PROTEIN ~ YOUR KEY TO NUTRITIONAL SUCCESS!

One of the biggest mistakes many people make is that they don't pay attention to their muscle building nutrition with the same detail, desire and determination with which they pay attention to their weight training program.

If you neglect (or ignore completely) one or the other, whether it be your training or your nutrition, your results will only be a fraction of what they could be!

Look, you work extremely hard on your workouts. Don't screw it up by neglecting to be as dedicated to your nutrition program.

So let's talk about the importance of nutrition. The truth is, no one will ever gain muscle without food. Nutrition for building muscle is simply a matter of eating. But that doesn't mean there isn't a lot to learn.

The Best Muscle Building Supplement

So here's the question every dedicated Fitness enthusiast wants to know.

What's the best muscle building supplement available today?

You might not like the answer. It's not sexy, it's not new, but it works.

Your number one supplement should be a high quality protein powder.

I know you probably already know this. But it's worth repeating because I get a ton of questions from people wanting to know what is the best new miracle supplement they can buy. And they aren't getting enough quality protein.

Before buying any other supplements, make sure you are always taking in a high quality protein powder.

If you want to make outstanding muscle building progress, you must put together a solid weight training program, train with a high level of intensity, add poundage to your exercises as often as possible, eat six high protein meals every day, and make sure recovering from your workouts so that your muscles have time to grow.

Protein powders make it extremely easy and convenient to eat six meals a day and to get enough quality protein into your body.

Using protein shakes will make it easier for you to consume enough calories and protein each day, as well as making it much more convenient to have 6 meals a day. Who has time to prepare six meals a day? Not anybody I know, that's for sure.

You may need to add or subtract ingredients based on individual taste preferences and number of calories needed.

When I was younger, more active, and had a metabolism like a furnace, I needed all the quality muscle building calories I could get. And protein shakes like this were the only way to get them.

You should eat every 2 or 3 hours.

When you have your post-workout muscle building protein shake, throw in a serving of creatine as well if you like.

High quality protein, aka, "the real muscle building supplement" should be the center point of all your meals.

Intense exercise increases demand for protein, which support muscle repair and growth.

When you train with weights and you're looking to pack on pounds of quality muscle, you should try to eat a MAXIMUM of 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. If you weight 150 pounds, try and take in at least 150 grams of protein each and every day. More than that is not necessary.

You don't have to have carbs or fat at every meal, but you must have protein. When I say protein, I am referring to high quality protein derived from animal sources.

For getting more fit and stronger, the only protein you need to be concerned with are those found in whey, casein (cottage cheese), eggs, beef, poultry, and fish.

Throw in a high quality creatine product (Beachbody Men's Strength & Health Formula) and you are good to go. Stick with the dual muscle building protein/creatine stack for awesome muscle/Fitness gains.

A crucial time to get a lot of high quality protein is right after your intense weight training session.

One thing I've found that has helped my progress is to add a few more calories than I normally would and then drink part of the smoothie right before my workout, or even sip some of it during my workout so my muscles are constantly getting the nutrients they need, both to power my workout and to recover from it.

If you want to push your muscle/Fitness results forward and do it as fast as possible, you have to get your protein. There is no excuse to skimp in this area. You need plenty of protein. Nowadays, most protein powders taste great and many are pretty inexpensive when compared to food.

Mix your protein powder in Soy/Skim milk or water. Why? Quick muscle building!

The Importance of Post Workout Supplementation

I cannot overstate the vital importance of the post workout meal, or more specifically, the post workout drink.

You see, after a hard training session, your body is primed and ready to absorb all the nutrients it needs to help your body begin recovering from the muscle breakdown that has occurred during your training session.

Why a drink? Because your body is craving nutrients immediately following a hard training session and it needs them quickly. Your body will digest the nutrients in liquid form much more quickly than a solid fool meal.

During this time your body is ready, willing and able to quickly and completely absorb the protein that it needs. This will help to optimize protein synthesis, leading to a positive nitrogen balance, gains in muscle and strength, and the loss of body fat.

Of course, you need to constantly supply your body with the protein it needs to maintain and build muscle mass. However, the time right after a hard training session intensifies your body's ability to absorb the protein it needs.

Immediately after my weight workout I take my post workout drink. For this meal you want fast acting protein and fast acting carbs. This is one of those times you gladly want your body to release insulin, to help shuttle the much needed carbs and amino acids into the muscles.

Another great way to do it is to use a drink specifically designed to take advantage of the post workout opportunity as I mentioned earlier.

One goal...get better EVERY day!

THE IMPORTANCE OF FIBER

When we think of proper nutrition, we think about cutting calories, or ratios of fat, carbohydrates, and protein. However, very few people consider the advantages to incorporating fiber into their diet. Fiber is a nonessential complex carbohydrate that is indigestible by humans. Although it is nonessential, fiber is still recognized as a VERY important component of your diet.

Dietary Fibers

Dietary fiber has many advantages such as its ability to induce feelings of satiety, delay gastric emptying, lower cholesterol, reduce transit time in the colon, and reduce the glycemic response to certain foods.

What makes fiber indigestible to humans is the inability of our enzymes to breakdown certain carbohydrates, even though they may consist primarily of glucose (like most carbohydrates). The reason that our enzymes cannot breakdown fiber is due to its chemical structure.

Believe it or not, bananas and potatoes are almost completely resistant to digestive enzymes and reach the colon relatively intact!

There are seven major categories of fibers including cellulose, hemicellulose, pectic substances, gums, mucilage, algal polysaccharides, and lignin. Cellulose is the most common of these fibers, and can be found in the plant cell wall. Hemicelluloses are fibers that contain 5 and 6 carbon sugars. Pectic substances are water-soluble fibers rich in galacturonic acid. Gums are actually substances secreted by plants in response to injury. Mucilages are also water-soluble, and are used by plants to protect seeds. Algal polysaccharides are extracted from algae. Finally, lignin is found in woody plants.

The Different Catogories Of Fibers

Fiber can be categorized as soluble and insoluble. On nutrition labels, you will often see amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber in the carbohydrate section. So what's the difference? Generally, cellulose, lignin, and some hemicelluloses are insoluble and nonfermentable. On the other hand, pectins, gums, mucilages, and the other hemicelluloses are soluble and fermentable. The soluble fibers will more than likely make you pass gas, which is what fiber is famous for.

If you've ever eaten a large portion of beans or vegetables, you've probably noticed that you feel really full, and that your stomach seems like it sticks out further than normal (gastric distention). Since fiber is resistant to digestion in the stomach, the bulk that fiber adds to a meal produces feelings of fullness that can last for a long period of time. So, if you are reducing your caloric intake and still feel hungry after you eat, try incorporating some soluble fiber with your meals.

Also, soluble fibers form gels in the stomach and therefore slow gastric emptying. This results in a more uniform presentation of your meal to the small intestine for absorption. Since insoluble fibers do not form gels in the stomach, they have no effect on the rate of gastric emptying. Again, if you are getting hungry between meals when dieting, soluble fibers will help the food move slower from your stomach to your small intestine. This will keep you feeling fuller longer.

One drawback of soluble fiber intake is that the gel that is formed in your stomach can entrap other nutrients like other carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. This prevents enzymes needed for nutrient absorption from reaching the entrapped nutrients. By eating higher levels of protein and fat, this effect may be normalized. However, this entrapping effect of soluble fibers is also beneficial in that it improves glucose tolerance and lowers blood cholesterol. By improving glucose tolerance, blood glucose levels are lowered following meals with soluble fiber, the glycemic response of carbohydrates is then lowered, and thus insulin secretion is also lowered.

Insulin is one of the major anabolic hormones. For diabetics, decreasing blood glucose after a meal is obviously beneficial because the need for insulin is not as high as it normally would be. Thus, increasing the intake of soluble fiber can be used as a preventative and treatment method for diabetics.

The Effects Of Fiber

The effect of fiber on blood cholesterol is still being investigated. However, researchers believe that the mechanism by which fiber may lower blood cholesterol is accomplished in several different ways. By delaying gastric emptying, fiber affects the rate of lipid absorption, which influences lipoprotein formation, thus reducing the amount of cholesterol in the blood following a meal.

Within the colon (the large intestine), the ability of fiber to reduce transit time depends on whether or not it is soluble. Soluble fibers are more readily fermented by bacteria in the colon than are insoluble fibers. Therefore, more of the insoluble fiber remains in the feces, creating much more bulk than do the soluble fibers. Said another way, taking in more insoluble fiber increases the size of your feces than does soluble fiber. The increase in bulk also increases the amount of water-holding capacity within the feces. The combination of greater mass and greater moisture content contributes to a decrease in transit time within the colon.

How Much Fiber Should I Have?

Presently, there is no recommended dietary allowance for fiber. It is suggested that individuals take in 10 to 13 grams of fiber for every 1000 calories. The concentration of fiber in the diet should be increased with age, because energy requirements decline in older individuals.

Food sources of fiber include whole grain products, legumes, leafy vegetables, and some fruits such as apples, oranges, prunes, and raspberries.

Including fiber in your diet has many positive benefits for individuals trying to lose fat, or trying to improve their health status. Much more research must be performed before the real value of dietary fiber can be fully realized, but the results thus far are very promising.

FIBER, are you getting enough?

by Mike French

The Biggest Workout Mistakes People Make

I see it in every gym, people giving 110% doing some of the craziest things. People spending hours and hours in there daily for 7x a week, yet they look the same month after month. Clients spending $1000/month on private training yet their trainer has them doing stuff that is not even related to what their goals are. What is going on? There are more people working out nowadays, belonging to gyms, hiring personal trainers, buying supplements, on so called “diets”, and yet the results are not showing! Sadly it seems most people are making so many mistakes when it comes to training, yet they just keep right on trying. If we can see what we need to be doing, and more importantly what we don’t need to be doing….then maybe the results will start to finally show! These are the biggest workout mistakes that I see today:

• Focused on How Many Calories are Burned Working Out: Honestly what does this matter in the overall scheme of the whole day and fat burning? Assuming that fat burning is your goal, does that mean doing more and more exercise just burns more and more fat? NO! Who said you are even burning fat in the first place? What about stored glycogen? What about breaking down muscle? What about that subway sandwich you had an hour ago? Really this mentality is what is keeping most people from focusing on what matters, your eating! Diet/Nutrition is where 85% of your results come from and will even tell the body hormonally when to burn fat, and when to NOT burn fat. Forget how many calories you are spinning away, you don’t know what is really going on inside of you. Prime your body for all day fat burning and use your workouts as the right hormonal trigger for it.

• More is Better When it Comes to Working Out: This goes hand in hand with thinking that you are burning more fat with more exercise, which is not true. Not too mention the more people workout, the lower they drop their blood sugar and if they go too hard and go into a hypoglycemic state guess what will happen, they will rebound with sugar cravings and most likely end up drinking/eating more calories than they even burned in the first place. Not too mention the increase of cortisol you will get from extended workouts (over 45-60min) that will start to break down and use muscle as fuel. Also when it comes to resistance training, I see people wanting big muscles yet they do the same workout 4x a week. How is your body supposed to grow muscles if you keep breaking them down and never give them time to grow? Remember the saying that “muscles do not grow in the gym”. So resistance train a few times a week, then go home and eat and sleep to grow the muscles. How do you expect the build a big house (muscles) if you keep smashing it down during the construction period?

• Carb/Sport Drinks are OK Before, During and After a Workout: This could be titled instead “don’t believe everything you see on TV or read in advertisements”. If you look around you would think that you need Gatorade all day long (did you know they have an AM version? Are you kidding me?). So you have people working hard on a bike, rowing machine, treadmill (whatever) and then drinking a sugar drink for more energy? Ok, if you are an athlete and are training for increased endurance or power during a 3 hour workout and need ongoing fuel, then maybe you need something….but if you are the average person trying to burn fat and pumping sugar into your body in the process…..you are somehow expecting the rules of fat burning to not apply to you! Forget the workout drinks, drink some water and go burn some fat instead…..well that is only if your diet is also on target to allow you to.

• Not Lifting Heavy Enough: Whether it is women afraid to get bulky muscles (won’t happen), magazines saying you need high reps to “tone” (which is a fancy word for burning fat around a muscle….which doesn’t happen lifting something 50 times), or just people afraid to challenge their muscles for safety reasons. Hands down you get the best results for strength and muscles when you lift in a range of 5-10 reps. So if you are new to exercise, hire a trainer to show you how to properly and safely lift. Exercises and heavy weights do not hurt people……people doing all the wrong things hurt themselves! So forget all those magazines with 40 reps of some lying side leg lift…..go do some lunges and eat right and you will be more tone than anyone reading those magazines….as those people tend to have a lifetime subscription for a reason.

• Having No Real Set Plan (aka “Winging It”): While you don’t need anything overly complicated, you do need to have a plan. Whatever it may be, you need to know if you are progressing in your workouts and not just doing whatever exercises you “feel” like doing. That and you need to keep your rest periods short to get through your workout in 30min (40max). If you can’t get a workout done in 30min, you need a new plan! Most people at the gym are socializing and trading facebook profiles, and they also stay there for hours and look the same month after month. Do your workout, have a plan, get out of the gym and get on with your life……as life should be more than just working out.

• Using the Whole Maze of Gym Machines (Just because it is there): Just because a gym has 100 pieces of equipment to target your calves and rear deltoids….doesn’t mean you need to use them. In fact all you need is a few pieces of free weights and you get done all the exercises that really count. All the rest are just there to keep memberships up and to keep people coming back. Forget isolation exercises and focus on the basic compound movements (listed below). Machines may help people will some movements but overall you don’t need 95% of what is in a commercial gym nowadays.

• Mentality that You Need a Gym to Get in a Good Workout: This is probably the worse mental mistake people are making. Say you don’t have time to get to the gym, or are on the road travelling, or whatever other excuse you want to use…..so does that mean you can’t workout? NO. But many people will not because the gym is seen as the only place that they can workout. The gym industry is a tragedy in the sense that they make most their money off the 90% of people who sign up, show up for a week or two and then come back like 3x in the next year….yet get billed monthly. If you knew the break even point on membership for gyms you would probably laugh (as a small gym may need 500-1000 members, and a bigger gym 10,000+). You don’t need a gym to go run a trail, do some pushups on your living room floor, lunge across the kitchen, take the stairs at work, do some pullups at the park on the kid’s monkeybars, or whatever. No more thinking you need the gym….the gym may need you, but you don’t need it!

• Spot Reduction and Isolation Movements are the Focus: Want big triceps? Do some heavy dips. Want big biceps? Do some heavy chinups. Want big calves? Sprint! While you can add in some isolation movements in a workout if you like, they should be at the end and all done within 10minutes. The bulk of your workout (whether you goal is fat loss or gaining muscle) should be with compound body movements (see a pattern here?) like squat, deadlift, overhead press, pullups, etc. Isolation movements are for bodybuilding magazines to keep writing about so they can sell new subscriptions for years to come. Want abs? Then hold something heavy over your head and brace it with your abs….or do a plank. Forget the situps and go focus where it matters….with your eating.

Ok so we have gone over alot of mistakes people make, but now what are some of the solutions then? It’s easy…..keep it simple and focused and consistent…..results will follow!

• Eat Real Whole Foods to Burn Fat and Exercise will just Accelerate it: We know that eating whole non-processed foods are the best way to burn fat and gain muscle. Eat whole food proteins, healthy fats, veggies, fruits, nuts….and skip the breads, cereals and other processed foods. You need amino acids, vitamins, minerals and many other nutrients available in plenty with whole foods for maximum fat burning and muscle building. Eat a diet of whole foods, forget the stuff that is destroying your body (esp sugar!)

• Keep Your Main Workouts Short and Intense: It doesn’t matter how many calories you burn during a workout, what does matter is how much fat you can burn all day! Short and intense workouts are not only great to stimulate fast twitch muscle fibers but to also get the right hormones going (such as GH) to burn fat and build muscles. Keep your rest short (30 sec) between your sets if you are lifting weight and add intervals before any cardio session. Doing that along with proper eating will get amazing results.

• Have an Active Lifestyle, Go Play! Life is fun! So go play with your friends, dog, kids or just off by yourself. Go hiking, biking, walking, rowing, dancing, boxing, frisbee in the park…..whatever you find fun and interesting. Some of the best bodies you will ever see are people who are very athletic and active (and may not even have a clue how to lift weights and workout). Enjoy what you do and chances are you will do it for a long time to come (and probably live longer because of it)

• Keep Your Workouts Simple and Effective. Focus on Movements that Count: I always say get in-get out in 30min. If you can’t get a good workout in 30min, then you need to rethink what you are doing. More is not better when it comes to resistance training, smart is better! You don’t need some super secret Russian-East German Progressive Overload training system from 1965 either. The basic full body movements like squat, lunge, pushup, bench, pullup, bent rows, overhead press, cleans, snatches, and deadlifts will get your more bang for your buck if you challenge yourself and keep the progress going. I don’t care if you do 5×5 or 3×10s. Do them with intensity and with heavy enough weights and then go eat and recover. You can add in secondary movements at the end of your workouts (like arms or planks for abs) but they are not the main focus. Results are simple yet we think we need a super complicated program to get them. Don’t get “paralysis by analysis”, just take action and modify as you go. Need more help for what to do for workouts? Well guess what….your solution is now here.
  

• Stop Listening to Advertisements and Magazines: You don’t need a gatorade, you are not training for 4 hours a day like a professional athlete, there is no such thing as spot reduction no matter how many ab crunches you do (or whatever ab-infomercial tries and sell you on). Advertisements and magazines are there to sell you on something, just remember that.

• Do Your Workouts Anywhere and Just do Something Daily: Have some fun and make fitness a part of your daily lifestyle! Think you can’t get a good workout at home or at the park? Think again…..all you need is your body and a way to make it move and work the muscles. Pushups, pullups, squats, lunges, planks, dips…lots of things to do. You can also use minimal equipment and bring it with you like some dumbbells, kettlebells, set of bands and use simple equipment outdoors like a playground, set of rings or bodyweight bars (as seen above). Do it in your backyard, on your porch, in your garage…wherever!

• (Re)Read these Posts: I made these a while back to help people know what really matters, and it helps to keep re-reading and seeing where you need to focus on for results: Fat Loss 101 and Muscle Building 101.
  

So there you have it. All the things you need to be successful in your workouts. Again remember the most important things are to focus on eating right, keep your workouts simple and intense, do the major movements with resistance, and then just keep active and consistent with your workouts. Before you know it, months will pass and you will be amazed at where you are! So start today with something….and most importantly just enjoy your fitness lifestyle! Go Play!

Shedding Fat

There are many fads and fallacies regarding fat loss. The bottom line is this; you will not lose fat if you cut calories dramatically, and you will only lose body fat (and keep it off) if you burn calories through regular exercise! It really is that simple. The part that everyone finds so challenging is figuring out this balance between calorie consumption and calorie expenditure; what do I eat, when do I eat it and what kind of exercise will optimize fat loss. Then the only hurdle is actually doing the work!

One thing I know for sure: DIETS DON'T WORK!!

This is particularly true with females. In the book "Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell", Debra Waterhouse makes it very clear that females come equipped with significantly more lipogenic (fat storing) enzymes and significantly less lipolytic (fat releasing) enzymes than their male counterparts. She also cites studies showing that a female's lipogenic enzyme count increases and lipolytic enzyme count decreases after a calorie-restricted diet, making it increasingly harder to lose weight with each and every successive diet!

A man's body doesn't appreciate dieting either. It's not uncommon to seemany male back pain patients undergo hospital directed diets, lose 60 pounds, and gain it all back in as little as a month. Coming off a diet to start eating "normally" again is like the tide coming in!

Instead of starving your body to shed fat, a more effective method is to increase the amount of energy you expend. Muscle cells are fuel hungry machines. Consequently any exercise that increases the size of muscle cells and makes them work more often will increase metabolism for optimal fat loss. Sounds to me like resistance training tops out again! It is well known among strength training professionals and researchers that there is a significant post-exercise elevation of metabolism, lasting up to 3-4 hours after your weight training session ends. This is an important consideration when deciding between cardio work or resistance training for fat loss. Since cardiovascular exercise provides very little post-exercise elevation of metabolism, your cells stop burning extra energy when you get done with your run, bike, swim, etc. Compare this to a good, solid weight training session where your metabolism keeps nibbling away at that fat for hours.

To see this in action, look at any group of athletes whose predominant exercise consists of resistance training, or short, high intensity sprint work. Sprinters are some of the very leanest athletes in the world. Olympic Weight lifters would rather be castrated than go for a run, yet they are predominantly a very lean group. Bodybuilders, by simple observation, are far leaner than those trying to lose fat by aerobics alone.

Body Pump is a highly popular free weight training class choreographed to music and taught in a group setting. Take a look around - you'll be amazed at the incredibly lean, fit looking bodies in the room. If you view an aerobics class, you just don't see the same thing. In fact, IDEA released a study a couple years ago indicating that aerobics instructors had an average body fat of >20%, which is suprisingly high for what could be considered a professional athlete.

The whole physiology of someone who lifts weights is geared up to burn calories. The opposite is true of aerobicisers, whose physiology is like that of a Honda Civic; stretching a gallon of fuel for 40 miles. When you want to lose fat, you want to be like a Cadillac or a Hot Rod; you want to be fuel inefficient! Therefore you want to do exercises in such a manner that fuel efficiency is sacrificed.

I have had very good results using the following circuit concept: 5 compound exercises back to back with less than 1:30 seconds rest. The rest periods become progressively shorter as the clients' condition and tolerance for lactic acid improves. Initial weight loss may be due to the fact that they are woofing their cookies between circuits, but within a few sessions clients learn to come rested and with less in their stomachs! This format causes huge caloric expense during and after training because the exercises chosen are predominantly closed chain with free weights. This type of program causes your body to reach states of near meltdown, which activates your thermo-regulatory system, burning even more calories. The program is done 3-4 times per week with intensities of 70-80% 1RM, cycling various exercises in and out to prevent injury.

Another useful method is to eat dinner within three hours of going to sleep. I highly recommended a large protein-rich breakfast, a well-balanced lunch, and dinner as the smallest meal of the day for those needing to "shake some weight".

So there you have it, if you want to lose fat, do the following:

1. DON'T DIET! Eat a nutritious well balanced diet to discourage "survival" fat storage.
2. Make your first two meals of the day the largest. Eat snacks as needed to convince your body you're not starving, so you don't activate lipogenic enzymes
3. Eat your smallest meal of the day for dinner, remembering to give three hours between eating and hitting the sack.
4. Use resistance training to increase muscle mass, increase cellular metabolism and become FUEL INEFFICIENT
5. Apply periodic cycles of high intensity circuit training. Format your circuits with 5 compound exercises, short rest periods, bring a towel so you don't sweat all over everyone and prepare to up-chuck if you eat too close to your training session.

I have been applying these principles with great success. I am sure you can create the body you've always wanted with them if I can!

RECOVERY and EXTRA workouts

Folks, whatever your PRIMARY workout each day should be your focus. People think that they need to do extra workouts EVERY day to get faster results. This is simply not true.

Realize that your body has a FINITE amount of energy to repair/build muscle and recover from your workouts. If you are applying the PROPER intensity to your workouts, you don't need to do ANYTHING else. Every time you do additional workouts during the day you are taking away from your body's ability to recovery.

SIMPLE RULE: NO RECOVERY = NO PROGRESS Make no mistake about this.

Remember my Note a few weeks ago about Leaning out by adding muscle? How can you add muscle if your body can't recover from 2 workouts a day?

RECOVERY is the key to EVERYTHING folks.

Think of your body like a Bank account:

Your RECOVERY is deposits in the Bank. Your workouts are withdrawals from the Bank.

What happens when your withdrawals outnumber your deposits?

We need to be stronger EVERY day. You can't get stronger if you can't recover from your workouts.

Realize that building metabolism enhancing muscle will get you leaner FASTER than tons of EXTRA cardio will.

I will give you an excellent example: ME

During my first round of the P90X I was doing the EIFB (Extreme Interval Fat Burner) almost daily during the last 30 days in an effort to get as lean as possible.

I did get very lean, and I also got down to 168 lbs. Too light for my frame. I burned precious muscle in an effort to lean out.

Lets compare this to my current strategy to lean out for my end of year in 2007.

I did NO extra cardio in my efforts to lean out. I was getting STRONGER every workout and giving each workout 100%.

Emphasizing getting stronger, building muscle, and RECOVERING has made all the difference in the world for me.

Here are some thoughts on RECOVERY:

Workouts provide the stimulus for change; the change itself (an improvement in fitness level) takes place during the periods between workouts. How quickly and completely this recovery takes place is result of many commonly overlooked factors, including specific dietary habits, supplementation, age and personal stress levels, just to name a few.

Factors That Effect Recovery Rates

Age - Older individuals will need longer recovery periods than their younger counterparts. It is suggested that around 25 years old is when most trainees will need to start to allow for longer recovery periods.

Experience - More experienced trainees will need less recovery time than new trainees will.

Psychological Factors - Never underestimate the power of the mind. Work, finances, personal relationships and basic everyday life can all cause stress. If left unchecked stress can have very powerful physical manifestations - headaches, insomnia and an increase in catabolic hormones such as cortisol, just to name a few.

Replenishment of Nutrients - The availability of key micro- and macronutrients in a person's nutrition will have a large impact on recovery.

While not usually considered therapeutic, nutrition plays a huge role in the speed and completeness of recovery. Your body needs raw materials to repair and restore bodily systems stressed by training and without adequate nutrition those materials will not be available. Vitamins, minerals, water, protein, carbs and fats must all be present in proper amounts in order for the body to fully recover from training.

A deficiency in even one key nutrient could slow this process down greatly, if not grind it to a complete halt. Proper nutrition can not be stressed enough when talking about the overall success of a fitness program and most trainees' frustration about their lack of progress can be traced back to this recovery factor.

RECOVERY folks...How is yours?

BALANCE ~ IN YOUR FITNESS AND YOUR LIFE

Attaining and maintaining balance in Life is the biggest challenge facing many people today. Balance is maintaining a healthy, consistent lifestyle on a daily basis in mind, and body, regardless of your situation or circumstance.

Keep your Mind Balanced

A balanced mind means that you are aware of your thoughts and the things that you choose to think about. Many folks allow their mind to wander throughout the day. The goal is to enjoy each day as if it were your last. In order to cultivate this thought process, your thoughts have to be focused on the present moment.

Yesterday is in the past. There is nothing we can do to go back and change what has already happened. Learn from your mistakes. When you dwell on failure you can trigger depressive feelings such as regret. Work through these feelings and let them go. If we let what happened in the past impact today in negative ways, we remain locked to the past. ALWAYS move forward!

Another place that we allow our thoughts to wander is when we think of the future. These thoughts will cause feelings of anxiety, fear of the unknown and unnecessary pressure. Thoughts of the future, beyond planning and goal setting, can also take away from your focus on the moment and keep you off balance. The reality is that we can only take forward steps toward our goals in the hours that we are awake. Take each day, one at a time. Each day is an opportunity and a gift, which is why they call it the present, an old saying that makes a heck of a lot of sense! To attain and maintain balance in your mind, keep your thoughts focused on the present.

Keep Your Body Balanced

A balanced body involves exercise, proper nutrition, enough sleep and an overall healthy lifestyle. Workout hard 6 days a week and you will do your strength, cardiovascular Fitness, and flexibility a world of good! Exercise releases natural endorphins that help your body to relax and feel good. Don't focus too heavily on any one discipline. Strength without an efficient cardiovascular system is not good and if you neglect your flexibility you are doing your body and Fitness a HUGE disservice. The overall physical goal that we should be striving for is to be ready for any physical activity at any time. Swimming, running a long distance or sprinting, climbing, lifting weights, Yoga, hiking, etc. Be ready for all of it, at any time!

Monitoring your daily food intake and becoming aware of the types of food that your body needs and best responds to also helps you attain and maintain your balance. Focus on eating nutritious, healthy foods that you enjoy. Proper nutrition doesn't need to be complicated. This will allow you to stay disciplined over the long haul. This is essential in being healthy for a lifetime!

Another essential element in maintaining balance is getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Most people do not get enough sleep. When you get your rest, you recover from your workout more efficiently, your mood improves, and you are more mentally alert. Get a good nights rest and feel the difference!

Limit your intake of alcohol, drink at least 8 glasses of water per day, don't smoke, take nutritional supplements that help you push towards your Fitness goals.

When you try and keep a balance in your life, good things happen....

by Mike French

TAKE YOUR FITNESS PERSONALLY!

There is a mindset that moves you closer to your Fitness goals. It's a positive, aggressive mindset and we need to try and cultivate this mindset every day in regards to making progress towards our Fitness goals.

NEVER use the word CAN'T. If you think you will never achieve six pack abs or do 10 pull-ups, guess what? You never will! Focus and visualize your goals until you SEE them happening in your mind. Concentrate so hard on succeeding that you can actually FEEL what it will be like to achieve them. Then GO OUT AND MAKE IT HAPPEN!

You know who determines your Fitness success? You do! No one else! Not your Wife/Husband, children, Family, NO ONE BUT YOU!! Don't blame anyone but yourself if you eat something that sets you back. YOU control your Fitness destiny!

One of the greatest motivators in the world is proving someone wrong that doubts you. It happens everyday. "You will never have a six pack." "You can't eat like that for the rest of your life." EVERYONE has someone like this in their life. It might be a co-worker, a best friend or the person that is most important to you in the world. Internalize that doubt and turn it into FIRE !

Use that negative energy as fuel for your workouts, nutrition, and supplementation.

Who cares if you get funny looks or comments because you brought your supplements and a protein bar to a Family gathering. When the Office is having a pizza party and you are drinking extra water and eating chicken breast and brown rice, look at them and smile. They are taking time off their lives, and you are adding to yours!

Take the attitude that NO MATTER WHAT, you will not quit on yourself. U.S. Navy Seals cultivate this attitude. It doesn't matter how difficult the task, they are going to accomplish it.

We need to do the same. How difficult is eating clean all day? How difficult is working out HARD for 50 minutes? IT IS ONLY AS DIFFICULT AS YOU MAKE IT IN YOUR OWN MIND!

Would you rather eat clean all day and reap the Fitness benefits or weakly eat a "Little something" that ruins your entire days nutrition in less than 2 minutes?

Am I saying NEVER eat treats? Of course not!

The difference is in the choice. If we choose to have a treat because we EARNED one from a TON of hard work, that is fine because we made that choice. When you give in to eating a slice of cake or "just a couple of cookies" on impulse just before bed time, that is where you have an issue.

Get "ANGRY" folks. There is nothing wrong with using properly channeled anger to push your Fitness forward. The anger needs to be controlled and focused. When you can let it loose in your training in a focused manner, you have an energy that can be described! It's like you drank a Keg of espresso! Its an amazing feeling and near magical things can happen when you let it loose!

Is Plyo [or insert your most dreaded routine] on the schedule for your workout? Get ANGRY! Think to yourself "Ok PLYO, it's you and me today! I'm not backing down from you! Give me your best shot because you are going to get mine!" Conquer your workout! Don't be apprehensive or think, "Wow, this is going to hurt." Attack your workout! Tell yourself "Is this the toughest workout you could come up with? I OWN this workout and I'm going to use it as a tool to MAKE ME BETTER....TODAY!"

Have a confident swagger in regards to your Fitness and nutrition. I know people that look at meals as an athletic event. It's inspiring to see. They makes proper choices and then eats A LOT of the foods that push his Fitness forward. Same with their workouts. They aggressively push as hard as they can. They fight self doubt, insecurity, and fear with every rep. Do the same!

It's all a choice Team. You can use some positive, motivating ANGER and push your Fitness forward or you can be someone on their "6th Round of the X" that looks like they still need to complete their first. Which is it going to be?

The Thermogenic Effect of Foods We Eat

When I say "thermogenic," many people instantly think of fat burning supplements or exotic herbs, green tea, etc., which are designed to ramp up your metabolism and burn off body fat.

Concentrating on tiny details (especially before you’ve mastered the basics of nutrition) is putting the cart before the horse. It’s like getting excited by the (misguided) idea that drinking enough ice cold water is "thermogenic" and is going to get you ripped because the body has to "warm it up" and that expends energy... when meanwhile, people are skipping meals, drinking beer on weekends and working out sporadically. This makes no sense to me. We need to look at the big picture.

ALL foods are "thermogenic" because the body must use energy to digest them. This is known as the "thermic effect of food" (TEF). When you say "thermogenic food" to me, I think of REAL, WHOLE FOODS.

The most thermogenic fat burning food is lean protein from solid foods, especially the following:

• chicken breast
• turkey breast
• bison, buffalo
• very lean red meat such as top round and lean sirloin
• almost all types of fish
• shellfish and other seafood
• egg whites (limit the yolks)

Protein powders are conveneint and some - like WHEY - even have functional properties (as antioxidants and immune boosters), but powders aren't as thermogenic as real food. They are easily broken down by the body.

Focusing on highly thermogenic WHOLE foods (and not a lot of shakes or powdered drink mixes) can really crank up your metabolism due to the thermic effect of whole food.

It’s commonly known that of all the macronutrients (protein, carbs and fat), lean protein has the highest thermic effect.

I believe the thermic effect of protein is even higher than most people realize.

When you combine thermogenic lean protein foods with the right amounts and types of essential fats, add in plenty of green vegetables and just the right amount of natural starchy carbs and whole grains, your body will literally turn into a turbo-charged fat burning machine. - without eliminating food groups (carbs).

Select a green vegetable or fibrous vegetable such as asparagus, green beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, salad vegetables, etc., and then combine that with one of the lean proteins (mentioned above).

That is the foundation of your fat burning meal (lean protein + fibrous carb). From there, add: Starchy carbs or grains such as brown rice, oats, or sweet potatoes Fruit is also quite acceptable (Nature's Candy)

Make sure to focus more on the green and fibrous vegetables due to their lower caloric density.
Eat most of your carbs (starches and grains and simple sugars) early in the day and right after your weight training - the two times when insulin sensitivity is at it's highest.

Follow these simple rules and reap the amazing benefits of the Thermogenic effects of food!

by Mike French

BEYOND 90 DAYS...FITNESS FOR A LIFETIME!

Our Society is obsessed with Fitness and Nutrition. There are new workout programs and nutrition “miracles” being produced everyday. Some people have decided that Fitness just “isn’t for them”.

Our Society has grown to accept that is “ok” to be sluggish and overweight. Eating whatever people want and wondering why they feel and look worse, month after month.

People find every excuse to eat something they shouldn’t or to skip a workout. “When I get home from work, I just don’t have the energy to workout.” “Its too expensive to eat healthy.”

My personal favorite is “I just don’t have the time to workout.” LOL! I have the same 24 hours that that person does and I manage to work a full and part time job, give my wife and son the attention they deserve, and workout EVERYDAY!

People are constantly looking for the “Secret” or something that will give them that extra edge. Doesn’t matter if it’s a diet, workout or supplement. “THE ONLY THING YOU NEED TO ACHIEVE FITNESS IS YOUR BODY, A MINDSET OF REFUSING TO QUIT, AND WHOLE HEALTHY FOODS THAT YOU PUT INTO YOUR BODY.”

Don’t fall into the trap of trying to use science as a crutch to make up for lack of workout effort and nutritional discipline. An example of this is someone that uses a “Fat Burner” and their Nutrition isn’t spot on. It's like eating a combination pizza and a “Diet” soda…What’s the point?

There is a saying that I absolutely love:

YOU CAN'T OUTRUN A BAD DIET!

What does this mean? You can't burn enough calories in a day to make up for poor nutritional choices. The calories it takes you an hour to burn can be ingested in 30 seconds! Not really fair, but it's the hand we have been given!

Want me to make it simple?

EXERCISE REGULARLY AND EAT HEALTHY FOODS IN MODERATION

Do both of those things every day, for the rest of your life. Stop making excuses and start taking responsibility for your own Fitness!!!

The Key to real Health and Fitness is consistency. Most people lack the commitment to get in shape and really make a difference in their lives.

We live in a world of fast food results. We want our food NOW! (Why do fast food restaurants serve more people daily than any other type of restaurant? Why do people continue to eat there, even though they KNOW for a fact that there is nothing that could be worse for them and their health?) We want results NOW! When it doesn't happen we get frustrated and start looking for other ways to do it.

We want the quick fix. Six Pack Abs in 6 weeks! Get ripped for summer with the latest routine and diet in Muscle & Fitness magazine. Magazines LOADED with the latest supplements to add muscle, get rid of fat quicker than the next guy. Are they concerned with our health or making money? Clearly it is the ladder.

That is why Beachbody Products are such a blessing for all of us. Fitness first. REAL programs and supplements that WORK! We need to think beyond 90 days from now. Think 5, 10, 20 years from now!

All that really matters is how long we live and how healthy we are during that lifespan. Our health is precious and we need to take care of it.

Do everything TODAY to give yourself the best chance to live a long and productive life. Then replicate it tomorrow!

Fitness success comes from relentless hard work. Once you have it, you need to work to keep it. If you don’t it leaves allot quicker than it took to achieve it. Train hard. Be proud of your Fitness and don't apologize for it!

Get in shape and then NEVER put yourself in a position where you have to “Get back in shape.”

Train to be ready for ANYTHING that might come your way. Running, swimming, and obstacle course, a pick up football game at a Family Reunion.

I hope it never happens to any of us but what are we going to do if we have to swim out into the ocean to save a loved one, or your Family is involved in a car accident and you are forced to “run” to get assistance? Will you be ready? That is not the time to wish you had paid your dues with your workouts and nutrition.

Granted, those are worst case scenarios but if you prepare for the worst, you will be prepared for anything.

Build strong, flexible, muscles, improve your cardiovascular Fitness, and burn calories.

LEAN AND MEAN rules the day.

CHALLENGE your heart and lungs everyday! True “MASS APPEAL” is a lean, trim, physique with long flexible muscles. It contributes to our overall health and longevity and makes us look and feel better!

WE CAN GET LEAN AND STAY LEAN ONCE WE HAVE COMMITTED TO TRAINING FOR LIFE.

Don't let your GOALS become your limits. It's easy to “relax” once you have achieved a goal. Don't waste time and let what you have achieved slip away slowly. Set new goals and then set out to accomplish them! Move forward and really see what you are made of and what you can accomplish!

One of my favorite quotes:

“YOU KNOW WHY I WILL ACCOMPLISH MY GOAL? BECAUSE YOU SAID I COULDN'T DO IT!”

It's not how much weight you lift, it's how hard you work when you lift it. Remember, we are not just training for today but for many years down the road. Pay particular attention to your ABS and lower back. Your CORE is the key to your future health and fitness.

What you do today affects the rest of your life. We want to look and feel good right now, but we also want to look and feel good when we are eighty. Our lives are the sum total of our daily activities.

Are your activities going to be positive and healthy, or negative and unhealthy? The choice is ours.

What should be EVERYONE’S goal?

GET BETTER EVERY DAY!

Strive for daily improvement. Vow to get better every day. Forget about the past and don’t worry about the future. Concentrate on the present, what you can control RIGHT NOW.

If you improve your Fitness today, the future will take care of itself...

Even the best exercise plan can be destroyed by eating too much or eating the wrong types of foods. Eating a dessert can add more calories than you could hope to burn in an intense hour long workout.

Scary as it is, you could ruin your entire day of nutrition and hard work in your workouts in less than 5 minutes by eating junk food.

Exercise: Body Weight
130 lbs. 155 190
Calories Burned in 1 hour
Calisthenics (such as Total Body PLUS, a P90X+ routine), vigorous effort 472 593 690

(1) 100 gram Kit Kat Candy bar has the following “Nutritional Value”
a. 520 calories
b. 32 grams of fat
c. 46 grams of sugar

Depending on your body weight by eating ONE candy bar you have exceeded or almost exceeded ONE hour of a Butt Kicking workout like Total Body Plus.

It doesn’t need to be a candy bar. It could be a forkful of our kids macaroni and cheese followed by a “small” chocolate and “Only one soda”. It all adds up and before you know it you have taken in hundreds of extra calories that you don’t need.

Believe me, I know because I did the same thing. I had to fight each day to reclaim my “Abs” and conditioning. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

No more excuses. No more , “Well it was only something small, it won’t hurt me.” You better believe it will. Make no mistake about that. Once you get into the habit of having “something small” every once in while, it quickly becomes every day.

Am I saying NEVER eat cake or candy again? Of course not. Make it a special treat, like at a Birthday Party or Holiday, not something you do because you are bored.

No More Excuses, make a difference in your future...TODAY!

A HUGE factor in Adding Muscle Mass

...Neuroendocrine Adaptation

Neuroendocrine adaptation is a change in the body that affects you either neurologically or hormonally.

Most important adaptations to exercise are in part or completely a result of a hormonal or neurological shift. Current research, much of it done by Dr. William Kraemer, Penn State University, has shown which exercise protocols maximize neuroendocrine responses.

I’ve been known to be critical of isolation movements as being ineffectual. Due to current research and testing we now know why - one of the critical elements missing from these movements is that they invoke essentially no neuroendocrine response.

Among the hormonal responses vital to athletic development are substantial increases in testosterone, insulin-like growth factor, and human growth hormone. Exercising with protocols known to elevate these hormones eerily mimics the hormonal changes sought in exogenous hormonal therapy (steroid use) with none of the deleterious effect.

Exercise regimens that induce a high neuroendocrine response produce champions! Increased muscle mass and bone density are just two of many adaptative responses to exercises capable of producing a significant neuroendocrine response.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of the neuroendocrine response to exercise protocols. Heavy load weight training, short rest between sets, high heart rates, high intensity training, and short rest intervals, though not entirely distinct components, are all associated with a high neuroendocrine response.

Visceral Fat Build-Up Is the High Cost of Inactivity

Inactivity leads to significant increases in visceral fat, and a moderate exercise regimen can keep this potentially dangerous form of fat at bay, according to the results of the first randomized clinical trial evaluating the effects of exercise amount and intensity in sedentary overweight men and women.

Additionally, the Duke University Medical Center researchers found that increasing amounts of exercise can reduce visceral fat. In terms of overall weight gain, the patients who did not exercise would gain approximately four pounds per year, the researchers said.

Visceral fat, the form which accumulates around the organs inside the belly, particularly concerns physicians because increased levels have been associated with insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease and other metabolic syndromes. Visceral fat is located deeper in the body than subcutaneous fat, which lies just under the skin.

"In our study, the control group that did not exercise saw a sizable and significant 8.6 percent increase in visceral fat in only six months," said Duke exercise physiologist Cris Slentz, Ph.D., lead author of a study published in the October issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology. "We also found that a modest exercise program equivalent to a brisk 30-minute walk six times a week can prevent accumulation of visceral fat, while even more exercise can actually reverse the amount of visceral fat.

"We believe that these results shine a clear spotlight on the high costs Americans are paying for their continued inactivity," Slentz continued. "I don't believe that people in general have gotten lazier – it's more that they are working too hard or are at their desks working on computers with fewer opportunities for exercise. The situation is out of balance."

The modest exercise program cited by Slentz is consistent with the latest recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine. However, Slentz believes that the public health message needs to be modified, especially for a country where two out of three adults are overweight or obese.

"Until we are able to prevent the weight many dieters regain following short-term dieting success, we should place a greater national emphasis toward prevention," Slentz said. "It will be a challenge to change the message from 'exercise now to lose weight' to 'exercise now so in five years you won't be 20 pounds heavier.'"

To better understand the effects of differing amounts of exercise, the researchers studied 175 overweight sedentary men and women who were beginning to show signs of lipid problems. They were randomized into one of four groups: no exercise, low dose/moderate intensity (equivalent of 12 miles of walking per week), low dose/vigorous intensity (12 miles of jogging per week) or high dose/vigorous intensity (20 miles of jogging per week).

Since the trial was designed solely to better understand the role of exercise, patients were told not to alter their diet during the course of the trial, which lasted six months for the group that did not exercise or eight-months for the exercise groups. The additional two months for the exercise group came at the beginning of trial, when participants slowly ramped up their exercise to their designated levels.

The exercise was carried out on treadmills, elliptical trainers or cycle ergometers in a supervised setting. The researchers used computed tomography (CT) both before the exercise program began and eight months later to determine the extent and distribution of fat change.

"There were no significant changes in visceral, subcutaneous or total fat in either of the low exercise groups for men or women, which suggest that this amount of exercise is adequate to prevent significant gain in fat around the stomach, and that the amount of exercise is more important than the intensity," Slentz said.

"On the other hand, participants who exercised at a level equivalent to 17 miles of jogging each week saw significant declines in visceral fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat and total abdominal fat," Slentz continued. "While this may seem like a lot of exercise, our previously sedentary and overweight subjects were quite capable of doing this amount."

Specifically, those participants exercising at the highest level saw a 6.9 percent decrease in visceral fat and a 7 percent decrease in subcutaneous fat.

Source

64-Slice CT High Definition Coronary Artery Scans

Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Every 60 seconds, someone in this country suffers a fatal heart attack. In half of those cases, there is NO warning or previous symptoms.

When detected early, chances are good that the progression of the disease can be halted or even reversed and heart attacks or strokes can be prevented.

Studies have shown that the "usual" risk factors, such as cholesterol levels, are no better at predicting who will have a heart attack than a coin-toss. Seventy-percent of all heart attacks occur in people with normal cholesterol levels.

Stress tests don't show any abnormalities until an artery is at least 60% narrowed. Most heart attacks occur in arteries that are less than 50% narrowed and are therefore NOT detectable by any form of stress testing.

A coronary artery scan can determine if you are at risk for a heart attack years before the first symptoms.

By detecting calcium deposits in the artery walls, the Seimens Sensation 64-Slice High Definition Heart Scan can detect the presence of blockages in your coronary arteries that may not yet be severe enough to show up on other tests.

The Coronary Artery Scan is the most sensitive non-invasive method currently available to accurately identify the presence of early coronary artery disease.

For more details visit the Princeton Longevity Center

Forget The Fat-Burn Zone

High Intensity Aerobics Amazingly Effective

"The rate of increase in V02max is one of the highest ever reported." - Izumi Tabata, Japan

"Fat burn is greater when exercise intensity is high." Metabolism

I believe in high-intensity aerobics. In Ripped 3, for bodybuilders, I recommended "a variety of relatively short and infrequent aerobic sessions interspersed with explosive muscular effort." In Lean For Life, published six years later, I emphasized high-intensity aerobics even more; I reduced the frequency of aerobic sessions to two times a week (in Ripped 3 I recommended up to four) and substantially increased the intensity. But it wasn't until recently, when my friend Richard Winett, Ph.D., publisher of Master Trainer, called my attention to new research findings, that I came to fully appreciate the superiority of high intensity aerobics compared to the usual prescription that heart rate be maintained between 60% and 80% of maximum.

As explained in the nearby FAQ (Low intensity aerobics?), high intensity aerobics burns the same amount of fat as low intensity, but the expenditure of calories is substantially greater; plus, intense aerobics produces a higher level of fitness. Importantly, the more fit you become, the more likely you are to use fat as fuel for any given activity. And now, research in Japan and in Canada shows that short, very intense aerobic sessions are amazingly effective for both fitness and fat loss.

Maximal oxygen uptake, or V02max, is generally regarded as the best single measure of aerobic fitness. As the rate of exercise increases, your body eventually reaches a limit for oxygen consumption. This limit is the peak of your aerobic capacity, or your V02max. As intensity increases beyond V02max, your body must shift to anaerobic (without oxygen) energy production. An oxygen debt begins to build at this point and blood lactate levels climb. In general terms, one's ability to continue exercising in the face of rising oxygen deficit and lactate levels is called anaerobic capacity.

This is important because many high-intensity sports (including basketball, football, soccer and speed skating) require a high level of both aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Clearly, total fitness involves both high V02max and high anaerobic capacity. A training protocol that develops both would be a godsend.

Izumi Tabata and his colleagues at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan, compared the effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on V02max and anaerobic capacity. (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (1996) 28, 1327-1330). Interestingly, the high-intensity protocol had been used by major members of the Japanese Speed Skating team for several years; it's a real-world training plan. As you will see, however, the protocol is unique among aerobic training programs for its intensity and brevity.

Many studies have been done on the effect of training on V02max, but little information has been available about the effect on anaerobic capacity. That's because until recently methods for measuring anaerobic capacity have been inadequate. This study used accumulated oxygen deficit to measure anaerobic energy release, and is one of the first to measure the effect of training on both aerobic and anaerobic capacity.

Notice that the duration of the moderate-intensity and the high-intensity protocols are drastically different: (excluding warm-ups) one hour compared to only about 4 minutes per training schedule

Tabata's moderate-intensity protocol will sound familiar; it's the same steady-state aerobic training done by many (perhaps most) fitness enthusiasts.

Here are the details (stay with me on this): In the moderate-intensity group, seven active young male physical education majors exercised on stationary bicycles 5 days per week for 6 weeks at 70% of V02max, 60 minutes each session. V02max was measured before and after the training and every week during the 6 week period. As each subject's V02max improved, exercise intensity was increased to keep them pedaling at 70% of their actual V02max. Maximal accumulated oxygen deficit was also measured, before, at 4 weeks and after the training.

A second group followed a high-intensity interval program. Seven students, also young and physically active, exercised five days per week using a training program similar to the Japanese speed skaters. After a 10-minute warm-up, the subjects did seven to eight sets of 20 seconds at 170% of V02max, with a 10 second rest between each bout. Pedaling speed was 90-rpm and sets were terminated when rpms dropped below 85. When subjects could complete more than 9 sets, exercise intensity was increased by 11 watts. The training protocol was altered one day per week. On that day, the students exercised for 30 minutes at 70% of V02max before doing 4 sets of 20 second intervals at 170% of V02max. This latter session was not continued to exhaustion. Again, V02max and anaerobic capacity was determined before, during and after the training.

In some respects the results were no surprise, but in others they may be ground breaking. The moderate-intensity endurance training program produced a significant increase in V02max (about 10%), but had no effect on anaerobic capacity. The high-intensity intermittent protocol improved V02max by about 14%; anaerobic capacity increased by a whopping 28%.

Dr. Tabata and his colleagues believe this is the first study to demonstrate an increase in both aerobic and anaerobic power. What's more, in an e-mail response to Dick Winett, Dr. Tabata said, "The fact is that the rate of increase in V02max [14% for the high-intensity protocol - in only 6 weeks] is one of the highest ever reported in exercise science." (Note, the students participating in this study were members of varsity table tennis, baseball, basketball, soccer and swimming teams and already had relatively high aerobic capacities.)

The results, of course, confirm the well-known fact that the results of training are specific. The intensity in the first protocol (70% of V02max) did not stress anaerobic components (lactate production and oxygen debt) and, therefore, it was predictable that anaerobic capacity would be unchanged. On the other hand, the subjects in the high-intensity group exercised to exhaustion, and peak blood lactate levels indicated that anaerobic metabolism was being taxed to the max. So, it was probably also no big surprise that anaerobic capacity increased quite significantly.

What probably was a surprise, however, is that a 4 minute training program of very-hard 20 second repeats, in the words of the researchers, "may be optimal with respect to improving both the aerobic and the anaerobic energy release systems." That's something to write home about!

What About Fat Loss?

Angelo Tremblay, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the Physical Activities Sciences Laboratory, Laval University, Quebec, Canada, challenged the common belief among health professionals that low-intensity, long-duration exercise is the best program for fat loss. They compared the impact of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise and high-intensity aerobics on fat loss. (Metabolism (1994) Volume 43, pp.814-818)

The Canadian scientists divided 27 inactive, healthy, non-obese adults (13 men, 14 women, 18 to 32 years old) into two groups. They subjected one group to a 20-week endurance training (ET) program of uninterrupted cycling 4 or 5 times a week for 30 to 45 minutes; the intensity level began at 60% of heart rate reserve and progressed to 85%. (For a 30-year-old, this would mean starting at a heart rate of about 136 and progressing to roughly 170 bpm, which is more intense than usually prescribed for weight or fat loss.)

The other group did a 15-week program including mainly high-intensity-interval training (HIIT). Much like the ET group, they began with 30-minute sessions of continuous exercise at 70% of maximum heart rate reserve (remember, they were not accustomed to exercise), but soon progressed to 10 to 15 bouts of short (15 seconds progressing to 30 seconds) or 4 to 5 long (60 seconds progressing to 90 seconds) intervals separated by recovery periods allowing heart rate to return to 120-130 beats per minute. The intensity of the short intervals was initially fixed at 60% of the maximal work output in 10 seconds, and that of the long bouts corresponded to 70% of the individual maximum work output in 90 seconds. Intensity on both was increased 5% every three weeks.

As you might expect, the total energy cost of the ET program was substantially greater than the HIIT program. The researchers calculated that the ET group burned more than twice as many calories while exercising than the HIIT program. But (surprise, surprise) skinfold measurements showed that the HIIT group lost more subcutaneous fat. "Moreover," reported the researchers, "when the difference in the total energy cost of the program was taken into account..., the subcutaneous fat loss was ninefold greater in the HIIT program than in the ET program." In short, the HIIT group got 9 times more fat-loss benefit for every calorie burned exercising.

How can that be?

Dr. Tremblay's group took muscle biopsies and measured muscle enzyme activity to determine why high-intensity exercise produced so much more fat loss. I'll spare you the details (they are technical and hard to decipher), but this is their bottom line: "[Metabolic adaptations resulting from HIIT] may lead to a better lipid utilization in the postexercise state and thus contribute to a greater energy and lipid deficit." In other words, compared to moderate-intensity endurance exercise, high- intensity intermittent exercise causes more calories and fat to be burned following the workout. Citing animal studies, they also said it may be that appetite is suppressed more following intense intervals. (Neither group was placed on a diet.)

The next time someone pipes up about the fat-burn zone, ask them if they are familiar with the Tabata and Tremblay research reports.

[You'll find high-intensity aerobic workouts for bodybuilding in Ripped 3 and for balanced fitness, strength and endurance, in Lean For Life; both books are in the products section of this site. Routines specifically applying Tabata-type intervals are explained in chapter 5 of Challenge Yourself. Keep in mind that VO2max can only be measured in the laboratory; you'll have to estimate 170% of VO2 max. Don't try to make it too complicated. Simply chose a pace that brings you near exhaustion on the final 20-second rep; you should become more fatigued with each rep. Increase the pace as your condition improves. It's always better to underestimate your ability at the start. Begin a little slower than you think you can handle, and then adjust the pace from workout to workout. Don't attempt high-intensity intervals unless you are in good condition; they're not appropriate for beginners. Note the medical warning which follows.]

Warning

The Tremblay group and Dr. Tabata, in his e-mail response to Richard Winett, emphasize this warning: "High-intensity exercise cannot be prescribed for individuals at risk for health problems or for obese people who are not used to exercise."

For more information on Richard Winett's Master Trainer newsletter GO MT.

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http://www.cbass.com/FATBURN.HTM

Intervals for Fitness and Fat Loss

(Q & A with Dr. Pat O'Shea)

"Short-term intense interval training is highly effective in altering the ratio of lean body mass to fat without compromising muscle mass." - Pat O'Shea, Ed.D.

For two months now we've been challenging the common belief that low intensity, long duration exercise is best for fitness and fat loss. We've shown that very brief and very hard interval training is amazingly effective in developing both aerobic and anaerobic capacity - and far superior for fat loss.

Now, it's time to step back and ask where intense intervals fit in the total spectrum of fitness training. What's best for endurance athletes? Bodybuilders? Older athletes? For total conditioning?

Who better to go to for a broader perspective on interval training than Patrick J. O'Shea, Ed.D, Professor Emeritus of exercise and sports science at Oregon State University? Not only has Pat been a student of sports physiology for four decades, he has excelled as an Olympic and power lifter, a cyclist, a mountain climber, a skier and a coach.

We were very interested in what Pat had to say, and believe readers will be informed as well. Enjoy. (Italicized emphasis in the answers is ours.)

Bass: You've used intervals in your own training and also published research on the subject. Were you surprised that Dr. Tabata's group found that only 6-8 very hard 20 second intervals with 10 second rest periods substantially improved both aerobic and anaerobic capacity?

O'Shea: No, not at all. Dr. Tabata's study is excellent and his findings confirm previous studies that have looked at the effects of intense interval training on aerobic and anaerobic performance. (See O'Shea, John P., Bicycle Interval Training for Cardiovascular Fitness. The Physician & SportsMedicine 10:156-162, October, 1982). Coaches and athletes need to understand however, that short-term intense interval training has very limited application to long-distance events such as marathon running and the Tour de France. Long distance endurance athletes need efficient "fat burning" bodies. Their muscles must be trained to utilize energy from free fatty acid oxidation while conserving the limited stores of glycogen which are necessary for nerve and brain function. (Nerves and the brain derive energy only from glycogen - not fat.)

Long-term aerobic training increases the enzymes associated with fat metabolism and trains the working muscles to utilize oxygen more efficiently. The result is an increase in oxygen uptake capacity of the trained muscles, and not in the untrained. This is important for athletes to know as it involves the principle of specificity. For example, competitive swimmers develop high aerobic capacity specifically for swimming. Out of the water their aerobic conditioning is not transferable to running, because different sets of muscles are involved which are aerobically untrained.

To train, smart athletes need at minimum an elementary understanding of the cardiovascular and circulatory processes leading up to aerobic metabolism within muscle. While the following description is highly simplified, it does provide an overall picture of the steps involved. Initially, it begins with the ability of the lungs to take up and then unload oxygen in the blood; the ability of the red blood cells to pick up the oxygen as it flows through the lungs; the ability of the heart to pump a large volume of blood (stroke volume) to the working muscles; and finally, but most critical, the efficiency of the working muscles to take up oxygen from the blood and use it for oxidative energy production. Physiologically, this whole process is what cardiovascular fitness is all about.

Another important consideration in understanding aerobic and anaerobic metabolism is that muscles differ in their ability to utilize oxygen. Slow twitch muscles are noted for their endurance and have the ability to use large quantities of oxygen required for fat metabolism during aerobic exercise. Fast twitch muscles are the strength and power producing muscles. They are good for explosive bursts of anaerobic energy for sprinting, jumping, lifting and interval work. However, they fatigue fast and are not efficient fat burners. Glycogen is their main source of energy during intense work making them ideal for anaerobic exercise lasting up to three minutes. Exercise lasting longer than three minutes is aerobic.

The bottom line is that short-term intense interval work is not designed to train the body to become an efficient fat burner as is required for long-distance endurance activities. However, for sprint cycling or running (up to 400 meters) intense interval training definitely offers major physical benefits. In the overall scheme of training for athletes participating in stop and go power sports (e.g., football, basketball, ice hockey and gymnastics) short-intense interval work has a major role to play in maximizing performance.

Q. Exercise physiologists have traditionally believed that volume, not intensity, is the key to successful aerobic training. Where do you come down on the volume versus intensity question?

A. My position is that in order to become a successful endurance athlete (cyclists, runner, etc.) one must cross-train. A training program based on volume, such as running a hundred miles a week, will not maximize aerobic capacity or develop a high anaerobic capacity. What is required is a cross-training program encompassing aerobic and anaerobic workouts. The aerobic workout is LSD (long-steady distance) running or cycling at just below the anaerobic threshold (or race pace). During an LSD workout the heart rate is usually 75-85 percent of the age related maximum. (The only time V02max can be utilized to set or measure intensity is in a human performance lab where it can be monitored.) Anaerobic running, on the other hand, consists of interval training at distance ranging from 200m to 800m, and for cycling 800m to 1500m, at a heart rate of 90-95 percent of maximum. Following high intensity interval workouts there needs to be several days of light recovery workouts of low to medium intensity.

Also, both aerobic and anaerobic energy systems can be effectively cross-trained in a single workout session, which should closely duplicate the physiological race demands of volume and intensity. For example, in a 100 mile bike race, which encompasses both high work volume and intensity, it is imperative that the cyclists focus on maximizing aerobic and anaerobic conditioning. Typically, in such a race the cyclist encounters varying terrain from flats to rolling hills and breakaways and attacks by other riders. Aerobic power is essential for sustaining a hard fast pace on the flats, while anaerobic power plays key roles in initiating a breakaway or not getting dropped when one occurs; chasing down a break or lead group; attacking and accelerating on hills; and sprinting to the finish. Anaerobic power and explosive strength are the two factors which allow the cyclists to control the race. Applying strategy that calls for numerous breaks and attacks on hills, an elite cyclist will wear down weaker riders and psychologically destroy them. It is imperative then that a cyclist's long-range training program include lots of cross-training workouts that call for volume (distance) riding interspersed with speed work and interval hill repeats.

Q. In your book Quantum Strength and Power Training (Gaining The Winning Edge) (1996), you wrote: "Statistically, there is a close relationship between V02max and lean body mass." Were you surprised when the Tremblay group - challenging the common belief that low intensity, long duration exercise is best for fat loss - found that short intervals (30-90 seconds) produced substantially more fat loss for each calorie burned exercising? Why?

A. No, I was not surprised by Tremblay's findings showing that low intensity, long duration exercise is not as effective as short intense intervals in reducing body fat. It is relatively easy to explain why this is so.

During strenuous exercise, the rate of metabolism rises, going to about 15 times the basal metabolic rate (BMR) and even higher during intense interval work. For example, running 5 mi/hr the oxygen uptake required is 28 ml 02/min/kg of body weight with 3.7 cal/hr./lb burned, while a short burst of intense interval work may require 100 ml 02/min/kg with 13.8 cal/hr/lb burned. By maintaining the high level of training over a 5 or 6 week period one would expect a significant increase in the ratio of lean body mass to fat. Over a three month period you would be RIPPED like never before.

Intense interval work utilizes a greater percent of the body's muscles, both slow and fast twitch. Also, performing high intensity work places added energy demands on the respiratory system, cardiovascular system and nervous system. Thus more fat and glycogen are burned to support the expanding energy demands of the body during - and after - intense exercise. In other words, the cost of short intense interval exercise is very high in terms of energy demands in comparison to low intensity aerobic exercise. What's more, while at rest trained active muscles burn more fat night and day, contributing to further fat loss.

Q. I'm preparing for the treadmill test at the Cooper Clinic. (They increase the grade one percent every minute up to 25%, and then the speed, to exhaustion.) In the past, I've lasted between 28 and 29 minutes. Would Tabata's 20 second intervals on the Air-Dyne, rower and treadmill be a good way to prepare? Should I add some training that more closely parallels the test protocol?

A. The key in preparing for a treadmill test is concentrating on improving anaerobic power - i.e. pushing back the anaerobic threshold which is the point at which lactic acid begins to accumulate at a high rate in the blood. This is an indication that oxygen uptake at the muscle cell level can not keep up with the work demands. Once this threshold has been exceeded your V02max is calculated.

Training with an Air-Dyne or rower to raise your anaerobic threshold for the treadmill test is going to produce very limited results. It is not specific enough to the test. Hard interval repeats of 2-3 minutes duration on a treadmill, stairmaster, hill, or stadium steps will provide the best results. These training activities not only develop anaerobic power, but also strong quadriceps that are required to run on a grade.

Q. Is there a lesson here for athletes preparing for specific events?

A. Yes, there is a very important lesson to be learned and understood. While the specificity principle is the cornerstone of athletic training, variety or diversity in training is required to achieve the highest level of total conditioning. Training variability encompasses the concept of cross-training. It allows for the simultaneous training of multiple physiological variables (e.g., aerobic and anaerobic, power, strength, speed, and power) that contribute to peak athletic performance in all sports.

Q. As I point out in Ripped 3, bodybuilders have a problem using aerobics for fat loss, because endurance exercise can work against gains in muscle size. Would the Tabata protocol of high-intensity intervals be good for bodybuilders who want to preserve muscle mass while losing fat?

A. The answer is definitely a big yes. As discussed in question 3, short-term intense interval training is highly effective in altering the ratio of lean body mass to fat without compromising muscle size. Intense interval work is an excellent way of losing weight while simultaneously getting ripped for peak contest shape.

Competitive bodybuilders will find another highly productive method of interval training outlined in my book Quantum Strength & Power Training, Chapter 10, "Interval Weight Training (1WT)". It is one of the most challenging, intensive methods of cross-training yet devised for muscular endurance and anaerobic power. IWT is heavy-duty quantum training - physically tough and mentally demanding. If you are a serious bodybuilder and like a new challenge try it for several weeks. The results will amaze you.

Q. What about healthy older people who want to be lean and fit? Would it be advisable for them to do short, hard intervals?

A. The answer is yes and no. First, it is not advisable for anyone to attempt interval training without first getting medical clearance preferable from a sports medicine physician who has a clear understanding as to the physical demands to be encountered. For any person having coronary heart disease the answer must be a big no. For a healthy person having a reasonably good level of aerobic fitness - (i.e., a minimum V02max of 50ml/kg/min) there should be no problem. However, as an added safety measure, it would be a good idea to take a treadmill stress test to be sure that there are no cardiac abnormalities.

For best results and safety, the intensity of the interval workouts should be set using a percent of one's age-related maximum heart rate. An easy method of determining maximum exercise heart rate for interval work is to subtract your age from 220 and then use 90-95 percent of that figure. For a 40 year old individual the interval exercise target heart rate would be 171 (220 - 40 = 180 x .95 = 171). Remember too, interval training is very stressful on the body and joints and should not be done more than two times a week. Yes, young athletes are more resilient than master age-group athletes. They recover quicker and more fully between workouts which allows them to do interval training with greater frequency.

Bass: Thanks Pat. Good luck at the World Masters Games!

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http://www.cbass.com/INTERVAL.HTM

Paul Chek's Cardio Perspective

Most of you reading this article are indoctrinated in the philosophy that regular cardiovascular conditioning is important for your health and that such training reduces your risk of heart attack. If you do agree with this premise, you are also very likely to believe that to achieve cardiovascular conditioning, you must regularly perform cardiovascular exercises, such as running and biking or using a cardiovascular machine. But is this the case?

First, let’s look at the issue from a perspective of natural history. Our evolution into the human species from our ape ancestors is thought to have occurred some 2.8 million years ago. Spanning the duration of this vast period, it should strike you as interesting that the first reported heart attack in the U.S. occurred in 1920, only 12 years after the grain industry began hydrogenating plant and grain oils. Now, I personally find it interesting that there is such hype over cardiovascular exercise as necessary prevention for heart attack or even heart disease, when such diseases were relatively nonexistent less than 100 years ago. That’s but a flash in the pan of human evolution.

Our next logical question should be, did our ancestors regularly participate in cardiovascular exercise? Not likely. First of all, it would not be energy efficient to run around gathering berries, firewood and nuts in your target zone. Nor would it have been wise to run through the bush trying to get a workout while hunting, since any animal would hear you coming from hundreds of yards away and be long gone by the time you got there. If there was a cardiovascular stressor in our native environment, it was most likely when we had to send a messenger to a neighboring village or during times of battle, when you were either running or fighting for your life.

When you look at most sports played today, recreational activities, and work related tasks, the great majority of them place anaerobic demands on the body. Now, surely some of you grew up on a farm or have done hard labor before. When performing any intense work, you begin breathing faster and faster…in fact, you will go aerobic within a few minutes if the work efforts demand so much of your anaerobic energy systems that the demand for energy can’t be replaced by intermediate and anaerobic energy systems (fast glycolytic and aerobic).

I have many memories of bucking hay; the bails weigh 75-120 lb., yet you’ve got to keep up with the tractor as it moves through the field (no, my dad didn’t let me stop for a minute every 12 bails).

When you have thousands of bails to haul in, and will be in the field for hours at a time, you will soon find that your anaerobic stimulus (the bails) produces a demand that the purely anaerobic phosphagen system can’t maintain on it’s own (it only lasts about 8-12 seconds), resulting in ATP production by anaerobic glycolysis and aerobic metabolism respectively. By this very mechanism, our anaerobic capacity is recharged during sports such as tennis, soccer, hockey, basketball, etc., that require explosive movement for prolonged periods of time.

I use hay-bucking because it is a real-world example of how we have maintained aerobic fitness from the beginning of human evolution. If you can follow my logic here, you should be wondering why we are so encouraged to offer aerobic exercise to our patients and clients by most every medical, physical therapy, chiropractic and personal training education program that exists. It’s simple actually. It’s the very same reason we are being told that we must eat a high carbohydrate diet for energy…why doctors tell people they must take this or that drug…BIG INDUSTRY INFLUENCE.

Quite simply, there’s not much money in the manufacture and sales of dumbbells, weight plates and Olympic bars, but there are huge amounts of money to be made if you can convince the masses that aerobic exercise is necessary for disease prevention. After all, have you priced a treadmill, step mill, spin bike, rowing machine, elliptical machine or any such equipment lately? They cost anywhere from several hundred, to several thousand dollars per unit! They often have hundreds of moving parts, which wear out, break and need to be replaced. How many Olympic bars or dumbbells have you replaced lately? It is not at all unusual for a gym or rehab clinic to spend $75,000-$100,000 on cardio equipment alone, and, they will need to be replaced every few years; the same facilities often don’t spend more than $15,000-$20,000 on free weight training equipment and it can last the life of the gym. Yes, I know they spend large sums of money on fixed axis resistance training machines, but that is but another sign of industry influence and professional passivity!

When you get several large equipment manufacturers with multi-million dollar investments in the production of aerobic exercise equipment, you can rest assured there will be a comparatively large commitment to creating an aerobic exercise consciousness. The proof is all around you, in your exercise and bodybuilding magazines, trade journals, on TV infomercials, in your training manuals from most educational institutions. Who do you think sponsors the educational institutions and pays for the supportive research?

So Who Needs It?
The issue is not one of prevention of cardiovascular disease by aerobic exercise, it is an issue of getting the right kind of exercise to benefit both your physiology and meet the demands of your work and sports environment. For example, aerobic conditioning is not general. If it were, any world-class marathon runner could jump on a bike and win the Tour De France, or even the Hawaii Iron Man! Strength training is also not general; there is a very finite amount of carryover from one lift or movement pattern to the other. Otherwise, the best squatter would be the best dead lifter too.

Everyone needs to build fitness, yet for fitness (aerobic or anaerobic) to last, it must be built upon foundation health principles. Proof of this premise can be seen when world-class marathon runners (Jim Fix) and champion bodybuilders (Lou Barry, a former Mr. Australia) die of a heart attack at an early age. When we eat correctly for our metabolic type, eat high quality organic foods, eat regularly to maintain our blood sugar levels in an optimal range, get to bed at a reasonable hour and learn to manage our stressors, the addition of an exercise program of any type becomes truly therapeutic and offers disease prevention. Aerobic fitness atop the standard American diet (SAD!) of Carbohydrates, Refined sugar, Additives and Preservatives (CRAP!) will not offer resistance to disease. In fact, it may well bring it on! Why? That’s simple…because exercise is a stress and if you add more stress to an already stressed system, it will crash.

You may think this is simple, logical, straightforward stuff, but it isn’t, because again, there is BIG money involved here. I will site one of hundreds, even thousands of examples; Scripps Hospital here in San Diego recently partnered with McDonalds. So now McDonalds feeds all those sick and dying people in the hospital their SAD CRAP, while they pedal away on bikes, pump pedals on stair masters, and about every other expensive aerobic machine you can imagine!

Functional Aerobic Fitness
While you are in the process of vitalizing your body from the inside out, I recommend that you choose movement patterns that offer injury prevention and improved performance in the environment where you work and play.

While exercising, all you need do is wear a heart rate monitor and determine your target heart rate zone. If you want a greater aerobic stimulus than your work or training environment is currently providing, simply shorten your rest periods. In short order, you will progressively get a greater aerobic response to the stress impinging upon the system via the activity you have chosen. If your heart rate begins to rise too high, simply take a little longer rest period or decrease the number of repetitions you are performing or the amount of time under load.

If you follow this simple guideline, you will learn to “eat, move and be healthy!” and, you will have the greatest form of prevention of heart disease you could ever have, HEALTH!

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