Different Schedule
This has been a vacation week, and that has meant having time to workout earlier in the day. I have spent the week doing my workouts before noon, and that changed my meal schedule, and possibly the workouts. I can't imagine lifting weights without food in my system, but how much food has been in my system may have an effect on my workouts (intensity-wise). In this case, I had breakfast and possibly a snack before my workouts, and surprisingly that worked well! I am constantly working on not only what I can make to eat, but when I should eat it. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I have some digestive issues that have made certain foods a problem to eat, and eating at certain times has also been an issue. I tend to have more issues at night, and this is when digestive enzymes and Betaine HCL comes into play. I have found that protein powders have helped take the stress off my system at night, and still help me to maintain my calories. Yet, it is an ever-changing situation. Nothing is ever perfect.
I keep moving forward though.
Leaving the Game
I am chasing results-- chasing "gains". Which makes me sad when I hear about others getting out of it. Even if those getting out might have been deemed as "enemies" or competition at one time. This week, while I was volunteering, the poster boy for bodybuilding at the Y-- someone who had the body, the technique, and amazingly strong lifts-- mentioned that he was getting out of lifting to pursue "chicks and money". I don't believe that this person ever had any problem in those departments, but I would think that the bodybuilding helped in both (looking good does help with making money- at least it helps with confidence). This is a person that could help me in my lifts, and if I get the chance, I will ask. The family that the Y has come to represent includes everyone that graces those walls. We can learn from each other and improve together.
German Volume Training Ending
This week will be my final week of GVT. It has worked, and I understand how effective lower weight and high reps can be. I don't feel that I will completely stop it for all body parts-- arms can always use a blasting of high reps. It will be nice to get back to ramping weight sets again, but I will run into that fight for more and more weight. I am curious to see what my max squat and deadlift will be. We seek the sleek look in the mirror, but numbers are always on our mind.
Early morning cardio attempt
I attempted to wake up early and hit the rowing machine this morning. It didn't quite work because of lack of sleep, but I will make it work this week. I think having the news on will alert me and keep me going. I am looking at a comfortable pair of bluetooth headphones (not earpieces) to make this transition easier. I will need to sell a few items on Ebay to make this happen, but I will. I always wanted to be an early bird-- this is a time that few can exploit. It may help with my digestion as well (along with a more robust breakfast).
Offtrack goal
So, I have been following a bodybuilder program, and not a strongman one. I feel that is alright. I will still start training with the HG equipment once the ground is dry and the weather is warmer. I will be making videos to tie in with this blog and start the James Clan (or Gang) channel.
I am looking towards the Highlands.
Monday, February 27, 2017
Saturday, February 25, 2017
So far so good...
I have kept with my program, and will continue to do so, despite making minimal gains. I know I am getting stronger, but I am getting to a point where I must start adding another meal or a new performance/recovery supplement. I especially feel pain in my joints after my first day of training in the week (and of course that is deadlifts). I know this will change as I get stronger, but I have been on this plateau for a few weeks, and it is testing my patience. Patience is what it is all about though. You never grow at a rate that you notice.
So... I have decided to take pictures and be honest with myself about my goals. I also have decided to take measurements of body parts and weigh myself daily. I am going to setup a chart, or find an online program (and will be checking into myfitnesspal.com about this) to help with this. I need to be accountable and document everything. As much as I have been documenting the weight I lift and exercises I do, this can change with technique as well as strength. I feel that body composition is another measurement tool that will reflect how my eating is working, and what I need to tweak on that end. I need to control for variables that I can, and find those that are holding me back.
I started taking pictures last night--- and it is not pretty.
I looked through the pics and found this one as the most flattering-- if that. I have not been doing cardio on a regular basis, so I have an expanding waist. I am working on fixing that with a morning rowing routine, and lower carbs during the day. I continue to lift and eat, work on my digestion, and find how best to recover.
I have to climb up to the Highlands-- but I will be honest about the journey!
So... I have decided to take pictures and be honest with myself about my goals. I also have decided to take measurements of body parts and weigh myself daily. I am going to setup a chart, or find an online program (and will be checking into myfitnesspal.com about this) to help with this. I need to be accountable and document everything. As much as I have been documenting the weight I lift and exercises I do, this can change with technique as well as strength. I feel that body composition is another measurement tool that will reflect how my eating is working, and what I need to tweak on that end. I need to control for variables that I can, and find those that are holding me back.
I started taking pictures last night--- and it is not pretty.
I looked through the pics and found this one as the most flattering-- if that. I have not been doing cardio on a regular basis, so I have an expanding waist. I am working on fixing that with a morning rowing routine, and lower carbs during the day. I continue to lift and eat, work on my digestion, and find how best to recover.
I have to climb up to the Highlands-- but I will be honest about the journey!
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Balancing fitness goals with life
There is fitness, and then there is everything else you do... But is that really the case? Shouldn't they be intertwined? It is not like your heart stops when you are not actively pushing it to work harder.
The problem is that many of us make a split between our workouts and the rest of what we do. The workouts provide an excuse to be more lazy or use less critical judgment when we are not working our bodies. I can understand resting for a bit, but I also understand that the body will best adapt if it thinks that it has to for survival. This doesn't mean to be on edge all of the time, but it could mean to be in a potential state of energy.
This could mean:
1) Sitting up straight-- actively sitting in case you had to get up at any moment.
2) Stretching throughout the day-- You don't need yoga, just do some myofascial stretching throughout the day. Make it a habit. Find locations at home, work, or wherever that can help with leverage. This beats doing it in a once a week yoga class, because you are doing it all day every day.
3) Walk for meaningless errands. Make up errands, or plan a few out throughout the day. Get up from your office chair and get some water, make a copy of something, or just check on something. Break up the day with these things (we mostly already do). For office workers, this is like the necessary "screen break" for health reasons. It works!
4) Choosing harder over convenient. Go the extra mile, do more work, make yourself get up to change things even if a remote or convenience device can do so. I know it is an annoying habit to build, but it keeps you willing to move. If we lose will, then we lose our way.
5) Sleep is for resting. It lasts long enough. It takes 1/3rd of our life. If our life is shortened by unhealthy habits, then we have less time to enjoy. You may enjoy sleep, but try to enjoy it within a strict amount of time. Work your body so that you want to sleep, and get up because you want to live. Keep this at a healthy minimum.
I know this is all common sense-- it should be. We have smartwatches and step trackers available to see how much we move throughout the day. These suggestions (aside from sleep) will make the numbers add up (even a sitting up adjustment can help).
Our bodies are in constant motion internally. There is no "off", so although we rest, we are still being active. This blog just suggests that we rest actively between mini-actions. We need to keep moving for our health.
Massage/ Adjustments
Although it is pricey (unless you can teach a friend), getting a massage or an adjustment (get this done professionally) is good for those over-extension stretches our bodies need every now and then. Sometimes it hurts, but then again, so does working out if it is done effectively. I feel as if massage is a reset for the body-- it removes wastes from muscle that working out or personal stretching can't do. The benefits of human touch also cannot be understated. Of course, this is expensive unless you can work something out (and you should).
Keep moving up the Highlands.
The problem is that many of us make a split between our workouts and the rest of what we do. The workouts provide an excuse to be more lazy or use less critical judgment when we are not working our bodies. I can understand resting for a bit, but I also understand that the body will best adapt if it thinks that it has to for survival. This doesn't mean to be on edge all of the time, but it could mean to be in a potential state of energy.
This could mean:
1) Sitting up straight-- actively sitting in case you had to get up at any moment.
2) Stretching throughout the day-- You don't need yoga, just do some myofascial stretching throughout the day. Make it a habit. Find locations at home, work, or wherever that can help with leverage. This beats doing it in a once a week yoga class, because you are doing it all day every day.
3) Walk for meaningless errands. Make up errands, or plan a few out throughout the day. Get up from your office chair and get some water, make a copy of something, or just check on something. Break up the day with these things (we mostly already do). For office workers, this is like the necessary "screen break" for health reasons. It works!
4) Choosing harder over convenient. Go the extra mile, do more work, make yourself get up to change things even if a remote or convenience device can do so. I know it is an annoying habit to build, but it keeps you willing to move. If we lose will, then we lose our way.
5) Sleep is for resting. It lasts long enough. It takes 1/3rd of our life. If our life is shortened by unhealthy habits, then we have less time to enjoy. You may enjoy sleep, but try to enjoy it within a strict amount of time. Work your body so that you want to sleep, and get up because you want to live. Keep this at a healthy minimum.
I know this is all common sense-- it should be. We have smartwatches and step trackers available to see how much we move throughout the day. These suggestions (aside from sleep) will make the numbers add up (even a sitting up adjustment can help).
Our bodies are in constant motion internally. There is no "off", so although we rest, we are still being active. This blog just suggests that we rest actively between mini-actions. We need to keep moving for our health.
Massage/ Adjustments
Although it is pricey (unless you can teach a friend), getting a massage or an adjustment (get this done professionally) is good for those over-extension stretches our bodies need every now and then. Sometimes it hurts, but then again, so does working out if it is done effectively. I feel as if massage is a reset for the body-- it removes wastes from muscle that working out or personal stretching can't do. The benefits of human touch also cannot be understated. Of course, this is expensive unless you can work something out (and you should).
Keep moving up the Highlands.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Supplements
I had at least 3 pages of this blog typed and ready to publish earlier-- Google supposedly saved it, but when I went to publish it nothing happened. Leaving the page erased everything. Now I start over, briefly...
Food is the foundation. Supplements are supports as the house gets bigger. Easy enough?
Supplements are the concentrates of substances in food that research (sometimes) can back up to have a certain effect on us. The problem is in finding what you might need, and if the source is reliable.
I have been down this road so often. I don't ever find a magic bullet, but I do get better at shopping. Unfortunately, the companies get better at marketing.
I don't want to be taking a tackle box full of pills every day along with multiple cups of powders. I don't want to be ruled by my supplements-- I want them to do something for me for an immediate goal (or a long one if they can). People use energy drinks for immediate energy (like coffee has always been good for)-- they can be thought of as supplements-- and pricey ones at that. They are only to supplement the food that I eat, and the food I don't eat (some I can't get or afford).
Here are the supplements I currently take, and yet I may change soon.
Be advised that this has been an ongoing process to find what works for me. I am still not finished, and I don't by any means feel that I have reached the ultimate lineup. When I can have a company easily test me and cater a supplement concoction to my biology, then I will be in nirvana. Until then, this is what my research has done for me.
I also want to mention that I take supplements at times based upon my research and trial and error. I occasionally hear differently, but for the most part I am spot on with my scheduling.
A.M.
Legion Whey +
Bronsons Krill Oil
Dr. Langer's 16 strain probiotic
Ginger/Turmeric
Preworkout
Legion Pulse (1/2 serving)
Postworkout
Legion Whey +,
Muscletech Platinum Creatine,
Swanson Ajipure L-Glutamine,
Now Foods Buffered Vit. C
PM
Amazing Grass Drink Mix
Bronson Vit. D
Misc. supplements I sometimes add in:
All Day You May BCAAs
Now Foods ZMA
Supplements I have on order that will sub out some above:
MyProtein Impact Whey Isolate
L-Glutamine
Vit. C
Labrada Fermented BCAAs
Yes, I am a fan of the post workout protein shake. I am a fan of probiotics and digestive aids as well. I have digestive enzymes for larger meals, and I may be adding more probiotics to my diet (although I have yogurt everyday as well as take my Langers pill).
I was told to take more L-Glutamine --upwards of 20 grams, as well as to take creatine preworkout. I don't want to push it with the supplements-- I still eat quite a bit of food (at least 3000 calories a day). As I push beyond 180lbs, I will be adding another meal and possibly double up my doses of certain things. My fear is to become someone who "has" to have certain substances to remain at a certain size. I understand the food, but the "full" feeling is something that drives many lifters to take blood volumizers throughout the day (as well as many illegal substances). I want to give my body a break now and then, and as I mentioned previously, some of the things I take will lose efficacy once my body gets accustomed to it. Such is the game of supplements...do they work and our bodies change, or are we tricking ourselves into a placebo effect?
If I can recover for the next workout and still increase weight (improve), then I will keep doing what I am doing.
The questioning Highlander.
Food is the foundation. Supplements are supports as the house gets bigger. Easy enough?
Supplements are the concentrates of substances in food that research (sometimes) can back up to have a certain effect on us. The problem is in finding what you might need, and if the source is reliable.
I have been down this road so often. I don't ever find a magic bullet, but I do get better at shopping. Unfortunately, the companies get better at marketing.
I don't want to be taking a tackle box full of pills every day along with multiple cups of powders. I don't want to be ruled by my supplements-- I want them to do something for me for an immediate goal (or a long one if they can). People use energy drinks for immediate energy (like coffee has always been good for)-- they can be thought of as supplements-- and pricey ones at that. They are only to supplement the food that I eat, and the food I don't eat (some I can't get or afford).
Here are the supplements I currently take, and yet I may change soon.
Be advised that this has been an ongoing process to find what works for me. I am still not finished, and I don't by any means feel that I have reached the ultimate lineup. When I can have a company easily test me and cater a supplement concoction to my biology, then I will be in nirvana. Until then, this is what my research has done for me.
I also want to mention that I take supplements at times based upon my research and trial and error. I occasionally hear differently, but for the most part I am spot on with my scheduling.
A.M.
Legion Whey +
Bronsons Krill Oil
Dr. Langer's 16 strain probiotic
Ginger/Turmeric
Preworkout
Legion Pulse (1/2 serving)
Postworkout
Legion Whey +,
Muscletech Platinum Creatine,
Swanson Ajipure L-Glutamine,
Now Foods Buffered Vit. C
PM
Amazing Grass Drink Mix
Bronson Vit. D
Misc. supplements I sometimes add in:
All Day You May BCAAs
Now Foods ZMA
Supplements I have on order that will sub out some above:
MyProtein Impact Whey Isolate
L-Glutamine
Vit. C
Labrada Fermented BCAAs
Yes, I am a fan of the post workout protein shake. I am a fan of probiotics and digestive aids as well. I have digestive enzymes for larger meals, and I may be adding more probiotics to my diet (although I have yogurt everyday as well as take my Langers pill).
I was told to take more L-Glutamine --upwards of 20 grams, as well as to take creatine preworkout. I don't want to push it with the supplements-- I still eat quite a bit of food (at least 3000 calories a day). As I push beyond 180lbs, I will be adding another meal and possibly double up my doses of certain things. My fear is to become someone who "has" to have certain substances to remain at a certain size. I understand the food, but the "full" feeling is something that drives many lifters to take blood volumizers throughout the day (as well as many illegal substances). I want to give my body a break now and then, and as I mentioned previously, some of the things I take will lose efficacy once my body gets accustomed to it. Such is the game of supplements...do they work and our bodies change, or are we tricking ourselves into a placebo effect?
If I can recover for the next workout and still increase weight (improve), then I will keep doing what I am doing.
The questioning Highlander.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Calm before the storm
I begin another week of training today. Today is also going to be the toughest, because it is deadlifting, and because I aim to do GVT (10 x 10). I may remain with the 255lbs that I failed with last week, or I may try 265lbs. I don't believe it was strength that failed but stamina (which is what I should expect). Last week I failed to warm up (for fear of losing the area), and I only felt comfortable during the 3rd set (which changed after he 6th set). As much as I want to complete 10 sets of 10, completing 10 sets of anything (most of the time it is 6), is good enough for me. It is all about volume of work. Most deadlift with limited sets and reps. I am trying something different for 6 weeks. It is working, so I am not stopping.
It takes a while to recover from these workouts, and I only expect to ramp them up once I can use outside for some supplementary training. With that said, the day of the next series of workouts is always a calm before the storm. My training is serious, and it is important. I need to be working up to my limit-- this means sweat, pain, and muscle fatigue. It is not easy, but gains happen that way. I want to apply these principles to the rest of my life, but I am not in a position yet that will benefit from it. That hopefully will change.
Embrace the storm and enjoy the experience. What is your edge? Where do you break? The gym is a great place to discover this while remaining safe (it is not skydiving). It is a place to conduct your own trials of strength and what your body can handle. Find out your limit-- then push it back. Apply this to life. Go get what you want. Don't hold back and don't curb your desire. Be mindful though that it doesn't hurt the others that are on a similar path. There is only so much space on this planet-- it is getting worse. How can your goals affect another? How can your goals benefit another? I would love to have goals that not only benefited me, but as many people as possible. While it may seem the strength thing is a solo venture, I see it differently.
Keep shooting for the highlands.
It takes a while to recover from these workouts, and I only expect to ramp them up once I can use outside for some supplementary training. With that said, the day of the next series of workouts is always a calm before the storm. My training is serious, and it is important. I need to be working up to my limit-- this means sweat, pain, and muscle fatigue. It is not easy, but gains happen that way. I want to apply these principles to the rest of my life, but I am not in a position yet that will benefit from it. That hopefully will change.
Embrace the storm and enjoy the experience. What is your edge? Where do you break? The gym is a great place to discover this while remaining safe (it is not skydiving). It is a place to conduct your own trials of strength and what your body can handle. Find out your limit-- then push it back. Apply this to life. Go get what you want. Don't hold back and don't curb your desire. Be mindful though that it doesn't hurt the others that are on a similar path. There is only so much space on this planet-- it is getting worse. How can your goals affect another? How can your goals benefit another? I would love to have goals that not only benefited me, but as many people as possible. While it may seem the strength thing is a solo venture, I see it differently.
Keep shooting for the highlands.
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