Well another experiment come and gone. Very successful, very happy.
BIGGER AND LEANER
Early in this experiment I sent out to see if I could get leaner and gain wait. Even though the body FAT seemed to come off slower I did lean out and get stronger while gaining weight. My diet really didn’t change all that much from the previous Keto experiment. What I basically did was add two cans of coconut milk a day as opposed to one. I didn’t log as much this time. I was basically eat meat and a small portion of Green Veggies. I was really blowing off cardio and metabolic conditioning this time. Big mistake for many reasons, performance and otherwise. I also lost my cool lighting and posing area that my public gym at TFC had. So I was less motivated on look but more focused on performance.
38 weeks, The day before my powerlifting competition
HOW I FELT
Great as expected. Never as tired as when I do a standard Paleo Diet. But I find my 80/20 in Standard Paleo suffers horribly. Recovery was maybe even better with the added fat. The extra monocarbolic acid generated to metabolize the ketones adds to this recovery.
TRAINING AND GETTING STRONGER
I did change a lot here. Probably way to much. I was experimenting with a lot. I decided to move my grip in on my bench press. I wanted to see if I could establish more torque on the bar. Which I did. But it really did take me out of my sweet spot. I kept there a little too long but when I inched back out to my traditional drip. I was still able to establish that torque so I guess I did gain out of it. I also primarily lift USAPL. I have to keep my feet flat on the ground and I experimented with a higher heal shoe to keep my arch up. I utilized my Oly shoes. It works well but I found I had to turn my heals back out more. Added to the delay.
On my squat I attempted to walk it out and get back to awider stance and…. wear my OLY shoes. ugh, to much. I ended up keeping the OLY shoes in the program but moved my stance back in a few weeks before the meet. That worked out much better.
Dead lifts started to feel good. I have found that I HAVE to do quad work, I do paused Manta-Ray Squats to a high box with foam on it. I HAVE to DL twice a week. (Volume Day, & Max Effort Day). I HAVE to do Reverse hyper. I was suffering severely from some hip pain. Conversing with my Chiro (former powerlifter Matt Zweng) great resource for me. Said it would help a lot. Well it was missing from my training as we opened our own gym. Ordered one from Rogue and it instantly started feeling better and DL started Climbing back up.
CROSSFIT
I wasn’t doing as much this time. As a matter of fact I wasn’t doing a whole hell of a lot for my General Physical Preparedness. It really reared it’s head at the end of the meet. I felt great but I was flat out tired.
OH NO! INJURY!
So my last squat workout,heavy triple before my meet I got bent over on a PR. Ok. I’ve hurt my back before but never like this. I woke up the wee hours of Saturday morning and it hurt so bad I was army crawling to the bathroom because not only I couldn’t walk , I could not crawl. Yeah, Bad. Immediately got into the chiro that morning. Epsom salt baths, and mobility work, Ice. I was determined to at least bench at the competition. By Wed that was the plan, by Saturday morning I was going back full power but lighten the openers. When I left the meet I felt better than I had in months. ???? I can only attribute this huge recovery to being in Ketosis.
The MEET!
Well I only Pr’d on the Bench. I bench 402 in the USAPL meet. The other lifts were coming along but I did a meet about 5 weeks earlier than the normal and hadn’t dialed everything in yet. I did this as I had a trip planned. Mistake again. Just stick with the plan.
I’d also be a liar if I didn’t admit that opening my own gym didn’t distract from my training. You’d think that owning your own gym would allow for endless training. Well that might if you were independently wealthy or generating a ton of revenue but I do still work a full time sales job and that priority has to come first as it pays the mortgage.
THE QUESTION, “WHY GO OUT OF KETOSIS IF YOU FEEL SO GOOD”
This question was just asked of me the other day. I really don’t have a great answer. I feel great when I’m in ketosis and my training goes better, Everything is perfect and isnt’ that what its all about. “If you have your health you have everything” right? I have to admit, It’s most likely social pressure. I usually start Jan 2nd when the holidays are done and feel guilty as hell not to mention feel like Crap. Then run all the way to Halloween which happens to be my birthday and the Michigan USAPL State Meet is right about then too. Then from there I just role into the Standard 80/20 Paleo on the good Ol’ glycolytic pathway. Easy to indulge in the 20% as I don’t have to worry about being knocked out of Ketosis. This 2 months also happens to be a good reminder of why I’m in Ketosis most of the year. Just don’t feel nearly as good.
Read these posts for more Keto experiments and info.