str8flexed’s BodyBlog

Alright I get it.  People like sex and sex sells.  But this is bodyspace.  Not a hooters or a chip-n-dales calendar shoot!  I understand boobs are part of figure and fitness, and hell even I appreciate a nice body but if you are into ‘fitness’ or on BODYspace don’t you think your physique should have something other than just boobs?  Legs maybe?  Arm muscle?  Back?  And I’m not exactly sure how crotch grabbing and tilting your head back helps accentuate your muscles.  Maybe I’m just an old fogey now but I think BODYspace should be about the whole body… not just your boobs or crotch grabbing.

I shall prepare for the criticism to come!  But first… a crotch grab!

Ok got back from the doc today

He says I am healing great.  We are still touch and go though according to him, I’m still being held together by "superglue" LOL.  He said at 8 weeks post surgery I’ll "start to have tissue that’s worth a damn."  LOL.  So we won’t be doing any loading for 2 more weeks.  BUT he did take my brace off… OH MY GOD IT FEELS SO GOOD TO MOVE!  I cannot stress how much we all take our daily functions for granted.  We really do.  Not being able to reach with your right hand, or play sports, or even hold Isabel with my right arm… it sucked.  He gave me some stretches to do and said I’m already pretty flexible compared to where he thought I might be so that’s good.

I also talked to him about my leg workouts.  He said he wants to wait 2 more weeks for the safety squat bar; said he’s concerned about it pressing on the tissue, so that’s out for 2 more weeks; but that’s ok.  He said one armed smith machine is totally fine so I’ll be hammering lots of those.  I just feel so blessed that I’m pulling through this and it looks like I just might get out with nothing but a scar.  Once again; I know these things are not life and death, but I love bodybuilding and am so excited at the prospect of being able to continue to do it.  I didn’t take pics today but I am going to take some tomorrow.  My right arm is down just over an inch, and my right pec is now visibly atrophied… still not as bad as I thought it would be.  But I have gained some size on my legs… I’ll take it!

-Layne

Hi Everyone,
First off an update on my injury.  Yesterday I went in
for another check up and this time I actually got to
speak with the surgeon.  He felt around on the tear
area and was very pleased with the progress.  He said
he believed I was healing ahead of schedule.  He
thinks I may be back lifting heavy in around 6 months
which is great news.  I also got to talk to him more
about the actual tear itself.  He told me that the
lower head of my pec completely tore away from my
tendon.  I had always assumed it was merely a partial
tear, but in fact I had completely separated the
tendon from the muscle!  The doctor told me that he
honestly was worried that the sutures would not hold,
but now he is very encouraged because it seems to be
healing well.  In his words “we’re holding that thing
together with shoe laces and bubble gum man.”  He
wants me to keep the brace on my arm for another 3
weeks to ensure that I do not tear my sutures away.
After 3 more weeks I’ll begin physical therapy and
start to get some of my function back.  As you can
imagine, I am thrilled to death with how well
everything has gone.  It really puts everything in
perspective when you have something you love very
nearly taken from you.  Next time you think about not
wanting to do a workout or complaining about how hard
your workout is, think about how lucky you are to be
able to workout and be healthy.  It’s a gift and we
should all be more appreciative of it, myself
included.

In other news:  I recently entered a new abstract in
the University of Illinois Nutritional Sciences
Symposium poster competition.  I won this competition
last year and so I knew it would be difficult to do it
again as Illinois is extremely competitive in the
field of nutrition.  The title of my abstract I
presented was “Isonitrogenous protein sources with
different leucine contents differentially effect
translation initiation and protein synthesis in
skeletal muscle.”  The short of the research was we
fed subjects whey or wheat protein at 3 different
total protein levels and looked at the differences in
anabolic response to the meal (protein synthesis and
translation factor activation).  We found that whey
was superior to wheat protein at stimulating protein
synthesis and translation factor activation even
though the total protein intake was the same.  We also
determined that leucine content of a meal was a better
indicator of the anabolic response than total protein
content.  The judges for my section were very critical
and asked me very insightful questions.  I wasn’t sure
how well I had done as the judges were very critical
but in the end my name was announced in first place!
Obviously I feel very honored to have won the award
twice in a row, it is really great to know that other
experts think your research is worthwhile.  Hopefully
I can keep it rolling!

Until next time,
-Layne 

check out my latest article in the April edition of Ironman Magazine about occlusion training on page 102. Gabe and Jacob Wilson of Abcbodybuilding.com along with myself explain the science and practical application of this unique training technique. I hope you enjoy the article.

Hey Guys,

Please check out my shoulder training article in the March Issue of Ironman Magazine on page 118.  If you like the article, let them know.  Positive feedback helps keep the magazines interested in my articles.  I hope you all enjoy it, you can check out a preview of it here:  http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/articles/t/6703-shocking-shoulders.pdf

Thanks!
-Layne

This past weekend Dr. Joe Klemczewski held his 2nd annual Fantasy Camp.  It is only available for his clients.  Included in the camp were 3 time World Champion and 2007 Team Universe MW runner up Dave Goodin (possibly the most successful natural bodybuilder of all time), 2006 World Champion Jon Harris, 2007 World Champion Jim Cordova, WNBF Pro Duke Bell, and WNBF Pro Mary Bell.  Joe also invited the crew of Pro Edit (the same crew that shoots and edits my episodes of Inside the Life on bodybuilding.com) to shoot a DVD of the camp.  Joe had me down so that I could conduct interviews of the pros for the DVD.  It was a great time.  Even though I didn’t get to train with any of the guys, it was a great time.  I got to see Dave again, who was one of my inspirations growing up in bodybuilding.  I got to meet Jon Harris finally, who I’d known through the british bodybuilding message boards for a few years.  I’ve known Jim for a while but he’s always fun to hang out with and Duke and Mary were really cool and I can’t wait to see them again.  As always, hanging out with Joe is great.
What I thought was really cool about the camp was that you had 5 top pro natural athletes, 3 of which who have won world titles, as well as two of the bigger prep guys involved in natural bodybuilding and there was absolutely no display of egos at all the entire weekend.  At one point in Joe’s seminar I was asking him questions, as well as the rest of the pros there.
Even though I am working on my PhD and am a pro, I am not so arrogant to believe that I can’t learn things from these guys.  Likewise, routinely they would all be asking each other questions.  Jon Harris, who lost his title to Jim Cordova last year, was actually giving Jim advice at one point and vice versa.  Can you ever see Jay Cutler & Ronnie Coleman trying to give advice and help each other out?  I don’t think so.  I thought it was a great display of sportsmanship and what bodybuilding truly should be about!

Probably the highlight of the weekend for me was hanging out with Joe, Mary, Duke, Dave, Jon, and Jim as well as the rest of Joe’s clients on Saturday night.  Not only did we all go out and have a great time, I realized that there was not one person at the camp that I even remotely disliked, I really enjoyed everyone there.  I found myself even a little star struck, I was hanging out with 3 world champions, including arguably the most successful natural bodybuilder ever in Dave Goodin, and it was just like I was hanging out with friends I had known for years.
It was a bit surreal.  At the end of the day I am still a huge fan of natural bodybuilding and it really was a great experience for me.  They are all great role models and I encourage you all to get the DVD when it comes out as well as watch the episodes to get to know these guys better.  In the meantime, please check out their websites…

Dr. Joe: http://www.thedietdoc.com
Dave Goodin: http://www.davegoodin.com
Jon Harris:http://www.jon-harris.net
Mary Bell: http://www.centerstagefigures.com/home/
Jim Cordova: http://www.jimcordova.com (coming soon)

Duke does not have a website, but if he ever puts one up I will let you all know!

here is a link for pictures: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&fr
iendID=10157045&albumId=1407879

check out the pics on page two, they are from saturday night… great time.

-Layne

New interview with me is posted on the site.  Hope you guys like it

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weik75.htm

I origionally posted on my site http://www.biolayne.com

Contest season is in full swing now and my clients are keeping me quite busy, which is the way I like it.  So far it’s been very successful with a few overall titles already in the books for a few of them. Since I’m not competing for a few years I have to live vicariously through my clients, but I really enjoy it.  I even find myself getting nervous on Saturdays when I have clients competing because it still feels like ‘game day’ for me.

One thing I always fine funny is the looks my clients get at their shows.  None of my clients water deplete, and most of them drink 1-2 gallons of water on show day.  They always get strange looks and people asking them if they are concerned about ‘retaining water.’
In our natural state we actually have MORE water inside our cells than outside our cells (subcutaneous water).  It is when you screw with things that you start getting problems.  People seem to have this notion that if they cut water, they will lose all their subcutaneous water.  There are a few problems with this: 1) You won’t just lose water from the subcutaneous area, you will also lose it out of the muscle tissue, and you will most likely lose MORE from the muscle than from the subcutaneous layer as the body will attempt to maintain the water balance between the inside & outside of the cell.  2) You will flatten yourself out big time.  The only reason a carb load works is because the increased glycogen causes your cells to store more water.  All you have really done is flatten yourself out, you haven’t changed the ratio of intracellular/extracellular water at all.

I know what you are thinking “but Layne, at my last show a judge said I needed to be drier” or “everyone tells me I just need to lose the water.”  Well I’m not here to make you feel better about yourself, I’m here to help you do better at your next show.  And the truth is that people are telling you that you are ‘holding water’ because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.  The fact of the matter is that you weren’t ‘holding water’ you just weren’t lean enough.  Period.
Look at team Scivation member’s Kurt Weidner and Ben Goins at 3 weeks before a show. They are ‘drier’ than 99.99% of people who compete ever will be.  No water manipulation, no sodium manipulation, nothing.  How can they look so dry when they haven’t changed a thing from their normal diet?  What is their secret.  Well listen very closely because I’m only going to tell you the secret once.  The big secret is THEY ARE EXTREMELY LEAN!  They gave themselves long enough to diet and they were honest with themselves about how much fat they needed to lose.  That’s the secret.  Get shredded and very little of that final week stuff is needed.

Most people don’t realize that the big reason all these complex final week protocols came about was simply marketing from pre-contest prep ‘gurus’.  If it was as simple as just getting shredded, how would these guys stay in business?  They make their clients feel like they ‘need’ them because these guys have their clients manipulating fifteen hundred variables in the last week.  How could they possibly do that on their own?  And thus, they feel like they need their ‘guru’.  You would be surprised at how many clients I probably lose because my approach is so simple, but I’m not in this to make money dishonestly.  The secret is simple, give yourself enough time to diet, be honest with yourself about how much bodyfat you have to lose, and GET SHREDDED!  Period.

Til next time,
-Layne

Don’t forget everyone, tonight is part 2 of the debate between myself and Dave Palumbo about contest prep on MD Radio.  http://www.musculardevelopment.com/content/view/211/137/  The show starts at 7 pm eastern and the segment with Dave and I should start around 8:15 PM eastern.

For those who have not heard part 1 you can download it here: http://www.musculardevelopment.com/podcasts/palumbo071607.mp3

I hope you all enjoy the show!

-Layne