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 

http://www.centerforpreventivemedicine.com/04114med_messenger.pdf --> Beyond Routine Cholesterol Testing

Thanks again for reading!

Frank

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 

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

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

Summer workouts

The difference between winter workouts and summer workouts are body fat. In winter it's ok to burn less calories to build some muscle before summer. Once summer comes calorie burning in each workout is key! Summer is prime time for slacking so make sure if you workout 4 times a week or how ever many times that it counts each time! Not just you counting calories make sure the workout burns. This should be a big muscle group day! To maximize calorie burning.

The bigger the muscle the more
It will burn. If you burn a huge amount of calories that's not good either keep the workouts 45 minutes long at most and intense the whole time. The key to burning body fat is consistency the whole time keep the heart rate up!

Back to the routine

I know summer is a hard time of year to keep the routine going. Especially when you have been doing it all year long and all you want to do is relax! I know that old story! Trust me! Haha I took some time off myself and now it is time to get back into the serious mode that we were in a few months ago. The Followers that means you guys/ girls as well!

Were a team and teams feed off one another the advice I give to all my clients for the summer is dedicate a workout partner for the summer months! Most people dont want to go alone when the weather gets nice and if someone will be there pushing you and you pushing them there is usually a better success rate. Once you keep the routine going throughout the larger portion of the summer start playing games with your workout buddy. See who goes more times on their own per week! Compare workouts and see who's is more intense make it a friendly competition!

enjoy the weather everyone

Frank

Hydration (Heat Wave)

Hello,

I just got back from vacation today and felt that a post about Heat Stroke/ Heat Exhaustion is in order. In New Jersey, it has been an average of 97 degrees approx for about the last week or so. It is super important to drink water, but equally as important to replenish your electrolytes if you are in the sun. Water alone will not replenish your body your body sweats electrolytes as well as water.

Enjoy the weather everyone!

Frank