It’s a Monday morning. You’ve been on plan for a month and have been seeing steady changes. Your steadfast in your resolve and confident in your results, but you know what to expect today. Your game plan today is avoidance. You schedule your break when no one else will be around. You get out your chicken breast and broccoli and start heating it up, when Frank walks in. “Oh God, is that broccoli. That’s disgusting. I’d rather enjoy my life.” Change what you can, and deal with the rest. Negativity of others can make achieving any goal difficult. When it comes to changing your physique it seems everyone has an opinion. In the 20+ years I have been in or around bodybuilding there is one thing that will never change; other people’s opinions. They will always be there, whether welcomed or not. You will always have to deal it. How you deal with these situations can make the difference between your success, and maybe your mental health. Why do people feel the need to make comments? We need to keep an open mind when it comes to the people making these comments. Some may simply be asking questions out of curiosity. Some may feel insecure about their own self-control and others may simply be unhappy people. Taking a minute, and maybe a few deep breaths can help. Take a second to categorize where these peoples comments are coming from before jumping to a conclusion. 90% of the time people don’t mean anything by their comments, and often they actually remarking your discipline. Is it just me, or? Depending on how long we have been dieting or if we are approaching a show we may be taking things the wrong way. During the last few weeks of prep even a compliment may rub us the wrong way. Again, take some deep breaths, be objective, and ask yourself, “Am I overreacting or is the person out of line?” If they are out of line go back to categorizing the comment and letting it go. You can’t change it so accept it and move on.
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Nutrition regimens always seemed steeped in mystery. There is always some mystical formula where if we don’t have the percentage 100% correct the diet fails. The dialogue surrounding Carb cycling in point; in the last 20 years I’ve heard of multiple incarnations of this dietary approach and with each variation the proponent declares theirs is the best.
This is why I believe different nutrition protocols are steeped in mystery. It is also why you will hear a lot of pseudo-science surrounding such approaches. Ever notice the fancy names given to different diets or diet books. After all, what sounds more exciting, Carb Cycling or Progressive Insulin Sensitivity Modulation? Now obviously some marketing is to be expected, but the point is, with nutrition, we are not reinventing the wheel. History In fact, the manipulation of macronutrients is as old as bodybuilding itself. Bodybuilders learned early on that varying macronutrients (fat, carbs, protein) resulted in favorable changes in their physiques. Case in point; ketogenic diets were being used in the 50’s by bodybuilders and are the oldest treatment for epilepsy that dates back to the 1920’s. So the adage “What’s old is new” is never more true than when it comes to diets. In the 90’s and up till today Chris Aceto has become a very in demand coach. He helped popularize his form of carb cycling and make it a household name. Well, at least in bodybuilding homes. It’s a dreaded word we all seem to despise; Cardio. That being the case we all want to make every minute on that treadmill or elliptical machine worth it. No one wants to feel like they are wasting time walking their way to nowhere, and if we can make one minute count as two minutes we will. Heck why wouldn’t you?
If you have been around bodybuilding for some time you have heard the debate over whether fasted cardio is more productive then cardio in a fed state. According to many fasted state cardio will burn a higher percentage of body fat. Some studies suggest that training during this time can burn up to 20% more fat. The people on the other side of the argument will say that fasted cardio is not any more beneficial than fed cardio or fasted cardio can be catabolic. They will also say that the benefit of this 20% is negated by the catabolism. The argument for fasted cardio explains that training in a fasted state will use body fat as preferred fuel during training. The reason is that in the morning our bodies will hold onto muscle glycogen and when this fuel is not available then we will shift to body fat for fuel. The argument on the other side of this benefit is that the body will also break down amino acids for fuel as well. The fix to this is to add an amino acid supplement during this time. This will preserve muscle tissue while you still enjoy the benefits of burning additional fat. |
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