I'm watching the two masters duke it out at the Augustus Masters Golf tourney final round (I don't play or watch golf...but I'm partial to watching... the feline persuasion)...and have to revel at how FANTASTIC these golf giants look! And...PLAY. What has Phil been up to...??? A more proportioned V-look and smaller waist... and a strength, agility, and power in his stroke that hasn't yet been revealed until now. What awakened this Hugh Grant-like golf star? Did he discover Xfit? Or has he started lifting WEIGHTS with some INTENSITY...?! Did he cut back on wheat=grain-garbage...? GO Lefty!!Then . . there is the . . . T-i-g-e-r . . . Like my nieces, an elite hybrid of Asian and contemporary American genetics/culture. Coming off a long break (read: rehab'd knee) (and now with 2 cutey little children) looking FINER than evah...bro. Has he intensified his training with his Navy Seal buddies in San Diego? Check out the (still) narrow hips, beautific wide strong lats (Latissimus Dorsi, 'wings' ANGEL WINGS as my sister 'M' calls them on her former-Marines hubby), biceps/pects/traps...
Oh yeah... his golf game aint too bad either *wink* ROAR Tiger! Baby catch up :)
At Crossfit we have a few coaches who are fans of the longer Navy Seal type formats. Unfortunately I did bring my bro-in-law to one of these training days (and he has yet to come back *bummer*). To say the least, these Xfit days are memorable workouts... I recall, we did 8-6-4-2-1 rounds for time of: 20 pullups, 20 burpees, 20 boxjumps, 400m-sprints. Yeah. Fun. For 30+++ mins. Esp for... mere mortals. I should've looked at the white board first...then gone home :) j/k. This is about the only workout I remember w/any degree of clarity... Not just because pain imprints on the brain... But for its extreme length and ferocious intensity... And for its phenomenal and frightening overnight-producing results on muscular !!hypertrophy!!. My sister 'M' noted that within 24hrs, her hubby grew WINGS. *haa* Lats that she hasn't seen since their first child was born (like, she is now 9yo). The hypertrophic growth I noticed was in biceps 1 inch incr in upper arm circumferences overnight unbelievably, no joke (no angel wings...because I can't do pullups...and still struggle wtf now). Just buff She-Woman arms. And gluts... as you know I'm Asian. And you are not incorrect in your suppositions of the standard Asian connotations for planar-dimension-geometry of the hind-posterior views. But naught now - - thanks to Xfit.
"Body by Crossfit..." Nice logo? THANK GOD I discovered HIIT/Tabata/Crossfit. Because otherwise I would never NEVER in a million years ever EVER subject myself to the torture, pain, shin-literal-splits, and callouses I routinely undergo now (please please don't fear... it's really NOT that bad). My *ss is addicted. To the FANTASTIC results. I sometimes even do it at home now! The coaches/trainers at Xfit sometimes like to spur the females on by yelling... uuh... I mean ENCOURAGING to go lower, b*tt to the ball, during squatting or wall-balls...'YOU WANT A BIGGER B*TT, R I G H T . . ? ! ! ! ' Well...actually, no I can't really afford another $100+ pair of designer Sevens to highlight my new *ss... and no...as the thighs and b*tt are ALREADY bursting out...(though waist zero, kudos to Paleo + Xfit + cardio).
Many muscle mags have crossed my threshold in the past year... 'research' in the name of elite cardiovascular health and this healthful-minded blog of entertaining educational edification...! ohyeah . . . BTW the articles are... E X C E L L E N T . . . Right... Actually, one of the best for women is Oxygen and the latest issue is devoted to G-L-U-T-S. *wink* I have to say all the gals at my Xfit Shed are HAWWWT and their gluts... are even HOTTER (and most humble)... Again, Xfit doesn't hurt. For an ideal posture, core and power-elliciting movement (eg, jumping, hill-running, anything), gluts and lats are two of the top 10 muscles to recruit, maintain, and focus on modifying. Add'l great tips of course at T-nation: HERE.
In Oxygen some of the best figure models and coaches give their personal advice.
- Jen Hendershott, 'Great glutes are a product of a balanced meal plan, good training and consistent cardio. Your bum says a lot about how hard you train." (Ok now turn around and let me see your sexyback, clinically and scientifically speaking, let's track how you are training) Two-time Ms. Olympia has butt building down to a science, Oxygen states. Her Drill: 8-12 exercises per workout, 15 reps of 4 sets, once a week. Her top three tricks:
(1) JUMP SQUATS (yea!! I concur)
(2) Slow and intense cardio (eg walking on a treadmill at an incline of 10 for 20-30min with dumbbells on shoulders)
(3) Lateral lunges (p.87) - Annette Milbers, "Glutes training actually changes the shape of your body and it's the best ANTI-AGING TOOL out there!" Annete ranks legs day as her favorite and beats boredem by changing her workouts eveyr 6-8wks (I totally concur, randomness is good and very EVO/paleo). Her Drill: Eight exercises per workout, 18-20 reps for 4 sets, once a week. Her top 3 tricks:
(1) S-Q-U-A-T-S (see a pattern?)
(2) Hamstring curls
(3) Walking lunges (p.88) - Gina Lombardi, author Deadline Fitness (Wiley, 2008), "PLYOMETRICS can turn your pancakes into melon halves in no time." Suggested drill: jump 12-20 reps onto 18" plyo box (beginners) and add weights 8-10 # dumbbells (advanced). At Xfit, we do 24-30" box-jumps for time or for counts. Some of best advice I've rec'd was from Carry, MILFy Xfitter, "rest at the top, when you land on the ground, get back on top as fast as you can." Haven't looked back since I started taking that advice. Thanks Girl! That advice has also saved my shins! Before, I'd periodically leave half my BL**DY shin on the edges of the boxes... (p.92)
- My personal advice: boxjumps, thrusters (squat, lift dumbbell 45-65# to straightened arms), and sprints (100-200m-run+rows)
Related medical literature:
- "Gains in maximal muscle strength were essentially similar between groups, whereas muscle P-O-W-E-R increased almost exclusively with PT (PLYOMETRIC) training."
Muscle adaptations to plyometric vs. resistance training in untrained young men. Aagaard P et al. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Nov;22(6):1799-810. - Mitochondrial improvements, again mitochrondria=predicts aging . . .
Brief intense interval exercise activates AMPK and p38 MAPK signaling and increases the expression of PGC-1alpha in human skeletal muscle. Gibala MJ, Hargreaves M et al. J Appl Physiol. 2009 Mar;106(3):929-34. - Age and Gender do make a difference.
I still have to do my low-moderate intensity chronic cardio 4-6 hrs/wk to maintain metabolism + 2-3 Xfit 30-min sessions/wk (otherwise I gain weight when I watch water...*smile* no JOKE).
"ST (heavy resistance strength training) resulted in increased CSA (cross-sectional area) of type I, IIa and IIx muscle fibres in the trained leg of young men, type I and IIa fibres in young women, type IIa fibres (only fast-twitch) in older men, and type IIx fibres in older women (again, only fast-twitch; that's why my Chronic Cardio is MANDATORY for maintenance/growth of slow-twitch type I muscle...like the H E A R T) (all P less than 0.05)."
Age and sex affect human muscle fibre adaptations to heavy-resistance strength training. Martel GF, Rogers MA et al. Exp Physiol. 2006 Mar;91(2):457-64. - Explanation of Type I v. II (eg, slow/endurance v. fast/power twitch muscle fibers): HERE
Related posts:
--Beautiful Things: Sexyback
--Don't Be Sarcopenic
G-Radio: beautiful music, beautiful New Zealand singer... Bic Runga
Good Morning Baby, Precious Things
I'm happiest when I have intense weight training in my life. Seriously, I've never had anything boost my mood like those workout-until-you-almost-throw-up type sessions.
ReplyDeleteEver heard of the Colorado Experiment? Me and a friend of mine tried it once, just to see if it was something worthwhile, and let me tell you-- it's no joke.
Tim Ferriss posted his results with it here: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to-freak-how-i-gained-34-lbs-of-muscle-in-4-weeks/
Amazing. That's a total of 4 hours of exercise for an entire month.
The workouts are brutal, though. It's a one set to failure, with a 5/5 cadence for raising and lowering the weights. I really did almost vomit several times just from the intensity of those little 20-30 min. workouts.
Hey David!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for pointing this out! I've heard of that author Tim Ferriss but didn't know hia book was health-related. Got a lot of respect for Arthur Jones -- wow -- what great results! The negatives are sometimes more effective than the actual exercise I commonly find.
A 5/5 cadence would be quite brutal. Esp those NEGATIVES!! :)
4-7 joint exercises, whole body workouts (like Xfit) and adequate rest/recovery are definite priorities for any excellent regimen imho too.
I don't lose a lot of body fat from HIT or heavy lifting which leads to hypertrophy. (maybe it's the hormone imbalance which is almost corrected).
My theory is that females require some chronic cardio (we are probably the 'foragers' evolution-wise, not the high-intensity elite veggie/berry/nut foragers... *haa*
Definitely the first 25-50lbs are probably easy to lose but for the definition and elimination beyond 20% bodyfat, some cardio is necessary.
Do you eat the same quantity of protein Ferriss uses? (No yolks? hhhmmm) I'm kinda lazy when it comes to cooking... my protein only rarely exceeds 50%. That's why I don't look like the hulk :)
Eating junk one day per wk is definitely an excellent thing too (and the WINE). THANK YOU!!!
-G
Hey G-
ReplyDeleteWhen I work out like this, I eat quite a lot of protein. I shoot for around 1 gram for every pound of bodyweight (definitely no less than 0.5 per lb.) I'm not satisfied with nitrogen equilibrium. I want nitrogen retention, which leads to a highly anabolic state. You have to have excess protein intake (positive nitrogen balance) for this to happen.
I about choked the first time I read Ferriss' "egg whites with one yolk" deal. I eat about half a dozen eggs every day. Sometimes I just crack them in a glass and drink them down ("Rocky" style. Ha!). I definitely don't go along with the egg white/no yolks thing. And I wonder if Ferriss still goes along with that? I know he's a big fan of Dr. Eades and Protein Power... (as am I).
But yeah, I think the yolks are important, and I think fat is really vital to bodybuilding, too. Saturated fat, in particular, plays a big role when it comes to stimulating the anabolic hormones, particularly testosterone. Also, interestingly, fat has a nitrogen sparing effect. Pretty cool, really, since it used to be thought that only carbs did that. I think carbs have a role in high intensity training (for reasons relating to things like insulin's effect on protein synthesis and such), but fat is an under appreciated nutrient in the bodybuilding world that is, I believe, finally starting to receive a little bit of well-deserved recognition.
I'm not big on Ferriss' emphasis on legumes for taking up the "slack" in the diet. I'm a Lp(a) type, and don't want an overload of legumes. I do better with higher fat to take up the caloric slack.
Re: the difficulty in losing bf while doing HIT, I've found that sometimes the Bible verse that says "for everything there is a season..." applies here. Ha. There's a reason bodybuilders have "on" and "off" seasons. Building muscle leads to a lot of growth, sometimes not just in muscle. Sometimes the best muscle growth is accompanied by a little bit of body fat. When show time comes around, the workouts change, the diet changes, and the fat melts off to reveal the muscle that's been created underneath. So yeah. Build the muscle through the intense workout (NO cardio). Then, once it's built, back off the massive lifting a bit, add in some cardio, cut your carbs down to an extreme minimum, and you'll shred that fat off in like 12 weeks, leaving a chiseled body for all to see! I've seen it, I've done it. It's marvelous.
I've decided that I'm going to do the Colorado Experiment again, sometime soon. My wife said she'll do it with me, so that'll be cool. I'll have to let you know how it goes.
David
David,
ReplyDeleteSo now we know all your body building secrets!! *haa* Thank you for sharing!!
The seasonality of training certainly makes sense. Good verse. Bearing fruit (Greek, telios), I agree, requires take TIME (preparation and nurturing).
I did research in Plant Bio on GS (galactinol synthase) in legumes and there just appear too many not so great things about beans (like being non-Paleo, phytic acid binding, gas/bloating, etc).
I guess the most Paleo-friendly carbs are yams, sweet potatoes, and berries.
Saturated fats are definitely not getting their due diligence. It's good Eades and body builders are slowly promoting them. Slowly this will change. Definitely for Lp(a) and longevity, I think their role cannot be disputed. Now that my insulin is controlled (off Levonorgestrol which d*mn whacked out 2nd phase insulin secretion) I've added lots of coconut oil and 2-4 Tbs MTC Oil (NOW brand -- basically coconut oil for sports use/athletes) periodically combined with Cardio and the abs are emerging (yet) again. *sigh of relief* Many at TYP report better body warmth and circulation with coconut oil as well. It will be quite neat to discussed the benefits later.
Your add'l tips on getting shredded are well appreciated. I'd love to hear how you and your lovely wife achieve your health improvements (and continue to look totally HAAWWTT) later! :)
-G
It is true! As a former Marine, and someone who has worked out for decades, the Xfit "Wings workout" is ... like no other. That workout at Crossfit was no comparison. I was sore for at least a week. My lats were thick. They haven't been that thick since that last Crossfit workout.
ReplyDeleteAnd when I was in the Marine Corps I could do about 30 dead-hang pull-ups (not anymore!). But at least I felt and looked like I did during that workout!! Ha Ha! Thanks "sister-in-law"!!
I've noticed his lats are growing again!! And he hasn't been doing any "crossfit" (although he works out with weights reguarly - nothing as grueling as crossfit!).
ReplyDeleteI think it's the coconut oil!! I think it's "striating" his muscles!! Just my opinion ...
Hi Bro-in-Law!
ReplyDeleteI heard you can even do chin-ups with one child hanging on you (eg, 40#) not that long ago...?
You still look great!!
You ROCK! :)
-G
M,
ReplyDeleteYour funny... In that case, I think I need more coconut oil :) *ha*
-G