Hello Everyone,
Well this blog is still very young but I just wanted to thank everyone that is already reading these. This was more of an experiment than anything but I have received some positive feedback and am excited to keep going as long as people keep reading.
First is first, did you work out today?
This week I have really trying to concentrate on just a few things to get myself back on track to where I need to be. I know that there is plenty more that I need to focus on and there is a lot more that I will continue to put an emphasis on as I progress but for the first week these were the following areas that I really concentrated on:
- Cleaning up my diet – I have not been as strict as I want to be. I have not been counting all my macros but I have been making sure to cook my own dinners. (besides one amazingly delicious plate of nachos that I had when me and my best friend went out for a celebration…I blame him) I regularly cook 3-4 eggs for breakfast, home-made tuna/chicken salad sandwiches for lunch, and grilled chicken breasts with fresh spinach salads for dinner.
- Supplementation – I tend to slack off on taking my regular supplements and really made sure that I started this progression off right and take everything as needed. I have a protein shake every morning when I wake up as well as one directly post workout. I add a scoop of Glutamine powder to my morning shake. I sporadically take a pre-workout powder for an extra boost but did not take it at all this week.
- Constant muscle tension – This has to do with my lifting technique. Time after time you see people get to their machine, whatever it may be, and rush through their set and move on. For the start of my new mission I wanted to concentrate on a technique that relies on very slow and deliberate movements during the flexion and extension part of your lift. Typically this does require one to go down in weight but most people actually see more muscle growth due to the fact that the constant muscle tension closes off the blood vessels leading to the muscles and deprives the muscle of oxygen through out the movement. What this does is simulate an increase in lactate production as well as 2 anabolic hormones, hGH and IGF-1.
- CARDIO – This one is huge for me because I dread having to do cardio, especially inside. Sadly I currently reside in Saint Louis and running outside is limited to polar bears and penguins and unfortunately I am neither. However, I am proud to say that I did some form of HIIT 3 times this week. I know, I know…3 times in 7 days is pretty pathetic but c’mon, I am making progress. ha.
So at this point I am sure you are asking…”So Ryan, what kind of progress have you actually made this week?” Well, I want to start off with saying that I do not like to weigh myself frequently as I believe it adds stress and makes people stress about little ups and downs instead of keeping focus on the big picture. For the sake of this article I did weigh myself and can report that I am down 2 pounds. Can be all water weight at this part as far as I know but I do feel better. I feel like my energy is coming back and my endurance is improving. For this week I did take progression pictures (from here on out I will only be taking progression pictures at the end of every month).
Needless to say, the changes are subtle but I am hopeful.
On Sunday I will be starting my trek across country. I am moving from Saint Louis, Missouri back to the west coast where I was raised. I have a lot of ideas for future articles and I am very excited to share. I will try and post a new article on Sunday before I leave. If I am unable to complete it then I will for sure have one on Wednesday when I get back to California.
For the future when I do these weekly progress reports I will make sure to keep track of my workouts so that I can post them. If anyone has any questions when it comes to my actual workout routine, supplementation, or anything else in general, please do not hesitate to ask them in the comments section and I will be happy to answer them.
Until next time…
-Ryan
p.s. If any of you read this and are big social media followers please follow me on Twitter, Vine and Instagram. @LifeOfCouncil on all 3 sites. Look forward to continuing this journey with everyone.
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