Japanese Adventure

My time in Taiwan will soon end and I will be on my way to support our client in Kakegawa Japan this October. Recently, my employer sent me to Kakegawa on a reconnaissance mission; to scope out area, arrange for housing and introduce myself to the client facility’s engineering staff. While there, the hotel I stayed at didn’t have any fitness areas and there wasn’t a convenient gym nearby. Oh NO! How can you make progress in pursuit of that Last 10 Pounds if there is no Gym, no treadmill, no squat rack………….

Unlike my Padawan (a few blog entries back), who skipped out on her workouts due to travel, I broke out my running shoes and in a 5 day period completed 2 - 6k and 1 - 10k runs that included some basic bodyweight routines (pushups, mountain climbers, crunches, etc…) at the 3K and 6K marks. And if I were to have been there longer, I would have completed some form of daily bodyweight and cardio routine. There are always opportunities.

And because one of my personal priorities is to stay fit and lean, during the area reconnaissance I found a gym that will allow me to continue my progress; it is called K-Fit and is located just outside of the downtown Kakegawa area. From the 10 minute tour, it looks to be fairly clean but limited; only one bench and one smith machine. However, there are several rows of weight machines and a full rack of dumbbells. I just hope that the lack of equipment is an indication of how busy they are, or are not. I plan on continuing my basic AM/PM routine, morning cardio outside and evening resistance work at the new gym. This should be manageable.

Anyway a new adventure awaits; with outside cardio and limited gym facilities we’ll see if we can continue to gain on that Last 10 Pounds.

Supplement Update

Creatine

A while back, in an earlier blog, I had mentioned that I had been using Creatine as a supplement and that I would report back once I had run out of that batch. Because I have been traveling between Taiwan and Beijing routinely over the last several months, I had quite using the supplement in June. As I reported back then, I had my suspicion that the Creatine actually had given me a boost in max weigh lifted. Now, I will definitely say yes, Creatine works as advertised. Because of that supplement, I could bench 215 to 220 X 8 regularly. Now it’s a struggle at 210 and I don’t feel comfortable with the bar until I drop down to 195 or so. If you’re looking to add weight to your routines, definitely add Creatine to your list of supplements. And once I get settled in Japan, I will definitely be using this supplement again.

ZMA

Zinc Manganese Aspirate is advertised as a supplement that would support testosterone and muscle development. On a standard 1 capsule per day (30 mg Zinc and 450 mg Magnesium plus wherever B6 they throw in) the stuff made me nauseous. So after 2 weeks I dropped this supplement and went back to my Zinc/Calcium supplements. As far as any benefit from ZMA, I will never know.

Yahimbine

Yahimbine is a mild stimulant and is normally used to treat male sexual dysfunction when guys are on selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI; antidepressants). If you read any of Lyle McDonalds books on fat loss, especially stubborn areas (love handles, man-pooch, etc…), he mentions that several mg of this supplement may help mobilize fat in those areas during fasted cardio (AM cardio before breakfast). I bought some but have not tried it. Once I get settled in Japan, I will work through another 4 week carb cycling, mega workout routine as described in earlier blogs and use this supplement in front of the Sunday and Wednesday Widow Maker cardio sets.     

DIM

Diindolylmethane is a supplement that supports male estrogen balance; it reduces 16-hydroxy estrogen metabolites and improves 2-hydroxy estrogen metabolites. I’m not sure exactly how this works but it supposedly helps with fat loss in those stubborn areas similar to Yahimbine, only without the caffeine like jitters produced by mild stimulants of any type. It’s also supposed to help scavenge environmental estrogens (phenols) from your system. We’ll give it a shot and we’ll see what it may or may not do.

What Really Works

So as a review of supplements that really work, we have B3 and B6, BCAA’s and Creatine. And supplements that should help for any active lifestyle include a multivitamin, calcium/zinc, B12 and fish oil.

Once we get settled in Kakegawa Japan, I’ll provide another update. Life is always good chasing that Last 10 Pounds.

MMJennings