Serge Storms Experimentation Log - New Methods to Gain Muscle and Lose Fat

Training Training Logs
201

[quote]twojarslave wrote:
I have dabbled in bodybuilding-style workouts, and I find it much more difficult to get my head around these concepts I hear about. Mind-muscle connection, controlled tempo, this “pump” everyone keeps raving about. It is all Greek to me, but I haven’t exactly given that approach a whole lot of effort. [/quote]

That’s exactly what I mean when I say that my approach is not for everyone. It’s more of a mindset thing than anything else. Hell, there is no way even I would be able to mentally handle the intensity of what I do had I not stumbled upon the music/muscle connection and how to make it work for me.

I highly doubt there are many others out there who are wired like me, that’s why I don’t make huge efforts to go out and convert people.

If nothing else, I’d like people to spend some time and effort exploring their own attitudes and preferences. Just like you can’t get your head around some of the high-rep pump concepts, I have trouble getting my head around why anyone would want to build strength just for the purpose of getting stronger in a certain arbitrary lift, or why anyone would want to follow a progression scheme that was pre-determined.

It doesn’t mean I think those things are ineffective, though. Hell, they’ve worked quite well for me when I’ve tried them. But once I really “found my groove” with what I’m doing - I’m telling you, everything got so much easier, progress accelerated, and for the first time ever I truly felt like I was lifting because I loved it and not just because it was the most effective way to stay in shape. It ignited a passion that was not there before.

Passion is special. It kind of defeats the first law of thermodynamics. Once ignited, it requires no further energy input, but it continues to provide an unlimited source of fuel to whatever it is you are pursuing.

Glad to hear that stuff on habits clicked with you. Funny you mentioned that today, I was just re-reading “The Willpower Instinct” when I was on the plane yesterday.

202

Good discussion on previous page. Really good stuff, and I know you’re not being argumentative, but thoughtful.

Perhaps I should have focused more on the “intensity” and less on the “experience” but my rationale essentially motors what twojarslave said. What I meant is that I don’t have a lot of faith in a beginner’s ability to feel that MMC and really explore the depths of how hard you can work a muscle with a 20 pound dumbbell. I’d fear that the beginner will just curl the thing and put it down, rather than figuring out how to extract the most bicep tension possible from the movement. Does that make sense?

I don’t doubt that you could coach a beginner into some good gains training the way that you do; however, I don’t have a lot of confidence that the same beginner would achieve much training that way without your guidance. Many beginners seem to struggle with intensity (in fairness, this can happen with traditional SS/SL programs too; Punisher had a nice post about this somewhere recently where he noted that some beginners will start with Stronglifts, progress to squatting 155 for 5x5 and then it gets hard, so they think they’ve “stalled” and spend the next 3 months “deloading” and rebuilding back to 155, then stall again, then post here and ask why they keep stalling).

FWIW, I’ve been working out a couple mornings a week with a skinny kid who just moved into my apartment building; since our building’s fitness center only has a 4-way universal machine, that’s what we’re doing for the moment while he learns basics like what a “rep” is, what a “set” is, etc. But I’ll tell you, he works hard, and I think that observing my use of the machines has really helped him figure out how to extract some work from a chest press machine, lat pulldown, and pec deck. He has made some progress (going from barely being able to budge 40 pounds on the lats to using 80, barely being able chest press the machine on the lightest setting up to getting reps with 50 pounds).

203

^Good points, AG. There’s plenty of work to be extracted from those machines in your fitness center, keep on pushing that kid!

The other element that I think some beginners miss out on is the metabolic effect of constantly depleting and repleting muscle glycogen. 5x5 types of programs will require lots of assistance work or “conditioning” work on the side in order to produce the same effect that I get out of my normal workouts. The reason this is relevant to a beginner, especially a skinny-fat beginner, is that they can really use this to milk some recomp magic while it’s cheap and easy during their newbie gains phase.

FRIDAY INTAKE

3100 cals

261g P
380g C
55g F

SATURDAY AM WEIGHT = 192.5

SATURDAY AM TRAINING - 80 MINUTES

Chest

Serge Flies with the pec dec, cables, and DBs - many sets of many reps
Machine Press Partials (very bottom range) - many x many

Back, Arms, Abs

super strict pull-ups and partial pull-ups.
ab crunches on the ab rocker
DB curl - partials, holds, drop-and-catch
cable curl
extreme-pronation DB concentration curls (peak builders)
standing reverse fly - swing-and-hold at peak

one set of jump rope - the cardio room was full of fatness today, so I had to squeeze a quick few minutes of rope work on the hard carpeting, which is not good. I don’t recommend jumping rope on any surface other than a nice, soft, bouncy wood floor.

SATURDAY - PM

Playing in a badminton tournament today with my old college volleyball buddies.

I’m gonna put a fucking shuttlecock in somebody’s eye.

204

Monday AM Training - 75 minutes

Chest and Bis
-machine press partials
-serge flies with cables and DBs
-DB and cable bicep curls

I also did 4 minutes of jump rope, 4 minutes on the stepper, and 4 minutes of continuous DB speed snatch. These were thrown in randomly throughout the workout.

ABS - 4 minutes on the ab rocker

Fall weather around here already. Bullshit. I’m sure we still have a few stretches of great weather ahead, but It will be sad to say goodbye to some of my outdoor summer activities.

Maybe I’ll join an indoor badminton league.

205

Monday Intake

2250 calories

210g P
315g C
35g F

100g fiber

That’s a ton of fiber, eh?

28 grams is from some new stuff I got at this new grocery store that just opened. It’s called Liquid Fiber and it’s basically polydextrose, inulin/FOS, and acacia. The label says 14 grams of fiber, all of it soluble.

Also contributing to that fiber count: 4 servings of Kellogg’s Bran Buds, 4 slices of Ezekiel bread, and a pile of artichoke hearts.

It will be interesting to see if there are any overnight effects of today’s little experiment. I bet yes. There were zero effects today, though…in terms of digestion/stomach discomfort or whatever might happen to some people. I had no bloating or really any kind of effects at all.

206

Tuesday Intake

2500 cals

190g P
351g C
40g F

Tuesday AM Weight - 193.5

Tuesday AM Training -60 minutes
easy stuff. mostly stretching and lower back and ab work

Also played 2 hours of tennis today - singles, intense. Nothing was working. Too cold outside for my polyester strings - they were stiff and I couldn’t feel the ball. I won anyway, though. 9-7 in the 3rd set tiebreaker.

207

Wednesday AM Training - Bi’s, Traps, Delts

65 minutes, est 625 calories burned. Max HR 174, Average 120

WEDNESDAY AM WEIGHT - 193.2

For my last two workouts, I’ve been using just one scoop of Serge’s Workout Fuel and one scoop of MAG-10. I also add a scoop of clumpy pump stuff (more for the glycerol than the “NO boosters”), and 3.2 grams of beta-alanine.

I mix this in a normal-sized shaker bottle and slam it before I leave for the gym. It seems to be working okay.

Yesterday I really pushed it with the activity - I thought the tennis would have me dragging and hurting this morning. Instead, I had more energy during my workout than I’ve had in a while.

Speaking of tennis, I think the lifting gods and the tennis gods are not working well together.

I was stringing my racquet Monday night and my lower back spasmed up on me. My fault…I should not be stringing on a low table like that. Anyway, Monday night I went to the gym for a second session to attack my abs and lower back. Tuesday I did the same in the morning, then played tennis AND golf later on. Today, I’m pretty much back to normal.

For me, direct and aggressive activation, contraction, and pump work for the abs and lower back seems to work much better than rest when my lower back spasms up like that.

I found one thing that seemed to work particularly well (and hurt like a mofo). I was on the ab rocker machine, and I wedged my feet under the lower bars and pushed up against the bars with my feet while pressing my lower back down into the bench. It’s an amazing feeling and I bet it would work well for those with anterior pelvic tilt issues, as it allows you to really force that lower back to flatten and round out against the bench.

208

Wednesday - 2850 cals

245 g P
325g C
65g F

Casein plus just enough milk to produce a play dough consistency.

Then add some java chocolate flavored omega man swirl.
It’s almost like vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge, only it tastes totally different and doesn’t wreck your macros.

209

Thursday

Weight = 193.0

Intake - 2450 calories

180g P
280g C
58g F

No lifting today.

But I did manage to get 18 holes in. Learned how to chip today before the round. Then the drive fell apart, so I got to practice the new skill on just about every hole. Then the drive came back at the end. Blasted one about 340. Hard ground, big roll. But still. I crushed it. Call it a PR.

I am killing it with the nutrition this week. Android mode engaged.

I learn a lot about appetite when I access the zone where I seem to have an unlimited supply of effort-free discipline. Hunger is what the people on Naked and Afraid get to find out about. Appetite is just a mental construct. The same circuitry that creates appetite can be reverse-hijacked to control it. I’m always trying to improve my skill in this area.

This week, I’ve kept protein on the low side, carbs are 320ish, and fat is low. I’ve been eating lots of Ezekiel bread, grape nut/casein pudding (more like concrete) parfaits, some Brazil nuts, apples. Did I mention Ezekiel bread, because I ate a loaf in 3 days. 7 sprouted grains variety. I eat it toasted or just out of the fridge. Try to eat two slices of that stuff with nothing on it. Just two plain slices of bread. Filling. I’m not sure if mine was a bit stale or what, but it tasted kind of like earth and feet a little bit. Super filling though, very substantial and satisfying.

The combination of low-fat, 1g protein/lb, and high-ish “high-satiety” carbs seems to work well for me - I don’t need to bother with cycling anything, I don’t have to pre-prepare foods, and I don’t have to avoid restaurants or people. When Android mode is engaged, appetite is not a problem. When android mode is disengaged, appetite can flare. But it can someone be fed and contained with safe carbs like fiber one cereal and Ezekiel bread. Or apples. I always hated when people said apples are a “high satiety” food. But I think when this little appetite monster needs to be fed, an apple can be a time-consuming, sweet, and fairly harmless option.

There is a whoosh around the corner, because I’ve been in sub-2500 calorie range all week and my weight has been fairly stable.

210

Friday - Weight = 192.8

I’m losing about .2 pounds per day in a very linear fashion. This is a bit unusual - I’d like to see how far this would continue, but tomorrow we are celebrating, so the trajectory will be disrupted a bit.

Friday Training - Arms, Shoulders, and Traps

PM Session with the band outside to get a little pump going and get some sun.

[photo]40429[/photo]

Still working on filling the chest out, and it seems to be responding nicely. There is an area up near the collarbone, especially on my right side in this angle here, where I can definitely see some new mass.

I just need to keep working on it until I look like this guy:

[photo]40430[/photo]

211

Not only have I never broken Ezekiel bread, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.

212

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Not only have I never broken Ezekiel bread, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it. [/quote]

Really? I seem to hear about it on this site all the time. It’s in the freezer at Whole Foods-type places and some health food stores.

Give it a try!

213

I shit you not. I watched Bloodsport for the first time in a decade last night.

I also ate a huge bison steak for dinner, and my face looked just like Chong Li in that picture after I finished it.

214

[quote]Serge A. Storms wrote:

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Not only have I never broken Ezekiel bread, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it. [/quote]

Really? I seem to hear about it on this site all the time. It’s in the freezer at Whole Foods-type places and some health food stores.

Give it a try![/quote]

In the small Southern town where I live, the average IQ and average BMI are well within sight of one another. Because of this, we have beaucoup Whole Lotta Food places, but no Whole Foods. So, until and unless the McEzekiel burger comes to town, it may be a while before I get to try it. (But I will put it on my McBucket list.)

215

Friday - 3100 calories

230g P
325g C
75g F

Hit a bucket of balls at night - mostly with the driver. The way I swing, a large bucket with the driver is almost a workout. Pretty much coming out of my shoes every swing. Fun stuff.

Saturday AM - 45 minutes - Chest, jump rope, a little arms and shoulders

I’ve been taking a bunch of blood sugar reading lately just to see if I can identify any trends.

A night of big boozing on the weekend seems to increase my morning reading. Throughout the week of “clean” eating, my reading seems to drop about a point or two every day.

Today, my one scoop of Surge pre-workout made my post-workout reading drop from my wake up reading of 80 down to 70, whereas earlier in the week, it was kind of staying in the low 80’s both pre and post-workout.

I don’t know if it’s a good idea, but instead of a post-workout carb blast, I figured I’d milk some hours down at this lower level to further sharpen up the insulin sensitivity before the party tonight. So I had a MAG-10 scoop and some Brazil nuts post-workout.

216

Monday

Weight = 195.4

AM Training - Upper back - 60 minutes

Made it through the weekend without too much damage.

For the week, my average daily macros ended up at 75g F, 215g P, 325g C.

Monday through Saturday evening were on-point. I enjoyed some party food and drinks on Saturday night and some home-cooked goodness on Sunday night.

This week, I’m shooting for daily macros around 65g F, 200g P, and between 300-400g C.

I think I’m entering a stretch where I’ll get to see if “health optimization” is a strong enough WHY to provide the kind of effortless drive I’ve been enjoying for most of the last eleven months or so.

Adding mass, getting bigger, bringing up weak body parts, trying to get ultra lean…I don’t seem to be connecting with any of these goals right now.

Yet I still feel like I’m in the zone and the switches are all flipped in the right direction.

If anything, I feel slightly pulled a bit more towards getting leaner. I’m also feeling a little less inclined to focus on chest and lats and more driven back to emphasizing arms, shoulders, and traps.

Oh, and I’ve been wanting to play more tennis lately. Not too worried about that, tennis seems to self-regulate these days simply because I am not willing to go out of my way to play high-level tennis, and I’m also not desperate enough to play low-level tennis. So I can just be opportunistic and play quality tennis when I get the offer. When I get too carried away with tennis, it does nothing but drag me down - I’ve finally realized that.

It will be interesting to see how things unfold from here. This is not a new phenomenon for me - happens often and seems to always coincide with a change in the seasons. The only manual override I’m making to the program is that I’m going to Just. Keep. Lifting. It seems to be the secret.

217

Monday - 2430 calories

250g P
250g C
60g F

Tuesday

Weight = 193.5

Training - Chest - 60 minutes

I guess I forgot what I said in my last post about not being super motivated to bring up my chest. I hammered it like my life depended on it this morning. Great workout.

Back up to 2 scoops of the SWF, 23 grams of pure glucose, and 1 scoop of MAG-10. One scoop of Surge was leaving me hangin’ a bit at the end of my workout. Blood glucose reading immediately after todays session was 92.

I also did one set with the jump rope (4 minutes) and a little biceps work.

I need to really jam on the gas pedal for these next two weeks to get ready for a lifting session in Grand Rapids. Gonna meet up with a BCII friend and he is kind of a beast.

218

90% hard work and consistency
15% smoke and mirrors

219

[quote]Serge A. Storms wrote:
Monday - 2430 calories

250g P
250g C
60g F

Tuesday

Weight = 193.5

Training - Chest - 60 minutes

I guess I forgot what I said in my last post about not being super motivated to bring up my chest. I hammered it like my life depended on it this morning. Great workout.

Back up to 2 scoops of the SWF, 23 grams of pure glucose, and 1 scoop of MAG-10. One scoop of Surge was leaving me hangin’ a bit at the end of my workout. Blood glucose reading immediately after todays session was 92.

I also did one set with the jump rope (4 minutes) and a little biceps work.

I need to really jam on the gas pedal for these next two weeks to get ready for a lifting session in Grand Rapids. Gonna meet up with a BCII friend and he is kind of a beast. [/quote]

Those poverty cals man that sounds painful

Looking good

220

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

Those poverty cals man that sounds painful

Looking good[/quote]

Thanks man. Painful to sustain, but not too difficult once in a while.

Wednesday - 4400 calories

250g P
610g C
130g F

Thursday Weight = 194.5

Something happened around mid-afternoon yesterday - not sure if it was work-related stress or more physiological or something else, but my appetite was off the charts.

There was a time when I would push through something like this, struggling and fighting to stay within my macro targets.

Lately, though, I’ve been allowing myself to just eat when this happens and kind of just observe the phenomenon from outside of myself.

So yesterday I observed myself eating five servings of Honey Bunches of Oats at around 1:00 or so. I had a somewhat sensible 800 calorie dinner (two ground turkey burritos). Then I observed myself eating a few servings of Edy’s Grand Light, a Magnum ice cream bar, and a huge piece of pumpkin pound cake.

If there was a physiological component to this appetite thing, it may have had something to do with the extra intraworkout carbs in the morning. But like I said, there were probably a number of factors involved. It’s not like I couldn’t have changed my mind if I wanted to at any point yesterday.

Also maybe of note but not surprising after 600g C and 150g F - morning blood glucose reading 100 today.