Bodybuilding Forums

Personally I find milk an excellent source of protein because it's cheap, convenient and available anywhere you go. I can't say the same of greek yoghurt over here sadly, it used to be a staple part of my breakfast. I have yet to find it in Argentina, I imagine it is ludicrously expensive if it even exists. I also couldn't begin to imagine eating a litre of greek yoghurt per day, I'd never feel full enough to eat anything else! Milk is massively underrated as a protein source IMHO but you do have to watch the fat content. Though like anything, if you don't like it, don't eat it... Works well for me though, I drink a litre a day.

Regarding the potassium, well, I live and learn I would have thought for the convenience factor they are a pretty good bet though. Given the choice of a couple of bananas as a snack at work vs. brocolli, spinach or halibut I don't think I'd be left with any other option. Papaya is a nice option though, but usually quite expensive (in London certainly, though over here not so much).

Oh, you can *totally* make your own from regular plain yogurt! http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/551034 Greek yogurt is kind of expensive here too. The point is, it's a much denser protein than milk. If you take 2.5 cups regular Dannon plain yogurt (unsweetened - whole milk or non-fat) and strain it overnight, you should get about a cup of whey off of it, so it'll only be 1.5 cups of finished product and it'll have about 30 grams of protein (and fewer carbs because most of it drains away with the whey). If you split that into two servings, there's no way it would fill anybody up too much to eat it. But if you're not watching your carbs, there's nothing wrong with drinking milk instead. The fat content is no problem, and anyway, you can always drink skim milk. Whole milk seems gross to me now. Actually, I don't even drink milk anymore; I use unsweetened Almond Breeze, so I'd probably find skim milk nasty now too.

If you're ever looking for what foods are the densest source of whatever nutrient, I have found this site to be extremely valuable: http://www.whfoods.com/. That's where I got all my info about potassium just now.

Everything seems to be workign well so far. I don't have any fat that i can tell anyway leeft on my arms. Though one thing I have noticed is my left tricept seems to be a decent amount bigger than my right one. I am right handed too. I have to figure out what I am doing at work that is working the hell out of that one and not the other. Imma start doing some push ups too i bleieve. Need to get my chest built up some.

Thanx for all your advice on here. I will be around here checking in and all. Thanx again everyone for the help and advice.

Found out what was wrong with me. I know why I was cramping up. I spent lst night in the hospital. It got so bad that it wasn't just my fingers any more. Every muscle in my baody started spasming and cramping. I was in so much pain I was screaming. I wouldn't wish that pain on my wort enemy. Got put in for severe dehydration, Caused my kidney to almost shut all the way down. Not something I ever wanna experience ever again lol. If I could have bought myself to run head first into a wall to knock myself to not feel that pain. I would have run out in the road and got hit by a car lol. I drink God knows how much water when working. It still wasn't enough. I don't know what imma do. Doc making me take a week off work thats gunna kill me.

OH NO! Well, I'm glad you went to the hospital and got treated! Missing a week of work is ultimately a blessing in disguise. You get to use this time to learn how to nourish your body the way it needs it. Now, did you talk to the doctor about replacing electrolytes you lose from sweating at work? Clearly, it isn't just a lack of water that was causing your dehydration. Your electrolytes were imbalanced too.

Now, promise me you'll put your health first and any exercise/vanity concerns lower down the priority list! Don't make me come find you! Seriously, take good care of yourself, rest up and recuperate.

Gidday, I would seriously look at that eating style I posted earlier. Milk is excellent at replacing crucial elements, rehydrating after hard work and training, as are eggs. There is a lot of hype around at the moment about milk outperforming recovery/hydration/electrolyte drinks in experiments. Regardless, this has been known by many athletes over the years. Milk is rich in a unique combination of elements crucial for recovery.

My own experience was similar to yours. I had a tendency to chronically overtrain. I enjoyed being notorious for how hard I could train, probably driven in part because I was also notorius for my 'skinnyness'. The crunch came similar to yours, when I woke up one morning in absolute agony. My rock hard 'six pack' was a huge, bloated, soft bulge. I seriously looked pregnant, it was agony just breathing, and I couldn't touch it. I was aching all over, and felt like, and was sure I was seriously ill. In a way I was, I was chronically overtrained in an era where it was virtually unheard of. My diet was what lots of people would think was super healthy, low fat, tons of organic fruit, veg, lean meat, and fish.

I had heard about Rheo Blair through athletes, and read about him in the old 'Iron Man' magazine. I wrote to him, as I was getting no where with the coaches and experts, and I had access to elite level trainers and specialists. The rest is in my previous post.

That eating style caused an absolute explosion in my recovery, development and fitness, it opened up my mind to the importance of recovery. I laugh when I think back to the accepted thinking then. Olympic coaches would have us perform hours of weight training, followed directly by hours of basketball training. I can remember everyone flat as tacks being screamed at for not trying hard enough. The 'obvious' solution was that we needed more training! And more fruits and vegetables. We would wonder when finals came around, how come lots of us had flus etc.

Luckily we had affiliations, contact and access to international athletes, who were already becoming aware of recovery, and nutrition, but Blair, and later Gironda were way ahead of their time.

I would take the mixes to trainings, work, where ever, it was very convenient when time was an issue. The coaches and trainers hated it when I was continually sipping (sipping, one of the keys to handling milk, cream, another key) loads of fat, eggs, milk, which was supposedly the worst thing I could do, yet, I was training harder than ever, and growing like a weed. Whatever you decide, Marochka is right, your abundant, good health is the key.

Yea the doctors told me two things. Stay out of the sun for a week and when I asked about water. He said plain water is fine people have been drinking it for hundreds of years way before gatorade come out. I think the guy is a moron myself. I dont give a dam who or how many people been drinking for i dont care how long. lol It is not working for me.

It worries me because I had the cramps in my fingers for a couple weeks. Then we had 4 days off. First day back this happens to me. Something is going wrong. For my body to not replinish what it needs to in 4 days off out of the sun. I don't know what to think.

@Uplift - I looked up Rheo Blair a while back after one of your posts but couldn't find any concrete articles written by him, mostly just commentary on his life and clients. I've definitely noticed how sipping milk and eating lots of eggs, etc is working for me, I'm really starting to get good muscle now and my lifts are stronger than before. Do you have any links you know of with more info? I'd buy a book but there is nothing on the subject or even in English where I am.

Gidday Richard, the bummer is Rheo Blair never wrote much down, that is, never released books, although he had a magazine/newsletter thing for a short while. I found the same thing with the other guy I mention a bit, Nigel Websdale. He was even worse at recording information. When they died, a lot of their stuff just went with them. However, Blair did write a fair amount of articles in the old Peary Radar Iron Man Magazine, and I reckon you could locate some of those. It was around 1960's - 1970's. He also had an assistant, Freddy Linblad who knew a lot of his ideas.

I wrote letters to Blair, he was really interested in my situation, and loved the challenge of dealing with 'mystery', 'incurable' situations. Plus he was supremely confident he could, as was Websdale. He wrote incredibly long, detailed replies, but also requested meticulous detail and information from me, regarding training, diet, lifestyle, medical issues, etc, etc. Freddy Linblad also wrote/dictated a couple of the letters. Like I said, I had access to elite level trainers and specialists, who were horrified at Blair's advice and reccomendations. But he sent me heaps of information, including before/after scenarios, that were incredible... mind boggling. Some of that stuff is in the Iron Man Magazines. The rest is history. I made a mind boggling transformation, going from being renowned as the guy who was destined to be ridiculously skinny forever, to being one of the biggest, strongest guys. I stabilised around 6' 220 lbs, extremely muscular. I'm not saying this to big note myself, but its to show how awesome his advice was. At one stage I took part it an experiment conducted by some very famous AFL coaches today, to measure explosive quadriceps force with other top athletes. They wanted me in it because they were also continually dumbfounded by my definition/leaness even though I was guzzling tons of cream/milk/eggs, eating slabs of butter... anyway I've talked about the diet enough previously. Plus, Arthur Jones had just burst on the scene and I was really learning about recovery from all angles. I was weight training for 30 minutes 2 - 3 times a week, in a sports science facility where top athletes from all fields were slogging it out for hours daily. Meanwhile, I'm getting stronger and stronger, growing before their eyes, while they are all flat, stuck, injured, it was an amasing eye opener. I remember a top sprinter, obviously flat and overtrained, who's coach had just given him more workload to 'break through the plateue' sneaking behind his coaches back to talk with me, telling me he knew it was wrong, that he should try something like me, except his legendary coach wouldn't allow it. Anyway, back to the test, I blew the needle off the meter, they had to restructure the measuring system to accomodate me. Yet, all they did is shake their heads and ignore it. Human behaviour! I learned how powerfull it is, and what a double edged sword it can be also, and that learning all I could about it was crucial.

This might help you Richard, or lead to something that does.

http://rheohblair.blogspot.com/2009/03/ ... three.html

There is lots of other stuff, but lots of it is marketing, people trying to cash in on his story. But there are bits of usefull info through out it. Here's mention of one of the Iron Man articles you could look for.

http://www.proactivehealthnet.com/healt ... php?t=3473

Theres lots of interesting stuff in those old Iron Man mags. Lots of stuff that totally contradicts a lot of 'truths' about how some famous body builders actually trained and ate, or how they are claiming they did today... marketing. Maybe these guys can help locate some, or some article copies;

http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/index.cfm?go2=47

http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/ironman_magazine.html

http://www.crainsmuscleworld.com/

http://www.crainsmuscleworld.com/

I mentioned previously, I travel a lot, and unfortunately, have parted with my magazines a long time ago. I also lost my letters and stuff from Blair years ago. Hindsight... I wish I'd kept them. But I feel privileged to have known both Rheo Blair and Nigel Websdale. They both gave me incredible support and information. Blair laboriously, meticulously wrote to me totally free of charge, and I got information and experience first hand from Websdale. Sometimes I might come across wrong, but I have seen and experienced what I have, and it is awesome, I feel so grateful, but sometimes its not what people remotely expect or want to hear. I'm stoked you are doing so well Richard, considering your injury its absolutely awesome, inspiring, and good luck with your investigations.

Hey, thanks for posting all the info, and great story too! Since I've not been able to get whey protein here I've been sticking to a diet of loads of eggs, loads of milk, beef, beef, beef, chicken, tuna, beef, etc. A bit more beef. It's a simple diet but it's paid off. My gains are starting to show now, in fact the gym owner (a previous "Mr Argentina" who carries photos of himself in a bumbag, posing on stage in a tiny thong... a bit unnecessary of him to show me or even carry them round if you ask me!) anyway he came up to me last week asking how my back was. When I told him I was actually stronger than before he leaned in and whispered "yeah the steroids work huh, they rock" then grinned and walked off. I laughed for a while over that because clearly I'm not taking steroids or ANY of the supplements the guys in the gym are taking, just vitamins and fish oil. It's not like I'm super ripped or anything, but having gone 'back to basics' on the workout and nutrition and cutting out all the so-called 'advanced' stuff I've grown pretty fast and I feel strong again. I just broke my all-time bench record on Tuesday, by 5kg. Tomorrow I'm going for another PB on shoulders. Simple stuff really works! So definitely interested in what Rheo Blair has to say. Cheers again for the advice, solid stuff.