A free-radical freedom fighter

Prep time: 15-20 minutes

Cook time: 30-40 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1.5 pounds ground turkey or chicken
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2.5 cups low sodium fat-free chicken broth
• 1 cup dark beer
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 can (15.8 oz) kidney beans, drained
• 1 can (15.8 oz) black beans, drained
• 1 can (16 oz) diced tomatoes with mild green chilies
• 1 cup colored bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 small zucchini or yellow summer squash, sliced into half rounds
• 1 cup kale, stemmed and chopped or torn into bite sze pieces
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1/4 cup cashews, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (optional)

In a 4-6 quart saute pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the turkey and cook until browned, for 5-6 minutes. Add the oregano, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and sale, saute for 2 minutes. Pour in the broth and beer. Stir in the tomato paste. Add the kidney beans, balck beans, tomatoes, bell pepper, zucchini or squash, kale and carrot. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the cashews and cook for 5-7minutes. Add the cilantro and lime juice, if using.

YIELD: about 8 servings (12 cups plus extra broth)

This morning at 6am, it was a crisp 43 degrees outside, according to my car. Beth’s car said it was 39. Yikes!!!

If you’ve never exercised outdoors in the cold, it can be a little nerve racking.

But here’s the truth: you don’t have to be a “hard-core crazy athlete” to workout in these colder conditions. (of course I think you are all super hard-core athletes…I’m just saying that you don’t have to shy away from the cold).

Once you learn that it’s all about proper gear and layering that gear, it can be so exhilarating.

Here’s all that matters:

1. STAY WARM
2. STAY DRY
3. Numbers 1 & 2 happen when you layer moisture-wicking clothes.

You can easily stay warm by wearing a huge down coat and layers of cotton shirts, but when you start sweating, you’ll have a hard time wicking the moisture from your body.

So start with a moisture wicking base layer, like a thin, long sleeved shirt (no cotton!). Then add maybe a vest, and then maybe a light, wind-proof jacket or pull-over over that. Fleece is also another option. Try different layers this week and see how it goes.

But the most important pieces of staying warm might be your gloves (I wear mittens), your hat, and maybe even a scarf. You almost could wear shorts and a t-shirt if you have your head and hands protected (…almost).

I also think it takes practice. The more you get out there and try different types of layers, the better you’ll get at staying warm, staying dry, and getting an awesome workout!

It’s a little chilly out there especially at the beginning, but 5 minutes in you’ll start to feel warmed-up and ready to kick some bootcamp booty! Oh yeah…I forgot to tell you maybe the most important reason why you want to keep kickin’ booty at bootcamp:

YOU BURN 20-30% MORE CALORIES WHEN THE TEMPERATURE DROPS!

It’s true. While your body is already working hard to get you through a vigorous workout, it’s doing double-duty to keep your temperature regulated! I guarantee you that if you did the same workout indoors, you would be burning less calories than you do when you workout outside. Keep that in mind tomorrow morning!

Here’s a link to a blog I found about layering your clothes, and below are a few more pics I found to help you decipher your outdoor workout wardrobe!

A dynamic approach towards pre-exercise warm-up

By: K Kane BS MS CSCS

As more and more science has been applied to sport, the age old notion of run a few laps and perform static stretches (reach and hold ideology) as part of a warm-up, to any sport, has become obsolete. That’s not to say that running and static stretching do not have their place. They do. Just not in the warm-up prior to performance. In fact, a great way to cool the body down, reduce muscle soreness and slow the nervous system activity back to normal levels following an intense performance is through static stretching. Furthermore, scientific research in the field of exercise science has repeatedly demonstrated that static stretching decreases the force production capabilities of a muscle.

Translation: the muscles will be incapable of generating the contraction required to command your body during heart pumping fit camp workouts!

A great recipe for injury! Go to any sporting event and you will see teams and athletes alike, lined up in neat rows performing exercises on the move during their warm-up. This moving warm-up has become known as a dynamic warm-up. So, get ready to run, jump-squat, and burpee by preparing your body for optimal performance!

So, what exactly is a dynamic warm-up and why should you do it?

First, allow me to say, get over your fear of looking foolish! As the science of sport systematically penetrates diverse exercise modalities, it will become common to people preparing to run, swim or train, dynamically warming up 15-20 minutes prior to kicking it into gear. But why wait until it catches on? Why not step out of the box and purposefully prepare your body for the workout ahead? If you could reduce overuse, muscular and joint injuries from being ill prepared, if you could reduce muscle soreness and prolong your ability to exercise to your maximum capacity (barring no performance ending injuries) using 15-20 minutes of your pre-exercise time, why wouldn’t you?

Red Shift BootCamp is an intense, heart pounding, adrenaline churning, DYNAMIC (ever changing and moving) exercise program that requires the individual to be ready to exercise and immediately meet the mental, physical and physiological demands at maximum intensity right out of the gate. So bring on the dynamic warm-up and properly prepare your body to meet those demands head on!

A dynamic warm-up is a structural warm-up that will heat up and stretch the muscles utilizing a movement pattern. While it uses movement to create greater blood flow and hence oxygen delivery to the muscles as well as increase the range of motion about the joint structure, it should not be confused with ballistic or “bouncing” type stretching. Bouncing is bad! Think of your muscles as taffy. Cool taffy snaps. Warm taffy stretches. So through the dynamic warm-up the individual is taken through a controlled warm-up that progresses in a step-wise fashion in which the tempo, intensity and speed of the movement drills are gradually increased.

The benefits of this stepwise pattern go beyond just warming up the body. Think of your body position during various exercise patterns. Up, down, squat, stand, forward, back. This is your body’s movement in space. The more you exercise the less aware of the pattern you are cognitively and the more second nature it becomes. You no longer have to think about it, you just do it! The dynamic warm-up aids in this process by allowing you to develop the appropriate sport-specific neuromuscular patterns as well as to fine tune your awareness of your body position in space (known as proprioceptive awareness) and the forces being applied to it. And boy is there force being applied to these structures when you run, jump, and burpee! The dynamic warm-up also stretches and warms-up the body’s components in all three planes of motion better preparing it for the runs, jumps and landings that lie ahead. It strengthens stabilizing muscles, synergistic muscles and the joints both concentrically (shortening) and eccentrically (lengthening). It is this eccentric phase where most injuries occur or better explained: when you land from a jump squat you are eccentrically loading your body’s structures, SO PREPARE IT and reduce the likelihood of injury.
In order for individual performance to be successful the body must go through various ranges of motion in all three planes all while reacting and responding to the exercise prescription. Through the dynamic warm up and further training, we can prepare the body for its optimal response to these various aspects just by using 10-20 minutes of the individuals wait time before each Fit Camp.

The dynamic warm up should be between 10-20 minutes in length: 10 minutes for a beginner, 20 minutes for a more advanced athlete; it should include 10-20 exercises performing one set of 10-12 repetitions for each exercise or 20-25yds using each side of the movement pattern. The exercise selection should be based on the demands of the exercise selection. Fundamental, linear, multi-directional movement and deceleration (eccentric loads) should all be a part of the dynamic warm up.

An example of a beginning dynamic warm up would be as follows:

• 25yd easy jog up and back
• Jumping jacks (to begin heating up the core temperature)
• Trunk rotation
• Trunk circles
• Arm hugs
• Walking straight leg march
• Walking quad stretch
• Walking piriformis
• Walking knee hug
• Lying leg kick
• Lying scorpion
• Lateral shuffle
• Lung with rotation
• Squat hops
• Lunge drops

The dynamic warm up is the perfect time to prepare the body for the exercise ahead, to refine movement skills and patterns and to fine tune the mechanics needed for success. However, appropriate exercise execution is imperative for success. Do not mimic something you see on YouTube. Get appropriate instruction on each exercise and fine tune your skills accordingly.