Strawberry Muscle Milk Product Review

Today I will be reviewing the Srawberry flavor of Muscle Milk by CytoSport.

Taste:
This product tastes pretty good.  It’s maybe a little sweet but I would put it somewhere in between the Vanilla and Chocolate flavors from Muscle Milk.  This is 1 of the top 2 protein shakes I have ever had as far as taste goes.  Taste is pretty important to me because if something tastes so bad I can’t drink it, I’m not going to stick with it no matter how healthy it is.  It does have a very slight artificial sweetener taste, it’s almost unnoticeable most of the time.  This product gets a 9.5 out of 10 on taste.

Protein (and vitamins & minerals):
This is why most people are drinking these shakes in the first place so it’s an important category.  Muscle Milk has 16 grams of protein per serving and is also loaded with about 15-20% of 20 vitamins & minerals.  This isn’t the most protein I have ever seen in a shake (most have about 24 grams) but it does have the vitamins and minerals many other shakes do not have.  I drink mine mixed with 1 cup of milk so I take in 24 grams of protein.  You could also mix this with other ingredients if you wish, like a banana or peanut butter, whatever you like.  It isn’t necessary though, because as I said before, it tastes great.  The serving size is 35 grams, only 16 grams of that is protein, meaning the rest is made up of other ingredients (carbs and fat -2 grams of fiber which is a carb, etc).  This product gets a 8 out of 10 on protein.

Servings:
1 container has 25 servings.   This breaks down to less than $1 per serving.  I eat 5 times a day so having 1 of my meals cost less than $1 (plus the cost of 1 cup of milk) is pretty nice.  Usually with protein shakes, buying in bulk lowers the cost per serving but I bought a smaller container (1.93lbs) just to try it out and see if I liked it.  It’s also nice when a container has about a months supply, so even if you buy the smaller container you only have to buy it once a month.  8.5 out of 10

Artificial ingredients:
In our culture, unless you grow all of your own food, it’s impossible to avoid artificial sweeteners and the like 100%.  That said, I try to avoid them as much as possible.  This product does have a few of them in it, namely acesulfame potassium and sucralose (splenda) but they are among the last ingredients listed, meaning they are the least out of everything in it.  Unfortunately, 95% of protein shakes have at least some of these ingredients in them.  7 out of 10

So overall I like this product and I can actually drink it because it tastes wonderful.  Mixing it with milk I get 24 grams of protein (you don’t want to take in to much at a time anyway since you can only digest so much at once).  For the price it’s good.  I would buy this product again but because I want to avoid artificial sweeteners I will rotate this in with other drinks from time to time instead of just always drinking it.

Overall Score: 8.4 out of 10

Andrei Arlovski vs Tim Sylvia 4 Breakdown

Andrei Arlovski (17-9) vs Tim Sylvia (31-7) is an interesting match up to anyone who has been following MMA for more than the last three or four years.  They are two of the top heavyweights the UFC has ever had, and even though they are not at their peaks anymore, they can still be dangerous to anyone.  I really like what ONE FC is doing in Asia.

These fighters have met three times in the past.  The first match easily went to Arlovski when he floored Sylvia and finished him with a leglock.  The second fight looked exactly like the first one, except after dropping Sylvia, Arlovski rushed in to finish with strikes and got caught while being sloppy.  Both of those fights were over very quickly.  The third match went to a decision in a fight that was pretty boring from what I remember.  Neither guy wanted to lose the rubber match and fought very safe.  Sylvia ended up winning the decision (but I remember thinking Arlovski should have won).

This forth fight finds them both in a very different place.  Arlovski has put together a couple of wins, after losing four in a row (all to top heavyweights) and Sylvia has won his last three.  It’s a little hard to tell where they are at right now because their competition hasn’t been the best lately.  Sylvia got KO’d by a couple of guys he should have easily beat and Arlovski has been lacking aggression in his last few fights.

Regardless of Sylvia being 2-1 against Arlovski, I feel Arlovski is the superior fighter.  Arlovski has better stand up and submissions.  His biggest problem is that he doesn’t always defend himself well and his chin is average in a division of hard hitters.  This could be another quick fight if they both come out to make a statement, or a slow fight if they come out not to lose like in the third fight.

I am hoping for an exciting match up and I think that if Arlovski comes out and fights smart he wins this fairly convincingly.  If Arlovski still hasn’t fixed his defense and gets sloppy Sylvia could catch him or if Arlovski comes out and isn’t aggressive at all like in his last couple of fights, Sylvia could use his range to win a decision.  The other thing to take into account is ONE FC uses rules very similar to Pride rules.  If One of these guys drops the other one, I believe they are allowed to use knees or kicks to a grounded opponent.

Dana White Wanting to Sign Fedor vs Brock Lesnar?

Dana White recently asked for fans to make a thread about if they want to see Fedor vs Brock Lesnar. Do you think he was just bored and trolling or is he willing to try and make this happen since ratings haven’t been so hot lately? Both Fedor and Lesnar have retired from MMA but it would be a huge fight and a huge payday for both men.

Anderson Silva: I’ll Be Rooting for Vitor Belfort Against Jon Jones at UFC 152

Quotes from Anderson Silva on Jones vs Belfort:

“It’s difficult, because Jon Jones has a larger-than-normal wingspan and he’s still very young, He’s still in the phase where he’s playing during the fight, really, but he doesn’t have the responsibility of a champion.  He fights with delight, jokingly, striking like I did back in 1930, when I started, Vitor has a great chance to defeat him. The biggest factor for Vitor is to use his explosiveness and his jiu-jitsu, where he is very good. But I think when one of them makes a mistake, the other will end up striking.”

“As a Brazilian, I’ll be rooting for the Brazilian, even though I have a very good friendship with Jon Jones, Whenever I’m with him, I ask him to conduct his career in a different way, because he is very young and is always asking me something. But I’ll be rooting for Brazil, yes. May the best man win, but I’m rooting for Brazil.”

“We’re in different weight classes and there are teammates from Team Nogueira who may face him, we have a code of conduct in our team, and I respect that a lot.”

I wonder if any of this will be enough to make Jon Jones want to fight Anderson now?  Or if Machida loses to Jones again if Anderson would fight him?  It’s a fight people want to see and there is nothing for Anderson at 185lbs anyway.

Gracie Breakdown: Breaking the Lock Down 101

I love all of the videos from these guys!

100 Push Up Challenge Part 5: Week 5

If you have not read Part 4 yet, you can find it here:  http://ironfitnessonline.com/?p=95

If you completed 31-35 Push ups, follow Rank 1 below.

If you completed 36-40 Push ups, follow Rank 2 below.

If you completed more than 40 Push ups, follow Rank 3 below.

If you completed less than 30 Push ups, repeat week 4.

Rank 1  (31 – 35 push ups)
Day 1:  17/19/15/15/20  (last set to failure, do at least 20)
Day 2:  10/10/13/13/10/10/9/25  (last set to failure, do at least 25)
Day 3:  13/13/15/15/12/12/10/30 (last set to failure, do at least 30)

Rank 2 (36 – 40 push ups)
Day 1:  28/35/25/22/35 (last set to failure, do at least 35)
Day 2: 18/18/20/20/14/14/16/40 (last set to failure, do at least 40)
Day 3:  18/18/20/20/17/17/20/45 (last set to failure, do at least 45)

Rank 3 (Over 40 push ups)
Day 1:  36/40/30/24/40 (last set to failure, do at least 40)
Day 2:  19/19/22/22/18/18/22/45  (last set to failure, do at least 45)
Day 3:  20/20/24/24/20/20/22/50 (last set to failure, do at least 50)

Rulon Gardner Admits He Turned Down Big Bucks to Fight Fedor

It would have been cool to see Fedor fight Rulon Gardner, both are such respectful honorable guys. Fedor has already beat several Olympic medal winners, it would have been interesting. People think the purses from the UFC are big, the UFC is small time, even now. Pride offered Rulon Gardner 1 million to fight Fedor almost a decade ago.

Tim Sylvia on Arlovski and 3 Fight Deal with One FC

I’m not sure why Tim Sylvia is so obsessed with getting back in the UFC.  If these fighters would realize that they are what’s important, not the organization.  Just go out, fight and win and constantly improve.  In boxing you don’t go to see Don King promotions, you go to see Mike Tyson or Roy Jones Jr.  MMA are just so brainwashed these days they go to see a promotion half the time.

If Frank Mir hadn’t of worked out for Daniel Cormier, at least Sylvia would have been a name guy for him to fight, even if he is past his prime.

New Workout Program: Day 2

If you haven’t read Day 1 yet, you can find it here:  http://ironfitnessonline.com/?p=139

Resistance Training:

Back & Traps

Pull ups (these are done on the total gym, so I am only using about 50% of my body weight, meaning I can do way more than normal).

Reps  12/15/10/10/15/10

Back Row -3 sets, reps 25,20,20 (I will be increasing the weight next time)

Shoulder Shrugs 3 sets, reps 20 (I will be increasing the reps on this exercise as well and will be aiming for the 8-12 range)

Cardio

This cardio routine I will be alternating in with my caveman training.  I did 3 rounds of 5 minutes each, working various combinations and strategies on my heavy bag.  I love this training because it not only gets you into shape, but it’s very sport specific and develops punching power and technique.  This almost doesn’t even feel like exercise as it goes by so quickly.  My goal will be to work up to 5 rounds.

I also had a 10 minute stretching session in between my resistance training and cardio.

ELO MMA Heavyweight Rankings

Top 10 (The number beside their names is how many points they currently have)


1. Fedor Emelianenko  2149

2. Junior dos Santos  2143

3. Alistair Overeem  2097

4. Josh Barnett  2076

5. Fabricio Werdum  2074

6. Daniel Cormier  2067

7. Cain Velasquez  2046

8. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira  2001

9. Frank Mir  1982

10. Antonio Silva  1971

Why use ELO MMA Rankings? http://cinemakingdom.com/?p=256

New Workout Program: Day 1

I just got back from vacation yesterday.  After taking a week off and resting up, I am ready to get back to it but I am pretty burnt out on my previous program so I changed everything up today.  I’ll be posting my new workouts each day I do them for anyone who also wants to try it.

My slow weightlifting cycle is over.  Now I am going back to regular speed and cutting my exercises way down.  I just don’t feel much like lifting weights right now so I am sticking with a short, simple program.  But just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy.  Each week I will increase my reps or weight.  This is merely the beginning.  Today my resistance training looked like this:

Chest & Triceps

Push Ups -5 sets (I used push up handles for an increased range of motion, which makes push ups much harder).

Reps 16/21/15/15/21 (max out)

Bicep Curls -3 sets, 20 reps each (I am going to increase my weight a lot next time, this first workout was just experimenting to see how much I could do)

Hammer Curls -3 sets, 10 reps

That’s it!  It may not sound hard but all of those push ups were pretty rough!  I set a timer to make sure I finished everything in 25 minutes or less.

I enjoyed it.  After lifting weight slowly for the last few months it was nice to move at normal speed again.  I did way more reps this way and it definitely helped cure my boredom.  Not doing as much resistance training helped as well since I was becoming tired of it.

Cardio

I started my new cardio program today as well.  I am doing what is called caveman training.  I am starting with 3 rounds of 5 minutes each (with the goal of doing 5 rounds of 5 minutes each eventually).  You just move from exercise to exercise for the whole 5 minute round without stopping (or doing the best you can to not stop, it’s rough!).

I barely made it through my 3 rounds.  I did a mix of kettlebells, hitting my punching bag, MMA drills, and Ground & Pound on a Heavy Bag for each round.  For an example of what a caveman program can look like just check out this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcznQd5cu0g

I feel great and it was a nice change of pace.  I also worked in 10 minutes of stretching.  The workout ran for a total of 50 minutes (and once I add two more rounds of caveman training down the road it will take an hour).  Looking forward to the next one!  Let me know how your workouts are going!

UFC 151 Canceled

UFC 151 has been canceled. Pretty crazy news considering the UFC has never canceled a show before and then just completely skipped that numbered event altogether.  Zuffa has said this will be a "lost show" and they will move on to UFC 152 next time (probably because they would have to change all the commercials and posters for several events).  They tried to save the event by giving Jon Jones a fight against Chael Sonnen but Jones turned it down.  He later accepted a fight against Vitor Belfort on a different card.

Dana White blamed the cancellation on Jones and Jones' coach, Greg Jackson, who advised him that accepting the fight with Sonnen would be the "biggest mistake of [his] entire career."  The biggest problem with the canceled event, and one Sonnen called Jones out on, was that now all of the other fighters on that card trained for nothing.  All of their fights will have to be rescheduled and they will miss out on their paycheck the lower level guys need to survive.  I think Jones should have stepped up and fought Sonnen to save the card.

Street Jiu-Jitsu vs. Sport Jiu-Jitsu

They make a lot of great points. This video is definitely worth a watch. This is probably one of the reasons a professional fighter like Frank Mir tends to get pounded out whenever someone on top of him punches him. It's like he doesn't know how to react to it or deal with it and he comes from a sport Jiu-Jitsu background.