PowderMonkey & the endless Blueprint cycles

Unfiltered Tips & Techniques centered around Blueprint Training
PowderMonkey
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Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 10:57 pm

Post by PowderMonkey »

Average waking heart rate 63
This is disregarding the 77 from Thursday.

I'll be reading through again today, several times, and posting a bunch of questions tonight.

Starting tomorrow, very very glad to be getting back to the gym again.
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Welcome back man..

Can't wait to get started!!!
PowderMonkey
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Post by PowderMonkey »

and so it (finally) begins.

day 1 of famine.
going on a juice fast for famine, today i had just under 3 litres of juice, orange mango and carrot, and beetroot and mixed berry. plus a little lemon and raspberry for good measure.

body weight: 193lb, total calories today, around 1500-1600.

i work in a coffee shop, and the number of times that i had to stop myself from reaching for food was ridiculous. i still have a little bit of juice left in today's allowance, about 200ml, but i'm saving this for after my workout, because i'm hungry right now, so i have a feeling i'm gonna need it.

slightly hungry right now, not intolerable, but i could probably go a fairly large steak and salad.

i know i'm only 1 day into this, but famine is really hard when you are surrounded by food.

i'm about to head off to the gym now, in about 20 minutes. just putting the workout into my phone so i can follow it at the gym.

a question: up until now, i've been doing a full body routine. for each exercise, i was doing 2 warmup sets and then 2 work sets. with the famine workouts, (and for that matter, the rest of the workouts too) is it not advisable to do warmup sets? i've found them to be very useful in getting my body ready for what it's about to do.

if this isn't answered before i go, no biggie, i'll just do some dynamic stretches before i start tonight. but i'd still like an answer to this one if possible.

i'm so hyped up for this, the last week of no gym work has been torture. wish me luck!
hally83
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Post by hally83 »

When i was doing squats etc i would just do some with just the bar as weight and look in the mirror to make sure my form was right before I lifted the set weight.

You could do some quick stretches etc and light warmup, but these famine workouts are meant to be short and sweet as you are already low on energy. U'll prob find that you wont be able to lift your normal weight on each exercise too due to the above reason.

You'll get through it, I did, just keep snacking on fruit and nuts (unsalted) between meals to keep ur hunger in check - just be sure to keep to ur 8 x bodyweight for calories.
PowderMonkey
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Post by PowderMonkey »

whew.
just got home.
i am very glad that i kept that last bit of juice. i am now merely ravenous. i reckon i could have eaten a meal for six coming out of the gym. it doesn't help that my gym is located right above 6 restaurants. i think once i'm on feast, i'll be stopping in to one or two of them on the way out.

the workout was surprisingly brief. pushed through it in 30-40 minutes. no warmup sets, although i did do dynamic stretches before and after the workout. the stretches after the workout felt really good.

bicep exercises were utterly pitiful. 35lb preacher curls? ouch. i also could only manage 5 reps (in 1 set!) for what i was doing 2 sets of 8, on a deload (!) 2 weeks ago. blegh.


i know what the point of the 5 day famine is.
but. i. don't. like. it.

you know what's keeping me going? i know what's gonna happen to me in less than 1 week's time. booya!

4 days to go. bring it on!

thanks for the encouragement, hally =)
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Way to go man. You know what's around the corner, so keep that in mind. Also, proceed cautiously and remember the advice HEALTH FIRST!

You can't get traction in Feast if you're sick or if you take Famine too deep. We'll see how workout #2 goes and make the call together on workout #3 and if it's warranted..
PowderMonkey
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Post by PowderMonkey »

Tuesday waking heart rate 62
Pretty hungry. Where is the juice at?
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Hank!
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Location: Greenville, SC USA

Post by Hank! »

Cabbage bro..swear buy it
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Cabbage is an excellent anti-estrogen. It contains high amounts of indole-3-carbinol, which I'm sure you're familiar with. It also contains many other phyto-nutrients that facilitate de-tox.

Highly recommended!!
PowderMonkey
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Post by PowderMonkey »

RobRegish wrote: It contains high amounts of indole-3-carbinol, which I'm sure you're familiar with.
uh, yeah! i love that stuff!
i'll just take your word for it ;)
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Stinks the house up but we're talking about gains here man. Some sacrifices must be made.. :)
PowderMonkey
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Post by PowderMonkey »

Wednesday waking heart rate 67. Going up.

Not particularly hungry this morning. I had 2 beers last night with some mates and was worried initially that this might have broken something in the famine. Then I remembered that I was absolutely starving when I went to bed last night, and (to my knowledge) I haven't eaten anything during the night.

Gym later on in the day, looking forward to it. I don't have to work today, so I'll be going in an hour or two.
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Great work! Keep it up man, but do proceed with caution...
PowderMonkey
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Post by PowderMonkey »

today was odd. periods of no hunger whatsoever, interspersed with half hours of extreme hunger.
during one such hunger period, i caved and actually ate some food :o
about half a tub of hummus, about 100g. this was the same mount of calories as about half my juice allowance, so i've just been drinking water since then.

i'm pretty hungry right now, but the hummus was totally worth it. i think my body was objecting that it wasn't getting anything solid. i couldn't resist. i tried.

today's workout wasn't really really difficult, but it wasn't easy, either. i had to go for a lower weight than what i've been benching up til now, probably because i'm protein and calorie deprived.

i noticed today that my calves and thighs are more defined. i weighed myself at the gym today and i've dropped some weight.

although for me, DOMS is not painful, i can still feel the tightness from it. my thighs are still stiff and tight from monday's workout. my upper back is very slightly stiff. unsure as to whether this is because i took the mandatory week off the gym, or because my body is complaining about not getting enough protein. or both?

work is late tomorrow, so i can stay up late tonight and sleep in tomorrow morning =)
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