What's In Your Control? Part III | Craigproductions, Home of the Emerald Cup and Washington Ironman

What's In Your Control? Part III

03.08.2010 15:12:37

America, I meant to write on this the night the Winter Olympics ended, but got distracted. Later I blogged on a couple other points that were of interest to me. So tonight I’m back to ‘Part I’ even though this is Part III.

We’re three weeks out from the Vancouver and six weeks from the EC. Over the past few weeks I’ve talked with many competitors getting ready for either one or both of these shows. Every year I hear the same few questions…”How do you think I’m gonna do?” “Where do you think I’ll place?” “Y’think I got a shot at this?” If they’re looking good I tell them that. If they’re not, I tell them that as well. Hey…don’t get mad at me, America – they came to me asking what I thought. I answered them. I have a saying – “Don’t ask the question you don’t wanna hear the answer to.” N-E-Whoo…I’ve learned over the years to simply say, “I promise you this…you’ll take somewhere between first and dead last!”

I’ve run the gamut on pre-contest thoughts, America. I’ve stressed over winning, didn’t think I looked good enough to step onstage, freaked out over my diet, over-cardioed and under-ate…you name it, I probably did it. But now I’m at a point to where I have one thought and one thought only – let me get me into the best possible shape I can and I’ll let the chips fall where they may. Y’see, I have absolutely no control over who shows up, how many competitors are in my class, the outcome…nothing but me. So if the only thing I need to worry about is me, then that’s all I worry about.

I ensure that I get my workouts in each day – no excuses made, no excuses accepted. I make sure that I push to complete and total failure on my heavies, and when I walk out of the gym I feel good about what I did. I make sure that I eat the right foods in the right amounts at the right times. I ensure that the first cardio session is total killer – as hard as I can push, and then hang on for dear life during the second one. I just started practicing my posing so that’s falling into place right in line with everything else. The bottom line? My mindset is correct, I’ve got my game face on, and I’m ready to make it do what it do!

I’m not too concerned anymore about the outcome – used to be, but not anymore. I think of Shani Davis, the first Black speed skater in the Winter Olympics and the favorite going into the 1000m and 1500m races. He won gold in the 1000. But in the 1500 he came up short…he got silver. When asked what he could have done differently to win, his answer was something like this, “I couldn’t have done anything different or better. I skated the race of my career. I left everything out on the track. It just so happened that [the winner] also skated the race of his life, and his was a little bit better than mine.” That’s class, America!

Okay…on to #3 of Bodybuilding’s Biggest Lies…

3. In order to get really big, you’ve got to eat a super-high-calorie diet. Well….that’s true…you’ll get really big if you eat a super-high-calorie diet, but you’ll look like Professor Klump’s fraternal twin (with a little muscle hidden underneath all that fat!). However, if you want to get big, lean-tissue wise, then super-high-calorie diets are probably not for you unless you’re one of the very few people with metabolic rates so fast you can burn these calories instead of depositing them as fat. Unfortunately, studies show that in most people about 65% of the new tissue gains brought about by high-calorie diets consist of fat! Of the remaining 35%, approximately 15% consist of increased intracellular fluid volume, leaving a very modest percentage attributable to increased lean muscle mass.

According to research, only about 20-25% of increased muscle growth stems from increased protein synthesis. The rest of the muscle growth is directly attributable to increased proliferation of the satellite cells in the basal lamina of muscle tissue, and dietary energy (calories) is NOT a key factor in the differentiation of these cells into new myofibers (muscle tissue).

Of all factors determining muscle growth, prevention of protein breakdown (anti-catabolism) seems to be the most relevant. The best way to prevent protein breakdown is through steroid use. That will lead to increased muscular size, albeit artificial. The natural bodybuilder cannot prevent protein breakdown in a normal fashion and must build additional muscle through intense weight training and proper nutrition. Adding adipose (fat) tissue through constant overfeeding can actually increase muscle proteolysis (breakdown). In other words, gaining excess bodyfat above and beyond what is considered healthy and normal can cause you to lose muscle tissue. Furthermore, additional adipose tissue can radically alter hormonal balances which are directly responsible for controlling protein breakdown in muscle. Insulin balance, for one, which partially controls anti-catabolism in the body, is impaired by consistent overfeeding. So much for the eat-big-to-get-big philosophy! In other words, stay away from super-high-calorie diets and gaining massive amounts of excess weight unless you’re a genetic freak, or you’re woefully lean and don’t mind putting on some fat.