OhTwadi

amrit veley uth key, 2 ghantey simran kar key ja ban parr key (jo vi tuhanu jada pasand hai) fey ardaas kar lena. Satguru jee sarey kam sawar den gey

I know job market is bad in India, but as I'm sure you will agree, money isn't everything. Jidda tusi menu ik vari keha si, koi dukaan hi khol lo nai ta. Try kar key dekh lo.

I was having a tough time at my job a few years ago and was discussing it with an older, wiser bhaji. Here is how the conversation went:

bhaji: kidda mundea!

me: bas bhaji challi janda

bhaji: ki gal, bara dhilla bolda

me: bas ji kam ney matt mari pai

bhaji: acha, job change kar la

me: try karda pea par labhdi ni hor (recession was going on at the time)

bhaji: acha....shad dey fey

me: oh ni kar sakda, bill deney hundey

bhaji: leh oh tu kera bachea nu roti khawani aa. kam shad, ugprading kar 6 maheeney. fey vadia job lag jani

I didn't actually follow his advice :rolleyes2:

So I say the same to you, if you are miserable at your current job and you can afford to quit, then do so. The physical and psychological damage you are inflicting on your body and mind will be hard to reverse. It is now well established that people who work at night can never make up their sleep, regardless of how long they sleep during the day. Our sleeping pattern is ruled by the Sun!

Baki aggey tuhadi marji aa. ardaas kar lo, guru sahib kirpa karan gey

It's not that simple, if you do your research, you will find that a almost all top level athletes are genetically gifted individuals. Yes they train hard and are mentally very tough, but to perform at such a high level and be successful, you need to be 'cream of the crop' as they say.

Bhaji, I'm not saying high carb and low protein. I'm saying for strength training you need both high carb and high protein. When I was on low carb + high protein diet, I would get out of energy half way through my workouts.

I did say in my experience, maybe its just the way my body works...

Most of what I say is from my personal experience.

I hate Chrome! It always loses my long posts

So I will summarize yet again.

If you want to lift weights and build mass, then you need to make sure you are working all muscle groups and you will need a high protein diet because that is the requirement your muscles need to grow. You will need to cut back on you carb intake, this will be beneficial for you too if you are trying to lose weight.

There is plenty of research now available which stresses that it is not efficient to think of muscle groups. Rather one should think of the body as one cohesive unit, after all that is how is works in real life. So exercises which isolate muscles are not a considered a good use of one's time and efforts. Unless of course you are doing some rehab or working on specific muscles to address imbalances etc. Rarely I see this to be the case however. Most people work out their biceps for instance because they want bigger arms. Little do they realize that

a) tricep (not bicep) makes up a larger chunk of their arms

b) they will also work their bicep on the days they work their back; thus the poor small bicep muscle gets over worked and growth is hard to come by

What I'm trying to say is that in order to build functional strength (you are almost never going to bench press anything in real life), stick to compound movements and move away from isolation exercises.

Also, in my experience, muscle gains are next to impossible on a low carb + high protein diet. In fact, I actually end up getting injured when I was on a low carb diet. My gains came when I had a high carb + high protein diet. If you look at this thread, it explains how carbs can be consumed with out hampering one's fat loss efforts.

Lastly, it is generally quite tough to loose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Usually this is only possible if someone is new to weight training, what I call the 'honeymoon phase' of a trainee. It can also be possible in those genetically gifted but rare individuals who can loose fat and gain muscle very easily.

Edit: I'm sorry, just realized this has gone wayyyy off topic.

You mean lose fat and gain muscle? I'm getting confused.

OhTwadi Ji, I have a question: I'm not too hot on the idea of consuming whey protein or other similar powders in conjunction with a weight training regime. Would a post-workout "meal" of a large glass of semi-skimmed milk and a banana be beneficial for someone who wants to train naturally and gain muscle, etc? Obviously I'm not unrealistic and expecting Arnie-type growth if I take this route. My aim is more geared towards to reaching a low body-fat percentage as is feasibly possible but also gain a clearly toned and "solid" physique.

I remember when I first starting lifting weights, I was about 16yrs old or so. I used to barely have any food through out the day, then after school hit the gym. I would get home in the evening, usually around 6 and have a HUGE meal. 8-10 rotia + 2 bowls of daal + 1 bowl of dahi + sabji. I gained a decent amount of strength and muscle doing this. No extra protein was ever touched. Back then I didn't know much about fitness so my diet and my exercise routine was quite crappy. But hey, being a 16 yr old kid does have it advantages. I got gains from basically anything I did in the gym.

I would never recommend that anyone follow such a bad diet however. This is primarily because you end up exercising on an empty stomach and chances of getting your stomach royally screwed up are very high.

If I may ask, what does your workout look like? It might be better to open a new thread for this however.

BTW my diet is very "clean". I eat fresh, steamed vegetables, a lot of salads and fresh fruit as well. No chips, chocolate, crisps or anything like that. But I love my Panjabi food as well so there's the typical sabzis, dahls, etc. Tadka for aforementioned Panjabi dishes is cooked using olive oil and very occasionally butter.

You can lose fat and build muscle at the same. Lifting weights (sensible, light weights) helps to burn fat as long as you don't over-do the cardio. Depends on how much muscle you want to build. If its crazy muscle then yes, supplements are needed.

To make this more concrete, the only time you will be able to both gain fat and loose muscle at the same time will be the beginning few months of your training career. After that, it's slow muscle gains, especially for those who train naturally; think 1-2lbs/year!

This does not apply to those genetically gifted individuals (who are very few in numbers) who can seemingly eat a large amount of food and not ever gain fat and can put on muscle with little weight training.

From the link that SunSingh provided above

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Ori Hofmekler is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to fitness and how to use food to burn fat, build muscle, and optimize your health.

He has found whey protein to be a particularly beneficial food for all of these purposes.

Whey protein, a by-product of milk and cheese, was promoted for its health benefits as early as 420 B.C. At that time, Hippocrates, also known as "the Father of Medicine," recommended whey to his patients. These days, evidence continues to mount in favor of whey, often referred to as the gold standard of protein.

Ori is an authority in this area and I've learned a lot from him personally.

We cover a load of information in this interview, so I urge you to listen to it in its entirety, or read through the transcript for additional information, over and above what I've summarized below.

Health Benefits of Whey Protein

Whey protein has been linked to a variety of health benefits, including:

• Helping your insulin work more effectively, which helps maintain your blood sugar level after a meal -- This is important as research suggests lowering your blood sugar levels after meals may be more beneficial for your health than lowering fasting blood sugars.
• Promoting healthy insulin secretion, which is imperative for optimal health. This is one of the foremost reasons for avoiding sugars and grains, as overconsumption of grains and sugary foods has a negative impact on both, and is a prime factor in developing type 2 diabetes.
• Helping to promote your optimal intake of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals needed for your overall wellness
• Supporting your immune system, as it contains immunoglobulins
• Helping you preserve lean body tissue (particularly during exercise) as it delivers bioavailable amino acids and cysteine
• Maintaining blood pressure levels that are already within the normal range

Whey Isolate

There are a number of whey products on the market, but unfortunately many of them will not give you the health benefits associated with high-quality whey.

Most commercial whey products are derived from pasteurized dairy and are processed with heat and acid. Many are also artificially sweetened. All of these factors render them completely useless from a health perspective.

Whey isolate is one such inferior product, because when you remove the fat, you actually remove important components of itsimmunological properties, such as phospholipids,

phosphatidylserine

and

cortisol

.

Additionally, all of the IgG immunoglobulins, which are an excellent source of glutamine and cysteine, are also bound to the fat globule. Fat provides not just calories. In fact, most food rich in healthful fat, including nuts, seeds, chia and almonds are carriers of antioxidants, such as vitamin E and phytosterols.

Dairy also contains lipoic acid, which is a carrier of enzymes and immunoglobulin.

Therefore, if you take the fat out you're left with a clearly inferior whey protein.

"I'm totally against whey isolate,"

Ori says.

"I think it's just the wrong whey."

Pasteurized versus Raw Milk Whey

When selecting a whey product, I strongly recommend making sure it's made from raw, grass-fed milk, in order to obtain the majority of its immune-enhancing benefits.

Unfortunately, most of the whey protein sold on the market is made from pasteurized milk, including whey protein concentrate and New Zealand whey. The New Zealand whey does come from grass-fed cows. However by New Zealand law the whey must be made from pasteurized milk, which negates many of the inherent health benefits of whey, even though it's grass-fed.

There are, however, a few good sources of high-quality whey protein, made from the raw (unpasteurized) milk of grass-fed cows.

"When you look at this whey,"

Ori says

, "you can immediately tell the difference in the smell, the taste. It tastes creamy and good by itself. It's water soluble. It gives you only the mineral component."

Fortunately, manufacturers in the US

are

allowed to process whey from raw milk.

"In my opinion… in America, you can find some of the best whey in the world. You just need to know where to look for it and how to process it,"

Ori says.

Guidelines for Buying High-Quality Whey

As explained by Ori, these are the factors you need to look for in order to ensure you're buying a high-quality product:

• Organic (no hormones)
• Grass-fed
• Made from unpasteurized (raw) milk
• Cold processed, since heat destroys whey's fragile molecular structure
• Minimally processed
• Rich, creamy, full flavor
• Water soluble
• Sweetened naturally, not artificially
• Highly digestible—look for medium chain fatty acids (MCTs), not long chain fatty acids

Some of the best whey protein you can get today is derived from raw milk cheese manufacturing. They have very high quality controls and produce great-tasting whey, with optimal nutritional content.

One of the most important components of the whey is glycomacropeptides (GMP). GMP has amazing immuno components that are critically important for your gut flora. However, only whey produced from raw milk cheese contains GMP. Other varieties do not.

For more in-depth information about the actual processing procedure that high-quality whey must undergo, please listen to the entire interview above.

Your Second-Best Option…

High quality whey is typically more expensive than lower quality whey products and I believe it's well worth the investment. However, if you can't afford high quality whey, what's your second-best option?

The answer is simple: raw dairy products, such as raw milk or raw milk cheese.

To find a source near you, check out

www.RealMilk.com

. They are a great resource for raw dairy.

An additional benefit of raw milk cheese is that the fermentation process also produces

vitamin K2, which is a very important nutrient for optimal health

that is difficult to obtain on a normal diet, unless you eat traditionally-fermented foods.

Raw milk and raw milk cheese is also a good source of calcium, which we discuss in further detail in this interview.

Whey Protein versus Yoghurt – One Builds Muscle, The Other Doesn't

Research clearly shows that sour milk, such as kefir or yoghurt, has amazing cardiovascular benefits, such as reducing your blood pressure and triglyceride levels.

Whey and raw milk cheese also both contain compounds called casomorphins that have beneficial effects on blood pressure and blood sugar.

The real difference between them, however, becomes apparent when you want to build muscle. The benefits of sour milk products are primarily evident in your cardiovascular system, not your body's ability to build muscle.

So if you want to build muscle, do not use yoghurt. It contains protein, but the fermentation process strips away many of the additional immuno components that make whey stand out as a primary fuel to increase your muscle mass.

Ori recommends yoghurt for detoxifying your body and reestablishing a healthful balance of beneficial gut bacteria (probiotics). This is also important for building muscle, but yoghurt is not an ideal

source of protein

to build muscle or boosting your immune system…

Increasing Your Muscle Mass

Whey protein, however, is a great source of protein for building muscle.

Ideally, you'll want to use a combination of sour milk products and whey, as each has its own set of benefits.

Ori explains the supportive mechanisms of these two products.

"… [A]s protein is digested in your stomach, a large percentage of amino acids actually are not fully utilized and do not reach your low intestine. That's when probiotics come into action. They can help you utilize the remaining amino acid.

More than that, if your gut flora is healthy, we now have proof that they can actually synthesize essential amino acids, including lysine, which is missing in food stuff.

That's one of the downside of vegans -- they don't have enough lysine.

They [probiotics] can also synthesize leucine, which you need for muscle building. Good quality protein and good gut flora, and good timing of meals, is important."

Please remember that a major challenge many go through is a process called sarcopenia, which is age related muscle loss This recent

New York Times article

addresses this topic and clearly suggests most of us should be doing some type of strength training.

You just need to know that lifting weights will NOT necessarily result in gaining muscle mass. If you are involved in heavy catabolic exercises like aerobics or running, you will not have the hormonal influences to build muscle.

Additionally, you need to supply your muscles with fuel at the appropriate time so they will have the building blocks to build new muscle tissue. Ideally you would want to consume the whey about one hour before and one hour after your workout.

I personally add two organic pasture-raised eggs to my whey shake along with some raw milk rather than water. I am currently in a muscle gaining phase and have gained about 10 pounds of muscle in the past six month, and lost about 13 pounds of fat, using the Peak Fitness program and whey protein/raw milk/raw egg combination.

Another important benefit of the whey is that if you consume it during the day, you facilitate detoxing while at the same time giving your muscles exactly what they need to rebuild. For more information about this, please see this previous article that discusses

how whey can naturally optimize your glutathione production

, which is an important component for optimal health and muscles.

You will also burn more fat because you're less likely to consume excess calories. (Protein, as you may recall from previous articles, is

the most filling type of food

, which will help eliminate high-carb/high-calorie snacking.)

What About Naturally Occurring MSG?

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a commonly used flavor enhancer

with potent neurotoxic properties. MSG should therefore be avoided as much as possible.

That said, however, it' important to realize that MSG can also occur naturally in certain foods, including yoghurt, and these types of MSG-containing foods do not cause the same kind of harm that synthetic, added MSG does.

Ori explains:

"You want to stay away from MSG. However, your body is very well equipped to protect itself from MSG... [W]e have naturally occurring MSG in many healthy foods; tomato, potato, yoghurt.

Are you going stop eating sour milk and yoghurt with all their benefits just because it produces some MSG in the processing, the fermentation of milk?

No. We cannot be too obsessive, because your body can easily protect itself from MSG when on a healthy diet…

One of the compounds your body produces is called betaine. Betaine is produced from choline. Milk and whey is loaded with choline; with all the nutrients that help you protect yourself from MSG. It's not that it doesn't produce MSG, it provides you -- through the sunflower lecithin -- with all the nutrients your body needs to protect itself from glutamate excitotoxicity."

I find it rather fascinating how we have been conditioned in to believing that we need a 'high protein' diet to get in shape. Protein builds muscle, there is absolutely no doubt about that, but building big muscles does not necessarily get you in shape. Additionally, the amount of protein you will get from a typical punjabi diet of daal + dahi is enough to be fairly strong and fit. Any extra protein is not really required.

I have seen many a men who possess quite impressive physiques, but ask them to jog/run 5k and they start making all sorts of excuses because they know they can not do it. As you get older, what is going to matter will be your cardio vascular system, not how much weight you can bench press. To paraphrase my trainer, 'Every single brown guy I have trained only ever wants to work on 2 muscle groups, chest and biceps' This is a recipe for disaster, the amount of muscle imbalance this will develop will cause a lot of problems later on.

I assume you are looking to loose some fat, the best way to accomplish this is to have a well balanced diet and couple of it exercise. That's all you need. I have lost weight (fat + muscle) a couple of times in the past with out actually doing any exercise at all. This is not generally a good approach however.

If you have specific questions about diet and exercise, feel free to ask. But I refuse to give you a list of high protein foods which you may consume. After all, consuming a high protein diet with out the required exercise will also be potentially damaging.

Please do not cut carbs completely as that is the primary fuel source for our bodies. More specifically, our brains run solely on carbs.

The key is moderation, the days you are active, it's perfectly fine to have carbs. I would even say that it is necessary to consume carbs on such days. While days when you just sit on your butt all day, probably best to reduce the amount of carbs or even food for that matter. I would also add that occasionally it's perfectly fine to have heavy carb meals even if you are spending most of the day doing nothing. It only becomes a problem when you start over eating on a regular basis.

The healthiest people in the world consume food in such a way that their total consumption is just under total expenditure. In other words, their total calorie intake is just under what the body needs. But, this will not work if you are doing heavy weight training. In my opinion, no one should be lifting heavy weights anyway but that's another topic.

It may be okay to wear the support belt for a short period of time while sitting at kirtan programs etc. However, I would encourage you to consult with your chiro and physio before making a decision on it.

That's great. Just make sure you see the person who uses the activator technique. Good luck

Let me start off by reiterating that I'm not qualified to give you any advice. Please do consult with your doctor before taking anything on board

I personally would not recommend that you put on back support belt. Regardless of if there are skeletal or muscle issues, once you put it on, over time it will implicitly train the back muscles to not work as much (as the support belt will take a bulk of the load). This will make the muscles even weaker and can cause bigger problems as you get older. Your aim should be to fix the underlying issues. I would say hold off this decision until you have visited the chiropractor a few times.

I have personally experienced Activator and Diversified (manipulation) method and would never recommend Diversified method to anyone at all. A few years ago when I was getting treated using the Diversified method, it was not a pleasant experience; felt like my spine would break in half at times! Additionally, at the time of the adjustment, things felt quite good; but by the time I got home, pain was back.

I have just Googled the McTimoney technique and I quite like it. This technique seems quite similar to the what the Activator method entails. Nervous system function was the first thing my chiropractor tested during our assessment. He also went through my entire life history, noting any injuries etc.

You can watch a video of this technique here http://www.thechiropracticroom.co.uk/about_mctimoney.asp

I would stay away from #3 as their main technique is diversified, this tells me that the chiropractors employed there are probably well versed with that technique and not nearly as experienced with the Activator technique.

So the choice really boils down to #1 or #2.

Ask which technique they use before booking an appointment.

Yes, chiro helped the most, but deep tissue massage played a big part in it as well. Even after the skeletal issues were most dealt with, I still had issues with my lower back. For instance, if I stood for more than a few minutes, it would get tired. Then if I stretched the low back, I would feel pops in the low back muscle (not the bone). I was told these were gas pops. I was told my back muscles were weak and thus got over stressed easily. This did not sit well with me because I know from my workouts that strength was not the issue. Also, when I was with a trainer, he would make me do 'advance' level exercises targeting my core and I could do with out much trouble at all. This re enforced my thinking that strength was not an issue. I did know that my low back was not 100%, I had a massive low back muscle spasm which rendered me incapable of walking for a couple of days.

One day I decided to get deep tissue massage on my IT band and quad, as the foam roller just wasn't doing it anymore. Amazingly, after the soreness from massage went down, my low back felt 50% better! So it looks like the issue is tight muscles again, and not strength. IT band and quads were just not moving as they should, this put extra pressure on the weaker low back muscles. Now I have been focusing my massages on the IT band and quad (glutes are quite good now). These massages are some of the most painful ones I have ever had but I feel it's paying off quite nicely.

I still weight train, usually once a week, but with lighter weights and don't do certain exercises which I know have the potential to cause problems. My weight training consists of the following now.

- pull ups

- rows

- dips

- dead lift, never going heavier than 135lbs

- body weigh squats on the balance board (quite challenging)

- balance/core work

- stretching

I hope my journey to getting healthy again helps you along the way If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

shucks, I wrote a long post but somehow lost it. So I'll summarize.

I'm in Canada, so I wouldn't know of any chiropractors in England.

I had multiple skeletal issues + muscle issues

- misaligned pelvis; this has since been rectified more or less

- deformed spine due to an injury I had as a child; I was thrown into a wall, back first; there isn't anything that can be done about this

Muscle issues were there for two reasons.

1. since the underlying skeletal structure was misaligned, the muscles had to work extra hard to support my body. Over time they developed serious imbalances which were causing all sorts of issues. Back spasms were fairly routine occurrence at the time.

2. extensive heavy weight training I was doing certainly wasn't helping the muscles relax. While it did make me quite strong, I noticed that if I didn't train for a couple of weeks, muscles got quite weak again.

The treatment was 3 fold

- skeletal adjustment to align the bones

- deep tissue massage + stretching to fix the muscle issues (initial massages were quite painful)

- a drastic reduction in the amount and intensity of weight training I was doing

Initially I was visiting the chiropractor 3 times/week but now it's less than once a month. It has been 1.5+ years now and I feel much better and healthier. I would definitely recommend that you go visit a well respected chiropractor in your area for at least an assessment. Also, please make sure the chiropractor you visit does not use the 'diversified technique' or what I call manual adjustment. The one I visit uses what is known as Activator technique. See link for details

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activator_technique

Could you please list the things that physio, chiro, and othropod did to assess your condition?

I used to have all the problems you have listed above, primarily due to too much weight training, but after chiropractic care + massage I have improved about 80% I would say.

I'm not qualified but rather a fitness enthusiast, I'm just curious about what may be going on with you.

That's interesting, what seems to be the problem with your back?

Sounds like you have a back issue? I would highly recommend that you go see a physiotherapist or a qualified chiropractor before doing any thing.

Yep, he's definitely on some 'enhancement' drugs.

1. You naturally can not get this big

2. Even if you could, all that muscle puts all your vital organs (your heart especially) under more stress than they are designed. This has detrimental effects in the long term.

3. Big does not always equal strong

4. If you stop taking the 'enhancement' drugs you will loose most of that muscle in a matter of weeks!

5. If you stop working out, even then you will loose all the muscle in a relatively short period of time

6. Don't let fitness take over your life (which is essentially what you have to do in order to get that big)

It's really unnecessary to gain this much muscle, not to mention impractical. Fitness should always be taken up with the intent of enhancing your quality of life.

Having said all that, the 'enhancement' drugs he is clearly taking are sadly absolutely necessary in the profession of body building or else he will not have a chance to compete at any level. Even the so called natural body building events allows competitors to take enhancement drugs like steroids orally, injections are not allowed there.

trust you to take a look you kundtha..

lol That's the best you got? Oh yeah, I got nothing better to do than look some random pic of some random kuri on the net It might come as a shock to you, but the person in the picture (I doubt it's really you) is not drop dead gorgeous I seen better with my eyes closed

Oh and if you are going to swear at me, at least use 'standardized swearing system' so everyone can understand what you mean

I was talking to my Muslim neighbour about this and how people say Muslim's claim Guru Nanak to be Muslim. He was curious where I was getting my information from so I showed him this thread. He looked at the first post, saw Kally's display picture and yelled, "HERRR !!!! She was over at my house yesterday and was asking me the same question except she said her next door Sikh neighbour who is a Sikh insists that Mohammad was a Sikh!" He then proceeded to add that her chunni was not able to stay on her body just like the display pic

I do enjoy a good laugh - but its true i tell ya . and i am a bit weird but its good to be different . what ever my thoughts are i would never insult anyone to there face .. its not in my nature .. Im noticing now that the comments in here are made by very young members - i think im old enough to me some memebers mother .. but it explains alot ....xx :rolleyes2:

Very very interesting stuff!

At the Nexus Conference in July 2010, physicist Nassim Haramein presented new concepts explaining how we are all interconnected and can access infinite knowledge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y5bXdx5UrE

http://www.alternet.org/economy/151767/the_reason_ceos_make_350_times_more_money_than_their_workers_--_and_why_that%27s_terrible_for_the_economy/

The Reason CEOs Make 350 Times More Money Than Their Workers -- And Why That's Terrible for the Economy

The top dogs have a huge interest in allocating corporate resources to jack up their companies’ stock prices, thanks to some terrible decisions by the SEC. July 25, 2011 |

In 1991, well-known compensation consultant Graef S. Crystal published In Search of Excess: The Overcompensation of American Executives in response to an explosion in executive pay that occurred in the US in the 1970s and 1980s. How, Crystal asked, did it make any economic sense for the CEOs in his sample of 200 large US corporations to be making 130 times the pay of the average American worker? And why were they making about seven times the compensation of their CEO counterparts at Japanese companies, many of which were out-competing their US rivals?

Yet the surge in top executive pay that Crystal observed 20 years ago pales in comparison to the volcanic eruption that has occurred since then. In the mid-2000s, top executive pay in the United States was about three times higher in real terms than the levels of the early 1990s. And the ratio of the average compensation of the CEOs of the largest corporations to that of the average worker climbed as high as 525:1 in 2000 before declining to what has become the “new normal” of about 350:1 in 2010. The gains from exercising stock options represent both the largest and most variable component of top executive pay, giving CEOs, CFOs, and other top dogs a huge interest in allocating corporate resources in ways that jack up their companies’ stock prices — most notably through stock buybacks that can run into billions of dollars per year.

Large corporations use buybacks to manipulate the stock market. And the fact that top corporate executives can sell the shares that they acquire from exercising stock options without any delay means that, avoiding any risk, they can capitalize on the short swings in their company’s stock price that their corporate allocation decisions help to create. Nice work if you can get it! And guess how they got it? A gift of the regulator of US stock markets, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In 1982 and 1991 the SEC - the US government agency which is supposed to protect stock-market investors from stock-price manipulation and short-swing profits by insiders — promulgated rule changes that gave the wolves free access to the chicken coop.

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, large-scale stock repurchases can be construed as an attempt to manipulate a company’s stock price. In November 1982, however, SEC Rule 10b-18 changed all that. The new rule provided companies with a “safe harbor” that assured them that manipulation charges would not be filed if each day’s open-market repurchases were not greater than 25% of the stock’s average daily trading volume for the previous four weeks and if the company refrained from doing buybacks at the beginning and end of the trading day. Under these rules, during the single trading day of, for example, July 13, 2011, a leading stock repurchaser such as Exxon Mobil could have done as much as $416 million in buybacks, Bank of America $402 million, Microsoft $390 million, Intel $285 million, Cisco $269 million, GE $230 million, and IBM $220 million. And, according to the rules, buybacks on these scales can be repeated day after trading day.

Stock-buyback programs — say, $10 billion over four years — require the approval of a company’s board of directors. But, with a program in place, the company is not required to disclose the dates on which buybacks are actually done (a 2004 amendment to Rule 10b-18 only requires that a company report in its 10-Q filing repurchases in the previous quarter, well after the fact). So top executives who make decisions to do buybacks are privy to inside information that, as holders of stock options, can be very valuable to them.

Why did the SEC pass Rule 10b-18 back in 1982? According to a Wall Street Journal report dated November 10, 1982 on the new regulation, Rule 10b-18 “made it easier for companies to buy back their shares on the open market without fear of stock-manipulation charges”. SEC Chairman John Shad, who had previously been a top executive at the Wall Street investment bank E. F. Hutton, was an advocate of the rule change. He argued that large-scale open market purchases would fuel an increase in stock prices that would be beneficial to shareholders. One of the SEC Commissioners, John Evans, argued that as a result of Rule 10b-18, some manipulation would go unprosecuted. But then he agreed to make the Commission’s vote for the rule change unanimous.

Coincidentally, it happens that November 1982 was the start of what would be the longest stock-market boom in US history, lasting until the Internet bubble burst in late 2000. In the process, both stock buybacks and stock options became the yin and yang of US corporate executives.

As a complement to Rule 10b-18, in 1991 the SEC made a rule change that enabled top executives to make quick gains by exercising their stock options and immediately selling the acquired shares, thus avoiding any risk that the price of the acquired stock would decline before being sold. Under Section 16(b) of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act corporate directors, officers or shareholders with more than 10% of the corporation’s shares are prohibited from making short-swing profits through the purchase and the subsequent sale of corporate securities within a six-month period. As a result, top executives who exercised stock options had to hold the acquired shares for at least six months before selling them.

Treating a stock option as a derivative, however, in 1991 the SEC deemed that the six-month holding period required under Section 16(b) was from the grant date, not the exercise date, of the option. Since all stock options take at least one year to vest from the grant date, the rule change meant that executives could now immediately sell the shares acquired by exercising options. The new rule eliminated the risk of loss between the exercise date and the sale date, and gave top executives flexibility in their timing of option exercises and immediate stock sales so that they could personally benefit from, among other things, stock-price boosts from buybacks.

In 1987, after leaving the SEC, John Shad donated $20 million to Harvard Business School (HBS) to fund the teaching of business ethics courses that could curb abuses on Wall Street. HBS subsequently had difficulty putting that money to its intended use. But it did manage to spend $20 million to build Shad Hall, an ultra posh fitness center designed especially for executives who attended the School’s advanced management courses.

One does need to stay in shape to do buybacks and exercise options.

William Lazonick is director of the UMass Center for Industrial Competitiveness and president of The Academic-Industry Research Network. His book, Sustainable Prosperity in the New Economy? Business Organization and High-Tech Employment in the United States (Upjohn Institute 2009) was awarded the 2010 Schumpeter Prize.

Things you are doing appear to be okay, I'm not sure how much can be changed. At the end of the day, not everyone has the genetic potential to be "strong". If you don't mind me asking, are you training for a specific sport?

Personally, I feel your protein intake is too high. But that would not impact your strength in a negative fashion. It may however impact certain organs of the body. I'm sure you already know this, but it doesn't hurt to get a reminder

One thing that stood out from your posts is that your calorie intake = calories spent. While calorie counting is not an exact science, I would encourage you to add 300-500 calories to your daily food intake. Add these in your post workout meals and make them high quality carbs.

I don't see if you have given your typical post workout meal. Of all the meals of the day, that is the most critical to build strength.