Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Protein shake Pre or Post workout?

Hey everyone,

I know I just posted a recipe on how to make protein bread, so 2 post is one day seems like over kill but I just want everyone to know something before I loose the article..

Question how grams of protein should I drink after my workout? Is my post workout vital to muscle growth? Whats the best protein to take after my workout? Do you see the reoccurring theme here? Everyone wants to take their protein after the workout. Workouts are looked at by some people as completely useless unless they have protein right after.

New research suggests that protein digested before a workout can be more beneficial then any post workout supplement. Branch chain amino acids I am sure that you have heard this phrase or if not then im confident you have heard the term BCAA's. Well that is BCAA's (Branch Chain Amino Acid's) The point is that BCAA's don't need to be processed by anything in the body they bypass your liver and all other filtration systems in the body. Once they are digested by the stomach they head straight to your blood stream to be absorbed by the muscles.

Why is that important?

  • Pre-workouts are filtered by your liver and thus take 30-45 minutes to hit the blood stream and even longer before you feel it in your muscles. 
    • I dont know about you but I don't have time to prepare a pre-workout and drink it 1 hour before my workout and then start workouts at the EXACT time it hits. 
      • This is just an impractical method of pre workout energy.
  • Adding protein before your workout increases your bodies natural protein synthesis. Meaning your body will digest protein during your workout instead of after. 
    • Your body will benefit more from taking the protein during because it can start the rebuilding AS you tear the muscle not after. 
  • YOU BURN MORE CALORIES 
    • " A study published in Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise found that one scoop of whey protein prior to working out increased calorie burning over the subsequent 24 hours."
      • This means that taking one scoop of whey protein before your workout will help you burn calories, all day and night. 


The team of scientists and athletes that have been testing this theory for quite some time now. Have come to a definitive answer to the age old question of PRE or POST workout? The answer is PRE-workout protein exhibits more then 3 times the benefits then post workout protein does. It has tons of research being done now to prove once and for all that PRE workout protein is the way to go and that post workout protein is a thing of the past. 

my source as always: Bodybuilding.com Article


Thanks again everyone
Frank

Protein Bread Recipe


*Note this is not my recipe, this is something that I found while online and I thought that people might enjoy.* remember from my post yesterday low carb doesn't mean low fat. It means low energy. Low insulin means low fat. (also for those of you who missed my earlier post on cinnamon the insulin blocker go back and read that!)

This recipe is Jamie Eason's recipe

Nutrition Facts:


Makes 16 squares
1 square = 55 calories, 1 g fat, 8 g carbs, 5 g protein

Ingredients:



Directions:


  1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8 X 8 inch Pyrex dish with non-stick spray.


  2. In small bowl combine: (set aside)
  • 1/3 cup Ideal (Xylitol)
  • 2 tsp cinnamon


  1. In a large bowl combine: (whisk together)
  • 1 1/2 cups oat flour + 2 scoops vanilla whey protein
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup Ideal (Xylitol) or ¼ cup Stevia in the Raw


  1. In a medium bowl combine: (whisk together & add to lrg bowl)
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (Almond Breeze)
  • 1/3 cup or 1 4oz jar of baby food applesauce and ¼ cup low sugar vanilla yogurt (optional)


  1. Pour a shallow layer of batter into the loaf pan (about 1/4 of the batter).


  2. Sprinkle heavily with half of the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining batter & cinnamon/sugar on top.


  3. Draw a knife through the batter to marble. Bake for 24 to 28 min. Let cool for 10 min. Bread will be dense.






Monday, August 13, 2012

Following my blog

This topic is unrelated to fitness

For those people, who have been supporting visiting and even promoting my blog I want to give a special thanks to all of you. I now have over 2000 views in a short span of time. I have only just begun so I want everyone to know that I will have a lot more in store for all the followers.

I also notice that I only have 3 "followers" that have figured out how to actually link this into your gmail account or even your email. This isn't the type of blog or site that will send you annoying push notifications to your cell phone solicit your phone or even email and you will absolutely not get spam. So for those of you who are still kind of on the fence about clicking the like button located up on top of the blog. You can go ahead and do so with no worries the only thing that the follow button means is that you will never loose the blog should I decide to change the name or URL. (not that I plan to but just in case)

Thanks again
Frank

Insulin (FAT STORAGE)

Hello everyone,

So I am going to be talking about a topic that is extremely difficult for myself and others to comprehend. The topic is Insulin, how it works and why it has such a bad reputation. The reason that it has such a bad reputation starts with the simple fact that it is linked to fat storage. 

This the type of post that could look as long as a small English text book for first year undergraduate students if I really want to go into this topic deep. So to spare everyone I will keep it short and sweet!

So lets begin:

When you eat a meal, the carbohydrates in that meal are broken down into glucose (a sugar used as energy by your cells). This glucose substance enters your blood stream. The organs in your body such as your pancreas, detect your glucose levels are rising. As part of a negative feed back system it releases insulin to counter those rising glucose levels. Glucose levels are typically found to be at their lowest value, when a person first wakes up. Because of the long period of time since their last meal.

What does this mean?


When your insulin rises your body can begin to store fat (your body can also store fat when insulin is low too but only when calories are in excess). Point being that as you eat an increased caloric diet consisting of more carbohydrates you will likely shock your blood glucose, and insulin into an over excited state. The problem with insulin is that some people don't eat the proper carbs. Carbs are great for the body, in some instances if you eat carbs you have a better chance of loosing weight. For others who have a difficult time gaining weight you should also pay attention to your carb intake. Chases are your insulin is always super low. 

So the funniest thing about insulin is how many times it rises and falls throughout the length of a day. The average person who doesn't exercise will eat 2-3 medium-large sized meals a day. The average fitness enthusiast will eat between 4-9meals a day. Here is a chart displaying insulin response in a normal day, for the average non exercising person. 
Take note how these meals take less and less time for the body to rebound as the day goes on. This is because by the end of the day your body is more efficient then when you first wake up. That is why constant small meals are better then large meals because your body will build up a routine on how to burn food faster and faster. also it will keep insulin lower longer thus keeping you leaner. 


Here is a funny diagram to end this topic with. I over hear a lot of novice lifters in the gym discussing some pretty meaty topics (pun intended). Problem is they have no clue what they are talking about. Usually what goes on is someone in the gym becomes intrigued by lifting or working out and wants to know more. So they will Google things. Now this is the best way to learn things in my opinion... BUT be weary of the internet articles you read. Most articles out there if not obtained from a credible source are not true. LOOK FOR THE ARTICLES SOURCES!!! So back to the point haha This is a diagram based on a lab experiment on different types of shakes made for protein sources. I know to think about a Turkey milk shake or a tuna milk shake is honestly repulsive but that's ok you don't have to drink them! 
Whey protein stimulated the highest insulin response but weird enough what this chart doesn't show you is that Whey did not increase the persons blood glucose 1pt. It actually made it lower, this is only possible because whey protein suppresses appetite. 


I know that most people are sort of thrown off right now by this chart but don't be alarmed Whey Protein is good! The average person who takes whey protein, eats less during the course of a day. They keep their insulin stable for a longer period of time and store less fat. That is of course the average. Those who are too loose with their diets this isn't true for you! 

Ok so that about wraps it up if anyone wants to actually do 50 pages of reading on insulin like I did I will give you my source as I always do! lol Thank you for reading everyone! 


http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=319 --> Insulin…an Undeserved Bad Reputation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin --> Insulin on wikipedia 


Thanks again for reading!
Frank






Sunday, August 12, 2012

Men vs Women style and routine

Good afternoon everyone,

Well this is a question that someone asked me a while back and I forgot to post on the blog. I had a friend ask me in the gym, "Ok so im going to workout with my girlfriend but she plays sports too. How should I make her workout? Girls are different aren't they? Shouldn't they do more, of light weight stuff and less strength stuff?"

Ok! So this is a dumb question. The reason I say this is because does anyone remember the commercial with Mia Hamm and Michael Jordan from back in the day? Well if you haven't here is the link to watch the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV12k6k9W4Q


Women and men are the same. Obviously this is a bold face statement but as far as workouts go they are the same. ***MOSTLY*** Women will not gain mass as fast as men. Women will not develop as many fast twitch muscle fibers as men. Women will have to do more fast twitch muscle building workouts in order to compare to a man but other then that EVERYTHING IS THE SAME. 

Squat will increase vertical, and speed. Lunges will increase vertical and speed. Agility work will increase footwork and speed. The thing with the people who think that women should not train the same as men i have one question for you... If I am 6 foot 3 and you are 5 foot 6, should you not practice sprints to become faster because were not the exact same height? Should You run long distance to become a better sprinter while I practice reducing my times in the 100m ? Well obviously we know the answer is no. If you want to become faster at the 100m you practice the 100m you don't practice a 5k. It is almost the same thing with men and women athletes. TRAIN LIKE A MAN, PLAY LIKE A MAN. Now don't take this ladies as im saying TRAIN LIKE A MAN LOOK LIKE A MAN! lol that is absolutely not true. 

Hope this helps Everyone! also I have some new updates soon coming on the Virtual Personal Training website where anyone from around the world will be able to subscribe to my site and come get personal training with me. VIA internet video streaming you will be able to have a 1on1 session with me or group classes with me so stay tuned it will be coming soon. For now keep reading my posts have a great day everyone enjoy the weather! 

Frank 

Friday, August 10, 2012

Fat Burning Routine from Muscle Pharm!


Fat Burning workout (about 45-50 min)

After warm-up, perform the following for 10 minutes each
10 minute run
10 minute walking lunges
10 minutes on bike

When completed, do the following:

Speed Bag - 2 minutes
Face-pulls - 20 reps (use a weight or band)
Punches with 3-5 pound weights - 2 minutes
Repeat for 5 sets

Finish with 1 set of 100 lateral raises with 8-10 pound dumbbells

Thursday, August 9, 2012

tip on pushup/ bench press depth

Ok so for all of you who do push-ups, or bench do any sort of fly's or deep dips for chest. My post today is on the depth of how far you should preform a rep. The thing with these exercises are they are high risk for your shoulder. They are essential to having a big or defined chest. BUT! They can prevent you from being able to lift all together if you do them wrong.

Remember! It is better to do less and be consistent then it is to do more and hurt yourself. The only way to see results is over time! So if you get  hurt you will have to take time off that is counter productive.

OK... To the point On each of these exercises the depth of a repetition is the same for everyone. If you were to have a lifting partner or a spotter measure the degree of your elbow it should be 90 Degrees. A right angle! For those of you who are unsure EXACTLY how that should look I know how you feel geometry wasn't my strong point either! Haha Only kidding everyone but I will post a picture for you all just to clarify.

Anything lower then 90° will deactivate the tension on the muscles in your Inner Deltoid thus causing excessive amount of unwanted stain on those muscles. This CAN and probably will cause bursitis, tendinitis, torn or strained rotator cuff. All of these injuries are extremely painful and you don't want to have those. So please trust me when I tell you with lifting weights less is more always preform more then 6 reps unless you are an experienced lifter with perfect form.

Lifting is all about the contractions please see my other post and read about the difference between a motion, flex, and contraction.


Frank