You saw the morning, time for night time stuff!

As the title would hint at, this is my routine for the evening time!

First tip that I personally follow is: no carbs 3-4 hours before bedtime. Now this GREATLY depends on whether or not, and what time I will be working out at. As I am a big fan of pre and post workout fruit, I may be consuming a few within this time if I am doing some light evening training, 30-45 minutes of gymanstics/bodyweight stuff...

Otherwise, protein or healthy fat is all I would consume for snacks during this time period...You can actually check out my BJJ trainer's recipe for a good protein meal for the evening time right here -->> Protein Delight for fighters or Athletes cutting weight

Now, because I often work out in the evening (as well as the morning) I am forced to eat some carbs for fuel, especially natural sugars from fruit (fructose, glucose - the energy particle of life)

So, in retrospect, I don't normally follow this rule unless I've gained some weight and training to get back down a few pounds! :P If you're out of shape, or trying to get down in weight, I'd say WORK OUT DURING THE DAY OR THE MORNING AND AVOID CARBS BEFORE SLEEP (as we established 3-4 hours before bedtime) AS WELL WORKING OUT CLOSER TO BED TIME

TEA: If you know me, you know I OVERstock my kitchen cabinets with tea

Exhibit A:

I really enjoy some "night time" teas, usually herbal caffeine free teas and usually also include chamomile and hibiscus...very relaxing and helps your heart rest before and during your sleep! My only problem with this is, since I consume so much fluids (about 100 oz a day) along with several cups of tea and mate, I tend to pee way too much...sometimes I forget and drink a lot of liquids before bedtime and...lets just say I'm not getting the best sleep of my life....

Three: If there's MORNING yoga...then there's DEFINITELY EVENING YOGA!!! This depends on my day, amount of physical activity and stress haha. One day a week I try to do about 90 minutes worth of intense yoga, usually on Sundays which is my "recovery" and flexibility day. Any other day of the week I tend to do about 15 minutes worth (just like the morning) to take some stress away...

there are many movements and stretches you can incorporate into your routine so find whatever works. (I won't even begin to list all the different yoga positions and movements because there is SOOO MANY of them but if you google something and ATTEMPT IT, you'll get a good idea of what works for YOU )

Anything that you will do in the evening should work to relax you and calm your mind and body. Child's pose, Embryo pose, Deep forward fold, corpse pose all are very excellent along with cat/cow stretch for the curvature of your back :)

extended child pose

 deep forward fold

cat cow

so your body has (hopefully) it's nutrients, minerals, protein, fats, carbs for the day. you're calm and relaxed and you're ready for slumber...SLEEP TIME IS THE MOST, again that is , THE MOST important thing in your life. It helps with weight loss, maintainance, stress reduction, physical recovery, recovery from the cold/flu, and sooo much more. try to get 6-8 hours based on how tired you are...if you gotta be up at 5 am and your fave show is at 11 PM...WATCH IT THE NEXT DAY!!! Your health and being-awesome-ness is way more precious and important :)

I like to go to sleep without the TV on (as it actually prolongs your falling asleep process along with the quality of your sleep) and with both my cell phones (yes I have two, ONE IS FREE don't judge me) on silent and placed far away from my bed to reduce "electromagnetic interference" EMI, on your body...wonderful research paper on the subject I recently read can be found: Right Here!!!

that wraps up my evening time haha. If you read, study, etc it's actually a good time to do so in the evening as the way absorbtion memory works is "retained" during the, you guessed it, retention state the BEST during sleep. source: Proof!!! haha BUT DO NOT THINK THIS IS OKAY TO CRAM FOR FINALS THE NIGHT BEFORE...even on Adderall.

got any questions, two cents, comments, criticism (like I give I like :), or anything intriguing to add hit me up on facebook : Arthur KnoqOut :)

or email me Arthur@KnoqOutMMA.com

OR post a comment :) p.s. topics are welcome

Peace and Love

What do Vegetarians eat?!

I often get asked this question along with "don't you feel hungry?" "don't you lack protein?" "don't you 'miss' meat?"

and the answer to ALL of those is, absolutely not! When you eat every 2-3 hours (3hours mark i get very grumpy) you get to enjoy a larger variety of food and constantly eating them, because 2 hours isn't that long at all. Protein, beans, tofu, soy, isolated pea protein powders (usually taken for my recovery after work outs) all provided sufficient protein and I feel physically recovered 100%. And the final question, "don't you miss meat?" well, thank goodness for veggie burgers, tofu and

a few months ago i shot a video of a day in my nutritional life. I will be shooting a more comprehensive one but for NOW...here is a look into a variety of things i eat, which cover all the nutritional bases from vitamins to minerals to protein and healthy fats :)

Daily Nutrition V-log pre-cut v 1.0 from KnoqOut on Vimeo.

My very first post...welcome :)

Hi, guys! Today is a start of a new chapter in my life. The birth of my blog..MAZEL TOV!

I am very much trying to figure out life...after years of this I've realized that to understand the whole, we need to learn and study about each aspects of it. Arts, science, literature, nutrition, fitness, yada yada blah blah...I also began to realize that as you grow up  you are able to control more aspects of your surrounding and thus, grow and better yourself as a person...so this is my attempt to share, but infinitely more important sharing it with you guys, is ME ARCHIVING EVERYTHING I FIND FOREVER ON THE INTERWEBZ!!!



So, as a start let's begin at the beginning, your morning, or rather MY MORNING's do's and don'ts and why's and hows.

Wake up, yawn, and stretch out and get mentally ready for the day ahead, is my routine. I try to not concern myself with anything like worries or errands or whatever else will ruin my morning thus far. A couple of things I wanna go over...

First: Water...at least 8 ounces of water as soon as you wake up, remember, while you sleep your body is fasting which means no water, no nutrients, etc. I usually drink two glasses of water first thing after waking up.

Second: Breakfast, your body is yearning to replenish its' lost glycogen and you should oblige it by providing some :) Now, it's beyond me why people skip breakfast other than "I don't feel hungry"...you're probably lying to yourself OR you're stuffing your face waaay too close to bedtime. Even if you're "not hungry" EAT!

Best thing in the morning is carbs, THE PROPER WAY! Fruit is by FAR the best thing you can have along with some oatmeal or quinoa (the essential grain :)

example 1: organic (we'll discuss organic vs "conventional" products later :) kiwi, blueberries and half a medium granny smith apple (not the best morning fruit yet very good for feeling awake) along with half a cup of steel cut oats boiled in water and a bit of almond milk (half a cup before boiling it)

example 2:  Clementine, granny smith apple (again) a dahs of almonds and some goji berry, hazelnut and whole oats granola (dry) add a dash of almond milk or soy milk and you're ready to take on the world!

you want to eat fruit because it will restock your glycogen deposits (the ones you lost whilst reposing...you know..MAKING THE ZZZZzzZzzzzs...if you get the refrence major props, if not...its OK i guess!

here's a list of some goodies for the morning. keep in mind, while fruits are GREAT, eating 10 servings a day will not be so great for many reasons but lets just say TOO MUCH SUGAR, to be more precise it's too much calories from simply sugar based, carbohydrates. Remember your body needs protein, healthy fat, nutritients and vitamins and minerals as well!!!

These fruits provide equal or nearly equal fructose and glucose to
restock liver and muscle glycogen to help halt muscle breakdown. Eat two
or three servings.

FRUIT TOTAL SUGARS* FRUCTOSE* GLUCOSE*

Pineapple (1 cup diced) 13 7 6
Honeydew melon (1 wedge) 13 7 6
Orange (1 medium) 12 6 6
Banana (1 medium) 18 9 9
Blueberries (1 cup) 14 7 7
Nectarine (1 medium) 10 5 5
Kiwi fruit (2 medium) 12 6 6

so  you can have an orange, a kiwi and a cup of pineapple or a banana....personally i feel like more than two pieces of fruits is enough for me but I am not a large bodybuilder, if you are then proceed to eat 10 fruits :)

MORNING DRINK OF CHOICE:

yerba mate :)

"The infusion called mate is prepared by steeping dry leaves (and twigs) of yerba mate in hot water, rather than in boiling water. Drinking mate with friends from a shared hollow gourd (also called a guampa or mate in Spanish, or cabaça or cuia in Portuguese, or zucca in Italian) with a metal straw (a bombilla in Spanish, bomba in Portuguese) is a common social practice in Argentina among people of all ages"

got this AMAZING thing from an ex of mine!

or a small cup of coffee (1/3 columbian, 1/3 turkish, 1/3 roasted almonds) with almond milk :)

keep in mind, both are high in caffeine (mate being slighly less) so don't over do it, or you will be on pins and needles all day...unless you drink 40 cups a day, in which case you'll be simply, normal :)


3. I like yoga...in fact i LOVE yoga (or any morning work you like).. a quick 15 minute routine in the morning gets my blood flowing, mind and soul centered and I am in a good mood with a smile when I do leave the house. if you don't like yoga, JUMPROPE is another great morning way of getting your blood flowing (and thus, helping you feel more awake). if no jumprope, do some dynamic stretches (moving as oppose to static stretches where you hold and stretch a bodypart/limb) and do a quick set of however many pull ups, push ups, jumping jacks and crunches for example, as you can!


great example of a good, easy and most importantly, EFFECTIVE yoga practice:



 4. take your time...too many people nowadays, wake up, rush, shove food down their throat if they eat at all, and are nervous wrecks for the rest of the day...the morning should be your time to get ready for the day not jump right into it. if you have to work really early, WAKE UP REALLY EARLY but don't comprimise your sleep...we'll talk about sleep in the upcoming weeks as well.




you should be ready to wrestle a panda bear at this point! as you get stronger and grow, we can move on to alligators and eventually the Sasquatch or your regional equivalent

all in all i wake up at least 2 hours before having to leave my house, I also love to work out in the AM (and in the PM some days as well).

thoughts, comments, critics, two cents are all welcome :)