More Chris Aceto Articles! [Archive]

BIG DUB

06-11-2011, 12:23 AM

Muscle & Fitness, April, 2008

31 rules of nutrition: to get the most out of your gym time, make sure your diet adheres to these principles

Shortcuts to packing on new muscle mass and getting ripped to the bone are frequently peddled on late-night TV, but sadly, these feats cannot be accomplished with quick fixes or next-day miracles. You can, however, implement certain dietary practices that, over time, will guarantee your investment in fitness. Yes, getting in your best shape ever requires hard work in the gym, but without the proper nutrition to fuel your gains, you're dead in the water. Feeding your body the right way is just a matter of repetition--learning and developing the kinds of dietary habits that leave your body with no choice but to respond with cover model-worthy size, strength and detail. By applying the bulk of these 31 strategies to your diet, you'll find that things really do fall into place automatically, even if they don't happen overnight.

SLOPPY TO SLICED

Adding new muscle to your frame is an admirable pursuit, but no matter how much weight you lift in the gym, you'll never obtain that tight, shredded look you covet without chipping away at your bodyfat stores. Many people mistakenly think that losing fat is simply a matter of exercising more and eating less, yet a bodybuilder can't afford to arbitrarily hack calories and run until it hurts. It's about striking a balance. These tips will help you get lean without losing hard-earned muscle.

1) Cycle Carbs Limit your carbohydrate intake for 4-5 days, then boost carbs for the following two days. When you cut calories you lose fat, but when you cut calories and limit your carbs to 100 grams or less for 4-5 days, the body goes into a fat-burning mode that's influenced both by fewer calories and a favorable hormonal shift. When you reverse the process and increase your carb intake to 250-300 grams for two days, you drive your metabolism even higher. Just remember to keep protein intake high to spare muscle tissue.

2) Clock Your Carbs Too many carbs can make you fat, but too few for an extended period can slow your metabolism. That's why timing is important: Consume a hefty sum of your daily carbohydrates at breakfast and after training. Eating at least 50 grams of fast-digesting carbs first thing in the morning and immediately postwork-out hinders training-induced muscle breakdown and keeps cortisol, a stress hormone that destroys muscle and slows metabolism, in check.

3) Use BCAAs to Preserve Muscle To help prevent catabolism, take 5-10 grams of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) with breakfast as well as before and after training. Ingested preworkout, BCAAs are used by the body as a substitute fuel source so it doesn't tap into stored muscle protein to get through a session. Also, when you're going low-carb, BCAAs can better trigger protein synthesis.

4) Make Carbs Work for You Since building muscle is the best way to burn more fat in the long run, you need to make your workouts intense enough to elicit the gains you want. Taking in 20 grams of fast-digesting whey protein and 20-40 grams of slow-digesting carbs (from sources such as fruit, sweet potatoes or brown rice) 30 minutes or less before your first rep helps you power through your workouts with the required intensity. Keep the weight loads up and your rest periods short to burn through your preworkout fuel.

5) Increase Neurotransmitters What's a neurotransmitter? Think spark plug. These chemicals in the brain signal the body's internal fat-burning machinery to shift into an active state. Caffeine, evodiamine and tea (green, oolong and black) boost these fat-fighting chemicals, especially when taken before training and in the absence of carbohydrates. Dosages vary, but each can be taken in a stack with other fat-burners 2-3 times a day, with at least one of those doses coming 30-60 minutes preworkout.

6) Prioritize Slow-Burning Carbs Slow-digesting carbs such as beans, whole-grain breads and pastas, oatmeal, brown rice and sweet potatoes should constitute the bulk of your daily carbohydrate intake (the exceptions being first thing in the morning and immediately postworkout). Slow carbs reduce the effect of insulin, the hormone that initiates both hunger and fat storage. Research confirms that athletes who consume slow-digesting carbs burn more fat throughout the day as well as during exercise.

7) Snack Right Sugar-free yogurt and cottage cheese are quite possibly the perfect snack foods. Their slow-digesting carbs prevent your insulin levels from going through the roof. Also, dairy products contain plenty of calcium, which can affect calcitriol levels in the body; calcitriol makes the body's fat-storing system inefficient at manufacturing fat. Keep low-fat cottage cheese and sugar-free yogurt at your office to avoid the call of the vending machine throughout the day.

Always Feed the Machine Prolonged low-cal diets end up impairing your metabolism over time. One way to get around these inevitable slowdowns is to eat constantly in small quantities. Consuming multiple small meals each day--eating every 1 1/2-2 hours--stimulates thermogenesis, which supports metabolism. While dieting is about restriction, doing so while eating as often as possible allows your body to roll right through potential metabolic slowdowns.

9) Employ Arginine Taking 3-10 grams of this amino acid an hour before training increases blood flow to the muscles, boosting metabolism and enhancing your pump. It also magnifies the natural growth hormone (GH) burst associated with training, which amps muscle growth and steers the body toward using fat for fuel instead of muscle protein and glycogen.

10) Avoid Carbs Late Hit the sheets light on carbs. When you go to bed in a carb-deprived state, your body maximizes its natural GH output. GH favorably shifts metabolism and causes more calories to be burned, with a greater amount of those calories being derived from bodyfat. One caveat for evening trainees: You should still consume 40-60 grams of fast-digesting carbs immediately after workouts to kick-start recovery. The bulk of those carbs will be burned or stored as glycogen, leaving blood-sugar levels fairly flat. As long as your blood sugar is stable at bedtime, you'll max out on GH release while you slumber, putting you in a position to grow muscle, not fat.

11) Drink Tea Regularly Adequate hydration is essential for performing at optimum levels and keeping your metabolism high. Drink about half your bodyweight in ounces per day; in other words, if you weigh 180 pounds, drink about 90 ounces of water daily. Yet that doesn't mean you can't make some of that liquid work overtime for you. For instance, try brewing green tea, which contains antioxidants that increase calorie-burning, or adding ginseng, which can keep blood-sugar levels stable to help you get lean.

12) Use Glutamine and Taurine These two aminos help maintain your body's anabolic environment while dieting. When you reduce calories and carbs, cortisol levels often rise. Glutamine interferes with cortisol uptake, staving off protein loss and muscle breakdown. Taken postworkout with fast-digesting carbs, glutamine also assists in recovery by pulling water into muscle cells; it has been found to significantly boost metabolic rate as well.

Another crucial amino acid, taurine enhances water retention within muscles, giving them a greater anabolic edge. Take 5-10 grams of glutamine and 1-3 grams of taurine pre- and post-workout to continue dropping bodyfat.

13) Eliminate All Fat Okay, not all of it. Do away with most fat for 4-5 days to bust through a sticking point in your fat-loss efforts. (Temporarily eliminating fat leverages the body to burn more stored body-fat.) No chicken breasts, no lean meat, no egg yolks. Ditch even oatmeal, which contains small amounts of fat. Instead, consume near-zero-fat protein sources such as turkey breast, egg whites, fat-free cottage cheese and protein powders. Your body is extremely adaptable, however, so even the zero-fat approach stops working after 4-5 days. That's when you can return to protein-rich foods that provide more fat.

MASS MADE SIMPLE
Gaining mounds of appreciable muscle doesn't seem to come easy for most people. It's rarely for lack of enthusiasm in the gym, though; where most lifters fall short is in their diets. Using the proper approach with whole foods and supplements makes all the difference between being barrel-chested and bare-boned. This assortment of tactics will help you start piling muscle onto muscle in no time.

14) Ditch the Low-Fat/Fat-Free Approach Strict low-fat diets are for getting lean. When gaining mass, make sure you include olive oil, avocado and whole eggs in your diet, as well as lower-fat--not fat-free--yogurt, milk and cheese. These types of dietary fats drive growth and recovery. Fat also spares the use of protein as an energy source, meaning the protein you eat is directed to its most crucial role--building mass. Fat also supports the natural production of testosterone and GH, two major players in the mass game. Make sure your daily calorie intake is about 30% of calories from fat, mostly from healthy sources such as egg yolks, fatty fish, nuts and seeds.

15) Splurge Occasionally Stepping up your calorie intake once a week can actually trigger new growth. When you radically increase calories--even with foods you may not typically find in the pages of M & F, such as pizza, burgers, fried food and desserts--the body responds by increasing anabolic hormones responsible for repairing damaged muscle tissue. Plus, this type of occasional dietary splurge keeps you sane while eating clean.

16) Use Powder Protein is nutrient No. 1 when it comes to building mass. To maximize your protein intake, make at least two of your 5-6 daily meals a protein shake. Powders are more readily absorbed than tougher proteins such as meat and poultry, and you can generally control your portion down to the gram. The two most critical times to have protein shakes are right before (20 grams) and after (40-60 grams) workouts.

17) Crank Up the T & C Weightlifting boosts levels of testosterone, the muscle-building hormone, and increases the density of T receptors in muscles, allowing greater amounts of testosterone to do its job. After a few weeks, however, the training-induced testosterone burst declines. That's where T boosters come into play. Taking 500-750 mg of tribulus terrestris an hour before workouts increases luteinizing hormone, which in turn improves testosterone levels. In addition, taking 1,000 mg of vitamin C after training lowers levels of cortisol, the stress hormone released during training that suppresses testosterone uptake by muscles. The net effect: enhanced testosterone status, leading to greater muscle strength, recovery and mass.

18) Go With Garlic How can something that's edible but contains hardly any calories, carbs, protein or fat yield gains in mass? By influencing natural hormones in the body that support growth. Getting big is about macronutrients--protein, carbs and fat--as well as hormones. Animal research shows that a high garlic intake combined with a high protein intake produces increased testosterone levels and less muscle breakdown--the elusive anabolic state!

19) Supplement During Training A sports drink consumed during exercise can shut down the usual muscle breakdown associated with hard training. Select a product that contains glucose (50-60 grams of carbs), add 10-20 grams of whey and sip throughout your workout.

20) Flush the System Everyone hits plateaus. You eat like crazy and yet inevitably hit a wall. What to do? Take 10 days and pull back on your carb intake, then go back to high carbs. Let's say you're eating 400 grams of carbs a day. Cut back to 200-250 grams for 10 days, then go up to 500 for a couple of days before leveling back off to 400. What happens? Your body slingshots right through that plateau and you continue to grow. A chronic high-carb diet makes enzymes that store carbs lazy and less effective. When you pull back on and then add carbs back in, you revamp and recharge your glycogen-storing machinery, allowing you to get back on a growth spurt

21) Let Salt Work for You Bodybuilders often make a fuss when someone recommends salt as part of a diet, but keep in mind that sodium is a major mineral your body needs. Salt regulates metabolism by increasing the body's ability to store carbohydrates in muscles. Generally, greater carb storage yields greater mass gains. That's why bodybuilders who eliminate salt in hopes of getting ripped for a competition often fail to look the way they hope to. A lack of sodium reduces the body's ability to make muscle glycogen, and too little glycogen leads to muscles devoid of fullness.

In addition, salt helps amino acids and creatine pass readily into muscle cells, creating growth. We're not suggesting you shovel in salt at every meal, but you don't need to worry about buying low-sodium foods. And if you feel like a dash of salt on your steak or rice, go right ahead.

22) Eat Meat When it comes to mass, red meat is the way to go. Gram for gram, lean red meat contains more B vitamins, creatine, iron and zinc--all vital for growth--than any other protein source. If mass gains are something you're truly serious about, you must consume red meat on a fairly frequent basis.

23) Eat Fatty Fish Six-ounce helpings of fatty fish such as bluefish, sardines, salmon and trout provide 32 grams of muscle-building protein and up to 18 grams of omega-3 fatty acids. These fats reduce muscle inflammation, in turn encouraging muscle repair and helping to control cortisol. As cortisol levels fall, testosterone levels generally rise, promoting gains in mass. Omega-3s also alter the fate of glucose, the energy byproduct of carbs. Glucose can be stored as muscle glycogen (promoting growth) or bodyfat, and consuming a diet rich in omega-3 fats shortchanges bodyfat stores by pushing the majority of glucose into muscles.

24) Adjust for Inflation If you're not gaining mass yet have energy in the gym, it's likely that you're eating enough carbs but not enough protein to build new muscle tissue. So if you're currently following the golden rule of 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, immediately move that up to 1.5 grams per pound and muscle will come your way.

25) Emphasize Post-workout Nutrition How and what you eat right after the gym can make or break your physique. Packing in 60-100 grams of fast-digesting carbs, such as a sports drink, fat-free sorbet or white bread with jam, and 40-60 grams of whey protein immediately after training drives muscles into a state of growth and recovery.

GENERAL TIPS

While the previous tips are aimed at two specific groups--those looking to get lean and those wanting to gain mass--some advice applies to every physique-minded lifter. The following tips should be used by all bodybuilders, no matter the training goal.

26) Cheat Right If you're a bodybuilder getting ready for a show, you know you have to get onstage with one small piece of cloth as the only thing preventing you from being naked. It's easier to stay motivated and never cheat in that context. But the rest of us who just want to look better are a little more susceptible to the occasional food binge. That's okay. But if you go overboard, do it on protein. Choose a very large steak, a small potato and salad over a huge pasta meal or pizza because the protein and fat in steak hangs around the gut far longer, making you feel full and allowing you to reassess how hungry you really are. Also, protein can increase chemicals that signal the brain to make you feel full, whereas carbs can do the opposite and trigger the release of chemicals that make you feel hungry.

27) Pack Your Food One reason many trainees fail to get big and ripped is that they get suckered into cheating by eating foods that are off the reservation. When you cook and pack your food, you're the master of your destiny. Reaching into your insulated lunch box for a microwaveable helping of steak and rice is much better for you than hitting the drive-thru every day.

28) Snack Right Stuck in a cubicle all day? We know the feeling. But that's no reason to fall off the wagon every time you get a sweet tooth at work. Cucumber slices marinated in vinegar, salt and Splenda; sugar-free Jell-O or Popsicles; strawberries; and cantaloupe are some of the very best get-ripped snacks because they yield next to nothing in the calorie department and satisfy the urge to eat something sweet. If you snack on something else--say, a banana nut muffin--you have no one to blame but yourself for the effect on your physique.

29) Go Big at Breakfast If you're looking to lean out, breakfast helps ignite your metabolism for the day ahead. When you skip this meal, your metabolism sputters like a dying campfire. A healthy breakfast also keeps you from gorging on something less nourishing at mid-morning.

For mass-gainers, eating breakfast puts the brakes on sleep-triggered catabolism. Remember, when you wake up you've essentially been fasting for 6-8 hours, sending your body on the hunt for energy anywhere it can find it, and eventually your muscles become the target. For either goal, strive for breakfast containing a minimum of 30 grams of protein along with 30-50 grams of carbs.

30) Hydrate Consuming plenty of water is easy to do. It's also easy to overlook. Getting an adequate amount of water ensures that your body runs on all cylinders. Need we remind you that your body is more than 70% water and that nearly every bodily process requires it? Plus, you're active, which means you need more water than most. Forget about 6-8 glasses a day--aim for at least half your bodyweight in ounces of water per day, minimum. As a bonus, chugging 2 cups of cold water can have a positive impact on your metabolism.

31) Be Punctual Whether you're trying to get shredded or pack on the mass, always eat immediately after training. Is it pointless if you wait longer than three minutes after your final rep to chug your protein shake? No, but you shouldn't wait more than an hour after training--that's just too long. When you hit the iron, your hormones and enzyme processes go haywire and demand energy in the form of carbs and protein to get the body back to a state of balance. If you eat fairly soon after exercise, you match up supply with the body's demands. If you wait, demand wanes. Calories taken in after the one-hour window are still used for recovery and growth but not nearly to the same extent.

BIG DUB

06-11-2011, 12:24 AM

Big Chest Routine

It is hard to say one exercise is always better than another because the body is so adaptable, an extremely effective exercise sometimes becomes ineffective over the course of an extended period of time. Because the body can completely adapt to the exercises you do, the best exercises sometimes have to temporarily be put aside so that you can offer the body a “fresh” stimulus with a slightly different exercise. This is true with bench presses. In my opinion, for overall mass development of the pecs, nothing is better then the standard barbell bench press. This exercise positions the body so that the most amount of stress is placed on the pecs- more so then both incline or decline bench presses. In addition, it allows the user to use significantly heavy weights and as any reader of mine knows, I feel the “weight” or poundage one uses is the single most important tool in stimulating new muscle growth, If you can go heavy or get stronger, your muscles are going to grow. Period. That said, even the best exercise such as the standard bench press can become less effective simply because the body adapts to the angle of stress placed on the muscles which leads to less muscle stimulation and less growth. An alternative to barbell bench presses is dumbbell bench presses. Basically, this is a very similar exercise but the user can not use as much weight because in addition to pushing the weight up, he has to balance the bumbells where as with the bar, there is less effort and energy wasted on balancing the bar. The lifter might not “feel” like he is actually balancing the dumbbells- keeping them from falling all round- but, in fact, he is expending both strength and energy balancing the dumbbells. Still, it is a very good exercise. One reason some have come to the conclusion that dumbbells may be better then barbell bench press has to do not necessarily with the exercise as much as the change in exercise. Often a bodybuilder will tell me “Dumbell bench presses are better then the bar. I switched and now my pecs are growing.” The truth here is not that the dumbbells are better. The truth is that the body completely adapted to the regular barbell bench press to the extent that it was no longer causing his chest to grow. Any small change at that point would cause the body to continue to grow. If he switched the grip position for a little wider grip on the barbell bench presses- rather then switch to dumbbell bench presses – his chest would start to change and grow. Changing the angles slightly on an exercise that had previously been a very effective exercise will slightly alter the direction upon which the muscle fibers receive stress and stimulation resulting in continual gains. That is what my training programs are always about – altering angles ever so slightly, all the while staying with heavy weights and with the basic core exercises that recruit the maximal number of muscle fibers. For chest development, nothing beats the bench press; it’s a more productive exercise then dumbbells and machines.
With a medium grip on the bench press where each palm of the hand is 5-6 inches wider the shoulder width, the majority of stress is placed on the core portion of the pecs; the middle portion. As you approach failure where you can no longer perform any additional reps on your own, the inner and outer parts of the pecs are recruited and come into play. Over time, the body adapts, so you can change the angle by taking a slightly wider grip. I think this is a better step in trying to continually stimulate the pecs then switching to a machine exercise that mimmicks the bench press or to dumbbell bench presses. Using a wider grip places a little more stress on the outer pecs, but going too wide can put too much stress on the shoulders leaving them vulnerable to injury- while removing too much stress off the targeted muscle group; the pecs. I suggest when you hit a plateau, when you feel like the pecs are no longer growing, you move to a wider grip for 3-4 weeks, then switch over to dumbbell bench presses for another 3-4 weeks. Upon completing 3-4 weeks of working with dumbbell bench presses, you can go back to what was previously working; regular barbell bench presses

James Tucci

06-14-2011, 02:49 PM

awesome! love these!

BIG DUB

06-14-2011, 03:50 PM

Mass Gain Attack: Nutrition You Need To Know

To pig out or not to pig out. Really. That seems to be the off season diet of choice, to eat everything you can get your hands on in search of endless mass. These days, the 300 pound off-season bodybuilder is so common, he no longer turns heads! Yet the physiques – true quality physiques - understand off season mass building isn’t about getting sloppy and gorging the body. Witness 220 pound Dexter Jackson who never gets sloppy. Neither does Big Jay and it appears Ronnie – who blew minds this year – stayed in darn good off- season shape according top all reports and nay-sayers. Eating for sloppy-free mass is more than eating lots of crappy calories.
That brings us to the ideal approach to building mass It’s about consistency and variation. Consistency in eating 6 times a day. Variation in calorie intake. It appears when the body is temporarily loaded with calories, the muscles enter into a temporary heightened state of anabolism. This month, I plan to outline how you can create such a anabolic state by rotating around medium, lower and high carbohydrate intakes while varying protein and dietary fat consumption.

1) Start With the 2:1 Rule
The 2:1 Rule simply requires you eat 2 grams of carbohydrates per pound of bodyweight with one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight on a daily basis. For the 200 pound male that’s 400 grams of carbohydrates daily with 200 grams of protein. With regard to dietary fat, you don’t really need to count it. You’ll get what you need from your protein foods. Beef, chicken – legs, thighs and breast – whole eggs and low fat dairy products will give you plenty along with added calories to grow.

2) Follow the Above for 5 days
In the past I have recommended 3 grams of carbohydrates per pound of bodyweight to grow. That level keeps your calories higher and also keeps the muscles saturated with glycogen. Glycogen – nothing more than excess carbohydrates stored in the muscles – is an indicator of growth. The greater the glycogen stores the better. Glycogen also fuels your training so the idea is saturated glycogen stores are a must for maximal energy output. That’s somewhat true. In reality, you can train like an animal with sub-saturated glycogen stores. No, you don’t want to be running on empty as far as glycogen goes, but as long as stores are fairly or mostly full, you can get the job done in the gym.

3) Double Your Protein and Lower Your Carbs For 2 Days
When you drop your carbohydrate intake, glycogen stores fall which one you’d think would be detrimental to growth. However, the pathways responsible for retaining and storing carbohydrates as muscle glycogen over react. This overreaction is actually beneficial. When you go back to eating a higher carbohydrate intake, not only can you store more than previous, but will experience an up-tick in anabolic hormones and metabolism which allows the body to accumulate more size. The 200 pounder would up his protein to 400 grams daily for this 2 day period. A high protein intake while following a lower carbohydrate intake improves insulin sensitivity on muscle tissue, priming your muscles to uptake not only greater amount of carbohydrates but amino acids when progressing to step #4. Carbohydrate wise, drop your them to just 1 gram per pound of body weight or 200 a day for the 200 pound male. The final dietary manipulation here is to switch your protein intake to include fattier sources. That doesn’t mean lots of grease and oil. It does mean eating more beef – cuts with moderate amounts of fat like T-Bone and ground beef. Include more whole eggs and regular cheese and yogurt to make up – calorie wise – for the drop in carbohydrates. The benefit; hormonal maintenance. Hard core off season training can cause an increase in cortisol levels and elevated cortisol can crush testosterone levels. A temporary increase in dietary fat could keep testosterone levels from falling as higher fat diets (for athletes not for the lay person) can help maintain a drop off in testosterone levels. Lastly, when carbohydrates go down, an increase in dietary fat positively effects insulin sensitivity further priming muscles for a greater anabolic response.

4) Over Eat For 2 Days
When you over eat, you generally get fat. However, when you overeat coming out of a dietary approach as outlined – moving to lower carbohydrates with more protein and fat – the response is super compensation and a burst in anabolic hormones. First, you’ve set the body up to store more carbohydrates than ever before. Second, temporarily overeating causes thyroid levels, growth hormone and IGF levels to rise. All are important anabolic hormones, messengers that stimulate growth. While calories are certainly vital for growth, hormones play a huge role. This approach harnesses both. Carbohydrate wise, go to 3 or even 4 grams per pound of bodyweight and fix the protein intake around 1.5 grams per pound. Therefore the 200 pounder would go to 600 to 800 grams with 300 grams of protein. Fat wise, stick with low fat sources of protein. A mix of eggs with egg whites, protein powders, chicken, turkey and only leaner cuts of red meat. After the two days, go back to step 1. There you have it, the ideal approach to getting big – without turning into a slob. You might not hit 300 pounds, but you’ll turn heads. Dexter Jackson, Johnnie Jackson and Vic Martinez. Now there’s three head turners who’ll never see 300 pounds!

BIG DUB

06-14-2011, 03:51 PM

3500 calories and a pound of fat by Chris Aceto

There’s always been a factoid nutritionists use to determine how many calories an individual has to eat above and beyond his maintenance levels in order to add a pound of body fat to the body. That factoid holds, “3500 calories is equal to 1 pound of body fat.” The implication here is that the individual or bodybuilder who overeats by 3500 calories will add a pound of fat and the bodybuilder who eliminates 3500 calories from his diet will lose a pound of body fat. Is the popular equation true and accurate? Not really.

First, bodyweight influences weight loss. The male weighing 200 pounds can expect to burn significantly more weight per each hour of training compared to a 135 pound female. That’s because the more muscle weight you carry, the more calories you actually burn off when you train. Furthermore, individual testosterone levels in men influence fat loss and testosterone levels can vary quite a bit from man to man.
In general, those with a higher testosterone levels will lose weight faster than those men with a lower level. In other words, two men of equal size and eating the same diet may show different rates of fat loss if one male has a significantly higher testosterone level.

Females also have hormonal influences that will affect weight loss.
Estrogen, the chief female hormone in the body is known to trigger the storage of body fat, to oppose the liberation or ‘burning’ of fat and to increase the retention of water weight.
While testosterone levels in men vary from individual to individual greater than estrogen levels within females, the fact remains, estrogen is considered a fat storing hormone and a female with higher amounts of estrogen will likely have a harder time losing fat than the older female who’s trying to shed fat. (older women tend to have lower estrogen levels)
So, testosterone and estrogen combined with calories influences whether how fast you can lose body fat.

Regular readers of this website also understand insulin levels play a role in fat storage.
In general, higher insulin levels in the body brought on by simple carbs, sporadic eating, and eating more carbs than the body needs at each meal can strongly stimulate the increase in body fat.
We also know people respond to carbohydrates in unique and different ways.
For example; one person might eat 60 grams of carbs for breakfast and release a lot more insulin than another eating the same amount of carbs.
All these factors influence the factoid, “does 3500 calories equal a pound of body fat.”

Another influence on fat storage is nervous system activity. When you exercise, the nervous system enters a hyped up state and the body releases by products of stress hormones called catecholamines.
Catacholamines can have a marked effect on the burning of calories and help break down and burn fat cells.
One way to facilitate the increase in catacholamines is to train on an empty stomach in the morning or to use capsicum/caffeine based products.
Both will increase the production of catecholamines which, over time, can help increase the burning of calories.
Therefore, it’s possible a person who may be dieting and reducing calories by only 2000 each week can lose a pound of body fat without cutting another 1500 calories from the diet.
How?
Training on an empty stomach and/or using capsicum/caffeine products can increase the release of catecholamines which not only increase the metabolism, but increase the body’s ability to break down body fat and burn it as fuel.

To summarize, 3500 calories is more or less not an exact figure but an educated estimate describing the total calories found within a single pound of body fat. How large you are and hormones influence the equation skewing it where some people will lose fat at faster rates than others.

BIG DUB

06-14-2011, 03:52 PM

Don't Allow Overtraining To Set You back!

Everybody has heard it at some time or another “You’re overtraining! That’s why you’re not making serious gains.” So we hear it. But do we understand what it means? I mean really what it means? Once you do and once you can make the distinction between an over trained body and one that remains fresh, - believe me – you’ll make very serious gains in mass.

In its most basic sense, over training means the body is being put under greater stress than it can handle. It’s that simple. Any additional stress, above any beyond what your own body can handle will result in a failure to recover and grow. So you could be fairly dedicated, training with a routine you believe to be a well thought out approach to getting big – yet fail to move ahead and grow if your body is over trained.

The intangible part of over training is that it varies greatly from person to person. I’ll give you an example. When Mike Francois was on top of the bodybuilding world, he frequently performed 20 to 24 sets for back taking each and ever set to failure. Every training partner he partnered with ended up severely over trained. Not big Mike. He grew like a weed with his back becoming his greatest asset. Before you assume “Yea that’s because Mike was using anabolic steroids,” I can tell you he trained clean – drug free for the majority of the year and very often his training partners were not drug free. The result? Mike still grew and his partners always fell by the wayside, failing to grow. While Mike made good progress, the partners always ended up over training. He would go through one partner after another, each unable to keep up with his volume and intensity. Not only does training intensity vary from person to person, but taking drugs usually helps – but is never a solution. It’s fully possible to over train while taking anabolic steroids. Again, the bottom line is any stress induced through training that is greater than your body can handle will result in a complete lack of muscle growth and repair.

One of the myths that perpetuates over training is the silly idea “There’s no such thing as over training, just under eating.” The idea is so far off the mark and ill advised, I don’t even want to spend much time with it. The fact is, nutrition can only support the body so far. When exercise stress exceeds your body’s own tolerance for recovery, you go back wards. You don’t grow. Even if you are eating a lot.

When Dorian Yates burst onto the scene, he followed up on the ideas formulated by Tom Platz and Mike Menzter years earlier. Dorian’s take on things were in line with their’s which was most bodybuilders fail to grow because they train with too many sets (known as volume) and usually train too frequently – say training every day or not taking enough rest days. Platz, menzter and Dorian were right but many – including Menster – just fell into the trap that ‘if more is not better than less – even far less may be radically better. So the pendulumn shifted from all kinds of training to – because if the influence of these three – far fewer sets. Suddenlt, bodybuilders were doing 6 sets for chest or 8 to 10 sets for back which in my opinion just is not enough to optimally stimulate growth. Building muscle relies on the poundages you use also known as the weight. Pretty simple, if you can perform a set of barbell curls with 150 pounds, you’ll stimulate far more growth than using only 100 pounds. No matter how you cut it, the weight you use is immensely important in stimulating the muscles to grow. After the weight comes volume or the total number of sets you perform. Volume influences muscle growth. If you do not perform enough sets, you’ll fail to trigger growth. If you get carried away and do too many, you’ll over train and also fail to grow, so you have to find a balance, a happy medium. Where’s the happy medium? It depends, but here are some guidelines.

1) The More Sets You Perform, the Better
Just as the greater the weight you handle, the better in terms of muscle recruitment, the more sets you do, the greater you’ll work a muscle. The thing you really have to distinguish is where to stop. To illustrate the point, just ask yourself is three sets of bicep curls better than one? Of cource, the answer is yes. Is five better than three. Most likely. Is 7 better than five? The point where you have to stop or the point where more sets are no longer helping is typically where you lose the ‘feel” or ‘pump’ in the muscle or where your poundages start to drop. For example, Victor Martinez can’t do 20 straight sets of standing barbell curls with 120 pounds. After the sixth set, he will no longer be able to use the 120. if he was aiming to do 8 to 10 reps per set, after set number five, six or seven, the weight he can handle will drop off a lot meaning it’s time to move onto another exercise. When you reach a point where the poundage starts to fade, that’s it. For some people like a beginner or intermediate that might be 2 to 3 sets while for someone like Victor it might be 5 to 6 sets. It’s important to listen to your body and move on when you need to. If you lose a pump, move on. When your poundages drop – you can’t handle the same heavy weight for each continuous set, move on!

2) Speed Of Reps Count
The speed or perceived speed at which you move a weight influences how many sets you can do. Outside of the weight and total number of sets you perform, the speed at which you drive a weight has an influence on growth and can determine your own personal threshold for overtraining within each training session. Moving a weight fast, with speed and aggression, is far better for growth than moving a weight with a slow and even speed. That’s because in trying to ‘drive a weight’ with the intensity of a bullet coming out of a gun – causes a far freater number of muscle fibers to come into play than simply moving the weight with a slow cadence. Slow training, in my opinion, is a gimmick and has no real place in mass building plans. If you want to grow, you should pick a heavy weight and drive the weight while maintaining good form. Of course when you drive a weight, ther’es not going to be a lot of momentum created because when you overload the muscle with a heavy weight, the poundage radically cuts down on the creation of momentum. In overloading a muscle with a heavy weight and driving the weight by pushing it fast rather than super slow, you physiologically create the greatest amount of stress on the muscle as possible. One way to discover whether you are about to do too much is by getting in touch with your ability to drive a weight. If you go into the gym and there’s no oomph to the muscle – you can’t explode and drive the first few sets of an exercise (after warming up of course) you are already over trained. Get out of the gym! On the other hand, if there is a lot of snap in the muscle – you can drive those heavy weights and you feel powerful, for sure you are not overtraining and should proceed with the workout.

3) Frequency Counts
Another factor influences recovery is training frequency. For the most part, I believe you have to train a muscle once every 5 to 8 days. In general, if you train a body part more frequently – say training chest every fourth day, you wont grow due to overtraining. On the other hand, if you wait more than 8 days, you’ll also fail to grow. In this case not by over training but by failing to train frequently enough. You see, the muscles grow by stimulating them, then resting. If you rest too long – waiting too many days before hitting the same muscle group for another workout, the stress on the body appears to be too great which overwhelms the recovery process leading to a lack of growth. Let’s put it this way, imagine training legs on Monday and then again on Wednesday. The time in between is too short, so you overtrain. Now tray training them for a second time 10 –12 dyas after the first workout. What happens? The time between training ios so long your legs become immensely sore the second time you train which can also trigger overtraining. You need balance, not too often and not too infrequent. To avoid ovetraining, you’ll need a training strategy that allows you to hit each body part once every 5 to 8 days.

4) Too Many Days In a Row
If mass is the goal, you have to rest. Many bodybuilders wont be able to train more than two consecutive days – or at least should not train for more than two consecutive days in a row – because training for more than two days usually causes hormonal changes that lead to overtraining. Typically, in an over training state, testosterone levels start to drop a little. In addition, you’ll experience a small surge in cortisol levels. Cortsiol is the stress hormone released from the adrenal cortex that sist just atop the kidnys and it increases in rsecretion is reponse to stress. In small amounts it actually contributes to anabolism – the building up in muscle tissue. However, when released in larger amounts, especially when testosterone levels drop even mildly, it tends to tear muscle down creating a catabolic scenario.

BIG DUB

06-14-2011, 03:53 PM

Stop Eating So Much; Appetite Control Tips

1) Avoid Carb-Only Meals
Carbohydrates are the first nutrient to leave the stomach so a meal comprised of only carbohydrates will leave the stomach quickly, leading to hunger. Protein and dietary fat not only digest far slower than carbohydrates but prevent carbohydrates from rushing out of the stomach, therefore making you feel “full.” This is reason-enough to avoid carb-only meals. They ignite hunger and can lead to cheating, gorging and overeating.

2) Start With Protein
Let’s say you’re dieting and a meal calls for a carbohydrate-protein meal comprised of rice and a chicken breast. If you’re feel like you’re starving and could eat a small elephant, opt for the chicken first, followed by the rice. The reason: proteins first exert a greater appetite quelling effect than carbs alone or, in this case, a combo of carbohydrates and protein.

3) Really Graze
Bodybuilders know multiple meals result in better results – more muscle with less body fat - than fewer meals. In terms of appetite control, breaking your meals into 6 a day and even 8 a day can have a huge impact on appetite. That’s because every time you eat - even a very small meal – the appetite center of the brain in stimulated – relaxing a sometimes urgent appeal for more food or an overwhelming desire to eat. Constantly eating, of course within your daily calorie requirements, will not only tame the appetite, but help accelerate a loss in body fat.

4) Fine Tune The Protein
Yes, you really do need only 1 gram of complete protein per pound of bodyweight to build mass. However, that number can change – and should go up – if you find yourself ravenously hungry following this golden rule for protein consumption. When you adjust your protein up – say you eat another 70 grams a day above and beyond the 1 gram rule – just back down on your carb consumption by 70 grams. Proteins satisfy the appetite while carbs – in general – increase it, so re-adjusting your protein-carb mix is an easy step to keep the appetite down.

5) Use Fiber Supplements
Soluble Fiber adds a gel like substance to the stomach to delay the entry of carbohydrates into the intestines. This slowing effect alters the amount of insulin secreted and insulin has been touted “the hunger hormone” When fiber delays carb digestion and modifies insulin secretion, you’ll not only lose the urge to over eat, but will feel better because spiking insulin levels often result in drops in energy levels.

7) Use 5-HTP
5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan or 5-hydroxy-l-tryptophan) is a natural supplement that converts in the brain into a chemical called serotonin which helps sequester the appetite. One study with obese women (Journal of Neural Transmission 76:109-17, 1989) showed 200 mgs taken 20 minutes before each of 3 daily meals caused a 22% decrease in carbohydrate consumption. Try 20-40 mgs twice daily.

Tyrosine & Caffeine
The amino acid tyrosine, when taken on an empty stomach can increase levels of noradrenaline in the body to act as a mild appetite suppressant. Throw in caffeine – a big cup of coffee- and you enhance the effect especially when used on a completely empty stomach. Caffeine compounds the noradrenaline boosting effects of tyrosine and also liberates free fatty acids from fat cells. Both free fatty acids and glycerol – the by product of fat breakdown – help short circuit the appetite control center located in the brain. A good bet is to use 2 grams of tyrosine and a cup of coffee in the morning 45 minutes before eating and repeat the process in the early afternoon.

9) Use Satietrol
Cholecystoikinin (CKC) is produced by the small intestines during digestion and is thought to strongly influence appetite. A product called Satietrol contains a special milk protein called glycomacropeptide which research has shown to help curb the appetite. Taken with the first meal of the day, Satietrol can help curb the appetite leading to a drop in food consumption.

10) Histidine
Here’s a not –so –popular amino acid that recent research has shown to help suppress the appetite. It’s thought histidine influences the hormone leptin, which influences control over hunger. Histidine gives way to histamines which decrease food consumption. On the flip side, drugs that block the release of histamines lead to increases in food consumption. This explains the appetite boosting effects of Periactin, an anti-histamine drug underground gurus have touted as a chemically supported approach to eat more and bulk up Try 500 mgs of Histidine 3 times daily to help control the appetite..

Ichabod

06-14-2011, 06:29 PM

Thank you!

BIG DUB

06-14-2011, 10:44 PM

Protein Myths

Lies, fabrications and outright fiction everywhere you turn — you might think a political convention is in town.

No, it’s just a general discussion about protein in an ordinary gym. At its core, protein is a simple nutrient. The amino acids from dietary protein represent the bricks that lay the foundation a body uses to create new muscle tissue; if you fall short of the appropriate protein intake, you won’t grow. Simple, see?

That’s why protein has withstood the test of time among bodybuilders. It’s vital for growth, and greats from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Ronnie Coleman have made it the cornerstone of their mass-building plans.

Still, there’s quite a bit of misinformation passed around at gyms and on the Web regarding everything from how much protein is needed, to how much can be digested, to what form is better for bodybuilding. Here, we sort through the fact and fiction for you, tackling the seven most common misconceptions and setting the record straight.

#1 Powders are better than food. Protein powders are easy to absorb, and absorption is an important part of the mass-building process. However, whole-food animal sources of protein, such as eggs, dairy, fowl, red meat and fish, have complete, though somewhat different, amino-acid profiles. Some are higher in certain amino acids than others, and this may be a reason why bodybuilders like Jay Cutler claim that serious mass can’t be built without red meat. Cutler tells FLEX, “When I exclude red meat, I can’t add the mass and grow like I do when I eat it daily and sometimes twice daily.” Is it the iron, B vitamins or creatine in the meat? Maybe. It’s also likely that the unique amino-acid combinations allow greater protein synthesis.

For optimal mass gains, don’t succumb to living mainly on powders. Choose a wide variety of foods and include powders before and after workouts, and at times when convenience is essential. The variable amino-acid concentrations among different foods may exert unique effects on you that result in better growth, as opposed to sticking with one or two protein foods or a couple of foods and a protein powder.

#2 Protein needs are static. Bodybuilders trying to gain mass tend to stick to the same protein intake day in and day out. For example, a 200-pounder may eat as many as 300 grams of protein a day, with plenty of calories coming from carbohydrates in order to create a caloric surplus. Of course, protein and calories are the basics of muscle building. However, you can stimulate your body by mixing things up: one or two days out of every 10 or so, consume up to 400, 450 or 500 g of protein. Ideally, do this on training days to better stimulate growth. Changing levels — specifically, instigating a surplus of amino acids in the blood — can cause an increase in protein synthesis, the buildup of muscle mass in the body. Remaining faithful to the same protein intake day in and day out is OK, but varying protein intake with an occasional day or two of a very high consumption can lead to greater gains.

#3 Everyone needs a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Although the typical recommendation of a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is as close to a rule of thumb as there is — which is why we often tout it in the pages of FLEX — it’s not etched in stone. For true hardgainers who bust their butts in the gym, that number should be increased by 50%, to 1.5 g per pound of bodyweight. Keep in mind that you won’t grow — regardless of how much protein you consume — if you are slacking in the gym or training like a wuss.

The key is to match your protein intake with your training. If you’re a beginner, you probably don’t train as hard as someone with a lot of experience — and you probably shouldn’t anyway — so you may be able to get by on slightly less than a gram per pound of bodyweight. If you are a hardgainer or train with intensity on par with your favorite pro, start with 1 g per pound per day, but don’t hesitate to move it up from there if you fail to make significant visible gains.

#4 You can digest only a certain amount of protein per meal.Somewhere along the way, the idea that a body can handle no more than 30 g of protein per sitting wedged its way into nutrition circles. That’s an old wives’ tale. Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger grew on 30 g of protein every three hours, the equivalent of eating only four or five ounces of chicken at each meal? Think again. Protein digestibility and the amount your body can handle per meal is tied to how much you weigh and how hard you train. The more you weigh, the more you need; the harder you train, the more you need. In turn, the more you need, the more you’ll be able to digest, absorb and assimilate. A 200-pound male will, in general, need more protein than a 160-pounder and should be able to digest more per meal. Digestibility is also linked to the amount of protein you consume on a regular basis. The more protein you eat regularly, the better your body becomes at digesting large protein meals.

#5 Dairy-based proteins promote fat gains. This myth just won’t go away. The idea that dairy-based proteins — low-fat or nonfat milk, cheese and yogurt — lead to gains in fat or added water retention is, well, wrong. Dairy is perfectly fine. It’s a great source of protein, and some research even shows that dairy, when combined with a low-calorie intake, could possibly coax fat loss.

The dairy misconception could be connected to the fact that most cheeses, including nonfat cottage cheese and nonfat sliced cheese, contain excessive sodium, which has the potential to initiate water retention. However, even that’s overblown, because bodybuilders need more sodium.

It drives glycogen storage and indirectly supports growth by interacting with potassium to turn on pumping mechanisms within cells that govern the exchange of nutrients that lead to muscle repair. Plus, sodium is not the culprit many mistake it to be. If you suddenly change your sodium intake, abruptly increasing it, water retention is likely to be the result. However, if you consume dairy on a regular basis and maintain a relatively consistent sodium intake, you will adapt and probably avoid noticeable fluid retention. #6 Protein can’t be used as an energy source. This misconception relates to dieting bodybuilders. Some trainers advise against cutting way back on carbohydrates, insisting that a lack of carbs causes a loss of muscle tissue. However, by increasing protein intake while dieting, you offer your body alternatives to muscle tissue for use as fuel. Where a low-calorie or low-carb diet can cause muscle tissue to be broken down, an increase in protein consumption “attracts” the body to use dietary amino acids found in protein as a substitute for those in muscle tissue. It does so by burning some amino acids directly and by a process known as gluconeogenesis, in which amino acids are converted into glucose. The myth breaker: increase protein when carbs go down, and you’ll protect against muscle loss.

#7 Complementary proteins promote growth. A cup of cooked oatmeal yields 6 g of protein, a medium bagel provides 11 g and two cups of cooked spaghetti supplies about 16 g. That may be a fact, but the type of protein derived from nonanimal sources might not be the best at creating or supporting protein synthesis. That’s because they are not complete proteins; they don’t contain all the essential amino acids the body needs to build mass.

The entire spectrum of amino acids, including all of the essential amino acids, can be found only in foods that are animal based. Fowl, fish, red meat, milk and eggs are best because they are complete proteins; they contain all of the amino acids the body needs to grow. The proteins found in nonanimal sources are called complementary, or “junk,” proteins; they lack sufficient essential and required amino acids that are ideal for creating anabolic and recovery environments within the body.

BIG DUB

06-14-2011, 10:45 PM

Carb Timing
When people refer to “carb timing” they usually just mean “eat a lot of carbohydrates after you train.” That’s not bad advice, considering that when you train, you drain your muscles of fuel called muscle glycogen. Glycogen is nothing more than a collection of unused carbohydrates that have been packed away in muscles. When you eat carbs — such as bagels, rice, or pasta — some of them are stored in muscles to be used while training. Unfortunately though, some are eventually stored as bodyfat.

Generally, when you train hard, muscle glycogen stores fall, and what you eat after training is usually deposited right back into your muscles. In other words, if you were to smash your pecs with 15 sets of bench presses, inclines, and flies, your glycogen would drop. Then, when you eat a couple of cups of rice afterwards, it’s highly probable that the rice would be packed away into what would then be, depleted glycogen stores. The beauty of this is that the carbs you eat after training are extremely poor initiators of fat storage. They have to reload muscles with new glycogen before they can have any ability to make you fat. Want to eat a fat-free pop tart and still remain lean? Go ahead — just eat it after you train — that won’t make you fat.

Still, keeping carbs low definitely helps to burn fat because when you take away the carbs, fat-burning ramps up. I’ve been on pretty low carbs for quite a while, but I’ve also been pounding back Nitro-Tech — I have to. When your carbs are low, you get leaner. However, if you fail to increase your protein intake, you’ll burn off muscle tissue! For me, the best way to keep what little mass I have is to supplement with a clinically proven protein powder, such as Nitro-Tech. It makes it easy to get in all the protein I want to get in to protect my muscles. With Nitro-Tech, all I have to do is throw the powder in a container, shake it with water, and I’m good to go.

Recently, every fourth to sixth day I have been eating 500 grams or so of carbs. When I first started getting back into training, I couldn’t really push myself too hard, so I didn’t need a lot of fuel (i.e. carbs). Therefore, I kept them very low in hopes of dumping some bodyfat. Over the first few weeks of training though, I’ve noticed that my strength is getting better, I’m adding some muscle, and I’m able to train harder than the “in the gym for the first time wimp” I had felt like. So, now I need the carbs. I need them to progressively train harder, and to push myself harder. The problem is that when I eat them every day, even in moderate amounts, I can’t drop bodyfat. This is why I’m timing my carbs — every so often, I’ll eat a lot of them.

Muscles deprived of glycogen become really good at taking a large amount of carbs — in my case, 500 grams — and storing them (in muscles). In other words, I get to eat 500 grams of carbs without worry about gaining bodyfat. Now that’s my kind of timing! Today’s menu: Bread, pasta, and fat-free cake. Yes, you can have your cake — and get lean too.

BIG DUB

06-14-2011, 10:46 PM

Starting an exercise program is too overwhelming!
For beginners and people who are so far out of shape that you feel like starting an exercise program is too overwhelming, I know how you feel. I had to start all over again after five years off from training this past spring. Where do you really start when you're weak, soft, and small to the point where you look like you've never really trained before in your entire life? That was me in mid May when I flew up to Toronto to take awful “before shots” before getting started in the gym in what was going to be a rocky road back to a muscular physique. The entire idea of getting back into shape was sort of overwhelming. First, I had been more than under the weather for some time. For five full years, I'd been dealing with a health issue, which left me pathetically weak. Although I had been feeling much better over the last 12 months, I gave up on going back to a gym. My radar screen was filled with family, my wife and two kids, business, and helping a few bodybuilders with their nutrition. The gym, eating right, and getting back into decent shape never entered my mind. The few times I daydreamed about going back to training just seemed like a waste of time. Time is something I don't have much of. Plus, the effort and all that — all the hard work required to get back into shape; I didn't think I had it in me. Overall, though I was feeling good. My body was toast. It was really really weak.

Around the beginning of the year, the time when people make resolutions, I thought about working out again. Jay Cutler had always been after me to get back to the gym. He'd say, “You'll feel better. Just start.” My wife thought it would be a good idea. I just didn't really know where to start. A few weeks later, a very good friend from Team MuscleTech gave me a call. At one point in the past, MuscleTech and I had thought about doing some things together. They have the best supplements in the world, the biggest research budget in the world, and the most credibility in sports nutrition, and they had approached me about working on some projects. This time around, someone floated the idea about me getting back into the gym and taking before and after pics. The conversation moved fast and I found myself getting excited and saying “Yeah, I can do this. I can get back into shape.” Next thing I knew, I was standing with just a pair of shorts in front of a photographer. Pasty white, droopy. With no muscle to speak of. With the before pics behind me, it was time to hit the gym.

The gym hit me. No lie. The first day back, my bench press was limited to 85 pounds for 6. That's all I could do. Over the five years, my joints had, unbeknownst to me until I propped myself under the bar, been trashed. 85 pounds felt like 85 on my pecs, but 850 on my joints. The next day, I woke up and my left shoulder was swollen and I couldn't even hold the phone. What a comeback. Right there, I knew my back–to–shape plan would need a lot of patience and some planning. I'd need to set very short–term goals.

The two goals I set where to train one body part every day and to limit my carbs to less than 50 grams a day. With the training, I knew I simply had to go through the motions. Since I was weak and my joints were killing me, I'd settle for picking 3 or 4 exercises a day for each body part. I'd do 3 or 4 sets, sometimes 5 for each exercise. And the weight would be nominal. For example, I would take biceps and do 12–pound alternate dumbell curls for 10 to 12 reps and 4 sets. Then I'd move onto hammer curls and do the same there: 4 sets with 10 to 12 reps using just 12– or 15–pound dumbells. I would finish with standing barbell curls with just the bar. (The first day I did arms, I injured my tendons in my forearms! Things were breaking apart all over, so I had to go real slow.) Legs were equally as pathetic. I'd do 5 sets of leg curls and 5 sets of leg extensions. True story: I'd find myself “working in” with elderly people using the same weight as me! Next, I'd do leg presses with just the rack. No weight at all. Besides understanding I had to start slow, I had already hurt my shoulder and forearms pretty badly from the get–go, so I wanted to make sure I didn't end up killing myself.

With nutrition, initially I drank 4 or 5 Muscletech® shakes a day, the 15 ounce cans that give you 45 grams of protein in each serving. I'd usually eat one meal a day — either egg whites and toast for breakfast. Or, I'd eat steak and a small potato and salad for dinner. I figured I was fat and my metabolism was almost dormant. I certainly didn't need to eat many carbs because I wasn’t burning any with that type of “training.” So, my thought was that if I limited my carbs, at least I'd keep my calories under control and hopefully coax my body to burn some fat. I figured if I could make it through a day with even this limited training and a good nutrition starter plan — a couple hundred grams of the best protein on the market while limiting my carbs and calories, something had to happen. “One day at a time. Be patient.” I wrote those words on the top of my computer as a reminder. They're still there, and things are looking good.

BIG DUB

06-14-2011, 10:48 PM

Growth gaffes: for the fastest route from hardgainer to huge, avoid these 10 all-too-common mass-gain mistakes
Flex, Oct, 2006 by Chris Aceto

Nearly everyone who reads this magazine wants to learn how to get bigger, which should leave little question as to why each issue is packed full of tips and guidelines on how to do just that. In fact, we look upon it as our obligation and responsibility to help each aspiring bodybuilder in FLEX Nation add reams of fat-free mass to his frame.

Thus, we would be remiss in our duty if we did not tackle a very common issue faced by those seeking major gains--the unintended addition of bodyfat along with muscle. From a nutrition perspective, getting big is often boiled down to "eating big," a philosophy iron hoisters have lived by for years. In reality, for many bodybuilders, big eating, which implies packing away plenty of food, can be an equally effective fat-gaining plan.

Therein lies one of the biggest dilemmas facing a bodybuilder: how to gain mass without getting downright sloppy looking. Avoid the following 10 missteps and you, too, can bulk without the bulge.
MISTAKE #1

EATING TOO MUCH AT EACH MEAL

This error is all about portions. When you eat a lot in hopes of gaining mass, your body can make use of only a certain amount of nutrition--including calories--at one sitting. What happens to the excess? It's converted to bodyfat. That's why I'm in favor of eating five to eight "meals" a day. A meal could be as small as a protein shake, a small turkey burger on a whole-grain bun or a chicken breast with a heaping cup of cooked pasta. Eating frequent meals of smaller portions of food promotes protein synthesis and prevents an upgrade in fat-storing enzymes and hormones.

MISTAKE #2

INGESTING AN EXTREME NUMBER OF CALORIES

Do you really need 6,000 calories each day in order to build mass? Is 5,000 appropriate? What about 4,000? No, no and maybe. For many bodybuilders, building mass requires 17-20 calories per pound of bodyweight, depending on metabolic rate and daily activity level. For a 200-pounder, that comes out to 3,400-4,000 calories a day. For those with a mediocre metabolism, the total should be a little less. In other words, if your metabolism isn't on par with that of Darrem Charles and you're eating 5,000 calories a day, you're going to get extremely fat. Start with 16 or 17 calories per pound of bodyweight and check a mirror after a week or two. If you're gaining in your midsection, your calories may be too high. If you're adding bodyweight and still looking decent around the middle, bump up your calorie intake a bit and experiment with incremental increases until you come across a level that works best for you.

MISTAKE #3

NOT KNOWING THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL TIMES

To support muscle growth--without adding bodyfat--exaggerate the size of the two important meals: breakfast and the postworkout meal. Take in more carbs and more protein; a little fat is OK, too. These are the two most important meals of the day, and they determine whether you will gain mass for the day or simply move sideways.

When you eat a lot for breakfast, the first meal of the day, you boost anabolic (muscle-building) hormones, which in turn suppress catabolic hormones that try to break down muscle tissue. After training, muscles act like a vacuum, sucking up nearly all incoming nutrition that causes muscle growth while impeding the body's ability to store bodyfat. The opposite--not eating enough at breakfast and after training--can compromise recovery, which can downgrade your metabolic rate. Do you know what happens when your metabolic rate is downgraded? It's easier to get fat.

MISTAKE #4

NOT CONSUMING ENOUGH CARBS

Protein is the most important nutrient for muscle growth, but carbs also play a critical role, especially after training. You won't be able to get enough calories when attempting to put on mass if your carb intake is low; when mass is your aim, take in 2-3 grams (g) of carbs per pound of bodyweight daily. Carbs help blunt cortisol levels--cortisol can interfere with testosterone's anabolic actions in muscle and lead to muscle breakdown, especially immediately following a workout. A mass seeker's postworkout meal should include 40 g of fast-digesting protein, such as whey, and 80-100 g of fast-digesting carbs, such as white bread, Gatorade, baked potatoes, sugar, honey and fruit. Carbs at this time spike the anabolic hormone insulin, which helps to drive glucose, amino acids and supplements such as creatine into muscle cells, spurring muscle protein synthesis.

MISTAKE #5

RELYING ON "DIET" FOODS

To get ripped to the bone, you need turkey breasts, chicken breasts, fish and egg whites. Those are the protein sources with the fewest calories. You also need a lot of veggies to curb your appetite. The problem for many misguided mass seekers is that they eat diet foods during a mass-gaining phase in hopes of maintaining low levels of bodyfat. What really happens? They often fail to add any significant amount of muscle mass. Why? Testosterone. Eating minimal fat (as from the aforementioned lean protein choices) can cause a drop in testosterone levels. Surprisingly, high-fiber veggies can actually interfere with testosterone metabolism as well, which leads to "so-so" rather than "wow!" gains. Ditch the diet proteins for lean beef and whole eggs mixed with egg whites (eat half whole eggs and half egg whites--if you eat six eggs at breakfast, toss out three of the yolks). Don't be afraid to include low-fat yogurt, milk, cheese and cottage cheese in your diet. Your recovery ability, growth and results will be happy you did.

MISTAKE #6

AVOIDING IMPORTANT AMINOS

There are three amino acids that are more important than others. Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) help prevent muscles from falling into a dreaded breakdown state that accompanies hard training. By taking BCAAs before and after training, you protect muscles from being catabolized, torn apart and burned. This indirectly promotes growth. Of the three BCAAs, leucine appears to be the most important. It not only stimulates the anabolic hormone insulin, which acts as a catalyst for muscle growth, but it directly turns on messengers in muscle cells that promote growth. Try a combo of 5-10 g of BCAAs before and after training, or simply take 5-8 g of leucine before and after training.

MISTAKE #7

SKIMPING ON RECOVERY TIME

Hardcore training requires knowing how to eat properly. One of the biggest mistakes bodybuilders make is believing that even the best nutrition plan can override the need for proper rest. Rest allows catabolic hormones to recede. Although good nutrition also suppresses catabolic hormones, there's a limit to its effectiveness. From there, it's all about rest. If you steer clear of the gaffes I have outlined and still fail to add quality beef, you need more rest days. Instead of triggering your body to grow, you are hammering it too hard, and not even the ideal nutrition scenario can save you. Take a closer look at your training schedule and add another rest day or two to your current regimen.

MISTAKE #8

NOT EATING BEFORE WORKING OUT

Researchers have found that it is crucial to provide the body with protein and carbs in a preworkout meal. The nutrients will be used directly as energy, saving your muscles from drawing on their own stores for fuel, and they will induce the activation of your body's postworkout anabolic processes much sooner and more effectively. In the 30-minute window before your workout, take in 20 g of whey protein and about 40 g of carbs.

MISTAKE #9

MISSING THE AFTER-MIDNIGHT MEAL

The real name of the game in mass building is maintaining an anabolic state, in which the body is constantly delivering amino acids to muscles and creating growth. During sleep, the body can fall out of this precious state, but there's an easy way to get around it. Drink 20-36 ounces of water before bedtime. That should cause you to wake up during the middle of the night. At that time, drink a protein shake with 3 g of the amino acid arginine added. The shake will provide amino acids to support around-the-clock delivery of protein, and arginine supports growth-hormone (GH) production that impacts muscle growth. If you dislike the nasty taste of arginine, use glycine instead.

MISTAKE #10

BEING CONSISTENTLY INCONSISTENT

There's a book called The Automatic Millionaire, about how "typical" Americans become millionaires simply by consistently contributing to their savings. To become an "automatic mass monster," simply implement the tips outlined here. You'll automatically get to where you want to go, in this case with more mass and very little bodyfat. That's one of the "secrets" to getting ahead. You have to take small steps, but take them every day and, over time, you'll make the gains you really want

BIG DUB

06-14-2011, 10:50 PM

Road map to rippedville: find your abs in a matter of weeks with our cut-and-dried three-part nutrition strategy
Flex, Nov, 2006 by Chris Aceto

When was the last time you saw your abs? You know, those topographical ridges delineating a shredded sixer, completely clear of unwanted layers of bodyfat that result from your so-called "offseason mass gain" strategy?

Maybe you've never really seen them come out in full relief. Or maybe you have, but it's been a while, despite your best efforts. If that's the case, you're in need of better directions and, luckily, you've come to the right place, FLEX magazine. Follow this plan and you'll be able to drop two or more pounds of fat per week for six to eight weeks.

DESTINATION ABS

Getting cut fast requires drastic cuts in carbs, dietary fat and, of course, calories. Steer clear of oils, butter or fried foods, and keep carbs under 50 grams (g) a day. Yes, 50--this is a rapid fat-loss plan.

Protein intake must rise when carbs, fat and calories fall--keep your protein intake high. With this approach, you'll drop a lot of bodyfat rather quickly. The downside is that your energy levels can crash, leaving you unable to train if you're not used to a lower-carb diet. The solution: break the week into "threes"--three distinct diet phases during each of the six to eight weeks of the program
PHASE ONE

Days: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Carbohydrate intake: less than 50 g per day

Protein intake: 2 g per pound of bodyweight per day

Cardio requirement: 20-30 minutes, low-level intensity each day

* For these three days, carbs are kept at an extremely low level. All of those carbs should be eaten after training. Limiting carbs not only keeps overall calories really low, but also reins in the production of the hormone insulin, which tends to rise with carbohydrate consumption. Although controlling calories is the primary factor in influencing fat loss, keeping insulin levels lower also helps because insulin is a known fat catalyst; it helps the body manufacture and store bodyfat. Low calories and carbs will maximize fat burning.

It's best, as mentioned, to eat all 50 g of your allotted carbs after training, as that will help minimize protein breakdown that comes with training. For protein, if you weigh 200 pounds, you'll need 400 g per day split over six meals. Protein helps save and protect muscle tissue when carbs are really low.

On these days, you'll benefit from low-intensity cardio. The diet will stoke fat burning; cardio is added, not to bump up the metabolism, but simply to coax the body into giving up stored fat for fuel. The ideal time for cardio is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach; on a low-carb program, though, you would still reap benefits by doing it anytime during the day.

PHASE TWO

Days: Thursday and Friday

Carbohydrate intake: 100-150 g per day

Protein intake: 1.5 to 1.75 g per pound of bodyweight per day

Cardio requirement: 40 minutes of interval training each day

* On paper, it would seem that the extreme approach taken in phase one would do the trick to continuously melt fat off the body. In reality, it doesn't work that way. Strict dieting will only crush muscle recovery, leading to flat muscles. When muscles become flat and are deprived of stored carbs (muscle glycogen), the body can appear fatter. That's where this phase comes in.

Here, additional carbs assist in recovery and prevent a major drain on glycogen reserves. If glycogen reserves fall too low, you can look "fat" and your muscles may not fully recover from hard training. You can sidestep a potential metabolism slowdown by providing muscles with the fewest carbs required, without experiencing a major loss in muscle glycogen. On these days, split your carbs accordingly--30-40 g in the morning, 20-35 g preworkout and 50-75 g postworkout.

With more carbs, you'll be able to hit the cardio harder. I suggest alternating between going hard for two to three minutes and using a much lower intensity for two to three minutes, continuing the pattern for a 40-minute period. The interval training will kick up your metabolism; in phase one, the goal was simply to coax bodyfat mobilization. In this phase, it's an overall boost in metabolism you're after, to get the body to burn more calories. Again, the ideal time for cardio is in the morning on an empty stomach.

PHASE THREE

Days: Saturday and Sunday

Carbohydrate intake: 2 g per pound of bodyweight per day

Protein intake: 1 g per pound of bodyweight per day

Cardio requirement: none

* These are easier days--carb consumption goes up and protein consumption comes down. Carbs rise to 2 g per pound of bodyweight and protein falls to 1 g per pound of bodyweight. For a 200-pound trainer, that's 400 g of carbs a day and 200 g of protein. Better news: you really don't need cardio in this phase. Why the sudden change to an increase in carbs, if extreme or fast fat loss is the name of the game? Two reasons: metabolism and perception.

When you increase carbs, you signal the body to build mass, and part of any successful fat-loss plan requires muscle retention. After all, muscle drives the metabolism and helps you get lean. Nonstop cutting plans comprising very low calories backfire because they sacrifice muscle retention, which, in turn, causes metabolic slowdown. This plan does the opposite, protecting muscles by strategically increasing carbs and calories. With a boost in carbs and calories, you don't burn additional fat, but you exert a very favorable effect on your metabolism.

Carbs and calories help to elevate leptin, an important hormone that regulates metabolism and appetite. When you stay on a low-carb low-calorie diet for too long, you blunt leptin levels; that slows metabolism and increases appetite.

The second reason, perception, works this way. When you return to phase one, your body perceives going back to 50 g of carbs as a big change from 400 g. The result is that the body rapidly switches back into its fat-burning mode. Think of it like this: if the outside temperature was consistently 80 degrees, you'd get used to that temperature. However, if the temperature suddenly dropped one day to 60, your perception of 60 degrees would likely be far colder than the actual temperature. The same is true when you cycle carbs. When you go from 400 g of carbs to 50, the impact is very different on the body than eating 50 g every day. The perception is that the body feels like it's starving and temporarily digs deep into fat stores.

Therein lies the total nutritional road map for getting ripped in six to eight weeks: pushing the diet extremely hard in the first phase; continuing with a rather strict--albeit a little easier--diet in the second phase; and taking a breather in the third phase, which makes the first two all the more effective. Now aren't you glad you stopped for directions?

BIG DUB

06-17-2011, 09:50 PM

Anti-Catabolism: Half the Battle in Building Mass!

Imagine if you swallowed a pill that prevented the body from tearing down its own muscle tissue. What would happen? Your body would grow like crazy! Bodybuilders gobble down tons of protein, chicken, fish, meat, protein powder and dairy products, in hopes dietary protein – the protein in the food – will make its way into tissue protein; aka muscle. Increasing protein reserves in muscle is called anabolism and directly translates into bigger and stronger muscles.
Yet, part of the muscle overall building process entails the protection of muscle tissue – guarding it so muscle is not aggressively destroyed, broken down, inflamed or burned. Called anti-catabolism, it’s the focus of this month’s piece – the leading 8 nutrients to help prevent the body from tearing down its very own muscle mass. When you protect against muscle destruction – it’s much easier for the body to build itself up and achieve an anabolic state. In other words, when you protect your muscles, you’ll find getting bigger a heck of a lot easier.

Anticatabolic #1 Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA)
What is It 3 amino acids called leucine, isoleucine and valine
How It Works
Nothing is more frustrating for a dieting bodybuilder then eating fewer calories only to fail to “lean out.” While dieting promotes a reduction in body fat, it also can cause a loss of hard earned muscle mass. That’s where BCAA help. BCAA amino acids can be burned as fuel thereby sparing the body from burning its own muscle. The result; you hold muscle while dieting. BCAA’s also help support anabolism- the build-up of muscle tissue. So; you get double support- anti-catabolic and anabolic actions.
How To Use It
3-5 grams before training and another 3-5 grams after training. This used to be the best bet in bodybuilding before the advent of higher dose leucine products.

Anti-Catabolic #2 Leucine
What is It
One of the BCAA’s,. In fact, the most potent and ant-catabolic
How It Works
Leucine can energize working muscles and when muscles have the fuel mix they need, muscles are less likely to be destroyed and broken down. Another interesting tidbit; leucine and also supports insulin release, which prevents muscle breakdown, thereby acting as an anti-catabolic. Recently, MuscleTech developed an even more effective version of leucine called Leukic. Taken as recommended, it probably exerts one of the strongest anti-catabolic effects on the body outside of using anabolic steroids. Leukic increases protein synthesis- the build up of muscle tissue – without the dangerous hormonal effects associated with steroids. It’s become one of the most used supplements in all of sports today.
How To Use It
6 caplets of Leukic will give you 7.2 grams of Leuciine-ketoisocaproic acid.

Anti-Catabolic #3 Arginine and Lysine
What is It
Arginine is one of those amino acids food scientists term “conditionally essential” - meaning it is a “must have” during periods of high stress. Guess what: hardcore training and strict dieting fit that description. Lysine is another amino acid. While lysine by itself doesn’t seem to be a big deal, when combined with arginine, it is very beneficial.
How It Works
Combining the two amino acids increases growth hormone. When that happens the body starts to burn a lot more fat as fuel, leaving protein and muscle reserves unscathed. Arginine can also facilitate blood flow to muscles and greater blood flow triggers the release of chemical messengers in muscles that help protect against muscle breakdown.
How To Use It
3-5 grams of arginine and 3-5 grams of lysine 60 minutes before training.

Anti-Catabolic #4 Glutamine
What is It
Like arginine, it’s one of those amino acids the body needs when under added amounts of stress. A no-brainer; bodybuilding training is extremely stressful, so this is another important nutrient affecting muscle tissue.
How It Works
Boosts the amount of water stored in muscles. Greater water content, generally, helps off set muscle loss and breakdown. It also suppresses cortisol levels and cortisol control is helpful in off setting excessive muscle breakdown and destruction.
How To Use It
A lot of bodybuilders report a dose dependent effect. That is, the more you take, the better. Try 7-12 grams before and another 7-12 grams after training.

Anti-Catabolic #5 Garlic
What is It
This flavorful herb common to Asian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking has quite a rep going back thousands of years. Turns out, bodybuilders might be able to benefit.
How It Works
Well, we know it’s a great benefit for those hoping to improve heart-health, but from a hardcore bodybuilding perspective, it might offer hormonal support. Animal studies show garlic combined with casein protein results in less cortisol one of the catabolic or “muscle eating” hormones.
How To Use It
40-50 mgs twice daily with a protein meal.

Anti-Catabolic #6 Casein
What is It
Casein is the principle protein in milk, the curd that forms when milk is left to soar.
How It Works
All proteins offers both anabolic and anti-catabolic effects but casein is somewhat unique in that is a longer lasting protein, taking a couple of hours to really reach the blood stream and lingering there for up to 7 hours. The continuous release makes it an ideal night-time source of protein to be taken before bed. When you sleep, you always risk slipping into a catabolic state where muscle tissue is broken down.
How To Use
40-60 grams before bed

Anti-Catabolic #7 Vitamin C
What is It
Water soluble vitamin.
How It Works
Cushions the effects of free radicals, the oxidative compounds released with hardcore training. Unfortunately, free radicals contribute to muscle inflammation and breakdown. C also helps control excessive cortisol levels which can potentially chew up muscle mass.
How To Use 1000 mgs taken in the post training meal

Anti-Catabolic #8 Vitamin E
What is It
Fat Soluble vitamin
How It Works
Helps fight free radical over production that is accompanies with hard training or over-dieting. Over production of free radicals can poke tiny holes in muscle tissue creating a muscle breakdown state. E has been shown to decrease creatine kinase activity, a marker for muscle fiber damage. In short, E protects your muscles.
How To Use
200-400 mgs taken daily with breakfast

BIG DUB

06-17-2011, 09:52 PM

Rise & Shine: Best Carb & Protein Sources

For the most part, building mass is about eating a lot of food, seemingly non-stop from sun-rise to bedtime. That’s because muscle growth is directly proportional to two things: total calories and nitrogen. To build mass, you have to eat more calories than you need each day. Laying down new muscle tissue requires energy. If you don’t eat enough, you wont grow, regardless of protein intake. On the flip side, nitrogen, the unique ingredient common only to protein foods is a marker for growth and the more nitrogen your body can retain, the better your chances in attaining greater mass.

What part of the day are you at greatest risk of slipping? Falling too low in calories and nitrogen? The last 3 hours of slumber and immediately upon wakening. This is the period where the body slides backwards. With no incoming calories and protein, growth ceases and catabolic hormones begin to rise. And this is why breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day. It all boils down to jumpstarting the day’s growth process, reversing catabolism and setting the stage for anabolism, growth!

With that in mind, I’ve put together various carbohydrate and protein sources and who can use them to get the ball moving onto a growth path.

Carbohydrates

Oatmeal:
Here’s a slow burning carbohydrate and a good start for mass building bodybuilders who struggles to control body fat. Slow burning carbohydrates last longer in the stomach preventing over eating at forth coming meals. They also initiate a small insulin surge and bodybuilders carrying a higher level of body fat would benefit as tempering insulin surges help off set rises in body fat.
For dieters, this is the #1 carbohydrate again due to its slow burning character. Gram for gram compared to many other carbohydrates, oatmeal exerts a more satisfying effect on the appetite and is less likely to be deposited as body fat.

Breakfast Potatoes
These fall into a mid range- they digest not too fast not too slow- which make them a good mass building carbohydrate. If body fat is not an issue, mass building bodybuilders ought to combine mid burning carbohydrates like potatoes with a faster carbohydrates like fruit juice, jam, jelly or fat free muffins.

Pancakes with Syrup
Here’s an example of super fast digesting carbohydrates. When carbohydrates flood the bloodstream with rapid speed, they have the ability to completely shut down the catabolic process within minutes of eating. So for building, they’re great. If you’re on the lean side with a fast metabolism, you could make this your daily standard at breakfast. Better yet, go with honey, which is slower burning than syrup. That’s the ideal approach for breakfast – to combine a fast and a slower burning carbohydrate. The fast kicks in right away with the slower burning carbohydrate thereafter for continuous energy. Not the best choice for mass builders struggling with body fat.

Alternative: Buckwheat Pancakes
Buckwheat – no, not whole wheat – is a very slow burning carbohydrate so you can eat these pancakes to build mass – as long as you include some fast digesting carbohydrates like syrup or fruit juice for a slow/fast combo. For dieting, you can eat these every morning and top with Equal and cinnamon. Cinnamon helps regulate blood sugar levels and is a very mild thermogenic – it mildly boosts calorie burning.

Cream Of Rice (or cream of wheat)
Fast acting carbohydrate making it a good mass carbohydrate for lean bodybuilders. Leaner bodybuilders respond to carbohydrates very differently than heavier body builders – those with a slower metabolism. Lean bodybuilders release less insulin which means when they eat fast digesting carbohydrates, they actually break down at a moderate pace, slower than what glycemic index tables typically indicate. Struggling to control body fat? Stick with oatmeal, oatbran or cream of brown rice all of which contain more fiber which slows the absorption of the carbohydrates, an important point in limiting the build up of body fat.

Fruit
There’s an argument that fruit’s not a good carbohydrate but I don’t buy it. Fruit contains fructose which is nothing more than two molecules of glucose – the same found in cream of rice and carbo drinks – bound together. While other types of carbohydrates predominantly are deposited as muscle glycogen, fruit increase liver glycogen. The benefit is that when liver glycogen stores are full, you’re more apt to remain in an anabolic state. Every mass seeking bodybuilder ought to have a serving of fruit for breakfast: bananas, apples, apple sauce, blueberries, strawberries to help recovery. The bad –rap of fruit likely comes from the fact that saturated liver glycogen stores increases the fat storing machinery in the body. Truth be told, once muscle or liver glycogen stores are full, the fat storing machinery always increases. However, to build, to grow and to add muscular bodyweight, you have to keep glycogen stores as close to full as possible.

Protein

Egg Whites:
Fastest digesting source of protein around which means it hits the blood stream within 30 minutes providing a source of anti-catabolic amino acids. To give the body an immediate dose of nitrogen, you can’t go wrong here.

Whole Eggs
For gains in mass, look no further. The white hits the body nearly immediately and the yolk – because of their fat content – are a back-up, coming into play an hour or so later. Therefore, you have nonstop protein to cease a catabolic environment.

Fat Free Cheese
Because it’s lacking fat, it hits the blood quickly- though not as fast as egg whites- which is helpful in reversing the overnight catabolic scenario.

Low Fat Cottage Cheese
Tremendous source of protein and digests slower than egg whites, somewhere in between eggs and steak. Because it yields casein and whey, some amino acids hit the body quick, though the majority take about an hour. Still, a great choice.

Steak
Steaks a good source of protein loaded with B vitamins and zinc, the testosterone supporting mineral, but it breaks down a little bit too slow which makes it not the top choice for breakfast. However, you can scramble 4-5 egg whites for fast acting protein along with your 6 oz of steak to give you 43 grams of first class protein.

Whey Protein
This is a very fast acting protein – on par with egg whites – and versatile. You can mix it with water or combine it with skim milk or mix it directly into oats, cream of rice or oatbran along with some fruit or Equal. Adding 30 grams with 2 cups of skim milk is a great advantage because you’d get over 400 mgs of calcium from the milk and calcium from dairy mildly alters hormones in the body which encourage the burning of fat for energy. You get the building blocks of the protein – to grow – and the hormonal shift from the calcium – to lose.

Meal Replacement Shakes
The real benefit here is 2 sources of protein: whey which is fast to digest along with casein which is slower. This provides a one-two punch for continual amino acid delivery to remove you from a catabolic state and keep you in an anabolic state. Be sure to see if your meal replacement offers both proteins.

BIG DUB

06-17-2011, 09:57 PM

Cortisol CONTROL
BY CHRIS ACETO

Learning to control this muscle-eroding hormone will increase your muscle mass

Do you feel sore, tired, irritable or weak? Have you noticed that your gains have plateaued? These could be signs that your cortisol levels are out of whack.
Cortisol is a stress hormone that’s truly the antithesis of testosterone: whereas testosterone supports muscle building, excess cortisol kills it. Besides tearing down muscle tissue and preventing the body from storing carbs as muscle glycogen, cortisol actually lowers testosterone. It also interferes with testosterone’s ability to bind to its receptors within muscle cells and induce an anabolic effect. When testosterone levels drop, not only does it become harder to build muscle and recover, but oestrogen tends to have a stronger effect in the body. Oestrogen is correlated with water retention, and it also makes shedding bodyfat a lot more difficult.

Cortisol levels can be elevated for a variety of reasons — hardcore training itself can induce this rise. It’s important that bodybuilders learn how to control their cortisol levels to keep making the best gains. If you suffer from the symptoms mentioned earlier, institute the following suggestions to help get your cortisol levels under control.
1. Stay on top of your workout nutrition As mentioned, cortisol rises when you train — it’s a natural reaction. One of the best ways to avoid excessively elevated cortisol levels is to be disciplined with your postworkout nutrition. By supplying your body with exactly what it needs as soon as the work-out is done, you’ll jump-start your recovery and help blunt cortisol spikes.
After your workout, take in 30-50 grams (g) of whey protein with 60 to 100 g of carbs. Maltodextrin is easy, but you can take in other fast-digesting carbs such as rice cakes, white bread or cold cereal. You can also add 5 g of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) to the mix, or take them before you work out — BCAAs before exercise help maintain testosterone levels and can be used to fuel muscles. Leucine, one of the BCAAs, also spikes insulin levels through a different mechanism than carbs, and insulin helps in the suppression of cortisol. Whey provides building blocks that help prevent catabolism — muscle breakdown — and preventing catabolism is directly related to lower cortisol levels. Finally, the carbs in this combo spike insulin to further offset protein breakdown.
2. Control your workouts Training volume can have a direct impact on cortisol levels. If you’re overtraining, you’re taking your body past the point where you can make the best gains. Follow these rules to make the most of your muscle-building regime.
• Limit weight training to four sessions per week. Training more frequently prevents the body from attaining a full recovery.
• Keep sessions to about an hour. When you perform too many sets and exercises in a given session, you can break down your muscle tissue too much. Limiting the length of your training sessions helps avoid this.
• Emphasise multijoint movements. Exercises such as squats, deadlifts and bench presses are the most effective at stimulating muscle growth while helping to limit total training volume. They also best stimulate growth hormone (GH) and testosterone, which can help blunt cortisol.
• Avoid excessive pumping and finishing movements. When you perform numerous sets and reps of these types of exercises, you can raise your cortisol levels too high without stimulating as much muscle growth. Try to keep pumping and finishing movements to no more than three sets per bodypart at the end of the workout.
3. Be careful with your cardio If cardio exercise burned only bodyfat, then you could hop on a bike and cycle your way into the record books as the most ripped human ever. The problem is, though, that prolonged and excessive cardio causes an increase in cortisol, and this situation can begin to prioritise muscle tissue as an energy source, tearing it down instead of helping to build it.
How much is too much cardio? I’d say anything more than five sessions a week — and try to keep it to no more than four times per week when you’re not being strict with your diet. Thirty minutes per session is also enough, except when you’re trying to get really ripped.
4. Eat six meals a day The benefits of eating multiple meals per day are numerous. Besides allowing you to stay lean, a diet strategy of smaller and more frequent meals has been shown to keep cortisol levels lower than less-frequent feedings. Multiple meals — at any calorie level — will result in greater cortisol control than less-frequent meals, and we know keeping cortisol in check yields less fat, more muscle, better recovery and more energy. Strive to take in six meals per day throughout all phases of your training programme.
5. Take vitamin C This water-soluble vitamin cushions the negative effects of free radicals, compounds that are released with hardcore training. Free radicals target tissues such as muscles, weakening them and increasing inflammation and breakdown. When this happens, cortisol levels spike. By providing your body with antioxidants, such as vitamin C, you can help control cortisol. One study showed that a daily dose of 1,000 milligrams (mg) helped weightlifters keep cortisol under control. A good bet is to take 1,000 mg with your post-training meal, when free radicals are most likely to be present. Don’t go to the extreme and take a megadose, though, because new research shows that excessive vitamin C could actually be detrimental.
6. Supplement with vitamin E This fat-soluble vitamin offers many versatile benefits. Primarily, vitamin E helps combat the oxi-dative stress of training and dieting. Like vitamin C, vitamin E is also helpful at combating free radicals. Large amounts of vitamin E have been shown to decrease creatine kinase activity, a marker for muscle-fibre injury. That’s what happens when you train. It’s the irony of trying to get big: you tear down your muscles to rebuild them and make them grow bigger. Taking 800 international units of vitamin E daily may help to prevent severe breakdown, which, in theory, should allow you to recover more quickly from your training.
7. Try phosphatidylserine Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a phospholipid, a quasi fat that is derived from soya beans. PS has been shown to help control cortisol levels. When you take 800 mg immediately after training, it saves muscles by blunting the total amount of cortisol released by your body. In theory, you can train like a madman and rapidly recover if you follow up the hard training with this anticortisol supplement. Another benefit is that when you keep cortisol levels under control, it’s easier for your muscles to “carb up”. With escalating cortisol levels, muscles experience a downgrade in their ability to take up carbs and deposit them as stored muscle glycogen.
8. Eat (or supplement with) garlic This bulbous flavourful herb common to Asian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking has a long-deserved reputation as a health food. Recent research has shown that garlic along with a high-casein diet altered the body’s hormonal status, yielding lower levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. Other studies have shown that garlic may help increase testosterone levels. In general, the higher your testosterone levels, the lower your cortisol levels. So supplement with garlic powder — 450 mg twice daily with meals — or with a garlic supplement that provides about 4 mg of allicin with casein protein shakes. This may help keep cortisol to a minimum.
9. Get your glutamine You knew it had to show up here, right? Recent studies have pooh-poohed glutamine’s beneficial effects on cortisol levels, but I disagree. There are many other studies that take a pro-glutamine view in muscle building. Glutamine works to spare BCAAs, and keeping BCAAs high helps keep cortisol levels from rising. In addition, glutamine pushes water into muscles, and hydrated muscles remain anabolic. Several studies show that supplemental glutamine can help keep cortisol levels in check.
Glutamine can help suppress the amount of cortisol circulating in blood. Glutamine also increases GH levels, combating cortisol’s catabolic effects. For a beneficial effect on cortisol levels, athletes may need a lot more glutamine than amounts that are often suggested. I recommend taking 5 to 10 g before and another 5 to 10 g after training to help reduce cortisol levels.
10. Add arginine to your supplement regime Arginine is now touted as a nitric oxide inducer; yet, it remains an effective GH releaser. Arginine may also have effects on cortisol levels. When GH levels rise, which naturally occurs with sleep, cortisol levels fall. As you get older, the sleep-induced GH boost just isn’t what it used to be, which allows cortisol levels to rise. Rising cortisol makes it harder for your body to grow, to hold mass and to get lean. Take 9 to 12 g of arginine before bed without carbs to increase GH levels and to blunt cortisol. FLEX

BIG DUB

06-17-2011, 09:58 PM

HEAVY Loading BY CHRIS ACETO

Use this 12-step carb-loading programme to add the appearance of 15 pounds of muscle in just one week

When I lived in California and trained at Gold?s Gym in Venice, I often saw top competitors who appeared to be in sub-par condition a week before a major show. Then, a week later, the same bodybuilders would often show up onstage in sensational condition. Flex Wheeler was known for achieving drastic changes in his physique in less then 10 days. One reason for this was the implementation of successful carbohydrate depleting and loading. The system, which requires large but temporary changes in carbohydrate, sodium and water consumption, can lead to near-miracle changes in the appearance of muscle conditioning.

The process creates a temporary illusion. It?s a ?quick fix? that allows a bodybuilder to appear a lot harder by virtue of fuller-looking muscles combined with less water retention.
Whether you?re a bodybuilder who wants a quick fix to sharpen your physique for a contest or just for a trip to the beach, these are the steps to deplete and then supercharge your body with carb loading. You may be shocked by how much better ? and bigger ? you?ll look in just one week.

Step No. 1
Pre-programme: increase sodium intake
In the week prior to starting your carb-cutting programme, boost your intake of sodium ? plain table salt. The simplest way to do this is to sprinkle salt on all of your meals. Elevating sodium increases water retention in the body and decreases the water-retention hormone aldosterone. Remain with a higher-than-usual sodium intake until one day before carbing up during the programme (in step 7). When you suddenly reduce your sodium intake at that time, and while aldosterone levels readjust, your body will excrete even more water ? most of it coming directly from beneath the skin. This will lead to greater definition.

Step No. 2
Pre-programme: increase water intake
When you increase sodium, it?s important to take in roughly 50% more water than usual. That is, every time you would normally have a glass of water, make it a glass and a half, so that by the end of the day, you?ve boosted your fluid intake by 50%. Greater water intake sets up the body for greater definition at the end of the process. Maintain this intake until you reach step 10.

Step No. 3
Days 1-2: drop carbs 50%
Here?s when the carb-cutting programme really begins. Drop your carb consumption by 50%. This first drop will help prevent the shock of taking your carb count too low too quickly. If you were previously eating approximately 1,500 calories from carbs per day (about normal for a 200-pound bodybuilder who consumes 3,000 calories a day for bodyweight maintenance), then cut your total carb intake to 200 grams (g) per day, focusing mostly on complex carbs, early in the day. Still, for these two days, maintain your pre- and post-workout nutrition simple carbs at approximately 50 g, divided between those two meals.

Step No. 4
Days 1-5: mildly increase protein
Some people go wrong at this step. When carbs drop, you must increase protein consumption to prevent muscle breakdown. However, if you increase your protein intake too much, a lot of that extra protein is burned as fuel, sparing the body from emptying its glycogen stores. Therefore, to experience the muscle-saving effect of extra protein without inhibiting the depletion of glycogen stores, elevate your protein intake only by about 50 g daily on each lower-carb day. A 200-pound bodybuilder who normally eats a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight each day should consume about 250 g of protein during this phase.

Step No. 5
Days 1-5: train with high reps
When depleting carbs for five days, you should train with higher reps ? 12-18 per set ? and perform 50% more sets than normal. For example, if you normally perform 10 sets for biceps, go to 15 total sets (50% more volume work) and aim for 12-18 reps per set. Of course, you?ll have to decrease the weight in order to hit that volume. However, the goal here is to lower carb reserves, and volume work is tremendously effective in doing so. It all goes back to super-compensation. The more carbs you can deplete, the greater amount you can store during the carb-up process, leading to bigger- and tighter-looking muscles.

Step No. 6
Days 3-5: further deplete carbs
On these days, drop your carbohydrate intake to 100-150 g per day, emphasising complex- carbohydrate sources, such as yams, oatmeal and brown rice. Take these in early in the day and target about .7 g of carbs per pound of bodyweight (a 200-pound bodybuilder should take in about 140 g of carbs daily).
When carbohydrates drop, reserves of glycogen stored in muscles begin to decline. As glycogen levels decrease, the body begins to pump up its production of glycogen-storing enzymes. When you later pack in greater quantities of carbs, those carb-storing enzymes will help pack away these additional carbs as new glycogen, yielding fuller-looking muscles.

Step No. 7
Days 5-7: reduce sodium
The day before adding carbs back, drop the additional salt you?ve been putting on your food. When sodium levels decline, you?ll experience changes in aldosterone that favour water excretion and a tighter look. You needn?t zero out your sodium intake. Cutting all the extra sodium should be enough of a drop.

Step No. 8
Days 6-7: carb up
Now the fun begins. After five days of depleting carbs, along with performing volume work, your muscles will be tremendously low in fuel, screaming to be replenished. When you switch to a high-carb intake, much of what you consume will be directly stored in your muscles. I suggest eating 3 g of carbs per pound of bodyweight daily, minimum, and up to 5 g per pound for those with a faster metabolism or those who weigh more than 220 pounds. Avoid using fruit and sucrose (table sugar) or high-fructose corn syrup. Starchy complex-carb sources are ideal, and good choices include potatoes, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, pasta, white rice and brown rice.

Step No. 9
Days 6-7: reduce protein consumption
When you?re carbing up, you can drop the added protein of step 4. This follows the simple edict that carbs and protein work like a seesaw. When carbs drop, you have to eat more protein; when carbs dramatically increase, you don?t need the added protein. Take in just a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight on each of these days.

Step No. 10
Days 6-7: reduce water intake
In step 2, you increased water intake. Now, reduce it to 50% of what you would normally have on any given day prior to step 2. If, for example, you would usually drink 4 litres of water, reduce that to 2 litres. Since carbohydrates require water to make new muscle glycogen, many people assume that they have to drink like a thirsty camel to make glycogen. Not so, because in the face of restricted water and increased carbs, muscles make up for the water shortfall by dragging some from under the skin into the muscles. The result is less subcutaneous water retention and a harder-looking physique.

Step No. 11
Days 6-7: take it easy and don?t train
As a rule of thumb, when carbing up, it?s best not to train, as that siphons off some of the incoming carbohydrates, preventing an optimal carb-up and fuller muscles. This might be why many bodybuilders appear fuller a few days after a competition. The days off allow for optimal compensation of carbohydrates. In fact, avoid energy expenditure as much as possible to allow your muscles to fill up.

Step No. 12
Day 7: pump up and take pictures
Pump up your muscles a bit right before you step onstage, do a photo shoot or strip off your shirt to impress people. Use light weights (or isometric movements) and go through a full range of motion, feeling the stretch, contraction and pump. Keep reps low ? you don?t want to burn up carbs.
On this day, you may be in the best condition of your life. Have someone take pictures of you to capture the moment and to use as a record of comparison for the next time you carb deplete and carb load. Photographically documenting your condition and muscle mass is a great way to determine that you are continuing to progress as a bodybuilder. FLEX

BIG DUB

06-17-2011, 10:00 PM

The REBOUND EFFECT
BY CHRIS ACETO

Gain up to 10 pounds in six weeks with this step-by-step approach to maximising muscle growth immediately after a diet
If you’ve ever dieted for a bodybuilding contest — or for an extended period just to reduce bodyfat — then you know what you want to do right after that: nothing but eat all the decadent foods that you’ve been avoiding for the past couple of months.
Sure, that’s one way to follow up a restricted diet, but it can turn into a disaster, resulting in startling bodyfat gains. A better strategy is to use this time to gain impressive heaps of muscle by taking advantage of the body’s rebound effect.
The best gains of an entire year often come in the first few weeks after a cutting phase, making that period of time ideal for growth. In fact, you can easily add five, six or even 10 pounds of real muscle mass in just six short weeks. Here are seven steps you can use to transition from a diet straight into six weeks of pure anabolism.
1 | Understand your body’s overcompensation mechanisms. The lucky bodybuilder has a fantastic metabolism that allows him to get ripped to the bone yet retain valuable muscle mass during a precontest diet. For many, getting ready for a contest is an exercise in modified starving. Some bodybuilders have to cut back on nearly everything — fat, carbohydrates and total calories — while pumping up the time spent on cardio to facilitate bodyfat burn. The truth is that the entire dieting process is hard on the body and often throws it into a chronic catabolic state where it loses some muscle or, at best, struggles to maintain muscle mass. The upside is that when the potentially catabolic process is alleviated, the body overcompensates, reverses gears and rebounds into a very strong anabolic state.
2 | Ramp up your intake of carbs and quality fats. When dieting, you are always restricting something. Consuming fewer carbs and less fat results in less energy. That can trigger muscle loss, but it also sets in motion anabolic signals that can prime the body for major growth when you end the diet — as long as there are sufficient amounts of carbs and fats in your revamped nutrition programme. After dieting, the body can’t wait to get growing, as long as you reintroduce the right amounts of these nutrients.
In addition, hormones and enzymes help get the growth ball rolling. When you diet, testosterone levels can fall. When you start to eat again, they quickly bounce back. Rising testosterone levels, coupled with an increase in food intake, result in quick and substantial gains in muscle mass.
Furthermore, while muscle reserves of stored carbs (glycogen) decline during a dieting phase, glycogen-storing enzymes that potentially pack away a lot of carbs are working overtime. When you finish your diet and start to eat more quality foods, your body swells with massive glycogen stores, which directly affects growth.
3 | Follow the “150 rule” of carbohydrate intake. No two bodybuilders have the same metabolism. That’s one reason competitors diet on different amounts of carbohydrates. Some eat a very low-carb diet to get cut up, while others eat a modified low-carb diet. Neither case warrants pounding down carbs after a competition and expecting to grow without getting fat. Be choosy and take a smart approach.
For the bodybuilders I work with, I have found that adding 150 grams (g) of carbs a day seems to work best. If you dieted on 170 g of carbs a day, you can expect to grow without gaining bodyfat by taking in a total of 320 g of carbs daily for the first three weeks after your diet phase. If you ate 300 g daily while dieting, go to 450 g a day.
The best sources are slow-burning carbs such as oatmeal, granary bread, brown rice and yams with meals, and simple carbs or sugars before and after your workouts.
4 | Adjust your carbs in the fourth week after a dieting phase. The body is an interesting machine. As you feed it after a dieting phase, your metabolism actually rises. As it does, you should continue to add more carbohydrates to compensate for the increase. If you do not add more carbs by the fourth week, your body may stall and fail to continue to achieve additional muscle gains due to a lack of energy coming in to support your rising metabolism. Therefore, from weeks four to six, add another 100-125 g of carbs a day to your diet.
If you were eating 320 g at the completion of the third week, you could go to 420-445 a day; if you were eating 450 g a day, go to 550-575.
5 | Don’t cut yourself short on fats. I’ll be the first to say that an extremely low-fat diet remains an excellent and proven way to rip up for competition or for the beach. Extreme low-fat dieting gets rid of the main macronutrient that is most likely to interfere with the shedding of bodyfat — dietary fat — and it allows you to keep your carbs somewhat higher during a cutting phase. The big downside of very low-fat diets is that they can also cause a drop in testosterone, growth hormone (GH) and insulinlike growth factor-I (IGF-I).
But, guess what? When you go back to eating the right kinds of fat in the first weeks after dieting, it helps support testosterone, GH and IGF-I levels, and, as mentioned in step 2, rising testosterone levels have a strong effect on adding quality mass. Increase your dietary fat in the first three weeks by 40-50 g a day, and add another 10-15 g daily in weeks four to six. Ideal sources of fat include a mix of the following: saturated fats, found in lean beef and full-fat dairy products; omega fats, from salmon and fish-oil supplements; and monounsaturated fats, found in avocados, olives, nuts and olive oil.
6 | Know your protein quotient. You have to pound protein to grow, right? That is not necessarily the case in the first few weeks after a diet. Getting your body to overcompensate and grow is really a matter of increasing energy. Do this by consuming more carbs and dietary fat, and, of course, by cutting out cardio during this period of time. That said, how much protein do you need?
In the first six weeks after a diet or contest, a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight each day is more than enough and a little less is fine. Why? Efficiency. When you increase calories by adding carbs and fat, you lessen the need for higher protein intake. The added fuel from carbs and fat makes the body extremely efficient at packing protein away in muscles. A higher carb and fat intake also lessens the need for the additional protein commonly consumed during a dieting phase. Rising testosterone and GH levels further support the body’s ability to take up and use protein without waste, another reason protein needs are not as great as many think during a postdiet period.
7 | Change your training. Of course, how you train can also affect growth. Generally, during a diet, in addition to performing cardio, bodybuilders tend to train with high volume and high intensity. When you come off your calorie restriction, you should also change your workouts. For best results, take a week or two off from working out to let your body recover. Then, get back into it with low reps and heavy weights. This will help you boost your gains in strength and muscle mass.
Bodybuilders often squander the period after a contest or diet in their eagerness to stop worrying about their food intake, instead taking the respite as a chance to binge on whatever they feel like eating. A far better strategy is to view these six weeks as an ideal time for growth: by increasing calories from quality carbs and fats, you can take advantage of this narrow but potent anabolic window of opportunity to make solid gains. FLEX

BIG DUB

06-17-2011, 10:03 PM

The Fiber File

Here’s the lowdown on what fiber can do for you and your physique.

1. Fiber Improves Absorption
Consuming fiber is an important part of creating an anabolic environment in your body, because fiber enhances nutrient absorption along the intestinal walls by helping to keep the walls free of undigested food.

2. Fiber Helps Process Dietary Fat
Calorie for calorie, a high-fat diet is not as anabolic or conducive to gains in mass as a lower-fat and higher-carbohydrate diet. Saturated fat, in particular, can contribute to poor heart health and increase the storage of bodyfat. Fiber binds with some of the dietary fat in a meal and pulls it through your body. If you’re eating a fattier cut of steak, or dairy products such as cheese, yogurt or whole milk, a green salad can help neutralize some of the extra fat calories. Even if you’re eating low-fat protein foods, adding fiber-rich veggies or ending a meal with a piece of fruit offers fat-fighting benefits.

3. Fiber Affects Carb Digestion
Yams, red potatoes, whole-grain bread and oatmeal are among the best slow-burning energy foods. Not only do they provide glucose, the energy source muscles need to work and grow, but they are more slowly digested than most carb sources. Their high fiber content increases the duration of digestion of carbohydrates. When you slow the entry of carbohydrates into the blood, the “fuel” lasts longer. When carbohydrates break down slowly -- the result of eating fiber at meals -- the body tends to store more of the carbohydrates as muscle glycogen rather than as bodyfat.

4. Fiber Increases Insulin Sensitivity
When you eat carbohydrates, the body releases insulin, a strong anabolic hormone. Insulin drives carbohydrates and protein into your muscles, resulting in greater recovery and growth. A potential limiting factor is something called insulin sensitivity. Muscles have receptors for insulin located on their outer edges. The greater the receptor affinity, or attraction, the better insulin can drive carbohydrates and protein into the muscles. Regular training, high levels of muscle mass and low levels of bodyfat enhance this attraction. Fiber, especially the soluble kind, also plays a role. Foods such as oatmeal, applesauce, peas, pears and black beans offer soluble fiber (wheat bran, for example, is a source of insoluble fiber). Soluble fiber enhances the attraction and helps improve insulin sensitivity.

5. Fiber Helps You Eat Less
It’s obvious that vegetables are great for all dieters, including bodybuilders ripping up. Three cups of broccoli yield only 75 calories. That’s a lot of chewing for very few calories. An added benefit of fiber is that it blunts your appetite by making you feel fuller. Fiber contributes to the release of cholecystokinin, a hormone produced in the small intestine that triggers a sensation of satiety in the brain. Mixing vegetables into rice or pasta or complementing a baked potato with a salad helps curb the appetite.

6. Fibrous Foods Can Give You a Harder Appearance
There is scientific confirmation that some fiber-rich vegetables, such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, contain compounds called indoles. Indoles can lead to slightly lower levels of estrogen in males, which, in turn, leads to less water retention and ever-so-slightly higher levels of testosterone. And that can help you look harder when you diet.

7. Time Your Fiber Consumption
Skip fiber after workouts. The goal of posttraining meals is speeding up digestion -- to get glucose from carbohydrates into the blood as fast as possible to stimulate muscle recovery and growth. Having fiber in a posttraining meal would slow down digestion, so save it for all other meals, including late-night snacks, which should be high in protein and have few carbs, if any.

BIG DUB

06-17-2011, 10:04 PM

Carbs 101

Carbohydrate confusion is enough to throw you into a state of mass disarray leaving you afraid to eat a single slice of bread for fear it may, according to some, smooth you out faster than a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream! Carbohydrates are the backbone to a successful bodybuilding diet- both to get bigger and to rip up. You just need to know a few key pointers to keep you lean while trying to bulk and to keep you full when trying to lean down. Here’s the 8 bullets you need to keep you big and hard.

1. Mass Builders Follow the 2-3 Rule. That’s 2 to 3 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight each day spread over 5-6 meals. A 200 pounder has to chow down 400-600 grams a day, with 600 or 3 grams per pound being the target. At that level, the mass seeker can afford a good amount of dietary fat from red meat, low calorie salad dressing and a splurge meal, something higher in fat, once per day.

2. Dieters Follow the 3-2-1 Rule. (After a mass phase) The Individual moving to a cutting phase can eat 3 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight for 1 day, 2 grams per pound of bodyweight for 1 day and 1 gram per pound of body weight for one day and repeat the process. The cycle lowers calories and glycogen stores to burn body fat without resorting to extreme low carbohydrate and low calorie tactics that often lead to a loss in muscle.

3. Mushy for Mass. Soft carbs such as cream or rice, cream of wheat, mashed potatoes, white bread and fat free muffins and cakes are great mass builders. Besides being concentrated in carbs, they’re soft texture makes them easy to digest which tends to increase insulin levels higher than other carbohydrates. The benefit: insulin surging carbs reverse muscle breakdown and help drive amino acids, the building blocks of muscle derived from protein, into muscle tissue.

4. Trouble Staying Lean? Go Low. Glycemic that is. Some carbohydrates are termed “low glycemic” which basically means they digest slowly. The benefit here is slower digesting carbs do not have as great an impact on insulin levels as the mushy type. Hedging towards slow burning carbs allows you to keep your calories high to build mass while maintaining insulin levels in the moderate to high range, allowing the softer-type physique to control body fat while adding mass. Ideal Low Glycemic choices: rye bread, yams, red potatoes, peas, corn, buckwheat noodles and yogurt.

5. Maximize Your Carbs At Breakfast and Post Training. These are the two times both muscle glycogen stores are low and blood sugar levels are low. That means, the great majority of carbs consumed at these times must restock muscle glycogen stores and, to a lesser extent, blood sugar levels, before having the capacity to store as body fat. The other benefit: these are the two times the body can slip into a catabolic state and a high carb intake throws the body back into an anabolic state.

6. When Quick Is OK. While the lean physique can eat virtually any carb he chooses, the softer bodybuilder has to focus on lower glycemic carbs. The exception; after training. Besides a high carb intake, the bodybuilder should pack in fast acting carbs- even sugar laden ones as an insulin surge here not only prevents muscle breakdown, but spikes the metabolism. The softer carbs are ideal to keep the body growing and the metabolism elevated.

7. Caffeine and Ephedra Mix. No one can add slabs of mass without eating lots of carbs. Besides the caloric value, carbs cause a jump in insulin levels. The good news: insulin is certainly anabolic, helping to drive nutrients into muscles. The bad news: it’s problematic for the softer physique facilitating the addition of body fat. The solution: use 100 mgs of caffeine found in a small cup of coffee combined with 10-15 mgs of ephedra before 3 meals other than breakfast and post training. The small caffeine/ephedra mix primes the body to:
a) increase the thermic effect (calorie burning) associated with eating
b) increasing the sensitivity of insulin receptors for insulin.

This allows the softer bodybuilder to stay leaner while benefitting from a high carb intake and the anabolic insulin surge associated with chowing down carbs.

8. Fructose Is Not the Focus: Sure fruits provide small amounts of vitamins and fiber but when it comes to storing glycogen in the muscle, they’re not the best bet. Fructose tends to restore liver glycogen while your staples; potatoes, rice, pasta, yams, bread and cereals pack their sugar away inside the muscle. Muscle glycogen’s where it’s at when it comes to mass, so keep the heavy focus on the latter.

BIG DUB

06-17-2011, 10:07 PM

8 Nutrients you need

Below are eight important bodybuilding nutrients, the best food sources of each, and supplement tips to enhance your recovery and support your quest for greater mass and size.

VITAMIN C
Your body needs this antioxidant to make collagen, the “glue” that supports joint health. If you’re sticking to the heavy basics -- squats, bent rows, deadlifts and bench presses -- you know these exercises can take a toll on your joints. Vitamin C can also help lower cortisol, the stress hormone associated with gut-busting training sessions that can cause the body to enter a catabolic (muscle-burning) state.

Good sources: peppers, broccoli, oranges, tomatoes, cantaloupe, strawberries and cauliflower.
As a supplement: Taking 500-1,000 milligrams (mg) with your postworkout meal can offset cortisol levels.

VITAMIN E
Vitamin E can decrease the amount of creatine kinase (CK) activity -- CK is an enzyme that indicates muscle damage. It’s believed a high intake of E can help reduce damage, leading to better recovery and muscle repair. One study showed that a very high dose (900 international units [IU]) could also potentially help in the storage of glycogen.

Good sources: wheat germ, soybeans, eggs, nuts, sweet potatoes, spinach and molasses.
As a supplement: Take 200-800 IU with your postworkout meal.

VITAMIN B6
Vitamin B6 converts into an enzyme that helps the body use amino acids and harness the power of glycogen -- the body’s fuel reserve of carbohydrates. This vitamin can potentially increase growth hormone output associated with hard training.

Good sources: red meat, fish and whole eggs. As a supplement: For growth hormone release, consume 10 mg immediately before training with a small carbohydrate snack.

MAGNESIUM
This rarely talked about mineral helps muscle process glycogen. It’s involved in the activation of protein synthesis and it can even prevent muscle cramps.

Good sources: whole grains, legumes, oats, soybeans, black beans and seafood.
As a supplement: Magnesium is best combined with zinc, as in the supplement ZMA, containing 560 mg magnesium and 30 mg zinc. Take at bedtime.

IRON
The most popular bodybuilding supplements are those that contain caffeine, as it jazzes up the nervous system, promoting a more intense training session. The downside is it can suck iron out of the body. Iron helps cells grow and divide -- meaning they support protein synthesis.

Good sources: red meat and veggies (preferably in combination).
As a supplement: If you’re gaining mass and eating red meat daily, you can add another 10 mg to your supplement list. Dieters who avoid red meat can add as much as 15 mg daily. You can take iron at any meal of the day.

ZINC
Miss this important mineral and say good-bye to two of the more important hormones that support gains in size and strength: testosterone and IGF (insulinlike growth factor). Zinc helps the body manufacture testosterone, a key hormone for mass, and a lack of zinc could cause a drop in IGF, another critical hormone that supports size.

Good sources: oysters, red meat and seafood
As a supplement: Magnesium is best combined with zinc, as in the complex ZMA, containing 560 mg magnesium and 30 mg zinc. Take at bedtime.

POTASSIUM
Another critical mineral for growth, potassium is perhaps best known for maintaining fluid within muscles. The benefit of the greater fluid balance is that muscles remain hydrated, and hydrated muscles are more apt to maintain an anabolic state.

Good sources: lean meat, yogurt, low-fat milk, potatoes and bananas
As a supplement: Potassium supplements come in 99 mg capsules or tablets. Taking two tablets per meal (on a five- or six-meal regimen) to add at least another 1,000 mg daily along with eating potassium-rich foods can support hydration.

CARNITINE
Bodybuilders claim carnitine is a good precontest supplement due to its ability to help funnel fatty acids into muscle where it is burned. Newer animal studies confirm it can help produce leaner animals with more muscle and less fat. Carnitine helps produce ketones in carb-controlled diets, and ketones prevent the loss of muscle mass. From a dieting point of view, it remains a viable supplement. For mass building, I speculate it may help encourage gains in mass with less-than-expected gains in bodyfat while following a mass-building diet.

Good sources: organ meat (e.g., beef liver, beef heart), lamb and beef
As a supplement: Take three to six grams daily while dieting, three grams before cardio and another three grams before training. For building mass while trying to stay lean, give three grams a try taken with breakfast.

Nutrients are critical for bodybuilding success, but never forget that there are two sources of these nutrients: whole foods and supplements. Bodybuilders often neglect one in favor of the other. A far better approach is to take both food and supplementation into account when considering micro- and macronutrients.

BIG DUB

06-17-2011, 10:09 PM

8 Facts about Carbohydrates

Fact 1: Slow-digesting carbs are natural

Slow-digesting carbs such as yams, wild rice, beans, red potatoes and fruits all come from mother nature. They’re not manufactured in a food-processing plant. Natural carbs are loaded with nutrients and fiber. They produce relatively slow increases in blood glucose and modest insulin release. They should be your first choice as a fuel source for energy and growth.

Fact 2: Fast-digesting carbs are man-made
Refined sugar is quickly digested. Generally, the more processing involved in producing a carb food, the faster it digests. Bagels, dinner rolls, white bread, white rice, mashed potatoes, fat-free muffins, cold cereals, rice cakes and fruit juices require one or more processing steps in their manufacture. This creates a carbohydrate that hits the bloodstream quicker than the slow-digesting carbs listed in fact one and produces an insulin spike that is undesirable in most trainers, except immediately postworkout.

Fact 3: Bodybuilders with excess bodyfat need slow-digesting carbs
When you eat carbs, your body responds by releasing the hormone insulin. Insulin helps energize your training by pushing glucose, the basic energy unit found in carbs, into your muscle. Insulin also helps push protein into muscles, leading to growth. The downside of eating too many fast-digesting carbs and triggering insulin release is that it facilitates the conversion of any excess carbs to fat. The solution is to choose natural (slow-digesting) carbs and to consume them in amounts and at times that support your bodybuilding goals. Gram for gram, they release less insulin than fast-digesting carbs, helping you control your bodyfat levels.

Fact 4: Lean bodybuilders break the mold
Foods such as low-fat baked goods, Pop-Tarts, white bread and cold cereals are generally off-limits to bodybuilders, but they can be used occasionally by hardgainers --lean individuals who have a tough time adding bodyweight. These bodybuilders require a lot of carbs --as well as protein and healthy fats --to grow. The carbs help them maintain an anabolic environment. Refined foods exert a greater insulin surge than natural foods and also help increase appetite. For hardgainers, keeping appetite stimulated is one of the keys to adding bodyweight.

Fact 5: Take in slow- and medium-digesting carbs before training
When you train, your body uses carbs for energy. Your muscles rely on carbohydrates stored in muscle. The body also uses carbs that are still in the blood from a recent meal. The meal preceding your training ought to include slow-digesting carbs or a combination of slow- and medium-acting carbs. Slow-burning carbs can help prevent you from “crashing” during training, and the body can use some of those carbs for fuel as muscle glycogen stores become depleted. Carbs that digest somewhat faster include bananas, potatoes, brown rice, oranges, orange juice and pasta. These will be even more readily available for the body to draw on. Before training, though, avoid refined carbs such as those listed in fact two. Because they burn so rapidly, they can short circuit your energy by causing blood sugar levels to surge and fall, and that can make you feel weak.

Fact 6: Anything goes after training
The posttraining meal ought to be high in carbs, particularly fast-digesting carbs. Taking in plenty of slow- and fast-digesting carbs drives insulin levels up at the time the muscles are most sensitive to that effect. These elevated insulin levels resulting from the posttraining meal switch the body from a catabolic (muscle-losing) state into an anabolic state of muscle growth. You can feast on white bread, bagels with honey or jam, white rice, raisins, fat-free ice cream and even sugar directly after training. Depending on your goals and current condition, you may take in as much as .7 gram of carbs per pound of bodyweight. For example, a 200-pound bodybuilder would consume 120-140 grams of carbs at this meal along with 40-60 grams of protein, preferably from fast-digesting powder.

Fact 7: Other nutrients affect carbs
Although carbs can be classified as slow-, medium- and fast-digesting, other nutrition factors such as fiber, fats and protein all influence how quickly the carbs you eat get into your bloodstream. Fiber --found in veggies, fruit, beans, oats, and in the skin of yams and potatoes --can dramatically slow the delivery of carbs into the bloodstream. Combining white rice, a medium- to fast-digesting carb, with a cup of broccoli will slow the digestion of the rice. A side of black beans added to mashed potatoes will dramatically slow the speed at which the potatoes are digested. Dietary fats also slow the speed of digestion. Combining any protein food that contains fat --chicken, meat and whole eggs, for example --with any carb will slow the rate of carbohydrate digestion. If you’re trying to get lean, you can rely on fat-free sources of protein such as egg whites, turkey breast and fish. These will also slow the rate of digestion.

Fact 8: Controlling insulin controls appetite
If you’re reducing bodyfat, but you find that dieting makes you hungry, try taking in small amounts of slow-digesting carbs at all meals except the posttraining meal. Slow-digesting carbs help control appetite better than fast-digesting ones. Consuming plenty of low-calorie veggies will bump up your fiber intake and further slow the digestion process. That will help you to control your appetite and make you feel full and satisfied --even when following a lower-calorie diet. Often, bodybuilders obsess about daily carbohydrate intake rather than emphasizing the type of carbs they consume. Because different types of carbs can have such divergent impacts on your body, it only makes sense to learn as much as you can about the varieties of carbs and to choose the foods that best suit your needs at various times throughout the day.

BIG DUB

06-17-2011, 10:11 PM

I can not seem to get my legs to grow. What workout system would you suggest.

Generally, weak body parts are part of one’s genetic makeup. When some bodyparts seem to grow easily and others are really stubborn and fail to grow, the reason usually has to do with genetics. Many times, an easily growing body part simply has far more muscle fibers then slow growing body parts. Or, a slow-to-grow bodypart may contain fewer 2b muscle fibers, the unique fibers that readily respond to muscle growth. In fact, when you see a top pro who seems to grow without training as hard as you do, assume that he carries a disproportionate amount of these 2b fibers. The 2b fibers respond to nearly any type of training- high reps, low reps, light weight, heavy weight, you name it, they grow. On the other hand, slow-to-grow bodyparts may contain far more 2a muscle fibers. Though 2a muscle fibers have to ability to expand in size and grow, but they are far more stubborn then 2b fibers when it comes to easily adding muscle size. The average Joe- the typical person who joins a gym will naturally have a blend of both easy to grow 2b muscle fibers and 2a muscle fibers. Therefore, we have to plan our training with the expectations that we wont grow easily and will need to continually reevaluate our training to make sure we are doing the right workouts for our unique make-up. If your legs are not growing, then you have to try something different to force them to grow. Still, there are training techniques you can do to get your weak bodypart to grow. I generally recommend a two on one off training plan where you train for two consecutive days, take a day off and return to train for 2 more days in a row before taking another day off. In general, this ensures the body does not fall into an overtraining state which kills muscle recovery and growth. A sample way I may set such a plan up is like this:
Day 1 Chest
Day 2 Legs
Day 3 rest
Day 4 Back
Day 5 Arms and shoulders
Day 6 rest
Repeat
With a weak body part, I will have the bodybuilder perform only half his leg workout on day 2 and the other half on what was previously day 6, then add a rest day. This would look like so:
Day 1 Chest
Day 2 Legs
Day 3 rest
Day 4 Back
Day 5 Arms and shoulders
Day 6 Legs
Day 7 rest
Repeat
By performing half his leg workout on the day 2 and the other half on day 6, it allows the bodybuilder to hit the bodypart more often then all other bodyparts. Generally, when you train a weaker or slow growing muscle group more frequently, it responds by getting bigger. However, a problem with training it twice as often; it sometimes fails to grow because you end up working that body part too much, too hard or too often. That’s why I suggest starting with training the legs twice as often, though with the same amount of total work. For many, it allows them to put more effort, more energy into the lagging bodypart. You are simply breaking the leg training into two parts. It may look like this

Original leg Workout Occurring on Day 2
Leg Extensions 4 sets 8-12 reps
Squats 4 sets 8-12 reps
Leg presses 4 sets 8-12 reps
Hack Squats 3 sets 8-12 reps
Leg curls 4 sets 8-12 reps
Stiff legged dead lifts 4 sets 8-12 reps

New Workout Occurring on Day 2
Leg Extensions 4 sets 8-12 reps
Squats 4 sets 8-12 reps
Leg curls 4 sets 8-12 reps
New Workout Occurring on Day 6
Leg presses 4 sets 8-12 reps
Hack Squats 3 sets 8-12 reps
Stiff legged dead lifts 4 sets 8-12 reps

I suggest remaining on this plan for 6 weeks and to evaluate how your legs are growing during that time. If they continue to grow, then you have solved the problem. On the other hand, if they still are growing extremely slowly, you can remain with the above plan but increase the volume – how many sets you do in each workout to stimulate greater growth. Using the new workout plan, you can increase the volume by 50% which would mean instead of doing 4 sets, you would do 50% more or 6 sets for an exercise. Here is how that increase in volume would look using the new plan.

New Workout Occurring on Day 2
Leg Extensions 6 sets 8-12 reps
Squats 6 sets 8-12 reps
Leg curls 6 sets 8-12 reps
New Workout Occurring on Day 6
Leg presses 6 sets 8-12 reps
Hack Squats 4-5 sets 8-12 reps
Stiff legged dead lifts 6 sets 8-12 reps

This plan solves the problem by addressing two parts to training; frequency – how often you train a bodypart and volume, how much work you do on the bodypart. The importance of taking it slow and making only one change at a time – changing the frequency rather than both frequency and volume at the same time – is that you can evaluate and see what is working and what is not working. If you were to train legs both more often and with more volume- you’d likely either wear your body down or you may, in fact, make some progress though you would not know what in particular caused the progression; was it the change in frequency or was it the addition of more sets. This way, you solve all your problems. You can get the legs to grow and you know what caused the changes. Remember, you don’t have to add more volume, more sets, if you start seeing greater gains by simply breaking the leg training into two separate sessions.

BIG DUB

06-19-2011, 08:01 PM

Carb loading & depleting before competition

Question: I am getting conflicting information regarding depleting & loading before my competition. What are the advantages and how should I do it?

Depleting and loading carbohydrates is a system that helps pull water from beneath the skin. The result: a tighter looking physique. I recommend it to many competitors because, nearly every time, it promotes a harder looking physique.

The first thing to keep in mind when depleting is that depleting the body of carbohydrates promotes a very flat appearance – that’s normal. Any time you remove carbohydrates from the body, muscles temporarily shrink. That’s because carbohydrates combine with water to form muscle glycogen in the muscles. The greater glycogen content in muscles, the greater their fullness. So, a high carbohydrates intake will result in fuller looking muscles while a low glycogen environment will result in smaller appearing muscles. When you deplete carbohydrates and remove them from the diet, the muscles temporarily loose a lot of fullness, which is nothing more than a loss of water from much smaller glycogen stores.

When glycogen stores are lower, the body responds by increasing the production of glycogen storing enzymes. In short, when you eat fewer carbs, the body pumps up its ability to store muscle glycogen. If or when carbohydrates are re-introduced back into the body, the body and muscles will rapidly drive those carbohydrates into glycogen-starved muscles. The result; when you switch from a low carbohydrate diet to a high carbohydrate diet, the body not only becomes better at storing carbohydrates as glycogen, it can store more carbohydrates then ever before. When you drop your carbohydrates and starve the muscles of glycogen, they become really good at packing away carbohydrates as muscle glycogen. When the bodybuilder returns to a high carbohydrate intake; presto, fuller muscles.

I recommend bodybuilders follow a low carbohydrates diet starting 7 or 8 days out from a competition. If a show was on Saturday, I would recommend he restrict his carbohydrates on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before the show. How low in carbohydrates should he go? There’s two ways to determine this. If the individual followed a fairly moderate to higher carbohydrate diet to rip up, I would have him reduce his carbohydrates on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to 30% of his typical intake. For example, if a bodybuilder was dieting on 300 carbohydrates, I would have him eat 30% of that for the three depletion days or 100 grams of carbohydrates for three consecutive days. If, on the other hand, the bodybuilder was following a very low carbohydrate diet – say fewer then 150 grams a day – then I would have him reduce his intake to 30-60 grams of carbohydrates a day. During the loading phase, - which would be Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the bodybuilder would return to a higher carbohydrate intake. The higher carbohydrate intake will result in larger glycogen storage- which can give the appearance of bigger muscles. More important, the higher day helps drag water, typically found beneath the skin, which can cloud muscle definition, into the muscles. When new muscle glycogen is being made during those three high carb days, a lot of the water that is used to make glycogen comes from beneath the skin. This; results in greater muscle definition because the less water that appears under the skin – the greater the muscle definition. The carb count on the three high carb days should always be 1.5 to 3 times more then the bodybuilder consumed previous to the depletion. The bodybuilder who dieted on a fairly higher carbohydrate intake should follow the 1.5 calculation while the one who followed a much lower carb intake should resort to the 3 times figure. For example, the bodybuilder who was eating 300 grams of carbohydrates before reducing to 100 grams on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday would increase his carbohydrate intake to 450 grams on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. (300 x 1.5 = 450) You have to eat more carbs then ever – as it takes a greater carb intake to replenish that lost through depletion. The bodybuilder who was eating 150 grams or less a day would use the same calculation. If he was dieting on 100 grams – before depleting – then he would load on 150 grams a day. If he was dieting on 80 grams, it would be 120 grams a day

BIG DUB

06-19-2011, 08:03 PM

Modified Low Carbs By Chris Aceto

Reducing your intake of carbohydrates definitely helps the dieting bodybuilder become ripped. When carbohydrates are reduced, total caloric intake decreases which stimulates the loss of body fat. In addition, a lower carb diet is a low insulin diet and lower insulin levels, combined with low calories helps fat cells breakdown and causes a metabolic shifting effect where the body calls upon more stored body fat as fuel. How do you define a low carb diet? That depends. Some bodybuilders believe a low carbohydrate diet constitutes less than 60 grams a day. I consider a low carb diet to be any intake where the dieting bodybuilder reduces his intake of carbohydrates by 50% or less. In other words, the bodybuilder following a high carb intake to build mass in the off season can reduce them in half to rip up. That is a low carb diet. For example a 200 pound male eating 600 grams of carbohydrates daily during the mass building season can cut the carbohydrate intake to 300 grams a day to create a caloric deficit, to control insulin and to reduce body fat. Of these 300 grams of carbs, at least half of those can be consumed in the post training meal – after training.

One mistake low carb dieters make is to evenly spread their carbohydrate intake over 5 or 6 meals. The 200 pounder eating 300 grams of carbs a day might evenly divide his carbohydrate intake into 50 grams at each of six meals. (50 x 6 = 300) While he can expect to lose body fat, it’s better to keep a high carb intake after training with less carbs at night and at other meals.

The high carb intake after training helps maintain a positive nitrogen balance by increasing insulin levels. While insulin is considered a fat storing hormone, it’s also considered an important hormone for recovery and growth and eating a high carb intake after training while following a lower carbohydrate diet will help the body maintain its muscle mass. The benefit; the more muscle mass you can maintain while dieting, the more elevated the metabolic rate. The more elevated the metabolic rate, the leaner and more ripped you will become. The remaining carbs should be divided evenly into the others meals except the last meal. There are a few studies that show carbohydrates eaten in the meal before going to bed are more easily stored as body fat than carbohydrates eaten at other times of the day. One reason late night carbohydrates are more easily stored as body fat is due to a drop in insulin sensitivity. As the day progresses, the body’s ability to uptake carbohydrates out of the bloodstream and store them as glycogen begins to diminish. The result; the carbohydrates eaten tend to stimulate fat storage. On the other hand, post training and upon wakening in the morning are the two times where insulin sensitivity is greatest which means carbohydrates eaten at these times will more likely be stored as muscle glycogen rather than body fat.

So, a low carb diet, by definition, is simply a diet where one’s daily intake of carbohydrates are reduced in half. Many who use this type of diet will reach plateaus where fat loss begins to slow. If this occurs, the low carb dieter can follow a rotational low carb diet and further reduce his intake of carbohydrates for 3 days out of the week. In general, cutting your carbohydrate intake in half (by 50%) will create a greater caloric deficit and further lower insulin levels to re-stimulate the loss of body fat. The bodybuilder eating 300 grams of carbohydrates daily would reduce his carbs to 150 grams a day. When carbohydrates are reduced on a low carb diet to 150 or less daily, then the dieter should modify his carb intake so 100 grams are consumed after training and the remaining 50 after breakfast. Since staying on a low carb diet can cause the metabolism to slow a bit, the dieter can return to a daily carbohydrate intake of 300 grams daily for the remaining 4 days of the week. For example, the dieter could eat 150 grams daily on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and eat 300 grams daily on Thursday through Sunday. Or, he could sporadically eat 150 grams on any 3 days of the week. For example, he could eat 150 grams on Monday and Tuesday, 300 grams on Wednesday, return to 150 grams on Thursday and eat 300 grams on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On days where larger bodyparts such as legs and back are being trained, a higher carb intake would be beneficial. A lower carb intake can be used on days where your training smaller bodyparts such as arms or shoulders.

BIG DUB

06-19-2011, 08:04 PM

Low Glycemic Carbs Assist in Fat Loss
by Chris Aceto
Did you miss it? Reports came out this week – first of June- showing there just might be something to those low glycemic diets. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition – May 2005 issue- states that low glycemic diets are better then low fat diets in helping to drop body fat. I ‘ve said the same thing - though I said it about 10 years ago, 1996 to be exact, in my book Everything You Need To Know About Fat Loss.

What exactly did I say? Low Glycemic carbohydrates – think beans, yams, buckwheat pancakes, red potatoes, oatmeal, cream of rye cereal (among others) are better sources of carbohydrates for people who are dieting and trying to lose body fat. Period. Why? Low Glycemic carbohydrates break down into glucose, the basic unit of energy derived from carbohydrates, a heck of a lot slower then all other carbohydrates. The speed at which these carbohydrates digest into glucose directly impacts two mechanisms in the body; appetite and fat storage

When carbohydrates breakdown slower, they produce less of the hormone called insulin. Insulin, it turns out, is one of the most potent appetite stimulating chemicals in the body. When you eat carbohydrates – any type of carbohydrate – the body dumps insulin into the blood. Where there is a lot of insulin, there will be quite the appetite. And where there is smaller amounts of insulin, you will see less of an appetite, and the ability to recognize “I’ve eaten enough.” Low Glycemic carbs release less insulin so they help you eat less because they help you recognize when you are full. Another way of saying it, when you eat slower digesting carbohydrates – low glycemic carbs- you feel less hungry. Try this on for size. Rats injected with insulin often eat so much, their stomach explode- and they die. Insulin is that strong of an appetite stimulant! Fat storage. Lower glycemic carbs make you less fat then other carbs; even when the calories are the same. For example, if you were to eat 400 grams of carbs daily – every day – for say a 6 month period, I will guarantee you will be leaner from eating 400 grams of oatmeal daily versus 400 grams of white rice, a higher glycemic carbohydrate. Same number of carbohydrates, same number of calories; different results. Why? It goes back to insulin. Lower glycemic carbs are far far less likely to radically increase insulin levels and lower insulin levels – controlled insulin levels – allow the fat burning process to stay in motion, especially when you are training hard. On the other hand, higher glycemic carbs are very efficient at increasing insulin levels and higher insulin levels will cause the body to deposit body fat

BIG DUB

06-19-2011, 08:07 PM

Troy Alves preparation for the Ironman

I remember seeing pictures a few years ago at Milos Sarcev’s gym in Temecula California. On the wall, there was a photograph of Milos along with Dennis James and Troy Alves. Although I had never seen either Dennis or Troy in person, I recall being very impressed with Troy’s physique, who was still ranked as an amateur. His shoulders appeared to be extremely square, his pecs full and his triceps had a Shawn Ray look about them when he hit a crunch or most muscular shot. And although he was wearing a tank top, it was easy to see Troy had a very small midsection. In the age of huge guts, this was not only a surprise but really refreshing to see.

A few years later in 2003, Jay Cutler and I were on the European tour where Jay was coming off a second place finish at the Mr Olympia and Troy a very good eighth place finish. Both Jay and Troy lost their conditioning a little while on the tour – a collection of three back to back contests in as many days. Jay was still able to win a couple of the shows due to his shear size. When he’s off a little, he can still appears to be hard and defined. That’s part of the illusion of being truly huge. When a really large physique is cut, it appears to be ripped and when it is ripped, it appears diced. With a smaller physique – someone like Troy – he has to be spot on to look spot “on.” Otherwise, he’ll just get lost among larger physiques. That’s sort of what happened on the tour in 2003 where Troy was beaten by lesser known “name” physiques. The judges tend to like “big” and when the non-mass monsters are not diced, they lose nearly every time to the larger athlete.

The next time I heard of Troy was previous to the 2004 GNC Show of Strength where I was providing advice to Victor Martinez. The folks at FLEX magazine had told me Troy had improved a lot upon which I said, “So had Victor” For that show, Victor simply out muscled everyone and brought to the stage really good conditioning. Troy, was bigger, and was in good shape, it just appeared that Victor was a much bigger version of Troy. Both have good lines and good condition. It’s just that Vic is hard to beat when he’s in very good condition. Still, Troy looked impressive. One thing that probably held him back was his gluteus and hamstrings. Vic and second place finisher Darrem Charles were extremely hard in those areas which made Troy – who was pretty hard there – look soft.

At the 2004 Olympia, I barely paid attention to the calls outside of the two guys I was helping - Jay and Victor. But, I understand Troy was overlooked and should have been placed much higher than 15th. I’m just speculating; but with the emphasis being put so heavily on “conditioning” I suspect the judges didn’t give Troy much of a serious look after he turned to the back. When the glutes and hamstrings are hard on any competitor, they tend to get a serious look and when they are soft; forget about it. The judges are quick to mark him down and place him low.

After the Olympia, Troy had called me a few times to see if I would be interested in helping him prepare for the Ironman competition about three months away. I was. However, I know helping someone takes a lot of time and effort and I was not sure I would be able to commit to that - to give him what he really needed. Of course, it’s easy to say “Troy you just have to come in ripped and big”, but figuring out how to get there, to accomplish that is a whole different matter. Diet wise, do you try high carbs with low fat, low carbs with lots of protein or do you incorporate tons of cardio exercise hoping the extra calorie burn will melt off fat – and hopefully not melt away valuable muscle mass. We decided to go for it and at 9 weeks, Troy sent me pictures weighing 229 pounds. He looked good for 229, not huge, not cut, sort of a gray area in between the two. I think the speed and rate at which Troy’s body changed surprised both of us. My idea was to try to use the first three weeks to grow; to focus on training hard with plenty of carbs for energy.. Therefore, I put together a mixed diet comprised of roughly a little more carbohydrates then protein.
A typical day looked like this, which I call menu A

Menu A

Meal 1
8 egg whites
1 cup oatmeal or medium bowl cream of wheat

Meal 2
40 grams whey protein
1 small bagel

train

Meal 3
40 grams whey protein or 8 oz chicken
2 cups rice

Meal 4
6-7 oz turkey breast
1 cup rice

Meal 5
6 oz chicken
1 cup rice

Meal 6
45 grams whey protein

Troy’s weight increased to 231, sometimes – depending on how much water he carried- he’d drop down to 227. But, surprising to me, he actually hardened up, dropping body fat. I expected him to look bigger and maybe retain the same level of condition, but I did not expect him to actually harden up. While a surprise, it was a very pleasant surprise because I knew he would be able to get really ripped.

At week 6, I started having Troy drop his carbohydrates a little to facilitate the burning of fat. The menu changed to this, which I call Menu B

Menu B
Meal 1
8 egg whites
1 cup oatmeal or medium bowl cream of wheat

Meal 2
40 grams whey protein
1 small bagel

train

Meal 3
40 grams whey protein or 8 oz chicken
2 cups rice

Meal 4
6-7 oz turkey breast
1 cup of vegetables

Meal 5
6 oz chicken
medium salad with no carb dressing

Meal 6
8-9 ounces chicken breast
1-2 cups of vegetables

He also started performing 3 to 4 very hard 20 minutes sessions a week, first thing out of bed, with no food. I like hard cardio to boost the metabolism where the bodybuilder works as hard as possible, usually with intervals where he can work hard for 3 minutes then easy for 1-2 minutes. This type of cardio training burns more calories then lower intensity work and it seems to boost the metabolic rate more so in bodybuilder who is already pretty lean. Since Troy was already lean, it worked especially good for him. A lot of bodybuilders ask me about cardio; when it’s the best time to do it and the answer is always the same; in the morning without eating. With a lack of food in the body, the prevailing hormones that kick into play immediately upon aerobic exercise are catecholamines and glucagon. Catecholamines are tiny messengers released from the adrenal glands that are dumped into the blood with exercise. Their job is to target fat cells helping them to “open up” allowing fat to be liberated and burned as fuel. However, when you eat food, specifically carbohydrates, catecholamines become less effective at doing what you want them to do – help breakdown body fat. Glucagon is the second fat burning stimulus that increases upon exercise especially when there is a lack of food in the body. Glucagon is a major player in fat burning as it helps kick start the entire fat burning process. Glucagon helps tear down fat cells and upgrade the enzymes that use body fat as energy. Specifically, glucagon supports the production of hormone sensitive lipase, (HSL) a gatekeeper on fat cells that helps determine the flow of fat. When HSL is active, it allows more fatty acids from body fat to flow into the blood where they can be burned as fuel. On the other hand, when HSL falls, the flow of fatty acids out of fat cells becomes greatly impaired.

To be honest, things more or less fell in place for Troy; he continued to get harder and never loss any muscle fullness. That’s not always the case with most bodybuilders. They often flatten out which can give the scary appearance of looking fat. When muscles flatten, they just look deflated which creates the illusion of being soft and out of shape. This often leads to “panic” where the body builder goes overboard and eats radically less food or does more cardio in hopes of getting harder. Each week, Troy not only got more ripped but appeared to be getting bigger looking. At week 4 and 3 weeks out from the show, I had Troy take one day a week and increase his carbs to nearly twice what he was eating when starting the diet. His menu – just once a week changed to this, which I call Menu C

Menu C

Meal 1
8 egg whites
1 ½ cups oatmeal or large bowl cream of wheat
1 banana

Meal 2
40 grams whey protein
1 1/2 bagel with a little jam or jelly

train

Meal 3
40 grams whey protein or 8 oz chicken
3 cups rice

Meal 4
6-7 oz turkey breast
2 cup rice

Meal 5
6 oz chicken
1 cup rice

Meal 6
45 grams whey protein

Eating more carbs can boost the metabolism when a bodybuilder is extremely lean. However, a lot of bodybuilders fall for the trap of increasing carbs when they don’t really need them – when they have yet to burn away sufficient body fat. When you eat a lot of carbohydrates when you are lean, the body uses those extra carbohydrates to help stay in an anabolic state, something it struggles to maintain when shedding excess body fat. However, eating lots of extra carbs when you haven’t already burned away as much body fat as possible often slows the fat burning process. That’s one reason I don’t subscribe to the “cheat day” many bodybuilders follow; where they take one day a week during the dieting process and eat anything they want. In the long run, cheat days usually result in a softer physique, unless used carefully and implemented sporadically when the body has significantly leaned down and shed the vast majority of its body fat stores. At week 4, Troy was really lean and the extra carbohydrates were probably a big reason he came in fuller then in past competitions. After a single very high carb day, Troy would return to a diet plan that alternating both menus. He’ would follow the menu A for 3 days and then Menu B for approximately three days, then eat the high carbohydrate menu C listed above on the last day of the week.. Cardio wise: I had him on very little. He would do easy sessions twice a week; usually very easy exercise like walking outside for 40 minutes or walking on a treadmill- no incline and no speed. Where as the shorter very high intensity sessions were previously used to help kick up the metabolic rate and burn more calories, these two long, slow and easier sessions were simply used to keep the body burning fat- without tiring the body out. That is one of the intangibles of contest preparation. Yes getting ready for a major competition is a lot of work and one should expect to become tired and fatigued, but as the show ears, the bodybuilder should be extra careful not to go overboard and severely fatigue the body with heavy cardio, hard cardio or extreme dieting. The reason; the lower body fat levels fall, the more vulnerable the hormone system becomes. As body fat declines, testosterone levels struggle to remain elevated. When testosterone levels start to go down, growth hormone also starts to drop and fat supporting estrogen levels rise. For this reason, I try to put in the heavier cardio and the heavier dieting – complete with no cheat days – earlier in the dieting period where the body is well rested. That’s when it can handle more stress such as continuous low carb and low calories days coupled with very hard cardio sessions. When the competition gets closer, I try to drop out higher intensity cardio sessions for lower intensity sessions.

Re: Troy Alves preparation for the Ironman
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2005, 01:02:43 PM »

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Last Week

One of the most important aspects in getting someone ready for a competition is this: Never try to use a diet and cardio plan that may have worked for one bodybuilder and give it to another. It wont work. Everybody is different. In fact, I usually stress that a diet and cardio plan that may have successfully worked one year may not work in another year. Not only are individual bodybuilders often very different but the same bodybuilder’s body can change from year to year. One year, things just fall right into place while in other years the same bodybuilder might have a much harder time getting cut up and will need more cardio and a stricter diet then ever before. The same idea holds true with the final week preparations. I did not have anything concrete in mind when I flew out to Troy’s house the week previous to the Ironman. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, I had him follow this menu

Meal 1
8 egg whites
½ cup oatmeal

Meal 2
40 grams whey protein

train

Meal 3
40 grams whey protein or 8 oz chicken
½ small bagel

Meal 4
10 oz chicken

Meal 5
9 oz chicken
large salad

Meal 6
45 grams whey protein

While he was on this diet, I went to the gym with him and Idrise Ward-El every day (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) and had them perform a full body workout where they did one or two exercises per bodypart. The purpose was to get rid of as much stored muscle glycogen as possible. After 3 days, Troy was fairly weak- flat, but in the whole scope of things fuller or bigger looking then he had ever been. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I had him follow a higher carbohydrate menu to re-fill his muscles with glycogen resulting in better definition. The menu he used from Wednesday on looked like this

Meal 1
8 egg whites
1 cup oatmeal

Meal 2
40 grams whey protein
2 cups rice or 1 large yam

Meal 3
6 oz chicken or steak
1 ½ cups rice

Meal 4
6 oz chicken or steak
1 medium yam or potato

Meal 5
6 oz chicken
2 slices sodium free bread

Meal 6
45 grams whey protein

Troy was drinking about a gallon of water during his depleting process – on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and reduced that to ¾ of a gallon on Wednesday and Thursday with ½ a gallon on Friday. He weighed in at 221 and the stars all lined up that day. Though he did not win the show, he was arguably a strong candidate to win it. I don’t think a lot of people who saw the show would have complained had he won.

BIG DUB

06-19-2011, 08:09 PM

How Victor Martinez Conquered the Night Of Champions

Around Mid February, I was sitting in Jay Cutler’s massive Las Vegas home discussing his strategy for the upcoming three shows including the Arnold Classic competition. We were discussing a lot of things and the conversation turned to ‘competition’. In particular, I stated with the retirement of Dorian, Flex and Shawn Ray, there were not many great bodybuilders around anymore. I also mentioned the upcoming crop of American amateurs were no where near the caliber of ten or twelve years ago when Wheeler, Cormier, Paul Dillet, and Mike Francois immediately stepped from the amateur stage to the Olympia stage. We concluded there wasn’t much competition out there for someone on the top of his game like Jay. Except one. Victor Martinez. Jay mentioned he had a good physique and if someone was helping him, he may be able to place a lot higher. Immediately, I recalled the 2002 Arnold Classic in which Victor placed out of the tope ten. I thought he could have placed a little higher and agreed with Jay. Victor has potential do some damage, to give some of the established pro’s some trouble and certainly could beat some of the second tier pros, those who qualify for the Olympia but fail to crack the top 10.

I flew back the following day to wintery Maine. In the midst of running around town doing some business, my cell phone rang. My caller ID showed a New York City number which is odd because I only give my cell number to my friends and family who live in Maine. Perhaps I’ve given it to 2 to 3 other people. In any case, I answered, “Hello?” The caller said in an accent I could not identify, “I’m looking for Chris Aceto.” I told the called he was not available. In return the caller said, “My name is Victor and I need his help.” I told the caller Chris no longer consults with bodybuilders and politely hung up the phone. A few minutes later the same phone number reappeared on my caller ID. I refused to answer which automatically sends the caller to my voice mail. When I got home, I listened to the message. “Hi this is Victor Martinez. and I was hoping Chris Aceto could call me. I’m looking to have him put together my diet for the Night Of Champions.” Well I was just amazed. I was just talking about this guy 2 days before in Las Vegas with Jay. We both agreed Victor had a ton of potential and here he was calling. I just thought it was divine intervention or one heck of a coincidence. Either way, it seemed strange. What are the chances – me and Jay never discuss other competitors – that we’d not only discuss in detail just one, but this same guy would call me in 2 days time. I immediately called the New York number Victor left and shared with him this story. I also added, “Victor, if you listen to me 100% and put in the work I know you’ll win this show. In fact, from that point on, I started telling him every time we spoke that he would win the Night Of Champions!

Big Victor 265 to 229
When I spoke to Victor over the phone in February, I learned he was eating 6 meals a day with 2-3 protein shakes. According to him, he was in good shape at 262 to 265 pounds. We agreed to meet at the Arnold Classic Weekend which was less than 10 days off. He would pose for me and I would be able to set a plan from there.
When we finally met and he revealed how he looked, I told him, he would win – for sure- if he came in ripped to the bone. Victor carries a lot of muscle and has very nice shape but he can not out muscle and overwhelm the big huge guys like Ronnie Coleman, Jay or Marcus Rhul. I knew very few people were very familiar with Victor – including the judges. To win, he’d have to be ‘on the money’. Otherwise, the judges might overlook him.

Weeks 16-12
Victor’s legs are big and in the off season they’re huge! Therefore, I knew he’d be able to perform a lot of cardio. The bodybuilder with smaller legs always runs the risk of losing size with a lot of cardio work while those with big legs can do a lot of cardio. If the extra cardio causes the legs to shrink – it’s ok - there’s muscle to spare. Therefore, the first thing Victor did to get lean was to start with cardio. Three times a week for 30 minutes. I also had victor drop the 2 to 3 protein shakes. That point was a little confusing for him. Many bodybuilders fear cutting out protein because they think it will cause a loss in muscle mass. I felt that Victor needed to reduce his calories in order to stimulate the loss of body fat and I also felt his protein intake was simply excessive. The option – to cut carbohydrates or dietary fat was not available. Victor’s carb intake was not excessive so I did not want to cut that and his fat intake was not too high either. I felt it was his protein that was too high. Therefore, by cutting out 2 or 3 shakes a day would reduce his protein intake into a better range – about 1 to 1 .5 grams per pound of bodyweight while reducing his calories by about 400 a day.
We decided to stay in touch mostly with e mail. I’d keep track of his bodyweight and the way he looked. He’d send me pictures over the web and I would make the necessary dietary changes each week.
Twelve weeks into the diet Victor had reached the high 240’s or about 248. The 30 minutes of cardio every-other day combined with just 400 fewer calories had dropped his weight by 10 to 12 pounds. At 248, he looked pretty good. His upper body was definitely harder though his legs were smooth with no cuts. Victor had told me on several occasions that his legs were his problem area.
Getting them more defined and detailed had been an on going problem for him.

Weeks 12-9
During this period, Victor increased his cardio to 45 minutes 5 times a week. In addition, we set up a diet plan that was moderately lower in carbs. From weeks 16 to week 12, he ate either chicken, lean red meat and egg whites as a protein source at each meal. At each of his 6 meals he also ate 1 1/2 cups of rice or a large yam or a bagel. Since Victor did not want to get into a lot of fine details like weighing foods, we tried to keep the diet plan as simple as possible. Therefore, to cut carbohydrates and to reduce carbs further, we had him drop the carbs at 2 of the 6 meals. Therefore during the entire second part of the diet from weeks 12 to weeks 9, he had 6 meals a day with carbohydrates at only 4 of those meals. To keep from getting too hungry and to add some fiber, vitamins and minerals, he’d add a large portion of broccoli or salad greens at the two meals where he dropped the carbohydrates.

Weeks 8 to weeks 5
With 8 weeks remaining and 8 weeks of dieting behind him, Victor’s weight settled at 244 pounds. His physique looks great at 244. He’s hard in the upper body and very round. Even his back – a problem spot for most competitors – shows nice detail at this weight. The problem is the legs. Though one might not be able to see if from contest pictures, Victor has a difficult time getting his legs really cut. Even I was surprised how smooth his legs were with 8 weeks to go. While the diet and cardio plan was working to some degree – his upper body was looking good – his lower body was still pretty soft. In fact, his glutes and hamstrings didn’t even have separation, let alone deep cuts. With 8 weeks to go, we decided to really step it up. I would have victor eat carbohydrates at only 2 meals, the meal before and after training. And, I’d have him do what I have never suggested in the past. I had Victor perform 2 cardio sessions a day. Thirty minutes in the morning on an empty stomach and and another 30 minutes after training later in the day or in the early evening. At this point, his diet looked like this:

Cardio: 30 minutes

Meal 1 10 10 egg whites
2 packets oatmeal (about 45 grams of carbs)

Meal 2 10 ounces chicken breast
1-2 cups of veggies

Meal 3 10 ounces extra lean beef
1-2 cups veggies

Meal 4 10 ounces chicken breast
1 cup veggies

train and cardio

Meal 5 10 ounces chicken or extra lean beef
1 cup veggies
large yam

Meal 6 protein shake

With a month to go, Victor’s weight was at 240 which I thought was too high. At that weight, he still lacks the deep leg separation needed to make a huge impact and win the show.

Weeks 5 and counting to Show Day
From here, I was somewhat concerned Victor would not have the sharpness to win the show. So we went to the extreme. I would cut his carbs to just one carb meal a day, at breakfast. He continued to perform the two 30 minute cardio sessions each day. At the end of each day, I would have him e mail me pictures. This would give me a chance to see if he was leaning down and maintaining his size of if he was losing some size. If he looked like he was maintaining his size, I’d let him continue with the one- carb-meal-a- day the following day. If he looked like he was going flat, I’d tell him not to worry and to continue on the very low carb diet until it looked like he was actually losing size. A lot of times a very low carb diet like this can cause the muscles to temporarily shrink due to a lack of muscle glycogen stores. However, there is a visual difference between a lack of glycogen and an actual loss in size. If Victor was slightly smaller but leaner, he’d stay on low carbs. Usually, his body could last 4 days. By the fifth day, the pictures would show that he was starting to shrink and actually look worse. One way you can tell if you’re shrinking rather than just looking flat due to low glycogen – is you begin to look almost like your stating to gain fat. The loss in size makes the skin look loose and soft. That’s when I would have Victor change his diet and eat carbs at 4 meals. I’d let him eat 2 meals with complex carbs like potatoes or yams and 2 meals of simple carbs like fat free pop-tarts or fat free muffins. The reason: when your muscles are low in glycogen simple carbs are better at restoring them with new glycogen than complex carbs. Also simple carbs kick up insulin levels a bit higher and higher insulin levels are anti-catabolic. When you are following a very low carb diet for 4 to 5 days in a row and doing an hour of cardio daily, you need the simple carbs to help reverse muscle breakdown.
The other big change I made in the diet was to include only fish, protein powder and egg whites as protein sources in his meal plans. In other words, I wanted him to be following a very low calorie diet. With his carbs already low, he’d need to drop fat from his diet which again meant going to the extreme. No more chicken and beef. Just fish, powders and egg whites. Not very tasty, but it works.

At weeks 5 through ten days from the show, his diet looked like this:

Cardio: 30 minutes

Meal 1 10 10 egg whites
2 packets oatmeal (about 45 grams of carbs)

Meal 2 8-10 ounces fish
1-2 cups of veggies

Meal 3 8-10 ounces fish
1-2 cups veggies

Meal 4 protein shake

train and cardio

Meal 5 8-10 ounces fish
1 cup veggies

Meal 6 protein shake

On the day he would increase his carbs, his plan would look like this

Meal 1 10 egg whites
2 packets oatmeal (about 45 grams of carbs)
banana

Meal 2 8-10 ounces fish
2 cups rice

Meal 3 8-10 ounces fish
1-2 cups veggies

Meal 4 protein shake
1 large fat free blueberry muffin

train

Meal 5 8-10 ounces fish
1 yam with sugar on top or a bagel with jam

Meal 6 Protein shake with 40 grams of protein

The Final Week
Many bodybuilders carb deplete and load to hit a peak but I though depleting was out of the question because with the very low carb diet Victor had been using along with performing cardio twice daily, I knew he was already depleted. Instead, I had Victor carb up a little on Wednesday. He ate carbohydrates at four meals and he did not train which helped restore his glycogen levels. On Thursday, he ate carbs at all 6 meals eating either oatmeal or rice. He ate either a large bowl of oatmeal or 2 cups of rice at each meal along with a small amount of fish, usually about 8 ounces (225 grams) At meals #2 and #3 he had 3 cups of rice rather than 2. On Friday he did the same as Thursday. Because he was so depleted, you could actually see his condition improve a lot while he was carbing up. His muscles began to look tighter than ever filling up with muscle glycogen. The only other little adjustment we made was to cut his fluid intake in half on Thursday and Friday. Typically, I like to cut the fluid intake further but he looked good – like he could win – from Tuesday on, so I figured we shouldn’t push things too far. Sometimes when a bodybuilder tries to cut fluid too far, he flattens out.

The Future
Before the pre-judging of the Night Of Champions, Steve Blechman of Muscle Development saw me in the hall of the theatre and commented “I heard Victor looks good.” I said, “He’s the next IFBB superstar.” That’s how I feel about Victor. Although he skipped the Olympia, I believe in his first attempt at something like the Arnold or Olympia, he will make the top 6 with a good shot at the top 3 or 4

BIG DUB

06-19-2011, 08:12 PM

Pre - Contest Training

Bodybuilders understand they have to radically alter their nutrition plan previous to competition in order to shed as much excess body fat as possible. While there is great emphasis on diet- eating less carbohydrates, increasing protein and keeping dietary fat to a minimum, many bodybuilders don’t know how to change their training in order to maximize muscle size. This month, I plan to share with you 5 important tips that can help you maintain your muscle mass while getting as ripped as possible.

1) Stay Heavy
While there is some wisdom to performing higher reps before a contest, the fact remains, bodybuilders should not train in a rep range higher than 12. Heavy weight is a core stimulus for muscle growth. Every bodybuilder knows to add size and get bigger, you have to increase the amount of weight you lift on most of the basic exercises. On the other hand, bodybuilders often train lighter before a contest which is a mistake. When you train too light, muscle tissue shrinks giving you either a smaller or flat appearance. In addition, when your muscles shrink – or you loose size from training too light – the metabolic rate tends to drop.

While no ripped to the bone bodybuilder can expect to train as heavy pre-contest, all the way up to the final week previous to a competition, as he does in a mass building phase, it is essential to train as heavy as possible before competition. Heavy weights maintain the stimulus on muscles before competition which helps you retain muscle while engaged in a rigorous diet. When the poundages or ‘weight’ you use plunges before a contest, the result is a loss in muscle mass. In general, you ought to be able to lift 85-90% of your normal weight in a pre-cotest phase. For example, the bodybuilder who bench presses 150 kg for 8 reps in the off season, ought to be able to lift 127 kg (85%) and up to135 kgs (90%) in before a contest. When a bodybuilder lifts less than 85 to 90% of his off season weight, rest assure, he’s going to shrink and lose a lot of mass.

2) Shorten The Rest Periods
Before a competition, decreasing the amount of rest in between sets is a good way to increase the total calories burned in each training session. In particular, shorter rest periods tend to burn up stored muscle glycogen which, in turn, causes a shift in metabolism causing the body to burn additional body fat. The pre-contest bodybuilder can rest as little as 40 seconds on smaller body parts such as biceps, triceps, calves, abs and 1 minute for larger body parts like chest, back, quads and hamstrings. As a rule of thumb, bodybuilders can burn more calories and body fat with shorter rest periods. In fact, very short rest periods – even shorter than those I just recommended might even be better for ripping up. However if the poundages or ‘weight used’ drops below the 85% threshold mentioned in tip # 1, then you will end up losing muscles mass. Therefore, keep your rest periods brief before competition yet maintain heavy weights. If your weight begin top drop below 85% of your off season poundage, you may be training too quickly between sets. In that case, I would suggest you slow down a bit and jeep the guidelines I suggested; 40 seconds for smaller body parts and 1 minute for large. Of course, there are always exceptions. That is, you might want to rest 45 seconds to a minute on smaller bodyparts and up to 90 seconds on larger body parts. Keep an eye on your poundages. If you can maintain them close to off season poundages, then try shorter rest periods. And if the poundages start to fall, make an adjustment and rest a bit longer.

3) Cycle Short Rest Periods With Longer Rest Periods
You can not train with shorter rest periods during the entire contest preparation period. Shorter rest periods, in general, can lead to a drop in the amount of ‘weight’ you handle which leads to a loss in muscle mass. In simple terms, if you can bench press 150 kgs for 8 reps in the off season and rest 2 –3 minutes in between sets, changing to shorter rest periods might cause a drop in poundages where you wont be able to lift 85 to 90 % of the weight you were doing in the off season. With that in mind, the bodybuilder can benefit by cycling shorter rest periods with longer rest periods. In other words, he can maintain greater strength levels while incorporating shorter rest periods by using both short rest periods and normal/off season rest periods. The ideal way to cycle rest periods is to train 2 consecutive weeks using short rest periods (30-60 seconds between sets) followed by 2 consecutive weeks following longer rest periods, closer to those typical in a mass building phase (1 1/2 to 3 minutes between sets). Alternating from shorter rest periods to longer rest periods can help aid recovery by preventing a state of overtraining that can occur with shorter rest periods. At the same time, it allows the bodybuilder to benefit from the calorie burning effect of shorter rest periods without causing a marked drop off in the ‘weights’ or poundages used.

4) Use High Intensity Cardio
There’s a perpetual discussion on how much cardio to perform before a contest and at which intensity. If you’ve read my articles in the past, you know I believe anything more than 4 forty minute cardio sessions each week will lead to a drop in testosterone levels, a loss of energy and is counter productive to becoming ripped. In terms of intensity, high intensity is always best. I consider high intensity to be closer to 80% of one’s maximal heart rate. The only way this level can be maintained is with interval aerobic exercise where the bodybuilder pedals a bike or walks on a treadmill with incredible effort for 2-3 minutes followed by 1-3 minutes of a cooling period. During the cooling period, the bodybuilder can peddle or work at a significantly lower level of intensity. During this period, the heart rate will remain surprisingly high after having been spiked towards the 80% level during the 2-3 minute period of all out effort. If you choose to perform this type of grueling aerobic work, you can limit each session to 20-25 minutes and perform only 3-4 sessions a week. Higher intensity aerobic work is better than lower intensity work because it stimulates the body to burn additional calories for an entire half day aftereach aerobic session whereas the metabolic rate does not remain elevated for more than 30 to 45 minutes with lower intensity aerobic work. The key to getting ripped is not necessarily burning up calories, but increasing and changing the metabolic rate. Higher intensity cardio work alters the metabolic rate far greater than lower intensity cardio work.
5) Never Train More Than 3 Consecutive Days in A Row
Contest training requires the addition of cardio to stimulate the loss of body fat with a decrease in carbs and fat to create a caloric deficit leading to further fat loss. This added-exercise-drop-in-calorie approach can quickly lead to overtraining. Most bodybuilders fail to recognize the signs of over training as they’re usually pre-occupied with getting in great shape and are constantly worried taking a day or two off from training to avoid overtraining might prevent them from getting as ripped as possible. Not resting sufficiently leads to over training which, in turn leads to a loss in muscle, a drop in the metabolic rate, and a drop in testosterone and IGF levels.

One of the better ways to approach your training before a competition is to incorporate complete days of rest; no training, no cardio. Rest days help the bodybuilder avoid overtraining allowing him to hold onto more mass while dieting. Muscle mass maintenance is the key to pre-contest preparation because greater mass obviously is what bodybuilding is all about and the more mass you can retain while dieting, the higher your metabolism which makes losing body fat a lot easier. I suggest bodybuilder either use a 2 on 1 off training plan where the entire body is worked over a 6 day period and a full day of rest is taken after 2 consecutive days of training. Another alternative is to use the 3 on 1 off 1 on 1 off method. Here the entire upper body is trained in the first 3 days (spreading the upper body training over these days) followed by a complete day off. Returning to the gym, the bodybuilder would train legs, hamstrings and calves with the following day completely dedicated to rest. (then repeat the cycle) This ensures the bodybuilder have sufficient rest which leads to greater muscle retention while dieting.

While some bodybuilders like to train 5 or 6 days a week before a competition, perhaps training 1 to 2 body parts daily every day except Sunday, it’s better to set aside complete rest days as even small amounts of activity (training or cardio) each and every day can lead to a loss of muscle due to a drop in hormones that comes with every-day training. Bodybuilders still believe its impossible to overtrain by breaking their workouts into very brief session. While brief training sessions, lasting an 30 to 60 minutes might not cause the body to fall into a state of overtraining, chronic everyday training, no matter how brief the training session, can promote overtraining. Continuous training becomes a chronic stress on the body which will, over time, lead to overtraining- which leads to a loss in muscle. The answer; complete days off- even during the contest prep phase!

BIG DUB

06-19-2011, 08:14 PM

Chris Cooks Big Nationals Win
by Chris Aceto
Jay Cutler knows bodybuilding. In fact, he’s got a knack for picking the next big thing. About two and a half years ago while visiting Bodybuilding’s very own Donald Trump (yes, Jay is a real estate mogul!) Jay and I were discussing bodybuilding stuff – diets, nutrition and training. In reviewing the haves and the have not’s, Cutler singled out Victor Martinez who was coming off a couple of rough years as a new pro. Said Iron Jay, “Victor Martinez hasn’t done anything as a pro, but it’s all there. He just needs to get it right.” Funny thing about that; at that point Victor’s name was nothing big. People didn’t expect much from him. Many figured he would end up like other pro’s, never really “making it.” I recall seeing Victor guest pose a few years ago in Boston. It was about two weeks away from his first try at the Night Of Champions and I thought he looked really good. When I told someone who writes for one of the magazines, “Wow I saw Victor Martinez, he looks unreal,” the writer’s reply was lackadaisical at best. “He’s no big deal” was the reply. I just figured the writer knew more then me and had seen Victor in competition against others who may have made him look not so impressive. Then Jay brought his name up a year later under the category we were discussing “Who could be really good.” To the best of my recollection, big Jay called out Victor as a top pick. The next week, Martinez called me and I thought it was way too crazy of a coincidence and I told him spot on, right there over the phone. “Vic, you can be the next big thing.” The rest, as they say, is history. Vic went on to win 2 straight pro shows and take 9th at this year’s Mr. Olympia. Should he have placed higher? Hell yes. Will he be back better than ever? Yes he will. A lot better? A hell of a lot better!

(Editor’s note: Victor Martinez did not palce in the top 5 of the recent Arnold Classic)

Fast forward to mid-2004. This time, Cutler’s making another one of his lists and telling me who the good guys of the sport are. Chris Cook heads his pick and he adds, “Plus, he’s got a good physique and can go far. He just needs to put it together.” Soon after, I got a call from Chris. Before he could finish his sentence, “Can you give me a little help for the Nationals to be held in four months?” I interrupted, “Chris Jay Cutler always talks good about you so I know you’re a good guy. He also says you have a good physique. And, really, I value what Jay says, so yes, I can give you my help.”

The Help
What do you teach someone who already has won the USA twice? under the expert guidance of top trainer Haney Rambod. First, don’t listen to anyone; clear your mind. That sounds arrogant or even ignorant. What I really mean is that in this sport, you have to do what is best for yourself, what you believe is best for you and block out what everyone else says. Because, frankly, everyone else – more than likely – will give you advice as to how to get ready for a show without the slightest understanding of how you are trying to come into a show. For example, “people” were already telling Chris, “You gotta come in ripped to the bone” which I felt to be a potential mistake. What I told him: “You have to come in as huge as you can with the right amount of definition to highlight your roundness. To fall for the be-all, end –all get ripped approach, chances are you might shrink and look paper thin without enough mass to be able to highlight the type of physique you have; round shoulders and popping triceps, big round quads and a nice V taper. Rip that up with no regard to trying to keep your calling card – roundness – and you might end up looking ripped, but flat or just simply not overwhelming in the line-up. So I told Chris, “Come in big. Come in round and come in cut, but never sacrifice your strengths: roundness and shape.”

If you have read my books, you know I’m not an angle guy. I don’t believe in carving a physique with detail exercises. I think the detail will be there when the body is devoid of fat and water. For contest prep, I think heavy is the way to go, with basic exercises. Therefore, I suggested to Chris he skip all the shaping crap and stay focused on compound motions. When he got started, he had taken a break from the diet that he has been on for the USA. In fact, he wasn’t even eating much. So I decided to slowly increase his food intake. We started with this.

Weeks 15-11

Meal 1
Shake: 50 grams protein
1 1/2 cup oatmeal (uncooked measure)
sometimes, he’d have 75 grams of carbs from fat free muffins

Meal 2
10 whites
grits: enough to make 50 grams of carbs

Meal 3 (pre-training meal)
Shake 50 gr prot
96 gr carb . This would come from a powder or he would eat any type of carbohydrate source with 96 grams of carbohydrates.

Meal 4 (after training)
7 oz chicken breast
96 grams carbs ....usually 2 1/4 cups or rice or 4 1/2 ounces of pasta

Meal 5
same as 4

Meal 6
50 grams protein from a shake or
10 oz chicken w/ veggies

The above menu gave him a lot of fuel and reserves to train like he was trying to add mass, without worrying about dieting. Within 3-4 weeks he looked pretty decent at 275, according to Chris, the biggest 275 he’d been to date. He was not cut mind you, but not fat either. Hard-ish. At the 10 week mark or so, he started doing cardio a couple times a day; two 20 minutes sessions with each session being really hard. The aim here was to try to kick the metabolism up and short, though really hard sessions, are effective at doing that. I also decreased his carbohydrates to about 250 a day and increased the protein to about 300 grams. His diet looked like this

Meal 1
Shake: 50 grams protein
1 cup oatmeal (uncooked measure)

Meal 2
10-12 whites
grits: enough to make 50 grams of carb

Meal 3 (pre-training meal)
Shake 50 grams protein
50 grams carbs . This would come from a powder or he would eat any type of carbohydrate source with 50 grams of carbohydrates.

Meal 4 (after training)
7-9 oz chicken breast
50 grams carbs ....rice: 2 1/4 cups or pasta: 4 1/2 ounces

Meal 5
same as 4

Meal 6
50-60 grams protein shake or
10 oz chicken w/ veggies

Over a 3 week period, he leaned down to the lower to mid 260’s. That’s a 10 pound drop in 3 weeks. I’d say most of it was fat with a little water along with it.
At about the eight week mark, I switched the diet up to include lower carb days. I’m not necessarily big on low carbs. It works for a lot of bodybuilders but for others a higher carb diet is the way to go. Chris would stay on low carbs for about 4 to as many as 7 days in a row; “low” being 150 grams a day. Then he’d switch and go to 500 grams or so. Chris’s body is really really water retentive. By the 4th to 7th day of low carbs, his weight would drop to as low as 257 and he’d look good. I’d say to myself “Ok he’s gonna win this show.” However, with only a single day of eating say 500 carbs, he’d explode and blow up to 270 and at 270, he certainly doesn’t look like he’s going to win the nationals in a few weeks. I’d just dismissed it as water – as it was. I mean, I’d see him at 257 just two days earlier and be impressed, so that gain of weight after a high carb day could only be water and nothing more. Still, I can’t say it never crossed my mind: “Shoot what happens when he carbs up the final 3 days before the show, is he going to water out and lose.”

From weeks 7 to around the Olympia time, Chris was alternating low carb days with a higher carb day here and there. I also switched him to 45 minute cardio sessions and on occasion put him on two daily cardio sessions. Usually, I hate cardio, but he was certainly holding size so I figured the added cardio wasn’t hurting him. At the Olympia, I finally got to see him in person. Up to this point, I had never even met him. I simply was going off digital pictures he was sending me. The Mr Olympia weekend is not a good time to meet someone getting ready for a top amateur show. I was in Vegas providing help to Jay and Victor and after seeing them, Chris – white as a ghost and holding water – looked like nothing compared to these two; tan, dieted all the way down, depleted and in the final day or so before the show. Still, he looked big and didn’t really appear to be holding that much fat. I think at the time he was in the low 260’s. Here’s the lucky part of the weekend – yes some luck always plays a role in winning. Chris couldn’t get to his cardio like he had hoped so he just chopped his 150 carbs all the way down to 25 grams a day while he was in Vegas. The result; dramatically less water retention, harder looking muscles and with not a smidgen drop in roundness. When he got back to California and I retuned to Maine, we sort of both decided to take a risk and limit his carbs to 25 grams a day. That’s not a typo; just 25 grams. It worked. He got leaner pretty darn quick – his back, glutes and hamstrings leaned down a lot. And, I know he hated this, I had him keep a 45 minute cardio session in there for good measure - nothing crazy intense, just moderate walking on a treadmill or biking to keep the metabolism up and to burn a few more calories. When he’d really crash as he’d tell me, his voice trailing off and hardly audible “Chris (Aceto) I don’t have drop of energy,” I’d say “Go ahead and eat. Pop your carbs back up to 400 or even 500 for a day.” After a day, he’d feel better, not completely better, but somewhat better, and I would have him drop back down to 25 grams of carbs. After just ten days of this, I could see he was starting to lose mass, and that’s when I decided to increase his protein intake. As many know, when calories decrease, you need to increase protein to prevent a loss in muscle mass. However, in some bodybuilders, this is not always true. For some many reasons, their bodies fight hard at retaining that muscle in absence of carbohydrates and calories and they can actually stay pretty darn full. It took Chris a full 2 1/2 weeks to start losing mass so we waited until we could see that happening before adding in more protein. At is toughest, here is a peak at his 25 grams of carb diet.

Meal 1
Shake: 50 grams protein
½ cup oatmeal

Meal 2
12-15 egg whites

Meal 3 (pre-training meal)
Shake 75 gr protein or a pound of chicken breast

Meal 4 (after training)
75 grams protein from a shake or 12-14 ounces lean beef

Meal 5
same as 4

Meal 6
60 grams protein shake or 60-70 grams protein from chicken breast
10 oz chicken w/ veggies

The Final Week
A lot has been said on what exactly to do the final week before a show and I don’t think there is a one size fits all method to getting there. Bodies are different. My rule of thumb; If a guy can’t or does not lose a lot of mass on low carbs, then deplete the hell out of him a week out from the show. That’s what Chris did. I went to California and we went to the gym on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and just did set after set, rep after rep in order to make sure his muscles were depleted of glycogen. I don’t really recommend that for everyone but like I said, if the bodybuilder does not shrink on low carbs – and Chris wasn’t shrinking on low carbs – then you have to go to “no mans land” and drive those carbs out. By the time we were on the plane headed to Dallas on Tuesday night, Chris was beat up. And there was more to come.
On Wednesday, Chris started carbing up. He was eating about 70 grams of carbs per meal at each of his 6 meals and only 30-40 grams of protein from either whey protein, chicken or beef. The carbs he decided to use were potatoes, a salt free whole grain cereal he picked up at a health food store, and a salt free whole grain bread on which he would use a little bit of low sugar jam. He cut his sodium out the day before and went from drinking roughly a gallon of water or more up until and including Tuesday to about half that on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I’m not a believer in sitting and carbing, even when you’re depleted to the max. I’ve just seen people lose it and water out by hoarding themselves up in a hotel room and chowing down on rice cakes, potatoes and yams for three days. A lot of times it works, but sometimes the body – not use to eating so many carbs while not training – only ends up holding water. So we headed off to the gym and trained on Wednesday and Thursday. We picked 1 to 2 exercises per body part and did 1 to 2 sets of 12 reps. Nothing heavy. Nothing serious, but enough to try to facilitate a pump. Since it was Chris’s first full three days off salt and first three consecutive three days of carbing in weeks, I knew he’d look a lot better then ever and it would be a good confidence builder. Every day- from Wednesday morning on, he looked better and I think that helped his confidence, which certainly was reflected in not having to do battle with the nerves demons back stage. Interestingly, that’s been a problem for Chris in the past. He has told me that he looks great going into the show, but gets really nervous the day of; and as a result, holds water.

The Coincidence
The Nationals where held in Dallas. Two interesting tidbits about Dallas. I only had been there once with Jay in 1996 where he won the Nationals. I thought that was some type of good omen. Here I was going back for the first time in 8 years. I thought the stars just may be lining up for another win. When Chris and I went to look for a gym, we got totally lost and could not find the one we were looking for, but ended up stumbling onto a gym- the gym – where Jay had gone through his last minute prep in 1996. That definitely seemed like some weird sign. The other crazy thing about Dallas; When jay was there in 1996, he insisted on going to visit MetroFlex gym. I distinctly remember going there like it was yesterday and I recall Jay talking about Ronnie Coleman – admiring his physique – like he could be the next big thing. Jay’s got a thing about picking winners