Double Sessions: The How To Guide

As you probably already know, I LOVE the gym.  In fact, I love it so much, I'm usually there twice a day.  I'll go for a morning session, during which I do heavy squats and some core work, then head off to class.  The same afternoon I'll go for a full out Olympic weightlifting session as dictated by my coach, which is both brutal and heavy.  And you know what the remarkable thing is?  After all this, I'm still alive to tell you about it.  Fancy that, eh?  So how's it possible?  Could you do the same thing, but maybe taylored to your own goals a little more?  And if you're at all interested, how could going for two-sies really benefit you?  Let's find out.

First of all, I'd like to address those screaming their heads off right now at their computer monitor, claiming that I'm just begging to induce over-training or "burning-out," which is a state of extreme, chronic physical and mental fatigue caused by lifting too intensely at the gym.  To those people, I'd like to say that I believe you only overtrain if you go drastically above and beyond what you're currently doing.  If you are used to hitting the gym 3 times a week, for one hour sessions, then yes, if you decided to triple that and hit the gym 9 times a week for three double session days and 3 single session days, you'd burn out like a bad candle.  But that's a silly thing to try right off the bat, don't you think?  If you introduce new routines to your body more slowly and consistantly, anything is possible in the long run.  Remember this quote:

"There's no such thing as overtraining, just undertraining"

-John Broz

He's right you know.  The body is capable of far greater loads and stresses than you could ever imagine.  Tapping into the true potential of your body takes practice though, so let's find out how to increase your loading over an extended period of time, and figure out exactly how it could really benefit you in the long run.

If you're at all interested in training twice a day, you HAVE to start slow.  Like I said before, if you jump right into a double session week, you'll burn out in a heartbeat (or lack of one, because you'll be so dead.)  Take it one step at a time.  If your workouts are geared toward general fitness, and include both cardio and lifting weights, I'd suggest doing light cardio in the morning (I'd say 10-20 minutes, but your definition of light may differ), then have a good span of time between that and your evening workout, which should also be relatively light (in terms of weight this time.)  Try this one day a week, preferably a day you have free so that you can rest and recover between workouts.  And when I say rest, I MEAN REST.  Don't plan your family hike for that afternoon, just lay out in the sun, or go for a swim, or watch some TV, or take a nice long nap.  Recovery is just as important as the workout itself.  If you do it right, you should be ready to hit the gym again that evening.

If you're all cardio, it's a pretty simple setup to get two sessions into one day.  Start with a light jog in the morning, then later that evening hit a serious cardio session, like your timed run, biking trip, swim, etc.  Cardio is easy to overdo, but if you're serious about it your body should adapt quickly.  Keep carbohydrate levels very high, and make sure to take care of those joints (especially runners), because they can get very sore very quickly.  Stretch, ice, heat, foam roll, massage, do what you have to do to keep pounding the pavement.  Many runners go for double sessions, so finding one to talk to about it isn't too hard a task.  Look around, see what works for others, and try to incorporate their techniques into your workout.

For a bodybuilder, a double gym session is a GREAT way to increase volume on certain muscle groups.  If it's back and bicep day, you can hit one group of exercises in the morning for a moderate number of reps, then really finish those muscles off in the evening with a completely different routine, going all out.  Increasing workout volume is a fantastic way to gain size quickly, and I bet you'll be surprised at the results.  Don't be afraid to hit the same muscles twice in a day, they can take it as long as you supplement them properly.  If you're wondering exactly how to do this, I found a great post in the bodybuilding.com forums by username "labradarep" that explains the concept pretty well:

"Do the same bodypart(s) twice in a day. First session should be moderate number of sets in the 4-6 rep range. 2-3 exercises per bodypart(30-40 minutes max with 2 -3 minute rest periods). Rest 4-6 hours & then perform different exercises for the same bodyparts. 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps. 1 -2 exercises per bodypart (20 minute workout with very short rest periods)."

That in my opinion is the perfect way to ensure you don't overtrain, but still hit each muscle group for an AWESOME amount of volume.  Try it out, and watch all the other guys in the gym start to pale in comparison to your massive size and muscularity.

If you're a strength athelete, like me, and want to incorporate some morning and evening material into your workout, I'd suggest squats in the morning, and your full, organized workout in the afternoon (my "organized" workout involves the Olympic lifts themselves, just in case you're wondering what that means.  If you're a power lifter, it may include deadlifts, or bench press.  Strongman may include things like axle presses, farmer's walk, deadlifts, etc.)  Keep your body guessing, and do a workout that won't impact your body enormously for the day in the morning.  When I do my set of squats in the morning, I squat heavy, but for low reps, and with large rest periods in between sets, just to make sure I don't burn out or expend too much glycogen too early on in the day.  Keep it casual at first, go slow, and like I said, try one day at a time first.

When you start to adapt, obviously you can increase the frequency of these double sessions.  Add another one in three or four days later, basically in an attempt to split the week up as evenly as possible.  You don't want two days of double sessions in a row, at least not initially.  Don't increase the workout intensity just yet.  Personally I find that increasing frequency works much better than increasing intensity.  I do 3-4 double sessions a week, and NONE of the morning sessions are EVER as intense as my afternoon ones, purposely so.  Stay relaxed, focus on moving the weight, and keep yourself under wraps.  Remember, you've got another workout later where you can go all out.

Now, I forgot to mention one thing, and it's in regard to your diet.  Double days make you HUNGRY.  And if you decide to skip out on meals, or keep your calorie level the same thinking your body doesn't need the extra food, you're ABSOLUTELY NUTS.  YOU NEED TO EAT!!!!!  Plan on increasing caloric intake from between 300-500 calories on double days (and possibly the day after), and when you start adding more and more double sessions, you have to consistently keep your body fueled.  If you don't, you'll feel it, IMMEDIATELY.  You'll feel like a zombie amongst the living.  You'll be sore, unable to focus, drained, and barely able to move weights you practically tossed up before.  Eat...more...food.  I've found increasing carbohydrate intake works wonders.  Have a sweet potato and a glass of milk, or a bowl of oatmeal and a whey and banana shake.  No matter if you're a cardio-aholic, bodybuilder, or strength athlete, keep your body fueled, and you'll start to see the double sessions work wonders for your body.

If at any point in the week you begin to burn out, BACK OFF THE DOUBLE SESSIONS.  Seriously, eat some food, get some good sleep, and rest until you feel like you can hit the gym that hard again.  Double days take a lot out of you, so don't be surprised if the adjustment process is long.  Don't rush it.  

Basically, to be successful with double sessions, it all boils down to two things:  Eat more, and sleep more.  Keep your diet clean and VERY full, and your bedtime early and consistent, and you'll find hitting the gym twice a day isn't so bad.  I love it, and if I could set up a cot in the corner, I'd probably be in the gym all day.  So to all my fellow gym lovers, rejoice, if you want to spend even more time pumping the iron or sprinting to nowhere, you're more than welcome to.  In fact, it can do wonders for your strength and physique.  You'll get leaner, stronger, faster, bigger, and more powerful faster than you ever thought possible.  So what are you waiting for?  The gym beckons.

Lift hard, run fast, eat big, sleep deeply, and as always, GOOD LUCK!

Up The Intensity!

Hey, want to lose weight fast?  How about pack on some serious muscle in as little time as possible?  Maybe increase your metabolism and push your body into building, burning, fitness mode?  Well my friends, it's about time you increased your workout intensity.

Sure sure, everyone tells you to "push it," or work harder, egging you on in the gym, while you might be perfectly content to walk on the treadmill at an average pace so you can still actually hear the TV hanging on the wall, and watch the soap opera comfortably.  To you, the gym might be just an annoying routine, where you'd like to be as comfortable as possible doing uncomfortable things (like walking, jogging, biking, or lifting heavy things.)  That's all fine and dandy, and it's up to you, but not only will your progress toward any sort of goal be slowed to a crawl, but you're more likely to get into the rut that so many fall into --The rut of ZERO MOTIVATION,and of course.....low intensity.

Listen, your body responds to intensity.  You'll feel your heart rate shoot skyward, beads of sweat pop out everywhere, and your muscles burn.  It's uncomfortable, no doubt.  But by doing intense things, in any sort of workout you do, you're forcing your body to adapt, to work, and to push itself to the next level.  You'll burn a fantastic number of calories.  Think about it, the harder your heart is beating, the more your calorie furnace is heating up.  If you just saunter along on the treadmill all day, or lift weights far below the level of any sort of real effort, your heart won't get going, your body won't strain, and you won't increase your metabolic rate a bit.  No effort = no results, it's as simple as that.  These days, I see far too many people who are too comfortable in the gym.  Listen, you can love the place, but love it for the results it gives you, not because it's comfortable.  Be comfortable with pushing yourself.  Here are a few ways to get on the seriously intense workout track:

HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING:  Are you a cardio lover?  Do you enjoy the treadmill, the spinning machine, or the elliptical?  Well then, HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training, is definitely for you.  This is truly the next level of cardio.  It'll take a shorter amount of time, and shoot your heart rate sky high (safely of course).  The concept is pretty simple.  Let's use the treadmill as an example.  When starting out, warm up for about a minute with a medium walk to slow jog.  Then, for the next minute or so, get up to a relatively comfortable pace, one you could keep for at least half an hour (a steady jog, I'd suggest between 5.5-7.0 mph for the average person).  Hit this for another minute.  Once that second hand turns over for the third minute though, the fun begins.  Quickly increase to an 80-95% sprint for a good 15-30 seconds, making sure to push yourself to near maximum speed.  Keep breathing deep and steady, and feel the burn in those legs.  PUSH HARD.  Then, when time's up, go back to your steady jog pace and cool down for about a minute.  Then...you guessed it, repeat.  For a beginner, I'd suggest four complete cycles (four jogs, four sprints), then every week or so get one more interval in there.  Work up to a total of around 20-25 minutes of HIIT, and I guarantee you'll see some real results.  Religious HIITers drop weight quickly and keep it off due to their vastly increased metabolism which is due to the irregular taxing of your heart and muscles.  You'll build leg muscle too, especially if you play around with the incline.  There's all sorts of HIIT workouts out there, google a few and try them out.

Oh, and HIIT works with any sort of cardio.  Try some hardcore spinning intervals, or elliptical, or jump rope, or take it outside and use a hill, a bike, or just plain RUN.  You can even walk and do it (have you ever tried to keep pace on a maximum speed walk?  Definitely not easy).  It's simple, and it produces guaranteed results.  It's not easy, but it gives an amazing sense of accomplishment.  And sometimes it's fun to see just how fast you can run.

Here's a great intro to HIIT, along with a few provided workouts: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw40.htm

HEAVY SQUATS:  My personal favorite.  To be honest, I'm not the cardio type.  But guess what, to keep lean, cardio ISN'T A NECESSITY.  Sure it's great to get at least something aerobic in there every now and then, but you can have plenty of intensity in your workouts just from lifting heavy things.  Squats are one of the best high intensity movements out there, especially heavy ones.  I believe one of my biggest idols, Nick Horton (coach of PDX weightlifting) put it best in a recent email to me by saying: A hard set of squats is really similar to a sprint, actually, as far as your body is concerned. Boy is he right.  Squat a heavy set of five, and not only will your heart rate increase, but you'll feel taxed pretty darn close to your limit.  Keep the reps close together, push as hard as you can, and you'll use so many muscles in such an intense, powerful manner that your body can't help but go into "beast mode," and fire up that calorie burning furnace.  You'll also build a ridiculous amount of muscle too, quite quickly.  I squat 7  days a week (I do NOT suggest this to a beginner, start off with 1 or 2 at most, with wide spacing between days), and it hasn't even been a year and I've already put 100 lbs on my max squat.  I feel stronger than ever, and despite being about 10 lbs heavier I'm also leaner than I was when I started.  Amazing right?  The magic of squats is fantastic.  


Bottom Line:  Squats make you powerful and increase your metabolism enormously.  Do them.  But make sure your form is good.  Get flexible and lift heavy.

PLYOMETRICS:  Plyos are insane.  They kill you with just one set, then on each successive set continue to kick you when you're down.  But they feel GREAT.  They build muscle, they build explosive strength, and they shoot your metabolism through the roof.  They will force your body to go through calories like water through  a sieve.  And like any good high intensity exercise, after you're done you'll still be in high gear, burning through every new meal you consume, packing on muscle and dropping fat.  It's called the "afterburn effect," and it's basically an increased metabolic rate that lasts for a certain amount of time after your workout.  The more intensely you worked out, in general, the longer and larger the afterburn effect is.  Hard, explosive movements force your body to work at maximum level with each rep, and therefore your afterburn effect will be quite large.  So get jumping, leaping, and lunging.


Want a good plyometric workout?  Start here, but please look all over the internet, because there are thousands of different workouts that will ALL kick your butt and produce serious results.  People who practice plyometrics on a regular basis are stronger, fitter, faster, more powerful, and in general on a level above those who don't.  Step up.  Try a few.  Start small, then really go for it!

Now clearly you can't just jump into a highly intense workout and expect to be all right.  Don't start squatting twice what you are now, or sprinting for 12 solid intervals right off the bat.  Chances are you'll burn out, or worse, hurt yourself.  Increase the intensity in levels, or steps, starting small and working up to the truly daunting.  Like I've said in my previous goal setting articles (read my most recent one here: http://foodguru802.blogspot.com/2012/01/short-term-key.html ), give yourself a lofty goal that you really have to reach toward, and set smaller short term goals that will allow you to reach it.  Want a 50" box jump?  Start with 24" box jumps for reps this week, then maybe 26-28" next week.  You'll be leaping like a frog in no time, and the body fat will start to melt right off you with every successive day.

Also, one more thing to close down this article and send you on your way to success:  Be intense inwardly, not outwardly.  What do I mean?  Well, focus all your energy toward that next sprint, that next jump, or that ungodly heavy squat.  Don't waste it screaming your head off in the gym to get psyched up, or making a ridiculous commotion.  Sure, everybody's got their psyche-up routine.  I've got my own, and I'm sure it looks quite strange, but it doesn't necessarily draw attention.  Keep it refined, shall we?  Power toward the movement, not outward into thin air.  Efficiency is the name of the game.

Push hard, then harder, then do it again.  All it takes is all you've got.  GOOD LUCK!

My Favorite Core Exercises

Have you ever wanted a rock solid midsection?  Abs that will break knuckles when punched?  Everyone does at one point or another, and I'm here to tell you that extreme core strength is quite attainable if you attempt to gain some.  The problem is, I think, that most people don't really know how to go about creating a core resembling the trunk of a tree.  They lay on the ground all day, crunching and crunching until they throw up.  Hey...GET OFF THE FLOOR FOR A SECOND and listen up.  There's quite a bit more you could be doing for your abs, especially if you're looking to get the strongest set you possibly can.

First, where is your "core"?  Well sure it involves your abdominal muscles, that plane of rectangular bricks just waiting to impress the ladies, but it also includes your obliques (on the sides), and even your upper quads and hip flexors.  And one part people often forget, it also includes your INNER abdominal wall (that's right, abs work both ways.)  To have a strong core is to be able to support yourself under the heaviest weights while maintaining good form and actually assisting the muscles required to lift said weight (like your legs).  These are all things I'm quite interested in, as should you be.  

First off, let's get one thing straight.  I'm talking about training core for strength, not definition.  You want rippling abs?  Let your diet take care of it.  Eat clean and under maintenance calories and you'll get a shredded midsection in no time flat.  Incidentally one of my favorite quotes is "train for strength, abs are made in the kitchen," (that's actually kind of a hybrid quote between some of my own analogies and Arnold Schwarzenegger's words.)  I hate to say it guys.  Crunches don't make you ripped.  Broccoli does.  Anyway, moving onward.  

Training abs for strength means high resistance, heavy loads, and intense reps.  You need to get that core used to contracting as hard as possible for as long as possible and sustaining that contraction no matter the cost or strain.  Sounds fun right?  Let's look at a few of my favorite high intensity ab contraction exercises.  

"L" chin-ups- These are my favorite by far.  They involve so many muscles I'd have a hard time counting them all, and they require extreme core strength.  I usually try to do at least 3-5 sets of these once or twice a week, after my squats.  Basically, get into chin up position, hold your legs at a 90 degree angle out in front of you (so your body looks like an "L"), and hold that angle as you complete as many chin-ups as you can.  Can't do chin/pull-ups?  No worries!  You can also do an "L" hang.  Just hang from the bar, hold your feet out in front of you, and count to ten.  Rest, then do it again.  I guarantee you'll feel a burn in this one, and it's an incredible core strength builder.  

"V"-ups- Whoa, another letter name exercise!  You've probably seen these before.  The key to these is keeping it slow and controlled.  Basically, lie flat on your back to start, with your arms overhead.  Slowly raise your feet while keeping legs straight, while at the same time raising your hands and arms to match the plane creating by your legs.  When your arms and legs are parallel, crunch toward your toes (touching them if you can), then descend back to starting position SLOWLY.  DO NOT LET YOUR FEET OR HANDS TOUCH THE GROUND.  Keep the contraction the entire exercise.  Do as many good reps as you can, take a short break, then come back for some more.  These are nuts.  

Plate/Russian Twist Balance- Want some serious pain?  Try these suckers.  Hold a plate in your hands (I'd recommend starting off with a 5lb or 10lb plate), and sit narrow-ways on a thin bench (such as a bench press or adjustable bench).  Raise your feet up and lean back so you're balancing on your butt, and hold the plate over one side of your body so it is almost touching the bench.  In a rapid but controlled and CONSTANTLY contracted motion, twist the plate across your body to the other side, ALMOST touch the bench, and repeat.  After twenty to thirty to a gazillion reps of these your core will feel like jello, I promise.  Because you're constantly contracting the core, it gets used to a heavy strain for extended periods of time, building some serious strength.  

The guy in this video taps the plate on the ground.  You CAN do that, but I believe that stopping the motion BEFORE the ground does requires a little more work on your core's part.  Up to you.

"Super Slow" Decline Sit-ups- In truth, doing any core exercise "super slow" is a great idea, as it forces your core muscles to remain firmly contracted for longer periods of time, lending itself toward great, useful strength gains.  This one is just what it sounds like. Hop on a decline bench, and start doing some damn slow sit-ups.  On the way down, stay very slow and controlled, count in your head if you have to.  Go very deep, trying to feel even your lowest abs, and DON'T let your back rest on the bench.  Start your upward movement just before your upper back touches the bench.  This means you'll need to stay quite upright, no hunching forward like you see all those other gym nothings do.  Slow and controlled, firm, contracted, and upright.  Do 15 reps per set, and you'll be burning all day.  

Want an even better burn?  Hold a plate or dumbbell over your head while you do these.  CRAZY!

This is the best video I could find in regards to FORM, but I have no idea why they call it an incline bench when it's clearly at a decline...

Front Squats-  Whaa???  Front squats?  I must've been crazy when writing this and accidentally included a leg exercise.  WRONG.  Front squats are still probably the greatest core workout I regularly do.  To front squat, you must hold the bar on the front of your deltoids, and to avoid dumping the bar in the deepest of bottom positions, you must remain as upright as possible while in the hold.  With all that weight pressing down on you, guess whose job it is to help keep you upright?  That's right!  Your core.  The heavier the squat, the more work your core does.  Try these out sparingly at first, and make sure your form is good.  I'll bet you'll see what I mean though, and quickly.

So there you have it, a few of my favorite core exercises geared toward creating massive core strength.  Do these on a consistent basis and I guarantee that when you get around to dieting down to low body fat percentage you'll have a midsection to be truly envious of.  

Keep it heavy, slow, and controlled.  Good luck!

Does The Food Even Matter? (Is a Calorie a Calorie?)

For a while, the health world has been split over an interesting dilemma.  Nearly every fitness expert out there will tell you to eat healthy, watch your nutrient consumption, pig out on more leafy greens, yadda yadda yadda, knowing full well that healthy eating isn't the only way to lose weight.

Wait...WHAT?  Yeah, you heard correctly.  You can eat like crap, and still drop weight.

This was evidenced in a study done by an overweight professor named  Mark Haub who wanted to support the fact that all that was required to lose pounds of body fat was a caloric deficit (eat less calories than you burn in a day.)  His theory was that it didn't matter where those calories came from, a calorie was a calorie, so that was that.  His diet was called many things, but the two most memorable names for it were the "convenience store diet", the "Junk Food Diet", or even MORE memorably, the "Twinkie Diet."  He basically consumed junk food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, taking out all other meat, carb, and fat sources from his diet.  He did have one serving of leafy greens each day, a protein shake, and a multivitamin (these were in hope to slightly offset the ridiculously poor nutrition he was receiving.)  At his initial weight, his maintenance calorie consumption was about 2600 calories.  He limited his intake to 1600 calories of junk.  At the end of it all, this guy lost 27lbs of body fat, lowered his blood cholesterol, and was unarguably leaner.  I know what you're thinking.  What...the...hell?

WHY HAVE I BEEN WASTING MY TIME WITH SPINACH!?!

Well you see this diet made professional dietitians and fitness experts feel many things.  They were baffled, furious that it worked, yet also confident that the science behind it makes sense.  The bottom line is that if you consume less energy than you expend, your body must use some of its own energy stores to compensate.  Eat in a caloric deficit consistently, and you WILL lose body fat.

Mark Haub, Twinkie man himself

But don't you dare go and run off to buy a box of Yodels just yet.  We're not through here.  I have a question for you.  Do you honestly think you can get away with eating pure junk food for weight loss?  Yeah, this guy did it, but he didn't keep doing it.  This diet isn't by ANY means sustainable.  You can't eat junk food and expect to be healthy.  In fact, you can't even expect to be thin.  Why's that?  Well first of all, despite having a set number of calories, those calories go right through you, causing no sense of satiety and huge cravings for more sugar.  You WILL overeat if you try this diet.  Why didn't this guy overeat?  Well, portion control is a lot easier when you know you're going to rock the whole world with your findings (at least in my opinion.)

Plus, you are going to be the unhealthiest hulk of a human being by the end of the diet (if you decide to give it a go, which I strongly recommend NOT DOING.  Actually, strongly is an understatement.  DO NOT DO THIS DIET.)  This guy was thinner, sure.  Was he healthier?  Um....NO!  Listen here.  Healthy foods make your body want to be leaner.  They support all these critical carb/fat/protein/blah blah ratios in your body that basically make it a lean, mean, muscular, fat burning machine!  Eat healthy, you'll end up being lean.  Eat too much healthy food, sure you might put on a little weight, but you can bet it'll be a hell of a lot harder to store body fat off of salads and chicken breast than it would be to store it off one too many cinnamon buns.

Another reason not to try this diet?  You'll feel like utter crap, guaranteed.  You'll have so much sugar coursing through your blood you won't be able to maintain a mood for more than a few minutes.  No focus, no lasting energy, no calm stomach.  Not to mention that extended periods of time on a similar diet will skyrocket your chances of contracting diabetes.  Not what you want, I bet.

Here's what I really think.  A calorie may be a calorie, sure, but wouldn't you want to get the best for your money?  I make my calories work for me, and you should do the same.  What do I mean?  Well I make sure that almost every calorie I consume has some sort of vital nutrient critical to my health, basically giving my body the best chance to stay lean, healthy, and strong.  It's like gasoline, would you rather run off 87 octane, or 93?  I'll take the high test all day.

But this diet escapade did give us one important nugget of information, one I believe you should keep in your back pocket throughout your own diet endeavors.  If you slip up, eat a face sized chocolate cookie, and feel guilty, stop for a minute and remind yourself that no matter how unhealthy that cookie was, those calories were just calories, and stick them into your daily total.  Then you can make a great attempt at organizing the rest of your meals to still fall into a deficit, or maintenance, or at least minimize the excess.  Barely any food in moderation will set you back far, if at all.

Keep healthy, don't stress, and stay away from the junk whenever possible.  GOOD LUCK!

Your Treadmill is a Liar!

Yeah that's right, you heard me!  Your treadmill, and any other piece of so-called "cardio equipment" you own, or regularly use at the gym, are big...fat...LIARS!  Shame!!!

All right, time to calm down slightly.  What do I mean by all this ruckus and shouting?  Well, I'd like to address what is probably one of the biggest misconceptions about cardio-equipment, and in turn one of the greatest miscalculations in the daily recording of fitness activities.  Now I'm guessing that the treadmill, bike, elliptical, stair-stepper, rowing machine, or whatever doesn't just have one on/off button.  No, I bet you look down each day you step on that thing and feel slightly like a pilot with all the gauges and buttons displayed to you in big, bright, digital fashion.  You might see your total workout time, distance traveled, heart-rate, incline, mile-rate, intensity, resistance, interval graphs, and the one piece of information I have the BIGGEST beef with:

Calories Burned.

You don't know how frustrating it is to have people come up to you on a daily basis (knowing you're a fitness buff with your own blog online), and proclaim proudly: "hey man, I just burned 680 calories on a treadmill."

....Congratulations, you want a medal?

But seriously, what does that even mean?  How did you burn that supposed number of calories?  Did you sprint for 10 minutes?  jog for an hour?  walk for three hours?  crawl for two miles?  What was your heart rate? Incline?  Speed?  What's your weight, height, age stride, pace, fitness level, bodyfat ratio, muscular density, anxiousness, meal before your workout, and your metabolic rate?

I hate to break it to all of you, but if your treadmill doesn't take all these factors into account, it has no idea how many calories you actually burned.  

You see, that calorie counter works through a consistent little program created through obtaining an average calorie burn rate of near "average" individuals.  Some programs are more accurate than others, yes, but in the end, nobody is average.  We all have different metabolisms, fitness levels, bodyfat ratios, etc.  To give you a simple example, someone with a higher metabolism will burn more calories during a 1 mile run at 7 mph than someone with a slower metabolism doing the exact same run.  Or maybe there are two people with the exact same height and weight, but one has been running his entire life.  The more experienced, more cardiovascular efficient person will burn less calories per mile than the person who's less "fit", if they both run at the same speed.  You see all these little nuances?  As fancy as that treadmill is, it can't take that into account.

So don't come up to me and tell me how many calories you burned.  I will either not stop what I'm doing and mumble "cool," or if the figure is nutty enough, I'll stop what I'm doing, look you square in the face, and say "no, you didn't."

BUT WAIT!!!  This information shouldn't depress you.  Sure it may throw you off a little bit, but it also frees you up to become MUCH more physically fit than ever before.  Instead of focusing on the calories burned, how about instead you focus on the intensity and length of your workout, and record THOSE figures instead.  Bottom line is that the more intensely you get your heart going in a cardio workout, the more calories you'll burn.  Why do you think high intensity interval training works so well?  Use the timer, the speed, and the incline/resistance with more gusto than the calorie counter.  Use the counter only as a reference.  If it reads 100 calories greater than last time, great!  You burned more calories!  You won't know exactly how many more, but hey, it looks significant!

Don't fall for the treadmill's lies anymore.  Calories don't matter so much.  Intensity does.  Get that heart going, and you'll be more than happy with your results.

Push hard, run fast, and as always, good luck!

Cook Those Eggs!

I for one am a HUGE fan of eggs, and all the amazing health benefits associated with them.  They're loaded with vitamins, healthy fats, and most importantly, PROTEIN!  Yes, being a weightlifter I need all the protein I can get for the fewest calories I can find.  My two favorite foods that fit this bill perfectly are fish, and EGGS.  You can get 8 grams of readily absorbed protein from each egg, and the egg itself is only around 74 calories.  The egg white contains a lot of protein by itself, around 6 grams, and there are only about 20 calories worth in every egg.  But hey, if you're only going to eat one to three eggs a day, keep the yoke in.  I won't delve into much detail, but the cholesterol issues so commonly referred to in the same sentence as eggs are drastically overstated.  The yoke has a plethora of health benefits, and the dietary cholesterol it contains should NOT be a deterrent for this tasty yellow center.

But I'm not here just to go off on how eggs are so amazing (which they are), I'm writing this article to drop an interesting little knowledge bomb on all of you.  Eggs have the potential to be one of the most biologically available protein sources in the entire food universe.  What do I mean by this?  Well you see, though you can easily find out how much protein there is in any quantity of any type of food, the body can only absorb a certain percentage of that protein because of the chemical composition of the food itself.  The absorbed percentage is known as the "bioavailibilty" of the protein.  Beef protein is about 80% bioavailable to the body.  Fish protein?  ~83%.  The protein in eggs, remarkably, is upward of 95% bioavailable to the body!  That's impressive!

But wait, hold the phone.  

Egg protein is only 95% bioavailable to the body when the egg is COOKED.  That's right, fried, poached, boiled, you name it, that's what gets all that good protein to the forefront of your nutrient absorption.

What's the bioavailibility of raw egg protein?  about 50%.

That, my friends, is a HUGE difference!

Why is this the case?  Well, it's a funny chemical process that occurs when the egg is cooked which allows the protein to become more readily absorbed by your body.  And while I could delve into a complicated description of exactly how this chemical process works, I happened across a marvelous little webpage that explains the whole situation much better than I could.  Here's what it says:

"Heat ’em

When you apply heat, you agitate those placidly drifting egg-white proteins, bouncing them around. They slam into the surrounding water molecules; they bash into each other. All this bashing about breaks the weak bonds that kept the protein curled up. The egg proteins uncurl and bump into other proteins that have also uncurled. New chemical bonds form—but rather than binding the protein to itself, these bonds connect one protein to another. 

After enough of this bashing and bonding, the solitary egg proteins are solitary no longer. They’ve formed a network of interconnected proteins. The water in which the proteins once floated is captured and held in the protein web. If you leave the eggs at a high temperature too long, too many bonds form and the egg white becomes rubbery."

Check my references to see the rest of this page.  It's a great read.

Want another reason to cook your eggs?  One word:  Salmonella.  It's not something you want, believe me. Without going into too much detail, it's a bacteria that will make you VERY sick VERY quickly, and causes about 140 US deaths per year.  Sure, the risk of death sounds relatively low, but it also infects over a million people every year, and you do NOT want to be infected.  What's one of the biggest causes of salmonella infection?

Chicken eggs.  Yeah, bummer, I know.

Salmonella usually rests on the shell of the egg, but can also penetrate to the yoke.  It's said that 1 in every 20,000 eggs is infected with salmonella.  Sure, the risk is low, but I eat between 1-3 eggs a day, and I know people who eat upward of nine eggs daily.  If someone eats between 3 and 9 eggs daily, they'll eat between 1095 and 3285 eggs per year.  So at the bare minimum, in twenty years it's VERY likely you'll run across an egg that's salmonella infected.  Something to think about.

So what's the good news?  Cooking eggs thoroughly can eliminate salmonella bacteria within the yoke.  Wash your hands thoroughly after handling eggs though, as it can still reside on the shell.  Easy enough, right?

So what's the bottom line?  Sorry you wanna-be Rocky Balboas, downing your eggs raw is not only exposing you to an unnecessary salmonella risk, but you're wasting a heaping ton of some otherwise EXTREMELY BIOAVAILABLE protein.  Why deprive yourself of what your body needs?

Build some muscle, lose some fat, cook those eggs.  Good Luck!


References:


http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/eggs/eggscience.html
http://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-facts/egg-safety/eggs-and-food-safety
http://www.about-salmonella.com/

Chew Gum, Stay on Track

Even as I type this, I'm already chewing a piece of gum.  I'll be honest, I love the stuff, and I'm not alone.  Thousands of people chew gum for different reasons, whether it be to freshen their breath, cure temporary boredom, work out the jaw, or even help them stay on their diet.  Gum is a great tool in many regards, and if you don't already chew it on a regular basis, I hope this article might help you to take advantage of some of the benefits gum can offer.

First of all, before I say anything else, I recommend SUGAR FREE GUM.  This is the stuff you want, not its sugar packed cousin.  Sugared gum will have quite a few more calories and will most likely spike your insulin unnecessarily, kicking your diet off track little by little.  Sugar free gum only has sugar alcohol, which is only partially digested, so the calories are next to naught.  There are between 3.5 and 5 calories in sugar free gum, depending on whether you get the longer flatter pieces, or the shorter, more compact, thicker pieces.  Just check out the nutrition label on the back of the package.

So what are some of gum's most awesome benefits?  Let's examine a few, shall we?

Curbs Appetite:  Yes that's right, gum might keep you from overeating.  Because the action neccessary to chew gum so closely resembles consuming food, you may be able to trick your body into thinking it's actually receiving food when you're actually not!  Neat!

But don't go overboard on this nifty little fact.  Gum won't keep you full, and generally the effect will wear off or even reverse after a certain amount of time, because your stomach keeps expecting food it's not getting.  Gum should never be used as a meal replacement, or even a snack replacement.  It should be used as temporary tool to curb any existing hunger after you've known you already ate enough, or wish to take the edge off before a meal.  Simple things like that.  It doesn't work miracles, but it can definitely help you stay on track.  For example, it's said that gum chewers consume up to 10% less than non-gum chewers.  Not a bad figure, especially for such a simple solution.

Decreases Anxiety:  I bet you've noticed this effect before, as I certainly have.  Gum can help calm your nerves, as it focuses the mind elsewhere and gets rid of a little pent up, tension related energy.  This effect, in the long run, can end up helping you eat less, because anxiety is a HUGE culprit of binge eating.  If you're a little nervous, a simple stick of gum might do wonders for you.

Oral Health:  OK, I'm not going to say that chewing gum is a replacement for brushing your teeth, so don't get too excited.  But studies have show that chewing sugar-free gum can both directly and indirectly decrease the effect of plaque on your teeth.  Direct effects may include the actual removal of harmful food matter off of your teeth, and indirect effects include the stimulation of salivary glands which will help to fight the effects of plaque after a meal.  So pick up a stick of gum after dinner and you might impress your dentist a little more come your next appointment! (Though they always seems to complain anyway, don't they?)

Cognitive Performance:  Amazingly, gum can help your mind perform more sharply and efficiently.  There have been all sorts of studies done on gum and its effects on the brain, and many have shown that chewing gum can help test/school performance as a whole.  In fact, this article describes one of the studies quite well:

It turns out there’s an excellent rationale for this long-standing cultural habit: Gum is an effective booster of mental performance, conferring all sorts of benefits without any side effects. The latest investigation of gum chewing comes from a team of psychologists at St. Lawrence University. The experiment went like this: 159 students were given a battery of demanding cognitive tasks, such as repeating random numbers backward and solving difficult logic puzzles. Half of the subjects chewed gum (sugar-free and sugar-added) while the other half were given nothing. Here’s where things get peculiar: Those randomly assigned to the gum-chewing condition significantly outperformed those in the control condition on five out of six tests. (The one exception was verbal fluency, in which subjects were asked to name as many words as possible from a given category, such as “animals.”) The sugar content of the gum had no effect on test performance.

That's pretty remarkable if I don't say so myself.  Although I bet you're asking why this effect occurs.  This article goes on to state that this temporary sharpening of the mind (yes it's temporary, in the same article it said effects were only noticeable for about 20 minutes) is due to "mastication-induced arousal."  Now don't read that phrase out loud, as it will probably cause you to burst out laughing, but it basically means that chewing something wakes you up and causes you to be more alert.  It's a pretty simple concept, yet definitely one worth noting.

Chewing gum can definitely be an advantageous activity, and the great news is that it's probably one you already enjoy.  So chew with confidence, as you know you're doing your body a bit of good!

Remember, sugar-free.  Good Luck!


A few References:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/the-cognitive-benefits-of-chewing-gum/

http://www.wrigleydentalcare.com/orbit_us/media-area/articles/the-oral-health-advantages-of-chewing-sugarfree-gum/index.htm

This is a Knol I wrote a while ago, and was quite proud of it.  I suggest learning the overhead squat if you are able, as it will do you a World of good.

The Ultimate Movement

Exploring the Benefits of the Overhead Squat

In truth, there is no one "greatest" exercise to perform. Not for strength, endurance, flexibility, nor any other subset of the fitness world. However, there are a few that can produce great results in most of these fields. This article will discuss one of my personal favorites: The Overhead Squat, and why exactly it can transform someone into a very strong, flexible, powerful individual.

Contents

• Ben Smith demonstrating the overhead squat

The overhead squat, by nature, is a scary sounding exercise.  It can be even more daunting to watch, as someone who's never seen/tried one before will find it very hard to understand how one can hold such huge amounts of weight over their head, then descend beneath it into the deepest, most straining of squats, and rise back from the depths to full standing height, miraculously unharmed, shoulders and legs fully intact.

Ben Smith demonstrating the overhead squat

Without doubt, this exercise is difficult.  It is strenuous, and requires vast amounts of strength, stability, and flexibility.  And with higher weights, the term "vast" becomes more and more of an understatement.  But even at very low weights, this movement remains one of the greatest full body exercises one could ever do in their routine.  It engages muscles everywhere, and therefore will build complete, full body strength.  To figure out one movement can do so much, let's examine the overhead squat piece by piece.

It should be mentioned first that any type of weighted squat will do wonders for building remarkable strength.  Why is this?  Well, squats require the activation of a huge amount of muscle fiber in order to complete even one with good form.  You may think of squats being synonymous with leg workouts, and while this is initially a correct instinct (a good squat will activate the hamstrings, glutes, and quadricep muscles), they activate many more muscles as well.  In fact, to be stable in a deep ATG (ass to grass...pardon my french...) squat requires an extremely strong core.  Core in general means muscles in, you guessed it, the MIDDLE of the body.  This includes abdominal muscles, upper legs, lower back, and obliques.  More formally, it is defined as the entire spine, pelvic girdle, and hip joints.  This is a remarkable 29 muscles at least!  That's a LOT of muscle fiber.  And the best part of all this?  All that huge amount of muscle fiber is actually USEFUL.  The muscles you're activating while squatting are some of the most used in the majority of other strength related exercises.  So when you squat, you build real, usable strength, everywhere.  

A second, equally important reason as to why squats are so important may be of interest to those guys looking to get bigger and more muscular quickly.  Because squats activate the largest muscles your body possesses, as you squat you release a large amount of testosterone, which will cause your body to go into, put simply, "muscle building mode." You'll pack on lean mass relatively quickly (obviously not that quickly, building lean muscle take a LOT of time), and the strength gains will be as close to immediate as you can get.  Ladies, don't be scared by the word testosterone, squats will only help you, as will all weightlifting.  In fact, adding any muscle mass will increase your metabolism and help you shed unwanted pounds.  And you will NOT bulk up.  I don't care who says you will, they are wrong.  Go look at any female Olympic weightlifter in the lighter classes.  They're throwing 300lbs above their head, and they're still lean, mean, sexy machines.  

On an aside, SQUAT DEEP.  Parallel squats are what hurt your knees, as they take the brunt of the force as you go from descending to ascending.  As you go below parallel, that same force is transferred to your hips and hamstrings, which are bigger muscles that can definitely take the strain.

Well there's the squatting portion of the exercise.  And talk to anyone who know's squatting, it's not easy.  People spend years developing good squat form (not to deter anyone from trying, I suggest it to anyone and everyone looking to put on a little muscle).  But with the overhead squat, squatting is really only half the battle.  The other portion is obviously making sure that the huge weight above your head, doesn't come crashing down from it's precarious perch above your head.  This requires even MORE strength.  A lot more.  

To hold the weight overhead, there's generally a specific grip used.  It's called the "snatch" grip, and is named after the Olympic lift (the snatch) where athletes bring the weight from the ground to overhead in one fluid motion, catching it in...you guessed it...a full overhead squat.  There's a reason those athletes are considered the strongest in the world.  The snatch grip itself means to hold the bar with one's hands very spread apart, nearly at the collars of the bar.  

  This requires less shoulder flexibility to remain upright and "tight" in the bottom of the squat.  The narrower the grip, the more shoulder flexibility is required to go ATG.  This is because as you descend, your shoulders must rotate backwards in order to keep the bar aligned over your heels, and in turn keep your entire body balanced.  Drift too far forward or backwards, and you'll be forced to dump the bar.  What this basically describes is an extremely tight isometric exercise for your entire upper back, core, shoulders, and chest.  One must keep their traps squeezed together and their arms locked out throughout the entire motion.  This, without doubt, becomes very fatiguing VERY quickly.  Little tiny bits of bar movement suddenly require huge efforts to fight and contradict.  And after a few sets, it's almost a guarantee you'll be sore the next day where you haven't ever felt sore before, because most likely you've never worked stabilizing muscles to such a high degree.

    To even do one overhead squat, with any sort of weight, is an accomplishment.  No one should claim it's not, because it'd be safe to say the large majority of gym-goers have ever ventured from their routines enough to try one.  The flexibility requirements of overhead squatting is large.  One must have very flexible hips, knees, hamstrings, calves, quads, shoulders, chest, and spine.  Luckily the overhead squat itself is not inherently possible without such flexibities, so the risk of strain or dislocation decreases.  One who isn't flexible enough, will be forced to drop the bar before any sort of bodily damage can occur. 

     In order to increase flexibility for such an exercise, many stretches should be done on a daily basis (perhaps this is a good time to say that this article is merely meant to describe the benefits of overhead squatting, and should not be considered a guide to either the exercise itself or the supporting exercises or stretches.)  And not only will stretches help your overhead squat, the overhead squat itself is an amazing full body stretch, and therefore will only help you to become stronger and more flexible in the long run.

So is it the Ultimate Exercise?  Is overhead squatting the greatest, most beneficial movement one could do in the gym?  Again, certainly not exclusively.  But the benefits associated with the exercise are immeasurably large, and definitely place this exercise near the top of the list.

Talk to Marcin Dolega, champion 105kg class Polish weightlifter, about the benefits of overhead squatting.  That's a full Olympic snatch^^^....and is about 400lbs.

Spot Fat Removal: ONE GIANT MYTH

Have you ever seen those commercials for the ab belt?  Or the ab spinner?  Maybe the glute strengthener?  Or the shake weight?  I've seen all these commercials, and all have one thing in common (besides being absolutely ridiculous.)  They all claim to be able to remove fat from those "stubborn" areas, like the lower abs, under arms, and legs.  They claim to target those specific areas and blast away the fat from wherever you would prefer.

Or maybe you don't care about those infomercials, and like me, think they're pretty ridiculous.  However you're in the gym every day doing crunches, determined to make that six pack poke through your belly.  Sit-ups, V-ups, leg raises, planks, you've done them all, but still can't see those abs.  While you may not believe in those infomercials and they're stupid methods, what you're employing is something almost as naive.


THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS SPOT REDUCTION

That means that you can't choose where to take fat off of.  Doing more crunches will NOT burn belly fat specifically.  Doing squats won't take weight off only your back end.  Your body doesn't work like that.  Fat loss happens gradually, and symmetrically.  Where you lose fat first is completely up to your genetics.  Yes, I'm sorry, but that's the truth.

So ladies, you say you have "trouble areas"?  I'm sorry to say, but those trouble areas won't go away from focusing on working them specifically.  You need greater overall fat loss.  Accomplish that, and I guarantee those stubborn fat areas will disappear.

So here's a piece of advice that you can take to heart.  You want six pack abs?  Stop doing crunches, and start doing some cardio.  Your abs will only show through when you have a very low body fat percentage (around 11%), and a calorie deficit for the day is really the only way to make sure your body is using fat stores for energy.  Here are a few suggested techniques to really get your fat loss kick started-

HIIT:  Hate running for incredibly long periods of time and seeing no results?  It's time to pump up the pace a little bit, and decrease that monotonous treadmill time.  HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) means you alternate between high intensity and low intensity exercise in timed intervals. Probably the most common example is to alternate between sprinting and fast walking (slow jogging.)  Try it out next time you're on the treadmill.  Jog for about a minute and a half, then full out sprint for 30 seconds.  Really push yourself.  Make those thirty seconds as intense as you can without risking injury.  After the thirty seconds, bring the pace back down to the original jog.  Repeat a few times, so your total time is between 8 and 20 minutes (you can start with less than this though, I'd suggest only 4 minutes of HIIT if you're just getting into it.)

HIIT will make your metabolism go NUTS.  You're heart will be working in overtime, and your metabolism will be elevated for up to 18 hours after you're done with your workout.  Now that's an after-burn effect.

Hill Sprints:  Yeah, they sound horrible.  And I guess I'll reveal that, no surprise, they don't feel good.  But they are extremely effective at both burning fat and building leg muscle.  It's a  pretty simple concept.  Find a hill, and sprint up it.  Walk back down it, then sprint up it again.  Do this as many times as you feel necessary (I would suggest around 4 to start, and 10 if you're a seasoned hill sprinter.  Try jogging back down, or find a longer/steeper hill to add difficulty.)  These are kind of like HIIT.  Short periods of high intensity exercise followed by a recovery period of low intensity exercise.  These will set your metabolism in FLAMES.

Build some muscle:  Muscle burns calories.  The more you have, the faster your metabolism will be.  So many people (I'll pick on women here) refuse to lift weights because they believe it has nothing to do with fat loss.  WRONG.  It has everything to do with it.  If you're looking to increase your resting metabolic rate, I would strongly suggest you lift weights.  Cardio is great, but definitely needs to be combined with weight lifting to have lasting effects.

Think of it this way.  You may lose fat by running.  But if your metabolism can't support your new lighter weight, you'll put it all back on.  More muscle will help you to support this leaner you.

And ladies, don't worry about bulking up.  You could lift heavy almost every single day and would never look like a bodybuilder.  Your hormones will NOT allow you to put on massive amounts of bulky muscle.  I can't emphasize enough that lifting weights will only do you good.

Go the extra mile:  Take every opportunity you can to just be a little bit more active in your average day.  Park a little farther away from the grocery store.  Stand for an extra ten minutes while you're watching TV or making dinner.  Walk the dog, or do some yard work.  If you put in a little effort, OFTEN, it will add up quite quickly.  An extra 100 calories burned per day will definitely add up quickly.

So if you're looking for those abs, stop doing crunches, and go find a hill, or a longer walk, or a hike, or some dumbbells.  Because like I said before, you may hate that belly fat, but it's not going away until your body decides its time.  And the only way you can make your body decide is to force all the fat you can off that muscle of yours.  Start slow, and build up, as with anything else.

Run hard, run fast, walk more, and pack on the meat.  Good luck!