I’d never trade my pull up bar or squat rack long term for time spent on the set of a reality show, but man oh man, it was fun for a week. What an eye opening experience.
First of all, kudos to ANYONE that works in the television or movie industry. The behind the scene people make ALL the magic happen. I was fortunate to meet a ton of ‘bend over backwards’ people that go the extra mile. They work LONG hours and get little recognition as far as I’m concerned. I feel blessed to have met and learned from these people. I’m impressed on so many levels with the behind the scene frenetic action that it takes to get a show produced and into your living room. I also know that I only saw probably one tenth of what it takes to produce a show. (Here I am in ‘video village’. This has six screens that the producers are working with, crazy busy-ness!)
During this experience I realized that I haven’t had a ‘job’ for almost seven years. It was a little strange to be told what my call time to be on the set was; I usually choose my own hours and do my own thing. Of course I didn’t mind, but it reminded me how lucky I am to be my own boss and how difficult it can be for people to fit a workout in when someone ‘owns’ their time.
As well, there was a TON of food in the production office. There’s no chance of going hungry there if you take advantage of the food provided. Trouble is, sometimes the food wouldn’t be my nutritional choice so I just had to make do. This was another eye opener and reality check that often times many of you are in the situation where you’re stuck in a situation where you have to make due too. All the more reason to be informed on your best food bets.
Here were a few of the choices from the snack table I made:
- Fresh fruit
- 100 calorie almond/walnut packages
- Water, water, water
These are the things I passed on:
- Granola bars
- ‘Protein’ granola bars (they had 30 g of sugar and 4 g of protein)
- Sweetened nuts
- Bags of chips
- Cookies
- Crackers
At lunch here were a few choices I made from the lunch buffet:
- Salads (dressing on the side)
- Protein option (sometimes chicken, beef, even pork)
- Mixed veggies
These are the things I passed on:
- Lasagna
- Bread/rolls
- Fried anything
- Potatoes
- Desserts (These looked good! Brownies, cookies, lemon squares…)
Yes, perhaps boring food choices, but I know that if I eat properly I can think straight and perform better. If I fill up on carbs, I know I’d want to take a nap – not what I was hired to do here on this reality show.
There’s a ton of coffee and caffeine drinks everywhere. Many of the crew (who at one point worked literally around the clock for 36 hours) were nursing cups of coffee and snacking on carbs. This provides a temporary pick up and temporarily tricks the brain into thinking it’s getting the serotonin and dopamine that only good sleep provides. I’m not judging anyone; I’m saying that these folks live a tough lifestyle. It makes me extra thankful that I’m not in this situation permanently.
My training was really on the ‘quick’ side. I worked out in my hotel room, the hotel gym and I visited a fantastic gym in downtown Denver once.
This was one of the workouts that I did and I recorded it for you. You’ll only need one set of dumb bells and a small space.
Do 5 sets. The first set you’ll do 10 reps of each exercise, next set do 8 reps of each, then 6, 4, 2 reps of each exercise for the following sets. Time your workout.
- cross body mountain climbers
- DB burpee with push up
- Bent over rear delt fly
- Front squat
- I leg RDL to reverse lunge
- Other leg RDL to reverse lunge
Take a look at Challenge Complexes HERE for more BB, DB and KB complexes that you can use to burn fat, boost metabolism and BUILD muscle in workouts that are 20 minutes or less.