building
Your Opinion Matters!
Too many times in life we accept ourselves as someone with nothing to offer. We have things that we know, but shrink ourselves so as to not stand out. Nothing could be further from the truth!
YOU KNOW IT ALL
Not in the literal sense of knowing everything, but your life has afforded you the unique experiences to grant you knowledge in different areas. You may have grown up in an area that is filled with wealth, therefore you have the inate knowledge of sophisticated living that others couldn’t attain through years of study. The opposite is just as true, you could have bee so poor that you learned to appreciate life in it’s most simple elements. Either way, you and your experiences MATTER!
YOU HOLD THE KEY
There are things that you have a passion for that no one else does. You’ve taken the time to learn and grow your knowledge in this area, and that is an invaluable resource! Whether it’s fashion, investing, history or door knob shining, you hold the key to that information. Without people like you this world would be filled with the same person multiplied hundreds of thousands of times. It would be LAME! So thank you for your interest and passions.
YOU EARNED IT!
I wanted to share this with you because I was involved (hopefully we have more content headed your way!) with the writing of a short kindle book “Quick Paleo Meal Prep“. It’s in the Amazon kindle store, just search the title and it’s either free or .99. But after it was done I couldn’t help but realize that if it weren’t for two people being passionate about something, things and information would never be shared like that. So anyway, you’re special and I support you!
YOUR CHALLENGE
Find an area of your life that you’ve excelled in and take a moment to realize the joy it’s brought you. Also how that knowledge has been able to affect others lives.
Eating Paleo For Muscle
Yea that paleo thing is fine if you wanna loose weight or stay lean, but I wanna get JACKED! If I had a nickle for every time I heard this I’d have a lot of nickles. “Paleo” isn’t just a diet that people go on to loose weight, it’s a lifestyle.
WHAT IS A DIET?
A diet is a short term way of eating that restricts calories to promote weight loss. There is certainly emphasis on the “short” term. Most people get to where they want to be and then go off the rails in a big way, gain all the weight back, and start the cycle over again in a year when they’re heavier than the last year. It’s a cycle that 80% of people subscribe to and accept.
PALEO FOR WEIGHT GAIN
So if a diet is a restriction of calories then weight gain is a surplus right? YUP, true you’ll need to eat more, volume wise, if you’re focusing on paleo, but your gains will have much more quality! So how I did it was about as simple as it gets. I ate balanced portions to total higher than average calories per day, but after my workouts I would have about a pound of mashed sweet potato and two cups of ground beef (fat drained).
WHY DOES THIS WORK?
Because that’s the only time your body is willing to shuttle nutrients focused on muscle growth! Your muscle size is almost dead last on your bodies priority list, so when it’s been pushed to the limit or close, that’s when you need to cram all the QUALITY food in you can. Do a little home research on the glut4 compound and how it aids in muscle growth, you’ll be glad you did. For now you need to focus on totaling up how many calories you need to gain weight (300-400 over normal per day), and make that post workout meal as big as you can stomach without throwing up your gainz. Don’t factor in the post workout as your daily expenditure, as your body will put those foods to use ASAP.
YOUR CHALLENGE
If your goal is weight gain then put this to the test. However if you’re focused on weight loss I would still add the post workout meal in there, just a whole lot smaller. This helps your body restore glucose stores after intense workouts and gets rid of the shakes of you’re training on a deficit. Again these calories basically don’t count if you put in a high quality workout, cause your body will put them to use right away.
Cheat Day: Mission Complete!
You have been maintaning a paleo diet for six days, nothing but the paleo all day every day. And then God said “let there be calories!”, and there were and they were good…soooo good :P.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
My Saturday began just as any other would, eggs with spinach and black beans in the morning (kept under 450 calories), but then something changed. I drove to Waffle House at 8am, and before I went in I downed 6 oz. of grapefruit juice (to reduce insulin spike and promote fast passing). Then I walked in and ordered the all star breakfast with an extra waffle (two eggs, two sausage, hash browns, toast and a waffle). After I ordered I went to the bathroom and did 60-90 sec. Of high intensity cardio. I came back and squeezed lime juice into my water (reduce insulin spike further), and proceeded to gorge myself for the next 10 min. syrup flowing and smiles all around!
CAN YOU EAT MCDONALDS ON CHEAT DAY?
I’m not sure if you “can”, but I did. Yup, two quarter pounder delux with cheese! This was the point where I didn’t want to look at myself for about 3 hours. Luckily we were on a road trip to Baton Rouge, so I sat in the back and questioned if I was going to live or not. But then we arrived…
HOW MANY CRAWFISH CAN YOU EAT?
6 lbs. after a big plate of dip and fruit, the dip must have been a Paula Dean recipe due to the pools of butter at the edges of the dish. After I push away from the table I smell something in the air….CAKE!! Suddenly I find room for two large pieces of chocolate and strawberry cake. At this point I’m not sure if I’m over-doing it, but I like to push the limits so let’s go!
WHO WANTS CRACKER BARREL?
I questioned my future after saying I would go, but my friend who was allergic to most of the food served was hungry and wanted a dinner buddy. So we saunter over to the barrel, and wanting to test my bodies limits, I order the chicken fried steak with two orders of mashed potatoes and green beans (after the plate of cornbread and apple butter). I was half way through my plate and was seeing spots so I decided to live to gorge another day. We waddle back to the hotel, and hugging my belly I roll into bed and pray I wake up tomorrow.
DID I GAIN ALL THE WEIGHT BACK??
Nope, I weighed 174.6 lbs. Friday, weighing Monday morning I was a bloated 175.3 lbs. just one pound over where I started. So all in all I would say that cheat day was a success and I look forward to next Saturday already :)) just FYI as well, I lost 4.6 lbs. that first week on this regimen.
Your challenge: starting today, even if you’ve downed a few donuts already, start the paleo diet with the intention of pigging out Saturday to restart your body. It’s amazing!!
It’s All About The 80/20 Folks!
It’s Friday!! That means that tomorrow (and a little Sunday) is my day to go as wild as I want with my food, and I don’t even feel bad about it! No one can do the same thing over and over day in and day out, we just aren’t wired that way. So I encourage you to think as you read over this about what areas in your life you’re not giving the propper amout of rest to.
12,000 Calorie Day
That’s my goal every Saturday, and even though I never hit it, I satisfy every craving I had during the week. If you are following the Paleo Diet for weight loss, it’s reasonable to assume that you’re dramatically underfed most days. So balance this out with at least one day of the nastiest cheating you can stomach! This will not only fix the cravings, bring you to a reasonable amount of calories and bring you back mentally; this will reset your body to burn fat faster in the next week! That’s right, eating like a pig for one day has the potential to reset your body and enhance the fat shreddage!
GO NUTS…responsibly
I know after all of that you’re wanting to schedule your cheat day ASAP, wake up and dive headfirst into the tallest stack of panckakes you can find for breakfast, but let’s pump the breaks first. You need to set your body up to succeed on these days. Not only is this going to shock your metabolism, but your digestive track will be the primary casualty if you don’t take the necessary steps. First start the day with 40 grams of protein, some small beans and caffine on an empty stomach, this will boost metabolism and start your tummy off easy. Then before the first encounter with the enemy, drink 6 oz. of grapejuice to minimize the insulin spike for the rest of the day. Follow this with 16 oz. Herbamate tea, cooled to room temp., before every meal thereafter. This will promote fast exportation of whatever you put in, all the goodies with out the baggage!!
One Last Thing
And this could mean the difference between success and failure on these days. Imediately prior to every meal after the breakfast do 60-90 sec. of intense exercise, preferably out of sight and not at the table. This will open the glucose pathways to muscle that has been stimulated, that way the calories can go to a good cause, the swole patrol :). If you are diciplined enough to follow a mostly paleo diet for 6 days this shouldn’t be close to an issue, unless you’re a weenie, you’re no weenie are you??
GOOD LUCK!
Protein Powder or Paleo Prep
We’ve all seen them in the gym, frosted protein shake in hand, without it they probably wouldn’t be here. They hustle towards the weight rack, blaring jams to grind through their 20 sets of 8-12 reps. With a grunt of satisfaction they pump out the last rep and down the protein cocktail they put all their trust in… Cool story bro.
WHY DO WE DO THIS??
Why is it held as “common knowledge” that this is the ritual that we are to follow to have a successful workout? Why the powder instead of the real thing? I believe it’s mostly due to marketing and the lack of willingness to believe that maybe re supplement industry doesn’t have our best internet in mind (but that’s just me). Or maybe it’s because you had such a hard workout that you need the hydro isolate anabolic homeostatic protein to make it to your ripped muscles so fast because you might loose your gainzzzzz….no.
DID YOU REALLY WORKOUT HARD?
If so then you would have opened your muscles glucose receptor stores and anything you put in will be shuttled to the needy parts. This is of course assuming you did have an intense session and not just a jaw grinder with the bros. So put the food in that you need! The truth is that once you tax the body to the point of needing to grow new muscle the only things the muscles need aren’t JUST protein. It needs nutrients only found in whole foods. Carbs, proteins and fats to restore and improve what you’ve broken.
THE ANSWER
After every workout I have I have a pre prepped meal of one large sweet potato and a cup and a half of ground beef with the fat drained in hot water. This will satisfy every need the muscles could have if ingested right after workout. Also you get all the benefits of the post workout without the major insulin spike! And since insulin causes fat storage, you’ll get all the gainz without the fluff, or roughly 75% muscle and 25% added weight. But this ratio is better than the 3 times average dose of sugar in most protein shakes which basically undoes all the work you put in to lean out!
SO USE THIS AND GROW!
Hope this helps and let me know if you get the same benefits or have other advice in the comments 🙂
The Ice Age progress
I started the Tim Ferris inspired “Ice Age” experiment last week to gain a little more aesthetics. It’s been a miserable and mentally challenging few days to say the least…
THE PROGRESS SO FAR
I started out around 178 lbs. with reasonably viewable abs. Now I’ve got a few veins showing on the sides and the lower 4 abs popping out at 175 lbs.! It’s been a great transformation for the time and effort that I’ve put in!
MOVING FORWARD
I’m going to keep up with what I have been getting results from, maybe up the calories a little bit at certain points so I don’t risk taxing my energy. All in all though this has been a reasonably successful experiment. Challenging to say the least, but certainly successful!
WHAT I’M DOING
I posted in this blog two days ago what I’m doing, you’re more than welcome to look at it and please leave comments with results if you do attempt! I think everyone should since this has been the greatest stones tester (and shrinker) I’ve ever done. I certainly appreciate a hot shower now!
Good luck!
Cory
When paleo prep fails
so I just got back from a weekend trip to S. Texas to see family, and only had a post workout meal prepped for the week (still questionable if it was past experation, but I’m still alive so we’ll see).
SO WHAT DO I DO WHEN I DONT HAVE FOOD PREPPED?
Target! For what I would have paid for a similar meal at a food chain or restaurant, I got twice the quality and quantity. Broccoli and cauliflower, tuna and black beans with the splurge drink (but no added sugar or flavors so it’s all good), for $8!
WHY THE BEANS??
Some keyboard warriors might be planning a protest as you read this, saying that “legumes aren’t paleo!”. To this I say, easy brave heart, and keep in mind I train twice per day 3 days per week. So if I don’t have a high calorie legume in there somewhere I have the social appeal of a starving crocodile.
HAVE A GREAT DAY!
Let’s Gain Some Weight NATURALLY
If you want to see true LEAN GAINZZZ, you need to apply a few of the techniques we are going too look at that I did for about 4 months and saw some pretty awesome results. None of these are life altering, and if anything you’re going to shorten your time at the gym as well as the dinner table! Even for the “HARD GAINER” these rules still apply, so enough chatting and let’s get into this!
BIS AND TRIS LATS AND PECS QUADS AND GLUTES…ABS
If you have picked up a fitness magazine in the last 15 years you have seen this structure for your workout. And as we all know, Monday is national chest day (this is one of those universal laws that spans continents and cultures). But where did this start and why is it still held as the norm if most people who follow it aren’t all jacked and swole? Well because it was most likely based off of an IFBB bodybuilders workout 90% of the time, and they aren’t exactly known for testing. So if you are on a cycle of your favorite steroid cocktail, then this will be a fantastic workout for you! However if you chose the natural (and longevity oriented) route, we need to re-design this mold.
COMPOUNDING GAINZZZZ
So if you’re a natural lifter and want to know how to get the most out of your body and time in the gym, we need to look at what’s going to get you the most bang for your buck. The answer is COMPOUND MOVEMENTS. Sure it feels great to curl those 40s for reps, but unless your on a cycle(steroids), there really isn’t much use. However if you do pullups with 3 different grips, now you’re on the road to gainz! Let’s think about it, if you do an ISOLATION move you’re hitting one muscle and destroying it, but if you do a compound move like a pullup, you’re getting most of the body involved while hitting the necessities(bis and lats). Same goes for bench, squats and deadlifts, you’re going to get an over all better result and hormonal response.
THE REASON STEROIDS WORK SO WELL
Steroids increase testosterone and natural hormone levels to increase the speed at which your body can recover and apply force. So naturally if you destroy your bis and tris in the gym breaking up the muscle tissue, and you are taking steroids, your body will work many times faster and efficiently to repair the damage and have you back to normal(with improvements due to the stimulus of stress from the weights) in about 24-48 hrs.. Where as if you are a natural lifter doing the same exact routine, you’ll leave the gym with the same broken down tissue, but will need about 8 DAYS to recover and get a fraction of the results. Now that might have painted a case for you to take steroids, and that’s your choice, just know what your getting into before you start.
SO HERE’S HOW YOU DO IT NATURALLY
LIFT HEAVY (80%-90% 5×5 or whatever HEAVY program you follow), at least 4 days per week. As a natural lifter your body needs a strong stimulus to create enough of a “need” to build and keep new weight. So CONSISTENT heavy weight applied over time will spark this response. And to build the size of the muscle I recommend choosing two COMPOUND complimentary moves, for example, shoulder press super set with a row. Rep scheme will look like this for muscle building, 2-3 sets to failure of first move and 15 reps of second…THAT’S IT! Don’t push past this, because there’s something called the law of diminishing returns, meaning it’s all useless after this point. Your muscles are broken down (and should feel it) and your body has a reason to NEED to grow stronger and bigger, now focus on recovery. Weights for the muscle building portion should be 40%-60% of one rep max in first lift(In this example if your shoulder press 1rm is 180, you use 105).
Wow this thing is long…(that’s what she said), but it’s all proven on myself and others, so take it or leave it!
Cory
themindmuscle 