Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Keepin' it Simple.

In the last several months I've gone through a lot of changes in my life. I eat differently, I interact differently and I take a different approach to almost every aspect of my life. I've simplified a lot of the things that I do, and as a result I've decreased the amount of stress that I have. One of the most recent changes I made was to my training life; I simplified things and I've been seeing some great results.


The big training change that was made was to start doing Charles Poliquin's Advanced German Volume Training Program (Advanced GVT). This is a template aimed at increasing functional hypertrophy and overall strength. The program is designed to take out all the bells and whistles of training. We have rotating workouts, and each training day is comprised of 2 exercises. For example, incline press/barbell row; front squat/RDL; chin-ups/dips. These are not our only workouts, but I don't need to delve into our whole program. Over several weeks we progress from 10x5, to 10x4, 10x3 and then back to 10x5 and repeat the cycle. Each new rep scheme comes with an increase of weight as well. That's it. Add to this some hill sprints for conditioning, and we are doing a program that would make even Jim Wendler and Dan John (the King's of simplicity) happy. 

So, what is this doing? The high volume of heavy compound movements is certainly getting me stronger, and certainly adding muscle. As of yesterday I weighed in at 207 pounds and 13% body fat. This is a gain of about 7 pounds over the last month or month and a half. Pretty good results, I'd say.

My diet is pretty simple nowadays, too. I'm still doing Intermittent Fasting and I'm really enjoying it. I find it has actually reduced a lot of my stress regarding food, especially in the morning. I'm not concerned about prepping, packing or taking food with me everywhere I go. I make sure I have my first meal for when I break my fast, but that's it. My results thus far? A gain of several pounds, with no increase in body fat. Again, something that I consider a success.


So, what are my meals like? Amazing. At noon, when I break fast, I eat protein and fat. Usually something like 6-8 eggs and some bacon or chicken sausage. Today will be 6 hardboiled eggs and some cheese. Right after my workout I have protein, carbs and fat; often it is chicken, rice and guacamole. I repeat the same macronutrient profile of that meal for my next 2 meals. Nothing too special about that, right? Oh; the thing I forgot to mention. The half gallon of whole milk that I drink every day. That's right. It accounts for an extra 1200 calories, 60 grams of protein and 60 grams of fat. I am finding this extremely beneficial because there are some days where I just find it impossible to get in the required number of calories to sustain growth.

Yup, that's right. I eat bacon and eggs several times per week. I eat beef and guacamole with rice and whole fat cheese almost every day. I drink half a gallon of whole milk every single day. The result? Lean muscle gain with barely any additional adipose tissue. (Note: If you're one of my clients reading this, and you think I'm talking to you, you're probably right.) I'd love to really get the point across that eating real whole foods, and not processed "diet" stuff is really the key to obtaining the body composition goals that you desire. I know it's a strange concept to get behind, but it's the truth. 




Well, that's all for today. Go lift something heavy, and eat something that used to have a face.


Be good, peoples!

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