It’s Christmas!
Ok, ladies and gentlemen… actually, I know my wife doesn’t read this, so I’m being extraordinarily generous to myself with the plural “ladies.” It’s my log, though, so we’re sticking with it. Anyhow, let’s get into the plan.
In case anyone new reads this and actually cares, I’ll give a brief background on me. This is really just to set the stage for the experiment so you can decide what applies to you.
- I had a broad, if unremarkable, athletic background. I was a 4-sport athlete in high school and saw the field (however briefly, not important!) for two D1 sports. I can go into any of this is anyone cares, but I never was a threat to play anything at a higher level nor did I really deserve to do anything in college.
- I was then in the Army for several years. The reason I’m so hard on all the “I want to win a D1 scholarship and go to SF selection and gain 40 pounds to look good at the beach in the next two months before I graduate” is because I was an infantry guy that went through a lot of these schools and led the basic for all the infantry/ ranger/ SF contracts. I have some familiarity with what these different things take and it does require you to be serious.
- I’m now a 40-year-old corporate person with two kids and a wife of 14 years, whom are the most important thing to me, who travels for work. I’ve had multiple back and knee surgeries, and some other odds and ends. The only point being, my goals are decidedly not to be a great athlete nor to “do whatever it takes” - I’m not willing to make the sacrifices. I do like to work really hard in the gym - it’s cathartic for me.
- Meadows’ programs really resonate for me and I really liked the man. We weren’t friends, but I did get to meet him a handful of times and he would always respond to emails/ messages; I appreciated his outlook and I can push hard on his stuff without heading back to the OR. I’ve been eating consistently enough and doing his programs pretty exclusively for the last 5 or so years, to the point where we can consider these variables relatively controlled.
- I am on the business strategy side of healthcare, which both means I like to pretend I’m as smart as a physician, which I’m not, and I’m going to write out my experiment as if it meets publication criteria, which it won’t.
Anyone still with me?? Ok, here we go.
I have tried the Meadows/ Tate Unity program a couple times in the past and not been able to complete it. I usually start wearing out after 3-4 weeks and then I’m totally done by week 6 (if I made it that far). I’m going to be using Surge Workout Fuel and starting Unity again today; if I make it through, that’s a pretty good testament to the product.
Overall, let’s look at the following:
We want to make it through Unity using Surge Workout Fuel. I have been using intraworkout carbs for years, but recently only the cheaper versions (gatorade, etc.). I think that makes this a great experiment; if I notice a difference, it’s the product and not just the calories.
I track my bloodwork pretty religiously (I’ve got some cardiac abnormalities). I take fish oil, but I’m trying Flameout now. If we see an improvement in my HDL, I think we can say Flameout is a higher quality product. I’m also hoping to see some positive improvements in my hematocrit and eGFR because these numbers are very hydration-dependent. I frequently have trouble with staying hydrated (likely travel-related), so it would be cool to see if Surge Workout Fuel can impact this. This is a lower importance, though.
The wild card in this mix is I-Well. It should have general benefits on markers of inflammation, but I don’t have one lab value I want to target and decide if it’s working. I’ll likely have to just watch and see that one.
So, in the short-term, the goals are:
- Get through Unity - tests Surge Workout Fuel
- Labwork results - tests Surge Workout Fuel, Flameout, perhaps I-Well
In the longer-term, I know my weight is 192 when I get “beach lean” (I realize I’m never stage ready) - this is relatively lean, though, with lower ab veins and whatnot. This has been consistent the last 3 years. What I’d like to do is run alternating strength/ hypertrophy programs until around March of next year and then start dieting down. If I’m able to get to the same visual effect at a higher weight, we’ll be able to say I added lean tissue at the age of 40/ 41. Considering I haven’t done so since 37, that would be a big win as well.
Sorry for the book. I’m really hoping this is helpful for someone. If there’s something that can help point anyone in the right direction or serve as an experiment you’re on the fence about, please let me know. At the very least, we’ve all joined together to do curls and read Bernard Cornwell… except for that one dude in Scotland, I lost him to the dark side of burpees; we still like him, though.