Pinnacle Fitness

Supplements: Green tea for health and fitness

Bill Willis — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:40:00 +0000

Green tea is getting a ton of attention these days as medical research is finally catching up to naturopathic/alternative medicine. Due to the frequent lack of convincing research in alternative medicine, many potentially health-promoting or disease-fighting nutritional supplements are dismissed as viable options for treatment or prevention in mainstream clinical practice. This unfortunate, as many currently available therapies (i.e.drugs) are synthetic small-molecule compounds which are often associated with a number of adverse or potentially lethal effects. In an effort to treat or cure a disease we are affecting a number of other important biochemical processes to our detriment. It would seem that naturally derived products have the greatest potential in the prevention of disease, to use “food as a drug” as nature has most likely intended. Times are changing however, as modern science is proving more and more that treatments previously passed off as “snake oil” are actually powerful health promoting and disease-preventing agents.

Consumed for thousands of years as part of traditional Chinese medicine, green tea was to consider a health-promoting beverage. Traditional Chinese medicine has recommended green tea for headaches, aches and pains, depression, as an energy-promoting agent, detoxification, and in general to promote a long, healthful life. Once again, current medical research is beginning to catch up with ancient medical practice, as green tea is proving to be beneficial to health and fitness in a number of unexpected ways. It seems that the ancient Chinese medicine assertion that green tea “promotes health” is not far off from what researchers are beginning to uncover. Recent human research studies have suggested green tea may have the following beneficial effects:

Reduction in the risk for cardiovascular disease

Reduction in the risk for certain types of cancer

Promotion of oral health

Bodyweight control and improvements in body composition

Antibacterial and antiviral activity

Protection from harmful UV rays

Associated with increases in bone mineral density

protection form neruodegenerative diseases

The chemical composition of green tea is extremely complex, the potentially health-promoting compounds including the amino acids teanine, 5-Nethylglutamine, glutamic acid, tryptophan, glycine, serine, aspartic acid, tyrosine, valine, leucine, threonine, arginine, lysine, polyphenols, carbohydrates such as fructose, glucose, and fructose, lipids including EFAs, various plant sterols (hormone-like compounds present in plants), caffeine and theophylline, pigments such as chlorophyll and carotenoids, and trace-minerals such as calcium, magnesium, chromium, manganese , iron, copper, zinc, selenium, among others. It is likely that with the health-promoting and disease-preventing effects of green tea, as with many other natural products, the sum is greater than the whole. All the constituents of green tea likely act in a synergistic manner, at the right time and at the right place (biochemically speaking), just as nature intended. Read on to find out what we know about green tea and how it can benefit your health.
Next: Green tea II: cardiovascular disease and cancer

Green Tea supplementation II: cardiovascular disease and cancer

Bill Willis — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:39:00 +0000

Recent research has shown green tea has a multitude of anti-carcinogenic effects and may even cause existing cancer cells to die. Green tea also has a number of cardio-protective benefits:

Anti-carcinogenic effects

While there are certain genetic mutations that can predispose or even guarantee that a person with get a certain type of cancer in their life-time, cancer is mostly associated with lifestyle and aging. If a person lives an unhealthy lifestyle associated with lack of exercise and a poor diet, there is a much higher incidence of cancer. It seems that there is strong link between oxidative damage and cellular aging, with greater oxidative damage occurring in the context of an unhealthy lifestyle. A new approach in cancer prevention research is to find dietary components that are capable of slowing cellular aging and carcinogenesis without affecting the normal growth of healthy cells. Countless in-vitro, animal studies, and epidemiological studies in humans have shown that green tea has a strong anticarcinogenic effect, both in the prevention of cancer in the first place and the inhibition or cancer cell growth and proliferation. This evidence has been so convincing that the National Cancer Institute has initiated a plan to utilize agents found in tea to develop chemo-preventative agents in human clinical trials. It seems that the cancer-inhibiting activity of green tea may extend far beyond it anti-oxidant activity, as green tea has also been impacted in the activation of detoxifying enzymes, an anti-inflammatory effect, and it seems that one or a number of components may directly inhibit cancer cell growth possibly even initiate apoptosis (programmed cell death, an abnormal cell will usually “commit suicide” to avoid becoming cancerous- cancer has the acquired ability to avoid this process, allowing it to proliferate)

Cardiovascular disease risk

Ancient Chinese medicine has used green tea extensively for its blood-pressure reducing effects and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. While the mechanism behind these effects is not currently understood, they are most likely associated with the polyphenol-induced antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of green tea. Animal studies have shown that green tea polyphenols, particularly EGCG, are associated with a decrease in LDL (bad cholesterol) and total cholesterol levels. Any agent that acts to raise the HDL to LDL ratio is cardio-protective, preventing the formation of atherosclerotic lesions (buildup of plaque in the arteries which eventually causes blockage resulting in stroke or heart attack). Uncontrolled oxidation is also associated with atherosclerosis; it seems that the polyphenols found in green tea promote cardiovascular health through a number of mechanisms. We have yet to show many of these mechanisms at work in humans, but epidemiological studies have shown time and time again that green tea show similar cardio-protective effects in humans to those seen in animals.

Next: antioxidant and fat burning effects of green tea

Green Tea supplementation III: antioxidant, fat-burning, and weight loss promoting effects of green tea

Bill Willis — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:37:00 +0000

Antioxidant activity

The polyphenols present in green have generated lots of interest by researchers, as polyphenols, a large class of compounds found in plants, are antioxidants which have been associated with decreased risk of a number of diseases. The particular array of polyphenols in green tea has been shown to have extremely potent antioxidant activity, most likely associated with the reduction in cancer risk and cardiovascular disease. One of the particular polyphenol compounds in green tea, a catechin called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) has been shown to be a powerful antioxidant in addition to having potent anticarcinogenic and anti-lipogenic activity. Also present in green tea are carotenoids, tocopherols, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and minerals such as Cr, Mn, Se or Zn. Important anti-oxidants in their own right, it is likely that the presence of these non-phenolic antioxidants can actually support the anti-oxidant activity of the polyphenols in green tea, acting in a synergistic manner. Extensive research has on the antioxidant effects of green tea has shown that when combined with a balanced diet, the consumption of green tea on a daily basis can protect against oxidative damage so intimately associated with aging and disease.

Energy-promoting/fat burning effects

Green has been associated for some time with fat loss and improvements in body composition, most like attributed to the caffeine and theophylline content. Contrary to the any anti-caffeine propaganda you may have encountered, caffeine has been shown time and time again to promote lipolysis (i.e fat burning). Theophylline acts synergistically with caffeine to promote its effects, and additionally opens up the airway (theophylline was often prescribed as an asthma treatment years ago). While the caffeine and theophylline are certainly involved in the fat-burning ability of green tea, there are other mechanisms by which green tea encourages fat loss and decreased body fat storage. In vitro studies using both mouse and human preadipocytes (basically “precursor” fat cells) have shown that the EGCG in green tea not only inhibits adipogenesis (differentiation to a mature fat cell), but also causes the fat cells to die! While in-vitro studies rarely correlate nicely with in vivo effects, many studies have shown that in humans, green tea promotes body fat loss and thermogenesis by mechanisms independent of those attributed to its caffeine and theophylline content; most likely involving the catechin EGCG. It is likely that the combination of caffeine, theophylline, and EGCG act in a synergistic manner to induce weight loss and fat-burning. While there is no definitive amount of green tea needed to induce its weight loss and fat burning effects, EGCG has been shown to accumulate over time and we already know the half-lives of caffeine and theophylline. A good recommendation for the amount of green tea needed to elicit weight loss and all of the other reported benefits would be 2-3 6-ounce servings/day.

Summing it up...

Green tea has been shown to have a wide variety of significant health-promoting effects in humans, animals, and in vitro cell culture. The polyphenols present in green tea, particularly the catechin EGCG, have been shown to have anti-oxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties in addition to preventing cardiovascular disease and promoting weight loss. It is no mystery that health and fitness are two intimately related concepts; with greater fitness comes greater health and vice-versa. Anything we can do, whether it is through exercise, weight loss, diet, or supplement intake, to influence either of these will be sure to promote a long, healthy life. Pharmaceuticals, although necessary, are not without their problems. If diseases could be prevented before dangerous pharmaceuticals are needed to treat them, the collective health of our society would increase exponentially. We may never be able to cure certain diseases with our current approaches; until we refine our techniques so that viable cures can be discovered with approaches such as gene therapy, the “cure” lies in prevention, not treatment of disease. With natural, health-promoting agents in addition to a healthy diet and exercise program we can conceivably prevent diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease before they occur. You cannot have fitness without health, and green tea has been shown to increase fitness and health at the same time. With all of the proven benefits, there lacks any good reason not to include green tea as a supplement in your diet and nutrition program; 2-3 6-ounce servings per day should be sufficient to reap all of its benefits for health and fitness.

Surviving the holidays… with your weight intact

fitness girl — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 05:54:00 +0000

For many the holidays are the ultimate excuse to get out of shape. Rather than follow our dedicated weight training and nutrition programs we so strictly adhere to most other times of the year, everything goes out the window after Thanksgiving. It is a slow decline really, with a missed workout here or there, then possibly a few bad meals, and before we know it we have fallen into total sloth and gluttony and are totally ok with it! (An exaggeration, of course, but you get the point!). To make matters worse opportunities for straying from your nutritional program are everywhere, as family and friend constantly offer every type of food (with the exception of ones we should be eating of course). While the situation may seem hopeless, all is not lost.
First let’s address your diet and nutrition program. We all know how hard it is to go to family gatherings and office parties and not indulge in the endless array of sugar laden treats. I am not going to tell you to completely abstain; go to the party and indulge, but don’t go crazy. Scope out the goodies and pick one or two that you really want. Make your choice and savor it, but then stop. While that piece of cheesecake is not the best choice compared to vegetables minus the dip (and who would want to eat that!), a single serving will probably never show up on your waist band. Another approach that you may enjoy requires some deal making (with yourself) and a little planning. Map out your events (this includes the actual holiday) decide what 2 or 3 functions you are going to really want to indulge at, and do it. The important part is to remember that outside of those events, you are to adhere to your regular healthy eating habits. The second part of this deal is that you will take home no leftovers. This part goes hand in hand with the first part because if they are around you will eventually become weak enough to eat them. We are not shooting for peak condition here, just damage control. Do not worry, after the holidays are over you can go back to your super-serious diet; it’ll be there when you get back and you might as well enjoy this while it lasts!

Next: Part II- keep your weight training productive and overcome adversity during the holidays

Surviving the holidays… with your weight intact part 2: weight training and cardio

fitness girl — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 05:38:00 +0000

If you caught part one of this article you no realize that it does not have to be a given that we will get out of shape during the holidays, letting our fitness goals hopelessly fade away. In the previous section of this article we discussed how that you can have your cake and eat it too; indulging but in moderation and with control.

Now, for the second part of the equation, the workout; this is where the damage control really comes in. All too often we miss scheduled workouts in the gym because we have just come to accept that our fitness endeavors will be half-hearted at best. The excuse “I just don’t have the time” is really not a valid one in a world of 24 hour gyms and endless arrays of home fitness gear. This is not to say that you can’t modify your regular 60 min weight training session to 45min if really pressed for time. The point is that if your workout takes an hour and you only have half of that, then just do what you can. Don’t just skip it all together, keep the discipline! Worse-case scenario, go for a walk; just get moving somehow! Better yet, anticipate interferences with your fitness program and plan accordingly. If you know that you will have to modify Monday’s session, but Tues you will have more time, adjust to make up for the lost time on Tuesday. Hitting the weights may mean you have to get up an hour earlier, so do it. Just remind yourself it is only for a short time while things are hectic. If you are spending time with family, try to get them involved. Sometimes families simply can’t understand why your workouts are so important. If you can get them involved, they may stop questioning you and actually begin to encourage you. If all else fails, remember that you have worked hard to achieve all that you have with your fitness program with all the weight training, diet, and cardio work. Although you may have far to go to reach your goals, this is no time to give up! I have been in this business for a long time and I can attest to the fact that it is not where you are with your current fitness level, but the direction that you are headed. The common factor in those who achieve a high level of success in regards to their fitness goals are able to effectively deal with adversity. In fact, no matter what unfortunate road-blocks may appear in your path to your fitness goals, it is the ability to overcome them and not the nature of the roadblocks that will ensure your success. Murphy’s Law predicts that what can go wrong inevitably will go wrong; overcome adversity and don’t let the season ruin a great body or set the construction of one behind. The holidays should be fun, not a scary lesson in self torture and denial. Remember that there is a difference between sacrifice and discipline; sacrifice is needlessly withholding what you truly want and discipline is doing what is needed to get what you truly want....discipline is focus while sacrifice is pain. Have fun and stay on track; you can have your cake and eat it too!

Fitness at Home: The (surprisingly) Small Amount of Equipment Needed to Equip a Home Gym

Bill Willis — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 02:54:00 +0000

While gyms and fitness centers will never be replaced, limited club hours do not always sync well with peoples' busy schedules. Sometimes it is simply not convenient or even possible to get to the gym; with a limited amount of equipment, however, you can supplement or even replace your gym-workouts with those performed at home. While a home-gym can be as complex and large as you care to make it, a surprisingly small amount of equipment is needed to have a fully functional in-home fitness center. The following list of things will be needed:

1. Resistance: The most fundamental aspect of a home-gym, you will need resistance to contract your muscles against in order to train them.

adjustable weight set consisting of to dumbbell handles, a barbell, and weights. There are many commercially available adjustable dumbbell sets in a range of weights. Fixed dumbbells are also available but often more are needed in addition to more space to store them. Choose weights appropriate for your strength level.
elastic bands: elastic bands are an excellent way to train a body part from a different angle than free weight resistance would allow. Elastic bands come with a variety of resistance; choose the bands most appropriate for your strength level

2. Swiss-Ball: the swiss ball is the most versatile tool in the gym, whether you work out at home or in a large commercial gym. A fantastic substitute for a cumbersome exercise bench, almost any exercise that could be performed on a conventional bench can be performed on a swiss ball. Swiss balls additionally have the advantage that the exercise is performed in a less-stable environment. We are only as strong as we are stable, so swiss balls can be great for increasing strength and overall muscle activation during an exercise. Swiss balls are also an indispensable tool for training the abdominals; if used properly for his purpose they are far better than the $2000.00 machines you will find in a commercial health club or gym.

3. Exercise Step: this simple piece of equipments is extremely compact and great for doing cardiovascular exercise or lower body exercises such as step-ups or lunges.

While many home gyms are far more sophisticated which is great for people who have the space and financial means to have a commercial-type gym at home, you can get an equally good workout with the limited amount of equipment above. You are only limited by your imagination in terms of what can be done; I've had many personal fitness training clients get in the best shape of their life with a few dumbbells, an exercise-step, and a swiss ball.

CLA Supplementation for a Leaner, Healthier Physique

Bill Willis — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 14:16:00 +0000

CLA has been around for years in the supplement world and has shown to do some amazing things in animal models. When CLA hit the supplement scene it was promoted as a powerful anabolic agent, which was guaranteed to get you ripped and more musclar in no time. As with similar supplement crazes that have come-and gone, effects in animal models did not quite measure up to effects in humans. CLA actually does some absolutely amazing things in rats- if you have a pet rat and you get him jacked up on some CLA he will lose a ton of body fat and gain muscle, getting in far-better shape than the average rat. Of course, these animal studies were often cited by the supplement companies. The average consumer takes a look at the bottle, reads about all of these wonderful effects and sees that they are cited from the research literature- at this point they are sold. (who ever looks up those obscure references on the supplement-bottle anyway?)

CLA does have some wonderful, yet more subtle effects in humans, however, so much-so that there will be a series of articles on the subject here at Pinnacle Fitness. The effects in this particular installment of the CLA story involve the results of a recent study in which groups of healthy subjects were evaluated after 6 weeks of CLA supplementation. Follow this link to CLA in the literature for a more in-depth analysis of the nuts an bolts of the study and its potential implications.
There were four groups of subjects in the study including CLA, CLA+exercise, exercise-only, and a negative control; no CLA or exercise. Exercise consisted of 30 min cardio 3x/week, CLA dose was 3.6 grams/day (a typical supplemental dose), and the study lasted for 6 weeks. The results were that all experimental groups (all but the control group) lost weight. The CLA and CLA+ exercise group, however, also experienced an increase in lean mass. The CLA only group lost weight and gained muscle with no exercise! The most dramatic results, as expected, were in the CLA+ exercise group in terms positive changes in body composition. It seems that CLA influences insulin sensitivity, as the groups receiving CLA showed a decrease in serum insulin and glucose concentrations. It has been known for quite some time that leaner-type people typically have lower insulin levels, most likely due to an enhanced insulin sensitivity; CLA seems to work by a similar mechanism. All technical details aside, CLA supplementation in addition to a healthy diet and well-designed exercise program will help you achieve your goals faster and will contribute greatly to your overall health and fitness. There are so many more benefits to CLA that there will be regular installments on this wonderful supplement (along with EFAs) here at Pinnacle Fitness. Forget Protein powder, glutamine, creatine, etc; EFAs are the most important supplement that you could ever take. To receive cutting-edge fitness tips as soon as they are published on our site, subscribe to Pinnacle Fitness by email to receive posts automatically as they are published.
fitness research

Effect of NSAIDS on Post-Exercise Protein Synthesis

Bill Willis — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 22:45:00 +0000

How many of you tend to take ibuprofen, aspirin, or any other NSAIDS (Non-Steroidal-Anti-Inflammatory-Drugs) to alleviate the soreness that ensues after a grueling workout? As we all know, sometimes you are sore (even more-so) 2-3 days after the workout; hence the term Delayed Onset Muscular Soreness (DOMS). It is well documented in the scientific literature that NSAIDS can safely and effectively reduce the pain associated with DOMS. Personal fitness trainers everywhere recommend that their clients use them, especially beginners who will tend to get sorer in the initial stages of their fitness program. Unfortunately, taking NSAIDs after a workout not only reduces our perception of pain, but also post-exercise muscle protein synthesis. What this means in lay men’s terms is that if we take NSAIDs the day of and during the days after an intense workout, we are short-circuiting the growth process! Research has conclusively proven this from vitro studies of myocytes in culture, in vivo animal studies, and even in exercising humans. While you may feel better after a tough weight workout or intense cardio session if you take a few Advil, think twice because over the long term this could significantly hinder your progress! If you currently employ a fitness trainer who recommends the use of NSAIDs post-workout, feel free to refer him to this post, or better yet our new column at Pinnacle Fitness:
Cutting Edge Fitness Tips
Here you will find the references from which these findings came from, one or a few posted abstracts, and if relevant, possibly even the journal paper or papers in their entirety. Often seemingly conclusive studies fail to prove their finding through flawed research; we will sort though the validity of these studies and give you our interpretation to the gory molecular detail. This will ensure their validity in regards to improving your training, diet, and nutrition. Fitness research is worthless (for those of us outside of academia) unless it has a practical application. Sign up for our RSS feed or to receive posts by email to get this information sent to you as soon as it becomes available. At Pinnacle Fitness we are dedicated to maximizing your potential by the scientific application of training, nutrition, and diet.

Cutting Edge Fitness Research Straight from the Literature: New at Pinnacle Fitness

Bill Willis — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:00:00 +0000

There is no doubt about it, many so-called "modern" training practices are simply extensions of what people have been doing for the last 40 years. There is a ton of literature in the exercise physiology field that has the potential to revolutionize the way we work out, however these potential breakthroughs are seldom disseminated further than the dusty pages of a journal sitting on the shelf at a research institution. In medicine, there is a new push to make research more "translational" in nature, taking research discoveries from the research lab to the patient in order to better treat and cure disease. The term, "from bench to bedside" has become a buzzword in the research community.
Although our fitness and activity level is directly correlated to health-care costs, there has not been a push for more "translational" research in the field of exercise physiology. At Pinnacle Fitness we are dedicated to finding better, more efficient approaches to diet and exercise. Whether you are a fitness or figure competitor, bodybuilder, or just looking to get into better shape health, Pinnacle Fitness is your resource for cutting edge research that can benefit your training efforts. The research literature is loaded with discoveries that you can implement now to take your training progress to a higher level in record time. Nobody has time to sort through thousands of dry research journals to find these things, that is why we are starting a new column here at Pinnacle Fitness: Cutting Edge Fitness Tips. We will read the study and (in an easy to understand language) present the findings and how you can apply this to your training, diet or supplementation program now. In fact, you can sign up to receive posts by email to get cutting-edge fitness info delivered right to your inbox for free. *for all of you science geeks out there, we will additionally be giving the gory molecular details (in addition to the cliff-notes version) in our new column. " Cutting Edge Fitness Tips." Your comments are welcome! Tell us what you think about these new techniques or how you have used them in your fitness program.

Fitness for Life: The Benefits of Weight Training, Diet, and Exercise Program and a Healthy Lifestyle

Bill Willis — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 06:43:00 +0000

The benefits of a fitness program extend far beyond an improved physical appearance. While the health benefits to a well developed fitness program are widely recognized by those that generally live a healthy lifestyle, the society at large fails to practice what would surely give them a happier, healthier, and more productive life. At work, in school, or anywhere else fitness-minded people are perceived by their lazier counterparts as "fanatic" for being so dedicated to eating a healthy diet, weight training, and cardiovascular exercise. I don't know how many times as a bodybuilding competitor getting ready for a show that I've been ridiculed for "not having a life". The ironic thing was, that the "life" these people had that I was so unfortunate to be missing consisted of going home after work, parking their fat-ass on the couch, then eating and watching television before it was time to go to bed. Hmmmmmmm.... I think I"ll Take the gym! Although this is an extreme example (jealousy is the sincerest form of flattery), the problem is that by most peoples' opinion, it is perfectly acceptable to allow your body to wither away into old age; these people take better care of their lawnmower than they do of themselves!

Enter The Metabolic Syndrome:
We are getting so collectively fat that obesity has become the norm and is now considered an epidemic. Currently known as "the metabolic syndrome", the prevalence of obesity and its countless related issues have turned "just fat" into a "syndrome" It is actually great that the medical community has recognized that obesity/ The Metabolic Syndrome is such a problem, however our limited ability to completely characterize (and agree upon) the exact nature of it has led to treatments which can only alleviate certain symptoms, rather than fix the fundamental problem. We are getting so fat that it is now a "syndrome"! Compounding the problem, most people with metabolic syndrome are on the fast-track to death by heart disease, stroke, or certain types of cancer. As high as health care costs are today, they are going to get higher as the metabolic syndrome phenomena grows; there is a clear increasing trend toward obesity in western society.
Currently people are treated with a myriad of drugs to treat the symptoms associated with the metabolic syndrome, but none of these will ever be a cure. Naturally physicians first recommendation is for the patient to loose weight, however this advice is rarely followed because the same "quick-fix"/"easy way out mentality" that prevented them from exercising in the first place does not die easy; we go to the Dr. to get drugs, not to be told to exercise more.
***note that while the path to the metabolic syndrome is highly avoidable by most people, there are a minority who simply do not respond to diet and exercise in normal way; this article is not meant to insult these people in any way. They have a legitimate medical condition which will most likely need pharmaceutical intervention.***
Click on the link below to read on for an example of the transition from "out of shape" to "metabolic syndrome" and how this can be prevented.
Healthy Lifestyle part 2

Weight training, diet, and exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle

Bill Willis — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 06:39:00 +0000

In part one of this article we defined the metabolic syndrome and described and how it has become an epidemic which often self-imposed. It is not that people wake up one morning decide they are going to let their body go to hell; bad habits such as poor nutritional practices and lack of exercise over the years causes this to happen very slowly. This is completely reversible. As they say however, the deeper the ditch you dig the harder it is to get out.....

Meet Rich, 42 years old, who was extremely fit in high school and college but now spends 60+ hours a week at a desk job. He does not feel he has time to workout, mostly because he is constantly exhausted, always feeling very lethargic. Rich's typical day starts when he gets up for work in the morning, goes to work, and has a coffee with cream and a couple of donuts for breakfast. Lunch, (if he ends up eating lunch on that particular day) consists of fast food at a local fast food restaurant. If Rich gets hungry in between the few meals he gets during the day he will grab a candy bar at the vending machine and a sugar-laden soda- Rich averages two sodas and two candy bars/day. At the end of his workday Rich keeps telling himself he will go to the gym so he can finally get in shape but fatigue gets the best of him; he skips the gym workout and heads straight for the couch in his living room, where he eats and watches television until he goes to bed so he can get up in the morning and do it all over again.

Fast-forward to ten years later:
In spite of Rich's recent promotion to executive management in his company he is not doing so well in the health department. Rich has gained 40 lbs of body fat in the last ten years, and has been diagnosed as a type II diabetic. All the junk food coupled with his lack of exercise made him insulin resistant, which caused him to gain more weight and eventually become diabetic. Rich has also been diagnosed with hypercholesterolemia, which explains the atherosclerotic lesions in his coronary arteries which are more than 30% blocked, putting him at high risk for a heart attack. As with all other people with the above problems, Rich also has moderate to severe hypertension, depending on his anxiety level for that particular day. He is being treated with an arsenal of medications including

two beta blockers: for hypertension
Angiotensin II (ACE) inhibitor : for hypertension
glucophage: for diabetes
rosiglitazone: diabetes
a statin: to lower cholesterol
xanax, a benzdiazepine: for anxiety

Obviously, these medications are not without side effects. The beta-blockers leave Rich pretty much wiped out all of the time, he still wants to try to at least go on a walk for a bit of exercise in efforts to finally lose some weight, but it is all the he can do these days to get out of bed. The drug rosiglitazone, a potent drug for diabetes, also has the side effect of body fat gain; Rich has gained ten additional pounds of fat since he has been on the drug. Of course the additional weight gain caused the need for an increased dose of the hypertension drugs. Statins are relatively safe and well tolerated along with the ACE inhibitor but xanax, an anti-anxiolytic is highly addictive; so much so that some have speculated that the withdrawal is worse than the problem it was prescribed to treat. Rich is still not working out or exercising at all, mostly because he just feels too fatigued most of the time to do much of anything. He tries to watch his diet but old habits die hard. Although Rich's symptoms are under control with the drugs his situation is really just the calm before the storm; unless he makes some significant lifestyle modifications he is headed to his grave, most likely from a heart attack or stroke.

Rich's situation, unfortunately, is not an uncommon one. Countless people have let themselves go to the point that medical intervention is needed in order to treat all of their obesity-related issues. At any point most people can make a lifestyle change and completely restore their health, the longer they let themselves go however, the more hopeless it may seem to ever get back in shape. Unfortunately, most of us procrastinate in certain ways but this is not a situation where it is acceptable. If you are leading an unhealthy lifestyle and walking down the same path as poor Rich above, change what you do; right now. As soon as you commit yourself, simply by making the decision to do so, you have taken the longest step in your journey back to health and fitness. As I tell my personal fitness training clients, you are either convinced that you can, or cannot do something; either way you are right. A strong body follows a strong mind.

New at Pinnacle Fitness: BMR Calculator and Online Calorie Intake Log

Bill Willis — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:47:00 +0000

To prepare for bodybuilding competition, it is extremely important to be on a low calorie diet. I have tried every type of diet out there, and while different diets work better or worse depending on the individual, in order to lose fat you need to burn more calories than you eat; its that simple.. In the picture at the left I was able to achieve an extremely low bodyfat for competition simply by manipulating my calorie intake. Once all other parameters of your diet are optimized such as nutrient intake, protein, etc, it all comes down to calories whether you need to shed a few pounds for health and general fitness, prep for a bodybuilding, fitness, or figure competition, or any other reason you may have to lose weight.
Assuming that you already have a solid plan for your nutritional approach to weight loss in terms of what types of foods you will eat (i.e. the macronutrient ratio)and in terms of getting all vitamins and minerals needed, a very easy and quick way to ensure that your weight loss diet will bee effective is to log the the total amount of calories that you take in on a daily basis. I have added an online calorie log the that stores your daily calorie intake on our database and tracks them over time. This is free to all visitors of Pinnacle Fitness, all you need to do is register by entering a unique username and password and your daily calorie intake will be securely stored on our servers, accessible whenever you log in. Follow the link to the right in out "Helpful Tools" section or click on this link to begin tracking your daily calorie intake.
In order for your calorie intake to be meaningful, you must also have an estimate of your maintenance calorie intake, also called your basal metabolic rate. We have also included a BMR calculator to assist with your weight loss goals; simply click on the link under "Helpful Tools" at the right or click on this link to estimate your BMR. You will be asked a few questions which are automatically factored into a formula which will provide you with an estimate of your BMR. Use this number and compare it to your daily calorie intake log; if you are eating less than your estimated BMR than you are sure to lose weight. Although everybody has a unique BMR based on their activity level and genetics, our BMR calculator will provide you with a good starting point to start your weight loss program.

Weight Training Recommendations for Women

Bill Willis — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:49:00 +0000

While intense weight training has a place in any fitness program for men or women, female physiology dictates that slight adjustments to training protocol be made. The most fundamental difference between women and men in terms of strength in the gym is that the guys tend to have greater low-rep strength, while women tend to have greater endurance. In more technical terms, the typical women will be able to get more repetitions during an exercise at a higher percentage of her one-rep-max.

For example, lets say a guy in the gym (we'll call him John) can bench press 300lbs for one rep, while his girlfriend, Jane, can bench press 100lbs for one rep. For John, 80% of his one-rep max is 240lb; most men will be able to do 6-8 reps at this weight before they reach muscular failure. Jane's 80% one-rep max set, however is 80 lbs; the typical women will be able to do in upwards of 15 reps at this weight. This is why women tend to respond to higher rep-ranges than men, and is also why for endurance-oriented exercise, pound for pound women can run circles around men (sorry guys).

There are no special requirements for women as far as specific weight training exercises go, although any weight training program should be designed to address any weak points, either physiologically or simply based on what needs to change in order to look like you want. A good rule of thumb for women with upper body exercises is to perform sets of 12 reps at the low end, and as much as 15-20 reps on the higher end. For lower body, with compound movements such as the leg press, squat, or lunge, most women respond nicely to reps in the 20-25 rep-range. There are exceptions which apply to both sexes of course; the quads tend to be more endurance-oriented, so they respond to higher reps. Rep ranges as high as 50 reps on compound movements such as the leg press are extremely productive (and challenging!) for both men and women. The hamstrings are a much more explosive muscle with more fast-twitch muscle fibers, so they are optimally trained in the 10-12 rep range for men, and the 12-15 rep range for women. For abdominal training, time-and time again I have seen with my personal training clients that men generally respond to lower rep ranges (under 20 reps- mostly because guys just can't do any more at a significant workload), while women respond well to reps in upwards of 25-40, even while using significant resistance. While there are differences between individuals and the muscle-groups within that individual, the above rules for rep-ranges are a good starting point. Pay close attention to what works well and what does not in your weight training program and make the necessary adjustments. It is very helpful for most people to hire a personal fitness trainer; this way you can avoid much of the initial trail-and-error involved with starting a weight training program so you can get much further in a shorter amount of time.

Women's Fitness: Weight Training for Muscle Toning and Weight Loss

Bill Willis — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:31:00 +0000

Check out the photo on the left of the lovely Sarah Scott, an up-and coming figure competitor. If you were wondering how she trains to get that tight and toned body of hers, I'll give you a hint, she trains with weights and some damn-heavy ones too! She obviously has not gotten too muscluar and has arguably the "perfect" body with nice tight and toned muscles that are neither too large to nor too ripped.
A common misconception in the fitness field is that women must avoid training with heavy weights in order to prevent gaining too much muscle. This is understandable, as you only have to look at what the larger, more muscular guys in the gym are doing to gain all that muscle; they train with heavy weights. The muscle magazines also feature women bodybuilders who look like they are in the process of getting their gender changed, with huge ripped muscle, low body fat and that not-so aesthetically pleasing square jaw-line. Hell, if I were a women who wanted begin weight training as part of a weight loss program, one look at the typical high level women bodybuilder might keep me from ever seeing the inside of the gym for anything but cardio. Then again, looking at picture above, who wouldn't want to look like that? While men generally want to become ripped and muscular, it is generally agreed that this is not all that desirable for a women. Women generally desire to “tone” their muscles without necessarily building muscle mass. Weight training with all but the lightest of weights is generally avoided, which is even recommended by many ill-informed personal fitness trainers.

The truth is that most all women simply do not have the hormones to build a large amount of muscle mass. Men are typically larger and more muscular because they have much higher testosterone levels then women. In fact, male bodybuilders take testosterone and other steroids to build more muscle mass. The male bodybuilders who are typically featured in the pages of most muscle magazines are on large amounts of steroids, growth hormone, and other anabolics. The same situation applies to womens bodybuilding; those ripped, muscular women bodybuilders would not be able to achieve their look without some "chemical help". With the excpetion of the one-and a million "freak of nature" women can't get that ripped and musclar naturally; steroids are needed. Steroid use by these women also causes that not-so attractive masculine-look that so many upper-level female bodybuilders have.
Muscle gains do not come easily; both guys and girls spend years weight training in the gym to reach their potential. In the absense of steroids, women (who are not using anabolics) respond differently to weight training than men- their muscles do not become larger by a significant amount, but become tighter and more toned.
You may look at Sarah Scott's picture above and wonder how the hell she was able to sculpt her body like that..... The truth is that she trains very hard with relatively heavy weights (for the appropriate rep-range)- her workouts are not all that dissimilar from what a male bodybuilder would do, but obviously the results are different. If you are a women and are beginning an exercise and diet program for weight loss and muscle-tone, you cannot afford not to do weight training workouts- only then will you be able to burn that last bit if stubborn body fat and sculpt the body you've always wanted.

Be sure to check out our article on weight training recommendations for women

Change the Key to Sucess in your Fitness Program

Bill Willis — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:46:00 +0000

No matter how great a new weight training program is working to build muscle, as most of us painfully know first hand, progress eventually begins to slow down until we are just breaking even. Frustration then sets in; this wonderful weight training, diet, and exercise program that was so great before now seems to be completely worthless. Most of us would rationalize that we simply need to train harder and longer; possibly somewhere along the line we became lazy and just need to step it up. Weight training volume and intensity is then increased, and your weight training workouts which were once completed in a very efficient 45-60 minutes are now taking hours. We are further disappointed to realize that in spite of all this extra effort, we are getting weaker instead of stronger- actually going backwards!

This situation is all too familiar with those who frequent gyms and is the number one cause of people dropping out of their exercise programs for general weight loss and health or bodybuilding. Although persistence is a necessity, the number one factor which determines success or failure with your fitness goals is the ability to overcome adversity- simply trudging along doing the same thing over and over again in the gym will get you the same results as before....none. As I tell my personal training clients, "you can only bang your head into a brick wall so many times before you have to get smart and walk around it." Your weight training program is not working, so you must change things, even if this involves a more "lateral" move rather one that take you immediately forward. The path to success in fitness is never a linear one, and in order to reach our goals we must make the necessary adjustments with the longer term in mind. We have all experienced this situation and those of us still in the game have found a way to walk around the impassible "roadblocks" to reaching our ultimate fitness goals. While I will not go into the specifics of weight training program design here, it is very important to conceptually realize the most important variable that will ensure continual success in all your fitness or bodybuilding efforts: change.

Our bodies are not static; we are constantly making billions or biochemical adjustments over the course of a day just to keep us alive. Because of our inherent ability to adapt to anything, a weight loss or muscle building program must be dynamic. Maybe your goals are for weight loss and you are doing a certain type of cardio for fat loss or you are a bodybuilder and have not changed your weight training program in years. In either case, the body has adapted to the exercise; fat loss and muscle gains have become slower over time eventually coming to a complete halt. While the technical nuts and bolts of designing a weight training program or weight loss program can be complicated- the conceptual aspect to their successful design is quite simple; change what you are doing.

If you have been using the treadmill as cardio for weight loss and fat-burning, switch to the elliptical trainer. If you have been doing longer duration cardio switch to high intensity cardio such as interval training. The same goes for weight training; if your bench press has stalled switch to dumbbell bench pressing-or cut out the bench press all together- do parallel dips and incline dumbbell presses for chest training. The same goes for how you have been executing these exercises; if you have been training with a higher volume of weight for your weight training program switch to a higher intensity training protocol (and vice-versa). The key is to change- keep your weight training program or weight loss program dynamic to experience continuous progress and avoiding training plateaus. The way in which you manipulate your exercise program over time should not be arbitrary however, check out our weight training program desig n article for a more detailed approach to keeping things productive with your weight training program.

The Truth about HGH: (human growth hormone):

Bill Willis — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 01:28:00 +0000

With all of the (mostly worthless) nutritional supplements out there touted to help with weight loss, burn body fat, and build muscle, hgh may be the only one that has the potential to measure up to its claims. Despite what you may hear in the media though, hgh is not the "fountain of youth" nor is it a miracle solution for weight loss or muscle building. Hgh is known to plummet after the age of 25 and by the time we are 40 levels are relatively low. Hgh works best for people over the age of 30 and does have some pretty significant effects, but it is not the "magic potion" many may think. Countless clinical trials have shown that independent of diet, sedentary people have gained muscle and lost fat from hgh therapy. The key feature of these studies is that most subjects were in relatively poor condition, and by no means were they "in-shape" at the end of the study. For example, if somebody is able to decrease their body composition by 10% and remain close to the same bodyweight, they have essentially shifted what was once fat mass into muscle mass. This is great by any standard, however if the subjects started at 35% bodyfat, they were still at 25% when they finished they are hardly in shape! (note these values are for men- 25% is not quite as bad for women although still not great.) Diet and exercise is still needed to "get in shape"- weight loss and increases in muscle mass will not continue indefinitely with hgh therapy.

What hgh can do (in those old enough to benefit) is to cause an increase in energy and stamina- hgh users report that they "feel 10 years younger" and generally sleep much better at night. Hgh actually acts directly at the fat-cell to encourage lipolysis (i.e. fat burning), while at the same time increasing muscle mass via an increase in IGF-1 production. Hgh can subtly speed up recovery time after a workout and discourages muscle loss caused by intense exercise and dieting- in this way hgh shifts the balance from burning muscle to building muscle (we are constantly tearing down and rebuilding muscle protein-anything that can shift the balance toward building muscle will have a great effect). With all of these almost magic properties it is no wonder why hgh is promoted as the magic pill that it is.

Hgh does have some wonderful properties, but it only complements an otherwise perfect diet and exercise program. Stated differently, HGH DOES NOT REPLACE DIET AND EXERCISE (I know, sucks, doesn't it?). Forget the studies with sedentary people having miraculous weight loss and muscle gain with hgh- these people couldn't be in any worse shape to start with, so their changes are drastic. As most of you have experienced, it is very easy to double your strength, lose lots of fat, and build muscle when you first started weight training- progress is never linear though; after 10 years of weight training we are lucky to get a fraction of the muscle gains we got an in equal time span as a beginner-with or without hgh.

Another little known fact is that hgh is not actually that great of an anabolic (muscle-builder). Hgh definitely supports muscle growth, but is exponentially more potent as an anabolic in the presence of testosterone. (testosterone decreases along with hgh as we age). Many progressive-minded physicians with a decent background in endocrinology are readily prescribing testosterone along with hgh as a "hormone replacement therapy" for men. The combination of hgh with low-dose testosterone in a middle-aged to older male (in the presence of a good diet and exercise program of course) can do almost magical things.

Although many sites on the internet have created a "black market" for hgh and testosterone, hgh is available in the US by prescription-only and testosterone is even more highly regulated, being scheduled along with all of the other steroids by the DEA. Because of this, the supplement industry has cashed in by selling products which are either supposed to contain or stimulate the release of hgh. To put it lightly, all hgh supplements are shit! Even though the companies are citing legitimate hgh studies, these studies use INJECTABLE hgh, not the junk that the supplement company is trying to sell you. (although some supplements with certain amino acids will cause a transient rise in hgh- their value is only for very specific circumstances) The same goes for testosterone- although the supplement tribulus terrestris does cause subtle increases in testosterone, the amount is so little that it does not cause any change in muscle mass or body fat. The pro-hormones worked with some people, but most have been banned, now classified as steroids. (Thanks again to the government for the wonderful "protection" of us from ourselves. As a side note, most of the guys who voted on these laws have never seen the inside of a gym and couldn't tell you a damn-thing about how and why steroids (and hgh) are bad- just that they are.) So hgh works but hgh + testosterone might be the best possible way to keep gaining muscle and losing fat into old age- just find a Dr. who will diagnose you with a deficiency so it will be covered by your insurance. Real hgh and testosterone by prescription is not cheap! Just don't waste your money on anything but the real thing if you are going to try hgh and/or testosterone therapy; the supplement versions really just provide you with overpriced urine*!

*as stated above, some hgh-releasing supplements may have limited potential; consult your personal fitness trainer or physician for recommendations*

Weight Loss: Use a Higher Fat Intake To Loose Weight and Build Muscle

Bill Willis — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 02:56:00 +0000

In part one of this article we discussed the problem which many dieters encounter in their efforts to loose fat; despite a low calorie, low fat diet the fat just does not seem to come off and weight loss after time grinds to a screeching halt. Obviously, calories need to be reduced in order to loose weight, but we need to be picky about where these calories come from in order to build muscle and loose fat. We want our weight loss diet to cause a nice, steady and slow release of insulin so that the muscle mass preferentially takes up the glucose compared to body fat. We will accomplish this in two ways:

Eat a lower carb-diet with less total carbohydrate and choose carbs from low glycemic index sources
Eat fat!

Choosing low glycemic index carbs (and lesser amounts of carbs in general) is a no-brainer if you've read the first part of this article even if it is not completely clear why- low (or lower) carb diets work. The "eat fat" recommendation may shock a few people though; we want to loose fat so you are telling me to eat more of it???? The answer, you might have guessed, is yes, we do need to eat more fat to loose fat. Before we go on, a very important point must be stressed- if you want to loose weight you need to eat a lower calorie diet! If this condition is not satisfied a higher fat intake will actually cause an increase in body fat, rather than a loss in body fat. (Damn! And I thought this was the magic solution to loosing weight while eating whatever the hell you wanted...). We also need to be careful about what types of fats we add to the diet- we want the fat that we consume to help our weight loss efforts rather than hinder them. Stay away from saturated fat; this tends to decrease insulin sensitivity even while on a low calorie diet. As a side note, there are many "diet gurus" out there who would argue that the fat source does not matter- I do not totally agree with this statement, and your cardiologist would tend to agree with me as well.

With saturated fats out of the picture we are left with the unsaturated fats and mono-unsaturated fats, some of which actually NEED to be in the diet, called Essential Fatty Acids (EFA's). Without getting too much into the biochemistry of all these fats, EFA's are unsaturated in nature and actually act to increase insulin sensitivity. Simply replacing a proportion of carbs in your diet with EFA's will cause fat loss at the same calorie level! An excellent source of EFA's are walnuts and flax seed oil' fish oil also tends to have benefits above and beyond that of some of the other EFA's. Fatty fish such as Salmon additionally provides an excellent source of EFA's. Olive oil is the most common example of a 'monounsaturated fat', although it is not essential. It is a good idea to include some monounsaturated fats in the diet, however, because the monounsaturated fats in olive oil tend to promote a healthy heart and blood vessels.

I can go on and on about the benefits of EFA's, but the take-home message is that you need them for a number of health-reasons and an increased EFA intake at the expense of carbohydrate on a low(er) calorie diet will promote fat loss and build muscle making you leaner and more muscular. Additionally, the presence of fat in the stomach slows gastric emptying (i.e. how rapidly food passed from the stomach during digestion). The presence of fat in the stomach actually reduces how rapidly carbohydrates are digested, essentially making the carbs we have eaten "lower-glycemic". A lower glycemic carb raises blood glucose much more slowly, reduces insulin secretion, and (as described in part 1 of this article) reduces the likelihood that calories will be stored as body fat.

Now that we know roughly what to eat, how do we put it all together? Knowledge is worthless if it can't be applied- check out part three of this article series explaining how to put it all together.

Dieting for Weight Loss by the Numbers: Build Muscle and Loose fat

Bill Willis — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 02:42:00 +0000

Now for the nuts and bolts of tweaking your weight loss diet to loose more fat and to maintain muscle mass or even build muscle while at the same time loosing weight.

First you need a good estimate of your maintenance calorie intake (the amount of calories that your body requires in order to maintain your current bodyweight. There are a number of ways to estimate this-follow this link to ESTIMATE YOUR BMR. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, however, that your maintenance calorie level is 2750 calories. For weight loss, we are going to reduce your daily calorie requirement by 250 calories to 2500. Generally, if you have been following a typical low-fat diet you are most likely eating 50-60% carbohydrates with variable levels of protein and a low percentage of fat. We are going to reduce this number, while increasing fat intake and keeping protein intake an ideal level.

Protein

The typical dieter, if they follow USDA guidelines, does not get enough protein while most “muscle-heads” such as weightlifters or bodybuilders tend to eat way more than they need. (Too much protein just gets converted to fat- there are much more fun ways out there to gain body fat than overeating on protein!). We will use protein intake as the starting point to determine how many calories you need from fat and carbs. Once the protein requirement as a percent of calories is established, we will then move on to fat and carbs. My recommendation is to get 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of lean mass- lets assume you weigh 200lb with a lean mass of 160 lb- this would mean your protein requirement is 160-240g of protein. We will assume you are doing lots of cardio and intense weight training as part of your exercise program so we will go with 1.5g/lb of lean mass, or 240 g protein. Doing the math, 1 g of protein is approximately 4 kcal (I have referred to kcal-which is actually 1000 calories, simply as "calories" up to this point- for simplicity I will continue to use the term "calorie").

240g x 4kcal/g = 960 calories.

(960 calories of protein/ 2500 total calories) x 100 ~ 38% calories from protein.

Carbohydrates

With 26% protein in our diet program we now need to determine how much many carbs to eat. The important thing here is that we have an overall reduction in the % of calories form carbohydrate sources. A range of anywhere from 15-40% carbohydrate could be ideal- this is largely an individual matter. Some people do not need to decrease carbs quite as low while others will only do well on a lower carbohydrate diet. A good approach is to start on the lower end to jumpstart your diet into action and then to slowly increase carbohydrate as you become more insulin sensitive. (Consult a good personal trainer who is also an expert in nutrition a custom=designed approach). Again, as an example, we will assume that we want to eat 30% of our calories from carbs. If you have been following the typical low-fat diet this will be a significant reduction. Like protein, carbohydrates have 4 kcal/gram so we do a similar calculation:

30% calories from carbs = (0.30 x 2500)= 750 calories.

(750 calories)/ (4 kcal/gram) = ~ 188 g of carbs.

According to our calculations above, we need 188 g of (low glycemic) carbohydrates to satisfy our 30% carbohydrate requirement.

Fat:

Last but not least, we need to calculate how much dietary fat to eat. So far we have 38% of our calories coming from protein while 30% are from low glycemic carbohydrate sources. This leaves us with 32% of our calories coming from fat. Unlike proteins and carbs, fats have 9 kcal/gram:

(0.32 x 2500 calories) = 800 calories from fat.

(800 calories)/(9 kcal/gram) = ~ 89g of fat.

Most people who are used to eating the lowest amount of fat possible in their diet are shocked at this recommendation- no worries, your calories are controlled so you won't get fat-you will loose fat and build muscle. As far as fat sources, there are many choices but I personally like to use walnuts, salmon, flax seed oil, olive oil, and fish oil for fat sources while keeping the saturated fat from animal protein as low as possible.

As an example' 1/4 cup of walnuts has 20 g of fat. Most oils have roughly 14g/tablespoon. Many of my clients like to eat salads with fat free Italian dressing (get the stuff that also has low carbs). Add this with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and flax seed oil to your salad giving and additional 28 g of fat (use more/less oil depending on your individual requirements- I tend to use 2 tbs of olive oil to 1 tbs flax oil). A 7-ounce serving of broiled or baked salmon has around 6-9 g of fat. Fish oil tabs generally have around 1g of fat /tab ( I take 10-12 every night before bed). Don't forget to factor in the trace fats you are getting from certain carbohydrate sources and from animal proteins.

Weight Loss: Eat MORE fat to Melt off the Bodyfat???

Bill Willis — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:37:00 +0000

Eat Fat to Melt off the Fat?
There is no question about it; low fat diets work, but are not without problems. While dietary fat intake does have a more direct pathway for storage (.i.e. body fat), all that really matters at the end of the day is how many total calories we have eaten. Fat loss is actually a very simple equation: (energy intake) - (energy expenditure) = (weight loss or gain). While there are many other factors, at the end of the day this is all that matters. Our body fat stores are analogous to a bank account- we are constantly making deposits and withdrawals on a continual basis- deposit more than we withdraw and we gain fat, withdraw more than we deposit and we loose fat. Of course, if it were actually this simple I'm sure a couple of questions come to mind:
1. If all that matters for weight loss from a diet is calorie intake, than why do most diets fail?
2. Where the hell does dietary fat intake come in?

Most weight loss diets fail not because of a lack of adherence to the weight loss diet but from the nature of the diet itself. We have been brain-washed by the "low fat" craze in the media to eat a low fat diet to burn off the extra body fat. This type of weight loss diet is not suited for all people. Many people who have problems losing weight on a weight loss diet fail to do so not because of calorie intake according to the equation above, but from storing those calories in the wrong place (i.e. bodyfat). So we are really dealing with a calorie storage problem, rather than a calorie intake problem. Low fat diets tend to consist of higher proportions of carbohydrates, many of which are typically high glycemic index (GI for short). These high GI carbohydrates tend digest more quickly, raising blood sugar more rapidly and to higher overall levels. This is where insulin comes in.
Insulin's job is as a storage hormone; it is released by the pancreas in response to an increase in blood sugar and acts by transporting the sugar, in the form of glucose, into muscle cells to be stored as glycogen (good!) or fat cells to be converted to triglyceride and stored as body fat (bad!). Under ideal circumstances, the muscle cells will preferentially take up glucose compared to body fat. With a high-carbohydrate diet however, blood sugar tends to rise quickly followed by a massive increase in insulin. Insulin basically desensitizes the muscle cells to the action of insulin; when muscle insulin sensitivity decreases, more and more of that blood glucose gets shuttled into the body fat stores. When people start on a weight loss diet they are typically out of shape and carrying a higher level of body fat; under these conditions muscle-cell insulin sensitivity is down, hence the “storage problem”. Even at a reduced calorie level more energy is being diverted into body fat relative to muscle tissue- the body is basically feeding the body fat and starving the muscles! A high-carbohydrate diet, for this reason, can actually encourage muscle loss in those who choose to follow this type of low fat/high carb diet. These people may even be able to sustain a decent amount of weight loss at first, but the weight loss is not ideal; body fat either increases or stays the same at the expense of hard-earned muscle tissue.
There is a simple solution to this problem- read on to find out how to finally lose the fat and build muscle!

Muscle Building, weight loss, diet: What is really holding you back from your fitness goals?

Bill Willis — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 07:46:00 +0000

Doesn't it seem like there are those select few people who just seem to have their sh*t together when it comes to fitness while the rest of us seem to be spinning our wheels? Genetic ability aside, some people just seem to have it while some do not. While our unique genetic ability does ultimately determine our ability to build muscle and lose fat, everybody is capable of achieving a theoretical peak level of fitness (muscle mass, bodyfat percentage, etc) and nobody even comes close. The human body is not static; we are either gaining muscle or losing muscle, burning fat or storing fat. It may sound pessimistic to say that we will never reach this potential, but the flip-side of the coin says that we have the potential to constantly get better. No matter if you are completely new to fitness, with modest goals of muscle building and fat loss, or are a seasoned gym-veteran, we can all use a "tweak" in mindset, because our thought process ultimately determines whether we will achieve our fitness goals or simply waste a hell of a lot of time not achieving them.
Taking a closer look at the mentality that prevents reaching our goals of muscle building or fat loss, there really is a common thread- the following "fitness underachiever" is a perfect example. In fact, there is a little bit of this guy in all of us.
Follow the link below to learn the true "secret" to muscle building, fat loss, and just getting in shape in general.....
(to maintain anonymity, we'll just call him fat f--k. Click on the chubby fellow below to read on......)

Muscle Building, weight loss, diet: What is really holding you back from your fitness goals? (part 2)

Bill Willis — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 06:41:00 +0000

Meet fat f_ _ k. He's the guy who has a box of Krispy Kremes on his desk at all times and needs a very large chair because his ass has its own zip-code. He gets charged for two seats on an airplane. Working out to him is being forced to park further away from the grocery store, which is not much of a workout, but no worries, he drinks diet coke and eats low fat foods (cookies, ice cream, cake, but what the hell, its low fat right?) The poor guy even blows hundreds of dollars a month on the latest fat-blocking, bodyfat shedding supplements- but none of them have worked-he's sure he'll find the right one any time. He even went so far as to purchase one of those spring-loaded ab machines that was guaranteed to to "build sculpted abs or your money back" .....didn't do a damn-thing (but what the hell for 12 easy payments of $19.95?) Fat F__k generally has good intentions to lose fat and has maybe even considered the benefits of a muscle-building program, but has found more reasons not to do these things in the form of excuses.: He is overweight because he has an office job (and because those dam-pills are just not working) and has triceps that flap in the wind because because his "rowflexmaster 2000" (which he hangs clothes on) just didn't produce the expected results. Fat f--k has tried everything short of putting in the work at the gym and following a sensible diet (the obvious solution to build muscle and loose fat). So what is our large friend to do if he wants his muscle-building and weight loss efforts to pay off? Two things: 1) exercise and diet - but this is secondary to the mindset that prevents him from actually doing this- which brings us to 2) a little muscle-building and weight loss therapy.....
What our swollen friend needs to do is find a comfortable place with a mirror, gaze into it and repeat the following:

"I, fat f--k am overweight because my diet sucks. I am fat because I am a lazy bastard. I am not 370 because of water retention, nor are my two chins the unfortunate result of a genetic defect.I do not need a pallet of bananas to avoid the cramping sensation I get from lack of blood flow in my legs. I am fat because I consider Krispy Kremes a meal. My "rowflexmaster2000" is not to blame for my complete lack of any discernible muscle tone- even if it did do a damn-thing I use it to hang clothes on... in a word I am a sloppy fat ass because I choose to be"

Of course this may seem harsh, but the painful slap of reality is exactly what our gluttonous friend needed- his problem, in a nutshell, is that for every perceptible shortcoming , he cannot lose fat because of......(any outside factor other than himself). In fact, we all have a little bit of this problem; how many times have you failed to achieve your goals to build muscle, lose fat, or get in shape??? You got far but just couldn't get there because.......
You don't need to be 200 lbs overweight to take heed from poor fat f--k's plight- all of us (including this author) need to be reminded every now and then of the one key to success in muscle building, weight loss/diet, fitness, athletics, etc (and anything in worth achieving in this life in general)...ACCOUNTABILITY. Take control of your muscle building or fat loss program by taking responsibility for your success, or more importantly, lack thereof. Only then can we break past that invisible barrier to success.

Fitness Question of the Month: Submit your questions about fat loss, muscle gain, diet, exercise, or other fitness -related questions!

Bill Willis — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 02:27:00 +0000

Have a burning question about how to shed those last few pounds of body fat or pack on some serious muscle? Submit them for the Question of the Month!

I will be choosing one question/month based on merit and will post the answer to this here at Pinnacle Fitness online.

Be specific! Please follow the link below and enter all requested information. Any fitness-related questions about diet, supplements, training etc. will be considered.

There are no "stupid questions"! Most likely your question is shared by thousands of other people as they strive to reach their fitness goals.
Fitness questions from beginner to advanced are welcome. From total beginner to the veteran bodybuilding competitor, all questions will be taken into consideration for response.

Follow this link to
SUBMIT YOUR FITNESS QUESTION
***Due the the high volume of questions we recieve I will only be responding to one or two queston(s)/month.***

Can't wait for the answer? Email us at Pinnacle Fitness
for information on personal consultations by telephone or email.

Coming soon to Pinnacle Fitness: Virtual Fitness training! In-the gym personal fitness training will soon be obsolete! Come back soon for updates on this revolutionary new approach to personal fitness training.

Weight Training: Avoid Plateaus in Your Training Program for Muscle Building or General Fitness (part 1)

Bill Willis — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 04:22:00 +0000

Anybody who has achieved a little success with their weight training is always bombarded by the same question: How did you build that physique??? Heavy weights or high reps? Naturally, the majority of trainees who have been in a training plateau for the last several months (or years), seek advice from those who have proven to be successful. There are two types of people who just can't seem to stop gaining muscle: those with those one-in a million genetics that allow them to put on muscle with any haphazard training program, and those who have intelligently manipulated their weight training program to keep their training dynamic and the muscle gains coming. If you are one of those genetic freaks that respond to anything, then this article is not for you. If you are a person who religiously hits the gym like an animal with a good nutritional plan, but still seems to be merely spinning their wheels instead of making the progress they want, then this article will be extremely helpful.
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of manipulating your weight workouts to avoid training plateaus, three important points need to be emphasized:

1. 99% of trainees are over-trained on volume and under-trained on intensity. More is not always better.

2.The human body will respond to any acute stimulus, but quickly adapts to maintain homeostasis. The workout that did wonders for the first few weeks will surely stall if no changes are made.

3. In order to keep the body adapting in a positive way to our training efforts, we must:

increase the intensity of the training stimulus

change the training stimulus all together

While while the three principles above are fundamental to program design, The following points also need to be considered in designing the any weight training/fitness program...

The all or nothing principle
Muscle fibers fire on an all-or nothing principle-the magnitude or strength of the contraction is dictated by the number of fibers that simultaneously fire. Heavier weights activate more muscle fibers/ rep. (although this is not the only means to influence the amount of fibers exhausted during a workout ) The more fibers exhausted the greater the overload, the greater the overload the greater the gains.

There can be too much of a good thing
There is such thing as too much of a good thing; with increasing amounts of overload in a given workout and decreasing amounts of recovery time there is a point of diminishing returns. The average trainee will see that things are working well and in an effort to keep the gains coming, they reason that if a little bit is good, then a lot must be better so they add more sets and reps and use heavier weights. Most people are constantly flirting with over training because of this. The actual weight workout is only a stimulus for muscle growth... muscles grow when we are resting. In order to be efficient, we must perform just enough work, but not too much to send the message for the muscles to grow and change in response to the weight training workout. We need to create maximum overload with a minimal demand on the recovery ability to achieve maximum gains.

It's all about the CNS!
Our central nervous system controls the muscle groups of every body part that we train, yet little attention is given to the large effect that this has on recovery. Anybody who has had a great weight training workout on one day, only to be disappointed on the next can attest to the fact that there is an aspect to the recovery ability that is independent of the body part trained during the previous workout.

Next: How can we apply this to designing a weight training program?

Competition Pics: 2004 Mike Francois Classic

Bill Willis — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 03:11:00 +0000

Weight Training: Avoid Plateaus in Your Training Program for Muscle Building or General Fitness (part 2)

Bill Willis — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 19:40:00 +0000

We have covered many important points regarding muscle physiology and exercise... so what does all of this mean in the context of an actual workout??? For example, imagine that you have just had the best leg workout ever and you feel great. You even achieved a personal best on a ten-rep max set of squats. Fired up for the next workout, you attempt to tackle the gym with equal fervor the next day-only to find that your bench press has decreased by about 20%! Common sense would tell us that if we have just trained legs and will train chest the next day, then we will be fine-even if the leg workout was very intense. The problem with this logic is that the CNS controls the ability of these muscle groups to contract. As stated above, muscles contract on an all-or nothing principle-the more fibers that contract the stronger the contraction. The CNS, after having been stressed during an intense leg workout, is still recovering and not able to fire up all those muscle fibers needed in the chest for maximum strength. The ramifications of this situation are extremely important: a fatigued CNS will not be able to generate the required workload to cause an overload in the target muscle. Translation: YOU WILL NOT GROW! This illustrates the very reasons that most people do not experience the progress with their weight training that they should. Your nutrition may be great, you may be getting plenty of rest, but you are still not gaining due to a dysfunctional training protocol that does not allow sufficient recovery.

We've all been in this situation before and pondered endlessly to the cause of the sudden decrease in strength….Was it the diet? Possibly stress? Or maybe you just forgot to wear your lucky underwear? The answer, of course is that all other things being equal (and of course you did not forget the lucky underwear), the CNS is still fatigued from the previous workout. If our pectoral muscles are capable of pushing 20% more than our CNS will actually allow on this particular day, it is no wonder that the chest workout will be unproductive. In order for a muscle to grow it must be overloaded, in order to achieve overload we must contract the muscles against heavy weights and these contractions controlled by the CNS. If the CNS is not recovered from the day before we cannot possibly hope to have a chest workout that will produce the desired results. We would be much better suited to have a day of complete rest and to train the chest (or whatever the next scheduled workout happens to be) when we are actually capable of doing so productively. Of course the reasoning of most serious trainees is that if they were not strong on chest day, then they simply need more chest work. Additional sets, reps, and possibly an additional training day during the week are then added-this only contributes to the problem in the first place, ensuring that with all that extra hard work we are breaking even, at best. It should also be noted that this is a cumulative problem, the deeper the ditch we dig into our recovery ability, the harder it is to get out.

So now that we have identified the problem what do we do now???

Unfortunately, there is not one answer to this question, but there are a few general strategies to manipulate your training program to keep the gains coming. The most fundamental rule here is that the human body responds very quickly to change. It is not adequate, however to simply change the workout in an arbitrary manner-we must have a systematic way of manipulating our weight training workouts to produce the desired results. Training an exercise from a different angle, or changing the order in which the exercises in a workout are performed are both good ways to achieve this end in the context of your more general weight training plan. This is not enough, however to avoid a training plateau-the overall volume and intensity of the workout must be cycled in a systematic manner.

Next: Putting it all together!