I know the vast majority of you slackers called in to work today because of the snow. But for those who manned up and braved the elements, I have four words for you: It’s Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday!!!!!!!
1. I like to challenge myself, so in light of last Thursday’s blog post, I ate 28 eggs yesterday. I would have gone for 30, but I figured that might have been overkill. My next “challenge” is to see how many episodes of Rock of Love I can sit through before a) I want to stab myself in the eyes….repeatedly, b) Bret Michaels contracts a raging case of gonorrhea, or c) I get bored and watch The Hills instead.
2. It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of the show The Biggest Loser. Below is a link of one of their trainers, The Prince of Darkness Jillian Michaels* showing us what it’s like to be the epitome of a walking dysfunction:
Holy mother of ACL injuries, what in the hell was that?!?!?! I’ve seen one-legged meth addicts perform a cleaner lunge than that. This is more like a video of how not to do a lunge. Sadly, there are a lot of de-conditioned people who are going to follow this routine and hurt themselves. Thanks Jillian!!!
*no relation to Bret, weird I know.
3. A big congrats goes out to CP client Tom Boziuk for participating in his first powerlifting meet this past weekend in Albany, NY. While he didn’t post the numbers he was hoping for, the fact that he actually went out and competed says a lot. Lord knows I don’t have the balls to do it
4. Q:
Hi, just read your article 4 Things Your Girlfriend Should Know. I have been weight-training for a few years now – heavy weights with low reps (10-12). I am now at the point where I am looking for a new workout regime because I am in fact getting too big and I don’t like the way I look. Specifically my back – it’s getting so big that I am shredding the liners of my winter coats. My biceps can’t fit into some short-sleeved shirts that are too tight. Can’t get some of my dress pants over my thighs. You get the drift. It’s not fat, it’s muscle. So women can get too big. I am now looking for a way I can shrink myself and try to maintain at least some of the strength and ‘cutness’ that I have worked so hard for, but I’m willing to lose some so that I don’t feel like Chyna anymore. If you have any advice for me I’d appreciate it, but I have a feeling you’re going to stick to the advice in your article because you firmly believe it’s the best. I agree with you but I know I’m not really happy with the shape of my body anymore, and at the end of the day that’s what matters.
A: Ummmmm, 10-12 reps is notheavy, low rep training. It’s HYPERTROPHY training. The reason you can’t fit into your clothes anymore is because you’re probably doing too much volume. Likewise, I suspect that you’re not taking into account your total caloric intake. Muscle isn’t just going to miraculously appear out of no where. If you’re eating at a surplus (and providing a growth stimulus in the form of weight training), then your body is going to grow; plain and simple.
My short list of things you can do:
1. Objectively look at your diet. Are you eating at a surplus? If so, adjust.
2. Stop performing reps in the 10-12 rep range. It’s exercise physiology 101.
Power (single effort event): 1-2 reps, (multiple-effort event): 3-5
Strength: no more than 6 reps
Hypertrophy: 6-12 reps
Muscular Endurance: 12+ reps
Stop training in the hypertrophy (muscle growth) range and I’m willing to bet good things will happen.
3. Incorporate more cardiovascular training into your weekly programming. Specifically, I’d try to perform more interval based work.
Above all, please don’t get into the mentality that weight training is going to make you “butch.” If anything I think it’s awesome that you’re training hard and I wish more women had your work ethic. Nonetheless, I think tweaking your training slightly, and following some of the suggestions above will help you get to where you want to go. Good luck!
5. My good friend Leigh Peele launched her new website FLzine.com a few days ago, and I’m pretty excited about it. Leigh is one of my most favorite people in the world, and she’s done a fantastic job developing this website as a place where people can go to get top notch fitness/training/nutrition information without all the smoke and mirrors. She’ll have a lot of people contributing to the site (including yours truly), and I suspect that that fact alone with increase site traffic ten fold. I mean, I do have a six pack, so I obviously know what I’m talking about. Check it out! Hyperlink is to her site, not my six pack (sorry ladies).
6. Introducing Jennifer Stano. I have nothing to add other than……….
