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What I'm Up To Now This section is reserved for information on what I am doing right now such as how much I weigh, how I am eating, what I am eating, how I am training, etc. Let's call it sort of an online journal. The About page has my background info, whereas this page is current trends in my training and diet. See below for the archives. Let's get to it! As of October 2009 I am 100% following the CrossFit main site (crossfit.com) Workout of the Day (WoD) now in conjunction with my company's physical fitness training plan (distance running, sprint running, muscular strength/endurance/power work, combatives/ground fighting spread out over 5 days). I generally do PT in the morning first with one of my platoons and then afterwards go to the gym and do the CrossFit WoD. Recently came back from a torn pectoral muscle and had surgery in May 2009. Am now back to normal movements for the whole body for the first time in 6 months (injury was in April). Still eating strict vegetarian/mostly vegan (95% vegan) diet. Weight is 185. As of November 2008 I just finished the Marine Corps Marathon and thus a prescriptive training program for it, which I discuss in detail here. I have since moved on to a fairly strict CrossFit program, which I review here as well. If you haven't heard of CrossFit, read the article. Dietarily I follow a strict vegetarian/mostly vegan (I eat some cheese sometimes and the protein bars I eat have whey) diet with about 130-150 grams of protein per day. Trying, as always, to improve performance and lose body fat so I'm eating about 1500-2500 calories per day. Of course using multi-vitamin/minera supplementation as well. I am normally not one to follow the pack on much with regard to exercise, but I really want to give CrossFit, in total and just not parts of it combined with my own program, a real honest evaluation. I will report back on the results. As of MAR 08 It's been a while since I updated this section. Truth be told I have been busy getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan, then being in Afghanistan, then redeploying from Afghanistan. It's not easy business. It did give me some good perspective on a few key aspects of exercise and diet though. First, I "rediscovered" protein. Sounds real stupid, right? An exercise physiologist forgets about protein? C'mon, dude. I began taking in much more protein than I had previously. I never discussed this yet, but I have been a vegetarian since April 2006, but I have very little trouble eating protein rich foods. Until early 2007, I had been taking care to eat protein, but not 1 g/lb levels. In Afghanistan I was doing about 200g per day. I weighed between 190 and 205 the whole year. When I mean I put on serious size in a very short time it is no joke. Increasing that protein and lifting really heavy made a very clear difference. For some reason I had really underestimated protein for the last 5 years really, mostly since I've been in the Army. I have not realy serious resistance training since joining until Afghanistan, mostly because of the time. Now, however, I am good to go with time. I generally do 3-4 days of running per week (assume a 5-day work week here) from 0630-0730. Then I go to the gym and do resistance training from 0745-0830. It's a great schedule. While everyone else is eating breakfast, I go to the gym. No one's there so it's even better. My routine is very simple really, but there are some aspects of it that I really enjoy. First, let's talk Kettlebells. If you don't know what these are, see here. They are basically balls of metal attached to a thick handle. There are a lot of things you can do with them. I was exposed to these about 5 years ago and fell in love with them. They are unreal for athletic performance improvement. When I moved, I never saw them again in a gym and they are unbelievably expensive so I didn't buy any. Since redeploying, I found my gym on Fort Lewis now has these for some reason and I use the sh*t out of them. I do 1-2 days per week of explosive power moves with them varying rep schemes from 5 all the way up to 15 depending on the day. I do about 45 mins of these various movements. It's the best total body, core stability, work-every-muscle-all-at-once product I can think of. My DB clean and press is tremendous as a result of these. So is my grip strength since the handle on these guys is like 3 times the thickness of a DB or BB. I use them on "conventional" resistance training days as well, doing various forearm or core stability movements in between sets very often as well. I will go into detail at some other time about this routine and will be happy to discuss it via email with you until then. Second, high reps and super sets for opposing muscle groups have proven very successful for me. In Afghanistan I had been combining one-arm DB deadlift with chest presses, one right after the other, with very heavy weights. In fact I had to stop these because the 150-lb DBs weren't heavy enough. But I'd do, for example, 8 reps with my right arm, then 8 reps of Hammer flat presses, then 8 with the left arm, then 8 more, usually for 3-4 cycles. Very little rest in between sets. Then I'd do a triple super of Hammer pulldowns, DB cleans, then a 45-lb plate raise (takinga 45-lb plate and raising it over your head with both arms extended, like a 2-armed front raise exercise sort of). I'd do these all at 85-95% intensity for 3 cycles through. I'd work arms with 25-50 rep sets of cable curls then 25-50 of cable pressdowns for a total of 100 reps for Biceps and then 100 for Triceps whether it was 25/25 x 4 or 50/50 x 2. My arms responded very favorably and with such a demanding routine, my body is conditioned for more than just coventional weight training. Finally, I have been combining all aspects of resistance training into my routine, i.e. I do hypertrophy training, power training, and strength training. Truth be told there are time I like each. My split is somewhat conventional: Day 1 - chest then Day 2 - back and shoulders then Day 3 - arms but I have Day 4 - Kettlebells, i.e. total body. And then within each day I do some heavy 4-6 rep sets, then some high 15 rep sets, then some power/explosive sets. I do machines, free weights, cables, body weight exercises (dips is an example). The routine is free to be modified each time while keeping the general guidelines in place. My overall goal is really performance in my job but who isn't interested in looking better? Healthy is obviously important, but that will happen with proper exercise and diet and really is always on my list of goals. I believe by combining different facets of resistance training and cardiovascular training (sprint work and also distance work each week) I believe it makes me a very diverse person physically able to accomplish a multitude of tasks at any time. Any questions, let me know as always. As of NOV 06 I am still around low 190s. I have been focusing heavily on kickboxing, jumping rope, and medicine ball work as well as power weight training. My general schedule is as follows: Monday: First, 60 minutes of kickboxing. This consists of speed bag and heavy bag work with some jumping rope. I was jumping rope for 20-30 minutes per session a few months back, but then it got boring. It was great exercise though. Then I move to weights. I rotate between and upper body and then lower/total body routine. So today, for example, would be my upper body day. I would do the following:
If I have the energy and time I move to some cardio. 20 minutes of elliptical and/or cycling. Tuesday: 60 minutes of kickboxing again then I move to weights and cardio (if time permits). The weights differ this time though. Here's how:
Wednesday: 30-40 minutes of running. It never falls on the same day, but generally once per week I don't make it to the gym and do my morning exercise with other Soldiers in a group. We run on these days. For the sake of the example, I'll say this week it happened Wednesday. Thursday: Off. Friday: Same as Monday. Saturday: Same as Tuesday. Sunday: Kickboxing and cardio only. You can see my goal is essentially to be explosive and powerful with a focus on stand-up fighting. I have done a lot of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and am looking to balance my fighting skills with increased stand-up. Why? Am I going to compete? Probably not. I just enjoy it honestly. Makes you a good athlete to train like this too and that, as a Soldier, has always been my goal. As of APR 06 I weigh 192. I have been doing very little running but still regular cardio. The whole time I was in Iraq I went to the gym for physical training (PT). See, here's the deal over there: you carry a rifle everywhere and can't just go on a run. You need to take someone with you first of all so you aren't running around alone plus having someone watch your rifle isn't always convenient. So I just took myself to the gym with my rifle and since it was close and a static location it was OK. So I honeslty didn't run more than 5 times, but I did do regular cardio on ellipticals and stairclimbers mostly. I lifted weights regularly as well although it was vastly modified from previous routines I had done. The primary reason was injury. I hurt my shoulder pretty badly 6 months ago and didn't say anything since I didn't want to go to the doctor so close to deployment. You never know, but if you get injured bad enough you can't deploy and there was no way I wasn't going. So I modified my routine. Basically for 2 months I didn't do anything with my shoulder in a pressing motion. Back was the only thing I could really do for the upper body since even curls or Triceps pressdowns caused shoulder pain. Then after a few months I could do anything except chest pressing movements. I could do direct shoulder work though oddly enough. Push-ups hurt really badly and even machine pressing hurt. The one thing I could do was cable cross-over presses, sort of a press with the high cables. For some reason those didn't hurt. So all I could do for chest was those. However, I also could do static holds in any position and that didn't hurt. I ended up doing things like holding myself in the push-up position for 60-150 seconds or just holding a Hammer Strength chest press in the fully contracted position for 1-2 minutes. The initial press to get it locked out hurt, but it was only temporary. I then decided I was bored with conventional resistance training techniques and wanted to invent something new. I tried experimenting with 100-rep routine. For example you could do 2 sets of 50, 4 sets of 25, 1 set of 100, etc. It was hard to decide how to do it, but it was fun to experiment with. Turns out it is really hard. I am still working on it. Mostly what I do now is continuous movement using static holds and sets of 8-12. For example, today I did legs and I did 4 sets of machine hack squats, 12 reps per set, supersetted with 4 sets of DB stiff-legged deadlifts. I do a set of hack squats and then go right into the deads and back into the hack squats and back into the deads, etc. I then did 4 sets of static holds where I get the fully locked out position and hold it there for leg extensions. I did 90 seconds then 60 seconds for the last 3 sets. Many times I do a chest press movement held static for 60 seconds then go right into the push-up position and hold myself there for 60-90 seconds. The other day I did 60/60, 90/90 then 120/120. I try and not let any downtime happen. I mix it up, but generally I do upper body all on one day then lower body on the other or I'll do the whole body on the same day. I do not do a conventional bodybuilding split and have not done so for many years now. I eat pretty clean now that I am back home and can do so. It's not easy when deployed. I get mostly protein bars, egg whites, and miscellaneous other foods. I do 20-45 minutes of cardio 3-4 times per week. This will consist of running and elliptical primarily with some stairmclimbing and stationary cycling mixed in. As of NOV 04 I weigh 185 right now. I am eating 2500-3000 calories per day, high protein, moderate carbs. I am still eating almost only Powerbar Protein Plus bars (not the high carb bar but the new high protein bar) and Uncle Ben’s Rice/Noodle Bowls when I want something warm as well some light popcorn. For my exercise routines, I’ll get a little more in detail here than I normally do in this section since I’ve been thinking a great deal of this training regimen. First, let me explain what exercise program the US Army has me on and then I’ll describe what I do on my own. Our current PT (physically training) program is as follows: Monday: push-up/sit-up-type movements, 1-2 mile run Tuesday: Callisthenic (lunges, jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, flutter kicks, etc.) circuit training Wednesday: Ability group run, 4 miles Thursday: OFF Friday: Running, different types So for the most part, 2-3 times per week I’ll run and I do a good amount of push-ups and sit-ups. My goal on my personal program is to do more different and challenging movements aimed at improving my PT score and battle readiness. Your PT score is not necessarily indicative of your ability to perform your job physically well. Things like carrying a heavy rucksack (50-80 pounds) great distances, carrying a wounded Soldier off a battlefield, these are the actions that will sustain you in combat. Being able to run 2 miles without additional gear and no weapon is a sign of a good runner, which is better than a bad runner of course, but not the same as what is expected in battle. So when I sit down to design my program I keep these things in mind. Here is what I’ve come up with: I begin my routine with some endurance work for the push-up movement. I do DB Presses for 4 sets of 25 repetitions with 30-45 seconds rest in between sets. I increase the weight as necessary to allow for the 20-25 th reps of each set to be challenging. I do these repetitions with explosive movement, fast on the way up and controlled on the way down. This is supposed to mimic the push-up test portion of the PT test. Then I move to some back work. I do a row of some kind. I choose rows over pulldowns because of the lower body stability required to execute the movement. A bent over barbell row, for example, requires a good deal of hamstring and lower back stress, which is precisely which muscles are involved in ruck sack carrying. I do 4 sets of 6-8 reps, heavy. Back work is also good to balance out the muscles of the upper body since I do generally more chest work. I move back to some heavy chest work, for a variation to my high rep endurance work, I do 4 heavy sets of 6-8 reps. I generally do some compound movement, a Hammer Strength press is what I perform most often. I then move into some DB Cleans. The Clean is a very challenging total body movement, which requires balance and coordination as well as explosive power, all assets. I do 4 sets of 8, heavy also. My fourth movement is one I sort of invented. I take a DB and put it over my head with both hands and then I do lunges. I do one with my left foot forward, then return to the starting (standing straight up) position, then do one with the right leg, repeating this 6 times, for 12 total repetitions, 4 sets. I chose to hold the DB over my head basically because it’s hard to do. It requires more balance than a barbell lunge or one done holding the DBs at the side of the body. I do not use much weight because I do this for the balance and total body stability it requires. My goal is not necessary to stress the thighs as is commonly the goal of the lunge but to make my body perform challenging movements. Next I perform two exercises done back to back. I do decline DB pullovers, 6 reps, heavy, and then incline sit-ups, 15 reps, explosive on the way up, controlled down. I do these together because of convenience somewhat. You need the same bench to do both movements, so doing them in a row saves time. Plus by not resting, it just makes executing either of them harder. The pullover is a great movement for the upper body utilizing many muscle groups simultaneously as well as the hip flexor stability to hold the position on the decline bench. The decline bench is a great way to do pullover since you can anchor your legs. On a flat bench, I always am being pulled in the direction of the DB due to its weight. I do 4 sets like this, back and forth resting little in between each iteration. Finally, I do some arm work. I do alternating sets of lying cambered bar (a.k.a. the v-bar) extensions with DB curls. Simple, hard and effective. 4 sets of 8 reps each movement, little to no rest in between sets, heavy. You’ll see the general idea is to do a total body, varied routine, aimed at improving each area of the body with differing repetition schemes and rest intervals. It’s a solid routine, but I tweak it on occasion. This is the 90% routine each time I enter the gym, which is 2-3 times per week, occasionally once per week when the schedule is especially rigorous. I try to run at least once on the weekend as well or do some cardio after a resistance training workout. As of AUG 04 I am at my first real Army unit, 11th Chemical Company, Fort Lewis, Washington. So PT isn't as standard issue as it was in a training environment. Things don't "come up" in a military school. There is a defined system that takes place each day with little room for change. A regular Army unit, however, has a fluid schedule. So PT isn't as regular as it once was. But here what I've been up to: I run 3-4 times per week on average. What I miss is the ability group runs. At my second to last school (Aug 03 to Feb 04), I had a bunch of runners who were faster than me and I got in great running shape keeping up with them. I beat everyone in my class of 50 but 2 of them on our last PT test by the way. So running with them and running so regularly made my performance excellent. But now I live in a house with my wife not alone in a temporary apartment with nothing else to do. I used to do PT (Physical Training for the non-military types) 2 times a day almost every day. I didn't have much else to do really. Now I have more work to do and more responsibility and don't have that kind of time. I'm generally running hard, 20-30 minutes 3-4 times per week. I do varying runs, some long distance, some sprints, some intervals. It's a good mix. I've found interval training to be the most effective. I do 30 minutes of sprinting various distances with low rest intervals and have found that got me into the best shape. I wear a heart rate monitor and I can get an average HR of 160 much easier from intervals than I can maintain that with distance running. Even at 6-7-minute/mile pace, my HR doesn't get that high. It hits 175 regularly during sprint intervals and stays high even when I rest. I'm a big fan now. When I run on my own, weekends usually, I go to the gym and throw in 15-20 more minutes of high intensity stationary cycling. A great way to keep the HR up for a while longer and mix in a direct exhaustion of the legs. I have been lifting weights 2-3 times per week. I generally either do all strength work or all power work in one workout. For example, if I lift weights when I do cardio, I don't have the stomach for long workouts so I'll do cleans, overhead presses, explosive chest pressing and rows, etc. All done for 4-8 reps with some speed and power. Then if I have more energy and time, I'll do a strength workout, 6-8 reps, slower pace, basic movements. I generally get a good total body routine, but I don't do much direct leg work anymore. My knees can't do it with all the running. It just hurts to do squats or leg presses anymore. It's crazy. It literally is a problem for me to do them, but if I don't I feel fine. My legs are naturally muscular and the sprints and deadlifts (which I still do!) keep them proportional. Although I'm not a bodybuilder, I still am into size and proportion. I like looking good in addition to performing well. I am eating very clean, 1500-2500 kcals per day, protein in the 150-200 g per day region. I take a multi-vitamin/mineral daily. I have now switched to ephedrine-free Metabolift (from Twinlab) because ephedrine was banned by the FDA and even if I could find it, the Army says it's a NO-GO as well. I'm 184 as of my last weigh-in and dropping ideally. I dropped 6 pounds last month and look to get back to a good 175 in the near future. I went to a school before I got to Fort Lewis and we didn't do PT for 4 months and I gained weight and got in average shape. So I have been getting back into great shape for the last month or two. I'm eating mainly Powerbar Protein Plus bars, Uncle Ben's Rice/Noodle Bowls, and various other "clean" foods. I rarely eat anything "bad" anymore. It's not hard for me at this point though. Check out the past entries below for more on what I've been up to prior to this. As of 20 DEC 03 First off, the most glaring change has been my weight and cardiovascular condition. In my last description, I was 185 and trying to get below 13 minutes on the 2-mile run, which I have now achieved. I am now 175 and I scored a perfect 300 (100% in all 3 events) for the first time on my last PT test about a month ago. I attribute this to regular ability group runs (dividing the platoon into 3 groups based on their running ability). I run with people who are runners, plain and simple. About 8 of us are in the alpha group and we push each other really hard. It has helped me a great deal in putting my running to a new level. We are running as a platoon about 3 times per week. I run once on the weekends and 1-2 times on weekday evenings additionally. It's generally 3-4 miles. Second, my diet has improved even more. I am eating almost exclusively Met-Rx and Powerbar protein bars. These are moderate carbs, high protein (30-40 CHO, 24-32 Protein) not the high carb bars you may be thinking. I eat about 6 bars per day and 1-2 bags of light popcorn (for fiber and because I love popcorn). It's about 2000-2500 per day on average. Multi-vitamin/mineral of course. I have been lifting weights 1-2 times per week, total body, with 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps per set. I do 2-3 sessions per week of push-up/sit-up type movements as well. A session is 20-30 minutes of various movements done for 1-2 minutes each. I have stepped up my ruck marching as well to around 3 times per week with 40-60 pounds for 1-3 hours. Hooah! As of 1 MAR 03/OCT 03 Right now, I am doing good ol' fashioned Army PT (Physical Training) for the most part. We wake up nice and early (0430 - that's 4:30 AM for you civilians) and do variations on running, push-ups, and sit-ups 5 days a week. It isn't quite THAT simple, but for the most part, it is just like that. In March when I got to Basic Training, through Officer Candidate School (OCS), and now in my officer basic course, it has been a similar idea, but it wasn't done the same. This is because at OCS, we were test subjects for a new PT program the Army is trying to implement. I really thought the Army is making great strides with this program and how it conducts PT tests. Read more in U.S. Army PT: ZAP's Thoughts. Now, as of October 2003, I'm also doing PT on my own at night and on weekends, which consists of ruck marching (walking around in boots with a heavy backpack for 1-2 hours/5-7.5 miles), ruck running (running around with a backpack on), and lifting weights. I get into the gym 2 days a week ideally, sometimes only 1 due to time constraints. My program is total body done for 1-2 warm-up and 1-2 heavy sets done at 90-100% effort for 5-8 reps. I am using free weights and Hammer machines and have been enjoying getting back into the gym. I didn't get to lift any weights from March to October! I'll get into what the Army PT versus what I had been doing did to my body in an article on a later date. A preview: I didn't lose massive amounts of size at all and became a larger endurance athlete basically. I'm 185 and running 13:00 to 13:30 two-mile runs. Quite a transition from 240 and powerlifting. This is probably the best I've looked in recent memory. The lower body fat levels have made my size appear better than being larger and having more body fat, which is how it was before. I lost much more strength than size it seemed when I got back into the gym, which made sense to me. I'm eating very strict - Power Bar Protein Plus bars (taste great and dirt cheap at Army grocery stores), Healthy Choice soup, light popcorn, and Optimum Nutrition's 100% Whey with skim milk getting around 2000 calories per day, 200 g of protein, moderate carbs and fat. I'm still trying to get to lower body fat levels for 3 reasons. First, better running performance. I need to drop 15-20 seconds of my 2-mile time to max the PT test. Second, Army height and weight standards. 185 is the max weight for someone my height (5 foot 10 inches). You can get the waist and neck measured then put into an equation to determine if your body fat is too high even if you weigh too much, but since I'm right at the level, I'd rather not have to get taped if I don't have to. Lastly, for appearance. I'll obviously look better if I had less body fat. I'm doing Twinlab's Daily One multi-vitamin/mineral every day and Metabolift on occasion. 1 NOV 02 to 1 MAR 03 See U.S. Army Training Regimen for an extended discourse. 1 AUG 02 to 1 NOV 02 Weight Diet Pre-workout I take in one protein shake and post-workout I take in 40-50 g carbohydrates. Twinlab's Daily One every day and Metabolift only pre-workout/cardio. Training Routine My routine has been slightly modified, but not seriously. I have purchased equipment to make a home gym, so I truly have ZAP's Gym running 1 member strong! My routine is still total body, performed every other day, HST-style. As I only have access to a barbell, cambered bar, and one set of DBs (25s), my routine is very basic, but I don't feel limited. A sample routine is this: Barbell rows I am doing 1-2 warm-up sets, then 2 work sets for each exercise. It has worked very well. I have been doing cardio regularly in an effort to get into better shape and to burn more calories. I have dropped 30 pounds in the last 6 months and have maintained all of my size, but not all of my strength, which is fine with me. I actually look larger since I'm thinner and it lends to a superior V-taper, more definition, tigher waist, etc. 1 MAY 02 - 1 AUG 02 Weight Diet Post-workout I take in 100g of Powerade mix (mainly sucrose and maltodextrin) and 50 g of protein. Still doing the Twinlab's Daily One. I was taking multiple doses per day of Metabolift, but I have been scaling back as of recently. Training Routine The training program is called Hypertrophy Specific Training. It was devised by a guy with a fairly strong scientific background. It is based on training purely for size and not for strength at all. Any strength gains are just bonus (and a negative to some people actually). I'll elucidate the principles here, but their web site does it in a bit more detail. I also have changed some of the main ideas slightly, improving them I believe. The first principle is frequency. The routine calls for performing the same of similar workout 3 times per week, 1-2 days in between workouts. It is based on the idea that creating DNA messages in a constant supply is key to hypertrophy (building muscle for those of you without a science background). In a normal program training 3 times per week but with body part splits, your workout creates the cellular messages to create new muscle. They peak a few days later. Then they go away. This program calls for working out multiple times per week to create a constant supply of mRNA to have semi-constant growth. As you can see the routine is a total body routine calling for 1-2 exercise for large bodyparts, 1 exercise for smaller parts. For example, I may do Squat, Deadlift, Calf Raises, Incline Flyes, Decline BB Press, DB Pullover, Machine Row, DB Lateral Raise, Triceps Pressdown, Cable Curl, Machine Abdominals. This covers the whole body. The order is my preference, harder exercises first. The routine also calls for repetition changes every few weeks. For example, sets of 12 reps for 2 weeks, then 10 reps, then 8, then 6, rest for a week to 2 weeks, repeat. This is where I made a change. I have tried the same rep scheme for a week or altering them such as 8 for a week, then 12, then 6, then 10, etc. without going in the descending order. I'll comment on why in a new review of this program when I write it. The routine also is based on never truly working to failure. They base this on the idea that the nervous system gets fatigued, but the muscles do not when training to failure. They believe the reason you can't train as often when training to failure isn't because the muscles haven't recuperated. It's because the nervous system (mind communicating with the muscles) can't recover as fast. They believe if you don't train to failure, you can train more often. Further, the intensity needed to create optimal DNA transcription to make new muscle isn't 100%. The program calls for increasing weights every workout, even if by a little bit. For example, Squat with 200 on Monday, 225 on Wed, 250 on Friday ultimately working to close to your max. I disagree here slightly as well. I'll discuss why when I do a more thorough review at another time. Finally, the routine is based on 1-2 sets per exercise being optimally effective. This is based on research that shows 1 set is as good as multiple sets and since you are doing the same exercise multiple times per week, the total weekly volume is the same. Instead of 3 challenging sets of Squats once per week in a typical program, here we are doing 1 set 3 times per week. Same total volume but separated into multiple sessions. There is more to the program, but these are the basics of it and the basics of what I am doing. So what do I think? I have found it excellent! I have been suprised at how effective it has been and how much I am enjoying the program. A more detailed review of this system will follow since it is an important topic to which to delve. For now, you can read more at http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html. 1 FEB 02 to 1 MAY 02 Weight/Body Fat% Diet I drink a 55 g carbohydrate drink (Gatorade mixed in water) during my weight training workouts. Post-workout I take in an additional 50 grams of high glycemic carbohydrates with 30-40 grams of protein. I am using a multi-vitamin/mineral each day (Twinlab's Daily One with Iron) and 50-75 mg of ephedrine per day split over various dosages via Twinlab's Metabolift. Training Routine Chest & Back Shoulders & Arms Lower Body I perform each exercise for 3-5 sets of 5-8 repetitions. I work up in intensity generally meaning my first set is the easiest and my last set is the hardest. My goal is 2 challenging sets per exercise. I rest 60-120 seconds in between sets. My reps are slow and controlled (see here for a visual) with a pause at the start and stop of each movement position to eliminate momentum. I have been performing 1-3 cardio sessions per week depending on time and mood. They last approximately 30 minutes and are at a moderate intensity. I have been doing elliptical machines and stairclimbers for the most part. Comments I added in increased amounts of ephedrine to increase thermogenesis and caloric expenditure and to suppress appetite in addition to its energy-boosting effects. I began taking the carbs during the workout to see how it would help fatigue, recovery, and growth. It appears to be helpful especially in the latter stages of intense workouts. I can notice less fatigue overall. I split my workout from an upper/lower to a 3-way split. This has been excellent in that it really shortened that longer upper body day into 2 smaller sessions allowing intensity to remain higher. 19 DEC 01 to 1 FEB 02 Weight/Body Fat% Diet Post-workout I take in 100 grams of high glycemic carbohydrates with 30-40 grams of protein. I am using a multi-vitamin/mineral each day (Twinlab's Daily One with Iron) and Twinlab's Metabolift 30-60 minutes pre-workout. Training Routine Upper Body Lower Body I perform each exercise for 3-5 sets of 5-8 repetitions. I work up in intensity generally meaning my first set is the easiest and my last set is the hardest. My goal is 2 challenging sets per exercise. I rest 60-150 seconds in between sets. My reps are slow and controlled with a pause at the start and stop of each movement position to eliminate momentum. Comments |
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