Endurance Macro Review…………….

Over the last four and a half months I have been pushing myself with what many would consider a pretty aggressive workout schedule; the Endurance Macro. And I am about to jump into yet another stacked schedule; the Sculpting Macro. Both of these macros include six days out of seven completing some sort of cardio and four days out of seven lifting something heavy. And as they say; the more you do the better you get, especially when chasing that Last 10 Pounds.

Besides the specific exercises, the biggest change that comes with the Sculpting Macro will be the number of times per week we hit a specific muscle group with resistance training. We will be moving from twice per week to three times per week. Yes, the Sculpting Macro is designed to put the selected muscle groups under tension, put them to work more often.

Now we played around with this during the Endurance Macro; we were working biceps 4 times a week. On leg days we would do a triple bicep set and on chest days we would complete bicep work on the cable machine and preacher curl machine. As we progressed through the Endurance Macro, we added weight to all of these exercises but most importantly, we slowed the exercises, and stopped and held (Isometric Hold) the weight at what felt like the maximum muscle tension; just before reversing direction.  Did we make noticeable improvement? In shear strength, yes I can handle more weight and more sets. In aesthetics, not really. I went from 15” biceps in the Power Macro to 14.5” biceps in the Endurance Macro. Basically, no change. And finally, in the last month of the Endurance Macro, I did pull something in my right arm; it becomes painful when doing pull ups and one arm dumbbell rows. So there was injury; so there was a price and no aesthetic gain. Is this what I’m looking for? Maybe.

Measurements……….. 

We’ll start out with weight. We’re up to 198 lbs, WOW!!! We started out in the Endurance Macro at 191 lbs. Unbelievable, another 7 pounds. Also note that my 3 month blood glucose, my HbA1c dropped from 5.7 to 5.5. If I had gained 100% fat, I guarantee this value would have gone up. So what about body fat;

Skinfolds
Pec	10	Calculated BF = 14.24 Realistic BF (+4) = 18 to 20
Ab	12
Thigh	14
Body fat calc is from ExRx and is Age Corrected to 60. The end of the Power Macro 13.9 Calculated. End of Endurance Macro, no real change (13.9 to 14.24).

There was no significant change in the skinfold measurements from the Power Macro. Based on this and the weight gain, It’s a pretty good assumption that there was an increase in fat free mass; a gain in muscle? O.K., I can accept that. What about other measurements? For this we are going back to the notes I collected from reading Your Muscular Potential by Casey Butt, PhD, and what we collected at the end of the Power Macro.

	5’9” Average Joe (15% BF)	5’9” Mark Jennings (Power)	5’9” Mark Jennings (Endurance)	5’9” Chiseled Athlete (10% BF)
Chest	38.7”	42.5	42	45.5”
Bicep	13.1”	15	14.5	16.7”
Forearm	12.1”	12	11.5	13.3”
Neck	15.3”	15.5	15.5	16.3“
Waist	33.5”	37	36	30.3”
Hips	41.0”	41	41	38.0”
Thigh	22.1”	24	24	24.8“
Calf	14.3”	16	15.5	16.4“
Torso Shape	Inverted V à	Rectangular à	Rectangular à	Positive V à

Like the Body Fat calculation above, there is no significant change in measurements between the Power and the Endurance Macro. If anything, you could call out the minor reductions in the extremities; biceps, forearms, calves. This is a pretty minor change and does not address the weight gain.

Based on BF and measurements, it looks like the same results we had when we worked through Lyle McDonald’s Ultimate Diet 2 (UD2) plan, when I was working out of Beijing and Taiwan. There is a definite weight gain, no gain in size, a gain in strength and a net reduction in body fat. Is this what we’re after? Maybe.

The Mirror Check…………

As we have mentioned in previous articles, after several days of R&R, sometimes I can see a big difference in the mirror. Happened Again! This time it occurred over Labor Day weekend when I took a few days off and went back to Washington. Once the puffiness subsided, e.g. the water weight shed, you could actually see the work I have been putting in. So I did a bit more digging (OK, internet research) to see just what was accomplished during this Endurance Macro.

Basically, the results resemble what would be described as ‘Volume Training’ or maybe ‘Metabolic Training’. Not the standard 10 X 10 fare (German Volume, Rolf Feser) that so many would be body builders focus on, but my own means of torture, the triple leg and the triple pec sets. These are both based on 3 sets of 3 exercises, superset style with no rest, a 4 minute walking break, then 3 more sets of the 3 exercises. I have also been watching the rest times on the ancillary exercises; the stop watch allows me to complete double, triple sets in a fixed time period. The fixed time period is a 2 minute cycle or a 3 minute cycle depending on the superset completed. Generally there is about a 60 second rest between ancillary sets.

So what I found is that Volume Training increases the intercellular mitochondria and teaches the muscle to accept a higher glucose loading. Since additional glucose also takes in additional water, like at a 4 to 1 ratio (4 water molecules for every glucose molecule) this could, at least in part, explain the weight gain. However, without a size gain, like where is the muscle gain? So once I more or less dried out, lost the water bloating during my vacation from the weights, you could see a more developed me. You could see a thicker back, you could see more arm and shoulder development and especially more quad development.

So did I make progress? I think the answer is yes.

Those Masculine Feelings………………

I can tell you from experience, no more guess work and now as recorded in this on-line journal that the Endurance Macro will kill those…………masculine feelings, especially those that I had written about during the Power Macro. For whatever reason, this type of training does not generate the same level of hormones; growth, testosterone, or otherwise that give you those super intense, pleasantly painful…………masculine feelings. But that doesn’t mean nothing is going on, it just means that something different is going on. Once we get back to the Power Macro after the 1^st of the year, will see if those super intense…………masculine feelings reappear.

The Run……….

This last Labor Day weekend I flew from Kentucky to my home in Washington State. I had to make a connection in Minneapolis and of course, my arriving flight was late to the gate. So I had 7 minutes to make it from the ‘A’ gates to the ‘C’ gates. I ran the entire distance and made it to the departing gate so late that the gate agent had to unlock the sky bridge door. Once I got settled on the plane, I thought for a minute; I just ran 7 minutes at better than a 5K pace with a 30 pound backpack and I’m not winded. The Endurance Macro just paid for itself. For sure!

So maybe I didn’t gain what I expected from the Endurance Macro, e.g. progress toward that Last 10 Pounds but I made huge gains in stamina and endurance that will serve me well going into the Sculpting Macro.

P.S………………..

As a final note to this month’s entry, my project in Kentucky is complete and we will be leaving the Blue Grass State on September 25^th. I will continue working the Endurance Macro routines until my return to Kennewick WA. So by the middle of October I should be settled back into the same old gym(s) that I worked out in before my Asian, plus Kentucky, tour. Once settled in, we’ll begin the new routines that I’m sure will transform me into a 60 year old Adonis (LOL), the Sculpting Macro.

MMJennings