5 Fun Ways to Burn Those Christmas Calories

http://tribesports.com/challenges/snowball-fight

Now that Christmas has come and gone, what are some fun ways to be active and burn those Christmas calories?


1.) Sledding

 Simple, kids and adults can have fun, and all that walking up hill can burn about 400 kcals (calories) per hour! Just watch out for those bumps!
 

2.) Family Game Night 

This one can go along with sledding. With time off from work, instead of telling your kids to go outside and play, go outside and play with them! Build a snowman, have a snowball fight, or go sledding!

Snow angels are like jumping jacks only laying down!

3.) Cross Country Skiing

If you like nature, cross country skiing on a nice sunny day is an AWESOME way to honor God with some cardio while worshiping Him and enjoying His creation! It's like winter hiking! Not to mention, because cross country skiing uses every muscle in your body, you burn tons of calories; more than you may think. It also makes for fantastic aerobic training! High level cross country skiers have some of the highest VO2 Max (a measure of aerobic fitness) readings of ANY athlete!


4.) Skiing or Snowboarding

If you're like me, and you like to go fast, skiing or snowboarding is a great way to stay active through the northern winter months! You can rent some equipment and a day pass for around $100. If you find that you enjoy it, buy some of your own equipment for next year! If not, find another activity that you enjoy.


5.) Indoor Activities

If you don't like the cold, stay indoors. There are many indoor sports leagues that you can join. Not into sports? Go for a swim at the gym. Try a new class. Learn to salsa dance! When you boogie, you can burn around 200 kcals per hour!


6.) Any Activity You Enjoy!

While I always encourage an organized, progressive exercise program (especially for resistance training), there is HUGE benefit to just getting out and being active! So this winter, get out and play! Find an activity that you enjoy and rock it!


Whatever you do, be active and be safe! And remember, the holidays are only a few days out of 365. It's what you do those other 360 days that counts.


Love God, love people!

- Chris



1 - "Walk / Run Metabolic Calculator." Walk / Run Metabolic Calculator. Web. 30 Dec. 2014. <http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs.html>.

2 - Tate, By. "How Many Calories Am I Burning? (Infographic)." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Dec. 2014. <http://www.livescience.com/40524-how-many-calories-am-i-burning-infographic.html>. (Via American College of Sports Medicine)

Yummy, Creamy Eggnog Protein Shake Recipe!

  

 

Here's a yummy Christmas treat!

I found this recipe on the Ninja blender site.


Ingredients:

2-3 Ice cubes
1/2 cup low-fat eggnog
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 serving - about 25 grams - vanilla protein powder (I use Advocare Vanilla Muscle Gain)
1 pinch cinnamon


Nutrition

Kcals 265
Fat 6g
Saturated Fat 3g
Sodium 285g
Potassium 396mg
Carbs 24g
Sugar 23g
Protein 31g
Vitamin C 62%
Calcium 78% 


Also, if you don't mind not having eggnog, try the following:

2-3 Ice cubes
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 serving vanilla protein powder
1 pinch all spice

This modified recipe is about 163 kcals, 5g fat, 5g carbs, 4g sugar, and 26g protein!


God bless and Merry Christmas!

- Chris  
 

The Real Christmas Story

Have you ever wondered what we're really celebrating when we celebrate Christmas? Is it Santa? Nope. Is it warm, fuzzy feelings? Keep guessing.

Christmas = "Christ" + "Mas"

Christmas comes from the Old English "Cristes" + "Moesse." More commonly, "Christ" + "mass." This "mass" is the mass we think of when we think of the Catholic Mass. It means holy communion. Communion is remembering and acknowledging Christ's sacrifice for us. 

Christmas is remembering and celebrating why Christ came!

We have watered down the meaning of just about everything, especially Christmas. We've even watered down Santa who was originally Saint Nicholas, a Christian who knew the real meaning of Christmas. Let's remember the greatest love story ever!

So, What Is The Real Christmas Story?

Aside from the actual logistics of the nativity story, the main purpose of Christmas is to remember how God gave us a way to restore the relationship we messed up. 

1.) The Garden of Eden

Yes, I went that far back because that's where the story starts. In the garden everything was perfect. We had a perfect relationship with God. We didn't even have to workout because we had perfect bodies that never aged! How awesome is that?! 

Then, Eve AND Adam chose to disobey God. Since God is holy and He protects His holiness, our sinful selves were no longer allowed to be with Him in the garden. Check out Genesis 3.

2.) The Standard

Can a perfect Heaven and a perfect, holy God have imperfection? No. The standard to be with God in Heaven is perfection according to His standard (check out Deuteronomy and other books of the law). There's only one Who has ever met this standard. I know it's not me! I struggle resisting too many Christmas cookies let alone avoiding sin! Mmmmmm... cookies....

3.) A Sinful People

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Romans 3:23 NIV). We have all broken His law, His standard of perfection. Because of this, we cannot join God in His perfect Heaven under our own strength.

4.) Sacrifice

"For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23 NIV) Hence, we gave sacrifices in the Old Testament.

5.) One Final Sacrifice For All

So, because we are imperfect, sinful people and the wages of sin is death, someone has to pay the price. That's exactly why God sent Jesus. One sacrifice for all.

Jesus was perfect therefore, when He died, He wasn't paying for His sins, He was paying for all of ours! If He sinned, His death would only pay for His sin, not ours! Knowledge bomb!

"'He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; 'by His wounds you have been healed.'" (1 Peter 2:24 NIV)

So this Christmas, remember why Jesus came. He came to take our place. Instead of us on death row paying for our own sins, it was Him. All so the relationship between us and God could be restored. You have a way to avoid Hell and be with God in His perfect Heaven. It's your choice.

Now go enjoy your cookies, friends, and family and share the REAL Christmas story! 

God bless and Merry Christmas!

-Chris

1 - http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/e05.html

 

An Easy Way to Gauge Cardio Intensity

It's late morning on a nice slow Saturday. You're at the gym doing your cardio and maybe watching some nostalgic Saturday morning cartoons. Suddenly, a thought smacks you in the face, nearly knocking you off the treadmill...

"Am I accomplishing anything by doing cardio?"

"Am I working hard enough?"

"How hard should I be working?"

Now that you've gathered yourself from nearly being knocked off your treadmill, let's go over a few ways to make sure you're working at a pace that will get you results!

Lactate Threshold

"Lactate what?!" Hang with me for a second. I'm about to drop some science! When we're training to improve how our bodies use different energy sources (fat and carbs), and/or training to improve performance for sports or general fitness and stamina, why we are really training is not only to increase how much work we can do (VO2 Max - another article), we are training to increase the threshold where our bodies turn from using a combination of fat and carbs for energy to mainly carbs. This point where our bodies switch to using carbs for energy is called our "lactate threshold." Basically, it's the point when you start breathing much faster and harder.

The lactate threshold is when our bodies switch from using aerobic metabolism (fat/carbs and oxygen) to anaerobic (mostly carbs and no oxygen). Anaerobic metabolism uses almost entirely carbs for energy. A byproduct of this is lactic acid. A by product of "getting rid" of lactic acid is CO2, hence faster and harder breathing.

Why does this matter? Well, training at or just below this threshold is intense enough to trigger the adaptations in the cells that give us more energy and stamina, make us better fat burning machines, and improve our cardiovascular health. As for sports, training at this threshold raises it. In other words, you can run faster and farther while relying less on anaerobic metabolism, producing less lactic acid and CO2, therefore not becoming out of breath.

As for those who want to lose weight, not only is your body able to do more work without tiring out (which is awesome in itself), your body relies more on fat for energy while exercising and less on carbs. Even though it ultimately comes down to calories in versus calories out, using more fat for energy may help improve our body composition (how much fat we have versus lean tissue). Also, because you are training at a higher intensity (NOT high intensity interval training), you end up burning more calories within your session.

How Do I Know If I'm Training at My Lactate Threshold?

Short of getting blood drawn during an exercise test, since we know that the lactate threshold is the point where our bodies start using mainly anaerobic metabolism and a by product is CO2 which increases how fast and hard we breathe, doesn't it make sense to exercise at an intensity that increases our breathing rate? This is known as the "ventilatory threshold"... the point when you start breathing faster and harder. Ventilatory threshold is an indicator of lactate threshold.

As you can see in the graph below, as exercise intensity increases, your rate of breathing increases. Now you may say, "well duh," but do you notice the point in the line where it sharply increases? That is your lactate threshold (red line) and respiratory threshold (blue line). You can see how the respiratory rate (how hard and fast you're breathing) can be used to indicate, roughly, your lactate threshold.

 

The Talk Test

A very simple way to see if you're training at the right intensity is to try to talk. If you're able to complete sentences without trouble, you're not near your lactate threshold. If you're able to speak in broken sentences like, "today... [deep breath] I was looking all over for my pitbull Fido... [deep breath] I found him hiding in under the porch... [deep breath] so he wouldn't have to go... [deep breath] to the vet."

The goal is to find the point just below where you would become out of breath within 4 minutes or so. Think tough but sustainable.

The Gist

The best way to gauge intensity accurately is by measuring your heart rate. Check out "What Should My Heart Rate be During Cardio?" for more info on heart rate training. But, when if you're just starting or you're out for a jog and don't have your heart rate monitor or you just want a break from measuring things, the talk test is a great tool to use!

Now back to Tom and Jerry!

God bless,

Chris 

Do Good Deeds Really Outweigh Sin?

"I'm religious and I do good deeds..."

I was watching a movie "God's Courtroom" in which an attorney goes through what God's courtroom will be like on the day of judgement. It got me thinking, many times I have heard that good deeds will outweigh our sins. As much as we may want to believe that, it isn't true. As much as I'd love to throw on a cap and fly under my own power, and I really would love to, it is not going to happen.

What Does God Say About It?

In Matthew 7:22-23 Jesus says, "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name and in Your Name drive out demons and in Your Name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers." It doesn't matter how religious we are or how much good we do if we don't admit our sin, accept Christ's pardon, and follow Him.

Isaiah 64:6 says, "...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." God is compassionate and full of love, however, He is also 100% just. He has a standard and all of our good deeds are like rags compared to His standard to enter Heaven. His standard is perfection. Any sin at all is all it takes to be convicted and no longer be able to enter Heaven. Even in our American court system, we don't tell the judge about all the good things we've done. Either we committed the crime or we didn't and we know that the wages of sin is death. Sin equals eternity in Hell regardless of how religious we may be.

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23-24)

 

So What Do We Do?

Does this mean that good deeds are worthless? Not at all! James 2:15-17 says, "Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

Jesus, God Himself, said in John 14:6, "... I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Jesus came to die in our place and take our penalty for our sins. We have a pardon in Jesus Christ and the only way to Heaven is to except that pardon, admit that we are sinners and have fallen short of His standard, and follow His will. In Christ taking our place, the penalty is paid, God remains just, yet still He finds a way to show us His never ending love for us.

It doesn't matter how religious we are. In fact, Jesus was battling the religious pharisees while He was with us in flesh! We must admit that we have sinned and disobeyed God and, in doing so, we have fallen short of God's standard. We must accept Christ's pardon and follow His will.

 

    The only way to Heaven is through Christ.

Love God, love people.

-Chris