Once confined primarily to sippy cups and elementary school lunch trays, now thanks to years of successful advertising campaigns (do “Milk. It does a body good.” and “Got Milk?” sound familiar?) milk has never been more popular.

In fact, there are valid reasons why dairy products should be included in your diet if you’re serious about muscle growth and fitness. First and foremost, there’s the protein factor.

Let’s face it:

When it comes to whole-food sources of complete proteins, bodybuilders don’t have a lot to choose from. We have lean meats (poultry, fish and certain cuts of beef), eggs and dairy and that’s about it. So if you’re not driving muscle growth by getting some of your daily protein from dairy sources, you must have one hell of a boring diet. Not to mention that you’re missing out on dairy’s other bodybuilding benefits.

Chock-Full Of Calcium

Yes, it’s the mineral that makes bones stronger, but it’s also required for muscles to properly contract, and it has even been linked to weight loss. Several studies, such as one conducted at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville), show that a higher calcium intake from dairy consumption leads to greater fat loss. And according to research published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, subjects who consumed more calcium and low-fat dairy products had a smaller waist:hip ratio, meaning they had less abdominal fat.

Here, then, is a rundown of the four most popular dairy products, with a full examination of why you should fit them in your diet.

Milk

It’s the progenitor of all other dairy products (and of our crucially important whey and casein proteins), and nothing tastes as good with cookies, but is there any real reason to drink milk? Absolutely. Here are four.

Muscle Booster

A 2006 study from the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston) confirms that drinking about 1 cup of milk after a weight workout boosts protein synthesis the mechanism responsible for muscle growth. Since the researchers didn’t compare it to other forms of protein, such as pure whey, it’s hard to say how well milk alone boosts muscle growth after training. That’s why we recommend milk postworkout just to mix your whey in, or when it’s your only option.

Milk also contains other compounds that boost muscle growth.

Cow’s milk contains everything that baby cows need to grow up big and strong, so it makes sense that those ingredients would also contribute to your mass. One such element is insulinlike growth factor-1 (IGF-1), an anabolic compound critical for stimulating muscle growth. A study published in 2004 in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that subjects who drank milk had significantly higher IGF-1 levels than those who ate the same amount of protein in steak form.

Better Hydration

After a workout, what do you grab? A protein shake, sure. Maybe an energy drink? One of those fancy “functional” waters? Turns out you might want to consider drinking some milk, at least after a long workout on a hot day.

Research Study

In a study published in the July 2007 issue of the British Journal of Nutrition, subjects were dehydrated through exercise and then given one of the following: water, a sports drink, reduced-fat milk or reduced-fat milk with added sodium. Researchers found that the subjects who drank milk (either with or without the sodium boost) were better hydrated than those who drank water or a sports drink. Scientists hypothesize that the sodium and potassium naturally present in milk are responsible for rehydration.

While we don’t advise using milk alone after workouts, you can mix your usual postworkout whey protein with fat-free milk (you don’t want fat to interfere with protein absorption) after particularly long training sessions in the heat.

More Muscle-Building

Rehydration isn’t the only reason to drink milk after a workout. A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition had untrained subjects drink fat-free milk, a soy protein drink or a carbohydrate drink after training with weights. After 12 weeks, the milk group gained 40% more muscle than the soy group and 60% more than the carb-drink group. The milk drinkers also dropped an average of 2 pounds of bodyfat.

Go Organic

It’s easy to get disenchanted with all the hoopla surrounding organic food. Ignore the hippies and the hype for a minute and think about this: In a study published back in 1999 in the Journal of Dairy Science, scientists found that cows that ate only grass produced milk containing 500% more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than cows that were fed a standard dairy farm diet (which consists primarily of grain).

This is important because CLA is strongly linked with cancer prevention and with boosting muscle gains and spot-reducing those pesky fat deposits on your abs.

Research Study

A 2006 study by British scientists reported that organic milk had almost 70% more omega-3 fatty acids than conventional milk, which supported a similar study done in 2004 at the University of Aberdeen (UK). This is good news since omega-3s also help burn more fat and encourage muscle growth, as well as provide a host of health benefits. To be considered organic, milk must come from cows that are allowed access to pasture, which is why we recommend you spend a few extra dimes and go organic.

Cottage Cheese

Remember Little Miss Muffet the arachnophobe who ate her “curds and whey”? Mother Goose fancified it, but Muffet was just munching on cottage cheese. It doesn’t much resemble a block of cheddar, but cottage cheese is, in fact, cheese. Immature cheese, let’s say. To make it, enzymes are added to milk, causing its casein protein (which makes up about 80% of cow’s milk) to curdle into those characteristic curds.

Catabolism Conqueror

Cottage cheese is high in not only protein (28 grams per cup) but casein protein specifically that’s the slow-digesting kind. It’s just about the perfect snack for right before bedtime, or any other time you’ll go hours without eating.

Amino Powered

In addition to being a protein powerhouse, cottage cheese contains glutamine, an important amino acid that’s involved in everything from boosting the amount of glycogen muscles can store and increasing growth hormone levels, to keeping your immune system healthy and even helping you lose fat.

Cheese

Cheese is made by starting with something like cottage cheese and then subjecting it to a variety of different processes: heating, adding bacteria to further curdle it, draining and pressing, stretching, washing or adding mold (depending on the type) and aging. The finished product has a longer shelf life than milk and a richer, more satisfying flavor.

Protein Boost

Eating cheese is a good way to get a little extra protein, whether it’s the middle of the afternoon and you need a snack or you’re grating a little over a side dish. But because cheese, like all dairy products, can contain a lot of fat, watch those labels. Buy low-fat or (if you can find them) fat-free cheeses, and limit your intake to a couple of ounces a day.

Yogurt

One of the oldest and most universal food products, yogurt starts out as milk that has bacteria added to it. Those bacteria begin to eat the lactose (the sugar found in milk) and excrete lactic acid, causing the milk to thicken and acquire yogurt’s tangy flavor.

Protein Packed?

Some nutritionists recommend yogurt as a good protein source. But since 8 ounces of yogurt contains only 12 grams of protein, you’d have to choke down (and we do mean choke) three 8-ounce servings for a muscle-building 36 grams. An easier solution? Add a scoop or two of your favorite whey protein to a cup of yogurt. Just watch the fat content if you’re eating it pre- or postworkout.

Probiotic Punch

In the United States, yogurt must contain two different types of bacteria lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus to earn the probiotic label. Often, other types of bacteria are added because they’re good for you.

It seems counterintuitive, but your intestines not only support but rely on the presence of a slew of bacteria to absorb nutrients from your food.

Some data suggest that eating foods containing these helpful bacteria can improve the makeup of your gut flora. Although research is ongoing, there’s evidence that having an appropriate amount and variety of intestinal bacteria is linked to everything from reducing the risk of colon cancer to improving immunity and lowering cholesterol. Most important for you, this can aid digestive health, which means you’ll better absorb critical nutrients such as amino acids.

Fruit Fact

Because yogurt can be sour, it’s often sweetened through the addition of fruit and sugar, which makes carbohydrate levels skyrocket. Make sure to read the label on any fruit yogurt before you start spooning it in. Or just keep your consumption of fat-free fruit yogurts to immediately after workouts when you need the carbs to replenish your depleted muscles.

That’s the word on dairy. Take it all in, and the next time that ubiquitous ad asks you, “Got milk?” you can answer with a resounding yes. Your muscles will thank you.

Author: Jordana Brown
References:
http://www.muscleandfitness.com/
http://www.flexonline.com/
COPYRIGHT 2010 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2010 Gale Group

Hypertrophy-Specific Training™ arose out of the research looking at both the stimuli and mechanisms for muscle cell hypertrophy. Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST) is based on physiological principles of hypertrophy first discovered in the laboratory.

These principles were then organized into a “method” of mechanically loading the muscle to induce hypertrophy. Of course, translating these principles into applicable methods (sets & reps & schedules) brings in some possibility of error. As the science continues to explore the exact mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy, this error will be whittled away.

The Beginning Of HST

I didn’t start out knowing how muscles grew. After all, it is a process that cannot be observed with the naked eye. In the beginning I simply did what others were doing. Then, I began reading muscle magazines and buying books. Still, I wasn’t able to achieve the level of muscularity I saw so prominently displayed in the magazines. For about 10 years I trained with all the popular training styles. I made decent progress in the beginning but as time went by, I seldom saw changes in the mirror, at least not any I could get anyone else to notice. But I continued to pursue the art.

As I entered college and graduate school, I finally had access to real research that was only just then beginning to take form. The interest in muscle growth is fairly new in academic circles. As I began to explore the research, it became clear to me that the routines and traditions I was exposed to as a bodybuilder, were NOT based on physiological principles on a cellular level.

It was a “fantastic voyage” compared to the European inspired global view of training. At the microscopic level scientists were talking about things like “myogenic stem cells”, “growth-factors”, “mechanical loading”, “synergistic ablation”, “smeared Z-lines”, “MAPk/ERK” and many other things hidden to the naked eye. All of these things were left out of the equation of traditional training routines.

As hypertrophy-specific research progressed in specificity it was clear that traditional training routines had stumbled across many important principles of load induced muscle hypertrophy, but because of their limited perspective (volume and intensity) they failed to capitalize on some critical truths exposed by research at the cellular level.

HST Principles

The principles of hypertrophy that HST is based on are as follows (not an exhaustive list):

1) Mechanical Load

Mechanical Load is necessary to induce muscle hypertrophy. This mechanism involves but isn’t limited to, MAPk/ERK, satellite cells, growth factors, calcium, and number of other fairly understood factors. It is incorrect to say “we don’t know how muscle grows in response to training”. The whole point of the HST book is not to discuss HST, but to present the body of research explaining how hypertrophy occurs. Then HST becomes a relatively obvious conclusion if your goal is hypertrophy.

2) Acute vs. Chronic Stimuli

In order for the loading to result in significant hypertrophy, the stimulus must be applied with sufficient frequency to create a new “environment”, as opposed to seemingly random and acute assaults on the mechanical integrity of the tissue. The downside of taking a week of rest every time you load a muscle is that many of the acute responses to training like increased protein synthesis, prostaglandins, IGF-1 levels, and mRNA levels all return to normal in about 36 hours. So, you spend 2 days growing and half a week in a semi-anticatabolic state returning to normal (some people call this recovery), when research shows us that recovery can take place unabated even if a the muscle is loaded again in 48 hours. So true anabolism from loading only lasts 2 days at best once the load is removed.

The rest of the time you are simply balancing nitrogen retention without adding to it.

3) Progressive Load

Over time, the tissue adapts and becomes resistant to the damaging effects of mechanical load. This adaptation (resistance to the stimulus) can happen in as little as 48 hours (Repeated Bout Effect or Rapid Training Effect). As this happens, hypertrophy will stop, though neural and metabolic adaptations can and may continue. As opposed to hypertrophy, the foundation for the development of strength is neuromuscular in nature. Increases in strength from resistance exercise have been attributed to several neural adaptations including altered recruitment patterns, rate coding, motor unit synchronization, reflex potentiation, prime mover antagonist activity, and prime mover agonist activity. So, aside from incremental changes in the number of contractile filaments (hypertrophy), voluntary force production (i.e. strength) is largely a matter of “activating” motor units.

4) Strategic Deconditioning

At this point, it is necessary to either increase the load (Progressive load), or decrease the degree of conditioning to the load (Strategic Deconditioning). The muscle is sensitive not only to the absolute load, but also to the change in load (up or down). Therefore, you can get a hypertrophic effect from increasing the load from a previous load, even if the absolute load is not maximum, assuming conditioning (resistance to exercise induced micro-damage) is not to extensive. There is a limit to the number of increments you can add to increase the load. You simply reach your maximum voluntary strength eventually.

This is why Strategic Deconditioning is required for continued growth once growth has stopped (all things remaining equal).

Utilizing lactic acid as a stimulus for tendon repair & health

Now HST incorporates a few other things such as higher reps (for lactic acid) to prepare the muscles and tendons for future heavy loads. This serves as “regular maintenance”. Without it, you increase your risk of chronic injuries and pain. The metabolically-taxing reps enhance healing of strained tendons.

Compound Exercises

HST also suggests using compound exercises to maximize the effects of loading on as much muscle as possible per exercise.

Progressively Adjusting reps to accommodate Progressive Load

HST suggests that you use 2 week blocks for each rep range. Why? It has nothing to do with adaptation. It is simply a way to accommodate the ever increasing load. Of course, you could adjust your reps every week (e.g. 15,12,10,8,5,etc), but this is more complicated and people might not understand. Often times, in order to communicate an idea you must simplify things, even at the expense of perfection. If people can’t understand it, they won’t do it. What good would that do or anybody?

Then, over time, people figure out for themselves the other possibilities that exist within the principles of hypertrophy.

Low volume per exercise (average volume per week)

HST suggests that you limit the number of sets per exercise per workout to 1 or 2. This is based on “some” evidence that sets beyond the first “effective” set do little more than burn calories. There is nothing wrong with burning calories, but when you get to be my age you just don’t have the exercise tolerance that you once did. Using hormone replacement (HRT) therapy would of course, increase the number of sets you could do without undue stress.

Some may question the validity of HST not utilizing more than 1 or 2 sets per exercise. The number of sets is set low to accommodate the frequency necessary to create an effective and consistent environment to stimulate hypertrophy. Over the course of a week, the volume isn’t that different from standard splits (e.g. chest should tri, back bi, legs). (see table below)

Comparing The Volume Of HST To Traditional Routines

[View with PicLens]

Instead of doing 6 sets on bench in one workout, those sets are spread over the course of a week (2 on Mon, 2 on Wed, 2 on Fri). Either way the muscle sees 6 sets each week, however, with HST the distribution of the loading sessions creates a consistent environment conducive to hypertrophy.

When you do all six sets at once, you put unnecessary drain on the central nervous system (CNS) and invite centralized overtraining symptoms and burnout.

Multiple Consecutive Eccentric Workouts

HST utilizes, when practical, eccentric workouts for 2 consecutive weeks. This suggestion is only for exercises that can be performed in eccentric fashion without risk of injury. Eccentric sets are performed with weight that exceeds their 5 rep max. This is done to extend the progression in load, began at the beginning of the HST cycle, for an additional 2 weeks. The fear of over training is no greater during these two weeks than previous weeks if volume is controlled for. Recent research has demonstrated this. (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17, to name a few) Clearly, the effects of eccentric muscle actions on muscle tissue are one of the most well researched subjects in exercise physiology.

As the research continues to explore the facets of load induced muscle hypertrophy, HST will apply the new knowledge and become even more effective. For today, HST represents the state of the art and science of hypertrophy.

I have now used these principles myself, and have used them successfully to train competitive bodybuilders for some time. It is not “specifically” designed for competitive track athletes, Powerlifters or Olympic lifters, although I have had many athletes from different sports apply HST to their off-season training with ground breaking results. It is designed according to research looking specifically at muscle hypertrophy, not muscle performance.

This subject deserves a lot more attention than I am able to give it here. I will cover the topic more thoroughly in the future, including the references that first shed light on the principles that gave rise to HST. In the meantime, if you want to grow as fast as possible, you must apply currently know hypertrophy-specific training principles.

Sample HST Workout

Source: www.hypertrophy-specific.com

References:

1: Nosaka K, Newton M. Repeated Eccentric Exercise Bouts Do Not Exacerbate Muscle Damage and Repair. J Strength Cond Res. 2002 Feb;16(1):117-122.

2: Nosaka K, Newton M. Concentric or eccentric training effect on eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2002 Jan;34(1):63-9.

3: Proske U, Morgan DL. Muscle damage from eccentric exercise: mechanism, mechanical signs, adaptation and clinical applications. J Physiol. 2001 Dec 1;537(Pt 2):333-45.

4: Nosaka K, Newton M, Sacco P. Responses of human elbow flexor muscles to electrically stimulated forced lengthening exercise. Acta Physiol Scand. 2002 Feb;174(2):137-45.

5: Allen DG. Eccentric muscle damage: mechanisms of early reduction of force. Acta Physiol Scand. 2001 Mar;171(3):311-9.

6: Clarkson PM. Eccentric exercise and muscle damage. Int J Sports Med. 1997 Oct;18 Suppl 4:S314-7.

7: Paddon-Jones D, Abernethy PJ. Acute adaptation to low volume eccentric exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Jul;33(7):1213-9.

8: Nosaka K, Sakamoto K, Newton M, Sacco P. How long does the protective effect on eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage last? Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Sep;33(9):1490-5.

9: McHugh MP, Connolly DA, Eston RG, Gleim GW. Exercise-induced muscle damage and potential mechanisms for the repeated bout effect. Sports Med. 1999 Mar;27(3):157-70.

10: Nosaka K, Sakamoto K, Newton M, Sacco P. The repeated bout effect of reduced-load eccentric exercise on elbow flexor muscle damage. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2001 Jul;85(1-2):34-40.

11: Rennie MJ. How muscles know how to adapt. J Physiol. 2001 Aug 15;535(Pt 1):1.

12. Nosaka K, Sakamoto K. Effect of elbow joint angle on the magnitude of muscle damage to the elbow flexors. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Jan;33(1):22-9.

13: Lieber RL, Friden J. Morphologic and mechanical basis of delayed-onset muscle soreness. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2002 Jan-Feb;10(1):67-73.

14: Nosaka K, Clarkson PM. Influence of previous concentric exercise on eccentric exercise-induced muscledamage. J Sports Sci. 1997 Oct;15(5):477-83.

15: Carson JA. The regulation of gene expression in hypertrophying skeletal muscle. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 1997;25:301-20.

16:. Lieber RL, Friden J. Mechanisms of muscle injury after eccentric contraction. J Sci Med Sport. 1999 Oct;2(3):253-65.

17: Nosaka K, Clarkson PM. Muscle damage following repeated bouts of high force eccentric exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1995 Sep;27(9):1263-9.

If you’ve paid attention to our preworkout nutrition advice over the years, you know we recommend having 20-40 grams of low-glycemic or slow-digesting carbs along with your protein shake in the 30-minute window before training.

An apple is a good carb to have at this time because its high fructose content makes it low-glycemic since the liver must first convert it into glucose. What makes it even more slow-digesting is its high fiber content.

Research

But carbs and fiber aren’t the only reasons you should reach for an apple before workouts, according to research from the Nippon Sport Science University (Tokyo) and the University of Arts and Sciences (Saitama, Japan). Both research teams discovered that the polyphenols in apples (similar to those in tea) provide added benefits such as increasing strength and endurance, and decreasing bodyfat.

Studies

The Nippon Sport Science University team gave male rats apple polyphenols or a placebo for three weeks, and measured their bodyfat, force (strength) and muscle fatigue before and after the three-week trial. As reported in a 2007 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the rats given the apple polyphenols had about 30% less bodyfat compared to the placebo group because the polyphenols increased the activity of genes that spur fat-burning.

The researchers also discovered that the rats in the apple polyphenols group gained nearly twice as much strength and avoided muscle fatigue much longer than the rats given the placebo. They speculated that the increased use of fat for energy may have allowed the rats to resist fatigue longer.

In the University of Arts and Sciences study, the researchers gave more than 70 obese male and female subjects 600 mg of apple polyphenols or a placebo per day for 12 weeks. They measured the subjects’ LDL (bad) cholesterol, total cholesterol, bodyweight and abdominal fat at the beginning and end of the study and found that those supplementing with apple polyphenols lost significantly more abdominal fat and bodyweight, and had lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels compared to the subjects taking the placebo.

Conclusion

To increase your own muscular strength and endurance, as well as get leaner and lower your cholesterol levels, take 500 mg of apple polyphenols in capsule or pill form before breakfast and dinner.

In addition, eating a large apple (with the skin on) with your preworkout protein shake will provide about 200 mg of polyphenols, 30 grams of low-glycemic carbs, more than 5 grams of fiber and about 110 calories.

Author: Jim Stoppani

COPYRIGHT 2009 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2009 Gale, Cengage Learning

In today’s bodybuilding culture, extremes have become the norm. It seems every so called guru is coming up with a new extreme diet, supplementation, or extreme workout.

It seems everyone is trying to sell you some workout routine with a magic set and rep scheme. Some claim that you should only lift low reps because that is where the most overload occurs and where most strength gains are made.

Rep Schemes

Other routines claim that anything under 10 reps is a waist of time. Some even recommend repetition schemes as high as 100!!!! So what’s the dealio? Well, my mama always told me “moderation in everything” and by god she was right! There is no magic rep scheme. ALL rep schemes have merit and all should be utilized in order to achieve maximal physique development.

Let me explain how every rep scheme has its merit.

Low Reps:

Typically defined as anywhere from 1-5 reps, low reps place the most load on the muscles as you are able to handle the heaviest weights in this rep range. Other than placing a large load on the muscles, this rep scheme also has the advantage of activating ALL fiber types including the slow twitch fibers! Now I’m sure you are thinking “wait a second, I’ve always been told you had to do high reps to activate slow twitch fibers.”

WRONG!

Muscle fibers are recruited in order from:

Slow –> Intermediate –> Fast

So if you are lifting a very heavy load, your muscles will recruit all the slow fibers first, if the tension they create is not sufficient to support the load, the intermediate fibers are then recruited, and if they can’t cut it, the fast twitch are recruited. So you can plainly see if you are lifting heavy loads you are maximally stimulating slow twitch fibers. Lower rep schemes & heavy loads also cause the stimulation of myofibrillar (the actual proteins that are responsible for contraction) protein synthesis better than any other rep scheme.

Furthermore, lifting in this rep range will yield great strength gains, which will enable you to use more weight in other rep ranges, thus overloading the muscle even further & causing greater hypertrophy.

Moderate Reps:

Typically defined as 6-12 reps, moderate rep schemes are sort of the jack of all trades, master of none. They have many of the benefits of the high rep schemes and many benefits of the low rep schemes. In peer review studies, it is this rep range that seems to consistently cause the most overall hypertrophy. This is probably because the rep range is low enough to allow use of heavy loads, but enough reps are performed that the muscle is under tension for a longer period of time under the load than it would be in the low rep range.

This should then result in the greater hypertrophic response.

High Reps:

Typically defined as anything around or above 15 reps. Now I know you are probably thinking “If low reps stimulate all the fibers, result in the best strength gains, and moderate reps result in the most hypertrophy, why in the world would I do high reps?” Well high reps still have their merits. High repetitions cause massive glycogen depletion during the workout. The body will compensate for this in the post workout period by increasing the amount of glycogen the muscle stores. Since glycogen is very hydrophilic, this extra glycogen will pull even more water into the cell (about 2.7g water/gram of glycogen). This increase in intracellular water is very anabolic as increased cell hydration induces increases in protein synthesis and also causes the cell to stretch.

Muscle cell stretching is one of the signals for cellular growth and if the stretch is forceful enough can induce the release of growth factors.

Integrating This Into Your Routine

All this information is well and good, but I’m sure you are wondering “how the hell to I integrate it into my routine?” Let’s just use a chest workout as an example.

Starting Strength Sets:

I would start off the chest routine with a compound movement for low reps with heavy weights. Starting off in the low rep range will allow you to lift your heaviest possible weights since you are fresh and not fatigued. You would not want to perform sets with heavy weights & low reps at the end of a workout as you wouldn’t be able to move near as much weight. Some form of dumbbell or barbell press for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps would be great for stimulating strength gains and overloading the muscle.

Rest periods should last however long you need for your body to recover and for you to feel 100% mentally focused for the next set. The focus should be on moving as much weight as possible.

Middle Sets:

After the strength sets are done, I would perform another 3-5 sets of a different pressing movement aiming for a load that allows you to perform 6-12 reps. Make sure you hit the lower & higher ends of this rep range don’t just do 3-5 sets of 6 reps. What you might try is doing around 6 reps on your first set, then reducing weight to perform 8 reps on your next set, then 10 reps on your next set, and 12 reps on your final set. Performing the sets in this manner will allow you to reap all the benefits of this rep range.

Since you are already fatigued from the previous pressing exercise, you might try using a pressing movement that requires less stabilization & balance so you can focus on moving the weights, something like a hammer strength press would be ideal here. Rest periods during these sets should be around 2-3 minutes.

Isolation Sets:

To finish off your workout I would suggest an isolation exercise for 2-3 sets of high reps (15+ reps). Using an isolation exercise will ensure that your chest fatigues rather than your shoulders or triceps failing before your chest which may occur during a pressing movement. Cable crossovers, dumbbell flyes, cable flyes, or a pec deck fly movement would be optimal for this exercise.

Rest periods should be 60-90 seconds MAX! Go for the pump and burn it out! The doorway is open for you… now go get yo’ swole on!

Author: Layne Norton

Give us a few seconds and we’ll give you stronger and bigger muscles. No, we’re not promising that you can work out for less than a minute. What we are promising is that if you focus on a specific range of seconds, you’ll challenge your muscles in an entirely new way.

You see, while reps, sets and rest time are important variables in your workout, the total amount of time you spend actually doing each set of an exercise can also be critical to reaching your training goals. However, this time component rarely has been taken into account when putting together a weight-training program … until now.

What exactly is it?

Time under tension (TUT) is a way of calculating the total amount of work you place on a muscle. It refers to the total time a muscle resists weight during each set. For example, if you did the barbell curl and it took you two seconds to curl the weight up and another two seconds to lower it, that’s four seconds of tension per rep. Performing 10 reps at this pace would take a total of 40 seconds. Therefore, the TUT for that set is 40 seconds. If you increased the speed of those reps to about three seconds, then it would take you only 30 seconds to complete a 10-rep set. Although the number of reps and the amount of weight are the same, the second set might not increase your muscle mass to the same level as the first. And that’s the basis of TUT training: Focus on sets that last for a certain amount of time based on your training goals. For maximizing strength, the ideal TUT is about 20 seconds or less; for muscle mass, it’s at least 40 seconds; and for muscle endurance, it’s at least 70 seconds.

Don’t abandon set and rep ranges just yet, though you have good reason to focus on them.

Studies

Research shows that the best way to gain muscle strength is by performing 1-6 reps per set; for muscle growth, your ideal rep range is 8-12; and for muscle endurance, 15-30 reps prove most beneficial. The problem is that all these ranges assume that each rep takes about four seconds to complete. If you extrapolated those figures, you’d assume that the best TUT ranges are 4-24 seconds for strength, 32-48 seconds for growth and 60-120 seconds for endurance. However, strength coaches and training experts have tweaked those values based on their own experience.

Although no controlled research has been done on the subject, their anecdotal evidence suggests that the best TUT ranges are 4-20 seconds for strength, 40-60 seconds for growth and 70-100 seconds for endurance.

Its About Time

TUT ranges allow you to be more precise about the amount of work you place on a muscle. Using the barbell curl example, if you did 10 reps at four seconds per rep, you worked the muscle for 40 seconds, which coincidentally is the optimal TUT to stress a muscle for gains in mass. But if it took you only three seconds to complete each rep (a TUT equal to 30 seconds), you weren’t training the muscle optimally for growth, even though the reps are in the proper range.

This doesn’t mean you should stop counting reps.

When you’re training for muscle mass, continue to shoot for 8-12 reps. But incorporating TUT training into your routine can allow you to widen that rep range to about 6-15 per set, as long as you stay within the TUT range of 40-60 seconds. So if you decide to perform six reps of barbell curls, you would need to slow down your reps to about seven seconds per rep for a total of 42 seconds of TUT.

If you did 15 reps of barbell curls, you’d need to keep the reps to about 3-4 seconds for a total of 45-60 seconds of TUT.

Eye On The Time

To monitor your rep speed and total TUT for every set, you need to watch the clock. If you train with a partner, have him time you with a stopwatch, help you count off reps at the right speed and keep you in your TUT window. If you train alone, however, timing gets trickier. Try positioning yourself in view of a wall clock or use a watch with a second hand or timer. You can also estimate your time by counting off with the one-one thousand system: Count the time it takes to complete each rep and the set, starting with one-one thousand and counting up.

Variance Is Key

Regardless of your training goals, it’s important to vary your reps and TUT times within the range of your goal so you don’t get stuck in a rut. Make weekly modifications, such as those suggested in the “Countdown to Growth Program” on the previous page. Each week, change the number of reps you perform per set and the time it takes to complete each rep.

If you continue to modify your routine this way, then monitoring your training with the TUT principle can be done indefinitely.

Optimal Rep And TUT Ranges

Author: Jim Stoppani
COPYRIGHT 2010 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2010 Gale Group

Free weights definitely have their advantages. One of their major benefits over machines is that they require more participation from stabilizer muscles. Stronger stabilizers equal better lifts, which equal bigger muscles. Machines also have their advantages. In fact, research shows that machines can build strength as efficiently as free weights.

Evidence

Free weights force you to use more stabilizer muscles to balance the weight. This can help you to build more overall strength, because the stabilizer muscles are crucial for major muscles groups to produce the most force. Free-weight exercises cause you to burn more calories. Research has shown that exercises, such as the free-weight squat, burn about 50% more calories than machine exercises, such as the leg press.

The difference may be that a greater number of stabilizer muscles are used during multijoint exercises done with free weights.

Studies

The fact that machines use less stabilizer muscles is also a benefit, because it helps you focus more on the targeted muscle. One study from Illinois State University (Normal) reported that when subjects performed free-weight bench presses, they used more front- and middle-delt muscles than during machine bench presses. The researchers reasoned that this is likely due to the need for the deltoid muscles to stabilize the shoulder joints to balance the bar when pressing a barbell. Because the machine is on a fixed path, the shoulders don’t need to stabilize the shoulder joints. Less involvement from the delts means you can place focus more on the pecs for greater muscle growth.

Research

As far as the belief that free-weight exercises will make you stronger than machine exercises, there is research that actually disproves this. Valdosta State University (Georgia) researchers found that when subjects trained on a free-weight bench press or a machine bench press for 10 weeks, both groups increased their strength by about 10% on the free-weight bench press, which was used to determine the subjects’ strength both before and after the 10-week study.

Verdict

Do not avoid machine exercises, always employ as many training tools as possible to maximize your results. That means using both free weights and machines. Focus on free weights earlier in your workout, and then, as your stabilizer muscles fatigue, go with machines later in the workout.

This method allows you to continue working the target muscle with maximum intensity without the stabilizer muscles holding back your training.

Author: Jim Stoppani, PhD
COPYRIGHT 2010 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2010 Gale, Cengage Learning

When it comes to the perfect training program, there are three key variables for gaining strength and muscle mass: the number of sets per bodypart, the number of reps completed per set and the frequency with which each bodypart is trained.

Yet, if you were to ask the bodybuilding industry’s biggest pros for their numbers of sets, reps and training frequency, you’d be surprised at how much their answers would differ. This means that different training schemes work better for some individuals than for others, which is often a frustrating realization for aspiring bodybuilders seeking the best way to train.

The Big Debate

This topic is debated in local gyms, college strength rooms and exercise physiology laboratories. There are so many differing opinions that it makes even the smartest exercise scientist’s head spin. Searching through scientific journals only turns up conclusions that vary from one study to another. Most scientific studies have two major flaws. One problem is that they often involve only a small group of subjects (usually 10-20) who are supposed to represent the bodybuilding majority. The other problem is that many weightlifting studies use beginners as subjects. Even the least-educated bodybuilder knows that beginners respond to training much differently than experienced bodybuilders.

Researchers

Fortunately, scientists from Arizona State University in Mesa, Arizona, have published a study that could give us some solid answers. They gathered data from 140 well-designed weightlifting studies and compared the optimum number of reps and sets and the best training frequency for inducing strength gains in both novice and trained (defined as having lifted weights consistently for more than one year) weightlifters. Then, the data was analyzed using a statistics method that calculated the optimal rep, set and frequency scheme for beginner and advanced weightlifters (see “Strong Results” sidebar).

Intensity Rules

Intensity refers to the number of reps and the amount of weight employed.

Beginners

The study concluded that beginners should start with a program of higher reps and lighter weight. Those who have been lifting for less than a year should use weights that allow 12-15 reps to be completed per set. Beginners make considerable strength gains by adaptations that occur within the nervous system. Lifting weights teaches the nervous system how to fire signals to the muscles faster and more efficiently so that the right muscle fibers are optimally recruited during a lift. Using more repetitions allows the nervous system to get more practice, as it must work to control each and every rep.

Advanced

For advanced trainers, heavier weight and lower reps produced the greatest strength gains. If you’ve been training for more than a year and are interested in making strength gains, use weights that allow you to complete about six to eight reps per set. According to the concept of progressive overload, as muscles adapt to repeated training, you must challenge them with heavier weight.

Therefore, advanced trainers need to use poundages that are relatively heavier than those a beginner would use.

Pump Up The Volume

Volume refers to the total number of sets performed for one bodypart during a workout. If you do three sets of three exercises for chest, the total volume is nine sets.

Beginners

The Arizona team discovered that beginners should complete only three or four sets per bodypart for good strength results. In the study, optimal results for beginners interested in gaining strength were achieved with three sets of one exercise per bodypart.

When performing only one exercise per bodypart, we recommends that it be a basic exercise, such as bench presses or incline bench presses for chest, barbell or dumbbell overhead presses for shoulders, barbell rows or pulldowns for back, squats or leg presses for legs, close-grip bench presses or skull-crushers for triceps and standing barbell or dumbbell curls for biceps. Considering its lower volume of exercises, this workout can be done as one full-body workout or split into two separate workouts that train the entire body (quads, hams, chest and triceps one day, for example, and back, shoulders, biceps and calves the next).

Advanced

The volume of sets for advanced trainers is increased slightly but still remains on the lower side. Researchers found that advanced trainers who are concentrating on strength gains should perform only about four to six sets per bodypart. For most people, that means three sets of two exercises. The best option is to pick one basic exercise for each muscle (as previously described for beginners) and one assistance exercise (one that trains the muscle group in a similar manner to the basic exercise or that trains the muscle group using a single-joint exercise).
Basic Exercises
For chest, do flat bench presses and incline dumbbell presses or dumbbell flyes. For shoulders, do barbell or dumbbell overhead presses followed by upright rows or lateral raises. For back, do bent barbell rows or pulldowns followed by one-arm dumbbell rows or seated cable rows. A good leg workout would entail squats or leg presses followed by lunges or leg extensions. For triceps training, perform close-grip bench presses or skull-crushers followed by triceps pressdowns.

And for biceps, follow standing barbell or dumbbell curls with preacher curls or incline dumbbell curls.

The best type of workout split is a 2 or 3 day training split

Again, progressive overload is behind the increase in the number of sets per bodypart for advanced trainers. As muscles adapt, increase the amount of stress they receive. One way to do this is to increase the number of sets performed. Of course, the increase only enhances strength to a degree. Scientists found that when more than six sets per bodypart were performed, strength gains were not as significant as for those who trained with four to six sets per bodypart.

Whats The Frequency?

Frequency refers to the number of times a bodypart should be trained each week.

Beginners

As far as weekly training frequency goes, beginners should train each muscle group three times per week. (A beginner may choose to split his bodypart training over two workouts, resulting in a six-day-a-week program that works each muscle group three times weekly.) Weightlifting trains a beginner’s nervous system, and by training more frequently, the nervous system can adapt at a faster pace. To make sense of this concept, consider when children learn to ride a bike. The more often they practice, the faster they learn.

Advanced

On the other hand, advanced trainers should not train a bodypart more than twice per week to optimize strength gains. Unlike beginners, advanced trainers’ nervous systems have pretty much adapted by this point. Their strength gains come mainly from adaptations in the muscle fibers themselves. Because training with heavy weights and more total sets causes more muscle damage than beginners would experience if they used lighter weights and fewer sets (as suggested by this study), advanced lifters require more recovery time between workouts.

This allows the muscles to regenerate muscle protein and grow larger and stronger.

Bottom Line

Besides the results, there are other important points to take from this study. First, the study’s conclusions are based on maximizing strength gains. What about maximizing muscle growth?

Some would argue that these conclusions could also be applied to muscle growth. Although strength increases are not directly associated with more muscle mass, we know that being stronger will lead to more muscle mass.

Don’t forget about variety.

Regardless of what the study found to be optimal, no single rep range, total number of sets or training frequency will give you optimal results forever. You need to mix it up and change these variables from time to time. You are an individual and should train like one.

Even though the study’s results represent what works best for most lifters, it doesn’t mean they will work best for you. Try the suggestions for six to eight weeks. After that, change the variables, whether they worked for you or not. If they did, use them frequently in your training program. If they didn’t, try a different technique.

Author: Jim Stoppani
Reference:M.R. Rhea et al., “A meta-analysis to determine the dose response for strength development,” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 35(3):456-64, March 2003.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

By constantly changing the training variables, this method prevents stagnation and better promotes gains in muscle strength and muscle mass than changing training every few weeks.

Research

For 12 weeks, researchers from Brazil had trained subjects follow either an undulating periodization program, a standard (linear) periodization program or a consistent program of 8-10 reps per set that was not periodized. The training program consisted of a two-day split with three or four total training days per week.

Findings

They reported that the group following the undulating (muscle confusion) program increased their bench-press strength by about 60 pounds, almost 200% more than the linear periodization and the nonperiodized programs, which both led to an increase in their bench press by slightly more than 20 pounds. The undulating program also increased the subjects’ strength on the leg press by a staggering 275 pounds (400% more than the nonperiodized program) and leg-press strength by about 65 pounds (over 300% more than the linear program, which increased by 55 pounds).

Conclusion

This study shows that the Weider Muscle Confusion Training Principle is one of the best ways to increase muscle strength. None of the subjects gained significant muscle mass, likely because the training programs were not bodybuilding-style regimens, but rather sport-conditioning programs. Therefore, they did not do enough exercises and total sets for each muscle group to experience decent gains in muscle mass.

However, if you used muscle confusion (undulating periodization) in a bodybuilding workout, you would probably make serious gains in both strength and size.

Application

Change the weight you use and the corresponding rep ranges the weight allows. For example, when training legs, use light weight and high reps (12-15) one workout, heavy weight and low reps (5-7) the next leg workout, very light weight and very high reps (20-30) the following workout, and then moderate weight and moderate reps (8-10) in the session after that.

Keep cycling your weight and rep ranges in a similar fashion every workout.

Author: Jim Stoppani, PhD
COPYRIGHT 2010 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2010 Gale, Cengage Learning

Bodybuilders are usually failures, while powerlifters usually are not.

Before you take offense at that statement, hear us out. What we mean is that most powerlifters do not routinely train to muscle failure. Bodybuilders, on the other hand, tend to focus all their training on muscle failure. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? And if failure is the way to go how much failure is enough, and how much is too little? Here’s the scoop on how to fail for success.

The Form Principle

How muscle failure is defined can vary from one person to the next. Extremists consider it to be the total inability to move a weight. This is exemplified by either the guy in the gym who uses contorted body English to complete his reps until he literally can’t budge the bar (sometimes he gets pinned under it during a bench press gone horribly wrong) or the one whose spotter totally lifts the weight for him. Don’t be either in the first scenario, you risk injury and, in the second, you only piss off your spotter for no appreciable gain.

Failure

As a bodybuilder seeking muscle growth, the kind of failure you want to reach should be defined as the point at which you can no longer perform another complete rep with proper form. Going to failure this way will properly fatigue the muscle and not put you or your spotter at risk for injury. Sure, go ahead and finish that last rep with less than stellar form but stop there.
One Note:
If you train solo, then failure has a different definition by necessity. For you, muscle failure is the point at which you know you won’t be able to complete the next rep with good form. If you can’t complete it with good form, there’s a chance you won’t be able to complete it at all. If this happens during a barbell bench press, squat, leg press or shoulder press, it could leave you open to a serious injury.

Stop the set there before you even attempt that rep, and consider it a set done to failure.

Strong Evidence

Most powerlifters don’t train to failure. They usually stick to a tight regimen of a certain number of reps per set and never do more than that prescribed for the day’s workout. If a set feels light and they can get more than five reps (or whatever that day’s workout calls for), they still stop at five and simply add weight during the next workout. Recent research, however, should have most powerlifters thinking about changing their training strategy.

Research

Researchers at the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) have discovered that training to failure is important for maximizing strength gains. The scientists performed two different studies to address the failure question. In one case, they set out to determine whether training to failure was necessary for gaining strength. They had athletes perform bench-press sessions for six weeks, doing either four sets of six reps (with failure being reached during the last set) or eight sets of three reps (without ever reaching failure). Each workout was done three times per week. At the end of the study, the failure group had an increase in strength of 10%, while the group that never trained to muscle failure had a strength increase of only 5%.

In other words, by training to failure for just one set of bench presses, the athletes doubled their strength gains as compared to the group that never reached failure.

More Studies

In another study, the Aussies investigated how much failure was required to maximize strength. They had three groups of athletes perform bench-press sessions for six weeks. Group one trained with four sets of six reps, going to failure for all four sets. Group two trained with eight sets of three reps, reaching failure for the last two sets. Group three performed 12 sets of three reps, training to failure for the last three sets. Separating the athletes this way allowed the scientists to compare the number of sets the athletes took to failure; it also allowed them to analyze the effects of different numbers of sets and reps. Despite the differences in the number of sets and reps performed for the bench press and in the number of sets performed to failure, all groups had a 6% increase in bench-press strength at the end of six weeks.

Comparisons

When both studies are compared side by side, there is a clear trend in regard to training to failure for strength. Training to failure for one set per exercise elicits twice the strength gains as not training to failure. Increasing the number of sets taken to failure from one set to two, three or four provides no more benefit than doing just one set to failure. In fact, taking more than one set to failure may actually blunt strength gains.

Take-home message: for strength, do no more than one set to failure per exercise. No more, no less.

Muscling Up

So what about training to failure for gaining mass? After all, being stronger is great, but only if it accompanies more muscle. The bad news is that research studies haven’t looked directly at how muscles grow due to muscle failure. There are few research studies in general on muscle growth. That leaves us with research that primarily looks at muscle strength or hormonal responses and trying to extrapolate it to muscle growth. Looking at the Aussie studies, we could easily say that training to failure is important for muscle growth. Anecdotal reports from bodybuilders over many decades would support this contention. The question, however, is how much failure is optimal for muscle growth?

Research Conclusions

Indirectly, the Australian research suggests that taking at least one set to failure per exercise may be important for stimulating size increases. Another indirect answer comes from a study performed in Finland. It examined forced-rep training (in which an athlete takes a set to muscle failure and a spotter helps to finish two more reps). When forced reps were performed during all eight sets of a leg workout, levels of growth hormone (GH), an important anabolic hormone involved in muscle growth, were about three times higher than when eight straight sets were performed.

Verdict

The point to be gained from this study is that you need to train with high intensity to boost your GH levels. Training to failure every set can help keep your training intensity high and boost your GH levels at a time when it’s most critical after your workout.

Of course, overtraining can be an issue with continuous high-intensity training. Overtraining can lead to suppressed levels of testosterone, GH and insulinlike growth factor-I; raised amounts of cortisol (catabolic hormone); and many other disturbances within the body that can sap muscle and strength gains.

One study reported that subjects who consistently trained to failure and also with forced reps for six weeks showed early signs of overtraining. Clearly, training to failure every set is something you want to limit.

Conclusion

What’s the take home message for training to failure for muscle mass?Train to failure for all sets (after being warmed up) for a limited time six weeks. Then back off by training to failure for just the last set of each exercise for another six weeks. Keep your approach staggered in this manner to maximize muscle mass while preventing overtraining.

Beginners (those with less than a year of training experience) should spend at least the first 12 weeks going to failure for just the last set of each exercise. During the next six-week stretch, take every set to failure; then, back off again for 12 weeks, going to failure for just the last set of each exercise. Follow this pattern until you have at least a full year of training experience before stepping up to the advanced cycle presented in the “Failure Cycle” sidebar on page 119. Following this plan, you may be failing in the gym a lot, but you won’t be feeling like a failure when you flex all of your newfound muscle. As for that misinformed guy at the gym who is flailing under an overloaded bar for his ill-advised bench press, go ahead and lift it off him.

After all, bodybuilders, powerlifters and our fellow iron warriors in between are all brothers. Some of us just understand the finer points of failure better than others. Now you do, too.

Author: Jim Stoppani, PHD
References:

• E.J. Drinkwater et al., “Training leading to repetition failure enhances bench press strength gains in elite junior athletes,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 19(2):382-88, 2005.
• E.J. Drinkwater et al., “Repetition failure is a key determinant of strength development in resistance training,” American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2004.
• M.H. Stone et al., “Training to muscle failure: Is it necessary?” Strength and Conditioning, 18(3):44-48, 1996.

COPYRIGHT 2010 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2010 Gale, Cengage Learning

You know that Discovery Channel show “Mythbusters” with the bald mustachioed guy and the redheaded dude who subject popular beliefs to scientific rigor? This is sort of like that only with fewer mustaches and more muscles.

The Plan

We set out to analyze the biggest axioms of bodybuilding training and nutrition to determine which ones can help your physique, which ones can hurt it and which ones help or hurt, depending on your approach.

Once we brought science to bear on each of these 10 tenets, we stamped them TRUE, FALSE or a more nuanced NEUTRAL, meaning the advice is stated too boldly but contains valuable guidance. So, slip into your lab coat, strap on your safety goggles and tighten up your lifting belt, because it’s time to find out the truth and falsity about bodybuilding’s most prevalent maxims.

Myth 10: Don’t Eat Late At Night

Premise
As much as we may think of bodybuilding as a cloistered subculture, we are forever bombarded with training and nutritional tips from sources far removed from squat racks and posing daises. So it is with this axiom, which is such a ubiquitous feature of the sort of diets Oprah hypes that many beginning bodybuilders dare not breach it, and it breeds confusion about what and when to eat to gain only muscle and not fat.
Science
When you sleep, you’re on a fast. During that fast, your body is forced to turn to your own muscle protein for fuel, converting those amino acids into glucose. In other words, while you’re in dreamland, you’re experiencing the nightmare of cannibalizing your own muscles. The longer you go before sleep without eating, the more your muscle will be eaten away. That’s why we always recommend that you end your day with a slow-digesting protein, such as a casein protein shake or cottage cheese.

Research from the Weider Research Group discovered that trained bodybuilders drinking a casein protein shake right before bed for eight weeks gained significantly more muscle than those who consumed the same casein shake in the middle of the day.

Verdict
We started with the easiest myth to shoot down, for not only is it OK to chow down long after sundown, it’s crucial to eat a protein meal immediately before going to bed in order to feed your muscles the nutrients they need to recover and grow while you sleep. Go with 20-40 grams of slow-digesting protein, such as a casein shake or cottage cheese. If you’re trying to pack on mass and don’t store fat easily, take your protein with about 20-40 g of slow-digesting carbs, such as oatmeal, sweet potatoes or whole-wheat bread.

Myth 9: You Must Train To Failure

Premise
Don’t stop until your muscles stop is like a “No pain, no gain” mantra. Here’s another one: the only rep that counts is the one you can’t finish. In other words, you only stimulate growth by pushing a set to absolute full-rep failure–or beyond–via techniques like forced reps, partials or rest-pause. And thus, HIT zealots are born. This is a popular creed simply because its logic seems irrefutable. After all, if you stop short of failure, won’t you merely do what you were previously capable of doing and thus fail to stimulate growth?
Science
Researchers at the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) performed several studies that lead to the conclusion that for strength, doing one set per exercise to failure–and no more–is optimal. When it comes to growth, however, taking most sets to failure appears to be more effective. There is no direct evidence to support this, but research shows that when you do take all sets to failure and beyond with forced reps, growth hormone levels are significantly higher after workouts than when you stop just short of failure. Since GH is critical for muscle growth, it can be assumed that taking most sets to failure is your best bet.
Verdict

When training for strengh, take just one set per exercise to failure–no more, no less. For muscle growth, take most sets to failure and beyond with the following tried-and-true Weider Training Principles: forced reps, cheat reps, drop sets, rest-pause and negative reps.

Myth 8: Sugar Is Bad

Premise
As with nighttime eating, this is another axiom that has been fueled in part by a general dietary consensus. Since your sweet youth–those blissful years of Skittles scarfing and M&M munching–sugar has been the bogeyman of your every meal, promising–if not kept in check–to foster rotting teeth, diabetic shock and a pregnant belly with matching man-boobs. Surely, it has no place in a bodybuilding diet.
Science
When you eat sugary foods, they spike your insulin levels. This causes your muscle cells to take up the sugar (glucose in your blood) and store it as glycogen. However, insulin also causes sugar to be taken into fat cells and converted into fat, and it blunts fat burning. So, yes, eating sugar is bad for most meals. One time when sugar is good, though, is immediately after workouts. Those sugary foods get into your blood stream ASAP, so your muscles can refuel.

By spiking insulin at a time when you want it spiked, it won’t convert sugar into fat, but instead, it’ll drive that sugar into muscle cells along with amino acids, which build more muscle. And insulin will turn on the process of protein synthesis, which is how muscles grow.

Verdict
Sugar is the Jekyll and Hyde of nutrients. Most of the time, it lives up to its bad rep, but immediately after training it’s the good guy, because it spikes your insulin levels and drives protein to your muscle cells. Avoid sugar most of the time, but not after you work out–that’s when you should consume about 40 g of a protein shake and 40-100 g of sugary foods or drinks.

Myth 7: You Can Only Digest 30grams Of Protein Per Meal

Premise
We’re not exactly certain when or where this belief originated, but it became especially prevalent among bodybuilders in the ’80s and has persisted ever since. It is a valid reminder to eat smaller portions more frequently throughout the day as opposed to three big, calorie-laden meals, but it makes a bold and specific claim about the abilities of everyone’s digestive system. Is 30 g the protein limit?
Science
How much protein you can digest and utilize depends on numerous factors, such as your gastrointestinal tract’s digestion and absorption abilities, how much muscle recovery your body has to do, how much protein you have recently eaten, and how many calories you are getting from carbohydrates and fat. In fact, a French study of elderly women subjects found that, in the group that ate one huge meal containing about 50g of protein, protein synthesis was significantly higher than in another group that ate an equivalent amount of protein spread over several meals.
Verdict

There is a limit to how much protein you can digest at any one time. and this is a principal reason for eating six or more meals daily, but 30 g is arbitrarily low. Aim for 1-1.5 g of protein daily for every pound of your bodyweight and spread this over six meals (including shakes). For example, if you weigh 210 pounds, that would be an average of 35-52 g of protein per meal.

Myth 6: You Can’t Gain Muscle & Lose Fat At The Same Time

Premise
This is a logical extension of the belief that you have to consume more calories than normal to gain muscle and consume fewer calories than normal to shed fat. Therefore, it follows that you must choose between the two. Such thinking has spawned a million bulking phases and a few fewer cutting cycles.
Science
Although it is much harder to gain muscle when your calories are low enough to stimulate fat loss, it is possible. This is especially true when protein intake is high, carbohydrates are low and adequate protein is eaten at the four most critical times of day: first thing in the morning, before and after work outs, and before bed. In fact, researchers from the University of Connecticut (Storrs) investing a very low-carb diet reported that men following the diet without exercise lost a significant amount of bodyfat while gaining lean muscle.

In addition to dieting, use supplements that promote muscle growth, such as creatine, branched chain amino acids, arginine and beta-alanine.

Verdict
Yes, you can go in two directions at the same time Just as you can (hope-fully) chew gum and walk simultaneously, you can both add lean mass and subtract the unwanted bodyfat during the same time period via the correct combination of protein, carbs, supplements, weight training and cardio. The result? A bigger, better you.

Myth 5: Do Cardio After Weight Training

Premise
Most bodybuilders get on s StepMill or stationary bike after hitting the weights for no better reason than they’d rather do the latter than the former. They make certain they’ve done all they can to boost muscle growth before doing what they can to reduce blubber, and yet they may feel they’ve shortchanged their fat burning by focusing first on maximizing their muscle burn.
Science
Japanse researchers found that when subjects performed cardio immediately weight training, the amount of fat burning was significantly higher than when they did cardio first. This may be due to something that the same Japanese researches found in another study–when you hit the weights first, growth hormone levels are higher.

GH not only promotes muscle growth, but also liberates fat from fat cells so that it can be burned away for fuel.

Verdict
Feel no guilt about doing cardio after weight training, because it’s the best strategy for both muscle growth and fat zapping.

Myth 4: Dietary Fat Is Bad

Premise
Sugar isn’t the only nutrient on most bodybuilders’ sh–t list. Fat is usually even higher on the dishonor roll. After all, sugar has pleasing connotations, but fat–unless it’s phat–always seems bad. The fact that bodybuilding diets emphasize lean protein sources, such as egg whites, turkey, chicken breasts and fat-free dairy products is enough to make any (extra-lean) meathead scan every label for a dreaded gram of F-A-T.
Science
There’s only one type of fat you want to avoid at all costs: trans fat. This man-made fat is not only bad for your health, but it can increase muscle breakdown. Think saturated fat is the scourge of the American diet? Not for you. In fact, you need a good 10% of total daily calories from saturated fat (such as in beef) to promote testosterone levels. And you need about 30% of your total calories from fats, as research shows that athletes getting lower fat intake have lower testosterone levels.

A good portion of this should come from monounsaturated fats (olive oil, avocadoes, nuts) and omega-3 fats (salmon, trout). These fats are not readily stored as bodyfat, are easily burned for fuel during exercise and even stimulate the burning of bodyfat.

Verdict
Avoid trans fats at all cost, but be sure to get about 30% of total calories from fat with about 10% from saturated fat, 10% from monounsaturated fat and 10% from omega-3 fats.

Myth 3: Always Stretch Before Training

Premise
Apostles of exercise preach this one so relentlessly that you may wonder why it’s even appearing on this page. If you haven’t been reading bodybuilding magazines in recent years, you likely think there is no debate about stretching before hitting the iron. It’s true that there is no longer any debate, but you may be surprised by what has been decided.
Science
Contrary to popular belief, there are no studies showing that stretching before exercise reduces the risk of injury. There is, however, an abundance of research demonstrating that when athletes do static stretching (the sort where you reach and hold) before weight training, their strength decreases. Further studies show that flexibility increases more when such stretching is done after exercise as opposed to before it. Those three facts would seem to explode one of exercise’s biggest bugaboos. Not so fast, however, because still more research shows that dynamic stretching (fast, ballistic movements, such as arm circles for shoulders and high kicks for legs) before weight training increases power and strength.
Verdict

Don’t do traditional static stretching before training. Do it after your workout, holding each stretch for approximately 30 seconds. Before your workout, perform dynamic stretches as part of your warm-up.

Myth 2: You Must Train Heavy To Grow

Premise
As with always training to failure, this is again the sort of saying you’d expect to find on a tattered poster taped to a cragged gym wall or shouted by spotters before someone tries to do a personal-best triple in the squat. We’re all for using it as an incentive to “man up” and drive yourself through your hardest sets, but if we start with the premise that heavy is a relative term–that what’s heavy to you won’t be to Ronnie Coleman–then heavy is a reflection of how few reps you do before reaching failure. Therefore, the question arises: Are maximum sets of low reps (fewer than eight) the best strategy for muscle growth?
Science
Research confirms that reps in the range of one to seven are best for building strength, but not necessarily for muscle growth. Stopping at this many reps instigates the nerves that stimulate the muscles to fire stronger and more synchronously–critical for muscle growth. However, so few reps do not stimulate adequate metabolic changes in the muscle for growth. To do so, you need to keep reps in the eight to 12 range. This increases the production of metabolic byproducts in the muscle, such as lactic acid, which stimulates the production of GH. These metabolic byproducts also draw water inside the muscle cells to create the pump, which stretches the muscle and turns on growth processes.
Verdict

Not only do you not have to train heavy to grow, but it’s not the best rep range for growth. That would be the moderate range of eight to 12 reps. We recommend varying your reps with some low and some high, but keep most in the sweet spot in the middle.

Myth 1: Don’t Train When Your Sore

Premise
The number one bodybuilding myth seems so logical and has been promulgated so successfully for so long that you may be stunned to find it here–and that’s precisely why it landed in the top spot. If DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness–the ache you typically feel 24 to 48 hours after intense training) indicates that your muscle cells are, in effect, broken down from your previous workout, then why would you want to train again while still sore?
Science
DOMS signifies normal processes in the muscles that are involved in muscle recovery and growth. One study found that when subjects followed an exercise session that caused muscle soreness with another exercise session about two days later–while still sore–their cortisol levels (a catabolic hormone that interferes with muscle growth) were much lower than the first workout and free testosterone was slightly higher. In other words, they were in a better anabolic state. In addition, Japanese researchers induced soreness in the biceps muscles of subjects with heavy negative rep curls, and repeated the exercise two and four days later.

They found no significant differences in max strength, range of motion, muscle soreness and plasma creatine kinase (a chemical indicator of muscle damage) between each exercise bout. In other words, muscle damage wasn’t made worse by the back-to-back training.

Verdict
Research shows that you typically need 48 to 72 hours between workouts to fully recover, and you can then train the same muscles again. This is regardless of whether or not you feel sore.
References:
COPYRIGHT 2004 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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