Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: Eggs, Chocolate Milk and Wheelchair Bodybuilding

Image 1: It's just a Halloween costume, but one that is absolutely fitting - in every sense.

I am honestly not sure on what note to introduce this week's installment of Adelfo's increasingly popular contest prep log - a funny or rather a dead serious one? I mean, even in the introduction to his very first post I have pointed out how inspiring not only his work ethic, but also his whole constructive attitude is. I mean look at him in his Halloween costume, what may look somewhat hilarious at first sight, is in fact dead serious (and you will realize that at least after reading the current installment of the contest prep series) - if you asked me, I would not be able to name someone else who would be more suited for the role of Thor, the hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength and the protection of mankind... and the fact that my Thor is sitting in a wheelchair, does just add to the freaky awesomeness of someone, I am proud to be call a friend.

Short-Term Protein Shortage and Other Obstacles

Wow it’s already November, Thor is back from Valhalla (cf. image 1) and the second months of my contest preperation for the 2012 Wheelchair Nationals begins. Things have gone quite well so Contrary to what you would expect, my strength and performance been increasing - I have been increasing my lifts by 5-10 pounds every week. The switch to escalating density training (cf. "Things Start to Escalate") is already paying off. I am getting stronger which each cycle - each week, a rep or two or a few pounds more on all major moves. 

Video 1: Click on the image to view Adelfo pump out an intense biceps + triceps EDT cycle (video by Adelfo Cerame, 2011)

EDT - a strong argument against superfluous body fat

While my strength is exploding, my waist is doing the exact opposite: It seems like I’m leaning out real fast - current waist circumference 30". Jeans which usually only fit, when I was way more into previous contest preps fit like a glove - now, more than 3 months out! I know that this would scare the hell out of many of my "colleagues" who would probably be afraid that they were losing too much muscle, but form me, it's a good thing. I don't feel that my arms, chest or back got flat (quite the opposite) and with Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, being leaner will actually benefit me when I use those holidays for my designated cheat/carb load days. It’s always fun to have cheat and re-feed days when you’re lean and mean, because you can feel and moreover see (at least when you are back at the gym) how those carbs replenish your muscle ... but I’ll talk more on that on another segment when I do get leaner and actually start carb loading again.

A note by Dr. Andro: It is when you are "lean and mean", as Adelfo artistically put it, when you benefit (and even need) refeeds the most. With your insulin sensitivity maxed out and your adipose tissues almost empty, little aromatase converting your valuable testosterone into estrogen etc. this is the best time for an intermittent (high carb) overfeed that will set the anti-catabolic + protein synthetic machinery into overdrive and convince your body that he can, with a clear conscious, spend those last few triglycerides he has still held back for "the real bad times" in the course of your next intermittent fasts ;-)

Thor is back in the gym - not doing Hammer curls, though ;-)

Since pictures, and even more videos, usually say more than a thousand words and because I suppose that you are curious what exactly I am doing at the gym that produces these outstanding changes, I shot another video tonight (cf. video 1). It's a biceps + triceps EDT block [comment Dr. Andro: You can find the best exercises for biceps, triceps and all other body parts in the SuppVersity EMG Series]. The same fundamental concept as with the other body parts: You have 20 minutes, in the course of which you have to complete as many cycles of two given exercises as you can. Personally, I usually do 2-3 EDT block exercises every training session; and mostly, I end my workouts on a biceps and triceps block… well, you know, this is just my favorite ;-)

The calorie spiral starts turning

As I mentioned last week, this is going to be my first week with a slight caloric deficit. For the first month I stayed within my caloric maintenance just to see if my body would lean out or make any improvements. This month I’m going to drop down to 1900 calories/day, which would equal a 350 kcal deficit, which isn’t that much but things are going to well, currently that anything more than that would be plainout stupid. After all, I have repeatedly hinted at the advantage of being able to gradually drop your calories, whenever it becomes necessary in my previous blogposts... my whole contest prep is built around this idea - start early lean down gradually, but consistently and avoid the flattening crash at the end of the prep that cost so many aspiring bodybuilders their procard.

Recipe of the Week: Yet to be named Porky Potato Post Workout Meal: As you see, I have not forgotten last week's promise to have a recipe of the week in each and every of the upcoming installments of my contest prep log. This week's recipe is actually so brand new that I have yet to come up with a catchy name for it. It's easy to prepare and for me it is a post workout meal.

Image 2: Yet to be named Porky Potato Post Workout Meal

Ingredients:

• 2 lean pork loin chops (about 4 oz each)
• 4 oz sweet potato
• 6 baby carrots
• ½ cup cottage cheese
• 1 medium banana (about 3 oz)
• 1 tbs. honey

Macros: 48g protein/ 65g carbs/ 17g fat

A quick tip: Pork is naturally salty, so I don’t even season it with salt; I just use garlic, pepper and spices. And the banana and honey over the cottage cheese makes for a great dessert after the meal!

When you drastically cut calories, be that at the beginning or the end of your prep, this is like... juicing, when you are still a complete beginner... or like premature ejaculation, if you like that comparison, better. Drop your calories too low and you are done. There is nothing you can do anymore, when your body stops responding. So I'm going to drop as much body fat as I can with my 1900 calories and when I realize I'm hitting a wall, it will be time to drop down to 1800. And so on…

"If being able to buy a month worth supply of eggs for $25 ain't an argument for not investing another $60 into protein powder, what then? "

What is every bodybuilder's worst nightmare? Correct! Running out of protein. And guess what happened to me this very week? Correct! I ran out of protein. And since I don’t get paid till’ this Friday, this wasn't going to change for the rest of the week. I usually use protein to fortify my foods and include it as a drink with my whole food meals to help me reach my daily macros for protein. As I was browsing around through my local grocery store thinking about what other sources of protein I could possibly use - one that has a decent amino acid profile and is yet economical and won't turn me into an eunuch (so no soy, obviously ;-), my eyes fell on a five dozen eggs (for all mathematical geniuses out there, five dozen = 5x12 = 60) for $8 and some change! What better way to get your protein than from eggs? So instead of using a protein shake, I just popped a couple of these bad boys throughout my feeding hours to help me reach my macros for protein (I just take out the yolk if I would be missing my fat macros, otherwise)… that did actually work so well, that I am considering to to this in the future, as well. After all, the 5-dozen eggs lasted a little over a week.

Image 3: 5 dozen eggs for $8? And a gallon of chocolate milk for $4? Bodybuilder what else can you ask for? The protein supplements will have to take a back seat, for now.

I also started using low fat chocolate milk as my post workout shake (low fat, to avoid the slowing effect of the fat on protein & carb digestion). I was reading an article that Dr. Andro posted a while back (cf. table 2) about how chocolate milk was just as good a PWO shake as any other, so I figured" why not?" - I ran out of protein anyway.

And since we’re on the topic of budgeting and being economical, I decided to cut most of the raw meats out of my diet and stick to conventional cuts for the majority of my prep. In order to eat raw, the sources have to be the best quality such as grass-fed or cage-free, and along with quality (unfortunately) comes an expensive price. To me, who was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, it just makes sense to spend $7 on 7 pieces of chicken breast, rather than $7 on 1 piece of grass-fed NY steak. I will still do raw milk and cheeses (and raw eggs from time to time) though. Fortunately, the place where I get my raw milk and cheeses hooks me up. And in case you are now thinking to yourselves: "Man that goes completely against his quality over quantity mantra", let me tell you this: Yes, I am downgrading the quality of my meats, but I still eat whole “nutrient dense” foods, I train everyday, and keep my calories and macronutrients in check, and right now that’s all that matters.

Competitive Wheelchair Bodybuilding

Image 4: Jason Greer took 2nd at the 1st 2011 IFBB Pro Wheelchair Championchips. Be honest, guys. If there is anything freaky about Jason, that it is his freakin' awesome physique and I am happy that RX Muscle covered the show pretty extensively and would love to see Dave Palumbo and the rest of the team vocer the NPC Wheelchair Nationals, as well (note: this is my = Dr. Andro's comment).

Now let's get to a much less depressing topic: Wheelchair Bodybuilding! For those of you that may not know, there is a small and growing community of bodybuilders that are in wheelchairs. We train and diet just as hard as our able body counter parts... well, I guess minus the legs ;-). We don’t roll on stage for pity claps, most of us train and diet hard and put our bodies through the grind of training and dieting year round. We look at ourselves as serious athletes in a sport we love to compete in.

The disabilities of the competitors range from multiple sclerosis over cerebral palsy, spina bifida to spinal cord injuries such as paraplegics and quadriplegics. The type of disability and level of injury eventually determine wheelchair bodybuilder's mobility and function: For wheelchair bodybuilders, who were injured above the waistline, for example, it is particularly hard to build their abdominal muscles. Other wheelchair bodybuilders have limited function on all four limbs, so they have to work twice as hard just to train and build muscle. Some can do certain exercises, others can’t. It just all depends on the disability and injury level. For those of who want to know more about us, I've compiled a few links:

• Biographic information on many of the currently competing wheelchair bodybuilders
• Weelchair Bodybuilding on Facebook
• Natural Wheelchair Bodybuilding on Facebook

For those of you that may be reading this and are in chairs and curious about competing or those of you who are interested in going to a show, here are the three major wheelchair bodybuilding competitions I know of...

• the NPC Wheelchair Nationals in Florida - taking place every march,
• the NPC USA’s in New Orleans - taking place in June, and
• the INBF Natural Buckeye in Ohio, which just started a wheelchair division last year. 

There are other shows and organizations that have wheelchair classes, but most of the time the competition is slim or - even worse ! - competition is just you against yourself and that’s no fun! In my first competition I was the only competitor and I hated the fact that I took first place by default! Lol. I’d rather lose to someone than take a 1st place trophy because I was the only competitor... but hey you know, neither of this is going to happen at the Nationals in Florida and if you want to know why, come back next week ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: Experience and Intuition Distinguish Bro from Pro

Image 1: If Einstein had been into bodybuilding, he'd have loved how Adelfo approaches his contest prep.

Science certainly is a serious business. Nevertheless, even Einstein was convinced that, at the end of the day, "intuition" and "experience" is what distinguishes the average scientists, who spends his life in one of those sterile labs doing what philosopher of science T.S. Kuhn once called "normal science", from a genius like Einstein, who scribbled his theory on the photo-electric effects, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize, on a few sheets of paper in the course of a transatlantic cruise. And though I assume Adelfo won't like it, if I call him a "genius" (and I assume for a future pro bodybuilder the comparison with Einstein is not very flattering, anyway), intuition and experience are two things our man at the 2012 Wheelchair Nationals in Florida has in abundance, which is why I will now sit back, relax and let the "pro" do the work ;-)

4 Weeks in - Let's See Where We're at!

Week 4 is almost a wrap, and as I promised last week… I have new progress pictures and 2 new videos for you. We'll start with the pictures, because - even in the age of digital cameras and even smartphones with (supposedly) "high definition", stills like those in image 2 are unique (and necessary) in that they give you the time to really judge your progress - taking weekly (more often is neither necessary nor advisable) pictures is thus a must-do not only for a competitive bodybuilder, but for everyone who wants to take his physique to another level.

Image 2: Progress pics, front - September 2, 2011 (left), pre-contest experimentation phase; October 24, 2011, 4 weeks into the contest prep (img Adelfo Cerame, 2011)

For those of you who are catching up, I did not start my contest prep until the 1st week of October, so the September photos were taken while I was still in my bulking phase and still trying to experiment and to adjust my raw foods intermittent fasting dietary regimen to my individual needs. The lighting is a bit off between the two comparisons, but after 4 weeks, I can see a slight, yet visible improvement in my abdominals - it’s not much, but in view of not having been in a caloric deficit, yet (I'll be going there next week), this is certainly noteworthy.

Image 3: Progress pics, back - September 2, 2011 (left), pre-contest experimentation phase; October 24, 2011, 4 weeks into the contest prep (img Adelfo Cerame, 2011)

The biggest improvement I have noticed though are related to my back. I don’t know how much of the difference is due to the lighting or maybe just because I put my hair up, ... but I honestly think that I was able to put on some decent size - looks like the switch to an EDT-type training style with all the grueling, but obviously productive compound moves was already paying off…

"Opinions, please! What do you guys think? Honestly… I’d like to here some of the readers’ opinions. Am I just seeing things? Or am I really making improvements?  [Comment Dr. Andro: You can either use the "comment" function at the bottom of the page or contact Adelfo directly via Facebook if you want - the latter also holds true if you have specific questions or are interested in dietary counseling]

Like I did mentioned last week, I do feel a lot harder, tighter and fuller. The typical "side-effects" everyone I've talked two who has implemented Rob Regish's interpretation of "escalating density" training into his regimen is "complaining" about.

Showtime! Adelfo hits the gym again...

A pros pros training. Let's get to my latest training videos, now. We shot the videos Wednesday night! They are in fact so brand new that I did not even have the time to get sore, yet ;-)

Video 1: Adelfo is incorporating static holds at the end of each set, a technique he has adapted from Rob Regish's Blueprint (Adelfo Cerame, 2011)

Before I start my EDT Block, I always start off with some static hold movements. As you can see in the video, I do five reps and then hold the weight up, after the last one without going to full lockout (this is obviously important, unless you want your joints, instead of your muscles, to do the work ;-). When I began incorporating this technique from the Blueprint into my regimen, I used to add 4 plates on each side and just do one static hold without the extra reps, but I have noticed that the tension on a decline hammer strength machine is a lot different from a free weight decline press (the tension is a lot heavier on free weights). Thusly, I wasn’t getting enough tension with just one static contraction, because the hammer strength machines does a lot of the additional stabilizing work, you would be doing if you were performing this move with free weights.

Image 4: Even the best blueprint will need some tweaking to become your blueprint for success.

A brief note by Dr. Andro: This little "tweak" to the original "Blueprint" Adelfo has come up with is further evidence of what I mentioned two weeks ago, when Adelfo and I were on Carl Lenore's Super Human Radio. Adelfo is the kind of guy who does not follow (even good) advice blindly. He has exactly the kind of Einstein-ish "intuition" and "experience" which distinguishes an average trainee, who relies on his "gurus" to take him to the top (which obviously seldom happens), from a professional bodybuilder, who takes responsibility for his own progress.So, whatever your personal goals may be, whether you are an aspiring bodybuilder or just an average Joe or Jane wanting to look good naked - always remember: success comes from making a blueprint your blueprint!

Being assisted by the hammer strength machine does yet not mean that you cannot hit the pecs hard - it's well possible that the opposite may be the case, because you are eliminating some of the weaker links... So even if I am doing only 3 instead of 4 plates on each side the pump and the pain during the static hold tell me that I am sending that growth signal you should strive to trigger whenever you are at the gym... after all, muscle growth not exhaustion is why (I assume) most of you will be at the gym.

"I am always tailoring my workout to my very specific needs"

And just in case you are now asking yourselves why I am not just doing the static holds with free weights then, the answer is simple: It's a safety issue. When I use free weights, I do not have the luxury to plant my legs and feet to th ground, which would give me that extra stability I need. I depend solely on my core to balance myself. I have to focus on balancing the weight and myself at the same time. So you can just imagine if I lost balance while trying to lift 3 plates on each side - therefore, the most I ever did after my injury on a free weight bench, was 2 plates on each side. And while there will be a video of me doing free weight bench presses somewhen in the near future, as well. For now, I want you to take a look at me performing my favorite EDT block (video 2)

Video 2: Adelfo doing incline presses and DB rows on the third of on of his EDT cycles (Adelfo Cerame, 2011)

I perform these push-pull combinations right after decline press static holds on the hammer strength machine. Being able to move as fast as I can from one exercise to another, this combo allows me to really make the most of my time at the gym. This video comprises only one of the many cycles I try to do within the 20 minutes given…(if you have not followed the whole series, you can read up on my EDT regimen here). The video, I think, shows the third of the cycles, each of which consists of a one push and one pull exersice

"I do a set of incline presses, then I superset that with DB back rows."

My goal with each EDT block (comprising two exercises each) is to try and complete as many cycles as I can within the 20 minutes. Last night I got up to 7 cycles and with each cycle, I lift as heavy as I can for 4-6 reps. If you do the math - 7 cycles à 4 reps does not sound so much, but you must also count the reps from the superset.... so that you are doing 56 all-out heavy (!) reps within 20 minutes… Then you have another static hold exercise, and another EDT block… remember what I said about not exhausting, but stimulating a few lines above - well, sometimes the former just works best by doing the latter ;-)

Image 5: A Philly Cheese Steak Wrap, the latest delicacy from Adelfo Cerame's personal cookbook.

Adelfo Cerame's Cookbook - Philly Cheese Steak Wrap: With the great feedback I am receiving on the recipes, Dr. Andro and I have decided to include one page of the repertoire I have come up with for me, as well as for the clients, I am doing dietary counseling for, as a regular part of each of my blogposts. Today's recipe is a tribute to all of you (and many of my clients) who are no big fans of raw food eating - and let's be honest, if you are doing it correctly "cooked" food can be both healthy and delicious as well. Not being a raw foodist, paleo eater, south beacher, or whatever else people affiliate themselves with… I eat nutritionally dense whole, natural foods (well, maybe with some exceptions on my cheat/reefed days ;-), of which I have found that my body cherishes extra bucks the ingredients may cost me.

A pros pos ingredients, here is what you will need for the one and only ...

Adelfo Cerame Philly Cheese Steak Wrap

• 1 La tortilla Low Carb / High fiber tortilla (12g fiber/6g carbs)
• 6 oz lean grass-fed sirloin steak
• 1 tbs. real mayonnaise
• 1 string cheese
• Bell peppers & onions (optional)

Macros: 43g protein/ 6g carbs/  16g fat - bon appetit!

Looking back at the first month: "So far everything has gone smoothly!"

Image 6: Adelfo 10-8 weeks out from 09’ WC nationals (Adelfo Cerame, 2009)

Although we still have a couple of days left, I want to take the chance and review this first month of my contest prep. What is kind of exciting is that I have noticed that the way I look as of now is actually how I looked 10 to 8 weeks out during my 09’ contest prep (see image 6), and this is the time during prep where I usually felt rushed and began to drastically cut back on calories, because I felt there wasn’t enough time to achieve the level of competitive leanness I am expecting of myself. And though the drastic cuts did not affect me during the prep, it affected me after! And for those of you who have made extreme cuts before know what I’m talking about.... But anyway back on topic.

Next month (i.e. next week, already) I will actually begin to drop my caloric intake. This month I was at 2,250 calories, which is my maintenance calories. Next week I plan to start out with a ~15% calorie deficit from my caloric maintenance, which is about 1,912 calories. That's not much, but with the way I am looking now, eating at or even above maintenance, I expect to see some changes. If my body does not react the way I expected, I can still adapt my caloric intake in the course of the next four weeks, so that I will be able to reach my first long term goal, which is getting almost stage ready by January. By that time, March comes around real quick and I just want to have the luxury of knowing that I’m ready. But I’ll blog more about that next month and also write more about wheelchair bodybuilding in general for those of you that weren’t aware that there is such a thing ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: Leaner, Tighter, Stronger - And All That Despite a Novel Sugary Twist to the Uber-Technician's Diet.

Image 1: Just in case you didn't listen to Adelfo on SHR, last week - he is still single, ladies!

Another week, another Thursday; and although I suppose that more of you have been waiting for Adelfo's update than for my humble thoughts on the latest anti-multivitamin campaign... ah, I mean respectable research on multivitamins ;-), I just wanted to let you know that I am at it. Expect the second installment of the follow-up on "Ask Dr. Andro: Are Supplements Bad For Me (1/2)" either tomorrow or on Saturday... fortunately, future pro-wheelchair bodybuilders like Adelfo Cerame appear to be more reliable than muddle-headed pro-physicists, who spent most of their free-time either in the gym or blogging away on exercise and nutrition science. So, "now, without further delay, let's get to" (I bet some of you will recognize this slogan ;-) Adelfo's third week of what I believe is going to be his last contest prep as an amateur *thumbs up!*

Adelfo Cerame Jr., the uber-technician

Week 3 almost in the books and... I’m feeling great! I’m really having fun with my EDT (escalating density training) routines and tweaking it in to my own. Through trial and error, last week, I was able to pick and eliminate what EDT combinations worked and didn’t work for me. I narrowed it down to 5 exercises that work really well considering my mobility, where I can quickly move from one exercise to another during my EDT block. With some help of my friend Dr. Andro I have compiled a graphical overview for you, always pairing one chest and one back or one biceps and one triceps exercise.

Illustration 1: Adelfo's favorite antagonistic supersets for his current EDT routine.

These are the 5 EDT antagonistic (push/pull) combinations that work real well for me, where I can quickly move from one exercise to another. I will try to get some video for next week (don't forget to come back ;-) with me doing one of my favorite EDT blocks.

Image 2: Adelfo's abs during a previous contest prep. Difficult to outdo, but he will do it ;-)

After the famine and with this escalation in training density, I am getting harder and stronger!

The videos probably won't be able to show that, but after the famine, I cribbed from Rob Regish's Blueprint and with the switch to this (for me) novel training style, I have also noticed that my body has gotten a lot harder, my skin feels tighter, and I feel a lot leaner... while this obviously is somewhat subjective, there is not doubt: I’m definitely getting STRONGER! Moreover, my waist is already at 31" and it looks like it can get down to 30" by next week… pure imagination? I wouldn't think so. I’ll try to take some quality photos of how my physique is looking for next weeks segment - promise!

My diet: A permanent construction site...

As for my diet… I have made some minor adjustments to keep things simple! When it comes to prep and my diet, I get really paranoid and over analyze everything from my nutrition to training. I don’t know why I get like this, but I always do every time I prep. The only way out of this misery is to keep things as simple as possible, so I decided to return to protein and fat (P+F), only, as the basis of the majority of my meals. The only meals that is going to have a "high" carbohydrate content (and low fat) will be my PWO shake and PWO meal. Knowing my own body best, I figured it would be wise to let it run on what it runs best, i.e. fats and give him those damn carbs it needs not to shut down and keep the performance up in the very window, where they will get stored, right where they belong, inside my muscle.

This also implies that I will stop doing my usual Sunday re-feeds for a while, because I feel that I get plenty of carbs post workout after this tweeks, so that - given my current caloric intake - I do not see any need for further refeeds (especially not carby ones). Up to know, this has worked out pretty well, I haven’t been feeling flat, my energy is up throughout the week, my metabolism seems to be up... moreover, I haven’t been feeling deprived of anything, so psychologically I’m fine, as well. The formula is easy:

no flat muscle + no lack of energy +  no metabolic shutdown + no cravings = no re-feeds

I am yet aware, that, eventually, somewhere down the road, I will start to incorporate re-feeds again. Probably every 2-3 weeks, at the latest, when I drop the carbs even in the post workout phase and switch to a strictly "ketogenic" diet.

Image 3: An image for those of you who forgot what table sugar looks like; and Alan Aragon's wisdom for those of you who still believe that only dextrose, or even waxy maize or Vitargo are tolerable PWO sugars.

A pros pos carbs, in case you are wondering what carbs we are talking about... we are talking about "white poison" - plain table sugar! I have been adding 5 tsp. of it to my post-workout shakes (and as you can see, I survived ;-) Originally, I wanted to use dextrose, but I really did not fell like forking over $6 for a pound of sugar. I’d rather spend that $6 on half a gallon of raw milk! [Comment Dr. Andro: A wise decision, but since I do not want to adorn myself with borrowed plumes, I just refer you to Alan Aragon's December 2008 Research Letter, where, in his article "An objective comparison of chocolate milk and Surge Recovery", he beautifully dissects, the dextrose (and other) myth(s).

So, what have I left to tell you? Ah, yes. As of lately I have come up with a new "all natural" growth promoting sleeping aid, it's a dessert I suppose the chefs among you will be interested in.

My pineapple chocolate cheesecake

Image 4: Healthy, all natural pre-bed nutrition - Adelfo Cerame's original Pineapple Chocolate Cheesecake (TM)

Ingredients:
• ½ c. cottage cheese
• 24g vanilla whey
• 1 tbs. heavy whipping cream
• ¼ c. of fresh chopped pineapples
• 1 tbs. of Walden Farms Calorie free chocolate syrup
• 1 tbs. coconut oil
  
  Macronutrient breakdown:
• 37g protein
• 10g carbs 
• 25g fat

How to do it:  Mix cottage cheese, vanilla whey and heavy whipping cream (you can blend it as well, if you prefer that). Pour Walden Farms Calorie free chocolate syrup over what you just mixed. Add the fresh pineapples on top, then pour 1 tbs. of melted coconut oil over your fresh pineapples and wait for the coconut oil to harden over the cold fresh pineapples (about 20 sec.) - You can wash this down with a cold glass of raw milk (which I do), and enjoy your anabolic sleep!

...hmm, what are you waiting for? I said "anabolic sleep!" ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: After the Famine the Training Starts to Escalate!

Image 1: Adelfo Cerame Jr. survived the famine ;-)

Another Thursday, a busy one that is not over with this blog post, but will go overtime on Carl Lenore's Super Human Radio, where, today at 12pm EST, you will be able to hear Adelfo Cerame Jr. and my humble self, Dr. Andro, chitchatting with Carl about Adelfo's contest prep, his raw foods diet, intermittent fasting and much more. So don't forget to tune in live (update: click here to download podcast) And in case your boss doesn't like it when you listen to Internet ratio shows in the office, I will post the link to the podcast, as soon as it is going to be available. In the meantime, I'd suggest you read up on whether or not Adelfo survived the self-inflicted famine that had befallen him in the last week ;-)

Low calories + low protein = no hunger, no sluggishness, no visible muscle loss and no acne!

As those of you who have been following my weekly updates (a new installment appears every Thursday) here on SuppVersity know, I picked up a technique I read about in Rob Regish's Blueprint and kicked the hot phase of my contest prep off with a famine/detox protocol. The idea behind this initially counter-intuitive dietary intervention was to give my digestive tract, as well as "Mr. mTOR" on his "AMPK/mTOR seesaw" (if you aren't familar with "Mr. mTOR" and his unique "toy", you got to read up on Dr. Andro's latest blogposts on Intermittent Fasting) a well-deserved rest, in order to reset and improve my body’s ability to absorb and utilize nutrients more efficiently. In combination with strenuous training, the famine signal, which is obviously a novelty for a bodybuilder who has been focusing almost religiously on getting his share of protein in every few hours for years, is supposed to shock and alarm the body. It's similar to what a beginner will experience, when he is first hitting the gym - stress-induced super-compensation is the name of the game.

Figure 1: Macronutrient break down (protein, carbs, fats in g) famine and regular training day - what a difference!

With a calorie intake way below what it will look like even at the end of my contest prep, I expected to be hungry all the time. Much to my surprise (yet actually in accordance with what I had read in Rob Regish's "Blue Print"), the 5 days on fresh pineapples, raw carrots and vegetable juice (V8) weren't so bad at all. Being an "Intermittent Faster" for quite some time now and thusly accustomed to going without food for longer periods of time, I did not even feel particularly hungry. My performance in the gym did not suck and I did not feel sluggish, either. What I did notice, though, was how my skin cleared up. By day three on this low calorie, low protein diet the acne on my chest and back had cleared up - quite astonishing for someone like me who has had issues with body acne for most of his life!

A Guru of my own - wandering in Gironda's footsteps

I broke the famine/detox on Saturday afternoon and treated myself to a Brazilian BBQ buffet. If you’ve never been to a Brazilian BBQ restaurant… it’s a meatgasm of all you can eat: cuts of rib eye, sirloin, brisket, lamb, duck, rabbit… and the list goes on! For the first 48 hours I loaded up on protein and quality carbohydrates, drank lots of water and popped liver tablets throughout the day. "Liver tabs, what's that?", if you are now asking yourselves that question, you probably belong to the post-Gironda generation. Vince Gironda, the "Iron Guru", himself, swore by those dessicated liver tabs for their high content of quality protein and highly bioavailable vitamins and micronutrients. While this may have been in the days before protein powders, BCAA caps and mega-dosed vitamin supplements became widely available, I feel like this completely natural nutrient blend still has its merit. As of Monday, I went back to my daily maintenance calories.
 

Image 2: This is what a  Brazilian BBQ looks like. Certainly, a decent contrast to a famine. So, just in case you ever happen to be starving, I guess now you know where to go to refeed yourself ;-)

When I first started experimenting with IF last month, I mentioned that I wasn’t really keeping track of my calories or numbers. This has obviously changed with the beginning of my contest prep. After all, intermittent fasting is a dietary strategy, but no magic bullet that will give you the body of a bodybuilder if you eat like a pig - when on stage 0.1% body fat make the difference, between victory and defeat, calories begin to count again. Accordingly, I began keeping track of my calories and macronutrients, again, in order to make sure that I am hitting my numbers: For the next two weeks my goal is to keep my calories around my caloric maintenance to take advantage of the super-compensation process I hope to have triggered by the short famine phase.

After those two weeks, I will evaluate my physique, take measurements and go from there. In that I will diverge from the usual approach, where you are gradually decreasing your calorie intake from week to week, and use what you may call "caloric zig zagging" instead. In essence, I hope to be able to forestall metabolic adaptation processes (it should be obvious that we are talking about reductions in energy expenditure, here) by keeping my energy/calorie intake up during my training days and using my off days to create the caloric deficit which simply is a necessary prerequisite to bring your body fat level down into the unquestionably unnatural lower single-digit range, where veins start popping and striations begin to show, where "normal" people would not even know they had muscles ;-) ... but as I said, I’ll figure out the details, based on the results of the next two weeks.

EDT = Escalating Density Training - well, why not give it a shot!?

Image 3: Adelfo's personal EDT blueprint right from his secret training diary ;-)

I have also decided to make a major change in my training routine: For the next couple of weeks, I will be experimenting with static holds and EDT, i.e. escalating density training. At first I was very hesitant, because I am so used to common split routines, muscle-isolation and all those specialization and isolation stuff you read about in the muscle mags. After some conversations with Rob Regish, who happens to offer additional advice to all readers of his "Blueprint" on the Blueprint Forum, and some research of my own, I have convinced myself that the intense antagonistic training style of EDT could work particularly well for someone like me, who, partly due to my handicap, usually doesn't do any regular "cardio" training during his contest prep and wants to rely on strength training and nutrition, exclusively, when dieting for a show. Being short and intense it could help burn off calories while building or maintaining the muscle mass I already carry.

A pros pos intense: EDT is a program or training system that challenges you to do the most work per unit of time, which is supposed to be an optimal stimulus for muscle growth. Each session consists of two antagonistic or push/ pull exercises (for example, 1 chest exercise superset w/ 1 back exercise and 1 biceps exercise superset w/1 triceps exercise). You have 20 minutes for each exercise (which is called the PR Zone or personal record zone), to perform as many reps as you can. The goal is to try and beat your personal or PR zone, every workout session. Now, if you have not tried it yourself, two exercises, 40 minutes of training... that may not sound very intense... believe me, my experience from Monday's workout tought me otherwise: EDT is fast paced and intense. I was sweating and breathing hard, like I was running sprints back and fourth for 20 minutes. I haven’t felt like that in a long time from a weight training session…

And for those of you that are wondering. "Hey, and what about your other body parts? Deltoids, triceps, the individual heads, etc.?" Honestly, when you’re hammering your chest and back constantly within those 20 minutes… I can assure you that you WILL feel that your deltoid, triceps, and biceps are getting hammered just as well. And FYI… you cannot change the shape of your muscles or restructure your muscle bellies by exercising body parts from certain different angles - you may be able to make up for minor imbalances, but when it's all said and done, all you can do is shed off the body fat and showcase what you have made out of the body God gave you.

Abs, abs, abs,... is that all people want?

You think you could use some advice on your own training, diet and supplementation regimen and want it from someone who obviously knows what it takes to build muscle and lose fat? You can reach out to Adelfo via Facebook.

Before we close this weeks update, a brief note on a topic many of you appear to be interested in: My, or I actually I think you are more interested in YOUR abs ;-) I get a lot of compliments and questions on how I get my abs so defined, people ask me what type of exercises I do or think that I spend the whole day working them out. To be honest, I don’t do any special exercises or different varieties of abdominal workouts, as you see some people do. I keep my abdominal workout simple, just your basic cable crunches using a rope. People don’t realize that everybody exercise his abdominals on a daily basis... you cannot do squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, benches, etc. without them! During each rep, your abs got to work - they are stabilizing your body, whether you realize it or not, your abs will gets their share of stimulation.

Now, obviously, I depend a lot more on my core to hold me up and balance myself, since I cannot use my gluteus and legs. When it comes to "training" abs, this is an advantage, because I am utilizing my core more than most "healthy" people do, just to keep my posture up and balanced... I let my diet take care of the rest!  Always remember: Abdominals are built in the kitchen, but that’s stuff for one of the next installments ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: Starting Off With a Shocker - A Five Day Famine to "Detoxify" and Prime Your Body to Grow

Image 1: Adelfo at the '09 Wheelchair
Nationals - not only without a bruised
biceps, but also in better shape than
some pro-bodybuilders ;-)

It's Thursday and you know what that means: Adelfo Cerame Jr. is back at the SuppVersity for one of his "seminars" ;-) Well, I guess if this was a real University, I'd invite invite him as a guest speaker to one of our colloquiums and would announce today's lecture as a lesson on how the pros learn from other pros - or, in other words, how above all bodybuilding veterans have to constantly expand their arsenal of proven dietary and training strategies, if they want to stay on top of everyone's game. As you will see, for Adelfo, this turned out to be quite a detoxifying experience...

Back for good - so let's get started!

It's a strange feeling, on the one hand, I know that the weeks to come are gonna be tough. You cannot take your contest prep lightly, if you really want to win. On the other hand, however, I am really excited! The week off did me good! I feel refreshed and all my nagging aches and pains has disappeared... and no I did not lose any muscle... ;-)

Image 2: Adelfo has been digging Rob Regish's blueprint lately. If you are interested in a sneak peak I suggest you listen to Rob on Carl Lenore's Super Human Radio:  Blueprint, Calorie ZigZag, Breaking Plateaus

I've spent the last week wisely and have really streamlined my plan of attack. And, as you would have expected, I've come up with a few minor tweaks to my dietary regimen that have been inspired by suggestions I picked up in Rob Regish's Blueprint in the past week. It's always good to check which dietary and training strategies have worked for others and the "famine/detox" protocol Rob outlines appealed to me as being a sound foundation not only for what Rob calls "the best workout design to make the fastest muscle gains" *lol*, but also to reset my own metabolic switchboard in the first week of my contest preparation. And, in the end, what do I have to lose? If it works, I have another powerful "weapon" in my ever expanding contest prep arsena - if it doesn't work, I've found yet another dietary tweak that works for some, appears sound and scientifically valid, but just is not form me, as an individual. It would be great, if some magical "one size fits it all" solution would make trial and error obsolete, but after all, your success in the bodybuilding world will always depend on knowing what works best for you, or the very client you are working with.

Cerame + Regish = Raw Foods, intermittent famine/detox ;o)

For the past five days I've now been following my modification of Robb Regish's "famine/detox" protocol, which prescribes a very low calorie intake (<1,200kcal, famine) with minimal protein intake (<50g, which as you know is still more than enough if you asked the USDA ;-) and A LOT OF WATER. The idea behind this five day phase, as Rob states it, is "to initiate a mild state of muscle tissue breakdown in order to accelerate the entire protein turnover cycle". Something that - also in view of what Dr. Andro has been writing about the AMPK/mTOR seesaw in the last installments of the Intermittent Thoughts - makes a lot of sense to me.

Image 3: Do you remember the time, when you were a new booty in the gym and the gains came easily?

It's similar to when you were a new booty in the gym, lifting weights for the first time. Do you remember the first couple of months, when you were making really good gains and building tons of muscle? Awesome, wasn't it? It was enough to look at those "heavy" (what was heavy for you back then) dumbbells and bang, you biceps grew ... but then as the months and maybe even years went by and you eventually became a veteran to the iron game, you noticed that you're not getting those same gains as you did when you first started. Am I right? Of course, I am, because this is the way things are - unfortunately.

Now, if you think about it - what were the underlying reasons that, as a rookie, you grew like crazy, although you may have been making all those mistakes every bloody beginner is making? And then, when finally you got a good routine set up and your diet and supplementation in check, your gains began to slow down, like you were hitting an invisible wall?

Well, when you're new to weight training, you are literally shocking your body in each and every training session, your body screams "WHAT? I have to lift that?" and yet, bang!, you still squeeze out another rep - super-compensation is the name of the game and it is working so damn well in the beginning, simply because about everything you do in the gym is "new" to your body. After years of training neither the next 5 pound plate on the barbell nor another 20g of protein per day are going to produce anyway similar productive shock moments. It is in this scenario, where a bodybuilding veteran could benefit from something that may initially appear completely counter-intuitive: a famine phase!

5 days of fruits, veggies and gallons of vegetable juice

Image 4: Not what you would expect a bodybuilder to eat...and, actually, that is what could make it work - it's about change and giving your digestive system and the mTOR pathway an extended (beyond intermittent fasting) break.

So, I've been eating tons of fruits (pineapples) and veggies (carrots) and drinking gallons (well, I've been trying ;-) of vegetable juice (V8), in order to prime my body for a short growth spurt at the beginning of my prep. Training-wise, I've put a deliberate focusing on strenuous weight training; trying to really deplete my muscles, without overdoing it on negatives or static holds.

Interestingly, I have not noticed any negative effects from my low calorie, low protein detox protocol so far. I am strong as an ox and guess that this may in part be due to the fact that my body has already accustomed to tap into its (still visible ;-) fat stores, in the course of the preceding weeks of intermittent fasting. No hunger pangs, no serious cravings... and that despite the fact that I live by a Lucille's BBQ, so I'm smelling that shit every time I stroll outside! And... don't get me wrong... it smells damn good ;-) But I just brush it off... and trust me 2 years ago I would've went postal!

"Detox" or well deserved rest - the main point is that it works

What I am noticing, though (although this could of course be in my head) is that I now as the end of the famine approaches, I have gotten pretty flat, which would obviously make me look less jacked... but hey, isn't that the way every scrawny beginner looks like, when he makes his best gains? And after all, doing a "cleanse" - I'd prefer the expression "giving your digestive tract a break" - from time to time is a healthy thing to do, anyway. And when could be a better time to let your bowel rest than right after you gave your muscles a break from the gym?

With all the high protein food we consume (especially a bodybuilders diet) and the occasional processed poison that we eat for our cheat days, our tummies work about as hard in our "off time" as we are when we are in the gym. It seems only reasonable, that this could eventually take a toll on our digestive system and lead to malabsorbtion and constipation - I mean, it's not for nothing that digestive aids sell like crazy in the bodybuilding community... and you know, what is best for you? You have me as a 150lbs guinea pig, who will be reporting back on the real world results of what, at least on paper, certainly appears to be a promising "dietary self-chastisment", next week and in the weeks to come ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Pre-Contest-Prep: Rest, Recovery and the Underestimated Value of Taking a Week Off.

Image 1: If this is how you feel, than it is about time you take one week off from whatever routine you are on.

It's only Thursday and I feel like I could use an extended weekend (luckily this will be one, with Monday being a holiday, here in Germany ;-), already. Some feel like it's life or work that is getting in their ways, for others its their hobbies, like blogging and training (that's me ;-), but, after all, if we are honest with ourselves, in almost all cases there is "no one" or "nothing" that really stands in our way, other than we, ourselves. I mean, oftentimes we are so busy with our everyday routines that we begin to feel to be externally controlled, although, in almost all cases, we are the ones who decide / believe that we must follow the exact same routine day in and day out.

The results of this practice, in the best case, are boredom and discontent - in the worst case, however, our routines will burn us out and make us sick. Adelfo, our man at the  2012 Wheelchair Nationals, is well aware of the fallacy of routines - especially when it comes to going to the gym day in and day out and he knows that taking a day off before you feel it is utterly necessary is way smarter than digging a whole out of which you cannot escape, no matter how "hard" you rest ;-)

One Week Out = One Week Off

I'm taking a week off from training, before the hot phase of my contest preparation begins. The time, this stands out of question, is well spent to heal my nagging pains, to rest my body, who has already been sending me the first signs of a cold and, most importantly, to be able - mentally as well as physically - to really kickstart my contest preparation in October.

Image 2: Comparison shots from September, 1st to September 21 2011 - the prep has not yet begun, therefore no major changes in this time of experimentation (photos by Adelfo Cerame, 2011)

As it happens, I am also just reading Rob Regish's Blueprint. In his book, Regish mentions that a depressed immune system, and subsequent infections, like if you're getting a cold out of nowhere are tell-tale signs that is is about time to take a week off from training... Now, while this idea obviously was not new to me, reading it black (or should I say blue ;-) on white, from someone with Robb's years of experience in training people, and as one among a whole host of other valuable tips, really helped to put me at ease with my decision to take the week off... Let's be hones, I assume for many of you it won't be different: we are always hesitant to just stay at home lying lazy on the couch, when we "ought" to be in gym. For some its the fear to gain fat, for other's (as myself) it's because we are afraid to lose some of the muscle we have been working so hard for over the past weeks, months and years. And this fear haunts us, although we all "know" (our brain knows, but our hearts don't) that all we will lose (if anything) is some easily replenishable muscle protein, i.e. there won't be any substantial loss of muscle mass, the muscles will only lose some volume.

"You should always listen to your body!"

Well, I guess you will have heard this verdict before "listen to your body" - but what if your heart, certainly a part of your body, cries - "I am afraid I could lose muscle!" and it cries so loud that you can hardly hear the your aching muscles under the pain of weeks and months of continuous training. Now, what can your do? I guess, the best thing will be to advice your brain to tell your heart to shut up and rest. At least that is what I decided to do and to take my mind off the issue of losing muscle or getting fat, I am sitting down and getting the plan for my contest preparation stream-lined. I am planning my workouts (and off times !), sketching the meals I will be eating and deciding on which  the foods that will make up the majority of my diet in the next 4-5 months.

"Rest appropriate nutrition" - cutting back carbs, when you don't need them

Image 2: Healthy post-workout meal of the week - 7oz raw wild caught salmon, 12oz sweet potatoe, 6 carrots, 1c mangoes, 1 tbs raw blue agave and some refreshing coconut milk - the all natural sports beverage!

A pros pos nutrition, I am still fasting 16 hours and feeding for 8 hours, but during my off week all my meals are high in protein and fat and low in carbohydrates. Examples would be ...

• raw milk, carrots and raw cheese, or 
• raw/seared steaks / sashimi with carrots or fruit and coconut oil, or
• raw wild caught salmon from image 3, but without the sweet poatoe 

Basically a high quality protein source + some additional fat (if the former is not high in fat) + a minimal amount of carbs from veggies or fruit. I must admit that I still sneak in a meal from time to time, but this is partly psychological, because I know that this is the last week I can to it without messing up my contest prep, where I have already planned on the three days were I will deliberately "break" my diet:  thanksgiving, christmas and my birthday... and even those will be pre-planned refeeds.

Refeed? I guess you have already been waiting for this keyword to occur. After all, I promised you to report on my experience with a fruit based refeed... Well, I gorged on fruits just as I would have done with pancakes and the processed carbs that I usually eat on my re-feeds, and... I would have to say that even though I stuffed myself with fruits I did not get that comatose or sick feeling that I usually get, with the crappy foods from the grocery store. While I am still not a 100% sold on the idea, I am toying with the idea to start out my prep with fruit-based refeeds. We will see whether this will be sustainable, once I start getting leaner... for now, it works fine, though.

Adelfo Cerame's personal blueprint: Mens sana in corpore sano

Video 1: Adelfo does single arm cable rows 2 weeks before the hot phase of his contest preparation.

As far as my training is concerned, I have been toying back and forth with some of the suggestions from Regish's Blueprint. I've been reading the whole book on the past weekend and am still in the process of sorting out those training principles of which I think that they make a valuable addition to my routine. Don't get me wrong, the book is awesome, but if there is one thing I have learned in the past, then this is never to copy a routine from someone else to a T. Yet despite the fact, that there are some profound differences as far as the nutritional protocol is concerned (this is quite obvious, as the book outlines a muscle building not a contest prep diet), I really do like the weight training protocols and I hope to find a way to combine my constantly evolving contest prep diet with some of the training strategies from Regish's Blueprint...

I will also try and use my week wisely to do some meditating, soul searching and spend some time with the Lord, as I like to be spiritually healthy just as I am physically healthy. And, in case spirituality is not for you and you do not feel like taking a week off, anyway, you may want to check out the promised training video (video 1), head to the gym and treat yourself to a large portion of wild-caught salmon with delicious sweet potatoes and some carrots (cf. image 2) ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Pre-Contest-Prep Experimentation Time: Re-Feeds, Bro-Science and Raw Pre-Workout Piña Coladas

Image 1: Caramel blueberry pancake?
Exactly! Food for SkipLoading.

Thursday, another week literally flew by and the last of Adelfo Cerame's pre-contest-prep experimentation weeks has begun. About time for an high-carb re-feed, don't you think so? "Re-feed? High in carbs? Isn't that this bullshit that leaves you bloated, fat and ugly?" In case this was what you just thought, when you heard the word "high-carb re-feed", it's about time you let Adelfo explain to you, why he thinks (and knows from experience) that an occasional carb-binge will do way more good, than harm.

Re-feeds keep things going, physiologically, as well as psychologically

Every Sunday I do a re-feed or carb load.... From what I have heard and learned from my own past experience a re-feed or carb load (even, or rather especially on a low carb contest prep diet) can be very beneficial. As someone once mentioned (I can't remember whom or where i had heard it from), our body is "smarter we are" and when it comes to dieting, it will, in the long run, always take measures that go against our efforts to get rid off those enervating, yet from an evolutionary perspective life-saving last fat-reserves. This is important to understand, as it is the fundamental reason why, no matter how clever we think we are, we will always have to work hand in hand with, not against our bodies.

Manipulation is the name of the game

Whatever we do will eventually trigger an adaptive response from our bodies and it goes without saying that the latter (mostly) goes right against our initial intentions.

Image 2: What contains 1C. of raw qephor, 1C of fresh pineapples, 2 organic eggs, a splash of coconut water, 1 tbsp. of agave and 1tbsp. of coconut oil? The healthiest pre-workout pinacolada you could think of! Sounds better than NO-Xplode 2.0, doesn't it ;-)

Let me give you an example: On a diet, your obviously goal is to increase energy expenditure, or even better, to increase fatty acid oxidation while maintaining your dietary intake at a level that will force your body to "feed" off its fat reserves. Now, theoretically, a proper way to do just that (increase fatty acid oxidation) would be to engage in steady state aerobic activity, which - as you have learned in Dr. Andro's latest blogpost on fiber types - via its activation of predominantly slow twitch oxidative muscle fibers should preferentially burn fat... now, if you are one of the meticulous student's of the SuppVersity, you will already be shaking you head, as you will be familiar with the unwanted endocrine and metabolic long-term consequences of endless arduous cardio-sessions, which - and here we have come full circle - are nothing but adjustments your body makes to "optimally" adapt to a training routine that requires the body of a marathon runner, and not the muscular and ripped physique of a future Mr. Olympia.

Similar adaptations occur when you cut calories, after a few days your body will realize that he is going to run "out of fuel" within no time, if he does not cut back energy expenditure. It is at these critical time-points, when your body is about to shift metabolic gears, when re-feeds and carb loads are indicated... and don't be afraid - the one day of (perceived) overfeeding is not going to make you fat (it may make you retain some water, yes, but that's about it)! Think of it as of hitting an afterburner for just as long as takes to kick start your metabolism into full gear again.

Carb-loading = selectively refueling

Figure 1: Adelfo's current macronutrient breakdown in kcal. As mentioned in the last installment he starts out high on carbs to be able to cut back on those during the prep, whenever he feels it's necessary.

Avoiding metabolic shut-down is yet only one aspect. Another one I (and I assume other low-carb dieters will share this experience) have come to appreciate is that a carb-load will refill my glycogen stores - I've found this to be particularly important, when I start to drop my carbohydrate intake over the course of my contest preparation... and those of you who are familiar with Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale's anabolic diet, will also be aware of the fact that occasional high-carb re-feeds will allow you to take advantage of insulin's anabolic effects on muscle tissue without having to suffer from its fat-storing effect on adipose tissue.

During my re-feeds, I usually follow Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale's protocol, ramp up my carbohydrate intake, go low on fat and moderate on protein. In the past I used to carb-load with complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, brown rice and yams, but as of recent I have been experimenting with high GI, processed carbohydrates such as pancakes, pastas, white rice, and kids cereal (basically low fat junk food). I came across this type of re-feeding, when I read about a method called "Skiploading", which was created by a guy named Ken "Skip" Hill. He will be actually helping me for the last week of my contest prep which is considered peak week, with this method of carb loading to help fill me out and come in as dry as possible the day off show. I can't really go into detail, but if you google "Skiploading" you should get an idea of how I do my re-feeds.

Re-feeds, carbloading and intermittent fasting!? Does that all go together?

You think you could use some advice on your own training, diet and supplementation regimen and want it from someone who obviously knows what it takes to build muscle and lose fat? You can reach out to Adelfo via Facebook.

The way I implement these re-feeds into my intermittent fasting regime is as follows:  I still do fast for 16 hours and feed for 8 during my re-feeds on Sundays. This allows me to have three re-feed meals on Sunday, while I will stick to my usual routine for the rest of the week. Last Tuesday for example, the latter looked  like that:

• pre-workout:
  raw pina colada shake (cf. image 2)
• post-workout:
  8 oz raw wild caught soho salmon, 1 large sweet potatoe, 5 slices of mango and a handful of carrots w/ coconut water
• last meal:
  1 c raw milk, 2 oz raw cheddar cheese

As you may have noticed, raw carrots have become one of my favorites, lately. I switched over to carrots from eating tons and tons of broccoli and cabbage - not a bad choice, either, but carrots are easier to prepare, taste way better and are easier digested raw than either broccoli or cabbage.

Contest-prep pre-planning: Of Huge yams, "smooth" dairy and fruit-binges

When I start my prep, in about a week, I will probably have to start cutting back on my sweet potato/yam intake... I just realized how many ounces 1 large yam is when I weighed it.... it's like 16-18 oz, so thats almost like 80g of carbs that I'm taking in, and honestly way more than I'd thought. My current plan is to cut down to 2 medium sweet potatoes and aim for about 40g of starchy carbs.

Image 3: Contrary to what bro-science would tell you, Adelfo still did not "smooth out", despite gallons of raw milk and loafs of raw cheese. Either the bros were wrong (again) or the magic is in the bad buggers (bacteria) the FDA claims they want to protect US citizens from, whenever they raid an innocent farmer.

I've been reconsidering my dairy intake, or, I should say, my previous dairy abstinence, as well. In the past I used to cut dairy out completely, because bro-science tells you: "Dairy smoothes you out, bro! Stay away if you want to stay in shape!" ... well, now that I have been drinking tons of  raw milk for weeks and eating truckloads of raw cheese, I still don't feel that I have smoothed out. This does not go to say that at some point during the prep, I will have to get rid of them, but I got the strange feeling that raw milk and raw cheese will stay a staple of mine in the weeks and months to come, in the course of which I am also going to experimenting with sugary fruits instead of starchy carbs or low fat junk foods during my re-feeds. The rational behind this, is that - just as with the dairy - without trying, I will never be able to tell which type of re-feeding foods work best for me.

Luckily, I still have more than enough time to experiment with different types of carbohydrates to see which suit me best. A pros pos time, for me it's now time to hit the gym, where we are going to film a few more training videos for you - so don't forget to get back next Thursday, to watch me train, and read whether (and if how) I survived the fructose load from Sunday's re-feed ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Pre-Contest-Prep: Back Training 101!

Image 1: An impressive back of which Adelfo feels it really lacks behind. Read more about how he is going to tackle this problem area, this week.

Time is flying by, only 2 weeks and Adelfo will start the hot phase of his contest preparation for the Wheelchair Nationals 2012 in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. From the last installment of the series, you will probably remember that he is using this time to streamline his raw-foods intermittent fasting diet regimen, which - he hinted at that in the last installment already, has not hampered his training progress the least. Currently at 149.5lbs with a body fat percentage of 13.4% he is hitting the gym more motivated than anytime before, as you will read and see in today's installment of Adelfo's exclusive contest-prep log, here at the SuppVersity.

If you want success, you have to constantly reinvent your diet

I already mentioned in the last installment of this series that I felt like the introduction of more and more raw foods into my diet had really helped with both strength as well as size gains in the gym. So, before I delve a little into my current training modalities, I thought I'd share a few additional thoughts on my current nutritional regimen with you.

Image 2: Adelfo's latest preworkout goodness for you to copy: Raw Kiwi Strawberry PreWorkout Shake - 20g protein, 44g carbs, 5g fiber, 28g; 508kcal of muscle building all natural foods, free of artificial flavors and sweeteners, yet 100% delicious!

Although everything seems to be working just fine at the moment, I am already planning ahead. When I start my prep, I will add a protein shake (50g) right after my workout, and then have the rest of my PWO meal when I get home... I just weighed myself today. 149.5 pounds, that's what the scale is telling me and what my current calculations are based on. I estimate my initial caloric needs at about 2,250 calories per day and given the amount of food I am slamming down at the moment, the addition of a protein shake immediately after my workout will help me to get up to those 2,250 calories as a reasonable starting point for my contest prep. While this may be my first prep on an intermittent fast, I figure that  

... whether you fast intermittently or not, you got to start a every diet with a reasonably high caloric intake...

If you do not lose weight as fast as you want to you can still cut back on calories. If, on the other hand, you are losing weight much to fast, chances are your will already have lost valuable muscle tissue, when you realize that you need to add in that additional protein shake that preserves lean tissue and revitalizes your metabolism. The occasional hunger pangs, I have been experiencing in the course of the last week are an early warning sign, I am not going to ignore.

Building a huge back sometimes forces you back to the drawing board

Image 3: Trying to build a killer back like the "Governator", but no clue which exercises will work? Then you better check out the SuppVersity EMG Serie with The Best Back Exercises of Witdh and Thickness.

I already mentioned in the SuppVersity Student Spotlight that I like it fast and heavy (I am speaking of training here, guys ;-) Currently, however, I am experimenting with some sort of heavy/light alternating training pattern, which looks like that:

• Monday: Chest/Triceps (heavy day)
  5 chest exercises & 2 Triceps exercises
• Tuesday: Back/Biceps (heavy day)
  5 back exercises & 2 biceps exercises
• Wednesday: Rest (not so heavy day ;-)
• Thursday: Triceps/Chest (volume / higher reps)
  5 triceps exercises & 2 chest exercises
• Friday: Biceps/ Back (volume / higher reps)
  5 biceps exercises & 2 back exercises
• Saturday: Shoulders (volume / higher reps)
  the only exercise I go really heavy on are shoulder presses

I consider my back one of my weakest body parts, so I've expanded my back training exercises. I used to do different variation of lat pulldowns, in the past, mainly because I was limited due to my mobility. Similarly, many gyms have machines I could not use until, after a lot of hard work, my core and trunk muscles got stronger and I began to feel a lot more confident to just try and experiment with new exercises, machines, grips, etc.

Video 1: Adelfo training back 2 weeks before the hot phase of his contest preparation is about to begin.

I guess, if you have not already been, Adelfo did now get you interested in "How on earth can you train in a wheelchair, at all?"... if you want to see a part of his current routine, i.e.

• seated rows - underhand grip
• wheelchair pullups
• seated rows - overhand grip

I suggest you click on the video to the left and enjoy a lesson in "how to train your back properly" - if the expression picture perfect form had not been out there for quite some time, someone probably would have come up with it after seeing this video ;-)

Currently, I do most of my back exercises on cables and machines, especially the hammer strength machines - those are my favorites. I also do body weight exercises for my back, such as pull ups and chin ups (see video 1). I use machines and cables because I am not able to transfer onto a T-bar row or do any type of standing or bent-over rows, so I try to just mimic those exercises as much as I can through machines. I train my back twice a week usually on Tuesdays and Fridays. I combine my back exercises with biceps.

Image 4: Next time he will be posing in front of the American flag, it will be with a procard in his hands ;-)

I usually like to train real heavy on Mondays and Tuesdays, because that's when I feel the strongest after my Sunday refeeds, so I end up training back real heavy once and with a higher volume and/or higher reps, the other day. That being said, I still try to lift as heavy as I can even within the higher rep-ranges.

On heavy days my set/ rep range are 4-5 sets of 5 reps (not including warmup sets) I try to increase the weight on every set whether it be just a 5 pound increase each set, just as long as I am trying to better my last set. On my volume/ higher rep days, my rep ranges are 4-5 sets of 8-12 reps.

I usually start off with exercises for thickness, so I always do row exercises first...

• seated row machine - I use this to mimic the T-bar rows
• seated row machine - this is a different variation that has a lower under hand grip and I use this to mimic some what of a bent over row where you have an under hand grip
• seated high rows on the hammer strength machine - one of my favorites, I can go real heavy and get a real good squeeze on my back
• single arm cable rows  - on a cable machine, I tie myself to the opposite end, while I have somebody pull the cable for me, and with a under hand grip I can do single arm rows, I know its hard to explain but I will eventually get video of it, couldn't do it today because there were a lot of people occupying "my" machines ;-)

Image 4: Leaning back slightly
(135° vs. 180°) on lat pull-downs
increases the activation.

The exercises I feel contribute more to the width of my back are

• wide grip lat pulldowns - I tie a weight belt around my chair so that I can lift heavy without getting lifted off my chair
• under hand grip lat pulldowns and wide grip behind the neck lat pulldowns
• close grip pulldowns - I use the V-bar
• wheelchair pull ups and wheelchair chin ups

As any reasonable trainee would do, I obviously don't do every exercise in every workout. For me it depends on how I feel the very day and which exercises I actually can do - as I mentioned I need a helping hand on some of the moves ;-)

I guess that's it for this weeks, folks. I am already looking forward to next Thursday, where - I can guarantee that - Dr. Andro and I will have some more interesting stuff for you to read, watch and think about. Until then, those of you interested in more information on diet and exercise science should check out both, the SuppVersity EMG Series and Dr. Andro's latest "baby", his Intermittent Thoughts on Intermittent Fasting... but, with all that reading, don't forget to hit the gym!