Author Archive
Esquire: “Are Your Pants Lying to You?”
I’m not a regular visitor to Esquire.com, natch, so I missed Abram Sauer’s September 7 ”Style Blog” post on the subject of “vanity sizing.” An excerpt:
The devastating realization came in H&M. Specifically, in a pair of size 36 dress pants. I’d never bought pants at H&M before, and suddenly asked myself: how could a 36-inch waist suddenly be so damn tight?
John’s Alpha Male Challenge – Week 9
John was pretty shocked when he stood on the scale this morning: 201.6 lbs. He was stuck on a plateau (206+ lbs.) when he started the Spartan Diet two weeks ago, but dropping practically all extraneous carbs enabled him to peel off nearly 5 additional pounds. It wasn’t easy for him – he was running mostly on “impulse power” – but it paid off.
Now that the Spartan Diet phase is nearly over, John’s looking forward to a real treat… adding fruit and the occasional glass of vin ordinaire back to his diet. He’ll follow the “Handshake Diet” for one more week (’till the official end of the program) and then will raise his cals back up to a maintenance level for several weeks. And that’s a true maintenance level, I might add… his goals are to continue with the habits acquired during the Challenge (perform more at-work physical activity; limit grains; keep portion sizes down) and avoid rebound fat gains.
John’s Alpha Male Challenge – Week 8
John weighed in at 204.6 lbs. this morning – so the scale is moving once again! No surprise, though… this was the first week of the “Spartan Diet.” For those of you unfamiliar with Alpha Male Challenge, this is a two-week, über-low carb phase designed to help ”blowtorch” stubborn fat.
Overall, John’s lost 15+ pounds since the beginning of the Challenge, and is starting to look rather skinny, tbh. He still has some work to do on the mid-section, but the jiggly stuff is considerably diminished. There will be a definite difference in his “before/after” pics, to be sure.
John’s Alpha Male Challenge – Week 7
John came in at 206 lbs. yesterday morning – a pound down from last week. The last two weeks have been slow going, weight-loss-wise, but he’s still down 14 pounds over the last 7 weeks, which ain’t too shabby.
Why’d we weigh him on Saturday morning instead of Sunday? Because we flipped the Week 7 & 8 Alpha Attitude drills, so he could do his “Alpha Extreme Triumph” drill before starting the Spartan Diet. Because the drill was an endurance activity, we had him do a carb-up following his Saturday workout. Since glycogen binds water, I knew he’d add a couple of pounds in the process (he was 208 this morning). He’s been hovering around 206 for most of the week, however, so Saturday’s weight was more representative of his progress.
“Genetic” Doesn’t Necessarily Mean “Inevitable”
Thanks to widespread knowledge of diseases caused by specific genetic mutations, such as hemophilia and sickle cell anemia, it’s widely presumed that “genetic” = “inevitable.” Whatever our genes “say” we are, we are… or will become. However, a lot of what we attribute to genetics, is actually an interaction between genes and environment. Our genetic makeups determine our predispositions for certain traits (or diseases), but our environments influence the outcomes.
Longer Sleep = Longer Life
A couple of weeks ago, Rick blogged about the importance of a good night’s sleep for the production of anabolic hormones (growth hormone and testosterone, natch!). As it turns out, copping your zzzzs may do more than just improve the quality of your life – it may also improve the duration. According to a new study, published in the journal SLEEP, men with insomnia face an increased risk of death. Here are some of the highlights:
John’s Alpha Male Challenge – Week 6
No real weight change to report this week - John’s weight this morning was 207.6 lbs. (he was 207.2 last Sunday). But I figured his weight loss would slow down around this point – he’s close to the “invisible barrier” of 205 pounds, after all. There are two weeks of (low carb) Spartan Dieting in his immediate future, however, so I don’t believe he’ll stay stuck for very long.
Speaking of the Spartan Diet – we did some advance planning for it – and his “Alpha Extreme Triumph” drill - this week. John’s going to tackle a 60-mile bike ride through the foothills for the drill, and needless to state, prolonged endurance exercise and ketogenic diets don’t go together very well! So we decided to schedule the ride for next Sunday – which would ordinarily be his post-Week 7 rest day (he’ll rest on Monday instead). This will enable us to get sufficient carbs into him to handle the ride before he starts the diet on Monday. We can even go out for a starchy “feast meal” on Saturday night – after his last workout for the week.
But that’s next week(end)… for now, let’s return to this one.
Do Men and Women Need Sex-Specific Multivitamin Formulas?
In a word, no. For most of the basic vitamins and minerals, there aren’t major differences in the requirements for adult men vs. non-pregnant, adult women.
Given the large number of sex-specific multivitamin products out there, this may seem a bit strange… we’re so accustomed to advertisements, media reports and studies harping on the differences between the sexes, that it’s a little odd to think in terms of similarities. But men and women are members of the same species, doncha know, so it shouldn’t be surprising to discover that their vitamin/mineral RDAs/AIs are roughly similar, too. See for yourself:
Water and Weight Loss
James and Rick highlighted the importance of drinking water in Alpha Male Challenge, but didn’t go so far as to suggest it could boost weight loss. This was logical, as – at the time – there really wasn’t much direct evidence that it would help with anything but hydration. As they put it, “…it’s difficult to confirm whether drinking a glass of water before a meal really helps satiate hunger…“
Since the AMC was published, however, evidence has emerged that suggests drinking water before meals really does boost satiety… and subsequent weight loss.
Last year, a study published in the prestigious journal, Obesity, found that subjects on calorie-restricted diets lost approx. 2kg more when they consumed 500 ml water before each meal. As explained by obesity researcher/blogger, Peter Janiszewski, Ph.D.:
John’s Alpha Male Challenge – Week 5
This morning, the scale read 207.2 lbs. – 3 pounds less than last Sunday. To date, John’s lost a total of 13 pounds! It shows, too, although there’s still more to lose. Most of his body fat is concentrated in his midsection, and it’s stubborn stuff. It’s not recent, either – he started picking up weight in his early 30’s – particularly after Number One Son came on the scene. So the flab is a good 20 years old. I expect it will take the remaining weeks on the AMC + a second 10 weeks on the new, Alpha Wave Advanced Training Workout to finally see the last of it.
