Survived Week 3!

This week went well.  I'm really enjoying the rotation that I've set up.  I do two days on, two days off, one day on, one day off.  That means this week I hit the gym on Sunday and Monday then rested on Tuesday and Wednesday, worked out again on Thursday, rested on Friday, now I'll be in the gym Saturday and Sunday.  Those two-day rest periods really feel like a vacation!  Plus, this allows me to alternate which of my two workouts -- the pushing routine or pulling routine -- gets used just before a two day rest.  All of this translates into more rest for the muscles.  And as you may know, muscles grow when they're resting, not when they're working.

I start Week 4 tomorrow.  I'm excited about the fact that I'll have completed one month of my six-month challenge before the new year arrives.  No wimpy New Year's resolution for me.  I'll be well on my way by January 1!  Maybe I'll post some pics to commemorate the end of my first month at the end of next week.

Customizing My Program

I'm halfway through Week 2 of my six-month program and I've taken stock of my starting point.  Assessing your starting point is an important step toward taking the most direct path to your goals.  Imagine mapping driving directions without having a point A to go with your point B!

My self-assessment tells me that I've maintained a fair amount of strength from last year's six-month stint in the gym.  Unfortunately, I've gained about 10-15 pounds of unwanted padding and have lost almost all muscle definition.  The silver lining?  The fact that I still have my strength means that I'll be able to build mass quickly and, with the proper diet, burn off the fat.  (Oftentimes, an initial lack of strength prevents early gains because I'm not strong enough to complete the training needed for growth.  Or I lack the supporting strength to complete heavy movements. For example, not having enough grip strength to crank out pull ups means my back can't grow because my forearms are weak!)  That's one important hurdle that I've cleared.

Overcoming Fatigue for Breakthrough Results

I recently had an experience that is rare for me in the gym. I picked up a pair of the heaviest dumbbells that I knew I could lift in an incline bench press. I pressed the weight for five repetitions with no trembling or stalling. What happened next totally puzzled me. After a minute of rest, I picked up the same weight, lay back on the bench...and froze. I was completely motionless and totally unable to press the weight! My first thought was, "So this is what temporary paralysis feels like!" I carefully put the weights down and lunged for the next dumb bells down the rack (5 pounds lighter) and...same thing. Again, I put the weights down and grabbed the next lighter weights...finally a shaky, quivering five repetitions. Ugh!

What happened here? My mind knew that I could lift the weights. I had just pressed the heaviest set for 5 repetitions. I had spent the last few weeks pressing the weight that was 5 pounds lighter. And I knew for certain that the final set of dumb bells should have been easy, but why did I have such a hard time convincing my body of that fact? There is only one answer -- fatigue!

Getting Strong Like Bull...or at Least Big Like Bull!

I've spent a large amount of my blog real estate talking about diet. Partly, that's because I believe the saying, "You can't out exercise a bad diet!" Also, for me the exercise part is the easy part. It's all worked out ahead of time. I know which days I'm going to be at the gym. I know what I'm going to do when I get there. I consistently push myself physically. I log my results. Diet, on the other hand, encompasses a ton of variables including time, stress, availability of healthy/unhealthy foods, socializing, etc. Diet is definitely harder for me to pre-plan and control. At the gym, I walk in the door, take off my hoodie, slip in my headphones and crank up my iPod...everything after that is a blur of activity like a well-oiled machine. I think I'd get some strange looks if I did the same thing every time I sat down to a meal!

All that being said, I wanted to take some time to give you a glimpse at my gym routine from Visual Impact Muscle Building. The general break down is 3 phases of 2 months each. Phase 1 is mass building with light cardio and dieting. Phase 2 is a hybrid of mass building and strength building with slightly more intense cardio and dieting. Phase 3 is pure strength building with very intense cardio and dieting. The idea is to add muscle early, then tighten and compress it throughout the later phases while trimming excess body fat. The result...the lean, toned, athletic look you see on Hollywood actors and many European models. (Don't laugh at me here! Do I want to be a model? No. Would I rather look like a model than a body builder? Yes. When I was young I thought Arnold was the goal...now I realize that Ryan Reynolds looks better in a suit than the Governator, so my goals have shifted.)

What does Phase 1 look like? Basically, I do two workouts that split the body into sets of complementary muscle groups. So, chest, shoulders and triceps (with abs thrown in) get worked on a day full of pushing movements, then the next day back, biceps and forearms get worked with pulling movements. The overall goal is muscle fatigue. This means I'm working each muscle with high repetition sets (12-6 reps) and I try to finish each set at a point where I can barely, shakily, squeeze out the last repetition. I round out the workout with 15 minutes of intervals on a treadmill walking for 90 seconds then running for 30 seconds. I alternate Workout A and Workout B in a 2 days on, 1 day off, then 2 days on, 2 days off schedule for 4 total days in the gym. Right now, that's Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday from 5 to 6 a.m. (crazy, I know, but that's the only time when my 2-year old daughter is not awake!). On my off days, I try to rest or do yoga.

If you've ever seen someone working to complete muscle fatigue, you'll note that it looks very different than most guys in the gym. Most guys pump for a couple of reps, then sit around zoning out, watching TV, chatting with their buddies or hitting on the cute girl at the leg abductor machine. Guys shooting for muscle fatigue are using baby weights and working against the clock, moving quickly from one set to the next with about 35 seconds of rest, and each set ends with what looks like the weakest, sorriest excuse for a strength exercise ever. The secret is that that final repetition is the golden moment when microscopic muscle fibers are being torn to tiny shreds only to be rebuilt over the next few days into bigger, stronger, shirt-tightening crowd pleasers. If you leave the gym feeling like a quivering mass of jell-o, you can bet that you'll come back in a few days looking more muscular than the guys you see throwing up big weight but always looking soft and puffy.

I'll be transitioning into Phase 2 in just a few weeks and I'll pause then to give you a glimpse at that routine. I'm actually excited about it because it involves a regime that I tried once when I was in college that definitely tested my physical limits. For now, though, I'm really enjoying going in 4 times a week to crank out tons of reps on tiny weights and watch the inches increase at my shoulders, chest and arms while they decrease at my waist and hips.

Visual Impact Muscle Building

After much research on the internet and years of experience in the gym, I have decided that my workout routine for 2011 with be the Visual Impact Muscle Building program created by Rusty Moore. The program's goals match up with mine pretty closely. Namely, create a lean, muscular physique that enables me to perform well athletically, is impressive on the beach (ah, summer, so far away), and still looks good in a suit (my current work uniform).

I began Phase 1 yesterday, January 5, 2011. This phase will last 2 months and will be followed by 2 more 2-month phases and a shorter "bonus" phase. In this phase my workouts are focused on producing rapid muscle growth through short workouts (30-45 minutes) with high repetitions (6-12 range) at low weights. I've decided to only work my upper body in the gym because my yoga practice, soccer, running, and cycling take care of the lower body.

I'm starting at 199 lbs. on my 6'1" frame. From past experience, I'm not expecting that number to change to dramatically. Typically, I've seen that my weight will fluctuate maybe 5 to 10 pounds while my body composition can vary drastically. I'm going to try to get on a body composition scale here in the next few days so that I can more accurately track changes in fat mass, muscle mass, and muscle hydration. I'll post those numbers when I have them and I'll follow this post with more accurate numbers from my workouts over time.