During the last 3 weeks, I've eaten approximately 80% of my food from raw sources. This means:

• Raw Milk
• Raw Beef
• Raw Honey
• Raw Nuts
• Raw Milk Cheese
• Raw Eggs
  

Since I'm still eating pretty much whatever I want at least until April, the other 20% has been junk (pizza, Thai) along with 1-2 sweet potatoes with dinner on training days - which are clearly cooked. Interestingly, even though the food choices are mainly the same as what I was eating prior to making this move to raw foods, something feels different. I feel 'good'...subjective sounding, I know, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is at this moment. I thought that by dropping oatmeal and a post-workout glycogen replenishment that I'd 'flatten out' rather quickly, but not so.

In a few weeks, I expect to have a consultation with 'Muscle Smoke & Mirrors' author Randy Roach regarding raw eating. My questions for him will focus on all aspects of this endeavor, but in particular I'm interested in the food groupings. From what I've read so far, it's very different from the typical bodybuilding paradigm of 'carbs with protein' or 'fat with protein' and timing things throughout the day.

One thing I have noticed is the price tag that comes with eating raw - it's expensive! I could easily spend $200/week on food just for myself.

More to follow...

Been a While...

Wow...about 6 mos. since last posting?

We've been pretty busy getting our Boot Camp program off the ground, which so far as been successful beyond our expectations. Between the last posting and early/mid-October 2009, I managed to get myself in perhaps the best shape of my life. Hardest, densest muscularity - to the point of almost hyper-tonus, where muscles were cramping after bouts of exercise - and very, very low body fat (4-5%?). As with any peak, however, it doesn't last forever - wouldn't be a peak if it did - and currently I'm probably 10 lbs. out from that level of conditioning/appearance.

Now, in mid-February, I'm beginning to look ahead to beach season - and the yearly process of shedding excess body fat. One thing I'm considering this year is a shift towards raw food. Last summer/fall, when reaching for the appearance 'peak' described above, I noted very good results w/ increased fat intake via natural/organic foods: cage-free eggs, grass-fed beef, butter, etc. A couple of times in the past few weeks I've eaten both raw red meat, and raw eggs - and with no issues.

A bodybuilder/fitness business owner that both my partner Craig and I respect has recently put on quite a bit of muscle mass via raw food eating. It's important to note that this individual is not just some rookie, but instead a 20+ year veteran of the iron game, and as a result someone very much in tune with his body and it's response to exercise/dietary strategies. So for him to state that eating raw has resulted in quite a noticeable increase in muscle mass certainly legitimizes the idea in my eyes.

Additionally, via the Randy Roach book 'Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors', I learned that many of the old time bodybuilders ate mostly raw, with great results in particular coming from raw dairy: raw milk, raw cream, raw cheeses and butter. Many also included raw meat and eggs here, but the main similarity stood with the dairy aspect. These guys, while having phenomenal genes for sure, also didn't use drugs to attain these physiques - or at least used but did not abuse unlike the monsters of today's bodybuilding world.

Needless to say, reading things on this subject has got my wheels spinning. My goal is to give raw eating a solid chance for about 2 months, April-May, and note the results. Not everything will be raw, but most things. For social reasons, it's probably not possible to go 100% raw without turning into a hermit.

Steps to make this transition include acquiring the raw dairy contacts necessary for regular consumption, and pricing out various qualities of meat. I also have questions as to whether eating B+ grade meat raw (i.e., Trader Joe's no-hormone/no-antibiotics, but still vegetable or grain fed) is better than A+ grade meat cooked (i.e., Whole Foods grass fed beef). The latter is much more expensive, and would make living this lifestyle more difficult.

Hopefully I'll send out an update before 2012...

Better Boot Camp!

Boot camp exercise classes are popping up all over the place. All anyone needs to run one is space for x amount of people, and perhaps some exercise tools. At Back2Health, we've come up with the better boot camp.

Our clients are already used to training hard, and training safely (i.e., no ballistic movement, attention to breathing and posture during exercise, etc.). But what they aren't used to is performing in front of up to 4 other trainees, and moving between multiple stations with guidance from fitness professionals at each.

This supervision is not to be overlooked - it is impossible for one trainer to correct and teach more than one person at a time, and the risk of injury is too great for Craig and I to 'let things slide'. Additionally, training in front of more people, and with the feeling of them pushing you along can add a 'fun' element to things, without veering from 'productive'.

So while still early, we think we've stumbled upon something here with these boot camp circuit sessions. Additionally, we think the program has room to grow, with an additional and different session during the week. More to follow...

Damage Control?

So you were feeling pretty good heading into the holiday weekend with regard to appearance: Abs showing some or a lot of delineation, muscles feeling full and hard - in effect, you were looking 'tight' and proud of it. Now, after a long weekend of eating and (probably) drinking, you feel like a bloated cow and are scared to step on the scale or look at your midsection in the mirror.

Well, then don't step on the scale, and don't look in the mirror. Just by getting back on track this week with regularly scheduled workouts and eating habits, all of that 'damage' you think you did this weekend will be reversed. It's been discussed before both in this blog and within the Back2Health newsletter, but bears repeating: the body is very dynamic. It can swing seemingly in the wrong direction for a few hours or days, and then all of a sudden you'll feel and look great again. And, conversely, you can eat a huge 'junk' meal and then a few hours later look better than earlier in the day...but 2-3 of those meals either during the same day or over several leave you in bloat-world again.

So while I try not to give specific advice to anyone that I'm not directly working with, generally speaking the following steps will help bring you right back to where you were - if not improve on appearance due to the metabolic shock of a few days of excess calories:

1. Drink as much water as you can for a few days; this will flush out the system of excess sodium as a result of increased food/drink, which also means that excess water will be released. Hence, no more 'bloated' feeling.
2. Get right back onto your 'regular' eating; no need to diet super hard and deprave yourself of needed calories.
   
3. Get right back into your 'regular' workout schedule. If you train with us, that's 1-3 intense resistance training sessions per week.
   

By week's end, if you follow the above steps, I'll pretty much guarantee that you'll be back to where you stood before the holiday weekend took it's toll.

The Return of the Dreaded Sciatica!*

*The title to this particular blog posting is the title of the email from the client discussed below, received this week.

We had a client return for our services today, after approximately 3 mos. without MedX exposure. He stopped, simply enough, because the sciatica that he had been suffering from due to disc herniation was no longer present.

Since the reduction in pain was the primary reason for starting MedX treatment, I'm not surprised he stopped once feeling well. But, as we've discovered, often times it's not wise to terminate MedX sessions completely after the initial 12-16 weeks. This is because there is, like any other muscle/muscle group, a 'use it or lose it' effect. Train your biceps hard, and they will become larger and stronger to whatever genetically mediated degree possible. The same thing happens with the muscles of the lower back - BUT, and this is a big but - these particular muscles tend to hold strength longer once gained.

In other words, one may find that taking two weeks off from biceps training leads to a slight loss of muscular size and hardness. With regard to the lumbar muscles, this 'loss' is less noticeable when following a period of intense strengthening. In this particular client's case, it lasted about 3 months before he noticed a return of discomfort.

Our goal at Back2Health: Spinal Fitness is to reduce lower back/neck pain as quickly as possible for every client. What this means for most clients is about a 12-16 week commitment to regular, once-weekly sessions using the MedX equipment. After this, however, we recommend a less frequent maintenance program for each individual to keep the pain at bay. Whether this means every other week or once per month is to be determined based on how the client feels. But that would certainly be better than pushing hard for 12 weeks to get rid of pain, taking 2 months off and having pain return, and then needing to go through another intensive 12 weeks of MedX treatment. The goal should be to do as little as necessary to elicit the ideal response.

Media Rant

I've just about had it with trying to get the word out regarding the efficacy of MedX spinal exercise to the media. A few publications have allowed me to mention MedX in particular (one regarding police officer back pain, and the other dealing with back pain in nurses), but mostly I'm asked to remove any/all vendor names. It's a bit difficult to explain why MedX is the best at what it does without actually mentioning the name. That would be like discussing the merits of an excavation company that has the only backhoe in the region - with everyone else limited to shovels - by saying the company uses 'tools'. Could mean shovels, bare hands, or a backhoe - the reader/listener will never know.

WCVB-5's Chronicle television show was approached via a connection within, but they would only consider doing a story on reducing back/neck pain if other options besides MedX were considered as well. In other words, the story would have to present multiple approaches, and all purportedly of equal value.

No thanks. You can keep your shovel - I've got my backhoe...

As Expected...

After last week's 'off' chest workout, yesterday's session for that body part was ideal. Great mind-muscle connection, crisp contractions, and (perhaps resulting from the lackluster previous workout) excellent arousal during the session led to a fantastic pump and deep fatigue. 24 hours later and my pecs are sore and full. Unless future chest workouts are a struggle, and not simply the odd session here and there, there is no concern (i.e., overtraining, injury, etc.).

It's also interesting to note, although no surprise to this author, that one bad workout didn't ruin the appearance of the muscle in question. Often times trainees treat their sessions in a do-or-die fashion, which is good for arousal and motivation, but if things don't work as planned, that doesn't mean one's physique will fall apart. Most people that train hard, and have at least a few months of such training behind them could stop completely and notice little loss of 'appearance' over at least a few weeks.