Razz's log, video p. 63

Ah mine doesn't have the acid, but when I do find some pure bicarb I'm definately buying that, thanks

lol just found out raisins are mostly fructose..guess I should find something else to eat intra wo

Today is high rep calf work, handbalancing and other joint prep. Will update later with specifics.

Should mention aswell that I woke up in the middle of the night with soliva just flowing out of my mouth as in a -puke stage. Managed to fall asleep again though, but I'm thinking it could be GI upset from baking powder. In that case if it happens again I will drop that supplement. If it's not the baking powder it could be some of my weekend cheat meals.. they served pizza and coke yday when I helped the elite team with their strength testing....

Keep in mind that sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is only good for anaerobic byproduct management. It is a powerful alkalizing agent, but that is BAD on a regular basis. When it goes in your stomach your stomach PH goes UP. That changes the shape of the enzymes and can radically reduce nutrient breakdown and absorption! Regular use, like any other antacid, can and will cause the stomach to overcompensate by producing more acid than usual. Over time this can develop into acid reflux. Be careful with the amount you take in, and do not take the baking soda during meals. You want baking soda before exercise bouts that will push you to your lactate threshold if you use it at all. It buffers the lactic acid/lactate which allows you to build up more before you shut down, thus extending your endurance abilities. This does not affect maximal strength training. We are talking about 2-3 times per week, PRE workout. Here's a good quote for you:

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article4539000.ece"]During prolonged or intense exercise muscles produce large amounts of waste products, such as lactic acid, that lead to soreness, stiffness and fatigue. Because sodium bicarbonate naturally reduces acids, it acts as a buffer against these performance-limiting by-products.

Current research suggests that it is particu-larly helpful in speed-based events, including sprints, football and other fast-moving games, and middle-distance (up to 10km) running, swimming and cycling. “Essentially, sodium bicarbonate is an alkali substance that increases the pH of the blood,†Dr Folland says. “This seems to reduce and offset the acidity produced in the muscles during intense, anaerobic exercise that produces lactic acid most quickly, such as fast running or swimming.â€

In Dr Folland's study, swimmers who took the sodium bicarbonate knocked 1.5 seconds off their time for 200m, a difference that may seem insignificant to recreational swimmers but which is substantial at elite level.

“At the last Olympics, the top four swimmers in the men's 200m freestyle were separated by just 1.4 seconds,†Dr Folland says. “So, in theory, it could be the difference between winning a medal and not.†Not that he recommends that we all rush down to our nearest supermarket with £2 to buy a packet. While manufacturers may come up with a drink or capsule containing sodium bicarbonate, it is unpleasing to many palates. For optimum effects it should be taken with water, ideally before exercise, on an empty stomach. Most people take about 20g, although it can cause problems.

“It is not dangerous, but it tastes appalling and can make you want to retch,†Dr Folland says. “It can make some people nauseous when it hits their stomach and a few suffer an upset stomach or diarrhoea when they take it.â€

Some scientists want it banned from sport

Anyone can try it, he says, but only those who are serious enough to monitor their times and progress in sports such as running, swimming or cycling may notice the few seconds advantage it might provide. “The increments of improvement are relatively small to the average person, although significant to someone who competes,†Dr Folland says. “I certainly wouldn't advocate using it if you do aerobics a few times a week.â€

As for the raisins, it depends on how many you're eating lol!!! They should be about 60% fructose just like grapes. I just ordered glucose powder so that I will have a good source of intra-workout carbs that I don't need to worry so much about.

Now, we need to discuss what alkalizing the body actually means. There is a lot of bullshit out there. You will be told that table sugar is acidifying while honey is not. Why then is the sugar profile of sucrose, honey, and HFCS nearli identical? Two things that have the same composition can not cause the body to react in opposite ways. Sugar is sugar, and ends up creating carbonic acid in your mouth no matter what the source is. That makes your mouth acidic, which leaches calcium from the teeth, leading to cavities. A slightly basic mouth PH causes the calcium that is naturally present in saliva to ENTER the tooth structure, HEALING low grade cavities. Yes, that is correct. You can replace the lost minerals by altering mouth pH locally.

Alkalizing also does NOT mean eating bases. Your stomach is designed to have a low pH. This is because the enzymes that perform our digestion are only active in a very small pH range, around 1.5-3.2 or so. Above this level enzymatic activity drops off sharply. Those pH's are in the Haz-mat range. Transport something with that pH and you have to have a special sticker on it. How then, can a citrus fruit with a ph of 3 be considered alkalizing? Acids and minerals. Did I just lose you? Hang on, I'll pick you back up. Calcium alkalizes the blood. Other alkalizers, and I am sorry that I can not remember or find my source (as I am not at home) for the other minerals' activity, are sodium, potassium, and magnesium. These all bind h+ ions in the body once absorbed, but check this out: THEY CAN NOT BE ABSORBED IN HIGH PH ENVIRONMENTS. Stomach acids donate electrons to the minerals, which allows them to be absorbed through the small intestine. If you take something like baking soda with food, you will be raising the stomach pH and LOWERING your body's absorption of minerals. The low pH of citrus fruits helps maintain a low stomach pH, which is vital for absorption. Of course they also have minerals in them as well as enzymes that help with digestion.

Therefore: IF you use bicarbonate on days where you are pushing the lactate threshold (which is a good idea), THEN you should absolutely take HCL capsules with your PWO shake. That's important, Razz. You need to restore balance to that which was unbalanced. Done properly this can be safe and effective. Done improperly it can cause big problems down the line.

Alkalization is about increasing mineral absorption. You have to eat foods with the minerals in them, and also eat foods that help promote optimal stomach pH (which is LOW). That's it. There is truth to the whole "eat more alkalizing than acidifying" foods but that is blown WAY out of proportion. Eat your veggies, stop taking antacids and drink LOTS of water. That, all by itself, will help you a ton.

Thanks a lot for that post. Maybe it's something I should save for competition prep only, or extra hard cycles. I did consider that if eating a true paleo diet which should keep the pH in balance the benefit might not be as big as for people on a highly acidic diet. I'll drop the supplement for every day and experiment with it on extra hard days so I can see if it's possible to use in competition prep.

Won't juicing lime or lemon in your water have similar alkalizing effects to your body as baking powder, but not mess with your stomach PH?

plus it tastes better

I doubt it's as alkalizing as baking soda is, but I have been doing lemon juice post workout aswell.. A green drink would probably be the healthier way to go if one wants similar effects

Just school sports and some stretching/mobility/SMR today. Strength tests tomorrow, shall be interesting to see improvements!

Had a liter of organic raw milk today as I was in a hurry and had already eaten all my other food that I brought for school. Besides that I added ~200g beet root to my daily diet. On training days I'll still have the sweet potatoes so it's probably 20g more carbs per day than usual.. Also started bringing organic cacao powder and cinnamon blended with coconut and coconut milk to school..good stuff along with the usual chicken, bacon and fish oil Now just gotta get in a bit of cardio on weekends and everything should be good.

Talking about cardio I went to buy fivefingers today but found out the gift card that I won didn't work for the fivefinger store but only their online site which doesn't sell fivefingers Meh, maybe I'll get some for christmas if I'm lucky, if not then I'll buy them in january..

Forgot to mention that I'm also doing a 30g whey, 10g glutamine, 2-5g taurine shake in the morning before my eggs and bacon breakfast. Today I felt so damn good compared to normal, which is very interesting

yuri said:

Won't juicing lime or lemon in your water have similar alkalizing effects to your body as baking powder, but not mess with your stomach PH?

plus it tastes better

They alkalize differently. Baking soda is actually alkaline. Citrus juice is actually a fairly strong acid. The sodium bicarbonate directly buffers lactate, while the minerals from the citrus are used as blood buffers and the acid and enzymes from the citrus help the digestive process so that minerals are actually extracted from food, allowing them to be absorbed.

This can get convoluted and confusing, but that's the short version.

Should mention that I had a serious stomach problem this morning.. could it really be because of those 3 1gram cookies a friend offered me yday? according to Robb Wolfs podcasts I'm guessing that is actually enough gluten as one doesn't need more than like .1gram per day to keep inflammation going. More strict on the gluten free now, I wanna be without it for a month and then try eating something gluten containing and see how I feel. Christmas time may not be the best time a year to go gluten free though, but I'll try.

I'm performing much the same elimination diet experiment on myself, Razz. No grains except some occasional brown rice (like last night's fried rice). I had eliminated all but my morning porridge (oats), but I wanted to try getting rid of it all for a while, so I' back to just the bacon/eggs and some kinda vege for breakfast.

I felt at my very best and was certainly the leanest I've ever been when I very nearly strictly paleo (100% gluten free). I've never been able to put any decent amount of weight on, mostly because I don't like the way I feel when I have to eat the amount of food that's required; so I'm happy with the idea of trying to be as strong as I can with a slight framed body.

Ditto re: the Christmas thing; although I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so I won't have to contend with the biscuits/cakes/pastries etc.

slizzardman said:

yuri said:

Won't juicing lime or lemon in your water have similar alkalizing effects to your body as baking powder, but not mess with your stomach PH?

plus it tastes better

They alkalize differently. Baking soda is actually alkaline. Citrus juice is actually a fairly strong acid. The sodium bicarbonate directly buffers lactate, while the minerals from the citrus are used as blood buffers and the acid and enzymes from the citrus help the digestive process so that minerals are actually extracted from food, allowing them to be absorbed.

This can get convoluted and confusing, but that's the short version.

it is very confusing. I will just stick to eating lots of vegetables and fruits with my meals

That's the simple and effective way to go.

Yeah, I'm getting better at getting more vegetables and lemon juice though, much better.

Today we had strength and flexibility tests and I stayed after training for 2 hours ring strength, before training I was coaching which leads to a total of 6½ hours in the gym..

Flexibility, scores range from 1-3 given by my coach, 3 is best.

Standing pike-3

split/split/middle split 3/3/3

japana-3

bridge-3

shoulder dislocate-2

shoulder flexion-2

it's an improvement in shoulder flexibility from last time which is good.

Active static flexibility:

Seated pike leg lift-3

Seated straddle leg lift-3

Sit on knees, press to pike stand and touch face to knees-2

Lying shoulder lift in extension-2

Lying shoulder lift in flexion-2

Standing left lift in front both legs-2/2

Standing leg lift to side both legs-3/3

Strength:

V-sit: 5s=2

Rope climb: 2x straddle-l in a row=3

Press HS 10 tries, pike=3, straddle-l=2, standing straddle=1. Managed 6 straddle-l and 4 standing straddle you-go-i-go style, big time PR. 16 points

Russian dips: 16=3

Reverse hypers: 10kg, 20+10s hold=3

One step and jump onto box, probably about my height. =3

Long jump from standing. 220cm+=3, probably did around 240

Straddle PL: 6s=3

Overall a very nice improvement everywhere, first time I ever do 2 ropes in row. Nice 6s planche, but the best was the press HS! 6 straddle-l presses and some even with nice form, with very little rest standing straddle presses are easy shit now

So after the test I stayed to do:

Pulley system:

3x:

Balandin 1-->press straight body to inverted-->lower to inverted hang and immediately press with straight arms to handstand-->2x reverse muscle up-->3s PL-->3s maltese-->press to 3s PL-->10s cross

3x:

10s cross-->10s maltese-->15s inverted cross-->10s maltese-->10s cross

KILLER!!

3x10 butterflies, PR!

PREHAB

On friday which is my next ring strength day I'll do more intensity and less volume so hopefully I'll have someone to assist me on real rings.

Razz said:

japana-3

What is japana? I couldn't find reference to it anywhere!

90 degree angle with legs and touch chest to floor

Today I drank about 6 cups of coffee and baileys just to cheer up the bad mood I was in whenever this bitch from out project group kept whining.. did make it more fun though The problem is that thats wayy to much coffee. Now about to chug another 2 cups and some BCAA and film some training! Tumbling and dynamic work planned!

Quick question for you Razz, do you ever get rotator cuff pain in the shoulders? I do alot of volume like you do. 2-3 hrs a day 5 days a week usually (unless I skip for a workout to get drunk at happy hour! ), and my left shoulder has flared up a bit. I have discussed with Slizzardman, I am doing Ido's scapular mob. and stab. routines for warmup before every workout. Was also told to not do any PL work until I can do 3x60s Lsit. Any other advice?? Not that I doubt Slizz at all, but was just curious seeing how you do the most volume of work out of anyone here! Did you follow this l-sit prereq before working PL?

Eddie said:

Quick question for you Razz, do you ever get rotator cuff pain in the shoulders? I do alot of volume like you do. 2-3 hrs a day 5 days a week usually (unless I skip for a workout to get drunk at happy hour! ), and my left shoulder has flared up a bit. I have discussed with Slizzardman, I am doing Ido's scapular mob. and stab. routines for warmup before every workout. Was also told to not do any PL work until I can do 3x60s Lsit. Any other advice?? Not that I doubt Slizz at all, but was just curious seeing how you do the most volume of work out of anyone here! Did you follow this l-sit prereq before working PL?

Razz has been doing gymnastics longer than most people here, so he has built up the ability to handle volume. That would be one reason, at least, I'll let him speak for himself on any others.

What triangle said is one thing. I've always been physically active in some way, always had the mentality to push through and I think some decent genetics too.. For example when I was 16 I jumped 35kg in smith bench in 2-3 months without knowing shit about training, just went to the gym every day and tried for a new max

Now I'm more smart about my training, I do almost as much prehab as strength work. Some of the prehab is probably more like 'weak link strength work' but I still consider it essential. Especially after the seminar my shoulders have gotten sooo much better. I did not follow the l-sit prereq but I'm compensating now by doing l-sits most mornings and lots of l-sits in warmups and cooldowns.. What I advice is to shitloads of shrugs in all positions you can imagine before and after training along with Slizzardmans stretches and Ido's routines. Oh and then there's nutrition. I'm very strict compared to the average joe, I cook food every day to bring for lunch so I don't have to rely on buying crappy food. I admit I'm not as strict as I could be (Baileys and coffee today is one example), but during the next year I expect to have my drinking down to once a month and all my cheat meals to be gluten free. Sleep is also very important, I sleep 8-9 hours almost every night, also on weekends.

Todays workout:

thorough warmup

1 hour floor work on tumble track practicing:

handspring->front layout. Very good technique now, well at least compared to what it used to be.

Punch double front

Round off-->backflick-->layout. Perfect straight layout, finally!

Round off--> backflick-->double back. First time ever on floor, only did airtrack before. was very ugly btw.

Correcting round off technique.. once this is fixed all the other stuff will be insanely powerful because my round off is shit right now and I still manage to get the tricks down.

2 rounds dynamic pull:

10 explosive decline rows

5 Yewkis

5 Wide grip BTN pullups

more prehab.

Tumbling video will follow!

Thanks alot for writting back bro! I have been wanting to start doing shrugs again so i will definitely add this too the warmup. Do you use bands or weights? If weights is it light or heavy? Thanks again man!

No problem mate, always happy when people write in the log I do bodyweight shrugs, hanging, dip position, inverted hang etc. I've experimented with many one arm and two arm versions but always keep at least one set of the fundamental positions in there.

Oh nice! I didn't think of that. Will start today!

Razz has a steady diet of hookers and blow that keeps him in top shape.