Proof of "aliveness", Mass made simple and new paths

Ok...alive. Still.

Believe me, I know, I´m a doctor.

So... we got the question if I´m still wandering this earth out of the way...

Although I suspect I got close to something different when I lost about 11kg in 3 weeks last summer due to delicious Indian food.

Since December I am training regularly without immediate-onset diarrhea. Plus I got a Squat- rack now. And a barbell and several dumbbells. And plates. Lot of plates!!

December and January I did Dan Johns "Mass Made Simple".

Several things I learned:

- I need to eat more to gain muscle mass.(yeah...REALLY!!)

- I actually can work up to 3 meals a day without feeling like sh*t all the times.(this one was a new lesson... Like you should all new stuff: small increments over some time.)

- I realized how little in terms of frequency I can hit the weights and still (or because of it?) make gains. Both in body-weight and weight I move.

- I like the 2-3-5 rep approach. More of that one later.

- Gaining weight (in my case over the 6 weeks about 7-8kg without adding much fat) makes you suck at body-weight-exercises. Even If you do them in the warm-up. More of that also later...

And one more thing:

High rep back-squats can crush you. Not literally but mentally.

During one workout with my body-weight on the bar after rep 31 I literally crushed. I know this state from other encounters in my life and I simply lost it.

Imagine me, after all the strength work for the upper body, the complexes and 31 reps of the back squat I am standing in the rack...and...start panicking ( "the last rep was so hard...breathing is getting so difficult...the bars is crushing the contact- points on my back..." all the excuses I could find).

I mean it was just a workout but I had my heart set on the set of 50. But after the last rep the thought of the remaining 19 reps overwhelmed me.

I´m very careful not to state that the 31 reps killed my mindset. They made me stronger. In every way. It was the process of thinking about the pain about to come from additional 19 reps...

I even was unable to fall back to my panic- coping- mechanisms like controlled breathing, etc I discovered during my skydive- training.

I simply lost it in my mind, so after I had been frozen up for like 10 sec I stumbled forward into the rack, fell backward (something you get used to when doing high- rep set of back- squats...) and fluctuated between being pissed and about to cry.

Then I started laughing... It was just a workout.

The lesson for me?

High- rep Back squats help you build muscle mass.

High- rep Back squats challenge your mind and because of that I will come back to them. I do not want to but I will...

Ok...So Mass made simple is over. What now?

Well... I got a rack and a whole lot of iron. What dou you think comes next?

Well... there is something else...

Rugby.

I first saw it on TV last summer and liked it. I had no idea what the rules are (I still have no idea!!) but the very thought of a sport where you have to run a lot, analyze situations with multiple elements under pressure (time and real physical one) and get together with teammates to crash with other guys trying to push the the hell out the way almost instantly seemed a good idea to me.

Well...I´m special...

Plus I will not be able or willing to attend Martial Arts classes after my move to my current residence (private reasons so no answers to your questions here) so I need a little human contact. (in my head this one was really funny...)

So I´m managing a new contact sport with my strength and conditioning program right now...

There are the points of strength training, conditioning, sport practice, etc.

More of that later, right now I need to eat.

Meat. Fish. Eggs. Vegetables.

(You are welcome, I just saved you an entire diet- book)

Train hard and enjoy every moment!

Harry

Still alive...

Hey guys.

Do not worry, I´m still alive.

Those who did not know, I was on a longer trip for the last 2 months.

Training was not possible for a long time, due to some health complications but I´m very happy to tell I´m back on the wagon again. ;-)

Right now, I use the HeavyHands System by Dr. Schwartz, MD to get my Conditioning back up again, spend some time on my feet and started working with the Convict Conditioning Bodyweight Exercises.

I´ll be doing this stuff till mid- december, then I´ll finally have my very own Power Rack, Barbell and enough weight to keep my growing physically and mentally for a very long time.

So stay tuned, I´ll try to post regularly again and keep good topics coming.

Tip for today: Grip- Work!

Take some heavy weights (I used Kettlebells) and a towel.

Do Farmer Walks (two KBs in one hand, one Kettlebell with only one or two fingers), towel- swings and towel- curls.

GET A GRIP!!! :-D

Train hard and enjoy every moment!

All the best,

Harry

Testing (1) - Thoughts on testing

Finally I could motivate myself again to write a blog- post...

This time I wanna talk about testing in our training.

We`re not talking about special workouts you do regularly to compare times, weights you used, reps you did to measure progress.

The essence of this approach is to do something and then look if it is working. Maybe it is, maybe it is not, maybe you overestimated yourself and got injured, maybe you underestimated yourself and progress was not as fast as you wished or it could have been...

First, this is not totally my idea.

I first heard about testing via Adam T. Glass and the Gym Movement.

http://movefu.com/blog/what-is-biofeedback-training/

http://www.adamtglass.com/

So the basic idea would be to test for things you are about to do in a workout prior to starting.

Somehow you would have to get yourself a tool which could tell you if some movement is good for you today.

Everybody who has ever worked out for more than a month knows you eventually hit a plateau. Your eccentric- deload- supported- water- supported- ultra- flexible- wave program could not prevent that.

The key question is: why?

I exaggerated a bit above when naming the periodization. People much, much smarter and with way more experience than myself have spent decades developing periodization- schemata and they got much stronger than I am currently in the process.

Fortunately I am still in the beginning of my training career and the internet is giving people like me a place to put their opinions.

Ok, again, why do plans fail?

There are several factors to consider:

The key- factor would be: you are planing the future and...well...you cant really do that with certainty.

You did something in the past which had a certain outcome. It is as simple as touching the hot stove an experiencing the burning sensation. This can teach you, for example, not to touch the hot plate.

The problem is you never have all the information. Either there really is a lack of information or you can not comprehend all of it(lack of knowledge, inability to translate, perceive, etc.)

So, to stick with the example above:

If you do not understand the relationship between the power- switch and the hot plate you might assume several things:t 1)the plate is hot. Period. Therefor do not touch it. 2)the plate is hot and I can not control the heat, so do not touch the plate.

There are more but you get my drift...

You made experiences in the past which taught you more or less and according to those lessons you are planning something which is only existing in your head.

Your plan will always be flawed because no one has ever all the information and/or the cognitive ability to conclude from all of it. So your plan is flawed.

Combine those actions in the now, based on the past, with the human ego, which has brought us very far, which has inspired many great things, and there is potential for personal tragedy, injuries, etc..

So we need a tool to test our plan against the now, the true capacity of the physical body, meaning what would the body do in today´s workout if there was no ego, no mind, nothing constricted by "must", "should", etc. to interfere, only the need for improvement.

This requires a tool in the "now", nothing pre- planned, just coming in with a plan and checking if it is ok.

The next part will be dedicated to the few things I can tell you about neurological testing as well as my own variation I´m using due to my conditioning through my past experiences. :-)

Train hard and enjoy every moment!

All the best,

Harald

Running

Good advice.

Train hard and enjoy every moment!

All the best,

Harry

Velocity Diet Completed

Well...It´s done.
It´s my last day of the Velocity Diet...Tonight at 2400 I´m back to eating solid food.

To be honest, it´s about time.
It´s fun to drop weight, get some mindfuck going but still... :-D

There have been some physical changes as well, as you can see in the video below.
So objective number 3 has been accomplished as well as number 1 and 2.



I lost around 6-7kg, my strength levels are the same or higher, conditioning didn´t suffer either.
I even took a blood- sample yesterday and I will have the results in a few weeks...


To be honest, there is nothing more I can say right now...Maybe during the next few days some insights will occur to me which I can share with you.


If not... It´s always best to try it ourself anyway...


Train hard and enjoy every moment!
All the best,
Harry

Sick pig phase 3

OK, since the beginning of March I completed 2 phases, each 4 weeks long.

First I was eating like a pig and working the One lift a day program by Dan John.

After that I was a crazy pig starting the Velocity Diet.

I´m still doing that one, Sunday 2400 will be the finish- line.

Right now I´m looking forward to it, simply because I´m starting to feel I need quality food again.

I learned a lot so far, re-evaluated my idea of nutrition, discovered some things circling around in my head and lost some fat in the process.

The next phase is gonna be the consolidation: I´m gonna be pig all the way. I´ll train and eat like one.. ;-D

One success sets you up for the next one.

(Please, think about that one for a moment...It can make a huge difference in your life.)

Ok, why the comment above?

Because I lost some weight. I only consumed Protein- shakes for 4 weeks. I retained all of my strength and likely gained some conditioning because I´m lighter.

Still...My body is craving nutrients, fuel, energy which does not come from within.

So the next few weeks, 4-5 to name numbers, will be dedicated to strength work.

I was provided the possibility to train at a friends apartment, he has an awesome power rack, lots of weights, barbells and dumbbells... To sum it up: everything you need to become stronger.

Always going hand-in-hand with a decent strength protocol is a decent nutrition.

I´ll stick to one main indicator to know when to eat: hunger.

After reseting pretty much everything through the Velocity Diet I´ll simply trust myself to tell me when to eat.

I´ll consume 1-3 Protein- shakes per day, I´ll eat 1-3 meals per day, I´ll stick with protein, fat and veggies on my off-days and consume protein, veggies and carbs on training days.

About the training...

When we are talking about barbells and the basic exercises I know some things but had little practice so far.

So I pulled out my best reference towards strength training available in my literature: Purposeful Primitive by Marty Gallagher.

I like this book so much, I read it 3 times I think...

Finally I have the opportunity to practice some of the things I read about.

I chose to go with a 2 day/week training.

Marty describes it as somewhat crazy and... well... I like crazy. It´s OK, people tell me, ask me, whisper about me being crazy all the time so...yeah...it´s OK.

Each of the two days I´m gonna work up to one top set with 5 reps and add 3x8 back-off sets with roughly 75% of the top set.

This is done first for the Back squat, then for the Bench-press and then for the Dead-lift.

After this terrific amount of pushing and pulling little girl weights I´ll do one upper body pulling and one upper body pushing movement. Marty calls it Biceps- and Triceps work.

But I´ll stay away from triceps- push-downs as far as possible.

Instead I´ll stick with dips, heavy barbell curls and chinups. Which will be really funny after the basic- movements before. But hey, call me crazy... ;-D

2 times a week the body will be blasted, the rest of the week I do some easy cardio (I´ll talk about that in a further blog-post), maybe yoga and eat a lot which I hope will increase my strength- levels as well as my muscle mass.

We will see, as always I will keep you posted.

Train hard and enjoy every moment!

All the best,

Harry

Strongman- training

Some things just get you going, make you access reserves you never would or maybe even could tap into on your own...

Doing things you never do can be such a thing.

To me, training alone and mostly using Bodyweight exercises and Kettlebells, Strongman Training with tools and implements I have no access to is such a thing.

Training in a group is as well...

Last Saturday I was able to combine those two strangers when I was invited by a friend, Gregor ( http://www.strongbodyandmind.de/ ), to visit him near Munich and together with other well known crazy trainees we would hit a 6 hour monster training day.

We started light... ;-D

Several Rounds of Tire Flips using a 100+kg Tire and with each round adding Sandbags which added up to 120,140 and 160kg "supersetted " with hand-over-hand Sled- pulls with the Sled weighing 60kg, 80kg, 95kg and finally 110kg...

That was mini- workout number one...

The next part consisted of Strongman Log Clean & Pushpresses.

We didn´t discriminated between Jerks, pushpresses and all that stuff.

Pick it up and get it over your head. Period. Because that is how strength is built.

The workout itself consisted of 60sec with 60kg, rest for 60sec, 45sec with 45kg, rest 75sec and finish with 30sec with 30kg.

I showed some weakness with the heavier weights but was able to beat some of the guys simply because due to my Kettlebell- Training I have got some pretty good endurance and speed with the lighter weights.

But I have to take care of my strength- levels...

Still I hit a personal best when getting 75kg (my current bodyweight) overhead...

The fact that I managed that weight was interesting to me, because I still struggle with 2 32kg Kettlebells.

To me somehow Kettlebells are more difficult to handle than Dumbbells.

But in the end all that matters is getting stronger, getting more enduring, be it with any form of free weights...

The next workout consisted of a 3 round- superset- set- up with 2x 20m Sled Drags (95kg, 110kg and some guys even hit 125kg) and 2x20m Trapbar- Farmer Walk with 110kg.

That one was tough...

The next one was even tougher...

4 Times 2x 20m Trapbar- Framer walk up to 150kg (some guys even hit 180kg!!) and finish with 1 round of max. time Farmer walk with 130kg...

We finished the day with a evil medley designed by Gregor:

For time 7@ Clean and Overhead(Pushpress, Jerk, Powersnatch) with a Thick- bar Dumbbell weighing 32kg, 6x Sandbag Loading on a 122cm platform(I used a 40kg Bag, some even handled a 70kg Sandbag!!) and 5 Keg- Cleans with a 40kg (some went for 50kg)

I was surprised how well I handled myself since I´m still doing the Velocity Diet and am living on Protein- shakes only.

The day after our training was tough because my body was screaming for food to restore itself...Still, I didn´t waver and stuck with my Diet. I received enough protein to restore my muscles and everything else will only help to burn off fat.

All in all it was a great day, I hit several personal bests and I am looking forward to another session when I actually have eaten something. ;-D

Train hard and enjoy every moment!

All the best,

Harry

Motivational

Train HARD and enjoy EVERY MOMENT!

All the best,

Harry

Update Velocity Diet Week 3

Ok, so what´s new...?

Basically everything is going according to plan.

Well...almost...

Last week I had some problems with my protein-order... I placed it last minute, panicked, re-routed it to Graz because I was afraid of the possibility of a 2-day-fasting.

The consequences were some delay in shipping and while I was traveling north to Linz the package was driven down southward to Graz...

Tough luck.

Lesson learned: make a choice, live with it, trust your instinct and if you panic and make the wrong decision you 1)still did better than making no decision at all and 2)live with the consequences.

So From Monday to today my Protein- intake was a bit too low and I kinda felt it during my workouts and afterwards, my energy- levels were kinda low but now I got my full supply which will let me cruise through the last few days...

What else...

I feel more athletic. I did some hill sprinting today, not conditioning style but with ample rest between the sprints (I think between 2-3 minutes) so it was more like a explosive- strength workout...

Right now I do not see as much progress with the body composition as I did during the first 2 weeks but as long as I at least keep my athletic level and learn something about my mindset I´m ok with that.

To be honest I expected the decrease in body fat would increase this week because I cut the raw milk in my shakes and stuck with water.

Maybe it was the decreased amount of protein, maybe I just do not see it because I´m biased...I do not give a sh*t...

It is happening, I set a goal and my mind has already achieved it, now I just wait for the actual time to pass...

The Velocity Diet so far brought me back the body composition I had 2,5 years ago after eating carb- free for several months and doing gut- busting conditioning.

Not that I do not like both of the above but it´s always nice to have a shortcut. ;-)

One more thing:

My solid meal for the 3rd week will be moved from Saturday to tomorrow, Friday, because Saturday I will be on the road to Munich to attend a Strongman- training- day with some good training- buddies and I do not want to start cooking when I get home at 2300. ;-)

Going to a restaurant for my one meal of the week is out of the question for me.

Simply because this meal has to be treated with respect, meaning I will cook myself, enjoy preparing it as much as eating it.

I guess that´s it for today, folks.

I´ll post the new progression- video and photos on Sunday, so stay tuned.

Train hard and enjoy every moment.

All the best,

Harry

Velocity Diet week 2

Ok, here is the new video with...well, me. :-)

First before starting the VD:




Now the actual situation:



My posture is a bit off, because the day before I seem to have overstressed my right shoulder and it is completly cramped up at the time...


Train hard and enjoy every moment!
All the best,
Harry

Aha...yeah...but: Why?!

All you guys who do not work out in a sterile fitness studio, who do not only work on the Peck Deck and know Dumbbells can be used for something else beside front- and side- raises, not to mention those who actually have seen a Kettlebell outside of the vast object of virtu called the internet know how people are looking at you if you cut carbs from your diet, or...well...use Kettlebells, do something like Complexes, Interval- training, etc.
Sometimes it can be enough to actually have some sweat running down your forehead to get people looking strange.

Imagine if you have to explain the velocity diet. ;-D


Imagine if you have to explain being on the velocity diet to a bunch of soon-to-be-medical-doctors...
Well... Actually it´s not that different. The M.D.s mostly are as clueless as everybody else but after you explain some details to them they are still trapped in that narrow space called conciousness. So after explaining they think you are an idiot, because they are convinced they know it better.
Of course there are exceptions, but you get what I mean.


This narrow horizon of possible(!) perception called conciousness is the reason I wrote todays blog-post...


Some person, I do not have a name since I heard his statement in a compilation- video on youtube said:

"If you have a golf-ball-size conciousness and you read a book, you will have a golf-ball-size understanding, if you look outside the window a golf-ball-size awareness, when you wake up in the morning a golf-ball-size wakefullness.
But if you could expand this conciousness, then you read the book more understanding, you look out with more awareness, and when you wake up more wakefullness."

I´m constantly trying to expand my conciousness, be it by learning, observing, meditation, physical training, you can add cooking, raising children, whatever...


Therefor I´ve a problem...
I have to re-read too many books. :-D
Because with an increasing understanding, awareness and wakefulness you gain more information from every sentence, every chapter, every book.


Since I now have a lot of time, because I do not eat, I thought I´d give "Never let go" by Dan John (as well as other books I havn´t read before) another shot.
I have to admit, I love this book. To me it is THE ALL-TIME CLASSIC of physical training. every concept you will ever need in training you will find in there. Combine this book with technical proficiency in all your exercises and you are set for everything. Workouts, life, self- improvement, psycho-therapy...


Anyway, back to our golf-ball...

I read the velocity- diet- chapter the other day and stumbled over one paragraph.
Really, I´ve read those words about 6 times before, but this time they made another sense to me...(again...):

Dan wrote:
"If you can do the V- Diet, if you can give up food and booze for 28 days, you can go out and attack any other goals you may have ratteling around in your brain."

And because a combination of factors is always more potent than a single component alone (if chosen wisely) there was another phrase I read which hit me in the face:
"Why?" - "Because Coach said so..."
I never liked that phrase before, it always sounded like an excuse to me but like I said, I must have been running around with a marble and now I upgraded to a golf- ball...


So you know what?
The moment I read those words the last time they spoke to me, to me alone. During this moment they were written only for me.

I may have still a golf-ball ratteling around in my head but that golf- ball does have some crazy plans for the future.
And now, I have a green light to getting all of it done.
Because I will finish the Velocity- Diet. It already has happened in my head. It´s done.
And everything else in my life, no matter how hard it will get, no matter how deep I will be stuck in the ugliest, smelliest sh*t there every was, no matter how hard all those moments will be, I will never have to worry about failure.

Why? Because Coach said so...

Sorry for all those who still have doubt, maybe one day those lines will also make such a sense to you, tell you your story when the time comes but for me all is right.

Why? Because Coach said so...


If Dan every reads this, do not worry. I know all that I have done, am doing and will do is my own choice, never will anyone but me be held accountable for my actions and any results from them. Taking responsibility for ones actions seems to be the first step on a long journey. But a beautiful, rewarding one.



Train hard and enjoy every moment!
All the best,
Harry

Believe

To quote: "It´s amazing how far believe can take you."


Train hard and enjoy every moment!
All the best,
Harry

Velocity Diet - 1st week review

I´m writing this while drinking my lunch- shake. Actually it feels kinda funny because it´s nut-nougat-flavour and some of you may know I´m allergic to nuts...But since those are artificial flavours I won´t die. Still, always feels funny drinking that.

Well, the first week is done and I´m starting to feel good.

Monday the 4th of April was the first day. I set myself up for a more difficult than necessary first day, because I was consuming lots of carbs up to Sunday so I got hit by a pretty big hypo- glycemic- "shock" during Monday. :-D Well, no right to complain, I knew what I was getting into...

Tuesday started worse.
I was having my first shake, vanilla cream- flavour in water (not my favourite by the way...) and while sipping I thought "3+ weeks of this..." and because of that thought, that construct I built up in my mind(!!) I almost refunded my shake, aka puked.
Well, again, no right to complain, it was all my fault.
After I got myself together again (I kept all of the shake inside as well) I started to be proactive again... I started thinking of ways to solve the problem.
I couldn´t come up with anything.
So the next logic step was to seek help from people who did what I´m doing.
My first go-to-resource was Dan John´s "Never let go".
He mentioned something about having some lemon or mint, stuff like that, with you water.
So I went out and bought some lemons (because "Coach said so..." ;-D) and... well... It was heaven. Something not tasting like a shake or water without anything else...Heaven. :-)
I think this small success was actually responsible for getting me through the first difficult days.

After that it wasn´t that hard anymore...
Sure, there are some cravings but every time when I got them I took a step back in my head and thought why I had those...Most of the time it is simply because I´m used to eat solid meals...So nothing that could really become a problem. Just a habit now to be broken.

Yesterday I was reading and was hit by a real aweful craving...Someone was cooking and I smelled the not so good odor and it was literally feeling like a flame rising inside me who needed to be fueled by food...
Fortunatly I was able to step back again in my head (thank you zen- meditation- practice) and discovered the "mighty flame" was actually feeling more like a small, cold, almost invisible flame which was consumed by itself in a split- second...
A small moment, insignificant but a huge step for me...

I even set myself up yesterday evening when going out for a drink with some of my colleagues.
While they were having cocktails, juices, etc I was sipping my mineral water, with a slice of lemon I might add. ;-)
I´m proud because two of the girls sitting next to me ordered grilled vegetables and cheese and it still was no problem, no temptation to me.
Round one for the heavy-set guy...

Today is my first solid meal. I´ll e
be consuming three of those during the four weeks, every one after one week of liquid- meals- only.

I decided to go with fresh salmon seasoned with spring onions and parsley, some steamed vegetables and a huge bowl of salad(3 different kinds) with the rest of the spring onion as well as tomatoes. Olive oil, lots of it, will hold it all together.


Well, what else to be said... I feel good, no problems with injuries or lack of energy.
I feel the need to sleep more but that´s more an instinct than being beaten down...

Sometimes during the week I realized I will be finsihing it...I´m still anticipating some serious cravings and maybe even hunger. But that is ok...I will deal with those. One at a time.


The first parts of the fotos and videos will be posted at http://www.youtube.com/user/zigarry


Train hard and enjoy every moment!
All the best,
Harry

Spreading hate supported by lies.

Just makes me sad.
And a bit angry...


Train hard, enjoy every moment and always speak the truth from your heart and mind!

Harry

Never let go...except for 4 weeks

Guys...I got my things in order.

About a week ago I visited my mother and asked her to cook me one more meal, maybe bake a cake.

Yesterday I was going out one more time with friends, had a couple of beers, today, after a big lunch, I was lying in the sun for some time, smoked a cigar, poured me a whiskey and simply enjoyed its taste.

Tonight after my workout I´ll enjoy a steak with vegetables one last time, maybe another scotch or a glass of red wine. Then I´ll lie down.

Where I´m going you cannot come but I´ll stay in touch.

Fortunatly you do not have to go to church or a cemetary to stay in touch with me. ;-)

Tomorrow I´m starting the Velocity Diet. So I´ll say bye-bye to all kind of solid food. Milk shakes only for 4 weeks.

Some time after we are born we start to eat solid food.
Especially in the western world we get very accoustumed to it. Often when talking to people, especially when the topic is a low-carb diet like all the Paleo- stuff, I discover people are addicted to sugar. That´s kind of the first stage...

I think it was Winston Churchill who said "Men did not accomplish all he did because he is made from sugar."


Let me be clear: We need food. period.
There are some theories out there claiming there could be other sources of energy availiable to us but I´ll have to expand my scientific horizon for the next 20 years, talk to 20 different yogis, do some really crazy things. After all that I´ll come back to that question. See you then...

We do not need food all the time... We simply get used to eat. Like one can get used to smoking. It´s not only about nicotin, it´s about you as well. If you have to no food availiable you can sustain yourself for weeks. Some people I have seen much longer than others...

If you keep up your training regime and ingest what is crucially to preserve this metabolic active tissue, aka protein, your body only needs energy for the workout itself as well as you basic everyday energy demands (breathing, heart beat, brain activity... Some people really are energy savers with that last one. ;-D)

So you ingest all that is necessary to conserve the metabolic most active tissue needed to burn energy, muscles, and restrict the intake of energy necessary for everything else.
The good thing is, we all do have those extra pockets of energy for such situations. We health professionals call them fat.

Ok, so we get the body into a state of burning fat. Nice...

The only thing which could be complicating things is, well...you.
The narrow-minded concept we carry around in our skull all day and call conciousness. The concept of avoiding everything uncomfortable, living in the sweet middle of life, never to cold, never to hot, never whatever your limitations are.
Only when put in extra-ordinary conditions we soar past what we thought impossible...

Even a constructed scheme like the Velocity Diet may help you destroy some of your limitations. Like Dan John wrote in his book "Never let go" ( http://www.davedraper.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=DDI&Product_Code=BDJN ): "If you can give up food and booze for 28 days, you can go out and attack any other goals you may have ratteling around in your brain."


Well...I´m used to eat almost every day (some fasting put aside).
So it will definetly be a challenge to me only living on protein for 4 weeks while still working out, getting my medical studies done, having social contacts...

It is planned to have one solid meal per week, I´m not sure what that will be, I´ll reduce my coffee to 1/day or less.
To keep a steady stream of essential vitamins I´ll make part of my shakes with raw-milk, the others will be only whey- protein mixed with water. To me getting rid of the bodyfat is only a side- effect.


The real benefit I´m hoping to reap is on the mental side.
Simply by controlling eating, getting myself into a quite aggressive mindset (by the way, if you associate "aggressive" with something negative...I´m not sure you´ll like me..) of overcoming urges, impulses, useless mind-fuck which developed during my 25 years of "life"...
I´ll meditate a lot and hopefully I´ll make it as difficult for myself as possible. ;-)


I´ll keep you posted on my progress.
I´ll be starting with roughly 81/82kg (measured a about a week ago, I myself do not own a scale...)


What I´ll observe are 1)mindset, 2)performance in workouts and 3)body composition.



So: Never let go. Except food for 4 weeks.
All the best,
Harry

"Breathe and Fire" with Greg Amundson

New Video by Ross Enamait

Excellent as always.


Train hard and live every moment!
All the best,
Harry

Getting to know a Navy SEAL (2)

You and me have something in common:
Today I felt my energy levels a bit low, I knew I was not going to get all the sleep tonight either so I decided to take a day off.
Do nothing.
Watch some TV shows.
Take a nap.

That´s a nice way to keep your body balanced.

I can afford something like this because if I miss one day of training...So what?!
I will not suffer from it, quite the opposite. Same is, most likely, true for you.

But what if your job, your duty involves, requires, is constant moving, working, running, lifting, practicing, evolving?
How can the body keep up with the evolution of the mind?

Well... Who better to ask than Brad McLeod, former Navy SEAL and fitness coach? ;-)


What can be done to keep energy levels high, at the same time stay injury free, what can a person with a vast experience with pain, suffering as well as rising again after physical and mental punishment and crossing borders formerly thought "uncrossable"?
Who better to ask than a man who made it through the toughest military training in the world?

Here we go, enjoy the ride.




HH: Brad, how did you value/use/include different approaches like BWEs,
weight- training, bicylce riding, swimming, hiking, etc.?

SGPT: That is a good question, Harald.
During my times in the SEAL Team’s I valued the body weight exercises along with running and swimming as my top priority. I had to be able to do all 3 of those exercises very well to be a part of the teams. I would supplement extra workouts with bicycle riding and weight training to round out my overall general physical preparedness. I also climbed a tall houser rope outside the compound during lunch and sometimes did the small obstacle course for a few laps after work. I found that the rope climb was very beneficial to building my grip strength, upper body endurance and core strength. I would highly recommend adding the rope climb as a supplemental exercise to anyone who is thinking about Special Forces training.


HH: Did you design your own workout regime, was it provided by the
organization or a mix of both?

SGPT: I was required to do a morning PT with the SEAL Teams for general training and then from there we would do a short run (5k) or at least once a week do a longer run (15k) or a swim. I would add extra workouts depending on how my body felt such as bicycle riding, and weight training and rope climbing. Doing the basic workouts from the SEAL Team would be enough to maintain your body in shape – but I was always trying to do extra.
It paid off as I was asked to go to rock climbing school and later taught my platoon some rappelling and climbing techniques. Without the additional training I was doing I may not have been selected to go to rock climbing school. Learning to rock climb was a big turning point in my life so I was glad that I had put the extra work in to get my body ready for that event.


HH: With a such a unit and the possibility to be deployed on very short notice, was there any sort of programming of your training possible?

SGPT: I would just train hard all the time to be ready for anything at any time. I really mixed up the training but in general would always go towards muscle endurance doing long runs, long bicycle rides and long weight workouts (usually an hour at least).
The only short workouts I would do would be the obstacle course where I may do 2 or 3 laps and end up working for about 30 minutes. So to make it harder I may run or ride your bike to the obstacle course and then ride your bike home – a few miles away.



HH: Recovery: Was there any? How did you handle the workload?

SGPT: When I was in Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training (BUD/S), there was not much recovery.
You get your butt kicked every day and there is no let up. I remember my body always being in a constant state of fatigue. So you mainly have to muster up your mental power to get you through the daily grind of workouts.
It has been said that BUD/S is 90% mental and 10% physical.
I do believe that because at a certain point most athletes, even the best, get worn down by the total workload and have to run on fuel from the mind. That is where I began my initial rudimentary mental conditioning techniques of visualization and affirmations.
Without them, my body would have crumpled and I would not have completed BUD/S.
By working on the mental side, I was able to overcome my physical weaknesses and eventually succeed and graduate BUD/S.


HH: Again considering the possibility of short- notice- deployment: how did you make sure your training would prepare you but not kill you?

SGPT: When I trained initially for BUD/S my first time I was 19 years old. I trained very hard but made a lot of mistakes in my style of training. During my second time going through BUD/S (I was 22) I trained even harder but smarter. I did long 100 mile plus bike rides and long running events. I lifted weights for long periods of time and run to and from the gym. I pushed my body really hard and mixed up the workouts. Luckily I had no major injuries or set backs. I think the key is knowing your body and being aware when you train. It is easy to overtrain if you don’t mix up the workouts. If you were to do similar exercises day after day you would overtrain and strain the body – resulting in an injury.


HH: How did you deal with in injuries(if you ever had any)? Work around them or stop and heal?

SGPT: For many years (after my time in the SEAL Teams) I was plagued with injuries. I would train for rock climbing and workout in the gym many days a week climbing the plastic holds and working out on the climbing hangboard. Over a period of time I realized that this was taking a toll on my body as I developed tendonitis in my elbows and shoulder problems. I kept doing the same workouts every day with repetitive motions (all pulling down). I was not taking enough time off to rest and did not drink enough water and stretch. Now that I do CrossFit – I mix up my workouts so that I don’t do the same workout every day and mix up the motions between pulling down and pushing. I run and stretch and do yoga and really mix it up. I drink water and most importantly I have scheduled rest – so my body is nearly injury free. This is a big thing for me after training for so long with injuries –to be injury free and setting new personal records in pull-ups, deadlift and the one mile run (at the age of 48) is a big deal.

HH: Thank you Brad, for sharing all this information. I´m looking forward to part 3 of our interview- series "Getting to know a Navy SEAL".



Guys, I think if you just read the interview you can get a ton of input for your training.
Make it 87282362 tons if you visit Brad´s website http://sealgrinderpt.com/

Also tripple the amount of information if you read between the lines and discover the implied experience of a man who spent good time with the teams.
This is as "no bullshit" as it can get, so I hope to see you guys again with the next interview.


Train hard and live every moment!
All the best,
Harry

3 crazy phases ahead - a view into a sick pig

It has been some time since I posted.

(And to everybody who got fooled by the title: I´ll not discuss nutrition.)




There are two reasons for that:


-I was a sick pig. Yeah, right, I had the swine flu.

:-D

-Second: I have been in the Austrian´ backcountry for some weeks, completing an internship at a psychosomatic clinic.


Which reminded me of a very important rule to a warriors life: surround yourself with likeminded people.




Fortunatly I had one guy with me, even crazier than me who constantly kept me on the thin line between clear thinking and almost kiling him for talking nonsense all the time.



On the other hand I was shown who I do not want to be surrounded by.

I´ll have to evaluate my future under those new points of view.



But some really interesting things will happen over the next few months.



Right now I´m back to being a pig. But this time eating like one.

I was in the mood for some bulking again and the best results of my training career so far came from the one lift a day- approach by Dan John. ( http://danjohn.net/ )

So I´m back to the program for approx. 5 weeks.


But there is no growth without building blocks, energy and time to do the building.


About the building blocks:

I started eating as much as my daily work at the university allows me. Usually this means I´m able to get 2 square meals a day.

Since this would be way to little food to grow anything I added several milk shakes with a whey protein. That way I can add around 30 gram of protein 2-3 times a day.

So far it feels pretty good.


About the energy:

I´m also ingesting a good amount of carbs on my training days, mostly rice, bread and potatoes.

The rest- days are fat and protein only.

I have accepted that I will gain a little fat along with the muscle mass, that´s why the 4 weeks after the program are gonna be sweeeeet!


About the time to build:

Well, I have to sleep. Period.



After the program...

Well, since I will be a pudgy piggy after the 5 weeks I´ll give the velocity diet a chance:

http://velocity.t-nation.com/free_online_program/sports_body_training_diet_velocity/velocity_diet_30


You got the link, so please, read it up.

I´m expecting the fat loss but along with it some huge mental barriers to break. Simply because only living on milk shakes won´t be a walk in tha park.

The training regimen will be slightly different than in the original version because I have to tailor it to my possibilities of my home gym.


After that I´m gonna be a sharp piggy, both physically and mentally.

My body will be in a state of optimal absorption capeabilities which leads to the phase three: another bulking phase.

Back to eating like a fat pig while working like a mule. Plus I´m as stubborn as one so it will be a walk in the park.

Well...kinda...you know...



I´ll keep you posted, especially while on the velocity diet and we will see how messed up I´m gonna get. ;-)



By the way, the next interview with Brad McLeod, our former Navy SEAL will soon be posted so keep checking the blog, I´m really looking forward to it and hopefully so do you!


Train hard and enjoy every moment!
All the best,
Harry


BTW: No piggies were hurt due to the usage of their name in this Blog. Every pig who was emotionally crushed due to my violent abuse of his proud name was given a cuddle- therapy to recuperate.

Needs and wants

Every time I am at the countryside I´m stunned.

Amazed by the beauty of the stars, only visible in the darkness far away from our artificial lights in the cities.

When I go back, more and more brighter lights cross my path and slowly, one-by-one, stars become invisible, only the knowledge of them being there remains with me. As well as the hope to see them again someday.

We live in a world where many people want to convince us that the "wants", compulsive ideas of possessing, consuming, certain things, ideas, are actually "needs", things, ideas, spirits we need to survive, sustain or enhance ourself.

We have lived in this world for so long that we actually forgot what our "needs" are and are confusing them with our "wants".

Maybe because the "wants" are easier, quicker to gain, capture, maybe because due to the world we created for ourselves the "wants" shine brigther than our "needs". Because sometimes when people are delivered into places of the utmost darkness they can see the stars again and return a different being. Happy. Freed.

Taking a good look at oneself can have a suprising outcome, realizing what ones "needs" are...

Those are not my ideas, I´m just a medical student with too much oxygen in his blood and brain after his workout and a calm mind because during his workout he saw stars(gotta work on that respiratory capacity...)

Train hard and enjoy every moment.

All the best,

Harry