Fight or Flight
 

Hi Vickie,

As you know, I've been doing some serious weight training this year and as an "older" person, I really have to pay more attention to what my body is telling me. Since I overtrain once every couple of months, I'm becoming keenly aware of some of the unpleasant effects of excess Cortisol accumulation.

I've been studying the effects of the hormone Cortisol on the body, which is the "fight or flight" hormone. It is released by the Adrenal Gland when the body experiences stress and it can have a cumulative effect, which in essence is system fatigue and lack of muscle gains associated with overtraining. Overtraining also consists of nervous system fatigue but from what I understand, Central Nervous System fatigue isn't directly associated with Cortisol.

Cortisol is a catabolic hormone which breaks down muscle in order to supply the system with essential Amino Acids during stress. It can also contribute to fat storage, poor sleep patterns, and immune system inhibition among other undesirable effects. Since the Adrenal Gland doesn't care what the source of the stress is; it can be work stress, financial stress, physical stress, commuter stress, you name it... In today's day and age, we are all probably overdosed on Cortisol.

I'm trying to get a handle on how to manage the daily Cortisol cycles along with my training and it dawned on me that Golfers, especially Tournament Golfers, deal with it's effects on a regular basis without even knowing it. It's not just the Adrenaline surge that Athletes have to deal with, its also the stress induced Cortisol accumulation that can effect those makeable 5 foot putts or wide fairway shots.

I'd like to explore how we can manage our hormonal responses to stress. There is no doubt in my mind that peak performance is assisted through a balanced and managed hormonal system.

This in essence is a "stress management" thread.

Thanks,

Always back to Basics
 

Bagger, I'll start with the answer and share some concept after because this is such a great thread subject and effects everyone.

The straight clear answer is nutrition. If your body has an adequate amount of blood glucose to provide the fuel for the activity level at hand then there is no need for a catabolic, muscle breakdown, response. So when we go too long between meals and during this time have even normal daily stressful situations (deadlines, traffic, worry, or even a wonderfully hectic social life) the body responds appropriately and mobilizes to keep your body in high function mode.

In terms of your workouts, even without overtraining, you are demanding a lot of energy. This is one time when you consciously choose to put stress into your life. You are choosing to put stress on the muscles in the form of overloading the muscular system and/or the cardiopulmonary system to perform at a higher level than customary. For those that don't know, this causes a breakdown of muscle tissue that then repairs itself at a higher level thereby increasing your fitness. I refer to this as raising your threshhold. But all this work really taxes your glucose levels because the muscles burn so many calories, primarily glucose. That's why people that train regularly or play sports are typically leaner than the general population.

Training: Be sure to have a protein snack with some carbohydrates 30 minutes before your workout. Don't eat any closer or your body will have to fight between digestion and your workout. Then, within 30 minutes of your workout have another snack of protein with some carbohydrates. If you train as hard as you are suggesting you may benefit from a carbohydrate beverage during your workouts. The proportions of your snacks and meals are specific to your training level, your body type, your body composition, and your objectives.

There is a reason that natural body builders use heavy weights and high calories during their building, bulking, phase and then use lighter weights and a stricter diets in preparation for a show. No matter what people think of this population they are the most knowledgeable about getting the most from their workouts and about building their bodies; we are talking about natural bodybuilding. Infact, the general population could take a lesson from this model. You should cycle your training program throughout the year and even throughout your weekly schedule. Alternate heavy work with lighter weights, high intensity with lower intensity to contribute to your bodies ability to recouperate from the stress.

For Daily Life: Well balanced meals throughout the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks between) of high quality food in an amount that supplies the energy for that part of the day and culminates into the amount of calories and nutrients you need by the end of the day; that's the ticket. This means that you can't over eat at any meal. It takes a few days or weeks to get your formula right and it requires some preparation but it makes everything simple once it becomes familiar.

Frequent meals accomplish the following:

1. Smaller single intakes of calories so all of the calories and nutrients are used thereby eliminating the excess that is stored as fat.
2. Since the body can only assimilate a specific amount of macro-nutrients (carbs, fat, and protein) and micro-nutrients (vitamins and minerals) at one time you are insuring that you have provided everything your body needs to be healthy. Even with our largely obese society we have a high level of malnutrition because we eat poorly and infrequently with excessive calories. So at the end of the day all of the nutrients were available but the body was unable to use, assimilate, them . . . but it sure got to have a fat storing party.
3. Small meals mean easy digestion which reduces the stress on the digestive system.
4. You would stabilize your energy and loose the slumps that are usually inconvenient.
5. Mental aquity would be at a premium.
6. You wouldn't store as much fat and your body would release some of your storage because it would no longer have periods of need that it interprets as starvation.
7. You would never have to go on a diet again.


So finally, how do you interrupt the negative effects of Cortisol (and remember there are positives that I'll talk about in another post):

1. Eat high quality, balanced, small meals frequently throughout the day.
2. Reduce your intake of caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and processed sugar.
3. Get adequate, restful sleep daily. I believe in short power naps; 30 minutes max.
4. Organize your daily schedule to reduce rushing between your many appointments.
5. Exercise daily with respect to your energy, your health and your objectives.
6. Schedule regular enjoyable, invigorating, and easily accessible activities. Two week vacations once a year are great but not sufficient for the whole year.
7. Play lots of golf.
8. Reduce your stress. Well duh. I'll address this when my fingers rest.

Vik

Great subject and reply Vickie. One (very slight) criticism though. We cannot 'reduce stress' we can only manage it better.

Call'in you out
 

Great response as always Vicky and we'll keep this topic going because I think its really important for Tournament Golf among other things, like a healthy balanced lifestyle.

Speaking of which...
Girl, you made edits to your post at 3:00AM this morning...:naughty:
Better cut back on those power naps, or maybe you know something you ain't share'in about rest management. :laughing9

By the way - Its 4:20AM and I'm editing this post:eek:

Food for thought
 

GPStyles,

I agree with your point but there is a stress reduction aspect when you manage things better. A wise man (my Dad) told me that the key to planning (stress management?) is to ALWAYS build in margins. He added things like 15 minutes early is on time etc. A key I have found to managing stress, especially here in the U.S. is "learning" how to wait! I always carry my back pack around with me contents of which: energy bar, water and a certain yella book! :) It is a little weird but when I am delayed... say at the dentist office I do not blow a gasket! This is not the case when playing behind club wielding tree sloths! :naughty: I think everybody has what I call a "silly button", you know something "small" that produces a psycho reaction. For me it is slow play on the golf course!

Vicki,

I appreciate your willingness to share your expertise. Eating smaller more frequent meals literally changed my life. I was prone to "crash" mid morning and mid afternoon (i.e. in between large meals) I felt as weak as a welp etc. In fact,

1. 6 meals per day, taken every three hours
2. The become progressively smaller as the day goes on
3. I seldom eat simple sugars after 2pm
4. I eat quality protein, every mea l but try not to eat more than 4oz of
meat per meal
5. I try to eat raw vegatables eg. salad, broccoli w/hummus
6. NO foods are forbidden! I make the distinction between for "fuel food" and for "feelings food." For feelings is for taste alone, for fuel is for taste and nutrition.

I am working hard to teach my kiddos "how to eat!" I am appalled at the high incidences of child obesity these days. :confused1

Thanks Vickie, to be fair its not my observation but one I have acknowledged as 'true'. I read it originally via Carey Mumford.:salut:

Are we clear?
 

I don't think I suggested that stress (by most peoples interpretation) can necessarily be eliminated. In fact, the demands on our life typically exist because we want so much. We want rich relationships, we want financial success, we want to see the world, we want exceptional health, we want all of the myriad of delights our great world has to offer. Hans Selye is often referred to as the godfather of understanding stress. In his book, from the early 70's and read by 'moi' at that time) I remember that he said, "stress is the bodies response to the demands placed upon it". So the demands always exist but it is, as gystyles stated, our response that determines how we feel about it, positive or negative, and often how our physiology responds as a consequence of our mental state. So okie, said it well, planning for the demands of your chosen lifestyle often minimize your mental and physical drain and thereby your stress response.

Nutrition was and is the first order of managing the response patterns and the effects of stress related incidents. A popular diet Dr. said food is your drug and as much as I resisted the statement, in the beginning, he is exactly right. The food we eat provides the resources to maintain maximal performance of our many chemical systems that manage our body functions. I still have to finish a full report but let me say here that the cortisol response is not only prolific in our present time because of our 'stressful' schedules but is very often an imbalanced response due to adrenal fatigue. If the adrenal gland is overworked it becomes inefficient at accurately interpreting the level of stress it is addressing and will over compensate with the stress hormones. I will post on the detail of this phenomenon later. I will also address some of the complementary organ functions that excite our production of these hormones. It is important to understand that cortisol is not the enemy but our management of our physiology (which includes mental function) and it can be managed. Heck, learning to say NO to some of the requests in our lives can add as much stress as it takes away. Nobody said it would be easy.

Ok Bagger, I would say you've busted me but you actually caught me in a stress management protocol that works beautifully for me and causes most people to raise their brow in question. I have always been a great sleeper and really believe in the importance of restorative rest. I never believed in the popular saying,"I'll sleep when I'm dead". But in my midlife as a woman I found myself a participant in another hormonal flux, not experienced by our male readers; subtle enough? Suddenly I was awake at 3:00 every morning and watching the clock, tossing and turning, 'trying to go back to sleep' and being enormously anxious as I watched the time move closer and closer to the alarm clock bell. I had for some time had another stressful life experience. I write almost daily but never feel fresh or energetic after a long day of work and since I get up at 5:30 for my day I couldn't imagine getting up early to try to write. Add to it that I do best if 'my mind' knows that I will have atleast two hours without interruption. I always write best in the morning but that is when my clients most want to have their appointments. So . . .I realized that all I had to do was go to bed earlier than any other adult I know, I don't have children in my home anylonger, and I could wake up naturally and get my writing done. In fact, I have had some of my best experiences because there is no interruption, nobody wants to see me at 3:00 a.m. (I had a doctor that saw me at 4:00 for a while), there is no one to call, the world is quiet and I love it. This is where the self management came in. We humans are quick to find all of the problems. Who goes to bed at 7:00. We'll I have about three hours at home after my work day and found that I really could go to sleep quite easily, especially after a few days of staying up after my early morning writing experience. It's is definitely different than most people but so are a lot of my life choices.

So break out of the mold, plan for your life ( am in traffic daily and I only schedule clients around easy traffic flow so a frazzled trainer is not trying to tout health), fuel your body in a way that serves your health and your pleasure. I love a life full of variety and it's a challenge but it is only as stressful as I decide it will be. Oh yea, if you're in traffic, try a book on tape and skip some of the onslot of news that will be available many more times during the day. It is a type of meditation so make sure you like the story.

Vik

Stretch Goals
 

Vickie,

How about extraordinary stress which is usually an effect of extraordinary demands.

In my case, I've been placing a great deal of physical stress on my body in order to meet some mental demands, i.e. goals for the level of fitness I want to achieve. I'm going through some mid-life changes as well and men also experience physical side-effects, but not to the degree that women do. I've been supporting my wife through her hormonal changes so I have a much better appreciation for female challenges as we age. My fitness routine is directly related to helping ease the effects of aging in order to continue experiencing a higher quality of life.

So for those of us who want to break out of a pattern of homeostasis in order to increase our fitness and/or performance levels, we need to increase the stress on our system to get to a higher level. Our bodies loves homeostasis so it is mental willpower that drives the change.

In other cases, extraordinary stress is created externally such as moving to a new city, a change in our relationship with signficant others, job changes, and even particularly demanding golf tournaments that leaves us emotionally and physically spent. A healthy diet to provide the right fuel at the right time and high quality rest is very important. Assuming a person is already managing stress relatively well, the new load will be a challenge and the body will react.

I've experienced this with my fitness routine and I've had to change my habits to accomodate the new stress loads including a change of diet and rest patterns. It's very uncomfortable and difficult to bring the changes into my lifestyle. The motivation to keep going is seeing fat melt off, doubling my strength since starting, along with an increased feeling of well being and confidence levels. Having people notice the changes also helps reinforce the discipline to stay "uncomfortably stressed".

So many people give up on new goals or new life challenges because the stress is just too much to manage. Its simply too hard or uncomfortable to reach that next level of homeostasis, so the easy and pleasurable response is to give up and keep "playing to your ability" or even worse overinduldge in complacency (which is life, liberty and the pursuit of nothing), and let age plus excess calories take its toll in reducing abilities. We obviously want to encourage the opposite which is take on new goals and learn to manage the associated stress that comes with it.

A bit older than my teeth
 

I enjoy learning from older folks! :laughing9

Old Thin Skin
 

Easy there Oklahoma, I just had my 49th two days ago. I'm still cranky and my T-levels are on the rise.

One of my training buddys in the Gym who is 8 years my senior asked if I was going to Chucky Cheese for my birthday. :BangHead:
To celebrate the occassion and shut up my training partner, I came within 15lbs of my lifetime best bench press that I hit in my early 20's :angry2:

Sick... I know, but somehow it made me feel better about my age.

No offense intended...Methuselah!
 

One more trip around the sun and you are half a century! :happy3: Good job on fighting the law of entropy! :salut:

Wisdom Within
 

So Bagger, You almost started with a question but obviously you know the answer. You never have to raise your stress if you are happy with the status quo. But for most of us, as with my writing and publishing challenge, I had to adjust my schedule to get the most productivity for my efforts. So at 3:00 a.m. I get the most done. The inherant stress that I could have felt burried under would be giving up my evenings, some dramatic television. Initially I felt deprived but a little bit of calm, mature consideration and I was happy to give up these things in light of the satisfaction of a more important goal. That is the real secret, if there is one. Here's a great and short little mind game to play whenever you are adjusting your life to accomodate a new demand, be in invited or not. I will place this in light of the scenario I painted since I think most people will agree that a 7:00 bedtime and 3:00 arisal is unusual.
After I found a solution to my sleep and writing problems I still felt like it would be a stressful adjustment. So I used this method to realign my thinking into something positive and calm.

My stressful thinking: I will hate going to bed so early I can't have any evening phone time, the only time for most of my friends, and I can't watch "my favorite programs" and it's still light outside when I go to bed."

Question One: Is this true?
"We'll yes, I will be going to bed at infantile hours, missing my shows, and it is light outside."

Question Two: Is it all really true?
"Well no, I actually like going to bed early, I usually only watch TV because I don't feel like doing much else since I've been working with clients since 6:00 a.m. I don't really care that much about the TV shows as I miss them anyime a friend invites me to dinner or comes over for a visit or a book I'm reading is at a good place. Frankly, I love sleeping in on the weekend after the sun comes up so what's the big difference?"

Question Three: How do you feel when you think the stressful thoughts?
"I feel deprived and controlled by my busy life. I feel like I am limited by my own choices and like I expect too much out of life."

Question Four: How do you feel when you aren't thinking about it?
"I think it is luxurious to lay down in bed with no responsibility to anyone at a wickedly early hour of the night. I absolutely love getting the writing accomplished as I have always wanted to finish my manuscript and feel like I am making real progress. I also love that I write more usable text in two hours that I used to get when I would force my tired mind to sit at the computer from 7:00-11:00 every evening. I frankly think watching the television, and somebody elses made up story, a waste of time even if I'm not watching the silly game and reality shows. I feel in complete control, achieving my goals and able to adjust my schedule when ever I feel like it serves my life best."


Ok this may seem silly but it is a tried and true method. And now I don't have to think about it any longer I just accept my adjustments and the stress inducing demand is not longer a negative issue. I also have to do this with training because it is important to me I am happy to make the necessary sacrifices to make it safe and effective.

It is really all about acceptance of what is. Do the best to orchestrate the most peaceful environment in light of the new demands and then accept the reality. I swear it gets easier with practice. Staying focused on the difficulty and the negative is a practiced mental exercise also. Take your pick.

Vik

So much wisdom, thank you for sharing Vickie. And all the best in your pursuits.

Vickie,

I am a beginning lifter and I have made some good progress in the last 7 weeks. I have gone from 150 to 168 pounds. And by working out 3 days a week on compound lifts I have improved my strength.

My 5 rep maxes:
Overhead press: 90 pounds to 125 pounds
Back Squat: 135 pounds to 270 pounds
Deadlift: 165 pounds to 275 pounds
DB Snatch: 50 pounds to 75 pounds
Bench Press: I messed this up initially and am now starting to make progress.

So here is the question. I have noticed in the last couple of weeks I have been extremely fatigued, negative, and barely able to get through my workouts. I might be getting dangerously close to overtraining (I'm still able to progress every week on weights though). I think I will start a deload week but I don't know how much to deload without really losing too much. I just want to deload lower body because upper body seems to be moving along alright still and doesn't seem to be causing too much fatigue. Would a 75% deload week be about right?

Thanks!

Matt

If you've been hitting it hard for seven straight weeks, it's probably time for a break. I know it's tough -- you feel like your whole daily routine is out of whack without the gym -- but it helps in the long run. So, for you, a good week of rest and recuperation is likely a good idea. You don't have to sit around all week, but just stay away from the weights.

When you start to look at the bigger picture of your training, you can begin to schedule in "deload" weeks. This can mean taking a few workouts off, or perhaps cutting volume by half for a week (reduce the amount of sets you're doing for each exercise by half).

The point is to give your body a chance to rebound -- to let your fitness catch up with your fatigue. Excessive fatigue, as you seem to be noticing, makes you underperform and lose the motivation to work out.

Let us know how it goes!

Say What?
 

Mrodock,

I must tell you I haven't heard the word deload in a while and I would definitely not recommend a 75% reduction. I have some questions. I need to know how many sets and at what weight you build to your 5 rep max. Are these all of the exercises you are doing? Are you doing this workout three times a week? How much do you weigh? How old are you. Do you know your bodyfat percentage? Is this seven week beginning the only time you have done any ongoing strength training? Do you have a trainer? How did you choose your program? What are your objectives?

You hit the nail on the head, you are overtrained. The first sign I look for is apathy with regard to going to the gym or reaching your goal or even staying focused during the workout. Assuming you are over trained you have no choice but to take your workouts down a notch. Next week allow yourself two days between workouts. When I see your whole program I can advise you about your weight, rep, set orchestration.

Are you getting enough sleep? How is your nutrition? Are you doing cardio/aerobics also?

I hope you'll provide this information so I can give you an answer for the other viewers to see. So often people will ask questions that might help others but then we don't get the whole picture.
Most of our viewers don't train with this level of weight so they have no reference point.

I am a real believer in split routines and this includes compound motions. You should alternate between high intensity workouts and lower intensity workouts. This allows you to keep working but slips in some extra recovery. There is also some imbalance in your weight allocation. I don't see any lat or rhomboid work represented here. Hope that's an oversight.

Matt is very experienced but I must clarify that your fitness won't catch up with fatigue unless you change your training protocol. The purpose of training with overload is to raise your fitness level, the bodies ability to perform and recover more efficiently. Since your benefits from training don't happen in the gym but in the period of time afterward when the body heals the microtramas, you have to be sure that your rest period is sufficient and healing is complete before you begin tearing down the muscle again. [Not allowing enought time to rebuild is one of the main reasons people complain about not getting bigger or stronger. They tear down and start to rebuild but then tear down again before the new muscle response occurs. Robbing Peter to pay Paul] This enormous fatigue that seems not to go away and interfers with your workouts is a clear indicator of adrenal fatigue which is a precursor for excess cortisol production. (I still have to finish that part of my post). And taking off more than a few days means that you must reevaluate your program and your goal timelines. A five rep max, based on the information you illuminated, indicates to me that you are maxing out every workout. Nobody will recover from that, especially if they have a real life with work and family and sports.

Vik

Vickie,

I am doing the Starting Strength program by Rippetoe and Kilgore. It is a 3 sets x 5 reps program, 3 times a week. So I do not have a trainer, I am simply following the book. They do not talk much about what to do when it comes to overtraining or avoiding it altogether (there is no index so it is difficult to confirm). I do not have a trainer. I am 27 years old and I only started lifting any weights about 4 months ago and I just started with some upper body and then added some lower body exercises after a few weeks. I get an average of 7 hours of sleep a day during the week, and about 9 hours during weekends. I eat around 4000 calories a day. Taking about 150 grams of whey protein, 25 grams of BCAA, 20 grams of glutamine. I typically eat about 3 serving of fruit a day but not much for vegetables. I eat whole grains, steak, turkey, guacamole, peanut butter, eggs, walnuts, cocunut, etc. Almost all foods are organic. I would like to take fish oil but I've gotten the fish burps a few times and it is so disgusting I cannot continue to eat enough to gain the weight I wish to put on. I started at 150 pounds, probably around 12% body fat and am now 168 pounds 7 weeks later. I understand this to be pretty typical weight gain on the program if it is followed correctly. In the first 2 weeks I made huge gains on the big lifts but now I ry to go up a little bit of weight each week. I do 4 warm-up sets on each lift and 3 work sets on all lifts except for Romanian deadlifts and regular deadlifts where I do a single work set. I will outline my workout routine below.

To be honest I want to workout. But the workouts are taking so much out of me it is crazy. Plus, I think my generally negative attitude lately has to do with overtraining. When I am at the gym I am happy I am there it is just so hard to get through the workouts.

By 75% deload I meant lift 75% of the weight that I ordinarily do for a week.

The authors of the book claim that people can go 2 to 3 months on this program before they have to start periodizing their workouts.

This is my program in its entirety, I do not mix in any cardio. A typical cycle for me is as follows:

Monday:
Back Squat
Overhead Press
Romanian deadlift
Face pulls

Wednesday:
Front Squat
Bench Press
DB Snatch
Grip work

Friday:
Back Squat
Overhead Press
Deadlift
Face pulls

Monday:
Front Squat
Bench Press
DB Snatches
Grip Work

When I began having trouble adding 5 pounds to my back squat every workout I started with the front squats. That was after 4 weeks.

One other thing, my stomach has been more bloated in the past couple of days than usual. I am going to start taking a probiotic supplement in case it is gastrointestinal upset but it might be the result of excess cortisol as well. Related to that is the fact that I tend to store fat in my stomach which I think is indicative of someone that tends to have higher cortisol levels.

Any supplement advice or ideas for how to recover and not lose much of my progress and stay on this program would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Matt

Poster Child
 

Matt,

Your current condition is exactly what this thread is about and thanks for jumping in. Like I mentioned earlier, the hormonal system doesn't discriminate stress. It treats it all the same whether its physical, mental, or emotional. Correct me if I'm mistaken here Vik.

Now imagine you've qualified for a big tournament last month or you are defending your club championship this weekend until Monday. You will walk 54 holes for three days under tournament pressure.

Assuming your golf game is really good and under normal circumstances you could win, do you think you would play your best golf right now?

If things went well I think I could keep things going. A double or triple bogey given my current condition could cause me to come unglued whereas ordinarily I could probably get through it.

Being calm and collected certainly helps and a proper amount of cortisol makes a big difference in maintaining such a state no matter the circumstances.

Body Stress
 

Great Reply Matt, You definitely have the supplements and enough calories to support your work. I am grateful for your workout exercise list, now what is the weight/rep/set configuration. Also, let's get your current bodyfat percentage.

Without knowing your lifestyle I will assure you that you need a lot of rest for this kind of workout, I am going on your max overload approach. Bodybuilders take atleast two naps during the day and do little else physical to sustain growth and recovery.

I have only glanced at the online material regarding the book you referenced and I liked what I read. The focus on only using the amount of weight you can manage in full range, proper form is right on. I will tell you though, that you are missing some key exercises and from their protocol it is upon their recommendations.

You can't sustain good core balance without addressing the lats and the rhomboids directly; I will go to the mat on this. Since you have a quote referencing lag on your posts I will tell you that the lat is instrmental in creating this phenomenon in conjunction with the chest's role in creating the movement of your arms as they cross your body.

Also, as strange as this may sound you need some cardio. So often people think of this as just a fat loss routine and another energy using function. You are very young in body building, 4 months I think you said, and made no indication of any previous exercise program. The cardio-pulmonary system is your master of providing the oxygen necessary for your muscles to create energy in the mitocandria of each cell. The vascular system is the middle man that carries this necessary nutrient to the muscles; in fitness you will often hear cardio referred to as cardio-vascular exercise. People assume that you will use up to much energy and hard injested calories if they do cardio of any kind during their bulking phase. The truth is that you need a strong cardio-pulmonary-vascular system that is efficient and effective to supply enormous amounts of oxygen to this level of work. Likewise, your muscles need to be very efficient at receiving the oxygen once it is made available. Often, in the beginning phases of training hard, these systems are not sufficient to support the work. The natural response if fatigue and resistance to taking on more work that the body is unable to perform safetly. This is also the reason that we take time off and "de-load" during phases. I will also add that we typically think of the first three to six months as beginning and use this time to set the system up for increasing to maximal levels. You jumped right in full bore. Not a criticism, just an observation. The fact that you are anazyzing this already indicates that you will be successful in finding your perfect training program. It's never the same for any body at any age.

Don't be discouraged by my asking for more work. You only need to train this cardio system for short, low intensity workouts to improve it's performance and the body's receptive capabilities. Of my past power friends, the bike was the machine of choice.

There are other training options I could share but I will do so with respect to the fact that you found a program that got your motivation roaring. In the mean time I hope you are getting a multi vitamin and plenty of C and you have to keep your carbs up to keep your cortisol from sabotaging your hard work. You said few vegetables so why don't you give me a day's nutrition journal and let's tear it apart. Your protein requires carbs for efficient assimilation and I can't imagine 4,000 calories without more carbs than my brain assumed. What about complex carbs? They will also keep your energy stores high enough to keep your muscle in place.

Sounds like you have the basic platform now let's make it yours. Vik

P.S. Bagger is right, Stress come in a miriad of forms but once the body has to deal with it you are facing one predictable system of management.

27, how dare you have such an advantage. You go!

Simply Thank You
 

I am a faithful reader of this site for more than two years, and reading this thread, I realize only today in which point it is much more than a technical skill. Golf is a link to share all which makes our life, small or big constraints. Thus thanks to Vickie for her competent answers, thanks to Bagger for his very good work of administrator and thanks to all the members for the sharing of their personal experience.

Many thanks for sharing that.

You are right - Golf is the three legged tripod that involves technical skill, physical and mental ability. To play at the top levels and win championships, all three legs must be solid and balanced.

As you noted between the lines, most of the time we only focus on the technical skills. The other two aspects are largely ignored except for the guys that are consistent winners.

A younger persons body is very forgiving and adapts quickly to environmental changes but as we get into our 30's and beyond, special attention must be given to a more balanced approach if we want to maintain top form.

Winner's Journal
 

In the past 18 months of my coaching life on the PGA TOUR, I have been privileged to spend time with experts in what can be characterized as the mental game. As a result, I now insist that my students keep a Performance Journal, a written log that lists their daily objective, the results obtained, and a 'flag' for desired immediate performance improvements. At the bottom of each page, the student daily affirms -- in writing -- to a longer-term goal that gives us both something to shoot for. All events are chronicled, from the routine practice session to the competitive round in a national championship.

At some point, we will produce a commercial version of the journal for the benefit of our members. Its principles did not originate in psychology; instead, they originated at the top levels of athletic performance. Bottom line, the journal is specifically designed to help you develop a new competitive self image and to avoid gagging as you achieve your next level.

In short, our journal will carry a warning label . . .

For Winners Only.

Journal
 

Lynn, Sure looking forward to your journal for paractice.
When I was playing for the University Of Arkansas, Approx
41 years ago, I kept a journal. At times I would supprise
the other players by making the team on tryouts after playing
some bad golf before. One day, a couple of team member came to
me and asked how I played so well during the tryout. I said
that I went back to my journal and found my mistakes.

Even today, I keep a journal, with number of balls hit and
what I was working on with results. I rank the sessions with
stars. Zero is so so day. 5 stars is something special that
I learned. When I play in a tournment, I keep the names of
the players that I played with and their score as well as mine.
Don't know the value, but over the years I find that I can go
back and find some interesting people that I played with but
had forgotten their names. When my father was in business
I learned a valuable trick from him. He would date all business
cards that he received. He then kept the cards in a file. When
a salesman came in, my dad would pull their card from the file
and tell the saleman when he was last in without the salesman
knowning that had looked at the card. Real one upmonship.

Your organizaton for the Journal seems better than mine, more
focused. Sure will be looking forward to getting a copy.

Donn

Golf Vagabond
 

You are the best, Donn. Thanks!

For more on Donn, see Post #2 here: http://www.lynnblakegolf.com/forum/s...ds#pos t49740

:salut:

Vickie,

I will provide some more background and hopefully answer all of your questions today. I am extremely grateful for all the help you have already provided.

Body fat percentage. I have heard that the validity of a caliper test is highly dependent upon the expertise of the person doing it and the number of sites they test. I also have heard the digital readings are not particularly accurate +/- 4%. A dexascan which is around $70 is however quite accurate. I decided I would focus on my waist measurement and make sure I was not gaining too much waist and too little weight. Perhaps there is someone in the area that is really good at the caliper test, I have not researched that. All I know for sure is the largest part of my waist (around the belly button) was 31 inches when I was 147 pounds on 3/9/08. Now I am 172.2 pounds and the largest part of my waist is 33.5 inches. I tend to carry weight in my stomach much more so than anywhere else. Please advice on what you think I should do in regard to body fat testing.

Goals:
I currently hit the driver about 260 yards. After I graduate from school (3 years from now) I want to really concentrate on taking my game to an elite level (compete at the natural amateur level) and I figure a big piece of the puzzle is learning to hit the driver further and under control. I am working with HennyBogan on the swing and that is coming along nicely, now I want to build a body that can perform at a higher level.

Before starting my physical transformation I knew I did not have enough fast twitch muscle fibers. It seems my brother got a lot of them as he has been able to hit the driver 300 yards ever since he was 14 years old and 110 pounds. I read about developing fast twitch fibers and the most significant things I learned were that it is easier to build more fast twitch fibers when:
1. the muscles are stronger
2. the muscles are larger
I also learned that the stronger you are the easier it becomes to get large, hence I am doing a strength program for at least a year before I start working on a bodybuilding protocol. Once I am big and strong I will be working on power and speed development. Although I will do this some along the way by doing some of my warm-up sets fairly quickly and mixing in an olympic type lift every week. My goal is in 3 years to be able to hit the ball 320 yards comfortably by building an extremely different physique. I want to go from 150 pounds and about 12% body fat to 200-210 pounds with 8% body fat. Because I figure this is how big I'll need to be in order to have the ability to develop adequate fast twitch fibers to achieve my goals. Also, this physique transformation is about doing something I never thought I would. I have had back problems for the past 6 years which I finally resolved about 5 months ago through study and working with 4 physical therapists. The truth is the physical therapists did not help much, reading Stuart McGill, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, and Dan John is what gave me the tools I needed to fix the problem. Essentially I needed to make my hips more mobile and learn to activate my glutes.

I think for strength I want to be able to squat and deadlift 400-450 pounds with putting slightly more emphasis on the deadlift, also I want to be able to front squat 300 pounds and do the dumbbell snatch with 120 pounds. Above all I will pay attention to how my body feels and try to keep healthy while pushing myself in order to consistently improve.

I feel as though I escaped overtraining. I no longer feel fatigued and I was able to handle 270 pounds on the squat reasonable well. I took an extra day off and then lifted light on lower body 70% of normal weight and feel a lot more positive and motivated now. I will no longer go heavy with deadlift and squat on the same day and will only go heavy on squat 1 time per week (previously it was 3 times per week). I will work on this protocol for awhile and see how I feel.

As far as my lifestyle is concerned I never drink alcohol, I rarely go to bed later than midnight and I generally sleep 6-7 hours at night on weeknights (sometimes 8 hours) and 8-9 hours on the weekends. About 90% of days I take a 30 minute to 1 hour nap. I don't eat desserts or junk food, I drink nothing but water. I have realized in order to eat enough calories to gain weight I may have to eat things that I consider less than ideal, but I always eat foods that are as close to whole as possible. Sometimes I feel as though I don't have as much energy as I should and I wonder if trying to gain weight is a huge energy zapper. At work we have had a person do health assessments and I have good blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.

I look forward to riding the exercise bike after the workout today and am curious if you think I would be a good candidate for creatine. My rhomboids overpower back currently, at least so far as I can tell my looking at my back on video and reading Shirley Sahrmann (Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes). I have winged scapula (not nearly as bad as it used to be) and from what I can tell the lower traps, upper traps, and serattus anterior are weak and inhibited. I was thinking I would wait to do traditional rowing exercises until this issue is completely straighted out and will do face pulls and add in straight arm pull downs so I have an exercise directly targeting the lats. I was doing chins consistently for 3 months before I started this program and I actually have good hypertrophy of the latissimus dorsi. I tried to add in chins to my program but found my bench press suffered and I was already having a lot of trouble getting better at that so I figured I would put the chins on hold for another month or two.

I will add in core work as I am slightly decreasing my volume and I will plan my diet a little better so when I get home from work a couple of times a week I feel like doing it. When I am trying to eat all the time it becomes hard to get the core work in and after doing heavy squats, deadlifts, or DB Snatches my core feels pretty tired so I don't really want to do it following a regular workout. I know core work is very important and I did a lot of it in the 3 months preceding my program and I just need to make it a priority again.

Now I will type out my workouts for the past 6 weeks and tonight I will post my diet for the day.

Thanks for your interest Vickie!

Matt

Sun. 6/15

Back Squats
3x5x255

Bench
5x155
4x155
4x150

DB Snatch
3x5x70


Wed. 6/18

Back Squats
4x265 (tried to go too heavy, too quick, scared myself and quit after 2 sets)
3x260 (I had been increasing on squats by 10 pounds a workout for several weeks but this time it was too much, so I decided to scale back and give my body sometime to recover, see next workout)

Overhead press
3x5x110

Deadlift
5x135
5x165
5x205
4x255 (supinated grip)

Lying Face pulls
15x15
11x15

Push-up plus
15
14 (seemed to get in the way of bench progress so I'm temporarily eliminating them)


Fri. 6/20

Back squats
3x5x240

Bench
4x155
2x5x145

DB Snatch
5x75
3x75 (left) 5x75 (right)
5x70

Chins
7 (weaker than I was 2 months ago but I'm also 13 pounds heavier on 6/20)
2x4


Sun. 6/22

Back Squats
3x5x245

Overhead press
3x5x112.5

Romanian deadlift
8x115
9x140
8x175
7x205

Lying Face pulls
16x15
15x15
11x15


Tues. 6/24

Front Squats
3x5x135

Bench
3x5x135 (someone advised me to decrease my bench to break out of my lack of progress and then try to add 5 pounds per workout)

DB Snatch
3x75 (R)
2x70 (R)
2x5x65 (R)
3x5x70 (L)


Thur. 6/26

Back Squats
3x5x250

Overhead Press
3x5x115

Deadlift
5x135
5x175
5x205
2x245 (supinated)
5x255 (supinated)


Sun. 6/29

Back squats
3x5x255

Bench
3x5x140

Romanian Deadlift
8x120
9x145
8x185
9x215

Lying Face pulls
15x15
12x15


Tues. 7/1

Front squats
3x5x145

Overhead Press (BB)
3x5x120

DB Snatch
2x5x75
5x70

Grip Strength (BB)
4x205 (holding onto barbell with a double overhead grip just off the ground for about 15 seconds)


Thur. 7/3

Back Squats
3x5x260

Bench
3x5x145

Deadlift
5x135
5x175
5x205
3x235 (supinated grip)
5x265


Mon. 7/7

Back Squats
3x5x265

Overhead Press
3x5x122.5

Romanian Deadlift
8x125
8x150
8x185
8x225

Lying Face pulls
20x12.5
17x12.5
13x12.5


Wed. 7/9

Front Squats
3x5x160

Bench
3x5x150

DB Snatch
5x3x75

Grip Strength
4x100 (holding two 100 pound dumbbells for 10-15 sec.)


Fri. 7/11

Back Squats
5x270
3x270 (bad unracking)
5x270

Overhead Press
3x5x125

Deadlift
5x135
5x175
5x205
5x235
5x275 (supinated)

Lying Face pulls
22x12.5
17x12.5


Sun. 7/13

Front Squats
3x5x175

Bench
3x5x155

DB Snatch
3x5x60 (deload, shoulders started feeling a little sore)

Grip Strength
4x90's (hold two 90 pound dumbbells for 20-30 sec.


Wed. 7/16

Back Squat
3x5x270

Overhead Press
3x5x122.5 (I idiotically forgot a 5 pound plate on the left side)
2x130 (tried to make up for it with a heavy set but it didn't work so well)

Romanian Deadlift
8x135
8x165
8x200
2x235 (grip strength failed
4x225 (grip strength failed, probably warmed up too heavy, or did too much grip volume)


Sat. 7/19

Front squats
3x5x135 (deload)

Bench
3x5x160

DB Snatch
3x5x65 (deload)


Mon. 7/21

Back squats
3x5x190 (deload)

Overhead Press
3x5x127.5

Romanian deadlift (deload)
8x105
9x125
8x145
8x160

Standing! Face pulls
2x20x60
18x60


Thur. 7/24

Back squats
2x5x270
4x270

Bench
2x5x165
4x165

DB Snatch
5x3x70 (slight deload)

Standing Face pulls
18x72
15x72
14x72


Sun. 7/27

Front Squats
3x5x185

Overhead Press (too much weight, ended up being more of a push press)
3x5x130

Deadlift
5x135
5x175
5x205
5x235
3x265 (supinated grip)
5x285 (supinated grip)

4-1 minute intervals at an average of 22 mph with 30 seconds rest between on the stationary bike
---the darn bike didn't have any straps on the pedals, that wasn't fun


Note: On all exercises I do warm-up sets, but I only list them on deadlifts because I only do 1 work set of these. For back squats my warm-up sets are as follows:

5x45
5x95
5x135
5x185
5x225
2x250

If I do 3x5x270 for my work set this is a volume of nearly 8000 pounds. I do not know if this is particularly high or not but it is not suprising to me I could not recover after doing this and deadlifting heavy in the same work-out, so I will not be doing that again. For most other exercises, bench press, overhead press I do 4 warm-up sets.

Time Management
 

Matt
You are definitely a goal setter & must be a time management expert...it's awesome what you are doing. How do you manage your time between working, going to school & studying, working out, eating and sleeping, and slipping in golf lessons.

Can you elaborate a little and share your program on how you solved your back problems by making your hips more mobile and learning to activate your glutes.

Thanks for any help.:)

HG

HG,

My answer is in a new thread I started: How I fixed my back problems

Diet for Sun. 7/27

Woke up @ 8:45am

8:55a-10:45a

1 multivitamin w/o iron

Whey Protein Powder
-260 calories
-3 grams of fat
-10 grams of carbs
-48 grams of protein
-11 grams of BCAA
-8 grams glutamine

Pumpernickel bagel
-330 calories
-2.5 grams of fat
-67 grams of carbs
-12 grams of protein

Cream cheese
-135 calories
-12 grams of fat
-6 grams of carbs
-3 grams of protein

Raw honey (got out a lot more than I had intended)
-85 calories
-25 grams of carbs

Rolled oats
-380 calories
-7 grams of fat
-64 grams of carbs
-14 grams of protein

1190 calories
24.5 grams of fat
172 grams of carbs
77 grams of protein

1:15p-1:50p

Roast beef 197 grams
-385 calories
-10.5 grams of fat
-0 carbs
-66.5 grams of protein

Whole grain bread (3 slices)
-330 calories
-6 grams of fat
-60 grams of carbs
-12 grams of protein

A1 steak sauce
-45 calories
-9 grams of carbs

Raw walnuts 45 grams
-270 calories
-27 grams of fat
-0 carbs
-6 grams of protein

1030 calories
43.5 grams of fat
69 grams of carbs
84.5 grams of protein

3:40-4:00

Multigrain Oatbran cereal
-330 calories
-3 grams of fat
-72 grams of carbs
-12 grams of protein

Unsweetened coconut
-220 calories
-10 grams of fat
-8 grams of carbs
-2 grams of protein

550 calories
13 grams of fat
80 grams of carbs
14 grams of protein

5:45p
Whey Protein Powder
-260 calories
-3 grams of fat
-10 grams of carbs
-48 grams of protein
-11 grams of BCAA
-8 grams glutamine

6:30p-7:30p
Drank during and after workout
Frozen Blueberries
-160 calories
-38 grams of carbs
-2 grams of protein

Frozen Mango
-90 calories
-24 grams of carbs
-0 grams of protein

250 calories
-62 grams of carbs
-2 grams of protein

7:35p-7:50p
Whey Protein Powder
-260 calories
-3 grams of fat
-10 grams of carbs
-48 grams of protein
-11 grams of BCAA
-8 grams glutamine

1 multivitamin w/o iron

8:20p-8:30p
Qdoba naked burrito with cilantro lime rice, chicken, black beans, quacamole, and sour cream
-740 calories
-31 grams of fat
-74 grams of carbs
-40 grams of protein

11p-11:10p

Whey Protein Powder
-260 calories
-3 grams of fat
-10 grams of carbs
-48 grams of protein
-11 grams of BCAA
-8 grams glutamine

Raw walnuts
-180 calories
-18 grams of fat
-4 grams of protein

Bed 11:30pm

4720 calories
139 grams of fat ~28%
487 grams of carbs ~41%
365 grams of protein ~31%
44 grams of BCAA
32 grams of glutamine

Painting a masterpiece
 

Whew Matt! I have just printed out your information and will put it together so I can get a clear picture. Quickly,you are correct in thinking that pullups and other lat work will use up some of your energy and your bench total will suffer on that same day's workout. With that said you are looking for real problems with your shoulders if you are not maintaining a balance of tension between the back and chest. If your rhomboids are truly overdeveloped you could be realizing some restrictions of your triceps in their secondary role to your chest work. You could benefit by some tricep work with a focus on function. The extrodinary strength of your rhomboids on the inside of the scapula relative to the connection of your tricep on the outside of your scapula and then the participation of the rotator cuff muscles could be inhibiting your access to the greatest contractile ability of your pecs. Sounds like you have a lot of material so take a look at this. I know you are on a large muscle/compound program but sometimes you need to isolate your attention to these important secondary muscles and the alignment of the whole body.

Abs should be worked like any other muscle. Three days a week with a strong program should be sufficient since, as you already noticed the abs are getting a lot of work in your other body part exercises. Your abs will naturally thicken with the heavy squat, it is a consequence of keeping your upper body from collapsing under the appropriate weight to overload your legs.

Let me study the material you gave me and I'll respond with a more specif response. You are going to pay a price in your energy when you train this heavy. As you continue training you will become more efficient at creating energy and healing. Remember more rest might be necessary, 8-9 hours a night is not uncommon. You will also become more mentally tough and your golgi tendon will develop more tenacity. But as long as you are training at the height of your strength threshhold you will be taxing your energy reserves and also your bodies requirements for food and recovery.

Finally I will remind us all that the body is adaptive to any consisent information. Changing up your workout is one of the best ways to break through your plateau's. More on this when I study all this information. I can't wait to read your othr thread as well. I deal with lots of back problems and love that you are championing the cause of self diligence, self study, and self healing! Later

Vik