| Hey, Cory! | Week 9 of 12, Day 59 of 84
Cory,
Just wanted to drop by and say, "Hello!" You may not know it, but you have been a tremendous inspiration to me and many people whom I have shared your story with (by referring them to your photos/blurbs over at L&S). I've watched your progress at Lean & Strong and you have had one heck of a journey. It is obviously paying great dividends for you, and you have made some very good choices because you are coming out of with quite a bit of quality muscle! Thanks for coming over to our neck of the woods and sharing your inspirational journey with us ... I'm sure that you motivate more people than you know!
My hat off to you!
Jeremy
posted by Jeremy on 5/28/2003 8:30:55 AM | | Dropping weights, fatigue, and other stuff | Week 9 of 12, Day 58 of 84
Hmmm, interesting post tonight, Emma (or is it day over there? Evening?)
Heavy weights while doing slow, controlled exercises sounds great to me, too. I like the emphasis on form. However, tempo is just another variable to play with. I think too many people take one variable and focus on it too much. German Volume Training? Suddenly, high sets is the way to grow muscle. Super slow? Suddenly a slow tempo is the way to go. Holistic? Okay, high reps have got to be the way. What's the truth?
In fact, we know there are some basic, fundamental principles related to strength training. First, we have to separate the notion of hypertrophy (muscle growth) from strength. People assume they are intrinsic to each other, but it's simply not true. I should bench press and squat a lot more weight for my relative size, whereas I know people who barely look like they have a chest who can slam around 400 pounds on the bench press. Muscular cross-section (size) is not directly related to neural efficiency (strength). The muscle is a bundle of motor units, and each motor unit can either be "on" or "off" - there's no in between. So if your body can turn a bunch on at the same time, you can generate quite a bit of strength. Someone with small muscles who is very neurologically efficient can generate tremendous force (boxer's punch, martial artist's kick) whereas someone might have a lot of cross-section and fiber there but not be efficient with using it (hulking bodybuilder).
So, when talking about tempo, I hate to zone in on, for example, the negatives (eccentric) phase of lifting. Regardless of your goal. First, studies demonstrate that explosive force is a critical component in building neurological efficiency. For this reason, those training to maximize their strength would do best to avoid exaggerated eccentric/negative contract and focus on the concentric/explosive (positive) phase of the lift. This is where the muscle must make efficient use of the motor units to generate the force necessary to propel the weight. American power-lifting coach Louie Simmons, a legend in his own right (he's trained some of the world's strongest at the famed Westside Barbell Club) is a proponent of a form of training that alternates between one rep maximum workouts (slow tempo due to the high intensity of the lift, but a lot of force generated) and speed sets. Speed sets involve taking a relatively light weight - for example, if you bench press 400 pounds, you might be working out with only 180 pounds - and then lifting them at a rapid-fire pace. He is working the F=ma equation (force is a factor of mass and acceleration). With an incredibly high mass, the muscle has to generate force F to move the weight, but acceleration is almost nothing, so for F, we have a = low number and m = high number. On the other hand, during the lighter, faster sets, we may generate the exact same F due to the fact that, while m is a low number, we are accelerating rapidly, so now a = high number and m = low number but F is the same. The net result? The muscle still has to fire those motor units to generate force, only the time under tension is reduced and the overall intensity is diminished, so the athlete's recovery cycle is shortened, i.e. more sessions can be performed due to faster recovery!
Even someone training for hypertrophy can take advantage of this. If you perform exaggerated negatives all of the time, while physiologically this may be the best way to promote hypertrophy, neurologically, it can be suicide. The central nervous system fatigues just as much as the physiological systems do. When the CNS fatigues, it becomes less efficient at coordinating the firing of motor units and therefore you have diminished strength output. For this reason, performing a short cycle of several weeks negatives/eccentric movements is best followed by a period of training that focuses on the explosive/concentric phase. This will allow you to apply more force to the muscle and practice overloading it without exhausting it or risking cumulative microtrauma, i.e. extensive damage to the muscle tissue that your body can't recover from, otherwise known as overtraining.
I am with you on not going to failure all of the time. I'm less concerned from the perspective of the energy production systems depleting than I am from a golgi complex perspective. The golgi complex is a feedback mechanism designed to protect the muscle from excessive overload. When an extremely high force is applied, this mechanism can short circuit the muscle before true fatigue is reached in an effort to protect it from injury. When you train to failure, you might oversensitive this organ - in other words, it may sense the failure as a potential threat to the muscle and actually increase the threshhold at which it inhibits force generation, effectively reducing strength! Some people train to failure all of the time but I've always liked training to voluntary failure, meaning up until the last rep that I know I can fully complete in good form.
Remember, however, that the Devil is often in the details. We can get too caught up looking at one mechanism and fail to see the broader picture. For example, you mention the build up of lactic acid and the inhibiting effect of the resulting pH. However, one theory is that if you continuously induce lactic acid build up, your body responds by capillarizing the area. This growth of capillaries actually increases the muscle's ability to effectively shuttle new nutrients to the muscle and remove waste. The net effect is increased ability to recover from exercise and therefore could actually contribute to hypertrophy. Mega-sets involving up to 100 repetitions may induce quite a bit of lactic acid, but they are also known to help stretch the ligament and tendon system. This allows the muscle to lengthen further around the joint and therefore increases the potential for muscle growth around that joint as well.
I think the basic principles are the best ones to stick to. The most fundamental, in my opinion, is simply progressive overload. If you force the muscle to perform more work, it will respond, either through a neurological or physiological adaptation, and most likely a combination of both. That means I can do 6 reps at 100 pounds this session and 6 reps at 105 pounds the next session, or 6 reps at 100 pounds this session and 4 reps at 155 pounds the next session, or 6 reps at 100 pounds using an explosive tempo and dropping the weight this session and then controlling my descent doing a slower tempo the next session, and all will have the same effect - they will place the muscle under more tension either as a function of total workload or time under tension, and the response, provided adequate recovery and nutrition, will be an increase in strength and/or muscle size. Failure, in my opinion, is fine, if it produces results - regardless of what the science says, if someone trains to failure every time and they are improving their strength or they keep needing a bigger tape measure to circumvent their biceps, then there is no need to change it!
My biggest argument against going slow all of the time is the GAS principle - general adaptation syndrome. When subjected to stress, we go through three distinct phases. The first is alarm - OH WHY IS THIS BEAR CHEWING ON MY ARM? Then we go through adaptation - the wound heals and a scar forms. However, if the source of stress is continuously applied, we reach exhaustion - oh, take my limb, I'm tired of wrestling you, Pooh. Same with muscle ... alarm (DOMS, anyone?) adaptation (stronger/bigger) but if we keep it up too long, exhaustion (weaker, injury, etc). So I like to take it through the adaptation phase, and then back off and try something different. This is why I LOVE Bryan Haycocks Hypertrophy Specific Training principles (http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/) because he builds in so much rest. You basically progress from 15 reps ... 10 reps ... 5 reps .. then 5 reps + exaggerated/forced negatives, then repeat. The weight is purposefully light to begin, but intense at the end. Ian King, from your neck of the woods, applies similiar principles - he recommends you start with a weight that is EASY to finish the sets with on the first workout (learn the form), then progress to a weight you can just barely finish (trigger the alarm), then do a third workout where you can't finish the rep (now force the adaptation) then move onto a new training protocol and start back in the "easy" phase.
Whew - you asked for it!
Michelle talk to Nichole, she's a pro at it, of course, you'll probably be competing against her!
Shane - I can't wait to see it happen, dude!
Geneva HI! Welcome to the community. I don't think you are necessarily getting too much protein if you don't mind it, I just see so many people trying so hard to force extra protein when they probably don't need it. If you have a system that works, definitely stick with it!
Linda - love your little quotes!
Marie - Mom, are you going to be here July 5th? We are trying so hard to work out a way to go see my main man Zach flex it like Zeus.
Zach - you're looking great, man, and I can't wait to see you freaky shredded. You da MAN!
Everyone else - keep it green, keep it real, I enjoy so much reading all of your journals and apologize because I feel there is so much more I could give back, but I have the attention span of about 5 posts back and then I get lost in some rant.
So, having said that, I'm off to enjoy a glass of Ravenswood Sonoma Valley Zinfandel, and then off to sleep! Will post my stats, first.
Jeremy
posted by Jeremy on 5/27/2003 10:12:30 PM | | HEY HEY HEY!!! | Week 9 of 12, Day 58 of 84 cont...
Can you say "green"?! That's wha't I've been for a few weeks now, and it's showing. Was 205 this morning, right on target for my 3lb/week loss. I get a lot of questions like "what time is best for cardio/weight training" and "what ratios are best" etc. Here is where I have to say a few things.
First, if you are following a program, stick with it. Give it 100%. Don't tweak. Tweaking is for when you know where you're starting from. If you've done 12 weeks of Body-for-LIFE 100% by the book, then you have a baseline and you have a place to tweak. If you haven't, don't ... stick with it! So if you are trying to do a BFL program, that means 6 meals a day, it means a full free day, it means 3 cardio sessions preferably on an empty stomach, yada yada. If you are doing Get Lean, follow it. Only after you have mastered a program should you start to switch variables - you have to know where you're coming from first and how it works! Trying to change things up front just confuses it and makes too many variables, and then you never really know what worked.
Having said that, if you are trying to make your own program, here's the scoop: train when you have the most energy. So many people fixate on "empty stomach" etc, but I just don't buy into it. You might burn a little extra fat, but I'm more concerned about protein/amino acids, too - a catabolic state is not a fun state to be in and muscle is hard to earn, easy to forfeit. Some people insist on training on an empty stomach even though they get faint, dizzy, feel weak, and barely perform, when in fact they could have a few meals, wait a few hours, and then burn twice as many calories because they'll have the energy to perform. This doesn't mean that if you currently train that way, you should stop - if it is working for you, stick with it ... I did it for awhile and enjoyed it, but I like to increase strength from weight training session to weight training session and that means I train later in the day when I have a few meals under my belt and much more energy!
As for nutrition, there are so many plans out there. We know that if you are an endurance athlete or a heavy resistance trainer, you probably need more protein than the average Joe. However, bodybuilding has somehow taken the science which indicates 1g / kg body weight and distorted that to 1g / lb body weight ... big difference there, and science really only supports the 1g / kg ... if you are training REALLY intensely, then maybe 1.4 - 1.6 g / kg, but there are many studies that show anything over that amount does not result in additional muscle and therefore just means extra calories. If you are taking in too many calories from protein, then you are sacrificing carbs, which means you aren't filling your muscle's fuel tanks (glycogen) appropriately. Zach can tell you what not having carbs can do to you. And this isn't bashing Zach's approach - Zach is doing something extreme: trying to get to LOW single digits (3 - 4 percent) which requires some extreme measures to shock his body into giving up that last bit of fat. Most people won't need to start the shock treatment until their abs are visible, around 10% for men and maybe 14 - 17 percent for women, and then only if the desire is to get ultra-lean. So, to review, at 1g / kg a 100 pound person will need 45 grams of protein and a 200 pound person will need 90 grams of protein. You vegetarians out there - not too hard to handle, is it? A few lentils, whole grains, some soy, and you're money. If you really think you truly train hard enough to warrant the extra protein - if you are an animal in the gym, the iron starts to scream when you step in the door and the weights sweat just thinking about what you're going to do to them, then at 1.4 grams we have 63 grams of protein for the 100 pound person and 128 grams for the 200 pound person, a far cry from the 200 - 400 grams per day many programs advocate.
But, don't take my word for it ... take my pictures. I'm averaging about 100 grams of protein per day during this challenge, so we'll see how the lean mass nets out after 12 weeks. So far I'm 205 from 209 but up to 260 in squat and 225 bench, so I couldn't be more satisfied.
I also wanted to apologize for a lack of shout outs and profound posts. This is a very busy time for my company and my personal life (read: finishing my ISSA coursework) so the rest of the time is 100% reserved for my family ... once things slack up and I have more time, I'll throw up more personal posts, but until then, it might be limited to daily stats updates.
Everyone, keep it green!
Jeremy
posted by Jeremy on 5/27/2003 11:25:23 AM | | OH, Leann ..... | Week 8 of 12, Day 56 of 84
Hi there! I wanted to post my opinions to a few of your issues.
First, for a realistic goal, is 30 pounds possible? Sure. But is that what you're really prepared for? I don't know your drive ... you seem to have some doubt, and unless you are 110% focused, then I don't think you're ready for 30 pounds. I think about 1.5 pounds/week or 18 pounds is a better goal right now .. more realistic, more margin for error, etc. 18 pounds is still a LOT of weight, don't get me wrong, and you will be MUCH closer to your goal.
As for the protein .. how much do you think you really need? I'm over 200 pounds and my average daily protein is about 100 grams. You really only need about 1 gram per kilogram of your lean mass. I know many people push for more, but science really doesn't support the need for more protein unless you are training for a marathon or are a professional bodybuilder. It always amuses me that people think they need the same amount of protein as a professional bodybuilder would, but then don't train nearly to the same intensity - I mean, seriously, in all of the time I've been into fitness, almost 5 years now, I've really only seen enough people to count on one hand who train that hard (we're lucky to have mister Zach here as one, and Mrs. Nichole as another). That's not to say no one else here doesn't, it means I haven't trained with them to see ... but I know a lot of people who think they train intensely, only to do a workout with someone like Hank Johnson or Jeff Seidman and find out .. wow, there's a whole new level I need to get to! By the way, *I* don't train that intensely myself, I haven't touched the surface of how hard I *could* potentially train, but I feel I fall short without someone here training with me, so I do the best I think I can and pray for the time that Tony can get here from Orlando and put my rear through the wringer (Tony is an old friend of mine who is the one person I know could train me to get on stage -- he's the one who can push me hard enough to sweat blood).
So, to make a short story boring, you probably need at most 60 - 80 grams of protein ... that shouldn't be too hard to accomodate - in fact, on 100% vegetarian days, I usually get that amount through soy milk, whole grain bagels, baked corn chips, broccoli, lentils, and other high protein vegetable foods. Put it this way ... if the amount of protein is making you nauseous, then why put yourself through it? I mean, there is getting HEALTHY which I think you want, and there is competing. When you compete, you take yourself to the extreme - that's why it's competition - and you end up in a place where sometimes you aren't doing the healthiest thing, you're doing the most intense thing to get ahead. This is why you hear about people passing out and having incredible knee pain or back injuries or any number of problems - they are pushing their bodies to the limit, and sometimes bodies break down when pushed that hard. But it's what they choose for the competition. On the other hand, to live healthy, it shouldn't be a painful struggle. Are you going to live in pain and misery the rest of your life? I hope not ... I hope living healthy means energy, excitement, passion, pleasure, joy ... it means enjoying the foods you eat and feeling GOOD because you eat them, not sick. It means enjoying your exercise and looking forward to it, not dreading it.
Everyone is uncomfortable at first because the comfort zone has to shift from junk food and relaxation to healthy food and discipline, but finding the right way to shift that and learn to enjoy it is key. I wouldn't lift a weight if I didn't love the rush of pushing myself hard ... even when you hear of Zach having his low carb troubles and struggles, you see him press on because he takes pleasure in the thrill of the competition and knows the reward at the end ... that when he looks back, he can say he stuck with it, he pressed on in the face of adversity, and he conquered. That is what it should be .. pursuit for the thrill of enjoying the summit. It's tough to make it to the summit, Leann, but unless you can enjoy the journey, the prospect can be grim and bleak. There are many summits in life, and most of us choose to live in the valley. Who makes the summit most often - the person who looks up and dreads the hike, and says, "Oh, good grief, not again?" Or the person who goes, YES I can't WAIT to get out of here and see new scenery - to hike new trails, see the beautiful wildlife, scale a rock face, and then stand on a summit where only a few people have been (or maybe none before!) and gaze out across the world?
See, that summit is rare. Not very many people get there, and there is a good reason. Some simply don't have the passion, some don't have the means, but I can guarantee the ones who do make it build a love and a joy out of it. They reach the summit and instead of saying, "Ugh, glad that's over, let's slide down" instead, they look over there, and say, "WOW ... now look at THAT summit, that's even higher .. I can't wait to tackle THAT one."
What I'm trying to say is that it will be painful, but to an end. If you are miserable with the food, find other foods you enjoy more. If you don't like the exercise then experiment and find something you enjoy. If your schedule is too strict and you're constantly frustrated because the children interrupt or do something, find a different schedule that is more flexible and allows time to be with your family. That was the hardest thing I had to learn - that sometimes I can give up the workout to play with my daughter and I'll either make it up or I won't, but I won't regret it for a moment because I know I got closer to her and I won't use it as an excuse to give up.
I know right now it's hard to focus on much more than that 130 pound goal and that physique. But please, if you have a diary or journal or posts from before, explore them and your memory and find those other factors that brought so much joy ... just being able to exercise and not feel out of shape, to take control of your schedule and enjoy life, to look at adversity as a lesson and not a road block ... those are all valuable gifts that will come with your pursuit of this, Leann.
Finally, we talked about this before, but none of us can make you want it. When you do decide you want it, and it's more than something on the surface, but you can search deep within and really understand the reasons, you will do it. I know you think you want it, but something is holding you back, because when you truly decide, there simply isn't an option for anything else - it is nothing but success. We have children, we have adversity in life, we have jobs, we have unforseen things happen (hey, I wasn't expecting to be without my own car today!) but they are all part of life ... so making the decision to transform isn't about it being the right time in your environment -it's not about the children being a certain age or a financial situation or anything - it's about the time being right in your HEAD. And that "right time" is simply when you say, "It's time. I'm doing this."
God's richest blessings to you and your family, and my personal encouragement for your ultimate success,
Jeremy
posted by Jeremy on 5/25/2003 9:07:14 AM | | Les Shouts du Outs | Week 8 of 12, Day 55 of 84
Wow ... lot going on in the community these days. I'd like to shout out to everyone and say, HEY ... have a GREAT weekend and keep it real. I had a wonderful dinner with my wife, kept it clean, drank some beer but logged it in my little black book of calories and it's all good in the hood. I encourage you to keep it the same ... someone on another board asked how the general public intends to stick to their plan over the weekend. Mine is simple .. there is a number that is budgeted by my software. If that number is 2400 then that is what I will eat. It's a decision of mine that I have to make ... coz I know if I choose fruit and veggies and other wonderful items, I'll be eating until I can't move and still be under the calorie target. Or, I can go out and choose some fatty fried foods without too many nutrients and risk feeling a little sick afterwards and use up so many calories from my day that I'll be sucking down Crystal light and coffee just to keep the hunger pangs at bay. As you can see, it becomes an easy prospect to simply balance life out, make the healthy foods my staple and sneak in the little splurges where it's convenient.
Tomorrow morning is church. I am about 2 - 3 classes away from closing out my biblical nutrition course. I'm taking a break after that. We had a good amount of people take it, but it wasn't consistent, with some attending this class and others attending that class, etc. However, everyone who did attend not only learned a bit, but brought their own contributions to the table as well ... I ended up learning from them, which is no surprise, I always do - in personal training, I always learned something from every client that I worked with.
After church, we go to the "art barn" where my wife has a book fair. They have animals and it's like a petting zoo, only they do activities with the children as well. My daughter loves it and can't wait to take me.
Let's talk about dad's perfect day. I woke up this morning to my grinning daughter. We turned on cartoons and watched them from bed. Then I went downstairs and did my little run. After the run, I soaked in the tub. My daughter would keep poking her head in and giggling and saying, "Is this the weekend? You're not going to work? We're gonna have soooo much fun." After Doreen left for her show (a different one she's having today) we went to Starbuck's. Alyssa usually gets a Horizon organic yogurt and a kids chocolate, but this time she got the chocolate and they were out of the yogurt, so I let her share a crumb cake with her brother. It was regular coffee with soy milk for Dad.
The kids didn't want to go home, so I took them with me to Office Depot where I picked up ... YESSSSSSSSS a wireless hub and card for my new laptop. My wife approved the purchase of a nice little laptop, so I got the hub and let me tell you it is SO COOL surfing the web or typing this wherever I feel like it - the porch, the deck, in my sunroom. SWEET! I love it! My daughter picked out an education game she wanted, so I picked that up for her.
We went to Kroger, a local grocery store, for lunch. I picked up some Indian samosa pockets and organic baked corn chips seasoned with chili powder and lime, and an organic root beer. The kids got chicken and Alyssa got her organic noodles. Of course, the real fun was about to start ... I got them all out to the car, turned the key in the ignition ... and ... say no go! The car was dead. Fortunately, we live right around the corner, so we walked home. I called AAA and they tried to jump it, but it was really, really dead - the positive terminal had corroded so the battery wasn't recharging. They towed it to the local shop and when we dropped it off, it was leaking oil, too. Fun!
So I walked home from the repair shop (also conveniently close) and decided, what the heck, let them do what they will with the car. Time to have fun!
Took my little girl to the pool. My son got a call that he was needed at the restaurant, so he went on his merry way to go make some good money (waiting tables on Saturday night is the way to be!). We had such a blast at the pool. She was in the big pool, the kid pool, we slid down the slide, and she really, really wanted to learn how to swim. She even jumped off a step and went completely under and was just standing under water staring at me with a surprised look for a split second before I grabbed her out ... she said, "Daddy, that was scary, but I want to swim!". So guess what Mom and Dad get to work on this summer .. that's right ... swimming lessons for the little one!
We came home and then she did her favorite passtime ... digging for bugs in the yard. She collected insects and worms and all kinds of things. My wife came home, I told her the fun news about the car (the shop had called ... battery and terminal, fixed, oil leak, need a part, Tuesday ... well, cool, I get to spend some time with my family in the morning before heading into work, no problems there!). She just laughed, because as we were talking Alyssa came up and said "Daddy's car broke and we had to walk home." And crossed her arms and did a little "harumph" at the end. It was so cute.
So we went to Bahama Breeze, a tropical restaurant. I got the chicken black beans and grilled asparagus and my wife got an AWESOME dish - it was whole grains, including wheat berries and mixed grains, with lentils and veggies ... wow talk about tasty AND healthy. Alyssa? She just wanted her splurge meal ... pizza, pizza!
So now I'm very tired (the sun saps me big time, and I'm a sore wreck from the heavy training) so I thought I'd share this little update and now I'm going to CRASH!
Take care and God bless you all. Have a wonderful weekend .. I may not post much more than my stats tomorrow morning, but if you don't hear from me until Tuesday, it's because I'm having a blast with my family!
SEE YA!
Jeremy
posted by Jeremy on 5/24/2003 10:39:59 PM |
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