A Brief Update

First blog in a while. Mainly because I have been busy, tired, ill or all 3 at the same time!

Not much time to write a massive update so it will be brief. Weight-wise I got down to 213lb at 10% bodyfat. Last weekend, after 8 weeks of intense training, hard dieting and all the other things life throws at you I needed a bit of a break. Instead of skiploading for a period of hours I simply started on Friday night when I got in from work and then went all day Saturday finishing with a steak and rib combo at Harvester for good measure. I didn't even skipload in the truest sense either - If I wanted it I basically ate it; a mental break from dieting and skiploading if you like (because even skiploading is a structured way of eating and forms part of the diet).

I'd been fighting off a bit of a bug all week long and I had hoped that the extra calories and break would help recouperation but unfortunately I woke up on the Sunday morning feeling completely rotten. I binned off training and got to be one with the sofa. Unfortunately when you feel really rotten you also dont want to eat healthy stuff like oats, chicken, eggs etc, so yup you guessed it - diet on Sunday was pretty shocking - infact it was worse than the Saturday because apart from eating alot of cheerios the rest of my calories for the day came from chocolate by way of a tub of heroes and a few bars of dairy milk. Over the course of the weekend I piled on 16lb!! It got worse still because I continued to feel ill all the way through until Wednesday afternoon.

Now I never planned to drop all the water weight as my load was extended, but I hoped to be within 3lb. Unfortunately I just wasn't dropping water weight, and a combination of being bloated, feeling crappy and not seeing water dropping off really got to me mentally. Thursday and Friday I dropped a total of 10lb so I actually ended the week just 1.5lb over the week before - a bit of a result. Thank god. Next diet break will be Christmas week.

I have to admit I went to a bit of a dark place last week where I just thought about going back into a bulk and how nice it would be to eat 3500kcals a day again rather than 2000ish (both figures exclusive of pre/post workout shakes).

Anyway - I had been faced with the prospect of not skiploading this week and set myself a strict weight target with hours worth of loading attached to each weight to determine how long I could load or if at all. Fortunately the 7lb water drop on Friday night allowed me a 9 hour load (just 1 hour down from normal). I ate very much within the limits of skiploading protocols yesterday which consisted of:

Meal 1 - 6 large pancakes and real maple syrup/chocolate sauce. 2 bowls of coco pops mixed with protein shake, 3 bowls of cheerios, 2 slices of toasted malt loaf

Meal 2 - 1/3 tub mango sorbet, bag of jelly babies, J20, 200g cake icing.

Meal 3 - 1/2 white baguette with extra light philly, 150g chicken, 2 packs low fat crisps, toffee pecan swirl, 3 cookies, 1/3 tub mango sorbet

Meal 4 - 3 bowls of rice krispies

Meal 5 - buffett of garlic bread, pizza, mozerella sticks, brie and cranberry parcels, mini beef wellingtons, low fat oven chips, 1/3 tub mango sorbet, few chocolates.

All that was good for 10lb - about usual.

Another week starts in the morning so training this week is:

Monday - Back & Cardio

Tuesday - Cardio & Abs

Wednesday - Shoulders, Tri's, Cardio

Thursday - Legs

Friday - Cardio & Abs

A New Beginning (some progress pics too)

Wow what a few weeks! A short update for you:

I have to start by apologising for lack of updates. On Saturday 26th October at precisely 7:25am Lynn gave birth to our second child, Mason William Spencer. Both mother and baby are well although Masons appetite seems to take after mine and he is quite insatiable at times!

Despite everything that has been going on I have had 3 bloody fantastic weeks results wise in terms of fat loss and weight loss. I've lost 2lb, 3.5lb and 0.6lb respectively.

As I had achieved a weight loss as of this morning I decided to skipload a day earlier this week just to throw my body off the scent of my 7 day reload cycle. Frustratingly this will result in an 8 day period before my next load, but it should again add to confuse my body and ensure it does not adapt. I should also add that my skiploads have gone from 6 to 10 hours. For me 12-14 hours would be an all day load so keep an eye on that one folks as it gets interesting at that point, but thats a post for another day.

I am now sitting at 10% bodyfat and 214.4lb (about 97.5kg) and the fat has literally been melting off over the last few weeks.... It's like nothing I have ever experienced before. This is now the lowest bodyfat percentage I have ever been. The real key for me here is that 18 months ago when I got just above this at 12.5% I weighed 20lb less. That is concrete evidence that eating well and training hard in the interim period has provided muscle gains. An amazing fete considering that I almost gave up on lifting weights off the back of my DVT when I lost almost all my muscle size and strength through atrophy. What this also shows is that as a bodybuilder, or somebody that simply wants to add lean muscle and improve their lean muscle mass year on year is that you have to forgo that all year round lean look and allow yourself to eat and train in a manner conducive to growing new lean tissue. If that means you have to sit at 15-18% bodyfat for a period of time then so be it, but if you keep your growing/bulking/off-season (whatever the hell you want to call it) phase relatively in check and keep training hard and with purpose the results will be there for you and everybody else to see when you strip off that extra padding in the future.

I've continued to train at 5AM, mainly for a couple of reasons:

1) I like training fasted - I feel I get a much better mental focus and intensity this way
2) The gym is relatively quiet at this time (go figure!) so I can use what I want, and for the most part people in the gym tend to stay out of my way
3) When I go back to work next week, which will be an adjustment in itself this will not be an additional thing to adjust back to - an element of business as usual so to speak.

I've not really tweaked much in terms of diet the last few weeks. The only things I've really done with no negative impact on weight loss is to start using a whey concentrate/isolate blend for post work out instead of just whey concentrate (isolate is quicker acting than concentrate) add to also add 30-50g of coco pops to my post work out shake.... Yes you are reading that correctly - coco pops as part of my post work out shake. I am finding my training sessions are getting much more intense and taking much more out of me. Taking in the extra carbs certainly provides me better recovery and leaves me feeling less drained towards the end of the week as gylocgen gets really depeleted leading up to my skipload. So what I do at the end of my training session, much to the confusion of some people at the gym is make up my post work out shake (still 30g protein 30g vitargo, 3g BCAA, 8g Creapure) and then pour half of it into a little tub of coco pops. I then neck the shake and eat the coco pops before heading home. The amount of coco pops I have varies on the session and muscle group trained (ie high volume legs work which is a complete bastard gets a full 50g of coco pops whilst a standard chest workout gets just 30g etc).

I think people think the coco pops thing is weird and I have definitely had a few raised eyebrows, but I ask you this: if your on a diet do you want to drink your calories or eat them? Obviously you want to eat as much as you can as this makes dieting feel less laborious. Coco pops (and any kids cereal) are a great post work out carb source as they are roughly 50/50 starch to sugary carbs with the added benefits of cereal companies adding a variety of vitamins and minerals. Hell there is nothing to say you couldn't sit and eat a bag of jelly babies or wine gums instead. Personally I like having a mix of liquid and solid carbs but I don't think it would make a difference either way.

Another thing I've done is to eat a few pineapple chunks with breakfast. Lynn was eating this to bring on labour and I made the mistake of trying pineapple, having never really liked it.... wooops shouldn't have done that - its awesomely refreshing!

The last 2 days I have also started drinking lemon water first thing in the morning. There are a whole host of health benefits behind this (just google them) but the main thing for me is to reduce body acidity due to a very high (350-400g a day) protein diet, and it actually tastes pretty damn good too.

Some progress pics below as haven't put any up in a while. Not the best quality as there is a complete lack of places in our new house to take pictures (the glass in the back door is actually a pretty good mirror!).

Top 2 are from end of last week - hopefully you can see that bottom V (also known as the sex V!) in my lower abs coming out. 

Bottom 2 are from this week and give an idea of the added vascularity I am getting now my bodyfat is down at 10%. Particularly pleased with the vein down my biceps (how vein!) because no matter what I do I never seem to get that nice big vein you see on all the guys in magazines and at shows - proof its there, but has just been covered up! Probably just need a good dark fake tan now to really show up the veiny/grainy appearance to its full.

Stretching and massages

Yesterday was a tough day – the culmination of 2 hard workouts and a calorie deficit really caught up with me.

Sunday was chest day. The workout was hard. Lots of squeezing and stretching and we got to throw the gyms new 55kg dumbbells around too. I was really in the zone so biceps after chest was a real intense slog. Everything in the 12-16 rep range.

Monday was back. I am hitting my back real hard, particularly lats. I don’t think I have any issue with back thickness – in fact I think I have a very thick back and this is one of my strong points. With this in mind I am putting a lot of focus on hitting my lats. As I have a blocky waist and wide hips bones this should help to provide that v-taper look and therefore provide the illusion of having a smaller waist.

So those were the two workouts….. now last night. I could barely stay awake at 6:30pm – In fact I could have just gone to be at this point! My outer pecs were real sore from Sunday and I was having twitches/spasms on my left pec. My traps and back were really sore from Monday mornings workout – my neck was getting real stiff and no amount of stretching seemed to be helping anything. Fortunately my lovely wife, despite being 39 weeks pregnant and fairly immobile, gave me a 20 minute massage to alleviate some of the muscle soreness. Needless to say there was a fair old bit of crunching, cracking and some moaning and groaning to boot as she worked her way through some of the knots that had built up over the last week or two of training. And this brings me on to a point I think many people overlook when it comes to training – the recovery process and additional techniques that can be utilised to allow for a speedier recovery and increased muscle growth.

Massage is often seen as being a bit airy fairy, but if utilised correctly and routinely I have found it to be very beneficial indeed. Now I have to emphasise the point that at the start of my training career I was of the opinion that massages were for pussys and that manly men who lifted weights didn’t need them – soreness was a good thing and should be put up with and accepted as a bi-product of a productive workout. WRONG WRONG WRONG!!

When the weights weren’t overly heavy, as they tend not to be in the earlier days of ones life odyssey of gym work, massage is probably nice but not a necessity. As weights get heavier and training techniques are fine tuned you can literally feel your muscles resetting themselves in odd uncomfortable positions in the 24-48 hours after a workout. A prime example is traps. Do a load of high volume trap work or pump sets, and heavy shrugs (I’m talking 120kg plus) and it literally feels like an invisible piece of string is pinning your traps up to your ears. It’s just a damn uncomfortable feeling and if you roll your shoulders a little you get some incredible crunching noises. This is where massage comes in to its own. It breaks down the lactic acid and blood stuck in muscle tissue, whilst at the same time putting heat into the muscle and very quickly allows the muscle to relax. The benefit of taking out all that lactic acid and blood is that it allows fresh blood flow into the area, and with fresh blood (provided your diet and supplement regime is optimal) comes fresh nutrients and all the goodies required to maximise repair and growth. What you need is a good sports massage. A namby pamby rub and tickle is going to do absolutely nothing – it should hurt! Golden tip – if you find yourself drifting off to sleep it isn’t hard enough. Keep shopping around until you find a therapist that wants to hurt you – most good therapists will take to the challenge and enjoy causing you pain – also ensure that you tell them what you want and where you need them to concentrate – often your grunts, shrieks and groans will be enough to encourage them to concentrate on found problem areas, but don’t be afraid to provide feedback if you feel they aren’t going hard enough. Expect to pay anywhere from £40-£200 depending on massage time and location.

Another benefit of massage is fascia manipulation. Muscle is important, but it’s enclosed in a tight bag known as the fascia. The fascia is very strong and fairly tight and essentially allows muscles to hold their shape. The fascia does have a negative impact on muscle growth in that a muscle can’t grow if it is being restricted in size by the fascia. Cue the need to try and manipulate/stretch the fascia to allow more room for muscle to grow. Massage is one technique that can help manipulate the fascia, but there are two further techniques, that when combined correctly, can lead to a whole new world of muscle growth; fascia stretching and pumping (also known as dc training). The idea is twofold in that.

1. You use weighted stretches (normally at the end of your compound lifts) to stretch out the fascia. 

2. After stretching out the fascia you use isolation moves to really pump up the muscle

The approach should work in that stretching the fascia weakens it, even causing micro-tearing and then pumping the muscle allows it to stretch the fascia further and to cause more micro-tears. The fascia is now stretched out a little – there is a little more room for muscles to grow. Any micro-tears mean the fascia, like a muscle, has to repair itself a little bigger (natural adaption) – there is now even more room for muscle to grow.

Now there are some pitfalls with fascia stretches. Pick a weight that is too heavy, or over stretch and you are just going to get injured – hello muscle atrophy! In most instances only body weight or light dumbbells are required. Holding stretches for 30-60 seconds will be excruciatingly painful and uncomfortable– wimps need not apply or attempt!

Here is an example of a chest fascia stretch/pump routine I utilised on Saturday after hitting all my pressing compound movements: Take 2 dumbbells (I think I used 12kg) – lay in an incline flye position. Now at the bottom of the movement where you get the stretch – that’s your starting position. Let the dumbbells stretch out in that you should find yourself stretching out more and more with those dumbbells getting ever closer to the floor. Do this for 30-60 seconds (30 seconds is a good starting time). I went straight from this stretch into cable x-overs at 15-20 reps concentrating on a hard long squeeze of the chest and getting a real good pump. I performed this stretch and pump method 3 times. My chest still hurts (in a good way) - over 48 hours after the fact.

Right back to me! You may recall if you read my last blog update that I loaded on 8lbs during my Saturday skipload/reefed. I did question how long it would take to come off too as it’s the most I can recall putting on during a reefed! As of yesterday morning I was down 2lb. As of this morning I was down 7lb – yes that means that I lost 5lb in my sleep last night! 1lb more to go to baseline tomorrow. I’ve also decided to tweak my diet this week. 2 main aspects are

• Further reduction in calories by 200kcals per day. In terms of macros this is a percentage ratio of PRO/CHO/FAT 20/20/60 or in kcals 40/40/120. Not a drastic difference, but it should be enough to continue fat loss at a rate I am comfortable with.

• Manipulation of post-cardio meal. This was a PRO/FAT meal but I have dropped FAT. Protein has been upped from 50g in this meal to 60g to bring calories up to compensate for fat removal. The methodology around this is that cardio utilises fat as a fuel source and that by only ingesting pure protein afterwards I am extending the EPOC window and allowing for fats released from cells during
cardio to be utilised as fuel for energy (because if you put fats into your body the body will use these instead of the fats released during exercise). The theory bodes well so we will see how the practical application holds up!