary Fitness". You can google it. His approach is very straight-forward and the book, the New Evolution Diet, expands upon it and makes it more palatable to general audiences.

I'm still sort of baffled by all the "conventional" thinking about health and nutrition. Specifically- the issue of calories. The mainstream thinking- which I see all the time in Men's Health publications has to do with the "Calories in, Calories out" equation. "Eat less and exercise more" is supposedly the recipe to losing weight. Gary Taubes addressed this extensively in his paper- What If It's All a Big, Fat Lie? and his book Why We Get Fat; and What We Can Do About It. That book is actually denser than DeVany's and more science-oriented, though less science-y than Taubes' tome- Good Calories, Bad Calories.

So calories are one issue that stick around....and another is about red meat. I know several people now who are moving forward with a vegetarian based diet- thinking it's healthier. I just got an invitation to a barbecue from my friend who's very overweight- and the main selling point was that they'd have grilled pineapple. Grilled pineapple is delicious, yes, but the sugar content is high- especially versus grilled steak or hamburger. The Nurse's study published by Harvard last year seems to have really hit the national media hard- and it's a drag.

I eat a lot of calories primarily from a high protein, low carb diet ( a lot of meats, eggs, and fish) and have very low cholesterol, low triglycerides, no diseases, more energy, strength, and stamina than ever. I credit the Paleo diet and my habit of 4-8 week weight lifting routines- as well as adopting sports I'm interested in (surfing, tennis). Getting adequate rest and drinking water have also been important.

There's a lot of temptation in our society. I don't watch tv so commercials don't get to me- but, just in shopping at grocery stores, there's always candy by the register, and happy hour specials, and yeah, it gets to be laborious explaining your dietary habits to incredulous people (often women). They often are freaked out that you're having a salad or think they're "foodies" by being into baked goods like pies and cakes. Friends too can sabotage you just by not understanding- just by being ignorant. They think you only eat meat.



The Paleo diet is about eating whole foods; nutrient-dense foods; not eating processed foods loaded with sugars or that trigger insulin spikes... The idea isn't to be a caveman. It's to eat foods that humans evolved on. This is a great a article on the subject from Nerd Fitness:
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/

Paleo on the Cheap

A lot of friends have told me that they'd go Paleo but can't afford it. So here's a typical weekly shopping cart for me. Typically it costs around $40.

Eggland vegetarian-fed Eggs- $4.89 for 18 (scramble in pan in butter)

Jennie's Lean Ground Turkey- $4.89 (use for turkey burgers or chili)

Wild Caught salmon filet- $5 (wrap in tinfoil and put in the oven in butter for 30 min)

Grass-fed hamburger meat or steak- $6.99

Organic vegetarian-fed chicken drumsticks- $3

Tuna in cans- 2/$3

2 avocados- $3

2 tomatoes

scalllions

organic spinach- $2.99

blackberries or blueberries- $2.99

2 apples or pears- $2-3

Kerrygold grass-fed butter- $5

Coconut milk (I don't buy this often, but it's good in protein shakes)- $2.99

From time to time I get Chioban yogurts 2/$3 or 4% cottage cheese

Unsalted Pistachios or almonds- $4.99

I'll sometimes get some red wine or whiskey (Bushmill's is cheap and good) too- $10-12

Between meals I'll typically have a protein shake from Muscle Milk which I'll get once a month at the gym or GNC for about $20.

Typically I shop at Ralph's, Trader Joe's or Vons. Sprouts is good too.

Cheers-
Gabe