A "Toned" Body

An article by reknowned fitness expert Michael Boyle definitely struck a chord with me today. Its regarding something we all in the gym world heard so many times over and over....and OVER again, "I don't want to get too bulky, I just wanna tone my body." Heck, most of my friend's lovely female partners don't seem to keen on having their boyfriends look like Arnold, or even American football players for that matter. Well who can blame them since majority of the fitness media associate bodybuilding and fitness with a large jock-man dressed in a small, tight thong proudly brandishing the outline of his crotch.

People seem to think that working out vigorously with a change in nutrition equates to an instantaneous transformation into the incredible hulk. In fact, as Michael Boyle pointed out, nothing could be further from the truth. Have a read of his article at coreperformance.com:

http://www.coreperformance.com/article.php?p=1&s=1&id=11

Plateau Dilemma

People who barely started working out tend to be amazed, or even shocked by the gains from the strength training they performed within the first few weeks. The body starts responding to the stresses and therefore slowly adapts to these changes by constructing more muscles, assuming proper rest and nutrition follows hand in hand.

Sometimes complacency sets in, people assume that performing the same exercise at the same weight over and over again would yield the same astonishing results. Unfortunately the body would eventually adapt since the stress stimuli remains the same, and eventually the expected growth will gradually decrease and start to disappoint gym-goers with high expectations. In addition to this, the same monotonous exercise will eventually bore you to death; the workout inspiration for a better health slowly fades, and POOF you're back on the couch eating pringles and watching Prison Break.

A workout is more than just heading to the gym and doing something on the fly, it has to be properly planned out by periodizing your training into different segments e.g. strength, hypertrophy, and endurance. You have to consistently challenge your body and throw it off, keeping it on it's toes.

My basic Rule of Thumb for breaking plateaus:

1. Always challenge your body with different variation of workouts e.g. switching barbell bench press to dumbbell bench press, or even switching the number of sets and reps, changing workout intensities, and so on and so forth.
2. Periodize your training into different segments, e.g. week 1-12 hypertrophy, week 13-24 strength, week 25-36 endurance, and then rinse and repeat.

REMEMBER to always challenge yourself, never be complacent with what you do.

Polar Bear Club

Ever heard of the Polar Bear Club? People who jump into icy cold water half-naked during winter for fun? Its time to join the club!! (Picture acquired from the Boulder Polar Bear Club website)

Apparently causing hot and cold constrasts in the body allow for better blood flow in the body. For instance, when its hot, the body rushes away from your internal organs toward the skin in an attempt to prevent your vital organs from overheating. (Giving a nice red hue on your skin) Imagine after that you jump straight into a cold shower, the blood is then quickly prompted by the body to rush back to your internal organs and keep it safe and warm. Switching from hot and cold will cause the blood to move back and forth between the skin and the internal organs, therefore causing increased blood circulation and therefore faster transportation of nutrients.

It is recommended to alternate between a sauna/steam room and cold plunge after a workout. This will stimulate faster muscle recovery, as well as reducing postworkout inflammation from muscular hypertrophy due to the effects of a cold shower.

Mark Verstegen of Core Performance recommends alternating between 2-3 minutes in a hot tub and 30-60 seconds in a cold plunge, doing this 3-4 times for maximum effect. This would also be an excellent time for a recovery shake due to quick absorption by the body. (Hot tubs can be replaced with sauna, and a cold plunge with a cold shower)

A book a day, keeps the doctor away

Recommended reading for MALE gym-goers:

Men's Health: The Testosterone Advantage Plan by Lou Schuler, Jeff Volek PhD, Michael Mejia, and Adam Campbell

A great book that was a national bestseller in the United States. It debunks various myths that people held for years regarding cardio, protein, testosterone and various other workout related issues with scientific studies and the occasional logical assertion. Good read for men who treat working out and their health seriously.

(No, I'm not getting anything for advertising this book, just a nice gooey touchy feeling)

A Good Workout

Personally I have so far been exposed to 3 different workout cultures (USA, Australia, Malaysia) to some degree. Definitely gained a range of advice from different personal trainers over the years, particularly my old trainer back in Australia who was a Lebanese guy practicing Thai kickboxing. He showed me the vigors of intense training over a short period of only 30 minutes, and instilled in me the importance of core training. Even a 30-45 minute intense training session will yield more results than 1-2 hours of dragging, chatting, and letting yourself cool down in between sets. With my old trainer, after 30 minutes, I'll already be dragging my feet down the stairs and gorging myself with a recovery drink. The weird thing was...I loved it! Never felt better in my life, and was always a good pump before heading for more boring lectures.

It is always good remember that the purpose of a weight training session is to induce shock and stress on your muscles, thereby forcing it to adapt to change and become stronger. Why would you rest and chat for more than 1-2 minutes and allow your muscles to cool down excessively? Kinda counterintuitive if you're trying to gain muscle and lose fat. Especially since a high intensity session would burn more calories, especially if working on supersets, complexes, or compound exercises which utilize multiple muscles simultaneously e.g. squats and deadlifts.

From my personal experience, a good workout would consist of the following elements:

1. 5 minutes of cardio to raise your body core temperature
2. Sufficient stretching of muscles
3. 30-60 minutes of high intensity weight training
4. Sufficient H2O to keep body hydrated
5. Recovery shake to provide body with quick carbs (energy) and protein (build muscles)
6. Cardio after the training session to burn excess fat

You might add to something like this with the addition of creatine and other supplements e.g. Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) or Nitric Oxide (NO) boosters e.g BSN NO-Xplode. Although creatine is usually recommended to increase your workout productivity (increase energy production and minimizes lactic acid production), NO boosters are still an unproven, albeit safe workout enhancer. (Although I've read a medicine news article which states that donated blood are useless once the NO in the blood gradually reduces over time, since NO is responsible for dilating the blood vessels and allowing additional blood flow in the body)

Fun Facts

Fun Fact #1

Cholesterol in your body has a chemical structure similar to Steroids and is also a building block for Testosterone!

History of the Marathon

Legend says that when the Greeks defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., a runner by the name of Pheidippides was tasked with the mission to report the good news back in Athens, Greece. At the end of his 22 mile journey, he was known to have said:

"Rejoice! We Conquer!"

After that he died of exhaustion.

Ouch........

(Acquired from the Men's Health Testosterone Advantage Plan)

We gotta love Protein

Scientifically speaking, protein are polymers which uses amino acids e.g. Glutamine, Arginine as their monomers or building blocks. Majority of our body's functions can't live without protein as our muscles, antibodies, hormones, enzymes, haemoglobin in our blood are constructed from different protein constituents. In layman terms, eat protein = keep body alive.

For gym people and muscle aficianados out there, this is especially important since we live in a high stress environment! (Literally speaking since working out stresses our muscles and create microscopic tears in the muscle fibers) Therefore during this process, we need to sustain our body with protein to reconstruct more fibers and therefore strengthen our muscular structure.

The usual timescale given to chow down on food is within 30 minutes of completing a workout, therefore ensuring quick absorption of protein and other necessary nutrients e.g. carbohydrates to prevent the body from breaking down. Carbs are also necessary after a workout since it releases the insulin hormone which also keeps the body in an anabolic or muscle building state. Carbs are also included since its a quick source of energy, and you want to prevent the body from breaking down your own protein e.g. muscles instead for energy.

IS PROTEIN BAD FOR YOUR KIDNEYS?

Professor Peter W.R. Lemon PhD and the Weider chair of exercise nutrition of the University of Western Ontario is an expert on protein requirements for muscle-building athletes. He once mentioned that potential kidney problems from protein have been extrapolated from studies on individuals with prior impaired kidney function. So certain "experts" assume that since people with ALREADY impaired kidney function can't take extra protein, therefore normal healthy individuals should shun it? How is that protein's fault? If protein were killing your kidneys, I believe that majority of the professional athletes, bodybuilders, powerlifters, and wrestlers would be piling up the kidney dialysis centers in the world.

Machine Dilemma

Whenever I walk in a gym, majority of the people I see tend to gravitate towards the machines for their workouts. NO I'm not talking about large machinery operated by gay steel mill workers, but machines which are designed to replace traditional workout movements e.g. the bench press. These machines were designed to be a safe and easier alternative to our classic favourite workouts, in fact you can lift heavier weights due to the support system and not look like such a boob in front of the large 300 pound bench pressing jock-man.

Unfortunately, if you use a machine, those big jock-men will still think you're a boob anyway. Machines, although easier to operate and will remove the danger of having a large dumbbell drop on you (Which I have NEVER seen by the way), will eventually be a terrible detriment to your future workout progress. As I quote Mike Burgener's Power to the 4th exercise guidelines given in the Men's Health Power Training book, "Doing all of your training while supported puts your body in a fairy-tale like world in which core stability and balance are of no consequence." Neglecting your core and various stabilizer muscles is a huge mistake since it strengthens your body under an unstable state, thus reducing the reliance of your muscles on a non-existent support system in real life when you perform actual physical activities.

So if somebody outbenches you with a machine during a workout, don't feel too bad, in the long run you'll be stronger and more well equipped to handle REAL physical activities. Besides it'll be fun to see him shake uncontrollably to balance two dumbbells or a barbell if he attempts free weight exercises. Although I have to admit, the only exception to use machines for me would be for pullup and chinup exercises. For a significant segment of gym-goers, it would be hard to perform, lets say, 3 sets of 10 repetitions free weight pullups or chinups. Therefore that particular machine would be useful for beginners who want to improve their strength before they tackle the real deal.

In conclusion, PEOPLE PLEASE USE FREE WEIGHT EXERCISES! It will be the best thing to happen to you, do you think the large Samoan people got strong by carrying their farming equipment with a machine-esque support system that went everywhere they worked?

Quick Sidenote

Just want to quickly address an small omission from my introduction. My source of information would come from various strength training and conditioning books written by fitness luminaries that I mentioned in my intro. Why do I choose these guys in lieu of bodybuilding magazines which feature large, buff, and specifically trained bodybuilders giving a set of advice on getting larger biceps...in like 1 second?

Well first of all, these magazines have been purported to be allegedly owned by some segments of the supplement industry. Even if that allegation is not true, I find the exercises recommended usually tailored for bodybuilders and not for the average joe who's looking to improve his fitness and also look good in the mirror. There are occasionally good info in there, but all the info is hidden in between a jungle of supplemental ads, which again claim to make your man boobs bigger and look more pumped. (Of course you'll look pumped, you're working out for christ's sake)

The experts whose books and information I look to for advice, on the other hand, are people who are recognized by the United States's National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) or PhD researchers. They convey information about training which athletes and normal people use just to improve their health and athleticism. They also portray weight training in a more holistic manner, beyond just working out for bigger biceps or an Arnold-esque chest. (Although for people who train to look good, even with this sort of training you'll definitely see gains with your musculature. Look at some American football quarterbacks and running backs, plus some sprinters, and you'll know what I mean)

Personally, I rather look for information from a book or fitness magazine whereby logic and scientific evidence prevails and isn't clouded by a miasma of random supplements, herbs, and anecdotal evidence from unnaturally large bodybuilders. Although initially I did fall into the trap of training just to look good, I realized that the training that lead me there was flawed and would inevitably lead me towards a road of injuries. Weight training has a string of benefits beyond just looking good. It will challenge you to a whole new different level, it increases your metabolism with the addition of extra muscles, it will endeavour you to eat better and improve your health, plus a plethora of other intriguing benefits. Think about it.

Barbells or Dumbells?

First and foremost, if you don't know what either of those are.....perhaps it's better off you don't enter a gym just yet; otherwise keep on reading. Another issue close to this topic is regarding the usage of machines for workouts, which I'll address in the next blog.

Good question to ask yourself before your workout, barbells or dumbbells? When I started working out, dumbbells always seemed tougher than using barbells especially since you can balance a barbell with both hands. Nevertheless, I chose to stick with dumbbells since it was preferred by my trainer, and I assumed that a good mix of barbell and dumbbell workouts would be a nice balance.

Technically speaking, barbell exercises are classified as a "bilateral" movement. This means that you use both or "bi" limbs to move the weight in unison. Pullups and chinups are classified as bilateral movements due to the usage of both arms simultaneously.

On the other hand, a "unilateral" movement is classified as an activity that utilizes each limb separately to move a load, e.g. dumbbell shoulder press, dumbbell chest press and etc. A unilateral movement would train each arm independently, and will often require the usage of the core and other stabilizer muscles due to instabilities of balancing separate dumbbells.

In conclusion, dumbbell/unilateral movements should definitely be added to anybody's workouts. It works more muscles and also trains each arm separately, therefore balancing out any imbalances or weaknesses between each arm. Barbell/bilateral movements shouldn't be ignored either since you will be able to train at a heavier weight, and it would be good to mix it up with dumbbell exercises to continuously shock your body and thus preventing it from possibly plateauing.

(Pictures are acquired from http://www.bodybuilding.com)

Athletic Mannequins

One of my favourite quotes I found in Robert Dos Remedios's book on power training would be by a famous bodybuilder Milos Sarcev who said that "We are not athletes, only athletic mannequins."

Traditional weight training that people tend to follow would be body-part training performed by bodybuilders e.g. separating a workout into chest, biceps, back, legs, etc., and basically focuses on training the mirror muscles (muscles that you can see in the mirror). This sort of training neglects any importance on the posterior chain of muscles e.g. lower back, glutes, and hamstrings, which will eventually lead to muscular imbalances and create an injury time bomb.

Body-part training trains each different mirror muscle in an isolated manner, for instance, bicep curls for biceps and triceps extension for triceps. But once you sit down and think about it logically, why on god-given Earth would we train each body part separately WHEN each muscle in our sexy body was designed to work in unison to perform daily tasks and activities!?!? Although this method does strengthen and induce muscular hypertrophy, it could possibly weaken the muscle when performing functional movements e.g. throwing and jumping, which effectively use various muscles in unison.

Bodybuilders usually train for cosmetic and aesthetic reasons, emulating the traditional Greek god statues (except for the length of the schlong). But they don't train for functional purposes like athletes, whom usually have uncanny flexibility as well as strength. Yeah we all wanna look buff and close to godliness, but at least we should do so without compromising our body's natural functional ability nor flexibility.

Prologue

After a few half-hearted attempts at starting a blog, I finally decided to blog about something that I'm truly passionate about - Weight training and the Fitness/Nutrition industry in general. NOWwwwwww before you get any ideas, I am not about re-iterating the usual spiel given by brawny jocks across every sweat-soaked gym around the block. This is going to be about proper weight training, fitness, nutrition, and general well-being information acquired from credible and expert fitness sources available. In essence, I wanna cut through all the crap and debunk all the myths people STILL believe based on anecdotal "expert" advice given by the run-of-the-mill personal trainers and allegedly experienced gym-goers.

I appreciate that more people nowadays are taking a step towards a better well-being by signing up for the gym and going there periodically to train and workout. But it kinda annoys me that people go about it in the wrong way....MOST of the time. So yeah, I finally decided that one day I wanna earn a personal training certification as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and constantly learn all I can about strength training and the fitness/nutrition industry. This, I hope, would enable me to influence and change the fitness industry for the better, enlightening the gym masses (perhaps even the roid-heads), and encourage people to live a healthier and better life.

This blog, I also hope, would be a tribute to all the fitness luminaries across the globe such as Michael Boyle (ATC), Stuart McGill (PhD) from Waterloo University, Men's Health trainers including Lou Schuler and Michael Mejia (CSCS), Mark Verstegen (CSCS) of Core Performance, Robert Dos Remedios (CSCS) of USA Collegiate athletic training fame, Alwyn Cosgrove (CSCS), and other influential and inspirational trainers. These people have perpetually endeavoured to inspire and preach to everybody the proper and functional way of training for a stronger and healthier body; therefore inspiring me to attempt to do the same, one piece at a time, starting with this blog.

The content of my posts will combine info from fitness sources as well as some aspects of my training experience. It is my intent to keep the information of this blog as coherent and accurate as possible, but human error is inevitable so if anything just holler. Finally, I hope that this blog will be of use to people in their never ending quest to improve their body, and also inspire people to never stop training harder and also smarter.


Cheers,

MY