Just a casual post. Nothing really important. Since I keep updating my routines and my lifts, I thought I'd put this too. I'm in the insti olympic weightlifting team and we have the Inter IIT happening every year. I'm supposed to be in the under 62kg weight class, i.e. my weight has to be less than 62 kg. On July 10, I weighed 67.2kg- a lot of weight.
There are different kinds of people, genetically. People are usually recognized as ectomorphic (slim, can't gain or lose fat/muscle quickly), endomorphic (big, gain or lose fat/muscle quickly, esp fat) and mesomorphic (muscular, gain muscle quickly but not fat). I'm an ectomorph, a hardgainer- cannot gain fat or muscle quickly. This was my genetic thingy but after lifting for 2 years, I've put on a lot of fat. I definitely had to worry about my weight and so decided to go on a cut, to get down to about 63kg or so by mid September. Generally lifters go on bulking(gaining muscle and fat) and cutting(losing fat primarily) phases but I never went for a cut till last month. So this was my first cut ever, aimed at losing weight at the rate of 0.5kg per week.
First I'll tell the result. I started my cut on July 14 and on July 27 I weighed 64kg. Lost 2.5kg in 2 weeks, which is rather unhealthy. But this morning I checked my weight and I'm at 64.8 kg. So the 64kg was only a temporary one. I've probably lost around 2kg in 2 weeks, which is still a little too much for my body. But anyways, I'm quite happy with my weight now.
The diet I was on was a little tough. I was at home, still had to eat only small meals. The part wasn't about the small meals, but about being at home. With all the delicious food at home, I had a really hard time resisting the temptation to eat. I planned on going for 5 meals a day, with 4 eggs in a morning meal and soya chunks (some call it meal maker) in my last meal at night. But I ended up with only 3 small meals a day, and 2 eggs in the morning, and not even any juices. I'd snacked on a couple of biscuits sometime but that was all, nothing else. And on 25, 26 and 27 I ate even less- only 1 proper meal, in the afternoon, and 5 eggs . In the last 3 days, I've been having a better diet- a small meal in the afternoon, 2 chapatis in the night and 4 eggs, a glass of milk and 3 fruit juices per day. This has looked pretty good till now.
Other than the diet, I did a lot of very low intensity cardio- walking. When at home (from 17th to 25th), I'd eat a couple of boiled egg whites and walk some 6km early in the morning. Again, in the evening, a 4km walk (but no eggs before this). Back in insti, I've been doing some olympic lifting and also some high intensity strength training.
Weight loss is almost always accompanied with strength loss, unless the weight loss is very slow and accompanied with a good diet. I havne't noticed significant loss in strength, but my endurance did suffer. While I'm used to lifting for about 70 min (my sessions were 100min long about an year back, but cut down to 50 min now), when I hit the gym for the first time on 27th, I was totally exhausted after 25 min. And I didn't even hit my maximum, was just doing a lot of reps. Just for info, I was doing snatch pulls, 8-10 reps in each set till 80kg and 6 reps each of 90kg and 100kg. My calorie intake was too low on 25 and 26 and that must have been the reason. Right now I feel a lot more energetic than I was 3 days back.
A little more info on losing weight. Cutting down on the calories is only one part of it, and you need to have good physical activity along with it. Also, cutting down too much is not good, it results in muscle loss and bone density loss. The cut should be gradual, not more than 0.5kg per week. I've crossed that limit though. When you go low on calories, your regular metabolism is slowed down, hence as you go through the cutting phase, your weight loss starts getting slower and slower. Say you started at 2800 calories per day and were losing 0.4kg per week, to continue losing at the same rate, after a couple of weeks, your calorie intake must be lesser than 2800, maybe 2600 or so.
Right now, I'm going to load up on calories for two days- will have a nice heavy meal in the afternoon and in the night. Then I'll go on another 4 week cut, with only rotis in lunch and dinner. Target now is to come down to 63kg by the end of August.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Newton's "Laws" of motion
After a long time, I'm posting something that's a little different from weightlifting. For the last 4 years, I've been thinking that Newton's laws of motion should rather be Newton's theorems of motion.. Let me explain why...
I'm not sure if the concept of momentum existed in the time of Newton, but differential calculus was being developed in those days. Now, linear momentum is mv. According to all textbooks I've ever read (I don't care about the exact definition, this post is about how we use it), the first law states that a body tends to remain in a state of rest or uniform motion until acted upon by a force. Define force as the rate of change of momentum (as it is usually defined) and you have the first law here.... zero force implies a constant velocity vector and a constant velocity implies zero force.
The second law, that force is rate of change of momentum, or force is mass times acceleration, follows from the definition of force. For the first and second laws, all you need to do is to define a physical quantity called force and your job is done. Obviously, you cannot talk about force without defining it. Hence I find no point in calling these two laws laws... The second law should be called the definition of force, and the first law is a mere theorem.
The third law though, is supposed to be called so. Unless you go into that classical physics and all (I've read about this in PH101 or PH102, that the homogenity of space or something is responsible for this conservation of linear momentum), you need something to say that linear momentum is conserved... Even classical physics assumes homogenity of something and all, since there's an assumption, it doesn't follow from an existing thing and has to be considered an independent law.
Conclusion: Define force as rate of change of linear momentum and that's it, forget the first and second laws. The third law is really the most important law.
By the way, I don't mean any disrespect to anyone, just something I've been thinking. What still puzzles me is, how can we be taught about force and all the laws without defining it properly.. once it's defined, it's very obvious, isn't it?
That was my opinion on the laws. I'd love to have a discussion on these here....
I'm not sure if the concept of momentum existed in the time of Newton, but differential calculus was being developed in those days. Now, linear momentum is mv. According to all textbooks I've ever read (I don't care about the exact definition, this post is about how we use it), the first law states that a body tends to remain in a state of rest or uniform motion until acted upon by a force. Define force as the rate of change of momentum (as it is usually defined) and you have the first law here.... zero force implies a constant velocity vector and a constant velocity implies zero force.
The second law, that force is rate of change of momentum, or force is mass times acceleration, follows from the definition of force. For the first and second laws, all you need to do is to define a physical quantity called force and your job is done. Obviously, you cannot talk about force without defining it. Hence I find no point in calling these two laws laws... The second law should be called the definition of force, and the first law is a mere theorem.
The third law though, is supposed to be called so. Unless you go into that classical physics and all (I've read about this in PH101 or PH102, that the homogenity of space or something is responsible for this conservation of linear momentum), you need something to say that linear momentum is conserved... Even classical physics assumes homogenity of something and all, since there's an assumption, it doesn't follow from an existing thing and has to be considered an independent law.
Conclusion: Define force as rate of change of linear momentum and that's it, forget the first and second laws. The third law is really the most important law.
By the way, I don't mean any disrespect to anyone, just something I've been thinking. What still puzzles me is, how can we be taught about force and all the laws without defining it properly.. once it's defined, it's very obvious, isn't it?
That was my opinion on the laws. I'd love to have a discussion on these here....
Monday, July 12, 2010
Linear progression routine- My progress in 10 weeks
I’m through the routine I’d started 10 weeks back. The gym’s available for a week more, but for once, I’m not going to go to gym even when I can. For the first time in the 20 months of working out in the gym, I feel the fatigue. In the first 2-3 months when I started working out in a gym, I used to go to the gym atleast 25 days a month and still had no worries to go the next day. But this routine, in the last 10 weeks, I’ve worked out only 3 days a week, or at max 4 days a week and I’m already giving up- mentally, not physically.
The difference has been in the way I’ve worked and progressed. For the first 18 months, all sessions have been more or less the same intense and the progress in terms of weight was never consistent. For 4 months during the semester, I’d keep working out throughout the week, lifting the same weight, for the same reps, giving up on the same weight. This time it has been different- In the last 10 weeks, I’ve increased the load consistently every week. On the bench press and military press, I’ve added 2.5kg every week and on the squat I’ve loaded an extra 5kg every week. I had to regularly drop reps, but still, more weight is always a pain in the a**.
The exercises I’ve focused on are Front squat, Back squat, Military press, Bench press, Pullups, Bar dips and Barbell rows- all compounds. I’ve added a couple of others- Pullthroughs(lower back and glutes), Lying triceps extensions(a.k.a skull crushers), Barbell curls and Calf raises. I was doing stiff leg deadlifts in the first 6 weeks, but dropped them when I started doing Olympic lifting. I’ll mention my last set on each day. The sets before the last set are also as significant as the last set, but the progress is visible through the last sets. In each session, all sets have roughly the same number of reps but the weight increases, so that the intensity is built through sets rather than having all sets at same intensity (light weight for too many reps and heavy weight for 2 reps is not a lot of change in intensity).
Exercise | 1 rep max b4 week1 | Last set on week 1 | Last set on week 10 |
Back squat | 110kg(half squat) | 65kg, 10 reps | 105kg, 3 reps |
Front squat | 105kg(with support) | 65kg, 10 reps | 105kg, 2 reps |
Military press | 57.5kg | 35kg, 8 reps | 60kg, 3 reps |
Bench press | 77.5kg | 50kg, 8 reps | 75kg, 4 reps |
Barbell rows | 40kg 8 reps | 65kg, 6 reps | |
Lying triceps extensions | 30kg, 4 reps | 22.5kg, 8 reps | 35kg, 5 reps |
To a guy who has never been to the gym, the list may say I haven’t really improved. But a 5kg improvement in 10 weeks is really a great achievement for me, especially since my progress very often stalls. The best part is that these maxes have happened at the end of a hard 10-week routine, when I’ve really started to feel the fatigue and the last 2-3 weeks I had to motivate myself to go to the gym and lift, as opposed to my usual self that loves to go to the gym and lift some weights, even during quizzes and end sems. In the last 3 weeks, I’ve been squatting about 100kg (100,100, 105 in three weeks) 2 days a week and my max was around 100kg only. So the reason behind the loss in enthu is obvious. Every time I went to gym, I had to tell myself, “Dude, whatever happens, just don’t give up. You have to do these 4 reps if you want to lift the heavier weights”, and I had to tell this for squat, and then the last set of military press and then again the last set of pull-ups- three exercises with last sets at 100% intensity. So I had 8-10 sets per week with 100% intensity.
Hopefully, after a 2-week break I’m planning to take, my maxes will improve some 2.5kg further. The routine I’ve followed was based on a linear progression. Each week, I add a constant weight- 2.5kg for presses and 5kg for squat and barbell rows. And each week I reduce volume (reps). If I’d reduced volume in only the last set, hence reps in last set, in 6 weeks I’d drop from 8 reps to 3 reps. So I reduced overall volume in last 2 sets, not just the last set... I defined volume as product of weight and reps......
The progress goes like this for last 2 sets
Week ‘n’: 70kg 7reps, 85kg 6 reps : total volume 490+510=1000
Week ‘n+1’: 75kg 6 reps, 90kg 6 reps: total volume: 450+540=990
Week ‘n+2’: 80kg 6 reps, 95kg 5 reps: total volume: 480+475 = 955
And so on..............
Though my improvement in the max has been 5k or so, at weights around 85% of max, I’m real high on confidence. Earlier, I couldn’t squat more than 85kg for more than 3 reps and a spotter (catcher) was absolutely necessary. Now, I squat 90kg for 4 reps without a spotter and without a belt- the confidence showing.
Squatting without a belt is something I’ve started in the last 10 weeks. The lower back is worked properly when you squat and when you wear a belt, it somehow puts the lower back under lesser load. While a belt is required for safety, it doesn’t help in strengthening your lower back. My lower back has been really week (compared to the muscles around it) and there was pain when I squatted 80kg or more or when the deadlift was at 140kg or more. I’ve squatted without a belt right from week 1, from 65kg and I never used a belt after that. Now I squat 105ks without a belt and the lower back pain is not there anymore.
Warning: I’ve been squatting for 20 months and my form is pretty good, hence I can squat without a belt and not worry about my lower back bending. Beginners must not squat without a belt.
So, to conclude
This system of linear progression on weights, trading volume for intensity, really works. Any guy who has more than 1 year in gym can try this. The only negative with the routine has been the weight gain. I’ve gained about 2kg in the 10 weeks, weighing 66.5kg right now, with quite some fat in it. I do Olympic lifting and have to stay in my weight class, which is under 62kg. Hence the weight gain has been a problem. But the feeling after you squat/press at your max intensity is really worth all the pain and I’d recommend this to all guys who have stalled or hit a plateau. If your routine is boring or if you’re not progressing, the only way forward is to keep loading weight till you can lift no more.
On the weight increase, it’s because of this- when you keep doing close to 100% intense, you need a lot of energy and have to go on a high carb diet. Because of the intensity, your body needs a lot of time to recover hence cardio is not advisable, at max you can do some slow jogging and that’s all. So, with a high carb diet, and no cardio, and as in my case, low protein content in diet, you’re bound to put on weight.
I’d love to see junta comment on the routine/ progress, esp my teammates.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
GYM101- Intro to working out. Part 7: Diet- proteins
First thing I guess I need to mention here, the biggest myth surrounding diet required to cut or burn fat:
Eating far less than what you usually eat would not help you lose fat. Eating a lot more than what you normally eat would not give you muscle. The quality of the food is really important
If you want muscle, you need to eat a lot of proteins. If you are on a high-protein diet, you need to workout in the gym to make your body use those proteins. Excess proteins in your diet can give you stones in the kidneys.
That was only a word of caution. In India, you can't just eat loads of protein. Our common foods don't have a lot of protein, so you don't need to be scared.
I guess most of you know how a camel can survive in a desert. It's body knows the water supply is limited, hence whenever it finds water, it stores it up and uses it efficiently. Your brain controls the hormone system that guides how the fat/protein/carbohydrates in your body have to be used. You keep eating regularly, your body knows you're going to get your next meal pretty soon. If you do not eat regularly, or if you eat very less, you're body isn't really happy with it. First thing it does is it stores a lot of food as fat, so that if you don't get a meal when your glucose is used up, the fat may be burnt. Second, your metabolism- energy creation from food and the use of this energy, gets slowed down since you don't have enough supplies to go fast- YOUR BODY KNOWS IT ALL.
When people lose weight by eating less, they're losing proteins (hence muscle) and bone mass (and fat to a little extent) and are also slowing down their metabolism rates. This is not good for health or for losing weight. The first thing you want to do to lose fat is to increase your metabolic rates so that you keep using up a lot of food energy and you also convert fat into blood glucose at a higher rate. The reason why some people are really lean(/thin) despite eating a lot is their metabolic rates are high- this is a genetic thing. But you can control it. If you hit the gym and do some nice heavy workouts, you increase your metabolic rates.
Increasing metabolic rates help in losing fat, but only to some extent. This works only on newbies whose metabolism is slow. But for guys who have been working out for a long time and who have a fast metabolism, the only way to lose fat is by cardio and not through drugs or diet pills or crappy products or sauna belts and baths, and definitely not by not eating anything.
The best way to lose fat is to control your diet and do cardio. How to do effective aerobic exercise, I've already mentioned in a previous post. Here I'll tell about the diet.
When you are cutting(i.e. losing fat), you need to eat less than you do normally. But that doesn't mean half of what you eat. Say you consume 3000 calories of energy per day, reduce it to 2,700 or 2,600- that's all, not 1500 or 1000.
Some people want instant fat loss. If you're losing fat at a rate higher than half kg per week, you're doing some serious damage to your muscles and bones. An obese guy or a guy with too much of fat may lose at the rate of even 1.5kg per week. But guys who are not too fat cannot lose more than half kg per week. Do Not lose fat very quickly. What you want to do is increase the amount of proteins and reduce the overall consumption- hence still not allowing the muscles to break down, but forcing the body to use its fat reserves.
A diet that has 25% proteins for beginners is a good thing. That is, if your food has 100g carbohydrates, 40g fat, then you need about 45g of protein. While this is one way to monitor your diet, another way is to go by your body weight. For a healthy non-athletic individual, the protein intake must be about 1.5g per kg of body weight. i.e., if your body weight is 70kg, and you don't play any sport and are not very active, you need about 105g of protein per day. For athletic people, 2g of protein per kg of body weight is required, i.e. 140g per day for a 70kg guy. For body builders and weightlifters who are trying to gain weight (i.e. muscle), you need about 2.5g of protein per kg of body weight, making it 175g for the same 70kg guy.
To go by percentages is better than to go by grams of protein per kg of body weight. 15% of proteins in the entire diet(mostly proteins+carbohydrates+fat, all foods have a lot of water, don't add that) is decent for an average guy. For bodybuilders and weightlifters, 25% is good, 30% even better if you're planning to bulk. 20% is a minimum.
Some basic protein sources:
Note: This is about only proteins. There are a lot of other minerals and vitamins the body needs. Things like fruits and milk don't have great protein content, but must be included in your diet.
1. Eggs
The best source is the egg white. An average egg weighs about 35g, and the egg white can provide you 3-3.5g of pure protein. The egg yolk(yellow) contains about 3g of protein, but has a lot of cholesterol in it. 1 egg yolk a day may not do a lot of harm though. Considering all the vitamins present in the yolk, it's not really bad if you restrict it to 1 egg yolk a day. But egg whites, you can eat even 8-10 a day. Don't eat raw eggs. Boil them.
2. Meat
It is known to everyone that meat has a lot of proteins. I personally cannot afford chicken/fish/mutton everyday. So to put it in my diet is out of the question. Different kinds of meat have different amounts of protein. If you're rich enough, go for it. But anyways, it's always good to stay a veggie, especially when we're talking about diet, not partying. Why kill a poor animal or bird to put on a 100g of muscle?
3. Soya chunks/ Meal maker
Some people call it soya beans too, though it's not the right name. Soya chunks, made out of the thing left after soya oil is extracted, have a lot of protein- about 2/3rds of their weight. 500g of soya chunks have about 330g of protein. Some say it has estrogen( a female hormone) in it which is not good for weightlifters. Scientific study shows no such effects. The plant hormone is different from the estrogen present in women. This said, never take too much of anything. Soya chunks being very cheap, people may depend on them completely.
4. Milk
Though famous to be having a lot of protein, it has low protein content. 100g of milk has only 3g of protein. There are significant amounts of fat. If you can go on eggs and soya chunks, it's good. For non-weightlifters, milk is pretty good, but for weightlifters who want to control their fat, take the first two. Milk is not a good source for protein, but for all the vitamins and the calcium in it, milk is a compulsory food item to be included in your diet.
5. Roti or pulka
Heard from a lot of people that rotis and pulkas have a lot of proteins. Though I'm not sure about the exact content, I'd prefer them to rice.
6. Rice
I've looked up in wikipedia and found that 100g of rice has about 7g of protein- more than protein content in milk. While this is true, rice has a lot of carbs and fat. In a country where rice is a staple food, it's good to know the amount of protein you're getting from it.
7. Fruits
Most fruits are poor in protein content. Fruits are for health, not muscle. Fruits, by definition, have lots of sugars, i.e. carbohydrates. They are very rich in vitamins and minerals and these are necessary to maintain your metabolism and help in recovery from injury and muscle tear. You cannot lose fat or gain muscle by going a fruit diet. You need proteins. Same applies to vegetables. Not a lot of vegetables are really rich in proteins. They're for carbs and vitamins.
8. Boost, complan, horlicks, protinex,etc....
None of them have a real high amount of protein. protinex has some, but not concentrated, it's mixed with carbs and fat and vitamins. If you want a proper diet, I suggest go on eggs and milk and soy and rice, and occassionally, if your sentiments permit, on meat.
Having outlined the basic sources of food, we'll talk about quantity. If you're just an average guy, eating average quantities of food, not just thulping whatever you can, you can go by the "grams of protein per kg of bodyweight" thingy. But if you're a bodybuilder or a weightlifter or an athlete cutting fat, or gaining mass, you need to go by percentages.
Keep a journal, write down about everything you eat- the amount of proteins, carbohydrates and fat. 25-30% protein, 45-50% carbohydrates and 25-30% fat is pretty good.
I haven't talked anything about supplements. This is for two reasons
1. The body absorbs most amounts of protein from natural sources than from supplements. Egg proteins are the proteins most absorbed by the body.
2. They're too expensive. A normal whey protein costs around 4,000 for 5 pounds or so, and it lasts for 2-3 weeks. So you're spending more than Rs.1,000 per week on protein powder. Spend it on eggs and you have a lot of proteins.
In developed countries, especially in the west, protein powder is compulsory for weightlifters. In India though, I don't see a lot of people consuming this. I have never had any protein powder yet- reason being I'm not rich enough to afford it. Maybe when I get a nice job and have a huge pay, I'll try them out :D . Indian food has a lot of stuff already mixed-rice, veggies, dal, spices, etc.... Other countries have specific foods- butter, bread, oats, corn, etc... and their consumption is very specific. Hence, protein powders are quite natural.
One supplement that is recommended is vitamins. Multi-vitamin tablets every once in a while is good for weightlifters, especially if you're working out hard. Revital is one famous tablet. For all athletes, when training at their peak, multi-vitamin tablets are must- they increase your ability to recover from fatigue and injuries and maintain metabolic rates.
I'll end this with a note on steroids.
Steroids are like hormones, or things that stimulate release of hormones. They increase the activity of your muscles. Testosterone is a male hormone that is responsible for a lot of muscular activity. Drug freaks take testosterone- it increases your endurance. You can workout for a long time and you can go heavy than normal. But the effect of this on your natural systems is really bad- in the long run, your natural testosterone production tends to go down as you depend more and more on artificial sources. End result- you don't do good in bed. Your muscles get weak, your voice sounds like a lady's. There are "some" female atheletes who take testosterone in order to work harder- they end up looking/sounding like guys.
I don't want to talk too much about them, just stay natural and you'll be happy you did. All the supplements you should ever need are multi-vitamin tablets, that too when you're going too damn heavy.
Just a small note- If any of you know watch WWE, you must be knowing Chris Benoit, the short muscular guy. He was a drug freak, used to live on steroids. He died with mental disorder- killed himsielf, his kid and his wife. DO NOT GO FOR DRUGS. (No offence intended against Benoit's fans, just some facts. If you don't believe me, search in Wikipedia. The drugs are the reason why WWE stopped using his name after he died)
http://www.newsteroid.com/blog/?tag=boy-bodybuilders
From a comment made by a teammate, Sandeep Gautam (a.k.a Moot)
"Short note on steroids-
All they'll do is push your body further from what you were genetically designed.....It came to me as a surprise/shock what a huge number of models and local athletes take'em....but then again there are natural guys...roids supress natural hormone production...i.e. you'll end up loosing most of the muscle you gained after quiting the juice.....and to make matters worse you won't be able to build back up even to your natural limits since your systems are permanently hampered......so take'em only if you plan to live on'em for the rest of your life...and can cope with the side effects including...acnes, GH gut(your stomach, lungs and stuff are also muscle, they will respond to 'roids the same way muscles do...), baldness, rage, man-boobs(aromatization of roids is highly possible, roids->aromatize->estrogen)....so make your decisions carefully people...!!!"
Eating far less than what you usually eat would not help you lose fat. Eating a lot more than what you normally eat would not give you muscle. The quality of the food is really important
If you want muscle, you need to eat a lot of proteins. If you are on a high-protein diet, you need to workout in the gym to make your body use those proteins. Excess proteins in your diet can give you stones in the kidneys.
That was only a word of caution. In India, you can't just eat loads of protein. Our common foods don't have a lot of protein, so you don't need to be scared.
I guess most of you know how a camel can survive in a desert. It's body knows the water supply is limited, hence whenever it finds water, it stores it up and uses it efficiently. Your brain controls the hormone system that guides how the fat/protein/carbohydrates in your body have to be used. You keep eating regularly, your body knows you're going to get your next meal pretty soon. If you do not eat regularly, or if you eat very less, you're body isn't really happy with it. First thing it does is it stores a lot of food as fat, so that if you don't get a meal when your glucose is used up, the fat may be burnt. Second, your metabolism- energy creation from food and the use of this energy, gets slowed down since you don't have enough supplies to go fast- YOUR BODY KNOWS IT ALL.
When people lose weight by eating less, they're losing proteins (hence muscle) and bone mass (and fat to a little extent) and are also slowing down their metabolism rates. This is not good for health or for losing weight. The first thing you want to do to lose fat is to increase your metabolic rates so that you keep using up a lot of food energy and you also convert fat into blood glucose at a higher rate. The reason why some people are really lean(/thin) despite eating a lot is their metabolic rates are high- this is a genetic thing. But you can control it. If you hit the gym and do some nice heavy workouts, you increase your metabolic rates.
Increasing metabolic rates help in losing fat, but only to some extent. This works only on newbies whose metabolism is slow. But for guys who have been working out for a long time and who have a fast metabolism, the only way to lose fat is by cardio and not through drugs or diet pills or crappy products or sauna belts and baths, and definitely not by not eating anything.
The best way to lose fat is to control your diet and do cardio. How to do effective aerobic exercise, I've already mentioned in a previous post. Here I'll tell about the diet.
When you are cutting(i.e. losing fat), you need to eat less than you do normally. But that doesn't mean half of what you eat. Say you consume 3000 calories of energy per day, reduce it to 2,700 or 2,600- that's all, not 1500 or 1000.
Some people want instant fat loss. If you're losing fat at a rate higher than half kg per week, you're doing some serious damage to your muscles and bones. An obese guy or a guy with too much of fat may lose at the rate of even 1.5kg per week. But guys who are not too fat cannot lose more than half kg per week. Do Not lose fat very quickly. What you want to do is increase the amount of proteins and reduce the overall consumption- hence still not allowing the muscles to break down, but forcing the body to use its fat reserves.
A diet that has 25% proteins for beginners is a good thing. That is, if your food has 100g carbohydrates, 40g fat, then you need about 45g of protein. While this is one way to monitor your diet, another way is to go by your body weight. For a healthy non-athletic individual, the protein intake must be about 1.5g per kg of body weight. i.e., if your body weight is 70kg, and you don't play any sport and are not very active, you need about 105g of protein per day. For athletic people, 2g of protein per kg of body weight is required, i.e. 140g per day for a 70kg guy. For body builders and weightlifters who are trying to gain weight (i.e. muscle), you need about 2.5g of protein per kg of body weight, making it 175g for the same 70kg guy.
To go by percentages is better than to go by grams of protein per kg of body weight. 15% of proteins in the entire diet(mostly proteins+carbohydrates+fat, all foods have a lot of water, don't add that) is decent for an average guy. For bodybuilders and weightlifters, 25% is good, 30% even better if you're planning to bulk. 20% is a minimum.
Some basic protein sources:
Note: This is about only proteins. There are a lot of other minerals and vitamins the body needs. Things like fruits and milk don't have great protein content, but must be included in your diet.
1. Eggs
The best source is the egg white. An average egg weighs about 35g, and the egg white can provide you 3-3.5g of pure protein. The egg yolk(yellow) contains about 3g of protein, but has a lot of cholesterol in it. 1 egg yolk a day may not do a lot of harm though. Considering all the vitamins present in the yolk, it's not really bad if you restrict it to 1 egg yolk a day. But egg whites, you can eat even 8-10 a day. Don't eat raw eggs. Boil them.
2. Meat
It is known to everyone that meat has a lot of proteins. I personally cannot afford chicken/fish/mutton everyday. So to put it in my diet is out of the question. Different kinds of meat have different amounts of protein. If you're rich enough, go for it. But anyways, it's always good to stay a veggie, especially when we're talking about diet, not partying. Why kill a poor animal or bird to put on a 100g of muscle?
3. Soya chunks/ Meal maker
Some people call it soya beans too, though it's not the right name. Soya chunks, made out of the thing left after soya oil is extracted, have a lot of protein- about 2/3rds of their weight. 500g of soya chunks have about 330g of protein. Some say it has estrogen( a female hormone) in it which is not good for weightlifters. Scientific study shows no such effects. The plant hormone is different from the estrogen present in women. This said, never take too much of anything. Soya chunks being very cheap, people may depend on them completely.
4. Milk
Though famous to be having a lot of protein, it has low protein content. 100g of milk has only 3g of protein. There are significant amounts of fat. If you can go on eggs and soya chunks, it's good. For non-weightlifters, milk is pretty good, but for weightlifters who want to control their fat, take the first two. Milk is not a good source for protein, but for all the vitamins and the calcium in it, milk is a compulsory food item to be included in your diet.
5. Roti or pulka
Heard from a lot of people that rotis and pulkas have a lot of proteins. Though I'm not sure about the exact content, I'd prefer them to rice.
6. Rice
I've looked up in wikipedia and found that 100g of rice has about 7g of protein- more than protein content in milk. While this is true, rice has a lot of carbs and fat. In a country where rice is a staple food, it's good to know the amount of protein you're getting from it.
7. Fruits
Most fruits are poor in protein content. Fruits are for health, not muscle. Fruits, by definition, have lots of sugars, i.e. carbohydrates. They are very rich in vitamins and minerals and these are necessary to maintain your metabolism and help in recovery from injury and muscle tear. You cannot lose fat or gain muscle by going a fruit diet. You need proteins. Same applies to vegetables. Not a lot of vegetables are really rich in proteins. They're for carbs and vitamins.
8. Boost, complan, horlicks, protinex,etc....
None of them have a real high amount of protein. protinex has some, but not concentrated, it's mixed with carbs and fat and vitamins. If you want a proper diet, I suggest go on eggs and milk and soy and rice, and occassionally, if your sentiments permit, on meat.
Having outlined the basic sources of food, we'll talk about quantity. If you're just an average guy, eating average quantities of food, not just thulping whatever you can, you can go by the "grams of protein per kg of bodyweight" thingy. But if you're a bodybuilder or a weightlifter or an athlete cutting fat, or gaining mass, you need to go by percentages.
Keep a journal, write down about everything you eat- the amount of proteins, carbohydrates and fat. 25-30% protein, 45-50% carbohydrates and 25-30% fat is pretty good.
I haven't talked anything about supplements. This is for two reasons
1. The body absorbs most amounts of protein from natural sources than from supplements. Egg proteins are the proteins most absorbed by the body.
2. They're too expensive. A normal whey protein costs around 4,000 for 5 pounds or so, and it lasts for 2-3 weeks. So you're spending more than Rs.1,000 per week on protein powder. Spend it on eggs and you have a lot of proteins.
In developed countries, especially in the west, protein powder is compulsory for weightlifters. In India though, I don't see a lot of people consuming this. I have never had any protein powder yet- reason being I'm not rich enough to afford it. Maybe when I get a nice job and have a huge pay, I'll try them out :D . Indian food has a lot of stuff already mixed-rice, veggies, dal, spices, etc.... Other countries have specific foods- butter, bread, oats, corn, etc... and their consumption is very specific. Hence, protein powders are quite natural.
One supplement that is recommended is vitamins. Multi-vitamin tablets every once in a while is good for weightlifters, especially if you're working out hard. Revital is one famous tablet. For all athletes, when training at their peak, multi-vitamin tablets are must- they increase your ability to recover from fatigue and injuries and maintain metabolic rates.
I'll end this with a note on steroids.
Steroids are like hormones, or things that stimulate release of hormones. They increase the activity of your muscles. Testosterone is a male hormone that is responsible for a lot of muscular activity. Drug freaks take testosterone- it increases your endurance. You can workout for a long time and you can go heavy than normal. But the effect of this on your natural systems is really bad- in the long run, your natural testosterone production tends to go down as you depend more and more on artificial sources. End result- you don't do good in bed. Your muscles get weak, your voice sounds like a lady's. There are "some" female atheletes who take testosterone in order to work harder- they end up looking/sounding like guys.
I don't want to talk too much about them, just stay natural and you'll be happy you did. All the supplements you should ever need are multi-vitamin tablets, that too when you're going too damn heavy.
Just a small note- If any of you know watch WWE, you must be knowing Chris Benoit, the short muscular guy. He was a drug freak, used to live on steroids. He died with mental disorder- killed himsielf, his kid and his wife. DO NOT GO FOR DRUGS. (No offence intended against Benoit's fans, just some facts. If you don't believe me, search in Wikipedia. The drugs are the reason why WWE stopped using his name after he died)
http://www.newsteroid.com/blog/?tag=boy-bodybuilders
From a comment made by a teammate, Sandeep Gautam (a.k.a Moot)
"Short note on steroids-
All they'll do is push your body further from what you were genetically designed.....It came to me as a surprise/shock what a huge number of models and local athletes take'em....but then again there are natural guys...roids supress natural hormone production...i.e. you'll end up loosing most of the muscle you gained after quiting the juice.....and to make matters worse you won't be able to build back up even to your natural limits since your systems are permanently hampered......so take'em only if you plan to live on'em for the rest of your life...and can cope with the side effects including...acnes, GH gut(your stomach, lungs and stuff are also muscle, they will respond to 'roids the same way muscles do...), baldness, rage, man-boobs(aromatization of roids is highly possible, roids->aromatize->estrogen)....so make your decisions carefully people...!!!"
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