What are some of best the non-training equipment essentials? I’ve got a few. First off is the Vitamix 5000 blender, probably the most important device in my kitchen. It can stir things slowly or pulverize whole fruit and ice cubes. A good food scale is also vital. I also love my skinfold calipers and my Tanita TBF-551 scale to keep track of my body composition. What else has been a help to you guys?
A George Foreman grill is hands-down the key to all my success:) Good call on the skin calipers. How about a computer? No T-Mag forum without it! Plus, I use Excel to build diets and training logs, and for to track progress. Also, tupperware, a cooler, and shaker bottles are absolute necessities. Obviously, most kitchen appliances (oven, refridgerator, etc.)go without saying…I also have a faithful dog who cleans up all the scraps that I give to her:)
MccCance and widdowsons composition of food 5th edition so that I know what I am sticking in my pie hole!
Over the 30 years I have been lifting, i have developed a gym kit. That is a bag that you take into the gym which contains tools and equipment to aid your work out. SOme of the items are chalk, various straps, wraps, a allen wench for loose dumbbells, etc.
Come to think of it this might be a good product for T-mag to market. How about Brock, Chris what do you think?
Best O’Luck
A cat of nine tails.
What?
The internet, my boyfriend (chef), my traveling “gym” (rubber band - the one with the handles, fitball, jump rope), FOOD, and our movie collection (for days when I don’t feel like working out - so I just plug in some martial arts flick, like Once Upon a Time in China, and I become inspired!) - and my artwork and our funny farm of birds and prairie dog. NOT necessarilly in that order. The art and funny farm remind me that there’s more to life than just working out.
who needs a bodyfat schale and calipers?If you are lean you are lean. I don’t need a scale or calipers to tell me i’m ripped.
A food scale and skin calipers aren’t T-man lifestlye-ish. They’re for insane people who are obsessed and have little else besides weighing their food and themselves. If I knew someone who actually used a food scale to weigh their food daily, I would beat him to a pulp. In my book, that’s taking it too far.
Ampule opener.
I agree with Jason’s and Eric’s thoughts. I use the heck out of blender. Also use blender to grind flax seed - works great. And a slow cooker (crock pot) to cook up batches of chicken breasts or a batch of beef veggy soup, etc. The crock pot is great time saver - quick to fill it with favorite items then come back later and its done. Always cook big enough batches to freeze or refrigerate leftovers to nuke for several future meals - saves future time by cooking many dinners at once and then always have something in freezer for emergencies, thereby never having to resort to junk meals. And the microwave is essential to heat the crock pot left overs or to cook oatmeal. And I agree with Eric - having a variety of small coolers or cold pack bags allows me to always rigidly stick to my current nutrirional plan whether it be cutting or bulking. I never go far without a cooler of nutritious snacks or meals - no fast food for me.
steve and Machine - I completely understand where you are coming from. Maybe you guys can get away without knowing what you are eating or without paying attention to body composition changes. Many of us and myself included cannot just eat and train and then grow the body that we desire. I have to pay attention to the details. It really doesn’t take that much time. It takes me less than 5 minutes a day to hop on my scale and note my body composition. Also, it only takes an extra few seconds to weigh my food and write them down in a food log. I understand that most people just want to look good. I want to look good also, but I have also been studying exercise physiology for a decade now and I love that I can do lots of experiments with a study population of one (myself).
Steve: You might not need them to tell you that you’re ripped, but they come in useful when you’re trying to evalutate whether a new training/diet program is working for you. It’s called tracking your progress.
And to Machine: Weighing out, say, a portion of pasta takes all of ten seconds. If you don't weigh your food (at least in the beginning, so that you learn how much 2 oz. or whatever is), how are you going to know what you're putting into your body? It's not insane, it's very sane. And it's a good thing that you don't know anyone who weighs their food - otherwise, you might get your ass handed to you on a (precisely calibrated) platter.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times…a lot of people can get away with doing a LOT of things and still reach their fitness goals. CONGRATUALTIONS!..dammit…
I ain’t one of 'em. I have to track my diet closely, follow by body closely…and yes…do those things that will maximize for me lean body weight gain, fat loss and cardiovascular fitness. I’m glad for all of you who don’t need scales, calipers, or cutting edge nutritional information. Do you think I like having to weigh food, adjust my diet based on weekly body composition measurements and being meticulous about macronutrient ingestion? Hey…I live with it because reaching and maintainng my fitness goals is paramount.
“Testosterone”, it’s contributors, and yes, the people on this Forum (for the most part!)are actually “partners” in a way in helping me reach those goals.
So…despite the smug sentiment of “people always did this or did that…or didn’t do this or didn’t do that” as a slight against new technology, knowledge and information, I hope that “Testosterone” and it’s contributors continue to offer me the latest and best information in a battle, which for me, is almost daily…
…and this ain’t a whine, baby! I WELCOME the daily struggle! Bring it ON!!!
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