Just a quick update. Started GOMAD on 2-27-12, 3 full weeks ago. Been hitting all my lifts (as long as I go today). Probably missed about 2.5 gallons of milk so far, which you can see in the Ongoing – GOMAD page.
My body weight is actually a couple pounds higher than where I expected it to be after first week of Madcow. During GOMAD/Madcow last year, I was around 172 pounds at this stage, so that’s good to hear. I might try to get up to 185 or 190 pounds instead of just 180, but it depends on how I feel, if I get a job, etc.
Currently I would say lifting this heavy and drinking a gallon of milk a day is taking it’s toll. Definitely have to use the toilet more often, but as long as I spread the milk throughout the day and eat plenty of solid food plus vegetables it’s all good. My body is generally fatigued, but that may also be due to the fact that my sleep schedule is terrible. Currently fixing that so I’ll see how I feel in a week or so.
Other than that there isn’t much to say. Just gotta keep plugging away!
Torture twists are easiest to describe with a video:
You can see I’m shaking like crazy, that’s because it’s hard! If you think it looks easy, try it!
The basics are:
Set a bench up next to a solid bar you can hook your legs under
Get a metronome and set it at 60 beats per minute (aka 1 beat per second)
Sit down, hook your legs under the bar, and lean back so your body is straight like a board, or as straight as you can get it
Tilt from the midriff to your left. Count 3 beats
During the 4th beat, turn over to your right.
Count 3 beats. You’ve just completed 1 rep. Repeat steps 4 through 6 until you’ve completed 3 reps.
You’ve completed 1 set. Take a 2 minute break, then repeat for 3 sets.
Once you can do a whole workout, add 1 beat to your count. So after you can do 3 beats for 3 sets of 3 reps completely, try to do 4 beats. Once you can do that, do 5, then 6, etc.
If you can do 7 seconds like me, that’d be 7 seconds*6 per set=42 seconds per set, 126 seconds for the whole workout, add 2 2 minute breaks and the whole workout is 6 minutes and 6 seconds. How’s that for 6 minute abs?
Why are they so torturous? A couple of reasons. One, all you can do is lay back and take it. You’re not pushing or pulling, the pain is in your face and you just have to grit your teeth and finish it out. Two, every time you finish the workout, you know the next time will be harder because you’re just going to add 1 second the next time you step up to the plate.
Just for fun, find someone at your gym that “works on their core” a lot and see how many seconds they can do of this.
I am switching my workouts from Stronglifts 5×5 to Madcow, check out my google doc to follow along.
Stronglifts 5×5 is a beginner program in which you add weight every time you go to the gym. As you can imagine, this eventually becomes too much and your body can’t keep up. I’m just about at this point. From here you go to an intermediate program which you add weight every week instead of every workout. I am going to be doing Madcow, an intermediate program recommended by Stronglifts.
I did Madcow last year starting on April 18th, 2011 and, as you can see below, my current weight/strength is at about the same level. I also did GOMAD back then, so basically I’m just re-doing the same thing I did a year ago. I could probably squeeze out a few more workouts of linear gains, but mentally it’s really hard, so I’m switching to Madcow now.
Madcow Spreadsheet 2011
If my weight follows the same growth pattern as it did last year, I will reach 180 pounds in a mere 5 weeks. Depending on if I get a job or not, I may push my weight higher or stop there. After reaching my goal weight, I want to experiment with other workouts.
Please read the whole article before commenting on how crazy I am. But, feel free to post that. It will just make it funnier in 2 months when I prove you wrong.
If you don’t know already, GOMAD = Gallon of milk a day. Note: I’ve done GOMAD twice before so I pretty much know what to expect, which is why this is a experiment/demonstration.
Where I Am Now
Since new years I have been lifting lightly and slowly getting back into shape. I’m finally at a reasonable point (Deadlift, 265, Squat 215, Bench 150, Row 150, Overhead Press 120) and am going to kick it into high gear. I currently weigh 168 lbs, my goal is 175 lbs with a good body fat %.
My Plan
Exercise
Stay on my current linear progression lifting program (based on Stronglifts). I will probably have to switch to an intermediate program soon enough. See my current results as well as projected workouts here.
Diet
Eat my normal diet (low/slow carb mostly, but plenty of crap also), but add GOMAD. Stay on this until I reach 180 lbs (should be 2 months), at which point drop GOMAD and cut down to 175 lbs while attemping to not lose any muscle mass. I may do only half a gallon of milk on Sat and Sun since I don’t lift those 2 days in a row.
Health
For fun, after I reach my goal of 180 lbs I will get a cholesterol test to show you the reader what happens. Either you’ll be surprised by awesome numbers or I’ll be surprised by crappy numbers.
Demonstration
I will try to photo every bit of food I eat until I reach my goal of 175 lbs and post the photos to my flickr account. You can follow along with my workout progress here. I took a video since photos are easily altered and posted it below, and I will repeat at 180 lbs and 175 lbs. At the end of my GOMAD I will get a lipid panel (cholesterol test).
In the spirit of full disclosure I have a few extra things I do/don’t do:
Never work out within 30 minutes of waking up.
Never lift right after eating.
Sleep plenty.
Short warm up.
Things I’m Not Doing
People have a million and one (stupid) tips on how to lose or gain weight. I’m not doing anything but what’s above. Here’s a short list of things I’m not doing that you may have heard of:
Counting calories
Going out of my way to walk or jog or walk up stairs or anything like that
“Timing” my protein
Working out at a specific time (ie, workout before you eat breakfast or other such bs)
“Confusing my muscles” by switching exercises
Supplementing in any way (although I do take vitamin D3, vitamin B and fishoil for other reasons)
Substituting “healthy food” for other food. For example, quinoa, low fat anything, etc. I cook with real butter, bacon, etc.
Hypothesis
I have done this before, so I pretty much know what’s going to happen. It should take a month or two to get up to 180 lbs. From there it’ll take another month or two to drop back down to 175 lbs. At 175 lbs I will look noticeably more muscular than I do now, but still have a small belly. Hypothesis for my cholesterol levels after reaching 180 lbs by drinking a gallon of milk a day: should be similar to my last test: total 185, triglyceride 84, hdl 68, ldl 100, (all mg/dL), December 2010.
Call for Comments
I really want to hear from you on what you think will happen. I know this sounds crazy, so I’m hoping people post what they think will happen or not happen.
As promised, my post today is a video of my workout (one of two), which comes from Stronglifts.com. The entire thing from warm up to being done is only 37 minutes. People complain working out takes too long, does 37 minutes sound long? And, only 3x a week. If you’re doing a workout that takes longer, you might want to reconsider. In the future I’ll do a post on the kind of results I have gotten.
http://youtu.be/jzw8kP0CKWk
All that’s needed for this workout: Barbell, weights, squat rack, some plywood and rubber for barbell row and deadlifting. And somehow modern gyms spend tens of thousands of dollars on useless equipment.
Oh yeah, and you can see my workouts for 2012 in my Gdoc here.
