Your Questions Answered and More

I had dinner out last night... but something in my food made me sick. Oh the joys of eating out. As much as I enjoy hanging up my cooking mitts, I don't like not knowing what is in my food or how it was prepared...

Anyway I have the answers to quite a few of your questions here and my eating and training posted below. If I have missed your question ask me again! Thanks and enjoy:

Question: Why do I don't take fish oil capsules every day?
Answer: I actually do take them every day I just forget to write it down sometimes. See how easy it is to lose track of what goes in your mouth?

Question: Why do I drink water with lemon in the morning?
Answer: I think of it as a daily cleanse. Everything functions better when you are cleaned out. Asian civilizations do this with a passion and don’t eat for a ½ hour afterwards.

Question: How do I eat my tuna... dry or mixed with something?
Answer: I always put some pumpkin seed or avocado oil on my tuna and then a spritz of something acidic like white balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar or citrus juices. A dollop of yogurt cheese is another option.

Question: How many reps are you doing per set?
Answer: Right now I am pushing every set and every weight. A warm up set is 15 to 20 reps. Working sets are usually 12 to 15. If I am feeling really strong, which I have been lately, then I push the weight and do reps until I fail.

Question: What does wheat grass do and do I have it during your off season?
Answer: I have wheat grass every day because it is a powerful antioxidant source as well as just plain food. If you watched the movie Crazy Sexy Cancer you will have learned how important it is to keep your body in a neutral pH balance. Too much protein can throw you into an acidic state. You can offset this be eating loads of greens and/or by drinking wheat grass.

Question: Can I explain the pre-exhaust system a little?
Answer: The pre-exhaust is a system invented by Robert Kennedy. It is training principle whereby you train a single joint exercise and then follow it up right away with a multi-joint movement. For example do lateral raise to train the deltoid cap. No other muscle is involved. You tire this muscle out. then follow it up with a standing shoulder press with dumbbells or barbell this is a multi joint movement because you are using the muscles of the arms. The triceps are still fresh which means they can power up the weights but your delts are tired. So they are working like crazy to power up the weight. another example would be incline flyes with dumbbells. One muscle the pecs is tiring out from doing that exercise. Now you do incline bench press and the tris power up the weight and tear the crap out of the pecs. It is another way of pre-tiring the muscle you are working on. It is a great way to surprise your muscles out of a plateau or a rut

Question: Is there a rule of thumb in training with regards to working certain muscle groups together or does one just mix it up?
Answer: There is no real rule of thumb except we like to stick to working opposing muscle groups. For example if I am working biceps I usually do the tris too. But don’t get hung up on that because the point is you just want to train a lot and hard.

Question: Why do Epsom salts work to decrease muscle pain?
Answer: My non-scientific answer is that it increases toxin drainage from the muscle. All the byprodructs that have developed in your muscle during exercise are released in an Epsom salts bath. You gotta' love natural treatments like that!

Question: Do I get sore? Do I take anything for muscle pain? Do I stretch?
Answer: I do get sore when I've had a harder than normal workout that has stressed a muscle I don't usually use. I don't take anything for the pain aside from Epsom salts baths mentioned above. You've found my weakness when it comes to stretching. I have to remind myself to stretch, otherwise I won't, but I do try to do some on a daily basis.

Question: What are ab isolation exercises?
Answer: Ab isolation exercises are good for helping to pull out the definition in the core. For me that is hugely difficult. I blow out all the air in my lungs and suck in my tummy to make a vacuum. Then press my hands on my upper thighs to help me push out the abdominal musculature still holding my breath. You can see the whole wall of muscle when you do this. When I first started doing this 2 weeks ago, I saw nothing, but now I can see more defined muscle and I can actually isolate muscles when I move to the left or the right. Don’t do this for too long otherwise you will feel dizzy. Repeat this four or five times each day or each time you pass a mirror (that is what I have been doing - yes, I'm cool like that!). Speaking of mirrors, every time I pass one – and it’s a lot because there is a mirror in every bathroom in the house – I hit a pose. Sometimes I do my side poses, then back and a relaxed front pose. The more I practice the more confident I become.

Eating and Training for Tuesday:

Before Breakfast:
250 ml hot water with juice of 1 lemon
250 ml water with 9 ounces wheat grass

Breakfast:
1 black coffee
½ cup cooked Red River Cereal with 2T each Salba, flax and wheat germ
4 hard boiled egg whites + one yolk
6 ounces juiced green beans, asparagus, celery and alfalfa sprouts
5 fish oil capsules

In my cooler for the day: I was out all day from 9:00 am to about 9:00 pm so my cooler was jammed
4 x 5 ounces servings of poached chicken breast
4 x 1 cup serving steamed asparagus
1 whole cucumber sliced to nibble on during meals and as snacks
4 x ½ small sweet potato
1 large apple cut in half; ½ to be used for Mid Am snack with 2T almond butter mixed with 2T ground flaxseed (I made this up) and ½ to be eaten for Mid Pm also with 2T ground flaxseed mixed into the almond butter.
8 hard boiled eggs, already peeled – you can’t drive and peel eggs at the same time! I will have 2 eggs with each of the Mid am and Mid PM snacks but no yolks
Sigg bottle full of water

Dinner:
Robert and I went for dinner last night with Timea Majorova and her man at the CN Tower here in Toronto. Unfortunately, my food made me ill and I was sick all morning. Time for some electrolyte-filled water to get some nutrients back in my system.

Poached salmon and steamed asparagus for the main and a tomato salad for the starter. Timea and I both ate the same thing because she is here for an Oxygen shoot with Paul Bucetta and I of course am dieting for the contest.

I made sure my daughter had a good dinner. I made Chelsea’s dinner in the morning and her plate was full of steamed asparagus, cooked sweet winter carrots, brown rice and chicken breast. And she didn't have a choice... either eat that or make something else!

Training:
Shoulders and back.
8 sets of shoulders: 4 sets heavy presses and 4 sets bent over lateral raise
Back: 4 sets lat pulldowns heavy and 4 sets pulldowns behind neck not so heavy
Abs: Captain’s chair leg raise 70 reps, reverse crunches 20, 25, 30 reps