Archive for the ‘BodyBuilding’ Category

High Iron Blood Work

In my younger years I wouldnt have given a shit if my blood iron was high – but now I care at 41.

I know ast/alt can be elevated without it being pathological – often just caused by weight training.

This does not seem to be the case with ferritin, iron saturation & iron binding capacity.

Red blood cell count and myoglobulin can be elevated by exercise so do not necesarily mean anything pathological.

But the iron numbers do seem to indicate pathology with no exercise cause.

So I got the gene test and it was negative, maybe I ate too much big juicy steak, maybe it was the welding I did 10 yrs ago.

I dont know. But I will give blood and do some chelation to improve my iron levels.

Presently:

Iron Binding Capacity: 34 umol/l (45-75)

Iron Saturation: 0.79 (.15-.50)

Ferritin: 412 ug/l (20-250)

Iron: 27 umol/l (10-30)

Kind of pisses me off I didn’t catch it sooner – anyway I have no symptoms.

Its over seven months since I first experienced the piles problem – that bout lasted two weeks. Now I have it again but only minor with no bleeding. Its been ten days now and its definitely improved.

I have only had this problem twice now and minor both times. The main problem is that you “CAN NOT” lift weight with these things. If you do they will balloon and you will never get rid of them.

If you have never had it – neither had I for 40 years.

OK so how can you maintain fitness with this ailment which is more like an injury that an illness symptomatically.

1. Swimming – ask your sports physician but swimming seems to be fine with mild to moderate Haemorrhoids

2. Yoga and stretching also seem to be OK if done without strain

3. The only way to prevent muscle atrophy with this condition will be EMS electro muscle stimulation

So thats all you can do – definitely no weights or running until the disease has run its course which is usually two weeks.

If you got here through the main site homepage you will notice I have ditched all the ebay stuff on there.

I have also put a link to the free online version of my anatomy manual. Over the next few days I will set up a dedicated download area and a better store area that is inside the site.

I will also set up a video section – maybe some more too.

I could make an area for people to have a free fitness blog and online workout diary etc but I dont want to be dealing with spammers who are a big enough pain commenting on my various blogs.

Over the coming few weeks I would like to publish some of my material on amazon for sale. You guys will get an email via the mailing list when that happens.

As for training I had to take a layoff this week due to my hemroids coming back after 7 months without. Should be able to train again by monday I hope.

My average time on the 1.5 mile run is now 9 minutes 30 seconds. That’s pretty darn good. No sign of the calf problems I was having either.

So how at 40 yrs and 100 kg did I take my time to 9.5 from 12.45 ? Well I recommend HIIT and hypoxic training. I like to do my HIIT on the rowing machine. 15 – 20 minutes max and use that as my pre-workout warmup. Basically the more you put into it the more you get out of it. I also do it instinctively or intuitively rather than timing everything exactly.

As for Hypoxic training it definitely is a very effective method for increasing VO2max and lung capacity but it has to be done in the correct way. For example research studies have shown high altitude training to be ineffective at improving sea level performance.

But I did not say I recommend “High Altitude” training.

What I recommend is short duration hypoxic training at low altitude. So the hypoxia only lasts 20-60 seconds. Its done in intervals and not even necessarily under exercise conditions. You can train your lungs and circulatory system in this way even by simply breathing into a plastic bag for short infrequent intervals. Just be careful not to overdo it and induce dizziness or faintness.

You want to stop just before it quite gets to that. This method is also known as carotid masking as it increases the diameter of the carotid artery to the brain.

This kind of training is familiar to free divers and such, you will find its good to relax your muscles while doing the carotid masking.

Hypoxic sprints can also be performed while swimming both surface and under water.

This brings me to my final recommendation which is the Navy Seals training program by stew smith – this is an incredibly tough training program. I will be following it for the next couple of months and have done it in the past too. After that I intent to try stew’s maximum fitness program which I have not done before – that’s a 52 week cross training program.

Heres’s the link to stew’s site: http://www.stewsmith.com/catalog.htm

Yeah I went hard with a HIIT workout on the rowing machine 3.1 km’s in 15 minutes, then pressups and ab work, a 20 minute timed run and pullups on the chinning bar.

I figured skipping is much more efficient than jogging and is meant to provide 3 x the benefits in the same time period.

One hour of skipping will provide the same fitness benefit as 3 hours jogging plus its much easier on the body.

Well how about skipping for just 15 minutes every hour of the day. This will give you 150 minutes in a 10 hour day. 150 minutes skipping is equal to 7.5 hours jogging.

So thats great but I am finding my calf muscles are getting a hammering.

Yeah I’m back to running and have added skipping to the mix also. Not a pleasant injury – I resprained it twice. Still if I am careful to warmup and take it easy for a couple of weeks more it should be full steam ahead. Pumped iron at 6am this morning.

My calf strain treatment was going well – I was totally free of any limp or pain two days ago.
Then I went for another physio session and a couple of hours later there was a lump in the calf. Must have been a bruise.

So now its very sore again and I cant stretch it. This is fucked up. Very frustrating. But really there is nothing I can do but follow the remedial advise from the physio.

Gentle stretching, once the pain is gone calf raises with body weight and deeper stretches.

No running or weight training on the calf until its been pain free for 1-2 weeks.

Luckily this is an easy injury to train around. I can do any exercise at all except running, squat or leg press and weighted calf raise.

So best to stay positive and train to the max doing what I can. With that in mind I’m off to the gym today for a heavy weights session, then a good sauna and spa.

Moo – This is not the kind of calf strain I have

If you are following my blog you will know I am training to re-enlist in the NZ Army at 40.
You will also know I just sprained my darn calf muscle while on the treadmill doing a crazy sprint.

Well I got to thinking what has changed about my training since I was in the infantry reserve ten years ago. In all respects I am a better athlete except at running. My flexibility is about the same, strength quite a bit better, muscle mass greater, cardio is fine on the rowing machine, crunches I can pump out by the hundred.

One thing is different – I used to skip. I also used to do chi kung and muay thai on my hand made punch bag but thats for another post.

Skipping is held to be three times as effective as jogging.

Heres a breakdown of calories burned with intense activities…

The thing with skipping is its a hell of a lot easier on the body that sprinting.

Your calves, tendons and ligaments are likely to be strengthened rather than injured like they could be running. Thats my only gripe with running being a big guy – I know I can blow a gasket.

I weigh 220-230 lbs so thats a lot of weight to be putting on my hips, knee’s and connective tissue.

I do rowing but it wont condition the lower body much even though its great for cardio. Skipping is the solution that can improve your running without risking lower body injury.

You know as an athlete two golden rules are “Don’t waste time” and “Don’t risk injury”.

Try heavy starchy carbs like potato’s – put it into a big stock pot and boil them up with the skin on with other vegetables like leeks, swedes, carrots, spinach, sweet potato etc.

Boil up some beef first and chuck it all in there together – you want a big stock pot of this.

Through out the day have a feast on the boil up, in between have fruit, yogurt, protein drinks.

Thats the way to gain bulk – you will gain a lot of muscle mass and a bit of fat.

You dont need to count calories when bulking up – just guts out and feel full all day.

And enjoy that delicious nutritious boil up.

Stop freaking out about calories and protein and EAT LIKE A FUCKING MAN !!!!