Nutrition 101, and How to Build Yourself a Better Meal for Your Goals

I've got a few requests from people to share info about how to eat right.  Not just in general, but how they as an individual, should eat.  Like how much, when, what, etc.  This is a big topic.  One could write a book on it (one may write a book on it, as soon as the backing info found is solidified by scientific articles/books, and they can share a photograph that says "Yeah, that guy walked the walk, and isn't just talking the talk").

First, I need you to do something for me.  Go back and read my blog post about the science of my diet (and for the record... I hate using the word "diet" because it sounds temporary.  This is NOT temporary, this is a way of life!).   After that, take into consideration that diet is only a piece of the whole fitness puzzle; a rather large piece, but still it alone is not the answer.  Results are going to be 60% diet, 20% cardio, and 20% weight/resistance training.  These numbers aren't exact, but I needed to throw numbers at you to stress how important each piece is.

Ok, so now that you're on board, and haven't closed this page yet, lets get started.  I'll start in the logical place: macronutrients (duh!)

Macronutrients
Mike, wtf are macronutrients?  Well, jerk, they're the general classification of all nutrients that we take into our bodies.  You might know them better as Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats, and Minerals.  We can throw alcohol in there too, but its a rather special one, and deserves a little extra explanation... we'll get there.

Minerals
Lets start easy: Minerals.  These are 0 calorie elements like iron, zinc, vitamin A-Z, potassium, magnesium, etc.  They are extremely important to your overall health, but take more of a supporting role in weight manipulation.  Best thing I can say is that if you don't feel like researching every plant, meat, or fruit known to man to balance your minerals, take a Centrum.  I wish they paid me for this advertisement, but they don't.   It's THE most complete multi-vitamin around, and you'll get about 90% of ALL essential minerals you need every day if you take one.  How's that for peace-of-mind?

Proteins
The powerhouse nutrient.  Proteins do all kinds of important shit like build muscle, help repair organ tissue, and at the cellular level, provide cells with the amino acids necessary to do cool things like split in half and make more cells with the help of glucose.  That's the only fuel they need, man.   In your diet, you need to bring in a good amount of protein, especially if you're active.  The RDA of protein from the general health counsel is 20% of your dietary calories.  That's IF you sit on your ass all day, and don't stress your muscles at all.  Unless you're one of them, you need MORE protein because when you stress the muscles, they tear, and need to be repaired.  Protein is the only thing that will do that - and if you don't bring in enough guess what happens?  Your body either tries to make essential ones from the non-essentail proteins it has, or (this makes me cry...) your body breaks down OTHER muscles to get the protein it needs to repair the damaged ones.  True story!

Carbohydrates
The power-house nutrient.  I read a quote "Dr. Michael Colgan ... calls carboydrates 'premium fuel'"*.  This is by far the best description I ever heard.  Its what your body is begging for.  Carbs are anything from a single simple sugar (like nectar from a flower) or as packed as a bowl of pasta... and everything in between.  Carbs are derrived almost exclusively from plants.  At a high level, there's  disaccharides, monosaccharides , polysaccharides, and fibers.  To overly simplify things, thing of these 4 as a sliding scale of "bad-to-good" carbs.  The more fiber and polysaccharides you bring in, the better.  Think veggies and fruits (although fruits contain a lot of fructose - monosaccharide).  Monosaccharides are absorbed and burned almost instantly... but beware!  Too much of this sweet nectar of the gods can have the same effect as disaccharides on  your body, which will be described ... next!

Disaccharides are condensed monosaccharides.  WTF does that mean?  Not really important compared to where to find them (look up the Wikipedia entry, its got more info than you'll ever care to know!)  Where do I find disaccharides?  Table sugar, lactose and high fructose corn syrup (HFC) account for probably 99% of the disaccharides you'll care about.  Keep these to a minimum!  These are really sweet sugars that require a little extra help to break down.  Because anytime we indulge in such sugars (the exception being lactose, because of the small concentration in dairy) they are brought in in mass quantities, your body immediately recognizes the need to call in the supporting cast: insulin.  This shit will kill you if you didn't have enough (ask a diabetic!) or had too much.  To sugar, it's like the equivalent of a light saber cutting through storm troopers.  Take in too much disaccharide (or even monosaccharides) and you get hit with a whopping dose of insulin.  Your body doesn't have time to meticulously calculate how much it needs.  It opens the flood gates and lets it all out to do its job before you overheat from burning all that sugar, pass out, and maybe die.  So what happens when there's no more storm troopers?  It burns your reserves... and you feel crazy tired.. this is more commonly called a "sugar crash".  Insulin has taken over your body, and all you want to do is sleep until it's out.  Too much insulin?  Your cells have no immediate energy left to do things like multiply and well... eventually, you die.  Ask a diabetic what happens if they screw up an insulin calculation and give themselves too much.

Polysaccharides and fibers are the "complex" carbohydrates.  Short and sweet, a shit-ton of mono and disaccharides strung together.  You find these in fleshy vegetables like broccoli, potatoes, squash, spinach, etc. and grains like oatmeal, wheat, quinoa, couscous, and so on.  Why do these kick ass?  It give you a shit-ton of the sugars your body needs to function at the cellular level and at the macro level (you kicking someone's ass in Wii boxing... or real boxing!).  What's also great about these complex carbs?  They give your tidal wave of insulin something to do!!!!! See all those exclamation points?  I mean every one of them.  Eating the right balance of mono/disaccharides and complex carbs leaves you feeling somewhat full, not sluggish, and you won't crash in a half hour.  Too many complex carbs, and you wont' have enough insulin to break it down, and sadly, partially broken down sugars make excellent building blocks for body fat.  So, you can see why carbs are now the red-headed step-child of the nutrition world these days.  People blame the nutrient rather than bad dietary habits.  The same is true for fats... which, is up next!

Fats (Lipids, Fatty-acids, etc.)
I did a nice blog before this about fats.  Read Let's Chew the Fat first.  These are like super really super duper important, and the blog clears up why you NEED them in your diet, and shouldn't spend all your focus on cutting them out.  To summarize, you have 3 types of fats: Saturated fats, unsaturated fats, and trans fatty acids.  Your goal?  Eat as many unsaturated fats (monounsaturated, polyunsaturated) as you can to make up your daily allotted fat intake.  These are things like nuts (almonds for sure!), avocado, olive oil, fish oil.  Saturated fats are your animal fats, and trans fats are just fucking bad for you, period. Don't eat them at all, if you can help it.  Its so important that I'll say it again here, in case you were lazy and didn't read the other blog post: if you see the word "Hydrogenation" or any declension of that word on the food label, don't eat it on a regular basis.  Hell, I enjoy cake on occasion as much as the next guy, but you'll never EVER see me eat a muffin every day for breakfast.  The price in the end isn't worth it!

Alcohol
Alcohol, like fat, packs 9 calories per gram.  The bad thing about alcohol though is that it doesn't metabolize.  It runs rampant in your blood stream doing funny things to your organs when the blood carrying it gets there.  The only thing to break it down is water, and that happens over time.  Calories from alcohol don't count for much, BUT the fermented juice or wheat the alcohol is part of DOES.  So, for all intents and purposes, you have to count all the calories listed on the label.  Limit your alcohol intake, especially when manipulating your weight loss/gain goals.  Its a caloric wild card, hard to predict, and too much of it (everyone agrees) is just plain bad for you.  If you do indulge, have a glass of red wine, a plain vodka, or gin.  Everything else is loaded with sugars on  top of the alcohol, and just image what happens when you add it to fruit juice! Alcohol, highly concentrated sugars in the alcohol, plus a shit-ton of added sugar in the orange juice... as much as I would care for a screwdriver, its just no good for your goal.

Ok, so now you have the basics down of macronutrients.  To summarize, your proteins, carbs, and fats.  Lets talk calories now.

Calories and Caloric Intake
What's a calorie?  Well, a calorie is the amount of energy required to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree C.  Great, glad we fucking cleared that up!  What does it mean to ME, god damnit!!  Well first off, lets clear a little something up.  When you see "Calories" on your food nutrition label, they are really talking about Kilocalories - meaning 1000 calories.  Lucky for you, when we talk about diet and nutrition, we are also talking about Kilocalories, or else 1 blueberry would put you over the daily caloric requirements!  For some reason, unbeknownst to me, Calorie = Kilocalorie when talking about food and nutrition.  Just thought I'd clear that up and give you some fun facts for Quizzo!  When we talk calories, we're really talking about "how much energy does my body need to do stuff".  That's the bottom line.

How many calories do I need?  2000 right?  WRONG!  The correct answer is "I dunno, how much do you weigh?, what's your lean mass %?, how tall are you?, and how active are you?"  The standard "2000 calorie" diet is a great approximation.  Most people fall within 1 standard deviation of 2000 calorie intake diets... that is to say that probably over 80% of all people will fall into the 1800 -  2400 calorie intake range.  The exceptions are athletes, marathon runners, people trying to lose weight, and people trying to gain weight.

To know how much you need to take in, first thing is first: calculate your basal metabolic rate.  Well christ Mike, how do I do that?  Simple: go here and get a number that's close enough to work with for our purposes.  What is basal metabolic rate (BMR)?  Lets say I spend the whole day sitting on my ass, only getting up to cook, eat, poop, pee, and let the dog out.  That's how many calories I would burn doing so.  Its how many calories your body needs to perform necessary functions to keep it alive, and only that work.  Start doing other things, you need more energy.  Eat less than this amount, your body will gladly oblige and start burning fat for energy... for a short while. Maintain a diet of such low calories... your body goes into a starvation state, and what does it do?  First, it slows your metabolism WAAAY down. Second, because it has now slowed your metabolism down, it stores all the fat that it can for its declared "state of emergency". It knows its getting food (1000 calories or so), so it uses that energy wisely, and stores as much as it can as fat for when your dumb ass decides that even 1000 calories is too much and I'm going to starve it more.  I should mention that there does come a point when you can even starve yourself to burn fat in this state, but look at the starving kids in Africa... that's the state they are in.  That's not where you want to be (hell look at Hollywood actresses! That's not where you want to be either!!).

Ok, so, now we know how many calories we need to maintain our body.  What next?  Well, we do more than just sit there and do nothing... most of us do anyway.  We go to work, we play basketball, we walk the dog, we have sex, we... well you get the point.  All that requires calories too.  How many?  That's a tough one.  A really good approximation is to use a multiplier value based on how often we work out.  Lets say you're fairly inactive and you work out 3 times per week.  Multiply your BMR by 1.35.  Work out 5 times  a week?  Multiply by 1.55.  7 days a week?? 1.85.  These are great starting points.  You'll find that when you do so your daily caloric intake shoots up to a number well above 2000.  What you do here all depends on your goals.

Weight loss: Take your BMR * the scale factor, and then multiply by .8.  A 20% reduction in daily caloric intake.  So thats: (BMR * 1.35) * 0.8  for someone who works out 3 times per week.  Get it?  Good.  Doing this for myself, I have a BMR of about 1730 calories, work out 3 times a week.  If I wanted to lose weight, I'd take in (1730 * 1.35) * 0.8 = 1870 calories.  If I start working out more often, I'd up the calories using a different scale factor.

Weight gain: Same rule applies as above, except instead of multiplying by 0.8 for a reduction in calories, I'd multiply by 1.05 to create a calorie surplus.  So thats: (BMR * 1.35) * 1.05.  For me that's (1730 * 1.35) * 1.05 = 2450 calories.  To put on weight, I need 2450 calories per day.

Weight maintenance: This is easy: this is just BMR * 1.35.  You will need to choose the right scale factor for your workout intensity or else you're going to miscalculate and take in too few or too many calories.

*disclaimer* This is NOT an exact calculation.  These are good ballpark figures though.  Stay in the +/- 100 calorie range of your calculation and you should see good results.

Macronutrient Intake Ratios
Here's where 90% of all diets fail.  Some diets require you take in too much protein, others require you to take in not enough carbs, while others require you to take in too much fat.   Optimizing your macronutrient intake for your goal is crucial!!  Too much fat means you'll have to eat too many calories to get your required amount of protein and carbs.  Too much carbs, you'll have to eat too many calories to get your proteins and fats.  Too few cabs?  Well... not enough energy and probably eating way too much protein and fat which can effect your arteries and kidneys.

So what's the magic ratio, mike?  Well... there is none.... you need to experiment.  But, talking statistics, over 80% of us will probably fall in the "sweet spot".  This again depends on your goals, but start with this basic ratio:
35% of all calories come from protein
55% come from carbohydrates
20% come from fats

How many grams of each does that come out to?  Well, lets say you have a 2000 calorie diet.  A g of protein is worth 4 calories, a gram of carbs is worth 4 calories, and a gram of fat is worth 9 calories.  I didn't make this shit up, that's the real no-shit values.  To find out how much protein you need: 2000 * .35 = 700 calories.  700 / 4 = 175 g of protein daily.  Compare this to the measly  100 g they recommend.  Carbs?? 2000 * .55 = 1100 calories.  1100 / 4 = 275 g of carbs daily.  Fats?  2000 * .2 = 400 calories.  400 / 9 = about 44.5 g of fat daily.  This is just to give you a ballpark figure.  Naturally, if you are trying to put on weight, and your caloric intake is 3000 calories, you may want to think long and hard about taking in a whopping 67 g of fat daily.  Use good judgment, armed with the knowledge in this blog and advice from your nutritionist, if you have one.  (Doctors often give poor nutrition advice, but LISTEN to them if you have a health condition... any health condition, because that changes everything).  If you do have a health condition, work with your doctor AND a nutritionist.

Doing if for Yourself
Mike, this is cool, but I suck at math, and I'm already lost.  No worries, email me and I'll get you started.  I'll send you an excel spreadsheet that calculates it all for you.  All you have to do is enter your age, weight, height, how often you work out, and your goal (weight loss or gain).  Your recommended caloric intake will be calculated for you.

"I know my way around a spreadsheet, I can do it myself!" cool, go for it!

Making Meals
"I know how many calories I need every day, but how and when do I eat them?"  Very simple.  Eat 4 - 6 times per day.  If you eat 4 times a day, make sure you have a snack.  5 - 6 times a day, make each time a good meal, or 3 good meals, and 2 or 3 hefty snacks.  Reasons for this are outlined in the first blog I linked to.

Take your total caloric intake for the day, and divide by the number of meals.  I eat 5 times a day.  So for me, my 2450 calories / 5 is 490.  So lets build a meal with 490 calories.  You'll find that making a meal of exactly the amount of calories you want is hard... but the trick is to get get close, and if it falls short, make that meal later in the day, if it falls over, make that meal earlier in the day.  I'll give you examples of a breakfast and a dinner that I eat.

Breakfast

Food	Protein (g)	Carbs (g)	Fat (g)
2 eggs	14.4	1.4	11.6
2 strips bacon	5	0	7
Oatmeal	5	27	3
Milk	4.5	6	0
blueberries	0.2	4	0.1
½ grapefruit	1.2	15.4	0.2
Total	30.3	53.8	21.9

Calories = (total protein g * 4) + (total carb g * 4) + (total fat g * 9)
Calories = (30.3 * 4) + (53.8 * 4) + (21.9 * 9) = 533.5 calories


Now, that's a lot of fat for breakfast.  I agree. But my strategy is to eat the most fat with breakfast, and as a snack a little later on in the day, and have lower fat meals later on at night.  Adjust your breakfast to meet your needs.  Say, no bacon or turkey sausage instead, and toast instead of oatmeal.  I wouldn't replace the fruit :)

Dinner

Food	Protein (g)	Carbs (g)	Fat (g)
Albacore Tuna	26	0	4
Whole wheat pasta	10	38	2
Asparagus (5 spears)	2	3.5	0
Tomato	0.8	3.6	0.2
Olive oil (½ tbsp)	0	0	7
totals	38.8	45.1	13.2

Calories = (total protein g * 4) + (total carb g * 4) + (total fat g * 9)

Calories = (38.8 * 4) + (45.1 * 4) + (13.2 * 9) = 545.4 calories

Special note: You may find that doing this multiplication on anything in your fridge may not result in the exact amount of calories listed on the container or package.  There's a reason for that.  The FDA allows food companies to round out the calorie content to the nearest 5 calories.  It also allows them to round the amount of protein, carbs or fat to the nearest 1/2 number.  So, for example, the eggs above may be listed as 7 g protein, .5 g carbs, and 5.5 g fat.  1 egg then would be shown as 80 calories.  Use the package as rough estimates, because that's what they are.  For more accurate calorie content, check out the Calorie Database for a really good and fast lookup of nutrition information.  Another good site, especially for restaurant meals is Caloriesperhour.com.  You can use this site to build your whole meal, and it lets you select the nutrition facts you want to see like fiber, sugars, etc. in addition to just protein carbs and fats.  

Final note: you'll want to calculate the total calorie content for each meal, add it up and see how it compares to your target calorie intake.  Once you have that, you'll be able to calculate the percentage of fats, carbs, and protein you took in that day.  Lets say, for example, I ate 2200 calories today.  I would then add up the total grams of protein for ALL meals that day.  Lets say it was 140 g.  Do the same for the carbs.  Lets say it was 300 g.  Do the same for the fats.  Lets say it was 50 g.  The percentages would then be:

Protein: (140 * 4) / 2200 = .2545 = 25.45 %

Carbs:   (300 * 4) / 2200 = .5454 = 54.54 %

Fats:      (50 * 9) / 2200  =  .2045 = 20.45 %

That's pretty close to my macronutrient goal.  I'd like a little more protein, but this is still good.  I still got 140 g of protein that day.  To fix this, I an adjust my meal a little bit, or have a protein shake.  

Conclusion

So, you learned all about macronutrients, calories, and how to make meals.  You learned a little bit about determining how many calories you need, and why its so damn important.  I showed you an example of making a meal and how to calculate how many calories that mean contains.  I gave you resources for helping with all of this. 

*"Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle". Venuto, Tom.  Chapter 11, p. 190.

Let's chew the fat!

So, it's been about 3 months since I even considered posting anything new.  I've been putting the StrongLifts weight lifting plan to the test.  So far, I really enjoy it!  It's still too early to really compare the benefits of such a workout plan, but so far, I think I'm making phenomenal progress, especially in the power-lifts such as squats and deadlifts.

But that's not why I'm posting today.  I want to clear up a misconception.  I'm not going to talk in (highly) scientific terms, but I want to get the point across about a horrible misconception that has plagued our dietary society since the 80's (no, spandex and big hair is not what I'm going to talk about!).  The misconception is: All fats are bad.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, some fats are *gasp* essential!  Not only that, cutting these fats out of your diet actually does the one thing we are striving NOT to do by eliminating these fats; it makes your body ... wait for it... store MORE fat!

This blog is not a free pass to start ignoring fat content in foods all together.  It is however a guide to what kind of fats you should be eating.  And to make it simpler, I'll make a list of all the foods containing these good monosaturated fats to take all the guesswork out of it for you.  To go one better, I'll point out the 1 word on nutrition labels to always look out for and AVOID at all costs.  So lets get started!

Your body needs fat.  It can't live without it.  Its used to build and repair organ tissue, its stored in muscle tissue for "fast access" when digested food is not readily available.   When your body doesn't get enough fat through diet, it then need to resort to making fats from the food you do intake which does two things: 1. takes the calories from protein, sugars and fibers that could be put to better use and makes the fats from them 2. The fats that it does make are less efficient because they are not "essential" or "complete" fats.

"But wait, Mike, won't eating too much fat make me ... fat?!".  Yes, and actually eating too much extra lean ground turkey will make you fat too!! The key is making the fats part of your balanced diet.   It all comes down to this: fats pack more than twice the calorie content than protein and carbs.  Each gram of fat makes up 9 calories, while protein and carbs weigh in at a measly 4 calories per gram. That means you need less than half of the amount of fats in your diet than you need of carbs and proteins.  In reality, the amount required is much less than half... Ideally, your fat claoric intake should be no more than 20 - 25% of all the calories you consume.  Notice, that number is not 0!  for a 2000 calorie diet, that means that 400 - 500 of the calories you eat that day need to come from fat.  The GOOD fats!  Ok, I'll get to that next.

Part of the misconception is that all fats are created equally.  Nothing is further from the truth. The Omega fats (Omega-3, Omega-6, and Omega-9) are the essential fatty acids needed for building a better body.  Ideally, they need to be balanced as well.  That's a whole other topic though.  The important thing is that these are monounsaturated fats.  The scientific difference is that there are less bonds between carbon molecules, making them incredibly easy to break down for quick energy (as far as fats are concerned anyway).  These fats are found in foods like fish, nuts, avocado, eggs, plants, seeds, and fruit.  Yes, I said fruit.  Trace amounts of these are found in almost all kinds of fruits.
Polyunsaturated fats are the next best thing, but less than ideal because its harder to break down, and stores more easily.  These fats are found in foods like nuts, seeds, oils, and fish.  Finally, there's the saturated fats.  Saturated fats are fats that have the full amount of bonds between the carbon molecules, making them a little harder to break down and better candidates for storage.   These fats are are found in animal meats, primarily.

Next, there's "Trans fats".  These are bad news.  They sound so weird... like they're almost not fats.  But nothing is further from the truth.  These fats have double bonds between carbon atoms leaving less hydrogen atoms in the fat.  What makes this especially dangerous is when hydrogen atoms are chemically infused into these fats (which can't be done to a saturated fat!) through a process called Hydrogenation.  That even sounds innocent and somewhat healthy.  But these man-made fats are among the worst for you.  It takes an enormous amount of energy to break down these double-bonded carbon fats and the extra hydrogen in the Hydrogenated fats (that's the Magic word in case you haven't figured it out!!) make it really sticky and gooey and hard for your body to get rid of.
So where do I find these so called "trans fatty acids"?  Don't shoot the messenger.  Cake, muffins, pie crust, cookie dough, doughnuts, hell any kind of pastry.  The root cause is vegetable shortening.  And, if you ever wonder "How do they get these cakes to stay so moist?".  The answer is: Hydrogenated oil.  Not only is it horrible for you, but because its so hard to break down, it makes a fantastic preservative.  Your twinkie will last for months in the open air without going bad... think about that before you indulge.

So in summary: Monounsaturated & Polyunsaturated fats = good news.  Trans fats = bad news.  If you see the word "Hydrogenated" anywhere on the label of the food you're thinking about eating... throw it away and pick something else.

So I promised to make things simple.  "Mike, where do I get my good fats?"  From this list:
Avocado, olives, extra virgin olive oil, almonds, other nuts, flax seeds, fish, fish oil supplements (only with the proper balance of omega-3 and omega-6),  egg yolks, lean ground beef/chicken/turkey, beans/legumes.

Dairy can go either way.  If you're over the age of 12, I don't recommend consuming a ton of dairy anyway (there's a reason mom's breasts stop making milk after a few months).  It's good to add to your oatmeal or cereal, or the occasional dish of ice cream.  I wouldn't make it a staple though.

Where can I find bad fats?
Any unrefrigerated pastry found in a grocery store, cakes, pies.  Anything that has the word Hydrogenated on the label.  Animal fats. Keep these to a minimum.  The rare exception being fish - the small amount of fat in fish is all good fats.  Even the fattiest (tuna, Mackerel) don't pose a threat.

Hope this helps.  If you were hoping I'd tell you that your dunkin donuts or starbucks pastry was going to be OK, I thought you knew me better.  As always, email me with any questions!

More on Strong Lifts

So, I started the post about the Strong Lifts plan right after my first workout and before I went to work... probably not the best time, as I cut it pretty short.  So here's some more about the plan for all you needy bastards that just have to hear about it, right fricking now!

I went into how the 5 exercises are the only exercises you'll need (so they claim) and that the other muscle groups will grow from stabilizing such heavy loads... then I showed you my first routine and half of it was with an empty barbell.  What the shit is that?

Well, to start, you have to get the form down.  If you do this shit with poor form, you might as well go back to isolation exercises.  The form is important because that's what works the muscles the right way so that they get stronger.  Cheating will only screw with your performance.  In addition, if you start near your current max, you introduce two possible problems: 1. getting so sore that your muscles won't have time to recover by your next workout... and working out muscles that are healing is a bad idea.  2. You will not have the opportunity to build momentum, and will stall out earlier in your workout plan.  The goal is to get 5 reps on all 5 sets with the same weight. Starting too heavy will damage this in the above two ways in no time.

So, you're goal is 5 reps, in all 5 sets, as mentioned above.  You get a perfect 5 (5/5/5/5/5) then you up the weight by 5 lbs.  What happens when you're not lifting an amount of weight that your 100 lb girlfriend can lift?  One of two things... you'll get 5 reps on most of the sets, such as 5/5/5/4/4  or you'll totally bomb out and get something like 5/4/2/2/1.  What you do next is try again.  Next workout, do the same weight.  Try the same weight up to 3 times.  If after the third attempt, you still don't get a perfect 5, then you do what's called a deload.  take off 10% of the weight, and aim for the perfect 5.  So after you deload and work back up to your trouble weight, if you still don't break it after 3 more attempts, you move to a 3x5 set.  This will allow your muscles more recovery opportunity so you can (hopefully) break the plateau.

Simple, simple plan.  I like simple.  What I like even more is cutting my workout time in half, and still getting better results than anyone else around me (ok, so that's what they claim... we'll just see...).  Plus, I only have to work out 3 times per week, and cardio is optional (still VERY skeptical about this).  Remember, this is hypertrophy phase now... we're not trying to burn calories, we want all the calories put to rebuilding our muscles (we may add a few lbs back on the belly, but that is EASY to take off now... remember? we just fucking did it!)

So that's in, at the 10,000 ft level.  I'm excited, and will be blogging the shit out of this for my progress.  Especially since Adam and I are now in a competition to see who gains the most strength from the Strong Lifts program.

Ciao!

Strong Lifts, Beyaaatch!

As promised, now is the discussion about the Hypertophy phase.  For all of those that might not be near a dictionary, or too lazy to open a new browser window and look it up on Google or Web MD, Hypertrophy is just a fancy medical word for muscle growth.  Atrophy is the shrinkage of muscles (no, not like the Costanza shrinkage), which is the opposite of Hypertrophy

So, I thought about it for a while, and was planning on enhancing the fat loss plan to bring in more calories, keep with the same workouts, and basically change very little.  Then, Adam introduced me to a program he was experimenting with.  He sent me the book on the StrongLifts: 5x5 program.  Now, I admit at first, I was (and still am a little) very skeptical of this program.  It takes the whole "Isolation exercises" and throws it out the window.  It relies on a basic fact that I've always been behind since my research and experimentation: compound exercises and heavy weights builds muscle.  this program contains a total of 5 exercises and 2 workouts.   The exercises are: 1. Heavy Squats 2. Bench Press 3. Bent over Rows 4. Overhead Press 5. Deadlift

But Mike... I don't see a single thing in there for biceps, triceps, or abs... what the fuck?  Yeah, you don't see it, but its in there.  Abs?  Why don't you try doing a deadlift the right way using a bar loaded with 150 lbs - tell me your abs don't feel a damn thing!  The premise behind all of these compound exercises is that these muscle groups (the smaller groups, except the abs) main purpose is stabilization.  Back, chest and legs move large amounts of weight - the biceps and triceps help stabilize that weight, and the abs stabilize your entire body while doing all of this... otherwise your spine would crush or cave in under the pressure of what you're doing.  Amazing, I know.

I promise, I'll get into detail more about the Strong Lifts, but for now, here's plan:

1. Eat enough calories daily for muscle growth.
2. First week, do Workout A, day off, Workout B, day off, Workout A, 2 days off
3. Second week, B, off, A, off, B, 2 days off.

Workout A:
1 weight: 5set of 5 reps each
Squats
Bench Press
Rows

Workout B:
1 weight: 5x5 again
Squats
Overhead Press
Deadlifts (1x5 instead of 5x5)

That's it.  Simple, but not easy.  Next post will go more into why I believe this will work (instead of regurgitating the marketing hype from the book).


Wednesday was my first "warmup and form check" for the exercises.  Stats (don't laugh, I'm purposely starting this light for a damn good reason)

Squats: 45 lb: 5/5/5/5/5
Bench press: 50 lb: 5/5/5/5/5
Rows: 65 lb: 5/5/5/5/5

Current Stats and Future plan

It's been about two weeks since my last post, and its time to share the most current progress.  First, lets start by saying that two weeks ago was my recovery week.  I went light on the cardio that week, despite my plan, only doing two days of running, and two days of Yoga. I kept up with my dietary needs, with the occasional splurge here and there.  The results were fairly interesting:

4/24/11

Weight: 151 lbs

Body fat: 9.7%

Stayed around the same body fat percentage, and lost a few lbs.  This is expected.  Without weight training, lean mass will slightly diminish, and with cardio and Yoga, I expected to lose a little body fat.  Good week!

The following week was back to the routine as usual.  Went strong for the first two days, but missed a cardio workout due to laziness and other plans.  Then on Friday, got sick and could hardly move all weekend, so I missed a weight training day, and 2 days of cardio/yoga.  I was terrified to see what the results were that Sunday, but to my surprise, they were actually pretty good

5/1/11

Weight: 151 lbs

Body Fat: 9.5%

Lost a little body fat.  Not sure if this was due to being sick and not taking in as many calories as needed, but the real surprise was the lean mass - it hadn't really budged.  Still coming up with a good theory on why this occurred.

So the plan forward, I'm sticking with the current plan for the next couple weeks, then a recovery week for my vacation.  Then, well.. I'm going to need a completely new blog post to describe what I'm going to do for the hypertrophy phase.  My buddy Adam introduced me to a training plan that so far looks like a it makes a lot of sense.  Stay tuned tomorrow to see what this insane routine has in store for me starting in the 3rd week of March.  A lot less time, with a promise of better results, and a lot less bullshit.  Sounds like its right up my alley.

Cheers!

It's all about momentum

This week was just damn crazy!  Sadly, I missed two cardio workouts this week; Tuesday I bought a car, so I missed my jog at the gym.  Wednesday, I had a date, which led me to shorten my workout that day (did 2 cycles of chest, back, legs, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and abs - usually do 4 cycles).  I stayed out late on Wednesday (didn't get to bed until 1 am), had to be in work early (6:30 am) Thursday, and had a second date that night (good times :)).  So, I missed my cardio workout on Thursday too, because I was so exhausted.  Friday, got back into the swing of things with the full workout, and my jog on Saturday.

In addition to missing some workouts, I totally splurged on the diet this week.  Paula made enchiladas and Strawberry short cakes for me on thursday.  It was so cute - she was so worried that it would set me back on my progress, because she knows how anal I am about my diet.  I told her it was cool, she would just have to help me work it off :)

So, why is it all about momentum?  Well, lets sit and think for a minute.  The difference between fat people and people that work out regularly is simple.  What people don't realize is that you don't build muscle and burn most of your calories during your workout, it happens afterwards.  Your body needs that full day to recover, rebuild, and replace all the energy it consumed in your workout.  People who work out regularly allow their body to continually do this.  Also, the leaner you get, and more muscle you put on, the maintenance of the muscle your body does burns calories.  So the inverse is true.  If you're a lard ass that would rather sit on the couch and watch TV than try to keep in shape, not only are you not burning your calories, but your muscles are not being maintained because your body knows "I don't use these that much, so I'm going to put all that energy into my ass, where I need it because I'm always sitting on it.  Fatty!".

The point of this post is not to just to make fun of fat people that don't have a clue what their abs look like because its covered in a thick layer of insulating material; it's to educate about the fact that regular workout pays off.  If you're sporadic about it, you will see the devastating results when missing a workout, or cheating on your diet.  When a regular schedule is in place, one missed workout or ice cream sundae doesn't have as big an impact.  Think about it; if you eat shit food all week, and have one healthy meal, do you expect to lose weight?  Didn't think so - the opposite is also true... if you eat well, and work out, and have one cheat meal, do you expect to put on 5 lbs that week?  Good call.

So here's what I accomplished with some poor diet choices this week, and 2 missed cardio workout (the 2 workouts hurt more than the meals)

4/10/11:
Weight: 152.5 lbs
Body Fat %: ~ 10%

4/17/11:
Weight: 152.5 lbs
Body Fat %: 9.7%

What!!! How the hell did that happen?  It's all about momentum baby.  Weight training was good, so I feel I may have added a bit of lean mass.  At the same time, because I did do a jog on Saturday, and because of the "maintenance effect", I shed a tiny bit of body fat.  Not as much as I wanted to, but still a good amount.

This coming week is recovery week, which means 3 days of cardio and 3 days of Yoga.  I will be adding some stretching in there either on Sunday, or on days where I feel the cardio isn't enough.

My expectation is that I will shed nearly a full % of body fat because of the yoga mixed with cardio.  I will more than likely lose a  little lean mass, because the Yoga isn't enough to build muscle... just strength and endurance.

Ok dude, don't knock me for doing yoga... it kicks ass, and have you ever seen fat people do yoga regularly?

Take THAT!

There comes a time when you see the results of all the hard work that you've put into something.  Today was that time for me.  After a stall last week, I stepped on the scale for the weekly weigh in.  I shed 3.5 lbs.  So how much of that was body fat? Almost 2 lbs. That means I lost about a pound and a half of lean mass...which is unfortunate, but not too bad.  I can live with that because when I opened up the word doc That had my goals recorded, I realized that I hit my major 3 month goal, just about right on time!  Goal was to be at 10% body fat, and weigh about 154.  Well, I'm at 10% body fat, and weigh 152.5.  Lost more lean mass than I wanted to, but that will be easy to gain back. 

I have 1 month until my vacation, and that averages out to losing about .5% body fay per week, which is not unheard of.  That will put me at 8%, weighing around 149 lbs.  A little light, but again, gaining the lean stuff is easier than losing the bulky stuff.

So, here's the scoop for this weeks results.

Last week:
Weight: 156
Body fat: 10.9%

This week:
Weight: 152.5
Body fat: 10%

Next week will be too exciting... I may finally see myself below 10% for the first time since my teens!

Take THAT, punk ass Fat!

Previous week results

Been a while since I posted, so I wanted to put out an update on my progress.  Last week was photo week, and there is definitely progress to be seen.  However, whether its the fact that I have to use the camera timer and not have a good photographer, I don't feel like the pictures I'm taking are accurately reflecting how I feel, and what I see when I look in the mirror.  So, no pics for anyone yet :)

Other than that, I feel like progress is being made.  The measurements I made this week show some progress, but I feel may be a little flawed.  I didn't drop any weight, but after three separate measurements of my body composition, I came up with the result that I dropped a little bit of body fat this week.  The reasons for this can be that I may have added a little bit of lean body mass, but not enough to show a considerable increase in muscle diameter in the key areas.

My diet last week was pretty good.  I did splurge a bit with some Volcano nachos at Margarita-ville in Westgate last friday, and burgers and chicken wings on Saturday at Paul's birthday party.  But, the rest of the week I was sticking to the diet very well.  I also missed my cardio workout on Saturday :(   But even with all that, I still managed to maintain the weight I was the previous week, and managed to shed another .5% body fat.

The numbers for last week are shown below.

3/27/11
Weight: 156 lbs
Body fat %: 11.5%
Caloric intake: about 2150 Calories/day

4/3/11:
Weight: 156 lbs
Body Fat %: 10.9%
Caloric intake: about 2200 Calories/day

This week, I feel fantastic.  Muscles feel like they are getting a fantastic workout, and the days after my runs, my body feels leaner.  I'm very excited about this week's numbers, which I will promptly post on Sunday morning.

Weekly results and Change Results

First, I want to start by saying that the results I had this week fall within the success range.  Target is to lose 1 to 2 lbs of body fat per week, which drops me between 0.5% and 1% per week.

This week, I followed the changes to the routine that I made as well as the dietary changes.  So without further adieu, here's the results for the week.

Start: 157 - 157.5 lbs
Body Fat %: 12.2%
Caloric intake: approximately 2200

Finish: 156 lbs
Body Fat %: 11.5%
Caloric intake: approximately 2250

I talked about some of the changes I was going to make for the diet.  I lowered the protein intake and raised the cabs slightly, but raised the fat intake.  Increasing the fat slightly in a low fat diet can be productive, because yes, your body does need the fats.  The fats added were clean fats, like egg yolks, and fish/seafood.  The macronutrient ratios for the week looked something like this, for an average day:

Calories: 2250
Protein: 33% (about 187 g) - 750 calories
Carbs: 47% (about 265 g) - 1060 calories
Fats: 20% (about 50 g)      -   450 calories

I think the fat intake is perfect where it is.  I'd like to drop the protein a bit more, and raise the carbs a bit. I'd like to see the protein around 30% and the carbs at 50%.  Doing this is a little difficult because of the food choices for the meals.  This would result in having to do things like cook half of a turkey bacon strip, or add half an egg yolk.  While not impossible, I think the numbers are close enough to where I really want them to not worry about it too much.  To compensate I do things like on alternate days have a more carb dense food with one of my lunches (like brown rice or Yams) to bring up the average for the week.  This seems to be working well.

Recovery week

Recovery week was very beneficial.  I took the week off from weight training and stayed with the cardio.  Hit the cardio hard core doing standard 3 days per week on the elliptical for 35 min a day, and added a yoga routine on days where I usually do my strength exercises.  The purpose of this was two-fold; first, doing yoga will help retain strength, but not completely exhaust the muscles while preventing atrophy.  Second, it adds a boost to the current cardio regimen for the week.  I don't consider it a full cardio routine because of the heart rate being so low, but its a good sweat and calorie burn.

I alternated between cardio and yoga for 6 days.  On the seventh day, I rested completely. 

The results were very satisfying.  Here are the numbers:

Weight: 157 lb
Body fat: 12.2 %

Total loss was 1.5 lb and dropped .8% body fat. 

Changes for the coming week: I'm making a small change to the diet.  I want to slightly decrease the amount of protein I've been taking in.  I typically have been taking in almost 190 g per day.  My health coach suggested that I drop this to no more g than my body weight in lbs.  So I'm going to look to cut back on the protein and replace with clean carbs. 
Second change is to now move on to my full body workout 2.  This is just a variation in routine, and was planned from the beginning.
I will be following the routine for 4 weeks and then do another recovery week. 
Third change, I will be moving the strength training days to M W F.  Cardio T Th Sa and adding a yoga day on sunday. 

Until next time.... Cheers!

Breakfast like a King

I always stress that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and for that reason, I have two!  Almost invariably, I eat the same thing for breakfast every morning, with a few variations.  The base meal consists of taking in enough protein to balance the diet, and eat a sufficient amount of good carbs that are high in fiber.  To accomplish this, I use my two staples in my diet: egg whites and extra lean ground turkey.  I make a scramble consisting of 4 egg whites, salt, pepper and garlic, mix in the cooked ground turkey.  There is my protein serving for breakfast.  For the carbs, I go for a 1/2 cup of oatmeal with a pinch of brown sugar, and 3/4 cup of fat free milk.  Blueberries are a great source of antioxidants and go wonderful with oatmeal.  As a side treat, I have some kind of citrus; either an orange or a half grapefruit.  I used to drink fruit juice, but decided that there was too much added processed sugar.  The fruit is sweet enough, and provides a reasonable amount of fructose for a good morning pick-me-up.

This meal supplies me with a good 465 calories: 51 g Protein, 54 g carbs, and only 10 g of fat.  It fills me up enough to get my day started, and to last me through the insanely boring morning meeting at work.

What does the hardcore routine look like?

So, I talked about some of the changes I made to P90X, and the basics of the diet that is designed to melt the flabby weight away.  So this is a post about the details of the workout plan, as it stands now.

By now, I shared why is important to do a mix of cardio and weight training, and how the diet is designed to fuel the workout and send your metabolism into overdrive.  So lets get into the nitty gritty of what's going on in the workout - the Big Lebowski of the program.

I said before I decided on a full body workout.  This makes it easier to shift days of the workout plan if needed, and ensures that all muscle groups are worked more often.  I decided to take the traditional approach of doing this workout 3 days per week.  Typically, people like to do a Monday/Wednesday/Friday workout.  I decided to shift that to the right and make it Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.  Since this is the more tedious of workouts, I want to make sure I don't burn out during the week, and give myself one day to do the workout on my own time.  In the remaining 4 days, I hit the elliptical.  35 minutes to start the routine, working up to 45 and possibly 60 when I'm in need of a real boost.  Every morning I make an effort to skate with the pups.  Not a huge contribution, but it helps a little bit - especially since it's doing some light cardio in a fasting state.  Cardio first thing in the morning helps burn big time calories, as your body has no other resources to select from aside from the fat stores.  In addition to the cardio, I do the X-stretch routine from the P90X plan to remain flexible and help reduce chance of injury.  One day per week, if I'm not feeling too toasted, I throw in a Yoga routine.  This is optional, except in my recovery week.

So the plan goes as follows:
Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Sunday: Elliptical for 35 mins at my target heart rate of 152, burns about 350 calories (that's 1400 calories per week - more than 1/3 of a lb of body fat!)

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday: Full Body workout #1.

Full Body Workout #1 goes as follows:
Chest: 4 Variations of pushups selected form the Chest & Back routine from P90X.
Back: Chinups, pullups, single arm and double arm rows
Legs: Light weight, high rep squats, Wall squats, calf raises, and lunges
Shoulders: 2 variations of shoulder presses, 2 variations of shoulder flys
Biceps: 4 variations of Dumbbell curls
Triceps: chair dips, kickbacks, extensions, and side pushups
Abs: 3 sets of 5 Pilates roll-up (Pavel's exercise)

When doing Cardio, to maximize the fat burning state during the workout, you want to target your heart rate for fat burning mode.  Typically, this lies around 75% of your maximum theoretical heart rate.  The calculation for is based on your resting heart rate.  I calculated mine to be approximately 150 bpm.  I wear a Polar hear rate monitor during cardio because I don't trust the monitors built into the equipment in the gym.  Plus, with the monitor I can use it when doing cardio away from the gym, and make sure i'm in the zone.

Details and science of my diet

Ok, so here's some of the good shit I promised to share.  I'm bragging about Tom Venudo's awesome diet plan but haven't said shit about it other than "it's so awesome".  To keep myself out of trouble, I'm only going to explain what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it.  Since most of what is said can be found on any decent nutrition website, I'll be that generic.  If I put it together the way he does, I could be copying his work, which I would like to avoid doing.

The basics: Eat less food at once, more often during the day.  Intake the proper amount of macronutrients per meal, and never create a calorie deficit by diet alone.

What the hell does that mean?

It means you must eat enough calories in one day to prevent your body from going into what Tom calls the "starvation response".  That is, your body isn't getting enough fuel, so it turns on its fuel management system, and slows down the rate at which the fuel is burned.  In simple terms your metabolism slows down,  and that in turn slows down the rate at which you burn excess body fat - ya know the shit we don't want to keep.
So to make sure this doesn't happen, I calculated my Basal metabolic rate using my lean mass weight (body weight * (1 - body fat %)) as an indicator of how many calories I need to intake.  Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is, in simple terms, how much energy you burn off sitting on your fat ass watching TV.  Mine turned out to be approximately 1750 calories.

Since I'm working out 6 times per week, I added a multiplier of 1.55 to my BMR.  Why? Because as much as I'd like to, I don't sit on my fat ass and watch TV all day.  I go to work, and I work out.  I need to give my body that fuel so I'm not losing lean mass.  If I don't, then when I create a calorie deficit, I'm going to be hitting the "starvation" levels.  So, with the multiplier, my caloric intake would be 2650 calories per day.  That's how much I'd eat if I wanted to not lose any weight and start building muscle (Next phase).  Now, we have to create a calorie deficit.  I've taken into account the energy used in my workouts, and my BMR.  So to create a deficit, I slash that number by 20%.  That leaves me actually near the recommended daily intake of 2100 calories per day (2150 in my case).  This is purely coincidental.  I suppose I fall in the standard deviation of what they used to estimate the daily caloric intake for everyone on the planet.

This brings me to how often I eat.  To make sure your metabolism is in full throttle, it always needs something to break down.  No food, it slows down and when fasting, goes almost dormant.  On average, it takes a normal person (by that I mean one without any serious medical conditions) 2.5 - 3 hours to digest a meal.  So, to make sure my metabolism is always in high gear, I eat every three hours or so (work schedules sometimes get in the way, bastards!)  On an average day, I get up by 6:00 am, and go to bed between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm.  that's 16 or 17 hours in the day divided by 3, just over 5 meals per day.  Since I'm eating 5 meals per day, and I only get 2150 calories per meal, I divide that by 5 and come up with about 430 calories per meal.  In another blog, I'll write about making sure all 430 calories count, and balancing the macronutrients at each meal.

I take this to the next level though, cause I'm badass.  Its nearly impossible to come up with meals that all have the same exact calorie amounts unless you eat the same thing every day for all 5 meals.  Boring as shit.  I employ a calorie tapering method in addition to this.  I follow Tom's advice of "Breakfast like a King, Lunch like  Prince, Dinner like a peasant".  For both breakasts, I have between 500 - 530 calories. At lunch, I 'll have between the 430 and 480 calories, and for dinner I usually end up only having about 250 - 350 calories left for meals that day.  So the calories taper down during the day (like the Triforce!) rather than what most american's do... the inverted triangle: late or no breakfast at all, big lunch, and HUGE dinner!!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  I make sure I have two!!

Changes and week 1 results

Never again will I doubt the sage-like advice of Tom Venudo.  He promises that you can not lose body fat without cardio.  He claims that yoga is good, but for most people, they can't sustain the intensity of a yoga workout for the full 30-60 minutes that a good cardio exercise requires.  I agree with him on this now.

Yoga did not get the heart rate up high enough to enter the fat burning zone.  I love yoga, and will continue to find room for it in my routine, but it is no longer a core in the routine.  I just don't have enough hours in the day to work it in on a regular basis.

Change #1:  Replace Yoga with traditional cardiovascular workouts.  I chose the elliptical, as I'm still trying to kick the smoking habit, I can maintain the full 30 - 40 minutes on the elliptical without feeling like I'm going to die.

Change #2: The injury, however short it was, rose an alarm for me.  If I miss routines, that means certain parts of my body aren't getting worked that week.  To minimize the damage this can cause, I decided to go to a full body routine, as recommended by my fitness coach (as part of my health insurance plan) and by the sage Tom Venudo.

I decided that I'm going to keep P90X as part of this routine, because I really want to give it the praise that I think it deserves.  So, I whipped up a full body routine that incorporated 4 sets working each muscle group: Chest, Back, Legs, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps.  I took my 4 favorite exercises from the 1st phase of P90X and made a full body workout plan.  Now, I'd still be doing the exercises that I feel are giving me progress, but won't miss a muscle group if I get injured or am told by the boss that I have to work late.

In addition, as an extra tiny bit of cardio daily, I skate with the dogs around the lake in the morning.  They love it, and it gets me going in the morning, and pumped for an exciting day.

So, here's the results from week 1 with the new changes:

3/6/11
Weight: 159.5 lbs
Body Fat%: 13.3 %

This is more like it.  The overall weight lost was within the 2-3 lbs indicating healthy weight loss (more than that you're losing lean mass, and probably water wight too!).  My body fat % dropped almost a full 1% from the previous week.  My goal is between 0.5% and 1% each week.  The big jump I believe is from adding the cardio regularly.  I expect to see that move closer to 0.5%.

4 months to obtaining the body I want for my vacation.

One thing that we can never have enough of is motivation.  I decided on January 30, 2011 that I was going to take a vacation to Hawaii on my birthday in May.  The idea was that I would use the fact that I didn't want to be embarrassed about the body I was going to be donning on my vacation.  I knew from past experience that a motivator like that is a big drive.

So what's the goal?  For my vacation, I'd like to have around 8-9% body fat.  Definitely want to be in the single digits.  I don't look as flabby in the single digits, and if all goes well, 8-9% is attainable, and realistic.  This would put me at around 153 lbs.

I knew that Tom's diet and workout plan worked great in the past (yes, I didn't post details about that, but I wanted to get right to the point of THIS blog).  P90X, gave me mixed results.  I made a few changes to P90X that I though would fit well into the old BFFM plan that worked well for me when I was 26.

So Here are the starting numbers:
January 30, 2011
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 162.5 lbs
Body Fat %: 14.2%
Meals per day: 5
Calories per meal: approx 430

Workout routine:
Mon - Yoga (60 min)
Tue - P90X Chest & Back
Wed - Yoga (60 min)
Thur - P90X Shoulders & Arms
Fri - Yoga (60 min)
Sat - P90X legs & back
Sun - Rest

This started out pretty good.  For 3 weeks I saw good results, except for the fact that I gained weight between 1/30 and 2/6.  The table shows how this worked for me:

2/6/11
Weight: 164 lbs
Body fat %: 13.9 % (what!??)

2/13/11
Weight: 162 lbs
Body fat %: 13.6 %

2/20/11
Weight: 160.5 lbs
Body Fat%: 12.70% (I think this was a bogus reading - I estimate I was actually closer to 13 %)

At the end of the 4th week, I injured my knee somehow (I have no idea how it happened, maybe slept on it funny).  So, I missed legs and back, and could hardly to Yoga.  That's the week I saw a devastating result:

2/27/11
Weight: 162 lbs
Body Fat %: 14.2 %!!!

I believe half of this was that I am getting better at using the body fat measurement tool, and half to do with the fact that I missed 3 workout days that week.  In any event, even though the numbers were looking OK, I didn't feel any slimmer, and actually felt a little more bulky.  My body wasn't responding as nicely to the workout routine as I had hoped, and missing days due to injury were crippling my results.  Time for a second change.  That is the change I feel I need, and will be the focus, in excruciating detail of the rest of the blog.

Some experiments that didn't work

P90X introduced me to one workout that I fell completely in love with: Yoga.  Never had I imagined that I would do yoga, and not in my wildest dreams did I think I would like it.

Yoga-X was the workout that I felt did the most for me.  So, as part of an experiment, I decided I would try the P90X program again, and bump up the amount of yoga I did, as I felt it gave me a pretty good cardio workout, and worked on "toning".

A second change I made was looking for a substitute workout for Ab Ripper-X. Not that it wasn't a great workout, it was!  But, it was the only workout in the routine, and I felt that the first 7 minutes of it did nothing for my abs, and make my thighs burn.  I knew that there was something better, and that's when my friend introduced me to an author who I believe is the current Ab workout champion of the world, Pavel Tsatsouline.  A Russian strength trainer and ex russian military drill instructor.  No, this guy didn't look like Zangeif from Street Fighter II... he looked about my size, with good strong abs, and a nice physique all around.  It was something I felt I could attain without the use of supplements or drugs.

In his book "Bullet-Proof Abs", he explained in a very similar style that Tom Venuto's explanations, that most ab exercises are bullshit.  Anything you can do 50 reps of is doing nothing for you.  He broke down how core exercises should work the core, and ab exercises should work the abs, and gives a whole  book of about 25 exercises that do just that.  And these aren't basic crunches or situps.  These are the real mo-fo deal, man.  3 sets of 3-5 reps of each exercise is enough to give your abs the hardcore workout it needs.  I dubbed his book "New Testament" of the fitness bible.

So, for 1 month, I implemented the diet change (following Tom's diet plan to a fault), the change where I added more Yoga, and substituted Ab Ripper-X for Pavel's ab routine from hell.

The search for a good workout plan

In today's America, you can't even get online to post a blog that no one will ever read without seeing an advertisement for a "revolutionary workout program".  Most of these are pure rubbish.  "Workout in just 10 minutes a day, and look like you've been doing steroids your whole life!".  Please... on a good day, it takes me longer than 10 minutes to whack off, and this muscle bound douche bag is promising me that's all it takes to get ripped?  The one program that caught my eye though, was P90X. Here's why:

The foundation of P90X satisfied my "Triforce" analogy.  It promoted eating a good diet, doing cardio, and working the muscles.  It claimed it wasn't easy which was a big plus for me because any program that claims that its easy, I skip right over.  In addition to P90X talking the talk, I knew some friends that tried it, and claimed they got great results with it.  Sounded like a winner.  At the very least, it would give me a handful of exercises that I could use in my current rotation, and as an added bonus, a lot of the exercises use bodyweight only - perfect for someone who was traveling as much as I have been.  So, it was settled.  P90X it is!

I gave P90X by itself a whirl, and saw some results, but in the end was disappointed.  Pro: I felt much stronger, I do believe the exercises did add some lean mass, and help build strength.  Con: I saw little to no decrease in body fat percentage.  I'd say over the 90 days I lost about 1.5% body fat.  That's .5% per month.  Not the results I wanted.   Just to be clear, I did follow the diet of the P90X program, but was a little skeptical of it.  There was no calorie counting, or any tips on what a "serving" was in their little block diagram of what you could eat that day.  I assume if I was more pro-active in that aspect, I would have seen better results.  I'm not slamming P90X, because I think it's an awesome workout!  I just need to adapt, because the program, as it was designed, didn't do what I wanted it to do for me.

So now, the awesomeness begins

In the past, having fallen victim to the same diet frustrations that everyone else faces, I wondered with all the misinformation mingled in with the good information, will I ever find the real story?  Well, if this book wasn't the real deal, I don't know that anything is.  To keep it short, and avoid plagiarism, lets just say that within the first two chapters of the book, I realized that my main issue was that I wasn't eating enough, and not working out enough.  The caloric intake I was maintaining mixed with my low-to-no level of cardiovascular exercise, I was turning my body into the ultimate fat-storing machine.  And as genetics has dictated to me, it all goes to my belly and chest.

Finishing the book opened my eyes to a whole new point of view on the subject.  The book outlined why popular fad diets never work, and explained how to heat, when to eat, and what to eat.  Hands down, the best book on practical nutrition on the planet!  But the book explained so much more than just eating.  It outlined how to do cardio to maximize the fat burning process, and the need (not benefit, the NEED) to do weight training to keep your lean muscle mass from diminishing.  The picture was coming together.

Making a nerdy ass Legend of Zelda reference, the Triforce pieces are as follows: Diet, Cardio, Weight training.  In that order.  You'll never get anywhere on a diet of eating garbage.  While its possible to maintain a good weight with just basic exercise each week, its pretty much impossible to lose body fat without cardio.  Weight training is the tier that hold everything else in place.  Losing body fat also means losing a little bit of lean mass, as in order to do so, you must have a calorie deficit.  Weight training minimizes this loss because working your muscles allows them to grow back stronger.  Also, the more lean mass you have, the more calories your body burns at a resting state (Basal Metabolic Rate) in order to maintain the muscle (so, in other words, the whole story to the "tidbits" I've found earlier on in my quest).

Now, I felt I was getting somewhere.  Armed with knowledge that made scientific sense, as well as a whole lot of common sense, I felt in my gut (the wobbly, jelly-belly that it was) that I was on the right track.  Part of this program is to record all your results.  When a results aren't what you want, you then have all the records to go back and look at why it might have happened that way.  This blog will be a part of that.

The search for my Holy Grail

A quick google search landed some good generic information: weight training is a good start as building muscle will help burn fat (more on this later). Also, some sites claim that weight lifting really won't do much by itself (Later I will agree with them).  Their answer was to do cardio.  Nothing but cardio 3 times per week for best results.  As I researched more and more that every site I went to, like assholes, have their own opinion, and they all stink. 90% of sites visited wanted to sell you a product guaranteed to make me lose 50 lbs in one month (well, really If I paid the arm and a leg, that would surely bring me down to 110 lbs!).   The more I researched, the more bullshit I could smell.  The results I wanted were not going to come in a bottle, unless it was a bottle of HGH, which was out of the question because, frankly, I like my balls.  

I came across juicy tidbits here and there from fitness sites, that would actually do some good to mention here.  I've heard cheap-ass exercise videos talk about "spot training".  I thought, "Hmm this might be interesting to look at - I only have a couple trouble spots, maybe this will help".  I blasted Google with "spot training exercises" and along with shitty video clips on YouTube of funny looking 80s videos, I found nothing.  I took off the "exercises" and just searched "spot training".  This proved to be the most useful two words I've ever typed into Google.

I came across not a video or article on how to do spot training, but a blog post (or reply, it was a long time ago) about the myth of spot training.  The author was Tom Venuto.  He went on, at great lengths, on why it was a myth, and had a great scientific explanation for each case he presented.  Double checking his claims, I found that many of them are backed up by the scientific community.  "This guy at least has a pretty good idea of what he's talking about!", I thought.  So I checked him out on the web.  Surely enough, he has a product, but this one I didn't mind buying.  It was a book.  "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle".  I still use this book as the core fundamentals of my fitness plan. 

Why am I doing this at all?

Ever since I was a young boy, I had always had a slender build.  Skinny, not very muscular, but always active and in pretty good shape.  Senior year of high school, I was a slender 5'9 weighing in at 140 lbs soaking wet.  In college, I spent 5 years eating crappy food, and due to school work and the introduction of alcohol on a regular basis, I had far less time to be as active as I was as a youngster playing soccer 3-5 times a week.  After college, once I started my career, I had even less time, but still continued the same crappy diet.  At the ripe young age of 25, I looked at myself, and for the first time I decided I did not like what I saw.  I had hit 160 lbs, which doesn't sound like much, but all of it was in places I didn't want it, or need it.  Still scrawny arms, legs and chest, minus the development of cute little man boobs bowing down as if introducing themselves.  Aside from playing sports, I had no idea what to do in order to get rid of the unnecessary insulation that was growing on me like a fungus.  Something had to be done, but having no idea where to start, I started where any logical person in this day and age would start: Google.

The journey begins

Well, actually, the journey has begun a long time ago.  Since I just started blogging about this now, I will go back and outline what I've been doing, what I plan to do, what has worked, and what has not.  Throughout this blog, I will be naming some exercise programs by name.  Some of these may have worked well, others may not have.  What works/doesn't work for me may not be the case for you.  I don't recommend anyone mimic what I'm doing, but I will be posting full details of why I'm doing what I'm doing, and if you decide to follow, by all means be my guest.