Sunday, June 24rd, 2007 Cut the Fat
Last week I was asked a quick question on fat loss. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a quick answer.
Diet
First of all, never diet without exercise! Exercise is good, exercise with diet is great, diet without exercise is bad for you body. If you change your diet while exercising, your body will adapt to it much easier. When I say diet, I don't mean eat less, no-carbs, low-fat, or any of that nonsense. I mean what you eat is your diet. Whether it's bad or good, it's your diet. You can eat whatever you want as long it helps you reach your goals, but it's best to stick with a clean diet. A clean diet is composed mostly of meats, vegetables and fruits.
This Article has more information on the best foods to eat.
Eat 6 meals a Day (or more!)
Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, bedtime meal. Within 2-3 hours after eating, the body responds to not having food by going into starvation mode. It begins turning muscle into stored fat (for energy it should by getting from food).
Breakfast should be the biggest, carbohydrate meal of the day as this is when you need the most energy. Throughout the day, meals should have less and less carbs. A dinner of meat and vegetables, and a bedtime meal of mostly protein is the best way to go. All your carbs after lunch should be from fruits and vegetables.
Caloric intake does not necessarily change over three meal eating habits. 2000 calories a day are about right for the average person, and for serious fat lose you need to create a caloric defect. This can be achieved by lowering the caloric intake to 1500 a day to improve results. Allow up to four weeks for the body to accept the changes in diet and exercise. It can take a month before the body to adapt to burning energy from stored fat instead of existing sugars in the system.
Watch your numbers (weight and measurements) by always checking them at the same time. Every Sunday morning after a movement before you eat your body will be at it’s most neutral. If you check weight at random times of the day, you’ll get all kinds of different numbers due to varying amount of food in the system, and this may discourage you. I personally can jump ten pounds based on time of day I weigh myself.
Cardio vs Heavy Lifting Myth
Cardio burns calories while you’re doing it. Once you stop, it stops. Weight training burns more calories because it requires more energy to move something heavy, and continues to burn calories for the rest of the day thanks to recovery. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do cardio, but only do it after weight training as an additional exercise. Only do cardio after because lifting weights requires much more energy and effort than cardio.
Exercises
Compound movements (Deadlift, Squat, Bench Pres, Rows, Pull-up, Dip, Shoulder Press) and Olympic Lifts (Clean & Press, Snatch) are the way to go for big energy consuming, and full body balance training. For some incredible exercises (with video) geared towards fat loss, read this article. If an exercise is too tough to perform, use a lighter weight or break it down into a smaller movement.
“I Don’t Want to Bulk Up” Myth
If you’re not eating a lot of food (3-5k calories) you won't bulk up no matter what exercises you are performing. You will get leaner and stronger, but without heavy amounts of food you won't gain muscle mass. Don't be scared if your muscles “pump up”. This is just blood flowing to the muscles while they are being activated, and will subside when you're not in a training period.
Supplements
Here’s more than enough information for everything you need to know supplemental (scroll down to fat loss): http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=07-056-diet
Conclusion
It’s possible for anyone to reach their goals on the long term. There is no overnight success. Months give results, but it can take one year or ten years to reach your ultimate goal. Remember, this is a lifestyle change because what you were doing wasn't good for you. So don’t get discouraged and stick with it!
Sunday, June 10rd, 2007 Mini Product Reviews
Instead of getting all fussy about this equipment, I'm going to write pros and cons of each. I mostly review Go-Fit products because of availability. There are many other brands, but these are right up front at the local Dick's Sporting Goods.
Push-up Bars Pros
Great for enhancing range of motion, increasing difficulty, etc. for push-ups
Practice L-seats, Planche, Handstands and other skills
Cheap ($14.99)
Cons
Feel unstable. Supported me (185lbs) on handstands, but spooky.
Tough on hands (personally prefer thicker grips, can be made by wrapping handles)
Niche, not using them often
(40lb) Weighted Vest Pros
Awesome tool for enhancing Push-ups, Chin-ups, Squats
Weight easily adjusted
Toss it (and more weight) in a backpack for a makeshift sandbag
Cons
Expensive, usually over $100
A hassle to take places
Niche, not using them often
Foam Roller Pros
Incredible tool for recovery, massage anywhere, train balance and other exercises.
comes with instructional dvd (go-fit brand)
Very cheap ($20)
Cons
No real cons and no reason not to own one. If anything, can hurt to roll out some knots. It's comparable to a deep tissue massage (hurts but feels good at the same time).
Speaking of reviews, last week, I picked up a host of supplements to try. More on these soon.
On the subject of supplements, here's what I currently take: Whey Protein (generic from GNC): Perfect for adding protein to a meal, especially shakes and smoothies. You need around one gram of protein per pound you weigh. That can be a lot and where this supplement can be the most important.
Creatine (generic from GNC): like protein, creatine is in muscles and can be gained from eating meat (but not enough). One spoon scoop, 3-5g, after training is enough. It's also recommended to overload the first week with 25g total per day or 5g five times a day.
Centrum: your basic multivitamin. Pretty much everyone should be taking one of these daily. You can save money by purchasing a generic brand.
Link of the Now Eugen Sandow & The Golden Age of Iron Men.
Oldschool info for those that love it. Also includes scans of original training lessons published at the times including Farmer Burns lessons on wrestling.
Sunday, June 3rd, 2007 Three Days to a New You!
The following is a brief description of how to build a basic training routine (a.k.a. workout).
Bodyweight vs. Free Weights vs. Machines
Before picking up any weights, take control of your own Bodyweight.
Increase overall stabilization and strength
Most bodyweight exercises can be performed at home with no equipment
Does not have access to power or Olympic lifting exercises
Train with Dumbbells to build stability with weights before picking up barbells.
Build stability with weights before picking up barbells
Pinpoint and train out imbalances
Can only get so heavy unless you have access to a huge variety of dumbbells.
Barbells is a must for Olympic lifting, powerlifting, bodybuilding and many other athletics
Perform the main powerlifting lifts, Deadlift, Bench Press and Squat.
You can go very heavy for more mass and strength
requires access to a bench, squat rank, and a lot of weights
Machines minus a few specific exercises every now and then, but I don't care for them.
Access to cable exercises
Useful for light isolation to recover injury
No need to buy any machines with body and free weight exercises
Rep: a repetition, any exercise performed once. Set: a series of reps performed without rest. Rest: the period of time between sets.
For example: 5x12, with 90 seconds rest would be Five sets of twelve repetitions performed with 90 seconds in between each set.
Standard or Circuit Training
For standard training, all sets, reps and rest are done for each exercise before before moving on to the next exercise. In a circuit, however, all exercises are performed one after another for each single set before rest. Try each one on different training days to see what's right for you.
Three Day Training
Building a three day training period around
Deadlift,
Bench Press and
Squat
gives you legs, chest and back.
The addition of a vertical pull, horizontal push, and vertical push (biceps, triceps and shoulders) fills out the full body routine.
For more, target additional muscle groups such as core, neck, calves, etc. Also, add an enhancement exercise those lifts (works similar muscle groups), and arranged them in a three day routine. The days and exercise you choose are up to you, just remember to get plenty of rest, and work the full body each day if possible.
(For this example, I've listed three exercise options (pick one) for four different exercises over a three day training period. When you repeat the routine next week, switch up the exercises for variety. It's fantastic if you can get enough time to do at least five or six exercises. That said, avoid spending more than 90-120 minutes training. Eat and rest to let your body recover.)
Day 1 (ex. Monday)
Deadlift, Romanian Deadlift or Sandbag Deadlift
Horizontal Row, Pull-ups or Barbell Rows
Divebomber Push-up, Handstand Push-up, or Shoulder Press
Dips, Close-grip (Diamond) Push-ups or Skull Crushers
Elbow Plank, Crunch or Leg Raise
Day 3 (ex. Friday)
Bodyweight Squat, Back Squat or Front Squat
Incline Push-ups, Incline Press or Decline Press
Chin-ups, Bridge and Curl, or Bicep curl
Calf Raise or One-legged Calf Raise
If you have the knowledge and means of performing Olympic Lifts (clean & press, snatch, etc.), work them into your training. Search Animated Exercise Examples,
T-Nation or
Bodyweight Culture for more info on how to perform exercises.
Additional Examples
A beginner bodyweight circuit that could be performed (up to) everyday at 3x10.
Squat, Lunge, Bridge, Hindu Push-up, Superman and Plank
Also, there's always this classic.
Basic three day, full body routine for building strength and size performed at 5x5-12.
Day 1: Squat, Leg Press, Bicep Curl, Skull Crusher
Day 2: Bench Press, Push-ups, Dips, Planks
Day 3: Deadlift, Shoulder Press, Bent Over Row, Pull-ups
That's the basics of building a routine. Remember, there are many other exercises, philosophy and goals out there than this brief article can describe. Keep educating yourself and do what''s right for you!
Sunday, May 6th, 2007 Jump Rope
Jump rope is an excellent cardio and endurance exercise that makes you light on your feet. It mainly targets calves, and is also beneficial to the forearms and shoulders.
The Jump Rope Institute has all the information you need, such as getting started, and what kind of rope to buy. I currently use a Go-Fit Speed Rope. I've enjoyed it, but one of my training partner's rope broken. He was able to adjust it, and continues to use it.
The main reason jump rope is one of my favorite cardio exercises is creativity. Here are a couple of guys that will open your mind:
