Verifying a Need for Glutamine

           Ah, Labor Day. My diet during this past three day weekend was best described as “unsupervised child at a birthday party.” I did donuts, brownies, and pizza for dinner… I really slacked off from the regiment and I did not care one bit. I think we all need those cheat days to get us revamped. But with that behind me, it was time to get back to the regiment. Unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part, I forgot to restock the fridge at work with milk and I didn’t want to swing into Walmart all sweaty and gross. When I am looking my best, I see no one I know. When I am post-workout or fresh from mowing the lawn, I am guaranteed to run into twelve people from my graduating class that I haven’t seen in a decade.

           So, I just decided to go straight home after my workout and I skipped my standard dose of glutamine, amino acids, and my whey protein shake that I keep set up at the office. (I want that whey protein in my system as quickly as possible post-workout.) The problem with certain supplements is that it is hard to tell if they are really working until you have a couple of workouts without them. Given the soreness presented as I was getting ready for bed and again this morning, I do feel it is safe to say that my post-workout cocktail is certainly helping minimize the soreness and helps with the overall recovery process.

           Now, it is possible that this soreness is the result of taking three days off. I am also only running on about six and half hours’ worth of sleep. Those factors could be contributors but the soreness presented as I was getting ready for bed and given how it carried over to this morning, I am hurting. The workout clocked in at just a shade over an hour and I burned over 1,000 calories which is pretty standard for a session. I didn’t stack on super heavy weight. I did fairly normal reps and standard exercises. I didn’t go above and beyond with yesterday’s workout.

           Given that the workout was fairly standard and that three days is not an epic amount of time off and with the only major change being the lack of supplemental support, I have to deduce that the cocktail is living up to the hype and helping my performance by minimizing soreness and downtime for recovery.

Frank "The Chemist" Zane

           So do you NEED all these extra supplements? No. You can survive without them. However, if we look at the research provided by Frank Zane (Mr. Olympia in 77, 78, and 79 – Under 200 lbs. & Overall Winner), he talks about the importance of glutamine and amino acids:

           “Why extra glutamine? Well, it’s a very important Amino Acid Glutamine, this is the Amino Acid that your body pulls out of muscle tissue when you’re starving, people who are on diet or hungry a bit more than normal generally tend to lose muscle mass depending on what else they eat and how hard they exercise.

           So, when you take Glutamine, the Glutamine is pulled out of the chain of Amino Acids in your body and is sent to your liver where it’s turned into carbohydrate. If you take Glutamine in free form, you minimize that effect, so it’s really good for someone who is on diet and wanting to get the most out of the calories they eat and not get anything extra that they don’t need.”

           If I am reading all the research right, once you start trying to work out while maintaining a caloric deficit (i.e. to lose weight), your body starts sucking the natural glutamine out of your muscles. By taking a scoopful of powder glutamine powder, you are telling your liver, “Here take this!” and it leaves the glutamine in your muscles alone. This allows your muscles to repair because the levels of amino acids remain high.  

           And this is why The Mountain on Game of Thrones uses glutamine so much in his diet. So, glutamine doesn’t make you stronger but it helps keep those muscles functioning at a top level. Who says bodybuilding is just for dumb-dumbs? SCIENCE!

No Ifs Ands or Butts About It...

          One of the keys to having an impressive physique is about muscle symmetry. This is why you cannot just train chest and arms. You need to work everything so that you look proportionate. I am a big believer of antagonistic sets, which means for every push, you do a pull. For every Bench Press, I am countering that with some sort of row (Seated Cable Row, Dumbbell Row, Bent-Over Barbell Row, etc.). This means my middle back is getting a workout as much as my chest, which actually improves my overall bench press. For every overhead press to develop my shoulders, I am countering that with some sort of a lat pulldown.

           And while people grumble all the time about it, leg day is extremely important. For all the ladies out there, if you want to have a nice booty, there is no two ways around it. You gotta squat. Squats and Deadlifts are the mother of all leg exercises for several reasons.

           They are a multi-joint exercise which means your hips, your knees, and your ankles are all involved in the exercise. This means it is engaging your lower back, your core, your quads, your calves, and everything in-between. It is strengthening tendons in your knees and your hips.

           Legs are also longer and stronger, which means this is where you can really load the bar up with weight and go to town or you can load the bar lighter and go for longer sets. That heavy weight is forcing you to strain more. Strain means an elevated heart rate which means more calories burned.

          You can do “sculpting” exercises like one-legged cable kickbacks or cable adductors and abductors but with these, you cannot generate the kind of strain that comes from a good Trap Bar Deadlift, a Romanian Deadlift, Straight-Legged Deadlift, or Barbell Squat.

          The problem with Squats and Deadlifts is that this is the exercise that can get you hurt if you don’t know what you are doing and that can be intimidating to novice lifters which is why you need to crawl before you can walk. Working with a trainer and going light until you can master the form is very important in your initial training phases. And as you begin to develop your Squat and Deadlift form, you are going to see certain changes that happen in your legs, especially in your quads. In particular, you are going to see the Vastus Medialis take shape.

          As much as you want it to, a well-developed vastus medialis is not going to come from cardio exercises alone. They come from squats. Now, there are some men out there that are “Leg Men” and will notice and appreciate well-toned legs. But everyone likes a good booty. And if you want that booty, you gotta squat. Case in point, the photographic evidence provided here.

          While it is natural for the eye to be drawn to her, ahem, assets, pay attention the front of her thighs. That is not surgical enhancement. That comes from hard fricking work. And I am willing to bet vital parts of my anatomy that whoever this girl is, she is in the weight room several times a week.

          So, if you want a booty, you gotta squat… no ifs, ands, or “butts” about it. Ha! See what I did there!?!

No One Cares... But Bust Butt Anyway

“It is a sore thing to have labored along and scaled the arduous hilltops, and when all is done, find humanity indifferent to your achievement.”

--Robert Louis Stevenson

 

          The harsh reality is… no one cares. No one cares about your fitness journey. No one cares about how much weight you’ve lost. No one cares if you’ve shattered a personal record yesterday. As you continue down your road of self-improvement, it is human nature to share your accomplishments. You managed to run that mile, master that exercise, or conquer that fear. You think, “This is something to be proud of! I am becoming a better me!” We go to our favorite social media outlets for validation of our progress. You get some likes and some words of encouragement. But secretly, people hate you for your success. It doesn’t mean that all your friends are jerks. Again, it is basic human nature.

          Psychologists will explain that a person’s success holds up a mirror to the other person and reminds them of what they could be if they walked the same path. It reminds them of how they have come up short. And people hate to be reminded of their failures.

          But the other extreme can be equally demoralizing. Case in point, there is this guy I graduated high school with. On a Facebook video, I watched him bench press 400 pounds. That is more than I can squat! There is always going to be someone out there that is stronger than you, smarter than you, richer than you, faster than you, better looking than you, funnier than you… There are going to be people that you will try to measure up with and you will never be good enough.

          When you see someone bench 400 pounds, you don’t ask things like: How long have you been training? Is he in the gym twice a week or twice a day? There are all sorts of factors that you will never know. We don’t see the failures, the injuries, the setbacks, the research, or the techniques that didn’t work out… We just see the highlight reel.

          Reading this right now, you might feel a little down in the dumps. “So, Ryan, you are telling me that no one cares if I lose weight, secretly they hate me for it, and there is always going to be someone out there better and stronger than me?” Yep, pretty much.

          “So why even do it?” Well, my friend, you do it because it is the right thing to do.  

          I’ve said openly on here I want to look good naked but I am the only one that sees me naked. Sure, I want to be ready if my relationship with Katy Perry takes off but for some reason that hasn’t happened yet. Part of me thinks that I should compile all these essays into a book and publish it… but no one will ever read it. I see the analytics on how many “page views” this blog gets. (Hi, both of you!) If no one will read it, if it doesn’t sell, if my improvement is not recognized, and if no one cares, why do it? Why waste my time? Why even train in the first place?

          The answer? Because it makes me happy. Because it is the right thing to do.  

          I lift weights to make me healthy, so I can feel good about myself. I don’t lift weights to impress the ladies. If that happens to occur, that is just icing on the cake. But if that is your sole reason, when you figure out the ladies don’t care or you see that guy bench pressing twice what you are capable of, your motivation wanes. If you are doing it to impress your significant other, when the breakup occurs you won’t do it anymore. It is the same thing with motivation. Anyone can work hard when the gym is full. Can you work hard when the gym is empty? When there are no eyes on you, when there are no accolades, no nods of approval, can you go just as hard or harder?

          I lift weights it because it is turning me into a weapon. Granted, I am a sword that will never be pulled from its sheath but it doesn’t matter. I hated who I was before. I like who I am becoming. I enjoy the research. I enjoy seeing what this process is sculpting me in to (regardless of how slow). And if people don’t care or don’t like me, it doesn’t bother me because I am the only person that I am on this journey with. Friends move, marriages divorce, parents die, kids get old. I am the only one in this life with me until the very end. So if you are your only co-pilot, you better like who that person is. Life is sweeter that way.

          And if it is the right thing to do, you do it. Praise or no praise, you do it because all that hard work is making you a better person. And that is its own reward.

 

“It’s far better when doing good work is sufficient. In other words, the less attached we are to outcomes the better. When fulfilling our own standards is what fills us with pride and self-respect. When the effort—not the results, good or bad—is enough.”

–Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy

Elevating Your Heart Rate to Maximize Fat Loss

           The goal of any exercise program is to elevate your heart rate. The more intense your program, the more your body is screaming to get blood and oxygen pumped into those muscles. Your body is burning calories and that is attributing to your weight loss. So, how hard do you need to work to get to that fat burning stage? Let’s use a little math to figure things out.

           You want to figure out your Max Heart Rate which is 220 minus your age. For me, as a 41 year old, that means my Max Heart Rate is 179. Now, generally speaking, the zone where you are hitting the “fat burn” is 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. I only learned this after I had been wearing a heart rate monitor for a few of my workouts but this is a learning process for me too.

           I try to register my heart rate after most sets. Do a set of Bench Presses, check the rate. Do some Seated Cable Rows, check the rate. On average my heart rate was floating in the high 130s. Occasionally I would see a spike over 140 if the weight was really heavy and I was straining really hard. So I break out the calculator… 70% of 179 is 125. 60% of 179 is only 107. This means that if I can maintain a heart rate between 107 and 125 beats, I am burning fat.

           Considering when I would check my heart rate and I was never dropping below 130, that means I am doing awesome! And how do I sustain this heart rate? The key lies in Circuit Training (aka Antagonistic Sets). For just a brief refresher course, Antagonistic Sets are two exercises that complement each other. If you do an Overhead Shoulder Press, you then immediately do a Lat Pulldown afterward. You are not just waiting around to shake off that fatigue. You could even throw in a third exercise, something ancillary like a Dumbbell Calf Raise or a Forearm Dumbbell Raise. All that strain keeps the heart rate elevated, which means you are burning more calories.

           So how much of a difference does this strategy make? If you log into the My Fitness Pal app and log “Strength Training” as a cardiovascular activity, it will ask you how long did you work out? If you punch in 60 minutes, the base amount of calories they estimate is 331 calories.

           I recently asked a friend of mine that is a runner. She tracks her runs via Nike’s app. She said that an hour run at a 5 mile per hour pace, will burn her approximately 530 calories. Obviously, the more you run and the more frenetic the pace, the more you will burn but who can sprint for an hour?

           Meanwhile, using circuit training and minimal reps… My calculations show that 1 hour in the gym nets me 900 calories burned. Let me stress that. 900 calories. That is basically two meals. At first I thought something was wrong. But like they say, once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern. As of this research, I can consistently get to 900 calories in an hour’s worth of work.

           Now, that is not to say that you can just stroll in, go about a standard milk run workout, and expect 900 calories to melt away. I clang and bang. I don’t socialize. I put my headphones on and I go to mutha humpin’ work. The other regulars know once my headphones go I on, I get into my zone very quickly. My music is loud and I stay focused. I am not strolling about in between sets. I am not hitting on the chicks. I am there to work. To paraphrase the immortal Rowdy Roddy Piper, I am there to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum.

           I think there is a reason why medical science is proving that resistance training is superior to straight cardio when it comes to weight loss and the evidence is clear. 530 calories burned running versus my 900 calories burned while pushing iron. I have said it before and I will say it again. Sure, I could run on the treadmill but who jumps off the treadmill and flexes their thighs in triumph? But I can get done and hit a Double Front Biceps pose and feel pride in my accomplishments. 

Materiam Superabat Opus

          Here a while back, you may have seen the trend on social media involving the “Love Your Spouse” challenge where you are supposed to post pictures of your spouse to show how much you love them. I read an article on how one person refused to take part in the challenge because it is a glorification of the “highlight reel.”

          Let’s think about selfies for a moment. How many do you take and swipe through before you find that perfect one? Do you flip through them saying, “Ugg, my eyes are droopy in this one. Don’t like my smile in that one. Well, I guess in this one I don’t look as fat…” You can then go through and do color corrections and apply filters and do all this stuff to make that picture look amazing. And then you post the selfie and wait for the “Likes” to start rolling in. I am not going to say that it is fake but it’s not exactly 100% real either. It’s a highlight reel.

Me at 243 pounds

           I am not pointing fingers here because I do the same thing. Here, just to show I am not blowing smoke… This is one of my most recent “gym selfies.” I use an old boudoir photography trick. My hips are always turned 45-degrees away from the camera with my front leg bent slightly and then I twist so that my shoulders are squarely facing the camera. This slims and tapers the waist. Go ahead, try it in the mirror, you will see what I am talking about.

           Don’t get me started on the “Facebook Fishers.” We all know that person. They throw out vague statements with no explanation just so they can get all those “keep your head up, girl” comments to validate their self-worth.

          I feel life is one big balancing act. It is a razor’s edge that we have to walk. You cannot love yourself so much that you become egomaniacal but you cannot hate yourself so much that you sink into hopelessness. You don’t want to be a braggadocio but you cannot be all “I am such a worthless peon” either. Remember, confidence is one of the sexiest things on the planet.

           Now, just so I am not a highlight reel hypocrite, allow me now to shine a light so you can see my imperfections. Over two years ago, I started FURYAN STRENGTH. If you haven’t read through this whole thing, the name is derived from Vin Diesel’s RIDDICK film series where Furyans are some of the baddest mammer-jammers in the galaxy. I had no idea what I was doing and I built this program from the ground up through research, study, and good old fashioned trial and error.

           I had very specific goals when I started. I had found my “why.” The truth is I hated my physical appearance. I was tired of being overweight. I told myself that I wanted to cut a striking figure when I walked my little girl down the aisle. I wanted to be physically attractive. Women can say all they want about how they want a guy that makes them laugh but I’ve never heard women swoon over the latest Adam Sandler movie trailer but let a sequel for MAGIC MIKE get announced… 

           Through this, I’ve dropped weights, injured my ankle, smashed fingers, been on the verge of vomiting, and even shed an occasional tear. Not kidding about that last one. I’ve consulted trainers, spent countless hours on websites, and I even weigh my food. But this struggle has made me a better person.   I have had people tell me that I am doing a great job and I am thankful but ego is the enemy.

          In all of my training, I have made it a dedicated task to stay humble. I still see all my flaws, probably more than any other person ever would. I know this because here a while back I was basically felt up and molested by an aggressive woman and rather than feel my head inflate with pride as she was squeezing my muscles, I was embarrassed for the praise…

          I am not where I want to be yet and the only way I can get there is through hard work. There is no magic pill, no special drink, no shortcuts. I have to clang and bang and sweat and curse and cry. You have to hate to elevate.

           But in doing so, it also makes me a modest teacher. I’ve given my program to several people when they asked me. It is this blog you are reading here. And just last week, I was answering a question for a trio of ladies picking up weights for the first time. I was happy to help because I wish I had a mentor to guide me at that phase. (Did you know how to target the three different delts for nice rounded shoulders?) They told me, “Maybe if we keep this up, we will get to look like you.” I responded so quickly, it was just instinct, “You all need to elevate your standards.”

           Humility. Humility in the face of praise. Humility makes you bust your ass. You have to believe that you are good enough. You have to believe that you CAN do it. But once you start believing that you have achieved it and that you are great, you’ve lost. You lose that hunger. Your aspiration dips. You start believing your own hype. I seem to recall a certain movie title ROCKY III that was built around this entire concept. The antidote for this poison is iron.

          Iron is the great equalizer. Iron doesn’t give a shit about your pride. Iron doesn’t give a shit about your hype. Iron doesn’t give a shit about your ego. 200 pounds is 200 pounds. Lift it or don’t. Iron will humble you faster than anything and despite how far you have come, it will remind you how far you have to go.

          And when your resolve is wavering, remember this. Materiam superabat opus. The workmanship was better than the material.  Imagine a martial arts master that has climbed the ranks. The more he learns the more he realizes how deadly he truly is, so the more he learns the less apt he is to use what he knows because he knows how bad he can mess someone up.

          All that hard work you put in will transforms you and not just physically. If you stay humble and stay hungry, you become a teacher. You will be supportive of the novice that is nervous walking into the gym for the first time. You will become inspiration for those that are struggling, offering praise and encouragement. But if you let your ego run unchecked and start believing your own hype, you become that arrogant guy strutting about in a barely there tank top. Free advice, kids. No one likes that guy.

          Now take this lesson and apply to aspects in your life: job, family relationships, whatever. Ego is your enemy. You’ve still got a lot to learn. Stay humble in all things. Now, go forth and do likewise.

Facing Death & Fighting the Good Fight

          When Nordic people believed in their pantheon of gods (Odin, Thor, etc.), they believed that if you fell heroically in battle, you would go to the great shield hall in the sky where you would party and drink mead with the All-Father until Ragnarok. During Ragnarok (the end of all things), the demons would escape their hellish prison and besiege the great shield hall where all of the gods (and those lucky enough to be with them) would fight to the death… and they lose. Strangely, they know they are going to lose before the battle even begins but they fight the battle anyway because it is not about winning and losing. It is about putting forth that noble and heroic effort.

           I rarely talk about this but when things were really bad for me, I just hated myself. After I would eat, I would need to stretch out by lying on my stomach to alleviate pain. I was winded from minor physical exertion. I rarely took pictures. I never took selfies. I have very few pictures of me and my kids to pass on to them. I just didn’t like who I had become.  So I started my process to turn things around. I want you all to keep that in mind.

           I just finished watching GENERATION IRON, which is a 2013 documentary about the Mr. Olympia competition. The movie focuses on some of the biggest bodybuilding champions of this era; names like Phil Heath and Kai Greene. If you Google Image search these guys, you see the top of their class.

           But even I look at it say, “Man, that is too much.” I am not alone in this opinion. The greatest bodybuilder of all time, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has commented on how now the sport revolves around how big you can be and we are losing the aesthetics of someone like Reg Park or Frank Zane. You want to see a beautiful man? Google Image Search Frank Zane and you will see what I am talking about. My ideal goal is to have something similar to Chris Evans as Captain America. Or Vin Diesel in Riddick. That is who I named my program after and what I am pushing towards.

          In the documentary, these pro bodybuilders talk about how they have to crush their competition, even if it means playing head games and such. (And, yes, I know. Arnold did that too.) In order to achieve their dream, they have to crush everyone else’s. I know I am never going to be a bodybuilding champion because I do not have that mindset and I do not want to compete against other people.

          I am not an athlete. I will tell you that straight up. Even in my 9-to-5 job, our product is so good that we are not competing with other agencies. There is more than enough business to go around. So we are not trying to be better than this company or that company. We are just trying to be the best company we can be. And I have embraced that philosophy completely. I am infinitely happier for having done so.

           For me, they gym is the same way. Maybe this is why I have stuck to my program for as long as I have, because I am not competing against other people. When I walk into the gym, my opponents are me from yesterday, complacency, laziness, fat… and – my greatest enemy of all – death. I hit the gym because I am fighting to ward off death. Like so many Nordic warriors, I know I will not defeat him. In the long run, he is always going to win. What matters is that I put up the biggest fight to stave that defeat off for as long as possible.

          See, with physical fitness, there is enough success to go around. My success does not hamper anyone else’s and vice versa. There are more than enough seats at the table. And if people see what I am doing and that inspires them or gives them new ideas for their own training, I treat that as a win-win. A rising tide lifts all ships.

           Back several years ago, when things were really bad for me, I don’t want to say that I was suicidal but if Death would have shown up on my door, I wouldn’t have gone kicking and screaming. I would have pulled a Newman and asked, “What took you so long?” Today, I have turned my life around. I have a great job. I have a little money. I try to be the best father I can be. And I am trying to shape myself into something healthy and strong. Furyan Strength has brought me confidence and I feel better about myself.

           I have no delusions. I know I still have a long way to go. I do not have six pack abs or veins showing in my legs. I see myself and I see that I am not where I want to be. But I think about where I could potentially be if I would NOT have started down this road. What if I was still shame eating and stress eating? I had a hard day. Why don’t I deserve that Little Debbie? It’s the only thing that brings me joy now! And that just fed the shame spiral… and that is difficult to reverse course on.

          I may not be where I want to be… but where would I be if I hadn’t started this journey at all? And that is what keeps me going. But somedays… somedays, people, it is very damn hard…

Blog Version 3.0

          Admittedly, I have been away from the blog for a while now but that doesn’t mean I have been away from the gym. I am still at it five days a week and in that time, I have been doing a lot of research, experimenting, and such. I am hoping that all this trialing will help elevate me to a new level and while I am still doing “clinical tests” before posting my results, the effects have been very positive and I am close to being ready to share with the myriad of Furyan Strength followers – hi, both of you! – all that I have learned.

          But before I do that… a few stories.

          First, I feel that the philosophies laid down in the previously published pages are pretty rock solid and will not end up changing as the months (and years) roll on. Resistance training. Antagonistic sets. Limited rests. Protein, fats; limit sugar and carbs. Those building blocks are not going to change and I feel like I have explained them to the best of my limited ability. So with that said, the focus of the blog is now going to shift to that “This is what I am up to” style that I hope you can learn from and adapt into your own program.

          This month, I will officially celebrate my 2 year anniversary of my starting my fitness journey. It has been a long road. I am still learning new things every week. And I am starting to understand and appreciate how much hard work and dedication goes in to getting to that upper echelon. If you want veins to display in your biceps, it is freaking hard work to get to that level. It is not something you can do two days a week and expect results. And I am still learning after two years. It is not a sprint. It is a marathon. So don’t let doubt discourage you. Just keep dialing in to find that perfect routine that is right for you.  

          Third, and finally, I was confronted the other day when someone asked me, “Why are you working so hard? Who are you trying to impress?” And there was this moment, where I wanted to turn and present what some would affectionately call “the stink eye.” I don’t know if you are familiar with the new tag team duo Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy in the WWE, but I immediately went into my Jersey mode. While this was done through text message (where accents are hard to enunciate), I immediately went to that place. “Well lookie what we have here. A cuppa haters… A cuppa haters…” If you don’t speak Guido or are my father, that translates to “a couple of people who do not approve of what you are doing.”

          Now, in fairness, this texter was female. And the long running joke is that “Men and women go to the gym for the exact same reason. To obtain the perfect female body.” Women go because they want to look like that famous pop star or movie actress. And men go because they feel that they cannot attract the attractive with a pony keg. They need a six-pack to do so.

          Then, of course, is the fear. If a spouse sees their significant other going to the gym and getting in shape, there is the fear that they are doing it to look good for someone new or because they are about to be single again and want to attract the opposite sex. Now clichés are clichés for a reason. They exploit those tropes in sit-coms all the time.

          Time and again on here I have commented that you have to find your why. And this is what I have learned. I have openly said that I am in the gym because I want to cut an impressive figure in my tuxedo a decade from now when I walk my little girl down the aisle. So in that regard, I am not doing it for someone else. I am doing this for me but that mental image motivates me.

          I feel there is a difference between using mental images to motivate you and doing it for someone else. If you tell me, “Ryan, I want to go to the gym because I want my wife to be attracted to me physically.” Boom, good motivation! If you tell me, “Ryan, I think my wife is going to leave me and I want a six pack so she will be attracted to me and not leave.” Sorry, dude. You got bigger problems than the gym can fix.

          I have also said often that you do need the correct motivation to go to the gym and this is one of those instance where I feel it is okay to be selfish. I think if you are doing it for someone else – and by that I mean doing it so some girl will like you – then you will find yourself making excuses not to go. Instead, hit those weights for you. Gain pride in your own appearance and the rest will all just fall into place naturally.

          Keep up the good work. I hope you find the blog useful and learn a thing or two. For me, Year 2 is just right around the corner. What does that mean? It means it’s time to start the hard stuff…