Day 31 - The End of the Beginning

It's here. Today is the final day of the scheduled Brodyssey. So it's time to see how it all added up.

Generally, first, I never skipped a workout, nor did I ever cheat on my meal plan. However, due to scheduling issues, I took one extra rest day, and due to an illness, I ate less than my prescribed calories one day. Barring these unavoidable caveats, the macros, sources and workouts were exactly as prescribed.

I did complete both big ass books. I did invest the time/energy into writing as I intended (minus my sad little sick day). I never missed a supplement.

So, on the whole, as an exercise in making goals and meeting them, the Brodyssey was a complete success.

On to the results. Physically first. My weight dropped from 197 lbs to 186 lbs. My waist grew from 33 in to 34 in. My cold bicep flex grew from 15.5 to 15.8 and my chest circumference changed from just over 45 in to just over 46.

My 1RM for every lift practiced increased, some (such as isolation lifts) increased by 20-30 lbs, others (primarily large compound lifts) increased by over 100 lbs. My deadlift, in particular, moved from 315 lbs to 430 lbs.

I, as well, as a few others, noticed that my physique became more tapered, and V-shaped down to the waist, implying a growth in the lats and shoulders. There is visibly more muscular definition in my stomach and quadriceps. There is more visible vascularity in my upper arms and forearms.

Approximate body fat percentage is now 13%, down from the original 16%.

What do these results mean? First of all, on the positive side, it means that it is indeed possible to lose fat while building muscle simultaneously, which is ground-breaking. It's huge for me, in particular, because genetics and personal commitment levels are different from individual to individual, so even though it might be more easy or more difficult for any other person in the world, it is, at least, possible when not on an illegal performance-enhancing drug.

Also, positively, myofibrillar hypertrophy occurred at a much higher rate than normal. I grew in strength very rapidly.

However, sarcoplasmic hypertrophy did not occur as quickly as I would have liked. Size gains did happen, but were marginal at best and negligible at worst (with the exception of the erector spinae muscles of the lumbar back, which added an entire inch of thickness to my waist even while losing more than ten pounds of fat, but is easily explainable since this program is the first time I tried a progressive overload system to the deadlift since I began lifting). At least I did not lose any muscle mass.

Bottom line: this training method, Hypertrophy-Specific Training by Bryan Haycock, does unarguably cause hypertrophy, but does so in a myofibrillar way much more efficiently. In terms of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, other programs have demonstrated superiority with my body, including Sagi Kalev's Body Beast and Leo Costa's Big Beyond Belief. Use this program to get much stronger, but pick something else if you want to get bigger.

I never got tired of stews, and I never made the same stew twice. On the whole, I found myself less hungry during the day, more satisfied and energetic, and with the exception of my food poisoning incident with the downtown goose, with more vitality and healthiness. I attribute this mostly to the higher intake of saturated animal fat, and close adherence to a macronutrient ratio of 40% fat, 40% protein and 20% carbohydrate. When it varied, I made sure to take in excess calories only of fat or protein, not of carbohydrates. It also might have something to do with the organic nature of the food I made myself being my primary source of nutrition.

As the Brodyssey continued, I found reading and writing to be easier and easier. This may be due to the constant increase in reading and writing, or it may be because of the nootropic supplementation. Either way, I feel as though resulting story I've written so far, and the ease with which I finished this last book are tangible evidences of an improved memory, creativity and cognizance.

Even though the 30 days are over, some of these particular challenges are not completed yet. I haven't yet finished the second cycle of HST, and I will continue until it is done. It should end conveniently when I finish my bottle of Anabeta Elite. When it is done, I will take a week off of lifting, as prescribed by many sources, and then continue this bulk with a different program with a focus on sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.

I have not yet finished the story I am writing. It should take about seven more active days of writing to finish the first draft.

I will finish all of the current bottles of supplements I am on, before doing a short fast and starting a new cycle.

I will continue reading fiction every day, and nonfiction as often as I enjoy.

What did I learn? The most important things I learned came not from about any of the specific trajectories of improvement I chose, but instead from the very concept of reaching goals. The absolution of commitment, the unwavering discipline, and the uncompromising resilience that the human mind is capable of, are things that I am more familiar with. They are things I believe that all people should be more familiar with.

Most important takeaway: Any change you want to make in your life is possible, no matter how big or small it is. If I can do all of this crap as an experiment in a month, then you can do any one of them, or whatever else you choose to do. Decide to do it, make a plan, break the plan down, visualize the end, and take a small step every day, and you will get there, no matter what.

What happens next?

The Indeigogo campaign ends today for Virility Vitamin, and although we did not reach our goal, we did raise some money which is going directly to ingredient acquisition. There will be many more opportunities for donation, contribution and participation. I know that the money will be raised, and I won't give up until we get there. I have quite a bit more planned coming up in the future.

Speaking of the future, this blog will remain active, although there will not be a new post every day. I will continually update it about the company and the product and my own self-improvement journey which will never ever end. I will update it with supplement reviews, workout program results, diet ideas, book reviews, movie reviews, motivational insights, and a million other possible things aimed at the masculine pursuit of perfection.

I had a great time doing this, and I got a lot out of it. Thank you for staying tuned, and I hope you learned a little bit along with me.

Day 30 - The Complete Hemingway

Working your way through a classic piece of literature can be extremely difficult. Sometimes the language is from a different period of time, not lending itself to an easy understanding. Sometimes, the themes are inspired by an unfamiliar feeling to you, like a war or revolution that happened before your life. The only way to develop the part of your brain that can digest a classic piece of literature, is to read more classic pieces of literature.

I'd like to consider myself more well-read than the average guy. I've chewed through a lot of the classics, Homer, Stoker, Dumas, Melville, by certainly not as many as I would like to. Even so, when I started this book, The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway - The Finca Vigia Edition, the first few stories were difficult for me to comprehend, with a few exceptions. The first story, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" spoke to me, so I didn't have a problem with that one. That aside, though, it was a different depth of constant reading than I was used to.

By the time I made it to the end, which happened pretty quickly, "Hemingway's Boat" had me all inspired, I found myself floating from the beginning of the stories to the end quickly and effortlessly.

Anyway, I got a lot out of these particular stories. Hemingway's themes and motifs have been sources of debate, praise and ridicule ever since they were first written. His style, too, uniquely his own at the time, inspired many many other authors after him, none of whom have ever been able, despite trying tirelessly, to replicate it.

He is sparse with adjectives. He uses nouns and connective words like "and" in lieu of further description. He sort of gives you the canvas and the brush and tells your imagination what to paint instead of painting it for you. In this way, he makes you a part of the world he creates. He also puts himself, in some version or another, into every story, so that you can recognize the real, human, mortal experiences his characters are going through.

Some of the stereotypes about Hemingway's writing that some of his non-readers hold, such as his fascination with death, violence, sex, and hunting/fishing, are certainly based on truth. The Hemingway stories contain tragedies almost always, but keep them in such a rational, masculine place, that you appreciate their inclusion each time. I, personally, having never particularly enjoyed tragedy in my media, have developed a new appreciation for it as a literary tool.

One of the most respected traits I found about the man in his writing, is his fearlessness in his topics and themes. The man, of course a masculine role model, and avid sportsman, was held in the highest regards as a hunter of the African plains and a fisher of the Caribbean seas. But, he like all other men in the world, whether they are secure enough to admit it or not, wrestled with harsh, horrible ideas, like mortality, unfair sexual stereotypes and even gender's sex roles.

Hemingway knew decades before his suicide that it would be he who ended his own life. He mentioned it several times. This was because the man was unafraid to look death in the face and make his own opinions about it. Hemingway wrote about sex and adultery with frankness and rawness. It wasn't always romantic in his stories, sometimes it was ugly and advantageous. He also touched on the topic of homosexuality and gender-switching. Some critics believe that Hemingway found a femininity in himself for which he was overcompensating by acting out in all of his masculine ways, his shooting, and boxing and drunken brawling. I disagree. Hemingway made peace with it in his writing, I believe. His poor son struggled with it much more than he did, unfortunately.

Every man who lends himself to thoughts of depth finds these struggles. Death and sex and tragedy and violence and adultery are horrid things sometimes, and sometimes they are beautiful. Hemingway found both in his stories.

On the whole, I believe that I have improved my own appreciation for literature, and for entire themes of entertainment. I have had to face scary ideas about death and gender and come out feeling more secure and fearless on the other side, which, I think, may have been Hemingway's intention. It is that fearlessness, that courage under fire, that made Hemingway such a masculine role model, and something we can borrow from him by enjoying his writing. His commitment was absolute. His adventures were legendary. His stores are timeless.

I highly recommend Hemingway's Complete short stories.

Day 28 & 29 - Roadblocks

I know. You got me. I didn't post yesterday. It hurts me too. I'd like to think I had good reason. I got a particularly nasty case of food poisoning. At a particular burger place downtown in the city I live, I had a burger with foie gras coating the bun. Oh lord, was it tasty. I mean, J. H. Christ, it was savory and delicious.

At first, I was ok. I was really tired, with mild nausea. It wasn't that bad. I did find myself susceptible to a certain kind of temptation like there was nothing wrong with me. Go figure. But as soon as I was sitting still, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt like I vomited gallons, with just as much shooting out of every other hole I have. You're welcome for the visual.

I'm still hurting now. Not last night "I think I'm going to die, actually I hope I do, because that would be so much better than this" hurt, but enough to distract me from living my life.

But you know what? Here I am. Granted I have a hurting tummy, a body that is freezing and burning up simultaneously, a headache from the stone age, but here I am, writing this post. It actually plays into my schedule fairly well, since I was going to write about obstacles anyway.

And let me tell you, diarrhea is an obstacle. I didn't miss my workout yesterday, and I won't miss it tomorrow either. My food is still spot-on as well. All I've eaten is low-carb flax bread with some butter. You can't hold me down.

And that brings me to today's topic. When you've made a commitment, decided to accomplish a goal, what do you do when obstacles inevitably rear their ugly head to fuck up your pace and progress?

Answer: you don't stop. Ever. To paraphrase Thomas Edison: No, I didn't fail a thousand times, I discovered a thousand ways that didn't work. And for that, I'm grateful.

How you react to obstacles, roadblocks, detours, is completely up to you. If you give up because of the obstacle, then it wasn't the obstacle's fault. It was yours.

In fact, somewhere in this experience, I haven't found it yet, but there is a silver lining, a positive spin that will make me better. Until then, even if it doesn't come at all, which it will, I will keep going. Not a single thing in the world will stop me from reaching my goals.

Know how many times the Wright Brothers tried to fly unsuccessfully before they took off the first time? Me neither, but I bet you anything it was a fuck-bunch of times.

Don't give up. Ever. You'll be proud of yourself at the end. You'll figure out how strong and unstoppable you are, whether you crashed into the ground, or some bad dressing turned you into a goose-liver sprinkler.

Day 27 - H2O

Some of the things I learn as I dig around in the world of health and fitness are just so stupidly intuitive that you wonder what the fuck some people were thinking when they let that information get buried under everything else they know.

I'm kind of a hypocrite for saying that, because I have quite a bit of trouble with this as well, but I might as well change my life in this way also, since I'm living that kind of lifestyle and acting so crazy.

As it turns out, your body needs water. Go figure, right? We're only made of the stuff. Scientists estimate that the human body is made of around 70% water.

But we're so afraid of it. We try to put a bunch of shit in it, flavors and extra stuff, and as it turns out, we make it nearly useless by doing so.

Before I get to what it does for the body, I'd like to talk a little bit about the state of the public opinion of water consumption in this country. First of all, after recognizing how vital it is to living (and living optimally) I wonder why the hell we have to pay for it. We don't have to pay for air. Shit, I said that now. The NSA will probably report that brilliant idea to the administration and soon "air bill" deductions will fill everyone's IRS reports.

This may come as a surprise, but not too many decades ago, we DIDN'T have to pay for access to clean water. I'm pretty sure it was one of those inalienable rights we had as a human. We got air, water and not to die, and that was about it. But today, it seems as though its in short supply.

The whole bottled water industry is built on a bet on human stupidity. The first bottled water company started by the owner betting someone else that the average human is so stupid, that he could actually sell them water in a bottle, which was a preposterous notion at the time. You might recognize the name of the company. They still bottle water today. It's Evian. Try flipping that word around and figure out how the owner feels about the consumers. Here, let me do that for you:

E V I A N

N A I V E

Anyway, off of that soapbox, the vast majority of people in America have much lower water intakes than they need to function at their best. Especially if you follow this blog and are a fitness hobbyist or bodybuilder, or just anyone who wants to change their body composition for the better, really large quantities of water intake is necessary to you. Bear in mind, I say "really large" in comparison to how much you probably drink a day, which statistics say is an average of 8 oz., which is less than a can of coke. You should be having a gallon a day. If you are trying to build muscle or burn fat, then you might want to kick that number up to a gallon and a half. And I don't mean just liquids, I mean pure, unflavored, unsweetened, H20. If you add sugar, or flavoring, then the body doesn't immediately recognize it as water, and the absorption drops from 100% down to around 20%. In fact, some drinks, like soda, coffee, or alcohol, actually rob your body of what water you already have, causing you to dehydrate, and even store excess water on your belly like some kind of weird, fat, backward camel.

Bottom line, you need to drink more water. Here's why:

• Water keeps you from being dehydrated. This may seem like a no-brainer, but lack of water can do some horrible shit to you. Headaches, fatigue, joint pain, and even death can be caused from a lack of water.
• Almost all body functions occur on water's back. More equals better body functionality.
• Water is essential for digestion, chemical reactions and absorption of nutrients. 
• Water transports waste material from your body.
• Water is necessary for circulation. You are more well oxygenated with enough water.
• Waters removes toxins from the body.
• Water keeps the body cooler, more efficiently.
• Here is what you were waiting for: Water causes you to store less fat, retain less excess water, and build muscle faster.

You heard it right, water can intensify the results of any diet or exercise. Studies show that people who drink enough water have fewer fat deposits on their body than people who don't. Also, people who drink more water have less sodium, which means that their body doesn't soak up water and store it in awkward places like the belly. Finally, all body functions, including the holiest process, the making of gainz, the building of muscle, occurs best when you are properly hydrated.

This is something I struggle with. I do love me some Coke Zero. (sponsor) But starting today, I will be having at least a gallon a day, and I'll aim for a gallon and a half. 12 16 oz bottles will get me to 192 oz which is 1.5 gallons for you mathematically impaired readers.

I will have a gallon a day, unquestionably. I have decided. Somebody stop me. See what happens.

Day 26 - The Power of Decision

I want to check in on you today. How is your New Year Resolution going? Statistics say that most of you have given up by now. You've gotten distracted; you've returned to what's normal and comfortable and let go of the end goal, and therefore have lost what progress you've made.

What's the difference between the people who have given up and the people who are still going? I am willing to bet that it all comes to down to the level of commitment. The people who are still going, still making gainz, still reading, still writing, still abstaining, whatever, are doing so NOT because they are smarter, fitter, wealthier, a particular racial/sexual/ethnic/religious group, they are doing so BECAUSE they made a decision.

They decided, without compromise, what was going to happen. When they made a change, they didn't offer themself a suggestion, they didn't hope, they didn't wish, they didn't say "man, it sure would be nice if (whatever the fuck) could be different, maybe I'll try," they said "listen up, world, this is the way it's going to be from now on, and you can try and stop me, but I'll mess you up."

The human brain is a phenomenal machine, capable of things beyond imagination. For those of you who don't know what the mind can do, try a quick google search of neuro-immunology, or what the monks who practice Tum-mo meditation can do with their bodies. What else explains the 30% success rate of placebo?

All of the great things in history, all of the people who changed the world, or created something new, or overcame seemingly irresistible obstacles, or left their mark on mankind, did so because they harnessed this incredible power that comes from a mind made up.

Anthony Robbins is always talking about "the Giant within" and the "power" inside your mind. He postulates that if you were to focus your mind 100% on any ONE goal, that you would accomplish it, no questions asked. I'm inclined to believe him, as there are thousands of people in the world who say his motivational speaking and writing has changed their lives.

Try this little exercise. I've had a lot of fun with this one. Ask your brain a question. It doesn't have to be something crazy, just like "what should I eat for lunch tomorrow?" or "what crazy story would I write in a journal if I had one?" and then move on. Don't allow yourself to get frustrated over not knowing the answer. Be excited that it will come to you. Then live your life, holding that question in your head. Focus on it as you drive, as you cook, as you fold clothes, as you watch T.V., and soon, you will be amazed by the brain coming to you and answering the question for you.

Your brain stores everything that ever happened to you. Your brain is capable of performing mathematical/logical/rational work that even some of the supercomputers of the world struggle with, but all of this is right under the surface. You use it by focus.

I dare you. Pick a goal. Hold it in your head. Visualize the end result. Ask your brain how to do it. Then decide that you WILL accomplish it, no matter what. Don't accept no for an answer. Don't let your brain believe that giving up is an option, and it won't be. Your mind will twist the circumstances around until you know exactly what to do.

It's an unstoppable force. Use it.

Day 25 - Heroes

In Robert Bly's learned and enlightened book, "Iron John," in which he uses Jungian principles to analyze the old Grimm fairy tale of the same name, he makes powerful contentions about the development of man in the United States. He laments the absence of a male "initiation" and talks of the growing ocean between fathers and sons. In older cultures, boys would be taken away from their parents and be given a physical, mental and spiritual education, a baptism by fire, with other men. In some more recent cultures, the father is involved as an educator and spiritual leader, but there is still a strong masculine presence required for healthy growth and manhood.

Unfortunately, as both Bly and Dr. Robert Glover in his book, "No More Mr. Nice Guy," they find that the modern man has been pushed away from masculinity, and shamed from his manhood, and is underdeveloped as a man, and so becomes a "nice guy" who is sweet and passive, giving all of himself for no return, in hopes that someone will give him validation or respect (which never happens) he lives his whole life being denied, shamed, pushed, until his middle years and later when he is dull, emotionally broken and numb, and abandoned by the others in his life, particularly the women.

There isn't really a place for boys (and men looking to better themselves also) to find that extra-familial, external, masculine influence in today's America. In the military, drill sergeants play a role that harkens to it, but is a poor facsimile in that the military only cares about the physical fitness of the soldier and that he obeys orders, not that he becomes a mentally, spiritually, emotionally healthy man.

For myself, and I think a lot of people out there, I found a way that allows me to create external pivots and inspirations, role models and motivators, but also requires vigilance and responsibility.

I am a firm believer in heroes. I think it is no wonder that strong male characters in movies, books, comics, video games attract so much attention and legacy among modern men. Where else are we getting a good example of what a healthy, happy, virile, masculine man is like?

There is a point in young male life, when a boy finds a hero and tries to emulate him exactly. It is very important for parents and societies to monitor over who the boys choose, and be sure to provide good, healthy examples of masculinity. He can't be too soft or passive, nor can he be overly-violent and irrational.

Vladimir Putin has, in my opinion, been providing a good public example of what masculinity, checked and tempered, looks like. He is not overtly violent, yet he allows himself to do virile, manly, powerful things. He allows himself to be photographed doing things that are not only extremely masculine, but are also things that require years of dedication, discipline and focus to accomplish, such as piloting a jet, fly-fishing, or wrestling bears. In this way, (despite all of the unsavory, illicit things he may be doing behind the curtain) he has become a good father figure for all the men of Russia.

In our country, however, we don't have that kind of praised masculinity. Ours is stomped out and shamed away, for in terms of civil rights and social evolution, there has been a sea change since the 1960s (arguably the 1940s) and there might not be a healthy conclusion for decades to come.

Since I am not given heroes, I go out and find heroes and role models everywhere, and when I find them, I internalize them, take parts from them that I want for myself, give respect to who and what they are and move on.

I'd like to share a few of mine (coming from history, literature, movies, even comics) to give you some examples:

Theodore Roosevelt overcame his weak, sickly origins to become one of the manliest, most successful (debatably) and memorable presidents this country has ever had. He made a habit of meeting goals, breaking obstacles, fixing problems, and doing it all with a manly vigor and swagger. (see: Theodore Rex at Amazon)

Ernest Hemingway displayed both a spirit of adventure and masculine creativity, turning his desire for a manly realization into the seeds that grew into Nobel-prize winning literature.

Sherlock Holmes is known for his incredibly sharp mind, memory and inductive skills. He is a marvelous example of the power that comes when a man focuses on a goal and skill so extremely that he lives it.

Superheroes are easy examples. Superman is a self-sacrificing force of absolute good, the same archetype as Jesus the Christ or Krishna as a role model. The Batman is a complete display of abstinence in the face of goal-reaching, just like the Buddha. Right now, I am spending quite a bit of time thinking about Marvel's Thor. Chris Hemsworth's Thor in the current Avengers movies is awesome, but he is not the same character that reads in the stories. The current Marvel NOW! Thor title, "God of Thunder," may be one of the best comics I've ever read. It shows Thor from the past, present, and future. In the past, Thor is strong, virile, sexual, and cocky. In the future, Thor is majestic, regal, stern and fatherly. In the present, Thor is responsible, jovial, extroverted, and inexorable in his decision-making and goal-meeting. One of the things that the three Thors share that I find to be particularly inspiring, is their willingness to make a decision, to give their word, to be supremely confident that they will accomplish that goal, and be true to their word, and be happy and brag about the results. It feels very right, very masculine to me. I take that with me as I grow into a better man.

The identity of the heroes in your life can be the most beneficial influence to you, or the most destructive. Take caution to watch who you emulate and learn from. Go out into the world and find men that inspire you, that make you better, that make you less ashamed to be a man, and more happy to be alive.

Day 24 - Boy Things

Sometimes, when you're a guy, you have to go hang out with the guys, and do guy things.

My big brother lives with me here in this city, but he is older, married and has a kid, so I can't see him much, and when I do, he has his wife and kid with him. (Not a problem, I love you, sis!) We don't really get to get together much and do boy things.

My three or four best guy friends live in another city, and although we still communicate every day via text or facebook, we only get together once or twice a month in person. 

Where I live, I don't really get any time to be social and let off steam with other guys. Some people might consider that growing up, but I don't know. I may be a bit of a hedonist, but in my experience, if it feels good, and I crave it, then there is probably a reason that I should be partaking in it.

A few weeks back, I was starting to feel myself get into a rut. It happens sometimes; work gets overwhelming, relationship grow tired or strained, the weather may be funky, there are millions of reasons that the average resonating emotional level may dip. (It may even be the much alluded to man-struation) But for whatever reason, things weren't looking up naturally as they tend to do for me.

At the same time, it was grating on me that it had been a long time since I have spent some quality, in-person time with my guy friends, just shooting the shit and doing boy things. I hadn't put these two facts together in my head quite yet, but don't worry, I got there eventually.

I went to go see my friends, and of course, had a great time. We didn't break any laws, but we behaved like hooligans, obnoxiously, and let a little bit of our natural testosterone-ignited belligerence out. It felt great, like it always did. And when I returned, I found an emotional strength and resilience that I had temporarily lost.

It occurred to me then that it was important that I should seek out bro-time because it was obviously healthy for my mood and, by extension, my hormonal health. I did a little bit of research.

Several studies, example, have shown that it is beneficial to a man's mental health to get together with other guys (small group of around four) and just "do things." 

My friends and I like to speculate that it is testosterone pheromones in the air, infusing and creating a positive feedback loop of masculinity, which is probably true to some degree, but for the most part, it may just be the power of connecting closely and intimately with another person. Other theories is that a group such as this is the perfect incubator for laughter, emotional expression and candidness, which multiple studies have determined conclusively have a magical effect on mental health, physical health and even alleviate symptoms of depression.

The stress-relieving time spent with other guys can be any sort of thing, most studies cite activities like playing/watching sports, getting some beers at a pub and complaining about the women in their lives, or just chilling on the couch and playing a round of Halo.

Regardless, the benefits are immediately obvious, statistically supported, and anecdotally effective. I have resolved to go out of my way to spend extra time in person with my guy friends, and so should you.

Sometimes you have to go out with the boys and do boy things.

Day 23 - Cold Showers

You may think I'm crazy over this one. A lot of people do. Most people know me as someone who A) does a lot of needless research into things most people don't invest a lot of thought in, and B) sharing the results with people against their will. However, most of the knowledge I acquire and sharing I do is welcome, annoying, but welcome, because a lot of the times, the truth is intuitive. For example, when I dove into high-fat, low-carb living and the paleolithic diet, that makes sense, so people rolled their eyes when I taught them, but they listened.

This is another story. Everyone that I tell about this looks at me like I just lost the special olympics.

For the past several weeks, I've been taking frigidly cold showers.

I know, I know. I'm out of my mind. But just listen to what the studies have to say about it.

Cold showers (specifically cold water immersions, but who the fuck is going to just dunk themselves in cold water? showers make it millions of times easier) have been statistically proven to:

• improve the immune system (children in other counties, specifically Sweden and Siberia, that are exposed to the cold purposefully, usually by some ritual, are considerably more likely to pass healthily through cold or flu season without getting sick than a kid that did not participate)
• improves blood circulation (cold water immersions force your body to flow blood to the vital organs, which improves the circulation over time)
• improves thermogenesis (body heat production and temperature regulation improve considerably after using cold water immersions for a period of time)
• mood health (due to the large amount of temperature receptors in the skin, a cold water immersion sends a HUGE bunch of electrical impulses to the brain, which results in an anti-depressive effect)
• improve skin and hair (the cold water immersion shrinks pores in the skin, keeping it looking healthy and feeling smooth; it also doesn't dry out your hair the way hot water does; its been shown to make hair shinier as well)
• improve hormone balance (cold water baths correlate with high testosterone; you know how I feel about this)
• improve sexual health/fertility (those same hormones that improve keep your sexual bits functioning better; guys who take cold showers have a higher sperm count on average)
• improve energy levels (the many cold receptors in the skin all responding to the temperature change at once causes many of the body functions to move faster than normal, including heartbeat, which speeds you up a little bit)
• improves lymphatic movement (helps your body clean out your cells better)
• decreases inflammation (alleviates DOMS by constricting the veins throughout the body and removing toxins from the blood; this can lead to a superior pace of reparation of muscles and tendons after exercise)
• improve breathing (cold water immersions naturally open up the lungs to bring in more oxygen)
• improve sleep (the relaxed feeling after getting out of the cold shower, and also the improved thermogenesis cause a deeper and more restful sleep)
• improve stress tolerance (gives the body a higher tolerance for stress which over time leads to a strengthening of the body and hardening of the immune system)
• improves metabolism (here is the BIG ONE, speeds up the metabolism which directly improves fat burn and muscle production; HOOOAAAAH)
• also: reduces chronic pain and back aches, improves kidney function, regulates the nervous system AND helps fight fatigue.

That's quite a mouthful. If there was a pill that could do all of that, any person would take it. So why not cold showers then?

Because they're fucking cold.

Don't worry. You start to get used to it around the 3rd or 4th shower.

Also, just a sidenote, a quick cold shower a day will do no harm to you whatsoever, but some statistics show that prolonged exposure to cold water (several hours a day, like that's going to happen) will cause the body to store excess fat to warm itself, kind of like the same reason so many long distance runners have so little muscle and so much fat. But taking normal length showers (5-15 minutes a day) will not cause this to happen.

Source

Day 22 - Nootropics - N-Pept10

So, bro, when you're heading down the road to self-improvement, you occasionally head down to local iron temple and pray to the all-father, Brodin, and offer up to him a set of squats or deads in exchange for those holy gainz, the blessings he grants to you that manifest as increased muscle size, density and strength.

But for some people, myself included, muscle gainz are not enough. For us, our goals also include the coveted Brain Gainz.

There is an exciting field of drug and supplementation aimed at this very idea. Most of these supplements are referred to as "nootropics," latin for "brain bender."

There are a wide variety of nootropics available, and they can range from debatably legal stimulants, to simple herbs and vitamins that may or may not be in your diet already.

The biggest, and one of the most researched kind of nootropic, is a racetam. Piracetam, and the others in the family are chemicals derived from GABA that enhance neural and vascular brain functions. Studies demonstrate that using these drugs can alleviate symptoms of alzheimer's, dementia, depression and other diseases, as well as simply increasing memory ability, including storing and retrieving. Also, the drug is shown to cause permanent positive changes in the users, and has a cumulative effect. Racetams in particular have shown little to no negative side effects.

There are many other kinds of nootropics. Here is an extremely shortened list:

• vitamin B
• choline
• Omega-3
• vitamin D
• Biopterin
• L-DOPA
• amphetamines
• adrenergics
• nicotine
• caffeine
• rosemary
• sage
• serotonergics
• lemon balm
• kava
• theanine
• ginkgo biloba
• DHEA
• royal jelly
• noopept

That last one is an interesting one to take a look at. The russians have been playing with noopept for a while. Their studies indicated an effectiveness that exceeds 1000x that of piracetam, the most widely used nootropic in the world. It shows an increase in cognitive function, improved memory, and it is said to completely wipe out symptoms of anxiety, irritability and sleep disorders.

Guess which one I got?

Yep, I will be taking N-Pept10, a noopept that was recommended to me by Jamie Lewis. I have been taking it before my writing sessions every day, and I will continue to use them daily until I run out of them.

My writing has been incredibly productive lately. Only time will tell.

Day 21 - Week Three Progress

The lion's share of the brodyssey is behind me. The changes are starting to seem permanent. I am getting to the stage when these duties and responsibilities and commitments I have given myself are starting to feel like habits.

Good. That's exactly what I wanted.

I haven't yet had the same stew twice. I've had sweet ginger stews, and spicy chipotle stews, goat stews off the bone, and tender lamb and beef stews, I've had leftover stews where I have dumped the contents of my fridge in the stew pot, half cause I was hungry, and half because I needed to clean all that crap out.

My waist keeps getting visibly smaller. I am getting more and more comments and compliments on the trimness of my waist. I was even told my face looked the way it did when I was in college. (how flattering) I am getting quite a bit more attention, winks and smiles, as I go about my life. It may be the trimness of my waist, or the bolstering of my shoulders, maybe even healthier skin, but perhaps its just the vitality of being healthier and more satisfied with a day's work.

I haven't made any official measurements, but I highly suspect that I have fallen below 188 lbs. I am also finding that several of my larger medium-sized shirts don't fit over my shoulders/arms anymore. It's a good problem to have. I have not, however, developed any stretch marks as I did on Leo Costa's BBB. But the time is not up and more growth is to be made before the end.

I have begun to hunger to read. Reading just one book at a time hasn't been enough for me lately, I've been combing through a couple simultaneously. I'm still chewing my way through Hemingway's complete short stories, but I also picked up a few pieces of fiction similar in tone to the book I am trying to write.

Speaking of that, I, as I predicted, have experienced times of radical productivity, sometimes producing up to 5000 words a day on my story. I am very proud to watch it grow.

In general, I have found myself becoming change-oriented. I have started to look around in my life and determine what I can improve, how I can improve, what new habits I should be developing and what things I need to just let fall by the wayside. In a way, it puts a burden on me to keep moving forward, but the momentum is a positive force and the direction in which I move is beneficial to me.

Just recently, I had to turn down the offer of going on a nice trip with my family in order to continue with the brodyssey. It was a difficult decision to make, but I was able to make it. Many of my responsibilities would have become nearly impossible had I accepted. I can only hope my productive streak will continue through that time.

I am extremely thankful that I began this journey. It has led me to make a few changes and create some new habits that will last the rest of my life. Ambition is rampant. In fact, I may even have a few announcements on this blog toward the end of the upcoming week...

Day 20 - Anabeta Elite - Test Support

For anyone following along, you know why I'm doing this. Virility Labs, LLC believes in the power of the male hormone, testosterone. Our first and flagship product, for which we are raising funds to launch right now, is a sexuality-focused testosterone supportive supplement, and the best of its kind.

One of the reasons we know of the value of having high, healthy levels of testosterone is the experimentation that we did on our test levels for other purposes. We have tried dozens and dozens of testosterone boosting supplements (all legal) for a few years, searching for the best utilization for muscle growth.

On all of them (that actually work, do some basic research, the vast majority of the time, user reviews will sift the scams from the gems) there is a definite difference in the resting feeling and disposition you experience while on a testosterone supplement. There is a vigor, a power, an obnoxious healthy confidence that comes from higher test levels. This feeling, created by the increased amount of the male sex hormone, is a mood stabilization, which is one of the things that is directly caused by healthy testosterone.

You will notice a little bit more swagger in your step, your voice may sound a bit deeper, you may think a bit sharper, you will definitely be a bit hornier, you will be hungrier and will sleep more deeply, and your body will certainly respond more readily to diet and exercise. Testosterone keeps your body anabolic, building muscle and dissuading it from storing fat.

Of all of the testosterone-supporting supplements I've ever taken, the one that gave me the best experience, AND satisfied the mind most with excellent and thorough research is Anabeta Elite from P.E.S. (Physique Enhancing Science).

It has three primary functions. First of all, it is an anabolic agent, because of Anacyclus pyrethrum DC Extract, which keeps the body in a constant state of anabolism, a state of growth. Because of this, you will find yourself hungrier, more energetic, and craving lots of good sleep at night, because your body simply needs those things to keep up with the demand for growth the supplement is giving you.

Secondly, forskolin, a very pure form of that extract actually, is included to keep testosterone levels high constantly throughout use of the supplement and should combat most of the [modest] androgenic effects of the pill.

Lastly, 5-Adrosten-3ß,7ß-diol-17-one  is a blocker of the cortisol pathway. Cortisol is a naturally occurring hormone in the body, released during times of stress, that store fat and eat away at the body, a form of catabolism, or destruction. This ingredient, along with the whole, makes sure your body is only building muscle and not tearing it down.

It's very important that if you use this powerful testosterone supplement, (it's not as natural, cumulative, or long-term friendly as Virility Labs' Virility Vitamin) that you cycle off of it after a month of use. A great idea would be to take Anabeta Elite for a month, followed by a month of a natural product that causes the body to produce more testosterone than normal to combat the tiny t-crash you're sure to experience afterward.

However, with proper education and application, Anabeta Elite can be one of the best muscle-building supplements in the world, which is exactly why I made it part of the Brodyssey.

Day 19 - Mass Pro Synthagen - Optimal Muscular Recovery

Rob Regish over there, working with the Mass Pro guys (muscle and sports science), has put together something that he truly believes in.

When it comes to building muscle, there are several factors that needs to in proper place and order for all the processes to ignite. There needs to be stimulation, obviously, working out demonstrates a need for a change, that's why we push the limits of volume and weight load when we lift.

We also need proper hormonal support and all of the necessary building blocks of muscle so that when the process begins, it can function optimally.

However, for anyone that didn't go to school to study this stuff (anatomy & physiology, biology, sports science) like me, there isn't much of an option when it comes to making educated decisions about this stuff other than working out hard, and staying on top of your nutrition and diet. It all just confuses and mystifies in a garbled mess of numbers, symbols and latin words and abbreviations.

I did Rob's Blueprint a while back, and his book (The Blueprint 3.0) described the integral importance of intra-workout supplementation. He claimed in fact, that if you were to abandon all other forms of supplementation in the book, and only kept one, it NEEDS to be a peri-workout drink.

He put together this concoction, called "The Formula." I certainly don't want to give you the exact contents, as I don't want to dissuade you from buying the book and checking it out. It's quite extensive, and founded in legitimate scientific study. But "The Formula" was his ideal intra-workout supplement. As well as a few sources of amino acids, there were even some unexpected ingredients that Rob claimed to have shaken his knowledge of muscle science. It was new for me also, and I tried it and really enjoyed it.

However, as time went on, being the inquisitive and perfection-seeking weirdo that I am, I reached out to Rob for some guidance when it came to specifics and modifications. I talked to him about his "Formula," and how I could optimize it for the best with my lifestyle. He told me something both frustrating and exciting. He said that, unfortunately, even though his "Formula" was incredible at doing what it was purported to do, he and the guys over at Mass Pro found something even better.

They had put together a supplement that did everything that the "Formula" did, as well as being the best restorative product on the market. I did some study on it, and found that it has been shown to help lifters recover so quickly from their workouts that they could squeeze extra lifts in. I jumped all over it, and ordered a twin pack.

It contains the complete ProtoGeneX Amino Acid Matrix, giving the muscles all of the necessary fuel to rebuild, as well as a gamut of further power-packed ingredients. More information on the exact contents, uses, and reviews, check here.

After a six-week cycle of Mass Pro Synthagen, I found it to be far superior in promoting muscular recovery and preparing me for my next workout than just a simple whey protein shake. (Still take those, please.)

When I started the brodyssey, to give myself the best chance of succeeding using my program and diet, I knew I had to get the best recovery formula I've tried so far.

Only the results will tell.

Day 18 - ECDYsterone

Ecdysterone is a testosterone-like substance found in plants and some water-dwelling animals. It is used mostly to ensure proper nutrient distribution of the plant, and is the source of energy insects receive when they eat plants.

This is an extremely polarizing supplement. On the one hand, there are many websites and sources (including some very reputable ones) that say that the product has no effect on humans whatsoever. They say that there have been no clinical studies that determine its efficacy as a muscle-builder, which is true, however, it hasn't been tested on humans yet, so its hard to say, just based on that assumption, that it doesn't work.

The other group is equally as vehement. There are many users (unaffiliated with a distributor) that claim to have received incredible results from taking the product. Granted, there isn't an exact dosage guide, and there have been multiple sources giving different recommendations. Even some of the biggest critics of the supplement claim that there is an "effective dose" but that it would be hundreds of milligrams a day.

I can weigh in on this, as I have tried the product before, in Mass Pro's Kre-Anabolyn. After four weeks, I found an increased rate of muscle production than the four weeks prior, all being equal with program intensity and diet. It was enough of a noticeable difference to include the product permanently in my supplementation. I did play with the dosage a bit.

Robert Regish's groundbreaking program, The Blueprint, has a strong foundation on the use of Ecdysterone, though says its not the single MOST important supplement. Rob is a big proponent of intra-workout supplementation, karbolyn or the like, which is a whole nother divisive topic for a whole nother day.

On his program, he had my multiply my usual daily dose of Kre-Anabolyn by a factor of 3, and although I did experience positive results from the program, I can't definitively say that the increased dosage resulted in an increased effectiveness.

Therefore, for the brodyssey, I am multiplying my original dosage by a much more manageable 1.5, and spreading it evenly throughout the day.

Here are the purported benefits over time for a four-week trial of Kre-Anabolyn, that I personally did experience on my first cycle with the product.

Within the first 3 days
-deeper sleep
-noticeable increase in VO2 max
-increased thirst

Within the first 2 weeks
-noticeable decrease in DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)
-improved intra-set recovery
-improved inter-workout recovery
-ability to move more total tonnage per unit of time

After week 3 and beyond
-profound decrease in DOMS
-big improvement in intra-set recovery, by as much as 30 seconds with the ability to move the same weight/reps
-ability to squeeze at least one extra workout in per week due to improved recovery
-visible increase in lean body mass
-visible leaning effect

Not only did I notice all of these improvements, but I noticed a radical decrease in my recovery time my first week off the supplement.

You may also notice your nails and hair growing faster.

My personal experience: a great product that can deliver what it promises providing that you experiment with it enough to find your own unique dosage requirements based on your activity level and tolerance.

Day 17 - On Supplementation

The efficacy of supplementation when it comes to body composition change (building muscle or burning fat) is challenged and debated from every group in the world. For every supplementary additive, there is a group that believes its the best thing since sliced bread and another that believes it is an absolute waste of money and effort.

Of the very, very few for which there is unanimous agreement that it actually improves body composition, most of those are illegal and have debilitating side effects, but work they do, and they work very well.

For someone using anabolic steroids, or human growth hormone, or a myostatin inhibitor, their muscle growth rate is faster AT REST (ie, not working out at all) than the most extreme athlete performing the most extreme body-ripping exercise.   These supplements come at a cost. Their effectiveness must be balanced by their risk. Anabolic steroids can be dangerously androgenic. This means that the introduced hormonal testosterone will cause the male hormone producing glands (the testes) to atrophy since the body no longer needs to produce its own, leading to, among other things, shrinking testicles, hair loss, mammary development, mood swings, severe acne, etc.

Steroids, along with HGH and MI, can also cause muscle growth to outpace the growth of the connective tissue and bone density, increasing the chances of serious injury or death.

Injecting anything at home comes with a high risk of infection, hemorrhage or internal rot.

MI aren't even finished with human trials, so we have no idea what other horrible side-effects they may have.

There are a few good things that we are mostly positive provide us with beneficial advantages to composition change that don't kill us or cause us to go to jail.

For one, we are relatively certain that eating high quantities of protein lends the building blocks necessary for muscle growth, they also take more effort to digest which burns calories. Even so, there is still a lot of debate about how much protein is necessary if any at all. Some claim that there is no upper limit to what can be processed and lifters should eat hundreds of grams a day. Some claim that the body can only process up to 40g per sitting (a tad more during the anabolic window - the 15-45 minutes following a resistance workout in which nutrition is crucial). And others still, claim that the body only needs 50-100g per day. (I think this group has their heads up their asses.)

The general consensus is that high-quality animal protein (whey, egg, casein) supplemented all day, particularly during the anabolic window, will lead to improved muscle development and fat loss. Studies show less development with rice or soy protein. (Never eat soy anyway, unless you are of east asian descent and have developed an immunity. Seriously, it does all the nasty hormonal things to your body that steroids do, just without any muscle growth or man rage.)

Another, creatine monohydrate, a substance found primarily in beef, is found to speed up the absorption of liquid into the muscles after training, and has been found to provide cumulative benefits. The debate on this substance is if supplementation is required, since it is part of most people's diet anyway. Most serious lifters make a habit of cycling creatine.

A particularly recent addition to this group is fatty acids, particularly omega-3. It's benefits to the endocrine system and hormonal health are said to increase and stabilize muscle production.

One of the newest would be Vitamin D. Conclusions are reserved for further study.

For the next few posts, I will be highlighting other, less widely used/known supplements that I am sampling on the brodyssey. I will share the science behind it, the purported benefit, and my experience so far.

Day 16 - Hemingway's Boat

It is a marvelous thing, to complete something. As I've done many times before, and as I long to do thousands of times in the future, I finished a book in its entirety and I sat it down. A surreal and focusing thing. As per usual, I would find hours in the middle when I would hurry through passages and arcs, and then have the opposite feeling at the end.

With Hemingway's Boat, I lamented the final few pages turning. I feel of the whole that it was a part Sri Yoganada's other which gave unto myself. This is undoubtedly the feeling that Roosh wanted for me. He wanted me to feel a masculine inspiration and education from a great man that did great things.

Paul Hendrickson, a senior lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, who has written several award-winning pieces of nonfiction, has written about Hemingway, in a way (to my untrained eye) that reminds me of the way Hemingway wrote.

A description of the way Hemingway wrote has been called the "iceberg theory," in that you only see a fraction. A famous example is the "Snows of Kilimanjaro," a tragedy about a man, Harry, who has found himself dying while dissatisfied with the events of his life. Instead of writing about Harry trying to escape the painful minutiae of his life, Hemingway instead writes the details that Harry focuses on in lieu, showing you, only the tip of the iceberg, but leading to a more powerful, fuller understanding of the whole.

Hendrickson has done something similar with his biography of Papa. (although he and others may disagree) He has written the story of the man, focusing on details here and there, chasing rabbits across time and space, at times departing from Hemingway by decades and thousands of miles to tell his story. The central detail, about which the book revolves, is, of course, Pilar, Hemingway's beloved fishing boat.

All of the chapters and rabbit holes and wild goose chases begin on, end at, or encounter that boat.

Soon after the beginning, we learn of Hemingway's desire for a boat. He had corresponded to friends and family for years (a lot of the details of the story came from Hemingway's personal letters, about which he was devoted to the style, manner, and constancy) about wanting the boat before he ever got it. And the boat came to him at just the time when the world had opened, displaying its pearl to the author.

Hendrickson followed the shipmakers, and the wives, and the traveling companions, and the rivals, and the friends turned foes (of whom there were many), and the lovers, and the lifelong bosom buddies of the man off into their own stories so that we can understand how they came to be with Hemingway on that boat.

The boat was made into a powerful metaphor for that which Hemingway loved, for not only could it soothe the man in his most famously negative spirals, but his relationship with it showed a telling insight into his mind, mood and creativity.

In his final few months, right about the time Hemingway found himself unable to write a single sentence, and would soon elect, in the masculine, Hemingway-tradition, to end his own life before it could be taken from him, his visits to his precious Pilar occurred more and more seldom.

Reviews of the book, (which almost unanimously claim it to be spectacular) use the term, "heartbreaking," frequently in their descriptions.

I made it through 98% of the book without a broken heart. I relished it, and felt deeply many of the events within it. I felt inspired, empathetic, and connected, even through the many tragedies, but not once did I feel heartbroken, until page 604. Throughout the entirety of the book, Hendrickson had been careful to include writing from Hemingway himself. He shared Ernest's penchant for simple, masculine description, how he was so invested into detail and observation, and in his writing, and even note-keeping on accounts and so forth, he was painstakingly transparent of the details. He wrote about them in such a way that he didn't paint the picture for the reader, he gave them the paintbrush and told them what to paint.

But on page 604, very near the twilight of Papa's life, he went on a journey from Key West to Ketchum, and kept the barest of notes. Their simplicity was startling, as if another man had written them, or a same man who had given up.

"It was as if the observer of the natural world, whose emphasis had always been on what could be seen and felt, never noticed a bird, a sunset, a tree, a dog, a mountain, let alone a passing car, or another human being."

The book was heartbreaking, as well as inspiring and educational. It has planted seeds in my mind, some of which I will discard into nothingness, others will grow into impassable oaks. I am not now, nor will I ever be, the same, because of Hemingway's boat.

Day 15 - The Writer's Challenge

This is something about which many of the readers will disagree: I have a very powerful belief in creating. I think that it is the purest, and most satisfying of jobs, to create something new. I do not think that it is by accident that many of the most well-paying jobs, and many of the wealthiest/famous people in history were creative in nature. To make something that has never before seen the light of day, and leave it in the world for all time, to be remembered and known, is the closest thing we can find to immortality.

Some people might find a creative/artistic career to be feminine in nature; I disagree. It is my contention that many (if not most) of the greatest creative and artistic minds of all time were men, and it is my belief that there is no other kind of job that can fulfill a man to such an absolute degree.

Whatever the creation is, a new company, a new product, a painting, a song, a book, a piece of furniture, a sculpture, a design, a computer, whatever, it is nourishment for the soul to create. To create, truly, is to be a playmate with God.

There are many things I endeavor to create in my lifetime, many of them very ambitious and complex, but perhaps among the simplest and most direct of them, I desire to write. I have written before. In fact there are multiple books on sale at Amazon.com with my pen name across the top, but I don't take any credit for it. I have lent my talents and vision to family and friends' dreams and creations, and once even, I tried to copy another's formula for a successful novel to create a marginally (better than average, but nothing like I'd like it to be) large selling work, but it was not inspired, nor was the dream ever mine.

I want to create something, to write a story, to paint a picture with words, that others will read and desire to own for themselves. I want to make something that will bring my name to tongues around the world. The story must be an inspiration of mine, the language, the diction, must be my own, the themes and characters must be of my mind, and the story and its implications must be born from my own life.

Since I have this goal, (presumably many goals, since I will probably write many books in my lifetime, hoping that just one of them is the creation I am longing for) it only makes sense to apply the challenge of the brodyssey to it.

Romance author, Shannon Evers, issued a Writer's Challenge quite a time ago. She urged any aspiring writer to just type 1000 words a day, every day, until the book was completed. This kind of segmentation of goals is the stuff from which success is born.

She adopted that challenge for herself, and now she is a successful author of more than 20 books.

Miss Evers and I are moving artistically in very different directions, but that doesn't mean that I can't use her challenge and ambition to reach my own goals.

When I started this challenge, I only had a very basic premise of what my story would look like. I knew how it would feel. I knew the truths I wanted to be in it, and I knew from where I could find most of my inspiration, but actual facts and details of the story, I had very little of.

But this challenge forced me to sit every day, and invest thought and time and words into the story. Truthfully, some days I did not have 1000 words to give to the story, because there was not yet a story to write. Now, however, I am proud to announce that the difficult part is over. I forced myself to sit and work on this book every day, and now the full outline of events is complete, chapter by chapter. I have begun writing it, and the words flow easily.

When you have a goal, whatever it may be, if you just take a tiny step in the direction of its completion every day, even if its a TINY step in the direction of a MASSIVE goal, you are still getting closer. And with every step you take, you will find that the next step is even easier, until eventually, your momentum catches you up, and sweeps you down with it, and your mind creates things about which you've only dreamed.

Go create something.

Day 14 - Week Two Progress

The halfway mark is approaching. So far, I would have to consider the brodyssey a success, based on strictly nominal progress observations.

Generally, I am feeling a growing habit of achievement forming. I feel dissatisfied if, at the end of the day, I haven't accomplished as much as I have in my most productive of days. Consequently, with that habit comes a sense of purpose, of self-realization, that only the most devoted of people recognize. This is not indicative of how important my goals are, they are self-serving and egoist at best, they are indicative of the kind of satisfaction that comes with setting a goal and meeting it. It's like taking out a line of credit on your self-esteem. You put your ego on the line by giving yourself a chance to fail, but if you make your payment every day, it grows and grows and grows.

Another pattern I am noticing is a stronger connection with my needs. What I mean by this is that I have started listening to what my body and mind need/want, and therefore my problems/issues (like procrastination, lethargy, hyperactivity) can be solved more easily and efficiently.

This is due perhaps to the amount of attention I am paying to those parts of myself, as in organic, whole foods, high fat, complete nutrient profile, etc. For example, I noticed yesterday that my blood sugar was running low. I knew because of my symptoms (disinclination to work, foul mood, procrastination) combined with my recent meals (almost devoid of foods processed in the blood stream as sugar) so I had some peaches and was almost immediately better.

It may due also to the fact that, through improvement, I am understanding and mastering myself. For example, I have begun to recognize what my average mood/mindset is like from a detached objective viewpoint, and when it is erratic or unpredictable, I have a better, clearer approach to the solution. Instead of thinking from that place, however imbalanced it may be, I can correct it and return to my normal, balanced thinking. (Spend time with your bros and your best guy friends. Few things can improve your mood and mindset more quickly than the positive feedback loop you join when you pal around with other men.)

Specifically, although I refuse to weigh myself or take measurements until the end, I am noticing differences in my body. My shoulders are appearing broader, the definition of my quadriceps is more extreme, my size large shirts are fitting a bit better. I am noticing increases in strength. My rear delt flys workout weight is more than what I thought my 1RM was. My deadlift workout weight is quickly approaching my 1RM. Chin-ups with weight added are feeling easier than ever. Almost across the board, I am noticing more weight being easier with proper form.

Although my abdominal definition only appears marginally better, I feel tighter and fitter. I don't have to think about what I eat anymore. I understand what I should and shouldn't, and then listen to my body after that. It is easier to stop eating when I'm full, and I don't start again until I'm hungry. I am noticing a pattern of eating very little in the morning, but being hungry frequently in the evening. This is similar to the predator eating described by J. Stanton, and to the intermittent fasting program adopted by the Hodge twins.

I am very nearly through "Hemingway's Boat." I am becoming addicted to reading daily. I should finish it tomorrow, and the review will be posted on this blog a few days after.

My writing is kicking off. The first ten or so days of the brodyssey, I struggled to get my daily amount done, sometimes writing my quota of words in other places beside my book, such as a journal or other piece of work for other responsibilities. But I just recently finished the complete outline of the story, and although it may change quite a bit before it finishes, I feel newly inspired, and the words are just ready to flow out. With the outline finished, and me knowing exactly what's going to happen every step of the way, I feel as though the book is more than halfway completed. I wouldn't have finished this biggest step without this challenge and forcing myself to work on it every day.

The supplementation is becoming comfortable and functional. More on this in  later posts.

There is a lot of change happening. And it is leading to new dreams and goals and further changes. I am feeling stirred in the direction of other life-altering moves. As these feelings coalesce, I'll report them to you. But the positive, intangible benefit of passionate pursuit of improvement is as powerful as I anticipated.

Tomorrow: The Writing Challenge

Day 13 - The Big Ass Book Challenge

In "A Song of Fire and Ice," the acclaimed Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin, Jon Snow asks Tyrion Lannister why he reads so much. He responds:

"I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind… and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.” Tyrion tapped the leather cover of the book. “That’s why I read so much, Jon Snow.”

There are hundreds of known benefits to regular reading, some of them more obvious than others. The person who reads more has a better GPA in school, a higher intelligence, more knowledge, a bigger vocabulary, is a better writer, has a better memory, is more creative, and his mind stays sharper longer as he ages. Studies even suggest that it reduces stress, promotes tranquility, and aids in prioritization.

It only makes sense that in a self-improvement journey, I should devote the same kind of effort and commitment to improving my mind as I do my body. The simplest, and yet most powerful challenge I could give myself is simply to chew my way through a very large book. This challenge is described perfectly by the modern philospher, Roosh V, on his YouTube page.

Roosh is a man that recognized faults and shortcomings in himself at a young age, and then devoted himself, inexorably, to solving them. The primary vehicle for his transformation was his desire to become adept at, and develop the necessary skills to, communicate with women in a way to inspire attraction and create the type of relationship he wanted. Since then, he has authored multiple books on the study and process of attracting women, changing the lives of thousands of men around the world. This transformation has spilled over into other parts of his life, however, as he has created a website that has become a mecca for the modern man to find inspiration, motivation and education for their masculinity, to become unapologetic about who they are, and how best to comfortably and happily live out their lives as men, check it out here.

One of the great pieces of advice that Roosh drops on his YouTube channel is the Big Ass Book challenge, in which he challenges guys to read a big-ass book (over 500 pages) in 15 days. 

I jumped on it, but I changed it up a bit. My challenge is 30 days, so I'm doing two.

Roosh suggest that you grab a nonfiction book, preferably historical or biographical with a strong masculine theme or focus. He wants you to better yourself, directly, not just by reading, but from WHAT you are reading. 

I've always been a big reader of nonfiction. I've read history, religion, philosophy, biography, mythology, science, fitness, nutrition, etc. and I've never really been able to dive successfully into fiction. I've read some. I've read the Bond novels, the Sherlock stories, and a few of the classics, but the few dozen I've read have been paltry compared to all I'd like to read.

So for my first book, I did exactly what Roosh suggested. I chose a biography called "Hemingway's Boat." It examines the latter life of Ernest Hemingway, legend, man's man and Nobel-prize winning author, and allegorically juxtaposes it with his relationship with his boat, the fishing ship Pilar.

I chose this book for multiple reasons besides it being exactly the kind that Roosh suggested. It will be an excellent segue into fiction, it will inspire future reading, it will help me conduct a study of successful masculine author, as I would one day like to be, and it will directly help me become a better author.

For my second Big Ass Book, I stepped away from Roosh's suggestions (as is my prerogative since I'm going above and beyond) I will be reading the complete collection of Hemingway's short stories. This will hopefully get me started on a new lifetime habit of digesting fiction.

This challenge will be difficult to measure insofar as to keep quantitative records of progress other than simply finishing the books, so instead I will be writing a short review of both. One upon the completion of each.

Tomorrow: Week 2 update

Day 12 - Hypertrophy Specific Training and My Personal Plan

Since Ridgely determined that HST had the greatest potential to cause hypertrophy (due to its allowing the nervous system to recover between lifts) I decided to commit 6 weeks (4 of which being the brodyssey) to completing a full 3 cycles.

The interesting thing that sets HST apart from my experience, is that it postulates that only 1-2 sets of a lift (with appropriate weight and repetitions) are necessary to cause a hypertrophic response, and any sets in addition to the "effective sets" only burn calories while causing unnecessary and useless stress to the muscle.

According to Bryan Haycock's recommendations, the progressive loading of the lifts increase in weight steadily but quickly and decrease in reps steadily but slowly. This "strategic deconditioning" is purposeful, as studies suggest the muscles respond to an increase in load, even if exposure to the load is reduced. Therefore, it is easy, in a cyclical pattern, to continuously increase load on muscle over the course of multiple cycles.

In addition, giving 48 hours to repair the muscle, and the nervous system muscular activation pathways, it is efficient to work the full body once every other day, 1-2 sets per lift, 1-2 lifts per muscle group. This should provide ample muscular stimulation with minimal time/energy cost, according to Haycock's hypothesis.

My HST plan I prepared for myself is simple, and looks a lot like this:

First 3 workouts are 11 rep sets, and I started with 50% of my 1RM.

The second 3 are 8 reps, and the final 3 are 5.

Every workout, I will add 10 pounds to the load of the bigger, compound exercises, like squat and deadlift, and I will add 2.5-5 for smaller, isolated exercises like curls and lateral raises.

After completing 9 workouts, (which I will finish my first cycle of, this upcoming Wednesday, Day 15 of the brodyssey) I will then return to the rep scheme of the beginning, but only drop half of the added weight load. By doing so, I will ensure that the load will continuously increase until the end of my six week trial.

So far, I have noticed a definite increase in strength, with the loads decreasing in perceived difficulty as the weights increase. I speculate that I have already increased the 1RM for my deadlift and squat, and may even pass the weight of my original 1RM as a 5 rep lift during my third cycle.

More appropriate to the goal, I have also noticed a pump-like swelling of the musculature that never seems to dissipate. It began around the 3rd workout and persists to today.

Based on judgements so far, I am convinced that I will see positive movement toward my goal with this program.

Updates to come.

Tomorrow: The Big Ass Book Challenge - Roosh V and Hemingway

Day 11 - Targeting Hypertrophy

In the time since I've become serious about this little hobby of mine, I have tried dozens and dozens of prescribed workout programs. After a couple years of devoting a lot of time and energy and money into it, you find yourself approaching a bit of a plateau.

I did have some wild success with a few programs. Leo Costa's "Big Beyond Belief" in particular helped grow at such a rate that I developed stretch marks across my chest and shoulders. However, the degree of success I found, was not what I could plainly see by people in the real world.

This observation of radical growth in size and strength seemed to be at odds with the facts and theories presented to me everywhere. On one hand, "experts," scientists, and bros that are big in the gym are all reporting the same story to me: according to every resource available to me in person, there is a strict cap on the rate and limit that someone can grow naturally, and anything past that must be steroid-induced.

I can see individuals, granted that they are movie stars, professional athletes and people of privilege, grow extremely fast, much faster than my own progress of anyone I have met in person. Mark Wahlberg, in preparation for Pain and Gain added 40 pounds of muscle in just three months. Did he use steroids? Henry Cavill added 30 to play Superman in Man of Steel, perhaps the most radical example is Christian Bale's radical transformation in just half a year between his malnourished state in The Machinist and his bulky, athletic shape in Batman Begins. He added 100 pounds.

On the contrary, when I spoke with the "authorities" near me, I found completely different stories. Supposedly, the body can only healthily add one pound of muscle (maybe 2-3) a month, according to the trainers at Gold's Gym. YouTube famous Hodge Twins concur at around 1-2 pounds. The few bodybuilders, (nobody with any international degree of success) I can reach out to, barely gave me the time of day, since I'm such a noob who wants the "easy way," and instead just told me that it took them decades or longer to get there.

I've averaged at around 2-3 pounds a month since I started building myself. (The mean of change, counting the weight at lean periods after cutting cycles) And if that is, truly, the fastest way I can build myself without taking a performance-enhancing drug, then so be it. I will continue. I won't stop until my physique rivals Calum Von Moger with the leanness of Lazar Angelov.

But I'm not convinced that it IS the fastest I can grow. My theory is that there are enlightened individuals in the world that only share their secrets when there are exclusively ridiculous amounts of money, fame or prestige involved, like the invitation-only accessible gym where the bodies behind 300 and Man of Steel were built. (This sounds a lot like the babbling of a conspiracy theorist, doesn't it?)

But I don't have that access, or that type of money or fame, (yet!!) so I have to rely on the only tool I have: my functioning brain.

I have decided to measure growth and progress of multiple programs in six week periods, keep track of which ones work and by how much, compare and contrast them, and work them over until I get it down to a simple formula. What similarity lies between all of the periods of growth? What is different?

I have completed such cycles of Big Beyond Belief, Huge In A Hurry, Body Beast, German Volume Training, Chaos and Pain, and Blueprint. For the brodyssey, I needed to do something special, however. I wanted to do something different, something that challenges my own beliefs and assumptions about weight training, and will teach me new tricks and concepts.

I went to scholarly articles concerning muscle growth so that my attempt will be founded by science. There aren't many studies conducted to determine optimal hypertrophy stimulation, but there was one that stood out. Charles T. Ridgely, M.S., a physicist that has been devoting a lot of his time and energy to all forms of science, particularly bodybuilding, has written an article called Mechanical Model for Analyzing Adaption to Training. In this article, Ridgely applies his understanding of the mechanical motor unit to popular training programs to determine which would produce the best hypertrophic result.

The article, while unable to conclusively report a superiority among the programs, (High Intensity Training, German Volume Training or Hypertrophy Specific Training) did report that Hypertrophy Specific Training (or HST, created by Bryan Haycock) had the greatest potential for producing hypertrophy.

So I picked that one. Tomorrow, I'll break it down for you.

Day 10 - The Science of Building Muscle

I want to go ahead and get this hard bit out of the way, before anyone has anything smart to say about it, or start debating about which method is best, blah di blah. The scientific community DOESN'T FUCKING KNOW the best way to build muscle.

This is a hard truth to swallow, particularly for someone that is trying to break into the world of weight training.

There are a few things that we DO know. We know that there are two forms of hypertrophy (muscle growth), myofibrillar, and sarcoplasmic. Myofibrillar hypertrophy is an increase in the number of contractile proteins increase in number; this directly makes the muscle stronger, and although it does increase the size of the muscle very little, the size growth is minimal. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an increase in the sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cells, growing the cells themselves. This is the kind of muscle growth that bodybuilders aim for primarily as it is what grows the muscle the most, and the fastest.

We have a pretty good grasp of myofibrillar hypertrophy (hereafter referred to as MH) in comparison to sarcoplasmic (hereafter referred to as SH). MH increases with the progressive increasing of stress on the muscle, causing the muscle to need to produce more force. The general consensus, and the prevailing practice, is to load the lifting weight between 60 and 90% of the 1RM (one-rep maximum) and lifting in a rep range of 1-6 repetitions for multiple sets.

Some lifters swear by this method as being the best for developing an ideal body concerning aesthetics as well as functionality. Jamie Lewis' Chaos and Pain program has multiple facets, of multiple kinds of lifts, of multiple manners of lifting, but has a strong foundation in lifting very heavy for sets of low repetitions, and although we know that this is primarily a different kind of muscle development than what would produce the biggest kind of muscle, Jamie is powerfully built, inordinately lean, and, expectedly, very very strong.

Which leads me to my next point: for every kind of method of producing SH (read: larger muscles), there are people that tout it that LOOK JACKED AND AMAZING. It's hard to look someone built like Jamie in the eye and tell him, "umm, actually sir, according to studies, low rep ranges produce primarily myofibrillar hypertrophy," first of all because he'd punch you in the throat, and secondly because he's probably bigger than you.

So my job, in searching out the best way to increase my muscle mass (and strength also, I want to experience an increase in both kinds of hypertrophy, but the mystery of SH is the source of the ignorance) is primarily to experiment. I need to just get in the gym, continuously activate my muscles, and try out every kind of program under the sun to test how my body reacts to each one.

One theory for increasing mass is that it is not the severity of the stress put on the targeted muscle group, but the duration of the stress. The best example for this kind of lifting pattern is what is known as German Volume Training, or GVT.

GVT, famous for it's 100 reps-per-day plan, is simple. You pick a different lift, (in most cases, one per day since the volume is so high) and you perform 10 sets of 10 reps with the same weight. This is designed to keep your muscle operating under the same intensity of stress for the longest possible duration.

The thing about GVT is that, although I could find it recommended EVERYWHERE as the "best" program to build massive amounts of lean muscle in the shortest amount of time, I could find absolutely NO empirical results from a person saying that they grew any faster than with any other program, nor could I find any scholarly article that has produced positive results with that kind of lifting.

Possible criticisms that may lead to its inefficacy may be the infrequency of activation per muscle group. In this pattern, sometimes, an individual muscle may only be activated once a week. Some studies suggest that a muscle is fully repaired and ready to be activated again after 48 hours, and others say that, with proper rest and nutrition, they can perform again in as few as six hours, and begin to atrophy after 48.

It also may be that the reps are so high and the weight so (relatively) low that this program crosses the nigh-imperceptible line into aerobic and cardiovascular exercise. That kind of workout, although proven to be good for your heart health, and burns quite a few calories (if you're into that sort of thing) does very little, if any, good for your body composition change or metabolism.

Again, this program, being without anecdotal proof or clinical evidence, still has hundreds upon hundreds of supporters and trainers using this method to try and add slabs of LBM onto bodies of lifters.

So if it's not a heavy-ass weight for few reps, nor is it light-ass weight for many reps, then how DO you build bigger muscle tissue?

To be continued...

Day 9 - Why Stew-roids? Part 2

For the brodyssey, I needed a diet that would a) get me in the happy place as far as my nutrition is concerned. I need huge amounts of protein and huger amounts of fat, with only a minimum amount of carbohydrate through good vegetables to keep my body nutritioned and energetic. That would b) be a challenging change to my norm, c) bring with it other good habits and benefits into my lifestyle.

Nothing jumps into your head, does it? Yeah, me neither.

But when I read Jamie Lewis' blog about stew being the reason that the western world gets their asses kicked at weight lifting events, I... laughed.

And he expected that, he needed to add, "no, I'm not joking," to the sentence in which he reveals his theory. I read it, because the guy is funny as shit and teaches me things, but admittedly, I skimmed it over and kept on reading through his other posts.

But the idea stewed in my brain for a while, (see what I did there?) and I found myself returning to feed my curiosity.

As Jamie explains, the process of stewing cooks the fat off the meat and into the surrounding broth, which is either absorbed back into the meat or can be drank with the meal, thus keeping more of the nutrition and fat of the meat than in any other form of cooking. Also, since the stew needs thickeners and flavors, you will consume many more vegetables eating meals of stew than not.

The more I thought about it, the more and more excited I became about it. It met all of my criteria; I would have absolute control over the macros that went in to my body, I would be solving my dilemma with AP and AD (apex predator and atkins diet, respectively) by increasing my vegetable intake and ensuring a complete nutrient profile, I would be following Tom Naughton's advice and eating enough saturated fat for my brain and endocrine system, AND I would have the added benefit of saving a buttload of cash on food as well as LEARNING THE BASICS OF COOKING.

This was obviously going to be the strict diet that I followed on the brodyssey because of the multitudinous benefits peripheral to just nutrition.

I admittedly got kind of excited building a little nest in the kitchen of my apartment, which, honestly, hadn't gotten a lot of use in the half a year or so that I lived there.

I bought the basics, a slow-cooker, a ladle, a cutting board, a knife, and a plethora of my favorite spices. When it came time to select foods, I got really high-fat meats, several pounds at a time, of beef or lamb/mutton, and then vegetables that naturally cooked sweetly like onions or peppers, and a few thickeners like sweet potatoes or rutabagas.

As of today, on day 9, I have not made the same stew twice. I am currently eating a spicy stew with roasted chipotle peppers and tony chachere's cajun seasoned beef, and the day before I had a sweet stew in which I cooked the sweet potatoes with ginger, cinnamon and a bit of honey.

Until day 30, I will at eat, AT LEAST 2 of my 3 daily meals as nothing but stew, and the other meal, if I'm out of the house will fit my macros at 40-40-20, p-f-c.

Jamie's stew blogs have recipes from all over the world. I'll be working my way through those. And I bought a stew cookbook, "Real Stew" by Clifford A Wright.

So far, I've become a much more confident cook, and the amount of fat in my diet is keeping me so satisfied that I am rarely ever hungry.

More updates to come.

Tomorrow: breaking down the science of hypertrophy - muscle building

Day 8 - Why Stew-roids? Part 1

Since developing a working understanding of the way the body processes foods and stores fat (which is more than most professionals and fad dieters by far) I found a new challenge to tackle: how to eat well for my goals. My goals being increase lean muscle mass as much as possible without adding an appreciable amount of fat, preferably none at all. It is said that the body is operating always in one of three states, anabolic (building), homeostasis (maintenance), or catabolic (breaking down). When you are in an anabolic state, the state in which muscle is built, your body is also building everything else, bone density, organ tissue, and even fat. And therein lies the problem.

My first attempt to incorporate this information came in the form of counting calories. About this experience, I have both good news and bad news. The good news is that the process of counting calories is thousands of times easier than most people expect it to be. Just the phrase, "counting calories," strikes fear and anxiety into the hearts of dieters, but in fact, I found it to be extraordinarily simple. You keep the calories low, do some basic elementary-level math, and drink a lot of water to stifle cravings.

The bad news is that counting calories to ensure your body is operating in a calorie deficit keeps your body in a catabolic state, which can be a good thing for people who have a LOT of fat to lose, but it still dangerous because in this state, the body not only consumes stored fat, but also muscle tissue, bone mass, and organ tissue. Also, some studies suggest that operating under a calorie deficit for too long will promote the "starvation response" in the body, which causes excess fat storage to prepare for future bouts of deficits.

So, yes, I did lose some fat, but I also got irritable, had a few symptoms of hormonal imbalance, and lost some of my precious muscle density and size, which, for me, is absolutely unacceptable.

Observations from that experiment led me to conclude that, in order to remain healthy, I need to operate within a calorie surplus at least half the time. From a scientific perspective, and in line with a lot of current theories, is the idea that the body flourishes in a roller-coaster pattern of calorie intake. For example, two weeks of a surplus, followed by two weeks of a deficit, will essentially boil down to two steps forward, one step back, and leave you with more muscle and less fat than when you started. This makes intuitive sense, but there have been few conclusive pieces of evidence. It warrants experimentation in the future.

My specific goals, hypertrophy (muscle growth0 with no fat, demand my body to be in an anabolic state, which under scrutiny adds up, since every extra pound of muscle added to the body increases the basal metabolic rate by up to 50 kilocalories at rest.

The real dilemma then, is the ideal diet composition, not quantity. This is understandable since during the paleolithic era, there is evidence that humans ate up 12,000 kilocalories (Calories) a day of just meat and berries, and they were ripped up, athletic, mastadon-wrestling people.

My next try-out was Jamie Lewis' (I talk about this dude a lot, right? You'd think he was my hero of something.) Apex Predator Diet. He continued the paleolithic rationale another step forward, and speculated that not only were we eating the foods available to us during that era, but that we were eating foods specific to our place on the food chain, which is right at the very fucking top.

This diet is cyclically ketogenic, which means you spend several days in ketosis, taking in 30g of carbohydrates a day or less, and then have a carbohydrate re-feed, lovingly dubbed "the rampage" that lasts three hours to replenish the body's stores of nutrients and energy and to boost the metabolism. Besides a simple ketosis-inducing meal, Jamie recommends that we eat meat mostly off the bone and organic, ensuring its healthfulness and similarity to the way we ate in that time period. He, of course, has allotted several protein shakes a day since the guy spends like four hours a day in the gym, just wrecking shit.

This diet was, by far, the most fun eating program I have ever tried. I responded very well in my workouts and programs, getting big when I wanted to, and leaning out when I wanted to, but, since at that time, I was working on the road mostly, I ate in restaurants 2-3 times a day, and no matter how manly you are, you can only handle wingstop so many times before you get ready for a change, I had begun to neglect a complete nutrient profile. I was at the whim of the road and whatever bumfuck Texas town I happened to be in. I certainly could have made this diet a lifestyle if I prepared my own food more of the time, but I hadn't yet.

And then it came time to start the Brodyssey, and I had to try something extreme, that would not only meet my nutrition and fitness goals, but also keep me healthy, and change my life for the positive.

And then I heard about Stew-roids.