Muscle Building Techniques

High Rep Squating Leads To Huge Legs

2007-12-06T02:09:00.000Z

It was May of 1997. I walked into a bar in New York City with my brother and our friend Todd. Standing right in front of us was none other than "Stone Cold" Steve Austin who had just begun what would turn out to be the biggest and most successful run in the history of professional wrestling. Since I was at Wrestlemania I and had been a huge fan since 1982 I was star struck and excited by the sight of "Stone Cold."

Inexplicably, he was standing alone so we went right up to him and started talking. Before we knew it an hour had passed and we hadn't had a drink. Steve suggested that we head down the street to another bar and we were on our way.

"Am I really talking to Stone Cold Steve Austin like he's an old friend I've known for years?" I wondered. As a lifelong wrestling fan it seemed like a dream. Before I could ponder the situation any further, I felt a huge hand slap me on the back. "Ready, Jay?" Stone Cold asked.

Indeed, I was.

When we got to the next bar we grabbed a few bottles of Guiness and went over to a corner of the room where we continued our discussion which soon turned to training. While you are usually disappointed when you talk training with professional athletes or other famous big dudes after you learn that they built all their size on 50 sets of leg extensions and flyes, the conversation with Steve was actually quite surprising.

His favorite exercise was squats. "If you do a lot of heavy squatting, you're gonna get big; I don't give a sh*t what anyone says. I used to squat all the time. Loved to squat. It's the best exercise there is. My favorite squat workouts and the ones that really got my legs to grow were real high reps. I used to do 20-40 rep sets and my legs blew up."

"Yeah, high rep squatting is definitely one of the best things you can do to build huge legs." I said. "I first learned about that from reading Super Squats and some stuff about how Tom Platz used to train. You can't argue with the greatest legs in the history or bodybuilding."

***As a side note, my good friend recently moved next to former Olympic gold medal wrestler and former WWF world champion, Kurt Angle. While they were taking the kids out trick or treating the other night they started to talk training. Kurt said that he, too, loved high rep squats and had done something like 405 for 20 and 315 for 50 reps. More proof of the value of high rep squatting. (High rep leg presses or hack squats also work quite well).***

Steve told me that some of his other favorite mass building exercises were the big, old school basic compound movements. What a relief this was to hear. Although his training had evolved because of how beat up he was from years of wrestling he swore by the basics for getting big and strong.

No training talk with Stone Cold Steve Austin would be complete without asking him how he got such an enormous neck.

"Oh man, I had a neck harness and just did this sh*t all damn day," he said as he mimicked the motion of doing an extension with a harness around his head. "Everyday, that's all I did. Ya gotta have a big neck."

"I couldn't agree more," I replied.

Later that night, Steve hopped in my truck for the ride back to his hotel in Jersey where he was staying. We exchanged handshakes, hugs and phone numbers and planned to meet up again soon.

We did so a month later when he invited me back to the locker room after a show in Boston where I met Bret Hart, Vader, Mick Foley and quite a few others. We discussed many things that night including conditioning and nutrition, but that's another story for another day.

Until then, remember what Stone Cold said and make sure you're squatting heavy and, at least some of the time, for high reps (12-25). Keep making consistent progress and upping your weights and you will be buying new jeans before you know it.

Article written by Jason Ferruggia

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For the real truth about building massive muscle without steroids in less time than you ever thought possible, visit http://www.gainmusclesecrets.com

THANKSGIVING = MASS BUILDING SEASON?

2007-11-19T17:00:00.001Z

This Thursday officially kicks off the holiday season here in the US. To muscle heads, that also signifies the beginning of the mass building season. Starting three days from today and continuing all the way up until January 1st, you will eat more calories than you do during any other time of year. You can try to fight it but it's inevitable. So why not embrace it?

This is not the time to be trying to get lean. On the contrary, my friends, it's time to get huge! You will spend a large majority of the next six weeks in a caloric surplus which means you had better be training accordingly and asking for some bigger clothes for Christmas.

While you want to take advantage of all the extra calories and use them to build some new muscle you also don't want to end up a fat slob come New Years Day. You can avoid this by planning your workouts accordingly and using strategically planned cardio workouts to keep your waistline in control.

If you can do it, I always recommend planning your workouts so that they fall on the days when you are going to be eating the most. It's always a good idea to follow up the weight training workout with cardio that day as well. This will help ensure that a large portion of the calories you are going to consume after the workout are sucked up by the muscles and stored as glycogen and will be used to build muscle instead of stored as bodyfat.

Another way to counteract all of the overeating that could lead to bodyfat accumulation is to try to never consume massive amounts of calories more than two days in a row. You can get away with two days of chowing down like a ravenous animal but anymore than that will definitely lead to fat gain.

If you plan accordingly and eat a lower calorie, lower carb diet for a few days before a big feast like Thanksgiving Day, (basically depleting your glycogen stores) you will be even less likely to get fat from all of the excess calories. This is similar to carb depleting and loading that bodybuilders do before a big show (although less extreme and nowhere near as scientific). When you are in a depleted state like that you will be even more likely to use the excess calories to build muscle and less likely to store bodyfat.

My advice would be to lift weights on Thanksgiving morning followed by 30 minutes of cardio before the big feast. If your gym is closed and you have no other options, I would definitely recommend going out and doing some sprints, sled drags, car pushes or even a bodyweight circuit. Just as long as you do something to prepare your body to use the excess calories more effectively that day.

Remember, the next six weeks could be the time when you build more muscle than you will at any other time this year. Make sure you are well prepared and have it all planned out so that you enter the new year bigger and better than ever before.

Train hard,

This article was written by the muscle gain expert Jason Ferruggia.

Click Here To Learn More Gain Muscle Secrets

AMAZING & BEST CHEST WORKOUT TIP

2007-11-07T17:51:00.000Z

Today, I want to share with you a VERY common mistake most people make when training their chest...

Ignore this info at your own peril! The difference in muscle fiber stimulation is IMMENSE!

Here's what I'm talking about...

When you perform "pushing" exercises like the Bench Press, most people don't know where to place their "focus" and ultimately just end up instincively pushing the weight up in any form that feels "natural".

However, what happens to 95% of you is you end up using too much "front shoulder" and take a large part of the focus off of your chest muscles, leaving them short-changed on fiber stimulation for maximum growth.

Here's how to overcome this common blunder with what I call the "Shoulder-Rib Lock":

When lying on the bench (for a Bench Press), begin by dropping your shoulders BACK (toward the bench) as far as comfortably possible.
Next, roll your shoulders DOWN (in the direction of your feet).
And lastly, "puff" out your ribcage to keep it held high.

Consider this your "locked" position for the entire movement and keep your pectorals "aimed" high toward the ceiling!

You'll be amazed at how much of a difference you'll see in your chest workouts! If you want to discover more tips and powerful strategies to develop you muscles to the max just go this researcher, famous for his brutal honesty, who reviews best bodybuilding supplements & reveals most effective muscle building methods.

Muscle Building Interview # 1

2007-10-27T17:49:00.000Z

Question: Jason, your transformation was pretty incredible going from 147 lbs to 231 lbs. How much trial and error did you think you went through training wise until you found what really worked?

Answer: Oh man, I can't even begin to tell you. I tried so many different methods and systems it was unbelievable. I actually started out as a beginner on a six day a week high volume body part split. This was back in the 80's so I think I was just looking in the magazines at whatever Shawn Ray or Aaron Baker or Gary Strydom were doing and just copy it exactly. Obviously that didn't work out too well.

I entered high school weighing less than 100 pounds and after four years of training my ass off and growing almost a foot taller, I only weighed 147 pounds at graduation. So obviously, all my experimentation during high school didn't work out to well either.

During those four years I was still doing whatever I could find in the magazines and even ordered some courses like Cybergenics and some other stuff that was popular at the time. I think the first training books I had were the Arnold Encyclopedia and one of Dr. Hatfields. I tried everything I read in both of those.

My experimentation during college was quite extensive and quite varied. I finally stumbled upon the HIT movement and Mike Mentzer and Arthur Jones. It was like a beacon of light and I adopted that training philosophy immediately. And for the first time I started to really grow, which isn't shocking since I was so grossly overtrained. But as anyone who has had a similar experience can tell you, those gains don't last too long either.

I could be here all day telling you about all the crazy stuff I did but I think it's pretty safe to say that I was in the game and wasted an inordinate amount of time and money for a good ten years before I really figured out what really worked.

Question: It is one thing to find something that works for you personally but you routinely pack 20lbs of muscle on the frames of your clients in spans of only 3 months. How do you get results like when other people seemingly struggle endlessly to get bigger?

Answer: At this point I have been training people for 14 years. During ten of those years I worked with clients for an average of ten hours per day; and twelve hours per day every summer. Now since I was always a C math student I can't tell you how many hours that is right off the top of my head but, take it from me, it's a friggin lot.

When you have that much experience doing anything you are bound to become somewhat proficient at it and just develop a knack for it and for reading people and recognizing commonalities.

Most people are making the same mistakes in their training and nutrition and some even have a faulty belief system that is holding them back. I address each of these issues and we're off and running.

Training is not rocket science not matter how many people try to turn it into that. But figuring it all out isn't simple either.

Question: Everyone nowadays is always worried about getting fat when “bulking up” what are some strategies that you use to ensure that you put on more muscle than fat? Or do you even care?

Answer: Well, first of all, a lot of people that worry about that have a fear that is completely unfounded. If you are an athlete, under twenty years old or both, this is not that great of a concern unless you are eating deep fried chocolate donuts and dipping them in butter six times a day.

I have worked with plenty of guys who could eat whatever they wanted to and could still stay lean. In that case you have no excuse for not being able to pack on twenty pounds in a couple months.

If you have trouble staying lean there are a few adjustments you need to make. First off, you need to make smarter food choices. Eat lean proteins like chicken, fish, eggs, lean red meat and cottage cheese instead of burgers, hot dogs and pork chops. Next, be sure to keep your carb sources clean as well. This means fruits and veggies are at the top of the list followed by oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, and sweet potatoes. By now everyone knows the benefits of eating good fats like fish oil so I won't bore people to death with that.

If just eating clean is not enough then we move onto more advanced strategies like carb cycling and calorie cycling. This takes some time to explain but to make it really simple for everyone, you should eat more calories and carbs on training days than you do on non training days. Bottom line. Training days are higher calorie days, off days are lower calorie days; pretty simple. Of course it's more complicated than that but that's the gist of it.

Question: What are the biggest mistakes you see people make when trying to pack on muscle? Is it usually related to nutrition or training?

Answer: It's hard to say if it's one or the other because they do go hand in hand. But if I had to pick I would say it's gotta be training. It doesn't matter how great your diet is, if your training sucks, you're not gonna make progress.

But, you know what, I'm not even going to cover the training mistakes that people make because looking at that is missing the bigger picture. You know what the biggest mistake people make really is? The one thing that everyone seems to do these days, especially with all of the conflicting information that is out there?

It is a lack of consistency and a lack of belief in what you are doing. There is so much information out there these days that people don't know who or what to believe. And because of this they are confused. They are constantly reading something different and always in search of the next best thing. They do a workout for a week or two and then read so and so's new article about changing your tempo every rep or some brand new way to fire up the CNS or some nonsense and they try that system. A week or two later they decide that is not working so they switch to something else. And so on and so on.

If you are always changing programs and training philosophies how can you ever make progress? You can't; it's that simple. If you don't believe in what you are doing you will never, ever be successful. That is a universal principle that applies to everything in life. It has to apply to your training if you ever want to make real progress. You can use the crappiest training program in the world but if you are consistent, have the balls to train the way you really should and really and truly believe in what you are doing, you will get results.

Pick a training program, system or philosophy and stick with it; believe in what you are doing and train your ass off. You can't fail if you do that.

Question: Okay so tell us a little about Muscle Gaining Secrets. What makes this stand out from other products?

Answer: Well, first of all I tried to make it more of an entertaining read than a lot of the stuff out there so I included a lot of stories and personal anecdotes that people could relate to. The topics of sets and reps and proteins and carbs can be kind of boring so I try to spice it up a little bit.

Aside from that, I have tried to make it as simple to understand as possible while still including information that will help anyone from a raw beginner to an advanced lifter. I have had guys who have trained for over twenty years tell me that they learned quite a bit from reading Muscle Gaining Secrets, which makes me very happy to hear. If I can do that while not alienating beginners, then I know I achieved the goal I set out to accomplish.

I have included some unique methods of periodization which have rarely been covered. I detail every single mistake that people make in their training and show how these can be avoided. And of course, a book from me wouldn't be complete without getting politically incorrect and calling bullshit where I see it. I definitely expose a lot of the gimmicks and nonsense that is out there and do my best to help people save time and money and avoid making all the same mistakes that I did.

Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He is the head training adviser for Men's Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more great muscle building information, please visit:

---> www.GainMuscleSecrets.com <---

A Gem Amongst Crap

2007-09-17T09:12:00.000Z

This week I'm very excited, because I've just discovered a new informative resource about bodybuilding. Usually I read only medical studies and scientific books at my local library. I do NOT buy bodybuilding magazines because those magazines are full of crappy information, nutritional supplements ads and fallacies. This the the main problem of most bodybuilding magazines and internet websites. They only tell you half truths and half truths are probably the worst of the lies, because they are credible unless you analyze them deeply.

This is the reason I'm very excited this week. I've just found a small blog written by the top competitors coach: "Doc" Frank. He writes about his personal view of bodybuilding. It does not contain crappy information, only true sound strategies you can immediately use. Besides there is not any kind of advertising in his blog.

If you want to get a higher bodybuilding level just go to:

http://www.MuscleBolism.com

Build More Muscular Mass With The 20 Rep Squat

2007-07-10T09:46:00.000Z

The 20 rep squat - does it work?

If you're bored of your normal run of the mill training programme, here's a new one to shake up your training and kick start your muscle growth into a new phase. Some of you may have heard of the 20-rep squat program at some point along your training life, if not, it's an old-school approach to putting on size that was common a few decades ago when men were men and drugs were unavailable. You do one set of 20 reps of the squat, plus a few other exercises.

Every successive training session you add 5-10 lbs to your squat weight. It has been touted as one of the most effective programs ever designed for adding muscular size and strength in a short period of time, and with good reason; it works!

High rep squats work wonders for building muscular bulk and strength, not just for the legs, but for the entire body. The program is ridiculously simple to follow, brutally hard to do, and extremely productive. It's so productive, in fact, that I have never ever heard of anyone who did a version of this program correctly and didn't gain muscle size and strength.

Whenever I have a client who wants to get big in as little time as possible, this is where we begin. I am going to outline a 6 week program that has put slabs of muscle on everyone who has ever followed it. It is time to stop living in Tiny Town. This is your ticket to Hugeville.

Get into the right Mental focus

Before discussing the actual program, you must understand the psychology of 20-rep squatting. You can't just go to the gym, put some plates on the bar, start squatting and hope for the best. This program is as much about focus and mental toughness as it is physical exercise, probably more.

You have to be mentally prepared or you will not make it. Pain and fear will be there with you, tempting you to stop, telling you to give up. Your body will be screaming for you to listen to them, and the little voice in your head will be begging you to do cease and desist. Tell them to shut up. You've got some growing to do!

Squatting a heavy weight for 20 reps will not feel natural for your body. It will hurt. You will feel dizzy and light-headed. You will probably want to vomit. Go ahead. Your body may decide to completely shut down and leave you in the bottom of a squat, unable to rise. Obviously, safety is of primary concern.

DO NOT attempt a 20 rep squat program without a power rack, safety pins or a spotter. Being stuck under a heavy barbell in the bottom of a squat with no place to go while you are gasping for air is not a good scenario.

The Training Program

Let's jump right into it. The heart and soul of this program is the barbell squat, done for 20 reps. Please notice I didn't say the “Smith machine squat,” or any other machine squat, for that matter. There are tons of gimmicky machines that promise to deliver a “safer” squat.

You'll be plenty safe as long as you are in a power cage or have sturdy safety pins for your squat rack or a trusty strong spotter. Moreover, your technique will always be your greatest safety. Before I proof this section, it's important that you note whether this is an Olympic squat or a powerlifting squat; the techniques will be entirely different.

I tend to favor a more powerlifting-based approach in squat technique because it suits my body type. If you are unsure of your technique, find an experienced powerlifter (preferably one who has competed) and ask him to teach you the proper form.

Proper form is vital:

A straight (not to be confused with upright) back is core to a good squat. Keep a fairly close grip on the bar and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Push up on the bar slightly as if you were going to do a behind-the-neck press. Do this before you ever lift the bar clear of the pins. The purpose of this is two-fold: it will create a “shelf” just below the traps for the bar to rest on and the tension in the shoulders and upper back will stimulate the upper body while keeping it rigid and safe.

The feet should turn out slightly for most people and the knees should track over the toes. Do not allow the knees to buckle in at any time. If they do, you will die.

Your gaze should be forward or slightly upward. Looking down will round your back and compromise your structure. This increases the chance of injury. Your body tends to follow your head. Rolling a bar over the back of your head in the middle of a squat set does not make for productive training. Keep the abdomen tight and keep the anus contracted, especially in the bottom position. It sounds strange, I know, but there are horror stories throughout the iron community about people who neglected this important point. Load the bar, get under it, tense up, and lift it clear of the pins. Step back, take a deep breath and begin. Squat all the way down, at least to parallel. Come back up, take a few deep breaths, and squat again. The further you get into the set, the more of an issue breath becomes.

In fact, old-timers sometimes called them “breathing squats”. By the time you get to the last few agonizing reps, you will be doing more breathing than squatting. One of the reasons so much growth is stimulated on this program is that the muscles of the upper body are constantly working to support the weight and to fill the lungs with air. Take as many deep breaths as necessary between reps. You must keep complete focus throughout the entire set. Convince yourself before you even get under the bar that you WILL NOT quit. The only reason to stop short of 20 reps is going into the hole and being physically unable to stand back up. It is going to happen at some point; you will get into the bottom position and your legs will simply stop working. That's okay; next time you simply load the bar to the same weight and attack it again.

The length of the cycle is six weeks. This is a good amount of time for building size and strength without going into overtraining and burnout. Longer than six weeks usually amounts to diminishing returns. The standard protocol in the beginning is to train three times per week on non-consecutive days.

For example, the classic Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule works perfectly. If you are not recovering well, you may train twice per week. The first time I tried this routine, I did well with MWF. A few months later, after I had done a couple of 20-rep cycles, I had great results training only on Tuesday and Friday. By this time, I had learned to focus better and was using fairly heavy weights, so the extra recovery was more warranted and well appreciated for me.

I have heard many different ideas concerning weight selection, and I believe that it is good to begin with the end in mind, especially for a first-timer on this program. Most people can reasonably expect to be squatting their 5-rep max (5RM) for 20 by the 6-week mark. To determine your starting weight, take your current 5RM and subtract 5 lbs for each scheduled workout. So, if your current 5RM is 315 lbs and you are planning to train three times per week for 6 weeks (18 workouts), you should begin with 225 lbs, as 18 workouts x 5lbs per workout = 90lbs. Subtract 90 from 315 and you get 225. Simple enough.

After your squats, do a light set of pullovers for about 20-25 reps. I recommend using a 25lb plate and doing them across a bench, but you can use a dumbbell if you like. Think of this as a recovery aid more than an exercise. Stick with the same light weight for the duration of the cycle. Other exercises are added based on your recovery ability. You should include at least one pressing movement and a pulling movement but you can add more if you feel like you can adequately recovery from the additional volume. Listen to your body; if it gets to be too much, you can always drop a set or two later.

A sample program for someone with good recovery ability might look like this:

Squat: 1×20
Pullovers : 1×20
Deadlift: 1×15
Bench Press: 2-3 x 10
Seated row: 2-3×15
Shoulder press : 2-3 x 12

I personally am not a fan of single-joint movements such as curls and calf raises in spite of the fact that they show up in most of the “classic” 20-rep squatting programs. I believe that you get enough stimulation through the compound exercises listed. If your ego simple can't get by without doing a set or two of curls, add them at the end. For those who tend to recovery poorly, here is a more abbreviated program that has worked for everyone with whom I have ever used it:

An abreviated program, for those that need more recovery:

Squat: 1×20
Pullovers: 1×20
Deadlift: 1×15
Parallel Dip: 2×10
Seated row: 2×10

Notice the squats are first here. This is to get the most painful part out of the way early. Rest as long as you need to between sets. You may substitute chins for the rows and bench presses for the dips. Stay away from the pulldown machine and the pec dec; just imagine that you are in a time when such things didn't exist! If you choose to do dips or chins, add weight as soon as you are strong enough to do so.

After six weeks of this, switch to something else. The classic 5×5 routine is a good choice, as is a more conventional bodybuilding routine. Wait at least six weeks before giving the 20-rep squats another go-round.

Recommended nutritional requirements

To get big, you must eat big. Meat, cheese, fruits, and vegetables are in order. Even though you are purposely consuming lots of calories, don't fill up on bad calories, such as; pizza, donuts, cookies, crisps, etc… You need quality in your calories as well as quantity. The nutritional “secret weapon” of the original program was milk, but now that has been replaced by whey protein. Milk was a huge component of the original 20-rep programs years ago - so big a component, in fact, that it was sometimes called the “Squats and Milk Program.” It worked then, but today you can expect even better results with whey protien, which has even better research than the casein found in milk. For maximum results on this type of protein expect to consumer at least 2lbs per kilo, ie: an 80kg male would need 160gm of protein per day on a bulking cycle from food and protein powders combined. Stick to quality whey proteins with low lactose levels to ensure you keep good digestion and wind free.

Typical menu:

Here is an example of a typical day's eating for this program back in the day:

Breakfast
3-4 eggs with cheese
2 slices of toast
1 glass of milk or whey protein shake

AM Snack
whey protein powder or weight gainer (depends on calorie requirements)

Lunch
Sandwich (i.e. meat, cheese, tuna, etc.)
Fruit
Salad
1 glass of milk or whey protein shake

Afternoon Snack
Piece of fruit
1 glass of milk or whey protein shake.

Dinner
Steak, chicken, or fish
Pasta, rice, or potatoes
Steamed veggies
Salad

PM Snack
whey protein shake mixed with milk (to slow digestion)

This is just a suggestion. Customize your food intake to suit your personal tastes, but make sure you eat plenty of food, keep protein intake high and eat often, at least every 2-3 hours to prevent hunger and your body from losing its positive nitrogen balance and slipping into a catabolic state. Drink plenty of water throughout the day as well. To make the old-school approach a little more modern, add a good EFA supplements to insure that you are getting enough healthy fat.

This is a good program for loading up on Creatine too. Take care not to eat for at least an 1.5 hours before your workout to minimize being sick in the gym; most gym owner's frown on such things.

I strongly recommend taking a good Creatine suppplement.

What to do when you're not in the Gym

On days when you are not in the gym, doing some active recovery such as walking or swimming, as doing so will help reduce soreness and flush the lactic acid out of the body. Daily stretching and if you can afford it or get a free one at home, a sports massage every week or two will also help in recovery. Strenuous activity such as intense cardio or hard sports should be avoided since you want all available energy and recovery to go into building muscle. Get lots of sleep: 8-9 hours per night and sneak a nap in whenever you can, this will keep natural testosterone and growth hormone levels high, which will increase muscle growth.

If you follow the guidelines I have set forth for you, you can realistically expect to gain 10 to 15lbs in the next six weeks, although lots of people will gain even more than that. Either way start saving up for new clothes, because by the end of the program, you will need them.

How To Burn Fat, Law # 6

2007-04-24T09:24:00.000Z

When "dieting", don't restrict your calories too much or too drastically or for to long of a time or else you'll ending up losing a lot of muscle and very little fat.

REASON:

The body's main purpose is to stay in "homeostasis" or to basically stay balanced at all times. It does this mainly through adaptation by a system of checks and balances. For example, when you reduce calories too much or for too long, the body thinks it's starving and it won't be able to find food.

It begins to go into "hibernation" mode and it does this by slowing down your metabolism and reducing thyroid output and also, by preserving FAT for survival and burning up muscle, since muscle requires more calories for existence.

As you can see, this would defeat our purpose. So, at times, it's best to reduce calories by 10% every 2-3 weeks and at the same time, expend more energy through exercising.

There is no need to do too much, too soon. Do a little, your body will be okay with it and around 14-21 days, it will begin to adapt and that's when you'll need to once again, reduce calories by another 10%.

In fact, one of our protocols we use is to reduce calories by 10% for weeks 1+2, then increase exercising by 10% or 20-30 minutes 3x a week for weeks 3+4. This is one month. Then, repeat the second month by further reducing calories by another 10% for weeks 5+6 and then after two weeks, increasing your workouts a little more during weeks 7+8.

By just going back and forth and reducing food a little for 2 weeks and then adding more exercise for 2 weeks and so forth, you'll keep your body happy, burning fat and preserving muscle. Obviously, you can't do this forever and after 3 months, it's time for a break by increasing calories for about a week. But this is good for now and we'll get into specifics in the future.

How To Burn Fat, Law # 5

2007-04-22T08:48:00.000Z

For further clarification on previous posts, you should try to eat your protein/carbohydrate meals during the first half of the day if possible and your protein/fat meals during the second half of the day.

REASON:

This again has to do with managing your insulin levels. But also, keep in mind that carbs are used for quick and instant energy. When you have carbs during the early part of the day, you can utilize the calories for the rest of the day since you will be active. But when eating carbs late at night and going to bed afterwards, the carb calories will get stored mostly as fat.

There is an exception to the rule in that immediately after exercising, it's a good idea to have a protein/carb meal without any fat. I know many people exercise after they leave work, later in the day ... so have some carbs after your workout will be beneficial and help speed up recovery.

Just don't over do it!

How To Burn Fat, Law # 4

2007-04-05T00:21:00.000Z

As stated in the previous post (How To Burn Fat, Law # 3), you do need to eat some amount of healthy fats every day (about 15%-20% of your diet) It's best to do so with protein meals and as well, more so later on in the day. Healthy fats would consist of uncooked/raw nuts, flaxseed oil, extra virgin olive oil and fish oils (capsules).

REASON:

Fats are very important in that they slow digestion and hence, reduce insulin secretion and at the same time, keep you from getting hungry quickly after a meal. They are also beneficial because they create good hormones and enzymes, which are needed to build muscle and reduce body fat.

The hard part or real secret is that fats should NOT BE HEATED! Hence, you have some raw almonds ... or a tea spoon of flaxseed oil in your protein shake or a bit of olive oil on top of your salad. When you cook/heat/fry fats, they become hydrogenated and they aren't as beneficial for your body ... not to mention, they can increase the potential of getting cancer.

I'm not saying go overboard here ... but a little bit of healthy fats a day will keep your skin looking younger, increase your sex drive, lubricate your joints and reduce pains and arthritis and has host of other benefits.

How To Burn Fat, Law # 3

2007-03-29T09:47:00.000Z

Combine your foods ... Don't eat ONLY protein for a meal or only carbohydrates. It's best to eat protein, carbs AND fats together. Most importantly (and hardest to follow) is do NOT eat HIGH carbs with HIGH fat. Hence, the best tasting foods like pizza, muffins, chips, cookies, and cakes are all full of sugar and fat and that's why they are also the worse for your body!

REASON:

By food combining and eating each of the 3 macro nutrients in one meal, you help control insulin levels. Also, each of the food groups produces enzymes needed to help digest the other food group. Basically, they work together and are meant to be eaten together.

Now, the reason you should NOT have high carb/fat meals is because high carbs increases blood sugar and insulin levels. When you have high insulin, the food eaten will be directed to the cells. The last thing we want is to have the recent fat in the meal directed to our cells.

Does this make sense?

Basically, it's best to have high protein/high carbs/low fat ... or ... high protein/medium fats/low carbs.

But NEVER high carbs/high fats/low protein.

Now, I know this isn't always possible ... especially when eating out, or when you are at a party or with friends or whatever. Try to do it most of the time. And other times that you can't, take a supplement which Blocks fat and carb calories from being absorbed and hence, turning into fat.

How To Burn Fat, Law # 2

2007-03-20T11:20:00.000Z

Eat more of your calories at the beginning of the day and less at night. Meals 1-3 should be bigger than meals 4-6, and meal 1 should be the biggest, while meal 6 the smallest.

REASON:

Your metabolism is faster at the beginning of the day, versus at night time and hence, you'll burn and absorb the day-time calories. This way, you can typically eat MORE total calories without getting fat, rather than if you ate more at night.

Also, your insulin receptors work better during the day since you have less cortisol. At night, you have more stress hormones like cortisol released, which readily turn food into fat (hence, why most get sugar cravings at NIGHT time and don't feel like eating much during the day).

Additionally, try to have more of your carbohydrates during the day-meals and more protein during the evening meals. Again, all of this having to do with your insulin and cortisol, how to manipulate them and work WITH them, rather than against them.

Probably the hardest part about all of this this is having to eat LESS at night time, especially carbohydrates. I know for me and most everyone I know, we all tend to crave sugars and carbs more so at night, than during the day.

Some people use supplements to get rid of sugar cravings, but even if you don't use them, that's fine. Just tough it out the first few weeks of this new diet and your body will slowly adjust and adapt and you won't crave sugars as much - especially if you are eating often through out the day as mentioned in How To Burn Fat | Law # 1

How To Burn Fat, Law # 1

2007-03-06T10:24:00.000Z

Eat More OFTEN, To Burn More FAT!

Don't go too long without eating something (preferably containing some protein). You should be eating every 3-4 waking hours. If you are having "hunger pains" through out the day, chances are you aren't eating often enough.

REASON:

The more often you eat, the faster your metabolism becomes because it has to WORK to digest your food. If it works 6x a day, versus only 2-3 times, you'll burn more calories and even more importantly, DIGEST your food better and hence, the calories will be directed more towards energy, repair, muscles, etc. ... rather than the fat cells.

The Thermic Effect of Feeding (TEF) represents the additional caloric expenditure (above resting metabolism) that it takes to digest, absorb, and process the food you eat. Studies on the thermic effect of different foods have been important in describing the different effects of the macronutrients on metabolism.

The TEF lasts from between one to four hours after eating a meal. When adding up the thermic effects from each of your meals, this extra metabolism represents between 5% and 15% of your total daily energy expenditure. Therefore, if your daily energy expenditure is 3,000kcal, about 150 to 450kcal of that comes from the TEF. Interestingly, different macronutrients tend to have different effects on metabolism.

Welle et al. (1981) and Robinson et al (1990) demonstrated that during a normal six hour period of rest and fasting (basal metabolism), subjects burn about 270kcal. When eating a single 400kcal meal of carbs alone (100g) or fat alone (44g), the energy burned during this six hour period reached 290kcal (an additional 20kcal). Interestingly, when eating 400kcal of protein alone (100g) the subjects burned 310kcal during this six hour period (an additional 40kcal). Therefore, protein alone had double the thermogenic power vs. fat or carbs alone!

Another reason is if we wait too long to eat, most of us are so hungry that we'll pretty much eat anything in front of us that's fast and convenient and that usually translates to junk food. But by eating more often, you feel somewhat satisfied through out the day, you won't have cravings as much and when it's time to eat, you can logically choose healthier foods rather then turning into a wild animal and devouring everything in sight.

Also, when you don't eat for 5-6+ hours ... your blood sugar drops and you become fatigued and can't think straight or concentrate. Then, when you begin to eat, there is a massive surge of insulin and there is a "rebound effect" and you'll have very HIGH insulin levels, which means your food gets converted to FAT much more readily.

If you are use to only eating 2-3 meals a day, then start to add in a simple snack here and there and slowly train your body and mind to eat more often. A good snack would be something that contains both protein and carbohydrate - something like yogurt or cottage cheese or half a sandwich.

Or, just cut your lunch in HALF and have one half at noon and the other half around 3 pm. Just be careful that you don't increase your TOTAL calories by having the snacks in ADDITION to all your regular meals.

Remember, eat smaller, but more often. Split your lunch and dinner into TWO parts and basically, have 4 mini-meals. I know for some it's a hard habit, but you'll feel and look so much better! Just start slowly ...

Now, the whole point of eating smaller, frequent meals is to SPEED UP YOUR METABOLISM, without having to DECREASE calories and starve yourself.

7 Methods To Get Massive Arms

2007-02-27T14:24:00.000Z

Q. I'm doing the standing barbell curl, the seated dumbbell curl and the standing dumbbell curl, three sets of each, but my arms aren't growing. What am I doing wrong?

A. There are at least seven reasons why your arms aren't growing:

l. The three exercises you're using are similar. More varied exercises may be more effective - for example; standing barbell curl, incline supinating dumbbell curl and hammer curl. The two biggest contributors to your front arm mass are your biceps and your brachialis. The brachialis is beneath the biceps.

Both muscles are called arm flexors. The biceps also supinates the forearm. To supinate your forearm, turn your hand so that your thumb rotates outwardly. You can't do this with a barbell. With dumbbells, start with your elbows straight and hands parallel to each other, or palms down. As you curl, rotate your hands (and thus your wrists and forearms) outwardly as much as possible. On the descent, reverse the movement and pronate your forearms.

2. Your exercise technique isn't correct. Lift the weight, no faster than two seconds up and another two seconds down; and don't cheat. Lift the resistance and lower it. Don't heave it up and drop it. Reduce your weights, if necessary, and use correct technique.

3. You're doing too much arm work. Cut back to a warm-up set and a single work set for the first arm exercise, and then a single work set for each of the other two exercises. Do this no more than two times a week, but make your sets INTENSE, and add a LITTLE weight to each exercise when possible, but without compromising on exercise technique. Three hard sets for your arms is sufficient. Your arms are given additional work in rows, pulldowns, and chin-ups, so it’s easy to overwork them.

4. There's more to arm work than just working your arm flexors. There's the triceps (back of the arm) which provides a greater proportion of arm size than the arm flexors. So be sure that you're not neglecting your triceps, otherwise you’ll never end up with big thick powerful arms.

5. You're not letting your arms recover enough. If you cut corners on your nutrition and have to be woken by an alarm clock on a regular basis (ie: less than 7-8 hours sleep), you are cutting corners on your recuperation, which will harm your bodybuilding progress. Don't forget that if you're looking to pack on extra muscle and that means bigger arms also, you have to increase your protein intake, if you can't eat enough food, you'll need a good whey protein, such as CytoSport Cyto Gainer and nothing beats Creatine for increasing strength and size also.

6. I don't know how long you've trained, or how big your arms are. If they are 17 inches or larger (and you can see your abs), you're likely to have achieved a superb level of arm development. Obviously if you are holding a lot of fat, your arms could be much bigger. Muscles don't grow indefinitely, and very few men have the genetics for a lean body with muscular arms bigger than 17 inches.

7. My best trick however to make your arms look massive is to train forearms. Years ago I saw a guy in the gym that had the most fantastic foreams, he was training them every time he did arms and the top of his forearms were the same size as his biceps, with veins running all over them. It just looked freaky. It is a very neglected bodypart, but one that can dramatically improve the size of your arms. I recommend doing forearms wrist curls and reverse curls when you train arms and then playing with a power ball every other day,

Squats | The King Of Exercises For Muscle Mass

2007-02-20T10:36:00.000Z

Going back a generation famous bodybuilding guys like Reg Park, Bill Pearl, Arnold and Franco all built their huge physiques with hard work on basic compound movements. Of those compound movements the squat (click for video) was considered the keystone, the focal point of the routine. Powerlifters too recognised that the squat was the barometer of their power, a gauge by which they could accurately calculate their peaking cycle. Yes, it was no secret that the squat, when worked sensibly but hard, produced phenomenal gains - it was considered the King of Lifts

A generation later and in many gyms, not all, but in many, the full squat is a forgotten movement. Many who do squat do not squat at all, they curtsy with the weight doing quarter squats for the pose. The squat rack is shunned in favour of the 45 degree angle leg press - why - because it's easier to look good with all those 45 pound plates on each side.

Is the King of Lifts - the Squat - losing it's crown?
To answer that for oneself, simply look at the top bodybuilders and powerlifters. One will note that the top men in either drug-free associations or others exhibit a thickness that can only be achieved from years of work on the heavy compound movements, the key of those movements being the squat. Yes, the top men in either bodybuilding or powerlifting recognised the squat for the truly great growth builder it is. Why, then, is the squat not a popular movement in many gyms?

Two main reasons are the answers:

Laziness.
Incorrect technique.

Let's address the first reason - laziness. Squatting is hard work - it can be uncomfortable, it requires full concentration on the job in hand. Squatting works nearly the whole body - calves, quads, hamstrings, lower back, glutes, abdominals, heart and lungs etc. Because you, the lifter have to balance the weight, the body's stabilising muscles are also brought into play

Compare that with the leg press machine. No stabilising muscles are brought into play because the lifter is pushing the weight stack in a groove dictated by the machine. The lower bark muscles are not worked as the back is fully braced by the leg press seat. A lifter/bodybuilder who exclusively works the leg press and shuns the squat will not have built the power to squat with serious weight. Conversely, the lifter who squats regularly can cross over to the leg press effectively and use plenty of weight.

Judge yourself by the weight you are shifting in the compound movements. It is true that the top bodybuilders use exercises such as the leg press, leg extensions, lunges, etc but they have built their size and these exercises are movements for finishing and striating. A beginner or intermediate would do far better to shun these finishing exercises in favour of the squat. By the way, don't judge yourself as an advanced bodybuilder/powerlifter by the number of years you've been in the game, judge yourself honestly by the weight you are shifting in the compound movements.

Regardless of how many years you have been in the game if you have never squatted 500lbs you are still an intermediate. Yes that statement will anger some and hurt their pride but if it gets them in the squat rack it's worth it.

Lets move on to the 2nd point; Incorrect technique. If you've been in the game a while I'm sure you will have seen the lifter I am now going to describe. He will pack 45 pound plates on the squat rack, make lots of noise so that he has everyone's attention and then proceed to do quarter squats and thinks he's doing well.

Funny though, because he'll keep his legs covered up all the time with tracksuit bottoms. Why? because from his quarter squats, he still has little or no development of the legs. Get the picture? When you squat, squat at least to parallel. Full range movements are the movements that will give you the best results. Remember though, that when you do squat, concentrate fully on the DESCENT. In-depth research has proved that the beginner / intermediate often has a descent speed 3 times that of a world class lifter. In short, the world class lifter has learned to control the descent speed and thus can lift more. When you squat, focus fully on the descent and the ascent will be a lot easier.

There is so much that can be said about this great movement, but, in summary if you don't squat then make a decision to incorporate this exercise into your daily routine. Train the squat sensibly and supplement your diet wisely. Plan your squat routine over a 4 to 6 month period setting achievable short term goals along the way. After working hard for 4 to 6 months, assess your gains and then you will agree, that yes, the squat, is still the King of the Lifts.

When you've got the squat mastered, the next best thing is to add in a powerfull high calorie weight gainer, like CytoSport Cyto Gainer. This contains high quality whey protein, complex carbs and special fats such as MCT's and EFA's, that promote health and provide calorie dense energy. With the added calories or extra protein you'll find your legs grow like never before and your body takes on a thicker more mature kind of muscle. For some extra edge I recommend Novex Biotech Endothil-CR. During a double-blind, six-week body-building study, the active compound in Endothil-CR increased upper body strength by 100% and lower body strength by 249% after concentrated exercise (as measured by the amount of weight participants could bench press and leg press). And biceps circumference increased dramatically over placebo... more than a four-fold increase in circumference versus almost no increase with the placebo group (who were on the same body-building program).

The Creatine Report

2007-02-18T18:34:00.000Z

A Free and Indepth Report On Creatine's Usage in Sports , Health and Anti Aging.

In this report you will learn: what creatine is and how it works, and what it may do for you. This excellent free report exposes the facts and fiction of creatine, and details it's effects on the brain, heart, the body's production of growth hormone, anti-aging effects, fatigue, muscle atrophy, Parkinson's disease, and much more!

You'll also learn how to use creatine properly, as well as topics such as purity, safety, and loading are fully explained... And of course, as with all Will Brink's writing, it's based on the actual studies with creatine and backed up with scientific references, not conjecture and pseudo science many self proclaimed "experts" rely on.

Will Brink's Bodybuilding Revealed Review

2007-02-14T00:22:00.000Z

Brink's Bodybuilding Revealed [BBR], consists of the BBR 630 page e-book, a number of high quality bonuses and 12 months access to the private members area that accompanies the e-book.

The BRR E-book.

At the heart of the BBR system is the BBR e-book. Some 630 pages of quality information that forms a unique and powerful bodybuilding system. The e-book is split up into 5 components which are each covered in depth and allow the user to follow a clear blue print to achieve the lean mass results they are looking for.

The 5 components of the e-book are:

Nutrition and Muscle Building Diet.

Supplement Reviews & Advice (Over 50 reviews are included).

Training - From beginner to Advanced.

Cardio / HIIT

Motivation and the Mental Edge.

The BBR Bonus Material

With the BBR system customers receive 5 additional reports.

The 5 Reports are:

Individualization Of Mass Gaining Principles by Charles Poliquin B.Sc M. Sc.

DOMS : Misconceptions of Muscle Soreness by Evan Peck MD

Periodization: Overcoming Training Plateaus by Evan Peck MD

Weight Training Injuries : How to Avoid & Treat Them by Evan Peck MD

Hybrid Training Solutions by Will Brink.

Click Here For Further Information

The BRR Private Members Area

In addition to the quality bonus material BBR customers receive, a large part of the value a customer receives when purchasing BBR is the 12 months access to the BBR private members area.

In the BBR members area, customers have access to a vast number of high quality tools:

Some of these tools include:

1 on 1 on access to Will Brink and paid, trained coaches.
A highly organized and moderated private forum.
An online Diet Planner which amongst other functionality, allows users to store their diets, create recipes, view their progress, tally macro nutrients, create meals, provide a visual graph of LBM gained and fat lost, and log every single piece of food the eat with real time analysis. In general keep a tight grip on their muscle building diet.
Exercise Videos: Customers can watch all the exercises from the training section with online videos.
Nutrition Database, allows customers to find out the protein, fat, carb and other values of over 20,000 foods, these can then be implemented as custom foods into the Diet Planner.
Gallery, users can upload photos and get feedback from others.
Pre Made Diets and Workout Charts, customers can download dozens of pre made diets in Excel/PDF format, as well as printable workout charts for all the workouts in the e-book (including charts for Charles Poliquin's section)
Daily motivation quotes and a weekly bodybuilding video are shown.
Users can chat in real time with the popular chat box.
Resources, such as body fat % calculators, 1 rep max calculator are all included.
Guru Articles, a section with exclusive content from authors such as Will Brink, Tom Venuto, Charles Staley, Milos, John Berardi and others.

"Bodybuilding Revealed" Rating

Click Here For Further Information

2 Crucial Components To Build Muscle Faster

2007-02-04T11:00:00.000Z

"I want to build muscle faster"

This is the main goal of my readers for sure. Probably your training experience is bigger than the usual 2-3 months (My intention is adding an online poll to take a clear picture about my readers profile) Anyway, you already know that muscle growth can be a painfully slow process. High intensity weight training 3-4 times per week, properly eat high quality foods and rest adequately, and still you look the same in the mirror. 99% of my readers are in the same situation.

If your goal is stepping on the scales a few short weeks from now with a lot more muscle than you have today, there are two powerful nutrients proven to deliver the results you're looking for. Their properties to build muscle have been revealed in an exciting study published in the scientific journal Nutrition (volume 17, pages 558-566). Before I show you the results, here's some vital background info you should know...

Creatine has been a great hit in the gyms. It is probably one of the most effective and most used nutrients available, there are literally hundreds of studies to show that creatine will help you build muscle quicker; get stronger and give your muscles a fuller, more "pumped" look. When you combine it with HMB, a compound found naturally in meat (though you'll need to eat around six pounds of meat every day to get enough) the results are really more impressive.

HMB is a very powerful anti-catabolic ingredient. What does this mean? Your muscles grow by a circular process of synthesising and breaking down proteins. If you want bigger, stronger muscles, you need to alter this cycle. That means either speeding up synthesis (anabolism) and/or slowing the rate of breakdown (catabolism). Muscle growth is the balance between the amount of protein your body makes and the amount it breaks down. Creatine is highly anabolic, while HMB is a powerful anti-catabolic. That's why HMB and creatine are the perfect combination for anyone who wants to pack on muscle without gaining fat.

The theory sounds great, doesn't it? But does it work in practice? The answer is a resounding "yes!" Researchers from Poland's Institute of Sport and Physical Education have put the creatine/HMB combo to the test. Their exciting results show that creatine and HMB work better together than either nutrient taken alone.

Subjects using HMB, for example, were able to lift a total of 86 pounds more weight (above the placebo group) at the end of the three-week study than they could at the start. Gains were similar (83 pounds) in the group using creatine. However, participants using both creatine and HMB were able to lift a whopping 114 pounds more (above the placebo group) than they could at the start of the study. In other words, the combination of creatine and HMB is over 30% more powerful than HMB alone at increasing strength.

What's more, not only did test subjects using HMB and creatine get stronger faster, they also found it easier to gain muscle. Participants in the creatine group, for example, gained 2 pounds of lean muscle. However, those using creatine and HMB gained an impressive 3.4 pounds of lean muscle. In fact, the group using creatine and HMB gained three times more muscle than those using HMB alone.

If you want to expand your knowledge about these 2 amazing compounds just lead you to the journal Nutrition (volume 17, pages 558-566 – available from the British Library). But, if you want start right now to immediately pack on muscle, and you want to try the combination of creatine and HMB for yourself, one of the best ways is Nutrabolics Gach with an all-in-one formula, such as, in the precise amounts needed for rapid results.

How To Avoid Post Workout Muscle Pain & Soreness

2007-02-02T14:04:00.000Z

Back when I was in college, caffeine was by far the most-used performance-enhancing drug. The locker room buzz claimed that it not only made exertion feel easier but also helped ease the aches and pains athletes get after competition. All these years later, a new study indicates that the guys were on to something not yet known by doctors.

Researchers from the University of Georgia recently discovered that caffeine in a dose equivalent to two cups of coffee can cut post-gym muscle pain. Their findings - published in The Journal of Pain - showed that caffeine lowered pain by as much as 48 percent. Caffeine actually proved more effective than the common pain relievers naproxen (Aleve), aspirin, and ibuprofen (Advil).

I'm not telling you to down cup after cup of coffee after a workout. Always use caffeine in moderation. Too much can produce side effects like jitteriness or even heart palpitations. And keep in mind that the University of Georgia study also found that those who drank coffee regularly didn't get as much pain relief as those who rarely had caffeinated drinks.

If you don't tolerate caffeine well, here's an alternative for you - without side effects or the risk of addiction: ribose. Taken before working out, this simple sugar reduces or prevents exercise-induced muscle cramping and soreness.

I recommend a dose of two to five grams of Ribose Powder. Just dissolve the pleasant-tasting powder in water. It has worked wonders for both my training partners and me. You can find it at your local nutrition store.

Protein Intake Timing

2007-01-20T17:04:00.000Z

If you are trying to build more muscle mass taking the proper amounts of high quality protein is as important as any barbell or training partner. Remember that anabolism process follow these
steps

Muscular stimulation due high intensity training.
Proper nutrition supplying right amounts of quality nutrients.
Adequate rest time.

Notice that you grow between workouts. But just as with comedy, action movies or hitting the boss up for a raise, timing is everything.

Anabolism factors are very important but timing is important as well. For example, timing your protein intake,before and after your workouts, heavily impacts your muscle building goals.

If you want to optimize your growth try to follow these guidelines, specially at crucial moments:

Breakfast time. Due your body has experience 8 long hours of fast. You need fast absorving protein as whey protein powder or just egg whites.
2 Hours before training use chicken breasts or whey concentrate protein.
Just after the workout use a mix of fast carbohidrates, isolated whey protein powder plus l-glutamine and creatine. If you prefer a predesign drink, I personally use Nutrabolics Anabolic Window.
Before going to bed use a slow absorving high quality protein source as cottage cheese of micellar casein protein. It would be useful adding some essential fatty acids to slow down the absortion rate. My personal choice is CytoSport Muscle Milk.

Adhere to these protein intake timing and your muscle gain goals will be achieved.

Unified Theory Of Nutrition

2007-01-19T09:53:00.000Z

by William D. Brink

When people hear the term Unified Theory, some times called the Grand Unified Theory, or even "Theory of Everything," they probably think of it in terms of physics, where a Unified Theory, or single theory capable of defining the nature of the interrelationships among nuclear, electromagnetic, and gravitational forces, would reconcile seemingly incompatible aspects of various field theories to create a single comprehensive set of equations.

Such a theory could potentially unlock all the secrets of nature and the universe itself, or as theoretical physicist Michio Katu, puts it "an equation an inch long that would allow us to read the mind of God." That's how important unified theories can be. However, unified theories don't have to deal with such heady topics as physics or the nature of the universe itself, but can be applied to far more mundane topics, in this case nutrition.

Regardless of the topic, a unified theory, as sated above, seeks to explain seemingly incompatible aspects of various theories. In this article I attempt to unify seemingly incompatible or opposing views regarding nutrition, namely, what is probably the longest running debate in the nutritional sciences: calories vs. macro nutrients.

One school, I would say the 'old school' of nutrition, maintains weight loss or weight gain is all about calories, and "a calorie is a calorie," no matter the source (e.g., carbs, fats, or proteins). They base their position on various lines of evidence to come to that conclusion.

The other school, I would call more the 'new school' of thought on the issue, would state that gaining or losing weight is really about where the calories come from (e.g., carbs, fats, and proteins), and that dictates weight loss or weight gain. Meaning, they feel, the "calorie is a calorie" mantra of the old school is wrong. They too come to this conclusion using various lines of evidence.

This has been an ongoing debate between people in the field of nutrition, biology, physiology, and many other disciplines, for decades. The result of which has led to conflicting advice and a great deal of confusion by the general public, not to mention many medical professionals and other groups.

Before I go any further, two key points that are essential to understand about any unified theory:

A good unified theory is simple, concise, and understandable even to lay people. However, underneath, or behind that theory, is often a great deal of information that can take up many volumes of books. So, for me to outline all the information I have used to come to these conclusions, would take a large book, if not several and is far beyond the scope of this article.

A unified theory is often proposed by some theorist before it can even be proven or fully supported by physical evidence. Over time, different lines of evidence, whether it be mathematical, physical, etc., supports the theory and thus solidifies that theory as being correct, or continued lines of evidence shows the theory needs to be revised or is simply incorrect. I feel there is now more than enough evidence at this point to give a unified theory of nutrition and continuing lines of evidence will continue (with some possible revisions) to solidify the theory as fact.

"A calorie is a calorie"

The old school of nutrition, which often includes most nutritionists, is a calorie is a calorie when it comes to gaining or losing weight. That weight loss or weight gain is strictly a matter of "calories in, calories out." Translated, if you "burn" more calories than you take in, you will lose weight regardless of the calorie source and if you eat more calories than you burn off each day, you will gain weight, regardless of the calorie source.

This long held and accepted view of nutrition is based on the fact that protein and carbs contain approx 4 calories per gram and fat approximately 9 calories per gram and the source of those calories matters not. They base this on the many studies that finds if one reduces calories by X number each day, weight loss is the result and so it goes if you add X number of calories above what you use each day for gaining weight.

However, the "calories in calories out" mantra fails to take into account modern research that finds that fats, carbs, and proteins have very different effects on the metabolism via countless pathways, such as their effects on hormones (e.g., insulin, leptin, glucagon, etc), effects on hunger and appetite, thermic effects (heat production), effects on uncoupling proteins (UCPs), and 1000 other effects that could be mentioned.

Even worse, this school of thought fails to take into account the fact that even within a macro nutrient, they too can have different effects on metabolism. This school of thought ignores the ever mounting volume of studies that have found diets with different macro nutrient ratios with identical calorie intakes have different effects on body composition, cholesterol levels, oxidative stress, etc.

Translated, not only is the mantra "a calorie us a calorie" proven to be false, "all fats are created equal" or "protein is protein" is also incorrect. For example, we now know different fats (e.g. fish oils vs. saturated fats) have vastly different effects on metabolism and health in general, as we now know different carbohydrates have their own effects (e.g. high GI vs. low GI), as we know different proteins can have unique effects.

The "calories don't matter" school of thought

This school of thought will typically tell you that if you eat large amounts of some particular macro nutrient in their magic ratios, calories don't matter. For example, followers of ketogenic style diets that consist of high fat intakes and very low carbohydrate intakes (i.e., Atkins, etc.) often maintain calories don't matter in such a diet.

Others maintain if you eat very high protein intakes with very low fat and carbohydrate intakes, calories don't matter. Like the old school, this school fails to take into account the effects such diets have on various pathways and ignore the simple realities of human physiology, not to mention the laws of thermodynamics!

The reality is, although it's clear different macro nutrients in different amounts and ratios have different effects on weight loss, fat loss, and other metabolic effects, calories do matter. They always have and they always will. The data, and real world experience of millions of dieters, is quite clear on that reality.

The truth behind such diets is that they are often quite good at suppressing appetite and thus the person simply ends up eating fewer calories and losing weight. Also, the weight loss from such diets is often from water vs. fat, at least in the first few weeks. That's not to say people can't experience meaningful weight loss with some of these diets, but the effect comes from a reduction in calories vs. any magical effects often claimed by proponents of such diets.

Weight loss vs. fat loss!

This is where we get into the crux of the true debate and why the two schools of thought are not actually as far apart from one another as they appear to the untrained eye. What has become abundantly clear from the studies performed and real world evidence is that to lose weight we need to use more calories than we take in (via reducing calorie intake and or increasing exercise), but we know different diets have different effects on the metabolism, appetite, body composition, and other physiological variables...

Brink's Unified Theory of Nutrition

...Thus, this reality has led me to Brink's Unified Theory of Nutrition which states:

"Total calories dictates how much weight a person gains or loses;
macro nutrient ratios dictates what a person gains or loses"

This seemingly simple statement allows people to understand the differences between the two schools of thought. For example, studies often find that two groups of people put on the same calorie intakes but very different ratios of carbs, fats, and proteins will lose different amounts of bodyfat and or lean body mass (i.e., muscle, bone, etc.).

Some studies find for example people on a higher protein lower carb diet lose approximately the same amount of weight as another group on a high carb lower protein diet, but the group on the higher protein diet lost more actual fat and less lean body mass (muscle). Or, some studies using the same calorie intakes but different macro nutrient intakes often find the higher protein diet may lose less actual weight than the higher carb lower protein diets, but the actual fat loss is higher in the higher protein low carb diets. This effect has also been seen in some studies that compared high fat/low carb vs. high carb/low fat diets. The effect is usually amplified if exercise is involved as one might expect.

Of course these effects are not found universally in all studies that examine the issue, but the bulk of the data is clear: diets containing different macro nutrient ratios do have different effects on human physiology even when calorie intakes are identical (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11).

Or, as the authors of one recent study that looked at the issue concluded:

"Diets with identical energy contents can have different effects on leptin concentrations, energy expenditure, voluntary food intake, and nitrogen balance, suggesting that the physiologic adaptations to energy restriction can be modified by dietary composition."(12)

The point being, there are many studies confirming that the actual ratio of carbs, fats, and proteins in a given diet can effect what is actually lost (i.e., fat, muscle, bone, and water) and that total calories has the greatest effect on how much total weight is lost. Are you starting to see how my unified theory of nutrition combines the "calorie is a calorie" school with the "calories don't matter" school to help people make decisions about nutrition?

Knowing this, it becomes much easier for people to understand the seemingly conflicting diet and nutrition advice out there (of course this does not account for the down right unscientific and dangerous nutrition advice people are subjected to via bad books, TV, the 'net, and well meaning friends, but that's another article altogether).

Knowing the above information and keeping the Unified Theory of Nutrition in mind, leads us to some important and potentially useful conclusions:

An optimal diet designed to make a person lose fat and retain as much LBM as possible is not the same as a diet simply designed to lose weight.

A nutrition program designed to create fat loss is not simply a reduced calorie version of a nutrition program designed to gain weight, and visa versa.

Diets need to be designed with fat loss, NOT just weight loss, as the goal, but total calories can't be ignored.

This is why the diets I design for people-or write about-for gaining or losing weight are not simply higher or lower calorie versions of the same diet. In short: diets plans I design for gaining LBM start with total calories and build macro nutrient ratios into the number of calories required. However, diets designed for fat loss (vs. weight loss!) start with the correct macro nutrient ratios that depend on variables such as amount of LBM the person carries vs. bodyfat percent , activity levels, etc., and figure out calories based on the proper macro nutrient ratios to achieve fat loss with a minimum loss of LBM. The actual ratio of macro nutrients can be quite different for both diets and even for individuals.

Diets that give the same macro nutrient ratio to all people (e.g., 40/30/30, or 70,30,10, etc.) regardless of total calories, goals, activity levels, etc., will always be less than optimal. Optimal macro nutrient ratios can change with total calories and other variables.

Perhaps most important, the unified theory explains why the focus on weight loss vs. fat loss by the vast majority of people, including most medical professionals, and the media, will always fail in the long run to deliver the results people want.

Finally, the Universal Theory makes it clear that the optimal diet for losing fat, or gaining muscle, or what ever the goal, must account not only for total calories, but macro nutrient ratios that optimize metabolic effects and answer the questions: what effects will this diet have on appetite? What effects will this diet have on metabolic rate? What effects will this diet have on my lean body mass (LBM)? What effects will this diet have on hormones; both hormones that may improve or impede my goals? What effects will this diet have on (fill in the blank)?

Simply asking, "how much weight will I lose?" is the wrong question which will lead to the wrong answer. To get the optimal effects from your next diet, whether looking to gain weight or lose it, you must ask the right questions to get meaningful answers.

Asking the right questions will also help you avoid the pitfalls of unscientific poorly thought out diets which make promises they can't keep and go against what we know about human physiology and the very laws of physics!

If you want to know my thoughts on the best way to set up a diet to gain weight in the form of muscle while minimizing bodyfat, consider purchasing Body Building Revealed from

www.MuscleBuildingNutrition.com

There are of course many additional questions that can be asked and points that can be raised as it applies to the above, but those are some of the key issues that come to mind. Bottom line here is, if the diet you are following to either gain or loss weight does not address those issues and or questions, then you can count on being among the millions of disappointed people who don't receive the optimal results they had hoped for and have made yet another nutrition "guru" laugh all the way to the bank at your expense.

Any diet that claims calories don't matter, forget it. Any diet that tells you they have a magic ratio of foods, ignore it. Any diet that tells you any one food source is evil, it's a scam. Any diet that tells you it will work for all people all the time no matter the circumstances, throw it out or give it to someone you don't like!