After my morning workout, especially after a bout of deadlifts, I'm quite finished. Instead of nursing my frayed CNS at home, I have a 10-hour project management job ahead of me. I can't even think at work anymore, such is the fatigue. Ideas?

Evening workouts mean half an Atarax tablet to put me to sleep. It makes me groggy the next day.

My productivity at work has really gone down ever since working out. Also, the restricted carb diet I'm on doesn't help with clear thiking, IMO.

I take a drink consisting of a glass of water + 2 TbS of ON Amino 2222 + 2 Tbs of glucolin, pre (1 glass) and during workouts (another glass). That's about 20 g of protein cumulatively. Post-workout I take half a serving (30 g protein) of ON Pro Complex with water. So altogether 50 grams before even going to work. At work I drink 1 liter of full cream milk plus another half serving on Pro Complex (spread throughout the day) on top of nasi lemak (with 2 extra eggs), Big Mac w/o fries, and meat + vegetables (no rice) for dinner. And another 0.5 liter milk before bed.
I might try the coffee. I used to drink two mugs of filter coffee at work a day due to sleep deprivation, but since working out I am fanatical about getting at least 7 hours a day and so have found no need for coffee at all.

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Added on May 31, 2009, 8:48 pmAnother thing: Deloading is not part of the program I'm doing. It's PR at every lift at every workout, 3X a week. Phuck. Now I know what's the problem.

This post has been edited by kotmj: May 31 2009, 08:48 PM

mofonyx: Hey I went to Rizz yesterday. Trying them out.

I need the glucose pre and during workout because, 1. "Scrawny to Brawny" by Berardi et al. recommends it and 2. I workout right after waking up when energy levels are low.

This whole fatigue thing will only last a couple more months. Once I graduate to the Texas Method (Starr, Madcow, 5X5, etc), there will only be one PR day in the week, which I can place on a Saturday.

I just read in Details magazine that Michael Phelps takes 8,000-10,000 kcal a day. Many elite athletes apparently take 5 Mcal a day. And I read this link someone posted around here (you?) about Berardi's G-flux.

The reason I'm on a low carb diet is because I'm accumulating fat around the waistline. Out of the 8 or so pants in active duty, only 2 fit me now. I wish it was due to the muscles! One of those balanced but high calorie diets is OK for professional athletes whoose job it is to eat and practise (imagine munching through 10,000 kcal), instead of attending meetings and telephoning, but for someone who works in an office, 1. it's impossible to eat that much if you're to keep up appearances and productivity and 2. the fat keeps piling on.

Rippetoe says forget about the fat. Muscles are difficult to gain, fat easy to lose. But I'm afraid of the memory effect of adipose tissue: once you've gotten fat once, it becomes much easier to become fat again.

That vid can't be played? "This video is not available in your country or domain."

Rizz (5 is what you'd expect in a normal saloon)
Ambience 3
Likeability 7
Workmanship 9
Fashion 5
Confidence boosting factor 6

Yeah, it can only be about the mix. Because I DO have a caloric excess, as my waist will bear witness. It's probably not nutrients either (vits and mins) because Pro Complex has 15 of them? (Maybe I should try a small bottle of ZMA and see.)


John, when you run out of pants to wear and love handles start appearing, you'll know why it's easy to worry!

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Added on June 2, 2009, 10:21 amIt's quarter past 10, made PRs at 7:30-8:30 a.m. in all lifts (squat, overhead press, deadlift, chinup) it's post breakfast and I'm feeling like shit. Can't even walk with my normal posture. Tired, tired, tired. I'm getting that coffee.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jun 2 2009, 10:21 AM

Lots of people seem to have great success doing 5 day splits. But the program I'm doing is about building up strength, and only peripherally about hypertrophy. It's very specific, and two books have been written about it. It's extremely taxing, but I'll stick to it for as long as I can.

The coffee really helped, and post-lunch I felt much better. I'm still deeply fatigued, but functional, as opposed to this morning when I wasn't.

Well, in case any of you are interested, here is The Most Tairing Program in the Wurld (apart from pizzaboy's own lethal concoctions) a.k.a. Rippetoe's Starting Strength:

You workout 3X a week, alternating between Workout A and B.

Workout A
Squat 5 reps X 3 sets
Overhead press 5X3
Deadlift 5X1
Chinup 3 X failure

Workout B
Squat 5X3
Bench press 5X3
Power clean/Pendlay row 5 or 8 or 10 X3
Weighted situps

At EACH workout, increase weight in all lifts. The program also entails GOMAD (gallon of milk a day), which, if I followed, would have made me obese by now.

Apparently, you'll only start seeing muscle growth well into the 2nd-3rd month even though your weights all go up because the initial gains are due to neuromuscular efficiency increases + other shit.

Summer's strange. You feel super alive, yet with nothing significant to do with all that aliveness and daytime.