Grendel0311’s BodyBlog

Marines, as a whole, are 5K animals. We conduct a fitness test (PFT) twice yearly that consists of deadhang pull ups, crunches, and a 3 mile run. By design we are NOT supposed to train for it. It was designed to be a "spur of the moment test" that we stay in shape for. We have also recently added a silly test that simulates "combat". That is another post all together.

Anyway, the 5K thing. Before the wars in Southwest Asia and central Asia, the Marine Corps used to train for wars that would have resembled South East Asia. Long walks in very hard terrain with a lot of crap on your back, and prolonged "humps" over long distances with even MORE crap on our backs. We also ran. Alot, but the overall goal of our running was to get a good run time on our PFT. The old Jarhead mentallity was "to run 3 miles good you need to run either 6 miles slow, or 1.5 miles fast".

This is the attitude I brought to the program until now, the best way to increase speed in a 5K is multi fold. I went out and ran for 4-8 miles every other day, or every day. The new running section of the program will be based more on the long distance runners program. I will incorporate a weekly "long run" in excess of 90 minutes at 8-9 minute mile pace for as long as possible, and maintain 12 minute mile at a minimum. I deally this run will be 13+ miles. Speed/track work will be reguarly incorporated as well. I will maintain a "core" of the exsisting program, I will just tweek it slightly. Out of 6 run days 1 will be "long", 1 will be at the track, 1 will be "hill work", and 3 will be regular 6-8 mile runs.

Its important to point out that any change in my appearance is a side effect to the program. Even though I have dropped body fat, and increased muscle mass, this is not the goal of this experiment. Functional speed and strength is the overall goal, wether at 6% bf or 30%. Faster and stronger is the only real goal, all else is irrelevant. I eat to fuel the machine and work to make the machine better.

I hear people talking about the fact that some people can’t do this, or are built for this. A guy my size can’t be a Marathon runner, ect., ect. The fact is this  YOUR MUSCLES ONLY KNOW THAT THEY ARE WORKING! They cannot decipher if its running, swimming, lifting, or working. You can’t "shock" them by changing routines or increasing reps or dropping weight. Its a machine. Its like your car. It only knows to work when you tell it to. In my case, squats and a 13 mile run all suck the same for my legs, not one more than the other. Its ALL in your head. Your brain knows whats going on, your muscles can literaly continue to work indefinetly, if they run out of fuel they will begin to consume muscle fiber to continue on, only by any time near that point, your brain would have told you to **** off.

Its been a month, and for the sake of simplicity each month will be a "phase".

With my program so far I have maintained my wieght, but dropped body fat safely, and relativly quickly. Currently I am consuming about 3000 calories daily and about 70 g of fat (total). I have found that my macronutrient break down is shifting in the ball park of 50-60% Carbs, 25-30 % Protien, and 25-30 % fats. I am supplementing only one shake a day and will likely stop soon, or use it rarely.  Work outs are at the 70-85% intensity range and are done as described earlier.

My carbs are largely oats and whole grains and vegtables (many with "negative" caloric values). Of the 50-60 % I would say that slightly more than half are from oats and grains. My protiens are comming from animal meats of all common varieties ( chicken, turkey, beef, pork [yes, really]), and this is the major shifting point for fat intake and the most signifigant source (i.e skin, or skinless, and cuts of meat). My water intake is steady at 1.2 gal a day , and sodium intake is way less than 1000 mg/day.

Iteresting findings that i was not expecting; I do not do bench presses like most people. I do 1 rep 7 or 8 times starting at 135 lbs and adding 25 lbs each rep with 25 dips in between. No big deal, but one day I maxed out at 435 after 9 sets of 1 rep maxes, and 25 dips. fresh i am confident that i could bench over 550 lbs. Not alot for some, but a signifigant amount for someone who rarely bench presses!

My old program, which will be rotated back to ( modified ) once the 12 week Case Yellow Program is completed, destroyed every part of the body every time!

 It was based on the idea that our ancestors in the earliest days of our speicies did amazing things with there bodies; i.e. ran after game, and continued to chase it, until it literally ran itself to death, and then carried the animal back home. A deer can run at top speed for 5 days almost all day long. Most of the animals at the time were still mega fuana and were the size of a full grown cow! it is believed that 2-3 adults (male and female) did this when food supplies depleted (weekly). Domestication of animals w/in a few hundred or a thousand years made this unnessacary and blah, blah humanity propigated at the cyclic!

Any way here was my idea, pretty simple; work upper body, run, rest work lower body , run, rest, work whole body, run, rest, repeat; each had its own day. All work outs were compound cardio ass kickers and done with either body wieght or resistance. Poundage NEVER excieded 135 lbs, and reps were never lower than 20 (with only a few exceptions) and no less than 3 miles were ran. All of this was done with crappy equipment in a compound in Iraq. My diet was absolutly horrible, and the run route was a 1/4 mile circle, so it took forever to run. I did it to lose wieght, sculpt muscle, and increase endurance. All of these things happened, even with the shittiest, most unhealthy diet you could possibly imagine. 3 months passed.

Great. It worked, but i’m a big guy and liked SOME things being big, my arms for instance, and back, and traps, and quad…… I then realized that this program was great, but now it needed more specific parameters for building and sculpting. I f-ed around for 2 months with the program, Arnolds routine, Ronnies routine, and then It hit me. I then developed what I am now calling the Case Yellow Program, I experemented with it for the next 2 months, and fine tuned the program. It was done, I was the man. I had 2 great balanced programs for fitness that were tried and true, i had people comming up to me for copies and every thing! One guy stole my damn work out roster!

When I got home I got to it boy, I was working hard feeling the burn eating super clean and I was BORED out of my mind in two weeks. Crap. This works but its a broken record. Case Yellow was scrapped…. for 5 days and then it hit me: I will make 5 interchangable phases based on 6 exercises that actually work for everyone, every time and run in between! I will also interfuse activities or acthletic hobbies/events in this bad larry. The case yellow Program born again HARD!

I have been doing my new diet and exercise program for 3 days and lost 3.7 lbs. I will let EVERYONE know all the exact details if after the half way point my results are a dramatic as science says they should be. If you have hit a snag or plateau, stand by I have the answer! ( I think )

Tango, Grendel

I made these today for my sons wrestling meet tomorrow.

1 cup whey protien (choco or vanilla, or 1/2 cup each)- 1/2 cup whole wheat flower- 2 cups oatmeal- 1/2 cup oat bran- 1/2 cup flax seed- 1/2 cup wheat germ- 1 tsp kosher salt- 1 tsp cinnamon- 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie seasoning- 1/2 cup honey- 1 cup dark chocolate- 1 cup "fit n light" vanilla yogart- 1 cup no fat yogart - 1/4 cup canola oil - 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil.

mix dry ingridients, then mix wet, then miw both together, bake at 350 F for 15 min on a 13"x9" pan. remove from oven, let cool for 30 min, then cut to desired size. return to oven for 15 minutes as cut bars.

Very tasty and healthy!  

On 10 april 2009 I will begin my new program. It will include a diet shift/change and training will be based on our strengths as a species.

The diet will consist of only foods with ingredients available BEFORE the Second World War, whole wheats and grains, lean meats, and all vegtables and fruits. Limited tree nut consumption. Most food groups will be present. Carbs will be rotated as 2 days normal, 1 day reduced ( depleted by 3/4 ). Natural fats will not be excluded, but "watched", and in some cases avoided. Meals will be consumed as 3 main, 2 snacks, and breakfast will always be mostly carbs. On my low carb days synthetic protien intake will be increased by 1 shake, making it 4 for the day. Caloric intake will generally range from 3000 to 4700. Only fish oils, l-glutamine, creatine monohydrate, and milk thistle will be supplimented. 1 to 1.5 gallons of water will be consumed a day.

 The wieght training will revolve around six "core" exercises; Pull ups, squats, military presses, push ups, dips, and deadlifts.  Squats will vary from front, smith machine, back and body wieght, and military presses will be both standing and seated. All of these exercises will be the foundation to any given work out day. In the 6 day rotation, 5+ miles will be ran every other day. Exceptions will be speed based "hill" days that in my case equal about 3.2 miles. Miles will be ran in 8 minutes at the most and heart rates will stay in the areobic zone ( both the high and low sub zones ). Abdominal training will be done on run days. Half marathons will be the max run distance, and 5k the minimum.

This combination of proven mass/power exercises combined with our natural design to run as homo sapien will be a powerful combination. That coupled with a NORMAL, nutrient rich diet that is as balanced as possible with out spending a fortune on organic only should get me where i want to be.

I posted my before pic, and will update in sensable intervals. Currently I am running 7.5 minute miles for 6 miles and doing about 15 very strict dead hang pullups. These will be my gague of progress. If your interested in any of my theroies, tequniches or routines let me know, i will be happy to share.

Tango, Grendel