Natural Bodybuilding, Fitness, and Peak Performance

“Bodybuilding Workout Programs”: Do you really need software with them?

“Your bodybuilding workout program should be so simple that you could record it on a friggin’ napkin. Not that you’d want to – but it should be THAT simple.”

Okay… so nearly every bodybuilding “expert” on the Internet is trying to “up the value” of his product by selling you software that helps you “track your bodybuilding progress.”  Why not (from their standpoint); it’s a simple digital “product” made of ones and zeros that can be added to an e-book that typically has oversized font and huge margins (also made of ones and zeros). It’s a no-brainer in terms of perceived customer value at nearly no cost to the merchant. And the bodybuilding neophyte thinks he or she is getting something super scientific.

In order to build muscle naturally, your 'bodybuilding workout program' needs to be comprehensive in application while being simple and easy to track for progress.

But do you really need “bodybuilding software.” Are you going to take your laptop to the gym? Do you have time to hit your desktop with information to input after you’re out of the gym? Do you think you need to plug in some esoteric formulas like business numbers on a spreadsheet and see your bodybuilding progress pop up like it’s the bottom line on a financial statement?

Give me a break; bodybuilding workout programs should not be complicated. They should be simple without being simplistic. They should allow you to see powerful forward momentum while you’re still at the gym – without having to go in front of a computer screen. This is what provides you with ongoing bodybuilding motivation; seeing short term progress while knowing how these workout-by-workout augmentations add up to awesome strength, power, and muscle size over the weeks and months. And it should all be simple enough to be seen right in front of you – in the ‘hard copy real world.’

One very happy user of my bodybuilding workout program shared in an email how he records his bodybuilding progress on blank sheets in the back of his checkbook. That’s efficiency and resourcefulness rolled into one. He feels comfortable doing this because the system I teach is comprehensive and highly effective while being simple to track at the same time.

Notice I said “simple to track” – not simple or simplistic in design. Let’s make the distinction. Many of the bodybuilding workout programs available on the Internet and in the pages of magazines are simply a regurgitation of the following simplistic principles:

• Work each body part once-per-week
• Eat five or six meals per day
• Keep workouts to a time of one hour or less
• Do three exercises per body part
• Do three or four sets per exercise
• Increase the workout weight whenever you can

Why do the above instructions, taken together, fail to deliver in too many cases?

It’s because they’re a ‘one-size-fits-all’ simplistic prescription. For one thing, they don’t take into account that as surely as thirty-six to forty-eight hours are often inadequate time to recuperate a torn-down muscle, one-hundred and forty-four hours frequently falls short as well.  The fact is, aside from breaking down muscle tissue in the first place, nothing is more important to a successful bodybuilding workout program than providing that muscle tissue optimal recuperation time between workouts. Yet the notion that this recuperation occurs perfectly within a rigid time window that never changes is ridiculous. The time required is different among individuals and changes within the same person depending on workout intensity, stress levels, sleep variations… etc.

So if someone’s bodybuilding workout program instructs you to take X amount of days between workouts and a rigid number of sets during each workout and then gives you tracking software to go along with it, realize the software might be a diversionary tactic. They’re possibly hoping to divert you from the inadequacies intrinsic within their inflexible methods while hoping your practice and digital recording of such methods never materializes to expose those inadequacies.

“What carbs are Bad?”

Here’s a question I hear a lot: “Which carbs are bad carbs?”

I might raise a few eyebrows by saying this, but my answer is “none”… unless we’re talking in relative terms within the context of a specific goal one is trying to achieve – whether that goal is better health, fat loss, increased energy, etc…

But generally speaking, carbohydrates are energy for the body. In fact, they’re the most efficient form of energy for the body to use among the three macro nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fats.

That’s the problem with health and fitness; too many “experts” use assertions in a general context that they should only apply within a specific one. I’m reminded of a claim I saw recently in which a nutrition expert was commenting on how “bad” protein bars and other processed foods are. She said that the body doesn’t recognize these as food because there are too many chemicals in them. The question I’d love to ask her is this:

“So if you were lost in the wilderness for weeks and near death from starvation – what would you do if you ran across a case of fully-wrapped Met-RX protein bars? Would you eat them? If so – would your body ‘recognize’ them as food?”

Well, “duh”… I’d assume she’d eat them and I’d guess the damned things would keep her alive. And I guess that means the body “recognizes” them as food. But maybe I’m just a simpleton.  On to the topic at hand:

“What carbs are bad?”

"What carbs are bad?" Personally, I don't consider any of them "bad." I just eat the type like the one pictured above... infrequently.

It depends on what you’re trying to do with your body and how different amounts of various types of carbohydrates affect your goal. For example, if you’re extremely overweight and you want to lose a substantial amount of body fat, high glycemic carbohydrate foods should be minimized so that blood sugar levels can be reduced and stabilized as much as possible. However, if you don’t need to lose body fat and you’re shooting for more muscle mass, a few high glycemic carbohydrates before and after a bodybuilding workout might be beneficial.

Let’s break the question “what are good carbs/what are bad carbs?” down to the basic definitions:

Complex Carbs = “Good” Carbohydrates

These are found in high fiber grains, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. They are typically low on the glycemic index which means their energy is released slowly into the bloods stream. This keeps blood sugar levels lower.

Refined Carbs = “Bad” Carbohydrates

White flour and simple sugars are the biggest culprits here. Processed and refined carbohydrates are digested quickly and typically cause spikes and valleys in blood sugar levels.

Calories from Carbohydrates

Many of us think of “good carbohydrates” as being carbs that are low in calories while “bad carbohydrates” are carbs that are high in calories. However, all carbohydrates have about four calories per gram of weight. The key difference is the speed at which these different types of carbohydrates are absorbed into the blood stream and the overall carbohydrate content of each specific food item. Obviously, the more carbohydrate grams a food item possesses – the less of it you can eat without inadvertently gorging yourself with excess calories. In addition, the faster the particular carbohydrate is absorbed into the blood stream (glycemic index) – the more insulin is released by the pancreas and the more “roller-coaster effect” you’ll have on your blood sugar and hour-by-hour hunger levels.

Spiking Blood Sugar = hint to “What are Bad Carbs?”

Spiking our blood sugar with high glycemic carbohydrates on a regular basis is a common cause of ravenous eating due to the up-and-down movement of blood sugar levels throughout the day. The typically denser content of carbohydrate (and thus, higher calories) in these foods as well as the tendency they cause in overeating are the reason they’re commonly labeled ‘bad carbs.’ Too many and prolonged eating of these kinds of foods sometimes leads to “insulin resistance”; a condition whereby the cells of the body are no longer responsive to a normal amount of insulin and need higher releases of it to respond and function as they should.

But the main thing to remember is this: Stable blood sugar levels are good for fat loss and long-term health while fluctuating blood sugar levels are antagonistic to fat loss and long-term health.

Processed vs. Unprocessed – or at least… ‘Less Processed’

So I’m sitting here with a bag of white rice in one hand and a bag of brown rice in the other. This seems as good an example as any to juxtapose a heavily processed carbohydrate (white rice) with its less processed counterpart (brown rice).

Now, as far as tantalizing one’s taste buds, the white rice has my vote hands-down. It just has a discernibly sweeter flavor that brown rice lacks. Thus, it might require a retraining of the taste buds in some people to think otherwise and reach for the brown rice instead of the white rice if rice is a staple in their diets.

A quarter cup of the white rice that I’m looking at lists 44 grams of carbohydrate and 200 calories. The same amount of the brown rice lists 35 grams of carbohydrate and 170 calories. A typical glycemic index list will have the white rice somewhere around 65 and the brown rice around 55. Remember, the lower the number on this list, the more slowly the carbohydrate is absorbed by the body. The higher the number… well, that’s just one more mark against that food item which puts it in the ‘what are bad carbs’ category.

So, a long stretch of time eating brown rice will probably have you leaner and healthier than the same stretch of time eating the exact same quantities of white rice. But what makes the difference? What is the “processing” that makes white rice a less health-promoting carbohydrate than brown rice?

White rice is simply brown rice with the fibrous bran removed. The fiber in this bran slows down the digestion of the carbohydrate while also containing a lot of the valuable vitamins and minerals available in rice. This “whole grain” that’s removed from brown rice to create white rice is what makes an equal amount (by weight) of brown rice contain less carbohydrate (and thus, fewer calories) than white rice. Conversely speaking, it takes more of the fiber-absent pure carbohydrate of the white rice to equal a serving (in weight) of the fiber-rich, whole grains of the brown rice.

Add to this the real possibility that the whole grains in the brown rice are apt to satiate you faster while requiring fewer calories to create this satiation and you have even better chances of losing fat with this simple food choice exchange.

‘The Glycemic Index’: Only a Part in the Greater Whole

Why is the glycemic index of foods so confusing in the “what are bad carbs” question?

The reason is that it only tells us some “chunked down” information within a context that has many and sometimes competing variables. For example, the ‘glycemic load’ of entire meals might be more important in the long run than the glycemic index of each food item contained in those meals. In addition, high glycemic carbs are typically high in calories, yet many low glycemic foods (such as ice cream) are high in calories as well. This makes adherence to simply watching the ‘calories in/calories burned’ equation more important to long-term health and leanness than meticulous reading a glycemic index chart.

In short: The glycemic index should be used as a tool to raise one’s awareness of ‘what are bad carbs’ and which are the better choices based on one’s goals. It doesn’t provide the whole picture.

Conclusion

If there’s one easy concept to remember when in the grocery store and trying to decipher ‘what are bad carbs’ and what are their ‘better choice’ counterparts, it’s this:

The farther the carbohydrate food is from its natural “out-of-the-ground” state, the more it falls under the category of “bad carbs” within the context of getting leaner and healthier. In other words, the more someone’s done with it in terms of processing (like the white rice in the example above), the less health and leanness-promoting it is.

“Bigger Torso Muscles”: Balance is the key

Building bigger torso muscles is an aspiration among many ectomorphic bodybuilding neophytes as well as seasoned and well-developed muscle builders alike. Given this fact, there’s no shortage of written advice on how to add muscle mass to the chest, back, and shoulders. What’s typically in short supply – both instructionally and practically – are tactics for building bigger torso muscles in a balanced manner. This is evident with any astute observation of the many unbalanced upper bodies one sees meandering around the countless gyms scattered across the world.

By addressing this, am I implying that the development of my body (both lower and upper) is somewhere even close to perfect? Absolutely not. However, I have balanced my muscular development much since I first started natural bodybuilding well over twenty years ago.  I’ve learned some lessons along the way and noticed some blatant imbalances that can easily be corrected with a few tips within the context of building bigger torso muscles. So let’s address some of those tips right now.

Bigger torso muscles' should not be sought after at the expense of aesthetics in upper body appearance

             Balance in Building Bigger Chest Muscles

There are two common mistakes I’ve observed in building the pec muscles:

1. Overall underdevelopment of chest muscles due to inadequate isolation of pectorals.
2. Imbalance between the middle pecs and the upper pecs – with an overemphasis on the middle.

I can’t even recall how many guys I’ve run across who want bigger pectorals yet don’t seem to know how to really isolate and work the muscles of the chest. They typically perform set after set of flat bench presses. They often use dumbbells to do an exercise that halfway resembles a fly movement and halfway resembles a pressing exercise. To really build the pectorals, you need to get your arms and shoulders out of the picture and really zero in on moving the weight from the chest – even if that means lightening up on the weight. I know “lightening the weight” goes against conventional wisdom, but if conventional wisdom is so wise – why are there still thousands of guys who want a bigger chest and aren’t getting one through following conventional wisdom?

Let’s address the imbalance between upper and middle pectorals. When the upper pecs are underdeveloped in relation to the middle pecs, the outcome is a somewhat feminine appearance to the chest (not good if you’re a guy).  By contrast, the best appearance for bigger torso muscles that also gives balanced aesthetics to the upper body is to have somewhat more protruding muscles in the upper chest than in the middle area. This gives the torso a powerful look that doesn’t resemble the ‘Pillsbury Doughboy’ or a need for the aspiring bodybuilder to purchase a line of braziers.

Many bodybuilders are already acutely aware of this. However, it’s an inadvertent overcompensation due to this acute awareness that often leads to underdeveloped upper pectorals. It’s a counterintuitive point, but over enthusiasm in building upper pectoral muscles resulting in performing too many incline presses and flyes often leads to overtraining the upper chest region. Overtraining is one of the biggest reasons for cessation of muscle building progress. This can obviously lead to the exact opposite of what one is striving for, namely: a chest that’s slightly bigger in the upper section than in the middle.

Muscle Building Tip: Remember that the pectoral muscles are divided into three regions; upper, middle, and lower. When you work the middle region with flat benching movements (presses and flyes), you’re actually working the mid-pectoral muscles heavily and the upper and lower regions lightly. However, when you work the upper and lower chest muscles respectively, you’re isolating those regions (mid chest muscles don’t come into play during inclines and declines). Therefore, it’s important to stimulate the upper chest with its own exercises, but make sure you limit the number of those movements because it’s easy to hit that region with too much exercise.

             Balance in Building Bigger Lat Muscles

In building bigger torso muscles, nothing looks worse than having a big chest without thick and wide lats to counterbalance it. The body looks front heavy when the latisimus dorsi muscles are underdeveloped. Yet as important as development of the lats are for upper body aesthetics, no imbalance is more common among bodybuilding enthusiasts as are lats that are small in comparison to the shoulders, arms, and chest.

There’s a major reason for this: Most bodybuilders never learn how to pull weight with their lat muscles (during rows, pull-downs, and pull-ups) instead of their arms. Many apparently believe that as long as they’re heaving and slinging “heavy weights” in a pulling motion, the lats will come into play no matter how much momentum and arm movement they throw into the exercise. This is disastrous from the standpoint of wasting both time and energy. If you utilize momentum or arm muscles rather than your lats when doing rows and pull-downs, your lats will experience negligible growth if any growth at all – period.

The secret that will put wider and thicker back muscles on you is to use lighter weight and perform your rows and pull-downs with a slow and focused effort. The movement should begin with a slow backward rolling of the shoulder blades in order to initiate the upper back muscles into the movement. At the same time, you should temporarily imagine your arms as nothing more than “dead handles”; as mere extensions of the actual handle that you have your hands wrapped around. While maintaining this focus, the movement should be done while concentrating all of the pull from the lat area while thinking of the arms as nothing but connecting equipment that’s attaching the weight to the lats. This is a secret that has added more thickness and width to my back than anything else. It’s the reason that I’m often asked if I have a genetic predisposition for getting nice lat muscles (especially for a natural bodybuilder).

             Balance in Building Bigger Shoulders

In getting bigger torso muscles, thick and wide shoulders are a must. “Cannon ball deltoids” will cap off and accentuate the V-shape created by the wider back you’ll be gaining by changing your pulling exercises from sloppy ‘arm/momentum’ efforts into focused lat-thickening ones.

Personally, my deltoids suffered from slow development for a long time. Fortunately, that’s now a phenomenon of the distant past. My delts are growing like gangbusters now and the reason is that I’m hitting them with only one compound pressing movement per workout followed by only one ‘raising’ movement for each of the three deltoid heads – front, side, and rear. That’s it – no overlap, redundancies, or overtraining.

This brings me to the primary reason for lack of shoulder development despite intense training. The deltoids are used indirectly and as stabilizers in so many upper body exercises that they’re extremely susceptible to overtraining. Put them in a relatively “undertrained” state and you’ll likely see them start making progress if they’re currently in a slump.

                             Conclusion

Let’s recap this. If you want bigger torso muscles that are aesthetically balanced as well, begin focusing on these main points:

• Overdevelop the upper chest by using incline exercises that target the upper chest while avoiding overtraining the area by abstaining from too many exercises.
• Balance your bigger chest with a big back by making sure your pulling movements are done with your lat muscles and not with your arms or momentum.
• Get your shoulders growing thicker and wider by utilizing only one shoulder press exercise followed by one raising movement for each of the deltoid heads – front, side, and rear.

Of course, when these principles are combined with the workout and recovery strategies that I cover in my more detailed muscle building routines, success is nearly a foregone conclusion.

“Whey Protein Recipe”: An even better tasting power sandwich

A few weeks ago, I posted a video for my readers showing the preparation of a delicious whey protein recipe. If you’re a lover of peanut butter, you’ll really enjoy this. Yet as good as that whey protein recipe is, I’ve discovered an even better method to make it with an added ingredient that provides more carbohydrate calories and more palatability.

The video showing the basic whey protein recipe can be found right here

The ingredient I’ve added since then is a chilled, sliced banana.

Many people have enjoyed the tantalizing combination of bananas and peanut butter as an unusual pairing inside a sandwich for a long time. Just add the chocolate whey protein and you’ve got a mixture that can’t be beat for both quick caloric energy and a flavor that’s out of this world. Here are the ingredients for this “power sandwich.”

• Two Slices of Russian Rye Bread (or your favorite bread)
• 2 Tablespoons of Old Fashioned Peanut Butter (sugarless)
• 1  scoop of chocolate Whey Protein Powder (artificially flavored/no sugar)
• 1 medium sized banana (sliced and chilled)

'Protein shakes' are not the only tasty way to mix a protein powder. You can make a "power sandwich" with a delicious 'whey protein recipe'


Preparation:  You need to add some consistency to the whey protein powder before adding it to the peanut butter on the bread.  It also tastes best when all the ingredients are chilled. Therefore, keep the peanut butter in the refrigerator and prepare the whey protein “sludge” well in advance of eating the sandwich.

To do this, just put the scoop of chocolate whey protein powder in the bottom of a big glass and add just a smidgeon (small amount) of water. In my video, I actually added too much water; you only want enough that the protein powder turns into a slightly viscous “mud” – not a liquid dripping out of your ‘power sandwich.’ If you’ve done it right, it should have the same consistency as the peanut butter. Put that glass in the refrigerator and let the protein get cold.

When you’re ready to eat your sandwich, take the ingredients out of the refrigerator. Spread two tablespoons of peanut butter on one slice of bread. Spread the goopy chocolate protein powder on the other slice of bread. Slice the chilled banana into pieces and put them on the bottom slice of bread and slap that other piece of bread on top.

Now… savor and enjoy every smacking bite of this ‘whey protein recipe’ “power sandwich” because you probably should avoid eating two of them unless you’re an eighteen year old male with a warp-speed metabolism . This snack is calorie-dense. However, it can keep you satiated for a long time and is great to eat before an arduous workout.

Of course, the banana adds about 25 to 30 grams of carbohydrates to the sandwich as well as about 100 additional calories. But it also adds some ascorbic acid which breaks up the gooeyness of the peanut butter and protein. This makes the ‘power sandwich’ more flavorful and capable of being eaten without a swig of fluid after every bite. 

Here’s an approximate macro nutrient breakdown of this ‘whey protein recipe’ power sandwich:

Protein: 35 grams

Carbs:    60 grams

Fat:        20 grams

… and percentages of calories from each:

About 560 calories

25% Protein

43% Carbohydrates

32% Fat

Enjoy… and let me know what you think.

“Naturally Raise Testosterone”: 10 tips to make it happen

Many men want to know what they can do to raise their testosterone levels without resorting to the self-defeating method of taking exogenous forms of the hormone. Raising testosterone naturally from within the body is more appealing than administering an exogenous source for many reasons – not the least of which is the fact that putting testosterone into the body is the surest route to depending on that method indefinitely since it shuts down the body’s natural production of this vital stuff.

A big mistake when attempting to naturally raise testosterone is to only utilize one or two tips that can help. You’re far more likely to make a noticeable difference to natural testosterone levels if you synergistically combine a few methods that can either directly increase testosterone, or indirectly raise it by squelching its most insidious antagonist – estrogen.

That’s right guys – we have some estrogen in our bodies. We’re supposed to have it in small amounts compared with the testosterone (as in a 50 to 1 ratio when we’re 20 years old). But with age, that ratio can drop to a nightmarish 7 or 8 to one if we allow recklessness to become our modus operandi. Increased abdominal fat seems to be the biggest culprit here, so although it doesn’t always represent a quick and easy “fix”, we’ll list losing the gut as the number one method to ‘naturally raise testosterone’.

Testosterone Molecule: 'Increase natural testosterone' with a combination of small habits that can add up to a big difference


1.    Lose the Gut

Some studies show that just a ten pound increase in abdominal fat can cut a man’s testosterone levels in half. This “neutering effect” that rising body fat has on men makes sense from a nomadic-hunter/gatherer perspective; the ancient man who lost his virile shape, and thus his hunter-provider capacity, might be “decommissioned” (so-to-speak) from a reproductive standpoint.

Regardless of the reason or origin, flattening out the mid-section can most dramatically raise testosterone levels for the guy who’s carrying too much abdominal fat. That’s because body fat (particularly the mid-section stuff) converts a lot of testosterone into estrogen by way of releasing a conversion hormone called aromatase.

Keep in mind: losing the gut typically requires an overall drop in body fat. This necessitates either consuming fewer calories than what you’re burning or actively burning more calories than you’ve currently used to consuming. Either way, finding the motivation to do it is easy once you fully realize the increased energy, virility, and muscle gains you can enjoy just by shedding the “Buddha Belly.”

2.    Eat Animal Protein

If you’re the vegetarian or vegan type, don’t expect to naturally raise testosterone to maximum output. Studies show that eliminating items like beef, eggs, fish, chicken, and turkey from the diet tend to reduce testosterone levels in both men and women.

Beef and fowl are high in zinc, a mineral that’s absolutely essential for testosterone production. All animal proteins provide dietary fat, which in moderate quantities (20% to 40% of total daily calorie intake), provide the optimal amount of fatty acid building blocks for testosterone production to occur.

I’ve personally noticed that when my beef consumption goes up, so does my strength in the gym. Of course, I keep an eye on my cholesterol level to ensure that the increase in saturated fat isn’t raising it too high.

Bottom line: If you’ve been skimping on animal protein as a lifestyle statement or because you thought they were making you fat, an increase in consumption of this type of food could help raise your testosterone levels. Keep in mind: testosterone is a fat burning hormone, so balance is the key.

3.    Eat Cruciferous Vegetables

Many years ago, a colleague of mine at the time intrigued me when he told me how much he loved broccoli: “I love it raw, cooked, in other foods, by itself – doesn’t matter, I love the stuff”, he said. His words had that just-inflected-enough enthusiasm that they’d persuaded me to try loving it without his having that intention.

I’m glad I’ve learned to love this food as well. It falls in the category of ‘cruciferous vegetables’, which are absolutely necessary if you want to naturally raise testosterone levels. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts posses a compound called diindolylmethane (DIM) which helps flush excess estrogens from the body. Remember, it’s excess amounts of the female hormone that crowds out testosterone from receptor sites and lowers overall ‘free testosterone levels.’

A diet high in cruciferous veggies has the added benefit of helping reduce the odds of developing certain types of cancer. These foods are high in a phytochemical called isothiocyanate, which has been shown to break down and remove carcinogens from the body.

4.    Eliminate or Reduce Alcohol Intake

Here’s another way to naturally raise testosterone through the indirect route of reducing estrogen levels. Alcohol consumption tends to interrupt the liver’s ability to remove excess estrogen from the body. In addition to this, it can greatly reduce the amount of essential zinc from the body – a mineral that’s required in sufficient amounts for healthy testosterone production.

Also, when we eliminate or at least greatly reduce our alcohol consumption, losing that gut in order to naturally raise testosterone levels through fat loss becomes a great deal easier.

5.    Reduce Stress Levels

This might seem easier said than done for a lot of guys, but when we reduce our stress response, we tend to lower our body’s cortisol level which can raise our testosterone. High levels of cortisol reduce the body’s testosterone level. Cortisol is the “stress hormone” and is released in heavy doses whenever we get that “I’m running late and stuck in traffic” kind of bodily response going on.

Notice I mentioned reducing our “stress response.” It’s not so much what’s happening in our external environment that wreaks havoc; we all have times when life’s challenges seem overwhelming. It’s the ‘internal representations’ we play in our heads based on what those circumstances mean to us that determines the amount of stress we feel.

Luckily, you don’t have to become a Yogi or study meditation for ten years in order to manage stress levels. You can read about an often overlooked way of reducing stress – and thus raising natural testosterone levels right here.

'Intense bodybuilding workouts' are a very effective ingredient for 'higher testosterone levels' - provided they're given enough restraint to avoid overtraining.

6.    Get a ‘Torso Tan'

I thought I’d throw in a strange one just for fun. It turns out that getting a good dose of UV rays can actually stimulate testosterone production. So maybe all this “get outa the sun – it’ll hurt you” hype we’ve been hearing for years is having the inadvertent effect of depriving us of vitamin D… as well as our maximum manliness.

Some research has shown that 50 to 60 minutes of early morning UV exposure from the sun on a broad area of the body (like the chest and/or back) can stimulate testosterone production by up to 65%. This might be something worth experimenting with in moderation if you don’t have a light complexion that’s prone to the burning effects of UV rays.

If you sun tan, I would recommend using some sun screen and being careful. I know someone with a light complexion who spent years worshipping the sun and she’s now constantly battling with having basal cell carcinoma tumors removed from her skin – so the danger in overdoing it is real.

7.    Lift Weights with High Intensity – but Avoid Overtraining

This might sound like a tricky balance, but it’s really not once you know the threshold secret. In order to naturally raise testosterone levels through bodybuilding/weight training, a high intensity of effort must be put forth during training sessions. However, it’s important not to ‘over-train’ or the opposite effect can occur – a drop in testosterone levels.

The key to testosterone-releasing training sessions is in knowing how to maximally push the muscles beyond what they’ve ever done without resorting to “intensifying techniques” such as ‘forced reps’ – which easily take the body down the road of overtraining. The method of training that I outline in my book is ideal for testosterone release without the negative effects of overtraining during workouts.

The second thing to steer clear of is training too often. This is probably the most prevalent reason for being in an over-trained state. Scheduling your workouts so that you never train a muscle before the soreness from its previous workout has dissipated will help you maximize testosterone release through the use of intense workouts.

Also, make sure you work the bigger muscle groups (chest, legs, back, shoulders) with at least one compound exercise during each workout. Testosterone release improves with execution of exercises like squats, bench presses, rows, dead lifts, and shoulder presses – provided they’re done with enough intensity.

8.    Eat Monounsaturated Fat

Olive oil, peanut butter, cashews, almonds – they’re loaded with the kind of fat that’s good for you and has also been shown in studies to naturally raise testosterone levels. Whether monounsaturated fat stimulates the testes to produce testosterone or merely provides the building blocks that are necessary for production isn’t known – only that a daily consumption of it helps raise this hormone.

But be careful. Overdoing these snacks can expand your waistline. There are 9 calories in every gram of dietary fat – regardless of whether that fat is good for your arteries or hormone production. Gaining back the belly fat will negate any rise in testosterone levels that eating certain foods might produce.

9.    Avoid Sleep Deprivation

I’m not one of those writers providing cookie-cutter advice that says you need 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night in order to naturally raise testosterone levels. Personally, I couldn’t sleep eight hours every night if you injected me with a regular evening dose of  Demerol. My body doesn’t require that much down time for daily recuperation/rejuvenation. I know that many of you are in the same boat.

But it is important for you to determine your personal ideal sleep requirements and avoid depriving yourself of that rest time if you want to maximize testosterone levels. Plenty of research indicates that getting behind on Zs can put a serious damper on testosterone release.

10.    Avoid Testosterone Squelching Foods

Consuming licorice can reduce a guy’s testosterone level by up to 60%. The sweetener Stevia has been shown to put a damper on ‘test levels’ as well. Stay away from grapefruit if you want maximum testosterone levels because this stuff possesses substances that increase aromatase – the enzyme that converts testosterone into estrogen in a man’s body.

In addition, it’s a good idea to keep protein consumption at no more than around 40% of total calorie intake if you want to naturally raise testosterone. Too much protein in ratio to carbohydrates (i.e. ‘The Atkins Diet’) has been shown to decrease testosterone levels.

Conclusion: Naturally raising testosterone levels is a matter of synergistically combining habits of commission and omission. The more tips you are willing to adopt, the more cumulative will be the effect – possibly raising your “test levels” by a few hundred micro-grams per decileter each day.

“Muscle Building Food” with flavor: Chicken/Rice Salad

Okay… I’ll readily admit that I’m no Wolfgang Puck. I haven’t gone to cooking school and depend on my S.O. for more savory culinary delights when she’s happy to oblige. But on those days of predominant autonomy, I’m often in a hurry and between errands. This makes ‘quick body building meals’ an absolute necessity.

In fact, it’s at times when we’re swamped by a busy schedule that ‘muscle building food’ simply waiting in a big bowl inside the refrigerator is probably the best bet for continued adherence to a “bodybuilding eating plan.”

On the following video is a ‘high protein meal’ that even a non-culinary type (like yours truly) can prepare. A big bowl of this tasty salad can be thrown together relatively quickly and refrigerated for handy access when bodybuilding nutrition is needed in a hurry.

Enjoy… and I encourage you to give feedback when you get a chance.

Scott

“Good Bodybuilding Meals” for busy people who want quick “muscle building protein”

When it comes to “fast bodybuilding meals”, I often resort to protein rich sandwiches as alternatives to the always convenient “bodybuilding smoothie.” A high protein sandwich can be prepared quickly with low glycemic rye bread and followed with a piece of fruit and/or raw vegetable for a ‘muscle building meal’ that can be eaten while literally running out the door to do errands.

The following videos present two of my current favorites. These “bodybuilding sandwiches” are fast and easy to prepare and can have you feeling satiated for hours. This reduces your chances of being tempted to pull into a fast-food joint to order that double cheeseburger with oversized fries.

Simple as they are – the two sandwiches presented are pretty tasty. However, that might depend on how closely you can duplicate the sources of ingredients – especially the bread.

Enjoy… and don’t hesitate to write a comment or share an ‘easy bodybuilding meal’ or ‘muscle-building protein’ sandwich recipe you prefer. I can post it or even demo making it in the next video…

…with your name on it, of course.

“How to Change Your Taste Buds”

When I was a fast-food addict who regularly consumed meals of a thousand or more calories, I scoffed at the idea that I could change my taste buds. Frankly, I wondered why I’d even want to. I vividly recall reading a description of a small nutrition section of a big set of audios by Brian Tracy in which the question was asked:

“Can you really change your taste buds?”

I thought to myself: ‘I doubt it… and even if I could – why would I ever do that?’ Cryptically speaking, I wasn’t only addicted to the foods that were making me fat (especially in the quantities I ate them), I also seemed to be addicted to the addiction; a sort of strange compulsion toward a comfort zone that made the self-image it’d created seem like a dilapidating  abode that I just didn’t want to leave. I loved eating those foods so much that the thought of not loving to eat them seemed a bit alien and maybe even a little scary.

Can you really "change your taste buds" in order to 'get lean' and 'keep the fat off?' You can... but it's probably more psychological than physiological

This makes sense in light of the NLP model referred to as ‘meta-states.’ When we form internal representations about our lives and the goings-on in them, we tend to shift into subconsciously embedded ‘states’ that bring up emotions (positive or negative) seemingly from nowhere. Then we begin having emotions about those emotions; we form meta-states about the lower level ‘primary states.’ An example of one of these multi-leveled mental models transforming into a negative line of thinking might go something like this:

‘Wow, that big piece of cheesecake looks really good. If I eat it, I’ll feel bad for going off my diet. Oh well… maybe I won’t feel so bad. And anyway… it’s just this one time.’

Consumption of big piece of cheesecake takes place. New thoughts enter mind:

‘Oh gosh… I feel guilty for eating that cheesecake. How come I don’t have any will power? What’s wrong with me? Why do I keep going off my diet when it makes me feel like a failure?’

This negative self-talk begins being judged at a meta-level; a higher level of the self-conscious that resides within the context of the self-image. Thus, the next bout of damaging self-talk can go something like this:

‘”Failure”… why am I thinking about THAT word? Why don’t I feel positive more often? I just keep beating myself up all the time while the positive people I know never do that. What’s wrong with me?’

‘How to Change Your Taste Buds’: A shift in Self Image

So where am I going with this? How does becoming aware of ‘meta-level thinking’ tie in with the question of ‘how to change your taste buds?’

It does so by way of the theory that it’s the higher level context of the subconscious mind (the part that made the judgment about ‘failure’ in our example) that usually requires change before the primary level thoughts and habits can make a positive shift. In other words, when we enhance our self-image, better eating habits are more likely to take hold. This results in a higher likelihood of our taste buds making the seemingly effortless change to finding healthy foods as much of a tantalizingly gustatory delight as junk foods were in the past.

I can personally attest to this. I’m a formerly overweight, high-carbohydrate/high fatty food-eating addict who now finds it nearly effortless to stay lean and in shape. That’s because my current subconscious self-image is that of a ‘high performance person.’ And how does a high performance person act? Well, they act like someone who has a lot of energy from eating foods that fuel the body rather than slow it down. When I routinely eat those types of foods, I feel terrific throughout the day. That great feeling has, in turn, become subconsciously anchored to the flavors of those foods. Staying lean and muscular is much easier when you discover ‘how to change your taste buds’ from this direction – from the meta-level thinking to the primary level.

The best evidence that you’ve learned this secret of ‘how to change your taste buds’ surfaces when junk food no longer has the appeal to your gustatory sense that it once did. If you follow the cheat day method of avoiding the perception of food deprivation, you’ll probably notice the change to your taste buds when one of those scheduled days of indulgences comes around. Although you’ll probably still want to keep your cheat/treat day for the sake of variety, you’ll likely (as I do) find yourself – at the end of your cheat day – looking forward to getting the high performance fuel back in your body.

And when your taste buds begin to perceive the pleasure your body is in for, you’ll have gained the knowledge of ‘how to change your taste buds’ for lifelong leanness.

Can you really “cheat your way thin” as some people claim?

I’ve never liked the words “thin” or “weight loss” or “lose weight.” Being a trainer who staunchly advocates the building of muscle tissue along with the shedding of body fat, I regularly remind people to make the distinction between simply “losing weight” and “getting lean.”

I was in that context of admonishment with someone recently after this particular individual asked me what I thought of the concept of “cheating your way thin.” After explaining the reasons that she’d be better off “getting lean” than “getting thin”, the conversation went something like this:

“Cheat your way thin?” I asked. “What specifically are you referring to?”

Does 'cheat day' binging really speed up metabolism or does it simply make long-term enhanced eating habits more difficult to adopt?


“I’m talking about sticking to a calorie-restrictive diet for a few days – then spending one day eating a lot of junk food before going back on the diet again so that you kick-start your metabolism.”

“Oh… you’re referring to the ‘cheat day’ concept”, I answered. “Some bodybuilders have used that for years and swear by it. Others think it only makes the whole process of losing body fat more difficult.”

“Have you ever tried it yourself?” my inquirer asked.

“Yes”, I said, “… and my experience told me that the metabolism-enhancing effect is a bit exaggerated while the binge eating was fun – but can even lose its appeal over time.”

“You’ll have to explain that one to me”, she countered.

“My taste-buds eventually changed”, I explained. “Now foods that keep me lean taste really great and have more flavorful appeal than do the one’s that used to make me fat. Believe me, it’s a great place to be; no more struggle. But it can actually make a ‘cheat day’ something I’d have to work at”

She did agree that that’s a better place to be than in the constant battle that would have one waiting on their ‘cheat day’ with salivating anticipation. And we both eventually agreed that incorporating a cheat day into an eating plan too soon and/or too enthusiastically might cause long-term fat loss to backfire by creating a scenario whereby the taste buds never get a chance to make this vital shift.

‘Leptin down-regulation’: The cause of “diet plateaus?”

Many  who wholeheartedly subscribe to the ‘cheat day’ or “cheat your way thin” concept are running with the hypothesis that claims it’s the body’s down-regulation of the hormone leptin which causes plateaus in fat loss progress. Leptin is actually released in the body by adipose tissue (fat). Its main function is the regulation of energy by influencing appetite and metabolism. An individual’s leptin levels are affected by levels of insulin, current body fat, and caloric intake. It’s this last mentioned affecter of leptin combined with the hormone’s alleged effects on the thyroid gland that has some dieters convinced that interrupting its purported down-regulation is the key to uninterrupted fat loss while dieting.

To put it succinctly: It’s said that low leptin levels slow metabolism – prolonged calorie reduction lowers leptin levels – and scheduled weekly “cheat days” (whereby calorie reduction is ceased) will raise leptin levels enough to “kick-start” the fat burning process again after it shows signs of cessation.

Do “cheat days” normalize leptin levels?

The first question should probably be whether lowered leptin levels in dieters are the main culprit for occasional plateaus in fat loss when adhering to calorie restriction. While a confirmation of this could certainly lead one to hypothesize that interrupting calorie restriction with bouts of caloric surplus will be beneficial, that nearly foregone conclusion only begs the question:

If many people correctly attribute cheating on their diets as the major culprit for their failure to realize long-term fat loss, why would planned/scheduled cheating have the opposite effect?

The psychological reasons have always made sense to me. Many individuals might find it easier to be faithful to a calorie-reduced eating plan when they know they’ll still be able to enjoy the calorie-dense foods that they perceive to crave from time to time (notice I said “perceive” to crave).

But I haven’t personally been convinced of a significant physiological benefit. For one thing, these supposed leptin-manipulating, “cheat your way thin” eating plans claim that leptin levels drop significantly upon immediate adoption of calorie restriction. They simultaneously assume those levels will be brought back to normal with one day of “cheat eating.” The first claim seems a bit far-fetched given that nobody I’ve ever worked with (among thousands), including myself, has ever experienced a plateau in fat loss after just a week or two’s worth of adherence to reasonably reduced calories. Moreover, the subsequent natural question is:

“Why would a hormone be up-regulated to homeostatic levels after a single day of carb loading when one claims or acknowledges that it’s the drawn-out and cumulative effect of daily dieting that suppresses the hormone in the first place?”

After explaining this view to my inquisitor, she immediately countered by citing the experience of her friend who is “losing weight” by following a weekly regimen of “cheating her way thin” through incremental carb reduction that culminates in a “cheat day” of high calorie carbs. “It’s working for her”, she said with a combined enthusiasm and defensiveness.

“Well, keep me updated”, I said. “You should find out what happens in the long run – keeping in mind that measuring foods day in and day out is typically unsustainable. And since there are 2.7 grams of water attached to every gram of carbohydrate, a decrease in carbohydrate intake will invariably cause a drop in water weight over the short term. This is how fad diets employ an ‘automatic convincer’ for adherents to cling onto.”

For the record, I’ve always liked the ‘cheat day’ concept for its psychological benefits and I discuss it in my book. However, in a recorded interview I recently did with one of my favorite fat loss experts, I was convinced that the term “treat day” is much more conducive to positive results than is ‘cheat day.’ You can read more about that interview by clicking here.

“The Myth about Exercise”: Time Magazine sells copies – readers get partial truth

I suppose it would be tough to be in the weekly news magazine publishing business nowadays. Not that it ever wasn’t, but attempting to get a multi-tasking population of news junkies to pay attention to a cover story amidst the media onslaught that is today’s online news sources and blogosphere has got to make some journalists a bit desperate.

That recognized; I’m still a bit annoyed by the flagrant partial-truth that’s the premise of Time Magazine writer John Cloud’s recent article titled “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” with a cover baring “The Myth about Exercise.” Like many such pieces, it seems designed to grab the potential reader that’s easily drawn to what he or she wants to hear by the throat – this being the alternative journalistic tactic to informing the easily alarmed of what they don’t (or masochistically do) want to hear: the daily dose of bad news.

We 'burn body fat' through calorie deficits. Exercise burns calories. Therefore, when we incorporate exercise effectively - it can be an extremely valuable part of a fat loss strategy.

Cloud begins his article of ‘the myth about exercise’ with a story of his own ongoing devotion to a regimen of tailored physical activity that isn’t resulting in what he’d expected – namely: losing the “gut fat that still hangs over his belt when he sits.” He then cites a study (along with other half-witted stats) done with 464 overweight women that resulted in ‘exercising women’ failing to lose any more weight than ‘non-exercising women.’ Oh… and sometimes the ‘exercising women’ even gained some body fat that the ‘non-exercising women’ did not. Imagine that.

Should these be considered shattering findings or just a slight reframe on what anyone with common sense can already figure out? Of course exercise can make you hungrier. And yes, uncontrolled succumbing to such hunger can lead an individual to take in more calories than were burned off during the exercise sessions. But does that mean “exercise is pretty useless” for losing body fat as the article ‘Why Exercise won’t make you Thin’ suggests?

Not by a long shot.

The math is pretty simple when it comes to losing body fat. There are approximately 3,500 calories in each pound of bodily cellulite. If a person wants to lose one pound of that body fat per week, they need to be in a 500 calorie deficit each day in order to make that happen. In other words, they need to consume 500 fewer calories than their maintenance level, or they need to burn off (yes – with EXERCISE) 500 calories each day while NOT replacing those 500 ‘burned off’ calories with additional food intake.

Now, to make that daily 500 calorie deficit a bit easier (and healthier), one might choose to cut about 250 calories from daily food intake while burning 250 more calories through… yes – exercise. One could also take in 400 fewer calories and burn off an additional 100 with exercise, or cut 50 calories from food intake while burning 450 through exercise. The split can be made any way we wish – or there doesn’t need to be a split at all; one can do it exclusively through eating habits changes – or exclusively through calorie burning activity (exercise).

Of course, there is a key to being successful when attempting to create that calorie deficit through exercise alone; we must not inadvertently consume additional calories to replace the ones that were worked off. This usually requires a consciously created goal combined with a conscious awareness that’s as unambiguous as those that would accompany a person who successfully loses body fat by counting calorie consumption.

That last thing mentioned might be the key difference between fat loss accomplished exclusively through eating habit changes versus unsuccessful attempts through exercise alone. The diet-centered fat loss enthusiast is calorie conscious. The “let’s do it by exercise alone” person might be too focused on good intentions at the exclusion of paying attention to detail.

I’m speaking from experience. When I was 34 years old, I was about fifty pounds overweight. My waistline was nearly forty inches around when I’d reached the peak of my high body fat levels. When I realized something needed to be done, I decided that I’d be damned if I was going to cut back on my daily doses of fast food, pasta with lots of extra cheese, and doughnuts from a “roach coach” that made a mid-morning visit outside the office where I worked. I resolved to lose the fat by way of a daily sweaty regimen on a treadmill I’d purchased about a year prior.

Two weeks into my 40-minute daily bouts on the treadmill was far enough along to have me eager to step on an accurate scale and find out what I’d dropped. Surprise… nothing dropped but my enthusiasm – right through the floor; I’d gained five pounds for all my work.

Did I conclude that “exercise doesn’t work” at that point?” Of course not. I simply became more consciously aware of the obvious fact that the calorie-burning benefits of increased activity can easily be over-ridden by unwittingly succumbing to the hunger pangs created by such activity with greater calorie intake. If we burn our 500 calories per day with exercise, then go out and eat 1000 calories more than we ever were eating in order to compensate for the activity, we’ll gain a pound of body fat each week rather than lose it.

So how should we take journalistic sensationalism like the article ‘Why exercise won’t make You Thin’? Look at it for what it is – an attempt at attention-grabbing in a news-cluttered world. And then ask yourself:

“Who wants to be thin anyway?” I’d rather be lean, strong, hard, and muscular.