GOMAD Experiment [Day 9] & Sauna Experience

So I had a bit of a setback last night. When I was leaving King Spa & Sauna, I decided to get on the electronic scale just to see how much I sweated out that night, since a guy in the sauna told me that he lost 7 lbs after spending 4 hrs at King Spa. I was shocked that in just a few hours, I lost more than 4 lbs! This means that I weighed less than I even did when I started GOMAD!

It was past 11 PM at the time so Sprouts and Whole Foods was closed. The only place I could think of was Wally World. So I went and combed their milk selection but everything was both pasteurized and homogenized, even Promised Land brand milk. So I bought the cheapest, Great Value vitamin D whole milk (with a label that stated their farmers pledge not to use growth hormones). I went home and chugged more than 65% of that gallon--I was committed to get my 4 lbs back! (I regretted it later though, I could smell and taste the difference in the quality of the milk and I felt it later on when I tried to go to bed.)

Anyways, it was worth it though. The sauna more than exceeded my expectations. My favorite rooms were the steam room and the fire sudatorium in the back. The air in these rooms were so super-heated that it felt like my nostrils were on FIRE. It made me sneeze repeatedly. At first I had to put a hand towel over my face just to breathe without sneezing. After awhile, my sinuses got used to it and thanked me for it as it cleared those pipes through and through.

The website describes the fire sudatorium as thus: "King Sauna's Fire Sudatorium is the world's largest and grandest sauna. The unique architectural shape intensifies the heat within the room. The sudatorium is made from rocks as described as living. The intense heat causes the body to secrete toxins and body waste so as to deeply purify the body. Aroma therapy is also used within the sudatorium."

I also liked the 'oxygen room.'  It was airy, cool, and had a nice, crisp, clean scent that wasn't artificial.  It's hard to place the scent but it might have been due to the bags of tea hanging from the ceilings or the smell of the clean wood paneling.  All I know is that I felt relaxed and refreshed in that room

My only complaint was that it was pricey. I'm told by the veterans that the place has increased their prices lately.

GOMAD Experiment [Day 6]

Has it already been 6 days?  Actually, what am I saying...when is this going to end?

So my Accu-Measure Caliper arrived in the post and the first time I used it without really reading the instructions and thought I had 3.5% bodyfat LOL.  I thought that can't be right, so today I read it word by word carefully and realized that I had to pinch 2 - 3 inches of skinfold (I initially only pinched around 1 inch at the suprailiac region).  So now I'm confident that I have a bodyfat percentage of 8.5%.

That's not too bad after nearly a week of GOMAD!

It's about right since I was told I had around 10.7% bodyfat a few months ago, but I knew it should be less than that because she thought I was shorter than I actually was.

Also, good news!  I'm 170.0 lbs exactly now after 6 days of GOMAD!  That means I've gained 3 lbs over 6 days.  Not bad, I guess, since I'll be committing to this for at least a full month.  At this rate, I should expect to gain around 24 lbs by the end of January.  My goal is 30 lbs though, so I may go 1 - 2 months of GOMAD since I'm not sure I can eat/drink much more than this haha.

OK I have to admit that for the past 3 days I have not done the full GOMAD.  At night, I was sick of drinking that much milk so I left around 2 pints left in the container.  So for the past 3 days, I have only been drinking 2/3 to 3/4 of GOMAD.  I hope to end that today though.  Time to man up and choke that shit down!  All in the name of getting BIG.

I know I said I was going to take photos by around day 5, but it's honestly kind of degrading and I'm not sure I'm going to keep up with it.

GOMAD [Day 6] (1/6/2012) Measurements:
170.0 lbs
Waist:  82.5 cm/ a little more than 32 in
Neck: 15 in
Chest:  39 in
Leg circumference (around right thigh): 22.5 in
Arm circumference (around right bicep, flexed): 14.5 in
Shoulder Span:  18.5 - 19 in


GOMAD [Day 1] (1/2/2012) Measurements:
167.0 lbs
Waist: 32 in/82 cm
Neck:  15 in
Chest: 39 in
Arm Circumf. (around r. bicep, flexed):  14.5 in
Leg Circumf. (around r. thigh):  22.5 in
Shoulder span: 18 in


Results:

So no dramatic changes really.  My shoulder span also increased a tad, depending on how I measured it.  If I let the tape go across my shoulder girdle, it was a solid 19 inches, but if it I took it directly on the very top of my shoulders over my cervical vertebrae then it was around 18.5 inches.  So I had a 1/2 - 1 inch increase in my shoulder span.  I'm still pleased!

My waist also increased a tiny bit but that's to be expected on GOMAD and it was less than 1/2 an inch (let's hope that trend doesn't continue all month though haha).  Everything else seems to have stayed the same.

So with my 3 lbs increase, I also saw an increase in my measurements, which is good news.  I'm hoping that it's mostly muscle mass increase and with an 8.5% bodyfat (if my caliper readings are accurate) then things are going well so far.

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Secret to GOMAD:

This OTC product has made this obscene ritual of chugging a gallon of milk a day that much more bearable!  It's more effective than just lactase enzymes since it also has probiotics in it.  I saw it at Wally World and it was less than $8 dollars for I believe a month's worth, so I gave it a shot and I'm glad I did.

GOMAD [Day 3]; Murph Hero WOD; Raw Milk Supply

It's not even 1 PM and a lot has already happened. I decided to wake up early and go to the crossfit box this morning. I was sore and drowsy but I'm glad I went. Somehow I made it on the white board at .380! Only the best times at the box make it up there, so I'm honored and surprised. Especially since I wasn't expecting to do well as it was my first time doing "Murph!"

Proof!

Murph:
1 mile run
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 squats
1 mile run

(Murph is a 'Hero WOD' dedicated to fallen Naval lieutenant, Michael Murphy; read more about him here.)

I broke up the pull-ups, push-ups, and air squats as such, 10 rounds of:  10 pull-ups, 20 push-ups, and 30 air squats.

 I marked each round with chalk on the ground to keep track. I went through these fairly quickly as I did butterfly pull-ups. However, when it came to running the mile, I got lazy as hell. My only competition at 10 AM was the ginger, Jonathan. Even though he's huge, he's a fast mofo! So he was nowhere in sight and nobody was close on my heels so I got f'n lazy and started to shuffle at first and finally I was like "fuck it!" and ended up walking a bit. When I made it around the bend, the owner was looking at his watch and said you know your first lap took you 2:30?! I was like awwww shiieet! So then I finally started to legitimately jog/run. I finally finished with 36:35, which was one of the best times though not nearly as good as I should have gotten. The 100 butterfly pull-ups left some torn skin on my left palm and I'm walking weird because my calves are sore as hell from running in my fuckin' Vibrams Five Fingers as well as those brutal OH lunges from last night.
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 So I found out that the local dairy farmer finally had some raw milk in stock again. I decided to splurge and buy two gallons of it at the steep price of $8 a gallon. I know it's hella expensive but it taste so rich and creamy. It's not even white like pasteurized milk, it has so much cream in it that it has a pale yellow tint to it and it pours out thick like half and half. This stuff makes whole, pasteurized milk from the grocery store taste like 2%! Thank you, Lavon Farms!

The warning label makes it seem like some dangerous, illegal contraband but it's perfectly safe haha.

GOMAD [Day 2] Update & Rope Climbing Technique Video

UPDATE 8:30 PM:

I just finished my crossfit wod and I have to say day 2 of the GOMAD experiment is going sooo much better than day 1!

No more loose stools driving me mad and I'm chugging this milk down a lot more easily!  I've learned to space out the milk sessions better, with most of my consumption during lunch and post-workout.  I drink about 3 pints each time.  If I manage to wake up earlier I'm hoping I can space out the milk chugging even more and reduce digestive discomfort.  I can definitely keep this up though.  Day 1 just had my scurrred a bit.

Today's WOD was brutal though.  Check out my horrible results here.
I met the owner of .380 today, Dave Masi.  He was totally riding my ass.  Everytime I dropped the barbell he would be right next to me shouting for me to stop resting.  He even said, "5 second rest and then go!" He proceeded to start COUNTING aloud, he was like 5 deep breaths:  "One! Two!..."  Yeah fuckin' hell.

By round 2, my wrists were hurting so much from the OH lunges the most and also partly from the handstand walking.  We did this on uneven bumpy ground so it was difficult to maneuver.  The 70 lb KB high pull and steps were also wreckin' havoc on my lower back.

Afterwards I worked on my handstand pushups/walking and rope climbs.  Speaking of, I'm going to go watch a rope climbing technique video now since, I'm not good at coming down the rope, just going up.

This video is presents 2 very simple, effective techniques.  I've only tried the leg wrap but I'm going to try the fast technique tomorrow when I head to the box.  I also need to try out how he came down.

(Tip:  Drag the cursor to 1:30 to skip all the useless jabber in the beginning.)

GOMAD Experiment [Day 2]

I would never have imagined that my body could produce that much GAS.  Justin calls them "milk farts."  I had no idea what he was talking about....until last night.

Well, this experiment certainly has a steep learning curve and I think I've learned my first lesson.  Whenever I drink at least 2 pints of milk, I will also take a lactase enzyme pill (generic Safeway brand from Tom Thumb, cheapest one I could find)!  I was trying to conserve them but I don't think it's worth the digestive discomfort.

So I forgot to do some measurements yesterday.

Shoulder span:  18 in
Neck:  15 in (around the adam's apple)
Arms:  14.5 in (flexed, day 1's measurement of 13" was not flexed)
Penis:  J/k!


"Self-improvement is masturbation"
-Chuck Palahniuk

GOMAD Experiment [Day 1]

I've drunk half a gallon of conventional, pasteurized (but non-homogenized and no rBST added) whole milk @ $3.69 a pop already! I'm off to a good start. I'm also starting up Crossfit again, after a 2-3 month hiatus, at a new box in McKinney called Crossfit .380 (I don't know what that dot means, so don't ask me).

My friend told me to document this and since I'm not an exhibitionist, I'm going to do that here on this blog that virtually nobody reads instead of Facebook, which is everyone's whore.

I was too embarrassed to ask someone to take a candid photo of me shirtless, so I went to the guest bedroom, where there's a large mirror. The lighting is horrible and I couldn't use flash because of the glare from the mirror, so this is the image that will have to do for now. I'll probably post an update with a photo every 5 days or every week, since daily would probably be pointless. Nobody's body grows that quickly. Hopefully GOMAD doesn't just result in me becoming an amorphous blubbery blob with diabetes mellitus.

1/2/2012, 4:30 PM:

Measurements:
167 lbs
Waist: 32 in/82 cm
Chest: 39 in/99 cm
Bicep: 13 in/32 cm
Thigh: 22.5 in/56.5 cm

Around 10% body fat

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UPDATE 9 PM:  I just got home from my workout and I feel great. I had plenty of energy after the WOD, so I ended up dicking around on the rings—doing muscle-ups and trying to do the 'iron cross' but failing miserably. Chris and I also did a bunch of toes-to-bars and butterfly pull-ups.

So far so good, I was worried at first because my anus wasn't feeling fantastic from chugging all that milk all of a sudden, TMI? I'm sure my body will adapt soon enough, I hope. I just had to vacate my bowels before the WOD and right after...ugh. I'm sticking this through though.

Chris is doing his weight gainer thing with no adverse effects so far and I'm still doing my ridiculous GOMAD experiment and hoping my body will start to pump out more lactase enzyme!

Oh and Chris let me try on his 30 lb weight vest...that's how much I intend to put on in muscle mass over the span of a month! I have to admit 30 lbs feels a LOT heavier than I'd previously imagined...