Mon 18 Jan 2010
W.O.W. 1/17/09 “Blowing out Candles”
Posted by Doug McGuff under Uncategorized
For my 48th birthday I decided to treat myself to a Doug Holland flourish to my WOW by inserting my leg press in the middle of my workout. I typically start with leg press because I like to get a big metabolic hit right out of the gate and then try to sustain it through the remainder of the workout. I thought the different approach may actually prove harder…I mean, why else would Doug Holland do it?
Pullover
Chest Press
Leg Press
Compound Row
Overhead Press
I must say that by the time I hit the Row, I was sucking wind. I traded 12 minutes of workout time for 15 minutes of carpet time. I was surprised how demanding placing the leg press mid workout was. I wonder if our metabolic adaptations are not also very specific, as this minor change in order produced a major change in metabolic effect. Perhaps it was the birthday effect, as I always want to do it better than the year before. One thing’s for certain, if you held my birthday cake in front of the compound row during this workout, I would have blown out all 48 candles.
Post your WOW’s
I have been trying to post from my ipod touch but keeps showing “comments awaiting moderation” so here I am on the pc.
I have been doing weekly tabata protocols using chins and dips (1 10-10 rep followed by 10 second break repeated 8 times) just to keep some metabolic conditioning while finishing recovery from hernia surgery on December 18th…. doing these weekly, just did the third one yesterday. I have ok to do upper body but am waiting to do lower body till Feb. 20. I do plan to do a fuller upper body routine on Feb. 13, but this could change depending on follow up appointment with surgeon on Feb. 4.
I have started to consume raw milk and cream as well as raw eggs, and even some raw meat (grass fed)…. so similar to paleo but more dairy obviously and with milk, carbs are between 100-150 grams a day but still between 10-15% of total calories. (not counting milk carbs, probably 50 or less per day, and no grain products.) Body composition scale shows increase in lean body tissue already without much in the way of workouts so I’m eager to see when I start working out more. Some of you may have heard the interview on Superhuman radio with Randy Roach and Josh Trentine where Josh, already a pro natural bodybuilder is reporting gains of 15-20 pounds on this regmen and considers it the single best thing he has ever done for gains.
Having read “Good calories, Bad Calories” recently and about halfway through “Lights out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival” and seeing the logic in both, I’m left with a question, there are people whose diets are high in carbs, including refined carbs who are still thin, some too thin, and this applies to people who exercise and some who don’t… how do we explain this? Are these people who have adapted better to year long carbs as opposed to the historical availability of having them only in summer in preparation for winter famine? Thanks and best to all.
Oh, and belated birthday wishes, Doug!
@Rick-that is a good question and I think the answer is somewhere in the range of biochemical individuality (the variability to use vs.store energy) and calorie intake. I suppose a “naturally” thin person has a greater ability to use the energy they consume, either produced as heat or used in increased activity. Many thin people may simply consume less energy, causing the body to burn more fat for energy (even if you consume a lot of carbs, if your total energy intake is low, your body will still need to make up the difference through glycogen release and gluconeogenesis, including release and use of fatty acids from storage. On the other hand, even if you consume a diet that doesn’t drive up insulin but is still far above your needs, you will store some of it as fat.) Anyway, it seems to me most of those skinny people who are able to seemingly eat as much as they want and remain thin are not the ones who are able to build loads of muscle.
@Thomas, thanks for feedback!
@Rick-interesting diet. I don’t think I could handle raw eggs and raw beef. How is it? Why so much raw?
@Rick
Taubes and others talk about a “metabolic defect” in the other direction. Meaning the body’s impaired ability to store energy. These people are compelled to expend the energy they take in. We all know them. Eat what they want, stay thin, and have a difficult time sitting still! There aren’t as many of these people around as those who can easily store energy. My guess is that a million years ago or so, people with this “impairment” had a difficult time finding enough food to keep them around. Age, of course, also impacts metabolism. Changes in liver function, hormones, stress, sleep patterns, bone and muscle mass,etc. all impact metabolism.
“Body composition scale shows increase in lean body tissue already without much in the way of workouts so I’m eager to see when I start working out more” maybe you are experiencing these gains because you are working out less.
I too have been experimenting with diet and am experiencing fat loss after having stayed at about the same weight for the past couple of years do the low carb thing.
@Hugh-I’m interested to hear about your diet experiment.
@Thomas
Have only been conducting the experiment for 10 days, but I’m down six pounds. I want to give it at least 30 days to see what happens and I will update.