I have had a nasty cold for the last 6 days! I think it is getting worse and heading into my chest - not good as it usually takes me a month to get rid of a chesty cough (touchwood).

Have tried all sorts of remedies most of them are a waste of money. I was using raw garlic which I always finds works a treat but ran out when the heavy snow set in, since then I have been snowed in and unable to get any.

Check out my thoughts on all this supplementation etc

DIRT - I just read that starting on Allopurinol can trigger gout attacks for the first few weeks or months. This happens as the uric acid crystals in the body are dissolved and released from their protein incasing. The body's immune system then mounts a response attack causing inflammation and swelling i.e. gout flare up!

Not looking forward to starting this course of treatment, may wait till until after the xmas period. I need to stock up on my Naproxen stash before I feel comortable to begin it, the worst case would be to run out during holiday period and all the chemists being closed!

Will keep you updated.

Still feel real sore from the chest and back session I done on Saturday. I wonder if this is due to the low protein (helps manage the gout), less sleep (new baby), less workout frequency or maybe a combination of previous factors.

Protein is around 120g-150g per day, so about 100-130g down from normal levels.
Sleep is averaging about 4 to 5 hours, down from 7 hours.
Workout frequency is down to about twice a week from around 4 times a week.

New baby is doing well, what they say about girls being a bit calmer seems to be true. My son is adjusting well, only a little bit of jealousy when he doesn't get the cuddles he wants and also a bit more hyper (I think he is trying to get our attention).

Gout situation is good at the moment, due to the lower protein diet. This is the catch 22, I need more protein to benefit my workouts but if I eat too much then I get gout and can't train. Really frustrating, sometimes I wonder where I would be with my training if I didn't have the gout, if I was a betting man I would reckon I would be lifting a sh*t load more.

Hoping to get to the gym sometime tommorow, Grandma is coming round to help out. If it all goes to plan I will do leg press, deadlifts, shouder presses, shrugs and cardio, not ideal considering that the session will last about 1.5 hours but needs must at the moment.

Peace

Little baby girl 7lb 6oz arrived this morning. She is definately going to impact on my training, worth it though. Infact she already has - only had 2 hours sleep last night.

Been a bit quiet on the training front as I am on a relatively low protein diet at the moment. Down to about 90-100g a day from 250g and really feeling it in terms of recovery etc. So not doing many training sessions whilst I am on the low protein coz I think it will be counter productive.

Will wait until the gout has completely gone for at least 3 days before slowly upping the protein again.

Family have had a cold for about a week, I just picked it up (thought I got lucky an avoided it).

I don't think going out for beers Friday and then only having 4 hours sleep on Saturday night - Manny Paquio's fault (what a boxer though) helped.

Went to make a honey and lemon and as luck would have it the missus finished it up when she had her cold.

Wanted to do shoulders today but thought it would be better to rest up, splitting headache and all congested up.

Glutamine not working as planned, have picked up a bit of a head cold (sore throat, runny nose - feels like it is working down into my chest). Don't understand why I keep getting sick???

Anyways have trebled my Glutamine intake, also eating cloves of raw garlic (real mouth burner) and sipping lots of honey, lemon and freshly grated ginger hot drink.

I weighed myself today (always try and weigh myself when I get sick so I can monitor how much weight I lose) and weighed in at a suprisingly heavy 104kg/230lbs a big increase since last weigh in - see stats page.

Really want to hit bench hard tommorow and go for 152.5kg but will have to wait and see how I feel after a good nights sleep.

Touchwood