Cytosport Muscle Milk Bottles *Review*

As most of you probably know by now, I'm a HUGE connoisseur of protein supplements.  Whenever I get the chance, I try out something new on the shelf and see how it compares to what I've already had.  The other day I ran out of Combat Powder, and needed a quick, single day replacement for post workout nutrition.  I drove over to Walgreens, walked up to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of Chocolate Muscle Milk by Cytosport.  After my workout, I chugged that sucker down, and well.....here's my review of the stuff:

Taste:  The chocolate version tasted great!  Sure, it wasn't the best protein I've ever had, but it wasn't far off, especially for a single dosage.  It's very thick and filling, and tastes like a real and substantially chocolatey shake.  Not hard to drink at all, and honestly it tasted good enough that I wished I had more.  The chocolate flavor is very potent, and doesn't taste very "chemical" at all (as some other proteins do.)  Reminded me of a brownie, even though it's been years since I've had one of those.  I will say though that I'm not a very picky person, and can appreciate most forms of chocolate flavor.  You may be a little more discerning, but I can say that I'm quite confident you'd enjoy the beverage.

8/10 

Protein Content:  As far as the protein factor goes, the profile definitely isn't bad.  Is it the greatest protein source out there?  No.  But it's a good blend of many different proteins, including milk protein and a few types of whey.  The whey isn't amazingly refined, so I assume it won't absorb quite as quickly as a heavily filtered whey isolate or hydrolyzed whey.  Still, unless you're splitting hairs, it's not a huge deal, in fact I think it's good to have a blend so that the protein will feed your muscles over a longer period of time.  One bottle has a total of 25 grams of protein, which isn't huge, but is enough.  Just to compare though, most powdered proteins will give you about 50 grams of protein for the same number of calories as in a bottle of Muscle Milk.  So you're not getting a super concentrated dose, but the amount of protein your body can absorb in one sitting isn't that impressive anyway, so it's not a big deal.  Overall, the protein is of medium to medium high quality, and there's a decent amount of it.

7/10

Other Nutritional Profile:  One thing I noticed right away about Muscle Milk is that it has an interestingly large fat dosage.  Cytosport calls in "functional fat," which I assume means that their marketing it as healthy fat.  One bottle has a total of 9 g of fat, 1.5 g of which is saturated.  I'm not completely sure, but I think the fat mostly comes from the milk, as well as the oil used in the ingredients.  I can't vouch for exactly how high quality the fats are, but let's just say they don't raise any red flags or scare me away.  

A 14 oz bottle of Muscle Milk has only 3 grams of sugar, which is quite low considering the very sweet taste.  There are artificial sweeteners used, but I have no problem with those, though some people might.  The ingredient list is quite long, which I usually don't like, but expected in this case because most protein shakes have quite a bit that goes into them.  

Here's the nutritional information right off of Cytosport's website (click to enlarge):

7/10

Price:  Not the cheapest stuff out there, but definitely not the most expensive.  One bottle is around 3 bucks, not a killer investment if you need some quick protein.  I'd only use it as a temporary replacement for powder though, because you generally get a LOT more bang for your buck with powder.

8/10

Name:  SUPER COOL!  I mean seriously, "Muscle Milk"?  That's AWESOME!  Wish I'd thought of it.  Sure beats "whey protein isolate," or "mass gainer."  It's like, 

"Hey George, whatcha drinking?"

"Oh, nothing special, just MUSCLE MILK!!!"

Love it!

10/10

Overall, would I recommend the ready to drink Muscle Milk 14 oz bottles?  As far as the chocolate goes, yes I definitely would.  It's a great replacement for a powder for a day or two, and is a viable post workout protein source.  It's got a good blend of protein types, tastes great, and won't break the bank.  If you get a chance, try a bottle!  Let me know what you think!

Lift hard, lift heavy, refuel, and as always, good luck!!!

Training For Gold: After week 1

Working on as straight a pull as possible.  Not bad so far, eh?  

Well, I made it through week one.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't easy.  Total, I had 4 double days, in which I squatted heavy in the morning, and ran through that day's weightlifting workout (provided by my coach) in the afternoon.  Overall, the working weights for my second workout have been light, but that doesn't mean the workouts themselves weren't brutal.  The first two days, in fact, were a little more than I bargained for.  Allow me to explain:

Before starting this targeted training, I usually lifted heavy singles in all the lifts for about 6-20 reps per exercise (snatches, clean and jerks, squats).  This would take me about two hours (working at a slow pace), and my total reps weren't too high (though because the weights were always heavy, I always was quite glycogen depleted at the end of each workout.)

My new workouts involve tons and tons and TONS of triples.  That's right, three reps of heavy-ish weight in some of the most fatiguing lifts ever created.  Have you ever tried 5-8 sets of triple heavy clean and jerks?  Let me tell you, after you're done you feel like you've just sprinted two football fields.  It's crazy, but I can feel the strength building up inside me, and I love it.

Diet-wise, this week has been somewhat successful.  I've adapted to the higher caloric intake (and enjoyed it quite thoroughly), though I haven't seen too much budging on the scale.  I was 159 this morning, with clothes on and breakfast in my belly, as well as a lot of water in my muscles from the creatine.  I would say that taking all this into account I haven't really made any progress in terms of weight gain thus far, though I do feel stronger and more capable in the gym.  That could be either the creatine or the extra food talking.  I guess we'll see.

Creatine loading is complete, by the way.  I'm off the 20 grams per day, and have dropped back down to around 7-10 grams.  I'm trying to conserve the product, and see how far into this cycle my half jar of Universal Creatine can take me.  Luckily the stuff is cheap, so if supplies run low another couple 200 g bottles shouldn't cost much at all.

Universal Creatine.  Probably the best strength "bang for your buck" you can find.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

There haven't been any PR's in the classic lifts this week, and judging by the format of the workouts given to me I doubt I'll see any more PR singles for quite a while, just because I'm working so heavily on lots of repititions.  However I did PR on my front squat this week, and hit 104.5 kg (230 lbs) for 3 reps.  And despite it being a PR, it felt pretty darn solid, I might have another 2-3 kilos in me if I really push it, though I think I'll wait on that for just a bit.

For my rest day today, I've been doing nothing but stretching, loading up on protein and complex carbs, and working my core.  I cannot WAIT to get back into the gym bright and early tomorrow morning for my next heavy squat session, and can't wait to see what my coach has in store for this next week.  I have a sinking feeling the weights are going to increase very quickly.

We'll see how it goes, and I'll keep you all posted.  Wish me luck!

Train Those Triceps

I bet you've seen them all too often in that gym.  The curl monkeys.  You know, they're the ones near the dumbbells, curling the heck out of any weight they can handle before eventually tiring out and slamming the thing on the floor.  They'll then make their way to the preacher curl station, and go nuts on that.  They might even do the unthinkable, and curl the bar inside the squat rack (the gym's biggest sin).  And just when you think they've done enough biceps, they hit a few poses in the mirror, and get the heck out of there.  What did you just witness?  A gym failure due to improper knowledge of workout techniques and muscle anatomy.

Sure, obviously there's merit in training your biceps.  They need attention, and without proper exercise you won't get the giant guns you've always wanted, and won't be able to hand out those tickets to random girlies (tickets to what?  Why the GUN show of course!!!)  But if you want big arms, overtraining your biceps isn't the way to go.  In fact, you may be hampering your progress.  If you want big, rippling arms like tree trunks, TRAIN YOUR TRICEPS.  In fact, you might want to pay a little more attention to your triceps than your biceps.  Why's that?  Let's discuss!

(by the way, did you know that the words "triceps" and "biceps" are both the singular AND the plural versions?  Even the singular terms have an "s" on the end!  Leave it to latin...)

The biceps is a muscle defined by two distinct heads ("bi"..."cep"...that's Latin for "two, heads.") Your triceps, that muscle on the and side of your arm, has, you guessed it, three heads.  They can be defined further as the lateral head, long head, and medial head.

Check out the left-hand figure, it shows the different triceps heads

If you study the picture, and flex your triceps, I bet you can find all three heads on the muscle, or at least get a general sense as to where they are.  Different triceps exercises work somewhat different heads, though it's very difficult to isolate just one (muscles are good at working together).  But still, why would it do you good to pay a LOT of attention to those muscles that you can't even really see?

Well, guess what.  Your triceps are actually 2/3 OF YOUR ARM!  That's right, getting big triceps is a much faster route to building big arms than big biceps.  In fact, if you look closely enough at many pictures of bodybuilders and strength athletes, their biceps might seem pretty small in comparison to their massive triceps jutting underneath those ungodly giant arms.

See what I mean about the size difference between these two muscles?

Ok so now you get it, right?  Triceps are what really give those arms the mass you want.  But how should you go about training them?  Well, the sets x reps scheme for training triceps is up to much debate, but I can't really see how a beginner could go wrong with three to four exercises, each one 3 sets of 5-10 reps.  Certain exercises are better off 5x5-10, but I'll leave the research up to you.  I can give you a few of my favorite triceps exercises though!

Skull Crushers- A real killer when it comes to nailing the backs of those beastly arms.  This exercise involves taking a dumbell and laying flat on a bench.  Hold the dumbbell straight up with your arms, and get set for an exercise that you DON'T wanna mess up.  Slowly bring the bar down to to your forehead, bending only at your elbows and keeping your upper arms (biceps and triceps) completely perpendicular to the bench.  Keep those elbows in tight!  Press back up with your triceps when you reach your...you guessed it...SKULL...and repeat.  Make sure you have a strong grip with this exercise, and don't be afraid to start relatively light.  You'll learn quickly what kind of weight you feel comfortable handling.

(The skull crushers start at 2:15)

Triceps Rope Pushdowns-  This one is pretty simple, yet can still be done improperly if you're not careful.  It involves a cable pull down machine complete with a rope attachment that most gyms possess.  You want to grip both ends of the rope firmly, stand close to the rope itself, and extend only with your tricpes, keeping back and legs fully locked.  You can flare the ropes out at the bottom for an extra triceps burn if you wish.

Diamond Push-ups-  These are killer!  Basically the normal pushup's evil twin.  Firstly, kneel down on the floor, and place your hands together so that your two index fingers and thumbs make a "diamond" shape (like on the playing card).  Next, put your palms flat on the floor with your hands still in this position.  Get into a good push-up start position, making sure the spade is centered under your chest.  And the next step?  DO PUSH-UPS!  Keep your elbows VERY tight into your body for the best triceps workout, and don't be discouraged if these are extremely hard at first.  They're probably the greatest body weight exercise for triceps I know of.  

Body-weight/ Weighted Dips:  This involves those two random handles that you may see in your gym, jutting out from some pull up bar/roman chair/dip machine hybrid.  I think you'll know what I'm talking about when you see the video.  Anyway, this exercise is pretty simple, but is yet another absolute killer with just body weight.  Step up to the two handles, place a hand on each, and push yourself up so that you're held in place in air by your locked out arms.  Slowly "dip" between the handles, bending at the elbows, and upon reaching a bottom position of choice (don't go too low at first, you might not have the flexibility), push back up with your triceps muscles.  When you get really good at these, you can add weight like the guy in the video, however I strongly suggest starting only with body weight.  

If you're still not quite strong enough to do body weight (don't be ashamed, this is a very difficult exercise), check out the second video, which shows chair dips, where the same action is performed except your feet are now suspended on something.  These are much easier to start out with, and a great first step toward body weight dips.  

(Suspended Dips)

(Chair Dips)

There's a good start to any respectable triceps workout.  Get to the gym and stop neglecting those powerful muscles on the backs of your arms.  They actually have the potential to be much stronger than your biceps, but they won't be if you ignore them!  

Train them hard, build massive arms, and as always, GOOD LUCK!

Size v. Strength: The Great Debate

Ever since the dawning of the modern workout, there has been a great divide between two main trains of thought regarding muscular growth.  There were those who wanted to get BIG, and those who wanted to get STRONG.  Such desires spawned two completely different methods for lifting weights, and two completely different types of athletes.

For the time being, lets ignore the casual "I just want to get toned" gym-goer (although I will admit this is a large percentage of gym-goers...).  

When I say two completely different athletic builds, I really mean it. Put these guys next to each other and rarely will you see extreme similarities.  Make them train alongside each other, and the differences will become even more apparent.  The methods are DIFFERENT.  To get big, you must train in separate fashion than you would if you were specifically looking for strength.  Yes, some traits carry over from each method of training (an athlete looking for strength only will inevitably put on muscle mass), but I'll say again, in general they are distinct from each other.

Let's examine the methodology behind each muscular goal.  What goes into the workout, why does the method work the way it does, and how can you incorporate it into your own gym related endeavors?

SIZE:  We've all seen them.  The fantastically enormous bodybuilders that appear to be half man half gorilla, all muscle.  They're basketball sized biceps, ginormous pectorals, and shredded abdominals seem to defy some law of nature.  Yet there they stand, bigger than any human we've ever seen.  How do they do it?  Well aside from an extremely picky diet, and some "medical enhancement," it's all in the gym, and their method of training. 

Bodybuilders train for hypertrophy.  Hypertrophy is the increase of overall cellular volume.  More specifically, bodybuilders train for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, and focus more on training their slow twitch, or I muscle fibers.  This basically means that bodybuilders train to experience an increase in cross sectional area of their muscles, and not really associated strength.  It's common to watch bodybuilders doing unbelievably high volume with very sub-maximal loads, at least relative to their muscle size.  Judging by their physique, it appears that they could throw a car above their head.  But in the end, they simply do not have the strength that they appear to have.  

But to them, this doesn't matter so much.  They train for APPEARANCE. And there's a lot to be said about appearance.  Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy allows you to look big and strong, often a more impressive trait than actually being as strong as an ox but only average in the muscular department.  This hypertrophy also more readily accelerates your metabolism, allowing you to burn more fat more quickly, and build that physique you've always wanted.  

How do you go about training for this type of muscle gain?  Well for building big muscle, you want a big rep number, with sub maximal weight.  Don't go super duper light, but work those muscles to exhaustion.  As you've probably heard before, FEEL THE BURN.  Super sets, drop sets, and negative reps are all great ways to overload your muscles for set after set to really ensure a good growth stimulus is sent to your brain and those muscles increase in volume as quickly as possible.  The most general rule for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is to keep reps within the 8-12 range, for at least 3 sets (I've seen people do as many as 10-15 though.)  This is only a general guideline though, and I suggest heading over to bodybuilding.com to get a more detailed workout routine.  

STRENGTH:  Let me bring to mind an athlete you may or may not have heard of: Pyrros Dimas.  Dimas was a three time Olympic gold medalist for weightlifting.  He weighed in at a meager 182 pounds, yet lifted 473lbs over his head in the Sydney Olympics.  He was the ultimate example of a strength athlete, and is one of my personal heroes.   

So how is it possible that Dimas was able to get so ungodly strong without becoming enormous and inflexible?  Well he, and other strength athletes alike, train for Myofibrillar hypertrophy, or an increase in overall muscle fiber connections.  This type of training surprisingly does NOT drastically increase cross-sectional area or overall volume of the muscle being trained, but instead allows the muscle to contract with much more force than it could previously.  Believe me, to put that much weight over your head, you need a LOT of targeted, raw, force.  

Myofibrillar hypertrophy deals more with fast twitch, or type II muscle fiber, the kind often referred to as "usable muscle."  Athletes like sprinters, Olympic lifters, power lifters, and other related force athletes often have large amounts of fast twitch muscle.  This muscle contracts, as the name implies, hard and fast, and can apply great amounts of energy to objects in very short amounts of time.  It is not, however, very effective endurance muscle.  Muscles can only contract with remarkable force for relatively short periods of time, hence the reason that joggers, bodybuilders, Nordic skiers, swimmers, and other endurance athletes (I put bodybuilders in there because of their ability to hit fantastic numbers of reps, NOT their running ability, which I'm sure is horrendous) possess much more slow twitch, endurance muscle fiber.  

It's always good to get strength training into your workout routine, as being able to lift heavy weights is not only healthy, it also builds a more solid body and strong neural connections between your brain and your muscles.  So where do you start?  Well, first of all, drop the huge number of reps.  Next, increase the weight.  Finally, do this for a good number of sets, 10 or so.  For an olympic lifter, a squat workout program may look like this:  10 sets of 2 reps, every rep at around 85-95% of max.  Believe me, though it may look like an easy workout, it is anything but.  That weight is very heavy, and will ALWAYS be very heavy.  This type of training does work though, and I can personally vouch for it.  The majority of my training is strength targeted.  My squat has gone up around 90lbs in 6 months, and shows no signs of slowing down.  And I don't look too much different, implying I haven't experienced much sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.  Watch out Dimas, here I come!

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So which is the best way to train?  ....HAH!  What a silly question.  That's not possible to answer, and rarely will anybody who knows there stuff about exercising/fitness give you a straight shot one way or another.  For the average person, I suggest a mixture of both!  You'd like to look good and be strong at the same time, right?  Well that's a great goal, AND entirely possible.  Switch up your workout, either weekly, monthly, yearly, daily, I don't care.  Confuse your body, train both high and low reps, high and low weight, high and low volume.  You want to see benefits across the board right?  Well you will!  There's always carryover from each type of training.  Even though I said bodybuilders aren't relatively strong...well...I said RELATIVELY.  They're still unbelievably strong, because look at how much muscle mass they've got!  And sure, Olympic lifters aren't overly huge, but I mean they aren't exactly tiny either.  Train for both size and strength, and you'll get both.  Sure, what you'll always get isn't the BEST of either world, but it'll be a pretty good start into each one, and it'll do your body a huge favor.

Get big, get strong, and as always, good luck!