Pano: I wouldnāt worry too much about how much muscle mass you have and strength, I personally donāt really think it works that way. I know a TON of guys with less muscle mass than me, but are stronger than me. Taller guys especially have an advantage in strongman. I am a short guys for my class and usually middle of the line when it comes to mass. So to answer your first question, YES, I know a plethora of taller guys around my weight who can just bury my numbersā¦Bigger muscles definitely donāt necessarily mean stronger muscles. Just look at a lot of pro bodybuilders. A lot of guys my weight/height look twice as big as I do and most cannot handle the type of weights I do. I think a lot of strength stuff is based more off your fascia, tendons, ligaments and levers/stretch reflexes rather than actual muscle size. Sure, adding more lean mass CAN mean more strength, but it doesnāt have as much effect as you might expect. I think if you work hard at developing strength by the time you are a lean 255 you would be a monster. I always trained with the idea of performance over ascetics, and building a better body is just a great side effect. Just keep your diet straight and lift heavy basic movements all of the time and you will get there. It just takes time. I hope that helps man.
IronWarrior & Pano: I am going to talk to the post office again and see what the cheapest way to ship t-shits overseas is. I may just post an extra tab for international shipping where you pay the difference in mailing it. If you guys are willing to pay for it, I am MORE than willing to get it over to you guys! Iāll let you know when I get the time to check up on this, Thanks for the interest!
LondonBoxer: I actually have some really strong opinions about this, but I am sure most people will disagree.
I have actually read a study that said PHYSICALLY, your body doesnāt really start to shut down until you have gone close to two weeks without eating. I would agree. I have never personally gone 2 weeks without eating but I have sustained 5 days of not eating without any real side effects other than weight loss. In physical and mental performance, I had absolutely no problems. I also really donāt think having more mass hurts you in any starvation situation. If anything, you body has more fuel to burn before it begins to shut down. I think it IS physically harder on a bigger individual to perform long distance endurance type activities just because you are burning more calories per step than a smaller individual. Just think about how much more tired you would be if you were walking around all day with a 50lb weight vest on. That said, I think the body can adapt to anything and, it may not be the norm, but guys over 200lbs complete 50-100 mile ultra marathons every weekend.
Here is where it gets diceyā¦
I believe that most people are so mentally weak and coddled that the second they have to go a few hours without their normal comforts they begin to quit mentally which in turn, kills them physically. You are a fighter. So am I. You have cut weight, so have I. When you tell people about cutting 10-20lbs in the matter of a few days/hours they look at you like you are from another planet. They mentally cannot understand how a person could humanly do that. They immediately tell you that it canāt be healthy for you. But in my opinion, walking around with 30lbs of extra body fat for years at a time is waaaayyyy more unhealthy for you than a few hours/days without food or water.
i do not mean to talk badly about your friends, but more likely than not, they have not built up the mental fortitude that you have and that is why they were having so much trouble. You may have been feeling the exact same as them, but because you didnāt put on a āpoor meā face and complained about your discomfort, you just assumed that they must be hurting more than you. Think about how much people complain about fasting for 12 hours because they have to get bloodwork done at a doctors office. Now think about a fight you have to cut a decent amount of weight for. You were probably thinking more in terms of how many DAYS it would be before your next meal. All fighters complain about sucking weight, but usually just to other fighters because we all know that normal people wouldnāt understand. When people say they are light headed after not eating for 6 hours it makes me sick. This about people in concentration camps or prisoners of war who didnāt eat regular meals for YEARS and being forced to do manual labor every day or they would get killed on the spot. If the carrot at the end of the stick is big enough, you can do just about anything. With or without food.
When you are feeling really bad or really hungry or really uncomfortable, I bet you pride yourself on not complaining. I deduce this just from what I have read in your log and on here. That attitude makes you more capable in ALL situations, not having food is just an easy example where you can see it. People think I am better than I am because I can still condition the way I do and i am a larger individual. Truth is, I work/train/and compete with individuals who do the exact same things I do. I am not in some other category, i just chose not to buy into the excuses that other big guys do. I see the work in front of me and I get it done without complaint. If you really look into most of the top echelon liters (who are much bigger than me) they do similar forms of conditioning. They may not be quite as long as mine (because I am training for a different purpose) but almost all of the top guys do some form of it. It is the lower tier guys who talk so much trash on the internet who say it cannot be done because they are too lazy to really get it done. Anyway, sorry about that, I digress.
Back to your question. Most days when i am out of town on travel (which is the majority of days of the week) I usually donāt eat more than 5 meals a day. But only one of those is solid. 4 are protein shakes, fish oil, avocados and vegetables or fruit. For my solid meal, I will eat a LOT of dead animal and more vegetables. That is my normal diet week after week and I like to think that I perform pretty well. For protein shakes, I use empty water bottles that I let dry out, then I add 2-3 scoops of protein power (with a small funnel) and pack them in my bag. I have 2-3 āemergencyā one packed in my car, so as long as i can get water, i have a meal. If I donāt have the protein shakes with me then it is all about calories. I always have calorically dense foods in my bag as well, like peanut butter and mixed nuts/raisins and even MREs. Contrary to popular belief, you will not immediately lose all of your gains if you do not get your required amount of protein for a few days. if I were you, I would not let eating get in the way of living a good life and having those kinds of experiences. It is not like you are living like that week after week.
Ok, I think I covered most of what you asked and got that little rant out of the way! If missed something, just rephrase and I will do my best to stay on track next time!
============================================
"The art of the hero wasnāt about being brave; it was about being so competent that bravery wasnāt an issue. You werenāt supposed to go down for a good cause; the goal was to figure out a way not to go down at all. Achilles and Odysseus and the rest of the classical heroes hated the thought of dying and scratched for every second of life. A heroās one crack at immortality was to be remembered as a champion, and champions donāt die dumb. It all hinged on the ability to unleash the tremendous resources of strength, endurance and agility that many people donāt realize they already possess.? Christopher McDougall, Natural Born Heroes
WEDNESDAY, 05AUGUST2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 2/Day 3
CONDITIONING - For 10 Minutes
Odd Minutes: Max Effort Burpee Lateral Jumps
Even Minutes: Max Effort Squat Cleans with 135 on the bar
STRENGTH GIANT SET
3 Front Squats: 135, 225, 275, 315, 335, 365, 385, 405x2 (their rep slipped off my shoulder 3/4 of the way up)
5 Bent Over Log Rows: 135, 225, 245, 275, 275, 275, 275, 275
5 Incline Log Bench Presses: 155, 245, 265, 300, 300, 300, 300, 300
100 Meter sandbag carry - 200lb bag: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
EVENTS
Did some stone shouldering and burpees with classes while I was coaching.
NOTES:
- Walking into the gym a beat up man, but felt better after the workout.
- Was just getting some rep work in with the log rows/incline bench
- Worked on a new technique for the sandbag today which seems to be faster. Hopefully it will help me at Nationals
- Front squats went better than expected. I wish i would have finished that 405 rep, but it wasnāt that the strength wasnāt there. It just slipped. Probably more because i started dipping more forward than anything else, but as I get stronger, hopefully this will not be the case.
