Student Fitness

By: Veljko Petranovic

Last week I was at the gym, getting used to the now world famous “300 workout”. It’s, for a lack of a better word, brutal. Try it sometimes. I was cowering in a corner after a 20-rep set of squats, holding back from puking, and then I noticed the two newcomers. Both were tall and slender as beanstalks, and of course, they were benching, doing maybe eight reps with 60 pounds.

No big deal there, everybody at my gym benches all the time, and we have a steady influx of newbies, but it was the way they were doing it that really rattled my nerves. Normally, I have this rule - don’t give advice unless you’re asked. But these guys were out to hurt themselves, so I told the receptionist about it. His words didn’t make an impact I hoped for.

Set after set, they laid on the bench at an angle, grabbed the bar unevenly and proceeded to raise it in the most crooked manner. At the top of the movement, the knuckles of their right hands were above the knuckles of their left, exceeding one another for about three inches. Obviously, they had a muscular imbalance - their left elbows didn’t lock out at the top (weaker left triceps), and as a result, they were doing something that resembled a circus balancing act - lift, compensate for the plates that began to slide off the bar, lower.

So, I told them about it, and promptly forgot about them. More recently, I was talking to a friend, who boasted about squatting some 300 pounds for eight reps on a fixed bar. I asked him how low he went, and found out that he’s doing quarter squats. He explained that it was because he “didn’t want to hurt his spine”. As a matter of fact, he defended his form quite vigorously. Yadda yadda yadda.

There are your two reasons for using improper form in the gym. One is a lack of knowledge, the other is ego. Let me tell you, most people don’t care how much you can lift unless you’re a powerlifter at a meet or a strongman competitor. It’s the way you look and perform in your sport that separates you from the average gym rat. Bad form will, in the long run, give you an injury, and that means time off training and lots and lots of pain. Depression is common when this happens. So it pays off to give proper form a bit of attention. Besides, lackluster form means utilizing less muscle fibers in your lift, targeting other muscles unintendedly which translates to little or no progress. Yikes!

Let’s examine some of the more common movements. You have your obligatory bicep curl. Stand in front of the bar, feet shoulder width apart. Grab the bar with the palms facing you, a bit wider than shoulder width. Some movement in the lower back while you curl is OK, but don’t swing like you’re doing a snatch - it’s best to keep the back rigid and let the biceps do the work. Also, try not to slouch your shoulders.

The militairy press is what most people choose when it comes to building the deltoids. Most don’t know that those muscles consist of three heads - the anterior, the lateral and the posterior. Each of these is trained with a different movement, but for some reason, a lot of guys do only the MP, which develops the front shoulder exclusively. Grip the bar in a manner that will allow your upper arms, upon lowering, to be parallel to the bar and perpendicular to your body. This means that the hands should be about three feet apart for the average height individual. Don’t curve your spine either way, keep it firm and in a neutral position. Also, don’t roll your tailbone if you’re sitting down and keep the feet firmly planted on the ground. If you’re standing up, avoid excessive back extension - this puts much stress on the spine’s discs. Lower the bar to your nose or to the atlas disc (the one that rotates the head) in your neck, depending on whether you’re lowering it to the front or the back of your head. Anything lower puts unnecessary strain on the rotator cuffs.

Deadlifting is easy to learn. The loaded bar is on the ground, and you just bend over and pick it up. The sumo variant demands that your legs be wide apart, while the conventional deadlift dictates that they should be kept narrower than the shoulders, so that your arms can grip the bar and remain “outside” of the knees when you go down. Use a mixed grip - one hand pronated, the other supinated, and switch hands at each set. KEEP THE BACK STRAIGHT. Also, there is no need to go down in a deep squat, the back should do most of the work and the majority of the movement happens at the hips, not the knees.

When squatting, think “heels” and think “butt”. Push with your heels and keep the butt back, don’t tuck it in. Go down as much as you can with no weight, keep the back neutral, and don’t let the knees travel much past your toes at the bottom. Don’t fall back on your ass now! Also, don’t let your knees wobble left or right - this is a sure sign that you’re using too much weight. Place the bar on the traps, just under the bone that sticks out, where the spine meets the neck. Hand placement depends on preference - me, I just “hug” the plates to keep them in place, arms spread. Breathe, but contract your abs at all points of the movement. Chest is kept up, eyes forward.

Parallel bar dips are another easy one - make sure that your biceps meet your forearms at the bottom, then extend. Tilt to the front to put more stress on the pecs, or keep your body straight to isolate the triceps. Legs are bent at the knee and crossed.

By: Ryan Imbach

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

Neon Green Shake

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

-1/2 an avocado

-1 or 2 scoops any flavor whey or casein protein

-large amounts of fresh spinach

-2 tablespoons of ground/milled flax seeds

-water or milk

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

Banana Nut Oatmeal

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

-1 cup of old-fashioned oats

-1 scoop banana whey or casein protein

-1 tablespoon flax seeds (optional)

-slices of banana

-small handful of crushed walnuts

-Water to cook oatmeal

-A few shakes of cinnamon

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

French Toast Eggs

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

-Ingredients from scrambled eggs article, plus…

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

-1 to 2 packets of Splenda

-A few shakes of cinnamon

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

Tuna Burgers

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

-A glass bowl

-2 cans of tuna

-1 egg

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

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

Frozen Peanut Butter Balls

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

-2 mashed bananas

-1 2/3 cup natural peanut butter

-About 4 scoops whey or casein protein

-About 1 cup water

-Oat flour (optional)

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

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

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

By: Joe Norton

Here’s a shocker: Fat People Order Fat Food

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

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

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

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

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

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

By: Joe Norton

Want washboard abs? Want bulging biceps or toned legs?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By: Veljko Petranovic

A lot of people I know have trouble when it comes to developing their legs to match their upper bodies. I am also one of those people. You see, legs aren?t ?show? muscles. So, if you happen to be lifting weights just for the sake of looking good, chances are that you?ve been neglecting your legs. No wonder. The first thing someone notices about your build is the shoulders. Arms are also a huge favorite. Hitting the beach? Don?t forget the abs. Just about everyone does the bench press often to get that impressive chest.

Meanwhile, the legs remain forgotten, ignored if you will, like a red-headed stepchild. In the long run, the result is a huge muscular imbalance, which not only looks funny, but can and will ultimately limit your overall growth. So, my first advice would be to start exercising your legs at least as much as you exercise the upper body. Your look will be complete, not half-assed.

That being said, legs are notoriously hard to train. Squats just might be the hardest movement you?ll ever try. They are not fun like it is to pump up your biceps on the Scott bench, named after the great Larry Scott, a bodybuilding champion from the past. Legs are also always in motion, as they propel you about on your daily business. This means that they are used to low intensity, high endurance work, and logic thus dictates that hey should not be trained in a similar fashion if your goal is muscular hypertrophy.

Using full range of motion and precise form is a must. Injury is not fun at all, take it from someone who has torn his vastus medialis muscle twice and has had numerous tendon pulls and countless joint inflammations. Going heavy is an option, but if you?re using a limited range of motion for the sake of hoisting more iron, you?re just stroking your ego and risking injury, time off of training, depression, fat gain, you name it. Not good. Besides, a quarter of a squat does very little in the way of growth.

High reps or low reps? My answer would be to do both, and switch often. A good leg workout will produce nausea and massive fatigue, so if you?re feeling like a million bucks after a workout, you?re doing it wrong, dummy. A reasonable set range for legs would be 15 to 20 total sets, divided over 3 to 8 different movements, hopefully including both the thighs and the calves.

Lots of trainers have trouble bringing their legs up to par due to ?genetic disadvantages?. While it?s true that those disadvantages do exist, they should not be used as an excuse to cop out on your training. Myself, I?ve had a lot of problems when it came to lower leg development. High insertions, few muscle fibers, whatever. The missing ingredient for me was frequency. I?ve found that I should work the calves three times a week, instead of just once or twice.

This brings us to the point of recovery. It?s necessary, yes, but seeing how the legs are used to constant stress, you will need much less than, say, a week or even 72 hours. 24 to 48 hours is what works for me, and you can only find out your what your own ?recovery zone? is by experimentation. I?ll outline a solid program which presumes you?ll be hitting the gym 4 times per week, one hour per training session. Remember though, this is just one way to skin a rabbit.

Monday:
Squats, 6 sets of 3 reps
Stiff legged deadlifts, 3 sets of 12 reps
Leg curls, 4 sets of 6 reps
Toe raises on the leg press, 6 sets of 20 reps
Abdominal work
Rest 3 minutes between sets

Tuesday: Upper body

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday:
Lunges, 2 sets of 15 reps for each leg
Dumbbell deadlifts, stiff legged, 4 sets of 20 reps
Leg press, 3 sets of 25 reps
Calf machine, 6 sets of 10 reps
Abdominal work
Rest 1 minute between sets

Friday: Upper body

Saturday, Sunday: Rest

Include sprints in your off days, to the effect of ten to fifteen 30-second full-out sprints, with a one minute pause between the sets.Train hard and be safe!

By: Veljko Petranovic

In my gym, everybody seems to be on something. I’ve recently talked to an Egyptian fellow, a mass monster by anyone’s standards, and he swears that his immense bulk is the result of heavy training and branch-chained amino acids. He’s an arm-wrestling competitor and looks like he could lift a house. This other guy, Mirko, my buddy from school, has a very lean physique and looks like one of those model types. He takes German creatine, whey protein, glutamine, aminos and ZMA. His home looks like a supplement warehouse. And then, there’s this dude we call  ”Cold”, who used to be really big and fat, but now sports a tiny, ripped waist and unhuman mounds of muscle everywhere you look.

Cold works as a bouncer, and I guess that’s a good career choice, since he has a very nasty disposition. A few days back, he took his shirt off, and you could really tell he was on something. Great muscle separation, paper thin skin, lumps and bulges up the yazoo. His traps have took the place of his neck, and he can bench 450 for reps. Despite all this, one couldn’t help but notice terrible acne which cover his entire back. For lack of a better word, it looks disgusting.

A lot of other people in my gym take steroids as well. The thing is, noone competes in powerlifting, or bodybuilding, or baseball or whatever. Guys buy a membership, and a few short months later, their arms swell up like balloons and their backs block out the sun. You see them some time later, and they are back to a more reasonable size, more human proportions. And, without fail, they all look terribly depressed. Once you were Superman, being Clark again really sucks.

My viewpoint on this is, unless you are making money from a sport that demands strength or size, you have absolutely no business taking anabolics, androgens or hormones. Due to a shift in our collective conciousness, women have gained more power and rights, and men, especially younger guys, seek to compensate. This „compensation“ can manifest itself in a variety of ways, but a very common one is the Adonis complex, bigorexia, muscular dysmorphia, whatever you want to call it. A lot of men feel inadequate, and resort to chemical enchancement.

The list of side effects of these drugs is as long as my arm. Hair loss, acne, testicular atrophy, damage to the liver, mood swings, high blood pressure, acromegaly, water retention, impotence, organ enlargement. Death is a big one, too. Need I go on? The thing one has to ask himself is, is this really worth it? Are you really going to put your health in danger for the sake of sheer looks? Isn’t it stupid? Is it not downright idiotic?

There is something to be said about moderation. It applies to some things. But, let’s take Heroin for example. There is no moderation with it. Either you’re addicted or you’re clean. In my opinion, the same goes for steroids. No one ever does „one cycle“. Taking „low doses“ actually means suffering less side effects, and there is no safety involved once you start tampering with your body’s natural hormonal balance. You can try, and get out of it relatively unharmed, but for what? Being huge? Bah.

 Any recreational athlete can achieve his goals naturally, provided that his goals are realistic. You’re not going to look like Ronnie Coleman with weights and food alone. But just about anyone can take crappy genetics, apply hard work and dedication and produce a marvelous looking body. It’s a matter of consistency and figuring out what works for you. You can gain 20 pounds in a month and lose them in two months, or you can accept fitness as a lifestyle and keep looking great no matter what. Think of it as brushing your teeth. Think of it as an investment in your future, and the future of your kids. Think of it as playing smart.

By: Ryan Imbach

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

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

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

-1 cup of old-fashioned oats

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

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

-Glass bowl

-Enough water to cook the oatmeal

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

Scrambled Eggs

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

-A few eggs

-Glass bowl

-Preferred spices

-Non-stick cooking spray (optional)

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

Easy Bacon

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

Healthy Elvis Sandwich

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

-Low carb, high fiber tortilla

-Banana

-Natural peanut or almond butter

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

Protein Ice Cream

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

-Cottage cheese, low sodium preferred (any percentage)

-Whey or casein protein, you choose your favorite flavor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Train hard and expect success,

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

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

About the Author:

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

By: Veljko Petranovic

If you happen to live the fitness lifestyle, you know that progress is not optional, but required. Everyone strives to bench more then they did last week. If you run regularly, it’s a given that you try to increase your speed or endurance by running faster and longer. The boys seek more muscle, the gals want to shed even more fat. The trouble is, a large number of health enthusiasts tend to fall short of their respective goals, then settle for maintenance, then quit exercising altogether. It’s the plateau that breaks or makes the trainer. I am going to tell you, How To Break A Weight Plateau.

I don’t know about you, but I love a good plateau from time to time. That’s because it brings change. So, I start with searching for a good training program on the Web. I assess my short term goals and pick a plan that complements them. Do you want to gain or to lose weight? Maybe you need to bring up those arms? Preparing for a marathon race, perhaps? Or are you looking for overall strength in your lifts?  

One thing is certain – the new program should be totally different then the last one, thats the secret to Breaking A Weight Plateau. Swap exercises, rep ranges, set numbers. If you’re used to cycling five times a week for an hour, try doing it twice a day at shorter intervals and with more intensity.  Our bodies are built for survival, which means they are quick to adapt to various influences. If you’ve been doing 3 sets of ten reps in the squat since the Clinton administration, it’s about time for you to change things. Why not try ten sets of 3 reps with a higher weight? Or try switching to the front squat, in which the bar rests on your clavicles, supported by your arms. Bodybuilding great Tom Platz, known for his outstanding thigh development, used to work his legs with reps varying from one to one hundred.  

There is no “right” way to approach your training. The only important thing is to remember to include all muscle groups into the equation. Other than that, anything goes!   All this is truly simple. What amazes me is the existence of legions of people who keep doing the same thing, day in and day out, over and over, somehow hoping for better results. Adding more weight only seems to work for a while, and that’s because the movement remains the same. 

Eventually, you will slow down on your gains and then your body 
get’s use to the exercises.
Thats why constantly adding more weight dosen’t break a weight plateau. There is a good reason why the stagnant approach is so overwhelmingly popular, and it seems to be avoidant behavior. No one wants to sweat anymore. No one likes the pain that comes from hard work. No one likes feeling nauseated at the end of a training session.   Imagine your comfort zone as if it were a circle. Inside it, you feel fine, but your results will always be “meh”. Only outside of those boundaries, you will work towards being faster, stronger and fitter.

• Compound Exercises - Deadlift with 50 percent of your 1 rep max, 20 repsSuper set withPull ups, 10 reps (or as much as you can manage)  
• Chest - Bench press with 70 percent of your 1 rep max, 10 repsDrop set toBench press, 10 reps, with 15 pounds lessDrop set toBench press, 10 reps, with 15 pounds less then before  
• Arms - One-armed barbell curls (you grip the bar at the middle and maintain balance during the lift)Super set withTricep dips, body kept straight,
• Abs - 12 reps  Hanging leg raises, 20 repsSuper set withCrunches, knees bent, 20 repsSuper set with30 second static hold, lying on the floor, legs straight, feet at two inches above ground  The 20 rep breathing squatTake a weight that’s just enough for 10 repetitions. Do a rep, and then breathe in and out three times while your knees are locked in the upright part of the lift. Then, do another rep. Et cetera. Do not quit until the set is complete.

It’s tough, but ultimately worth it. Try some of these unorthodox methods for a month, and see if the plateau will stick (it won’t, though).