Peaking for the PTDC

Tomorrow begins the first day of the PTDC Becoming the Expert seminar in Toronto, featuring such luminaries as John Romaniello, Jon Goodman, Lou Schuler, Neghar Fonooni, Rog Law, Mark Young, Elsbeth Vaino, Scott Tate, and for some reason I got asked to speak. The entire event will be filmed, which means I have to make sure my t-shirt will be ironed, so fresh & so clean clean.

It also means I’m going to be on camera, something I’m not totally used to in my day to day life. Sure, I record exercise videos and put them on Youtube so I can have some demo’s to refer to for distance clients and for examples during different blog posts, but the distance and lighting are typically not the best and the main goal is seeing what the hell I’m doing, not to showcase my sexified build of man-meat.

The main difference is I’m going to be in a room full of highly fit individuals who make a living by looking awesome and showcasing how to do that for others as well (except Mark Young. I look like his “after” photo. I only say this because I know he gives it back just as good as he gets it, and he’ll rip the shit out of me for saying that), which means I have to be somewhat on point when I show up.

So as a result, I’ve been switching some things up in my training for the past two weeks. I’ve included more complexes with short to non-existent rest intervals between sets, more focus on hypertrophy than max strength, and altering some small nutritional aspects, such as reducing wheat and dairy and increasing daily intake of veggies. I’ve also added in some different supplements, such as a branch-chain amino acid supplement for my peri-workouts, and a cre-alkalyn supplement that is a creatine derivative that doesn’t require a glucose transport mechanism and doesn’t provide the bloating or water retention of normal creatine. This will help me to get teh swolz on.

I’m also going to attempt a 24 hour fast today so that I can make sure to shed any additional water retention and carb overflow, which will help provide a quick hit in the right direction. I don’t normally recommend fasting to anyone as it is something that can go overboard, but my agenda for the day is to sit on a plane and run through the presentation a dozen times to work on timing and content, which means my physical output won’t affect me that much. And since it’s just a one-day thing, I’m not too worried. I like food too much, and will probably be counting the minutes until I can cram something into my cram-hole.

After my breakfast today, the only thing I’m really going to have will be a green tea, perhaps with some honey, water, and if we go out for dinner tonight it will consist entirely of chicken breast with no sauce or seasoning, if anything at all. I know, exciting as all hell, but it will just be for one day so I can deal.

I can afford to have a low to zero calorie intake for a 24 hour as I have more than enough glycogen stored in my muscles and liver to get me through the day. At 228 pounds I’m not quite to the stage of an ironman triathlete rounding the last 5 miles and running on fumes and ketogenesis (where the muscles break down glucose to keep your brain from dying).  I’m sure I’ll have some stomach rumblies here and there, but an added bonus is I probably won’t want to fart or burp or something like that during my seminar tomorrow, which will be enjoyable for not only myself but anyone sitting in the first and second (and probably back tot he fifth if history proves correct) rows.

This will probably result in a one-day weight loss of roughly 5-6 pounds, which will primarily be water weight that gets stored with the glycogen I’ll be burning through. While this may seem like a lot in one fell swoop, I’ll also say that once I have a good meal or two, it will come right back on, so I’m not too worried about it as this is just slightly more than 2% of my total body weight, so in the grande scheme of things it’s not a huge difference, but it will make enough of a difference to notice.

This is in no means an extreme program, and one that is pretty easy to follow. Lunch tomorrow will be interesting, as will dinner, as I’m sure we will all go out and get our feast on. It may or may not result in drunken Tweets and a few less than appropriate pictures being taken, but since it’s all in the name of health and fitness, it’s all good, right??

Does this sound reasonable or like a complete load of hog-wash? Drop a comment below and let me know your thoughts.