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.

Change of Plans

Jan21-133

Total Push up/Chins 341,658

weight 197.8 bf 21.70

Ok change of plans. I did 133 push ups a couple of days ago. Result I am still sore as hell and my lean mass dropped about 5 pounds in a couple of days. Fluctuations in mass have been the norm thru this experiment however Occam's Protocol was working for me. I am thinking that maybe I should keep working with something that has been producing some results and just "tweek' the protocol a bit and see what happens. It doesn't make sense to be this sore just to see regression in results. Tim Ferris talks about Doug McGuff;s book Body by Science. It is a simlar protocol to Occam's Protocol only slightly longer workout (5 exercises opposed to 2-3) less frequently (once a week resistance workouts instead of workouts spaced out by 2-3 rest days). I am going to try the Body by Science routine with a slight "tweek'. I have been reading up on the Primal Blueprint and Mark's Daily Apple (website and blog), This protocol suggests lifting once or twice a week ( this day I will do the Body by Science work out) , Sprinting once every 7 to 10 days and very low intensity cardio on the other days. I am going to try a combination f these two protocols. I will try to keep most of the low cardio days in the 55% maximal heart rate range to reduce the likelihood that these workouts have a huge impact on my recovery ability.

Body by Science

dec 12=8

total push ups/chins 341,509

weight 198.2 bf%21.5

I did workout last night after all. Tonight was supposed to be the workout night but I am flying out of town and flying back in late tonight so I figured I might not get a workout in. I suppose I will get to test my theory about whether I need two days or three days rest between workouts. I did pick up a copy of Doug McGuff's book (Body by Science) that is mentioned in the Four Hour Body. So far it is a pretty good read. So far some interesting logic suggesting why most of what we believe about fitness is off base. He has an interesting approach to fitness- even a little more extreme than a workout every three days-instead a workout once a week. After I finish Occam's protocol for 30 days I might just try Doug McGuff's "Big Five" workout as he calls it in his book. It will certainly test the "minimum effective dose" notion a little further. If two workouts a week are working will one workout work twice as fast?

Still moving slowly in the right direction

total push ups/chins 341,482

weight 198.8 bf% 21.1

Well according to the Tanita today I gained 2.33 pounds of lean/muscle and lost 1.13 pounds of fat, or in total 3.81 pounds of lean/muscle gained and 1.21 pounds of fat lost since I started Occam's protocol about 10 days ago. So if the scale is accurate I am gaining about a third of a pound of lean tissue a day. The totals on my Lose It app (for calorie intake) would suggest I should be gaining a little fat each day as I am taking in more calories than the app says I am burning. I am not really focusing on calorie intake-mostly just trying to get 200 to 250 grams of protein a day. I think I could get used to this,instead of working really hard all day to try to fit in enough workouts to burn off the calories I am eating -I am spending more time thinking about -" how am I going to get enough protein. Ferriss makes reference to Greg McGuff's book in his book. I found some youtube video's of Dr McGuff talking about his theories. Here is the link to his you tube channel- he has 48 video's that explain/demonstrate his theories:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-ufSYBcZa0