Westside for Skinny Bastards

hughes said:
Yeah, I was meaning taking vitamins is a good idea.

I'm tiny, and struggle putting on weight, the only time I ever put on any appreciable mass there was certain factors I was unsure what helped, my diet has always been okay, lift 3 times a week etc, I ended up asking myself what was different about the time when I put weight on, I realised that was when I was regularly taking vitamins. Now I'm back on them and putting on weight again, thankfully.

This might not be the appropriate forum to ask this in, but I've been wondering about multivitamins for a little while now. A month or so ago, I read an interview about zma with one of the creators. He stated that zma was superior to just taking zinc and magnesium together because most vitamin/mineral supplements are manufactured with a calcium binder. He stated that minerals compete for absorbtion, and the ingestion of magnesium with a calcium binder in it essentially eliminates the bulk of the magnesium. I really have no idea where I read the article, so I can't put a link up, but it got me thinking: if minerals compete for absorbtion, taking one pill with a slew of vitamins and minerals all at once would seem to be a rather pointless endeavour. I've taken multivitamins out of habit for years now, and have continued to do so regardless, but any further information would be appreciated.
 
farmboy said:
I started supplementing the Guerilla Cordio with a burpee conditioning routine I found by Ross Enamait. It wears me out pretty well, especially in conjunction with the Gruerilla. But, what would you suggest as a better workout to gain size/strength? Obviously I'm not in school or university anymore, so you are right about not doing the drills, practices, etc... that that would entail.


In the updated version of the program (http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=2E6CC406327FC8C458DDA2F6E3B43400.hydra?id=667308) defranco adds two energy system training days in addition to the weight template. One day focuses on agility, the other day focuses on linear speed. The drills seem more football oriented than anything else, but the carryover to other athletic events seems pretty obvious. The fact that you are not in school should not limit your ability to perform any of the drills given. If you have access to a track with hurdles and can get your hands on a few cones, you have everything you need.

I don't know if the drills defranco gives are any better or worse than tabata sprints (or "guerilla cardio" if you will . . . ) and burpee conditioning if your goal is to gain strength/size. The conditioning program you are following might even be better than defranco's in terms of increasing vo2 max. defranco's program is longer in duration and has a greater emphasis on improving agility, coordination, etc. Both are pretty good for what they are, but if your primary concern is improving strength/size, I would do neither for a while. I don't know if you train in any sport/ma, but unless you've got a comp coming up, just attending your regular practices should be more than enough cardio if you are focused on bringing up your strength.
 
I appreciate the advice. I don't have any competitions coming up, so I'm pretty much training as much as I can. The strength is really my main desire now. Size doesn't matter so much, but a little would be nice.

I'd mentioned earlier that the size would be nice to help me stand more toe to toe with the bigger guys I train with and not get run over. Of course, I guess if I just wasn't in the way in the first place... Maybe I will check out those agility drills. Thanks again.
 
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