power smoothie...

I am a guy that likes to use the gym and train on a regular basis. However, in order for my body to accept the hard and sometime very rigorous training I put it through, it needs to be fuelled in the correct way so that it can deal with whatever I decide to throw at it.

Hence this post. There are a million sport supplements that are available to us, from protein powders, weight gainers and energy drinks, the problem is, they are all so damn expensive.

So I asked myself "what if I could make my own, all in one supplement drink that does not cost the earth" and that is exactly what I did.

Here is the how to :

Ingredients Required

Protein Powder (i use EAS 100% Whey Protein, 5lb bag, $30 or around £30 in the UK)
Old Fashion Oats - 1kg tub
Ground Flax seed - package size varies
Semi Skimmed or 2% milk
Bananas


What to do

Take half of the Oats and add them to a food processor, then add around 4 to 6 table spoons of Flax seed and blend until it all turns into a fine powder.


Then place to finished mix into a separate, seal able tub. This is the energy and calorie part of the smoothie completed.

Add around 40oml's of the milk to a food blender, add your protein (usually two scoops) and blend with the milk. Whilst the blender is running, add a single scoop (the one provided with your protein will be sufficient) of the Oat/Flax seed mix and two bananas. Blend until smooth. Pour the contents into a large glass and drink.


By my calculations, based on the nutritional information on the packaging of each product, this shake gives you approximately the following:

25g of Protein (this is based on the protein powder you used)
470 calories:

150cals from Oat/Flax mix
120cals from Protein mix
200cals from Milk
(for more calories add an extra scoop of your Oat/Flax seed mix)

I have found this to be an excellent, cost effective supplement drink for anyone that enjoys regular visits to the gym and does not have the budget for pricey supplements.

i'm on fire...

I have to say, and I know I have posted alot about my photography just lately but I have been doing quite a bit so there.

I have taken a few more photographs using the new techniques I developed (see earlier posts)

Here are a few samples...

always learning...

I have been looking at new ways to create dramatic and edgy portrait shots, obviously experimenting on myself.

I have discovered a few new techniques but I am especially liking the stuff I have learnt from this guy Joel Grimes

I have always wondered how photographers manage to create these really cool, edgy and gritty portraits. I used to think it was all down to the photographers photoshop skills but as it turns out, all that was needed was the correct kind of lighting.

I found a tutorial video of Joels here and if there is anyone out there who is interested in creating some fantastic urban portrait work then you need to check this guy out.

I have spent a little experimenting with my studio gear in the back yard. I am hoping that at some point over the weekend, or at least over the next coming week, I will get a chance to try this technique a lot more.

I just wish I discovered this technique earlier. Here is my virgin attempt...

feels good to be firm...

I have started back at the gym this week after a very long nine months out. I was really starting to feel the effects of not keeping myself healthy so, as you can imagine I am really pleased to be back in training.

Although, my body would not agree with me. I had almost forgotten what tearing your muscles up felt like the next morning. To say I ache is an understatement. Putting that aside, it does feel great, the pain I mean (how many people can say that, pain, feeling good). It makes me feel like I have actually achieved something.

I have a huge challenge ahead of me. After all this time away from training my strength levels are at around 65%, which is disastrous. Although I am confident that with spartan resolve, I will be back to my old self in no time.

the top 10...

...brain damaging habits.

1. No breakfast
People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level. This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.

2. Overeating
It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.

3. Smoking
It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.

4. High sugar consumption
Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.

5. Air pollution
The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.

6. Sleep deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells.

7. Head covered while sleeping
Sleeping with the head covered, increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.

8. Working your brain during illness
Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.

9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts
Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage.

10. Talking Rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain.

How do you stack up??

From here

getting around...

We are slowly discovering each day that there is a greater need than we thought for me to get myself a car.

Although we are doing alright at the moment car sharing, me being here on my extended break without a car means I am totally having to rely on Deanna and her Lexus, which is cool of course but when it comes to me taking her to work, getting the boy from school then going out again to pick her up, we are using more fuel than is really necessary. However, it is unavoidable.

Which leads me to the following: The other day whilst taking her to work we passed a car on the side of the road for sale. It was awesome, typical American car, and I was all..." WOW, that car is AWESOME!!"

Today, I went back to take a picture, find out what it was and get the price.

The car is a 1972 Pontiac Le Mans and you guessed it, it's out of the budget range, and at $5,200 it's about $4,200 above budget.

Looks like I will just have to keep on looking.....sigh

(i would look totally rad in this)

formspring...

More like form-rubbish.

I have given formspring a fairly decent trial run and in the end I have decided that it really is rubbish. Either that or I am so completely uninteresting that no one wants to know anything.....hmph!! Which, thinking about it, kind of makes sense considering I have had only four people respond to my request of the previous post of ' who actually reads my blog '

Thank you: Marc Hebron, Marc Warren, Richard Wisbey and Dale Spooner.

Anyway...no more formspring.

You want to ask me something....send me a fucking email!!

On a more positive note, my friend Cammeron introduced me to a site called Get Totally Rad. They sell and provide really cool actions for photoshop. For those that don't know what I am talking about, an action is a kind of short cut to special effects and photograph editing techniques without all the hassle. From there I discovered CoffeeShop. Now this site is much better as all the actions, textures and tutorials are FREE! that's right people. So any of you four readers that use photoshop, go check it out and download yourself some cool actions.

Here is a before and after shot of a photograph I "actioned" as an example. It's very subtle but it can make a big difference to your photography.