Where've I been you ask?

As you can see it has been a little over two months since I last made a blog post. To be quite honest I was just sick of all the online information overload and just needed to take a break from this side of things. And not going to lie, since I am not really marketing my training business yet (as it will be opening in fall 2009) I just didn't have the motivation to keep coming up with new blog posts. It seemed like everything I could think of was already covered in the past. So here's what I've been up to:

May 2009:
-started training cycle for the July 25th PL meet
-Went and saw a few of my favorite bands play live in Detroit, Michigan. This included a full headlining show by Mastodon who played their entire new masterpiece of an album "Crack The Skye" followed by 10-12 of their blistering hits (support was by the very impressive Kylesa). The next night I drove down to Harpos in Detroit to see the almighty Devil Driver slay the crowd once again.
-The next morning (Sunday), I assisted two good friends of mine from Pow(R) Performance (Ben Knapp and Shane Rickman) in a youth training seminar at a very small high school in the northwest Ohio
-The following wednesday I drove to the Fillmore in Detroit to see my favorite modern day band Lamb of God. I hyperextended my thumb so bad in the pit that my palm was bruised for about 10 solid days!
-The very next morning I boarded a plane by myself to head to New York City for the Poliquin International Certification Program Level 1 strength coach certification. The course was held at http://www.peakperformancenyc.com/ which is owned by a great guy named Joe Dowdell. (EliteFTS sponsored lifter Matt McGorry also works their and I got to meet him as well) This course lasted three days and was a great learning experience. The course focused on structural balance of the upper extremeties and we also dabbled in some exercise demos and program design. Very good time and worth the money spent. I also made it down to the official Reebok NHL shop in Times Square which was awesome.

Other than that I've been putting in 20-30 volunteer hours with my schools strength and conditioning program just trying to immerse myself as much as possible.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention: I've been spending less time reading about training and just getting after it! (it actually works). I've been smashing in the gym records and feel as though I'm really going to take a step ahead of my previous bests once I get on the platform.
Some of my max effort records from this past cycle are as follows:
Reverse band bench: 405, 1 board bench: 375, swiss bar pin press: 365x3 reps
Reverse band squat: 635, Contest stance squat: 555, cambered bar squat: 525
Snatch Grip Rack Pull: 585, DL against dbled minis: 505
(check the youtube vids on the right side of the homepage)




In the last month and a half I've put on about 12lbs and am just as lean as usual. I've been playing around with adding different carbs at different times. Here are some sample days:

Sample Max Effort Squat day:
Wake: 1-2 liters of cold water
Breakfast: 6 whole organic eggs w/chopped peppers, onions, spinach, mozzarella cheese, 4-5 slices uncured turkey bacon, 1 apple or orange, 5g fish oils
Snack: bowl of horizon organic cottage cheese, spoonful almond butter, pineapple (all mixed) -5g fish oils

60m Pre-Workout: Stimulant of some sort (not necessarily recommended) Spike Shooter or Black Coffee
30m Pre-Workout: Biotest's Surge Workout Fuel 2 scoops
While warming up: 2 scoops of Biotest's Surge Recovery w/5 g micronized creatine
Half-way through training: 1 scoop surge workout fuel
Post workout: 50-60 grams of champion chocolate flavored whey w/5g creatine

Next Meal: 1/2 lb grass fed or extra lean ground beef, whole avocado, bowl full of greens, balsamic vinegarette (all mixed together)

Snack: bowl full of Fage greek yogurt w/ frozen blueberries and handful of cahsews (all mixed together\

Next Meal: Same as post workout meal

Next Meal: usually on the go or at work: 6 oz. of turkey breast deli meat wrapped with provolone or mozzarella, handful of cashews, orange, some fish oils

Next meal: usually the greek yogurt or cottage cheese concoction

I usually knock down 3/4-1 gallon of water during training and another gallon throughout the day. Some other supplements I use are: Chelated multi at breakfast/dinner, theanine serine before bed which also contains magnesium glycinate, some other herbal adaptogens throughout the day such as Rhodolia Rosea Extract and Holy Basil. Nothing groundbreaking, just consistent...

Just some brief updates, I'm busy in the trenches and I'll get back to ya'll once i come up with something new and groundbreaking...