Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday

Tags

Exercise, mental health, physical health, Reading, Supplements, vitamins, Writing

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mahatma_gandhi_109078?src=t_health

Exercising consistently is hard. It’s supposed to be. Have you ever pursued something that was really worthwhile that was not difficult?

I am a huge advocate for exercise. It is not easy, I don’t like going to the gym every day, and I don’t like dieting, but they are all necessary if I want to keep my body in shape and make it last into my senior years. I’m 54 now.

I would like to live into my 90s at least and have a good quality of life to boot. I don’t want to be one of these seniors that have to spend more money on pharmaceuticals than food each month. I don’t want to be hooked up to an oxygen tank. I don’t want to be confined to a wheelchair. These are all a reality if you don’t take care of yourself today. Eat good food, exercise daily, drink water, and get enough sleep.

The mind’s health is also something I consider important. My Dad has vascular dementia. Chalk this up to a life of smoking, lack of exercise and a horrific diet composed of small meals my Mom makes, with the rest being every candy, candy bar, ice cream, and snack you can think of. I love my Dad, but all his current issues could have been avoided had he only taken care of himself. This is the “negative example” I use every day when I don’t feel like working out or feel like buying a bag of candy at the market and scarfing it down when I get home.

I keep my mind active by taking online classes, playing video games, and meditating. I also enjoy reading and writing. One of the courses I took on Coursera was Learning How to Learn. In this course, it explains the scientific discovery that your brain builds new neurons when you exercise. This means you can grow new neurons into old-age. Science used to think the brain had a set number of neurons and that was it. With this new discovery, we can keep our minds young and sharp by exercising.

Keeping the mind healthy is also about what you put into your body. It’s ok to have a goody now and then. I enjoy ice cream, a candy bar, or a piece of cake or donut from time-to-time. The bulk of my diet, however, is composed of protein and fat (I’m on a low-carb diet). The brain loves fat. So, does your body. They both need healthy fats to do the business of using enzymes, hormones, and other chemicals. The body needs protein to repair and build things like bone, teeth, brain cells, and all the rest. When your body processes protein and fat it can build up the glucose it needs, without carbohydrates.

Do you take a multivitamin? Do you take any probiotics? Do you take Omega 3 supplements? I do, but with caution. I used to be a supplement junky, buying everything I saw at my local GNC. The problem with this is 1) it’s expensive, 2) there is a lot of marketing hype in the supplement industry with little or no proof that the product works, and 3) they can hurt your health if you make the mistake of taking a supplement that interferes with one of your prescribed medications or take a supplement that overdoses you on vitamins and minerals (yes, you can be harmed by taking too many vitamins).

The best advice I can give you is what I have learned. If you really want to try a supplement, do your due diligence. If you believe the supplement will help your performance, buy it. Then, test it out. Does it do what it advertises it can do? Does it help your exercise performance? If you answered yes to both questions, you’ve found a winner. Unfortunately, I have found that a bulk of the supplements that are out there do not satisfy one or both questions.

Do you feel uncomfortable going to the gym? Fine. Many people do initially. Find a trainer or a friend who frequents the gym and they’ll show you how to use the equipment. You can find tons of videos on YouTube. You can borrow exercise, nutrition, and even bodybuilding books at your local library. Just consider that you are unique. One exercise program will work for me, while it may not work for you. Your exercise program will also depend on the type of goals you have. Read about exercise, do some research online, and find a friend that is in good shape and ask for their advice. You’ll find something to start with. After you’ve been doing this for a while, it’ll be easier. Then it’s about consistency.

I could go on and on about these topics because I enjoy how I feel at the end of the day. I feel accomplished, I feel true to my goals. Most of all, I don’t feel guilty about watching some TV or playing some video games with my friend online, once I’ve knocked out the critical tasks I have slotted for the day.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log

Tags

Back, Calves, Jim Stoppani, Kris Gethin, Supplements, Workout Routines

Hello, readers! Happy Tuesday!

If you do any type of research out there about fat loss, bodybuilding, and nutrition in general, you’ll discover as I have that there are so much conflicting information that it is really hard to figure out what is right. I’ll help you out. It’s all individual.

Your body will react to some supplements better than others. Your body will react to different kinds of workouts better. Your body will react to different diets better. Or your body will not react to these things. You have to get in the gym, examine your diet, get the core supplements and go from there. It really is this simple.

To lose weight you have to eat less than your body burns. To gain weight you have to eat more than it burns. Some of what is called a “caloric deficit” is caused by the exercise you do each day.

Now that I’ve said that, there are some great folks in the industry to at least try. The first person I would recommend is Dr. Jim Stoppani (www.jimstoppani.com). Another guy I would take a view of is Kris Gethin (www.kagedmuscle.com). There are others out there, but I would recommend starting with these two to begin your bodybuilding or transformation journey. They will both offer you some great advice and provide a good selection of workout routines to keep you busy.

Ok. Here’s today’s workout!

Back and Calves

T-Bar Rows:

Warm-up: 35×20; 45×12; 70×8

Working: 80×6; 90×6; 100×6

Seated Rows:  140×6; 160×6; 180×6

Close-Grip Lat Pulldown: 140×6; 160×6; 200×6

Barbell Shrug: 205×6; 255×6; 295×6

Leg Press Calve Presses: 208×6; 298×6; 348×6; 368×6;   388×6; 388×6

As you can see above, I again have more weight to add. Calves are in a holding pattern at 388lbs because my form was a little weak. I’ll stick with this for another week or so, but will be starting at 368lbs next workout as a warm-up set.

That’s it for today folks!

See you tomorrow!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Workout – Rest Day!

Tags

bio-mechanics, Cardio, Heart Rate, Personal tolerance to supplement intake, Supplementation, Supplements

Well, today is a rest day. That means only two 20-minute sessions of cardio. I enjoy this new routine because I am a creature of habit. When I’m pursuing a goal in the gym, I like to pursue it daily. Rest days for most are just that–taking a day off from the gym. If this works–do it. For me, taking a day off like this feels like I’m cheating.

I also do my first workout first thing. I know myself and if I do not get to the gym the first thing in the morning, I won’t go. This is another aspect of pursuing your goals. You know yourself better than anyone else. Once you’ve learned about how you are, don’t deviate from the plan you’ve put in place for yourself. Again, my first action every day is exercise.

Speaking of individual preferences. Yesterday, we talked about biomechanics. Biomechanics is very individual and will vary from one person to the next. So is your reaction to supplements. Personally, I use a pre-workout, post workout, protein, creatine, and a few others. If you experiment with these, you will find that one brand or another may work really well–or not. The key is to monitor what a supplement does or does not do. It is no problem to drop a supplement for another or never purchase that supplement again.

In some cases, I have had reactions to certain supplements. If you go to GNC or another supplement store, most will allow you to return the item and either credit it to you or allow you to exchange it for another item. If your store does not honor this type of transaction, I would recommend patronizing another establishment. GNC, Bodybuilding.com’s store, and Amazon Prime are the resources I use to find and purchase supplements. I cannot recommend Bodybuilding.com enough. You’ll find candid advice and have access to a lot of articles that are well-referenced by industry and academic experts. However, you will always be the judge as to what works for you and what does not work.

Supplementation is really important because of the taxing nature of exercising. When lifting weights you are taxing your nervous system, your muscles, tendons, and bones, and your circulatory system. Believe it or not, the system that tends to give out more quickly than the rest is the nervous system. Why? Each time a muscle contraction occurs there is a set of nerve fibers that will fire to make that contraction happen.  Remember this when you begin a new routine or change something. When you are recovering, each of these systems must also recover and adapt to the exercises you subjected them to. Supplementation will help this recovery process, even if you are just supplementing your diet with a multi-vitamin. Visit Bodybuilding.com and use the keyword search: supplements to read more about these important additions to any workout routine.

Today’s workout will be two cardio sessions of 20 minutes. This morning’s workout is completed and was the ever-challenging Fat burning option on the treadmill I use (Lifecycle). I like the fat burning option, particularly on rest days, because the better shape your circulatory system is in, the harder the fat burning option will work you. Here’s why. The fat burning option on your treadmill will set you at a heart rate that is in alignment with your current age. Since I’m about to be 54, my training heart rate is 111. Now, I start on the treadmill at around 86-87. That means the treadmill will increase speed and the incline angle until I’ve reached the 111 threshold. Once I’m there, it will continue to adjust to maintain that 111 heart rate until the 20 minutes is up. When I first started my starting heart rate was around 92-93. As you can see, the better shape I’m in, the lower my starting heart rate will be and the harder I have to work to attain the 111. Get it?

Well, that’s it for today. I have one more cardio session at 5 PM today.

See you tomorrow!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log

Tags

Cardio, Elliptical, Exercise, healthy living, Probiotic, Supplements, Testosterone

Happy Friday readers!!

I was motivated today, so instead of a full-blown rest day, I chose to do 30 minutes of cardio today with a 5-minute cooldown, totaling 35 minutes. I also resupplied my supplements today, adding a few new ones to my daily regimen. I’ve added a stronger Testosterone booster called Nugenix by GNC, and a Probiotic, which has a specialized culture in it that augments the body’s uptake of amino acids. The brand name on this one is called Digestive Advantage. I got a 60-day supply for $19 US.

Adapting

There are so many systems in our body that are stressed when we exercise. Cardio stresses the cardiovascular system more than weight lifting does. Weightlifting stresses the muscular, joint, and skeletal systems. It also stresses the cardiovascular system. Interestingly, what most people forget about is the nervous system. When exercising with weights, the nervous system will typically give out sooner than the muscles, joints, or skeletal systems. The primary reason, from what I’ve read, is that each time a muscle fiber is activated, your nervous system is taxed.

The activation of the nervous system in a certain way is dictated by the exercises you do in the gym. Each time you alter your routine, your nervous system has to “re-learn” how to accommodate the routine you require it to support. Subsequently, this is yet another reason why we have to alter our workouts every 4-6 weeks (see www.jimstoppani.com). Once you have “learned” a routine (typically about 4 weeks or so), the nervous system, muscle system, circulatory system, etc., have all “adapted” and are so well-honed, they are assisting the body to do the work with the least amount of effort necessary. When this shift in performance occurred, fewer muscle fibers are needed, and the body is not taxed as hard as it would be when introduced to a new routine. This reduces the body’s need to adapt and you start to experience depleted results if you see anything at all.

Diet

As you can see, if you’ve been following my macros, I am all over the place. This is a new thing for me. Before I started examining what I was eating, I would literally eat what I wanted, when I wanted, and just work my tail off in the gym. Well, when I was 20, I could get away with that. Now that I am 53, not so much. Subsequently, I started researching what other bodybuilders do to make gains in muscle mass while reducing weight. I am only interested in those things in my diet that allow me to grow naturally. I am not an advocate of using steroids or any other “banned” substance to get results. I realize that professional bodybuilders need these things in order to compete at that level, but I am only doing this because I am interested in taking care of myself as long as I am physically able to do so. That being said, one of the things I’ve learned over the last 10 weeks is that my digestive system needs to adapt to this amount of food as well.

One of the things I discovered when I increased my protein intake, using shakes and all the rest, was that I became bloated and constipated. I’ve been researching and looking around for a solution and finally discovered the need for a probiotic. One thing I would like to stress is the individual nature of our bodies. Some folks can eat a lot of food and do not require probiotics. Others, like myself, need those probiotics to keep “regular” and actually absorb the increase in nutrients my body needs to accommodate the exercise, muscle gain, and weight loss goals I have. The key is to measure, experiment, and adjust accordingly. Like me, you’ll find that formula for what works and hopefully stick with it.

Some of the foods I am gravitating towards are:

• Eggs
• Protein (Whey)
• Steak
• Pork Chops
• Skinless, boneless, chicken thighs, chicken breasts, and chicken tenders (sliced up chicken breast).
• Bacon (sparingly)
• Oatmeal
• Sweet Potatoes
• Red/White/Golden Potatoes (sparingly)

My eating schedule starts at 11:30 am (breakfast) followed by 6 other meals every two hours, starting at 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30, 11:30 pm.

What I am striving for is a static diet that will make it easier to maintain current macro requirements, avoiding the “roller-coaster” diet I’ve been on for the last month. One of the benefits of what I’ve done (although accidentally) is the ability to look at my average intake over the last 30 days, so I have a baseline to continue forward with this month. I’ll get this up, once I crunch the numbers this week (Probably on Monday, when I kick up week 3 of the Shortcut to Size program I’m following currently. Stay tuned.)

Today’s Exercises

35 minutes of Cardio using an Elliptical exercise machine

Current Bodyweight

My current weight is 240lbs and I am 6’ tall. The goal is to be around 245-250 by the end of this 12-week workout and maintaining my body fat percentage, which is around 20%. This is higher than I’d like, but during any bulking phase, it is quite common to gain some body fat or stay where you started because of a large amount of food a mass building program requires.

Yesterday’s macros

Carbohydrates 235g; Fat 79g; Protein 235g

Supplements and Water intake

Water

Water intake is more than a gallon a day. I drink a 1/2 gallon of water just with my pre-workout, during, and post-workout drinks. The rest of my water intake is around my meals (six in total each day). I currently feed every two hours.

Morning

• AlphaJym
• ShredJym
• PreJym combined with flavorless Whey Protein (25g)

During Workout

• BCAA drink during workouts with flavorless Whey Protein (24g)

Post Workout

• PostJym Dextrose and BCAA Matrix combined with flavorless Whey Protein (24g)
• OmegaJym
• VitaJym

Evening

• ZMAJym

See you tomorrow!!

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log

Tags

Abdominals, Hamstrings, Jym, Jym Army, Macros, Quadriceps, Stoppani, Supplements

Today’s Exercises

Legs

• Squats 4 x 15 (345lbs)
• Front Squats 3 x 15 (285lbs)
• Leg Extension 3 x 15 (140lbs)
• Romanian Deadlift 4 x 12 (135lbs)
• Standing Leg Curl 3 x 15 (30lbs)

Abdominals

• Hanging Leg Lift 3 x 20
• Crunch 3 x 30
• Plank 3 x 45 seconds

Workout Overview

Today’s workout is Day 4 Week 1 Phase 2 of Jim Stoppani’s Shortcut to Size (www.jimstoppani.com). This workout works in three 4-week cycles starting on week 1 with rep ranges of 12-15. All exercises this week will be in the 12-15 range. Today was the final weight lifting workout for the week. Week 2 starts next Monday.

This workout attacks the Quadriceps and Hamstrings hitting both on the Squat, concentrating on the Quads with Front Squats and Leg Extensions. We attack the Hamstrings with Romanian Deadlifts and Standing 1 Leg Curls. You’ll notice that the 1 leg curl weight is quite low. This is purposeful, as I have nerve damage in my left leg from a major back surgery in 2003 that left me with a weaker left leg. It is not impossible to train, but the progress on my left leg is much slower than my right, which was unaffected. Subsequently, my left leg dictates the weight my right leg will lift so I don’t end up looking lopsided with my right leg looking larger than the left. Note: This only affects the back side of my leg. The nerves running down the front of my left leg are also unaffected. Finally, we wrap up the workout with another day of abdominals, attacking the lower abs with leg lifts, the upper and mid abs with Crunches, and the entire core with planks. The goal by the end of this 12-week program is to hit 3 sets of 75 seconds on the planks (40 seconds kicked my butt today).

Current Bodyweight

My current weight is 235lbs and I am 6’ tall. The goal is to be around 245-250 by the end of this 12-week workout and maintaining my body fat percentage, which is around 20%. This is higher than I’d like, but during any bulking phase, it is quite common to gain some body fat or stay where you started because of a large amount of food a mass building program requires.

My Macros

My current macros were calculated using Jim Stoppani’s recommendations. He recommends 1.5 to 2.0 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight, .5 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight, and 2.0 grams of carbohydrates per pound of bodyweight. Since I am trying to maintain my body fat percentage, I’ve reduced the carbohydrate intake to 1.0 gram of carbs per pound of bodyweight.

235lbs (current weight)

235 x 1.5 = 352.5 grams of protein per day

235 x 1 = 235 grams of carbohydrates per day

235 x .5 = 117.5 grams of fat per day (rounded to 117 for ease of tracking)

Yesterday’s macros

208g of Carbohydrates; 124g of fat; 118g of Protein. Still dealing with being bound up. I added flax seed to my oatmeal in the morning to cure this. Again, another day without protein supplements in light of this blockage and let my digestive system catch up.

I use my MyFitnessPal (I the iTunes App Store) to track my macros each day.

Supplements and Water intake

Water

Water intake is more than a gallon a day. I drink a gallon of water just with my pre-workout, during-workout, and post-workout drinks. The rest of my water intake is around my meals (six in total each day).

Morning

• ProJym
• AlphaJym
• ShredJym
• PreJym

During Workout

• Extend BCAA during workout

Post Workout

• PostJym Dextrose and BCAA Matrix
• ProJym
• OmegaJym
• VitaJym
• CLA

Evening

• ZMAJym

 

Weekend

Saturday and Sunday will be Cardio Workouts for 45 minutes/day

My off day each week is Wednesday

See you tomorrow!!