Eat till you're full!

Just a quick thought.

I've noticed that I tend to eat junk food not necessarily because I want junk food, but instead because I'm hungry, and junk food is easy to grab. I think it's important to make sure you eat enough quality food in a meal so that you don't end up snaking on something less than healthy later on. Basically, if you eat a lot of meat in your meal, you're less likely to grab a bag of chips later on.

It's a simple concept, but it goes a long way.

Powerlifting and Bodybuilding

I definitely consider myself to be a Powerlifter, and I've worked with  Powerlifting parameters ever since I started lifting, I've always loved sets of 3-5, and lots of singles. These are great rep ranges for building lots of strength, and I've had great success with them, however my results have been slowing down recently, so I'm taking the advice of my previous entry, and switching it up.

How am I going to be switching it up? Reps. Lots and lots of reps. I've decided that I'm not going to do any working sets under 5 reps for the next several months, basically I'll be working with Bodybuilding parameters for a while, however my overall goal will still be strength. At this point I believe I've maxed out my neuromuscular potential for strength with the amount of actual muscle tissue I have; plain and simple, I need to build more muscle before I can get much stronger, and Bodybuilding is the best thing for doing that.

Over the next few weeks I'll be updating this blog with my progress.

Today I worked chest:

Warm Up Sets on Bench Press:

130x10

180x5

200x3

220x1

Working Sets on Bench Press:

180x10

180x8

180x8

180x7
-
Close Grip Bench:

130x5

130x5

I finished the workout with a single set of slow paced dumbbell flies with 20lbs in each arm.



By the way, I had my first PL meet a couple weeks ago, check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpaakmgQ5iM

Switch it Up!

It's been a while since I've updated this blog because I'm a big dummy.

Anyway, I wanna talk about the importance of changing up what you do for both weight loss, and weightlifting.

As I've mentioned before, I first started dieting using low carb, and while that worked for a while, it eventually stopped giving me the results I wanted, so I switched to intermittent fasting, which works very well for me. However, I still have to switch up how I diet from time to time, although I generally stay within the parameters of IF. For instance: When I started IF, I used a 12:00pm - 4:00pm eating window, and I trained at some point within that window, after I'd eaten my first meal of the day. I got a lot of good results with that, but now recently I've had to change it up in order to keep getting results. Now I generally use a 2:00pm - 8:00pm  window, and I usually train at around 12:00pm, on a fasted stomach.

So what's the point? If you do the same thing for too long, your body adjusts to it, and will become stagnant; you'll stop making progress. When you introduce a new way of doing things to it, it's acts as a bit of a shock to your system, and you begin to make progress again.

The same thing applies to weightlifting. For a long time now, I've been a big fan of hardcore Powerlifting parameters - a bunch of sets of 1-3 reps, and while I've made some great strength gains with that, my progress has slowed down. So, I have to change things up with a variety of different variables which include Pause Reps, Negatives, and Varied Grip width for the bench, and plenty of high-rep drop sets. Same thing for the Deadlift. When I stopped adding pounds to my DL, I started doing Deficit Lifts, Rack Pulls, and Hang Cleans to mix things up, and now my numbers are on the rise again.

tl;dr, Don't do the same thing for too long.

Intermittent Faaaaaasting

Earlier this year, after getting burnt out on Low Carb dieting, I decided to give intermittent fasting a go....It's wonderful. It allows you to eat somewhat more liberally, while still maintaining steady results; there's a reason so many people swear by it. It just works.

How does it work? Basically, fat loss comes down to using stored energy in your body. During the fasting portion of your day, your body doesn't have a choice but to use up fat for energy, it has to run on something.
So why not just stop eating until you're skinny? Because you'll screw up your body in a major way, and the results will actually be SLOWER than if you had eaten a reasonable diet in the same amount of time.
How the hell does that work? When you deprive your body of outside sources of energy for too long, it goes into 'survival mode' where it holds on to as much fat as it can, so you can go longer without food, without dying. Other results of this include an extreme decrease in energy, because your body is rationing it's activity, and you'll be really freaking hungry all the time.
How does intermittent fasting fix this? Because you're still giving your body food in your eating window, your body doesn't go into survival mode, and because of this, it doesn't hesitate to let go of any excess fat during the fasting portion of your day.

 Pro Tip: Drink a ridiculous amount of water during the fasting part of your day, it'll help your body process more fat during that period. (you should drink tons of water all the time, but specifically a lot during this time)

Drink your water, children.

Something I think a lot of people tend to overlook is the necessity to be drinking a ridiculous amount of water when trying to lose weight (or anytime, for that matter). It is certainly possible to lose weight without drinking lots of water, but it's not very efficient, and can seriously hold back your results. Honestly, there are lots of overweight people who could actually start losing weight JUST by drinking more water, even if their diet stayed the same (but of course that would only go so far).

Why, and how? Water is the vessel through which your body expels processed fat. When you drink lots of soda, or juice, your body is getting rid of the excess nonsense in the drink instead of getting rid of the excess nonsense in your body. By simply drinking lots of water, you're giving your body an empty vessel that it can expel fat through.


tl;dr, drink a bunch of water, you'll lose weight faster.

Getting Started

Welcome to my blog.

First things first, I don't claim to be the biggest, or strongest, the purpose of this blog is to document my progress, and share some of the odd things I'm doing for weightloss and strength gains that could potentially be beneficial to other people trying to lose weight, or get stronger.

Second things second, here are some questions you might have about this blog, and my answers.

What's different about me? I don't follow the same routines most people do for fitness. I don't count calories, and I don't count macros, and I've had great success losing weight and gaining muscle. My philosophy is based off of strength training being the cornerstone to weight loss and fitness; basically, I believe heavy weightlifting should be a higher priority than a strict diet for fat loss. The reason I think this way is because of my experience. I know from the past -and I still do this from time to time- that I can eat garbage, but still lose weight if I hit the gym hard that day.

Why should you listen to me? My track record. In 2011 I weighed 250lbs, I could bench press 155, and deadlift 215, and at that point I never really did squats. Now I weigh 205lbs, I can bench press 235, Deadlift 405, and Squat 385. I know that's not a lot of progress to make over almost 3 years, but keep in mind I really didn't know what the hell I was doing until late 2012, early 2013.

I'll be updating this blog multiple times a week, talking about my current fitness goals and my progress towards them, as well as odd subjects like losing weight while eating a bunch of icecream.