Respect the Recovery Process

Training is only the initial stimulus for your body to undergo physical change. You build muscle, burn fat, and alter your physical appearance via all of the metabolic, hormonal, and physiological processes that take place in between training sessions. If you train too frequently and short circuit the recovery process, you will not see visual improvements no matter how hard you train.

Inadequate recovery equals no adaptive response. This equals no muscle growth, no metabolic boost, no burning off body fat, and no change in physical appearance. In the worst-case scenario, it can actually make you more prone to storing body fat, due to chronically elevated levels of the hormone cortisol. You might as well just sit at home eating (insert your favorite junk food), and watching (insert your favorite junk TV show). At least that is a fun way to get fat; trust me I've done it.

Here are just a few of the physiological processes that happen in the recovery phase from a weight training session:

Satellite cells are activated when muscle fibers receive trauma or damage.
Satellite cells fuse to existing muscle fibers and help to repair/regenerate the damage by increasing the size and number of contractile proteins (called actin & myosin) within those fibers.
The body restores cell fluids, electrolytes, and minerals lost during training.
The body must refill muscle glycogen stores as glycogen is the primary fuel used during high intensity training. Contrary to supplement marketing, this doesn't just happen with a single high-carb post-workout shake. It takes multiple balanced meals to adequately restore glycogen levels.
The immune system responds with a sequence of actions leading to inflammation. This inflammation is what causes muscle soreness. The purpose of this inflammation is to contain the damage within the muscle cells, increase blood flow and nutrient delivery to the damaged area, repair the damage, and clean up the injured area of waste products.
Antioxidants scavenge free radicals and repair oxidative stress caused by the increased rate of oxygen consumption during the training session.
Growth factors (such as IGF-1) regulate insulin metabolism and stimulate protein synthesis.
Testosterone, cortisol, and growth hormone levels rise, fall, and return to baseline levels in their own respective patterns (assuming you are training naturally without performance enhancing drugs).
All of the above processes can take up to 48 hours under normal circumstances but can be delayed by many factors including poor dietary decisions, lack of sleep, and high stress levels just to name a few.
On a side note, all of the above actions require energy (calories). This is why we say that strength training boosts the metabolism (the rate at which your body burns calories on a daily basis) and is so crucial to the body composition change process.


Here is the take home message: Recovery is a complex process, and the advanced trainee trying to maximize their results must balance intense training with recovery. Of course if you train like a wimp, you can train every day, because you have nothing to recover from. I'm really just speaking to the athletes who make a sincere effort to bust their butts in the gym in order to change their bodies.

Overtraining Syndrome
The frequency recommendations at the beginning of this article were set for a reason. They were not just blindly pulled out of a hat. And remember, these recommendations are for people training primarily for physique development. I understand that participation in competitive sports may require more frequent and longer training sessions to maximize sport performance and/or adhere to competitive schedules. But that's also why competitive sports have off-seasons.

What happens if you train more often than you can recover from? There is an actual technical term for the physiological state that results from training too long or too frequently on a regular basis: Overtraining Syndrome. According to the NSCA Overtraining Syndrome is "Excessive frequency, volume, or intensity of training that results in extreme fatigue, illness, or injury which is often due to a lack of sufficient rest, recovery, and perhaps nutrient intake."

And what are some of the effects of this overtraining syndrome? Here you go:

Emotional and mood disturbances including increased irritability, anxiety, and even depression-like symptoms.
Sleep disturbances.
Altered immune system functioning including increased rates and duration of illnesses and infections.
Decreased desire to train and decreased joy from training—that is if you even like training to begin with.
Altered hormonal patterns including a reduction in anabolic, muscle building/fat burning hormones (testosterone, growth hormone, IGF-1) and an increase in catabolic, muscle destroying/fat storing hormones (cortisol).


This last one is the worst side effect for those concerned with body composition change. Physique development is way more complicated than just the simple calories in vs. calories out theory. It really comes down to properly managing and manipulating natural hormone levels and metabolic rate through diet and exercise. Do this the right way and getting into shape is a smooth process. Do it the wrong way, and dropping body fat will be impossible no matter how many calories you cut or how much you exercise.

Negative hormonal alterations (such as reduced testosterone/growth hormone and increased cortisol production) are the primary reason why many who overtrain struggle with fat around their midsection DESPITE their high levels of exercise. Abdominal-specific body fat often has a lot to do with abnormally high cortisol levels. These people tend to be fine everywhere else on their bodies, but tend to hold a lot of flab around the midsection.

I see this most often with endurance athletes. Research has shown that this group of athletes has the most compromised hormonal profiles—meaning lower than normal amounts of testosterone and higher than normal amounts of cortisol. People who engage in frequent and excessive amounts of aerobic activity are shooting themselves in the foot in terms of physique development. They may be improving performance (as in the ability to run farther or at a faster pace) but they are not optimizing hormones, metabolism, and thus, physique development results.

But it’s important to note that overtraining can happen in any form of exercise, including strength training. So don't think because you stay away from the treadmills and sling the weights around that you are immune to the overtraining syndrome. Every athlete needs to balance training with recovery.

Rich Fit / 10 Fit tips

I have a very important question I want to ask you. Ready? Why are you working out? Seriously. What is your primary health or fitness-related reason for exercising? Are you being honest with yourself about why you’re at the gym? There are many reasons to engage in a regular exercise program. The most common—though often the least discussed—is to look good naked. Hey what ever it takes to get your ass in the gym. with the summer nearing it's end I have some great training tips to carry you looking better than ever into the fall season.

1) Cut out (or at least limit) long distance endurance training, a.k.a. traditional cardio. Instead, make anaerobic activity—strength training, and to a lesser extent interval-based cardio—the foundation of your exercise program.

2)Strength train three to five days a week. Give yourself two to three days off from training to optimize recovery (although outdoor walking is cool).

3) Keep workouts to about 30-60 minutes. Intensity is more important than duration.

4) Train each body part once every five to seven days. Use body part splits over full body/total body training.

5) Train one to three muscle groups per session.

6) Perform three to five exercises for large muscle groups, two to three exercises for small muscle groups. Perform two to four sets per exercise. Perform six to 15 reps per set. Rest 45 to 120 seconds per set.

7) Focus on basic exercises—squats, deadlifts, various presses and rows. Save the fluff for the weekend warriors. Focus mostly on free weights, using machines to supplement.

8) Keep the rep tempos around two seconds up, two seconds down. Lower weight under control, lift under control, and don’t pause or lockout to rest in between reps. Don’t cheat by swinging or using rebound/momentum. Keep constant tension on the muscle.

9) Focus on stimulating and overloading the muscle, not just how much weight you lift. Think about feeling the muscle work during the set, not just on moving a weight from point A to point B.

10) Switch training variables. Vary—within the confines of the overall parameters—regularly (exercises, order of exercises, reps, etc.) in order to change the training stimulus.

Try to enjoy the process. Results are a by product of consistent training & proper eating.

These principles are based not just on the physical, anecdotal evidence of the fittest “looking” people in the world ( athletes and fitness models), but also on the scientific principles of human physiology, exercise physiology, and kinesiology. It’s not “meathead bodybuilding,” it is scientific-based body composition training. The goal is to combine the best of both worlds, the scientific and the practical. This prevents us from getting caught up in the fitness trends or health club hype that are more geared towards selling the consumer a product, service, or "system" rather than giving them real-world results.

A boxing Tribute: Blood Sweat & Tears

Hmmm..... What Can I Accomplish Today?

Part of the beauty of living a fitness lifestyle and challenging yourself to build muscle or lose fat is that quality physiques have been built using all different styles of techniques. There is no “one right way” that everyone should follow.

Things like rep range, rep tempo, frequency of training, machines vs. cables, and volume are just a few of the things that have been argued over, but one thing that no one argues is the fact that progression is the key to growth. I will say it again, In order to grow you need to keep progressing! That can mean increasing weight or increasing the number of reps.

It’s this overload that stresses the muscle and causes the body to repair the micro tears thus making a muscle stronger. Personally I like to train between 6-20 reps with the majority being between 8-12. One thing I always do is keep my body from adapting by manipulating rest time, volume, and exercises.

Through the use of different shocking principals (forced reps, drop sets, supersets, rest pause etc) I keep progressing. After a couple of weeks I change everything up again and shock the body in a new way.

Being able to listen to your body is huge. After training for years you learn to listen to signals that your body is sending. Sometimes it’s as easy as resting or adding calories, so when I plateau the first thing I evaluate is my diet and recovery. Other times I change up the split or throw in a new exercise. bottom line keep the body guessing and force it to adapt to new stresses. Live Fit, be Fit!

Does My Fat Ass Make Me Look Like A Fat Ass?

What Nutrition Plan Has Worked Best For Me!

Regardless of your fitness goals, it's critical to take the time to educate yourself on proper nutrition. Nutrition is a major part of every human beings life. Anything done as frequently as consuming food should be understood on a higher level. Take a bit of time to learn what you are eating; after all, you are what you eat. I would recommend checking out one of the many documentaries on the current food industry and its future. I personally like to stick to natural, non-processed foods. After making the switch to high quality foods, I have yet to find a person who has had regret other than wishing they had made the switch sooner.

Don't get me wrong, creating a quality nutrition plan that works for you is no easy task. However, it's an essential part to any successful exercise program.

I eat 6-8 small meals spaced between 2.5-3.5 hours throughout the day. Each meal contains a protein, carbohydrate and fat source. The ratios of each are determined by body weight and goals at that time. There is plenty of debate on the correct ratios for each. I keep protein between 1-1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Carbohydrates are typically between 0.8-1.8 grams per pound of body weight. Fats are roughly between 0.2-0.35 grams per pound of body weight. I like to incorporate carbohydrate cycling in my nutrition plan.


If I'm in a muscle-building phase I lower my protein and fat amounts and increase my carbohydrate amounts. I then do five high carbohydrate days and two reduced carbohydrate days. Ideally keeping reduced carbohydrate days on non-training days. When I am in a dieting or cutting phase, I increase my protein and fat sources and lower my carbohydrate sources. I then do five low carbohydrate days and two high carbohydrate days.

There is one way to determine what ratio works best for you and that is by using trial and error. Determine your goal, track your nutrients and adjust them based upon the results. Yes, it can be mind boggling at first, but like anything the more you do it the easier it becomes.

Carbohydrate sources:

Oatmeal, yams, bananas, fruit juice, fruit, vegetables, whole wheat flour, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat breads

Protein sources:

Chicken, venison, fish, turkey, beef, eggs, cottage cheese

Fat sources:

Fish oil, flax oil, olive oil, almonds

I like to eat whole foods as much as possible. I still use supplements when I need to, but I use them as a supplement not a replacement.

Meal 1:

1 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese
1.5 scoops whey protein
20 oz green tea

Meal 2:

1/2 cup oatmeal
3 oz chicken
Vegetables
20 oz green tea

Meal 3:

6 oz chicken
5 oz yam
Vegetables
20 oz green tea

Meal 4: (Pre-Workout)

1 scoop whey protein
1 cup grape juice

Meal: 5 (Post-Workout)

1.5 scoop whey protein
1 scoop waxy maize

Meal: 6

6 oz chicken
5 oz yam
Vegetables
20 oz green tea

Meal 7:

3 oz chicken
Vegetables
20 oz green tea

Meal 8:

1 scoop casein protein
1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese

For supplementation I stick to the basics and proven supplements. I use the following:

Whey Protein
Casein Protein
Flax Seed (whole)
Fish Oil
GlycoMaize or Dextrose
Multivitamin
Caffeine
Green Tea
HMB ( protects muscle from being used as fuel during training )
Glutamine

Maximize Your Fat Burning Potential With These Nutritional Need To Know's

Losing fat isn’t rocket science, quantum physics, or brain surgery. In fact, losing fat is really pretty easy…. IF you learn how to control your blood sugar! So let me give you 3 simple strategies that will help you control your blood sugar AND help you lose fat as a result.
Controlling Blood Sugar is as Easy as 1, 2, 3

1. Eat the right TYPE of Carbs

You want to consume carbs that are going to be time-released. This helps prevents high blood sugar spikes followed by low blood sugar crashes. Foods that are going to be more time-released tend to have certain characteristics: they are low in sugar and high in fiber. Consequently it’s natural foods that are the best carbs sources.


2. Eat the right AMOUNT of Carbs

Even if you eat the right type of carbs, you can still raise your blood sugar too much (which blunts fat burning) by eating too many grams of carbs at once. Therefore you must control your carb portion sizes if you want to lose fat.


3. Eat Protein and Fiber with Carbs

As alluded to in step #1, fiber and fat loss are BFF! Eating fiber (i.e. veggies) slows the digestion of other carbs you eat, which is just what you want cause this makes the carbs more time-released. This results in stable, as opposed to erratic, blood sugar levels.

Same goes for eating protein with carbs… it makes the carbs essentially become more time-released. Oh, I forgot to mention that both protein and fiber will keep you feeling fuller longer – HUGE benefit to following step #3!

Fat Loss comes with Right Habits

People that lose the fat they want and then stay lean inevitably follow these three steps, but they have made them HABIT! They don’t even consciously think about it. I always say fitness & your health is a lifestyle, a daily way of living. Not something you do for a few weeks at the start of a new year. Remember your fitness has two points, begin and continue.

Start now by implementing the above three steps for just one month. After that you’ll find you naturally select the right type and amount of carbs and eat them with the right things. Then you’ll one major step closer to having the body you want. Remember nutritional timing is key, know what when and why you are eating & supplementing. Good luck.

Richard-

The Carbohydrates Role In Building Lean Muscle Tissue

Carbohydrates play two key roles in muscle building. The first is energy. Your body needs maximum energy to perform at maximum level. If you don't get enough energy from complex carbohydrates you will not be working as hard as you can and this will limit your muscle building potential. Simple carbohydrates will not cut it either, you may get 10min of energy from a chocolate bar but after that you're left feeling tired and run down.

Insulin spike post workout. Insulin is the most anabolic hormone in the human body and drives nutrients from the bloodstream into muscle cells. When you finish your workout your muscles are desperately trying to repair and rebuild and are crying out for energy and nutrients. This is the only time when simple carbohydrates will benefit you for muscle building. A quick dose of simple carbohydrates post workout will raise depleted insulin levels which speeds up the process of protein synthesis (rebuilding of muscle tissue). Complex carbohydrates will not do the job here because they take longer to be absorbed into the body. An excellent source of simple carbohydrates post workout is a banana. Eating a banana will give you 25-30 grams of fast acting simple carbohydrates.

When you need carbohydrates:

As mentioned, you need simple carbohydrates straight after your workout to increase insulin levels. But what about your energy levels throughout the day? You should kick off the day with a good serving of protein and carbohydrates. When you wake up your body has just had eight hours without any nutritional intake and is crying out for food. Another time when complex carbohydrates are very important is pre-workout for energy. Try and have a good meal filled with complex carbohydrates and protein about 1 hours to 45 mins before

your workout.

The thing you must remember with carbohydrates is that your body only uses what it needs and stores the rest as fat. This is why you need to spread your carbohydrate intake out over the day for optimum energy levels and minimal fat storage. Most bodybuilders eat between 5-8 meals per day consisting of a high amount of protein and moderate complex carbohydrates. The "3 meal a day" trend is starting to shift as people realise it's much better to eat less, more often, for both weight loss and weight gains.

Types of carbohydrate supplements:

Carbohydrate supplements come in powdered form. There are two basic types that are used by athletes; blends and pure. Blends are your typical "weight gainers". They consist of mostly pure carbohydrates with proteins, fats and sometimes other supplements added. Pure carbohydrate supplements are exactly that, pure. 100% pure carbohydrates. Athletes often mix these supplements in with post-workout shakes for insulin spike. Pure carbohydrate supplements are much better because the bodybuilder can control the amounts he/she wishes to consume at any one time.

Supplements vs real carbohydrates:

At the end of the day, nothing beats real food. And because good complex carbohydrates are readily available, cheap and easy to consume in large amounts. carbohydrate supplements are not as common as protein and creatine which are much harder to consume in high amounts. The best (and only) time you can really benefit from carbohydrate supplements are post-workout. Pure carbohydrate supplements are formulated to give you a maximum insulin spike.

Ultimate Training Tips For Advanced Athletes.......

Ultimate Training Tips from guest contributor: Charles Poliquin

1. Be as Strong as You Look

I’ve had the opportunity to train arms with a whole slew of pros, and I can generally handle more weight than they can, using stricter form, even though they’re usually up to 70 or 80 pounds heavier than I am. The secret to my superior relative strength comes from the regular use of maximal weights. Most bodybuilders stick religiously to a 6 to 12 rep range when training arms. On the other hand, there are plenty of strongman contest competitors with massive arms who are every bit as strong as they look.

What’s the difference? Strongman competitors train using few exercises, done for multiple sets of low reps with long rest intervals between sets.

2. Splits Still Beat Full Body Routines

I’m the first one to want to improve on any training system, but I do not know anyone successful in the strength coaching business who uses full body routines exclusively. In bodybuilding, I don’t think Ronnie Coleman trains whole body three days a week. I’ve never known a successful bodybuilder, even the low set guys like Dorian Yates, to do whole body training. Every single Olympian I’ve trained used split routines. I’ve been in this profession for 26 years and no one has ever convinced me, by their results, that full body routines are the only way to go.
3. The Rep Rules

The rep is the mother of all loading parameters. All loading parameters are a function of the number of reps you choose to perform. It dictates the rest intervals and the amount of sets you’re going to do. Once you’ve decided that, it limits which exercises you can do. For example, the power clean should never be done for high reps because that’s a high coordination lift.

4. Variety is the Main Ingredient of Training Success

Unless you’re involved in this business full-time, you tend to adopt certain exercises and do them over and over again, to the exclusion of all others. We tend to adopt the same habits in other aspects of our lives. We tend to eat at the same restaurants, frequent the same stores, and call the same girls at 2:00 in the morning after we’ve had a few too many drinks and ask, “Hey, what are ya’ wearing?” We are creatures of habit. In training, though, it’s imperative that we break out of these ruts. We have to try new movements or try different ways of doing the same old movements. Variety is not only the spice of life; it’s the main ingredient of bodybuilding and strength training success.

5. Dumbbells are a Better Choice

The more you stick to what we were designed for as animals — lifting rocks, carrying carcasses, and generally just fighting against gravity — then the better off you are. What that means is using free weights over machines. One problem with machines is the fixed pattern of movement. For that same reason, I think dumbbells are a better choice for most exercises than barbells, particularly if you’re dealing with an athletic population. I went to the Soviet Union in 1982.

It was astonishing how little variation of equipment they had. They had a lot of barbells and a lot of dumbbells, but there was nothing very sophisticated. It’s what you do with the equipment that matters!

6. Cables Do Not Count as Machines

Cables are basically re-directed dumbbells. In my opinion, cables are the same thing as free weights, plus they allow you to re-direct resistance where dumbbells are limited. For some exercises, cable pulleys are superior. For example, for rotator cuff training you’re very limited in the angles you can train it when using a dumbbell. The options are endless though, when using a pulley. A multi-functional cable unit is the same thing as a dumbbell. I don’t consider it a “machine.”

7. Want Great Abs? Then Do Your Squats!

Abdominal specialization for athletes? It could happen, but the abs actually have very little potential for strength increases when compared to other muscles like calves. Along with the grip, the abdominals are the least likely to improve with training. Some of these guys can claim all these poundages used in ab training, but it’s actually the psoas doing the work. If you truly isolate the abs, after six to eight weeks an athlete will plateau the rest of his life. Research has shown that the most coordinated athletes master the most difficult abdominal exercises in six to eight weeks. The only things that increase abdominal improvement are squatting and deadlifting.

8. Give “Super Squats” a Try

The classic 20-rep squat routines are certainly worth a try. To do this program, one takes 3 deep breaths in between each rep. And, of course you’re only supposed to do one set. What’s really happening is that you’re doing 20 single-rep sets with 10 seconds between each rep. This 10-second pause, while taking the 3 deep breaths, allows you to recruit higher-threshold motor units than if you did the 20 reps in a slam-bam fashion. Hence the greater-than-normal motor unit recruitment. When performed with the right load, you’ll cough up a lung at the end of the set (which is a real badge of honor among hardcore trainers). If you’re underweight and have low-work capacity, I strongly encourage you to try 20-rep breathing squats. But, like any other routine, it will work only until you adapt to it.

9. Best Reps for Hamstrings

For hamstring hypertrophy, do low reps in a leg curl machine and higher reps in stiff leg deadlifts, Romanian dead, reverse hyper, and back extension. The reason why is because when you’re working your hip extensors you’re also working your glutes and erector spinae and those tend to be higher rep muscles.

In other words, if you’re using the leg curl machine you should be using eight reps or less. Someone with a higher training age may only need three reps, but use a higher amount of sets, like 10 sets of 3.


10. Stretch Your Quads, Blast your Hams

Always stretch the quadriceps between hamstrings sets. Increasing the range of motion of your quadriceps prior to a leg curl exercise will increase the amount of motor units used in the hamstrings during the exercise and therefore the effectiveness of the chosen exercise. Since the quadriceps is the antagonist muscle to the hamstrings, and that stretching will allow it to relax, the force of the contraction in the hamstrings will be much greater in the subsequent contraction.

11. Bench Press Overrated?

Some guys grow with the bench and some don’t. But go to the world championships in powerlifting and you’ll see plenty of guys with big pecs, and all they do for their chest is bench. But I’d say that if you’re pressed for time, any type of dumbbell press will be more efficient (all factors being equal). Now, some coaches recommend a very wide grip for barbell bench presses to bring more focus onto the pecs, but this just leads to achy joints. The widest your grip should be is 90 degrees between the upper arm and forearm when in the bottom position of the lift.

12. Better than the Barbell Row

One problem with the barbell row is that it’s really hard for people to just use the lats and elbow flexors. They always unconsciously start to drive with the quads and use their glutes and lower back. The second thing is that the bar either hits your gut or your chest, which restricts your range of motion. The better way to do it is to just use the one-arm dumbbell row.

13. Chins: The Upper Body Squat

The chin-up and its variations should be considered an “upper body squat” because of its mass-building qualities and its ability to quickly increase functional strength. Chin-ups involve the sternal portion of the pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, teres major, posterior deltoid, the rhomboids, the middle and lower portions of the trapezius, and the elbow flexors. A chin-up specialization program will not only build impressive width and thickness to your back, but will also pack solid inches on your arms by promoting growth on your biceps, brachialis, brachio-radialis, and pronator teres.


14. Close-Grip Chins Get your Biceps Growing Again

Throughout my career, I’ve met a lot of people who’ve packed inches on their elbow flexors simply by doing chinning exercises. Grasp the chin-up bar with a close, supinated grip. The palms of the hands should be facing you, and your pinky fingers should be 4 to 6 inches apart. Hang below the bar and then pull yourself up until your chin clears the bar. This movement should be done very slowly, on the order of about 15 seconds or so. Then, slowly lower yourself to the start position. Don’t short-change yourself by not coming all the way down. Like it is for any exercise, range of motion is critical. If your arms haven’t grown for a while, consider adopting this movement. It’s a sure-fire mass builder.

15. Pressdowns are for fluffers

Pressdowns are the most popular triceps movement. They’re great because they put you in a position that makes it easy to scope out that lingerie model doing cable crossovers. Unfortunately, that’s about all pressdowns are good for. Have you looked at the triceps of powerlifters and strongmen competitors recently? They’re plenty massive, but very few of them will waste their time on pressdowns. Now look at your average gymnasts: most have massive triceps that were built largely by doing dips and pressing motions. Ditch the pressdowns and use these instead:

Parallel dips
Close-grip bench presses
Decline close-grip bench presses
Seated EZ-bar French presses
Decline dumbbell triceps extensions

16. Grow Your Traps or be a Geek

The trapezius normally has a very rapid growth response, so much so that if you can’t grow traps, you’re truly destined for geekhood. I’d rank the power snatch as the top trap builder, then power cleans and the different forms of shrugs. Most people limit their range of motion though by using barbell shrugs. It’s best to do them with a dumbbell one arm at a time so the trap can have a few inches more range. Do three weeks of that, then alternate it with an Olympic-style lift such as power cleans or power snatch.

17. Pack an Inch on your Calves in 30 Days

I’ve found that in order to build calves, you need some frequency of training and some volume, but you can’t have both high volume and high frequency. Therefore, I advise training them twice over a five-day cycle, one workout being very high sets (16) and high total reps (250-510 reps); and the other being low sets (3) for a low amount of total reps (90). I’ve known people to gain in between 5/8 of an inch to a full inch with this routine in as little as 30 days.

18. No-Bull Exercises for Calves

I like the Donkey Calf Raise because it places your gastrocnemius in a superior stretched position. Seated calf raises are fine, but they’re geared to working the soleus. For complete calf development, you need to work both the soleus and the gastrocnemius. If your gym doesn’t have a donkey calf raise, or if you’re reluctant to have someone of the same sex straddle you like a horsey, your best alternative would be the Dumbbell One-Legged Calf Raise. Another problem posed by donkey calf raises is figuring out how much resistance to use. For instance, how many fitness bunnies equal one Roseanne?

19. Break Plateaus with Doublé Training

Doublé is a French term that means to do something twice. I learned it from Pierre Roy, who’s probably Canada’s best weightlifting coach. Basically it involves doing the same exercise twice in the same workout. Whatever lift you want to improve, you do it twice. So for example if your squat is weak, you squat at the beginning of a workout, then you squat again at the end. It’s a great plateau buster that can work for strength specialization or hypertrophy specialization.

Let’s say you have shitty calves. You can do ten sets of calves at the beginning of the workout, then train chest and back, then do ten sets of calves at the end.

Author: Charles Poliquin

Get Shredded With These Fat Burning Tips

8 tips to a shredded you


Getting cut and defined isn’t just about calorie counting. Heck, if that were true, anyone and everyone could get lean easily. While modifying your total calorie intake certainly plays a major role, the key to successful fat loss lies in strategies that actually alter your body’s metabolism.

Lets Begin

Most think of altering the metabolism as “boosting it,” but there are things you can do that also change the way the body handles food. For example, simply by taking a fiber supplement, you can alter the way your body handles carbohydrates. Fiber stimulates carbs to bypass fat storing pathways, which in turn means they ultimately head down other pathways for muscle fueling or building. There you go – a simple nutrition step to modify your metabolism. Here are eight more such steps you can take to cut up and lower your bodyfat. Coupled with controlling your calories, they can transform your metabolism and help you get shredded.

1 Increase Your Protein

If you struggle with bodyfat, you should stress protein–more chicken, eggs, fish, beef, low-fat dairy and protein powders. Why? Not all calories–carbs, protein and fat–are equal in their efficiency to be stored as bodyfat. Protein exerts a greater metabolic-boosting effect than carbs or dietary fat. When calories drop, protein saves muscle, which helps keep the metabolism (calorie burning) elevated. Protein also helps to keep hunger down, which assists you in holding down your calories without losing your mind. Aim for 1 1/2 grams per pound of bodyweight daily spread over five, six or even seven smaller meals.

2 Manipulate Your Carbs

Carbohydrates help retain muscle (and muscle is a metabolic booster), yet they can also stimulate fat storage. Following a modified low-carb diet–three consecutive days of consuming 100-125 g a day, followed by a single day of taking in 300-400 g, offers muscle support minus the fat storage. How so? When you eat fewer carbs and replace those carbs with protein, in general, the body ramps up fat-mobilizing enzymes and hormones resulting in accelerated fat loss. However, a prolonged period of lower carbs can leave your muscle looking flat, since glycogen (the storage form of carbs in muscle) pulls water into the muscle. When you go low carb, the muscles get depleted of their glycogen and lose some water and therefore their fullness. Therefore, load back up on carbs every fourth or fifth day.

3 Stack Carnitine, BCAA’s & Caffeine

Cardio is a good way to trigger fat loss. The ideal time is after workouts, as research shows that you burn more fat when you do cardio after a weight workout. However, another good time, to do cardio is in the morning before eating. Why? That’s when sugar levels in the blood are eat their lowest. If you perform cardio when your blood sugar and insulin are low, fat burning is maximized. One drawback: cardio can burn muscle. Using 5 g of branched chain amino acids, 1-3 g of carnitine and 200-400 milligrams of caffeine 30 minutes prior to cardio helps block muscle breakdown, preserves metabolic-driving muscle tissue and boost hormones that break down bodyfat. The supplement combo can even preserve testosterone, the muscle-building hormone that often declines with cardio activity.

4 Eat More Fish

When calories are controlled, the inclusion of omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon, trout and sardines may promote speedier fat loss. One study revealed that dieters who ate fish on a daily basis lost more weight than those who ate fish just once a week. One possible reason–omega-3s are thought to make the receptors on fat cells more sensitive to the fat-liberating effects of norepinephrine (also known as NE), a main fat-burning hormone. In other words, fish fat makes NE work better. The other possible reason is that omega-3s tend to promote the storage of carbohydrates into muscle as muscle glycogen. If carbs are kept busy producing glycogen, they cannot stimulate or participate in the fat-storing process.

5 Take Creatine For Cuts

Creatine–the muscle-building supplement–can also aid fat loss. Creatine exerts an increase in metabolism when combined with weight training, to the tune of 100 calories a day. So, make sure you get in 3-5 g with your pre-and postworkout meals.

6 Cook With Garlic

Mother Earth’s flavor enhancer stimulates adrenaline (epinephrine) and uncoupling proteins (UCPs). Adrenaline triggers fat breakdown; UCPs increase calorie burning. Garlic also controls cortisol levels, which can support muscle retention in a dieting bodybuilder. Use fresh bulbs in cooking or give supplements a try.

7 Support The Thyroid

It’s the fitness world’s most frustrating irony: When you eat less and try to drop bodyfat, a lot of times your metabolism adapts to the change and burns fewer calories. One way to get around the slowdown is with phosphates. In one study, a combo of 537 mg of calcium phosphate, 107 mg of potassium phosphate and 25 mg of sodium phosphate given to strict dieters yielded a metabolic rate that was 12-19% higher compared to that of dieters who did not use phosphates. The amino acid tyrosine is also effective in turning a moderately calorie burning thyroid hormone called T4 into a more potent calorie burning one called T3. Three thousand mg of L-tyrosine taken before training or cardio will do the trick.

8 Try Fenugreek

This is one of those herbs that longevity buffs have been using forever, no pun intended. Used heavily in cooking curry dishes or even in supplemental form, Fenugreek is extremely effective in controlling the rise in blood sugar levels associated with carb consumption thanks to its active ingredient 4-hydroxyisoleucine. Carbs cause the amount of sugar in the blood to rise, which can trigger fat storage. This herb buffers the rise so that sugar levels remain steady. Steady sugar translates into improved sustainable energy minus a rise in fat-storing enzymes or hormones. In short, fenugreek helps fuel your body without making you fatter. Take 300-600 mg of 4-hydroxyisoleucine or 1 1/2 g of fenugreek daily.

Conclusion

As much as we’d like to report otherwise, you won’t achieve the physique you want just by counting calories and training religiously. Your metabolism has to be on board with your efforts. These eight simple strategies should put the twist in your metabolic rate to provide a real return on your training and nutrition investment.-CA