Hey Folks,
Welcome back to Life Ingredients, the place where we take care of the whole person – spirit, mind, and body. Every edition is a reminder that real health isn’t about chasing perfection, but about building habits that make you stronger, more composed, and more capable of creating a life you love.
We start the way we always do- by moving. Now let’s get to work!
After last month’s leg day, and the lecture I gave you about never skipping it – I’m in a more… forgiving mood. You “ate your vegetables” so to speak, so yes, you may now have dessert. To put it more plainly: I’m sharing an upper-body workout that has no heart-pounding conditioning component.
This month, my trainer Steve is here with a plan that gives you plenty of work for every major muscle in the upper body: chest, back, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. I personally love this one, and the sleeve-busting pump I got from it.
Ladies, I don’t want to hear another word of worry about how you’ll get “too big” or some such. To get big muscles you need to train heavy over a period of many years and eat big (to say nothing of the vast hormonal differences that influence the size gap between men and women). So yes, you may do this workout without fear of looking like a bodybuilder. Click the video for a tutorial.
WORK OUT & SETS & REPS
Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press
4 x 10-12
Chest Supported Dumbbell Row
4 x 10-12
Cable Chest Fly
3 x 12-15
Seated Alternating DB Curl
3 x 10-12 each
Rope Tricep Pressdown
3 x 12-15
FINISHER
Band Pull-Aparts
2 x 20
Face Pulls
2 x 15
Big, bold fall flavors are on my mind until further notice, and as I combed through my recipe library, this one stuck out as one of the biggest and boldest I’ve ever created. It’s hearty, rich, cheesy, salty, and so comforting that after I saw this picture I knew I needed to make some tonight. And to pre-empt the most frequently asked question about this recipe: I know that bison meat is not that common and you may not have a butcher from whom you can request such things. That’s fine; ground pork is an acceptable substitute. Enjoy!
BISON RAGU
SERVES 4 – Cut or double recipe.
FOR THE BISON RAGU
¼ cup grapeseed oil
3 lbs ground bison (ground pork works as a substitute)
1 carrot, diced
1 white onion, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
1 tbsp ground fennel seed
2 tbsp tomato paste
½ cup red wine
3 cups beef stock
½ bunch thyme, picked and chopped
FOR THE PASTA
1 lb butternut squash, peeled and diced
3 lbs fresh pappardelle pasta
8 oz frozen English peas
3 tbsp butter
4 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
4 balls fresh buffalo mozzarella, halved
1 tbsp breadcrumbs
MAKE IT
FOR THE BISON RAGU
1) In a sauce pot over medium-high heat add grapeseed oil and bison. Use a wooden spoon to stir and break up the meat.
2) Add carrots, onions, and celery and allow to cook over medium heat for about 6 minutes.
3) Add ground fennel and tomato paste. Stir the tomato paste with a wooden spoon for about 3 minutes.
4) Deglaze the mixture with red wine. Cook for another 4 minutes.
5) Add beef stock and thyme. Allow to simmer for 25 minutes.
PASTA & PLATING
1) Pre-heat oven to 350.
2) Place the butternut squash on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper.
3) Place the butternut squash in the oven. Allow to cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until butternut squash is cooked through.
4) Place a medium sauce pot on the stove filled to the top with seasoned water. Bring the water to a boil.
5) In a sauté pan over medium-high heat add butternut squash English peas and butter. Sauté lightly.
6) Add Ragu to the butternut squash and English peas.
7) Place the fresh pappardelle pasta in the boiling water and cook for about 2 minutes or until the pasta is al dente.
8) Place the pasta into the bison ragu. Cook for another 2 minutes.
9) Place the pasta in a large serving bowl. Garnish the pasta with Parmesan cheese, buffalo mozzarella, and breadcrumbs.
October is special for so many reasons it’s hard to know where to start. I guess the obvious thing is the weather: from the cool and cozy hooded-sweatshirt temps in the north to the comfortably mild break from the sweltering heat in the south. Then there’s the unbridled fun of a low-stakes holiday (Never heard anyone say they were dreading seeing their in-laws on Halloween! Take that, Thanksgiving and Christmas!), and don’t even get me started on comfort food (see above section).
Lastly, there are the sports. October is the only month out of the 12 where you get all four major American sports—MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA—in action at the same time. For a sports nut like me, it’s a ton of fun.
But even those of you who derisively call it all “sportsball” should keep reading. Because as I was watching the baseball playoffs over the past couple of weeks, I was filled with such deep admiration for the competitors. The collective years of preparation and staggering workload that all those men undertook to bring them to that moment is almost incalculable. It doesn’t just create a high-quality on-field product, but some of the greatest human drama you could ever witness.
So as the HD camera lens bores into the pupils of a player whose whole life has led him to this one chance in the batter’s box with the hopes and dreams of his teammates, coaches, family—indeed his whole city—riding on his shoulders, it’s impossible not to think, “How does he do it?”
And I don’t mean hit the ball. I mean: How does he block out all that noise? How, in the face of unfathomable pressure and tens of thousands of screaming fans, is he able to bear down and focus on the job at hand?
For a baseball player, his opponents, the umpires, the crowd, and the millions watching at home are all outside of his locus of control. When he stands in the box, his locus of control is focusing on the pitch, and swinging or not swinging. That’s it. Of course this is easier said than done, but it’s a high-profile example of a concept that every one of us would do well to take to heart for the sake of our mental health.
On a busy TV set my locus of control is really just two things: 1) How much I’m helping the effort with my own hands—pitching in with the renovation, demonstrating a cooking technique, etc. and 2) My own behavior towards others, which includes my ability to calmly articulate the mission, delegate responsibilities as necessary, and judge the quality and progress of everything that’s happening. Let me tell you: Number 2 is a whole lot easier to do when I have the humility to acknowledge that everyone else’s behavior is outside of my locus of control. All I can do is stay calm and try to lead by example. After that, people will follow or they won’t. If you’ve chosen the people around you well, then they will follow.
Think now about your own locus of control. What is within it? Other drivers on the highway during your morning commute? How your boss chooses to speak to you? The work ethics of your colleagues? You already know the answer to all these. It’s a big, fat nope. You control the work you do with your own hands, how you treat others, and most importantly: how you react to those things outside of your locus of control.
It’s interesting to talk to people about this concept and see their reactions. Some people are initially disheartened when it dawns on them how very little is within their locus of control and how the vast majority of human experience involves things outside of that locus. For my part, the concept has totally set me free. Any job, any goal, any problem, all of it becomes so much smaller and more manageable when you place the varying components in their appropriate place: inside or outside of your own locus of control.
When you accept the truth of this, it’s totally liberating, and sets you free to go be the very best version of yourself: whether that’s mashing home runs in front of millions of people or just showing up and being present with your family.
I don’t know what the future holds for you. No one does. But if you can concentrate on what’s really matters to you—and focus solely on those aspects that you can control—then I know you’ve got this.
Until next time, remember the words I live by:
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.
