Adarq.org
Introduction Area => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: ssr7 on August 25, 2010, 10:27:55 pm
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Wassup people! I just stumbled across this site last night and was instantly hooked. This is by far the most comprehensive vert site that I've ever come across. I've been a vert enthusiast ever since I was 14 (I'm 22 now) but had tons of shit that got in the way of my progress (I'll outline some of it in the next post) I’m 5’11’’, 201.4 lbs with a 33.8 inch waist; according to this BF % calculator <http://www.csgnetwork.com/bodyfatcalc.html>, I’m ~13% body fat. My goal is to drop to 5% body fat by the end of the calendar year. I also hope to improve my standing and running VJ (both single and double-legged) as well as my box jump (the box jump goal is simply to post youtube videos of me jumping so that I have something to show). I’m taking the semester off (I’m a math major at the University of Maryland), and training at Supreme Sports Performance and Training in Rockville, MD (http://www.supremesportspt.com/). In the next post I’ll post some of my past experiences and shit that got in the way…I’m not looking for sympathy, but I just want to give you guys a context to work with before you say that my numbers suck ass. I’m also working to wean myself off the anti-depressants that I’m taking (see next post).
Peace,
Niket
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An outline of some things that got in the way (some of which were a result of my irresponsibility):
I was able to easily grab the rim off a two step SLVJ in 10th grade (at 5’11’’ and around 160 lbs) ; got cut from my high school's jv basketball team in both 9th and 10th grades, transferred to a nerdy science/math boarding school in 11th grade, made the nerdy school's bball team and rode the bench (primarily because I had trouble running plays); I spent all of that winter break (04'-05') drilling the play book, using GI Joes as "props" lol and doing lots of dumb conditioning shit (that I've long since realized is retarded) and was able to get moved up to the starting squad the first practice after break...I managed to tear my right acl that practice and had surgery (patellar tendon autograft in Feb 05'. I became "depressed" after this and was prescribed zoloft by my psychiatrist, which I continued to take until December 2007.
I found Kelly Baggett in November 05' and made a decent amount of progress until Feb 06' thanks to Kelly's time-tested methods (Kelly kicks major ass as you guys know); around Feb 06’, I began having a shitload of patellar tendon pain during the landing of the "drop" portion of depth jumps and subsequently was told by retarded PTs to stop training; I spent the next six months or so partly following Kelly's advice and partly managing my "knee-jerk" reaction to my knee pain (no pun intended, lol); during this time I also began to feel a weird croaking sensation just lateral to my kneecap that I'd describe to docs and PTs as "lateral instability" for lack of a better term. I’d had five follow-up MRIs that showed no issue, and on the sixth I was told that I had a torn lateral meniscus. Conveniently, around this time I sort of got expelled from Rice University for cussing out a professor and being caught by a university cop for masturbating in a parking lot (to relieve myself of stress stemming from the high probability of imminent consequences that I’d be awarded for my lewd behavior). I came back home to North Carolina in March 07' on a medical withdrawal from Rice (I’d taken medical leave to postpone a judicial process that would likely result in my expulsion from the university) and had surgery for my right lateral meniscus in May 2007 (the surgery was a PLC reconstruction). I was taking summer classes during this time at UNC. I stayed relatively healthy during the first summer session (even though I was going to class on crutches lol), but during the second summer session I had trouble sitting due to a bunch of boils on my ass (note: this may seem like too much info at the moment, but I promise that it’s relevant)…I’d been getting boils since 1999 due to a staph infection that I contracted via an open wound in India that led to 3 surgeries to remove staph from my left tibial region. I dropped out of the 2nd summer session to address my boils. At this point, I’d been on minocycline (an antibiotic commonly prescribed to treat skin infections) for over half a decade. Convinced that I’d developed resistance to minocycline, I sought out a homeopathic physician for assistance in curing my issues with boils. She told me to cut out meat and dairy from my diet and put me on a dose of probiotics and blood alkalyzers. Within a month, the boils on my ass cheeks had subsided, but I was extremely constipated (could go half a week without shitting). My dad (who’s an Indian dude) suggested that I go see this Ayurvedic (Indian medicine) in California to help me shit. I spent like three weeks there getting super-uncomfortable massages from fatass Indian women, lying down for hours to get oil dropped on my forehead, doing yoga, and eating a lot of rice and lentils topped with clarified butter. Three weeks later I still couldn’t shit, had more knee pain, and got a decent amount fatter. I came back home to North Carolina, had colonoscopy and a rectal manometry test done (along with a few other tests) and was ultimately told that I’d damaged a nerve in my rectum. I subsequently enrolled in a “biofeedback” program at the UNC Hospitals’ GI Motility Clinic; this biofeedback program involved me doing kegel exercises, recording poop data on a poop log, and getting various catheters shoved up my asshole. During this time, I contacted Eric Cressey to get a personalized training plan to get stronger and leaner. I flew up to Massachusetts in September of 2007 for an evaluation. Following his program, I got decently stronger and a bit leaner. However, in November I had to stop the program due to a ton of lateral knee pain while doing reverse lunges and elbow pain when propping myself up to foamroll my hamstrings. Eric Cressey referred me to this Z-health practitioner in NC named Geoff Neupert; at this point I was still wearing a knee brace though it’d been four months since my lateral meniscus repair. While the z-health stuff was helpful in getting me out of the knee brace, its benefits weren’t to the extent that Geoff Neupert and other z-health “experts” claimed it would accrue. I was still having trouble pooping at this time. On my dad’s suggestion, I went to this week-long Art of Living course in Pittsburgh where we worked on deep breathing techniques for six hours a day; it was torturous to say the least. Supposedly their “innovative methods” had the power to rid you of any internal toxins…of course I soon realized that I’d be scammed again. Of course, I just became more “depressed”…oh, and I still had trouble taking a shit…lol
When I came back to NC from the week-long course in Pittsburgh, I went to see a psychiatrist to treat my “depression symptoms”; additionally, in order for me to be readmitted to Rice, I needed a psychiatrist’s note documenting my “progress.” This psychiatrist decided that I was too anxious and that I was “bipolar” and put me on the following trio of medications- risperdal (commonly used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), clonazepam (a drug used to combat seizures and panic attacks, also having the ability to facilitate muscle relaxation), and lorazepam (a fast-acting drug used to treat anxiety, also shown to possibility have the ability to treat irritable bowel syndrome). The combination of the medications somehow helped me poop, so I guess I could thank the psychiatrist for that. However, I continued to get fatter; this was likely due to taking risperdal, one of whose common side effects is fat gain (or “weight gain” as the MDs like to say, though I’m certain I didn’t gain any significant amount of muscle). Geoff Neupert, the z-health “expert”, was also a kettlebell instructor. I told him that my diet alone wasn’t helping me drop any fat; he suggested that I enroll in a kettlebell fat loss class held at his facility. I stuck with the class for a few weeks, but dropped out eventually because the KB front squats were causing me a fuckload of anterior and lateral knee pain and over half of the exercises were irritating my low back. I’d enrolled as a visiting student at Duke University for the Spring 2008 semester. I had the intention of having a successful semester at Duke and convincing the Dean of Judicial affairs at Rice that I was ready to return. One day that February (one month into the semester) I was at a psychiatrist’s appointment and the dude was really pissing me off (I can’t recall exactly why); foolishly, I told him that if he continued to irritate me, I’d beat the shit out of him (I was kidding, but he didn’t know it); he moved toward the phone to call security and I charged at him threateningly hoping to scare the shit out of him. My parents had come to the appointment with me and after it was over, drove me to the hospital to spend a few days in the psych ward. I tried to resist, but eventually a cop cuffed me and took me to the psych ward of Durham Regional Hospital…I spent 3 days there (and missed three valuable days of classes). The psychiatrist I saw at the hospital experimented with various medications on me, which really made me feel fucked up…before I left the hospital, I went back to the trio of medications that my regular psychiatrist had prescribed. I decided to spend the rest of the semester hitting the books hard and not worry about fat gain. I still was able to get my 1 RM squat to 300 lbs at a b/w of 200 lbs during this time and my 1 RM bench press to 205 lbs; my total training volume was very low, and I used max effort/dynamic effort approach. I didn’t watch my diet at all during this time. Also, in addition to seeing the psychiatrist, I was seeing a psychologist who claimed to specialize in clinical hypnosis; I went to see him because ever since I was shown a video of animals being slaughtered at slaughterhouses at The Art of Living Foundation’s course in Pittsburgh (December 2007), every time I ate meat or prepared meat, I was seeing visions in my head of animals be killed. Unfortunately, implementation of the psychologist’s hypnosis techniques didn’t make me feel much better. By the end of the semester I was able to make A grades in all of the courses that I was taking (multivariable calculus, scientific programming, Hinduism, and Statics/Mechanics of Materials). However, I was fat as shit and still had bouts of knee pain (though I was out of my knee brace). In March (during the semester), I got my vitamin D levels checked and found that they were well below the accepted range; I subsequently began a period of aggressive vitamin D replenishment; I noticed a significant reduction in knee pain once my vitamin D levels came back to normal. Immediately after the semester ended, I contacted a fat loss trainer in DC who seemed to be part of Eric Cressey’s network of colleagues. He seemed to be pretty knowledgeable about both fat loss and corrective exercise and was located in an area where I had lots of family. I went to DC in early May and stayed until Mid-June for a period of 6 weeks. I made progress there and continued to follow his customized training and diet regimen. Within 60 days, I’d gone from 200 lbs at 24% bodyfat to 186 lbs at 12% bodyfat. (http://thebodyyouwant.com/ scroll down until you see the pic of the fat Indian dude). During this stage I was primarily on a paleolithic diet. I was suggested by Josef, my trainer at the time, to try out t-nation’s velocity diet (popularized by the wonderful Chris Shugart); I didn’t end up losing much fat on the diet even though I stuck to it for the full 28 days; at the end of the diet, a blood test indicated that my testosterone levels were very low; this was likely a result of very little cholesterol in my diet. I began to add additional egg yolks to my omelets and supplemented with Biotest’s “Alpha-Male” and my testosterone levels eventually back to normal. By August 2008, I was sick of dieting; also, around this time I was informed by the dean of Judicial Affairs at Rice that in spite of my good academic record at Duke, if I were to return to Rice, a judicial hearing would take place that would likely result in my expulsion; such an expulsion would then go on my permanent record, effectively ending my academic career; the dean told me that it’d be best for me to finish my undergraduate studies at another institution. I applied to the University of Maryland with the hope of being able to continue working with Josef Brandenburg (the fat loss trainer) while attending the university. My having difficulty masturbating (due to my low testosterone levels) and the state of uncertainty of my academic future made me very frustrated. I spent a five day period just sleeping and never getting out of bed. My parents eventually urged me to go to the psych ward at UNC hospital to treat my “depression.” I, of course, refused, at which point they called the police. A female officer came into the house, and I answered the door naked; this pissed her off so she brought about 3 male police officers to drag me into the police car so that I could be driven to the hospital. They cops tased me and cuffed me, cutting my wrists, proceeded to drag me into a police car and drive me to the hospital. I spent about 10 days at the hospital; I didn’t diet during this time and ate a bunch of burgers and pizza provided at the hospital to quell my woes of having to deal with annoying doctors, nurses and recreational therapists. During my stay, my medication was changed to a combination of Paxil, Lorazepam, and Wellbutrin (the wellbutrin was added after hearing my complaint of lack of sex drive when put on Paxil alone). I ended up being accepted to the University of Maryland even though I applied after the deadline. I’ve been attending the University of Maryland since the Fall of 2008 and in the Fall of 2009, switch majors from biochemistry to math.
I ended up training under Josef Brandenburg until June 2009. During the year I trained with him, I was able to get down to around 10% body fat at around 205 lbs and Bulgarian split squat with 75 lbs dumbbell for 3 reps per side; I was also able to barely nip the rim off of a run. In July of 2009, I went to Defranco’s facility in New Jersey and spent 7 weeks training there. Unfortunately, the day before I drove up, I injured my lumbar spine during a heavy warm-up deadlift set (270x3). During the first three weeks in New Jersey, I spent, I went to see Joe Defranco’s affiliate chiropractor on a nearly daily basis. I was told that I had significant misalignment in my spine ( I can’t recall the specific tests that they did). In spite of the injury, my standing VJ went increased from 22’’ to 24’’, my bodyweight chinup max increased from 8 to 15, and my reps of 135 on the bench press went from 13 to 19. However, during my stay in New Jersey I fainted at a grocery store and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. The “official diagnosis” was “dehydration”, but I believe that was merely stated because they could find nothing wrong with me. The day I passed out, I’d neglected to take my medications on time. Via various piss tests and saliva tests that I administered myself through a home kit mailed to me by Defranco’s affiliate nutritionist, I’d found out that I had very low blood cortisol levels and was told that I may want to look into being treated for “adrenal fatigue.”
I returned to Maryland from New Jersey just in time for the fall 2009 semester. Within a couple weeks of the semester starting, I suffered an E. Coli infection; in the ten day span during which I suffered from the bacterial infection, there were nights when I pooped like fifty times; all of my bowel movements were diarrheal in nature; during that time period, I spent a couple nights in the local emergency room. I ended up missing seven days of classes, and had to drop two out of the four courses for which I was enrolled. My training suffered during this period due in part to the issues that I was having with adrenal fatigue and due in part to fracture of my left distal phalanx that I sustained in the weight room (I accidentally dropped a 45 lbs plate on my toe while setting up the squat rack). On recommendation of my former trainer, Josef Brandenburg, I began to see a Naturopathic Physician, Dr. Bryan Walsh. Unfortunately, my experiences with Dr. Walsh were not too great. He was extremely expensive (300 dollars per hour, and not covered by health insurance). I also paid a shitload of money for supplements that he recommended. He was supposed to regularly communicate with me, but he neglected to do so. In January (Spring 2010 semester) he suggested that I go on an ayurvedic diet of white rice and lentils (similar to the one I followed when in California, under the care of the fatass Indian Ayurvedic “physician”). I followed it for the three weeks that he told me to; he also told me that if I sent him emails regarding how I felt that he’d respond; I did my part and sent him emails, but never responded to me, so I said PEACE to his punk ass. I finished up the rest of the semester, got straight A’s and got fatter. A couple days after the semester ended, I got into a car accident (it was my fault), totalled my car, and fractured my right 5th metacarpal. The accident was on May 19th. I just out of my cast about a month ago.
I’ve always had an issue studying hard and dieting. I’m now a math major, and have pursued majors in bioengineering and biochemistry as well. I’ve always been one to not study only to get grades, but also for a very deep understanding of the subject matter; frequently, when I deprive myself of calories and carbohydrates, I’m not able to make the conceptual connections that I am were I to consume ample carbohydrates and generally have a high caloric intake.
I’m currently taking the semester off with a goal of getting a 6-pack and dropping to around 5% body fat by December. I’m currently 5’11’’, about 201.4 lbs and have a 33.8 inch waist. I’ve worked pretty hard over the past few years and have very little to show for it; consequently, I also plan to improve my VJ and box jump (I’m well aware that a box jump improvement isn’t necessarily correlated to a vertical jump improvement, but I want to make youtube videos of 40+ inch box jumps- even though a forty inch box jump isn’t that impressive- for vanity’s sake). I’m also trying to get off the anti-depressants that I’m taking (lorazepam, paxil, and wellbutrin- see progress journal)
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Wassup people! I just stumbled across this site last night and was instantly hooked. This is by far the most comprehensive vert site that I've ever come across. I've been a vert enthusiast ever since I was 14 (I'm 22 now) but had tons of shit that got in the way of my progress (I'll outline some of it in the next post) I’m 5’11’’, 201.4 lbs with a 33.8 inch waist; according to this BF % calculator <http://www.csgnetwork.com/bodyfatcalc.html>, I’m ~13% body fat. My goal is to drop to 5% body fat by the end of the calendar year. I also hope to improve my standing and running VJ (both single and double-legged) as well as my box jump (the box jump goal is simply to post youtube videos of me jumping so that I have something to show). I’m taking the semester off (I’m a math major at the University of Maryland), and training at Supreme Sports Performance and Training in Rockville, MD (http://www.supremesportspt.com/). In the next post I’ll post some of my past experiences and shit that got in the way…I’m not looking for sympathy, but I just want to give you guys a context to work with before you say that my numbers suck ass. I’m also working to wean myself off the anti-depressants that I’m taking (see next post).
Peace,
Niket
hey man, welcome to the forum! glad you like the site.. i'm about to read your (big :) second post.. getting to 5-7% bodyfat will definitely add inches to your vert, just a small care needs to be taken to make sure that strength is completely maintained. if that is achieved, big gains :)
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ok man that was an intense read.. some of that stuff was like -> *mind-blown* :)
As for feeling like you've trained all these years and have nothing to show for, you're not in that boat alone.. I mean even I have completely sabotaged myself and the progress I have made, many many times.. I got ridiculously good at computer programming/computer security (~10 years of hardcore studying/interest), basically threw that out the window. I was damn good at basketball, play my entire life, then just stopped playing after my last Division-1 tryout at FAU.. Turned to boxing, did great, broke my hand, 2 years of hard work disappear.. In that time I achieved insane fitness, over which the next 2 years of my vert training, disappeared. Now I'm back into vert, sprinting, conditioning, everything. I'm approaching it more of a lifestyle this time, instead of just obtaining numbers.. I mean I do have lots of numbers in my log, but I'm not letting those numbers own me, like they did with nearly every other phase of training I have ever done in my life.
My point with that is, I think one thing that is important for you, is regardless of training from here on out, you have to have fun doing it while avoiding movements that will hurt your knees/back etc.. Instead of trying out all types of training protocols and diets, a very simple approach would do you well.. One of the best things on the planet for fat loss is just going out and walking for 1hour or more. You can make that more fun by running submax or max ~20 yard sprints with nice recovery in between.. So basically, my advice is to try and improve your overall fitness while SLOWLY progressing strength..
Overall fitness will come from:
- walking
- interval sprints (tempo/submax)
- progressing your ability to handle maximal sprints (~60m, 200m)
- jump rope (intervals)
- bodyweight exercise proficiency (pullups, dips, pushups, walking lunges, pillars)
vertical jump, speed, power, everything, will be more effected by how well you improve your ability in those areas, rather than improvements in squat/deadlift/plyos etc.. this is because, work capacity is key, so is body compositions, and overall fitness...
So my advice, from reading your intro, is to focus more on just having fun with training & staying healthy, which will allow for more sessions per week and help you more with body composition..
Of course you can still get in those squats/deadlifts/bench etc, but I would put way less importance on those lifts (say 1-2x/week).
As for diet, again, I really am for just getting into a "clean style of eating" rather than any kind of special diet.. For example, this is what works for me:
- late training days: wakeup (milk/banana), a little later (my biggest meal, veggie stir fry + chicken or burger etc), pre-training(half glass milk/banana), post training: 1-2 glasses of milk/banana
- early training days: wakeup (milk/banana), training, post-training (my biggest meal, same as above), a little later (milk/bananas)
- visiting my mom (1x/week): wakeup (milk/banana), training, post-training (milk), later (some dinner + ice cream)
I have found that to work great for myself.. I only eat one big meal, full of fiber/veggies, with tons of protein from beef or chicken.. the rest of the day is pretty much milk/bananas.. sometimes ill throw in a turkey sandwhich before sleeping on double fiber bread etc.. so i get tons of fiber each day, and enough protein.. it took a few weeks to get adapted to this kind of eating, i was used to eating way more, but once i did it was fine and i feel soooooooooooooooooo much better..
i don't drink sodas or eat any junk, so that also helps.
so my point there is, just try and figure out a nutritional strategy that fits your lifestyle and is moderately high in fiber/protein while being void of junk.. junk once a week isn't too bad, but only limit it to that.. junk to me is stuff like ice cream though, which honestly, isn't that unhealthy imo.. stuff like cakes/soda is way worse.
anyway ill be checking out your log in a bit, probably should have read that first, might have just regurgitated some things that you already are doing!
peace man !!!!
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Yo thanks for the quick response! I'm a lot healthier now...I'm just trying to get off of anti-depressants and drop fat...I'm not doing any of the weirdass diets anymore lol...I'm pretty much doing a paleo-style diet and I think it's pretty clean (no soda/junk food); I have four days worth of diet posts so far...I actually walk around a ton b/c I haven't had a car since I wrecked it this past may haha...I'm on my last week of a WS4SB ME/DE 4 day split w/ sled dragging or wheelbarrow pushing done after training and on "off" days. I'm gonna switch to a more metabolic-style routine like the stuff Alwyn Cosgrove recommends...I'm still gonna keep front squats in there as a pure strength exercise to be performed once a week (prior to one of the metabolic sessions). I'll post a proposed 4 cycle that I shall begin on the 30th of August in my training log on Saturday...sorry for being mad verbose haha.
Btw man, I'm sorry to hear about your dropping your intense passions. I hope you once again find love for programming and ballin'; I strongly believe that careers rooted out of passion are far more likely to be successful in the long-term than those stemming out of money-hungriness... D1 basketball is too fucking political...had a friend at NC State get cut when he was better than half the team...league ball is overrated (shiiett I don't know how to properly use ellipses..)