There's always room for improvement. I noticed I have loads of error with squats and deadlifts so from now on I'll be working on improving them. My mobility and flexibility could develop a lot more. I'm incredibly stiff...anyway these videos are just for me to study from. But I'll leave them here on my blog for those interested.
Current Macros: 2750cals, 61f/344c/206p. Current Supplements: Pre-w/o: Muscle Prime by All Max Protein: Syntha-6 isolate by BSN Carbs: Carbo Gain by NOW Creatine: Cell-Mass 2.0 by BSN Intra/anytime BCAA's: AminoX by BSN Comparison shots: Left: September 27, 2012 133lbs, Right: January 27, 2013 150lbs. +17lbs in 4 months using IIFYM. Ab lines still maintained during this controlled bulk.
Left: 150lbs in February 2011, Right: 150lbs in January 2013.
Same weight, different physiques. Holding much more muscle mass now compared to before.
Dirty "see"food bulk vs. Controlled IIFYM bulk.
2/6/13 405lbs deadlift x 1 first ever attempt. The session went like this:
Warm-up, 2 sets Lat pull downs w/70lbs x 8
Work sets:
Pull-ups
bodyweight x 5
45lbs x 5
45lbs x 2, dropset to bodyweight by 3
25lbs x 5
25lbs x 5
Deadlifts:
135x5
225x5
315x1
365x1
385x1
405x1
Came into the gym thinking I was only going to do multiple sets of 315 for reps. But my buddy Arnold Hwang persuaded me to go for a 1mr. Glad I did!
2/5/13, First Day at Gold's Gym, Fullerton. Great leg daymy buddies Matt Rojana, Mark Sanchez & Mylene Montoya. PR'd 315lbs squat. Only had 3 hours of sleep the night before from 7am-10am. Was unable to sleep due to taking 2 servings of ON Platinum-Pre the night before when hitting chest with my buddy Jonny Cage. Never again..Only had 1 meal 6 hours prior to this attempt as well. If my tensor faciae latae wasn't injured along with adequate sleep and more meals, I know for a fact my mind and body would've performed this much better with a greater range. Next time!
January 22nd or 23rd.. 2013
Chest day w/Arnold Hwang. Arnold is a MONSTER!! Amazing chest strength. He reps 100lbs w/Dumbbells full range on incline & flat like cake..
1/19/13. Got to meet 2012 Mr. Olympia PHIL HEATH!! AKA THE GIFT!! He is HUGE and very humble!
All them free samples from the LA fit expo ;)
That's pretty much all I've got to update with! :)
Today's Topic: I.I.F.Y.M. - If It Fits Your Macros (AKA "Flexible Dieting")
Behold..the ability to CONTROL how your PHYSIQUE transforms. Bulking? Cutting? Maintaining? Want to gain or lose weight? Well here's the information you'll need!
(yes you will see some Q&As from my older my posts, but there are new ones as well!)
Those that follow me on Instagram, Facebook, or this Blogspot know that I've been doing IIFYM/Flexible Dieting and that I'm living proof that it works. I started IIFYM/Flexible Dieting at late June of 2012 because I wanted to see if it worked. And I am truly glad I have. I was going to make a video about this, but I've decided to make a blog about it instead. You all have the ability to read, otherwise you wouldn't be at my page in the first place. Before I go ahead, I would like for you to read this with an OPEN-MIND. Do not frown upon or diss it without first experimenting with it and trying it.
Disclaimer: I am NOT saying IIFYM is for everybody or that you HAVE to do it to reach your goals. There are plenty of other dieting methods out there. No one is putting a gun to your head forcing you to do this. If you wish to educate yourself on this lifestyle and topic, then proceed on reading. :)
Q: What is a calorie?
A: A calorie is a unit of energy.
Q: Is a calorie truly just a calorie? A: Yes. Thermodynamics proves and dictates that a calorie is indeed just a calorie. Link to evidence provided here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15113737
Q: What is a macro-nutrient(macro)?
A: Macros are the main compounds that provide energy(calories). The three macro-nutrients are Fats, Protein and Carbohydrates
Q: What is a micro-nutrient(micros)?
A: Micros are vitamins and minerals. They are important in taking care of your organs health and function.
Q: What is a maintenance caloric intake?
A: The amount of calories you need to maintain your current bodyweight.
Q: What is a caloric deficit?
A: Eating less than the required calories to maintain your current weight. A caloric deficit will make you lose weight. *Do NOT put yourself too deep into a deficit as this MAY cause metabolic damage.* *Some of you that have already gone through a fat loss through "clean" eating have blindly put yourself at a deficit without knowing so. The basic "clean" eating meals such as oatmeal, sweet potato, chicken, brown rice, are generally low calorie meals. This is why your weight loss was achieved.
Q: What is a caloric surplus?
A: Eating more than the required calories to maintain your current weight. A caloric surplus will make you gain weight.
Q: What is IIFYM?
A: IIFYM is a flexible form of dieting used to control your body composition. Simply put, it allows you to eat whatever you would like as long as it meets your macronutrient needs. IIFYM allows you to disregard what you believe as "clean" food and "junk" food. emphasizes the focus of meeting your macro and micro needs in regard to changing your body composition according to your desired goals.
Q: Why should I do IIFYM? A: Simply because it makes sense and it allows you to enjoy the foods you eat without feeling the guilt and stress of sacrifice all while helping you obtain and achieve your body composition/physique goals. It makes sense and it works. Now I know some of you guys are skeptical, I can relate. When I first heard of IIFYM I thought it was bull-poop and couldn't believe the things that I was hearing. But then I decided to be OPEN-MINDED one day and gave it a shot. It changed my life, for the better. ;) Q: You're saying I can all the junk I want?
A: Yes and no. You will find that about 70-80% of your daily macros end up coming from "clean" & healthy meals once you start in order to get in your dietary fiber and micros. Plus fitting your macros all from junk is actually pretty hard..I've tried. You can CHOOSE to fit your macros through healthy or "junk" foods. That's the joy of IIFYM.
Q: Great! Now how do I start?
A: First off, you will need to figure out your maintenance caloric intake by using this calculator:
Now realize that maintenance number provided is just an ESTIMATE of your maintenance caloric intake. It doesn't know your exact metabolism so it doesn't know your true maintenance. This number is just a baseline for you to start with. Start by weighing yourself when you wake up on an empty stomach. Then try sticking with this number for a minimum of 1 week and reach that caloric intake religiously daily. At the end of the 7 days, reweigh yourself on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. If your weight goes up then you're at a surplus and would need to bring it down by accordingly to what you think will be your maintenance. If your weight goes down then you are at a deficit so you'll need to bring it up. The key here is to experiment and find your own personal maintenance number.
Q: I got my maintenance, how do I gain or lose weight?
A: You'll be needing to put yourself at either a surplus or a deficit. Start by adding 75-100 calories above or below your maintenance according to your desired goals. Once again, weigh yourself on an empty stomach in the morning first, then stick with that religiously for at least one week and see whether it was enough of a surplus/deficit or not. Then re-adjust it accordingly until you find out whether it works well for you or not.
**NOTE: If you are gaining weight too fast, you may likely be gaining more fat than muscle(because muscle takes a very long time to develop unless you have god-like genetics or on prohormones/steroids. If you are losing weight to fast, you are most likely losing a lot of hard earned muscle along with that fat. Unless you're completely new to working out(shocking the body into newb gains) or you're on steroids, you would be losing fat and building muscle at the same time. Adjust your macros & caloric intake accordingly.
Q: How do I figure out my macronutrients?
A: Alright, so you got your maintenance number. Now how you decide to split up your protein, carbohydrates and fat needs are personally up to YOU. If you are someone who exercises regularly, I recommend getting in .80grams to 1.5grams of protein per/body weight to maintain and aid in muscle health. After you figure out your minimum protein needs, split your carbohydrates and fats up as you may please. Carbohydrates and fats are forms of energy that provide you fuel to last you through out the day. Carbohydrates are more of the "to-go" sources of energy because your body breaks it down quicker than fat. Fat is a form of energy that breaks down slower in the body.
You can use this calculator to give you an idea of where your macros will be set at. Punch in your daily caloric goal according to whether you want to be at maintenance, surplus, or deficit and it will split the difference to your desires: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm
1g of fat = 9 calories
1g of carbohydrates = 4 calories
1g of protein = 4 calories
Q: How can I TRACK my macros?
A: There are apps and websites out there that will aid you, the only one I currently know of and personally use is MyFitnessPal. You can use the phone application for it or go to www.myfitnesspal.com
It's a very easy to use and self explanatory app. I HIGHLY recommend it for ANYONE using or want to use IIFYM/Flexible Dieting. If you don't know how to use myfitnesspal, there are plenty of How-To's on google and youtube.
Now I know that there will be foods that you won't be able to find on myfitnesspal, if you can't find the exact food but know the macros or want to guesstimate the macros, just type in "macros - carbohydrates" , "macros - fat", or " macros - protein" and just punch in the serving size as the amount of grams of the macro.
How can a burger from McDonalds be equivalent to a meal of chicken, brown rice and cashews? It’s quite simple, your body does not recognize whether the food your eating is ‘clean’ or ‘junk’. It will only recognize food’s for it’s nutrients, such as proteins, fats or carbohydrates. For example; a McDonalds Seared Grand Chicken Burger is worth 501 calories which consists of 35.3g of protein, 15g of fat and 53.4g of carbohydrates. Whereas, 130g of chicken, 25g of cashews and 120g boiled white rice is worth 520 calories which consists of 16.5g of fat, 55.2g of carbs and 37.9g of protein. When you consume either of these meals, your body processes the food based on the macro-nutrient values (which you can see are extremely similar) and will yield the EXACT same effects on your body composition. These results are solely on body composition and do not take into account the micro-nutrients which your body needs in order to maintain your health. You can always opt for a multi-vitamin or try to fit foods into your macros with higher micro-nutritional values to help balance the ‘processed’ or ‘junk’ foods consumed. Now, I’m sure that some of you will be asking, “What about the different types of fats in these meals? The burger will be higher in unhealthy saturated fats while the traditional meal will be much higher in the healthy unsaturated fats.” (Probably not in so many words, but you get the picture) However, recently in the U.S, a professor of human nutrition decided to lose weight purely through calorie counting disregarding the rest of the nutritional values of the foods he consumed. He spent 10 weeks in a caloric deficit and consumed “a steady stream of…Hostess and Little Debbie snacks…Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos.” Here’s the most interesting bit of all, “You might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so. Haub’s “bad” cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20% and his “good” cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20%. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39%.”² His results clearly showed that being overweight is what causes the majority of these effects, rather than the nutritional value of the foods consumed. ((Source for this answer from doyoueven.com and http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html)
If you're still reading, then I guess you're really interested! Well now you know what IIFYM/Flexible Dieting is about and how it works.
That pretty much sums everything up. You guys have the ability to educate yourselves. So if it's something you guys really want to jump on, then don't wait for someone to spoon feed you. Look up as much information as you can on your own! :) Thanks for reading, and I hope this helps many of you out there!
Also wanted to share a great video here! It's long but worth the education and information
