Insane Strength

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Dr. Gregory Ellis’s Maximum Muscle Growth The Most Advanced and Effective Resistance Exercise Program Ever Developed

By Gregory S. Ellis, PhD, CNS Published by: Dr. Gregory Ellis Publishing Copyright © 2012 by Gregory S. Ellis Except for brief quotations included in a published review or article, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or media of any kind, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or any form of information storage and retrieval, without written permission from the author.

Table of Contents Introduction ...............................................1 Overview to Dr. Gregory Ellis’s Maximum Muscle Growth Program .........................................1 Isometrics ................................................................3 Ultimate Diet Secrets: Nutrition ...............................5

Chapter 2 ....................................................7 What is Maximum Muscle Growth ...........................7 Muscle Architecture .................................................7 Muscle Fiber Types .................................................8 Maximum Muscle Growth: Defined ....................................................................9 Resistance Exercise: Spectrum of Effects .................................................11

Chapter 3 ....................................................13 The Right Diet for Building Muscles ........................13 Wise Food Selection ...............................................13 Calories Do Count ...................................................19 Calorie Counting .....................................................21 Protein Needs .........................................................27 Exercise and Muscle Building: Effect of Supplemental Amino Acids .......................32 Cholesterol Concerns ..............................................38 i

Where’s the Beef .....................................................40 Does Diet Modulate Heart Disease Risk .................43 Knowledgeable Opponents Speak Out ...................46 Apply Research Findings Carefully..........................47 Small Benefit ...........................................................48 Cholesterol & Food ..................................................48 Should We Eat Differently........................................50 The Theory Goes Bust ............................................50 Fats and Carbohydrates .........................................52 Complex Carbohydrates .........................................55 Conclusion ..............................................................57

Chapter 4 ....................................................58 Glycogen Loading: Good or Bad .............................58 Other Problems With the High-Carbohydrate Diet .....................................60 Carbohydrate Syndrome or the Carbohydrate Trap ........................................62

Chapter 5 ....................................................64 What’s the Best Fuel for Muscles ............................64 Flawed Research ....................................................66 Performance Fuel ....................................................70 Energy Source ........................................................71 Eat Fat .....................................................................73 ii

20-Week Minimum ..................................................77

Chapter 6 ....................................................81 Value of Resistance Training ...................................81 Science Discovers Resistance Exercise .................82 Physiological Benefits of Resistance Exercise ............................................82 Body Composition ...................................................82 Sports Conditioning .................................................86 Cardiovascular Conditioning and Reduction of Heart Disease Risk Factors (Watch Out for that Word Risk)...........87 Bodybuilding Training Builds the Body and Protects the Heart; Growing Evidence of Coronary Protection from Resistance Exercise ......................89

Chapter 7 ....................................................92 Maximum Muscle Growth ........................................92 Isometrics ................................................................92 Isometric Training ....................................................92 Isometric Strengthening Effect ................................97 Establishing the Components of the Exercise Prescription .....................................99 Tension (Intensity) ...................................................100 Frequency................................................................102 Duration ...................................................................102 iii

Time to Reach Maximum Tension Development ..............................................103 Joint Angle ...............................................................105 Modern Research into Isometrics ...........................107 Aging and Muscle ....................................................114 Neuromuscular Alterations with Training in the Aged .........................................115 Impulse Training by Performance Health Systems .......................................................118 Isometric References ..............................................126 Isometrics Only Training ..........................................134 How Many Exercises for Each Muscle ....................134 Evolution of a New System of Muscle Building ...................................................135 Plastic Tubing ..........................................................136 Combining Isometrics and Multiple Repetition/Exercise ....................................140 Rest and Recovery ..................................................141 Elastic Resistance vs. Free Weights .......................142 The Similarities ........................................................142 The Differences .......................................................143 Final Note ................................................................149

Chapter 8 ....................................................150 iv

Exercise Program Monitoring ..................................150 Monitoring and Record Keeping Maintain Motivation ...................................152 Resistance and Effort Evaluation ............................152 Perceived Exertion Rating Scale .............................153 Using the Rating Scale to Monitor Your Programs ........................................................154 Verbal Instructions in Use of Scale

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Chapter 9 ....................................................158 Resistance Training Principles ................................158 Maximum Muscle Growth ........................................158 Working Definitions .................................................159 Key Principles for Results from Resistance Exercise ........................................160 Intensity ...................................................................160 Duration ...................................................................161 Frequency................................................................162 Other Important Resistance Exercise Principles ..................................................162 Progressive Resistance Exercise ............................162 How Hard Should You Exercise ..............................167 Potential for Improvement .......................................170 Safety for Resistance Training ................................171 Selecting the Proper Starting Resistance ................173 v

What is Strength? ....................................................174 Intensity: The Most Important Factor .......................178 How the Maximum Muscle Growth Program Differs ..........................................185 Functional Training vs. Isolation Training ................185

Chapter 10 ..................................................187 Exercises for Maximum Muscle Growth ........................................................187 Equipment ...............................................................188 Isometric Exercises .................................................188 Workout A ................................................................188 Workout B ................................................................189 Multiple Repetitions/Multi-Exercises .......................189 Split Routine ............................................................190 Some Photos of Listed Exercises ...........................192 Isometrics ................................................................192 Workout A ................................................................192 Workout B ................................................................195 Multi-Repetition Exercises ......................................198 Some Gym Equipment Exercises ...........................210

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Introduction Overview to Dr. Gregory Ellis’s Maximum Muscle Growth Program Congratulations on your purchase of my book, Dr. Gregory Ellis’s Maximum Muscle Growth. The primary focus of this book is to describe a training program that works over the full spectrum of a muscle’s function, and the book develops the mechanisms by which a muscle adapts to different types of training stimuli. This book was written and the exercise programs designed by Gregory Ellis, PhD, CNS, one of the country’s foremost fitness and conditioning authorities. This book describes complete resistance training programs for maximum results. I describe each of the parts of the program in detail and I’ve included photographs of the main exercises of the programs used for muscle building and body shaping; exercises that you can do in the privacy and convenience of your own home. One of the key features of this book is that I describe and use exercises that are highly effective yet require the use of extremely low-tech equipment. That’s the beauty of resistance exercise; it’ll provide great results with a minimum outlay of money. i

You don’t need to buy all of that fancy exercise equipment seen on TV to get incredible results. One can easily move into very advanced and more varied training programs after having gained the basic knowledge and conditioning supplied by the program. The focus of this book, therefore, is directed to anyone interested in improving their body through exercise and, specifically, by the use of resistance training. Beginners and advanced trainers and competitive athletes will find much useful information in this book. The physiology of muscle adaptation, for anyone, at any level of training, is an essential issue in understanding how to structure a training program. Here are the key features about the effectiveness of the design of Maximum Muscle Growth: 1) A deep understanding about muscle fiber composition 2) The range of muscle fiber function allowed the development of a training strategy unlike anything ever presented before 3) Multiple training types leads to maximum muscle growth My philosophy has evolved over the years as I realized that the approach that I was taking to understanding how different programs had succeeded ii

or failed, led me to an understanding of precisely, exactly, and accurately how the body, itself, responded. I was learning what the body did in response to attempts of an individual to induce some type of change in his body. So the body, it turns out, has its own game plan. Once I had learned that it became easy to design programs of any type because I knew what the program’s design had to be to elicit the desired response. This was far different, and more effective, than me coming up with some idea pulled from the ether about how “I thought” the body would respond. This is the technique used by most program designers and these methods lead to endless speculation among program users about the effectiveness of the various “plans.” Further, proceeding solely on people’s ideas, leads to the proliferation of more plans and more endless speculation.

Isometrics Years ago a technique of training became popular called isometrics. Much research was completed from the 1940’s into the 1970’s and it showed that isometrics was the sure-fire method to build the biggest and strongest muscles. In 2009, I had the opportunity to perform isometric exercises on a new machine called iii

biodensity. In fact, the company had me write a white paper about isometrics. I updated all of my research on the topic and the scientific conclusions were that isometrics provided the most powerful stimulus for muscle building ever devised. So, beginning in September of 2009, I began to perform four isometric exercises. The results were stunning, both for increases in muscle strength and muscle size. I performed each exercise for 5 seconds of all-out effort and it was recommended to do this once every 7-14 days. At first my strength was increasing 5% per workout. So, that’s 20 seconds of working out! The research that I completed on isometrics which we’ll look at soon indicated that one did not need any other type of resistance training. This was also the advice of Pete Sisco who wrote a book about isometric training. I therefore, stopped all the routines in which I did multiple exercises, multiple sets, and multiple repetitions which had been the staple of my exercise training for decades. When one is new to training, he follows basic programs while learning the game. After a year or so, if he has stuck with it, he tends to begin to consider himself an expert and begins to advise others. In this “advanced” training stage, he begins to use all manner of routines and techniques and begins to believe that precise manipulations of training programs, and diet, will optimize his results. He researches every little iv

thing and begins to develop a menu of ideas of all the important things that one must do to get great results. He’ll lay out detailed nutritional supplement programs and exercise programs, seriously believing in the overarching importance of all of his little “tricks.” If he ever becomes what I call a “truly advanced” trainer, he learns that all the stuff that he believes is so powerful today hasn’t really made any difference at all and he can comfortably return to some of the basic ideas that he learned as a beginner. Here, he begins to understand that it’s not that complicated. Bruce Lee, the martial artist, once said that when he got into the advanced stages he would make all kinds of tweaks to improve his punching style but, finally, when he became “truly advanced,” he learned that a punch was just a punch and its purpose was just to knock someone down. One of the primary functions of this book is to describe the precise functioning of the human organism and its response to stimuli designed to create a positive adaptive response to improve its function. This “roadmap,” then, will serve to guide you, effectively and quickly, to reach your goals without having to constantly suffer from all of the marketplace hype.

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No other program exists like this -- it’s simply the best training program available anywhere.

Ultimate Diet Secrets: Nutrition In this book, I’ll provide you with an outline of the proper food intake to increase results. You’ll find some startling information in the diet section -- some of it contrary to what you’ve heard before. The information is based on my extensive research into the scientific literature. I’ll point out things that I believe will help you get the best results possible. Use this chapter as a companion to the information I provide about my 100% Weight Loss and Weight Control solution that I describe in Ultimate Diet Secrets.

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Chapter 2 What is Maximum Muscle Growth Muscles move your body. Motion, work, and play all require muscular effort. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have to work very hard anymore or play very hard either. So to keep our muscles and our bodies in shape we must exercise them regularly. Both aerobic exercise and strength exercise work your muscles. The type of work is different between these two forms olifef exercise. However, each provides work that will help get your muscles in shape and keep them healthy. Exercise also conditions you for sports and for participation in active games. The different exercise activities that you use for conditioning your body cause changes or adaptations in muscles and the changes are specific to the type of activity you do. Let’s take a look at muscle design to see how muscles work. This understanding will serve as the basis for Maximum Muscle Growth.

Muscle Architecture Skeletal muscles make up about forty percent of your bodyweight. Muscles are composed mostly of water, representing about 77% of their weight. They are the largest reserve of protein in your body and vii

their primary function is movement; they move bones via their attachment to the bones by tendons.

Muscle Fiber Types Small muscle fiber units make up the bulk of the whole muscle and each muscle fiber unit performs specific tasks. Similar groups of fibers have identifying names so scientists can distinguish one from the other. Human muscles have three primary fiber types (although more than eight have been identified but the technology to do precise differentiation is too immature to completely define small differences): 1) red fibers (also called slow twitch) that we use for light activities like standing and for movements that don’t require high force output such as slow or moderate running, 2) white fibers with a touch of red (called fast twitch A fibers), and 3) very white fibers (fast twitch B) used in very hard sprints or in activities calling for a strong force output such as resistance training. Fiber use depends on the type of activity required and the wisdom of the body is to function efficiently and economically. This is a major purpose of exercise and training -- to condition muscles to operate efficiently and economically. Getting in shape and looking better are side benefits. Of course, for most of us, looking better is the main goal.

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Many body movements require some participation by all three muscle fiber types. During long, exhaustive, aerobic exercise bouts, mostly red fibers perform the exercise. As fatigue sets in, the body recruits some white fibers which still have plenty of juice left in them. The white fibers help out the tiring red fibers. With gradually increased training loads the conditioning of all fiber types improves if the training program stimulates the different fibers to work.

Maximum Muscle Growth: Defined The structure and function of muscles provides a physiological (structure and function) basis for developing exercise programs. Using this knowledge, and understanding how to apply it, lets us pick routines that develop an individual for optimal function in particular activities. For most of us, exercise conditions us for sports, maintains or improves health, or shapes and alters appearance. Regardless of the goal, a basic knowledge of muscle physiology is critical to designing a proper program. Most of the recommendations given to trainees don’t use this knowledge. As a result, programs used by most people don’t achieve the desired goals for the participants.

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If you know what the need is, and you know how muscles work, then you can set a plan that makes the muscles work in a way that fills the desired need. Muscle is composed of different fiber types, as I’ve said, and each fiber is designed to perform specific tasks efficiently. This is the concept behind the Maximum Muscle Growth, the muscles work over a wide spectrum of functional capacity. The body adapts to training by making itself more efficient, allowing it to perform at any given training load with less strain. Executed regularly, properly, and progressively, training results happen quickly. Most people don’t realize how rapidly the body can change when it’s under stress. People are always telling me that they feel and look better after just one week of training. They can’t believe how fast changes happen so they say it must be all in their mind. Well it’s not just in their mind -- it’s a real physical change. Just think how quickly a cut begins to repair itself. Within hours the wound is healing and in a similar way, your muscles begin their development very soon after the workout. Within hours the rate of muscle building increases as the muscle takes up proteins from the blood and builds them into additional muscle parts to increase muscle function. x

Therefore, the basic premise of the Maximum Muscle Growth is that a muscle and its supporting organ systems, including the heart, lungs, tendons, or whatever, are attacked in a specific way to cause the desired result. Sound scientific knowledge about muscle function and physiology is the basis of this training concept.

Resistance Exercise: Spectrum of Effects Resistance exercise can provide a wide range of adaptations, even in the same muscle. One can accomplish this by varying the training program, both on a per workout basis or on a weekly, monthly, or even yearly cycle. Combinations of these types of periodic cycling are used. Varying workout programs makes an important contribution to training results and, therefore, cycling helps to increase results. For more than twenty six hundred years, resistance training has been used to develop strength. A large body of work has been published in the strength training magazines outlining the programs used by thousands of different experienced trainers. Less work, however, has been published in scientific literature because scientists know very little about strength training and bodybuilding. This isn’t surprising considering the disdain that doctors and scientists have had for weight training for many decades. The real knowledge base about training has come from those of us who do it regularly. xi

For example, my good friend Dr. Al Thomas was the first person to introduce weight training into athletic activities such as football. This only happened about fifty years ago during the mid-1950’s. At that time, Dr. Al, himself, had been training with weights since the early 1940’s and had been a student of all of the early pioneers such as John Grimek, Bob Hoffman, and all the great strength athletes from the York Barbell Club in York, PA. My purpose is to broaden the use of resistance training so it’ll not only develop strength but any other physical characteristic in which we are interested, including heart and lung function, better known as cardio-respiratory or aerobic endurance. And it’s capable of doing it. Let’s begin by establishing some fundamental nutrition principles which will serve as the foundation for building Maximum Muscle Growth.

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Chapter 3 The Right Diet for Building Muscles Before describing the new training concept that I’ve developed let’s talk about what everyone always wants to talk about: diet. Everyone talks about proper diet but research shows that many Americans don’t eat a good diet that supplies them with all of their essential nutrients. Government sponsored national nutrition surveys have found some population groups with intakes of essential nutrients that are below recommended levels for one or more nutrients. These surveys conclude that deficiencies occur for Vitamins, A, C, B2, B6, folic acid, iron, zinc, calcium, and magnesium.

Wise Food Selection Before looking at some conventional thinking about diets, it should be understood that I disagree with conventional thinking. I support the use of a lowcarbohydrate diet. In this book I describe how to follow that. Achieving a balanced diet is possible by using the Basic Four Food Group system. This system was originally developed in 1955 by nutrition scientists at Harvard University. This provides a simple, practical xiii

method to plan a nutritionally adequate diet. Remember, this guide gives you only the basics. You have to choose foods that meet your special needs and tastes. The Basic Four Food Groups are: •

Fruits and Vegetable Group 4 Servings Daily

Provides vitamins A, C, B, magnesium, and fiber. Examples are oranges, grapefruit, bananas, leafy green vegetables, potatoes, and a bowl of salad. •

Bread and Cereal Group 4 Servings Daily

This group includes all products made with grains (flour) including breads, biscuits, muffins, waffles, pancakes, spaghetti noodles, rice, and oats. This group provides a good source of B vitamins, iron, and a moderate level of protein. •

Milk and Cheese Group 2 to 4 Servings Daily

This group includes milk in any form: skim, whole, low fat, and dry milk. Also yogurt, cheese, ice cream, and cheeses. These products are the major sources of calcium in the American diet. They are good sources of protein and many vitamins. xiv

•

Meat and Alternate Group 2 Servings Daily

This group includes beef, veal, lamb, pork, poultry, and fish. Also dry beans or peas, lentils, eggs, seeds, nuts, peanuts, and peanut butter. Meats are good sources of iron and protein. Recently, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the new Food Pyramid and described its updated views on optimal eating. This plan is to replace the Four Food Group Plan I described, above. I won’t reproduce the Food Pyramid here because it’s available from many sources and from the USDA web site as well. Of the two plans, if I had to choose from one of them, I would reject the Food Pyramid and stick with the basic Four Food Groups. Fortunately, for a while yet, it appears that we can still choose freely what we want to eat. This freedom, however, may not last. There are loud voices echoing the fear of fat arising from the Diet Dictocrats who want to protect us from ourselves. They may ultimately take our freedom away. For my own eating plan, I reject both the Food Pyramid and the Four Food Group plan and have designed my own eating plan that I believe is optimal for muscle building, fat loss, and health. For the record, let me state here, as an antiinstitution zealot, that I’m not an advocate of the soxv

called “balanced diet.” I presented this information because I believe in laying out all the information so each person can buy-into whatever works for him and mesh it with his own belief system. I believe that best health arises from consuming almost entirely animal products including a dietary mix of about 30% of all calories coming from meat protein and 70% of all calories coming from saturated animal fat. What a dietary heretic I am, huh? I don’t believe that consuming carbohydrates is either necessary or healthful and within the carbohydrate group, I believe that grains and sugar represent the most harmful elements. I’m planning soon to write another volume that describes the detailed mechanisms by which the body thrives on burning fat as its primary source of fuel, particularly to power muscular contractions. I’ll follow that up with a description of the health-giving properties of an all animal-based diet. Clearly, I’ve been around long enough to know that few will believe me and that fewer still will follow my recommendations. And, it’s not my point to make converts to some evangelical ideas even though I think I’m right. I’ve defined my job to be one as the presenter of information and consider myself as a liaison xvi

between the known ideas of scientists and other highly-educated students of human nutritional needs and the interests of those in the public who desire more information but have neither the experience nor training to understand and access what’s “out-there.” I’ve been around for a long time and there’s little that I haven’t tried or studied in relation to diet or exercise. So, I have taken it upon myself to “distribute” the things I’ve learned during my decades of experimentation and study. The controversy that my ideas may create is of little concern to me -- I’m only interested in finding the optimal methods to enhance health and human performance. If, for example, my vegetarian lifestyle had met those needs in my mid-twenties, then I’d still be a vegetarian. But, alas, it failed, and so I became a complete meat eater and it succeeded. The choice then, of what to do, was easily made. No amount of nay-saying from the so-called dietary experts who had never experimented with these diets and who weren’t students of nutritional anthropology could budge me from my course because it was clear that their exhortations were built on sand and would never hold up to real facts. Because of my belief in what I’ve said, above, the emphasis on cutting down on red meats is highly overblown. Trim the fat from the meat (if you’re afraid xvii

of fat -- I’m not, I consume lots of it; read more later on about the myth that cholesterol and fat are the cause of heart disease) and use leaner cuts such as round or flank steak. After trimming the meat the fat content of a piece of red meat is equivalent to that of poultry and fish. Meat is muscle and animals don’t store much fat in muscle -- only about 1-2% of the total muscle weight. Therefore, avoiding red meat may not be a good idea since it is an excellent source of iron and protein. This mania for red meat reduction is leading many Americans, especially women and children, into serious nutritional deficiencies, particularly for iron and the B vitamins. There’s a fifth group made up of Fats, Sweets, and Alcohol. You should carefully control eating foods in this group, it’s believed, which includes butter, margarine, and mayonnaise from the Fat group. Included in the Sweets group are candy, sugar, jams, jellies, syrups, sweet toppings, soft drinks, other sugared beverages, and sugar-laden breads and pastries. It’s also important to control alcoholic beverage intake. The foods in this group, unfortunately, make up about 25% of the total calories consumed by Americans. Most of the calories are empty, which means there’s little nutrition in a serving, and this is particularly true for sugar which contains no vitamins and minerals. xviii

Following the above guidelines about a balanced diet will provide you with good, basic nutrition. My personal dietary recommendations, I believe, will lead to optimal increases in performance and health, above and beyond those offered by conventional dietary practices. Choose my way if you like, but if you choose a more moderate and conventional method, that’s OK too. I just do not believe that the conventional ways are optimal and have moved in another direction. So, as I’ve said, I’m not a supporter of the balanced diet idea presented above and its recommendations. No, I think that nutritional science is too young to have defined the ideal diet with its modern-day emphasis on grains, fruits, and vegetables and its denial of human dietary history that relied on the consumption of large amounts of animal products. I’m a supporter of a low-carbohydrate diet, as I’ve said, a diet that’s high in animal products. Nutrition authorities are appalled by what they call this diet -- an unbalanced diet. I discuss this topic in more detail in my book Ultimate Diet Secrets.

Calories Do Count We’ve discussed how to eat. Now let’s look at the composition of food and see what can happen to our bodies by manipulating our foods. xix

What’s the most important nutrient? Calories. Forget the vitamins and minerals -- the micronutrients. It’s the macronutrients that count -protein, carbohydrates, and fats. The common factor to each is calories (energy). Proteins and carbohydrates provide 4 calories for each gram you eat and fats provide 9 calories per gram. People’s need for calorie intake is highly variable and is dependent primarily upon body size and physical activity levels. Some people, the same exact size and sex, have a 50% difference in calorie needs which can entirely be accounted for by differences in physical activity, not some metabolic abnormality. As a starting point, you can figure that you need about 16 calories per pound of bodyweight per day. This could be up or down, but it’s a good starting point without resorting to a more sophisticated analysis as I did in my Ultimate Diet Secrets book where I present very scientifically sound formulas for calculating these values. The point to this discussion about calories is that it’s calories, or energy intake, that’s the most important thing you must watch. As long as you are eating a fairly well balanced diet, as described above, (or the so-called heart disease, health-destroying diet that I follow) from which you should receive all the nutrients you need (vitamins/minerals), then what you must do is maintain calorie balance. xx

Once you decide the ideal amount of fat and muscle that you want on your body, you can determine your appropriate calorie intake. Your appearance (and we all know what we should, or would, like to look like) will be your best guide. You can also make a body composition analysis and compare your figures to other known standards such as those in different population groups such as athletes (go to Body Composition). The full instructions for the program’s use are on the site. This is an excellent test because body composition is the basis for checking the results of any exercise program. Take repeat tests every one or two months to see if you’re achieving the results that you want. The information you receive guides you in determining any changes you may need to make in your diet or exercise program for a complete individualized program. If you eat more food than you need, you’ll get fat. If you eat less than you need, you’ll lose weight -some fat and some muscle (but mostly fat, particularly if you follow the resistance training way of life).

Calorie Counting Although I’ve covered this subject in detail in my Ultimate Diet Secrets book, a brief summary is in order here. You can buy books anywhere that tell you how to count calories. Eat as you usually do and for xxi

two weeks record what you eat; this gives you an idea of how many calories you need. Keep a record of your bodyweight to see whether you’re gaining or losing. If you’re gaining, then you’re eating too much; losing weight means you’re eating less than you need; and maintaining your weight means that you’re in calorie balance. If you want to gain or lose, then eat either more or less. Not a lot, just a few hundred calories per day and see what happens. If you’re very much overweight, then you can cut some more. Regularity, over the long haul, is the key to success. Control your energy (calorie) intake. This is the basis for training results and good health. Too often, people take vitamins or watch their fat intake, but overeat carbohydrates and get fat. You can reduce your risk of getting disease, caused by overeating, by reducing body fat to desirable levels. Overweight (or over-fatness) is a big factor in becoming diseased. Nothing galls me more than to see someone who’s fat sitting down to a meal of low cholesterol foods but eating as much as he wants. He can watch his fat and cholesterol intake all day long and it won’t do him any good. He must lose weight and keep it off, which will do more for him than anything else will ever do. Think about calories first.

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Today there is a Raging Calorie Counting War going on and many argue that the whole calorie theory is wrong. Without doubt these nay-sayers have no clue what they’re talking about. Following, below, are charts listing some of the most common foods we eat each day. Values for food weight (in grams), calories, protein, fat, and carbohydrates are given. Portion sizes are based on common household measures such as 1 cup, 4 ounces, and 1 tablespoon. If you have a household kitchen scale, you can actually weigh the food item to see how it compares to the weight listed. With the actual weight, you can determine the correct nutrient content for your food item. The values are for the parts you eat. This doesn’t include the bone and fat in meats unless fat is listed. Meat values are for cooked meat. Fruits & Vegetables Food

Weight

Cal.

(gm)

Pro

Fat CHO

(gm) (gm) (gm)

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Apples

150

80

.3

.8

20.0

Apricots

38

18

.4

-

4.5

Bananas

119

101

1.3

.2

26.4

Grapefruit

285 (1/2)

58

.7

.1

15.1

Grapes

454 (1 lb)

197

3.7

2.9

45.0

50 (1 lb)

39

.3

-

7.9

Oranges

180

60

2.0

.2

16.0

Peaches

114

35

.7

.1

10.0

Pineapple

140 (1 c)

73

.6

.3

19.2

Juice Beans

8 oz 130 (1 c)

100 33

1.5 2.1

.4 .3

23.0 7.0

Beans

170 (1 c)

170

12.0

.7

33.0

Broccoli

150 (1 c)

39

10.0

.9

16.3

Cabbage

90 (1 c)

21

1.2

.8

22.0

50 (1)

21

.5

.1

4.8

83 (1 c)

22

2.2

.2

4.3

40 (1)

7

.4

-

1.6

140 (ear)

71

2.6

.8

16.4

Lettuce

74 (1 c)

10

.7

.1

2.1

Onions

110 (1)

40

1.6

.1

9.6

163 (1 c)

116

8.8

.7

19.7

Potatoes

100 (1)

93

2.6

.1

21.1

Tomato

150

35

1.6

.3

7.1

Nectarines

Carrots Cauliflower Celery Corn

Peas

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Breads & Cereals Food

Cal.

Pro.

Bagel

(gm) 55

165

(gm) 6.0

Bread

23

60

2.0

.5

12.0

Cake)

114

430

4.9

20.1

63.4

Cereal

28 (1 oz)

100

2.0

1.0

24.0

Cookies

28

130

1.5

6.0

21.0

Doughnut

28

125

1.5

6.0

17.0

Flour

114

400

10.0

4.0

85.0

Noodles

160

200

6.6

2.4

37.3

Pancakes

45

91

2.7

2.5

15.0

Spaghetti

130 (1 c)

192

6.5

.7

39.1

50

127

3.6

3.1

21.0

Macaroni

130 (1 c)

192

6.5

.6

39.1

Rice

168 (1 c)

185

4.0

.5

41.0

114

279

10.8

8.1

40.4

Waffles

Pizza (1 slice)

Weight

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Fat

CHO

(gm) (gm) 2.0 30.0

Milk & Cheese Group Food

Weight

Cal.

Pro.

Am. Cheese

(gm) 28

105

(gm) 6.6

Cot. Cheese

28

30

3.8

1.2

.8

Cream

28

106

2.3

10.7

.6

Sw. Cheese

28

105

7.8

7.9

.5

Milk-Whole

244

159

8.5

8.5

11.9

Milk-Skim

246

88

8.5

.2

12.5

Milk-2%

246

145

10.3

4.9

14.8

Ice Cream

133

260

6.0

15.0

27.0

Yogurt-Skim

250

130

8.0

4.5

12.9

xxvi

Fat

CHO

(gm) (gm) 8.5 .5

Meat Food

Weight

Cal.

Pro.

Fat

CHO

(gm) Beef (av) 100

(gm) 200-400 17-30

(gm) 10-35

(gm) 0

Chicken 100

190-300 18-30

5-25

0

Pork

180-300 18-30

10-30

0

100

Fats, Sweets & Alcohol Group Food

Weight

Cal.

(gm)

xxvii

Pro.

Fat

CHO

(gm)

(gm)

(gm)

Beer

360

151

-

-

13.7

42

110

-

-

-

Wine

103

87

-

-

4.3

Butter

14

100

.1

11.3

-

Candy

28

120

1.8

4.0

20.0

Milk Choc.

28

147

2.2

9.2

16.1

Fudge

28

113

.8

3.5

21.3

Choc. Syrup

20

66

1.0

2.7

10.8

Jelly

20

55

-

-

14.3

Margarine

14

101

.1

11.3

-

Mayonnaise

15

108

.2

12.0

.3

Oil

14

124

-

14.0

-

245

100

-

-

24.5

Whiskey,

Soda Syrup

20 50 13.0 If needed, purchase a more complete listing from the Department of Agriculture or at local bookstores.

Protein Needs Protein builds muscle. But, how much do you need? As expected, everyone has a different opinion. The US-RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of bodyweight per day. xxviii

The recommending committee who developed the daily allowance guidelines feels this is enough to cover our protein needs for repair of body tissues and enzymes, maintenance of the immune system, and body growth if necessary (although adults are not usually continuing to grow). It also says that this is an adequate amount for athletes as well and it suggests that an athlete may need a little more protein, but that athletes will meet their needs as a result of their increased food intake to meet the increased calorie burning due to their activity. The extra protein required comes from this increased food intake. Most athletes and bodybuilders don’t agree. Now, I ask you, who’s in the gym building muscles -the scientists or the athletes? Just because the scientist has a diploma and can use words no one understands, does this mean that he’s privy to specialized information? And, does it mean his theories are correct? The answers are: No. Dr. Peter Lemon is a research scientist specializing in the protein needs of athletes, one of a handful of scientists who knows what he’s talking about. He recently published an article in the science journal, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, questioning the current thinking that scientists have about the protein needs of athletes. He found after analyzing the research data that athletes need more protein and this need varies among different athletic xxix

types with resistance athletes requiring more than endurance athletes. Other researchers feel that athletes probably need 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day (this is about 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight). For example, if you weigh 165 pounds then you need to take in 165 grams of protein during the day to optimize training results. This is almost three times the US-RDA. But, does this high amount provide the most growth or response? Clearly it doesn’t. Studies have shown that this level of protein intake was not adequate to meet the protein needs of athletes even in a general weight training program. In one study, researchers increased the protein intake of the trainees to different RDA levels. In the groups consuming more protein, the response to training improved with increases in both endurance and muscle mass. In this study, Dr. Consolazio had subjects working with weights in a general conditioning program. After a forty day period, the group receiving 2.8 grams per kilogram bodyweight increased Lean Body Mass (muscle, maybe, could be some organ mass too, but we don’t know for sure) by over four pounds more than the group on 1.4 grams, an amount still above the RDA of 0.8 grams. He concluded that the higher protein intake group lost body fat and added muscle. xxx

Dr. Vernon Young has recently reported that the recommended needs for necessary amino acids (the ones that you must eat, not the ones your body can make) for the general population is possibly three times more than believed. You should place more concentration on eating sources of complete proteins: meat, eggs, and dairy products, if you want to make sure that you eat adequate amounts of protein to meet the health and muscle building needs of your body. And, active participation in exercise further increases your need for protein. Proper eating habits, with an adequate calorie intake, can usually provide the protein you need through your diet. If athletes need higher levels of protein, then it becomes difficult to get that much protein without concentrating on eating good protein foods or taking a protein supplement. I have personally analyzed the diets of many people, including adults and teenagers. With their current eating habits many people are not getting enough protein. A 1984 study completed by researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture confirmed my analysis showing that many adults who weren’t physically active and who ate a normal U. S. diet weren’t getting enough protein. Of course, these findings are in conflict with the current thinking among professionals and lay people xxxi

alike. I guess they haven’t reviewed the scientific literature. I have. There are many people who argue that too much protein is bad for your health: it’s supposed to damage the liver and kidneys and deplete calcium from the body. The first question is, “How much is too much?” The research conclusively shows that strength/power athletes need more protein. Rarely is there an excess and even if there was “too much protein,” your body harmlessly converts it to carbohydrate and excretes the nitrogen. Most important, there’s not one shred of scientific evidence showing that a high-protein diet damages the liver and kidneys. How about this one? In 1986, Dr. David Kronfeld published in the journal, Kidney International, a research study that he performed as to whether protein damaged the kidneys. This landmark study lays to rest, once and for all, this majestic myth used by so many to damn high-protein diets. He studied 21 dogs who had a 75% reduction in renal (kidney) mass. Imagine, they’re functioning on only 25% of what they should function on. For four years, he fed them either 56, 27, or 19% of their total daily calories as protein. No pattern of deterioration was found in the kidneys of any of the three groups. There were no changes in kidney xxxii

function tests and no changes in the histology (structure) of the remaining kidney mass. So, even, under the influence of a very highprotein diet, animals having available only 25% of normal kidney mass demonstrated no harmful effects after four years of a high-protein intake. You couldn’t ask for a more clear and definitive answer as to the question about whether or not protein damages the kidney. And, I’ll tell you what: if you’ve never done it, try to eat 56% of your daily calories as protein, it’s almost impossible to do. Research shows that protein powders may cause calcium loss, but whole foods, including red meat, don’t leach calcium from your body. I cover this information thoroughly in my chapter about the lowcarbohydrate diet in my book Ultimate Diet Secrets. I’m a scientist and an athlete/bodybuilder and I’ve been training with weights for fifty six years starting with a spring set in 1956 when I was nine years old. I trained at the world famous Muscle Beach in the early 1970’s and have tried every diet known. I can tell you, without reservation, that if you want to make rapid gains in building muscle then make sure you increase your protein intake during training. I try to get 2.0 grams per kilogram, but rarely make it. I always watch my calories first. So if I’ve eaten too much junk that day and my calories are up, xxxiii

then I just don’t force the protein in because, most important, I don’t want to get fat! How do I do it? Mostly with meat, eggs, cottage cheese, and powdered protein supplements. Presently I use whey protein which is derived from milk. My total cholesterol-high density lipoprotein (HDL) ratio is 2.2, which is very, very low risk for heart disease. And I keep my body fat below 10%, which is also low. Most bodybuilders do the same thing. And every time I put someone on the program, they get dramatic responses -- quickly. Increases in muscle and loss of fat. Isn’t that what you want?

Exercise and Muscle Building: Effect of Supplemental Amino Acids Among athletes and weight trainers there’s a constant (and endless) discussion about protein needs and muscle building. One way in which individuals attempt to “micro-manage” their training and diet is to discuss the timing and amount of their postworkout protein feedings. Exercise has a profound effect on muscle growth, particularly resistance training. Within a muscle, there’s a constant turn-over of muscle protein, a breaking down and building up. Growth will only occur if there’s a greater rate of protein synthesis than protein degradation. Resistance exercise builds xxxiv

muscle, but in the absence of food intake the rate of muscle degradation exceeds that of muscle synthesis. The response of muscle protein metabolism to a bout of resistance training lasts 24-48 hours. The interaction, therefore, between protein metabolism and diet will set the rate of protein synthesis and determine the amount of muscle hypertrophy. Keep in mind, however, that there are genetic limits to muscle growth, and the growth response will only continue until such time that the individual has attained his maximal growth limit. The rate of response will slow from the very first workout onward as the individual approaches his genetically set limits within several years of training. Although years of speculation have accrued about the timing of protein ingestion to optimize muscle growth, it’s only recently that some of these questions have been answered. Many athletes have argued that protein intake should occur either immediately after or within one hour after the exercise session. The most recent research, using newly developed analytical tests, has shown that growth will occur up to 48-hours after the exercise bout. However, in experiments designed to determine the rates of protein synthesis after a resistance exercise training bout, compared to resting values, the rates of synthesis did vary over the 48-hour continuum: 3 hours @ 112% over rest, 24 hours @ 65%, 48 hours @ xxxv

34%. The muscle balance of protein synthesis against degradation was a 5% higher rate of synthesis @ 3 hours, 3% @ 24 hours and 4.4% @ 48 hours. It appears, therefore, from the above, that a training stimulus lasts for up to 48 hours and impacts muscle growth. It is a wise choice, therefore, to make sure that protein intake commences soon after the exercise bout and that regular feeding of protein food occurs during the 48-hour period until another bout of exercise is imposed. In attempts to more effectively micro-manage and optimize training responses, many have argued about the type of protein to eat. The rage today in protein supplementation is the use of milk-derived whey protein. More effective, however, is the use of a powdered amino acid mixture. In a recent study, it was shown that less of the whey protein was incorporated into muscle protein compared with a mixture of essential amino acids (EAA). Researchers also tested the effect of using an oral amino acid mixture vs. infusing the amino acids directly into the blood. The oral ingestion worked just as well as the direct delivery to the blood and proved that oral supplementation of EAA would benefit trainees. The next test was a comparison between an oral amino acid mixture of a full complement of all 20 amino acids known to exist or just EAA, the ones the xxxvi

body cannot make and must consume. The essential mix (EAA) had an amino acid ratio equal to that of the composition of human muscle. It was found that the EAA mix proved adequate. Here’s the mix: Amino Acid Histidine Isoleucine Leucine Lysine Methionine Phenylalanine Threonine Valine Total

Grams 0.65 0.60 1.12 0.93 0.19 0.93 0.88 0.70 6.0

The amino acids were mixed in 500 milliliters of doubly-distilled water (not likely necessary for a home-made product), with an added artificial sweetener and 20 milliliters of lemon concentrate, along with the 6 gram total load of essential amino acids. The number in the second column indicates the number of grams of that amino acid added to the liquid. The researchers believe that the amino acids are better taken-up by muscle if insulin is present. They xxxvii

stimulated the insulin response by adding 35 grams of sucrose (white table sugar). It’s my belief, however, that this isn’t necessary in a person who consumes a low-carbohydrate diet because the hormonal pattern created by that type of diet is far more positive to muscle growth than a diet that’s high in carbohydrate. It must be remembered that insulin is a fat-storage hormone and its presence in the blood leads to more accumulation of fat than of muscle. More growth hormone is present on a lowcarbohydrate diet and this will create a favorable environment for the uptake of amino acids and the stimulation of protein synthesis and a reduction in protein degradation. The precise timing (1 or 3 hours after exercise) was not of consequence to the improvement in the rates of protein synthesis. Insulin was not a primary regulator of protein synthesis rates either. The combination of resistance exercise, amino acid provision, and insulin release stimulation, led to an increase of protein synthesis rates by 400% above pre-drink values. Other tests revealed that insulin, by itself, increased rates by 50%, resistance exercise by 100%, amino acids by 150%, and amino acids plus resistance exercise by more than 200%. I believe that the lowcarbohydrate diet will outperform the additive effect of insulin. It is, however, unlikely that these xxxviii

carbohydrate-loving researchers will ever test that situation. It appears that EAA are the primary stimulators of muscle protein synthesis and that non-essential amino acids aren’t necessary as a part of the amino acid mix. The time course of increased protein synthesis is closely parallel to the absorption of the drink. Timing didn’t affect the rate of protein synthesis but it seems that it would be wise to take some of the drink right before the exercise session and repeat drinking the solution in frequent intervals during the next 48 hours, although some research shows that the drink was more efficient when consumed after exercise rather than during rest. But efficient only means better than not that there was no effect from taking the drink during rest. Again, maintain an environment that keeps EAAs readily available. I’d make a bigger drink with more grams of amino acids and drink it before exercise and split the rest into 6 drinks during the next 24 hours and then rely on food intake to cover the rest during the next 48 hours. For those who want to invest the energy, time, and money in micro-managing and optimizing their training, the timed use of an EAA supplement seems to be one of the most powerful contributors to muscle growth yet discovered. If one is a steroid user, then the EAA supplement would be even more effective. xxxix

One source of commercially available amino acids is Jo Mar Laboratories, 800-538-4545, [email protected], JoMarLabs.com.

Cholesterol Concerns Cholesterol. Most Americans echo the same refrain, “Cut down on cholesterol. Eat more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and complex carbohydrates.” Newspapers, television, radio, and national magazines all push the idea of reducing cholesterol and fat. Cholesterol intake should be less than 300 milligrams per day. Fat should be cut to 30% or less of total caloric intake. Everywhere you turn these days someone is yapping about the dangers of a high-fat or highcholesterol diet. These same people are also singing the health praises of the natural-carbohydrate, lowprotein, low-fat diet. Food manufacturers hawk cholesterol-free foods, or foods like oatbran, reputed to lower cholesterol. Proclamations abound that cholesterol and fats increase the risk of heart disease. What has prompted these recommendations? Led by the American Heart Association’s 1982 publication entitled The Rationale of the Diet-Heart Statement of the American Heart Association and the 1984 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Development Conference on Lowering Cholesterol to Prevent Heart Disease, the scientific and medical xl

community has been educating all Americans to adopt the “prudent diet” as recommended by these agencies. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the American Heart Association exhort everyone to follow a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet. Many physicians and nutritionists blindly support these recommendations without examining the actual data on which the recommendations are based. These recommendations include a diet consisting of less than 30% of total calories as fat with less than 10% of that amount as saturated fat (saturated fats are those that are solid at room temperature, like butter). Also, you should not take in more than 300 mg of cholesterol per day. We’re told constantly to eat less red meat and fewer eggs, and consume more chicken, fish, fiber, fruits, and vegetables. What you don’t hear is the widespread disagreement among scientists on whether these recommendations are appropriate for all Americans. Some scientists suggest that even if people make these changes in their diets that it won’t reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. And some feel that an increased consumption of carbohydrates to at least 55% of total calories may be harmful.

xli

Where’s the Beef I ask, “Where’s the evidence”? Is there any conclusive data to suggest that Americans should change the types of food that they eat? I say no. Back in 1985, a debate about whether fat and cholesterol consumption damages our health began to heat up among scientists. The origins of this debate reach back to the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Presently, the overwhelming consensus is that high blood cholesterol levels correlate positively with heart disease. Agreed, there’s a suggestion that very high blood cholesterol (above 300) levels relate to heart disease, but there’s a real debate as to the threshold level of cholesterol where real danger begins. The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that all people, regardless of sex and age, lower their blood cholesterol to below 200 mg per deciliter. Cholesterol levels of 200-240 mg/dL are considered borderline for increased risk of heart disease and anything above 240 mg/dL is considered high and at risk. By these criteria (with which I disagree), 25% of the American population would be at risk. Recent reports show that the diets of many women and children are deficient in some B vitamins and iron, as I’ve said. The cause of these deficiencies is the reduced consumption of meat, eggs, cheese, and other dairy products due to our national delirium xlii

to cut out red meat, fat, and other cholesterol containing foods from our diets. The reason I’m even discussing cholesterol is because you may be concerned about my recommendations to maintain a higher protein intake during training through the use of meat, eggs, and milk. As we’ll see, it’s possible that the protein needs of the average person are higher than realized. The protein requirements for optimal gains from an exercise program, particularly a resistance program intended to shape your body and sculpt it to your desired proportions and to enhance strength for sports or recreation performance is dependent on enough protein intake to allow the high rate of muscle development that’s possible from resistance training. Red meat, eggs, and dairy products are almost absolute necessities in your diet if you want to attain an adequate protein intake. Chicken and fish are almost, but not quite, as good as red meat, in my experience, for making gains, but people aren’t eating enough of these foods either. And besides, eating just chicken and fish all the time can be boring. Recent studies show that Conjugated Linoleic Acid is a good stimulant to muscle building and that beef and pork are better sources of this fatty acid than chicken and fish. xliii

Mixed sources of vegetables, legumes, seeds, and nuts will provide complete proteins, but the quantities of protein will be too low to provide maximum muscle growth. Only with extraordinary planning will you get enough protein when you eat a low animal protein diet. Planning a diet like this requires a lot of time and knowledge. Do you have either? I’ve trained for many years with resistance exercise and because of the hard work required in its performance, I’ve decided that I don’t want to waste the training session’s time and effort. Therefore, I provide my body with the proper amounts of calories and protein necessary to get good results. Only a small number of people are at risk for getting high cholesterol from eating high amounts of cholesterol and fats. It’s not a good idea to cut out good sources of nutrition when the evidence linking fats and cholesterol to high blood levels is so weak. My book, Ultimate Diet Secrets, provides a comprehensive discussion of this subject as well. But here’ I’ll review some other facts not covered in that book. If you’re concerned about cholesterol, then get it checked and make sure they measure your HDLcholesterol (the good cholesterol). You can then be treated on an individual basis if you are at risk, a word that you must be very careful about interpreting. xliv

If not, then eat meat and don’t worry about it. In fact, you should probably worry if you aren’t eating meat because of potential nutritional deficiencies.

Does Diet Modulate Heart Disease Risk Let’s look at two major studies, the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT) and the Lipid Research Council Coronary Primary Prevention Trial (CPPT). Both studies screened and recruited their subjects from a pool of middle-aged males with high levels of blood cholesterol. They were already at high risk; certainly not representative of the average American. MRFIT subjects also had several additional risk factors including smoking and high blood pressure. Again, the test subjects were unhealthy males to begin with. The MRFIT study used two groups, an experimental group that received treatment and a control group that received no treatment. The treatment group ate low-fat and low-cholesterol fare. Additionally, drugs were used to lower blood pressure and smokers were encouraged to stop. Weight reduction programs were used for overweight subjects. The results? The trial failed as there were no significant differences between groups in the number of deaths due to heart attacks over the seven-year xlv

study. While the treatment group lowered their cholesterol, blood pressure, and body weight, and some even quit smoking, their final average cholesterol levels were only slightly lower (and not statistically significant) than those of the control group. What about the CPPT study? This study was supposed to prove demonstrably that lowering cholesterol reduces the incidence of heart disease. This trial is the flag ship for recommendations that Americans should lower cholesterol by adjustments in their diet. However, unbeknownst to most, the CPPT trial was not a diet trial -- it was a drug trial. This study used cholestyramine, a powerful drug that assists the liver in clearing cholesterol from the blood to make bile. In this study, 1,906 men did reduce cholesterol by 8.5%. Thirty heart disease deaths occurred in the treatment group and 38 in the control group. The researchers called this a 24% reduction in heart disease deaths. But was it? Unfortunately, their statistical methodology was severely flawed. Their calculations didn’t include the number of men in the total group, and just compared the number of deaths between groups. The numbers by themselves are not important; only an actual rate measurement is important.

xlvi

What I mean by this is that the thirty deaths in the treatment group should have been divided by the total number of subjects (1,906). The rate of death in this group was then 1.57%. In the control group, 38 deaths divided by 1,900 subjects, yields a 2.0% death rate. The actual difference in deaths between the two groups was 0.43%. Quite a difference from the reported 24%! In the CPPT study, the total deaths in the two groups were similar. While fewer men died of heart disease in the drug-treatment group, more of these men died from other causes, including gastrointestinal cancer, a fact which wasn’t released to the general public. Instead, the press statements read, “for each 1% fall in cholesterol, a 2% reduction in heart attacks can be expected.” This statement is ludicrous and unfounded. Yet, it’s repeated to the public by physicians, researchers, health educators, and the media. No evidence supports this statement and the statistics suggesting that conclusion are weak. Do you realize that it implies that by reducing cholesterol by 50%, that you’ll completely eliminate the risk of heart disease! This isn’t possible because almost half of all heart attack deaths occur to people who have cholesterol levels below the so-called safe level of 200 mg per deciliter! Recent studies show that Americans with cholesterol levels below the so-called good level of xlvii

200 mg/dL have heart disease. For these Americans, low levels of cholesterol aren’t preventing heart disease. This is because they have reduced their good HDL cholesterol. Much more work needs to be completed before answers to the question of risk is available. Cholesterol is only part of the risk picture. Smoking, overweight, and lack of exercise are all far more important risk factors than cholesterol. Lack of exercise affects more Americans than any of the others.

Knowledgeable Opponents Speak Out Dr. George V. Mann, M.D., retired professor of medicine from Vanderbilt University, is a harsh critic of the current diet and cholesterol recommendations to Americans. He has analyzed all the important research and shown that the low-fat, low-cholesterol diet recommended by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and many other authorities is not effective for lowering blood cholesterol levels, even if lowering cholesterol was an effective preventative for heart disease, which it isn’t. He has shown further that many cultures, even though they eat a much higher level of fat and cholesterol than Americans, have low cholesterol levels and virtually no heart disease. People in these cultures often live almost exclusively on a meat and xlviii

milk diet. He says that we must conclude that we don’t know the true cause of heart disease. He has recently given his dietary advice: 1) Eat the traditional American diet of 40% energy or calories as fat. 2) Seek seafood, especially cold water fish. 3) Avoid hydrogenated fats (margarine). Read food labels. 4) Avoid sodium and eat potassium. 5) Never add salt and have five servings of fruit per day. 6) Don’t smoke. 7) Exercise three times per week with a warm-up and cool-down. 8) If you have high cholesterol (above 275 mg/ 100 dL of blood)-don’t marry a person with the same level. If you are over 50, ignore cholesterol measurements. 9) Avoid carbon monoxide. He closes his argument by stating, “that our diet is the best in the world in availability, variety, quality, hygiene, and cost. The evidence that our diet causes disease or death is trivial. Those who make those claims are working a selfish scam on our citizens.”

Apply Research Findings Carefully Little information suggests that “normal” people can significantly alter their blood cholesterol via diet. xlix

Most of the data on this subject have come from studies of high-risk, high-cholesterol middle-aged males. Therefore, the suggestion that for most Americans a diet low in fat and cholesterol will result in significantly lower blood cholesterol is unfounded. Dr. Yvonne Jones conducted a study with healthy adult women where one group ate the standard diet in which fat comprised 40% of the total calories while another group consumed a diet of 20% fat calories as a percent of the total daily calorie intake. The different diets produced no differences in cholesterol levels between the two groups. Changing the diet of one person may have a completely different effect from changing the diet of another person.

Small Benefit A recent medical study conducted by Dr. William Taylor showed that for low-risk people, reducing blood cholesterol as much as it can be reduced by dietary means would only increase life expectancy from three days to three months! High-risk people can expect slightly better results with a longer life to the tune of 18 days to 12 months! These figures are based on the so-called impressive diminution of blood cholesterol by 20%. They aren’t very impressive. For most of us, diligent attention to lowering our cholesterol by diet l

adjustment will result in a longer life of 3-90 days. Big deal! To achieve this kind of modification (20% cholesterol reduction through diet), one must follow a lifelong adherence to dietary modification (and possibly drug therapy). Unfortunately, several studies have shown an increased risk of dying from other causes in the pursuit of cholesterol reduction to below 200 mg per deciliter. Cancer is one of those risks. Die fast with a heart attack or die slow and painfully with cancer. That’s the option provided by cholesterol reduction efforts.

Cholesterol & Food Cholesterol in food barely affects the levels in our blood. Reductions in dietary saturated fat, however, will lower many people’s cholesterol levels, but will not affect others. Vegetarians have levels, on the average, 50 milligrams lower than meat eaters. Simple reduction of meat or elimination of red meat lowers most people’s cholesterol levels by about 12%, which isn’t a significant difference. And even with that vegetarians don’t have fewer heart deaths than meat eaters, contrary to what you hear all the time. Most Americans have cholesterol levels below 260 mg dL. Only 5% of the population has levels in li

excess of 295 mg/dL. This is the high-risk group. A reduction by 12% via diet would not do much for most Americans. Even high-risk people cannot do much about their cholesterol levels through diet alone. Research bears out that only a slight decrease in cholesterol occurs with a decrease in fat intake and replacement of some saturated fat with polyunsaturated fats. The minimal reductions don’t correlate with decreased risk of heart disease! I think that until we have serious evidence we shouldn’t change our basic American diet. Instead, we should all exercise much more and quit smoking! The important point to understand is that no data will become available showing that cholesterol and fat increase heart disease since we have already studied the pants off of the idea that fat and cholesterol intake and blood cholesterol levels increase the rate of heart disease. The studies have been on-going for more than 50 years with nothing to show for it except that there’s no connection between fat and cholesterol intake, blood cholesterol levels, and rates of heart disease. No amount of future studies will change these facts. It’s been settled!

Should We Eat Differently Results from the famous Framingham heart study concluded that egg consumption within lii

standard ranges (0-24 per week for men and 0-19 for women) was unrelated to blood cholesterol levels and to heart disease. Bodybuilders have been known to eat a dozen eggs a day for months on end (yolks and all) without significant increases in cholesterol levels. Red meat is called unhealthy by many today. Just because red meat has saturated fat in it does not portend that eating it will automatically raise your cholesterol level. Studies have borne this out. Actually, trimmed of visible fat, lean cuts of red meat don’t have much more fat than chicken, turkey, or fish. Human fat is highly saturated. When you lose fat weight, fat pours into the blood, yet it doesn’t raise your cholesterol. Instead, cholesterol levels usually go down. Interesting. I think sugar excesses are much more detrimental than fat!

The Theory Goes Bust I don’t expect much agreement with my opinions, but my opinions are based on facts accumulated over the last fifty years. I insist that the facts speak for themselves. My review of the scientific literature shows misinterpreted data, misquoted research, poorly analyzed and manipulated statistics designed to fit preconceived hypotheses. Many critics of the fat theory of heart disease have painstakingly researched volumes of scientific literature and have concluded that the vast majority of the research implicating fat and cholesterol with heart liii

disease is flawed. Certainly, when the risk of heart disease is high, effective treatment should be undertaken. But drugs have adverse effects and diet hasn’t really been studied well yet -- especially for the average American. And what about athletes, like bodybuilders? Only one study has explored blood fat levels in bodybuilders on either a low-fat or high-fat diet. In this study, the high-fat diet group ate only 20% of their total calories as carbohydrates, yet they had a significantly better lipid (blood fats) profile than the other group, who ate less fat. Plus, they added seven pounds more muscle. How do you explain that one, medical doctors? Athletes needn’t worry about fat in their diet, in my opinion. In fact, based on my research, athletes should consume significantly more fat to enhance performance and to improve body composition. Recommendations that the average person and/or athlete watch his or her diet are unfounded. To those who keep insisting that diet causes heart disease and that eating less cholesterol and fat prevents heart disease, I must say that every evangelist is entitled to his beliefs, but every scientist is entitled to ask for the evidence!

Fats and Carbohydrates These two macronutrients provide the major sources of energy for our body. The way you hear liv

most people talk, mostly athletes, you would think that carbohydrates are the most used. Nonsense. Your body prefers to burn fat; fat is the preferred fuel of the body -- not carbohydrates. Throughout the day, during your normal activities, and in light to moderate exercise, your body supplies fuel to your muscles. Fat, not carbohydrate, provides up to 80-90% of total energy supplied at rest and 75% during exercise. Now, you can drive your body to burn more carbohydrates, but it still prefers to burn fat. And, given a chance, it will burn fat all day long. The body burns fuel by processing it through enzymes systems. Like a bucket brigade of fire fighters, enzymes shuttle food along and as each bucket is handed down the line, some water spills out. In the same way as water spills from the passing bucket, certain enzymes take out some energy from that molecule of food until all of its energy is used up. The cells of the body have different enzyme pathways for burning fats and carbohydrates. The controlling pathway is for fat use which, in turn, sends a signal that slows the rate of carbohydrate burning. There are two ways in which you can stimulate the fat burning process: exercise and diet. Exercise causes the body to increase the enzymes that release fat from the fat cells and it also increases the enzymes in muscle that burn fat. This process reduces the amount of carbohydrates burned. You have no control lv

over it; your body is on autopilot and does it all for you automatically. The second way to induce fat burning is to eat fat. Incredible, isn’t it? And after everyone has been telling you to eat less fat, here comes this nut telling you to eat more. Oh well, it takes all kinds. By the way, if you think you can escape getting fat by not eating fat and eating carbohydrates instead, forget it. Fat cells love carbohydrates; they suck them up and turn them into fat. And the liver participates in this carbohydrate-to-fat conversion as well, but 98% of the fat-making-from-carbohydrate occurs in the adipose tissue and 2% in the liver. It’s believed that either fat or carbohydrates will lead to increased body fat but only if you eat more than you need. But, this has proven false as one can actually eat fewer calories than he needs and can still increase his amount of body fat if the diet is high in carbohydrate. This process of body fat accumulation doesn’t occur from eating a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. This one’s a shocking surprise, huh? You can read all the details in my book Ultimate Diet Secrets. These processes are controlled by hormones and diet affects hormones. Dr. Thomas Merimee of the University of Florida’s School of Medicine reported that high-carbohydrate diets reduced the amount of growth hormone secretion by 32%. Both high-fat and high-protein diets increased growth hormone by lvi

about 6%. This change, caused by carbohydrates, leads to low blood levels of growth hormone. Growth hormone is a powerful lipolytic (breaks down fat) hormone causing fat release from fat cells and causing muscle growth by stimulating the uptake of protein by muscle. I’m now going to give you a “you heard it here first” theory. Resistance exercise stimulates muscle growth. It can do this even during starvation -animal studies have shown this. High-protein and high-fat diets (at the right calorie level!) stimulate fat burning and muscle building and hormones control both processes. High-carbohydrates diets lead to a change in the hormonal mix that pushes the body towards fat gain and muscle loss. This is a complex process and depends upon the different amounts of calories, mix of foods, total percent of carbohydrates, and exercise type and level. And, aerobic exercise causes a condition leading to the breakdown of muscle tissue. Studies show that male long distance runners have lower testosterone levels than non-running males and levels lower that that seen measured in bodybuilders. Therefore, the combined effects of diet and exercise as now practiced in the US; that is, highcarbohydrate, low-fat, low-protein, with an overlvii

emphasis on aerobic exercise cause people to lose muscle and to become fatter.

Complex Carbohydrates Eating complex carbohydrates is recommended because it’s thought that fats are bad and carbohydrates are good. We’ve already looked at evidence showing that not all scientists agree with this idea. I certainly don’t. In the past, everybody pretty much agreed that sugar, a simple carbohydrate, isn’t very good for you. Unfortunately, because of the over-emphasis on the dangers of fat, people no longer pay attention to the hazards of sugar as they did before the 1970’s. Now, most people believe that complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains and potatoes, are good. Complex carbohydrate foods are also high in dietary fiber, a current health rage. It’s suggested that the body digests complex carbohydrates slowly which is thought to provide health benefits by reducing the rate of release of sugar to the blood and preventing a rapid rise in insulin levels. Insulin is an important hormone that comes from your pancreas and one of its jobs (not its primary job) is to control your blood sugar level. Control of blood sugar levels is important to health. Poor control of blood sugar level causes problems.

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Research has recently shown that complex carbohydrates can increase blood glucose (sugar) and insulin levels which, if chronically stimulated, can lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Therefore, an outcry has occurred by some in the scientific community that carbohydrate-containing foods need to be tested for their “glycemic index.” This is a measure of how they affect blood glucose (sugar). It’s believed by many that the glycemic index is also a measure of the body’s insulin response too but that isn’t true; it’s only a measure of the response in blood sugar levels. Research by Dr. Gerald Reaven and his group at Stanford University has shown that in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus patients, the glycemic index of mixed meals containing high levels of complex carbohydrates provided no benefit to the patients. Blood glucose and insulin levels rose as much by eating “healthy” complex carbohydrates as they did by eating “unhealthy” simple sugars. Much more work has to be completed before broad based recommendations can be made to the American public about the so-called health benefits of eating higher amounts of complex carbohydrates. As an example, fruits such as apples, oranges, grapefruits, and peaches are simple, not complex carbohydrates. Therefore, they should really kick up your blood sugar and insulin levels. They don’t -- the glycemic index for these foods is actually very low and lix

not high, as you’d expect. It’s believed that these foods are good for you, but with an emphasis on complex carbohydrates, such as potatoes and cereals, people may not eat these fruits often.

Conclusion The thrust of this information provides you with a different view of macronutrient use (protein, fats, and carbohydrates). Based on scientific research, the data provides insights into calorie use and calorie needs. Central to this notion is that the body prefers to burn fat and that its metabolic machinery is geared to burn primarily fat. Any treatment which increases this in-born programmed capability will improve performance and the results from exercise programs. Most experts’ recommendations give information based on misinterpretations of the scientific data or to incomplete research: research that doesn’t consider all conditions such as specialized needs from following strenuous exercise programs. Few experts have the necessary training to even understand the data. Without this background it’s difficult to interpret research findings. As a result, you suffer. Progress is less than it should be and your efforts go un-rewarded. This chapter can serve as a guideline for experimenting. By working with a scientifically proven diet type, although not well known, you’ll make the fastest results. lx

Chapter 4 Glycogen Loading: Good or Bad In the late 1960’s, Swedish researchers developed a new dietary protocol to increase exercise performance. It went like this: cut way down on carbohydrates (breads, sweets, fruits, and some vegetables) and eat nothing but protein and fat for three days. Then, on days 4, 5, and 6 (game day is day 7), load up on carbohydrates. In this way, it was thought, endurance performance would increase. And, it worked. So glycogen (or carbohydrate) loading became the dietary king and still rules today. The trouble is that many people missed the point: carbo loading only works for events (or competitions) where the athlete must perform for long periods of at least 90 minutes or more. For other athletes, and that’s most sports (including football and bodybuilding), the time of activity is short and muscle and liver stores of glycogen are not performancelimiting factors. Glycogen is the storage form of blood sugar or glucose. Your liver holds about 3/4 of a pound and muscles about 1/4 of a pound. The primary purpose of liver glycogen is to supply glucose for the blood. As glucose enters the muscles, brain, and other organs, the blood sugar levels drop and the liver releases additional fuel in the form of glucose that’s released from stored glycogen. 61

The primary fuel that the body burns for energy is fat: at rest 80% of your energy comes from fat. Most scientists don’t understand this fact. With the assumed relationship of fat consumption to obesity and heart disease, very few scientists have researched the “fat-as-fuel” studies. As exercise intensity increases, the body uses a higher percentage of carbohydrate to supply the energy for the event. This notion has led to an emphasis on carbohydrate as the primary fuel for exercise. The percentage of total calories consumed each day as carbohydrate has risen from about 40-45% years ago up to as high as 70-80% today. Some of the popular sports performance drinks and sports bars are 70-100% carbohydrate. The increased use of carbohydrate has led to a decrease in protein intake and this shift to a lowprotein, high-carbohydrate intake has led to changes in body composition: less muscle and more fat. Conventional wisdom has it the other way round: most athletes believe they need lots of carbohydrate to build muscle tissue. Wrong! In a study of bodybuilders, one group of athletes ate about 270 grams of protein per day, including eating up to 82 eggs a week. Compared with the low-protein/high-carbohydrate group, the highprotein/low-carbohydrate group had 7 pounds more muscle and 4 pounds less fat on their bodies. The high-protein group also ate a diet higher in saturated animal fat and contrary to popular belief the blood fat 62

levels of these athletes was excellent. Their risk factors for heart disease were also very low. The movement to a high-carbohydrate diet is of no value to strength/power athletes. A typical professional football game is about 9-13 minutes of physical activity. A recent study showed that this amount of playing time hardly reduced muscle glycogen levels. Further, the high-carbohydrate diet may actually decrease performance in several ways: 1) decrease energy, 2) decrease muscle mass, and 3) decrease strength. New research presented in 1996 showed that high-fat diets (less carbohydrate) increased performance in endurance athletes. In short, high-protein, moderate-carbohydrate diets will enhance athletic performance in strength/ power athletes. My recommendation is to reduce carbohydrate consumption to less than 25% of total calories to gain optimum athletic performance. (Zero carbohydrates may even be better!)

Other Problems With the High-Carbohydrate Diet The high-carbohydrate diet that’s in vogue today doesn’t represent a balanced diet. Dr. Jan Karlsson, one of the original developers of the carbohydrate-loading regimen so popular among current-day athletes, has argued vehemently against a high-carbohydrate diet as a regular, everyday 63

regimen. He claims that such a diet is only acceptable for two or, at most, four days within the framework of the carbohydrate and muscle glycogen loading program. The carbohydrate-enriched diet leading to muscle glycogen loading has been widely accepted since the late 1960’s as an important way to prepare for endurance sports and training. The dietary program, however, was to be applied only occasionally. Unfortunately, it was developed into a long-term treatment program and was used, not only by elite cross-country skiers and long-distance runners, but also by professional athletes in many different sports. Even international organizations such as the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission recommended the use of the high-carbohydrate diet for athletes. Dr. Karlsson has stated that such longterm dietary regimens are synonymous with malnutrition. It has been shown that the intake of lipophilic (fat-loving) nutrients such as vitamin E is linearly related to fat intake. Other risks are associated with such an extreme high-carbohydrate diet if followed for a long time. In fact, this dietary regimen means that individuals may actually sacrifice their own structural lipids (fats) for energy needs. Vitamin Q and vitamin E are significant factors for the health of white blood cells; they’re the cells that are richest in antioxidants and, consequently, enhance the immune system. 64

Significant immune system suppression is a possible result of low dietary intake of fats and the consequent use of one’s own fat stores as an energy source. Athletes, with an extremely high intake of carbohydrates and, hence, subsequent impaired intake of lipid-based or lipophilic nutrients, have been in a situation referred to as the Carbohydrate Syndrome.

Carbohydrate Syndrome or the Carbohydrate Trap The high consumption of carbohydrates will lead to a condition in which free radical elimination is hampered and this leads to damage in muscles, increases in cell injury, and an inhibition of the body’s inflammation and healing process in response to injury and infection. Hard-training athletes, who follow a high-carbohydrate diet, will suffer from overuse injuries due to a decreased ability to repair and rebuild damaged tissues. Vegetarians and others who consume a low-fat diet are also at serious risk for the same type of damage. People who have extreme energy needs, such as athletes and those involved in manual labor, must be very careful about the sources of their daily food intake. If foods rich in carbohydrates come to serve as their primary source of energy, their risk of suffering from an insufficient supply of nutrients will increase. Fats contain many of the essential nutrients we need 65

each day to maintain our health. As I have proposed for many years, the low-fat diet is dangerous. Sports medicine authorities have just recently recognized the existence of the Carbohydrate Trap or fat-phobia. The Carbohydrate Trap represents a stage of malnutrition imposed by unprofessional advisors and followed by unknowledgeable clients. This is one of the major difficulties in nutrition today: the emphasis on the low-fat diet in contrast to a diet that maintains an adequate fat intake. How long will it take until our medical and scientific “experts” recognize the folly of their recommendation of low-fat eating?

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Chapter 5 What’s the Best Fuel for Muscles The debate between carbohydrates and fats: An interview with Gregory Ellis, PhD, CNS, by Dr. Al Thomas

The information presented by Dr. Gregory Ellis flies in the face of everything that the American Heart Association has been saying about a good, healthy diet. Dr. Ellis makes some very interesting arguments. If you think carbohydrates are the best fuel for muscles and help them grow the fastest and perform the most effectively, it’s time to rethink your position, according to Dr. Ellis!

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Al: Dr. Ellis, is there really any debate at all? Everyone knows that carbohydrates are what bodybuilders and athletes need, right? Ellis: Despite what everyone thinks, carbohydrates aren’t the preferred energy source for the body. Fat is. The common belief that carbohydrates are used most often and provide the best calories for powering muscle contraction is erroneous. Al: For discussion’s sake, I’m going to buy that argument temporarily. So tell me, why is everyone so misinformed about the role of carbohydrates and fats? Ellis: Well, there’s been substantial debate about the role of fats and carbohydrates in muscle contraction for years. In the late 1800’s, and even up until the late 1960’s, the prevailing view was that carbohydrates alone fueled working muscles. In the first 25 years of the 20th century, research supported this view. However, research since then has shown conflicting results. Zuntz found that muscle used both fats and carbohydrates, and others confirmed this. During starvation (which some ill-informed bodybuilders actually begin to approach during that last four weeks before a contest), fats provide the bulk of energy for muscle, both at rest and during exercise. Fat, as a fuel, is found in the bloodstream, where it’s joined with a protein called albumin. This complex was named free fatty acids. Free fatty acids 68

are one of the primary sources of fat that the body uses as fuel. Al: Where do the current terms “glycogen-loading” and “muscle sugars” fit in then? Ellis: In the late 1960’s, Scandinavian scientists showed that glycogen is important in endurance exercise and that glycogen is the body’s storage form for glucose (blood sugar). Several studies revealed that when glycogen stores in the muscle become depleted, exhaustion follows. The Scandinavian scientists studied the effect of diet modification on endurance exercise. They put athletes on three different diets. The first was a normal diet of fats and carbohydrates. The second and third diets began with three days of protein and fat, but with no carbohydrates. Then, during the next three days, athletes in one group ate loads of carbohydrates and the other group stayed with the high-fat and high-protein diet. All groups exercised on indoor stationary cycles to exhaustion. The highfat and high-protein diet group came in last, riding for the shortest time. The mixed diet group was second, but the group who stoked up on the carbohydrates rode the longest. The researchers claimed that a person’s ability to perform exercise is dependent upon the glycogen level of the muscles. These studies have formed the basis for the glycogenloading theory.

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Flawed Research Al: Excuse me, Dr. Ellis, but what you’ve just told me seems to refute your thesis about the importance of fats as fuels. Ellis: The problem is that these studies suffered a flawed design. They didn’t consider the long-term effects of the high-fat/high-protein diet. And further, like the blind leading the blind, almost no studies since these in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, have experimented with different designs and protocols. So, even though there’s continued evidence supporting these original conclusions that are based on the flawed design, researchers are unable to uncover the energy-enhancing effects of the high-fat/ high-protein dietary mix because they haven’t tested it! The continued use of the flawed design leads to questionable and limited results. Al: Well, glycogen loading and the need for lots of carbohydrates seem to have gained universal acceptance, your views notwithstanding. Ellis: Yes, the idea is universally accepted by athletes, coaches, and scientists. These groups are even more convinced today of this than they were back when the original studies were published. In 1977, the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition published their conclusions and, of course, the final report suggested that Americans should eat more fruits, vegetables, and grains while reducing their intake of meat, eggs, and dairy products. They advocated that carbohydrate intake should provide 60% of the daily calorie 70

allotment and that complex carbohydrates form the base of that 60%. So, fueled by the desire to minimize heart disease (this is why the committee presented their findings), athletes and scientists have been giving up fat as if it were poison. Al: Well, isn’t it? Isn’t it bad to have too much fat cruising through our systems or accumulated in our body? Ellis: Sure, too much. But that isn’t coming from eating fat if one is, also, at the same time, consuming a low-carbohydrate diet. It’s actually a mixed diet, both high in fat and carbohydrate that leads to high fat levels in both the blood and in the body fat. The reason for this is that the high-carbohydrate diet stimulates the conversion of carbohydrate into fat. The muscles can control how much of the two fuels, fats and carbohydrates that they use. The body has a complicated biochemical control system with pathways that are now well understood. The pathway discoveries have been made in the last 30 years. The major finding that should interest you and your readers is that fat use controls the rate of carbohydrate use. This is not guesswork, but a biochemical fact. If fat burns as fuel, then carbohydrate burning slows. This is controlled through a complex enzymatic process dictated by the type of chemical fuel that’s in the blood and the subsequent hormonal profile arising from the food one eats. Both fats and 71

carbohydrates have their own enzyme systems that convert fat and/or carbohydrates to an end product used to make ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the chemical used to provide energy for the cell’s metabolism. Al: Could you explain that in more detail? Ellis: Muscles produce energy from food. Essentially, muscles take cake or meat or whatever and convert it to carbon dioxide and water. Along the way, the chemicals making up food are degraded and their energy is extracted to make ATP. This ATP production takes place, of course, during the enzyme action in which food is converted to carbon dioxide and water. Some enzymes are regulatory or rate-limiting. They act just like a bend or pinch in a water hose. Bend the hose and less water runs through. Al: I see how it works. Continue, please. Ellis: Like the pinched hose, the flows through the different carbohydrate and fat paths affect each other. As fats move along their path of use, production of a chemical called citrate (an end product of fat burning) increases. The citrate attacks a regulatory enzyme in the pathway that breaks down carbohydrates into a usable source of fuel. The net effect of the action of citrate is to slow down the movement of carbohydrates through their metabolic pathway. It’s just that simple: as more fat burns less carbohydrate burns. 72

So citrate regulates the muscle’s choice of fuel. In reality, it’s much more complex than this as there are a number of regulators acting on multiple enzymes within the pathway of carbohydrate degradation. Many other chemicals can dramatically slow or stop the breakdown of glycogen in liver and muscle. They can slow the rate of blood glucose entry into the muscles. The fuel used by each muscle fiber sends a message to the energy depots throughout your body. This is accomplished through hormones. Of most importance is that the level of blood glucose and fat in the blood signals the liver and fat cells either to send more or less fuel to the muscles. It’s a constant supply and demand situation and, remember, fat use in muscle controls carbohydrate use, further affecting not only muscle, but the whole body.

Performance Fuel Al: So fat use controls carbohydrate use; that still doesn’t really tell me that carbohydrates are not better than fat for superior performance. Ellis: OK, most athletes and scientists believe that exercise endurance is governed by how much glycogen is in their muscles. But how do they explain the fact that muscle exhaustion can occur despite having ample glycogen supplies in the muscles? That is, plenty of glycogen is left, yet exhaustion takes place. Furthermore, glycogen depletion affects only 73

athletes who train nonstop or compete in events lasting more than several hours. For most sports performances, for weight lifting and bodybuilding routines, glycogen depletion is not a factor in muscle fatigue, not at all. Let’s look at some specific evidence. In 1986, scientists studied the effects of a difficult weight training workout on the fuel used by muscle. Nationally ranked competitive bodybuilders did five sets of front squats, five sets of back squats, five sets of leg presses, and five sets of leg extensions. Each set lasted about 30 seconds, with a one minute rest between sets. The weights were heavy enough so that ten repetitions proved to be their maximum effort. That is, each set was to momentary muscular failure, where the successful execution of another repetition proved impossible. It was an extremely difficult program, and the blood lactic acid levels were sky high. By their own admission, it was the hardest program any of them had ever undertaken. And this was stated by top-level bodybuilders already well conditioned and used to breaking their balls! To the surprise of the scientists, muscle glycogen decreased only 40% from the resting values (this was in the thigh muscles). Where did the fuel for energy come from? The immediate stored energy sources that are available include ATP, which is probably not stored, and some creatine phosphate. However, the amounts of these are very small and 74

barely account for enough energy production to meet the energy demands of one set of one of the exercises, if that. Glucose shunted from the liver supplies some energy. However, this study showed that there wasn’t a significant uptake by the muscle of liver-derived glucose. The authors were forced to conclude that a large portion of energy came from a source other than carbohydrates.

Energy Source Al: And now for the $65,000 question, where did it come from? Ellis: The $65,000 answer is that it came from intramuscular triglycerides. These are fat globules that are stored inside the muscle cells. They’ve received very little attention although I studied them extensively for my Ph. D. dissertation. Most body fat is stored in the subcutaneous layer and some is stored in other sites, especially around internal organs. But, approximately 0.5-2% is stored within the muscles as intra-muscular triglycerides. Al: That isn’t much. Ellis: That’s right, it isn’t. But, these triglycerides are quickly broken down to acetyl-CoA, which is the chemical that leads to the manufacture of ATP. As intra-muscular fat burns, carbohydrate burning slows. The key is this: as free fatty acid levels in the blood 75

increase, this source of fat enters the muscle and is shunted into storage within the muscle as triglyceride. Fat, from inside the thigh muscles and from the blood, is what supplied the extra fuel for the bodybuilders’ leg program. I have also performed an intricate experiment with rats treated with estrogen, a hormone which sets into motion a biochemical process that supplies more fat to muscle for burning as a source of fuel. The rats ran for two hours on a treadmill, and the results showed that they used much more fat than carbohydrate for fuel. Al: What can one do to make the body burn more fat and save glycogen? Certainly we shouldn’t take estrogen? Ellis: Well, women in endurance events might be wise to select events that were timed with their estrogen peak if that were possible. Remember, the body prefers fat over carbohydrates as a source of fuel. It only burns carbohydrates as a supplement to fat use. Most scientists, however, believe it is the other way round. Unfortunately, they haven’t done their homework. Carbohydrates make up the difference when fat is not immediately available or if the enzymes for processing fat are too low in quantity. That’s the critical point -- whether or not the enzymes for fat use are at maximum levels. Two things make this possible. Training is the first because training conditions the muscle to burn 76

fat by increasing the enzymes that process fat. This is like being on auto pilot. The enzymes that burn fat increase and the body also changes its hormone balance so that more fat gets to the muscles from the fat cells. And fewer carbohydrates are used because fat burning spares glucose and glycogen use. Of course, the second thing to do, in addition to the training program, is to eat fat.

Eat Fat Al: Now wait a minute; that seems like an awfully strange idea. We get enough hidden fats in our foods anyway, don’t we? Do we have to go out of our way to chew the fat? Ellis: The foods you eat determine the types of fuels you use. If you eat fat, you burn fat, and if you eat carbohydrates, you burn more carbohydrates, but a significant proportion of those carbohydrates are converted to body fat. Everything re-organizes from the smallest parts of the muscle cell to the larger parts, including the output of hormones that influence your whole body and the genes that manufacture the enzymes. Four major hormones influence fuel use: insulin, cortisol, glucagon, and growth hormone. They are anabolic (build-up) or catabolic (break-down). Glucose, derived from dietary carbohydrates, also has a direct effect in determining whether fuel is partitioned into storage or burned. Glucose has a direct effect on all of the enzymes involved in the 77

conversion of glucose into fat with its subsequent storage in the body fat depots. Further, it directly affects the expression of genes that are involved in stimulating the production of the enzymes throughout the body that convert dietary carbohydrate into body fat. Although the low-carbohydrate advocates argue that insulin is the primary agent driving the storage of carbohydrates into fat, it’s actually the glucose itself that acts as the primary signal and this effect is increased by insulin. Insulin is anabolic, but all the way, to both fat tissue and to muscle tissue. This means that insulin makes you fatter while, at the same time, it also stimulates muscle growth. But the rate and amount of fat accretion is greater than the amount of muscle accretion. So this is clearly not the way to go. Insulin fluctuates, and the type of food you eat determines the amount of insulin released as well. Guess what? Carbohydrates push insulin up. With a chronically high-carbohydrate intake, you have a chronically high insulin response. This doesn’t do your body fat level any favor. While it might be OK for your muscles, this makes it difficult, impossible even, for your fat cells to release fat into your blood. The primary function of insulin is to control the release of fat from the fat cells, not to clear the blood of glucose, as most scientists believe. High insulin levels stop the release of fat, and low insulin levels permit a rapid release of free fatty acids from the adipose tissue. 78

Growth hormone is anabolic to muscle, and catabolic to fat. Protein and fat diets increase the output of growth hormone. And guess what? Highcarbohydrate diets lower growth hormone output. However, growth hormone, as a normal hormone in the body, is permissive to body balance in terms of muscle and fat quantities in your body. Changing the amount of hormones artificially, like growth hormone (or insulin), inextricably alters this balance. Al: Bodybuilders seem to disregard logical statements like that though. If you tell them that insulin and growth hormone are anabolic to muscle, some of the less intelligent ones will take them artificially, regardless of health risks. So what should the smarter ones do? Ellis: Bodybuilders strive to increase muscle mass and lower body fat. Yes, you can reduce fat with dieting, but you almost always lose muscle too. A balance between calorie reduction and changes in hormone levels through dieting and exercise is the goal. At any level of calorie intake, you’ll have more building, or maintenance, of muscle, and loss (or no net gain) of fat on a higher-protein, high-fat diet compared to a high-carbohydrate diet. Al: Yikes! That statement is going to turn some heads. Ellis: It shouldn’t if people look at the decades-old research and results. We knew, scientifically, as early as 1852 that a high-carbohydrate diet stimulated a 79

carbohydrate-to-fat conversion with its subsequent storage in body fat depots. Observations by farmers were that high-grain diets fattened their animals. Much more research through the 1940’s and 1950’s cleared this up and determined all of the basic biochemistry on which these processes were based. I detail thoroughly the history of these facts in my book, Ultimate Diet Secrets. Later, with the glycogen depletion studies, athletes on high-protein and high-fat diets did have reduced performance, but the studies lasted only 7 days. The athletes were simply unable to use the fat supplied to the muscles because their fat-burning enzyme levels were so low. There weren’t enough enzymes in the fat burning pathway to process the fat now made available to muscle both by the diet and by the release of the free fatty acids from the adipose tissue. The athletes couldn’t process fat and the alternative fuel -- carbohydrate -- was drained out of the muscles by the previous 7 days’ low-carbohydrate diet. As a result, fuel requirements of the exercising muscle were unable to be met. Al: So what would have happened if the bodybuilders remained on the high-protein/high-fat diet for more than a week? Ellis: I have some of the answers in my research. After one week on a high-fat diet, a group of rats ran 8% longer than rats on a high-carbohydrate diet. After another four weeks on the diet, the high-fat group ran 33% longer than the carbohydrate loaded rats! 80

The run times were on the order of 40 minutes, which would normally have required less glycogen as compared to runs lasting more than an hour. Therefore, the results of the study are even more impressive because of the short run times. It’s funny -- the glycogen levels stored in the muscles naturally fell in the rats on the high-fat diet. However, this did not adversely affect performance. To the contrary, performance improved -- a lot. In another study, rats were adapted to the highfat diet for 12 weeks. At the end of that time, a treadmill endurance test resulted in the high-fat fed rats running 68% longer than another group of rats fed a high-carbohydrate diet!

20-Week Minimum Al: So what should athletes do in your view? Ellis: Bodybuilders, and all athletes, and all those interested in increasing physical performances for any type of activity, should avoid mindless brain washing and give fat a chance. It takes time. Other studies suggest that it may take 20 weeks for the human metabolism to adapt fully to a high-fat diet. The maximum performance-improving capacity will only begin to be realized after an adaptation period exceeding several weeks. Alaskan sled dogs perform very poorly on carbohydrate diets. In fact, their racing times are best when they eat at least 32% of their 81

calories as protein and the rest as fat! We must ask why carbohydrate diets decreased their performance. Al: I suppose the dogs aren’t talking. I can’t believe you’d issue a simple recommendation to radically increase the consumption of fat. What about heart disease? Ellis: The notion that cholesterol and fat are the primary cause of heart disease is one of the greatest scientific deceptions of our time. A discussion of this topic requires a more detailed exploration. I’ve provided that detailed discussion in my other writings. In the case of bodybuilders, they are at an extremely low risk of heart disease due to their vigorous and regular exercise. Their blood fat levels are very low. A recent study of bodybuilders, as I’ve said, who ate a diet thought to put them at risk for heart disease showed that, despite the diet, they showed no signs of risk at all. And you know what else? Those bodybuilders who ate a high-fat diet had 7 pounds more muscle on their body than another group of bodybuilders who had ingested a high-carbohydrate diet! Al: What about cholesterol levels? Ellis: Less than 5% of the American population really has a cholesterol problem, and this is a medical problem; these are sick people. People who aren’t sick don’t have the problem, and diet is simply not a part of the problem. The fat in food affects only a small percent of people in terms of having a significant 82

effect on their blood cholesterol. And blood cholesterol levels for more than 95% of the population aren’t, in any way, related to the rate of heart disease. Eggs and beef may be high in cholesterol, but for the vast majority of people, especially bodybuilders, these foods don’t raise cholesterol. For example, a recent study showed that people with high cholesterol ate a diet of only rib-eye steaks, lowered their cholesterol significantly. Cholesterol values dropped from a prediet level of 263 mg to 189 mg. Low-carbohydrate eating almost always leads to a decrease in cholesterol and triglyceride levels. I don’t think that bodybuilders, or anyone else in regular training, (or, actually, anyone at all, exercising or not) need to worry about cholesterol, unless the values begin to exceed 275 mg. And, first, HDL levels should be checked because they may be a large proportion of the total cholesterol reading thereby negating any fear of a high total cholesterol reading. Most other people could easily maintain normal, healthy levels by reducing their overweight, over-fat condition. I think the threshold for dietary carbohydrate reduction to make a positive effect in increasing muscle mass and decreasing body fat begins when carbohydrate intake is reduced to a level lower than 25% of total daily calorie intake. I believe that this level is still too high to realize optimal benefit. I don’t know at this time if a 0% carbohydrate intake is more effective than, say, 10% or 15% of daily carbohydrate 83

intake as a caloric percentage of the whole day’s calorie intake. Many people argue against a high-protein diet as dangerous to the function of the liver and kidneys. There’s absolutely no research to support this belief, and in fact, there’s an abundance of research indicating that a high-protein diet is very effective in improving liver function. Too often in the area of nutrition many studies are done on sick individuals and there are too few studies on athletes. Al: Do you have any final piece of advice for our readers? Ellis: I realize that a lot of this is different from anything your readers have read or heard. However, the risks are non-existent, and the benefits are high. I wish bodybuilders and other athletes would experiment for an appreciable time with a high-fat diet and get off the ultra-high-carbohydrate diet. If they’re concerned with their blood fat and cholesterol levels, they can monitor them. I do know that a diet somewhat higher in fats and proteins will not only make your muscles grow faster, but will also give you better endurance. Give it a try. Al: Thanks, Dr. Ellis, this sure was interesting.

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Chapter 6 Value of Resistance Training Resistance training (lifting weights) has taken it on the chin for many years. No more. Once the dominion of football players and pure muscle builders, it’s now a popular exercise activity for the general population. Personal trainers are the stars of the current-day fitness trends, pushing their protégés through muscle pumps and chanting the new T-shirt slogan of “no pain, no gain.” In the early days, this type of training was called progressive resistance exercise or PRE for short. This is the key feature to this type of exercise: it’s progressive. In other words, as you become stronger and the weights you’re currently lifting no longer challenge you, then you increase the resistance to further challenge your muscles thereby stressing them and causing an adaptation that makes you stronger. The beauty here is that you don’t need fancy equipment to achieve fantastic results. An inexpensive barbell, used in the privacy of your own home, is all that you need for success. Purchasing a few optional pieces of equipment will allow some variations in exercises that will be very productive. But none of these are very expensive. Later on I’ll lay out a complete home exercise barbell program for you.

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Science Discovers Resistance Exercise In the past, the scientific and medical community paid little attention to resistance exercise and its effects on the body. They, like everyone else, considered weightlifting something that makes you muscle-bound while inflating weak egos. With the growth of running and the fitness boom of the mid to late 1970’s, a whole new breed of exercise research scientist developed. These young scientists are now exploring the benefits of resistance exercise, measuring its effects on the body and showing exactly what physical changes occur. The scientific exploration of resistance exercise is just beginning. Yet, despite this present lack of scientific work, the benefits of resistance training have been known since the days of the Greek athletes.

Physiological Benefits of Resistance Exercise Body Composition Resistance exercise can cause a rapid growth of muscle tissue in both men and women. Although there are sex differences, primarily because of the anabolic hormone testosterone, women, as well as men, will readily respond to the growth stimulation provided by resistance exercise, but with not as much muscle growth. Regular training allows continual stimulation and response. Muscles take on shape, appearing in 86

places that had precious little muscle before. You are able to craft a completely new appearance and persona. Finally, when you’ve achieved your desired shape and look, you simply embark upon a maintenance program, using the same resistance that triggered the transformation. Little further growth occurs at this juncture. It’s like a water spigot; you can turn it up to get a stronger stream or turn it down to reduce it. The good news about resistance exercise is that you can decide what to build or what to leave alone. For women this is particularly helpful. Women often get fat from the hips down, a pattern of weight gain called “gynoid” or female pattern obesity. Overall weight loss, unfortunately, usually fails to help such women look significantly better than they did before they started their weight loss program. The body loses fat from areas where it has the most to lose. This is probably hormone-mediated and controlled by an enzyme in the blood vessels of the fat and muscle cells, lipoprotein lipase (LPL). LPL is responsible for grabbing fat as it circulates in the blood and depositing it in fat or muscle cells. Women have more LPL in the fat cells of their hips and thighs than in their waist; men have more in their waist. As a woman loses weight, she loses it from both her upper body and her lower body. However, since she has less to lose from her upper body, she often looks increasingly gaunt in the torso area because of muscle loss occurring along with her fat loss. This 87

occurs at the same time that her hips and thighs remain far fatter than she would like. A woman can avoid this sort of unbalanced loss by concentrating on upper-body muscle building exercises. With this type of exercise, she can replace the lost fat with muscle, permitting her to maintain her upper body size while preventing a drawn, emaciated appearance. As a result, she can afford to continue losing fat from her lower body until she reaches her desired shape. And please note that I said body shape, not bodyweight. The new muscle that she acquires weighs something and contributes to a bodyweight that is inevitably higher than she thinks it should be. Aerobic exercise can’t equal the body-shaping effect of resistance exercise. The nature of aerobic work is that it doesn’t build significant muscle size because enhanced girth of muscle isn’t needed to do repetitive, low tension exercises. And that’s what aerobic exercise is -- repetitive and low tension. Just look at the physique of women joggers. They have small, almost emaciated upper bodies, with no shoulder, chest, or arm development. Usually, they have wide hips and thighs dotted by “cellulite” that jiggles with each stride. Running does little to improve their appearance or to enhance athletic muscle tone. Over-eating carbohydrates, combined with non-muscle-building endurance exercise, leads to the loss of upper body muscle. Sure, fat is lost, but so is 88

muscle too, and it’s lost in the very places that women don’t want to lose it. Aerobic exercise is good because it can help you lose and control weight, but only resistance exercise is capable of transforming your appearance to one that you desire. I’ve counseled many women to reduce the amount of running and endurance exercise they do and to substitute resistance training for it instead. In less than a month they begin to reshape themselves in response to a basic resistance training program and an adequate protein intake. They proclaim all this a miracle. After years of pounding the roads, they have effected very little improvement in their shape. Often they blamed genetics. Then, after only thirty days, or so, of training, they’re stunned by the beauty wrought in their very own flesh by resistance training: Not bulging muscles, but shapely and voluptuous ones. Muscles fill in, creating the right contours in the right places. The enhanced upper body development creates the illusion of smaller hips and thighs. Continued training eventuates in the reduction of hip and thigh size, further enhancing the beauty of the feminine physique. Body fat is an independent predictor among the risk factors for heart disease. Even if you don’t smoke, or have a family history of heart disease or high blood pressure, body fat all by itself can increase your risk. Resistance exercise is an effective method to rid your body of fat but, better yet, is that the increased 89

muscle mass, along with the loss of fat, dramatically changes your appearance. Without changing your diet or anything else, you can strip-off fat and build muscle by means of resistance training. If you want faster results, you can add a reduced calorie intake to your regimen. During the first month, you can possibly expect a pound or two of fat to go and a pound or two of muscle to appear -- with little or no change in diet. At one time, just as an experiment, I decided to give up all aerobic exercise and concentrate exclusively on resistance training. I followed some of the guidelines in this book and included some strenuous workouts that pushed my heart rate to its maximum level. I added two pounds of muscle in the first month and another pound the next month while dropping two pounds of fat tissue. These body composition changes were documented by hydrostatic weighing (underwater weighing which is the most accurate body composition test). Now, there was a slight increase in total calories burned during the session compared to my endurance programs and the changes were a function of the way resistance training stimulates the body’s muscles to grow. Scientists have recently shown that resistance training causes an increased output of hormones causing muscle to grow and causing lipolysis (break down) of body fat. Fat is then used as energy. The change in the hormonal pattern leads to an increased use of fat as I’ve described. What’s the 90

result? Fat deposits get smaller because less is taken in and more is released. Muscles then burn it for fuel.

Sports Conditioning Most sports conditioning requires that muscles be in good shape: for good performance and to prevent injuries. In most activities in which we participate, muscle strength and muscle endurance are more important than cardiovascular endurance. Skiing, boating, team sports, mountain climbing, all require good muscle strength, endurance, and flexibility. Resistance exercise meets the requirements of conditioning for these activities. Achieving specific conditioning goals comes by varying the number of sets, repetitions, and rest periods in a resistance program. This is the concept behind this book of resistance exercise which I’ll outline in detail in later chapters.

Cardiovascular Conditioning and Reduction of Heart Disease Risk Factors (Watch Out for that Word Risk) Scientific studies tell us that the conditioning effect of exercise on the heart is dependent on the intensity, duration, and frequency of the exercise. The heart responds to exercise by increasing its rate and force of contraction. More blood gets pumped to the exercising muscles to meet their demands for oxygen, nutrients, and waste removal. The rate at which the 91

heart beats is a measure of the intensity of exercise. The heart’s rate of beating shows how hard the work of exercise is to perform. The heart, of course, doesn’t have the slightest idea as to what is making it do more and more work: running, swimming, bicycle riding, climbing steps, or sex. It only knows that it must pump more blood to meet the demands of the body for more blood. Any exercise that causes the heart to increase its output will condition it. By now, most of you have been conditioned by the media to think that aerobic or endurance exercise is good for your heart and what’s good for your heart is good for your health. Strengthening your heart, we’re told, leads to life extension and to improving its quality. Why is aerobic exercise good for your heart and your body’s health? What does such exercise actually do or cause to happen that provides these healthful benefits? Aerobic exercise makes the heart work harder. And the heart, a muscle just like your biceps, responds by strengthening itself. It contracts more forcefully, pumping more blood with each beat. As a result, it beats less often, a sign of good heart health. These changes all cause the heart to become stronger, and a stronger heart can better withstand stress, whether physical or mental. Most important, aerobic exercise reduces the risk factors connected with heart disease. Decreases in bodyweight and blood pressure occur. You process sugar better, a change that reduces the risk of 92

diabetes and its harmful effects on the heart and on the body generally. The blood lipid (fat) profile improves, with a lowering of triglycerides and of cholesterol. You also experience increases in the “good cholesterol” called high density lipoproteins or HDL for short. These are the primary effects of aerobic conditioning. Improved health accompanies everything that exercise affects in the chemistry of your body. Its effects are measurable and quantifiable. Doctors can compare one person’s values to others’: those who either have disease or are free of it. In this way, physicians can predict your chances of disease based on your profile. Therefore, we can say that any exercise that makes the heart work harder and leads to a reduction in cardiovascular risk factors is good for you. How does resistance training fit into the picture that I’ve painted? Early studies of resistance exercise showed that reduction in many of the primary risk factors for heart disease occur in response to resistance training. These responses appear to be at least as good as those which occur in response to aerobic exercise. This is exciting news and means that you get the cardiovascular benefits associated with aerobic exercise while also getting, at the same time, the strengthening and body shaping benefits of resistance training. 93

Bodybuilding Training Builds the Body and Protects the Heart; Growing Evidence of Coronary Protection from Resistance Exercise Dr. M. Faber and his colleagues studied seventy-six male bodybuilders to determine the effect of their diet and exercise program on heart health. He divided the athletes into two groups. One group ate few eggs and the other group ate up to 81 eggs a week. Most physicians would consider 81 eggs a week a death-blow to the heart and to the blood lipids. The average daily consumption for this “high egg” group was six eggs per day -- and very few carbohydrates. Indeed, carbohydrates comprised only 20% of the total daily calorie count, a percentage below even the lowcarbohydrate threshold of my dietary protocol. American health experts recommend a carbohydrate intake that’s 55% or more of total daily calories. Faber pointed out that the athletes in this study were eating a highly atherogenic (heart diseasecausing) diet, according to the guidelines established by the American Heart Association. The protein intake of the high egg group was almost 300 grams a day, 100% more than that of the low egg group and four times higher than the US-RDA for protein intake. These dramatic intake differences, however, led to a surprising result. The high egg group had 1% less fat on their bodies and 7.5 pounds more muscle than the low egg, low-protein/high-carbohydrate group! 94

The differences in the blood lipid (fat) profiles were also surprising. The HDL level was 55 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter) in the high egg group; experts consider anything over 45 mg/dL good. The low egg group’s blood fat profile was less good than the high egg group’s, with an HDL of 50 mg/dL compared with the 55 mg/dL of the high egg group. Triglyceride levels are another marker for heart disease risk. Lower values are better than high values (upper normal range is 160 mg/dL). Triglycerides were 124 mg/dL in the high egg group, compared with 172 mg/dL in the low egg group. Remember, carbohydrate eating leads to rises in triglyceride values. Experts consider the total cholesterol/HDL ratio one of the best predictors for heart disease. It was low in both groups: 3.4 for the high egg group and 3.5 for the low egg group. According to the experts, anything lower than 4.5 for males and 5.0 for females is good. These findings emphasize the effectiveness of resistance exercise in lowering the supposed risk of diet-induced heart disease. Of course, we also have to consider the contribution of the low-carbohydrate diet to this excellent blood profile. These positive changes, above, allow us to think in a completely different way about resistance training. It’s argued that a primary effect of aerobic exercise is the reduction in our risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Dr. Faber’s study, as well as 95

studies by other researchers, demonstrates that resistance exercise is as valuable as aerobic exercise, in effecting overall health improvements. As a bonus, resistance exercise provides many other benefits to the trainee that aerobic exercise doesn’t, including increased muscle mass and improved body shape. Other bonuses derived from performing resistance exercise are protection against sports-related injuries and, of course, the reduction of body fat. The bodybuilders who followed the high-fat, (so-called heart disease-causing diet) did not, in fact, demonstrate any increased risk for heart disease. It can be argued, therefore, that resistance training protected them against the so-called negative penalties of this type of diet. Another alternative answer, however, is that this diet may not be the villain it’s purported to be, a point I’ve already established in my writing. I’m not a supporter, as you know by now, of the “risk factor” predictions of heart disease. You may disagree with me and still buy into the American Heart Association’s nonsense-filled campaign as to the superiority of the highcarbohydrate diet. If you still do, it has to be at the cost of acknowledging the manifest safety of the much-decried egg and that even-more-decried whipping boy, red meat, which aren’t just safe, but protective, against heart disease. 96

If the main purpose of exercise for some is to reduce their risk of developing cardiovascular disease, then resistance exercise appears to be as capable as aerobic exercise, or more capable, to provide improvements in health. Following the routines outlined in this book will help you take advantage of the benefits of resistance exercise. The Maximum Muscle Growth provides maximum results for each of your desired training goals. By proper needs assessment and program outline, specific physical changes occur. Each person can get both the fitness and body figure that only resistance training can provide.

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Chapter 7 Maximum Muscle Growth Now, we’re at the heart of what this book is all about. I want to start here first before introducing the most comprehensive muscle building program ever developed.

Isometrics

Earlier I described my experience with doing isometric only exercise at a health club in Delaware using a new machine called biodensity.

I was also asked to write a white paper on isometrics. The following is the complete piece that I wrote

Isometric Training There are multiple strength training modalities: 1) Isotonics: Resistance training with weights, machines, bands, and bodyweight as the resistance type; included in this category are the subdivisions of heavy, progressive, and variable resistance exercise, speed loading, eccentric (training by allowing the muscle to lengthen against a load versus shortening or contracting 92

against a load), plyometric training, and other hybrids 2) Isokinetic: in this style of exercise a machine is used that controls the speed of movement against which a muscle contracts and offers only concentric, or positive, movements (muscle shortening) 3) Isometrics: muscle contraction against a force that is greater than a muscle’s maximal force generating capacity thereby allowing no movement of the applied load. It is this third type of muscle contraction, isometric training that will be described in detail in this section of the white paper. Isometric training was created in a laboratory, in contrast to isotonics which evolved in the field over many years. The main principles of strength training have been known since the days of the Greek city-states. First identified in the late 1920’s (1), isometric training was studied extensively by scientists since the mid-1940’s (3) when Hellebrandt discovered that controlled, high muscle tension generation increased muscle strength to high levels quickly. This discovery was commercialized by Charles Atlas in his Dynamic Tension Method of exercise. Isometrics was little known other than Atlas’s salesmanship and remained ignored until 1953 when Hettinger and Muller’s classic paper was first 93

published (3). The author’s research conclusion: a maximum muscle strengthening effect was produced by one daily isometric contraction, lasting six seconds, using an effort level of two-thirds of the muscle’s maximum contractile power. This claim raised some skepticism, but led to much general interest. Further research by Muller (5) reaffirmed the earlier work confirming that these maximum training effects occurred even if contractions were very brief and exceeded little more than one-third of the maximum possible effort. The idea that so little time and effort would lead to such a profound response in so short a time led some to argue that years of dedicated resistance work, lifting weights totaling tons each year, had been a needless effort. This opinion shook the foundations of the strength establishment and it has not abated today. But, in fact, today, there is little interest in isometric training by exercise enthusiasts and it is little talked about in public. There are few research publications: in science, isometric training is used as a method to study the effects of exercise on cellular and physiological functions, not to define training methods to optimize its usefulness. With isometric’s explosion on the muscle strengthening platform in the 1940’s and early 1950’s, previous training practices dating back to the times of the Greeks and Romans were now open to 94

question and previous beliefs about muscle strengthening suddenly appeared dated. The lack of a sound scientific basis to training had previously concerned few people, but now it was clear there were no sound theoretical insights or adequate experimental grounds to support old ideas. In the past, studies of strength had been made; and strength had been measured for centuries. However, evaluations of techniques, methods, principles, training outcomes, relative needs, explanations, and theoretical considerations were lacking. A review article, written about the time the research on isometrics appeared, discussed 89 studies of strength completed since the turn of the century, but only mentioned four studies of strength training (6). The years that followed produced few research papers dealing with strength training. Most of the work in this area was then, and now, conducted by lay people outside the laboratory setting. Commercial concerns have always spearheaded research into these areas, not to suggest there is anything untoward about that since these efforts were directed by people who had a passion for this field. It is rather unusual to find many scientists who have an interest in the strength training field, studying optimal methods of training, although that is now changing. Spawned by the aerobics movement in 1970 and the introduction of the Nautilus machines, also in 95

1970, a fitness revolution developed and more passionate young people developed a scientific curiosity and pursued PhD degrees in exercise physiology and then went on to pursue academic careers. This, however, has not led to studies specifically directed to the optimization of strength training via studies testing one method versus another, i.e., choosing the winner, say A beats B, and then introducing test C to run against A. There are, no doubt, many programs, but they evolved no differently than did the field programs during the last centuries. Between the years of 1950-1960, 57 papers were published on isometrics and 45% of those appeared after 1953 (1). Many of the authors of these papers carefully analyzed the work of Hettinger and Muller, as did they themselves (7), but support for the positive results they presented overshadowed any negative disagreements against their claims of rapid and powerful increases in strength from brief, intense isometric muscle contractions. The questions that did arise related to issues such as repetition frequency, percent of effort needed to maximize strength increases, and comparisons from one muscle group to another (8). Questions also arose about the comparison to isotonic training methods, effects on muscle hypertrophy (growth), and responses to training among a wide variety of people. In 1970, Muller gave little ground to any of the 96

differing opinions and stated: “that repeating the isometric stimulus a second time within 24 hours produces very little additional benefit to that resulting from the single contraction” (9). By the 1970’s, isometrics had been so thoroughly studied that it seemed there was no need for further investigations (10). During those early decades, investigations about isometrics included studies about it and its effects on: the cardiovascular system, use with steroids, use in industry, use with electrical stimulation, use in hospitals to help fight disease, and laboratory studies to determine its effect on stimulating muscle growth (1,11).

Isometric Strengthening Effect The result of isometric training on strength development was first reported to provide a 5% per week increase (12), but later it was reported as 1.8% per week in their subsequent publications. There was some outcry as to the accuracy of the work by Hettinger and Muller (13,14). 1n 1962, against mounting criticism, Muller argued that strength increases depended upon an individual’s current state of conditioning, with those who were less fit, gaining more rapidly, and those who were more fit, less rapidly. 97

The following table indicates the resultant strength increases based on a subject’s initial level of conditioning.

Table 1 Weekly Gains in Strength Expected from Isometric Training for Muscles in Different States of Training* State of Training Rate of Gain Training Time to Reach Limiting (percent of (percent per Strength (weeks) limiting week) strength) 98 95 80 85 80 75 <75

2.0 3.6 5.6 7.5 8.6 10.0 12.0

*(9)

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2 3-5 5 -

The weekly gains vary from 12% (2.4% per session) assuming five training sessions per week for those in a poorer state of health to less than 2% (0.4% per session) for those close to their limiting strength. Therefore, according to Muller, even for the untrained, very few weeks are needed to reach limiting strength. Muller believed the results depicted in the Table explained why the results of other studies may have been at variance with his own: “Contrary findings are distorted by comparing unequal states of training.” They (Hettinger and Muller) later defined the training state operationally: the state of training of a muscle is its initial strength (Pi) expressed as a percentage of its end strength (Pe). Limiting strength is defined as the final value to which strength can reach at its maximum potential regardless of how long training goes on, i.e., training can go on forever, but it is believed that strength increases have a limit. So the final value depends on two things: 1) the strength capacity of the muscle and 2) the efficiency of the training method adopted. Therefore, if the training program chosen is of little value, then end strength would occur rather quickly since the method cannot serve to increase strength because of its ineffectiveness. There is an inherent weakness to assessing strength in this manner and certainly one way around 99

this is to establish a database of age and sex-related norms to qualify an individual’s initial fitness status.

Establishing the Components of the Exercise Prescription Here, I want to review the exercise prescription as it serves as the basis for understanding strengthincreasing protocols. I will review this again later due to its importance. An exercise prescription has three main components: 1) Intensity: how hard one exerts himself 2) Frequency: how often one exerts himself 3) Duration: how long one exerts himself The application of the exercise prescription to isometrics has received particular attention. The purpose of the studies was to define if any of the three conditions was more important in providing the fastest and most significant improvements for muscle strengthening.

Tension (Intensity) The isometric tension (intensity of muscle contraction effort) required to elicit maximum 100

strengthening effects has been carefully examined, but limits to these examinations exist due to the paucity of formal studies. This is even true for the hectic period during the 1950’s with the rise in interest about isometrics and, even more recently, during present times. One of the exceptions was the original study by Hettinger and Muller (3) from which the authors decided that once a threshold tension of about 30% of maximum tension had been reached few extra strength gains could accrue by inducing further increases in tension. Others agreed, but Cotten found that strength increases with 50%, 75%, and 100% of maximum tension produced marked yet similar increases in strength (15) beyond those induced by tension levels of 30% maximum. In some studies, workers varied tension, frequency, and duration by doing more repetitions in the same session, experimenting with changes in tension, and varying training sessions per week. Obviously, the total number of potential variables to test made it difficult to test all possible conditions. Muller (9) re-evaluated his own work and found that the rate of strength improvement did appear to correspond “roughly to the strength of the training contractions.” Coleman also decided that “increases in strength are related to the intensity of the training stimulus” (16). Coleman, however, compared strength 101

increases for two separate groups: one using isometrics and the other using isotonic training. He used similar loads in the two groups and drew his conclusion from that and never tested them (or other groups) across a wide range of loads. Coleman did believe that strength increases were related to the percent of maximum tension applied to the muscle. An earlier study also concluded that tension was the predominate factor in attaining the best increases in muscle strength because increases of 4.5% per session resulted from maximum tension whereas twothirds maximum tension output provided only 2.8% increases per session (17). From these results, it appears that the increase in strength from isometric training is probably not a simple one-step function that turns-on when one reaches a threshold of tension, but is an increasing function based upon an ever-increasing tension during contraction.

Frequency Both session frequency and repetition frequency have been studied (19). Hettinger calculated that training on alternate days is 80% as effective as daily training, and training once per week is 40% as effective as daily training. He also found that training once every two weeks produced no gains at all, but 102

did maintain strength. More research is needed to clarify training session frequency. Disagreements exist about the needed number of contractions per session and there have been many trials of different combinations (1). In 1972, Berger compared the effects of 1, 2, or 3 repetitions of 6 to 8 seconds for each contraction, during 8 weeks of training. He found no evidence that more contractions were better than fewer (19). In summary, it seems that increasing the number of repetitions helps to increase strength, but the advantage is not significant. In isometric training, the duration of contractions likely has an effect, but no studies exist that manipulated this factor.

Duration The length of the duration of a contraction is less well studied than that of repetition frequency. Hettinger and Muller (3) used 6-second contractions. Others have tested contraction times ranging from 1 second to as many as 100 seconds. No study, according to Muller (9), provided any evidence to favor longer contractions over shorter ones. Hettinger claimed that 1 second contractions had a negligible value, and that to be effective, a contraction must last about 10-20% as long as a maximum contraction can be held. 103

He further observed that a comparison between 1 second and 6 second duration contractions not only accelerated the increases in strength, but carried them to a greater height. The shortest duration of contraction for a threshold stimulus and the optimum duration for maximum strength increases are unknown within the database of scientific publications.

Time to Reach Maximum Tension Development The production of a maximum tension output in muscle takes time; it is not instantaneous and requires between 200-300 milliseconds (ms) to reach almost maximal tension. Once contraction is initiated, motor units must be recruited, muscle shortening must begin, slack must be removed from the muscle fibers, activation of the structural proteins must occur (myosin and actin cross-links must fire: these are proteins that cause muscle shortening and contraction), and fuel requirements must be met. Different muscles have different times to peak tension output, for example, elbow flexor muscles can carry out the process of full tension development more quickly (1.6 seconds) than lower limb extensors (4.4 seconds).

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The above cited studies were nearly unanimous in the conclusion that the most important factor inducing maximum increases in muscle strength was a maximal contraction. Muscle contraction times to peak output would negate the idea that 1-2 second contractions would be effective since muscles are unable to reach maximal tension output that quickly. A question arises: Is the increase in muscle strength related to both the initiating excitationcontraction coupling process and the process of sustaining maximum tension for a period of time? In a study to address this question, researchers trained the elbow flexors of human subjects for three weeks. The observed strength increases were associated with no change in muscle activation rates (20). When selecting the duration of contraction, consideration to the differing rates of a muscle’s 105

ability to develop maximal tension output must be part of the planning process.

Joint Angle It has been argued that isometric exercise to increase strength, which is most often conducted at one fixed joint angle, has little transferability to other muscle/joint angulations. The training position for isometric contractions is defined by the joint angle across which the muscle contracts. The angle of the joint sets muscle architecture and length. Depending on the joint angle, there will be changes in mechanical advantages, modifications of neural input, and alterations in opposing muscles by way of synergistic actions. The force that the elbow flexor muscle can generate varies throughout its range of motion (as it does for any individual muscle) so, as such, joint angle is associated with varying levels of force production. The forces produced at joint angles between 50 degrees and 140 degrees for elbow flexors have been predicted from the force recorded at one angle with high accuracy (21). Predictions for the elbow extensors were less accurate. Garg and Chaffin demonstrated this same predictability on a broader scale (22). By using multiple mathematical equations in a computer model, they predicted the force output of the hand in 18 widely differing positions. Comparing the 106

predicted forces with the actual measured forces, they recorded validity coefficients ranging from a very high r=0.93 to r= 0.97, a consistency which suggests that training effects should be consistently transferred from one to other joint positions. There were opponents. Some studies (9) indicated joint angle specificity effects. Lindh saw the same specificity when training knee extensors. He concluded that the joint-angle dependent effects were of neuromuscular origin and as a result argued that effective isometric training should be conducted at multiple joint angles (23). This training methodology had already been adopted, but it produced no significant general increase in strength (24). Others found the same result. Hetherington employed a measuring procedure designed to remove the effects of differing lever positions as a result of varying joint angulations so he could measure pure tension (25). Further research to address the issue of jointangle-specific-training-adaptation continued until the question was resolved with the use of sophisticated methods. Rosentswieg measured muscle action potentials from elbow flexors and found the potentials to be constant and concluded that: “differences in strength at divergent angles are a function of the lever and not of muscle activity” (26).

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In 1967, Whitley found that increases in muscle strength occurring at one fixed angle of training did transfer to all joint angles (27). He convincingly showed that strength gained at one joint angle is usually available for the provision of muscle power at other un-trained joint angles and finally put the issue to rest.

Modern Research into Isometrics The early research concerned itself with issues related to defining the elements of the exercise prescription and how each contributed to the training stimulus. Striking to this research was the failure of researchers to set up split testing models to evaluate the outcomes of strength increases from varying protocols. Certainly some tests were made, but the number pales in comparison to the enormous number of programs that could be studied. What did become clear was that tension development to maximum levels was the primary factor in strength increases. The future research path that followed after this early period was to test protocols characterizing the differences between isometrics, isokinetics, and isotonics. Invariably, a single protocol was used within each modality. There was no split testing of specific programs. For the most part, the evolution of testing programs, A versus B for example to see which is better, was relegated to the pages of muscle magazines as “gym experts” extolled the virtues of a 108

particular style of training. There were none more vociferous than Arthur Jones, the developer of the Nautilus equipment. Included with the Nautilus equipment was a specific style of training deemed “one-set-to-failure.” Jones was also a proponent of negative and isometric training and developed specific pieces of equipment so one could train in such a manner. Some researchers published papers on the effects of Jones’s training methods and arguments and discussions were a common occurrence in the muscle-head periodicals of the day. In the modern era, the sophistication of explorative technology has given way to an investigation of the physiological responses to isometric training rather than more research into the superiority of one method of training versus another, a split test if you will. For example, a recent 2007 article characterizes changes in the activation of muscle and determined if there were “linked” neural adaptations in the motor pathway following isometric training. The training protocol was 12 sessions of isometric training of the foot plantar flexor muscle over a four-week period (28). To estimate spinal changes, the researchers used the Hoffman reflex to detect evoked spinal reflex responses. They tested the subjects at 50%, 75%, and 109

100% of their maximal voluntary contraction strength (MVC). MVC increased by 20.0% in these young healthy subjects during 4 weeks. The rate of increase was, therefore, 5% per week, a figure comparable to the results found in early research, although more than expected for those in a healthy state. An explanation for this is that few people train their plantar flexors so that particular muscle may have been relatively deconditioned. Interestingly, in contrast to work already cited, this study showed an increase in efferent neural drive (nervous system) of 57.3%. The results suggest that increases in MVC observed in the first few days of isometric training can be accounted for by an increase in the rate of activation of muscle at the onset of contraction. These increases in muscle activation may arise from increased volitional drive from supraspinal centers.

In a recent study, researchers looked more extensively into the components of the contractile muscle-tendon complex for insights into the contribution of each component to contractile force: tendon versus muscle (29).

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the mechanical properties of the connective tissue and muscle performance in maximal isometric actions. Sixteen trained men consented to participate. Maximal isometric strength was 110

determined. The mechanical properties of the muscle, vastus lateralis (outside of the thigh), were determined by ultrasonography.

The rate of torque development was positively related to the mechanical properties of the tendon structures and showed that tendon mechanical properties might account for up to 30% of the variation in the development of torque. Power, force, and velocity measurements were correlated to tendon stiffness. The results of this study demonstrate that the stiffness of the tendon structures affects the development of force transmission from the contractile machinery to the movement of bone. It is obvious from the above that the sophistication of the analytical methodologies and the advances in technological assessments allow a significantly more refined understanding of the effects of training programs. That statement, however, shows only the evolution in the understanding of the physiological, biochemical, and molecular basis of the effects of isometric training regimens. We realize no further advances in the identification of optimal procedures for increasing muscle strength. The intention of physiologists is not to identify optimal training procedures, but to identify changes in tissue structure and function. Optimization of procedures is of little interest to the academic scientist. 111

In another recent study of isometric training, researchers from York University, Toronto, Canada, studied the changes in maximal voluntary (MVC) force. They evaluated the percentage maximal activation, and maximal surface EMG (electromyography, a measure of muscle fiber activation), and M-wave characteristics of the EMG. They also acknowledged that few studies have measured motor unit firing patterns during training. The purpose of this study was to measure average single motor unit firing rates during almost maximal and submaximal (50 and 75%) of MVC. The training protocol was three sessions per week for three weeks, providing a total of nine training sessions. Subjects were males, average age 25, and were untrained. Each participant warmed up and then the training was 3-5 attempts to reach MVC, each with superimposed twitches (reach MVC, back off, and go for it again) with 90 seconds rest in between. Then the training protocol followed which consisted of 10 MVCs with 3 minutes rest between sets. Each MVC was held for 3 seconds with 3 second rest intervals in between. For the training group, the absolute MVC in the knee extensor muscles increased significantly after only four of the nine sessions and the end value increase was 35%, equal to an increase in strength of 3.88% per session after just nine training days. Single 112

motor unit firing rates were higher at 75% versus 50% and at 100% versus 75%. They concluded that the adaptive response in the neuromuscular system to resistance overload is rapid since increased muscular strength was significantly increased after just four sessions. They highlighted the fact that this rate of increase is not uncommon, citing work showing a 15-18% increase in MVC during the first four weeks of training (30,31) and up to 36% by 8 weeks (99). One of the purposes of this study was to define both the neural contribution and the hypertrophic (muscle size) contribution to increased muscular strength. The desired outcome, to attribute percentage contributions for each, was not realized. They did conclude, however, that a combination of mechanisms including increased protein synthesis, changes in muscle activation characteristics, changes in muscle agonist versus antagonist activity (extensor muscle increased activity as a result of neural inhibition of its opposing flexor muscle, example leg extension versus leg curl), may all contribute to the increase in maximal muscle force output during the first few weeks of resistance training. In an earlier study by Cafarelli, the purpose was to define more clearly whether increases in strength arose because of contributions from neural adaptations and/or muscle hypertrophy (33). An 113

experimental group of fifteen female university students trained knee extensor muscles in one leg using isometric exercise. Training consisted of 30 MVC per day, 3 times per week, for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks of training, MVC increased by 28% and muscle cross sectional area increased by 14.6%, but the amplitude of the electromyogram was unchanged. The conclusion drawn by the researchers was that there was no evidence of a strength increase that was unrelated to an increase in muscle size. In other words, all of the increase in strength came as a result of increases in the growth of contractile proteins: because of muscle hypertrophy. Both the historical and modern-day literature is clear: isometric resistance exercise leads to rapid and dramatic increases in muscle strength. These increases slow with time and they are relatively high and rapid the more deconditioned a subject is at the beginning of training. According to early research, most of the muscle strength gains occur within five weeks of beginning training, but the hallmark of strength increase studies is that they are constrained by time limits and there are no studies available that extend beyond 8-12 weeks. The most effective isometric program has not been defined by scientific investigation. It is clear that a maximal contraction, held for brief seconds, is 114

the most effective stimulus for inducing strength increases, and, most likely, hypertrophy. Optimal duration and frequencies have not been clarified. Another important area of incomplete research is recovery. Of course, this issue relates to the exercise prescription. The overarching issue, however, remains the fact that there has never been a systematic test of the many possible isometric combinations of exercise protocols that are possible over the wide range of the components of the exercise prescription and, in and for, many varied human population types. As I have shown, research is far more interested in the physiological, biochemical, and molecular changes that occur as a result of training. The development of training optimization programs and protocols has always been the subject of public conjecture. Not to say that those in the public are unable to make a significant contribution. As a society, we lie at the altar of the scientist and medical man as if they, and only they, can divine the mysterious answers that mere mortals are not capable of divining.

Aging and Muscle The muscle wasting and weakness that occurs with aging have been of interest since early Greek and Roman history. Muscle loss and decay, at the opposite pole of our interest in muscle strength, both have a long history of human interest. The Greeks despised 115

aging as it represented a deterioration of youthful vigor. If the problem of physical frailty in aging is to be effectively slowed, we must have a full understanding of the causes and mechanisms underlying muscle weakness (34). Sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass with aging, is the main cause of muscle weakness in old age. This process begins around the 6th decade and by the 8th decade muscle mass attains a value that is 40% less than the whole body muscle level that one possessed in his 2nd decade (35). The causes of sarcopenia are multi-faceted, but are mainly driven by neuropathic changes leading to motoneuron death (36) along with cell death (apoptosis). During the aging process, the number of muscle fibers decreases, as well as fiber size arising from changes in hormonal growth factors (37), and a decrease in the level of physical activity (38). Malnutrition in aging is quite common due to a progressive loss of appetite and the consequent reduction in food intake. The loss of muscle size occurs along with the inability to generate force based on a muscle’s crosssectional area and this is referred to as a decrease in muscle quality (39). These factors affect both the neuromuscular system and the tendon connective tissue system.

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Among the muscular changes is the inability to generate as much force output as one could perform when younger. There is a decrease in the myosin:actin cross-bridge connections which are responsible for creating contractile force. Further, there is less neural drive (40). There are also changes in the shape of the muscular architecture that contribute to the loss of force that account for about 50% of the loss in muscle function in the elderly.

Neuromuscular Alterations with Training in the Aged Since the early 1990’s resistance training has been shown to slow and even reverse the detrimental effects of aging (41,42,43,44). What is most significant about this body of work is that it shows the adaptability of human physiology and implies that the losses attributed to the aging process are not fixed and unalterable. Skeletal muscle has the capacity to regenerate when exposed to an appropriate stimulus. With the use of specialized technology such as computerized tomography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging, muscle cross sectional area under the influence of resistance training has been shown to increase significantly from resistance training. Increases in muscle cross-sectional area after 3-month’s training, range from 5-17%, a figure 117

comparable to the changes seen in young adults during similar periods of training (46). In order to assess the true maximum force-producing capability in response to training programs, isometric strength testing may be the most appropriate choice (34). Changes in tendon stiffness also accompany changes in muscle size and the force-generating capability of trained elderly muscle (47). The implications of these findings is that functional activities requiring a rapid generation of joint torque force may benefit, such as an attempt to recover from a slip or fall. In contrast, the work demonstrating that neural factors are little involved in strength increases in the young, studies with the elderly indicate that maximal muscle activation (neural factors) played a dominant role in the strength increases they experienced (49). Their data suggest that the effect of muscle training in the old may rest entirely on neural factors, presumably acting on various levels of the nervous system, which act to increase muscle activation (neural) in the absence of significant hypertrophy (muscle growth). Of course, as we have seen, above, hypertrophy does occur. And, as we have also seen, increases in neural input will be a factor since sarcopenia is characterized by diminished neuronal stimulation of the contractile proteins.

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This is an interesting observation in comparing muscle adaptations in old versus young and brings into play the long-standing question of the percent participation of neural versus hypertrophic changes in muscle in response to training. In the preceding discussion of sarcopenia, I outlined the predominate characteristic of sarcopenia that is motoneuron loss, a neural aspect of muscle function decline. Of course, there is also a loss of muscle fiber size and muscle fiber contractility function. Since fiber function is quite dependent on neural input, it is clear that neural activation is an important component of the maintenance of muscle size and its contractile properties. Several studies, that used conventional resistance training in the elderly, have shown significant increases in muscle strength in 8-12 weeks: 107.4% (49), 113.0% (42), and 174.0% (45). The only conclusion that can be drawn from the above studies is that increased muscle strength in the elderly occurs as a result of the combined improvements in both activation (neural) and hypertrophy. These two mechanisms, acting in tandem, demonstrate the extraordinary potential for rehabilitation of the loss of muscle strength and function in the elderly and the associated potential to prevent falls, improve the quality of life, and maintain independent activities of daily living (ADL). 119

Impulse Training by Performance Health Systems A very interesting recent development in the science of exercise training was the creation of the bioDensity System of training. Founders of Performance Health Systems, Paul Jaquish and John Jaquish, have gone back in time to the early days of isometric training and tied the understanding of its extraordinary effectiveness to the technology of our current times. They have produced a device and system of training that will revolutionize exercise science as we know it. Neither of these men are scientists in the strictsense of that definition, toiling away in some laboratory in an ivy-covered university for the sake of scientific discovery. In contrast, here are two innovative and brilliant men trying to develop something for the health of humanity. Their passion for strength training and its impact on human health led to the development of the machine and system of training. In doing so, they rewrote the science of muscle strength as pioneers in cutting-edge technology. Not since the days of the introduction of the Nautilus machines and system of training by Arthur Jones in 120

1970 have we seen such a dramatic improvement in exercise training science. What is uniquely different between bioDensity and Nautilus is that Performance Health Systems fully realized the power of isometric training and produced a unique device to tap its potential. Nautilus relied upon conventional training ideas using isotonic resistance training as its recommended format. Nautilus sniffed around the edges of isometrics with some of its machines, but never really embraced isometrics as the king of training methods.

As I discussed earlier, there are many limitations to the science underlying isometrics. In my view, the only solid piece to what has been uncovered about isometrics is that intensity (tension development) is the most important factor for realizing maximal increases in muscle strength. Much of the other areas of interest in identifying the combinations of the exercise prescription (intensity, duration, and frequency) are largely unknown. 121

I identified the reasons for this: scientists are much more interested in identifying the physiological, biochemical, and molecular changes that occur from following an exercise training program. In general, the identification of optimal training programs is left to the laity and those involved in training that may, or may not, possess a PhD and have employment in a university. This does not imply that no one other than a PhD can divine elegant truths and realizations. Thomas Edison did not have a PhD, but was a magnificent entrepreneur and this is often where great ideas arise. Bill Gates never finished Harvard, but his work revolutionized the world. So, it is also the same way with Performance Health Systems and bioDensity training, and when it spreads across the nation and world, the impact upon people’s health will be revolutionary as well. We all know that the decay in physical fitness is an epidemic. We all know that people are unwilling to devote time to maintaining their fitness. The “disuse syndrome” is now well-known as one of key features of the aging process that leads to falls and loss of independence. Loss of muscle strength is one of the main predictors of falling. How can we help the frail and weak maintain their quality of life? The only way is to improve their strength and all other aspects of physical function. 122

The elderly are so concerned about their financial strength, but pay scant attention to their physical strength. The bioDensity system can dramatically and quickly change muscle strength. So, what did Performance Health Systems do? It developed a device that revolutionizes muscle training. By using modern-day load cells that precisely and accurately measure tension output, Performance Health Systems was able to collect and develop a database from more than 35,000 workouts since 2005. With this enormous amount of analyzable information, Performance Health Systems filled in the blanks leftover from the hey-day of scientific investigation into isometric exercise. Performance Health Systems could now define all the elements of the exercise prescription and from that develop, finally, the optimal training program for the development of human strength. Let’s review the following table and then apply the results to a comparison between early isometric research and the accomplishments of Performance Health Systems. Strength Gains During Three Years of bioDensity Research Average Age Strength Gain (%) Active 2005 52 123 Clients Active 2006 46 63 Clients 123

Active 2007 Clients

51

42

As you may recall from my earlier discussions, researchers found that strength increases using isometrics were rapid and also depended on the existing conditioning level of the subject. Muller (9) argued that most subjects reached maximal strength in about five weeks. I argued, in contrast, that we could not know that because no one ever conducted studies over longer periods of time, until now. Look at the amazing contribution of Performance Health Systems research. In 2005, strength increased by 42% representing an increase of 0.8% per week. I do not have the weekly breakdown on all clients since this is proprietary data, but previous research would support a much higher weekly increase early with slowing as time went on (see chart below for more analysis). But, strikingly, strength never reached a maximum and it just continued to increase during the year(s). Now, look at 2005 clients who continued to train and realized increased strength levels to 123% of starting strength! There was no leveling off. What an incredible contribution to an understanding of the development of human strength. This data is an extension of the research during the early days and clearly resolves many unanswered questions. John Jaquish told me (personal 124

communication) he based his beginning work on the initial studies of Hettinger and Muller (3) and that he tried many variations in the training regimen. Because he accurately measured every training session’s tension output and collected and analyzed the data, he was able to begin to answer questions related to frequency and duration. He could easily see the tension output in real time while the trainee exercised.

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From this he could deduce optimal contraction times relative to the fatigue properties of the muscle. He could also test recovery time and determine the amount of rest required between training sessions. The bioDensity system made all this possible. The chart below shows how one subject’s strength improved during five months of continuous training during which time his whole body strength increased by 35% equaling 7% per month and 1.75% per week.

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In the following slide, Performance Health Systems demonstrates the effect of maximal contraction development during isometric training and its effect on muscular adaptation in comparison to conventional training and individuals living freely and doing no exercise.

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Intensity is clearly the most important factor in the development of maximal strength and endurance (50,51,52,53,54). What is less well understood is the time course of metabolic adaptations (51,525556). The interest of scientific investigation is often about changes in cellular enzymes or other changes at the cellular level and, most often, changes at the whole body level are of little interest (53). What is unique about Performance Health Systems research is that it was able to arrive at whole body reactions to exercise to define, for the first time ever, optimal muscle strengthening protocols and the most viable form of training for increasing muscle strength. In doing so, Performance Health Systems arrived at answers for the exercise prescription. For example, by varying the work:rest ratios, Performance Health Systems could define the length of time required for full muscle recovery. If subjects trained again before full muscle adaptation occurred, Performance Health Systems could easily see that the subject was unable to generate maximum tension because full recovery had not actually taken place. Performance Health Systems extended the work of the early pioneers by developing the perfect tool to gather and assess the results of 35,000 exercise sessions. We now possess the optimal training tool and the optimal program to maximize human muscular strength. The functional outcome is optimal 128

benefits to human health including muscle strength and power that lead to improvements in the activities of daily living and reduce the risks of falling and injury in the elderly. BioDensity training is truly a great contribution to exercise science and to humanity.

Isometric References 1. Atha J. Strengthening muscle. Exerc Sport Sci Rev 1981;9:1-73.

2. Hellebrandt FA. Recent advances in methods of hastening convalescence through exercise. Southern Medical Journal 1946;39(May): 398-401.

3. Hettinger T, Muller EA. [Muscle capacity and muscle training.]. Arbeitsphysiologie 1953;15:111-26.

4. McCloy CH. Something new has been added. The Journal of the Association for Physical and Mental Rehabilitation 1955;9:46-61.

5. Muller EA. Training muscle strength. Ergonomics 1959;2:216-22.

6. Hunsicker PGG. Studies in human strength. Res Q 1957;28:109-22.

7. Hettinger T, Muller EA. Progress of increase in muscle power after a single maximum training stimulus. Int Z Angew Physiol 1956;16:184-91. 129

8. Rasch PJ, Morehouse LE. Effects of static and dynamic exercises on muscle strength and hypertrophy. J Appl Physiol 1957;11:29-34.

9. Muller EA. Influence of training and of inactivity on muscle strength. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1970;51:449-62.

10. Clarke DH. Adaptations in strength and muscular endurance resulting from exercise. Exerc Sport Sci Rev 1973;(1):73-102.

11. Komi PV, Viitasalo JT, Rauramaa R, Vihko V. Effect of isometric strength training of mechanical, electrical, and metabolic aspects of muscle function. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol 1978;40:45-55.

12. Hettinger T, Muller EA. [Muscle capacity and muscle training.] Arbeitsphysiologie 1953;15:111-26.

13. Bonde-Petersen F. Muscle training by static, concentric, and eccentric contractions. Acta Physiol Scand 1960;48:406-16.

14. Royce J. Re-evaluation of isometric methods and results -- a must. Res Q 1964;35:215-6.

15. Cotten D. Relationship of the duration of sustained voluntary isometric contractions to changes in endurance and strength. Res Q 1967;38:366-74. 130

16. Coleman AE. Comparison of weekly strength changes following isometric and isotonic training. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1972;12:26-9.

17. Walters CE, Steward RC, LeClaire JF. Effect of short bouts of isometric and isotonic contractions on muscular strength and endurance. Am J Phys Med 1960;39:131-41.

18. Hettinger T. Physiology of Strength. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1961.

19. Berger RA. Effect of varied sets of static training on dynamic strength. Am Correct Ther J 1972;26:52-4.

20. Sukop J, Nelson RC. Effects of isometrical training on the force time characteristics of muscle contractions. In: R.C. Nelson & C.A. Morehouse, ed. International Series on Sport Sciences, Biomechanics IV(1). Baltimore: University Park Press 1974.

21. Singh M, Karpovich PV. Isotonic and isometric forces of forearm flexors and extensors. J Appl Physiol 1966;21:1435-7.

22. Garg A, Chaffin DB. A biomedical computerized simulation of human strength. AIIE Transactions 1975;7:1-15.

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23. Lindh M. Increase of muscle strength from isometric quadriceps exercises at different knee angles. Scand J Rehabil Med 1979;11:33-6.

24. McKethan JF, Mayhew JL. Effects of isometrics, isotonics, and combined isometrics-isotonics on quadriceps strength and vertical jump. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1974;14:224-9.

25. Hetherington MR. Effect of isometric training on the elbow flexion force torque of grade five boys. Res Q 1976;47:41-7.

26. Rosentswieg J, Hinson MM. Comparison of isometric, isotonic and isokinetic exercises by electromyography. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1972;53:249-52.

27. Whitley JD. The influence of static and dynamic training on angular strength performance. Ergonomics 1967;10:305-10.

28. Del Balso C., Cafarelli E. Adaptations in the activation of human skeletal muscle induced by short-term isometric resistance training. J Appl Physiol 2007;103:402-11.

29. Bojsen-Moller J, Magnusson SP, Rasmussen LR, Kjaer M, Aagaard P. Muscle performance during maximal isometric and dynamic contractions is influenced by the stiffness of the tendinous structures. J Appl Physiol 2005;99:986-94.

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30. Cannon RJ, Cafarelli E. Neuromuscular adaptations to training. J Appl Physiol 1987;63:2396-402.

31. Griffen L, Carafelli E. Neural excitability following resistance training studied with transcranial magnetic stimulation. Med Sci Sports Exerc : supplement 2003;35:S293.

32. Moritani T, deVries HA. Neural factors versus hypertrophy in the time course of muscle strength gain. Am J Phys Med 1979;58:115-30.

33. Garfinkel S, Cafarelli E. Relative changes in maximal force, EMG, and muscle crosssectional area after isometric training. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1992;24:1220-7.

34. Narici MV, Maganaris CN. Adaptability of elderly human muscles and tendons to increased loading. J Anat 2006;208:433-43.

35. Abate M, Di IA, Di RD, Paganelli R, Saggini R, Abate G. Frailty in the elderly: the physical dimension. Eura Medicophys 2007;43:407-15.

36. Degens H. Age-related skeletal muscle dysfunction: causes and mechanisms. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact 2007;7:246-52.

37. Doherty TJ. Invited review: Aging and sarcopenia. J Appl Physiol 2003;95:1717-27. 133

38. Hollmann W, Struder HK, Tagarakis CV, King G. Physical activity and the elderly. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil 2007;14:730-9.

39. Ryall JG, Schertzer JD, Lynch GS. Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying age-related skeletal muscle wasting and weakness. Biogerontology 2008;9:213-28.

40. Lynch GS, Ryall JG. Role of beta-adrenoceptor signaling in skeletal muscle: implications for muscle wasting and disease. Physiol Rev 2008;88:729-67.

41. Bassey EJ, Fiatarone MA, O'Neill EF, Kelly M, Evans WJ, Lipsitz LA. Leg extensor power and functional performance in very old men and women. Clin Sci (Lond) 1992;82:321-7.

42. Fiatarone MA, O'Neill EF, Ryan ND et al. Exercise training and nutritional supplementation for physical frailty in very elderly people. N Engl J Med 1994;330:1769-75.

43. Fiatarone MA, Evans WJ. The etiology and reversibility of muscle dysfunction in the aged. J Gerontol 1993;48 Spec No:77-83.

44. Fiatarone MA, O'Neill EF, Doyle N et al. The Boston FICSIT study: the effects of resistance training and nutritional supplementation on physical frailty in the oldest old. J Am Geriatr Soc 1993;41:333-7. 134

45. Fiatarone MA, Marks EC, Ryan ND, Meredith CN, Lipsitz LA, Evans WJ. High-intensity strength training in nonagenarians. Effects on skeletal muscle. JAMA 1990;263:3029-34.

46. Brown AB, McCartney N, Sale DG. Positive adaptations to weight-lifting training in the elderly. J Appl Physiol 1990;69:1725-33.

47. Reeves ND, Maganaris CN, Narici MV. Effect of strength training on human patella tendon mechanical properties of older individuals. J Physiol 2003;548:971-81.

48. Moritani T, deVries HA. Potential for gross muscle hypertrophy in older men. J Gerontol 1980;35:672-82.

49. Frontera WR, Meredith CN, O'Reilly KP, Knuttgen HG, Evans WJ. Strength conditioning in older men: skeletal muscle hypertrophy and improved function. J Appl Physiol 1988;64:1038-44.

50. Capaccio JA, Kurowski TT, Czerwinski SM, Chatterton RT, Jr., Hickson RC. Testosterone fails to prevent skeletal muscle atrophy from glucocorticoids. J Appl Physiol 1987;63:328-34.

51. Hickson RC, Heusner WW, Van Huss WD. Skeletal muscle enzyme alterations after sprint and endurance training. J Appl Physiol 1976;40:868-71.

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52. Hickson RC, Bomze HA, Holloszy JO. Linear increase in aerobic power induced by a strenuous program of endurance exercise. J Appl Physiol 1977;42:372-6.

53. Tsuzuku S, Shimokata H, Ikegami Y, Yabe K, Wasnich RD. Effects of high versus low-intensity resistance training on bone mineral density in young males. Calcif Tissue Int 2001;68:342-7.

54. Tsuzuku S, Ikegami Y, Yabe K. Effects of highintensity resistance training on bone mineral density in young male powerlifters. Calcif Tissue Int 1998;63:283-6.

55. Hickson RC, Foster C, Pollock ML, Galassi TM, Rich S. Reduced training intensities and loss of aerobic power, endurance, and cardiac growth. J Appl Physiol 1985;58:492-9.

56. Hickson RC, Hagberg JM, Ehsani AA, Holloszy JO. Time course of the adaptive responses of aerobic power and heart rate to training. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1981;13:17-20.

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Isometrics Only Training

I was thrilled with the results I was getting with isometrics: four exercises each performed for five seconds once every 7-10 days.

Of course, after writing the research paper I understood why the results were so fantastic.

After about 9 months I observed that I was losing something in my muscular self despite the arguments that isometrics would provide all the benefits I wanted.

Many muscles were growing but some muscles were actually downsizing. Since you now know what I know about muscle architecture, I theorized that some aspects of muscle function across the spectrum of muscle fiber were no longer stimulated.

The maximum tension realization was valid but what was now missing was training that stimulated other aspects of muscle function, for example, doing multiple repetitions using less resistance that would hit fibers in a whole different way.

How Many Exercises for Each Muscle

The most common way to train is to pick an exercise and repeat multiple sets. But experience had taught me that a more effective method was to do one set of one exercise and then pick another exercise and do one set of that. You could, say, do one set each of four different exercises. 137

I then ran into a short book written by one of the great trainers of all time: Vince Gironda. I wasn’t aware of the book he wrote in 1982 called A Muscle has Four Sides in which he described the exact procedure that I just wrote about.

Evolution of a New System of Muscle Building

So, it was now clear that the optimization to attain maximal muscle building consisted of a thorough understanding of muscle fiber architecture and performance.

It was not long ago when I was first introduced to the idea of using resistance tubing to do strength training. These tools are primarily used in the development of what is called functional fitness: the improvement of your fitness in doing activities of life.

This was really of no interest to me as my training program was purely involved with getting stronger and getting bigger. Many of the functional fitness programs have little concern for increasing muscle size which has the possibility of interfering with functional performance.

The next step was to determine how I could perform isometric exercise without going to the gym. Of course, the other issue is that one can develop phenomenal force outputs. Because of this the weights that one might have to use would be very heavy and would probably require the use of 2 or more training assistants. 138

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Plastic Tubing In the early years of using an isometric program, the trainee needed a large amount of equipment including benches, weight racks, barbells and dumbbells, and additional equipment to perform the program. After World War II several companies began to develop multi-station gym equipment. After about 1970, the production of fitness equipment exploded. These machines, however, were primarily gym grade. Many companies focused on the production of equipment for the home. The equipment for home use required a reasonable amount of space and the cost of outfitting the home-gym was often considerable. Some of the earliest home equipment used springs attached to handles for muscle building. Only during the last two to three decades have we had the availability of using plastic material for our conditioning needs. Several companies now manufacture a complete line of resistance bands. The trainee can attach the plastic tubes to a wide variety of parts that make them useful for a wide variety of exercise activities. The company that I recommend is Lifeline USA International. They manufacture a wide assortment of products that will meet the needs for a wide assortment of individuals. My training program works perfectly when using Lifeline’s equipment for a 140

serious athlete all the way up to improving conditioning in a deconditioned senior. The plastic tube is a serious and effective tool to provide resistance training. The plastic tube when stretched provides an ever-increasing amount of resistance. The individual tubes are color-coded and increase in resistance in 10-pound jumps, starting with 10 pounds and rising to 100 pounds. The user simply inserts one end of the tube into various attachments such as handles. The design of the handles is such that one handle can hold up to three tubes. The quality of the Lifeline tube is of the highest order. Lifeline uses a continuous dipping process in which they repeatedly dip a flexible rod in rubber latex, followed by curing. Many tubing companies use an extraction process where they extrude the rubber. This process leads to an inferior product that is more easily broken during training. The training programs that follow use several of the Lifeline products. The use of just one of Lifeline’s products, the Train Station, provides a vast array of exercises for both strength building and cardiorespiratory conditioning. The Train Station requires the use of a door upon which the user places a strap and a movable clip that holds the resistance tubes. The clip moves easily up and down the strap providing multiple exercise angles that provides the 141

user with pulling down motions, pulling upward motions, and horizontal type exercises. Two handles come with the unit and an optional plastic bar is available. In contrast to the barbell or to any machine that holds weight plates, making changes or adjustments in the resistance you want to use is quick, easy, and safe. You can remove the tube very easily from its holding place in the handle and replace it with a tube offering more resistance or less resistance. During your actual training session, there are multiple ways to alter the resistance. The tubes provide their maximum resistance when they reach two times their starting length. Adjusting the position of your body in relation to how close you stand to the door is quick and easy way for changing resistance. As you move away from the door, you stretch the tube which increases resistance. If, for example, you are facing away from the door and performing a pushing exercise such as the bench press, you decrease resistance by moving closer to the door. This functions to decrease resistance by decreasing the stretch in the tube. Moving your body further from the door increases resistance by increasing the stretch in the tube. Another way to decrease resistance is to drop one handle and its attached tube and grab the remaining handle with both hands. 142

This system provides an infinite number of resistances to meet the training goals for any individual. The Train Station also comes with a cardio belt that quickly attaches to the handles. You place the cardio belt around your waist and adjust the clip on the strap to provide any angle that you desire. Using this attachment provides many types of resistance exercises that you can perform to meet your cardio needs. In the case of performing cardio, you will use less resistance than for strength training. Simply use one of the lower resistance tubes, attach it to the handle, and attach the handle to the cardio belt. Face away from the door, locate yourself so you can feel the resistance pulling on you and walk or jog in place. There are an unlimited number of positions so you can perform different exercises. You could turn at a right angle to the door and perform resisted lateral movements. A great exercise for your legs and hips is a lunge. In this exercise, you take a long step with one leg while bending your knee. If you face away from the door, the tube will actually pull you back, providing assistance in performing the exercise. This may be helpful for people in a rehabilitation program. I’m recommending the use of several Lifeline products: 143

•

Train Station with optional plastic bar

•

TNT tubes

•

PowRWalker

•

Push up Bar

I also recommend the use of one of the aerobic steps readily found in any sporting goods store. Stepping is a great cardio tool. The Train Station weighs 1½ pounds and travels easily for use on any door in any location. You can place the clip anywhere on the strap which allows the performance of many exercises that would be impossible without the availability of this equipment. Free weight equipment can’t even come close to the versatility, portability, and affordability of tube training. As stated, the goal of this exercise book is to help people attain a healthy life through exercise. I want to provide tailored, doable programs that make sense for the specific needs of any individual. This book is not about getting abs or helping individuals become a newer, sexier self in four weeks. We believe that those programs and advice are unrealistic and not doable for the majority of individuals.

Combining Isometrics and Multiple Repetition/ Exercise

The Lifeline products seemed like an ideal way to do both isometrics and multiple repetition exercise. 144

I first tested this with several of the Lifeline products including the TNT cable and the push-up piece of equipment. The TNT cable holds three bands. One places a holder over the bands and positions it anywhere on a door making sure that the door opens away from you. Close the door on to the door strap and test to make sure it is secure. I bought a nice adjustable incline bench to do the different exercises.

The first session was pretty interesting because I could position the TNT cable and bench in such a manner where I could create an isometric position in that I was unable to stretch the cable any further.

I now had the isometric portion of my exercise session worked out. From there I chose a number of exercises for different muscle groups such as my chest, back, shoulders, legs, and arms. I could use the same exact pieces of equipment as I did for my isometrics by simply removing the bands thereby reducing the resistance.

I now had a full-fledged program to stimulate muscle growth throughout the full spectrum of muscle fiber composition.

Rest and Recovery Whenever you perform maximal isometric contractions the rest period has to be significantly 145

longer than those rest sessions used in conventional multiple repetition exercises. Mostly, I've been using a 7-10 day rest model from isometric session to isometric session.

For the multiple repetition exercise session I've been doing two to three of those per week. I call multiple repetition exercise a "fatigue" model. One never reaches close to maximum tension output and as fatigue sets in the tension created is far less than maximal. This type of training, however, hits other aspects of muscle function leading to a much broader development of muscle.

The use of multiple exercises, one set of each, using about 8-12 repetitions is another important feature of this exercise regimen.

Elastic Resistance vs. Free Weights The Similarities Elastic resistance exercise, such as the use of elastic tubing equipment, has been used for almost a century. It originally was used as a fitness technique, but eventually progressed to be used as a rehabilitation device. Today it is used in both fitness and rehabilitation facilities. Both elastic resistance and free-weight resistance (such as barbells and dumbbells) have several similar properties: a) both provide resistance, 146

b) both allow a free range of motion, c) both allow variable speed of movement, and d) both allow progressive resistance. All four of these properties are critical for the benefits offered by effective resistancetraining programs. Despite the similarities between elastic resistance and free-weight resistance, people would assume, due to the lightweight and “flimsy appearance of elastic resistance equipment such as elastic tubing, that free weights are clearly the better resistance equipment. However, studies have shown that muscle activity and peak load during elasticresistance exercise is similar to free-weight resistance exercise. This means that when comparing the same exercise performed with an elastic resistance device or with free weights, the amount of muscle fibers activated is similar and the amount of force provided by the muscle fibers is similar. Studies on elastic resistance training have also shown that programs using elastic tubing, elastic bands and similar devices increase muscle strength and muscle size and decrease body fat in a similar manner to free-weight training programs.

The Differences In addition to the similarities that elastic resistance shares with free-weight resistance, there are several benefits that elastic resistance offers that free-weight resistance does not. 147

One of the most important benefits of elastic resistance is that, unlike free weights, it does not rely on gravity to provide resistance. This increases its potential for use in more functional movement patterns that mimic both everyday activities and sport-specific activities. Because free weights rely on gravity to provide resistance, they can only provide resistance in a vertical plane —the direction of gravity. This means that if you do an exercise with a free weight in the horizontal plane, such as moving your left hand (while holding a dumbbell) from the left side of your body to the right side of your body, there is no resistance to that movement. With elastic tubing, on the other hand, you can have resistance when doing exercises in a horizontal plane. This means you can perform exercises such as twisting your body from side to side, side kicks and punches, as well as movements that mimic a baseball swing or basketball pass with elastic resistance. Performing exercises with resistance in a horizontal plane better prepares the individual for performing daily tasks—such as turning his body while carrying a heavy box—much easier and with less risk for injury. It also better prepares athletes for competitive movements that take place in a horizontal plane, such as swinging a baseball bat, and helps to prevent sports injuries. A study published in a 1998 issue of American Journal of Sports Medicine, reported that collegiate tennis players who trained using elastic bands 148

increased their shoulder strength and the speed of their tennis serve. Another study, from Louisiana State University (New Orleans), discovered that an elastic band training program strengthened the rotator cuff muscles of collegiate baseball pitchers better than a program that used free-weight dumbbells. Because elastic resistance does not rely on gravity to provide resistance, it is possible to change the emphasis placed on muscles during certain exercises. This is made possible by changing the direction of pull of the elastic tubing or bands. For example, research from Brigham Young University reported that it was possible to change the emphasis placed on the quadriceps and hamstrings during squatting or stepping exercises by changing the direction of pull of the elastic tubing. The ability to change muscle emphasis is important for those who want to target specific muscles either for aesthetic reasons or for strengthening for sport competition. It is also important for those with injuries, as shifting the force more to certain muscles can help protect certain associated joints. For example, greater hamstring emphasis during squatting or stepping exercises helps to protect certain structures around the knee. This is difficult to accomplish with free weights because, as previously stated, they require the direction of force to be vertical, due to the reliance on gravity for resistance. 149

Another benefit provided by the fact that elastic resistance does not rely on gravity is that it provides continuous tension to the muscles being trained. When you lift a free weight like a dumbbell in any direction other than straight up and down, the tension on the muscle can actually be removed at certain points in the range of motion. For example, when doing a biceps curl with a dumbbell, as you curl the dumbbell up towards the shoulder, at the very top of the movement the dumbbell is literally falling towards the shoulder. This means that the tension on the biceps has been removed because the dumbbell is no longer being lifted up against gravity by the biceps. When doing a biceps curl with elastic resistance, the tension is present throughout the entire range of motion because the elastic material provides resistance due to its own properties. The fact that elastic resistance equipment does not rely on gravity also means that the elastic resistance equipment used can be inexpensive, lightweight and easily stored and transported despite its ability to provide strong resistance. On the contrary, free weights must be heavy and cumbersome to provide strong resistance. In addition, free weights tend to be expensive as they are typically priced by the pound. Another unique benefit of elastic resistance that free weight resistance does not offer is linear variable resistance. What this means is that, as the range of motion of the exercise increases, the resistance 150

provided by the elastic equipment increases. For example, when doing a biceps curl, as you curl your hand up toward your shoulder, the resistance of the elastic tubing increases. This is due to the physical properties of elastic material. As its length increases (from being stretched), it provides more resistance. One of the benefits of this is that as the range of motion increases and the resistance increases, the number of muscle fibers that are being used in the exercising muscle increase. The more muscle fibers being used the greater the adaptations in muscle strength that can be achieved with the training program. This benefit is not offered by free-weight resistance. Another reason linear variable resistance, as provided by elastic resistance, is beneficial is due to what is known as the strength curve of muscles. The linear variable resistance provided by elastic tubing better mimics the strength curves of most muscles. A strength curve refers to the way a muscle’s or muscle group’s strength changes over a range of motion. Because of their anatomy, most muscles increase in strength over the range of motion until a certain point. Again using the biceps curl as an example, as you curl the hand toward the shoulder, the muscle gets stronger up until about the halfway point of the range of motion. Thus, the biceps muscle is weakest at the start of the exercise and strongest at the halfway point of the exercise. When doing a biceps 151

curl with a free weight, the individual is limited to how much resistance he can use by how strong the biceps are at the beginning of the exercise (its weakest point). That means that during the biceps curl, the muscle is not receiving adequate resistance when the muscle is in its strongest point in the range of motion. When performing a curl with elastic tubing, however, the resistance increases as the range of motion increases. This means the muscle is receiving greater resistance at its strongest point in the range of motion and therefore is receiving more adequate resistance to better stimulate strength adaptations. Many individuals using elastic resistance report that they can feel a difference, such as a stronger burn in the muscles and greater muscle fatigue, as compared to when they use free weights. This is due to the linear variable resistance that the elastic resistance equipment offers. This allows a greater number of muscle fibers to be used and taxed throughout the range of motion. Anecdotal evidence aside, research studies also confirm this difference. One study performed at Truman State University (Kirksville, MO) found that athletes who included elastic resistance bench press training in their regimens had a significantly greater increase in bench press strength and power as compared to those who only utilized free-weight resistance training. Another study, performed at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, reported in a 2006 issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning 152

Research, that when athletes used elastic band training in addition to free-weight training they had significantly more leg power than when they only utilized free-weight training. A critical benefit of elastic resistance is that it prevents the user from “cheating” on the exercise being performed. This is a common practice, especially for beginners, when using free weights. Cheating involves the use of momentum to get the weight moving. Once the weight has built up momentum, the muscle fibers do not need to be maximally activated to continue moving the weight throughout the rest of the range of motion of the exercise. This is due to the fact that the physics of momentum have taken over to move the weight. The physical properties of elastic resistance devices do not allow the user to cheat by using momentum. This is because the resistance from the elastic equipment comes from the stretching of the elastic material and not the mass of the elastic equipment. The only way to continue a movement while performing an exercise with elastic resistance is to utilize more muscle fibers in the exercising muscle to continue stretching the elastic material.

Final Note The research performed on elastic resistance suggests that not only does elastic resistance offer similar benefits to free-weight resistance, but it 153

actually has several benefits that outweigh (pun intended) those of free weights. This means that a program using elastic tubing resistance can provide similar benefits to a program that uses free-weight resistance, such as increased muscle strength, increase muscle tone and size and decreased body fat. In addition, a program that uses elastic tubing resistance can also provide benefits that are not offered by free-weight resistance programs, such as more functional strength, better injury prevention, greater ability to change muscle emphasis during exercises, greater muscle power development and easier use.

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Chapter 8 Exercise Program Monitoring A little used practice in exercise programs and activities is to check and record what is happening during the training session. The intensity, duration, and frequency of training sessions are related to the amount of physical changes that occur. Therefore, I recommend that you keep records of your workouts. One of the critical points about exercise training is that you should strive to make continual progress until you have reached your desired level of fitness and body composition or your genetic limit, whichever comes first. Results can sometimes be much less than expected because of poor record keeping and monitoring. Resistance, or weight selection, may be too little or too much, rest time may be too short or long, or training periods (the weeks or months that you follow the same program) may be too long to get best results. It just doesn’t make any sense to spend time and effort and not be rewarded with results. This is particularly true as training time goes on. Physical changes are very rapid during the first few months of a beginner’s exercise program. After that, things slow down and frustration can grow -- especially if his goals haven’t been reached. 155

The following are the key features of an effective, result-producing progressive resistance exercise program. 1) Overload training. This concept is based on the idea that a muscle must work at a minimum load (resistance or weight) for a physical change to occur. Once the change or adaptation to that resistance occurs, then no further improvements will be made with that load or resistance. To keep making improvement, a higher stress (resistance) must be used. 2) Specificity of training. This concept means that changes in muscles are specific to the type of exercise you do. For example, if you train to run a marathon, the muscle changes that occur condition you to run a marathon and not to run 100 yard sprints. Changes are specific to the type of stimulus applied. Little change occurs in muscles that aren’t involved in the training activity. As I’ve discussed this is because there are different muscle fibers in each muscle, each designed to do special activities. If you want big muscles then don’t do marathons because you don’t get big muscles from running marathons. Big muscles make no sense to your body for running marathons. We use these principles to design an exercise prescription based on your goals. You can design an exercise program once you know what you want to 156

accomplish, whether it’s big muscles or loss of body fat, based on the knowledge of how muscles work. Unfortunately, most people who direct exercise programs don’t understand these basic principles. Overload and specificity will, if properly used, provide the most results compared to worrying about small details such as the angle of your grip on the barbell. Believe it or not, I see many instructors telling their trainees to turn their hand or foot in this direction or that as if this makes a large difference in training responses. It doesn’t, it’s all nonsense.

Monitoring and Record Keeping Maintain Motivation Constant evaluation, both during a session and over a training cycle, will lead to the best gains and make for more interesting workouts. The process of monitoring your progress also helps to maintain motivation which is one of the hardest things to do after the initial enthusiasm wears off.

Resistance and Effort Evaluation Since monitoring is so important to success, we must have a simple, yet effective method for rating effort. This allows you to determine the proper resistance to use when beginning the training program, and also to know at what point you need to increase the resistance for continued progress. True 157

for both aerobic exercise and resistance training, this provides a framework for an exercise prescription. In the early 1960’s, Dr. Gunnar Borg from the University of Stockholm in Sweden, developed the idea of a scale for rating the trainee’s sense of how hard an exercise was to perform. He called this the “perceived exertion scale.” He designed the scale so that scientists, practitioners of the health sciences, and individuals could simply, yet accurately, and without the aid of sophisticated equipment check how hard an exercise was so that the proper level of effort for each person could be determined. Perceived exertion is a description (or rating) of your effort during exercise. It’s a measure of how hard you think the exercise is for you. Your brain can tell how hard you are breathing or how hard you are straining to lift a weight and it processes those feelings of effort that you have during your exercise. When you say that an exercise is hard, then you are verbally stating your perception of the effort you made. The good thing about this is that we can use a scale to measure exactly how hard you think the exercise is for you. This scale is then used to pick the correct resistance or weight to use to get good results.

Perceived Exertion Rating Scale The scale has numbers from 0 – 10, with 0 being the “no effort” level and 10 representing the “very, very hard” level. Most of the numbers have word 158

labels that are easy to understand. The layout of the scale is as follows.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No effort at all Very, very light (just noticeable)

Very light Light Moderate Somewhat hard Hard (heavy) Very hard Very, very hard (almost maximal)

When using the scale, you can rate effort by decimals, that is, 3.5 or 5.5. As you can see, 10 is listed as almost maximal. Therefore, you can rate a 10.5 or 11 if the effort you just made was the hardest you’ve ever done.

Using the Rating Scale to Monitor Your Programs 159

How do you use the scale? Let’s use aerobic exercise as an example. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that aerobic training be done at 65-90% of the maximum heart rate. This heart rate has been shown to be highly related to the 3 (moderate) to 6 (hard) level on the scale. So, scale ratings of 3-6 can estimate training ranges for proper exercise based on scientific guidelines. Dr. R. J. Shephard and others have shown that the scale is effective for both men and women. Dr. Borg’s research showed that the scale is also capable of accurately rating anaerobic (resistance) exercise. In an article published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise in 1983, Dr. Bruce Noble confirmed this.

Verbal Instructions in Use of Scale Dr. William Morgan has provided verbal instructions for understanding the scale based on aerobic exercise: When you do aerobic exercise, try to estimate how hard you feel the work is; that is, rate the degree of perceived exertion you feel. Think of perceived exertion as the total amount of exertion and physical fatigue, combining all sensations and feelings of physical stress, effort, and fatigue. Try to concentrate on your total, inner feeling of exertion. Estimate as honestly and objectively as possible. 160

Sometimes an exercise will be hard for the whole body. You’ll feel worn out all over; this is usually the case with an activity such as running. With resistance training, an individual muscle may get very tired before the whole body does. This also happens in biking, especially to people who are not yet in shape with the thigh muscles becoming worn out before the whole body gets tired. When this happens, rate how hard that exercise is for that muscle group. For example, with resistance exercises for the arm muscles, the arms usually get tired or can’t do any more work well before your breathing rate or heart rate increases to higher levels. Your whole body doesn’t feel tired but your arms may hurt a lot. Just rate how hard the exercise is for your arms and don’t worry about your whole body. The purpose of the scale is to compare a particular routine to itself when repeated in the next training session. Below is a sample laboratory prescription sheet so you can see how people use the scale for an aerobic exercise program based on the 65-90% maximum heart rate exercise prescription. The 3-6 level serves as the training zone. This doesn’t mean that you cannot exceed this level. Certainly, athletes do it all the time. Many of my sessions rate a 10, on both individual exercises and on the total workout. 161

As an example, let’s say I’m going to do five sets of bench presses, ten repetitions per set, with 15 seconds of rest between sets. I select a resistance that’s heavy enough so I can’t make the last few repetitions of the fifth set. (By the way, this is a hard workout). Using the rating scale, the first set rates 4, the second, a 5, the third, a 7, the fourth, a 9, and the fifth, a10.5. This serves as a guide for me to know when I need to increase the weight. If my cutoff point is 8, then when that fifth set rates only an 8, it’s time to up the weight. Or, if you like, just rate the last set. That’ll make it even easier. Take the time to get into the habit of using the scale. We explored it in detail because it will be very handy for your program, but it’s really quite simple to use. And later on, we’ll see how to use it to help determine if one is entering into an over-trained state. It’s also fun to play with and exciting to see how your perception of effort changes as you condition yourself. What was once an 8 soon becomes a 6. And, if you aren’t improving, you’ll know that too, so you can make the necessary changes. Most important, the scale provides an exercise prescription for you. This personal program helps prevent overtraining, injury, and increases results. 162

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Chapter 9 Resistance Training Principles Maximum Muscle Growth The Maximum Muscle Growth program is a scientific way of conditioning muscles. Knowledge of the composition of the individual muscle fibers and sound scientific principles create a solid base on which to design effective programs of exercise. From this base, proper training methods are developed and followed, leading to optimal muscle responses. I described in an earlier chapter the differences in muscle fibers (slow twitch and fast twitch). Specific exercises or work activities use the type of fibers suitable for that motion. Knowing this work pattern allows us to set up an exercise format that attacks specific fiber type groups. The specific format determines what happens to the whole body and at what place on the conditioning spectrum changes occur, at one extreme of the spectrum purely aerobic training or on the other end of the spectrum, pure strength exercise. Most exercise programs are combinations of both types of conditioning. Therefore, the Maximum Muscle Growth program is based on the knowledge of muscle structure. The different designs of specific fiber groups allow each to carry out specific tasks. These 164

tasks run the spectrum of potential muscle activity and function.

Working Definitions I want to define some basic terms that are the jargon of resistance exercise. Repetition is the completion of a full, single movement of an exercise. Pushing a bar from shoulder level to above your head and then lowering it back to the shoulder position is the performance of one complete repetition. Set is the total number of repetitions performed consecutively. If you perform the shoulder press, as described above, 10 times, that is 1 set of 10 repetitions. Repetition Maximum (RM) is the maximum number of repetitions you can perform at one time. This test is usually performed to evaluate initial strength and endurance levels and, later on, it’s used to measure levels of improvement. We also use a RM test to get an idea of the initial starting resistance to use for an exercise. Most times we don’t use a 1 RM (most resistance or weight you can lift one time) because this requires a very high force output and increases the chance of causing an injury. A 10 RM is better and safer. A 10 RM uses resistance that is heavy enough so you cannot do it 11 times. A 10 RM set equals about 75% of what you can do just one time (1 RM). 165

An exercise prescription is simply a formula of reps (repetitions) and sets. For example, if you performed the shoulder press exercise, I would prescribe a certain number of sets of X reps per set. I would write it as: shoulder presses -- 3 sets, 10 reps, or 3 x 10. That’s 3 sets of 10 repetitions for each set.

Key Principles for Results from Resistance Exercise The next step is to provide you with the basic principles. These are common to all exercise programs. 1) 2) 3)

Intensity Duration Frequency

Descriptions of each principle follow. Intensity This is simply how hard the exercise is to perform -- how much effort does it take. A maximum effort would rate at or above 10 on the RPE scale. Intensity is an important factor to determine because it’s the main factor that leads to the fastest rate of improvement or gain from a training program; it’s the most important principle. Remember, maximal effort is difficult. It’s good to do for sports training but isn’t necessary for 166

progress in a fitness program. Even athletes don’t always train at top effort because of the chance of over-training. You can get good rates of progress at lower levels of effort (3–6 on the RPE scale). But to perform above a previous high, you must, on occasion, try to exceed the previous best performance; you must apply a stress to exceed any existing high point. Doing this, however, is at the heart of training philosophy. This is where the heated arguments arise amongst sportsmen and trainers about what are the ideal methods to improve performance limits. We’ll discuss this in more detail later on. Just remember, if you still want to improve, continued progress occurs by increasing the resistance that you use on an exercise when that resistance becomes easier. If you rated the exercise at 5 and it’s now a 3, then it’s time to increase the resistance. Maintaining your training RPE level is the way to keep progressing as you get in shape. This is consistent with the overload principle. Duration This is how long an exercise session takes to do. Programs that produce results should range from 20–40 minutes and advanced, high result producing programs should range from 45–90 minutes. However, it takes a special effort to exercise up to 90 minutes. My sessions (and I still train hard and for progress) sometimes last about two hours. Isometric sessions are often over in 30 or less seconds. 167

Frequency This is how often you exercise and it’s based on a weekly schedule (or longer for isometrics). Base programs are a bare minimum of 2 times per week but more often they are 3 times per week. Athletes’ training programs are often done 5–7 times per week (sometimes even twice a day). Many variations exist within these three factors. Almost anyone can benefit (and make continued improvements) exercising 30–40 minutes, 3–5 times per week. Remember, intensity will make the most impact on your rate of improvement. Keep in mind though, higher intensity makes workouts harder and requires strong motivation.

Other Important Resistance Exercise Principles Progressive Resistance Exercise For continued improvements from an exercise program, one must increase the resistance when the present resistance becomes easy to perform. Use of the RPE scale in grading your exercise efforts will aid you in knowing when to increase the resistance. For example, at the start of the training program your 10 RM for shoulder presses might be 70 pounds. Since you may not need to work at maximum 168

effort, you select 50 pounds for the resistance during your first workout. After you do 10 reps, you rate the effort on the RPE rating scale as a 6. Then, after 2 weeks of training, the RPE is down to 4.5. The shoulder muscles are now easily performing the exercise. If you don’t increase the training load at this point, you won’t make further progress. A decreasing RPE is your sign to increase the resistance. There are several methods to keep the training program progressive (overloading the muscles). 1) Increasing Resistance: You can increase resistance while doing the same number of repetitions. For example, if you are training for RM’s (repetition maximum), then a 70pound RM may increase to an 80-pound RM after several weeks of training. 2) Increasing Volume: Another method for overloading the muscle is by increasing the volume of training. This can be done by increasing the number of repetitions completed, or you can increase the number of sets performed. And, you can increase both if you’ve got time and energy. There’s a difference of opinion as to what the ideal volume of training should be for good results. Proponents of the Nautilus system have said that one set of an exercise done to momentary muscle failure using between 8-12 repetitions is best. Momentary muscular failure means that no matter how hard you 169

try, you just can’t budge the weight anymore -- the muscle is completely exhausted at that moment. This type of training has become very popular during the last 30 years and its modern day disciples call it HIT, for high intensity training. I, however, am not one of its proponents, having trained this way for more than 7 years with less than optimal results after having been able to look back over my progress with it in comparison to my progress in using other methods. As an aside, a new form of resistance exercise grew out of the Nautilus experience and this program was named, “super-slow.” This is likely the dumbest innovation in the history of the “Iron Game.” The idea of super-slow is to avoid accelerating the movement of the weight and proponents argue that this maintains the load on all of the muscle fibers throughout the full range of the exercise. The problem is that the movement is performed so slowly that only a small percentage of the muscle is involved because the contraction forces are too little. The exercising subject must decrease the amount of weight he uses so that he can move the exercise device at the very slow speeds required. Unfortunately, the under-loaded muscle performs well below its maximum capability as the intensity of exercise decreases. The use of resistance bands will overcome the acceleration issue. 170

Amazingly, the supporters, who know little about muscle physiology, interpret the painfulness of the exercise as an indication of its intensity. What they don’t realize is that the resistance, although not enough for causing maximal contractile forces, is enough to shut down muscle blood flow and oxygen transport. The fuel needs must now come from the conversion of carbohydrate fuel to lactic acid instead of the combination of the carbohydrate with oxygen. Carbohydrate, if combined with oxygen, provides 13 times more of the cell’s energy currency, ATP, then when it is converted to lactic acid. Further, the rising acid level impairs muscle performance. The end result is that the exerciser suffers from serious muscle pain and “burning” but derives little training effect for his pain. Avoid, at all costs, the performance of super-slow exercise. And stay away from the proponents because they are all close-minded zealots believing that their way is the only way. Bodybuilders believe something very different than the advocates of the Nautilus training method about the best way to build muscles. They do 3-4 exercises for a body part. For example, when working the chest muscles, they would perform 4-5 sets of each exercise using between 4-20 repetitions per set. The total sets performed will number between 15-25 sets per body part compared to 1 or 2 sets used by the Nautilus, or HIT, proponents. 171

Recent research has shown that 3 sets of an exercise are better than a single set for gaining strength and muscle size. Endurance gains are better as well. Also reductions in body fat are more with higher volumes of training. The Nautilus principles are, therefore, in my view, incorrect. The plan in Maximum Muscle Growth is to do one set of two-four exercises for each on the repetition training days. Both duration and frequency (as discussed above) are parts of volume. Scientific research hasn’t studied the higher number of sets used by bodybuilders. Obviously, higher volumes of training work. Look at the size of some of these people. And not all of them take steroids. I believe, today, that isometrics and repetition based plan using one set of several exercises makes for bigger muscles, if bigger muscles are what you want.. 3) Rest Periods: A little-used method of overload is to change the length of time that you rest between sets and exercises. The amount of rest time (days) between different exercise sessions is another method. For pure strength building (the ability to lift maximum weights 1 or 2 times), athletes take longer rest periods of 2–4 minutes between sets, or longer. This type of training, using long rest periods between sets does little to reduce the risk factors for heart disease. Short rest periods, as practiced by 172

bodybuilders, lower risk factors similar to that provided by aerobic training! 4) Cycling (or Periodization): Finally, one of the exciting new areas of training research is cycling which includes manipulating all of the above principles. A simple cycle uses variations in the resistance that you use so you complete a cycle of light training for a period of time. As training continues, you gradually shift to heavier sessions. You could use more resistance or more volume or combinations of both. At the peak of the heavy training portion of the cycle, you cut back just before you become stale or over-trained. For example, you begin a progressive resistance program with moderate resistance and each week increase the resistance until you are working at maximum levels. You may also increase the numbers of sets and decrease the time of the rest period as you move toward the heavier portion of the cycle. Keep this up for 2–3 months and then cut back to a lighter cycle using different exercises. Cycling avoids staleness and allows continued improvement. A key factor for continuous gains is variation in the training program. This may prove to be as important as intensity (maybe more so). You can now see the basis of the Maximum Muscle Growth program as it includes the use of these 173

scientific principles to design a program that gives maximum results to fit your individual training goals. Use of the principles also maintains the motivation to train regularly by creating interest, excitement, and results.

How Hard Should You Exercise Based on the above principles, you can see that intensity and variation are the most important factors. Yet, an important question needs an answer. The question is: Do you have to train at the maximum effort level? The answer is NO. In fact, training at maximal levels during each set and each session may reduce results because of over-training. And, for general conditioning, you don’t ever have to train at a maximal level. You should train at the so-called threshold level which is a point of effort required to make progress. Training at a level less than threshold provides little results. The threshold point is at about the 3 level on the RPE scale. Even though maximum effort is not critical to making progress, increasing your effort as you get stronger and your workout becomes easier, is necessary for continued improvement. The Eastern Europeans are working extensively with cycling. Only during the last part of a three or four part cycle, lasting a couple of months, does the training reach maximum levels. 174

Research in the U. S. has shown that it takes about 21 days for the body to adapt completely to a new resistance. This means that when you increase the resistance, continued improvement occurs for the next three weeks at which time progress stops unless you increase the load (resistance). As you reach your genetic limits, you will simply stop getting stronger. Unfortunately, there are limits to human size and strength. The U. S. research proves that you don’t have to increase resistance each training day. In fact, you shouldn’t increase it until several weeks have passed and your muscles have fully adapted and responded to the workload. Then, and only then, is it time to increase resistance. In one experiment, athletes who increased resistance too quickly exhausted themselves completely in just six weeks. Performance decreased and training was stopped. Recuperation took a few weeks. I’ve found this to take about 1-3 weeks, depending upon whether one is new to training or is reaching his upper limits in strength development. For example, if I follow the same program for several years, I fail to get any stronger -- I’ve reached my limits. The best way to check this is by use of the RPE scale and use your own self-selected number as a guide. The chart shows the RPE level at which different groups train: Once you’re happy with the way you look and feel, then further increases aren’t necessary. At this 175

point, you can begin a maintenance program, and to maintain this level of improvement, you use your current resistance as the maintenance load. An important key is to change exercises once every one to three months to maintain the motivation to keep up the program. There are many barbell exercises to choose from without even considering the purchase of any additional equipment. I’ll show you at least 20 different but very effective exercises at the end of the book with a complete description of each one and how to do it. But the variety of exercise equipment and of exercise routines that will all work will boggle the mind. Even if you are not an athlete, levels of effort in the athlete RPE range will challenge you and are fun to try every so often. If you are a beginner, then wait until you are in good overall condition before exercising at higher RPE levels. Follow the general program for a few months and experiment with some of the principles before working at high levels of effort.

Potential for Improvement Your potential for improvement depends upon your genetics and environmental factors and your current lifestyle also play important roles. Your age, sex, present fitness level, the consistency of, and regularity of exercise performance, all determine how much you’ll improve. Desire and motivation are very important too. But, no matter what, even if your 176

motivation and desire reach to the moon, your upper limit is determined by genetics. Reasonable expectations for improvements without major diet changes are that during the first two months of the general fitness program you will add a few pounds of muscle and decrease body fat by 1–3 percent. For those who are overweight, the use of a weight reduction diet as outlined in the Ultimate Diet Secrets will provide more rapid loss of body fat and faster improvements in body shaping. Athletes will improve strength and muscle mass quickly by working at high RPE levels with the training programs described. Adequate intake of protein of a least 1 gram per pound bodyweight assures rapid progress.

Safety for Resistance Training Result-producing resistance training programs have one prominent feature in common -- safety. If you injure yourself, you won’t be able to train. And you won’t feel well either. Never do more than you should and follow the guidelines below. 1) Proper Breathing -- Never hold your breath while doing an exercise. This is called a Valsalva maneuver. Doing so increases blood pressure to high levels. By breathing during your exercise, much lower increases in blood pressure occur. Additional research has shown that the waste products from 177

muscle work, such as lactic acid, increase much less with continued breathing. Increases in lactic acid decrease performance. I recommend that you exhale during the lifting of the resistance and inhale during the lowering of the resistance. This means that as you start the exercise you want to have your lungs full of air. During particularly difficult exercises, when in the last few reps you are breathing very hard, you may take a few quick, deep breaths before starting the next repetition so you maintain proper oxygen and blood flow. 2) Speed of Motion: The proper speed of motion to complete one full repetition depends on how far you are moving the resistance. Usually a full rep will take 2–4 seconds to complete. Very fast movements will lead to pulled muscles because the acceleration of the resistance gives a false sense of strength. Avoid acceleration movements. These cause you to use more resistance then you should. Move the weight at a speed that doesn’t cause throwing or jerking. I’m not a supporter of fast, or ballistic, training. I think it is dangerous. Many would disagree with me. For example, there is a style of training called plyometrics and the whole basis of this type of training is the use of ballistics. Of course, one can always try all of these different styles and 178

learn for himself what works and what doesn’t work. Who am I to say not to try something since I have tried everything outthere. 3) Proper Form: Proper form prevents injury and helps you place the load on the muscle that you want to exercise. The biggest break from proper form is caused because you want to lift more weight than you can. High speed of motion (which is related to lifting too much weight) leads to improper form. Training results are reduced at best and injury occurs at worst. 4) Full Range of Motion: This means that you do the exercise from a position of full muscle stretch to full muscle contraction. Muscles also develop more fully and can exert more force when they are prestretched. And finally, flexibility improves. Studies during the 1968 Olympics showed that the weightlifters were the most flexible athletes attending. So much for the theory of the muscle-bound weightlifter. On the other hand, I’ve already described in the section on isometrics that the exercise can be performed at one joint angle and you’ll still get results. 5) Warming Up: Loose muscles rarely get hurt. Before using a heavy load, properly stretch your muscles. In a multiple set exercise, the first set can be a warm up. Never use the 179

heaviest load or effort until you are sure everything is good and loose. You can bend and twist, jog in place or lift a light weight for about five minutes before you begin the workout. This will provide a good warm up.

Selecting the Proper Starting Resistance The selection of the proper resistance is trial and error. The large muscles of the back and legs are the strongest muscle groups. Use more resistance for exercises with these muscle groups. Later I’ll list the exercises so you can see which specific ones I’m talking about. Use the RPE scale to select the resistance. To start, particularly if you have no training experience, either use a barbell with no plates on it or just 5 pounds on either end. Most barbells weigh about 20 pounds unless you’ve purchased an Olympic bar which usually checks in at 45 pounds. After selecting your initial weight, try to do 10 repetitions of the exercise you picked. Rate your effort. If your rating is well below your target RPE level (3–5 for general fitness/health and 5– 10 for athletes), then put on 20, 30, or even 40 more pounds for your next set of 10 reps. By repeating this process, you will discover the right resistance for each exercise. This process of trials may require that you do the evaluation over several different sessions and the testing period may require a week or two of time 180

until you know what weights you need to use for all of the exercises that you’ll perform in your workouts. Mark down the proper resistances on an exercise card so you can keep records of your programs and progress. Good record keeping techniques are important for progress and motivation. You will quickly find your proper levels by the use of the RPE scale. This is the reason I spent so much time introducing it to you as it serves as a guideline for much of your exercise effort.

What is Strength? This is argued endlessly by many who train. There’s no single definition of strength, but rather there are as many “strengths” as there are conditions of measurement. This is true only if muscle strength and muscle force are defined as synonymous. In my view, strength can be defined simply as the ability to develop force against an unyielding resistance in a single contraction of unlimited duration. It’s argued that weightlifters (power and olympic lifters) are “stronger” than bodybuilders. Weightlifters train to lift as much weight as possible and hone their skills so that coordination and strength work together to hoist the large weights. Bodybuilders, most often bigger than weightlifters, don’t train to lift as much weight as possible, but train to build the biggest muscles possible. 181

Volume training, as performed by bodybuilders, seems to be the most effective method for building large muscles. Again, we see the effects of specificity of training. Now, it’s well known that the strength of a muscle is directly related to its size. Many would like to argue that point because it’s often observed that people can become stronger without getting bigger. This is only true, however, in the early stages of training or, during the time an advanced trainee changes routines or exercises. There’s a learning curve during which the muscle/nerve system learns how to work efficiently. This process reaches its peak after about 4-6 months of training. Any further increases in strength arise because of increases in the size of a muscle. It’s unlikely that much more coordination will develop. Slow twitch fibers are the ones that most readily increase their activation, whereas white fibers are more difficult to activate. This is defined as the “size” principle. The main principles of strength training are not new and their origins have been traced to the ancient Greek city-states. Prior to World War II, MacFadden, through his Encylopedia of Health and Physical Education had compiled, during a thirty year period through the efforts of five MDs and two PhDs, all of the historical ideas known about strength training. Even in 1895, the belief in intensity of work, rather than frequency, was already established and had been for almost a century. Solid agreement about 182

how to strength train, therefore, existed long before World War II. Indeed, it’s doubtful if the views held then were very different than those under which the centurians had trained many 100’s of years before. As the 20th Century opened, it was clearly known that it was the amount of resistance used and not the total amount of work that led to increases in muscle size and strength. The differences, therefore, between the modern and ancient world’s understanding of the development of muscle size and strength were realized as scientists were now using the scientific method to learn about the actual mechanisms that training triggered in the body. It takes about 21 days to adapt to a new load. In this way, you constantly try to reach higher levels of performance by increasing your intensity in small increments, thus avoiding over-training. New trainees are often able to increase their weight each session for a while. Intermediate trainees may have to spend several weeks using the same load, allowing for a complete adaptation, before increasing the weight. When one approaches his genetic limits, it may take months to adapt and be able to increase the weight. And when one reaches his genetic limits the increases simply end and you’re done. That’s how I recommend using increased intensity to make continued progress. I have, for example, not increased any of my weights during the last year. I’m done. It’s all over and after 57 years of training I would hope that I’ve reached my limit. If I do 183

a new routine, however, with new exercises, I can actually increase my resistance each workout, just like a new trainee, but after several months, that ends too. I’ve reached my limit and I if I do a new exercise, I reach my limit with it far sooner than would a new trainee. One way to further improve would be to design about 10-15 different regimens with varied exercises, reps, sets, and rest period combinations. Talk about attacking the Spectrum. Nah, too much work. I just don’t want to bother. I look and feel and can perform OK.

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Intensity: The Most Important Factor Weight trainers use weights to obtain results specific to their goals, which range from using weights for rehabilitation and strengthening of long dormant muscles to the loftier goals of god-like development, great strength and power. In each case, and for every point in-between extremes, basic physiological and biochemical principles apply. These are simple rules -- but are often misinterpreted and incorrectly understood and applied. A large body of scientific research data has accumulated over the years related to what is known as endurance exercise. Many conclusions have been drawn, but controversy still exists. One reason for this is that so much is happening in your body and so many systems are involved that the situation becomes very complex. Therefore, the multiple effects of these programs are said to result from the interaction of only three major variables of the training program -intensity, duration, and frequency. Much work has been done by researchers who have changed one of the variables and kept the others constant and so on and so on. You get the picture. One important thing to understand is that there’s not much scientific research that was performed on athletes comparing the effects of different training programs. Most scientists study heart patients, college students, and rats. Why? Because there isn’t any money available to do the 185

work on athletes. And if there were, it would take many years to unravel it all due to the complexity. But so far, it looks like of the three, intensity is more important than the others when you want maximum improvement. In general terms, intensity can be defined as how hard something is -- psychologically, physiologically, or both. I want you to be concerned with how hard it is on your body -- on your heart muscle, especially how it affects breathing, sweating, etc. What’s interesting is that I cannot describe intensity without considering time -- and time means duration. As an example, suppose I ask you to run 400 yards in 60 seconds. Well, that’s intense! If you’ve ever done it, you know what I mean. It really hurts. Now, I ask you to run 400 yards in 120 seconds -- twice as long. Not too bad on you. But don’t stop -- keep running a series of 400 yard runs, 15 if necessary, until it takes an all-out effort to keep doing them in the allotted 120 seconds. About two hours, three -- until you can’t do it anymore? Is that intense? You bet it is! Another definition refers to intensity as the percentage of momentary muscular effort being generated: and the closer one gets to 100% momentary muscular effort, the higher the intensity. OK, so you’re worn out from each one -- a different kind of tired, but tired nonetheless. What happens inside your muscles? Many different things. But one thing is for sure -- what happens from 186

running one 400 is not the same thing that happens from multiple 400’s. Why? Your muscle is composed of different fiber types: for the sake of simplicity these fibers are categorized into two fast types and one slow type. These different fibers are recruited to perform work in response to different patterns of activity so your body can function in the most efficient way. Easy work, such as standing, uses predominantly slow twitch muscle fibers. As work intensity increases, fast fibers come into action and the slow fibers are not involved to the same degree. When things get really rough, heavier duty fast fibers are called into action. Whether or not slow fibers come back into full action is determined by how hard the work is to perform and how long it lasts. The bottom line is that the fiber that’s used is determined by the force output of the muscle -- low force uses slow fibers; high force uses fast fibers. Slow fibers produce little force and can continue working for long lengths of time. They’re also smaller in size than fast fibers. Fast fibers produce high force and burn out quickly. They grow to a larger size (wider and thicker) than slow twitch fibers. The reason for this is that each has a different percentage of parts. The fast fibers have more units to produce force and slow fibers have more units to produce energy. Picture this: a sprinter and a marathoner; high force versus low force; short-term vs. long time; big muscles (fast/ 187

high force) vs. smaller muscles (slow/low force). You create the changes and adaptations that are required for the activity you perform. It also seems that the harder you work (train) the better improvement in performance you will achieve regardless of the fiber type involved. I bet you’re now asking what does all this mean to your workouts and training programs? A great deal. By understanding muscle fibers and the way they adapt to exercise, we’ll have an idea of how to design the training program. Before we go on, you should know that even though fast fibers are bigger than slow fibers, they both grow in response to training. Most research using weightlifting has been to study how weightlifting muscles are different than running muscles. Almost nothing has been done in the research lab to find out what training program is best or even if A is better than B, and if so, is B better than C, etc. Most of the information in this area comes from bodybuilders, and unfortunately there are so many variables that we really can’t draw many conclusions. But there is one conclusion that we know: intense exercise seems to produce better results than less intense exercise. Some authors have recently suggested that high-intensity training is something that is not, and cannot be, high-intensity if high repetitions are performed as these are deemed to be “endurance” type training. This is to say that high-intensity cannot be produced using a high repetition workout. The 188

definition many have used for high-intensity exercise implies the use of a resistance (weights) that is very close to maximal (85-100% of 1 RM [repetition maximum]), therefore the repetition of the set, by necessity, must be limited to 1-8 repetitions. But, by returning to our earlier definitions, you can readily see that you may use less weight and increase the repetitions and, most important, still train with very high intensity and receive all of the benefits of this type of exercise. Also, by using less weight, you’ll tend to fatigue some fibers thereby forcing your muscle to recruit more fibers to assist the tiring ones so that you can complete the exercise work. It’s not usual for this to happen while using heavy poundage’s for a few repetitions. Usually, when using heavy weights, you’ll make a repetition but the next one will lead to you being unable to generate enough force to complete the rep. This result, caused by ballistic action training, won’t enable you to produce maximal contractile force or maximal endurance performance by the continued forcing of muscle contractile activity. The repetitions must be of a limited number so you can still use a high percentage of the 1 RM resistance. For example, it has been measured in an individual using maximum effort while pedaling at a high resistance on an exercise bike at 80 rpm’s that they are only using about 20% of their maximal voluntary contraction force. A recent review of the strength training research has been completed and the scientists concluded that you need to exert over 189

60% of maximal voluntary contraction force to stimulate increases in strength. It has been demonstrated by Ultrasound studies of human muscle that the size of the muscle is directly related to the strength of that muscle. Therefore, the limit you use for the number of repetitions to still maintain a highintensity workout may be as high as 30, 40, or even 50! You do not have to limit yourself to a range of 1-5 repetitions. Due to the complexity of the muscle’s adaptation to exercise, each individual must define his goals and use a specific training regimen to achieve them. Much work needs to be completed before a definitive statement can be made regarding what amount of weight, how many sets/repetitions, and how often workouts should be repeated to achieve maximal results. Recently, many bodybuilders have elected to perform sets and repetitions of high numbers -- 6-10 sets and as high as 30-50 repetitions with maximal possible weight so that extreme fatigue and the inability to continue occur during the final repetitions. This form of training has produced some startling results in terms of muscle size (and muscle endurance). But, be aware, it’s hard and painful and requires an almost fanatical desire for the possible result to push oneself through these demanding sessions. Other athletes have previously, and are presently, demonstrating that this type of exercise is 190

very productive in respect to muscle size increases. No one can deny that the legs of most speed skaters (and hips, buttocks, and calves) are powerful and enormous. Their repetitions are extremely high and repeated many times. The chronic crouched position puts a continual force (not maximal in terms of all-out effort) on the involved muscles leading to a dramatic hypertrophy (growth) of all the muscle fibers. Under these circumstances, the slow fibers and the fast fibers are heavily involved. They respond by increasing their performance capacity which, as I’ve already discussed, means growth. Any workout that uses high intensity will be productive. But, it should be stressed that intensity, itself, is not defined by any single variable. It’s defined by the stress that’s created by performance and this is regulated by time (duration), resistance, and effort. Any form of exercise or program of exercise which is intense will produce results. But generally, for muscle building, a threshold level of percent of maximal force should be reached and for a sufficient length of time, and repeated, to achieve maximal muscle size gains. Unfortunately, it appears that intense workouts cannot be repeated continuously, on a daily basis. Cycling workouts, and a plan for increments in resistance, sets, etc. should be used. But the unique idea of viewing intensity as I’ve described, is that it affords a development that’s more complete because more intense workouts can be used more often.

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As you rest from a high force, intense workout, you can use a low force, intense workout in between that will develop other parts of the muscle and yield a different overall physiological response because you attack other muscle fibers. Repeated high-intensity efforts using only a few of the possible muscular performance dimensions is limiting and ultimately defeating because of physiological breakdown and frustration at the failure to attain goals and a concommitant loss of motivation, both physical and psychological.

How the Maximum Muscle Growth Program Differs

The unique aspect of this plan is that it covers all muscle fibers. Other important factors include: •

• •

We’ve learned that 1 set of an exercise for a muscle is good enough. For more stimulation we do more exercises, not more sets of the same exercise We use isometrics as part of the muscle growth program and less of the “fatigue” model We realize that the intensity of the isometrics demands more rest and that between session rest times may require many days and even weeks

Functional Training vs. Isolation Training

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When you look at the programs offered by Lifeline USA, you’ll discover that the whole focus is on functional fitness. Before the movement to functional fitness, exercises using resistance focused on isolating a muscle.

In functional fitness many compound movements are used to improve, shall we say, the overall, coordinated function of the body. For me, I’m mostly old school and I believe that isolating a muscle and making it stronger is perfectly good for improving performance.

It’s not really possible to improve isometric strength performing functional types of training movements but what’s really important to me is to improve a muscle through it wide range of functional. The point is, however, that it’s all good – it all contributes. As I’ve stated, you need to define your own goals and then design the training program around that.

Let’s now look into some of the routines and exercises.

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Chapter 10 Exercises for Maximum Muscle Growth Let’s quickly review the rationale for Maximum Muscle Growth and then look at some exercises. The key understanding is about muscle fibers and that for Maximum Muscle Growth we must work over all these fibers. The features of the program are: • • • • •

Isometrics Isotonics Rest/recovery intervals Multi-repetition and exercises Repetition variation

Rest duration after isometrics will be longer and the more intense those sessions become will require longer rest times. You’ll need to experiment with the number of training sessions that you’ll do per week for the Multi-repetition and multi-exercises sessions.

Repetitions should be between 8-12. Exercises per body part should be between 2-4, one set of each. Vince Gironda’s A Muscle has Four Sides program does 4 exercises per body part and he recommends two full sessions per, six days per week.

That's a little much for me and there is no isometric component. In fact, most programs today do not use isometrics and work mostly off the multirepetition, multi-exercise fatigue model. 194

As I’ve learned, intensity and maximal force development are the most effective way to build muscle and that means isometrics.

Equipment

You can use many different tools but I’m setting this up to be a home program but you could do it in a gym with training partners if you like.

Following are some exercises in which I used a barbell. We’ll also look at some exercises using plastic tubes.

I’m going to suggest some exercise for the isometrics and for the multi-exercises per body part. If you buy any of the Lifeline USA products each one comes with a DVD describing many different exercises. Because the plastic tubes provide resistance in any plane compared to a barbell, whose resistance depends on gravity, the tubes are more versatile.

Isometric Exercises

Let’s start out with two programs, A and B

Workout A 1.Squat to Press 2.Biceps-seated curl 3.Shoulders-seated press 4.Trapezius 5.Triceps-close grip bench press

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Workout B 1.Lats-lat pulldown 2.Chest-bench press 3.Lower back-deadlift 4.Legs-single leg 5.Lats-low pulley row

MultipleRepetitions/Multi-Exercises Next, let’s look at your repetition workout. I’m going to keep this simple and manageable and then you can tweak if for your own needs. Do one isometric session per week and then two sessions for the multiple repetitions.

In most training programs we break the body down into the following groups: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Back Chest Legs Shoulders Biceps and triceps

Bodybuilders may also look at forearms and calves. I don’t bother with them anymore. I’ve already described Vince Gironda’s program which is a killer. You can buy his book on the internet. Let’s start with one set of two exercises for each of the above listed body parts. You could do the same exercise for each of the two workouts or you could vary them. I 196

like the variation because we can attack more muscle fibers for more growth. Use the equipment in the gym or set yourself up with the plastic tubing. Back: 1.Lat Pulldown 2.Rowing Chest: 1.Bench Press 2.Incline Dumbell Press Shoulders 1.Overhead Press 2.Upright Rowing Legs 1.Lunges 2.Squats Biceps 1.Two Hand Curls 2.Single arm alternate curls Triceps 1.Triceps Pushdown 2.Triceps Kickback

Split Routine 197

You could do back, chest, and shoulders in one session and legs and arms in the other weekly workout. The various options are endless and you’ll need to design the routine to meet your own personal goals.

Ultimately, it’s the mixture of the isometrics with the multiple repetitions and multi-exercises that will produce the most effective muscle building routine.

When you reach your desired appearance just go on a maintenance plan. Here’s how to do the isometrics. You’ll need an incline bench, the Lifeline USA TNT cable and door strap, the Power Push UP. During the first week, you’ll need to find the best resistance cables that when stretched, you can’t lengthen them any farther. Here, you contract as hard as you can for five seconds. During the first few weeks, contract less than 100% while you’re getting in shape. The TNT comes with 3-30 pound resistance cables that are 5 feet long. I suggest that you also order the 40 and 50 pound cables as well.

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Please see the WORKOUT PDF for images on all the above exercises and more !

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