J . M A I L

Mass Construction

Just a little update about my adventures at the gym and my new bulking cycle. I am now weighing myself every morning to keep myself on track, according to one study those that weigh themselves every morning lose more weigh than those that don’t so I believe it should work the other way, it should keep me focused at the very least.

This morning I weighed in at 164 pounds. I am not a fat nor a lean 164. I am slowly getting a bit bigger over the past two weeks, largely I would guess from water weight and muscle swelling (hypertrophy).

Hypertrophy results from an increase in cell size, while hyperplasia is from an increase in cell number.

I am pretty positive this bulk over the next three months will go well, assuming I actually do my leg workouts. My diet is ramping up and am eating more and more.

I have a weight gainer that I will take right before bed to get more calories in my system. I am taking a multivitamin, omega  369, and vitamin D just for good measure. I have protein, dextrose, maltodextrin, and good old fashioned creatine monohydrate for my during workout and post workout nutrition.

I have everything in place for a good bulk. My workouts are focused, structured well, my form is great these days, and my muscle recruit is better than it has ever been. I do need to keep my ego in check in the gym and find a balance between awesome muscle recruitment in my exercises and loading on the weight to my exercises. If I keep keep to my schedule and shove as much food as I can get into my body I hope to get up to 180 lbs while holding a good shape before my summer cutting cycle begins.

Time will tell.

Shredded: What the heck?

Just watched:

Shredded

http://www.nfb.ca/film/shredded/

Richard Gaudio, Douglas C. Taplin, 2005, 22 min

“This short film follows a group of teenage boys eager to emulate the muscle-filled bodies of their media heroes. Revealing the lengths these boys are willing to go to achieve their goal, this film explores the use of supplements and the temptations of steroids. The boys relate their experiences, desires and motivations to the audience, who are left to draw their own conclusions.

The film is designed to provoke discussion among teenagers about body image and where lines should be drawn between healthy and dangerous behaviour.”

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Found this video linked on a bodybuilding forum. I thought I would give it a watch and boy was I shocked. Teenage boys are asked about their goals. expectations, their motivations, and are told what they can actually expect without steroid use (the movie also features a bit of non-sense about steroid use from some nobody personal trainer).

I was shocked at what these kids had to say. One wanted to be 230 pounds and 6% body fat. Other boys went on and on about how girls only care about are muscles and six-packs. For the record I can’t think of a single person that is 230 pounds and 6% bf on the planet that isn’t using steroids and in my personal experience girls don’t give a crap about big muscles.

Does almost everyone have these unreal expectations of what is possible while staying natural (i.e. not taking anabolics) and working out?

One of my favourite quotes about natural bodybuilding is:

“It’s like looking at a swim-meet without the pool.”

There are definite limits to what the body is naturally capable of and it seems as if most people (i.e. everyone) is ignorant of these limits. The human body is not meant to carry a lot of muscle without carrying a lot of body fat.

I think everyone is aware of the growing movement to help girls deal with body image issues. People do not want girls to fall into the trap of comparing themselves to models and celebrities. People preach to girls that they should accept their natural body shape, perhaps the same should be done for these highly impressionable (and mentally dull) boys.

Why then am I continually surprised when I see and hear the opinions of poorly educated people concerning bodybuilding? Maybe I am the one who is really dull.

Wait weights what?

After my yoga practice last night I spent some time talking to the instructor about correcting my bridge/wheel pose. I was doing them wrong and not realizing it. I was bending mostly in the lower back rather than the upper back. The biggest hurdle for me is the tightness in my chest and lack of flexibility in my shoulders.

I have been told in the past that an over developed chest and underdeveloped back would cause this lack of flexibility but in reality my chest is one of my weak points (esp my upper chest) and my upper back is probably my strongest and fullest muscle group.

Still, I am extremely tight in my shoulders and this is making it hard to do proper shoulder stands where the weight rest on the backs of the arms as the hands push into the low back and makes it hard to gain the upper back flexibility required for a the proper full expression of bridge/wheel pose.

I believe the problem is my weight and muscle thickness and my instructor recommended dropping some weight. Now in my mind I am still pretty small. I currently weigh in at around 165/167. However, this is probably the biggest and leanest 165 I have ever been in my life. I love training in the gym. I like the process, the technique, the attention to detail, and I like muscle. I want to bring up my legs (hams and quads), my calves, my tris, and my upper chest and know this will only happen if I continue to bulk. The problem is as I continue to gain size I will likely become less flexible for yoga and the added weight will make rock climbing more difficult.

I suppose I have a choice to make but I don’t know what to decide. I could get down to 150 pounds and work around the weight all year round. Honestly, I have seen little outside benefit to bodybuilding besides internal satisfaction from becoming more muscular. Most people don’t get the desire for big legs, most girls don’t like overly muscular guys, and muscle impedes my other interests. However, I really like bodybuilding. Further, I still feel like a pretty small guy. My frame is small, I am not very tall, and I don’t really feel overly muscular at this point in my life.

What then do I choose? Drop weight and maintain while making small improvements around 150 pounds with the hopes that yoga becomes easier, that climbing becomes easier, and that my flexibility gets better? I don’t even know if if its entirely flexibility that is holding me back my or if the muscle itself is physically getting in the way. What if I drop weight and lose hard earned muscle yet don’t gain any flexibility? Do I continue bodybuilding and just enjoy what I can do yoga and climbing wise and work to over come my flexibility limits? Can I be big yet flexible? I don’t know anyone else that is.

What do you guys think?

Bodybuilding Update

I thought I might write a bit about where I am fitness-wise these days.

Current Weight : 165 lbs (approx)

Body fat percentage : 10 % ? Just a guess

After I was done cutting weight this summer down to 152 I pretty quickly got back up to 170. I just started eating and didn’t really put in a lot of effort. At around the same time I changed by up training in the gym to focus a lot more attention on form and peak contraction work (ala Dorian Yates). Then I went through a lot of emo drama in the winter, lost my appetite, got distracted, ect… Since that time I have hovered from 165-170ish lbs. Last year (April I believe) I got up to my all time max weight at 178. This year I don’t see that happening although I am at a lower body fat level this year at 170 than I was at 170 last year.

My weak points (tri’s, chest, quads, calves) have all come up a bit. My bi’s are the same I figure and I have made some improvement in my traps and back thickness (except in my lower back where I think I have lost some thickness but maybe gained some detail). This is all speculation as I don’t have pictures for comparison.

I wonder if I should go back to the older heavier training I used to do. My new training techniques means I use much lower weights. For some muscles like my chest I feel this is an advantage but for for my back I am not sure.

I wonder sometimes where I am going with all of this bodybuilding. I don’t see any great gains happening this year although I still have some months to go before I cut again. I wonder if I should get down to a lower permanent weight. Stay where I am now. It would be nice to be a bit leaner (lower body fat), stronger, and lighter for rock climbing and biking advantages.

Lifting is fun but takes a fair bit of time, an hour four times a week. If I wasn’t using that time to be active I might go crazy but I could always fill that time with another physical activity.

Does anyone reading notice a difference in my physique between now and this time last year? Perhaps its time to reevaluate where I going with all of this and what my goals are.