Tuesday 27 August 2013

Can Certain Types of (dreadful) "Cardio" Actually Build Muscle? - How to Build Muscle | Strength Training Workouts | Mass Gain Diet | How to Build Muscle | Strength Training Workouts | Mass Gain Diet

Can Certain Types of "Cardio" Actually Build Muscle? - How to Build Muscle | Strength Training Workouts | Mass Gain Diet | How to Build Muscle | Strength Training Workouts | Mass Gain Diet



soccer1 Can Certain Types of Cardio Actually Build Muscle?

Many people live in constant fear that too much cardio will cause them to lose muscular size and strength. Therefore they just decide to spend their lives fat, out of shape and unhealthy. They’d rather have one foot in the grave at all times than walk around any smaller or weaker.

Growing up a skinny maggot I certainly understand this fear as it dominated many years of my life.
These fears are not unfounded as too much cardio will, indeed, eat away muscle tissue and cause strength losses.

But that’s traditional, steady state, outdated lame-o cardio done on a machine.

If you do enough of that at moderate intensity you will definitely lose muscle and end up smaller and weaker.

And you’ll have lower testosterone levels and higher cortisol to boot. Sounds like fun, right?
There are a few types of cardio, however that will actually do the opposite. Instead of cardio that just burns fat or just improves your cardiovascular system or, worse yet, does neither of those but just causes muscle loss, there is actually such a thing as muscle building cardio.

But technically it’s not called cardio. I hate that word. We call it conditioning.

Unfortunately most  people waste all their time on the stair climber or eliptical machine when they could actually be doing something that will burn fat and build (or at least preserve) muscle at the same time.

My favorite types of  conditioning that will actually build muscle simultaneously are sprints. You can choose from hill sprints, sled or prowler sprints… the bottom line is to sprint one way or another. If you have knee issues kettlebell swings and snatches would be a great option for you. Another often forgotten conditioning method is  rope jumping. This will not have as much of an overall anabolic or muscle sparing effect as sprints but it can lead to calf size increases. It’s also awesome for improving foot speed, not to mention the fact that being really good at it is just pretty damn cool.

Sprints will build up the hamstrings and glutes tremendously. Sprints are also one of the best forms of abdominal training you could do. You ever see the glutes and abs on a sprinter? You want yours to look like that? Then get sprinting.

Kettlebell swings and snatches will build up your lower back (to give it that nice divot look), glutes and shoulders.

And jumping rope will lead to increases in your calf size, like I mentioned.

payton rope2 Can Certain Types of Cardio Actually Build Muscle?

“Sweetness” getting in shape the old fashion way.

So instead of losing muscle while doing cardio, you actually might gain it using these methods. Leaner and bigger at the same time. What more can you ask for?

The sprint workouts should be be performed in the following manner:

– Warm up thoroughly for ten minutes with a variety of low intensity plyos, dynamic flexibility and mobility drills and calisthenics. This could include jumping jacks, flings, prisoner squats, pogo jumps, high knees, butt kicks, pendulum leg swings, gate swings, wide outs and various skipping drills.

– Sprint for anywhere between ten and sixty seconds straight, as hard and as fast as you can. Working up to sixty seconds will take a very long time if you’re new to sprinting so ease into very slowly. A beginner should start with no more than 6-8 sprints on his first day of about 20-30 yards.  Gradually increase over time from there.

– Rest for 1-3 minutes or as long as needed to catch your breath, bring your heart rate down a bit, and prevent yourself from throwing up. Over time work to decrease your rest periods. Remember, the goal here is not pure speed development, for that would require longer rest periods. The goal here is to get ripped and build a little bit of muscle in the process.

– Repeat for 10-30 minutes 2-3 days per week.

This type of training will produce the  incredible types of ripped, athletic physiques you see on NFL wide receivers and defensive backs.

If you are not accustomed to sprinting regularly you are at risk for a hamstring, hip flexor or knee injury. Hill sprints slow you down, especially if the hill is fairly steep and for that reason are much safer. Sprinting with a sled attached to your waist does the same thing and is very effective and very safe. Pushing the Prowler is an incredibly demanding but result producing workout. If you don’t have a sled or prowler I highly recommend getting one immediately (click HERE to do so). Or at least finding a big hill.

Kettlebell workouts are pretty simple. Just get yourself a high quality ketllebell (you can order one HERE) and work the hell out of it for five to ten minutes straight. You can do swings or snatches in any set and rep scheme you want.

My personal favorite challenge to do with a partner is the Secret Service Snatch test where you set a timer for ten  minutes and try to get as many as you can with the 53 pounder. If that’s too heavy for you start with a 26, 35 or 44 and work your way up from there slowly. These workouts can be done right after your strength training workout or on an off day.

If you are worried about any negative impact on your strength training from the kettlebell work it might be a better option for you to use them as a finisher. If fat loss is your main goal you can do them any time; post workout or an off day.

When it comes to jumping rope the possibilities are endless. I like to mix up jumping styles as much as possible and go for one to three minutes straight followed by a break of 30-60 seconds. Three minutes on to one minute off tends to be the option we use most. Again, these can be done on off days or right after your strength training workout. Jumping rope will develop foot speed, calf size and help prevent ankle injuries.

So now you know that there’s nothing to fear. Ditch the regular cardio and start incorporating these high intensity conditioning methods today. You’ll keep all your strength and size and may even build some more in the process. You’ll also improve your health and athleticism.

The only thing you have to lose is bodyfat.

So get off the Nordic Track and give these workouts a try today. You won’t be disappointed.

D-Aspartic Acid Turns Out to Be Another Supplemental Nonstarter in First Human Trial With Any Relevance for Healthy Young Men- When Hype Meets Reality:

When Hype Meets Reality: D-Aspartic Acid Turns Out to Be Another Supplemental Nonstarter in First Human Trial With Any Relevance for Healthy Young Men - SuppVersity: Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

Busted! D-Aspartic acid aka DAA is another "natural anabolic agent" that turns out to be more of a revenue- than a hormone-booster with muscle building prowess. And you know what? It took Darryn S. Willoughby and Brian Leutholtz from the  Exercise and Biochemical Nutrition Lab, Human Performance, and Recreation at Baylor University exactly 28 days and 20 apparently healthy, recreationally active, resistance trained (3x per week or more in the past year) men with an average age of 22.8 ± 4.67 years (BMI 24.65 kg/m²) to prove that d-aspartic acid (DAA) supplements belong to this never-ending list of supplemental non-starters.

Things that work: 28 days, 4x per week heavy resistance training; things that don't work DAA capsules

Willoughby and Leutholtz assigned their participants in a random, double-blinded fashion to one of the two study arms. Subjects in both arms of the study followed a standardized periodized 28-day resistance training program split into 2 upper-extremity (A1, A2) and 2 lower-extremity (B1, B2) exercise sessions each week. With an overall training volume of 16 exercises sessions with 9x upper- and 8x lower-body exercises

  • A1, A2 - upper body: bench press, lat pull, shoulder press, seated rows, shoulder shrugs, chest flies, biceps curl, triceps press down, and abdominal curls
  • B1, B2 - lower body: leg press, or squat, back extension, step ups, leg curls, leg extension,heel raises, and abdominal crunches
the same workout hat shown to elicit significant improvements in body composition in two previous studies on VPX' preworkout products (learn more; cf. Shelmadine. 2009; Spillane. 2011). The participants performed 3 sets of 10 repetitions at 70% - 80% of the previously established 1-RM for all exercises and had 2 minutes of passive rest between the sets. Contrary to the said VPX studies, the participants had to refrain from taking any kitchen-sink pre-/post-workout supplements, as well as the obvious roids, prohormones or other ergogenic substances that would compromise the study results. Instead, they received either...
  • 4 capsules containing 3 g of guar gum (PLA), or
  • 4 capsules containing 3 g of D-ASP (Better Body Sports, Ventura, CA, USA)
The dosing was identical to the manufacturers recommendation and based on the previous study by Topo et al. (2009) that caused the whole DAA hype back ~5 years ago (see figure 2, as well).
Figure 1: Endocrine and body composition changes with placebo or DAA supplementation (Willoughby. 2013)
That fact the whole hoopla was exactly that: All hype! is difficult to refute, if you take a look at the study outcomes in figure 1 or the researchers' conclusion:
"[...] 28 days of D-ASP of supplementation at a daily dose of 3 g is ineffective in upregulating the activity of the HPG axis and has no preferential effects in which to increase skeletal muscle mass and strength in resistance-trained men." (Willoughby. 2013)
In their discussion of what might be the physiological reasons for the non-existent effects on the gonadal production of testosterone the researchers state:
Figure 2: Comparison of the hormonal effect of DAA in sedentary men with low testosterone levels (Topo. 2009) vs. trainees with normal to high levels of testosterone (Willoughby. 2013)
"Based on our data presented herein, this [=the fact that the serum levels of DAA were higher than normal, but nothing happened] may indicate another potential mechanistic reason why the HPG [hypothalamus > pituitary > gonads] axis was not affected by D-ASP supplementation. Although we observed nonsignificant increases in serum D-ASP in the DAA group, we showed significant increases in DDO levels in response to D-ASP supplementation. The degradative role of DDO is to catalyze the oxidative deamination of D-amino acids to generate the corresponding 2-oxo acids, along with hydrogen peroxide and ammonia (or methylamine).

In rodents, the administration of D-ASP was shown to increase DDO activity (Nagasaki. 1994; Yamada.1989), suggesting that DDO activity is induced by increased levels of D-ASP. Based on this information, in the present study, it is possible that because of the higher baseline levels of testosterone, as a means of androgen-regulated feedback of the HPG axis, the level of serum D-ASP induced by supplementation was conceivably being degraded by DDO at a rate that rendered it unable to effectively activate the HPG axis." (Willoughy. 2013)
Or to put is simply: If DAA works at all, it works only in guys like the participants of the 2009 study by Topo et al. who had baseline testosterone levels at the lower end of the normal range (4.5ng/ml) at the beginning of the study and average levels (6.4ng/ml) at the end of the study period. In trained athletes with testosterone levels in the range of 8ng/ml such as the guys in the Willoughby study the negative feedback will prevent any further increase in testosterone.

Does testosterone actually build muscle and are natty test boosters worth your money? (learn more)
Bottom line: Before we have counter-evidence (this is science guys, you can't say something definitive based on one study) there is no good reason for someone with normal testosterone levels to spend money on D-Aspartic acid supplements.

Whether the same would be true for guys on post-cycle therapy or those who want to combat diet- / overtraining induced reductions in testosterone would certainly be worth investigating. Other aspects that could make a difference are the form of delivery (although this did not seem to be a problem; after all the DAA levels rose) and the provision of adjuvants to block the negative feedback on the HPG (see explanation above).

References:
  • Nagasaki H. Gender-related differences of mouse liver-D-aspartate oxidase in the activity and response to administration of D-aspartate and peroxisome proliferators. Int J Biochem 1994;26:415–23.
  • Shelmadine B, Cooke M, Buford T, Hudson G, Redd L, Leutholtz B, et al. Effects of 28 days of resistance exercise and consuming a commercially available pre-workout supplement, NO-shotgun, on body composition, muscle strength and mass, markers of satellite cell activation, and clinical safety markers in males. J Int Soc Sports Nutr
    2009;6:16.
  • Spillane M, Schwarz N, Leddy S, Correa T, Minter M, Longoria V, et al. Effects of 28 days of resistance exercise while consuming commercially available pre- and post-workout supplements, NO-shotgun and NO-synthesize on body com position, muscle strength and mass, markers of protein synthesis, and clinical safety markers in males. Nutr Metab (Lond) 2011;8:78
  • Topo E, Soricelli A, D'Aniello A, Ronsini S, D'Aniello G. The role and molecular mechanism of D-aspartic acid in the release and synthesis of LH and testosterone in humans and rats. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 2009;7:120
  • Willoughby DS, Leutholtz B.  d-Aspartic acid supplementation combined with 28 days of heavy resistance training has no effect on body composition, muscle strength, and serum hormones associated with the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis in resistance-trained men.  Nutrition Research, Available online 15 August 2013. 
  • Yamada R, Nagasaki H, Nagata Y, Wakabayashi Y, Iwashima A. Administration ofD-aspartate increasesD-aspartate oxidase activity in mouse liver. Biochim Biophys Acta 1989;990:325–8.

11 comments:

  1. Not really surprising.
    Reply
  2. Controversial...
    and all the empiric data from users?
    Reply

    Replies

    1. P - L - A - C - E - B - O

      It's like always. Bodybuilders are not exactly the smartest and most critical thinking part of the population. Give them some retarded "writeup" and the forums are full of "It works!"-posts. Remember Tribulus? Remember HMB? Remember Boron? Remember all the other crap BBs are buying for ridiculous amounts of money?
      By the way, even if it WOULD work rising T it wouldn't do squat for building muscle. The dose response curve of T is so flat in the lower part that any tiny influence of this stuff wouldn't and COULDN'T matter at all.
    2. I happen to have "empiric data" on testosterone lowering effects of DAA in an N=1 study from a SuppVersity reader, as well. That's all bullocks and much of the "empiric data" on supplements in general, you will find on "the boards" is faked by company reps.

Saturday 24 August 2013

The Old School ‘Steak and Eggs’ Diet for Fat Loss, Balanced Energy, and Increased Testosterone

The Old School ‘Steak and Eggs’ Diet for Fat Loss, Balanced Energy, and Increased Testosterone


When it comes to burning bodyfat simplicity is often overlooked in favor of needlessly complicated systems and plans for losing weight. People will needlessly try to count calories, mix and match several different ingredients to “activate their fat-burning” abilities, eliminate all high calorie foods, or drink nothing but juice for a week. And they end up right back where they started – with unwanted bodyfat!

Well, I am here to tell you their is an easier way, a simpler way, and a funner way.

It’s called ‘Steak and Eggs‘.

The Steak and Eggs diet was developed by famous bodybuilding trainer Vince Gironda as a way to burn off all excess bodyfat.

It is the simplest diet in existence and it is one of the most effective.

[pullquote]The Steak and Eggs diet is exactly what it sounds like – you eat Steak and Eggs, cooked in butter, and you watch the fat melt off.[/pullquote]

You eat only two meals per day: Breakfast and Supper, or Lunch and Dinner. For meal #1 you eat 3/4 lb to 1 1/2 pounds of steak and 4-6 eggs. For meal #2 you eat the exact same thing. Cook your Steak and Eggs in butter, as much butter as you want, and season with salt and pepper. Prepare your eggs any way you like, fried, scrambled, sunny side up, poached, or hard boiled. No carbohydrates, no vegetables, no other foods, no snacks, no drinks except water, black coffee and unsweetened tea.

Every 6th day is a cheat day and you can eat whatever you want. Ice cream, pies, alcohol, McDonalds – nothing is off limits.

That’s 5 days of Steak and Eggs and one day of glorious gluttony. Repeat until lean.

bodybuilders should eat up to 36 raw, fertilized eggs every day - Controversial Things Vince Gironda Said

Top 10 Controversial Things Vince Gironda Said | Critical Bench

6. A fierce advocate of all natural bodybuilding, Vince believed that bodybuilders should eat up to 36 raw, fertilized eggs every day. He said that the effects of this were equivalent to taking the steroid Dianabol. Can’t even imagine where you’d find raw, fertilized eggs these days. 

Walking at an incline - ab exercises

The Truth About Six Pack Abs

Walking at an incline

Incline walking
Yes – seriously. Just regular ol’ walking – but at an incline.

Not power walking. Not anything approaching a jog. Walking at a regular pace.
 
And at a mid-level incline. That’s it.

Why does this work? Because when you lock into the right incline, at the right speed, your hips/upper legs/calves mostly disengage – and the job of stabilizing your upper body and holding it upright gets placed squarely on your abs. Although this is still indirect ab work, it’s about as direct as you can get – and the results are stunning.

This is my big secret to developing truly defined, etched-out, and flat/washboard abs.

There is a lot more to this, though, which I’ll come back to in a minute. This is actually one of my “secret weapon” exercises and isn’t as simple as it sounds. Once you’ve locked in properly, it’s unbelievably powerful – both for body fat reduction and abdominal development – but without locking in properly, it’s next to worthless.

But take note of what I said above – body fat reduction. That brings me to the second, and far more important, principle of six pack development…

Here’s the strange discovery I stumbled on:

http://inclinecardio.com/?hop=65187905

So the house I lived in was on top of a hill. And the gym was at the bottom of the hill. Kind of like this:

And when it was workout time, I’d simply:
  • Jog down the hill (5 minutes)
  • Work out (30 minutes)
  • Briskly walk back up the hill (15 minutes)
Simple enough, right?

But read that list again, because I just told you the “secret”. The single switch that flipped me from “struggling for results” to “fat incinerating” without any other changes.

This is going to seem weird…

But it was that 15 minute walk post-workout.

How do I know?

Because as soon as I started incorporating the same walk into my workouts back home, literally exactly as I’d performed them abroad (doing my best to recreate every single aspect), those same results started right back up again!

My body started leaning out almost immediately, and the overall metabolic shift happened again over the next few weeks.

Jackpot!

That got me to experimenting…

Walking was too “easy”. There had to be a way to make this even more effective.

I tried replacing walking with other things. More intense things. Running, jogging, sprinting, biking, stair steppers… but none of them worked.

I spent months tracking and testing everything… every variation possible.

Again… nothing.

I even tried modifying the walk. Changing my posture, changing the intensity and speed, changing the duration, using different inclines, using NO inclines…

Nothing. Nada. Didn’t work.

That post-workout uphill walk, literally exactly as I had coincidentally performed it abroad, was the only thing that reproduced that elusive and addictive metabolic effect. I’d literally gotten lucky and stumbled on it by accident.

So OK, for some reason that’s all that works. But this brought up an important observation…

I had no idea WHY it worked.

And maybe if I actually understood why it worked inside and out…

Then I could potentially enhance it.

And squeeze every ounce of effectiveness out of it. So…

I got to studying. Working from the ground up. Coming in with a “beginner’s mind”.

I didn’t want any of my preconceived notions to cloud my judgement.

This was so different and flew in the face of everything I had learned that I knew the previous knowledge base I had was only going to get in the way.

And that ended up being the best idea I ever had.

Not only did I figure out why the walks worked and how to maximize them, but I ended up with a completely altered big-picture view of how fat loss actually functions.

Let’s fast forward a few months now to exactly what I discovered about pure, accelerated fat loss:

 

I’ll simplify this for the sake of brevity.

Forget calories for a second. You know – “fat loss is just about eating less calories than you burn in a day.” Forget that outdated concept for right now.

You’ve been focusing on calories forever. And how far has it gotten you? How many compliments, smiles, and wads of attention has it gotten you? Or… how much FRUSTRATION has it gotten you when you wonder why nothing’s working? Exactly. So it’s time to give it up and consider something else entirely.

Fat loss, more than anything, is the product of hormones.

Without going into too much detail, you have two basic sets of hormones in your body:
  • Those that promote “healthy living” (fat loss, muscle growth, normal metabolic functioning) and that you want to maximize at almost all times. The more of these you have, the more naturally and easily your body resists fat gain, promotes muscle growth, and leaves you feeling healthy and lively.
  • Those that combat stress in the short-term (this is a good thing), but directly cancel out the “healthy living” hormones when they do it and that wreak havoc when activated unnecessarily (and too often or for too long).
And the formula is this simple:
Maximize the “healthy living” hormones while minimizing the stress hormones and you have created the ultimate metabolic environment for fat loss, lean muscle growth, and general health & well-being.

So how do you maximize the healthy hormones?

It’s a three-step process (in this order):


Think of this like baking from a recipe.
  1. Diet is where you install into your body the raw ingredients that these hormones are constructed from. They don’t just come out of thin air – the right nutrients from healthy, whole foods provide their basic building blocks. This is like gathering together the right ingredients for your baked goods.
  2. Exercise is then like taking those ingredients and carefully mixing them together just right, allowing each to activate and undergo their ideal chemical reactions. You don’t just throw the ingredients in the bowl willy-nilly – you’ve got to do it just right and in the right way for your desired effect.
  3. And then rest/recovery is like sticking those ingredients into the oven and baking them.
Now, for our purposes, what I want to focus on right now is step 2…

Exercise.

(We’ll come back to the other two in a moment.)

Here’s how most people sabotage their results with exercise:

They either:
  1. Don’t do it in any way at all (because it’s too much work, too hard, too intense, don’t have enough time, etc), or…
  2. Do it in a way that activates the “bad” stress hormones (and often lead to either fat gain rather than fat loss, or heavily impaired results – since the “healthy” hormones are canceled out in the process)
The second problem there is caused, simply, by too much exercise (exercising for too long in any given session – like marathon sessions on the elliptical or outside running) or working out too hard and/or too often.

So even if you’re exercising well, you can easily sabotage nearly all your efforts by overworking yourself just the tiniest bit… or simply working yourself wrong.

Now here’s why that walk worked so well:

Three specific reasons, actually…

1. Didn’t overwork the body – but instead worked it exactly the way it liked.

Many people don’t realize this, but our bodies have adapted primarily to walking over the course of human history.

Sure, we can run or jump or jog, but that doesn’t mean it’s what our bodies have adapted to best – or what shows the best benefits for us.

This is the body’s preferred exercise stimulus – and science has shown a number of additional benefits directly linked specifically to plain ol’ regular walking, like:
  • Increased neuron development in the brain
  • Enhanced digestion
  • And lots more
But specifically for our purposes – direct fat loss and healthy hormone production have been shown again and again and again to be directly linked to simple walking.

Listen, if running and jogging and marathon elliptical sessions and stairsteppers provide you mental stress relief, or you just plain ol’ like doing them, then great! More power to you.
But they all have one problem in common:

The way they work the body is actually overwork and causes short-term spikes in stress hormones – rather than the increase in healthy hormones from simple walking.

Remember – it’s healthy hormones that we’re after before anything else for pure fat loss.
Get the idea of “insane intensity” out of your head for a little bit. It’s not always a good thing, depending on your goals. Sure you may lose weight performing the super high-intensity stuff – but that weight may be muscle, rather than pure fat, due to the hormonal imbalance they cause.
However, the incline walking I stumbled on has one distinct advantage over everything…

2. Hit a metabolic sweet spot.

For whatever reason…
  • Performed at exactly the right times
  • At exactly the right speeds
  • For exactly the right duration of time
…walking at an incline specifically hits what I call the “Metabolic Sweet Spot”.

It’s almost like a loophole in the way the body burns fat.

I’d be lying if I said I understood 100% how it worked, but I have control over it and know how to activate it – and incline walking is the ONLY way I’ve found to do it.

As long as you’re walking at the RIGHT incline and the RIGHT speed.

This supercharges results and is like tapping into a direct line of bodyfat, hooking a vacuum hose up to it, and sucking it right out.

3. Released pockets of good hormones – like how mixing two ingredients together just right causes them to react in a positive and totally different way than usual.

And this is a result of both points above.

Because it’s so low-impact (and when performed for exactly the right durations of time), it doesn’t cause spikes in stress hormones. And because our bodies are so well-adapted to walking, it’s the perfect medium for “mixing” your hormonal ingredients together.

This leads to a profound spike in healthy hormone release.

The best part? It’s so low-impact on the body that it can be performed every single day of the week if you please – and often two times every day, if you’ve got the time, for heavily accelerated results.

And this will actually enhance results, by creating a hormonal snowball effect.

Make sense? Cool. But there’s still one more hidden benefit.

The unexpected bonus benefit I stumbled on:

Remember earlier when I mentioned that, when I first stumbled on this, I ended up getting completely defined, flat six pack abs as well?

I want to touch on that for a second.

Most people think the only way to build a flat stomach (or six pack abs if you’re a guy) is to do endless sit-ups and crunches and planks and other direct ab exercises.

But the truth is that your abs develop best as a stabilizer muscle.

That means not working them out directly, but rather allowing them to get worked indirectly by holding you upright during other exercise. That’s how they prefer to be worked, and they react fast to it – when done right.

Now, when you walk at exactly the right incline, something amazing happens:


Your abs take over the majority of the movement in order to hold your torso upright.
Which means that, while you’re burning off fat, you’re also developing your abs.

This particular stimulus is especially intriguing because, the ideal way it works your core, you end up with completely flat abs – not a “bulky” stomach.

The results are stunning.

People-asking-you-”what-is-yo

ur-secret?” stunning.

And that’s why the incline walking method I’d stumbled on produces such profound and dramatic results:

  1. It directly promotes healthy hormone release
  2. While providing a direct line to pure fat incineration
  3. And hitting the abs exactly the way they prefer to be hit in the process

 

But nothing’s perfect and I’m not going to act like this method is either. There’s one big problem with it I haven’t covered with you yet.

 

By now you’ve likely had that lightbulb “ah-ha!” moment I was talking about – where things are making a bit more sense. You now understand why fat loss hasn’t been as straight-forward as most of the “experts” make it seem… but understand that the fix is extremely easy.

The incline walking technique I’m describing is a pivotal part of that.

And trust me, when you start seeing the fat melting off, and your friends and family start finally commenting and complimenting in a sincere way (and you can really see the shock and even jealousy registering on their faces), and your metabolism and body composition shift dramatically…

There’s just no better feeling. And it’s so easy to finally feel when you work with the body the way it wants to be worked with – with no extra wasted energy.

If you can simply walk without issue, no matter your age or fitness level, then you can get the full benefit from this technique.

There’s nothing simpler or more powerful that I’ve found.


The Secret Benefit of Bodyweight Training

The Secret Benefit of Bodyweight Training - How to Build Muscle | Strength Training Workouts | Mass Gain Diet | How to Build Muscle | Strength Training Workouts | Mass Gain Diet

Everybody knows that squats, deads and presses get you huge and that bodyweight training is just for conditioning, right? Wrong.

One look at rings gymnasts or a quick YouTube search of dudes dominating chin up bars in every park in New York City will show you that bodyweight training can get you jacked.

That’s because exercises that force you to move your body through space have a higher level of neuromuscular activation than those where you are simply moving your limbs. It’s one of the reasons why back squats are better than leg presses.

Some of my favorite bodyweight exercises are:

•    Box jumps (done properly)
•    Ring chins
•    Ring dips
•    Modified planche pushups on rings
•    Inverted ring rows
•    Inverted ring shrugs
•    Pistol squats
•    Skater/single leg squats
•    High step ups
•    Glute ham raises
•    Single leg hip thrusts
•    Single leg box squats
•    Slide leg curls
•    Handstands
•    Handstand pushups
•    Planche progression iso holds (crow stands, frog stands, etc.)
•    Front lever iso holds
•    L-sits

If you regularly include most of those exercises in your training you’ll never have to think about doing another crunch or sit up again. I remember how my abs popped when I first started incorporating the three isometric holds (front lever, planche, L-sit). Even at my leanest my abs never developed and popped out quite like they did when I started doing those on a regular basis. All conventional ab exercises were rendered useless after that. I’m sure you’ll agree when you start doing them regularly.
Now, here’s the cool part about bodyweight training that most people don’t consider…

When all of your exercises are barbell or machine based you can trick yourself into thinking you got stronger just by eating more. When you eat yourself fatter you increase your leverages on exercises like squats and bench presses. Because of that you can move more weight and you think you’re getting stronger.

Really, all you have done is shorten the range of motion or increase the width of your foundation or give yourself a bigger belly to bounce off. Yes, you’re moving more weight but technically you’re not really stronger. You’re really just fatter.

That’s where bodyweight training comes in. By always including bodyweight exercises in your program it keeps you honest. If your bench is going up but your chins and dips are getting harder you know something’s wrong. And in that case it’s usually your diet. You’re eating too much and getting fatter.

Bodyweight training keeps you healthy and keeps you at the right bodyfat percentage. It’s a measuring stick. As soon as you start getting worse at the movements listed above you’ll know it’s time to lean out a bit.

So include the big Olympic and power lifting variations in your program but be sure to always include an ample amount of ring work, single leg squat variations and bodyweight isometric holds to go along with it. That’s how you get big, strong and lean.

If you’re older, beat up, train at home and don’t have access to a bar, are on the road a lot, or just want to take a few months and get out of the gym and train outside for a while (as I do for 3-4 months every year) then a complete bodyweight only training program would be perfect for you.

The older I get the more phases of bodyweight only training I do each year. I feel great when doing so and never lose an ounce of size or strength. It also forces me to watch my diet a bit closer because I don’t want to see any drop in performance.

Start incorporating more of these exercises today and take your training to the next level.
RIC BWBBPad3D The Secret Benefit of Bodyweight Training 
PS. I’ve put together an awesome, fully detailed, 90-day bodyweight-only training program, that includes all of the exercises listed above plus a complete warm up and post workout and off day conditioning workouts.

It’s called Body Weight Body Building, and it’s available for instant download right now to all Renegade Inner Circle members.

L Sit Progressions

Front Lever Training Tutorial (Short)

Saturday 10 August 2013

Muscle loss has little to do with aging | The poor, misunderstood calorie

Sarcopenia has little to do with aging | The poor, misunderstood calorie

It has to do with the duration of time spent being sedentary.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but luckily enough today you get both.
Sarcopenia: “poverty of flesh,” or the age-induced loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength, and function = reduced quality of life.  Sorry old-timers, but I hereby officially revise the definition from “aging-induced” to “sedentary-induced.”  Herein, I present evidence that sarcopenia is not a phenomenon of aging per se, but rather of disuse atrophy.  Dear Webster’s & Britannica, please revise accordingly.
Skeletal muscles: use ‘em or lose ‘em #TPMC

Thanks to Julianne Taylor & Skyler Tanner for directing me to these images.
divide and conquer

Exhibit A. Chronic exercise preserves lean muscle mass in masters athletes (Wroblewski et al., 2011)

This study evaluated “high-level recreational athletes.”  “Masters” just means they were over 40.  And “high-level” doesn’t mean “elite,” it just means they exercised 4-5 times per week.  These weren’t super-obsessed gym rats… it’s probably who I’ll be in 7 years [sigh].


They took a lot of measurements which showed these people were pretty fit, but the money shot was this pic:

triathlete

It wasn’t a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled intervention trial, but that pic made up for all of that.  Even if they cherry-picked the scans, I find them compelling.  Call it confirmation bias if you like.

Exhibit B.  Knee extensor strength, activation, and size in VERY elderly people following strength training (Harridge et al., 1999)

12 weeks of leg exercises performed in 11 adults 85-97 years of age.  They were recruited from a geriatric hospital, and despite still kicking well beyond their expiration date, they maintained the ability to get strong:strong

Some of these gains were likely attributable to the novice effect, or the neuromuscular adaptations that occur in untrained individuals during the onset of a new training program, but nonetheless, these data show there are no intrinsic defects caused by being old that hinder the ability to improve muscle strength [and function].

There was no non-exercising control group with which to compare the following figure, but I assure you, non-exercising 90-year old geriatrics aren’t putting on muscle like this guy did:

leg

I’m not recommending retirees to train for a 480-pound deadlift. 

Progress can probably be made carrying a gallon of water around the yard, or up and down a flight of stairs; don’t use handicap parking if your only handicap is being old.  

Sarcopenia is a major reducer of quality of life.  You don’t have to join a gym but you have to get off your ass!

12 min to Perfect Posture: Free Foundation Training videos with Dr. Eric...



Published on 24 Jul 2011
Foundation Training is an extraordinary solution for back pain, knee pain, hip pain, plantar fasciitis and many other chronic pains we get as active people.

Check out www.FoundationTraining.com
We made this Private FOUNDATION video for Lance Armstrong and Doug Ulman... Now we are letting everyone use it. It is not for the faint of heart!

THIS IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS! Pay attention to details, keep up only as long as is comfortable, get better every day.


The Paleo/HIT Cyclical Approach to Fitness and Nutrition

The Paleo/HIT Cyclical Approach to Fitness and Nutrition

My dietary tweaking over the past three years has led me to discover what many others in the elite fitness community have already discovered. That is the superiority of a cyclical approach to fitness and nutrition. Eating the same number of meals and calories day in and day out at the same time is too command and control. Nature isn’t like that. Paleo man knew all about cyclical nutrition and fitness.

Paleo Man

Paleo man is hungry and the area he is at has no food. So he travels to a new area. No Cliff Bar or smoothie. He is motivated by hunger and the reality that if he doesn’t acquire food, he will die. It is OK that he doesn’t have a fanny pack full of snacks. He has something better: body fat. In the absence of glucose, his insulin levels drop and his body becomes efficient at accessing stored fat. To preserve muscle, his growth hormone levels increase.



Hunters by Brain Wright

Paleo man comes across an animal and engages in the hunt. He uses high bursts of energy and strength to capture his meal. Note that he didn’t jog up to the animal using some nonsensical target heart rate and he didn’t stand one-legged on a Bosu Ball during the hunt. Paleo man, like any other mammal keen on survival, starts eating the animal’s organ meat first, because that is where the most nutrients are. Then he goes for the fatty cuts of meat. Lean meat might be left for the buzzards.

Now Paleo man is full. Time to rest and relax. No spin class is needed for him to keep his cardio edge. That is energy foolish and could bring him closer to starvation. It wouldn’t be until the late 1960s that man would get duped into believing that we need cardio for a healthy heart. And then it would be a few decades more before science would show that cardiovascular training is a myth.

Modern MAS
Back to the present. A few months ago, I began a TKD (targeted ketogenic diet). On the day before I went to the gym to lift weights, I would engage in Intermittent Fasting and low-carb dieting. I put myself into a ketogenic state. The next day, I would enter the gym in a fasted state* and “engage in battle”. Unlike Paleo man, when I demonstrate strength I can control for safety and work specifically with machines based upon human bio-mechanics. For 10-15 minutes, I do an all-out High Intensity Training workout. One set to failure for about 5-7 exercises.

* These days I supplement with BCAA. For an explanation, read Early Morning Fasted Training on Leangains.


Then I eat. I eat a lot. Protein, carbs and fat. I am pulling myself out of ketosis and fueling the anabolic process. Then I rest. I won’t return to the gym for another 5-7 days. Sure I will go for walks or 2-3 very short sprints, but anything more would be energy foolish and send the wrong hormonal signals to my body. Doing cardio is ridiculous as it is highly inflammatory, suppresses your immune system, catabolizes muscle and reduces your insulin sensitivity.

Between workouts, I vary my food intake. Some days I eat more and some less. Some days are low carb and some are moderate. I may skip breakfast or not. Like Paleo man, my food intake is not predictable. There is never a point in the week, where I have to eat. My body has become hyper efficient at regulating my energy levels. No sugar crashs or naps needed.

My Results
I started this cyclical approach a few months ago. It is freakishly effective. My metabolism is rocking fast. I exercise far less than I used to and I eat more. By removing the big 4 toxins (sugar, wheat, soy and vegetable oils) and adjusting my nutrient intake and timing, I am in the best shape of my life.

UPDATE September 2012: I no longer feel BCAA is needed for fasted training. See Thinking About Supplements – 2012 Edition for an explanation.

UPDATE December 2012: I no longer consider sugar to a big toxin. I’ve become a big fan of ice cream.

Early Morning Fasted Training | Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health

Early Morning Fasted Training | Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health

In the Leangains Guide I wrote the following:

"My general position on the fasted phase is that it should last through the night and during the morning hours. Ideally the fast should then be broken at noon or shortly thereafter if you arise at 6-7 AM like most people. Afternoons and evenings are usually spent in the fed state."

My reasoning was:

"The recommendation for fasting through the earlier part of the day, as opposed to the latter part of the day, is for behavioral and social reasons. Most people simply find it easier to fast after awakening and prefer going to bed satiated. Afternoons and evenings are times to unwind and eat. For adherence reasons during dieting, I've also found that placing the feeding phase later in the day is ideal for most people."

This poses a dilemma for those who can only train in the early morning hours. If you're training first thing in the morning and finish at 7 AM it would call for a feeding phase of 7 AM to 3 PM. That's just a bit too early for my liking. Could you still do it and start the fast in the middle of the day? Sure. But generally speaking, this would compromise diet adherence for most people.

Seeing that most my clients wants to lose fat, optimal diet adherence is high on my priority list. I always aim for a diet design that is easy, painless and maintainable in the long term. So how have I solved this dilemma, knowing the importance of pre- and post-workout protein intake?


The protocol

Most clients maintain their 8-hour feeding-window between 12-2 pm and 8-10 pm on all days. For those doing early morning fasted training I have maintained that feeding window and added small feedings of BCAA pre- and post-workout.

Similar to fasted training, 10 g BCAA is ingested pre-workout. However, instead of initiating the feeding phase immediately post-workout, which is the standard protocol for regular fasted training, another 10 g BCAA is ingested two hours after the first. A third dose may then be ingested depending on when the client prefers his feeding-window.


Early morning fasted training

Here's a sample setup for a client that trains early in the morning and prefers the feeding phase at noon or later.

6 AM: 5-15 minutes pre-workout: 10 g BCAA.
6-7 AM: Training.
8 AM: 10 g BCAA.
10 AM: 10 g BCAA
12-1 PM: The "real" post-workout meal (largest meal of the day). Start of the 8 hour feeding-window.
8-9 PM: Last meal before the fast.

For the sake of convenience, I recommend getting BCAA in the form of powder and not tabs. Simply mix 30 g of BCAA powder in a shake and drink one third of it every other hour starting 5-15 minutes pre-workout. Tabs are cheaper, but much more of a hassle (you're going to have to pop a lot of tabs). Check my supplements guide for specific brand recommendations.


Protein synthesis

I had some concerns before deciding on incorporating and recommending this protocol on a wider scale. After rigorous testing, these concerns have not proven to be valid.

My first concern was that results would be compromised if the post-workout meal was pushed back several hours. I haven't seen any trend, such as lack of progress or loss of strength and muscle mass, to indicate that this is the case. The results are on par with those obtained with the other protocols.

Consuming BCAAs every other hour through the fast is sufficient to keep protein synthesis stimulated and prevent protein breakdown. If protein intake is completely omitted, it would undoubtedly affect results negatively. Thus the compromise of ingesting BCAA pre- and post-workout through the fast, before the real post-workout meal, which is initiated at the usual time of the feeding phase.

Will we still derive the benefits from regular fasting if we consume small amounts of protein throughout the fast post-workout? Yes. If carbs are omitted, the increased insulin sensitivity will quickly bring back basal insulin to fasted state levels despite consuming 120 calories worth of fairly insulinogenic amino acids. The fasted state is almost fully maintained post-workout.

When the post-workout meal comes around is also when muscle protein synthesis is beginning to take off. Though muscle protein synthesis is acutely stimulated post-workout in response to resistance training and protein intake, studies show some latency in regards to elevation and peak. Protein synthesis starts to climb about 3-4 hours post-workout, reaches a peak at the 24-hour-mark and returns close to baseline values 36 hours post-workout (or 48 hours depending on who you ask; studies on this topic show slightly different results regarding length and peak of elevation). Even if you push back the post-workout meal a few hours, you will be in the fed state at a time when nutrient partitioning is optimized and muscle growth likely to occur.

By consuming small amounts of BCAA through the fasted state we are stimulating synthesis and halting breakdown. A few hours later, when protein synthesis is increasing, we enter the fed state. The latency seen with protein synthesis in response to training, and the fact that we have amino acids (BCAA) in circulation pre- and post-workout, goes a long way in explaining why clients following this protocol get equal results to those following other protocols.


Hunger and hypoglycemia

My second concern was that clients would be hungry or suffer bouts of exercise-induced hypoglycemia post-workout. This would compromise diet adherence and/or impair productivity during the fast and make the protocol worthless. Fortunately, this has not been proven to be the case.

For some it will feel unnatural to not eat directly post-workout. This is part of a learned response. After a training session we want to reward ourselves . Even if there is no real physiological need to do so immediately. If anything, high-intensity exercise in the fasted state tends to suppress appetite in the short-term and not increase it.

This is mirrored by my personal experience as well. If I train within the hour upon awakening, I still don't get hungry until the time I am used to eating - which may be 4-5 hours post-workout. Clients have reported the same.

There are no hypoglycemic episodes reported so far, but this was only a true concern of mine for those involved in fairly glycogen-demanding training such as CrossFit. Considering that there's a fair amount of liver glycogen available to maintain blood glucose levels during training after an overnight fast this is not so strange.

The only way I could imagine someone experiencing hypoglycemia post-workout, if a post-workout meal was delayed for several hours, would be after prolonged and strenuous training in combination with severe calorie or carbohydrate restriction. In such a case the training session would induce a substantial and acute energy deficit along with complete depletion of liver glycogen content (which would escalate protein breakdown and also increase the risk of hypoglycemia). I am not a fan of prolonged endurance training in the fasted state.

For others, hypoglycemia is not a concern. Even type 2 diabetics maintain blood glucose very well in the hours following fasted state training in spite of not eating post-workout. For a metabolically healthy individual, there is nothing to worry about.

BCAA vs whey
What's all this fuss about BCAA and could we not use another protein source such as whey protein? Strictly speaking, no. BCAA contains the three major amino acids intimately involved in activating muscle protein synthesis, including leucine which is the key player. Whey protein contains 25% BCAA. Other high-quality protein sources, such as meat, contain 17-18% BCAA. To get an equivalent amount of BCAAs into circulation during the fasted state would require 120-180 g protein from these sources. That's more than 500 calories (120 g protein plus tag-along carbs and fat), which is not far from a medium sized meal.

With BCAAs we are getting maximal benefits with regards to muscle protein synthesis for a minimal caloric load. The latter point being important to maintain the fasted state and to allow for a liberal 8-hour feeding window later in the day.


Summary

If all this sounds like micromanaging to you, that's exactly what it is. Inquiring minds would probably like to know what, if any, benefits there are in maintaining a fasted state a few hours post-workout when it comes to muscle growth and recovery. But I'd be hard pressed to make such arguments when there aren't any. The real growth takes place later in the day, when the feeding-window is initiated. Until then we make sure that:

* Muscle protein synthesis is stimulated and protein breakdown inhibited by regular feedings of BCAA pre- and post-workout.

* Appetite is suppressed and insulin sensitivity maintained throughout the fast.

* The feeding-window is initiated at the usual, entrained, time point.

This is how I have solved the dilemma of early morning fasted training without compromising the results of my clients.