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 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.

Training For Gold: Day 1

Well, this is it.  I've told you all how to set goals, how to eat right, and how to train hard, and now my friends it's time for me to follow my own advice.  I'm going to try to take this weightlifting thing to the next level, and qualify for nationals in a year of serious training.  I figure since this is my blog, I can record my own progress amongst all the helpful advice, right?  Hey, maybe if a few people see it, I'll not only get a couple supporters, but I'll be forced to stick to my goals as strictly as possible.  Not that I'm not already determined as hell.

I've gotten in with a very well renowned coach, who's name I'll leave out for now, as I don't consider myself  a good enough athlete to be officially affiliated with him as of yet.  When I make him proud, I'll let you know who's responsible for my (possible) success.  He's the real deal though folks, a man who's trained champions, and who knows how to get people strong.  Starting today I'm off my own lifting program, and onto his.  Oh boy.....

I won't let you know the exact details of my routine, sorry.  It's nothing personal, but sometimes things designed by the real pros are meant to be kept secret, at least a little, right?  I mean come on, even today no one knows the real nitty gritty details behind the Bulgarian method of training which produced so many great champions, and that was over twenty years ago!  Sometimes the greatest things aren't meant to be shared with everyone.  It's like a magic show, you see the fantastic results, not the inner workings.

But let's get down to business.  In the next three months, I'm going to need to squat up to 160 kg, and improve both my snatch and clean and jerk by about 10-20 kg.  I'm also going to need to move up in weight to compete either as a 77 kg or 85 kg lifter.  Eventually, I'll have to compete as a 94 kg lifter, due to my height.  That means a diet change, starting today.

I've been eating around 2400-2700 calories per day, and I'm going to bump that up to at least 2900-3000 calories a day for the next couple weeks, and see where that gets me.  How am I going to do this?  Here's my plan:

1 more scoop of protein in my oatmeal, which makes two scoops total: 140 extra calories.

A glass of skim milk with lunch and dinner:  160-200 extra calories

1 full tablepoon of Naturally More peanut butter before bed (was previously eating only .5 tbsp): 50 extra calories

That'll take me to around 3000, and I figure that's a good place to start.  My body weight as of yesterday was 152.5 lbs.  I'm looking to break 160 lbs quite soon, as I've already been up to 164 lbs previously in my life.

I'm also starting back up on creatine after a 1 year hiatus, and am starting the loading phase today.  That means 20 grams a day for a week, then 10 grams a day for 4 more weeks after that, followed by a cleansing.

Chad Vaughn, a FANTASTIC USA weightlifter

I'm also doing double sessions as many days per week as I can, and bringing back one full rest day (Mondays).  I'm happy as I write this because just today I squatted 300 lbs unbelted to full depth.  A good start to a heavy training cycle.

Anyway, now you all know what I'm up to.  I'll routinely post pictures, progress, and PR's, and I hope some of you can follow my endeavors and root me on.  I'd love to share this experience with weightlifting enthusiasts, and really prove how great this sport really is.

Nationals, here I come, and to the competition:  Watch out, Seth's going to own that platform.

All About Glycogen

I bet you've all had them.  Those days when you drag yourself to the gym, and for some reason can't lift even fractions of what you normally could.  You'll end up frustrated beyond belief at the end of your session, wondering why weights that you generally pull with ease just won't budge.  You may look in the mirror, and feel as if your muscles looks smaller, softer, and less "bulky" than they usually are.  You just may feel weak, a shadow of your formal, beastly self.  Why has all your progress suddenly come to naught?

The answer?  Glycogen depletion.

Glycogen is an extremely important substance that is stored in your muscles and in your liver.  It is the body's usable source of carbohydrates.  You've always wondered how all that food you ate ended up as usable energy.  Well, glycogen is the answer!  Your body basically converts ingested carbohydrates into glycogen, and saturates your muscles and liver with the stuff to use as an efficient and powerful fuel source.  Hence, after your workout (in which you've hopefully depleted a large amount of your glycogen stores), it would definitely be in your interest to consume carbohydrates with your protein (the ratio is under scrutiny, some say 2:1 carbs to protein, others say as much as 4:1) in order to initiate both protein and glycogen synthesis.  

Easy enough right?  To keep those glycogen stores topped off, keep some carbs in that post-workout meal.  But because you've read my other articles (you have, haven't you?) , you may, upon considering this information, have reached a quandary about replenishing glycogen stores.  You may have realized that there are multiple types of carbohydrates (namely simple, and complex).  So which does a better job of fueling up those muscles after a hard workout?  Or maybe you're wondering if it matters at all, as long as your muscles get those much needed nutrients.

Well we've established in previous examples that IN GENERAL complex carbohydrates are a more effective energy/nutrient source for your body.  They are released slowly and used efficiently, and are less likely to be stored as fat.  They'll give you lasting energy for long periods of time, and are the better choice for filling up those glycogen starved muscles.  Why aren't simple carbs quite as good?  Well here's a quote from a website I found that describes it better than I could:

"… complex carbohydrates … are more effective in replenishing glycogen stores than simple sugars. This makes sense because complex carbs are released slowly whereas simple sugars are released very rapidly, potentially overwhelming the glycogen synthesis pathways and "spilling over" into fat stores. Furthermore, the increased insulin release resulting from simple sugars causes more of the sugar to be converted to fat (Parillo, p.20)."

So there you go, glycogen stores are more effectively replenished via complex carbohydrates.  Good examples of easily consumable complex carbohydrate sources are maltodextrin and brown rice syrup, both of which can easily be mixed into a post workout protein shake.  

Brown Rice Syrup...lovely isn't it?

But simple, sugary carbs also have their place post workout.  In fact they play a very important role in initiating both glycogen and protein synthesis.  Simple sugars (like dextrose, a commonly used sugary carb in the fitness scene) will quickly spike your blood sugar, which allows muscles to rapidly absorb all sorts of nutrients.  In fact, post workout is about the only time you really want to voluntarily "spike" your blood insulin because it allows for all that good synthesis material such as amino acids, carbs, vitamins, minerals, you name it, to be sponged up by those soft, tired muscles in no time flat.  Pretty nifty biochemistry, if I don't say so myself.  

There it is, a simple explanation of muscle glycogen, and why it is so crucial in the strength/fitness scene.  Low glycogen levels=poor performance, and believe me nobody wants to feel like crap in the gym.  If you've come off a long training cycle, chances are your glycogen stores are very low.  Don't be afraid to take a day off and eat a good amount of quality carbohydrates.  Everybody needs a re-feed every now and then!

Keep those muscles fueled, lift heavy and run like the wind.  Good luck!

Reference Article (A great read if you have the time, delves into more complex topics about glycogen replenishment):  http://fitnessforoneandall.com/nutrition/article/glycogen.htm

Size v. Strength: The Great Debate

Ever since the dawning of the modern workout, there has been a great divide between two main trains of thought regarding muscular growth.  There were those who wanted to get BIG, and those who wanted to get STRONG.  Such desires spawned two completely different methods for lifting weights, and two completely different types of athletes.

For the time being, lets ignore the casual "I just want to get toned" gym-goer (although I will admit this is a large percentage of gym-goers...).  

When I say two completely different athletic builds, I really mean it. Put these guys next to each other and rarely will you see extreme similarities.  Make them train alongside each other, and the differences will become even more apparent.  The methods are DIFFERENT.  To get big, you must train in separate fashion than you would if you were specifically looking for strength.  Yes, some traits carry over from each method of training (an athlete looking for strength only will inevitably put on muscle mass), but I'll say again, in general they are distinct from each other.

Let's examine the methodology behind each muscular goal.  What goes into the workout, why does the method work the way it does, and how can you incorporate it into your own gym related endeavors?

SIZE:  We've all seen them.  The fantastically enormous bodybuilders that appear to be half man half gorilla, all muscle.  They're basketball sized biceps, ginormous pectorals, and shredded abdominals seem to defy some law of nature.  Yet there they stand, bigger than any human we've ever seen.  How do they do it?  Well aside from an extremely picky diet, and some "medical enhancement," it's all in the gym, and their method of training. 

Bodybuilders train for hypertrophy.  Hypertrophy is the increase of overall cellular volume.  More specifically, bodybuilders train for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, and focus more on training their slow twitch, or I muscle fibers.  This basically means that bodybuilders train to experience an increase in cross sectional area of their muscles, and not really associated strength.  It's common to watch bodybuilders doing unbelievably high volume with very sub-maximal loads, at least relative to their muscle size.  Judging by their physique, it appears that they could throw a car above their head.  But in the end, they simply do not have the strength that they appear to have.  

But to them, this doesn't matter so much.  They train for APPEARANCE. And there's a lot to be said about appearance.  Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy allows you to look big and strong, often a more impressive trait than actually being as strong as an ox but only average in the muscular department.  This hypertrophy also more readily accelerates your metabolism, allowing you to burn more fat more quickly, and build that physique you've always wanted.  

How do you go about training for this type of muscle gain?  Well for building big muscle, you want a big rep number, with sub maximal weight.  Don't go super duper light, but work those muscles to exhaustion.  As you've probably heard before, FEEL THE BURN.  Super sets, drop sets, and negative reps are all great ways to overload your muscles for set after set to really ensure a good growth stimulus is sent to your brain and those muscles increase in volume as quickly as possible.  The most general rule for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is to keep reps within the 8-12 range, for at least 3 sets (I've seen people do as many as 10-15 though.)  This is only a general guideline though, and I suggest heading over to bodybuilding.com to get a more detailed workout routine.  

STRENGTH:  Let me bring to mind an athlete you may or may not have heard of: Pyrros Dimas.  Dimas was a three time Olympic gold medalist for weightlifting.  He weighed in at a meager 182 pounds, yet lifted 473lbs over his head in the Sydney Olympics.  He was the ultimate example of a strength athlete, and is one of my personal heroes.   

So how is it possible that Dimas was able to get so ungodly strong without becoming enormous and inflexible?  Well he, and other strength athletes alike, train for Myofibrillar hypertrophy, or an increase in overall muscle fiber connections.  This type of training surprisingly does NOT drastically increase cross-sectional area or overall volume of the muscle being trained, but instead allows the muscle to contract with much more force than it could previously.  Believe me, to put that much weight over your head, you need a LOT of targeted, raw, force.  

Myofibrillar hypertrophy deals more with fast twitch, or type II muscle fiber, the kind often referred to as "usable muscle."  Athletes like sprinters, Olympic lifters, power lifters, and other related force athletes often have large amounts of fast twitch muscle.  This muscle contracts, as the name implies, hard and fast, and can apply great amounts of energy to objects in very short amounts of time.  It is not, however, very effective endurance muscle.  Muscles can only contract with remarkable force for relatively short periods of time, hence the reason that joggers, bodybuilders, Nordic skiers, swimmers, and other endurance athletes (I put bodybuilders in there because of their ability to hit fantastic numbers of reps, NOT their running ability, which I'm sure is horrendous) possess much more slow twitch, endurance muscle fiber.  

It's always good to get strength training into your workout routine, as being able to lift heavy weights is not only healthy, it also builds a more solid body and strong neural connections between your brain and your muscles.  So where do you start?  Well, first of all, drop the huge number of reps.  Next, increase the weight.  Finally, do this for a good number of sets, 10 or so.  For an olympic lifter, a squat workout program may look like this:  10 sets of 2 reps, every rep at around 85-95% of max.  Believe me, though it may look like an easy workout, it is anything but.  That weight is very heavy, and will ALWAYS be very heavy.  This type of training does work though, and I can personally vouch for it.  The majority of my training is strength targeted.  My squat has gone up around 90lbs in 6 months, and shows no signs of slowing down.  And I don't look too much different, implying I haven't experienced much sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.  Watch out Dimas, here I come!

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So which is the best way to train?  ....HAH!  What a silly question.  That's not possible to answer, and rarely will anybody who knows there stuff about exercising/fitness give you a straight shot one way or another.  For the average person, I suggest a mixture of both!  You'd like to look good and be strong at the same time, right?  Well that's a great goal, AND entirely possible.  Switch up your workout, either weekly, monthly, yearly, daily, I don't care.  Confuse your body, train both high and low reps, high and low weight, high and low volume.  You want to see benefits across the board right?  Well you will!  There's always carryover from each type of training.  Even though I said bodybuilders aren't relatively strong...well...I said RELATIVELY.  They're still unbelievably strong, because look at how much muscle mass they've got!  And sure, Olympic lifters aren't overly huge, but I mean they aren't exactly tiny either.  Train for both size and strength, and you'll get both.  Sure, what you'll always get isn't the BEST of either world, but it'll be a pretty good start into each one, and it'll do your body a huge favor.

Get big, get strong, and as always, good luck!