During the last couple of weeks of Cellucor's Strong to the COR challenge, it was incredibly difficult to get into the gym every morning. With carbs running low, I felt I had no energy and that my workouts would suffer.
As far as supplements go, I tend to agree with Steve Cook's philosophy - supplements are there to give you that extra push you need...they will never replace good nutrition and a hard workout. In those difficult low-energy days of the challenge, Cellucor's C4 gave me the push I needed to get through my workouts without compromising weight and reps.
I've tried several pre-workout supplements, but none have come close to C4. The combination of creatine and beta-alanine does the job, plain and simple. Soon after you take it, you feel it working...the familiar tingling.
Like with any pre-workout, I'd recommend starting with a low dose and slowly ramping up. If you're not familiar with beta-alanine and the tingling effect, the first time will be weird. Read this article to learn more about it:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/your-expert-guide-to-beta-alanine.html
...and because I'm a nerd (I'm doing a PhD at MIT so I can't help it)...here's a scientific paper about beta-alanine :-)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257613/
Oh, almost forgot...here's a quick-n-dirty C4 recipe: Just whisk 1/3 cup of egg whites and add in 1/2 scoop of C4 (adjust scoops to fit your tastebuds and experiment with different C4 flavors). It's great when you're craving something sweet and/or feel out of energy :-)
נתקלתי בסרטון האנימציה הזה כשניסיתי להסביר לבן שלי, יותם, מי היה סיזיפוס ומה הכוונה כשאומרים עבודה סיזיפית. סיזיפוס היה מלך ותחמן כרוני עד שנגזר לגלגל סלע כבד במעלה הר כעונש על מעשיו הנלוזים. סיזיפוס היה משקיע מאמצים רבים לגלגל את הסלע הכבד במעלה ההר רק כדי לראות אותו מתגלגל שוב במורד ההר ברגע שהגיע לפסגה...וחוזר חלילה עד הסוף המר. מיותר לציין שסיזיפוס נתפס כדמות טראגית ומושא לבוז, וכל העוסק בעבודה סיזיפית נחשב כעושה משהו מיותר, חסר ערך.
במהלך החודשים האחרונים אני עובר תהליך אימון אצל איש מיוחד במינו ושמו אלי שחף. את אלי פגשתי כאשר עבדנו שנינו במעבדות המו"פ של יבמ בחיפה...אבל מאז אלי עזב את יבמ והתמסר לאימון ואני עזבתי את יבמ והתחלתי דוקטורט באמ.איי.טי. יצרתי עם אלי קשר כאשר לימודי הדוקטורט עלו על שרטון והייתי זקוק לעזרה וכיוון בחיים. אלי נתן לי הרבה תובנות לגבי עצמי, ההחלטות שאני עושה, והמקום אליו הן מביאות אותי...אבל ישנם שני דברים שהפנמתי יותר מהשאר ואני מכנה אותם "החיים ע"פ סיזיפוס":
החיים הם סדרה על מאמצים / נצחונות קטנים שאולי (ואולי לא) יובילו בסופו של דבר לנצחון גדול
בתחומים מסוימים (רמז: החשובים באמת וזה משתנה מבן אדם לבן אדם) כדאי להיות שחקן ולא פרשן
אם נסתכל על שני העקרונות האלה דרך העיניים של סיזיפוס פתאום נראה שלא מדובר בטראגדיה אלא בנצחון, שאין סיבה לבוז אלא להערצה...כל אחד מאיתנו הוא סיזיפוס וכולנו מגלגלים אבן במעלה הר רק כדי לראות אותה (לפעמים) מתגלגלת שוב במורד ההר ואז לרדוף אחריה ולנסות שוב או פשוט למצוא אבן אחרת לגלגל במקומה. החיים הם סדרה של אבנים שאנחנו מגלגלים במעלה הר....לפעמים אנחנו והאבן מצליחים להישאר על פסגת ההר...אבל ברוב המקרים האבן מתגלגלת למטה ואנחנו נאלצים לנסות שוב. השינוי ביחס שלנו לסיזיפוס ולסיפור שלו נובע מהיכולת שלנו לשנות את נקודת המבט - מפרשן, כזה היושב מלמעלה ומתאר את מה שהוא רואה (איש מגלגל בחוסר הצלחה אבן במעלה הר), לשחקן, כזה שאומר לסיזיפוס "שב קצת בצד, חביבי, תנוח, תן לי לגלגל קצת" לוקח את האבן מתחיל לגלגל אותה במעלה ההר....השחקן מרגיש את כובד המשקל של האבן, את הטקסטורה שלה, את הריח של האדמה הדבוקה לאבן...הפרשן רק יכול לתאר איך סיזיפוס דוחף את האבן ואין לו שום שליטה על התוצאה. סיזיפוס המשיך לגלגל את האבן פעם אחר פעם במעלה ההר, וכל פעם הוא למד משהו חדש על עצמו, על האבן, ועל ההר. כל פעם שאנחנו עושים מאמץ קטן לקראת מטרה אנחנו לומדים משהו על עצמנו, על הדרך, ועל המטרה.
אתם מוזמנים לקרוא איך יישמתי את עקרון החיים ע"פ סיזיפוס כדי לעשות שינוי משמעותי בחיים שלי: הטרנספורמציה שלי
I came across this animation when I was looking for a way to tell my son, Yotam, about Sisyphus and what it means to do a Sisyphean task. Sisyphus was the king of Ephyra (now known as Corinth) punished for chronic deceitfulness by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this action forever (Wikipedia). Sisyphus was the subject of ridicule and until this day we consider Sisyphean tasks to be something pointless and/or not worth doing.
For the past several months I've been taking personal (life) coaching lessons with a very insightful individual called Eli Shahaf. I met Eli while we were both working at IBM. Eli has since left IBM and started his own coaching business...and I left IBM to start a PhD at the Media Lab. I reached out to Eli to help me figure out a few things in my life and here are just of the revelations I had:
1. Life is a series of small efforts / wins that may or may not lead to a BIG win.
2. Be a player as opposed to a spectator / commentator
If you take these two ideas and apply them to the story of Sisyphus then suddenly it's no longer a tragedy but a triumph, it's no longer something to laugh about but to admire...I am Sisyphus and rolling a rock up a mountain is my life. All this time I've been a spectator / commentator...watching Sisyphus from afar rolling his rock up the mountain, describing what he's doing, laughing at the absurdity of his actions and fate. But as soon as I became a player, replacing Sisyphus (so he can take a break and catch his breath), taking hold of the rock, feeling its weight against my body, and making small and consistent efforts to push it to the top of the mountain...then everything changed. Our life is a series of rock that we attempt to roll to the top of a mountain. Sometimes they stay up and we win. Other times they roll back down and we have to run after them or find another rock to roll up. It's not funny, it's not absurd, it's just life. Sisyphus kept pushing until the end and every time he rolled the rock up the mountain it was a little different...every time he learned something new about himself, about the rock, and about the mountain.
My "Before" pictures
Over the last six weeks I've been doing a fitness challenge sponsored by Cellucor and Bodybuilding.com called Strong To The COR. It was my way of testing this Sisyphean hypothesis to life...and I've learned a lot. I'd like to share some of my experience with you as a set of tips I put together:
Pace yourself
When I first started out I was stressed out about having only had six weeks and being able to see any results in so little time. So I made the (wrong) decision to take my training and my diet to the extreme. I worked out every day for two hours doing intense weight training and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). I also dropped my caloric intake to the maximum deficit possible dropping carbs almost entirely. What happened next was a Metabolic shutdown...my body went into shock taken completely by surprise it was trying to save me from myself :-)
Instead what I should have done was pace myself, gradually make changes to my nutrition and workout to let my body adjust to this new situation. Then, as soon as my body adjusted, I'd make another change to escape the dreaded plateau. Which leads me to the next tip...
Have a plan
Make sure you have a plan BEFORE you start. The saying "Fail to prepare? Prepare to fail!" couldn't be more true. What are you going to eat? How much? Timing? Workout plan? Cardio? Supplements? Cravings? Special occasions? You need to consider everything, make a day-by-day schedule, a daily plan, prepare everything a day before, otherwise, you'll be scrambling at the last minute and increasing the option of making a bad decision. Yes, your plan will not be perfect, you may actually have to make some adjustments along the way, but the overall picture should be clear from the moment you start. For example, I used Jim Stoppani's Shortcut to Shred for the workouts and made various modifications (reps, weights, microcycles) based on my progress and the changes I saw in the mirror. Speaking of changes...
Stick to it
Stick to the plan and trust yourself. The biggest obstacle for me in this challenge was doubt. Because this was my first challenge, I was very critical about every decision I made in my plan and ket changing stuff around in order to speed up results. Don't. Change is good....but if you're going to change something in your plan, try to make it small...gauge the effect...then adjust again. Don't go doing a 180...I'm assuming that as a person does more challenges, the level of doubt goes down and you're able to get into auto-pilot mode.
Age
Remember Danny Glover's line in Lethal Weapon...? I'm too old for this shit. I don't mean to bitch, but age does its thing...and Testosterone levels aside, at 35 you start to feel "it". Muscles hurt, it takes more time to recover, and you get tired more quickly. It's just a fact of life...and you have to take it into account if you want to be realistic about your results.
Support
You're going to need support. Whether it's your family, job, friends, or coach...doing it all by yourself is a bad idea. For me, having the support of my family (especially my wife) made all the difference. When you've got a family, it's difficult explaining to your kid why you're not eating the same food as he is, or why you're taking that supplement, or why you can't eat that ice cream with him. If I didn't have my wife to back me up, I would have failed miserably. I've also come to understand that if you're serious about becoming a competitor, you need a professional coach...someone who's been there and done that...someone who can tell you you're not eating enough and training too much before it's too late.
Don't stress
Stress and sleep. Two things that have a huge influence on your results but someone get lost in all the noise about training, nutrition, and supplementation. Find a way to relax and get the proper sleep you need to recover. This was very hard for me to do and I think my results would have been much better if would have done a better job of sleeping and staying calm. But this goes back to the issue of age, family, and commitment...when you're 18 you have very little to worry about (although it doesn't feel like that sometimes...) and as you get older the weight on your shoulder gets heavier...I tend to think about it in a good way, because more weight on your shoulder keeps you more grounded which is what you need to be when you have a family, job, etc. It doesn't mean you can't take 10 minutes in the middle of the day to meditate, take a walk, or do anything that relaxes you.
Fun
Most importantly, don't forget to enjoy yourself. If you're working hard then you'll see results...and when you do, don't take them for granted...instead congratulate yourself and celebrate your accomplishment.
Thursday will mark the end of the first week of the challenge. It's going pretty well so far. I think I'll be down 0.5 kg by Thursday. The resistance workouts are great though I'm still figuring out the moves, reps, weights, and stuff. I'm being extra careful with new exercises in order to avoid injury (that would be BAD). I think I went too heavy this first week with all the excitement and will go a little light next week to make sure I keep good form and get more reps under my belt.
The diet takes some getting used to...meat & nuts breakfast is definitely an acquired taste and kinda takes its toll on my family. I realized that you need a good support system when attempting something like this challenge. You need to have the closets people on your side, otherwise, you'll just annoy the hell out of them, end up fighting with them, and that will just lead to frustration, anger, and overall bad vibes.
My wife, Gila, has been amazing when it comes to support. Gila is a vegetarian and for her to wake up to the smell of raw animals cooking on the grill and then have to sit through breakfast with two patties of minced meat looking at her is not easy...and that's probably the understatement of the year. Nevertheless, Gila has my back and besides asking me to open a window when I'm doing my grilling, she still smiles at me every morning with her bowl of cereal or oats. Being on a special diet is difficult because food is such a social activity and breakfast as well as dinner are is when we come together as a family and discuss the activities of the day. At these meals, it's nicer when everyone is eating the same thing...like, for example, we make a pot of oats and have that together for breakfast. Suddenly, I have to eat minced meat patties and be the odd ball...
Anyway, I'm enjoying the fact that I'm eating clean...no sugars, no processed fats, etc...only wholesome, healthy food. I think that in the long run that's the key to success...no drastic diets or BIG changes, just trying to live a clean & healthy life.
Today is the first day of Adam Gethin's 56 day Transformation challenge. What this means is that for the next 56 days I'll be following a strict nutrition, supplement, and workout plan designed by Adam and the Creating Physiques team.
In preparation for the challenge I took these "Before" pictures...
To make sure I've got an accurate assessment of my body composition at the beginning of the challenge, I did a DEXA test last week.
WHY?
During my days as a graduate student at MIT, I gained quite a bit of weight. I used to visit the gym and swimming pool every once in a while, but had no workout plan or goals. Plus, I never changed my diet...I was eating fatty foods, lots of carbs, very little greens, etc...so my bad nutrition was actually working against my workouts. When I saw no progress...I gave up. I call that behavior "Resolution Wo/Man", meaning your heart is in the right place (like when you eat too much during the holidays and make a "New Year" resolution to start a diet/hit the gym first thing tomorrow morning...), but you are totally unprepared to follow-through...you see, resolution will only get you so far...to make it all the way you need good (or better yet, excellent) preparation. There's a saying "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail." I've found that to be very true. Our hectic schedules make us "opportunistic Eaters" - we grab whatever's around, eat it fast, and go on with our business. Preparation takes time and because our society has become super efficient at manufacturing and consuming ready-made/fast/junk food, taking advantage of that is a huge time-saver.
You have to remember there is always a cost to cutting corners in order to save time. Back in those days the price I was paying was my health. I had allergies, saborea dermatitis, my sleep my aweful, and high cholesterol. One doctor I went to see about my sleeping problems said I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and that there's nothing he nor I could do about it. I accepted his diagnosis and went on with my life, completely calm about the fact that I now have another condition on my medical chart.
Three years passed and we left the USA and returned home to Israel. One day I did some blood tests and it turned out that my cholesterol had reached a point where my doctor was worried and she referred me to a nutritionist. The nutritionist took my measurement, explained the basic rules of nutrition, gave me a menu to follow, and told me to come back in a month. For the first month I managed to stay motivated. I had lost some weight and felt good about myself. And that was it. I never returned for a third meeting, and, in fact, gained most of the weight back. Thinking back, I don't think issues like "Being healthy" and "Looking/feeling good" could keep me motivated for long. I think that this is the case for many people who all know what is the right thing to do and can stick with that for a while but then lose motivation and go back to their usual habits.
What did it for me was finding a hobby I was passionate about and that was rock climbing. At first it was just for fun...but it quickly became an obsession. All I could think about was rock climbing and how to get better at it. Now what's beautiful about rock climbing is that it's straightforward...basic physics...how fast you advance in the beginning depends on a simple ratio between your weight and strength (technique and mental preparation obviously play a HUGE part as well). So what I needed was to get super lean and super strong. I started reading a lot about nutrition, workout techniques, supplementation, and more. The extra effort of learning how to achieve my goal along with the goal itself of climbing better, harder routes was all I needed to stay motivated and achieve what I had set to do.
In 2010, I weighed 93kg with roughly 22% body fat. In 2012, I weighed 75kg with roughly 8% body fat.
My goals for the 56 day challenge are to:
1. Push my limits and achieve a better physique.
2. Inspire people to take their health seriously, to think about what they put in their body, and to help them find the thing that keeps them motivated to make positive changes to their lifestyle.
I had this for breakfast the other day. It's one cup of oatmeal cooked in water, with some cinnamon, ~20 raisins, ~20 cranberries, and a teaspoon of Silan (or Date syrup). Delicious!
1 cup of oatmeal cooked in water / cinnamon / ~20 raisins / ~20 cranberries / 1 teaspoon of Silan (or Date syrup)
After breakfast, I realized I had a lot of oatmeal left over. So, I decided to make cupcakes! I put the oatmeal in silicone cupcake holders and placed them in the refrigerator. These days it's extremely hot in Israel...so when I feel like a cold, healthy treat, I just pull one oatmeal cupcake from the refrigerator, sprinkle some cinnamon, add a teaspoon of Silan* and that's all there is to it.
* You can play around with the amount of Silan on your cupcake to fit your dietary needs and sweet tooth
Before & After
Every cupcake is about 90gr. If we round it up to 100gr, then according to Fatsecret.com we end up with 63 calories, 1gr of fat, 10.8gr of carbs, and 2.6 gr of protein. A teaspoon is about 5gr, so for the Silan we have 16 calories, 0 gr of fat, 3.8 gr of carbs, and 0.1 gr of protein.
