JISSN | Abstract | Protein timing and its effects on muscular hypertrophy and strength in individuals engaged in weight-training

JISSN | Abstract | Protein timing and its effects on muscular hypertrophy and strength in individuals engaged in weight-training

Matthew Stark¹, Judith Lukaszuk^1*, Aimee Prawitz¹ and Amanda Salacinski²

• * Corresponding author: Judith Lukaszuk jmlukaszuk@niu.edu

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Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2012, 9:54 doi:10.1186/1550-2783-9-54
Published: 14 December 2012

Abstract

The purpose of this review was to determine whether past research provides conclusive evidence about the effects of type and timing of ingestion of specific sources of protein by those engaged in resistance weight training. Two essential, nutrition-related, tenets need to be followed by weightlifters to maximize muscle hypertrophy: the consumption of 1.2-2.0 g protein.kg ^-1 of body weight, and ≥44-50 kcal^.kg^-1 of body weight. Researchers have tested the effects of timing of protein supplement ingestion on various physical changes in weightlifters. In general, protein supplementation pre- and post-workout increases physical performance, training session recovery, lean body mass, muscle hypertrophy, and strength. Specific gains, differ however based on protein type and amounts. Studies on timing of consumption of milk have indicated that fat-free milk post-workout was effective in promoting increases in lean body mass, strength, muscle hypertrophy and decreases in body fat. The leucine content of a protein source has an impact on protein synthesis, and affects muscle hypertrophy. Consumption of 3–4 g of leucine is needed to promote maximum protein synthesis. An ideal supplement following resistance exercise should contain whey protein that provides at least 3 g of leucine per serving. A combination of a fast-acting carbohydrate source such as maltodextrin or glucose should be consumed with the protein source, as leucine cannot modulate protein synthesis as effectively without the presence of insulin. Such a supplement post-workout would be most effective in increasing muscle protein synthesis, resulting in greater muscle hypertrophy and strength. In contrast, the consumption of essential amino acids and dextrose appears to be most effective at evoking protein synthesis prior to rather than following resistance exercise. To further enhance muscle hypertrophy and strength, a resistance weight- training program of at least 10–12 weeks with compound movements for both upper and lower body exercises should be followed.

Ballistics Lunge - 10 Arguments for Explosives & Plyometrics - SuppVersity

Ballistics Lunge Activates Muscle to the Same Extent as 34% Lighter Standardlift, Elastic Band & DBs Target Different Muscles. Plus: 10 Arguments for Explosives & Plyometrics - SuppVersity: Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

10 scientific pieces of evidence to built a case for explosive training

If the Jakobsen study ain't enough to convince you to spend at least a couple of minutes thinking about whether or not explosive training or plyometrics (which is basically explosive training with body weight exercises) could make a valuable adjunct to your current training regimen the following 10 studies may put you in the right way:

• How can you easily implement explosive training into your current routine? There are obviously a million of ways you can implement plyometrics and explosive exercises, but if you simply wanted to incorporate them on a strength training day, as an additional, different training stimulus, the protocol the researchers in the PGC-1 α-4 study (see The IGF-1 up- & myostatin down - regulator) looks actually as if it was worth copying. This would mean that you start out with a ballistic movement (B), head into a strength part (S) and then finish up with a hypertrophy exercise (H).
  
  For leg day this could look like this: (B) 3 sets of ballistic lunges - 10-12 reps, use 66% of 10RM; (S) 5 sets of 5 reps on the leg press or in the squat rack (I suggest the leg press because it's less injury prone with really high weights), stop 1 rep away from failure; (H) 4 sets of 10 reps of deep barbell squats a 10RM + regular calf training.
  
  Obviously, this is just one way and not the way: You can also do a plyometrics only circle training or do a couple of sets of plyos + a LISS session on a separate day, etc.
  
  Be creative! Test your ideas and see how you feel, but don't simply add them on top of an already overcrowded workout!
  You can safely combine classic resistance training with explosive lifting without hampering the performance in one or another (Brandenburg. 2005)
  
• The addition of explosive training and high-resistance interval training to the programs of already well-trained cyclists improve exercise efficiency and anaerobic threshold and thus produce major gains in sprint and endurance performance (Paton. 2005)
  
• If you want to improve your 1-RM max, doing a low volume (2 reps) set of explosive push ups, or  2 medicine-ball (3 to 5 kg) chest passes 30s before the actual lift can help (Wilcox. 2006)
  
• Complex training, i.e. combination of heavy lifting and explosives yields higher performance gains than heavy lifting and plyometrics, alone, across all age groups (20, 40, 60y; cf. Dodd. 2007)
  
• Explosive resistance training is safe and well tolerated in healthy women even in the eighth decade of life and elicits adaptive neuromuscular changes in selected physiological variables that are commonly associated with the risk of falls and disability in aged individuals (Caserotti. 2008)
  
• Explosive plyometrics sessions comprising maximal unilateral countermovement jumps (CMJs), calf and squat plyometric jumps, and short sprints are as effective as shuttle runs in improving maximal running speed in young elite soccer players (Buchheit. 2010)
  
• Pimping a regular soccer training with two plyometrics session per week makes it more effective in building general athletic performance (Chelly. 2010)
  
• Plyometrics are safe for young children (5-14y) and beginning at 50-60 jumps a session and increasing exercise load weekly results in the largest changes in running and jumping performance (Johnson. 2011)
  
• Explosive isometric contractions induce neural and mechanical adaptations leading to large increases in maximum voluntary force production esp. during the early phase of a movement (50ms, +54%; cf. Tillin. 2012)
  
• When adjusted to absolute force production, the evoked capacity of the knee extensors for explosive force production and the ability to utilize that capacity during explosive voluntary contractions is similar for males and females (Hannah. 2012)

Bottom line: I guess with the concluding review that obviously raises no claim to completeness it should be clear that the complementation of, yet not (necessarily) the replacement of classic strength & hypertrophy training with plyometrics or explosive lifting with relatively low weight constitutes an effective means to increase the neuronal activation and thus exponentiate subsequent strength and muscle gains.

The Jack-of-All-Traits Leg Workout from the Sáez de Villarreal study I discussed on July 15, 2012, would also be something you may want to look into if you need some inspiration for your own routine.

You should be aware, though that despite the fact that plyometrics and light load explosive lifting do not put a similar strain on your body as the standard high intensity high volume BB routines and will thus probably require less time to recuperate, their incorporation into your routine will make it necessary to cut back on the overall volume of the rest of the exercises (I assume you will up your reps on the plyos anyway, so the total time under tension wouldn't be an issue). Whether you decide to replace a HIIT or regular cardio workout with a longer full body plyometric workout, or doing one exercise less during a hypertrophy specific strength workout in order to make room for additional plyometrics (see example workout to learn how that could look like) is up to you and depends on your current goals and training status.

GUIDE: Getting Ripped With Carb Back Loading | Cut and Jacked

GUIDE: Getting Ripped With Carb Back Loading | Cut and Jacked

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GUIDE: Carb back loading

Sitting here tonight writing this article eating ice cream is a little out of the normal routine for a fitness professional and competitor like myself. As we all know eating things like ice cream and pizza are reserved for only extreme cheat days, or at least I thought that was the case. However, over the past few months I have amerced myself deep into the world of Carb Back loading. Eating things like ice cream, cookies, and various “cheat foods” post workout all while keeping my body fat in single digits during that span. Now many of you are wondering what the heck is carb back loading?

What is Carb Back Loading?

Well to get started quickly Carb back loading in a nutshell is when you back load your carbs so you are eating no carbohydrates before you workout, only proteins and fats throughout the day and saving all your carb consumption for post workout. Yes, you are reading that correctly you only eat carbs after you strength train and ZERO carbs before.

I am not talking just eating brown rice and oatmeal after training, I am talking ice cream, cookies, milk shakes, and pizza in fact according to the research those simple sugars work best with back loading. Now before you do condemn me to the mad house, this theory was made popular by a guy named John Kiefer a Physicist who became a nutritionist, so there is some science and education to this method.


Now I come from the world of 'IF' intermittent fasting, (fasting for a minimum of 16 hours and eating for the remaining 8 hours of the day) so many of the principals in carb back loading came easy to me, as there is a fasting concept inside the back loading.

Before I get into that, let’s start from the main idea, when you sleep you are fasting essentially and when you wake up your body is a fat burning monster. Research has shown that cortisol which we know is a stress hormone rises while we sleep, and for most people on a regular schedule it peaks in the early morning around 7am. The idea with carb back loading is to wake up and eat nothing, that’s right the whole breakfast is the most important meal of the day idea is gone. In fact if you guys end up researching carb back loading on your own you will hear John Keifer say “breakfast sucks”. The reasoning for this is you want your cortisol level to drop, which they do naturally later in the day a few hours after waking up. To break it down you wake up, drink nothing but coffee or water and let your body just burn fat like crazy until you eat your 1st meal.



So, assuming you train later in the day after work let’s say 6pm, what does one eat during the day when they are carb back loading? It’s simple really, just proteins and fats and ZERO carbs during the day before you workout. I know most magazines and professionals will disagree with this as they suggest eating carbs pre-workout is essential and needed for energy. Honestly I use to think the same thing years ago, that I needed carbs before I workout or I will have no energy and be sluggish.

The reality is you don’t need them pre-workout you can train all out hardcore on proteins and fats. The idea behind it is just like the short morning fast, without eating carbs pre-workout you can burn even more fat will you train during the session. I have found I feel more energized, motivated, and train like a maniac on no carbs pre-workout; you will be surprised when you give it a try for the 1st time how well you perform.

The Plan

Here is the basics on how to get started if you think this is for you.

To prime your body for this new eating style and lifestyle honestly you must go extremely low carbs for 10 days – Kiefer prescribes 30g or less each day. That’s right 10 days of 30g carbs or less, and trust me on this, it’s the hardest part of this whole program. We are only talking 10 days, which anyone can struggle through if they are serious about training and making changes. Protein intake is pretty standard 1g per pound – so if you are 200lbs eat 200g of protein per day.

You can also eat as much fat as you like; now keep in mind proper judgment on this. Things like cheese, avocados, bacon, whole eggs, coconut oil and the list goes on and on. The restrictions on this program are limited, it’s based heavily on how you look in the mirror and feel from day to day.



On the 10th day of your low carb intake after you train that evening you can, as they say “carb up”. Your body will be ready to take in some serious carbs, and this is where the fun starts.

Consume around 1g of carbs per pound of bodyweight so if you weight 200lbs eat 200g of carbs or a little more if your body can handle it. The main thing to remember here is these are high-glycemic foods, ice cream, cup cakes, cookies, fries, pizza and so on. You will probably go to sleep full and bloated feeling happy and fat, upon waking you will probably find yourself looking lean and ripped.

Now you are in the world of carb back loading, from here on out, on all days you strength train (lift heavy weight) you can carb backload. On days you don’t strength train and just do cardio or have rest days eat as you would during the 1st 10 days with 30g of carbs of less just eating proteins and fats.

That in a nutshell is the basics of carb back loading and how it’s done.

A few other tips and my thoughts
before you get started -

• Protein intake is 1g per lb per bodyweight.
• Fat intake is at your own discretion, just be cognizant of the number.
• Carbs on your off days 30g per day or less.

Carbs on backloading days range from 1 - 2g per lb of your bodyweight so for a 200lb man that would be 200g-400g carbs per back load.  If your looking to lose more body fat keep the carbs closer to the 1g, if you are looking to gain a little size keep it closer to the 2g per lb.

If you train in the morning there are modifications in the book Kiefer put out and he breaks down exactly how to do it.

Keep your protein and carb numbers in mind while you eat, but more importantly just check the mirror to see how you feel and look each day. If you are looking lean and ripped after time you are on the right path, if you feel bloated and look doughy odds are you might be overdoing the back loading so cut back on the carbs for a few days.

Conclusion

Overall my thoughts,... it’s a fun program to follow that allows you to eat some of the foods you love on a more regular basis. It also allows you to eat with friends and family enjoying pizza and ice cream from time to time. It’s not for everybody, but if you really struggle with your cheat meals this just might be the thing that gets you to the next level. It’s been a fun few months backloading as I love pizza and ice cream just as much as most people. Going forward I will probably be practicing a hybrid of intermittent fasting mixed with a little backloading.



From a health stand point there will be arguments on eating ice cream and pizza every week, from a personal standpoint my blood work has been as clean as ever even while integrating these foods into my life over the past few months. Again do a little research on your own and become educated on what best fits your health and training needs before moving forward. Best of luck and happy eating!

Under The Hood: How Carb Back-Loading Works | Arnold

Under The Hood: How Carb Back-Loading Works | Arnold Schwarzenegger

By John Kiefer

Why is Carb Back-Loading so insanely effective? Well, before we get into the nuts and bolts of how everything happens on the cellular level, we first need to establish a bit of dietary philosophy in order to build a framework—and get some context—for this discussion.

Whatever type of diet we’re talking about here, whether we’re calling it Paleo, or primal, or green-faced, people originally created these programs to solve problems: cancer, inflammation, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, or even America’s claim to fame, the Metabolic Syndrome. In general, if you’re used to eating fast food on a regular basis, they’ll make you feel better. Once people feel better, they become more active—which can eventually lead to more rigorous training routines. When we reach this stage, we usually come to realize that the original diet can’t keep up with our goals.

That’s when we modify everything—throwing in change after change, trying to transform a stripped-down diet created to improve health into a fire-breathing performance enhancer. This, unfortunately, doesn’t work.

When it’s time to graduate to this level and enhance performance, I focus on the most powerful dietary tool there is: the carb. Sure, protein builds muscle, and fat forms the membrane of cells, but neither can manipulate the levels of as many different types of powerful hormones as dietary carbs. They can make us fat, help us sleep better, satiate us, and make us hungrier. Most importantly for our purposes, carbs can also unleash the potential for us to get huge[1,2].

Carbs trigger the release of insulin, which stimulates tissue growth—both in skeletal muscle and body fat. That’s why diets like my Carb Nite® were created—plans that limit carb intake for several days before adding a sudden burst of them. When you limit carbs, you burn fat, but your metabolism eventually wanes. Including them on some sort of schedule ramps your metabolism back into high gear to continue burning fat. Pretty much all physique coaches make use of carb manipulation in some manner.

The idea behind all of these next-level plans is to get shredded while sparing as much muscle mass as possible. The problem, however, is that most diets contain bulking and cutting phases—with neither happening simultaneously. There’s still disputation out there, but it’s getting harder and harder to deny that insulin release allows muscle to grow. If nothing else, carbs definitely limit protein turnover—the destruction of muscle that normally occurs with resistance training[3]. If you want to be big and freaky, you need to eat carbs. But what if you want to be cut and jacked at the same time?

THE RISE OF CBL

For a long time, I listened to the handed-down wisdom that I should eat my carbs in the morning—and, trust me, I did. Plenty of them. Carbs in the morning meant added bulk and a solid training session later in the day, but it never meant staying lean—at least not easily. I eventually figured out that carbs were the problem. After developing Carb Nite and attempting to use it to build muscle and lose fat, I finally accepted that carbs are important for muscle growth. I gained some muscle as I leaned down—and got stronger and found my long-lost abs—but I hit a plateau. I was lean, strong, and going nowhere.

Stagnation sucks.

That’s when I happened upon some interesting information while researching type II diabetes (non-insulin-dependent diabetes milletus, or NIDDM) and glucose clearance. Despite being heavily insulin-insensitive, diabetic patients could achieve temporary glucose control with resistance training[4]. Of course, diabetes doesn’t offer many advantages, but NIDDM actually develops as a way to prevent the body from getting fatter. Once NIDDM sets in, fat cells can no longer absorb sugar to store as fat. Resistance training, however, allows the muscles—which also become insulin resistant—to absorb glucose. The wheels in my head began to turn.

It seemed to me that there was a golden opportunity here to trigger muscle growth and empty fat cells at the same time. It’s a concept I call Modulated Tissue Response (MTR), which causes an anabolic response in one tissue, while simultaneously causing a catabolic response in another. In this case, it makes muscles grow and fat stores shrink. Carb Back-Loading represents one of the simplest forms of MTR possible.

WHY SO SENSITIVE?

Almost half of all males over the age of 25 have some degree of insulin resistance. Insulin sensitivity, one would think, is a good thing. If you want to stay skinny, however, it can work against you.

Insulin is linked to the subject of sugar—in this case, glucose—because insulin helps glucose enter cells for storage as glycogen or to be converted into fat. Insulin doesn’t do the actual work of getting the sugar into the cells, though. That’s accomplished by glucose transporters (GLUTs). We currently know of 14 of these: GLUT1 through GLUT12, HMIT (sometimes called GLUT13 for convenience), and GLUT14. Not all of these GLUT transport glucose molecules. Some transport fructose, while others actually hamper the transport of glucose. GLUTs 1 through 4 actually do transport glucose, however, and of these, GLUT4 is perhaps the most important for Carb Back-Loading.

Rather than shuttling sugar molecules through cell membranes, insulin recruits GLUT4s to do the work. When not active, GLUT4 proteins sit tucked within the membrane of the cell, doing nothing. Once insulin hits a cell containing them, the GLUT4s go to work by moving to the cell surface—a process called translocation—where they grab sugar molecules and move them into the interior of the cell[5]. The cell then uses the supplied sugar as energy or stores it for later.

Insulin sensitivity describes how reactive a cell is to the insulin-triggered translocation of GLUT4 proteins from the interior of the cell to the exterior where they do their work. If cells fail to react to insulin, GLUT4s move slowly and only partially to the cell surface. Total insulin insensitivity (or insulin resistance) happens when they don’t move at all.

Two tissues contain high amounts of GLUT4: striated muscle and fat cells. With high insulin sensitivity, both fat and muscle cells can soak up sugar to store as triaglycerol (fat) and glycogen, respectively. When you become insulin-resistant, neither can. You’re either fat and jacked, or skinny and weak.

We have, however, discovered something useful about the relationship between insulin sensitivity and the time of day. In the morning, cells with GLUT4 react more strongly to insulin than in the evening[6-8]. Think of this as a mini life-cycle that’s reset each night. All of us start our lives insulin-sensitive, but as we age, we become less so. The same things happen, just on a shorter time scale: we wake up insulin sensitive, and go to bed somewhat insulin resistant.

The circadian rhythm of insulin sensitivity—high in the morning, lower at night—is the main reason why most diet experts recommend eating carbs first thing in the morning, then tapering them off as the day wears on. If all you care about is growing—both fat and muscle, that is—I’d agree with this strategy. If you want to get leaner, though...

EXERCISE A LITTLE CONTROL

There’s another way to manipulate GLUT4 activation—one that doesn’t involve insulin or depend on the insulin sensitivity of cells. Best of all? We control this method.

Research about diabetic glucose control may seem like an odd place to find a useable procedure for healthy adults to get muscular and lean at the same time, but it’s not so odd when you understand glucose uptake as a function of GLUT4 activity instead of insulin secretion. When GLUT4 won’t translocate—like with type II diabetics—it doesn’t matter how much insulin the pancreas dumps into the bloodstream. The cells simply won’t absorb sugar well. Like I said, NIDDM is the body’s defense against getting too fat. Luckily, we have a variety of drugs that allow people to get as fat as their hearts, or stomachs, desire.

This is what struck me about a diabetic’s ability to lower blood sugar levels through resistance training. During resistance training, GLUT4 moves to the cell surface in muscle tissue regardless of insulin levels[9], a process called non-insulin-mediated translocation. If a person is insulin-resistant, training can help their skeletal muscle tissue use sugar, but their fat tissue still can’t. Resistance training gives us control over the molecular machinery within our cells, and it’s what makes MTR—and Carb Back-Loading—work.

If you'd like to see Kiefer's sources, click here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


DH Kiefer is a Physicist turned nutrition and performance scientist. He’s been researching, testing and verifying what hard science proves as fact for over two decades and applied the results to record-holding power lifters, top ranking aesthetic athletes, MMA fighters and even fortune 500 CEOs. He’s the author of two dietary manuals, The Carb Nite® Solution and Carb Back-Loading™, and the free exercise manual Shockwave Protocol™. He’s currently considered one of the industry’s leading experts on human metabolism and plans to stay there. He’s a featured writer in every issue of FLEX and Power Magazine. You can learn more about him at www.dangerouslyhardcore.com.

Website: http://www.dangerouslyhardcore.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DangerouslyHardcore
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DHKiefer

Carb Back-Loading: What’s Old Is New | Arnold Schwarzenegger

Carb Back-Loading: What’s Old Is New | Arnold Schwarzenegger

08/01/2012

Carb Back-Loading: What’s Old Is New

 
The nutrition program detailed here is amazing, it's fun, and it works. But it isn't for everyone. It's made for people doing serious weight training, typically an hour using weights that are around 70% or more of your max. I do believe you could expend enough effort in an incredibly intense 15 minute session to allow yourself the ice cream and pizza. But if you're just starting out, and exercising with yoga or long walks, backloading is unfortunately not for you.



By Sean Hyson, C.S.C.S.

The biggest perk of my job as a fitness magazine editor has to be getting the opportunity to meet some of my longtime heroes. I interviewed Hulk Hogan in his own back yard while he tore off a succession of T-shirts for our photo shoot, and I’ve listened to Dolph Lundgren tell me about the time he got chased by a group of African Americans who believed he’d really killed Apollo Creed in Rocky IV. The most satisfying of all my encounters with fit celebrities, of course, was with Arnold, whom I spoke to for the cover story of the September issue of Men’s Fitness, on stands this week. It wasn’t only a thrill because I had the opportunity to ask him a lifetime of questions—and get them “answered immediately”—but because, much to my surprise, he ended up asking me some.

“What’s the story with Carb Back-loading?”

Before I could answer him, I had to sort out a few questions of my own. Such as, “Did Arnold Schwarzenegger, the ultimate fitness icon, really just ask ME a nutrition question?” And, “How am I going to explain it when, right at this moment, I can’t seem to remember my own name?”

The Governator had apparently learned about Carb Back-loading (CBL) from his staffer, Daniel, a big workout buff who had read about it on my website and in Men’s Fitness magazine, where I am the training director. I’m not surprised that it stuck with him or that it piqued Arnold’s interest—CBL is probably the most effective diet strategy to stay lean while adding muscle mass that anyone who’s tried it has come across. And it’s definitely the most fun.

Carb Back-loading is the brainchild of John Kiefer, a nutrition consultant to athletes including bodybuilders, powerlifters, and figure competitors. As the name suggests, it entails saving the bulk of your carbohydrate intake for the end of the day. The big selling point for CBL is all the so-called junk food you can get away with on it. We’re talking pizza, ice cream, and french fries, and not only will they not make you fat or unhealthy, they’ll make you big, strong, and lean.

Let me explain.

The Science of CBL

First, let’s look at the way carbs affect your body. When you eat them, they’re broken down into glucose. This causes blood sugar levels to rise, and the hormone insulin is released to bring them back down. To get rid of the excess carbs, insulin transports them—as well as protein and fat, if you’re consuming them simultaneously—into either muscle or fat cells. If you’ve recently trained with weights, the delivery will be made to your muscles to support recovery and growth. If you’ve been lying on the couch all day watching Arnold movies (and frankly, I wouldn’t blame you), insulin will store the carbs as fat. Until the spike in blood sugar comes down, insulin won’t allow your body to use fat as fuel. It would much rather you get rid of the extra sugar first.

On the flip side, by avoiding carbs most of the time, your blood sugar levels remain low. There won’t be any significant insulin release, and your body will be free to burn fat as its main fuel source, helping you stay lean. The best time to eat carbs, then, is right after a strenuous workout (especially strength training), when your muscles’ carb stores are depleted and blood sugar is low. But this notion is nothing new. Arnold and other bodybuilders understood the advantages to a low-carb diet and occasional carb-ups years ago. The timing, however, is what makes back-loading more than just another diet, and a true Godsend to anyone who wants to indulge in their favorite foods without looking like they do.

When you first wake up every morning, your body is primed to burn fat. The worst thing you could do at this time is to have a classic American breakfast, including foods like juice, toast, or cereal. Cortisol, a stress hormone, rises during the night while you sleep and peaks at about 7 a.m. Left alone, it helps you burn fat, but when you feed yourself an abundance of carbs, cortisol will encourage fat storage just as insulin can. By waiting until cortisol levels fall naturally later in the day, and then strength training before ingesting carbs, you maximize carbs’ ability to benefit your physique while minimizing their potential to damage it.

But what about eating carbs before a workout? This is often the prescription that nutritionists give, based on the assumption that carbs provide quick energy needed for exercise. However, remember what we said about insulin release and fat burning. Eating carbs pre-workout reduces the amount of fat you can burn during the session, and honestly, you don’t need them. The truth is, your body can run just fine on protein and fat during even the most gut-busting training session (provided you eat enough of these nutrients, which we’ll discuss below).

Another consideration is the effect carbs have on your nervous system. Without them, your sympathetic nervous system—your body’s “fight or flight” response to stress—is on overdrive. You think clearly and react quickly, and can even recruit muscle fibers more efficiently. Eating carbs dampens this response. You know how you feel sluggish and can’t concentrate after a big meal? You don’t want to be in that condition before you lift weights, and it only takes a small serving of carbs to impair your performance.

After training, you can eat carbs with impunity, which brings us to the “fun” part.

How To Back-Load

This is the general approach, as directed by CBL’s creator, John Kiefer (visit him at dangerouslyhardcore.com).

1. For 10 days, cap your carb intake at 30 grams per day. This is as strict as you’ll have to be, so tough it out—it will train your body to store carbs more effectively when you eat them later. While 30 is your limit, that’s just a buffer zone. Aim for as few as possible.

Any kind of carbohydrate apart from fiber counts. Green vegetables are fine, but root vegetables (such as potatoes), grains, and fruit must be all but eliminated. Beyond the limited carbs, there are no other dietary restrictions, other than no alcohol. (You’ll be eating pizza soon enough, so don’t complain). Eat one gram of protein per pound of your body weight daily (so if you weigh 180 pounds, eat 180 grams), and consume plenty of fat. Red meat, whole eggs, avocadoes, cheese, and bacon are all good choices.
And don’t fear saturated fat. In 2010, the Annals of Internal Medicine affirmed earlier findings that a low-carb diet with saturated fats actually improved risk factors for heart disease. A University of Connecticut study from 2007 found that low-carb dieters who consumed more than three times the saturated fats as subjects in a low-fat group did saw greater improvement in LDL cholesterol levels. In order to preserve muscle mass, provide the energy for training, and to keep you from feeling hungry, fat must be eaten along with protein. You don’t have to count calories.

Expect to feel tired and foggy the first few days. This is a normal response to a sudden removal of carbs from the diet, and it will take a little time before your body switches over to burning fat and restores your energy levels. (Read Arnold’s post about The Spark if you need to bolster your resolve.) Coffee with heavy cream or sugar-free energy drinks are allowed. Continue to train as normal.

2. On the evening of the 10^th day, eat a ton of carbs.

Plan this day in advance so you can train in the afternoon or early evening. Afterward, splurge. Eat plenty of carbs and protein (ancillary fat is alright too). Your body is so depleted by this point that it can’t store carbs for fat, so don’t worry about being gluttonous. Aim for around one gram of carbs for each pound of body weight, but you may be able to handle much more. Just eat well and reward yourself.

These carbs must be the high-glycemic, insulin-driving kind. This is no time to have a conservative portion of brown rice or oats. Nothing replenishes the muscle cells like starchy and sugary foods, so white rice, white potatoes, and very ripe bananas are ideal. You can also enjoy pastries, ice cream, and other “bad” foods. A night of back-loading might include a cheeseburger with french fries, a milkshake, and an apple crisp followed a few hours later by a protein shake, milk, and cookies.

3. Repeat back-loading on days you train.

On days you don’t, eat low-carb as you did for the first 10 days. Back-loading works best when exercise takes place between roughly 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., but it can be adjusted for morning training if needed. In this case, have coffee but no food before training, and then have only a small meal or shake containing 30–50 grams of protein and the same amount of carbs. Eat low-carb from then until the evening, when you can back-load, but do it more conservatively. Since your workout was earlier, your muscles aren’t as sensitive to insulin, so you’ll have to eat fewer carbs than if you had just trained, lest you risk gaining fat.

This same rule applies to women. CBL is not exclusively beneficial to men, but because males carry more muscle mass, they can handle more carbs. Ladies can even skip a post-workout meal/shake and opt to get their carbs in the form of dessert.

Apart from counting protein and ballparking your carbs, you don’t need to log anything. Just pay attention to how you look the morning after back-loads. If soft and bloated, dial down the carbs a bit next time. Lean and ripped, you’re right on track. If your goal is to gain maximum muscle mass while keeping your body fat in check, simply consume more protein and carbs after training and during your back-loads (you can also experiment with off-day back-loads). Those seeking to optimize fat loss just need to eat less.

CBL and the HOP

Though I didn’t explain the back-loading concept to Arnold quite as eloquently as I did above (at least my trembling hand didn’t drop the phone), he immediately identified with it. In fact, Arnold inadvertently stumbled onto the concept along with Franco Columbu back in the 70s.

“The week before competition,” he said, “Franco and I used to go to The House of Pies [in Santa Monica] and eat pies at night. But we did not know what you just said. Instinctively, we just felt like we needed the pie.”

Arnold went on that other bodybuilders scoffed, saying it would ruin he and Franco’s diet, smoothing them out before the contest. But nine Mr. Olympia victories between them proved there was something to CBL some 40 years before it was officially created.

“Now when you explain it, maybe that’s the reason why it didn’t have the bad effect that everybody was worried about.”

Actually, Arnold, I didn’t explain it. You just did.

To learn more about the brain (and brawn) behind Carb Backloading, visit John Kiefer at http://www.dangerouslyhardcore.com.

Check out how Sean's abs looked after a night of cereal, sushi rice, and candy at his website. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Sean Hyson is the Group Training Director for Muscle&Fitness and Men’s Fitness magazines. Read his review of the Carb Back-loading e-book on seanhyson.com.

Website: http://www.seanhyson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sean.hyson.1
Twitter: https://twitter.com/seanhyson

Carb Back-Loading Explained, where Sean and Kiefer talk about training fasted.

Carb Back-Loading Explained, where Sean and Kiefer talk about training fasted.


Jazz K (signed in using Hotmail)

the article says insulin sensitivity is on its highest first thing in the morning and after a workout. So why not eat carbs in the morning? Eating carbs in the evening/night put stress on your insulin system as the sensitivity is low in the evening, in the long run it leads to insulin resistance and diabetis...so Carb back loading cant be that healthy?

Reply · Like · Follow Post · October 15 at 9:33am

Petros Constantopoulos · Top Commenter · Stafford

I think he explains his reasoning for this on bulletproofexec.com's podcast "upgraded self" :) if you are interested (paleo blog/podcast), and he will be on robbwolf's soon

Reply · Like · October 16 at 3:21am

Carb back loading ?? - Australian BodyBuilding

Carb back loading ?? - Ausbb - Australian BodyBuilding

22-02-2012, 06:17 PM

#1 (permalink)

kal-el Super Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Gender: Posts: 432

Carb back loading ?? Just wondering if anyone has read about this or read the book about carb back loading? Its written by a guy called Keifer (spelling?) For people that havent read the book I guess in some ways its similar to the anabolic diet. You do a keto phase where you keep carbs under 30g, after 10days on that you train and eat copious amounts of carbs. Then you pretty much skip breakfast and only eat protein and fat, at a 50:50 ratio (150g of P and 150g of F). On days you train you back load carbs having a huge amount he also recommends having more more junky carbs, as they spike insulin etc. His reasoning behind this is because of cortisole levels in the morning making it easier to store fat and as the day goes on insulin sensitivity decreases in all tissues including fat, which makes it harder to store excess carbs as fat. Also that after resistance training, the expression of mtor pathways and trans-location of glut4 transporters (insulin independent transporters) makes it much easier to store the excess in muscle tissue therefore increasing hypertrophy on back loading days and burning more fat on non back loading days. He has a ton of articles to site most of his claims. It sounds great in theory being able to smash the types of carbs you desire on training days, donuts, lollies, ice cream etc. I would find it extremely hard to get equal amounts of fat to protein though. Also there are apparently some well known people that use it the only name I remember though is power lifter Jason Pegg and they swear by it. Last edited by kal-el; 22-02-2012 at 06:20 PM.

Carb Cycling, Alcohol - Carb Nite

How To Keep Those Pounds Falling Off While On A Low Fat Carb Nite - YouTube

Dr. Jeffry Life believes he's the picture of health - Los Angeles Times

Dr. Jeffry Life believes he's the picture of health - Los Angeles Times

He's that graying senior with the chiseled physique in those print ads. He shares his health regimen.

January 18, 2010|Roy Wallack | Gear

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(Isaac Brekken / For The Times )

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped."

Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement

Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and newspapers (including this one), the incongruous photo juxtaposes a bald, white-haired, septuagenarian head on top of a rippling, V-shaped torso worthy of an Olympic gymnast or powerlifter. Completing the effect of macho, forever-young vitality, Life's left hand casually dangles by his thumb from a jeans front pocket, in a cool cowboy swagger.

"Yeah, I read on the Internet that people think it's digitally enhanced," says the soft-spoken Life (which really is his name, translated from the German by his immigrant great-grandfather) with a laugh. But the body is real -- built by a relentless, six-day-a-week exercise regimen that includes hard cardio, heavy weights pushed to the max, martial arts, Pilates, a strict low-glycemic carb diet and lots of supplements. It has also, for the last seven years, been hormonally enhanced by a program that includes testosterone and human growth hormone -- a therapy Life views as entirely appropriate, even necessary despite the medical evidence questioning both its effectiveness and safety.

Testosterone replacement can enlarge the prostate and raise levels of prostate-specific androgen, used in cancer-screening tests. Human growth hormone could increase the risk of diabetes and cancer, and the National Insitute on Aging recommends it not be used for anti-aging purposes. (See related story for details.) But both are mainstays of the not-quite-mainstream field known as anti-aging medicine.
Life's enthusiasm is undimmed by such skepticism.

"The fact is that every male over 50 or 55 suffers from a slow, insidious fall in testosterone levels," he says. "You don't notice it for a long time until your 'T' levels cross a certain threshold. Then you suddenly find that you lose your enthusiasm, your sex drive and can't maintain muscle mass anymore -- even if you work out. It's even worse if your HGH levels are falling off the table. That's what happened to me."

'Years of sloth'

Like most people, Life didn't give a thought to his testosterone level, his HGH or his fitness as he built his career as a family practice doctor in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. A lapsed Masters swimmer who became inactive in his mid 40s, the father of five became fat and borderline diabetic -- "a typical stressed-out middle-aged doctor who ate, drank and didn't practice what he preached. It was years and years of sloth."

That changed the day Life, then 60, picked up Muscle Media magazine and read about "the Challenge," a 12-week, before-and-after fitness contest. His competitive fires lighted, Life sent in his before photo and hit the gym.

Three months later, he'd dropped 25 pounds, cut his body fat from 28% to 10%, got genuinely ripped and was named one of the contest's 1999 "Body for Life" 10 grand champions.

Entering his 60s energized, Life was good. "I'd gone from fat, aging and tired to lean, strong, energized and highly motivated with an incredible zest for life," he said. "If I could do this in my 60s, I truly believe anybody can."

But by age 64, Life found himself shrinking.

His muscles didn't respond to workouts like they did a few years before. Abdominal fat started piling up. He began feeling mildly depressed. And he wasn't waking with an erection as often as he used to.
It was a condition he would soon know as andropause, the insidious creep of declining testosterone.
It was time for his second epiphany -- and the photo that would change everything.

A turning point

At a nutritional conference in Las Vegas in 2003, Life heard a presentation from Cenegenics, a local clinic making a name for itself in what proponents call "aging management" medicine. Its therapy included exercise, diet and treatment with testosterone and human growth hormone.

Testosterone, produced in the testicles, is key for maintaining bone density, red blood cell levels, muscle bulk, libido, even a sense of well-being. HGH, secreted by the pituitary gland as a childhood growth agent, does similar jobs, including enhancing skin tone and texture. Both have been used as illegal performance enhancers by athletes for decades -- and both decline steadily with age.

Adult HGH levels decline by half from age 20 to 60, and the loss accelerates thereafter. Adult testosterone levels begin a steady fall-off by age 30 or 40 that continues throughout life, although symptoms may not show up for decades, if at all.

Noting that such declines are part of the natural aging process, many doctors are openly skeptical of the wisdom of replacing these hormones.

Dr. Life - The 70-year-old man with the body of a 40-year-old | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities

Dr. Life - The 70-year-old man with the body of a 40-year-old | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities

By Sumitra on March 6th, 2012 Category: News

http://www.drlife.com/

 

Neck-up, a 70-year-old man. Neck-down, a 20-year-old bodybuilder. This is what a photograph of Dr. Jeffrey Life looks like. When I first looked at it I thought it was actually a young person whose face is ageing due to an illness, but it’s actually the other way round.

 The photo is that of a real 70-year-old, and we can safely vouch for the fact that his head hasn’t been photoshopped onto a model’s body. Although, Dr. Life’s methods to achieve the body of his dreams can’t exactly be termed as natural. The man is heavily dependent upon hormonal modifications to look like this.

Dr. Life’s life (that’s weird) changed at the age of 60, when he started to take fitness pretty seriously. Until then, he was overweight, a borderline diabetic and stressed-out. It was when he came across a 12-week fitness challenge on Muscle Media Magazine that he decided to make a few changes in his life. So he sent in his before picture as required by the challenge and started to work out big-time. After the 3 months were up, he had lost over 25 pounds and considerably cut-back on body fat. This, however, was not long-lived and at age 64, his body could no longer hold muscle mass and began to shrink. The culprit – a condition known as andropause – involving a steady decline of testosterone levels.


And so, to get back to a young and pumped body, Dr. Life has for the past 9 years been taking regular doses of testosterone and human growth hormone. This, of course, along with a strict regimen of exercise (six days a week including hard cardio, heavy weight lifting, martial arts, Pilates, and more) and diet (with low GI carbs and supplements). And the result is plain for all to see.

Photo by Terry Goodlad

Testosterone replacement therapies do not come without their own risks, however. It is known to cause an enlarged prostate, and human growth hormone could increase risk of diabetes and cancer. Most doctors believe that the fall in testosterone levels is a normal part of the aging process and must not be tampered with. Top doctors even say that these programs are completely illogical and prey upon people’s desires to wind back the clock.

But Dr. Life is unfazed by such warnings. He’s pretty happy with the treatment he is undergoing and has no qualms about artificially adjusting hormones in his body. A few years ago, he even quit his medical practice to start an anti-aging practice. He himself spends about $1,500 a month on his own treatments. So now that reversing  the aging  process has been made possible by scientific advancements, perhaps the next step would be to try and get Dr. Life to become immortal. What else would you expect him to do, with a name like his?

Dispelling testosterone myth - doesn't fall over 40 in health men

Dispelling testosterone myth

The Australian Financial Review
PUBLISHED: 07 Jun 2012 00:02:51 | UPDATED: 07 Jun 2012 05:16:15
by Jill Margo
 

 

 

Conventional beliefs about testosterone are about to shift. Landmark Australian research has shown that this vital male hormone does not inevitably decline as men get older.

Rather, it shows men who keep in excellent health can maintain unchanging levels of testosterone production well into old age.

If and when testosterone does drop, the decline is usually due to an accumulation of chronic disorders such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease rather than age itself.

This new picture of the natural history of testosterone is good news and is an incentive for men to be diligent about maintaining their general physical health.

The conventional view was that from 40 to 50, male testosterone levels began to drop by up to 1 per cent a year. It seemed there was nothing men could do to stop it.

Now researchers from Sydney and Melbourne have published a study in a major international journal showing “no decrease associated with age” among men over 40 who report maintaining very good or excellent health.

The Healthy Man Study published in Clinical Endocrinology, followed 325 men who reported being in excellent or very good health. This included taking morning blood sample nine times over three months.

While being obese or being an ex-smoker reduces testosterone levels, and fasting overnight increases levels the next morning, there were no effects of age itself.

Sydney’s ANZAC Research Institute director David Handelsman, an international authority on androgens, was the lead investigator of the study which may modify how testosterone is thought about and used clinically.

At present, rather than treating the conditions where testosterone production is deficient due to diseases of the reproductive system, testosterone is being inappropriately used as a kind of tonic for ageing. It is being used to treat the consequences of unhealthy ageing, without improving the underlying causes.

This week Handelsman also published a review of patterns of testosterone prescribing in Australia over the last two decades, showing how it is being overused.

His review, in the Medical Journal of Australia, suggests overuse is commercially driven and Australia’s PBS prescription criteria, introduced in 2000 as a world first, is being evaded. He calls for a tightening of criteria and monitoring of compliance.

Although Australian men are not the biggest consumers of testosterone, he says their use is among the highest and has been growing over the past two decades.

It began to rise steeply after 2006 when two new products, a gel and a slow-release injection, hit the market. He says this coincided with publication of “soft” northern hemisphere clinical guidelines that tacitly encourage overprescribing of testosterone for older men.

The survey showed great differences in use across Australia (see box below). Queensland was the highest consumer, with more than 16,000 doses a month per million of population compared with about 6000 in Tasmania.

So why are men seeking and getting access so easily to testosterone when not justified by any proven benefits?

“There are many myths about the powers of this hormone to boost flagging sexual function or act as an anti-ageing panacea and doctors are often no different to anyone else when it comes to the uncritical acceptance of such wishful thinking and folklore.

“A small group of doctors are androgen abusers themselves and prescribe testosterone and other drugs of abuse to other body builders too,” Handelsman says.

But is it detrimental to their health? “Given in proper doses to men who have genuine deficiency, it is not harmful. But among older men who do not have reproductive system diseases causing a genuine testosterone deficiency, the risks of accelerating cardiovascular or prostate disease remain without any corresponding benefits. Younger androgen abusers such as bodybuilders tend to use excessive doses and risk dangerous episodes of hypomania.

“Overall, it is just poor medicine to prescribe a drug someone doesn’t need,” he says.
And what does it cost Australia?

He says it is wasting tax dollars in the PBS. A company called IMS, that provides national sales data by pooling hospital and pharmacy figures, has shown $16.3 million is spent annually on testosterone replacement therapy. This does not include sales by compounding chemists of costly testosterone products with untested efficacy or steroids bought in the gym or illegally imported via the internet.
The pharmaceutical industry makes large profits, given steroids such as testosterone are now very cheap and constitute only 1 per cent of the marketed cost of the drug. In addition, Handelsman says the rising prescription rates are due to individual zealots and single-issue clinics promoting testosterone.

Large doses of testosterone do build muscle mass but don’t rejuvenate an ageing man’s sexual function. Yes, they boost libido but do nothing to help the mechanics of erectile function.
“Boosting libido in a man with failing erectile function – and doing nothing for this function – could be considered a form of mental cruelty.” says Handelsman.

This week the MJA published an article on how some companies tried to boost sales with “disease-awareness campaigns”.

These campaigns tended to exaggerate disease risk and prevalence and also misrepresented the effectiveness of treatment, according to the article’s co-author, Agnes Vitry, from the University of South Australia.

Although direct-to-consumer advertising is prohibited in Australia, they sidestep this through unbranded promotional campaigns which feature a condition treated by the manufacturer’s product and encourage viewers to ask their doctor about a newly available treatment.

Vitry described this as disease mongering and called for stricter limits on the role of drug companies in providing health information to the public because of the inherent conflict of interest.

The Australian Financial Review

Jill Margo

Jill Margo writes about men’s health from our Sydney newsroom.

60-Year-Old man has a better body than most 20-Year-Olds!

T NATION | The Trap Bar Deadlift

T NATION | The Trap Bar Deadlift

by Adam Vogel – 1/24/2012

Of all the bizarre looking pieces of equipment that inhabit the weight-room floor, none draw as many confused looks from new clients as the trap bar. The sometimes hexagonal, sometimes diamond-shaped bar has been described as a cross between a car chassis and a tenth-grade geometry problem.
But despite the awkward appearance, the trap bar (also known as a Hex Bar) might just be the greatest innovation in strength-training equipment in the last thirty years.
The trap bar was originally patented in 1985 by a powerlifting aficionado named Al Gerard, who was trying to find a way to train around a recurring lower back injury. It has since gained widespread support among many coaches as a back-friendly alternative to both traditional straight-bar deadlifts and squats.
This article will examine the use of the trap bar deadlift in modern strength programs, not only as a means of working around injury, but as a stand-alone exercise whose benefits may surpass that of the traditional straight bar deadlift.

Trap Bar Benefits

Less stress on the spine

As others have pointed out, the biggest drawback of both the straight bar deadlift and the barbell back squat is the amount of harmful stress it puts on the lumbar spine. Both exercises require the weight to be some distance away from the axis of rotation where the work is being performed (i.e., the hip), thus relying on the back to act like a crowbar to move the weight.
As a result, your training weights are limited to the capabilities of your back extensors to resist flexion as much, if not more, than your legs' ability to produce maximum force. And as you might expect, when things don't go strictly according to plan, it's your spine that's stuck paying the bill.
Since the trap bar configuration allows you to step inside it rather than behind it, the long lever is shortened along a horizontal axis, thus significantly reducing the amount of sheer force on the spine.
Earlier this year, research by Swinton et al. on the biomechanics of the hex bar deadlift versus the straight bar deadlift confirmed what many coaches had theorized for years – that the hex deadlift produced lower peak moments on both the lumbar spine and hips, moving it several notches to the right on the risk-reward spectrum.

More power

Here's where the Swinton study gets interesting. Not only was the trap bar deadlift a safer exercise than the straight bar version, it was also a more effective exercise for building maximum power.
According to the authors, significantly greater levels of peak force, velocity, and power were produced with the trap bar compared to the straight bar across a range of submaximal loads. Since power is a measure of an object's force times its velocity, this means the hex deadlift allows you to lift more weight, over a greater distance, faster.
The authors go on to explain that the peak power values measured with the trap bar deadlift were on par with those captured in other studies that looked at Olympic weightlifting exercises like the power clean. This, of course, is a critical piece of information for coaches looking for a high-benefit, low-cost (in both time and potential for injury) exercise for increasing maximum power.
Why is this the first time we're seeing such high power outputs with a deadlift?
Simple – we've always measured these quantities with a straight barbell. And unless you've completely abandoned all prospects of having children in the future, chances are you spent as much time decelerating the bar as it sped its way toward your nether regions, as you did accelerating it off the ground.
This is obviously a lot less of a problem with the trap bar. Since there is no pelvis-cracking impact at the top of the movement, there's no reason to start pumping the breaks early.

Better for beginners

Most beginner-level trainees deadlift with about the same level of skill that a chef at the Olive Garden prepares authentic northern Italian cuisine, which is to say, not very much at all.
For the majority of the population, getting into a good deadlift position with a straight bar is a huge challenge requiring a lot of upfront coaching and a generous helping of mobility work. This is especially true among the desk-jockey demographic who spend eight hours a day practicing lumbar flexion and posterior pelvic tilt.
Sure, there's that occasional outlier who comes walking into the gym – back arched, abdominals braced, shoulder blades retracted, looking for something heavy to lift off the floor with perfect form – but these people are rare.
That's where the trap bar comes in so handy. Its configuration leads to a much more upright torso position, allowing you to "sit" into the movement with far fewer technical requirements than a traditional straight bar deadlift. It also allows the knees to move more forward and the hips to sit lower than normal, avoiding the bar scraping your shins at the bottom of the movement.
The only potential drawback some coaches have with the trap bar setup has to do with the final stage of hip extension or lockout at the top of the movement. In the straight bar deadlift, you essentially lock your hips into place against the bar, preventing your back from overextending, whereas with the trap bar there's no such stopping mechanism. However, this problem can be easily coached away.

Execution

To setup for the trap bar deadlift, first step inside the perimeter of the bar, making sure your feet are positioned equidistant between the front and back of the bar.
Grip the handles tightly on either side so that your middle finger is in horizontal alignment with the front of your shin, while rotating the insides of your elbows forward. This will help to pick up any slack at the shoulder capsule.
Squat your hips down with an arch in your back.
Once in position, stand up by driving your feet into the ground, straightening your legs, and thrusting your hips forward. As you approach the top of the movement, squeeze your glutes together and brace your abdominals to finish the movement.
Here's a video to help you out.

A Few Variations

Band Resisted Deads

Your ability to achieve maximal force and acceleration during a lift is in large part limited by the need to decelerate the weight at the end of the movement. That's why Olympic lifts, plyometric jumps, and medicine ball drills are all so effective at increasing power – they're all gas, no brakes – and why traditional resistance training exercises are good for building strength, but not that great for increasing power.
While the trap bar goes a long way toward fixing the problem of deceleration, it still requires some deceleration as you reach the top. About thirteen percent of the total range of motion is devoted to it, which might not be a huge leak, but a leak nonetheless.
That's where the use of resistance bands comes in handy, as they force you to work as close to maximum power output as possible throughout the range of motion.
Simply loop a stretch band around both ends of the trap bar and anchor it to either side of the bottom of a squat rack or a pair of heavy dumbbells. As you approach the top of the movement, the increasing pull of the band will do the deceleration for you so you can focus on increasing terminal velocity throughout.

Jump Deads

For decades lifters have used plyometrics as a part of their lower body training programs, with one exception. Unlike the squat, lunge, step-up, and running stride, the biomechanics of the deadlift don't lend themselves easily to plyometric modifications (at least not without a good pair of shin pads and a heavy supply of topical ointments).
The trap bar deadlift changes this equation, allowing you to take advantage of both the elastic component of your muscles, as well as the stretch-shortening cycle that defines plyometric training.
These are an advanced version of the exercise that should only be attempted after mastering the feet-on-the-ground trap bar dead. Limit yourself to 3-6 reps, and try to use rubber plates on the bar rather than metal ones for a better rebound.

Deficit Deads

One criticism of the trap bar is that the handles on most bars are too high off the ground. This might be a blessing if you're lacking in the mobility department, but can be something of a liability if maximal muscular activation is your priority. The good news is that it's easily fixed.
Simply place a 1-3 inch step (or Olympic plate) under your feet before the lift to get a lower start on the weight. Make sure to take a slightly wider than normal stance so your hips have plenty of room to drop into the movement. Resist the urge to cheat the bottom range of motion by flexing the lumbar spine and curling your shoulders forward.

Programming Considerations

Should you abandon the straight bar deadlift altogether?

It depends on the goal. If you're concerned about the risk of lower back injury, the trap bar is definitely the safer choice. However, if you're trying to achieve maximum back extensor and hamstring recruitment, then the straight bar is the better option.
Keep in mind that the hamstring's primary role will always be to bend your knee and extend your hip when you're bent forward. While this does occur during the trap bar deadlift, it's to a lesser degree than during the straight bar version, which keeps most of the load on the hip joint, rather than the knee and ankle joints.

Where do trap bar deadlifts fit in my program?

Another great thing about the trap bar dead is its versatility. Here are a few of the ways I have used it in my programming:

• As the primary, knee-dominant exercise of the day, in place of squats, especially for those with back or shoulder injuries.
• As the primary, hip-dominant exercise of the day, in place of traditional deads, especially for those with a history of back problems.
• As a hybrid hip-knee exercise to use as a stand-alone on days where I'm not performing squats or traditional deadlifts.
• As an assistance exercise on days where squats or deadlifts are the core lifts of the day.
• As an assistance exercise on dynamic effort days where speed and power generation is the primary focus.

The important thing to remember is that if you're going to truly "replace" the traditional deadlift, plan on adding a bunch of other hip-dominant exercises like glute/ham raises, kettlebell swings, hip thrusts, etc., to your program.

Conclusion

Whether you're a beginner, a seasoned veteran, someone trying to train around an injury, or just hoping to corner the market on being able to lift a crap-ton of weight, the trap bar deadlift may be for you.
While 2011 might have been the year for single-leg training, in 2012, trap bar deadlifts are the new black. You heard it here first.

References

Swinton, PA, Stewart, A, Agouris, I, Keogh, JWL, and Lloyd, R. A biomechanical analysis of straight and hexagonal barbell deadlifts using submaximal loads. J Strength Cond Res 25(7): 2000-2009, 2011

Bret Contreras » Straight Bar Deadlift versus Hex Bar Deadlift

Bret Contreras » Straight Bar Deadlift versus Hex Bar Deadlift


Check out this video from Joe DeFranco…scroll to :42 seconds into the video and you can see an example of trap bar jumps.

My Take (but you should form your own conclusions):

1. The hex bar deadlift is clearly the safer lift as it reduces the moment on the lumbar spine.

2. That said, it also reduces the moment on the hip joint (while increasing the moment on the knee and ankle joints).

3. As I mentioned in my Topics of the Week article that I linked above, I still prefer the conventional deadlift because I use the full squat as my knee dominant exercise so I want a deadlift variation that complements the full squat and acts more on the hips.

4. Although the peak power levels are very impressive for the submaximal deadlifts (where you rise up onto the toes), you still spend a large percentage of the time decelerating the load which means reduced muscular tension through end range hip extension (though 87% of the 80% 1RM deadilft was indeed spent accelerating, so only the last 13% of end range hip extension is spent decelerating).

5. For this reason elastic bands could be used to increase tension on the hip extensors toward end range hip extension.

6. For this reason I like the jump squat and hang clean (or even the trap bar jump and possibly the deadlift plus shrug/calf raise) as I don’t believe they’d involve any deceleration at the top of the lift (though I confess that I haven’t located studies that address this issue…but nonetheless studies addressing this likely exist).

Whenever I watch a DeFranco video I get all jacked up and want to train!

Strength Training

Elsbeth Vaino says:

June 25, 2011 at 1:00 am

Thanks Bret. Great timing for me, as I have a client for whom I am having a tough time deciding between tbdl and straight bar. This helps.

Reply