Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-20
- time to get back into diet and gym - changed jobs and have been slacking off. Had nice 1hour legs and back workout today.. 600calories burnt #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-14
- Back to gym after my week off.yet to plan my new program, so will stick to the old one until it’s ready.hard going to gym in winter.. #
I’m Back!
Hey followers,
I am back after my weeks break. I hadn’t quite finished my program (had about 3 days to go) but I came down with the flu (not swine) and decided to have my break then and there.It was a good break, had some alcohol for the first time in a month and it showed 
didn’t take much hehe. My body felt like it recovered. I felt a bit slack not working out, I feel instantly fatter. It’s funny how the mind can make you feel that way, yet when you sit down and be lazy when your fat, its the opposite, getting up and exercising is the horrible concept.
I’m fairly busy with work and study at the moment so I’m yet to put down all my workout plans on (digital) paper, but I will be doing that this weekend. Hence I won’t have any real updates on my blog until this weekend.
I will be changing the way I will be updating my blog as well, I will do a twitter update every day, just to save myself some time doing a detailed blog about my workout. I will then post a weekly summary of how the workouts went for the weeks in some more detail.
Also keep an eye out of an article on HIIT, I know Rob was looking forward to one, so I will have that done in the next few days as well.
So if you aren’t already, start following my Twitter Account!
I also appreciate everyone’s comments, keeps me motivated, so keep them up.
More info soon…
Workout 19 & 20
I’ve been extreamly lazy the last few days and haven’t updated the blog 
I didn’t goto gym on the weekend anyway so nothing was missed. I did however, go on Friday.
Workout 19
I completed “Workout Day 4” today. One more run through and its done. Ahh chest. I love doing chest. I increased the weight on the Peck Deck and High Peck deck. Was really struggling to get all the reps out but managed it. My chest was definantley feeling the pain on the weekend from pushing so hard. Chest and abs are the remaining muscles I want to put a lot of work into to shape them nicley. Leg raises as usual DESTROYS abs. After each set I do I feel as if im about to throw up. It’s strangley a good feeling… I did HIIT on the treadmill again, shins held up nicley.
- Workout Duration: 1hour 38 minutes
- Calories Burnt: 737
- Heart Rate Max: 179
- Heart Rate Average: 139
Workout 20
Ohhh I am so glad to be done with “Workout Day 1“. Legs and back, and the hardest workout on the list. I pushed the Squats up another 2.5kg, the calf raises up 2.5 kg and the Barbell over hand and underhand row up 5kg. I thought my calves were going to tear off, I could barley walk after I did all my sets. I bet they will be sore tomorrow. Back is feeling a bit sore as well. The problem with working the back is hurting your back in a bad way feels very similar to working your back in a good way, you can’t really tell until a few days later if you hurt it or worked it. I didn’t do any cardio today, just was not in the mood for running and then destroying my legs through weights.
- Workout Duration: 1hour 17 minutes
- Calories Burnt: 602
- Heart Rate Max: 17
- Heart Rate Average: 141
Conclusion To “Day 1″ Workouts
Well I think I’ve made quite good progress on the weights I was using for these exercises. My girlfriend tells me she doesn’t want my legs any bigger than they are, so I will be easing off the legs when I do my new program, just try and maintain there size, and perhaps work on toning the calves a bit more. I won’t miss you though workout day 1. Your one hard bastard.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-31
- Legs are sore… Really don’t wanna go to gym.damn winter.I’ll force myself though! #
- wow i thought my legs were doing ok. sat down for dinner. stood up and then nearly fell over! #
Water Retention
I want to first thanks Hodge for giving me the opportunity to guest post, about water retention, on his awesome blog.
I am just an average guy that is trying to go from fat to fit. A long the way I have learned some things that have worked for me. Some of it is through personal experience and some of what I have ingested is advice and wisdom from my personal trainer. So here is my take on water retention and how it affects the body and your look as well.
We all need water in our body. That is a given fact. Water retention is basically caused by excess sodium. What happens is that the water we ingest adheres to the sodium molecules in our body. This builds up fluid retention which locates itself under the skin which covers the muscles. Thus covering up the toned muscles and hiding the definition that is really there; while adding some extra weight as well.
So what needs to be done is that this excess water that is covering the toned muscles has to be eliminated by your body and this can be done in a number of ways that I have listed here:
- Drinking more water helps to release the water that is already there.
- Reduce the amount of sodium intake.
- Sweat it out through exercise or by sitting in a sauna or steam room. This also helps to release excess sodium form your body as well.
That’s why you’ll see a lot of professional body builders in there just before a competition. By releasing the excess water they get a more defined look. This of course is only a temporary solution. What works for me is removing the excess sodium from your diet. I achieve it by:
- Reading labels and avoid foods with high sodium levels.
- Try not to consume processed foods because they use sodium to keep the food preserved. I make some foods from scratch, like my salsa.
- When snacking I eat raw and natural cashews or almonds and I stay away from chips.
- I don’t drink sodas. They contain sodium as well.
- Eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. The fiber in these help eliminate the excess fluid as well.
- When cooking replace salts with other spices like black or cayenne pepper or garlic.
I think by following these suggestions one can not only lose weight and get healthy as well, but they also can get a more toned look; the natural way.
On an added note I have to say that our bodies do need some sodium to function and to help with metabolism. So it’s not healthy to eliminate all sodium. I am just suggesting that one should try to avoid excess sodium in your diet. By trial and error you can see what levels work for you and what gives you the results you’re looking for.
Rob is author of the RobFitness Blog - http://robfitness.wordpress.com/
Workout 18
Well “Workout Day 5” is finished for the program.Was a good workout, I increased the weights on the EZ Bar Curl only. I could have pushed myself a bit more on he hammer curls but by the end they were fairly burning so it worked them well. I was back on the tread mill today doing 15 minute HIIT run, my shins didnt get sore at all which was nice. There was only a handful of people at the gym so I was able to complete all my exercises.
- Workout Duration: 1hour 29 minutes
- Calories Burnt: 670
- Heart Rate Max: 180
- Heart Rate Average: 139
Conclusion To Day 5 Workouts
Four weeks of arms and abs. I don’t feel my abs have really gotten anywhere, but that’s most likely due to diet and water retention. I will be working on my abs a lot more when I start on my cutting program in about 2 months time. My arms, on the other hand have seen big improvements. I actully had two people comment on my arms at the gym today, one guy I have chatted to quite a bit at the gym (who’s almost as big as Arnie), and a random girl I met today. She said “wow, your arms look amazing”. So that was a really good feeling / conclution to my arm workout program. Means a lot when some random chick comments on how good you are looking. Big confidence booster and it gives you a feeling that you have accomplished something.
So where to from here for my arms and abs? Find out when I do the write up on my next program when I finish of the rest of my workout days.
Workout 17
Legs were buggered today. I thought I’d do some bike as the HIIT but that hurt more than anything else I’ve done, so I only did it for 10 minutes, then hopped onto the tread mill and did a steady jog for another 10 minutes. My shin wasn’t hurting but I took it easy just in case.
Again, I completed most of “Workout Day 3“. The cable pull down machine was in use AGAIN today. Every time I finished a set I would look up and try and grab it but for the whole time I was there it was taken. So I substituted pull ups for the cable pull down instead, works the same muscles anyway I guess. I didn’t increase any weights in this workout, they are all pretty difficult as they are.
- Workout Duration: 1hour 22 minutes
- Calories Burnt: 631
- Heart Rate Max: 181
- Heart Rate Average: 140
Just as a little side bar, Rob from RobFitness will be making a guest post on GroupFit reguarding Water Retention. Keep an eye out for it. I hadn’t really heard of this mentioned when it comes to working out and fitness so I am interested to see how I can drop the amount of water my body is holding and see If I can become more toned, after I finish my creatine of course.
Workout 16
I was NOT feeling it at all today. Was contemplating not going at all. But I forced myself. I completed most of “Workout Day 2“. Half my reason was pure lazyness and the other half was people using the things I needed. I replaced Skull Crushers with triceps cable pull downs. They wreck so its okay! I increased the weight on the flat bench press and flat db press. I tired to go up another 5kg on the close grip press but almost crushed myself. Damn weak triceps. So I stuck to the old weight.
Did a 15 minute HIIT session on the cross trainer which i felt pretty good about. Thought my legs were to tired to do it but I managed fine. Until I came home and had dinner, and then they virtually fell off.
- Workout Duration: 1hour 27 minutes
- Calories Burnt: 669
- Heart Rate Max: 181
- Heart Rate Average: 140
Creatine and Weight Lifting
I had a follower, and regular commenter, Rob ask a question about Creatine. Rob’s question was as follows:
What does taking Creatine do for you when you take it before and after a workout and what form to you take it as?
I wasn’t sure of Rob’s EXACT context of the question so I decided to give a run down on the “official / scientific” side of Creatine, my person thoughts on the supplement, and how I take the supplement.
What Is Creatine?
Wikipedia states that “Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid that occurs naturally in vertebrates and helps to supply energy to muscle”. The Australian Institute of Sport web site has a lot of details about creatine, here is a summary of the most relevant points.
- Creatine is a naturally occurring compound found in large amounts in skeletal muscle as a result of dietary intake and endogenous synthesis from amino acids.
- Phosphorylated creatine provides a number of important functions related to fuel supply in the muscle. The most well known role is as a source of phosphate to regenerate ATP.
Food, diet and how the body uses energy is really a very complex topic so here are a few links to help you if you want more information about how it all works.
- http://www.musclehack.com/creatine-facts-what-is-the-best-creatine/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine_supplements
- http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net/creatineinformation.html
Creatine Anyone?
What Does Creatine Do?
Here are some more points from the Australian Institute of Sport web site.
- Creatine supplementation has been shown to enhance the performance of exercise involving repeated sprints or bouts of high intensity exercise, separated by short recovery intervals. Therefore, competition or training programs involving intermittent high-intensity work patterns with brief recovery periods (<1 min), or resistance training programs may be enhanced by creatine loading.
- Creatine loading promotes weight gain due to fluid retention.
- Overuse could potentially have a harmful effect on liver and kidney function.
This is why it can be helpful to training. It enhances performance when doing weight training (if your having bursts of weights with small breaks between each set). You don’t feel as muscle fatigued and you can get out more reps. The last point, about it potentially having a harmful effect on liver and kidney function, is why you “Creatine Load” and drink lots of water while loading.
Creatine Loading
Creatine loading is the way in which you take creatine, you don’t want to be taking it for weeks on end just for the hell of it. Here’s a point from the Australian Institute of Sport (its an informative site!).
- Creatine loading protocols have been well studied. Rapid loading may be achieved by five days of repeated doses of creatine (e.g. 4 x 5 g doses). A similar loading will occur over a longer period (28 days) by taking a daily dose of 3 g (slow load).
I am currently using “Universal Nutrition Storm” as my creatine. The way I am currently “loading” is to have creatine 30 minutes before, and within 30 minutes of completing a workout (as recommended by my creatine brand). This would be the “Slow Load” method. I try and only do creatine for 1 month at a time, and then go off it for one month. For 2 reasons, one is the possible effect on liver and kidney function, and two being the fact that if you keep taking the same thing all the time, your body gets used to the effects. Got to keep the body on its toes if you want it to change.
Universal Nutrition Storm
Marcus, the owner of the site MuscleHack experimented with the rapid loading method, but found no difference from the slow method. He keeps with the slow load method as its more convenient. You can read about it here : http://www.musclehack.com/my-creatine-experiment-update/
My Creatine Experience
Here’s a list of things I have found during my usage of creatine:
- It tastes bad (I’ve only tried the one brand to be honest, but its yuck!).
- I do feel as though I have more energy when I am doing my workout (if this is a placebo effect or not, feeling better about your workouts is a good thing).
- I have had comments from people regarding how my muscles are looking after a week of creatine loading, and no change in routine.
- My body never really feels terrible the next day after a workout. I feel slightly sore but seemingly less sore than when I don’t creatine load. (Again, maybe its a placebo, but its a damn good one).
So my recommendation is try creatine when doing weights. All your going to waste is a few dollars buying some. I have included a list of interesting links on the topic in the sources section below.
Hopefully this answers your question Rob! Thanks for the question. You can check out Robs fat to fit journey at http://robfitness.wordpress.com/
- The Australian Institute Of Sport
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate
- http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net
