Recent FAQ's

I've gotten a few requests since the new year has began. Guess what they ALL deal with? You guessed it, BODY COMPOSITION! A desired improvement in body composition is a concern of many individuals because they're so many great benefits. The first reason is why most people have this desire; to look better in the flesh, duh... The next reason is to be more "mobile, hostile, agile" (Remember the Titans) in your sport since you'll be carrying around less bull shit weight, and the third and probably most important reason is the great health benefits (such as improving insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, thyroid function, adrenal gland function, etcetera). These question's have come from 3 different walks of life; a hopefull mma fighter in 8 months, a body builder who is 10 weeks out from the Kalamazoo Body Building Championships, and a regular joe (he's a bad dude though). So for the sake of this post we're going to focus on the common things these guys all need to do in order to reduce body fat. And some of these things are repetitive from my previous posts but sometimes you need piece information together in different ways for different people to understand. This may seem very basic and at times sarcastic but here we go with my recommendations (follow them and get ripped, or half ass it and make no progress!):

-Don't drink anything besides water (and not just a few glasses, keep a bottle on you all day) and tea(not the pre-made sugar filled ones, but one's you brew yourself)

-Eat a shit load of protein (I'm sick of all of these so called "experts" saying that eating a shit load of protein is unnecessary and dangerous. The studies that say lots of protein is harmful to your kidneys were performed on people with pre-existing kidney problems. I'm all about trying methods out for myself and keeping what works, and eating a rather large amount of protein keeps me pretty damn lean and energetic year round compared to the FDA's recommendations of whole grain asshole, salomenilla jiffy peanut butter and prescription medications. Sorry for the rant, eat protein every time you eat and eat as much of it as you want.

-If your protein source does not contain some quality fats in it (i.e. grass fed beef, wild game, whole eggs, salmon, etc...) then have some raw nuts, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or organic butter (not that smart balance hoaxy shit). It also goes without saying that you should have fish oil with all or most feedings besides your post workout drink. My friend Chris Grayson recommends about 12 grams of fish oil per day for most individuals and says to divide that by how many meals you'll be having. So if you eat 4 main meals besides your post shake then you'd have 3 grams per meal. I've also learned from Chris that mega doses of fish oil can be very beneficial but 12 grams is a good starting point and keeps people faithful to the plan.

-I haven't met anyone that is overly carbohydrage tolerant yet. By this I mean that they're skinfold reading of the subscapularis (below the shoulder blade) and the suprailiac (love handle) is usually relatively high. These two sites are correlated with insulin resistance and determine what type of carbs you should eat and how much. These guys should avoid wheat, grains, most starchy foods basically, dairy, etc... (all foods that have a major effect on insulin secretion) and focus on green leafy and cruciferous vegetables (for this I like making salads with romaine and baby spinach). After they've cut out of these insulin promoting foods and followed a regimen of mainly greens for awhile, they can now have some berries and other fruits like apples and oranges here and there.

-Basic supplementation: We've already touched on fish oil (if you aren't familiar with fish oil I'll assume you're living under a rock). I'd recommend some vitamins and minerals such as a chelated multi-vitamin, chelated magnesium, and chelated zinc. I say chelated because it ensures that these products are actually being absorbed (so stay away from the gnc mega man or the meijer vitamins). You can obtain these from Jonny Bowden's webstore or preferrably from my friend Ben Knapp at Power Nutrition in Westland, Michigan (shoot me a message for contact info). I'd recommend some drinks for around your training to keep stress hormones at bay and keep muscle glycogen full. This would include a branced chain amino acid (bcaa) powder, glutamine powder, and a whey concentrate powder. Split your bcaa drink into 3 servings: 10 grams pre-workout, 10 grams to drink during your workout, and 20 grams post workout with your protein. Add anywhere from 25-60 grams of glutamine post workout (this is converted to glucose by the liver and acts likea carbohydrate to replenish muscle glycogen). And then mix in 2 scoops of a whey concentrate powder.

-Stop eating about two hours before bed. Have the last meal or snack of the day consist of lean protein and some fish oil. This will ensure proper growth hormone secretion while sleeping (the more growth hormone secreted, the more body fat being used).

I'll be back with my training guidelines for these three different endeavors...