Body Beast In 2017

Bulk legs seemed easier to me than Build Legs. Those Step Up Reverse Lunges would wear me out!!

Here is an article I read today about listening to your body.

Having an off day at the gym? Listen to your body and lay off.

Mike Plunkett - The Washington Post

You're at the gym for a weightlifting session. But something feels off.
You're not a beginner and want to get your workout in for the day, but your body isn't responding positively to the movement.

Or you're an experienced runner, and your body can't keep up with the pace at which you started while on a training run. You want to achieve a high level of exertion and are unsure how fast or slow you should go.

How do you make sense of what your body is telling you?

Autoregulation can help.

Writer and coach Nia Shanks (niashanks.com) said by email that autoregulation "is listening to your body and adjusting accordingly on any given training day.

"Feel amazing? Take advantage. Feeling weak? Do what you can but don't push too hard, and come back stronger next time. A certain exercise not feeling good? Swap it out for a different one," Shanks wrote.

Autoregulation can mean different things to different people. However, methods such as biofeedback and rates of perceived exertion (RPE) are effective ways to quantify your body's response for consistency, regardless of how you're working out.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback measures the body's functions in order to control how it responds to stimuli. Doctors, for example, use biofeedback therapy in alleviating anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder.

With athletic training, biofeedback tests how the body responds to exercise movements. David Dellanave, a trainer and owner of the Minneapolis gym Movement, said the point of exercise is to create a net effect on your body, but not all effects are the same. Doing an exercise may have a positive effect one day but a negative effect the next.

"The goal with biofeedback is to quantify what that effect is in real time and make decisions based on it," Dellanave said. "So you can pick, how does a squat affect me today? Is it good or is it bad? If it's bad, what can I do that will give me a good response?"

Several biofeedback tests are effective for athletes, such as heart-rate variability (HRV), which measures the intervals between heartbeats. HRV testing is good for runners who want to autoregulate their training runs.

For strength training, Dellanave uses a range of motion tests, such as grip strength and toe touch. The toe-touch test is simple to do. First, before starting your workout, bend at the waist and try to touch your toes. Stop at the first point of tension, which becomes your base for the day. The idea is to gauge what your fullest range of motion will be for the day, not to test your flexibility.

Then, perform the movement you want to do without weights. So, if you are deadlifting, perform a traditional deadlift. After one to two lifts, bend and stretch again. If you were able to get more range than at your first touch, your body responded positively to the traditional deadlift. If not, practice another deadlift, such as the sumo or Jefferson. Then test again. Keep testing until you get a clear sense of what exercise your body will most respond to during that workout.

Stephanie Fowler Shaklee, a teacher and coach from Oklahoma, learned biofeedback from Dellanave's wife, Jen Sinkler, but didn't incorporate it into her routine until she started a new training program.

"The program called for a conventional deadlift, and that version wasn't gelling for me," Shaklee wrote via email. "Out of the blue, I began to throw in some biofeedback, and I navigated my deadlifts with the 'answer' that my body gave to me. Biofeedback allowed me to perform the specific lift, but with a slightly different movement variation."

Shaklee now regularly uses biofeedback and said she has not experienced pain from lifting and doesn't feel as if she's forcing her training.

"We all, as a whole, tend to follow the rules and push through pain in a valiant effort to follow a specific training program. But once we truly solicit feedback from our body, biofeedback can be an additional resource that we can use to tune in to how our body is operating or feeling in the moment," Shaklee said.

Rate of perceived exertion

The Borg scale, invented by Gunnar Borg, helps rate the level of intensity for a physical activity, or perceived exertion. The RPE scale quantifies how one feltinstead of whether an exercise was easy or hard.

If you go to a gym class, odds are you already use a variation of the Borg scale when the instructor asks for a "7" effort on a 1-10 scale.

Michael Tuchscherer, the founder of Reactive Training Systems and a gold medalist in powerlifting at the 2009 World Games, said via email that RPE helps rate the athlete's overall performance instead of one's emotions.

"The biggest thing is to have a system in place that helps you value your body's feedback but not overvalue your emotions of the moment," Tuchscherer said. "If you ignore your body's feedback, then you miss out on one of the most critical tools to long-term success. If you misunderstand or misrepresent your body's feedback as emotions, then you also miss out on the work that is required to see major improvements."

Tuchscherer teaches his strength-training clients to use a 6-10 RPE scale. A 6 RPE is the equivalent of a fast bar speed while lifting with moderate effort, and a 10 RPE is maximum effort. Tuchscherer says the scale focuses on performance while one is doing a set and not just the weight lifted.

Kristine Becker, a trainer from Minneapolis, teaches RPE to her clients and uses it in her own training. She wrote via email that training with RPE is useful in her trail-running efforts, where measuring consistent pace is much harder to do than on roads. Becker wrote that RPE training gives her confidence that her overall effort is what she wants it to be, regardless of training conditions.

"If I haven't gotten a lot of sleep or am stressed about other things, a 7/10 might result in a different pace, distance or volume of weight lifted, but it's still my 7/10 for that day," Becker said. "Using RPE helps me focus on doing what I can with what I have where I am, which keeps me on track and not constricted by the bounds of objective data, which may be harder to hit on rough days."

Incorporating biofeedback and RPE takes practice. Shanks recommends that trainees follow their program for about six months, noting how they're feeling in relation to their workouts. Once trainees understand how their body responds, autoregulation will be effective in optimal training.

"Like anything else, listening to your body takes practice, but it's worth the effort," Shanks said.

Author Information:

Mike Plunkett is a designer and MisFits columnist.

@mjmplunkett

December1979 wrote: »

Build legs for me today....it wears me out! It will be interesting to do bulk legs next week!

That one, to me, is the toughest. Keep at it!

fitin50s2 wrote: »

Sounds like we are on the same page. Binder and modifications included. I also came up with a 10 minute Ab sequence that incorporates moves from H&C, 21DFX and Body Beast. I know many don't like spending time doing Ab work. I enjoy it assuming it's short.

Thanks. I use P90X Ab Ripper twice a week instead of Body Beast's ab routine.

Cue up Aerosmith's "Back in the Saddle"

It felt really good to get back into the program after almost a week recovering from the flu. I did not do anything crazy like my scheduled doubles. I will save that for Friday. Today I cranked up the tunes and did Body Beast Bulk Shoulders, which is one of my favorites. Tomorrow is a 3-mile run and P90X Abs Ripper. Then Friday it is back to doubles with Bulk Chest/Build Back.

Thanks, Rachelleech. If I am getting the percentage correct, you are doing roughly 25% fat, 25% carb, 50% protein (give or take). Let me know how the results go. I am aiming for 20% fat, 40% carbs, and 40% protein, although I may drop the carbs down next month based on how things go.

I hope everyone has had a great first half of the week and is pushing themselves.

Mike

Another blessed day at work, even though there were times when I was looking at the clock and wishing it was time to go home. Nonetheless, it is now the weekend!

I walked in the door and took a quick 15-minute nap to recharge my batteries after working on the computer all day in the office. Once that timer went off, I was out of my work clothes and into the workout clothes. Today I hit Body Beast Bulk Chest and Bulk Back and felt so good to be back into the double routines again. I also did a little thinking in between sets.

A Gatorade Protein Recovery Bar is freakin' amazing. This is a protein bar I could very easily stuff my face with all day long. However, it has a lot of sugar in it, which seems to put me over my goals on MFP. If I can order these bars at $1.50 each and they provide 20g of protein, how much chicken would that be equal to and which would be cheaper?

Chicken is roughly 6g of protein per ounce, so I would need 3 1/2 ounces, but let's round that up to 4 ounces for argument's sake. I can buy 2-lbs of chicken, or 32 ounces, for $4. This means I can eat just as much protein for only $0.50, and without the sugar.

I am not saying a lump of chicken is better than a protein bar post-workout, but as far as a midday snack goes, I think I am going to change my habits and go with a small piece of chicken with various seasonings.

Keep pushing yourself!

It's the start of a new exercise month, which means changing up the menu plan. February will cut the carbs in half, bump up the protein and fat, and increase the cardio. Have to keep variety in the workout strategy.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Yesterday and today were both great workout days for me. I was looking for additional cardio without resorting to running all the time, so I checked out the base fitness center nearest my office to see what it had to offer. I was immediately sold when I saw the rowing machines. I LOVE rowing machines!

So I rowed for 27 minutes followed by Body Beast Bulk Chest. Now, I will say it is somewhat difficult to get exactly the weights you want when you are at a public fitness center, but for the most part I was able to sustain a constant workout. I will say I was a little disheartened, however, when I saw the Marine next to me, also doing incline presses, but with dumbbells THREE TIMES as heavy as mine. It did not help matters I was wearing shorts with the Air Force logo on it. I felt very small in that weight room!

Today I was focused on Bulk Back and Shoulders, so I headed immediately to the cables so I could do reverse cable rows. Once I knocked those out, it was all dumbbells from there on. My upper body was feeling smoked by the time I was done, after which I headed over to the incumbent bicycle and biked for 30 minutes. I am determined to add the two additional days of cardio without always running.

Today my menu was almost spot on.... 51% protein, 29% fat, 20% carbs. It is only two days into the second phase, but I plan to keep this up until around the 10th of March.

I hope everyone else is doing well.

Mike