My new Program

Following my week off I designed myself a new program the other night. It's a 4 day split that runs over 2 weeks with a week A and a week B. Each week is similar but with a couple of different exercises in each category (eg one week has incline dumbell bench, the next is decline barbell bench etc). This was because I wanted to do so many exercises but didn't want to have long sessions. The main compound movements get done every week but others like decline bench or incline bench press get done every other week. I do abs on both day 3 and 4 as I plan on having a rest day between them (actually doing a spin class). Also, the second ab day is mainly obliques.

Week A

   Day 1: Chest, tri's 

   Day 2: Back, bi's 

   Day 3: Shoulders, traps, abs 

   Day 4: Legs, abs 

Week B

   Day 5: Chest, tri's 

   Day 6: Back, bi's 

   Day 7: Shoulders, traps, abs 

   Day 8: Legs, abs 

You don't really have to do it week A then week B. If you train 5 days a week you can do days 

1,2,3,4,5 then the next week days 6,7,8,1,2 etc

I haven't uploaded the full program to Jefit.com yet but this is the chest day. I did it yesterday and am bloody sore! After the Huge and Ripped program I was determined to cut my training time and days so put in some supersetting and focused on the post-exhaust approach.

Day 1: Chest, tri's (3 sets of 8-10 on all but if it gets easy I will go to 4 sets)

• Barbell bench - superset with pushups
• Dumbbell incline bench press - superset with dumbbell incline fly
• Pec dec
• Weighted Dips
• Rope overhead tricep extension

Will upload more soon....

-Lucas

Meanwhile in Africa ...

Credit to Fatty McShortstack who uploaded this pic to Scoobysworkshop.com facebook page

So if your excuse for not being active has anything to do with gyms being too expensive, too far away, too busy etc. Talk to these guys! Or Fred Flintstone.

Does running count as study?

I took a day off work today with the sole purpose of studying for my Level 2 assessments tomorrow. I figured I would do them all in one day to get them out of the way and get on with Level 3. As a result I've had to get a lot of info into my brain! After finishing all of the online learning stuff last night and meeting with the guy I am training tomorrow for a practice run at the gym this morning, I thought I'd go enjoy the sunshine and run around the park. It was quite convenient as the last thing I was reading was CV fitness so maybe it does count as study?


Anyway, my goal of a 27 minute 6km run came a little closer today with a time of 30:40. That's 80 seconds better than last time with a higher average heart rate of 164 which may mean that my OBLA has increased a little.
Here is a map of my run for today...




-Lucas

Lot's of shiny new bikes and hi-viz gear on the roads in London today

Since Spring finally decided to pay London a visit on Monday, the amount of cyclists on the road is increasing. Every year more and more people get on a bike which is awesome. Not so much for the hardcore commuters and couriers out there but good for the environment and the health of those who do it. I think I read somewhere that everyday about 250,000 people take to the streets of London on a bicycle.
Since this is my week off weights I have been getting re-acquainted with my old friend Cardio and have been cycling to and from work as fast as I can. I was amazed on Monday how de-conditioned my legs were from just cycling at a low intensity. I could barely get my heart rate up to 130 without the lactic acid in my legs building up to uncomfortable levels.
Accepting the challenge I kept going to see how much I could improve over the week and I'm very happy with my fast improvement. 
On Monday my average HR was 120 with a max of 153 and today (Wednesday) my average HR was 141 with a max of 163. That's definitely something to write home about, or in my case blog about.
I like pictures so here's a picture of my bike known by the name of Claud. (Photo taken after riding to the gym in the snow just before Christmas).




-Lucas

Results from my latest program

On Saturday I finished my 2 month program and the results are in...
Firstly, this program was a bit of a pain being 6 days but I managed to only miss one of the days over the 8 weeks. At first I thought I was overtraining a bit but then my strength gains proved otherwise.
Here are a few 1RM (one rep max) values for a my some of my exercises from week 1 to week 8.

• Bench Press 88kg to 99kg
• Deadlift 114kg to 136kg
• Squat 126kg to 140kg

Not bad hey. Over the 8 weeks I have lost 2% body fat and remained the same weight at 82kg meaning that I have gained just over 1.5kg of muscle. Since my body fat has changed my measurements aren't that impressive as with less fat they stayed pretty much the same. I gained a whopping 1/8th of an inch on my arms! But given the fact that my BF decreased 2% they have grown more than that. My chest also increased a half inch and my calves 1/4 inch.

I also supplemented this routine by cycling to and from work 5 miles every day. Something which I do regardless of program.

If you want to see my program again they are here (Phase 1) and here (Phase 2). I would probably do it again one day. It definitely requires some commitment with the amount of training but 1.6kg of muscle in 8 weeks is worth it.

I am taking a week of weights now and am just doing cardio. I am looking for a new routine so if you have a good one let me know, otherwise I'll be designing one myself which I will post sometime soon.

On the About page I mentioned that I promised myself visible abs by my 30th birthday, well 

that's only 4 weeks away now so will definitely be posting my final result then so stay tuned!

-Lucas

An alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners

Anyone heard of this? I remember last year reading something about this. It is a berry that tricks your tastebuds so that anything you eat after it tastes very sweet, no matter what you eat be it a lemon or tree bark!
It was discovered in the 60's by Robert Harvey who said "You can eat a berry and then bite into a lemon, it becomes not only sweeter, but it will be the best lemon you've tasted in your life." 
Harvey set up production and marketed it in the US to diabetics as an alternative to sugar. Sadly in 1974 the FDA banned it as it had to undergo strict testing before it could be added to the consumer market. There are stories of controversy surrounding the sugar industry's added involvement in the berry being banned. The sugar industry is quite large and powerful having been around for hundreds of years so it does have a lot of power.
It's such a shame. A natural product that is a healthy alternative to sugar. Not only could this help to ease the ever growing obesity epidemic but it could also be used to make bitter tasting foods more palatable for poverty stricken areas.

You can actually buy them on thinkgeek.com as a novelty. I'm so tempted to give them a go!


Further reading BBC, OCWeekly


-Lucas

First run for the season

Just completed my first run for the season. I haven't really done much running in the last 10 years so thought I'd commit to it a bit more this summer. London is a great place to run as it's flat and the parks are huge. Just running around my local park (Clapham Common) is 6km. I managed to complete it in 32 minutes which is the same time I did last September so I'm pretty happy with that.
I have a free app on my phone called SportyPal which has a friendly female robot voice tells me the time at every kilometre. It also creates a map on google to show where you went and gives a graph of your speed. Not bad considering it's free. My new ear plugs held up well too. Didn't have to adjust them once.
I was wearing a hear rate monitor too and mostly sat around 161 bpm. It seems that is my sweet spot. Hopefully with a bit of interval training I can increase this.
My aim by the end of summer is to run 6km in 27 minutes which is a 4.5 minute km.
Below is the route I took (slightly altered to omit my start/end point).

This is just rank!

If you look in any body builders fridge or food cupboard you will usually see a dozen or two eggs. They're great. They are an excellent source of protein, low carb and if you choose to have the yolk also, a good source of essential fat. There are many ways to prepare them, some healthier than others.

I prefer them boiled or in omelette form (check the knowBody omelette). But how about boiling them in a young boy's urine? That's quite common in the province of  Zhejiang in China. Apparently it's quite the delicacy! To make things worse, after they are boiled with the shells on, they are peeled and then boiled some more without the shell. And not just enough to cook the egg, but for 24 hours! The urine must be from a boy under the age of 10 apparently.

First, let's look at the health benefits of urine boiled eggs. Take a nutritious naturally occurring food item and boil it for 24 hours in a liquid that your body has used to flush out waste products. So the people in this Chinese province are putting back into their bodies things that their body (or young boy's body) has tried to get rid of. 

As an Australian the only use I can think of for urine once it's out of the body is to treat the sting of a blue bottle or jelly fish.

The eggs are known as Tong Zi Dan  which means 'Boy Egg' and has apparently been prepared this way for hundreds of years. The Chinese, having pondered that the rest of us are interested in scoffing 'wee eggs' are currently interested in exporting the product to other parts of the world. 

I've tried some interesting foods in Asia and am pretty open minded to trying a lot more but I think I'll be giving this one a pass.

source popjolly.com

-Lucas

To Diet Coke or not to Diet Coke

I go through phases where I just don't feel my lunch is complete without downing a can of Coke. I love it, whether it's diet, zero or full sugar it just makes my lunch that bit more satisfying. Lately I've been going the zero/diet Cokes as I am trying to cut my calories but I am always questioning myself which is better. There is so much research that tries to prove that artificial sweeteners are harmful, or studies that show diet drinkers gain more fat than the full sugar drinkers. I go from full sugar to diet and so forth after being scared off by the ever growing amount of research on the subject. One thing I know for sure is that drinking water instead is the only real solution but where's the fun in that? What is it that makes me crave it? It's obviously not the sugar and I doubt it's the caffeine as I am not addicted to coffee. It could possibly be that my lunches are boring and need a dousing of caffeinated goodness to wash it down...

When I do some Googling I find that Aspartame, the sweetener in diet sodas is apparently a pretty lethal substance. But this info is always on a wellness or alternative style medicine site. If you read about it from scientific research there has been over 200 studies since 1967 and it is still approved by WHO (World Health Organisation). Each side has their own conflicting studies as well with the wellness people claiming diet soda drinkers put on more weight and the scientists claiming the opposite. In my own observations I honestly notice that it's usually the overweight people drinking the diet soda and the slim people drinking the full sugar soda. Shouldn't it be the other way around? 
Today I read that a British study has shown that both diet and full sugar can cause increases in blood pressure which is another woe that I will add to my list of diet soda woes. I'm still going to keep drinking it though. At about 4 cans per week I don't think it's having a negative effect on me, I'd just like to know the truth!
-Lucas

The 20 Most Obnoxious People at Your Gym

Recognise any of these people at your gym?? I picked 16!

Obnoxious Gym Characters byTreadmillReviews

Smoking - my experiences

Being a bit caught up in everything recently I totally forgot that March 1st was my 2 year anniversary for quitting smoking. Forgetting it isn't such a bad thing really as it shows that I don't really think about it any more. Even thinking of myself as a 'smoker' feels very foreign.
There were many reasons that I gave it up, some of which were that it was expensive, I felt and smelt gross, I hated the idea of something having a hold over me i.e an addiction, but mostly it was holding back my health gains.


For a long time I went through phases of having healthy and unhealthy habits. Having a healthy habit was always held back by my unhealthy habits and in the end, the unhealthy habit won.
When I started getting really serious about exercise then I knew that I had to quit. I reached a stage where my level of fitness was being held back by the fact that I smoked. This was my third official time that I would quit and wanted it to be my last. I chose not to use any patches, gum or any other nicotine substitution. From doing a little research I could see that the physical addiction didn't last that long so feeding it whilst trying to battle a mental addiction was pointless. My strategy was to change my habits. I swapped around all my rituals (for example, have a smoke before dinner instead of after) and changed from tailored cigarettes to rollies (making it a hassle as I had to roll one every time I smoked). I did this for several weeks. My mental addiction was thrown off but I was still feeding my physical addiction. This is all theory of course as when I finally quit I was craving them! But I thought about them less because I had changed my habits. I only had serious cravings for about 4 days. My cravings would occur at weird times too and I would just sit there and tough it out. There is definitely a positive effect to someone who quits as it takes so much will power to stay quit. Quitting itself is easy. I know people who do it all the time. The hard part is staying quit!

I'm forever ruining ear plugs at the gym!

Just got myself and awesome new pair of ear plugs for the gym. I've gone thru 3 pairs of Sennheiser CX300's in the last year. Thought I'd fork out for the sporty pair this time and got the CX 680i's. Check 'em out.


They have a little fin thingy that keeps it in your ear. They sound better than the CX 300's. I'm sure I'll break them eventually but they seem pretty sturdy and have a built in mic which is handy cause I use them on my phone. Hopefully they'll stay in my ears!


If you like inner ear plugs and the colour green you can't lose :)

The knowBody Omelette/ Frittata

I pretty much eat this at least once or twice a week. It's very simple but I love it so I thought I would share it. 




Ingredients
5-6 medium egg whites
1 egg yolk
3 pieces of frozen spinach
1/2 a small onion
1 tomato
2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 slice low fat cheese
Salt/pepper/cayenne pepper to taste

Who do you think will win?

Note: This image contains flash and may not be visible on certain Apple devices.

Sis-science?

Is there a female version of broscience? There must because there is a common myth among women that claims they get all big and muscley when they lift weights. Whenever I talk to a woman about weight loss/ fitness etc they usually say - "but I can't do weights. I don't want to get all big and muscley". If this were true then women must present some special growth hormone that men don't as there a lot of skinny guys at the gym lifting weights making minimal gains (mostly as their technique is crap).


The truth is, for weight loss, resistance training is as effective as cardio. Depending on the type of resistance training you do, you can burn more calories and increase your muscle mass so that you burn more calories than you normally would when you aren't even at the gym. If you lift weights for the first time then you may experience some growth but this is just your existing muscles pumping up.

By increasing muscle mass and decreasing body fat you don't really notice a size increase in say, your arms. In the rather crude diagram on the right I have demonstrated how by decreasing fat and increasing muscle you can stay relatively the same (depending on how much fat loss is required of course). The result is that you are left with more muscle which is the most metabolically active tissue in your body. 


Losing weight isn't necessarily the wisest goal to reach for because weight loss can mean fat loss and/or muscle loss. By increasing your lean muscle mass and decreasing body fat you may put on weight but the results will speak for themselves.
Yo-yo dieters, over time tend to get bigger and bigger because with each diet the weight they lose includes muscle loss. So when they go back to their normal eating habits they have less muscle to burn fat. With every diet they are actually decreasing their metabolism.


-Lucas

Shoulder Rehab

If you lift weights then you've had a sore shoulder before. My problem shoulder is my right which is weird as I am left handed. I always had a popping sensation when doing incline bench press or overhead press but as it never hurt, I ignored it. Eventually it started to hurt and a PT at my gym gave me a few warm up exercises that helped a lot. 
I thought my worries were over til I was doing 5 sets of 5 on overhead press and after a couple of weeks of that my shoulder was so sore I couldn't do anything for days. This was about June last year and I am only just doing shoulder exercises again now.
I tried lots of things. The most useless thing? Rest. I found that exercising it was key. I discovered a few stretches and exercises on the internet that I started doing and also continued doing chest exercises (dumbbells only, no bars) and gradually it has got better. I can now do all of my shoulder exercises including overhead barbell press which I just started doing again. So long as I do these exercises at least 8 times a week I can give my shoulders a good floggin'.


Here's what I do. From the PDF on this link I do Phase 1 exercises 1-6. Then from Phase 2 I do the Active flexion and Active adduction exercise. After that I do 2 sets of lying L flys (see link - note:Pop-eye impersonation optional). I do this with a 750ml bottle of water. 
Another L fly is demonstrated by the shirtless warrior himself, Scooby1961.


Note: I'm no doctor but thru experimentation and the reluctance to open my wallet to a physiotherapist I have had significant success in using this method.

-Lucas

First day of Advanced Fitness Trainer

Today at my course we moved onto Level 3 which is the Personal Trainer. Until now I was doing Level 2 - Gym Instructor. It's a lot more full on and rather physically demanding. Not knowing what we were going to do today I got to the gym early and did half my leg routine for the day which made it a tad harder for when we did our OBLA estimation....

OBLA (Onset of Blood Lactate Accumulation). The test was to find our optimum heart rate that is on the threshold of where our muscles start accumulating lactic acid. I thought this would be a good chance to test my max HR and got it up to 189 bpm! (191 is my calculated Max HR so it wasn't bad). From that I deducted that I can maintain a HR of 171 for up to at least 20 minutes before my muscles start accumulating lactic acid. Knowing this is good is you really want to train at your maximum. It's also good to know so you don't over exert yourself.

If that wasn't enough to wear us out we later had to practice different methods of strength training being:

• Tri-sets
• Delorme and Watkins 10RM (10 rep max)
• Berger 6RM (6 rep max)
• Super setting (opposing muscle)
• Super setting (same muscle)

I saw this as a perfect chance to finish my leg workout ;-) and did the Berger 6RM for deadlift and Super Setting (same muscle) for my calves.

I managed to sneakily video myself doing my last set of deadlifts. I was lifting 110kg. 

New machines at SOHO Clapham

It was like Christmas morning at the gym today with a horde of new equipment! (the yellow gear) It's a bunch of Technogym plate loaded fixed resistance machines. They kinda look like giant insects. 
Sorry for the bad shot. I totally didn't want anyone seeing me take a photo at the gym!


-Lucas

Be happy, live longer

It might sound obvious but a 40 year study has just published results that lead to the conclusion that people who are happy and positive tend to live longer than those who are unhappy and pessimistic. 

A study that followed nearly 5,000 university students for more than 40 years, for example, found that those who were most pessimistic as students tended to die younger than their peers. An even longer-term study that followed 180 Catholic nuns from early adulthood to old age found that those who wrote positive autobiographies in their early 20s tended to outlive those who wrote more negative accounts of their young lives.

As far as training goes it also says:

experiments on humans have found that positive moods reduce stress-related hormones, increase immune function and promote the speedy recovery of the heart after exertion

click here for full article


-Lucas

URL and blog name change!

Welcome to the knowBody!

I know it's quick but after a bit of googling I found that there were a lot of 'body journal' blogs so I thought I would be a bit more original. Plus I get a .com domain this time!

I thought the new title is a little more fitting as I am pretty much a nobody and my mission is to know more about the body.

-Lucas aka the knowBody 

My current program

Thought I'd share my current routine. It's a 6 day program that a friend found in a muscle mag. Feeling experimental I thought I'd try it.


A summary from FLEX magazine...

In each phase of the 'Get Ripped' program you follow a three day split, training each bodypart twice a week. Training this frequently will keep your metabolism revved up and help you burn more fat each week.

You also alternate between light and heavy days. Switching between the two will help cover all the angles of the fat burning spectrum. Light days use the pre-exhaust technique, using isolation exercises (eg cable cross-over for chest) to precede a compound movement (eg incline bench press). Utilising the pre-exhaust technique helps build quality muscle that reveals itself when the fat is lost. You do slightly higher reps (15-20 in phase 1 and 12-15 in phase 2) so your heart rate will be in optimal range for burning fat as you are only resting for 30 seconds between sets.

On heavy days you start with compound movements. These multi-joint exercises will help burn more calories both in the gym and at home (in theory as heavy weights supposedly increase metabolic rates for up to 72 hours after a workout). As strength is needed on these days, you rest for 2 minutes between sets. 

Follow these links to have a look. I have uploaded them to jefit.com

Phase 1

Phase 2

To be honest I have found the routine to be slightly overkill having spent the first couple of weeks experiencing mass global soreness. I am currently in week 6 and have noticed some gains and a definite increase in strength. My bodyfat has dropped also which is a bonus as I have been eating a bit of junkfood and drinking alcohol on the weekends.

-Lucas

Chew your protein shake

Recently when talking to a colon hydrotherapist, I was talking to him about my diet and mentioned that I drink 1-2 protein shakes a day. 

He said that whilst whey is an easily digestible protein, the fact that you drink it means that you are not mixing it with enough enzymes from saliva to aid digestion. So not all of that protein (usually 25 grams) from the shake will be digested.

Since hearing this, when I drink my shake I hold each mouthful for a few seconds longer and swish it around in my mouth a bit whilst chewing before swallowing. When doing this I can actually feel saliva being released from my saliva glands so the chewing motion is important.

This principle can be applied to all liquid foods like soup and mashed potato.

-Lucas

First post!

Hi all, and by all I mean my sister who is probably the only other person who will read this! 


This is just a note to inform you what's install on my body journal.


Over the past couple of years I have spent lots of time reading random articles (mostly sourced from digg.com) about all things related to health, fitness, nutrition, spirituality, evolution, sports science, the list goes on. Trouble is I can hardly remember where I read these articles when I talk to people about them. 


The body journal will be my collection of favourite articles but also my own opinions and a narrative as I embark on the road to rippedness. I will also be commenting about my Personal Trainer course that I am enrolled in at SOHO Academy.

-Lucas