Next Evolution Athletics

How is your morning going?

30 mins with a 35 lbs weight vest.

Simple. Not easy.

Are you training today?

Over the years I’ve realized that designing a meal is like designing a training session.

✅ What is the intent of the meal? (usually performance)
✅ Hydrate (warm up)
✅ Priority lifts first (usually protein).
✅ Finish off with accessories (carbs & fat).

Simple. Not easy.

Are you doing all the right things in your training but just aren’t seeing the results?

Maybe it’s not your training program, but your nutrition.

Center your meals around your training goals to maximize results.

Is nutrition a focus I. Your training program?

Over the last few years one of my favourite fruits (yes I said fruit) has been the tomato. Before I started growing a lot of my own food I thought there was about 4 kinds of tomatoes. There are thousands. Each has a unique flavour and texture combination.

The water content of tomatoes is around 95%. The other 5% consists mainly of carbohydrates and fiber.

Carbs
Carbs comprise 4% of raw tomatoes.
Simple sugars, such as glucose and fructose, make up almost 70% of the carb content.

Fiber
Tomatoes are a good source of fiber, providing about 1.5 grams per average-sized tomato.
Most of the fibers (87%) in tomatoes are insoluble, in the form of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin.

Add these delicious edibles to your diet daily for numerous health and performance benefits.

Remember health can never be divorced from strength.

Potatoes are a misunderstood vegetable. Many people think that they are just a source of “empty carbs”.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Potatoes are filled with vitamins and minerals. Vitamin C, Iron and Potassium to name a few.

They also have lots of fibre and are satiating. These make them ideal for weight loss programs.

There are many varieties of potatoes each with its own set of unique flavours and attributes. These are called Red Pontiac’s. I grew these in the “Next Evolution Homestead” this summer.

Stayed tuned for upcoming nutrition information on the health and performance benefits of the food we grow.

I’m so proud of all of the athletes that competed last weekend at

I’m especially proud of these folks.

Lynn had the best meet of her life with 2 lifetime PRs and went 9/9.

barbellgirl2222 hit a National Record in the Bench Press. And posted some decent training numbers in this last block.

had an adventurous start start in her squat. Battled back and killed it. A misload on her bench then hit a platform PR; and finally another Platform PR on her Dead.

hit national records in the Strict Curl, Military Press and Deadlift.

All in all it was a great day and everyone did amazing.

Thank you for another great meet and all the spotters, loaders, judges, volunteers and spectators. You make every meet special.

💥ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT💥

We had a lot of fun at last weekend’s Next Evolution Community Kettlebell Swing Challenge.

A lot of people did exceptionally well and had a ton of fun.

One of the big winners was our elder statesmen Stan Swacha. Not only did he PR his volume of swings; He received the final award from Next Evolution Athletics in the form of the Kaizen Award.

For those of you that don’t know Next Evolution Athletics focuses on development not just in the gym or field but also in character development and self improvement in life.

We nominate and award people for the continued development of themselves.

In order to recieve the Kaizen Award you must first be awarded for several mastering characteristics.

Community
Hard Work
Able/Ability
Master the Process
Perserverance

Upon receiving your final award, which we recognize by giving out wrist bands you then recieve the Kaizen Award, (which is loosely translated to “continuous improvement” from Japanese), you then sign our Legacy Helmet.

Congratulations Stan. Your years of hard work has been recognized by your peers! To date only 3 people have received the Next Evolution Kaizen Award.

Who’s next?

New swag!

We got some sweet new hats.

What do you think?

Breakfast Bowl

This is a great breakfast bowl that I’ve been having lately with a killer macro breakdown

4 eggs
4.5 oz extra lean ground beef
2.5 oz hash browns
1 pcs of sour dough bread

Add some veggies like tomatoes, onions, peppers and some Everything Bagel Seasoning and it’s a winner all day.

Protein = 65 gs
Carbs = 30 gs
Fat = 32 gs

Enjoy.

💥ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT💥

This one is long overdue.

has been working with us for almost 2 years now and all the hard work has paid off.

He is now a fully committed and scholarship athlete for U of C Dinos Men’s Football starting this Fall.

Great work buddy. These last few years of hard work and consistency and starting pay off. I’m proud of you. Keep up the strong work.

Let’s GOOOOO!!!

Getting back into it.

Im working on creating a few different programs and testing a few different loading methods in the first part of this year.

Today was a combination of barbell and kettlebells complexes. What a time to be alive.

People look for a perfect program.

The one that gets you bigger, stronger, faster, leaner. Everything.

This isn’t Lord of the Rings.

There is no “one program to rule them all.”

An outstanding weekend for

Two hard fought games for the Black squad and one for the Red. All solid, well earned victories.

Thank you for one of the best final matches I’ve ever seen.

is onward to Nationals.

💥💥ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT💥💥

Ryan Yuen worked with us this off season in preparation for the upcoming rugby season.

Even though he was heading out east and not playing for we didn’t hold it against him.

Rynado came in and put in the work and now it’s paying off. He’s playing for McGill University and we are looking forward to hopefully seeing him in national’s this year.

Great work this summer and better luck this upcoming season.

Eggs and Toast

Though it’s not a typical post workout meal. It can be. This is a staple in my diet and can almost be placed anywhere in my nutrition plan.

Eggs are high in protein and healthy fat and are loaded with vitamins and minerals like selenium (help makes DNA and protects against cell damage); phosphorus (great for formation of bones and teeth); choline (helps regulate mood, muscle control and other functions); vitamin b12 (improved memory, boosts energy and helps prevent heart disease) and multiple antioxidants.

Whole wheat toast also numerous health benefits. It helps lower blood pressure, reduce gum disease and can strengthen the immune system.

I will usually add some vegetables like peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc.

Use your creativity. Try and add a mix of vegetables and spices to your eggs. Your imagination will help keep this amazing combination interesting.

What is your favourite egg combo? Comment below.

Swiss chard is an excellent source of vitamin A and vitamin K and a good source of vitamin C and magnesium. Swiss chard also contains the antioxidants beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin. Vitamin A plays a significant role in normal formation and maintenance of many organs including the heart, lungs and kidneys.

This should be a staple in any athletic diet.

What’s your favourite leafy green? Comment below.

Happy Thanksgiving All!

I hope you have a great weekend feasting on Turkey and pie and enjoying time with family friends.

One of my favourite post workout meals is simply a Beef and Rice Mash.

This super simple and easy meal is delicious and packed with everything you need for a solid recovery.

High protein, quick absorbing carbs and a ton of minerals. It’s hard to go wrong with this one. I use extra lean ground beef for my post workout meal meal for fast absorption of nutrients.

What are your favourite post workout meals?

Comment below.

Got water?

Millennials will get the sad attempt at the old “Got Milk?” advertisements with Doug Gilmore in the 90’s.

But in all seriousness are you drinking enough water?

In a world filled with fad diets, quick fixes and supplements water is often a forgotten about game changer when it comes to performance goals.

Dehydration is death of any athlete, sometimes literally. A small amount of dehydration (0.5-4%) can lead to increase in heart stress, decreased in aerobic performance and muscular endurance as well as reduced muscular strength and motor control as well as increases in cramping.

After that it starts to get nasty. Heat exhaustion, fatigue, mental capacity, heat stroke, coma and yes, even death.

When it comes to your performance health stop focusing on the minors and start playing in the majors. Get adequate hydration and watch the performance improvements.

Are you getting enough water? DM for tricks on how to increase water intake.

Have a plan

Discipline is an important skill to learn but it works much better if you have a goal and a plan to execute.

If your goal is to train 7 days a week or make a million dollars I guarantee that you are more successful with a well thought out strategy. Just hoping it will all come together isn’t enough. You need to spend time and create a process that will improve your chances of success.

One of my life goals is to consistently train for the longterm. I have adapted my training strategies and methods to create a better chance of success for a lifetime of training goals.

Are you disciplined enough to have challenging goals and plan to implement to improve your success? Comment below.

Discipline

Discipline is an important skill to learn. Many people believe that you have to be born with it.

This is simply not true.

It is true that many people have a much easier time being disciplined than others. That does not mean that you can not learn to be more disciplined.

Like most skills it requires a lot of work with a steep learning curve for many. I believe that everybody (yes, I mean EVERYBODY) can learn it if they want too.

If you have trouble with this skill, start with small tasks.

Want to get up an hour earlier? Start by waking up 15 minutes earlier.

Want to lose 30 lbs? Build the skills that get you to lose 5 lbs and then build on that success.

This month I’ve decided to take on the challenge of no caffeine for the month of October.

Do you think I have the skills to do it? Comment below.

💥💥Athlete Spotlight💥💥

It’s the end of an era.

Maddi has been training with us for us for a long time.

She started working with me at 12 and continued all the way through until she graduated from Western University where she played Field Hockey for them and was their captain.

She is moving to Toronto and had her last session on Saturday where she had a partner workout. Maddi and Syd edged out a victory over Stan and Carson. It was a great ending to her training here.

Good luck in the next part of your journey Mad Dog. We will miss you.

Nutrition is an important part of performance. Whether your goals are to squat more, run faster or lean out. It plays a large part in your success.

Many people think that food is strictly fuel and a calorie is just a calorie. While they aren’t wrong there is more to your food than just being a calorie.

Micronutrients play a large role in our metabolic function. Being deficient in one can lead to issues elsewhere. Understanding the value and quality of our food can go a long way in your health and performance.

Tomatoes are high in vitamins.
Tomatoes are high in vitamin C, vitamin A (which supports immunity, vision, and skin health) and vitamin K (which is good for your bones). Tomatoes also provide potassium, a key nutrient for heart function, muscle contractions, and maintaining healthy blood pressure and fluid balance.

They protect your heart health.
Tomatoes contain an antioxidant called lycopene (which also gives them their red color). Studies have shown that higher blood levels of lycopene are linked to lower death rates among people with metabolic syndrome (a cluster of risk factors that raise the chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, and stroke).

They support healthy vision.
Lycopene is good for your eyes too. Other vision-protective nutrients like lutein and beta carotene are found in tomatoes as well. These nutrients support vision and protect against other eye conditions such as cataracts and macular degeneration as well.

These are just a few of the benefits from tomatoes. It may not be a superfood but it’s a food that will help make you super.

Are you going to add some tomatoes to your diet? Comment below. If not, what’s one food that you use to improve your health and performance?

Such a simple concept but often overlooked.

Improvise, adapt, overcome.

It’s a motto I saw in a military movie.
It’s an incredibly powerful mindset to build.

Having the ability to improvise in a less than optimal situation, adapt to the environment and overcome the obstacles that are presented to your goals will make you more successful in achieving them.

There will never be a perfect time, situation or scenario that will allow you to completely focus and be successful at your goals. Learning this mindset will allow you to work around and with the situation.

Try and keep this in when your stuck in trying to achieve your goals.

Tag a friend who might need to see this.

Post Workout Shake

I love my post workout shake. Depending on what my goals are my shakes can vary. My current goals are fuelling myself for BJJ, strength training and keeping up with my daughter.

This shake is designed to keep me fuller for longer while keeping the calories a little lower.

Oatmeal PB Shake

1/3 cup of oats
1 tbs chia seeds
1 scoop of PB2
1 scoop MRE Oatmeal Cookie protein powder
5 mgs Creatine
1 tsp Nescafé decaf instant coffee
Pinch of cinnamon powder
Ice and water to desired consistency

It’s delicious. Give it a try.

If you have any nutrition and training questions, DM me.

Enjoy.

Breakfast Bowl

Ask and you shall receive. Here is yesterday’s delicious recipe.

Hash brown Pattie’s x7
Ground Beef (Italians Seasoning) x2 oz.
Eggs x4
Mixed Veggies (tomatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms)
Everything Bagel Spice
Valentina’s Hot Sauce

Enjoy!

Are you going to give this a try and how would you modify it? Comment below.

Meditation is an excellent form of recovery.

People don’t often equate meditation as a recovery tool.

They see it as people trying to find “inner peace” or they hear about reaching a “higher plane.”

The fact is meditation is a great recovery tool. It can be used to allow the body from the stressors of training and life.

Being an athlete isn’t easy. You’re constantly pulled into situations where you have to decide whether to hang out with friends or meal prep? Do you have time to sleep an extra hour or get to the gym before work? All of these daily stressors can take a physical and mental toll on the body. Meditation is a way to calm the stress of your mind and create better focus.

Having better focus in athletics can be the difference winning and losing. It could be the missing piece of your game.

💥Athlete Spotlight💥

Im very proud to say our boy .05 has officially played his first game with the Kelowna Rockets.

Jackson has been training with us for years and all his consistency, focus, effort and patience have paid off. He put the work in on and off the ice even through the ups and downs of the last 2 years.

It hasn’t been an easy road but the road to success often isn’t.

Great work bud. I look forward to seeing your continued success on and off the ice.

In the words of the immortal Red Green. “Keep your stick on the ice.”

How do you recover?

Recovery is often overlooked in athletic training.

Athletes and high performing individual typically have an “On Switch” that’s broken. It’s really hard to turn it off.

We love being on the field.

We love being in the gym and under a barbell.

We love to “go.”

We are bad at “slow.”

What most people don’t realize is that the practice, the training, the “go” portion is the stimulation of the process. The gains or progress from this occurs in the “slow” portion of the process.

We need to also have periods where we are slowing down and allowing to recovery occur.

I prefer methods of recovery that allow me to move forward in different way. Reading, yoga, family time. These things allow me to progress other parts of my training by allowing me to physically and mentally recover.

What are your favourite recovery methods? Comment below.

What’s your pre-workout meal?

Mine can vary depending on when I train.

Today it’s

4 eggs
2 pieces of toast
Mixed veggies
Mushrooms
And coffee

It’s about 800 calories and about 32 gs of protein. I’ll have it about 3 hours before training BJJ today.

What’s your favourite pre-workout meal?