Student Fitness

By: Joe Norton

Living on campus during the summer , but you’ve got no meal plan!?! Don’t worry, I’m facing the same situation.

Here I’ll share with you some of the ways I’ve dealt with this. It’s not easy going from a hefty meal plan to none at all. Especially when you’re pretty light on cash (aren’t we all).

• Go Grocery Shopping - Not the most convenient for most, but arguably the most affordable and definitely the easiest way to get a hold of healthy options. Going to the grocery store and making that once a week (or twice) stop allows you to save mucho dinero by buying in bulk (kind of) and gives you the freedom to choose what you will be eating the upcoming week. Chicken, veggies, and rice anyone?

• Get Hoagies… No, Not Cheesesteaks - So maybe not every city has this issue, but here in Philadelphia it’s difficult to step into most “cheap” restaurants without having a glistening pile of steak, cheese wiz and onions in a roll staring right back at you. My suggestion: Get the turkey with all the veggies and hot peppers on it. HOLD THE MAYO!!! Or get a grilled chicken sandwhich of some sort. Just try to dodge the fried foods and cheeses and most hoagies are semi-healthy.

• When you have a chance, eat whole wheat - Not every place gives you the option, but when they do. Take it. It’s proven to reduce bellyfat (so says Penn State)

• Mix It Up - Don’t eat at the same place everyday. It’s easy to get comfortable with your favorite sandwhich at your favorite pizza shop. Despite how much your stomach may like it; it’s not good. Eating the same thing all the time (even if it’s a nice turkey on whole wheat with LTO and mustard) is bad for your body. You need to have a well-rounded diet and this can only be done by changing up what you eat. So follow your palate and eat at multiple places around town so long as you can make healthy choices and not spend everything you’ve got.

• Pack A Lunch (or dinner) - When you are busy during the summer; either with school or work, it’s easy to forget about the food and your fridge and to rely on eating out all the time. Not only does this pack a serious punch on your wallet but it’s also not the best way to make sure you get all the nutrition you need. Try to pack your lunch or another meal on occasion. The only real way to decide 100% whats in the food you’re eating is to make it yourself.

By: Veljko Petranovic

I got an urge to write some text about dieting about 20 minutes ago, during my second meal of the day, at about noon. Can you guess what I was eating? Well, here’s a recipe for a diet-friendly, no-carb meal that I’m sure you’ll enjoy. Ingredients: One can of sardines in sesame oil. Open the can halfway and let all extra oil exit by applying manual pressure. Serve sardines on a plate, and consume with a fork. Drink water throughout the course. Appetizing, eh?

Not really. But on the other hand, I’m on a mission to drop about 10 pounds of body fat exclusively, which is an endeavor that entails eating lots off protein. Carbs are cycled in a fashion that I’ll get to a bit later. It’s simple, effective and lasts one whole month during which you don’t get hungry once. Here’s a sample of my menu on Monday, the 12^th of May.

• Meal one: 4 raw eggs, drank, about 20 grams of protein plus about the same amount of fat
• Meal two: one can of tuna in salted water, about 25 grams of protein
• Meal three: one can of tuna in salted water plus about 100 grams of radishes (whatever that vegetable is called, it has next to nothing carbs yet contains fiber)
• Meal four: whey protein shake, in water, 38 grams of protein, 3,2 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fat
• Meal five: post workout shake, same as meal 4.
• Meal six: maybe 50 grams of cottage cheese Major suckage, right? It is what it is, but I’m hell bent on doing it and the results will be posted in about one month. Photographic evidence, one might say.

The whole diet plan looks something like this: on Mondays and Thursdays, I severely cut out the carbs. On Tuesdays and Fridays, I eat a banana pre-workout. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, there’s a proper feast waiting – two bananas pre-workout. And on Sunday, I eat a lot of complex, fibrous carbs, in the area of 300-400 grams. That is also the only day when I don’t have to hoard up on protein. Bananas are just what I chose for my carbohydrate source, it can be anything up to 100 grams of that particular macronutrient. Believe it or not, that’s all there is to it! Nothing fancy, nothing extraordinary, no miracle fat burners or thermogenic foods. Just frequent, protein-rich meals, which, combined with cardio and weight training, comprises a fail-safe plan. It isn’t a whole lot of fun, but on this regimen, I can eat a pound of lean beef steak and not feel bad about it. It’s no fun, though, and this lack of fun is what keeps most people from coming even close to their fitness aspirations. It takes discipline, it takes being dumb as a mule and just forgetting about taste of proper food. All tasting variety is limited to cardboard and salty cardboard.

In a Muscle and Fitness article from recently, I’ve read about this study. Apparently, they gave one test group fresh popcorn and the other group got stale popcorn in a – get this - larger bag. Results show that people are likely to eat even more crap food if it’s provided in large containers. That’s right, more of the stale popcorn ended up being eaten! Holy cow! That’s just dumbfounding. The point of this digression is this: you, and you alone, decide what goes into your body.

If your goals include being in better shape and more aesthetically pleasing, by all means, keep your browser pointed to Student Fitness. My colleague, Joe Nort, writes up excellent articles that will get you on your way to Fitville in 1-2-3, as long as you actually listen to the advice. There is another way, a path of accepting yourself as you are physically and give up on such superficial actions as “dieting” and “training” for the sake of “looking good”. On the other hand, a lot of people I know feel depressed and shortchanged because of the way they look. Yet they still end up doing nothing about it! Don’t be like that. You can be whoever you want to and you possess the power to get in awesome shape if you wish. So read up. After that, it only comes down to putting in some hard work and eating a lot of bland, yet awesome food.

The final rewards include, but are not limited to, being healthy, buff, fast, strong, positively oriented, also there are six-pack abs, self-confidence, attractive looks, high energy levels and the comfort of knowing that, if you can diet properly for a solid month, you can do just about anything.

By: Ryan Imbach

After a long hiatus – being super busy with school projects – I’ve decided to devote some of my time again to Student Fitness! I am hoping that the readership has grown since I’ve been gone. Thank goodness I’m back, because you were getting sick of that pumpkin pie oatmeal and you want some more creations! Well, I’ve concocted some more nutritional goodness for you. So eat up!

Neon Green Shake

Before, you attempt this, I highly suggest you get a blender. You could also beg your parents to get you one, which is the option I usually choose. A small one like the Magic Bullet is pretty useful in college. Anyway, this smoothie packs a pretty good nutritional punch, and it will keep you quite full, especially if you use the casein protein and the flax seeds. Here’s the goods:

-1/2 an avocado

-1 or 2 scoops any flavor whey or casein protein

-large amounts of fresh spinach

-2 tablespoons of ground/milled flax seeds

-water or milk

First, I put the spinach in the blender, then I add a small amount of liquid and blend into a watery green mess. Then add your other ingredients and blend. Trust me on this, the taste is way better than the looks. Your friends will think you are crazy for drinking bright green liquid. On the other hand, they may think it’s some sort of crazy fruit juice. But you know what you’ve got: pure nutritional goodness.

Banana Nut Oatmeal

Okay, so maybe you’ve already thought of this one. But for some readers who haven’t, here’s yet another oatmeal recipe that is pretty tasty. The ingredients:

-1 cup of old-fashioned oats

-1 scoop banana whey or casein protein

-1 tablespoon flax seeds (optional)

-slices of banana

-small handful of crushed walnuts

-Water to cook oatmeal

-A few shakes of cinnamon

Heat the water and oats in a glass bowl in the microwave. Put the protein, flax, and cinnamon in, and crush the walnuts and throw them in, too. Stir in and chow down, my friend.

French Toast Eggs

Here’s a twist on my previous microwaved scrambled eggs recipe. It’s supposed to taste like French toast. And since fried toast is covered in sugar and whipped cream, it is not the best choice for your body. Here’s the ingredients:

-Ingredients from scrambled eggs article, plus…

-A sprinkle of butter buds (butter flavored flakes, sweet!)

-1 to 2 packets of Splenda

-A few shakes of cinnamon

Make the eggs in the microwave as usual. Then, when they’re done, sprinkle Butter Buds, Splenda and cinnamon on your eggs. It will be a taste explosion. Okay, so maybe not that great, but it’s pretty close to tasting like French toast. And that’s a good thing.

Tuna Burgers

Yet another recipe that floats around in health food circles is the tuna burger. This requires you to have some hardware and to get a little messy. The hardware you’ll need is either a George Foreman type grill, and Pizzazz type rotating pizza oven, or a microwave might work. The tools and ingredients are:

-A glass bowl

-2 cans of tuna

-1 egg

-crushed oatmeal (oat flour); about ¼ cup or less

I’m not saying sneak it in, but if your college doesn’t allow a Pizzazz pizza oven…well, do what you have to do, right? But these are great. They cook from the top and the bottom, so it’s almost like a real oven. First I’d suggest starting your pizza oven or grill to get it warmed up. Then you combine all your ingredients in the glass bowl with a fork. Next you’ll scoop up about half the mixture with your hands (gross!), and put it on the grill/oven in a nice patty shape. Put the other half on the oven, and then wait for it to cook. I honestly could not tell you how long to cook it. If you’re using the grill, I would say maybe 3 – 5 minutes. With the oven, I’d say 5 – 7 minutes. You’ll just have to experiment with the cooking times. To change up this recipe a bit, you can always add in extras like curry powder, chili powder, lemon pepper, onions, chives, or chunks of bleu cheese. It will be tasty in no time.

Frozen Peanut Butter Balls

This is another messy recipe, and one that requires a very cold refrigerator or a freezer. It is pretty tasty, however, even though you’ll have to play with the amounts of ingredients to get the perfect texture. The goods:

-2 mashed bananas

-1 2/3 cup natural peanut butter

-About 4 scoops whey or casein protein

-About 1 cup water

-Oat flour (optional)

-Very large bowl (trust me) and very large spoon

First, mash your bananas. Now the hard part. Combine all your ingredients except your oat flour (I have never actually tried it with oats in the mix, but it might help to make the mix hold together). Stir and mix; mix and stir. Keep going because it will take a while, and it will be sticky. Once everything is combined, you roll the goop into little balls. You can then proceed to cover them with oat flour (or flax seeds), and pop them in the freezer in zip lock containers or bags. If this doesn’t work for you, don’t be discouraged. It took me a few tries to get it somewhat correct. And even then, they weren’t balls so much as they were blobs of goop. But they were mighty tasty!

Another installment of recipes for you dorm-dwellers. Enjoy, and remember, not too much longer and it will be summertime!

By: Joe Norton

Here’s a shocker: Fat People Order Fat Food

I often stand in line at the Student Center for long periods… waiting for the disgruntled, minimum wage, sodexo employees to find some time for ‘customer service’ (don’t even get me started with Sodexo)… and during these arduous waits I decide to kill two-birds with one stone and so I people watch. Yes, that’s right, I people watch… all the time. And it just so happens that one of my favorite places to do so is at the student center watching students order food.

You can learn a lot about a person by what they order. Their are a number of inferences you could make about someone based on what they order, but for today’s article I’m going to focus specifically on what you can tell about someones general overall health and body composition.

I could listen to somebody order, without looking at them, and I can tell you roughly what kind of shape that person is in. Sure, their is the unlikely chance that someone is unhealthy/fat and is just starting a diet and thus is ordering healthy but their body is not necessarily representative of that fact. This actually doesn’t happen too often. Usually, when someone orders something dripping with mayonaise and fatty meats - they aren’t doing too good. Usually, when someone orders something fried and grabs a few cookies on their way out - they aren’t doing too good.

I’ll hear someone order grilled chicken with greens and whaddya you know it’s someone in great shape. I’ll hear someone being very picky about what goes on their wrap, specifically asking for no mayonaise and for lots of veggies - no shocker that this person will nearly always be one of the thinner people.

I’ll hear someone order the quarter pounder at BK (yes, we have burger king in our Cafeteria) and ask for a mountain of fries => and I have yet to see that coming from someone with one chin. Now, I do have to disclose this one fact. I do often see some of the athletes (basketball, and football players) come in and grab some BK. This does go against my theory => BUT, it really dosen’t. This person WOULD be fat if they didn’t do so much exercise. This is how you can order poorly and still be healthy/fit. By balancing the equation that is 1 part Diet, and 1 part Physical Activity

You are what you eat. Eat fatty food, be a fatty person. Eat healthy and balanced, and you will be healthy and balanced.

By: Joe Norton

Want washboard abs? Want bulging biceps or toned legs?

Well, I can’t give you any of those today.

What I can give you is 3 things you can begin implementing TODAY into your life to begin the process (journey… if you will) of losing weight and getting to whatever your ideal state is:
Be that super thin, super muscular, or something along that continuum.

These aren’t intended to be just huge “cut this out” blanket statements that are impossible for the common person to follow, these are intended to be mini ‘life hacks’ or positive habits that you can begin to build into who you are in order to make you a more healthy person.

1) When given a chance to be active, take it. Convenience is your enemy when you want to be more active.

Take the stairs, not elevator. Ride a bike, don’t take a taxi. Walk a few blocks as opposed to getting a friend to give you a ride. Don’t settle for the closest pizza shop, if you must eat pizza then burn some calories and walk to your favorite place. If you have downtime in between classes => walk to your dorm and do what you will, and then walk back across campus when your class comes around. This is as opposed to sitting around waiting, or sitting in the library (though useful for studying, I’d rather lose out on 20 minutes because I was getting some light exercise and just study in the comfort of my room).

2) When given a choice to between meats; go with Chicken, Turkey or Fish.

Lean Beef => 59% Fat, Reduced Fat Pork => 69% Fat, Skinless Chicken Breast => 26% Fat, White Fish => ~10%
These calculations are based off of nutrition facts of products offered in stores, based on the calculation of % calories from fat. For example: X Grams of Fat * 9 Calories = Net Fat Calories/Total Calories = % Calories from Fat.

3) Don’t Starve yourself. Always have something to Nibble on.

Ask ANY bodybuilder, athlete, or health enthusiast and they will always tell you this. You must eat every 3-4 hours to keep your metabolism going. If you go longer than that without eating then your body gets worried about your
food sources so it slows down your internal calorie furnaces and then starts converting calories into fat just in case you
have to go for a long time without eating. Let your body know you don’t have to be in starvation mode - by not starving it.

These are 3 keys to getting healthy, sure - they are common sense, but sometimes it’s the most common things that we
overlook. Now that you are armed with these 3 tools you will be much better equipped to get through college in healthy shape.

By: Ryan Imbach

It’s time for you to eat, and you need a good, high protein meal to satisfy your hunger. Unfortunately, your cafeteria is closed, and pizza is not an option. It’s time to whip up some good grub. It is possible to eat a home-cooked meal in your dorm room. Though it may not be like Mom’s, you have the satisfaction that you made a healthy meal to fill your nutrition needs. Here’s just a few of the thousands of meals you could eat:

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

This one is great to have in the morning or post workout. It really does taste like pumpkin pie, though it is more “oatmeal-ish.” Here’s what you need:

-1 cup of old-fashioned oats

-1 scoop of vanilla whey or casein protein (casein makes it nice and thick!)

-A few tablespoons of pure canned pumpkin (just pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling)

-Glass bowl

-Enough water to cook the oatmeal

Just heat the water and oats in the microwave until they are cooked through. I like to add the pumpkin after it’s cooked, because it’ll thin out the oatmeal. Then add the protein, stir, and chow down! Some great additions are cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and walnuts.

Scrambled Eggs

Eggs are full of nutrients, fat, and protein. Basically, they’re awesome. You can’t really hardboil them, but you can scramble them. The items you’ll need are very few:

-A few eggs

-Glass bowl

-Preferred spices

-Non-stick cooking spray (optional)

I find that spraying the inside of the glass bowl helps keep the eggs from sticking to the sides of the bowl when cooking them. All you do is put your eggs in the bowl, whisk or stir until the yolks are broken up, and cook them in the microwave. I usually do it on a medium to high setting. Make sure to stir every 45 seconds or so, or your eggs will explode. Once your eggs are cooked to your liking, you’re ready to eat.

Easy Bacon

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Get some lean turkey bacon and make sure the package says it’s microwaveable. Follow directions. Eat.

Healthy Elvis Sandwich

Have you ever heard of the “Fat Elvis” sandwich or ice cream? Apparently, Elvis loved peanut butter and banana sandwiches deep fried in oil. Of course, we aren’t going to do that. What we can do is modify this great sandwich into a muscle-building meal. Here’s what you need:

-Low carb, high fiber tortilla

-Banana

-Natural peanut or almond butter

Take a tortilla and spread peanut butter on it. Peel the banana and put it on your peanut butter creation. Roll it up and eat it. A good variation is to microwave the whole wrap so that the peanut butter is nice and gooey.

Protein Ice Cream

If ice cream were healthy and full of muscle-building nutrients, it would be the only food I would eat. Unfortunately, the high sugar, high fat, and low protein don’t mix too well. So what’s a guy (or gal) to do? I’ve come up with a healthy “meal” that won’t ruin your physique. Well, I won’t say I discovered it, but now it’s here for everyone to see! What you’ll need:

-Cottage cheese, low sodium preferred (any percentage)

-Whey or casein protein, you choose your favorite flavor

-Any natural nut butter, such as peanut butter (optional)

-Any spices, such as cinnamon, that might complement your creation (optional)

Get one or two cups of your cottage cheese. I like low sodium, because there’s less salt taste. Add one or two scoops of your protein. Then add any extras you have in mind. If it’s way too thick, add a very small amount of water and keep mixing. Now you can eat it right there, or you can refrigerate or freeze it so that it gets cold and thick. This really is good. Now if you don’t like cottage cheese because of its texture, then I suggest doing this same recipe with only casein protein and extra water. It will still be good, though you need a lot of scoops to end up with roughly the same volume of ice cream.

So there you have it; a few easy recipes to help you in your nutrition program. Always keep in mind that with these recipes, as with any meal, you should seek to eat an additional 1 to 2 servings of vegetables or fruit. Remember, eating healthy doesn’t have to be bland. You just have to have some creativity when it comes to dorm room meals.

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com

At least 7 scientific studies have provided strong evidence that energy containing beverages (i.e., “liquid calories”) do not properly activate the satiety mechanisms in the body and brain and do not satisfy the appetite as well as food in solid form.

Epidemiological research also supports a positive association between calorie-containing beverage consumption and increased body weight or body mass index. New research now suggests that soda may not be the only culprit…

The primary source of liquid calories in the United States Diet is carbohydrate, namely soda. Now running a close second are specialty and dessert coffees. Did you know that a 16 ounce Frappucino can contain 500 calories or even more! That’s one-third of a typical female’s daily calorie intake while on a fat loss program.

A recent study at Purdue University published in the International Journal of Obesity set out to learn even more about this bodyfat - liquid calories relationship.

Researchers compared solid and beverage forms of foods composed primarily of carbohydrate, fat or protein in order to document the independent effect of food form in foods with different dominant macronutrient sources.

Based on previous research, some experts have recommended targeting specific beverages as being “worse” than others. High fructose corn syrup and soda has been singled out the most and you’ve probably seen that yourself in the news.

There’s no question that soda has been on top of the “hit list” for some time now, by virtue of the amounts and frequency of consumption alone.

However, this recent study says that from a pure energy balance perspective, we should be cautious about ALL liquid calories, not just soda and not just carbohydrates!

Fruit juice for example, appears to be an obvious improvement over soda, so many people have swapped out their soda for fruit juice. However, when fruit juice is compared to an equal amount of calories from whole fruit, the whole fruit satisfies appetite better (largely due to the bulk and fiber content), and so you tend to eat fewer calories for the day.
[On an interesting side note, soup does not seem to apply; soup has higher satiety value than calorie containing beverages, possibly for mere cognitive reasons.]

If you were to meticulously track your calories from beverages and you made sure that your calories remained the same for the day, whether liquid or solid, there would probably be little or no difference in your body composition.

But that’s not what usually happens in free-living humans. Most people do not accurately track or report their caloric intake. Our mistake is that we tend to drink calories IN ADDITION TO our usual food intake, not instead of it.

Men are especially guilty of this when they drink alcohol - Men tend to drink AND eat, while women tend to drink INSTEAD OF eating.

This new research found that with all three macronutrients - protein, carbs or fat - daily calorie intake was significantly greater when the beverage form was consumed as compared to the solid.

Yes, it’s true! Even protein drinks did not satisfy the appetite the way that protein foods did!

While you would think that protein drinks are purely a good thing, because protein foods have been proven to reduce appetite and increase satiety, if you turn a solid protein food into a protein drink, it loses it’s appetite suppressive properties in the same way that happens when you turn fruit into fruit juice.
[NOTE: After weight training workouts, liquid nutrition may have benefits that outweigh any downside, especially on muscle-gaining programs]

Why do liquid calories fail to elicit the same response as whole foods? reasons include:
high calorie density
lower satiety value
more calories ingested in short period of time
lower demand for oral processing
shorter gastrointestinal transit times
energy in beverages has greater bioaccessibility and bioavailability
mechanisms may include cognitive, orosensory, digestive, metabolic, endocrine and neural influences (human appetite is a complex thing!!!)
last but not least, nowhere in our history have our ancestors had access to large amounts of liquid calories. Alcohol may have been around as far back as several thousand years BC, but even that is a blip on the evolutionary calendar of humanity.

As a result, our genetic code has never developed the physiological mechanisms to properly register the caloric content in liquids the way it does when you eat, chew and swallow whole foods.

Bottom line: This study suggests that we shouldn’t just target one type of liquid calories such as soda. If you’re trying to beat body fat, it’s wise to limit all types of liquid calories and eat whole foods as much as possible.

Start by ditching the soda. Then ditch the high calorie dessert coffees. Then cut back on the alcohol. From there, be cautious even about milk, juice and protein drinks.

Drink water or tea instead, or limited amounts of black coffee - without all the high calorie extras.

If you do consume any beverages that contain calories, such as protein shakes, be sure to account for those calories meticulously and be sure you don’t drink them in addition to your usual food intake, but in place of an equal amount of food calories.

Remember, those protein shakes you might be drinking are called “meal replacements” not “free calories!”

For many years I have suggested focusing primarily on whole foods rather than liquids, even protein shakes. Unlike so many other fat reduction programs, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle does not require any kind of liquid meal replacement or protein drinks and our company does not exist to sell supplements; we are here to educate you and millions of others about the realities of body fat loss.

We now have even more scientific data that confirms what Burn The Fat has been teaching all along.

I hope you found this helpful. You can learn more about “Burn The Fat” at www.BurnTheFat.com

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

Reference: Effects of food form on appetite and energy intake in lean and obese young adults. International Journal of Obesity. 2007 Nov (11):1688-95. Mourao DM, Bressan J, Campbell WW, Mattes RD. Department of Foods and Nutrition, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2059, USA.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com

By: Ryan Imbach

You just had a tough training session at the gym.  You strained yourself to the point of exhaustion.  You set a personal record at the barbell.  Then you get back to your dorm room and drink a ton of water, because you’re thirsty!  Now what did you do wrong?  You didn’t give your body, and your muscles, any fuel to rebuild themselves!  Unfortunately, I know many people who do just that every day in the gym.  They drink water during and after training, yet get very little results in terms of muscle building or fat loss.  In this article, I will tell you why you need fuel, what you need for that fuel, and approximately how much fuel you need.

First of all, let’s look at what happens during weight training. When you are lifting weights, you are breaking down your muscles, and they continue to be broken down hours after you lift weights.  This is called catabolism.  You don’t want this, and unfortunately, water doesn’t fix the problem here.

So what kind of fuel do you need after a hard training session?  Many people (especially athletes and former athletes) will just grab a sports drink such as Gatorade and down it.  While the carbohydrates in sports drinks replenish sodium, water, and glycogen, it does nothing for your muscles in terms of rebuilding them.  What we need is some protein for those muscles.  Protein is full of amino acids, the building blocks for our bodies.  Therefore, we need a fast-acting protein for our muscles, like that found in whey protein powders.  As you can see, we need carbohydrates to replenish muscle glycogen, and we need protein to stimulate muscle growth.  As I said before, a combination of sports drink and whey protein powder works well.  The carbohydrates will also spike your blood sugar, causing amino acids to be absorbed more quickly.  If you can’t stomach a fruity sports drink and chocolate protein powder (it’s not terrible!), just drink them separately mixed in water.

Finally, how do you know how much protein and carbohydrates to ingest?  Well, a good ratio is 2:1 carbs to protein.  For example, if you drink 15 grams of protein, you will drink roughly 30 grams of carbs.  Why is this a good ratio?  I’ve read a few studies and done my research, and this seems to be a good choice.  For the amount to ingest, I would suggest anywhere from 20 to 60 grams of protein and 40 to 120 grams of carbs.  These numbers have no scientific basis; however, if you are trying to build muscle, you are going to need a lot of nutrients, especially if you push yourself hard every training session.  So experiment with different amounts, and see how your body responds.

In conclusion, fast-acting carbohydrates and protein are your best bet when recovering from a training session.  It will replenish your muscle glycogen, and the burst of amino acids will fuel your muscles for growth.  If you need more information, just search for post-workout nutrition on the web.  A great, reputable source (very scientific and factual) is www.johnberardi.com.  Dr. John Berardi is a nutrition scientist and a former bodybuilder.  He knows what he’s talking about in terms of nutrition.  And while I think you should research information from a variety of sources and points of view, Dr. Berardi is very scientific in his conclusions.  So now that you have this information, go forth, train hard, and drink your postworkout nutrition!

By: Veljko Petranovic

1.Don’s start a bulking phase if your body fat level is above 10 percent. Fat begets fat, remember, and the more you have, the more additional adipose tissue you’ll gain along with the muscle. Ideally, you should start bulking up after you’ve dieted down for the summer/competition/photo shoot/girlfriend. That way, your muscle/fat gain ratio should be about 1:1. When you’re chubby to begin with, the ratio is more like 1:4 in favor of fat.

2. Eat a lot, but no junk food. You’re looking for quality sources of protein and complex carbohydrates. Despite the fact that ice cream is made of milk and therefore must contain protein, all that extra sugar will not do anything good for your appearance. Some fat is acceptable, heck, it’s unavoidable, but don’t let this be an excuse for regular gorge-fests. Eat up to six times a day.

3. Bump your calorie intake by a set number of calories per day. Space the extra calories over all your meals, don’t just eat double your normal breakfast. Do not exceed 1.000 calories over your normal diet per day, it’s overkill. Instead, gradually increase your food intake. If you need, say, 3.000 calories to maintain a 200 lbs of bodyweight, calculate the needed increase for 210 lbs and eat accordingly. Don’t eat like you should be weighing 250 lbs right off the bat, or the fat gain will be much larger.

4. You should never be hungry. Overfeeding takes a lot of effort, endless mastication and loads of food on the go. Don’t kid yourself by starving for the majority of the day, then pigging out for dinner. That approach is a sure way to fail.

5. Don’t forget the fiber. When it comes to eating a lot of food, all the excess must go somewhere, and a good digestion goes a long way. Well known side effects of bulking include, but are not limited to, gas, stomach cramps, hard stool and even more gas. Also, it would be a good idea to include fish oil capsules in your diet.

6. Train no more than three times a week. For the rest of your time, you should be eating and resting. Bulking phases are ideal when you’ve got a lot of study material to go over. Preparing for a big exam, or three, includes a lot of sitting on your ass, which goes hand in hand with gaining mass. Seize the opportunity.

7. Compound exercises should dominate your training program. Don’t miss out by not squatting, deadlifting, benching, stand-pressing and barbell rowing. Also, this is a great time to focus on a lagging muscle group. Specialize on your weakness and bring it up to par, lest it becomes even more apparent. Work that muscle group first in your training, and give it more volume.

8. Forget both cardio and a ripped six pack. For normal people, like you and me, it’s not natural to add pounds upon pounds of lean muscle. What’s required is singleness of purpose. It is during this time when you should care less about aesthetics. Think of it as an investment in your future self. Gaining muscle without some fat is nigh-impossible, unless you’re chemically assisted (which I don’t recommend) or genetically blessed.

9. Sleep for no less then 8 hours every single night. Ten hours would be even better, if you can manage. Your sleeping patterns should be just as important as your training, though a bit less so than your diet. If nutrition comprises 70 percent of your fitness goals, the rest is divided between lifting and sleeping.

10. Live a little. Once your fitness goals, regardless of what they are, become routine, you’ll view them as a chore and a burden. You don’t have to be miserable in order to get big. Socialize with your friends and family, and let them in on your current efforts. They are the best support group one could ever want. Go shopping for your new, bigger clothes. Go out and have some fun. Fitness is a great way to live, but it shouldn’t be life itself.

By: Veljko Petranovic  

Give this plan a shot and you’ll likely be satisfied with the results. In the end, it will come down to your own discipline and willingness to endure hardship. If you decide on using a fat burner, your results will improve based on the efficacy on said supplement. Keep in mind that most of them offer false promises and a placebo effect. Caveat emptor!   The summer approaches.

I remember being 18. Two friends and myself were planning on taking a trip to the Adriatic sea and spending our summer holiday there. Fresh out of High School, I had managed to put on some fairly significant muscle weight, but disappointingly, a bit of fat was shrouding my new body. It wasn’t the look I was after.

What will the beach bunnies say? Thus began my extensive search for the perfect fat loss diet.  Surprise, surprise, there was no such thing to be found. A lot of web sites were recommending a lot of different things, pushing a lot of miracle drugs, promising Godzilla-like muscle gains and penile enlargement along with a ripped six-pack. There had to be a simpler way of shedding some fat. Then, I discovered the Atkins diet. It was pretty cool on paper, and the logic behind it seemed sound enough. I tweaked it a bit to suit my individual needs, and lo and behold, in a quick month, I managed to get rid of 10 pounds of excess weight.   

The Atkins diet preaches a no-carb approach, to put it simply. Not knowing which foods contained that evil macronutrient, I whipped out a 1989 manual for the ladies, something along the lines of “Lose the belly inches after pregnancy”. On the last few pages was the food value chart, which I heartily recommend you get your hands on.  Take out a piece of paper and a pen. Write down your typical daily menu, and include everything that contains calories, the drinks as well. Now, calculate how much calories you are consuming and subtract 500 from that number. Now, note that a gram of fat contains 9 calories, whereas a gram of protein or a gram of carbohydrate is only 4 calories. A logical observation would be that the easiest way to restrict calories is to completely remove fat from your diet. Do not do this.

Your body needs fat to function normally. Low fat diets are very effective, though, but this particular type of nutritional strategy is more about calorie manipulation then it is about reduction.  So, if a kilogram of fat contains 9,000 calories, and we have reduced our calorie intake by 500 per day, logic dictates that we will lose a kilo of fat per 18 days. This is where the manipulation comes in. If you’re like most people, your body is dependent on the carbs for energy. When you take carbs out of the equation, something almost magical happens – your body switches to breaking down bodyfat into ketones, and uses them for energy. Nifty! This is a state called ketosis, and is the fundamental of the Atkins diet. It can only occur when your blood sugar levels drop radically. As long as you are ingesting enough protein and supplementing your food with vitamins and minerals, you are not going to lose much muscle mass from the calorie restriction.   

Ketosis ain’t nice. I remember breaking up with my then-girlfriend two weeks into the diet over something trivial. We got back together, eventually. You see, the brain is very much dependent on carbs, and when those aren’t provided, your judgment becomes clouded and your concentration is very low. Not a good thing if you’re preparing for a big exam! The good thing is, after about two weeks, your body gets used to this and resumes normal operation. But the cravings still remain. I remember dreaming of eating chocolate. I remember smelling pizza from, it seemed, a mile away. I remember that, at the time, peas sounded like a heavenly treat.   But don’t give in.

You are going to eat egg whites, various meats and fish and drink water, coffee and tea. This is it. Spread out these foods over 4-5 meals evenly throughout the day for 6 days a week. Remember to subtract the 500 calories from your normal menu. On day 7, you can eat, wait for it, anything you want. Pig out for 24 hours straight. Go on. Indulge yourself. The purpose of this cheat day is twofold. First, you’d likely go nuts and stop the diet without it. Second, the sudden high carb intake will fill out your muscles with glycogen and the rest will be burned for energy, again switching your body to using carbs. But when you resume the diet on day one again, the process is reversed and the body confused. What the…? This “switch” also helps burn a ton of fat.

  If the ketones from the burned fat reach a high concentration in your blood, a toxic state known as ketoacidosis sets in. You notice this when you start smelling like acetone. It is thus fundamental to maintain a workout program during the diet. Combine weight training with cardio for best results. Drink ungodly amounts of water. Set up hard workouts after the cheat day, so you can benefit from the carb intake the most.   That’s it. Four weeks of Hell and, for me, 10 excess pounds lost. It may be different for you, in the sense that “mileage may vary”.

You know your body better than anyone else. If you’re an ectomorph (naturally skinny with a fast metabolism), you can get away with two cheat days per week, as in days 6 and 7. If you decide on using a fat burner, your results will improve based on the efficacy on said supplement. Keep in mind that most of them offer false promises and a placebo effect. Caveat emptor!   The summer approaches. Give this plan a shot and you’ll likely be satisfied with the results. In the end, it will come down to your own discipline and willingness to endure hardship. The prize may be only superficial, vain and shallow, but most of us are in the lifestyle because we bear those qualities, too ;).