Tag: workout

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Peri-Workout Nutrition

Peri-workout nutrition is a fancy term that encompasses what you eat before, during and after training.  After rather extensive amount of reading and experimenting with this subject I have realized how incredibly important this is to my training and recovery.  Getting this protocol right for me has drastically changed my body composition.  The right peri-workout nutrition has allowed me to increase my training volume and intensity without becoming overwhelmingly sore.  Decreased recovery time means I can train more frequently.

Since I no longer using any PEDs, my nutrition and the manner in which I train have to be dialed in much more to get the results I want.  I am a firm believer that hypertrophy can be maximized with proper form, increased volume, time under tension and the use of extended sets.  These training principles that have changed my body since becoming natural.  To optimize hypertrophy I need to make sure I am feeding my body in a manner that will allow it to grow.

My peri-workout nutrition Protocol looks like this:

Pre-workout –  about 45 minutes before my workout I will consume a small meal of easily digestible protein, carbohydrates and fats (medium chain triglycerides) .  I almost always make a shake for this meal.  I lift in the morning so this is what I eat upon waking.  The shake consists of 40-50g of Hydrolyzed Whey protein, 1/2 cup of oats, and a Tbsp. of coconut oil.  This primes my body for my workout

Intra workout – I believe fueling my body during the workout may be the most important piece of the puzzle for me.  Since adding nutrition intra-workout I have been able to train longer and with more intensity.  My intra-workout shake contains fast acting proteins, carbs as well as BCAA’s.  I use 25g of Hydrolyzed Whey protein, 25-50g of High Branched Cyclic Dextrin, 5g of creatine, 10g of BCAA’s and 5g of L-Leucine.  This combination gives my body the building blocks it needs for hypertrophy.

Post Workout – I prefer a whole meal post workout.  I consume this meal about 30 minutes after I have finished training.  I had good nutrition during my workout so I don’t feel the need to rush to slam another shake or choke down a meal as soon as I leave the gym.  Normally I eat 7-8 oz lean grass fed beef, with 2 servings of Basmati Rice.  Sometimes I will eat 8 oz of chicken or grass fed steak for protein a large sweet potato for my carb source.  I shoot for about 50g of protein and 60-75g of carbs for this meal.

I will eat again about 90 minutes after my workout.  This meal consists of 40-50g lean protein, 30-40g of carbs and 15g of fats.  For example, 7-8 oz of chicken, a sweet potato with a Tbsp. of grass fed Butter.  I believe in carb partitioning.  This means I take in the majority of my carbs (70-80%) for the day around the time I train.  Nutrient timing has been very important for me.  It has allowed me stay lean while building mass and improving my recovery time.

If you would like to read more about the science and theory behind these peri-workout principles I would highly recommend checking out the following sites.  They are experts on this subject and can convey it in an easily digestible manner.

 

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3 Day Split – “Complex” Workout

complextraining

I created this program in June 2014.  I used myself several times personally and with people I’ve trained.  It can be rather taxing on your body.  You really need to make sure your nutrition is on point, especially your peri-workout nutrition.  I take in the 65-75% of my daily carbs around the time I train.  Starting 45 minute pre-workout, intra-workout, and final carbs within 30 minutes of completing this workout.

I have trained several people with this routine and nutrition protocol.  The ones who stuck with it gained appreciable muscle mass while staying lean or even losing fat.  I lean up rather well using this routine without having to add any additional cardio work.  I PROMISE YOU, the results are rather dramatic.

Complexes are not a new style of training, nor something I came up with. This is just my spin on using complexes, as they are not complexes in the traditional sense.  This is going to be a 3 day split based on Push/Pull/Leg.  It’s mainly comprised of complexes – a series of exercises performed one after the other with 10-30 seconds taken in between each exercise in order to set up the next exercise.

I refer to one completed round of the complex as a “wave.”  I use pretty straight forward compound movements for the most part.  You will take about 45-90 seconds rest between each “wave”.  If you need more time take it, this is not set in stone.  I have added Youtube clips of exercises in case you do not know what they are.  If you need any other info just ask.  We will do this for the first 4 weeks and see how you are progressing and then make changes from there as needed.

VERY IMPORTANT: FOR ALL EXERCISES make sure you pick weights that are challenging so that you do not easily hit the rep schemes and then move to the next exercise as that will not lead to the best possible conditioning

Day 1 Push

Chest Complex – Start out with 3-4 waves of this and work your way up to 5-6 waves as you can.  Do not try to progress to fast and risk injury or discouragement

  1. Heavy DB press – pick a weight that is taxing that you can do for a rep range of 4-7 reps before failing (don’t go completely to failure here)
  2. Banded DB Press ( or Incline DB Flyes if you don’t have resistance bands)– pick a weight that is taxing that you can do for a rep range of 8-10 reps before failing (don’t go completely to failure here)
  3. Plyo Push ups – you want to be able to get anywhere from 3-10 reps on these before getting to failure. I want you to really focus on exploding off the bench with no pause  at the bottom when your chest is about to touch the bench.  This will allow you to learn how to better use your stretch reflex.  This should be performed with fast and explosive movement   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF6Fd-vdB-8
  4. Speed DB press – I want you to perform regular flat DB press but in a fast and explosive manner.   Use a weight that is about 50% of your 1 rep max. Do as many reps as you can in a 15-20 second time period.  Really focus on accelerating the weight as fast as you can

Shoulder Complex – Do 3 waves of this

3 sets 8-12 reps per movement (I use 25-30 lb. dumbbell’s for this complex for reference)                         Do these seated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ3T5V_Etnc

  1. DB Front delt raise
  2. Side DB lateral raises
  3. DB Shrug, clean, press

Triceps Monster Set – 3 to 6 waves of this, start with 3 –

  1. Triceps V bar pushdown – 12-15 reps
  2. Triceps kickbacks – 8-10 reps
  3. 1 arm overhead DB extension – 6-8 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znaQrmMYEYw

Day 2 Push

Back Complex  – 4 to 6 waves of this, start with 4 .  If you want more volume later we can add some pull-down work

  1. Rack pulls – (start bar at knee height and really use your hips to drive the weight up ) 3-7 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCG8NfBcnys
  2. Deadlifts from the Floor – 3-5 reps
  3. bent over rows – 5-7 reps
  4. Hang cleans – 4-7 reps
  5. Jump deadlifts – 8-10 reps. This video shows you how these works but you really only need to bring the bar down to your knee. Start light with these like 20% of your max deadlift http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_imsU6O4CAA
  6. Speed inverted rows – do as many of these as possible and as fast as possible during a 15-20 second timeframe http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t97EjUsCFNw

 

Biceps Monster set –3 to 6 waves of this, start with 2

  1. Supinating DB Curls – 8-10 reps
  2. Incline DB curl – 8-10 reps
  3. Hammer curls – 5-8 reps

Day 3 Legs

  1. Leg curls – 2-3 of 15 just to warm legs up

Leg Complex- 4-6 waves of this, start with 3- 4

  1. Squats – 4-6 reps
  2. DB Jump Squats – 8-10 reps. Use 10-20% of your max squat so maybe start with a 10-15 lb. DB in each hand to get movement down.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cynl9l0eB4  This example in the video is ok but don’t pause at the bottom like she does, just land, squat and fire right back up into the jump.
  3. DB Step Ups– 4-6 reps. Really do these once again in an explosive manner on the (concentric) stepping up movement.  Try to press yourself up onto the stand as quickly as possible. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfMlQDGydnk
  4. Body weight lunges – 8-10 reps on each leg. Do these lunges very deep and long to active the glutes, hamstrings and VMO (Tear drop muscle around knee).  Do these in a very slow controlled manner, focusing on feeling the movement.

Glutes

  1. Weighted Hip thrusters – 5 sets of 8-12 reps. Start out with little to no weight.  Eventually through the weeks/months, work your way up to using more than your body weight.  You start with your weight on your heels.  When you get to the top of the movement really squeeze the glutes and feel them doing the majority of the work.  Here are two videos of different ways to add weight, you could also use a DB.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUG0JfITlFI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ru8S6FETg Don’t go as fast as this quick, slower and more controlled

 After 4 weeks I do a deloading week.  I will drop the volume and weights about 30-40%, but stick with the same workout.  Some athletes do not need this type of deloading, but for me its a must.  My body starts to slow down progress and I tend to flare up old injuries if I don’t take a break.  This is me personally, it is important to understand and listen to your body as your progress with your training.

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That Feeling In Your Gut When You Just Know

There are very few things quite as powerful as your gut instinct.  It’s amazing how intuitive we really are as humans. How much our body gives us so many signs and clues as to what we should and shouldn’t be doing if we truly pay attention.

The obvious things that hold us back from truly following our gut are fear and doubt.  Those two things are a son-of-a-bitch.  They can wreak havoc on your outlook and life.  We all can very easily persuade ourselves to think that gut feeling is just a pipe dream.  Perhaps we started to late for it to work, or its too difficult a task for us.  Those things may all very well be true.  However, no one ever truly knows unless they try.

Wayne Gretzky said “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” I am a firm believer in this affirmation. There are so many points in my life that I look back on with regret saying “fuck I should have done this back then.”  The reality is that some of these things I still want to do and can do with my time.

I REALLY like the excuse of “Im too old” or “I missed the wave.”  Those two thoughts allow me to be a giant pussy from time to time.  Never attacking the passions and goals I have.  I hate the thought of starting over. Not making money and having to worry about finances makes me cringe.  The sad reality is that I AM starting over now at 35 anyway.  I quit my previous career over a year ago.  I’ll get into that whole bag of shit at another time.  Time is passing anyway so I should just start over doing something I love and have a passion to do.

An hour ago a friend texted me asking me about working out.  She was talking about how she wanted to tone up and and she needed help.  She lives near me so I just offered to train her a couple times a week.  I got so excited when she said yes.  I love training people.  In general, I have a passion to help anyone reach any goal they may have.  It’s a fucking amazing feeling.  Plus, I figured it will force me to go a couple more times a week.  It will be great way to get in summer shape for me as well.

All of the sudden I got that feeling of fire in my gut.  That feeling of excitement to use my gifts and knowledge to help someone else.  By helping others I get back such an amazing amount of fulfillment internally.  This was gods way of giving me another kick in the ass saying “hey dumby this is what you should be doing with your time”

I started making some goals in my head.  Get my training certifications.  Write more.  Start helping people reach their goals mentally and physically.  Train people. Start a meal prep company like a friend of mine has in Baltimore (If you are down in the Baltimore area check him out https://www.facebook.com/fitfoods2you).  Then the reasons started pouring in of why I cant do this.

  • I already committed to business last year and spent a lot of time and effort working on it
  • I have to get my training certificate and that’s hard and time consuming
  • I should have done this 10 years ago when I first had the idea
  • Im not good enough
  • And most of all IM JUST PLAIN, OLD AFRAID TO LOOK STUPID AND FAIL

All those excuses for the most part are just bullshit.  Yes, there is some truth and failing is a possibility.  But I can fail doing shit I hate doing.  Which has happened to me on several occasions.  The reality is its easy too dream and hard to create.  It takes a huge leap of faith into the unknown.  It takes facing the fears of what could be the treacherous reality in the future.  It takes courage, confidence and hard work ethic.  I have lacked these three things in many aspects of my life over the years.

I fear putting myself out there and how others will receive me. I fear taking risks because I could fail and look less than to others and myself.  I fear that I don’t have the capacity to handle the turmoil and hurt of failure. The funniest thing about this ridiculous fear is that for the vast majority of my life I took huge risks with my freedom to make a living.  Its strange how that fear never stopped me even though it was always on my mind.

I keep reminding myself that all the things that made me safe and successful on the other side of the law can be applicable on the legit side.  I need to develop the work ethic and courage to fall on my face a couple times and keep picking myself up.  I need to be firm, but fair with myself and my abilities.

I have been out of the legitimate business world for such a long time.  Many of the skills that made me successful 8-10 years ago in corporate America have rust on them.  It will take time to polish them up and get them up to a speed that I feel is acceptable and truly produce results.  Until that time I need to keep making mistakes and learning from them.  Once my skills are at that level I will need to strive to keep getting better.  Progressing by pumping out more and more reps and continuing to learn. Complacency is one of the most evil and dangerous character defects out there.

I see SO MANY people out there that have started out with much less of a cushion financially than I have and done SO MUCH more.  Many of these same people also lacked many of the skills and abilities I have.  They know much less about how a business is run and the inner workings of day to day operations.  Very few have tasted the type of financial success I have and don’t fear living with less the way I do.

WHAT THESE PEOPLE DO NOT LACK IS CONFIDENCE, DRIVE, AND THE UNCANNY ABILITY TO CHASE THEIR DREAMS AND MAKE THEM A REALITY.  They do not fear what others think.  In their minds they are already successful.  These types of attributes can’t be bought or faked.  However, they can be learned. Every time you face your fears and take it head on, no matter what the outcome is you learn invaluable lessons about yourself and life.  Those lessons are the building blocks to a happy, successful and fulfilling life.  Just like reps in the gym.  You build the muscles to change your life.  You wont always come out on top but if you can keep pushing forward you will grow an amazing confidence in your abilities.  You will be able to create the world around you that you always dreamed of.  I have seen this happen to others around me in many different aspects of their lives, not just financially.  It is something to truly revel

 

 

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