Workouts for a Change of Pace

Tomorrow I'm starting a new training cycle. That means that yesterday was the last day of my current workout plans. When I got to the gym I decided to ditch what I was going to do and do what ever I felt like. The workout turned out to be great. As I type this I am extremely sore. Here's how it went down:

Push Press 5 x 3 (to failure)
Push Press 1 x 15

Chin Ups (twice through the circuit)
Palms Away x 5
Palms Towards x 5
Neutral Grip x 5
Plate Row x 5 (Bent over row gripping 45lbs plate in each hand)

Incline DB Bench x 8
Flat DB Bench x 8
Decline DB Bench x 8
Twice Through the whole circuit

Starting tomorrow I'm off to some more serious stuff - 12 weeks of fat loss....I know who diets during the holidays?? Nobody...that's the whole point.

"Because you needed to do it."

If you don't occationally head over to the Elite FTS website to check in on what Dave Tate is doing then you are really missing out! Dave keeps a killer training/life log. I've pasted below an excerpt from an entry Dave made a couple days ago. Basically Dave did two training sessions in one session and went ALL OUT - the session lasted over 3 HOURS. The part I pasted below is Dave remember another time he did something similar to this.

Dave admitted that in his brain "the guy who knows about training" thought it was a bad idea but "the guy does training" thought it was a great idea. For Dave it was all about going beyond the normal. Pushing himself to a point where he thought his training session was going to kill him - but knowing it would only make him stronger. It might sound corny but as Dave puts it at the end of his entry "Only a hand full will understand" Do you? When was the last time you threw out your periodization plan, set/rep scheme, and went all out? What do you do to make yourself feel alive?
--------------------------------------

This began as a workout...: "Yep I guess so but I remember years ago after another one of these dumb ass sessions. I asked Louie why he let me do that (I think that session was 40 sets of box squat with 45 seconds rest) when there is no way it would do anything good or help me get stronger.

His replay was...

'Because you needed to do it.'

We spoke more about this and there were other factors involved such as this was way out from a meet, I was healthy and did not have a big session planed for a couple weeks. If these factors were different he would have stopped the session (as he had to do many, many other times with not just me but almost all the lifters he works with).

What I have grown to understand is these sessions do not KILL us and make us stronger. They make us more ALIVE. These are the ones where you test who you really are and what you are really made of. These tests the essence of who you are. When this is what is being challenged then it does not freaking matter what you are doing and what the physical outcome will be. What matters the most is like I said at the beginning...

Only a hand full will understand. "

Research Review: The Zone Diet and Fish Oil

Research Review: The Zone Diet and Fish Oil

I just came across this pretty cool study that looked at the effect of Omega-3 (EPA, DHA, and ALA) and the Zone diet on mood, body composition, and inflammation. Enjoy!

Blood profiles, body fat and mood state in healthy subjects on different diets supplemented with Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
G. Fontani*, F. Corradeschi*, A. Felici*, F. Alfatti*, R. Bugarini*, A. I. Fiaschi*, D. Cerretani*, G. Montorfano+, A. M. Rizzo+ and B. Berra+


Background Diets and Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have been considered as important factors to reduce the risk of cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, but there are few details on the effects on healthy subjects. The aim of the present study was to examine the variation of several physiological parameters in healthy subjects on different diets supplemented with Omega-3 fatty acids.

Materials and methods The experiment was carried out on 33 subjects divided into four groups according to a double-blind cross-over design with a 1 : 1 ratio for Omega-3 (vs. placebo) and open-label parallel-groups with a 1 : 1 ratio for the Zone diet (vs. the diet suggested by the Italian National Research Institute for Nutrition and Foods). Blood samples were collected at the beginning of the experiment and after 35 (cross-over) and 70 days. The Profile of Mood States test (POMS) was also performed.

Results The arachidonic acid/eicosapentaenoic acid ratio (AA/EPA) was strongly reduced by Omega-3 with a supplementary effect of the diet and in particular the Zone diet. The AA/EPA reduction was correlated with a concomitant decrease of insulin and homocysteine levels. The Zone diet reduced skinfold thickness and body fat percentage and also showed antioxidant effects. The mood state changed after Omega-3 supplementation, with an increased POMS index. This was related to a concomitant reduction of AA/EPA and was particularly evident in the Zone diet.

Conclusion AA/EPA and mood state are differently influenced by diet and Omega-3, body fat is particularly reduced by Zone diet, while blood parameters such as triglycerides/HDL ratio, insulin and homocysteine are related to AA/EPA variations. These findings are discussed in terms of differences in the composition of the diets and the influences of Omega-3 on physiological functions.

Eur J Clin Invest 2005; 35 (8): 499–507

My Blog Died

If you are wondering why my blog layout is different and why all the archives are missing it is because a couple days ago I had some HUGE computer problems. I was in the process up upgrading my server and I lost my blog. Lost as in gone...off in cyberspace. I was pretty bummed. Over 6 months of blogging.....gone.

But I had two choices.

1. Wine about how I lost all my entries and give up.

2. Set up a new blog and keep blogging.

I chose option 2. This a great example of how successful people function. When sh*t happens you have two choices and successful people always choose option 2. I've learned a ton from this disaster and am a better person because of it.

Have you had situations similar to this? Which option did you choose?