u/aldcwatson

Ahh, yes, looks good. I recall trying something like this before. If my memory serves me correctly I recollect sort of recoiling my thumb back into the edge as the pit launched into space. With the inevitable results (I keep my knives very sharp and my thumb flesh is very soft ;-) But that's because I'm just a klutz. Thanks for the advice!

This is the way that I depit an avocado too. There is one challenge, however, and I learnt this the hard way. You have to get the greasy, slippery pit off the knife without cutting yourself. It's usually lodged on there pretty tight!

I've found that the the best way of freeing up the knife is to grab the pit with a doubled up sheet of kitchen paper towel. Then quickly pull the pit directly off the knife blade perpendicular to the edge. Don't be tempted to saw it out - that causes all sorts of problems for your digits when it inevitably slips ;-).

I meet your criteria and I've lost a bunch of fat whilst on keto in the last few months. Frankly, it's been shockingly easy

For those of you who like a little saltiness to your cheese, you should try Stilton. Heaven in a wedge.

How about celery? Low calorific density (14/100g) and low net carbs (1g/100g)..

Check out Western Meat Market at 4707 N Lombard St - great deals on many cuts (including offal.) They're great folks too.

If you're feeling flush - Olympic Provisions, of course!

Check out some of the posts I've made in this sub: they apply to you, for example:

http://www.reddit.com/r/RugbyTraining/comments/28wmqs/conditioningspeed_training_for_someone_who_hasnt/cif6pdo

You definitely need to add some more muscle mass if you intend to play at college - 150lbs in a wee bit on the light side. The 5 x 5 bench/squats/overhead press/deadlift(5 x 1) routine along with high calorific intake (GOMAD + protein + food!) will help you - in about a year if you're consistent.

Work on your speed, and, as a back, your agility. Do the sprint pyramids I suggest in previous posts.

For endurance, play touch rugby, or do something like C25K. Just don't overdo it, or you will not gain mass efficiently despite strength training.

Lastly, prepare yourself to be able to get off the floor efficiently. Add Turkish Getups and fall-downs/stand ups into your general conditioning.

Good luck!

First, you need to find a club/team whose coach and players are openly willing to let you try any position. This is key. Teams where there's an "I'm the hooker/scrum half/centre/fullback" are a big 'nope'. This'll mean that you'll want to search around for a rec team or a club that plays in a rec division.

With your height and weight, you could try a number of positions. Hooker in the forwards would be a good place to start. This position has some essential technical skills you'll need to learn, but in open play you'll learn a tremendous amount. In the backs - you could play anywhere. I suggest that you avoid flyhalf and fullback as both of these positions require some experience in order to work under pressure.

Ask yourself what aspect of the game appeals to you most? Do you enjoy contact, the hurly-burly of ruckingand groundwork, and working the hard yards (metres)? If so, go the forwards route. Do you want to be freer to run with the ball? Choose backs? Unsure? Try both.

Just one note about the winger position. Many (poor) coaches through the new player out on the blind side wing. It's easy thing to do. They assume that you won't get the ball much and gives them someone to blame if the opposition outflanks you. This is sad but true. It also assumes that the winger runs up and down the wing! The 11 and 14 positions are much misunderstood - both by newer/poor coaches and players.

The wing has great opportunity for creativity and roaming play. Watch a few higher-level games and observe how the wingers roam on attack and act as a second layer of attack. Modern wingers seek opportunities in the midfield as well as finish phase play. They are roaming from touchline to touchline. They are making tackles (unless they play for England :-). What I'm saying is: don't discount the wing - it has a lot of fun potential.

A piece of advice. I presume you're an northern hemisphere player. Work on your strength first, and then on your speed during the offseason. It's the base of the rugby performance pyramid. Get this done, and you will find you can focus more on your ball handling and game vision.

For strength - you must eat a lot and lift and carry heavy things. Deadlift 1x5 Monday, benchpress 5x5 Tues, squat 5x5 Thurs, overhead press 5x5 Fri or however you like to do it. One lift per night only during the off season Add weight each session. 10lbs/5kg for DL and squat, 5lb/2kg for bench and OHP. Turkish get-ups 5 nights a week with good form and increasing weight over time.

For speed - and every player, from prop to fullback, could use more speed, start off with 8 x 40m sprints with 1 or 2 mins recovery between runs. Work up to 20m, 30m, 40w, 50m, 40m, 30m, 20m sprint pyramids x 3, two or three times a week.

I'm the same height as you and played lock at a pretty decent level. Basically, you're lacking mass. I'd want to see another 40 pounds on your scrawny frame! ;-)

There's only one way to add quality mass (muscle) - lift heavy, push and pull heavy things whilst eating plenty of high quality food. It will take time, but you have got to keep adding weight to the bar, the sled the sandbags, or whatever implement you decide to use!

See my comments in this thread - they apply to you too. http://www.reddit.com/r/RugbyTraining/comments/28wmqs/conditioningspeed_training_for_someone_who_hasnt/cif6pdo

Good luck!

Those are decent lifts, particularly lower body. It sounds like you're an intermediate lifter and you've chosen well for your lifting plan - 5/3/1 is excellent choice with it's slow but steady progression.

I hear you about the OHP - it was always my weakest too: like you because of a shoulder injury. Persevere with it though, and you'll improve your shoulder strength beyond your belief - just add weight very, very slowly - perhaps slower than 5/3/1 suggests (one approach would be to go add a rep each week until you get to ten, then add 5lb.) Turkish get-ups will help with your shoulder recovery too. They teach your shoulder to pack well under sustained load.

Add in those farmer's walks and conditioning work now, and you'll be in top form. Eat loads, and you'll be ready before you know it.

P.S. Don't be tempted to add in Olympic lifts until your shoulder is fixed!

Good luck!

Oh, one more thing, many rugby players (and forgetful coaches like me) skip floor and combat training. You must be able to go to ground and get up again many, many times. Add this to the end of your sprint work. Fall down, get up. Jog forward, go to ground, get up. Add Turkish Getups if you want. But go to ground, get up.

Learn to pummel with another team mate. Learn to take a guy down. Do 5 x 2mins bouts of wrestling. A good way to start is to play a slapping game with another player. in a 5m x 5m grid see how many times can slap the other person's knees or ankles or shoulders or ribs or head (you decide what to go for at the beginning of the bout.) Then do some pummelling and some takedown bouts. If you want me to clarify this, let me know. It'll get you in great condition fast.

My only question is how old are you? I see that you're 6' 2" and 90kg. That seems light to me. It could be that you're quite young. If you are to play as a loose forward (or even as a lock), I'd say you're a bit under weight. Right now you're about 14 stones, and I'd like to see you closer to 16 or, better still, 17 stones to play no. 8.

I think your first priority is to add muscle mass and the powerlifting will be good for that providing you're eating enough. I am concerned that you're lifting too often since you're in the gym 5 times a week. My suggestion is to train with weights 3 or, at most, 4 times a week.

When you say powerlifting, I hope you mean you're doing: 1) deadlifts, 2) bench press, 3) squats (front or back) and 4) overhead presses. Concentrate just on one, maybe two of these exercises per session. Do 3 warmup sets and 2 heavy sets (5x5) - except for deadlifts - do 4 warm-ups and one work set for those.

Auxilliary lifts - pull-ups, rows (watch your form and your back), shoulder shrugs.

You MUST lift heavy and you MUST add weight each session. 10lbs/5kgs for squats and deadlifts, 5lb/2kg for upper body.

Drink a gallon of milk a day (GOMAD), eat a load and rest!

The above will help you gain weight and it will help you with your conditioning IFF you lift heavy. No need for periodisation, just keep adding weight.

One session a week doing hill sprints or sled pulling. and/or one session doing 8 x 40m sprints will be enough for your speed/conditioning. As you progress add in farmer's walks (HEAVY).

So, your schedule could look like this: Monday - deadlifts, farmer's walks Tuesday - Overhead press, rows Wednesday - rest Thursday - squats, bench, shrugs, pull-ups Friday - rest Saturday - sprints Sunday - rest.

Hope that helps!

I think process of wave loading for TGUs is overcomplicating an already complicated lift. Would it not be better to use just one kettlebell for an extended period (perhaps weeks) and focus on adding perfect reps?

For example, we may start off with 5 x 12kg alternating left and right sides. If form is perfect on the last rep each side, next workout, go for 6 reps with the same sized bell.

Continue until you can do a dozen or so perfect reps each side before attempting the 16kg. This will still build muscle/strength/command of the exercise. Thoughts?

I'm doing about 25-30 drops in one dose and that works for me. Even 25 drops in a pint of water is an 'acquired taste'. I worked up from 10 drops twice a day to where I'm at now over about a month. I've found that the dosed water actually starts tasting sweet rather than minerally after a while.

I use this product, and although skeptical at first, I'm very happy with it. It does actually seem to make me feel better. I'm beginning to sense when I need Mg supplementation, and a quick dose of this concentrate works well. Oh, you do need to dilute it, BTW - it's sodding strong stuff.

Hello all, this is my first time doing the 90 Day Goal programme. I'm looking forward to making me accountable and helping support you over the next few weeks. It's going to be fun - good luck everyone!

Stats

• 48 M

• 6'5", 295lbs

• Diet: I've been on strict keto for 3 weeks and intend to continue throughout this round (and beyond!) I'm tracking my macros in MFP

• Exercise: 5x5 compound lifts; sled pulls, farmer's walks and prowler work; sprints; general rugby conditioning.

Round 14 Goals

• I'm way too heavy. I will lose at least 25lbs of fat.

• I want to be stronger. Much stronger. I will add 50lb to my deadlift, I will work on my Turkish Get Ups so I can perform 5 each side with a 16kg kettlebell.

• I have very weak shoulders. I will add 40 lb to my overhead press.

• My general conditioning is lower than I'd like it to be. I've not run more than a mile since college. I will complete C25k.

• Put our money to work and purchase an investment property.

• Reduce my tea consumption to 2 cups a day and increase water intake accordingly.

Sprint 1 Goals

• Remain strictly keto for the whole sprint

• TGUs five days a week. 5x(L+R)

• I have a four books waiting to be read - read them all!

• Identify an investment property

Either lard or beef dripping work well. When I was a kid all we ever deep fried stuff in was dripping.

The weight training sounds fine IF you are progressively adding weight to the bar. Wingers need to be fast, big and powerful these days.

Sprinting is great, of course. Mix in either some hill sprints or some sled pull sprints (no more than a 45lb/20kg on the sled.) Pyramids work nicely for this 5 x (10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 50m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 10m)

Sprints with a direction change too - working both your left and right stepping.

The other thing I would suggest you do is work on your agility. Speedy and accurate footwork, direction changing drill (T drills, etc.) should all be in a winger's training portfolio.

Don't forget to do some wrestling and floor work too - even wingers have to tackle and ruck!

Good luck!

No, I'm talking about whey protein products in general. Yes, they're usually what you put in your protein shake though. When buying a tub of Whey protein, you need to be very careful. Some manufacturers add in sugars whereas others just give you pure whey protein. The latter is usually way more expensive than the former, but is pure protein.

The other thing to think about is how the whey protein has been processed. Is it an isolate? Is it a concentrate? Looking at these tells you if the protein is just pure protein, or if you get other residual milk products in there too (casein, for example.) It's very complicated. There are some great articles out there that'll talk to this subject way better, and more in depth, than I can. Do a Google search for 'compare whey protein products' and you'll see what I mean ;-)

Without knowing your team and its skill level it's hard to give you specific drills unfortunately. Drills are really used to focus on specific skills and sharpen them up.

However, this is what I would suggest. Run touch for the whole session. You'll get endurance, ball handling, positional play all mixed in there. It's easy to add simulated rucking, support play for ball carriers, defensive line work, etc., etc.

So, you take on the role of coach/ref.

For example, if your team needs to be better at passing before/into contact, limit the number of touches before a turn over. That'll get them passing. Another one - turn over the ball if the defence does not set decently in an appropriate fashion. If you want to improve line break ability, play double touch - the ball carrier only stops when s/he's been tagged twice. Another one: support - s/h must distribute the placed ball in 2 seconds or turnover. There's all manner of fun things you could do with touch that can benefit your game tremendously. Just watch out for the attacking line getting too flat!

Great post! One small nit-pick if you'll permit me: whey protein is actually a dairy product rather than meat. If one chooses a pure (i.e. expensive) product, it won't contain any carbs, but RTFL before tucking in. Cheers!

Put a fillet or two in a shallow pan. Just cover the fillets with water. Bring to boil. As soon as the boil starts, turn the heat off. Salmon is beautifully poached in about 5min thereafter. Serve immediately with plenty of butter and/or pesto and a slice of lemon. (a bit of watercress on the side doesn't do any harm!)

I'd suggest you do something like the following:

Monday - warm up, 8 x 40m sprints (as fast as you can go, rest one minute between each sprint), cool down

Tuesday - olympic lifts

Wednesday - rest

Thursday - warm up, pyramid 20m, 30m, 40m, 50m, 50m, 30m, 20m. Walk back to start line slowly, then go again. 80% effort, start going once through, and work up to two pyramids as you progress - this will help with your game endurance as well as speed, cool down.

Friday - olympic lifts

Saturday - same as Thursday.

Sunday - rest.

If you don't Olympic lift, then kettlebell swings and snatches - (5, 10, 15, 15, 10, 5) x 3

Make sure you're at your fighting weight - extra pounds will slow you down.

Measure your performance every two weeks on the Monday sprints.

Yep, just eat plenty. You'll gain both muscle and fat - especially if you GOMAD - drink a (U.S.) gallon - 4l - of whole milk a day! Milk has an inherent growth hormone in it that promotes weight gain. Do this during your strength phase. There are several books and articles about gaining mass, and most recommend adding in the milk. Good luck, and let us all know what you choose to do and how it's going.