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I love Humus.

It’s easy to make, tastes great and goes well with all veggies.

If you’ve never had Hummus, you’re probably thinking, “Man, that stuff looks nasty!” But, trust me it taste awesome. There isn’t really anything in Hummus you wouldn’t eat by itself in in some other foods.

For example, Beans, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, olive oil and Tahini. That’s it, that’s all that in there. The only ingredient you may never have heard of is the Tahini. Don’t worry, it’s nothing weird, it’s a paste made from sesame seeds, you know the little seed on top of buns and rolls?

Most people seem to need to get over the texture and once you do that, you’re in for a treat!

So here’ the recipe I use to make our Hummus. I change it a little each time I make it, just to see what happens, but this is the base.

4 cups of beans (2 cups dry)

1/4 cup EVOO

1 cup Tahini

2 Tbsp garlic, minced

3/4 cup lemon juice

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

Thats it.

Beans

Now, for the bean you can use any bean you want. Chick Peas are the traditional bean used but I have used black beans ( which are awesome) and we have been using pinto beans lately that we got a great deal on and bought in bulk.

If you buy your bean dry, you’ll have to soak them over night, then cook them. Typically if you cover with water by about 2 inches, bring to a boil and then take the heat down to a simmer for about 1-1/2 hours you’ll be good. Drain and rinse and get started.

Tahini

You’ll find the Tahini either in the ethnic food isle or in the natural foods section of the grocery store. Just like when/if you buy natural peanut butter, there will be oil on the top. What I have just started doing, instead of trying to stir in the oil, simply turn the jar up-side-down and let it sit. After about 20 minutes you can shake the hell out of it and it will mix pretty good. You may still have to stir it a little but it is much easier.

The rest of the stuff

Everything, once you make the recipe a few times, you can play with. I usually add more garlic (who doesn’t like more garlic?) and add extra pepper. The last couple of batches I have added some Chili Pepper and some Cummin and it adds a nice little “zing” to the flavor.

Here’s a couple pictures of the process in the kitchen, but really, there isn’t much to say. Just throw it all in a food processor and “let ‘er rip”, you may have to scrape the sides once or twice but it only take about tens minutes to make (not including the time you need to soak the beans, I usually soak them over night).

First add your beans.

Throw everything else in the food processor on top of the beans and turn it on.

In the end, this is what you get.

And that’s all there is to it. Now go make some and enjoy.

Diet

Midweek update. This week’s going great on all fronts.

diet is pretty much dialed in. Humus has become my new power food, I have always liked it, not sure why some people look at me weird when I mention it.

If you’re following along, this week of the Warrior Diet Fat Loss Program is the high fat week. Probably my favorite week, I have always done very well on high fat diets where starchy and sugary carbs have been either eliminated of very restricted.

The M.O. for this weeks main meal has been big salad, humus with 1-2 bell peppers and or celery, I had bacilli Monday but wasn’t feelin’ cooked veggies last night so I skipped them.

I then move onto 2-4 hard boiled eggs, then finally the almonds. I polished off 2 large handfuls Monday and 1 last night.

I haven’t weighed myself in the last two days, but it seems my skin is getting tighter and the veins in my forearms are much more pronounced.

So, I can only assume I;m on the right track.

Training

Can’t complain. First week of a new cycle and it “feels” good.

Monday was Jerk training and it felt good. I am going to start training these heavier though. While the 16kg Kettlebells are great for getting the higher rep ranges, I find myself holding them instead of finding my proper rack position. The heavier bells will force my elbows down to my hips and I can get used to being there under load.

Here’s a video from my second set, approx 40% effort. I screwed up counting. For some reason I can’t count when I use anatomical breathing patterns.

So, not too shabby.

Tuesday I was supposed to train kettlebell snatches but but got too tied up with business stuff so they got pushed off until today.

I don’t get to train snatches very often. In fact I haven’t trained them but 3-4 times since the move to Frisco, TX. The humidity is up there and that can wreak havoc on your hands. Nonetheless, I’m going to make it a point to train them once per week, not pushing it, but enough to keep the skill intact.

Here’s the video from today, it’s long, but I made it to watch my technique so I didn’t want to cut any frames out.

That’s all I got for today, hope you enjoyed it.

So week one is in the books, and it was pretty much the same as in the past when I followed Ori’s detox week from the Anti-Estrogenic Diet Book.

My weight went down, in spite of it being a lower volume recovery type week.  All-in-all about 2 pounds came off, the four pounds I reported the other day was a fluke and due to other factors which occurred in the days and nights leading up to the start of this experiment.  I’m consistently weighing in at 164.

My only complaint about the first week is, It is very hard to “over eat” due to the volume of food.  Not so much “volume” in terms of the amounts but the actual amount of space the food stuffs take up in your gut.

Big Salad (Great Seinfeld episode)

Cooked veggies, usually a cabbage soup or bowl of broccoli

Then, beans and rice.

To say this week was a detox/cleanse would be an understatement.

But, I do feel better, lighter, gut is flatter so it’s all good.

My Favorite Macronutrient

If you know my friend Will Williams (W2) he has experienced  a fantastic transformation using Ori’s principles with his own personal twist.  He will rave about the truly magical powers of…

gasp…

fat.

Specifically saturated fat.

Yep good ol’ dietary fat is my favorite macro nutrient.  The texture, the taste the feeling of fullness it provides.  Not to mention the abundance of calories it provides.

Well this week I get to add fats back into my diet.  Phase II of the Warrior Diet Fat Loss Program shifts the bodies metabolism to use fat as it’s main source of energy.  All of the fat I’ll consume will come in the form of raw nuts and seeds and maybe a little cheese.

I love almonds and raw cashews.  I’ll choose one “nut of the day” to finish off my main meal.

So that’s the nickel’s worth version of what’s going down diet-wise.

Training-wise is another story…

Before going to the Level II, I knew what I wanted to do.  During the Cert., ingesting tidbits of info from people smarter than me I thought, “No, this is what I want to do!”

Well, like most things, the simpler the better.  My focus will revolve around Jerk and Snatch training with some basic assistance lifts like Kettlebell Squats and Swings.  Some Rack Holds, Pull ups and deadlifts will be rotated in as well.  Bending and Card Tearing will be an after thought.

I really “over” getting creative, I only care if it gets the job done.  The fewer exercises the better.

That’s all for now, I’ll report back tomorrw regarding the first workout of this phase.

On another note, we may have found a space… Kettlebell Gym in Frisco, Texas anyone?

Day 2 went off with out a hitch.  Fairly straight forward, but I think I can eat more during the Over-Eating Phase.

Tuesday AM I weighed in at 168.4 pounds, not doubt from the weekend of eating out and “moderate” (wink wink) alcohol consumption after the RCK II Certification.  Today (Thursday) an even 164.

Here’s a quick break down of how this week will go.

The first week on the Warrior Diet Fat Loss Program is a Detox week so there are a lot of veggies, especially fibrous ones.

One misconception most people have is that while on the Warrior Diet, you don’t eat during the day.  This is not true.  You just eat less.

My daytime, snacks include a handful of berries, I like raspberries or strawberries.  A hard boiled egg is permitted,  a Warrior Bar or a serving of Warrior Milk.  During the first week no nuts are to be eating during the day, or at night for that matter.

That’s basically the week in a nutshell.

I do have my morning ritual though:

Start with my Detox Supplements - These I will continue to use even after the 12 week “by the book” trial, the daily detox is a big part of the Warrior Diet which I do plan to follow indefinitely even after my 12 weeks write up.

Follow it with my Warrior Essentials Multi Vitamins ( for the next 12 weeks I will use these but will most likely switch back to my AdvoCare CorePlex, I get such a hefty discount on them and they of great quality)

And of course the EstroX, I don’t have much to say about this yet.  I haven’t used anything like it in the past to it’s hard to compare it to anything else.

My Training on Wednesday Looked Like This:

I broke it up into two sessions.

AM was a strength session similar to Tuesday, but I cycled up the weight a little.

Deadlift @ 225, 5 Sets of 1

Press @ 32kg, % sets of 1

Chin Up @ Bodyweight (BW) I did one set of 3 in between every set of Deadlifts and Presses to total 10 sets of 3

My PM session was my good friend Kenneth Jay’s VO2 Max Protocol 15:15 style.

This was the first time I had ever done this in a workout.

I started with a modest 40 sets of 7 reps of the Kettlebell snatch, just to test the waters.

It felt good, I plan on doing it twice a week until I get to 80 sets and then I’ll reassess my goals.

But What About my GS Training?

I will still practice my GS skills either as a part of my warm up or in their own session.  I am running a little self imposed experiment and treating it as if it were wrestling practice or some other sport skill practice.  Right now I need to get stronger to make the 24kg and 32kg bells a “sub-max” weight.

That’s all for today.

For those in the Frisco, TX area…We are looking at a facility in the next couple of days.  Stay tuned.

So after a long weekend of not-so-good food choices it’s back on the wagon with 12 weeks of The Warrior Diet Fat Loss Plan. This first week is a “detox” weeks and Man after this past weekend I need it.

I’m excited to see where will take me and although my goal originally was to get to 70kg, I’m really just looking for some improvements in body composition so I’m not going to get too caught up in scale weight, although I don’t think I will have any problem dropping the unwanted fat.

The main goal goals for the immediate 6 weeks are just to get stronger with regards to limit strength. I will still practice my sport lifts, sometimes in separate workouts, but they will be treated like any other sport practice and kept apart from my “strength and conditioning”.

As for today:

I woke up and ingested the recommended supplements in the Detox Kit

The Warrior Essentials

And the EstroX

It was a lot of pills, but because they are made with high quality ingredients and not synthetics, I had no stomach issues.

I didn’t get hungry today, probably because of the amount of food I ate over the weekend in MN, and since I’m already pretty well adapted to the under-eating phase of the plan. It pretty much turned into a fasted day beside some coffee with 2 teaspoons of half and half in the afternoon.

My workout consisted of only 3 movements, fairly light and low volume for today but will ramp these up in the coming weeks.

I worked up to 5 singles in the Deadlift with a whopping 205lbs.

5 sets of 3 of body weight pull ups

5 sinlges of the Kettlebell press with a 32kg (70lbs) on th right and left arm

I took plenty of rest and finished the session with some bending. Using the double under grip I bent 5 Timber Ties.

I didn’t use a recovery meal, because I didn’t feel I earned it. So I went straight to the “Main Meal” of the day.

A large salad: Romaine lettuce, tomato, red onion, mushrooms and pepper rings. All topped with olive oil and salt and pepper.

A bowl of cooked broccoli

And finished with 2 cups of Ori’s Lentil Soup, from the Anti Estrogenic Diet book

So for the most part not too exciting. More training and follow up tomorrow.