Jan

31

Quick Update – What Can I Do For You?

Posted by : thegymratlabrat | On : January 31, 2012

Category: Uncategorized

Where to begin…

I’ve been meaning to update things around here for quite some time and just haven’t gotten around to it.  From October to today I’ve found myself fully immersed in some amazing things. Here’s a brief breakdown of what’s been happening:

  • Found out I’m going to be a Daddy. Very cool!
  • Assisting in the set up and marketing of my brother’s store from 500 miles away!
  • Birthdays and Holidays (and plenty of each)!
  • I’ve gained 15lbs…(sadly, it’s probably a 50/50 split of muscle to fat)
  • Gained a reasonable control of my sleep habits. The sleep is still intermittent but I wake up better than I have in over a year.
  • Reduced and eliminated most prescription drugs.
  • Promoted at my “real job”. This has been a strange transition to say the least.
  • Had a terrible baby scare, that is now perfectly fine. For a week and a half my brain raced and I couldn’t focus on anything.
  • Experimented with a wide range of supplements but primarily nootropics with some fantastic and dare I say enlightening results.

I think that’s just about everything. It’s really been a crazy time for me. I’m hoping over the next month to organize myself better to keep better tabs on the site, add more content, organize it much better and overall provide a better experience.  Which leads me to my question:

WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU? 

Let me know what you would like to see on the site and I’ll do my best to add in the sort of content you’re looking for!  Let’s make 2012 absolutely fantastic!!

-TheRat

Oct

03

How I Knocked Out Insomnia By Recording Results and Firing Doctors!!

Posted by : thegymratlabrat | On : October 3, 2011

Category: Meds & Supplements, Sleep

My updates have been less consistent for the exact opposite reason I thought they’d ever be.  I always figured my inability to sleep would make it harder for me to update the blog. I knew it made it harder for me to concentrate, think straight and I’ve lacked the energy for anything physical (sorry Mrs. Rat).  I’ll get more into where I’ve been but for now:

I’m Negligent For All The Right Reasons…

I FEEL LIKE A NEW MAN!

Last time I checked in, I was off for a sleep study. That was roughly a week and a half ago. It was miserable and weird and not very helpful.  The only takeaway was that I didn’t display the signs of sleep apnea, most notably I didn’t snore and I didn’t seem to stop breathing. I guess that’s good news but at the same time, ruling something out isn’t quite the same as finding the problem.  I left there decidedly disappointed and drained.

 

At this point I’ve learned more from my Zeo than from the sleep aid. At least the Zeo has taught me that my REM and Deep Sleep numbers are way down even on nights when I get “more sleep”. The overall percentages have been too low.

Without this very handy monitor and alarm clock, I would never know the affects of anything I take other than “I feel like I slept well.” or “I slept bad and I’m tired.”.  The Zeo monitor gives me a better understanding of the “why”.  You can get your own Risk Free 30-Day Trial by visiting www.myZeo.com; I highly recommend it.

No More Prescription Daytime Stimulants or Night Time Sleep Medicines

I get so tired (pun intended) of doctor’s throwing drugs at people without doing any other tests or even following up on how someone is managing.  By sheer power of will I said “To hell with it!”.  If I’m going to be tired or maybe not sleep on meds anyway, I might as well not bother taking them, not risk their potential side effects, and see what happens.I’d love to tell you that was enough but it wasn’t.  As always, I went to the research notes (my place is littered with notebooks and print-outs and little scraps of paper on everything; it’s disturbing).

Late one night I stumbled across an article on Melatonin. I’ve had my ups and downs with it, leading to a primary conclusion that it wasn’t sufficient for my needs (read as: Not strong enough).  The article talked about how lab rats have been given as much as 10mg without any side effects. Really??  Little tiny rats get 10mg but full grown adults get either 1 or 3mg?  That didn’t seem fair. If it’s good enough for my fellow rat, it’s good enough for me. AND IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH!

The melatonin I had laying around the house was 3mg so I cranked it up to 4 pills (12mg).  The measurements were off the charts! REM sleep accounted for over 25% of my total sleep and deep sleep was coming in right around 20% since day 1 and it’s been consistent for the past week and a half. I know that’s not very long but compared to how often prescriptions would fail me it’s an absolute eternity.

I’m still factoring in a relaxation supplement a little bit before bed and ZMA.  I’ll be tinkering with these and other “natural” sleep aids to see how well I can really sleep but for now I’m happy camper. You can get your hands on my sleep concoctions right here if you need them. I’m not a doctor but I recommend trying your own things before you go without anymore sleep.

“Ok, You fixed it… So Where Have You Been?”

I’ve been energetic and getting caught up on life!!!!  Yeah, in the last week, I’ve been outstandingly more productive at work, more productive at home, and I’ve gotten my butt up and back to the gym. I’ve even bought some new toys for the gym (including the Merrell Trail Gloves I’m wearing around the cage now) but I’ll get into all that some other time. I’ve been helping my brother launch his golf store and I’m setting some personal goals I’ll be posting about soon as well.  I never thought I’d be able to say that I actually feel alive again and it’s amazing!

Leave your comments, post your thoughts and follow me for more updates.  I’m off to the gym with a vengeance! :)

Sep

29

Noticeable Differences With Diet Alone

Posted by : thegymratlabrat | On : September 29, 2011

Category: Cheese! The Rat on food.

While I’m still writing how I got to where I am with how I eat, I thought I’d share a quick lesson I truly took note of today. I primarily eat based off a majority of the principles outlined in The Paleo Diet, The Primal Blueprint, The 4 Hour Body, Atkins or even the Anabolic Diet.  Nice, you follow 5 diets? That makes sense.

Well…it does.  The basic principles are very similar and I’ve done well to just make minor tweaks here and there. Pull this idea from this diet and this one from that diet. You can piece together something that works for you from a comfort, convenience and suitability standpoint. I feel I’ve done just that.

** When I finish writing the Nutrition section, you’ll see all the details. Until then, patience is a virtue. ;)

Changes I’ve Noticed Are Evident Day to Day
And Even Moment To Moment

Today I had a business lunch to attend with a prospective new client. Nothing fancy. Just grabbing some grub at a nearby restaurant of her choosing.  I didn’t have much this morning so I was pretty hungry by the time we got there.

Now I realize, I should be stronger than this…Buuuuuuut… when the menu came out, instead of getting a salad with chicken, I opted instead for a burger and fries. I tricked myself into thinking I’d pitch the bread and just eat the meat with lettuce and tomato and onion, and have a couple fries. Wrong.

I did manage to only eat half of the fries but I inhaled the entire burger, bread and all. In took roughly 30 minutes for me to start feeling “off”. It was way “off”. Tired and a little dizzy, I carefully drove through the rain back to the office with an overall sense of “I don’t want to do anything.” which was the complete opposite of how I felt this morning. Plain misery.

I’ve noticed my initial falling off the wagon always feels this way. I’m a typical rat. I have times when I follow things to a “T” and times when I eat anything they put in the cage.

It’s Not Just Negative Results That Get Noticed

Spinning back into a more positive conversation (and bare with me because I’ll get to the positive), I don’t sleep well and I miss more workouts than I care to admit. Usually it’s due to some sort of tired leftover mental fog and my intense desire to be a couch potato.

Since switching back (primarily) to a diet that’s closer to Paleo than not, I’ve consistently had a visible six pack for the first time since college in spite of not training nearly as much as I’d like to!  I can be vain. I also maintain a body weight that is closer to my college weight and roughly 15 to 20lbs lighter than I’ve been in a long time.

THIS IS NOT ADVICE; DON’T DO IT!

This is just what works for me and my observations. I suggest everyone should do their own homework, decide what makes sense to them, TEST, TEST, TEST and TEST again, then throw away what doesn’t work for them leaving behind only the bare essentials.

                                          
Through the magic of the internet, you can click on any of these books and find them on Amazon for so cheap you could get them all for less than a tank of gas! At today’s gas prices, maybe less than half a tank!!!

Sep

21

I’m going for a sleepover…

Posted by : thegymratlabrat | On : September 21, 2011

Category: Sleep

Sleepover; Sleep study. Either way I’m camping out tonight.  Yesterday was one of the worst days I’ve ever had after still getting what would have appeared to be a full night’s sleep.

The soothing sounds of the rainforest escalated for a good 6 or 7 minutes before I couldn’t take it anymore. I shut it off and dozed off for another 25 minutes or so. I was already late and for once didn’t care.  I moved from the bed to the couch and sat there for approximately 16hours.

In the first 2 or 3 hours I had a couple 5 to 10 minute naps but never felt like I could truly sleep and definitely didn’t feel refreshed from any of it. It mas sheer misery. Everyone needs a day here and there to call into work and recharge… I would need a break from recharging by 8pm last night.

The only saving grace (and the one thing I kept telling myself) is that today, I’ll go to the hospital for my first sleep study. I’ve requested this in the past but unfortunately many doctors think they know everything and can fix anything with the drug of the week.  I’m not opposed to modern medicine in the slightest… but if I keep coming back, you should dig a little deeper and maybe run some tests.

It’s been years that I’ve dealt with this and it’s gotten progressively worse. The time to fix my sleep habits is now!  I’m going to be very interested in seeing what they can tell me and how well it coincides with my own “findings” from using the Zeo Sleep Monitor.

So, I’m packing a bag, a book (no computer) and hope.  Fingers are crossed.

Sep

17

Sleep Assessment – The damage of deficits.

Posted by : thegymratlabrat | On : September 17, 2011

Category: Sleep

Tags:, , ,

I’m starting to feel like this entire blog is sleep related and nothing more.  I’m going to severely need to get this worked out soon or I’m going to lose my mind which will only serve to make my posts infinitely more entertaining. ;-)

The Last 3 Nights Of Craziness

A few nights ago, I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up 3 hours later with only a mere hour and a half of sleep.  Of those 90 minutes, 22 minutes were deep sleep and none were REM. The next night I slept for 8.5 hours with almost 2 hours of deep sleep (1.5 hrs of that in a row!) and almost 90minutes of REM, yet somehow I had a tremendous amount of “brain fog” the next day.

The next night I managed a whopping 10 hours of total seep!! But check this out: While I got another 90 minutes of REM, a mere 25 minutes accounted for deep sleep!  After checking through my Zeo charts, I noticed I’ve only been registering a combined 33% or less sleep for both deep & REM instead of the preferred 50% of total sleep.

“The importance of deep sleep and REM sleep

Getting good, restorative sleep is not just a matter of spending enough hours in bed. The amount of time you spend in each of the stages of sleep matters. A normal adult spends approximately 50 percent of total sleep time in stage 2 sleep, 20 percent in REM sleep, and 30 percent in the remaining stages, including deep sleep.” - http://helpguide.org/life/sleeping.htm#deep

The above website and quote points out what I’ve often suspected to be the root of my sleep issues.  In 3.5 days, I’ll be going for a sleep study armed with data to provide the doctors in the first place.  In spite of not truly feeling much different than before I started monitoring my sleep, I do feel better that I’m getting more insight into each and every night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sep

15

Rat Pellets – Dietary supplements and medications for the active rat.

Posted by : thegymratlabrat | On : September 15, 2011

Category: Meds & Supplements, Sleep

Nice and simple… Here’s my current schedule of both meds and supplements. I take a bunch of pellets. Some are probably good, some are probably terrible. I’m doing my best to ween myself off of any and all prescription medicine

What I’m Taking And Why

AM:

  • Lyrica – 25mg
  • Celebrex (as/if needed)
  • Alpha Brain from Onnit

Midday:

  • RollOn from Onnit

PM:

  • RollOver from Onnit
  • Lyrica – 50mg to 75mg
  • Ambien – 10mg
  • ZMA – 3 capsules

The Why:

Due to my sleep issues, I’ve been prescribed everything under the sun from Ambien to Xanax and back again to help me rest.  Most things will work either occasionally or for a brief period before my body readjusts to it.

Early on in my treatment, the meds would also leave me very groggy the next day; often feeling like I was going to pass out by 9 or 10am, with getting through the entire day becoming very labored.  The doc’s then decided to feed me stimulants (both CNS and brain).

I was way overdoing it and my CNS and memory were getting fried from the persistent use of these drugs. That led to what I believe to have been a neurological issue that was causing joint pain and cramping in my forearms and calves resulting in my doctor deciding I needed to be treated for Rheumatoid Arthritis (although I didn’t test positive for it) and Fibromyalgia.

I personally no longer believe that I have these illnesses. The overall lack of sleep and excessive drug use seems to have been what was causing all these symptoms. I came to this conclusion from testing legal OTC supplements to combat things and in doing so, I had days where I was well rested and felt better than I had in years.

Long winded…I know. Back to what each is for:

The Lyrica is for the muscle stiffness. It comes and goes and I’m taking less than I was prescribed for, varying it slightly depending on how I’m feeling, how I’ve slept and what other drugs I’ve taken for the day.

The Celebrex is for joint pain and has gone from one a day every day to one every other day or less for reasons just like those above.

AlphaBrain is a “natural nootropic” I came across when researching individual ingredients to mimic Adderall & Nuvigil without the nasty side effects. While “proprietary blends” are tough for measuring which ingredients are best, I feel overall better during the day with this. If I had to guess, the AC-11 for “DNA repair” and GPC Choline are probably the major factors here, along with Vinpocetine’s ability to seemingly increase one’s reaction to these supplements.

RollOn is essentially the predecessor to AlphaBrain and a lesser stimulant to help me push through the day without being a jittery mess at night. The combination of the two has been very pleasing in the first couple of weeks.

RollOver is the night time recuperation / sleep aid from the same company. I’ve tried a couple of different dosages and can’t really rule one way or another.  At first, I dropped taking ZMA to test this by itself and noticed my “deep sleep” had dropped from 15 to 20% per night to a mere 10% consistently.

ZMA - A popular bodybuilding supplement that promotes restful sleep. I’m a big fan and feel it helps with how well I sleep and feel each morning. I’ve just reintroduced this with the RollOver and will report my findings in the coming weeks.

Ambien - Unfortunately at this time, I still need it. It doesn’t always work but I’m not willing to pull the trigger on going with only natural sleep aids. Ambien consistently knocks me out and more often than not, I’ll stay asleep for a good four hours on average.

That’s it for now.  Hopefully I’ll take away things more than I add.  Every so often, I’ll peel off one item and replace it with something else for at least a week’s time to assess effectiveness.

Please feel free to comment or follow this lab rat on Twitter.

Sep

15

Routine Updates

Posted by : thegymratlabrat | On : September 15, 2011

Category: The Rat's Training

I’ve been scouring through some old notes and thoughts on my training and while no part of my routine is etched in stone, I’ve come to some basic understandings of what works best for me. An explanation will be provided here.

The 2 basic principles are as follows:

  1. It has to fit my goals
  2. It has to be enjoyable (I won’t keep it up if I don’t like it no matter how wrong or right the concepts may be)

Day 1:
Chest & Biceps
Core Circuit
Lower body based conditioning

Day 2:
Minor Shoulder Movements & Legs
Core circuit
Upper Body based conditioning

Day 3:
Back & Triceps
Core Circuit
Lower body based conditioning

Day 4:
Major Shoulder Movements & Legs
Core Circuit
Upper body based conditioning

Day Any: Something fun or challenging (ie – Burpee challenge, sprints, yoga, etc)

Lather, rinse and repeat.

This is obviously an overly simplified, non-detailed explanation but a solid general guideline.  Each daily report will cover the details of what I’m doing and the explanation (located here) will shed light on what I’m aiming for and why.

I don’t schedule rest days as they seem to happen on their own. Work, personal life, sick, tired, no sleep, too much sleep or whatever, things can get in the way. This isn’t a conscious excuse to take as much time off as my lazy butt desires, nor is it a roadmap towards letting the gym control my life.

There always needs to be a happy middle ground.  I’ll aim to exercise as often (or as little) as I need to in order to accomplish my goals (and keep my sanity) and let the off days fall where they may. “Overtraining” and “undertraining” are both being considered.

Post your thoughts and follow me on Twitter. I’ll be updating more and more frequently in the near future.

Sep

09

Ups & Downs of Sleep, Supplements & Medications

Posted by : thegymratlabrat | On : September 9, 2011

Category: Meds & Supplements, Sleep

The studies on sleep continue and it has been a wacky few days.  I switched up my nightly sleep aids from 10mg of Ambien and 3 Primaforce ZMA capsules this week.  For the most part, that was going well, but if I can’t “test” different things, I wouldn’t be much of a lab rat now, would I?

3 days ago, I begin test driving the supplements from Onnit after a week or so of back and forth conversation with the owner. Those supplements are Alpha Brain, RollOn, and RollOver (basically 2 nootropic/energy pills, and a relaxation/sleep aid).

The Alpha Brain & RollOn seem to be doing there job surprisingly. When you’ve had the energy and sleep issues I’ve had, it’s hard to have much faith in OTC or Rx pills.  The jury is still out on the RollOn.

Taking two pills in the evening and two before bed with my Ambien prescription my Zeo sleep scores the last 3 days have gone 65, 41 & 82 last night. The 82 comes after being up from 1:40am, using CNS stimulants to get through work and adding Xanax to calm the jitters when I got home. It’s interesting but it’s not fun at all.

Even more interesting however is that my time in deep sleep has diminished. Respectively they’ve been 49min, 40min and 24min (in spite of that night having the most total sleep).  There could very well be something to the ZMA effects on total deep sleep.

I’ll continue to stay the course and see what can be made of the findings. Feel free to post your thoughts and comments below.

Sep

07

Short on Time? Band work can get your day going…

Posted by : thegymratlabrat | On : September 7, 2011

Category: The Rat's Training, Workout Wheel

Tags:, , ,

While I’m a big believer in utilizing Occam’s Principle whenever and where ever I can, there’s still times when something is better than nothing.  Today was just such a time.

Yesterday’s workout was skipped. I was a little tired and my lower back has been annoying me. As always though, when actions don’t meet intentions disappointment sets in. Faced with a busy work schedule for today, an early morning workout would be the only way I could get one in.

Resistance bands become extremely handy here for just getting the blood flowing without leaving the house. I used a fairly light band and ran through an exercise or two from top to bottom of 100 reps, with the last couple being very difficult. Bands make this really easy as you can adjust stance and tension on the fly to make sure you reach the reps you want to achieve.

By the end of my 15 to 20 min blitz, I not only felt better about myself for doing something, but the blood was flowing and I was a bit fired up. I finished off with a little shadow boxing (with the band wrapped around my back) and then, unfortunately, had to get ready for work.

Next time you find yourself pressed for time, give it a try. With a little effort, you won’t be disappointed.

Sep

05

Hand Speed & Treadmill Intervals

Posted by : thegymratlabrat | On : September 5, 2011

Category: The Rat's Training, Workout Wheel

Spinning away on the torture wheel.  It’s time to start testing some hand speed training. One of my favorite authors on the subject is boxing trainer, Ross Enamait of Rosstraining.com.  Years ago, Ross put out a very good eBook called “Punching with Power”. While it’s no longer offered, the source material is fantastic and many of the things I was first introduced to in this book, are now prevalent in most fitness clubs and magazines (things such as DB Swings & Snatches, burpees, etc).

Before I woke up up one day and realized I was old, I had pretty quick hands. Was I born fast? Probably not. But I trained for speed and became faster in time. I’ve let that go and so I return to the concepts that got me there in the first place.

The workout consists of weighted punches and combos performed, over time, with increasing volume. Starting out with just a few sets of weighted punch outs for 20 seconds each set, and uppercut drills for 20 reps.  It’s very brief at this stage but a great baseline.

I also decided there’s no reason I can’t run (or more specifically “sprint”) for very long. I’m no fan of running. 2 miles has always felt like 2 days. I can however get into sprinting and I’ve read accounts of people who have trained for 5k and 10k runs with nothing more than interval training for 1 to 2 miles per workout.  Count me in… we’ll see if this works.

During today’s workout, I only managed to do a mile of intervals on a treadmill. 1/4 mile between 10.5 to 11.5mph followed by a minute of walking until I finished 4 sets.  I need to find a track to run on. The treadmill is fine for what it is but there’s something awkward and damn near dangerous feeling about going “all out”. I started to fear the first video I post here will be yours truly slamming into the wall behind the machines. My pride made me run harder.

My lungs burned and heaved. Intervals aren’t your typical weight training by far.  Also, I ran in my Vibram FiveFingers.  As expected, my calves are killing me.