Some tips that might come in handy (bodybuilding related)

Here are somethings i've learned in the past couple of years from experimenting with different shit:

* do some high volume work (lots of sets per bodypart) 1-2 reps short of failure (to try to avoid overtraining) for 4 weeks, then do low volume (very few sets) work reaching failure on every set for 4 weeks... don't change the diet, don't change your rest pattern, supplements... etc. only change the training. Take pictures on a weekly basis. compare the pictures from week 1-4 with each other and see if you improved. then compare the pictures from week 5-8 with the first pictures and see if you improved. based on your comparison, you will find which training method works best for you.

* Low car, moderate carb, and high carb are all relative. they are not determined by ratios, but determined by how you feel. Experienced bodybuilders will know what i mean. if you don't know the difference between going "flat", holding water, looking stringy, gaining fat, and looking "full", you will never know how to manage your carb intake. 40% carbs might mean low carb for someone, and it might mean very high carb for someone else. if you are going flat in 3-4 days, that's low carb for you... i don't care if you take in 350 grams per day... if you are going flat, it's not enough. there is, of course, a difference being going flat from low carb, and looking stringy from the wrong method of training. you have to have experience to know. if you are feeling extremely bloated on low calories and are losing definition but not going flat, you are taking in a large amount of carbs. take it down a bit. If it feels right, there's no bloating, you look good at relatively low bodyfat levels, and your strength is great... you hit the spot with carbs.

* Protein should always be kept above the 1 gr/lb of bodyweight if you are under 15% fat. If you have a lot of fat on you (15+%), estimate your fat percentage and calculate your lean body mass and use 1.25 gr/lb for it. Again, i said keep it ABOVE and not at the 1 gr/lb mark. it depends on other nutrient intake. let's say if you feel good on 200 gr carbs and they are enough, it's ok to take in 400 gr of protein (your body probably prefers protein over carbs). if you go flat on 300 gr of carbs, and you feel better at 400 gr, then protein should be taken down to the 1.25 gr/lb mark or so.

* Fat is probably going to be responsible for your overall health and hormonal production. yes, fat is probably the most important nutrient when it comes to health. Plus, saturated fats aren't that bad for you if you are in a deficit. read all the medical research and publications on saturated fat (the good ones, true research and not just opinion or "theories") and you will find that they are as confused as you are... shit doesn't relate. but what they are absolutely right about is that triglycerides are worse than fucking cancer!! the type of fat in a deep fried KFC chicken breast isn't the same kind of fat in a charbroiled sirloin steak. Anyway, try to keep it at 50/50 of saturated fat and mono/poly unsaturated fat. the fat should make up the rest of your caloric requirement. if you are at 200 gr of carbs, 300 gr of protein and you are shooting for 2800 cals, well, that means you need 800 cals of fat (around 90 grams).

* full range of motion in exercises is a crock of shit. if you want to get injured and work all the muscle that are involved in the exercise almost equally (ex. bench press: you want to work chest, not delts and tris equally with chest) then go ahead and do teh full range of motion. It usually feels "wrong" because your body isn't going to move that way naturally. find out the range the works the targeted muscle the most and stick with that range. i don't care if a 2 inch squat is what works your quads (and not your hams and ass)... that's what you stick with. say you want to bench 315 lbs... you can do it for 60% of the range of motion, but it's to heavy to lock out at the end, or return fully to the negative position (when it's 1/2 inch above your chest)... so what do you do? you say "i'll do 245 lbs so i can get the full range of motion"... and by this, you are robbing your chest of it's maximum potential. if you used the 315 lbs for that 60% range of motion and didn't leave that range, you will reap more benefits for the targeted muscle.

* you have to understand this carefully.... YOUR BODY DOES NOT HIT A RESET BUTTON EVERY 24 HOURS WHEN IT COMES TO DIET!!!! let me explain this... if you eat 2000 cals everyday, and one day you ate 3000 cals, the next day you won't turn that extra 1000 cals to fat or muscle... no body on earth knows the time system of your body. If you eat something right now, when will it be absorbed? when will it be digested? when will you shit it out? how long will it take for your cells to reap its benefit or get fucked by it? do you take a shit at 12:28 pm every day? you can shit 3 times one day, and then get plugged for 4 days straight, right? you can eat a meal and feel full for 8 hours... next day eat the same diet but get hungry within 30 minutes of eating... why? BECAUSE YOUR BODY WORKS THE WAY IT WANTS TO WORK... NOT THE WAY YOU WANT IT TO WORK! understand what you want to understand from this paragraph or point or whatever... am i saying to eat when hungry? am i saying to keep calories stable all month long? am i saying.... blah blah blah... no, i'm just telling you how it is. you figure it out.

* if you sleep for 8 hours and you wake up tired and have no energy... you slept too much... you know how sometimes you wake up after 4 hours of sleep for no reason but feel like you have a ton of energy and can't go back to sleep? yeah, your body recharged... sleep more and you'll fuck it up. I know, it's not practical at all... but this is rest... if you sleep without waking up after 8 hours (not even once) that means you have a lot of repairing going on in your body. remember, this is just my own speculation... there are sleep cycles and deep sleep and shit we can't understand without a lot of fucking research on 20 million different individuals, and that aint happening soon. there's one thing for sure... 6-8 hours is the range for repair... anything less, you have a hormonal problem, anything more means your body is fucked beyond belief and you need to give it a break... again, speculation and it's just what works... for the past week i've been waking up between 4:45 and 4:57 am and sleeping between 9 and 9:30 pm... i wake up 3 times to pee... if i wake up just before 5 am and i feel tired, my whole day is fucked and i'm as tired as hell... if i wake up feeling like a million bucks before 5 am and not go back to sleep... the day is mine and i'm full of energy. just something i usually notice.

* liquid protein supplements (LBA and whey) are just as good (if not better, depending on your goal) as regular solid food. but make sure to follow a diet with the same food sources and if you feel bloated and uncomfortable, smelly gas, constipation or ass piss... etc. there's something wrong. take out one food source at a time... usually it's eggs or dairy that cause this when it comes to protein... when it comes to carbs it's either wheat products, dairy, or fructose (i'm talking about non processed food... all processed foods will make you feel like ass... again, like i see, there are people who have lived with bloat and constipation long enough to think it's normal and don't even know how if feels to be comfortable)... fat usually never causes any problems (if it's non processed fat, again) unless you are G6PD and eat certain kinds of nuts and shit then you die, or you have allergies to nuts, especially peanuts (peanut butter is one of the best fat sources around... the difference between natural PB and regular PB is just sugar content, and it's not that much... so you make your choice)

* THIS IS IMPORTANT
take a serving of the following (follow the label) with your first and last meal of the day
1- acidophillas
2- bromelain
3- ginger root
4- papayan

you can thank me later.