Thursday, March 25, 2010

You Don't Have To Eat Like A Rabbit!



The first wall that many people run into when they start eating a paleo/primal diet is boredom. I'm sure many of you have thought to your self "If I eat one more salad or chicken breast I'm going snap!". Well this really doesn't have to be the case ... remember that just because you've cut grains, legumes, and almost all dairy out of your diet doesn't mean that your meals have to be boring!

Everyone is different, some of you have no problem eating dry chicken breast and raw veggies each day, others might like a little more spice and variety to their meals. That's where getting creative with your food comes into play! Play around with your food (forget what mom told you when you were a kid!), try new things, think of meals you enjoy that do involve grain and see how you can make them work without any.

For example, this morning I made Jungle Fit pancakes for breakfast! They have no grains or flour in them at all. Just click this link to take a look (jungle fit pancakes video link). All they involve is 1 banana, one big spoon of almond butter, 1 large egg, 1 scoop of protein powder (optional), and a splash of coconut milk. Mash together all the ingredients until it becomes liquid and pour it into your frying pan! Once the pancakes are finished cooking you can top them with fresh berries and maybe even a little bit of natural butter. Done and done!!

Or how about just simple changes in your meals ... why not have steak and b.b.q veggies for supper now that spring is here! Throw some pork chops into a freezer bag and pour in some olive oil based salad dressing, let it marinate in your fridge all day and then b.b.q. them for delicious results! Try new types of meat such as rabbit or bison, both are an excellent alternative to chicken or beef. There are tons of ways to cook your food and endless possibilities for meals. Get those ideas flowing, try new things, buy new veggies and fruit and try some new meals ... after all you don't have to eat like a rabbit just because your eating more veggies!
Remember that April 24th at 1pm Jungle Fit will be holding a workshop on body weight training and paleo/primal nutrition at the Kingston Sustainability Centre. Make sure to bring a donation for the Sustainability Centre and tell friends and family. For more info just e-mail me at tim@jungle-fit.com

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Fitness ... It's Simple!



The world of health and fitness is vast, and can be more than a little confusing some times. With all the different points of views from "experts, new videos and books being put out faster than you can blink, and a ton of fitness studios/gyms in your home town it's enough to make your head spin! Heck it can even make me want to tear my hair out from time to time! It seems that there's a new "fitness guru" pushing some training program touted as the end all be all of fat loss, and just when you think that you've got this whole fitness thing figured out another "expert" comes out with something new to throw you off your game again!

I say ENOUGH! I say enough with the new contraptions (machines are junk anyways), fad diets (the never work), and trainers eating up every new thing that comes their way and spitting it out to their clients! Fitness doesn't have to be complicated, in fact it's my personal aim to make it a simple as possible for all my clients to understand. It's Jungle Fit's goal to not just train you but to teach you how to eat, sleep, and move just like a caveman and never have weight issues ever again or the health problems that come along with them!

If I can give you the most simple advice, just forget machines and other gimmicks you see on television. Learn how to use your body as your machine, master your own body weight and you will never be in need of a gym membership ever again! Eat only real foods, if you can't kill it, pick it off a tree/vine, or rip it from the ground then don't put it in your mouth. Avoid poisonous things like junk food, fast food, alcohol, grains, beans, and keep dairy to a minimum! Last but not least, play ... I mean physically get outside and play! Do something that makes you happy, run sprints, play basketball or go for a hike!

Yes, it's that simple! No machines, no gimmicks, stupid sales pitches or pre made programs! Eat how you're designed to eat, move how you're designed to move, get lots of sleep and your body will thank you ... NO ... your body will reward you! Your body will give you a gift ... years of health, pain free movement, great sleep, and more years of active living.

It's simple, but someone needs to teach you how. Come down to the Kingston Sustainability Centre April 24th starting at 1pm to take part in the 1st ever Jungle Fit Workshop (video link for info). You'll learn a lot more about Jungle Fit and what I have to offer you, what you can learn about your self, and how to change your own life through natural fitness. After the indoor presentation we'll be heading to City Park for an Outdoor Boot Camp class. I hope to see you there, if you have questions then just e-mail me at the address found on the website http://www.jungle-fit.com/ .



Thursday, March 11, 2010

Getting Creative With Your Workout!



Spring is here ... uhhh sort of ... so that means warm weather and a whole lot more sun shine than we've been having. There is no two ways about it, everyone wants to get out side and start enjoying the friendly weather. I'm sure you've already been out walking the down town streets shopping, going for lunch, or just enjoying some time in the park, but don't forget about one of the best parts of spring/summer ... outdoor workouts!

It's always this time of year where you see the typical jogger out running in the park or around the block ... but what about us , how can we get outside and get an amazing workout using the things we can find outside? Well, its much easier than you would think to find a whole plethora of things to aid in your Jungle Fit workouts!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, outdoor play parks/jungle gyms are amazing things for getting a great workout! They all have bars to do chin ups on , or polls to climb up and down. If you're really lucky you might even have a park that has some dip bars or even a set of rings to challenge your self. There are a million different workouts you can do with just a pull up bar and a little creativity!


Where there's a park I bet you can find a picnic table! I love them, they are great for box jumps up onto the seat or the top of the table. Or how about step ups or split squats ... if you're legs are really strong you could even do pistol squats while standing on the seat with your free leg hanging off! Why not grab the table from one end and get in a couple sets of push press?

At some larger parks you may find stairs, these are great for adding depth into your workout and challenging your body in different ways! You could run sprints up the stairs, bear crawl down them, and get in a couple sets up push ups at the bottom. If push ups are a problem you could always use the stairs as a tool to get stronger. Put your hands on a step that allows you to do 8-10 push ups with correct form,(click this link for a video on push up form) then when that becomes too easy just go down one step and so on! Soon enough you'll be doing push ups on the the ground!

So there you have it, with a little creativity and some searching around your local parks you can build a gym out of anything at all! For more great ideas on training both indoors and outside take a look at the new Jungle Fit YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/JungleFit



WWW.JUNGLE-FIT.COM


Saturday, March 6, 2010

The Importance Of Play!


If you have been keeping up with my blog at all then you know that I am a big believer in doing whats natural. After all, that's exactly what Jungle Fit has been built on! Natural movements with a focus on body weight training and a paleo diet is the basis of Jungle Fit.
So with all this focus on natural exercise and movement it can sometimes be very easy to over look one of the most natural things for a person to do ... play.

As we grow up we get so caught up in our lives that are filled with work, kids, school, bills, meetings etc. that the only physical activity a lot of us get is our workout. But what ever happened to just getting outside and getting physical doing something other than your workout? When was the last time you played a sport, went on a hike, or went kayaking? The point of your workout is so you can live life to its fullest potential, to be able to move with ease and be pain free while preventing injury. So if we're on the subject of living life to its fullest doesn't that involve having some fun!?

Life is about more than just work and lets face it, your workout is kind of like work! Don't get me wrong, I love to workout I enjoy it and look forward to my workouts but it's still work. It's great to be pain free and move with ease ... but where's the fun of being functional, strong, and agile without being able to do anything fun with all that fitness!?

So get out there and play! Find something that you love to do, maybe its a sport you used to be active in back in high school, or maybe you just like going out and playing frisbee with the dog! Who cares, all that matters is that you're out and having fun being active and athletic. It's good for your body and it's even better for your soul.

Don't live to workout, workout to live! =)