July 20, 2016 by Will Brink

Protein Intakes For Female Physique Athletes

This is the first study I’m aware of that looked specifically at female physique athletes and the effects of a higher protein intake, and comes from Dr. Bill Campbell’s lab via the University of South Florida, Performance & Physique Enhancement Laboratory, which I gave a talk at recently and presented at conferences. It’s interesting to note they found increased LBM with higher protein off season:

Effects of a high (2.4 g/kg) vs. low/moderate (1.2 g/kg) protein intake on body composition in aspiring female physique athletes engaging in an 8-week resistance training program

Bill I. Campbell, Danielle Aguilar, Andres Vargas, Laurin Conlin, Amey Sanders, Paola Fink-Irizarry, Layne Norton, Ross Perry, Ryley McCallum, Matthew R. Wynn, Jack Lenton.

University of South Florida, Performance & Physique Enhancement Laboratory, Tampa, FL, USA

Background

Aspiring female physique athletes are often encouraged to ingest relatively high levels of dietary protein in conjunction with their resistance-training programs. However, there is little to no research investigating higher vs. lower protein intakes in this population. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the effects of a high protein diet vs. a low protein diet in resistance trained, aspiring female physique athletes.

Methods

BrinkZone author Sumi Singh shows what hard work and a solid nutrition plan can achieve

17 resistance-trained female subjects (21.2±2.1 years; 165.1±5.1 cm; 61±6.1 kg) participated in this investigation. At baseline and following 8-weeks of a periodized daily undulating resistance-training program (DUP), participants were assessed for body composition (body weight [BW], fat mass [FM], body fat % [BF%], and lean body mass [LBM]). After baseline testing, participants were matched according to total FM and randomized to the high protein group (HP; n = 8) or the low/moderate protein group (LP; n = 9). Participants in the high protein group were instructed to ingest at least 2.4 grams of protein/kg body mass per day and participants in the low protein group were instructed to ingest no more than 1.2 grams of protein/kg body mass. There were no restrictions or guidelines placed on dietary CHO or Fat intake during the study intervention for either group. Body composition was assessed via ultrasound (A mode, 2.5-MHz transmitter). The DUP program consisted of two lower body and two upper body workouts conducted a total of 4 times per week for 8 weeks. Data were analyzed via a 2-factor [2x2] between-subjects repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). The criterion for significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.

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January 31, 2016 by Will Brink

IFBB Pro Natalie Graziano Does Back And Biceps

Fitness Competitor and IFBB Pro Natalie Graziano Does Back And Biceps “old school” style, which is heavy, basic, and brief. No toning and firming here!

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September 10, 2015 by Will Brink

Gaining Muscle & Losing Fat Simultaneously?

“I want to gain muscle and lose fat Will” is a common statement I hear or get the “how do I gain muscle and lose fat?” question, and sellers of supplements and designers of magical programs and diets are all to happy to feed into those wishes as if it was easy to do with their particular program or supplement.

Can you gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously? I answer that Q in this vid. If interested in my general approach to gaining strength and muscle mass, see the BBR program.

The Essentials:

Basic facts #1: Losing bodyfat requires you to be in a sustained caloric deficit,

Basic fact #2: Gaining muscle mass requires you to be in a sustained caloric surplus.

One can’t serve two masters, nor defy basic physiology and laws of thermodynamics.

One can train for a power lifting meet and an ultra marathon at the same time, but they won’t be terribly successful at either for a reason…

Pick a specific goal, eat and train for it, vs attempting multiple goals that may be opposed to each other giving sub par results.

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June 29, 2015 by Monica Mollica

Fish Oil for Muscle Growth

A key hallmark of aging is a progressive loss of muscle mass, which occurs independently of health status.[1] Exercise and nutrition are the two main anabolic stimuli for muscle growth and its maintenance throughout the life course.[2-11]

It is clear that maintaining high physical activity and exercise levels throughout ones lifespan reduces aging related loss of muscle mass and function, compared with living a sedentary life.[12-19] However, even active older adults and master elite athletes still experience some loss of muscle and physical performance with advancing age.[8, 13, 20]

When it comes to nutrition, high protein intake [2, 3, 10, 21] and creatine supplementation [4-8, 22] are two of the best documented interventions, which together with resistance exercise training, result in greater increases muscle mass and strength in both young [21-23] and older people [2-8, 10], and prevent its loss with aging. Here I will present the relatively unknown effects of fish oil (most well-known for its cardiovascular health promoting effects) on muscle growth (anabolism) and its possible contribution to prevention of aging related loss of muscle mass and function…

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May 26, 2015 by Monica Mollica

Red Meat – Good or Fad for Fat Loss?

Consumption of red meat has been associated with fat gain (and weight gain) because of its high fat / calorie content. Even though the old idea that “a high fat intake causes body fat gain” has been completely debunked in medical research [1-9], red meat still is a food that’s on the forbidden or avoid list in most diet plans. And for some reason, women tend to be especially afraid of eating meat…

While there are studies showing an association between meat intake and obesity [10-12], there are also studies not showing this [12-14]. And when digging deeper in the data, many of the studies that did report a significant association with meat intake and fat gain / obesity have several flaws that invalidate their conclusions….

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May 21, 2015 by Will Brink

The BrinkZone Sled-Centric Program!

NOTE: Purchase of the BrinkZone Avenger Sled – the ultimate push sled that allows easy transport and storage – includes a free copy of this program. See the Avenger sled in action HERE

If you’ve been following my stuff for a while via vids, articles, and blog posts, you know I have been working with push sleds for years now with people from all walks of life. SWAT teams, fitness models, strong man competitors, body builders, IFBB pro Figure competitors, to Joe/Jane every day fitness enthusiast, and those looking to shed some weight, to name just a few. The longer I use the sled with an ever wider variety of people with varying goals, the more convinced I became that the push sled is the single most effective strength and conditioning tool known to mankind. Push sleds from various manufacturers have become very popular as of late, and for damn good reason; or as creator of the highly popular 5/3/1 program, elite ranked power lifter, and strength coach Jim Wendler says of sled work:

“I am thoroughly convinced that the Prowler is the answer to most of our world’s problems: debt, overpopulation, drugs, obesity, etc. “

Ok, a slight exaggeration, but only slight! The fact is, a good quality push sled used correctly – in my view – one of the single most effective strength and conditioning tools ever invented. It’s whole body kick ass training nothing I’m aware of can match, and when combined as a cohesive program, impressive gains in strength, conditioning, and body composition are the result. I also find sled work allows people with various preexisting injuries and tendinopathies to make continued progress. If you already have a push sled, and have been working with it for some time, then you already know that. If not, well, find a push sled, or purchase one, and discover that for yourself. Enter, the BrinkZone Sled-Centric Program (BSCP) which is the Ultimate Program For The Ultimate Whole Body Strength & Conditioning Tool.å

Origins of the The Sled-Centric Program

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May 2, 2015 by Monica Mollica

The Arginine Paradox – do L-arginine based NO boosters really work?

Some of the most popular supplements today are the so called pre-workout nitric oxide (NO) boosters [1, 2]. These contain a panoply of ingredients, but one the main ones is arginine. The rationale goes that L-arginine is a precursor to nitric oxide (NO) and NO is a potent vasodilator [3, 4] Theoretically this would increase blood flow and nutrient/oxygen delivery to exercising muscles and thereby boost performance, as well as recovery.

While it is true that L-arginine supplementation mat be beneficial for various clinical populations (see below), studies in healthy adults have not unequivocally supported the marketing hype surrounding arginine supplementation and nitric oxide boosters [1, 5, 6]. Here’s why…

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April 23, 2015 by Monica Mollica

Post Cycle Therapy (PCT): What to do after having used anabolic steroids?

In the past, anabolic steroids were used primarily by athletes in order to boots physical performance. However, today anabolic steroids are also common among non-athletes, who use them with the goal to improve their physique and appearance. It was recently estimated that among Americans aged 13-50 years, 2.9 to 4.0 million have used anabolic steroids.[1] Within this group, roughly 1 million may have experienced anabolic steroid dependence.[1]

Most of these folks have gone down this pathway blindly, obviously without physician supervision, using underground black market resources and products. Not only is non-medically supervised use of anabolic steroids per see potentially dangerous, but the purity of underground products is highly speculative, which adds additional health risks. Also, because of the common practice of “stacking”, which is use of two or more anabolic steroids (often androgens) in progressively increasing doses in cycles lasting for different durations of time, it is hard to predict the cumulative potential health consequences. Also, most anabolic steroids are synthetic man-made compounds that are not natural to the body. This is in contrast to testosterone, which is naturally produced by the body and necessary, in the physiological range, for health and wellbeing. Anabolic steroids are not.

For those who have chosen to use anabolic steroids, this article will outline ways to restore the HPG-axis (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal axis).

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January 24, 2015 by Will Brink

Body Building Myths That Must Die!

Every culture has its myths and bodybuilding is no exception. Like most myths, most are nine parts fantasy and one part truth, though of course, some myths have no truth to them at all. I have spent much of my career attempting to expose myths surrounding bodybuilding and topics that relate to it, such as drugs, nutrition and supplementation etc.

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January 9, 2015 by Monica Mollica

Is there a place for high-rep sets in serious weight training programs?

Recent studies have shown some controversial findings that high-rep training is as effective as the traditional medium rep training for muscle growth. If you missed it, check out my two previous articles:

Training for maximal muscle growth – is heavy low-medium reps really the best way to go?

Muscle growth with high rep training – has time come to challenge our egos?

In this article I will show some examples of how high-rep sets can be implemented in a serious weight lifting program, and look at the results of some studies that have investigated this.

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