MUSEOLOGIE

The crazy thing is….I didn’t do this and I should have. Now tumblr has reposted a super old photoset that talks about The Tenth Muse.

But…The Tenth Muse is no more. It’s been folded into museologie which will be a launching sometime in 2019.

museologie is about being happy + healthy and the ways to achieve that. I’m looking at health in a holistic way, not just fitness and nutrition.  I’m keeping the blog up and it’ll still be called The Tenth Muse, but on museologie’s site. I know folks have been checking out this page, but please go over and check out museologie and my first post.

This year I’ll be having events, group fitness classes and much more. If you are in the Philly area don’t be afraid to hit a jawn up.

Thank you for visiting The Tenth Muse: Fitness Plus! museologie is here and what’s next. Find me there and at all social media @museologie.

#GetThere #NextLevel

-Jordan

I Really Want to Workout

So many people want to lose weight and get healthier, similarly, so many of those people don’t want to put in the work. You can’t be lazy when it comes to this.

I’m no longer training, I think pretty much everyone knows that. I have my CPT still and will maintain that certification, but as for intentional personal training, nah, I’m good. I’d rather do consulting, group classes and help folks here and there.

People still associate me with being “Jordan the trainer” which I love…until you catch me scarfing down a glazed doughnut. And I enjoy using my training background to motivate and help people. With that being said….

Here’s a quick guide of considerations for those of you who want to start working out.

• Do both cardio and weight training, I’d also add yoga or intentional stretching. The older you get, you become less flexible.
• Cardio: If possible, stay off the bikes.  Don’t hold on while on the treadmill. Cardio isn’t just cardio machines either. Think burpees, interval training, a game of basketball or a multitude of other activities.
• Weight training: 1-3 sets, (depending on level + time) 8-10 exercises. 8-12 reps .
• How much time can you truly dedicate?
• How’s your diet?  Clean it up.
• Why are you working out? What’s you goal? Do you have any accountability?

If you have questions about working out, getting starting or maintaining everything, I’m still available. I got you!

I’ll leave you with a beginners workout guide.

Use this to track your workouts, especially in the gym.

#GetThere #NewLevels

The Tenth Muse: Fitness Plus

When I started blogging back in 2012, I knew it would be a challenge to be persistent, but I thought I could handle it.  Fail. Super Fair. Epic Fail.

I have been sitting on The Tenth Muse for about 2+ years, not really knowing what to do with it anymore. I didn’t want to let it go, but I didn’t know how I could contribute and grow it with everything going on in life, furthermore, I was losing touch with my love for fitness. When I started,  I loved training, It was life. Then things shifted and how could I move The Tenth Muse with it the changes?

Let me take you, very quickly through what has happened:

“Tennis Camps…best times”

• Moved to South Carolina. Started Grad school. Graduated. Did lots of community work at the tennis center.
• Moved back to Philadelphia.
• AmeriCorps Vista
• Started working Full-time
• Started and Finished a short board prep program.
  YIP: Board Prep Program
• Lastly and most importantly, completed an executive program at Penn in Social Impact Strategy.

This program connected me with social entrepreneurs, CSR folks and amazing change agents from all over the world. Seriously, we had representatives from 23 countries. In the 8 months of the program, I basically developed an entire social enterprise. One that I’ve had in my head for a while and one that is a culmination of all my passions: fitness, community development, networking and place making.

Philadelphia and this soda tax

Hi Folks!

For everyone in Philadelphia, we know about the Soda Tax. It’s been a HUGE issue lately and everyone has an opinion. The new mayor, Mayor Kenney, proposed a 3 cent per oz tax on all sugar sweetened beverages. So that would include sodas, juices, hugs (quarter water or sugar water), sport drinks (Powerade/Gatorade.)

Bottling companies are vehemently against it. They spent millions and millions of dollars in false advertisement and other ways to discourage Philly residents and city council from approving and having favorable opinions.   As a public health person, as a physical activity person, as someone who has grown up in Philly and currently works in the public school system, as someone who lives with a corner store across the street and a park that’s half usable down the block, I 100% was and still am in favor of this tax.   The monies from the soda tax are going towards many things- the biggest is pre-kindergarten, look at the picture above!

At the same time, City Councilwoman Renyolds Brown proposed a “container tax.” Unlike the sugar sweetened beverage tax (soda tax), the container tax would tax EVERY beverage except milk. So this would include everything in the soda tax plus drinks like water, 100% fruit juice and healthy options.

Why are people so vehemently opposed to the soda tax? People are claiming it’s a regressive tax which means it will target and impact low-income individuals more.  Others are wary of where the money raised will REALLY go.  Will the money be used correctly?

 

So, what do I think?

What’s Really Going On?

Guys I’m not here.  Well, I mean I’m here, but I’m not writing or do I have plans to write anytime soon unless I get a request. (Oh, I will still have my pop-up fitness sessions at the Art Museum) Okay so let me explain:

This year, remember “the year to build?” Well it’s been very interesting in the last 5 months. I thought I’d be building my business (The Tenth Muse.) I thought I’d be working towards creating

Gotta step away from this for a minute.

a hybrid organization that uses sports to bring people together. I thought I’d be loving everything and working on it frequently after work. I thought all those things in December/January. But now, nah.  I am not sure what’s happening, but what I do know is that I need to take time to figure out where exactly  The Tenth Muse going.  So questions that I need to answer are:

1. What are my gifts, skills and talents?
2. How can I best use those to impact my community?
3. Which community? Meaning which audience?
4. How will I start and keep going with all my other obligations and do it well?
5. Now that I’m done with my Board Prep Program, should I build a board or still keep it solo and build up?
6. Jordan, what do you want to do? What can you do well?
7. Why are you struggling so much with making major first steps and getting it from idea phase to tangible phase?
8. Why do you feel like you need to speak to more people and keep doing research before making a move? Haven’t you done enough?

Meal Prep Made Easy

Truth be told, meal prep isn’t easy. It doesn’t matter how I try to spin it. It takes time. BUT if you want to get a better handle on what you’re eating, meal prepping is what you need to do.

Every week my mother and I spend about 90-120 minutes prepping breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. I’ll breakdown everything that I am doing and why below.

Almost done! This looks pretty legit!

Breakfast

• Quinoa- It’s a 1 to 2 ratio of quinoa to water. I clean it then cover in a pot for about 25 minutes until all the water is gone. I put quinoa in my cereal (both cold and hot-oatmeal) or salad. (It adds protein)
• Smoothie- I wash all fresh produce prep for making smoothies and put them in containers so I can just throw them in the blender, add liquid, protein & the frozen fruit and go. I prep- the greens (kale or spinach), watercress, cilantro or parsley, ginger, lemon, celery & cucumber. (picture below)
• Potato- I bake about 4-5 potatoes weekly. These are used for potato hash in the morning (with eggs.)

Lunch

• Salad – I eat salad everyday for lunch. EVERY SINGLE DAY. Therefore, it’s imperative to have a large salad ready to go.
• Eggs- As yall know, salad isn’t enough, so boiled eggs are a topping I usually have. I boil about 5 eggs per week and they are either snack food, post workout snacks or I add them to my salad.
• Produce- I wash and clean all my produce (such as my apples, lemons etc.) It makes it easier to grab and go or grab and chop.

Snacks:

• Chickpeas- I roast these baby up in the oven. I make a rub with cumin, salt, pepper (and oil.) They get crunchy and, yall, they are soooo tasty.
• Sweet Potato- I bake about 2 sweet potato with a little cinnamon for some snacky food.

Dinner:

• Sweet potato- I cut up about 2 -3 into “fry” length. That makes it easy for me to bake ’em throughout the week.
• Veggies- I cut/dice/slice up veggies for stir fry. This usually includes: garlic, kale, cabbage, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, peppers, etc
  

  I put the veggies in the mason jar and separate with parchment paper.

That’s a big part of my meal prep. It takes time. I don’t do the prep that you’ve been seeing on facebook like a several gallons of water as detox drinks, breakfast/lunch/dinner prepared for 5 days. I like variety in my foods and in my workouts so this type of prep works for me.

It makes life way easier and less stressful because I know that food is already ready to go, or ready to pop in the oven without spending time cut. Especially coming from a rough work day. PLUS I know I’ll be making healthy decisions.

When it comes to your meal prep here are 3 things to consider and do.

1. Take time and think about your week ahead. The planning is the most important aspect. (duh, but people still neglect this and end up… well they end up failing.)  You’ll figure out what you have to buy, what days you NEED to have food set for and you can look at your time management.
2. Are you looking to have meals ready to go? Or are you prepping to have food ready for you to prepare. The latter still requires cooking, but a shorter prep time. While the former means spending hours in the kitchen one day, but  you are grabbing and going for the other days.
3. Can anyone help you? Meal prepping solo can be a sad, lonely experience. Call up some girlfriends, call up some of your workout buddies, a family member, some guys…whoever and jam out to your favorite tunes while prepping. Times goes much faster and it makes for a great bonding session! 😀

#GetThere #NewLevels

It is a big deal that Sharapova was doping.

Sharapova rocking a Nike outfit. Nike is distancing themselves after news broke that she failed a drug test.

Yesterday while at work, my sister informed me that Sharapova failed a doping test at the 2016 Australian Open. Now, some of y’all may have heard about the story and thought that it wasn’t a big deal, well it is.

From the jump, my first reaction was All them drugs, and she still couldn’t beat Serena. I mean, who isn’t thinking that?  But on a serious note,  I loathe- I absolutely hate athletes that abuse ergogenic aids to get a unfair advantage in their competition. This stems back to my days as a competitive (tennis) athlete when someone clearly lied about a line call. I didn’t know the word back then, but I was pissed. [Not using illegal substances, but still lying.]  A bad call usually resulted in me getting infuriated, then whopping their ass: Game. Set. Match – Muse.  As a professional athlete, it is your job to know about illegal steroid or ergogenic aid usage.  Okay fine, you might not  be doing the research that you need to, but you have trainers and coaches that are there to support you, and ensuring that you’re not doping is or should be a key duty! I know rules change frequently in terms of what is legal, what dosage is allowed, etc, but you are supposed to know this- this is your job.