|
 Dr Buff
|
| What's In Your Control? - Part I |
| 03.05.2010 14:45:29 | |
|
I love it when a plan comes together, America! Kathy came over earlier so we could work on posing. Over the past few weeks I’ve been slowly bring her down in carbs and upping her cardio, telling her that soon she’ll start feeling it. Well…today she came in and there was a definite change in her. She wasn’t her usual up-tempo, high energy self. She was a bit ‘subdued’ to say the least. More quiet, self-reflective, and introspective – at least for the first minute. Then she opened up and let fly with both barrels.
“Dave, I swear, I just wanted to yell at so many of my people today (she’s a Seattle bus driver…). They’re talking to me and I just didn’t feel like talking to them. And then add to that one of my fellow drivers wouldn’t leave the terminal in front of me which made me late getting out and I HATE being late. And then I get stuck behind two other buses out on the road who were both behind time and I so felt like turning off my sign. Oh…and then…everyone wants to pay me and I’m yelling at them “Pay the next driver” because it’s not the stops that make me late, it’s when the passengers hold me up wanting to pay…”
I just smiled as she talked. She’d finally gotten ‘there’ – that point to where other people and things that aren’t in your world irritate you. “Looks like you’re on point,” I mused. “You gonna be able to hang these next few weeks? You can’t go around leaving, cussin’ out, and shooting your transports, y’know…”
“Oh, I’ll be okay. I never felt like this before in all my years of driving. It’s just that literally everything that happened today seemed to irritate me to some degree. Is this normal?”
“Perfectly,” I said. “As competitive bodybuilders, when we drop our starchy carbs low for the sake of getting ultra-lean it affects our cognitive abilities – our ability to think, act, and do things rationally. Low carbs over a period of time also cause us to be less tolerant and understanding of others. We become more self-centered – more “ME” oriented. Remember, carbs are our brain food – they’re the only nutrient that the brain uses for energy. Without adequate carbs, the brain gets a little ‘spacey’ initially and then it gets pissed that it’s not getting its energy, and it lets you know. The irritability you’re feeling is simply your brain telling you it wants sugars and it wants them NOW. It’s a physiological response to the reduction in carbs – you can’t control it. I’ve heard so many people over the years say that ‘It’s all in your head – you don’t have to act or be that way without carbs.’ My answer to them is ‘Drop your starchies to less than 100 gms for about 5 days and then tell me its all in my head’.”
“So how do I handle this? I can’t be like this every day. Not to mention that you said it’ll get even worse!”
“Well…one thing I’ve learned to do is keep my mouth shut around anyone that doesn’t live in my world. We had bible study at my house last night and I hardly said a word. No one seemed to stay on point with the topics and I knew me. If I said anything it wouldn’t be good, so I kept my mouth shut! Another thing I do is time my leaving the house right after eating so that I’ve got an hour or so of feeling good before the irritability starts to set back in. If I’m out and about I usually carry a couple Parrillo bars or Protein cookies or brownies…something with very little carbs and sugars. For you I’d recommend carrying a bunch of protein cookies, brownies, and bars. Have 1/3 bar and a cookie or brownie every time you feel like you’re running out of gas (brain fuel) but it’s not time to eat yet. Your body will convert the protein to useable carbohydrate energy via a process known as gluconeogenesis – that’ll give you a little bit of brain fuel. The key is to always be prepared for anything that could happen once you leave your house and you lose control over your environment.” We talked a bit more and then went out to the gym and worked on posing for about 1½ hours.
Hey, I promised you several months ago and then a few weeks ago that I’d write a series entitled “Exposing 30 of Bodybuilding’s Biggest Lies”. This was a great article written way back in 1993 by Bill Phillips of Muscle Media 2000. Although I wasn’t a big fan of Bill’s due to his open and candid use of his magazine to push drugs, I had to admit that this article was really good. Most of the information is still true. I’ll write and give credit to Bill and T.C. Luoma, but exercise editorial jurisdiction to add and take away as I see fit. The goal is to write on one or two points each day (if I’m not too lazy…). Here’s the first one…
Now that doesn’t mean that I still can’t have a decent competitive body for my genetic potential. Nor does it mean that you should give up. By using state-of-the-art training principles, consuming a nutrient-rich diet, adding in 45 minutes of daily cardio to avoid blowing up, and by getting proper amounts of rest, almost every person can make incredible changes in his or her physique. The national or professional competitive bodybuilding circuit may not be in your future, but building the kind of physique that gains you respect and admiration among your peers at the local and regional level is certainly achievable, as are self-respect and robust health. As I’ve said so many times, sometimes it’s better to be a big fish in a little pond than a minnow in the ocean.
I’m out America…we’ll pick up a couple more points tomorrow…in the meantime, just make it do what it do, baby! Peace…
The Dr.
Personal Training Systems “There Are No Shortcuts!” www.personaltrainingsystems.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Mobile: 253.576.4859 A good bodybuilder will fix his or her mistakes... A GREAT bodybuilder will learn from them!
Tags:
|
