Getting Back to Basics

First a quick shout out

Recently I learned that two of my clients (Kim and Jon) run a healthy meal service called My Fitness Kitchn. My Fitness Kitchn provides a variety of fresh meals delivered to you. Macronutrient values are given for all meals so they are great for flexible dieters. The trend tends to be toward sufficient protein and carbohydrate content with low fat so depending on your calorie availability and macros they could be perfect for contest prep and dieting to lose body fat (but they also work well for people like me who are bulking). I gave them a try last week and was impressed with how good they tasted. Personally I liked the chicken breast with vermicelli noodles and mixed vegetables as well as the stir fry beef with jasmine rice and mixed vegetables. I ate them over 3 - 4 days and they all kept well in the fridge. Not having to spend time cooking was a great time saver for me and allowed me to be much more productive. If you are a busy person with serious fitness goals and want to eat food that tastes good give My Fitness Kitchn a try.

You can find them at -> https://www.facebook.com/myfitnesskitchn

Kim and Jon from My Fitness Kitchn

Some of the many meal options available

Getting Back to Basics

I'm writing this post because I can see it being beneficial to many people. I try to stick to topics that are actually going to help people in some way. At the least this one might serve as a reminder to those who have become a little lost or confused.

If there is one thing that thirteen years of bodybuilding and weight training has taught me is that there is no substitute for basic hard work and structure (well I guess technically there actually is a magic pill in the form of anabolic steroids but at least as far as natural bodybuilding is concerned there is no fast track to success). It really comes down to the long haul and aside from pre determined factors like genetics, what is going to determine how far you progress is having a sound structure which you execute with consistency.

What do I mean by "basics"?

What I mean is just having a simple structure to either nutrition or training that makes sense and ideally is backed by science. In both cases adherence is going to be the most important factor ie if you have the best structure in place but you hate it and can't stick to it then it is useless. Secondary to adherence however, structure gets a pretty damn high priority.

 

Nutrition

As far as nutrition goes for body composition purposes I have not come across anything that trumps tracking calories and within that, macronutrient breakdown. The laws of thermodynamics simply reign supreme and no amount of crazy nutrient timing, restriction of food choices or food groups, fasting, insulin releasing or lack thereof changes that much at all. I'm not saying that food choices or nutrient timing don't matter at all but they shouldn't be the focal point of a nutrition program (and they certainly shouldn't take away from the sustainability of the diet).

I also want to note that tracking calories and macronutrients is a tool. It makes what we eat measurable and therefore manageable. It is the most accurate method of tracking food that we know of at this point. But it certainly doesn't mean that we must track year round or obsess about it. If you are preparing for a contest then I'd say definitely track. If you are reverse dieting out of a show then tracking is pretty important then too. In the off season it can be a valuable tool as well for those that can sustain it. But there are other options. For me personally I hit a protein range and then a calorie target for the day (with a rough macronutrient range in mind). A level below that would be to not worry about the protein target but just hit a daily calorie target. Of course you can also "borrow" calories from other days if you over or under eat on a particular day or days.

I think also it's a good idea when you are in the off season to get to a point where you are ok with going out and not tracking. Some people will in fact take what they've learned from flexible dieting in regards to things like portion sizes and monitoring progress and transition themselves towards eating intuitively. This can be effective for those who have a decent amount of experience with tracking. I think that is to some extent what flexible dieting is about - learning skills. We probably don't want to be tracking macros all day every day for the rest of our lives.

Training

 When it comes to the basics of training for hypertrophy I think again it just comes down to having a sound structure. Things can get a bit technical along the way to periodised programming, use of percentages and RPE scales etc but that doesn't take away from the value of having a basic program structure with a simple scheme in place for progression.

"It works for me"

So by basic I'm certainly not talking about just doing squats, deadlifts and bench press (yes even though those lifts can be of benefit). What I would suggest is the following:

- Choose exercises that will be effective for your goals, which suit your mechanics, which don't hurt you, which you enjoy and which you are able to make progress on
- For hypertrophy it would be wise to choose some compound and some isolation exercises

- Choose rep ranges that make sense for performance and hypertrophy (majority should be between 1 and 15 reps)

- Frequency of training should in most cases be set at 2 - 3 x per muscle group per week (or at least once every 5 days)
- Volume will depend on intensity and frequency but a good recommendation is to start with 40 - 70 reps per muscle group per session.
- Set a simple progression scheme that focuses on you making progress. Generally if you are able to get stronger within a desired rep range over time you will also gain muscle. So progression schemes should be based around adding reps up to a set limit before adding weight. In some cases you might want to include a progression scheme that involves addition of an extra set after rep performance per set has hit an upper limit (addition of volume) but I think simply increasing poundage according to a progression scheme for most people is simpler and more efficient.
- Use "intensity techniques" sparingly. Some of them might be good for increasing metabolic stress but the problem is they are generally not good for progression because they are designed to create more fatigue (similar limitations to very high reps). Thus the gains they produce are generally transient because you can't go anywhere further with them after a point. All you can do is maintain the volume by maintaining the technique you added. And where does that get you? Nowhere, that's where! The one exception I might suggest is a non traditional super set involving antagonistic muscle groups eg chest and back and normal length rest periods in between each super set. The theory being that the fatigue of the opposing muscle stops it from inhibiting the agonist or primary mover. That is, do a set of chin ups, rest, do a set of bench press and the lats are now inhibited from fatigue so the pecs can perform better. Rest and then go back and do a set of chins and get the same effect for the lats. This might eliminate the problems with super sets (declines in performance and a lack of ability to progress) as well as take advantage of the mechanism I just described. I haven't personally tested this technique in this manner yet so I am as of yet unsure about it's effectiveness in a practical sense.

To summarise - KEEP IT BASIC!

Nutrition

- Best - track macros
- Better - track protein, track calories

- Good - track calories
- Ok - intuitive eating (experienced)

Training

- Smart exercise choices

- Intensity = 1 - 15 reps

- Volume = 40 - 70 reps

- Frequency = 2 - 3x/week

- Simple, specific progression scheme
- Minimal use of intensity techniques

I think I'll wrap it up there for this blog entry. Catch you next week!

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- Evan