That is a very plausible explanation, Wes.
What was this Flu Medication?
Best wishes,
Chillen
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That is a very plausible explanation, Wes.
What was this Flu Medication?
Best wishes,
Chillen
Some side effects I found when searching:
Based on studies, the most common azithromycin side effects include:
* Nausea -- up to 5 percent
* Loose stools or diarrhea -- up to 7 percent
* Vomiting -- up to 7 percent
* Abdominal pain (or stomach pain) -- up to 3 percent
* Headache -- up to 1 percent
* Unexplained rash -- up to 2 percent.
Rare side effects:
# Allergic reactions
# Kidney failure
# Constipation
# Heartburn or indigestion
# A spinning sensation (vertigo)
# Irritation of the vagina (vaginitis)
# Irritation of the liver (hepatitis)
# A reduced number of platelets in the blood (thrombocytopenia)
# Serious intestinal infections (enterocolitis)
# Low blood pressure (hypotension)
# Ringing ears (tinnitus)
# Oral yeast infections
# Vaginal yeast infections
# Dehydration
#An unusual burning or tingling sensation (paresthesia)
# Increased sun sensitivity.
There are a number of side effects that can occur with azithromycin that indicate something serious. If you experience any of these side effects, stop taking the azithromycin and call your healthcare provider. These side effects include but are not limited to:
* Blood in stools
* Severe or watery diarrhea
* Yellowing of the skin or the whites of the eyes
* Difficulty breathing or swallowing
* Wheezing
* Irregular heartbeat
* Abnormal swelling
* Hives
* Unexplained rash
* Itching
* Peeling of skin.
Best regards,
Chillen
Well since one of the rare side effects were diarrhea, young man you ought to be thankful, you didn't experience it...........>Which may have brought Imodium AD to the rescue:
Speaking hypothetically:
You KNEW when your pants didn't fill with POO while fitness training with the FLU and trying to create the new YOU, that Imodium AD was not in VIEW.
Therefore, this prevented the BOO HOO, and the pants with POO becoming like ass GLUE, and your girl friend asking you to please SHAMPOO. I am sure your butt is THANKING-YOU.
Oh.....by the way......
Do not be BLUE, Imodium AD would have seen you THROUGH, to...........
That was dumb...
ROCK ON!
Best wishes
Chillen
Speaking hypothetically:
You KNEW when your pants didn't fill with POO while fitness training with the FLU and trying to create the new YOU, that Imodium AD was not in VIEW.
Therefore, this prevented the BOO HOO, and the pants with POO becoming like ass GLUE, and your girl friend asking you to please SHAMPOO. I am sure your butt is THANKING-YOU.
Oh.....by the way......
Do not be BLUE, Imodium AD would have seen you THROUGH, to...........
That was dumb...
ROCK ON!
Best wishes
Chillen
I must continue with Lyle McDonald, his Articles are just to the point and great, not to mention his no noesense, and no BS posts he makes to his web site:
(All credit goes to: Lyle McDonald):
Reps Per Set for Optimal Growth
I’m going to throw out a weird hypothetical question that I want readers to consider before continuing with this article.
If you had to pick a single repetition range to train in for growth, what would it be?
That is, imagine some very strange situation where you could only train within a certain range (and let’s make that range something a little less vague then ‘Between 1-20 reps’ by limiting it to a 3 rep range) for the rest of your lifting career, what would it be?
I used to ask this of friends of mine in the field and, almost with exception, the answer was pretty much the same. This was true regardless of whether or not they had arrived at that value from experimentation and experience or just looking at the research.
I’m going to take a quick look at the research (including a bunch of seemingly disparate topics) to tell you what I’d pick.
What Makes Muscle Grow?
I asked a job supervisor that question once once; he was a smart-ass like me and told me “It needs lots of sunlight and water.” Close but not quite.
The mechanism of muscle growth has been under heavy scrutiny for years and a lot of theories and ideas have come and gone in terms of both the mechanism of growth as well as what stimulates it. Semi-amusingly, about 98% of the actual answer was known back in the 70’s.
In an exceptional paper (which I recommend the reading of to any nerds in the field) titled “Mechanism of work induced hypertrophy of skeletal muscle” a researcher named Goldspink pretty much laid it out concluding that:
It is suggested that increased tension development (either passive or active) is the critical event in initiating compensatory growth.
Basically, the development of high levels of tension within the muscle is the key factor in initiating the growth process. I’d note that there are also some elements of fatigue that may be contributing to what ‘turns on’ the growth response. Finally, I’d note that in order to keep stimulating growth beyond an acute training bout, there has to be an increase in tension. Basically, over time you have to add weight to the bar.
Which as another great scientist in the field (Ronnie Coleman) summed up thusly:
Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights.
The simple fact is that, outside of heavy drug users (steroids having the capacity to stimulate growth without even training), the biggest bodybuilders are the strongest. They grow because they provide, over time, a progressive tension overload (of course there are more variables that go into this, total workload per workout, frequency of training and diet all interact here).
But as I have been pointing out for years and years and years, if you’re not adding weight to the bar over time, you’re simply not growing. You can focus on the feel and the pump and the squeeze all you want; if you’re using the same weights 6 months from now that you’re using today, you won’t be any bigger.
Which doesn’t mean that you have to add weight at every workout (the fallacy of HIT), simply that over time you have to be lifting more weight. But progression over time is a whole separate article.
Anyhow, the summary of this section is that a combination of tension overload (with a possible contributor of fatigue) within skeletal muscle fibers is what turns on the growth response. Just remember that, what stimulates growth is tension and fatigue (with tension playing a relatively larger role in terms of actual contractile growth).
Which brings us to the next question: what’s the best way to develop that combination of tension and fatigue within skeletal muscle (or a given fiber)?
A Quick Tangent into Some Neurophysiology
When you look at strength production, the body has essentially two methods to increase force output which are
1. Muscle fiber recruitment
2. Rate coding
Muscle fiber recruitment is exactly what it sounds like, how many of the fibers within a muscle are actually being recruited. Contrary to the exceptional silliness which is endlessly repeated in books and on the internet, most people can actually get pretty close to 100% fiber recruitment (it’s a little bit lower in the lower body but, in the triceps for example, people can get near 100% recruitment).
Rate coding referes to how quickly the body is sending electrical signals to that muscle. As rate coding goes up, the muscle fires harder.
Now, in the muscles we’re interested in from a sports or bodybuilding standpoint, the body will generally use recruitment to increase force production up to about 80-85% of maximum force output (in the lab, this is measured with Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction or MVIC, which is effectively 1 rep maximum weight). Beyond 80-85% of maximum, it uses rate coding.
I’d note for completenes that this isn’t true for some muscles in the body, notably stuff like the eye muscles and finger muscles. In those muscles, recruitment is used up to about 50% of MVIC and rate coding handles the rest. Which is a lot of why studies looking at the thumb muscles aren’t really relevant to most training applications. But I digress.
Anyhow, now we have the next part of the picture, the body will recruit more fibers up to about 80-85% of maximum; above that point, there is no further recruitment and force output is improved via rate coding.
I should note that even at lower intensities, as the individual goes to fatigue, eventually all muscle fibers will end up being recruited. But they won’t have been recruited until fairly late in the set (e.g. the last few repetitions).
Putting it Together
And this leads us to our answer to my original question. For most people, 80-85% of maximum is roughly 5-8 repetitions there is variance in this between individuals and perhaps muscle groups (for example, some people find that they can get 12-15 repetitions at 85% of maximum in some leg movements).
Now let’s put that together with my comments about tension and fatigue from the earlier in the article.
Imagine that you put 95% on the bar, which will let most people get about 2 reps. You wouldn’t increase fiber recruitment (remember, it maxes at 80-85%) but you would drastically decrease any fatigue because you would be getting a lot less reps per set (and most people couldn’t do many sets of 2 at 90% so their total volume per workout would be much lower).
Or say you wanted to do 15 repetitions which, for most is about 70% of maximum. If you take it to failure, you will in fact end up recruiting all muscle fibers; however many of them (and this especially holds for the highest threshold fibers, the ones with the potential for the most growth) won’t have been recruited until near the very end. So those highest threshold fibers won’t be exposed to high tension and fatigue for very long.
In contrast, imagine that you work in the 5-8 rep range with 80-85% of maximum. First and foremost you will get full muscle fiber recruitment from the first repetition. Secondly, you will maximize fatigue/metabolic work/volume within that range. Basically, that range of reps and intensities is the one that will give an optimal balance of tension/recruitment and fatigue/metabolic work.
And that’s the answer that repeatedly comes up among people in the field who aren’t clueless: 5-8 repetitions. If you had to pick a single rep range to work at to optimize the growth response, it would 5-8 reps per set.
Which isn’t to say that there aren’t valid and valuable reasons to work in other repetition ranges, mind you. But that wasn’t the original context of my weird hypothetical.
Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Chillen
(All credit goes to: Lyle McDonald):
Reps Per Set for Optimal Growth
I’m going to throw out a weird hypothetical question that I want readers to consider before continuing with this article.
If you had to pick a single repetition range to train in for growth, what would it be?
That is, imagine some very strange situation where you could only train within a certain range (and let’s make that range something a little less vague then ‘Between 1-20 reps’ by limiting it to a 3 rep range) for the rest of your lifting career, what would it be?
I used to ask this of friends of mine in the field and, almost with exception, the answer was pretty much the same. This was true regardless of whether or not they had arrived at that value from experimentation and experience or just looking at the research.
I’m going to take a quick look at the research (including a bunch of seemingly disparate topics) to tell you what I’d pick.
What Makes Muscle Grow?
I asked a job supervisor that question once once; he was a smart-ass like me and told me “It needs lots of sunlight and water.” Close but not quite.
The mechanism of muscle growth has been under heavy scrutiny for years and a lot of theories and ideas have come and gone in terms of both the mechanism of growth as well as what stimulates it. Semi-amusingly, about 98% of the actual answer was known back in the 70’s.
In an exceptional paper (which I recommend the reading of to any nerds in the field) titled “Mechanism of work induced hypertrophy of skeletal muscle” a researcher named Goldspink pretty much laid it out concluding that:
It is suggested that increased tension development (either passive or active) is the critical event in initiating compensatory growth.
Basically, the development of high levels of tension within the muscle is the key factor in initiating the growth process. I’d note that there are also some elements of fatigue that may be contributing to what ‘turns on’ the growth response. Finally, I’d note that in order to keep stimulating growth beyond an acute training bout, there has to be an increase in tension. Basically, over time you have to add weight to the bar.
Which as another great scientist in the field (Ronnie Coleman) summed up thusly:
Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights.
The simple fact is that, outside of heavy drug users (steroids having the capacity to stimulate growth without even training), the biggest bodybuilders are the strongest. They grow because they provide, over time, a progressive tension overload (of course there are more variables that go into this, total workload per workout, frequency of training and diet all interact here).
But as I have been pointing out for years and years and years, if you’re not adding weight to the bar over time, you’re simply not growing. You can focus on the feel and the pump and the squeeze all you want; if you’re using the same weights 6 months from now that you’re using today, you won’t be any bigger.
Which doesn’t mean that you have to add weight at every workout (the fallacy of HIT), simply that over time you have to be lifting more weight. But progression over time is a whole separate article.
Anyhow, the summary of this section is that a combination of tension overload (with a possible contributor of fatigue) within skeletal muscle fibers is what turns on the growth response. Just remember that, what stimulates growth is tension and fatigue (with tension playing a relatively larger role in terms of actual contractile growth).
Which brings us to the next question: what’s the best way to develop that combination of tension and fatigue within skeletal muscle (or a given fiber)?
A Quick Tangent into Some Neurophysiology
When you look at strength production, the body has essentially two methods to increase force output which are
1. Muscle fiber recruitment
2. Rate coding
Muscle fiber recruitment is exactly what it sounds like, how many of the fibers within a muscle are actually being recruited. Contrary to the exceptional silliness which is endlessly repeated in books and on the internet, most people can actually get pretty close to 100% fiber recruitment (it’s a little bit lower in the lower body but, in the triceps for example, people can get near 100% recruitment).
Rate coding referes to how quickly the body is sending electrical signals to that muscle. As rate coding goes up, the muscle fires harder.
Now, in the muscles we’re interested in from a sports or bodybuilding standpoint, the body will generally use recruitment to increase force production up to about 80-85% of maximum force output (in the lab, this is measured with Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction or MVIC, which is effectively 1 rep maximum weight). Beyond 80-85% of maximum, it uses rate coding.
I’d note for completenes that this isn’t true for some muscles in the body, notably stuff like the eye muscles and finger muscles. In those muscles, recruitment is used up to about 50% of MVIC and rate coding handles the rest. Which is a lot of why studies looking at the thumb muscles aren’t really relevant to most training applications. But I digress.
Anyhow, now we have the next part of the picture, the body will recruit more fibers up to about 80-85% of maximum; above that point, there is no further recruitment and force output is improved via rate coding.
I should note that even at lower intensities, as the individual goes to fatigue, eventually all muscle fibers will end up being recruited. But they won’t have been recruited until fairly late in the set (e.g. the last few repetitions).
Putting it Together
And this leads us to our answer to my original question. For most people, 80-85% of maximum is roughly 5-8 repetitions there is variance in this between individuals and perhaps muscle groups (for example, some people find that they can get 12-15 repetitions at 85% of maximum in some leg movements).
Now let’s put that together with my comments about tension and fatigue from the earlier in the article.
Imagine that you put 95% on the bar, which will let most people get about 2 reps. You wouldn’t increase fiber recruitment (remember, it maxes at 80-85%) but you would drastically decrease any fatigue because you would be getting a lot less reps per set (and most people couldn’t do many sets of 2 at 90% so their total volume per workout would be much lower).
Or say you wanted to do 15 repetitions which, for most is about 70% of maximum. If you take it to failure, you will in fact end up recruiting all muscle fibers; however many of them (and this especially holds for the highest threshold fibers, the ones with the potential for the most growth) won’t have been recruited until near the very end. So those highest threshold fibers won’t be exposed to high tension and fatigue for very long.
In contrast, imagine that you work in the 5-8 rep range with 80-85% of maximum. First and foremost you will get full muscle fiber recruitment from the first repetition. Secondly, you will maximize fatigue/metabolic work/volume within that range. Basically, that range of reps and intensities is the one that will give an optimal balance of tension/recruitment and fatigue/metabolic work.
And that’s the answer that repeatedly comes up among people in the field who aren’t clueless: 5-8 repetitions. If you had to pick a single rep range to work at to optimize the growth response, it would 5-8 reps per set.
Which isn’t to say that there aren’t valid and valuable reasons to work in other repetition ranges, mind you. But that wasn’t the original context of my weird hypothetical.
Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Chillen
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I love your Log. It is a wealth of information and I really appreciate it! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Mel!
I appreciate your post!You are welcome!
How is your day going? How is your cut coming?
Best wishes
Chillen
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Thank you Mel!
You are welcome!
How is your day going? How is your cut coming?
Best wishes
Chillen
Day is good. Training is good. I rested today. Tomorrow I am excited to get in the gym and give it my all. Day after rest is always good. I ate salt last night and it made me look blah but I know that's temporary. How about you?
Salt= Element involved for water retention (regulates bodily fluids), and some other things, that can be sometimes undesirable.
Day was great!
An off day at work and an off day of training.
I am on the low-carb side of my diet, and currently have a sledge hammer headache.
But its a wimp
cause' I am the friggen pimp in dis' human body of mine. And, there is no room for this wimp business.
I sometimes get a bit hyper cause, I beat it down, show it down, throw it down, and otherwise knock it down with a barrage of amazing mental flutter kicks, blocks, and fury of punches--it begs for mercy and just gives up!
If I can assist you with anything, post anything let me know.
Remember, you are all you need to be successful.......
Mind games....it rocks.......
best wishes,
Chillen
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I never ever thought I would get to the point of posting pics of myself, I'm just not very secure with my looks. I had considerable weight issues as a child along with all the mocking and some of that sticks with you. But, if it is going to help, here ya go.
Basically, I'd like to lower my BF a little. According to a cheapo set of calipers, I am around 14%. I'd also like to add some more size specifically to my chest.
My main concern is that my working out right when I wake up is not going to give me optimum results. If there is anything I should be eating/drinking prior to training that would help, I'd like to know your thoughts.
I read your articles, thanks. I searched Berardi's site for his thoughts on pre-workout nutrition but didn't find anything.
All your help is appreciated.
Russ, the next post in the log will be addressing your situation.
everyone have a great day......off to bed.
Best wishes,
Chillen
I just paid for a week sample diet of Pauline Nordin's to she does. I will ask this....
Do you think I should eat the within a certain time of waking? I get up super early, 4:45 AM most mornings and it seems if I start then I will eat my last meal early and I will be STARVING.
I get very hungry at night- don't know if all mental or a combo of mental and physical but it is hardest at night. Got any ideas for combatting this? When do you have your last starch carb of the day if you have them and how many servings a day do you have of starch?
Is there a post within this log of your typical week diet? I would love to see that!
Do you think I should eat the within a certain time of waking? I get up super early, 4:45 AM most mornings and it seems if I start then I will eat my last meal early and I will be STARVING.
I get very hungry at night- don't know if all mental or a combo of mental and physical but it is hardest at night. Got any ideas for combatting this? When do you have your last starch carb of the day if you have them and how many servings a day do you have of starch?
Is there a post within this log of your typical week diet?
I would love to see that!Russ, the next post in the log will be addressing your situation.
everyone have a great day......off to bed.
Best wishes,
Chillen
I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Russ
I understand your feelings, Russ. I just wanted to get an idea of what I was working with, and not to do so, would have been incompetent.
We have a lot of persons whom want to get low body fat, but some simply are not in the healthy or correct bodily position, and have other more important considerations. By getting a picture of you, can solve many unknowns and simply prevent operating in the dark.
In my opinion, you have a very good/excellent physique. And, if (personally) you are happy with the muscle that you have taken time to build, than its my opinion, you have a physique that is in the correct bodily position to drop body fat to your desired level (say anywhere from 7 to 10 percent).
You see, I am NOT INTERESTED in any other opinion about your physique, but yours, in the context of what is and what is not acceptable.
You are in the correct bodily position, you are happy with it, and now we work on the portion you want to improve: Lowering body fat, which will be our focus.
Actually, you are at the weight I am personally targeting (at 7-8%), but I am a short shiit, barely hitting 5' 7". (yes, they stack shiit that high,
).I think this is a close estimate.
The Primary purpose of the following is to give you an "idea of two elements":
1. Approximate target weight
2. Approximate amount fat you may have to lose to reach your wanted Body Fat Percentage.
You are 5' 9", and 172 pounds (no age, this is okay for now, but please provide this, in your next post)
Let's look at some ballpark figures:
Lets say your BF is approximated to be (exampled to): 12-14%, at your stated 172lbs.
And we will used the low end number of 12% to work with.
To approximate fat pounds, we take the 12%, and change it to a decimal number.
Such as: 172 X 0.12, which gives us: 20.64 pounds (fat pounds approximation)
The next step is to subtract the fat pounds from your 172 pounds of total weight:
Such as: 172 - 20.64, which gives us: 151.36 (LBM approximation)
Using these approximated numbers gives us: 20.64 pounds of fat, and 151.36 pounds of Lean Body Mass.
One could very easily develop a weight training program where the point is to "attempt to maintain" their muscle mass (assuming one has a history, and is pumping some iron during this time), and shift focus primarily on burning the fat off.
Nonetheless, understanding there will be some muscle tissue loss, because "assuming there is not" is a bad assumption--but we maintain with a lifting regiment/routine, with some changes for focus on fat loss, and approach can depend on diet.
The following assumes no LBM loss (muscle tissue):
Let's continue:
Russ Goal Weight = Current Lean Body Mass / (1-Goal Body Fat percentage as a decimal)
Let's say, Russ, you want to get to say 8% Body fat. The Calculation would be something like this:
You goal Body Fat Percentage in Decimal: 0.08
You approximated LBM: 151.36 lbs
Fat pounds: 20.64
Russ Goal Weight then = 151.36 / (1 - 0.08) = 151.36/0.92 = 164.5, which assumes no loss/gain in LBM.
With these approximated figures then, we have your target weight at 164.5, to reach an approximated 8% body fat.
Which means basically:
172 (your weight now) - 164.5 (approximate target weight) = 7 lbs of fat tissue needed to lose to reach approximately 8% Body fat (keeping things equal in LBM).
Since we do not really know your BF percentage, these are approximates, of course.
But, it is something we can work from, and its a sound base over all.
So, lets work on losing just a few pounds of fat tissue and get you near or close to, 8%.
I did this for you, so you can approximate your goal targets, and narrow things down.
Body building/muscle improvement is difficult for naturals, Russ, and can take some considerable time, dependent on whom we are speaking about.
We will work on this, but I want to get the dietary perimeters in place first.
I have some training approaches I want to discuss with you. But, first, I want to know the extent you are willing to go within your diet, to drop these last few pounds. Some of the ideas I have in mind are not going to be easy, and you will have to be willing to deal with these.
If its open, and your heart is in the right place (I assume it is), then I will continue, and break it down for you, bases on some dietary questions.
First I want to clear something up. Some people say not to combine Carbohydrates and Fats pre or post workout, and I think this is a bunch of BS, and completely agree with Lyle McDonalds' thought processes on this subject matter.
What you eat, the macro nutrients of what you eat, and how much you eat, will depend primarily on your diet approach to solicit fat tissue loss. Of course, this can be the exclusion of fats, but isn't due to potential carbohydrate consumption-or lack thereof.
When this is agreed to and constructed, I will give my opinion most specifically.
Next, I want to work on your approximate calories (and post it here).
So I will need your age (hopefully I didn't miss it in a earlier post). After this, we will get more specific on your dietary approach, and coupled training regimen.
Best regards,
Chillen
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about the article:
if you go above 85% you might not get a lot of additional MUs recruited, but higher rate coding means higher contraction which means more tension.. so I don't quite get how he says you shouldn't go over 85% (I realize it's hypothetical, but anyways..)
This reminds me of waterburry's speed thing. Pick a weight lift as fast as possible until speed slows, then stop the set. Do this for as many sets as it takes to get your desired volume. So instead of doing 5x7 with your 10RM (or whatever you can grind out for 5x7) you do sets with your 10RM, stopping when the movement slows down, until you reach the same volume. You'll probably have more average speed per rep and you're using the same weight, so that means you must have more tension per rep (at least in the acceleration phase) (am I making sense? I think this is logical). with 5x7 many of the reps will be slow, which I'm guessing means more fatigue. Using this method you are sort of switching fatigue for tension, getting more tension and less fatigue. If tension is more important than fatigue, this might be the way to go.
I'm trying to be logical here, it all makes sense to me, but then again maybe I'm just stupid
if you go above 85% you might not get a lot of additional MUs recruited, but higher rate coding means higher contraction which means more tension.. so I don't quite get how he says you shouldn't go over 85% (I realize it's hypothetical, but anyways..)
This reminds me of waterburry's speed thing. Pick a weight lift as fast as possible until speed slows, then stop the set. Do this for as many sets as it takes to get your desired volume. So instead of doing 5x7 with your 10RM (or whatever you can grind out for 5x7) you do sets with your 10RM, stopping when the movement slows down, until you reach the same volume. You'll probably have more average speed per rep and you're using the same weight, so that means you must have more tension per rep (at least in the acceleration phase) (am I making sense? I think this is logical). with 5x7 many of the reps will be slow, which I'm guessing means more fatigue. Using this method you are sort of switching fatigue for tension, getting more tension and less fatigue. If tension is more important than fatigue, this might be the way to go.
I'm trying to be logical here, it all makes sense to me, but then again maybe I'm just stupid
Thanks Chillen!!
As far as my age, I'll be hitting 45 this May. So, if I live to be 90, I can officially have a mid-life crisis this Spring.
IMO I eat pretty healthy. Breads are all whole wheat or multi grain, pastas are whole wheat or whole wheat with flax. Grilled fish, lean beef, turkey, skinless chicken. I eat veggies with every dinner meal, though I'll admit not with lunch.
Lunches are typically albacore tuna, light mayo(I can't eat it dry)on whole wheat with Romaine lettuce.
Breakfasts are oatmeal and a banana and a whey protein shake with 2% milk. Sometimes it'll be Smucker's NBP on wheat with some fruit preserves.
I'll have a couple 'snacks' throughout the day, usually 1% cottage cheese mixed 50/50 with lowfat yogurt.
I don't eat sugary junk foods, but I realize that sugar is found in a multitude of places in a multitude of forms.
I haven't had alcohol since 1-1-09. It's not a dependency thing, but empty calories that made me feel lethargic, so I gave it up.
I drink a lot of cold water throughout the day.
Before bed I'll throw back another protein shake. Besides whey protein, I supplement with creatine mono, a multi-vitamin, and fish oil caplets (which is maybe overkill with the amount of tuna I eat)
I cheat once in a while, if I go out to dinner and may over indulge.
I think my body looks ok for an old guy, and my wife agrees:valintines:. I would like to be able to see my abs more, and get a bigger chest. About 5 years ago I was in the best shape of my life, or at least looked that way. I was at about the same BF level I am now, but I was at 185 lbs. My chest was larger, as were my lats,shoulders, and legs and biceps, so I know I can add more mass.
Boy, that was a lot of typing just to let you know my age. Sorry 'bout that, i can be rather verbose.
As far as my age, I'll be hitting 45 this May. So, if I live to be 90, I can officially have a mid-life crisis this Spring.
IMO I eat pretty healthy. Breads are all whole wheat or multi grain, pastas are whole wheat or whole wheat with flax. Grilled fish, lean beef, turkey, skinless chicken. I eat veggies with every dinner meal, though I'll admit not with lunch.
Lunches are typically albacore tuna, light mayo(I can't eat it dry)on whole wheat with Romaine lettuce.
Breakfasts are oatmeal and a banana and a whey protein shake with 2% milk. Sometimes it'll be Smucker's NBP on wheat with some fruit preserves.
I'll have a couple 'snacks' throughout the day, usually 1% cottage cheese mixed 50/50 with lowfat yogurt.
I don't eat sugary junk foods, but I realize that sugar is found in a multitude of places in a multitude of forms.
I haven't had alcohol since 1-1-09. It's not a dependency thing, but empty calories that made me feel lethargic, so I gave it up.
I drink a lot of cold water throughout the day.
Before bed I'll throw back another protein shake. Besides whey protein, I supplement with creatine mono, a multi-vitamin, and fish oil caplets (which is maybe overkill with the amount of tuna I eat)
I cheat once in a while, if I go out to dinner and may over indulge.
I think my body looks ok for an old guy, and my wife agrees:valintines:. I would like to be able to see my abs more, and get a bigger chest. About 5 years ago I was in the best shape of my life, or at least looked that way. I was at about the same BF level I am now, but I was at 185 lbs. My chest was larger, as were my lats,shoulders, and legs and biceps, so I know I can add more mass.
Boy, that was a lot of typing just to let you know my age. Sorry 'bout that, i can be rather verbose.
You are welcome!
I know potentially, I may be going through some of the logistics, you already know (such as calories you need, etc), but I do not know these.
So, as I type and configure, I am learning you....which is the point.
And, in order to work with you, I need to know this to have a "particular premise" to work from.
Additionally, you need to understand I am not a personal trainer (in the professional sense of the definition). So my thoughts, ideas, and expressions, I make are made from my own personal research, study, E-books purchased, and in some cases conclusions I made among what I have learned along the way.
The point of this forum is to "assist people", and this is what I am doing, and that is it, and will call the shots on how I see them (with you), and it will potentially not settle well with some (Dependent on the nature, I simply will not care). I will be attempting to tailor diet specifically to you, and that is it.
Your personal particulars:
Age: 45
Height: 5FT 9IN
Sex: I have no idea, oh...
, MalePresent weight: 172 pounds
Primary Goal: Reduce Body Fat
Target Weight for approximate 8% BF: 164 pounds
Fat/tissue loss "approximately" needed: 7 pounds
(See, it sort of breaks down nicely in approximations), and personally I like that. Eliminates the unknown, and at least brings in some real approximations to work with in one's goal path.
Calorie projection approximations:
BMR: 1707. 39 (current weight)
•If you are sedentary : BMR x 1.2
2048.87
•If you are lightly active: BMR x 1.375
2347.66
•If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 1.55
2646.46
•If you are very active (You exercise daily.): BMR x 1.7
2902.56
•If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training.): BMR x 1.9
3244.04
These are your BMR and activity approximations.
Looking at the base approximate numbers, its my opinion, we "do not" blanket a set of calories everyday.
Why? Because numerically this is already wrong if you do. Why? One reason: Activity. Energy expenditure.
Example: There is an obvious disparity in what you need numerically in calories on the days that you train vs. the days you do not train at all (or at rest so-to-speak).
So these should not be the same, IMO. And will not be the same.
======================
Russ:
What do you do at work, and what is your present schedule? Days of the week, be specific. Any complications here in getting food, etc, etc?
Absorb this and I will continue, in a bit......
Hope your day is well.
Best wishes,
Chillen
I work Monday-Friday. My hours range from 7:30 to 4:30 or 8:00 till 5:00. I have some flexibility as I sort of run the place. arty2: On Monday night and Thursday night I help my wife with her business for 2 hours doing commercial cleaning. Yes, I moonlight as a janitor, but the pay is good.
I'm an Operations Manager, so unfortunately most of my day is on the phone in front of the computer. My only activity during work hours is getting off my rump to go to the fax machine, or back and forth to the water cooler or refrigerator.
I can eat whenever I want, basically. No one is gonna narc on me or I'll fire them. (I kid, I really like the folks that work for me)
I work out 4-5 days a week. Pretty slipshod at the moment. Splits:Chest/Shoulders, Back/Biceps, Legs/Abs I need to get more organized and start 'charting' everything again...it helps keep me in line. 35-40 minute workouts
Oh, and don't kill me..but I do no cardio besides some walking with the wife on weekends. Once it warms up it'll be every day though.
Wake at 5:30, workout, shower, got to work, dinner, relax, bed around 10:00
My day is going well, thanks partially to you.
Have a great one!
arty2: On Monday night and Thursday night I help my wife with her business for 2 hours doing commercial cleaning. Yes, I moonlight as a janitor, but the pay is good.I'm an Operations Manager, so unfortunately most of my day is on the phone in front of the computer. My only activity during work hours is getting off my rump to go to the fax machine, or back and forth to the water cooler or refrigerator.
I can eat whenever I want, basically. No one is gonna narc on me or I'll fire them. (I kid, I really like the folks that work for me)
I work out 4-5 days a week. Pretty slipshod at the moment. Splits:Chest/Shoulders, Back/Biceps, Legs/Abs I need to get more organized and start 'charting' everything again...it helps keep me in line. 35-40 minute workouts
Oh, and don't kill me..but I do no cardio besides some walking with the wife on weekends. Once it warms up it'll be every day though.
Wake at 5:30, workout, shower, got to work, dinner, relax, bed around 10:00
My day is going well, thanks partially to you.
Have a great one!
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If you're not breathing very heavily during your workouts and even if you are i suggest you do some sort of conditioning work a couple times per week. Having big muscles is cool and all, but your heart and lungs are way more important.
Conditioning training doesnt have to take long, doesnt require any equipment and doesnt have to be boring. Walking, biking, running are good options, but there are many different ways to do it.
Here are a few things you might like to look over:
Bodybuilding.com - Ross Enamait - Burpee Conditioning - No More Nonsense!
RossTraining - Articles
RossTraining - Articles
Im also curious why you chose such an elaborate split rather than a more simplified one???
Conditioning training doesnt have to take long, doesnt require any equipment and doesnt have to be boring. Walking, biking, running are good options, but there are many different ways to do it.
Here are a few things you might like to look over:
Bodybuilding.com - Ross Enamait - Burpee Conditioning - No More Nonsense!
RossTraining - Articles
RossTraining - Articles
Im also curious why you chose such an elaborate split rather than a more simplified one???
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