Fat v Muscle

So – I’m going to state another blond reflection…

Weight is only a small part of the story when talking about bodybuilding. This week I lost 0.5lbs of weight. But we know muscle weighs more than fat. Also – fat’s larger than muscle… so volume enters the equation.

While I may be losing some weight, I am gaining muscle, and at the same time losing the excess volume (fat) that I don’t want… so it could look like this:

• Lost a total of 0.5lbs
• Gained a total of 1lb muscle (this seems appropriate for a weeks worth of training)
• Therefore lost a total of 1.5lbs of fat – which will heighten definition around the body

What surprises me here – and there’s an element that scares me too – is that gaining lean muscle mass, without gaining fat is like the holy grail of bodybuilding… and I’m nowhere near the holy grail… so I’m doing something wrong… which means I’m either not gaining as much muscle as I’d like (I need a body fat scale to determine that), or the exercises are acting as a cardio-vascular system to lose weight. Hmmm.

How Your Goals Evolve

Now that I’m 6 weeks into this process, a realization hit me: how our goals… or more specifically, our achievement reference points evolve over time – and this has significant repercussions on our dedication / motivation.

When I started out 6 weeks ago, my goal was to move from my existing place towards a better place. Since I was so close to an inferior starting point, it wasn’t hard to move away. And the results have been insane… that’s typical if you give your best in a transformation – the immediate results (the transitional fat, etc…) will be thoroughly inspiring.

Then – after a while – you start to focus on your end goal… comparing yourself no longer to what you used to be, but to more and more people around you that represent elements of your ideal. You’re focussed more and more on what you want to move to. The further your success from your starting point, the more you focus on your end point. And when you’re starting off, that end point is far, far, far away… and when you shift your mental focus from where you were to where you want to be, you go from a couple of months to what’s realistically going to be a year or more – you’re further away than you’ve been comfortable with.

None of this will be surprising – but it’s a mental shift. You see amazing results from your starting point, but your perfection is always a moving target – your body won’t always respond the way you want it to… you won’t grow as quickly… you may not lose as much fat as you did in the first few weeks… there are so many elements that impede your achievement of your goal, that that goal always has to change / evolve to meet your current environment / situation.

Today’s My Birthday

So today’s my birthday – or rather, with just an hour left to the day, I should really say that today was my birthday. It’s been a good day altogether – I’ve already commented on the training this morning…

Nutrition wise, things went off the wagon a little bit today. I joined a friend for champagne at lunch – and then dinner, I thought I’d treat myself to a Swiss Chalet… so chicken and fries. Although – lots and lots of chicken… but nowhere near as good as the chicken I cook! Woo hoo!

So today’s been a cheat day. Back to the hard grind tomorrow And surprisingly, looking forward to it.

On a sidenote – have to mention that the last 3 days at work have been quite stressful. Working on a big project, it was generating a lot of issues at work – issues that shouldn’t have existed (and wouldn’t have if we all worked in the same office – guys were in Montreal). Today everything was cleared up, and it seems as though everyone’s really excited with how the project’s now going. But there was more than pressure these past few days. I tried to keep it manageable – and 100% maintained my nutrition throughout (I’m really proud at that), but that’s just a reflection I wanted to add to this blog!

Week 6 Results

I’ll dive straight in – I lost another 0.5lbs this week? WTF? How on Earth is that even physically possible? I’m eating 3,500-4,000cals a day???

This leads me – unfortunately – to think that I’m overtraining. That I should focus more on fewer reps in the sets (lets say 5×5-8) and higher weights. And the compound exercises that I’ve mentioned quite a few times already.

This isn’t something directly related to my current routine tho. I lost weight last week too… in fact there’s only been one week where I’ve realistically put on substantial weight – I think that was my forth week.

Maybe this is my body getting to a homeostatic balance? There’s still fat so it needs to burn it off? I don’t know. What I do know is that I’m still putting muscle mass on – I can see & feel the changes. Even from the results last week, I know that there are incredible gains.

Thinking out loud – I started taking creatine 2-3 days ago… maybe that’s been soaking up some of the water in my system, and that’s contributing to the weight loss? Potentially? Anyone got any ideas?

All I know is that the experience is still going strong, and I’m loving it. Weight hasn’t been a priority goal recently – more about health and size than that ideal 200-210lbs weight goal. So all’s good

Day 41

Shoulders today. What fun!!! Seriously. New routine… and I love the dumbbell front raises. Yeah, sure they’re tough, but they’re so much fun! It’s cool focussing on one arm and then the other (I wouldn’t wanna do them both at the same time, you lose focus on the form)… form’s so important though!

So another great workout! I’m really proud and impressed.

And you know what I realized… while I’m meant to be focussed on ‘ONE DAY AT A TIME’, it’s cool to also think that I’m already 25% through the second phase of my training. Just another 75% until I get to check my measurements again! Woo hoo!!!

Day 40

Following on with the theme of compound exercises, my back day today (yeah – saying back ‘day’ is idiosycrantic when talking about compound exercises… but whatever)… it was an awesome forearm workout! I’ve found it more and more – week in, week out – that the back exercises really stretch and work the forearm. So awesome!

New exercises today – the deadlift to start with, maxxed out all the barbell weights available at the gym – and that was only like 70/80lbs! It’s like – really??? So, as I’ve said in many other entries, I’m focussing on form and tempo. Slow down, fast up and back taught. It was strenuous today… and you can easily tell the impact of such a powerful exercise to begin with on all the exercises that followed – I had to push harder, which again, is a good thing

So yeah – motivation comments – still going extremely strong. Last night was with a good friend, and I jetted out at 9pm so that I could get to bed on time (around 10.30), and so this ‘achievement’ goal at the gym is still very much front and center for me. Which is AWESOME!

Cute ‘Stach

OK – absolutely nothing to do with gymming… but had to post this.

I really like this guys facial hair LOL! It’s like Dr Dreamy from Grey’s Anatomy in a way… and I think I’m gonna ask for it this weekend when I go. We’ll see.

Pics after the break!

Why Isolation Exercises Don’t Work

I can be infuriating sometimes… I don’t like to take statements at face value. Well – I do. When I hear them – I’m like that makes sense… but then I let them settle and question after question pops out in my head – typically WHY is that the case?

And that’s what I’ve been asking myself about why isolation exercises don’t work… you hear it lot… and most recently read about it from Nate Green’s book. But – rather than just stating the fact, Nate actually provided the background as to why they don’t work… for ordinary people.

So here’s the logic:

Way back when, bodybuilders used to do total-body workouts. But when steroids came along, the great thing about them was the more you worked your body, the better the steroids worked.

As such, you see all these huge bodybuilders working isolation exercises, as they get the greatest benefits from it. People watching see these huge, muscular people (and seeing them in magazines, with routines that are designed specifically for the ‘pros’) doing these isolation exercises, want to mimic their size, and start doing them themselves – but without the aid of the steroids.

And things grew… given the popularity of the workouts, gyms started accommodating them with the body part machines… relatively few locations will actually be set up properly for heavy full body lifting!

So there’s the logic – to me it makes sense… and it makes even more sense in Nate’s book!

Day 39

Legs. Tick. Done. Fun. Woo hoo.

Actually – today was good. Keeping form throughout. Squats – I’m at the weight limit offered by the gym – 60lbs – so am trying to focus on form as much as I’m physically able. I hate lunges… just because they’re awkward – but that’s why they’re so good for you. So, today I tried to change it up and do the supported lunges (not sure the right phase)… but it’s where you have your leg up on a bench and then lunge one side, then the other. That worked a lot better for me! Enjoyed it.

So – legs are good. Ta da! Motivation still high… and going into the gym earlier now, to avoid Gym Bitch. It’s been at least 2 days since I’ve seen her. I can’t remember whether she bitched out on me on Monday or not. Anyways – shouldn’t be counting the days of freedom – it puts greater emphasis on them

Supplement Fun

So – earlier today I popped out to try and sort out my next set of supplements for the upcoming month. I thought it was gonna be easy. I had a set that I thought would work beautifully. And I’m sure they would’ve – except for the fact that – well – the BSN (BSN’s the brand I wanted) distributor for Canada just decided to drop BSN! So – all the options I was expecting to have, I couldn’t have.

In place of that, the guys are the stores were really good. They made a number of suggestions that were really good. And turns out – it would make the whole thing cheaper in the end too. Yippee.

So – based on these new supplements… mostly I’ve bought replacements… some are different brands so I can try and see what they’re like. But – I’ve added some creatine monohydrate. Apparently the SuperPump I’ve been taking has only a really tiny amount of creatine in it. Which really surprised me, because that’s what I thought was pumping up the size of my muscle… I thought the water was being soaked up by the creatine and artificially inflating the muscles. Turns out, not as much as I thought – it’s happened to an extent, but not as great a one as I’d expected. Which is good.

I’ve also bought some meal replacements too – the mass gainers. Carb intake is considerable – it’s about 81g, but that’s more complex carbs … and it’ll be replacing the Booster Juices I’ve been having most days… replacing their high sugar content with something more appropriate.

So – in summary… I’ve updated my eating plan to accommodate for the above.