Howdy,

Before we get to the fitness challenge there are a few items I want to bring to your attention this week.

The DMA Virtual Class schedule this week includes:
Tuesday – 6pm Boxing with Coach Tone
Wednesday – 6pm Mobility with Dr. Sam
Thursday – 6pm Boxing with Coach Tone
Saturday – 10am Yoga with Coach Cole (on Instagram)

Sam Shawa will email you all with the Zoom links so stay tuned.
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This week we’re cooking food and sharing it with the team. Yes, yes, we’re still exercising too. But we’re going to pivot our “fitness” challenge to include food and nutrition too. I have had several people ask for cooking and recipes themes, and if you’re anything like me you’re probably always thinking about food.

So let’s indulge. For the rest of the week the challenges will still, of course, include exercise but also cooking/nutrition content. Do I need to wax-poetic on food and its role in training? I hope not…you know I can….

I won’t though. Not now at least. But I am going to enjoy this week of food themes. I hope you do too.

These are obviously just suggestions. Below is a meal plan/recipe I prepare pretty often and I wanted to share it with the team in case anyone’s dining routine is getting stale. As long as you’re challenging yourself to eat healthy, maybe cook a bit more than usual I am happy. I hope you find this useful in some capacity.

Enjoy!
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Pork Tenderloin and Salad:

I like this meal for recovery and body composition (think modulating body fat stores because it’s fairly “low carb”). High protein, high nutritional content and very flavorful. If you’re simply crushing workouts throughout the week and need to add some additional carbohydrates into your meal I’d suggest you look at sweet potatoes as a nice addition. They have all the healthy carbs you need and they’re incredibly easy to prepare – buy two potatoes and throw them in the oven at 400 degrees for like 20 minutes ish. Otherwise, the meat and veggies combo we have here will help your muscles recover from the daily workouts and help you lean out while maintaining muscle composition.

Pork Tenderloin with a Maple/Jalapeno Marinade:
Ingredients:
-a 1-2lb (or more if you’re meal prepping) pork tenderloin
-1 medium sized jalapeno
-maple syrup (1/2 cup plus – you can go crazy here if you’d like)
-Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper (all to taste/preference)
Instructions:

***in advance of all this you are also encouraged to prepare the marinade in advance and soak the tenderloin with the syrup overnight or during the day before dinner time. This is optional.

1) rub the tenderloin with salt a pepper (to your liking). Heat up a skillet with butter (medium/high heat) and sear the tenderloin on all sides.
2) dice up the jalapeno (de-seed too unless you really like spice). In a small bowl add 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of maple syrup (approximate this based upon how much pork you’re actually preparing). Mix in the diced jalapeno, cayenne to preference (a 1/2 a teaspoon is probably safe) and black pepper (to preference).
3) Wrap the seared tenderloin in foil and pour the syrup/jalapeno mix over the tenderloin and warp the foil around it like a big burrito. Make sure foil is wrapped/sealed so the juices stay in the foil.
4) Set your over to 375 degrees for 18-21 minutes – depending on how you like your pork cooked. I like most of the meat I eat on the rarer side, but traditionally pork isn’t a meat you’ll cook too rare. That said, you do not want to overcook a tenderloin too – it will dry out quickly. You can always reheat your meat but can’t uncook it. Keep that in mind.
5) Once you pull it out of the oven, if you slice the tenderloin and see some slight discoloration that’s normal and okay. Keep the tenderloin wrapped in foil and let it cool for another 5-6 minutes – it will continue to cook.

The pork should be very juicy, sweet and a tad bit spicy with all of the natural flavors of the jalapeno. I like to take the residual juices in the foil I use and cover the pork with that stuff. It’s so good.

Beet & Goat Cheese Salad:
Ingredients:
– 1 can of sliced beets (or fresh if you’re fancy)
– crumbed goat cheese
– spring mix or spinach greens (or both)
– blueberries
– Dressing of your choice – Trader Joe’s has a nice greens/vinaigrette
Instructions:
Mix all of this stuff into a bowl. Then you’re done. Just eat it. Feel free to go crazy with the cheese, blueberries and the dressing. It’s a salad after all, just enjoy it. The real hero in this are the beets. Super food for training purposes. The whole thing is a psy-op to trick yourself into eating beets in abundance anyways!

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Today’s workout (yes we’re still training today folks):

We’re recycling an oldie but goodie. Flashback to the first workout we did during the quarantine.

5 Sets of:
10x reps KB Snatch – (10 for both arms – 20 total)
20 Push-ups
5 Turkish Getups (5 left, 5 right – 10 total)
5 handstand push-ups

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Do you have any recipes to share? Any nutrition tips? Now’s the time to share some knowledge and keep things interesting.

All the best.

Scott
District Martial Arts