Do you feel constantly tired and run down? Do you need caffeine and sugar to get you through the day? Are you under frequent mental or physical stress? Do you have trouble coping with stress? Do you have a decreased sex drive? Are you frequently depressed or angry? Do you engage in frequent extreme exercise? Do you often have an upset stomach? Do you overeat and/or have experienced significant weight gain? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you may be overburdening your adrenals and producing an excess amount of cortisol.
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My days are busy and I work full time, nearly everyday. In order to fit in my training schedule, which is normally 2 to 3 hours 5 days a week, I train in the basement of the thrift shop where I work. This is a recent training session focusing on 1 minute endurance sets.
Prior to my training I will eat at least 3 hours prior to training two cups of brown rice, two sirloin patties, and steak and squash, half gallon of water with 2 Maxodin. Then 1 hour prior to training I will take 3 servings of GSH Ignite and ensure I drink lots of water.
Diets high in carbohydrates are essential for athletes, but as discussed in Carbohydrates: The Body’s Core Fuel For Energy, finding the right balance of fuel for your body is about much more than what you eat. Properly preparing your body for work-outs is a balancing act of what sorts of carbohydrates you eat and when you eat them.
As any athlete with a little experience knows, what you put into your body is what you get out of it. Don’t believe me? Just try eating a burger and fries the night before a big event, maybe indulge in a beer or three. Your performance will suffer. Along with an effective training schedule, what you ingest is the most important factor in determining performance during an event and recovery speed afterwards.
Okay, but what type of carbs should the athlete be eating? The reason carbs have a bad reputation is because there are lots of low-quality sources out there, in the form of junk foods and other convenience foods that don’t offer any real nutrition – people fill up on them and pack on the pounds, but are still starving for nutrients. Over consumption of simple sugars (mono and disaccharides), like those found in candy and soda, has also been linked to the onset of type 2 diabetes and obesity. These types of carbs have a high glycemic index, which means they cause your blood sugar to rise rapidly and then eventually crash. The exception to the rule is the simple sugar found in fruits. Because fruits contain fiber, vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and other goodies, they generally prevent the sugars from being absorbed so rapidly in your system, so you don’t get that crash.
Contrary to what some fad diets would have us believe, carbohydrates are not the enemy. In fact, they are pretty much the athlete’s best friend. Carbs provide the foundation for any serious athlete’s diet. Why? Because anytime you engage in moderate to intense exercise, your body is using glycogen (stored carbohydrates) as its primary fuel source.
Compare two athletes of the exact same body size and build, who have followed the same training regimen – they don’t necessarily have the same power, speed or explosive capacity. Why? Once athletes attain a certain level of strength and stamina, the difference in their capabilities comes down to their bodies’ bio-electric current flow. The stronger the current flow, the stronger the body, and the more explosive power and strength you have access to.
Shaun McDaniel is on his way to becoming an international champion. Last week, the twenty four year old New Yorker famous for training in a thrift-store basement (link to original article) unofficially broke the world record that his longtime hero, Paddy Doyle, established in 2008. With a forty-pound weight strapped to his back, Shaun managed to pump out 719 back-handed pushups in an hour, topping Doyle’s previous record of 663. “I didn’t know I could do it,” said Shaun, “I thought it would just be a practice session.”
Some of you may have read the previous article on Shaun McDaniel, the youth from Southside, Queens who’s been training to break the world record in push-ups. Shaun has been taking four Life Health Secrets supplements (Protein Extreme Energy, GSH-Ignite, Maxodin, and Adrenal Re-Boot) for just over a month now, and he’s submitted this testimonial. Thanks Shaun, we’re all rooting for your success!
I am gearing up for the finals of the Women’s Colgate Games to be held at Madison Square Garden on January 30, 2010. Currently, I am in second place in the 55 meter hurdles after 3 weeks of competition. My workouts have become shorter, more powerful track work, including block starts and quick hurdle and sprint drills.
I am continuing to train under the guidance of Coach Johnson. My weight room workouts have become shorter and quicker as well as the peak of my season approaches.
Shaun McDaniel doesn’t eat on his half-hour lunch break. Instead, he spends his time in the basement of the New York thrift store where he works, doing as many push-ups as he can before break-time is over. Unable to afford a gym, it’s also in this dingy, unfinished concrete basement that he trains after work. Shaun slides his feet under clothing racks to do sit-ups. The exposed pipes and staircase become pull-up bars. The fifty-pound boxes of secondhand clothing serve as weights. It’s all part of the training regime Shaun has created for himself with one goal in mind – to get into the Guinness Book of World’s Records.
Lots of anticipation followed me to Week 1 of the Colgate Women’s Indoor Games. I have had this recurring nightmare for years that I either forget my sprint spikes, or that I am late for my race. Well, this week, the meet was running ahead of schedule, so when I arrived, my heart jumped as I saw the hurdles set up and ready to go.
