Why Do You Stretch?

An article in yesterday's New York Times casts doubt on the efficacy of stretching before or after working out.

I see lots of guys stretching at the gym but I never do. I just run on the elliptical at a moderate pace for five minutes.

Do you stretch? If so, why?

I think if you like the way stretching feels, you should do it. It probably won't hurt you but save it for your days off, and don't do it before lifting. Stretching before you lift weights increases the chance of injury!

Obligatory Update Time

I feel like I should post something since I haven't in a few days, and I haven't posted anything about the status of my body transformation in more days than that. There's lots on my mind these days so let's get a little of it down in ink- er, bits.

I'm up to 2600 calories per day now, and I'm allowing myself a Friday night cheat meal. The first Friday after I ended my cutting phase we had pizza from Papa John's. The next Friday was chinese from Lee Ann Chin, and this last Friday we tried a new chinese restaurant called Chin Yung. I have an absolutely voracious appetite and I know I could consume 4 to 5,000 calories per day with ease. That's not a good thing!

With an appetite like mine, the problem with not cutting is that it's very easy to let yourself eat more than you should. I anticipated that this would be a challenge, and I was curious about how my mindset would change. Predictably I have found myself rationalizing eating out on the following Saturday for the past two weekends and having ice cream that night. Granted, I still eat clean the rest of the week but I simply cannot continue to allow my cheat meal to turn into a cheat day, or I will end up having to end my bulking phase earlier than I want to because frankly, I'll just get too damned fat. I can't allow that.

My iron will served me will during my cutting phase where I routinely went for a month or longer at a stretch with no cheating of any kind. Nothing but clean food and low calories week after week. I suppose my saving grace was the fact that I carb cycled so every four days I could look forward to a higher calorie higher carb day, but it was still all clean foods. My iron will must again serve me as I bulk up.

Going forward I will still allow myself a Friday night cheat but no longer will I continue to let myself cheat the following day. I eat 42 meals each week. Only one of those can be a cheat meal, period!

As for my weight, it's been pretty steady. I'll usually soak up a few pounds of water after a cheat, and within 24 hours it's gone. I'm at around 166 right now. I want to limit my weight gain to just under a pound a week, or three pounds a month. This widely referenced article at T-Nation says that if you're gaining faster than that you're gaining some fat- something I want to keep at a bare minimum. The small problem with gaging my weight gain right now is that I'm still raising my daily calories, and thus my daily carbs, meaning I'm holding more water the more carbs I eat. I won't have a good idea of my actual non-water weight gain until my calories level out at 3,000 per day. The irony is that I may find that my non-water weight gain at that caloric intake is to great and I'll have to back off some. I'll be at 3,000 calories per day in two weeks so I'll know soon enough if I'm eating too much.

My workouts are fun again. Fat Loss III was pure misery. I did not want to go to the gym and felt drained when I left. I forced myself through it and I'm glad I did but now I'm glad it's over. Strength I is a lot of fun. Additionally I feel a lot stronger in the gym now that I'm eating for size. Today I deadlifted 225 lbs. That's a lot for me, and certainly the most I've ever deadlifted. Squatting and deadlifting are by far my favorite exercises so I look forward to those workouts. My legs have been sore non-stop since starting this routine.

In my personal life, my wife and I are taking our two boys down to visit my family in Oklahoma next week so I won't be able to do my six meals a day, and I won't have access to clean food at all times. Additionally I may end up missing one or all of my workouts for that week, which really sucks. However, I haven't had a week off from lifting since November so it won't hurt and will in fact help. Bryan Haycock calls it "Strategic Deconditioning" and it's a required part of his Hypertrophy Specific Training protocol. The bottom line is that taking a week off gives your body a chance to fully recover meaning you will be in your optimal state for strength and size gains when you return to the gym after the break.

So that's it for now. I'm going to watch an episode of House on DVD, read a bit from The Omnivore's Dilemma, and call it a night. Good night, folks.

USDA Orders Largest Meat Recall in U.S. History

Once again, we are seeing the fruits of industrial agriculture where profit is the ultimate and over-arching objective. Health is not the objective- not yours, and certainly not the animals'.

Consider buying grass fed beef from a farmer in your area. Make sure that they practice sustainable organic agriculture as well. You'll get healthy, tasty food while at the same time supporting your local economy and doing your part to help the environment as well.

If you live in Minnesota, consider purchasing beef directly from Thousand Hills Cattle Company.

If you live in the U.S., check out Local Harvest to find local farms in your area. You can buy eggs, chickens, beef, lamb, turkey, pork, honey, and more from people who treat their animals and the environment in a sane, responsible manner.

As a final note I should point out that I'm by no means an environmentalist, nor am I an animal rights nut. I just think that when you can afford it and it doesn't impose an undue burden on you or your family you should make choices that are best for living things and the planet. Anyone with basic common sense can see that a system that abuses animals, feeds them things they were never meant to eat and poisons the soil with synthetic fertilizers is a system we should all try to opt out of if possible.

Here's the full story..

World's smallest bodybuilder

Click the pic for the full story.

Top 20 Worst Foods In America

Men's Health magazine debuts their first annual Top 20 Worst Foods in America list.

Outback Steakhouse takes the top slot with their "Aussie Cheese Fries". This "appetizer" contains a staggering 2,900 calories.

http://www.menshealth.com/eatthis/20worst.html

Cutting Phase Officially Over!

Last night I finished my last Fat Loss III workout, and thus I finally and officially end my cutting phase that began last summer in June.

In 2005 at the age of 28 I weighed 210 pounds, had a resting heart rate of 68 and blood pressure of 139/90.

Today I weigh 164 lbs, have a resting heart rate of 53, and blood pressure of 100/60.

Not too bad for eight months of hard work.

Tonight I'm celebrating with pizza and ice cream. Tomorrow I'll return to my usual clean eating, however now I'm eating 2200 calories per day. Technically that means I'm still in a caloric deficit but by next Friday I'll be up to 2400. A week later 2600, another week 2800 and finally I'll top out at 3000 calories per day.

I hope to spend the summer building some nice solid muscle while keeping fat gains to a minimum.

That's it for now. I hope to have new progress pictures to post soon.

Have a great day!

Must see video

This video has nothing to do with health or fitness, it's just funny as hell.

Is an Idiocracy at hand?

If you've never seen the film Idiocracy, starring Luke Wilson, the basic premise of the film is that stupid people breed faster than intelligent people and that in the future the world will be over-run with morons. While there's already considerable evidence that this is in fact the inevitable outcome of our modern practice of thwarting natural selection whenever possible by protecting stupid people from themselves, this video would seem to confirm once and for all that stupid people are definitely on course to take over the planet entirely. Enter the Hawaii Chair, your workout machine for the 21st Century: