In this post I want to talk about fat burners. Walk into any vitamin or supplement store and you’ll find whole sections dedicated to fat burners and weight loss products. It’s easy to get sucked into the idea of an easy fix for weight loss or fat loss through supplementation, but like always there are some truths and some myths concerning supplements that people need to be aware about before spending their hard earned cash. So in this post I want to discuss the question do fat burners work? I also want to dig a little deeper by looking at some of the popular fat loss supplements on the market and talk about what it is they do.

[I figured it was time for a beautiful woman to find the pages of my site instead of some supplement bottle. If Sarah's been taking fat burners they seem to be working pretty well.]

Acai Berry and Goji Berry Supplementation

I want to discuss these two in particular because of the popularity of each supplement over the last few years. What I’ve learned about each supplement is that there is absolutely no truth to the fact that any fat loss whatsoever comes from either berry. They are loaded with antioxidants but that doesn’t have anything to do with weight loss or fat loss. What we’ve been told is that these products burn fat through the power of these berries that can only be found oversees – the mythical reasons is what people love about supplements. Both of these have a caffeine/aspirin combo which works as an appetite suppressant while also making you move around more.

Don’t be fooled by products that promote a lot of antioxidants

Acai Berry has twice the antioxidants as blueberries. That’s great but our bodies can only absorb small amounts of anything before it gets thrown out of balance. For example, creatine, protein, vitamins, etc. It’s called homoeostasis and hormesis – to much or to little of anything is bad and more doesn’t always mean better when we’re ingesting things in our body.

Some of the other fat burners that are popular

• Caffeine – In my opinion the best out of any fat burner or weight loss supplement. It decreases your appetite, helps with strength and endurance in the gym, and make exercise feel easier while allowing you to push harder and longer.
• Yohimbe –  Similar to viagra that it works as a vasodialator. I personally hated the feeling of it because it made me feel jittery and nervous all the time.
• Green Tea – Some increase of energy and appetite suppressant, but not as effective as coffee in my opinion.
• Ephedrine – The king of fat burning and weight loss supplements because of it’s effectiveness. But is linked to to many health problems and can be addictive so this is something you should stay away from.
• Hoodia – a media created do nothing supplement.
• 5 HTP – Contains Tryptophan (amino acid in turkey) that elevates mood and supressess appetite. Made me sleepy!

The only one I would recommend and use is a cup of coffee or a shot of espresso 20 to 30 minutes prior to your workout. The rest are mostly media creations that have slight appetite supressing effects and just make you move around more than you normally would – helping you expend a few extra calories a day.

Don’t trust studies

Remember, when researching a supplement, take them with a grain of salt. What I mean is that studies can be conformed or pushed in the direction that the supplement companies want. This allows them to show validity on their label and in court if necessary. Take the Acai Berry example from above, studies show that Acai Berries help burn fat, but in reality it was the caffeine/aspirin combination that helped suppress appetite and increase energy……it didn’t burn fat whatsoever. Don’t trust studies!

Do fat burners work?

In reality, none of them burn fat per se if you don’t eat less and exercise more. In general, fat burners work by decreasing your appetite and increasing your energy and giving you more motivation to workout. Most stimulants, like caffeine, yohimbe, and ephedrine all have appetite suppressing effects. So in reality they aren’t burning fat off your body by themselves, rather they are helping you avoid eating.

Please stay away!

What I would recommend it to stay away from any of these types of supplements and save your money on one’s that actually work, like Creatine, Krill Oil, Protein Powder, etc. Guys and gals, please stay away from fat burners and weight loss supplements. I just don’t like things that make you feel hot, flush, and get your heart racing. So please stay away from these supplements if you could. I don’t want anything happening to you guys because some shmuck marketer promised you things that aren’t a reality. Remember, the only thing I would do is have a cup of coffee or a shot of espresso 30 minutes prior to working out. It’s natural, effective, and won’t make you feel all jittery and dizzy.

What I want you to do

Find a diet that’s easy to follow and lowers your caloric intake on a weekly basis. Then find a workout program to follow that was designed by an expert that has your goals in mind. And when someone asks you the question do fat burners work, you can give them a clear explanation, instead of the usual media crap that gets spewed throughout the fitness industry.

I had a guy in the gym come up to me the other day and ask me if our muscles plateau as we age. It’s a great question and something that a lot of people don’t think about often. He was a kid (around 20 years old), and wondered if I was following a workout routine to build muscle or just following a routine to stay lean considering I am around 40 years old. He also wondered if his routine should differ from mine considering our age difference. Lets talk about what we discussed in this post.

[Your body type will determine how much muscle is appropriate for you. Don't get obsessed with being to big! Just add some natural muscle, strip some body fat, and you will look fantastic.]

Do our muscles plateau as we age?

To make this simple, if we gained two to three inches of muscle per year starting around the age of 17 we would become the largest human being on earth. When we reach our teens our production of human growth hormone and testosterone begin to fall – it reaches it’s highest peak when you’re around 10 years old . This production steadily declines, but still remains high well into our early twenties, and eventually begins to plateau as we reach our 30′s. Therefore, if you are between the ages of 17-23 and are just starting to workout this is the time where you will put on the most muscle while simultaneously keeping your body fat low.

(Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone are elevated when we are young because our DNA is wired this way. We are inherently geared to look strong and lean in order to attract the opposite sex when we are young. It’s all about procreation baby!!!!)

This is how supplement companies thrive 

I don’t want to bash all supplement companies because I respect the one’s who have strict guidelines and testing standards, like Prograde for example. But what happens is, supplement companies take advantage of people’s memories when they market muscle building and fat loss supplements. What happens is people can remember how easy it was to gain muscle and lose fat when they were young and think that this can happen at any age. But, as we’ve already discussed, our muscles begin to plateau do to the drop off of our hormones.

We need to find ways to produce hormones that have dropped

I am in my late 30′s so I need to find ways to naturally increase human growth hormone and testosterone if I want  a body like I had when I was younger. Here are a few ways that I do that:

1. Go into every workout in a fasted state – no food whatsoever 3-4 hours before a workout.
2. Wait 1-2 hours after your workout to eat – Don’t worry about muscle loss here because of the hgh boost
3. Do a intermittent fasting twice a week – Studies have shown that fasting for 24 hours twice per week sends the hormone hgh through the roof
4. Do high intensity interval training immediately following your weight routine – This type of workout will increase hgh tremendously

If you’re over 25 years old you have an advantage though

Even though younger people can gain more muscle and burn more fat they just don’t look as defined as many of their older counterpart. I looked at a picture of me the other day and couldn’t believe how much more defined I look now as I am older compared to when I was younger. So if you are younger, be patient, a lot of the definition and muscle that isn’t as developed as you would like will take time. And if you’re older be thankful that all that hard work you did in the gym when you were younger is now paying off.

(One of the interesting things about Human Growth Hormone is the fact that even though its secretion declines with age, the body still produces the same amount of Hgh as someone in their 20′s. The problem lies in releasing human growth hormone from the aging pituitary cells. If you try some of the tricks that I listed above your body will force that hgh out of your pituitary gland no matter how old you are.)

So what type of workout should I be doing

No matter what your age you should all be doing similar workout routines to build muscle and look lean. Any workout program that you follow should include hypertrophy training – increases the amount of fluid in the muscle cell, density training and some form of strength training. Workouts with these concepts should be done in stages to ensure that anyone can grow some muscle then take that muscle and make it hard and dense looking. Once again, I want to point out the importance of finding a workout that is written by an expert. Don’t just wing it!

When we go to the gym we enter a different world.  I remember when I first heard the term bulking and cutting and thought what a great idea.  You pack on the muscle in the off season when your wearing a shirt and coat – so no one can see the excess fat that you’ve gained, then you drop body fat quickly when spring and summer approaches to show off all that muscle you’ve gained.  In theory it was a great idea….I mean this is what body builders did when they entered a competition right, so it must work.  Is this the approach we should be taking to look our best?

 (I have a good friend that works for Sony Music Entertainment. When we talked a few weeks back he couldn’t stop talking about this new kid he just helped sign. He kept saying he’s the next Usher!  Here is Jacob Latimore’s new video ” I like em all”.  This kid is really talented.  Man, my buddy always had an eye for good young talent.)

What does bulking up exactly mean

Does bulking up mean just packing on as much muscle as possible and not worrying about how much fat you put on – because you’re going to drop that fat with no problem anyway right. Or does it imply just putting on as much pure muscle as possible without gaining any extra fat in the process. I think it falls somewhere in between, because it’s almost impossible to not put on some fat while your trying to gain a lot of muscle…..because of the amount of calories you have to consume while doing this.

Should we ever try to bulk up

Look, if you’re anywhere between the ages of 17-24, and skinny, I would definitely find a routine that will help you pack on as much muscle as you possible – without gaining too much fat.  What I mean is, find a program that really focuses on building strong shoulders and a wide back. Something like the Adonis Index would be perfect for guys in this age group who are skinny. The only reason I say this is because this is the critical time-frame for young men to grow at a rate that can never be duplicated. Just make sure you don’t gain a lot of fat in the process. Just because you are trying to get bigger doesn’t mean that it’s smart to get fatter in the process. So watch your calorie intake and stay as lean as possible while getting bigger.

And here’s why

Bulking up causes a permanent increase in fat cells, making it tougher to get lean as we get older. I wish I would have known this little fact when I was in my early 20′s because I ate like a pig when I worked out. I thought that you were supposed to eat a ton of calories when you were trying to get bigger. That was a bunch of crap!

The harsh truth about fat cells

Once you gain a fat cell, you can never get rid of it. You can shrink the size of the fat cell, but it stays with you for life. This is why people who were heavy always have a harder time keeping the weight off. The good news is that you can get as lean as someone with less fat cells. The bad news is that it’s easier to gain the weight back…..compared to someone who never had those fat cells in the first place.

If you fell into the bulking and cutting trap

If you fell into the bulking and cutting trend a few years back and are a little puffy, rounded, and bloated looking, you need to change the way you are going about your workout. Find a program that teaches you how to create a hard, dense, lean-look to your physique. Like I said, you can shrink those fat cells down to nothing with a well balanced workout routine.

Have you ever wondered whether coffee was bad for you? I have drank coffee for years 30 to 60 minutes prior to my workouts and have never had any adverse affects whatsoever. What it has done is help me burn off a lot of unwanted body fat over the years. Even though I’ve been drinking coffee for years I still had no idea whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. So I decided to do some research and come up with some facts explaining the health benefits of coffee as well as how coffee affects fat loss and exercise performance.

(Two beautiful women enjoying their coffee at an outdoor bistro. I love sitting in a nice place with a good friend or a book enjoying a nice cup of coffee.)

The health benefits of coffee

Coffee has been shown to prevent strokes, heart disease, type 2 Diabetes, and helps to prevent the onset of Parkinson’s disease.  The reason: coffee is full of phenolic nutrients which are antioxidants that help fight off oxidative stress and damage to cells in the body.

So what are phenolic nutrients? 

Phenolic nutrients are antioxidants found in certain foods which can help reverse damage created by free radicals in the body. Oxidative stress and damage is a common reaction in the body due to metabolic processes.  This can lead to inflammation, degenerative(s) disease, and can lead to heart disease. Oh yeah and one more: aging. 

How can coffee help slow the aging process?

When the body is exposed to high levels of oxidative stress, this speeds up the aging process.   Oxidative stress can lead to damage of our DNA, protein, and lipids in the body.   Once again, here comes coffee to the rescue!

Coffee has higher levels of phenolic nutrients, which can help reduce the effects oxidative stress has on the body.  By reducing the high concentration of free radicals, you are saving the cells of the body from aging.  This slows the aging process considerably.

Caffeine Right Before Exercising Assists in Fat Loss

I always believed this to be true and found this to be exactly the case when consumed in a fasted state (no food for at least 4-5 hours). What caffeine does is increase free flowing fatty acids from your fat stores allowing you to access fat instead of carbs or lean muscle for energy. If you drink your coffee 30 to 60 minutes prior to your workout make sure you do it in a fasted state. This will help isolate those fat cells when doing high intensity exercise. So make sure you push hard to make sure you release that fatty acids from the fat cells. The combination of the coffee, the fasting and the HIIT will almost guarantee a serious amount of fat loss. Also be sure to drink a lot of water before, during and after your workout because coffee is a diuretic.

(Here is the trailer from the new series “Homeland”. If you haven’t had a chance to see this yet you’re missing out. It’s fantastic! The two best hours of television is Sunday on Showtime…..Dexter followed by Homeland.)

Pure Caffeine vs Coffee

Here is a little gem that I found while doing my research.  It has been shown that pure caffeine will improve performance in lifting and cardio better than coffee. Pure caffeine will also lead to a greater release of free fatty acids, which will be used as energy in your workout and lead to greater fat loss. I remember a friend who was really lean a few years back telling me how he used to take a 200 mg caffeine pill (Vivarin) 30 minutes before his workout. He said it was the leanest he had ever gotten and now I know why. Try this method when you’re a few weeks from taking a vacation or attending a special event to help you get extra lean.

Caffeine to Increase Muscle Tone?

Achieving true muscle tone comes from strong muscle contractions. Your body will display a greater degree of muscle tone the better you can create strong muscle contractions.  You will also become stronger the better your nervous system gets at sending strong signals to your muscles to contract hard. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, therefore increasing the signals sent to the muscles. This causes stronger contractions, allowing you to lift heavier weights.

Three tips to make your coffee healthier

1. Avoid all sugar and artificial sweeteners (like Equal or Splenda). Instead try Organic Maple Syrup or a packet of Stevia to lightly sweeten your coffee. If you like your coffee black with nothing in it that’s the best way to drink it. This is what I’ve been doing!
2. Avoid all artificial creamers (liquid or powder). Instead try Coconut Milk or Vanilla Almond Milk.
3. Add some healthy antioxidants to your coffee. Try cinnamon or cocoa powder. Both can help lower your blood sugar and blood pressure.

Summary

As you can see the health benefits of coffee are plentiful when it comes to preventing illness and slowing the aging process. Coffee also can be useful as a fat loss and muscle toning tool when used correctly. Find a way to consume a couple of cups a day and your body will thank you.

A secret way the body burns calories is with Exercise Post-Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), or what most of us refer to as the afterburn effect. When we employ afterburn training, we throw the body into a form of chaos. Once the workout is over, our bodies expend calories to get the body back into its pre-exercise state. Achieving this state, in my opinion, is the single most important factor when it comes to getting lean.

(Is there anything better than looking at palm trees with the red sky behind it. After seeing this picture me and my wife decided it was time to start planning our next vacation.)

How do we reach this chaotic state?

The type of training that would throw the body into a chaotic state would include, supersets, circuits, and high intensity interval training. All of which can be done with either weights, kettlebells, straps, swiss balls, ab wheels, your own bodyweight, cardio machines, and the outside world. It’s basically when you use any of the previous methods to train with an elevated heart rate, with insufficient recovery, is when you are doing a form of afterburn training.

The difference between a superset, circuit and HIIT

• A superset is two exercises performed back to back with minimal rest between exercises to increase workout intensity.
• Circuit training is a form of conditioning combining resistance training and high-intensity aerobics. It is designed to be easy to follow and target strength building as well as muscular endurance. An exercise “circuit” is one completion of all prescribed exercises in the program.
• HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training is a form of cardio. The explanation is really in the title: it involves intervals of varying intensities, with some of those intensities quite high. A typical HIIT routine will involve some bursts of “all-out” training followed by periods of lower intensity that allow for active recovery (this means your body can recover somewhat even though you haven’t completely stopped exercising).

When you do a intense circuit or a sprint, your body can’t supply oxygen at a rate fast enough to fuel the muscle. Another energy system (anaerobic) has to kick in to “assist” with providing energy to the muscle. After the intense effort is completed, your body has to basically repay that “borrowed energy”…it owes oxygen to get those muscles back to their normal state….the reason we are breathing so hard. The more energy your body borrowed during an intense effort the more oxygen it owes…this is called Oxygen Debt.

If you eat before you workout you will burn food energy not fat energy during your workout. Basically, eating before a workout gets in the way of burning body fat during the workout. Plus…eating releases insulin, which interferes with your body’s ability to burn body fat.  The key is to not eat anything 4-5 hours before your workout.

When fasting the body’s fight or flight response is triggered (the Sympathetic Nervous System) maximizing the body’s energy system. When it’s in gear, the body is in its most energy-producing phase, and that’s when the most energy comes from fat burning.”

If you eat, what will happen is you will shut down the body’s energy system and trigger the Para Sympathetic Nervous System. The PSNS will make you sleepy, slow and less resistant to fatigue and stress. Instead of spending energy and burning fat, your body will be more geared toward storing energy and gaining fat.”

A low intensity workout doesn’t utilize the afterburn effect

What I see a lot of the time is people not taking their workout serious enough. Walking on the treadmill just isn’t going to cut it if fat loss is your goal. You need to push your body to where you are breathing really hard and sweating like crazy if you want the afterburn effect.

Too High of intensity is bad as well

To me the biggest problem with too high of an intensity is what Brad Pilon calls the Activity Sine Wave. If your workout is to hard and intense, you are very likely to “overcompensate” by resting more than normal after your workout. You shouldn’t need extra rest from a workout. Working out and then sitting on the couch all day is not a great fat loss strategy.

The “HGH Flush” is what your looking for

The “hgh flush” is when your skin gets red and hot to the touch. Remember running lines in PE class in high school when your teacher would push you and your skin felt like it was on fire. This is the HGH flush which is an indicator that your metabolism will be increased after your workout and that your body will release a bit more HGH than normal (your body’s fat burning hormone).

Putting it all together

Find a workout that creates the afterburn effect…..intervals, circuits, supersets. Train in a fasted state to make sure you are getting the best possible fat burning workout. And also remember to find the right intensity or “sweet spot”. Put all this together and you will blast through that fat in no time.

I’ve been seeing the term “gluten free diet plan” all over the internet lately and thought a brief overview was needed to determine if we need to take this seriously. I’ve been feeling a little tired and been getting blood shot eyes a bit lately after a big meal and the research I did said that it could be yeast allergy symptoms related to gluten. Lets take a look at what could be going on.

(No breads, no pasta, no beer, say it ain’t so!)

What is Gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye (and countless food products – like bread and pasta – that contain those grains). But they also sneak gluten into many other foods. Gluten can be used as an additive in foods such as, ice cream and ketchup.

How can gluten affect the average person?

Research has shown that people that have celiac disease are the most affected from foods that contain gluten. However, they are now just beginning to realize how it could effect people with common issues such as: bloating, joint pain, runny nose, blood shot eyes, constipation, etc. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms after a heavy wheat meal you could just be gluten sensitive and it could be affecting your life.

US Open winner Novak Djokovic has been on a gluten-free diet this year and that has been attributed to his amazing run on the courts.

It’s possible a gluten-free diet helped him with:

1) Reduced systemic inflammation
2) Faster recovery time
3) Less immune system overload
4) Better nutrient absorption from food
5) Better gut motility and function

While I don’t know much about this type of diet, I know a gentleman down in Texas who does. His name is Peter Osborne.

Wow, is he ever passionate about this type of eating. So I checked out his site, and he has a lot of articles on gluten free eating, including for weight loss, here:

Peter also has a gluten-free cookbook to help you out.

Many of us have mild yeast allergy sumptoms

I hate to admit it but after a meal at a Italian Restaurant that was heavy on the breads – with a beer or two thrown in – I feel horrible. My wife feels the same way. One of the reasons I love Mark’s Daily Apple is because it’s a place where I can go to find great tasting low-carb recipes as well as gluten free foods. Mark has termed his type of eating as “Paleo”. The Paleo Diet is a way of eating that best mimics diets of our hunter-gatherer ancestors – lean meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.

No beer on a gluten free diet. Say it ain’t so!

Let me preface this by saying, I absolutely love beer. If and when I decide to eliminate most gluten foods from my diet I don’t think beer will on the list. At least once a week I like to go out with friends and family and have a couple of tall beers – either with dinner or just hanging with my wife. They do make gluten free beer, but I can’t eliminate wheat filled beer from my diet. It is painful just thinking about it!

How I am going to implement a gluten free diet plan

I am going to go part time paleo – which includes most gluten free foods and then enjoy my carbs and gluten filled foods at night and on the weekends when I am relaxing. I am going to try places like Whole Foods or maybe a local wheat-less store here in my area and implement a gluten free diet to some extent.

So I will simply do my best to buy gluten free alternatives when it it convenient. Mix in a few paleo meals and simply eat normal gluten-filled foods the rest of the time.

In conclusion

If you have been feeling terrible lately, or having any type of yeast allergy symptoms, after eating a meal with a lot of breads, pasta’s and other type of flour you can think of, then you may have a gluten sensitivity. Replacing these types of foods isn’t easy, but a part-time gluten free diet plan is maybe all you need. Check out Mark’s Daily Apple and a place like Feel Good Eating and try to replace foods one by one over the course of time.

I was watching television the other day and saw a new show on ESPN about the life of Herschel Walker. Herschel played for the University of Georgia from 1980-1982 and was a force to be reckoned with – I still think he was the best college football player of all-time. I can still remember sitting in my Grandmothers living room as a ten year old watching him run past and over everyone that got in his way. He eventually went on to have a succesfull professional football career, and now at the age of 49, is fighting in the MMA. Is there some secret Herschel Walker workout that keeps him looking so good at 49? Lets take a look at what Herschel does to keep in such great shape.

(Here is Herschel fighting at the age of 49. He must really use some unique training methods to keep in that kind of shape? You’re gonna be shocked when you see his routine.)

A diet so simple anyone can do it

Herschel’s diet consists of one meal per day. He said he’s simply never been a big eater and that eating more than one meal per day would slow him down trememdously. He also said that everyone in his immediate family eats this way to. And most have lived into their 90′s and early 100′s. This doesn’t surprise me at all. There is a lot of science out there indicating that weighing less and eating less equals dramatically longer lifespans and less disease. Many doctors and scientists believe this is because the body functions better at a lower body weight and fat percentage and that giving the digestive system breaks from digesting allows it to stay healthier and more disease free since less food is going through it and “polluting” it.

Why I constantly preach Intermittent Fasting

Here is another example of someone who doesn’t eat six small meals a day to look lean. Once again, this flyes directly in the face of all those experts who claim that eating six small meals a day will increase your metabolism and so forth. You don’t need to go to the extreme that Herschel does when trying to get lean, but i’ve found a diet plan that is amazing and deals with similar principles. Eat Stop Eat is a diet that focuses on intermittent fasting a couple times per week in order to cut calories. Instead of just eating one meal per day, what I do with eat stop eat is; I eat one meal a day twice per week. The other five days I eat three square meals a day….with a lot of wiggle room for dessert or a couple beers if I want. Much easier than Herschel’s diet but just as effective, if not better.

It’s pretty simple, if you are looking to lose weight, or get that six pack to pop, you need to find a way to eat less.

What type of food does Herschel eat?

So now that we know he only eats once per day, what does that one meal consist of? Some nights he eats chicken with a salad and soup, other nights he drinks a fruit smoothie. He said he just puts in whatever type of fruit that he wants that day  (I wrote a post a while back about why you should add blender drinks to your daily diet). He also said that he never eats red meat.

Another example of why you shouldn’t obsess over protein

Herschel eats probably somewhere between 30 to 40 grams of protein a day and still carries plenty of muscle. So don’t get obsessed with eating protein constantly. Try to get a decent amount throughout the day without being obsessive, that’s all i’m saying.

Remember, diet determines how much fat you carry and resistance training determines how much muscle mass you carry.

The Herschel Walker Workout

I love it when a popular celebrity or athlete admits that he uses something different than the mainstream and gets outstanding results. I also love it when it’s something that i’ve been touting for years on my website. Since Herschel was young he has focused primarily on bodyweight exercises. He started doing hundreds of reps in between commercials when he was watching television and quickly transformed his body into a rock. Here is what Herschel does:

• Push ups 2,000 reps
• Sit ups 3,000 reps
• Pull ups 1,500 reps
• Dips 1,000 reps

It is not completely clear how Herschel Walker structured this workout throughout his day. Though, he has made mention of performing them during commercials. Other literature suggests he started in the morning and finished at night.
Regardless, there is probably no human on this earth who could perform all of those repetitions in one set.

If you were thinking about doing a workout like this just start slow and work your way up to what Herschel does (although that would be really, really tough).

Here is a good starting point: This may be even a little tough to begin with. Just pick a number for each exercise that you can do over the course of the day and hit that number. Every week up that number by 5% and you will get great results.

• Push ups 500 reps
• Sit ups 500 reps
• Pull ups 100 reps
• Dips 250 reps

The importance of bodyweight work

This workout is very basic and may get boring to some, but it does work. Bodyweight workouts are an absolute must in my opinion if you want to look your best. A little over a year ago I started slowly adding in bodyweight circuits (on top of my gym workouts) and quickly got in the best shape of my life. It makes you more flexible, stronger, more athletic, more functional, etc, etc….The best bodyweight course that i’ve used , and the only one I will ever use, is the one created by Craig Ballantyne. You will be amazed how great these workouts are. You could use them as a supplement to regular gym workouts or just do them without anything else and get in great shape (remember they are set up in circuits so you don’t even need to do cardio).

(Here is Herschel a couple of days ago talking on sports radio about his off-beat methods.)

What to get out of this post

Even though Herschel has a very simplistic approach to fitness and diet there is still a lot to be learned from his methods. Eat less than you are currently eating if you aren’t as lean as you would like, but find a way that makes eating less more tolereable with a diet like eat stop eat. The Herschel Walker workout routine is also very simple, but also teaches us the importance of mastering your own bodyweight. Now, i’m sure he uses sport specific workouts for his MMA fighting and whatnot, but the important thing to remember is, he got here through some very basic principles and methods that can be easily implemented.

Continuting the theme from my previous post about supplements I would like to take a look at another supplement called Creatine. Here is a supplement that has a good reputation in the fitness world and gets talked about all the time. As i’ve said in previous posts I am not a huge fan of supplements, however Creatine is one that I ‘ve taken with some great success over the years. In this post I would like to examine a few of the popular questions that I get about Creatine such as: How much Creatine should I take? And is it the best muscle building supplement on the market today?

(Creatine can give you results that aren’t appealing if you take it at the wrong time. You need to supplement Creatine at the right time if you want to look lean.)

What is Creatine?

Creatine is an amino acid used by the body to provide energy. The average person stores over 100 grams of it, with 95% of it stored in the skeletal muscle. To make things simple, what it basically does is provide energy to the muscles, buffers lactic acid, increases strength and power and helps add volume to the muscle (making it larger).

The Science behind how it works simplified

I will try to make this as simple as possible. This is basically what happens in the body if we add extra creatine:

1. ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) is your best source of muscular energy
2. When you exercise, your body uses ATP for energy, leaving behind a useless byproduct ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate). Your body has a limited supply of ATP; when it runs out, it leaves your muscles with no available energy.
3. Creatine combines with Phosphate in your body to create Phosphocreatine.
4. Phosphocreatine converts the useless ADP back into very useful ATP.
5. Your muscles have more available energy.

What made me believe in Creatine

Being a supplement skeptic it’s hard to persuade me to take anything before I research the heck out of it. However, I changed my mind pretty quick when it came to Creatine because of a guy named John Barban. John used to be the Director of Research and Development for a supplement company. He is a sought after expert on nutrition and supplementation and also does consulting work for many supplement companies.

In the Pdf “The Supplement Conspiracy” written by Rusty Moore, this was the response John gave to a question about his personal outlook on supplements, specifically about Creatine;

“I think it should be based on your personal goals. For example, if you want to put on as much muscle as possible it would make sense to take creatine. Creatine is well researched and shown to help increase muscle mass. The available research indicates it is very well tolerated, effective and safe for use. If your goal is muscle mass or strength, you’d be short changing yourself if you didn’t take creatine.”

Don’t take creatine from day #1 of your mass building program

I have an approach to taking creatine that works wonders and will make a huge difference in the way you look once you get extra lean. Begin taking creatine 3-4 weeks before a vacation or special event when calories are lower. This will add a bit of muscle size and “shrink wrap” your skin around your muscles to insure maximum definition. When you lean down a bit your skin gets loose. Lose any extra fat…add creatine to add some size and insure that there is absolutely no loose skin blurring muscle definition. Works well!

Click below and watch the 3rd video down to learn about the shrinkwrap effect

So why not take creatine the whole time?

When you start to lean down a couple months before summer, a vacation, wedding, etc it takes time for your skin to shrink down to your smaller body size. Once the skin gets close to the new body size is when you add Creatine. This will add volume to the muscle hence, “shrinkwrap” your skin around the muscle. If you take creatine before getting lean you will get a bloated/puffy look to your physique. The only time to take Creatine is when you are lean. If you take it the whole time you won’t increase in size when you need it most. If you take it when you are really lean you will shortcut months to creating a lean look.

How much creatine should I take? And should I load it?

Just take one dose per day and you will see results after a week or two. If you do load it (taking more than usual to get your body ready for it) only do it for 1 or 2 days, but it’s totally unnecessary. Loading it might get you there a few days faster but by the end of 3 or 4 weeks it won’t make a difference if you loaded it or not.

John Barban also said in the report that,” you don’t need to take Creatine with sugar or spike your insulin levels. Just take it with water and you’ll be good. And remember you don’t need to load it, but if you do only do it for 2 days – 5 days is overkill.”

The Creatine conclusion

A Creatine supplement is the best muscle building supplement on the market today (natural product anyways). Just remember to take it when you are really lean and need a quick “pump” in the muscle…..this is a technique called “shrikwrap” that I learned from Visual Impact. If you’re body fat is already high then taking the supplement will help you add muscle, but with a bloated/puffy look – which is what you don’t want. Also remember the point about slow and steady when it comes to the question of how much creatine should I take?

I usually don’t review individual supplements on this site, but since l-glutamine is being talked about so much throughout the fitness world I thought I would give it a review. A couple of questions I want to discuss in this post are: Do the l-glutamine benefits outweight the negatives? And is a glutamine supplement worth your time and money?

(We need to make sure we do the proper research before we take a supplement. It’s a billion dollar industry because of supplement marketing, not because of any magical elixir.)

What is L-glutamine?

L-glutamine is the most abundant  inessential Amino Acid in the human body and makes up the majority of the amino acids in skeletal muscle. Despite being involved in many crucial roles in our daily health and function, it’s considered “inessential” because the body is capable of producing it on its own. However, this doesn’t mean that you don’t need it – only that external consumption is not mandatory.

Most interesting fact about glutamine

During times of stress (which is clearly not defined), our amino acid pool is depleted which can prevent muscle growth since glutamine makes up the greatest percentage of amino acids. Hence, the theory for supplementing glutamine if you weight train.

L-Glutamine Benefits

I don’t want this post to read like a textbook so I will give you just the important things that I found after doing some research. The only benefits that were legit and proven by science were:

• Supports workout and muscle recovery
• Enhances immune function
• Improves intestinal health

What a L-glutamine supplement doesn’t do

What many supplement companies claim is that once you put a certain amount of stress on the muscle it strips most of the amino acid, specifically l-glutamine, out of the muscle. In turn, this causes catabolism – a breaking down of the muscle tissue. The more I looked into it though I realized that when medical experts were referring to stress they meant severe stress (Aids, Chemotherapy, Severe Burns, etc).

So a ordinary workout wouldn’t strip nowhere near the amount of l-glutamine from the muscle to cause muscle weakness and a loss of muscle size.

We already get enough L-glutamine in our diets

An average North American diet provides plenty of l-glutamine already without the need for supplementation. Food sources of glutamine include most high-protein foods including beef, chicken, fish, beans, and dairy products. So just eat a normal diet and you should be fine.

Another advantage of a protein shake

As many of you already know I am not a supplement fanatic. I do believe that some of them can help slightly, but overall i’m not a huge fan. However, one of the supplements that I do love and take daily is a protein shake. After researching this article I realized that I already get 4 grams of L-glutamine in each morning shake (which is plenty by the way). So if you’re looking to supplement l-glutamine just reach for your daily protein shake and you will be fine.

Pull out of the bodybuilding culture

For years I was stuck in this endless cycle of trying to get bigger and bigger – and that meant endless amounts of supplements. This did nothing but make me waste money and look ridiculous. You need to pull out of bodybuilding world now why you still have a chance. Try a couple of the workouts and diets (and the occasional supplement) that I talk about on this site and get lean…..without that bulky, meathead look.

In Conclusion

There are some l-glutamine benefits worth mentioning, but for the normal gym-goer a glutamine supplement is a waste of time and money. Eat right, grab a protein shake, workout, and stop falling for the billion dollar cash cow that is the supplement industry.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of improving our posture I just want to tell you that improving my posture was one of the best things i’ve ever done. I look 2 or 3 inches taller, my physique looks way better, I have no back pain or discomfort, and I am just overall a more confident person. Now, how to have good posture isn’t the easiest thing in the world to obtain – just look around you, but it is possible. In this post I want to discuss exercises to improve posture and also how and why a person’s posture become’s so poor over time.

[Probably the most common type of bad posture is due to sitting for long periods of time. It also happens because of the way people workout. In this post I want to discuss why our posture is so poor and ways we can improve it fast.]

Lower Cross Syndrome

This lovely postural cocktail is a culmination of imbalances in the lower body, particularly the lumbar spine, pelvis and knees.  One will develop this syndrome over a long period of extreme sedentariness.  Just about everyone who works in an office setting and anyone who spends a lot of time sitting will develop multiple muscle imbalances which will likely result in lower cross syndrome.

In short, most of the ventral muscles (hip flexors, quads etc) become really tight while the dorsal muscles (glutes, hamstrings and obliques) are weak or inhibited.  This tends to make the pelvis rotate forward often causing lumbar lordosis in many folks.  This can cause a myriad of problems as the midsection will inherently be weak as a result of the imbalance.  I am sure we all know the dangers of a weak core.

The biggest training infraction

We even see poor posture in guys and girls working hard in the gym. The reason for this is they don’t stabilize their scapula the proper way during training. Dr. Michael Sommers explains that, “basically what happens is we get something called scapular excursion.  So the shoulder blade ends up becoming protracted.  That means coming forward and around the torso more than it should be.

It should be anchored back against the rib cage in a posteromedial position we would say anatomically.  Basically back and down.  If it is then you’re going to be able to perform as well as possible.  If it isn’t those 17 muscles that attach to the shoulder blade are going to function from a position of relative weakness”.

So the most important thing to remember when training is to keep your shoulder blades back and down throughout each and every rep. Think about how important something like this is when doing a pull up or even bench pressing……it gives you more total body strength and less chance at injury.

 
(What we need are referee’s at the gym’s calling shoulder blade infractions.)

to focused on building the mirror muscles

Lets face it, most men in the gym are focused on building their chest and biceps – a very limited view of working out, but very prevalent nonetheless. By working these tissues primarily what happens is it brings the shoulder blades forward, creating shoulder weakness.

how to have good posture through stretching

So now that we know that the chest and biceps muscles are tight what we need to do is elongate those tissues through stretching. One of the better stretches is the classic arm against the wall twisted torso pec stretch. Another stretch, and probably my favorite because you can do it all day long, is where you clasp your hands behind your back and press your arms down trying to open up the front. It’s important to do this many times over the course of the day if you want your posture to improve. You want to recruit those motor patterns over and over again making this postion automatic.

using a proper warm up to improve posture

It is also essential (and something I never see) to properly warm up the shoulders, hips and legs. This is done by doing a lot of shoulder mobility and pelvic mobility exercises during the warm up. I’ve talked before about the importance of a proper warm up. Here is an example of a good shoulder mobility and posterior chain warm up:

Warm-up

1) Foam Rolling – 10 rolls over upper back
2) Bird Dog Abduction – 10 reps per side
3) Glute Squeeze – 45 second hold
4) Stability Ball Plank – 30 second hold
5) Prisoner Diagonal Lunge – 8 reps per side (keep hands clasped behind your head for good shoulder mobility)
6) Stick-up – 15 reps
7) Leg Swing – 30 reps per side
Band Pull – 25 reps (hold a resistance band out in front of you, then pull back and down to your chest)
9) Psoas Stretch – 20 second hold
10) Chest Stretch – 20 second hold

(My family and I are thinking about traveling to San Francisco later this year. It looks absolutely unbelievable!)

The Posterior Chain, hence the word posture

The posterior chain is so important when it comes to working out and so many people dismiss it. The posterior chain includes the muscles of the upper back, the back of the shoulders, the lower back, the glutes, the hamstrings and calves. It’s the opposite of the anterior chain (the front of the body). I would guess that most people working out in your gym do around 80-20 anterior to posterior work respectively…..they just love those mirror muscles.

One of the best tips I can give you is to make that ratio closer to 50-50 anterior to posterior. Your body will transform like you’ve never seen before.

Exercises to improve posture

To give you a list of 5 exercises or so to improve posture would be a total disservice to you. What I would like you to do is to get yourself a copy of Turbulence Training. This course taught me everything I know about how to work my posterior chain while building muscle and burning fat. He has hundreds of workouts in their for you to follow but i’ll give you a couple examples below.

Day 1 – Workout A 
• Start with the general bodyweight warm-up circuit.
• Specific Warm-up Sets
o Do one set of 1A with 75% of the chosen weight and do 6 reps.
o Do one set of 1B with 75% of the chosen weight and do 6 reps.

1A) Barbell (BB) Squat – 10 reps (2-0-2)
• Rest 30 seconds.
1B) Chin-up with Knee-up – 2 reps short of failure (3-0-1)
• Rest 1 minute before repeating 3 more times.

2A) Barbell Step-up – 10 reps per side (2-0-1)
• No rest.
2B) Dumbbell (DB) Romanian Deadlift – 10 reps (2-0-2)
• Rest 1 minute before repeating 2 more times.

3A) Cable Chop – 15 reps per side (2-0-1)
• No rest.
3B) 1-Leg Bodyweight Calf Raise – 10 reps per side (4-0-2)
• Rest 1 minute before repeating 2 more times.

4A) Kettlebell Swing – 15 reps
• No rest.
4B) Goblet Squat – 15 reps (2-0-1)
• No rest.
4C) Kettlebell Swing – 15 reps
• Rest 1 minute before repeating 3 more times.

Day 2 – Workout B
• Start with the general bodyweight warm-up circuit.
• Specific Warm-up Sets
o Do one set of 1A with 75% of the chosen weight and do 6 reps.
o Do one set of 1B with 75% of the chosen weight and do 6 reps.

1A) Medium Grip Bench with Elbows In and Shoulder Blades Squeezed – 8 reps (3-0-1)
• No rest.
1B) V-Grip Lat Pulldown or V-Grip Pullup – 12 reps (2-0-1)
• Rest 1 minute before repeating 2 more times.

2A) DB Incline Squeeze Press – 8 reps (2-0-1)
• No rest.
2B) T-Bar Row or DB Chest Supported Row with 1-Second Squeeze at Top – 12 reps (2-0-1)
• Rest 1 minute before repeating 2 more times.

3A) DB Triceps Extension – 12 reps (3-0-2)
• No rest.
3B) DB Incline Curl – 8 reps (3-0-2)
• No rest.
3C) Cable or DB Lateral Raise – 10 reps per side (3-0-2)
• Rest 1 minute before repeating 2 more times.

Notice how much of the focus is on the posterior chain throughout his workouts. Workouts like this will give you a body everyone in your gym will be jealous of.

Final Thoughts

Developing good posture is one of the most important things you can do to change your life. Finding the right exercises to improve posture is easy with the Turbulence Training Manuals. My hope is that you’ve learned how to have good posture from reading this post.