Author: Bashir Murtaza

I'm Bashir and I'm the CEO of Blob Technology and founder of Blob Fitness. With experience in weight lifting, nutrition, and training others for 10+ years, I'm trying to help provide as much content and tools I can to help you along your fitness journey and learn as much as possible.

Complete Jocko Krill Oil Review

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

In this Jocko Krill Oil Review, we cover the product exported by Origin Maine, a company dedicated to releasing innovative essentials in the market. Their Jocko Fuel department handles the production of Jocko Krill Oil, along with other supplements that aid in muscle development, improving strength and performance, faster recovery, and numerous other benefits.

Unfortunately, most foods today lack the nutritional value they once held. This is due to the use of hormonal injections on animals that rob them of their nutrition power. For this reason, it becomes integral to fulfill your body’s nutritive demands through dietary supplements.

One such supplement is Jocko Krill Oil. These capsules are made of oil extracted from the Krill fish found far in the ocean. Krill oil is abundant in omega-3 fatty acids that play a vital role in improved brain and heart health. 

Are you looking for a Krill Oil brand and wondering if Jocko Fuel is worthwhile? Here is a Jocko Krill Oil Review that can help you decide.

To learn more about Origin Maine, check out our Jocko Molk Review.

Product Benefits

Jocko Krill Oil contains astaxanthin, an anti-inflammatory antioxidant that assists in cell protection and improving functions of the immune system. Krill oil is also a significant health and performance booster for people with joint pain, depression, anxiety, and other health-related concerns. With the product benefits covered, let’s dig deeper into the Jocko Krill Oil Review and look at the aspects that enable these advantages.

Nutrition (5/5)

Serving size 

2 softgels

Servings per container

30

Total Omega 3

300mg

EPA

120mg

DHA

80mg

Phospholipids

200mg

Astaxanthin

200 mcg

Krill Omega Oil

1g

 

jock-krill-oil-review-nutritionJocko Krill Oil is extracted from freshly caught Antarctic Krill that contain Omega-3 fatty acid components such as EPA and DHA, with an ideal ratio between the two. All ingredients in the Krill Oil are 100% pure without added sugar. Jocko Krill Oil is soy free and has a nut-free ingredient list.

Taste (5/5)

One of the greatest reservations people have against fish oil supplements is the unpleasant fishy aftertaste or smell that stays behind after consuming them. However, this Jocko Krill Oil Review testifies against that claim. The Jocko Krill Oil soft gels have a sweet underlying flavor that tastes almost like candy when compared to other krill oil products on the market. Even better, there are no hints of actual fishy taste either.

Effectiveness (5/5)

I have been a Jocko Krill Oil user for some time now due to joint injuries. Within a week of regularly consuming these softgels, the pains resulting from the injury started to subside entirely. This phenomenon could be labeled as the placebo effect. Still, every time I consume these softgels, the joint pains cease to exist.

Price (3/5)

The only issue with this product in this Jocko Krill Oil Review is its price point. The average cost per serving comes at $0.40, which is abnormal pricing compared to other products of the same kind sold at $0.1-$0.2 per serving. If you favor pure American brands over others, then Jocko Krill Oil’s price won’t be an obstacle for you.

Size

Jocko Krill Oil is a very sufficient sized pill. With it’s coating, it is very easy to swallow, even for those who struggle to do so.

Here is a size comparison with Advil:

jock-krill-oil-review-comparison

Jocko Krill Oil Review Final Thoughts

I want to conclude this Jocko Krill Oil Review with my final thoughts on the product. Overall, Jocko Krill Oil is a serviceable  addition to your stack of health supplements. It can help alleviate aches and pains instantly and is beneficial for your health, especially if your fish intake is low. Although it is a bit pricey, its market-winning taste makes it a worthwhile purchase.

You can purchase Jocko Krill Oil on Amazon or on the Origin Maine site.

If you’re looking for a new protein, check out the Jocko Molk Review. 

Everyone likes some extra energy for their workouts! Check out the review of Outwork Nutrition Pre Workout.

Note: All Amazon links are afflicted links.

jocko-krill-oil-review-score

Definitive Legion Whey Isolate Protein Review

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

In this Legion Whey Isolate Protein Review, we will be going over the product from Legion. The evaluation of this product will be determined by the following categories

  • Nutrition
  • Taste
  • Mixability
  • Price

Proteins are essential compounds your body requires to assist with muscle repair. They improve muscle strength and curb hunger to prevent binge eating. Protein’s numerous benefits make them a valuable addition to any good diet. That all led up to the release of innumerable dietary supplements called protein powders.

While the market is flooded with different protein powders, each providing various perks, our topic of discussion today revolves around Legion Whey+ Whey Isolate Protein Powder (Salted Caramel).

Before getting into the Legion Whey Isolate Protein Health Fitness Review, let’s get familiar with the specifics of the brand behind the elixir.

About the Company

Legion has established itself as a strong foothold in the supplement industry. Their product catalog includes protein powders, multivitamins, pre, and post-workout supplements, etc., Each of their product lines has a diverse range of options available. When it comes to protein powders, Whey Protein is Legion’s best-seller.

A significant contributor to the high demand is Legion’s whey isolate formula. It boasts the use of 100% natural ingredients.

Furthermore, it is naturally sweetened and contains slight traces of carbohydrates (2g) while lactose-free. Each serving of this protein powder carries 22 grams with 2g of fat and no added sugar.

It’s made from non-GMO, high-quality milk sourced from sustainable dairy farms. This guarantees the use of natural, healthy, and clean ingredients in manufacturing Legion Whey+ Whey Isolate Protein Powder.

Let’s now delve into the Legion Whey Isolate Protein Health Fitness Review so you can judge whether this protein powder is worth the hype!

Nutrition (5/5)

In this Legion Whey Isolate Protein Review, we’ll also be breaking down the nutrition for this product. 

Serving Size

30.92g

Servings per container

30

Calories

120

Total fat

2g

Saturated Fat

0g

Trans fat

0g

Cholesterol

0mg

Sodium

180mg

Total Carbohydrates

2g

Dietary Fiber

0g

Total Sugar

1g

Protein

22g

Calcium

142mg

Potassium

160mg

legion-whey-isolate-protein-review-nutrition-facts

All natural ingredients with no added filler or unnecessary constituents.

Taste (5/5)

The Salted Caramel flavor holds a calcium and sodium presence of over 100 mg, which is the most significant win for this Legion Whey Protein Powder. If you’re wondering about the flavor’s credibility, Legion uses all-natural flavors that contain a low sugar concentration and no artificial sweeteners. The rich salted caramel taste is enriched when the powder is mixed with milk. This is definitely one of the best-tasting proteins on the market. 

Mixability (5/5)

Since Legion Whey Whey Isolate Protein Powder is made without lecithin; it does not clump when mixed with a liquid. So, whether you’re stirring or shaking the powder, it mixes very well, regardless of the process. Plenty of other proteins have issues with mixability, but this product is as good as you can get. 

Price (3/5)

If you’re looking from the standpoint of consuming grass-fed whey and the winning isolate formula, the price being as high as $59.99 may be justifiable. The Legion protein powder has a higher price point than its whey concentrate competitors. An example, the Jocko MOLK protein (read our review here) is at $44.99 at the time of writing this and also uses grass-fed protein. While they may not have a wide variety of flavors, you can surely get a more substantial amount of protein powder from other brands for a similar price.

Legion Whey Isolate Protein Review and Final Thoughts

This Legion Whey Isolate Protein Review covers all you need to know about this product. Legion Whey Isolate Protein is an excellent protein powder supplement. It offers a high proportion of protein content (21-23g per serving), natural ingredients, low carbs, 100% whey isolate, and low fat, at an acceptable caloric and protein value. If you’re willing to pay $59.99, Legion Whey+ Whey Isolate Protein Powder is the best protein supplement to opt for. You can get the protein on Amazon or from their official website.

 legion-whey-protein-review-score

Note: All Amazon links are affiliated links.

Are You Intaking Enough Fiber per Day?

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

The amount of fiber you get per day is very important to living a healthy lifestyle and appropriate for a healthy digestive system. As you can imagine, it also helps you 💩.

If you read these posts, you’ll know I always talk about having too much of something or too little of something is never a good thing. You always need to find a balance. You can probably see where I’m going with this, but fiber is the same way. Too little fiber can cause issues and too much fiber can also lead to its own issues. You need to find the proper amount to eat per day.

Let’s go over why fiber is important, the different types of fiber and how much you need in your diet.

Why is Fiber Important

Dietary is a very important part of our diet. Without fiber in our diets it can lead to symptoms like constipation or even diarrhea.

Fiber has also shown that it can be protective against colorectal cancer as well (1). Including fiber has also been shown to help with improving blood sugar levels and improving cholesterol levels as well. If you want to learn more about this check out this article and how fiber can improve cholesterol.

Which Fiber Should I Get More Of?

There are different types of fiber, but the 2 you’ll probably see the most is Soluble and Insoluble fiber. 

Soluble fiber gets dissolved in water. It also can bind to cholesterol and sugar which slows down carbohydrate digestion.

Insoluble fiber absorbs fluid. This type of fiber makes stool larger and easier to pass as well. 

Having both fibers in your diet is important. As having too much of one and not the other will cause issues. Most sources of fiber will usually have a little bit of both in there, so this isn’t something you would need to map out. However, here is a picture of foods that are Insoluble and Soluble: 

Soluble vs insoluble fiber

 

How Much Fiber Do I Need?

Getting enough fiber is important but also consuming too much can be an issue too. So how much fiber should you get?

The general rule is to intake 10 grams of fiber per 1000 calories. For example, if you’re intaking 2000 calories a day, you should be getting at minimum 20 grams of fiber a day.  

However, eating more than 70grams a day is too much and usually not advised. 

If you’re concerned and about how much fiber you should be getting a day though, you should speak to your doctor.

Final Thoughts

Fiber is an extremely important part of our diet. Lack of it can cause minor issues like constipation and diarrhea but can potentially lead to other serious complications if it’s consistent enough. Including it can also help with some issues you may be currently facing like high cholesterol levels or blood sugar levels. 

Too much fiber can also cause it’s own problems as well, so consuming the right amount of fiber per day is important. 

You do need to intake an adequate amount of each fiber to get the overall benefits of it. Having a balanced and sustainable diet is important in achieving this. 

Photos:

 

References:

  1. Masrul M, Nindrea RD. Dietary Fibre Protective against Colorectal Cancer Patients in Asia: A Meta-Analysis. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2019;7(10):1723-1727. Published 2019 May 30. doi:10.3889/oamjms.2019.265

Should You Be Incorporating Meditation in Your Training?

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

Incorporating Meditation In Your Training is a great ability to enhance your overall regimen. It’s something that I personally feel doesn’t get talked about enough. Most of the time, we discuss the physical exercise we’re doing. We seldom cover how we exercise our mental strength and health. Our mental health can make or break us. If our mental health isn’t intact, how can we expect to take care of our physical health?

One of the reasons I love meditation is that to me, it’s a way I can exercise my mental strength and health. Let’s go over meditation and its benefits for you.

What is Meditation

Meditation is a skill in which mindfulness is practiced to train attention and awareness in oneself as well to help mental clarity and calm our emotions. Meditation is a great way to keep yourself grounded and kind of have a ‘reset’ button on your ordinary day. 

How Can Meditation Benefit You

Meditation has many benefits to it. I won’t be able to list all of them, but let’s go over some of the main benefits that meditation can do to help you.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is one of the main benefits to meditation. It’s the act of being in the present moment. Anything you’re acting upon, you’re fully in the present moment for it. This is a very important ability to have. It can help calm your thoughts and lets you focus on what’s important, which is the present moment. It’s easy to get stuck thinking about the past or future and that can cause us unnecessary stress. As well, the act of being mindful can help get a better control of your emotions and overall well being. Which leads to our next point…

Emotional Stability

As I mentioned before, something about mindfulness is that it can also lead to emotional stability. When you’re focused on the present moment and only what is in front of you, it takes away a lot of the anxiety and other unknown factors we might usually have our minds go through. Whether you’re sad, upset, or anxious about something in the past or future, being focused on the present will stabilize all those emotions and keep you at a grounded level. 

Better Attention Span

Now more than ever, we’re seeing our generation’s attention span decline. This is highly suspected to be related to social media and spending too much time on our phones. Even personally, over the years I noticed my attention span slowly go on the decline. Meditation can help improve your attention space overall. This can help you in many ways in life and help to continuously achieve your goals.

Can Lower Blood Pressure

High blood pressure can be attributed to stress. It’s very easy to get stressed out and to sometimes even stress about things that aren’t worth it. Meditation can help manage your stress level and in consequence, can also help bring down your blood pressure as well. However, if you’re looking to lower your blood pressure, you should look into including more fish in your diet.

Meditation in Your Training

Now that we’ve gone over what meditation is and how it’s beneficial, how does it fit into our training? Well like I mentioned before, we usually talk about the physical side of fitness and not enough about the mental side of fitness. Without mental health and stability, it’ll be very difficult to live a healthy lifestyle and achieve your physical goals.

Within your training regimen, you should find a way to include meditation in it. This doesn’t mean that at the end of your squats, you go sit and meditate, but to set time aside every day to meditate. Like physical training, you can perform sort of a progressive overload to keep getting better.

How to Incorporate Meditation in Your Training

If you can, you should set aside at least 5 minutes of meditation every day. Slowly from there, you can work up by adding more minutes to your meditation or trying to focus on different aspects of it. People work up to hours of meditating a day. I haven’t achieved such a status but for me even doing 20 – 30 minutes can be a bit challenging. 

Just like how you try to workout and train every day or get some activity in for your physical health, meditation and mindfulness has a place in your every day lifestyle as well.

How to Meditate

There are plenty of resources out there to learn how to meditate. You may have even heard of guided meditation before (apps like HeadSpace) this is a great way to start getting into meditation. Here are some videos on meditation and how to get started. 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Taking care of your mental well-being is just as important as taking care of your physical well-being. I feel that meditation is a good first step to doing so if you haven’t already. 

Like physical training, meditation requires training. It’s something that you progressively will get better at and the better you get at it, the more benefits you will see out of it in your daily life. 

I personally use HeadSpace for guided meditation. However, you can check out the videos above to learn the basics of meditating as well. 

Photos:

Signs You Should Spend Time Recovering

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

Taking time to recover, or choosing to Spend Time Recovering, is often one of the more neglected aspects when it comes to training. Training can become obsessive, driving us to push ourselves further and further. While that passion and fire are commendable, the action in and of itself can be detrimental to achieving the results you desire. In this article, we’ll go over why it’s important to Spend Time Recovering and the signs that you’re not recovering fully.

Why is Spening Time Recovering Important?

Like I mentioned earlier, spending more time recovering is often easily neglected. However, recovery is the main time when you’re growing. Muscle grows during this time and your body goes through its natural healing process when it’s resting.

Training in tears you down and recovery builds you back up and more.

The only way you continue to get stronger and continue to make progress is to get adequate amounts of recovery. 

How Do I Know if I’m Not Spending Time Recovering Enough?

Even though recovery is important, some people use it as an excuse of just normal DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness aka being sore) and don’t train due to them being sore. That’s not overtraining and not recovering enough though. Due to this argument and some of the misconceptions of what’s considered not recovering enough, I’m going to go over some signs that may indicate you’re not recovering enough / overtraining.

Always Fatigued

One of the signs you’re starting to overtrain and not recovery enough is if you’re always fatigued. Fatigue from training is normal, but on a constant basis that it’s affecting your day-to-day for prolonged periods of time can be a clear sign that you need to possibly take more time to recover. 

Not Making Progress

In addition to fatigue, let’s say your training program is properly designed in a way that you should be continuously making progress. Over 2 weeks if you’ve been plateauing or only gotten weaker, this can be a sign you need to start spending more time on recovering instead. For me, this is usually the first sign that kicks in me. I normally would take a deload week and that would start to fix my issues. 

Injuries

One of the more severe ways of finding out you’re not recovering enough is constant injuries. Now, injuries unfortunately are a pretty normal part of training. They’re bound to happen. Most people deal with minor injuries all the time during their training. However, coupled with the other points I mentioned above, if you’re piling on injury after injury in a short time frame, you may not be spending too much time recovering then.

Injuries piling up can also be from other things as well, like one injury leading to another and so on. If you’re getting constantly injured or have any nagging injury, you should go see a doctor/physical therapist.  

What Can I Do to Recover More?

There are plenty of ways you can go about recovering. Let’s go over some of the more important ways you go about setting time for recovery.

Sleep More

If there is one thing we probably don’t get enough of, it’s sleep. Sleep is the main time your body is trying to recover and heal. Depending on your life schedule, you may only be sleeping 6 hours a day. For some, they can still get through the day, but more sleep in the 8-10 hour range can make a huge difference in your recovery process. Personally, I don’t sleep enough if I also don’t output enough during the day, which is why I like to wake up early in the morning to get my workouts in. 

Lower Your Intensity/Volume

If you’re having trouble recovering you may need to lower your intensity and volume for at least a week in your workout program. This is usually known more as a deload week. You can get more information about a deload week here.

Add in Extra Rest Day

If you’re training 5-6 days a week and you’re having ‘active recovery days’ you may need to just add in a day of legit rest. A day you don’t do too much and if you’re doing active recovery, it would exercise like static stretching or yoga. Any type of resistance training should be avoided on these days. 

Final Thoughts

Not taking enough time to recover can be detrimental to your progress and can prolong your goals. In the worse cases, you may even get injured more often and that can derail you even further.

If you’re following a good training program deload weeks and rest days would already be incorporated. However, that may not be enough. If your sleep schedule isn’t great, you may still succumb to lack of recovery and some of the issues we mentioned above. Take time to recover and I promise you’ll see better results. 

Photos:

Why You Should be Including Resistance Training into Your Life

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

Resistance training is a very important factor when it comes to physical fitness. Since most people get into fitness because they wish to lose weight, they believe all they need to do is cardio. Whereas cardio is still important, neglecting resistance training all together could cause its own issues. First, let’s define what resistance training is. Resistance training is any exercise that makes muscles contract against a form of resistance. The resistance would normally be a form of weight.  This can be free weights, barbell, medicine ball, etc. Some exercise examples would be the following:

  • Barbell/Dumbell Squats
  • Deadlift
  • Bicep Curls
  • Tricep Extensions
  • Dumbbell Lunges
  • Leg Press
  • Kettlebell Swings

  Now that we have an idea of what resistance training is, let’s go over some of why you should be including more resistance training in your training and debunk some myths on the hesitancy of resistance training. 

You Won’t Be too Bulky

One of the main reasons I hear for not wanting to do resistance training is because it will make you ‘too bulky’. If that’s not your aesthetic goal, that’s fine. However, to think lifting weights will have you looking bulky is false. People you’ve seen that look bulky with plenty of muscle mass usually have gone through years of resistance training, with proper nutritional and resistance training programming with the purpose to continuously build muscle. You will also meet others who’ve done resistance training for years but still look rather lean and not bulky at all. That’s mainly due to the way they’re training. Their workout regimen isn’t programmed for that. 

As well, muscle is lean mass. Muscle takes up far less space in your body than fat does. Let’s take a look at this picture to see the difference:

As you can see, that’s a huge 5lb difference.  

 To put it simply, you’ll get bulky from resistance training if you want to get bulky. Resistance training by default won’t make you bulky as building muscle is already a difficult process that takes proper programming and nutritional requirements.  

More Muscle = More Calories Burned

Resistance training is meant to help build muscle overall. The more muscle you build, the more calories you burn. The more calories you burn, the more fat you’re bound to lose. 

It’s easy to think that to lose fat or burn calories you need to do cardio and only cardio. Cardio is great and can help expedite burning calories in a short period of time, it doesn’t truly persist in burning more calories throughout your day. Remember, you’re only probably exercising for about an hour. You still have 23 hours throughout the day. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll be burning within that 23 hours’ worth of time. 

Why is that?

Muscle mass is part of your basal metabolic rate and for your body to maintain muscle mass it needs more energy to do so and in return needs to burn more calories. 

If you’re looking to lose fat and sustain that fat loss, building muscle is an important factor. 

Muscle is GOOD for Your Joints

Contrary to popular belief,  having muscle mass is actually good for your joints. In fact, less muscle mass is actually bad for your joints. There is a notion especially with squats that doing these exercises are bad for your joints. This is only true if you’re doing the exercise in improper form. This is why I always advocate for learning proper form when before you do any exercise you’re unfamiliar with. 

One of the reasons why muscle mass is good for your joints is because muscle mass makes the surrounding ligaments around the joints strong. This allows your joints to not take up most of the workload. 

If you’re looking for other ways to improve your joints, I would recommend seeing if you should be including more fish in your diet. 

There is Confidence in Strength

Being stronger overall will most likely make you more confident overall. Anytime I’ve gotten people into training and after a prolonged period of time, they’re always surprised how certain day-to-day tasks overall have become easier for them to handle. It’s also nice to not have to rely on others to pick things up anymore. The only problem is, people may start coming to you now for lifting hefty objects!

In all seriousness, though a level of confidence and self-worth is grown when you realize you’ve become stronger than you were previously. It’s a form of accomplishment and makes you feel like you can take on more than you thought. This will carry into your day-to-day life as well and help with other goals and tasks you may have.

Final Thoughts

Resistance training and the process of building muscle has so much more benefits than I can even list here. The list can go on and on, but let’s look at the main takeaways from this piece.

Muscle mass will help you lose and keep fat off, it will help your joints and build confidence. This isn’t even going into all the other health benefits it has on your overall well-being, but please know they are there. 

If you’re wondering how you can start doing training, check out my workout generator that gives you difficulties to choose from and form videos with each exercise as well. 

Photos

  • Photo by Victor Freitas from Pexels
  • https://www.reddit.com/r/GetMotivated/comments/1zwf7t/this_is_what_really_got_to_me_5lbs_of_fat/

 

Should You Eat More Fish? Unveiling the Health Benefits and Nutritional Advantages

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

Should you eat more fish? The western diet specifically lacks fish. I’ve met so many people who don’t eat any fish by any means. If I ever travel to Europe or other places, fish is the main staple in their diet though. I personally grew to like fish more and more throughout my adulthood and now I try to have at least 1 meal that includes fish a day (usually a can of tuna, but it’s something!). 

Not being a staple in an ordinary Western diet can cause issues, but also like anything too much of something good can be a bad thing as well. We’ll go into the benefits and dangers of fish and what might be the sweet spot for you.

Benefits of Fish in Your Diet

Great Source of Protein

It’s very easy to lack protein in an ordinary diet. Eating fish is a great source of protein and can also be a relatively cheap option for protein as well. 4oz of Salmon cooked has about 25g of protein. 1 can of Tuna Fish contains about 20g of protein. 

If you’re ever in need to get more protein in your diet, fish can be an easy option. 

Omega-3s 

Fish has many important factors too, this all comes from the macro and micronutrients the fish contains. Different fish will have different macro and micronutrients but one of the staples of fish is the fact that it has omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids can help with many risk factors in your life. This can include, lowering blood pressure, raise your HDL cholesterol level (good) inflammation, and even blood clots. 

I’ve had many issues with joint pain in the past and any time I’ve either started consuming more fish or taking omega-3 or krill oil supplements, the issues seem to have subsides and any joint-related injuries tend to have dissipated. Now, that’s just my account. This doesn’t mean the same will apply to you. However, if you’re having joint issues and don’t have any issues with eating fish or taking supplements, it doesn’t hurt to try. 

Cons of Too Much Fish

As we know, too much of a good thing can always be a bad thing. Even though most of us probably don’t intake enough fish, let’s also go over the detrimental factors of eating too much fish can have on us.  

Too Much Fish Oil

Too much fish oil / omega-3s is can have negative effects on your health. It can cause many things like acid reflux, hypotension (low blood pressure), diarrhea, nose bleeds, and even high blood sugar. 

Ideally, you would want to consume a maximum of 5,000mg of omega-3s per day. Anything over that (unless prescribed by a doctor) won’t really benefit you in many ways. 

Mercury Poisoning 

Depending on the type of fish you’re eating, you would need to look out for mercury poisoning. Some fish sources are high in mercury and others, not so much. Here is a chart that describes fishes and their mercury level

Mercury Levels in Fish and Suggested Servings

As you can see, some of the common fish most eat is on the medium to the low side. However, it’s still something to keep a note of.

Personal Story:

I personally eat canned tuna fish about 4-5 days a week. I’ve gotten my mercury levels tested and they were in the normal range.  

Final Thoughts on Should You Eat More Fish:

So, should you eat more fish? Fish is not the most common food source in most people’s diets, especially in a western diet. Fish can have many benefits it that can overall improve your quality of life. I would highly recommend if you’re not eating fish to start doing so (unless you’re not eating for medical reasons). If you’re someone who doesn’t eat fish due to the ‘fishy’ taste, you can always find recipes and ways to cook fish that will make it taste much better. 

As mentioned above, I love canned tuna fish. My favorite brand of tuna is the Rio Mare brand (affiliated link). It’s a bit on the expensive side, but it’s so good and probably the best-canned tuna I ever had. I’ve even had people try it who hate tuna fish and still love this brand. Sardines are another cheap and great fish option that you can incorporate into your diet.

Of course, eating too much fish can cause issues too. So be cautious of how much you’re actually intaking.

If you’re still not interested in eating fish, I would recommend getting an Omega-3 supplement.  Supplementing may be worth it if you’re not eating the actual food itself. 

Looking for a Fish oil supplement? Check out the Jocko Krill Oil Review.

Photos:

Jocko GO Review

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

In this Jocko Go Review, we’ll be going over the Jocko GO energy drink and evaluating its potential benefits for you.

Like Jocko MOLK, this product is created by Origin Maine and Jocko Willink.

If you read my other review about Jocko MOLK (protein supplement) then you may already know about Origin Maine and Jocko Willink. If you don’t, here is a quick overview to get you familiar with the company and its mission.

Origin Maine is a company that sells multiple different and innovative items. From GI’s to fitness equipment and now nutritional supplements. Origin Maine is famously known for is that all items are made in America. It’s rare to find a company that makes all of its products in America. So if you’re looking to support this company, check out their site for other items especially if you’re into martial arts. 

In this review of Jocko GO, we’ll be going over the Sour Apple flavor and breaking it down into the following: About the Product, Nutrition Facts / Ingredients, taste, effectiveness, and price. 

Jocko GO Review

Whether it be for a pre-workout, a boost of energy or anything in between, Jocko GO is a great energy drink and can be used in any scenario when you need energy. With a large variety of flavors, it's a great drink to try out.

About the Product

Jocko GO is an energy drink that is meant to help keep you focused on your tasks and to provide a pick-me-up/boost of energy. Whether your focused task is work, a workout, an exam, etc. this is supposed to help get the job done. The product boasts itself as being a nootropic as well to help with focus. Let’s go over what’s actually inside the product. 

Nutrition Facts / Ingredients

Calories 5
Carbs  <1 gram
Vitamin B6 0.5mg
Vitamin B12 100mcg
Choline 100mg
Magnesium 50mg
Sodium 20mg
Potassium 50mg
Acetyl L-Carnitine 500mg
Caffeine 95mg
Alpha-GPC 100mg
Theobromine 100mg
L-Thenanine 95mg
Bacopa Monnieri 50mg

 

Let’s start with the calories and macronutrients on this first. Very low calories and less than 1 gram of carbs. So if you’re on a keto diet, this is a perfect drink for you as it lacks a crazy amount of sugar like other energy drinks like a standard RedBull or Monster. 

Micronutrients

Moving on to the micronutrients, the first thing is that this drink is packed with vitamins B6 and B12. The b6 ranges at about  30% daily value and the B12 is at a 4100%+ daily value. You’ll notice plenty of energy drinks have a mixture of the vitamin B complex. This is no different as vitamin B complex has been shown to help aid with promoting energy. 

Choline you’ll notice is usually paired with other vitamin B complex as they may serve similar functions.

Magnesium deficiency can lead to feeling fatigued overall, and to be honest, plenty of us don’t get enough of it in our diet. Even though it’s not much, a little something is better than nothing. 

There is a bit of sodium and potassium, both essential electrolytes that help your body and can promote energy in general. 

Acetyl L-Carnitine can help with improving your memory and other mental skills overall. 

The good ol caffeine is sure to give you a boost of energy overall as well. If you’re sensitive to caffeine though, you may want to stay away from this product. 

Alpha-GPC is also good for memory and other mental functions. 

Theobromine is also shown to help promote energy as well. 

L-Thenanine has been shown to help with increased focus and immunity. 

Bacopa Monnieri can help with staying focused and help with brain function overall. 

Overall, the nutrients in these products are great. There isn’t anything unnecessary in here or anything considered ‘unsafe’ that you would need to be worried about. This drink in terms of nutrients probably comes closer to Monster than it would to Redbull. However, Jocko GO packs more into it with overall fewer calories and other ingredients. 

jocko go ingredients 

Nutrition Facts / Ingredients: 5/5

Taste

The taste of Jocko GO’s Sour Apple flavor is nothing short of great! For a drink that doesn’t have any carbs and few calories, you think it would taste pretty bland. Most likely due to its Monk Fruit extract, it actually tastes pretty good. 

In comparison to other energy drinks like Redbull or Monster, they do taste better, but in comparison, those drinks do have more sugar and other ingredients in there to make them taste so good. 

I’ve personally tried almost all of the flavors, and I would have to say my favorite is probably the Dak Savage one. I haven’t had an experience with any flavor though where I felt I couldn’t drink it because it tasted bad. 

Overall, the product has a great taste, especially considering its low calories and sugar. 

Taste: 4.5/5

Effectiveness

So Jocko GO is advertised to help increase energy and focus. Does it actually deliver on that though?  

After about 10 – 15 minutes of consuming Jocko GO, I definitely start to notice a bit of a mood uptick. As someone who actually has trouble concentrating and staying focused, this product helps a lot with staying focused on the task at hand. Granted, some it could be a placebo effect, but considering the ingredients in the drink itself, it doesn’t surprise me the drink at hand is helping with my focus.

I’ve also used Jocko GO as a pre-workout too, and it’s great! If you’re looking for something a bit milder but still packs a good punch, this is a great product to use before a workout. 

If you’re looking for another pre-workout, I highly recommend checking out my review on Outwork Nutrition’s pre-workout. 

Effectiveness: 4.5/5

Price

Jocko GO goes for 35.00 for a 12 pack of cans. This is close to about $3 for a 12oz can.   Compared to other products of similar stature, Jocko GO is definitely on the higher side of pricing. Whereas other products are around $20 for a 12 pack of cans (~$1.70 per can of 10oz).

This is probably the biggest downside to the product overall, but is it worth the price?  For what you’re getting out of it and considering its low calories and its effectiveness, I think it’s worth it but I would hope they still lower the price a bit in the future.

Price: 3/5

Jocko GO Review and Final Thoughts

Jocko GO is a great energy drink and has can be used in any scenario where you need a pick me up. You can easily buy it off Amazon (affiliated link) or on Origin Maine. You can’t really go wrong with any of the flavors as they’re all fairly good and low in calories which is perfect for anyone wanting to get a boost of energy without the cost of having extra calories. The main downside to this drink is mainly the price of it. Even though I think it’s justified due to its nutrition facts and ingredients, it’s still fairly pricey compared to its competition though. My final review score for Jocko GO is 4.25/5. 

 jocko go review score

 

How To Return to the Gym in a COVID World

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

Disclaimer:

For any information regarding going back to the gym during COVID or information about COVID in general, please go to the cdc.gov site so you can make a decision safely. I’m not a doctor or medical expert and this is not medical advice. All of this information is my opinion. If you have any medical concerns, please contact your doctor. 

We’re almost one full year into COVID at this point and slowly we’re coming back to a more ‘normal’ state. Vaccines are here and in the states, most gyms are currently open to some capacity. I’ve just recently started going to the gym myself and I must say it’s great to be back. However, living in the NYC area gyms are always packed even with any restrictions in place. Meaning, catching COVID at the gym is highly possible. Some don’t care, others may be on the more cautious side and don’t know what precautions to take. If you’re reading this, you probably fall into the latter category.  In this article, we’re going over how you can go back to the gym in a ‘safe’ manner. 

Follow the Guidelines

Most gyms now, especially in the metropolitan areas require you wear masks at the gym. Whether you agree or disagree with the notion of masks is a different story, but nonetheless, it’s part of most gym and state guidelines at this point for the time being. Not wearing one can get you kicked out of the gym or make others around you very uncomfortable. If you feel like wearing a mask is too uncomfortable for you, I highly suggest checking out this Adidas mask (Affiliated Link). It’s very comfortable and has a filter pocket in it. I’ll be honest, I never had an issue breathing in a mask nor do I find doing the nose poke out or chin strap really necessary. I will say, the only thing for me that’s a bother with the mask can be vision sometimes especially when I’m squatting. That’s the only time I’ve personally had an issue with it. 

If you are planning on joining the gym, read the gym guidelines prior to joining and see if you’re comfortable adhering to those requirements. Check out reviews as well for those gyms and see if other people talk about others complying with those guidelines too. 

Social Distancing

It’s very hard to get any space at the gym especially in the metropolitan area. With fewer people overall due to the gym it should be a little less packed, however, that doesn’t mean people won’t pack into specific areas of the gym. If you can, try keeping yourself away from the crowds overall. This probably sounds like common sense at this point, but it amazes me how many people will still either go into your personal space or cluster together (even in a non-covid era, this is always annoying).

Personally, what I try doing is timing my areas depending on where others are. If I see the squats racks are packed, I’ll go to any section that’s not busy where I still need to exercise anyway and just do those exercises. If the weight section is too packed, i’ll take the weights I need and move to a less crowded area. (The more I type this portion out, the more this sounds like my normal times at the gym, to be honest). 

Find a Less Busy Time

Working around schedules maybe your best option to avoid a crowded gym. If you ever scope out a gym’s Google page, you can usually see its busy times. Even though this isn’t always accurate, it’s still a good indicator of when you can avoid a crowded gym.

Usually, though, it will probably require some trial and error. For instance, I started getting to my gym at 6 am. It’s actually crowded at this time but starts to clear out about 6:45 am so I adjusted my schedule to come in around that time and it works out perfectly. 

Wear Long Sleeves and Long Pants

Okay, this one doesn’t have any merit to it except that it may give you some peace of mind. From my knowledge, there isn’t any evidence you can get COVID-19 from just touching a service that someone else touched. You would need to be touching your face afterward to potentially get it. (Nonetheless, you should look at CDC Guidelines for more information about this) Anyways, wearing long sleeves and long pants limits the amount of surface area your actual skin is touching the objects.

So if you usually wear just a tank top or short sleeves and you’re laying on a mat to warm up, you may not want your arms exposed touching that surface. Instead, just wear long sleeves and long pants to avoid this.

Again, this is only for peace of mind. There isn’t evidence (to my knowledge) that you can get COVID-19 from just touching an object or touching someone else’s sweat. 

Bring Hand Sanitizer

The secret COVID weapon any gym-goer needs, hand sanitizer! Obviously, hand sanitizer can only get you so far, but it’s pretty handy for when you’re at the gym. Anytime you’re done or about to start using equipment, you can easily just throw some hand sanitizer and wipe your hands down. Now you don’t have to worry about potentially touching your face after touching the equipment. This is something that will probably last in the Post COVID world too. 

Wipe Down the Items

In general, it’s always good to wipe down equipment after you use it. This includes items that you usually lay or sit on. It’s considerate to anyone who is going to use the equipment after you. Incase whoever used the equipment prior to you didn’t wipe down the equipment, now it’s a bit cleaner too. I’ve noticed a lot of gyms give you sanitizer spray to spray items down, so you can utilize that too. I would highly suggest not use this on barbells though as it can destroy the quality of it over time and may rust it up. 

Final Thoughts

The more I wrote this guide, the more it seemed like normal things you would do at a gym anyway. (Except the whole wearing masks thing). I do think if you follow the ideas mentioned above, you can return to the gym and feel relatively safe. Obviously, if you see someone sick, stay away from them. If you’re sick with COVID and you’ve been to the gym recently, notify your gym in case they have some type of procedure to follow. 

Unfortunately, I don’t have any studies to say ‘Hey, look it’s safe to return!’. There was one study that indicated that the gym was a super spreader event. That was in February of 2020 if I’m not mistaking when no one really knew how much it was spreading. We didn’t even have tests from back then.

If you still don’t feel comfortable going to the gym during COVID, check out this article I wrote on how to keep fit during the pandemic. 

Stay safe and get them gains in!

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When is the Best Time to Bulk and Cut?

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

During the year, it’s very easy to jump between both cycles of cutting (losing fat) and bulking(gaining weight with the goal of gaining muscle). If you ever went on a bulk or cut before, you most likely have run into an issue of when is the correct time to bulk and/or cut. You don’t want to bulk with already too much body fat. You would also want to cut weight most likely at a high enough body fat percentage that is just bordering becoming too much. 

When Should I Bulk?

The main issue when it comes to bulking is that you don’t want to gain too much fat. If you do have too much fat, that just means you’ll probably have to spend a longer cycle trying to cut the fat and can leave you in a calorie deficit for some time. 

So when is the best time? Usually, I prefer to bulk at anything less than 12% body fat. This ensures that I’m in a good range to start bulking and even with the added body fat that in ensured to come with bulking, you’ll still be at a decent range. 

For women, this would be equivalent to 20% body fat and then going up from there.

When Should I Cut?

Cutting is all about losing body fat. Personally, I like to cut around 16% body fat. I do think that’s a bit conservative in general and others may still be able to bulk for a longer period of time. 

For you, you may be able to go up to 20% body fat before you feel like you need to cut. However, I like to keep in mind that at some point, having too much body fat in general is not the best thing. So I usually have a cut-off of 16% but essentially I think 20% would be a maximum. So if you’re above 20% body fat, it may be a good idea to cut instead of bulk. 

For women, this would be equivalent to starting to cut at anything higher than 28% body fat.

When Should I Maintain?

So we can bulk and cut, but when do we just maintain the weight? Well this mainly depends on when you’re happy where you’re at. I also think it’s good to do maintenance after any bulking or cutting cycle. 

For instance, after a bulk and continuously gaining weight for a long time, I like to pause and just maintain that weight for about a month. From there, I’ll start to slowly cut the weight there. Same goes after a cut.

Besides that, if you’re happy where you’re at and with your body composition, you should maintain your weight then. 

Note on Cutting and Cutting for Women

If you’re cutting, I do warn on being too low of body fat in general. If you ever see bodybuilders, it’s easy to think because they’re so ripped they’re healthy. This isn’t the case though. Being at a low body fat in general isn’t good for your health and can cause issues down the line. Too low for men can be anything less than 6%.  For women, anything less than 12% can start causing issues. 

Cutting for women is different from men. First, men and womens body fat percentage differ to our bodies and how we hold and store fat. It’s important to note though, that when a woman drops too much body fat it can also cause Amenorrhea. This can occur once you’re below 12% body fat. Men also go through changes, but the changes women go through are a bit more severe. 

Final Thoughts

Cutting and bulking is the main cycles of life for us. I love to time my bulks around the Fall/Winter and cuts towards Spring/Summer. As you can imagine, I stay within the body fat ranges I mentioned above during those times. 

Most of this information is subjective as it depends on how you feel and what you want to do. However, I feel that when your body fat is greater then 20% or higher (for men) or 28% or higher (for women), it might be best to start cutting body fat. You can always cut weight, but sometimes too low can also be a dangerous thing. Be wary of the hazards it can bring upon to you if you cut too low.

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