Cold water immersion (a.k.a., “ice baths”) has become a popular method amongst exercise enthusiasts and athletes to enhance recovery after an intense training bout. The strategy involves exposing either the trained limb or the whole body to very cold liquid temperatures. According to p...
Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D, C.S.C.S., is an internationally renowned fitness expert and widely regarded as one of the leading authorities on body composition training (muscle development and fat loss). He is a lifetime drug-free bodybuilder, and has won numerous natural bodybuilding titles.
Want to give a shout out to Advanced Physical Medicine for naming Workout911.com as one of the top 10 fitness blogs to bookmark in 2011. It’s always nice to be recognized for a commitment to excellence. You can read the post at the link below:
On July 9th and 10th, my friend and colleague Joe Dowdell will host the first annual Peak Performance Training and Diet Design Seminar. This a two-day intensive seminar covering a wealth of material. I’ve gotten a sneak peak at the content and I can say without hesitation you won’t be disappointed. It’s an excellent blend of theory and practice, extremely thorough and well-researched, that is sure to enhance your knowledge base.
Joe is covering the training material. As I’ve mentioned in a previous interview, Joe is one of the most astute trainers around. I’ve gotten to know him quite well, and have been extremely impressed with his ability to harness the science of exercise and apply it to training program design. In short, the guy knows his stuff!
The nutrition component of the seminar is being handled by Dr. Mike Roussell. Although I don’t know Mike personally, his credentials are outstanding and, based on the articles I’ve seen from him (he is a writer for many popular websites), he shows keen insight into the complexities of nutrition with respect to body composition.
The seminar will conclude with an expert panel of fitness professionals who will share their knowledge in a question and answer session. It is a rare opportunity to interact and learn from some of the leaders in the industry. The event is being held at Joe’s facility, Peak Performance, in New York City. You can check out specifics at the link below:
The NSCA National Conference will take place from Wednesday July 6 to Saturday July 9, 2011 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. The national conference is always a terrific event and this year should be no exception. There are a host of great speakers lined up, including Stu McGill, JC Santana, and many others. My good friend and colleague Jay Dawes is doing a pre-con presentation on athletic assessment that’s sure to be highly informative.
For those who have attended the national conference in the past, you know what a great time it is. If you’ve never been to the event before, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Here’s a link to check out the schedule of events:
Here’s one of my favorite single-joint movements to target the quadriceps. It’s called the sissy squat but it’s definitely not for sissies! You can add resistance by holding a weighted plate or dumbbell against your chest. Alternatively, try supersetting the movement with a multi-joint movement such as a squat, lunge, or leg press. Very effective quad builder!
I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be doing a FREE live webinar on Thursday, March 24, 2011. The topic: “Creating A Home Gym: A Better Body for Every Budget.” The webinar is hosted by Human Kinetics and will discuss both optimizing home gym set up as well as training strategies based on fitness goals. I guarantee it will be enlightening and informative. It will also include an interactive question and answer session. Again, the webinar is absolute FREE so I hope you can attend! Below is a link to sign up for the event:
I’ll be speaking at the upcoming NSCA Personal Trainer Conference taking place at Las Vegas’ Bally’s Hotel and Casino on March 20-21, 2011. I’ll be co-presenting with my friend and colleague, Jay Dawes, on the “Functional Fitness Continuum.” The presentation will challenge many of the concepts you may have heard about “functional training” and present novel techniques for maximizing results. For more info, check out the link below:
We’re now two months into the New Year–the approximate amount of time where most people abandon their resolutions to lose weight and get in shape. It’s the classic “yo-yo” effect. Dieters generally begin their quest highly motivated to lose weight, but soon thereafter are back to their old habits. At some point they’ll try another diet only to again regress. And hence the cycle continues…
There is a bigger problem with such behavior than merely the short-term weight regain. Namely, yo-yo dieting ultimately can result in “resetting” a person’s “set point” and thus make it increasingly harder to lose weight in the future. The reasons behind the yo-yo effect have been somewhat hazy, but new research may help to shed some light on the issue. First a little background info. There are two mechanisms by which you gain fat. The first is called fat cell hypertrophy. Simply stated, this means that your fat cells (i.e. adipocytes) grow larger, which is the primary means for your body to store additional fat. Once adipocytes reach a certain size, however, they undergo a process called hyperplasia. This involves a “splitting” of adipocytes so that more fat cells are available for storage. Your body can create an endless supply of new fat cells, allowing for a virtually unlimited amount of body fat storage.
With this in mind, let’s look at the study in question. Researchers from Yale University studied the Regional differences in cellular mechanisms of adipose tissue gain with overfeeding to help determine the cellular mechanisms that regulate fat accumulation. In short, 28 men and women were overfed for 8 weeks. Consistent with the First Law of Thermodynamics, they gained weight from this regimen. No surprise here. The interesting aspect of the study, though, was that in addition to an increase in size of adipocytes, the number of fat cells significantly increased, too. What’s more, the hyperplasia was regional specific, with the lower body adding more fat cells than the upper body.
What does this all mean? Simply that overeating leads to an increased number of fat cells, which makes it more difficult to lose weight in the future. Even short-term periods of overfeeding (in this case as little as 8 weeks!) was enough to result in fat cell hyperplasia. While fat cells can be “deleted” (via a phenomenon called apoptosis), it is a more complex process than reducing the size of fat cells.
Bottom line: Avoid yo-yo dieting at all costs. If you fall off the dietary wagon, get back on as quickly as possible. A few days of food bingeing won’t have a tangible effect on your physique; a couple of months surely will.
Stay Fit!
Brad
Tchoukalova YD, Votruba SB, Tchkonia T, Giorgadze N, Kirkland JL, Jensen MD. Regional differences in cellular mechanisms of adipose tissue gain with overfeeding. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Oct 19;107(42):18226-31
If you want to learn about muscular anatomy, I highly recommend you visit the Get Body Smart website. It’s an excellent interactive site that goes into intricate detail on the major skeletal muscles of the body. The anatomical drawings are well done and there’s a wealth of information provided, including the respective joint actions for each muscle. Enjoy!
In a previous post, I discussed the evidence that supports the ability to target the upper vs. the lower abdominal region. For those who still aren’t convinced, check out the video below. It shows a bodybuilder actively “rolling” his abdominal wall, sequentially controlling the different segments of his rectus abdominis.
Still skeptical that this proves cause and effect? Well, a recent study showed that such movements, in fact, do indicate preferential recruitment of the upper and lower rectus (1). Researchers studied middle-eastern belly dancers, using EMG to assess muscle activity in the rectus abdominis. Results showed significant differences in activation levels between the upper and lower abs throughout dance movements. It again clearly indicates that provided you have muscular control over your abdominal region, the rectus abdominis does function as semi-independent units that can be selectively targeted depending on the choice of exercise.
Stay Fit!
Brad
1) Moreside JM, Vera-Garcia FJ, McGill SM. (2008). Neuromuscular independence of abdominal wall muscles as demonstrated by middle-eastern style dancers. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2008 Aug;18(4):527-37
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