Quote from Tango 6 Alpha:
People who are in shape don't diet, nor do they think about dieting. They don't talk in terms of "exercise programs," and they most certainly get their "supplementation" from the food they eat.
High calorie input demands a high kinetic energy output to balance the metabolic rate. Every professional athlete knows this to be true and Olympic athletes know it the best. You can literally eat almost anything you want, as long as what you do eat comes with a compensating balance of high density nutrients - particularly from plant life (fruits and vegetables). The more green the food, the nutrient rich the intake and the more your body will properly burn the three (3) essential elements it needs to product output:
Your body uses Sugar, Fat and Oxygen molecules as the fuel to produce high levels of output, regardless of what you do in life. Keeping good molecular storage levels of each, will guarantee that you have the energy and thus the power to perform at peak levels. Your body will burn its sugar store before anything else. It will then increase the level of fat transformations per the increase in your heart rate. This is one of the reasons why you don't lose a significant amount of weight, by merely going to a "gym" to lift weights. Weight control comes through oxygenation and there is only one "best way" to increase the level of oxygen to the body - running.
The absolute best approach to "getting into shape," is to first begin a running regimen that expands lung capacity an increases the level of oxygen to both your brain and your overall blood supply. Running is by far the absolute best way to oxygenate the human body to a level where the foods you eat have the best chance for being metabolized at normative levels for any given caloric intake.
AFTER you have begun to improve your metabolic rate through running, THEN it is "ok" to hit the weight room. This has a multitude of advantages associated with it. Your muscle fiber will be far more receptive to the loads being placed on them by lifting weights, after they have been properly oxygenated and fed nutrient rich foods for a period of time. The load limit rate (the speed at which you can increase both reps and weight) will increase at a higher speed more naturally and results will be far more superior to the guy who thinks that he can simply "lift" his way into good health.
Everything BEGINS with Oxygen. Which means - you have to hit the track (NOT the treadmill), or the open roads. Your calcium levels will naturally increase and your entire bone structure will improve with increases in your duration as a runner. Your blood will be cleaner and your kidneys will function at higher levels of efficiency. The synaptic network in your brain will function at higher levels and your MEMORY will improve, both short and long-term.
The advantages to track or open road course running are so vastly greater than anything else you can possibly do, that I have an extremely hard time understanding why so many people get stuck on "diet" discussions, supplements and other methods that actually help to destroy the human body.
1) Run
2) Eat
3) Load
That's the so-called "secret" to good physical conditioning. It is not rocket science - but it is highly effective. In my time, I've trained with some of the top athletes in the country in Track & Field and Football. The vast majority of them ate what they wanted to, but they also ran like the wind and maintained a very regular weight training routine. Its not the easy road, but it is the most effective road by far - excepting any physical injuries that might prevent you from running.
In my prime, my max numbers were as follows:
Bench Press: 365lbs
Curl: 295lbs
Squat: 485lbs
Dead Lift: 525lbs
I played Tailback and Running back for 13 years total, including all age groups up through a little more than three (3) years in the NFL with a team that wears Silver & Black on Sunday afternoons. I also wore Blue & Gold during a four (4) year NCCA PAC 10 stint (before the NCAA reorganization). I have training time under my belt with Edwin Moses, thanks to a visionary track coach by the name of Dennis "Smokey" White, and I have spent some training time with Michael Johnson - to name a few past US Olympic Team Athletes, who helped to reduce my 100m times.
Given my physical size coming out of college, I could not compete nationally as a sprinter. I had put on too much weight in the form of muscle, but I needed that extra padding and strength to deal with the routine pounding on the football field. However, in my day - I could run with the best in the country and I did have a choice to make - scale down my body and get prepared for a real shot at making the U.S. Team, or continue my focus on football. I decided on football.
I have spent many nights awake in bed since then regretting that decision in many ways. And, as quiet as it is kept - there are more than a few former NFL players who had very short lived careers due to injury who also had world class speed, but decided to play football instead. Some of them regret making that decision as well.
My career in Track & Field would have been a much more lasting endeavor - and ironically, not knowing it back then, I could have made a lot more money for myself in the process. I made a bad call. But, such is life. Bad calls get made and you move on. I still enjoyed a very successful career in the USAF after football was over.
I've spent a lot of time with people who know a lot about strength and conditioning and I learned a tremendous amount from my time with them all along the way.
Toronto is a hole. Not Chicago level, but disturbing. Within the span of three years, I think 4 people were shot to death within a 2 block radius of the restaurant. My first weekend on the job, some trashy girl helped herself into my car as I was about to drive home from work. She wanted a lift a few blocks south and being totally green, I obliged. As soon as I drove off the parking lot she offered to give me a blowjob. Looking back, the open sore on her mouth and the fur coat (no shit) was a dead give-away. The funny part is my boss saw this trash bag get into my car and me drive off with her. When I came into work the next day, he looked at me like I picked up random crackwhores off the street and banged them. haha That was par for the course, on that job.