Monster!
Spirits lifted slightly? Knowing I could curl the majority of human beings would put a smile on my face! Good lifting!
Completely shagged out, still buzzing abit certainly going to ache in the morning.
Monster!
Spirits lifted slightly? Knowing I could curl the majority of human beings would put a smile on my face! Good lifting!
Completely shagged out, still buzzing abit certainly going to ache in the morning.
Good!
20min static hang?!
Something about arm day just makes you feel better eh Nice weights there too.Trying to lift my spirits a little so had a arm day with lots of slow negatives, and some static hangs as I want to better my grip for Deadlifts.
Static hangs for 20 minutes just body weight until my grip went then back on again.
Cable Overhead Triceps Extensions 5x5 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 kilos all slow negatives.
EZ Curl Bar 5x5 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 kilos all slow negatives.
Skull Crushers 5x5 40 kilos all slow negatives
Reverse EZ Curl Bar 5x5 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 kilos all slow negatives.
Cross trainer 30 minutes on heavy resistance.
4x25 crunches on my exercise ball.
This is my sketchy understanding of it, it's not 100% but I *think* I've got this right...
Having some carbs (the right ones) does give an insulin response which blunts cortisol. So there will be no cortisol before your workout but then again there are no catecholamines to stop the insulin being released, so basically you have to time the insulin release to come just before your first heavy set so that it'll be floating around and therefore stops the catabolic hormones (cortisol, glucagon, and adrenaline (and other catecholamines.)) Incidentally pro bodybuilders do this with quite a lot of success by the use of exogenous insulin though as has been alluded to it's bloody dangerous!). What normal people do is try to mirror there methods but use the body's own production, which is just as effective, just less anabolic!
So it's all about getting the right nutrients in before a work out, you need insulin to build significant muscle, end of, FACT etc... Catecholamines (catabolic hormones) both block and blunt insulin, this effectively robs us of the most productive time for building muscle (which seems a shame considering we put so much effort into it!) as a result of the increased androgen absorption after you've completed your work out. It is the perfect time to have insulin and the right aminos floating around your body, however to acheive this you either have to be dealing with naughty products (slin) or take high GI carbs pre workout.
From what I've learnt/understood, getting the carbs in there first suppresses cortisol as mentioned above, as such it spares muscle oxidation and allows for a higher percentage of any protein taken at the same time to be used for anabolic processes rather than for the creation of glycogen and/or conversion to energy. That's the theory I believe, a bit like Ben90 suggested. There are many studies that back it up (easy to find but can link if you want?). The rise in insulin caused by the drink/food/etc... around the workout is a potent stimulator of many hypertrophy pathways at a cellular level which encourages the development of new cell nuclei - the first stage of myofibrillar growth. Even if you are a bit of a carb hater or try and keep them to a minimum, I think these are good enough reasons to still consider using carbs pre workout.
As such i have complex carbs/protein meal a good hour before my workout, and a banana 15 mins or so before (ideally you should ensure you have decent aminos floating around too - but this is optional, and only really necessary if you're an elite trainer). In fact most of this really applies if you really are at an optimum state of training - however, what harm can it do?!
Sorry for the slightly garbled explanation, it's stuff I sort of know, but not really 100%. I've probably got a bit of it wrong.
The bulks back on, screw the X-mas cut!
Is an Xmas cut even possible? The discipline would have to be monumental haha