Food!

I was trying to search for articles about the Philippines strongest man Richie Rosales when I came upon Eclipse’s Guide to Men’s Fitness. It was a nice article though I don’t agree with it entirely. After reading the article it made me rethink my diet. Am I eating enough? So far based on my last PR attempt I am doing good. But in my current training cycle I am finding difficulties. I have most difficulty during Max Day for squats/deadlift. I can’t complete the routines as given by Marlon. Is the weight too much? Marlon won’t be giving it if he knows I can’t do it. Also I am not bulking up fast enough, prompting Marlon to recommended the use of creatine. So far I am satisfied with creatine. The difficulty I was having with the max benchday is gone. I was able to add to my work set and completed the routines. I am also taking in glutamine. I have listed my target usage in a previous post. Though I may have to reduce the glutamine dosage since the whey I am using have 2grams per scoop. Now with regards to food! I would increase my intake till this cycle ends. I am now back to 1 rice during lunch, and drinking more whey. By the way I would also be cycling my whey intake together with my creatine, and glutamine supplements. I would need to bulk up. You need muscles to lift more weight, and you need to eat more to build muscles. I ensure I always have protein in whatever I eat. I would just try my very best to avoid fatty foods, junk food, and too much sweets. Starting tomorrow I would try to log all my food intake again, just to see if I am taking enough protein and carbs. Not to accurate but it is a step. To summarize ‘more food = more muscle = more strength = higher PRs’.

Weekend workout and supplementation program

I got to use the lifting strap for the first time. It was very useful. I would ask a friend of mine to buy me one. Now I would have to choose what type. Would it be the cotton or the leather one?

I think the supplements are working. Was able to increase weights used last Sunday. Would be continuing supplementation for the next 8 to 9 weeks. I started supplementing WW37. Now with regards to dosage, I am currently taking 3 grams of glutamine everyday before going to sleep and last week I started using glutamine post workout. Starting this week I would be adding it too in my pre workout. I am also now taking creatine. I take around 5g. in the morning during off days and during workout days I take in 5g pre and 5g post. After what I have read and inputs from Marlon here is what I plan to do.

Glutamine:

Off day – 3g before sleeping

Light Workout days – 3g pre and 3g post + 3g before sleeping

Heavy workout days – 5g pre and 5g post + 3g before sleeping

*would be taking it 30 mins before workout and immediately after workout with carbs

Creatine:

Off day – 5g in the morning (after breakfast)

Light workout days – 5g pre and 5g post

Heavy workout days – 8g pre and 5g post

*cycling would be 8 weeks on 4 weeks off

Whey:

Off day – 1 scoop 3x a day ( am snack, pm snack, night snack (8pm))

Workout day – 1 scoop am snack, 2 scoops pre workout, post workout would be chocolate milk + glutamine and creatine, 30 mins. after 1 scoop in water

Multivitamins:

1 in the morning

1 after dinner

Liquids:

At least 10 glasses of water (~3.5liters)

12 glasses during workout days (~4.25liters)

Sept. 9 and 10 workouts

The Saturday workout was relatively good. I did it alone since Marlon can’t make it. The exercises were:

Low box squat 60x9x2

Speed Sumo deadlift 95x2x2 (wrong load!)

Speed Sumo DL 75x3x2

Rack Pulls 80x3x10 (should have been just two sets)

Reverse Hypers (3x12)

Super 21’s (2 sets)

Arch Stretch (was not able to do since I would be exceeding 1 hr)

Learned to start the squat with the head first, and to tighten everything during the squat.

The Sunday workout was a bit of a stretch. It was Max bench day. The routines were:

Smith machine 2” off chest 55x5x3 (tried 60 but it was still too heavy for me)

Smith machine 4” off chest close grip (forgot the weight but it was 5x3)

Arch stretch

Triceps push down (17.5x3x8)

Lat pulls (using ropes)

The first two exercises taught me many things: set up, use the legs, flatten your foot on the floor to lock your hips, be aggressive in your approach, tighten everything during the lift from start to finish. Marlon wasn’t satisfied that we didn’t finish the second exercise, so he ask me to redo the last set. I aggressively approached the set and nailed it in one go. It was good!

Max day

Low start DL 5x5 @90kg

Dumbbell RDL 5x9 @ 40lbs

Bent Over Rows 3x10 @ 60kg

Good Mornings 3x10 @ 40kg

Speed Squat

The low box speed squat was quite difficult today since I was still sore from the low start deadlift I did last Thursday. But still I got 8 sets of 2 reps each nailed down. Because of the soreness my speed deadlift suffered too. Coach advised me to take cretine supplement. It seems that food alone is not enough to build the muscles I need. Let’s see what it will do.

Max Bench

Overall it was a good max bench day today. Got to work on my arch. It seems that I got the arch thing nailed. I was able to lift more with proper technique. I was able to use my setup (arch, feet placement, push with the legs) to lift 5kgs more from last weeks weight. We also did arch stretch today.