Thursday, February 20, 2014

Mistakes That Cause Metabolic Damage

For those that have successfully lost body fat and retained muscle or gained weight/muscle without gaining much body fat, this short write-up isn’t going to be ground breaking news. For those that are taking in an extremely low amount of calories and can’t seem to lose weight or those that are taking in massive amounts of calories and wondering why they’re looking “soft” on their bulk, read up.

Metabolism is the biggest factor in whether someone can easily lose or gain weight, whether it’s muscle or fat. Some have it easier than others and can manipulate their weight gain/loss without hitting many plateaus along the way. No matter how fortunate or unfortunate you are with your metabolism, it can always be improved with a little work or destroyed if not taken care of over time.

Most articles will suggest taking in anywhere from 0.7 to 0.9 grams of protein per lean body mass and eating 500 calories below maintenance to successfully lose weight while retaining muscle. While this is a great rule of thumb for most people starting out, it doesn’t provide any additional information on what to do as you actually progress. Most people that calculate their total energy expenditure and start off eating 300-500 less will see 0.5 to 1 lb loss per week for 2-3 weeks, which is optimal for fat loss. The problem with this is that metabolism adapts over time as the body tries to hold on to fat stores. As the weeks go on and you are taking in roughly the same amount, your body will “adjust” to that amount to make the most effective use of the calories you are taking in to maintain fat, something that the human body has been genetically programmed to do since the beginning of time.

Another mistake is that people that are bulking on 4,000 or 5,000+ calories will decide to go straight into 2000 or less calories the day they decide to bulk. This isn’t optimal because:
  1. You may lose anywhere from 4-10 pounds within a week, possibly two, but your metabolism will quickly adjust to the new amount of calories you’re taking in and will “stall” out there, making it that much lower you’d have to go in calories to lose weight.
  2. Had you started off doing 4,700 calories for a week, then 4,400 the next week, then around 4,000ish for a week or two to actually get into your cut, your body would have slowly lost possibly 1 or 2 pounds of fat along with a few pounds of water while keeping your metabolism optimal during your cut. Any further you SLOWLY (by 200/300 or so) reduce your calories will be rewarded by a 1 or 2 lb drop in body fat each week without stalling.
  3. Adding to #2, since you’re slowing making your way down to a lower amount of calories and slowly losing weight, there is a significantly higher chance that you will have a better muscle to body fat ratio when you are done with your cut, regardless of the amount of weight you end on.
Of course, all this is assuming that hormone levels stay normal over time, as anything can cause a sudden spike or drop of weight during any given week (thyroid levels, drop in testosterone, cortisol levels, carb intake or any form of HIIT cardio program that can affect water levels, etc). This is just scratching the surface but extremely important for those that are wanting to get the basics, I’ll expand more on how other effects of metabolism and hormones can alter weight loss/gain in later articles. Check out my article on the ephedrine and caffeine stack to help out metabolism a bit and suppress your appetite.

This also applies for those doing the opposite coming off a cut. Slowly transition into it and you’ll get more out of your calories over time.

Credit: http://ceefitness.com/metabolic-damage/

Ephedrine and Caffeine Stack For Lower Body Fat

Caffeine and Ephedrine has long been paired together as one of the best fat-burning supplements to ever hit the market. Unfortunately ephedrine is a popular ingredient used in many illegal drugs, so laws in the United States have made is hard to get in recent years.

To make it clear: it isn’t illegal to buy, just difficult to get your hands on unless you get it shipped from outside the US.

The EC Stack Basics

When paired together, caffeine and ephedrine has a synergy type of effect. The most popular effects are:
  • Increased Metabolism – Body becomes more efficient at burning fat.
  • Appetite Suppression – Much easier to avoid those binge meals and occasional snacks that can add up to hundreds, if not thousands of extra calories.
  • Preserve Lean Mass – Studies show that EC helps the body burn fat stores as energy rather than muscle, which is greatly needed on a cut diet to achieve that lean look.
EC is mostly harmless for most, those that think popping extra dosages will speed up fat loss are the ones in danger. While it isn’t likely to happen–especially under the recommended dosages–some people have experienced side-effects such as heart palpitations, sky-rocketing blood pressure, and extreme dizziness/nauseating spells. These usually occur when you first start dosing it and should subside as the body becomes used to it (2-5 days on average). These side-effects, plus much worse, also happen to those that are irresponsible with the dosages and eat the EC pills like tic-tacs. Follow the dosing guidelines and you’re more than likely to be fine.

The EC stack can also be paired with a third ingredient, which is baby aspirin. For those that want to try it but have a slightly elevated blood pressure to begin with it’s highly recommended to also throw in one baby aspirin a day (roughly 80 mg) which is just enough to keep blood pressure down a bit without effecting anything else.

Dosing Guidelines

Testing: (skip this and go to ‘Starting Dosages’ if you’ve done EC with success in the past.)
The first day or two will be test days to see how you react. Take one 200mg caffeine pill and one 8mg ephedrine pill a upon waking up (some brands have 12.5mg ephedrine instead, this is fine to substitute). Not recommending to workout or do cardio for the next 3-5 hours during testing, so plan ahead of time or test on an offday.

You’ll more than likely experience a slightly racing heart and possibly some dizziness and facial flushing for the first couple times. If you experience anything more than this or extremely fast heart beats and/or vomiting/headaches, then repeat once a day until those side-effects wear off after taking a dose. Do not take more than one dose a day until the side-effects are manageable or non-existent.
 
Starting Dosages:
After you get past the initial side-effects, the first week is going to be a little light just to ease into. For seven days straight, your dosages should be:
    • Upon waking – 100mg caffeine/8mg ephedrine
    • 4-5 hours later – 100mg caffeine/8mg ephedrine
That’s it for the first week. Dose this everyday to ease into a tolerance for it.
Normal Dosages:
After getting a week of the starting dosage, I start my normal dosing cycle. This can run anywhere from 2-3 months at a time before slowly winding it down and stopping. I’ve never went more than 3 months straight on EC, but most studies I’ve read said that it isn’t necessary to cycle off of, but then again I’ve read a few testimonies that claim side-effects started to come up down the road (6+ months). Honestly, I would think something that alters your heart rate for extended periods of time isn’t the best great idea to keep taking without breaks, so be cautious when taking for long periods of time.
  • Upon waking – 200mg caffeine/16mg ephedrine (if you have 12.5mg tablets, I’d stay at that. Experiment with doubling up and going to 25mg if you want, take caution though)
  • 4-5 hours later – 200 caffeine/16mg ephedrine
  • Optional 3rd dose 4 hours later – 100mg caffeine/8mg ephedrine
I hardly ever take the third dose, maybe once or twice a week, simply because if I take a dose within 4-5 hours of bedtime then it affects my sleep badly even at a smaller dosage. If I get up early enough and it works out to where I can squeeze one in, then I’ll take it.

Coming Off The EC Stack

If you’re been on the EC stack for 2-3 months, chances are your body has built a dependency on it and quitting cold turkey isn’t a smart idea unless you like headaches and a severe drop in energy levels.

To lessen the effects of coming off, I stop the ephedrine completely on day 1 while tapering down the caffeine doses. I usually dose it something like this for the first 3-5 days:
  • Upon waking – 0mg ephedrine/200mg caffeine
  • 4 hours later – 0mg ephedrine/100mg caffeine
  • Optional dose (if you’ve been taking it) – 0mg ephedrine/100mg caffeine
Then after than, I start lowering the first waking dose to 100mg caffeine to match the other one (or other two if you been opting to take the third dose) for the next 3-5 days. Then from there it’s lowering the total amount of dosages by one every 3-5 days until you are completely off the caffeine.

EC is pretty safe with all things considered and can be a lot of help for those wanting that extra edge on cutting the fat, but it isn’t fool-proof and you need to pay attention to the doses you’re taking and not slip up and take something wrong on accident. Not recommended to do any type of HIIT cardio for those that are already sensitive to stimulates. For those that have their diet and workout in check, this will definitely be a ton of help; for those that don’t have either, don’t bother supplementing EC unless you like wasting money.

Credit: http://ceefitness.com/caffeine-and-ephedrine-stack/

High Intensity Interval Training Cardio Guide

High Intensity Interval Training Cardio

There are only two ways to lose body fat: eat less total calories or burn more total calories, each with the goal of being in a caloric deficit to lose weight. Everyone wants to know how to lose body fat the fastest way possible and the answer to that would be in the form of cardio called high intensity interval training.

Incorporating high intensity interval training (HIIT) in your cardio routine is a great way to burn body fat while using less time on the treadmill or outside running. HIIT is a series of sprints and walks that work together to make your heart rate spike several times over your workout, which in turn ends up burning more calories than you would in a regular jog or fast pace cardio session. HIIT is also usually much shorter than your usual cardio, making it a win/win for those that want to burn more in less time. Worth noting though, just because it is done in less time doesn’t mean it’s easier, because it isn’t. It won’t take you but once to try it out and see why.
Getting the heart rate to spike several times is the main goal in this routine, and that is easily done by a few sudden start and stops. Here is a quick graph below that can be used as a rough guide to get you started, make changes wherever you feel necessary.


5 minutes is a good warm-up for each session. After that it’s a dead sprint as fast as you can for the time listed in ‘high interval intensity’ for that week, suddenly throwing on a ton of work your heart has to do. As soon as the seconds are up, slow down into a slow jog and transition into walking over the course of 5-10 seconds. From here its a slow paced walk for the time listed in ‘recovery interval’, giving your heart time to slow down and rest before throwing it into overdrive again. Repeat for however many more times is listed for that week, then call it a day. Easy, right?

HIIT is done everyday (possibly every other day during the first week, may take a little to ease into) for as long as you want. The graph shows up to 8 weeks, but gives an idea of how to continue on. You don’t have to progress much further than what is listed on week 8, as it can be strenuous on the heart if you continue to get to a ridiculous set of numbers, but everyone has a different threshold so use a little trial and error here. Best to get a decent stop watch or phone app, don’t plan on counting out the seconds while running because that will get old fast. While being in a calorie deficit is the only way to get lean, having a great workout for abs is what’s ultimately going to make them “pop”, so be sure to look into that if it’s a main goal of yours.

Also, it’s highly recommended to not use stimulants when doing HIIT. No caffeine, ephedra, pre-workouts, nothing, especially starting out. HIIT is taxing enough on the heart, it doesn’t need anymore stress due to drugs or supplements. You probably (hopefully) won’t die from overdoing it, but it isn’t uncommon for people to black out due to an absurd, unsafe heart rate.

Credit: http://ceefitness.com/high-intensity-interval-training/

The Only Execises Needed To Develop Abs

Everyone tends to think doing countless sit-ups will solve their sloppy midsection and sculpt a great looking six-pack in no time. Before I get into my ab routine and exercises, there are two things that need to be addressed:

1) Diet is #1 most important thing to keep after when losing body fat. If your diet isn’t in check, then don’t expect results. 95% of people in the gym look pretty much the same, year in and year out, solely because they don’t understand this which usually ends up in a loss of motivation.

2) Treat your abs as any other muscle, absolutely no difference; work them out the same and use weights in progressing them. Hundreds of sit-ups a night isn’t doing anything besides increasing your abs endurance, which isn’t going to get them to build mass on them or lower the body fat surrounding them to make them show. Hit the upper and lower abs with intensity and progress with additional weight when you’re able to.

Treat your abs as any other muscle, work them out the same and use weights in progressing them.
Like every other muscle, the whole point is to stretch and tear the fibers with whatever exercises, sets, or reps it takes to achieve this, which may be slightly different for everybody. I’ll go over a few exercises that I’ve considered staples to my workouts over the years that help with defining and building your abs along with excellent diet. The reps/sets stated below are a good starting point for the first few months, but you may want to increase/decrease as you go along and get a feel for what your body responds better to. It’s best to get as many carbs in as possible that your diet allows so that you can pump out the most reps possible before failure. Check out my article on getting your metabolism under control to make losing body fat a tad bit easier.

The Three Exercises You Need To Develop Your Abs

Weighted Decline Sit-ups
 – Get on a decline bench without the bar and grab a weight, recommended to start with a 2.5 or 5 lb weight, or possibly nothing. What ever it takes to get a good burn, then you can slowly work your way up through the weights.Try 4 sets of 10-12 reps to start. Place the weight DIRECTLY behind your head with both hands, not in front of your chest or stomach. Slowly concentrate on flexing the ab muscles on the way down on the exercises, then explode on the way up. Slow down, fast up — explode on the positive portion of the exercise, slow it down on the negative. Repeat for previously mentioned 4 sets of 10-12 with 1-2 minutes rest in between.
Weighted Straight Leg Raises
 – Most gyms have a machine dedicated for this, if you don’t know what it looks like then ask a trainer or whoever is working the gym about a machine that you can do leg raises on. These are great lower ab exercises. Recommend 3 sets of 10 if doing this after weighted decline sit-ups. Rest on your arms with legs hanging, then while keeping your legs slightly unlocked (doesn’t have to be completely locked to be straight, just enough bend to take the lock out of the knees) swing legs up in a swooping motion til your legs are slightly above parallel with the ground, then back down slowly. You may fill this in your quads if your legs are neglected in your workout. Explode the legs on the way up, slow and concentrated motion on the way down while focusing on using the abs. Explode through the positive, and slow down through the negative, textbook way on getting ripped abs through exercises.
Weighted Planks
 – The above two exercises are enough to develop your core, but this is icing on the cake as it also develops your transverse abdominis muscle, which helps to keep your core tight and “tucked in” and give your stomach a flatter appearance and possibly a smaller waist overall.3 Sets of 45 seconds with a weight placed on your back (easier done with a partner so he/she can place the weight on top of you). If you are unsure how to preform this exercise, Google is your friend. Plenty of sites with ‘how-to’ videos on this exercise. Only difference is a weight is placed on your back for added resistance instead of increasing time. If this becomes easy at the end of your ab workout after doing the above two exercises, then increase weight or time to a full minute, but not past that. Keep the time to a minute max and just increase weight from there.
“Time under tension” is still key here, slow down on the negatives and explode on the positive portion of the rep. You can supplement with other exercises if you want, but honestly these are the only staples you’ll ever need. Best to throw these in at the end of your normal workout with 2 days rest in between (ie: Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday). These exercises along with a strict calorie deficit diet, a good HIIT cardio routine, and decent supplementation (such as the EC Stack), and along with consistency and dedication will get you the abs you want in just a matter of time–period.