Optimum Anabolics - Day 84/Roger Staubach

Today marks the end of Week 12 for me on the Optimum Anabolics program.

12 happens to be the jersey number of my all-time favorite QB, Roger Staubach. My man had more concussions than rushing yards but boy could he throw a football. More importantly, however, he was a leader.

Random, crazy factoid for the day...yours truly "conga"-ed behind Roger at a wedding in Dallas around the time I graduated from college. Too bad there were no iPhones or YouTube back then! (~:

MEASUREMENTS:

Weight: 185.0 LBS (UP 2.5 LBS for week, UP 5.5 LBS total)
BF: 9.5% (according to the calipers I have) (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1.4% total)
Neck: 16-1/4" (UP 1/4" for week, UP 3/4" total)
Chest: 40" (UP 1/4 for week, UP 1/2" total)
Shoulders: 47" (DOWN 1/2" for the week, DOWN 1/2" total)
Biceps: 13-3/4" (UP 1/4" for week, UP 1/4" total)
Waist: 33-1/2" (UP 1/2" for week, UP 3/4" total)
Thighs: 20" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/4" total)
Calves: 15-1/4" (UP 1/4" for week, UP 1/4" total)
Adonis Effect: 1.403 (DOWN 0.036 for the week, DOWN 0.010 total)



















































WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

This morning's intervals were done on the stationary bike for 28 minutes.

Flying Romans were done for time (30 seconds) today rather than repetitions.

Here are today's Flying Roman results (3 intervals):

• 32 (16 per leg)
  
• 34 (17 per leg)
  
• 33 (17 one leg, 16 the other)

Comments:

Not much soreness to speak of today...just a some stiffness here and there.

Left heel is still sore and I'm still favoring it for the most part. However, walking actually felt normal at times today.

Calves and feet got stretched for 1 minute per side today. I'm also incorporating some hamstring stretches by sitting on the floor with legs out and grabbing my feet. The objective is to try and loosen up my entire leg musculature.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN (PLUS 1)

Breakfast, post interval training, was a 2 egg white, 1 whole egg omelet with red and jalapeno peppers and red onion sauteed in coconut oil. I topped 'er off with an ounce of raw, grass fed cheddar cheese and a big spoonful of leftover chili. Look out!

Snack this morning was 1/2 c of yogurt, 4 tsp ground flax seed and 1/3 scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder.

Come lunch time, I opted for another hunk of tahini meatloaf preceded by a Hugh Jass salad of spinach, arugula, carrots, tomato, cucumber, celery, fresh parsley, yellow pepper, and scallions. I dressed it up with a mix of almond butter, chili powder, lemon juice, and milk. Sounds strange, I know, but it was terrific.

Optimum Anabolics - Day 83/3D Abs??

Here is some great information from my good friend, Jeff Anderson, talking about how to do some good ab sculpting while working out. It's important to note that while endless sets of crunches are definitely NOT necessary for excellent abs, it is beneficial to work them out as part of your routine.

Read on!

Check out any local gym and you'll see inexperienced members training their abs with endless sets of situps and crunches, right?

While the abs are predominantly made of Type 1 (endurance) muscle fibers and respond to slightly higher repetition ranges,your abs are made up of muscle just like any other part of your body.

Therefore the best abs exercises to get that "cut" look are those that are resistance-based and treat them like any other muscle.

But there's a special little trick you must know in order to maximize your abs training on your way to having a stacked 6-pack.

In fact, ignoring this principle, could force you to develop "lopsided" abs that are so common among beginner bodybuilders.

Let me share this secret with you now...

The main abdominal muscle you want to be working when training your abs is your "rectus abdominis", that sheet of rippled muscle that goes from your rib cage all the way down the front of your body to your pelvis.

What's unique about this abdominal muscle group is that the upper abs can work separately from the lower abs (to some extent)...BUT when you work your lower abs exercises, your upper abs are ALWAYS working as well.

This is why most people (including myself from years of military training focusing on upper abs) had overdeveloped upper abs but underdeveloped lower abs.

Here's how to correct this...

Make sure you train your LOWER ABS first in your abs workout (ALWAYS!) which brings both upper and lower abs into the workload!

If you don't work your lower abs first, you exhaust your upper abs too soon and when you DO target your lower abs, your upper abs will fatigue too fast and you'll end up with under-targeted lower abs.

So the best exercises for lower abs are:

* Incline Leg Raises
* Incline Knee Ups
* Hanging Leg Raises
* Flat Bench Leg Raises

And then follow up with the best upper abs exercises:

* Crunches
* Weighted Crunches
* Situps
* Hanging Knee Raises

WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

This morning's intervals were done on the stationary bike for 28 minutes.

Flying Romans were done for time (30 seconds) today rather than repetitions.

Here are today's Flying Roman results (3 intervals):

• 31 (16 one leg, 15 the other)
  
• 34 (17 per leg)
  
• 35 (18 one leg, 17 the other)

Comments:

Sore in my chest today. Sweet!

Just a some stiffness here and there elsewhere.

Left heel is still sore and I'm still favoring it but it does seem to be progressing...slowly. There are times when walking that I completely forget anything is going on down there. Mornings right out of bed are the worst. Walking behind the mower last night seemed fairly normal for the first time in several weeks.

Calves and feet got stretched for 1 minute per side today. I'm continuing to incorporate some hamstring stretches by sitting on the floor with legs straight out and grabbing my feet. The objective is to try and loosen up my entire leg musculature.


DIET - HIGH PROTEIN (PLUS 1)

After my interval workout this morning, it was Tex Mex omelet time. First, I cooked up a red jalapeno, half a red bell pepper, and some red onion in coconut oil. To that, I added 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg along with several shakes of the Louisiana Hot Sauce bottle. Once firm in the pan, I folded it in half with 1oz of raw milk cheddar and about 1/4 C of leftover chili in the middle and topped it with medium salsa. My mouth was on fire (pronounced "far!" when eating a Tex Mex omelet)!

I went with the usual 1/2C of yogurt, 4 tsp milled flax seed, and 1/3 scoop of whey protein isolate powder as a snack around 9:45.

Lunch was spent with my buddy, Hugh Jass (salad), and the last bit of lamb roast that was trying to hide in the fridge. The salad was just a salad but the dressing was most excellent:

• 2 TBS sesame oil
• 1 TBS Udo's Oil Blend
• 2 TBS rice wine vinegar
• 1 TBS lime juice
• 1 TBS Bragg's Liquid Aminos
• 2 TBS chopped fresh cilantro (stirred in after all other ingredients)

This afternoon, I snacked on a 1/2C of cottage cheese and raw cashews, almonds, Brazils, and walnuts.

Right before bed I sloshed down 30g of whey protein isolate powder mixed in about a cup of water.

Optimum Anabolics - Day 77/Double Ones

Week 11 on the Optimum Anabolics program has come to a close.

Overall, it was a good week. My workouts when very smoothly. I ate a lot of food but everything was clean. Reviewing the week in my head, I believe there was zero restaurant food in my diet the past 7 days. Interesting...

Time to see how the data looks:


MEASUREMENTS:

Weight: 182.5 LBS (DOWN 0.5 LBS for week, UP 3.0 LBS total)
BF: 9.5% (according to the calipers I have) (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1.4% total)
Neck: 16" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/2" total)
Chest: 39-3/4" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/4" total)
Shoulders: 47-1/2" (UP 1/2" for the week, NO CHANGE total)
Biceps: 13-1/2" (NO CHANGE for week, NO CHANGE total)
Waist: 33" (DOWN 1/2" for week, UP 1/4" total)
Thighs: 20" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/4" total)
Calves: 15" (DOWN 1/4" for week, NO CHANGE total)
Adonis Effect: 1.439 (UP 0.036 for the week, UP 0.026 total)



WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

This morning's intervals were done on the stationary bike for 28 minutes.

Flying Romans were done for time (30 seconds) today rather than repetitions.

Here are today's Flying Roman results (3 intervals):

• 32 (16 per leg)
  
• 34 (17 per leg)
  
• 33 (17 one leg, 16 the other)

Comments:

Not much soreness to speak of today...just a some stiffness here and there.

Left heel is still sore and I'm still favoring it for the most part. However, walking actually felt normal at times today.

Calves and feet got stretched for 1 minute per side today. I'm also incorporating some hamstring stretches by sitting on the floor with legs out and grabbing my feet. The objective is to try and loosen up my entire leg musculature.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN (PLUS 1)

Breakfast, post interval training, was a 2 egg white, 1 whole egg omelet with red and jalapeno peppers and red onion sauteed in coconut oil. I topped 'er off with an ounce of raw, grass fed cheddar cheese and a big spoonful of leftover chili. Look out!

Snack this morning was 1/2 c of yogurt, 4 tsp ground flax seed and 1/3 scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder.

Come lunch time, I opted for another hunk of tahini meatloaf preceded by a Hugh Jass salad of spinach, arugula, carrots, tomato, cucumber, celery, fresh parsley, yellow pepper, and scallions. I dressed it up with a mix of almond butter, chili powder, lemon juice, and milk. Sounds strange, I know, but it was terrific.

Mid-afternoon I had another homemade protein bar along with a few Brazil nuts.

For dinner, Christina and I heated up the last of the lamb roast to which I added the last of the broccoli from the farmer's market. Such a great meal.

We baked TWO sweet potato pies (photos, etc. to come later. Patience!) after dinner so I, of course, had to do some sampling which made for a nice dessert.

Just before bed, I had my usual 30g of protein powder mixed with water.

Optimum Anabolics - Day 70/Half Time

Today marks the end of the 10th week on the Optimum Anabolics program. If I did my math right, that puts me right at the half way point. 10 weeks down, 10 to go.

Despite not yet exploding into the Incredible Hulk, I am pleased with where I'm at (except for the heel pain) and am really enjoying the Optimum Anabolics workouts. My past experience with other programs would have me getting rather bored at this point. Not the case at all here. I'm looking forward to another 10 weeks. In case you're wondering, that's the week before Christmas. Have you started your shopping yet? (~:

Ok, here is what the measuring devices had to say followed by a few progress photos:

MEASUREMENTS:

Weight: 183.0 LBS (UP 1.5 LBS for week, UP 3.5 LBS total)
BF: 9.5% (according to the calipers I have) (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1.4% total)
Neck: 16" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/2" total)
Chest: 39-3/4" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/4" total)
Shoulders: 47" (UP 1/2" for the week, DOWN 1/2" total)
Biceps: 13-1/2" (NO CHANGE for week, NO CHANGE total)
Waist: 33-1/2" (UP 1/4 for week, UP 3/4" total)
Thighs: 20" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/4" total)
Calves: 15-1/4" (UP 1/4" for week, UP 1/4" total)
Adonis Effect: 1.403 (UP 0.012 for the week, DOWN 0.010 total)


































































WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

This morning's intervals were done on the stationary bike for 28 minutes.

Continued to work on getting faster at the Flying Romans.

Here are today's Flying Roman results (3 intervals, 15 per leg):

• 30 seconds
  
• 28 seconds(!)
  
• 27 seconds(!)
  

Comments:

As I mentioned yesterday, now that I have cracked the 30 second mark on the Roman's, next week I'll set the timer for 30 seconds and see how many I can do.

Not much soreness to speak of today. I'm fine with that since this is part of the lighter cycle.

Left heel is still sore and I'm still favoring it. Progress? I'll describe it as "no change".

Cardio over the weekend will continue to be bike rides only to rest the foot.

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN (PLUS 1)

Post workout this morning I again went with a 1 egg and 2 egg white omelet. Mixed in was yellow pepper and red onion sauteed in coconut oil. I topped the omelet off with 2 oz of raw organic sharp cheddar cheese and a few shakes of Louisiana Hot Sauce.

Mid-morning, I snacked on 1/2 c Greek style yogurt mixed up with ground flax seed and 1/3 scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder.

At lunch time, me and 3 co-workers headed out to Champps restaurant. I studied the menu on line ahead of time and opted for the Greek salad with grilled chicken and the dressing on the side. Turned out to be a great salad served in a bowl that was the size of a bathtub. Anyone know the Greek term for "Hugh Jass"? (~:

My lunch salad was so large and satisfying that I decided to skip my afternoon snack.

We relaxed a bit at dinner and re-heated the chili that Christina made earlier in the week. Chili and Fall weather go so well together. For some added nutrition, I steamed up a plateful of fresh broccoli from the farmer's market, drizzled it with Udo's Oil, and sprinkled it with sea salt. Awesome.

30g of whey protein isolate and a cup or so of water went down the hatch just before bed.

Optimum Anabolics - Day 69/Ready, Set, STOP!

Don't say it. Don't say "go".

When it comes to working out and eating well most of the time, I really do not struggle for motivation anymore. Exercise, good nutrition, and Overall Fitness are just part of my life. However, I know others lack the motivation to treat their bodies well or, like me, have other tricky areas where they often trip up.

I found this blog post on eliminating the various forms of the word "go" to be very helpful.

Why cut out the "go" and "going"?

As it turns out, our subconscious instantly thinks of work when we use these terms.

Pay attention to how you react when you say things like "I'm going to eat healthy today" or "I'll go to the gym tomorrow". Feel negative to you?

Now switch it around. How about "I am eating healthy today" or "I'm making time for the gym tomorrow"? Better?

Try this mentality switch out on a few small things you want to change or get done and see what happens. Maybe something will!

WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

This morning's intervals were done on the stationary bike for 28 minutes.

Continued to work on getting faster at the Flying Romans.

Here are today's Flying Roman results (3 intervals, 15 per leg):

• 33 seconds
  
• 28 seconds(!)
  
• 29 seconds(!)
  

Comments:

Now that I cracked the 30 second mark on the Roman's, next week I'll set the timer for 30 seconds and see how many I can do.

Not much soreness to speak of today. I'm fine with that since this is part of the lighter cycle.

Left heel is still sore and I'm still favoring it. Progress? I'll describe it as "no change".

Cardio over the weekend will continue to be bike rides only to rest the foot.

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN (PLUS 1)

Post workout this morning I went with a 1 egg and 2 egg white omelet. Mixed in was yellow pepper and red onion sauteed in coconut oil. I topped the omelet off with 2 oz of raw organic sharp cheddar cheese and a few shakes of Louisiana Hot Sauce.

Mid-morning, I snacked on 1/2 c Greek style yogurt mixed up with ground flax seed and 1/3 scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder.

I had lunch today with Hugh Jass. I was in need of some greens and veggies so I filled up one of those big spinach containers from the grocery about 2/3 of the way to the top with spinach, arugula, red and yellow peppers, cucumber, celery, green onion, carrots, shredded cabbage, and parsley. The tub-o-salad got dressed with 2 TBS of EVOO mixed up with rice vinegar, minced garlic, lemon juice, and a dash of cayenne pepper and topped with 5 oz of grilled chicken breast. It seemed like I was chomping away endlessly but it was delicious.

My afternoon snack today was less than stellar nutrionally but it sure tasted good. Mmm...chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

By time dinner rolled around, I was quite hungry. The cookies just didn't cut it...imagine that. Tonight we tried a different recipe from our favorite cookbook, The Ultra-Metabolism Cookbook. Once again we were not disappointed in our choice...pan browned tilipia. We went with mahi-mahi, however, instead of the tilipia. Another good choice. On the side was raw, dairy free alfredo sauce over zuchinni noodles.

Lookin' (and tastin') good...

















I knocked back 30 g of whey protein isolate powder along with my supplements just before bed time.

Optimum Anabolics - Day 63/Niner

How in the world is this the end of Week 9 already? Sheesh!

The results are in!

MEASUREMENTS:

Weight: 181.5 LBS (UP 1.0 LBS for week, UP 2.0 LBS total)
BF: 9.5% (according to the calipers I have) (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1.4% total)
Neck: 16" (UP 1/4" for week, UP 1/2" total)
Chest: 39-3/4" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/4" total)
Shoulders: 46-1/2" (UP 1/4" for the week, DOWN 1" total)
Biceps: 13-1/2" (NO CHANGE for week, NO CHANGE total)
Waist: 33-1/4" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/2" total)
Thighs: 20" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/4" total)
Calves: 15" (NO CHANGE for week, NO CHANGE total)
Adonis Effect: 1.391 (UP 0.007 for the week, DOWN 0.022 total)

WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

Continued to work on getting faster at the Flying Romans.

I did 28 minutes of the interval program on the bike.

Here are today's Flying Roman results (3 intervals):

• 38 seconds
  
• 33 seconds
  
• 31 seconds (sweet)
  

Comments:

Shoulders and upper arms still way sore today.

Not much to show for the chest workout a couple days ago.

Left heel was pretty sore all day today.

Cardio over the weekend will continue to be bike rides only to rest the foot.

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today.

DIET - PROTEIN DEPRIVATION (LAST DAY!)

For breakfast I repeated yesterday's recipe for (mostly) raw blueberry cereal. Despite being calorie dense, this cereal does not weigh heavily on the tummy...quite light honestly.

Mid-morning, I put away a delicious local apple from the farmer's market and my daily dose of raw cashews, brazils, walnuts, and almonds.

Since this is the last day of being a partial vegetarian, I decided to venture out for lunch and hit up a local Indian food restaurant. This was a first for me. It was off to the North Market in downtown C'bus where I found Flavors of India. Having never been, I had no idea what to choose. Since the line was fairly long, I had the opportunity to quiz my fellow diners on just what the heck some of the entrees were and what was good.

My order ended being channa masala over basmati rice and a samosa filled with peas and chunks of white potato. The channa masala was outstanding and worth trying in the kitchen at home. The samosa was a bit disappointing largely due to the fact that it was heated in the microwave. The crust would've been nice and flakey, however, had it been fresh. I ate the whole thing, though, just to make sure it was ok. (~:

I skipped out on an afternoon snack today. That masala was p-lenty to carry me over to dinner.

We heated up (not in the microwave, thank you) two more servings of the egg plant parm that Christina made on Day 61 for dinner and put that over some zucchini noodles. There was a brief moment of panic when we realized we were out of "parm", but another batch was quickly whipped up before we ate. All is right in the world.

Optimum Anabolics - Day 62/I'm going with...

...Plantar Fascitis.

I did some research on the net and it appears this is the problem with my left heal.

Here is what Google Health had to say:

The most common complaint is pain in the bottom of the heel. It is usually worst in the morning and may improve throughout the day. By the end of the day the pain may be replaced by a dull aching that improves with rest.

Most people complain of increased heel pain after walking for a long period of time.

Um, yep. That sums it up.

Assuming this is my plight, there is some good and some bad.

It's good in the sense that it's not a huge deal, is rather simple to treat, and is a fairly common problem.

Bad is relative, I realize, but the symptoms can last for several months. Thankfully, I've been treating the condition as prescribed for a few weeks now so hopefully being pain free is not that far off.

WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

This morning's intervals were done on the stationary bike for 27 minutes.

Continued to work on getting faster at the Flying Romans. Whaddya know? I got faster!

Here are today's Flying Roman results (3 intervals):

• 38 seconds
  
• 32 seconds
  
• 33 seconds (sweet)
  

Comments:

Shoulders and upper arms still sore today.

Chest was somewhat sore today. Not what I would've expected, however.

Left heel is still sore and I'm still favoring it. It gets better after I take a few steps.

Cardio over the weekend will continue to be bike rides only to rest the foot.

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today.

DIET - PROTEIN DEPRIVATION

For breakfast I repeated last week's recipe for (mostly) raw blueberry cereal. This cereal is tremendously satisfying. This is a very important quality for me. Hunger and I do not get along. (~:

Mid-morning snack was 2 oatmeal cinnamon cookies from The Cookie Cop and 3 Brazil nuts.

Lunch time meant another round of raw tortilla soup with a couple of handfuls of blue corn tortilla chips from Trader Joes. I love this lunch.

Hummus and red bell pepper = afternoon snack.

Dinner was leftover 3-bean chili. This dish is too simple to be so good. The longer is sits, the better it gets!

Cardio on the stationary bike again tomorrow...

Optimum Anabolics - Day 56/8's Not Enough

Week 8 of my journey through Optimum Anabolics has come to a close.

First up, three progress photos...






























































For comparison's sake, check out my Day 42 post. Not bad!

Now for this week's tale of the tape...

MEASUREMENTS:

Weight: 180.5 LBS (UP 2.5 LBS for week, UP 1.0 LBS total)
BF: 9.5% (according to the calipers I have) (UP 1.4% for week, UP 1.4% total)
Neck: 15-3/4" (NO CHANGE for week, UP 1/4" total)
Chest: 39-3/4" (UP 3/4" for week, UP 1/4" total)
Shoulders: 46-1/4" (DOWN 1/2" for the week, DOWN 1-1/4" total)
Biceps: 13-1/2" (UP 1/2" for week, NO CHANGE total)
Waist: 33-1/4" (UP 1/4" for week, UP 1/2" total)
Thighs: 20" (UP 1/4" for week, UP 1/4" total)
Calves: 15" (NO CHANGE for week, NO CHANGE total)
Adonis Effect: 1.391 (DOWN 0.026 for the week, DOWN 0.029 total)

WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

As discussed in yesterday's post, this morning's intervals were done on the stationary bike newly purchased for the home gym.

Continued to work on getting faster at the Flying Romans.

I did 28 minutes on the bike. Next week I'll pay more attention to the timing break down.

Here are today's Flying Roman results (3intervals):

• 36 seconds
  
• 35 seconds
  
• 33 seconds (sweet)
  

Comments:

Shoulders and upper arms still way sore today.

Not much to show for the chest workout a couple days ago.

Left heel was much better today while working out AND later in the day. Very good thing.

Cardio over the weekend will continue to be bike rides only to rest the foot.

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today.

DIET - PROTEIN DEPRIVATION

For breakfast I repeated yesterday's recipe for (mostly) raw blueberry cereal. This cereal is tremendously satisfying. This is a very important quality for me. Hunger and I do not get along. (~:

Mid-morning snack was carbo energy cubes and raw nuts.

A material supplier took a couple of us to lunch today at Cap City Fine Diner so there were a few discretions on my part. Things got started with a warm, buttery "white death" roll. As an appetizer, the man in charge (meaning, the guy picking up the check) ordered some house-made tater chips with alfredo sauce (the dairy laden one) and Maytag blue cheese. Oh. My. Goodness. For a meal (as if I needed more to eat), I had the veggie plate. This was a great combination of an angel hair pasta cake, mushroom spring roll, asparagus, broccoli, goat cheese, diner vegetables and marinara sauce.

I skipped the mid-afternoon snack (duh!).

For dinner, we finished off the last of the eggplant parmesan and roasted spaghetti squash.

Later in the evening, we met Christina's high school friend and her new fiance out to celebrate her friend's birthday their engagement. I sipped on 3 of these light, low cal, low carb beers. Not bad, but I prefer dark, heavy beer for sure.

To finish off a rather crappy nutritional day, I had to have a piece of the birthday cake that came from a fantastic local bakery...Golden Delight. My sis actually got her wedding cake there. It's that good. Not so good on the ingredients, however. Oh well.

Back to the weights tomorrow!

Optimum Anabolics - Day 55/I <3 Craigslist

Ever since my heel issue showed up during Week 2, I've been spending increasing amounts of time on the bike rather than running and jumping rope for cardio purposes. Slowly but surely my foot was getting better. In fact, I hardly had any discernible discomfort yesterday at all. I was extremely encouraged by this improvement.

My attitude changed quickly, however, when I felt the pain again later this morning post workout. When I stood up from my desk at the office it grabbed me. Stinks. Actually, it sucked and I was pissed. Something had to change. Enough was enough.

It was time to get that stationary bike I had been seriously contemplating getting since Week 2 and lightly considering since, well, I don't know when. Probably since doing a fat-loss cardio interval on my bike in the snow 2 springs ago. Good fun. :-)

The thought came to mind to hop on the net and check out Craigslist. If you're not familiar, Craigslist is like an on line garage sale, want ad forum, and "services available" listing for your area. Nearly all the equipment in my home gym was purchased from the site. We have also had luck with selling a couple of items and even finding tenants for our rental properties. Bottom line...try this site out!

After clicking into the sporting goods for sale section, I immediately came upon what turned out to be my next piece of fitness equipment. The Edge 491r Programmable Recumbant Bike.

I contacted the seller, asked a bunch of questions and set up a time to meet. Christina's mom was kind enough to loan us her SUV for transport purposes and the bike fit (almost too) perfectly. Once home, with the reluctant help of my wife (thanks, hon!), we wrangled it down the steps and into the home gym.

Tomorrow's cardio workout should be pain free and my foot will get the rest time it clearly needs.

Sweet!

WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

My lungs and breathing were quite good today.

The Flying Romans are coming along nicely. Looking at last week's times, I improved a little. That's a good thing!

I walked at a steadily increasing pace for 5 minutes or so prior to hopping on the bike for the first interval.

Here are today's intervals:

• Bike, Intensity 1 (warm up), 5:15
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (160 jumps)
• Jog, Intensity 2, 4:30 ±
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 35 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog, Intensity 2, 3:10 ±
  
• Bike, Intensity 2, 4:45 ±
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 170 jumps)
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 35 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog/Walk (cool down), Intensity 1, 5:41 (jogged 4:20, walked 1:21)
  

Total Time => 30:01

Comments:

Arms and shoulders are fairly sore again this week. The muscles that lift my arms above my head (like doing the wave at a ball game) seemed to have been worked the hardest.

Not as sore in my chest as I'd like to be, although it feels like I worked harder in this area this time around.

Left heel was just so-so today. Progress is slow and I'm still favoring it some.

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today rather than the usual 1 minute per side.

DIET - PROTEIN DEPRIVATION

For breakfast I tried out a new recipe...raw (mostly, I think...) blueberry cereal. I bummed this recipe from Kardena's Kitchen and was admittedly skeptical. I had been wanting some cereal however and was avoiding buying processed, boxed up junk. This did the trick!

Check it out...















The recipe went into the "keeper" file for sure.

1/3 Cup Sunflower seeds (soaked or raw) 2/3 cup

1/2 Tbsp Shredded Coconut

½ Tbsp Flaxseed (soaked or raw) 1 Tbsp

1/2 Cup Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

12 gr Protein Powder (Rice/hemp)

Dash Mineral Salt (Sea Salt or Himalayan)

Dash Cinnamon

1 Tbsp Raisins ¼ cup

¼ tsp Vanila extract (optional)

Sweetener (Agave Nectar/Stevia/Raw Honey)

Female Calories: 337 Protein: 23 g Carbs: 35 g Fat: 13 g

Mens Calories: 489 Protein: 31 g Carbs: 59 g Fat: 18 g

The ingredients that are bolded to the right of the ingredient is the different portion for men. The rest of the ingredients are the same.

Instructions:

If you’ve soaked your sunflower seeds, drain enough water to scoop out 1/3 cup (or more, depending on desired serving) of seeds. If not check out this video on how to soak sunflower seeds. Place any extra sunflower seeds in water and store in the refrigerator. Place all ingredients in your bowl including salt, cinnamon and raisins to taste. Add sweetener to taste (your choice—feel free to experiment). Add however much water you want to mix the dry ingredients and seeds together.

I made a few adjustments, of course...

• Added 1/4 C almond milk
• I do not understand "dash" of cinnamon. I measure it by the pound. :~)
• Added about 3 TBS of Trader Joes semi-sweet chocolate chips
• No sweetener of any kind was added (unless you count the chocolate chips)
• I left out the protein powder as well since I'm in the middle of the Protein Deprivation cycle

Mid-morning, I knocked out 2 apples and raw almonds, cashews, walnuts, and brazils.

Lunch was a repeat of Day 53...raw tortilla soup with 3 tostadas. I'll be buying the farmers out of peppers and tomatoes this weekend to make this again next week. (~:

Lemony hummus and half of a Hugh Jass red pepper went down the hatch for a snack this afternoon.

Dinner before heading out to pick up my "new" bike was a repeat of Day 52...non-dairy, gluten-free, raw alfredo sauce with spiralized zucchini "pasta". The recipe comes from Gena at Choosing Raw.

Anyone know where I can buy stock in raw cashews? (~:

Optimum Anabolics - Day 49/Seven Down

Week 7 of my journey through Optimum Anabolics has wrapped up. Here's what I have to show for it thus far...

MEASUREMENTS:

Weight: 178.0 LBS (DOWN 1.5 LBS for week, DOWN 1.5 LBS total)
BF: 8.1% (according to the calipers I have) (NO change)
Neck: 15-3/4" (UP 1/4" for week, UP 1/4" total)
Chest: 39" (NO change for week, DOWN 1/2" total)
Shoulders: 46-3/4" (NO change for the week, DOWN 3/4" total)
Biceps: 13" (DOWN 1/2" for week, DOWN 1/2" total) (I'm shocked and dumbfounded by this!)
Waist: 33" (DOWN 1/4" for week, UP 1/4" total)
Thighs: 19-3/4" (NO change for week, NO CHANGE total)
Calves: 15" (NO CHANGE for week, NO CHANGE total)
Adonis Effect: 1.417 (DOWN 0.004 for the week, DOWN 0.003 total)

WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

Focused on getting faster at the Flying Romans.

Before hopping on the bike, I walked at a good pace for 5 minutes or so.

Here are today's intervals:

• Bike, Intensity 1 (warm up), 5:05
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:20 ± (170 jumps)
• Jog, Intensity 2, 4:45 ±
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 38 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
  
• Bike, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 160 jumps)
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 35 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog/Walk (cool down), Intensity 1, 5:30 (jogged 4:00, walked 1:30)
  

Total Time => 32:53

Comments:

Shoulders and upper arms still way sore today.

Not much to show for the chest workout a couple days ago.

Left heel was better today while working out but wish it was better than it is. Cardio over the weekend will continue to be bike rides only.

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today.

DIET - PROTEIN DEPRIVATION

Since the Optimum Anabolics program has me currently in the Protein Deprivation cycle, it seemed like a good opportunity to whip up a Green Monster. I repeated yesterdays mix since it was so good:

• 1 C Almond Milk
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 C frozen blueberries
• 2 tsp Flax Oil
• 1 tsp Fish Oil
• 2 TBS Raw Almond Butter
• 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
• Tons of Spinach
  
• Cinnamon
• Cinnamon
• Cinnamon!

Around 10:00 after a meeting, I snacked on an energy bar from The Cookie Cop and my raw cashews, brazils, almonds, and walnuts.

Lunch was another round of eggplant parmesan leftovers with zucchini "noodles". This meal is really excellent and *will* be included on next week's menu. :)

Mid-afternoon, I went with the lemony hummus, a cut up green bell pepper (no poblano today!), and a tomato from my father-in-law's garden. Outstanding!

Dinner was left over 3-bean chili, a few blue corn chips, and a piece of gluten-free bread that Christina made. Excellent! The recipe was from this book on baking gluten-free using almond flour.

Later, I took a teaspoon of fish oil and headed off for bed.

Optimum Anabolics - Day 48/Oil Change

A couple of posts ago I talked about Canola oil and the fact that there are much better choices out there.

My personal oil of choice for cooking and high-heat applications is extra virgin, organic coconut oil.

I'll let Certified Nutritionist, Isabel De Los Rios give you the facts...

People have a really hard time believing that coconut oil is not "fattening" or "dangerous". We have all been falsely led to believe that fat, especially saturated fat, is the cause of our weight gain and health problems. This is only half true. Some fats like hydrogenated oils and vegetable oils do contribute to heart disease and weight gain, but good fats like coconut oil, butter and olive oil are actually great fats for our bodies. Think about how much healthier people were in the late 1800's and very early 1900's. Heart disease was almost unheard of back then.

Let's put some of these MYTHS about coconut oil to rest right now.

Myth #1 - Coconut Oil contains a lot of fat so it must be fattening.

Truth - Not all fat makes you fat (I want to get this tattooed on my forehead). Certain fats do cause weight gain, but other good fats will actually burn unwanted fat off your body and accelerate your metabolism.

Myth #2 - Coconut Oil contains almost all saturated fat so it must be bad for you.

Truth - Saturated Fat is not the cause of heart disease, weight gain and high cholesterol. Saturated Fat has been falsely accused and it is SUGAR that is Enemy Numero Uno (It is worse than the Joker in Bat Man).

Myth #3 - Coconut Oil should be avoided by those who are at risk for heart disease .

Truth - The fat in coconut oil is one of the healthiest oils you can consume (yes, even for those with heart disease). It is rich in lauric acid, which is known for its antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties and contains no trans fat. The saturated fat in coconut oil is different than many other oils in that it is of the medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) variety. The body digests MCFAs more easily and sends these fats directly to the liver where they are immediately converted into energy. Now isn't that great? A fat that is used to make energy instead of storing it on our bodies. We can all use some of that.

Pretty cool, huh?

I buy coconut oil by the gallon and get it here.


WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

My lungs and breathing were quite good today.

The Flying Romans are coming along nicely. To monitor my progress, I paid particular attention to how long it took me to do 15 on each side. My plan it to beat that time each time I do a set until I get to 30 seconds. Then I'll add 5 reps to each side and start over.

I walked at a steadily increasing pace for 5 minutes or so prior to hopping on the bike for the first interval.

Here are today's intervals:

• Bike, Intensity 1 (warm up), 5:15
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:15 ± (160 jumps)
• Jog, Intensity 2, 4:45 ±
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 38 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog, Intensity 2, 3:30 ±
  
• Bike, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 170 jumps)
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 35 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog/Walk (cool down), Intensity 1, 8:20 (jogged 6:35, walked 1:45)
  

Total Time => 30:25

Comments:

Arms and shoulders are really sore. The muscles that lift my arms above my head (like doing the wave at a ball game) seemed to have been worked the hardest.

Not as sore in my chest as I'd like to be.

Left heel was just so-so today. Progress is slow and I'm still favoring it some.

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today rather than the usual 1 minute per side.

DIET - PROTEIN DEPRIVATION

Since the Optimum Anabolics program has me currently in the Protein Deprivation cycle, it seemed like a good opportunity to whip up a Green Monster. Today's mix included:

• 1 C Almond Milk
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 C frozen blueberries
• 2 tsp Flax Oil
• 1 tsp Fish Oil
• 2 TBS Raw Almond Butter
• 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
• Tons of Spinach (see photo)
• Cinnamon
• Cinnamon
• Cinnamon!

Here are the ingredients all set up and ready to hit the blender:















I leave the spinach for last and then filler 'er up!

















And the end result...
















Awesome!

Mid-morning, I had 2 Asian pears and my raw nut mix.

Lunch was a fantastic cashew salad with cabbage cole slaw mix, red peppers, carrots, and scallions dressed with an almond butter, rice vinegar, lemon juice dressing. The recipe was from our favorite Ultra-Metabolism Cookbook by Dr. Mark Hyman.

Mid-afternoon, I snacked on a cut up tomato and green pepper with a couple of tablespoons of lemony hummus from the same cookbook as above.

Dinner was the leftover lentil taco recipe from Day 45. Romaine lettuce leaves were filled up with the lentils, guacamole, and tomato. On the side, I had a couple handfuls of blue corn chips. A great meal!

I took a teaspoon of Carlson's fish oil then hit the rack.

Optimum Anabolics - Day 42/Week 6 By The Numbers

Week 6 has come to a close. Measurements follow a few progress photos...































































MEASUREMENTS:

Weight: 179.0 LBS (NO CHANGE for week, DOWN 0.5 LBS total)
BF: 8.1% (according to the calipers I have) (NO change)
Neck: 15-1/2" (NO change)
Chest: 39" (NO change for week, DOWN 1/2" total)
Shoulders: 46-3/4" (DOWN 1/2" for the week, DOWN 3/4" total)
Biceps: 13-1/2" (EVEN for week, NO change total)
Waist: 33-1/4" (EVEN for week, UP 1/2" total)
Thighs: 19-3/4" (UP 1/4" for week, NO CHANGE total)
Calves: 15" (UP 1/4" for week, NO CHANGE total)
Adonis Effect: 1.421 (DOWN 0.015 for the week, UP 0.001 total)

WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

My lungs and breathing were good today so I tried to crank out the flying Romans a little faster. I got a set of 30 (15 per leg) in about 40 seconds. That's down from 45 so I'll take it!

Before hopping on the bike, I walked at a good pace for 5 minutes or so.

Here are today's intervals:

• Bike, Intensity 1 (warm up), 5:20
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (160 jumps)
• Jog, Intensity 2, 4:40 ±
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 40 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
  
• Bike, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 160 jumps)
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 40 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog/Walk (cool down), Intensity 1, 5:30 (jogged 4:00, walked 1:30)
  

Total Time => 30:50

Comments:

Abs tight today.

Left heel was better today while working out. It's hard to explain, but the feeling has changed. There's still discomfort but it's almost as if the site has begun to itch. Weird. This says to me, though, that progress is being made in the pain-free direction.

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN

For breakfast I had the last remaining quarter of this recipe leftover from last week. Along with the crustless quiche, I also had two pieces of grilled eggplant (see photo below), a fresh Roma tomato, and half of a green and half of a red bell pepper sauteed with a quarter red onion in coconut oil.















Mid-morning snack was the usual yogurt, ground flax seed, and whey protein isolate powder.

At lunch time, I got creative...no, no I didn't. A green pepper stuffed with tuna salad along with a zucchini salad was the meal of choice today.

Mid-afternoon, I polished off a hard boiled whole egg and another egg white and the raw nut mix of cashews, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and almonds.

Leftover meatloaf served as dinner along with a bunch of veggies including green beans with onions and mushrooms, fresh organic broccoli from the farmer's market, and a mix of steamed carrots, green beans, and corn. Holy nutrition.

Later in the evening, 2 oz. of organic, raw milk cheddar cheese went down the hatch for a snack.

Back to the weights tomorrow!

Optimum Anabolics - Day 41/Mosquit-Oh! No!

This morning was a bit rough.

The pooch began barking a little after 4:00 a.m. as if the house had been surrounded by outlaws. I figured there was no point in going back to bed for just a few minutes so I headed downstairs, drove off the villains, and got ready for my workout.

I stepped out the back door and noticed a vehicle with all kinds of flashing lights making a loud noise as it worked it's way around the condo complex behind us. I figured it was one of their maintenance vehicles and didn't think too much more about it as I headed around the front to get cranking on some cardio intervals.

About 30 seconds into my first bike interval, I heard the noise (now louder) and saw the lights heading toward me in our neighborhood. I wanted no part of that so I did a quick u-turn and headed the other way, still not knowing what the heck it was.

After doing my jumping jacks, I headed out on my running interval. Roughly half way through, I turned the corner and BAM! There it was again! It was hunting me down! :)

You're dieing to know what it was, right? It was a City maintenance truck fogging the area for mosquitoes. Yep. I ran through a cloud of insecticide. COUGH! COUGH! Perfect timing, too...lungs and heart working nice and hard to get oxygen to my cells for performance during my intervals. Ahh...force that poison nice and deep into my tissues. And for what? Read on...

Once at my computer, I hopped on the net and pulled up the City's website. Turns out they're spraying predominantly to control the West Nile virus. That's still around?? With another click, a map came up showing the number of reported cases in the state last year. Wanna venture a guess? 15. In the *entire* state. That's not a typo.

How many thousands of people are being exposed to toxic chemicals in an attempt to reduce the risk of 15 people getting this illness? This, to me, seems ridiculous and totally unnecessary. It was just a few years ago that residents were having to petition the City just to get our streets plowed. But yet, they have no problem spending our tax dollars to poison us.

I may not live a toxin free life as of yet, but my wife and I are getting there. As a consumer, I get to choose whether I buy a toxic product or not. That's my biggest complaint here, I did not get to choose whether or not my part of the City got gassed.

Rant for the day is now over. :)

WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

My lungs and breathing were quite good today again so I jogged and rode the bike even faster today than yesterday.

I should mention that I've been walking at a good pace for 5 minutes or so prior to hopping on the bike for the first interval.

Here are today's intervals:

• Bike, Intensity 1 (warm up), 6:15 (went over the scheduled 5:00 to avoid insecticide. BAH!)
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (160 jumps)
• Jog, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 45 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
  
• Bike, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 170 jumps)
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 45 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog/Walk (cool down), Intensity 1, 5:45 (jogged 3:40, walked 1:45)
  

Total Time => 31:30

Comments:

Abs STILL feeling those reverse ball crunches!

Left heel was good today while I was working out. I wasn't really favoring it at all this morning. It was sore off and on later in the day, however...not exactly happy about that.

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today rather than the usual 1 minute per side.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN

For breakfast I had another quarter of this recipe leftover from last week. Along with the crustless quiche, I also had two pieces of grilled eggplant (see photo below), a fresh Roma tomato, half of a green and half of a red bell pepper, and 2 stalks of celery. Hey, that was a nice nutritious breakfast, huh?

In an attempt to suck out some of the poison gas I inhaled this morning, I took some Sonne No. 7. Check it out here for the scoop on this natural remedy.

Everything all together...

Mid-morning, I had a snack of raw nuts that included almonds, cashews, walnuts and Brazils. No need for anything more than that today since I had plans to meet a friend for lunch.

I met my buddy at Easy Street Cafe for a Greek lunch. This place never disappoints. I had the Greek salad with a perfect amount of gyro meat. The salad itself had iceberg (blah) and romaine lettuces, fresh tomatoes, pepperoncinis, red onion and several kalmata olives. The homemade Greek dressing was top shelf and totally makes the salad.

I traded snack places today and had my yogurt, ground flax seeds, and whey protein isolate powder around 3:30 today instead of the usual mid-morning time.

Leftovers were on the menu for dinner so I threw together a chicken fajita-style meal of grilled chicken (from the farmer's market), cut up red peppers and tomatoes, and homemade guacamole.

Dinner (blurry but still good!)...

Optimum Anabolics - Day 35/Week 5 Is In The Books

Hard to believe another week has passed.

My results continue to be rather so-so. Considering the program says this 3 week period (Weeks 4, 5, and 6) are designed to be easier on the muscles, I guess this makes some sense.

One more week of light (relatively) lifting then it's back to pushing my muscles hard. Also, after 6 weeks of the same ol', same ol', my diet will change significantly. Stay tuned!

MEASUREMENTS:

Weight: 179.0 LBS (UP 1.0 LB for week, DOWN 0.5 LBS total)
BF: 8.1% (according to the calipers I have) (NO change)
Neck: 15-1/2" (NO change)
Chest: 39" (NO change for week, DOWN 1/2" total)
Shoulders: 47-1/4" (UP 1/2" for the week(!!), DOWN 1/4" total)
Biceps: 13-1/2" (UP 1/4" for week, NO change total)
Waist: 33-1/4" (UP 1/2" for week, UP 1/2" total)
Thighs: 19-1/2" (DOWN 1/4" for week, DOWN 1/4" total)
Calves: 14-3/4" (NO change for week, DOWN 1/4" total)
Adonis Effect: 1.421 (UP 0.018 for the week, UP 0.016 total)

WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)

My lungs and breathing were quite good today again so I jogged and rode the bike even faster today than yesterday.

I should mention that I've been walking at a good pace for 5 minutes or so prior to hopping on the bike for the first interval.

Here is today's intervals:

• Bike, Intensity 1 (warm up), 5:00
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (160 jumps)
• Jog, Intensity 2, 5:00 ±
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 45 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
  
• Bike, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
  
• Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 170 jumps)
• Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 45 seconds (15 each leg)
  
• Jog/Walk (cool down), Intensity 1, 5:45 (jogged 3:30, walked 1:45)
  

Total Time => 29:30

Comments:

Abs STILL feeling those reverse ball crunches!

Left heel was better today. Must keep stretching and rolling!

Calves and feet got stretched for 2 minutes per side today rather than the usual 1 minute per side.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN

For breakfast I another quarter of this new recipe from yesterday. Very, very good!

Along with the crustless quiche I also had Christina's homemade salsa. I used half a yellow bell pepper as a scoop. No fried corn chips necessary!

Everything all together...

How to use a pepper for a salsa scoop...

Mid-morning snack was the usual yogurt, ground flax seed, and whey protein isolate powder.

My lunch was the remaining wasabi salmon from Day 32 as well as a blended zucchini salad on the side.

Negative on the mid-afternoon snack today. I ran some errands at lunch and wound up getting back to the office much later than planned. The boss also let us go a little early today since this was the Friday before a holiday weekend. Woo!

No snack meant it was time for dinner when I got home. Tonight it was Spanish-spiced shrimp from our favorite cookbook along with some steamed broccoli and lima beans. Here is my delicious plate of goods...

Pre-bed snack was a 1/2 scoop of whey protein isolate powder and a little water.