All year round, Adam Carriker is taking the pulse of Husker Nation. In the "Carriker Chronicles" video series, he breaks down the latest NU news, upcoming opponents, player updates and recruiting information, and he offers his insight into the X's and O's and more.
In Wednesday's episode, Carriker shares his post-NFL weight loss story, gives his workout plan and diet for successful weight lossand more.
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Here's the transcript from today's show:
"Welcome to the Carriker Chronicles, the peoples show and today is Workout Wednesday and I wanna tell you about how I put on 100 pounds and then, I lost 100 pounds. So from the time I graduated high school, 13 years later from when I was done playing in Nebraska and in the NFL. 13 years later, I gradually went from 220 to 320 from lifting in the weight room, Husker power and playing in the NFL, playing 3-4 defensive end and nose guard in the NFL as well. I just gradually got bigger and stronger and stronger as the game and my job required me to do.
Now, when I retired, I decided I didnt want to be 320 anymore. Just wasnt healthy for life, been through a lot of aches and pains in football, just what it is. And so I decided I wanted to take about six months and lose that 100 pounds. So what I did is I got a diet. I got a workout regimen cause this is unlike anything Ive ever done in my entire life. I mean one week ago you fine folks at home watching me bench 550 pounds. I like to bench press refrigerators, and I like to squat mobile homes. Thats what I like to do. Ive never liked cardio. Ive never liked anything over five reps. I hate taking I like taking a lot of rest in between my sets. Thats just how you lift heavy. Thats how Ive always liked to train. Thats just me. This is completely different.
To lose weight, you wanna do high reps, starting 20 reps, to 10 reps, to 15. Anything below 10, you dont really wanna go below that if you are trying to lose weight. Anywhere from 10 to 20 reps. You want low rest. You want at the most 90 seconds in between your rests and your sets, or 30 seconds, which is a lot of what I did a lot of the time and I would super set. So Id do a set of bench, Id go do a set of pull-ups. Id wait 30 seconds. Well, that was foreign to me, but thats what I did. I did a whole lot of cardio. I did six days a week of cardio. I did upper body twice a week, lower body twice a week, and then twice a week Id do cardio with core. So for you fine folks at home, I would suggest four to six days a week, and I would suggest lifting and cardio and core involved in those. And Ill just tell you a little bit about what I did. So for me, Mondays and Thursdays was upper body and cardio. Tuesday and Fridays was lower body and cardio.
Im looking at my old workout right now that I used to have, and Wednesday was cardio and then it was core. And Im gonna put this whole entire workout in the transcript for you fine folks at home to see, so I dont have to detail it all out on the show. So you can check it out at your leisure at your own depth in the transcript. Thats my workout. Thats the gist of some of the things you wanna take from the workout aspect of it.
With the cardio, I would suggest mixing it up. I mean theres stair climber. Theres elliptical. Theres treadmill. You can do plyo box jumps. You can play basketball, make sure its an intense game. You can run outside. Theres all sorts of different things you can do. Mix up that cardio so that you dont get bored and intervals. While youre doing your cardio, intervals is the best way to lose weight. So run hard for 90 seconds, rest. Run hard for a minute, rest. Run hard for 30 seconds, rest. Thats kind of how you want your intervals to be, anywhere from 30 seconds to 90 seconds.
Now, as far as the diet, which is important, probably more important than anything else. Even if you arent able to work out because theres something bothering you physically, just follow the diet aspect of this, which I also have right here. My same diet. Im gonna put that up on the transcript as well and you can check it out at your own leisure and depth as you want to do so in the future, or immediately following the show would absolutely be the best. But, the things is the diet is more important than anything because what you put into your body, its like fuel in a race car. You put and Ive done this before, Ive put kerosene in my car one time by accident. Its like putting kerosene in a race car instead of premium leaded gas or unleaded gas or whatever the best gas is, Im not much of a mechanic.
But as far as the diet goes, that was foreign to me as well because Ive never done drugs, Ive been drunk once in my life and Ill just confess right now. It was at my Washington State recruiting visit and my dad was there. I was hungover the next day, sick as a dog and we managed to fool them. Dad if youre watching this, Im sure you know by now. I think I told you years later. But anyways, my vice was food. I would go into Burger King, Hey, Adam. How you doing? I would go into Taco Bell. Adam, do you want your regular? Like to me everyone had a vice. Food cant be the worst thing in the world, so that was my vice. So for me, Id never eaten like this before in my entire life either. It was a great challenge and something Id never ever done in my entire life.
Now, Im just gonna briefly cover the diet aspect of this. You want your breakfast to be your biggest meal of the day because you need your energy, you need to have some healthy carbs, some healthy sugars so you have a little pep in your step for the entire day, so youre not dragging. And also, as the day goes along, your body digests what you ate in the morning. If you have a big supper, it stillit wont be as digested, so the scale isnt gonna like you as much. So as the day goes along, you want to eat less and less and less.
So my breakfast was the biggest meal of the day, Id have a green smoothie. Thered usually be a couple fruits in there, a banana, blueberries, goji berries, raspberries, some of the super fruits. Id put a serving of greens in there whether it be kale, spinach, power greens, something of that nature. A little bit of protein powder, it helps give it a little thickness, a little flavor to it as well. The other thing that I would put in there was some nuts. You know whether it be almonds, Brazil nuts, or walnuts. Those things are really good. Thatd be my green smoothie, and I would either have some scrambled eggs, or Id have, and Im not gonna lie to you this was not the best tasting thing under Gods hot sun, but I would have those little packets of grilled chicken breasts. I would take it out and I would just eat it. Its not very many calories, and its 42 grams of protein. Bam, just like that. Not the best tasting thing in the world, so you can do scrambled eggs instead. And for those healthy carbs have some whole grain toast or possibly some oatmeal.
And after Id go workout, what I just talked about a little bit, Id have a post-workout shake. You know, three scoops of protein, maybe some keratin, some glutamine, put a couple of scoops of some of the greens powder mix that Id had discovered that I really like really well called Green Greens X, free plug right there for you. You owe me fine, fine company of, of nutritional supplements you. But thats what Id have afterwards also with fish oil supplement Id take a tablespoon of it. Give you a little extra energy. Help you recover as well. And you can read the rest of whats in this diet that I ate, but gradually as the day went along, I ate a little bit less and less. You want more in the morning for energy and gradually your body digests and you wanna eat less throughout the day.
Now the main thing you wanna do is you wanna eat protein four to five times a day. That helps your body recover. You also want to eat greens four to five times a day. That helps your body heal from these workout and from what youre putting your body through at the moment to try to lose this weight. And when you have just straight protein and greens those are called fire meals because that is exactly what you need and its nothing more. So youre still supplying your body nutrients. Yet, youre giving it the minimum amount that it needs, so thats how you can lose the weight.
And the things you need to keep track of, keep track of calories, carbs and your sugars. Those are the three things to keep track of the most, and if youre gonna get some supplements, which I highly advise, a multivitamin, a digestine, and as I previously mentioned before fish oil, glutamine, and some keratin as well.
And on Sundays you do get a cheat meal ladies and gentlemen. For me, that was my sanity. Id start planning that thing on Monday. Where I was gonna go, what I was gonna do, what I was gonna eat. Dont obsess about it. It just gave me something to look forward to and helped me personally keep my sanity. And I could enjoy it every single Sunday.
But now, one of the biggest things Ive found was that this was a six month process for me, and about two months in, I lost a ton of weight, and I took an unload week. I chilled for a week because I want, I dont want it to be a diet. Dont go on a diet. Do not go on a diet. Take The Biggest Loser. More often than not, the winner from that show will, way more often than not if you go back and do your research, the winner from that show from each season that they had now weighs more or as much or more than before they lost all that weight. Diets dont last because you go mentally crazy, and sometimes they can alter your metabolism and make things way worse.
So, I wanted a lifestyle change. So, I mentally enjoyed working out and eating like I had never done in my entire life. For me, it was a brand new challenge, and I was excited about it. I enjoyed it.
After unload week, my biggest concern was putting on weight during that week, and I did not. But, I just had a hard time coming back. In fact, I was posting every Wednesday, working out. It was weight loss Wednesday at the time. People were following me, and I quit posting about it because I decided I needed to take a little bit more of a break. Now, just cause your tired. Just cause its hard. Just cause youre hungry dont give in. Dont beno, no, no, no. Keep going, but if you feel yourself starting to go crazy and coo-coo, that ladies and gentlemen, thats when you gotta make a lifestyle change and not just go for a fad diet.
Now, so, I took a little bit more time off, and when I came back, I was a little bit more rejuvenated. It still wasnt easy because it is challenging. But gradually over the rest of that time because I lost a lot of weight upfront, decided to chill out so I wouldnt drive myself crazy and then, over the last couple of months, over those six months, the remainder of that time, I lost the rest of the weight gradually, so that I would not go crazy and put it back on.
Now, its all based on what, how you feel. If you feel like youre good, keep pushing on. Four days a week. Six days a week. Six months. A year. Whatever you can do to last long term.
There was a guy, who was in the army, who hit me up. Sir, Adam, how do I lose weight? I sent him exactly what is on these papers, which will be in the transcript. He just hit me up about a couple months ago and he just hit me up about two weeks ago, about six weeks later and said, 'Ive lost 51 pounds. Thank you, sir.' Congratulations to you sir because you have done the work.
Now, full disclosure, I weight 260 pounds today. 220, 320, to 220. Why am I 260? Ill be brutally honest with you, when I got to 240, I looked in the mirror, and I didnt want to lose anymore. I was getting too skinny, but I wanted to reach my goal. As soon as I got to 220, I got right back to 240, and gradually over the last few months Ive discovered, so that I can enjoy food, lift the way I want, 260s where I am. Largest arms on the D-line baby. Check out the Carriker Chronicles. omaha.com, my Facebook and Twitter, easiest way to access the show. Sign up for the email notifications, have it right at your finger tips. That was your Workout Wednesday with tip of the week. Youre welcome."
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Carriker Chronicles: Adam's weight loss story, workout plan and diet for weight loss - Omaha World-Herald
