Posted by Chris on October 29, 2009
Yes its that time again. I managed to turn diet and exercise into a habit so its time to pick a new habit.
This time I've decided on Meditation. The benefits of meditation are scientifically proven and i believe its another great tool in the arsenal of human potential unlocking. There are many benefits but I'm particularly interested in the focus and memory enhancing properties and maybe even be able to combine polyphasic sleep and meditation to skip a nap.
So far it looks like i will be going the vipassana route. I will do some research and will update with my findings and first week of results next week.
My 30 day habit in detail is to meditate at least 20 minutes a day. Sitting in the cross legged pose(witch I'm having trouble with due to bad flexibility). So i want to slowly increase my flexibility(may use some yoga) and duration of the meditation sessions.
Posted by Chris on October 6, 2009
I lost about 1 lb and my lifts and P90X cardio are improving. My diet is getting cleaner every day but I'm still to hungry around lunch time. So I decided to do a partial velocity diet.
The velocity diet is pretty simple. You drink a protein shake/mrp(meal replacement) for every meal and that's it. Its a way to loose some quick weight and shrink your stomach while still getting enough protein and other beneficial ingredients to maintain muscle.
Long term this diet is of course bad. But short term or even just replacing 1 meal its actually a good idea. So my plan for this week is to replace all my lunches with protein shakes/mrps. That should cut down on lunch hunger after that week is over and make it easier to eat smaller healthy portions.
My new supplements and protein should be arriving today.
I ordered:
CytoSport Muscle Milk, 2.47 Lbs, Cake Batter
: Best tasting protein powder ever. I eat it with my oats in the morning or if I want to enjoy a shake and not chug it.
USPlabs Jack3d, 225 Grams, Lemon Lime
: My Sp250 is running low so I ordered some of this to replace it. I haven't tested it yet but I have heard great things about it.
Dymatize Elite 12 Hour MRP, 20 Packets, Fudge Brownie
These are great for days when I don't have time to make a certain meal. Provides all the nutrition I need without all the junk around it. Also needed for the velocity diet.
Posted by Chris on October 1, 2009
Week 1 is over. So far i have 0 change in weight. My cardio and strength have improved somewhat. And i do feel much better all around. Not eating junk food and getting regular exercise definitely has its benefits. So far my current workout routine is a heavily modified P90X . I start Mondays with chest and back(replaced most of the push-ups with dumbbell bench) and then i added another bench day(barbell) toward the end of the week after i had recovered. I also had 1 Leg/shoulder day mixed in. The rest of the days i did cardio. This was only the first week and I'm still working on a good routine that i can stick to.
Posted by Chris on September 25, 2009
Since i finished my 30 day polyphasic experiment(decided to stick with it for now) I am now starting a new one.
This might not be the most exiting but it is sorely needed. My new 30 day habit is going to be: diet and exercise.
I have posted my diet and exercise routine before and that is theoretically how i eat. But in reality i haven't eaten like that consistently over the past few month. Consistently to me means: no cheating, eating restricted calories every day for 30 days.
The Rules: Ill try to keep it as simple as possible.
The #1 rule is to stay below 2200 calories. So if i dont have time to cook or don't feel like eating tuna 1 day as long as i stay below the calories I'm still ok.
#2 Try to stick to the diet and healthy foods. After rule #1 this one isn't as important for weight loss but it is for health. The key to weight gain and loss is calories in vs calories out. If there is a net loss then you will loose weight and the other way around.
#3 P90X at least 1 hour per day. Again this aids weight loss and is great for health and body composition. It can offset some bad choices on the calories as well if needed.
So starting today.
Stats:
Male
Height: 6'2
Weight: 203lbs
Body fat%: just below 20
Goal: 10% body fat in the 180lbs
Posted by Chris on September 24, 2009
Day 30. I made it all the way through with only 3 or 4 really bad over sleeps. Today I got woke up at 2:35 by my backup alarm clock. I had my regular alarm (iphone) in my hand and didn't even know it. I thought that was a pretty funny start into day 30.
Now I know 30 days isn't enough to really judge polyphasic sleep but i will give my 30 day point of view analysis here. Note that these are pertaining to my self and others may have different results.
Monophasic: On average people sleep anywhere from 6 - 10 hours on a normal monophasic sleep schedule. In my case id say i used to sleep 8 hours on average. But just because its monophasic and normal doesn't mean its perfect. I had plenty of days where i woke up tired after 8 hours of sleep.
Theoretical average productive hours = 16
Actual average productive hours =14.5
Basically i think sleeping in on weekends and sometimes 9 - 10 hour nights during weekdays brings monophasics # down to 14.5 hours for me.
Biphasic:(siesta)
Just before i started the polyphasic experiment i tried the Siesta sleep for about a week or so. It worked very well for me in that time frame, but of course i don't have any long term data. On average you sleep a 6 hour core and a 20 - 30 minute nap some time during the day. Very flexible and still good gains over a monophasic sleep schedule.
Theoretical average productive hours = 17.5
Actual average productive hours =17
I was very impressed with it for the short time i tried it.
Polyphasic:(everyman3)
I cant really say much about uberman or the other everymen because i have not tried them. I imagine everyman2 (4.5 core 2x 20min naps) may be pretty good. And I might try it some day, but for now ill get into everyman3. On everyman3 you take a 3 hour core nap and then 3 20 minute naps spaced evenly through out the day. This should give a good hourly gain while still giving some flexibility in napping.
Theoretical average productive hours = 20
Actual average productive hours =17.5
Yes, at this point in time im only getting about 17.5 hours worth of actual productive time. Here is the reason why. Tiredness: I fall asleep during my naps and dream like I'm asleep for days. I take all 3 of my naps and my core but I'm still tired when i wake up at 2 am. On average when i haven't oversleep within the past 2 days. I will be tired for at least 1 hour after waking up and at least 30 mins before the first nap.
So there is 1.5 hours right there. Then there is the matter of accounting for falling asleep time during the naps and core. I give each nap 5 mins and the core 10. that ads up to 25 mins. And finally i get tired before each nap and start to loose focus so that's another 10 mins of tired time per nap(noon,5pm and core) adding up to 30 minutes. When its all set and done I spend 2 hours per day tired and unable to focus and 25 minutes trying to fall asleep.
Overall its still a huge gain over Monophasic sleep but it is unclear if its much of an improvement over the siesta sleep(0.5 hours gained vs only taking 1 nap). I will continue with everyman3 for another 15 - 30 days to see if i adapt better and reduce that tired time. If there is no improvement i will probably try the everyman2.
Any experienced polyphasic sleeper input would be appreciated.
Posted by Chris on September 23, 2009
A pretty popular method in self development and getting the most out of your potential is to create new and improved habits. The 30 day rule comes in very handy for this. First: 30 days is only a month, even if it seems tough its only a month to give it a try. Its easier to stay focused and keep enough willpower to stick with it for the 30 days than to say:"well it will take me at least x months to accomplish x goal".
One such example would be Diet. Setting a new diet for 30 days and sticking with it as sort of an "experiment" is much easier then to tell your self your making a permanent change for the years to come. Polyphasic sleep would be another good example. If you set your self a goal for 30 days its much easier to get up every day knowing you just have to last 30 days rather than indefinitely.
Second:You get 30 days worth of results. It is a great evaluation point for your progress to see if things went the way you had hoped or if the new habit isn't really for you.
If after the 30 days are up you decide that what ever you where testing out didn't work for you, you can always have the peace of mind that you really tried it out and gave it a shot. It wont be stuck in the back of your mind nagging you to try it again.
Now you can start as many of these as you'd like but sometimes less is more. You have to self evaluate and know your will powers limits. Each 30 day experiment will take a certain amount of willpower to complete. If you split it into to many pieces you may end up not completing any of them.
So if you want to try something new or want to change some of the habits in your life try it for 30 days.