The most powerful ways: November 2015

Bodybuilding.com Articles

Give arms their own training day

One of the most popular ways to structure your training split is to pair a larger and smaller body part into push or pull days. It's common to train back and biceps or chest and triceps together, and for many lifters, that works just fine. Over time, however, many people find that the second muscle group worked—arms, in both examples—doesn't get as much training emphasis as the first.
One remedy is to do an arms-only workout on a dedicated arm-training day. With no heavy bench presses or rows done beforehand to sap your strength, you'll be able to approach these workouts with a full tank, and undoubtedly you'll be able to push much harder. Because you'll be able to move heavier weights, you'll get an enhanced growth stimulus.
To ensure full recovery, I suggest you leave at least a day before and after your arm workouts when scheduling your back, chest, or shoulders, to ensure some of the muscles don't get trained on consecutive days. Arranging your body-part split is a little trickier, but you'll benefit from the long-term payoff.

Go heavy to start your arm workout

I make this point frequently, but it's an important one: Start your arm workout with exercises you can load up with the most weight. After your warm-ups, that means you shouldn't go right to dumbbell curls or triceps push-downs when you can double or even triple the load on close-grip bench presses or dip machines.
With biceps, preacher curls and concentration curls are lousy places to start when you can push significantly heavier loads on standing EZ-bar or barbell curls. The exercise you choose to do first in your arm workout has a significant impact on your ultimate results, so give some thought to where you want to begin your training.
Once you've got the right exercise in the lead position in your routine, don't waste the opportunity by choosing a weight that's too light. If you're building mass, don't be afraid to push yourself with a load that you can complete for only 6-8 reps. You'll get a better muscle-building and strength stimulus here than if you choose a weight you could do for high reps chasing a pump.

Think "angles" when it comes to biceps training

The elbows-by-your-sides shoulder-width grip should be your starting place when it comes to curling exercises. But like the basic bench press or row, there are plenty of variations to explore that can increase overall arm development.

The elbows-by-your-sides shoulder-width grip should be your starting place when it comes to curling exercises.

When your arms are in front of the plane of your torso, as when doing preacher curls, the biceps long head can't fully stretch, so the focus shifts to the short head. Similarly, when your arms are behind the plane of your body, as when doing incline-bench dumbbell curls, the long head is fully stretched and can contract more strongly, making it the focus of the movement.
You can also shift the emphasis by changing where you place your hands when doing barbell curls. The biceps long head is located outside the short head, so using a grip inside shoulder width when doing barbell curls targets it more effectively. Taking a grip outside shoulder width, on the other hand, focuses primarily on the short head.

Go overhead to target your triceps long head

Every body part has a trick or two you need to learn for advanced development, and one of the more important ones for building horseshoe triceps is to take your training overhead. That's because the bulky long head attaches above the shoulder joint, meaning it's only fully stretched when your arms are in the overhead position. Only when a muscle is fully stretched can it contract most strongly. With your elbows by your sides, your lateral head takes on a greater portion of the load.

Arm positions in which your arms are perpendicular to your body—like when doing skullcrushers—engage the long head to a degree. As your arms move more overhead, as when doing skullcrushers on an incline bench, you'll get even greater long-head activation.

Any triceps movement in which your arms are overhead works here. Overhead barbell, dumbbell, or cable extensions focus on the long head, and there are even some machines that can do the trick. Of note, arm positions in which your arms are perpendicular to your body—like when doing skullcrushers—engage the long head to a degree. As your arms move more overhead, as when doing skullcrushers on an incline bench, you'll get even greater long-head activation.

Mix up your grip for max growth

A curl is as simple as contracting the biceps to raise a weight using an underhand grip. While that's certainly one way to build your arms, in no way is it a complete one. That's because the arm flexors consist of more than the biceps brachii, a two-headed muscle. The brachialis lies underneath, and boosting its size will also help increase overall arm size.
Working the brachialis means doing hammer curls in which your palms are in what's called a neutral position and your hands face each other. Hammers can be done with a rope attached to the lower cable or holding dumbbells.
The brachioradialis, which provides thickness to the thumb side of the upper forearm, also contributes when doing hammer curls. It's targeted when using an overhand grip during a reverse curl.

Don't flare your elbows

Nothing seems simpler than extending your elbows to target the triceps. There is, however, one hiccup that can occur along the way: allowing your elbows to flare out. Whether you're doing push-downs, overhead extensions, dips, close-grip benches, or skullcrushers, keep your elbows in tight to place the emphasis on the triceps.
That can be hard to do—especially for bigger guys—because your elbows naturally want to flare out. When your elbows flare, the chest and shoulders can join in, reducing the effectiveness of the movement. For better isolation of the triceps, keep those elbows in tight.

Don't rep as high as you can with biceps movements

Without question, the single-most common error trainees make when doing biceps is raising the weight as high as possible in an effort to go through the full range of motion. While I'm all for full-ROM training, curling the weight too high in this case is often done with an assist from the front delts.
Here's why: With your elbows pinned by your sides, curling the weight strictly allows you to bring the weight to about shoulder height. But years of bad habits are hard to break, and for many lifters, those habits mean they push the elbows forward to raise the weight even higher.
When your elbows come forward, your single-joint movement now turns into a multijoint one that also involves the front delts. Not only does that bring in another muscle group, it now allows for a resting spot at the top of the rep as your hand is now stacked over your elbow—meaning tension on the biceps is highly reduced.
For better isolation, keep your single-joint biceps exercises just that. Be aware of the tendency to pull your elbows forward as you raise the weight. Keep 'em pinned back by your sides for the duration of the movement.

It's not all about the pump

There's a powerful and popular belief that to be successful on arm day, you've got to get a (insert adjective here: wicked, monster, incredible) muscle pump. The trouble is, the "pump" is best achieved through high-rep training in which blood is flushed into the target muscle, pushing the boundaries of the muscle fascia as it swells.

Yes, that's one mechanism for muscle growth, which goes by the name of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. In my opinion, though, it's best saved for the end of your workout, with your heavy training out of the way.
Heavy training elicits what's called myofibrillar hypertrophy, in which the actual structures of the muscle fibers are damaged. Lighter training pushes fluids into the cell but doesn't necessarily cause fundamental damage to the cell structures.
Which begs the question: Why not go for both? If you do your heavy work at the beginning of your training session and work for the pump toward the end, you can. Bottom line: Save the wicked pump for the end of your workout.

Increase your arm-training frequency

Larger muscle groups like legs require demanding workouts that take many days to recover from, so they're trained just once a week. Smaller muscle groups, not so much. That's one reason many lifters do body parts like calves and abs up to three times a week. As for the biceps and triceps, they're the Goldilocks of muscle groups: somewhere in between.

If you've got the energy, time, and ambition, adding a second round of arm training that's done over the course of your training split is easy to do so long as you plan it right.

If you've got the energy, time, and ambition, adding a second round of arm training that's done over the course of your training split is easy to do so long as you plan it right. Here's one I followed a few years back (excludes abs and calves):

Day 1: Chest, triceps
Day 2: Back, biceps
Day 3: Shoulders
Day 4: Legs
Day 5: Biceps, triceps
Days 6-7: Rest

If you do train arms twice, I like the idea of making the first one of the week very different from the second, both in exercise selection and approach. One might be heavier than the other, focus on weaknesses, employ more single-arm (unilateral) exercises, or use different intensity boosters like forced reps, dropsets, blood-flow restriction, or eccentric-focused training.

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11/27/2015 4:41:02 PM

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Master The Muscle-Up In 3 Steps
11/25/2015 2:51:34 PM

A smooth, strong muscle-up is an inspiring sight, and an even more inspiring achievement. But it doesn't happen by accident! Here's how to get over the bar for the first time.

I'll never forget the first time I saw a muscle-up. Though it was almost 10 years ago, it's still fresh in my mind. I was already a successful personal trainer at the time, but it never occurred to me to even try pulling my whole torso up and over a pull-up bar until that fateful day.
I was intrigued and impressed by this new move, and due to my experience with pull-ups and dips, I assumed it would be within my capabilities. Turns out I was mistaken! In spite of my ability to pull and push my body weight for many reps, my initial muscle-up attempts ended in failure. I did not let this deter me, however. I was determined to get my muscle-up! A couple of weeks later, I finally experienced the thrill of getting up and over the bar for the first time. The view from the top is good!
Since then, the muscle-up has become one of my favorite exercises. It's a lot of fun, and it works the entire upper body in a way that no other single exercise can, combining a push and pull along with that notoriously difficult transition phase.

Al Kavadlo Top Muscle-up Tips
Watch the video - 1:21

Though my first muscle-up wasn't pretty, I've spent a lot of time improving my technique. I've also had the unique experience of teaching calisthenics to people all over the world since becoming lead instructor for the Progressive Calisthenics Certification in 2013. Since then, I've personally helped hundreds of individuals achieve their first muscle-up, which is a pretty satisfying feeling in its own right.
While there are many different muscle-up strategies, I like to keep things simple. The following three techniques are the most essential to help you achieve your first muscle-up on a straight bar. If you put in the time and effort, the path to the muscle-up kingdom is right there in front of you. Are you up for it?

Explosive Pull-ups

First things first: you need to be able to do at least 10 strict pull-ups before you are ready to practice toward the muscle-up. Once you've got that covered, the next step is to start making your pull-ups faster and more explosive.
When I teach beginners to do their first pull-up, I'm pretty strict about the amount of control that I expect to see. It's essential to focus on form and learn how to engage your abs, glutes, and other musculature to perform clean pull-ups. Once you're strong enough to comfortably bust out 10 clean reps in a row, you've earned the privilege of having fun with the rules and using momentum to pull on the bar explosively.

Once you're strong enough to comfortably bust out 10 clean reps in a row, you've earned the privilege of having fun with the rules and using momentum to pull on the bar explosively.

When newcomers try this, it can be overly taxing on the joints, but if you can do those 10 strict pull-ups, you've likely built enough strength and stability to perform explosive pull-ups with substantially less risk of injury.
To perform an explosive pull-up, yank down hard on the bar as fast and powerfully as you can, using your entire body to generate force. Once you get a feel for this, experiment with letting go of the bar for a second at the top of your pull-up, then start working toward a clapping pull-up. When you've gotten comfortable with clapping pull-ups, you can use that same explosive technique to aggressively pull the bar farther down your body instead of taking your hands away.
Eventually you will be able to pull yourself fast enough and with enough force to get your elbows to wrist height or higher. Once this happens, it's just a matter of leaning your chest over the bar and getting the timing right before you can call the muscle-up yours.

Straight-Bar Dips

Just like pull-ups, you need to be really good at dips before you begin working on the muscle-up. Standard parallel-bar dips are not enough, however. You need to practice doing dips on a straight bar if you want to perform a muscle-up on one. If you are accustomed to only performing dips on parallel bars, dipping on a straight bar will likely require some practice to get comfortable with.
First, you'll need to find a way to get above the bar to begin the movement. I suggest using a step to get yourself in position or using a low bar (a barbell placed in a squat rack at chest height works, too). Regardless of which setup is better suited to your environment, once you get above the bar, the idea is to lower yourself down as far as possible, while reaching your legs forward for counterbalance. Aim to touch the bar to the top of your abdomen at first, then begin increasing your range of motion. It might feel strange at the beginning if you are accustomed only to dipping on parallel bars, so go slowly and focus on clean form. Make sure to engage your abs, legs, and glutes to prevent losing control.

Regardless of which setup is better suited to your environment, once you get above the bar, the idea is to lower yourself down as far as possible, while reaching your legs forward for counterbalance.

Muscle-up Negatives

In addition to building a great deal of explosive upper-body strength on the bar, it's also helpful to learn the muscle-up from a neurological standpoint. This is where the negative muscle-up comes into play. Practicing the negative (eccentric) phase can help you get a feel for the movement pattern.
Get above the bar the same way you would for a straight-bar dip, then carefully lower yourself to the bottom of your dip position. From here, continue lowering yourself down as slowly as you can while you extend your legs forward, bracing your entire body and squeezing the bar as hard as possible. At first, you may drop very quickly, but you'll gain control of the descent with practice. Eventually, that control will transfer into reversing the movement.

At first, you may drop very quickly, but you'll gain control of the descent with practice.

Get Over It!

After spending some time practicing these methods, I recommend giving the muscle-up a shot. I suggest only attempting it when you are warmed up but still energized.
Don't worry too much about sets or reps at this point. Instead, just try for one rep at a time with as much rest as you need between efforts. Think of the muscle-up as skill training, so keep your volume low to prevent from burning yourself out. In order to get over the bar, you need to be operating at full capacity, so once you start to fatigue, move on to something else.

Don't worry too much about sets or reps at this point. Instead, just try for one rep at a time with as much rest as you need between efforts.

Don't be discouraged if it takes a long time. The harder you work toward the muscle-up, the more satisfaction you will feel when you get there.

6 Surprisingly Salty Foods
11/25/2015 2:51:06 PM

Even common fitness staples may have more salt than you think. Here are 5 surprisingly salty foods, and some lower-sodium substitutes to reduce your salt intake!

Salt is the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the nutrition world. On the friendly side, this crystalline combination of sodium and chloride helps maintain fluid balance as well as proper nerve and muscle functioning. Plus, it tastes good!
On the evil side, salt may exacerbate health problems among people who are obese or have heart disease. It's not the greatest for your physique, either. In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, people who ate high amounts of salt were more likely to pack on body fat.¹ Researchers concluded that perhaps too much sodium can alter the sensitivity that fat cells have to insulin, which encourages fat gain. Excess sodium can also lead to water retention, which triggers bloat.
High-salt foods are often low in nutrition and high in fat, which further fuels this metabolic fire of disarray. Packaged goods, fast-food entrees, and frozen concoctions are often laden with sodium to enhance taste and shelf life. In most cases, these foods are not known for their nutrient-dense, healthy qualities, but rather as convenient, easy-to-prep options.

Weighing in on Salt

While somewhat arguable, current guidelines recommend limiting sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams or less per day.² Initial research into the many causes of heart disease cited increased sodium intake to be the major culprit behind such a heightened risk. However, more recent studies have demonstrated the opposite.
Current research suggests that higher sodium intake is not linked to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, and either results in a lower average blood pressure or has no negative effect.^3,4 Furthermore, a study in the Journal of American Medical Association found no correlation between a low sodium intake and reduced risk for heart attacks, which further debunks the negative association between sodium intake and heart disease.⁵

If you're trying to cut back on sodium intake, you'll be happy to know that roughly 65 percent of our overall sodium intake comes from the foods we toss into our grocery carts at the supermarket.

Healthy kidneys are perfectly able to handle sodium. But because obesity levels are so high, increasing the risk for numerous health complications, many individuals are watching how much salt (which contains 2,300 milligrams of sodium per teaspoon) they consume. If you're trying to cut back on sodium intake, you'll be happy to know that roughly 65 percent of our overall sodium intake comes from the foods we toss into our grocery carts at the supermarket.⁶
With such a vast majority of our intake coming from easily controllable foods, his makes for a simple change. Here's how to diffuse a few unknown salt mines to reduce your sodium intake.

Salt Lick 1 Cottage Cheese

Bodybuilders have long been faithful to cottage cheese, owing to its abundance of muscle-building protein, which contains up to 15 grams in a half-cup serving! But whether you blend the curds into post-training shakes or scoop them up by the bowlful, that great white can hike up your sodium intake.

That same half-cup serving can deliver up to 400 milligrams of sodium. Consider searching for a low-salt option, such as Friendship Dairies, or even one that has no added salt.

Lower-sodium alternative Greek yogurt

With twice the protein levels of traditional yogurt, velvety Greek yogurt rarely has more than 95 milligrams of sodium per cup.

Salt Lick 2 Bread

Who would have thought the "staff of life" could be such a major player in our daily sodium intake? Many commercial breads supply a surprisingly high amount of sodium—100-300 milligrams per slice. Your lunch sandwich could easily provide you with a quarter of the daily recommended amount—and that's not even counting the sodium-rich lunch meat!
One reason manufacturers make their bread so salty is that it works as a preservative to help extend shelf life. Because the salt is baked into the bread, your morning toast won't taste salty the same way potato chips do where the salt is on the surface. And don't assume that whole-wheat versions are any less damaging!

Lower-sodium alternative Artisanal bread

Local bakers making their loaves in small batches are much less likely to produce a product with so much sodium.

Salt Lick 3 Fresh chicken

A reliable source of lean protein, chicken is a dietary staple among the fitness crowd. But the dirty little secret of the shrink-wrapped meat is that much of it has been injected with a saltwater solution during processing. The poultry industry does this to help increase flavor and keep the meat juicy. While unadulterated chicken has only about 60 milligrams of sodium in a 3-ounce serving, the "enhanced" bird can have upwards of 300 milligrams!

To add insult to injury, the salty solution squirted into the meat adds to the weight of the meat, so you're paying extra for this! Read the fine print for sodium levels on poultry products if you want a cleaner product. Chicken labeled "organic" is less likely to be pumped full of salt.

Lower-sodium alternative Wild salmon

With only 40 milligrams of naturally occurring sodium in a 3-ounce serving, this swimmer contains a boatload of protein and overachieving omega-3 fats.

Salt Lick 4 Peanut butter

Slather on a couple tablespoons of peanut butter and it's possible to take in 150 milligrams of sodium. Part of the problem is that food manufactures recognize that our taste buds have learned to crave salty foods, so they are all too happy to make it present in items such as ye olde peanut butter.
If you're concerned about your sodium intake, seek out jars that contain just nuts and no added salt, sugar or hydrogenated oil.

Lower-sodium alternative unsalted almond butter

With only a couple of milligrams of sodium, salt-free almond butter is actually slightly more nutrient dense than its peanut counterpart.

Salt Lick 5 Instant oatmeal

Sugar isn't the only dietary culprit you have to watch for when shopping the cereal aisle. Packets of instant oatmeal often infuse your breakfast with 200 or so milligrams of sodium. In fact, the cereal aisle is full of sneaky salt smugglers.

Case in point: A serving of Raisin Bran harbors 201 milligrams of sodium, so two scoops can definitely take a bite out of your daily quota.

Lower-sodium alternative Old-fashioned rolled oats

These are sodium-free and only take a few moments of extra time to cook up. And instead of the lab-created flavors, you can then add more wholesome stuff like real berries. Stuck for ideas? We've got you covered with a variety of delicious oatmeal recipes that can even be prepped ahead of time.

Salt Lick 6 Prepared Salads

Understanding that customers are increasingly pressed for time when it comes to meal preparation, grocery stores are offering more options when it comes to ready-to-go salad kits. But if you aren't careful, a seemingly innocuous salad can turn into a salt bomb.

It's not the greens and chopped veggies that that can push sodium levels through the roof—it's the dressing and add-ins like croutons and bacon. To make matters worse, many salad kits are prepared in-house, meaning they don't always have nutrition labels.

Lower-sodium alternative Build-your-own salad

For your quick salad fix, pick up packages of precut plain vegetables like carrots and a bag of salad greens, which will eliminate the need for time-consuming chopping. You can then shop for a bottle of salad dressing that contains low amounts of sodium. Be careful of fat-free dressings, which often make up for the loss of fat flavor with added salt, sugar, or both.

The Spice of Life

If you're looking to reduce your salt intake while still enhancing the flavor of your dishes, keep your spice rack well stocked. In an investigation from the University of California, San Diego, people who were showed how to incorporate more herbs and spices into their cooking consumed an average of 966 milligrams less sodium per day than those who were simply encouraged to eat a low-sodium diet.⁷ Herbs like thyme and spices such as smoked paprika help add plenty of flavor, minimizing the need to add salt for seasoning.

References

Drenowatz, C., Shook, R. P., Hand, G. A., Hébert, J. R., & Blair, S. N. (2014). The independent association between diet quality and body composition. Scientific Reports, 4.
2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (2010, December 1). Retrieved from http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/dietary_guidelines_for_americans/PolicyDoc.pdf
Intersalt Cooperative Research Group. (1988). Intersalt: an international study of electrolyte excretion and blood pressure. Results for 24 hour urinary sodium and potassium excretion. British Journal of Medicine, 297(6644), 319-328.
Hooper, L., Bartlett, C., Davey Smith, G., & Ebrahim, S. (2003). The long term effects of advice to cut down on salt in food on deaths, cardiovascular disease and blood pressure in adults. Health.
Midgley, J.P., Matthew, A.G., Greenwodd, M.T. & Logan, A.G. (1996). Effect of Reduced Dietary Sodium on Blood Pressure: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Journal of the American Medical Association, 275(20), 1590-1597.
Where's the sodium? (2012, February 7). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/Sodium/index.html
Spices and herbs intervention helps adults reduce salt intake. (2014, March 19). Retrieved from http://newsroom.heart.org/news/spices-and-herbs-intervention-helps-adults-reduce-salt-intake

Jamie Eason's Booty-Building Plan
11/25/2015 3:42:32 PM

Want a taste of how Jamie Eason trains? Check out her new glute-focused workout program and go from flat to "all that"!

Since having my baby, my booty has been feeling a little flat. So lately, I've been training to build it up! I've even created a whole 12-week program to hit that goal. It's called "From Flat to All That." You can find all the details on my blog!
Although these workouts are just a sample of one week, you can use them as long as you'd like. Just remember that the workouts are meant to prioritize glute training—that's why there's a whole day dedicated to the booty! But don't worry, you won't neglect the rest of your body.

Although these workouts are just a sample of one week, you can use them as long as you'd like. Just remember that the workouts are meant to prioritize glute training—that's why there's a whole day dedicated to the booty!

If you want a bootyful transformation, you're going to have to lift some heavy weight. You'll notice that that first couple of exercises each day require fewer reps. On those lifts, challenge yourself to use heavy weight, and turn that pancake into a peach!

Monday: Shoulders, triceps, and cardio

Push-up

3 sets of 8 reps

Barbell Thruster (shown with kettlebells)

3 sets of 8-10 reps

Triceps cable rope push-down

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Overhead Dumbbell Triceps Extension

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Cable Rear-Delt Fly

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Arnold Press

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Lateral Raise

3 sets of 8-12 reps

HIIT cardio

20 min.

Monday notes

If regular push-ups are too difficult, then do them on your knees. Remember to keep your elbows in as you do them—don't let them flare out.
What you do for high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is completely up to you. You can sprint on a treadmill, bike, or stairmill. Or, you can do battleropes or medicine ball slams. The point is to try to work at 85 percent and then rest at a 1:1 ratio. So, if you work for 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds. After 20 minutes, you should be spent!

Tuesday: Glutes and abs

Barbell Hip Thrust

3 sets of 6-8 reps

Romanian Deadlift

3 sets of 8-10 reps

Hamstring Curl

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Single-Leg Hip Thrust

3 sets of 8-12 reps per leg

Dumbbell Curtsy Lunge (shown with kettlebell)

3 sets of 8-12 reps per leg

Single-Leg Deadlift

2 sets of 8-12 reps per leg

Sit-Up

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Side crunch

2 sets of 15-20 reps per side

Knee raise

2 sets of 15 reps

Tuesday notes

If you haven't been training your glutes, some of these exercises may be new to you. If they are, start with lighter weight. Make sure you feel comfortable with the movement pattern before you throw on extra weight.
I like to do my sit-ups with my legs stretched out in front of me, to hit my upper and lower abs.

Wednesday: Back, biceps, and cardio

Pull-up (assisted)

3 sets of 5 reps

Seated Cable Row (wide-grip)

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Straight-Arm Pull-down

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Reverse-grip barbell row

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Incline Curl

2 sets of 8-12 reps

Hammer Curl

2 sets of 8-12 reps

Barbell Curl

2 sets of 8-12 reps

Dumbbell "W" curl

2 sets of 8-12 reps

HIIT cardio

20 min.

Wednesday notes

If you're unable to do pull-ups, feel free to use bands or a machine to help you. Or, a great way to practice the movement is to perform deficit pull-ups. To do them, jump up to the bar and then lower yourself down as slowly as possible.
On rows and pulls, it's especially important to use your back, not your arms to perform the movement. Save your biceps training for later in the workout.

Thursday: Legs and abs

Weighted Bridge

3 sets of 6-8 reps

Barbell Lunge

3 sets of 8-10 reps per leg

Leg Extensions

3 sets of 8-12 reps per leg

Hamstring Curl

3 sets of 8-12 reps per leg

Weighted single-leg squat to bench

2 sets of 8-10 reps per leg

Leg Press

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Jump Squat

3 sets of 12-15 reps

Standing Calf Raises

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Seated Calf Raise

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Medicine-ball Sit-Up

3 sets of 10-12 reps

Exercise-ball roll-out

3 sets of 8-10 reps

Thursday notes

Take your time through the weighted bridges. Pause for at 3-5 seconds at the top and then lower slowly. Once you reach the bottom, explode up.
If you've never performed a single-leg squat before, try a few without weight. Sometimes, it can be difficult to find your balance and trust your butt will find the bench. Once you sit down, try not to use any momentum to stand back up.

Friday: Chest and abs

Bench Press

3 sets of 6-8 reps

Pec-deck machine

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Machine Chest Press

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Decline Dumbbell chest Press

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Cable Cross-over

3 sets of 8-12 reps

Wide-grip Push-up

2 sets of 10 reps

Russian Twist (performed with medicine-ball)

3 sets of 20 reps

Toe Touch (performed with medicine-ball)

3 sets of 10 reps

Sit-Up (performed with medicine-ball)

2 sets of 10 reps

HIIT cardio

20 min.

Friday notes

It's important for everybody to train chest. Women need to have a strong upper body to go with their strong lower body. A balanced physique is a healthy one. Don't skip today!
By the time you get to the end of the abdominal exercises, your core will probably be pretty worn out. If you need to take a short break in the middle of the set, do it, but make sure you complete all the reps.

8 Popular Caffeine Sources And How They Differ
11/24/2015 2:45:48 PM

Here's the inside track on the most common sources of caffeine used in dietary supplements. Do you know what's giving you your buzz today?

It's not much of an overstatement to say that caffeine is as ubiquitous in American society as drinking liquids, period. A recent survey of 24,808 adults reported that 89 percent of all adults in the United States consume caffeine regularly, and that 98 percent of our psychoactive fix is being delivered as a beverage. Men consume an average of about 240 milligrams of caffeine per day, and women about 183 milligrams.¹
In short, most of us probably drink more caffeine than non-caffeine in our daily lives.
And that's to say nothing of what happens in the gym. Though the study didn't categorize caffeine users beyond age and sex, I'd venture to guess that the majority of sports-nutrition consumers fall into what the researchers reported as the highest 10 percent of users—those who consume an average of 436-1066 milligrams of caffeine each day.
You love it. You need it (or at least you think you do—that's a whole other conversation). But where are you getting it? In this post-ephedrine era, companies attempt to differentiate their products from their competition by delivering caffeine in a variety of different sources. This raises a number of questions. Is any particular source better than another, or are there benefits to receiving caffeine from a blend of different sources versus pure caffeine?

As someone who formulates, conducts and publishes sports-nutrition research, and who has also worked in the branding and marketing side of things, I'm in a unique position to relay industry secrets pertaining to the different sources of caffeine being included in today's fat burners, pre-workouts, and energy blends. I won't, however, waste your time revisiting caffeine 101—what it is, the doses present in common foods and beverages, or its safety and efficacy. There are many articles here on Bodybuilding.com where you can find all of that information.
Instead, I'm going to try to prepare you to identify caffeine-specific ingredients, see how much caffeine you're likely getting from each source, understand why a formulator may have included an ingredient within a product, and when you may want to use one source of caffeine over another.

Synthetic Forms of Caffeine

There are many potential forms of "synthetic" caffeine, and each may be marketed under different chemical names in an attempt to appear novel from the competition. Below are the commonly employed forms and names of such ingredients you're most likely to find on supplement labels.

Caffeine Anhydrous

Other names: Caffeine; guaranine, 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine
Caffeine dose (per milligram): Greater than or equal to 98.5 percent (i.e., at least 98.5 milligrams of caffeine is provided for every 100 milligrams of caffeine anhydrous included within the formulation) ²
What you need to know: Often referred to as "pure caffeine," this is the most widely used form of added caffeine in dietary supplements, energy drinks, and over-the-counter drugs.

Caffeine anyhdrous' low cost, high caffeine concentration per milligram, high stability, and decent solubility make it incredibly attractive to brands looking to pack a stimulant punch without breaking the bank. Though naturally derived forms of caffeine anhydrous are also available, no data has compared any physiological differences between natural versus synthetic. So most companies simply formulate with the much cheaper, more readily available synthetic form.
Most of what is known about caffeine—and what companies will use to support claims against their use of caffeine, often regardless of the source—is almost exclusively based upon research that has employed caffeine anhydrous. For example, we can say confidently that caffeine, as anhydrous, is quickly absorbed into the circulatory system, with peak concentrations in the blood achieved within 30-60 minutes after ingestion. It is then distributed throughout the body and crosses the blood-brain barrier, with 2 percent or less being excreted (unchanged) in the urine.
From a sports-nutrition perspective, caffeine anhydrous has been shown to "directly potentiate skeletal muscle force, work and power," according to a study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology.³ In other words, it can theoretically help pretty much everything that happens in the weight room and most other athletic settings. Companies that strictly adhere to the regulations for substantiating marketing claims will often use caffeine anhydrous in a dose easily supported by human data.

For example, about 2.73 milligrams of caffeine (from anhydrous), per 1 pound of bodyweight (or, about 491 milligrams of caffeine for a 180-pound adult), consumed one hour prior to a cycling test to exhaustion was shown to improve the time to exhaustion by about 23 percent and slightly increased the use of fat as fuel, to the tune of about 3 percent.⁴
In an earlier study that used the same dose of caffeine, fat burning increased under resting conditions, but not during exercise. Additionally, the stimulant hormones adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine) rose significantly under both resting and exercise conditions.⁵
So how does that stack up against your cup of coffee? Studies have shown that pure caffeine will offer you a more reliable performance response than comparable amounts of caffeine from coffee. Specifically, one study found that 2.1 milligrams of caffeine, per pound of body weight (e.g., 378 milligrams of caffeine for a 180-pound adult) as caffeine anhydrous supplement was more effective at boosting treadmill-running performance and increasing epinephrine response than consuming the same caffeine from brewed coffee.⁶
Thus, there have to be some naturally occurring elements in coffee that counteract some of the stimulant and performance-enhancing effects of caffeine. However, there are some well-documented health benefits derived from coffee that are absent when replaced with pure caffeine.
The bottom line: We know what caffeine anhydrous does, and it does it predictably. For the moment, it remains the standard.

Caffeine Citrate

Caffeine dose (per milligram): 45-55 percent (i.e., between 45 and 55 milligrams of caffeine is provided for every 100 milligram of caffeine citrate included within the formulation)⁷
What you need to know: Caffeine citrate has better solubility than pure caffeine, but is less stable and is infrequently used in dietary supplements because of its cost-to-benefit ratio. That is, more of the ingredient is needed to obtain a comparable caffeine dose, and some evidence suggests it may not work as well as the anhydrous form at boosting muscle contractions during strength training.

Caffeine citrate does, however, appear to be a more potent antibacterial than pure caffeine. It also has a lower pH.⁸ This helps control microbiological growth and can improve a product's shelf life.
The bottom line: Few studies exist comparing caffeine citrate to pure caffeine, or other forms of caffeine for that matter.

Dicaffeine Malate

Other names: Infinergy®
Caffeine dose (per milligram): 65-70 percent
What you need to know: Dicaffeine malate is marketed as a fully reacted form of caffeine and malic acid, which is to say that the structure most likely separates rapidly once it enters your stomach or when combined with water. Supplement companies claim this means it could provide caffeine anhydrous' boost, but without the upset stomach some people experience.

At this point, that's entirely speculative. There are no pharmacokinetic, physiological, or toxicological studies currently present from which to assess this ingredient's effectiveness or safety versus other forms of caffeine.
The bottom line: For the time being, there's no reason to think this is any better than more popular, more studied forms of caffeine. Take any claims being made about it with a huge grain of salt.

Botanical Sources of Caffeine

Below are the most commonly used plant sources of caffeine, along with the plant part or parts most often used and the naturally occurring concentration of caffeine found in the plant (on a dry basis). I've listed the plants in order of highest-to-lowest dose of naturally occurring caffeine.

Tea extract

Other names: Camellia sinensis, green tea, green tea extract, black tea, chai, cha, oolong tea
Plant part(s) used: Leaf or shoot
Naturally occurring caffeine dose: 4.8-9.3 percent⁹
What you need to know: Ever since ephedrine was removed from the industry, the use of tea extracts has increased exponentially. Unfortunately, you often won't know the caffeine contribution from a tea ingredient within a formulation unless the company marketing the product includes it on the label.

MET-Rx's green tea extract, to pick one example, says on the label that it contains 80 milligrams of caffeine per two capsules. On the other hand, Now Foods' comparable product contains only 16 milligrams per capsule. Does this make one better than the other? Not necessarily. Caffeine is only part of what makes tea extracts effective.

Beyond their role as powerful antioxidants, catechins (which are highest in green tea) can have positive effects on fat metabolism, blood vessel dilation, and cholesterol.

The good news is that there's more research on the comparative effects of tea versus pure caffeine, and among the different kinds of tea, than what you'll find for most other botanical sources of caffeine discussed here. For example, compared to black tea, green tea appears to have a greater impact on energy metabolism.¹⁰
Active-ingredient concentrations also differ considerably based upon the type of tea and the extraction method used. Caffeine concentration is highest in black tea, then oolong, then green, but EGCG and total catechins are highest in green tea, then oolong, then black.¹¹ Beyond their role as powerful antioxidants, catechins can have positive effects on fat metabolism, blood vessel dilation, and cholesterol.
The bottom line: Tea extracts have a lot going for them, but they can run the gamut in caffeine content. It's probably worth your while to investigate how much yours contains, especially if you're taking other stimulants.

Guarana

Other names: Paullinia cupana
Plant part(s) used: Seed or fruit
Naturally occurring caffeine dose:7.6 percent¹²
What you need to know: Guarana is typically quite soluble in water, and is often used as a flavoring component because it provides a fruity aroma and a tangerine-like flavor. This, combined with its caffeine content, makes it a popular ingredient in RTDs and other energy drinks.

Though design flaws and method bias are clearly present within several of the studies comparing guarana to caffeine, the use of guarana does seem to impart cognitive, energy, and mood benefits, and its effects don't appear to be dependent on the amount of caffeine accompanying them.^13-15

As has also consistently been shown with pure caffeine and other caffeine-containing plants, evidence seems to support improved effects when guarana is consumed in the absence of carbohydrates and in a low-glycemic state. The effective dose range is probably somewhere between 75-300 milligrams when using a 12 percent caffeine-containing guarana-seed extract. However, the percent of caffeine can run the gamut depending on whether the guarana comes from leaves or seeds and the extraction process.
The bottom line: As with green tea, the amount of caffeine can range from as little as 7 percent to as much as 50, so don't disregard guarana as a weak stimulant, particularly if you are taking other caffeine forms or stimulants along with it.

Coffee extract

Other names: Coffea arabica, green coffee extract, Purecaf
Plant part(s) used: Bean or whole fruit
Naturally occurring caffeine dose:3.2 percent¹⁶
What you need to know: Depending upon the finished product's primary purpose—stimulant, fat burner, or antioxidant and anti-inflammatory—the caffeine content of a coffee extract may be concentrated to as high as 98 percent, or not concentrated at all and standardized to less than 2 percent total caffeine.

On the other hand, green coffee bean extract products are often higher in chlorogenic acids (which have other health benefits), but lower in caffeine. Most commonly, a green coffee bean extract label will look more like this:
Green Coffee Bean Extract (Coffea arabica)
(min. 50% Chlorogenic Acids) (up to 12 mg of naturally occurring caffeine)
The bottom line: If you're explicitly looking for a natural alternative to synthetic caffeine anhydrous that provides the same performance effects, coffee extracts may provide it. But read labels closely to make sure you're getting what you think.

Kola

Other names: Kola nut, cola, Cola acuminata
Plant part(s) used: Seed
Naturally occurring caffeine dose: 2.5 percent¹⁷
What you need to know: If you see kola nut listed as an ingredient within an energy blend or formula, it's more than likely an extract standardized to 10 or 20 percent caffeine. Aside from the caffeine, kola extracts typically provide a nutty taste, odor, and brownish appearance to whatever is mixed with the ingredient. The fact that soda-flavored products are generically referred to as "cola" is no coincidence; kola nut was an ingredient in the original Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola formulas.

No data in humans compares the effects of kola nut to pure caffeine, but what is available within rodent and canine studies seems to indicate a similar response versus pure caffeine. For example, pure caffeine has been shown to be equally as effective as kola nut at decreasing body weight and increasing glucose uptake into skeletal muscle.^18,19
One potential downside of kola nut extract has been observed, though—six weeks of the human equivalent dose of 0.15 milligrams, 0.44 milligrams, or 0.74 milligrams per pound of body weight (or, about 26, 80, or 133 milligrams for a 180-lb adult, respectively) per day was shown to significantly reduce sperm count, testosterone, and luteinizing hormone in male rats.²⁰
The bottom line: If having a nonsynthetic caffeine source is important to you, kola nut could fit the bill. Plus, it can help increase oxygen levels in the blood and promote better concentration. Just be aware of the potential downside of the nut!

Mate

Other names: Ilex paraguariensis, Yerba mate
Plant part(s) used: Leaf
Naturally occurring caffeine dose: 2.0 percent²¹
What you need to know: Yerba mate, like Camellia sinensis, is most commonly consumed as a tea and is reported to provide many of the same benefits. The research, however, is predominantly in rodent models and has assessed the ingredient's effects on obesity, inflammation, blood lipids, antioxidative properties, or other such health measures.^22,23

For example, the human equivalent mate-extract dose of approximately 1.82 or 3.64 milligrams per pound of body weight (or about 330 milligrams or 660 milligrams for a 180-pound adult) per day for three weeks was shown to significantly reduce body weight gained, fat mass, and food intake in mice that were placed on a high-fat, inflammatory diet. The higher the dose, the better the effects.

Also in rodent models, yerba mate extracts have been shown to be potent stimulants, improve motor activity and brain function, and provide neuroprotective benefits.²⁴ However, no studies directly compare the effects of yerba mate to caffeine anhydrous.
The bottom line: Be forewarned that mate extracts range from 2-50 percent total caffeine, depending upon the raw material used, so calculating the caffeine dose from a supplement-facts panel will most likely be a guessing game. Like tea and coffee, it's far easier to know how much caffeine you're getting simply by consuming the naturally brewed drink itself.

References

Fulgoni, V. L., Keast, D. R., & Lieberman, H. R. (2015). Trends in intake and sources of caffeine in the diets of US adults: 2001-2010. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, ajcn080077.
US National Library of Medicine, ChemIDplus [Online Database]. National Institutes of Health, Health & Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, URL: http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/name/caffeine (18 Sept 2015)
Tallis, J., Duncan, M. J., & James, R. S. (2015). What can isolated skeletal muscle experiments tell us about the effects of caffeine on exercise performance? British Journal of Pharmacology, 172(15), 3703-3713.
Cruz, R. S. D. O., de Aguiar, R. A., Turnes, T., Guglielmo, L. G. A., Beneke, R., & Caputo, F. (2015). Caffeine Affects Time to Exhaustion and Substrate Oxidation during Cycling at Maximal Lactate Steady State. Nutrients, 7(7), 5254-5264.
Graham, T. E., Helge, J. W., MacLean, D. A., Kiens, B., & Richter, E. A. (2000). Caffeine ingestion does not alter carbohydrate or fat metabolism in human skeletal muscle during exercise. The Journal of Physiology, 529(3), 837-847.
Graham, T. E., Hibbert, E., & Sathasivam, P. (1998). Metabolic and exercise endurance effects of coffee and caffeine ingestion. Journal of Applied Physiology, 85(3), 883-889.
US National Library of Medicine, ChemIDplus [Online Database]. National Institutes of Health, Health & Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, URL: http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/name/caffeine%20citrate (18 Sept 2015)
Heytens, L., Heffron, J. J. A., & Camu, F. (1991). The caffeine contracture test for malignant hyperthermia: caffeine citrate, caffeine benzoate or caffeine free base? Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica, 35(6), 541-544.
USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]; National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/duke/highchem.pl (17 Sept 2015)
Van Dorsten, F. A., Daykin, C. A., Mulder, T. P., & Van Duynhoven, J. P. (2006). Metabonomics approach to determine metabolic differences between green tea and black tea consumption. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 54(18), 6929-6938.
Lin, Y. S., Tsai, Y. J., Tsay, J. S., & Lin, J. K. (2003). Factors affecting the levels of tea polyphenols and caffeine in tea leaves. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 51(7), 1864-1873.
USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]; National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: http://www.ars-grin.gov.4/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?27031 (17 Sept 2015)
Haskell, C. F., Kennedy, D. O., Wesnes, K. A., Milne, A. L., & Scholey, A. B. (2007). A double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-dose evaluation of the acute behavioural effect of guarana in humans. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 21(1), 65-70.
Pomportes, L., Davranche, K., Brisswalter, I., Hays, A., & Brisswalter, J. (2014). Heart rate variability and cognitive function following a multi-vitamin and mineral supplementation with added guarana (Paullinia cupana). Nutrients, 7(1), 196-208.
Moustakas, D., Mezzio, M., Rodriguez, B. R., Constable, M. A., Mulligan, M. E., & Voura, E. B. (2015). Guarana Provides Additional Stimulation over Caffeine Alone in the Planarian Model. PloS One, 10(4).
USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]; National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: http://www.ars-grin.gov.4/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?300141 (17 Sept 2015)
USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]; National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: http://www.ars-grin.gov.4/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?102678 (17 Sept 2015)
Salahdeen, H. M., Omoaghe, A. O., Isehunwa, G. O., Murtala, B. A., & Alada, A. R. (2014). Effects of chronic administration of ethanolic extract of kolanut (Cola nitida) and caffeine on vascular function. African journal of medicine and medical sciences, 43(1), 17-27.
Salahdeen, H. M., & Alada, A. R. A. (2009). Effects of caffeine and ethanolic extract of kolanut on glucose uptake in the canine hindlimb at rest and during contraction. Nigerian Journal of Physiological Sciences, 24(1), 33-45.
Umoh, I. O., Emmanuel, O. A., & Nna, V. U. (2014). Aqueous seed extract of Cola nitida rubra reduces serum reproductive hormone concentrations and sperm count in adult male albino Wistar rats. Nigerian Medical Journal: Journal of the Nigeria Medical Association, 55(6), 456.
USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]; National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: http://www.ars-grin.gov.4/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?19756 (17 Sept 2015)
Gambero, A., & Ribeiro, M. L. (2015). The Positive Effects of Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) in Obesity. Nutrients, 7(2), 730-750.
Hussein, G. M. E., Matsuda, H., Nakamura, S., Hamao, M., Akiyama, T., Tamura, K., & Yoshikawa, M. (2011). Mate tea (Ilex paraguariensis) promotes satiety and body weight lowering in mice: involvement of glucagon-like peptide-1. Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 34(12), 1849-1855.
Santos, E. C. S., Bicca, M. A., Blum-Silva, C. H., Costa, A. P. R., Dos Santos, A. A., Schenkel, E. P., ... & De Lima, T. C. M. (2015). Anxiolytic-like, stimulant and neuroprotective effects of Ilex paraguariensis extracts in mice. Neuroscience, 292, 13-21.

2015 Gainsgiving Workout Challenge!
11/25/2015 10:00:25 AM

Thanksgiving may be all about feasting, but Gainsgiving is about feasting and beasting! Hit the gym hard on Turkey Day for your chance to get huge and win prizes from Kaged Muscle!

Thanksgiving is upon us! With side dishes galore, desserts aplenty, and a giant turkey to dig into, this day of feasting presents ambitious lifters with the ultimate chance to grow. Don't just sit on the couch as pounds pile on to your waistline; use your Turkey Day food to fuel an epic workout and even more extreme gains! Kick the couch and crush the gym this year, the year of #gainsgiving2015.
Trust us: If you want to have the best combination of feast and beast on Turkey Day, you've got to train. Instead of slumping over on the sofa after a few too many helpings of Grandma's mashed potatoes, hit the gym pre- or post-pigout to spark some serious growth. Squat for your stuffing, press for your pie, and add a few plates to the bar so you can use every bite of bird to power your bench.
Still not convinced to lift on Turkey Day? How about a little incentive from Kaged Muscle? Take a photo or video of your holiday workout and tag #gainsgiving2015, @bodybuildingcom, and @kagedmusclesupps on social media for a chance to win one of three Kaged Muscle Pre-Intra-Post Stacks!

#Gainsgiving2015 Kris Gethin and Bodybuilding.com's Thanksgiving Workout Challenge!
Watch the video - 0:15

Need a Gainsgiving workout?

If you're not sure what to train on Turkey Day, check out the workouts below and give thanks to the body part of your choice! Note: You don't have to perform one of these workouts to compete in #gainsgiving2015. They're simply here in case you need them!

Hardcore Leg Session

Want to build bigger wheels? Carve your quads and build your hammies with this classic Gethin workout from his original Hardcore Daily Trainer. Yeah, you'll feel it!

GVT Chest and Abs Assault

This savage workout from Gethin's Muscle-Building Trainer is all about volume. Think big numbers, big results, and a big chest with this training session that's sure to leave you sore!

Y3T Back Attack

The back is a big, complex muscle. It takes a lot of work to train it right. Do all the reps and sets in this workout from the Muscle-Building Trainer and you'll reap major benefits.

Triceps Torcher

The biceps are great, but the triceps are the true mass monsters of your upper arms. Carve killer horseshoes with Kris Gethin's favorite triceps exercises!

Global Shoulders and Traps

Follow Kris Gethin as he navigates the hustle of Mumbai, India, and hits the gym for a delt-demolishing workout. This will leave your shoulders screaming for mercy!

Y3T Biceps, Calves, and Abs

Muscular biceps, calves, and abs are essential components of your masterpiece physique. Hammer them hard with today's Y3T workout from Gethin's Muscle-Building Trainer!

Need a Gainsgiving recipe?

Today's the day to eat and lift big, but you should still eat smart! Enjoy your favorite flavors of the season without adding unnecessary calories. From deviled eggs to pumpkin pie, we've got your Turkey-Day spread covered.

5 Bulksgiving Side-Dish Recipes!

Sure, you use that bird to bulk, but what about the side dishes? This Thanksgiving, make the most of your entire meal with these muscle-building recipes.

7 Recipes For The Ultimate Paleo Thanksgiving!

Before we broke bread and let football take over the holiday, simpler times made for cleaner food. Celebrate this Thanksgiving the paleo way!

8 Delicious Protein Pumpkin Recipes!

Nothing says fall like the sweet taste of pumpkin. Add the seasonal treat to your meal plan with these dessert recipes that are sure to take any meal to the nines!

Jennifer Nicole Lee's Holiday Survival Guide

The holidays are full of joy, but don't let all that cheer overfill your belly. You're invited to JNL's healthy holiday celebration: fun, fit, and no fat allowed!

Protein Pumpkin Pie!

Nothing tops off a holiday feast quite like a sweet slice of pumpkin pie. This year, opt for the guilt-free, protein-fueled version from our Protein Powder Chef!

Pumpkin Pie Protein Soft Serve!

Make your own Dairy Queen Blizzard! This recipe is healthier, has more nutrients, and tastes even better than the real thing. Try it today.

#Gainsgiving2015 Contest Terms and Conditions

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What Does “Eating Clean” Really Mean?
11/24/2015 2:44:39 PM

The most popular term for improving your nutrition is unfortunately also the most confusing. Let's pull back the "clean" curtain and see what really works for fat loss!

Confession time: I'm a dietician, and I hate the term "eating clean." That's right, hate. Though this particular turn of phrase has been around for decades, it has catapulted in recent years, thanks to an ever-more-vocal community of fitness enthusiasts who stick their noses high in the air while preaching a million different—and often conflicting—definitions. You wouldn't think two words could have so many definitions, but "eating clean" is persistent to the point of being unkillable.
Why does it bother me so much? Despite its popularity among countless magazines, cookbooks, blogs, diet plans, and best-sellers, there's no universal definition for "clean." I never know what people mean when they say it, nor do I know what's on their plate or how effective their approach is going to be for their goals.
Of course, not every definition or variation of the word "clean" is useless. Some have real value, while others probably only work for people with certain goals. Let's look at the most popular advice surrounding clean eating and what you should—or shouldn't—take away from each.

Advice: If it's "processed," it's not clean
Score: Useless

Put another way, this popular advice means that if something comes in a package or was bought in the nefarious "middle aisles" of the grocery store, you should pretend you're a true paleo hunter-gatherer being chased by a mountain lion and run fast and far! The majority of the clean-eating crew won't hesitate to slap your wrist if you dare reach for anything that comes in a box, bag, or can—unless it's the flimsy plastic produce bag you get in the grocery store. And even then, they may inquire why you didn't bring your own bag.

Trying to eliminate processed foods entirely is unsustainable unless you live on a self-sustaining farm or follow a true paleo diet by hunting, gathering, and preparing your own food.

As I've written before, trying to eliminate processed foods entirely is unsustainable unless you live on a self-sustaining farm or follow a true paleo diet by hunting, gathering, and preparing your own food. The other 99.99 percent of us who aren't tending to our broccoli plants daily or chasing after wild turkeys are eating processed foods.
Some people call this eating "real" food or trying to be "as close to nature as possible." They'll even insist on only eating things that are "seasonal," as if decades—OK, hundreds of years—of strategic plant breeding haven't made these terms meaningless.
What many consider "real," I consider a real pain. When it's winter, I'm cold, and I want soup. In case you're wondering, no, I don't always think ahead of time and buy all of the ingredients needed to make soup and soak the beans overnight. If I followed this clean-eating principle, canned or boxed soup would be off-limits; on days when I didn't feel like chopping, prepping, and waiting for my meal, I'd have two options:

Go hungry.
Eat something that doesn't sound as good and doesn't taste as good, but is somehow more "healthy" and meets my self-imposed restrictions.

I've said it often, but it's worth repeating: Processing often improves the safety of our food supply and increases the bioavailability of some nutrients and antioxidants. It also provides us with the ability to quickly and easily whip up all of those delicious-looking recipes seen on Pinterest or Instagram.

There are many examples of healthy processed foods: hummus, no-added-sugar tomato sauce, whole-grain cereal, and Greek yogurt are a few among thousands.

Plus, there are more examples of healthy processed foods than I can count: hummus, no-added-sugar tomato sauce, whole-grain cereal, and Greek yogurt are a few among thousands. Sorry, they're not making you fat.
Nutrition is complex, and sometimes I wish we could boil it down to wiping out entire categories of food, but doing so is a major disservice to your time, wallet, and taste buds.

Advice: Choose unrefined over refined grains
Score: Good

Whole grains are important sources of fiber and naturally contain B vitamins that are often added back to refined grains. Refined grains lose up to 20 different nutrients, only to have many, but not all, added back after processing. A caveat: many gluten-free grains do not add back these nutrients, but they're rich in others. So this advice won't harm you and may help.

Whole grains are important sources of fiber and naturally contain B vitamins that are often added back to refined grains.

Advice: Eat five or six small meals each day for fat loss
Score: Bad

For many years, people assumed—and many nutritionists preached—that eating several small meals each day would "fire up their metabolism" and decrease the chances of reaching for the vending machine.
The truth: there is no difference in calories burned if you eat a few bigger meals each day or several small meals. If the short-term research suggesting we need a certain amount of protein at each meal (25-30 grams or more) to maximally stimulate muscle building and repair holds true over a longer period of time, eating 3-4 meals per day may make it easier to incorporate these recommendations versus eating bite-size meals several times a day.^1,2

The truth: there is no difference in calories burned if you eat a few bigger meals each day or several small meals.

So why doesn't this one get the "useless" label? Because there is a use for the frequent-meal approach: cramming more meals into the day for someone trying to gain weight. But do it for the right reasons! Eating five 500-calorie meals rather than three 600-calorie meals a day gives you almost 1,000 extra calories, as well as more protein, carbs, and fats. But don't trick yourself into thinking that you're doing it for your "metabolism."

Advice: Eat every macro at every meal
Score: Bad

Some people will phrase this one as "eat protein and carbs at every meal," whereas others will include fat in that lineup as well.
Short-term research tells us that it is important for adults to consume at least 25-30 grams of protein at each meal to keep and build muscle tissue.^1,2 So if building muscle is your goal, by all means prioritize protein. Fat is also necessary for optimal absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and certain antioxidants. For this reason, it is usually a good idea to have some fat when you are taking a multivitamin, fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin D, or eating a big, green, leafy salad. Plus, we know certain high-fiber carbohydrates keep the bacteria in our gut (and therefore our gut as a whole) healthy and prevent constipation.
So, if you want to include all three macronutrients at a meal, go ahead. However, it isn't always essential to scurry around looking for your unprocessed edible whole grains (good luck) or olives to complete your meal. A protein shake alone is an acceptable meal sometimes. So are some simple dressed greens, or a piece of fruit, or a handful of olives, or a couple pieces of cheese.
This isn't a science experiment, people. It's your life.

Advice: Cut down or eliminate added sugars
Score: Good

Some people will expand this warning to avoid fat, salt, and sugar, but I'll spare you the full rant about why this is an outdated way of thinking.

Foods with added sugars are basically useless for nonathletes—and in my book, gym-goers who aren't preparing for competition don't count as athletes. Sorry! Sugars that are added to foods to make them taste better—as opposed to naturally occurring sugars in fruits—just add calories with no real nutrition value.
How much of a difference can this simple choice make? A recently published study from Cornell University looked at what foods were on the counters of 500 houses in Syracuse, New York, and the body composition of the occupants.³ Those with breakfast cereals weighed 20 pounds more than their neighbors who didn't. Soft drinks? 24-26 pounds more. Those who had a fruit bowl, on the other hand, weighed 13 pounds less than their neighbors.
Is there a time and a place for a pastry? For many of us, yes. But if you're looking for something to "clean up," this advice is often the best place to start. And it starts at home.

It's time to clean up "clean"

Ask a few registered dietitians, personal trainers, or health coaches what "clean eating" means, and you will likely get as many responses as the number of people you asked. They may share some core concepts, but unless someone is being a smart aleck, you probably won't hear anything that has to do with actual "clean" food—i.e., food contamination or decreasing risk of food-borne pathogens, both of which are far more important than people give them credit for.

Be skeptical of "clean." Often, it will end up costing you more money and frustration with food preparation.

Be skeptical of "clean." Often, it will end up costing you more money and frustration with food preparation, and there is no guarantee that you will improve the nutrition content of your diet. But for most people, I can guarantee that overly principled, restrictive approach to eating will prove to be unsustainable.
On the other hand, if you stick to a reasonable approach for long enough and focus on the real villains—like added sugar and immense portion sizes—you'll be surprised at what you can achieve!

References

Norton, L.E. & Wilson, G.J. (2008). Optimal protein intake to maximize muscle protein synthesis Examinations of optimal meal protein intake and frequency for athletes. AgroFood Industry Hi-tech, 20(2), 54-57.
Norton, L.E., Layman, D.K., Bunpo, P., Anthony, T.G., Brana, D.V. & Garlick, P.J. (2009). The leucine content of a complete meal directs peak activation but not duration of skeletal muscle protein synthesis and Mammalian target of rapamycin signaling in rats. Journal of Nutrition, 139(6), 1103-1109.
Wansink, B., Hanks, A. & Kaipainen, K. (2015). Slim By Design: Kitchen Counter Correlates of Obesity. Health Education and Behavior, doi: 10.1177/1090198115610571.

4 Reasons You Need Machines In Your Workout!
11/24/2015 4:16:34 PM

Free weights aren't the only "functional" equipment in the gym. Here are four indisputable reasons why machines should be an integral part of your training program!

There's a strange trend in fitness today: Personal trainers and trainees alike seem to love bashing machines for not being "functional." Leg presses, machine curls, lat pull-downs, seated bench presses, anything done on the Smith machine—unfortunately, nearly all of these have been deemed worthless by a growing segment of the fitness industry.
You know what I think of that? I think it's ridiculous. You want functional? How does building muscle, getting stronger, and working on weak areas of your physique sound? Sounds pretty functional to me. And this is exactly what machines can help you accomplish.
Machines offer numerous benefits that free weights can't. Now, I'm not suggesting you nix—or even reduce—barbell and dumbbell work from your program. Free weights should form the core of your workouts, but it's in your best interest to complement your free-weight training with regular use of selectorized machines, the cable cross-over station, Hammer-Strength or similar equipment, a Smith machine, and other modern muscle-makers.
Here are four good reasons why you should include machines in your lifting plan!

Safety First

First and foremost, weight machines generally offer a higher degree of "built-in" safety than free-weight exercises, which is especially helpful for beginners. No exercise is 100 percent safe, but you don't have to worry about losing control of a dumbbell when doing machine overhead presses or getting trapped under a bar while benching in a Smith machine.

First and foremost, weight machines generally offer a higher degree of "built-in" safety than free-weight exercises, which is especially helpful for beginners.

Sure, you can argue whether the motion of a machine is "natural," but I think it's pretty clear that several machine movements are less technical and leave less room for error than free-weight counterparts.

Maximum Overload

With barbells and dumbbells, part of the work you do during a set is balancing the weight to dictate the path of motion, which, to a degree, limits how much you can lift. Machines, on the other hand, balance the weight for you along a fixed, secure path of motion. All you have to do is push or pull the weight, which allows you to pile on more weight and overload your muscles in a safe manner.
That said, machines don't need to be pushed back to the end of your workout after free weights. Compound exercises like Smith machine bench presses, lat pull-downs, and leg presses, for example, are great to do early in your routine when you want to load up with maximum weight while your muscles are fresh.

Intensity-Boosting Techniques

When you want to put a beating on a particular muscle group, machines are often more practical than free weights. The best example of this is dropsets, where you extend a given set past muscle failure by decreasing the load one or more times without resting and continue to rep out. You can easily do dropsets with dumbbells by "running the rack," but most other free-weight moves aren't quite so conducive to the technique.
Cables and selectorized machines, on the other hand, are tailor-made for dropsets. When you reach failure with a given weight, lightening the load is as simple as moving the pin down the stack one or more slots; in most cases, you can do this in a couple seconds.

Another key element here is exercise form. When muscles are heavily fatigued (as they'll be in the middle of a grueling dropset), technique often suffers. Machines can help here. Not only is the path of motion fixed, but on many machines, you're seated and thus in a less-compromised position for injury. The stress is primarily focused on the target muscles, not on vulnerable joints like the lower back.
Other intensity-boosting techniques that lend themselves to machines are:

Partial reps, where you work through just a short distance within the full range of motion
Negatives, which you're often able to do on machines without needing a spotter
Unilateral negatives, where on a Smith machine, for example, you lower a heavy weight through the eccentric portion of the rep with one arm and lift it back up with both arms
Angle-specific isometrics, in which you press against an immovable load at as many angles as possible
Reverse movements, in which you begin the lift from the bottom of the rep (as with most chest- and shoulder-press machines) without the help of built-up elastic energy

Constant Tension

Machine exercises provide guaranteed constant tension through the full of motion of every rep; free weights can't offer this. That means there's nowhere to rest over the course of the range of motion, keeping the target muscle under tension. The reason? Gravity.
The best example of this is the dumbbell fly. There's tension on your pecs as you lift the dumbbells up (against gravity), but that tension is removed just as your hands come directly over your shoulders. Those last 6-12 inches or so of range of motion, where the dumbbells are coming together, are essentially useless because you're not moving the weight against the force of gravity (they're coming together, not up).
This is a wasted opportunity to torch the inner-pec muscle fibers, which is why I prefer to do cable flyes or cable cross-overs instead. With cables, those final inches of the range of motion are the most difficult as the inner pecs take over to finish off the movement.

The Right Moves

When it comes to balancing out a training program with the right mix of free-weight and machine exercises, below are some of my favorite machine moves for building mass. Sprinkle these into your existing routine the same way you do with barbell and dumbbell exercises.

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Leg Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Chest Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Back Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Shoulders/Traps Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Triceps Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Biceps Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Ab Movements

Photos and instructional videos of these exercises, as well as full training programs that implementthem, can be found on my website JimStoppani.com.

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Monday, November 30, 2015

Give arms their own training day

Go heavy to start your arm workout

Think "angles" when it comes to biceps training

Go overhead to target your triceps long head

Mix up your grip for max growth

Don't flare your elbows

Don't rep as high as you can with biceps movements

It's not all about the pump

Increase your arm-training frequency

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Al Kavadlo Top Muscle-up Tips Watch the video - 1:21

Explosive Pull-ups

Straight-Bar Dips

Muscle-up Negatives

Get Over It!

Weighing in on Salt

Salt Lick 1 Cottage Cheese

Lower-sodium alternative Greek yogurt

Salt Lick 2 Bread

Lower-sodium alternative Artisanal bread

Salt Lick 3 Fresh chicken

Lower-sodium alternative Wild salmon

Salt Lick 4 Peanut butter

Lower-sodium alternative unsalted almond butter

Salt Lick 5 Instant oatmeal

Lower-sodium alternative Old-fashioned rolled oats

Salt Lick 6 Prepared Salads

Lower-sodium alternative Build-your-own salad

The Spice of Life

References

Barbell Thruster (shown with kettlebells)

Monday notes

Dumbbell Curtsy Lunge (shown with kettlebell)

Tuesday notes

Seated Cable Row (wide-grip)

Wednesday notes

Thursday notes

Russian Twist (performed with medicine-ball)

Toe Touch (performed with medicine-ball)

Sit-Up (performed with medicine-ball)

Friday notes

Synthetic Forms of Caffeine

Caffeine Anhydrous

Caffeine Citrate

Dicaffeine Malate

Botanical Sources of Caffeine

Tea extract

Guarana

Coffee extract

Kola

Mate

References

#Gainsgiving2015 Kris Gethin and Bodybuilding.com's Thanksgiving Workout Challenge! Watch the video - 0:15

Need a Gainsgiving workout?

Need a Gainsgiving recipe?

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Vital Stats

Advice: If it's "processed," it's not cleanScore: Useless

Advice: Choose unrefined over refined grainsScore: Good

Advice: Eat five or six small meals each day for fat lossScore: Bad

Advice: Eat every macro at every mealScore: Bad

Advice: Cut down or eliminate added sugarsScore: Good

It's time to clean up "clean"

References

Vital Stats

Safety First

Maximum Overload

Intensity-Boosting Techniques

Constant Tension

The Right Moves

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Leg Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Chest Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Back Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Shoulders/Traps Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Triceps Movements

Jim's Picks for Best Machine Biceps Movements

$1,000
A Day

$5,000
Grand Prize

Al Kavadlo Top Muscle-up Tips
Watch the video - 1:21

#Gainsgiving2015 Kris Gethin and Bodybuilding.com's Thanksgiving Workout Challenge!
Watch the video - 0:15

You Just Saved The World.
Now Save 20% On 100+ Brands.

Advice: If it's "processed," it's not clean
Score: Useless

Advice: Choose unrefined over refined grains
Score: Good

Advice: Eat five or six small meals each day for fat loss
Score: Bad

Advice: Eat every macro at every meal
Score: Bad

Advice: Cut down or eliminate added sugars
Score: Good