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Q and A with Erik Fankhouser PDF Print E-mail
Written by Robbie Durand   
Wednesday, 29 July 2009

_47i0016bw.jpgWhat is your diet like in the off-season and what is your off-season training split like?
I have tried it all in the past when it comes to off-season eating. I remember after my first show, I made the rookie mistake of eating all I could get my hands on. I was eating pizza, ice cream, Weight Gainers...this approach only did one thing: gain too much fat. After my second show, I took a different approach. I tried to eat as clean as I could and in doing this, my off-season was more like a contest diet and I did not get the shock value of changing my diet up to a contest diet. Doing this made my contest diet even harder, because I felt like I had been dieting for a long time already. So after my third show I found the right way to do my off-season. The way I do my off-season diet now is a little bit of both worlds. I pretty much eat whatever I want, but in limits. I drink three shakes per day, two shakes being weight-gain shakes and one being just a whey shake with oats. For my other three meals, I eat solid food, but I don’t have anything written down. I just make sure I eat 10-16 ounces of meat or 8-12 whole eggs, and with my first two solid meals, I make sure I get carbs with them. Typical day looks like this:

Meal 1: 10 whole eggs and 1 cup oats

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How Long Does It Take To Recover From Overtraining? PDF Print E-mail
Written by Robbie Durand   
Monday, 27 July 2009

Shawn Ray, Ronnie Coleman and other bodybuilders are known for doing the unthinkable… taking time off after competing. Many bodybuilders find it difficult to take time off, mostly due to psychological reasons of being ‘addicted’ to training. Bodybuilders are not the only ones; many endurance athletes also have a psychological addiction to exercise.
The testosterone-to-cortisol ratio has been suggested as a useful indicator of training stress.1 A delicate balance must occur between anabolic hormones (testosterone, IGF-1) and catabolic hormones such as cortisol in bodybuilders looking to make continuous gains in strength and muscle mass. Changes in the testosterone-to-cortisol ratio (TCR) have been positively related to weight training performance.2 Overtraining is the kiss of death for increasing size and mass. But like a muscular ‘fiddler on the roof,’ a bodybuilder must maintain a delicate balance. Increases in cortisol and decreases in testosterone and insufficient recovery are associated with overtraining.3,4 What researchers are now discovering is that recuperating from overtraining may take longer than previously thought.

 

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Training Bytes PDF Print E-mail
Written by Robbie Durand   
Friday, 24 July 2009
trainingresied-color.jpgDon’t Do Endurance and Strength Workouts in Close Proximity
 A basic rule of conditioning for sports is to train the body the way you want it to adapt. Bodybuilders don’t run 80 miles per week, because it causes undesirable adaptations that don’t match the requirements of the sport. The principle of specificity is nothing new to any knowledgeable bodybuilder, but the underlying physiology has been a mystery.
 A fascinating study by Vernon Coffey and colleagues from the RMIT University in Melbourne measured the biochemical activation pathways in muscles following weight training and endurance cycling. High-intensity muscle contractions, such as occurs during bodybuilding or weightlifting, promotes muscle strength and growth, while low-intensity, prolonged exercise, such as distance running or cycling, builds muscle cell mitochondria (cell energy centers) and promotes endurance. A cycling workout activated a biochemical pathway linked to improved muscle endurance (AMPK-PGC-1alpha) and depressed a pathway linked to muscle hypertrophy (Akt-mTOR-S6K).
 The reverse occurred following weight training. They found that doing different types of exercise in close proximity (e.g., weight training followed closely by an endurance workout) interfered with the adaptation to both types of exercise. People adapt to varying types of training best when they do them on separate days or at least at different times of the day. This is an important study for bodybuilders, power, and endurance athletes. (Journal of Applied Physiology, in press; published online January 22, 2009)
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Investigating Optimal Protein Frequency: PDF Print E-mail
Written by Layne Norton   
Thursday, 23 July 2009
There are a few things in bodybuilding that are just accepted as fact; they are beyond reproach or question. We all KNOW that to optimize mass gains, it is crucial to consume adequate amounts of high-quality protein. We all KNOW that the best way to consume high protein intakes is to spread them out into small frequent meals, to keep amino acid levels elevated constantly, in order to constantly keep ourselves in a state of anabolism. We know that eight meals per day is the best way to go! We are ALL WRONG!
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Fat Bytes PDF Print E-mail
Written by Robbie Durand   
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Wfat_loss-color.jpghy Are We So Fat?
    Fat people are on the top of the list of disgusting outcasts in our society, yet most Americans are obese or overweight. Clearly, people don’t want to be fat but can’t help themselves. Eric Ravussin and J. Galgani from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana discussed the complicated mechanisms regulating bodyweight.
    Weight control involves more than balancing food intake and energy expenditure. The appetite control center in the brain is sensitive to specific nutrients such as carbohydrates. Total body glycogen (stored carbohydrate) in the liver and muscles amounts to only 400 grams, so small changes in carbohydrate intake can influence appetite. High-fat diets, for example, increase hunger and food intake because the brain perceives the nutrient imbalance as carbohydrate depletion. Factors such as the capacity for fat use, daily physical activity, recreational exercise, sympathetic activity (fight-or-flight system in the brain) and genetics play important roles in weight control. Understanding these complicated mechanisms is the key to overcoming the obesity epidemic. (International Journal Obesity, 32: S109-S119, 2008)
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Heavy Metal Mayhem PDF Print E-mail
Written by Carlon M. Colker, MD, FACN   
Monday, 20 July 2009
I’ve taken a great deal of flack in the press for pulling Jeremy Piven from David Mamet’s Broadway smash play “Speed the Plow.” Piven is best known for his role in the popular HBO show “Entourage” as the explosive, smarmy and ever-antagonistic super agent Ari Gold. With the blessing of my patient, here’s the ‘full story scoop,’ straight from the Doc, exclusively for my MD readers:
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