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Did you break your metabolism?

While you can’t “break” your metabolism, excessive and repetitive periods in a prolonged hypocaloric state can leave your metabolism “depressed”. If you’ve eaten or exercised yourself into a corner, read on.

Our bodies are constantly striving to maintain equilibrium, and our metabolism quickly adjusts to balance (counter, resist) changes in energy intake or expenditure. This is why the common advice of EAT LESS MOVE MORE runs out of steam pretty quickly. Especially for those that have already been taking that approach for a while, or has already seen significant body re-composition.

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Consistency. What they are doing that you are not.

I get it. When you see that guy or gal in the gym with the physique you want, it’s natural to think “what are they doing that I am not?”. Unfortunately, most of the time that thought starts and ends with either the exercises they are performing or the neon-pink swill they are slurping between sets.

But rest assured, if said individual has a great physique, there’s almost certainly nothing magical about their program or peri-workout nutrition!

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Tracking Data

Progress on my cut: Master of straight lines?

Just a progress update and some observations as I push deeper into this cut. Between my hamstrings and body weight charting, I am proving to be the master of straight lines.

As progress on this cut continues, I hit a new low weigh-in this morning of 188.5 lbs.

At the the start of this cut, I was torn. Do I simply drop the chub or look to push deeper into lean this time around? However, I ended-up deferring that decision, opting instead to change the nature of the game and see how far I could get without any kind of food tracking or unnecessary restriction.

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Gains Monster

The gains monster is an attention-seeking child

The gains monster is everywhere, just waiting for you to slip-up. Make a mistake. Leave yourself vulnerable. And then, without warning, it’ll suck you dry of everything you’ve worked for.

Yesterday was absolutely manic from start to end.

Up at the crack of dawn, fighting with traffic to get to a four-hour training course. Dashing out ten minutes before the end to get a jump on traffic to race back home in time for another two hours of conference calls.

Breakfast was so-so, and only moderately nutritious.

Lunch was skipped in exchange for making it to my next meeting.

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Do you have a reference physique?

We all need something to motivate us. Push us to the next level. One way to do this is having a reference physique you aspire to. Who’s picture do you have pinned to your refrigerator?

Do you have a reference physique?

A photo or image of a body that encapsulates everything you admire and desire in a physique, but a physique that is also attainable for your height, build and genetics?

The latter is important, for no matter how much I love Arnold’s body, I don’t have his build or genetics. The bone structure, the deep insertion points and thick muscle bellies. I can literally never look like him.

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I see potential everywhere

I’m lucky enough to have a gym at work, but depending on my split, I still have to train closer to home at the weekends.

For me, that means hitting-up my local 24 Hour Fitness.

Living way in the burbs, east of San Francisco, clientele at the gym skews older; quite a bit older, in fact.

At peak times, you still see groups of jocks congregating around the benching station, but by and large, the majority of the men and women are in their thirties, forties and fifties.

And you know what, a lot of them are pretty darn jacked!

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Stop waiting to be ready

Are you still putting things off, waiting for that moment when the stars align and you’re finally able to declare you’re ready?

I know I’ve been there; we probably all have.

And frankly, given my ability to procrastinate, finesse and otherwise bog down on details, without my very best effort, I’ll likely be there again.

I stumbled across this quote this morning, on Facebook of all places, and it immediately struck a chord with me.

It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any. – Hugh Laurie

Don’t spend your life waiting to be ready, or it–whatever it is–may simply never happen.

My porridge is juuuust right.

arnold-schwarzeneggers-mammoth-chest-and-back-workout_graphics_arnold-series-3We’ve all done it; an extra set here, an extra set there, swapped out an exercise, or perhaps added a new one. Instinctive training, they call it, and some swear by it. Me? I am not so sure.

For almost a year now, I’ve been working with Adam Bornstein and following his training programs. Sure, we’d make a bunch of swaps for certain exercises, and he’d always encourage skipping anything that hurt etc. But that’s not what I am talking about.

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Ding ding, round two

My current program has me working the entire body twice in the week, Monday through Saturday, with Sunday being a well-earned day of rest.

Here’s the split:

  • Monday: Legs
  • Tuesday: Chest and shoulders
  • Wednesday: Back
  • Thursday: Legs II
  • Friday: Back and arms
  • Saturday: Chest and shoulders

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Another milestone in the rear view

VascularityWe reached a new milestone this morning, seeing 185lb on the morning scale for the first time! Sure, we need to see it more than once, but once is a great start.

For perspective, last November I was 169lb, and on January 1st, I was holding 175lb in the mornings. As it turns out, 175lbs was a HUGE sticking point for me. It took another two months to break that plateau and inch toward 180lb. I’m not sure what’s happened, but 185lb has come pretty quick by comparison… just a month since I was dunked at 180lb on March 25th. Gettin’ chubby.

With 185lbs in my grasp, I’ve been thinking about quantifying my goals. The numbers make it real, and kinda scary.

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Too long to Tweet

IMG_20150425_083821-COLLAGESometimes, I have a lot to say… other times, not so much. Of late, I’ve not had a lot good to say, so I’ve kept pretty quiet. Twitter is where I spend most of my time, and a closed Facebook group I am part of. You can also see crappy progress pics and photos of food up at Instagram.

So why let the blog slip?

I’ve pondered this long and hard and come to the conclusion that I need to lower the bar somewhat. Not necessarily in terms of quality, just in terms of airing thoughts and getting stuff down. I tend to set the bar too high for the blog, looking for ways to write an elaborate detailed and thematic post, and that can turn into a half day commitment… time I just don’t have (or want to dedicate) to blogging.

So my plan is try and post a few times a week, but to make those posts shorter and easy to digest. That way, I still get to write, you still get to read, and collectively, they still tell the story of me.

As I always point out, this blog is more of a journal than a resource, and thus usefulness and/or interest to the reader will vary dramatically. There’s too much information on health, fitness and bodybuilding out there, and if you do want REAL information, you’ll already be following the likes of Adam Bornstein and Bryan Krahn.

As always, if you have questions about what I am doing, my goals, plans etc., just ask – I’m always happy to share my experiences and what I have (or at least should have) learned.