Part 1 of 3 on the deleterious effects of too much sitting
Are you struggling to lose that extra flab and all those nasty calories that seem to be glued to your waistline? Do you ever wonder why, despite your hard training and dieting, you still have those annoying love handles? Then maybe you should try to implement the NEAT way to fat loss…
I’m often asked what’s a good exercise for the gluteus and hamstrings. Bridges are one of the most underrated and underutilized exercises for working those muscles. The bridge is an excellent exercise to isolate and strengthen the gluteus, hamstrings, core stability muscles, hip/lower back as well as improve spinal stabilization. Most people do this exercise without added resistance, but that’s a mistake (see “tip” below vid). Done with added resistance, there’s improved responses, as all muscles require added resistance (vs volume) to adapt and get stronger. And NO, they are not just for women!!! 
Bridges are a highly functional exercise that can lead to both functional improvements as well as visual. For example, one practitioner of Brazilian jiu jitsu I know said “This is a key exercise for anyone who competes in jiu jitsu tournaments. Strong bridge makes all the difference in escaping. I work bridges hard.”
Bridges are an exercise that have both expected and unexpected benefits both functionally (for various sports) and visually, for bodybuilders, figure/fitness, or the average person looking shape up and strengthen the area. It’s also used for both rehab and prehab. Personally, I tend to incorporate it into lower body days. A typical workout might look like: front squats, RDLs, Bridges, and planks, or a workout I did the other day geared more toward conditioning/GPP/conditioning was a complex of:
Sand bag step ups
Slayer Barbell Bridges
High/low Prowler sprints
Did three circuits of the above then some planks and side planks. My butt was sore for days!
Tip: most people do bridges with body weight only as adding additional resistance comfortably is not always easy. The Slayer Barbell allows for as much added resistance as you could want in perfect comfort, which is one of many exercises this bar allows. If not using a Slayer, try putting a foam pad around an Olympic bar (so the bar does not dig into your hips), or try a plate across your lap, or a heavy medicine ball. None of those options are as comfortable and smooth as using the Slayer Barbell, but experiment with those options and see what works for you. As with any body weight only exercise, your own weight will only get you so far and added resistance will be needed for continued increases in strength, etc.
Note: if you want more information on Sandbags, Slayer Barbell, or Prowler sleds, go HERE and or use the search function (upper right hand corner of this site) to see more vids, articles, etc on them. They are “must have” training tools in my book.
You’ve heard the saying; if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And a simple way to fail on your weight loss effort is to let the fast-food burger joint have its way with you. One of the best ways to circumvent the nagging desire for the donut/cupcake/candy bar/chips and salsa (insert personal craving here) is to prepare meals in advance and keep your fridge stocked with meals that have a long shelf life.
Thankfully, the recipes included here don’t require much skill or particular fondness for cooking (though it helps to be creative), nor require you to be in the kitchen too long. I’ve tried to include recipes that are big on flavor and easy to make. And because I live in Austin, TX there’s a definite nod to the local taste preferences, and because I’m from India, you’re going to see the requisite curry recipe.
If you don’t already have one, a kitchen scale will be a useful tool, in addition to your measuring cups and spoons.
Printer friendly pdf (right-click and chose save as)
Nitric oxide (NO) boosting “pre-workout” supplements based on arginine are currently in the rage among many athletes, particularly bodybuilders and strength athletes. While it’s true that arginine is a nitric oxide (NO) precursor and NO is a potent vasodilator 1, 2, most studies in healthy adults have not unequivocally supported the marketing hype that arginine supplementation increases muscle blood flow and/or performance in healthy folks 3-5. In my previous article “The L-Arginine Paradox” I explained why.
In this article I will cover the less well known, albeit highly significant, NO generating process, the nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway. This “new” NO producing pathway holds a lot of promise and supplements that target it will probably will replace the current arginine based NO boosters in the near future….The nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway is especially interesting in that it not only has performance enhancing effects in non-diseased people, but also offers cardiovascular protection.
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 the main one is arginine. The rationale goes that arginine is a nitric oxide (NO) precursor and NO is a potent vasodilator 3, 4, which in turn supposedly will boost blood flow to exercising muscles, performance and recovery. And while arginine supplementation is 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. Why? Let’s take a look under the hood…
Latest person to go through the BrinkZone Gauntlet, Bikini competitor Courtney Joline shows what effective efficient whole body GPP, conditioning, endurance, and metabolic work looks like. No “toning and firming” nonsense here, just hard work that yields results.
If you want to see more victims of the BrinkZone Gauntlet, check out competitive bodybuilder Janet Esterkes and figure competitor Andrea Kalligheri, HERE.
Consumption of red meat has been associated with fat gain (and weight gain) because of its high energy and fat content. Even though the role of fat intake as a causative factor for obesity recently has been seriously questioned, and rightly so, red meat still is a food that’s on the forbidden or avoid list of most diet plans. And while there are studies showing an association between meat intake and obesity [1-3], there are also studies not showing this [3-5]. And when digging deeper in the data, many of the studies that have reported a significant association with meat intake and fat gain / obesity have several flaws that invalidate their conclusions….
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.
In discussions about dieting, a topic that often comes up is that of “cheating”; is it good or bad to cheat once in a while during a diet?
In order to answer this questions appropriately, it is necessary to look at both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of dieting, and the physiological and psychological responses they each elicit.
Mitochondria are the ‘energy powerhouse of the cell’ that convert the foods we eat to usable energy our body uses to fuel life sustaining reactions within cells, our daily activities and athletic performance 1-4. While energy production capability and muscle performance might seem to be more relevant to sports, it also equally important for achievement and maintenance of health throughout the life span. In this article I will describe how chronological aging affects our mitochondria, its implications and the ins-and-outs of a new type of supplements marketed at “exercise mimetics”.
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