A few weeks ago, I had a calisthenic day in 19 F degree weather. On my last run I felt like I got hit on my forehead with an aluminum bat. My ears burned. And my feet were so numb, that the shock hitting my shins at every step made me feel like I was running in clogs - wooden shoes. My hands feel the full brunt of icy winds and cold work-out bars, however. I have gotten the best results from working out in the winter; the best way to stay motivated, however, is to keep your hands prepared.

1. Get working gloves: I use thermal working gloves that have a thick coat of latex on the fingers and palms - I bought mine in Home Depot for less than $5. They help me grip ice-cold pull-up and dip bars that burn you skin. And no matter how much you resist cold temperatures, your hands will always feel it; mine will get so cold that I wont be able to turn the key on my car door lock.

2. Get running gloves: I use Under Armour Cold Gear Fleece Gloves; @ $29, they’re kind of pricey for a glove you’ll be using to run, but they keep your fingers from hurting in blistering winds.

3. Eat right and take cold showers: This helps you develop brown adipose tissue or what is also referred to as “brown fat.” According to John Thomas in his book, Forever Young, people with brown fat feel less cold, don’t get as sick and burn more white fat - the stuff that hangs over your belt. Health 2.0 concurs. Typically, people living in cold regions have more brown fat than those in warmer areas. As for the cold showers: I wet myself in hot water for about a minute; I lather myself; then I rinse with the cold water knob fully turned. I am a maniac, for I get a kick out of letting the icy water splash off my shoulders and run down my spine. When you are just starting, just rinse and run. Your muscles will contract and your skin will probably redden. You may have to keep a mostly clean diet to get away with this without getting sick; I haven’t tried it otherwise. I haven’t gotten a bed ridden flu in years, and sometimes I walk in a tank top at 20 F. True story.

4. Press your hands against larger body parts when they start hurting or freezing: I will be quick to press my hands against the skin of my thighs or my waist. It feels like your body heat runs from your fingertips to the rest of your hand.

5. Keep your hands in your pocket when you can: The best place to stuff them is in your pants pockets, as your hands will be able to leverage the heat from your thigh.

6. Loosely ball your hands into a fist and blow: The hot air from your mouth will also assist in heating and restoring feeling to your hands.

7. Close your hands in a fist with you thumb tucked under your fingers: Even when you clench your fist, your thumb gets cold. That will help warm your thumb.

8. Reverse lace your fingers when doing exercises requiring you to clench your hands behind your neck: This way your fingers are not exposed to cold winds that make your fingers cold and numb. Ensure that your finger tips are tucked under the opposite hand’s palm.

Keep those paws warm, and you’ll find that working out in below freezing temperatures is not that discouraging.

It rained two days out of last week. Nobody shows up on the track or the workout mat when it rains, snows, or its too cold; well at times one or two people may try their hand at burning off last night’s pasta, but they usually don’t return until the summer season or when the weather gets better.

It’s hard to get yourself going when the day’s plagued with rain, sleet, or a blistering cold wind, but if you’ve got shoes you’re willing to soak on a rainy day, you’ll be more likely to get up get out and burn something.

I strictly buy running shoes - the adiprene, a cubed - that start off as my street shoes, but end up as my running shoes, and ultimately my rain running shoes. I buy new running sneakers. The last ones I bought new, I use to workout on dry days. And the sneakers that I used to workout on dry days become my rain running shoes.

Some people avoid working out because they don’t want to get their sneakers wet. However, if you have sneakers the sole purpose of which are to work in the rain, you don’t care about getting them wet. You feel prepared and ready to take on any climactic onslaught set before you.

I don’t worry too much about my clothes, because my hoody, vest, and sweatpants dry pretty quickly hung in my restroom. I would just hate getting my regular running sneakers wet, because they would become uncomfortable to wear almost everyday, squishing and squashing like a sponge with every step.

I started disliking turkey when apricots got out of season earlier this year, as blended apricots give turkey that tangy zest that made me look forward to eating it on Thursdays. Without that flavor my wife had recommended we stopped eating turkey for dinner. The taste made me consider not buying turkey the next week; however, as per my nutritional self-education, I know turkey is an excellent source of an amino acid called l-arginine that turns into nitric oxide, the same hormone that is stimulated by consumption of Viagra.

 Thus I had to find another way to keep turkey favorable to me and my wife’s palette to keep the woodwork at a 16 year-old’s rigidity; sildenafil citrate is out of the question - I don’t even do Advil anymore.The zest returned by squeezing half an orange on the turkey fillet prior to putting into the oven, and broiling the turkey with slices of the other half of the orange beneath it and over it.

 L-Arginine can also be found in walnuts, filberts, pecans, brazil nuts, coconut, almonds, cashews, chicken, chocolate, dairy products, oats, peanuts. All of which I include in my diet. Food sources typically only have trace amounts; turkey, however, consumed over a period of a few months may help you treat ED; it worked for me a few years back. That’s a fact.

Today I ran my wind sprint sets without drinking my protein rich pre-pre-workout kefir snack - 1/2 cup of Lifeway kefir, 1/2 a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil; Lifeway doesn’t have the unsweetened flavor that I drink on their site, so here are the specs of this mini protein drink:

1/2 a cup of plain kefir:

• Protein 7 g
• Carbohydrates 4.5 g

I always have the aforesaid serving as a pre-workout snack, with about 4 to 5 concord grapes, about 15 minutes prior to my workout; and for an extra boost of energy, I will have one around 5 am when my son cries me awake.

Today I didn’t have that one at 5 am because I didn’t wake up. I got dizzier than usual while running my 4×400 m sets; and it was a little harder to catch my breath with my mouth closed after each run.

As a rule, I will continually have that extra serving of protein-rich kefir about 3 hours before my workout; at least prior to my first sprint training day of the week. I run with more strength. I tire less. I recuperate much quicker and with greater ease.

I watched the Hector Lavoe Movie, “El Cantante,” on Saturday, and I couldn’t sleep because I had this song, “Aguanile,” in my head from like 6 am when my son woke me. I had it looping in my head while I ran my 4×400, 3×200, 3×100 meter wind sprints on Sunday on less than five hours of sleep - not recommended, and I ran them strong without having to lengthen my rest times in between sets. I had to give it a shot out by singing the intro acapella for everybody:

“Aguanile” was always one of my favorite Hector Lavoe joints, for it clearly demonstrated his vocal strength and superiority above all singers.

Hector Lavoe masters his baritone range, like none other; Lavoe hits each of his highest notes with total passion, fueled by the deep pain he endured as a result of his personal losses; Lavoe’s lyrics and extemporaneous hooks constituted street wit exclusive to products of a Hispanic and New York environment; the stuff that used to have me replaying his tracks time after time to listen to every pitch and word. Even the fact that he used to buy his clothes on Jamaica Ave., where I came up, reinforces the feeling that he is one of us. His pain represents the insecurities and disadvantages that plague all humanity. He worked through all those obstacles to be the greatest singer of all time.

His health, unfortunately, failed him, for he failed it. I see Hector Lavoe as a martyr to whom those who have kept themselves drug-free owe the health that they have managed to maintain. We should all strive to keep our health at optimum levels for lack of its maintenance will destroy even the greatest among us.

I had to wipe my tears when I heard “El Dia de Mi Suerte,” in the Hector Lavoe movie because those lyrics always helped me keep my head up while I was closing hard-fought sales deals while I attended school and was computer illiterate. Thank god, and Hector, I stayed off the weed and excessive alcohol, mastered my pc, and I could now lead a physically fit lifestyle, I love.

I got the words for “Aguanile” from the beginning of this other Hector Lavoe video:

And here’s one of the best videos I found on YouTube, where he tears up “Sonero Mayor.”

Rest in peace, my brother; I hope I did you justice.

He sat on the step of a jungle gym, resting his elbows on his thighs, leaning forward, while he asked, “Do you incorporate prayer into your workout?”

“A little.”

Don’t mistake me for a religious fanatic because I don’t go to church; nonetheless, when I was pushing out high intensity workouts while catching dizzy spells from my low blood sugar episodes, I was inhaling what little of a breath I could catch after running down a hill full speed. The balls of my feet were burning, and I took deep breaths to the corner. I turned left and started baby stepping up the hill, and my body felt twice as heavy.

“Dear God, give me strength before those that show no mercy,” I whispered.

I took like five more steps, and I was about to walk up the rest of the way, when a broad gust of wind pushed against my back like a hand cradled it. I sped up my running pace, and the wind kept pushing me until I reached the hill’s peak.

Some people have told me that it didn’t sound like divine intervention, but my inspirational prayer helped me finish my workout at full force.

I always see great athletes and people thanking God for their accomplishments. You don’t have to be in a religion; just know that He’s there and ask for His help. It’s helped me get through a lot.

Friends and family always ask me what could they do to lose such and such lbs. or what exercises are good for this belly. I explain to them how I eat most meals centered around meats, fruits, vegetables, and mono-unsaturated fats, and I tell them how I exercise.

Immediately thereafter, I sometimes get responses that they don’t have time to run for 20 minutes, or cook their meals most of the time. Well, we exist in a world where we have 24 hrs in a day to do with what we please. If you can’t take 20 minutes out of 24 hrs to cook breakfast or workout then don’t. But don’t expect to change things in your life for the better without changing yourself.

You can still achieve your fitness goals by following plans completely distinct from mine, nonetheless, you must embrace change. It is just insane to try to achieve different results by continuing to lead the same lifestyle.

Everybody’s looking for quick fixes for everything. How to get rich in 30 days; how to lose weight by eating everything you want all the time. Nothing good comes easy; especially something as precious as your sound health.

I don’t believe you should be anal retentive and follow some expert’s strict guidelines, but learn everything you can about solid proposed eating plans with an open mind; use what helps you achieve your goals. If and when it stops helping you try something else. Anything less is unproductive.

There’s hardly a need for me to repeat the health benefits you leverage when consuming fish oil regularly. My specific experience with consuming about 2630 mg of omega-3 fatty acids 1500 mg of epa and 750 mg of dha via molecularly distilled fish oil twice a day keeps my hands moisturized without the need to use cream, it helps keep me from getting hungry for 4 to 5 hrs after breakfast, keeps me from waking up at night, so I sleep a full 8 hrs, helps me wake up with a boost of energy in the morning, and even has my wife lactating to the point that she sometimes has to awaken baby to nurse because her breasts are too engorged with milk.

All that is fine and dandy, but fish oil always comes with a level of PCB’s, mercury, and other contaminants. Mercury is probably the most toxic stuff on earth - I remember a science class in my elementary school was evacuated when a mercury thermometer broke - and is being linked to autism in children due to thimerosal - a mercury containing preservative - in vaccinations.

Hence the International Fish Oil Standards - IFOS - publish a consumer report where they list “exceptional product” batches of fish oil brands that have oxidation levels of less than 75 percent of the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s standard, PCB levels of less than 50 percent of the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s standard, and dioxin and furan levels of less than 50 percent of the World Health Organization’s standard.

Read the IFOS consumer report listing 5 Star Rated fish oil before you decide which brand you buy. I am actually guilty of using Dr. Michael Murray fish oil which claims to be of pharmaceutical grade and molecularly distilled, but it isn’t listed. Murray’s is the only brand within walking distance of my office; I’ll start allowing for shipping time of the 5-Star-Stuff next time. Subscribe to my feed, and I’ll let you know when I upgrade.

Ahh; breakfast… 40-30-30 style!

This nutritionally balanced meal will keep your insulin levels in-check, have your body burning fat, and produce satiety for a four to five-hour period following consumption. The power breakfast is prepared with the following ingredients:

1. 2 egg whites - 7 grams of protein
2. 1 1/2 strips of turkey bacon - 9 grams of protein
3. 1/2 a slice of unprocessed low-fat cheddar cheese - 4 grams of protein
4. 1/4 cup of old-fashioned oatmeal - 13 grams of carbohydrates
5. 1 slice of fruit bread - 11 grams of carbohydrates
6. 8 ounces of skim milk - 8 grams of protein and 12 grams of carbohydrate
7. about 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter - 15 grams of fat*
8. 1 teaspoon of olive oil - 4.5 grams of fat*

*My fat count is tripled, as I workout very heavily sprinting and doing calisthenics - sometimes twice in a day. The extra fat will allow for slower digestion of my meal and more energy. When you eat this way you control your insulin levels to the point where fat becomes your body’s primary source of fuel as opposed to sugar or carbohydrates. So if you need more energy you double or triple up on your fat count. If you’re not as active you may want to shoot for eating about 6 grams of fat - a little less than a tablespoon of peanut butter on your toast; just go for the whole tablespoon. If you exclusively eat non-fat protein sources - e.g. egg whites, skim milk - you may require 12 grams of fat. Either way people to whom I’ve recommended this way of eating have lost up to 5 lbs in a week. Mono-unsaturated sources of fat usually fill you up pretty quick when you mix it up this way; so you’re body will probably tell you what’s enough.

Spices and negligible carbs:

1. 1/4 cup of chopped vegetables - tomatoes, onions, red and Italian peppers
2. a few shakes of cinnamon
3. 6 cloves
4. a few shakes of paprika
5. 1/2 a clove of garlic
6. a few shakes of kosher salt
7. a few grinds of pepper
8. a teaspoon of red wine vinegar
9. A few shakes of stevia

I take about 24 to 29 minutes cooking this meal for my wife and I; here it goes:

First, I scoop out 1/2 cup of Quaker Oatmeal - remember its for two - and pour it into a small pot.

I pour 1 1/4 cup of water into that pot, shake some cinnamon, and drop three cloves - not shown. I drop a pinch of salt - not shown. I shake some stevia into the pot, stir, then I check for sweetness; it’s usually not sweet enough until I repeat the previous step about three times. I cover the pot and let the oatmeal marinate with sweetness… mmm, mm.

Second, I pour 2 cups of water into a bigger pot and drop three pieces of unsweetened dark chocolate - about 1/2 oz each, a few shakes of cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and I heat the pot over a stove on high until it boils, then I turn it off and cover it to let the heat continue to melt the chocolate.

While that’s boiling, I take 1 1/2 strips of turkey bacon and toast it in my toaster oven for about 10 minutes; I ensure that this is done at this time, so it could cook while I finish the rest of the breakfast. But if this power recipe is prepared for two, don’t you need three strips of turkey bacon? My wife mixes it up by eating 1 1/2 turkey hot dogs; the turkey hot dog has the same protein content as a strip of bacon: 7 grams. The hot dog can be placed in the toaster later, as it comes pre-cooked and heats fast.

At about this time more smoke is rising out of the chocolate pot than a rain dance, so I turn that off and cover it. Then I take our marinated oatmeal pot and cook it over a high flame uncovered; you’ll have to watch it every 1-2 minutes, as it starts to bubble. Also stir it so it wont stick to your pot.

Now for my eggs. I stir-fry my chopped veggies and garlic - which I have processed in a plastic container - add a little olive oil, shake the paprika, and grind the pepper in a medium sized pan. I use the pan to mix it up like those chefs in those culinary art school commercials, but I don’t recommend you follow suit without practice.

I cook this on high heat for about two to three minutes; some of it may stick to the pan, so I spray the vinegar on the golden brown residue and it becomes a sauce real quick. I turn that off. You may have to lower the heat on the oatmeal at this time or turn it off if its absorbed most of the water.

Then I crack four large eggs almost in half, and I pour the yolk into the half of the shell its not in yet, letting the white spill into a bowl beneath. I pour it into each shell until most of the white is in the bowl.

I dump the yolks, shake some salt into the eggs, and whisk them with a fork. I pour the eggs into the pan with the veggies and cook them on low heat.

I pour two cups of skim milk into my chocolate pot and shake some stevia into it until it is sweet enough. I boil it over high flame.

I pop my wife’s 1 1/2 pieces of turkey hot dogs and two slices of fruit bread into the toaster oven for a quick toast.

I take a slice of my unprocessed low-fat cheddar, and I break it up into little pieces and drop them into my omelette. I turn off the heat and cover the egg pan.

I turn off the oatmeal and the toaster, as everything should have a nice tan at this time. The chocolate will probably be shaking like a California tremor, so I would turn that off. I open the the pan covering the eggs, and the cheese should be nicely melted.

And there you have it. Bon Appettit.