Primal Lifestyle

Feb25-199,feb26-217

total push ups/chins  344,929

I have been taking it easy on the push ups and chins. Trying to keep the numbers around 200 a day and not maxing out on any one set (not going to failure on sets). My elbows were a little tender everytime I did push ups or chins -but they seem to be getting a little better. I suppose moderation is the key until the tenderness completely subsides.

I found an interesting blog on the Primal Lifestyle, The author has a three part article on how to go paleo/primal.

http://www.threenewleaves.com/a-beginners-guide-to-the-primal-lifestyle-part-one/

Law number three

total push ups/chins 341,674

weight  199.6 bf% 21.5

Law #3 in Primal Blueprint "Move Frequently at a slow Pace". Mark Sisson recommends easy cardio at 55 to 75 percent maximal heart rate for 2 to 5 hours a week.  Last night I walked on the treadmill for 50 minutes ,most of the time I was walking at a little over 5 miles per hour. About 5.3 miles per hour to be specific. I was trying to keep my heart rate closer to the 55% range most of the time. Fifty five percent to 75 percent of maximal heart rate ( using the 220 minus your age formula) is about 95-130 beats per minute. The first half hour it was pretty easy keeping my heart rate close to 95 beats walking at 5.3 miles per hour. After this point I noticed my heart rate started to drift up around 135,so I slowed the treadmill down to about 5 mph. The treadmill has a built in heart rate monitor on the handles. You put your hands on the sensors and it takes a reading. I am assuming the readings can be a little off as from time to time the reading will jump way up or down when there is no extra exertion that would justify a large fluctuation. Anyway I figured the Move Frequently at a slow pace rule would suggest-if in doubt go a little slower. So that is what I did.

I have discovered that simple carbohydrates are definitely not my friends.If I eat any type of pasta -it seems like the next day I go up about 4 pounds in weight or my body fat percentage goes up. We went to my in-laws for brunch today so I pushed the envelope a little bit today on the carbohydrates. One of the culprits was the cheesecake I had ( over 40 grams of carbs alone in this little mistake). I know -who eats cheesecake after a big brunch? Anyway this kind of threw my carb level out for the day. However I have read the entire book now (Primal Blueprint) and it suggests paying more attention to your average daily intake of carbs and protein. In other words don't get as wrapped up in your daily intake as much as how the numbers average out over the week. So far this week my average for protein is too low and carbs are too high, but the averages are moving in the right direction.So far my average for the week of Jan 31st( Lose It calculates your weekly average starting on Sunday) is 122.2 grams of carbs and 188.2 grams of protein. This is close to where I want to be (minus a piece of cheesecake or so) so I should be able to balance this out a bit over the coming days this week

Only Breaking 8 of the 10 Primal Laws

Jan 29-9

total push ups/chins 341,674

weight 200 bf%20.7

Yesterday I managed to eat 78 grams of carbs and 195 grams of protein. Inside of my targets to consume 50-100 grams of carbs and 200 grams of protein as per Mark Sisson Primal Blueprint ( actually I could eat closer to 100 grams of protein and be within the guidelines). Seems like it worked I went up about 0.4 pounds of lean mass since my last weight in, This puts me at 158.6 pounds of lean mass, which is not quite as high as my highest lean mass reading while I was doing Occam's Protocol -but  it is getting close. Yesterday was Lift Heavy Stuff Day. As mentioned before I am following a Body by Science approach to lifting weights. Each repetition is a 5 sec lift 5 second lower cadence. Yesterdays total tonnage ( I described how to calculate total tonnage in a previous post) lifted on the 5 exercises/sets was 8435 pounds. This total is 1370 pounds heavier than last weeks workout, which is great because you won't build muscle unless you are getting stronger. I suppose this means now I am following 2 of the ten primal laws. We will see what the scale says tomorrow.

One out of Ten Primal Laws accomplished-how lame

total push ups/chins 341,665

weight 198.0 bf%21.6

Well my bodyfat percent continues to move in the right direction,but I the scale is telling me I have lost some mass since I finished Occam's Protocol less than a week ago. December 20th my lean mass was 153.04 pounds, todays reading suggests I have gained a little over two pounds of lean mass since this date. I have to admit; of the 10 Primal Blueprint Laws in Mark Sisson's book-I have been following only one law this week. Lift Heavy Things, I did the Body by Science workout on the weekend, but low intensity cardio or sprinting once a week haven't happened. I haven't finished the book yet (it is pretty good so far) but I have been jumping around skimming here and there. The  book suggests that body composition is 80 percent diet. Mark also suggests eating less than 100 grams a day of carbohydrates. I have learned since Christmas how much difference getting 200 grams of protein a day can make on the bodyfat readings on the old tanita scale. The LOSE IT app on my IPod tells me that I have averaged 181.1 grams of carbohydrates a day this week and 124.1 grams of protein, Clearly this appears to be the problem. Okay so as of tomorrow ( I have already eaten 227 grams of carbs today)  I will watch the protein and carb intake a little more closely and I will do a little more slow walking on the treadmill or something.

Baseline

Jan-23-7

total push ups/chins 341,665

weight 200.4 bf% 23.9

I am not thrilled with what the scale is telling me today -almost 24 percent body. I am going to assume that this is just one of those-wild random fluctuations,probably drank too much water or not enough or something. Anyway I know to watch the trend not the day to day weight.

I was still a little sore from the push ups and I probably just should have rested a day more, but I was curious to see how I would do on a Body by Science Workout. I am treating today's workout sort of as a baseline measure. I don't have MedEx or nautilus machines in my basement so I used what equipment I have to do the modified weight workout. Here is the workout: Deadlift, Weighted Dips,Weighted chins, Dumbbell press, and Leg Extensions. All the exercises were performed in a 5 seconds lifting, 5 seconds lowering format. Unlike Occam's Protocol where you rest 3 minutes between exercises, I immediately moved from one exercise to the next. This did seem to lower my reps on the dips and chins a few. I wasn't sprinting from one exercise to the next I just didn't waste anytime. I did set up the barbells, leg extension and so on before the workout, so that I could move fairly rapidly. The whole workout took me 6 minutes and 47seconds. Here's the baseline part-total tonnage lifted was 7065 pounds. The tonnage represents the sum of (weight lifted per exercise times the number of repetitions). I won't do this workout again until next Saturday (that is going to be my "Lift Heavy things" day). Not quite a week -but following this week it will be a weeks rest after every weights workout. I am going to assume if I can't get 4 -10 second reps with a particular weight- the weight must be too heavy. If I can get 15 -10 second reps, I will increase the reps, Here's to another one month experiment.

Occam's Protocol Day 25

total push ups/chins 341,509

weight 200.0 bf %21.3

It is day 25 on Occam's Protocol. Todays weigh in has me about 4 pounds heavier than Dec 1 for lean body mass and a little less than a pound of fat lost. Overall so far not bad results. My LeanScale app (the app the tells you if you are "trending" up or down for fat or lean) says that for the last 90 days my leanbody mass has been trending upward and I have gained 2.5 pounds of lean mass. It also says that for about the same time period my fat has been trending upward. There has been quite the variation up and down for both fat and lean mass since December 20th. I think at the end of 30 days I will graph and post the ups and downs. Clearly diet seems to have a significant effect. "Ashy" made a comment on one of my posts and suggested looking at Mark Sisson's site. He suggests that diet is responsible for over 80 % of your outcome on a program like this. His website is worth a look. There are a couple of free ebooks on the site. I might check and see if Chapter's has a copy of his book " The Primal Blueprint" looks like it is worth a read. His website is called Mark's Daily Apple:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-book/the-primal-blueprint/