Primed for Growth Part 2

by: Pm - November 18th, 2007

It wasn’t always pretty, but I made it through week one. The chest workout was very difficult; the back workout, tougher still; and the leg workout? …nearly impossible – at least for me. Arms training wasn’t a picnic either. Overall, I feel pretty good. Not so much physically (I’m sore just about everywhere), as mentally. The sense of accomplishment is undeniable. Thus far, I certainly wouldn’t recommend against the program, though I do suggest that novices rethink experimenting with P.F.G.; IMO, the likelihood of injury and overtraining are just too great.

Since the complete P.F.G. program is available in the Forum (thanks Gizmonel), I won’t waste much time, energy, and space on the training this time around …other than to tell you about some of the modifications that I made. (In the interest of complete disclosure, I’ll set the machismo aside and admit where I came up short too)

Sunday Workout (Growth Body Part: Back/Prime Body Part: Legs)
Rows, rows, and more rows. That’s the back workout in a nutshell. First there’s barbells, then there’s cables, dumbbells, and back to cables. Seems redundant – and it may be – but my back was spent… make that beyond spent; I was more extended than most shoppers after the holiday season. Ouch. Of course, I wasn’t done yet; I still had to make it through the “prime” leg workout. As with previous prime workouts, I wasn’t always able to complete all 30 reps without stopping (or stopping and dropping the weight first), but I made it a point to push myself through the paces – regardless of how many mini-sets it took me to do so.

Monday Workout (Growth Body Part: Legs/Prime Body Part: Shoulders)
This was the most difficult of the workouts by far. By the time that I got to the lunges I could barely stand-up. Because of this (and a sharp knee pain that I experienced whilst doing the first set of heavy squats), I just ended-up foregoing the lunge part of the workout completely. I also was physically unable to complete all 6 sets of calf raises. After about 4 sets of each, my calves simply gave-out. Even 3 minutes of rest (3x what the program allows in-between sets) was unable to revive them. I was done with legs for the day – make that the week.The lesson to be learned here is, always warm-up with at least one light set of 10-15 reps. Even though the program doesn’t call for it, jumping into a heavy set of 5 reps, with no warm-up isn’t a good idea. My knee is still tender nearly a week later. Like every other prime workout, I did the best that I could with the shoulder exercises. In some cases, I made it through all 30 repetitions uninterrupted, in many others, I needed to pause part way through.

Tuesday Workout (Growth Body Part: Shoulders/Prime Body Part: Arms)
Normally, shoulders are one of my least favorite body parts to train. However, after following the P.F.G. “growth” workouts for chest, back, and legs, the shoulder workout somehow seemed more bearable. I wasn’t always able to take advantage of the advanced finishing techniques at the end of each exercise (e.g., by the 5th set of BB shoulder presses, my drop set consisted of dropping the weight back into the rack), but I pushed myself through the entire workout. Unfortunately, that’s all the energy that I could muster-up on this day. My upper body was so tired at this point, I left the gym.

Wednesday Workout (Growth Body Part: Arms – No scheduled Prime Body Part)
Since I ran out of gas before I could finish my arms “prime” training, Wednesday’s growth workout got pushed back to my scheduled rest day. Without the preceding “growth” workout, tonight’s workout wasn’t all that unbearable. Even still, I wasn’t always able to do 30 uninterrupted repetitions for each of the different exercises. Tip: a little mental trickery really seems to help get you through these high rep sets. Rather than focusing on the fact that you have only completed 10 reps and still have 20 more left to go, count your reps off in groups of 10-15. I find that it easier to count to ten 3 times (or 15 twice) than to count to 30 once. Counting down (30, 29, 28, 27…) also seems more fulfilling that counting up.

Thursday (Scheduled Rest Day)
The cascade continues. Although this was supposed to be a rest day, my less-than-stellar workout performance on Tuesday drove Wednesday’s scheduled arm “growth” workout into today. I was fine with the most of the low-moderate repetition sets, but anything above 12 reps (including the 50 dips and 50 chins) really burned me up. The post-workout pump was unmatched though. And, that’s with out using a single N.O. product!

Week #1 Nutrition
Because of the intensity, duration, and newness of these workouts, I ultimately opted to relax my diet for week one. I pretty much ate what I wanted, when I wanted. In some cases, that worked out well, in others not as much.

For example, I’ve found that neither the body nor the brain responds well to too many changes all at once. If it wasn't bad enough that I was overloading my body in a way that it probably hadn’t seen in over 15 years, the time intensiveness/frequency of these workouts had me spending time that would otherwise be used for recreational purposes. Restricting the diet at this point too probably would have weakened my resolve. So, in this respect, I have no regrets.

On the other hand, hindsight analysis indicates that I wasn’t getting enough protein or calories (apparently the program blunted my otherwise hearty appetite), which is why (or at least a huge contributing factor as to why) I wasn’t able to make it through all of the workouts. The M&F P.F.G. meal plan (Prime the Pump) calls for about 21 calories and 1.5 grams of protein/lb BW/day. Upon more careful analysis of my diet, I found that I was only consuming about 16-17 calories and 0.65 grams of protein/lb/day during the first half of week one.

Another downside of my indiscriminate nutrition program was that I wasn’t taking any supplements. No particular reason why. My cupboards contain partially filled containers of whey protein, Pro Complex, beta-alanine, ZMA, CGT-10, CLA, HMB, and a bunch of other stuff. I just wasn’t using them. Big mistake. The thing about supplements is, in many cases, you notice them more when you stop taking them than when you’re actually using them. You start to feel soreness that you don’t normally feel, your energy levels drop, your muscles seem a little less full, etc.

After Tuesday’s poor performance, I made a few adjustments and seem to be back on track. Although my work schedule doesn’t always allow me to eat 6-7 small meals/day, I’m up to 4-5, which is a big improvement over the 2-3 that I averaged for the first half of week one.

The reintroduction of a few different supplements also seems to be really helping to boost my stamina and recovery time. Being a vegetarian, I have found two supplements to be particularly indispensable: beta-alanine and creatine. Even though both of these compounds can be obtained from animal foods, vegetarians don’t these foods and therefore have less-than-optimal levels for muscle building. Next to a good protein powder and multivitamin, these are without a doubt the most important supplements for vegetarian athletes. I’m currently taking 1.6 g of beta-alanine (Threshold) twice a day, once in the morning and immediately after workouts with my creatine (1 Tbsp unflavored CGT-10) and post-workout recovery drink. Additionally, I am taking a basic 1-a-day multivitamin, 2-3 scoops of whey protein (morning, afternoon, and early evening), and 3 ZMA capsules (right before bed). I may also add in a scoop of casein or blended protein and BCAA powder before bed if complete recovery continues to be a problem.

Well, that’s week one – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Hope it’s interesting (and helpful) to anyone considering the PFG program.

…till next time.

Happy Heaving,

PM

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