Implementing Lessons Learned……………………

Its official, we’re off and running, we’ve started the 2016 Endurance Macro. This year we will start off with lots of stretches and lots of stationary cardio, progressing to higher intensities as we progress through the macro. And of course we will be in the weight room 5 to 6 days a week, pushing and pulling and minimizing rest between sets. Like the 2015 round, this macro is focused on endurance; this year we are also including stretches. I need the recovery and I think an additional 30 minutes of daily stretching may just be the right answer to prevent, or at least minimize those Niggly Injuries that have handicapped my pursuit of that Last 10 Pounds.

 

My Schedule………….

This is the first 4 weeks of the 2016 Endurance Macro.

	Week 1		Week 2		Week 3		Week 4
	AM	PM	AM	PM	AM	PM	AM	PM
Monday	FitBlen	Upper	FitBlen	Upper		Upper		Whole
Tuesday	Stretch	Whole	Stretch	Whole	Stretch	Whole	Stretch
Wednesday	SLOG	W&L		W&L	SLOG	W&L		Whole
Thursday	Stretch	Whole	Stretch	Whole	Stretch	Whole	Stretch
Friday		Lower	FitBlen	Lower	FitBlen	Lower		Whole
Saturday
Sunday	Stretch	W&L	Stretch	W&L	Stretch	W&L	Stretch

 

Acronym	Workout
FitBlen	Fitnessblender.com; Quiet Cardio – 20-40 minutes of non-impact cardio
Stretch	30 minutes of combined upper/lower body stretching and foam rolling.
SLOG	Slow Jog; 20-30 minute segmented runs; 4 on, 2 off eventually progressing to 5 k’s
Upper	Bench press drop sets combined bar and dumbbell, including rows. Incorporate shoulder and bicep work
Lower	Squat drop sets front to back, include pull ups and balance work (one leg).
W&L	Wings and Legs – Biceps and Calves plus Lateral raise (as time permits).
Whole	Squats, Bench, Row (bent and upright), Press. Or similar, just get sweaty!!!! Generally with Workout Partner.

 

Upper – 30 to 45 Minute	Lower – 30 to 45 Minute
Big Triple; Barbell Bench – Neutral grip 160 pound range, 5 count at bottom. Dumbbell Bench – 60 pound (each) range, full stretch and bottom. Dumbbell Row – 75 pound range, full stretch at bottom	Big Triple; Front Squat – 100 pound plus hold at bottom last 3 reps. Back Squat – 150 pound plus, hold at bottom last 3 reps. Pull Ups - neutral grip
Big Twin; Wide Grip Pull Ups Wide Grip Lat Pulls, full stretch	Big Twin; One Leg Dead Lifts – 15 pound range Hip Thrusters – 145 pound range
Final Play; Dumbbell Bench – Narrow, 40 pound (each) range full stretch plus connect at top. Lateral Raise – 15 pound range, pinky fingers up. Cable or Barbell curls.	Final Play; Hamstring Curl/Pushups. Light Dead Lifts, 135 pound range.

This is my Plan and I’m sticking to it.

Reevaluating Supplements………………..

Over the last 3 months I have been taking the following supplements;

Calcium, Mag, Zinc (1000/400/25 mg)	Omega-3 (3000 mg) from Fish Oil
Multi (One A Day Men)	Kelp, Iodine (150 mcg Iodine)
B6 (100 mg)	Vitamin C (1000 mg)
B3 (500 mg)	Psyllium (1 tbs) (breakfast and dinner)
Creatine (5 g)	BCAA (6 g) (2X per day post workout)
Vitamin A (10,000 iu)	Zink (50 mg)
Vitamin D (400 iu)	Biotin (new, as of June 1, 5000 mcg)

 As far as the Kelp, I had been up to 6 tablets (900 mcg iodine) per day and you know what? I started to lose my voice, I started going horse……...the initial signs of excessive iodine, maybe. I cycled off for a few weeks and things went back to normal. I started again, only now I’m sticking to one tablet daily……………..and of course making sure I don’t lose my voice again.

I read an article on niacin just recently, specifically niacin and sleep. It seems that niacin can induce sleep, which is good……....if I’m ready to hit the sheets. Niacin also opens up blood flow to whole body, not just the skin, e.g. the flush, the prickly heat……. And maybe it could induce a bit more blood flow to those love handles and man pooch. However, the effect is short lived, an hour or so. Maybe niacin before a cardio session is all that is required to get the fat into the bloodstream. When I run in cold weather, I notice a skin temperature difference between my oblique’s and my love handles; you can actually see this in the mirror. The fat is cold and the muscle is warm, the fat is pale and the muscle is pink. Over the next few months I will be experimenting with taking my daily dose of niacin before my morning cardio. If the love handles start pinking up after a run, maybe, just maybe I can get the blood flow I need to those areas to mobilize the fat………then again maybe not. Another thing I would like to try is using B3 (niacin) while skiing or motorcycling during cold weather. Since we are dilating capillaries at the skin, bringing warmer blood to the surface, maybe my fingers and toes wouldn’t get as cold. Another factoid about niacin; increasing the dosage of Omeha-3’s interestingly reduces the effect of the flush, not the capillary dilation or blood flow, just the discomfort. Maybe that’s why the flush hasn’t bothered me recently when I pop a 500 mg tablet before bed; I upped my Omeg-3 from 1 gram to 3.

Against my doctor’s better judgement, I have also stopped taking Lipitor, even the 2.5 mg dose. I’m hoping that between the niacin and the increase in Omeg-3’s plus my consistency with psyllium, my cholesterol drops to the 200 mark. I will be going to the doctor for a well-baby check in the near future and of course the customary drawing of the blood. We’ll see how that turns out before I consider statins again. And as a last note on statins; even in small doses, they do effect…………..those masculine feelings. If you feel you are a bit………limp…….in that area, just stop taking the med. 

I plan on cycling off of the Creatine in the coming weeks. I think this is appropriate since I am done with the Power Macro for 2016. I know the effect of this, I’ll lose some water weight plus my general lift strength will drop. But for endurance I’m really not paying attention to overall strength, we want to improve cyclic loading. We want to increase the mitochondria density, not just muscle size.

A few journal entries back I had mentioned stacking BCAA’s with nicotine lozenges to see if there was an improvement in mood, in focus. No gains in this department. I have been attempting to see a difference when the two are combined for close to 5 months now and any mood, focus improvements are strictly from nicotine. Way early (several years back) in this blog series I had looked at BCAA’s as a mood booster and the reason perceived fatigue was reduced. Stacking the two does not amplify the effect of either. 

I have read several articles recently on the use of Tyrosine, a dopamine and adrenalin precursor. I might try stacking this with nicotine and/or BCAA’s in my next go around to see what effect that has on mood, focus and/or bigger lifts.

Niggly Injury of the Month…………….

It seems like all of the stretching, lighter loading and stationary cardio routines are paying off. The TFL (or glute) pull is starting to be less…….cantankerous. However, it seems now there is an issue at the left shoulder, the anterior deltoid to be specific. When I lift my arm up to the side straight arm fashioned, there is a tight spot. It’s not a joint pain, it is a muscle pain. If I bend my elbow and do the same thing, there is no pain. The tender point seems to be where the bicep tucks under the anterior deltoid. This will have to be watched. I think it was cause by overdoing military presses. We’ll keep an eye on it and include stretches in that area also.

So my niggly injuries also initiated a bright spot in my life, better than any complement or gesture of how hard you work to manage normal. Because my normal morning routines at the gym I usually go to have been very infrequent, e.g. no morning cardio, the girls that I normally see and greet at the gym called to ‘see where I was’. I was so flattered that they actually thought enough to call, to see if I was doing OK. Wow!!! Like family.

 

Key Performance Indicators……………….

KPI’s for the month of June. Baseline Endurance Macro.

June Best
Exercise	Sets	Reps	Total Weight Moved
Front Squat (Sup)	4	8	3,680    (115*32)
Back Squat (Sup)	4	8	5,280    (165*32)   8,960 Total
Pull Up	4	8	----------
Bench	4	8	5,280   (165*32)
Dumbbell Bench	4	8	3,520    (110*32)  8,800 Total
One Arm Row	4	8		1,760    (55*32)   Each Arm
Masculine Feelings (Scale 1 to 10) = 6+
Cardio; Minimal Cardio, Fit Blend and SLOG
Notes; Lower 3 exercises completed as a superset; Front Squat, Back Squat and Pull Up. There is 4 minute spread between the start of each set. In that 4 minutes you complete the 3 exercises plus just enough rest to allow heart rate to settle out. This set is like an extended Sprint; very, very whole body. All squats are Deep, Ass to Grass Squats. Any rest or lag is at the bottom. Calculated Squat 1RM – Front 144/Back 207.   Upper 3 exercises completed as a superset; Bench, Dumbbell Bench and Rows. There is 90 second rest between sets. The objective is not additional weight but minimal rest. All are neutral grip Bench Presses. Calculated Bench 1RM – 207.

These are pretty good numbers and they’re getting better. I was really pleased with myself when I completed my first set of 115 pound front squats. In the July round I hope to push that weight up to at least 125. And the back squats, I’d like to get to 175. The mind is there, just hope like hell the body follows. These are my goals anyway.

Late Note; Did a 2 rep set of 135 front squats 26 June 2016, Ya! Hooooo!

Conclusion……………..

June has really been a recovery month. Most big muscle lifts that involve the legs have been a compromise some place between ‘Ouch, it hurts’ and ‘OMG, I can’t believe I did that’. And the cardio; pretty much nonexistent. I’ll be starting from scratch if I want to run any distance. Basically I’m still searching, searching for that Last 10 Pounds.

 

MMJennings