This is the Plan!

So all of my measuring equipment hasn’t arrived, but that’s not that big of a deal. Amazon just told me that every thing will be here by tomorrow evening. So, I’ll have a last meal tomorrow afternoon. The trick here is to test my fasted blood glucose, blood ketones, and breath ketones for a baseline.

According to Dr. Mercola, doing an extended fast will only aid in getting into ketosis faster. I’ve gone as long as 15 days without eating before; so this won’t be that big of a deal. I’m going to fast for 3 full days. I’ll be keeping my blood glucose, ketones, and breath ketones logged, and I’ll give you guys some pics over on the FaceBook page. I’m not exactly thrilled about making myself bleed, but I guess for science sake, it has to be done.

I feel like the whole Ketogenic Diet/Ketosis is being plastered all over the place. I think it’s time that I give it a good go, and report my findings to you. Hopefully, I’ll get into ketosis fairly quickly, and I’ll be able to find a good carb range that won’t kick me out of ketosis for too long. The whole lifting some weights thing is going to be the hardest part of this diet. It’s going to be very challenging to get enough protein in my system while also maintaining ketosis. I think it’s possible, but I’ll have to be very diligent about my food planning and prepping. I’m not normally a ‘dieter’ per se, but I am going to try this out. Get used to seeing some pics of bloody fingers and avocados all over joshdoes.com social posts.

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, please add a comment. Get Strong. Stay Strong.

Long Time No Post

Hello everyone,

I’m having a little bit of a tough time getting my body analysis scheduled, but I’ll get that done soon. I wanted to just give everyone a quick idea of what is coming up on joshdoes.com. I’ve gotten amazing results with my first session of my work out program. I’ve more than likely lost a little bit of muscle since I stopped hitting the gym so regularly, but the test will show what’s going on with that. I have stopped hitting the gym because I really needed my body to regulate itself with the excursion rate I was putting it through! It’s tough to lose weight continuously when you are doing 2-a-days because your body will adapt to the calorie burn, and it will get more efficient at utilizing what you give it to STAY THE SAME! I thought that I could ‘cardio’ the fat loss out of my body, but I completely neglected the first rule in health/wellness/fitness… you can’t out work a poor diet!

I eat a fairly healthy diet. I don’t eat fast food. I eat a lot of salads/greens, and I get grass-fed meats, and I eat wild caught seafood. I do consume my fair share of booze (probably some of your share too!). But I think I learned a few things that are going to help move my body to the composition that I want it to be. I am going to vary the rep ranges/weight that I am throwing up. I am also going to go on a ketogenic diet! I’ll be posting more on both of these in the up coming weeks, but for now, I’ve ordered a couple ketone testing devices, and I’m formulating my diet to give me enough FAT and Protein to burn FAT and utilize PROTEIN for muscle growth. I think there is a good balance of activity and calorie consumption that will really get me to where I want to be.

My first workout regimen really did put on some muscle, and I hope everyone gives it a try for a few cycles. I’m trying to get an app for it, and that is turning out to be a little more in-depth that I first thought, but I’ll get it out there!

Any way, josh does is going to be hitting your feeds more frequently so keep an eye out!

Still Not There…

I was at a 74% Readiness this morning. I slept very well, but as you can see at the bottom, my HRV is at a 27. I think I’m going  to have to do some meditation, stretching, and some deep breathing exercises over the next few days to get this thing up!

I’m starting to miss the gym.

Back from my Golf-cation

Alright everyone, I’m back. I played a whole lot of golf in a short period of time, and with the way I swing, I needed a day or so of rest. I’m going to closely track my HRV, and if I’m near a minimal ‘GO’ number tomorrow, I’m going to max out on the Bench Press. I’ll post it up, and maybe even get a video of it.

I feel like I’ve put on some good size here, and I have a better than goo idea of my ‘maintenance’ calorie amount is. I’ve put on a few pounds, and I think it’s been muscle. We’ll start a ‘shredding’ phase here in a couple weeks. Thanks for reading. I really appreciate all the comments and questions.

Get Strong. Stay Strong!

Time To Load the Guns

Maybe not so much. I’m tryin to get some relaxation in. My HRV got up to 40 this morning, but I have still have things to do. I had a fairly stress free day at work, and it was really nice out. My swing coach was going to be at the course today for an Open House for anyone, and I got him to agree to stick around for a little bit. I haven’t played or practiced in over 2 weeks, and I thought that I was really going to need a Flight Scope session. My boy Tim Ganse at Raspberry Golf Academy knows his shit. He looked pretty tired, and he just pulled up a chair to watch me hit a few. I think I had made it through my 8 iron when he asked me, “what were you aiming at there?” I was really trying to hit a hard draw into this flag down the range, and I can of blocked it a little……I’m going to Golf Gab, and my wife let’s me know that no one like that. Long story short, my swing wasn’t as fucked up as I thought it was going to be. He got alignment straightened up and reigned in my tempo. I’m good to go.

Any way, it’s arm day. I have recently started studying for my Insurance License, and I have to get some sleep. I decided that ever 15-20 minutes I was going to just alternate Pull ups and Chin ups to failure. I lost track of how many rounds I got in, but I do remember getting several rounds of 6-7 reps of pull ups, and my chin ups were actually pretty solid.

I’m trying to figure out where I’m going to go from here. I think I’m just going to find 3 days to max out on the bench press and deadlift. I was really hoping to hit a big squat, but obviously this was a great education in how you have to have proper muscle recruitment and form in order to lift heavy weights while using multiple muscle groups! So that’s the deal. I was looking really big and pumped about 3 weeks ago, but my volume has gone way down, and I’m a little pissed. I was looking good. I think I can drop the weight lifting down to about 3 time a week for a couple weeks to get a good topless pic. maybe.

Thanks to everyone who is reading. I like the encouragement.

Get Strong. Stay Strong.

Chest Pump w/ a link to HRV information

I’m in a huge hole, but I’m taking all this as a great teaching tool of what NOT to do to your body. My Oura ring’s a fantastic tool to let me know when I can hammer myself or dial it back. I have literally ignored all the information. I’ve known what I was doing from the start, but man it’s tough right now.

Today is chest day, and I didn’t want to skip any more workout. I dropped the weights down a little bit, and I did less exercises to help my body slowly recover without completely losing any muscle that I may have built over the last 3 months.

Drop Set Barbell press: 4 Sets, 6*6: 50/35, 50/35, 50/35, 50/35. This was surprisingly easy. I have definitely gained some long term strength.

Push Ups to failure: 3 sets. I forgot to write them down, and I really can’t remember what I did. It was not jaw dropping…

There was a guy in the gym utilizing the cable machine so I did another chest exercise that I haven’t done yet, but I knew it would get me a good pump quickly…

Plate Press: 35lb. plate. I’ve never done this before, but I know how good it is at really squeezing the pecs. I think you’re supposed to put 2 plates together, but my chest still got a good workout with just the one. So I did 3 sets; 3 reps/4 reps/5 reps. I did lifts in the middle of the chest, and then moved the plate to the outside of each pec and hit that angle. So: 3*3*3, 4*4*4, 5*5*5… I’m about an hour removed from the workout, and I can still feel the pump. This is a good one that I’ll be throwing this one in more often.

So, if you haven’t heard of Hear Rate Variability (HRV), here is a good link about what it is, and why you should track it. HRV w/ Ben Greenfield & Dr. James Heathers

I love Ben Greenfield. His podcasts, articles, and research have been extremely informational, entertaining, and a little life changing. I highly suggest you check him out. He has tons of content, and he is a very highly recognized and respected influence in the health and fitness world.

My HRV was slowly dipping during the second month, and then it just dropped sub40’s and has been there for weeks now. Yesterday when I woke up, it was 17! I took it easy, and I got nearly 12 hours of sleep yesterday, and this morning is was 37. So, it’s going to be an uphill battle to get this thing back in the 80-100 range. I’ve got a plan though!!!!

Thanks for reading. Get Strong. Stay Strong.

Leg Day Schmeg Day

I ran my ass around the golf course this morning during a completely ridiculous tournament that we were hosting. All while completely fasted, and while having the lowest HRV rating my Oura ring has given me this entire endeavor. I do not need to lift heavy weight with my recruitment patterns as screwed up as they are. My legs are already pretty strong, and I can’t afford to hurt myself right now. I know that I need to really focus on my mobility after crushing myself over the last 3 months. Perhaps that’s what I’ll be doing for my next challenge…a mobility project! I had over 20k steps today, my legs are worked. I’m calling it good. Plus, my ass gets really big when I lift heavy, and I can barely fit into my pants!!!!!

 

Get Strong. Stay Strong!

Got A Gym Sesh’ in!

So I am absolutely spent. I am throwing myself in a lot of different directions, and I am very upset that I am not able to stick to this thing 100%, but that’s life, right? What I’m trying to do now is get the major lifts in on the regimen I’ve prescribed so that I can give you guys a plan to get stronger in this essential strength lifts. I know it works. It will work for you. Here’s the proof for now…

I haven’t lost my continuity on the bench press. Today is the last round for that (I’m going to adapt the week I missed with the rest of  the workouts). I have a lot of time constraints going right now with starting a new business and helping some others.

Bench Press: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 90/110/135/135. I wasn’t surprised at how easy this was, but I was really pumped today.

I didn’t have much time to be in the gym today. I have really tried to be a meat head for you guys being in the gym so much, but I have other shit going on. Today is basically shoulder day, so I’m going to hit them quickly.

Dumbbell shoulder press: 4 Sets, ALL to FAILURE W/40 lbs.: 14/10/8/8. I took a little extra rest before the last set.

Face Pulls: 4 Sets, ALL to FAILURE W/ 50lbs.: 16/12/12/9. I hate to be a pig, but a couple hot gym girls showed up so I had added motivation on the last two sets.

That’s all I had today. The plan for now is to get my ankle working correctly (it’s almost 92%), and hit some low heavy squats. I’m going to hammer these deadlifts over the next couple weeks because I know that I can make a huge progression at this point. I can completely feel that my body is extremely over worked, under nourished, and under rested. I try folks, but I ate 3k calories plus a few years ago, and it’s hard. I’m a small little dude, but I’m doing my best. I AM GETTING STRONGER THOUGH!

Hit me up. I’m coming to the end of this thing, and I want to know what you want to see me try next! I’m up for anything at this point!

Thanks for reading. Get Strong. Stay Strong!

Let’s Talk about T25!!!

Let me start by saying that I’ve done a lot of Beach Body work out programs. They are normally fun. A little challenging. Some times, they are time consuming! I saw the most strength gains ever by doing P90X. I got absolutely shredded doing Insanity (it is hard!). Hell, the wife and I did Shawn T’s Rockin’ Body…it was fun. I don’t dance, but it was a good time.

T25 is a great tool. I think that it is really challenging if you challenge yourself! You can get quicker, stronger, and you can burn some calories when you are getting after it! This is where I did not utilize the tool in the correct way. There were some mornings that I was super pumped, jumped out of bed, and I got after it. Hahaha, after a month of these 2-a-days, I was slow to get out of bed. I was stiff, sore, sluggish. I was moving. I did burn some fat because I was exercising fasted.

This is a fantastic ‘lunch’ work out. This is a great workout finisher if you are trying to burn a few more calories. This is a great tool for the guy who has a couple weeks of travel or meetings. This is perfect for anyone who doesn’t have 5 hours (call it 8 hours with travel) to get to the gym. This is a phenomenal workout for someone already ‘buffed out’ and wants to shred a little.

Throw this into your workout into your life. It’s great. Do not, I repeat, do not do this with a weight training workout. You will over train yourself, or you will inevitably not give the attention and intensity it actually needs. Use it the way it’s supposed to be used. If you are 30 pounds over weight and haven’t worked out, NOT FOR YOU. Lift some weights. Get a routine. Get some consistency, and this is for you!

T25 is great!!!

Tickets Please!

People, I’m running on fumes. I’m tired of eating so much to not be tired! I’ve trained myself into a very deep hole here, but I’m going to show you that YOU can stick to something (NOT 2 A DAYS FOR 3 MONTHS, THAT’S DUMB!!). This lifting regimen is going to show some results.

Pull UPs: 8/5/3/3. I’m pretty sure I that’s the most I’ve gotten in one set before! Still progressing here!

I came up with a new little Curl routine. Introducing: Crazy Curl Combo!!! So it’s a bit of a Super Set Roller Coaster, it goes like this: Wide Curl-Supinate Curl-Hammer Curl-Hammer Curl-Supinate Curl-Wide Curl…repeat this 3 times for 3 rounds. I liked it. Fun. New. Great pump.

I tried to do the Cable Curl pulling both arms from a ‘T’ position, but the machine in the apartment gym didn’t get me the angles. So, I just dropped them to the ground and pulled them up like a bar: 4 Sets to failure @ 22.2lbs.

Triceps Burners: 15lbs. dumbbells over head extension until I got a burn going….then 15 more….3 times.

That pretty much toasted my arms. Quick. Easy. Pain will come tomorrow!

Keep Reading. Get Strong. Stay Strong!!!