First post of the year. I forgot to renew my domain name until yesterday. I’ve kind of neglected the site a little but I’m back with a progress update.
The last time I posted measurements was way back in June last year. A few weeks ago on a cold, wet weekend I got the tape measure out and got to work. These were taken a week or two after the Christmas holidays. Needless to say, the holidays had affected my body fat levels a bit. Before the holidays I was close to 12%. After the holidays I was almost 15%. I’m happy to say that I’ve trimmed some of the holiday excesses already. Here are the measurements:
Waist: 78cm (up a little. Thanks Christmas!)
Shoulders: 111 cm
Chest (New measurement. Taken at the nipple line): 111 cm
Right upper arm: 29.5 cm. No change.
Left upper arm: 29.5 cm. No change.
Right thigh: 52 cm. Gained 2 cms.
Left thigh: 52 cm. Gained 2 cms.
Right calf: 34.8 cm. Gained just under a cm.
Left calf: 34.5 cm. Gained just under a cm.
Today’s body weight: 68.3 kg.
As you can see, there’s been some progress in my legs and shoulders. I’ve tried to demonstrate the shoulder progress in the pic. They’re not massively bigger but I’ve noticed them rounding out over the last few months. Another area that’s grown, but is hard to measure, are my traps. They’ve definitely become more prominent which also helps your shoulders stand out a bit more. But the craziest progress has been in my lats. I’ve been doing wide-grip pull ups since September now and my lats are noticeably wider, when I flex that is. Since about November I’ve been developing quite a prominent V shape because of this.
It’s important to point out that I’m still continuing my “mass gaining” phase. This started in September. I’m doing a lot of compound lifts, I’m in the gym 3 times a week and I’m eating around 2800/2900 cals a day with around 200 grams of carbs. I’ve learned that serious mass takes serious time to develop. This year’s goal is to stick with mass training and eating until September and then trim down for a month or so to see how everything looks.
Training has been fun. I’ve recently added free weight barbell bench press to my chest routine and am feeling gains in my chest like never before. I’ve also begun experimenting with a high-rep range leg day every 2 weeks. I did that today and my legs were exhausted beyond anything I’ve ever felt.
I may not be writing here so often these days, but I’m still writing on musclehacker.com. It’s a great place to read a variety of opinions and thoughts on training and bodybuilding.
The past two weeks or so I’ve experienced a skin break-out of sorts. Nothing of teenage proportions but I’ve experienced a few pimples in all the common locations of the body. One or two on the face even. This afternoon I was racking my brains as to why. I have good personal hygiene, I drink lots of water, I don’t eat junk food, I’m not a teenager anymore, so what gives? I started delving deeper. Is there anything different about my diet? Initially I couldn’t think of anything then it occurred to me. Milk!
In recent weeks I’ve let milk creep back into my diet. A few hundred ml a day a few days a week. I got home and googled, “Milk cause..” You don’t even have to finish the sentence with “acne” it’s the first recommended search term. Turns out there’s been a lot of research into this in recent years and a lot of the evidence points towards dairy being a contributing factor in acne. Why? Cows are pregnant. They have to be to produce milk. Lactating cows naturally have elevated amounts of the growth hormone dihydro testosterone (DHT). When ingested by humans, DHT causes the skin glands to produce more sebum. Sebum is the oily substance that blocks your pores and causes a zit when you have too much of it. You can read more about it here http://www.natural-acne-solution.com/milk-acne.html
Had I learned this a few years ago, I’d be skeptical of this information, but after having researched the Paleo diet earlier this year, I believe this to be true. Paleo diet enthusiasts call for the elimination of all non-paleo era foods from the diet. The chief culprits being grains and dairy. After all, milk is for the purpose of rearing an infant. It was never intended to be ingested beyond infancy. After early childhood, we lose a lot of the capability to digest dairy. It’s hard for us to digest and causes inflammation throughout the body, the skin included. Lactose intolerance is actually something almost all humans share. The majority of us just don’t display sever symptoms.
It all makes you wonder who the genius was who thought we should keep drinking milk throughout our lives? Anyway, my daily breakfast has typically been plain yogurt mixed with a scoop of whey protein powder. I might knock out any other dairy consumption apart from this for a while. In the meantime I’ll look at some alternative breakfast ideas with the aim of adding them to my diet soon.
I’ve got a feeling knocking out the milk at the very least will lead to clearer skin once again.
Well, almost. My abs aren’t exactly “popping yet” but I was surprised to see that they are actually emerging. Why surprised? Because I’ve been on a bulking phase the last two months and if anything, I was expecting muscle definition to fade somewhat. What’s even better is that I only hit my abs for two sets of weighted crunches once a week. Proving once again that abs are mostly made in the kitchen.
The other day I did a scale and body fat pinch test for the first time in ages. Again, to my surprise my body fat had gone down from 15% in August to an apparent 13.7% (it’s what the calculation formula came up with). The best thing though was that my weight is actually up. So since early September I’ve successfully dropped my body fat and gained a little bit of muscle.
A pleasant way to end the week really. When I started on this journey, having a visible six-pack and better muscle mass and definition were the dreams. There’s still a way to go, but I can actually see the body I’m trying to achieve slowly materialize.
Last week I bought some creatine monohydrate. This week it’s started to kick-in in my workouts and I’m really excited about what it’s done for me.
I’ve had two workouts this week so far. Monday was chest, shoulders and triceps day. I added 2 more reps to each set of military press as well as to my incline bench press. Great workout. Today was legs day and I added 4 more reps to my max-weight squat. What else has been crazy is the pump.
A lot of folks comment on how creatine retains more water in your muscles and pumps them larger. It really does. My body has smoothed out a little since I started taking it, but directly after a workout the pump is crazy. Way more noticeable than before. I wish I had taken a picture of my shoulders after the workout on Monday because they were significantly more pumped than I have ever seen.
I think it’s important to point out how you take creatine here. A year ago I bought some creatine and after not really researching it properly, I just took about 5 grams a day until my container ran out. Needless to say, I never noticed any effects. This time around I “loaded” it first. This involved taking 3 doses (15 grams in total) per day for 6 days. This loading helps to saturate your muscles with the stuff. Since the seventh day I’ve just been taking one dose per day to maintain my body’s creatine levels. I plan to continue this for about 3-4 more weeks upon which I’ll cease creatine consumption entirely. It’s important that you don’t use creatine for too long. Extended creatine use will just burn out your body”s creatine receptors making it impossible to get any benefit from the stuff whatsoever. I probably won’t do another creatine cycle until the new year at the earliest.
So anyway, creatine works. I highly recommend it. I’d recommend simple creatine monohydrate. Take it either with water or your protein shake. There are other fancy creatines out there which contain added flavors and a whole bunch of other junk which are no good for you. Simple is best.
Cliches like “be the alpha male!” tend to make a lot of us cringe. But the thing about cliches is that they are based upon truths.Strap yourself in! It’s time to get philosophical about life and bodybuilding again.
I stumbled upon this video by Lui Marco, who primarily does natural bodybuilding vlogs on YouTube, earlier today and it got me thinking. In this video he gives a younger subscriber advice on what he believes it takes to be a true alpha male. His advice centers on the importance of being confident, and while he doesn’t necessarily say it, I think he’s eluding towards the point of being confident, but don’t be a jerk. Or at least this is what I felt after thinking about the issue carefully.
If you’re like me, then the term “alpha male” often conjures up images of some giant douche arrogantly hitting on any woman in sight while trying hard to belittle others. After watching this clip I thought about what being an aplha male really is or should be. In my opinion, Lui’s advice to the younger guys out there about how important it is to be confident is on the mark. If I think of the times when I have succeeded to get a girl’s attention whether it’s for a date, or even just a friendly glance, it’s because I was acting naturally. I wasn’t thinking too hard about how I should act or speak. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a bit of a shy type but acting naturally by default means confidence, and confidence really does affect our interactions profoundly. Lui also mentions more stereotypical aspects of the alpha male when he refers to guys like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Clearly, being big and strong (as you can be) and masculine is an inevitable part of the role. I firmly believe that a man who is frail, skinny or has poor posture can never be a true alpha male. They may possess all the other character traits, but there is certainly a physicality to the description as well.
Why am I going on about this? Well, even since before I started working out seriously, I always had this vague idea of “being a man.” I can remember a guest speaker at school one day giving a talk about motivation, confidence and so on. He mentioned how he needed to “be a man” about things in his life. The way that confident guys could say things like “be a man!” or simply “I’m a man” resonated with me. The way they said it with a certain pride made me think that I wanted to be able to say that with strength and confidence too when I grew up. Paying attention to my health and body has really helped my confidence. Throughout life it’s very easy to ponder and speculate on alternative thinking and theories, but the simple act of hard physical work and the effect it has had on my body has made me get back to basics…so to speak. That is, I am a man (obviously) and men are designed to be physical and exert themselves. Unsurprisingly, I’ve found that exerting myself physically and pushing myself to new weights and rep ranges is really fun. What I really mean to say is, “You are what you are! Just enjoy it!”
Now I’m not suggesting that all guys need to lift weights or anything, but men (and women for that matter) were meant to be both physically and mentally strong. The topic of being an alpha male is really important. In order to have a the best career, relationship, friendships and physical health, we (guys) need to be an aplha. So basically, be an alpha male! Be confident, be smart, be strong and be physically imposing (if necessary), but don’t confuse it with the mindless chest beating and howling that some guys think it is. Am I there yet? I’m not perfect, but in more recent times I’ve come closer towards being what I want to be. The physical side of the equation is actually the easy part. Being a smart and considerate alpha is the real challenge.
I’ve been watching the Hodge twins for a while now. They crack me up, but I find most of their advice is pretty sound and agreeable too. In this video they explain why eating meat is essential for muscle growth. They take 11 and a half minutes and many expletives to make this point, but they make it nonetheless.
I’m into week 2 of my current cycle in which I am eating at a small caloric surplus and a moderate amount of carbs (approx 100 grams per day). I’m also doing a three day split. On Mondays I do all my pushing exercises (chest, shoulders and triceps), Wednesdays I hit my legs and abs, and on Fridays I do all my pulling movements (biceps and back). It’s all gone quite well so far. I recorded good gains in yesterday’s workout. More importantly, my energy levels in the gym have been through the roof. I haven’t hit the weights with this much energy and aggression for quite a while.
The difference in performance during a cutting cycle and a bulking cycle are clear to me now. While I was cutting I was getting very weak and faint after exercises. Now that I’m back on a surplus, the difference in energy and strenghth is like night and day. I’m enjoying it so far. Maybe it’s the 3 day split as well? a day off between workouts certainly does feel necessary right now. I’m still aching from a workout I did last Friday.
That’s the update for now. Also, you may or may not have noticed a change in the site. I updated my version of WordPress recently and it messed with my design and layout. I’m slowly getting it back up to speed.
Fat is generally considered a dirty word. What does your mind’s eye see when you hear or see the word? An obese person? A serving of fries covered in cheese? Probably nothing good, right? Since embarking on a journey of fitness and better nutrition, I’ve had several conversations with friends, family and acquaintances on the topic of fat. When I mention that eating a high-fat diet caused me to experience the most weight loss I’ve ever had, many of the looks and remarks have been skeptical to say the least. I used to be the same too. This skepticism arises because of our lack of understanding and misinterpretation of fat. Not to mention our overall lack of nutritional education.
So fat is evil. It’s the bad guy, right? Actually, this notion is fairly recent. Our modern day demonizing of fat stems largely from the 1950s. In the 50′s an American researcher named Ansell Keys carried out research on the eating habits of people in 22 different countries. He was particularly interested in the amount of fat consumed and the amount of heart disease within each country. He concluded that there was a correlation between high fat consumption and heart disease and this was true, but only in about 4 of the countries studied. Namely the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK. The rest of the data he threw away. Why? Because the real results were that there was no correlation between fat consumption and heart disease at all. Countries like the Netherlands ,where people eat a high amount of fat but had low rates of heart disease, were left out. The low-fat craze was born. The Fathead movie illustrates the whole study more amusingly.
So here’s where we need to understand fat a bit better. More importantly, why it doesn’t necessarily make us fat. First we need to understand a little bit of basic human physiology. I won’t dive too deep but all we need to know is that mankind evolved over thousands of years in which food was often scarce. As a result, the human body is very very good at using fat for energy. Man evolved hunting animals and fish. Fruits, vegetables, nuts and berries were only eaten if they could be found. By in large meat and fish were the main sources of nourishment. Naturally, meat and fish are high in saturated fat. That’s okay though. Thousands of years of this type of diet meant that the human body became very good at using natural fats for energy. The key here is natural fats. Unlike our ancestors we eat a whole bunch of unnatural fats like vegetable oils and trans-fats. But the good news is that we are still physiologically identical to our ancestors of millenia past. What’s even better news is that our ancestors were really fit and strong. So really, there’s no reason why we can’t eat as much fat as they did and be healthier for it. If you want a better understanding of this, I recommend reading The Paleo solution by Robb Wolf. I did a review of it a while ago.
To keep things simple. Eating natural fats will not make you fat. If you’re wondering which fats you should and shouldn’t eat, think where that fat came from and is it natural or not and you’ll be fine. Fat in meat, fish, eggs, natural cheeses, olive oil and cream are obviously very natural. Fats like vegetable oil, margarine and shortenings all go through a process called hydrogenation which makes them artificially harder. Processed hydrogenated trans fats have been proven to raise your cholesterol levels. Remember! natural is good, processed is bad.
So if fat doesn’t really make us fat, what does? In a nutshell it’s carbohydrates. The countries that Keys omitted from his study’s results consumed far less carbohydrate than the countries he found with high levels of heart disease. In our modern day “western” diet we consume huge amounts of carbs. Mostly in the form of refined sugars and grains. Without getting all too sciency about it carbohydrates are basically complex sugar molecules. When we eat them, they are broken down into smaller sugar molecules. At the end of the day though they are sugar. Sugar is bad right? Right! It’s very bad. When your body gets too much sugar, it produces insulin to get rid of it. Insulin gets rid of sugar by storing it as fat. So if you thought that sugar makes you fat, you were right all along. You probably never thought of grain rich foods like bread and pasta to contain sugar though, did you? After all, bread and grains are good for us. They form the base of the food pyramid, right? Sadly, as delicious as they are they are making us fat, diabetic and generally unhealthy.
So there you go. Eat more natural fats and limit your carbohydrate intake to somewhere around 100 grams per day. If you do, you’ll probably notice a reduction in body fat and a better overall feeling of wellness. Since I’ve been eating like this I’ve gone from 75 kgs just over a year ago to a lean 65 kgs today (I’m 174cms/5’9 btw) and I feel a lot fitter and stronger for it. Limiting things like bread, pasta and rice may be hard at first but you’ll find an increase of natural fat in the form of meat, fish, dairy and nuts to be very satisfying. Hunger can easily be satiated eating like this. If you find yourself looking for food and recipe ideas, I’m compiling recipe ideas at fitfastmeals.com.Fat can be your friend. Like real friends, remember to hang out with the right ones though!
It’s been a while since I’ve done a progress report so here it is.
The biggest thing about the last 6 weeks or so has been the effect of cutting. I don’t know what my body fat percentage is right now and I haven’t really been bothered with it. My weight this morning was 65.4 kg. It’s the lightest I’ve been in a very long time. In recent weeks I’ve started to see some definition finally come through. Mostly in the shoulders and arms. Yeah, I flexed to give you a bit of a better picture to look at, but it does highlight the slight definition I’m now starting to get in a couple of areas. I’ve also noticed some veins starting to show up on my upper arms. Never had that before.
Working out has been tough these last few weeks though. I’ve felt myself getting weaker day by day and I tire out in the gym a lot quicker. The first 4 weeks of low-carbing were fine. I was still making regular gains in all my lifts but now I make very slow gains and have had to scale back my workouts quite a bit. That light-headed feeling you get after completing a set, as you’ve lost blood pressure from your head and into your targeted muscle, has been more pronounced these past two weeks. I felt like I was going to pass out after a set of lat pullovers last week. After a few deep breaths and a bit of a rest, I was fine though. Have to say that it’s really hot here in Tokyo too. 35 degrees celsius + daily. Sometimes you arrive at the gym semi exhausted. However, I think it’s fair to say that we have to accept the fact that while you’re on a caloric deficit with a low-carb intake, you’re just not gonna have as much strength or endurance as you’re used to. I like the results though. I can see I’m a lot leaner right now and that’s a nice feeling.
I might keep up the deficit for a few more weeks at least and then slowly start building the calories back up to about 200/300 cals over maintenance. One idea I’m toying with also is a 3 day split. As I mentioned, I’m a bit weaker than normal in the gym lately and a 3 day split might help my energy levels a bit.
“Paleolithic” it’s a big word that conjures up images of dinosaurs and perhaps some vague imagery of Jurassic Park. Add it to the term “diet”, and you’d be excused for thinking just what the hell this is.
I’ve mentioned my low-carb diet a few times now and recently a friend recommended this book, The Paleo solution by Robb Wolf. In this book the author goes into great detail on the subject. There really is a lot of detail in this book so I’ll give a broad summary.
Modern man evolved in the paleolithic period. Man was originally a hunter-gathering species whose diet consisted predominantly of meat, fish and whatever wild vegetables, fruits, nuts and berries he could lay his hands on. It’s only in the last ten thousand years or so that we’ve developed agriculture which has radically changed the way we eat. And no, 10,000 years is not enough time to adapt to a vastly different diet than what we used to eat as hunter-gatherers. The book details that our original hunter-gatherer diet is not only the best diet for us, but it’s also hard-wired into our DNA. Our bodies are literally not equipped to digest and work with the high amounts of carbohydrate found in today’s typical grain based diets. Not only are we not equipped to digest grains and high amounts of carbohydrate, but these very things are apparently killing us by causing all sorts of inflammatory diseases such as; cardio vascular disease, high blood pressure, celiac, diabetes, alzheimers and Parkinson’s disease. There are several chapters on how our body interacts with and digests different macro and micro nutrients.
Again, scientific detail abounds in this book but you don’t have to read it all. The author says this himself. If you want to just skip to the “how” parts of the book, you can do so. Robb Wolf really tries hard in this book to back up his claims with hard science so at the end of the day you’re not just replacing one fad diet for another without any back-up information. The book also describes the types of exercises that our optimal to our health. Long and repetitive cardio is out while short, intense weight training and high intensity impact cardio is in.
By the end of the book, you’ll probably find yourself scared of carbs, grains and dairy foods altogether. A full paleo diet, one without dairy, beans, grains and legumes may be tricky to implement for some. I’m kind of interested in reading Mark Sisson’s approach to paleo dieting now. Word has it that he eats a mostly paleo diet and includes a bit of dairy here and there. If you’re training with weights or doing sports, staying away from things like whey protein can be difficult. I might check out his book sometime soon.
All in all a good read. If anything it reminds you that we are just another species of animal, and that as animals we were meant to eat in a certain way. A way that naturally keeps us fit and strong our whole lives.
