matthearn.com

This will have to be quick ’cause you know how time be all CRAY CRAY. So, two things: the first, a fitness update, and the second, the greatest music video produced since Journey’s “Separate Ways“.

I spent about 6 weeks eating very few carbs and a great many hunks of meat and cheese, a diet that has worked well for me in the past, and did so again, sort of; I lost about 20 pounds in those 6 weeks, but unfortunately, lifting weights without any carbs to help rebuild muscle suuuuuuucks. My strength dropped rather precipitously (after squatting 347.5 pounds for 5 solid reps in January, I’ve been having trouble with 315, and anything above 250 or so feels dangerously heavy). My bench press has dropped about 15 pounds as well, and after hitting 405 pounds on the deadlift for 5 reps a few weeks ago I was able to lift it exactly once during last Wednesday’s workout.

So, ’tis time for a change. After doing some googlin’, I decided to go with the LeanGains diet that Martin Berkhan came up with. It’s an “intermittent fasting” plan that involves 16 hours a day of not eating anything (o nooooes) and 8 hours of getting the nutrition you need. You then cycle your intake so you take in a bunch of carbs and protein on workout day to keep muscle mass, and eat at a significant deficit on rest days to keep fat loss rolling. If it works as advertised, I should be able to lose about a pound of fat a week and keep all my pretty musckles that I’ve worked so hard to develop. I started on Saturday, and I can report that the deficit days are somewhat difficult, particularly on a weekend when there’s Happenings happening that usually involve food and booze, but I managed to be fairly good and not blow out my intake. The whole “not eating until after noon” thing actually HELPS, once you get used to it, because then instead of 3 small meals, you get 2 larger ones. Supposedly after a week or so, your body just gets used to not having breakfast, and stops signaling you to eat in the morning. I’m interested to see how that works out, what with my love of donuts and pastries and eggs and…sob…bacon.

Workout day is great, of course. After not eating all morning, I worked out over lunch and got back to work and ate 2 pork chops, a big bag of broccoli, a turkey sammich, an apple, a bag of potato chips, and a huge cup of milk and protein. Total caloric intake: 1900 calories. 206g of protein. I was so full I thought I might asplode.

I’m also switching workout programs; the Madcow 5×5 routine is probably a great workout when you’re eating enough to gain weight, but it’s nearly unbearable when you’re trying to cut fat. Too much volume, and with the ramping sets, you get pretty worn out by the time you hit the max weight. The aforementioned Martin (read the LeanGains site, it’s super informative) recommends something called “RPT,” or Reverse Pyramid Training. The idea is that if you ramp your sets upwards, hitting your max only on the last set, you’ve already tired yourself out and won’t be able to lift the biggest weight as well (exactly what was happening with me on Madcow). Since the biggest weight is theoretically the most important set, Martin advises you lift it FIRST (after a few easy warmup sets, of course), and then back the weight off for 1 or 2 subsequent sets. You’re more likely to get all your reps that way, since you haven’t blown out all your energy on lesser weights. Since the muscles are pretty glycogen-depleted (as a result of not eating anything all morning), they don’t have enough energy, and getting the hardest work done first is the best way to achieve, if not muscle gain, at least minimal muscle loss.

I can report it works pretty well, although I have to admit that after squatting 315 for 5 reps earlier, the thought of taking off 30 pounds and then doing a set of 6, followed by taking off another 30 and doing a set of 7, did not please me. I survived, however, so I’ll add more weight for the next workout and see how things feel.

Okay, enough of that nonsense. This, right here, is the top video of 2012 as voted by a Team of Professionals, consisting of me and some of my friends and relatives.