Wow, just got finished reading over the last couple of days worth of posts and you're all barking up the tree that I and my fellow paleolithic eating friends hang out in. :)
Raving and lunatic ranting to follow so make sure you have your galoshes on...
I would like to say that I have done Fast-5 and P90X at the same time and it works just fine. The P90X diet plan (which I tried a couple of years ago) is just as Phil imagined, but it also gives you choices of what to eat along with a set number of servings per day. So for example if you weigh a certain amount, you might get 9 servings of protein per day, etc. The gentleman who is on the DVDs and talks about their supplements is named Mark Sisson. He runs one of my favorite websites ( www.marksdailyapple
Last year I got a copy of Brad Pillon's "Eat Stop Eat" and he talked at length about the body and how it uses proteins for muscle building. Dr Herring hit the nail on the head (as usual) when he said that the best way to gain/maintain muscle is by lifting weights, not by eating. I never understood the idea that taking aminos would help you in any way. I mean I've read the ads and articles but protein is just amino acids assembled into, well, proteins. Not only that, but there is a very constant abundance of aminos coursing through your veins for 3-4 days after you eat protein. As long as you eat good proteins at your meals, you will not suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous protein deficit. Anyway, after you lift weights, your body flips on the protection switch and it will not burn it's own good muscle to provide nourishment. You can take steroids and not gain a single pound without lifting. It's the lifting and resultant breaking down of tissue that provides the growth stimulus, not eating. Brad Pillon is an ex-marketing guy for a big supplement company. He recently made a video where he made the claim that he would workout for one hour with a specially designed routine and put on 8 pounds of lean body mass. He went through the motions for an hour, all the while constantly drinking water from a gallon jug (see where I'm going with this?). By the end of the workout, he got on the scale and weighed 8 pounds more. Well, it was the water that he drank but legally he can say that he gained eight pounds of lean body mass, as the definition of LBM is everything but bodyfat. He then went into explaining how supplement companies scare people into taking powders and water-weight gaining supplements. Guys think they're gaining muscle when they start these supplements, but they're usually gaining fibrous bulk, or water. Then when they go off the supplement, the scale tells them they're losing weight so they panic and buy more supplements. The truth of the matter is that muscle is very hard to grow. It's not natural, and the body has to build the infrastructure to support it (veins, blood, lungs, thicker bones, stronger ligaments, tendons, etc). It just takes a very long time.
Which brings me to my next point that Miss Heather touched on... women just don't think huge muscleheads are attractive. I saw the results of a recent study where they asked women to rate several different men's body types. Almost without exception, they almost all prefer a guy with a narrow waist and good abs, LITHE, strong and slender, with a MAX of 10-15 extra pounds of muscle. Almost nobody went for the pumped up bodybuilder type. In fact, the study interviewed men to see how they felt about the different body types and most men felt relaxed and more respectful of the guy with the 8-pack abs and 10-15 extra pounds of muscle than the fat guy or the musclehead. It really shows that what men have in their heads as ideal is a result of marketing. Conversely, there have been studies that showed that men actually on average prefer a woman with a medium build, not necessarily the super thin "ideal" that sells purses and shoes. I don't find big steroidy women attractive, why would women find that attractive in a man?
I guess my point is, how much muscle do we really need? I've been a weight lifter since I was 12 years old. I've bought my share of potions and powders. But really, after 30 years of this nonsense, what's it all for? For me it comes down to health. How many refrigerators can I carry? How many engines can I lift out of my car? I don't see how that's important anymore. Give mother nature a fair shake and trust in a sound diet and healthy exercise. It's worked for us for over 4 million years, I don't see the point in switching now.
As an aside, I've started eating nothing but fruits, veggies, berries, nuts, and seeds for most of the week and then on my two weekly lifting days I will eat calf's liver, eggs, bison, fish or chicken, etc. My lifting days simulate the occasional hunt that our ancestors would have embarked on. If you don't hunt, how can you eat meat? I also try to eat seasonally to simulate food availability. So during the winter I might eat more organ meats and bone broth, but during the spring and summer eat more vegetation. I don't know if this has any positive physical effect, but it makes me happy. :)
Karen, in regards to your feeling weaker and not as toned, my questions are:
Are you getting enough sleep?
Are you getting enough water?
How many times per week are you using each bodypart?
I know you lead a hectic life and you work out regularly. You might be overtrained. Lack of sleep and working each muscle more than once a week is a tried and true method for overtraining and exhaustion.
Thinking I should probably get a blog...
-Rick Stewart
--- In fast5@yahoogroups.
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