MEN'S PHYSIQUE CONTEST PREP

 

 

As a trainer, I am constantly looking for opportunities to learn and grow. You must be a student before you can become an effective teacher. Last Monday, February 10, 2014, I started a new dietary and fitness plan. The program is geared towards Men’s Physique Contest prep and tailored specifically for me. I started with a one-on-one consultation with I.A.F.S. Certified Master Trainer and former Physique competitor Steve Payne of House of Payne. Steve assessed my strengths and weaknesses before helping me tailor a plan specific to my needs. We built a plan with 25 workouts a month and 7 meals a day to built lean muscle and trim fat. I am excited about the journey and look forward to the challenge. Here are my beginning measurements:

Height: 5’11
Body Fat: 13.6%

Weight: 186.6 lbs.

Waist: 33.5 in.

Shoulders: 47 in.

Bicep: 16.5 in.

www.trainwithpayne.com

FOODS TO EAT: (PART 1) BUILDING MUSCLE

This is a very broad topic with varied opinions from different professional sources, so I’ve decided to break it up into a three part article.

My friend Imann suggested a write a piece about proper diets and how eating the right foods can help one achieve their fitness goals.  My immediate response to Imann was “What do you typically eat per day?” and this is what she said…

	IMANN
Breakfast	Oatmeal
Snack	Fruit (Blueberries, Pineapples, Strawberries)
Lunch	Turkey Sandwich or Protein Shake
Snack
Dinner	Talapia and Kale or Egg whites w/ Vegetables

Imann’s daily consumption provides proper nutrition to fuel her rigorous training routine and active lifestyle.

In my next article I will provide an example of what I eat in a typically day and my suggestion for frequency of consumption.

Whether you goal is to lose weight, build muscle, build endurance or a combination of the three, there are certain foods, when consumed properly can, that will help you reach that goal. In this article I will give my personal opinion on the types of food you should eat to build muscle and examples of those foods.

In order to build muscle, you need complete proteins; these are found in eggs, meat, fish, cheese, milk and most other animal products. The protein found in plant products tends to be incomplete, though there are exceptions (e.g. soy beans, quinoa). The rule of thumb is that you need between 1 and 1.5 times your body weight (if you are overweight, then substitute your target body weight) in grams of protein. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you should eat between 150 and 225 grams of protein per day if you want to consistently gain muscle. Proteins I recommend that are great for building muscle include fish, poultry breast and eggs. I personally avoid red meats and most dairy products (I will discuss in a later article).

Include carbohydrates in your diet in the morning and post-workout. It is important to have carbohydrates so that your body can tap into glycogen (energy) stores within your muscles while you are working out. If you do not eat enough carbohydrates your body will not have energy reserves and will break down your muscles instead. Good examples are:  Brown Rice, Quinoa , Rolled Oats, Sweet Potato, Rye Bread, Wholemeal Spaghetti.  Eat complex carbohydrates like oatmeal, bran, beans, whole grains which are broken down over longer periods of time and don't cause spikes in blood sugar.

Carbs get a bad reputation from dieting guides. Because complex carbs are broken down slowly and don’t have a lot of sugar they are acceptable to eat after a workout.

Eat healthy fats. Not all fats are created equal. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that eating healthy fats is actually good for you. You should get about 20% to 35% of your calories from fats. The good fats include nuts, flaxseed and pumpkin seeds, and soy products.

Stay away from saturated and trans fats. These are the "bad" fats. Make sure saturated fats make up no more than 10% of your caloric intake, and that trans fats make up no more than 1% of your caloric intake. Bad fats include Ice cream, candy bars, and packaged snack foods, High-fat cuts of meat, Lard, stick margarine, and vegetable shortening, Fried foods.

Last, but definitely not least, drink plenty of water. Dehydration can mean poor muscle recovery, so make sure you drink lots of water throughout the day. Sip on water throughout your workout. The recommended daily amount for men is about 3 liters, and 2.2 liters for women.

SKINNY FAT

Skinny Fat, a term I found in the urban dictionary means a physique, while not overweight (and possibly underweight), lacks any visible lean, striated tissue. Everything seems cool until you're naked. You look slim with your clothes on, even after a lifetime of eating whatever you want.  I use that term in the least demonstrative way possible. A friend of mine, ex-trainee and inspiration recently asked me for tips on getting lean and my opinion on Herbalife.

First, I have not personally taken Herbalife, so I am not an expert on the product. I have reviewed the product and spoke to several people about there personal results and the overall consensus is that if used correctly Herbalife provideS results.

Now back to Skinny Fat and toning up.  The common wisdom is that if you are overweight you are unhealthy, and if you are thin, you are healthy. But new research points to just how dangerous being skinny can be -- if you are a "skinny fat" person, that is. The medical term for this is "MONW," or metabolically obese normal weight.

I read a story about a guy names Jim recently. Jim went in for a "wellness check up" and felt happy about his weight. His BMI (or body mass index) was 22 (normal is 18 to 24.) He never seemed to gain weight and felt he could "tolerate" a diet that included lots of bread, pasta, and sugar. He liked his two sodas a day and a few glasses of wine at night. He walked but didn't do much vigorous exercise or weight training. It turned out that Jim’s blood pressure and insulin levels were very high. Insulin was the issue. It is the fat storage hormone. It stores belly fat and leads to hormonal and metabolic changes that cause muscle loss and inflammation.

Here are some tips to cure the skinny fat syndrome.

Stop focusing on your weight and start looking at your body-fat percentage. The goal for men is dropping to between 9%-12% and 12%-15% for women. That's where you can actually see abs, plural.

Lift weights. When you weight train, especially if you lift heavier loads of 6, 8 or 10 repetitions, your body adapts by growing new muscle fibers that tone and support body parts that can tend to sag, especially in naturally skinny people. To avoid a skinny-fat look, you should do a full body weight training session two to three times per week, using multi-joint moves. If you are a avid running, stop running so damn much

! Start flexing some iron. Skinny-fat people typically avoid the weight room, fearing they'll get huge. Lifting is the fast track to replacing fat with muscle, which is what skinny-fat people need. And don't bother with isolation workouts. Dead lifts, burpees, and other hybrid moves will help you look cut all over. Once you're strength training, put your workouts on shuffle. Every week, change the exercises you're doing. And when lifting gets easy, bump up the weight or reps. Even minor tweaks (like swapping a barbell for individual dumbbells) make a difference. Expect to be sore.

Adjust your diet. All those carbohydrates that naturally skinny and lean people are able to get away with can catch up with them later in life as metabolism slows and the liver begins to convert sugars into storage fats. You will find that higher amounts of healthy fats and proteins not only satiate your appetite better than pasta, bread, scones, bagels, and biscotti, but will also help you to eat less and control your appetite better.

1. Start the day with protein and at each meal. This makes your metabolism run hotter and cuts hunger. Incorporate eggs, protein shakes, nuts, seeds, chicken, or fish.
2. No sodas, juices, sweetened drinks and no more than 3-4 glasses of wine or alcohol a week with meals.
3. Avoid the white powder or flour, including gluten-free flour products. Even whole grain flour acts like sugar in your body.
4. Factory-made foods are often science projects with fake ingredients including MSG (which causes ravenous hunger and is hidden as "natural flavoring"), high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, preservatives, and chemicals.
5. Eat omega-3 fat-rich foods including sardines and wild salmon and avoid refined and processed vegetable oils except olive oil.
6. Sleep deprivation alters metabolism and increases cravings for carbs and sugar. Sleep is sacred. Make your bedroom a sleeping temple and stay there for 7 to 8 hours a night.

I hope this helped. Let me know if you have any questions.

RESISTANCE OR CARDIO: WHAT SHOULD YOU DO 1ST?

A great friend of mine recently asked me if it is more productive to do cardio before or after resistance training. I immediately thought back to my playing days as an amateur and collegiate athlete. We always did cardio post-resistance training or post-practice. I tried lifting after cardio in the past and I noticed that I didn’t have the energy to push myself as hard as I normally would. So my conclusion was cardio after. After I answered the question I realized that I didn’t know exactly why cardio after lifting was the right answer, so I did some research and this is what I found.  

It makes sense to do Cardio after resistance training for several reasons. Lifting before cardio is much better for fat loss and workout energy efficiency. It takes a lot of energy to move heavy weights, so don’t drain yourself with cardio.

Your body needs to use your stored fat as fuel for exercise. In order to do this, you must burn off your glycogen stores first. When you weight-train, you typically use glycogen as fuel. By doing weight-training first, you can burn the majority of your glycogen stores. Knocking out your cardio after your resistance training will burn more fat.  

My conclusion is if you do steady-state cardio before you lift, you won't have the energy to work as hard as you can.

Challenge: Complete 30 minutes on the stair master, then attempt an intense resistance session. Let me know how it goes

CELLULITE: HOW DO I GET RID OF IT?

If you’re carrying around extra pounds or are as skinny as a model, cellulite could still be a problem. Cellulite is genetic, so if your mom has it, chances are you do too. The lumpy skin is caused when fat presses up against the vertical connective tissue that surrounds fat cells.. This creates a bulging of the cells, resulting in a dimpled effect (picture your skin pushing through fishnet stockings).

Fact: up to 98% of adult women have some degree of cellulite, according to a recent paper from Cornell University (as a Brown University Graduate, I don’t know how much I can trust Cornell research J )

For lots of women, fat tends to first accumulate on their butts and the backs of their thighs. But that’s just one part of the problem. The other; the area where fat is stored under the skin seems to have a different structure than elsewhere on the body. And as those fat cells increase in size, this structural abnormality begins to become visible on the surface of the skin, leaving indentations. That’s cellulite. The more those fat cells inflate, the more evident the cellulite becomes.

Lose the fat; say goodbye to cellulite or minimize its appearance...

A healthy diet plays an important role in keeping the signs of cellulite at bay. Eat plenty of fiber and whole grain foods (such as bran and oat cereals), since they help to remove waste and toxins from the intestinal tract, as well as fruits and vegetables. Also, drink plenty of water. If you increase your daily intake of water, your body will begin to shed its excess fat, including the fat stored as cellulite. The water will also help strengthen the collagen in your skin, helping to reduce the lumpy look. For those who want to zap cellulite fastest, should eliminate processed foods altogether. That includes foods that contain added sugar—soda, baked goods, and candy—as well as those products that have been highly refined, such as white bread, white pasta, and French fries. You should also limit alcohol consumption to two drinks a week. You should eat a whole foods diet, with an emphasis on lean meats and fresh produce. That doesn’t mean grilled chicken and steamed broccoli forever, but six weeks of being super-dedicated can speed your results and give you the momentum to keep at it.

Since cellulite is fat, excess weight can contribute to it. That's why it's important to engage in physical exercise like walking, jogging, swimming, yoga, etc., several times a week. Fast-paced circuit-training that burns tons of fat, improves cardiovascular fitness, and strengthens every muscle in the body, especially targeting the glutes and hamstrings is the preferred form of training.

Trouble is, just as the butt is often the first place fat starts to appear, it’s frequently the last place it disappears. Which may explain why it seems like you can’t shake the cellulite. It can take up to a year for cellulite to completely disappear, but you may start seeing results in weeks. Consistency and patience are your friends.

Some research suggest massaging cellulite, stimulating circulation and breaking up fluids beneath your skin, leaving a more even appearance or springing for a caffeine-filled body scrub and pay special attention to your area of concern. Personally I suggest sticking to a healthy diet and intense workout routine.

FAT BURNING W/ CARDIOVASCULAR TRAINING

If you've been doing cardiovascular training to burn fat, you may have heard various theories regarding the best fat-burning techniques, such as doing cardio at low intensity instead of at high intensity or doing cardio on an empty stomach. If your goal is to burn fat, keep in mind that you only start burning fat cells after approximately 20 minutes of a cardio workout.

Interval training, where you sprint for one minute and then walk for two are best for burning fat. Simply put, a higher heart rate burns more calories. A proper diet is equally as important as cardio training when it comes to fat burning.

You don't have to starve yourself, but it's wise to avoid eating 45 minutes to an hour before exercising. Even carbohydrates take at least an hour to digest. Fats take even longer: two to four hours. When your body diverts energy to digestion, it's robbing muscles of power and making your workout less effective

By having an energy bar or drink before a cardio workout you end up burning the calories you just had before hitting your existing fat cells, which is counterproductive. Instead, have a low-calorie snack about an hour before the workout (allowing enough time for digestion), such as an apple and a half-cup of low-fat yogurt.

Eating junk food, binge eating and not getting enough sleep are only a few of the bad habits some overlook when performing cardio training. All in all, a shorter, high-intensity cardio workout, proper nutrition, sufficient hydration, and enough sleep are all ingredients of an optimal cardio workout.

DRINKING WATER

Drinking water is essential to your health. It is present in liquids, plain water and foods. It helps maintain the balance of body fluids. Your body is composed of 60% water which aids in digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients and maintenance of body temperature.

Many sources suggest drinking eight glasses (one half gallon) of water a day. This is a recommended amount to help replace the amount of water lost each day. Fluid losses occur continuously, from skin evaporation, breathing, urine, and stool, and these losses must be replaced daily for good health. Fluid losses are accentuated in warmer climates and during strenuous exercise.

Drinking water is essential when exercising. Water helps energize muscles. Muscle cells that don’t have adequate fluids don’t work as well and performance can suffer.

Water can help control calories. It doesn’t have any weight loss effects, but substituting it for higher calorie beverages will help. Water can increase metabolism and regulate appetite.

Some other benefits of water include healthy looking skin and normal bowel functions.

Water rich foods include fruits, vegetables, broth based soups, oatmeal and beans

An interesting fact is that bottled water is the second most popular drink behind soft drinks. I hope that is because people are consuming a significant amount of good tap water.

Fact or Fiction?

A person can live for about a month without food, but only about a week without water.

THE "SIX PACK"

Abs, or a “six pack” as they are affectionately call, tend to be the hardest muscle group for most people to make progress when training. There several important things to keep in mind when working abs.

Like all muscles, the abdominals require a period of rest in order to recover. If you train your abdominal muscles within this recovery period you risk the possible breakdown of muscle fibers which will inhibit your abs from growing and becoming more visible.

Next, in order to illicit new gains in strength and definition, you must overload your abs with more intense training than they are accustomed to. Your ab muscles are at work all day, supporting your trunk and stabilizing your body, so you must perform exercises that feel very difficult within a range of 10-20 repetitions. If you can do 50 crunches, then they are too easy! Pick a different exercise such as weighted sit-ups or weighted cable crunches. These difficult exercises will produce invaluable muscle cell growth.

But the most critical components of building visible abdominal muscles is a strict diet and cardiovascular training program. No matter what type of abdominal training you perform, six-pack abs only become visible after burning the fat surrounding that area. Typically, this type of fat is the last to go so for women to lose it they need to go down to 12-13% body fat and males down to 6-7% body fat. Having said that, you're cardiovascular and nutrition programs will play a huge role in helping you burn that stubborn fat.

Good Luck on your quest #staymotivated

BUYING ORGANIC

Buying organic... There is increasing concern about the safety of synthetic pesticide residues in food. Many reports site lower pesticides in organically grown produce and a likely lower risk of exposure to drug-resistant bacteria.

Research suggest that buying organic is wise for certain foods, such as beef or strawberries, but it doesn't make much difference for others, like avocados or eggs. They warn against assuming that all organic foods are healthier than non-organic options, or that organic equals healthy. Oganic high-calorie, high-fat granola bars and sugary cereals, for example, are just as bad for you as the non-organic version.

Organic choices are usually pricier, for one thing, so it's important understand the health benefits and weigh them against the increased cost to avoid wasting money. It is important to note that people buy organic foods for what it doesn't have rather than what it does.

WHEY PROTEIN

 

Whey protein protein is known as a complete protein, meaning it contains all the amino acids necessary for your body's daily functions. While other foods that contain protein might have a sampling of amino acids, whey potein has them all -- including branched-chain amino acids that can help your muscles recover after a workout.

Here is a great article from my friend Breann about the choosing the right protein supplement
http://gurlfit.blogspot.com/2013/02/what-they-dont-tell-you-about-protein.html

WHEATGRASS

Wheatgrass provides an improvement in strength, endurance and overall health. Wheatgrass juice also improves digestion, as it is high in enzymes.

Wheatgrass is one of the best sources of living chlorophyll available. It is high in oxygen like all green plants that contain chlorophyll. The brain and all body tissues function at an optimal level in a highly-oxygenated environment. The body uses chlorophyll as a cleanser, rebuilder, and neutralizer of toxins. Chlorophyll helps purify the liver and improves blood sugar problems. It increases the function of the heart, affects the vascular system, the intestines, the uterus, and the lungs

It only takes minutes to digest wheatgrass juice and uses up very little body energy. You can purchase WheatGrass whole, in liquid or powder form from you local health store. Try taking it in the morning as a caffeine substitute in green tea or pre-workout for energy.bal nutrition shop.