A small announcement everyone…we are launching a new section of the blog dedicated to runners and endurance athletes.

Expect to see product news and reviews, training and nutritional tips, training plans and of course supplement advice.

Sports supplements are often overlooked by runners and endurance athletes, but they are a vital part of training if you want to perform at your best. The right supplements will help fight fatigue, boost performance, aid muscle recovery and hopefully help to keep you injury free!

Not all supplements are born equal andwith so many supplements on the market we’re hear to guide you through the potential minefield.

If you have any questions you’d like to ask us specific to running or endurance, feel free to post them here. Watch this space…

The hormone cortisol is produced in the adrenal cortex in response to adrenal cortical stimulating hormone (ACTH) produced in the pituitary gland. Cortisol plays an important role in regulating blood sugar, energy production, inflammation, the immune system and healing.

If you have too little cortisol, you may suffer from fatigue, chronic fatigue, exhaustion and a disease of the endocrine system called Addison’s disease. If your adrenal glands are producing too much cortisol, you may develop conditions such as weight gain, especially around the abdomen, depressed immune function with all of the consequences, accelerated aging and stomach ulcers.

Recently, a lot of attention has been directed to the effects of excess cortisol on weight gain and on the difficulty in losing weight. Collectively, the various diet plans being promoted by a long list of diet gurus have a failure rate of approximately 93 to 97 percent. There are several reasons for this. One is clearly the difficulty in achieving behavioral modification in the face of easy availability of the wrong kind of foods, inherently sedentary lifestyles, and intense media programming. Another reason is that some of our hormones work against us, in the weight loss perspective. High cortisol levels is one of the culprits.

Cortisol and Stress

Cortisol is elevated in response to stress. The adrenal glands are not particular, any kind of stress will do. The stress can be physical, environmental, chemical or imaginary. The human brain is hard wired with automatic responses to protect the body from harm. The classic work on stress was done by Dr. Hans Selye, M.D. He studied the physiological consequences of stress in rats and transferred that research data into a human model.

(1) In the “Fight or Flight” response, the adrenal glands enlarge and secrete large quantities of adrenal cortical hormones. These hormones suppress inflammatory responses and mobilize the body’s energy reserves. This puts the body on RED ALERT and diverts all of the body’s biochemical resources to immediate survival. The body’s self healing mechanisms are arrested (healing diverts energy and raw materials away from immediate survival), the immune system is suppressed, glycogen stores in the liver and muscle tissue are mobilized to raise the blood sugar level and digestion and assimilation are inhibited. The stomach lining becomes thin and ulcerated and the thymus gland and lymphatic tissue shrinks. This “Fight or Flight” response works well when dealing with man eating food, but it is not suited for our modern lifestyle. Battling traffic, competing for parking spaces and watching the evening news produces the same physiological responses as running for your life. And the stimuli don’t stop and go away, leaving the body with chronic high cortisol levels.

(2) All forms of stress produce the same physiological consequences. This includes environmental stress (heat, cold and noise, etc.), chemical stress (pollution, drugs, etc.), physical stress (overexertion, trauma, infection, etc.), psychological stress (worry, fear, etc.) and biochemical stress (nutritional deficiencies, refined sugar consumption, etc.). All of these different sources of stress are additive and cumulative in their effects.

As the body responds to this cumulative stress, it goes through three stages of response.

(1) The first stage is REACTION. The body experiences the symptoms from the trauma, infection, heat, cold, chemical irritation, etc. The endocrine system responds with the release of cortisol and other hormones to compensate for the trauma. The heart beats faster, the blood pressure rises, the pupils dilate,

(2) The second stage is ADAPTATION. After the adrenal glands have enlarged and released large quantities of adrenal cortical hormones, the symptoms disappear and the individual feels good, has energy, and is able to function in the presence of the stresses he/she is under.

(3) The third stage is EXHAUSTION. After an extended period in stage two, the body’s reserves of nutritional elements (raw materials) and resilience becomes depleted. The symptoms return and there is now no relief. The individual may collapse physically, suffer a nervous breakdown, become dysfunctional and/or experience an organ or body system failure (heart attack, stroke, etc.)

(4) An optional fourth stage is DEATH. If the stresses continue after stage three is reached and the body is no longer able to adapt, and rest, regeneration, and healing do not occur, the consequence is death.

It is important to recognize that an individual in this cycle short of stage four can reverse the consequences of stress by removing themselves from the stressful situation and giving themselves the rest, peace of mind, and nutritional support that is necessary to restore the body’s reserves.

It is also important to recognize that an individual in stage two has physiologically adapted and they feel asymptomatic, and are usually, therefore, not too concerned about or even conscious of what is happening. One of the consequences of this adaptation is suppression of the immune system. These individuals are more susceptible to infections, colds, allergies, etc. In the presence of new and dangerous infectious diseases, this can be a very important matter.

The Consequences of Chronic High Cortisol

To repeat, chronically elevated cortisol levels contribute to the accumulation of abdominal fat and make it very difficult to get rid of it. The immune system is suppressed and the individual becomes more susceptible to infections, both minor and major. Clearly, we would like for our cortisol levels to return to normal.

How to Correct your Cortisol Level

Stress reduction is an essential part of all efforts to normalize cortisol. Stress is the stimuli that caused the cortisol levels to get out of hand to begin with. Each individual should explore and find the stress reduction techniques that work best for themselves. Meditation, physical activities, attitude changes etc. are good paths to explore. Without stress reduction, all therapeutic and support measures will eventually fail.

Rest. This may sound obvious but it must be managed and scheduled as a deliberate strategy, choice and course of action. Otherwise it gets forgotten in the busyness of life.

A low glycemic diet is important. Sugar handling stress increases cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol, in turn, aggravates the sugar handling situation contributing to the development of high insulin levels and ultimately diabetes.

Nutritional supplementation is very valuable in restoring normal cortisol levels. It is important, however, to recognize if your cortisol levels are high or low. Low cortisol levels are the consequence of adrenal exhaustion or the exhaustion phase of the stress response. High cortisol levels are the result of the response to chronic stress and represent the adaptation phase of the stress response.

Nutritional Supplements to Support Low or High Cortisol Levels

For basic adrenal support, include:

A good Complete Multiple Vitamin Mineral Supplement.
Vitamin C, one capsule (500 to 1000 mg.) three times per day.
B5, (500 mg.)one capsule per day
B6, (50 mg.) one capsule per day
One of the best known and most effective ways to lower excess cortisol levels is with the nutrient Phosphatidylserine (PS). Phosphatidylserine is believed to facilitate the repair of the cortisol receptors in the hypothalamus. It is believed that the cortisol receptors get damaged by high cortisol levels reducing the ability of the hypothalamus to sense and correct high cortisone levels. Because Phosphatidylserine helps repair the feedback control apparatus, it is useful in correcting both high and low cortisol levels. Phosphatidylserine is also useful for preventing short-term memory loss, age-related dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Typical dosages are one to three 100 mg. capsules per day.

Adaptogens are an entire category of herbs that assists the body in coping with stress by restoring hypothalamic cortisol receptor sensitivity. Ginseng Adreno-Build 4050 is one such blend of adaptogenic herbs. It is a combination of eleuthero, American ginseng and rhodiola, all researched for their effects on increasing stamina, mental alertness and work performance. Botanical catalysts support the action of the formula by enhancing endurance and nourishing the adrenal glands, featuring ashwagandha, Chinese licorice and rehmannia. Typical dosages one tablet (4050 mg. herbal blend) per day.

Relora® is a patent pending plant extract of Phellodendron amurense and Magnolia officinalis that may help to relieve stress and minimize stress-induced eating. Weight gain can be associated with emotional over-eating for people with stressful lifestyles. Preliminary research suggests that Relora® may help regulate cortisol levels in the body that are associated with stress-related weight gain. The bark of Magnolia officinalis has been used in traditional Chinese Herbalism for centuries for stress reduction and muscle tension.

DHEA is a hormone which acts as a precursor for many other hormones. DHEA levels decline drastically with age. Many anti-aging physicians and programs advocate DHEA supplementation for individuals over 40 years of age. There is some medical controversy regarding this practice. If you are considering taking DHEA supplements, it would be a good idea to use the tests to both determine the need for it and get the dosage adjusted properly. DHEA can also be used empirically to alleviate the symptoms of excess cortisol or hyperadaptosis. DHEA can improve glucose tolerance, convert excess body fat to lean muscle mass, alleviate depression, increase energy and decrease pain in chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia patients, decrease joint pain and fatigue in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, improve mental clarity and enhance overall immune function. Typical doses for DHEA are 10 to 25 mg for women, 25 to 100 mg for men, taken in the morning to mimick the bodys natural rhythm. Note: Dosage should be adjusted based on test results. It is important for men to take a prostate PSA test before supplementation. DHEA supplementation could potentially complicate prostate cancer, so professional medical advice is necessary if the PSA level should be elevated.

Adrenal exhaustion is more difficult to resolve. Adrenal exhaustion involves a depletion of energy reserves and a loss of resilience. Symptomatic signs of adrenal exhaustion can be as diverse as fatigue, nervousness, anxiety, severe PMS, depression, brain fog, carbohydrate cravings, allergies, muscular pain and tenderness, joint pain and irritable bowel syndrome. The goal of nutritional therapy in this situation is to restore the natural, diurnal release of normal levels of cortisol. The theory is if you provide the body with a small amount of a cortisol-like substance, the adrenal glands can take a rest and have an opportunity to regenerate. Then normal cortisol production will be restored.

A long time ago I tried a diet that was being hailed as the best ever muscle building / fat burning diet (By Dan Duchaine). It helped me win the Junior Mr. Universe!! …..The Anabolic Diet is a muscle building and fat burning diet. Dr Mauro Di Pasquale developed the Anabolic Diet as a response to drug use. He wanted a diet that gave similar results but naturally & safely.

The Anabolic Diet does this by manipulating your muscle building hormones. Key is eating the right combination of foods at the right time. Not easy, but works if done properly. Here’s the definite Anabolic Diet guide.

Benefits of The Anabolic Diet. The Anabolic Diet is a high protein, high fat diet which involves carbs cycling. Some things you can expect:

Fat Loss. You force your body to use fat for energy by avoiding carbs for 5 days. Your body stores less fat because you eat lots of fats. You’ll get rid of stubborn fat like love handles. 10% body fat year through is easy.
Muscle Gains. Key to the Anabolic Diet is fatty read meat. This is rich in cholesterol and saturated fats which increase your testosterone levels. Testosterone is the muscle building hormone.
Improved Health. Lower cholesterol & tryglyceride levels, less plaque build up, controlled insulin levels, less food allergies, less acne, … Do a blood test before starting the Anabolic Diet and compare months later.
More Energy. Controlling your carb intake will make you wake up full of energy. You’ll never have blood sugar crashes or heaviness after eating again. Also less irritability & less mood swings.
No Hunger. Fat satiates and makes you feel full longer. You’ll never feel hungry on the Anabolic Diet. You’ll have to remind yourself to eat even though you’ll be eating more than before.

How The Anabolic Diet Works. The Anabolic Diet works whatever your gender or age. And like any diet, it works best coupled with strength training. Here’s how your week looks like when you eat the Anabolic Diet way:

Weekdays. Proteins, fats & veggies. Eat fatty red meat, fatty fish, whole eggs, full fat cheese, olive oil, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, …
Weekends. Eat lots of carbs. Pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, oats, fruit, … Lower your protein & fat intake.

How to Get Started on The Anabolic Diet. Use FitDay to track your daily caloric and macronutrients intake. Anabolic Diet rules:

Determine Caloric Needs. Rule of thumb is your BW x 18kcal, but the Cunningham Equation is more accurate. Read this post.
12 Days No Carbs. Eat proteins & fats only for 12 days. This forces your body to use fat for energy. After these 12 days, eat carbs for 2 days on. Then alternate 5 days no carbs and 2 days carbs.
No Carbs Days. 40% protein, 60% fat, 25g carbs max. The carbs should come from foods like veggies, eggs, meat, … No oats or rice or milk.
Carbs Days. 15% protein, 25% fat, 60% carbs. So 60% of your calories should come from carbs. These will fill your carb stores.
It takes about 4 weeks to adapt to the Anabolic Diet. Expect stomach issues, moodiness, tiredness, … Don’t give up. All of this will go away if you stick with the Anabolic Diet. Read first week experiences on the Anabolic Diet.

Example Meal Plan: No Carbs Days. Usually Monday to Friday. Eat protein & fat only, avoid carbs. For inspiration, read the Anabolic Diet food list.

Breakfast. Whole eggs, bacon, spinach.
Snack. Italian or french cheese.
Lunch. Ground round, broccoli, olive oil.
Snack. Italian or Spanish ham.
Post Workout. Whey, olive oil.
Dinner. Mackerel, salad, olive oil, cheese cubes.
Pre Bed. French cheese, ground flax seeds, fish oil.

Example Meal Plan: Carbs Days. Usually Saturday & Sunday. Best is to avoid training on these days since the high carb intake tends to cause tiredness.

Breakfast. Oats, raisins, milk.
Snack. Lots of fruit.
Lunch. Chicken breast, quinoa, spinach.
Snack. Lots of fruit.
Dinner. Whole grain pasta, tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese.
Pre Bed. Cottage cheese, berries, ground flax seeds, fish oil.

Drawbacks of The Anabolic Diet. Your grocery bill will be higher at first and the weekends can turn into junk fests. More drawbacks of the Anabolic Diet:

Hard for Weight Gain. The Anabolic Diet is high in fats which satiate & make you full longer. This makes gaining weight on the Anabolic Diet harder, but not impossible. GOMAD is better for weight gain.
Complicate. You have to count calories, you’re cycling between carbs & no carbs days, food choice is tricky with all the hidden carbs, … A diet based on the 8 nutrition rules is simpler.
No Good For Sports. Sports like rugby and MMA don’t mix well with low carb diets like the Anabolic Diet: they rely too much on carbs for energy. One solution is to use mid-week carb ups. But it’s not ideal.

Should You Do The Anabolic Diet? If you eat carbs on the days where you eat lots of saturated fat and fatty proteins, you risk obesity and diabetes. Stick to the Anabolic Diet rules or you’ll get adverse effects.

If you’ve never stuck with a diet, follow the 8 nutrition rules for 12 months. Then you’ll be ready for advanced stuff like the Anabolic Diet. If you still need it, since you’ll lose fat by following the 8 nutrition rules.

Compare building a strong, muscular physique to the process of building a house; some people have aspirations of a mammoth, grand construction while others would be happy with something of more modest dimensions. Everyone has a picture in his or her mind of the dream physique and this article will help you on the way to building that very body.

If you were given a plot of land but had no knowledge of how to build a house the chances are you wouldn’t get very far before things started to go wrong and you’d give up. Knowledge and experience are required and the same is true with building a better, stronger body in the quickest possible time. A great source of knowledge to help you achieve your training goals is fitforum.co.uk the forum contains all the information you will ever need and friendly members to answer every question you have along the way.

Strong Foundations
Every good building is built on solid foundations! The foundations of a great physique are good solid foods; these are your basic building blocks… protein, carbohydrate and fat. You need to learn the macronutrients of the food you eat inside out, these are the tools of your trade. Decide on your foundation plan, for me that’s currently a 50/40/20 protein/carb/fat split, you need to learn what meals you can eat which achieve this ratio. Once you know and stick to these magic numbers you’ll be on the way to a great body in the fastest possible time, ignore them at your peril!

Building Materials
Remember the tale of the 3 little pigs… no not Adam, Dave and Josh at Monster, but when the third pig built his house of hard bricks. A house built on fast food and takeaways isn’t going to stand up to the big bad wolf. Your bricks or amino acids need to come from high quality protein sources such as lean beef, chicken, fish, eggs and cottage cheese. Choose carbohydrates from green fibrous vegetables, fresh fruit, oats, rice, potato and wholemeal wheat. Invest in these foods and you’ll be the one cooking up that big bad wolf for your dinner!

Supplements
Every good builder carries the same basic tools in his bag, a hammer, a screwdriver etc. The same should be true with every weight trainer; there are certain supplements, which should be found in every gym bag. These are a good quality protein powder such as Gaspari Myofusion and a market leading creatine product like Gaspari SizeOn. Forget the other supplement products on the market; these are the essentials to be successful at building and maintaining a better body.

Vitamins and minerals
Often overlooked but imagine these as the pipes and cables which deliver water and power throughout your building. For your body to grow at the optimal rate and work as efficiently and healthily as possible a quality multivitamin and mineral is a must. Gaspari Anavite a fantastic vitamin and mineral solution will ensure you meet the most stringent of building regulations!

Time and patience
Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day! Like any building project it’s not going to happen overnight… time, patience, hard work and dedication are all required and eventually you WILL have a body to be proud of.

Maintenance
Every house needs regular maintenance to stop it falling apart and keeping it looking as good as possible. Your new improved, muscular body also requires a lot of maintenance to maintain and improve on all your hard work. Supplements such as preworkout powders are a great tool if your motivation wavers and you need a little extra stimulation to hit the weights room at full force or for that early morning cardio session. My current favourites are USPLabs Jack3d and Gaspari Superpump.

King of your castle!
The most important aspect of the process is to enjoy building and living in your creation! Your training should be hard but fun! You will soon look down at the ‘average’ people in their small, weak, frail properties and have a deep satisfaction and pride in all your hard work. You will soon have the new show home in town and be the hottest property in the neighbourhood!

written by Ben Wilson (Numerouno)
member of www.fitforum.co.uk

For the majority of bodybuilders, bodybuilding is simply a hobby in which they indulge themselves in heavily in order to sculpt their perfect physique. In all honesty, most will admit that it is in attempt to improve their self confidence, gain attention and of course remain healthy. However, what most people who have invested a lot of time, money and energy into their physiques do not tend to do is look to capitalize on their physique to earn an income and help others looking to achieve the same as you. This article is going to discuss a little on the topic of potential opportunities for those of you who keep yourself in tip top shape.
Before you read on you must understand that this article won’t point in the direction of work, but instead offer an insight into what you could potentially achieve. To add to that, a lot of the opportunities to be listed are for those who really take it seriously and keep themselves in fantastic condition.
The first obvious way for anybody who trains hard, eats well and uses the right supplements to maintain a great physique is to become a fitness model. Fitness modeling is a growing industry and therefore is plenty of room and potential for you to make some money from it. A lot of the companies who are involved in this sector look for physiques which are absolutely crisp cut, opposed to mass monsters who carry a bit of weight. The number one rule along with having a nice aesthetic balanced physique is to have shredded abs. If you have an athletic looking physique in great condition, there is a chance you will be able to get some work as a fitness model in certain magazines.
Another great way to potentially make some money out of your physique which you have worked so hard for is to become the face of a supplements company. Most bodybuilding supplement companies have their own professional athletes, but other companies who are more mainstream are sometimes on the lookout for a ‘Joe Average’ to front some of their advertisement material. Whilst work like this will be more hotly contested for, if you think your physique and overall look has what it takes it could be a great move. You will at the very least end up with free supplements which is helpful in terms of gains as well as finances.
Finally, you could pass off the knowledge you have gained on your journey to your great physique to people who want to get to the same place as you. By this, what is meant is that you could offer nutrition and training programmes specific to the needs of each individual. This shouldn’t take too much of your time and it can turn out to be a nice sideline income.
There you have some ideas on how to make a little money and get freebies for all the hard work you have put into building and sculpting that perfect physique.

Prepare To Grow

How many of you find yourself not gaining and hitting a plateau in your training, you are not lifting any heavier or you are not adding more lean muscle? This can result in a loss of interest as the training becomes stale and the desire to train drops off.
If this applies to you and it has to us all at some points it could be due to many reasons, poor nutrition, inadequate calorific intake, lack of supplementation or it may be the training itself.
Let’s look at the training routine, many people hit the gym and do the same workout every week, not just the same lifts but the same weight, the same reps and to top it all on the same day each week. Guess what? The body gets used to it, if this is you it’s time to shake things up, I rarely do the same workout two weeks in a row, try some of the following alterations to kick-start your growth.
To gain muscle there is nothing better than using compound movements, these are lifts that require more than one muscle group thus recruiting the usage of more muscle fibres, examples are squats, deadlifts bench press, shoulder press, dips and standing barbell curls. Centre your training on these and add isolation exercises such as leg extensions, lateral raises, cable rows, flyes and cable curls and extensions for the end of the workouts.
Switch things around, use different exercises and lifts, this will shock you body and trigger more growth try the following switches:
1. Legs start with squats instead of leg press
2. Chest start with dumbbell bench press instead of the bar
3. Shoulders swap dumbbell presses for smith presses or standing military press
4. Triceps use dips or close grip bench press to start with
5. Biceps start with Standing straight bar curls or standing dumbbells
6. Back start with deadlifts or bent over barbell rows
Try changing your first sets to one of the exercises mentioned above that you don’t normally use. Shoot for 4-6 sets with 8-12 reps; remember focus on form and muscle connectivity not how much you are lifting.
Use each of these for 4-6 weeks and then swap, the rest of the workout per body part can be made up of mixed exercises always shoot for a minimum of 8 reps, lift smart and keep a slow steady momentum, muscle growth is triggered by hypertrophy not by lifting the weight as fast as possible, slower reps equals more stress, more muscle trauma and in turn more muscle growth.
The next step is to use progressive workloads, this means every workout you add either more weight or more reps, use bench press as an example if you can do 80kg for 4 sets of 10 reps then try 82 kg for 10 reps if you fall short and hit 8 reps that’s fine if you hit ten the next set add another kg or so. This may not sound much but if you add a kg to lifts every week then just think in a month you have added 5% to you lifts just by using progressive workloads not settling for that same 10 reps. (using 80kg example)
Train with intensity, don’t be the guy talking for 5 minutes between sets, the greatest thing I ever did was to become a clock watcher, when I finish a set I look for the clock and give myself a 60-90 seconds recovery before hitting the next set. I found that the pump was better; I worked harder and grew much faster.
Here are a few simple tips to help kick-start a potentially stale routine, the last one is to make sure that you are fuelled or energized for the session. The best thing to do to guarantee this is use a Pre workout supplement. These are designed to increase focus, performance and energy levels whilst training. The stronger Pre workout formulas are BSN NO-Xplode, PhD V Max Pump and Gaspari Superpump. Try one of these; get your body pumped, shake up the routine and prepare for new lean muscle growth.

Remember Knowledge is Power!

Team Monster

Here is a very interesting article on post workout nutrition by top nutritionist Dave Barr

The Top 10 Post Workout Nutrition Myths
by Dave Barr
The Revolution has come, are you ready?
The world of strength training is obviously full of contradiction and confusion. Just pick up any standard bodybuilding magazine and you’ll see different people with drastically diverse views, all telling you that they have the one method to help you achieve your goals. But through all of this crap, every now and then we find certain principles that we can take to the grave and apply universally.
Examples include: “lift heavy weights and you’ll get big,” “cardio helps with weight loss,” and “Canadian men are hung like moose.”
Another such principle is the post workout nutrient window, which states that during the time immediately post workout, our bodies are in a state of shock and physical disarray, resulting in an opportunity for enhanced nutrient absorption and accelerated recovery. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say that since its inception a decade ago, this scientifically “proven” idea has revolutionized the way we look at nutrition.
Unfortunately, this principle has become so engrained in our subculture that much of it has mutated and become dogmatic in scope. While the general principles remain, many of the studies on which they are based were done on populations that aren’t completely applicable to us, such as animals or endurance athletes.
Despite the emergence of new, more applicable science, we’ve had a very difficult time in adapting our thinking to these current and better-suited ideas.
Making the situation worse is the fact that everyone seems to have their own input about what post workout nutrition should be! This stems from what I like to call the “telephone-chain effect” (derived from the lesson-yielding children’s game), which illustrates how easily messages can change when passed through a chain of people.
How it works is that one person will dictate something to another, who in turn tells this same information to someone else, who then repeats it to another, and so on. By human nature, each person will subtly alter the message, by leaving out some parts, embellishing others, etc. to the extent that by the time you get to the tenth person, the original statement of “Hey sugar, could you mop up the mess in the pantry with the Swiffer?” becomes warped to something like “Shugart is a messed up panty sniffer.”
True as it may be, obviously the point of the latter statement does not even remotely resemble the original.
But since this article is not entitled “The Top Ten Things Wrong With Our Post Workout Information,” let’s get to the myths that have developed, and the current reality.

1. Replenishing Glycogen Needs to be a Focus of PWO.
I’m not just suggesting that glycogen resynthesis is not important following exercise, I’m flat out saying that for strength training it’s not even a concern! This is because it’s just really easy to get our glycogen levels back up, and timing is generally not an issue.
Although one study showed that following endurance exercise, glycogen levels were replenished more rapidly when carbohydrates were consumed shortly after the exercise (Ivy, 1988), this is really of little concern to most of us. Unless we’re subscribers to Runners World, athletes in competition, or doing 2 a day workouts, why do we care so much about rapid glycogen restoration? After all, we’re mostly concerned with muscle growth, fat loss, and getting stronger.
The most common argument is that the subsequent cellular hydration and swelling will have an anticatabolic effect on muscle. I don’t believe that this is possible because cellular hydration to the extent that we get with creatine supplementation has little effect on muscle protein synthesis or breakdown in healthy men or women (Louis et al., 2003).
Then there’s the suggestion that if we don’t replenish post exercise glycogen right away, we’ll miss a window of opportunity to do so. This is largely hyperbole, exploded from bits and pieces of endurance training studies, and a perfect example of the telephone game effect.
Surprisingly, one study showed that consuming carbohydrates after strength training only increased muscle glycogen by 16% more than when water was consumed (Pascoe et al., 1993)! With this information and the huge amount of carbs that we consume on a daily basis, we should have little doubt that glycogen levels will be maximized within 24 hours of the workout.
Now these may be irrelevant points, because in the effort of keeping our focus where it ought to lie—on maximizing protein synthesis— we’re going to quickly stimulate our glycogen restoration anyway. This is because we consume rapidly absorbed carbohydrates along with our protein and amino acids, which has been shown to enhance muscle protein anabolism (Rasmussen et al., 2000).
In other words, muscle glycogen will be restored whether we make it a priority or not. This way, even those who can’t escape the dogma of having to rapidly restore glycogen get their fix, while at the same time, unknowingly assisting with muscle protein recovery.

2. Pre workout Nutrition will divert blood flow away from muscles during the workout.
One of a plethora of excuses made in an attempt to resist preworkout nutrition; this myth actually makes a lot of sense…until you become familiar with the physiology of hormones. Looking deeper, we can find that the insulin stimulated by food intake, actually enhances blood flow and subsequent nutrient delivery to muscles (Coggins et al., 2001).
Applying this principle, liquid pre workout meal consumption dramatically increases muscle blood flow and protein synthesis (Tipton et al., 2001). This elevation in muscle growth is at least twice that observed with the same drink taken post workout (Tipton et al., 2001)! In fact, this effect even lasts for an hour after the workout, so it’s like having 2 drinks for the price of 1! If you want more detail on this topic check out the article on Arginine blood flow stimulators.
Fortunately, early resistance to this research is falling by the wayside, and people are finally starting to reap the benefits that this practice has to offer. While “pre workout nutrition” just doesn’t sound as sexy as “post workout nutrition,” actually doubling our muscle growth should seem pretty damn sexy to everyone!

3. The post workout meal is the most important meal of the day.
I have to admit that with all the hype on post-workout meals over the past few years, I got tangled up in this myth, too. Realistically though, as great as they are, a single post-workout meal will have minimal impact compared to what can happen if your nutrition is completely optimized. Of course it’s heresy to say that these days, but that’s a result of the myth building on itself more than any factual data. For example, as discussed in the myth #2, pre-workout meals can be 200% more effective for stimulating muscle growth compared to post-workout (Tipton et al., 2001).
Perhaps even more important than the pre-workout meal is the old standard: breakfast. No this article isn’t part of a conspiracy by MABB (Mom’s Against Bad Breakfasts) to promote the importance of this meal. Just think about it: being essentially fasted for 8-10 hours is incredibly destructive for muscle -yes even if you eat cottage cheese before bed.
This is especially true in trained individuals like us, because we have higher rates of muscle breakdown (Phillips et al. 2002) The faster we can stop this catabolism once we wake up, the better. In fact, one could even argue that the amount of muscle protein spared from this first meal would be equal to, or even greater, than that gained by a post workout meal.
Also, consuming a high quality slow protein before bed, like Low-Carb Grow! with micellar casein, will largely mitigate the catabolic effect induced by nocturnal fasting. Taking this one step further, nighttime eating will actually put your muscle into anabolic overdrive, by supplying even more amino acids to stimulate this metabolic process.
Finally, a second post workout meal can be even better for protein synthesis than the first, but I’ll get to that one in a bit.
Mini-Summary: Nocturnal feedings, breakfast, preworkout meals, and multiple post workout meals can be more beneficial for muscle growth than a single post workout meal.

4. There’s a one-hour window of opportunity for protein synthesis following a workout.
You may be wondering: is this a myth because the real window is half an hour? Two or 3 hours? Maybe 6 hours? Sadly, in the past 2 weeks I’ve read different articles, all suggesting that the “window” is one of the above lengths of time.
It’s not surprising that with this type of inconsistency that this is probably the most pervasive myth in bodybuilding today! Worse yet, it stems directly from the scientific research itself. The most often cited research on the protein synthetic post workout window, used elderly subjects (Esmark et al., 2001) and cardio exercise findings (Levenhagen et al., 2001) to make their predictions. While this is a completely acceptable practice when these are the only data we have to go on, there are a couple noteworthy problems.
Elderly individuals digest and absorb protein differently than healthy adults. In fact, they digest and absorb whey protein in a similar manner as they do casein (Dangin et al., 2003); in other words they have slow digestion and absorption for whey. Elderly also benefit from having 80% of their daily protein consumed at a single sitting (Arnal et al., 1999), in contrast to the benefits of our multiple feedings.
Additionally, the traditionally referenced Esmark et al. (2001), study showed that consuming the post workout meal just 2 hours after working out actually prevented any improvements induced by the training! Figure that one out and you get a prize.
Secondly, with regards to cardio…well, let’s just say that there’s an obvious difference between how our muscles respond to the two forms of exercise. Bear in mind that with regard to carbohydrate metabolism following a workout, there might not be much of a difference—we just don’t know, but certainly the long-term protein metabolism differences can be seen.
So now what are we supposed to base our nutrition on? Enter the most underrated scientific paper in the last 5 years. Tipton and colleagues (2003) examined responsiveness of protein synthesis for a day after a workout, and found it to reflect a 24 hour enhanced level. That’s right folks, a FULL DAY! This means that having a morning shake will have the same impact on muscle protein synthesis as one consumed following the workout!
These results shouldn’t be too surprising because we’ve known for over a decade that postworkout protein synthesis is jacked up for this long (MacDougall et al., 1995), but if you’re discovering this for the first time, then it’s pretty exciting!
Some research suggests that even 48 hours after the workout our protein synthesis levels can be elevated by ~33% (Phillips et al., 1997), giving us an even longer period during which we can maximize our muscle growth with protein drinks.
Strike one for the one hour post workout window.

5. Consuming the drink immediately following the workout will elicit the greatest protein synthesis.
It’s amazing to see how more advanced, and often experienced, people behave in the gym when it comes to getting their post workout meal. Some guys even sit there, right after their last set, and slug back a drink! In fact I’ve even heard “as soon as the weight hits the floor” touted as the war cry for the hardcore. While this is actually a sub-optimal practice for muscle growth and recovery, not to mention borderline obsessive compulsive, it’s good to see their heart is the right place.
Comparing research that used drinks consumed immediately after a workout (Tipton et al., 2001) versus those ingested an hour after training (Rasmussen et al., 2000), the results are surprising: it seems that post workout meal ingestion actually results in 30% lower protein synthesis rates than when we wait! So every time we thought that we were badass for drinking “as soon as the weight hit the floor, we were actually short changing ourselves. Not a big deal, that’s why we read T-Nation. Let’s just learn, adapt, and move on.
Strike two for the one hour post workout window.

6. The best meal to consume following a post workout meal is a good SOLID meal.
This is where we can start to apply some of the novel information presented above. While we know that our post workout window (is it really even a window any more? 24 hours is more like a giant garage door) lasts for at least 24 hours, we can’t assume that the responses to repeated meals will all be the same.
This is where research by Borsheim and pals (2002) comes in. This landmark research shows that the best thing to consume after our post workout meal is… another protein shake! In fact, if we time it right, we’ll get the same huge increase in protein synthesis. Talk about a double whammy for our muscle growth! Now considering how crazy people get when it comes to a single post workout meal, imagine how they’ll react when you tell them that they can double that effect!
Also, for those who have a hard time accepting the reality explained in myth #5, you’ll get an even bigger response from the second drink, compared to what you get from the first.

7. Insulin sensitivity is enhanced for an hour following a resistance training bout.
The term insulin sensitivity gets thrown around in the strength-training world, as only the most vague of concepts. From here on, lets universally define it as: the inverse of the quantity of insulin required for an effect of a given magnitude. In other words, high insulin sensitivity requires low levels of insulin to do the job. Make sense? Now that we have a working definition, we need to destroy the myth of the one-hour post workout window once and for all!
We know that both endurance exercise and strength training will enhance insulin sensitivity in the long term. This is a good thing. Unfortunately, with all of the hype surrounding the post workout window, people have started throwing out numbers related to how long insulin sensitivity is altered. While we know that heavily damaging eccentric exercise will actually reduce insulin sensitivity (Asp et al., 1996), this should be an extreme condition and not our regular response. So if you’ve overdone it a bit, back off and heal up!
The more common response to strength training is an increase in insulin sensitivity (Fujitani et al., 1998; Miller et al, 1984), and brand new data show even the acute effect from a single bout lasts for over 24 hours (Koopman et al., 2005). So while we’ll have an enhanced whole body insulin sensitivity following resistance training, this effect is even greater for 24 hours following exercise!
Steeerike THREE for the one hour post workout window!

8. Whey is a “fast” protein, ideal for post workout.
Back when it first came out, whey protein was pretty kick ass because it was discovered to be very high quality. Then research came out that made it even more kick ass, because we could classify it as a “fast” digesting protein compared to casein (Boirie et al., 1997).
You know what? This research stands today, because compared to casein, whey protein really is fast! Then again, a tortoise is also fast compared to a snail, but that doesn’t mean we want to take a tortoise to a greyhound park. In other words, we’ve been considering whey a “fast” protein only because we’ve been comparing it to something incredibly slow. When we compare the digestibility of whey to the gold standard of amino acids, on which we base nearly all of our post workout nutritional data, whey flat out sucks.
This is incredibly frustrating because all of the ways to maximize protein synthesis we’ve been discussing have used amino acids. So we need to either use pure amino acids or use something that closely resembles their absorptive properties. This is where whey protein hydrolysate comes in. The protein is already broken up into large peptides, so we get a rapid absorption with peak levels reaching the blood at around 80 minutes (Calbet and MacLean, 2002), compared to 60 minutes for pharmaceutical grade amino acids (Borsheim et al., 2002).
Unfortunately, even the highly touted whey isolate is completely useless for our timing purposes here, because it just takes too long to get taken up by the gut (Dangin et al., 2002). This is all discussed in more detail in the official product review of Surge, complete with graphs of blood amino acid profiles: [link=http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459463]http://www.t-nation.com/r…lt;/a>
In light of these data and the growing body of literature contradicting the versatility and usefulness of whey protein, it should henceforth be classified as “moderate” or “intermediate” speed protein, with only whey hydrolysate and amino acids existing as truly “fast.”
It may be difficult to adjust our thinking, but this is simply more dogma that needs to be destroyed in order to bring us up to date with the proper application of research.

9. Using antioxidants post workout enhances recovery.
Here’s another myth that just makes sense: we work out, cause all kinds of damage to our bodies, then we use antioxidants to help clean up the mess. Simple and sweet. The reality? Neither simple or sweet. In fact, it may not surprise you to find that there is a clear lack of data on antioxidant supplementation following exercise.
Taking a step back to look at the basis for the theory, it’s been shown that damaging eccentric exercise didn’t change the normal levels of our body’s antioxidants (Child et al., 1999). In other words, our body has a natural antioxidant defense capability, and this was not stressed at all despite the exercise and the subsequent muscle damage.
This is contradicted by other data showing that there is an impact of exercise on natural antioxidant levels (Lee et al., 2002; Goldfarb et al., 2005), but clearly the case is not closed. With this conflicting research, you’d have to wonder if antioxidant supplementation would have any effect at all! Oh it does, my oxidized friend, but the effects are not what we’d expect!
Once again, here’s one of the most underrated research papers of the last 5 years—take note folks because this is one of those studies you need to know about. This groundbreaking research by Childs and buddies (2001) examined the impact of post workout antioxidant supplementation on subsequent muscle damage and healing.
You’ll be shocked to know they found that this practice actually increased muscle damage and delayed recovery! That’s right, the microtrauma experienced by the muscle cells was exacerbated by the antioxidants. With this, the greater the damage, the more time it takes to repair.
It seems that there are pro-oxidant effects happening here, meaning that the “antioxidants” actually started causing the damage they were meant to clean up! While this effect is thought to occur with excessive antioxidant use, it’s surprising that these effects were seen at a Vitamin C dosage of ~1100mg and ~900mg N-Acetyl Cysteine per day, for a 200 lb guy, neither of which are all that incredibly high. To my knowledge, this is the only study to investigate antioxidant supplementation after strength training. This makes the findings incredibly powerful because they are directly applicable to us!

On a personal note, I was pretty blown away when I read this paper because I’d been using Vitamin C post workout for years. While these data aren’t strong enough to make me swear off antioxidants altogether, they clearly show that we can overdo it quite easily with these supplements. More importantly, these data help us rethink the post workout window dogma.

10. Aspirin and ibuprofen are good anti-inflammatories for muscle recovery.
The topic of muscle inflammation is pretty hot these days because it’s thought that minimizing this natural response will enhance recovery. By allowing us to hit the gym or get back on the field quicker, we can once again stimulate our bodies with a hard training session.
While the theory holds some water, we need to be careful how far we take it. For example, the use of traditional pain relievers, like aspirin and ibuprofen, has been increasingly common, because most people just don’t like the feeling of muscle soreness (T-Nation readers excepted because we’re hardly “most people”).
A common effect of these pain relievers is that they exert a powerful anti-inflammatory effect. This fact has excited some budding pseudo-scientists, because they reason that using these common drugs will reduce muscle inflammation and enhance recovery. Great theory, poor applicability.
Early research showed that post workout use of these drugs inhibited our natural production of a chemical necessary for muscle growth and repair (Trappe et al., 2001). Further investigation showed that sure enough, muscle protein synthesis was completely shut down when these drugs were combined with strength training (Trappe et al., 2002). As a final kick in the teeth, using these drugs resulted in no effect on either inflammation (Peterson et al., 2003), or muscle soreness (Trappe et al., 2002).
Essentially we get the worst of all worlds when combining nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) like aspirin and ibuprofen, with strength straining. Having said that, it is important to note that there are several different ways of affecting inflammation, some may be good, others are clearly bad. Keep in the back of your mind that limiting inflammation is a good idea, but certainly be aware that it is not universally beneficial.

Ten Take Home Points

—glycogen restoration is all too easy to achieve and may not be as critical as once thought
—protein synthesis needs to be the focus of our recovery intervention
—pre-workout meals actually enhance muscle blood flow and nutrient delivery during exercise
—pre-workout meals, nocturnal feeding, and multiple post workout drinks are more beneficial than a single post workout drink
—the “post workout window” lasts at least 24 hours
—consuming a protein shake immediately after training hinders optimal results
—strength training acutely enhances insulin sensitivity for at least 24 hours
—whey protein is generally only moderate speed, while whey hydrolysate and pure amino acids are “fast”
—antioxidants taken after exercise may increase muscle damage and delay recovery
—aspirin and ibuprofen can prevent the exercise-induced elevation in muscle protein synthesis thus hindering growth and prolonging recovery

Five Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ: If we don’t care about glycogen, then why would we use high glycemic carbs post workout?
A: Don’t forget that the main goal is to maximize protein synthesis, which is likely accomplished using quickly absorbed carbohydrates and greatly elevating insulin.
FAQ: In the study with the pre workout drink, what did they consume and when did they drink it?
A: Pure amino acids and sucrose were consumed immediately before training started.
FAQ: Doesn’t consuming carbs before a workout cause a blood sugar crash during the workout?
A: Usually no, our catecholamine response seems to keep out blood sugar elevated without problems. But if you’re just starting to try this, consume carbs during the workout or have them ready just in case.
FAQ: If there is a 24-hour post workout window, why do we care about consuming multiple drinks?
A: The multiple drink method is still the best way to maximize our anabolic response following training. We take advantage of this “window” by spiking our blood amino acid level as often as we can.
FAQ: If there is a 24-hour post workout window, why do we care about fast or intermediate speed proteins?
A: The multiple drink method can only be used when fast proteins or amino acids are consumed. It just doesn’t work with intermediate speed proteins.

CONCLUSIONS
It’s safe to say that we’ve been brought up to date with the current research regarding strength training and nutrition. Perhaps more importantly it’s clear that the post workout dogma has been destroyed. Unfortunately, with all of this destruction going on, there is a knowledge gap that needs to be filled, which will allow us to apply these new findings.
In other words, we need to figure out what all of this science stuff means, and how we can best use it to our advantage. In an upcoming article, I’ll introduce the Anabolic Index: a detailed blueprint for making use of this latest information, allowing us to maximize our anabolic potential.
Until then, Raise the Barr!
Thanks to: Nathan Devey, Nathan Dewsbury, Tan Huaiyu, Jonathan Boyle, my Phrenologist Dr. Ryan Smith, and everyone who helped review this document.

-AC-

This routine is a great routine for a more advanced trainer looking to bulk up during the coming winter months. it basically is a 3 day split done over 5 days per week. its slightly complicated so i’ll do my best to explain it now:

workout 1 – chest and triceps
workout 2 – back and shoulders
workout 3 – legs and biceps

The training week will look like this:

monday – W1
tuesday – W2
wednesday off
thursday – W3
Friday – W1
saturday – W2
sunday off
monday – W3
tuesday – W1
……………………….. and so on following that pattern

Wednesday and sunday are rest days. this allows for bodyparts to be trained twice per week. every 3 weeks one of the workouts will only be trained once. as you can see on week 2 W3 will be trained twice but W2 will be only trained once. this allows for maximum muscle stimulation twice per week (every 4 days). this will allow for maximum recovery but muscle stimulus more regularly. if you train a muscle group on a monday, by thursday it will normally be fine to train again, but you dont, you leave it fully recovered and doing nothing for another 4 days. whats the point. that muscle could be growing in those 4 days but its not as its had no stimulus. This plan is the perfect combat to that.

so the workouts must tie in the bodyparts. normally if training a bodypart once per week i would do maybe 5 exercises of 3 sets per bodypart. due to training each part every 4 days this is not necessary. the workout will be as follows:

W1: chest and triceps
flat bench press – 5 x 5
incline dumbell press 3 x 8
cable flyes – 3 x 8
weighted dips – 5 x 5
cable pushdowns – 3 x 8

W2: Back and shoulders
Barbell row – 5 x 5
Chins – 4 x 8
heavy shrugs – 3 x 8
standing barbell press – 5 x 5
heavy lateral raise – 3 x 8

W3: legs and biceps
squats – 5 x 5
smith machine lunges – 3 x 8
leg extensions – 3 x 8
standing barbell curls – 5 x 5
seated hammer curls – 3 x 8

calfs, abs and forearms (if you wish) can be added onto the end of the workout of your choice. i Aim to do calfs twice per week so generally do them on a monday and thursday regardless of what workout falls on that day.

Weights will not be increased each set but rather a weight will be chosen (for example 100kg on bench press), then when 5 sets of 5 reps can be achieved you will increase the weight. then if you fail at say 3 reps on the final set you will stick at that weight until the full 5 x 5 is accomplished. no spotting should be required on any set excpet the last one as you want to be making sure you are doing the reps yourself.

I recommend changing the exercises every 6 weeks but keep the principles the same and keep them heavy compound. for example you could replace squats with hack squats and do deadlifts on back day. You may swap flat bench to incline barbell bench on chest etc.

This routine is fantastic for building overall strength and when combined with a high calorie diet will really help you add some solid pounds over the winter months.

-AC-
monstersupplements adviser

This is an article written by an extremely knowledgable member of fitforum.co.uk called CTP. It is an extremely indepth article on how you can build a diet plan to suit your needs from the ground up. building a nutritional plan to best suit your gains is the most important factor in achieving your physical goals so read carefully and take in the information.

Ok, so everyone talks about their nutritional plan and most the time you get to see the output. It’ll be included in people’s blogs, or fat loss logs as a long list of random ingredients with times allocated to the meals, then somewhere at the bottom they’ll be a summary of what the calorific value and protein content is. What you don’t get to see if how people get to that final stage, nor why they made the decisions along the way.

This blog looks at my current nutrition (and hopefully) goes all the way from flash to bang, or zero to hero so that you can then take the concepts and apply them to your training regime.

First thing is first if you want to be successful then you have to be pro-active. There is the time old saying with the 7 P’s – “Proper Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance”. I cannot think of a sport where this is more applicable than in body building. More often than not a poor nutritional plan is why your not seeing the gains you deserve.

So back to basics quickly – Lets just clear up a few points about why we do certain things. If we understand the intent of those actions we should best be able to incorporate those principles into our diet.

Macronutrients and Calories – What are these things?

Proteins – essential to growth and repair of muscle and other body tissues

Fats – one source of energy and important in relation to fat soluble vitamins

Carbohydrates – our main source of energy

Minerals – those inorganic elements occurring in the body and which are critical to its normal functions

Vitamins – water and fat soluble vitamins play important roles in many chemical processes in the body

Water – essential to normal body function – as a vehicle for carrying other nutrients and because 60% of the human body is water

For fuel, the easiest source is Carbs, then Protein, and lastly fat

How many calories do I need?

The amount of calories you need to eat every day depends on 2 things; the first is your lean weight, the second is how active you are. It goes without saying that the bigger you are the more you need to eat to stay the same size, likewise, if you play sports 3 times a week you will burn more calories than someone who doesn’t – so you’ll need to eat more.

First thing is first then, you need to either measure (or best guess) your % body fat. You can do this using callipers, or most gyms will have contact scales you can stand on and then they will tell you.

Im about 24% body fat (that makes me pretty cuddily), and I weigh 215lbs. So this means that actually my weight is split as follows; My lean mass (without any fat) is 163.4lbs, and I am carrying 51.6lbs fat. To check my maths is right (51.6 + 163.4 = 215).

Don’t be off put by this value because for most people, their aims tend to be to get down to 10% or so fat, so there isn’t as much to shift as you would initially think.

Using my lean mass, i can then work out how many calories a day I need. This is know more commonly as your BMR or Basic Metabolic Weight. It is what you would need to eat to maintain your weight if you did nothing but sleep for a day.

The simplest way is to calculate your BMR is by multiplying your lean mass by 10. Therefore mine would ne 163 x 10 = 1630kcals per day.

Don’t look so devasted, thankfully every day you walk about, brush your teeth, talk, burp, fart …. all of these processes require energy. This is where we tailor the calculation to your needs. In order to increase the value we are going to multiply it by an ‘activity factor’. This simply increases the value.

My activity factor is 1.5. Therefore ill times my BMR by this value. 1630 x 1.5 = 2445kcal / day. So this is the value that I am going to use to do everything else.

So this is where the story splits. Your body can do 1 of 3 things. It can grow, stay the same, or get smaller.

1) For your body to grow you need to be in a calorie surplus – this is when you eat more calories than you need to a day. These extra calories are used to build muscle, or, if your not using them, they are stored as fat.

2) For your body to stay the same size, you need to break even on your calorie intake – This quite literally involves eating just enough calories, not too many, not too few. For me, with the amount of exercise I do this would be 2445kcals a day

3) For your body to get smaller, you need to be in calorie deficit. This is where you eat less energy than you need. In order to then support what you are doing, your body is forced to convert either stored fat, or muscle into energy.

As I am leaning (getting smaller – loosing fat without losing muscle) this is what I am going to focus on in my example.

So, I have to eat less than 2445kcals/day to lose weight…. but how much less? Well, 1lb fat is equal to a loss of 3500kcals. So For every 3500kcals I am deficit, I will lose a pound of fat. In order to be sensible, I am aiming to lose between 1 and 2 lbs of fat a week. This will require me to be between 3500-7000kcals short every week. 3500 / 7 days in a week means I should always be aiming to be short by 500kcals per day. With this in mind, my calorie requirements drop from 2445 to 1945kcals.

So how much of each should I have?

1945 kcals per day – how is that best spent in order for me to make sure I lose as much fat as possible and hold onto as much muscle as possible?

Different people say different things, they’ll tell you to eat your food in ratios i.e 30/20/50 Protein/ Fat / Carbs, or to eat so many grams of Protein / Fat / Carbs per kg of body weight. Ultimately they all give similar values. For the sake of leaning, I tend to aim for 250g Protein, 100g(or less) of Carbs, and 100g Fat.

As above, Carbohydrates are your primary source of fuel, so you have to decrease your intake of these. Most people tend to consume around 200g a day. In order to combat this, I have a high protein intake – this provides the building blocks required to prevent any muscle loss. This the only leaves one fuel source for your body to look to for energy – STORED FAT!

Its important to remember that calories are calories, it doesn’t matter what form they come in, if you eat too many you’ll get bigger, if you eat to few you’ll get smaller. If you only need 2000kcals per day, and you religiously eat 2500kcals of pure protein, the surplus energy will still be converted to fat and stored.

How should I be eating it?

Well, my limits are

Calories: 1945kcals
Protein: 250g
Carbs: 100g
Fat: 100g

Traditionally you would have ‘Three square meals a day’. This conforms with working life where your constrained by your job. This doesn’t mean it is the best way to approach eating though – it is just the easyist.

When you eat food, your body needs to process it – everything from chewing it, to it moving though your stomach, and then the intestines, and then out the hole at the end. It can only process so much food in one go. If there is too much food being processed at any one time instead of getting rid of it your body begins to save it for one of those rainy day occasions – it does this through storing it as fat.

Therefore, to prevent your body having the opportunity to do this, the idea is to eat little and often. Little and often means your body will never have any surplus food, adn will therefore never have the opportunity to store it as fat. Also, constantly feeding will keep your metabolism ticking over at a higher rate. This will burn more energy over all.

Little and often – for most people this means 5-6 meals a day. If you can achivieve more than this then that is fantastic. Hugh Jackman in preparations for the Wolverine film was eating 9 meals a day – this involved waking at 4am to drink raw egg whites!

My day lends itself to eating at:

0700, 1100, 1300, 1600, 1800, 2100

So I’m quite lucky. If I am going to eat 6 meals as above, I know that each meal should contain 1/6th of the Calories and 1/6th of the nutritional break down calculated earlier. Therefore

Calories: 1945kcals which means each meal should have 325 kcals
Protein: 250g which means each meal should have 40g
Carbs: 100g which means each meal should have 17g
Fat: 100g which means each meal should have 17g

This isn’t a hard and fast rule – it is just a guide so don’t go getting too worried if you cant quite get teh values you want. If your up on carbs one day, then aim to be a little lower than normal on another. It’s not an art, it is just about doing whats best with the resources you have.

The best bit …. Picking your foods.

MMMMNNN, picking what your going to eat. This is most definitely the best bit. Aiming for 5-6 meals a day puts you in such a better position than any ‘Normal’ person. It means you get to eat twice as often  It means you get to experience twice the amount of flavour  It means you only have to wait half as long to have your favourite meal, It means you should never be hungry … like I said it doesn’t get better than that.

When I am drawing up a food diary I tend to do it a week or so in advance. I’ll sit down for an hour or so and experiment with different foods until I come up with a menu I’m happy with. Over the months of the competition I developed a range of key meals that I tend to have frequently – this means I have to spend less time planning.

By planning your meals before you eat them you can ensure your body is getting the nutrients it needs when it needs them. You can make sure it never has too many or too few. It lets you be in control!

So what do I mean by a meal plan. The concept is simple, it is just a record of what you are going to eat, how much of it you are going to eat, and when you are going to eat it. Below you can see the ‘tidy’ template from last weeks training diary. When I first started though I used to do it on scraps of paper. The key thing to note is I’m writing down everything that goes in my mouth – sugar when I have a hot drink, milk when I have a tea, ketchup, supplements, it all gets written down and the values get recorded. The things that help me do this are:

i) Nutritional Book (£3) – Just like a dictionary
ii) Scales (£10) – I removes the liberty of my guessing

“I promise you now that if you asked me to gauge a 100g portion of rice after I had been for a 10 mile run and was ravenously hungry, and if you asked me to do it after eating my cheat meal the portion sizes would be very different. That is why I remove the variable of perception.”
For beginners if your new to writing a nutritional plan then don’t try to make all the changes in one go – if you do, it probably won’t last, and you won’t feel it is sustainable.

Start by aiming to eat the right amount of calories (don’t worry about where they are coming from), just worry about eating the right amount. Once you have got that sorted, aim to try and meet the protein requirements every day whilst staying in your calorific boundaries. Finally, look at reducing your Carb intake to your values, and finally adjust your fat levels.

If you aim to adjust 1 variable a week, it should take you a month to get there. In this month you’ll be constantly learning about foods, as well as finding out what does and doesn’t work for you. Every one is different so be patient.

How do I pick my meals?

Well, I always start with my core meals – this varies from person to person, but I hate preparing food, especially at night after the gym – so I always aim to eat a meal that’s quick to prepare in the evening. As a result my evening meals tend to be stir frys, or egg based – such as omelettes. My day time meals tend to take longer to prepare – ill make them up every few days and freeze them down, then I just take them out the freezer the night before and microwave them at work.

Below you can see a copy of todays meal plan:

You can see that I’m a little over on calories, and that I’m eating more of my calories towards the end of the day which isn’t ideal as I wont have chance to burn them all off.

You notice that the meals are roughly balanced, and that my final meal of the day has no carbs in.

The most important thing I will do is this – looking back at what I have eaten. I don’t quite get enough fats today, and my calories are a little over so I know tomorrow I need to adjust this. What I could do is have the olive oil I normally have with my evening shake with my tuna at brunch – this means Ill be getting more calories towards the start of the day. Alternatively I could look at maybe having some butter on my chicken and reducing my calorie intake from another meal.

You’ll see very quickly that there isn’t a science to this; you just need to be patient.

The Cheat Meal;

For most people this is their saviour. I suggest that if your viewing this as your saviour then you adjust your plan to make it enjoyable. The cheat meal should be that extra reqard for having done so well. How often should I have my cheat meal? Well that depends on your training regime, I would aim for once a week – thats not so far away it seems unachievable, but at the same time, its not every other day so the novelty wont wear off.

How badly can I cheat? That again is down to you, you’ve worked so hard in the last week you should be conservative and tactful in my opinion. The best cheat days are those where you eat what you want, and don’t differ to much from your desired nutritional values.

I have my cheat days on a Wednesday, I do this because my longest run is on the Wednesday morning, and then I have my shortest gym session Wednesday evening. This means I can order the takeaway as I leave the gym, it’s at home for me when I get there and I can eat whilst my metabolism is still racing from the gym.

My cheat meal is always the last meal of the day – this prevents me re-offending again. I also reduce the size of my meals during that day so that I can carry over soem of the calories to compensate in the evening. All these things add up and in the end, your cheat day isn’t as much of a cheat as you might think.

For the record my cheat meal is a can of coke (or something else that’s sweet and fizzy) a large mixed kebab drowned in garlic mayo and ketchup, and then if there is room a mars bar ice cream! I still sit down to eat the meal, drink atleast 1 pint of water with the meal, and do nothing else whilst eating.

So that is how I do it, with time, you’ll develop your own tricks and routines that work for you. Leaning is like running a marathon – in the long run, whether you sprint the last 100m or jog it then it isn’t particularly going to make a big difference. The moral being, if you fall off the band wagon, get back on it as soon as possible. Don’t wait until Monday, and don’t do that whole “Ill have one more meal” and start tomorrow. The quicker you start the quicker it’ll be time for that cheat meal.

So a closing point – How to gauge your progress and how to keep losing:

If you look in the mirror every day to see your progress you won’t notice anything. If you take pictures fortnightly you’ll begin to notice subtle changes – the moral is change takes time its not an over night cure. My suggesting when gauging your progress is to consider something more specific, waist size, body fat. If you are going to use your weight to chart your success then make sure you do it in the same conditions every week, and make sure you only do it once a week. Your weight will fluctuate depending on the last time you went to the toilet, and the last time you ate. I weigh in once a week on a Monday morning. Ill do it after my shower once I have had a poo, and I don’t drink until after I have weighed in. This way my body is in the same state every week.

TJ, the winner of the monster comp provides a fantastic example of why it is so critical that you remain consistent. Just a few weeks later he won the competition.

ENTRY 1:

http://fitforum.co.uk/entry.php?558-Week-8-Back-Workout

ENTRY 2:

http://fitforum.co.uk/entry.php?562-Quick-Update

Finally:

As you lean you’ll be getting smaller, I would suggest that you recalculate your body’s calorific and nutritional needs every month because as you get lighter, you need less energy to support you. The difference of 5 lbs is the same as 75kcal per day.

I hope this helps, I have tried to get as much information down as I can, and for beginners I hope this clears up a few points and provides a little guidance.

to see the original article log onto www.fitforum.co.uk and check out the blog section

As its coming up to summer most people will be looking to attain that beach body and display a rippling 6 pack. However the majority of people will not have yet achieved that look. Having thick defined abs can literally transform the way a physique looks and is the desirable look for most men.

However, although a good 6 pack is what most people desire, most people fail to train their abdominal muscles on a regular basis and to the necessary degree. in my experience doing 3 sets of crunches once a week when it gets to summer is not enough to really get a solid 6 pack. you have to dedicate some time at least once per week all year round to build these stubborn muscles. Just like you would any other body part.

To me good abs are when you have thick abs, with really deep divides and pronounced obliques. in order to get this i believe that heavy weights must be used. i have used a routine over the past year that has worked very well in helping me to develop my abs. it takes no more than 30 minutes and can be done only once a week to see great results.

so here it is:

1st exercise: crunch circuit
i warm up my abs by doing a superset of crunches and static leg raises. i lie on my back with my knees bent and feet planted. watching the clock i do crunches for 30 seconds (aim for 1 crunch every second). Then at 30 seconds i hold my legs out straight with my feet 2-3 inches off the floor. cross your arms across your chest to keep tension on your abs. i hold this for 30 seconds then bring my legs back in to crunch again. i repeat this 3 times so taking a total of 3 minutes. that is one set. i will usually do 2.

2nd exercise: cable sit ups
this is best if you have a training partner. you will need to set a bench around 3 foot away from a low cable machine (the bottom cable on a cable crossover machine will work as well). attatch a rope attatchment to the cable. lay on the bench so that your head is at the end with the cable and rope and your feet are away from it. tuck your feet up onto the bench and get your training partner to hold them down. take the rope and hold it either side of your head. stretch right back whilst keeping your abs tensed and then performa full range sit up. there should be tension on the cable the full time. it is very hard and the lowest weight on the stack will most likely suffice for most people. if you dont have a training partner you can do the same thing but simply sit on the floor rather than a bench and tuck your feet under 2 heavy dumbells. you should do 3 sets of 8-12 reps

3rd exercise: reverse cable crunch:
this time we will use the top cable. attatch the rop attatchment to the high cable. hold the rope either side of your head and kneel down around 3 feet away from the machine. allow your abs to stretch up with the cable then crunch down bringing your head towards your knees. crunch hard at the bottom. do 3 sets of 8-12 reps

4th exercise: side reverse cable crunches
these are performed in the same way as the third exercise but you will face sideways on to the machine and you will crunch sideways. bring your elbow down to the same side and squeeze your obliques. swap sides and perform one after another with no rest period. perform 3 sets of 15 reps. this will work the obliques.

5th exercise: Leg raises
lie flat on a bench with your legs hanging off the end of the bench. slowly lower your feet (with legs straight) to around 1 foot off the floor. pause at the bottom and raise your legs to straight up. pause at the top and repeat. perform 3 sets of 15 slow and controlled reps. these will work the lower abdominals.

so that is it. this will hit every part of your abs and i guarantee if you do this routine once per week you will have a fantastic 6 pack by this time next year.

-AC-