The Bodhi Blog

Hi friends,
It’s been a week of exploding showers and emotions, but all in all a great week.

After four and a half years of loyal duty, our shower door in the men’s packed in this week. Unfortunately, someone was in it at the time. A couple of bandaids and some polysporin, plus a trip to capital iron for a rod and curtain and all is well again.

Finally moving somethings on the site from beta – soon… Listen, this may be hard for you to hear, but there are somethings I am am not the best at, like design. No, no. It’s true. Take a moment. I love coding, even setting the layouts on the website is within my abilities; however, that shiny artistic finish has been missing from the site, so I have started looking around for an artist/design guru to lend a hand. look for updates soon!

We are expanding our group options within the next few months as well. We’re just tracking down some new equipment (we’re kinda snobby with this stuff. we only want the best for you!). The mad scientists are experimenting with mew ways to rip, shred and tone you kids up for the beaches.

Some new extras for all our clients should be ready to go in the next couple of weeks, including regular check ins for those wanting help charting their progress. Also, look out for more recipes, I’ll be posting at least one new recipe a week!

TC 10k is coming up, who’s doing it?

Our fabulous trainers still have some room left for clients, so anybody looking for a regular trainer, a kick in the butt, or a new program should drop us a line: info@bodhivictoria.com

Personal Progress Report: Weight is holding steady, but increase in cardio and slight change to higher rep training should get things rolling. Contest season is only 2 months away! probably not competing again, but you never know…

Shouts to Diego Wilson and Ryan Janes and their upcoming fights! Bring home the belt D!

Howdy,
Your ever-loving trainer has been absent of late, I know; what with the wedding, new ride, new residence, and all that goodness, I haven’t left much time for my adoring public (I’m talking to you, McKay). So, as an attempt at amending our love/pain relation, I bring you: Big Bad Bakers BBQ Beef Bonanza.

I’ve been modifying this here recipe for the last couple of months and have got the calories and sugars WAAAAAAY down from the original recipe.

Here’s what you’ll need:
2lb eye of round roast (i usually cut it into two pieces to keep it covered more easily)
1 large can diced tomatoes
1/2 of a medium red onion, sliced, diced, or chopped
3 cloves garlic
1/2 bottle BBQ sauce (Chipotle Bullseye adds a nice smokey flavour)
1/2 jar salsa (I like Newman’s Tequila & Lime because, well, it’s Cool Hand Luke, yo)
1.5 cups of water
Seasoning (chili powder, cumin, oregano… or cheat and use a tex mex mix…) to taste
optional red hot chili pepper. not the band…

you will also need:
- sauce pan
- large(ish) pot that can go in the oven & on the stove
- lid for large(ish) pot that can go in the oven & on the stove
- patience

preheat oven to 350.

get your ingredients ready to go.

heat your large(ish) pot that can go in the oven & on the stove on the stove at high heat. once hot, add 1 tbsp olive oil and turn heat down to about medium. add garlic, onions, and optional pepper and stir like a madman/madwoman until they start to carmelize (turn clear). add can of tomatoes, water, and spices. turn down to low heat and stir. i said stir!

heat up you pan ’til it’s smokin’ hot (like me). add olive oil and sear all sides of your beef. remove beef directly to the prepared sauce, and bring to a simmer on the stove top.

make sure your beef is immersed in the sauce, cover and stick in the oven. hurry up and wait 4 – 5 hours. the beef is ready when it falls apart at the slightest touch.

remove pot from oven. remove beef from pot and into a large bowl, and pull the beef apart. you can leave it a bit chunky if you like; i usually shred until it’s pretty small fibres…

next take about a cup or two of the sauce and stir it in with the beef. let the beef soak up the sauce for a few minutes, then it’s ready to go!

each 4oz serving is about 180 calories (!), 27g protein

dearest microsoft,
please listen to the w3c. standards are a good thing, sometimes.

regards,
baker

This past weekend i coached two of my friends/clients/boyz in THE-FITNESS-SHOW THAT-SHALL-NOT-BE-NAMED, a debacle of catastrophic proportions.

First, a bit of background: bodybuilding/fitness is not by it’s nature a vain pursuit. no more than say, figure skating, dancing, or fencing. it is not a sport in the sense of physical competition, but a subjective activity judged on the whims of others, qualified by some unknown criteria that has yet to be astutely stated or articulated in a logical manner. Ergo, decisions are rarely received unanimously as good or bad.

fitness competition is about discipline and challenging yourself to push yourself to your very limits, physically, mentally, emotionally. it takes 6 – 20 weeks to prepare for a show, and that is after YEARS of training. What you see on stage is a body of work. it should reflect grace, power, athleticism and discipline.

Bodybuilding is not about shaking what your mama gave you in less clothing than you would wear in front of your cat. It is not a tan competition, it is not a beauty contest. It is not a vanity thing.

Somewhere, some way this was lost on organizers. Perhaps it was the realization that by appealing to an athlete’s pride, vanity, and insecurities they could make way more money off the competitors. Perhaps it was simply that the organizers themselves have lost the intent and soul of the competition. I won’t even talk about the direction of traditional bodybuilding; the drugs have left the stars of that level looking like cattle vaguely reminiscent of their homo sapiens sapiens ancestry.

My athletes, my boys and my ladies know the sport is in the gym, in the diet, and in them. If they choose to compete is is to cement their goals, but a time pressure on themselves and achieve a new level of fitness. To put the work in and receive no reward or recognition when this was promised is a travesty of horrendous proportion.
So, my guys, my proteges, my inspirations were there, registered, ready, and replete with excitement for their show. They came, they saw, the dominated (CR was the best conditioned of his class, AG was the best everything in his). The evening results are always a surprise at best, an this show was no exception. Awards were given out: the most dominant bodybuilder I’ve seen in years? 3rd place behind two great, but not comparable, physiques. The Bikini Model award? Given to an 18 year old without an ounce of evidence of a workout in her life. She was young, tall, and skinny; this was a show to reward the hard work of athletes, not the genetic blessing of parents or the tight ass which is part and parcel of being 18.

On and on it went, awards of dubious distinction to oddly placed competitors. And then… it was over. My guys categories not even called. No reward for the hard work, the discipline, the $200+ dollars spent to enter categories which were promised to be ranked and awarded. A non ending to a non event.

My guys, all of the other competitors for that matter, deserve huge kudos for their hard work. To be denied the recognition of a rank, any rank, is negligent at best, and traumatic to those involved.

Fitness exposition is dead. Good riddance; the appeal to vanity will leave a shallow pool to draw from, and the disregard of the hard working folks who enter your shows will hopefully bring about the end of these fiascos.

far from being patriotic in any normal sense of the word, further from being a fan of anything cold (i often question my ancestors decision to go to canada over, say, anywhere tropical), i am completely sucked in to the winter games. This despite my incessant criticism of our provincial govt’s spending habits and policies surrounding these games.

but in the end, i appreciate the effort, the discipline, and the passion of the athletes. Seriously, Shaun White? that dude is walking CGI. (i’d show this, but the IOC doesn’t like sharing)

The death race of the women’s downhill?! wow. i think everyone who didn’t die got a medal.

it’s cool when the canuckles win, but honestly, everyone is worthy of awe and praise. except that aussie bastard.

still, i’d be even more enthusiastic if there were basketball (ice basketball) or MMA (NHL style hockey?). or the biathlon targets were university kids…