Best Muscle Building Foods
May 29, 2008 | 3 Comments
I recently came across a list of “10 Muscle Building Foods” on MSN courtesy of Best Life Magazine. The list was interesting. Some good and some strange. Here’s the list with my comments and add-ons. I think the article should have been retitled “10 Exotic Muscle Building Foods”. Here we go:
1. Quinoa: Arguably my favorite grain. Good both cold and hot. For added flavor I recommend you cook it in chicken broth instead of water.
2. Grass-Fed Beef: Honestly, how many people can afford to eat significant amounts of grass fed beef on a regular basis. I think that “regular” beef gets a bad wrap. Here is an interesting facto that I just learned the other week during a conversation with a member of the National Cattlemen and Beef Association. Because the price of corn is so high now (due to the increased popularity of ethanol) Cattlemen can’t afford to fatten up cows like before so you will be seeing a lot leaner beef in the grocery stores (even it is still has the ‘choice’ label it will be leaner choice than what you would have bought 8 months ago).
3. Fat Free Ricotta: I tried this stuff probably a year ago and did not like it at all. It is sometimes recommended as a substitute to cottage cheese but personally I’ll stick with cottage cheese.
4. Tofu: I’m not a huge tofu fan. Phystoestrogens aside, I just don’t like the texture or taste. If you do like tofu then it is a great protein option that you can add to your diet to break the chicken, beef, fish cycle.
5. Lentils: I love lentils. Low impact carbs with some protein for good measure. Don’t forget about chickpeas either.
6. Eggs: Classic Muscle Food. We like to keep 2 kinds of eggs in the fridge: regular and omega-3. We use the regular eggs for egg whites and the omega-3 eggs when we need whole eggs.
7. Greek Yogurt: Arguably my favorite food at the moment. You can actually find it as most Super Walmart stores. If you’re not eating greek yogurt then definately pick some up this weekend.
8. Quorn: This was a new one to me. It is a vegetable protein that I’m sure isn’t available in State College, PA. If you have tried it or know where to find some post a comment and let everyone know!
9. Chocolate Milk: There has been some research that shows the benefits of chocolate milk as a post workout drink. The added sugar from the chocolate and the natural protein blend makes it a good choice if you are in a pinch.
10. Wild Salmon: Wild Salmon is sort of like grass-fed beef. It would be nice if you could eat it all the time but it is too expensive for many people to eat on a regular basis. Farm raised salmon contains just as many omega-3 fatty acids (more omega-6s though) thus making it still a good choice.
April Workout – More Muscle 1.0
May 24, 2008 | 1 Comment
This month’s workout is a break from out tradition Fat Loss training with the first in a series of 3 muscle building workouts. This 4-week program consists of 3 days of weight training and 2 days of energy system work. Each weight training routine involves a combination of low and high reps with a focus on big compound movements allowing you to get the most out of your time in the gym.
Alwyn Cosgrove – Exclusive Audio Interview
May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Called by many as the ‘Fat Loss Jedi’ – Alwyn Cosgrove is the indemand fat loss coach in the United States. In this exclusive Faster Fat Loss Zone interview Alwyn talks in detail about his Hierarchy of Fat Loss and common misconceptions people have about it and fat loss training, how he uses ‘baby steps’ with his clients, and how to drive fat loss with metabolic acceleration.
Effective Recovery for Faster Results
May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
You don’t lose fat, gain muscle, or improve performance by working out.
You lose fat, gain muscle or improve performance by recovering from working out.
A training session is merely a stimulus to cause the body to respond in a specific way resulting in a desired adaptation or change in the body’s physiology.
Therefore, the stronger we can make the stimulus (the training session) the greater the response and the faster and more effective the adaptation.
Makes sense so far, right?
However, if you fail to adapt between training sessions, you may not be physically capable of performing at an intensity level that will effectively stimulate the necessary response to create that adaptation.
For example, if you are capable of performing sprint intervals at a subjective intensity level of 9 out of 10 on one day, but 2 days later, you are only capable of a 6 out of 10 performance level, you may have failed to stimulate the desired increase in performance or promotion of fat loss.
(Author’s note: please keep in mind that exercise programming will naturally result in variable levels of intensity of effort as well as preprogrammed variations in intensity to promote a specific result. This is just an example in regard to recovery and the ability to perform at your best during a training session.)
So you can see that training hard enough to get results and recovering from training go hand in hand.
Use these key principles to optimize recovery and have the best training sessions of your life:
1. Get more sleep. I know you’ve heard this one a million times. There’s a reason. Research shows that only 3 days of insufficient deep sleep will result in increased insulin resistance and decreased growth hormone release. That makes it more difficult to lose body fat not to mention reducing your daily energy levels and ability to concentrate. Nothing steals your motivation for an effective workout like fatigue.
If you can’t get the recommended 8 hours of sleep per night, at least go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each morning. Your body eventually adapts and allows you to go through all of your rest inducing sleep cycles. You still lose total time in deep sleep, but you’ll still function better than constantly varying your sleep time in the hopes of catching up.
Here’s a thought. Constantly changing your sleep times is like constantly changing your time zones during travel or vacation. Your body never gets a chance to adjust to the changing time zones and never gets quality sleep and recovery.
2. Monitor your training volume. Yes, even your exercise program can be a culprit affecting your recovery. The body’s physiology typically responds better to increased intensity (think heavier weights) than it does to increased volume (think total number of sets, reps, exercises, intervals, etc.). In other words, you can work hard or you can work long, but you can’t work hard AND long.
The best way to avoid too much volume is to vary the intensity and volume periodically throughout your training program. For instance, follow a really hard workout with a moderate intensity workout. Follow a long duration workout with a brief but high intensity workout.
Every couple of months, do something fun that burns a few calories just for variation. Try new exercises, take a kickboxing class, or go for a swim. It’s also a good idea to take a full week of “active rest” every 3 or 4 months.
3. Focus on supportive nutrition. Supportive nutrition is an eating plan that promotes optimal recovery from your exercise program and reinforces the goals of your program. For instance, in the early morning and after your workout, the body is more receptive to carbohydrate intake without much concern that the carbs will increase body fat.
Making an adequate portion of protein the foundation of your meals assures that the body will have sufficient amino acids for regeneration and reconstruction of connective and muscle tissues that are “broken down” by the training session itself.
Healthy fat sources address numerous concerns such as providing resources for hormone production and keeping systemic inflammation, the cause of many diseases and ailments, at bay.
Without a supportive eating plan, it’s like never refilling your car’s gas tank. Eventually, you run out of gas or break down.
4. Keep your soft-tissues in good condition. Regular, intensive exercise can cause natural wear’n’tear on the connective tissues that hold everything together and the muscles themselves. Part of the natural remodeling process as tissues adapt is the formation of new tissues that allow increased flexibility and increased strength. There are also some rather undesireable adaptations such as adhesions and development of scar tissue. Theses adaptation occur within and between layers of muscle that restrict range of motion and can even cause painful movement.
The easiest way to keep such adaptations to a minimum is through regular soft-tissue treatments. If you can afford it, regular sports massage, rolfing, or Active Release Techniques will prevent lost training time and a lot of unnecessary pain.
Even if you can’t afford such services, you can use self-applied methods of massage and myofascial release with foam rollers, tennis balls, and “The Stick” to keep your soft-tissue in great condition.
Please refer to the video of self-applied soft tissue techniques for examples that you can easily apply in just a few minutes a day.
5. Ice, ice, baby. No not Vanilla Ice. I’m talking about the real thing.
Joints can take a beating from strength training, sprinting, and many other activities. An easy way to take care of them is to simply apply an ice pack to the joints that get stress most during your workouts for about 15 minutes. This prevents excessive wear on joint cartilage and reduces the pain of minor aches and pains that can turn into big aches and pains if you ignore them. It’s also a great time to update your online training journal and keep up with your friends on the Faster Fat Loss Zone.
Remember that intensity is the key to your fitness success, so train hard and recover just as hard for your best workouts ever.
Warp Speed Fat Loss
May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Warp Speed Fat Loss -When Losing 2lbs a Weeks Isn’t Fast Enough is now available at http://www.WarpSpeedFatLoss.com
This is my venture in which I have teamed up with Fat Loss Training Master – Alwyn Cosgrove. Everything in Warp Speed Fat Loss is done for you. The training and diet (28 days of complete meal plans) are laid out so you don’t have to think about anything – just follow the program.
Learn more at http://www.WarpSpeedFatLoss.com
Free Download
-
Site Feeds
