Anabolic Emphasis

Basically, there are two things that affects our muscles after training:

1) Anabolism - Building of muscles

2) Catabolism - Breaking down of muscles for energy

The goal is to maximize the anabolic process while keeping the catabolic effect down to a minimum.

There are 3 critical steps in order to achieve this:

1. Intense resistance training with enough muscle stimulation to promote release of anabolic hormones e.g. Testosterone and Growth Hormones (GH) which trigger the muscle-building mechanism (1)


2. Sufficient protein intake to promote protein synthesis within the muscle cells to repair cellular damage and increase muscle fiber size via muscular hypertrophy. Protein is also known to release Glucagon, a hormone which liberates fat stores for burning (2).


3. Including carbs in post-workout supplentation to allow the release of Insulin which also promotes the uptake of nutrients e.g. protein into the muscle cells for reparation. Insulin also curbs the release of Cortisol, which is a catabolic hormone and promotes muscle breakdown.

Following these basic steps can help you maintain the lean muscle mass, while allowing your body to tap and burn the fat stores instead.

References:

1. Schuler, L., Volek, J. (PhD), Mejia, M. & Campbell, A. (2003). The Testosterone Advantage Plan. A Fireside book, Simon & Schuster.
2. Roussell, M. (2007). Top Secret Fat Loss Strategies. Your Naked Nutrition Guide.

Protein Debacle

Protein is essential for the maintenance of your body e.g. reparation of muscles. It is also a preferred nutrient source as it is easier to be satisfied when eating protein , plus it has the highest thermic effect compared to other nutrients e.g. you burn more calories when eating protein.

It is essential for muscular growth, but noticeably a lot of gym-goers tend to overuse it, some to an extent that their shaker bottles are 1/3 - 1/2 filled with protein powder! If you follow the recommended intake of one scoop (usually > 20 g protein), it wouldn't even fill up 1/5 of the shaker.

Reading a recent article by Chad Waterbury, he raised an issue that eating too much protein would be detrimental if you're trying to lose body fat. Once the glycogen stores in the body has been exhausted, the next source would come from muscles and then finally body fat, the latter which is what most of us want to get rid of (to an extent of course). We want supply sufficient protein to minimize the catabolic effect of muscle breakdown for energy and maximize protein synthesis for muscle reparation. But if we supply an overload of protein to our body, the body would preferentially want to burn the excess protein for energy instead, leaving our fat stores essentially untouched.

Typical daily recommended limits for protein intake for a consistent gym-goer would be approximately 0.8 -1.0g per pound of body weight.

For instance, if you're 160 pounds (160/2.2 = 72.7kg)

Protein required = 160 x 0.8 = 128g

American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommmends these limits:

Endurance Athletes = 1.2 - 1.4g per kg bodyweight (0.55 - 0.64g per pound bodyweight)

Strength Athletes = 1.4 - 1.8g per kg bodyweight (0.64 - 0.82g per pound bodyweight)

There is always a limit to what our body can handle. What's the point of consuming soooooo much expensive protein when most of it is gone to waste? More does not always equal to better.

Adverse Advertising

Taking the LRT home one day, I noticed an intriguing advert at the side of the Bangsar LRT station. One of the local gym chains were promoting their personal training services, claiming that you can lose 8 inches of waistline within 8 weeks!! Being exceptionally cynical and skeptical after a long day at work, I decided to dissect this.

First and foremost, I admit that I'm not a big fan of this gym chain. Based on my sources, it is the typical commercialized, soul-less gym chain occupied by personal trainers who are more interested in checking out their own biceps while ignoring their client who's performing a workout movement. In fact, if I recall correctly, my friend overheard the trainer claim that you can actually grow taller from resistance training!! Doesn't that sound fantastic!?! Hmmmm I wonder why are majority of the competitive bodybuilders are shorter than 6'0? Now isn't that baffling?

But I digress, as I could definitely go on and on to debase their various vices and fallacies. Alright, 8 weeks to lose 8 inches on the waistline....hmmmm if that's possible, why aren't there more trim individuals out there? If 8 weeks of training could yield such an amazing result, everybody would look like a freakin' Brad Pitt or Maria Sharapova in no time! Even if this was possible, the methods utilized would definitely be suspect. Personally, one of the things I would like to know is that difference in lean muscle mass over this specific period of time. It would be pretty pointless if you lose so much weight, and a lot of it consisted of lean muscle mass. This would lead to a decrease in metabolism, hindering your future ability to lose bodyfat and possibly gaining more weight than ever before.

Statistically speaking, it would be interesting to know how many people actually attemped this program and succeeded at it. In addition to that, what were the participant's genetic disposition? Were they predominantly ectomorphs, endomorphs, mesomorphs, or a combination of either characteristic? Some people are born with different basal metabolisms, some can gain weight easily while others remain extremely thin despite sporting a dietary habit equivalent to a sumo wrestler. It would be naive to think that a particular training regime would work the same for everybody.

Frankly, I believe that any form of fitness advertising with ridiculous claims such as this, is absolutely bullshit. Not only will it not work, it will lead to high expectations and eventually, disappointment. It is these sort of crap that make people lose interest in working out, assuming that their cause is hopeless and give up, never ever realizing the amazing benefits that resistance training will yield.

Making gains in the gym is a gradual process, and miracles do not happen overnight. To move like an athlete or look like a bodybuilder, requires years of consistent training and strict discipline. Even if that isn't your goal, you still require to hit the weights and treadmill with some semblance of consistency. There really isn't an easy way out, and only hard work and discipline will yield success for this endeavour.

"Bodybuilding"

It seems that some segments of the population still associates lifting weights or resistance training as a form of "bodybuilding". To the best of my understanding, bodybuilding is a subset of resistance training whereby the goal is to maximize muscular hypertrophy, striving for physical symmetry and perfection. Physical strength and flexibility is usually not of key importance, instead emphasis would be placed on aesthetic values. Besides, if everybody who lift weights are bodybuilders....then Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and majority of all athletes would be considered as bodybuilders.

Fitness Scams

The Internet is a curse and a blessing. On one hand it eliminates the boundary created by distance, providing a tool for talented individuals across the globe to communicate and express their thoughts or creativity through mediums such as Youtube. One the other hand, everybody else can display their ...ermm...less creative and sometimes morally and ethically skewed works and perceptions. Although such scams may be easily detected by the experienced, various individuals who haven't popped their internet cherry might be more easily misled and deluded by immoral douchebags that permeate the web.

This phenomenon is especially true for the fitness and training information strewn across the internet. Albeit there are plenty of legit websites and forums moderated by certified trainers giving excellent tips and advice, there are also plenty of forums populated by allegedly experienced "experts" oozing with crap and fallacies that would make good trainers across the globe shit in their pants.

Occasionally there might be some gems hidden in those places, but I wouldn't entrust my well being with statements posted by a bunch of random people. Come on, there are soooo many good websites and books out there where you can acquire a lot of amazing information peer-reviewed or concluded from actual fitness specialists and researchers. Why on earth would you take the word of an alleged fitness expert who would recommend some specific "bodybuilding" program extracted from some run-of-the-mill muscle magazine with majority of the pages filled with supplement and libido enhancement ads? Come on!!

Even for my blog, I endeavour to present information I learnt from fitness books and articles here whilst trying to present my own perspective. It may coincide with your beliefs, it might even be absolutely contradictory with your ideas, nonetheless it isn't absolute. As a fitness aficianado, if you are truly passionate about fitness, I trust you would do your own homework and make an informed judgment without speculation nor assumptions.

Raging Hormones!

Many people don't realize that the hormones in our body play a huge part in our resistance training progress, and I do mean HUGGGEEEEEE!! Some assume that a little protein here, a dash of carbs there, mixed with some treadmills and low intensity training, and voila....beach body with abs to kill!

If you believed that was the case, you're wasting your time in the gym and you should just cancel your gym membership immediately. Here's the thing, do you think the human body just builds muscles at a whim? Do you honestly think that performing light unstimulating weights with minimal rest would cause you body to undergo major changes to become stronger? BAH!

Hormones are absolutely critical in ensuring that our bodies build more muscles and grows stronger, and these hormones would only be secreted if a strong enough stimulus would trigger the body to do so. In this case, sufficient muscular force production is required to trigger the release of anabolic or muscle building hormones e.g. testosterone, which would then bind to receptors in the muscle cells, subsequently signalling the body to increase protein synthesis and therefore increase the overall size of the muscle cell.

So what is considered to be a sufficient trigger to cause our body to secrete these wonderful hormones responsible for muscle synthesis? According to the Strength Training book by the National Strength & Conditioning Association, the hormonal response to an exercise has a general correlation with the amount of metabolic stress experienced by a person. Therefore a high intensity and high volume training session with minimal rest and exercises that recruit more muscles would optimize your body's capacity to trigger a hormonal response to build more muscles.

R.I.C.E

With the increasingly widespread popularity of resistance training across the globe, I believe it is inevitable for the frequency of training related injuries to spike and perpetuate over the next few years. In addition to that, this phenomenon will probably be exacerbated by the inadequacies of the alleged fitness "experts" that dwell in the squalors within the various fitness center chains that pervade throughout the health and well-being industry.

Injuries arise due to various reasons, and are usually shrugged off by trainers and go on unnoticed for years. People assume that pain is part of the process, and as the saying goes "no pain, no gain." Albeit within the resistance training scenario, the pain should constitute as soreness and nothing more. On the other hand, a sharp pain experienced in joints or a specific part of the body is most likely a sign of an injury. If that is the case, training should be stopped immediately to mitigate the potential injury. In fact, there is a specific principle that should be followed during the early stages of an injury :

Rest

Ice

Compression

Elevation

After the initial stage, a medical practitioner specializing in sports-related injuries should be consulted immediately to ensure your continual well being.

As much as I respect people whom spend hours in the gym a week to hone their body's musculature, at least don't be an idiot and overtrain or "cheat" with poor technique just to lift that extra pound. Always know your limits, and you can always live to fight another day.

Lift Strong!!

I'm usually a sap for the altruistic humanitarianism mushy kinda stuff, although I'll probably never go all Angelina Jolie and adopt some kid from South America. Regardless, I would occasionally try to do my part and give something back to our community and environment.

Here's something that should pique the interest of any fitness buffs out there, PLUS also an opportunity to give back to our community. Recently a bunch of fitness luminaries and experts from the industry decided to compile a CD stuffed with articles and information that would aid anybody in their quest to improve their health, nutritional, and training efforts. Whoever is interested could buy the approximately 800 page compilation at an affordable price of USD$25, and with all the proceeds going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Do check out the official website at :

http://www.liftstrong.com/