Day 2

Second day and I’m back on the (book prescribed) track, following the workout principles when practical and the nutrition principles more or less to the letter:

SUPPS

Pre-workout

Amino drink (containing BCAAs, caffeine, Taurine and a bunch of useless shit)

Glutamine ± 5g

Creatine ± 5g

BCAA ± 5g

HMB (new one for me as just got from the UK) ± 2g

Arginine EE ± 2g

Post workout

MusclePharm Combat Powder Scoop

Creatine ± 5g

Glutamine ±5g

(thinking the above is a bit overkill for a 25 minute Tabata workout but I stocked up when back home so will continue with for now

Throughout day (randomly when I remember but usually around meals)

Fish Oil x 20g (±1g for every % bodyfat)

Multivit

Antioxidants

± 5/10g vitamin C

TORTURE TIME

AM

Intervals - Didn’t feel like but I dragged myself out of bed 15minutes early to go and get my intervals in. Was pretty easy to be honest. Don’t get me wrong I was going at full pelt (for me anyway, 20-21km/hour) but it was only 10 minutes, around 8 x 30s intervals with 30s rest. I extended the last few rest periods to 60s for better recovery.

10 minutes seems almost not worth the effort (the book recommends just 6 minutes!) as it can’t be much of a calorie burner (say 100-150cals) so I would imagine the intent is simply to speed up the transition into ketosis or some sort of hormonal response that makes the workout of greater benefit than it appears at first glance.

PM

Tabata workout – This consists of six rounds each of six exercises. A round is just 20s long but at full throttle, maximal effort then taking 10s rest between the rounds, and then you take 60s rest while you move to the next. The book recommends specific exercises but you can only play with the cards that you are dealt and in my case, as nice as the gym is in my apartment block, its a little limited. Anyway the good thing is, the book says it’s fine to use dumbbells, barbells or machine for the Tabata Protocol, obviously as the emphasis is on the fat-burning effects rather than the effect on muscle gain, form, cadence (speed for geeks) etc. (NOTE: I still believe machines are the fucking devil but I will give them a go for this protocol only, my gym doesn’t even have a barbell and only has dumbbells up to 20kg).

It was the first workout so was a bit of a trial regarding the correct weight, bench heights etc. The book recommends the workouts be split like the following:

Day 1 - Chest & Back

Day 2 – Legs & shoulders

Day 3 – Arms & Abs

But for various reasons (I missed Day 1 due to doing the heavy workout instead plus the gym was busy) my workout was a bit of an improvised mashup and looked like this:

Machine Shoulder Press

Machine Chest Fly

Dumbbell Squat Press (these felt wawaweewah)

Machine Chest Press

Machine Leg Extensions

Dumbbell Front Raises (started out as side lateral raise until my traps bitch-slapped me for even asking them to perform the day after a PB on the deadlift and some shrugs)

Workout didn’t feel too bad for the first day attempt and apart from the side raises, felt like good choices the day after a heavy workout.

FEASTING (WITHOUT THE ‘E’)

Followed the fasting principles, opened the window around 12:50pm and closed it around 8:15pm shortly after the gym. Lunch was a bit hectic with a few things to do so just grabbed some smoked ham, roughly 230g and half a low fat sausage that the missus had leftover. I then had nothing until my scoop of Muscle-Pharm whey around 7:00pm. Waited around 30 minutes then I had a beast of a chunk of meat that I’d bought a few days earlier. It was a lovely piece of wild boar from a farm just outside Saigon (ha ha I realise that doesn’t technically qualify as being wild but they’ve recently started farming boar here so happy days). I had it marinating in some balsamic and spices and then the Wife cooked it on a low heat for about 5 hours. It was a piece of PORKY EPICNESS of mammoth proportions. It was a bit like a big chunk of rustic pork with a layer of crispy fat all over it (imagine belly pork that has come from a ‘wild’ truffle hunting muscley fucking super-pig with tusks like an elephant). I’d stripped the rind and roasted that in a separate dish with some paprika and salt. Oh by the way, today was a ‘high fat’ day. Nothing like a bit of fat to boost the old John Thomas fuel (testosterone). Anyways, that was it for the food; totals for the day came to:

Cals – 1579

Protein – 153g

Carbs – 9g

Fat – 105g

Going good, after such a low carb day I sort of expected to see a bit of ketosis using the piss-strips but no sign as of yet. Bring on tomorrow..........