Adding muscle, losing weight and everything in between

You know the familiar saying, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too”? Well, for lifters looking to make big muscle gains, simultaneously holding the desire to lose body fat at bay (not to mention, avoiding cake) works in much the same way. It’s extremely difficult, if not downright impossible (with the exception of certain genetically-gifted freaks) to do both at the same time. For years my only goal was to pack on pounds of muscle while somehow trimming body fat at the same time. What my experiences have taught me is that in attempting such a feat, some aspect of my routine was suffering at all times – either my diet, or my performance in the gym.

The bottom line is that if you cut calories to shed some body fat, you won’t have the necessary building blocks to add muscle to your frame. What’s worse, if you cut calories too far, you’ll start noticing a drastic drop in your energy at the gym. On the flip side, if you increase your calorie intake through 6 to 8 meals a day, the excess calories (above the bodies daily caloric needs) will keep you carrying an extra pound or two that you would otherwise like to lose. Furthermore, as your body begins to transition and add muscle, you’ll notice the scale number growing larger and for most, that will result in a renewal of the “I want to shed some fat” mentality.

But unless you’re trying to make weight for a competition or team, the scale shouldn’t be an end-all, be-all. A tool periodically used to check progress and to confirm that your method of training is working, yes. A number that throws you into a tailspin and causes you to question your means to an end, no. Afterall, 180 pounds can be made up of fat or muscle, but a scale won’t tell you which.

With that said, I recommend deciding on a goal (gain muscle, lose body fat) and approaching it by utilizing phases, i.e. a bodybuilder’s mentality. In the “off-season,” don’t worry about the extra pounds and focus on packing on the muscle with excess calories. Then when you want to look trim and ripped, initiate a routine aimed at losing body fat. Either way, don’t try to do both simultaneously because your results will most likely suffer (trust me).

For a brief article and breakdown on how to eat for size, check out HST’s artcile here.

For body-fat losing tips, check out Gregg Gillies’ article here.

You’ll notice that some aspects of each (6-8 meals a day, high protein intake) are common for both approaches, but the amounts differ. It’s all about determining your goals one at a time and sticking to a gameplan  dedicated to achieving each of those goals.

I will follow up this post with more in-depth nutrition articles that will focus on either adding muscle or losing body fat, but for now this should get you started on thinking about the topic. Stay healthy my friends.

Endorphin junkies anonymous

If ever there was a support group for those addicted to “the runners high” my family and friends would arrange for an immediate intervention and drag me to the meeting. They think it’s strange that I lace up my running sneakers on vacation; They think I’m down right crazy for getting up at 4:30 a.m. to “get in a run” when my schedule is jam-packed; And they sure don’t understand why I would put my body through the grueling 26.2 miles of a marathon. In a way, running is an addiction. “The runner’s high” is not a myth and for those who have experienced it, you know the euphoria that goes along with finishing a great run.

 

My love affair with running began eight years ago when I entered college and to this day, my sneakers and I have been inseparable. My freshman year of college, I walked onto the school’s division one cross country and track teams (impressive, right?). Well, to be honest there were no try-outs. I showed up to preseason in my worn-out cross-training sneakers and a too-big cotton t-shirt. I stuck out like a sore thumb compared to all the other girls who were in their new running kicks, showing off their sports watch tans, wearing spandex and cute matching tops. Not only were the girls dressed the part, but they were exchanging stories about their summer training and how many miles a week they were running, what place they had finished in a recent race or when their last Fartlek was. I felt a sense of doom come over me, thinking “what did I get myself into?” I hadn’t run more than 4 miles at one time, and I sure didn’t know what a “Fartlek” was.

 

With little confidence, I set out running with the team on our first of many runs together. I was determined to stay with the pack leaders. It wasn’t easy at first, but to my surprise (and the surprise of the team) I did. And for my entire college career I stayed with the lead pack; finished first in a handful of races and received various awards for my accomplishments.

 

I was hooked on running, and I even enjoyed Fartleks. I learned the difference between a tempo run and an interval run. I learned the importance of both the long run and hill workouts. I discovered that taking a day off doesn’t erase all of your training and can actually speed recovery. I experimented with pool running, lifting both before and after running (a popular debate these days), tested various running sneakers (my favorite: Asics), performed workouts with a heart-rate monitor, ran doubles (running in the morning and then again at night), competed in races from a half -mile up to marathon distance and so much more. But those are topics for another day.

 

People begin running for different reasons; some do if for weight loss, some do it for the social aspect, some run to be healthy, or to raise money for a cause like breast cancer awareness. I started running to prove you don’t need fancy sneakers, or top of the line running gear to keep up. You don’t need to be serious about racing, or know how many miles are in a 5k. You just need to appreciate “the runners high.” And when you do, don’t be surprised if you get addicted like me.

Joining the chain gang

How much you benching? It’s a question that can be heard in every gym, in every language, in every country. From my perspective, the answer doesn’t mean much because I’ve seen guys throw up monster numbers on the bench only to turn around and squat feathers. But as long as it’s going to be treated as the gold standard of strength measurement, we mine as well be the guys dropping jaws, right?

To that end, let me introduce you to my new best friend: chains. After years of struggling with a stubborn bench that just wouldn’t break through a dreaded plateau, I’ve recently scoured for news ways to train and the Westside Barbell technique of using chains has instantly become one of my favorites (in addition to Hell Week). First, what you need to do is make your way down to Home Depot (or Lowe’s – let’s not start that argument) and purchase two sets of 5/8″ chain in five foot lengths. Each five foot segment will weigh roughly 20 lbs., so you’re looking at adding 80 lbs. to the bar. Don’t forget to buy two segments of smaller chain as well which will be used to hang the larger chain segments from the bar so that roughly 1/3 of the chain is resting on the floor when the bar is racked.

Now that you’re set up, lets go through a quick lesson in isokinetics and the underlying philosophy behind the chains before we start banging out reps. “Isokinetics” is essentially defined as challenging your muscles against an object that moves but increases in resistance until the point where the object can no longer be moved. In other words, as you lift the bar and lower it to your pecs, more of the chain begins to pile on the floor, making the weight that you are controlling lighter as you descend (eccentric phase). As you proceed to lift the bar and ascend (transitioning into the concentric phase), you push more of the chain off the floor, resulting in increased weight and resistance the higher you get the bar.

This type of training helps to promote bar speed and also forces you to work through every sticking point that you may have. In addition, the exercise minimizes joint stress and muscle soreness because it gets lighter on the way down, reducing the stress on the shoulders and joints but still allowing you to train heavy as it adds weight on the ascent. Finally, the chains force your stabilizing muscles to work overtime to control the weight in a smooth and direct manner. I think you will also find, as I did, that once you return to your regular chest routine, the explosiveness you have out of the gate will be quite impressive and allow you to fight through those heavy weights, putting up bigger and bigger numbers on the bench. That was the goal all along, right? Now get out there and drop some jaws.

For more information on benching with chains, CriticalBench.com has a great article you can check out here.

On top of the wooooorld!

Congrats C’s! A 17th banner well deserved and a team Red Auerbach would be proud of.

What’s all the flax about?

For anyone in search of a healthy body, both inside and out, flax seed is an arrow of neccessity within the quiver of supplements. Derived from the flax plant, flax seed is comprised of 1/3 oil, and the rest is made up of fiber, protein and mucilage. It provides a rich source of essential fatty acids – containing alpha linolenic acid, omega 3’s and omega 6’s – while also offering lignans (estrogen-like chemicals that acts as antioxidants), vitamins and minerals.

The seed contains both soluble and insoluble fiber, as well as mucilage, which helps to stabilize blood sugar levels. It is also considered the richest source of lignans, which boost the production of a substance attached to estrogen and carry it out of the body, in addition to acting as antioxidants. But perhaps better yet, it also contains protein. For every 100 grams of flax seeds, you get about 25-30g of protein, which is an amazing benefit when one considers all the other nutrients that accompany the protein.

The oil derived from flax seed is also a great source of essential fatty acids, including omega 3’s which North American diets typically lack. Omega 3’s have not only been shown to reduce blood pressure, cholesterol and plaque formation, but they have also been found to kill certain cancer cells, aid skin problems such as acne, and improve one’s response to stress. Flaxseed oil can be purchased in softgel cap form which provide just the right proportion of the three essental fatty acids.

Aside from the inner effects, flax seed also provides invaluable benefits for bodybuilders that include:

• Reduced body fat
• Shortened recovery time
• Reduced muscle soreness
• Increased utilization of oxygen and other nutrients
• and the bottom line….more muscle

So again, while I have a somewhat guarded stance when it comes to supplements, flax seed (both in ground up form so you can digest it and in oil capsules — take both) is a must have!

Box squats 101

It’s a gym scenario that’s all too familiar: somebody inevitably loads the squat bar with back-breaking weight, gives a loud shout to announce his presence and then commences to lower the bar two inches before re-racking it with ground-shattering authority. Aside from a lack of form that subjects the lifter to injury risk, he has minimized the range of motion to a point where his hamstrings and glutes are getting very little benefitial exercise or explosive strength training.

Now cue up the same scene with a box behind the squatter that forces him to lower his hips to parallel with the floor or further in order to sit and our problems are solved. By placing the box behind the lifter, it teaches the proper form of squatting back, not down, in order to sit. Furthermore, a proper box height will assure the squatter of achieving a hips-parallel or break-parallel stance with every rep (and soon without a box). But the greatest benefit of box squatting is the explosiveness and strength the trainee will develop in his quads, hamstrings, glutes and hips by utilizing a static-overcome-by-dynamic work approach.

In order to perform the box squat correctly, the lifter should take a very wide stance with toes either pointed straight forward or angled slightly out (I prefer the straight forward method). Take a wide hand grip and tuck in your elbows so as to utilize the lats. Keeping your head up and looking forward, proceed to slightly arch your back and draw the chest up, lift the bar off the pins, and then take your stance two to three inches in front of the box (maintaining a very wide stance). Begin to squat back, not down, keeping your back arched, abs pushed out, and your head up at all times. Once you reach the box, relax ONLY the hip muscles for an instant, and then forcefully flex them by pushing against the bar. It is important to remember that when beginning the drive upward, raise your traps into the bar first and don’t begin the movement by pushing your feet to the floor. By pushing with your feet first, you can and will expose your back to a dangerous and potentially harmful position.

As a big proponent of the static-overcome-by-dynamic work approach, I really like this exercise. It teaches proper form, builds explosive strength, and is actually less stressful on the lifter than a full squat and can therefore be trained more frequently. Please note, however, that this workout is geared more towards powerlifters and those seeking to build explosive leg strength – not bodybuilders looking for bulging quads. The lifting approach differs greatly from a bodybuilder and a powerlifter, and although my philosophy tends to blur the lines and incorporates both, this is a topic I will address in greater detail in a coming article.

For more information regarding the box squat, I encourage you to read Louie Simmons’  “Why You Should Box Squat.” Louie, in practical terms, is a powerlifting animal and THE source for all things strength related. Just ask the Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks and…you guessed it, New England Patriots. For his biography, click here. I also recommend that if you want to try the box squat, follow Louie’s Westside Barbell routine and try training at 50-60% of your one-rep max for 8-12 sets of 2 reps.

Here’s a video to illustrate the exercise…

Runner’s high outweighs the pain of osteoarthritis

Running improves general health, but does it increase the risk of osteoarthritis?

 

As a marathon runner and a physical therapist working with patients who have undergone recent joint replacements to rid themselves of osteoarthritis pain, this is a question I debate often. With all of the mixed messages portrayed in the media and conflicting conclusions being drawn in scientific research, even the most well-informed doctors don’t seem to have a concrete answer.

 

Osteoarthritis (or degenerative arthritis) is caused by the breakdown and eventual loss of the cartilage of one or more joints. Cartilage is a protein substance that serves as a “cushion” between the bones of the joints. It is thought that exercise over many years, such as running and other high-impact sports, stresses the cartilage to a point that it no longer cushions your joints. Without the cushion, you are left with bones rubbing against each other, causing debilitating pain, swelling, limitations in motion, and ultimately a joint replacement. (Now, if that isn’t a good excuse to skip the gym, I don’t know what is.)

 

But what about all the benefits of running? Running improves body image and confidence, helps to maintain a healthy weight, fights bad cholesterol, improves coordination, reduces the risk of stroke, boosts the immune system and much more. Despite these benefits, however, the possible deleterious effects of running remain controversial. One study I read looked at MR imaging of the hip and knee in runners before and after completing a marathon. The results suggest that “the high impact forces in long-distance running are well tolerated and subsequently do not demonstrate changes on MR images.” Another study compared non-runners and runners who ran 12 to 24 miles/week for a median of 40 years to determine joint changes and cartilage wear and tear. Their results suggest “that a lifetime of long distance running at mileage levels comparable to those of recreational runners today is not associated with premature osteoarthritis in the joints of the lower extremities.” In fact, long-distance running might even have a protective effect against joint degeneration because it stimulates bone-growth and health.

 

Osteoarthritis is still prevalent in runners, however running itself is not classified as a “cause” of degenerative arthritis. If a runner acquires osteoarthritis, it is due to a combination of many risk factors including: older age (people under 40 rarely experience osteoarthritis), sex (women are more likely), bone deformities and previous injuries (some people are born with malformed joints or defective cartilage) and obesity (carrying more body weight places more stress on your weight-bearing joints, such as your knees).

 

Nevertheless, I certainly don’t recommend becoming a couch potato to avoid osteoarthritis. I recommend a healthy approach to running with adequate rest and recovery, proper nutrition, appropriate footwear to help absorb the impact of running, alternating high impact with low-impact cross-training days (such as the elliptical trainer or running on a more forgiving surface, such as turf) and using ice and anti-inflammatories if you pushed your workout a little too far to help combat joint swelling. All of these measures allow you to be active and experience the benefits of running, while protecting your joints.

 

Unfortunately avoiding degenerative changes in joints over many years is not always black and white – it’s the gray area in-between that might just send me running to the nearest surgeon for a hip replacement when I’m 50. Until then, I’ve still got a lot of marathons in me.

Got muscle milk?

Okay, I’ll admit it. After years of searching for a protein powder that my digestive system could handle, I was ready to denounce supplements all together and take on the challenge of muscle building with nothing but a tuna steak and a fork. Granted, my unfortunate situation of being lactose intolerant certainly didn’t help my opinion of protein products, but how long and how many hundreds of dollars was it going to take before I found a powder that I was completely satisfied with?

Protein, as you may or may not know, is essential for optimum muscle growth. Made up of amino acids (the building blocks of muscle), a sufficient amount of protein puts your body into a nitrogen surplus, or an anabolic state, where the magic of muscle growth occurs. Without amino acids, it wouldn’t even be possible to maintain, repair or build muscle. The old adage says that in order to build muscle, a weightlifter should consume one gram of protein per pound of body weight a day, regardless of whether or not it is a training day. You can eat all the egg whites, tuna and steaks you want, but the fact is that without a protein supplement its going to be difficult to achieve that total without compromising other aspects of your diet.

For this reason, I began my long and arduous search to find a powder that not only agreed with my stomach, but also tasted good. After years of trying various products, I recently decided to give Cytosport’s Muscle Milk a try and let me say that I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to build lean muscle mass and lose body fat. Clearly Cytosport is not paying me to endorse their product, nor are there any affiliate marketing links provided here for which I could make a commission. The bottom line is that the product works, you get results and it tastes great.

The key is that Cytosport has combined both whey and casein protein in an effort to emulate the natural milk of a nursing mother, which some say is the gold standard anabolic formula. Muscle milk attempts to keep your anabolic window (the time in which protein synthesis occurs in your body) open longer by releasing a combination of whey (faster acting) and micellar caseins (releases protein, peptides, and amino acids more slowly). Perhaps more importantly for me is the fact that Muscle Milk is also lactose free, which allows me to digest it easily (a common complaint many weightlifters have about protein powders).

Anyway, that is my recommendation for those of you searching for an effective and tastey protein supplement. If you don’t want to take my word for it, listen to Atlanta-based trainer Corey Ritter of the Fitness Factor below…

It’s hot, it’s cold, it’s…marathon training in New England

At least when it’s freezing outside, you can layer your clothing. When it’s hot, there are only so many measures you can take to stay cool. So what is a runner to do when marathons in New England are scheduled predominantly during the fall and spring months? Race-day temperatures may be ideal, but training during the summer and winter in Boston can be discouraging and downright nasty.

 

I’ve run both fall and spring marathons in New England (including the Boston Marathon, the Greater Hartford Marathon and The Bay State Marathon) where I have battled blizzard-like conditions while dodging plow trucks, nearly passed-out during heat waves, and drowned in biblical-like rains in order to stick to a marathon training schedule. A little crazy, but then again, so is Mother Nature. She is infamous for rendering Boston a “continental climate.” But if you live in Beantown, this is not ground-breaking news.

 

It was news to me, however, when I decided to train for my first marathon. I had been a runner long before I began marathon training, so what would be different about training for a marathon in a city I was well accustomed to running in? I was used to running 50-60 miles a week and even participated in a few 5k/10k/half marathon races to test my abilities. I eat healthy, get enough rest, change my sneakers every 300 miles and stretch daily to maximize my performance. But what I didn’t account for was the intense training schedule consisting of running up to 70 miles per week and the dreaded Sunday long run.

 

Marathon training schedules are often nicely laid out and easy to follow (the schedule I typically abide by looks something like this). If all goes well, one can follow the plan precisely and run a decent marathon. But because the real world is not perfect, roadblocks such as family commitments, illnesses, injuries, and inclement weather can occur. As a result, your neatly-organized routine can frequently become disheveled and finding the time for 70 miles per week can become a chore.   

 

This shuffling of days, and trying to avoid haphazard weather can be stressful, but what I’ve learned is that you juggle the days in the training schedule so that you get in the most important workouts while still allowing for adequate recovery. Part of the challenge of a marathon is that preparing for it takes so long and the training required is so demanding, that it is becomes increasingly difficult to prevent impediments from creeping up. A good rule of thumb is that if you can do 90% of the planned training schedule, then your preparation is going well. If you miss 10 days or less during your schedule, you are okay; 10-20 days missed and you can continue to plan on running the marathon, but you may want to consider revising your goal for race day; 20 days or more missed on the schedule and you may want to run a later marathon since you can’t exactly “make-up” time.

 

With three marathons now under my belt, I’ve accepted the fact that there is no ideal time to train for a marathon given the continental climate that Boston embodies. I’d much rather get the bad weather out of the way during a training run this summer in 90-degree heat and test my luck at landing a great day in the fall to race a marathon. In fact, The Cape Cod Marathon looks fitting this October.

One hell of a week and the results that followed

I just put my body through a rigorous five-day workout plan aimed at increasing overall strength and packing on muscle mass. “Hell Week” as it is known, was well worth it, but I would only recommend it for experienced lifters and those not faint of heart. Perhaps even more surprising than seeing results after only one week was the simplicity of the routine — bench press, squat, deadlift, repeat.

Known as the three principle compound exercises of weightlifting, the bench, squat and deadlift are considered necessities for anyone looking to get bigger and stronger. The reason is that each of these movements incorporates a number of different muscles in order to complete one repetition of the exercise. For example, the bench press requires the lifter to use the pectoralis major and triceps brachii as primary muscles, while drawing in the front deltoids (shoulders), traps and back as secondary muscles. In much the same way, the squat and deadlift spread their focus among various muscles, allowing the lifter to fatigue different groups in one movement and therefore achieve a greater effect. (I would argue that the standing barbell military press could and should be considered a needed compound exercise as well, but that is for another post).

Anyway, despite my skepticism at the beginning, I gave this workout a shot and to my surprise, I can’t argue with the results.  After 10 minutes of cardio (aim for 150-200 calories burned) I performed a warm-up set of each exercise (12 reps at 60% max), followed by three sets to failure in the six to eight rep range (4 reps is okay for the last set as long as you up the weight and fail out). Beginning with the bench press, I performed each set with roughly two minutes of rest in between, which is one minute longer than I would take during my regular workout, and then progressed through the squat and deadlift. That’s it, the whole workout. I performed this routine for three consecutive days before taking a rest day and then finishing with a final two-day push.

After only five days of this routine, my deadlift, which was my weakest area of the three heading into the week, jumped 20 pounds for roughly three to four more reps. My bench press, which tends to reach a certain point and then plateau, also rose by the same amount (which for anyone struggling with a stubborn bench knows is an amazing move) and my squat, which I considered my strong point, rose another 30 pounds for one to two more reps.

Now please note, the idea of Hell Week is that it is a maximum fatigue routine that should only be performed once a month (I prefer the first week). Performing the same three exercises for consecutive days without giving your muscles time to heal and rest forces you to adjust and shocks your body into dealing with the heavier weights. It may take some getting used to mentally, but I urge those of you looking for a boost of strength to give this workout a shot and like me, you may just be surprised with the results.