Jake, I’m going to combine my answer to your post and the PM you sent me all in this message.
[center]* * * * * * * * *[/center] Terry wrote:
Hey, there, Jake! Thanks for the kind words and props.
There are a *number* of aspects to your situation that need to be looked at. The most important is the body dysmorphia aspect of things. A *lot* of BBs suffer from it, too. They work so hard to get down to ultra-low BF percentages and they *love* the way their body looks right at that point they step on stage, where they're ripped and shredded and all the physiological and biological stars are in alignment. And even though they'll tell you it's not anything that can be maintained, as they start to put water and BF back on, their dissatisfaction with their body increases.
The fact that you did your best to maintain it and hold on to that ultra-low BF state is an eating disorder of sorts, not much different from anorexia or bulemia.
5% is a fantasy you have to be willing to let go of. Instead, if you ever diet down again, you have to find the number (i.e., BF%) below which you just don't feel that good. Fighters/boxers know what that number is. They know that below a certain BF% their performance will suffer and they'll get their butt kicked. (grin) Make one of your projects a personal evaluation of how you feel at different BF percentages, and then use that to guide you.
Health right now must be your main priority. You're a car crash/wreck waiting to happen. I have no doubt that your hormones are all out of whack and that your brain chemistry is screwed up. I'm sure you're feeling a bit depressed, out of control, hopeless. But be kind to yourself. Keep reminding yourself that as you fix things, you'll start feeling better and more optimistic and hopeful and, yes, even in control.
What would you do if you found a dog beside the side of the road, beat up and half starved? Would you work it, make it run 10 miles a day, put it on a diet? Nope, I don't think so. Well, you need to do something similar with yourself.
* First, no cardio. Your heart doesn't need it right now. I will, however, let you borrow the neighbor's dog (if it's well mannered and if you don't have one of your own) and take if for a walk on your non-workout days. (grin) I don't know where you live, but I'd like to see you get some sunlight and fresh air. If that's not an option, sign up for a month at a tanning salon.
* You can work out, but you need to limit it to 3 times a week, no more than 25 bust-ass sets per workout; i.e., a max of 75 sets per week. I'd really like to see you play around with strength sets 8x 3, 5x5, 6x4. Focus on compound multi-joint exercises to get the biggest bang for the buck and forget about isolation exercises. Use this time to focus on your weak points, be they calves or rear deltoids or forearms. Forget about your chest and biceps. Focus on your legs, specifically your posterior chain, if you've been neglecting them
* The focus right now needs to be on nutrition. If your workout, you must use Surge, a full serving, each of your 3 workouts. Your meal following that must include starchy carbs -- yams, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, brown rice or pasta -- and protein.
* Green veggies or fruit each and every one of your six meals. I'd like you to read or review JB's Seven Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs and incorporate the concepts.
* For the time being, I'd like for you to forget an all-out binge-type meal full of garbage. I'd prefer to see you take in quality food to rebuild and repair. However, do allow yourself a normal meal and a dessert once or twice a week. But once again, no binging on garbage food.
* In your current depleted state, I'm worried about the caffeine and nicotine. I know they're keeping you propped up and that your energy and mental focus will suffer without it, but I want you to read the following article, http://viewnews.com/2004/VIEW-Jan-07-Wed-2004/SWest/22895379.html
From there, do the following search on Google:
injection ear "quit smoking"
It will give you more information about this shot. I've heard it's quite effective. And if this is just not the right time to quit smoking, don't worry about it or beat up on yourself. Just set a date for yourself in the future, after you've built yourself back up a bit.
But back to the caffeine, that's got to go. I have no doubt that your adrenals are depleted. Switch to green tea and Power Drive, as much as you need. However, do me a favor. If you take those shots to quit smoking, ask Cy about the Power Drive. I don't like the idea of dampening acetycholine levels (with the shots) and stepping on the gas at the same time (i.e., drinking green tea & Power Drive).
* Fats, carbs, protein. I don't care how many carbs you eat. You don't even have to count them, so long as you're drinking your Surge and having the starchy-carb P+C meal PWO. But you do need to take in .4-.5g x LBM; 1/3 monos, 1/3 EFAs, 1/3 saturated. I'd particularly like to make sure you're getting in some fish oil and/or flaxseed oil.
* Don't count calories. Count grams of protein and grams of fat.
* If you've been trying to go low salt, STOP. A lack of salt can cause arrythmias and what we could call "cardiovascular anxiety." Don't try to look up the term. It's a made-up term, but I think you know what I mean.
* Eat with the same precision you did when you were dieting down, and follow the recommendations I'm giving you. Weigh, measure, count and track everything that goes into your mouth if you like, if you must. But stay away from the scale. There's going to be a weight rebound/regain when you start eating properly. Remember, too, that for every unit of carbs that you store in your muscles, 3 units of water is stored with it. But it's not fat that you're gaining; it's water. It's a level of hydration you need for mental clarity and function and for physical energy and for *HEALTH*!!!
* HOT-ROX will help with T4 to T3 thyroid hormone conversion. It will help with energy, too, without the jitters. In addition, and maybe even more importantly, start taking a QUALITY vitamin. I take one by the Life Extension Foundation. It's not cheap, but it is comprehensive. Actually, I don't care which multi you take, but take one that requires that you take it 3 times per day with meals. Do *not* take a one-a-day under any circumstances.
* Finally, do something for mental health and healing. Get out in the fresh air if you can. Get involved in something you believe in and care about. Donate your time. Get inolved in something different than your normal routine. Get involved with people and out of the house. Get a dog and take dog-training lessons. Volunteer at a children's home or coach a little league team. Become a Big Brother. I don't care what you do, but do something. Break your routine. Get the focus off of yourself.
Follow the program I laid out for you above for 30 to 60 days. At that point, you can start changing things around and improving, modifying, tweaking things to suit your purposes -- even manipulating/optimizing body comp. But at that point your brain chemistry will be normalized, not to mention your hormones, and any number of other physiological processes. You'll have energy and mental alertness. You'll feel better all the way around and happier, too.
Think you can do it? Does it sound like a plan? (grin)
Jake wrote:
TT,
Thank you for the reply. Im very much appreciate ite it and my repsect for you has grown that much more. Anyway let me tell you other things that may help you get a bettere understandind of how my life is right now and what my goals are in the gym and otherwise.
*Unlike most fo the people on here i am not trying to get huge. I have no desire to get as “swole” as possible. It’s not a very marketable look for a frontman in a rock band(I need to keep my “Men’s fitness cover model look”). I want a routine that will let me keep what i have and maybe add a little more but low reps and heavy weight do not seem to suit my needs at the moment. If i have to go this route i will but i need to stay the way i am weight wise(155 lbs. up 10 from super shreddedweight of 145, 5’11) to maintain the “rockstar” look while being a s healthy as possible.
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RIght now i am currently getting ready to move to AUstin,Tx from my home in Houston to pursue a career in music.I am working with the biggest rock band in Austin on a record (i am the pretty boy frontman)(grin).hopefully i can make my dream a reality. Since i won’t move until after Christmas my meetings with them involve me making the 2 1/2 hour drive up there twice a week and i put way too much stress on myself on these days that probably is a contributing factor to my current state.
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I do currently take PD and Green tea. 2 scoops of PD everyday with 4 cups of green tea throughout morning and afternoon.
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right now my diet looks like this. Im warning you you are going to stare and the screen in a shocked state with mouth wide open after you see this.
-7:30a.m.: 6 egg whites,1/2 cup of oatmeal(precooked measurment).
-11:00 am: 1 fat free yogurt(80 kcals), 1/2 cup of oatmeal, one tbls. of flax oil.
-2:00 p.m.: large granny smith apple
-3:00 p.m: 2 Blue bunny fudge light bars(70 kcal total, no sugar added
kind).
-5:00 p.m.:chicken and vegetables(200-250 kcals of chicken, i do not count vegetable calories)
-8:00 p.m- One apple and two Fudge light bars.
- i also snack on yogurt throughout the day. I go through about two cups of it (80 kcals each). The total kcal intake(without the fruit because i ahve no idea what the kcal content of apples are) is roughly 1200 kcals. ANd on the days when i go to austin i eat less becaus ei get so stressed out that eating seems secondary.
I hope this give you a better understanding of how screwed up thingn are for me. So let me know what you think and what changes need to be made.
Terry wrote:
I'm with you on this one and support you fully. I don't care whether people get huge or want the Men's Fitness look. All of my advice was based on your building yourself back up. 5%, from the looks of things, is not a good number for you. 8% might be better. It's just that to do what you want to do for a living, with all of its physical demands and stresses, you've *got* to have your mental faculties; you've *got* to have energy; you've *got* to have "presence." In other words, you've *got* to have your HEALTH. It's the only way you'll be able to hold up. Being a musician is hard work. The hours are long. Being on stage is intensely physical (great cardio, (grin)). Moving equipment is physical. Studio sessions are mentally/cognitively/creatively demanding, which is its own type of stress. Jake, you must, must, must focus on your health if you want to last for the long haul.
Let's talk about the look thing. Allow yourself a slightly higher BF percentage for your day-to-day stuff, performing, etc. If you have a photo shoot for any reason, you can hire someone to diet you down and give you that shredded, cut look you want. It's just a case of manipulating carbs, water and salt. The "look" lasts only a few hours, but it's enough for a shoot. And at a slightly higher BF percentage for your normal day-to-day, performing, practicing, moving equipment and play clubs type thing, you'll have the energy and presence and chutzpah you need to do your job.
Okay, I know what's going on with your not being able to do the low reps, heavy weight thing. The problem there is that you are too run down. You don't have the energy (physical). You haven't been eating the carbs, and your fat intake isn't sufficient. You haven't been dieting by the numbers. It's a hassle, but you're going to have to weigh, measure and count and record what you're eating.
For a workout, I'd like you to do Bryan Haycock's Hypertrophy Specific Training. It requires that you test your 15, 10 and 5-rep maxes for the exercises you'll be doing and then 10 days of de-conditioning (not working out) before starting the program. Take my word on this one. Follow the plan, play by the rules. You won't feel like it's enough, but trust me. It's the perfect program for someone who has diminished recovery capacity, little time, high stress and low energy levels. You'll do 10 exercise, 2 sets each. It starts easy and is progressive. Read up on it on our web site and at www.hypertrophy-specific.com.
Round #2 Recommendations/*Rules* ! ! !
* Buy a George Foreman grill and travel with it. I also travel with my digital scale (get it for $30 in Office Depot in the postal section) and Nutribase book that lists P/F/C grams by food serving.
* Keep a diet log.
* Make your meals, pack them in Tupperware containers or Zip-Lock bags, and take them with you when you go.
* Have all the green tea and Power Drive you want. Have some before you play and after you play. Have some when you wake up. Back off of the coffee. I'm actually not down on coffee. After you build yourself back up and stabilize brain chemistry, you can have all you want. Right now coffee and depleted adrenals are a bad thing.
* Get the good multi I asked you to get. Get additional Vitamin C and take a gram with 3 of your meal OR before and after workouts. Fish oil is going to help, too. Integrate all the things I recommended -- a lot of them, I know!
* Fat intake is too low. Hormones are made from fat. My fear is that your cortisol is HIGH and your testosterone levels are LOW. We need to switch the two. Alpha Male will help increase T levels and lower cortisol *IF* you increase your fat intake. Right now I want you eating WHOLE eggs, not egg whites. I want you to have a lean steak or lean ground beef at least once a day. *Raw* nuts, avocados and olive oil will help you to meet your fat requirements. Your fat requirments based on weight are 75g of fat per day. Getting enough fat is critical for brain function and hormonal balance. This is *not* optional on your part. You *must* meet your good fat requirements. I'm not talking fried foods, lard or bad fats.
* If you want to improve and manage your health, I'd recommend that you order two saliva tests from www.salivatest.com. Order T and cortisol and DHEA-S. You don't need a doctor's script unless you live in NY or CA. After you get the results back, they'll tell you what you need to do to fix your problems. And finally, if you're covered by insurance, get into your family doc and get an annual physical and blood work. The bottom line is that I might suspect certain/different things are wrong, but unless you get it tested and no where you stand, you can't fix it.
* Protein requirements based on your weight are 155g per day to 225g per day. You must eat the minimum. Not negotiable. Honestly, I'd prefer to see you eat a chicken breast you packed up for yourself instead of one of those fudge bars for a meal/snack. The Blue Bunny fudge light bars have *got* to go. Sorry.
* If you've been reading the board and reading what I write, you'll see me going over the same things over and over and over. Protein every meal, six meals a day. To meet your protein requirements, you need a minimum of 25g of protein each and every meal, with 30g being the better number.
* During your practice/playing sessions, drink all the green tea you want and take PD when you need it. I also want you to eat all the apples you want. If you drink your tea while you're playing and eat apples at every break, you'll see a noticable difference in energy and brain function. Apples have fructose, a type of sugar that will help you to keep blood sugar levels stable, your energy *UP* and brain function where it needs to be. You need an apple every hour, as a rule of thumb.
* No coffee caffeine before workouts. Green tea is all right.
Jake, I haven't given you a lot of explanations, but if you have questions about anything, please don't hesitate to ask.
