I might have puked..

     I might have puked.  So what?  In Arnold's biography he said he's puked hundreds of times during a workout.  Dan John said I might puke.  That being said I still don't feel any better about it.  And what scares me even more is tomorrow.  Tomorrow is training day 2 of the program and instead of just one set of 30 rep squats I have to do TWO, count them TWO sets of 30 rep squats.  I will have to set my alarm extra early as it may take me a while to finish those.  It's nearly two days later and I'm still feeling the effects.  I cringe every time I have to take stairs or even get up from sitting down for that matter. Maybe the basketball game later on in the day wasn't such a good idea.   I guess that means its working right?  Anyways here is what day 1 of training looked like.

Dumbbell over head press x 5
Bench Press 5x5
Bird Dog x 2 (core training)
Bat Wings x 3 (kind of like a dumbbell row but you lay face down on the bench and hold the weights for a period of time)

3 sets of 5 of the following complex:


Bent over row
Clean
Military Press
Front Squat
Back Squat
Good Morning

A complex is a series of lifts in which you do all sets of  the above listed exercises before placing the bar down

And finally

Back Squat 1 x 30
(puke)

Day two comes bright and early tomorrow morning.  I will not have a glass of milk before hand this time. And maybe some stretching will be in order; something I don't do nearly enough of.  And since I'm done reading Dan John's book I'll need some new reading material.   Next on the list is Lyle McDonald's Guide to Flexible Dieting:  Review to follow.

Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from the Introduction of the book

See if this sounds familiar: you’ve just started a new diet, certain that it’s going to be different this time around and that it’s going to work. You’re cranking along, adjust to the new eating (and exercise) patterns and everything is going just fine. For a while.

Then the problem hits. Maybe it’s something small, a slight deviation or dalliance. There’s a bag of cookies and you have one or you’re at the mini mart and just can’t resist a little something that’s not on your diet. Or maybe it’s something a little bit bigger, a party or special event comes up and you know you won’t be able to stick with your diet. Or, at the very extreme, maybe a vacation comes up, a few days out of town or even something longer, a week or two. What do you do?

Now, if you’re in the majority, here’s what happens: You eat the cookie and figure that you’ve blown your diet and might as well eat the entire bag. Clearly you were weak willed and pathetic for having that cookie, the guilt sets in and you might as well just start eating and eating and eating.

Or since the special event is going to blow your diet, you might as well eat as much as you can and give up, right? The diet is obviously blown by that single event so might as well chuck it all in the garbage. Vacations can be the ultimate horror, it’s not as if you’re going to go somewhere special for 3 days (or longer) and stay on your diet, right? Might as well throw it all out now and just eat like you want, gain back all the weight and then some.’

What if I told you that none of the above had to happen? What if I told you that expecting to be perfect on your diet was absolutely setting you up for failure, that being more flexible about your eating habits would make them work better? What if I told you that studies have shown that people who are flexible dieters (as opposed to rigid dieters) tend to weigh less, show better adherence to their diet in the long run and have less binge eating episodes?

Tools & Supplements

Well tomorrow is the big day.  I start my new routine.  I'm both nervous and excited.  Excited because I've been out of the gym for a little while to let my body reset and nervous because I've never done a routine that involved high rep squats. I'm just about geared up for it. I went grocery shopping today and purchased food for the week.  I usually take one or two nights during the week and prep my meals.  This way I can just grab and go in the mornings and its super easy.  So food is bought, I just need to cook it.  Which i'm not looking forward to in this heat...  Now I'd like to go over some of the useful tools and supplements I'll be using over the next six weeks to help me on my journey:

The Tools:


Good Measures - (www.goodmeasures.com)  Probably the single most important tool in the toolbox at the moment.  Good measures is essentially a mini personal nutritionist that can be setup specifically for my goals. I simply log my food and it calculates for me all my macro nutrtient percentages that I need to hit.  It also tells me if I'm over or under any of my micronutrients for the day.  If I'm under any particular nutrient it will actually recommend a meal or snack that i've either eaten in the past or it will recommend a new food to eat that will help me fill that void.  It calculates an "index" based out of 100 for me and spits out a score for the day.  The higher my score the better I've hit my nutrient and caloric goal for the day.  It works wonders for anyone who is as deep into the numbers as I am or for people who could care less about their macro percentages and just want to eat healthier.  It's a win win for anyone trying to improve their nutrition.

Fitocracy - (www.fitocracy.com) A great tool to log workouts with.  Especially if you're a nerd.  Level up. Earn badges, complete quests.. All in the name of fitness!  I always have trouble remembering my weights from past workouts, this helps a ton.

This Blog / Facebook -  I know a lot of you are probably sick of my status updates about food, calories and the such.  Too bad.  Keeping a blog and updating my status with goals and various progress reports keeps me accountable.  If I post something related to my goals I am much more likely to back it up.  Deal with it.

The Supplements:


A disclaimer:  The definition of a supplement is as follows:  Something that completes or enhances something else when added to it.  Note that last part.   Please for all that is good in this land be sure that your diet and exercise routine is in order before you start adding supplements and wonder drugs that the fitness magazines are trying to sell you.  I've wasted a lot of money on stupid stuff.  Don't do that.




Whey Protein -  I used to think having a protein shake a couple of times a day would make me JACKED.  Thank you muscletech and Iron man magazine for your slick marketing campaigns.   Now I use it as properly intended; a supplement.  I use a scoop or two of whey every day to help me hit my daily protein intake that I don't get from real food.   When you are consuming 4300 calories every day and you need 165g of protein sometimes taking a scoop of whey is a lot easier than cooking some chicken or steak.


Fish Oil - If there is one "magic pill" you want to take to help you in pretty much everything; this is it.  The benefits of supplementing fish oil are simply too good to skip out on.  Studies have shown fish oil has anti cancer effects, can help prevent alzheimer's disease, helps with weight management, helps mental health, fights depression, helps build muscle, helps cardiovascular health.. etc.. etc.  why aren't you taking this already? Shoot for 1-3g daily

Creatine - Creatine is probably the most studied supplement out on the market today.  Why? Because it works.  Creatine works by volumizing the cells and increasing ATP stores.  ATP in a nutshell is a molecule that helps with muscle contraction.   To put it really simply by increasing your stores of ATP you are increasing the amount of reps you will be able to do during a workout.  More reps = more muscle!  Buy regular old creatine monohydrate.  No need to get fancy and buy creatine mixed with other stuff or creatine from some big supplement company.  Creatine is creatine. 5 g daily. There is no need to cycle it or to have a "loading phase" as some companies would like you to think.




Pre Workout - I've wasted a lot of money on this stuff.  In reality; you don't need it. Most of the ingredients in the pre workouts are just stimulants mixed with other things that give you a nice "pump". A "pump" doesn't build muscle...It looks and feels good; but essentially it goes away.   I'll prefer to take a little caffeine to give me that extra boost.


Beta Alanine - I've just recently been introduced to the benefits of this supplement and have been researching and reading up on the studies..  It seems legit and I've decided to give it a try for the first time.  The following is taken from Livestrong.com;


As a precursor of carnosine, beta alanine is essential for muscle production and repair. Scientific studies have established that beta alanine supplementation increases muscle strength and output as well as increasing muscle mass. Other benefits to derive from beta alanine include increased muscular anaerobic endurance as well as aerobic endurance. Lastly, and more importantly for bodybuilders, beta alanine supplementation increases exercise capacity and allows you to train harder and for longer.

To increase muscle performance and capacity, beta alanine mops up the hydrogen ions and lactic acids produced from the breakdown of ATP in the muscles. This buffering action is due to carnosine and it prevents the muscles from tiring easily by preventing their pH from dropping. Beta alanine through carnosine has also been shown to have strong antioxidant properties. Therefore, its benefits includes faster recovery and boosting the immune system.


That's about it for my supplements.  I take 1/3 of the recommended dosage of a multi vitamin.  I really don't need 200-300% of anything that I'm probably getting plenty of from the amounts of fruits and veggies I eat.  As Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory once said essentially I'd be paying for expensive urine.   That's it for now.  Stay tuned for the status on my first lifting session on Mass Made Simple