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You are here: Home / Archives for Fitness

M4:D55 (D355) And the winner is…

October 15, 2008 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

  

What's on my mind today?

My DOMs has set in and I can tell this is going to be one hell of a set of DOMs.  I worked so hard in my workout yesterday that I am feeling it in every inch of my body.  It is times like this that I think about the effort I am putting in.

This is the reason I work hard.  I am preparing for a competition that will take place in almost a year.  I have plenty of time to be a winner in that competition.  It is the intensity with which I do my workouts that is going to make me a winner.  Each time I enter the gym these days I am ready to attack the weights.  I know now that my body is full recovered when I hit the gym.  I never believed that two days a week working out would be sufficient, but it is.  Recovery is the key and that's what is working the best right now.  The rest I am getting is causing me to grow and that's what I want.

My son has also been doing H.I.T. and he is turning into a real winner as well.  Prior to starting H.I.T. he had a difficult time doing deadlifts at 135 lbs. for 5 repetitions.  Yesterday he managed to do 150 lbs. x 15 repetitions.  He is starting to understand the importance of giving it everything.  We had a big talk about why you would bother going to the gym early in the morning if you aren't going to work hard.  He is using alot of effort now.  I am extremely proud of his efforts.

 

 
Find out what I'm doing to my body!

Today I did my interval cardio session.  The typical setup again–heart rate up to 145 BPM for 2 minutes and then recover back to 105 BPM.  Do this as many times as I can in 30 minutes.  I think it is starting to change my body. 
 
Exercise the brain with the Thought of the Day!

"Let me say that most aerobic-style exercises are worthless for any purpose, many of them are dangerous to the point of insanity." Arthur Jones (Inventor of the Nautilus)
 
Get a discussion started by answering the question!

What aerobic-style exercise do you do the most?  Comment this post to answer the question.
 

 
  

Mission 2, Day 55: Feeling on the upswing

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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M4:D54 (D354) Secrets?

October 14, 2008 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

  

What's on my mind today?

So what are the secrets to successfully changing your body?  What hidden gems will transform you?

Is it the government's once "classified" secrets for fat burning?  Is it some trick endorsed by world-class personal trainers and fitness coaches?  Is it one of the 5 key factors to optimal fat loss?

No!  The answer isn't in any of those ideas.  The answer lies in principles.  These principles are tried and true. They work and have worked many times for many people.  The principles can not be argued.  They must be applied.  Different people apply them in different ways (so the execution varies) but the principles remain the same.

Lift Weights

If you want to change your body you must lift weights.  Muscle increases your BMR and that means you burn more calories at rest.  Obviously that is a good thing.  You need to add muscle to your frame to really change your body.  Without extra lean body mass you are doomed to keep trying but never getting.

Use Intensity

If you want to add mass to your body you must lift weights with great intensity.  You don't stop an
exercise when it becomes uncomfortable, you stop an exercise when it becomes impossible.  That's the key.  Go to failure and you will use up every ounce of strength your muscles have.  That, in turn, will force growth in your muscles.  The initial results of working with intensity is an increase in strength, but over time that increase in strength will translate into muscle growth.

Cardio

Do your cardio, but do not over do it.  Cardio can be catabolic so be careful with how you apply it to your workouts.  I highly recommend having a metabolic panel done as it will tell you where your maximum "burn zone" is.  You can then get yourself into that zone and be more effective with your cardio.

Forget the Scale

Don't be so worried about your scale weight as it means nothing.  Someone who weighs 200 lbs. but is 20% body fat is not the same as someone who weighs 225 lbs. and is 10% body fat.  The person who weighs 200 lbs. and is 20% body fat only has 160 lbs. of lean body mass (and 40 lbs. of body fat).  The person who weighs 225 lbs. and is 10% body fat has 202.5 lbs. of lean body mass (and 22.5 lbs. of body fat).  Yes, s/he weighs 25 lbs. more, but s/he is in much better physical shape and the body will reflect that.

Eat!

You need to eat if you are going to change your body.  Your body needs to grow in order to be more efficient at burning fat. This means that you need to build a Larger Engine in order to be more efficient at burning fat.  The way to do this is to lift weights with intensity and eat enough to fuel that intensity.  I personally haven't eaten at maintenance for 2 months and I have gained scale weight, but I have lost fat.  If you workout with the proper amount of intensity you will burn fat without the need for cardio.  That is a fact.  The cardio is an added benefit for fat loss, but it is the weight training at the proper intensity that will really make the difference in your physique.

Conclusion

If you want to change your physique, lift weights with intensity, due light cardio, forget about the scale and eat enough to fuel your workouts.  That's the prescription for change, now apply it!

 

 

 
Find out what I'm doing to my body!

Attack dog. That's the only thing I can describe my attitude as today.  When I was done with my lifting workout I felt like I had gone 12 rounds with a heavyweight boxer.  As usual, I could not even walk after the Quad Blaster portion of my workout.  The leg portion of this workout is so intense.  I don't take any rest between exercises.  It is just enough time to change the plates or set up a machine.  Beyond that there is no extra rest.  I pushed as hard as I possibly could today.  I honestly had nothing left afterwards.

 
Exercise the brain with the Thought of the Day!

"Now we have millions of people who care about exercise and perhaps a couple dozen who know anything about it." Arthur Jones
 
Get a discussion started by answering the question!

Do you strive to be one of the couple dozen who know about exercise or are you comfortable just caring about it?  Comment this post to answer the question. 
 

 
 

Mission 2, Day 54: Getting Better

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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M4:D53 (D353) Peaceful return

October 13, 2008 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

  

What's on my mind today?

Technology can be so frustrating.  Yes, I know, I am a Director of Technology so why am I complaining about tech?  Let me explain.

I do pictures and blog posts daily.  I use Windows Live Writer to write my posts.  I store all my posts and my pictures on my NAS (network storage) device.  A NAS is basically a hard drive that has an operating system that helps control the access to the files.  Well, last week my NAS crashed.  Thankfully I back up constantly, so I was not worried about my content. 

I got a new hard drive and installed it.  As I was working on my pictures and getting them in the side by side format that is used above, the NAS just froze.  As I diagnosed the problem I discovered that the new hard drive I had installed had failed.  Again, thank God for backups because I still had all my data stored away. 

I replaced the NAS hard drive yet again and got everything up and running.  However, that would not be the end of my problems.  Like the old man I've become lately, I changed the password on my laptop, but completely forgot what that password was.  This is a big problem because my laptop connects to a domain, so the password is cached on the drive.  Well, after much research on another machine, I was able to come up with a trick that helped me cache the correct password to my laptop.

Once logged back into my laptop I took the time to complete all my photos and catch up on all my posts.

So here I am again.  I am alive and well.  Thanks to Mike Groom: Aussie Bodybuilder for checking up on me a few times.  I've had a very good week as you no doubt can tell from my posts. I am still learning to deal with my 16 year old daughter's first boyfriend.  It is definitely an experience for all involved.  However, he is a very nice kid and I definitely approve of him so far. 

 

 
Find out what I'm doing to my body!

Today was a rest day, but it wasn't extremely restful.  I had to assist the hockey team on the bench again.  That's a stressful job, but fun at the same time. 
 
Exercise the brain with the Thought of the Day!

"How old am I?  Old enough to know it's impossible to change the thinking of fools, but young and foolish enough to keep on trying." Arthur Jones (inventor of the Nautilus)
 
Get a discussion started by answering the question!

Are you ready to change your thinking?  Comment this post to answer this question.
 

 
  

Mission 2, Day 53: Flu bug decimates my accountability log

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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M4:D52 (D352) H.I.T. Body Builder – Sergio Oliva

October 12, 2008 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment


What's on my mind today?

Sergio Oliva is yet another successful body builder who used H.I.T. to get into great shape.

Sergio started out as an Olympic-style weight lifter.  He represented Cuba in the 1961 Pan American Games in the 198 pound class.  He won the gold medal at those games.  Oliva used his freedom at the games to defect to the United States.  He took the entire Cuban weight lifting team with him.

He was introduced to body building by Bob Gadja.  He took to the body building lifestyle and his muscles grew under the new lifting regimen.

Sergio took the 1966 Mr. World and 1967 Mr. Universe titles and in 1967 he won the Mr. Olympia title.  He was able to defend his Olympia title in 1968, but in 1969 he was upset by Arnold for the Mr. Olympia title.

Oliva actually trained with Arthur Jones in 1971 while getting ready for the Mr. Olympia contest yet again.  He hit the stage bigger than ever before after using H.I.T routines in his training.

This concludes my series on H.I.T. Body Builders.  If nothing else, I hope that it has inspired you to give H.I.T. a try.

Take a look at a typical night time meal for me.  This is what I ate for my 7:30 p.m. meal.

I've been eating chicken thighs at various meals to increase the calories.  That's low fat Ranch dressing on the salad, but it is put on sparingly.  With a nice salad, some great protein from the chicken (along with some fat for calories) and the eggs, and I am set for the day.  It tastes great and puts the calories where they need to be.

 
Find out what I'm doing to my body!

Yet another steady state cardio day for me.  I have also been doing foam rolling every single day.  I find that I am much more flexible now that I've foam rolled daily for the past 3 weeks.  I highly recommend foam rolling to everyone who works out. 
 
Exercise the brain with the Thought of the Day!

"Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them." W. Clement Stone
 
Get a discussion started by answering the question!

Are there any people in your life that perhaps need to be moved on out?  Comment this post to answer the question.
 

 
  

Mission 2, Day 52: Still bugged

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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M4:D51 (D351) H.I.T. Body Builder – Ray Mentzer

October 11, 2008 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment


What's on my mind today?

Ray Mentzer, like his brother Mike, was one of the top body builders in the 1970's.  He used H.I.T. in the form of Heavy Duty Training (Mike Mentzer's own brand of H.I.T.) to sculpt his body.

Ray learned about H.I.T. during a visit to Florida to Arthur Jones' training facility.  The two brothers, Ray and Mike, really liked the ideas behind H.I.T.  A typical Ray Mentzer workout week would be:

Monday
Bench Press 1 x 8 reps
Incline Press 1 x 8 reps
Flyes 1 x 12 reps
DB shoulder press 1 x 8 reps
Triceps Extensions 1 x 10 reps

Wednesday
Squats 1 x 16 reps
Leg extensions 1 x 16 reps
Leg curls 1 x 16 reps
Calf raise 1 x 12 reps

Friday
Bent over rows 1 x 8 reps
Pull downs 1 x 8 reps
Barbell curls 1 x 10 reps
Preacher curls 1 x 10 reps

Ray believed in lifting heavy and getting in and out of the gym quickly.  He would build the intensity over time.  As mentioned when discussing Mike Mentzer, Ray's brother, took a very scientific approach to the H.I.T. style he was introduced to.  He broke it down into many different components and his understanding of those components is what gave him the wonderfully sculpted body he ended up with.

I urge you to give H.I.T. a try if you want to see the greatest gains you've ever had in your life.

 
Find out what I'm doing to my body!

Today was a steady state cardio session that took 75 minutes.  I walked on the treadmill and maintained a heart rate between 105 BPM and 115 BPM for the entire time.  I am finding that the steady state cardio mixed up with my intervals really helps burn the fat in my body.  The metabolic specialist said it would be a sweet spot for me and I am starting to really believe he was correct.  One tip that I have for you if you choose to do steady state cardio like I have been doing while trying to gain muscle–make sure you take a protein shake prior to the workout and then, after the workout, take another protein shake loaded with extra BCAAs.  This helps stop catabolism thereby maintaining your muscle mass you worked so hard to get.
 
Exercise the brain with the Thought of the Day!

"Life isn't about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself." George Bernard Shaw
 
Get a discussion started by answering the question!

How are you going about creating yourself?  Comment this post to answer the question.
 

 
  

Mission 2, Day 51: Flu bug hits

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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