Fitport
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Lots of interesting new research published in the past few days, I’m just going to bundle it all up here and encourage discussion in the comments section instead of dissecting it all myself. Read it, and tell me what you think. Now.
Awesome new product from the good people at Genomyx, they even had the foresight to hire me to do their write-up.
Genomyx is proud to introduce its newest revolutionary product, a scientifically sound, truly advanced fat loss formula.
Pretty much everything in this country is run by the pharmaceutical industry. They have unlimited power and zillions of dollars to convince the general public of anything they want, and they don’t like it when over the counter (OTC) supplements steal their thunder with effective products that can’t be prescribed by a doctor.
As I’ve discussed previously, taking antioxidants before, during, or after exercise is not a smart move (with few exceptions). Yet most popular peri-workout supplements designed to be taken at these times continue to include significant doses of Vitamin C, Vitamin E, NAC, and other conditionally detrimental antioxidants. For a more in depth review of why this is a bad idea, see my article here.
Despite it’s popularity, unstable surface training makes people weaker and slower, and actually activates LESS muscle fibers than doing the same exercises in a stable environment, “core” or otherwise. There’s quite a bit of research on this subject; many more studies like these, but I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this because after awhile it’s like making fun of a handicapped kid. So here’s a few examples.
I found this to be fairly surprising, the fenugreek subjects lost way more body fat and gained quite a bit more strength than their counterparts taking placebos. Fenugreek is super cheap, and has a few other noteworthy benefits as well. It actually works great as an anti-nausea supplement, which is why I always keep a bottle on hand in case I hear a song by One Republic, or find myself watching a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Unique Antioxidant Doesn’t Interfere with Post-Workout Adaptations
Posted: October 24, 2010 in Nutrition, Training
Current research continues to demonstrate that consuming most antioxidants before, during or immediately after exercise interrupts the endogenous recovery process and causes a net loss in rates of protein synthesis, among other things.
How Many Calories does Muscle Really Burn?
Posted: October 22, 2010 in Lifestyle, Nutrition, Training
The metabolic effect of adding muscle is misunderstood and greatly overstated. Most fitness professionals will tell you that each pound of muscle burns an extra 40-50 calories per day, which is just not true. The real number is about 6 calories. So you put on 10 pounds of muscle, and you’re buring an extra 60 calories a day…who cares? Thats a couple bites of a meal.
Interesting new study on fish oil, using a combined 2,400mg of EPA&DHA per day. Keep in mind the subjects were not asked to diet or exercise, just keep on living, and take either Fish Oil, or the placebo (Safflower Oil). The effects would be even more pronounced when following a well designed training and nutrition program.
(For those of you not involved in the fitness industry, this whole article is a joke. A joke in poor taste…the best kind)
Marc: As I’ve gotten to know you and seen what you can do for yourself and clients, it appears you’re pretty smart and you have some lofty goals. So, what’s with all this intelligence and ambition? You do realize you’re ruining it for thousands of low-IQ, attractive women trying to get by on just their looks right?
Jen: Ha! All I can say is that I am just me. I love what I do. I love training, I love nutrition, and I love the science behind it. I love finding information that makes me more effective at what I do, and allows me to positively impact my family, friends and clients. I am a doer. I don’t like to sit still for very long. If I am not engaged in something, I get bored. My life is very goal oriented, although knowing when to put it all down and relax is very key for me. Everybody has a limit; I get busy and stressed out too. In those cases, I simply let go and take time for myself, or give to whomever I’ve been neglecting. Life is too short to base happiness on any one thing. Obsession is only good if it is organized.
A 31 year old girl from Idaho Falls by the name of Jen Heath is starting to make some serious noise in the fitness industry. And not because she wears stripper heels on hardwood floors. Well, not only that. For starters, she’s a mother of four with her pro bodybuilding card, a sought after personal trainer, and a highly successful fitness model. She writes for multiple online magazines including Testosterone.net and Bodybuilding.com, and has a fan club rivaling that of Oprah, Brad Pitt, and Jesus combined. Recently she has even started co-hosting The Fitcast online radio program. So you’re asking, how does she do all of this every day, and not forget that she left her 4 kids locked in a hot car with the windows rolled up? We’re going to find that out, and much more…and we’re going to include some pics that might even turn George Michael straight.
Lose Fat Like You’re on Crack part II, the Interview
Posted: September 16, 2010 in Interviews, Training
Originally published at Metabolic Alchemy here.
So without hesitation I will go right into some questions I’ve had about the program along with Marc’s answers in RED. I invite you to comment on this post with any questions you may have about it as well and I’ll be sure to get the answers!
Marc, first of all thanks for taking the time to respond to these questions. I understand this program has been on the net for a couple of years hasn’t it? Have you had a lot of clients stick with this program all the way to end? What were their results? I understand diet plays a huge role but all things being equal what can a person expect, in the “jump up and down naked in front of the mirror and see what you look like” department? Have you completed this program yourself?
A review of “Lose Fat Like You’re on Crack”, via Metabolic Alchemy
Posted: September 12, 2010 in Interviews, Training
This is Part I of an article published at Metabolic Alchemy covering my popular circuit workout, Lose Fat Like You’re on Crack. In Part II (which should be published shortly), John Stone interviewed me about the program. After you read the article I would encourage you to check out the rest of the Metabolic Alchemy site, lots of great information.
How many times have you heard too much protein will destroy your kidneys? This is a common statement heard when speaking of high protein diets. You would think there should be mounds of evidence indicating this. After all: my doctor or dieteiatan said so. Like many other statements concerning nutrition the above statement cannot be verified by scientific or practical study. Read the rest of this entry »
J Appl Physiol. 2010 Jul 29.
Important role of muscle carnosine in rowing performance.
The role of the presence of carnosine (beta-alanyl-L-histidine) in millimolar concentrations in human skeletal muscle is poorly understood. Chronic oral beta-alanine supplementation is shown to elevate muscle carnosine content and improve anaerobic exercise performance during some laboratory tests, mainly in the untrained. Read the rest of this entry »
Split Squats are a great unilateral exercise for adding muscle and functional strength to the lower body and can also make a demanding addition to a metabolic/conditioning workout, but most people either do them horribly wrong, or don’t realize what they’re targeting. Some people call it a glute exercise, some people call it a quad exercise, and some dipshits do it standing on a bosu ball and call it a stability exercise. The first two are kind of right, it’s both. But with some small tweaks you can change the emphasis and get more of what you want.
Personal Trainers are typically under-educated with little understanding of the fields of study relating to their job. Frighteningly, any chump with a few hundred bucks and an outdated manual can become certified. Because of this prevalence of underachievers, trainers are forced to fabricate ridiculous ideas of what they should be doing with clients, and in fact, what the purpose of a trainer really is. Following is a review of the most frequent offenses personal trainers commit, giving the industry a bad name, and leaving me with funny things to write about.
Christian Thibaudeau is an Olympic Lifter, Bodybuilder, and highly sought after Strength Coach. He currently writes for Testosterone Magazine, and has been pumping out high quality articles for as long as I can remember. As a fan of the iconic contributors to the field such as Mel Siff, Vladimir Zatsiorski, Charlie Francis, Fret Hatfield, Charles Poliquin, Pierre Roy, etc., I rarely find current fitness writers that bring something new to the table. Christian is this guy. Recently, he published a few articles covering a concept he calls “The Perfect Rep”, which is what I wanted to talk to him about today. He really unloaded some good info here, so enjoy.
A winter picture for a summer article? Yes, because the applicability of Rocky in any situation transcends all seasons.
Chris is a strength coach and the Lead Trainer for ADAPT Training in Beaverton Oregon. He’s NSCA certified and has been involved in the fitness industry one way or another for over 10 years now. He also used to be the lead singer of a metal band and has been set on fire countless times.
At ADAPT Training in Beaverton, Oregon, I’m fortunate to have two flights of stadium-style stairs for personal and group usage. Each step measures about 13 inches apart from the next, which by itself creates plenty of demand on the hip flexors and extensors. The stair routines we design for our intermediate/advanced clients serve as some of the most sadistic workouts around. I am going to share one of those with you today.
This is one of those studies that causes people to flip out and lose their composure, taking sides and fighting to the death. Or at least until they make fools of themselves. So I’m just going to post the study, and refrain from commentary. I’ll leave the rest to the readers…feel free to discuss.
Gilligan and The Skipper, seen here pain free.
J Pain. 2010 Apr 23. [Epub ahead of print]
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) Reduces Muscle Pain Caused by Eccentric Exercise.
Abstract
Ginger has been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects in rodents, but its effect on human muscle pain is uncertain. Heat treatment of ginger has been suggested to enhance its hypoalgesic effects. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 11 days of raw (study 1) and heat-treated (study 2) ginger supplementation on muscle pain.
Two schools of thought tend to exist about coconut oil:
- The Uninformed: It’s a saturated fat and it’s horrible for you. Don’t smell it, don’t look at it, and don’t let your kids play at friends houses whose parents use it.
- The Overzealous: It’s the most amazing thing on the planet; it will cure AIDS, give you the energy of Robert Downey Jr. on a coke binge, make your skin softer than 10,000 thread count sheets, give you the body composition of an Olympic sprinter, and possibly give you X-ray vision.
Both of those are obviously poor positions to take on the subject, so let’s take a look at the research in hopes of gaining an objective understanding.
First off, my apologies as I’m breaking blog-etiquitte (again) by posting a long article. But I wanted to run this anyway, as it’s one of my favorite interviews. Also, this interview was done two years ago, so some minor things have changed. Anyway, Nicole is a great girl with a ton of interesting things to say, so pop some adderall and dig in.
Nicole has a B.S. in Exercise Science, a Masters in Cell and Molecular Nutrition, and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Nutrition. You can find her name tacked on to quite a bit of published research as well as some various well respected texts.
Academics aside, she’s right in the heart of the physique game and has some compelling things to say. We’re hitting all of the hot topics of scientific physique enhancement and Nicole has brought some exciting information to the table. This is one interview you want to pay attention to.
Aromatase is “an enzyme involved in the production of estrogen that acts by catalyzing the conversion of testosterone (an androgen) to estradiol (an estrogen). Aromatase is located in estrogen-producing cells in the adrenal glands, ovaries, placenta, testicles, adipose (fat) tissue, and brain” (1).
Bodybuilders and physique enthusiasts frequently use these compounds to reduce estrogen, and negate the side effects often seen with with anabolic/androgenic compounds.
For hypertrophy purposes, you’re better off finding ways to make a given exercise harder, as opposed to finding the easiest possible way to get the load from point A to point B. Powerlifting, Olympic Lifting…different story. Body comp training, if you’re making an exercise easier you’re making it less effective.
I figured I’d rerun this excerpt from an old Q&A, because I haven’t finished any new content today, and this one generated a lot of discussion when it was first published. Unfortunately some people with questionable reading comprehension skills took it the wrong way and thought I was “anti-shake”. Quite the contrary, I love protein/MRP shakes…but often times people don’t utilize as much of them as they could. The only time I’m “anti-shake” is if you’ve just gone to the bathroom and haven’t washed your hands. Then I’ll just opt for a head nod. So I’ve offered some simple solutions to maximize efficacy of liquid meals.
New study on ALA, with a HUGE number of subjects. They were given 800mg/day of ALA, the pre-obese subjects lost 8% of their body weight and the obese subjects lost 9%. Both groups dropped abdominal circumference significantly as well.
Alpha-Lipoic Acid Supplementation: A Tool for Obesity Therapy?
More Support for Citrulline Malate
Posted: April 15, 2010 in Nutrition, TrainingTags: citrulline, Supplements
New Citrulline Study
I’ve been a fan of Citrulline Malate for years, as it really seems to provide a noticeable performance boost in the gym. The problem is, nobody seems to take enough, and most supplements severely underdose it. I’ve found the sweet spot to be right around 6g taken about 20 minutes before the workout (it can be sipped throughout the workout in a shake as well, but it’s a good idea to get some in beforehand).
Researchers are notorious for using irrelevant doses in performance studies, so it was nice to see these guys use a full 8g with the study subjects. Although, 6 of the 41 participants noticed stomach problems, so again I would recommend starting it at around 6g…but feel free to experiment with higher doses.
If your nutrition plan calls for a high carb post workout meal, give this a try. It’s one of my personal favorites, and everybody I’ve made it for says its like eating heroin. Sometimes I’ll use ground turkey instead of buffalo, which is also great.
What you’ll need
1 can organic black beans (drain about 80% of the liquid)
8oz buffalo
1TBSP Unrefined Coconut Oil
1/8 tsp. Sea Salt
Cayenne powder
¼ C. Salsa Verde
3 tsp Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce
1 Thick slice yellow onion, diced
What to do with it
This article appears on Maxcondition.com and Elitefts.com
Should bodybuilders eat clean (non-processed whole foods) all the time when preparing for contests? Assuming calorie and macro levels are the same from so called dirty or clean foods, if the bodybuilder is in a calorie deficit, does it matter?
Marc McDougal: I suppose the popular answer to this question revolves around total calories being the only relevant factor, and how bodybuilders have an unyielding pension for focusing on “clean” foods and other non-scientific dogmas seemingly favoring superstition over research.
While I may not agree with the specifics of traditional bodybuilding pre-contest diets, I do have to side with some of the general aspects of their obsession with clean nutrient intake. While total calories may be the primary determining factor in “weight” loss for the general population, things take a different twist when looking at physique manipulation when each ounce of muscle and fat truly come in to play. These people aren’t looking to lose “weight”, they are looking to lose only fat (and water), and retain as much lean body mass as possible.
Cholesterol levels are a very weak predictor of anything related to heart disease or general health. It’s the oxidation and glycation of cholesterol that matters, and small dense LDL’s are the most prone to oxidation and glycation, which docs never test for. Next time you get blood work done, ask for things like Fibrinogen, A1C, Lipoprotein a (measures sdLDL particles), CRP, and homocysteine. The only people that should be worrying about cholesterol levels are manufacturers of statin drugs so they can buy new Bentleys. Prevent oxidation and control inflammation and triglyceride levels with Vitamin C, natural high gamma Vitamin E, fish oil, Vitamin D, grape seed extract, lipoic acid, and limiting carbohydrate intake.
About 90% of the time clients come to me and say “I eat really healthy”, I analyze their diets, and find they’re extremely deficient in saturated fats. This is not healthy. Stop being scared of saturated fats, research does not support this outdated fear, and Ancel Keys can suck it. Most people would notice a huge improvement in body composition, energy, and overall health by adding in some unrefined coconut oil, whole eggs, and (more) red meats.
Static stretching after strength training can cause the body to upregulate connective tissue generation, which normally is unwarranted…as we want the body’s post workout resources to be utilized for protein synthesis, aka, muscle building. However, when rehabbing an injured joint, this can be a beneficial trick. Train the muscles acting on the injured joint, then perform static stretching of ONLY that joint post workout. You should notice faster healing and recovery.
Get to know your anti-stimulants. When you’ve had one pot of coffee to many, or so many fat burner pills that your eyeballs are shaking in your head…its good to have some compounds on hand that release inhibitory neurotransmitters. To calm you down yet keep your focus, try one or more of the following: 3g Glycine, 5g Taurine, 200mg L-Theanine, or 100mg Picamilon. You may need adjust those dosages, but its a starting point. These also work great for public speaking, or any other time you need simultaneous relaxation and focus.
Perform low rep warm ups. People often make the mistake of performing warm ups with 10-15 reps at a really light weight. This just releases lactic acid which impairs the recruitment of high threshold motor units (i.e. strength fibers). Perform 3-6 warm up sets, working down from 6 reps to 1.
Example:
1×6 @ 50%
1×5 @ 60%
1×4 @ 70%
1×2 @ 80%
1×1 @ 90%
Do this for the first exercise of each cold muscle group. Percentages are based on weight of first work set.
For a full article on proper warm ups, see my full article
Stretch today what you plan to train tomorrow. Stretching can be overwhelming, and localizing it to a couple of body parts per day can make the task less daunting. Stretching muscles right before a workout can lessen their force output and increase risk of injury, but stretching them the day before will put them in a more optimal resting length for the coming workout. Do it periodically throughout the day…a couple of stretches with 30 second holds in the morning, mid-day, before bed, whenever you think of it.
“Author, coach, and self-professed pretty-boy John Romaniello has been running amok in the fitness industry for nearly a decade. Having trained everyone from youth soccer player to MLB pitchers, runway models to not-so-model citizens, John has earned a reputation for mixing excellent fitness information and cutting edge strategies with a personal approach to programming. Romaniello now runs Roman Fitness Systems with a tongue-in-cheek approach to fitness–and himself–that shows a genuine love/hate relationship with both. Equal parts narcissism and self-loathing, Roman writes with passion and humor, show-casing his belief that training doesn’t need to be the serious, stern, science-laden monotony that is pervasive in this industry.”
Q: I’ve read some of your entertaining commentary making light of health club trainers and BOSU Balls, and understand the idea of focusing on big compound movements to develop a strength base. That being said, what do you think about trainees who have the groundwork covered and have moved on to a more advanced state? Any use for throwing in some BOSU Ball stability work for a new challenge?
