| In this one, Dr. L continues
with his methods of steering you toward bodybuilding success
with straightforward, chart-type thinking. Even a well
chosen destination requires a road map to ensure an athlete
is on the right path. This article offers a bit of tried and
true mental floss for anyone who has lofty goals but tends
to veer off the road toward reaching them. Don't bear the
weight of the world on your shoulders as you struggle - just
look like you could! |
Last time I was telling you a story about my approach to ensuring
progress. If you haven't read it, go check out PART
ONE. Let's pick up where we left off.
Being more of an exercise
physiologist than a formally trained nutritionist at that point
in my career, I toyed with the increases in dumbbell press, squat,
and row (among other lifts) that I felt were necessary to keep
breaking muscular ground. Along with a guess at the amount of
protein necessary to create the emerging muscle mass, I plotted
this supportive information along the empty left side of the Arrow
Chart. I even included supportive supplementation.
Now being more familiar
with the approximate nutritional values for synthesizing new muscle
mass, I can refine the chart. In fact, I can add whatever
supportive information I like: nutrition, supplements, escalating
poundage, etc. But let's keep it nutritional for brevity's sake.
A known value of approximately
2800 kcal is required to synthesize a single new pound of muscle
tissue. But extra energy (kcal) is not enough; we need building
blocks, of course. At 16% protein, each pound (454 grams) of muscle
tissue takes 73 grams of excess protein to build. (Remember, living
muscle tissue is mostly water; it's not just contractile proteins.
There's a lot more going on in size development.)
Since I had decided
on allowing three week segments to reach each short term goal
of three pounds, I would have time to ramp-up or back off on the
various supporting variables. That is, if I wasn't eating my usual
six servings of food at a time or I was missing protein-calorie
shakes over a few days, I knew I had a chance to atone for said
sins. If my heavy squat day in the gym didn't meet the growing
expectation, I could again make up for it the next week or two.
Here's a more detailed
chart, including what we've been calling "supportive information"…
Figure 2. Arrow Chart with Nutritional Information
Each reader considering
this approach of long and short terms goals can simply write in
his or her own specifics on body weight (an easy to measure "bottom
line" for many people), food amounts, supplements, etc. In
fact, the goal arrow can even be reversed for weight (fat) loss
purposes. And it can be made more explicit with high-quality body
composition testing throughout. Of course, anyone wanting to use
the chart for fat loss goals would be dealing with other variables
and supportive information.
Whether you choose
to seriously consider this Arrow Chart approach for healthy weight
gain or loss, I hope you find it a workable steering wheel toward
progress. Remember, an estimated 70/30 ratio of target tissue
gain or loss is often a best case scenario. Muscle and fat tend
to rise and fall in parallel but it doesn't have to be an uninspiring
50/50 deal.
Also, keep it realistic.
Jotting down a lofty goal that will require more than a pound
per week to achieve is likely to leave you disappointed. Most
of us have limited amounts of testosterone and other anabolic
hormones (and growth factors) with which to work. Variables beyond
our control could interfere with the progressively heavier lifts
required.
What's more, intermediate
and advanced bodybuilders have less room for progress, as they
are closer to certain genetic maximums. (Perhaps as little as
a quarter pound per week of mostly lean mass gain is realistic
for them. That's a four pound gain over 12 weeks; not bad for
a guy who's already over 210 and has been training for ten years.)
In fact, I strongly
recommend that anyone considering use of an Arrow Chart shave
20% off of their initial ultimate goal. I did, when I went
through this, and was glad I did. You see, finding success at
the end is more important on many levels than reaching the new
body mass goal. If I recall correctly, I reached a final mark
just over 219 pounds. That wouldn't have felt as good had I gone
with my original desire to weigh 225 pounds.
Finally, let's reiterate
the value of such a goal chart. The user gets fairly rapid and
ongoing feedback as to whether his lifestyle is producing the
desired result. It's pretty black and white. In our example, if
a week passes without a pound of weight gain, there's a problem.
This issue, whatever it is identified to be, can be made up for
the following week or two. Some of you may want to apply this
fine-tuning approach solely to weightlifting poundage goals or
just to motivate you over the next 12 weeks whenever you see the
chart taped to your fridge (or other in-your-face location).
Let's all consider
this type of quantified self-assessment and see if we can avoid
flying blind. All we need is that little bit of planned information
on how well our training and eating are working. It's better to
strategically build huge shoulders than to carry the weight of
frustration upon them.
Note to Haters: In no way am I professing to be the originator
of short and long term goals here. (Duh.) I fully acknowledge
that the Behavior Change course in which I was enrolled at the
time was an influence. Courses taken and taught, since that time,
have further enlightened me. But you know what? This simple Arrow
Chart is still something I do when I get serious about change.
