A Calorie by Any Other Name…
By Joshua Carter

Many years ago I had a discussion with a personal trainer colleague of mine.  I was young and hungry, and he was definitely more established than I at the time.  He had some really nice training programs that yielded some decent results. The thing was he didn’t know squat when it came to nutrition.  His basic philosophy was “calories in , calories out.”  That is the basic methodology of many trainers and nutrition
centers. It can work, to a point, but back to my story.  He was saying that basically his clients can eat whatever they want, so long as the they burned more calories than they took in.  He did not care what the
macronutrient ratios were, just the caloric total.  Ok, so I gave him a challenge.  Pick any 2 clients, put them on a 2000 calorie diet. One client can only eat Frosted Flakes.  The other client could only eat lean chicken and broccoli.  Put them on the same training program and see who loses the most fat after 4 weeks. Not surprisingly he did not take the challenge.  He insisted that it was all math, and that so long as the calories coming in were less than the calories being expended, the client would lose fat.   I knew I would never change his mind, so I left it at that.

Now let me explain why I am right. Total caloric intake is only PART of the whole picture.  Everyone is different. And everyone will have a different hormonal response to a given food.  Let me give you an example.  Let’s say Bob is a naturally lean guy.  He can eat most whatever he wants and he stays all lean and muscley. Then there is Patrick.  He is not naturally lean, has to watch what he eats and exercise regularly to keep his body fat at a reasonable level.  If both men were to eat 150 g of pure sugar their bodies would both have very different responses.  Because Bob is naturally lean, his body would secrete the perfect amount of insulin to put the carbs from the sugar where they need to go, or use them as energy. The likelihood that it will be stored as fat is very low for him. Now Patrick is another story.  He ate the same thing, but his body
would respond by sending out too much insulin which could result in blood sugar swings and have a high likelihood of being stored as fat.

So what it basically comes down to is that calories are not the whole picture, simply a part of it.  Because calories do in fact count. You cannot simply count calories and hope to create the body of your dreams. There is more to it.  It also does not mean that you have to have an ultra complicated nutritional plan where everything is counted, measured, ratioed and tallied this way and that.  It just means you need to make healthy, balanced choices.  We are all different, what works for one might not work for another.  Choose foods that are both calorically low, nutritionally dense and will have minimal impact on blood sugar levels.

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Are you Bulking or Cutting?
By Zach Bashore

Very few people possess the knowledge needed to successfully gain muscle or lose fat. A person may know how to lose fat but most of you don’t know how to keep all of your hard earned muscle in the process. On the flip side, you may know how to gain muscle, but you need to learn how to gain this muscle without the fear of fat gain. I am going to discuss the basics of bulking and cutting and hopefully give you the knowledge needed to complete your next bulking or cutting diet.

Bulking is simply eating more calories than what you are used to eating, but it`s not as simple as it seems. Your calories need to be from healthy bodybuilding foods and not from junk foods like pizza, chips, and cookies. The other hard part of bulking is determining your BMR or basal metabolic Rate.(Your BMR is basically the number of calories you’d burn if you stayed in bed all day.) To start, you should eat 500 calories over maintenance everyday. If you your gaining to much fat after a week reduce that number to 300. If you seem to not be getting any bigger then you should increase that number to 700 calories.

While cutting, your prime concern should be keeping muscle loss to a minimum. That is why you don`t want to crash diet and try losing weight to fast or you’re most likely going to lose most of your hard earned muscle. To start, you should lower your calories from your BMR to roughly 300 fewer calories a day. You can change that number according to the results but 300 is a good number to start out at. You can either eat less food or do more cardiovascular exercise to burn these calories. How you do it will depend on the individual.

Some bodybuilders like to bulk up to the size of elephants before they decide that they`ve gained to much fat, and then they go on a cutting diet. Others seem to always be sporting a low bodyfat percentage year round and slowly gain muscle as time goes on. Again, how you go about it will depend on personal preference. I always try to stay relatively lean even during the off season because I cannot stand the thought of gaining fat.

So can I gain muscle while losing bodyfat as well? Some bodybuilders genetics allow for this while most of us sit in awe wondering how they did it. The use of steroids allow for fat loss and muscle gain at the same time but they are illegal and have unhealthy side effects.

You need to decide what you want to do with your body right now. Do you carry around to much fat, are you to skinny, to small in the upper body? All of these factors determine what you decide to do with yourself. You are the only one responsible for the results you receive.

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Six Diet Tips

1)  Water. Did you know that water is essential for weight loss? Water helps to flush your body clean of toxins & fat. Drinking ample water each day allows your bodily functions to work optimally. One of the biggest benefits of drinking water while losing weight is that it makes you feel full. If you always have a full water bottle with you & drink it throughout the day, it will take away your “extra” hunger & help you from snitching unwanted calories. Aim for at least 64 ounces of pure water a day.

2) Fiber. Fiber is a wondrous fat loss aid. Eating foods high in fiber throughout the day will really make you feel full & help to keep your appetite in check. Try to incorporate about 5 grams of fiber each meal (about 25 total for the day). If you are currently not up to par with your fiber intake (& chances are you are not) gradually increase to 25 grams a day to prevent bloating. High fiber foods: vegetables, nuts/seeds, beans, whole grains (like oatmeal, granola, non-sugary cereals) & many fruits.

3)  Eat 5 meals a day. Some may think that sounds like an awful lot of food but eating 5 small meals during the day will really help you lose fat. It may take some getting used to but your body will adjust & you will start to lose unwanted pounds. If you eat 5 small, balanced meals a day you will not be hungry, you will have higher energy levels through out the whole day & food cravings should virtually disappear.

4) Be prepared. It is so much easier to eat healthy when you plan ahead. Bring some healthy meals to work, make leftovers at dinner for lunch the next day, keep good food in the fridge at work or even in your drawers (nutrition bars, shakes & a shaker bottle, nuts & seeds, fruit or other favorite healthy snacks).

5) Free day. Yippee! A day of eating anything you want, anything you desire is allowed! Not only is it allowed, it is also encouraged. By completely denying yourself of all sweets & snacks, you may be setting yourself up for a disastrous fallout. Allow yourself one day a week where you can have a piece of your favorite dessert or a Pina Colada or whatever your favorite treat may be. Allowing yourself a little breathing room for just 1 day a week can really help you maintain the correct mindset to stay focused & committed to your weightloss efforts.

6)  Try a diet supplement. While there’s no substitute for a healthy diet & consistent exercise program, many people find taking a fat burning supplement helps the process along.

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So your calves haven’t been responding to your training as well as you were expecting. There are many reasons for poor calf development. Are you familiar with these reasons?
You’re bending your knees during straight-leg exercises, like donkey calf raises or calf raises on leg press machine. When you bend your knees you’re transferring your work load to the quads and glutes.
You’re not stretching enough because you’re using short and bouncy movements.

You’re not using enough weight.
You’re not using different exercises for calves.
You give up too soon. Let your calves burn and enjoy it!

How can you make your calves to grow?

Reduce your lifting speed. What’s the hurry? Try taking 10 seconds to complete your rep and I think you’ll notice the difference!

Pause in the bottom position. If you’re doing higher reps, the shorter the pause should be. Let’s say you’re doing six to eight reps, you may pause approx. four seconds at the bottom. And then you’re doing 30 - 50
reps, you may pause approx. one second at the bottom.

Your calves respond differently to different exercises. If you’re doing seated calf raises you’re using slow-twitch muscle fibers. That means you should do higher reps. And when you’re doing donkey calf raises
you’re using fast-twitch muscle fibers. That means you should do lower reps.

Take off your training shoes! If you train with your bare feet you’ll get a greater range of motion.

Try using single-leg calf raises.
Use enough weight to ensure good stretch. The standing calf machine is great for ensuring that your calves stretch.
Use different exercises to train all the muscles in your lower legs.

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This seems to be the question on everyone’s mind, and for good reason, fat is so easy to acquire and so hard to get rid of.  Most bodies love to store fat, it’s good security for when you run out of food. This is unlikely, but your body doesn’t know that. Unfortunately, the body loves storing fat so much that it will burn anything else available (muscle tissue, stored carbohydrate, etc.) before digging into the fat reserves. Unless you trick it.

The first thing your body will burn is stored carbohydrates in the form of glycogen.  The next is muscle tissue, only then does it grudgingly dip into the fat stores.  This is why most diets don’t work, especially “starvation” diets.  When you suddenly cut off the food supply, a survival mechanism kicks in causing the body to store every little bit of fat that it can!  This results in weight loss, but not much fat loss, and as soon as you DO eat something, it immediately gets stored as fat to replace any that was used.  This is NOT what you want, so you have to fool the body into thinking it doesn’t need fat. Here is a list of effective ways to do this, and you won’t even have to starve yourself! It’s never easy though.

Change your eating habits

Don’t diet! Make a permanent change in how you eat 1)  Limit, but don’t cut out high fat foods:  Dietary fat can be stored if taken in excess, however, some fat intake must be maintained to prevent the body from storing every bit of fat it does get. (see #6 below).

2)  Limit high sugar and high glycemic index foods (including fruit):  Simple sugars (and many “complex”carbohydrates) get easily converted into fat, and can also be the cause of high cholesterol. Glucose, fructose, and sucrose are all simple sugars and maltodextrin (common in many “weight gainer supplements) has a very high glycemic index putting it in the same category as simple sugars.  I’m not saying not to eat fruit, as they contain many beneficial vitamins, just don’t overdo it. Keep it to 2 or 3 pieces a day.

3) Eat more frequently:  Yes, you read that right!  Eat 5 or 6 smaller meals a day (or 3 main meals and 2 -3 healthy snacks, protein shakes work well). There are several reasons for this, they are:

With smaller servings, your stomach will shrink and you will get full faster.

Digesting burns a surprising amount of calories, eat more often and burn more calories!

When you eat a large meal, the body takes what it needs, and saves the excess as, guess what?  FAT.  Smaller meals prevent this even if you eat the same amount overall.

4)  Never eat before bed:  Plan your last meal to be at least 2 hours before bed.

5)  Eat slowly:  It takes your stomach about 20 minutes to signal the brain after it is full.  If you eat too fast you will  think you are still hungry and eat more.  If you’re still a bit hungry after eating, do something to take your mind off food for at least 20 minutes and you’ll most likely forget about the eating.

6)  Don’t totally cut out fat:  Keep some fat in your “nondiet”, as it helps get your body into a “fat burning mode”.  Keep it  “low to moderate fat” not “no fat”.   try to stick to the  “good” fats such as those from fish, flax oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, olive oil, peanut oil.

7)  This won’t be easy so give yourself a break sometimes. Allow yourself one “treat” a week, or even a day where you can eat whatever you want, and really enjoy it!

8)  Eat foods that take lots of energy to burn:  These include most vegetables (especially the fibrous ones) and protein sources such as meat.   Cut the visible fat off of red meat and remove the skin from chicken.
Water-packed tuna is very good (if you like it).

9)  Take it easy on complex carbohydrates as any excess gets easily converted to fat.  This includes rice, pasta, potatoes, and any “starchy foods”.  Eat these regularly, but not too much at one time.  If you want to lose fat faster, cut down on these foods and replace with protein and fat.

10)  The breakdown should be about: 40% protein, 30% complex carbohydrate, and 30% fat.  This can be varied but keep the protein high and control your bodyfat by manipulating the carbohydrate content.  Most of the fat in your diet will come from the protein sources (meat and dairy).

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The Best Kind Of Exercise
by Arthur Jones

For the purpose of producing maximum strength, a muscle must be worked against resistance throughout its full range of possible movement. Resistance must be available in the position of full contraction - and resistance is also required in the position of full extension.

Barbells and most other types of exercise devices are based upon negative resistance - when lifting a barbell you are performing positive work against negative resistance, you are pulling “up” and the barbell is providing resistance against your movement by pulling “down.” But a barbell also provides negative work. At the top of a movement, after the weight has been raised as high as possible, the barbell must be lowered back to the starting position - and you are performing negative work while lowering the barbell.

For the purpose of building strength, such LOWERING of weight is far more important than lifting weight.
Careful research clearly proves that eccentric contractions (negative exercises) are of far greater value for the purpose of building strength - when large groups of previously untrained individuals were trained with  negative only exercises the results were far better than those produced by a similar group trained with positive only exercises.
The cause and effect factors involved in exercise are actually quite simple strength increases are produced in proportion to the “intensity” of an exercise. “Intensity” is best defined as “percentage of momentary ability.”

If you are capable of bench pressing 300 pounds, and you press only 100 pounds - then the intensity is low.  But if you are capable of 300 pounds, and you use 300 pounds then the intensity is high. No amount of low intensity training will produce much in the way of increases in strength. But if the intensity is high, then a very small amount of training will quickly produce maximum strength.

A muscle is stimulated to grow only when it is exposed to an amount of resistance that is very close to its maximum level of momentary ability. If the weight is properly selected, then the intensity will be far higher in such exercises. During the first two or three repetitions, it should be possible for the trainee to easily reverse the movement and move the weight in a “positive” (upwards) direction - but no attempt to do so should be made.

Then, during the next two or three repetitions, it should be possible to stop the movement -but no attempt to do so should be made.
Only after several repetitions have been performed with no attempt to stop or reverse the movement - only after it becomes momentarily impossible to stop or reverse the movement - only then should the trainee even attempt to stop the movement.
In effect, if you can reverse the movement, don’t try - and if you can even stop the movement, don’t try.But after it becomes impossible to reverse or stop the movement - then try as hard as you can.

Such a style of training will result in an intensity that is utterly impossible to duplicate while training with positive movements.

For the last several months, we have had all of our trainees on a program of exercises strictly limited to NEGATIVE ONLY resistance - and the results have been by far the best that we have ever produced.

The simple logic, the physical laws, the theory, the research results, and the practical experience all indicate exactly the same thing . . . THE BEST TYPE OF EXERCISE is NEGATIVE ONLY.

Some people - probably quite a few people will make the same old mistake of assuming that MORE is BETTER. Which certainly is NOT true. Brief workouts are a requirement - so if you make the mistake of training more - then you will gain less. And if you train too much, then you won’t gain at all. And do not make the gross mistake of ADDING such negative only training to your regular workouts - instead, use this training in place of your regular workout. To the maximum degree possible, totally ELIMINATE positive work from your training.

Positive exercises should be used only about once each third week - and then only for the purpose of judging your progress and maintaining your form.
I would suggest that you follow a program of eight negative only workouts and then one positive- negative (normal) workout.
During the first week, train three times - negative only. During the second week, also train three times - negative only. But during the third week, use two negative only workouts - and then one regular workout.

Then back to another three week cycle of eight negative only workouts followed by one regular workout.

Some people will adopt a “wait and see” attitude in regard to this information -but by so doing they will be denying themselves the great value of already established, clearly proven, undeniable FACT.

The wise reader should clearly understand that I don’t care how you train -it makes no slightest difference to me whether you train right or wrong. So I pass this information along only in a sincere attempt to make the simple truth as widely known as possible - in the end, the truth will be known, regardless of what I say and regardless of what others may say or believe. But if you are wise enough to conduct a few simple tests for yourself - then you can take advantage of the truth now, while some other people are still wondering what to do. Suit yourself.

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Gaining Mass
By Adam B.

Here are some basic requirements for adding muscle naturally:

Eat enough quality protein! This is absolutely essential. I made the mistake at first of just eating a lot. Unfortunately, I did not realize that I was eating mostly carbohydrates. Once I began to eat lots of tuna fish, chicken, lean red meat and whey protein drinks, gaining muscle was much easier.

Learn to enjoy working out. We all have favorite days to workout usually it’s chest and biceps day! Yes, but unless you work out the rest of your body you’ll look woefully unproportionate. Try to convince yourself that you love to work legs, back, shoulder and triceps. Hell, even forearms and abs. Once you do, you’ll start seeing results, and then it becomes a cycle. Work out hard -> see results -> workout harder -> see more results -> and on, and on.

Don’t waste your time. Don’t baby yourself in the gym. It’s neither the time nor the place. You are there to WORK, not to talk or read the newspaper. If you’re doing it right, your workout should only take
from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. That’s it! If you are there for longer, then you are wasting time. Keep focused and intense.

Get enough sleep. That means sleeping until you wake up without an alarm. I usually try to get around 8-10 hours of sleep a night. This may seem like a lot, but trust me, if you’re working out intensely
you’ll need it!

Use “heavy” weight. I have the word heavy in quotes because it’s all relative to where you are right now! Don’t try to imitate the big boys in the gym - you will just get hurt. Trust me, I tried it, developed chronic tendonitis, had surgery, and had to take 2 years off. Just use enough weight so that you have to stop at 6-10 reps. If you can do more, then you need to increase the poundage. Even a 2.5 pound increase can seem like a lot, so just progress slowly.

Learn to love SQUATS. Squatting is the best full-body exercise you can do - period. If you want to get bigger, squats are the way to go. In particular, a 20-rep squatting program is excellent for putting on
leg size and overall mass. But be prepared because 20-rep squatting is BRUTAL work. Simply put, you pick a weight you normally can do 15 reps with, and try your damndest to get 20 reps with it. If you REALLY can’t get 20, then stay with that same weight until you can. Then move up by 5-10 pounds next week and try to hit 20 again. It works!

Don’t compare yourself to other people - only to what YOU used to look like. Comparing yourself to others is a great way to get discouraged and quit. The whole purpose of bodybuilding is to better yourself. How can you do that by comparing yourself to someone else? Sure, it’s okay to look at someone who’s big and say, “Man, I’d love to look like that someday…” but end it there. Don’t obsess on it. Just do the best you can and keep making improvements. As long as you are continually progressing compared to where YOU used to be, then that’s all that matters.

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There are a many names out there for these tools of weight lifting. Here is a list of some of the names that you might hear the weight lifting wrist straps being called:

Weight Lifting Wrist Straps
Lifting Straps
Powerlifting Straps
Power Straps
Deadlift Straps
Deadlifting Straps
Wrist Straps
Weight Lifting Straps
Weight Training Straps
Hand Straps
Weight Straps

Wrist straps are lengths of non-stretching material that is “noosed” (looped end) around your wrists and then the remaining material (tail) is wrapped around a weight lifting bar to aid you in holding the weight.
Their purpose is to keep the bar in your hands when lifting heavy amounts of weight.  You might want to use straps if or when your grip can’t handle the amount of weight you are using, sweaty hands, weak grip, hurt hands etc.

Why Use Wrist Straps?

In order to build muscle, you need the right weight lifting apparel and tools. Building muscle is like building a house. You need the right tools in order to get the job done. Wrist straps should be included in your aresenal of tools when it comes to heavy weight training. I’ve always felt that wrist straps are an important tool when it comes to hoisting a lot of weight.

Use wrist straps when your grip fails. I use wrist straps on deadlifts, lat pulldowns, heavy shrugs and rowing because it’s usually my grip that gives out first. It shouldn’t be the grip that gives out first but the muscle you are actually working. That’s why it’s imperative to find quality wrist straps that are tough, sturdy, and comfortable. Quality wrist straps are quite useful when you need to handle heavy, gripping weight.

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Don’t quit, you’ve got time!
by Michael Ray Baggett

Sometimes training along with the stresses of family and job take their toll on us.  Recently, I’ve been so spread out with training, preaching, heading a committee, and doing special on the job training for other staff that I have become exhausted.   However, I’ve already had a break from training and this is no time to quit!  Maybe you feel the crunch of time or you just don’t feel up to doing an hours worth of training even three times a week.  The following has helped get me back on course these days.

Twenty-minutes.  We spend twenty-minutes in the shower or tub, waiting on a bus, eating a meal.  The point is twenty-minutes is not much time.  Yet, if we divide our training into twenty -minute sessions we can get a lot of training in during the week!  When things start to look overwhelming “divide and conquer.”

The divide and conquer style training is not just another simple split-routine.  It involves a split-routine, taking each set to failure because it is low sets, and the training involves intense sessions of only twenty-minutes.  This is a great plan if you feel like you’re going to pass out at the 40 minute mark of your regular routine.  It could be just the thing to get you through the hard times or it could be just the
thing!

I’m using the following split:  session one:  legs, calves, low-back; session two:  lats and bi’s;  session three:  chest, delts and tri’s.  I start the clock with the very first set so I spend a little time before I train arranging weights and setting up to train the body parts.  I don’t have time to waste when I’m limiting the session to twenty-minutes. The first body part in the split gets most of the work.  You can arrange the body parts to your liking. I do abs and stretching at other times, namely, when I’m watching T.V.!  You see, when you divide and conquer you find you can do more sessions and it’s fun because you know in the back of your mind, “hey, this is only twenty-minutes.”   You can use these splits the way that works best for you.  Afterall, you know your body better than anyone else.  I am training session one in the morning, session two in the late  afternoon, and session three some time the next day.  I take a whole day off, then repeat the process.  This may prove to be too much over time. You might want to do this routine in a three-day-on-one-day-off style.
If you are the super hardgainer, you might do it M-W-F style and do abs and stretching and aerobics (if you need them) on the days off.

Anyway, it’s not a perfect routine but it might can be tweeked to the point you find yourself not only enjoying your training more with less exhaustion, but may actually be training more than you did before because now you don’t think in a negative way about the time involved!

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By Jon Miller

One evening, while looking for new bodybuilding magazines, I ran across the September 2000 issue of Scientific American. What caught my eye was the cover which said “Muscles & Genes - Are Star Athletes Born, Not Made?” Inside I found an article (by Jesper L. Andersen, Peter Schjerling and Bengt Saltin) discussing the different types of muscle fibers. This is definitely vital information to understanding your body.
Unfortunately, most people do not even begin to try understanding why this stuff matters. I’m not a scientist, so I will just give a brief synopsis of the article. Below you will find links to find more information on this subject.

The first step to understanding your muscles is to know how they are made up. Muscle is simply a bundle of cells being held together by a connective tissue called collagen tissue. Each muscle cell (also known as a muscle fiber) has an outer membrane. Scattered around under the membrane are some nuclei which contain the genes. Also in each muscle cell are thousands of strands known as myofibrils. The myofibrils are
what cause the muscle cells to contract.

Now down to the real nitty gritty, keeping in mind we are down to the inner strands of a single muscle cell. The myofibrils are made up of filaments, linked end to end, called sarcomeres. The sarcomeres are made of two filamentary proteins known as myosin and actin. These two proteins interact to cause the muscle contraction. One of the components of the myosin molecule (the heavy chain) makes up the characteristics of
that muscle fiber. This heavy chain can exist in 3 different “isoforms”. These are I (slow fibers), IIa and IIx (fast fibers). The contraction speed of the type IIx fiber is approximately ten times that of the type I fiber. The type IIa fibers’ contraction speed is somewhere between the other two. Slow fibers rely on efficient aerobic metabolism such as cardiovascular exercise. Fast fibers rely on anaerobic metabolism such as weight training. In reaction to rigorous exercise, nuclei are recruited to make additional myofibril in each muscle fiber. Therefore, each muscle fiber becomes larger.

Note: There are also hybrid fibers that contain two different isoforms. However, hybrid fibers are dominated by one of the two isoforms and take on that particular characteristic.
So what does this all mean? Well, the article points out that “The ‘average’ healthy adult has roughly equal numbers of slow and fast fibers…” However, the extraordinary athletes are found to have a domination of one fiber type over the other. For example, sprinters may have up to 95% fast fibers in their legs, whereas marathon runners may have up to 95% slow fibers in their legs. As a bodybuilder you obviously want to train to make all of your muscle fibers larger, thus gaining the maximum amount of muscle size possible. So you need to train so that ALL of your muscle fibers will react with this growth.

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