2014 Fitness & Nutrition Thread With Coach Beard

Paladin said:

3x3 Squat cleans @ 205#, then 1 rep at 225# because I was feeling froggy. Also did 3x7 handstand pushups between sets.

After that I did a pretty conventional back & biceps workout. Lat pulldowns, low cable rows, bent over rows, preacher curls, and standing barbell curls. Fun workout, and done inside 45 minutes.

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blugold said:

Those cleans have to be more than your bodyweight. Mighty impressive.

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Paladin said:

Yup, bodyweight's been coming down, last I checked I was at about 158. I'm a pretty big fan of power to weight ratio.

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blugold said:

Hehe. The powerlifter in me immediately wondered how much under bar strength you could gain if you packed on more weight. Then the rational part of told that guy to shut up

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salisboss said:

On my 5th day of Whole30 and it seems to be going well. You aren't allowed to get on a scale but I feel pretty good. The low-carb first week malaise is not as bad as with Atkins because I can still eat fruit and potatoes as long as they are cooked appropriately. It has been pretty easy to stick to the program in no small part to the fact that my wife and I cooked a ton on Sunday so we always had ready food throughout the week so we did not order take-out.

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Paladin said:

Another upside of Whole 30, Rebecca and I have saved a ton of money by not buying beer, eating out, ordering in, etc.

It's an extra incentive to keep this thing going.

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Drew Z said:

Hate to be a pain, but I have a bunch of workout questions, let's start with warmup. I used to do a 20 minute cardio session prior to weight lifting as my warm up. I would mix in high intensity running with low intensity jogging/walking. Following this cardio, I would stretch my legs and move on to weight training (approx. 45 mins of weights).

I have since changed my routine and do about 5-10 mins of jogging as a warm up, followed by weight training, then finish with a 15 minute high/low intensity cardio. End the work out with stretching. My thought process was I could save more energy for my weight lifting, which I have noticed to be true.

Question is, is the 5-10 minutes of jogging on the treadmill enough of a warmup? I also do low weight high rep sets of my first two exercises for warm up.

My next question is diet, my diet as follows:

Wake up (7AM): First thing, drink a whey protein shake (30 grams of protein)

9:30-10AM: Drink a morning "shake", consists of 10 grams of whey protein, PB Fit powder, kale, spinach, strawberries, a banana and greek yogurt, water

11:30-12: Lunch consists of 9oz of chicken or tuna w/broccoli and 2 sides (peanut trail mix/PB crackers/rice cakes/small serving of chips)

2-2:30PM: Protein bar

3-3:30PM: fruit(grapes) with or without PB & Crackers

5PM: Gym, following the workout, protein shake

7PM: Dinner, usually chicken or beef with broccoli, sometimes with brown rice or keenwah

9PM: Spoon of PB fit, and small serving of cottage cheese

10PM: Bed

My question is, how does the diet look? I am doing my best to eat my weight in protein (210lbs so 210 grams of protein) a day.

My goal is to bulk up a bit, and lean out some of the fat, while staying flexible for golf. I'm 5' 11" so currently overweight when doing a basic BMI calc. I've been working out consistantly for about 4 months, however really started to focus more on my diet since the holidays.

I continue to put on weight, (1-2lbs every few weeks), but I assuming it's "good" weight as my training is getting "heavier".

Thanks in advance for the help/advice and I apologize for the drawn out message. After all this hard work and focus, I just want to be sure I am doing the "right" thing. Let me know if you need more info.

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BigTex said:

You really need to be doing a dynamic warm out that involves the movements you will be using in weight training. Do a search for dynamic warm ups and particularly look for stuff from Eric Cressey. He came up with the gold standard for dynamic warm ups.

On the diet make sure you are getting some carbs about an hour or so before your workout. And then some right after to replenish your glycogen stores. Will help you have the energy to get through your workouts.

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Drew Z said:

Thanks BigTex, I will look into the warmup advice.

What do you recommend for pre-work out carbs (hour before)? I've been doing peanut butter and crackers but, I was planning on making a change to a whole wheat pb sandwich with or without banana. Would half a sandwich work or should i go for the whole thing?

Edit: What are peoples thoughts on the PB2 powdered Peanut Buter VS Almond Butter VS Organic Peanut Butter? Any recommendations?

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BigTex said:

Natural peanut butter is good. I eat a piece or two of toasted bread called Seeduction I get from Whole Foods. Has a lot of nuts and grains in it, but anything like that should work. I would stay away from the crackers though. If you really want to up it a notch there are some pre and post workout drinks that are good, but can get expensive. There is a good book that covers the importance of the pre and post workout carbs called Racing Weight. If you have a Kindle or a Kindle app I can loan it to you.

Another good warmup to look for is do a search on YouTube for Joe Defranco's Limber 11.

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Drew Z said:

Hate to be a pain, but I have a bunch of workout questions, let's start with warmup. I used to do a 20 minute cardio session prior to weight lifting as my warm up. I would mix in high intensity running with low intensity jogging/walking. Following this cardio, I would stretch my legs and move on to weight training (approx. 45 mins of weights).

I have since changed my routine and do about 5-10 mins of jogging as a warm up, followed by weight training, then finish with a 15 minute high/low intensity cardio. End the work out with stretching. My thought process was I could save more energy for my weight lifting, which I have noticed to be true.

Question is, is the 5-10 minutes of jogging on the treadmill enough of a warmup? I also do low weight high rep sets of my first two exercises for warm up.

My next question is diet, my diet as follows:

Wake up (7AM): First thing, drink a whey protein shake (30 grams of protein)

9:30-10AM: Drink a morning "shake", consists of 10 grams of whey protein, PB Fit powder, kale, spinach, strawberries, a banana and greek yogurt, water

11:30-12: Lunch consists of 9oz of chicken or tuna w/broccoli and 2 sides (peanut trail mix/PB crackers/rice cakes/small serving of chips)

2-2:30PM: Protein bar

3-3:30PM: fruit(grapes) with or without PB & Crackers

5PM: Gym, following the workout, protein shake

7PM: Dinner, usually chicken or beef with broccoli, sometimes with brown rice or keenwah

9PM: Spoon of PB fit, and small serving of cottage cheese

10PM: Bed

My question is, how does the diet look? I am doing my best to eat my weight in protein (210lbs so 210 grams of protein) a day.

My goal is to bulk up a bit, and lean out some of the fat, while staying flexible for golf. I'm 5' 11" so currently overweight when doing a basic BMI calc. I've been working out consistantly for about 4 months, however really started to focus more on my diet since the holidays.

I continue to put on weight, (1-2lbs every few weeks), but I assuming it's "good" weight as my training is getting "heavier".

Thanks in advance for the help/advice and I apologize for the drawn out message. After all this hard work and focus, I just want to be sure I am doing the "right" thing. Let me know if you need more info.

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blugold said:

BigTex gave you a lot of information, which I like.

Whenever I warm up, especially on a workout that takes place after a day of work, the warm up doesn't have to be massive. Your body should be relatively warmed up from the day's activities. The warm ups should be to prepare the body to complete the lift you are training. If I'm squating, pull, pressing, or cleaning, I warm up those lifts before my work sets.

If you are in the gym to lose weight, gain some basic fitness, and maintain flexibility for golf, any body building routine is useless. Do not train your muscles in isolated motions. Multi joint full rang of motion lifts are your goal. Squats, presses, deadlifts, etc. Lifts like Curls, flies, triceps pull downs are bad. Machines are bad. Barbells are good. Half reps are bad. If you lift to a full range of motion while continuing to golf you will not lose any flexibility. Also, have a plan every time you go to the gym. Know what you are going to train every session before you get into the gym. Keep a journal of your lifts, reps and sets. Also, avoid long cardio sessions, they tend to force your body to secret cortisol. Cortisol will kill your progress with the weights. If you do cardio, interval training is ideal and is best done on days in between your weight sessions.

For the diet, take your ideal body weight and multiply it by 11 or 12. That is your daily caloric intake. 25% of those calories should come from protein, 20% from fats, fruits/veggies and other carbs should make up the rest. Carbs are not bad. Too much protein is bad. If you are taking in your body weight in protein, you better be lifting for more than 45 minutes and be going insanely hard (there's no reason for this unless you want to shave your body, cover yourself in bronzer and stand in front of people in a pair of panties). Milk is a fantastic option as well. Do not be afraid of a glass of whole milk. Have a few in a day. We are all smart enough to know that cake, cookies, fast food, and sugars are bad. Also, try to avoid processed foods as best you can.

Again, stick to free weights. Stick to barbells and compound lifts. Don't overthink your diet. Train with a plan.

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Drew Z said:

Alright so my general takeaways are:

I workout 5 days a week, right now its Day 1: Back/Biceps, Day 2: Chest/Triceps, Day 3: Legs, Day 4: Shoulders/ABS, Day 5: Startover/Back Biceps, I also do cardio everyday. My takeaway now will be to change my workout routine.

I will give this a shot, remove cardio from my weight training days:
Day 1: Back/biceps, Day 2: Cardio/Abs, Day 3: Chest/Triceps, Day 4: Cardio, Day 5: Legs/Shoulders?

Another takeawy is to cut down on some of the protein intake, which is easy for me. I can remove some of the protein powder out of my diet. I've worked out on/off my whole life, so I have a bunch of exercises to keep the muscle memory going. I always choose free weights over machines or isolating muscles.

Thanks again everyone for the advice.

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blugold said:

Honestly, I think your routine structure will not be efficient or allow you to accomplish what you're after.

I like simplicity.

Work out a:
Squats 3 sets of 5 reps
Bench press 3 sets of 5 reps
Alternate pull ups & chin ups 3 sets to failure

Work out B:
Squats 3 sets of 5 reps
Standing overhead press 3 sets of 5 reps
Alternate deadlifts 1 set of 5 reps / power cleans 5 sets of 3 reps

add 5 pounds to your work sets every time you go to the gym. Add 15 for dead lifts

Alternate A & B three days a week. For two weeks it would look like

Mon: Squats, bench, pull ups
Wed: Squats, press, deads
Friday: Squats, bench, chins

Mon: Squats, press, cleans
Wed: squats, bench pull ups
Fri: Squats press, deads

This is not a revolutionary plan, just a tried and true plan that works for strength training. It was designed by people much smarter than me on the subject

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Drew Z said:

Thanks for the advice, I will give it a shot for a few weeks. It sounds almost too simple, not to doubt you, but I am sure you understand.

I currently incorporate squats, deadlifts, and pull ups in my current rountine. Just not in the routine you presented. I haven't done overhead press with the bar as it can be intemidating. However just like any new exercise, I will try it with very light weight and focus on form and take it from there.

Appreciate your time

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blugold said:

It is simple, I agree. Trust me, your Bis and Tris will get worked. Your back will get worked.

Also keep in mind, no skeletal muscle is designed to be worked in isolation. Isolation lifts are the devil. Overhead presses are easy. Just start light and progress. If you fail two sessions in a row, deload 10% and work back up. Also, remember that squats where your hips don't go below your knees are not squats. They're some bastardized movement that will injure you.

For the press:

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