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@fieldworkout
The world is your gym.
Want to challenge yourself with something new? Try adding this push-up variation to your routine!
Out of the jungle, into the kitchen!
Anyone who has spent a lot of time in the field knows that maintaining adequate nutrition can be difficult and frustrating, so I have been really looking forward to returning to a very clean and strict diet. Since being back from the forest, I’ve been back in the gym, experimenting a lot with nutrition and self optimization, and obsessively catching up on the current literature about nutrition and exercise physiology. This has caused me to stumble upon the work of Dr. Rhonda Patrick, who happens to have her own podcast called found my fitness. Through her platform I have been exposed to many authors I wouldn’t have known about otherwise, and have learned a lot about how different vitamins and minerals are involved in gene regulation, aging, and performance. I have also learned that intense exercise can stimulate neurogenesis, so all you fellow academics who think working out is just for meat heads, you’re doing yourself a disservice!
One major addition that I have added to my routine thanks to Rhonda is a carefully thought out green shake for breakfast. I drink this shake every morning, and since replacing my breakfast with this shake, I have felt great! On the rare days when I don’t drink the shake I always feel noticeably worse. Rhonda’s original recipe is on her website, but here is my version.
4 large kale leaves
4 rainbow chard leaves
1 cup of baby spinach
1 carrot
1 tomato
1 avocado
1 apple (with the peel)
1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
1 scoop protein powder (whey isolate) OR one cup Greek yogurt (must have 25g protein)
~4 cups of water
1 tablespoon MCT oil
I have a skeleton version of the shake which is just the spinach, kale, chard, avocado, protein, MCT, and water when I’m running low on the other ingredients.
Rhonda has a video on her podcast detailing all of the micronutrients and phytochemicals packed into this shake. The biggest difference between my recipe and Rhonda’s is more protein and the addition of MCT oil, which has a thermogenic effect on the body. If you decide to try it let me know what you think!
I live in the north east, so it is hard to keep a garden in the winter. I really want to be able to keep my own supply of all these greens, so I am working on setting up my own indoor hydroponic system. Once it is up and running I’ll put up a post so you guys can see it in action and how I set it up.
I’ve also been trying out some new ideas in the gym and am pleased with the results. I’ll fill you all in on what I’ve been doing soon!
Ab routine getting a little.. routine? Throw in some hanging windshield wipers to get that sweat going
Have a partner on hand? Try this variation on a negative pull up
First of a series. Check back every couple days for a variation on pushups, pullups, and other moves to work a little harder.
Out of the jungle, into the jungle gym
Testing out the new bag. Note the shinguards made out of an old memory foam pillow and socks
Our punching bag, made of rice bags, sand, and a lot of duct tape. There were some issues putting it up, but with the help of 4 assistants, a winch, and a lot of grunting and yelling, we prevailed!
The forest gods don’t like internet
Unfortunately we are having trouble uploading our videos on the connection we have here, so we will likely post the videos in late August when we are back. In the meantime, here are some fitness and other random updates from camp!
Grab a tree, rock, person, or whatever is closest. It’s time to work out. Workout videos coming soon. Here’s a trailer of what’s to come.
Stay Tuned!
Next time we have internet access we’ll be posting some work out routines and videos!
Sweat a little, it’s good for you
-Rumaan
Protein is your best friend
Nutrition is an extremely important component to staying healthy and staying fit. Unfortunately nutrition is one of the more difficult things to manage when you spend a lot of time in the field. While larger field stations have large enough food budgets and facilities to ensure a stable and balanced diet for their residents, most projects are smaller operations with more modest budgets and less electricity (meaning likely no refrigerators).
For those of us who work in the tropics especially, our diets are almost entirely comprised of rice and beans or (often fried) tofu. This can happen due to simple limitations in availability and storage when working at remote locations, and translates to months and months of a high carb, high fat diet with very little protein.
Field work itself already consists of long and physically demanding days that are difficult enough to recover from with this type of diet. When you add exercise on top of this, you run the risk of putting yourself in a caloric deficit, and sending your body into a catabolic state where your muscles start to atrophy. Both of your authors have experienced rapid weight loss and prolonged fatigue from the combination of poor nutrition and too much physical activity. So for all of you out there in the field, we recommend two things. Make sure you get enough calories, and bring a few supplements with you to the field.
Protein is your best friend in the field! Both of us have found that bringing protein powder to the field has made the biggest difference in preventing both fatigue and the muscle wasting. We have tried sleeping more, taking rest days, drinking coffee, and eating more, but nothing has worked quite as well as getting that missing protein back into our diets. If it is possible to get enough protein from meat, fish, or some other whole food then by all means do so. If your site is like ours however, where you have no refrigerator to keep meat and your supply of beans or soy products have to last until your next shipment, then protein powder is the easiest thing to augment your diet.
For those of you who can get to and from a town regularly, check to see if any of the local vendors sell protein powder. If they do, great! Stock up! If you are too far from any town or the local town simply doesn’t sell protein powder, then we recommend you bring a small supply from home at the start of your field season. We are aware and sympathetic to the fact that you are limited in how much stuff you can travel with and that baggage fees are getting more and more expensive, which is why we have a few recommendations (keep in mind we are not sponsored by or profiting from any of these companies, we simply like their products).
Recently, certain sport nutrition companies have been producing concentrated protein powders (they call them bioactive) that are easy for your body to absorb, and come in much smaller containers with more servings. One that we are really fond of is Man Sports Pure PF3. It comes in an extremely small container that is easy to pack, comes with twice the number of servings than a regular protein powder, and we have definitely noticed that recovery is quicker when incorporating PF3 into the diet. With one serving a day post workout one container lasts about two months! The only drawback is that it is a little more expensive than other protein powders.
If you prefer a more conventional protein, then we recommend Muscletech’s Platinum ISO-Whey. The container is still large and can be difficult to pack, but it is a weigh isolate which is easily absorbed and great for anyone who is sensitive to dairy. I generally transfer the protein into plastic bags to avoid the large container and save space in my luggage. This protein is easy to find and comes with about two months worth of servings at one serving a day post workout, also twice as much protein than usual for the same size container!
If you are not limited by how much luggage you can bring, and are not concerned with price or size of the container, then we definitely recommend Trutien by Body Nutrition. Trutein is a great balanced protein powder that actually reports the composition of their blend, and has some of the best flavors we have ever tried in a protein powder. They sell two container sizes, one with 30 servings and one with 60.
Other (optional) supplements that are great to have if you can find them/afford them/fit them in your luggage are vitamin D3, B complex, and general multivitamins. If you work in an open sunny area, then you don’t need D3, but if you work in dark heavily shaded areas like under dense jungle canopies, then D3 is very important because it has been shown to regulate your serotonin levels and can also help with fatigue. There are other researchers at camp who are not fitness fanatics but have also experienced extreme and long term fatigue have found that they felt much better after taking our advice and incorporating these vitamin supplements into their diet.
But if you had to limit yourself to one supplement to bring with you to the field, then remember, protein in your best friend!
- Shauhin
Creativity
Anyone who is passionate about fitness knows how frustrating it can be when you don’t have access to a gym or exercise equipment. People with jobs similar to ours, who are required to travel a lot and live in remote locations far removed from modern conveniences, are especially subjected to this frustration. At the same time, people who are truly enthusiastic and dedicated to staying fit will tell you that there is absolutely no excuse for skipping your workouts. So what does this mean for those of us in the field without a gym down the street? It’s time to get creative!!
Some people might argue that the physical demands of working outdoors or in the wilderness are tiring enough and should count as sufficient exercise. We agree that days can be long and exhausting (especially depending on what type of terrain you are working in), and we have found that if you start your field season a little overweight you will probably see a reduction in your waistline. Unfortunately we have also found that the physical benefits from field work are almost exclusively in the form of low intensity endurance and lower body exercise. For most athletes and fitness enthusiasts this is simply insufficient, and can actually lead to muscular imbalances, a loss of muscle tone and upper body strength. On top of that, all gym rats will tell you that you just don’t get the same physical satisfaction from a day of field work as you do from a good workout. So despite the physical nature of our work, we still search for ways to work our bodies and meet our fitness goals.
Creativity is one of the most important things you need to have successful field workouts. The key to satisfying that desire to work out is to be aware of the hidden gym around you. Think of the movements that you like to do when you are in the gym, and look around for places and tools at your site (or home) that will allow you to challenge yourself and perform similar movements. Remember, this is your time to be as creative as possible, and it doesn’t matter how bizarre or unconventional your ideas might seem. The important thing is that you get your sets in!
For example, what might look to an ordinary person as a simple archway in your house is actually a pull up bar!
Occasionally we will have an opportunity to leave the forest and get to town. At times like this it can be relatively easy to find things around your house or hotel room to help you with your workouts. Most of the time however, we are stuck at camp in the forest and have to make due. Even at camp, creative thinking is still required. Instead of pull-ups on a bar or an archway, why not a strong tree? Got any heavy field gear? Think of it as a free weight!
Resistance bands are great and one of the few pieces of exercise equipment we would recommend bringing with you to a field site. The set I bought only cost me $30 online; however if you would rather not spend any money on equipment then tap into your creative side and figure out how to make do with what you have.
Not long ago, Rumaan and I had to transport our biweekly supply of food from the local village to our camp, which is about 1.6km each way. Grobak is the local term for the large wooden wagon we have here at camp that we use to transport supplies. It took us a total of four trips with the grobak to get all of the supplies to camp. Halfway through the experience Rumaan and I realized how tired we were, and we immediately said “we should make this into a workout”!
And thus the grobak pull was born.
Our grobak workout consists of one person sitting inside of the grobak, while the other person runs to an agreed location. In our case, this is the first bridge between our camp and the village (around 715m). After reaching the agreed location, both people switch places and the person pulling the grobak runs with grobak back to the starting point. Because there is a slight weight difference between me and Rumaan, we filled up a water jug with enough water to make sure we are pulling about the same amount of weight and that one person is not working harder than the other because of who their partner happens to be. Once back at the starting point, we start a short but high intensity routine of pliometric movements, and then each pull the grobak one more time to end the workout.
Since we have been doing these field workouts, Rumaan and I have actually found that our field work is actually starting to feel easier as we are getting stronger! So remember people, get creative, and stay fit.
We hope you enjoy our workouts, and we will be sharing more of our ideas and perspectives on field workouts in our future posts.
- Shauhin
Back to the jungle
Both of us are currently in the field at the moment, which means no internet. However, we should be able to keep putting up posts fairly regularly through friends and family. Stay tuned for posts on nutrition in the field, creativity, bvds (not the underwear brand), and of course, workout videos!
We don’t have many dumbbells or benches in the Kalimantan. We do however have a big wooden cart.