A way to plan your training

     Fitness is one of those things that is extremely personalized. What works for one person may not work for another. For example, one of my clietns prefers to lift heavy weights because they like the changes within their body. Another client of mine prefers the more endurance style of workouts with cardio at the end. Certain exercises may work for others while others may not work for. If I may use my clients again. One likes to squat while another prefers to deadlift. This is due to a previous injury that one as sustained while previously working out. The type of training may work for one person while others may not enjoy it. One may prefer running and more cardio while another may prefer to lift weights. I'm more of a lift heavy with sprints and short distance running (3 miles or less). I worked with others that enjoy the longer distance running.

    In whichever style of training....notice I said training instead of working out. Working out implies exercises with no end goal. Training typically has a goal.

    One way to look at training is to break it down into Mesocycles or four-to-six-week training blocks. Within mesocycles training can be broken down into phases such as Accumulation, transmutation and realization. Accumulation would be your heaviest cycle in terms of volume and intensity. This block could be two to six weeks with a focus on a particular skill such as power, speed, strength, or hypertrophy. Reps, sets, and load is manipulated to reflect that training. Power would be lighter weights performed quickly. Think Olympic lifts or plyometrics. Strength is lifting heavy with lower reps (five or less) and performed at a slower pace. Hypertrophy splits the difference in terms of weight, reps sets. Typically, its eight to ten reps with roughly 67-85% of your 1RM. For a more cardio centric approach it is typically more volume with additional higher intensity sessions 

    Transmutation reduces the overall volume with the goal of increasing the weight involved. Take a power clean for example. In accumulation phase it may be six sets of five reps. In transmutation it could be three sets of five reps. Hypertrophy could go from four to five sets to three. This phase rarely lasts for more than four weeks. Cardio would focus more on intensity as opposed to volume

    Realization is similar to a taper stage. Tapering is reduction within training to stay "fresh" this would entail cutting down the volume to two to three sets per exercise or reduction of cardio sessions. This phase would last seven to fourteen days.

    These phases are associated with a build-up, hitting the accelerator then backing off for a week or two then reving training back up. It is designed to maintain training over the course of a longer period. Training too long at too high of intensity could potentionally lead to overtraining or worse injuries.

Things you do when your kids are special needs

     Both my kids are on the spectrum and are vastly different in their behaviors. My oldest has to have constant input. Video games, tablets, play, friends, he has to be constantly stimulated-when he needs that stimulation, he goes outside with his hanger to beatbox. He can also be painfully shy. Going into a new environment freaks him out and he retreats into his shell. Taking him to the store or to the gym is really tough because of the new environment. He has to have something with him to comfort him. More often than not that is a hanger or tablet. Hanger is something that we have to have around the house, or we are going to Wal-Mart to pick one up (even if it's a Sunday at 8 o'clock at night.). He will fidget with it as he is walking. Or he will hang out in the cart beatboxing with the hanger while we shop.

    My youngest on the other hand can only tolerate so much stimulation before he shuts down and runs. He will do sprints in the house, store, playground whenever he is over stimulated to calm down. He has certain tracks in the house that he uses to run on. One of which is the stairs and if he trips on them, he becomes really embarrassed if you ask him, he is ok. He will repeat certain phrases over and over again. Whatever he reads or watches on TV he repeats (Especially if its catchy) making conversation slightly difficult. 

    Things that we have in the house that just make sense for us. Hangers-We have oodles because my oldest has to have them for stemming. We have a racetrack in our house as well for our youngest.     

How your body responds to exercise

     For this article we will speak in general terms about your body's exposure to exercise. It will be a blend of periodization and response.

    Most folks that go to the gym have a plan. That plan could be upper body, lower body, push/pull, or a bro split. A more advanced planning is high intensity day then low intensity day. Either way you slice this pie you're planning a weeklong training period. The mental thought process of planning a workout is micro look at periodization. Planning chest one day then legs another gives the chest a time to recuperate. That is taking in account of response. Unless your David Goggins you're going to need rest periods to recover from exercise.

    How your body responds can be explained nerdily (not sure if that's a word, but I'm going to send it.... it's my blog after all.

    Three ways it can be explained: General Adaption Syndrome (GAS), Stimulus-fatigue-recovery-adaption theory and fitness-fatigue theory. What in the world do this mean? I'll learn you.

GAS

    GAS incorporates three distinct phases Alarm, Resistance, Supercompensation and overtraining. Alarm is simply introducing stress ie the initial phase of training. An example is lifting heavy weight. That first set of heavy squats is a stress point for the body and the body starts to react. Doing 4 sets of heavy squats is the resistance or resistance. Supercompensation is the gains (or new level of performance) that you obtain from lifting heavy weight for four sets. I'm oversimplifying the process but that is what it is in a nutshell. Overtraining is when the stress is too high. This is typically associated with delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS. That would be conducting four sets of heavy squats five days in a row. GAS is something that we incorporate into our workouts without even knowing it.

Stimulus-fatigue-recovery-adaption theory

    This theory mimics GAS. First comes the stimulus, then fatigue, recovery adaption. Or lift weights, get tired, get gains, ability to lift more weight.

Fitness-fatigue-theory

    Very similar to the two previous theories with one part added on. The more intense the fitness the more rest time is needed.

    A more basic outlook is the higher intensity exercise the harder the body works to recover, the better the gains.      

The real value of fitness

     If I may paraphrase one of the best gangster movies ever made, 

"For as long as I can remember I have always been in shape"

    In high school I was friends who took fitness seriously, we lifted weights we ran, played basketball, football, softball, anything with a sport we played. Throughout adulthood I was always doing something physical either playing sports, running or lifting weights. Even in the Army it was doing extra workouts in the morning and after training. Even when I'm TDY (Army slang for work trips for class). I will work out in the morning then if time permits work out again in the evenings. Now, I'm never a max the PT test kind of guy. I've settled into the 90% in each category type of guy. Does being in shape help with the military-yes. The more profound effect however is deeper.

    It is having a healthy body as I age.

I'm 39 and I feel like I am at the peak of my powers.

    Let me reiterate, I'm not a max out guy. What I do is discipline and that's helped me even more. I stay away from alcohol, "unhealthy" foods and keep up with fitness. My peer group is suffering injuries or have lingering injuries. A bad back, a bum knee, screwed up tendons, multiple surgeries. One could say that I have been lucky (which I have). Another way to look at it is that I have taken care of my body, so I can do multiple things in a day and not get tired or wore out. Those days to happen more than I care to admit but for the most part I am physically able to do what I am supposed to do. Take the past few weekends for example. Two weeks ago, I was able to go for a run, partake in a vendor event selling 3D prints, then help a family member move. Last Saturday it was go for a run, work outside cutting tree limbs, disposing those limbs, then going back outside to do more yardwork.

    The point is the more you focus on fitness in your 20's and 30's it will pay off when your 40.  

I started taking creatine

     Creatine is one of those supplements that I have studied as a part of my graduate degree and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). I know the benefits of the supplement. I have even recommended it to my clients and people that I work with. Even went as far as pulling up the text for recommended dosages. Creatine is one of those supplements that is recommended to "load" a dosage for the first 10 days or so then level off with 5g daily. Loading is only recommended but is the fastest way to see results. 

     Never pulled the trigger until recently. On a whim I bought some.

    I started mixing with my overnight oats in the morning. Milk/oatmeal/protein/creatine.

     After only a few days I felt the result. Not physically, but mentally. I felt bigger. I was lifting heavy and felt strong. My splint was a gym bro split of back, shoulders, sprints, chest, legs, LSD run, so kind of a bro split since I incorporate running into the plan. The plan itself revolved around rep ranges of 4x5 for deadlift and squat and 6-10 rep range for everything else. I included low intensity plyometrics as well. I few boxes jumps and broad jumps on deadlift and chest day to not affect the sprints/running. For the record I like running. Plus, when you couldn't run for months because of deep trigger points that had to get dry needled you appreciate running a bit more. On a side note, dry needling knocks you out for a few days. I walked with a limp for days after. Getting back to running was horrible. I was completely out of breath running one mile, so I want to maintain some sort of aerobic fitness. I won't make gains aerobically with only two days but at least I have a base.

    Anyway, back to creatine the psychological results were almost immediate. Physically, I'm not sure yet. I want to be on it for a at least two weeks before noticing any physical changes within my body. Now, I'm curious for the next cycle to take pre creatine measurements then after 4-6 weeks of lifting see how much I can do. That is an experiment for future blogs. 

    In terms of creatine itself, its cheap (less than $14 bucks), and can be incorporated into foods that I already eat-meaning that it's not out of the battle rhythm for food. I don't have to bring a shaker cup to work or bring the bottle to work. If the mental effects are immediate then physically, I should expect changes in the next week or two.

    For a grading scale I would 10/10 recomend