Monday, November 30, 2009


Insanity-P90X-P90X+-One on One-Hybrid Workouts | Week 1
P90X Chest & Back
X-­1-­sane 30 Week Beachbody Hybrid Calendar


Two weeks off. Long time coming. Many rounds of P90X. A P90X+. ChaLEAN Extreme. Insanity. All behind me. I've experienced all the workouts, found some too easy, some just right. All fat-burning and body-shaping in their own way.

With all that experience behind me, it's time to combine the best of the best into a fat burning, muscle-building hybrid Frankenstein monster known as my X-1-sane BeachBody Hybrid (view it/print it). That's a mashup of P90X/P90X+, One on One with Tony Horton, and Insanity.

Basically, following the cadence of the programs, but slot new and different routines in the cardio/lifting slots. Mix and match. Keep the tempo high, the breaks in place every three weeks of craziness, and kick it up a notch by adding a serious Sat. workout with a recovery on Sunday. You'll get the hang of it. And so will I.

Day 1 of my 39th year on the planet today. Feeling solid, recovered from two earned weeks away, and ready to shake and bake the next 30 weeks on my own program to keep things interesting and my body changing.

Click the links above every week or so to be sure you benefit from any updates/tweaks I make. I'm sure I will.

Hope you and yours had an awesome Thanksgiving. Here's to a solid end to 2009, and a very, very productive 2010. Do you have what it takes to get into the best shape of your life?

Sure you do. Follow along, be brave, and break through.



Sunday, November 22, 2009

Ignorance is Bliss:
Plain Supporters Speak Out




If Palin is a reflection of the "real America," I'm sorry -- this train wreck of a political party known as the GOP is about to hit the brick wall of ignorance/karma.

I don't want a Joe or Jane Six Pack to run this great country of ours. I want someone with an education, a broad and deep understanding of the complex issues before us, someone with tact and a willingness to listen, someone who can speak on his/her feet and be understood and intelligent, on and on.

Palin? None of the above.

Add this this a very scary trend: A new slogan has began appearing on bumper stickers, reading, "Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8."

That psalm reads, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."

Conservatives/critics now openly praying for our elected President to die? At the least, shameful. At the worst, treason. And when we as a people, mad about losing an election, turn to assassination, America is in danger of being lost.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009


Pigeon: Impossible Animated Movie


Workout Rest Week


Amazing to think I've done 7 rounds of P90X, one of ChaLean Extreme, one of P90X+, and recently, one full Insanity! rotation. That's a lot of pounding, and the results have been good. Great even.

Taking this week off to indulge in some WWII in HD action on History Channel, catch some extra Z's, work on some scouting items, then will hit it starting next Monday with a hybrid workout that will incorporate all of the above.

Wait for it.
It's going to be great.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Clean Eating Weekend @ Chez McLain

Recipe #1
Fig & Cranberry Stuffed Chicken Breast




25 Minutes Prep, 25-45 Mins Baking

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
4 med. shallots, diced/minced
1/3 cup unsweetened dried cranberries
1/3 cup dried figs, chopped small
4 cups baby spinach, packed
4 tbsp toasted pine nuts
2 tsp fresh sage, chopped
Sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
4 4oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Lemon

1. Pre-heat oven to 425F.

2. Heat 1 tsp oil in pan over med-hi heat. Add shallots, saute until soft, about 2 mins. Don't burn 'em. Add cranberries and figs, cook 1 min. Add spinach to pan, stir, cook until wilted, approx. 1 min. Stir in pine nuts and sage, add salt/pepper, cook 30 secs.

3. Pour contents of pan into a mixing bowl lined with paper towel(s) to absorb liquid. Set aside and allow to cool at room temp.

4. Lay 1 chicken breast on a cutting board, hold sharp knife parallel to cutting board, and slice 75% of the way through. Open up breast like a book.

5. Place breast opened up and flat between plastic wrap and gently pound to 1/2 inch thickness with rolling pin. Remove plastic wrap, repeat with other breasts.

6. In parchment-lined baking sheet, arrange each breast to the cut edges are closest to you. Divide up filling into each, and roll up each breast tightly, tuck in left and right sides slightly to enclose filling. Secure with toothpicks if needed.

7. Brush chicken with small amount of olive oil, sprinkle on salt/pepper, then squeeze lemon over all breasts. (Have filling left over? Place it around the breasts and cook with entire dish.)

8. Place pan in oven and roast for 15-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked to 165 degrees and filling is hot throughout. Insert meat therm. into the chicken in thickest part to test temps. Allow to cool 2 minutes, then slice each breast in half and serve immediately.



Recipe #2
Sweet Potato & Cinnamon Brownies




20 minutes Prep, 70 minutes Cook/Cool Overnight?

Ingredients @ Brownies:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweet. cocoa powder
1 tbsp cinnamon, ground
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 egg whites
Olive oil cooking spray

Ingredients @ Icing:
1/2 cup low-fat plain cream cheese
3 tbsp agave nectar
1 tbsp unsweet. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
1 tbsp water (optional)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.

2. Brownies: Combine flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a med. bowl and set aside. In a food processor, combine sweet potato, agave, oil, vanilla. Puree until combined and smooth.

3. Gradually mix wet ingredients into dry, until just combined. Don't over-mix.

4. In another bowl, wisk egg whites until fluffy. Usinf rubber spatula, fold into batter.

5. Spray sides of 9 X 9 X 2 baking pan with spray. Pour batter into this and place in oven. Bake for 16-25 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove pan, let cool for 30 mins to room temp.

6. Icing: In small bowl, combine cream cheese, agave, cocoa powder, cinnamon. Whisk until combined, adding 1 tbsp of water if it's hard to whisk. Cover, put in fridge until needed. (I put into a plastic sandwhich bag; cut corner to squeeze on later.)

7. Loosen brownie slab, turn onto cutting board or platter. Cut into 16ish pieces, wrap with plastic, chill. (Overnight?)

8. To serve, divide icing onto each piece and serve. Leftovers should be good for 2 days kept in a resealable container in the fridge.

Both -- amazing response from Deb and Will. Love it!
Will's Early NC 7th Birthday
LEGOs, friends, family, cake... Nice work Mom!














Friday, November 13, 2009


Insanity | Week 9
Mon: Max Interval Plyo (101%)
Tue: Max Interval Circuit (100%)
Wed: Max Interval Cardio (100%)
Thu: Rest (Body feeling "off" for sure.)
Fri: Max Interval Plyo (85%) (Still off!)
Nutrition/Eating Log


Monday: Back from a very busy AASL/ProQuest booth -- lots of librarians stopping by to learn more about our online learning and research tools, many long-time customers saying "thanks," and a good time was had by all in Charlotte, NC.

Had Will's early local birthday party yesterday in downtown Raleigh, good times -- LEGO party/store for the second grade/age 8 win. Pictures and more soon.

Rock your week, people! Bring it!

Tuesday: Blew out the circuit, all the moves, a few short extra breaks thrown in when I was maxed out. Still less than the young folks in the screen -- you know it.

After 9+ weeks of Insanity, I can honestly say that my breathing and heart rate are spiking in a very clean way. What I mean is... deep breaths, not a hint of wheezing or chest tightness at all -- ZERO -- and my muscles are now used to being maxed out, lightly rested between sets and moves, and I'm getting to the end of each interval program bathed in sweat, feeling solidly rocked, and able to recover pretty quickly.

Can't say enough good things about Insanity, Beachbody, or Shaun T.

This program works, and works YOU, in amazing ways that go well beyond P90X, P90X+, and Power 90 as a starter program. I think it's a MUST-add to any Beachbody lifelong workout plan.

My .02 cents -- if you're new and out of shape (like I was in 2006!) start with Power 90, level 1-2 for 30 days, then level 2-3 for 60. Then, take a week off, then do a P90X Classic 90-day program. Take a week off. Then hit Insanity for 60 days. Week off, then cycle back and add workouts from One on One with Tony Horton, P90X+, P90X, and Insanity together into your own free-form, lifelong plan:

Monday: P90X weight/resistance program
Tuesday: Insanity Interval program
Wednesday: P90X pull-up/heavy resistance
Thursday: P90X Yoga X
Friday: Insanity Interval program
Saturday: P90X+ Kenpo Plus OR Insanity Interval Program OR One on One w/TH Program
Sunday: REST or P90X Stretch X

Just a thought. Any thoughts/questions/feedback? Email me at timothymclain at yahoo.com. Anytime.


Insanity & P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X (is doing Insanity!) and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the P90 workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!




Full disclosure: My Neeny-given nickname as a kid was Tim Tam the Garbage Man...



Republicans, Democrats:
InfoGraphic of Both Political Parties

Saturday, November 07, 2009


At AASL, Charlotte, NC...

Be sure to stop by the ProQuest booth and say hello, plus check out our lineup of school-ready, standards-linked online teaching and learning tools. Back Saturday -- enjoy the rest of your week!

Insanity | Week 8
Fri: Max Cardio Circuit @ Hotel Room—AASL Charlotte Day 2
Sat: Rest & AASL Ends



And now for something completely different...

Thursday, November 05, 2009





Insanity | Week 8
Mon: Max Interval Circuit (80%)
Tue: Max Interval Plyo (95%)
Wed: Max Cardio Conditioning (102%) + Walk to School Wed./MOWING!
Thu: Max Cardio Recovery & Off to AASL—Charlotte
Nutrition/Eating Log


Lots to do this week, keeping things simple and direct. Workouts = great. Body changes = happening in earnest. Insanity = insanely great. Bring it this week, people.

Note from this weekend, had the chance to watch Battlestar Galactica: The Plan. It's basically a two-hour movie, tacked on to the 4-year series that aired on SciFi. Amazing show, award-winning writing, strong overtones of our post-9/11 world, terrorism, murder, all that.

Thinking back over The Plan, realized that there's a small scene that's a metaphor for the entire premise of the show, and the original.

A boy refugee, with no place to go, keeps popping up in the room of the ring-leader 1 Cylon on Galactica. (Basically, survivors are living on the ship -- survivors of the near-total destruction of the 12 Colonies of humans by their once-enslaved sentient robotic inventions (the Cylons), which fought back (think of the '70s version), then left, and returned 30 years later to nuke the colonies in revenge (this is where the new BSG picked up in 2004.) The Battlestar Galactica is the only remaining "battleship" of the fleet left, and the survivors, including stow-away now-humanoid-looking-Cylons, which have numbers instead of names. The 1's are leaders/many copies of each humanoid Cylon model.)

One day, this boy walks in, without a word, and innocently hands this Clyon 1 an apple to share.

To me, that's like Man/our race, as a child, with no understanding of what we were doing, handing the Cylons perfect AI, sentience. Life.

So the 1 cuts the apple in half, shares it, then... this 1 so coldly pays back this boy for his innocence. Our innocence.

The boy takes a bite, smiles, and the 1 takes the knife and slides it quickly, quietly into the boy's side, who's eyes go wide, then slumps to the bed. Dead.

The 1 brushes his lifeless body onto the floor, and returns to his reading. Cold. Murder.

Reading too much into it? Maybe. Thinking of the tree of knowledge, Garden of Eden stuff, and the Cylons were dead set on knocking us out of Eden. For sure. And we've been paying for that innocence/arrogance ever since.


Insanity & P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X (is doing Insanity!) and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the P90 workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!