New Olympic Weightlifting Blog: Liftm0re

Well, I figured it was about time to create my own little place to write about my journey into becoming a competitive Olympic Weightlifter.  My new blog is called liftm0re, and will serve as a place where I put insightful/poetic observations and thoughts related to training, PR's, failures, competitions, workouts, and basically anything related to this crazy lifting lifestyle.

It won't be quite as "factual" as The Food Guru, but hey, that might make it more fun to read in the long run anyway.  I'd really appreciate if a few of you checked it out, and if you like it let me know.  The more feedback, the better.

This also means I won't post Oly lifting stuff on The Food Guru anymore, so it's a win win for people who don't want to read about it....hah.

Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoy it, and thank you so much for the continued support.

Here's the link!

http://liftm0re.blogspot.com/

I'll be back with more food related goodness later this afternoon.  I've got a few new cool article ideas, stay tuned!

Training For Gold: Week 10

It's been a while since I've updated you all on as to how I'm progressing through my training.  This post serves only as a short update, as I realize it's really only of interest to a few people.  Though this is a pretty good spot to get my thoughts down, if I don't say so myself.

I'm please to announce that I'm continually feeling stronger than I ever have before in my life.  The workouts are brutally difficult, however I'm constantly surprising myself with hitting double and triple snatches that I didn't think were even close to possible for me.  The strength is there, and Ivan, my coach, clearly knows exactly what he's doing.  I have an unbelievable amount of respect for him.

In terms of injuries, I'm overcoming a shoulder pang that's been nagging me for a couple weeks, however through ice, heat, and lots and lots of massage and stretching it's recovered despite not ceasing my training.  Awesome!  It never effected my numbers either, thank goodness.  I'm also overcoming a bout of patellar tendinitis with a combination of foam rolling, a LOT of fish oil, and even more ice. All three combined are working wonders, and 12 days after I could barely walk, I'm feeling absolutely great.  Another week and I should be up near 100%.

I hit two new max lifts yesterday, which was absolutely remarkable because the workout surrounding the max attempts was designed to drain me of any energy I had left by the time I actually got the lifts themselves.  That means good things, such as LOTS of untapped potential deep within my muscles to lift a good few kilos more in both the clean and jerk and the snatch.  I have no doubt I could hit at least another 2 kilos in the snatch, and maybe as many as 5 more in the clean and jerk.  Regardless, here's my latest video of both lifts:

You can see more at my YouTube account specifically created to document my lifting progress: Liftm0re (yes, that's a zero, NOT an "o").

I'm due to max out in week 12 as well, so we'll see how that goes.  Progress is coming at relative light speed, and I cannot WAIT to see what else I'm capable of lifting.  A 150kg clean and jerk by the end of this year may not be so far fetched after all, especially if the muscle keeps coming on like it has been.  I'm up to 74 kg!

Stay tuned for more progress, cause I'm not quitting any time soon.

Training For Gold: Week 3

My one rest day has come around again, and unlike last week where I did some core and aggressive stretching on my rest day, this week I'm actually resting.  Looking back on this previous week, I'd consider it quite successful.  After tomorrow, I will have had three days where I did double sessions, and three days of single sessions.  That's a pretty decent amount of volume, and I'm definitely proud of myself for adapting to the load.

Eleiko Plates. Oh what I wouldn't do for a nice set of these.

My first session on double days always involves either front squats or back squats, and are usually one hour long.  I'll do between 20-30 total reps, attempting to get within at least 87% of my best ever belted max squat. This means above 275 lbs.  I can pretty regularly hit 290-300 lbs, which I feel is acceptable with my morning fatigue and semi-cold muscles.  

My later afternoon sessions are the ones dictated by my coach, who sends my daily workouts via facebook.  I hit all the numbers in Oly lifts, then squat.  This week I hit an easy 66 kg double snatch, and am feeling stronger than ever with my snatch form in general.  I feel like I could snatch over 80 kg if I maxed out, maybe even closer to 82kg.  I feel stronger in my clean and jerks, but I won't know for sure until I get near maximum weights again, which, judging by my workout schemes, won't happen for a while.  I'm hoping for at least 110kg when I finally do get a chance to lift the heavy stuff again.

Afternoon squats have been going very well, and my morning sessions haven't seemed to fatigue my legs much at all.  I hit 125 kg (275 lbs) for an un-belted triple the other day, AFTER my Oly lifts and AFTER a morning session.  Here's the video.

I was happy with it, and I feel like there's more there.  I REALLY want a 130 kg triple, hopefully this next week.

This week I added to my diet: 

2 Bananas (For Pre and Post Workout Carbs due to high glucose content)

1/4 cup Fiber One Cereal (Post morning session, just to refill some glycogen before afternoon session)

1 cup milk (Basically I just added to my previous milk amounts in lunch and dinner)

Almonds (100 calories worth, just to round out my afternoon meal to an even 200 calories)

Total Calories...3000?  I'd say about 3 grand, though I'll count more closely when I get a chance.

After this week I'm right up at about 160 lbs, which is a 1-2 lb weight gain.  I'm happy with that, and I'm going to keep my diet steady and see where it takes me.  Once I hit a plateau, I'll bump up the calories again.  The extra carbs are REALLY doing me good, I feel much more powerful under the bar, and have a LOT more energy.  Hurray for bananas.

We'll see how these next workouts go.  Things are getting heavy quickly, and I can't WAIT to start smashing some more PR's.  Here's a video of my Double 66 kg double snatch, with bar path analysis:

If you have any questions, comments, thoughts, or suggestions about training, please comment!  I'd love to hear from fellow Oly lifters, and I'd really love support through this journey of mine.  I'm determined to be a champion.  I have to lift more, I just plain HAVE to.

Double Sessions: The How To Guide

As you probably already know, I LOVE the gym.  In fact, I love it so much, I'm usually there twice a day.  I'll go for a morning session, during which I do heavy squats and some core work, then head off to class.  The same afternoon I'll go for a full out Olympic weightlifting session as dictated by my coach, which is both brutal and heavy.  And you know what the remarkable thing is?  After all this, I'm still alive to tell you about it.  Fancy that, eh?  So how's it possible?  Could you do the same thing, but maybe taylored to your own goals a little more?  And if you're at all interested, how could going for two-sies really benefit you?  Let's find out.

First of all, I'd like to address those screaming their heads off right now at their computer monitor, claiming that I'm just begging to induce over-training or "burning-out," which is a state of extreme, chronic physical and mental fatigue caused by lifting too intensely at the gym.  To those people, I'd like to say that I believe you only overtrain if you go drastically above and beyond what you're currently doing.  If you are used to hitting the gym 3 times a week, for one hour sessions, then yes, if you decided to triple that and hit the gym 9 times a week for three double session days and 3 single session days, you'd burn out like a bad candle.  But that's a silly thing to try right off the bat, don't you think?  If you introduce new routines to your body more slowly and consistantly, anything is possible in the long run.  Remember this quote:

"There's no such thing as overtraining, just undertraining"

-John Broz

He's right you know.  The body is capable of far greater loads and stresses than you could ever imagine.  Tapping into the true potential of your body takes practice though, so let's find out how to increase your loading over an extended period of time, and figure out exactly how it could really benefit you in the long run.

If you're at all interested in training twice a day, you HAVE to start slow.  Like I said before, if you jump right into a double session week, you'll burn out in a heartbeat (or lack of one, because you'll be so dead.)  Take it one step at a time.  If your workouts are geared toward general fitness, and include both cardio and lifting weights, I'd suggest doing light cardio in the morning (I'd say 10-20 minutes, but your definition of light may differ), then have a good span of time between that and your evening workout, which should also be relatively light (in terms of weight this time.)  Try this one day a week, preferably a day you have free so that you can rest and recover between workouts.  And when I say rest, I MEAN REST.  Don't plan your family hike for that afternoon, just lay out in the sun, or go for a swim, or watch some TV, or take a nice long nap.  Recovery is just as important as the workout itself.  If you do it right, you should be ready to hit the gym again that evening.

If you're all cardio, it's a pretty simple setup to get two sessions into one day.  Start with a light jog in the morning, then later that evening hit a serious cardio session, like your timed run, biking trip, swim, etc.  Cardio is easy to overdo, but if you're serious about it your body should adapt quickly.  Keep carbohydrate levels very high, and make sure to take care of those joints (especially runners), because they can get very sore very quickly.  Stretch, ice, heat, foam roll, massage, do what you have to do to keep pounding the pavement.  Many runners go for double sessions, so finding one to talk to about it isn't too hard a task.  Look around, see what works for others, and try to incorporate their techniques into your workout.

For a bodybuilder, a double gym session is a GREAT way to increase volume on certain muscle groups.  If it's back and bicep day, you can hit one group of exercises in the morning for a moderate number of reps, then really finish those muscles off in the evening with a completely different routine, going all out.  Increasing workout volume is a fantastic way to gain size quickly, and I bet you'll be surprised at the results.  Don't be afraid to hit the same muscles twice in a day, they can take it as long as you supplement them properly.  If you're wondering exactly how to do this, I found a great post in the bodybuilding.com forums by username "labradarep" that explains the concept pretty well:

"Do the same bodypart(s) twice in a day. First session should be moderate number of sets in the 4-6 rep range. 2-3 exercises per bodypart(30-40 minutes max with 2 -3 minute rest periods). Rest 4-6 hours & then perform different exercises for the same bodyparts. 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps. 1 -2 exercises per bodypart (20 minute workout with very short rest periods)."

That in my opinion is the perfect way to ensure you don't overtrain, but still hit each muscle group for an AWESOME amount of volume.  Try it out, and watch all the other guys in the gym start to pale in comparison to your massive size and muscularity.

If you're a strength athelete, like me, and want to incorporate some morning and evening material into your workout, I'd suggest squats in the morning, and your full, organized workout in the afternoon (my "organized" workout involves the Olympic lifts themselves, just in case you're wondering what that means.  If you're a power lifter, it may include deadlifts, or bench press.  Strongman may include things like axle presses, farmer's walk, deadlifts, etc.)  Keep your body guessing, and do a workout that won't impact your body enormously for the day in the morning.  When I do my set of squats in the morning, I squat heavy, but for low reps, and with large rest periods in between sets, just to make sure I don't burn out or expend too much glycogen too early on in the day.  Keep it casual at first, go slow, and like I said, try one day at a time first.

When you start to adapt, obviously you can increase the frequency of these double sessions.  Add another one in three or four days later, basically in an attempt to split the week up as evenly as possible.  You don't want two days of double sessions in a row, at least not initially.  Don't increase the workout intensity just yet.  Personally I find that increasing frequency works much better than increasing intensity.  I do 3-4 double sessions a week, and NONE of the morning sessions are EVER as intense as my afternoon ones, purposely so.  Stay relaxed, focus on moving the weight, and keep yourself under wraps.  Remember, you've got another workout later where you can go all out.

Now, I forgot to mention one thing, and it's in regard to your diet.  Double days make you HUNGRY.  And if you decide to skip out on meals, or keep your calorie level the same thinking your body doesn't need the extra food, you're ABSOLUTELY NUTS.  YOU NEED TO EAT!!!!!  Plan on increasing caloric intake from between 300-500 calories on double days (and possibly the day after), and when you start adding more and more double sessions, you have to consistently keep your body fueled.  If you don't, you'll feel it, IMMEDIATELY.  You'll feel like a zombie amongst the living.  You'll be sore, unable to focus, drained, and barely able to move weights you practically tossed up before.  Eat...more...food.  I've found increasing carbohydrate intake works wonders.  Have a sweet potato and a glass of milk, or a bowl of oatmeal and a whey and banana shake.  No matter if you're a cardio-aholic, bodybuilder, or strength athlete, keep your body fueled, and you'll start to see the double sessions work wonders for your body.

If at any point in the week you begin to burn out, BACK OFF THE DOUBLE SESSIONS.  Seriously, eat some food, get some good sleep, and rest until you feel like you can hit the gym that hard again.  Double days take a lot out of you, so don't be surprised if the adjustment process is long.  Don't rush it.  

Basically, to be successful with double sessions, it all boils down to two things:  Eat more, and sleep more.  Keep your diet clean and VERY full, and your bedtime early and consistent, and you'll find hitting the gym twice a day isn't so bad.  I love it, and if I could set up a cot in the corner, I'd probably be in the gym all day.  So to all my fellow gym lovers, rejoice, if you want to spend even more time pumping the iron or sprinting to nowhere, you're more than welcome to.  In fact, it can do wonders for your strength and physique.  You'll get leaner, stronger, faster, bigger, and more powerful faster than you ever thought possible.  So what are you waiting for?  The gym beckons.

Lift hard, run fast, eat big, sleep deeply, and as always, GOOD LUCK!

Front Squats, And Why They RULE!

I've said time and time again, if you want to get stronger, faster, bigger, leaner, more powerful, and look like you actually lift weights, get under the bar and do some squats.  Seriously, you can read this article later! go hit up the squat rack for a few sets of heavy triples!

And now that that's done, let's talk about why next time you run off to the gym, you should try putting that heavy bar on your shoulders instead of your traps.  What the heck am I talking about?  FRONT SQUATS!  The ultimate total body squat exercise (save for overhead squats, though those can be a little harder to jump right into).  I'm not kidding, back squats and front squats are two completely different beasts.  To put it in perspective, I can easily rep 280 lbs for a set of three back squatting, then after a minute or two I'll be ready to come back and hit it again.  When I approach my max in front squats (which happens to be about 80% of my max back squat), I literally need to compose myself for quite some time between sets.  They absolutely drain you, and work your body to a whole new level of fatigue.  Don't be scared though, because after a set of good, deep front squats, you'll walk away from that squat rack feeling like you REALLY pushed yourself, and nothing feels better than that.

So what's a front squat look like?  Well, before I attempt to explain via text on a page, I'll show you a video:

This guy definitely knows how to front squat, great depth, great flexibility, and INCREDIBLE strength from the very rock bottom position.  Can you do this?  Absolutely, though obviously we'll start off with a little less weight.

First step in a front squat, approach and grip the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width.  This will ensure your upper back is as tight as possible, and will fight your urge to "hunch" in the bottom of the squat.  Second, bring your elbows down under the bar, and push them forward until the bar is resting on your deltoids (shoulders).  Make it tight against your throat.  Don't worry about breathing problems, and if you are choking just a little, LOOK UP.  It will clear your airway.  I'm serious here, you want that bar tight against your neck, keep it close to you.

Now, un-rack the bar with either both heels under it or in a split position (just make sure you're not using your toes to lift the weight off the rack).  Step back with a couple slow, very controlled steps, and get your feet into a position that's either shoulder width or slightly wider (I go a little wider because I have very long legs).

Now this is important.  You may have learned to keep your legs parallel and your toes pointing straight forward.  If you do this in a front squat, you'll dump the bar.  Front squats require you to remain UPRIGHT in the bottom position, and therefore they might feel a little weird at first.  To accomplish this upright position, the first thing necessary is to point your toes at an angle slightly outward.  When it's time to descend, lock in your lower back, and instead of pushing your butt "back" like so many personal trainers might have told you, push your knees OUT and start to descend between your hips.  This may take time to get right, and you'll need to build up some hip flexibility to get it right.  STAY ON YOUR HEELS.  Don't go onto your toes, or your knees will punish you.  Keep going as deep as you can, continually pushing your knees out, and staying on the outside of your heels.  Once you're as low as you can go (hopefully at least below parallel), drive with your heels, quads, and glutes, and try to stay upright.  A little forward lean is expected under heavy loads, but try to keep it minimal.  Oh, and don't let your knees buckle inward!  Push them out with all your might!  Once you're standing again, feel free to do another.

Now I keep saying to remain upright, but I haven't told you two EXTREMELY important tips to doing so.  Firstly: KEEP YOUR ELBOWS UP!  Don't let them dip.  Keep them parallel to the ground (I mean your upper arm here, your elbows shouldn't point toward the ground at any time in the squat.)  Second:  FLEX YOUR CORE!!!!  Front squats are one of the greatest core exercises of all time BECAUSE they require you to keep your core extremely tight to stay upright.  You have to clench your abs with everything you got, even before you start the squat.  Don't even THINK about heading down until you make sure your abs are TIGHT.  The requirement for a strong core is much moreso than in back squats.

Here's a picture:

Alternate Grip:  If you're having trouble with the classic Olympic grip, you can try the cross arm grip.  You're still balancing the bar on your shoulders, but your grip looks more like one of those russian "hooplah" dancers, if you know what I mean.  If you don't, here's a picture:

I honestly don't like this grip too much, and if you do any sort of Olympic lifting, even as an assistance exercise, DON'T USE THIS GRIP.  But for those of you just starting out, or just doing front squats for the fun of it, feel free to try it out.  Some people like it much better.

So there's your intro to the front squat.  I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend hitting this exercise ASAP! You won't be sorry.  The gains possible off of front squats are enormous, and a lot of people have found that if they've plateaued on back squats, front squats can push them over that stall point and keep their numbers going up.  As far as Olympic lifting is concerned, the front squat is MUCH more applicable to the lifts than back squats, because you're forced to stay upright (and every single time you clean a heavy weight, you have to front squat it up...see the relation).  Hit the gym and try these bad boys out and you'll look and feel like an absolute monster!

Squat deep, squat heavy, stay tight, and GOOD LUCK! 

Training For Gold: After week 1

Working on as straight a pull as possible.  Not bad so far, eh?  

Well, I made it through week one.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't easy.  Total, I had 4 double days, in which I squatted heavy in the morning, and ran through that day's weightlifting workout (provided by my coach) in the afternoon.  Overall, the working weights for my second workout have been light, but that doesn't mean the workouts themselves weren't brutal.  The first two days, in fact, were a little more than I bargained for.  Allow me to explain:

Before starting this targeted training, I usually lifted heavy singles in all the lifts for about 6-20 reps per exercise (snatches, clean and jerks, squats).  This would take me about two hours (working at a slow pace), and my total reps weren't too high (though because the weights were always heavy, I always was quite glycogen depleted at the end of each workout.)

My new workouts involve tons and tons and TONS of triples.  That's right, three reps of heavy-ish weight in some of the most fatiguing lifts ever created.  Have you ever tried 5-8 sets of triple heavy clean and jerks?  Let me tell you, after you're done you feel like you've just sprinted two football fields.  It's crazy, but I can feel the strength building up inside me, and I love it.

Diet-wise, this week has been somewhat successful.  I've adapted to the higher caloric intake (and enjoyed it quite thoroughly), though I haven't seen too much budging on the scale.  I was 159 this morning, with clothes on and breakfast in my belly, as well as a lot of water in my muscles from the creatine.  I would say that taking all this into account I haven't really made any progress in terms of weight gain thus far, though I do feel stronger and more capable in the gym.  That could be either the creatine or the extra food talking.  I guess we'll see.

Creatine loading is complete, by the way.  I'm off the 20 grams per day, and have dropped back down to around 7-10 grams.  I'm trying to conserve the product, and see how far into this cycle my half jar of Universal Creatine can take me.  Luckily the stuff is cheap, so if supplies run low another couple 200 g bottles shouldn't cost much at all.

Universal Creatine.  Probably the best strength "bang for your buck" you can find.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

There haven't been any PR's in the classic lifts this week, and judging by the format of the workouts given to me I doubt I'll see any more PR singles for quite a while, just because I'm working so heavily on lots of repititions.  However I did PR on my front squat this week, and hit 104.5 kg (230 lbs) for 3 reps.  And despite it being a PR, it felt pretty darn solid, I might have another 2-3 kilos in me if I really push it, though I think I'll wait on that for just a bit.

For my rest day today, I've been doing nothing but stretching, loading up on protein and complex carbs, and working my core.  I cannot WAIT to get back into the gym bright and early tomorrow morning for my next heavy squat session, and can't wait to see what my coach has in store for this next week.  I have a sinking feeling the weights are going to increase very quickly.

We'll see how it goes, and I'll keep you all posted.  Wish me luck!

My Beef with YOUR Legs

All right, this here's my blog, and though I'll almost always give helpful, hopeful, kind and informative information, a guy's gotta blow off steam sometimes, right?  

I've recently had a string of circumstances in which I've overheard people discussing the infamous "leg day" in the gym.  Oh god, LEG DAY!  HOW AWFUL!  It's been nothing but moaning, groaning, and whining at how sore they are after their LEG DAY.  "Aw man, I hate walking up stairs after LEG DAY..." or, "Man I think I'm going to take my rest day today, I just hit LEGS yesterday and I can barely walk."  I usually just stand there, fuming a little bit, trying not to scream out at them that they have no idea what a real leg workout really is.  Luckily though, self control is one of my better qualities.

So what's my big issue with LEG DAY?  Well, while I can agree with a lot of bodybuilding philosophies, the dogma behind leg day is NOT one of them.  Sure, I can understand you may be sore after some high rep squats, leg presses, and lunges, but I won't tolerate the whining for days on end that follow such a "high intensity " workout.  I put high intensity in quotes because it's all really a matter of opinion, and I hate to say it, but most gym rats have no idea what some top level athletes go through to force their legs to the next level.  Allow me to explain, but before I do, understand that I AM going to bring up Olympic lifting and power lifting yet again, and because I am training for Olympic weightlifting you may think I'm biased.  You're entitled to that opinion, and you probably are right in a way.  I'm biased, sure, but for sound reasons.  Anyway....

Let's look at an amateur Oly weightlifter.  Do you bodybuilders have any idea what they're training entails?  Let's go through the motions of how their training progresses.  When they're  a stark, raw beginner, they're squatting moderately heavy/ heavy twice a week, and probably pretty light for one more day on top of that.  They'll then progress to at least four days of squatting per week, increasing both their volume and weight.  Pretty soon they'll be hitting at least 80% of their 1 rep max every one of their training days.  Once their body adapts, they'll increase the frequency of their training sessions.  A good amateur will be training about 6 days a week, with one double session thrown in there, in which they'll squat in BOTH sessions.  After that?  You guessed it, they'll add one more day.  At first they'll only squat light on this 7th day, but after a while this workout will build up to around the same level as their other ones.  They'll be hitting at least 85-95% of their max almost every day, for doubles and triples.  But this isn't even close to the end.  Oh no.  A professional, world class weightlifter will squat every day, two to three sessions, in which they'll max out multiple times on singles, doubles, triples, 5's, and sometimes even 10's.  On top of that, they'll be using weights that regularly exceed 500 lbs.  And that's just for squats.  Did I mention they do the same thing with snatches and clean/jerks?  Yeah, your leg day doesn't seem so hard anymore, does it?

Now THAT's some depth!

A common powerlifting workout schedule may not be as squat oriented as Olympic style weightlifting, but they're still working legs multiple times a week with far more intensity than you can really fathom.  They usually have one to two days entirely devoted to the heaviest squats they can muster, and usually one day devoted completely to deadlifting (again, at maximal loads).  These guys are the strongest of the strong when it comes to moving heavy stuff around, and they're doing reps with weight I couldn't move in any way, shape or form.  Do that multiple times a week, then complain about those lunges you used to do.

Bottom line, you'll build strength squatting heavy and squatting often.  You may think it goes against conventional knowledge of muscle recovery, but that's exactly the point.  You force your body to adapt to heavier weights, because you're lifting them so often.  Even me, the skinny kid from Vermont, has put about 100 lbs on his squat so far with the Olympic lifting technique, and it's only been about 6 months of serious training.  And that's self coached.  There's a reason the greatest Olympic athletes were squatting over 500 lbs by the time they were 19.  I think John Broz, one of America's finest weightlifting coaches, puts it best:

"If your family was captured and you were told you needed to put 100 pounds onto your max squat within two months or your family would be executed, would you squat once per week? Something tells me that you'd start squatting every day. Other countries have this mindset. America does not."

Now I don't mean to take anything away from serious bodybuilders.  Judging by the size of their legs, they know how to train to get what they want.  But that's just it.  They want size, definition, vascularity.  Strength comes in behind those.  Again, that's fine if that's your goal, but it certainly isn't mine.  I'd rather squat super heavy weight with big legs than medium/light weight with GIANT legs.

One more issue I have with a bodybuilder style leg workout, is the depth of the squats.  What the HECK are you guys thinking?  I regularly see these big fools get under a bar with WAYYY too much weight, groan as they barely manage to lift it onto their back (or neck if they're REALLY inexperienced), hunch right over and squat a full 4 inches.  WHAT ARE YOU DOING?  You're killing your knees, getting no real leg workout, and most likely destroying your lower back.  To get strength, you need to squat deep.  To squat deep, you need flexibility.  Look at any Olympic lifter, or even power lifter, they have ridiculous hip flexibility and can maintain a tight back even into the deepest of squats.  They're building solid legs.  Why aren't you?

NOT DEEP ENOUGH!!!!!

Anyway, there's my little rant.  To anyone around me, don't complain about leg days.  I may be a skinny kid with pretty skinny legs, but I'm still squatting 6 days a week, with double sessions every other day.  I don't find anything difficult about your stupid lunges, quarter squats, or leg presses.  And next time I see you straining to push 500lbs on the hack sled a full two inches, don't be surprised if you hear me chuckle just a little bit.

If you're looking for strength, squat heavy, squat deep, squat often, and don't cry about it.  GOOD LUCK!

Muscle Pharm COMBAT Powder *Review*

I've been using Combat powder for long enough, I believe it's time I let the world know what I think.  And if I could, I would climb to the highest mountain, and from the summit scream to all humanity just one simple phrase:...."THIS STUFF RULES!!!!"  That's right, Muscle Pharm's Combat powder really is a fantastic protein blend in so many ways, and if you're looking to change it up from your old boring, generic whey protein WITHOUT breaking the bank, I suggest you give Combat powder some serious consideration.

Why is it so great?  Well what makes Combat powder so unique is that not only does it have all sorts of high grade whey protein blends in it (hydrolized, isolate, and just plain concentrate), it ALSO has all sorts of other protein sources blended into it which your body needs to fully recover.  This stuff has egg white protein, micellar casein (a long acting protein that will feed your muscles for up to 8 hours after you're done lifting!) and a heaping load of glutamine which aids tremendously in shortening recovery time.  Listen:  training for Olympic style weightlifting means I lift every day, and lift heavy 95% of the time.  I need a protein that will bring me back up to snuff ASAP, in one night's sleep minimum.  This stuff does that.  It's got a rocking protein blend, and an AWESOME amino-acid blend as well to give your muscles basically everything necessary to rebuild for another day of heavy weights and hard reps.

How about the nutritional profile?  I can assure you that this protein is very high quality stuff with VERY high quality ingredients.  It's won "best break-out brand" and "best packaging" from bodybuilding.com, and was nominated for "best protein powder."  The nutritional profile obviously has a lot to live up to, and it's no surprise that it doesn't disappoint one bit.  Combat powder is extremely low carb, low sugar, low fat, and packed with 25 grams of protein per scoop!  Here's the nutritional information right off Muscle Pharm's website.  Take a gander:

Supplement Facts

Serving Size: 1 Scoop Approx. (33.6g)

Servings Per Container Approx.: 54

	Amount Per Serving	%DV
Vitamins & Minerals
Calories	140
Calories from Fat	15
Total Fat	1.5g	4%
Saturated Fat	1g	8%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	75mg	27%
Sodium	150mg	6%
Potassium	200mg	6%
Total Carbohydrates	5g	2%
Dietary Fiber	1g	4%
Sugars	2g	*
Protein	25g	50%
Calcium		13%
Iron		3%
Multi-Level Amino Acid Growth Matrix	33g	*

Combat Powder Proprietary Time Release System:
Micro Filtered Whey Protein Blend (Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Hydrolysate, Micellar Casein, Egg White Albumen, L-Glutamine, BCAA Blend: Alanine, L-Leucine, L-Valine, L-Isoleucine, Lysine, Arginine, Glycine, Histidine, Tyrosine, Cystine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Proline, Serine, Aspartic Acid, Threonine, Tryptophan*

Digestive Enzyme Blend
Protease, Lactase

Other ingredients
Natural and Artificial Flavors, Inulin, Sodium Chloride, Acesulfame, Potassium, Sucralose, Soy Lechtin, Potassium Citrate

* The Tryptophan in this product is naturally occurring.

*Daily Value (DV) not established

How's it taste?  DELICIOUS.  Seriously, this may be the best tasting protein powder in existence, and I'm not alone in that opinion.  Countless reviews of this product have all commented on how great this stuff tastes, and how AMAZING it is to drink compared to what ever protein they switched from last.  Before Combat, I was on "Wheybolic Extreme 60" from Amplified Muscle Performance.  Let me tell you now that this powder blows them out of the water as far as taste goes.  There are 6 awesome flavors of Combat powder:  Banana Cream, Vanilla, Chocolate Milk, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Cookies & Cream, and Triple Berry Blast.  

My personal favorite?  By far the Chocolate Peanut Butter.  I swear this stuff is like drinking a Reese's for 5 minutes straight.  It's just plain heavenly, utterly brilliant.  If you want a great tasting protein, pick up some Chocolate Peanut Butter Combat powder from Muscle Pharm.  It's as simple as that.  

How's it mix?  Again, Combat powder impresses me enormously when it comes to mixability.  In my shaker bottle, when thoroughly shaken, there's no clumping, no chunking, and no flavor imbalances.  Plus, the flavor is powerful enough in this protein so that you can mix it with more water than you'd initially believe.  I take two scoops per workout, and I mix them with about 20 oz of water.  The result?  An incredibly creamy taste that completely disguises the fact that it's mixed into water.  No more watery protein taste for me, thanks.  I'll take Combat powder.

Does it work?  Heck yeah!  Since I've been on this powder, my squat has gone up about 10-20 kg, and my clean and jerk and snatch have gone up 8 kg and 5 kg respectively.  That's a pretty big improvement in not too much time.  I feel strong on this powder, and every day I want to test it out to see if it's worked for me.  I've smashed all sorts of PR's other than my competition lifts while on this powder as well, so yes, I can safely say that Combat powder works.  

So what's it cost?  Not much.  Right now at bodybuilding.com it's for sale at $39.99 for 4lbs, an amount that will last you over a month and a half if you only take one scoop each day.  I think you'll agree, that's an absolutely amazing deal for such a high quality product, and is definitely worth more than the $70 other companies are asking for their inferior products.  On bodybuilding.com only, there's a new flavor too, called "S'mores."  Here's a link to the deal, hope it lasts a little longer for all of your sakes.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/musclepharm/combat.html

So what's the verdict?  Well, it's not surprsing that I will be ordering this stuff for as long as that online deal persists.  This protein is high quality, versatile, and feeds your body in all sorts of beneficial ways that other protein powders just plain DON'T.  Average whey protein absorbs quickly, then backs off in a rather short span of time.  Combat powder just keeps on building and building, feeding those tired muscles for 8 hours.  I don't have to be sponsored by Muscle Pharm to say that I love Combat powder and highly recommend it to anyone looking to pack on some serious strength and muscle mass. 

http://musclepharm.com/combat-powder