Categoria: Allenamento

Il terzo e il quarto elemento per la riuscita del raggiungimento di un fisico magro e salutare

Clima invernale e perdita di grasso: il freddo fa ingrassare?

Titolo: Clima invernale e perdita di grasso: il freddo fa ingrassare?
Autore: Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

Traduzione: Piero Maina
URL: www.Burnthefatinne rcircle.com
Parole: 23.966

Clima invernale e perdita di grasso: il freddo fa ingrassare?
Di Tom Venuto

BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System

Ciao a tutti, oggi pubblico con il suo permesso, un articolo del grande Tom Venuto che ho tradotto in Italiano, cosicchè anche chi non conosce l’inglese, possa godere di queste preziose e interessanti informazioni che proprio in questo periodo invernale e post vacanze di Natale, ci possano tornare utili per recuperare la nostra forma. Buona lettura:

“In inverno quando è più freddo, ingrasso!” Se sentissi qualcuno dire questo, probabilmente rideresti e diresti che sono le solite scuse tipo: “Mi dispiace, ma oggi non posso allenarmi … le tute da allenamento sono da lavare”. Ma la verità è che ci sono conferme scientificamente provate per cui in inverno si tende ad aumentare di peso. Fortunatamente, ci sono anche delle soluzioni, peraltro semplici e di facile applicazione.

Se vivi dove le stagioni cambiano, o anche peggio, dove il clima è freddo e nuvoloso per la maggior parte dell’anno, o se la neve, il ghiaccio e la pioggia gelida interrompono i tuoi programmi di allenamento all’aperto e sei preoccupato per il tuo girovita, allora questa è la domanda e la risposta di Burn The Fat della settimana ed è una lettura obbligata …

    DOMANDA: Ehi Tom, ci sono prove che durante la stagione fredda e in inverno diventa più difficile perdere grasso corporeo? A me sembra più facile perdere peso durante la stagione calda. Mi chiedevo se ci fosse una ragione per questo, forse uno desidera maggiormente diversi tipi di cibo? Si perde l’appetito nella calura estiva? O l’appetito aumenta con il freddo? Il metabolismo rallenta in inverno? Se sai darmi delle risposte al riguardo, te ne sarei grato. Grazie!

RISPOSTA: Sì, ci sono molte ragioni per cui molte persone tendono ad ingrassare in inverno. Sono sia fisiche che mentali. Da un punto di vista psicologico, ecco una semplice spiegazione: il mutare delle stagioni può influenzare il tuo umore.Una condizione nota come Disturbo Affettivo Stagionale (DAS) è stata studiata a lungo da psicologi e psichiatri. Spesso è molto più del semplice “Winter Blues” (Depressione Invernale), il DAS si verifica durante le giornate più brevi e le lunghe notti dell’inverno e dell’autunno, quando c’è meno luce solare e le temperature sono più fredde.I sintomi includono depressione, desiderio di cibi specifici, in particolare carboidrati densi di calorie, si sperimenta perdita di energia, senso di disperazione e sonno eccessivo. Ovviamente, tutti questi effetti possono contribuire a far aumentare di peso.

Una ricerca scientifica svizzera intitolata “Abitudini alimentari nel Disturbo Affettivo Stagionale: chi tenderà ad aumentare di peso in inverno?” I ricercatori hanno scoperto che non solo i pazienti con DAS mangiavano più zuccheri e cibi ricchi di amido, ma erano anche più suscettibili al mangiare emotivo, ricercando i dolci, quando emotivamente si sentivano più ansiosi, affamati, stanchi o soli. Uno dei trattamenti standard per il DAS è la terapia della luce intensa. Assicurati di dormire a sufficienza, ma alzati anche alle prime luci dell’alba, perché è importante massimizzare le ore di esposizione alla luce naturale.

Al contrario, un’ altra causa psicologica dove il clima influisce sulla quantità di cibo che ingeriamo è l’attività fisica e la perdita di grasso è maggiore quando il clima è caldo; le persone stanno all’aperto per più tempo vestendosi meno, questo fatto crea più motivazione all’esercizio fisico. Diciamolo pure, le persone vogliono avere un bell’aspetto quando indossano il costume o hanno meno indumenti addosso. In inverno e quando il clima è più freddo, sei coperto, quindi c’è meno presa di coscienza e nessuna responsabilità poiché di solito nessuno ti vede attraverso i vestiti, diverso è quando la gente ti vede con pantaloncini e canotta. Pertanto, la maggior parte delle persone tende a seguire una dieta più diligentemente e ad allenarsi più duramente nei mesi più caldi. (Non è un caso che così tanti bodybuilder mettano su massa nel periodo invernale, viceversa perdano peso durante l’estate).

Naturalmente, abbiamo il problema opposto nel periodo delle festività Natalizie, un periodo che tradizionalmente si sposa con i festeggiamenti, banchetti, bevande e regali (dove a volte anche i regali sono commestibili!) Molte persone si preoccupano maggiormente del loro stato di forma in questo periodo perché pensano che arriveranno ad aumentare di peso fra i 2Kg e 5Kg. La ricerca ha dimostrato che l’aumento di peso stagionale è reale, anche se di solito non è così tanto, in genere solo circa mezzo chilo, un kg al massimo, se si fa la media sui grandi numeri di popolazione. (Solo il 10% circa guadagna 3 kg o più). Il vero problema che la ricerca ha dimostrato a lungo termine è quel lento aumentare di peso anno dopo anno e che spesso passa inosservato e, in un periodo di 10, 15 o 20 anni, è sufficiente a portarci al sovrappeso cronico o all’obesità. Sono tanti gli uomini e le donne che si svegliano una mattina all’età di 40 o 50 anni, e guardandosi allo specchio si chiedono: “come ho fatto a diventare così grasso/a?” (Mezzo kg, o un kg all’anno, dopo ogni stagione invernale, si arriva a questo aumento di peso incontrollato). Lo studio più famoso su questo argomento è stato pubblicato sul prestigioso “New England Journal of Medicine”. Ecco cosa hanno riscontrato gli autori:

In contrasto con la percezione comune che il peso aumenti durante le festività invernali, il peso della stragrande maggioranza dei soggetti in questo studio è cambiato poco durante le festività natalizie. Questi soggetti credevano di aver incrementato di quattro volte il loro effettivo aumento di peso durante le vacanze, che è invece risultato di soli 0,37 kg. Meno del 10% dei soggetti ha guadagnato 2,3 kg o più. Pertanto, nonostante il fatto che l’85% dei soggetti monitorati non facesse alcuno sforzo per controllare il proprio peso, grandi aumenti di peso durante le festività invernali non sono stati la norma.Sfortunatamente, abbiamo anche scoperto che l’aumento di peso durante il periodo autunnale pre-ferie e l’aumento durante le festività natalizie sono stati in gran parte mantenuti durante il periodo invernale post-ferie da gennaio a marzo, con un conseguente aumento medio netto di 0,48 kg. Nei soggetti che hanno completato un anno di osservazione, il peso è aumentato in media di 0,32 kg durante il periodo di vacanza e di 0,62 kg durante l’intero anno, suggerendo che il periodo che contribuisce maggiormente alla variazione di peso annuale è il periodo di sei settimane di vacanza.

La maggior parte di noi mangia e beve di più nel periodo delle festività natalizie. Tuttavia, alcune persone hanno anche chiesto se ci siano altre motivazioni e se le giornate brevi, il clima cupo e le temperature fredde hanno qualcosa a che fare con l’aumento di grasso a livello fisiologico. La domanda è: “Il metabolismo rallenta in inverno, come se stessimo entrando in “modalità letargo?” In realtà, è vero il Contrario. L’esposizione a temperature fredde provoca una risposta di termogenesi da tremito, il che significa che c’è un aumento del metabolismo per produrre più calore. Per creare calore è necessaria energia (calorie bruciate = calore). Infatti, nel corso degli anni, molti guru della perdita di peso hanno promosso l’idea dell’esposizione al freddo per accelerare il metabolismo, suggerendo strani “trucchi” come spegnere il riscaldamento in casa, uscire di casa poco vestiti in inverno, nuotare in laghi gelidi o fare surf tutti i giorni in acque fredde o fare docce fredde che stranamente ancora oggi risultano popolari. Sfortunatamente l’esposizione al freddo, aria fredda o acqua fredda, come tentativo per far bruciare più calorie al nostro corpo non si traduce nel tempo in risultati di perdita di grasso nel mondo reale, anche se risultati a breve termine possono mostrare un elevato consumo di calorie.

Perché non funziona? A parte il fatto che si tratta di una piccola quantità di calorie bruciate in più, non è poi così pratico o piacevole congelarsi il sedere, quindi il tentativo probabilmente non durerebbe a lungo e sarebbe destinato al fallimento se uno ci provasse. Un altro motivo è che il nostro corpo può adattarsi e compensare le perdite di calore. Un esempio interessante dell’impatto che le temperature fredde hanno sul bilancio energetico è il caso del nuoto. Paradossalmente, è stato osservato che molte persone che hanno iniziato a nuotare hanno bruciato tantissime calorie, ma non hanno perso grasso (o hanno persino guadagnato peso). All’inizio alcune persone pensavano che il corpo stesse producendo grasso per ripararsi dal freddo. Sembra plausibile, vero? Ma dopo che alcuni scienziati attenti hanno esaminato la cosa più da vicino, hanno scoperto che il nuoto può essere un eccellente esercizio per bruciare i grassi, ma molte persone non perdono molto grasso col nuoto perché si è scoperto che il nuoto, specialmente in acque fredde, fa si bruciare più calorie, ma fa anche aumentare l’appetito.

Pertanto, potremmo ipotizzare che lo stesso possa accadere con temperature fredde (aria). Se il tuo corpo usa un po’ di energia per tremare o produrre calore, un modo in cui può compensare quella perdita di energia è aumentare l’appetito, quindi è probabile che il bilancio energetico negativo, se presente, sia a breve termine. (Incredibile come il tuo corpo funzioni per controbilanciare le cose, non è vero?)

Alcuni scienziati suggeriscono addirittura che mangiare di più nei freddi mesi invernali sia inserito nel nostro DNA come meccanismo di sopravvivenza. Teorizzano che gli esseri umani hanno una tendenza naturale a mangiare di più in inverno perché storicamente parlando, questo era un periodo in cui c’era carenza di cibo. Sebbene non ci sia praticamente alcuna possibilità di morire di fame nella moderna società industrializzata, potremmo inconsciamente cedere alle direttive evolutive.

Per una serie di possibili ragioni, la maggior parte delle persone tende a mangiare di più in inverno, soprattutto durante le festività natalizie e allo stesso tempo, tende anche a muoversi meno.

Uno studio condotto in Massachusetts e pubblicato sull’European Journal of Clinical Nutrition ha mostrato alcune scoperte interessanti sulle variazioni stagionali dell’assunzione di cibo, dell’attività fisica e del peso corporeo in una popolazione in sovrappeso. I risultati principali includevano:

    L’apporto calorico giornaliero era di 86 calorie in più nei mesi freddi rispetto alla primavera

    L’attività fisica più bassa è stata in autunno e in inverno

    Il peso corporeo ha raggiunto il picco in inverno

    Tutti i cambiamenti stagionali sono stati abbastanza piccoli, ma abbastanza significativi da essere misurabili

Durante le vacanze, la maggior parte delle persone che aumenta di peso, dà la colpa al cibo, ma non sono solo le feste del Natale e Capodanno che incidono, è anche una minore attività fisica durante l’intero inverno che contribuisce all’aumento del girovita. Le routine di esercizi all’aperto a volte termina bruscamente e non viene fatto nulla per compensare la cosa. Di solito si usano scuse del tipo: “è colpa del meteo (“Fa troppo freddo” o “Non posso correre / camminare / andare in bicicletta sulla neve e sul ghiaccio!” O “È buio prima che torni a casa dal lavoro”).

Il calo dell’attività fisica non è solo dovuto al minor numero di sessioni di allenamento. Anche la quantità di passi che normalmente si fanno durante il giorno subiscono un calo, soprattutto se non li si monitorano.

La ricerca fatta con l’utilizzo del pedometro pubblicata sulla rivista “Medicine and Science and Sports And Exercise” ha rivelato quanto l’attività fisica diminuisca in inverno rispetto alle altre stagioni.

E’ stato preso in esame un gruppo di donne di mezza età, che sono generalmente meno attive di altri gruppi, per cominciare c’è stato un importante calo dei passi compiuti durante il giorno durante il ciclo stagionale:

    7616 passi al giorno in estate

    6293 passi al giorno in autunno

    5304 passi al giorno in inverno

    5850 passi in primavera

Questo è il motivo per cui utilizzare un contapassi tipo il Fitbit o uno smartwatch tutto l’anno è un’ottima idea. Puoi vedere i cambiamenti del numero di passi stagionali e se noti che diminuiscono all’arrivo dell’inverno, puoi apportare le modifiche necessarie più facilmente alla tua attività semplicemente perché sai quello che sta succedendo e diventi responsabile per quello che fai. Inoltre, sebbene 10.000 passi al giorno (o più) possano essere scoraggianti, non è così difficile partire con 2.500 passi al giorno in più, rispetto a quanti ne fai ora. Questo è sufficiente per compensare il calo medio di passi registrato dalla maggior parte delle persone. Migliorando la propria responsabilità dal punto di vista nutrizionale e combinando le due azioni, sinergicamente questo piccolo cambiamento da solo può risolvere il problema dell’aumento di peso invernale.

Come si può vedere è legittimo pensare che è più facile ingrassare durante i mesi più freddi. Se non si fa nulla per impedirlo; ci sono buone probabilità che si possa ingrassare almeno mezzo chilo o forse uno durante il periodo autunnale e in inverno, quando le giornate sono più buie. Proprio perché questa quantità di aumento di peso non è significativa è particolarmente insidiosa perché o te ne accorgi e agisci immediatamente con le dovute misure o potrebbe passare completamente inosservata all’inizio, per poi trovartela “appiccicata” addosso e non “staccarla” più. In 10 anni, ti ritrovi con un aumento di peso/grasso che può andare da 4,5 Kg a 9 Kg. In 20 anni, puoi arrivare a guadagnare da 9 Kg a 18 Kg, senza quasi accorgertene e tutto grazie a un lento accumulo di peso/grasso.

Fortunatamente, l’aumento di peso in inverno non è una condizione scontata, Questa battaglia si può vincere abbastanza facilmente. Puoi rimanere magro tutto l’anno, quello che devi fare è rimanere attivo durante l’inverno, indipendentemente dal tempo atmosferico e rimanere disciplinato con l’alimentazione la maggior parte del tempo.

Ti suggerisco di avvicinarti all’alimentazione e all’allenamento invernale in due fasi. Novembre e dicembre sono mesi perfetti per fissare obiettivi e chiudere bene l’anno. Creare obiettivi per questo periodo, ti manterrà motivato per tutto il tardo autunno e l’inizio dell’inverno. È una strategia perdente aspettare il nuovo anno e non avere nuovi obiettivi su cui lavorare durante le vacanze, procrastinare, non paga.

Per oltre un decennio ho promosso sfide di fitness durante le vacanze natalizie, iniziate prima del giorno del Ringraziamento e proseguite fino alla fine dell’anno. Se mai hai la possibilità di iscriverti, partecipa con tutti i mezzi. Se non riesci a trovare un concorso formale, una sfida, una gara o un qualche tipo di evento di fitness, crea la tua sfida per le vacanze natalizie, e non è mai troppo tardi. Anche se è il giorno di Natale, si possono fissare degli obiettivi per l’ultima settimana dell’anno. Ho amici che tengono viva una tradizione facendo un allenamento epico a Capodanno.

Se possibile, invita gli amici a unirsi a te per aumentare la responsabilità verso gli obiettivi fissati. Se possibile, assumi un coach che ti aiuti a creare il tuo piano e ti renda ancora più responsabile. È incredibile quanto sarai motivato e quanto duramente lavorerai quando dovrai riferire i tuoi progressi ogni settimana a un mentore o ad una figura autorevole che rispetti. Con un obiettivo o una sfida, un allenatore o un sistema di supporto, o entrambi, credimi, le vacanze non ti saranno di ostacolo. Potresti anche arrivare alla migliore forma della tua vita.

La seconda fase inizia a gennaio. Anche se l’esercizio e la dieta “Buoni propositi per il nuovo anno” sono una consuetudine in questo periodo dell’anno e molte persone li fanno con scarsi risultati, non sono contrario a fissare obiettivi il primo dell’anno. Credo che sia un ottimo momento per pensare a cosa vuoi per i 12 mesi a venire. Assicurati che i tuoi obiettivi non si concentrino solo sul peso corporeo o sul grasso corporeo, ma includano anche obiettivi di fitness, salute, forza e prestazioni. Questo ti manterrà molto più motivato se hai una settimana in cui la bilancia non si muoverà.

Un fattore chiave per l’alimentazione durante tutto l’arco dell’anno, ma soprattutto nel periodo vacanziero, è la dieta flessibile. Ciò significa mantenere il tuo piano nutrizionale preciso dall’80% al 90% delle volte, riuscendo a goderti così tutti i tuoi cibi preferiti nel periodo delle vacanze con moderazione. Evita di pensare in modo dicotomico al cibo e di chiamare alcuni cibi buoni e altri cattivi. Non dimenticare mai che tendi a desiderare ciò che non ti è permesso avere. Diete rigide con elenchi di alimenti proibiti si ritorcono contro e, anche se non lo facessero, la restrizione non è un modo per godersi le festività natalizie.

I migliori trucchi per avere successo con il tuo allenamento invernale sono gli stessi che dovresti usare tutto l’anno: fissare continuamente obiettivi di prestazione (avere obiettivi per ogni allenamento), creare un piano con un programma settimanale in cui ti impegni e rimanere responsabile (avere qualcuno nel tuo angolo in modo da poter mostrare a lui/loro i tuoi risultati e i tuoi progressi settimanali comparati con i tuoi obiettivi). Assicurati inoltre che il tuo piano includa un elenco di potenziali ostacoli e come ti comporterai se li incontrerai, comprese le contingenze per tutti i tipi di tempo. Inoltre, considera di provare un allenamento che non hai mai fatto prima. Provare esercizi, tecniche e programmi completamente nuovi può aggiungere quel briciolo di sale in più, una scintilla di motivazione e una ventata di freschezza che ti manterrà più euforico e motivato nelle giornate invernali più cupe.

Ovviamente dipende dalla località in cui vivi e quale meteo incontri, ma è improbabile che tu non possa indossare cappotto, cappello e guanti e andare a fare una passeggiata solo perché è inverno. Tuttavia, se è tempestoso o pericolosamente freddo, o se preferisci, puoi effettuare le tue camminate e la parte cardio del tuo programma al chiuso su una cyclette, un tapis roulant, un vogatore o una macchina ellittica, o ancora, semplicemente con esercizi a corpo libero se non hai a disposizione le macchine o attrezzature cardio. Si, dipende da te, puoi farlo!

Non è necessario nemmeno sfidare gli elementi e avere il coraggio di guidare fino a una palestra per allenarti con i pesi, puoi farlo anche a casa. Una configurazione casalinga semplice come manubri e una panca, oltre a bande elastiche di resistenza e l’allenamento a corpo libero possono farti raggiungere ottimi risultati e portarti lontano. E considera che puoi aggiungere più attrezzi se il tuo spazio e il tuo budget lo consentono.

I mesi invernali sono anche un ottimo periodo per essere avventurosi e provare qualcosa di nuovo all’esterno, vale a dire gli sport invernali. Pensa a inserirli nel tuo piano di allenamento. Lo ammetto, non sono mai stato un fan del freddo, del ghiaccio e della neve. Anche se l’escursionismo e lo zaino in spalla sono i miei hobby preferiti dietro il sollevamento pesi, sono sempre stato un uomo di tre stagioni all’aperto.

Io abito in New Jersey e verso la fine di ottobre, proprio quando le prime gelate stavano arrivando e le foglie stavano cadendo, ho deciso che questo sarebbe stato l’anno in cui finalmente mi sarei rifiutato di restare rinchiuso a casa. Ho deciso di continuare a fare escursioni. Ho anche fissato alcuni obiettivi di corsa, il più possibile sui sentieri. Tutto quello che dovevo fare era investire nella giusta attrezzatura, scarpe e capi caldi e ho continuato a uscire come ho fatto per il resto dell’anno. Non ho mai dovuto utilizzare il tapis roulant. Con mia sorpresa, mi piaceva stare fuori, anche con il freddo e la neve.

A dicembre, dopo il primo grande temporale, ho fatto una cosa che non avrei mai pensato di fare: ho comprato il mio primo paio di scarpe da neve e sono uscito per oltre 5 miglia/8Km la domenica prima di Natale. Quanto bruciavano i quadricipiti ed è stato un serio test cardio. Non ho nemmeno le scarpe da neve tradizionali – ho le scarpe da corsa (da running). Scendere a palla dalle colline innevate è stata la cosa più divertente che io abbia fatto da anni.

Allo stesso tempo, per questi ultimi tre mesi dell’anno, ho deciso di iniziare un nuovo programma di sollevamento pesi con una routine di split incentrata sull’ipertrofia che non avevo mai provato prima. (È una “divisione ibrida 3-2” di cui scriverò in un prossimo post). Ho incluso anche l’attrezzatura da palestra che avevo usato raramente prima – una landmine (Barra da bilanciere con una estremità fissa a terra e l’altra libera) – insieme ai miei soliti esercizi con bilanciere e manubri.

Come risultato, il fissare nuovi obiettivi, creare nuovi programmi e provare cose nuove nel tardo autunno e la prima parte dell’inverno, mi sono trovato più coinvolto, entusiasta e motivato che mai e la mia attività complessiva (passi, miglia, calorie bruciate), è stata più alta che mai a metà dicembre. Mangiavo il 90% di cibo non trasformato, ma non stavo facendo una vera e propria dieta o limitando i macro nutrienti o i gruppi di alimenti. In realtà ho dovuto mangiare di più per evitare di perdere troppo peso e troppo velocemente.

L’aumento di peso in inverno è un problema per molte persone. Ci sono molte forze che sembrano cospirare per farti mangiare di più e muoverti di meno, ma queste insidie sono evitabili e le soluzioni non sono complicate. Non possiamo cambiare le stagioni, ma possiamo cambiare noi stessi, come pensiamo e come agiamo. L’ho fatto io, molti altri l’hanno fatto, e puoi farlo anche tu se segui i consigli di questo post del blog.

Concludendo, ricorda che le festività natalizie di fine anno sono solo la prima parte dell’inverno. Gennaio e febbraio, a volte fino a marzo, sono i mesi più freddi e nevosi per la maggior parte di noi, e se hai un buon proposito di inizio anno senza un obiettivo significativo e/o un grande piano d’azione e una forte volontà di riuscita e improbabile che lo perseguirai e lo abbandonerai presto. Cerca una sfida di trasformazione corporea, tipo quella che organizzo sul mio sito; questo è il momento per sfruttare queste opportunità. È il momento di fissare nuovi obiettivi e fare nuovi piani per arrivare in ottima forma alla fine dell’inverno e in primavera.

Allenati duramente e aspettati il successo!

Tom Venuto

References

Kräuchi K, Reich S, Wirz-Justice A, Compr Psychiatry. 1997 Mar-Apr;38(2):80-7. Eating style in seasonal affective disorder: who will gain weight in winter? . Psychiatric University Clinic, Basel, Switzerland.

Hamilton SL, et al, UK adults exhibit higher step counts in summer compared to winter months. Ann Hum Biol. 2008 Mar-Apr;35(2):154-69, Department of Human Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK.

Ma Y, et al, Seasonal variation in food intake, physical activity, and body weight in a predominantly overweight population, Eur J Clin Nutr. 2006 April; 60(4): 519–528. University of Massachusetts, Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine

Newman, MA, et al, Monthly variation in physical activity levels in postmenopausal women. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 41(2):322-7. Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.

Ricci MR et al, Acute cold exposure decreases plasma leptin in women. Metabolism 49(4): 421-423, 2000, Rutgers University, Department of Nutritional Sciences.

Uitenbrock DG, seasonal variation in leisure time physical activity. Med Sci Sports Exer 25(6): 755-760, 1993

White, L., Increased caloric intake soon after exercise in cold water. Int J Sport Nutr Exer Metab, 15: 38-47, 2005

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7 Febbraio 2021

Muscle Recovery: Essential to Your Next Workout

Originally published on HVMN by Nate Martins.

Muscle Recovery: Essential to Your Next Workout

The moment every athlete wants to avoid.

POP!

A muscle gives at the gym or on the track, leading to weeks of rehab. Sometimes it’s not even a single moment, but rather, countless hours of overuse that leads a muscle to strain or tear.

To avoid rehab, athletes need to be thinking about pre-hab. Get ahead of an injury before it happens.

Muscle recovery should be part of every training plan (specifically post-workout). But there are multiple strategies athletes can employ that lead to muscle health–even things like diet can impact how your muscles recover. Knowing what to do, and when to do it, can help avoid the injuries that’ll set you back weeks.

Why is Recovery Important?

An important goal of every training session is to break down muscle. Without recovery, a significant portion of that work might be a waste of time. So, what exactly happens during recovery? That’ll depend on the person and activity, but generally, four different things are happening while you’re resting.

Synthesis of protein: This is what leads to muscle growth. During recovery is when most muscle is built, because muscle protein synthesis increases by 50% four hours after a workout (like resistance training).1

Rebuilding of muscle fibers: Microtears in muscle fibers are a normal part of exercise, happening when we put strain on our muscles. Recovery allows these fibers to heal and become stronger during that process.

Fluid restoration: We sweat (and lose a lot of fluid through exhaled air).2 Hydrating before, during and after a workout is important, because these fluids help deliver nutrients to organs and muscle through the bloodstream.

Removal of metabolic waste products: Acids (via that pesky little proton associated with lactate) accumulate during a workout, and recovery gives the body time to restore intramuscular pH and reestablish intramuscular blood flow for oxygen delivery (among other things).

While you’re resting, your muscles kick into overdrive.

Recovery can be attacked several ways–some may be surprising, because they don’t directly target the muscles themselves. By approaching recovery through a few different avenues, it can be optimized.

Consuming Your Way to Recovery

It may not seem obvious, but a combination of hydration, diet, and supplements can do wonders for the muscles.

Hydration: During and After Exercise

Drinking fluids is a mantra repeated by coaches everywhere for good reason: muscles are 75% water.

Before and during exercise, hydration is key to maintaining fluid balance and can even improve endurance (it’s equally important to not over-consume water as well).3,4 But post-workout, consuming enough water is vital to helping digest essential nutrients and repairing damaged muscle.

The sought after protein resynthesis requires muscles be well-hydrated. And coupled with post-workout eating, saliva–which is comprised mostly of water–is necessary to help break down food, digest, and absorb all the nutrients you’re hoping to receive. In one study, adequate hydration after a 90-minute run on a treadmill showed significantly faster heart rate recovery;5 this illustrates that hydrated bodies recover from exercise-induced stress faster.

Don’t rely on the age-old test of urine to determine if you’re hydrated; that has been debunked.6

A good rule of thumb is to weigh yourself before and after a workout, drinking 1.5x the amount of weight lost.

Diet: Protein, Carbohydrates and Fat All Work Together

Nailing the right nutrition strategy post-workout can encourage quicker recovery, reduce soreness, build muscle, improve immunity and replenish glycogen.

Your next workout starts within the hour your last workout ended.

Since exercise triggers the breakdown of muscle protein,7 it’s beneficial to consume an adequate amount of protein after a workout. Protein provides the body with necessary amino acids needed to repair and rebuild, while also promoting the development of new muscle tissue.8

Good sources of protein include: whey protein, whole eggs, cheese and smoked salmon.

Carbohydrates have a similarly important effect–they replenish glycogen stores. The type of exercise will depend on how much carbohydrate is needed. Consuming about 0.5 – 0.7 grams of carbohydrate per pound of bodyweight within 30 minutes of training can result in adequate glycogen resynthesis.7 Insulin secretion promotes glycogen synthesis, and is more stimulated when carbs and protein are consumed simultaneously.9

Carb sources are everywhere; but look to slow-release sources such as sweet potatoes, fruit, pasta and rice.

Fat shouldn’t be the main focus of an after workout meal, but should be part of it. Good fat sources include avocados and nuts. Milk is also a popular choice; one study found whole milk was more effective at promoting muscle growth than skim milk.10

Supplements: Protein, BCAAs and Omega-3s Build Muscle and Reduce Inflammation

We’ve outlined which supplements runners should take; it’s best to focus on protein, BCAAs and omega-3s–all these supplements help optimize muscle recovery.

While most athletes think protein is best left to bodybuilders, protein can repair the muscle damage that occurs during a workout, reduce the response from the “stress hormone” cortisol, and speed up glycogen replacement. Protein also accelerates the resolution of muscle inflammation.11,12

Whey, casein and soy are some of the most popular proteins. Whey is absorbed the fastest by the body, and is largely considered the most effective protein for muscle protein synthesis.13 Casein protein is geared more toward long-term recovery because it takes hours to absorb. Try introducing whey immediately post-workout, while using casein protein before bed; protein ingestion before sleep has been shown to stimulate muscle protein synthesis.14

Serious athletes should be taking about one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.

If someone doesn’t consume enough protein, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) can be a useful supplement.

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. During exercise, the body breaks down protein into amino acids; those are absorbed and transported through the body to create new proteins that encourage building muscle. BCAAs help enhance muscle protein recovery by introducing more amino acids into the body. They preserve muscle glycogen stores, which fuel the muscles and minimize protein breakdown. Studies show BCAAs as effective for muscle recovery (as well as immune system regulation).15

Omega-3s, found in fish oils, have anti-inflammatory properties that help sore muscles.16 Kado-3, by HVMN, is a supercharged krill and fish oil stack designed to assist daily brain and body metabolism. Ingredients in Kado-3 work together; like astaxanthin oil (a powerful antioxidant) to fight against the buildup of free radicals, and Vitamins K and D to protect bone health.17,18,19

HVMN Ketone can also help muscle recovery. Those using HVMN Ketone have seen decreases in the breakdown of intramuscular glycogen and protein during exercise when compared to carbs alone.20 It also expedited the resynthesis of glycogen by 60% and protein by 2x when added to normal carb / protein post-workout fuel.21,22

Resting Your Way to Recovery

Rest should be accounted for in any training program.

Sleep: A Necessary Reset

On its face, sleep should be the easiest way to recover. One study found that lack of sleep can lead to muscle degradation.23 But many find it difficult to get the ideal seven-to-nine hours per night.

Sleep improves other facets of health that tangentially affect muscle recovery; the central nervous system (CNS) also recuperates during sleep, which is important for muscles, because the CNS triggers muscle contractions and reaction time. Hormones like cortisol and testosterone, which produce protein synthesis, are also working while we sleep.

To help optimize sleep, it’s important to set a routine.

Our screens can negatively impact sleep,24 so 60 – 90 minutes of screenless time before bed can do wonders. The blue light emitted from our devices tricks the brain into thinking it’s daytime and we need to be awake, decreasing our natural melatonin.

It’s also important to create an optimal environment for sleep. Things like blackout curtains, a cooler temperature setting in the bedroom, or a quality mattress can all encourage better, more restful sleep.

Rest Days: Muscles Don’t Take Breaks, But You Should

On a much smaller scale, what’s happening during sleep is also happening on rest days. Work rest days into your training program because they give the body time to repair tissues that have been broken down.25

Depleted muscle energy stores, micro-tears, fluid loss–all the things that happen during a workout need time to recuperate and grow stronger.

Recovery time depends on your specific routine. Runners can have an especially difficult time doing this. For highly active runners who log miles six days per week, they should also incorporate recovery runs. About half of these runs should be at recovery pace, a slower less-strenuous pace that allows the body to recycle lactate as it’s produced. By increasing blood flow, recovery runs may actually accelerate the recovery process.

Also try to avoid intense workouts or hard runs on back-to-back days. Complete rest days vary by person, but a good goal is one or two rest days every week or ten days. Injury-prone athletes may increase the number of complete rest days during this period.

Techniques & Exercises for Recovery

Let’s get into the specifics of what you can do to help the body recover faster. By using exercises targeted at certain muscles, not only will those muscles recover faster–they’ll also get stronger in the process.

Active Recovery: Getting Stronger and Building Muscle

This type of recovery focuses on exercise intensity at low-to-moderate levels. Studies have shown that it’s best for the performance of endurance athletes.26 Active recovery is successful mostly due to its ability to more rapidly remove blood lactate, facilitating blood flow and giving the body the ability to process excess lactate produced during periods of intense exercise.27

Cross training is also a great way to engage in active recovery while enhancing aerobic fitness without putting the body through the same stress as your normal workouts. Try:

Cycling: The motion is similar to running without the joint impact. Ride at an easy pace in the low-intensity zone (around 120 – 140 heart rate)
Yoga: A beginner’s class should do just fine. Practicing basic yoga through online videos is sufficient, using poses such as sun salutation (to boost circulation and release tightness) and warriors one and two (to activate thigh and calf muscles while helping stretch hips)
Plyometrics: Even 15 – 30 minutes of bodyweight exercises can help boost circulation while stretching muscles. They’ve even been shown to increase sprint performance.28 Try exercises like planks, calf raises and lunges

Ice Baths: Taking the Plunge

Some athletes and coaches swear by ice baths, with trainers mandating post-practice cold water immersion (CWI). They consider ice baths essential to helping tired muscles, and feeling better for the next intense training sessions.

The idea here is that cold therapy constricts blood vessels and decreases metabolic activity, reducing swelling and tissue breakdown, flushing metabolic debris from the muscle.

But one study showcased that the “hypothesized physiological benefits surrounding CWI are at least partly placebo related.”29 This suggests that if you think ice baths help, then they may have a beneficial impact on recovery and subsequent training.

If you’d like to try an ice bath, fill a tub or large container with water, enough to submerge your hips. Add enough ice so the temperature of the water drops to about 55 degrees. Then sit in the bath for about 15 minutes.

Stretching & Foam Rolling: Increase Range of Motion

Stretching is important both before and after a workout because exercise can shorten muscles, decreasing mobility. Stretching helps flexibility, allowing muscles and joints to work in their full range of motion.30 One study found that hamstring flexibility led to increased muscle performance.31

Post-workout stretches are often forgotten by athletes in a rush, but it’s essential to account for these stretches in a training schedule. Generally, it’s best to hold stretches for about 30 seconds and repeat each once or twice. Target these muscles, which usually take a beating from a variety of workouts:

Piriformis
Chest and Anterior Deltoids
Hamstrings
Lats
Quads
Lower Back

Complementary to stretching, foam rollers help sore muscles,32 and they can be used on almost every muscle in the body.

Our muscles go through a constant state of breakdown, then repair. Fascia, the connective tissue surrounding our muscles, gets thick and short over time because the body is attempting to protect itself from more damage. Sometimes, trigger points form–sore spots, caused by fascia contraction, need release.

Ultimately, this affects range of movement and causes soreness.

Foam rolling (called myofascial release) can help release those muscular trigger points, and as one study found, can lead to overall improvement in athletic performance.33 The result is decreased muscle and joint pain, and increased mobility.

Selecting a foam roller depends on your needs; a larger roller can allow you fuller sessions (meaning, if it’s large enough, you can lie on the foam roller and do some great shoulder / upper back workouts). A denser roller will also mean a more intense massage.

Target these often overused areas: glutes, iliotibial band (IT band), lower back, shoulders and sides.

Technology: All the Data You Need

While technology and wearables can’t directly help with recovery, they’re able to gather important data that may inform recovery techniques. Being able to track aspects of training, sleep, heart rate and hydration can provide insight into how the best tackle specificities of recovery.

Hydration: Wearables like Nobo B60 and Hydra Alert help monitor hydration through different means, but mostly through sensors. Nobo is like a watch, mounted to the wrist or calf, while the Hydra Alert is placed in a urinal or toilet to monitor hydration through urine. However, many of these types of devices haven’t been independently validated for accuracy.
Training: It seems there are countless devices to measure training. The IMeasureU is versatile, using motion data to track training. Similar to hydration wearables though, there isn’t clinical validation for this technology.
Heart Rate and Breathing: The Hexoskin is like a smart t-shirt with electrocardiogram (ECG) and breathing sensors, along with an accelerometer. This measures heart rate, heart rate variability, breathing rate, steps, etc.
Sleep: Many training devices also can monitor sleep. These devices can illuminate what we don’t know happens during our sleep, and can also showcase our sleeping patterns to help us understand why we may be waking up so tired. The Fitbit Charge 2 is especially responsive to monitoring sleep, and has been validated through a third-party study.34

Understanding our inputs with data provides us with a way to maximize our outputs and reach peak performance–even in recovery.

Recovery is the First Step to Better Training

Recovery takes time and dedication; it often gets overlooked in workout schedules because it isn’t accounted for.

Active recovery, sleep, diet, and supplements like HVMN Ketone can be used to kickstart the recovery process and make training more effective.

The best training starts with mindful recovery to help muscles rebuild for the next training session. This, ultimately, can improve training by putting your body in the best position to perform. The process of muscle breakdown happens during exercise; immediately after, the process of muscle restoration and strengthening begins–you could be compromising gainful training by skipping these all-important techniques to help the body rebuild.

Scientific Citations

1.	MacDougall JD, Gibala MJ, Tarnopolsky MA, MacDonald JR, Interisano SA, Yarasheski KE. The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise. Can J Appl Physiol. 1995 Dec;20(4):480-6.
2.	Mitchell, J W. Nadel, E R. Stolwijk, J. A. J. Respiratory water losses during exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology 32(4):474-6. May 1972.
3.	Montner P, Stark D M, Riedesel M L, Murata G, Robergs R, Timms M, Chick T W. Pre-Exercise Glycerol Hydration Improves Cycling Endurance Time. Int J Sports Med 1996; 17(1): 27-33.
4.	Hew-Butler T, Rosner M H, Fowkes-Godek S, et al. Statement of the Third International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference, Carlsbad, California, 2015. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine: July 2015 – Volume 25 – Issue 4 – p 303–320.
5.	Moreno I L, Vanderlei L C M, Pastre C M, Vanderlei F M, Carlos de Abreu L, Ferreira C. Cardiorespiratory effects of water ingestion during and after exercise. Int Arch Med. 2013; 6: 35. Published online 2013 Sep 23.
6.	Heneghan C, Gill P, O’Neill B, Lasserson D, Thake M, Thompson M, Howick J. Mythbusting sports and exercise products. BMJ 2012;345:e4848.
7.	Kerksick C, Harvey T, Stout J, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: nutrient timing. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2008 Oct 3;5:17.
8.	Biolo G, Tipton KD, Klein S, Wolfe RR. An abundant supply of amino acids enhances the metabolic effect of exercise on muscle protein. Am J Physiol. 1997 Jul;273(1 Pt 1):E122-9.
9.	Rasmussen BB, Tipton KD, Miller SL, Wolf SE, Wolfe RR. An oral essential amino acid-carbohydrate supplement enhances muscle protein anabolism after resistance exercise. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2000 Feb;88(2):386-92.
10.	Elliot TA, Cree MG, Sanford AP, Wolfe RR, Tipton KD. Milk ingestion stimulates net muscle protein synthesis following resistance exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006 Apr;38(4):667-74.
11.	Rieu I, Balage M, Sornet C, Giraudet C, Pujos E, Grizard J, Mosoni L, Dardevet D. Leucine supplementation improves muscle protein synthesis in elderly men independently of hyperaminoacidaemia. The Journal of Physiology, 08 August 2006.
12.	Yang C, Jiao Y, Wei B, Yang Z, Wu JF, Jensen J, Jean WH,4, Huang CY, Kuo CH. Aged cells in human skeletal muscle after resistance exercise. Aging (Albany NY). 2018 Jun 27;10(6):1356-1365.
13.	Tang J E, Moore D R, Kujbida G W, Tarnopolsky M A, Phillips S M. Ingestion of whey hydrolysate, casein, or soy protein isolate: effects on mixed muscle protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in young men. American Physiological Society. 01 September 2009.
14.	Res P T, Groen B, Pennings B, Beelen M, Wallis G A, Gijsen A P , Senden J M G, Van Loon L J C. Protein Ingestion before Sleep Improves Postexercise Overnight Recovery. 0195-9131/12/4408-1560/0 MEDICINE & SCIENCE IN SPORTS & EXERCISE Copyright 2012 by the American College of Sports Medicine.
15.	Negro M, Giardina S, Marzani B, Marzatico F. Branched-chain amino acid supplementation does not enhance athletic performance but affects muscle recovery and the immune system. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2008 Sep;48(3):347-51.
16.	Mori T A, Beilin L J. Omega-3 fatty acids and inflammation. Current Atherosclerosis Reports November 2004, Volume 6, Issue 6, pp 461–467.
17.	Barros MP, Poppe SC, Bondan EF. Neuroprotective properties of the marine carotenoid astaxanthin and omega-3 fatty acids, and perspectives for the natural combination of both in krill oil. Nutrients. 2014 Mar 24;6(3):1293-317.
18.	Pashkow FJ, Watumull DG, Campbell CL. Astaxanthin: a novel potential treatment for oxidative stress and inflammation in cardiovascular disease. Am J Cardiol. 2008 May 22;101(10A):58D-68D.
19.	Machlin L J , Bendich A. Free radical tissue damage: protective role of antioxidant nutrients. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Vol. 1, No. 6 December 1987.
20.	Holdsworth, D.A., Cox, P.J., Kirk, T., Stradling, H., Impey, S.G., and Clarke, K. (2017). A Ketone Ester Drink Increases Postexercise Muscle Glycogen Synthesis in Humans. Med Sci Sports Exerc.
21.	Stubbs, B.Cox, P.; Evans, R.; Santer, P.; Miller, J.; Faull, O.; Magor-Elliott, S.; Hiyama, S.; Stirling, M.; Clarke, K. (2017). On the metabolism of exogenous ketones in humans. Front. Physiol.
22.	Cahill, G.F., Jr. (1970). Starvation in man. New Engl J Med 282, 668-675.
23.	Dattilo M, Antunes H K M, Medeiros A, Mônico Neto M, Souza H S, Tufika S, de Mello M T. Sleep and muscle recovery: Endocrinological and molecular basis for a new and promising hypothesis. Medical Hypotheses Volume 77, Issue 2, August 2011, Pages 220-222.
24.	Exelmans L, Van den Bulck J .Bedtime mobile phone use and sleep in adults. Soc Sci Med. 2016 Jan;148:93-101.
25.	Parra J, Cadefau J A, Rodas G, Amigo N, Cusso R. The distribution of rest periods affects performance and adaptations of energy metabolism induced by high‐intensity training in human muscle. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 169: 157-165.
26.	Crowther F, Sealey R, Crowe M, Edwards A, Halson S. Influence of recovery strategies upon performance and perceptions following fatiguing exercise: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and RehabilitationBMC series – open, inclusive and trusted. 2017 9:25.
27.	Monedero J, Donne B. Effect of Recovery Interventions on Lactate Removal and Subsequent Performance. Int J Sports Med 2000; 21: 593–597
28.	Rimmer E, Sleivert G. Effects of a Plyometrics Intervention Program on Sprint Performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2000, 14(3), 295–301 q 2000.
29.	Broatch JR, Petersen A, Bishop DJ. Postexercise cold water immersion benefits are not greater than the placebo effect. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2014 Nov;46(11):2139-47.
30.	Page P. Current Concepts in Muscle Stretching for Exercise and Rehabilitation. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2012 Feb; 7(1): 109–119.
31.	Worrell T W, Smith T L, Winegardner J. Effect of Hamstring Stretching on Hamstring Muscle Performance. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 1994 Volume:20 Issue:3 Pages:154–159.
32.	Pearcey G E P, Bradbury-Squires D J, Kawamoto J E, Drinkwater E J, Behm D G, Button D C. Foam Rolling for Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness and Recovery of Dynamic Performance Measures. Journal of Athletic Training: January 2015, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 5-13.
33.	Peacock CA, Krein D D, Silva T A, Sander G J, Von Carlowitz K A. An Acute Bout of Self-Myofascial Release in the Form of Foam Rolling Improves Performance Testing. Int J Exerc Sci. 2014; 7(3): 202–211. Published online 2014 Jul 1.
34.	de Zambotti M, Goldstone A, Claudatos S, Colrain IM, Baker FC. A validation study of Fitbit Charge 2™ compared with polysomnography in adults.

2 Febbraio 2019

Carb Cycling Guide for Athletes

Originally published on HVMN by Nate Martins.

10,080–that’s how many minutes are in a week. Maintaining a diet through all those minutes, for weeks or months, requires supreme, almost unwavering willpower.

Even The Rock doesn’t do it; his Sunday night cheat meals are stuff of legend, consisting of thousands of calories of his favorite food.

The social side of dieting is tough. It takes dedication to remain unmoved on a diet; happy hour invites, dinners out, work-sponsored lunches–saying “no” to all these are small wins on the battlefield of dieting. For a diet like the ketogenic diet, avoiding carbohydrates can feel like tip-toeing through a minefield of Western, carb-centric eating.
For athletes, it can be difficult because we rely so heavily on carbohydrates for fuel. Of course, there’s growing research about how to use bodily fat as a fuel source,

1-but carbohydrates have been the gold standard exercise nutrition for years.

Carb cycling is planned consumption of different amounts of carbohydrates, usually throughout the week. Everyone can develop their own carb cycle based on need; for example, keto athletes might work in carb days during especially hard training blocks.
While carb cycling isn’t for everyone, it can be a great way to optimize a diet based on your personal needs.

What’s a Carb, Anyway?

There are three different types of macronutrient fuel sources in our food: fats, proteins and carbohydrates.

The main function of dietary carbs is to be a source of energy. Some even argue they aren’t essential, and can be made from dietary protein and fat.

2-This process is called gluconeogenesis, a metabolic pathway generating glucose from non-carbohydrate substrates.

Carbs (especially refined carbs) raise blood sugar, resulting in the body producing extra insulin to bring that blood sugar down. Insulin is a hormone that triggers fat storage–so more carbs means more insulin which means more conversion of carbs to fat stores.

As a fuel source, carbohydrates replenish glycogen stores in the muscle and liver. They also maintain blood glucose concentrations as fuel for the body, but also for the brain. That’s the spike in energy you experience after an afternoon stack, as blood glucose fluctuates throughout the day when we consume carbs.

Simply put, carbohydrates are the body’s most readily available fuel. But when we don’t use that fuel, carbohydrate manifest as fat.

When following a keto diet, lower carb intake is necessary (like 25g of carbs per day–the amount in a single banana). This encourages the body to burn fat and also to convert fat to ketones. Consuming carbohydrates causes insulin release, which inhibits ketone production in the liver.

Science Behind Carb Cycling
What is carb cycling, and why is it beneficial? Looking at the science can provide some clarity. Maybe a more accurate definition of carb cycling is carb manipulation.
The goal is to match the body’s need for glucose depending on activity or activity level overall.

High-Carb Days

High-carb days are usually matched with workouts when you might need more glucose–like high-intensity interval sessions or a long day in the weight room.

When you exercise at a high intensity, the body makes most of its energy from carbohydrates, either breaking it down aerobically (with oxygen), or anaerobically (without oxygen), forming lactic acid. This would be the optimal time to introduce a higher amount of carbohydrates into the diet because the body uses more carbohydrate during the workout itself, and then after the workout to make glycogen to refuel and decrease muscle breakdown.

3 -When looking for your highest possible power or speed output, carbs are often necessary for the body to produce its best results during intense training sessions.

Low-Carb Days

In traditional carb-cycling, low-carb days are meant for days on which you do not train–the idea is the body doesn’t need carbs because its demand for fuel is far less than on workout days.

But further investigation by scientists have shown some of the advantages of training on these low carb days, which has two main benefits: it helps to speed up general adaptations to aerobic training, and it increases fat burning and thus improves endurance.

One of the key, groundbreaking experiments in this field was conducted using single-legged cycling exercise. Athletes had to cycle using just one leg at a time; the left leg cycled one hour straight, and the right leg did two half hours with a few hours in between where no recovery fuel was given. This means that the right leg was training in a carb depleted state during the second session. Muscle biopsy samples revealed that the twice-trained leg saw bigger gains in the enzymes that are key for aerobic respiration. This led to the conclusion that low-carb training could accelerate aerobic gains.

4-Strategic low-carb days focus on switching the body back to using fat as energy and increase aerobic capacity. Research is continuing on this topic, but athletes are looking to boost the ability of the body to tap into fat as a fuel source, since we store more fat than carbohydrates.

Training in a low-carb state has been shown to increase the ability of the body to burn fat over the long haul, improving metabolic flexibility.

5- There have even been studies noting keto-adapted athletes can use fat in preference to carbohydrates for moderate intensity endurance exercises, in which carbohydrates would usually be used as fuel.

6-But it takes time. Robert Sikes is a professional bodybuilder and founder/owner of Keto Savage. He’s a bodybuilder on the keto diet; backstage at events, he receives inquisitive looks from competitors when they find out he’s keto. But the results speak for themselves and after events, he’ll even get asked about he’s able to train with such little carb intake. He says it can takes years to full fat-adapt, and that it’s something that doesn’t happen in the short term.

“You need to allow yourself to be completely adapted to life without carbs. Play the long game. Be diligent with hitting macros and eating wholesome foods.”
Robert Sikes
By controlling carbs, and the types of carbs consumed, there also may be a benefit in manipulating insulin and insulin responses.

7-8-This would likely help with improving metabolic health.
It is becoming widely accepted that athletes should adopt carb cycling or periodization of carbs based on training needs. This ensures fuel for the work required (so training intensity isn’t compromised), while also empowering the body to metabolically trapease between carbohydrates and fats as fuel sources as available.

9–Benefits of Carb Cycling

The benefits are carb cycling are measured against personal goals. Do you want to improve body composition? How about improve training or recovery?

Ask yourself what you want to achieve with carb cycling to best understand its benefits.

Body Composition

As with most diets, a major goal is usually weight loss. Because we consume such a high amount of calories as carbohydrates in Western diets, limiting those calories and carbs will ultimately lead to fat loss. The process aligns with most other diets: consume less calories than the body burns, enter a calorie deficit and promote weight loss.

10-Though specific research on carb cycling is limited, generally studies show that limiting carb intake works well for weight loss. One study analyzed overweight women who had a family history of breast cancer. Three groups were randomly assigned different diets: calorie-restricted and low-carb diet, low-carb but unlimited protein and healthy fat, and a standard, calorie-restricted diet. Women in both low-carbohydrate groups showed better results for weight loss.

11–Performance and Recovery
Training in a low-carb state can help with weight loss, boost fat burning capacity, and can speed up aerobic adaptation to training. However, athletes face a compromise when employing low-carb diets; they need the carbohydrates to perform at the highest intensity (especially in a race), and want to keep that energy system working well, but still want the benefits of carb restriction.

Making sure the body has carbs for tough training can help performance. The body needs fuel for the most difficult exercise days. Since carbohydrates are the body’s most readily available fuel source, consuming carbs before a workout enables the body to train harder for high-intensity, short-duration exercise.

12- Interestingly, even the presence of carbohydrates in the mouth (meaning, not actually ingested) can lead to increased performance, because they activated brain regions believed to be involved in reward and motor control.

13-Carbs can also help accelerate recovery. After exercise, consuming carbohydrates can lead to glycogen resynthesis and protein synthesis (after resistance training).

14-3– So, it’s easier to perform and recover if you have enough carbohydrate in your diet. Carb cycling means those big training days can be high quality.

Other Benefits
By cycling carbohydrate consumption, you may be afforded some of the benefits of both higher-carb and lower-carb diets–and avoid some of the common negative side-effects.

Metabolic Health: The combination of two types of diets may help you become metabolically flexible.

5-The days with low-carbs may have a positive impact on insulin sensitivity; this study showed the benefits of a low-carb, high-fat diet on glucose metabolism, lowering fasting glucose and insulin values.8 And when compared to a low-fat diet, a low-carb diet led to greater weight loss, which in turn led to a decrease in triglyceride levels

15–high levels of triglycerides have been associated with cardiovascular disease.

16-Hormone Health: There are some concerns that hormones might be negatively affected by a badly put together low-carb diet, but this could be mitigated by strategic carb feeding.
High-carb feeding periods can potentially boost the levels of some vital hormones, like cortisol. There are some concerns that cortisol can decline when following a low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diet (although not much research supports this fear). To combat this possibility, either make sure your keto diet is well-formulated with enough calories and nutrients,

17– or cycle periods of carbohydrate feeding to give your body a break.

In men, testosterone concentrations were higher after a ten-day high-carbohydrate diet, while cortisol concentrations were consistently lower on the same diet, suggesting the power of diet (specifically the ratio of carbohydrate to protein) as a factor in hormone regulation.

16-Thyroid hormones are essential to regulating metabolism,

18– being crucial determinants of resting metabolic rate. But they themselves are in turn regulated by diet and metabolism because glucose fuels the production of those thyroid hormones. The thyroid produces a large amount of T4 hormones, which are then converted into T3 hormones (T3 is the active thyroid hormone influencing many body processes). When carb intake is reduced, conversion of T4 to T3 reduces.

19– People worry that this might lead to a lower metabolic rate and thus slow down weight loss with a low-carb diet
Longevity: The ketogenic diet may help to increase lifespan and healthspan.
This might be increased further by taking a cyclical approach to the diet: alternating high-carb and low-carb weeks. One study fed a ketogenic diet to mice every other week. Results showed avoidance of obesity, reducing midlife mortality, and prevented memory decline.

20–How to Carb Cycle

Anyone from ametuer dieter to serious athlete can carb cycle. There are different options for how carefully you implement carb cycling, depending on training and recovery needs as well as your overall goals.
Creating a schedule, tracking your progress and targeting carbohydrate intake can help develop a well-formulated plan to succeed cycling carbs.

Create a Schedule

Before a single carb touches your lips, think about your goals. These will formulate your carb cycling plan.

Do you want to lose weight, or maintain weight? Do you want to boost aerobic fat burning capacity or target a lean body composition?

Then consider your typical training week. Which days are your most intense workouts? Which days can you recover, even without carbs? Do you meal prep to make sure you get enough quality, low-carb foods?

Serious athletes might want to take it one step further and consider carb cycling over a longer period, to keep up with training or competition cycle. Instead of breaking up a single week into high-carb and low-carb days, each week would have a different carbohydrate goal. Weeks with a heavy training load would be carb-heavy, while weeks with a lower training load or coming into a weigh-in could be more low/moderate-carb.

Your answers to these questions will determine how you go about cycling carbs. Don’t be afraid to change the schedule and be a bit flexible once you get started.

Log calories and macros
Establishing a calorie goal could prove helpful (especially if you’re trying to lose weight). Multiply your bodyweight by ten, and that’s the amount of calories to work toward if you want to lose weight. To gain weight, you can multiply your bodyweight by

15– to garner a ballpark daily calorie target.

Tracking your macros in a food journal or an app will help keep you accountable. Taking note of everything you eat will let you make sure you get enough calories from the right type of macronutrients while giving you a better understanding of how diet impacts your training output.

Target for a High-Carb Day

High-carb days should accompany your toughest training sessions of the week, such as intense intervals or prolonged weight training. These days call for about 2g of carbs per pound of bodyweight, and they’ll be your highest calories days. If you’re working out four times a week, and weight training once or twice a week, then you should have about one or two high-carb days each week.
Note that you might want to eat high-carb the night before a heavy morning workout to make sure that you are fueled up and ready to go, even if the training on that day was not that intense.

Target for a Medium or Low-Carb Day

Low-carb or medium-carb days can be used to fuel less-intense workouts or recovery days. Depending on training volume, low/medium carb days can be anywhere from 50g – 150g of carbs.

Training low doesn’t mean training on zero carbohydrates. On low-carb days, be sure to prioritize other macronutrients such as good quality protein and fat. High protein intake is important for post-workout recovery and the development of muscle mass. When cutting back on carbs, make sure you get enough calories, and the bulk of these should come from fat.

There are a few strategies that you can use to control your carb intake around your training sessions.

Training low: start your training having limited your carb intake beforehand. Implementing this strategy is simple. You may wake up and workout in the morning without eating before. You may even increase the effect by limiting carb intake the night before. If you workout during the evening, you may limit carbs from morning until that evening training session.

Sleeping low: don’t refuel using carbs after a workout, and stretch out the period before you refuel by sleeping overnight before refuelling with carbs at breakfast. This has shown promise, with a recent review in elite cyclists describing how the “sleep low, train low” method (where morning exercise commences with less than 200 mM of glycogen), improved results for cycling efficiency.

20-On low-carb days, be clever to ensure quality training and recovery. Performing on a low-carb day can be difficult, so consider taking a low-carb or keto energy source, such as HVMN Ketone. Elite athletes have used HVMN Ketone to give them BHB as a fuel during high intensity time trials, showing that if you really want to avoid carbs, swapping in ketones can be a great energy alternative.

Another way to get a boost is to mouth rinse with carbs; this can improve performance without needing to actually eat carbs. You can also use caffeine before your workout, which is another reliable, carb-free way to get your body ready to perform.

What about recovery? BHB from HVMN Ketone is a carb-free alternative for recovery on low-carb days. Studies have shown that not only is less glycogen broken down in training with HVMN Ketone,

21– but glycogen

22– and protein resynthesis

23– are also increased by 60% and 2x respectively. BHB could be a great way to help protect your recovery but also keep carb intake low.

Foods to Remember

With all this talk of carbs, you need to know where to find them so you can either stock up or steer clear.

A carb cycling diet requires high quality, healthy carbs and whole foods. Every once in a while it’s fine to treat yourself in epic, The Rock-like proportions, but from day-to-day, it’s all about maintaining balance. Good carbs include whole grains (like brown rice and oats), legumes (like beans, a good slow-digesting carb) and tubers (sweet potatoes).

Foods low in carbs include meat (beef, chicken, fish), eggs, vegetables (like bell peppers, broccoli and mushrooms), nuts (almonds, walnuts) and dairy (cheese, yogurt). Building a meal plan to incorporate all these types of food should help with each phase of the carb cycling. Even better? Meal prepping, so the stress of cooking depending on the day goes out the window.

But don’t forget about fiber; it plays an important role in weight loss, energy maintenance, regulating blood sugar and controlling hunger. Though fiber is a carb, it doesn’t raise blood sugar like other carbs and plays an important metabolic role because it doesn’t convert to glucose.

Is Carb Cycling Right For You?
It depends on your goals. It also requires some experimentation–based on your lifestyle and fitness routine, finding the right balance of high-carb and low-carb days can take some time and will probably change over the long-term.

What’s nice about carb cycling is the flexibility. It empowers a dieter some choice, while also providing the ability to fuel on days where it’s required, like ahead of intense training sessions. Benefiting from each could help an athlete reach goals for exercise, as well as goals for body composition. But remember to check with your doctor before implementing such wholesale changes to the way you eat.

If you’ve tried carb cycling, let us know the results in the comments.

Scientific Citations

1.	Volek, J.S., Noakes, T.D., and Phinney, S.D. (2015). Rethinking fat as a performance fuel. Eur J Sport Sci 15.
2.	Westman, E.C., Yancy, W.S., Edman, J.S., Tomlin, K.F., and Perkins, C.E. (2002). Effect of six-month adherence to a very-low-carbohydrate diet program. Am J Med 113.
3.	Borsheim E, Cree MG, Tipton KD, Elliott TA, Aarsland A, Wolfe RR. Effect of carbohydrate intake on net muscle protein synthesis during recovery from resistance exercise. J Appl Physiol. 2004;96(2):674-8.
4.	Hansen AK, Fischer CP, Plomgaard P, Andersen JL, Saltin B, Pedersen BK. Skeletal muscle adaptation: training twice every second day vs. training once daily. J Appl Physiol. 2005;98(1):93-9.
5.	Kunces L, Volk B, Freidenreich D, et al. Effect of a very low carbohydrate diet followed by incremental increases in carbohydrate on respiratory exchange ratio. FASEB Journal. 2014;28(1).
6.	Volek, J.S., Freidenreich, D.J., Saenz, C., Kunces, L.J., Creighton, B.C., Bartley, J.M., Davitt, P.M., Munoz, C.X., Anderson, J.M., Maresh, C.M., et al. (2016). Metabolic characteristics of keto-adapted ultra-endurance runners. Metabolism 65, 100-110.
7.	Reaven GM. Effects of differences in amount and kind of dietary carbohydrate on plasma glucose and insulin responses in man. Am J Clin Nutr. 1979;32(12):2568-78.
8.	Gower BA, Goss AM. A lower-carbohydrate, higher-fat diet reduces abdominal and intermuscular fat and increases insulin sensitivity in adults at risk of type 2 diabetes. J Nutr. 2015;145(1):177S-83S.
9.	Impey SG, Hearris MA, Hammond KM, et al. Fuel for the Work Required: A Theoretical Framework for Carbohydrate Periodization and the Glycogen Threshold Hypothesis. Sports Med. 2018;48(5):1031-1048.
10.	Sacks FM, Bray GA, Carey VJ, et al. Comparison of weight-loss diets with different compositions of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. N Engl J Med. 2009;360(9):859-73.
11.	Harvie M, Wright C, Pegington M, et al. The effect of intermittent energy and carbohydrate restriction v. daily energy restriction on weight loss and metabolic disease risk markers in overweight women. Br J Nutr. 2013;110(8):1534-47.
12.	Pizza FX, Flynn MG, Duscha BD, Holden J, Kubitz ER. A carbohydrate loading regimen improves high intensity, short duration exercise performance. Int J Sport Nutr. 1995;5(2):110-6.
13.	Chambers ES, Bridge MW, Jones DA. Carbohydrate sensing in the human mouth: effects on exercise performance and brain activity. J Physiol (Lond). 2009;587(Pt 8):1779-94.
14.	Ivy JL. Glycogen resynthesis after exercise: effect of carbohydrate intake. Int J Sports Med. 1998;19 Suppl 2:S142-5.
15.	Yancy W, Olsen MK, Guytib JR, et al. A Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet versus a Low-Fat Diet To Treat Obesity and Hyperlipidemia: A Randomized, Controlled Trial. Ann Intern Med. 2004;140(10):769-777.
16.	Harchaoui KE, Visser ME, Kastelein JJ, Stroes ES, Dallinga-thie GM. Triglycerides and cardiovascular risk. Curr Cardiol Rev. 2009;5(3):216-22.
17.	Volek, J.S., Gomez, A.L., and Kraemer, W.J. (2000). Fasting lipoprotein and postprandial triacylglycerol responses to a low-carbohydrate diet supplemented with n-3 fatty acids. J. Am. Coll. Nutr. 19, 383-391.
18.	Chidakel A, Mentuccia D, Celi FS. Peripheral metabolism of thyroid hormone and glucose homeostasis. Thyroid. 2005;15(8):899-903.
19.	Bisschop PH, Sauerwein HP, Endert E, Romijn JA. Isocaloric carbohydrate deprivation induces protein catabolism despite a low T3-syndrome in healthy men. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2001;54(1):75-80.
20.	Ketogenic Diet Reduces Midlife Mortality and Improves Memory in Aging Mice Newman, John C. et al. Cell Metabolism , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , 547 – 557.e8
21.	Cox, P.J., Kirk, T., Ashmore, T., Willerton, K., Evans, R., Smith, A., Murray, Andrew J., Stubbs, B., West, J., McLure, Stewart W., et al. (2016). Nutritional Ketosis Alters Fuel Preference and Thereby Endurance Performance in Athletes. Cell Metabolism 24, 1-13.
22.	Holdsworth, D.A., Cox, P.J., Kirk, T., Stradling, H., Impey, S.G., and Clarke, K. (2017). A Ketone Ester Drink Increases Postexercise Muscle Glycogen Synthesis in Humans. Med Sci Sports Exerc.
23.	Vandoorne, T., De Smet, S., Ramaekers, M., Van Thienen, R., De Bock, K., Clarke, K., and Hespel, P. (2017). Intake of a Ketone Ester Drink during Recovery from Exercise Promotes mTORC1 Signaling but Not Glycogen Resynthesis in Human Muscle. Front. Physiol. 8, 310.

18 Gennaio 2019

How Much Weight Should You Lift To Build Muscle (And When To Lift More)

Title: How Much Weight Should You Lift To Build Muscle (And When To Lift More)

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 3255 words

How Much Weight Should You Lift To Build Muscle (And When To Lift More)

When should you increase the weight you’re lifting? How much weight should you add? How do you know if the weight is too heavy? How do you know if the weight is too light? If you’re attempting 3 sets of 8 to 12, do you have to get all 3 sets of 12 before you increase the weight, or just hit 12 on one set? If you increase the weight but then you can’t get enough reps, what then? What if your left arm doesn’t get as many reps as your right arm, with the same weight? What if you flat-out can’t increase the weight at all? What then?

Understanding how to choose the right weight is so vital, you could be completely wasting your gym time if you don’t get this right.

That’s why I’ve created a set of guidelines that will help you choose the right weight and show you how to increase the weight and reps over time with the best results.

Please note; this is not a discussion about how to get stronger per se, only how to know if you’re using the right weight to build muscle, and when to increase it.

This is also not an exhaustive discussion of all the methods you have available for progressive overload in your workouts (as you will find here in my overload training manual).

What you’re getting here today is a great set of guidelines for mastering the primary progression variable: Increasing the weight, also known as progressive resistance. And with that, here’s the list of my top 10 ways to choose the right weight and make more muscle gains…

1. Work in a repetition max range rather than have a single rep target.

Compared to using one rep target like “3 sets of 10 reps” or 5 sets of 5 reps,” using a rep range makes it easier for most people to choose the right weight and know when to increase it.

The most vital first step is to choose the rep range most compatible with your goals. For example, if your primary goal is strength, training exclusively with weights so light that you can do 20 reps on every set is clearly the wrong way (that’s training for muscle endurance). If your primary goal is bodybuilding, training only in the 1 to 5 rep range is not the right way either (that’s powerlifting).

Using a rep range and judging if it’s the right load by perceived exertion is simple, easy and it eliminates the need for a 1 rep max test. In the chart below, you can see the rep range associated with a particular goal or outcome:

1-5 reps: Neural: Strength & power, some hypertrophy
6-8 reps: Neural & metabolic: Strength & Hypertrophy
9-12 reps: Metabolic & Neural: Hypertrophy & some strength
13-20+ reps: Metabolic: Muscular endurance, some hypertrophy, little strength

Typically the range most often recommended for muscle growth (hypertrophy) is 6 to 12 reps (or 8 to 12 reps, depending on who you ask).

Beginners usually start by choosing one rep range, and they shouldn’t worry about rotating rep ranges at first, because beginners respond well to almost anything. As you advance, using periodization (varying the workout stimulus day to day or week to week including the rep range), becomes increasingly beneficial.

Ultimately, for building muscle, using multiple rep ranges is ideal for advanced trainees, and this is often done by using the “heavy day – lighter day” system or a heavy-medium-light system. At this stage, the majority of your training would still fall in the 8 to 12 range, but with some heavier work below 6 reps and some lighter work above 12 to 15 reps.

Note for women: Most trainers do not like the word “tone,” because technically, there’s no such thing. However, I think it’s fine if women who are not bodybuilders or physique athletes swap out the words muscle “hypertrophy” or “growth” (size) with “toning” or “firming” and here’s why: If women believe they are going to get bigger doing sets of 6, 8, 10 or 12 reps, many may instead keep choosing tiny light weights that they could rep out all day long – but that actually gets you nowhere because it’s not enough resistance.

Women lack the testosterone to gain muscle “mass” the way men do, but when women train in the optimal hypertrophy rep range, the effect is exactly what they say they want: “muscle shaping, firming and toning” (think “better curves”). You only achieve that by training with enough weight in the right rep ranges.

2. Increase the weight if you can hit your the upper number in your rep range (or more) on all of your sets.

Once you know the rep range you’re aiming for, adjusting the weight is simple: When you hit the higher end of your rep range on all your sets – in good form – that is your signal to increase the weight at your next workout.

If you hit the upper number in your rep range target and it was super-easy, (you feel like you could have kept going for several more), you don’t even have to wait for the next workout, you could increase the weight right then and there for your second set.

Here’s an example: If your target was 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps and you hit all three sets of 12 (the upper number in your rep range target), with good form it’s time to increase the weight for the next workout.

If you only hit one set at the upper end of the target range, for example, if your three sets are 12, 11, 10 reps, yes, you can still increase the weight if you want to, because you did hit one set of 12, or you can stay at the same weight and keep working toward that goal of 3 full sets of 12. You can make your own judgement call on that.

3. Decrease the weight if you can’t hit your lower rep max number on any of your sets.

The flipside of the above also applies: An absolutely certain way to know if the weight is too heavy is when you can’t hit the low end of your rep range on any sets. If the rep range you’ve chosen is 10-15 reps and you can’t even do one set of 8 or 9 reps, it’s absolutely too heavy and you should reduce the poundage.

4. Remember that sometimes it’s normal for reps to drop with successive sets.

After you complete each set, fatigue and exercise metabolism waste-products accumulate, while energy reserves decline, and this may result in your reps dropping from set to set. This is especially true if you train to failure. The more reps you leave in the tank with each set, the easier it’s going to be to stay in your target rep range on all of your sets. Repetition drop-off also happens in your later sets if your rest intervals are too short (if you want time-efficiency, instead of cutting rest intervals between regular sets, consider the Burn The Fat antagonist superset system)

If the reps drop slightly, that’s ok, in fact, because usually it means you’re working hard on the early sets. On the other hand, losing steam with each passing set and exercise as the workout goes on can also be a sign that you’re tired, sleep-deprived, under-fueled, under-nourished, under-recovered from previous workouts or not mentally focused. The end result of all the above is that you may not always hit your intended number of reps or even your intended rep range.

If you’re doing 3 sets of 8 – 12, it might look like this: set 1: 12 reps, set 2: 10 reps, set 3: 9 reps. This is normal and okay. Just keep working to get stronger and do more reps on each set in future workouts when you feel able to do so. On the other hand, if your goal was 8 to 12 reps and you did 11 reps, 8 reps and 6 reps in each set, that’s too much dropoff and you should consider using the strategies above so you stay in your target rep range).

5. Understand that it’s normal for one arm to be stronger than another at first.

Since most of us have a dominant side, it’s perfectly normal for one arm to be a little stronger than another. It’s also quite possible that one arm may randomly get one more rep than the other.

Don’t worry about it – it’s just one rep. In fact, you might want to give yourself a plus or minus (+ / -) one rep rule on every set of every exercise you do because it helps you relieve the stress of worrying about the small stuff like this.

For example, if one day you do 12 reps with your left arm and 13 reps with your right arm, that’s fine. In this case, it is like horseshoes or hand grenades – close enough is close enough. NOTE: training with dumbbells and unilateral exercises over time can help even out your strength.

6. Increase the weights in relative increments and expect the weight increases to slow down as you get more advanced.

Common recommendations for progressive resistance are to increase the weight by 5 to 10 pounds or 5% to 10% at a time. Keep in mind, however, that this is not the same amount. Percentage is relative, while pounds are absolute. The actual amount you can increase can vary for many reasons, including the type of exercise and how many years you’ve been training.

A strong guy might curl 50 pound dumbbells for reps with strict form. A 5 percent increase would only be 2.5 pounds – increasing to a 52.5 pound dumbbell, a small and manageable absolute increase.Even adding 10% and moving up to the 55 pound dumbbells is do-able.

Compound barbell exercises like squats and deadlifts or machines like leg presses allow you to use much heavier weights, so the absolute amount of weight increase may be higher. If a 200 pound man is squatting 400 pounds, increasing by 5% (20 pounds – a 10 pound plate on each side) is possible, but a big jump in absolute terms. A 10% increase of 40 pounds is probably out of the question. Adding just 5 pounds on each side of the bar, jumping up to 410 lbs, a 2.5% increase is good progress.

That brings us to another point: How small of a weight increase you use is often dictated not only by the type of exercise and your training age, but also by the equipment you have available. Special equipment can make slow progression through small weight jumps possible. This is known as micro-progression.

Most dumbbell racks only go up in 5 pound increments. But some well equipped gyms have a rack of dumbbells that goes up in 2.5 increments and these are fantastic for slow progression.

A second option is the adjustable dumbbells where you put free weight plates on the side of each dumbbell handle and secure them with collars. Weight plates are available in 2.5 and even 1.25 pound increments at fitness and sporting good stores. Also, some collars have weight and whatever the collars weigh also counts.

A third option is magnetic plates (such as PlateMates). If you are using metal dumbbells (not encased in rubber – and hopefully not those old vinyl Kmart plates), the micro-weights attach magnetically. These come in 1.25 pound increments so one on each side of a bell makes your 2.5 pound increment.

Microprogression is valuable all the time for small body part isolation exercises, but it also comes in handy for advanced lifters. After years of experience and progression, you have already captured all your rapid “newbie” gains and your rate of progress, both in muscle growth and in strength, slows down dramatically. Personal records (PR’s) come much more infrequently. Nevertheless, it remains the goal of most lifters to continue finding ways to get stronger and hit new PRs.

Of course, there is the powerlifter joke that “real men” are only allowed to add 45 pound plates on the bar, (Olympic bars loaded with 45’s go up: 135, 225, 315, 405, 495), but I’d take that one with a grain of salt if I were you. No matter where you are on the strength spectrum, never turn your nose up at small increases and keep in mind that you will not always be able to increase the weight.

7. Use the double progressive system, working up in reps, then weight, then repeating.

One reason you can’t increase the weight predictably every time is becasue almost everyone has natural up and down days. Some days you are stronger and more energetic than others. Another reason is that beginners make much faster progress than advanced trainees. The longer you’ve been training, the slower your progress typical comes.

Whatever the reason you can’t increase the weight at the moment, you can almost always do one more rep with the same weight, and one more rep is not an intimidating goal.

This is the “one step at a time” mentality, and while it may seem like it will take forever moving up one rep at a time, remember that you are going to be training for a lifetime and it’s vital to appreciate slow progression.

Below you’ll see the example of double progression that was used in the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book:

225 pounds X 8 reps – start at low end of rep range
225 pounds X 9 reps – Increase by one rep
225 pounds X 10 reps – Increase by one rep
225 pounds X 11 reps – Increase by one rep
225 pounds X 12 reps – Achieved rep goal — increase weight
235 pounds X 8 reps – Drop back to low end of rep range
235 pounds X 9 reps – Increase by one rep
235 pounds X 10 reps – Increase by one rep
235 pounds X 11 reps – Increase by one rep
235 pounds X 12 reps – Achieved rep goal — increase weight.
245 pounds X 8 reps – Drop back to low end of rep range.

This is a simplified, linear example. More often, progress comes in spurts, and then plateaus. You might jump three steps forward and then one step sideways (or back). Sometimes you’ll make fast strength gains and increase the weight every workout. At other times, you must be patient and move up one rep at a time. That’s the main point of the double progressive system: If you add even one more rep with the same weight each workout, that’s progress! In this example, it took 10 workouts to move up by 20 pounds. Patience, combined with good record-keeping with a training journal pays off.

8. Use other methods of progressive overload instead of using progressive resistance.

Adding more weight to the bar is the big daddy of progression methods, but it’s not the only way to challenge yourself to improve your performance. As mentioned above, doing more reps with the same weight is a form of progressive overload.

Adding volume is a method of progression as well. That means more sets and more exercises. Contrary to what the minimalist training gurus claim, increasing volume can often work shockingly well, as long as you do it within your recovery ability, within practical restraints such as time available, and you appropriately cycle between lower and higher volume workouts.

Density training is yet another method of overload. That means doing the same volume of work in less time, doing more work in the same time or even doing more work in less time.

The use of increased intensity of effort techniques or set extension techniques can also overload your muscles. Drop sets, supersets, giant sets, static holds and so on – using the same weight – all give your muscles a new challenge. You could even argue that stricter form with the same weight is also an overload of sorts.

If you can’t, or don’t want to keep adding more weight, you are free to employ one or more of these techniques (you can learn more in my Ultimate Progressive Overload for Bodybuilding and Physique Transformation Manual)

9. Take a deload or back off period, then start your progression over again.

Sometimes when you hit a sticking point and the weights or reps don’t seem to move, it doesn’t mean you’ve done something wrong, it means you have built up to a temporary peak in intensity, volume and so on. There is another potential peak with advancement and personal records ahead of you, but first your body needs a short rest before climbing that next mountain.

After your training has reached an intensity peak, your body is “stressed out” and needs a break to avoid being pushed into an overtrained state. But instead of taking a total rest week, you continue to train, and simply back off the weights and intensity for a short period. This is known as de-loading, and it allows your body a short time to recover and “reap” the gains you obtained in the previous weeks. This is a phenomenon known as “super compensation,” which means that even during that de-load week, you continue to see gains, often good ones, which is a result not of the deload week by itself, but the intensity peak that preceded it.

What often happens after a de-load is you can pick up where you left off (or take one step back to prep for 2 or 3 more steps forward), and when you do resume training full-bore, you break through to a new PR by the end of the next cycle.

10. Change the exercise.

Sometimes you reach a point where you have milked all the results out of a particular exercise routine and it’s simply time to change it. This sometimes involves changing the frequency, changing the volume, changing the set and rep parameters or changing the techniques used. Most often it involves changing some or even all the exercises.

It may not be necessary or even beneficial to change all the exercises, but changing some exercises on a regular basis is important to continue producing new progress (it also helps you avoid boredom and burnout). Because some exercises are so fundamental and effective, you might stay with those exercises, but change the other variables mentioned above.

Alternately, you keep the basic movement pattern and use an exercise variation. Examples include changing from back squat to front squat, from conventional deadlift to hex bar deadlift, from barbell press to dumbbell press or from barbell row to dumbbell row. Sometimes as little as a grip change is enough, such as moving from pull up to chin up, from supinated row to pronated row, from wide grip pulldown to close grip pulldown and so on.

Want to learn more?

For years, I’ve been bombarded with questions about how to choose the right weight and when to increase it, and I hope this tutorial on progressive resistance has helped clear up up this often-confusing subject.

If you want to learn more about all the other progressive overload systems (not just progressive resistance), then be sure to download a copy of my new e-book, The Ultimate Progressive Overload Training Manual For Body Building and Body Transformation.

It’s brand new and and you can get your copy here:

CLICK HERE To Download Your Progressive Overload Training Manual

About Tom Venuto

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, fitness writer and author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of Bodybuilders and Fitness Models and the national bestseller, The Body Fat Solution, which was an Oprah Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine pick. Tom has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Oprah Magazine, Muscle and Fitness Magazine, Ironman Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine, as well as on dozens of radio shows including Sirius Satellite Radio, ESPN-1250 and WCBS. Tom is also the founder and CEO of Burn The Fat Inner Circle – a fitness support community for inspiration and transformation

23 Gennaio 2017
Meal Planning Is Not The Opposite Of Flexible Dieting
Title: Meal Planning Is Not The Opposite Of Flexible Dieting

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 4249 words

Meal Planning Is Not The Opposite Of Flexible Dieting

By Tom Venuto

BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System

Every cliché you’ve ever heard about the importance of planning is true. Failing to plan is a disaster waiting to happen. Planning is power. Planning is confidence. Planning is success. It’s no secret that I’m an advocate of meal planning, and it’s a major part of my Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle system. I’m also a supporter of flexible dieting. If you don’t know what flexible dieting is, or if you do, but it seems like flexible dieting and meal planning don’t go together, then this will be the most important post you’ve ever read…

There are two major reasons I’m writing this:
1. Many people who know about flexible dieting are practicing (and preaching) it all wrong.
2. Many people know about flexible dieting but they think flexible dieting and meal planning are antagonistic concepts.
Simply stated, it’s widely believed that if you follow a meal plan, you’re not being flexible. Not only is this false, it’s absurd. Let me explain by starting with my definition of meal planning…

What is meal planning?

Years ago I heard the great motivational speaker Jim Rohn say something that changed my life: He said, “Never start your day until you finish it.”

At first that may sound like a contradiction or even a riddle (like one of those Japanese Koans), but it’s really quite simple and straightforward.

What Rohn meant was you should never begin your day unless you’ve already planned it in advance (“finished it”), in your mind and on paper. He was referring broadly to the daily actions that lead to success in all kinds of life goals, but this applies especially well to daily meal planning. Don’t start your day until you know what you’re going to eat that day. In other words, plan your meals in advance…

Do your calorie calculations first, then set your targets for protein, carbohydrate and fat (macronutrients, aka “macros”). Next, create a daily meal plan that fits your macros and consists of (mostly) healthy foods that you enjoy. Use an electronic tool such as a simple Excel spreadsheet, an online tool like our Burn the Fat Meal Planner (at www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com ), or a mobile app. Then store that meal plan in your mobile device and print it on paper and stick it on your refrigerator or somewhere you’ll easily and regularly see it.

Do this and you’re now harnessing the power of goals. You now have an eating goal for the day and you’re avoiding most of the problems that arise when you just venture out into your busy day unprepared. Without planning, you leave yourself at the mercy of impulse and circumstances. Without goals, you wander aimlessly or float wherever the current of your busy life takes you. For many people, that’s straight to the nearest fast food joint or the donut table at work.

Worse still, eating haphazardly, even if you make healthy choices, makes it nearly impossible to establish a baseline, so you can’t track your weekly body composition progress or troubleshoot plateaus.

I first learned about meal planning one day in 1991. With the help of a bodybuilding nutritionist, together we sat down and created my meal plans using computer software. I printed them out so I could look at my daily eating goal every day. I never stopped. I’ve taught this method to all my clients for over 25 years and I’m a believer in it to this day. At the same time, I don’t think it’s a contradiction to say I’m also a believer in flexible dieting.

What is flexible dieting?

The general idea of putting some kind of leeway into your diet goes back to at least the 1990s, when the recommendation of taking a once a week cheat day was popular (a less refined way of being flexible that may have potential pitfalls, but it was a start). I’ve seen studies indexed in pub med using the terms “flexible dieting” as far back as 1999.

But generally, until about the mid 2000s, most diets were looked at as very rigid affairs, and especially in bodybuilding. You ate what your guru or coach told you to eat, you were given strict food lists to follow and there were unbreakable rules. Everything was black and white, do or don’t, good or bad.

Flexible dieting wasn’t explained more formally until years later. The first time I saw a complete program in print under the name “flexible dieting” was in 2005 in Lyle McDonald’s book on the subject. Within 5 to 10 years after that, almost everyone was talking about flexible dieting and many books, plus countless articles had been published about it.

Okay, so enough history, what is it? Flexible dieting is based on the idea that it’s counterproductive to deprive yourself of your favorite foods completely, to follow someone else’s food list without deviation or to restrict yourself to a short list of unprocessed health foods 100% of the time.

It may seem a noble intention to aim for eating 100% “clean,” but research on nutrition, behavior and psychology gives us evidence that the 100% strict approach usually ends in failure (it’s also not much fun, especially when holidays, birthdays and social events roll around).

People who are too rigid with their diets usually learn the hard way that you tend to crave what you’re not supposed to have. The more rules and restrictions you have about what foods are “bad” and what you can “never eat”, the more likely you are to eventually break those rules. Even if you’ve got strong willpower and lots of restraint, over time, the pressure of missing your favorite foods builds up, social pressure gets added on top, “life happens,” and ultimately, you cave in to cravings or temptations.

The irony of it all is that a single diet mistake is actually not a big deal. The bigger problem is in the all-or-nothing mentality of the dieter that makes a mountain out of a molehill. After a single slip up, like having a piece of pizza that wasn’t on their meal plan, the perfectionist (un-flexible) dieter feels as if their entire program is blown. They figure, “I already screwed up, so it doesn’t matter now,” and they proceed to polish off a whole pie, and wash it down with a liter of cola or a six pack of beer. It’s as if a switch in their head was flipped from 100% “on” to 100% “off.”

Now they’ve really set themselves back, guilt follows the binge, they feel like an even bigger failure, and it’s “back to square one” next Monday (or they abandon their entire plan). If that slice of pizza were actually allowed as part of the weekly meal plan to begin with, eating it would not be seen as a failure, and not given a second thought – it would be enjoyed.

Both real world experience and scientific research have shown, paradoxically, that people who have fewer food restrictions, who include favorite foods and make an allowance for cheat meals, have a better long term adherence, a higher fat loss success rate and are less likely to show symptoms of eating disorders. They don’t feel deprived, and they’re happier because they can more easily participate in social events that involve food.

Compliance to a calorie deficit is required for fat loss. And for good health, the majority of your calories should come from nutritious, unprocessed foods. But you can allow a small portion of your calories for any of your favorite treat foods and still reach your goals. Ice cream, chocolate, pizza, pancakes, French fries, even cheesecake – anything goes. No foods should be forbidden in flexible dieting (outside of allergy, intolerance, and so on), or it defeats the purpose.

If you enjoy “cheat foods” occasionally in a disciplined, measured fashion, as part of a structured, by-the-numbers nutrition plan, it will usually help, not hurt. It will help overweight men and women get the fat off and maintain their new healthy weight long term, and even competitive bodybuilders and fitness models these days are using carefully planned cheat meals without sacrificing condition, making what is otherwise a very strict diet much more tolerable.

Why people believe meal planning and flexible dieting oppose each other

I support flexible eating and I acknowledge the research that supports it, as well as the ongoing success people are having in the real world. I also believe creating meal plans in advance is one of the most powerful first steps for taking charge of your body composition and health.

However, many people who now call themselves flexible dieters, do not think meal planning and being flexible go together. As best as I can figure, they think that if you write a meal plan in advance, or get a meal plan from a coach or nutritionist, then you are being rigid because you now have a prescription you’re forced to follow.

They believe instead, that all you have to do is follow handful of sensible eating rules that have flexibility built in, and you don’t have to know in advance what you’ll eat each day. For example, a flexible dieter might have rules like these:
1. Track your calories and grams of protein, carbs and fat (“macros”).
2. Eat mostly unrefined, nutrient-dense healthy foods (aim for 90%).
3. Eat foods you like that you can see yourself eating for life.
4. There are no forbidden foods.
5. Eat anything you want with 10% of your calories.
Each person’s rules might be a little different – some might have rules about portion sizes (deck of cards or the size of your palm) or suggest “eat until you are 80% full” instead of counting calories, and so on, but the idea is the same. With flexible dieting, there is some structure, but inside the boundaries that are set, you can take the ball and run with it anywhere you want (there’s no prescription of specific foods you “must” eat).

Some dieters, especially those who follow the IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros) method, tend to be more opposed to premade meal plans than others. IIFYM is a specific type of flexible dieting and with IIFYM, the rules are simple: calculate your ideal daily targets for calories, protein, carbs and fat, make sure you eat enough “healthy” food to reach your daily fiber and micronutrient needs, and after that, eat anything you want. Just use an app or electronic device to log in your food as the day goes on, because you do have to be strict about the macros and calories.

Doing meal plans by the numbers – calories and macros – is not something I’m a stranger to. That first meal plan I created back in the early 90’s on a desktop computer – it wasn’t just a list of foods or even just a list of portion sizes, it had the calories and macros for each food listed, as well as subtotals for each meal and grand totals for the day at the bottom.

This is one point where I agree with IIFYM. There are other “flexible dieting” methods that work which don’t require counting calories or macros (the portion method, for example), but tracking calories and macros is worth it, in my opinion. That’s especially true for beginners who can’t accurately eyeball portion sizes or ballpark calories because they don’t have any experience or nutrition education yet. Tracking calories and macros is also important when you’re stuck at a plateau or when a lot is at stake like physique competition.

A brief rant on the shortcomings of IIFYM

I’ve always set up meal plans by the numbers (calories, protein, carbs and fat), and I also like flexible dieting, so IIFYM should be a good idea then, right? Well, maybe. It depends on how you approach it. Something that surprised me was the first time I heard of this thing called “freestyle IIFYM.”

Freestyle is referring to the highly flexible method of going into your day with nothing but goals for calories, macros and (hopefully) eating enough healthy food to hit your “fiber and micros.” But aside from that, there’s no meal plan. This type of IIFYMer doesn’t know specifically what he’s going to eat for the day, only how much. That’s the idea – he sees that as the ultimate in flexibility. I get it, but I also think starting your day without a plan is a bad idea for most people, especially if you’re struggling with fat loss.

IIFYM may be popular (at least in the younger generation, and especially online, if #hashtag volume is any indication), but the way I see it, IIFYM has become the ugly stepchild of flexible dieting. I’m not entirely sure what caused this mutation in flexible dieting’s acronymed offpring. Some, who adopted a low calorie junk food diet because they found out they could get away with it and still get lean (look up Dr. Haub and the Twinkie Diet experiment), are flat out doing it wrong – the unhealthy way. But I suspect that many IIFYMers simply lack the communication skills to explain it well, so it ended up a convoluted mess of the originally well-intentioned idea.

I have to laugh when IIFYM dieters complain that people misunderstand what they’re doing and wonder why everyone thinks IIFYM means only eating pop tarts and cheesecake, when actually 80% or 90% of their calories come from traditional bodybuilding foods (aka “bro food.”) Could it be because they mostly post photos of poptarts and cheesecake in their social media feeds with #IIFYM hashtags, while bragging how they eat anything and still get ripped? (which is insufferably annoying, by the way). It’s not hard to see why IIFYM has caused a lot of confusion and silly debate.

[The video below is worth every second of the 28 minute duration to watch. Best interview on flexible dieting on the web via Alan Aragon and Juma Iraki… includes the true origin story of IIFYM @3:30]

Flexible dieting is a simple concept that’s easy to explain and easy to adopt into any kind of food philosophy. That’s why I prefer the term flexible dieting, and I would not shed a tear if IIFYM fell off the map. But I digress… back to the lecture at hand…

Why following a meal plan can still be flexible

Now, someone who agrees that flexible dieting is a good thing might say, “But Tom, if you give me a meal plan, and I have to follow exactly what’s on your meal plan, then I won’t be a flexible dieter anymore, will I? My answer is, first of all, that’s not an accurate statement. What’s more, I don’t want to give you a meal plan, let alone ask you to follow mine. If I had my way, I would never give a daily meal plan to anyone. I would only teach readers how to create their own meal plans using templates, and simple nutrition rules or guidelines.

The only kind of meal plan you should want is one that’s customized for you. That means you either learn how to do it yourself or you sit down with a coach and do it together. At the very least, your coach creates a customized plan based on foods you’ve said you enjoy eating. There’s nothing worse than generic meal plans.

Why do nutrition books and fitness coaches give cookie cutter meal plans anyway? Because almost every client demands it. The market demands it. If you put out a fat loss book with no meal plans in it, you get complaints from readers who say, “Where’s the meal plans?” People have been conditioned by the industry that a diet book is supposed to be more meal plans (and or recipes) than education.

Furthermore, it’s human nature to want everything “done for you.” The average person doesn’t want to read 225 pages about nutrition education – they want to read 25 pages of nutrition science or theory and get 200 pages of meal plans and recipes. They don’t want to do the work of crunching numbers and creating a meal plan schedule themselves. It’s work!

Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons many people struggle. “Done for you” is not educating you.

The difference between giving someone a fish and teaching them to fish

If I give you a fish, you will eat for a day, but then you will need me again every day, or you’ll go out begging for someone else to give you the next fish. I would rather teach you how to fish. If you’re a good learner, and you learn how to fish, you will eat well for life. You also don’t have to depend on me or anyone else to feed you in the future. See how well the old analogy fits?

Because of human nature and market pressures, the diet industry keeps prescribing meal plans – and yes, unfortunately it’s true, they may not be flexible. The mainstream diet industry is still based on the ideas of bad foods, forbidden foods, rigid food lists, foods to “never eat,” magic superfoods and strict diet rules. If you buy pop diets, you get pop diet (cookie-cutter) meal plans.

I would rather let you make your own choices inside a structured but flexible framework. If I do show you a sample meal plan (which I know most people will still want to see), I will explain that it’s only an example of how I might eat, or how other people successful at body transformation eat, not a rigid prescription for you. I would tell you that I want you to learn how to create your own meal plans, and I’m simply showing you samples as idea starters.

Bottom line, here is how a meal plan can be flexible: You create and customize your own!

Creating your own meal plans also aligns with what psychology research says about autonomy and self-motivation. If you feel you had a hand in the process of creating your own program (you don’t feel like it was passed down from a diet dictator) you’ll be more self-motivated and more likely to make the changes a lasting part of your lifestyle. That’s because autonomy (your freedom of choice) is linked to intrinsic motivation. This is yet another reason why flexible dieting works, and it has not been discussed nearly enough yet.

Here’s another reason why working off a daily meal plan can still be called flexible dieting: Who says you have to follow the same meal plan every day? Granted, I follow the same meal plan every day, more or less, but that’s my choice. I have personal reasons I do that, and there’s also science saying it can help with fat loss.

If you don’t want to eat the same thing every day, you don’t have to. Make two meal plans. Make three! Make seven, if you really want to, but you don’t need many. I’ve seen diet books with 12 weeks worth of different daily meal plans. Who in the world buys a diet book and eats exactly what someone else prescribed for 84 days? However, if you simply have two or three meal plans that you created, and you rotate them, that is enough variety to make most people happy. If you have three meal plans with five meals each, that’s fifteen different meals you could rotate!

There’s even more. For those freestyle-loving people, you can make substitutions off one meal plan on the fly – food by food or meal by meal. With the right meal plan template, it’s paint-by-numbers easy. Suppose oatmeal, a banana and scrambled eggs is on your breakfast meal plan, but you don’t want oatmeal yet again this morning. If you understand the body-building food category system, like the one in Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, you know that all you have to do is swap one food with a different food from the same group and your calories and macros for the day will automatically be in the ballpark.

Lets suppose you were eating ½ cup (40g) of oatmeal. That’s 150 calories. If you swap for 2 slices of Ezekiel bread toast that’s 160 calories. Close enough – you’re done! What could be easier than swapping starchy carb for starchy carb or protein for protein? All you have to do is learn about those food categories so you can make exchanges. This isn’t rocket science and it isn’t new. In fact, good dieticians have been teaching food exchange systems for as long as I can remember. This is simple stuff! It’s only hard if you make it so by accepting the wrong (rigid) rules or trying to micromanage.

Why following a structured yet flexible meal plan is the most powerful nutrition strategy

There are things I’ve changed my mind about over the years, but nothing will ever dissuade me from my belief that working from a daily meal plan is a great way to transform your body and health.

You don’t have to adopt all my “body-builder nutrition” rules. If you are paleo, go ahead, follow paleo rules. If you are vegan, follow vegan rules. If you are gluten intolerant, follow gluten intolerant rules. If you are low carb, follow your brand of low carb rules. These things don’t matter when creating meal plans. What matters is that you do create a meal plan and follow it.

When you create your own meal plan, it’s yours, and that makes it flexible to begin with. It’s flexible if you learn how to make changes for day to day variety. It’s flexible if you learn how to make food or meal exchanges on the fly. If you eat mostly healthy foods but leave room for your favorite foods and treats on special occasions, it’s flexible. If you reject the idea of forbidden foods and being 100% strict, it’s flexible.

How to put these ideas into practice

I know this was a long post. As Blaise Pascal once said, I would have made it shorter, but I didn’t have the time. I thank you and applaud you for staying with me to the end, because this is life-changing stuff. If you want to take the next step, there are tools that can help you put this into practice, and many of them are free.

You can create a meal plan with something you probably already have installed on your computer – a spreadsheet (such as Microsoft Excel). You can download my free spreadsheets here: www.burnthefatfeedthemuscle.com/freetools.html

You can use your favorite mobile app, provided it has robust enough daily meal plan functions. There are paid and free apps that do this. My fitness pal is popular among Burn the Fat readers. Lose it, FatSecret and My Macros have also come up in our recent discussions (if there’s another one you like, feel free to share it in the comments below, along with why you like it).

Or you can use the ultimate meal planning tool – the Burn the Fat Meal Planning software, available to our members at www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com . I’ll be talking more about this new development in the future – it’s the best online meal planning software in the world.

And remember something: If you create your meal plan in advance, including tallying up the calories, protein, carbs and fat, you don’t have to use an app every day or count anything else! You’ve already crunched the numbers! Now, just follow your plan!!!

Last but not least, of course, if you want to read about a complete meal-building and daily meal plan creation system, be sure to break out your copy of the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book. I’m assuming most people who regularly read Burn the Fat blog already have the Burn the Fat book, so just crack it open to chapter 14: The Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle meal planning system.

If you don’t have it yet, you can pick up a copy at your Local Barnes and Noble, (Chapters/Indigo in Canada) or your favorite independent bookseller. Or, order the book online at Amazon here: www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804137846/

Conclusion

Meal planning and flexible dieting go together beautifully, if you approach it the right way. Not everyone does. Our industry can do a better job teaching this. In fact, I propose we dispose of IIFYM and start a movement with a new name, called “Flexible Body-Building Nutrition” (#FBBN).

That’s what Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is, and it’s a great way to describe the program. It’s not a diet, it’s a by-the-numbers and structured, yet flexible way of eating, designed to build you a great body. Build muscle, build strength, build fitness, build health… oh, and burn fat too!

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, author of
Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle,
The Bible of Fat Loss

Get Burn the Fat:
www.amazon.com/Burn-Fat-Feed-Muscle-Transform

About Tom Venuto

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, fitness writer and author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of Bodybuilders and Fitness Models and the national bestseller, The Body Fat Solution, which was an Oprah Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine pick. Tom has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Oprah Magazine, Muscle and Fitness Magazine, Ironman Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine, as well as on dozens of radio shows including Sirius Satellite Radio, ESPN-1250 and WCBS. Tom is also the founder and CEO of www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com – a fitness support community for inspiration and transformation
21 Marzo 2016
1,000 Sit Ups And Crunches A Day And Still No Abs
Title: 1,000 Sit Ups And Crunches A Day And Still No Abs
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 857 words

QUESTION: Dear Tom: I have been working out for around a year now and I cannot get my lower abs into any type of shape. Despite doing 900 various crunches, ab roller, and 100 sit-ups four days a week, along with running and my regular workout on the weights, I still have a tire around my waist. What else can I do?

ANSWER: “What should I do to get abs?” is still one of the most frequently asked questions I receive out of the 7,000+ emails that come into my office every week. Although the question is often phrased differently, my answer is always the same:

Seeing your abs, or any other muscle group, for that matter – is almost entirely the result of having low body fat levels. You get low body fat from proper diet (as well as cardio and strength training), not from doing hundreds of ab exercises every day.

You didn’t mention whether you knew your body fat level or not. My guess is that it may seem like your lower ab muscles are “hard to develop,” but it’s not really an issue of “muscle development” at all, you simply have too much body fat and are storing it in your lower abdominal region more readily than other parts of your body and you can’t see the muscles through the fat.

Most people don’t have their fat distributed evenly throughout their bodies. Each of us inherits a genetically determined and hormonally-influenced pattern of fat storage just as we inherit our eye or hair color. In other words, the fat seems to “stick” to certain areas more than others.

Men often tend to store fat more readily in the lower abdominal region (the “pot belly”, “spare tire”, “beer gut”, or “love handles”). In women, the “stubborn” areas are usually the hips, thighs (“saddlebags”) and the triceps (“grandmother arms”).

You could focus on more “lower ab” exercises like hanging leg raises, reverse crunches and hip lifts (“toes to sky”), but even these won’t help as long as you still have body fat covering the muscles. You can’t “spot reduce” with abdominal exercise.

The lower abs is often the first place the fat goes when you gain it, and the last place it comes off when you’re losing it. Think of ab fat like the deep end of the swimming pool. No matter how much you protest, there is no way you can drain the deep end before the shallow end.

I would suggest cutting back the volume on your ab training and spending that time on more cardio work instead. Personally, I only do about 15 minutes of ab work two times per week. (About two to four exercises with reps usually ranging from 10-25 reps).

Here is a recent ab routine that I used (for bodybuilding/ ab-development purposes). I do this routine only twice a week and I change the exercises approximately every month so my body doesn’t adapt. I prefer slightly higher rep range than other muscle groups, but as you can see, it is far from doing a thousand reps a day. (if you want to see what my abs look like, just checkout my picture below

Tom Venuto – Abs

A1 Hanging leg raises 3 sets, 15-20 reps

Superset to:

A2 Hanging knee ups (bent-knee leg raises) 3 sets, 15-20 reps (no rest between supersetted exercises A1 & A2, 60sec between supersets)

B1 Incline Revere Crunches 3 sets, 15-20 reps

Superset to:

B2 Elbow to knee twisting crunches 3 sets, 15-20 reps

For maximum fat loss, you should do cardio 4-7 days per week for 30-60 minutes (the amount is variable depending on your results). You could continue running or mix up the type of cardio you do (stationary cycling, stairclimbing, elliptical machines, and other continuous aerobic activities are all excellent fat burners without the high impact and joint stress of frequent running).

If time efficiency is an issue for you, you could perform high intensity interval cardio training and achieve very efficient results with even briefer workouts (20-30 min per sessions, or less, if the intensity is high enough)

Once you are satisfied with your level of body fat and your abdominal definition, you can cut back to 3 days per week for 20-30 minutes for maintenance.

As far as nutrition goes, here are a few fat-burning nutrition guidelines in a nutshell:
- Eat about 15-20% below your calorie maintenance level. If you use a more aggressive calorie deficit of 25-30%, then do not keep calories too low for too long; increase calories to maintenance or maintenance +10-15% 1-2 days per week.
- Spread your calories into 5-6 smaller meals instead of 2-3 big ones. Be very conscious of portion size. eat too much of anything and you can say goodbye to your abs. Period.
- Eat a source of complete, high quality lean protein with each meal (egg whites, lean meat, fish, protein powder, etc)
- Choose natural, complex carbs such as vegetables, oatmeal, yams, potatoes, beans, brown rice and whole grains. Start with aprox. 50% of your calories from natural carbs and reduce carbs slightly (esp. late in the day) if you are not losing fat.
- Avoid refined, simple carbs that contain white flour or white sugar
- Keep total fats low and saturated fats low. Aim for 20% of your total calories from fat (and no more than 30%). A little bit of “good fat” like flax oil, fish fat, nuts & seeds, etc is better than a no fat diet.
- Drink plenty of water – a gallon is a good ballpark to shoot for if you are physically active.
1000+ reps of ab work four days a week is an amazing feat of endurance, but thats not how you get visble, rock hard, 6-pack abs!

You probably have outstanding development in your abdominal muscles. (you certainly have great muscular endurance). Unfortunately, if your abs are covered up with a layer of fat, you wont be able to see them even if you do 10,000 reps a day!

You “get abs” from reducing your body fat and you reduce body fat mostly through diet and cardio.

If you’d like to learn more about how to decrease your body fat level and improve your level of abdominal definition, then visit: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist

(CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the

author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches

you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using

methods of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness

models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase

your metabolism by visiting: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
7 Febbraio 2015
How An Entire Year Could Go By With No Fat Loss

Title: How An Entire Year Could Go By With No Fat Loss
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 1293 words

QUESTION: Dear Tom: I’ve been going to the gym for the past year now, but I have only lost 2 pounds. I eat about 1800 calories a day and I do 3 cardio and 3 weight training sessions a week. I am 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 mt.) and 128 lbs. (58 Kg.) I would like to be at 120 lbs. (54 Kg.) To lose 8 more lbs isn’t a lot to ask, but I’m really frustrated. I’ve been VERY persistent, and I rarely cheat except once each weekend, but at this rate, it will take me another 4 years for me to reach my goal! Please help!

ANSWER: Don’t worry, it won’t take another 4 years! In fact, you can reach your target wt. within the next month if you start getting feedback, charting results and making some strategic changes to your program.

First, it’s important that you understand how a year could go by with almost no progress.

Have you been doing the same nutrition, same calories, same cardio and same workout for the entire past year with no changes? If so, then you shouldn’t be suprised if you’ve continued to get the SAME results (very little).

If you do more of the same, you usually get more of the same.

Caloric intake, for example is not something you calculate once and then never pay attention to again. Calories have to be calculated and customized for each individual in the beginning and then adjusted continuously in “real time” during the course of a fat loss program, based on actual results.

Just because you start at 1800 doesn’t mean your caloric intake should stay there. Calories may need to be increased or decreased depending on whether your goals, your body weight and your activity levels change and based on your weekly progress (or lack of).

Which brings me to another point. I am a huge fan of using progress charts. There is a saying in business management and sports coaching:

“What gets measured gets done.”

When you start “keeping score” and tracking performance right down to the numbers, it’s almost miraculous how this awareness of how you’re doing translates into improved results.

When you track your body composition results every week, if a week or two goes by with no results, then you don’t continue with more of what got you no results, you change some variable in your program immediately!

An old Turkish proverb that says,

“No matter how far you’ve traveled down the wrong road, always turn back!”

Of course, you don’t have to throw out your entire program, you can simply “tweak” ONE or maybe two variables within the same program.

Also, when you measure, track and analyze muscle versus fat (body composition), instead of just scale weight, you might even discover you’ve gained some lean body mass and this offsets the drop on the scale (which means it’s possible you made more progress than you thought).

Now, back to the calories. To break a plateau, you can take a reduction in calories, or an increase in activity, either of which will create a deficit if you are currently in energy balance, or increase your existing caloric deficit.

1800 calories may not provide a large enough deficit for some women, and in fact, the majority of women your height, weight and activity level usually are losing fat safely and successfully on 1500-1600 calories per day. (for men about 2200-2500 calories, avg.)

At the end of the day, fat loss boils down to calories in versus calories out, so if you plateau, you may need a simple calorie reduction, provided you don’t restrict too low for too long (which tends to trigger your body’s “starvation response.”)

As for your cardio program, 3 days a week of cardio works for many people, but usually, I would consider three weekly cardio sesssions a maintenenance workout or at best a starting point for beginners,NOT a “maximum fat loss” program.

Example: this week, you could increase your cardio from 3 sessions to 4 sessions. If you combine the decrease in food intake with an increase in calories burned through activity, that will almost certainly get you burning fat again.

If it does, then stay with 4 days a week of cardio. If not, the next week go up to 5 days a week. Repeat this simple “feedback loop” process as many times and for as long as necessary.

Also remember that more (often) is not always better. You can also increase the intensity and get more calories burned in same amount of time. This feedback loop process can be used to make decisions about your training intensity, duration and type, as well as frequency.

Whichever strategy you choose to break the plateau, remember Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity:

“Insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

Although this seems like common sense to some people, what happened to you is really quite common because it does appear that you’re doing everything you’re “supposed to be doing” with perfectly good intentions.

You have have all the key elements there: You’re exercising (weights and cardio). You’re watching your nutrition, and you’ve been disciplined and consistent in following it.

The trouble with many popular programs – even good ones – is that they are too dogmatic. Their entire program may revolve around “X” number of calories, “X” days per week of cardio and “X” days a week of weights….

And you’re not allowed to “tamper” with that “holy grail” formula.

I can understand the rationale for a simple diet and exercise prescription for a beginner in order to not confuse them with too many choices, but what if it doesnt work after a month, three months, six months, A WHOLE YEAR? What if there are no options, what then?

In NLP, there’s a principle, (borrowed from cybernetics), called The Law of Requisite Variety, which says,

“The person with the most choices and the most flexibility is the person with the most power and the greatest chance for success.”

You need to know what to do when you’re not getting results… you need options and choices for breaking plateaus, and that’s important because plateaus happen to everyone – including me.

Some people think that hitting a fat loss plateau means there’s something wrong with them. But plateaus are natural and normal. In fact, you could look at it this way:

Hitting a plateau means your body is healthy and your body is functioning normally, because normal function of the body is to adapt effectively to stress, to protect you and to maintain homeostasis.

Exercise is a stress. Dieting is a stress. It’s natural for your body to adapt to them. When you adapt, you must place a new “positive stress” on the body if you want continued improvement.

If you want to learn more details about how to change your program to break plateaus and make continuous progress as fast as safely possible, then I recommend you take a look at <bBurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
.

BFFM has flexibility, feedback and performance tracking built right into it. Chapter 4 in BFFM teaches the “BFFM feedback loop method”, and shows you how to chart progress and adjust your diet and workouts on a weekly basis, to keep you making progress or get you back on track if your progress stalls out.

There is no reason to allow even a few weeks, let alone an entire year to go by without results. But you can’t expect to get different results if you continue doing more of what’s not working.

Keep after it! Be persistent – but also be flexible!

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist

(CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the

author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches

you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using

methods of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness

models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase

your metabolism by visiting: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com

17 Novembre 2014
Body Wraps and Waist Wraps: The difference between losing fat and losing inches

Title: Body Wraps and Waist Wraps – The difference between losing fat and losing inches
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 1029 words

“Body wraps” have been around for ages in the weight loss and spa industry. Claims include loss of body weight, loss of body fat, and loss of inches. Infomercials for rubber “waist belts” are also back on TV and similar claims are made for these types of wraps as well. What few people realize is that there is a huge difference between losing fat and losing inches. When your body fat decreases, your circumference measurements will usually also decrease, but “fat” loss and “inch” loss are not one in the same. If you don’t know how to tell the difference, you could be falling for one of the oldest, most notorious fitness and weight loss scams in the book.

The truth is, body wraps and waist belts do not shrink fat cells or burn body fat – no matter what type of wrap is used: bandages, plastic, foil, vinyl, or rubber and regardless of what you are wrapped in: herbs, minerals, enzymes, seaweed, clay, or mud – it doesn’t matter. Fat can only be lost with a caloric deficit from a reduction in food intake, an increase in activity or ideally, a combination of both.

Whenever you see fat loss claims for wraps or any other product which doesn’t involve a caloric deficit created though nutrition or exercise, the “scam alarm” should go off in your head, and you should always stay away, no matter how compelling the sales pitch.

Furthermore, the companies making fat loss claims would be in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) if they were investigated and caught because claims for body fat reduction from wraps cannot be supported with scientific evidence.

The FTC as well as numerous state attorney general’s offices have already taken action against body wrap companies in the past for false advertising and unsupported claims. Some companies simply had to stop making false claims, others had to pay stiff fines as well. The problem, from a legal and ethical standpoint, is the claim being made. Remember, “inches” and “fat” are not the same thing.

Some types of wraps can definitely take off inches (for example, they might reduce the circumference measurement of your waist, hips, arms and legs), but it’s not fat, its water weight and fluid, and the results are temporary.

Suppose this claim is made in an advertisement:

* Lose Up To 15 inches in 1 Hour! *

This is legal advertising because the claim “lose inches” might be supportable (if enough circumference measurements are taken with a tape measure at enough sites, that might add up to a total of 15 inches in circumference loss)

However I believe that these types of claims are misleading (and probably intentionally so), because “inches” is not the same as body fat but the product vendors know that you might easily confuse “inches” with “fat.”

Contrast that claim with this one:

* Lose Body Fat without diet or exercise in 1 Hour!*

That claim is totally false and scientifically unsupportable.

Again, body wraps cannot burn fat or “shrink fat cells.”

If fat loss could be achieved with body wraps, it would be very easy to test and prove.

Body composition (body fat) testing (rather than measurements of inches) could be performed before and after the wrap, and the answer (“does it work”) would become easily exposed.

Since it doesn’t work, you won’t find any wrap people accepting your challenge to allow you to do independent body composition testing, nor will you find a shred of scientific evidence showing reduction of bodyfat from wraps.

Unfortunately, bogus fat loss claims are still quite widespread, as a simple Internet search for “body wrap” will demonstrate. The most frequently used claims however, are for loss of “inches.”

The inches lost simply come from loss of fluid. And guess what – those inches (and or water weight) will come right back in days if not hours, as soon as you completely re-hydrate yourself.

Other claims made for body wraps include detoxification, improved circulation and tighter, smoother and clearer skin. Most health and fitness researchers, as well as government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will tell you that these claims are “debatable” and mostly anecdotal.

Some experts even warn that certain types of wraps can be dangerous, mainly due to the rapid and excessive fluid loss/dehydration.

If you want to get wrapped because you find it relaxing or you consider it a “spa-like” treatment, that’s one thing. Just remember, wraps have absolutely nothing to do with fat loss.

I’d suggest completely avoiding any companies that advertise fat loss when it’s only water and inches you’re losing, because a dishonest company is one you don’t want to patronize at all.

One last thing – this is a timely subject because although “body wraps” have been around for ages and it’s old news, I noticed that infomercials for “waist belts” or “sauna wraps” are back on TV in force and I see that they are replaying the ads over and over again, which means people are buying it.

Everything I just said about body wraps also applies to those rubber waist belts too.

On a web search I just did for those rubber belt waist wraps, I noticed some of the websites are STILL making claims like “Melt fat” (totally bogus, unsupported and illegal claim).

Other sites seem to be wary of the FTC paying them a visit, so they do a whole song and dance around the legal issues by saying stuff like, “sweat away inches,” “therapeutic heat”, “target your problem areas” and so on. Even if these claims are not illegal, the promotions are still deceptive…

The professional fitness model is pictured taking off the rubber belt, revealing ripped six pack abs below… as if those abs are a result of wearing the belt! Wishful thinking! These are professional models, folks. They got the abs the same way everyone else with abs got them – with a calorie deficit from a combination of strict diet and hard training!

Wraps and waist belt products might take off some inches or water weight, but they can’t take off a single ounce of fat. Buyer beware.

Programs like BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System are focused on FAT LOSS, not water loss or loss of inches. When body fat decreases, circumferences in inches will also decrease, but “fat” lost and “inches” lost are not one in the same.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer

(CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist

(CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn

the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written hundreds of

articles and has been featured in print magazines such as

IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural

Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men

and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System. To learn more about Tom’s Fat Loss Support Community, visit: www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com

1 Settembre 2014
Rieducazione Del Ginocchio Dopo Operazione Di Ricostruzione LCA – La Mia Esperienza

Titolo: Rieducazione Del Ginocchio Dopo Operazione Di Ricostruzione LCA – La Mia Esperienza

Autore: Piero Maina

Conteggio Parole: 2.399

Riprendiamo con questo articolo da dove ci eravamo lasciati e cioè dopo l’operazione di ricostruzione del legamento crociato anteriore (LCA). Argomento che è stato trattato ampiamente in questo mio precedente articolo. (Clicca qui per l’articolo)

L’ articolo in questione racconta maggiormente come si è svolta l’operazione di ricostruzione dell’ LCA che nel mio caso ha interessato anche la regolarizzazione del menisco mediale sinistro nel corno posteriore e ho parlato anche del primo approccio rieducativo che ho effettuato presso la casa di cura Villa Stuart di Roma. Oggi siamo quasi a cinque mesi dall’intervento e le cose vanno senz’altro meglio anche se durante il periodo trascorso dalla pubblicazione del precedente articolo ad oggi ho avuto altri incidenti di percorso e infortuni che hanno reso le cose già di per se non troppo semplici, ancora più complicate. Ci eravamo lasciati in trentesima giornata circa, per differenza quindi abbiamo cento giorni di rieducazione da prendere in esame, premettendo come mio solito che ogni fisico e persona reagisce in maniera diversa, oltre allo stato di forma che uno possiede, l’età e l’impegno dedicato. Ma guardiamo la MIA esperienza.

I primi trenta giorni nella rieducazione attiva, sono stati maggiormente spesi sugli esercizi isometrici, tesi soprattutto ad “asciugare” il ginocchio, a recuperare l’estensione che è molto più importante del piegamento. Sono senz’altro importanti tutt’e due, ma mentre il piegamento potrà essere recuperato nel tempo gradualmente, se avremo un deficit in estensione, ne risentiremo maggiormente nella nostra deambulazione. Oltre agli esercizi isometrici da sdraiato con cavigliera da 1Kg/2 Kg, (che nel tempo diventeranno 4 Kg/5 Kg) abbiamo cominciato ad introdurre la camminata lenta su tapis roulant. Molto importante in questo caso è imparare nuovamente ad appoggiare correttamente il piede sul terreno che per forza di cose, non sarà proprio corretto. Ci sarà un atteggiamento difensivo, sia per il dolore che per la paura, oltre ad una effettiva incapacità dovuta anche ad un cambiamento nella propriocettività e ad una vera e propria fatica a distendere la gamba infortunata. Pertanto lo scopo era di imparare nuovamente ad appoggiare il tallone della gamba operata  sul terreno e farlo “rullare” fino alla punta. Questo processo che all’inizio risulterà a seconda dei casi un po’ scomodo, diverrà via, via più naturale. Di solito entro il secondo mese dall’intervento, si abbandona la rieducazione motoria in acqua/piscina, ma nel mio caso ho protratto per due volte a settimana il lavoro in acqua fino a fine Aprile e quindi a oltre tre mesi dall’operazione. Il mio ortopedico, Dr. Prof. Attilio Rota, primario del reparto ortopedia dell’ospedale Sandro Pertini di Roma, ha voluto un protocollo più conservativo e che premiasse maggiormente il recupero nella mobilità e flessibilità, piuttosto che della massa muscolare e della forza. Lui ha sempre sostenuto che muscolarmente ero avanti con i tempi, a discapito della mobilità. Ha sempre detto, con ragione, che una volta a posto con l’articolazione, sviluppare nuovamente la massa muscolare avrebbe richiesto tempi corti e con meno rischio di compromettere sia lo stato di salute che delle “performances” del ginocchio stesso. Quindi ho passato i tre mesi, (Febbraio, Marzo e Aprile) a Villa Stuart suddividendo i cinque giorni in tre giorni di lavoro a secco in palestra e due giorni in piscina per mobilità a gravità ridotta.

Vediamo meglio in cosa consisteva il mio protocollo a secco, che non è praticamente mai cambiato, se non per l’intensità degli esercizi e anche del carico e magari nell’ultimo mese, si è abbandonata maggiormente l’isometria per far posto al potenziamento e alla propriocettività.

Quindi, dal secondo mese, arrivavo in palestra e cominciavo con 15/20 minuti sulla cyclette della Technogym con freno che nei primi giorni lasciavo a 1 e poi nel tempo ho portato anche a 12 su una scala che arriva a 25. Come ho già scritto qui non dobbiamo lavorare come se gli arti fossero sani e pertanto la potenza sviluppata in watt non sarà elevatissima. Nelle prime sedute sviluppavo da 30 a 70 watt e nelle ultime sedute di fine aprile ho superato i 220 watt, per brevi periodi, anche perché il fiato era corto, ma niente a che vedere con quanto sviluppavo prima dell’incidente. Dopo la prima fase di riscaldamento sulla cyclette passavo all’ercolina,(cavi) che attaccavo alla caviglia della gamba infortunata e con i pesi che ho aumentato nel tempo, (5Kg/7 Kg all’inizio e 16 kg negli ultimi giorni) facevo a gamba tesa le estensioni sui quattro lati. 4 serie x 20 ripetizioni. Dopo passavo alla pressa inclinata a 45° e in questo caso siamo partiti con 30kg solo sulla gamba infortunata, per arrivare nel tempo a 60 kg. 5 serie X 20 ripetizioni. Di seguito facevo dei semi squat con la Swiss Ball dietro la schiena, appoggiata ad una colonna, 3 serie x 20 ripetizioni per continuare con le tavolette propriocettive di varie forme e con vari punti di appoggio. Mi esercitavo rimanendo in equilibrio su un solo piede, (gamba operata) o per due minuti in squat/accosciato, spingendo da un piede all’altro su pedana instabile circolare; durissimo! I quadricipiti urlavano vendetta. Poi tornavo a correre sul tapis roulant, ma questo è avvenuto dal mese di marzo (alternavo il passo alla corsa, partendo da 8 km/h e negli ultimi tempi arrivavo anche a 12 km/h. Facevo 1 minuto al passo e 2 di corsa per 15 minuti. La camminata era fra i 4 e i 6 Km/h con inclinazione a 4°/6°) e solo sul tapis roulant. Su strada ho ricominciato l’altro ieri, (10 giugno) alternando il passo alla corsa per 25 min. e poi passo fino a completare un ‘ora di esercizio, non corro ancora, ovviamente, per un’ora intera e il ginocchio sotto il menisco mediale operato, ancora “punge” in certi momenti, ma poi passa e il ginocchio è bello asciutto.

Tornando agli esercizi in palestra, dopo la corsa facevo l’ellittica o glidex , con freno a 12 su una scala massima di 25, per 12/15 min senza appoggiare le mani ai sostegni mobili e ritmi di 160/200 per minuto. Finivo con la leg extension, partendo da metà corsa, in modo da non sovraccaricare il neo legamento ed effettuavo vari esercizi di potenziamento del vasto mediale e vasto laterale, con contrazioni di vario tipo.  4 serie da 20 ripetizioni con 15 kg. Poi stretching e ghiaccio e per finire un bel massaggio!

Tempi di allenamento tutto compreso, circa due ore e mezza, mentre in piscina i tempi di esercizio erano inferiori, circa un ora e mezza.

A casa mi allenavo con il P90X nel pomeriggio per tre volte a settimana e il mio ortopedico visto come stavo progredendo mi ha detto che potevo cominciare ad allenarmi da solo e di non andare più a Villa Stuart. Quindi ho ricominciato ad uscire in Mountain Bike (MTB), ma il 15 maggio scorso, sono caduto fratturandomi il gomito sinistro, per l’esattezza il capitello radiale. Sempre a sinistra. Non contento, durante il periodo di immobilizzazione totale che è avvenuto tramite tutore Donjoy, si è formata una tromboflebite venosa superficiale (per fortuna) nella vena mediale del gomito sull’avambraccio e ora sto prendendo forti dosi di eparina (clexane 8.000 U.I. X 2 al giorno). Questi due incidenti, naturalmente hanno rallentato completamente i miei tempi di recupero, perché adesso oltre alla gamba sono infortunato anche nel braccio. Ho continuato ad allenare gli addominali e a fare quello che potevo con il braccio destro. Ad oggi ho ancora dolore, ma da due giorni ho ricominciato ad uscire in MTB e a corricchiare, con le dovute attenzioni. Fermo ancora con i pesi, intanto potenzio le gambe e sabato farò le radiografie di controllo per vedere se la frattura si è saldata correttamente. Porto poi un bracciale compressore per la circolazione sanguigna nel braccio sinistro e spero di riuscire a recuperare la vena. Anche perché nel mese di aprile di trombosi ne ho avuta un’altra, sempre nel braccio sinistro, sempre superficiale nella vena cefalica del bicipite sinistro e avevo già preso clexane (8.000 U.I. x 2 al giorno) per trenta giorni. Questa tromboflebite si è formata in seguito a una RMN (Risonanza Magnetica Nucleare) con liquido di contrasto e visti i miei trascorsi (l’articolo qui) con le trombosi, si è pensato che abbia qualche problema di coagulazione, ho effettuato uno screening tromboflebitico ed in effetti ho una mutazione genetica dell’ MTHFR – A1298C che è mutato in eterozigosi. Ma sia il C677T che l’omocisteina sono normali e così il fattore V di Leiden e tutti gli altri marcatori. Quindi non sembra una situazione gravissima, ma sono candidato all’assunzione quotidiana di cardioaspirina e a trattamenti anticoagulanti preventivi, in caso di lunghi viaggi in aereo, operazioni chirurgiche o immobilizzazioni degli arti per lunghi periodi. Anche su questo aspetto è bene chiarire perché ogni medico per l’esattezza angiologi, dice la sua e c’è chi dice di prendere la cardioaspirina,chi dice che nel mio caso non serve a nulla, chi dice che avendo l’omocisteina normale, la mia non è una situazione di persona che sviluppa trombosi. Mettetevi d’accordo, qui non parliamo di bastoni da golf, ma della salute di persone.

Rimaniamo in tema con la rieducazione. Il recupero in acqua invece è servito a rieducare il ginocchio senza la forza di gravità che si avverte a secco in palestra e quindi la piscina è una vera manna per chi deve recuperare da un infortunio che ci ha lasciato immobilizzati per un certo periodo. Sia esso un intervento ai legamenti, che alla spalla, anca, gomito, etc. Come ho scritto sopra, ho passato due mesi e mezzo in piscina, al contrario di altri pazienti che avevano cominciato con me, ma dopo il primo mese sono stati dirottati alla sola rieducazione a secco. Pareri discordanti e protocolli differenziati, da medico a medico. E ripeto che sono un atleta e anche in forma, nonostante l’età e ho visto quindi pazienti senza dubbio meno in forma e con muscolatura poco allenata lasciare la piscina anzi tempo. Vedremo nel tempo i risultati.

Il mio ginocchio sta bene e ora sto ritornando piano, piano all’attività normale, farò qui di seguito il punto dopo l’estate, visto che saranno trascorsi otto mesi che per la ricostruzione dell’ LCA con tecnica S+G (Semitendinoso + Gracile) è il tempo per il pieno recupero che si estende fino a due anni per il consolidamento dell’intervento e del neo legamento. La vera prova del nove comunque, l’avrò quando rimetterò gli sci ai piedi, sia per le sensazioni nelle gambe, ma anche per l’aspetto psicologico, visto che scio da sempre e questa volta, mi sono infortunato così gravemente, non facendo allenamento in gigante/super G, ma in una discesa normalissima, in una situazione altrettanto normale e mi chiedo quindi se saprò scendere ancora con la stessa disinvoltura .

Eccoci qui, gli sci sono stati rimessi ai piedi durante le scorse vacanze Natalizie e problemi non ne ho avuti. Non ho fatto allenamenti o altro, ma le curve le ho tirate come al solito, senza esagerare e per brevi tratti, ma come potete vedere dalla foto pubblicata qui sotto, sembra tutto normale. La mia stagione invernale per quest’anno si limiterà ad un’altra uscita durante le prossime vacanze Pasquali, neve permettendo e basta. Sono tornato a giocare a golf a tempo pieno e non ho voglia di rischiare altri infortuni ora che la stagione entra nel pieno e quindi, anche se a malincuore non ho fatto uscite con lo sci club , né settimane bianche di allenamento e per quest’anno va bene così. Ora parliamo un po’ della rieducazione vera e propria.

Piero Gennaio 2015 – Clicca sull’immagine per Ingrandire

Il ginocchio a tredici mesi di distanza dall’intervento, si presenta in buono stato, non è gonfio, né si gonfiava dopo allenamenti di running o durante gli squat con carichi medio pesanti, né durante l’attività sciistica che ho svolto senza l’ausilio di tutori e questo è buono. L’unica nota che stona è invece un rumore di click- clack, che sembra provenire da sotto la rotula e che prima non sentivo, almeno non in maniera così marcata. La sensazione è proprio come se tibia e femore slittassero una sopra l’altro e andassero ad incastrarsi; non c’è dolore e non avviene sempre, lo sento di più quando distendo e quindi, visto che gioco a golf, lo sento durante il passaggio impatto/finish e anche quando in campo cammino su pendii non in piano. Ho segnalato la cosa agli ortopedici, ma dicono che sia normale e la tenuta/lassità dei legamenti alle varie prove manuali è buona e come ho scritto sopra non ho problemi di sorta, ma questo click- clack prima non c’era.

Ad oggi faccio ancora fatica ad arrivare a toccare con i talloni i glutei, o meglio con la sola gamba destra che è quella sana, arrivo senza alcun problema e vado anche oltre, mentre se provo ad inginocchiarmi e ad abbassare i glutei verso i talloni, all’inizio sento sia tirare che un leggero dolore e mano/mano che si scalda mi avvicino sempre di più, ma non tocco ancora completamente. Peggio succede da in piedi quando afferro il  piede sinistro con la mano e provo a tirarlo verso il gluteo. Devo inchinarmi in avanti per prendere il collo del piede e subito c’è resistenza per poi piano, piano cominciare a cedere e arrivare vicino al gluteo, ma anche in questo caso manca ancora un pochino. Va molto meglio rispetto a qualche tempo fa e probabilmente le cose miglioreranno ulteriormente nei mesi seguenti, ma al momento è così.

Concludendo, sto rifacendo tutto, senza grossi problemi, alleno le gambe facendo squat, deadlift e leg extension, oltre a correre, andare in bici e tutte le normali attività compresi balzi e cambiamenti di direzione veloci, ma il ginocchio non è più sicuramente quello di una volta. Inoltre va considerato anche che non ho avuto solamente l’intervento al crociato anteriore e menisco mediale, ma avevo lesioni anche agli altri legamenti e al piatto tibiale, ma non avendo il ginocchio che si gonfia né altri dolori forti, la situazione non è malvagia, salvo quel click – clack che spero in futuro non si riveli come processo degenerativo delle cartilagini e di non sviluppare artrosi del ginocchio, anche perché essendo sportivo, non posso dire di lasciarlo inattivo. Quindi a chi si trova nella stessa situazione, raccomando di eseguire la fisioterapia post intervento con la massima diligenza e impegno e di protrarla il più a lungo possibile, così come il potenziamento di tutti i muscoli della gamba che aiuteranno a supportare meglio l’attività del ginocchio e tutto tornerà in molti casi come prima o molto vicino a prima. E questo ve lo dice uno che non è nemmeno più giovanissimo!

In bocca al lupo per tutto!

© Copyright Piero Maina – All Rights Reserved

13 Giugno 2014
It’s Not About the Body Fat

Title: It’s Not About the Body Fat By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: www.BurnTheFat.comWord count: 860 words

It’s Not About the Body Fat By Tom Venuto www.BurnTheFat.com

How they lost 100 lbs or more is a topic that always gets a lot of attention and is very popular in the media. Whenever someone loses a lot of weight, there is always buzz from those who were inspired by hearing about these huge body fat losses and before/after transformations. I was inspired, too. But sometimes I think we focus too much on the almighty scale and body fat percentage and forget about something even more important…

Your Health.

Health is what psychologist Abraham Maslow called a deficiency need, which means that when you’ve lost it, getting it back is the only thing in the world that matters.

Unfortunately, two corollaries to this theory of human motivation are:

1. Most people won’t lift a finger to improve their health until something bad happens (they have to hit “rock bottom” to change), and

2. When you’ve got your health, you tend to take it for granted.

That’s why we need constant reminders to keep our focus on health and keep health right on top of our list of life values.

As you remind yourself of the importance of your health every day, it also pays to consider how you define it.

Fitness and transformation icon Shawn Phillips, author of Strength for Life, says that if your definition of health is merely the absence of disease, then subconsciously, the mere absence of disease means you’ve achieved your “goal.”

Therefore, you feel no motivation and no need to move above and beyond that and strive towards…

“A life of ABUNDANT energy, vitality and strength.”

We NEED these reminders.

That’s why I get such a thrill when people send me success stories that are not just about the scale and body fat percentage, but ALSO about health and what that new-found health has done for a person’s life.

A Before and After Success Story You Don’t See Every Day (But Should)

For example, this success story comes from Burn The Fat reader Craig B:

“Tom, I visited my Dr. today and he was stunned at the change in my blood results. Check out this before and after:Cholesterol/Total 232 before 121 after

Triglycerides 185 before 87 after

HDL (good cholesterol) 32 before 41 after

VLDL (bad cholesterol) 40 before 17 after

Total cholesterol/HDL ratio 5.63 before 3.0 after (I dropped from 2X average risk to less than HALF average risk!)

TSH 4.8 before 2.1 after

CRP 3.90 before 1.02 after (I moved from High risk to Low risk.)

I have burned 34lbs of fat and put on 7lbs of lean muscle.

I have moved from 40% body fat to 32.9% (My scale may be off, but I am hoping to verify those body fat % measurements with a dunk test during my next visit to S.F. or Portland.)

The doctor, in short, was blown away with the results.

I have tried Atkins, Protein Power, Lindora (medical weight control), each of these over the years and probably too many others to mention. Never have I felt this empowered and well armed with information and insight.

When I was not getting the results the math would have me believe, I had the tools and community support to explain what Beta Blockers do to cardio and metabolism then took that insight to my doctor and he has reduced and changed those meds.

I am now off statins all together as of today!

I have a ways to go to reach my final goal of 10% body fat, but I have the tools and I can accomplish it. I am, as you suggested, putting the date when I achieve it in pencil, but the 10% BF is in ink. I will get there.

It is amazing how empowering feeling good and controlling your blood chemistry through nourishment (both physiological and physical) and being consistent with the hard work in the gym and changing to a new lifestyle.

Thanks Tom – you are helping a lot of people, clearly. I will be telling anyone about the book and the Burn the Fat website that has any questions or looking for answers.”

Gaining muscle and losing fat is nice, but what could be better than gaining muscle, losing fat AND feeling your health, energy and vitality skyrocket!

As Craig shows us, tracking your health improvements, not just what you weigh, gives you another source of tremendous motivation and a feeling of empowerment.

You realize that you are in control of your body. You are the maker and master.

One final thought: It’s a misconception that the “bodybuilding” lifestyle is in some way not healthy or doesn’t dramatically IMPROVE your health

Nothing could be further from the truth, as Craig’s results prove. Craig was not just doing aerobics – he was pumping iron and feeding the muscle, not starving himself.

If you do ANY kind of resistance training, you ARE a “body-builder” and a “health-builder.”

When you do NATURAL bodybuilding, it’s about looking great AND getting healthier. That’s how I do it – naturally – and that’s how I encourage others to do it in my Burn the Fat programs.

Train hard and expect success!

Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle
Now Burn the Fat Body Tansformation System www.BurnTheFat.com
Founder & CEO of Burn The Fat Inner Circle Burn the fat inner circle

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is the author of the #1 best seller, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder and fat loss expert who achieved an astonishing 3.7% body fat level without drugs or supplements. Discover how to increase your metabolism and burn stubborn body fat, find out which foods burn fat and which foods turn to fat, plus get a free fat loss report and mini course by visiting Tom’s site at: www.BurnTheFat.com

11 Maggio 2014

Categoria: Allenamento

Clima invernale e perdita di grasso: il freddo fa ingrassare?

Titolo: Clima invernale e perdita di grasso: il freddo fa ingrassare?
Autore: Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

Traduzione: Piero Maina
URL: www.Burnthefatinne rcircle.com
Parole: 23.966

Muscle Recovery: Essential to Your Next Workout

Muscle Recovery: Essential to Your Next Workout

Carb Cycling Guide for Athletes

Carb Cycling Guide for Athletes

How Much Weight Should You Lift To Build Muscle (And When To Lift More)

Title: How Much Weight Should You Lift To Build Muscle (And When To Lift More)

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 3255 words

How Much Weight Should You Lift To Build Muscle (And When To Lift More)

Meal Planning Is Not The Opposite Of Flexible Dieting

Title: Meal Planning Is Not The Opposite Of Flexible Dieting

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 4249 words

1,000 Sit Ups And Crunches A Day And Still No Abs

Title: 1,000 Sit Ups And Crunches A Day And Still No Abs
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 857 words

How An Entire Year Could Go By With No Fat Loss

Title: How An Entire Year Could Go By With No Fat Loss
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 1293 words

Body Wraps and Waist Wraps: The difference between losing fat and losing inches

Title: Body Wraps and Waist Wraps – The difference between losing fat and losing inches
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 1029 words

Rieducazione Del Ginocchio Dopo Operazione Di Ricostruzione LCA – La Mia Esperienza

Titolo: Rieducazione Del Ginocchio Dopo Operazione Di Ricostruzione LCA – La Mia Esperienza

Autore: Piero Maina

Conteggio Parole: 2.399

It’s Not About the Body Fat

Title: It’s Not About the Body Fat By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: www.BurnTheFat.comWord count: 860 words

English Spanish Dictionary

Categoria: Allenamento

Titolo: Clima invernale e perdita di grasso: il freddo fa ingrassare?Autore: Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

Traduzione: Piero MainaURL: www.Burnthefatinnercircle.comParole: 23.966

Muscle Recovery: Essential to Your Next Workout

Carb Cycling Guide for Athletes

Title: How Much Weight Should You Lift To Build Muscle (And When To Lift More)

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com Word count: 3255 words

How Much Weight Should You Lift To Build Muscle (And When To Lift More)

Title: Meal Planning Is Not The Opposite Of Flexible Dieting

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com Word count: 4249 words

Title: 1,000 Sit Ups And Crunches A Day And Still No Abs By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com Word count: 857 words

Title: How An Entire Year Could Go By With No Fat Loss By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com Word count: 1293 words

Title: Body Wraps and Waist Wraps – The difference between losing fat and losing inches By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com Word count: 1029 words

Titolo: Rieducazione Del Ginocchio Dopo Operazione Di Ricostruzione LCA – La Mia Esperienza

Autore: Piero Maina

Conteggio Parole: 2.399

Title: It’s Not About the Body Fat By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT URL: www.BurnTheFat.comWord count: 860 words

English Spanish Dictionary

Titolo: Clima invernale e perdita di grasso: il freddo fa ingrassare?
Autore: Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

Traduzione: Piero Maina
URL: www.Burnthefatinne rcircle.com
Parole: 23.966

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 3255 words

By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 4249 words

Title: 1,000 Sit Ups And Crunches A Day And Still No Abs
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 857 words

Title: How An Entire Year Could Go By With No Fat Loss
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 1293 words

Title: Body Wraps and Waist Wraps – The difference between losing fat and losing inches
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 1029 words

Title: It’s Not About the Body Fat By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: www.BurnTheFat.comWord count: 860 words