The stats are in for the week and progress has been made again.  Check it out:

This is pretty good stuff.  Down a pound, down 0.5% in body fat…what a great week!

My summary for this mission

when I view it this way my concern is LBM.  I've lost 6.22 pounds of LBM during this mission, but I'm sure that when I go to a bulking phase (Mission 3) that I will be able to get back the LBM.

Until later…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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Today was a cardio only day, but it was also the first day of my Chris Aceto nutrition program.  As mentioned yesterday (Mission 2, Day 69: Ending the week strong), I decided to start things off with a high carb day.  440 grams of carbs is the most carbs I've eaten in over a year.  By mid-day I could definitely see a difference in my energy levels.  I was in a great mood and bouncing around from place to place as I did my errands.  It is exciting when you see changes in your body like that.  While it isn't a physique change, it is definitely going to play into the entire physique transformation because the added energy will help me take my workouts to a new level.

I've decided to only focus on PACE cardio for the next 30 days.  In order to determine if things work or do not work, you have to give them a fair chance.  The PACE program wants you to drop weight training entirely, but you all know I won't do that.  However, it also makes it clear that for the program to work, you have to follow its cardio guidelines.  Hence, I am not going to do HIIT or steady state cardio at all.  I will focus 100% on PACE sessions.  Watch for the accountability log tomorrow (Sunday) for the minor plan modifications I am making.  The changes are nothing major, involving mostly an increase in calories, a change in the high carb/low carb pattern I've been following and a change in macronutrient ratios along with the aforementioned cardio program change.

With just 30 days until my big reveal, I am trying extremely hard to manage every little bit of my nutritional plan.  Most likely I will find a meal plan that works for low days and another one that works for high days and then just stick with those two plans for the month.  I know that might sound boring to alot of you, but the fact is when you have something that works, it is much easier to be compliant if you just replicate it over and over again.  This takes the guess work out of the picture entirely.  As for adaptation, as mentioned in Mission 2, Day 67: Avoiding adaptation I am going to track my results (as usual) and add more low carb days if the results plateau.  That will enable me to deal with adaptation to my nutritional program.

Joni commented in her blog that she thinks she's gotten thinner until she looks at her pictures.  I found that to be an extremely interesting comment.  I personally don't think I look thinner until I look at my pictures.  When I compare Mission 1, Day 1 to today, I see amazing differences in my physique.  Am I happy with the pace of the progress?  No.  Do I understand what has happened to slow things down?  Yes, for the most part, I do.  At the same time, when other people say you look thinner, that's more likely to be the truth.  We are our own worst critics.  We don't give ourselves enough credit–ever.  When you think you haven't lost any inches, check out your clothes, check out what other people say, compare your older pictures to your most recent pictures and you'll see the difference. This is why daily accountability pictures are the key to a successful transformation.  Without that regular feedback you won't know how you are doing.

I am getting very excited for my friend, Mike Groom's, reveal.  Mike is looking awesome right now so I know the reveal is going to blow us all away.  This guy works hard in the gym and lifts some heavy weights.  I encourage you to check out his blog.

It is also getting very interesting as the Beach Body Shred continues for Suzette, Lilla, Debbieand Joni.  Please visit their blogs and help to hold them accountable.  They have some awesome goals and I guarantee you will enjoy reading each of their blogs.

Accountability Log:

Nutrition Log:

Workout Log:

Thought for the Day:

Embrace change because without it life is an extremely dull and boring thing.

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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This was the end of a very good week.  I came back strong after a 2 week layoff and the numbers were just fantastic.  Amazingly, this next week will be my last week of wave loading.  I will definintely return to this type of training in the future because it definitely got my strength revved up, but according to my plan, I need to be moving on to another series of workouts. 

After next week I will begin Vince DelMonte's No-Nonsense Muscle Building program.  This program is aimed at building maximum muscle.  The first four weeks are called UDT (Upside Down Training) and “the main goal of this phase is to dedicate at least four weeks to minimizing your personal muscle weaknesses, and ensuring that both sides of your limbs are performing equally.” 

Be warned that I may change this plan.  I am currently thinking about hiring a personal trainer.  I went to a free session and enjoyed the workout, but had some concerns that I am now addressing with the trainer.  My main reason for being interested in a trainer is to take the step up to the next level–body building competitions.  Everyone I talk to around here who is competing tells me that a trainer is essential for shaping the muscles correctly and I believe in listening to people who are successful in a field to recreate what they have done.  Stay tuned for more.

Tomorrow I begin my Chris Aceto nutritional plan.  I will be starting out on a high carb day tomorrow just because I have had my carbs low for so long that I think I might need to recharge.

Accountability Log:

Nutrition Log:

Workout Log:

Thought for the Day:

There is never a reason to recreate the wheel.  It is always best to find someone who has done what you want to do and talk to them.  Find out what steps they took and then simply copy them.  That's how success can be recreated.

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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The deadlift day came at the perfect time.  I was feeling extremely strong today for the first time since I got so sick.  The timing was perfect for this because deadlifts require you to muster up as much strength as possible.

I had an awesome morning lifting session with a great cardio session in the afternoon. 

Today was spent planning some server upgrades at the office.  We are moving everything to rack mountable servers instead of the older style towers.  This is all aiming to eventually move our data center out of our offices and into a real data center somewhere.

I've been spending some time studying up on my next lifting routine.  I wil start it when Mission 3 begins.  The aim is going to be to gain lots of muscle.  This will be my first bulk cycle, so I'm going to continue shredding hard the next 32 days of this mission.  Right after my reveal I will go directly into a bulking cycle.

Accountability Log:

Nutrition Log:

Workout Log:

Hit personal bests on all the sets today.  When I locked out that 345 pounds I was pumped!  I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest during sets 5 and 6 of the deadlifts. 

Thought for the Day:

Timing is everything.  Never let someone tell you that timing is unimportant.  Without timing we would be doing things at the wrong time in our life. 

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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Today was a non-lifting day.  I did my PACE cardio session.  It was really difficult because I am still congested, so I got a little lightheaded during the workout.  I kept going and hit my heart rate targets throughout the workout.  About 5 weeks ago I started stretching 4 days a week.  This static stretching routine has helped in some areas and not in others.  I am sticking with it to loosen up my muscles.

As you all know, I strongly believe that the body attempts to adapt to everything you throw at it, be it exercise or nutrition.  The body is an extremely complicated thing.  The wave loading routine I'm doing, for instance, proves how quickly the body can adapt.  By lifting heavy and then doing a 1 rep max set, you set off a neurologic adaptation that enables you to immediately lift more on the next heavy set.  It is a pretty amazing thing.

Because of this adaptation, a trainee should do everything they can to avoid it.  The only way to avoid adaptation is to mix things up.  Progressive overload during training is one way to avoid adaptation.  Some people even advocate lowering your weights after a certain period of time.  They claim that by lowering the weights and slowly building back up, you increase what you are able to lift in the end.  I've tried this and found it to work rather well.  This is how I got my squat up over 300 pounds.  I would plateau and drop my weight.  I'd then work on building it back again.  Eventually I would be over the top of the original plateau.  It works.

Nutritional adaptation is no different.  It is a rare person who can stick to the exact same nutritional program and continue to get good results.  I am no different.  I have noticed that I've been losing alot of lean body mass lately.   This is a normal response to a cut phase, but I feel (as do the authors I've read) that it must be minimized in order to maximize fat loss.  I recently re-read Championship Bodybuilding by Chris Aceto.  Chris is one of my fat loss mentors (like Tom Venuto) and he is the nutritional advisor for Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler (one of my idols).  In this book Chris discusses “Hi-Lo Dieting for Endomorphs” (Championship Bodybuilding pp. 183-190).  Chris states:

“Elevated insulin levels in the endomorph stimulate fat accumulation making fat loss difficullt even when calories are reduced.

Endomorphs, or anyone who has a higher amount of body fat releases more insulin than normal.  This further adds to fat storage.  For example, an individual with 30 pounds of of fat will release more insulin in response to eating a meal than another indivudual who carries only 10 pounds of fat.

The diet that works well for the endomorph trying to shed as much fat as possible or hoping to compete is the variable low carbohydrate diet.  Lowering carbs controls the release of insulin enabling the fat burning system to take over and do its job.” (Championship Bodybuilding, pp. 183-184)

The basic suggestion Chris gives is very simple.  First, he defines a moderate size body builder as anyone weighing less than 185 pounds and a large body builder as anyone weighing more than 185 pounds.  For the moderate size body builder he recommends limiting carbs to 60 grams per day and for large body builders he recommends keeping carbs at 100 grams per day.  For both body builder types he suggests a protein intake of 2 grams per pound of body weight.  He gives the example of a 200 pound body builder.  His suggestion is for this person to follow a 3 day cycle of 100 grams of carbs and 400 grams of protein.  On the fourth day he suggests 400 grams of carbs and 200 grams of protein (2 grams of carbs per pound and 1 gram of protein per pound).  As the results come in adjustments can be made by adding more days to the low carb cycle.  As with most experts, Chris says that you can eat as much fibrous carbs as you'd like on the low carb days.

Chris gives tips for the variable low carb diet as follows:

“1) Start with 100 grams of carbs a day. Eat 50 grams in the morning at breakfast and another 50 after any training session.
2) Start with 3 consecutive low days, 100 grams of carbs per day.  Upon reaching a road block, extend the low carb days to 5 straight days.
3) If you reach another road block, reduce your carbs to 30 grams for days 1-3 and return to 100 on days 4 and 5.
4) Include 1 to 2 tablespoons of muscle sparing MCT's on low carb days before training session.
5) Always include any type of carb on your high carb day.  Fruit, fast acting carbs, bread and even frozen yogurt are perfectly f ine.  The carbs consumed on this day will only boost the metabolic rate, retard potential muscle breakdown, and replenish severely depleted muscle glycogen.  They will not cause you to get fatter!” (Championship Bodybuilding, p. 188)

I am going to give this system a go because it fits in very well with the carb depletion program I've been working. Thus, for the next 33 days (until my reveal) I will be shredding hard using this nutritional system. Yes, it is still a form of carb cycling, but carb cycling works. This is a similar system to Metabolic Surge.  So many of you who have read Adam Waters' blog use or have used Metabolic Surge.  Tom Venuto recommends re-feed days in his Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book.  This system is really not new.  The key component is the carb restriction.  To me, this system is a severe carb cycle, with 3 very low days and one very high day.  The calories are kept the same, so this also forces the fat level down on the high day, which is exactly what Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle recommends.  I feel that using this system will help me maintain the muscle mass I'm getting from my lifting, but it will help me to continue to burn fat.

Accountability Log:

Nutrition Log:

Workout Log:

Thought for the Day:

When you fall down, pick yourself back up.  When you fall back, push ahead.  When you fall out, get back in it.  Never give up.  Quitting is for losers.

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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