Metabolism

Ok, so check this out!!

"Muscle is the engine for your metabolism. If you gain one pound of muscle, you must consume an extra fifty calories per hour to support it. On a brighter note, for every pound of muscle you build, you can eat an extra fifty calories per hour without gaining fat.
Lifting weights with your PowerBlock increases your bone density therefore decreasing your chances for osteoporosis. You will be stronger to rise from your chair or carry grandchildren. Maintaining muscle speeds up your metabolism and increases the good HDL cholesterol. More muscle helps raise your aerobic capacity and prevent type II diabetes because additional muscle uses more oxygen, and takes up extra sugar." (Seabourne, 2000)

The cool part about this article is that it is talking about the benefits for senior citizens. I don't know about you but if this is something that good ol' Doc Seabourne is preaching to help prevent osteoporosis, type II diabetes, and maintain or increase good HDL cholesterol; just think about the benefits it will have on your young body. Besides all of that (which isn't my main point) strength training builds muscle which in turn increases metabolism.

When someone comes to me that is a male/female, 300+ pounds that wants to lose weight; guess what I'm going to tell them...... Strength training. If someone that wants to get better at...... golf.... guess what, strength training. If a early 20's something women want to get in better shape and look better..... strength training.

I'm not saying that all someone has to do is strength train (build muscle) to achieve their goals. I'm just saying that it should be the base for any good program. After it is achieved then go run around like a crazy person and condition your ass off until you have become satisfied.

What most people do is condition their ass off, eat small amounts (1 maybe 2 times a day) and emaciate themselves until they have reached the body type they want. Guess what..... that screws up your metabolism system (along with other things) so bad that when the person decides that they do want to eat food and not spend 2+ hours on the treadmil they will blow up into a big ballon. I'll give you one guess why....... NO MUSCLE MASS (along with other things, i.e. crap diet, lack of strength training). People can mask a "healthy" body, but when their motivation runs out for eating nothing and over conditioning it will show through.

Conclusion:

If you want to lose fat and find a new found metabolism then you need to strength train. (Lady's.... you wont turn into bulky meat heads.... just very well defined, curvy, appealing women with confidence and the strength to kick most emaciated, over conditioned, under fed men's asses.)

Reference:

Seabourne, T. (2000, March). Lead story: your muscle is the engine for your metabolism.. Retrieved from ://www.betterbodz.com/Tom/metabolism_gaining_muscle.html

This looked like a lot of fun. Unofficial meets take the seriousness out of it but lends the experience to someone that is entering a competitive environment. I like it!

Reaching Goals

I'm hitting a lot of long time goal PR's lately. This is due to diligence, diet, programing, and maintaining good technique. Now that I've reached and exceeded every goal that I set over a year ago; I reset and made new goals. Bench 315, Squat 405, and Deadlift 495. These are long term goals, and by long term I mean years. As it stands right now I'm about 75 pounds from hitting these numbers. Some would say that "if you trained right then you should hit them in less then a year." Yeah maybe if I wanted to take on injury and live in an overtrained world during that time. Even then, due to the insane stress I would be putting on my body, I probably would just shut down and shit myself. Don't lose sight of "LIFE LONG LIFTING". Celebrate achievements (steak, beer, veggies) and move on to the next step. I'm not talking about the newer lifters that are joining this insane world. You need to be hitting the gym every chance you get, practicing technique, and greasing the groove. I'm talking about the fellas and shellas that are taking it to the next level and need to maintain scheduled rest for recovery. Moral of the story...... Set goals.... reach goals.....make new goals. Repeat this cycle until you are dead.

Being Busy Is No Excuse

First I want to say sorry for taking so long to post. I'm sure everyone loved looking at the pictures of those two beautiful male entities for so long!! I've had a very busy last couple months. I got a job after being unemployed for 13 months that has taken some adjusting. Fortunately I started Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program at the same time. Reading through his book helped me to better understand the life long lifting mentality that has been beaten into me ever since I meet Tim Favreau. Wendler's program focuses on the primary barbell movements :Squat, Press, Deadlift, and Bench. If you have time after those are accomplished then work on accessory movements supporting the big movements. It's that simple. Sometimes I work accessory stuff or nothing or something that has nothing to do with the movements. Depends on what mood I'm in. The point is, when life gets tough and schedules are overwhelming don't neglect the gym; make it work for you. This takes evaluating your goals to do successfully. For example, I have a goal of squatting 350 in sets. In a stress free, wide open schedule I would work my squats then work a conditioning set up that would focus on my core, quads, and hammies lasting approximately 10 to 15 minutes long. This would take my time in the gym from about 35 minutes or so to about an hour or so. When time is hard to find you have to evaluate your goals. My goal is to squat 350lbs. The best way to get my squat numbers up is to squat. The accessory work is great but when time is tight what should you cut..... the primary movement that is going to get you to your goal or the accessory work that is supplemental to the goal? This understanding with the life long lifting mentality is going to make a stressful, lack of time schedule seem not so bad. Just get in, get it done, and get out. 35ish minutes later you're done, stronger, and still on the road to achieving your goal.

Losing Your Man Card

So, I'm a little confused. When did men decide to forfeit their man card and women decide that it is attractive. I was out on a leisurely stroll with the wife one hot summer night getting some ice cream when I noticed these two women holding hands. As the wife and I got closer I realized that one was a man (only biologically). This immediately inflamed me. The lady this man (only biologically) was with was very cute. So I thought, what about this frail, girlesk, feminine body was attractive to this lady? But even more than this, his swagger, if you can call it that, was equally as feminine. Look, I'm not harping on dudes that don't workout. There are plenty of men that display their man cards proudly that have never hit up a gym in their lives. I'm just trying to understand how women find this attractive:



Men, I'm calling all of you to step your game up! When you fall into anti man card category you represent all us men poorly!! I challenge you (first step to being a man, you can never refuse a challenge) to go out to Play It Again Sports (or any athletic sporting goods store) and pick up a 300 lbs. bar and weight set. This will range from $100 - $200. You can afford it, put down the palm aid and blow dryer, sell some of your girly cloths that won't fit after you start eating and lifting appropriately; take the money you have saved and pick up this simple tool. Start lifting and you will soon find the advantages of being a man!

Rest Week!!

Today is my last workout until I take my monthly week off. As mentioned in last post I read Jim Wendler's "5/3/1" book and it has inspired me. The training intensity that I am on right now is awesome, but only for a short amount of time. Wendler emphasizes a life long lifting mentality; not, do something for 90 days and quit. Apart of his program requires me to find my one rep max on Squat, Bench, and Deadlift. It's been about 6 months or so since I did a DL 1RM and performed outstanding, but I don't like doing them very often. It takes A LOT out of you, at least it did for me. The answer; Wendler came up with a simple program of finding a hypothetical 1 RM that is not absolutely accurate but will help you find a good number to start with without actually doing a 1 RM. This is what I did this week with my Squat, Bench, and today Deadlift. After today I will take a week off by performing active rest and then start Wendlers 5/3/1 program the following monday. The program that I made and have been doing the last 6 months has been awesome. I am not psychologically or physically burnt out and my numbers are going up consistently. I don't want to push it to that point where I'm overtrained and have to do longer recovery. So I'm changing it up while I'm still in the green and will hit up 5/3/1 for 6 months or so and see where I'm at.

What I did this week:
Mon.
Squat 270lbs max reps, Got 10
Wen.
Bench 190lbs. max reps, Got 10
Fri.
Deadlift 360lbs. max reps Got 6 (Disappointed with this number, goal was 8)

The knowledge of Jim Wendler

I received Jim Wendlers book "5/3/1" in the mail this weekend and read it through in one day. It's not a very big book but has a lot of good information in it. I would highly recommend anyone looking for a new program or just a well rounded lifting mentality to pick it up. I ordered it from EliteFTS.com and it came with a free "mystery" shirt. Mine just so happened to be a long sleeve shirt in the middle of summer.

What I did:
Squat 270lbs 1 set, max reps. (Goal was 8, I got 10) Really good day!
then
Light conditioning

Wendler is a beast!! You could hide small children in that beard.

Competing

I'm very excited to start looking into Powerlifting Competitions. You can click on this link Powerlifting Comp's to get a list of competitions throughout the nation. I was looking into one that meets Sept. 11 but found that it will not work out unfortunately; but there are plenty of other competitions to choose from. From what I have found there aren't any that are within 4 hours of my home town. This raises the question, how can I bring powerlifting comp's into my town? Most of the gyms in the area are fluff gyms. This does not discourage me from going gym to gym asking if they have thought about or want to look into hosting a PL comp. If you have any suggestions or know of competitions that are closer to Huntsville, AL email mail me at mattpittman75@gmail.com or leave a comment.

The girls that I am training have just finished their first month. I can already see small changes in there strength levels and fine tuning their technique. I do not have any of my clients sign a contract to stay with me X amount of time, but I do ask that they stay a minimum of 3 months in order to see some very clear results.

What the girls did:

Squat 3x5
then
3 pull ups
5 push ups
7 body squats
max rounds in 10 minutes