Monday Leg Day

Good leg workout today. Kept proper squat form while maintaining weight from last week and feel confident in my ability to take my squat weight higher next time. I cut the workout a little short by only doing three of the five dumbbell step up sets that I had planned to do.

Warm Up:

• 50 Jumping Jacks (http://youtu.be/dmYwZH_BNd0)
• 40 Body Weight Squats (http://youtu.be/QKKZ9AGYTi4)
• 30 Sit Ups
• 20 Judo Pushups
• 10 Burpees (http://youtu.be/O7_TBHno0Os)

Leg Routine - Switched to a reps per set of 20 / 15 / 10 / 5 / 3

• Barbell Squats (http://youtu.be/b_uAOqA-pxY)
• Barbell Deadlift (http://youtu.be/nFw69zIssgQ)
• Step Ups (http://youtu.be/Jyb_oHDHJZo)

Notes / Results:

• Time: 50 minutes
• Weight: 193

• Squats
• Previous High:3@165
• Sets: 20@55, 15@75, 10@95, 5@125, 3@145
• Deadlift
• Previous High: 5@275
• Sets: 20@145*, 15@165*, 10@195, 5@225*, 3@245
• Step Ups
• Previous high: 3@60
• Sets: 45, 50, 55
• Finisher: 30 Burpees

Bro Diet Revisions - Protein & Carbs

All in all I am on a good course but since I blogged about my eating plan I have been doing more thinking about it and got back to reading The All Pro Diet by Tony Gonzalez. Something that he got me thinking about more is my protein intake and, more specifically, measuring my intake on a daily basis. 

Upon analysis, I don't think that I am getting enough. According to some sources, with an active lifestyle with th goal of gaining muscle I should be eating 1 I eat 1 egg or 1 1/2first full sized meat every morning for breakfast (except on conditioning days when I eat oatmeal), I have a fist full size of meat for lunch, and I have salmon/mackerel/tuna in my salad for dinner complimented lately with Ramen with a serving of tofu.

First off I am not buying anymore tofu and putting the Ramen in storage. I thought that tofu was a good source of non fat protein but I can't find anyone who supports eating tofu. Gonzalez and his nutritionist recommend only eating one serving of tofu per month. My Ramen & tofu is one serving per night. This will end. Aside from the China Study, I see no nutritional guidelines that support it. 

Second, I was trying to cut back on carbs and substitute it with protein in order for the excess calories to be more lean muscle mass instead of fat. After reviewing my regular intake of protein sources, I think that I am shy of where and active person looking to add muscle needs to be. Here are some action items to address this:

1 - Cut out the oatmeal mornings. I get enough carbs during the day. 
2 - For an afternoon snack rotate between 1/2 tuna fish sandwich on whole grain bread and a hard boiled egg.
3 - For dinner, cut out the Ramen and substitute in a black bean soup (or other non meal recipe in The All Pro Diet), quinoa, egg noodle soup (with a protein added but don't know what yet) or 1/2 tuna fish sandwich. 

My thinking is that by adding some of the better carbs, they will burn for energy and that the protein that I do take in will go straight to building muscle. Carbs and glucose burn first. If I intelligently increase my carb intake, then the protein will not get burned for energy and be utilized to build muscle. Same for the nutrients in vegetables. If you eat all vegetables then the great nutrients within veggies will get burned as an energy source instead of absorbed by your body and pu to good use. Carbs have a purpose for energy so i need to utilize them properly.

More to come on this as I continue to think it out, but thank you for reading.

Kettlebell Conditioning Sunday

Kettle Bell HIIT or conditioning or Fartlek or whatever you want to call it. Lift weights as fast as you can with as little rest as you can handle. I am always gassed by the end of this routine. I relaxed a little time wise before the 4th & 5th circuits but still had a good sweat and heart rate going in addition to upping the weight lifted.

Warm Up:

• 50 Jumping Jacks (http://youtu.be/dmYwZH_BNd0)
• 40 Body Weight Squats (http://youtu.be/QKKZ9AGYTi4)
• 30 Sit Ups
• 20 Judo Pushups
• 10 Burpees (http://youtu.be/O7_TBHno0Os)

5 circuits

• Swing Clean & Press (http://youtu.be/Q3ucR0I_bP4) - 10 each side
• Balance Row (http://youtu.be/3cw6E4AIKjU) - 10 each side
• Lunge & Press (http://youtu.be/eCl0sHxzY9E) - 10 each side
• Single Leg Kettlebell Deadlifts (http://youtu.be/ByRt5R6n6LU) - 10 each side
• Goblet Squat (http://youtu.be/VUa8T6yo_Yg) x 20
• 10 Burpees

Notes / Results:

• Time: 70 minutes.
• Weight: 193

** All weight in kg**  

• Swing Clean & Press - Sets - 12, 16, 18, 18, 18
• Balance Row - Sets: 16, 18, 24, 24, 24
• Lunge & Press - Sets: 12, 16, 18, 18, 18
• Single Leg Deadlift - Sets: 16, 18, 24, 24, 24 *need to go higher here but first need to figure out what the next heaviest kettlebell is since the color ones, which are bigger, are not clearly marked
• Squats - Sets: 16, 18, 24, 24, 24

Football Field Conditioning

I woke up early and wrote about my Bro Diet. Since today was a conditioning day I ate oatmeal for breakfast. If you read the Bro Diet blog you will know why in addition to what I regularly eat.

Last time I did this circuit 3 times with 30 broad jump burpees at the end. This time I did it five times without the burpees. One day I will do both.

Warm Up:

• 50 Jumping Jacks (http://youtu.be/dmYwZH_BNd0)
• 40 Body Weight Squats (http://youtu.be/QKKZ9AGYTi4)
• 30 Sit Ups
• 20 Pushups (http://youtu.be/Eh00_rniF8E)
• 10 Burpees (http://youtu.be/O7_TBHno0Os)

Workout Circuit all done while wearing 10 pound weight vest:

• Run around the track to make sure legs are warmed up
• 50 yard sprint with 40 pound speed sack
• 10 Sit Ups with 20 pound rip:60
• 10 Box jumps (onto bench on side of field)
• 10 Russian Twists with 20 pound rip:60
• Shuttle Runs: 10 yards & back, 20 yards & back, 10 yards & back
• 20 Straight leg deadlift to push press with 30 pound rip:60
• 50 yard lunges with 30 pound speed sack & 10 pound weight vest on my shoulders

Repeated Circuit 5 times

• Time: 85 minutes - including walk to and from car.

Bro Diet for OCR

Bro Science is the practice of people in the gym sharing unscientific advice on their workout and how to perform exercises. My 20-15-10-5-3 rep range is a perfect example of this. To tell the truth, this entire blog is Bro Science.

Lets take this to the next level and dive into Bro Diet. My eating plan that is specifically designed for the nutritional needs of obstacle course racers.

Let me start out by detailing my goals and letting you know that I understand that everyone has to find their own diet and eating plan that works for them. This works for me to achieve what I want to achieve. I want to build strength and lean muscle mass while having the energy for distance obstacle events. I favor a high protein diet, eat carbs/grains strategically, do not eat sugar, have almost entirely eliminated dairy, and do not use supplements. 

I have "cheat meals" usually on the weekends that regularly include a slice of pizza or a cheat meal of 3+ beers along with barbecue during the summer. I will make specialty dishes in the kitchen during the fall/spring/winter. This includes some food fests consumed while watching football. I like cooking big meals on the weekend that I use for lunches during the week. I have done my best to eliminate drinking alcohol during the week and allow myself to relax either on Saturday or Sunday. 

Back to my story...
In October of 2012 I was "working out" and "watching what I ate" when I could not finish the Tri State Super Spartan and barely made it through the Tri State Tough Mudder. At that time I weighted 230 pounds. I was not worried since in 2010 I took a medical check up for life insurance and received the highest rating - one given to only 3% of applicants. In 2010 I was probably closer to 210 - 215.

Very simply, I eat clean. Reading books like The China Study & The Paleo Solution I learned about how our bodies are not built to digest the modern American diet. I learned that our ancient ancestors and people who live on natural foods did not develop the diseases that we have today. The human digestive system is built to most efficiently digest plants, animals and fish in their most natural state. Once processing of a food enters the picture, the digestive process changes.

In reading The Paleo Solution, I learned about how our bodies are built to better digest animal meat and fats. The Paleo diet basically tells us to eat vegetables, meat and fish. I tried this diet for 3 months and lost 15 pounds. It works. It is doable for an extended period of time. My problem with it is that I don't like cutting too much out of my diet and that there is room for grains, legumes and fruit. 

Upon further research I learned that the glucose that comes with grains is needed and used more efficiently by our body during exercise. We need it for distance races and high intensity activities. A great book to read on this is The Paleo Diet for Athletes. 

I chose to get my glycogen (the fast burning energy sources) from things like brown rice, potatoes ad oatmeal. Additionally I will not avoid the sugars found in fruits. If I get fat because I eat too much fruit then so be it. 

It is good to talk about what I learned from the book, The China Study. They advocate an entirely plant based diet and eliminating all fat and cholesterol that would come from meat or fish. The Spartan Race diet and Spartan life style is very much about a plant based diet. Since I lift weights, want to gain strength and think along the lines of muscle burns more fat at rest, I don't believe that an all plant diet would provide me with the protein I need to build lean muscle. I also read the book, "The All Pro Diet" by All Star tight end Tony Gonzalez and he talked about how going vegan helped him overcome injuries that he carried with him since high school and extend his career, but he also lost 25% of his max strength when he eliminated meat from his diet. He is not a vegan or vegetarian anymore.

In the last year and 1/2 I have dropped weight from 230 to almost 190 and continue to make progress (much more slowly now) while improving athletic performance and getting stronger. Let me detail my daily eating plan to let you know how I do it.

Breakfast - I eat it first thing every morning.

• 3 cups of black coffee. No sweeteners or milk/cream. I love coffee as it gets me going in the morning and keeps me going throughout the day.
• Rest days and weight lifting days I eat meat or egg with fruit. A fist sized portion of meat along with cantaloupe, 1/2 an orange or a banana. I substitute a large scrambled egg for the meat regularly. 
• On mornings before a conditioning workout I eat oatmeal. I consume the grains since I know that I am going to burn them.

Workout drink is green tea with honey. I boil 1 liter of water and add 2 green tea bags and a tablespoon of honey. Once it is room temperature I pour it into a plastic bottle and refrigerate. I will regularly drink 1/2 a liter per workout. The green tea give me extra caffeine and is an anti oxidant acting to clean out my system. The honey gives me extra energy.
   
Post workout Smoothie.
2 cups of Almond milk, 1 banana, 8 oz fruit on the bottom yogurt, 8 oz (fill the yogurt cup) fruit (usually strawberries). Drink half. 

**The smoothie sounds healthy but it is an area where I really feel that I regularly go off diet. Almonds don't make milk. It is processed. Bad. Also, I don't eat dairy except for adding yogurt to this smoothie. Again, off diet. I used to add a scoop of whey protein to this smoothie but stopped since whey protein is not natural. I have considered going back to doing that in order to boost my protein intake but have not yet. 

If my workout was especially brutal and I feel that I am going to need protein to recover, I eat a hard boiled egg. Also, following my 2+ hour run on the weekends, instead of a smoothie, I will eat a banana and a hard boiled egg.

Lunch is a fist sized meat (chicken, beef, pork), fist sized portion of vegetables, and a fist sized serving of a carb (rice, potatoes). The cabs give me the immediate energy that I need and we all know the benefits of the meat and vegetables. 

Lately I have been bringing a hard boiled egg to work to eat when I get hungry late afternoon. This substitutes for any carb grazing that I might do. It is also high in protein. 

Dinner is a salad consisting of a little lettuce, a lot of spinach or kale, 1/4 avocado, mackerel/salmon/tuna from a can (I know this is bad but I can;t afford fresh fish on a nightly basis), onions, tomato, olives topped with olive oil and Italian seasoning/oregano/basil for taste. 

Then, I snack and this is where it gets bad. I try to stay to peanuts which are high in calories but natural and do have some protein. I will also eat pretzels. Pretzels are low in fat, high in carbs & processed but they have a lot of sodium which helps my body retain water. I drink a lot of water during the day but since I have a low sodium diet, I am apt to lose that water since I am not retaining it. Sodium helps me retain water. 

To try and curb my snacking I have been trying eating Ramen noodles with tofu. I know that the Ramen noodles are processed and that soy (tofu) and noodles are carbs. They are also no fat and the tofu is high in protein.  I am thinking that overall this is a better alternative to peanuts and pretzels. 

Last snack is 1/2 an apple with natural peanut butter at 9 pm. I eat this with my daughter. 

So that is the Bro Diet. It is not perfect but is an eating plan to eat naturally, cut fat, and build muscle. The results are 40 pounds lost after I had a regular workout program, watched what I ate and got the best life insurance rating you can get. I never get sick (knock on wood). 

I have stuck with this eating plan for the long term and it continues to work. Because it works for me. I have tried a lot of things that have not worked for me. I don't know if this will work for you. 

Thank you for reading.

2nd Upper Body of the week

Did my second upper body this week with the last being Sunday. I got it in since life’s schedule will not allow me to work out on Saturday and Sunday I will not be able to do my hill/trail run so I am going to a Spartan group workout class at a local gym. Good to make sure that I get the upper body weight lifting in so that I can be flexible with what I do tomorrow. I am thinking football field conditioning.

For those of you who follow my blog postings you may ask why I am doing a Spartan training class since I have posted opposition to packaged workout programs. I am doing it since #1 they have a rope for me to practice on, and #2 it will be good and fun to throw something different into the mix. I expect it to be a good overall total body strength and conditioning workout.

Warm Up:

• 50 Jumping Jacks (http://youtu.be/dmYwZH_BNd0)
• 40 Squats w/12 kg bar (http://youtu.be/QKKZ9AGYTi4)
• 30 Sit Ups
• 20 Judo Pushups (http://youtu.be/sqiV1mbqbtA)
• 10 Burpees (http://youtu.be/O7_TBHno0Os)

Chest/Back Routine - 5 sets increasing in weight and decreasing in reps 20/15/10/5/3. To compensate for lighter weights keep a good pace.

• Bench Press (http://youtu.be/gRVjAtPip0Y)
• Barbell Row (http://youtu.be/Xglwz5hwRYs) ** I start from the floor every rep and bring barbell to my chest. Purpose is to exactly replicate the bench press in reverse.
• Barbell Shoulder Press (http://youtu.be/8gVEdhS5AEs)
• Pull Ups / Dips / Chin Ups

Notes / Results:

• Time: 70 minutes - 5 minutes less than last time but would like to get this back to 60
• Weight: 193. Need to tighten up my diet. I can get back to 190 with just a little discipline. A post on my Bro-Diet is in the works.
• Bench Press
• Previous high: 3@155
• Sets: 20@100*, 15@105, 10@120, 5@125*, 2@145
• Barbell Row
• Previous High: 4@170
• Sets: 20@100, 15@110, 10@125, 5@145*, 3@155, 3@165*
• Press
• Previous High: 3@100 or 1@105
• Sets: 20@60, 15@65, 7@75/3@75, 5@85, 2@90
• Pull Ups(P)/Dips(D)/Chin Ups(C)/Rope Pull Ups(R)/Monkey Bars(M)/Leg Ups(L)
• Sets: 4R, 5D@5#, M, 5C, 5D@10#,5L, 2P, 5D@15#, 3R, M, 3D@20#, 3L, 3P, 3D@20#, 3R
• Finisher - 30 Burpees

Leg Day

The only comment that I can make beyond my results is that I was having a twinge/pop in the back of my knee along with pain along the inside half of my left leg. I rested, got good sleep, ate extra protein and today did not experience any problems. This included increasing weight on my squats, deadlift & dumbbell step ups.

Warm Up:

• 50 Jumping Jacks (http://youtu.be/dmYwZH_BNd0)
• 40 Body Weight Squats (http://youtu.be/QKKZ9AGYTi4)
• 30 Sit Ups
• 20 Judo Pushups
• 10 Burpees (http://youtu.be/O7_TBHno0Os)

Leg Routine - Switched to a reps per set of 20 / 15 / 10 / 5 / 3

• Barbell Squats (http://youtu.be/b_uAOqA-pxY)
• Barbell Deadlift (http://youtu.be/nFw69zIssgQ)
• Step Ups (http://youtu.be/Jyb_oHDHJZo)

Notes / Results:

• Time: 65 minutes
• Weight: 193

• Squats
• Previous High:3@165
• Sets: 20@55, 15@75, 10@95, 5@125, 3@145 - nervous about going higher since my form was breaking down on the last 2 sets
• Deadlift
• Previous High: 5@275
• Sets: 20@145, 15@165, 10@195, 5@215, 3@235*
• Step Ups
• Previous high: 3@60
• Sets: 5@45, 5@50, 5@55, 3@60, 3@60
• Finisher: 30 Burpees