My Current Regimen Part 1: Strength Training

In the last post, I mentioned my goals over which I was going to organize my regimen.  Now, over the next few posts, I will explain why I chose these goals, and how I will accomplish them.  Some posts will have a few goals, and some only one. 

1.  Continue to get physically stronger in a time-effective manner: 

First, an explanation for why I want to get physically stronger:  I like to get the biggest bang for my buck out of formal fitness training.  I’ve read several books, and trained in several different ways, and strength training gives you the best results for the time you put in.  Period.  There are several reasons for this.

First, strength training gives me the fitness I need to do varying extremes of intense activity at almost anytime (except maybe directly post-workout).  Need help in the garden?  No problem.  Need someone to help you move?  I’m your man.  Jar needs opening (ladies?)?  Pass it here.  Want to play football/ultimate/soccer/basketball/baseball?  Sounds like fun.  Go for a swim?  Sure.  Big bike ride?  Why not?  With a strong body, you can do it all.   Strength is universally transferable to any activity.  It’s totally awesome to be strong.  I feel like I’m better at everything I do the stronger I get.  I run/walk faster.  I jump higher.  I throw farther.  Maybe I won’t get an amazing time on a 10K race, or a triathlon, or be the world’s best rock climber, or make the NBA, but I’ll AT LEAST be decent at all of them, without training for those specific things.  I’m not just better at physical things either.  From being physically stronger, I feel mentally and emotionally stronger as well.  I can focus longer periods, push through things I don’t want to do, pull all-nighters to work harder if I need to (hopefully not too often, but…), and anything that requires intense discipline.  When I’m strong, I’m “fit” to do almost anything. 

Second reason is your physique.  Straight up, you can get the physique you (probably) want with strength training, if that is important to you.  Now, don’t believe for one second that strength training will automatically turn you into some hulking bodybuilder.  You need crazy hormones and huge amounts of food for that.  Assuming you have your body fat in check (which comes from goal #2, continue a healthy diet, see next post), you will gain good posture, and lean muscles with good definition in the proportions that you decide.  It’ll be awesome. 

Third reason is longevity – you gotta maintain your muscle mass as you get older or you’ll get old, weak, and frail, and die younger.  It’s true.  Muscles come from strength.  Get and stay strong.

Finally, not to knock cardiovascular exercise like long distance endurance running, biking if that’s the kind of stuff you enjoy, but you just don’t get the above benefits from them, at least not to the degree that you do from strength training.  And as Mark Sisson talks about in “A Case Against Cardio”, prolonged stress from going past 80% for long periods of time just makes you weaker and ages you faster.  It’s all about INTENSITY, not duration.  Strength training doesn’t take much time at all!  I’ve had times in my life where I was the kind of guy running an hour a day plus weights, and I now train two hours a week tops, and am WAY closer to my goals (and I keep moving forward) then I’ve ever been.  Bang for your buck!

So, without further ado, below is the simple yet ambitious strength-training regimen I’ve set out for myself.   There are two heavy lifting workouts a week, and a bodyweight + sprinting day. The heavy lifting workouts involve progressive overloading in the following way (heavily inspired from Leangains):  For the main lifts (squats, deadlifts, chest press, and weighted chinups), there are two warmups.  The first warmup is super easy and generally performed with either just an empty barbell (squats and deadlifts), or with bodyweight (pushups and chins).  For chest press and weighted chinups, I then immediately move into the top set (hardest effort set, most weight).  For squats and deadlifts, first I do another warmup set with about 60% of my max for 5-8 reps to really get the juices flowing.  After that, it’s the top set where I always aim for 5 reps. If I get 5 reps, then the next week I increase the resistance by 5 lbs, and try to get 5 reps again.  If I don’t get 5 reps, then the next week I try to get another rep!  This is a really easy and effective way to track progress.  After the top set, weight is reduced by about 10%, and I go for 4-6 reps.  Again, if I get 6, then the next week 5 lbs is added to this set.  Then, there is another set where I generally change the exercise slightly (squats to front squats, weighted chins to bodyweight pullups, dumbbell chest press to incline chest press, deadlifts don’t change) for a set or two and with a lighter weight and try to get some more volume in (6-8 reps, or to failure, whatever).  The top set and lower sets are the max efforts, and the other ones don’t matter as much.  If you’re pressed for time, ditch them.  After the main lifts (either squats and chest press, or deadlifts and weighted chins), there are optional assistance exercises that you should make time for, but aren’t critical.  For the bodyweight + sprinting day, I progress by making it a FASTER workout (less time to do it all), or increase the intensity (sprinting uphill, or aim for more reps on the bodyweight exercises).  Now, if you are reading this, realize that I have years of weight training under my belt and am somewhat advanced.  If you are a complete beginner, this will be too much, but email me and I will help you out with something more suitable.  For anyone with decent experience in these movements, this will work great.  I use a 7-day cycle (a “week”) since that’s easiest to do with society.

Day 1 (usually Monday):

PUSH DAY – Focus on squats and chest press

Barbell back squats, with 3-5 minute rests between sets:

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      Easy warmup: 15 reps with an empty bar

-         Hard warmup: Warm up with some weight (~60% of max), for 5-8 reps

-         TOP SET: 3-5 reps with most weight (maximum effort)

-          Lower set: 4-6 reps at ~10% decrease from most weight (maximum effort)

      

      Front Squats: 6-8 reps at ~65% of most weight (get 8, up the weight)

Dumbell chest press, with 2-3 minute rests between sets:

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      Warmup: 20-25 pushups to warm up

-          Top set: 3-5 reps with most weight (maximum effort)

-          Lower set: 4-6 reps with ~10% decrease from most weight

Incline dumbbell chest press:

-          4-6 reps at ~10% decrease from most weight

-          6-8 reps at ~20% decrease from most weight

Assistance exercises: 

Superset of calf raises and tricep extensions.  2 sets of each to failure (whatever weight).  Rest for 30 s between sets.

This should take 50 minutes tops, even with some 5 minute breaks.

Day 2 – rest day.  Lots of walking around (commuting).

Day 3 (usually Wednesday):

Bodyweight + sprint day!  I like to do these in parks.  You just need a playground for the pullups, and a nice long stretch of grass for the sprints. 

3 rounds of, with 30-60 s breaks between sets:

-          pushups to failure (various hand positions)

-          pullups to failure (various grips)

Then, some sprint sets.  RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN for 4-10 s.  Stop when you can’t keep the intensity going anymore.  Then, wait a minute or two, and do it again!  Go for 6-10 full sprints.

Done!  That should take 20 minutes tops even with 10 sprint sets.  We are currently at 70 minutes total training so far if EVERYTHING is completed. 

Day 4:  Rest day.  Again, more walking around, but nothing too formal other than that.

Day 5 (usually Friday):

PULL DAY – Focus on deadlifts and weighted chinups

Barbell deadlifts, with 3-5 minute rests between sets:

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      Easy warmup: 15 reps with an empty bar

-         Hard warmup: Warm up with some weight (~60% of max), for 5-8 reps

-         TOP SET: 3-5 reps with most weight (maximum effort)

-         Lower set: 4-6 reps at ~10% decrease from most weight (maximum effort)

-          6-8 reps at ~65% of most weight (get 8, up the weight)

Weighted chinups, with 2-3 minute rests between sets:

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      Warmup: 6-10 bodyweight chinups

-          Top set: 3-5 reps with most weight (maximum effort)

-          Lower set: 4-6 reps with ~10% decrease from most weight

-          Bodyweight chinups (different grip maybe) to failure

Assistance exercises:

Weighted rows:  2 sets of 4-6 reps.  Aim for failure on the first set, then reduce the weight for the second and match the reps.  2 minutes between the sets.

Superset:  Shoulders and biceps

I do dumbbell standing shoulder press for 4-6 reps.  Then a set of bicep curls to failure.  Then a set of lateral raises to failure followed by a set of bent-over lateral raises.  1 minute between sets.

Done!  Maybe 50 minutes with EVERYTHING.

Day 6:  Rest day.  Maybe play some sports.  Easy bike ride?

Day 7:  Same as day 6.

Grand total: ~120 minutes a week of focused, effective training. 

Now, again, you don’t have to do this exact routine.  This just works for me.  I think as long as you are injury free, and are somewhat familiar with these moves, you can probably just go ahead and do it.  Ask a professional at your gym for help if you are unfamiliar.  Keep good form from the get-go: DO NOT GET INJURED.  If you’re not feeling up for the next set, wait a while longer, if you don’t recover, skip it.  If you feel like shit one day and don’t have the focus to lift weights, skip that day.  Your long term health is much more important than a single work out.  This is a flexible regimen after all.  Stick to it as much as you can, but be pragmatic.

There are ways to always get these workouts in while “skipping” days.  You always want at least a day between workouts, and you want two days in a row off once a week as well.  Occasionally having three days off in a row is a good thing too.  So, I always aim for Monday.  It’s the start of the week, and I never seem to have a reason to skip it.  However, Friday can be tricky.  Some days I just want to kick it with my friends after work immediately.  In that case I advance the “pull” day to Thursday (day 4), and move the bodyweight + sprint day to Saturday.  I get Tuesday and Wednesday off (two days in a row), and the next week things continue like normal.  If you miss Monday, then go Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday, and start on Monday again.  It’s cool!  Or you can ditch the bodyweight + sprint and just go Tuesday – Friday, or something like that.

If I’m going to completely ditch a workout (something important comes up and it just doesn’t happen), it’s the bodyweight + sprint.  The heavy weight workouts are more important for gaining strength, so those are the priority.  Don’t let that happen too often though since speed and conditioning are gained through the bodyweight and sprint workout.  If you REALLY compete at a sport once a week, forget the bodyweight + sprint workout.  Count the sport as your sprint workout (soccer, ultimate Frisbee, basketball: you’re sprinting!).  You might want to do some pushups and chinups that day, so go for it if you have the energy and time.

That’s it.  Remember to track your progress by tracking the MAIN LIFTS.  The assistance stuff doesn’t matter so much as long as you’re putting in a good effort.

Next post will be on THE MOST IMPORTANT GOAL:  Continue a healthy diet.  Its “continue” since I’ve been doing it for years, but for you it might be “start and maintain”.  

Why Create a Regimen?

Before I get into the specifics of learning to design and execute your regimen, the obvious first question to answer is: Why create a regimen for yourself in the first place?  It’s a good question.  To begin, I will admit that a regimen isn’t for everyone.  If you’re the type of person who doesn’t have specific goals (at least, at this time in your life), and you’re happy with the current state of your existence and your productivity (or lack thereof), then there is no point to a regimen.  However, if you do have goals, and these goals are ambitious, and you have other responsibilities to deal with as well, then a regimen can maximize your success.  For that type of person, a regimen will move you towards your goals without neglecting the other things in your life.  It’s simply a plan for how you spend your time to accomplish as much as you can without burning yourself out.  It allows you the freedom to detach from wondering whether you actually will accomplish your goals because you know that you are on the path that you have chosen.  Obviously my goals are very health and fitness oriented, but this type of thinking applies to everything.  I find bringing this philosophy to fitness and health helps me breathe this to everything else in my life.  More on this later. 

To be on a regimen, you don’t have to hold to the plan 100% of the time.  That is impossible anyway.  If circumstances change (as they do) and you miss part of your regimen, you just continue on the path 

as if it didn’t happen.  Now, obviously the point of a regimen is that you try your best to make it happen, but it can become a source of stress if you don’t have contingency plans for when it doesn’t work out.  A regimen must be sustainable in this way.  The regimen being occasionally broken is part of the regimen.  This will allow flexibility, and decrease the likelihood of you resenting your regimen over time and breaking from it.  Also, a good regimen is one that invites occasional change.  As goals and priorities change, so does the regimen.  That isn’t to say that it should be constantly changing.  There should be periods of time where you stick to it in a constant fashion, but its more the practice of having a regimen that is really important in attaining your goals and growing as a person, not the regimen in and of itself (to a point…). 

Having a wisely planned regimen will also provide measurable results and progress that you can incorporate into your plan.  By keeping track of your results and progress (as part of the regimen…) you can methodically move forward and closer to your goal.  This way you won’t hack away doing the same thing over and over, but will increase the difficulty of productivity of your regimen.  I must stress that more time doesn’t necessarily have to be put into your particular goals (though, this is sometimes true), but you do have to progress forward in terms of what you do with that set amount of time.   No wasted time if you do this right!  Another important part of the regimen is when you are engaged in a part of it, you bring as much of your consciousness as you can into it.  If you’re working – work!  If you’re at the gym – lift!  If you’re cooking – cook!  A good trick to stay focused is to accept that it’s actually impossible (unless you are SUPER passionate about something – good for you if this is true).  I have accepted this for some things, and a trick I use is to “gap out” for five minutes every 20-30 minutes.  Allow your mind to wander for a full five minutes every so often, but BRING BACK THE FOCUS, and the regimen continues…you don’t have to do this, but it works for me.

So, creating a regimen (for me) is for attaining all your goals efficiently.  A goal can be anything:  Getting in shape (a great one!), learning a skill, working more effectively, spending more time with family/friends, holding to a budget, etc.  The structure of the regimen is based on a few factors.  The first is responsibilities that you can’t control.  Say you have a 9-5 job (already a regimen of sorts, but not one you’ve created yourself).  It is obviously ridiculous to schedule your cello practice during this time.  This type of schedule (a very common one) is at least fairly predictable, so why not bang away at that cello three times a week after work for an hour?  Make it happen.  That’s only three hours a week.  Maybe some weeks it’s two, and maybe some weeks it’s four.  Maybe sometimes you get up early to do it instead!  Make it happen (if playing the cello well is your goal, of course).  I find these predictable schedules actually work best with regimens, but even with a more flexible schedule you can be fairly regimented.  Other responsibilities could include taking care of people (kids?  I wouldn’t know, haha), or helping others, or working additional jobs.  Priorities also dictate the structure of the regimen.  If there really is no time, then goals will have to be prioritized.  Some goals have to be put on the backburner until you have either accomplished the first goal, or now have the time to pursue another one (part of an “over-arching” regimen, if you will).  During the last year of grad school, I had to scale back on several hobbies (music and sports) and the amount of free time I had to finish my thesis within the time frame I had given myself (priorities!).  The only hobby I kept was fitness and health (though, even that was reduced, no gains, maintenance only), which I believe helped power me through.   Now that school is over, I’m really making an effort to bring them all back into my life.

Some people might say that having a regimen sucks the passion out of life.  It reduces spontaneity and creates robotic individuals.  I understand this viewpoint, but I disagree.  I think an integral part of any regimen is scheduling in “fuckaround” time.  This time is there to do with whatever feels right in the moment.  There can be a little bit every day, or a whole day devoted to it, or a combination of that!  It’s a refreshing change from being focused so often, and brings that spontaneity back!  Anything goes during that time….It’s all part of creating a regimen that you enjoy (for the most part), so that ironically it actually doesn’t feel like a regimen, but just a very effective, productive, and successful lifestyle. It sounds a little less than fun, but its actually quite effective.  I like to call it “planned spontaneity”.   You can also, once in a while, blow off a planned practice for a good reason (a friend came to town, the weather is too nice to pass up, your wife is in labour, etc), but make sure it’s a good reason.  Don’t lie to yourself.

So, those are my reasons for why I like to create a regimen for myself, and suggest to others to do the same.  As I said before, fitness and health is the core of my regimen.  It brings together everything else, and gives me the strength and stamina to accomplish so much more.  I just moved to a new city (Vancouver), and am in a transition, so the regimen is in flux, but the goals haven’t changed.  Here are my goals around which I’ve been creating my regimen: 

-           1.  Continue to get physically stronger in a time-efficient and healthy manner (yes, physique is a part of the goal for this, but this is also for physical and mental wellbeing along with overall athleticism)

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       2.  Continue a healthy diet based on whole foods (Primal!  Mostly…) that I procure and cook almost entirely myself

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       3.  Get adequate sleep almost every night (note: almost!  Sometimes you gotta work late, and sometimes you gotta PARTY!  Partying is also part of my regimen – its gotta happen!)

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       4.  Be as productive as possible during the workday to make time for other goals (work is in flux right now, but networking to find a job IS a job!  Plus I’m trying to get my grad school researched published – been time consuming!)

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             5.  Though I’m finished with university, continue to learn more and more about science!  I WILL figure out quantum field theory some day!  And general relativity!  And biochemistry!  Computer programming!  And…and…the list is endless there.  Oh yeah, and by December I'll be writing engineering exams to get my professional registration in order.  

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      6.  Teach science to others (I’m currently tutoring high school math, physics, and chemistry until I find a job, though I think I will continue tutoring as its been very rewarding, but maybe for free if I find the right outlet)

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            7.  Improve at the guitar and piano (and the ukulele!), and make sure I sing as loud as I can on a regular basis.  Music in general.

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      8.  Spend “fuckaround” time with people that are important to me

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         9.  Spend “fuckaround” time alone to recharge (I can be introverted…I need time alone to have energy for others)

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        10.  Start new positive relationships at every opportunity

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        11.  Write for this blog at least once a month

      Those are my goals, responsibilities are currently low, but will eventually (hopefully!) include a full-time job with a commute.  

NEXT POST:  What my current regimen looks like, and why.  Starting with fitness and nutrition, and moving forward with the rest of the goals.  

Hint:  Its based on the “week” schedule, but not every week looks the same.  

Okay, I'm starting again...

Well, although I told myself I would put up a few posts over the past year or so, grad school got the better of me and I never got around to it. I'm now going to finish the story from where I left off: Discovering evolutionary health and fitness ideas, and beginning to incorporate them.

I met some people during this time who also suffered from what I was starting to call "IBS" (irritable bowel syndrome), and the concept of gluten-free diets was introduced to me. Gluten - basically a protein present in some grains - was apparently quite allergenic to some people (celiacs) and resulted in several different symptoms ranging from an IBS symptoms to migraines to arthritis. Being something of a scientist, I wanted to test my own sensitivity to gluten. On the blog "Mark's Daily Apple" (by my now-hero, Mark Sisson), I found a post called "Why Grains are Unhealthy". It blew my mind that something so ingrained (ugh) and encouraged in our society could actually be causing health problems. I'll let you read the link for the details, but essentially the gluten, lectins, and phytates present in ALL grains (ESPECIALLY WHOLE GRAINS) makes them essentially pointless to consume. The only thing they're good for is providing your body with a smash of glucose along with allergens and anti-nutrients. Awesome. Mark also created a graph called the "Carbohydrate Curve", which was fairly in-line with what I already thought about carbohydrates: if you're going to limit one macronutrient, this is the one (my thoughts on this have changed somewhat as I don't think it applies to everyone uniformly, but for me it still pretty much does). Obviously, hefty portions of protein were part of his prescription. Mark also encouraged the consumption of natural fats for most of your energy, and the idea of becoming a "fat burner" (having a dominantly fat burning metabolism) as opposed to getting hooked on blasts of sugar every 2-3 hours. He also encouraged the consumption of heat-stable saturated fatty acids, and recommended limiting your polyunsaturated fat intake due to their propensity for becoming oxidized by relatively small amounts of heat and light (oxidized fats = bad). Industrial vegetable oils were thus eliminated as well (canola, corn, soybean, etc.) as he explained that they were responsible for a lot of body inflammation, and their introduction into indigenous cultures worldwide always preceded a rise in heart disease and obesity (along with the introduction of refined foods, of course).

So, as I was pretty low-carb already, I bought right into ditching grains entirely. I don't even know why I was hanging on (tastiness of some things, probably). Out went the toast, pizza, wraps, pitas, pasta, oatmeal, granola bars, cereal, corn products...and as it turned out: almost anything processed at all. My intake of meat, eggs, nuts, veggies, and fruits was already pretty high, but I increased the overall fat content by cooking in butter and my new favourite: coconut oil. I was slathering that stuff on! Then...interesting things started to happen. The first thing I noticed is that I started to sleep more soundly. I would sleep through the night (amazing for me), and wake up easily feeling pretty good. I would eat a big breakfast of bacon and eggs with veggies (no toast...maybe a bit of fruit), and then, to my amazement (after a while) EASILY MAKE IT TO LUNCH WITH NO HUNGER! At first I kept cramming down my mid-morning snacks (nuts and fruits) out of habit, before I realized I just didn't want it anymore! By lunch, I would be...hungry, but not starving. It was a light hunger, with no accompanying irritability or weakness, and it typically didn't happen for 4-5 hours after breakfast (breakfast at 7, hungry around noon). Then it was usually a salad with meat of some kind, and I would cruise until 4-5 pm, maybe have some nuts, then eat dinner at 6-7 (meat and veggies in coconut oil or butter). No more late-night snacking necessary, I was fine! My appetite was totally in control. I added up the calories (I now realize this is mostly pointless) and was well under maintenance calories, but felt no real hunger! I leaned out bigtime on this, all while not even working out that much (I was super busy with school, and pretty sick of working out at this time in my life). I felt great! Mark had written some posts about "intermittent fasting" (infrequent, short fasts usually not lasting longer than 24 hours) and their potential health benefits, so I decided to give it a shot.

I'm not going to go into detail on intermittent fasting, since its already been done by several more reputable authors, so I'll just provide a few links: 1. The Myriad Benefits of Intermittent Fasting, by Mark Sisson 2. Eat, Stop, Eat, by Brad Pilon (amazing book for the scientifically minded, and for the layman), and 3. Martin Berkhan's entire blog, Leangains. These guys basically all recommend a simple prescription for optimal health: Lots of good food, strength training, and the occasional short-term fast.

With my new-found energy, I wanted to get back into strength training, but balked at the idea of spending up to 10 hours a week in the gym, and being exhausted and starving all the time. Luckily, Mark Sisson also had some ideas for fitness training. His "Fitness Pyramid" involved a base of TONS of low-intensity exercise (this was exercise? Walking, light biking...exercise?), with a bit of QUALITY strength training, and at the top was the all-out effort that comes with sprint sets. So - I set up my new fitness "regimen" - two or three (third was optional!) total body strength training sessions (lasting about 40 mins each), and one "sprint day", where instead of traditional sprint sets, I played ultimate frisbee and sprinted my ass off.

Within 2 months, I was breaking all my old strength records (while weighing about 25 lbs less than before), running faster and jumping higher while playing ultimate, and almost never feeling overly exhausted or hungry. I felt and looked fantastic. I've been tinkering with the fitness routine for a couple of years now, and have it pretty minimalistic, but highly effective. I'm training about 2 hours a week now (training HARD, but not super often), and getting lots of light aerobic activity (I LOVE HIKING). Eating mostly fat for energy, lots of plants and animals, and little-to no grains or sugar (I'm pretty healed up now, so the odd bit doesn't kill me). I basically follow Martin Berkan's Leangains protocol (training fasted, eating in a somewhat flexible 8-hour window), am very strong for my weight, and keep seeing gains. Training doesn't take over my life anymore, and either does food. Granted, I train HARD and eat LOTS, but I feel very in control now. I listen to my body, and I know when I need to eat, or back off, or give 110%. And when I fall off the rails (ditch workouts, eat some crap) its so easy to get right back on. CLICK! I barely even think about it anymore...its natural. What I love about this is feeling as though my body is as optimized as I can get it without devoting all my free time. This allows me to stay fit and strong and healthy while having the time to explore more interesting topics such as science, psychology, philosophy,

There's more to this lifestyle. Optimizing sleep is important, as is getting sufficient sunlight (a lot of unfiltered too - no sunglasses or sunscreen). Its all part of the "primal/paleo" way of life. This isn't JUST a diet, its realizing that our bodies aren't designed for chronic stress (stress = too much exercise, shitty food, low-quality sleep, overwork), but for ACUTE stress followed by recovery periods. Now, in the modern world (where I'm something of a workaholic) this isn't always possible, so I have some methods of dealing with chronic stress that I've been using to stay somewhat primal in the modern world. I got through an intense graduate degree in engineering while holding to these principles, and feeling pretty good the whole time while working TONS under stressful deadlines.

That's the next post! Designing your regime. No excuses.

Time to get started, again!

Hey readers (do I have any? haha),

Well, more than 7 months later I'm back at it. I've had the healthiest times of my life over the past while, and have been ridiculously busy with grad school and other commitments that have kept me from writing this blog despite really wanting to. No more messing around.

To start, I will continue the story of how I came to the level of health and fitness that I'm at now from where it left off: re-introducing meat into my diet and beginning to really focus on strength training.

This was the summer of 2004. For my diet, I was eating eggs+black beans and oatmeal/cereal for breakfast, tuna/turkey sandwiches for lunch, and chicken stir-fries for dinner with lots and lots of nuts and fruits for snacks. I was trying to eat as much as humanly possible for weight gain. In regards to my strength training, I started off with a simple 3 or 4 day split focusing only on the upper body (those mirror muscles yo!). Day 1 was chest and back. Day 2 was arms and shoulders. Days 3 and 4 would be the same as 1 and 2, respectively. If I didn't have time for day 4 (typically Friday, and some weekends I would leave town on Fridays and miss it), I would combine days 3 and 4 into one workout on day 3. For legs I figured biking would be good enough, so I committed to commuting around town almost entirely on a heavy-ish mountain bike. I saw huge results that summer. I went from a skinny, vegetarian, 140 pound waif (and virgin! haha) to a nicely proportioned, lean, muscular, 170 pound athlete (and, um, well you get the point)! It was great! I remember feeling awesome when I would go play sports like football (ones involving upper body strength). I could feel the new power within me, and it felt like each workout was a huge improvement upon the last. My confidence in everything I did was through the roof which was something I had never experienced. People I was meeting were looking at me in a way I had never felt. This was the summer that I became addicted to strength training (and the diet that typically accompanies it).

After that summer, I started to notice a plateau in my strength training. I HATED IT. I figured: "Well, if working out 3-4 days a week got me this far, why not shoot for 5-6?". I incorporated leg-based moves like squats and deadlifts into my training regime (I was told they would help me bust through the plateau) for my Days 5 and 6 (there was some rearrangement in the order, however). Now I was in the gym 1.5-2 hours a day (sometimes twice), 6 days a week along with playing sports up to 3x a week with friends (and dominating much more than I ever used to, it was sweet in that way). I started feeling hungry and exhausted all the time if I wasn't exercising! I compensated for this with a hugely increased intake of caffeine and food! I was pounding protein shakes halfway between my 2 hour workouts. Around this time I fell in love with 'The Abs Diet' promoted by Men's Health (I had purchased myself a subscription by this time). It promoted eating several smaller, protein packed meals throughout the day with a suggestion of 6 meals a day. Following this, and with all my training, I got up to almost 190 pounds by the time I was 20. Mostly chest and shoulders, I was noticeably big at this point, it was crazy. I loved it. I had never thought of myself as strong and powerful, and now couldn't stand the idea of being anything less than as big as I could possibly be. This is where "fitness" started to diverge quite rapidly from "health".

Along with my inflated muscles (and ego), I started becoming quite anxious all the time. I started suffering from inexplicable insomnia (I was so tired, but could NOT relax). My heart would be pounding SO LOUDLY in my eardrums at night that I would often get up and check the halls for people stomping around, only to realize that it was coming from inside of me! I was always starving, and almost every night I would wake up (if I could sleep that is) and need to go eat a snack before I could get back to sleep. A few times my dreams would involve hunger, and be so lucid that I would be in a dream state where I was just so ridiculously hungry that I would be devouring everything in sight (even some weird things, but I won't go there). When I woke up from these dreams my stomach would be aching with hunger (despite a monster bedtime snack) which would drive me to eat at crazy hours of the night. It got to the point where I assumed that this was normal for an "elite athlete" such as myself, and I would prepare food in advance for my nighttime awakenings. I literally would put plates of nuts, cheese, fruits, meats, etc. directly on my bedside table so I could wake up and just reach over and chomp away without having to open my eyes.

I definitely looked super buff (like, for real, I was bulging) during these days, and was putting up decent weight, but I was SO NERVOUS to not have food around (I actually carried nuts around with me at all times for like 3 years 'just in case', no joke). If I ever skipped a meal, I felt like HELL! My stomach would ROAR! I would be weak, and my mind would stop working until I got some food! Again, I chalked this up to being within the upper echelon of fitness, and figured it was normal 'for guys like me'. I was sleeping so poorly that I was taking up to 3 short naps a day. At night to relax, I would smoke copious amounts of marijuana just to get my mind to cool off and coax myself into sleeping. Though I also used these nights to eat an extraordinary amount of food (being high definitely helped, hahah - whole pizzas to myself!). To help me sleep, I sought out sleeping pills and took lots of melatonin in an effort to just get a good nights sleep. The doc gave me valium, and I took it more or less in secret for half a year. Sometimes I would avoid social situations just so I could stay home, blaze weed, and take valium, "for my health". I haven't mentioned the digestive issues I was having throughout these times, but perhaps you can imagine....the sheer volume was disgusting. Solids AND gases (and sometimes liquids!). Enough said.

This went on for about 4 years - until early 2009. There would be times where things weren't so bad (typically during times where I couldn't work out as much), but I would always "get back into it" by starting up these ridiculous training and eating schedules. I noticed as I got older that I couldn't keep the fat off the way I used to, and so I started in late 2009 I started really avoiding carbohydrates in an effort to stay lean while still eating huge amounts quite frequently. This was a guy who used to routinely eat a pound of grapes in front of the TV at night, who now was trying to eat no more than 1/2 a cup of berries at a time (for carbs anyway, the protein was still getting pounded back! - and plus I would sometimes completely binge on carbs - whole pizzas!). I started noticing that I wasn't starving every 2 hours anymore, and it freaked me out! I would compulsively eat with the same schedule I had for years, but I was never hungry anymore. I reduced my food intake as a result, but kept working out just as much. My lifting really suffered - I was getting weaker! I lost quite a bit of weight during this time - went down below 170! I definitely got leaner, but I was skinny and weak again! I was losing muscle in order to stay lean - I didn't understand what was happening to me. I was still really struggling with my sleeping whenever I would "go hard in the gym", and found that I wasn't recovering from my workouts, but guilt kept me from EVER skipping a workout even if I had barely slept and was still sore as fuck from a workout two days before. Guilt also kept me from EVER skipping a meal (or eating less at a meal) since "my metabolism would slow down" and I would "lose even more muscle!!!".

It was unsustainable. I was sleeping horribly. I was always recovering from workouts. If I ever went out drinking (and stayed up late and had fun, you know), I would feel the results for an entire week. My digestive system was crying out in pain every time I ate, but I didn't know how to NOT eat. I thought in order to be as healthy and strong as possible, I had to work out like crazy every day and eat huge amounts of protein (and everything else) to sustain myself, or I would get skinny and weak and be back where I started. I was completely confused. Everything I believed to be "healthy" was starting to kill me. That's actually how I felt.

During this "low-carb awakening" (haha), I started reading tons of blogs and stuff online. I was paying a ton of money for all sorts of supplements I thought would re-invigorate me and let me continue working out and eating as much as I thought I needed too (I was still suffering from massive guilt if I missed a workout or meal, no matter how I was feeling). Looking back now, it was all so stupid. One blog I found starting talking about evolutionary fitness and health (designing modern fitness routines around the lifestyles of our ancestors), and started talking about the dangers of overtraining and training improperly, and the benefits of "INTERMITTENT FASTING". FASTING? What?! How could NOT EATING ever be healthy? I was always so fucking hungry that I brushed this all off as craziness. The blog posted a recipe from another blog called "Marks Daily Apple". I clicked the link, and stayed up all night reading the entire site from top to bottom. This was late 2009, and I felt like a huge fucking light bulb had gone on in my head and I realized what was really to blame for all the health problems I was experiencing: IT WAS ME! I was doing it to myself. I didn't realize the degree of stress I had been putting on myself for over 5 years. "Fitness" and "health" had diverged so completely for me that I no longer had a handle on EITHER! This was a big revolution for me, and I started asking questions.

The first ones (and ones I'm trying to answer) were "Is it possible to be super fit and super healthy? What does that even mean? Is there such thing as a sustainable balance?"

Well, that's all for now. More to come (not 7 months this time, I promise!).

Thanks for reading,

G

Time to get started

I've definitely been finding it tricky to get going on this blog. At this point, I figured the best way to get going is to just get going. So this first post will be me trying to describe some sort of mission statement (I like things that sound epic) and reason for creating this blog. As I've said in my 'About me' section, I'd like to share my experiences in attaining a better, sustainable lifestyle that just flows! Topics I will be discussing, in any order on any given day, will be things like the following:

1. Health
2. Nutrition
3. Fitness
4. Food/Cooking
5. Agricultural practices
6. Ecology
7. Sustainable Energy (I find this is mostly engineering related stuff)
   
8. General Science (Most disciplines)
   
9. Metascience (haha, sometimes...)
10. Philosophy
11. Music
12. etc...
    

Also, there will be posts that include all sorts of combinations of these topics, as I find they are almost NEVER mutually exclusive.

For my first post, I've decided to lay out my thoughts on health and nutrition/fitness. I've always found myself interested in attaining the best health possible. I think this stems from watching family members suffer through health problems, and also hearing from my mother about how my grandfather dropped dead at age 50 (long before I was born) of a heart attack despite being a doctor, and never smoking a day in his life (in Brantford, he was one of the first doctors to openly oppose tobacco smoking). My uncles on my mother's side also have struggled with their health, and in different ways. One of them is quite obese, and has been in and out of the hospital for various problems my entire existence (granted, this uncle is adopted, but still). The other, of whom I bear a striking resemblance, has been on blood pressure/cholesterol medication since his mid-2o's. He has always smirked that its only a matter of time until I'd be in his shoes. I'm here to prove him wrong.

As a kid, I ate what pretty much all north american kids ate. Breakfast cereals, granola bars, bread, pasta, bagels, cookies, donuts...along with meat, eggs, and fruits and vegetables, but these were rarely the centrepiece of my diet. I did eat a ton of fruit whenever I got the chance, but generally candy/pop was a much easier way to get my sugar fix, so I went with that. I was never a super-athletic kid, but never the last picked either. Just sort of physically mediocre, but nothing embarrassing. I was thin, but with a nice layer around the midsection and butt that I never managed to get rid off until I was quite a bit older.

In my mid-teens, I quit gym class (I think after grade 10), and became quite sedentary after that. By 16, I was completely out-of-shape. Again, not hugely fat exactly, but soft and weak. I looked fine with my shirt on (for a skinny, malnourished 16 year old), but was pretty tentative to take it off. I was eating cereal/toast/granola bars for breakfast most days, followed up by pizza at lunch, chips and pop in the afternoon, and usually a fairly decent meal prepared at home for dinner (probably my saving grace). I remember being tired a LOT, being sore for days after exercising, always being famished at meals, and quite often constipated! (Caring is sharing friends!).

I began to work out, and saw an improvement in energy levels and body composition. It was mostly running, but also some resistance training (pushups and bicep curls getting most of my attention). I didn't change my diet at all (why would I? haha) and plateaued fairly quickly while still not being happy with the situation. I began researching nutrition as a hobby, and as I had moved to Victoria, BC by then, became involved with some hippies that lead me to believe that going vegetarian would vault me into the upper echelon of health, fitness, and longevity.

I did that for 2 years! Until I was 19. Did some more resistance training (added chinups to the mix, as I was then actually capable of completing one!), and kept up with the running of about an hour 3x a week. I became super light (at 6'2", I was about 140 lbs), but still had that soft stuff around the midsection, and still was tired a lot! I took a look at my diet and compared it to how I used to eat. I was eating: Breakfast cereals, bread, bagels, soy milk, fruits and vegetables, occasionally eggs, but NO MEAT. I was eating nuts and beans quite often for protein, but found I could never eat enough to be satisfied. Also lots of the usual stuff like pasta, granola bars, muffins, cookies, pizza, etc...BEER!

It wasn't that different from eating a junk-food diet, except with no meat, and more nuts/beans. I ate more or less the same amount of fruits and vegetables (which was a respectable amount, or so I thought at the time). Despite exercising and eating well (or so I thought), I was gassy and bloated a TON, tired a LOT, depressed quite often, and still skinny and weak! I made the decision that hippies were stupid, and decided to start pumping some iron and eating meat again. This began my bodybuilding phase (I now realize that's what it was) that lasted about four or five years.

I'll save that for the next post, as I now have work to do, but those were the years where I definitely went a little overboard in the name of health while simultaneously destroying it at regular intervals. Haha - I can't WAIT to rant about that!

Until next time,

G