CREATE YOUR OWN SUPPLEMENT

Gym-created products are the best at fitting the gym's needs. Any time you have a dedicated staff that is in your facility working out as much as they are there to work, you have the opportunity to develop a giant think tank.

Of course a huge topic in all meathead circles is supplements... when to take it, what to take, how much to take, etc. Obviously you should not be soley dependent on supplement powders and pills, food comes first. Supplements are supposed to be just that, a "supplement" to your diet of nutritious whole foods.

However, liquid protein shakes for peri- or post-workout nutrition are a nice additive if you are not able to get to solid food within a two hour window after training. Other supplements are easier taken in powder/pill form, like creatine, because in order to get enough creatine daily you would have to eat a lot of fish and/or red meat. For some people, that just isn't in the budget. Others supplements are great energy boosters prior to a training session, like caffeine. Some staples for me are glutamine, creatine, protein, and caffeine. Of course BCAAs are a plus that's why I choose a protein that has them mixed in with it.

Luke Beggs is a PhD student in applied physiology at the University of Florida and I had the pleasure of having him as a graduate assistant for the last year and a half at the University of Kentucky. He threw out the idea of just making our own pre-workout supplement... and then the rest of us started salivating on the possibility.

Luke started looking into buying the no frills version on the staples we wanted to include in our first Underground Labs Inc. concoction. There was five of us that jumped on board to fund this product. Here is what we came up with for the ingredient list:

We ended up having to add some more sugar free flavoring to it since the flavor wasn't the best... BUT it has given all of us a ridiculous pump when working out. Luke was also able to modify how many milligrams of caffeine each of us wanted, due to tolerance levels. I wanted 200 mgs of caffeine in mine.

I ended up naming it INCREDIBLE HULK for obvious visual reasons, but also named for how disturbedly hyped I was during my workouts on it.

Have you ever thought of creating your own supplement? If so, what would you need in yours?

Making the Most of What You Have Available... no excuses

My gym is small compared to the more-visited Johnson center on UK's campus. Don't get me wrong, you can squat, bench, deadlift (we even have some bumpers!), get your cardio in on a machine or we have a sled, a full line of pin-select machines, core room, group fitness room, etc.

BUT...

Our dumbbells only go up to 95lbs... which for a seasoned lifter, could make you train elsewhere. I have adapted my training to only use barbell lifts first and use 1-arm dumbbell or higher rep sets with the 95lbs. Today that just didn't cut it. I did the following on flat bench as my first exercise:

135x15

185x12

225x8

275x6

315 5,4,3,3

then 225 for 16 reps for fun

you can check out my full workout at straighttothebar.com or on my tmuscle training log

My next exercise was DB incline.... but I am left with doing higher rep sets with the 95lbs.... so I ended up stealing this blurted out idea from Andrew Lewis (current training partner/make huge project) and threw one 5lb mini chain on each dumbbell, to make them both 100lbs, shown below.

Which I had to hold like a fat bar and produced hands looking like the following:I got them for two sets of six after hitting just the 95's for two sets of six... so next week I will just train with these for my second exercise.

My point being... make the most of what you have, add something crazy to the DB's if they aren't heavy enough, get stronger, and beat your hands up.

If we can't get new, heavier dumbbells due to university budget issues, at least I can borrow my buddy Seth's ipod...

Training partners... is there a magic number?

I have trained solo and been in training packs groups up to four meatheads. I have some thoughts to bounce around in your head when you start training and people want to piggy-back on to your routine.

If you have that one guy that helps you stay motivated and focused on the task at hand, can spot correctly, and has a rough guesstimate of what weight you use on everything... get him to marry your sister and keep him around. Those are incredibly hard to find. If you have said fellow, adding too many others can water down your workouts. You get talkitive tim going on about the weekend and how bad his life sucks. You glance up at the clock and just your three-man rotation has been in the gym for 2 1/2 hours and you are only half done.

You have to keep the pace moving. If you have a newb that needs more one-on-one instruction about just learning the lifts, point him out to a good source like Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore or the latest NSCA Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning book. If you have time to invest in him/her, then pull them aside at a non-training time so you can focus on perfecting their form.

Training solo can blow on any pressing and/or leg day. If you need a spotter, you need a training partner. Trying for the lottery on spotters usually gives you the guy who touches the bar through your entire range of motion or the guy who lets you die and just screams,"YOU GOT IT! YOU GOT IT! PUSH!!!!" while you die under the weight. Both of these can be extremely frustrating and leave your record of reps completely inaccurate. You also wonder, well, how much did GUY help me? Can I really bench 315 for 10 reps with him and only 205 by myself?

Read as much info as you can from knowledgeable people and focus on perfecting your own form. Your strength will increase over time and you will have gym rat experience. Sometimes you will come across times to share your knowledge and people will probably want to jump in on your training days. Figure out how much time you can spend in the gym and how many people you like having in your training posse.

Back and Biceps-1/6/10

beat up my back with luke and jake beggs yesterday

chinups 5x as many as possible with BW

DB row 4x6
1st set 95 with one 20 lb chain
2nd-3rd set 95lbs DB with two 20 lb chains
4th set same DB with one 20 lb chain for 15 each side

neutral grip pulldowns 5x6
fifth set was actually 6,6,6 using rest pause

tbar row with 8 25's to increase range of motion at the top
4x6

Superset 1
Face pulls 3x12
Preacher curl 90lbs 3x8

palm up DB curls 3x8- dave tate style

Project Hyperplasia: Results are in

So for the passed 14 days I have been wearing a 37.6lb weighted vest every waking moment. I recorded body weight, body fat percentage, and some circumference measurements-- shoulder, chest, waist at umbillicus, hips, thigh at 4 inches above proximal patella, thigh at 7 inches above proximal patella, and calf. You can see my pre-study measurements here.

Post-study measurements:
Body weight 233lbs
Bodyfat percent 18.1%
Shoulders 52in
Chest 47.5in
Waist 39in
Hips 46.75in
Thigh 4in above 22in
Thigh 7in above 26in
Calf 16in

Thanks to Jake Beggs for the measurements.

Results:
Body weight +5.6lbs
Bodyfat percent -0.3%
Shoulders -1in
Chest +0.5in
Waist -0.5in
Hips +0.25in
Thigh 4in above No change
Thigh 7in above No change
Calf No change

Evaluation:
Obviously I am a little disappointed in no change in three categories.... well, pretty much no change at all aside from weight gain. I am encouraged that my weight went up almost 6lbs yet there was a slight decrease in body fat %. Call them what you want, the rest of the measurements were so close I am going to call them insignificant. With as much cramping as my calf muscles had nightly and how tight my quads were I was hoping for some type of increase, but you can't say I didn't try... wearing a 37.6lb vest (around 16% of my body weight) felt like enough weight to stimulate growth, but maybe the amount wasn't high enough.

Observations:

• I got more strange looks than usual
• I am ridiculously slow with an extra 40lbs on my frame
• I got some respect from people that didn't expect me to actually wear the vest that long
• I got to show people that I am very interested in trying anything to find out more about fitness, exercise, and health
• A 40lb denim vest is an excellent conversation starter
• I was thirsty all of the time while wearing the vest. On average I took in around 200oz of fluid a day.
• I didn't feel like I was increasing my caloric intake very much throughout the last two weeks
• If you have bad posture, I wouldn't recommend trying this out. Adding weight to a poorly supported structure is going to cause injury
• Wearing the vest made me stretch more after working out
• I know I can deadlift more than 425 because I did a set of six while wearing the vest
• I am curious to see what my weight does now that I magically lost 40 lbs

My body weight went up with little change in body fat percentage, my squat is up 20lbs, and I was able to take the study all the way through. I don't know what project is next yet, but I'm sure it going to be solid.

Please let me know any and all comments below

The Goose Bump Phenomena

You ever lift and a song comes on that literally gives you the goose bumps? It's like a jolt of energy that makes you feel like you can pick up any weight and toss it around for reps.

Or you feel like your caffeine "kicks in" and you throw the headphones in and go into another world?

I have termed this feeling as the goose bump lift. You are feeling good with any and all numbers, your program, and you laugh when you hear about the thought of some people hitting a plateau... plateau??? what is that?

Have you felt like this lately? I am all for pushing through the pain and working hard, but have you worked hard and felt euphoric simultaneously anytime recently? If day in and day out you limp through a workout, have the same ol' playlist of bon jovi and smashing pumpkins, realize you are talking more than working out... maybe it is time for a change in attitude. You are probably getting worse physically as well.

It's hard to get motivated to lose weight and/or increase strength when your workout becomes routine.

Yes, you should have a time slot for your workout in your day.
Yes, you should have a plan once you get to the gym.
BUT you should not let your workout become the same old thing week after week.

Some workout refreshers:

1. Go at a different time so you can cut down on the idle talking that diminishes how much you get done in the gym
2. Delete every song on your mp3 player and load a new play list. I like http://www.pandora.com/ for new ideas of songs.
3. Old workout partner more of a anchor than a motor? Find some one new that actually wants to go to the gym.

Strive for the goose bump lift.... if your body doesn't want to be in the gym, you probably won't go.