[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
I?ve evolved into a very similar diet to yours. Fat through the morning, moderate protein starting in the afternoon. Some carbs around training for hard sessions, and lots of protein at the end of the day.
I keep PB at work too. Only I eat it with kerrygold butter. A spoon of PB with a little butter is the best thing ever.
[/quote]
Interesting. Is there a benefit to adding the butter (other than the taste)?
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
I?ve evolved into a very similar diet to yours. Fat through the morning, moderate protein starting in the afternoon. Some carbs around training for hard sessions, and lots of protein at the end of the day.
I keep PB at work too. Only I eat it with kerrygold butter. A spoon of PB with a little butter is the best thing ever.
[/quote]
Interesting. Is there a benefit to adding the butter (other than the taste)?[/quote]
There’s some good stuff in quality butter like fat soluble vitamins, good fatty acids like CLA, but yeah mostly taste.
Thanks for taking the time to share by the way. I represent the thicker doesn’t always look impressive remark. I’m as thick as I am wide, and sometimes I don’t look very impressive from the front.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Definitely! One of the more noticeably impressive physiques on the forums IMO.
S[/quote]
Thanks so much Stu. Given who you are and what you do/have done, this is high praise indeed. (I meant to respond earlier, but it slipped my mind.)
I have a question if I may: at your age (begging your pardon) a lot of lifters would have had themselves put on TRT. Seems like the whole world is on TRT now.
Is it something you’ve considered?
Has your medical training and knowledge helped (or perhaps hindered?) your physical training in any way?
Really like your crunch methodology -are you thinking muscle or movement when you do them? how long does it take you?
[quote]Yogi wrote:
I have a question if I may: at your age (begging your pardon) a lot of lifters would have had themselves put on TRT. Seems like the whole world is on TRT now.
Is it something you’ve considered?[/quote]
I have not considered it, for the simple reason that, so far as I can tell, I am not suffering from secondary hypogonadism. IOW, I don’t meet the medical criteria for TRT as recommended by the relevant medical specialty society (ie, the endocrinologists).
https://www.aace.com/publications/guidelines
Like all meds, TRT is not free of side effects, some of which can be quite serious. Further, the long-term effects of TRT are unknown at this time. Given all this, I’ve concluded the risk-benefit ratio of TRT is not favorable in my case.
[quote]punnyguy wrote:
Has your medical training and knowledge helped (or perhaps hindered?) your physical training in any way?
[/quote]
Probably facilitated my understanding of the underlying science (especially as relates to nutrition and hormones).
[quote]
Really like your crunch methodology -are you thinking muscle or movement when you do them? how long does it take you?[/quote]
Good question. I hadn’t considered this before, but whereas I think ‘muscle’ on most exercises, upon reflection I actually think ‘movement’ (‘touch my ribs to my hip bones’) on the crunches.
By pure coincidence, it takes me 1 minute on the nose to do 100 crunches.
You’ve just done a phenomenal job.
Thanks so much for going into detail. I’m going to try your method for training upper chest.
Since you are careful about having your chest in a stretched position to protect your joints. Do you do unweighted stretching of the pecs? (like the broom handle or resistance band stretches that stretch the chest and address ROM in the shoulder, where you start with your hands in front of you and they go up overhead, and end up behind you.) I’ve been thinking about how to prevent injury to my shoulders in particular, so thanks for sharing. Taking some of this to heart as I just turned 45. Amen on staying away from upright rows for me as well. And I just took BB OHPing off the menu due to an “irritated” right shoulder.
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Thank goodness… The only “ab exercise” I currently do are leg raises lying flat on the floor, totally focused on muscle, plus control of pelvis specifically on posterior tilting (going for flat back w/o use of hands). I think it would take me a minute to do 5 raises tops lol.
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
You’ve just done a phenomenal job.
Thanks so much for going into detail. I’m going to try your method for training upper chest.
[/quote]
Hey Power! Great to see you, and thanks very much. Let me know what you think of the upper-chest exercises.
The only time I put my pecs (or any other muscle) on stretch is at the end of a workout (this includes things like stretching my hamstrings after running, etc).
I have tried (admittedly half-heartedly) the sorts of stretches/movements you describe, but they never feel right to me–always felt like they were doing more harm than good. It’s a bit of a vicious circle–I never made stretching a priority, and as a result I developed chronic joint issues, which in turn made me even MORE reluctant to stretch, which led to worsening of the joint issues, etc. I’m afraid that, at my age, so far as joint health/flexibility is concerned, that ship has sailed on me. (That sounds like a cop-out, doesn’t it?)
Great read. You mentioned training for hypertrophy, but also that you have not gained an ounce of muscle in years. Is this a matter of priorities (leanness, recovery, focus on symmetry/aesthetics, etc), already having the mass you want, or some other third thing? Or difficulty adding more muscle as a natural on top of what you have already developed? Do you plan to shift to muscle gain at some point again?
[quote]grappling_hook wrote:
Great read. You mentioned training for hypertrophy, but also that you have not gained an ounce of muscle in years. Is this a matter of priorities (leanness, recovery, focus on symmetry/aesthetics, etc), already having the mass you want, or some other third thing? Or difficulty adding more muscle as a natural on top of what you have already developed? Do you plan to shift to muscle gain at some point again?[/quote]
Great questions. To clarify, when I said I had gained no muscle I was referring to the last 3 years spent on the diet I outlined, during which I have not eaten above maintenance (except for the occasional cheat meal/day, and as described below).
About a year ago, I decided to make a concerted effort to lean-gain some muscle (by ‘lean gain’ I mean run a slight caloric surplus, but not enough to put on much fat). So I checked my body comp (via a full-body impedance device owned by a professional nutritionist friend), did a 3-month lean-gain protocol (ie, ran a slight caloric surplus, along with lifting heavier and with a focus on weight progression). I then re-checked my body comp, and my LBM had changed by only 0.2 lbs (which is within the margin of error for the machine, so I can’t be sure if that pittance-of-a-gain was even real). I was disappointed and crestfallen at first. But the more I thought about it–'a 50+ y.o. guy, with a 50+ y.o.‘s hormones, running only a slight caloric surplus’–the more I realized that, given my situation (meaning age and nutritional status), gaining muscle just isn’t a realistic goal. In fact, merely keeping the muscle I have should count as a win. (At least, that’s what I tell myself.)
Would I like to be bigger? Absolutely. But as you speculated, it boils down to priorities. I’m pretty fat-phobic at this point, and am unwilling to attempt a dirtier bulk on the off-chance it might lead to some muscle gain. Late last year I made another attempt at lean-gaining with an online coach, and in the process put on ~10# fat (which I have since re-shed). I absolutely hated the feeling of gaining fat, and decided to terminate the program halfway through. Like you said–priorities.
Great Stuff. Appreciate all your insights and sharing. Looks like you have great traps, is that from any special training or focus? Thanks.
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
The only time I put my pecs (or any other muscle) on stretch is at the end of a workout (this includes things like stretching my hamstrings after running, etc).
I have tried (admittedly half-heartedly) the sorts of stretches/movements you describe, but they never feel right to me–always felt like they were doing more harm than good. It’s a bit of a vicious circle–I never made stretching a priority, and as a result I developed chronic joint issues, which in turn made me even MORE reluctant to stretch, which led to worsening of the joint issues, etc. I’m afraid that, at my age, so far as joint health/flexibility is concerned, that ship has sailed on me. (That sounds like a cop-out, doesn’t it?)[/quote]
fwiw, I was just re-reading Stuart McGill’s Ultimate Back book and he does not believe in stretching an athlete beyond the joint angles used in their activity. He feels keeping them tight at the edges of their ROM contributes to the “superstiffness” of the entire body and allows athletes to utilize their passive tissue systems as a type of energy return system.
So, it appears as though you’re in good company.
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
You’ve just done a phenomenal job.
Thanks so much for going into detail. I’m going to try your method for training upper chest.
[/quote]
Hey Power! Great to see you, and thanks very much. Let me know what you think of the upper-chest exercises.
The only time I put my pecs (or any other muscle) on stretch is at the end of a workout (this includes things like stretching my hamstrings after running, etc).
I have tried (admittedly half-heartedly) the sorts of stretches/movements you describe, but they never feel right to me–always felt like they were doing more harm than good. It’s a bit of a vicious circle–I never made stretching a priority, and as a result I developed chronic joint issues, which in turn made me even MORE reluctant to stretch, which led to worsening of the joint issues, etc. I’m afraid that, at my age, so far as joint health/flexibility is concerned, that ship has sailed on me. (That sounds like a cop-out, doesn’t it?)[/quote]
Not a cop out and I’ve lately wondered the same, at least if you have an injury. Some of these stretches might be aggressive, right?
About not wanting to bulk/ get fat at this point. I relate. And this will probably sound girly, but skin is the interface and it only has so much capacity to recover. At least that’s a consideration in why I’d rather just stay fairly lean year round.
Reading your nutrition strategy, really puts a point on why I’ve had so much trouble timing carbs. I wish I could train in the afternoon or evening because it’s the time of day when I naturally want to EAT.
Nice talking to you as well. Have a great summer!
Puff
[quote]gulfcoast wrote:
Great Stuff. Appreciate all your insights and sharing. Looks like you have great traps, is that from any special training or focus? Thanks.[/quote]
Thanks. I’ve never really done direct trap work. I owe them to doing lateral raises incorrectly (I have a habit of shrugging my shoulders during the movement).
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
The only time I put my pecs (or any other muscle) on stretch is at the end of a workout (this includes things like stretching my hamstrings after running, etc).
I have tried (admittedly half-heartedly) the sorts of stretches/movements you describe, but they never feel right to me–always felt like they were doing more harm than good. It’s a bit of a vicious circle–I never made stretching a priority, and as a result I developed chronic joint issues, which in turn made me even MORE reluctant to stretch, which led to worsening of the joint issues, etc. I’m afraid that, at my age, so far as joint health/flexibility is concerned, that ship has sailed on me. (That sounds like a cop-out, doesn’t it?)[/quote]
fwiw, I was just re-reading Stuart McGill’s Ultimate Back book and he does not believe in stretching an athlete beyond the joint angles used in their activity. He feels keeping them tight at the edges of their ROM contributes to the “superstiffness” of the entire body and allows athletes to utilize their passive tissue systems as a type of energy return system.
So, it appears as though you’re in good company.
[/quote]
Interesting; I’ve never heard that before.
Is your approach to diet/carbs based entirely on insulin control that you outlined earlier?
You mentioned you were a chubby kid, I think… did that alter your approach or the way you [think] you handle carbs?
[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
Is your approach to diet/carbs based entirely on insulin control that you outlined earlier?
[/quote]
It’s worth remembering that, at the end of the day, fat loss is a function of taking in fewer calories than get expended–there’s no way around that. The purpose of modulating insulin levels is to maximize efficiency of fat burning while minimizing the extent of muscle loss.
[quote]
You mentioned you were a chubby kid, I think… did that alter your approach or the way you [think] you handle carbs?[/quote]
I was a chubby kid, yes. As for whether that led to difficulty handling carbs, it’s a chicken-and-egg problem–did being chubby lead to carb-handling difficulties, or was I born with the sort of metabolism that has trouble handling carbs, and it resulted in me getting chubby? I suspect both are true; I have a sister with Type II DM, so there’s a genetic predisposition to insulin resistance in my family. But at the same time, there’s no doubt that being overfat will make anyone at least a little insulin resistant, no matter what their genetics are in that regard.
How do you do your lateral raises? Seated? How heavy do you go?
Do you ever replace your breakfast of peanut butter with an equivalent amount of nuts?
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