Energy Body Ways

Fasting now and again is getting a lot of attention from many fitness writers to lose weight, rejuvenate, and achieve maximal health.  Ori Hofmekler of the Warrior Diet, Arthur de Vany of Evolutionary Fitness, and a program called Eat Stop Eat are all discussing how to use fasting for health improvements, including possibly enhancing longevity.

I’ve done this regularly.  In fact, if I listen to my body invariably I’ll occasionally significantly undereat or not eat at all.  I’m pretty lean so it’s been easy to think I should force feed myself, just like 1980’s magazines on bodybuilding and a lot of other sites recommend today.  However there is much to be said for a natural approach.  Life gets easier when we don’t fight our natural dispositions all the time.  Sometimes, like avoiding endless cookie consumption, ya just gotta draw the line.

And sometimes, like with intermittent fasting, if you don’t feel like eating it’s the best thing for you to do for your health and fitness.

The problem with Tabata protocols is they really belong in a lab only – it’s way too structured and boring to do these on-off drills with such a tight and precise time frame.  I’ve tried following some people on their blogs when they report they are going to start Tabata and usually it just tapers off.

The more natural thing to do is set a timer for five minutes and do the amount and type of work that seems natural to do in that time.  Then, to create progression for getting stronger and more muscular, add more weight slowly but surely in every workout.

One thing that may help for recovery is just working one muscle group per five minute workout.  This means you should be able to do between four and eight sets in that five minutes, which is usually enough to give a good workout for the one muscle group.

So to improve on Tabata and make it more realistic to sustain use the brief time period, four to five minutes, as  a guide and work one muscle group most of the time per workout between three to five times a week.

This site is part of the wave of new fitness models for getting great results in a shorter period of time, getting lean and muscular without being bulky; part of the  repudiation of the excesses of 1980’s bodybuilding and lengthy, time and energy wasting workouts:

http://fitnessblackbook.com/

He’s got the aesthetic right – think Brad Pitt in the movie, Fight Club.  I’m not so sure about Turbulence Training – the workouts still seem too long to me, and anything involving too many squats when you could be sprinting or hiking or walking just does not make sense.

The diet info, avoiding six meals a day, cycling into paleo eating periods, and drinking a beer here and there, is bang on.

If you want to get in shape with the lean and muscular look rightly more popular in Hollywood today, I recommend the Fitness Black Book site – it will help you get in shape in less time and hone your diet and psychology for fitness success.

What a great name for my weightlifting program, “Throwing Iron”.  That’s what it feels like when I do the push.  Anyway…

Today I went back to my usual workout.

2 days ago I did the standard, more of a shoulder press, then curls, then rows (I know, they should be in reverse order to be standard sequence), then push ups.

Slight muscle pull in the next today but it may’ve been my sleep position last night.

I barely lifted yesterday, just two shoulder press-throws…. or were they throws?  Damn, I should’ve noted that to see which is worse, throws or presses.

Today it was throws.  I wish I had it on camera.  I feel so old school but it’s probably just an exaggeration in my head.  I curl it up, if I can’t lift it to shoulder height I slightly swing it, and I coil down and  throw the weight up (while keeping it in my hand, I hope that’s obvious), and then I hold.

Usually I do not straighten up; I stay bent slightly to the side as I hold it up overhead.

Then I let it down to shoulder, then waist height, and pass the weight to the other hand.

Do on each side a few times.  Do not release the weight for several minutes – there is no putting it down and resting.  It’s a several minute long constant pressure workout with intermittent high intensity.

Finish with a sprint, preferably after a live animal like a deer, your dog, or your girlfriend (give her a head start; she’ll think she’ll have a better chance of getting away; foiling her notions is half the fun!).

If I feel more neck twinges tomorrow then I’ll have to modfiy the throw-lift style.  Damn, it feels so much better the ol’ throw style.

Chocolate milk is my new  trial food.  Avoided like the plague among the low carb hunter gatherer dietary followers, yet advocated by some as the ideal ratio of carbs to protein for  a great post-workout sports drink.  I do love how supplement stores and companies try to sell fancy products often for higher prices than good ol’ chocolate milk.

Anyway, I’m not really a fan of the taste much but it’s drinkable.  So I’ll see how it goes and let you know.  One of the things I learned from years working in the health food store, and being around the sports and fitness and workout worlds for twenty years off and on, is there is almost always a much easier (and cheaper) way to exercise and eat.

So for now I would recommend trying it assuming you have no food intolerances to the cocoa or milk.  Add a bit of whey protein if you need more protein.