The Creatine Experiment

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Those of you who have been following my blog may remember a post I did on the benefits of creatine. Click CLICK HERE to read it.

Well I have continued doing research and have still not been able to find anything wrong with it. In fact, the only proven adverse side effects are weight gain and water retention... which actually aren't adverse at all since the whole purpose of taking the supplement is to gain mass. I am comfortable recommending this supplement to anyone 18 years and older because Creatine, the most studied supplement behind whey protein, has not been proven to cause any adverse health effects. Also, your body naturally produces Creatine, so it's not like you're adding anything to your system that might send your hormones into a tailspin. Now, because the supplement industry is highly unregulated you're going to want to heavily research the company from which you buy your products. Make sure their top dogs aren't criminals and check to see that their products have never been tainted with things like testosterone, steroids, or meth.

All the being said, I am going to use myself as a guinea pig for a 12 week cycle of Creatine supplementation. I purchased my Creatine powder from #truenaturals.com (a reliable source of supplements!) for $16 after shipping. Pretty affordable if you ask me. I will begin with a 5 day, 20 gram per day #LoadingPhase, and the rest of the cycle will be a 5 gram per day maintenance phase. I will take the 5 grams within 15 minutes postworkout (aka post swoll fest). Periodically, I will report my progress on here and at the end, I will give a full report. If I find any negative side effects I will stop taking it immediately. I have taken Creatine (and a sh*t ton of other legal supplements) in the past, but I did not take it properly, so this should be a pretty interesting experiment.

This is not a gateway supplement, so I still will not be taking #WheyProtein, #pre-workout supplements, #BCAAs, or anything else of the sort. And I STILL hold strong to the fact that proper nutrition can yield better results at a cheaper cost than any supplement can. But Creatine may be different. It is found naturally in beef and other meats, but to get the 5 grams per day that your muscles need to see a benefit from it, you would need to eat 32kg!!! of beef every day. That means eating a 64+ ounce steak every damn day! Also, at $16 for a 100 day supply, it's a pretty damn good value. So I invite you to follow along with me on this journey. In the end, I'll either recommend or I'll toss it in the same shitastic group as every other supplement on the market today. Cheers!

The Zero Cardio Diet - Part II

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As people progress in age past their 20's, and in some cases in their late 20's, they begin to lose a percentage of muscle mass every year. This percentage increases with age. Now here's the kicker: Strength training combats this genetic decline... cardio accelerates it. You see, in order to continue to increase muscle mass as you age, you must create lean, fast twitch muscle fibers. Cardio tends to atrophy (eliminate) fast twitch muscle fibers in favor of less toned, weaker slow twitch fibers. What's that you say? You don't care about your muscle composition because all you want in life is to be skinny? Well, cardio dosen't help that either!

Women who lift trim down instead of bulking up!

Lean, fast twitch muscle fibers require more calories to function then their slow twitch counterparts. So when you run or bike for miles and burn all those calories in the short term, you are actually making it harder for your body to burn calories in the long run. If, instead of running for an hour you chose to lift weights, you would create lean muscle in your body, and as a result every activity you do would require more calories. In other words, lean muscle will increase your basal metabolic rate! This lean muscle also appears to be more firm and more aesthetically pleasing. And you will be able to maintain this appearance into your old age. You simply cannot get this benefit from cardio. 

Most of us find ourselves in this
position for extended periods of time
every day, which is horrible for our
posture! 

Now let's talk about posture, which also tends to degenerate with age. Most of our lives today are anterior centric, or "forward leaning." From driving your car, to sitting at your computer, you spend a large part of your day hunched over with your shoulders rolled forward and your head sticking out forward like a chicken pecking for food. When you bike or run, you force your body to do the same thing only under a greater amount of stress! Just look at the next runner you see in your neighborhood if you want proof. This is horrible for your structural integrity, and for your overall appearance. Strength training, however, can correct this. I'll do a post soon about all the life benefits of good posture, but for now, just take my word for it... good posture is critical for long-term quality of life.

Next topic... let's address the concern that most women bring up to me... 

A lot of females believe that if they strength train they will bulk up like Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is simply impossible. Men have a much higher ability to gain mass and muscle due to their testosterone levels being far higher than those of women. Those "freak" female body builders are almost all on steroids. Women will actually appear thinner, and more trimmed down when they follow a lifting program. If you think you're different, you're not! Lifting weight burns both the fat surrounding your muscles and the fat within your muscles (and yes, there is fat within your muscles in the same way that there is fat in the middle of a nice juicy steak). This results in a trimmed down, toned appearance. Without the use of supplements like steroids and testosterone boosters, women cannot physically bulk up to "disgusting proportions". As long as females follow a healthy, calorie-conscious diet in conjunction with a proper lifting program, they will trim down, tone up and look sexier than they could ever look by doing mass amounts of cardio.

Biking, a form of cardio, is ineffective.

So cut the crap cardio and start getting more bang for your buck... lift weights! 

The Zero Cardio Diet - Part I

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You will only bulk up by lifting if that's your goal.
When it comes to bulking vs.  toning, it's all about what you
eat, not what you lift!

The key to losing weight and getting the lean shapely figure you're looking for is to burn more calories than you take in. To do this, most people think they have to run, bike, swim, hop on the eliptical machine or stair stepper, or row a 10k. WRONG! Cardio is not the answer! The answer is found in resistance training aka weight lifting aka pumping iron aka getting your swoll on. 'Merica.

The amount of calories you burn during a workout is determined by your heartbeat. Essentially, the harder your heart works, the more calories you burn. So here's the conundrum with devoting time to cardio in an effort to burn calories as you stive to achieve your aesthetic goals. As you get better at cardio, your entire cardiovascular system improves (hence the name cardio!) which means it requires less effort for your heart to pump oxygen throughout your body. Consequently, you burn less calories. To overcome that you must increase the duration or intensity of your cardio sessions. Ain't nobody got time for that! Additionally, your body begins to convert your lean, sexy fast twitch muscles into slow twitch muscles in order to adapt to the increased amount of cardio you've been doing. Lean muscle is made primarily of fast twitch fibers and is imperative to achieving the shape and pleasing aesthetic appearance that most people desire (if you show me someone who dosen't desire this, I'll show you a liar). More muscle on the body equals more calories burned in both the resting and active state. Why? Simply put, more muscle fibers are recruited and required during each and every activity that you perform. This means that people with more muscle burn more calories while walking, working, eating, watching tv, working out, and even sleeping than people with less muscle burn. 

To achieve the shape you desire for your body, you must change your body's composition. In other words, you must get rid of fat while simultaneously adding muscle. Cardio will drive you to lose some fat, but it does not allow you to gain muscle. The average overweight woman is pear shaped with more fat in the lower half of their body while the average overweight man tends to be apple shaped with more fat in their mid-section. Doing cardio then would drive these people to become smaller pears and smaller apples because they would lose some fat without adding muscle. Your goal however, should not be to look like pear or apple of any size. It should be to change your body's composition in your upper and lower half and in your core (abs and lower back). This goal can only be accomplished through strength training! 

I'll leave you with this final piece... I dare you to take the Strength By Matt challenge:
       

A not-so-uncommon sight in the cardio room.

Next time you're at the gym look in the cardio section and I'll bet you'll see a dozen or so people who look unhappy, are not losing weight, and are using cardio as an excuse to watch television. This form of exercise will closely resemble the time they spend on their couch! Next, look into the weight room and I'll bet you'll see a group of lean, toned, sexy individuals with great posture and a confident aura. Now answer this question... which group would you rather be a part of?

As always, I'm only giving you advice and inviting you to try something new as you strive to become a stronger version of yourself. You can do whatever the hell you want to do! 

The Zero Cardio Diet - Intro.

I have received a lot of questions from people on how to lose weight, gain weight, build muscles mass, tone legs and booty, etc. In every case I give very sound advice and in some cases, I write entire workouts for my clients. None of my advice or workouts ever include a ton of cardio. To many of you reading this, it is obvious why a cardio-free regimen would work for someone whose goal is to gain weight, but you can't wrap your head around how someone can possibly lose weight without running their asses off... literally.

Think about this... back in 1977 a book was published entitled The Complete Book of Running by Jim Fixx. This book quickly became the best selling non-fiction book in history at the time and single handedly began the cardio craze. Personal Trainers, dietitians, and physicians from that point forward began preaching, and prescribing cardio heavy workouts to lose weight and get healthy. Treadmill sales soared and continue to increase and American's are lighter and healthier now than ever before. Wait a minute... American's are actually fatter and more disease ridden than ever before. What??? But that dosen't make sense!!

In this new, multi-part series, I am going to explain exactly why you should AVOID cardio to lose weight and shape your body into the figure you desire. 

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Do THIS to Cure a Hangover

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Relax your hangover away. You earned it baby!

The skin is your body's largest organ, and one of it's main jobs is to excrete toxins from the body. It does this through sweat, and the sauna is a great way to get a sweat on. I first became interested in saunas when I was playing football in college in Connecticut. Practices were extremely cold towards the end of the season, so to warm back up, I made it a habbit of going in the sauna until I got the feeling back in my fingers and toes. Perhaps to further justify this practice of going in the sauna, I researched the health benefits and I was pleased to find that there were many. My reasoning for going into the sauna was no longer solely because I was a wimp who hated the cold New England winters.

On to the title of this post... the #HangoverCure! When you go into a sauna your heart rate increases to that of a brisk walk as your sweat glands kick into actions. Sweating then mobilizes toxins (alcohol is a toxin, believe it or not!) that are stored in your fat cell and enhances their elimination. So why not just exercise to to start sweating? Well, after a heavy night of drinking it isn't good for your heart to raise your heart rate as high as jogging or high intensity training would raise it. So when you're feeling hungover, just relax, sit in the sauna, and sweat your toxins out. From personal experience, this is the best cure for a hangover. Of course, detox is one part of the puzzle, the other piece is re-hydration. So drink plenty of water! Especially in the sauna. Bring a bottle with you and down the whole thing either in the sauna or right after you get out, before starting your next 15 minute cycle. Let your body tell you when you are fully detoxed and your hangover is cured. I suggest spending less time detoxing if you are new to the whole sauna thing. Like everything fitness related, you should build up to it over time as opposed to just jumping in head first. 

If you're really looking to detox your body for the long haul, not just for one day to kick your hangover's ass, you're going to want to read this paragraph. Several researchers have looked at the effect of sauna on the body's toxic burden. the best studied is the Hubbard Sauna Detoxification Program. This protocol involves daily exercise followed by sitting in a sauna for 2.5 to 5 hours a day, with breaks for cooling down and rehydrating. Participants in this program also take niacin to stimulate circulation and fat mobilization, as well as multivitamins and polyunsaturated oils. 

Bring in a bottle of water with you and don't stay in longer than
15 minutes continuously.

Try out the sauna next time you're hungover and let me know what you think. Feel free to leave any other proven hangover cures that you've had success with in the comments below. 

Again, this is all just advice... you can do whatever the hell you want to do!

Free Weights vs. Machines, Which is Better?

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Many people wonder whether they should use free weights or machines during their lifting programs. If you ask one person they'll tell you free weights, but if you ask another person they'll give you a great argument for using machines. So which one do I recommend?

This machine forces isolation of your bicep muscles but takes
the place of your stabilizers.

Answer: It depends on what your goals are.

I personally use free weights as I do mainly Olympic lifts during my workouts, but I'm not going to sit here and say that it's my way or the highway. My goals for lifting are to increase functionality and athleticism. If your goals are different, I wouldn't put you on the same lifting program as me. If, for example, you are into bodybuilding, I would definitely incorporate more machine weights into your program. Why? Because machine weights are great for forming and shaping individual muscles. They isolate the targeted muscle very well, which is very important if your goal is to simply look good and symmetrical for aesthetic purposes. So, if this is your goal (and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that!) then use machine weights all you want. You WILL have success.

The squat is an excellent example of an exercise that
strengthens your prime movers as well as your stabilizers
and core.

Now, if your goal is gain increase your athleticism and strength, machine weights are not the way to go. Football players and all other athletes... I'm talking to you, regardless of what you think your goals are. You see, machine weights train your neuromuscular system to move and use your muscles without recruiting your stabilizers. This makes you extremely vulnerable to injuries. If your muscles are trained to work without using stabilizers, they might be big and strong looking, but they're one wrong move, one quick jerk away from popping. Additionally, while your muscles get big and strong and are able to lift heavier weights, your joints and stabilizers remain weak and unable to handle the same amount of weight as your muscles. I'm convinced that this is why I suffered so many injuries throughout my life in football, baseball, and wrestling. I was a machine weight whore for many years. It wasn't until I started using free weights nearly exclusively that I went from getting injured multiple times a season, to almost never getting hurt despite the size and skill level of my competition increasing. If your goal is athleticism and functionality, you want to stick to lifts that simulate natural movements. These lifts recruit the same stabilizers that you are apt to use both while playing sports, and in every day life. In almost no real-life situation will you have a machine available to take the place of your stabilizing muscles as you try to pick something up or move around.

As always...this is just advice! You can do whatever you want. You know yourself and your body better than anyone else, so if in your experience you've had success with machine weights and have correlated that success with athletic prowess, then by all means keep using them. I'm just giving you another way to look at things and inviting you to try something new.

If you want me to hook you up with a lifting program, send an email to strengthbymatt@gmail.com and I'll hook you up! 

Too Busy to Workout? Try This!

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So many people talk about being too busy to workout... but are they?

I currently balance raising a 4 year old and a newborn, being an Active Duty service member working 50+ hours per week, my fitness blog, and studying for my GRE and Personal Training certification... and I workout 4-5 times per week. I'm not saying this to brag at all. I'm saying this to let you know that is definitely possible to workout no matter how much you have going on in your life. All you need to do is sit down for 20 minutes and create a Time Budget for yourself. This is much easier to do than a Financial Budget, trust me. 

Think about it this... there are 168 hours in a week. Lets take out 40 hours for work, now were down to 128 hours. now lets say you spend 2 hours per night cooking and cleaning up from dinner. We're now down to 114 hours. Next we'll say you take 1 hour per night reading and we're down to 107 hours left. 7 hours a night of sleep takes us to 58 hours. Okay so now you have a family and you spend 5 hours a day doing things like commuting, errands, quality time with family a friends, etc... and we're left with 23 hours. 23 hours of free time. A quality workout only takes 45 minutes to an hour, just 4-5 days per week. So of those 23 hours we have left, you need 5 max! Which still leaves you 16 hours per week (over 2 hours a day) to sit on your ass and do absolutely nothing! 

I just re-read that paragraph and found it hard to follow myself... so here's a linear method of reading it. Should be easier to follow.

 168 (Total Hours in a week)

-49   (Sleeping)

-40  (Work Hours)

-2    (Cooking/eating/cleaning Dinner)

-7    (Reading)

-35  (Misc.)

__

23  (Hours per week you have left over to use for doing whatever you want)

Everyone's Time Budget will look different and some people will have more free time left over than others. But I can guarantee you, you'll be able to find free time for working out. 

Working out is extremely important to your overall health and quality of life. Making time for it will impact so many areas of your life in a positive manner.  

This is just advice though. You can do whatever you want! Share your comments below!