Muscle Building Techniques

• Ancient Greece
  Early Olympians use extracts of mushrooms and plant seeds.
• Roman period
  Chariot racers mix drugs in the feed of their horses to make them run faster. Gladiators doped to make their fights vigorous and bloody for the public.
• 1886
  The first recorded death: cyclist Arthur Linton overdoses on trimethyl.
• 1904
  Marathon runner Thomas Hicks almost dies at the Olympics in St Louis after mixing brandy and strychnine.
• 1930s
  Amphetamines start to be produced.
• 1950s
  Soviets begin to use male hormones; Americans respond with steroids.
• 1952
  Speed skaters taking amphetamines at the Oslo Winter Olympics fall ill.
• 1960
  At the Rome Olympics, amphetamine-taking Danish cyclist Knut Jensen collapses, fractures his skull and dies.
• 1967
  Another amphetamine death: Britain's Tommy Simpson, in the Tour de France.
• 1968
  The IOC issue list of banned substances. Testing begins at Mexico City Olympics.
• 1972
  Dr Bjorn Ekblom of Stockholm invents blood packing: removing blood, increasing the concentration of red blood cells in a centrifuge, then restoring it through transfusion.
• 1976
  East German swimmers win 11 out of 13 Olympic events. In the early 1990s it emerges they had been pumped with steroids by their coaches.
• 1983
  At the Pan American games in Caracas, Venezuela, 17 athletes test positive for anabolic steroids.
• 1987
  EPO emerges as a way of boosting blood thickness; deaths follow in young cyclists and orienteers.
• 1988
  At the Seoul Olympics, Ben Johnson tests positive for an anabolic steroid.
• 1991
  Twenty ex-East German swimming coaches admit giving anabolic steroids to their former charges.
• 1992
  German sprinters Katrin Krabbe, Silke Moller and Grit Breuer submit identical urine samples in out-of-competition tests. Escape ban on a technicality.
• 1994
  Diego Armando Maradona banned from World Cup for taking a cocktail of five drugs.
• 1996
  Ireland's Michelle Smith wins four Olympic swimming golds at Atlanta. Found guilty of manipulating samples in 1998 and banned for four years.
• 1998
  The Festina team are expelled from the Tour de France after trainer Willy Voet is caught with 400 vials of performance-enhancing drugs. Florence Griffith Joyner dies at the age of 38 from a heart seizure.
• 1999
  The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) is established as a result of the 1998 Tour de France scandal. It includes representatives of the Olympic movement and governments.
• 1999
  The nandrolone controversy breaks. British sprinters Linford Christie and Dougie Walker and Czech tennis player Petr Korda, plus French footballers Christophe Dugarry and Vincent Guerin, all have adverse findings - the first of many.
• 2000
  Manfred Ewald, former president of East Germany's National Olympic Committee, goes on trial in Berlin charged with 142 counts of being an accessory to causing bodily harm.
• 2001
  In Italy, Edgar Davids and Fernando Couto are found to have taken nandrolone by the reopened Acqua Acetosa laboratory, which in 1998 had been destroying evidence of adverse findings. Frank de Boer and Jaap Stam also test positive for nandrolone.
• 2002
  Alain Baxter, the British skier, loses his Olympic bronze slalom medal after he used a Vicks inhaler.
• 2003
  British sprinter Dwain Chambers tests positive for the new anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG).
• 2004
  Greg Rusedski tests positive for nandrolone. He is said to be one of 44 players to have done so.
  

• 1000 Grams SKW creatine (Prolab/Kaizen/Muscletech)
• 400 Grams Potassium Bicarbonate
• 450 Grams Citric Acid
• 3600 Grams Dextrose
• 10 Grams R-ALA

A typical dose for a 200 lb. bodybuilder can be 54 to 60 grams of this powerful mix.

1. Tarnopolsky M.:Protein Requirements for Endurance Athletes
   Nutrition 200420:662- 668.
2. McKenzie S, Phillips SM, Carter SL, Lowther S, Gibala MJ, Tarnopolsky MA:Endurance exercise training attenuates leucine oxidation and BCOAD activation during exercise in humans.
   Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2000278:E580
3. Bowtell JL, Leese GP, Smith K, et al. Effect of oral glucose on leucine turnover in human subjects at rest and during exercise at two levels of dietary protein.
   J Physiol 2000525(pt 1):271
4. Young VR, Bier DM, Pellett PL. A theoretical basis for increasing current estimates of the amino acid requirements in adult man, with experimental support.
   Am J Clin Nutr 198950:80

About Protica

Founded in 2001, Protica, Inc. is a nutritional research firm with offices in Lafayette Hill and Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Protica manufactures capsulized foods, including Profect, a compact, hypoallergenic, ready-to-drink protein beverage containing zero carbohydrates and zero fat. Information on Protica is available at http://www.protica.com

If you design your nutrition plans to maximize muscle growth, you must think about planning and taking properly the most important meal of the day. Do you know which?

It is easy if you have read the title! Yes. Post-Workout meal or meals are the most important.

After an intense weight lifting workout your body system is characterized by three main factors:

1. Glycogen Stores are low.
2. Protein Breakdown is increased.
3. Muscle Protein Balance is negative.

Therefore, for a rapid recovery from exercise, immediately after a workout (strength or endurance), you must:

1. Rapidly replenish the low glycogen stores in your muscles.
2. Rapidly decrease the muscle protein breakdown that occurs with exercise, especially high intensity bodybuilding training.
3. Rapidly force further increases in muscle protein synthesis in weight trainers and/or restore muscle-protein synthesis in endurance athletes.

Failure to accomplish any one of these objectives will lead to a lowered rate of recovery from your workout. And the slower the recovery process is, the less muscle growth you can stimulate!

Studies have found that delaying nutrients (protein and carbohydrate) consumption after a workout can greatly reduce the rate of glycogen restoration and protein synthesis. In fact, the rate of glycogen synthesis is reduced by 50% if nutrients are not consumed immediately after a workout. Besides, delaying post-workout nutrients absorption will negatively affect protein synthesis.

A few hours after a workout, the insulin sensitisation stimulated by intense training will be much lower: there is a two to threefold increase in insulin sensitivity immediately post-workout. After two or three hours, it is down to only 44% above baseline (Levenhagen et al. 2001). So basically, if you wait too long after your workout to consume a mix of fast absorbing proteins and high glycemic carbohydrates, the amount of muscle you will build in response to your session will be significantly decreased.

There are two key factors to rapidly increasing post-workout glycogen synthesis:

1. Adequate carbohydrate availability (to convert to muscle glycogen).
2. High insulin levels (to stimulate glycogen storage and shuttle carbohydrates into the muscle).

An ideal post-workout muscle growth stimulating formula would include fast absorbing proteins, high glycemic carbohydrates, and some additional BCAAs (which have been shown to drastically increase protein synthesis and decrease protein breakdown on their own). Certain amino acids can increase the insulin response to meals. By adding certain amino acids to the carbohydrate/protein beverage in the above study, the insulin responses were considerably higher than the carbohydrate/protein beverage alone.

In order to maximize these two key factors you need to increase the gastric emptiness rate as much as possible. The different proposed ingredients must be fast absorbing. To achieve this goal you must dilute these nutrients into a lot water quantity. Liquid nutrition is more rapidly digested and absorbed, nutrients are more rapidly delivered to the muscle.

The final piece of the post-workout puzzle is the management of protein synthesis. And although this area is a little more complex than managing protein breakdown, there are three key ingredients to increasing protein synthesis immediately after workouts:

1. A proper ratio of BCAAs.
2. High blood levels of essential amino acids.
3. High blood levels of insulin.

You must prioritize 3 main factors as soon as possible.

1. Gustavo Badell
2. Lee Priest *
3. Troy Alves *
4. Melvin Anthony
5. King Kamali
6. Craig Titus
7. David Henry
8. Mark Dugdale
9. Mike Morris
10. Idrise Ward-El

(*) means qualified for the 2005 Olympia. Gustavo Badell is already qualified.

Melvin Anthony won the Vince Gironda Best Presentation award. He dedicated his $ 1000 check to 6th place winner Craig Titus

The Winner, Gustavo Badell

Advances in Recombinant Human Growth Hormone Replacement Therapy in Adults
by Steven Grinspoon, M.D. , Harvard University

Acquired growth hormone (GH) deficiency results from the destruction of normal pituitary and/or hypothalamic tissue, usually from a tumor or secondary to surgical and/or radiation therapy. Diagnostic criteria and clinical sequelae of GH deficiency, although well established in children, are currently areas of active investigation in the adult. It is now apparent that acquired GH deficiency is associated with significant changes in body composition, bone density, lipid metabolism, cardiovascular function and physical performance. In addition, new information is now available on the use of low doses of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) to reverse the sequelae of GH deficiency in adults.

The Growth Hormone Deficiency Syndrome
Acquired GH deficiency is characterized by weight gain, increased fat mass and decreased lean body mass. In one recent study, total body fat was shown to be increased by 7% in this population while lean body mass was decreased to a similar degree (1). The increased fat mass is found in a truncal distribution, thereby increasing the waist:hip ratio. In addition, triglyceride levels are increased and HDL levels decreased. The increased lipid levels may explain, in part, the observation of increased vascular wall thickness, as measured by carotid ultrasonography, in this population. These factors all likely contribute to the increased incidence of cardiovascular mortality seen in patients with GH deficiency (2).

Muscle mass and muscle strength are diminished in GH-deficient patients. In the heart, these changes are manifested by a reduced left ventricular mass, decreased fractional shortening of cardiac myocytes, and decreased cardiac output. Such abnormalities may contribute to the striking decline in exercise capacity in this population. In one recent study, exercise capacity, as assessed by cycle ergometry was decreased by 20-25% compared to normal controls (3). Bone density is also known to be reduced in the GH-deficient patient. In a recent study, cortical bone density and spinal (trabecular) bone density were 2.8 and 1.5 standard deviations below the mean for age and sex matched controls (4).

Finally, patients with GH deficiency appear to have impaired psychological well being and potentially significant neuropsychiatric manifestations, such as lack of concentration and memory impairment. Self rating questionnaires consistently demonstrate reduced vitality, fatigue, social isolation and depression (5). However, it is unknown whether this impairment in psychological well being is associated specifically with GH deficiency or is due to another factor associated with hypopituitarism.

Recombinant Human Growth Hormone Therapy
Recombinant human growth hormone may become a novel therapeutic option for adults with acquired GH deficiency. Recent studies indicate that many of the metabolic and psychological abnormalities associated with GH deficiency can be reversed with GH replacement, even at low doses which are not associated with side effects.

Body Composition
GH therapy results in profound changes in body composition: fat mass is reduced while lean body mass increases. Growth hormone, at the relatively low dose of 0.003 mg/kg was shown to normalize lean body mass over 6 months in 24 adults with GH deficiency (1). The improvement in lean body mass is associated with increased protein synthesis, muscle mass and muscle function. Total body fat mass also decreases after 6 months of GH administration. The decline in fat mass is most significant in visceral and trunk locations as compared to the arms, neck and legs, suggesting that GH replacement therapy will reverse the truncal redistribution of fat mass associated with GH deficiency and impact on cardiovascular risk (6).

Lipid Metabolism
GH replacement in adults may have a beneficial effect on lipids. In a recent study, it was reported that short courses of GH reduced LDL cholesterol and this reduction correlated with increased mRNA expression of the LDL receptor in the liver (7). The potential benefit of this interaction has yet to be investigated in longer term clinical trials, but it must be noted that dramatic changes in serum lipid levels are not consistently seen with GH administration.

Bone Density
The potential role of GH in the maintenance of the skeleton has recently been investigated. GH is known to stimulate osteoblast proliferation and thymidine incorporation in vitro. Furthermore, GH stimulates systemic and local production of Insulin Like Growth Factor I, another known bone mitogen. In a recent study, GH replacement was shown to increase significantly bone Gla-protein, a sensitive indicator of osteoblast function (8). Less consistent changes in bone density have been demonstrated with GH administration. However, in a recent study using the sensitive techniques of quantitative tomography and single photon absorptiometry, significant increases of 5% and 4% were demonstrated in spinal and cortical bone density over 12 months of therapy in GH-deficient adults (4). It thus appears that GH administration may act to reverse the osteopenia present in the GH-deficient patient.

Cardiovascular Function
Improvements in exercise capacity and cardiac function have been demonstrated among GH-deficient patients receiving GH replacement in several recent studies. Such patients show increased oxygen uptake and power output during cycle ergometry associated with increased skeletal muscle mass and improved cardiac function. Echocardiography has shown that left ventricular mass index, fractional shortening and fiber shortening velocity all improve after 6 months of low dose GH therapy (8).

Side Effects Associated with Low-Dose GH Replacement
The dose of rhGH is an important consideration in the therapy of acquired GH-deficiency. Large, pharmacological doses of GH are often associated with the clinical sequelae of GH excess, including fluid retention and hypertension. However, increasingly smaller, physiological, doses of rhGH are currently being used for replacement in GH- deficient patients without such sequelae. At a dose of 0.03 mg/kg/week, Bengtsson et al. demonstrated only minor side effects including fluid retention and mild arthralgias in the majority of patients but did report carpal tunnel syndrome in one patient (6). In all cases, further reduction of the GH dosage resulted in amelioration of side effects. In another recent study in which a smaller dose of GH was used, 0.01 mg/kg was administered three times per week without any reported side effects (8). It remains unknown, however, whether chronic administration of GH at doses which keep IGF-I levels within the normal range will also improve key metabolic variables.

Future Directions
Growth hormone deficiency is an important cause of excess morbidity and even mortality. Evidence from a number of smaller studies indicates that GH replacement will improve body composition, lipid metabolism, bone density, cardiovascular function and psychological well being. Important issues remaining are the precise clinical definition of partial vs. complete GH deficiency in such patients and clarifying the best tests to make this diagnosis. In addition, it is unclear whether some of the observed beneficial effects reflect pharmacological GH therapy rather than physiologic GH replacement. Nevertheless, it is apparent that small doses, unassociated with sequelae of GH excess, may suffice to achieve the desired metabolic results. Definitive recommendations on dosage and the long term effects of GH therapy, particularly on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, will be determined by the prospective studies now underway at the MGH and other centers around the country.

• 2002
  World Amateur Championships - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 4th
  
• 2003
  Grand Prix Holland - IFBB, 14th
  
• 2004
  Grand Prix Holland - IFBB, 8th
  Grand Prix England - IFBB, 5th

What causes muscle growth?

In order for muscles to grow, three things are required:

1. Stimulus - exercise is needed to make the muscles work, use energy and cause microscopic damage to the fibers.

2. Nutrition - after intense exercise the muscles need to replenish their stores of fuel.

3. Rest - it is during the rest or recovery phase that the muscles repair the microscopic damage and grow.

Muscle size increases due to hypertrophic adaptation and an increase in the cross section area of individual muscle fibers. Intensive exercise impacts more on the strength influencing fast twitch type II fibers, therefore the increase in muscle size is accompanied by greater strength.

This will deplete the muscle's energy stores and cause microscopic damage to the muscle tissue. During recovery, these stores of glycogen and phosphocreatine will replenish from carbohydrates and creatine ingested as food or supplements. Amino acids supplied in the diet will trigger the protein synthesis that repairs the damaged muscle and lead to the creation of bigger muscle fibers.

To achieve continuous improvement you will need to keep reaching for higher levels of training intensity otherwise the improvement process will grind to a halt. Fortunately, this is relatively easy to plan for provided certain basic principles and rules are clearly followed. Subsequent articles in this series will examine these principles in detail.

By Richard Mitchell; the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding Advice to learn more about the issues covered in this article.

I started bodybuilding nearly twenty years ago, and during that time, I have had the opportunity to experiment with literally dozens, if not hundreds of high intensity training methods. These include supersets, giant sets, pre-exhaustion, negatives, partials, static holds, continuous tension, peak contraction, 5 sets of 5, 8 sets of 8 and 21 just to name a few. If I were only allowed to pick one high intensity technique for building muscle, that technique would be drop sets. That is right, I personally believe that drop sets are the best high intensity bodybuilding technique of all time. Read on to find out why and to learn twelve ways to use drop sets for some of the most amazing muscle growth you have ever experienced.

What are drops sets and who invented them?

A drop set is the simple technique where you perform a set of any exercise to failure or just short of failure, then drop some weight and continue for more repetitions with the reduced poundage. According to Arnolds Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, the drop set method was originally discovered in 1947 by Henry Atkins, editor of Body Culture magazine. Atkins called it the multi-poundage system. Since then, this muscle blasting technique has gone by many different names including breakdowns, descending sets, triple-drops, down the rack, strip sets or the stripping technique.

Why do bodybuilders love drop sets?

Bodybuilders are unique among athletes because they are concerned purely with cosmetic improvements and not athletic performance. That is why bodybuilders prefer drop sets, because drop sets are decidedly geared towards increasing muscle size (hypertrophy). By contrast, you do not see a lot of football players, sprinters, or Olympic lifters using drop sets, because drop sets are not conducive to strength, power, or speed gains. In fact, most athletes want strength and power without bulk, so drop sets are usually nixed. However, if pure mass is what you are after, then drop sets are right up your alley!

How drop sets work: Breaking down muscle fibers; deep down!

Lets suppose you are doing bicep curls with 125 pounds for a set of 8-12 reps. The 10 th rep is difficult. The 11 th rep is extremely hard, even with a little cheating. The 12th rep takes an all out supreme effort. Gun to the head, you still could not do a 13th rep. You have hit honest failure. But if you strip some weight off the bar, about fifteen to twenty percent or so, you can keep going.
Even though you may reach a point of momentary muscular failure after 8-12 reps in a conventional straight set, you have not reached absolute failure; you have only reached failure with that poundage. You see, in a single straight set performed to failure, you do not activate every fiber in a muscle group. You only recruit the number of fibers necessary to lift a particular weight for the desired number of repetitions. By stripping off weight and continuing the set, you cumulatively recruit more and more reserve muscle fibers. Drop sets hit the stubborn muscle fibers deep down, causing growth that normally could not be achieved by stopping after a single set of six to twelve.

Creative drop setting methods
Drop sets were a favorite of none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thanks to Arnold popularizing the method, it is a common sight in any gym today to see even recreational lifters doing barbell curl stripping sets as Arnold liked to call them. But this method only scratches the surface of the many ways drop sets can be used. I have discovered literally dozens of creative ways to use drop sets and I would like to share a twelve of the best with you here.

Drop sets with barbells (strip sets)
This was Arnolds favorite method for bicep training, but it can easily be used on any barbell exercise. All you have to do is put small plates on each side of the bar and strip them off when you reach failure. For example, if you set up an Olympic barbell with four ten pound plates on each side, that is 125 lbs to start, then by pulling a ten off each side (about fifteen percent), you now have 105 lbs. After eight more reps, you pull another ten off each side and continue with 85 pounds.

Drop sets with selectorized machines (up the stack)
Stripping plates off barbells and plate-loaded machines can be messy, cumbersome and time consuming (unless you have a partner or two). Drop sets are easier with machines. All you have to do is pull the pin out of the weight stack and move it up to a lighter weight. On a leg extension machine, for example, you do not even have to leave your seat to change the weight. This allows for a quick weight change, which intensifies the set.

Drop sets with dumbbells (down the rack or running the rack)
Going down the rack is a fantastic technique for dumbbell exercises, especially curls, lateral raises, and shoulder presses. For example, if you are doing dumbbell lateral raises, you could start with the 40, do eight reps, then put the 40 down and grab the 30, then put the 30 down and grab the 20 and rep out some more. Try this technique on your next deltoid or bicep day and your arms and shoulders will pump up like balloons.

Tight drop sets (small drop in weight)
A tight drop set refers to a small weight decrease between drops. Tight drops are more difficult, and tightening up your drop sets can even be used as a method of overload. The average weight reduction for a drop set is approximately fifteen percent. That would be like loading up 225 lbs on an Olympic bar for bench presses, then dropping to 190 lbs, then dropping to 160 lbs. If you did your next drop set workout at a twelve percent reduction (225 lbs, 200 lbs and 170 pounds), that would be an overload above and beyond the previous workout.
A tight drop set would include any weight reduction between five and twenty percent. Tight drop sets are more often performed on small muscle groups and isolation exercises. For example, if you are going down the rack on dumbbell curls, you might start with 50 pounders and drop to the 45, then the 40 (a ten percent decrease per drop)

Wide drop sets
A wide drop set refers to a larger weight decrease between reps. Wide drops sets are easier than tight drop sets and they allow you do higher repetitions. Because of cardiovascular fatigue, wide drops are often used on large muscle group exercises like squats, bent over rows and leg presses. For example, in the squat you might begin with 315 lbs on the bar, then strip an entire 45 pound plate from each side and go on to 225 lbs, nearly a 30% drop in poundage. Then you might strip another 45 pound plate off each side and go with 135 pounds (a 40% drop). Believe me, 135 pounds never felt so heavy!

50% drop set (the halving or 6-20 method)
The halving method is a wide drop set that allows you to use two totally opposite rep ranges, each of which will attack a different aspect of the muscle cell. This allows excellent muscle growth plus an incredible pump!
After warming up, begin by choosing the heaviest weight you can handle for six reps with strict form. Perform six reps, then without resting, reduce the weight by exactly fifty percent and continue for twenty repetitions with the lighter weight. Lets use one arm dumbbell rows as an example. If your six rep max is 110 pounds, start with six reps with the 110, then immediately grab the 55 and bang out twenty good reps. You will be winded and you will feel something in your lats you have never felt before!

Power drop sets (low rep drop sets)
This was a favorite method of Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia. Scott used this technique to develop monstrous deltoids and arms, even on a less than genetically optimal frame. Larry believed that heavy weight and low reps (six reps) were the best way to develop size and strength concurrently.
This rep range allows you to use heavier weights, which can help maintain your strength levels and thicken up those muscle fibers without much of a pumping effect. Begin with a six rep max, then drop the weight by about ten to fifteen percent with each drop. Repeat with the lighter weight for six more reps for the desired number of drops.

Ascending ( 6/12/20 ) or Descending (12/8/4/2) rep drop sets
An ascending rep drop set means that you decrease the weight substantially enough so you can increase the number of reps you perform with each weight reduction. For example, if you are doing tricep pushdowns and 100 pounds is your six rep max, you would start with 100 pounds, then pull the pin and go to 75 pounds (twenty five percent reduction), which is a wide enough drop so you can hit ten to twelve reps on the next round. Then you had finish by pulling the pin and going to 50 (thirty three percent reduction), which is very light, allowing you to rep out and perform fifteen to twenty reps on the final drop.
Descending drop sets are when you perform a very tight drop set, so your reps actually decrease with each weight reduction. For example, if you are doing bench presses with 225 pounds for twelve reps, you had strip off a small amount of weight (five to ten percent), then continue for six to eight more reps. Then you had pull off a little more weight and shoot for four to six reps. You had then finish by dropping a small amount of weight again and doing two final reps.

Drop sets with grip or stance change
This is one of my favorite methods because it can hit a multi-faceted muscle from every conceivable angle. For example, the leg press machine can be used to place emphasis on the medialis (low quad/teardrop), lateralis (outer quad), adductors (inner thigh) or the hamstrings and glutes; all depending on where you place your feet on the platform.
For a leg workout you will never forget, load up the sled with 45 lb plates, then perform 6-12 reps with your feet in the middle of the platform, shoulder width; strip a 45 off each side, then do 6-12 more reps with your feet high on the platform; strip another 45 from each side, then do 6-12 more reps with your feet together and low on the platform. Strip off another 45 and finish with your feet very wide and toes pointed out at forty five degree angle for the last 6-12. Three weight drops, four poundages, four foot positions, and a workout that will make your thighs grow from top to bottom, inside to outside!

Zero rest drop sets
Zero rest drop sets are incredibly difficult and most people either deliberately or unconsciously avoid them because they are so hard. A zero-rest drop set is where you literally cut the rest between weight changes to zero. To perform an honest zero rest drop set, you usually need a training partner (or two). For example, If you are doing drop sets on the leg press by yourself, you have to get up, walk to one side, strip off a plate, walk to the other side, strip off another plate, then sit back down and resume the drop set. This process takes at least ten seconds. Within that time, your muscles have already begun dissipating lactic acid and regenerating their energy supplies.
If you have two training partners, you can do a true zero rest drop set by having each of your partners strip a plate off each side without you even racking the weight. The difference between zero rest and 10 seconds is like night and day. Combined with continuous tension, where you do not lock out between reps, this can be one of the most challenging workouts of your life! (good luck!)

Rest-pause drop sets
Rest pause drops sets are the opposite of zero rest drop sets. On a rest pause drop set, you deliberately rest 5, 10 even 15 seconds between weight changes to allow yourself to briefly recover so you can use heavier weight. This gives you the best of both worlds; the deep fiber-attacking effect of a drop set, along with the heavier weights that enhance strength. Use this technique when muscle size and strength are both priorities.

Drop-Superset
If drop sets are the number one high intensity bodybuilding technique, then what is the number two technique? In my opinion, they are the supersets. And what could possibly be better than combining the two most effective bodybuilding techniques in one; a drop-superset.
Here is how it works: First select the two exercises for your superset. If it is shoulder day, it might be dumbbell lateral raises and dumbbell presses, a pre-exhaust superset. Start with lateral raises using you regular 8-12 rep max, lets say 35 lbs for this example. Then go right into dumbbell presses with as little rest as possible and a little less weight than your usual 8-12 rep max / 65 lbs or so should do the trick. Now, continue with no rest to a lighter set of dumbbells (25 lbs) for another set of side laterals. Then pick up the 55 lbs dumbbells and go into another set of shoulder presses. Finally, drop down to the 15 lbs dumbbells for the last set of lateral raises, then go straight into presses with 45 pounders. That is ONE drop-superset. This is an extremely intense technique, so use these sparingly.

How to maximize drop set efficiency
Here are some tips for maximizing the efficiency of your drop sets.

1. Keep rest intervals to a minimum
   Usually, the time between weight drops ranges from zero to ten seconds. Even if you are doing heavy power drop sets, the rest between sets should still be relatively brief. In general, the briefer the time between the weight change, the more intense and effective your drop set will be.
   
2. Set up equipment in advance
   To move quickly from one exercise to the next, you should have all your equipment set up and ready before starting the first exercise. Instead of putting big plates on a barbell or machine, load it up with 5, 10 or 25, ready to be stripped. If you are doing triple drops with dumbbells, line up all three pairs beforehand.
   
3. Train when the gym is not crowded so you have a dumbbell rack to yourself.
   Drop setting is not practical in a crowded gym, nor is it proper gym etiquette to hog three or four sets of dumbbells all to yourself for 15 minutes. If you’re planning to use down the rack drop sets, try to schedule your workout for a time when the gym is not crowded and be courteous to others.
   
4. Use two weight drops (three different poundages) most of the time.
   You can really go crazy with drop sets and reduce the weight as many times as you want. However, there seems to be a point of diminishing returns after two or three weight reductions. The most common drop set method is a triple drop, where you use three weights and two weight reductions.
   
5. Stay in the six to twelve rep range most of the time.
   Six to twelve is the most productive rep range for bodybuilding purposes and this rule should generally not change in a drop set. If you want to work on maintaining or even building strength, go with four to six reps. If you want pure hypertrophy, keep your reps around eight to twelve. For a skin-splitting pump, occasionally go up to 15-20 reps, especially on your last drop.
   
6. Begin with a six to twelve rep max.
   It is not enough to keep the reps in the six to twelve range. It is got to be a six to twelve rep MAX, not just six to twelve reps. If you start with a weight that is too light, you will achieve little more than muscle pumping and flushing with the drop set technique. A true six rep max means that you can not do a seventh rep. You should reach failure or close to it with each weight before stripping off weight.
   
7. Use drop sets sparingly as a high intensity method
   Drop settings are intense and they require caution and common sense. If you used them all the time, you would quickly burn out and overtrain. One great way to use drop setting is the 3:1 method: you perform three straight sets of an exercise, followed by one drop set.
   

Conclusion
Although there are dozens of high intensity training methods you can and should use in your routines, if you only used drop sets and nothing else, this technique alone would be enough to cause some serious muscle growth in a very short period of time. Do not just use the old Arnold standby of stripping plates off on barbell curls; try some of these new and different methods outlined in this article, like tight, wide, 6-20 and grip change drop sets. I guarantee the results will amaze and delight you!

This article was provided courtesy of Tom Venuto and www.burnthefat.com. Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, personal trainer, gym owner, freelance writer and author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle" (BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the Worlds Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models.

The technique called molecular liposuction so far works only in mice. A team at the University of Houston, Texas, report in Nature Medicine today that weeks of treatment by an experimental drug restored the normal weight of mice that had doubled their size on a high-fat cafeteria diet. If even a fraction of what we found in mice relates to human biology, then we are cautiously optimistic that there may be a new way to think about reversing obesity, said Renata Pasqualini, of the University of Texas at Houston.

Obesity is now one of the biggest problems in world health. Almost one American in three is seriously overweight. One British male in four is clinically obese. Even in the developing world, obesity levels are rising rapidly. Obesity has been linked to adult-onset type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular hazards and increased risks of cancer. Health authorities have urged people to eat less, choose a diet richer in fruit and vegetables and exercise more.

Cosmetic surgeons have promoted liposuction, the drastic removal of fat, and stomach surgery. Geneticists have been trying to make a hereditary connection, because some groups of people seem to be at greater risk of obesity, and research groups have been studying the hormonal cycles linked with eating in the search for appetite-suppressing pills.
But the Texas team tried an approach already being investigated as a cancer treatment. In theory, life-threatening tumours would halt and dwindle if you could cut off the blood supply to the cancerous tissue. But fat tissue, too, depends on a steady supply of oxygen and nutrients delivered in the blood.

These fat cells are abnormally greedy for oxygen, and a pound of fat contains a mile of blood vessels, according to one estimate. Blood vessels differ according to the postal code addresses they serve. So the Houston scientists, based at the universitys M D Anderson cancer centre, searched for unique protein markers that would identify only those blood cells that served white adipose or fatty tissue. They found one called prohibitin, already known to regulate cell survival and growth. They attached to it a synthetic drug already known from cancer trial to cause a cell to self-destruct. Then they injected it into mice that had become grossly overweight on a high-fat, sugary diet. Within four weeks, the mice had reached their normal weight again. The fat had been reabsorbed and metabolised.

Other collaborators looked for evidence of toxic or unpleasant side effects, such as fat accumulation in the liver and blood, and found none. But further trials are needed.

Whey and Cancer

Additional studies have been done on animals regarding cancer-causing chemicals to see what effects whey protein concentrate would have on cancer prevention or treatment. Scientists fed rats various proteins and then subjected them to the powerful carcinogen dimethylhydrazine. As with the previous research, the rats fed whey protein concentrate showed fewer tumors and a reduced pooled area of tumors (tumor mass index). The researchers found whey protein offered considerable protection to the host over that of other proteins, including soy.

Even more exciting, in vivo research on cancer and whey showed whey protein concentrate inhibited the growth of breast cancer cells at low concentrations (Baruchel S. and Vaiu G., Anti Cancer Research, 1996). Finally, and most importantly, a fairly recent clinical study with cancer patients showed a regression in some patients tumors when fed whey protein concentrate at 30 grams per day.

Whey and Glutathione

This new research using whey protein concentrate led researchers to an amazing discovery regarding the relationship between cancerous cells, glutathione (GSH) and whey protein concentrate. It was found that whey protein concentrate selectively depletes cancer cells of their glutathione, thus making them more susceptible to cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy. It has been found that cancer cells and normal cells will respond differently to nutrients and drugs that affect glutathione status. What is most interesting to note is the fact that the concentration of glutathione in tumor cells is higher than that of the normal cells that surround it. This difference in glutathione status between normal cells and cancer cells is believed to be an important factor in cancer cells resistance to chemotherapy.
As the researchers put it, Tumor cell GSH concentration may be among the determinants of the cytotoxicity [poisonous to cells] of many chemotherapeutic agents and of radiation, and an increase in GSH concentration appears to be at least one of the mechanisms of acquired drug resistance to chemotherapy. They further state, It is well-known that rapid GSH synthesis in tumor cells is associated with high rates of cellular proliferation. Depletion of tumor GSH in vivo decreases the rate of cellular proliferation and inhibits cancer growth. The problem is, it is difficult to reduce glutathione sufficiently in tumor cells without placing healthy tissue at risk and putting the cancer patient in a worse condition. What is needed is a compound that can selectively deplete the cancer cells of their glutathione, while increasing, or at least maintaining, the levels of glutathione in healthy cells.
This is exactly what whey protein appears to do. In this new research it was found that cancer cells subjected to whey proteins were depleted of their glutathione, and their growth was inhibited, while normal cells had an increase in GSH and increased cellular growth. These effects were not seen with other proteins. Not surprisingly, the researchers concluded, Selective depletion of tumor GSH may in fact render cancer cells more vulnerable to the action of chemotherapy and eventually protect normal tissue against the deleterious effects of chemotherapy. The exact mechanism by which whey protein achieves this is not fully understood, but it appears that it interferes with the normal feedback mechanism and regulation of glutathione in cancer cells. It is known that glutathione production is negatively inhibited by its own synthesis. Being that baseline glutathione levels in cancer cells are higher than that of normal cells, it is probably easier to reach the level of negative-feedback inhibition in the cancer cells glutathione levels than in the normal cells glutathione levels.

Whey and LDL Cholesterol

The positive health benefits of whey protein concentrate does not end with its effects on immunity and cancer prevention and treatment. Whey protein concentrate also was found to be a potent inhibitor of oxidized low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Current research suggests that the conversion of LDL to oxidized LDL is the trigger that leads to atherogenesis, the formation of the plaque and lesions associated with atherosclerosis. Therefore, any substance that prevents the oxidation of LDL is thought to be anti-atherogenic. Though animal-based proteins have traditionally been implicated as being pro-atherogenic, whey proteins appear to be an exception to the rule. whey protein is made up of several minor and major fractions, such as beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, albumin, lactoferrin and immunoglobulin. It was discovered that the minor constituent responsible for the ability of whey protein concentrate to prevent the oxidation of LDL appears to be the lactoferrin fraction of the protein.

Lactoferrin In Whey

When the lactoferrin was removed from the protein, the ability of the whey-protein concentrate to prevent LDL oxidation was greatly reduced, leading the researchers to speculate, Our results suggest that LF (lactoferrin) is the main factor responsible for the inhibitory effect of whey protein (on LDL) and it may function synergistically together with other factors in the whey protein, for example, alpha-lactalbumin. Another study using rats examined the effects of whey protein concentrate and casein on cholesterol and the risk factors of heart disease. Though casein (another milk-based protein commonly used in research) is known to raise cholesterol in humans and animals, whey protein has the opposite effect, leading the researchers to note, At the high dietary protein level [300 gram per kilogram of feed] , whey protein significantly lowered plasma and liver cholesterol and also plasma triacylglycerols.
The cholesterol-lowering effects of whey protein concentrate in this study also was associated with a reduction in LDL cholesterol. Most interesting was the fact that this effect on cholesterol was not seen when the animals were fed amino acid mixtures that simulated whey protein, so it is clear that there are properties within the whey that have these effects beyond that of its amino acid profile.

Whey and Bone Growth

Finally, whey protein appears to play a direct role in bone growth. Researchers found that rats fed whey protein concentrate showed increased bone strength and bone protein such as collagen. This discovery led researches to test whether or not whey protein directly stimulated osteoblast (bone cell) growth in vitro. Whey protein was found to stimulate, dose dependently, total protein synthesis, DNA content, and increased hydroxyproline contents of bone cells.
It should be noted that not all whey protein concentrates are created equal. Processing whey protein to remove the lactose and fats without losing its biological activity takes special care by the manufacturer. The protein must be processed under low temperature and low acid conditions so as not to denature the protein. Maintaining the natural state of the protein is essential to its biological activity. These research findings, combined with the previous decade of study on whey protein, should convince anyone that whey protein concentrate is truly the life-extension protein.

Higher Glutathione Levels and Whey

A decade-and-a-half of findings on the benefits of whey protein are far-reaching.
Previous Studies Include The Following: Whey protein concentrate dramatically raises glutathione levels. Glutathione is an essential water-soluble antioxidant in the body that protects cells and serves as a primary detoxifier of harmful compounds such as peroxides, heavy metals, carcinogens and other toxins. Glutathione also is intimately tied to immunity, and reduced glutathione levels have been associated with disease such as AIDS, atherosclerosis, Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease, to name only a few. In fact, glutathione levels appear to be one way of modulating immunity.
Whey protein concentrate was found to consistently raise this extremely important immune stimulating antioxidant beyond that of any protein studied (including soy) to higher than normal levels in multiple animal studies. A small pilot study with HIV-positive men who were fed whey protein concentrate found dramatic increases in glutathione levels of all the study participants, with two out of three men reaching their ideal body weight.
In fact, there have been several U.S. and international patents granted for the treatment of AIDS and improving immunity with whey protein concentrates.Whey protein improves immune function and fights infections. Animals fed whey protein concentrate consistently showed dramatic enhancement of both the humoral and cellular immune response to a variety of immune challenges, such as salmonella, streptococcus pneumonia 9 and extreme cancer-causing chemicals. This effect on immunity was not seen with other proteins. So proof Whey protein concentrate fights cancer

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