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Developing a Freak

Welp, it was a bummer to see Seattle lose but oh well. Heck of a season considering all that happened injury wise.


Now enjoying the rest of the playoffs with Sunday Salads!


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Do you just kinda guesstimate macros for the salads?
 
booneman77 said:
Do you just kinda guesstimate macros for the salads?
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Yeah I essentially just have to eye ball.

On my off days I follow a very keto approach with an allowance of 50ish g of carbs from things like veggies so when we do salad I ensure I leave a good portion of calories for it.

The only salad items I use that have a dense macro/calorie amount are the salad dressings which I typically do 2-4tbsp there of. Then just a some croutons and some cheese.
 
A critical point that we often overlook when it comes to our weight loss and fitness goals (and one that we gloss over because we think it is so cliche) is the following:

Your success at your physique goal IS possible. Furthermore, the reasoning that you tell yourself as to WHY you “CAN’T” achieve success is legitimate. BUT the odds are quite high that somebody else, if not many somebody’s, have achieved success against the EXACT same reasons you tell yourself why you will not succeed.

So think about that: if that is true, and they found the same success you want with your same problems or reasons, then why can’t you too?


Today's session felt good. I felt like a dummy because I realized I completely forgot to do adductors today which frustrates me because I want big adductors. They give so much depth to the leg in all front and rear poses so I am frustrated I forgot lol.

Felt good to get after though on other lifts. Per my apple watch I burned roughly 650 calories with a heart rate that was up around 140-160 during the session. Not that that really matters, I just like the metrics.

However I know I need to make pump sets much harder. Not that they are easy now but I need to really make them way more intense I feel.

1/16/17 FT Blast 2 Basic Tier 2 Day 1A
Weight: 243.6
*** Completely forgot to do adductors***
Vsquat zz DB SLDL zz LF leg ext: 7x5pps/6x65kg's/10xstack, 12x3pps/6x50kg's/8xstack
Angled calf raise machine: 12x2pps, 12, 12,
Upper pump sets
HS incline press/HS low row: 16x2pps/16x1pps
Cable X over/ez bar cable pull over: 20x22.5/12x52.5/3x42.5
Side to front raise to magnum rear delt fly/ crunches: 10x15s to 20x72.5/ 15xbw, 10x15 to 15x72.5/ 15xbw
DB spider curl/V bar press down: 20x10kg’s/15x60lb
 
1/16/17 - 243.6 Update - Scale had dropped a pound this last Friday (official update day) but after cheat meal it came up, as it should, then dropped down 2ish pounds the second day after the cheat meal, but then came back up the third day after normal macros. Because I need the scale to go down and want to loose fat I am dropping 10% of calories on training days via carbs per JM book. Will read nutrition section of FT book to ensure my adjustments are wise in conjunction with FT training. Drop will be 310 calories on training days via 77.5g of carb. New macros are: 245p, 182.5c, 120F. Diet below.

Training Day Diet
Meal 1:
8oz egg white
1 cup mixed berries
1/2 cup naked juice green machine
P: 26g C: 34g Fat: 0g

Meal 2 Pre Workout:
Minimum of 8oz Water Used
• 1 scoop of amino acids (BCAA or EAA depending on the individual, minimum of 2-3g Leucine)
• 5-10g Glutamine
• 5g Taurine
• 10g Vegetable Glycerin
• 200mgs Caffeine
• GDA of choice: 400mgs berberine OR 300 mcgs Chromium OR 300mgs Gymnema


Meal 3 - Intraworkout Meal:
*Minimum of 24oz Water Used
*Sipped between every other set if not every set
*Finishing drinking entire shake as you finish up your last exercise for the workout
• 50g of carbohydrates from Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin OR Gatorade OR Waxy Maize OR Karbolyn
• 25g protein from Whey Protein Isolate or Hydrolyzed Whey
• 15g amino acids (BCAA or EAA depending on the individual, minimum of 2-3g Leucine)
• 10g Vegetable Glycerol
• 1g Agmatine
• 10g Glutamine
P: 25g C:50g F:0g

Meal 4 - Immediately Postworkout Meal:
• 25g protein from Whey Protein Isolate or Hydrolyzed Whey
1 bagel
P: 34g Carb: 55g Fat: 1g

Meal 5:
6oz chicken breast
Salad contents: various greens
1-2tbsp of salad dressing, guacamole, sour cream, salsa (15g total fat combo there of)
P: 34g Carb: trace from greens/condiments F:18g

Meal 6
7oz ground beef
1 tbsp EVOO
P: 40g Carb: 0g Fat: 27g


Meal 7
6oz salman/talpia mix
1 tbsp EVOO
P: 37g C:0g F: 23g

Meal 8
1 scoop casein
1/2 scoop whey iso
2 oz almonds
P: 48g C:14g Fat: 30g


Calories: 2790. 245p, 182c, 120f


Off Day Diet

Meal 1:

• 5 Whole Eggs

• 2 TBSP Red Palm Oil

• 2 cups of Spinach or Kale



Meal 2:
6oz salman/talpia mix
1 tbsp EVOO

Meal 3:

• 4 oz Ground beef

• 1 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
(could also do salad with salad dressing)



Meal 4:

• 6 oz Chicken Breast

• 1 TBSP EVOO
(could also do salad with salad dressing)

Meal 5

• 5 Whole Eggs

• 2 cups of Spinach or Kale

• 1 oz Almonds





Meal 6:

• 1 scoop of casein

• 1 Oz almonds




Calories: 2320
P: 185g C: 13g F: 168g

*** ONE weekly cheat meal on a training day, preferably Friday. ***
 
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I am fan of examine.com - if you are not aware of who/what they are check them out. Enormous database of all sorts of facts/research on health supplementation and nutrition. They recently produced a good review article with the top 5 things observed/learned about nutrition in 2016. Wanted to provide it here for your reading pleasure. Easy but informational read.

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1/17/17 FT Blast 2 Basic Tier 2 Day 2C
Weight: 244.0
Upper load
Prime row zz rack chin: 7x3pps/8xbw, 6x3pps/7bw, 7x2pps+25ps/7xbw F
Smith decline press zz incline fly: 6x225/10x55s, 6/6 F
Behind neck press/DB lateral: 8x1pps+10ps/8x45s, 7x1pps/6x45
Lower Pump Sets
LF Leg Extension: 30x150/10 partials
LF Seated Leg Curl: 20x150
Leg Press: 50x1pps, 50


So today was one of the those days that nothing felt like it went right. Truth be told I was battling a lot of frustration about my fat loss progress. The last 7 days or so progress as seemed to crawl to a halt and it is quite frustrating. I let the ultra short term get under skin way to much and it effected my session. Plus I didn't feel strong on really any movement which was frustrating and I know progressive overload didn't really happen, especially for chest as more then 225 on the bench was bothering my costochondritis stint I have right now. But my mind was not right during the session so that played a big factor into my approach which also complete sh!t because I did not really properly warm up, activate the muscle I was about to train or really do anything to help myself.

Case in point I cannot let the short term derail me because its really stupid and does nothing positive. Was the session a waste? No. Was it a bunch of steps forward? Probably not. But we learn and continue on word in a more productive fashion.
 
Cole Dreyer said:
1/17/17 FT Blast 2 Basic Tier 2 Day 2C
Weight: 244.0
Upper load
Prime row zz rack chin: 7x3pps/8xbw, 6x3pps/7bw, 7x2pps+25ps/7xbw F
Smith decline press zz incline fly: 6x225/10x55s, 6/6 F
Behind neck press/DB lateral: 8x1pps+10ps/8x45s, 7x1pps/6x45
Lower Pump Sets
LF Leg Extension: 30x150/10 partials
LF Seated Leg Curl: 20x150
Leg Press: 50x1pps, 50


So today was one of the those days that nothing felt like it went right. Truth be told I was battling a lot of frustration about my fat loss progress. The last 7 days or so progress as seemed to crawl to a halt and it is quite frustrating. I let the ultra short term get under skin way to much and it effected my session. Plus I didn't feel strong on really any movement which was frustrating and I know progressive overload didn't really happen, especially for chest as more then 225 on the bench was bothering my costochondritis stint I have right now. But my mind was not right during the session so that played a big factor into my approach which also complete sh!t because I did not really properly warm up, activate the muscle I was about to train or really do anything to help myself.

Case in point I cannot let the short term derail me because its really stupid and does nothing positive. Was the session a waste? No. Was it a bunch of steps forward? Probably not. But we learn and continue on word in a more productive fashion.
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This is something I've strggled with a lot as well, especially with my constantly changing schedules, locations, etc... The one thing that I've been told that I try to fall back on is this: any step thats not backwards is a step away from where you were. Sure, sometimes its not necessarily a direct step towards your end goal (let alone a big leap), but its at worst a neutral change, and change is one of the biggest things that we want and strive for. Sometimes the road that leads us to the final destination isn't the one we set out on, but rather the one we stumbled across.
 
booneman77 said:
This is something I've strggled with a lot as well, especially with my constantly changing schedules, locations, etc... The one thing that I've been told that I try to fall back on is this: any step thats not backwards is a step away from where you were. Sure, sometimes its not necessarily a direct step towards your end goal (let alone a big leap), but its at worst a neutral change, and change is one of the biggest things that we want and strive for. Sometimes the road that leads us to the final destination isn't the one we set out on, but rather the one we stumbled across.
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Those are some good words in a lot circumstances and can certainly apply to mine today. I appreciate it my friend; gotta keep that attitude.
 
It is no surprise that if we are in the iron game for any appreciable amount of time where we train fairly hard for a specific goal that we will incur injury in some form or another at some point.

Most commonly the back, knee and shoulder suffer such injury, aches and pains. However just because this happens it doesn’t mean we should just halt training. We do always want to respect an injury and not aggravate it further by training through it in a haphazard way. However we still do want train and not just stop and we can do this by adjusting our movement selection to give whatever area is injured a rest.

I found this article that listed several movements that would be great alternatives to whatever you normally do depending on what part of the body you are hurting. They are specific to the knee, back and shoulder but there are TONS of movements one can find to do depending on where injury might be.

This would be a good resource to tuck away when your knee, shoulder or back is giving you training problems.


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1/18/17 Ft Blast 2 Tier 2 Day 3C
LF Leg Ext: 4xstack/4/4/4/4/4
Arsenal Strength Inverted Leg Press: 4x4p/4/4/4/4/4
Prime Squat Machine MR: 4x4pps/4/4/4/4/4
Goblet Squat MR: 4x100/4/4/4/4/4/4 (need to go heavier here)
Leg Press Calf Raise MR: 4x235/4/4/4/4/4
CR Sled: 4x1pps/4x2pps/4/4/4/4
Prime Preacher Curl MR: 4x130/4/4/4/4/4



Good session today. Not incredible but certainly good. The gym was super empty this morning too which was cool as I could do everything I wanted. I get the most frustrated with calves because I really realize I need to be able to generate a much better contraction then what I do currently. Its odd, I can see and feel the gastrocnemius/soleus contract when I train them but I don't get super hard or intense contractions like I would like.

Numbers on the MRs I have done previously to this day all increased in weight which was a plus.

First time using an inverted leg press too. Certainly different but it really does hit the hamstrings well. My ROM wasn't very long/far as my back would round fairly quickly it felt but I felt tension all the way through the hammies which was positive. Lower body feels pretty good and beat.
 
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I have been often asked by clients and other folks who are interested in fitness the question “how can I increase my metabolism?” Or “how can I make my metabolism faster?”

There can be several ways this can happen but I think one of the simplest ways and things one can do to help increase their metabolic rate is to simply train extremely insane and intensely.

Does this mean reckless? Nope. What it means is training incredibly hard each time you suit up for a training session. It is pushing yourself mentally to a higher height each time, thus taking your body with you.

Further more, I think this applies even more to when we weight train. When we choose to attack sets of a resistance exercise that is very challenging and intense via heavy loads and high mechanical tension placed on our muscle tissue this will do a lot for our metabolic rate and increasing. Do this over and over again and as time goes on you will see your metabolic rate raise.
 
Off day today which is nice. Just recovering and eating and enjoying the day. Looking forward to training tomorrow.

If you take a survey of the top athletes in the world you will find that each of them have the trait of being adaptable.

How does that apply to you, the non top athlete (well maybe you are, you tell me) person who is just looking to shed some flub or put on a little bit of lean tissue?

It applies in that it is a required trait to reach and sustain long term success within your fitness goals. You need to be able to take life and circumstances in stride as they come and be able utilize adaptability to still follow through with the required daily actions you need to complete to achieve success.

The top athletes in the world have way more busier life schedules and scheduled and un-scheduled circumstances that come into their life yet they zero in on being adaptable and being able to produce the required actions they need to stay at the top of your game.

If we choose to exercise the same type of adaptability we can maintain and reach high levels of success.
 
Felt like a pretty decent Upper Muscle Round day today. Contractions felt good throughout and my whole body felt good too. Enjoyed the exercise selection as well as it just felt and grooved well.

The WHG also added in a HS row machine and shrug machine this week so I look forward to testing those out soon. I've used them before at other gyms but it will be nice to use them again.

Resting today, playing some of the Halo Wars 2 beta Xbox one and then a date with my bride later when she gets off work.


21/17 Ft Blast 2 Tier 2 Day 4C
Straight bar pull down MR: 4x130x6
Bent over row machine MR: 4x2ppsx6
Nuetral Grip pull down MR: 4x135x6
Seated Cable Row MR: 4x120x4/4x150x2
MAG Chest fly MR: 4x224x6
Prime Incline Chest press MR: 4x2ppsx3/4x1ppsx3
Leaning DB lateral MR: 4x30sx6
Lever edge seated press MR: 4x2ppsx5/4x1pps
V bar press down: 4x80x3/4x60x3
 
Which hs row did you get? The low row machine might be my favorite of any machine at all. I get an unreal squeeze on it
 
booneman77 said:
Which hs row did you get? The low row machine might be my favorite of any machine at all. I get an unreal squeeze on it
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It's the seated row variation where you can do it iso laterally.

We do have the low row machine and you know I haven't really given it's do. I will take your word about the squeeze and give it a shot for sure.
 
Great day today. Saturday's are a day of rest after training. My wife and I also typically go do a cheat meal as well. Keeps me sane on a diet and it really gives me no problem to go 6 and 1/2 days flawlessly knowing I can enjoy something Saturday night.

We opted for Smokey Bones were we split nachos and then I had loaded BBQ burger and fries.

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Some shots of the muscle rounds from today.

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Cole Dreyer said:
It's the seated row variation where you can do it iso laterally.

We do have the low row machine and you know I haven't really given it's do. I will take your word about the squeeze and give it a shot for sure.
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Ah yeah that's the one I actually miss. The gym I workout by my current house doesn't have it but I go to a few around the area and work it in when I find it.

Lower lay sweeter can't be beat on the low row. For my shape it just hits me perfectly.
 
booneman77 said:
Ah yeah that's the one I actually miss. The gym I workout by my current house doesn't have it but I go to a few around the area and work it in when I find it.

Lower lay sweeter can't be beat on the low row. For my shape it just hits me perfectly.
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I look forward to implementing it this week and seeing how it feels for sure. I need lats period so hopefully it proves to be a good tool
 
Kicking back enjoy the end of the NFL season (or just about) today.


Of course we did Sunday salads...but I forgot to take a pic lol
 
Cole Dreyer said:
I look forward to implementing it this week and seeing how it feels for sure. I need lats period so hopefully it proves to be a good tool
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Me too ha. I have a lot of thickness but my width is terrible
 
1/24/17 Blast #2 Basic Tier 2 Day 1A
Weight: 243.1
Lower load
Legend squat machine: 6x8pps, 7x5pps F
SLDL: 10x315
Prime Leg ext: 10.5x5p
LF calf raise: 12x255, 9, 7, 7ish F
Adductor: 12xstack, 8, 6, 6ish F
Upper pump
HS seated horizontal row wide grip / Lever edge incline press: 20x1pps +5 partials/15x2pps +5 partials
HS seated horizontal row close grip / Magnum Chest Fly: 19x1pps/16x156 +5 partials
Magnum Rear delt fly into lateral raise machine into DB front delt raise / ab crunches: 30x72/30x60/15x10's / 20xbw, 23x72 +7partials/20x60/25x10's / 20xbw
DB spider curls / rope press down: 25x10kgs / 30x30lbs


Pretty decent session today. Lower loading sets all came up in reps or weight. The lever edge squat machine I have used has been okay but I think other movements might give me better tension through the muscularture of the leg. 8 plates a side max out the machine and it felt HEAVY. Reps 5 and 6 were grinders. Going forward however I think I may swap out that movement for something else.

Upper pump sets felt good but I will say that after going full tilt on lower load sets I am quite zapped to where I feel fatigued in the upper body when doing those movements in that I feel that I fit mechanical and contractile failure much quicker then I would have thought.
 
So we know the old phrase: “good things come to those who wait.”

In some certain context I do think this phrase can be proven true. However I think I like this phrase a bit better:

“Good things come to those who try consistently.”

Why do I like this better? Because its almost always true. The problem to day with people is they do not try things. This can pertain to goals, life change, relationships, etc.

You see we are too content to give up at the first sign of hardship in just about anything. We will then lie to ourselves saying that we truly did “try" and we put our “best foot forward” and we were “patient in the process” and blah blah blah. While all of those phrases can be legitimate they normally are not because we did not “try consistently.”

I believe that in most things, goals, etc that you want to achieve and see made different you most likely need to “try consistently” for at least 3-6 months. That means intentional daily effort towards the end your seeking for 6 months to even begin to see if what you are doing is working. In somethings in might be shorter and in other things it might be longer. The point is you need to be willing to put in a little bit of effort and grit to get after what you want.

Does this mean that you will automatically achieve success if “try consistently” ? No. It does not. But if you start trying consistently and you keep doing it you will most likely.

1. Learn what actions lead you to make progress toward your goal.
2. You will learn things about yourself that you did not know. Normally this is a good thing in the long run.
3. You will have improved your ability to do and pursue things that are important to you. This will spread to other areas of your life.


So try, and keep trying, fail, adjust, and keep trying.

This post doesn’t pertain to fitness goals specifically but you better believe it applies. Think about it.
 
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1/25/17 FT Blast 2 Week 1 Basic Tier 1 Day2A
Cardio: none
Upper load sets
HS iso horiz row ZZ prime high pull down: 6x3pps/6x2pps, 8x2pps+25ps/8x1pps+25ps, 6x2pps+25ps/7x1pps+25ps F
Smith incline press ZZ legend fly machine: 6x2pps/12x130, 8x1pps+35ps/7xstack F - felt way better despite costochondritis
Prime seated SP ZZ white lateral raise machine: 6x2pps+25ps/10x100, 7x2pps+10ps/ 8x100 F
Lower Pump Sets
LF Leg Press: 25xstack close stance, 15xstack wide stance F
LF leg ext: 20/10partialsx165
LF seated leg curl: 15/5 partialsx165
LF leg press calf raise: 30x195



Pretty good session today. Upper load sets just felt better today, particularly the chest movements because my bout of costochondritis did not bother me much at all. I felt that I was able to get better contractions on the HS ISO horizontal row today then last time because I did both sides simultaneously opposed to one at a time. I felt that the tension through my lats was better then just one a time.

Felt strong through the shoulders as well. Traditional barbell pressing does nothing for my shoulders. I feel that various machine presses, DB presses and laterals do way more for me so I will stick to those!

Lower pump sets were nothing special today but that was intentional. This week due to some traveling I have to train Tues-Fri which isn't ideal when doing FT training. With doing heavy load sets yesterday and then having lower muscle rounds tomorrow I didn't want to totally crush myself in the pump sets today.

Appetite/hunger has been sort of down as of late which is a little bothersome for me as typically when I am dieting and I maintain a high appetite and battle some hunger I typically see more consistent fat loss. May have to play around with fixing that if I don't see it pick up here soon.
 
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Something that I take for granted continuously is the access we have to infinite amounts of information as it pertains to health and fitness and how this information can be helpful to us in the pursuit of our goals.

Not all of this information is correct, good or wise (I have talked before about how we need to develop good “sifting through” skills to find what information available is actually helpful) but something you can do today to help you increase your chances of finding information that is correct, good and wise is by joining an online community in the realm of health/fitness that you are interested in.

There are countless forums, Facebook groups, blogs, etc that have excellent resources that can help you along your path to success in your physique related goals. What’s better is that forums and Facebook groups almost always have people in them who have had success in the same areas you are seeking. These people, a lot of times, are willing to share their insights and wisdom into how they found success if you ask and are open to learning and critique. If you are not apart of such a community I highly encourage you to spend sometime finding one and joining!
 
Discount grocery stores are your friend.

About a week or so ago I spoke about this on my “Painfully Obvious Fitness Tip of the Day” that I do every day on IG (@coledreyer) and post here on FB (#socialmediagamelevel9000 #yeahrightmorelikelevel1). You might be surprised at the kind of things you can find at discount grocers that you either might not find at your normal grocer store or find very way cheap.

Most towns have a Bargain Market, Sharp Shopper, Aldi’s, etc and I encourage you to find it. My wife Lindsey and I have one close to us and we use it regularly. We love it because we can buy things like grass fed beef, seafood, macros/diet friend spices and condiments and other staples of our macro/meal plans for much much cheaper then you would at a regular grocery store.

The best part is that most of the time the product is fresh and no where near expiration date. Once in a while on some items you might be within a week or so but I don’t see that too often.

Food bills can cost us more then we wish but taking advantages of places like this makes the difference. We encourage you to go find such a place and see what they have to offer.
 
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This might step on toes but it is not intentional.

But your problems, especially the ones that you claim are keeping you from reaching the type of life you want to be living (in really any category) are probably not as unique as you might think. The disclaimer of course is that there are various circumstances in some folks’ life, maybe yours, that are unique to you.

I also am not saying that your problems or obstacles are not legitimate. They most likely are and I am not belittling them. What I am saying is simply that you are probably not the only person who has the issues you face - that there are many others in the world you battle and struggle with the same obstacles and problems that you have.

Why am I talking about this? Because there are people in the world you have achieved the same goals you have (or very similar) and achieved the lifestyle that you are trying to achieve inspire of having the same or similar issues and struggles and obstacles that you have.

My point is that your desires and goals are possible. Your struggles, circumstances, and obstacles do not have to defeat you. If other people have achieved what you want then most likely you can too. Those who have gone where you want to go were people just like you.

Am I saying anything is possible? No. But what I am saying that you are not alone and you are in good company because there are people who have been where you want to be and you can most likely go there too, wherever that is!

I think this can apply to a lot of aspects of life but hear you me: it certainly applies to your physique, health and fitness goals.

You can.
 
his is for those who maybe trying to lose weight seriously for the first time.

One of the best things you can do at the start of your weight loss goal is gain momentum. I think one of the best ways to do the is to realize that for most folks it is pretty easy to lose 10 pounds in a relatively short amount of time.

For the person who decides to commit to a simple nutritional and diet strategy of calorie counting and simple workout regiment that calls for 3-4 days a week of exercise it is quite possible to see 10 pounds loss in 2-3 months, and maybe for so, even soon then that.

You might say, “well 2-3 months is a long time.”

No. No it is not. You see that 2-3 months will pass. At the end of it you will realize “wow, that is not a long time at all. I could have stuck to a simple plan and been 10 pounds lighter.”

That statement right there is something you don’t want to have say.

Realize right now that if you know deep down you want and need to lose weight that you can and you can start right now today and you can build yourself some sweet momentum in a short time.

Now go to that place in your mind 2-3 months from now and consider how you would feel if you choose some slight lifestyle changes that led to the scale saying 10 less pounds. Wouldn’t that feel great? Wouldn’t you feel accomplished and happy? Don’t you think that would build some momentum that would keep you rolling to 20lbs, 30 pounds or more lost?

You can do it. You really can.
 
1/31/17 Blast 2 Week 5 Basic Tier 2 Day 1B
Lower Load sets
Hacksquat: 8x5pps, 6x5pps
good morning: 6x275 - need to stay at this weight next time for better Contractions
Prime close stance leg press: 8x9pps
Seated CR: 10x140, 6
Adductor: 12 w/ 1 Ct hold at top x stack, 8

Upper Pump Sets
Cable crossover with 1 count squeeze and stretch / straight bar pull down with 1 count squeeze and stretch: 27x12.5 / 17x32.5/3 partials

Lever edge incline press: 16x2pps+35ps / lever edge reverse sit wide pull down: 15ishx1pps +5 partials

Cable face pulls / DB laterals / DB front raise: 30x17.5/20x15s/10x15s

Cable face pulls / seated DB neutral grip press / DB front raises: 15 +5partialsx17.5 / 20x20s / 10x15s

Iso cable curl w/ very deliberate squeeze and stretch / straight bar press down: 17x12.5 / 19x52.5

Decline crunch: 15xbw, 10


Session was great save for the fact that I completely forgot to do abs with shoulders. Thus why you see them at end.

Other then that increased on all load sets.

It's very easy to tell how I have neglected ab training in that they will tighten up and cramp quite easily from simple body weight movements. Serves me right but I will adapt by training them.

This is the sort of session where I still really feel it several hours later. I especially feel it in the upper body because of the Pump Sets and I am glad because it is indication that I really filled those body parts with blood.

I am considering changing to training every other day. I am thinking my recoverability would benefit with having a full rest day in between sessions. Since FT is grueling and is higher frequency from a body part stand point and because I am in quite a deficit I think that it would be good. Thoughts?


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So I haven’t been in the gym/iron/training/lifting/whatever cool phrase you want to call it game for too long (roughly 5 years) but during my time so far I have had the opportunity to train regularly at 7 gyms over that time period.

6 of those 7 gyms were what I refer to as actual gyms - think a Gold’s or Powerhouse style place and not a fitness or wellness center/spa. A common theme I have found in 6 of these gyms is the parable amount of arrogance and “I am better then you mentality.” It is where various groups of people or individuals will, for one reason or another, carry themselves in such a way that attempts to portray how much of a “bad ass” they are because of how they look, dress, train/workout, how much they lift, how they walk or strut around the gym, how they look people and how they talk or interact with others in the gym.

Why is this present in these gyms? Well frankly it is present in many gyms just to varying degrees. Why is it there in the first place? Well that is because deep, deep down we are all insecure or battle insecurities at some level. You might disagree with me there and that is fine. I just believe we are lying to ourselves if we say we are not about something in our life. But this phenomena is a product of insecurity of our physical body or ability. This is why we went to the gym in the first place. Think back to the very first time you chose to join a gym and think about why you went to do it. It was probably because you didn’t like something about yourself physically or in your physical ability and so you wanted to make a change so you joined. That is a great reason to do so.

The problem is when instead of accepting of where we are at, our insecurity, and humbly deciding to put forth effort to change and work on it we let that insecurity become bitterness towards those who have reached the level of physical development or ability that we desperately wish we had. When we do this our arrogance and ego explode. This then typically, whether we are aware of it or not, causes us to then carry ourselves in a way that communicates to those around us that we are a real “bad ass” and “better” then others at the gym. It might also cause us to demonize those who are farther along the path of success then we are and we end up becoming quite jealous or flat out mean spirited towards them.

When we allow this to happen in ourselves we shut down any chance of great quality and life giving friendship and community that gyms can provide. You see I was once this guy and I still sometimes battle it. It is a part of our human nature and condition of our hearts I believe that spills out if we are not careful.

Some of my fondest memories of the gym are times when I was able to accept myself and my insecurities for who and where I was and humbly seek to improve and reach the goals I had. The fond memories this lead to were the times I had the courage to go talk to the big strong guys I desperately wanted to be and developed friendships with them and would pick their brains on how I could progress better. This would then lead to amazing gym camaraderie and true friendship where, no matter the level of success of the person, we could all enjoy friendship together and we all benefitted from it. It made the gym and training WAY MORE FUN too.

My take home is this: accept where you are in your fitness/physique/strength journey and choose humility and pursue where you want to be. Do not try to “mark your territory” in the gym by portraying an attitude of fake bad-assery. Rather choose to create friendships with both those who are farther along then you and with those who you are farther along than. This will quell any atmosphere of arrogance in a gym and it will bring back an element of joy and friendship like you might have not experienced before.


Maybe this was a bit sappy for you, eh oh well. Go train hard and enjoy the folks who are around you.
 
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2/2/16 Blast 2 Week 5 Basic Tier 2 Day 2B
Weight: 240.2

Upper load
Rack Deadlift zig zag with prime plate loaded pull down: 3x545 (too big of a jump here/10x4p, 6x495/8x4p 6x455 F / 5.5x4p F

MAG chest fly: 12x144, 12 - costochondritis really flared up when I tried to do my original programmed load movements. Because it's been a solid 7 weeks it has been bothering me I am not going to do any movement in the gym that aggravates it for the month of February or until it feels like it healed, whichever comes first as I do not want it to hamper training further. Load sets for chest going forward will be any kind of fly movement that doesn't bother it as most presses aggravate it.

HS seated press/ DB laterals: 6x2pps +25ps/10x35s, 8.5x2pps F/10x35s F

Lower Pump Sets
LF leg ext: 20x225/+5partials
Prime lying leg curl: 15x2pps +5partials +5 SLDL with 25lb plate for hamstring stretch
LF leg press: 15x215
LF calf raise: 20x175 +5partials



This was a much improved session from the last time I did this. The only hard point today was when I went to do my chest load sets and the costochondritis I have been battling was really bothering me (so much even using the lever on my inzer belt for rack deads hurt) and so I have decided that for the month of February I will do no movement, chest or otherwise, that bothers it all as I need to get this healed before it becomes a real problem. Hopefully I won't have to be careful beyond February and can get back to full blown chest training.

I was a bit overzealous with my weight jump on the first set of rack deads. The three I did with 545 were quite tough and two subsequent sets were very tough as well but I felt the reps were good.

The delt movements felt pretty good too. Regular barbell presses do nothing for my delta but thankfully my gym has 3 different pressing machines that have felt pretty good from a contraction stand point so I am going to fit those three in my rotation in the next blast as my core delt movements.

Jumped my pump sets up on weight and reps (except for leg press) which felt good. I actually way upped my leg extension numbers without realizing it until after the set was completed.

Because of traveling again this week I am going to do a Turbo MR day tomorrow so I can get the whole body in. After this week I will be able to resume the standard four day a week with all Basic.

I will say I can feel myself starting to get a BIT run down as I end this blast. Tomorrow will finish week 5 and i want to complete week 6 as I believe I can handle one more week before needing a de-load. I MAY drop down to tier 1 next week as a "pre-deload" of sorts depending on how I feel through the weekend, how recovery is, what my fat/weightloss looks like, sleep patterns, mood, etc.

One thing I added in last week dietary wise was a 24 hour refeed period. When taking myself or a client through a diet phase I am a proponent of keeping bio-rythems in a pattern that is "normal" for the person in question. One of those bio-rythems is hunger. For me, and others I have worked with, I have found that maintaining a high appetite and hunger levels to match (but not to the point of feeling like your starving or in pain) is important. For me, it communicates that the body is utilizing and digesting nutrients well and that my metabolism is humming. This normally means fat loss is fairly consistent and so because of this I like to do certain things to keep it that way.

A refeed day with maybe a free/cheat meal is something I like (at least for myself) as I found it works well. Last week however I decided to make it a full 24 hour day so I started at my last meal on Thursday evening and went through my last meal Friday. I am still ironing out exactly the macronutrient composition I want at each meal but it will look something like.

Thursday night last meal: standard protein serving with added 100g carbs

Friday Meal 1: 25g egg whites

Friday Meal 2: Intra workout of 25g of WPI 50g Carbs from gatorade

Friday Meal 3: Post workout #1 50g WPI 100g Carbs form bagels

Friday Meal 4: Post workout #2 50g WPI 100g carbs from bagels

Friday Meal 5: 2-3 hours after meal 4 50g WPI 50-100g carbs from bagels OR Sandwich with lean meat, no added fats save 1 slice cheese, and bread

Friday Meal 6: Last meal of day - free meal of what ever I desire.


I followed this plan last Thursday/friday and it yielded tremendous results from biorhythms to great gym performance and everything in-between. What is even better is that my scale weight is down 4.2 pounds from last Thursday, 1 week later, and I am noticeably leaner/thinner through the midsection.

So going to give it another go this week and see what the results are again. I will say this whole week my hunger, appetite and body just seem to be rolling which to me is a positive sign that things are headed in the right direction.
 
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As of now I am planning on starting my intensive cruise immediately.

So far this weekend my sleep as been crap and quite fitful. My hunger and appetite have been down as well compared to normal. Typically when those three things are present for 2 plus days I find that I am getting over reached.

What gave me real confirmation that now is the time was Fridays training session, while good, had me feeling quite worn and just exhausted from the time I got up and well into mid day Friday.

My Blast was 5 weeks long and so my cruise will be 12 days. There is actually an example in the FT book of what a cruise might look like after a 5 week Blast and so I am actually just going to follow that. I will train 3 times over the next week and then take the final 5-7 days completely off.

I will follow my normal diet patterns and will do 20 minutes of cardio probably every day of the cruise to continue lypolisis


SB pick

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New English Bully we got! He is 9 months old and his name is Bernard or Bernie for short :)

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If you watched the Super Bowl last night you witnessed a simple truth that is so commonly said that we take it as no big deal.
We saw what the idea of “Never Quit” can do.
Regardless of what you think or feel about the Patriots they did what was so improbable that it will be talked about for DECADES to come.
Learn this lesson: don’t ever quit on your goals. Does never quitting mean you will achieve everything you want? No, not at all. But what it does mean is that if you don’t ever quit you always have a chance no matter how improbable AND you just might achieve well beyond what is thought possible.
Don’t quit!
 
This article published on Precision Nutritions website is quite good. As an online and in person trainer I have dealt quite a lot with what Dr. Berardi calls the “pause button mentality.” Essentially this is the mentality that says “Because of x,y,z I cannot give full effort to my fitness goals. So until x,y,z is dealt with I will pause my efforts towards my goal because I do not want to be distracted in my efforts towards that goal.”

This is very common and it is a dangerous self-sabotage. I have felt bouts of it before and I am sure you have too. I encourage you to read this article as Dr. Berardi does a pretty good job explaining what this mentality is and how it destroys more then just your fitness goals.

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2/7/17 Intensive Cruise 2 Week 1 Turbo Tier 1 Day 3

Modified HS horizontal ISO row MR: 4x1pps+25ps/4/4/4/4/6

Prime neutral grip pull down: 4x4pps/4/4/3/4x3pps/5

MAG chest fly: 4x252/4/4/2/4x204/4ish - total failure

Prime SP MR: 4x2pps+25ps/4/4x2pps/4/4/6 - little over zealous here

Rope press down: 20x37.5 w/ 1 ct hold/10 partials

LF Leg press MR: 4xstack/4/4/4/4/8

LF Leg Press CR MR: 4x275/4/4/4/4/10

Ab crunch P set: 30xbw




Pretty good session today. Very much a "get in get it done" sort of day. Hit progressive overload on my repeat muscle rounds which was good and tried a few new things too. I did surprising feel fairly beat after this session so I was encouraged by that.

My metabolism seems to be rolling along OK so far. I feel hungrier then I have prior to roughly 9-10 days ago which is a positive. Feeling and looking leaner as well but I still got a ways to go.
 
Come across an interesting weight loss article today which coincides with a book I recently read (“The Confidence Gap” by Russ Harris). The article proposes the thought that the achieving of your fitness goal (in this case weight loss) will not make you happy for any long lasting period of time.

I really agree with this thought.

The article dips into psychology of the human brain, our psyche and what makes us happy or unhappy. The book I mentioned is a dive into psychology and feelings and speaks a lot about how achieving success in our goals won’t give us the lasting and unending happiness we often believe it will.

Rather, both the article and book, make a strong case that what will give us fulfillment in our endeavors are the daily actions we take towards our goals that are in line with our values.

Consider for a moment how you feel right now about the top 1-3 goals your trying to achieve in your life (fitness or otherwise). You have probably felt and thought at various times that if you can just achieve that goal then life will be a lot better and you will feel a lot happier but until you reach that goal your level of happiness won’t be as high as it could be until you reach it.

Now think about this: think about a goal you have achieved - did that goal bring the long lasting happiness that you thought it would? You probably felt similarly about that now accomplished goal as you do about the goals your trying to achieve now.

I am not saying achieving a goal won’t make you feel good or even make you feel happy. I am saying that it won’t last. Before long another goal is going to come along and you probably feel similar and will think your level of happiness isn’t what it could be and can’t be until you achieve the new goal.

Rather I encourage you to spend time determine what your values truly are and then determine how live actionably from those values.

Check this article out for some more thoughts about this and check out the book I mentioned too!


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Down 3 pounds on the dot from last weeks Thurs/Friday update which is great. It was my original goal two weeks ago was to be in the the 235-238 range after the two week experiment of have a 24 hour refeed/higher calorie intake period that started the night before my last training session and ended 24 hours later. Hit 237.4 down from 244.8 two weeks ago which is awesome. Very happy with that.

Today starts the off from training period during this cruise. My first day training back will be towards end of next week. Because it will be the end of the week I will probably do Muscle Round days those days and then start the new blast the following Monday to keep consistent with the weekly schedule.

During this off period I will be using it to further increase my understanding of Fortitude Training Programming and putting together this next blast. Right now It will probably be 4 weeks as with my current caloric deficit in this diet phase I think I drove my self into the ground a bit by pushing to 5 weeks.



In my years of training folks both online and in person I have trained a great percentage of women than men. Because of this I have seen first hand how having a skewed and damaged physical self perception can really cause a lot of self-harm to women, specifically emotionally and relationally.

It is no surprise that women struggle with this more then men (but make no mistake, men struggle as well. The fitness industry is a billion dollar business because all people don’t like something about their physical bodies and are desperate to change it) and this is largely due to our culture and society and the type of demands that it consciously and subconsciously places on women. I have had many heart breaking conversations with women who believe that a big portion of their worth is directly tied to their physical bodies and their self perception. The worst part is how skewed their self-perception is because so often it is founded in complete lies.

Something I (and my wife who trains folks as well) work to create in the mind of any client is a correct and truth filled self perception. This is a difficult task but it is critical to creating a right and correct state of mind. It normally doesn’t happen quickly as negative thought patterns are the human brain default. BUT with time, some effort and a focusing in on values and truth it is very possible to see self perception change from ugly to truth and good.

I read this article below that speaks about 7 habits women who want and need to change their self perception should consider doing and, as the author claims, are common trends she sees in women who do have a correct and positive self perception. However the principles in this article I believe can apply to all people and not just women.


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great log man, nice to see someone do it as complete as you hace
 
MindMuscleRep said:
great log man, nice to see someone do it as complete as you hace
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Thanks man, I appreciate the kind words.

It's been a long road and I have a good ways to go but I know that I am heading on the right track but am eager to ever improve on that path. Hopefully I can spur others on this board to the same.
 
i think we are friends on FB as well, or atleast at one time. during the iron empire radio days
 
MindMuscleRep said:
i think we are friends on FB as well, or atleast at one time. during the iron empire radio days
Click to expand...

Oh really?? Well if you don't mind double check to be sure. You can find me by searching Cole Dreyer on Facebook and then my profile picture is me and my wife at a wedding and I have a Seahawks logo on profile pic as we
 
Sorry for the lack of updates the last few days fella's. Truth be told during the intensive cruise there isn't anything overly exciting happening so I didn't feel the need to post I guess haha.

Getting back to training on Thursday which I am looking forward too. Finishing planning out my next blast but as of now its looking like it will be 4 weeks:

Week 1 Tier 1 Basic
Week 2-4 Tier 2 Basic.

I like the ramp up week of lower volume before hitting it full go for weeks 2-3. During this deficit tier 2 seems about perfect with where I am at calorie wise. 4 weeks instead of 5 this time because I could tell part through my 5th week that I was starting to drive myself into the ground and should have probably stopped after week 4 on this last blast.

Thursday is also my birthday so I look forward to that. I have always wanted to make my rounds to all the places that give you free food on your Bday and this year I am finally going to do it. So far I will be going too:

Panera - Free Pastry
Starbucks - Any free drink
Moes - free Burrito
Red Robin - Free Burger.

If anyone knows of any other good ones to go to for freebies let me know!

I can only justify doing this though by going in Thursday morning and having a killer first day back to training so I will be sure to get after it a little extra for sure.

Do you warm up before a training session?

Poll for me real fast: Yes or No in the comments and a brief reason why or why not.

“Warming up” is a funny phrase because it can vary so much from one person to the next and especially depends on the type of training someone is doing.

Ask a marathon runner what their warm up is and they might say something like a “quick” mile jog. (HAH? a “quick mile jog? Not for me #meathead)

Ask a pilates instructor and they might say 3-5 minutes of some kind of dynamic movements or stretching

Someone else might say static stretching for a few minutes (I generally don’t like this but that is for another time.)

A third person might say a “few minutes” of some kind of aerobic exercise or machine.

Are these right? Are they wrong? Context, context context.

For myself, when I warm up (which can vary day in terms of what I do and sometimes I don’t really do a warm up) I like to do maybe 3-5 minutes on a stationary bike or elliptical for the sake of increased blood flow, moderate increase in heart rate, and to get myself generally all the more in the mood to train.

Beyond that, since my training is completely resistance training focused, I like to perform some specific warm up variations prior the my main compound movements for the day. This can sometimes be light sets of the actual movement it self, some non-resistance contraction work to help create a strong mind to muscle connection, and maybe some dynamic movements to feel a bit “loose” (which can also mean a lot of different things depending who you talk to) and to simply encourage synovial fluid to my joints to keep them happy when I get under heavy loads.

I write this so you can consider how you warm up and more or less figure out if your warm up you are doing (or maybe not doing) is impacting your actual gym session and if so how is it impacting it? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

Lastly, a quick word on foam rolling. I like it a lot and it can be very helpful BUT if you foam roll prior to your training session for 20 minutes plus like some do then I would suggest that you might not full understand foam rolling and how to do it properly from a time frame stand point. Maybe you have a unique scenario where you need to do for an extended period of time prior to training but I doubt it but would also love to hear why you do it because I am genuinely interested.

I just find that foam rolling for such periods of time really doesn’t do anything overly positive for you. The tight muscle(s) you are trying to turn “off” because they always are tight and feel turned “on” need to be properly mobilized and stabilized to fix the issue. Foam rolling can be a helpful tool but I don’t think it will magically fix your issue because odds are shortly after foam rolling your muscle(s) will probably revert right back to the “on” or “tight” way it was prior to foam rolling IF you do not properly mobilize and stabilize it through corrective action.

If you find your a "marathon foam roller” prior to training then I encourage you to take a step back and ask yourself why you are foam rolling in the first place, what you are trying to fix and how might you change your current protocol to actually fix your issue.

For some more on warming up check out this article - a lot of great points in it and some of which I alluded to in my post.

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For a variety of reasons I am a fan of super sets

- great way to generate metabolic stress
- great way to really hammer a body part or variety of body parts
- great way to increase cardiovascular demand while training
- great way to finish training a body part
- easy to set up in a lot of scenarios
- they are fun
- and much more.

HOWEVER I am not particularly a fan of a super set at the start of a training session when training/doing a primary heavy compound movement. I prefer focusing completely on working to achieve progressive overload on major compound movements first and I just don’t think super setting with such is appropriate at the start of a session for most individuals in most scenarios.

I’d rather someone CRUSH a compound movement in a traditional set since at the start of a session and generate the most intensity they can and then play around with super sets later in a session.

Have I done super sets or similar fashion with compound movements at a start of a training session? Yes I have at times and MAYBE its appropriate to do at times (within context of the greater programming) BUT by and large I don’t think its necessary or even the most optimal in a lot of cases.

Your training food for thought today.


Check this article out for some more reading on super sets and similar ilk.

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