wichita123’s BodyBlog

I just had this thought today due to all the presidential campaign stuff going on lately.  It was, "why do candidates avoid certain issues so much and not just take a solid position?"  I realize some things can be a little more complicated than that when you get into politics but ultimately a president that was truly for the people and a representative of the people would have a solid platform and be honest and let the people decide who they want.  But in reality most if not all the candidates are super driven power trippers who want to cement their names into the history books.  Politicians say what they say as to get elected not to be representatives.  This isn’t all that different from any other job probably where you try to get the customer or the job even though there might be a much better or qualified person.

With that in mind I think it is crucial to consider those who are trying so hard to get elected that they are strong on their words in trying to win everybody and weak on their actual platform as the bottom candidates.  This is not the point of this at all but it reminded me that Hilary is said to be the most scripted candidate EVER.

To me training your abs exclusively is almost always a waste of time.  Training your abs doesn’t burn many calories for one thing so you’re not going to shed the fat to see them which is 90% of the battle.  So until you can see them there’s really no reason to focus on training them.

With that said, take a look at my abs, I never train them exclusively.  But I lift heavy enough with squats, deads, and even pullups that they really do get quite a good workout.  Since mine are showing I could probably get them to pop out quite a bit more with some direct training.  But why do that?

The reason for this blog is actually to share with everyone who reads it that I came across a really effective oblique exercise.  The standing one arm dumbell press.  Do it with your shoulder routine but notice how hard your obliques have to work during the entire exercise.  Seriously give it a try if you’re concerned with your obliques, it’s amazing!  Do the exercise for your shoulders, just notice that you are simultaneously taking care of your obliques.

I guess I gained a 1/2 lb.  I learned a solid lesson though.  You can’t do a diet half the week, which I’m sure is obvious.  Basically I cheated several days and just didn’t get anywhere near the calories I’m shooting for.  I’m not doing as good of a job planning my meals and keeping track of them and it brings down my motivation.  I also need to get some more food choices going and different meals going cuz I’m getting too bored.  If anyone has any simple meals that they use feel free to help me out.

Week 3 went pretty well with a gain of 2 lbs.  I was eating about 4000 calories each day.  Interestingly a cheat day for me is when I allow myself to get less than 4,000 calories.  It’s a little hard for me to get 4000 on the weekends since my schedule changes but I still try but if I get 3500 that’s okay.

Has anybody ever really bought a supplement that they could honestly tell that it made a difference?  When I first tried creatine back in high school I honestly thought that I could tell that it made a difference plus I did gain a significant amount of weight.  Interestingly though, now I can’t tell that it really does anything for me.  I tried NO-Xplode last year because it’s like the number one ranked supplement by bodybuilding.com for muscle size.  It’s also for focus, energy, mental focus and stuff like that which it does definitely help with. I thought surely the number one muscle builder supplement should do something.  I didn’t notice that it did anything for me in regards to size or pumps. It’s also for focus, energy, mental focus and stuff like that which it does definitely help with  It is a good workout motivator, it seriously gave me a lot of energy but that’s because it’s loaded with caffeine which I can get way cheaper.  I also got more nauscious during workouts maybe because I lifted harder or I was thinking from its sugar content but I just checked and it doesn’t have any so I’m not really sure why I got more nauscious from it.  (Lots of pre-workout sugar equals nausciousness, dizziness, lightheadedness possibly. Exercise affects insulin also.)

If tried many other very promising supplements as most of us have, I have not kept any as a mainstay and realize that basically the supplement industry preys on our hopes and dreams.  I think I have finally realized that money is best spent on food and the active ingredient in many supplements, "caffeine!"  Which is about $3 a bottle.

I am a little hypocritical though because I just spent $150 on a supplement.  But I got 5 tubs.  It’s a recovery drink by Biotest called Surge. It’s a supposedly tested formula that is supposedly ideal for recovery.  I got sold on this supplement a little while back (Read my post a little ways down about halting the catabolic conditions caused by working out that keeps you from making progress!)  I’ve never seen crazy claims and beastly pictures of guys on this supplement but I keep trying to push my brain past that kind of marketing.  It does have precise ratio of carbs and protein and about 320 Calories per serving or about 420 if you mix it with milk.  2 or 3 servings on training days gets me those extra calories I need and it’s an easy 800-1200 Calories which is much appreciated for those of us on high calorie diets.  I tried to get by without it and make my own shakes but they were too filling to be able to drink pre or during workouts and lower cal.

People who have tried it have been very pleased.  I haven’t tried it long enough to be able to say more but it makes sense that it should help, it’s good solid calories!

Why do people drink energy drinks at the gym?  Is it because they don’t realize that you can get pure caffeine in a tablet form for like 10X cheaper.  I guess I didn’t use to know they existed but I hardly used energy drinks then.  My gym sells energy drinks and I can’t believe people pay like $3 for them.  You can get a bottle of caffeine tablets for less than that and break them in half.  I’m seriously curious as to why someone would pay so much for a drink when they just want the caffeine.

The first week of my Scrawny to Brawny diet resulted in a gain of 4 lbs!  I think that is pretty good for someone who has been the same weight for the last 4 years.

I averaged eating about 3500 Calories a day.  A few days were above that and a few were below.

"There’s nothing any program can do if you won’t eat."

This is my most recent training philosophy although it is technically experimental to me at this point.  Starting on last Monday.

For the last four years I have been training very consistently and hard without gaining any weight, literally.  My body composition may have changed a little but I doubt it.

When I say hard I mean I’ve centered my workouts around compound movements, you know, the ones they say will put the size on you.  Squats and deadlifts have been my cornerstone even amongst all the gym goers who don’t even have a leg day or even a half a leg day.  I’ve gotten way stronger which is awesome but at some point it’s nice to add some mass.

I bought a copy of the Scrawny to Brawny book to give me direction and help figure out meal plans.  For me it’s nice to have the diet plan written out so I don’t have to think about eating any more than I have to since I don’t naturally like to eat a lot.

I used to think that training was most of the equation but now I think that eating may be more of the equation.  Therefore if I don’t think I can get enough calories in on a certain day then I won’t allow myself to train.

It is becoming obvious to me that serious weightlifters are scientists.  To put a title like that on it seems a little weird but we’re constantly experimenting with our bodies and learning  and hopefully applying new theories and principles.  The weightroom is one of our labs but the kitchen and other places are also.

Unlike most people, weightlifters probably don’t trust doctors very much because we probably know more about health and our bodies than they do.  Granted there are some things they know that we don’t but also there are probably things we know that they don’t.  Plus here’s an interesting thing I heard a while back.  I don’t know the exact percentage, not that it matters but only about 10 or 20% of what’s really going on with the body is understood.  Makes sense if you think about it.  Think about drug prescriptions that mess people up probably half the time.  It’s obvious somebody is like, "well this seems to have some positive effect, how ’bout you take it so we can figure out if you live long enough to reap the benefits."  This isn’t meant as a knock on the medical community it is merely a refusal to respect it’s intelligence as being all superior.

A question I am curious about is, "why do most MD’s become MD’s, what is there motivation?"  They don’t seem to be most health conscious population.  In fact I wonder where they would rank health wise amongst professions.  I have a few ideas as to why most are drawn to the field but I don’t necessarily have much evidence.  So for now it will just be a thought as opposed to an unverified opinion that gets spewed.