Category: Weight Loss Exercise

I have a new workout partner, and he is kicking my ass.

Late last year my 13 year old son Jaiden decided he wanted to join a gym. My wife took him for his first workout and then I went with him a few times after that. Then one weekend we took a couple days off and that was it. Sadly he never went back to the gym until a couple months ago.

Suddenly a couple months back Jaiden decided that it would be great to get “ripped”. I am still not sure if ripped mean losing all his body fat or gaining lots of muscle but I guess I will find out eventually.

Our Original Workout Schedule

We started working our whole body in one workout and working out three days a week; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and then Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. Never more than one day off.

The workouts are really one exercise for 3 sets, 2 of which are to failure for each muscle group. The workouts are dragging up to about an hour and a quarter which is a bit longer than I would like.

The reason for this three full body workouts a week is that I wanted to make sure that Jaiden was getting the hang of the workouts and I didn’t want him pushing too hard and hurting himself.

For a 13 year old this is great. For his 50 year old dad maybe not so much.

New And Improved 2 Day Split Workouts

So, we have now started a 2 day split where we work half our body one day and the other half the next. This is much easier for me and we can hit each muscle group a bit harder. So Monday and Thursday are legs, back, and biceps, while Tuesday and Friday are chest, shoulders, and triceps.

We are also now trying to do two exercises per muscle group for 4 sets each including that first warmup set.

So far my old body, with old bones, because I am an old man (as my 17 year old daughter say) is holding up ok, but On Thursday I also played street hockey so I am still recovering on this fine Saturday.

It is funny to watch my wife and daughter plead with Jaiden to take it easy on me like I have no say on my sets. But really I am just fighting against my own biological clock. Not sure if I am winning yet?

And I whine like a little baby. My wife and daughter hate it. With our original workouts I was just not recovering fast enough and Jaiden would keep pushing me so I was sore for a few weeks. Jaiden hurt his back and was out for a week (more about that in another post) but made sure that I didn’t miss more than 1 workout.

I Have Had To Adjust A Lot And Am Loving The Gym Again

Having a training parter is great. So far only some spotting from Jaiden although I am comfortable spotting him a lot whenever he needs it. I am much more focussed in the gym and enjoying my workouts more than I have in a long time. Especially good because Jaiden is so excited about working out and seeing the changes in his body.

I have to teach him everything about form, weights, muscle groups, recovery, nutrition, set pacing and length, and reps per set. He challenges me a lot and I have to make sure I am doing my homework and not just using old wisdom that has since changed with research.

I know that we are still in the honeymoon phase of this new workout regimen, I have not told Jaiden anything about hitting plateaus, or going weeks without gains, but there is no way I want to discourage him at this point. I just guide him along and make sure he is eating right and training well without cheating and using the proper form.

Eating Schedule – Like a Man Obsessed

As for eating Jaiden is hardcore. He eats 6 or 7 times a day, portions his food and macros so that he will get 30 grams of protein and 60 grams of carbs or so per meal.

Jaiden is shooting for 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and 2 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight a day. Lots of chicken, eggs, tuna, brocolli, spinach, Multigrain bread, and brown rice. He is eating pretty clean but when he falls off and has a chocolate bar he will tend to have three. I am amazed how much a 13 year old can eat.

I myself have upped my protein but probably not enough yet. Just an extra serving of maybe a protein shake or a can of tuna over what I was eating before.

Jaiden is getting lot of sleep as well. He had some ADD and OCD, and anxiety issues so for some reason he needs a lot more sleep than most kids his age. Anywhere from 10-12 hours of sleep a night but never tired during the day.

So here I am on the couch on Canada Day. I rode down to see a parade this morning. I will be hanging out at our neighbors house this afternoon and will not be back to the gym until Monday. I am feeling great about the improvements in my body and with this two days off will make sure that I rest and sleep plenty so I am ready to get back to the gym with my very very tough training partner.

The Transverse Abdominis are a part of your abs that controls a lot of your core strength.

As we are all aware you need to work your upper and loser abs to get a 6 pack but behind all of that six pack muscles is your Transverse Abdominis and these muscles are what keep your gut in as well as helping you stand upright.

One of the problems with working the Transverse Abdominis muscles or TVA as many people call them is that there is not up and down type motion that strengthens them.

As great as the picture here is it does not really tell you the whole story (those pics were just gross) and that is that this muscle is behind all of your abdominal muscles and so when you try to work them it is more of a flexing of them not the kind of exercise that most people do.

The people that really need to strengthen these TVA muscles are people that sit a lot and that do not move around much although all of us in one way or another probably have weak Transverse Abdominis muscles. So I tried to find some exercises to strengthen them.

Once you get the feel of the following couple of exercises you should not have much trouble just doing this exercise standing up anytime.

Transverse Abdominis Exercises

To work your Transverse Abdominis muscles the best way is to lean over and brace your body against your forearms against a table or counter. And after this let your stomach lay loose.

Then suck in your gut (fighting against the gravity) and just keep it held for as long as you can which may be about 15 or 30 seconds. Do this two or three times with a few minutes in between then rep/sets and you will really feel it.

The next exercise would be tougher and that is to get down on your hands and knees and do this same exercise. since you will be working your Transverse Abdominis with even tougher gravity you will find that this exercise will be even tougher. This is the Plank exercise. Most of us have done this in the past or heard of it at the very least.

What can you expect by working your Transverse Abdominis muscles

I am not sure how well these exercises will work for you but you are going to find if you have a flabby midsection then this may make the biggest difference to tighten your midsection.

As I pointed out earlier the Transverse Abdominis muscles are the most over looked muscle in your abdominal area.

We all know that Antioxidants are a great way to help cleanse our body and reduce inflammation. But, what is the reason that an athlete may need more antioxidants than anyone else and how do antioxidants help athletes?

Why do athletes use Antioxidants?

Some athletes say that antioxidants help protect the body from free radicals.

What do the advocates say?

Antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, CoQ10, glutathione, and alpha lipoic acid are important supplements for everyone, but especially for those who exercise on a regular basis. The rational is that exercise is a highly oxidative process and, as a consequence, produces free radicals from aerobic metabolism. Antioxidant compounds help alleviate this process.

There is conflicting evidence whether the best time to supplement with an antioxidant is before or after a workout.

How much Antioxidants are usually taken by athletes?

Most research has demonstrated that strenuous exercise increases production of harmful substances called free radicals, which can damage muscle tissue and result in inflammation and muscle soreness.

Exercising in cities or smoggy areas also increases exposure to free radicals. Antioxidants, including vitamin C and vitamin E, neutralize free radicals before they can damage the body, so antioxidants may aid in exercise recovery.

Regular exercise increases the efficiency of the antioxidant defence system, potentially reducing the amount of supplemental antioxidants that might otherwise be needed for protection.

However, at least theoretically, supplements of antioxidant vitamins may be beneficial for older or untrained people or athletes who are undertaking an especially vigorous training protocol or athletic event.

What Does Research Say About Antioxidants?

Placebo-controlled research, some of it double-blind, has shown that taking 400 to 3,000 mg of vitamin C per day for several days before and after intense exercise may reduce pain and speed up muscle strength recovery. However, taking vitamin C only after such exercise was not effective in another double-blind study.

While some research has reported that vitamin E supplementation in the amount of 800 to 1,200 IU per day reduces biochemical measures of free-radical activity and muscle damage caused by strenuous exercise, several studies have not found such benefits, and no research has investigated the effect of vitamin E on performance-related measures of strenuous exercise recovery.

A combination of 90 mg per day of coenzyme Q10 and a very small amount of vitamin E did not produce any protective effects for marathon runners in one double-blind trial, while in another double-blind trial a combination of 50 mg per day of zinc and 3 mg per day of copper significantly reduced evidence of post-exercise free radical activity.

In most well-controlled studies, exercise performance has not been shown to improve following supplementation with vitamin C, unless a deficiency exists, as might occur in athletes with unhealthy or irrational eating patterns. Similarly, vitamin E has not benefited exercise performance,18 19 except possibly at high altitudes.