Fat Albert & The Gang

So Dave & I went out to a tire recycling place last Friday & picked up some used construction tires...for free. 



The pic above shows The Crew...from left to right they are: 200 lb Russell, 300 lb Rudy, 350 lb Old Weird Harold, and...900 lb Fat Albert.

During training tonight I got an adrenaline surge and flipped Albert...twice.  Here's a vid of the second flip.

Hell Day Shuttle Runs

Dave & I outside of our local gym lifting & running with heavy things.  Fun stuff.

It's all about intensity!

So, I've been having this conversation way too much lately for me to think it's just coincidence.  I'm getting asked more & more about how to effectively burn body fat and lean out (men) or firm/tone up (women).  The answer is the same for both...outside of maintaining a balanced diet, increase the intensity of your workouts.  Right now I'm seeing men in the gym futzing around the weightroom lifting less than optimal poundages (with sometimes horrible form) and women scared to touch weights and focusing endlessly on long duration cardio.  Both of these situations make building muscle and burning body fat a seemingly impossible task.

Webster's defines intensity as the magnitude of a quantity (as force or energy) per unit (as of area, charge, mass, or time).  From our perspective, intensity is the amount of force (weight training) or energy (cardio) expended per unit of time.  Thus, in order to increase the intensity of your weightlifting, one must either lift heavier weights during the same time period or lift the same weights in a shorter time period.  Similarly, for your cardiovascular work, increasing intensity means moving faster (i.e., the same distance in a shorter period of time) or make moving in the same period of time more difficult by adding resistance somehow (carrying weight, adding wind resistance, etc.).  This very simple concept evades most people.  Whether it's ignorance or laziness (or both), I'm not sure...all I know is that it's happening.

Ways to increase your intensity is just like everything else on The Program...it's simple, not easy.  First off, let me address weight training.  Everyone...men and women...should be weight training to get stronger.  Early on in your weight training, getting stronger means increasing the poundages you are capable of lifting by adding weight to your exercises each week of a training cycle.  As you progress (and get older), you will reach a point where getting stronger inevitably becomes maintaining a certain standard of strength.  For instance, one cannot add weight to their squat, deadlift, or press forever until they died.  If this happened, then we'd see 85 year olds setting world records in weightlifting and powerlifting, which we don't.  What we do see is 85 year olds able to maintain a 225 lb squat or a 315 lb deadlift.  Each year they are able to maintain a certain poundage in their lifts, they have in effect gotten stronger.  For you in your quest to get/stay fit, unless you are 85, dinking around the gym lifting the same weight year after year isn't having much effect on your body composition.  In order to build muscle mass and decrease body fat, you must increase your intensity by getting stronger.  If you don't know if you're above or below average strength-wise, here are some tables of strength standards for men and women...

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/PressStandards.html

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/BenchStandards.html

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandards.html

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/DeadliftStandards.html

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/CleanStandards.html

These cover the basic compound lifts.  I also include push-ups, chin-ups, and dips in my recommendations, and I'm not sure of any universal standards.  I usually use the following website for guidelines on the push-up - http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/home-pushup.htm.  Dips and chin-ups are typically done body weight until one can do 10 reps and then the intensity can be increased by either strapping weight to your body or adding reps.  Getting stronger in the basic lifts will lead to gains in muscle mass which will increase your basal metabolic rate. 

Regarding cardiovascular exercise, people are under the delusion that adding time to their long duration, low- to moderate-intensity cardio is the key to burning body fat.  If only this were true.  Spending longer than 20-30 minutes per day doing cardio without sufficient weight training and protein in your diet (i.e., if you aren't following a bodybuilding protocol), then all your cardio is resulting in you burning muscle (catabolysis), which in effect makes it more difficult for your body to burn fat.  Long duration cardio only has a place in the training programs of endurance athletes or people wishing to train for an endurance event (marathon, triathlon, etc.).  People looking to get generally fit should limit their cardio, but increase the intensity.  By working your way up from walking to jogging or jogging to sprinting during the same 30 minute time frame will not only increase the total calories burned during the cardio session, but your metabolism will be stoked for hours afterwards making the total calories you burn well into the next day higher.  You can also increase the intensity of your cardio by incorporating things like complexes, shuttle runs, suicides, weighted carries, or farmer's walks a couple of days per week after your weight training sessions.  This will have the same metabolic effect.

If you've hit a plateau in your fitness/fat loss efforts, try increasing the intensity of your workouts and see what happens.  I'd bet you break through your plateau assuming there aren't other things like an imbalanced diet hindering your efforts.

Convenience is killing us

I am Will Pack & I approve this message...
http://blog.gaiam.com/blog/convenience-is-killing-us/

Back from vacation...glad to be back on schedule

So, after a 6 day trip to New Orleans & Atlanta, I'm back home & I'm relieved.  6 days of haphazard eating has taken its toll on me and I'm ready to be back on an eating schedule.  I worked out today (I did snatches, front squats, & push presses in the Batcave) & got my food planned out for the week.  Here's my meal plan for the rest of the week:

6:30 a.m. - 3 scrambled eggs & oatmeal (1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp brown sugar)
9:30 a.m. - peanut butter & jelly sandwich
12:30 p.m. - cabbage & baked chicken breast tenderloin (thanks Kim!)
3:30 p.m. - 1 apple, 1 cup whole milk
6:00 p.m. - 1 banana, 1 cup whole milk
7:00 p.m. - large salad (romaine lettuce, cucumber, avocado), 1 cup whole milk

Total Calories: 2100
Protein: 110 g (21% of my calories)
Fat: 91 g (40% of my calories)
Carbs: 239 g (39% of my calories)
Fiber: 39 g
Sodium (Na): 1028 mg
Potassium (K): 3864 mg
K/Na Ratio: 3.7 - according to research published by the NIH (National Institutes of Health), the recommended dietary K/Na ratio should be well above 1, preferrably 5 or higher.  This week's plan was thrown together last minute, so I can (and will) do better.

For those interested in sodium, potassium, & their effects on blood pressure, check out this article:
http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/html/chapter8.htm.

Here are also a couple of pertinent vids I made while on vacation last week.

Travel food tips

The Movement continues...even while on travel...

The Movement Has Begun

Okay, so I've begun playing around with videos for the blog.  I haven't bought an HD camcorder yet, so until then my cell phone camera will have to do.

The Movement has begun!!

Project X & Patient Zero in the gym.

BEASTMODE SHUTTLE RUNS, BABY!!!

So it begins.  The Movement is on!  Wake up & get on board.  The program works...all you gotta do is own you.

More to come.

Useful online tools

The Program, at its heart, is for do-it-yourselfers.  There is no magic pill, formula, powder, food, exercise or anything that I've found to be the end-all-be-all quick-fix for getting fit & healthy.  The Program is founded on you taking the time necessary to get to truly know yourself...your strengths (expand upon them), your weaknesses (strengthen them), your doubts & fears (overcome them), your lack of knowledge in certain areas (fill the cups).  As more and more people get on board, I've recognized the need for good online resources so here are a few that I recommend.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ - Terrific all around calorie tracker.  Food tracking is fundamental to beginning the program.  Once you are really in-tune with your diet & how what you eat truly affects you, track everything that crosses your lips...it'll help you determine what you truly need to be consuming to support your fitness efforts.

http://www.exrx.net/ - I use this website all the time to see quick example avi movies of exercises.  Often people use machines at the gym (which I only really recommend if you're rehabbing an injury or something) due to lack of barbell & dumbbell knowledge.  The Program calls for resistance training...bodyweight, barbell or dumbbell primarily...and you can find examples of everything you need on this website.

http://www.linear-software.com/online.html - This is a great website that calculates your body fat percentage given specific inputs (body measurements).  If you have a pair of fat calipers and can use them on yourself, then terrific...fairly accurate way to measure body fat.  However, most folks don't have them nor do they have the ability to measure themselves with them so I recommend the tape measurement method.  The results are very close to what you'd get with accurate caliper measurements.  If your goals are non-specific like fitting your clothes better or getting a six-pack abs, then you may not care about your body fat percentage.  However, I use the measurement to make sure I'm staying in a healthy body fat range (I like to remain in the athletic range).

No excuses

This whole journey of mine was, and continues to be, a huge lesson in self-discipline...the ability to motivate oneself despite the circumstances.  Think about it...if the combination of your current diet, amount of exercise, and sleep has you overfat, obese, and/or with measureable health issues (high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, metabolic syndrome, etc.) chances are your conditions can be reversed with lifestyle changes.  Lifestyle changes are hard because they require self-discipline.  It takes hard work, determination, motivation, and downright stubbornness to embrace real change to habits that have sometimes taken years to develop.

As a society, we are becoming more technologically advanced and at the same time more sedentary.  In many circles of American society, exercise has become an extracurricular activity.  For those of us that don't work jobs that require a significant amount of physical labor, unless we exercise regularly, we develop bodies that none of us are proud of...poor posture, extremely limited range of motion, weak shrunken muscles, often times pockets of unwanted body fat, and myriad health issues.  The big box gym has become a symbol of getting fit in this country and the truth is going to one of these establishments is not for everybody.  If you have a membership at a big box gym and use the services, good for you...keep doing what you're doing.  Some folk can't or won't go to a gym.  That's still no excuse to not exercise.  If exercise is a priority in your day (which it should be) you can do many non-gym things...getting outside and moving around jogging, walking, riding a bike, playing ball are always available (weather permitting); and if you are stuck or wish to be indoors, calisthenics are a wonderful way to get into and stay in shape. Push ups, pull ups, dips, sit ups, crunches, leg raises, V-ups, squats, lunges, jumping jacks, reverse push ups, and bridges can all be performed with minimal equipment and right at your bedside.  I regularly do calisthenics either when I'm on travel or when I need a break from lifting weights.  Typically I do something like 10 squats + 50 jumping jacks + 15 push ups + 35 crunches for 3 rounds with little to no rest.  Takes less than 10 minutes and I usually end up winded and with a mild sweat going.

Establishing an exercise regimen is the cornerstone of The Program, and it's imperative that you do so in order to see the results you want.  Although diet is often times the harder component to control (at least mentally), your diet is there to support your activity level.  I've gone to an extreme and built my own home gym in my garage so I can execute my exercise program any day of the week, any week of the year period.  I'm that committed to exercise being a part of my lifestyle...

I don't expect everyone to do this (although I advise anyone to), but a serious committment to an exercise program is key to controlling your body fat levels. 

Power phase

Week 2 of my power phase is going well.  Pulled 515 lbs tonight for a single.  It was heavy but I grinded it up to lockout.  This was after hitting 225 lbs for 3 reps on jerks and 315 lbs for 3 reps on front squats.  Not a bad night's work.  I'm tired.

October 2011, Week 2 Meal Plan

Throughout my struggles with fat control, one immutable truth I've come upon time & again is the need for a weekly meal plan.  Planning my meals weekly allows me to ensure I have a balanced diet with the appropriate amount of calories, sodium, and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, & fats) to support my goals.  Here's this week's plan:

Breakfast (7:00 a.m.)

• 3 whole eggs - scrambled with cooking spray
• Oatmeal - 1/2 cup boiled oats with 1/2 tbsp real butter (no margarine or fake butter) & 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 500 calories

Snack 1 (10:00 a.m.)

• 10 strawberries
• 1/4 cup roasted unsalted almonds
• 290 calories

Lunch (1:00 p.m.)

• chicken stir-fry - made this myself on Sunday.  Ingredients: boneless, skinless chicken breast tenerloins, broccoli, red bell peppers, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, peanut oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, dry seasonings
• 360 calories

Snack 2 (4:00 p.m.)

• Chobani Greek yogurt
• 140 calories

Post-workout (around 6:30 p.m.)

• 1 banana
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 330 calories

Dinner (8:00 p.m.)

• salad - 2-3 leaves Romaine lettuce, 5 slices cucumber, 1/2 large avocado
• 1 cup whole milk
• 315 calories

Totals
Calories: 1935
Protein: 110 g
Fat: 88 g
Carbohydrates: 200 g
Fiber: 35 g
Sodium: 1260 mg

This is a pretty simple plan.  I keep things like oats, brown sugar, & almonds on hand as I really like them and they work well in my diet.  My grocery list this week consisted of: milk, eggs, chicken tenderloins, 5 Chobani yogurts, 3 large crowns of broccoli, 3 yellow squash, 2 zucchini, 3 red bell peppers, 1 yellow onion, 1 carton of white mushrooms, 2 avocados, 5 bananas, & 2 packages of strawberries.  I had Romaine lettuce, cucumber, & some eggs left over from last week.  I spend my Sunday afternoons cooking my lunches & portioning them into containers so all I have to do during the week is grab & go.

Of course there are people who can pretty much eat any foods they wish and maintain healthy body fat levels (this is not to say they are healthy...they just aren't overfat).  Judging by the ever increasing waistline of the average American, these folks are in the minority.  If you are, like so many people reading this, tired of seeing the bulge win battle after battle, then you're going to have to discipline yourself to plan out your weekly eating and execute that plan.

That ugly, ugly four letter word

This blog is about general fitness...how to achieve it and maintain it once achieved.  I'm writing from the perspective of a formerly obese person so the information I give is primarily geared towards a population that is attempting to lose body fat, but I've found that the principals I espouse apply to underweight folks trying to gain weight as well.  I'll make the distinction when necessary.

First, naming is important.  We say "weight loss" when we really mean "fat loss."  I mean, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wanted to be weaker (i.e. have less muscle tissue), have less bone density, or shriveled organs...which are all forms of weight loss.  No, what we want is fat loss.  Not an extreme amount, but enough that we function properly and are happy with our appearance.  Next, one must realize that there are no short cuts or easy ways to reverse years of unhealthful habits.  It takes time, not only to burn the excess fat we've accumulated, but also to develop the habits necessary to support a healthy lifestyle.  Commitment to a new lifestyle is paramount to losing body fat and keeping it off.

Your diet is simply what you eat on a day to day basis and, if you hadn't already figured this out, plays a major role in your health, wellbeing, and ability to control your body fat level.  There's a ton of information out there (some good, some not so good) advising and confusing us at the same time.  If you're like me, you've seen fad-diets come and go.  Let's see, to name a few...low-calorie, low-fat, low-carbohydrate, appetite suppressant (remember Dexatrim?), herbal, garlic, grapefruit, and the list goes on and on.  The problem with all these (all "diets" in general) is that they aren't designed around what humans have evolved to eat...and that is food...plain and simple.  Now, I know many of you have had some measure of success with various diet plans (low-fat and low-carb seem to trade places as the #1 fads every 10 years or so), and I'm not here to tell you to stop doing something you consider successful.  However, I would urge you to truly consider the efficacy and permanence of such diets.

I'm no nutrition expert, but there are some things I've learned over the years that seem to be universally true:

Whole foods are better than processed food-like-products...always

Typically, the properties of foods are changed when they are processed.  Real food rots and it rots for a reason...to give us a chance to eat the food when it is the most nutritious and discard it when it's expired.  Processing chemically gives food-like-products the ability to be shipped long distances and keep on shelves for months or even years without spoiling.  I have no proof that the chemicals used in the processing of foods is bad for us, but the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming.  There is a strong correlation with the increase of preventable diseases (heart disease, obesity, arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.) and the prevalence of processed foods on grocery store shelves.

If something is marketed to you, you either don't need it or it's probably not good for you

Plain & simple...when's the last time you saw a corporate commercial for fresh vegetables or milk or any non-processed food product?  I can't think of one either.  Food commercials are typically used to advertise food-like-products with all sorts of health benefits. "Low fat," "Low carb," "No trans-fats," "Fortified with vitamin whatever"...these terms are synonymous with "highly-processed and completely unnatural" and therefore should not be in your diet.

A good rule to follow when shopping...if your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize what you are considering purchasing as food, then it's a safe bet you don't need to be eating it

This one is about reading food labels.  If the ingredient list is chock full of unpronounceable things that you'd need a chemistry degree to translate then what you're looking at is no longer food, but a food-like-product.  Sure it's edible (couldn't stay in business if your products killed your customers quickly), but what are the long term effects of ingesting all those chemicals?  Food for thought.

Eat every 3 hours

Eating more than 3 times per day is hard for some to wrap their heads (and stomachs) around because they typically think they'll be eating 66% more calories than they currently are.  This, of course, would hinder or reverse your fat loss efforts.  No, an appropriate number of calories will be split among 5 or 6 meals.  An 1800 calorie diet with 5 meals per day could be split like 400 calories for breakfast, lunch, & dinner and two 300 calorie snacks.  With these relatively low calorie meals, you'll notice that you become hungry again 2-3 hours later.  I have no proof that this is due to an increase in your metabolism, but it is evidence that your body is processing the foods you're consuming instead of storing it as excess body fat.

Battling the Bulge

I'm training a friend of mine who's similar in size & shape to where I began at my heaviest.  It's taken me the better part of 10 years to figure out my philosophy on attaining fitness and he's the first person to implement my discoveries (I jokingly call him "Patient Zero").  He's losing weight at a tremendous pace (3-6 lbs per week) and is down 55 lbs from his heaviest.  He's basically jumped onto my training regime...basic, compound weightlifting exercises; moderate cardio a couple of days per week; and high intensity cardio a couple of days per week.  Today was our first day of high intensity cardio...man, what a lesson.  No matter how fit you get, I've learned that there are always ways to push yourself harder.  After a warmup & some light upper body work we headed outside with a rubber band, a 70 lb heavy bag, a 100 lb rock, and a 200 lb log.  We did a bear crawl & a band run (running with the band around your waist while the other person pulls against you with the band) to warm up the legs.  We then did heavy bag shuttle runs.  These consist of running 50 feet with the bag on one shoulder, returning with it on the other, dropping the bag into a bear hug for 50 ft, dropping it & dragging it running backwards for 50 ft, then running forwards with the bag dragging behind you for a final 50 ft.  2 rounds of these had us wanting to lay down.  Instead we proceeded to throw around some weight before we called it quits.  He used the 100 lb rock & I used the 200 lb log.  The exercise was to lift the object & throw it in any direction as far as we could - 5 times.  Holy crap.  The 200 lb log is hard enough to just lift, but throwing it added an entirely new dimension of intensity.  We were both sweating profusely & ready for a shower & some grub.

Training like this was key to my leaning out.  Getting strong got me part of the way there, working on endurance did amazing things for my ticker & energy levels, but I was never able to really dig into my fat stores until I started playing around with HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).  I don't think it's something you should do week in and week out for years on end, but throwing it into every other training program you implement will work wonders for your fat loss efforts.

Purpose

The long road home.  I thought this statement appropriately summarized the purpose of this blog.  You can take it as you will, but my intention is to convey a sense of journey and destination.  I've created this blog with just those concepts in mind.  I wish to convey information and (possibly) inspiration through my own journeys to various destinations.  The quest for fitness will take you to many different destinations if you let it.  I began my first quest just to be less fat so I would be attractive to the opposite sex.  I've had goals ranging from being physically the strongest mathematician at my company (I think I accomplished that one...lol) to mitigating certain health conditions to which I am genetically predisposed (I'm sodium sensitive with a predisposition to high blood pressure).  Along the way I've learned a lot & hopefully folks who read this will take some lessons from my experiences.

I wish to make something clear as well.  Although my journey began as an obese person, the lessons I've learned apply to all fitness journeys regardless of origin.  I've helped skinny guys put on quality muscle weight, I've helped women become stronger and leaner ("toning" and "firming" are actually phrases describing building muscle and burning body fat), and of course I've helped obese people become leaner.  Although each of these journeys starts at a different place, the destinations all have something in common...people generally want to become healthier, more robust individuals capable of doing more than they can currently.  Increasing one's fitness is a way to achieve this and getting stronger is one of the foundations of fitness.  In my opinion, there are five foundational components to general fitness...strength, speed, stamina/endurance, flexibility/mobility, and power.  Agility, balance, coordination, and reaction time are all skills worthy of developing to certain degrees depending on individual pursuits, interests, and/or goals but I don't consider them cornerstones of fitness.  Regardless of your goals (fat loss, muscle gain, sport specific), increasing the five cornerstones of fitness will go a long way toward helping you achieve them.

Impetus

As I sit here watching Braveheart and contemplating my next 8 week training cycle, I decided to begin this blog.  My current long-standing obsession is with general health & fitness.  I am 6'4" tall and in the area of 235 lbs with a 35" waist and ~15% body fat.  I started out life as a thin child in the 70's who grew into a chunky couch potato existence as a teen in the 80's and an obese young adult in the 90's.  By the time I graduated high school I was 6'2" and weighed over 250 lbs.  In college I grew to my current height and my weight fluctuated a lot until I began my career in 2002.  During the first year of my career I got into the worst shape of my life.  My weight had gotten over 330 lbs (my scale topped out at 330 lbs & I buried the needle) and my waist was 48".  Unfortunately I don't have any pics of myself from this period in my life as I refused to be in pictures at that weight.

I decided, like so many others suffering from obesity, to lose weight by unrealistically altering my diet (carrot sticks & water sound familiar to anyone???) and exercising in the form of running.  I got limited results from this method & decided to begin lifting weights to accompany my cardio.  Through this combination (weights, cardio, all over the place reduced calorie diet), I got my weight down to 290 lbs.  The pics below are fuzzy, but show my basic shape at this point in my journey.

In 2004 I found myself back in southern California and joined the 4-Star Gym in El Segundo, where I began training for and competing in the sport of powerlifting.  Over 3 years I gained muscle & lost fat through a rigorous program of strength training that resulted in an AAU official 485 lb squat, 330 lb bench press, & 601 lb deadlift all at a bodyweight of 275 lbs.  The vids below show these three accomplishments.

My next move was to north Texas in 2007.  I was still very interested in competitive strength sports, but without training partners I lacked the drive & motivation to continue my powerlifting training.  I read about a local Strongman competition to be held in February, 2008, and decided to train for it.  I was already strong from powerlifting, but I knew there was much more to Strongman than just limit strength.  I didn't know what to expect so I just started moving weights in various planes of motion trying to mimic what I thought I'd face in the competition and this began my first foray into leanness.  In the 5 months I trained for that first competition I went from 280 lbs down to 230 lbs and competed in the lightweight division (less than 105 kg...231.4 lbs).  This was the first time I'd ever been considered a lightweight anything and I performed feats I never dreamed possible.  It was through training intensely to lift stones, pull trucks, and flip tires that it happened.  Channeling my strength into high-intensity, full body training helped me achieve a 225 lb body weight at a body fat percentage of around 10%.  Below are some pics of me at the Battle on the Bayou Strongman Competition, Baton Rouge, LA, 2008...1st place Lightweight Division.

I've also included olympic style weightlifting into my training over the years and tried competing in that sport as well (technically much more difficult than either of the other two strength sports I've competed in).  Here are some vids of me competing at the South Texas Open Weightlifting competition from 2010.  The first vid is a 75 kg (165 lbs) snatch & the second is a 110 kg (242 lbs) clean & jerk.  I placed 6th out of 10 competitors.

I've maintained this level of fitness (although I am a bit heavier now as I'm not competing) for 3 years and have added in flexibility, mobility, and functional movement exercises to cope with the ravages of intense strength training.  This will be covered in future blog posts.

So, that's it...intro done.