Start Your New Year Declaring Yourself Stronger, Healthier, and Happier

Posted on January 1, 2020 by maxedoutmuscles

Did you make mistakes in 2019? If so, join the club. We meet on Thursdays. No, not really, but I’m willing to bet that all of us fell short of our expectations one way or another.

If you did, then good! At least you had expectations. Have goals for yourself this year, and plan to excel in 2020. You have the opportunity to make a whole decade your greatest. I’m spending my New Years in the gym. Earlier tonight, I made myself a healthy dinner. This year, you don’t have to get boozed up unless that’s honestly your goal. You don’t have to have addictions. Be stronger, healthier, and happier. Head to your local gym and work out. Don’t have a membership? Then get on the damn floor and do some push ups. Can’t do push ups? Jog in place. Just do something people!

Live your life being your best self and buy the hype this year. Sell yourself on being the best you possible.

Finding The BEST SUBJECTIVE DIET

Posted on November 30, 2015 by maxedoutmuscles

Hey all! It has almost been six months since I started lifting and the journey to being at peak physical condition has turned out to be most like a roller coaster. It’s had its ups and downs, and I’ve learned a lot along the way.

..and although I’ve written a lot about exercise, my Crohn’s disease, lifting weights, and nutrition I have never actually sat down and mapped out what will work best for ME. Keep in mind when reading today’s post that what works for me may not work for you, and that finding a proper diet is probably more of a subjective issue than something that is objective, i.e. clearly defined and universally set in stone.

So the best subjective diet…What is it!?

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While I cannot get into all of the details today about nutrition and science, I will dive into finding what works best for me and possibly a Subjective Diet Format (SDF) that works for anyone trying to decide upon their ideal dietary needs. I will be posting every day this week with new information on diet that will help us all find out what works best for us.

So if this week is like a seminar on diet, consider today the introduction.

..and as I said, I will start by identifying factors that will best help me find a diet that is subjective to me.

For starters,

I am 21, I am lifting weights for about an hour every day, I am highly active, I am slightly overweight with a body fat percentage around 15 to 20%, and I have crohn’s disease.

So we can conclude that I am highly active and I should probably look the part, but I am not quite cutting it! Which is possibly what I need to do…a cut. So that leads me to assume that I should be dropping my caloric intake.

After doing a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculator, I have found that I need about 3,000 calories a day to be at maintenance. For the means of losing fat and looking my best, I will have to eat about 2,500 calories a day and continue my activities.

I have also figured in my Crohn’s Disease, and I should eat less processed food to make those 2,500 calories a day more nutrient dense and fulfilling.

Here is how I added all of this up into what I am calling my Subjective Diet Format:

Age
Activity Level
Body weight, fat percentage, and height
Any health conditions

It’s really all pretty simple and I think it was a good outline for me to use my basal metabolic rate along with remembering my Crohn’s Disease.

I hope this helps you and tomorrow we will go a little more in depth!

What Is Killing My Gains?

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“Why have I been working out for TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AND STILL CAN CURL MORE THAN I SQUAT!?”

I doubt anyone in history has ever said that! I doubt anyone actually will…BUT now that I have your attention, I want to talk about gains and why some of us aren’t having any.

You may have been lifting for a while and hit a plateau, and you may even seem to get weaker. These things happen, but as long as you stay consistent

you will grow stronger.

Maxed Out Muscles

About as strong, in fact, as this stick figure that I hastily drew in Microsoft Paint. Look at those biceps!!

However, he did skip leg day which I would say is pretty bad!

Now jokes aside, all of us hit plateaus or walls in our training and it can be pretty depressing. I know because this has happened to me, and is happening to me now. So I write today as optimistic as I can! I don’t know from experience that I will overcome this plateau, but I am optimistic!

Without further ado I want to list some possible reasons why I, or you, are hitting a plateau and how I, or we, can overcome this:

Diet

Diet is probably the easiest to call out because, without proper nutrition, how can your body grow? There is a lot of controversy on diet(feel free to post your opinion in the comments). A lot of bodybuilders and strength coaches say you should eat whatever your basal metabolic rate calls for while eating a gram of protein per pound of body weight. However, some text books say you should eat no more than 60% of your body weight in protein and other people recommend 50 grams a day.

I personally feel that the gram per pound approach will be most effective for me personally. This is because, when I look at other people who have been bodybuilding(natties included), I notice that most heavy lifters recommend eating a lot of protein. A lot of them have good aesthetics too, and it doesn’t look like they converted any excess protein into fat.

Simply due to my own preference and based off what I have seen I will choose the gram per pound method. Again, feel free to comment your own opinion below and I suppose I will show you how mine works over time 🙂

Complacency

This is my other point and what I feel is the kicker for me lately.

As I work full time, have a part time job, and enjoy some time to relax..

it gets REALLY hard to even want to lift on some days. It even becomes difficult to write these posts on other days. However, I am consistent and self-motivated! No matter what life is tossing me, I will strive to continue what I started. Now, it has become depressing to work out and see little results lately but as I’ve been consumed by other things I realize that it is a feat in and of itself that I’ve made it to the gym and maintained.

..and I’d like to add that today I worked out hard!! And it felt GREAT! So no more complacency in the gym, and a better diet is not my recommendation; no complacency in the gym and a better diet is my prescription!

It’s always time to continue fighting the resistance we have in front of us and put our best foot forward! Today is that day, and so is tomorrow.

Do your best and make some gains!

Screw Humble Brags!

Posted on August 17, 2015 by maxedoutmuscles

You know those people that have to be better than you, and if they aren’t they’ll cut you down? Don’t listen to them!

If there’s one thing your passionate about and you love doing, then feel free to talk about it and maybe brag about it occasionally. I’m not saying you should be one of those douchey people that talks about themselves all the time, but if you want to talk about your achievements once in a while go ahead. If you like to talk about weightlifting, go ahead.

At the end of the day, if someone tries to say “I’d rather not talk about weightlifting because I’m humble” or something like that to you, they’re just bragging about how they don’t brag. Don’t listen to them; they’re the type of people with low self esteem who just want to bring you down so they can bring themselves up.

Again, don’t talk about yourself too much, but feel free to be proud of what you’ve done if you earned it. Remember, that if someone humble brags to you and acts like they’re higher and mightier than you, that they probably aren’t worth your time.

If you liked this post, I also went over naysayers in a different post titled Don’t Ignore Naysayers, Laugh At Them

Thanks for reading!