Editorial Note: Dave KILLS me sometimes. I've been asking him for a new Under The Bar column for the past three weeks and he never seems to have the time. THEN he makes posts like this in his training log that are BASICALLY an Under The Bar column. You'd think he even tells me he posted this? No. So, I go digging through logs to see what everyone is up to - who has meets coming up, how some of the guys placed...and I find this! Dave - if you're reading this - I'm so mad at you!
Log Date: This entry is from Saturday, May 8th.
Today is a super high carb day for me, so I'll try to document this as it goes. I'll use the same format as I did in "A Day In The Life." The reason for this - I assume and will check with Shelby - is I lost too fast last week. Carbs are basically unlimited, protein needs to fall in the 275 - 300 range and fats will be kept as low as I can. In the past I was given the choice of a cheat meal or a super high day. I've found (for myself) that the cheat meals are great and help keep my sanity but if I feel and look flat a Super High Day is far superior. So here goes...
6:30 AM - Wake up, check and answer email and read. Today I'm reading all the latest Executive Book Summaries. This list includes How the Best Leaders Lead, Repositioning, Viral Loop and Leadership Lessons From Main Street. I've been out of the house most of the week and this is the first chance I've had to relax all week.
It usually takes me 45 minutes or so before I want to eat anything, but I'll drink a few cups of coffee.
My weight this morning was 261. Last week it was 264 pounds.
Guitar hero.
My wife is out of town for the weekend, so I'll spend the next hour making the kids breakfast and getting them ready for the gym. This is no easy task, as they're both screaming right now because they both want the red PS3 controller. Father mistake number 1232: Never buy two different colors even if they ask.
Notice how one thumb control is chewed up.
Oh, I won't have to take vitamin supplements at all today. My calorie and food intake will cover all of my needs.
9:30 AM - I made up a pre-workout mix. This is different today, because it's a super high day. I drank this before and during the session.
Image posted just to drive those select few insane. We even linked it to REALLY piss them off.
4 scoops Anaconda
4 scoops surge workout fuel
1 AMP drink
The rest of the container is filled with water.
Packed the kids up and took them to work/gym/warehouse. Sometimes they want to train, other times they would rather stay in the conference room to play games and watch movies. Their movie today is The Tooth Fairy. They haven't seen it before, so if I'm lucky it'll keep them from killing each other for an hour or so.
TRAINING:
Lying Leg Curls
* 3 sets 15 (<60 sec rest) - very slow reps.
Seated Leg Curls
* 3 sets to failure (<90 sec rest) - slow reps with 30 count iso hold at the end of set.
Stiffleg Deadlifts
* 10 sets 10 reps with 20 seconds rest - stretch between sets.
Leg Extensions
* 3 sets of 15 to warm up knees.
Power Squat Machine
* 4 sets 15 (<90 sec rest) - worked up to 4 plates per side. Iso hold last rep for 30 count.
Super Wide Hacks (<60 sec rest)
* 3 sets 15 with very wide stance going as low as I can without ripping myself in half.
One Leg Leg Press
* 5 sets 20 with zero rest. These are back to back sets until done.
Walking Lunges
* 2 sets to failure.
Leg Extensions
* 100 reps however they get done (<20 sec rest).
Toe Pushes
* 5 sets 15-20 (<60 sec rest).
Standing One Leg Calves
* 50 reps per leg.
Most these movements can be found in our exercise index HERE.
11:30 AM - Post training meal. Drank one Mt. Dew and mixed up 2 scoops surge post workout and drank on the way home.
This was posted for no other reason but to make this article look longer
11:45 AM - 1 PM - Made a few phone calls in regards to the front opening monolift. We discovered today why some people have issues using this, while others do not. This has to do with the direction the lever of the arm swings more than anything else. Most lifters will brace the bar against the back of the hooks and pull it to them when using a regular monolift. This is to lock the arm so it doesn't move. If they push forward on it, the arm would have some give. This give doesn't matter if it's one or eight inches. It only takes one inch mess someone up. The thing with a front opening mono, is the lever is reverse. Thus, front opening. So if they pull back, it's the same as if they pushed forward on the other style lift. For them to get braced, the bar needs to be forward on the hooks - not back. I'll try to do a video to show this and avoid confusion. Not everyone uses the hooks to brace the bar, so this is why it doesn't effect that many people. This is not something that can be fixed, as it's the nature of how the rack opens, and depends if it's front opening or rear opening. The video will show what I'm describing and it's really not a big deal at all and is an easy adjustment for the lifters as long as they know to adjust.
I also made a few other business related calls and I'm wrapping up a few more e-mails before heading back out. I'd explain, but one you won't care about and the other is proprietary in nature.
As a back up on these super high days, I cook up some Cuttler Cookies and toss a bunch of metabolic drive bars in my bag. This makes it easy to get 100 grams of carbs and 20 grams of Pro every couple hours while running around all day.
Justin Harris turned me onto the cookies a couple years back. They used to be posted on Jay Cutlers web site, but now I can't find them so I'll retype the info here.
NO - these are not steaks
Cutler Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Sugar
3 Egg Whites
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Cinnamon
3 cups Old Fashion Oats
1 1/2 cups Unsweetened Applesauce
Optional: (I don't use these)
1/4 cup I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
1 cup Raisins
1 Banana
Directions:
Blend all ingredients together. You may add more applesauce if mixture is too dry. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes or until brown.
*Note: I ripped this off word for word from a print out I had from two years ago. The source was www.jaycutler.com
1:26 PM - Time for another meal. This one is 1 cup egg whites and 4 slices of Brown Rice Bread with a diet Snapple.
When I'm done with this, I'll be off to pick up my older brother from the airport. I'm sure we'll stop off somewhere to eat, but I'm not sure where.
1:48 PM - While I'm waiting for the babysitter, I thought I'd make another note. This time on how HUGE four words can be. These words are...
"Can I help you?"
Doing good on Mother's day
Every year for Mother's Day, I get my wife plants, flowers, etc., for the front of the house, deck and dock. I don't know shit about any of this, so I just walk in and tell them what I want and leave. I also don't know how and don't want to learn how to pot anything, so if you follow where I'm going - this isn't a cheap Mother's Day gift - not even close.
Friday, I walked into a local flower shop that I've purchased items at before and stood around looking like I had no idea what I was doing - as I don't. Over the next five minutes, nobody came over or even looked my way. I tried to non verbally get their attention several times. Five employees were standing at the desk speaking and one happened to be the owner. There was nobody else in the place. It was completely dead. Then, a few minutes later some lady comes in and asks about some type of plant I can't begin to spell, so I'm not even going to try. This leads to a group discussion of them all...yet I'm still there looking like a moron. A few minutes later I walked out.
Thirty minutes later, I arrived at another shop and as soon as I walked out of my car, I'm greeted by two employees who ask, "What can I do for you today?" This impressed me because the place was busy and the parking lot full. I almost drove by thinking I'd have to wait and already was late getting to work. I then asked if they offered delivery and if it can be done this weekend. I'm then asked my name and where I live. I tell them that I'm their best customer of the day and where I needed everything delivered. I spent the next five minutes telling them I need 5 hanging baskets, 10 potted plants or flowers that they can mix and match as they want. I wanted 5 of them big and 5 medium and I also needed some stuff for the rails and a few other items for the dock.
It took me no more than 5 - 10 minutes to tell them what I wanted and that they couldn't screw it up because I'm open to anything, then I left. I have no idea how long it took to put it all together, but the order part was minimal and I'm willing to bet I was their biggest customer of the day. Too bad the first place couldn't just simply ask "Can I help you?" You know the service has to suck if I'm willing to drive 30 minutes out of my way to go somewhere else. This is the point I wanted to make. I knew I needed someone who cared about details to do what I wanted. I had no idea what to order except I needed a certain number. I have no idea what looks good and what doesn't. I also knew it wasn't going to be a cheap order - at all. There was NO WAY in hell I was going to leave an 'open to interpretation' job up to a company that couldn't even acknowledge I was there. I can only image how bad the quality would've been and I'm also willing to bet I would've been very overcharged. There's no wonder why the first place was dead and the second was jammed. Because I left, I'm amazed (it was all delivered before I left) at what I did get. On top of that, the delivery was free and there was a $50 gift card for my next order.
Just part of the order
7:32 PM - Back to the food. Sometime around 4 PM, I had lunch with my two brothers. I had around two chicken breasts and a small amount of corn chips, two cutler cookies and two glasses of Coke. W haven't been together like this for many years, and I'll meet up with my sister tomorrow. Sometime life kicks you in the face and my family is dealing with one of these kicks right now, so we're all pulling together to help out. While the circumstances suck, it's nice to all be together again. I can't say for sure, but I'm willing to bet it's been close to eight years since we have. As Alwyn just emailed me....
"As usual - keep your chin DOWN and your HANDS up. People who keep their chin up get knocked the fuck out way to easily."
One interesting note that dawned on me at lunch. My mother and father owned their own business that my brother took over. My other brother and sister also own their own business. That makes you wonder if being raised by entrepreneurs has an impact on your own career choice. I really don't think any one of us really planned on it - it just kinda happened.
I got home around 7 PM, took the sitter back, and cooked up four slices of Brown Rice Bread French Toast I did this using one cup egg whites and one omega 3 egg. This was topped with cinnamon and a bit of syrup.
While Shelby nor Justin ever tracked calories, I do. They give me targets such as the number of grams of carbs, protein, fat, fiber, etc. I, however, track it all with a phone application called MyNetDiary. My total so far for the day is...
Kcals - 5,246
Fat - 64
Carbs - 866
Protein - 263
Before the end of the day, my carbs will fall between 1000-1200, depending on how late I work.
11:30 PM - Since my last update, I've had two more simple meals. Each was the same and consisted of two Cutler cookies and one Metabolic Drive bar.
The infamous internet mirror pic.
Project Management
The last two hours were spent on project management and our sales calendar. I was asked to share how I use some of the current technology, so here goes. I use a Web site called Toodledo for my "To Do" list, and project management. This site also has an iPhone application that lets me keep everything in sync. There's also a goals and notebook section that I use for a number of different purposes. Lists are designed around goals, projects, context, staff and priorities. I spend a great deal of time working with this, as it allows me to keep a good handle on what's being done, what needs to be done next and what the final deadlines are.
The last couple hours were spent adding and adjusting to these lists based on using some of our internal production sites and reports. These reports let me know the work flow of our staff, if they're overloaded, need help, or have free time. Finally, I look at our marketing calendar (Google Docs) to see if there are any promotions that'll overload the staff. For example: we're testing a new one this week that has a very good chance of overloading sales - thus requiring us to pull one or two people out of the office into the warehouse for a few hours - up to the entire day. I need to be aware of the possibility of this happening, so I can make adjustments to any projects that person may be working on. Finally, I need to look at all this in the reverse order based on sales and our forecast. If sales are low, then I have to look at the calendar first and see if there are changes we can make to bump them up. Then, I look at the projects and see what needs to change.
INTERMISSION: Just as I was typing this two more shirt designs came in for me to review. I made a couple suggestions and look forward to seeing how they turn out.
As you can see this is a constant balancing act, because all issues have to be balanced and addressed. For example, if the focus was always 100 percent on the sales, and all we did was push - then the projects would never get done and sooner or later sales would drop off and we'd be screwed because the growth and future of the company depends on these projects.
On the other side, if all the focus was on the projects, then sales would fall and we wouldn't have the operating capital to complete many of the projects. When I go over all this, I run each situation several different ways so I'm able to make a decision based on history, people, capital and my gut. This is why it takes so long. It's very easy to just say let's do this now and more of it next week, and then hit a big sale the week after. Things just don't work that way and I haven't even spoke about inventory and how that effects all these variables as well.
Anyhow, that's been my last 3.5 hours, with at least one more hour to go before I can formulate a real plan for next week.
After that, I want to go look at some of the article stats to see what's going on over there. The overall hits to the web site since the first of the year has been insane and the articles have been a very large part of this. This page is now second to the store. As far as total hits were a year ago, it was under the logs, Q&A and Ex Index. Moving the platform made a giant difference, but adding someone to coordinate it all (Rachel) has also made a huge impact. Next week, we'll be adding more staff to help take this all up another notch.
I like to go out and look at what's the most popular and what our visitors are reading. While Rachel does do this, I still like to keep an eye on it because it's still relatively new. I will say I don't watch it as close as I used to a couple months ago. Once every week or two is good for me. We've been trying and testing some things with our article schedule that I'm interested in following to see how it works for two reasons. The first is I think it's cool, but the second is it does effect traffic to the site and the cart. Right now, our traffic is through the roof, but our conversation rate didn't go up at the same rate. This is to be expected, because we push out so much educational material, but I'd like to see a higher conversation rate.
This rambling has gone on long enough, so I end by saying I'll have one more meal today with 100 grams of carbs and 20 grams of protein and will probably be working until 1 AM at the rate I'm going. Other than that, my legs have been cramping all day, so either I had a very good leg session, or the carbs are tossing my system all out of whack.
If anything, I just gave Rachel enough material to flip another article from me, so it hasn't been a total waste of time.
Last week, my high day was 600 grams of carbs and I didn't gain a pound the next morning and I didn't feel like it really did much. These super high days always seem to do the trick and fill me back out. I can see a difference already, but will know tomorrow. These always work better for me than cheat meals, so given the choice of the two, I'll always select a super high day. But, they're a major pain in the ass because I'm eating so frequently.
I'll finish just over 6000 Kcals and close to 1,100 carbs. Funny how this works. Since I have to keep my fats down, I've been craving almonds all day.
I want to hear from you!
Since we're adding more staff at Elitefts.com, we'll be able to do more things and create more material for you. I want to know what kind of articles you'd like to see more of? Less of? Please let me know and post in the comment section below - I'd like to hear what you have to say!
P.S. - Someday soon I'm going to KILL boxes of these things.
