Diary "Mass Effect". Second week

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

For several months I will train under the remote supervision of a professional trainer Tatyana Prokofieva. Every week I will upload a diary of training and nutrition impressions, and Tatiana will share tips for those who want to get in shape.

The Mass Effect Project is a weekly diary in which I will share what it is like to train and eat according to a strict program. At the same time, my trainer will give advice on nutrition, exercise and talk about how to make your body and life better. In the literal sense of the word.

Diary

The second week I was in for a surprise. I am in the habit of rather scrupulously examining myself and finding defects: folds on the abdomen, veins, facial skin. I know this is far from the best habit, but I can't help it. But there is also a good side to it: I notice the slightest changes in myself.

Therefore, after 10 days, I saw that I began to change. The muscles got bigger, the fat was surprisingly less. At least on the stomach. The changes are minimal, but considering that it's only been two weeks, I didn't even expect them. I asked Tanya if I was dreaming. According to her, everything is as it should be: small changes should already be visible.

This week we have increased the calorie intake. Now there are cookies in the diet every day, for the love of which I was humiliated in the comments to the previous issue. But it turned out that I was not able to cram 250 grams of cooked pasta into myself. Despite the fact that after every workout I want to eat as much as my cat (very much), a quarter of a kilo of pasta is too much. Therefore, we chose something in between and reduced their number to 200 grams. That's better.

It became harder to train. This is due not only to the fact that the body seems to be slowly but surely accumulating fatigue, but also to the music. Rehearsals started again (I'm a drummer), and it turned out that combining two workouts and two hours of drumming was difficult. Leaving the gym on Wednesday at 10 pm, I was very happy that there was no workout tomorrow.

After watching a video of how I do the deadlift, Tanya understood why I constantly complain about back problems. It turned out that the wrong technique was to blame. Starting next week, I will be switching to the block machine deadlift to train the correct execution technique and not risk my back.

In general, I wanted an easy and quick way to lose weight and build up at the same time. There is no easy way. But I cannot say that the method proposed by Tanya is too complicated. Yes, you have to waste time, work and sometimes feel unwell, but can I say that it is difficult? No.

While I was writing the previous paragraph, I remembered how I lost weight a few years ago. I wrote a series of articles “What I learned” about this. So, then I also did not feel any particular difficulty in what I was doing. I ran, ate in moderation and exercised. It seemed to me that the 21-day rule was in effect. It says that if you do anything for three weeks, that “anything” becomes a habit. But with the same success, the number 21 can be changed to 7, 80 or 220. The irony is that I wrote about this and believed that it was it that helped me lose weight. You should admit your mistakes - the rule does not work.

But something else works. First, the visible result. Two weeks have passed, and I still go to workouts twice a day. Moreover, I plan my day in this way and shift other things in order to have time to train in the morning and evening. 21 days have not passed, but it doesn't matter. The important thing is that the result is visible, and it gives motivation to follow on.

The diary itself motivates about the same. All jokes, but a few days ago I dreamed that I was standing on the stage, and people were looking at me and laughing. They laugh because I quit studying and stopped keeping a diary. I don't often remember dreams, but I remember this one well. I will be fantastically ashamed if I can find a reason to stop. Errors in the spirit of some kind of pie - please, but the project itself will not give up the project.

Before starting the project, I ran several times a week. Having started a diary, I stopped doing it: there is already too much training. But this week I decided to return to my usual activity. Yes, it's harder to do than it used to be. After the end of the period of mass gain, I will most likely start running again, because now I want to run more.

Trainer recommendations

Sasha and I continue to work. It was very interesting to read your comments. I will not hide, some unfounded statements were offensive to me. True, all the negativity evaporated when I received a huge number of personal messages with gratitude and questions.

Special thanks to Alexander Tarasenko for his informed commentary and question about the selection of exercises. The fact is that we have constant communication with Sasha, I ask questions, monitor his condition, make the necessary corrections, and the article includes only a small overview of our work. Naturally, some of the points that we discussed seem self-evident to me. I also don't want to cram too much information into one article. If you have questions or concerns, be sure to ask. We conceived this project so that the students could understand the logic of the program and adapt it for themselves.

An important point that I would like to emphasize once again. When drawing up a program, I work with a specific person who has his own characteristics, food preferences, daily routine, work and hobbies. I have no task (and cannot be) to compose an ideal program (neither specifically for Sasha, nor for humanity in general). The goal is to find the best option that meets the goals and takes into account the limitations and wishes of the student.

In this issue I would like to tell you in detail about training. Why not about food, because food is 70% of success? Yes that's right! However, training sets nutrition (calories, macronutrient composition, meal frequency, food choices). If a person is running a marathon and their goal is to run longer and faster, then a carbohydrate-free diet is not the best choice. If a person wants to lose weight (read: reduce the percentage of fat), but can only train three times a week, then the calorie content will be much lower than when training 5-6 times a week. Thus, the type of training, frequency, intensity is always selected first, and only then the optimal diet is selected for the training program.

This release was so huge that part of it had to be rescheduled for the next time. And I also realized that before I give practical recommendations, I still have to tell a little theory.

So let's start with training. Several years ago, Sasha began to train and lost 25 kilograms. Then his goal was to lose weight. Now the challenge is completely different - more muscle and less fat. In one word, this is called "recomposition". In a nutshell, this is the maximum set of muscles for maximum fat burning.

For this purpose, I chose for Sasha (for someone else, I might have chosen a different option altogether) the method of double training.

After I chose the base, it was necessary to find the right exercises. First of all, when drawing up a training program, it is important to pay attention to health problems. True, here many are in danger of either underestimating their sores, or, conversely, overestimating.

Sasha identified two problems: as a child, he had tachycardia, which disappeared after surgery 10 years ago. In this case, intensive training (running, jumping, sprinting) should be introduced gradually. Although in absolutely healthy people, these exercises should also be introduced gradually.

If you have problems with the heart and blood vessels, be sure to listen to yourself during training and do not ignore the discomfort. For example, if your hand (especially your left) suddenly starts to grow numb while running or pulls somewhere in the area of the collarbone, reduce the intensity of the load.

Secondly, Sasha said that he did not do deadlifts for almost a year, since it was a year ago that his back began to ache due to inadequately heavy weights and improper technique. Now he has no restrictions in movements, unpleasant sensations when squatting, or deadlift. Since the squat video shows that Sasha knows how to hold the press and include the buttocks in the work, I decided to include a deadlift with a small weight in training and navigate along the way.

By the way, Sasha has another small feature (mind you, not a disease, not a disorder, but a feature) - kyphosis, that is, curvature of the thoracic spine with the formation of a small hump. At the same time, there is a small anterior pelvic tilt, which influenced the technique of the exercise.

Now let's talk about training for back pain. For example, lately your back has started to hurt a lot. You underwent an MRI scan and learned about the presence of a herniated / protruded intervertebral disc.

The doctor told you:

1. Lie in bed and do not lift more than 3 kg (10% of cases).
2. Stretching and swimming, because you can't do anything else (89% of cases).
3. He explained the reasons for your problem, selected a treatment, reassured and sent to the trainer to strengthen the muscle corset (1%).

Tell your ordinary doctor that you are doing strength training - he will prescribe bed rest for you for life, at best, you will swim in the pool and go to exercise therapy. If you look for more information on the query "the consequences of hernia and protrusion", the sites of private clinics will be happy to tell you why your legs will soon fail, disorders in the pelvic organs and other horrors that occur only with very severe injuries will begin. Of course, there are really serious diseases that require serious treatment. Moreover, most doctors are genuinely trying to help their patients. However, in order to do this, the doctor must make a diagnosis.

Many findings are just structural features or small abnormalities that may or may not be painful. This is not easy to recognize. Don't forget that back pain is big business that makes huge profits for clinics, drug manufacturers, prosthetics, and so on.

In the case of back pain, the probability of finding any abnormality is close to 100%. Some of them are anomalies due to variability - the law of biology to which all living organisms obey. Others arise in the course of life as a result of very ordinary aging.

For example, about a quarter of living people have herniated discs. This is so common that it can practically be considered the norm (except for a small percentage of cases where a hernia causes pain). Hernias are associated with disc degeneration. In turn, disc degeneration is the result of the evolution of intervertebral discs, which are the largest non-vascularized elements in our body. Due to this, from an early age, the number of living cells in the disc progressively decreases. As a result, small cracks and ruptures appear, the structure of the chemical elements constituting the basis of the disk changes: their ability to attract water is lost, due to which the pressure in the disk decreases. The disc becomes less elastic, which leads to its degeneration.

Disc protrusion is not abnormal at all. Protrusion is just a term for the protrusion of the posterior contour of the disc beyond the posterior contour of the vertebra, usually within 3 mm. In this case, the presence of protrusion has nothing to do with the presence of pain. There have been many studies that have shown that the likelihood of protrusion in a person who does not experience any discomfort in the back is the same as in a person with pain.

Subtle changes in the shape of the spine, such as increased thoracic kyphosis (curvature of the spine), are often a component of normal aging or a compensatory mechanism, although more pronounced can be a sign of serious problems.

What do all these states have in common?

1 many people have them

And not just for many, but for almost everyone. There is nothing heroic about finding signs of arthrosis, disc herniation, protrusion, or spondylosis simply because these conditions are part of our lives. If every fourth has a hernia, then every second has protrusions.

2. They may or may not be sick

Since these are not signs of illness, they have nothing to do with pain. According to numerous and quite high-quality studies, all of these findings with the same frequency occur in people with pain and in those who do not make any complaints. This statement only looks unexpected, but in fact, all competent specialists in the field of spinal diseases have known for a long time: the findings usually revealed during the examination do not explain the pain. With the exception of serious illnesses, it is impossible to tell from the pictures whether a person's back hurts or not.

3. Doctors are used to associating pain with them

When someone seeks help from a doctor, he expects an exact explanation of the causes of suffering. Doctors do not want to disappoint patients, they prescribe examinations, the result of which is most often the identification of signs of aging. Naturally, they are discovered: everyone is getting old. Although this means no more to a diagnosis than wrinkles on the skin, doctors are deceived. Those who do not complain are not examined, so there is a false impression that the cause of the pain has been found. As a rule, in Russia they make a diagnosis that does not exist anywhere else in the world - osteochondrosis.

4. Sometimes these changes really cause pain

This is rare, which adds even more confusion, but this is not a reason to consider every person with a hernia or other “abnormal” as sick. Alas, when the examination is done and the diagnosis is made, it is very difficult to prove to a person that the cause of his pain may be completely different!

5. "tagging" does real harm

Once a diagnosis is made, it does not matter if there is a connection between the true cause of the pain and the explanations given to the patient. In fact, the nocebo effect, or feeling sick, is one of the most significant causes of chronic back pain, at least known. Unsurprisingly, they are so difficult to treat - purely medical procedures only reinforce the vicious circle.

To fully get rid of back pain, you need to learn to be healthy and take responsibility for your health. And here comes the second vicious circle. How to train if your back hurts?

Most often, there are two versions of training for back pain. Version one: “The doctor advised me to stretch my back muscles (usually - to hang on a horizontal bar, sometimes - to additionally hang weights)”. Version two: "The doctor advised me to pump up my back muscles," so people with acute back pain perform a set of exercises aimed at these muscles.

Of course, having trained muscles surrounding your spine is better than weak ones. And good flexibility is better than bad flexibility. However, very often people take recommendations too literally.

The recommendation to strengthen the back muscles is generally correct. However, we should go back to where we started again. What causes back pains usually?

There is no answer to this question, since there is no single reason (the same for everyone). In fact, each of us has our own problem. Of course, there are problems that are more common and there are those that are very rare.

For most people, pain is associated with natural aging of the body or is simply caused by fatigue. Usually the source of back pain is the muscles, and the spine itself causes suffering much less often than is commonly thought.

Many, due to back pain, lead a passive lifestyle for a long time, and then, after the recommendation of a doctor, they begin to "pump" muscles with increased zeal. There is nothing surprising in the fact that pain in the spine or muscles, which bear the load and make movements, increase with the performance of work. But this fact does not mean at all that the load is the cause of the pain. If you cut your finger, the movement in it will be painful, but you will not think that it is the movement that caused the cut. Pain from exertion can occur when there is already a problem in the spine, or maybe simply due to fatigue. This pain will be no different from pain in stressed legs at the end of the day or muscle pain after strength training. Another thing is that a set of exercises should help the back muscles "unload", and not load them even more. To do this, first of all, you need to learn how to include the muscles of the buttocks and abdominals in the work.

Located in the front, the abdominal muscles work in concert with the back muscles to facilitate their work and prevent the torso from bending. You can see for yourself: it is when lifting the weight that the abdominal muscles are most tense. The fact is that their tension leads to two effects: an increase in pressure in the abdominal cavity and a tension in the lumbar fascia - a dense tissue that covers the back of our lower back and is located above the muscles of the back. By contracting, the back muscles increase in volume, and this is where the lumbar fascia comes into play, which holds them and directs additional effort deeper - towards the spine! This facilitates the effort required to hold the spine. Less contraction of the back muscles means less compression of the discs and joints, which protects them from damage.

A similar task for the buttocks. Strong glutes provide a neutral pelvic position in which the antagonist muscles, the flexors and extensors of the trunk, are activated, providing mechanical stability to the lumbar region and reducing overuse.

Exercises to include in your workout for weak glutes:

1. All gluteal bridge modifications.
2. Hip Thrust,
3. Goblet squat (if there is no discomfort).
4. Lunges (if there are no other problems, for example, with the knees, which this exercise excludes).
5. Cable squat.

Exercises for weak abdominal muscles:

1. RKC strip.
2. Pilates exercises.

So, if you have back problems, then you need to train carefully (you yourself know this). First you need to take responsibility for your health. You must be able to listen to and hear your body signals, and not just blindly follow the recommendations (although the recommendations must be followed, yes). If you have acute pain or inflammation in the acute stage, then exercise should be eliminated and the body should be allowed to recover. A visit to a doctor is required.

After full recovery, you need to find the weak link. The fact that your back hurts is a consequence, not a cause. To begin with, stand sideways to the mirror and look carefully, or better - take a photo. What do you see? Usually, you can immediately see which muscles need to be pulled and which ones need to be strengthened.

After that, you need to choose the right exercises or their appropriate modification. Often the choice of exercise will depend on many factors. For example, a person cannot do a squat with a barbell on their shoulders. It's OK. There are tons of options. It's quite another matter when any squat is uncomfortable.

Then the workout needs to be tested and, if necessary, adjusted. If some exercises do not suit you for one reason or another, then they must be replaced.

Advice

At the end of each article, I'll summarize what I've learned this week.

1. I don’t know anything about the benefits of flaxseeds, but they make oatmeal tastier.
2. It is better to hide the headphone wire under a T-shirt. In the last workout, I almost tore off the wire, hitting it with dumbbells.
3. If you are squeamish and are going to use wrist straps, it is better to buy your own. The ones in the gym most often stink like chemical weapons.

If you want to get the same program, but tailored for yourself, write. She also leads her own, where she gives more advice.