Kali Muscle: a look into the diet of one of the biggest guys on the west coast

     Now a few people are wondering who this guy up on top is. This man is known as Kali Muscle, and as you can tell, he's clearly very muscular. Whether it be by steroids or not is unknown to me, and I'm keeping that out of the discussion. The reason I mention him is because there is a lot of controversy on what he preaches, and to make it relevant to me, I'll backtrack to when I started to lift.

     Going back 10 years, when I was 14, I knew NOTHING about dieting or eating right. I just started working out, I figured if I just kept eating what I did, but worked out it would work itself out. In a way, it did. I dropped a lot of fat and added a good amount of muscle, and by the time I was 16, I had a rock-hard 6-pack and could start to curl 100 pounds on a barbell. I wasn't even taking whey or any other supplements, and I even worked out right before bed (Did crunches in my bed, which wasn't very sanitary in retrospect since my sheets would be covered in sweat. But hell, I didn't care...I wanted a 6-pack!).

     Fast-forward to college, where I started taking nutrition classes. I started to learn about these macros (lipids, carbs, and proteins) and what they did to the body. I started to follow it a little more closely and tracked my food, and realized all my macros were already in the ranges they should be in.

     Ok, now let's bring this to what Kali is preaching in his videos. In one of his videos I saw, (in particular this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OgEe_wLjCk ) he speaks of not caring what a macro is, and focusing on how many calories instead. THIS is how I tracked if I was going to gain or lose weight before college! I didn't care about hitting my proteins while lowering my lipid count...it was about getting those 3000 calories in! I still follow this principle for the most part, and I'm slowly losing the fat and still gaining muscle. The only other thing worth noting about this way to eat is he also mentions when he wants to look more cut, he cuts his sodium down low. Because of my crazy overnight schedule now, I don't have much time to cook my meals, so my meals tend to be higher in sodium, and I hope to try this technique and see if it works as well.

     Where Kali and I differ in the food intake, is I take whey supplement to help me feel more full and get a good amount of protein in quickly. But other than that, I believe in taking in healthier foods like brown rice, chicken breast, and frozen veggies steamed if you can. I try to eat as natural as possible, but at the same time I'm not tracking how many lipids I have taken in, or carbs. If I take in 2500 calories, and workout and expend 2800 calories naturally, I'm going to slowly lose weight, most likely fat if most of my calories are proteins it will help maintain my muscle. So overall: don't eat cake all damn day, and eat more home-made or natural stuff. If you're eating 3500 calories and gaining a lot of weight...and a lot of fat, cut down the calories, and take in less calories in general until you dialed it in right.

     You don't have to agree to this method, as we all have a choice in life. Although, if you're having a hard time trying to get into the shape you want doing it the normal way, maybe switching it up may be just what you need to succeed.

Overtraining explained a little more

     I been reading what people have been saying about overtraining, and you can tell who's been trying it and making it work, and who hasn't. There are still some issues about how to do it properly, as CT and Mike don't tell you EVERYTHING they do or explain it fully, or they do and it's months later. I have my own regimen that I stick to that's not QUITE what they do, but I come close and I feel since I come close and I'm still gaining, I must be doing it right.
     For one thing, I only train between 45 minutes to an hour, or sometimes I get a wild hair up my butt and I can go for an hour and a half. I don't train HOURS a day...I work full time overnights so I don't have that much time to dedicate to it, the good Lord knows I wish I could. They may train for HOURS a day, but they been doing this CONSISTENTLY for YEARS and worked their way up to that. Don't be too discouraged if you fall short on the time period. The main focus is to have little to no rest period to increase your TUT (Time Under Tension), and go for as long as you can. As long as you do that and your sore 24 hours later, you did it right.
     Also from what I saw from CT's videos is he FINALLY explained why he doesn't do full ROM (Range of Motion) with his bench press: by restricting the motions so they don't hit the sticking point, you keep the muscle under tension, thus furthering your TUT. The beauty of TUT is you don't have to load up the weights to get a huge pump, rather you just keep the muscles under the tension as long as you can and you will build the muscle just the same, if not MORE.
     Just remember that they don't always cut back on form to increase TUT, but it's a good change of pace to help build the muscle effectively. On the days they pyramid set, they're not going to sacrifice the form/ROM for a longer TUT, because they're increasing the weights up to their 1RM (One Rep Max), and going back down. Also, Mike has said that at the end of the workout, they always do either a burnout set (using weights that you just finished your pyramid sets with), or a 5-5-5 set (5 bottom-half reps, 5 top-half reps, and 5 full-range reps). I think there was another, but I'm not sure, because I usually finish with said methods.
     To finish this post off, overtraining isn't for ego lifters. Overtraining is meant to tear down every muscle fiber you have, and that means bumping down the weight until there aren't any plates on the bar and lifting it until you can't anymore. If you want to get serious with training and build good quality muscle, this principle is a good one to follow, even if most people disagree with it, and I hope the people that don't understand, read this and realize there is SOME form of logic behind this method of lifting.

PTSD and how workouts can help.

   I don't usually hear a lot about this, but I thought I should address it since I suffer from it myself, and a LOT of military men and women get it. It's a serious subject, and don't feel it gets enough attention.
    PTSD is a condition that people get when they experience a very traumatic moment or series of moments that it haunts them for the rest of their lives. These moments stay with them the rest of their lives, and can be debilitating as episodes can paralyze or enrage the person experiencing the episode, and the person experiencing it or others can be harmed. My step-dad has it, but his episodes are when he sleeps sometimes after watching war movies. The one time, my mom tried to wake him when he had one and he held her up against the wall. Mind you, her feet weren't touching the ground. Thankfully, he pulled out of it in time, and he felt TERRIBLE for it.
   I have it as well, not for the reasons a military man/woman would have it, but it doesn't make it any less dangerous. There are many ways to obtain it, and also many ways it gets triggered...like with my step-dad's gets triggered by having dreams. Mine are triggered when I think about the experience and tend to drink in a self-destructive rage. There are many triggers and many responses, but usually they end with the person feeling enraged and/or depressed.
   So the reason I brought this up, is because with mental health, it can be rehabilitated with physical therapy when paired with psychological therapy. I know when I maintain my workouts, I feel a LOT better, and I don't get as enraged or depressed when my trigger goes off. Although it may not work for everyone that has PTSD, it should help to make it a little more manageable, since workouts can release endorphins that are the "feel-good" chemicals that get released in your body.
   In summary, doing workouts consistently can help people that may have mental problems, since they can be just as disabling or dangerous as physical problems, and pairing therapy with workouts tends to help a lot. Like Jean Roqua said about his gym from my favorite movie "Never Back Down" said, "They usually come out a lot less angry than when they came in."
   My heart goes out to the men and women that put their lives on the line to keep their loved ones and the rest of the country safe. I hope that this would help anybody that has PTSD, or even any other mental issues going on, and doing workouts helps them.

Autumn: The Season of CHANGE

     I know it's been quite a while since I wrote a post, and unfortunately, I have to keep this short as I'm on a tight schedule. Got switched to overnights, and have had to change my internal clock and still trying to adjust. Trying to adjust has made my lifting schedule suffer, but moving on...
     For some reason, people that I talk to tend to have the most trouble training in the autumn/winter months. For these months, I usually make the most of the mildly warm/cool weather and workout MORE than I would in the hot seasons. I've made the most progress in these seasons, and I think I have a reason or two why.
     Autumn means a cooler weather pattern typically, which means the air is less muggy, and oxygen is easier to enter your lungs. More oxygen getting carried to the muscles means a better overall pump, and helps increase your endurance as well.
     I also tend to not sweat as much when I put in the same effort in the autumn as I would in the summer. For some reason, sweating excessively always distracted me from doing my best in a workout. I STILL have a fan on medium when I do my workouts today. I LIKE training in the cold. I also have my own bench set in my room, so if it's cold in the room, I just lift and it warms me (and the room, or at least I think the room is warmer...could just be my imagination) up.
     Overall, this is the season where people can either profit the most if they try to make the most of it, or suffer the most because they don't stick with it. One thing is for sure though, they call it the season of change for a reason! Utilize this season to make the most progress you've ever gotten, keep pushing, and make the most of a season that gives us a chance to improve the most.

Overtraining principle and Penitentiary lifting: is CT Fletcher on to something?

 Lately, I been feeling my workouts lacked luster, so I decided to take a look into new ways and different theories guys that I want to look more like did as their regimen. And then CT showed up on my recommended videos on youtube. I believe the first video I watched is partially titled, "I command you to grow! Biceps/Arm Day with CT Fletcher", or something to that effect. Watching just the first 30 seconds, I knew who was my newest and biggest inspiration.
 For those of you that don't know, CT is known as "The Strongest Man You Never Heard Of" since back in the 90's. He also has the most...colorful language you have ever heard too, with his most common word being Motherf---er, and it's also a term of endearment towards his fellow lifters. Either way, I saw this guy curling with arms that looked like they had bowling balls instead of biceps on them. Needless to say, I was immediately curious as to his "secret" to success. Watching more of his videos, he said there's NO secret for getting big, just busting your butt off (believe me, I'm editing for family-friendly purposes), and doing the work. Also in order to get big arms, he worked them out EVERY TIME he went into the gym, and said to hell with overtraining.
 Now hearing this at first comes as a shock. To hell with overtraining? What about getting injured? He replied what my thoughts were saying before I could think of a conclusion to his logic. He believes that overtraining was made up my people to scare everyone into thinking they have to take their time, and slowly recover, and that overtraining is bull, and before anyone write it off, they need to try it first.
 Ok, so I figured since he was being reasonable I should give it a shot. So for 4 days straight I trained arms, and the results were surprising. Although my arms were really sore by the end, I could tell they obviously grew. The amount of mass I could see that was built on was amazing! Sore, oh very much so, but I got results, and in such a short time!
 Another trick that helped me besides overtraining was penitentiary style lifting. That is, you have very short rest periods, you work your way up to your 1 rep max or 3 rep max, and work your way back down to the lightest plate until you can't even lift that anymore. You also don't need to have strict form, just get the weight from one position to the other the best way you know how if you had to.
 Not only did I gain sizeable mass, but the amount of strength increase was almost staggering too! I did chest yesterday and today, and I was able to go from struggling with 140 (I have a weak chest, I know. Also I lift by myself with no spotter), to having minor trouble with 160. In 24 hours, I gained enough strength to move 20 more pounds, and barely feel like I'm making a 100% effort. I would have added more weight, but I didn't want to push it, I was happy with what progress I made.
 Now you can take this information as bull, or you can step up and try for yourself and see if it works for you. I personally recommend this method now, and will continue to use this technique until I don't feel like doing it anymore. I'm addicted to the iron, though, so I don't think that will happen anytime soon. And feel free to check out CT Fletcher as well, as his videos can make you feel like moving mountains, or they could be off-putting to you and you won't like it.

The Psychology of Lifting

 Starting out, I had a low self-esteem, didn't think much of myself, and found myself saying "I can't" more often than I can remember. The thought of exercising as even a chore, since at the time I was at about 25% bodyfat and I started at 14, and I was being humiliated for being so big and weak. After a while though, I realized I started to change: I woke up more refreshed, I felt better overall, and I could do more, and I was losing my body fat. I felt invigorated, and became hooked.
 The point is, it increased my self-esteem, and made me feel like I had some self-worth, and everybody started realizing I was making an effort to improve myself, so I was bullied less. After a while, I started getting even bigger than the bullies, and bullied them to prove a point (at the time it seemed like a good idea, but now I know it makes me no better than them, although I did explain why I did it, and I stopped when they stopped). It's important to always remember why you started to take that first step, as it will always help when you're in a rough patch and need some motivation to keep going. I don't bully the bullies anymore, but I talk to them and see what the underlying problem is that causes them to pick on others, because the kids that pick on others are either being picked on by someone else, or they have a family issue that they don't want or can't address to anyone they can trust.
 Also as a personal experience, a few months ago I was going through depression. I was drinking a lot, I stayed away from my friends, I just didn't want to deal with anyone and stay in my room all day. I decided one day I got sick of it, and was trying to remember why I quit weight lifting. So I picked the weights up, and did a few exercises. Next thing you know, four to five months later, I feel better than ever! I been sober for that length of time and I don't feel tempted to drink again, and I feel happy, and like talking to my friends. Exercise has been shown to "cure" peoples' depression, both minor and major forms (I THINK the percentage is about 80% chance for a depressed person to go into remission after they exercised consistently for a few weeks to a month, I know it's a very high percentage).
 So the thing to keep in mind is this: exercising and weight lifting help you just as much mentally, as it does physically. Once an object is in motion, it wants to STAY in motion. While an object at rest, wants to STAY at rest. The best thing you can do for yourself when you feel a little down is go jog a mile, or even throw around some weights! It can help you feel more perky than you think!

Supplements and fat burners

 Helping moderate a guys website, I come across a lot of guys that feel the need to supplement when they weigh 140 pounds. That's great and all, but I never really started supplementing when I started to weigh 180-190. The reason for this is when you weigh 140 pounds or even 160, the recommended amount of protein to eat per day is 1 to 1.5g protein per pound of body weight. Doing some quick math, that's 190 mg MAX for a 140 lb. guy, while that's my minimum for my current weight. I never did the 1.5g/lb. since I had good results with even just 1g/lb. I steadily gained 15 pounds a year (MOST was muscle since my fat percentage increased only slightly to 14%), and all I did was eat all natural sources of protein. The reason I stress using supplementation later when you actually need it, is because when you take too much protein, you pretty much waste it by passing it via Urea (nitrogen in the urine), and farting quite offensive smells.
 I did try supps when I was at 140, but found what I said to be the case, and ended up just not taking it until recently when I actually need it. Supplements should be just that- supplements. They are meant to help when you NEED them, not when you WANT them. Of course everyone's needs are different so if you feel like you need them, buy a 2.5 lb. tub which SHOULD last you a month, and see if you progress. I'm only trying to save you money guys, since it's hard to come by these days for most of us!
 Now on to FAT BURNERS. I'm not extremely well educated on these, since I never took them, to be honest. All I know, is when something messes with your metabolism or your thyroid, nothing good comes out of it! Most the people I DO know that have used them would see progress, then once they stopped, gained the weight right back with extra! I thought the whole point was to lose it and keep it off? That's why every time someone mentions fat burners to me, I just laugh and say they'd have better luck keeping a solid meal plan which is easy to keep up with and having an exercise routine to expend more calories than what you're consuming. Now these are only my experiences with fat burners, if you don't agree, then by all means go ahead and use it. Just know there are consequences for everything you do, and fat burners do a lot more damage than just doing what you should do in life, BE ACTIVE!

Routines

Ok you found your BMR and have an idea of what you need to eat in a day. Now what? Well now you can start making up routines! This is my favorite part, since I will ALWAYS have to keep changing it, and try to find new ways to make it exciting! I recommend starting off with a full-body, light-weight workout for anyone that's either starting, or haven't done a workout in more than a year and don't have very physically strenuous jobs.
What I recommend is taking a total of 1-2 minutes per exercise, and repeating it 2 or 3 times, depending on how many exercises you have and how you feel after the first set of exercises. After the first workout, I'd wait at least a day, maybe two before doing the workout again. After a few weeks, your body should starts getting used to that, and I'd recommend starting to specialize the workouts to target more specific parts of the body. For example, have one day be arms, then the next chest and back, then legs. Then same thing again. Once your body starts getting accustomed to that, get even more specific. One day biceps, next day triceps, then chest, then back, etc. Now this sounds like it will only be a month before you're targeting specific areas, but the more specific you get, the longer it takes to get to the next area, so it may take you anywhere from 2-6 months before you're really targeting very specific areas.
Speaking of targeting areas, another thing to remember if you have a fat loss goal is...let me say this clearly, YOU CAN'T SPOT-LOSE FAT! I'm sorry if that came on a little strong, but there are SO MANY people that think they can lose fat only in the belly area, and that's not how it works! So trying to make an abs-only diet and regimen won't be as successful as doing a full-body workout.
A good thing to remember when making a routine is the exercises tend to last about a little over a month before your body starts to memorize the movements and will slow down your progress. This is called the "Plateau". The Plateau is where your progress seems to stop, no matter how intense you make the workout (although sometimes changing the intensity and pace can help spark back some more results and shock the body back into growth/fat loss). To prevent this, you need to change what exercises you do, and how many sets you do, rest periods, how many exercises, and tempo!

BMR

This should have went into getting started, but I figured this deserved a whole post on it's own since when I try to train people, some just don't understand it. BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate, which means how many calories you would eat if you sat on your gluteus maximus all day. Some people ask "Well why do I need that, why is it so important?" Well, in order to get on the right track to eating right, you need to find out how much your body needs just to survive for the day, let alone doing exercise. Now some of the calculators you find online have activity levels they ask you to choose. Some are pretty accurate, but others don't detail what they mean by which activity level.
For instance, sedentary is when you pretty much do nothing but bare minimum-you don't work out, but you do normal things all throughout the day. Unless you do a job with construction, or something where the first day you were sore all over, you should classify as sedentary. The construction workers and hard labor jobs tend to fit in the somewhat-active/active range. Guys like me that workout 5-6 days a week and have a job that keeps them on their feet, and also do farm work at house get a very active. So that'll give you a range of what to pick. I also found a calorie calculator which I'll post the link at the end of the post which is pretty detailed in what you'll need to eat INCLUDING compensating for the workouts, so when you find out the calories from that calculator, it's adding in if you do that stuff everyday so that's something to keep in mind when using it. Either way, it gives you a good ballpark range to work with and figure out what works in helping you either lose the weight, or gain weight/muscle.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: if you want to gain muscle, you need to meet the satisfaction of what your body needs in a day, and a few hundred extra calories for the workouts you do (depending in intensity, it could be less or more, but a few hundred is a good starting point). If you want to lose fat/weight, you intake just a few hundred less of your BMR + whatever you need for your workouts (for some people just meeting the BMR is enough to lose healthy weight as long as they still exercise).
Anyways, if you have any questions you'd like me to make a post about or just answer, be sure to leave a comment. I hope this helps anyone get a good step in the right direction and makes their way to great gains/losses, and as always, thanks for reading!
Link for Calorie Calculator: http://www.stevenscreek.com/goodies/calories.shtml

Mens' goals versus women's goals

So today I posted this picture on facebook. I don't even believe in the ideology, since the pictures aren't exactly similar since the woman doesn't have muscle tone, she is just lean. Anyways, I merely posted it also adding how a guy has to eat 4000 calories, etc, just to kind of get an idea of how people view body image.
The results were interesting. Some said what I knew they would say, the typical "Oh, she's fit". And my response is "Not to the trained eye." Just because she's SKINNY, doesn't mean she's FIT, there's a difference. Without proper diet AND exercise, a woman will hardly ever look cut (unless it's in her genetics, which is why I said 'hardly ever'). Most women, if they want to look cut and have muscle definition, need to be on a  regular weight lifting routine (doesn't need to be heavy weights, just some form of weighted resistance with medium to high intensity, depending on the goals). The woman in this picture merely had a diet where she ate less than what she exerted and possibly did some cardio, typical way to lose weight, but again, there is no muscle definition, so she hasn't trained with weights.
The point of this is women's goals are different from men's goals usually, so they have to train differently as well. Most men want to be fit- they wanna be able to lift heavy things, run faster, feel better, and also look good doing it of course. Now women that typically ask me to train them want to "lose _ pounds". Only a few have ever answered they want to feel better about themselves, and be able to do more with less physical strain. So when I put a woman with the "lose _ pounds" mindset on my regimen, they tend to quit fairly early. That's usually because when they see the work that has to go into getting fit (which is a LOT), they just want to focus on the diet portion. The women that do want to get fit however tend to stick with it, and so far I have someone right now who's doing awesome and feels great about it! There is a difference between being skinny and fit. And in a trainer's eyes, he can spot the difference, and I train people to be FIT.

Getting started

Since I'm just getting started on here, maybe it'll be a good place to also start on suggesting how someone DOES get fit. Looking on multiple fitness boards and websites, I see a lot of people either ask how to start, or they just start with cardio for fat loss. Cardio is good for cardio and leg fitness, but like all workouts and exercises, if you load up too much on it you'll burn out or actually hurt yourself more than help. Also, research has shown that a woman that does light to moderate weight lifting (doesn't have to be heavy) will lose more FAT than a woman that runs all the time. Now let's think about that. Why on earth would someone that lifts weights lose fat more than someone that runs all the time? Remember this is if she maintains the same diet, as well. Here's why: when you lift weights, you're tearing down the muscle fibers in the area you're working out (i.e. Biceps). When you tear it down, it builds a little bit more each time. A pound of muscle burns about 7 calories a minute at rest, while a pound of fat only burns 3 calories a minute. Now you WILL build a little muscle in the legs from running. BUT when you do a full body workout, you're incorporating ALL the muscles in the body and tearing them down. And for people that aren't so good at basic logistics, that means cardio with one muscle group focused on < multiple muscles being focused on and needing more calories to function a day. Another common issue I see with women is they think "Well I don't want to look like Sylvester Stallone or a bodybuilder like those gross women in bodybuilding competitions." Women, you will NEVER get that big unless you take testosterone shots, or your body makes as much of it as a man, which genetically is a very slim chance! You'll get some size, sure, but you won't get as big as my 17 inch arms, or 43 inch chest (that's mostly muscle anyways). As for starting a workout regimen I'd suggest 3 days a week for maybe the first 2 weeks, and maybe add an extra day after that when your body has adjusted to the change. Also I keep my workouts simple but intense, and depending on your goal it may differ, but I only use about 3-4 exercises for every set and do only 3-5 sets. It's simple, and basic, but it has never steered me wrong. I think this will be a basic good start, and for the next post I will discuss the most important part of getting fit-eating right! If anybody has questions please feel free to ask by e-mail and I will post on here or just email back when I have found the answer or I already know it! Again, thank you for reading!

My introduction

So welcome everyone to my newly-made blog! Never did one before, so figured I'd do it with something that I love to do- help people get fit, and maintaining that level of fitness later on in life! What better way to explain what brought me to this point than to start from the beginning. I started at the age of 14 when for my last birthday present was a Weider bench with assorted weights. I was a fat young lad, with low self-esteem and acne breakouts worse than what the teenage mutant ninja turtles would have had if they were actually human. Now some people would think "His parents were basically telling him he was fat with that birthday present!" and you'd probably be right. But it was because of it that I realized I needed to change what I did with my life. That without lifting those weights, I wouldn't amount to much in life and be depressed possibly the rest of my life. A strange thought for a kid, I know, but it worked. I lost most of my fat and had a strong 6-pack within the next school year. It felt great! People actually came up and talked to me for more than just needing answers! So I decided to start lifting heavier weights, to get bigger. You kind of know how the rest of the story goes. Along the way though, I always remembered to teach onto others what I've been taught. I like to help others to become as successful as I have been with it. Fitness has been good to me, and I want to be good to it as well, so what better way to be good to it then spread the knowledge of it to everyone who will listen? There's nothing that pleases me more than to see someone reach their goals and appreciate all the hard work they put into it. SO, with all that said, I will be posting random tips and pointers and some of what I do to either help motivate or inform people that are interested in becoming either fit, or possibly a bodybuilder, or whatever!