Back

Back from a long extended hiatus, still been working out though, been occupied by life really.

Will be posting video and shit in no time.

Warming Up Properly

This is a video I did regarding the importance of warm ups, and how to properly warm up before doing any sort of barbell or resistance exercises. What you guys need to remember is that any sort of sudden intense physical activity will make you more susceptible to injuries. Also, proper warm ups will reduce the likelihood of injuries and just get you into the mentality or mind state of hitting PR's and really killing your working sets.

In the video, I am doing front squats, a lot of what I say pertains more to front squats itself, and the movement. I really try to work on sitting back, and exploding out of the hole, the same thing can be said for bench press, really try talking your elbows in and engaging your lats and back into the movement.

As you can see, the warm ups don't actually take that long. Although I did speed some stuff up, the warm ups took me around 10 minutes at most. The key to warming up specifically if you are doing strength specific training, so aiming to hit weight or rep PR's is to keep the volume of the warm ups low, while having the repititions decently high. What I mean is it would be better to do multiple sets of 3-5 for warm ups rather than a large set of 10. As you can see my warm up goes like this:

barx5
barx3
50 kg x 5
70 kg x 3
90 kg x 2
105 kg x 1

And then I did my working sets. It works a lot better than doing say 60 kg for 10, 90 kg for 10 and then doing your working sets or whatever.

Anyways, thanks for watching, remember to do your warm ups properly.

Basic Protocol

Couple guys at school have been asking me how to workout, what they should do in terms of getting more aesthetic and stronger.

So honestly it comes down to what your goals are, do you want to get bigger? Lose bodyfat? Get stronger? Become more "aesthetic"?

And after you ask yourself this question, you need to ask yourself how much are you willing to change, if you want to change a physical aspect of yourself, you need to be willing to give up your time, and other things such as certain foods. If you know you don't want to change completely, don't count on reaching that goal or standard you set for yourself.

Anyhow, onto actually working out.

Most people want to do 2 basic things: get stronger and attain aesthetics.

As beginners there are a few basic routines I would recommend:

IA's SPBR, and Mark Rippetoe's SS.

SPBR can be found: http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8050
SS can be found: http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs

Any version of each is fine, and will work. Each workout will take between 45 minutes to 90 minutes, depending on what stage you are at. Each routine has a focus of adding weight to the bar while maintaining good form, this means squatting to depth, touching chest on bench, and touching your chest on rows and keeping a straight back during deadlifts. Good form is meant to prevent injury and increase efficiency during the lifts. The main idea of adding weight to the bar is a good indicator for improvement, for most beginners this will be an easy and simple process and won't require too much effort, however after a few months of training, it will begin to get harder, and you will either progress slower or there will be something you need to change (diet, rest, etc.). Remember, if you to change something, your habits need to change.

So lastly, actually working out. So if you look at the prescribed routines, you will notice an exercise and then a rep/set scheme. So for starting strength, you have 3 sets of 5 for most of the exercises. This means 3 sets of 5 "working" sets, not warm up sets. Before you hit your working sets, you should always be warming up. Personally I always start with an empty bar, just to make sure my form is alright, and there is nothing wrong with my body. So, for example, if you are squatting 275 for 3x5 as your working sets you would do your warm ups as:

bar for 2 sets of 5
135x5
175x3
215x2
245x1

You could make bigger jumps or smaller jump accordingly. And see how the reps start to decrease as the weight becomes closer and closer to your working sets? This is to reduce fatigue before your working sets, so you can add weight properly. Doing something like:

barx10
135x10
185x5
225x5

As a warm up this would work, but by the time you hit your working sets your legs will be quite sore and pumped already. With smaller jumps, you also become more accustomed to the weight, and you aren't surprised by a big load or whatever. So during the working sets you need to maintain good form. As for the programs, if you don't like a certain exercise, or you can't do a certain exercise, try your best not to tweak it, these programs are meant for newbs and beginner trainees and have worked - there is a reason why I recommend them.

I'll do another post on diet some other time, but in terms of working out this is it.

If you follow the program, eat/rest properly and stay consistent, you will get strong and aesthetic, and people will be jealous.

Lately

This is a video I made regarding macro nutrients.

I sound retarded speaking to the camera but the information is there, give it a look, and tell me what you guys think. But yeah, I give a primer on proteins/carbohydrates/fats, I know there is some information that isn't too clear and could do better, also my speaking needs some help but those aren't the issues.

Anyway, I've been quite busy again lately.

Had my physics test today, could have been better but meh, I did well for how much work I put in. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular.

Rugby has been going well lately, its been a lot of fun, and its really nice how a lot of my close friends are playing as well. It feels nice having a role on the team also, and its a good way to just hang out with my friends. Training has been going well, I picked up some creatine lately, and after doing some sprints and medicine ball throws, I feel like its starting to kick in, I feel really explosive and powerful on my sprints, and I feel like my endurance is lasting. I really enjoy the feeling of being sore and just a bit tired all the time, its a nice feeling.

Cause of my sports I've been foam rolling a lot lately, to prevent injury and increase recovery, I am too lazy to do it sometimes but I know I need to since it is really beneficial. I will do a video sometime on my stretching/rolling routine sometime for those who are interested.

But thats it for now, got rugby and training tomorrow, and some homework to do still.

Easy, thanks for reading!

Overtraining

What is overtraining? Being sore, being tired, feeling like shit?

Personally I don't believe in overtraining.

What if I told you this: If your family was captured and you were told you needed to put 100 pounds onto your max squat within two months or your family would be executed, would you squat once per week? Something tells me that you'd start squatting every day. Other countries have this mindset. America does not.

This can apply to anything, your squat, sprinting, jumping, whatever it is.

You can train everyday, and you can train hard, your body is magical, it will adapt. Yes there will be that dark period, where you dont feel like doing anything, your sore, lethargy strikes, you dont feel like talking to anyone.

How your body feels is a lie. Yes you can have sore legs, but you can still hit a personal best squatting that day, its happened to me a shit ton. Here's a nice quote I have from John Broz the coach from the U.S.A's national weightlifting team.

If you got a job as a garbage man and had to pick up heavy cans all day long, the first day would probably be very difficult, possibly almost impossible for some to complete. So what do you do, take three days off and possibly lose your job?

No, you'd take your sore, beaten self to work the next day. You'd mope around and be fatigued, much less energetic than the previous day, but you'd make yourself get through it. Then you'd get home, soak in the tub, take aspirin, etc. The next day would be even worse.

But eventually you'd be running down the street tossing cans around and joking with your coworkers. How did this happen? You forced your body to adapt to the job at hand! If you can't' squat and lift heavy every day you're not overtrained, you're undertrained! Could a random person off the street come to the gym with you and do your exact workout? Probably not, because they're undertrained. Same goes with most lifters when compared to elite athletes.

– John Broz 2002

This is true, you see this with anything.

Most people dont get over the dark period, where you feel like shit, thats why most people fail and never reach that elite category of lifters. Personally I squat heavy 3x a week, whether I am sore, in pain. Unless I am injured, and physically unable, I will continue this. I play on a rep basketball team with 2 practices a week, rugby for school with 3 practices a week, lift weights, and do cardio.

What people need to realize that training is not an all or nothing thing, it is obvious that it isn't healthy to train 6-7x a week with high intensity right away, you need to build up to it. Why do you think track athletes have a base training period, or most athletes run a GPP phase? Building up conditioning and work capacity is very important in terms of injury prevention and recovery. Slowly, they up the intensity as their season progresses and peak when its contest time, these cycles are important in reaching a "high" phase and just being successful in sport.

Obviously your nutrition needs to be right, and you should be drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, stretching, foam rolling to ensure proper recovery, but if you are doing everything properly, dont be a fucking pussy and just train for whatever it is.

Caffeine versus Coffee

Caffeine is a compound in the methyxanthine family, but what caffeine does is, essentially it will cause increased awareness, and ultimately prevents drowsiness. From a scientific perspective, what caffiene does is, it increases sensitivity of neurons to stimuli, thus making you more aware and alert.

However, caffeine can cause the leeching of calcium from the bones, which is a factor in osteporosis, studies show that although this is a problem, milk and additional supplementation of calcium will mitigate this problem. There is also studies that show the presence of hypertension (high blood pressure) among those that consume a large portion (200mg+) over caffeine. 

The half-life of caffeine is about 4 hours though, so it makes the drug less toxic and harmful. Caffeine will also raise your adenosine receptors which basically will raise your adrenaline levels, and we all have experienced an adrenaline spike in our lives. Caffeine will however, speed up metabolism, and thus can be used as a fat burner, caffeine levels will typically peak in the bloodstream 40 minutes after consumption. If used in moderate amounts, caffeine can be used to increase performance levels and is a really good thing, however an overdose can lead to serious if not fatal consequences.

Anyhow, caffeine is not the same as coffee as it is often mistaken for. We need to understand beverages like coffee and tea do contain some caffeine, however there are other substances which effects are completley separate from that of caffeine, there is a substance, a cholinomimetic compound, which when injected into animals, will cause a decrease in heart rate and blood pressure rather than a raise, this is the opposite of what caffeine does essentially.

Caffeine by itself is also much more economical, personally I bought a bottle of 100 mg caffeine pills (100) for around 10 bucks. A large coffee has around 80mg of caffeine in it and is around 1-2 dollars each, if you do the math, caffeine is actually really cheap. 

***

Anyhow, I have a good couple of days.

Had my math test today, I feel like I did well, I got the bonus question at the end too, so I can afford to make a mistake and still get perfect. I have a long weekend coming up to, and a basketball tournament along with that. Its really hard to really get into a sport especially if you are playing two at the same time, but whatever hopefully I will be able to get by.

Also, going to go pick up my creatine tomorrow, will be interesting to see how my performance turns out once I start loading, although there may be a placebo effect, I really want to be able to train harder and just take in the results, I don't expect my numbers to just fly up, but I hope that during my heavier sets I will be able to go deeper into my ATP energy system, and bust out a couple more reps.

Anyways, thanks for reading.

Where have I been?

Shit man. I have been so fucking busy lately, I haven't been as productive as I should be, but I have been busy and still gotten what I need done.

Decided to play on the rugby team at school, that means waking up before 6:00 A.M. three times a week. I also play rep basketball which is 2 practices and possibly a tournament every week, I also lift. In a way I am overcommitting, but I am having a lot of fun, and I know I can be productive when I need to. My body is sore has been sore as fuck lately, my workouts have been decent considering the amount of cardio and other physical activity I do before hand. I also have a fucking triathlon for gym to do in a couple of weeks, I am not training specifically for it hopefully I can wing it and do decently just based on my athleticism currently.

I had a chem quiz the other day, I feel like I did well actually. I have a math test this Tuesday, but I have been peppering my angus for at least a month now, so I don't need to really study for it. I need to start learning physics since the test for that is inevitable and will come sooner or later, I don't really care what my mark is, honestly, I just need a 88+ so that I can get into the AP Grade 12 class next year. I have been doing quite a bit of research and reading on training nutrition, and have come upon the notorious field of supplements.

Supplements, supplements, supplements.

Notorious Preworkout

The marketing and advertising for supplements can really get to the average teenager or gym-goer. Seeing all the flashy ads with the jacked up, aesthetic males that go along with it is attractive, however will taking "xxx" supplement really do what is advertised? Fucking advertisements saying "5 lbs of muscle in 2 weeks! Guarenteed!" Its all bullshit. So how do the guys in the commercials get so jacked up?

Well three things: Genetics, Nutrition, Adaption to a Stress, Sleep. The importance proceeds in this order as well, from my previous post, we know genetics is key to anything and everything, however the majority of us have the genetics to get decently strong and decently lean, and when you are strong and lean, typically you will be aesthetic as well, which is what the commericals and ads like to advertise. Who doesn't want to be aesthetic?

Aesthetic as fuck.

So, what is the truth on supplements?

Well there is no truth really, supplements are supplements. Real food tops supplements any day, but it is much more convenient to get micro and macronutrients in supplement form. Its much faster and much more convenient to put a scoop of whey in a shaker and drink that then taking half an hour to cook up some chicken or beef post workout. Right? And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. One thing that you need to understand though, is that companies only produce these supplements to make money, they are here to help you, for the exchange of some money. From my research and experience the only 4 really important supplements are:

Whey Protein, Creatine, Multivitamin, Fish oil.

These are the big four in my opinion.

Purpose of whey is real straight forward, it helps you get your protein macronutrients in, the quality of protein is also high, quality of protein refers to how well you digest it and actually use the protein; quality of protein is measure by the amount of protein absorbed vs. the amount of protein consumed, the quality is given as a percentage. For whey, it is something like 97% although many whey companies will advertise 100%, but realistically nothing is 100% in nature. In comparison, soy protein is much lower, and about 80%. The protein quality does in fact make a difference however, say you take 3 scoops of whey a day, versus eating "xxx" amount of tofu, in that 3 scoops there is about 75 g of protein, and there are also 75 g of protein in the tofu. However due to quality issues, you will truly absorb, 74.8 g from the whey, but only 60 g from the tofu. In the long run this can make the difference. Another fact about whey is that it is fast digesting, this is another facet about protein that you need to consider. It does not necessarily enter the blood stream faster, but rather, it will be digested faster. Typically any protein, whether it is casein (slow digesting) or whey (fast digesting) will take about an hour to enter the blood stream. However, per hour, whey is digested much faster versus casein. Although I do not have the numbers off the top of my head you can search it up.

Second supplement being creatine. Creatine's functions increase performance and aid recovery. Creatine can be found in red meat, however the quantity of creatine in red meat is so small compared to just taking the supplement straight up. There have been many rumours about creatine causing your kidneys to explode, or causing cramps during workouts, however these are false for the typical person. Creating is hydrophilic though, which means it absorbs water, so if you aren't drinking enough, you will cramp. Essentially creatine will increase formation of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which is the primary energy source for the anaerboic energy system. This system is used during heavy weight training and sprinting. When you do these high intensity activities you deplete your ATP and muscle glycogen, which you need to refill in order to maximize performance for the next set or workout. The supplement creatine will aid this process essentially. So although it is not completely neccessary, it helps a lot.

Third supplement, multivitamin, this one is pretty straight forward, makes sure you get all your micronutrients, keeps your immune system strong, etc, etc.

Last but not least is fish oil, fish oil consists of polyusaturated fatty acids, which are divided into omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids which you have all heard of. In a nutshell, fish oil will help with inflammation, boost testosterone levels, help combat cortisol levels (stress), and is an anti-catabolic agent. It does everything basically.

So yeah, that's basically it, everything else is extra, typically I will take some caffeine pre workout, especially if I am feeling sluggish, and I will eat a carb/protein meal also. There isn't need for the fancy pre workout supplement, especially if you are a beginner which most of us are in high school. I have been meaning to pick some creatine up lately, will do so next week, currently I am just taking whey.

Anyways, in terms of training I've worked out twice since last Tuesday, I'll refer to workouts as sessions, I workout on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I will state otherwise if its another day.

So,

Session 4:
Front s - 242x3,242x3,243x4, 209x9
Bench - 191.4x3x2x2x2, 165x5, 154x8 FUUUUUUU
Pull ups - bwx10, +35x8, +60x5x5x5x4, bwx15
Dips - bwx10x15x15x13

Session 5:
Back s - 265x3x3x3, 225x10
press - 115x3x3x4, 95x10
Row - 165x5x5x5, 135x15
static holds and tricep work

Here is a video:


Gonna go do some work, peace.