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For those of you following the blog, I did a month experiment with Creatine and HMB from Blonyx. I took the Creatine + HMB product in the morning and at night on training days.  In the morning I took it in my smoothie with Protein egg

powder , almond milk, banana and peanut butter. In the evening I took it with coconut water.  Anecdotally , I noticed an effect on recovery being less sore. I did not translate this into extra high intensity workouts as one could if they were so inclined. I stuck with my schedule of M W F heavy lifting and kettle bells and Tuesday and Thursday running and core work. During the one month trial I had 80% success rate in workouts as I missed a couple Fridays due to travel. In total I did 1o heavy lifting sessions (of 12 scheduled) and 6 runs (of 8 scheduled). My first testing session was in the afternoon but my second was in the morning. I think this accounted for the lack of improvement in vertical jump as I tend to be a bit stiffer in the morning and require a  longer warm up (time which I did not have in this case).

Here are the results:

Sept 7 2011               August 7th 2011

Broad Jump                        88″                                 86 1/2″

Vertical Jump                   20 1/2″                          21 ”

Clean 1RM                           175 lbs                          165 lbs

Deadlift 1 RM                      375 lbs                         355 lbs

Bench Press 1 RM              225 lbs                         205 lbs

Squat 1 Rm                           335 lbs                         305 lbs

Weighted Chin Up 3rm        70 lbs                       45 lbs

I definitely saw an improvement in strength and recovery ability. I am doing another month trial, this time adding the creatine and HMB in my post workout shake of egg protein, pumpkin protein and coconut water (which has electrolytes). I did this yesterday for the first time and felt great post workout, which was particularly heavy (DL 370 lbs x 2).

I will post my results again at the end of October.

Craig Boyd is one of Vancouver’s top personal trainers, CrossFit coaches and boot camp instructors. He enjoys coaching people of all levels who want to see results. His websites are http://www.precisionathletics.ca/ and http://precision-bootcampvancouver.com/

My friends over at Blonyx offered me a trial of their HMB and Creatine supplement. Creatine gives your muscles creatine phosphate which is used in forceful contractions (helps with the ability to get one or two more reps at the end of a set)and HMB helps reduce the damage done by training and enhances recovery. HMB also prevents muscle protein breakdown and stimulates muscle protein production to help build muscle. The thing I like about Blonxy is they use only independent research for supplements with proven results. You will not see any fat burners etc for sale on their site. They link to all the independent research. I am taking the supplement after reviewing the research on HMB and Creatine for strength gains http://blonyx.com/hmb_strength.php

Background

I have been recovering form a shoulder injury sustained getting tripped at soccer, for the last year and have not been able to train my upper body with any intensity. I figured I could use the any help I could get. My plan is to publish my starting stats each month and final stats at the end of the month. This will not be a double blind experiment as I would need an equally de-conditioned person with my training history to not take the supplement and report their results. This will however be interesting to see if I do recover quicker and get back to training intensely with no ill effects (excess muscle soreness limiting training capacity)

Testing in:

Broad Jump- 86 1/2 ”

Vertical Jump- 21″

1RM (personal best in brackets)

Clean 165 lbs (185 lbs)

Bench Press 205 lbs (255 lbs)

Dead Lift 355 lbs (405 lbs)

Squat 305 lbs (325 lbs)

3 Rm

Weighted Chin Ups +45 lbs (+90 lbs)

Body Weight, Composition and Measurements

169 lbs BF% 13 estimate 7 point caliper test total mm 120

Flexed Arm   33

Waist (over navel)   90

Hip (trochanter)   95

Quad (mid-thigh)   50

Total (cms)    Total   268

Goal

To increase: lean muscle, strength, power and speed and decrease fat mass. In layman’s terms leaner , faster and stronger (or dead lift 400lbs or over at a leaner bf%)

The Program

I will be doing a three day program Monday Wednesday and Friday focusing on heavy lifting, Olympic lifts, kettle bells and body weight training. On the in between days I will do cardio, extra core training and some postural exercises to assist my shoulder.

Monday (warm up set omitted for space purposes, always do a thorough warm up)

Deadlift 1 set at 90-95%% 1 RM x 2 followed by 5-10 depth jumps

Bench Press 1 set 90-95% 1 rm x 2 followed by 5-10 clap push ups

Deadlift1 set at 85% 1 rm x 5 reps followed by 5-10 depth jumps

Bench Press 1 set at 85% 1rm followed by 5-10 clap push ups

Followed by a full body kettle-bell or BW circuit training program.

Wednesday

Squat 1 set at 90-95%% 1 RM x 2 followed by 5-10 broad jumps

OH Press 1 set at 90-95%% 1 RM x 2 followed by 5-10 plyo ball throws

Squat 1 set at 85% 1 rm x 5 reps followed by 5-10 broad jumps

OH Press 1 set at 85% 1rm x5 followed by 5-10 pylo ball throws

Followed by a full body kettle-bell or BW circuit training program

Friday

Clean 1 set 95-100% 1 rm x 1 followed by depth jumps

Weighted chin Ups 1 set at 90-95% 3rm followed by BW explosive chin ups

Clean 1 set 85% 1 rm x 3 followed by depth jumps

Weighted chin Ups 1 set at 90-95% 3rm followed by BW explosive chin ups

Followed by a full body kettle-bell or BW circuit

I will post workout log weekly to this blog as well as comments on how I feel recovery wise.

I blogged a while back about wanting to deadlift 400lbs. It has been a goal for some time. I got serious a couple months ago and started concentrating on my heavy lifting. I researched and found a great program from The Performance Journal at Catalyst Athletics. Quite a simple program you do 3 sets eachrkout (not including warm up). You do 5’s one week, then 3’s one week, then singles one week. Each set you increase the weight with the last set being 5 lbs higher than your previous workout of that rep range. I followed this program 2x a week splitting up squats and deadlifts and bench press and overhead press.  I have 6 consecutive weeks of personal bests on every lift and it culminated with this 400lb deadlift that felt pretty easy. Looking forward to some new PB’s coming up. In the mean time I have neglected metabolic conditioning so next goal will come there. I want to break 45 mins for a 10k and the grouse grind this summer. I am adding back in more CrossFit WOD’s and keeping the heavy lifting. Will keep readers posted on progress…..

Craig Boyd is one of Vancouver’s top personal trainers, boot camp, and CrossFit  instructors. Check out his websites http://www.precisionathletics.ca/ and http://www.precision-bootcampvancouver.com

I did my first Half Ironman race on Sunday at Shawnigan Lake http://www.triseries.ca/index.php . A great event and we had an amazing day for it. I definitely was under-trained and noticed that when I went past my longest distances from training  on the bike especially, I had a big drop off in performance. Lots of long rides needed if I am to finish Ironman Canada. More to come tomorrow.