Good Morning, Well 16 more days till I leave for the national meet. I am getting pretty excited. Had a good workout yesterday and hit my opener with a long pause. I want to make sure I can hit it in my sleep. My opener is 20lbs heavier than it has ever been and it is more than my NYS record in the 100% Raw Federation by about 3 lbs. Still working hard and I only have this week and next to train. Then it is a week of rest for these muscles to heal and get ready.
Today is my squat day. I will work up to 335 for a set of 5 and stop there. After the Bench Press Nationals I will start concentrating on my squats and deadlift more. I am still looking forward to hitting close to a 400lb squat. I think it is achievable but I need to set small goals to get there. My first will be to hit 350 deep enough to count as a valid competition lift.
The gym I go to just got a cable machine and I am looking forward to doing some lower back work in that machine. Pull-throughs will be the call there and what ever else I can figure out to hit the hamstrings. The cable machine is a great machine and you can perform many exercises in it. If you have access to one I would encourage you to start using it. Actually it is the one machine that can help the average person achieve their goals in getting healthy and fit. You can hit everybody part with it. I plan on using it to help my friend reach new levels in his fitness regimen.
Let’s talk about calories for a little bit. If you follow a low carbohydrate diet many people will tell you not to worry about calories. If you goal is to just get fit and lose body fat this is true for the most part. However, this does not mean you can eat all day everyday. The big thing here is to only eat when you are hungry. On a low carb diet you will eat more healthy fats than you are probably eating now. Society has been preaching to us that a low fat diet is the way to go. Yet, we are one of the most obese nations on earth. Why is that? When you switch to a low carbohydrate diet you body will have to burn fat for fuel and some of the fat will come from foods you eat which will satiate the body and keep hunger away for a longer period of time. The trick here is to learn to identify what hunger is. When I first started eating this way I had trouble identifying hunger from thirst. A low carbohydrate diet has a diuretic affect on the body. You will be urinating more than what your currently do. You need to make sure you drink enough water. When you first start feeling hungry have a glass of water first. If you are still hungry then eat. Make sure you are still getting enough fuel for the body as well. Sometimes you may not feel hungry and yet your caloric intake is to low and you will put your body into starvation mode. We need to avoid this. Make sure your calories are between 1500 and 1800 for a woman and up to 2000 for a man. With that said, if you exercise as much as I do you will need to increase you calories. The only way to be sure you are where you need to be in calories is to track them. If you are in a steady decline in body fat and all of a sudden you hit a stall in your weight loss, try increasing your calories by 100 or so and see if that helps.
Have a great workout!
Tip:
Listen to your body! It may not speak English or your native tongue but it will speak to you in ways you need to learn to understand. Learn what hunger is and what thirst is. If you get to the point where you are thirsty you are already a little dehydrated. Learn the difference between DOMS and actual pain from an injury. When you have that injury let it heal.
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