Chili with Chicken and Beans

This is under the new RECIPES tab as well. This is so good that I thought it deserved its own post as well. Packed with tons of protein and great carbohydrates from the beans, this chili is sure to please. Spice is up with a small can of chiles if you wish. Enjoy!


Chili with Chicken and Beans
Servings 6 (~2 cup servings)

TPX Weekly Update

Hey Team PerformanceX!

I don't know about you, but man life sure can get busy (Sorry that the update is late!). This last week has been crazy. On top of getting sick, muscling through school and meetings, going to a conference in Kentucky, and working on the house, I got in all of my workouts and meals! I had to sub in some evening workouts, and I am not a fan. I love getting up and giving it my all before I leave for school. If you haven't joined the AM workout club, what are you waiting for! Nothing can ever get in the way of your workout. You do have to go to bed earlier... but give it a try if your evenings are getting full and you want to try something new!

Nutrition - Part II

Meal Timing

Setting up a schedule and a routine for eating is a great way to increase your success. You want to know when you are eating and what you are eating for that time of day. The idea held by most, although I have been doing some reading of research that is showing otherwise (too early to say), you are best to eat 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day. Doing so will keep your metabolism humming and will keep you satisfied as well between meals. I have read that people that do snack between meals, burn around 240 calories more during the day. You body never slows down, it just keeps chugging along! Ideally this would be: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. Tailoring these meals and snacks around your workouts can be extremely helpful.

Nutrition - Part I

Last week, I posted a brief screencast of using myfitnesspal.com. That is a wonderful tool and can be a huge resource for tracking your food intake. For the sake of time, I brushed over some very basic elements of setting up your nutritional plan. Over the next couple weeks, I will be posting a 3 part series on nutrition. Specifically, setting goals for fat loss. Are you ready?

Weekly Update - 2/4/12

Hey Team PerformanceX!

Time to check in once again! Another week down and another week stronger. The Superbowl is here and it is time to close out the season. For me, this year's festivities will be quite different than years past. It would terrify me now to know just how many calories I consumed in food and drink at those parties. Oh the brew and fatty foods! Don't let one day, one evening, one meal offset your entire week of work. The momentary pleasure will not be worth it (trust me, I have slipped up before and it is no fun). Your body has been repairing itself and running on top fuel. That garbage will only bog you down. Take action and prepare in advance. Here are some tips:

Down and Dirty - MyFitnessPal

Here is a quick, no frills overview of MyFitnessPal. Take the nutritional side of life very seriously! We are working too hard not to get our desired results because of a lack of focus in the area of what we eat. Get out your kitchen scales... log that food... and if it is not planned for in your day, don't eat it! For the next 90 days you are on a mission. We're making sure that mission is a success! We got this.

MFP_Overview

Weekly Update - 1/29/12

Hey teamPerformanceX,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. The snow is sure flying here in Holland today. I really love snow, but I must say that the clear roads have been a nice change of pace this winter. It makes it so much easier to just hop in the car and go.

Why I Love Beachbody

This post could easily get out of hand. There are so many reasons why I love Beachbody. Their programs, products, service, equipment, mission... the list goes on and on. They are a top notch company, producing top notch systems to help any and every type of person reach their healthy living goals. Beachbody is quality through and through. This morning, one of the main reasons I love Beachbody came up as it was taped to my kitchen cabinets... community and support!

P90X2 Week 1

What a great week. P90X2 has fully lived up to the hype. I am feeling just like I did when I first started P90X. My initial thoughts about the balance portions of X2 were so wrong. I must have been in a bad place or whiny mindset. X2 ROCKS! My balance is slowly improving and with each day I am able to lift more and hold the balance moves with more stability and strength. I could not be happier with what Tony has put together.

P90X2 - Fit Test

So yesterday was my fit test day for P90X2. I failed to do the fit test on my first two rounds of P90X, but I did do one for the Asylum. Fit tests allow you to have personal benchmarks for your level of fitness. This allows you to critically analyze your efforts and the effectiveness of the program at delivering on its promises. CAUTION - you can't say that a program doesn't work it you don't do it as prescribed! That means a full commitment to the nutrition component and exercise component... (Sorry, but if I hear again that P90X doesn't work from someone who "didn't really follow the nutrition guide" and may have "missed some of the workouts," I may go crazy! It's not that the program failed to work... you failed to do the work!!!

Here is my starting point for P90X2:

1/14/2012
Wt: 163 lbs.
Ht: 6'1"
BF: 6.53% (Pollack 3-site: 12 mm for abdominal, 5 chest, 6 quad)
Lean Mass: 152.35 lbs.
Fat Mass: 10.65 Lbs.
Target weight: 156 lbs under 4% BF


Resting HR: 56 BPM
Pull-ups: 27.5 (Didn't know if I should count the 1/2... I wanted it, but couldn't get all the way back up)
Vertical: 20"
Push-Ups: 73
Toe Touch: -4, that's negative 4
Wall Squat: 2:41
Bicep Curls: 16 x 35lb
In-n-Outs: 82
HR Maximizer - 174, 146, 119, 110, 102 (Fast Jacks are hard... and uncoordinated!)

So there it is! I am going to take my pictures later today, so I will be back to update the post! My BF% sure doesn't seem that low to me. The abdominal measurement is by far the highest it has been due to bulking and lower cardio during the fall. I am still quite lean elsewhere. My vascularity is still good, but not scare the children good... That being said, I believe it now: Your lower stomach is the first place to gain fat and the last to lose it!

Blessings and X2 Core in the AM,
David Jeffries
davidcjeffries@gmail.com