How Kill Cliff’s recovery drink got the name “The Tasty” is less mysterious than where the name “Kill Cliff” itself came from. Countless samplings around the country yielded one common description from taste testers upon their first sip: “That’s tasty.” The rest is history.

A former Navy Seal started Kill Cliff, and the brand commits a share of its earning to support Navy SEALs and their families. It’s with this heritage that much of the mystique around the name, Kill Cliff, originates. I’ve heard at least two different stories circulating amongst their fan base. One claims the name is in reference to a secret mountainside in rural Afghanistan where soldiers are marched off to their death never to be found. Another story claims the name belongs to the butt of a BUD/S prank in which a SEAL candidate named Cliff arrived at a team party to find everyone in attendance wearing shirts that read “Kill Cliff” – except him of course. I can only imagine that as the popularity of the brand grows so will the number of rumors surrounding the name.

As mysterious as the name is, the product isn’t a secret at all. The slender aluminum can might make you think “Redbull” upon first glance. “The Tasty” isn’t an energy drink, though. Using natural ingredients, Kill Cliff seeks to do what other energy drinks don’t do, which is address recovery by fighting inflammation. With just 15 calories and 25mg of caffeine, its nutritional footprint isn’t one to sound any alarms. Green tea extract and ginseng combine with ginger to create a unique flavor that, as I mentioned earlier, so many described as “tasty.” I’d describe the experience as a crisp Cactus Cooler-like taste with a hint of ginger that really separates the taste from anything I’ve had before.

As far as the application, I am a pretty clean eating athlete and it seems to fit well with me as a fun addition to my routine. As someone who sticks to water, Americanos, and a celebratory class of wine every now and then, I can drink Kill Cliff and feel good about it. Plus, this brand supports a fun environment. From their involvement in the military, endurance, and CrossFit communities to the personable branding, you just want to hang out with these guys.

As a recovery tool, Kill Cliff can be utilized in the post-workout window. In practice, however, there’s no reason not to enjoy Kill Cliff any time of day. Plus, the recovery attributes of green tea and light glycogen reload are more lifestyle type stores anyway. Increasing their consumption in general will yield benefits. Athletes need not view Kill Cliff is a medicated dose for acute situations, but rather a healthy alternative for everyday consumption.

Following them on Twitter is a riot. GNC Live Well stores provide some of their distribution and they’ve got raving fans literally walking into GNC stores the morning Kill Cliff is shipped there to demand their cases before the poor employees know it’s even in the stocking room.

Just about anyone can enjoy the taste of a Kill Cliff, but if you’re an active person these guys may be right up your alley. In addition, if you’re a gym owner or other type of retailer in the athletic community Kill Cliff might make a ton of sense in your product mix as a brand with some spunk. Effort will never go out of style and Kill Cliff has that covered. I can’t help but like that.

Kill Cliff is available online at KillCliff.com ($48/case of 24) or at your local GNC Live Well Store ($3.19/unit).

The post Product Review: Kill Cliff Recovery Drink appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

There are just so many styles of baseball coaches out there. Most literally, there’s a different style for every different type of personality, and right away that means choosing a coach based on style or personality is a bit misguided. As a former player, I can point to a handful of what I’d call exceptional coaches. Each varies so much in style and personality that I can say fully that such characteristics have almost nothing to do with the quality of the coach.

A favorite coach of mine, Tommy Butler for example, was a man from Mississippi who was in his sixties at the time. His style reflected his personality. He was tough. This man was largely crippled and struggled to walk with a cane, but his ability to lead with fear and tough love was incredible. To give you an idea, he’d threaten anyone who crossed him with a pocketknife he kept in his back pocket. Despite being far from able-bodied, no one ever doubted that Coach Butler would kill you on the spot if he wanted. On a mound visit, I once watched him bend down to pick up two pebbles from the dirt and show the pitcher, who was lacking assertiveness in his game. Coach Butler told the pitcher that he figured, “This is probably what it looks like in your jock strap, doesn’t it?”

In contrast, Greg Riddoch was my first manager with the San Diego Padres. He was a big league manager who had it figured out. In professional baseball, I’d argue that a select few players and coaches have it “figured out,” and it’s usually the savvy veterans like “Rid.” He would fish and enjoy down time even amidst the grind of a 140+ game season. He coached with an ultimate calm, which was incredible in an industry that demanded world-class performance with the consequence of your dreams ending literally any moment without notice. He was a manager who felt like he was your father. He had wisdom and compassion, and he told stories that would captivate a dugout like we were all sitting around a fire. You wanted to do well for him. You wanted to win for him. Rid is a true legend.

Clearly, these examples aren’t even in the same ballpark. So, what’s the common thread? At the end of the day these men were able to get the best out of a group of individuals. In my opinion, we can strip down the fringe details of a baseball coach to some critical components that make a great coach:

Process Oriented

This is a common thread across all high-level performers in any sport. Many outside observers, however, miss this concept. Especially in a sport full of failure like baseball, it is critical for coaches, and players alike, to remain unwaveringly committed to the process versus the results. How this is manifested on the coaching side is two fold: 1) having a well-defined plan and 2) working that plan.

The true test of this in coaching is in times of injustice and failure. A traditional manager whose plan is to field a team based on fundamentals and winning by doing the “little things” may find his team down by a run in the top of the ninth inning, for example. With no outs and a runner on second base, the manager’s call ought to be to sacrifice bunt the runner to third and execute with the next hitter to manufacture a run. A manager that deviates from the plan and is swayed by emotion to let the hitter hit in that situation then would violate this concept of “working the plan.” To the men on the field, the results are indifferent. If the hitter hits a homerun and they go on to win, or if he strikes out and they end up losing is redundant. Fans don’t see it that way, though.

A coach who is process oriented will handle results well, regardless whether they are positive or negative outcomes. In many ways a coach who satisfies this requirement, then, will never be a fair-weather coach. They punish poor preparation, attitude, and effort in both victory and defeat. A red flag for a coach who doesn’t meet this standard is a coach that celebrates luck (a poorly struck ground ball through the infield) and condemns misfortune (a line out) in his players.

Standard of Excellence

When a coach sets certain standards of excellence it sets the tone for the development of players and performance in competition. This component of coaching is at the core of leadership, which is largely about getting a group of individuals to start one place and end up in some other different, more improved place. With standards of excellence come great lessons in personal responsibility and motivation.

As players, we’d often joke about the level of excellence that was both expected of us and that we expected of ourselves. We’d realized we didn’t even know what the punishment was for being late to a meeting or practice, because no one dared to risk it. We just assumed that showing up late meant the end of your career, death, or both.

In a high performance group, you are often competing against others willing to do any and everything to out perform you. If you aren’t willing to demand your best in everything you do, then you’re primed for failure. A great coach of mine often rammed home the idea that, “We can’t lose batting practice!” Much like he’d demand that, “We can’t be beat in our travel attire on the plane.” A red flag in this category is a coach who tolerates anything less than excellence in some players and not others.

Respect

In a game built in large part on timeless, unwritten rules, respect is a critical component in any good coach. Don’t misinterpret this for likeability. Remember, good coaches and teammates don’t need to be friends. Heck, they don’t even need to like each other. They do, however, need to find a way to respect each other during play.

A good coach will always defend his players. This is a sight to see as a fan. From the outside looking in you can see a coach who is seemingly apathetic at best about a particular player flip a switch if that player is in need of help. For example, a player who gets in a disagreement with an umpire on a call is obliged by the unwritten laws of baseball to defend his player at all costs. A player may clearly be in the wrong about questioning an umpire’s call, and regardless as to whether the coach agrees, the coach will charge the umpire, remove the player from harm’s way, and attack the umpire relentlessly, even risking his own ejection. It’s a display of respect and it is a coach’s duty.

Respect isn’t just about fights and arguments either. Good coaches, like good teammates, will never throw a player under the bus. All matters are handled “in house” and no matter how in the wrong a player is, a coach will never speak negatively of his players in the media or otherwise. Respect is woven into nearly every unwritten rule in the game. A red flag for a coach who doesn’t meet this criterion is a coach who will “show up” a player, by outing him or disrespecting him in the field of play.

Keep in mind these types of insights are next-level types of insights. Looking for such attributes in a tee ball coach may leave you frustrated. As players develop into high school and beyond, these characteristics of their coaches will become apparent. It’s important to note, though, that in coaches like anything else, quality is rare.

Photos 2 & 3 courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post How to Choose the Right Baseball Coach For You appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Brian MacKenzie could very well be the endurance community’s most hated antagonist and their truest savior all wrapped into one. With just one look at MacKenzie, one might expect to find a rebel underneath his heavily tattooed skin. “BMack” is the creator of a subculture called CrossFit Endurance, which combines the training protocols of CrossFit with an endurance sports focus. What’s interesting is that his “subculture” has methods and, most importantly, results that can’t be ignored by the masses.

MacKenzie’s book, Power Speed ENDURANCE, looks at endurance sports from the perspective that says better skills improve output. Especially in the world of endurance sports where the toll of bad positioning adds up over time, an athlete’s ability to hold advantageous body position is a component too critical to be left unexamined.

What I found in MacKenzie’s book was that though the conversation was most notably for endurance application, the fundamental concepts he outlines so clearly from cover to cover are universal. I’d even encourage non-endurance athletes to use this book as a resource.

The text begins with a critical overview of the CrossFit Endurance ethos. It maps out how MacKenzie arrived at the culmination of his life’s work with the concept of CrossFit Endurance. Then, the meat of the text is segmented across five skills: running, cycling, swimming, weight lifting, and mobility. The common theme throughout is efficiency by way of body position. Common faults and proper execution are thoroughly discussed for all the movements in each section. As an added bonus, Power Speed ENDURANCE includes programs to put MacKenzie’s skill-based theory into practice and train toward specific athletic achievements.

For the traditional long slow distance trainees, the efficiency drills and corrective positioning tools in this book may be enough to reel them in. I could also see runners and cyclists who maybe aren’t ready for high-intensity interval training have their interests piqued by the skill content. For other purists who are currently injured, the tools in this book could help them regain participation in the sport they love.

Myself, as more of a power athlete in practice, I found MacKenzie’s book extremely relevant. Outside of the cycling section and, in part, the swimming section, I feel like I’ll continue to look back through this text as a resource – both as a coach and an athlete. I’ll put Power Speed ENDURANCE on my bookshelf next to Greg Everett’s Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches and Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.

The ideal consumer for this text need not be a strict endurance devotee. I think this text is more than the type of book you read through once. Its clear illustrations and unified theme makes moving through each skill section free and easy. The structure, however, may best support utilization as a reference piece. I, for example, will use it as a refresher course for movements I plan to teach when I coach. As an athlete, Power Speed ENDURANCE will stick around in my life as a resource for corrective drills as troubles come up in my performances.

Productivity is the name of the game in this world that we live in. If you’re concerned about your output with regards to physical activity, Brian MacKenzie should be able to help with this one. It’s my selfish hope that the endurance world grows to a universal appreciation for wholesome training like that outlined in Speed Power ENDURANCE.

“Power Speed ENDURANCE” is available on Amazon.com for $26.37.

The post Book Review: “Power Speed Endurance” by Brian MacKenzie appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I think few people are as passionate about food as I am, so if you aren’t over the moon about beef, for example, try to stay with me. This may get emotional.

Nousuon is a company I came across about four months ago. What intrigued me about the company was twofold. First, the product was of a quality I hadn’t seen before, and second, it allowed me as a gym owner to retail beef to my students without owning a huge meat locker.

A little history check on the company will tell you it’s a new brand that sources its beef from grass-fed, grass-finished cattle in Oregon. The name, Nousuon, is a palindrome of a Latin term, nous, that means, “deeper learning.” I see the connection with the name to a deep-rooted understanding of quality. This beef is far from surface level.

And as for the ground beef, my experience is that it tastes incredible. When you order from Nousuon, you receive a cooler at your doorstep with twenty individually wrapped one-pound packages of America’s finest ground beef. Now, I’ve sought out grass-fed beef for some time, and I’m not disillusioned to the concept of grain-finished meat, which often gets the “grass-fed” distinction on store shelves when in actuality the cows are bulked up on grains just before slaughter. Nousuon is grass finished, meaning the cow’s entire life is spent grazing open grasslands.

Though they are rare, there are plenty of other grass-finished beef suppliers out there. Why would I choose Nousuon over any other grass-finished product? These guys are the first I’ve seen to go the extra mile to test omega-6 and omega-3 levels in their beef. As a person in the omega-3 business, I was blown away. Right there on the nutrition facts below the standard protein, carbohydrate, and fat breakdown, there are omega-6 and omega-3 facts. The beef I cooked up, for example, had 23mg of omega-6 and 34mg of omega-3.

These guys aren’t dosing their cattle with fish oil, either (though, that could be good business for me). This is the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio that naturally occurs in these cows living in their natural habitat. As an omega-3 geek, I felt like I was looking inside omega-6 and omega-3 ratios in their purest sense, un-supplemented, and without modern intervention for the first time.

The second major reason for going with Nousuon, in my opinion, may not apply to everyone, but as a business owner Nousuon’s distributor program allows me to retail beef to my students at 10 Essential Items To Outfit Your Home Gym without the hassle of storing beef and managing a perishable inventory. Signing up was quick and painless. We just have a link on our website so students can place their own orders to be shipped directly to their house.

For just $6.00 per pound, or $7.50 per pound once you factor delivery, this was quite a treat for me to add not only to my meals at home, but my business as well. Now, I just look forward to Nousuon to expand their lineup of cuts of meat.

Nousuon ground beef is available at nousuon.com for $6.00/lb.

The post Product Review: Nousuon Ground Beef appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Jon Engum’s Flexible Steel delivers much needed insight into flexibility with authority and real results. There’s no surplus of flexibility in our population these days. Furthermore, I’d argue even those who are in training or performance practices that demand flexibility are often lacking in the ability. To remedy this problem, Jon Engum steps in as an experienced coach with a pedigree and performance markers that can garner your attention.

It won’t take long for you to be convinced of Engum’s expertise. For a simpleton like myself, the picture of him in the book at the bottom of the splits with a 2-pood kettlebell locked out overhead did the trick. If you’re still skeptical, Jon is a Grandmaster with a seventh degree black belt in Taekwando. He’s also a fourth degree black belt in both Hapkido and Kumdo and is a Master RKC instructor. Combining his own real world experience with that of a life-changing set of experiences with the author of Relax into Stretch and Super Joints, Pavel Tsatsouline, Engum delivers a flexibility protocol that makes bold claims and delivers.

Right away, Engum knows he’s got to win over skeptics. The text, then, starts with a simple test of rotational flexibility. He asks you to stand with your feet rooted in the ground with locked out knees. He then asks you to rotate maximally from the trunk and mark your rotational flexibility with a visual marker. Then Engum gives specific cues to retest, not once but twice. Both times I experienced marked improvement.

Still skeptical, I was forced to read on. Here Engum lays the foundation of the text with the Three Big S’s of Stretching: strength, space, and spread. Simply put, strength in this context seeks to utilize strength over gravity to achieve greater ranges of motion, while space looks to demonstrate flexibility by creating space between joints rather than “jam one joint into another.” Lastly, spread refers to an ability to defuse movement over a larger area in the body rather than achieve range of motion from one focal point.

Engum’s flexibility training begins with mobility drills, which claim to aid in creaky joints and even reverse arthritic symptoms. From this general movement prescription, Engum gets specific as he introduces “The Frog” and leads into the splits in the next few chapters. The nitty-gritty of the splits development section of the program involves a series of drills pulled from all the corners of Engum’s knowledge, from solo practice at the beach to partner drills to the use of kettlebells and heavy bags. After addressing a variety of tactics to achieve better side splits, Engum begins to introduce front splits. It’s here that skill transfer drills, like a calf stretch and a kettlebell aided hamstring stretch, for example, help build competency for the front split.

With all the movements and progressions having been addressed, Engum touches on two powerful points in closing the text. The first, more straightforward bit of advice is the use of water as a tool to improve flexibility. Literally, training in water provides a gateway to more remarkable results. And lastly, I thought an incredible point Engum makes it to avoid living in the stance of our sport. Fighters for example operate in constant flexion. Crouched and ready to spring, these athletes often take this posture with them outside of their sport. Balance is critical in our biomechanical habits, and Engum’s point about not living in our fighting stance is duly noted. As a matter of fact, Engum’s “Escape Your Fighting Stance” program could be used as a stand-alone program.

As someone with enough flexibility to remain functional in the movements that I practice, I feel like my sense of urgency around the topic of flexibility is lacking. However, this lack of urgency is to my own detriment. I have a clear picture of which areas I struggle in and my seemingly annual bout with a hip problem is due in large part to specific areas of immobility. Engum’s work is universally relevant, in my opinion. His program will outline tools to help nearly anyone achieve greater flexibility.

It’s worth noting, however, that the program is biased towards the fighting community and the splits, specifically. Given that the reader is motivated and in search of such results, Engum can provide it. The text may be a bit too loose to many folks that need specific structure in their programming, though. All and all, this was a learning experience from a person with the authority to teach it.

Flexible Steel is available at Dragondoor.com for $29.95

Learn more about Jon’s system by trying his four weeks of free workouts.

The post Book Review: “Flexible Steel” by Jon Engum appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

You know the slow-motion group high five that marked the end of way too many 1990s-era sitcom television shows? It’s always right before the credits and the shot usually zoomed in on the hands and they’d freeze the shot right at the climax. It’s cinematography’s expression of, “Yes!” Well, as a writer I try to suppress my biases, but as an avid follower of Matthew Palfrey’s blog, Sandbag Fitness, I felt like doing my own rendition of the slow-motion jumping high five when I caught word that I’d be receiving his e-book, The Complete Guide to Sandbag Training, to review for you all.

Matthew Palfrey has become a bit of a subject matter expert when it comes to all-things-sandbag. Maybe it’s because I am a guy and think sandbag training is cool, or maybe it’s because I own a makeshift gym (10 Essential Items To Outfit Your Home Gym) and need equipment-less options to get people fit, but my appreciation for Palfrey’s work is nothing new. Nearly as critical as the training itself is for whom this training is designed. Sandbag training is a viable solution for people without access to a gym and/or with little money who want real world strength and don’t have much time.

As a coach, I’d like to note that sandbag training isn’t just a Plan B-type option for people who don’t have access to real equipment. Odd lifts, like that of sandbags, stones, axels, or logs, bring a type of real world capacity that one could argue barbells and other standard training tools don’t provide. In that way, the very first line of The Complete Guide to Sandbag Training reads, “This thing is awkward to lift.” And, with that we have access to an inexpensive, readily available, and effective training tool.

Not only does Palfrey have a handle on movements and training programs, he gets the intangible value of sandbag training as well as anyone. He lists the following benefits to training with sandbags:

• Ability to travel
• Value for your money
• Sandbags are malleable
• Builds grip strength

Once you’ve been convinced that this is good stuff, Palfrey even provides clear instructions for building your very own sandbags for training. The e-book walks you through the process of creating both custom sandbags and homemade sandbags. Custom sandbags are essentially bags purchased from a manufacturer like Brute Force Training or Rogue Fitness specifically for fitness and they are made custom with the load and utility of their handles. Homemade bags are just as straight foreword as you can imagine. There’s a rucksack involved, some sand, and a ton of heavy-duty duct tape. Outside of the obvious need for a sandbag, Palfrey goes on to note the importance of a pull up bar, a box (for jumping), and a timing mechanism.

With the necessary tools in place, the foundation is set for some training. This sandbag training program encourages some smart training tactics, which are outlined in the book. These include logging workout results (time, load, work to rest periods), as well as some finer details like scaling, and some notes about how it felt, quality of movement, etc.

With full descriptors, images, and progressions in place, Palfrey continues to build out the training program with specific warm ups and training movements. Though I’ve expressed my love for the training application of sandbag work, Palfrey also shows great quality control with regards to his movements of choice. The program outlines and utilizes wholesome training movements as basic and important as the squat, clean, and press, for example.

The program itself is three pronged by skill level. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced athletes can enjoy their own respective training protocols that are comprised of four efforts (two strength and two metabolic) per week. The beginner program is ten weeks of training basic strength work (5×5) and conditioning sessions that include couplets and triplets of movements and running. The tenth week, then, is a challenge opportunity for athletes to record maximal efforts across a few movements and a 1K run effort.

The program is designed linearly, so as athletes complete one section they are able to advance to the next. The intermediate program starts where the beginner program left off, with added volume. Strength sessions, for example, include five movements instead of the four outlined in the beginner program. As the program builds to the advanced program, it’s important to note that not only does the intensity and volume of the training increase but so does the technique. By the time athletes reach the advanced stage, deadlifts, presses, and pull ups are often replaced with more complex movements like sandbag clean and jerks and L-pull ups, which are represented in the challenges that appear every ten weeks.

What’s an athlete to do if they diligently pass through all three programs? Does progress come to a sharp halt as they are left to their own devices? Of course Palfrey has planned for this and suggests these athletes go to his daily blog. Here they can tackle an ever-changing training protocol with the experience and mastery to get results on their own. As someone with my own similar workout-of-the-day-training type blog, I’ve got a tremendous amount of appreciation for the homework that Palfrey has done. I am confident in the structure he has put in place here, and I feel like a participant of any capacity would benefit from his program.

In the world of fitness, there’s so much passion and experience out there that there’s often no stone left unturned. When it comes to sandbag training, Palfrey isn’t necessarily an innovator, but his program fills a rare hole in the fitness world and brings quality training home to anyone who’d like to train. I’d say that The Complete Guide to Sandbag Training is probably the best blend of high performance training and low barrier to entry available.

“The Complete Guide to Sandbag Training” is available at Amazon.

You can buy the book for $6.36 with the promo code: breakingmuscle50

You can also read Matt Palfrey’s posts here on Breaking Muscle:

5 Best Dumbbell Exercises To Get Strong (And Gather a Crowd)

How to Use Sandbag Training For MMA and Combat Sports

Read our review of Matt’s first book:

“Sandbag Training for MMA & Combat Sports” by Matthew Palfrey & Wesley Murch

The post Book Review: “Sandbag Fitness: The Complete Guide to Sandbag Training” by Matthew Palfrey appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

This is my second go around with ToeSox and my toes couldn’t be happier. In my first review of ToeSox, I described the joy of activities done in socks or barefoot made better by the more true, free feeling of wearing socks tailored to one’s foot. The idea was that traditional tube-like socks are an unfortunate compromise in comfort and performance for certain types of activity and ToeSox are an option that doesn’t make any compromise.

Well, ToeSox has more to offer than the basic model with grips on the sole – now they have sport socks. I had the pleasure of experiencing three different ToeSox products. Though based around the same principle of five-digit support and foot freedom, these three models are designed for a specific performance and feel. Based on the “weight” of the material, I was able to try the Ultra Lite, Light Weight, and Medium Weight models.

These three ToeSox products seek to bring the comfort and performance of ToeSox – without the grips – to activities that are practiced in shoes. The Ultra Lite model, for example, champions relevance in sports like running, cycling, and climbing and the minimalist version of shoes utilized for each activity. The Light Weight ToeSox are the most like a normal pair of socks you’d wear with shoes in a game of basketball, at the grocery store, or working in the back yard. These socks are the weight and feel of your everyday socks. Lastly, the Medium Weight product is branded specifically for the great outdoors. These would work great in any instance where life gets a bit more cold and rugged. Perfect for slipping into hiking boats, these socks fit alongside any activity that would normally call for wool socks.

So far there probably isn’t any doubt as to what the intended application of these three products is, but you may still be wondering, “What’s the big deal? I already have socks for those kinds of activities.” There are some universal value added components to the ToeSox concept, regardless of the application. These points of performance include moisture wicking technology, as well as blister protection. With a quality fabric to keep feet dry and the added performance of the five-digit design, the consumer is less likely to experience moisture and rubbing during activity that can lead to blisters, which are small injuries with big consequences. A tiny blister, for example, can be the difference between being able to go for a jog or not.

The relative simplicity of something like the socks we wear often leaves them unquestioned and neglected. It’s a fun exercise to think that there’s a chance we haven’t been doing the best job with regards to designing something as simple as a sock.

ToeSox are available for $10-15 at shop.toesox.com.

The post Product Review: ToeSox Sport Socks appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

When Betty Lou’s products arrived, I did a double take. The return address was from McMinnville, Oregon. My dad’s whole side of his family is from a small town outside McMinnville called Carlton. For folks that live in Carlton, they use McMinnville to describe where they are from the same way that people from Burbank say they are from Los Angeles.

As I shook off the nostalgia of enjoying my grandmother’s treats years ago, not far from Betty Lou’s, Inc. headquarters, I had my first experience with Betty Lou’s products. Betty Lou sent two different types of tasty treats: nut butter balls and powdered peanut butter.

Right off the bat, it’s important to note the components of Betty Lou’s products and what separates them from other brands. Betty Lou’s foundation comes from, you guessed it, a woman named Betty Lou, who took refined sugars out of her family’s home some 32 years ago. Her products today still reflect that crucial point. The products are free of wheat, refined sugars, hydrogenated oils, and genetically modified foods.

Betty Lou’s Nut Butter balls are snack-sized balls that come in various flavors and are perfect for a quick bite or as a convenient emergency meal to store in a gym bag or purse. With that portion size in mind, you can begin to understand the product better, as the ingredients affect the look and texture of each flavor. The nut butter balls come in an assortment of flavors including: peanut butter, almond butter, high protein almond butter, coconut macadamia, cashew pecan, and spirulina ginseng.

My personal favorite was the coconut macadamia flavor. Not only was it incredibly tasty, it was amazingly true to its name. In my opinion, some of the other flavors had ingredients that took unnecessary dominance in the flavor profile. The ingredient list for the different flavors includes a cocktail of fairly benign ingredients like fruit juices, brown rice syrup, and gluten free oats. These ingredients, though important for things like stability and consistency, made for a less that straight forward flavor profile in seemingly simple flavor titles like peanut butter, for example. The coconut macadamia didn’t have that issue.

Betty Lou’s Just Great Stuff Powdered Peanut Butter was my first experience with a “just add water” type of food. This 100% certified organic powdered peanut butter is made of just three ingredients: organic peanuts, sea salt, and sustainably harvested coconut sugar.

If you’re like me, you may be wondering, why is it powdered? Well, the purpose is two-fold. The powdered version of peanut butter allows for a label claim that it has 85% less fat than traditional peanut butter. For example, Just Great Stuff Powdered Peanut Butter has 1.5 grams of fat per two tablespoons, while your traditional Jiffy Peanut Butter has 16 grams in the same two-tablespoon serving. A secondary reason for choosing a powdered format is that it is more ideal for including in shakes. Anyone who has made a shake or smoothie in the past with peanut butter can tell you it’s not the most easily mixed ingredient. This product gives you a great peanut butter ingredient without the stubborn mess of globs of traditional peanut butter. It also comes in both regular and chocolate flavors.

All and all, I see Betty Lou’s as a brand name that bridges the gap from the staunch rigidity of the health food crowd and the Wild West of America’s processed food industry. With valuable, clear distinctions in Betty Lou’s products, like being gluten free and free of refined sugars, they are able to make serious strides in their health claims without excluding the masses who aren’t devoted nutritional purists.

The post Product Review: Betty Lou’s Nut Butter Balls & Powdered Peanut Butter appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I say the words “protein powder,” you think GNC, you think biceps, you think performance, and much of the like. Am I right? Imagine, then, that you were simply looking for some protein to supplement, in the most literal way, your diet in order to meet your nutritional goals. You might find the muscle bound protein products of GNC fame a bit intimidating. Given that you were just shopping for protein, and not necessarily heavy doses of creative or synthetic recovery components, it would be too much.

There is a middle ground, you know? It’s not just “eat food” or “experiment with Muscle Max Protein 5000.” Such middle ground is achieved extremely well by a brand called Body First. Body First’s Egg White Protein is, in my experience, the most straightforward powdered protein supplement on the market. Almost impossible to offend, Body First’s Egg White protein includes just one ingredient. You guessed it, egg white powder. That means there’s no need to determine of where your allegiances lie in regards to natural sweeteners, artificial sweeteners, salt, starch, emulsifiers, soy lecithin, dairy, or other potential ingredients.

Given that this product is essentially the powder version of egg whites, there’s not much need to discuss various bells and whistles that many products claim. In fact, in my opinion, Body First’s biggest asset with this product is its simplicity. Real food is often positioned to be nature’s boring version of fuel for the body. Supplement brands spend millions of dollars each year convincing folks that their version of protein is far too advanced to be mentioned in the same sentence as mere food. Body First takes it back to the pure and simple approach.

Body First Egg White Protein comes in a moderately sized 1-pound tub. Supplementing with this protein is best executed in a food-based shake to provide texture and flavor. Unlike many protein supplements, this one is unflavored. Though one can ingest it with just water, the taste may not be enjoyable. Body First also suggests that the supplement can be used while cooking. Two tablespoons of egg white protein combined with six tablespoons of water will equal approximately two eggs. One would agree the purity of the product makes its utility pretty high. So high, in fact, that not only can it be used as an ingredient in an athlete’s performance shake, it can be utilized as powdered eggs.

With the utility as high as it is and with the label claims as clean as they are, something had to give and in this case it was taste. I’d be hard pressed to say anyone would find this product “tasty.” But, maybe that’s not the point. If it’s mixed well into a shake with strong flavor components like berries, for example, this one glaring negative may disappear all together. It did for me.

As someone who is currently in the middle of a lifestyle/nutrition challenge, consumables that are free of grains, sweeteners, dairy, etc. are extremely valuable. Body First’s Egg White Protein met my needs and with the right fruit-based concoction, I could blend a tasty shake that also included a quality source of protein, without all the added ingredients many similar products include.

Each tub of Body First Egg White Protein includes twenty-two servings. Each serving delivers twelve grams of protein with a quality real food amino acid profile. At a price point of $13.99/lb., Body First Egg White Protein is quite competitive on price. It’s just slightly more expensive on a per pound basis than a well-known competitor’s whey protein product. In the end, Body First provides a quality twist to the sea of protein powders in the market today. Users can get all the conveniences of a powdered supplement, without complexities of synthetically engineered ingredients.

Body First Egg White Protein is available at AllStarHealth.com for $13.99.

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Clint Nielsen’s Reveal the Steel is a fitness book that completes a circle often left incomplete in the lives of many Americans. It comes from the position of struggle, trials and tribulations, success, and a repeatable plan to dig readers out of the very rut the author used to share with them.

From the high ground position of my own health and fitness, I’m often amazed when I look down on the countless folks struggling to turn their lives around. I’m amazed there are so many people who don’t have the tools or knowledge to even begin their climb to the top of their best health. My heart aches for the millions of people getting up early to head into their local gym to work out the only way they know how and to eat the only way they know to eat – without success.

With Reveal the Steel, you’ll quickly learn that the author is speaking as an expert on the subject, while remaining in touch with the reader. Clint Nielsen begins his book with a compelling personal story of rock-bottom health, and his own success story paved with dedication, trial, and error. This is a guy who went from being called names as a heavyset teenager, to trying to train his way out of his rut with cardio, experimenting with supplements (even steroids), portion control, and endured endless peaks and valleys.

The author isn’t vague in any way shape or form about who this book is for. Reveal the Steel is an approachable plan for any man or woman to achieve a sustainable, lean physique. I love how real Nielsen is in his writing and his intentions. He even goes as far to say that if you’re looking to get “super massive like a bodybuilder” that you’ve come to the wrong place.

What’s Reveal the Steel’s “magic bullet?” Ironically, it’s a mature approach to a combination of lifestyle components. Nielsen’s honesty brings the reader crashing back down to Earth over and over, which sets the stage for lasting change.

Before there is even a word about exercises and program structure, Reveal the Steel dives into food and nutrition, as it should, in my opinion. It’s in the nutrition section that Nielsen begins to get specific with his plan of action. It’s here he encourages intermittent fasting and carb cycling, as well as outlining the dos and don’ts of macronutrient food sources. The nutrition section even gets into general guidelines of quality and addresses common misconceptions about calorie intake. The reader will definitely be steered in a helpful direction, albeit without having specific meals and regimented portions to follow.

The training portion of the program starts by also wiping the slate clean of common misconceptions and exercise mistakes. Here, Nielsen addresses overtraining, neglect of the posterior chain, logging workouts, cardio intensive training, and plateau. After the reader is free and clear of what he/she thought was true of training, Nielsen gets into action mode. What’s his first bit advice? Goal oriented training.

I was specifically impressed with Nielsen’s ability to cover the basics for people new to training. Things that I would be prone to skipping over, like defining what exercises constitute isolated movements versus compound movements, are critical foundational concepts he addresses in great detail. From there, the training begins with an eighteen-week program, with the flexibility to accommodate modifications whether the reader is training at home or in the gym.

The full program is three stages long, with a fourth bonus stage for “hardcore trainers” only. The first stage gets things rolling with strength and fat loss, stage two incorporates muscle gain and strength, and stage three rounds it out with focus on fat loss and muscle gain. The entire program is well illustrated and easy to follow, including modifications. A guide to nutrition strategy is coupled with each section of the training outline, as well.

Reveal the Steelis personal and well thought out. I don’t doubt for one minute that a compliant participant will see a positive adaption. Starting with the premise of lasting change and sustainable results, the big question is whether or not participants will be able to live with the steel once they’ve begun to reveal it. Nielsen addresses this very topic with a handful of strategies for life after week eighteen. Potentially, the most helpful way he does this is with enticing advanced skills, like the human flag or a one-armed push up, which may keep folks pushing on for years to come.

“Reveal the Steal” is available at for $47.00 at revealthesteel.com.

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I first met Greg Everett… Well, now that I think of it, I haven’t met him. I just feel like I have because of the incredible number of times I’ve listened to him and Robb Wolf on the Paleo Solution Podcast. Though both he and Robb both can assume this position, Greg Everett stands out in my mind as the reluctant genius. His ability to navigate his own wealth of knowledge with regards to nutrition, performance, and weightlifting seems to come so easily that discussing such matters seems like it bores him, at least on the podcast.

Everett’s iconic book titled Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches is a “go to” resource for weightlifting in text form. I can’t begin to tell you how many of my coaches’ bookshelves I’ve seen this gem on. In a nostalgic way, it elicits the type of authority that a similar but different text I had as kid growing up did. It went by the name of Nolan Ryan’s Pitching Bible.

Though I am no Greg Everett I do know my way around a barbell, and as I initially thumbed through the text I became anxious just thinking about all the potential rabbit holes of intricate details that the Olympic lifts make available. Entire volumes could be written on each of the three pulls, or major segments of the movements.

A separate volume of work could be devoted to the ideology of efficiency, the laws of nature, and weightlifting’s attempt to maneuver the two. When you title a book Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches, you are committing yourself to providing a great depth of information, so much so that I started my experience with the text wondering which areas Mr. Everett would carefully choose to omit or neglect. As you will soon learn, I was surprised to find that nearly every conceivable stone was, in fact, unturned.

Like any good text, Everett’s book lays the groundwork for Olympic lifting with an opening section on foundations. Here the reader welcomes, potentially for the first time, a general look at physics with the Law of Inertia, the Law of Acceleration, and the Law of Reciprocal Actions. Once explained to them in layman’s terms, most readers will advance quickly with a new name for something they’ve long understood.

The book then dives into a long linear journey that begins as elementary as describing the equipment down to the collars and knee sleeves. From there, easily overlooked and under respected content about proper warm ups is outlined in beautiful detail with descriptive images to go along.

Pleasingly, I found that the first mention of an exercise thereafter was, most simply, the squat. It’s here I began to recognize Greg’s voice coming through in a brief, but educational diatribe into squat depth and the stir it still causes in circles outside of the sport of weightlifting.

It’s this genuine voice that I enjoy about Greg that I hear so clearly in his work with the Paleo Solution Podcast. Like all the sections of this text, Greg includes exceptions, modifications, and a multitude of explanations of how and why things may occur less than optimally.

Like in the squat section, each section thereafter includes coaching cues and relevant mobilizations and activations. The snatch, for example, covers nearly fifty pages on instruction. Breaking down the starting positions, execution, finish, and various progressions for the clean, the snatch, the jerk, and the clean and jerk begins to lay out a language to the reader, if he/she hasn’t had previous experience with the lifts.

This language and the relevant progressions outlined in the movement chapters make the subsequent section that addresses common faults and fixes a breeze. “Starting position” and “third pull” have meaning now, whether Greg’s making reference to the snatch or the clean.

After a thorough examination of the movements and common faults, the text moves into programming. Another impressive note about this text is that Everett covers so much content the book is impactful no matter what the level of competency of the reader. So, even if weightlifting isn’t new for you, anyone can get something from this section. As a coach, this section will be one I will refer back to often as a resource for developing programs for different types of athletes.

If that wasn’t enough, Everett offers an opportunity to get a bit of extra credit with a full section of supplemental exercises and skill transfer drills. The book then closes with an overview of nutrition, supplementation, flexibility measures, and even a dive into the intricacies of weightlifting competition. I’ve always wondered how lifters and their coaches plan attempts and the strategy of the sport of weightlifting.

It’s quite easy to become overwhelmed with a book like this, but it’s just too good not to own. Everyone who reads it will get better (as an athlete or a coach). There’s no doubt about that. The most practical use for this book, in my opinion, is as a resource. Whether you’re a hobbyist who likes weightlifting or you are a professional coach, this text will be one to thumb through, refer back to, and crosscheck ideas with for years and years.

“Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches” is available at CatalystAthetlics.com for $34.95.

Read a review of Greg Everett’s second book, “Olympic Weightlifting for Sports.”

Want to train like Greg’s athletes? Follow his three weeks of free workouts.

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Though you’re reading these words because I am, in part, a writer for Breaking Muscle, much of my time is consumed as a coach and a passionate advocate for real food nutrition. In addition to coaching fitness, I even created a sports nutrition company, ORIGINAL Nutritionals, based on my passion for a responsible, real food lifestyle. Why am I telling you this? I’m telling you this because when I came across The Carb Sensitivity Program by Dr. Natasha Turner, I was curious as to which side of my very tall fence this book would fall.

In my time with the book, I was able to read about the program as a passionate, knowledgeable observer. I also took time to interview Dr. Turner for yet a deeper understanding both in the intentions of the book and the outcomes it has yielded since the last pages were printed. Coming in as a skeptic, I set the book down feeling like I had another confidant fighting the good fight with me toward a healthier, one meal at a time.

The Carb Sensitivity Program (CSP) sets out to address an out of control health issue rooted in insulin abuse. CSP is Dr. Turner’s third book, and it stands on a solid foundation created by her first two books, The Hormone Diet and The Super Charged Hormone Diet. These two books pave the way for a hormonal based nutritional strategy.

The hormonal insulin response triggered by carbohydrate consumption is often recognized as the guilty culprit behind obesity, heart disease, and many other modern ailments. This text seeks to wean its participants off of their respective carbohydrate sensitive diets and systematically reintroduce carbohydrates in a fashion that doesn’t yield health consequences manifested on blood work panels, or their waistline.

Dr. Turner’s text begins with context for readers who are in the dark about what psychological functions contribute to fat storage. In addition, Dr. Turner paints a clear picture that on some level all carbohydrates promote an insulin response. Given current lifestyle habits and nutritional strategies, many of us are on the verge of insulin resistance, which means when we consume a sweet potato our bodies may respond no different than if we’d had a bowl of sugar.

With a dismal but informative understanding of the state of much of the population’s nutritional situation, Dr. Turner directs her readers to the actual program, which does much more than explain the “whys” of obesity. The program addresses many of the “hows” with regards to digging our way out of a potentially deep carbohydrate sensitive, insulin resistant hole.

Dr. Turner walks men and women through a step-by-step process of gradual reintroduction of carbohydrates with constant evaluation of markers that indicate a spike in sensitivity, such as insulin response and weight gain. The first of six stages, for example, is the most restricted with regards to carbohydrate consumption. It excludes nearly all starchy vegetables, with a focus on lean meats, good fats, and some fruits and vegetables. Each step of the way, participants are asked to answer a checklist of questions. If the carbohydrate load of any particular stage is without negative effects, then they are free to move to the next, more carbohydrate liberal phase. All the while, people are resetting their insulin receptors to potentially handle carbohydrates in a healthy manner again.

As a curious devil’s advocate, I asked Dr. Turner what the goal of the program was. Is it to systematically create an opportunity for the ultimate omnivore to consume nearly all foods in a controlled manner, free of major health consequences? Why move past Phase I or Phase II and even dance with the devil with higher glycemic carbohydrates? My concern with this system was that it would work in the sense that folks would earn some normalization in insulin function, but as they progressed down the line towards a nearly open table of carbohydrate consumption they could eventually undermine their newfound success. If there were no goal to keep grains and other higher glycemic carbohydrates in the diet, wouldn’t the CSP be fool proof if folks never moved beyond the more rigid first phases?

In many ways, Dr. Turner agreed with me. As she explained to me, “I agree. You know, the majority of people usually start getting into sensitivities around stage four, when you start to put in grains. You’ve got to have a healthy metabolism to get to the last phase.”

The CSP, of course, is a tool to repair metabolic derangement. As you begin to work your way through these gateways of carbohydrate reintroduction, you may be wondering what happens if you reach a level in which carbohydrates begin to have a negative effect. The CSP doesn’t leave folks in the dust by any means. The program will spit you out into a Metabolic Repair program, advising you to use proper nutrition, some supplementation, and even a training protocol to right your metabolic wrongs.

The CSP includes some ninety easy-to-follow recipes. As a coach myself, I understand the value of having clear instructions for participants. The CSP leaves no room for wonder and keeps its readers fully aware of tools to use and knowledge about their respective “next step.”

Who is the CSP for? When I asked Dr. Turner, she said that it’s obvious the most metabolically deranged folks, obese individuals, and the least healthy people may see the most progress, but the CSP is relevant for nearly all of us. If not now, we will likely need some insight into our sensitivities of carbohydrates in the future. As Dr. Turner noted, as we grow older we lose muscle mass, and naturally become more insulin dominant.

Overall I was pleased with how thorough this book was. Dr. Turner builds enough context to get you motivated and she delivers a clear and detailed plan to guarantee success in the program. The only question is whether or not folks are willing to hang on throughout the program, or not.

“The Carb Sensitivity Program” is available on Amazon.com for $17.65.

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