Time to share some feelings.
I'm ecstatic to have had a record number of views on my last blog entry. This whole sensation (putting my workouts, my thoughts, my reviews, my pictures, my LIFE) on the internet and updating it and keeping it fed and fueled and fresh as if it were a living, breathing entity needing my constant care is interesting. I actually really like it. Knowing that I have page viewers (not many followers...) (YET!) is inspiring and makes me want to continue putting up as much information as humanly possible to keep my readers satisfied. So, what are you all looking for?
The advice I give to people when asked that question (whether it's in the realm of teaching children, personal training, or just being a friend/confidant to somebody) is honesty and transparency. So, today I honestly want to just talk and type a little bit, because I don't feel like I can impart any great wisdom on to you today. This is mainly because I don't know who YOU are. Are you someone following my blog because I merely follow yours? If so, THANK YOU! I follow yours because when I searched at random, yours was up to date and filled with information that interested me. I hope mine is the same for you. Are you someone following my blog because you're my friend or family and I beg you to? If so, thank you and I love you. Are you a fitness enthusiast looking for more workout and health tips? If so, please read below! I give lots of information about workouts, bodybuilding, CrossFit and plant-based nutrition. I fear that I don't have anybody turning to this page for expertise in health and wellness (YET!) but it's only been a month in existence now :) I won't get overzealous. I'll forgive you if you still choose to turn to Jack LaLanne or Brendan Brazier instead!
This book is the best addition to the vegan and vegetarian fitness community. Brendan has done nothing but positive things for our movement, and continues to thrive on his path of excellence. (pun intended)
Back to the feelings part, though I guess all of this has technically been my feelings.... I have come to appreciate a particular facebook community called CrossFit Vegans and Vegetarians. This is a group started by a vegan crossfitter named Mary Boehler not too long ago, and has grown to 317 users in a short period of time. Don't think of that 317 as a bunch of dues-paying, non-participants either! First of all, there are no dues (it's a facebook group) and second of all, people are posting and commenting and liking and supporting constantly! I have several notifications about new images, new videos, new links, new statuses, new members, and multiple comments on all of them almost everyday. It's to the point where I want to turn notifications off, but the content of posts in this group is priceless. I've never heard so many people talk so openly and frankly, or so honest and determined as crossfitters. They all have something common- they're all forging elite fitness at their boxes, yadda yadda yadda. (I'm saying this as a fellow crossfitter...not making fun of anyone). Then THESE folks don't just have the crossfit connection, these folks are in the minority of the minority, abstaining from what is seemingly every crossfitter's favorite thing: MEAT. Dead animals, bodies, in mouths, decomposing er, I mean, digesting into elite muscle, or whatever.
If you haven't heard of the Paleo Diet, it's a grain-free, sugar-free diet that most adherents rely on meat to get their nutrients from. Some of the science makes a lot of sense if you want to build lean muscle and shed those seemingly impossible to lose extra few pounds. Sadly, meat is the product of pain and suffering that myself and millions of others choose to abstain from. We don't eat meat, so we are at a disadvantage. This disadvantage is only in the sense that we can't go home from our crossfitters' conversation and implement the advice that we are given.."Ok, great workout, you need to eat five chickens TONIGHT for your muscles to repair properly." If that person said go eat five Boca Burgers, dude, yes! I'm so there- I'll do it. But instead, I hear someone telling me to do something that I absolutely won't do, I won't even consider it for a second, and haven't been considering it for the past 12 years now. Now I actually have to go home and THINK. Or RESEARCH. Or CALCULATE....how much iron, fat, protein, etc do I really need to ingest so I can be at the level of my counterparts at my CrossFit box/gym?
What is fantastic about this facebook community, is that I can type that very question where is says Write Something... and I will definitely get a response. I will get a scientific response, I can get personal opinions and recommendations, I can get some support from fellow crossfitters who have had to encounter the same problem, I can get some comic relief from a cynical vegan or two who's fucking sick of the entire planet being so stubbornly pro-meat (like me), it's the best. I appreciate each and every person on that site. I recommend you check it out, especially if you're an herbivore crossfitter! Expect a lot of my blog to be inspired by conversations found on that site. Rather than drive them all crazy with paragraphs and paragraphs of my personal opinions, I have YOU! My blog and my followers, my precious! Oh yeah, and of course my clients. Here's one more shout out to ya'll....and one more time that I'll blast you on the internetz for everyone to see! (I only need 20 more views to get to one thousand! That's like 75% more than any other trainer at my gym has gotten! I love this community- it's all thanks to you. Please watch it once, or again, and show your friends. If you have a youtube account, please LIKE and COMMENT. I will do the same for you.)
The advice I give to people when asked that question (whether it's in the realm of teaching children, personal training, or just being a friend/confidant to somebody) is honesty and transparency. So, today I honestly want to just talk and type a little bit, because I don't feel like I can impart any great wisdom on to you today. This is mainly because I don't know who YOU are. Are you someone following my blog because I merely follow yours? If so, THANK YOU! I follow yours because when I searched at random, yours was up to date and filled with information that interested me. I hope mine is the same for you. Are you someone following my blog because you're my friend or family and I beg you to? If so, thank you and I love you. Are you a fitness enthusiast looking for more workout and health tips? If so, please read below! I give lots of information about workouts, bodybuilding, CrossFit and plant-based nutrition. I fear that I don't have anybody turning to this page for expertise in health and wellness (YET!) but it's only been a month in existence now :) I won't get overzealous. I'll forgive you if you still choose to turn to Jack LaLanne or Brendan Brazier instead!
I named my blog and twitter, "Herbivore Athlete"
I am putting myself up there with the greats like Jack and Brendan. I have heard many different opinions about Jack's diet(s). Yes, he lived 96 years, I'm sure he's followed different diets over those years...
Last I heard and trusted was one from FitLifeTV that said he was a vegetarian that advocated the occasional serving of fish. Now, we can argue this back and forth, but if someone on the 110% vegan high horse wants to try and climb to Jack's stature and share their herbivore enlightenment, go ahead. Until then, I'll take Jack's best efforts at vegetarianism and file him under my famous herbivore athletes.
Now I do know that Brendan is 100% vegan, and has done much of his training following a strictly raw vegan diet. He talks about this in his book called
Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life
Back to the feelings part, though I guess all of this has technically been my feelings.... I have come to appreciate a particular facebook community called CrossFit Vegans and Vegetarians. This is a group started by a vegan crossfitter named Mary Boehler not too long ago, and has grown to 317 users in a short period of time. Don't think of that 317 as a bunch of dues-paying, non-participants either! First of all, there are no dues (it's a facebook group) and second of all, people are posting and commenting and liking and supporting constantly! I have several notifications about new images, new videos, new links, new statuses, new members, and multiple comments on all of them almost everyday. It's to the point where I want to turn notifications off, but the content of posts in this group is priceless. I've never heard so many people talk so openly and frankly, or so honest and determined as crossfitters. They all have something common- they're all forging elite fitness at their boxes, yadda yadda yadda. (I'm saying this as a fellow crossfitter...not making fun of anyone). Then THESE folks don't just have the crossfit connection, these folks are in the minority of the minority, abstaining from what is seemingly every crossfitter's favorite thing: MEAT. Dead animals, bodies, in mouths, decomposing er, I mean, digesting into elite muscle, or whatever.
If you haven't heard of the Paleo Diet, it's a grain-free, sugar-free diet that most adherents rely on meat to get their nutrients from. Some of the science makes a lot of sense if you want to build lean muscle and shed those seemingly impossible to lose extra few pounds. Sadly, meat is the product of pain and suffering that myself and millions of others choose to abstain from. We don't eat meat, so we are at a disadvantage. This disadvantage is only in the sense that we can't go home from our crossfitters' conversation and implement the advice that we are given.."Ok, great workout, you need to eat five chickens TONIGHT for your muscles to repair properly." If that person said go eat five Boca Burgers, dude, yes! I'm so there- I'll do it. But instead, I hear someone telling me to do something that I absolutely won't do, I won't even consider it for a second, and haven't been considering it for the past 12 years now. Now I actually have to go home and THINK. Or RESEARCH. Or CALCULATE....how much iron, fat, protein, etc do I really need to ingest so I can be at the level of my counterparts at my CrossFit box/gym?
What is fantastic about this facebook community, is that I can type that very question where is says Write Something... and I will definitely get a response. I will get a scientific response, I can get personal opinions and recommendations, I can get some support from fellow crossfitters who have had to encounter the same problem, I can get some comic relief from a cynical vegan or two who's fucking sick of the entire planet being so stubbornly pro-meat (like me), it's the best. I appreciate each and every person on that site. I recommend you check it out, especially if you're an herbivore crossfitter! Expect a lot of my blog to be inspired by conversations found on that site. Rather than drive them all crazy with paragraphs and paragraphs of my personal opinions, I have YOU! My blog and my followers, my precious! Oh yeah, and of course my clients. Here's one more shout out to ya'll....and one more time that I'll blast you on the internetz for everyone to see! (I only need 20 more views to get to one thousand! That's like 75% more than any other trainer at my gym has gotten! I love this community- it's all thanks to you. Please watch it once, or again, and show your friends. If you have a youtube account, please LIKE and COMMENT. I will do the same for you.)
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