Washboard Abs

Day 56: More exercise, more calories

admin — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:25:32 +0000

After two weeks of silence finally I got time for a new post. While January mainly consisted of lying around due to my one week stomach bug adventure and my one week of (unexplainable) fever, and February started with a nice cough, my gym decided to close its doors for a week for hmm… redecoration?

However, they decided to replace all the good oldschool barbells and benches with some new equipment which sucks big time. I’m more focusing on not killing my wrists while bench pressing than the exercise itself. Great stuff, guys. OK, they also replaced some machines by better ones. But in my opinion, barbells and dumbbells are the most important tools when it comes to “bodybuilding”.

I also noticed that I lost another 10 pounds although I started working out again and could manage to return to my regular food intake (actually, my scale tells me I lost something between 5 and 15 pounds - I love it). I decided to increase calorie intake a bit. I’m also trying to provide more glucose after my workouts (to trigger that insulin peak to open the cells for the postworkout whey protein) by drinking grape juice. 12 weeks to go…

Day 43: Cough, cough

admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:49:11 +0000

After two weeks of sickness I carefully returned to my workout last week. I reduced weights and sets for the first week but intended to return to my regular workout style the next (this) week. (more…)

The 6 greatest bullshit stories about Weight Loss

admin — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:12:51 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I’m totally fed up with all these story tellers, claiming to be an nutrition/fitness/whatever expert. Here are the most common myths and lies - please stop this bullshit.

#1 Fat makes fat
As far as only your energy balance determines if you drop weight or put on extra weight, this is pure bullshit. The only true fact about this statement is the fact that fat is the energy-richest nutrient of all. But this does not necessarily mean, that fat will make you fat. As long as you watch your total calorie balance, everything is fine.
Even worse are companies advertising for “fat-free” products (e.g. gummi bears). Besides the fact that those products actually are fat-free they also contain tons of sugar. As a result those products are energy-rich again and as bad for you as other products containing fat. (more…)

Day 34: 14 days of sickness - the aftermath

admin — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:31:19 +0000

After 14 days in bed I had my first day in the gym today. Started out very carefully and will keep slower pace during the first week. I had a drop in strength of about 20% (bench press) but at least I decided to start my abs workout today (only a few sets of leg raises and crunches).
My weight dropped to 198lbs, so I lost at least 15lbs in the past four to five weeks. Unfortunately, this is due to a heavy loss of water and muscles, although I saw my belly dimensions shrinking down to 37.8 inches, an improvement of 1.7 inches compared to the beginning.
Primary goal for the next two or three weeks is to gain back strength and muscles, so cardio will be slightly ignored the next days.

Day 27: I lost at least 10 pounds!

admin — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:25:37 +0000

It is fantastic, it is unbelievable. I lost at least 10 pounds in the last 10 days! Do you want to know my secret?
Get sick. I had a stomach bug for 6 days. Then I felt so much better - until I got fever and headache again yesterday. Not the healthiest way to drop weight. I hate being sick. No workouts possible, calorie and protein intake is way too low. Sucks…

Day 9-13: I still love beer

admin — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:40:18 +0000

Just a short report for the last few days. Had my regular workouts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday including some short but intense cardio sessions again. At the moment I really stick with the treadmill using an 8% uphill setup. I also increased duration of my intervals from 90 secs to 2 minutes. In 20 minutes I had 4 intervals at 2 minutes each, alternating with a slower 3 minute run at 0%.

On Saturday I had several beers plus a burger (you know, beer makes you soooo hungry). As I already stated, these days were considered as “refeed” when starting this whole thing. Just enjoy life from time to time ;-)

Creatine Side Effects

admin — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:38:18 +0000

Creatine has become a very popular supplement today. Although, creatine might not have the same effect on everybody, is has been proven that athletes of specific sports benefit from it. Before starting the first treatment most people are worried about possible creatine side effects. Below you’ll find the most frequently asked questions and answers about creatine and its effects. But: the following stuff is no medical advice. It is just information we gathered ourselves or got from our own experiences. (more…)

Day 8: Back to work…and “no whey out”

admin — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:51:55 +0000

Finally had the time to go to the gym in the morning. As I mentioned yesterday, my protein intake was too low during the first week. Today I started with whey protein as a first supplement and additional protein source. I ordered my favorite Whey Supreme Strawberry Flavor by Ultimate Nutrition and take 20g 30 minutes prior to my weight lifting workout, and 30g immediately after it.

Whey Protein is my favorite supplement as far as it generally provides an easy digestible protein source. It should be used especially directly after your workout, when your body’s energy resources are down and any food intake is more than welcome.
As a second supplement I decided to give creatine a try again in a few weeks.

Another thing I tried today was a change in my cardio program which followed after weight lifting exercises. I exercised on the treadmill today which I actually consider way too dangerous to perform high intensity intervals. I discovered the incline option today. At a total of 15 minutes I includes three intervals at 90secs each where I had to run uphill (8%). If your gym provides such treadmills, you should really give it a try. A very high intensive training performed at a fair pace (about 5mph).

Day 5-7: Relax and Refeed

admin — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Last three days I had no time to workout because of lack of time and weather conditions. We had sudden black ice and a total of 191 car accidents in less than 24 hours in our city. So I decided not to go to the gym on Sunday.
On Monday I had a business meeting outside of the town and didn’t have enough time to “eat well”. So I kinda consider this day as a refeed day, my calorie intake mainly consisted of low protein food - except the Burger King burger in the evening ;-).
There is lot of work to do today, but I will make it to the gym the next three days.

As a conclusion of the first week, I figured out the following things I need to improve in the next days:

eat more protein
drink more water

To increase my protein intake I ordered whey protein for pre- and postworkout. This should give me additional 70g of protein per day as well as direct impact on my muscle building plans.

Q: What is the Best Ab Workout?

admin — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:05:33 +0000

Answer: The Best Ab Workout for the whole abdominal part would be Crunches.

Try to train your abs from different angles. Do Leg Raises for your lower abs, Side Bends for your obliques (also see video below) and Crunches for the big picture.