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This is an article written by Chris Shugart from T-Nation, a few years back. Whenever I lack motivation, reading this article in it’s entirety completely resets my perspective, which reminds me of a quote…
Fish burps were the main reason I stopped taking fish oil supplementation a few years back. I just couldn’t stand the aftertaste of those burps, and worse if I had no access to a drink.
Two things can be done:
1. Freeze Them - Some say that by keeping your fish oils in the freezer, the ‘fishyness’ of them is greatly reduced.
2. Consume Before Meals - This has worked best for me. If I consume my oils prior to eating, I barely notice them.
Combine both tips and you should be in good shape.
So I’ve completed one week without my normal post-workout drink, Biotest’s Surge. So far so good, both in terms of physical results and recovery.
I’ve basically replaced it with a cocktail of glutamine (20g), BCAA (10g), creatine (5g), and whey isolate (30g). It effectively brings my post-workout carb consumption from 45g down to 4g (from the whey isolate), while still providing the necessary conditions for replenishment and recovery. My opinion in comparison to Surge depends on the training style performed on the day of consumption - heavy or circuits.
On heavy days, where I’m allowed 1-2 minutes of rest between sets, sipping a peri-workout mix of glutamine and BCAAs really helps in terms of performance and the onset of fatigue. Furthermore, at the end of the training session I don’t get the urgent feeling to consume something sweet and loaded with sugar (Surge).
On circuit training days (aka. lactate-inducing), I only consume water during the workout, and the light cardio session afterwards. When the workout is over, I have a huge craving for something Surge-like, with loads of sugary goodness. In this respect, I’m not as content with the glutamine/bcaa/creatine/isolate combo, but for the sake of results - it’s a very fair compromise.
I really do miss Surge though. On my next carb-up day (next Monday), I will make sure to have a coveted Surge serving both pre, peri, and post workout - just to get my sweet fix of the good stuff.
Temptations seem to come at the worst times, don’t they? Today I got hit with a major onslaught of temptations when I got to work. I rushed out of the house and forgot to bring my food with me. When I arrived at the office, what did I find? What else but a bunch of leftover pizza and Tim Horton’s donuts boxes! Now, it’s easier to avoid these kinds of traps when you have something healthy to at least tide you over, but when you are hungry and without your own arsenal of food, the old voices start to take over and the rationalization begins…
“I’ve been perfect for the past 4 days - a quick binge won’t make a difference.”
“If I just eat everything here, the temptation will be gone, and I’ll get right back on track afterwards. No big deal.”
“Maybe just one.” (yeah, right)
I won’t lie - it was an incredibly tough situation. I would do anything for just a big bowl of sliced fruit, let alone the major culprits. Then again, these desires are all old habits that I want to destroy. I don’t want to have to try so hard when turning away from devilish foods, I want to get rid of the desire! The only way I can see that happening is by making a new habit of avoiding them.
Instead of trying to rationalize a way to give into the treats, I started to think about this site, and the progress photos due in a little over a week. Also, a quote from John Berardi came to mind where he said something like, “if you can’t dedicate yourself to something for a mere two weeks, you have a problem.” Absolutely true. The final straw was when I told myself, “this is why you’re 30%”. That silenced those inner voices pretty quickly.
In the end, my way of dealing with the situation was to quickly run home (I live very close to work) and pack a few containers with spinach and chicken, some cans of tuna, and a bottle of water. Phew! I look forward to the future when this won’t be so hard.
Lesson of the day - Always be prepared in case of tempting circumstances and environments!
I believe that with any endeavor, one should stack the odds in their own favor as much as possible. In the case of body transformation, this will require a clear plan of action, and an array of proactive habits and routines.
Nutrition
Although my determination will ultimately be the most important factor in my success, having a clear idea of what will be going into my body is a huge detail. Since I’m over 20% BF, I will be using a rather strict approach for my carbohydrates, both on regular days and on carb-up days. On regular days I will be shooting for 30g of carbs or less. This excludes carbs from green vegetables and fiber - which can be eaten more or less carte blanche.
Supplements
Seeing as how my post-workout shake has always been Biotest Surge - which has 45g of carbs, I will be eliminating it for the next four months (carb-up days excepted). Instead I will be ingesting a glutamine/BCAA/creatine/whey isolate combo, so that I can get proper post-workout nutrition, while still keeping daily carb levels below my daily limit. I’ll also continue to be steady will fish oil intake (EPA/DHA), 100% psyllium husk for fiber (Metamucil), and multi-vitamins.
Compliance
Carb-up days will be every two weeks. In addition, they will be “clean” carbs, so only oatmeal, fruits, yams, etc. All other days I will target 100% compliance. Personally, I find it easier to shoot for perfection rather than perfect moderation. This might sound strict, but since I’m 30% BF, I think I will require these added efforts to get off the ground faster. Once I’m below 20%, I’ll expand the selection of foods allowed on carb-up days. This was a major problem with my old routine - carb-up days were too frequent, and composed mostly of fat+carb combos that were too detrimental to my goals (ie. pizza, wings, high-fat cappuccinos, desserts, pasta, etc).
We’ll see how my sanity holds up after the first two weeks. I’ll have updated photos and new data to unveil!
The PN Challenge officially began for me yesterday. Today, I finally got around to getting most of my important data collected, so that I could submit my official registration for the contest. The results were shocking to say the least.
I have a Tanita bodyfat scale that uses an electrical signal to measure results. I’ve never believed it prior to today, simply because the results seemed to be wrong. Today I had a chance to measure my BF% using a different method - bodyfat calipers - and the results more or less validated the Tanita scale’s accuracy.
Anyways, here are my hard “before” numbers:
Girth:
Neck: 17.25″
Shoulder: 54″
Chest: 45″
Upper Arm: 15.5″
Waist: 43″
Hip: 39.5″
Thigh: 25″
Calf: 16.5″
And here are the photos:
I’ll be posting the details of my strategy and goals tomorrow!
If you look at my progress photos in the left sidebar of the site, you can see that my progress has been decent, but nothing groundbreaking. My exercise frequency has been virtually perfect for the past year, never taking more than 2 days rest between any training session. If I had to grade my compliance to diet, it would be far less than perfect - maybe 70-75%.
I’ve recently come to the realization that I am extremely intolerant of carbohydrates. For the second half of 2006 and prior, I was consuming what some would call “good” carbs in the mornings. Oatmeal and sweet potatoes (yams) were common breakfast and lunch foods. Even though I was violating the PN principles, I was using information learned from other sources and trying to incorporate it into the PN program. My mistake. In retrospect it was no surprise that I made so little progress during that time.
It was only in late 2006 that I abolished oatmeal and yams from my diet, and replaced them with chicken breast and spinach. Results were virtually immediate. In reality, the bulk of my results came in Dec ‘06 to March ‘07, when I actually followed the program properly.
In February ‘07 I also began a new training routine designed by Chad Waterbury called 10 x 3 for Fat Loss. That was a very good program for me at the time - I felt better and clothing began to fit better. I made the final steps of my progress during the last 3 months. I’ve since switched to Christian Thibadeau’s fat loss regime, which is more difficult, but geared towards maximum results.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that even though the photos show a year’s progress, the bulk of the progress came during the final stretch, and once I got serious about both diet and training combined. Armed with this knowledge, I plan to get serious results by November!
-Ratko
