Chris Bumstead is entering prep for the 2023 Olympia. He shares his first leg session of the prep!
Here are some of the leg training principles used during Chris Bumstead’s leg training session:
Tempo: Put more emphasis on a slower controlled negative (eccentric) phase and a smooth positive (concentric) motion.
Squeeze: Use a slight pause in the contracted portion of the range of motion to squeeze the muscle and make the exercise more challenging.
Rep Ranges: Most leg exercises are performed in the 8-12 rep range, although some may be slightly lower or higher.
Stretching: Between sets, static holds or stretches may be used to loosen the muscle fascia and increase blood flow in the legs.
Drop Sets: This technique of lowering the weight and performing another set without rest is often used in exercises toward the end of the leg workout to exhaust all muscle fibers.
These are strategies and techniques that Chris Bumstead implemented during this leg training workout. Try these principles out during your training and share your thoughts and progress with the community.
It does not matter if you’re an athlete, a weight lifting competitor, or a gym enthusiast, you should be warming up before you lift. But, as with pretty much everything workout-related, the internet has a lot of conflicting information about warming up. While there is seldom a “best” way to do something, most coaches and experienced athletes would agree that the best warm ups share some key factors.
In this post, we will talk about the most common warm up methods and, more importantly, learn how to determine which kind of warm up is best for maximizing your performance during your workout.
What Is A Warm Up?
A proper pre-lifting warm up is about priming your muscles, your nervous system, and your mind to train. For most athletes, doing a few reps — or even a lot of reps — with an empty bar doesn’t get your body adequately prepared for a heavy bench session. However, empty bar reps can be a key part of your warmup. To perform a complete warm up, though, you need to take different components of your training into account.
The goals of any warm up are:
Activate your muscles to reduce the risk of injury from lifting “cold.” Get your head in the game so that you’re focused on the lifting itself. Raise your body temperature to prepare yourself — and your cardiovascular system — for lifting. The idea is simple enough. Putting in a little bit of work before your workout proper will make your training more comfortable and less threatening both mentally and physically, allowing you to focus on making the strength, size, or performance gains you’re really after.
It’s best not to be too fickle about warming up. A jog is great, but it may not be enough to prime your muscles for a proper leg day. A few swinging kicks can be helpful, but they won’t get your heart and lungs ready to pull heavy weight. And if your mind is on dinner while you’re warming up, it will likely stay on dinner when you step under the bar.
So even if it’s a quick workout, you need to reserve at least a few minutes to get your body ready. You might need to include multiple components to reap maximum gains.
Benefits of a Proper Warm Up A proper warm up can help to increase performance and minimize injury risks, many of which are very preventable if the warm up is taken seriously. Below is a brief overview of the benefits of a proper warm up. If you want to avoid injury and lift heavier, don’t skip out on them.
Increase Body Temperature
Warming up is literally about getting warm — a good warm up should increase your core temperature. Stoking that internal fire will help improve bodily function and circulation (more on that below). It’ll also make your muscles that much more flexible. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a flexible athlete, you need to lubricate those joints before sinking into the bottom of a squat.
Increase Blood Flow and Oxygen Delivery A proper dynamic warm up will increase muscle blood flow and total body blood circulation. This is key for delivering oxygen-rich blood to the muscle tissue and clearing out metabolic byproducts from previous training sessions.
Additionally, a proper dynamic warm up will begin to shunt blood flow to the gut. You’ll get higher distributions of total body blood flow to active muscle tissues. With your blood already flowing where it needs to before you start your lifts, you can further enhance your exercise output and performance.
Mental Preparation A dynamic warm up gives you the chance to mentally prep for a training session or competition. If you move through the same dynamic warm up routine before each workout, it can become a ritual. Lifting rituals can be extremely soothing and centering as you pump yourself up for a dialed-in session. Not to mention that keeping a strong routine on competition day will help your body and mind remember that you can lift that weight.
Injury Resilience The better you’re warmed up, the more likely you are to avoid injury during your training. With your blood pumping to the muscles you’re about to use, you’re less susceptible to muscle strains. Your connective tissues will be warmer, with more nutrients and energy from the blood.
On top of that, your heart and lungs will be ready to support you during heavy lifts. That will make you less likely to strain unnecessarily hard — the better tuned in your breathing, the more effective your form can be. All of this means that you’ll be able to train harder and more consistently.
Common Warm Up Strategies
If you’ve spent any time in strength circles, you know that there are a lot of different feelings out there about various warm up protocols. In reality, very few things are entirely good or entirely bad. The best warm up protocols — like the best programs — are developed with your own body, goals, and the upcoming session in mind. To make sure you can choose the best warm up for you, it helps to be familiar with six of the most common warm up strategies.
Static Stretching Performing static stretching before a strength session is somewhat controversial. Instead of banning static stretching from your routine altogether, you can use it strategically. Move through some static stretches to make a mental inventory of any tightness or stiffness. That way, you can address it with the rest of your warm up routine.
Foam Rolling/Myofascial Release Light foam rolling and other active release manual therapies often find their way into a good warm up.
Methods like foam rolling, soft tissue massage, and lacrosse ball myofascial release are all options for working out specific aches and pains. Foam rolling may be especially helpful before sprinting or workouts that require extra flexibility.
Light Cardiovascular Exercise Light cardio can increase core body temperature and circulation throughout the body. Think rowing, biking, skipping rope, and jogging — go light here. If your entire workout is going to be focused on rowing, for example, you’ll need to warm up for that, too. But if you’re only using these activities to get your heart going, take it nice and easy.
You’re not looking to set any new personal pace records during your cardio warm up. Instead, think of this stage as a warm up for your warm up. It’ll allow your body to be already ready to slip into faster-paced movement sequences afterwards.
Dynamic Warm Up The dynamic warm up is a pivotal aspect of a training program. This part gets you sweating, breathing heavier, and mentally prepped for the rigor to come. Make sure you’re moving with intention. Be specific about what moves you’re choosing (more below), and don’t be concerned if your dynamic warm up feels difficult. If you’re doing it right, it should be just a little bit taxing — not fatiguing, but taxing enough to really charge your body up.
Activation Exercises Following a brief dynamic warm up, you’ll want to perform a few activation exercises. These movements should be specific to your day’s session. They’ll increase muscle activation and movement coordination of the muscle groups. You’ll get your different muscle groups working together as needed for whatever lifts you have programmed for the day. The more “turned on” the muscles are, the more you’ll be able to fire all cylinders when you load up the bar.
Light-Load Skill/Technique Movements Before jumping into the work sets, use an empty barbell and light loaded movements to prepare for the training session. It’s not “weak” to warm up with just the bar — you’ll be patterning your mind and muscles to prep for the task at hand. Using ramp up sets will help your muscles be at their peak readiness by the time the bar gets heavy.
Of course, like the rest of your warm up, “ramp up” sets might require some trial and error. Take note of how different tweaks to your warm up impact your performance, and remember that not all lifters will have the same ramp up needs.
How Long Do You Have to Warm Up?
If you’ve got a good lifting session planned, it’s normal to be eager to get started. But if you want to have the most eHffective session possible, budget your time so that you’re devoting adequate time to your warm up. That might mean slicing off a couple of extra accessory exercises from the end of your workout, but it’ll be well worth it.
Light Total-Body Cardiovascular Exercise (Bike, Row, Jog, etc) — three to five minutes. Static Stretching (optional) and/or Foam Roll — three to five minutes. Dynamic Warm Up — five minutes. Activation Exercises (session specific) — three to five minutes.
If you skip static stretching and foam rolling, this should take you a little over 10 minutes. If you opt for every modality, it can take you closer to 20 minutes. If you have the time to devote to it, great. But keep in mind that you don’t need to always perform every part of the warm up buffet to get prepared for your workout.
Sample Warm Ups
You’re going to warm up differently for a long run than you are for a heavy lifting session. Further, the way you warm up for your upper body training isn’t the same as your pre-deadlift warmup. It’ll take some trial and error to discover what works best for your body, but we can lay out a few samples to help guide you in the right direction.
Squat Warm Up To warm up before squatting, you’ll want to focus on your ankle mobility and hip mobility. Especially if you’re low bar squatting, you’ll also want to warm up your shoulders, lats, and traps.
For overall body activation — light cardio, three to five minutes. For ankle mobility — deep squat shifts with kettlebell, four sets of 45 seconds. For hip mobility — 90/90 flow, three sets of 45 seconds back and forth. For shoulder, lat, and trap activation — band pull aparts, three sets of 15-20 reps. For light load and technique — two sets of 12 long pause squats with an empty bar.
Deadlift Warm Up
Deadlifts require your entire body to be warm, activated, and ready to go. You’ll want to focus on some of the same “problem” areas that you do before squatting. Make sure you’re moving slowly and with intention instead of just going through the motions.
For overall activation — light cardio, three to five minutes. For hip activation — glute bridges, three sets of 15 reps. For hamstring and lat activation — dumbbell RDL to row, three sets of 15 reps. For light load and technique — two sets of 15 bent over rows with an empty bar, followed by practice deadlifts as needed.
Upper Body Warm Up Whether you’re rowing, pressing, or benching, you’ll want to focus on your shoulder health during your warm up. This will require activating your rear delts, traps, and lats to help protect from injury. You’ll also be able to lift heavier and more effectively if you prep your prime movers.
For overall activation — light cardio, three to five minutes. For shoulder, lat, and trap activation — face pulls, three sets of 15 reps. For tricep and chest activation — two sets of 10-15 tricep pushups. For full body alignment — three sets of 10 bird dogs. For light load and technique — two to three sets of 10-15 reps with an empty bar in the compound lift you’ll be performing.
Wrap Up
A good warm up can make a world of difference in the gym if you go about it correctly. Consider your goals, your body, and your session before determining which warm up to use. There is a lot of consistency to be had in your sessions if you’re intuitive about your preparation. Bring more specificity to your warm up to maximize performance and decrease injury risks.
How Social Media creates false expectations in bodybuilding
Since the birth of social media bodybuilding a whole has not been the same. The old school aesthetics in bodybuilder posters and magazine editorial shots have been replaced with photo shopped “mass monsters”. Competitors habitually post “progress pictures” to show off “their improvements”. Professionals are openly sharing their protocols for making fast gainz in size and strength.
It’s literally become a $#!T show!
Bodybuilding is an art, you lift weights to add mass and diet to chisel in the details. Bodybuilding has always been a slow process with the importance of executing a long term plan in order to progress. With the rise of social media, false expectations in both natural and enhanced bodybuilding, and the line of what is obtainable, has been extremely blurred.
One of the problems with bodybuilding (particularly in the professional division) and social media is the open expression of drug use in order to gain mass and/or strength fast.
In other words a lot of athletes are overdosing on drugs in order to speed up the process, as a consequence the side effects of the drugs become a lot more enhanced and visible. A few of these side effects include palumboism (accelerated hair loss) and an increased risk of heart attacks and kidney failures. Since COVID we have seen an alarming number of well known bodybuilding competitors and gym culture enthusiasts pass away.
All of these side effects become a bigger problem as the followers of these influencers begin to use and abuse these drugs in order to emulate the progress they see from those on various social media platforms. Social media has created a “perfect physique” craze among the gym culture through the promotion of using drugs. Unfortunately this level of physique features an extreme amount of mass that is rarely attainable for most who begin to use protocols, as they lack the genetics that these “perfect physiques” have. This leads to these individuals trying to compensate for their lack in genetics by pushing the protocols to the extreme; leading to enhanced side effects, with palumboism being the biggest problem. Palumboism is the gut(internal organs) expanding, resulting in a pregnant stomach look as a result of drug abuse. So if you see guys in the gym with insanely round traps, lean shoulders and arms, and stomach protrusion… you know why!
“Fake Natty’s”
Drugs give a bodybuilder a huge advantage in gaining muscle and losing fat. There was study done looking at the effects of steroids on lean muscle mass gain over a 10 week period. The 43 participants were aged between 19 and 43 and placed into 4 random groups, group 1 did not weight train and did not take drugs, group 2 did not do resistance training but took a small dose of drugs. Group 3 only did resistance training but did not take drugs, group 4 did resistance training and took a small dose of drugs. The results of the study showed that group 4 had the most lean muscle gain followed by group 2 who did not do resistance training but did take drugs, followed by group 3 which trained but did not take drugs and lastly group 1 obviously had no result. What was surprising was group 2 who did no training at all have significant better lean muscle gain over the 10 week period then the group who trained but did not take and drugs. With the group who took drugs and did not train gaining on average twice the amount of group 3 who trained but did not take drugs. In summary this study showed that drugs will make a big difference when it comes to bodybuilding.
This comes to the idea of athletes who are enhanced bodybuilders but claim to be a natural, or fake natty’s. Due to the huge advantage that enhanced bodybuilders have over natural lifters these fake natty’s set a false expectation of what is accomplished naturally. With social media usage increasing and reaching out to more people, it spreads a false image of naturally bodybuilding.
Extreme Exercises and Heavy Weights
Everyone wants to be incredible hulk! Guys proving they can bench, squat, or deadlift more than the average use to be solely based on who wins a powerlifting or weightlifting competition. These days, guys are posting clips and/or reels on the various social media platforms of themselves lifting astronomical poundage’s. This has also led to guys posting obnoxious exercises (lifting people, couches, exercise equipment, etc.) just to prove their strength.
Its getting out of hand!!
.. and social media acts like an amplifier in this case spreading these false expectations to thousands of individuals.
Viewers see this stuff and start setting unrealistic goals or even getting discourage from lifting in generally due to the large gap between them and their “role models”. These ridiculous antics are not only creating terrible habits of heavy weight and bad form, but also over training and an alarming number of unnecessary injuries; some of which cannot be reversed. Everyone can gain relative strength, but it takes time and the development of muscle fibers, as well as strong joints/ligaments to handle those increased loads. Do NOT hurt yourself trying to garner fame and attention online. It is not worth the risk!
Photoshop
With the increasing amount of technology users and the ever so improving software, photo-shop is becoming more accessible as the years roll on and becoming more easier to use. In the sport of bodybuilding and physique competition where everything is subjective to a visually representation, photoshop is used to enhance the physiques of many athletes in order to maintain, or even improve the overall appearance and increase the positive response they get from fans in their online presence. This has majorly contributed to the false expectation that social media has created in bodybuilding. Where a lot of unknown or not very developed physique athletes feeling the need to use photoshop to enhance there appearance in order to gain fame. In the process of using photoshop they set unrealistic physiques are not obtainable for must individuals, this discourages a lot of people from competing in bodybuilding and does not help the sport grow and expand.
Are there any pros?
Well so far there may seem to be an over welling number of negative impacts social media has had on bodybuilding, but don’t get me wrong there are a few pros to social media but there are simply more cons then pros of social media on bodybuilding and the gym culture as a whole. A few of the positive impacts social media has on bodybuilding is the instant connection fan’s have with their favorite bodybuilder, in a era before social media the only time you could connect with your favorite bodybuilder was by going to the show they were competing, in order to interact with them. With social media you can now view their latest post in an instant, instead of waiting for the weekly magazine with all the latest snapshots of the bodybuilder.
Getting the bulletproof abs you hear so much about is actually not that hard. The secret is choosing the right exercises and doing that ab workout on a regular basis. Consistency builds greatness. A flat stomach with visible abs is great for the summer and looking good at the beach, but the actual benefit in training your abs is increased athleticism and a better posture. In the long run this is the real benefit of taking care of your abs.Give this routine a try!!
Testosterone Replacement Therapy is not even close to the same thing as steroid abuse.
Is testosterone a steroid? Technically yes, but not in the way most people mean. Testosterone is not an illegal steroid and will not cause “roid rage”.
Testosterone is a naturally occurring steroid hormone produced in the body. Its natural role is to promote bone density, produce sperm in the testes, and stimulate lean muscle growth.
Unfortunately, the facts are muddled with myths, rumors, and confusion.
TRT Is Not the Same as Illegal Steroid Abuse
Many people are under the false impression that choosing Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) to normalize testosterone levels will produce exactly the same effects as the extremely high testosterone levels that are associated with abusing steroids.
Many people mistakenly associate TRT with bodybuilding. They fear the possibility of becoming instantly and unnaturally bulky like “that guy” in the gym and of suffering uncontrolled side effects, like liver damage or the development of male breasts.
They’re worried about experiencing uncontrolled aggression, commonly known as “roid rage.”
However, these are misconceptions about TRT that couldn’t be further from the truth.
People are confusing two entirely different things.
TRT is a safe medical treatment for a legitimate medical condition. Using extremely high dosages of testosterone cypionate (commonly used in TRT) in conjunction with other compounds is considered steroid abuse, which is not recommended due to safety concerns.
If anyone chooses to use steroids for muscle growth and/or strength, it is highly recommended that a medical professional monitors health markers closely.
What Does Testosterone Do?
Among other roles in your body, testosterone causes an increase in the size of your muscle cells. This means each individual muscle cell will grow.
Because bigger muscles tend to also be stronger, your strength can increase as a result. In turn, increased muscle mass burns more calories, helping to establish and to maintain a better balance between lean muscle and excess body fat.
Balanced levels of testosterone can improve an individual’s sense of emotional wellbeing as well as their concentration and focus, which can improve performance in the mental aspect of work or competition.
TRT and Steroids — What’s the Difference?
If you’re suffering from low testosterone and are experiencing deficiencies in strength, muscle mass, sexual performance, or concentration, restoring normal testosterone levels may help restore performance, including at work, in sports, and in the bedroom.
Obtaining medication illegally and boosting testosterone to extreme levels may lead to artificial muscle gains, an increase in performance at your chosen athletic endeavor, and enhanced performance in the bedroom, but it may also have the opposite effect in those areas (in addition to being dangerous, potentially causing life-long damage to your body, and being illegal).
Thus, we begin to see the differences between the medical treatment known as TRT and the risky and illegal practice of steroid abuse for some competitive edge or cosmetic benefit.
The differences are found in the goals, purpose, amounts, and application.
The Facts About Steroid Abuse
Illegal steroids are abused for cosmetic benefits or physical performance reasons — to build muscle and lose body fat or to enhance one’s ability to perform in a sport or excel in bodybuilding.
Steroid abusers aren’t lacking in endogenous (naturally produced) testosterone, and they’re using supplementary testosterone to cheat natural processes.
The following are important facts about illegal steroid abuse:
Steroids are often obtained and injected illegally at very high doses.
This treatment is not approved by the FDA.
There are no diagnostic tests to determine if someone needs anabolic steroids for recreational purposes.
A total lack of medical oversight leads to uncontrolled side effects and health risks.
Steroid abusers usually don’t use testosterone only. In addition to huge doses of testosterone, they’re adding other substances on top, some of which may be illegal.
It’s a simple matter. The primary concern with steroid abuse is one of safety. It’s never advised to risk your long-term health for a competitive or cosmetic edge.
The Facts About Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT)
Testosterone Replacement Therapy is a medical treatment prescribed and administered by health care professionals to help treat the effects of low testosterone levels in men.
Administration of supplemental testosterone begins only if medically valid diagnostic tests determine there is an actual deficiency in one’s testosterone level.
You generally need to exhibit symptoms of low testosterone and have a total level of testosterone below 300 ng/dL or a free testosterone level below 9.0 ng/dL (for men).
Because low testosterone is a recognized medical condition, your medical care provider can prescribe testosterone to you in a controlled TRT treatment protocol. The goal is to restore levels to an optimum range, not an extreme range.
Properly administered Testosterone Replacement Therapy has a number of potential benefits, including:
Increased lean muscle production and strength
Reduced fat tissue production
Improved erectile function
Increased sexual desire (libido)
Improved mood and increased sense of well-being
Reduced anxiety and improved concentration
Increased energy and motivation
These benefits are accessible to patients following a monitored treatment protocol without all the countless and unpredictable side effects of steroids abuse.
These benefits might help an athlete to improve their performance on the field to a small degree, but your body will not change to the unnatural degree it would when abusing steroids without proper supervision.
Steroid Abuse and TRT: Side Effects Are Different
Some of the side effects that can be caused by TRT include:
Acne
Slight male breast development
Enlarged prostate
Difficulty urinating
Mood swings
Fluid retention
When you’re being treated with medically indicated Testosterone Replacement Therapy, we’re monitoring your health, and we’re making very sure you aren’t given a dose that’s too high or too low. We know how to minimize these side effects or prevent them all together.
Some of these same side effects can occur with steroid abuse, but their severity is much more pronounced due to the unnatural hormone levels reached when abusing testosterone. Other side effects of illegal steroid use are flat-out dangerous:
Large male breast development
Disease of the liver or spleen
High blood pressure
Increased cholesterol
Blood clots
Heart disease
Testosterone Replacement Therapy can be safe, effective, and side-effect free when provided under the guidance of a trained professional. This makes all the difference.
Making sure that your health is not sacrificed in the name of “higher T levels” is one of the most important roles of a TRT provider.
Learn More About Safe and Effective Treatment for Low T
Understand that any medicine can be a poison; it all depends on the dose and proper medical supervision. Make sure that when you choose someone to help you with your Low T symptoms, you select a provider with the knowledge and expertise to improve your quality of life while also keeping you safe.
I am a huge proponent for making time to hit the gym. If it is important to you, time is made for it. There are those days where life makes it impossible to get there.. but, that does not mean you have an excuse to not workout.
If you’re looking for a simple workout that requires minimal space and very little equipment, then you’ve come to the right place. Using just resistance bands, this 20-minute workout will fire up muscles you may never have felt work before and trigger a bunch of feelgood endorphins. Plus, it can be done in the gym, at home, or wherever you want!
Why Use A Resistance Band?
It might look like an innocent piece of equipment, but don’t be fooled. Resistance bands can really up the intensity of a workout and offer a great alternative to free weights such as dumbbells and barbells. As well as being lower-impact, resistance bands are transportable and can be used for so many different exercises.
Different bands will offer different levels of resistance, but keep the resistance manageable. Doing more reps and keeping your muscles under tension for longer will help strengthen your muscles.
For the exercises in this workout, you’ll need a mini band and a longer therapy resistance band, essentially an unlooped band that allows you to hold an end in each hand, or wrap the band around an anchor such as a lamppost or door handle.
Run through the exercises below for a total of four rounds.
1. Banded pulse squat
Time 60sec Rest 15sec
This simple move really works your lower body. Wrap a mini band around your legs, just above the knees, with your feet just wider than hip-width apart. Keeping your back flat and your gaze forwards, bend your knees and push your hips back and down into a sitting position, aiming for your thighs to be parallel to the ground. Add a pulse by rising up slightly then dropping back down into the squat, then push through your heels and come back up to standing.
2. Squat lateral walk
Time 60sec Rest 15sec
Place a mini band around your thighs, with your feet hip-width apart, and lower into a squat. Keep your back flat and gaze forwards as you take a small step to the right with the right foot, then follow it with the left foot. Maintain resistance in the band throughout as you take three steps to the right and three to the left. You can also do this move with the band placed just above your ankles
3. Banded deadlift
Time 60sec Rest 15sec
Hold the ends of your longer therapy band and stand in the middle of the band with your feet hip-width apart. The band needs to stay taut throughout the movement; you may need to wrap it around your hands a couple of times if it’s a particularly long band.
Keeping your back flat, chest up and arms straight down either side of your legs, hinge at your hips, push your hips back, soften your knees and lower your arms. When your hands reach your knees, push through your heels to rise back up to standing and squeeze your glutes at the top.
4. Banded biceps curl
Time 60sec Rest 15sec
Start in the same position as for the deadlift: feet in the middle of your therapy band, an end in each hand. Keeping your upper arms pinned to your body, bend at the elbows to bring your hands close to your shoulders. Pause at the top, then lower them back to the start. To add resistance, wrap the band around your hand again to shorten it.
5 Banded lateral raise
Time 60sec Rest 15sec
Place one foot in the middle of the band and the other just behind you on the floor, and hold one end of the band in each hand, keeping your arms down by your side. With your core braced and looking forwards, slowly lift both arms out to the sides. Keep a slight bend in your elbows throughout. Pause when your arms reach your eye level, then slowly lower back to the start.
6 Banded bicycle crunch
Time 60sec Rest 15sec
Expect your core to begin to burn very quickly performing this move, so don’t go too fast. Lie back on the floor and place a mini band around both feet. Your arms should be by your sides. Lift your neck and shoulders off the floor, engage your core, then lift both legs slightly off the floor. Bring your left knee in to your chest, then as you straighten that leg, bring your right knee to your chest. Ensure your lower back stays flat on the floor throughout.
There you have it. Even when time is a factor, there is always a way to sneak in an effective workout; Gym or no Gym. Save this post to your phone and give it a try. 4 rounds to start and increase rounds as you get stronger. Train Hard Ladies!
Ryan Humiston shares his hilarious but factual perspective on the science behind common mistakes in squatting form, as well as how to correct these errors. Check out the video.
In this video, we’re going over how to optimize the growth of leg muscles by manipulating the form and finding squat variations that create the longest possible moment arm at the joint.
As a joint moves away from the line of force, it creates a moment arm, and the greater the moment arm, the more torque on the joint, which increases the demand on the supporting muscles. The muscles that get the most stress or tension are dictated by which joint is furthest away from the line of force. The traditional high bar squat has a relatively equal-sized moment arm in the hip joint and knee joint when the femur is parallel to the floor, while a low bar squat biases the hip joint, and a front squat biases the knee joint.
I use a hack squat as an example of how to apply this information. The hack squat is a great exercise for the quads because it allows the creation of the longest possible moment arm from the knee joint. However, after hitting parallel and continuing down, the moment arm of the knee joint decreases before contracting the weight up, which makes the movement easier on the quads. To optimize the exercise, it is best to walk the feet down to the point that the bottom of the movement keeps the moment arm of the knee joint at its greatest, while simultaneously decreasing the angle of the knee joint to increase stress on the quads.
As well as other practical ways you can apply this to your training when you’re trying to specifically target glutes or quads.
When it comes to getting stronger on the deadlift, using a conventional grip only cuts it for so long. And believe me you will know when that time is up. Your wrists and forearms will give you the message loud and clear.
Insert the Hook grip…
This is one of the most fundamental pieces in the weightlifting puzzle, and also something that gives a lot of new lifters a great deal of trouble because of a misunderstanding of how the hook is actually created and held.
The hook grip is one of the most important techniques used in deadlifting. It is a grip that starts by wrapping your thumb over the bar, then your fingers go over the thumb and around the bar. This grip is superior to the traditional overhand grip in many ways, as it allows for greater control of the barbell and reduces the stress placed on the wrists and forearms.
The hook grip ensures a secure hold on the barbell, which is key when deadlifting. It is important to be able to maintain control of the weight throughout the lift. The hook grip allows the lifter to keep the barbell close to their body and to maintain a neutral spine position. This helps to reduce the risk of injury, as the barbell does not have to be pulled away from the body.
Finally, the hook grip also allows the lifter to use heavier weights. The secure grip on the barbell allows the lifter to use heavier weights without worrying about losing their grip. This can lead to greater gains in strength and size.
The hook grip also reduces stress on the wrists and forearms. When using an overhand grip, the wrists and forearms must work harder to keep the barbell in place. This can cause fatigue and can even lead to injury. The hook grip eliminates this risk by providing a more secure grip on the barbell.
How to Use the Hook Grip Properly
As the name suggests, the hook grip creates a natural hook out of your hand for lifting purposes. Your thumb, index, and middle fingers all work together to create what feels like a natural lifting strap. Check out the step-by-step guide to master this secure grip.
Press the area between your thumb and index finger into the barbell.
Wrap your thumb fully around the barbell.
Wrap your index and middle fingers over your thumb.
Pull your lats back and take the slack out of the bar to maximize surface area for finger and thumb contact.
Check out this video from Leon Oyaro on how to use the Hook Grip
At first, the hook grip may be uncomfortable or even painful. However, with continuous practice, the grip will become more comfortable than a conventional overhand grip. To reduce the discomfort, lifters can wrap their thumbs with flexible athletic tape, which can also make it easier to keep a secure grip. Furthermore, after training, they can submerge their hands in ice water for 5-10 minutes to help reduce pain and hasten the adaptation process.
This technique can and will accelerate your deadlift gainz. Give it a try and leave a comment to let us know what you think. Dont forget to post your workout pictures and clips in the community feed.
The trapezius is a large muscle in your back. It starts at the back of your head and neck, extends across your shoulders, and down the middle of your back, forming a trapezoid. Also known as traps, the trapezius muscles play an important role in posture. They move the shoulders, lift arms out to the side, and protect the neck and spine. You use them when you shrug or pull your shoulders back. Check out these exercise options and add them into your program!
Did you know the best pre-workout ingredient is located right in your kitchen cabinet. And the amount of this ingredient needed to kick your workouts into overdrive costs less than pennies on the dollar per serving.
Salt is an important electrolyte that helps to regulate fluid balance, muscle contractions and nerve impulses. It also helps to maintain a healthy balance of sodium and potassium, which are essential for proper hydration and muscle contraction. By increasing your intake of salt before and during workouts, you can help to take your performance to the next level.
Salt can be added to your pre-workout meal or snack to help ensure proper hydration, electrolyte balance, as well as improve workout performance and the coveted muscle pump. Drinking a sports drink with electrolytes before and during your workouts can also help to replace any lost electrolytes.
Adding a pinch of salt to your post-workout smoothie or protein shake can also help to replenish lost electrolytes and help to prevent muscle cramps and soreness. This can be especially helpful if you are doing an intense workout and need to replenish your electrolytes quickly.
Finally, salt can also be used to improve recovery after a workout. Adding salt to a hot bath can help to draw out lactic acid build up and reduce muscle soreness. Also, adding salt to a warm compress can help to reduce swelling and inflammation.
Whether you are an athlete or just someone looking to improve their workouts, adding salt to your diet can be a great way to increase your performance and speed up recovery.
Improved Workout Performance Increasing salt is an optimum way to increase energy levels and boost overall performance in your workouts. When you stop restricting salt your insulin levels can drop, allowing your body to access it’s energy reserves – or fat. DiNicolantonio also notes that when you increase your salt intake to supply the body with energy, your salt retaining hormones go down, improving the sensitivity of your fat cells to insulin.
Muscle Gains – When boosting salt intake to an appropriate level, our energy levels go up, our endurance boosts and the cardiovascular blood flow achieves new heights. All of these things lead to stronger, more efficient, and less exhausting workouts. Optimum muscle performance is one of the best side effects, allowing you to reach your goals in less time than you alternatively would have.
Blood Flow – Blood volume drops in just 3 minutes when exercising vigorously. If you can increase blood volume prior to exercise by consuming more salt, it can help to increase cardiovascular blood flow. Without pre-workout salt consumption, your standard blood volume is primarily supplying your working muscles during exercise and does not have the blood volume it could also use to send to the heart.
Body Cooling – Better blood flow equals better cooling! Improved blood circulation and water retention means your body cooling off faster and more effectively – leading to longer endurance and just generally feeling better during your workout!
Reduced Risk of Hyponatremia – Did you know that the average person exercising loses over a quart of sweat per hour? Double that for intense or long-duration workouts, or for those who run. A condition called hyponatremia can occur when the sodium in your blood is abnormally low. The more you workout, the more sodium you lose and the more that sodium needs to be replaced in order to prevent the chance of hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is fairly common in adults who exercise regularly and can become quite severe if not monitored. The warning signs include nausea, fatigue, headaches, and confusion. The good news is that it has an easy fix! You guessed it – consuming salt before your workouts. It can also lead to a decreased risk for arrhythmias and cramps.
Dr. DiNicolantonio’s Recommendations for Salt Consumption Prior to Workouts
More information and detailed recommendations can be found on page 136 of Dr. DiNicolantonio’s book, The Salt Fix.
In Moderate Climates (below 80 degrees)
½ teaspoon of salt prior to exercise
In Hot Climates (80-89 degrees)
½ – 1 teaspoon of salt prior to exercise
In Very Hot Climates (90 degrees or above)
1-2 teaspoons of salt prior to exercise
What Are The Optimal Ways To Take Salt Before I Workout?
There are a few methods that we and Dr. DiNicolantonio recommend for salt consumption before working out. If you prefer to use what you already have on hand, grab your Redmond Real Salt (Sea Salt, Pink Himalayan Salt, or any basic iodized salt will do) and measure your dosage to consume dry – then rinse your mouth with water or pickle juice. If going this route, it’s important to use Real Salt or another natural, unrefined salt that contains iodine.
I personally do not recommend the option above, but if hardcore is what you choose… then by all means go for it!.
If you’re looking for a tastier way to consume your pre-workout salt, we recommend adding salt to your pre workout powder/drink. Try it out… drop a comment to let us know what you think! Train Hard!!
Ego can get the best of us when training.. and these days, so many people are doing stupid stuff when weight training that aches, pains, and even injuires are more prevalent now than ever, especially in the knees. Even experienced lifters deal with knee pain at some point in their training journey. Sometimes it is the result of muscle imbalances and/or poor form. Whatever the reason, it is important to learn how to combat those aches and pains.
Add these two exercises into your leg day warmup protocol or even your daily warmup to alleviate knee pain and prevent future injuries.
RetroWalking on the treadmill
Retro walking, or walking backwards, can improve mobility in your knees, hip, and ankle—plus, it can prevent pain and shock absorption in comparison to regular walking. In some cases, physical therapists use reverse walking to improve gait (walking pattern) after an injury, surgery, or illness.
***Warm-up: At the beginning of your training session Retro Walk on an incline between 3-5 for 5-10 mins.***
Tibialis Raises
The Tibialis muscle runs along the front of your shin and is one of the muscles responsible for the dorsiflexion of the foot as well as helps stabilize the ankle joint and knee joint. This is very important for walking or running as it helps lift the foot off the ground. Strengthening this muscle can improve balance and coordination, improve limberness of the Achilles tendon, and reduce pain and prevent injuries in the shins and knees.
***Warm-up: lean back against a wall with your feet out in front of you. Raise your toes off the ground as high as you can. Complete 4 sets of 20***
Using these exercises will definitely help with your longevity with weight training. Just remember, the idea is train intelligently. If you are not feeling the target muscle contract more than you feel the pressure in your joints and ligaments, in this case your knees; lighten the load. “Stimulate the muscle not Annihilate it” Lee Haney. Train Hard!!!
The fitness culture makes losing weight/bodyfat seem like a difficult feat. Granted the process for determining calorie restriction is different for each individual. However, there are basic rules that everyone can follow to make noticeable changes to their physique and overall health. Below are 4 easy changes that anyone can make today and quickly see results. Just pick ONE……. and go for it!!
1. DON’T EAT OR DRINK ANYTHING WITH ADDED SUGAR
Obesity epidemic… solved. Type-2 diabetes crisis… solved. That 15 pounds you need to lose… it’ll drop right off, probably.
Of all the things people freak out about – too many carbs, too much fat, the wrong kinds of carbs and fats, organic vs. nonorganic etc. – sugar should be the most obvious monkey wrench you keep out of your machinery.
Most fit people have already gotten rid of the sugary kid cereals and have learned to love their coffee black, but many of those same people make up for all the sugar they avoid during the week on weekends. Stop saying you “rarely” eat sugar just because you skip it all week and only have a doughnut-orgy on Saturday. You eat lots of sugar, dummy.
Also, organic sugar will make you organically fat. Take the sugar-laden foods out of Whole Foods and the store would be half the size.
Now, don’t get weird here. DO eat your fruits, berries, sweeter veggies, and other foods that just happen to contain some natural sugars. You’ll be fine. No one ever got fat from eating too many carrots despite the 3 grams of sugar each one contains.
Just focus on ADDED sugars and read those food labels all the way down. Do you see sugar on there, or one of the 61 tricky names for sugar like sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup, barley malt, dextrose, maltose, rice syrup, etc.? Then don’t eat it. Period.
Lay off the honey too, paleo people. Your caveman ancestor didn’t eat the amount of honey you add to one batch of your “paleo cookies” in his entire lifetime.
2. EAT ONLY 100 GRAMS OF CARBS PER DAY
Most carbs aren’t evil. Rice, oats, and potatoes are pure muscle fuel. But most overweight people ARE usually over-consuming carbs… and not from rice, oatmeal, and potatoes.
Years ago, Dr. Mike Roussell and I co-wrote a one-rule diet called The 100 Gram Carb Cure. Eat 100 grams of carbs per day. That’s about it. This creates an autoregulating effect, so everything else pretty much falls into place.
For most people, this easy-to-follow plan naturally causes them to lower their daily calories and “spend” their carb allotment more wisely. With carbs limited, but not too limited, their protein intake naturally increases, which keeps them satiated.
Lifters should spend their carbs around their workouts, ideally by using specially formulated workout nutrition drinks designed to boost muscle growth, fuel hard training, and stimulate recovery. The rest of the day you’ll get a stray carb here and there until you reach about 100 grams. Then, no more carbs.
Now, this one-rule diet does require some carb counting, but it’s pretty painless compared to those count-everything plans.
3. DON’T EAT 3 HOURS BEFORE BED (AND ALWAYS EAT BREAKFAST)
Intermittent fasting is all the rage again. It’s very popular with people who’ll be even fatter in the future and diet coaches who’ve run out of ideas.
Two problems here. First, the studies done so far on this and other types of fasting show that while weight can be lost, abdominal fat is often gained in the long run. Developing insulin resistance, fertilizing the seed of an eating disorder, and triggering a “gene expression profile favoring lipid (fat) deposition” as the science nerds say, could be the culprits.
Second, hundreds of studies show that doing the opposite – always eating breakfast but cutting off eating about 3 hours before bed – has a host of benefits, including fat loss. You’ll be “fasting” for 3 hours plus the time you’re asleep, plus the time it takes you to get moving in the morning and make breakfast. Call it “The 11.5 Hour Fast” if that makes you feel special.
Frontloading calories – eating more earlier in the day and less in the evening – has been shown to work better than backloading calories even if total calories are kept the same. But realistically, overeating and snacking at night are curbed, and that’s probably the main benefit.
As a bonus, eating breakfast, particularly a high protein breakfast, also normalizes our neurotransmitters that regulate food intake, so not eating 3 hours before bed is fairly easy once you break the behavioral habits.
But you don’t like eating breakfast? That’s usually because you overeat at night and you’ve got your hormones all mussed up, primarily ghrelin and leptin which affect the brain chemicals NPY, AGRP, and POMC… but let’s keep this simple.
In short, a big protein-heavy breakfast is less likely to be converted and stored as body fat, while big nighttime meals are more easily stored as fat. As one researcher noted: “Energy intake timing may have substantial effect on metabolism, independent of total energy intake and quality of diet.”
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4. DON’T EAT WHEAT
No, this isn’t necessarily about gluten. It seems that this particular grain is troublesome for several things besides its gluten content.
The anti-wheat doctors and paleo advocates like to quote studies showing that wheat polypeptides bind to the brain’s morphine receptor, the same receptor to which opiate drugs bind, meaning that you get cravings, overeat, and disrupt your natural appetite-signaling and satiation mechanisms.
Some of this research is debatable, but the health benefits of wheat are largely nonexistent, you don’t need it, and it’s probably doing you more harm than good. Maybe it’s more related to FODMAPs, or maybe it’s just that most wheat-containing foods are also full of the same stuff that can lead to something called toxic hunger.
Doesn’t matter. The one-rule diet, “don’t eat wheat,” works for just about everyone.
Adopting a wheat-free diet tends to get rid of most of the stuff that made you chubby to begin with: pastries, pancakes, breakfast cereals, breads, pastas, etc. If your body fat is stubborn, or you feel out of control around food, give it a shot. It can take anywhere from 5 to 28 days to drop the “wheat addiction” the experts say.
Takeaway
Now, of course none of the above one-rule diets work if you sit around eating sticks of butter rolled in peanuts. I’d tell you not to do that, but instead I’ll just assume your IQ is above 70. Try one of these out and drop a comment about your results!! Eat smart!!!!
There are no “man exercises” or “woman exercises,” but that doesn’t mean women should train exactly like men. Although women gain relative strength and muscle at virtually the same rate as men (1), there are key differences in how women should train to get the best results.
Here are the general guidelines for women, tailored to the female body. I’ve also provided a sample
workout for women so you can see how these guidelines are used.
1. Women benefit from more volume than men.
Research shows that women can generally do more reps at a given intensity than men. So, it’s reasonable to say that women should generally perform more reps per set than men. However, this can lead to using very light weights for endless reps.
The weight you use on each set is determined by the number of reps you’re doing. Both women and men should choose a load that leaves them unable to perform any more than indicated on the workout program, but without cheating by using momentum.
But, since women have greater muscle endurance than men when using light to medium loads (2), they can benefit from doing an additional set. So, if a generic workout program calls for 3 sets of 8-12 reps, women will generally get better results by adding a fourth set.
Adding an additional set takes advantage of women’s superior muscle endurance while keeping each set’s intensity high enough to create strength adaptations.
2. Women don’t need as much rest between sets.
Women recover faster after a set than men because they’re less fatigable (3). Therefore, women don’t need as much rest between sets as men. This is why many women prefer faster-paced workouts like tri-sets and circuits.
Tri-set training – doing three exercises that hit a different muscle group, performed in series – can be more effective than traditional training. It enables you to rest longer between sets of the same muscle group while maximizing training time by doing a set targeting a different muscle group.
Tri-sets are especially great for women because they allow them to keep moving, which maximizes work while still getting ample rest between sets hitting the same muscle group – important for getting the most out of each set.
3. Women can train their upper bodies more often than men.
Women not only recover faster than men after each set, but they also recover faster after workouts.
For example, one study of males and females involved performing the bench press three times per week for five sets at 50% to 100% of perceived five-rep max (5RM). After the program, the subjects, on three consecutive weeks, participated in two testing sessions per week: baseline session and recovery session. During the testing sessions, subjects performed an estimated 1RM bench press while resting during a 4-hour, 24-hour, or 48-hour recovery period.
Females had no differences in muscle strength, regardless of recovery time, while the males had decreases in estimated 1RM at the 4-hour and 24-hour recovery times. (4)
Interestingly, researchers looking at the bench press and squat performance found no differences between sexes in squats but did find differences in bench press performance.
The difference in upper-body recovery and performance between sexes may be because men generally have 10 times more circulating testosterone than women (5). Upper-body muscles may have more androgen receptors than lower-body muscles (6). So it’s possible that this hormonal difference might permit greater development of upper-body muscles in men compared to women.
What does this mean in practical terms? Women can hit their upper-body lifts more often throughout the week than men. So, if a woman wants to increase her numbers on a certain upper-body lift, she can hit that lift three times per week. (Men should stick to twice per week.)
The same applies to those looking to increase the size of certain upper-body muscles. Women who want bigger shoulders can hit them hard three times per week, while men should train shoulders hard twice per week.
4. Women should do fewer plyometric exercises.
Female bodies use less of the stretch-shortening cycle when it comes to upper-body lifting, which makes them less efficient, slower, and possibly more at risk of injury from explosive plyometric exercises.
The stretch-shortening cycle is more pronounced in men. In several studies, men demonstrated greater stretch-shortening-related power in both lower (7) and upper-body movements. (8,9)
In short, women are better off doing less plyometric volume than men. A simple way to apply this in pre-written workout programs is for women to do one less set than men of jumping, bounding, hopping exercises, or explosive upper-body lifts.
This works out nicely because the ladies can do an extra set of strength training (see number one above) while the guys do an extra set of explosive plyometric exercises.
5. Women can get more from less sprinting.
A study involving male and female soccer players found that men have a superior ability to recover between sprints (10). Males had less drop-off in their sprint speed between subsequent sprints than women.
So, women would do best with fewer rounds of sprints than men in a given workout. Women can do a few extra sets of strength work instead since it’ll likely benefit them more anyway.
6. Women will benefit from more hamstring strength.
Females need to emphasize hamstring-oriented exercises like leaning lunges and RDL lunges. Why? Because women are more quad-dominant than men (11), and they tend to have weaker hamstrings (12), making them more prone to knee injury (13,14).
This doesn’t just mean going bonkers on the RDLs, 45-degree hip extensions, and other exercises that hit your glutes and hams in their lengthened range. It means incorporating some knee flexion exercises, such as machine leg curls and stability-ball leg curls two to three times per week. And anyone trying to build or strengthen hamstrings will need more than one exercise for complete development.
Sample Total-Body Workout for Women
Here’s what a total-body workout for women might look like. This can be done in 60 minutes or less, including a warm-up.
Exercise
Sets
Reps
A1.
Squat Jump
3
5
A2.
Cable Lateral Raise
3
20-25/side
A3.
Stability Ball Plate Crunch
3
12-15
B1.
Barbell Romanian Deadlift
3
8-12
B2.
Side Elbow Plank with Dumbbell Rear-Delt Flye
3
10-12/side
B3.
Plank with Shoulder Tap
3
20-25 sec.
C1.
Underhand Grip Lat Pulldown
3
10-12
C2.
Dumbbell Behind-The-Head Triceps Extension
3
12-15
C3.
NT Loop Glute Walk
3
50 sec.
D1.
Cable One-Arm Row with Reverse Lunge
3
12-15/side
D2.
Push-Up
3
max reps
D3.
Stability-Ball Hamstring Curl
3
15-20
For these tri-sets, perform all reps of an exercise before moving to the next one. Rest no more than 30 seconds between each exercise. Once you’ve completed all three exercises, rest 1 to 2 minutes. Then do the next round.
I’m not saying that men couldn’t benefit from a workout for women or that women wouldn’t benefit from a workout for men. All I’m showing is how I tweak workouts so that women get the most out of their training, given their unique differences.
The workouts I write for women have less explosive work and more strength training. Plus, the workouts I write for men contain more work on the upper traps and arms, whereas the women’s workouts have more work for glutes and hamstrings.
References
by Nick Tumminello
Gentil P et al. Comparison of upper body strength gains between men and women after 10 weeks of resistance training. PeerJ. 2016 Feb 11;4:e1627. PubMed 3.
Maughan RJ et al. Endurance capacity of untrained males and females in isometric and dynamic muscular contractions. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1986;55(4):395-400. PubMed.
Hunter SK. Sex differences in human fatigability: mechanisms and insight to physiological responses. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2014 Apr;210(4):768-89. PubMed 1.
Judge LW et al. The effect of recovery time on strength performance following a high-intensity bench press workout in males and females. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2010 Jun;5(2):184-96. PubMed.
Dreyer HC et al. Resistance exercise increases leg muscle protein synthesis and mTOR signalling independent of sex. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2010 May;199(1):71-81. PMC 1.
Kadi F et al. The expression of androgen receptors in human neck and limb muscles: effects of training and self-administration of androgenic-anabolic steroids. Histochem Cell Biol. 2000 Jan;113(1):25-9. PubMed.
Komi PV et al. EMG activity of the leg extensor muscles with special reference to mechanical efficiency in concentric and eccentric exercise. Int J Sports Med. 1987 Mar;8 Suppl 1:22-9. PubMed.
Miyaguchi K et al. Gender difference in ability using this stretch-shortening cycle in the upper extremities. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Jan;23(1):231-6. PubMed 2.
Flanagan SD et al. The relationship between muscle action and repetition maximum on the squat and bench press in men and women. J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Sep;28(9):2437-42. PubMed.
Dent JR et al. Sex differences in acute translational repressor 4E-BP1 activity and sprint performance in response to repeated-sprint exercise in team sport athletes. J Sci Med Sport. 2015 Nov;18(6):730-6. PubMed.
Youdas JW et al. Comparison of hamstring and quadriceps femoris electromyographic activity between men and women during a single-limb squat on both a stable and labile surface. J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Feb;21(1):105-11. PubMed 1.
Kannus P et al. Peak torque occurrence in the range of motion during isokinetic extension and flexion of the knee. Int J Sports Med. Nov 1993;14(8):422-426. PubMed.
Anderson AF et al. Correlation of anthropometric measurements, strength, anterior cruciate ligament size, and intercondylar notch characteristics to sex differences in anterior cruciate ligament tear rates. Am J Sports Med. Jan-Feb 2001;29(1):58-66. PubMed.
Griffin LY et al. Noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries: risk factors and prevention strategies. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. May-Jun 2000;8(3):141-150. PubMed.
For years, guys that wanted to learn how to gain muscle or lose bodyfat would pick up a Muscle and Fitness or Flex Magazine and follow the sample workouts and diets shared by the top bodybuilding professionals in the industry.
As time passes, many realize that they couldn’t follow the same protocols as the pros conveyed in the articles. The workouts were great but hard to maintain due to sheer amount of volume completed and recovery time needed to train at that rate (another post for another time).
The diets, on the other hand, were easy to follow but although progress would be made in the beginning. The rebounds that happened after the diet phase was over were detrimental to your physique and overall health. I was one of those guys. I followed those workouts and diets to the T, but realized there was a clear difference between myself and the guys in those magazines.
I was a natural guy trying to follow unnatural plans. There are some key differences to dieting as an assisted bodybuilder vs. a natural athlete. This post will examine some of those differences and talk about what you need to know to maximize nutrition protocols as a natural athlete.
Chris Shugart of T-nation tells us that “Steroids and other drugs change your physiology and compensate for some serious dietary mistakes. You can’t eat like a drug user if you’re a natural bodybuilder or recreational lifter. You’ll get fat when trying to gain muscle. And you’ll lose muscle when trying to get lean.
For example, “enhanced” lifters can diet on minimal calories and not lose muscle. The drugs protect their muscle mass. And if a person takes growth hormone, T3, or clenbuterol, he could do the opposite: eat a surplus of food and still get leaner.
While many enhanced bodybuilders know a lot about nutrition, many will simply give the natural lifter the same diet that works for them and their substance-using clients. Not good.
Natural lifters have different requirements, not just in the gym but in the kitchen. So let’s get into it. Here’s how to set up your diet for leanness and gains. But first, some science.
The Science You Need to Know
To understand the difference between natural and non-natural eating, you need to know a few things:
CALORIES
Every diet that makes you lose fat works via caloric deficit. Removing a macronutrient from your diet (carbs or fat) doesn’t make you lose fat if you’re consuming a caloric surplus.
For fat loss, calorie consumption is the most important factor. I’ve known keto dieters and intermittent fasting proponents who’ve not been remotely lean despite eating that way for a year or more. It’s not that keto doesn’t work; it’s that if you consume a caloric surplus while eating keto, you’ll gain fat, just like with any eating style.
That said, calories are NOT the only important factor, especially if you’re interested in improving body composition (ratio of muscle to fat).
INSULIN
Many believe nothing is more important than calorie expenditure. They’ll even say that insulin sensitivity and thyroid hormone levels don’t matter. I’ve even read one evidence-based expert say that insulin won’t ever make you fat.
Technically, they’re right. Insulin facilitates the entry of ingested nutrients into their respective storage facilities – muscle, liver, and fat cells. Insulin doesn’t make you store more nutrients than you ingest. It can’t. So, in a way, those who say that are correct: it’s the caloric surplus that makes you fat, not the insulin itself.
But if your insulin is elevated above a certain point, you won’t mobilize (burn) fat as efficiently. If your body has produced a lot of insulin after a high-carb meal, it’ll stay elevated for longer. You’ll remain inefficient at mobilizing fat for a longer period. Insulin overproduction is what prevents efficient fat loss.
Insulin affects muscle too. Muscle growth actually benefits from insulin production, especially if your muscle cells are more insulin sensitive than your fat cells. If they are, you’ll be better at partitioning nutrients toward muscle cells.
Did you catch that? Insulin isn’t always bad. It’s important for muscle growth. If all it did was make people fat and not help muscles grow, bodybuilders wouldn’t be injecting it. But they are. This should be a strong sign to keto dieters that the goal of maintaining low insulin levels isn’t ideal if you want to build muscle.
Insulin itself is anabolic and anti-catabolic. How? By directly increasing mTOR activation and your muscle’s nutrient uptake, and also indirectly by increasing IGF-1 released by the liver.
So even though caloric intake is key in gaining or losing weight (and losing fat/gaining muscle), insulin and insulin sensitivity are also important.
CORTISOL
People are confused by cortisol and its role in leanness. On the one hand, it’s a hormone that should increase fat loss. It plays a role in breaking down stored energy (glycogen, fat, protein) for fuel. As the stress hormone, it gets your body ready to deal with a stressful situation like running away from a tiger. Energy mobilization is one of the most important elements of dealing with stress.
Furthermore, cortisol increases the body’s release of adrenaline by helping with the conversion of noradrenaline into adrenaline. Adrenaline increases energy mobilization too. It also increases energy use.
Charles Poliquin claimed that cortisol makes you fatter. He specifically said that elevated cortisol makes you store more fat on your belly and lower back. Sadly, this idea of spot-storing body fat discredited him in the eyes of some experts. And the evidence-based crowd dismissed the impact of cortisol on fat loss/fat gain.
Here’s the thing: Cortisol is a mobilization hormone. When released acutely and not chronically, it does help with fat loss.
However, if it stays elevated, it can hurt your fat loss efforts by reducing the conversion of the T4 thyroid hormone (mostly inactive regarding metabolic rate) to the T3 thyroid hormone (which has a big role in setting metabolic rate). The more T3 you have, the higher your metabolic rate and the easier it’ll be to lose fat.
Chronic cortisol elevation decreases the conversion of T4 into T3. That’s how it can decrease metabolic rate over time.
That’s important for natural lifters because if you use a form of dieting (and training) that leads to excessively high cortisol levels, you run the risk of slowing down your fat loss efforts in the long run.
Excessive caloric deficits can lead to chronic cortisol elevation, and so does complete deprivation of carbs. Think about it. Cortisol’s first function is maintaining a stable blood sugar level. So when blood sugar drops down (when carbs or calories are too low), cortisol and glucagon are released to bring it back up. Cortisol is also released to mobilize other fuel sources. So the greater the caloric deficit and the lower the carbs, the more you risk increasing cortisol.
For the steroid user, this isn’t a huge problem. The anabolics can compensate for the increase in catabolism (from the cortisol) with the increase in anabolism from the steroids. And if they take fat-loss drugs, the impact of cortisol on metabolic rate also doesn’t matter that much, especially if they take synthetic T3 like Cytomel.
But for a natural lifter, chronic cortisol elevation can slow down fat loss and make it harder to gain muscle or even maintain it while dieting down. This will be important when we talk about the optimal caloric intake for dieting or gaining.
Calories: Everything You Need to Know
Start at 11 calories per pound of bodyweight on a fat loss diet and 16 calories per pound of bodyweight on a muscle growth diet.
So if you’re a 185-pound lifter, you’d start with a caloric intake of 2035 if your goal is losing fat and 2960 if you’re trying to build muscle.
These numbers may change depending on your activity level. Someone very active (working construction) will need a higher caloric intake even when trying to lose fat, whereas someone who has a very high body fat will need a lower number. For example, if you weigh 330 pounds with 40% body fat, a 4000 calorie intake might be too high by 700-800 calories. The real key is making weekly adjustments to the caloric intake.
Also, if you’re serious about making optimal changes in body composition, measure your food. It’s tedious, but how can you adjust calories by 250 if you don’t know how much you’re eating already? Also, most people underestimate their caloric intake when they don’t measure it.
ADJUSTING CALORIC INTAKE
The key is the weekly intake adjustment. If your goal is to lose fat, you want to lose the optimal amount of fat. Too little and you’ll lose motivation; too much and you’ll increase the risk of losing muscle and having crappy workouts.
For muscle growth, you can’t force-feed muscle onto your body if you’re natural. Yes, consuming a caloric surplus will increase your capacity to build muscle, and you can increase protein synthesis via mTOR activation when you consume enough carbs and protein to spike insulin. But your capacity to build muscle is limited by your natural physiology. The “bulking” approach doesn’t work well for the natural lifter.
What about the enhanced lifter? Bulking can work great for them. Anabolic steroids and other drugs increase protein synthesis by a large margin. This means they can build muscle faster and to a greater extent than the natural person.
To build muscle, you need protein and a lot of energy. When you’re enhanced, your muscle growth will be closely related to your calorie and protein intake. The higher your dose of steroids, the more additional food will be beneficial. This is even more true for bodybuilders taking growth hormone.
Secondly, enhanced bodybuilders who use growth hormone, certain steroids, and fat-burning drugs like clenbuterol won’t get as fat from the excess calories as natural lifters.
Yes, an enhanced lifter can get fat when he eats like an idiot, but he has more leeway than the natural athlete. A natural lifter should be more precise.
WEIGHT LOSS EXPECTATIONS
You should weigh yourself every 7 days after waking up. Shoot for a weekly loss of around 2-3 pounds. Use your judgment. If you’re a lean individual or a small person, losing 1 to 1.5 pounds per week might be satisfactory.
In the first week, you might drop more because of lowered glycogen stores and water. But generally speaking, the 2-3 pound drop per week when you have a normal (or highish) body fat is what you should be shooting for. This kind of drop won’t lead to muscle loss, and you should be able to keep training hard.
This drop in weight is fast enough to achieve a significant change in a reasonable period. If you lose 2 pounds per week for 12 weeks, that’s 24 pounds of fat off your body. You’ll look like a completely different person.
REASONS WEIGHT LOSS WOULD STALL
As your fat loss progresses and weight decreases, it’s possible the caloric intake that initially allowed you to lose 2-3 pounds per week now won’t lead to any loss. Why? Several possible reasons:
1. YOU’RE CARRYING LESS WEIGHT AROUND
If you lose 10 pounds, your daily energy expenditure decreases, especially if you’re physically active. That’s because fat is extra weight you carry around all day. Carrying extra weight increases the amount of energy you use for locomotion and physical tasks.
NEAT is every physical activity you do aside from intentional exercise, like walking to your job, climbing stairs, and carrying groceries. When you lower your caloric intake, your body will try to decrease caloric expenditure. As you lose more fat, you can become lazier, and you won’t even notice it. You decrease your NEAT by moving a little less every day, in the gym and out.
3. LOWERED METABOLIC RATE
While you won’t have a huge drop in metabolism like many believe, there can be a slight drop. Loss of muscle is a possible cause, but more likely, it’s from excess cortisol, which is released to mobilize more stored energy. And if cortisol production becomes chronic and excessive, it can lower the T4 to T3 conversion, decreasing metabolic rate a bit. Not by much, maybe 3-5%. But this is enough to halt your progress.
If fat loss stalls, you’re no longer in a caloric deficit. Either you spent less energy by being less physically active, or your metabolic rate has decreased. If you want to continue progressing, you need to drop calories down.
If a client drops 2-3 pounds in the week, we stick with the same caloric and nutrient intake for the next week. If they don’t drop weight, we decrease the caloric intake by a factor of 1. Instead of multiplying your body weight by 11, multiply it by 10. If you drop 2-3 pounds the next week, you stay there. If your weight still doesn’t drop, you decrease it by another factor of 1 (bodyweight x 9).
If you gain some weight (and didn’t cheat), you might decrease your intake by 1.5 or even 2.
If you lose 1 to 1.9 pounds, it’s a judgment call. Normally when it’s closer to 1 pound, we’ll drop caloric intake by a factor of 0.5 or 1. If it’s closer to 1.9, we keep calories the same the week after.
Note: Protein intake should not be decreased. The drop in calories should come from an equal ratio of carbs and fat. So if you need to lower your daily calories by 250, cut 125 calories from carbs and 125 from fats.
Carbs have 4 calories per gram, so 125 calories from carbs would be 30 grams. Fat has 9 calories per gram, so 125 calories of fat is 14 grams. So you’d cut carbs by 30 grams and cut fat by 14 grams per day.
CALORIC INTAKE FOR OPTIMAL MUSCLE GROWTH
If you gain more than a certain amount of weight, you’re likely adding a significant amount of fat. When you’re natural, you can’t force your body to build muscle faster than your physiology allows.
Dr. Fred Hatfield had a table indicating how much muscle you could build per week. For men, it averaged out to 0.25 to 0.5 pounds (for women, it’s about half that).
That’s accurate for the majority of people. And as you get more experienced, it’s even lower than that. An average man can hope to add 40-50 pounds of muscle above what would’ve been his normal adult weight. This is pure muscle we’re talking about; you can gain more “weight” than that, of course.
There are exceptions. People genetically gifted to build muscle (lower myostatin expression, naturally higher testosterone and IGF-1 levels) can build more. People who are exercise non-responders might be lucky to gain 15 pounds of muscle over their lifting lifespan.
Adding muscle without gaining any fat certainly is possible. It requires a humongous amount of precision and control over every variable – stress, rest, food intake, training, NEAT, etc. Even when all these are accounted for, it can slow the process.
While we don’t want to get fat while trying to add muscle, adding a little bit might make it easier to build muscle. It’s not because fat makes you more muscular, but because eating enough guarantees you’re getting plenty of nutrients to fuel muscle growth.
When trying to add muscle, shoot for a weekly increase of 0.5 to 1 pound of scale weight. This will give you minimal fat gain, though there will be some water weight gain, muscle glycogen, and fat increases.
If you gain between 0 and 0.49 you should increase calories by a factor of 1. For example, you could go from bodyweight x 16 to bodyweight x 17.
If you DROP weight, then you should increase intake by a factor of 1.5 to 2.
If you gain more than 2 pounds, decrease caloric intake by a factor of 0.5.
If you gain between 1 and 1.9 pounds it’s a judgment call. You can either stay at the same level or decrease intake by a factor of 0.25 to 0.5.
If you need to boost calories, increase protein, carbs, and fat equally. If you need to add 250 calories per day, you’d add 84 calories from protein (21g), 84 calories from carbs (21g), and 84 calories from fats (9g).
Protein Intake
High protein intake is the second most important element of positively changing your physique, both during a fat loss phase and during a growth period.
A greater proportion of what you gain will be muscle (instead of fat) when you eat a higher percentage of protein during a muscle-building phase. During a fat loss phase, eating more protein will allow you to maintain muscle or even gain it, which means most of the weight you lose will come from fat.
But here’s the kicker: When you’re natural, it’s not just about consuming as much protein as you can. You have a limited capacity to add muscle mass. So adding too much protein won’t be of much use and could even reduce the anabolic impact of protein through increased deamination and increased conversion of amino acids into glucose.
Enhanced lifters don’t really have that problem because the steroids increase protein synthesis 24/7, allowing them to build muscle with a much higher amount of protein. That’s why you sometimes see pro-bodybuilders consuming 400-plus grams of protein.
During a mass-gaining phase, bumping protein intake up to 1 to 1.25g per pound of bodyweight is where most naturals should be. You can actually go up to 1.25 to 1.5g per pound of body weight during a fat loss phase.
Ingesting more protein when you’re dieting is a good approach. It’ll decrease muscle breakdown and help maintain a stable blood sugar level, decreasing cortisol production.
Carb Intake
It’s hard to naturally build muscle at an optimal rate when you don’t consume any carbs. I’m not saying you CAN’T do it if your protein and calorie intake are high enough, but it’ll be much harder.
So how can carbs consumed around the workout period increase muscle growth? After all, isn’t muscle made from protein?
Yes, but carbs and the insulin production they lead to will increase mTOR expression from the training. If you consume carbs pre or intra-workout, the mTOR will be activated more than if you don’t. And the more you activate mTOR, the greater your increase of protein synthesis will be from the workout.
This is important for natural lifters who need to trigger protein synthesis with their workouts. While drug users will also benefit from workout carbs, they don’t need them as much because they already get tons of protein synthesis from the steroids.
Having carbs around workouts also has other benefits that positively increase muscle growth. First, carbs before and/or during the workout will decrease cortisol release. During the session, cortisol’s main function is to mobilize nutrients to fuel the workout. And while lifting, glucose is the most efficient fuel source. (Yes, even more than ketones.) The more fuel you need to mobilize, the greater the cortisol production.
If you provide easily absorbed carbs like highly branched cyclic dextrin before and during your workout, you’ll have less need to mobilize stored glycogen, which means you don’t need to pump out as much cortisol. Less cortisol means more growth.
Having carbs around workouts can also increase your capacity to have a higher training volume (more easily available fuel, decreased cortisol) and grow from it.
CARBS AND IGF-1 LEVELS
Low-carb diets lead to lower levels of systemic IGF-1. To produce a large amount of IGF-1, you need both growth hormone and insulin.
They don’t necessarily need to be present at the same time. One theory is that insulin makes the liver more sensitive to producing IGF-1 when growth hormone is released. Why is that important? Because IGF-1 is the most anabolic hormone in the body.
You don’t need a huge amount of carbs throughout the day, but enough to stimulate insulin release once or twice a day will certainly help with the muscle-building process.
CARBS AND STRESS MANAGEMENT
Carbs can help you deal with stress and anxiety by increasing serotonin and decreasing cortisol and adrenaline. Carbs help you relax.
The connection between carbs and serotonin is well known and is likely the reason behind the term “comfort food.” When you feel sad, you tend to eat like crap, making you feel better. This is because of an increase in serotonin.
We have two key amino acids: tyrosine and tryptophan. Tyrosine is a precursor to dopamine (which amps up the nervous system), and tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin (which calms you down).
When you eat protein, both amino acids are present in the digestive system and can compete for absorption and transport. The more carbs you ingest with protein, the more tryptophan is favored. But fewer carbs, relative to the protein you’ve eaten, mean you’ll tend to produce more tyrosine.
By consuming more carbs with your protein, you facilitate the production of serotonin, which calms the brain down, reduces anxiety, and lowers cortisol. When you eat protein and few (or no) carbs, you’ll get more of a dopamine increase, which amps you up.
Carbs will also decrease cortisol levels. If you ingest carbs, you keep blood sugar levels higher, so there’s less need to produce cortisol.
Finally, when you lower cortisol, you’ll also lower adrenaline. Cortisol increases the conversion of noradrenaline into adrenaline. So you can use carbs when you need to decrease cortisol and relax.
AMOUNT OF CARBS PER DAY
Depending on your insulin sensitivity, make carbs 40 to 60% of your non-protein caloric intake – your total daily caloric intake minus the calories from protein.
So if your calorie intake is set at 2200 per day and your protein intake at 250g per day (250g of protein = 1000 calories), it gives you a non-protein caloric intake of 1200 calories per day.
40% of 1200 calories is 480 calories or 120 grams
50% of 1200 calories is 600 calories or 150 grams
60% of 1200 calories is 720 calories or 180 grams
The rest of the non-protein caloric intake would come from fat.
The more body fat someone carries, the more I recommend 40%. The leaner someone is, the more I recommend 60%. When I diet down a client, we normally start with fewer carbs. As the diet progresses, carb intake normally increases.
CARB TIMING
The most important time to have carbs is around the workout. Have as much as 50% of your daily carb intake before or during. The most I’d use is around 90 grams. The average is 40-60 grams.
The other time where carbs are the most important is in the evening. It sounds counterintuitive, but it’s the best option to maximize recovery, growth, and quality of life. It’ll help you relax at the end of the day and lower cortisol levels.
You also don’t want to have carbs in the meals before the workout. Why? Because you want to favor dopamine production so that the nervous system will be more activated for your workout.
So if you train at 4 PM, you could have a schedule like this:
Breakfast: Protein and fats
Lunch: Protein and fats
Snack: Protein and fats
Workout Nutrition: Carbs from Carb Drink
Dinner: Protein and carbs
Snack: Protein and carbs
The main rule to remember: no carbs in the meals before the workout (except for right before or during your workout), and divide your carbs between workout time and the meals after your session.
Keep carbs in the last two meals of the day to help you unwind. And eating carbs midday could take off the mental edge when you need it. If you have carbs before and during the workout, you don’t need more carbs after the session.
In our example above, where we consume 2200 calories, 190 grams of protein, and 116 grams of carbs, the schedule would look like this:
Breakfast: 40g of protein and fats
Lunch: 40g of protein and fats
Snack: 40g of protein and fats
Workout: 34g of carbs
Dinner: 40g of protein and 60g of carbs
Snack: 40g of protein and 30g of carbs
During a mass-gaining phase, since you’re consuming more carbs (because the caloric intake is higher), we often add protein and carbs post-workout. So we end up having carbs in four meals or so.
CARB TYPES
So far, everything I’ve said would seem to agree with the IIFYM (if it fits your macros) dietary strategy; wherein someone could eat any food they’d want as long as the allotment of each macronutrient is met. But for optimal changes in body composition, food quality also matters.
Granted, if you take an obese person who eats 6000 calories a day from crappy food and put them on a 2500 calorie diet with 250 grams of protein, they will lose fat rapidly regardless of their source of carbs and fats. But when talking about someone who’s already in good shape and wants to optimize their physique, food quality matters.
For carbs, except for those consumed around workouts, we want a lower glycemic load which would come primarily from more natural or unprocessed carbs to minimize the insulin spike. If you spike insulin more, it takes longer to come back down. And as long as it’s elevated, fat mobilization is less efficient.
Try these carb sources for times outside of your workout:
Sprouted grain bread (Ezekiel, for example)
Oatmeal
Rice
Rice pasta
Quinoa
Potatoes (all types)
Beans
Lentils
Berries
You can consume more carbs in a muscle-gaining phase and add some post-workout.
Fat Intake
The amount of fat you consume is fairly straightforward. You calculate total caloric intake (let’s say it’s 2200 calories), protein intake (let’s say it’s 250 grams or 1000 calories), and carb intake (we went with 50% of non-protein intake, so 600 calories or 150 grams).
From there, it’s only a matter of filling the gap.
You have 2200 total calories per day.
Subtract 1000 calories for protein.
Subtract 600 calories for carbs.
This equals 600 calories from fats.
Each gram of fat is roughly 9 calories, so 600 calories is 67 grams of fat.
If we look at our previous diet schedule, it now looks like this:
Breakfast: 40g of protein and 22g of fats
Lunch: 40g of protein and 22g of fats
Snack: 40g of protein and 22g of fats
Peri-workout: 34g of carbs from
Dinner: 40g of protein and 60g of carbs
Snack: 40g of protein and 30g of carbs
Daily Meal Schedule
I won’t provide you with a sample diet because caloric intake will vary based on your size and goal. But once you have those calculations, it’s simple plug-and-play. Here’s how to set up the meals depending on the time of day you train:
TRAINING EARLY MORNING (NO TIME FOR BREAKFAST)
Workout: Carbs
Breakfast: Protein and carbs
Lunch: Protein and fats
Snack: Protein and fats
Dinner: Protein and fats
Snack: Protein and carbs
TRAINING IN THE MORNING (WITH TIME FOR BREAKFAST)
Breakfast: Protein and fats
Workout: Carbs
Lunch: Protein and fats
Snack: Protein and fats
Dinner: Protein and carbs
Snack: Protein and carbs
TRAINING IN THE MID-AFTERNOON
Breakfast: Protein and fats
Lunch: Protein and fats
Workout: Carbs
Snack: Protein and fats
Dinner: Protein and carbs
Snack: Protein and carbs
TRAINING IN THE LATE-AFTERNOON
Breakfast: Protein and fats
Lunch: Protein and fats
Snack: Protein and fats
Workout: Carbs
Dinner: Protein and carbs
Snack: Protein and carbs
Notice I didn’t add an evening training time. For a natural, it’s the absolute worst time to train.
The Effort and the Results
The optimal diet requires effort. As a natural, precision is a lot more important than for an enhanced individual. You’ll need to calculate your calories, protein, carbs, and fat needs. You’ll need to weigh your food, and you’ll need to adjust your intake weekly.
But if you’re serious about optimizing your physique, that needs to be done. If you’re content with “good enough,” then just wing it, but don’t be pissed off if the results are hit or miss. “
EPOC, technically known as Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption, and more generally known as exercise afterburn, has been widely publicized as an explanation for the benefits of high intensity interval training. It’s the recovery period after exercise where there is elevated oxygen consumption. It’s essentially an elevated metabolic rate after exercise.
The purpose of EPOC is to restore the body to its resting state and create adaptations. The main argument is that if EPOC is greater after high intensity exercise, a greater metabolic rate exists for longer periods of time. By that logic, you would burn more calories leading to greater fat loss. However, this is often overstated. . At the start of exercise, the anaerobic energy systems supply the needed ATP for this work. The energy provided during this deficit phase of exercise is employed until a steady state is reached, thus the oxidative system is the dominant energy system being used. Those that are highly trained get to a steady state much quicker vs. untrained.
Here’s the real deal
The two biggest factors affecting EPOC are exercise intensity and duration, with intensity being the #1. Some studies have found that EPOC may last up to 72hrs, while others have found it to be much shorter or even a few hours. The large range of EPOC durations is due to differences in exercise intensity, duration and study methods. Despite sensational claims, recent studies conclude that the EPOC effect is fairly small, making only a minor contribution to fat loss. There are also large individual differences in EPOC responses in addition to many factors contributing to EPOC. . Take-home message
Those that claim interval training is far superior vs. steady state cardio (or that steady state cardio is bad for you), and use EPOC to back up that claim, they are mistaken. You’ll likely burn the same amount of calories either way. Remember, the biggest driver of fat loss is caloric deficit. .
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