Jason Halstead's Blog, page 55

Voices in print!

Due to popular demand (I swear, at least two people wanted it), Voices is now available in print! It's on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Jason-Halstead/dp/1461096073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1303601246&sr=8-1. I have to say the cover art was great on the computer – it's even more spectacular on the printed version. Extra special thanks to master artist A.J. McLane. And just because he's an artist don't get the wrong idea, the guy's also Marine.

And, sadly that's largely the only progress I've made on writing lately. I've been crazy busy lately – although I have found time to put a little over 1500 words into Princess, the sequel for Wanted. It's getting near the end, I'm happy to say! Outside of writing it's been all about my day job. Rough month there, six day weeks and lots of extra time. Normally that's not a bad thing but I'm not getting OT for it and instead missing out on quality family time. Sometimes it's not so good to be the boss!

So take pity on me, buy a book (mine, preferably), and tell everybody you know I rock and that they should buy my books too. Keep the network going and before you know it I'll have so much family time available my family will be sick of me and begging me to go back to work!

Finding a Voice

Just received a review today on Voices. A rather impressive one too, I have to say! The review was placed on Smashwords and here's what it said:

A gritty story of sin and redemption. The story highlights significant events in Billy's life in a compelling story of survival and complicated love. At points, I was routing for Billy while at others wondering how he'd made it that far. Set in the same universe as Dark Earth, it touches on some of the ideas included in that book though they are more background details than driving points. Jason Halstead's style and voice shine through in yet another highly enjoyable read.

If you've been waiting to find out if it sucks or not, now you know! Head on over to check it out for yourself!

Fresh Inspiration

Let me introduce Selena Kitt, who happens to not only be a fellow writer but also runs a couple of the publishing companies I go through. But wait, there's more. Selena was just featured in an article on CBS. Our styles and genres differ, but that's no reason not to check her out! http://www.bnet.com/blog/technology-business/will-write-e-porn-for-1-million/9888.

In this article alone I glimpsed the business side of Selena that I was always in the dark about. Her success has served to inspire me to try harder to achieve similar results. Heck, I could be half as successful and be perfectly content!

Tone Deaf

I was asked today by a wisp of a girl I work with what she should be eating now that she had signed up for a "toning class." I groaned and told her that was a terrible question. She could tell that I work out so she figured she should ask me.

First a grumble about "toning up". You want to show some definition without getting huge – okay, that means leaning out. We've all got muscles, most people just can't see them clearly because we've got fat between them and the skin. Most of the time that's fine, a little fat is not the least bit harmful. Maybe it's not sexy, but it's not putting us in a grave early either. But to show that tone some of the fat has to go. With less fat the body gets smaller and looks smaller. To combat it, and assuming we're eating an adequate amount, we put on some muscle weight. That's what happens when you successfully tone up. Your muscles get bigger and stronger and you lose fat. It's not something to be scared or ashamed of, it's something to be proud of because so many people have proven that they can't do it. If you can then take pride in it. You won't look like you spent twenty years busting rocks in a maximum security women's prison, you'll look damn good to anyone who doesn't prefer their dates to be women they keep imprisoned in a pit in their basement.

I showed her a picture of my wife (well, a picture of my family) and asked her what she thought of her. She said she was very pretty (she is too — the kind of pretty that I'd be scared to talk to if I wasn't already in a relationship with her). I then gave her a hint of the abuse I put my wife through multiple times a week as her trainer. And the pride I felt watching her deadlift that 210lb cement ball at the Arnold Classic 30 times to set a record at that booth for women. The girl I work with (name with held to protect the innocent), was amazed. "She doesn't look big!" she commented.

Damn right. Strength and "big" can be unrelated. Just like a person can look normal and be strong as an ox, so can a big and burly looking person struggle to carry a bag of dog food from their car to the front door. I told my co-worker this and I'll share it with anyone brave enough to read this: women can not get that freakishly large and scary look on their own. Even with the help of a trainer they will continue to look like a woman. In order to be packing large masculine muscles and veins big enough to slip a nickel through a woman has to resort to anabolic steroids.

I went on to tell her I was leery of classes like that. Typically they end up being nothing more than cardio classes with pink dumbbells tossed in to provide some variety and make it interesting. Is it true resistance training? Maybe for a week and a half, then it become aerobic, catabolic, and mind-numbing. And the best part – you're paying somebody to do that to you. Yeah, no thanks.

If you want muscle tone and definition, pick up the weights. I just saw several studies the other day where squats were the subject of attention, in particular the depth of squats. Two things were found – provided you do not have actual knee damage, parallel depth squats are good for your knees. Similarly, the deeper into a squat you go the more activation your glutes receive from it. More activation means more calorie burning and more strength / muscle growth. The glutes, by the way, are the single largest muscle in the human body. Large means it has more potential for raising metabolism and burning fat. Oh, and for the connoisseurs of fine posteriors out there, squats will deliver the curve, shape, and firmness often desired.

This particular woman was also wondering how to make her back look better. Given that I could not see her back, nor did I want to suggest or even imply that she should take her shirt off and show it to me, I could only offer some rather canned advice. Squats again, to start, as well as deadlifts, rowing exercises, and vertical pulling (lat Pulldowns, pull-ups / chin-ups). Especially the latter if she's trying to make her lots get more definition and help showcase more of an hourglass figure. Giving the shoulders a little more pop with some overhead pressing helps define that shape as well. Then again I'm a sucker for a chick with good shoulders. Lucky me, my wife's got some!

Now most of the piece has been devoted to the female form. I'd argue much of life should be devoted to the female form, but as soon as I did I'd need a shovel to see how deep I could dig my own hole. Instead let me point out that by taking a step back it is easy to apply these same principles to men. After all, I'm told that women like their men to have a nice butt too!

But us guys aren't so much into the hourglass figure, at least for ourselves. Building up the shoulders and lats, if you're looking for a beach body, is a great way to build a tapered look. Strong glutes and a lower back will do wonders for helping and preventing back, hip, knee, and ankle problems down the road as well. Not to mention what guy doesn't want to feel like they've got oak tree trunks for thighs? Sure, maybe they aren't the size of a tree, but just knowing that they feel solid enough to laugh off a swinging axe is a big confidence boost. As a matter of common sense don't actually test them against an axe — I have personal experience with this, the axe will win.

But what about her initial question regarding food? Well this lucky lady doesn't have a problem maintaining her weight. I did warn her that starting an exercise program will probably require her to eat a little more though. Eating more frequently is a good idea as well, for reasons I've talked about already. I encouraged her to lean more towards protein and less towards carbs – and that fat is not a bad thing unless she has a craving for deep fried stuff. Her response was, "You mean I don't need to go on a diet, just be smarter and think about what I'm eating?" YES! Finally somebody that seems to understand that we don't have to be miserable while eating, we just have to be conscious of it and intelligent. Make smarter choices, not choices that push you off a cliff.

Jason's Website

Jason's Smashwords Page

New book out – available at no cost on Smashwords – Voices

Destruction of an Ecosystem

First off a warning – this has nothing to do with lifting weights. Feel free to wander away disappointed now.

Extinction Level Events are typically portrayed by crazy preachers, conspiracy theorists, and Hollywood Cinema at the hands of suicidal asteroids and super-volcanoes biding their time under the Earth's crust. There are different ecosystems, no less complete and thriving, but equally subject to the whims of a twist of fate the that destroys the ability for life to persist. In this case I'm referring to the 37 gallon reef aquarium I tinkered with for a few months. What was once a thriving system is now sterile, clean, and void.

What? All that time and money and pretty pictures! No worries, I wouldn't just write that off. Our original plan was to wait until some renovation in a few years to find room to put a bigger tank in. Some brainstorming on our part ("our" = my wife and I) allowed a far more economical way for us to rearrange our living arrangements without the need of a sledgehammer or professional carpentry skills. Doing so created an open spot begging for an aquarium.

Enter the new ecosystem: a 75 gallon aquarium. I was sorely tempted to go with something from 125 – 180 gallons, but talked myself off the ledge before I committed. Both for cost and also because of the potential maintenance required. I enjoy working on the tank, but moderation is the key to happiness in life. My prior collection of rocks, some sand, coral, invertebrates, and even my hardy clownfish is doing well thus far in the new aquarium. I made the transfer on Saturday morning – and incidentally filling a 75 gallon tank one gallon at a time is a pain in the ass! If you're ever in the market to do such a thing, get a garden hose or find a better way.

Many things remain. Selling the old tank and stand, for example. Until I get a 20 gallon (long) aquarium in my stand fully put together as a sump tank with a protein skimmer, I'm using my HOB protein skimmer. Likewise I've got approximately 35 pounds of live rock in one half of the new tank. It's a neat layout, but nothing is final until I get the rest of the rock I need (probably another 40 – 60 pounds). I need a couple more decent wave making powerheads for it as well. Oh, and the biggy – new lighting! I'm running a total of 102 watts of light over it, which is criminally low. Four T5s and two T8s (10k, and 50/50, both 15 watts). The new light I'm fantasizing about is a total of 608 watts, two 250 watt metal halide lights + a couple of T5s (10k and actinic), plus some LED moon lights. Hope to have it soon but we shall see. Depends on whether I sell the old one off or manage to harvest another money tree.

As I make progress, pics to follow. For now it's seriously under construction.

A Moving Experience

I recently made a cross country move from Utah to Ohio with my wife and 2 young children in a Trailblazer towing a Chevy Impala. It definitely qualified as an experience – especially the parts in Colorado where we crossed the Snowy Rocky Mountains at night and later had to deal with a car that had a dead battery by the time we arrived. But that has nothing to do with this, I'm just rambling to help me get my thoughts in order.

This piece is about movements in the weight room. Most people call them exercises but they are a lot more than that. There are compound exercises and isolation exercises, although you may find I never recommend the latter. That's just my style, roll with it.

Since I don't care for them or recommend them, I'll start with isolation exercises. The intent behind these is to isolate a specific muscle and only train it in the hopes of improving strength and size. Have you ever seen a tree that only grew one limb or a giraffe with massive and out-of-proportion front legs? Think maybe there's a reason for that? It's not only natural, it's also how genetic code is written – people (and animals and trees) can grow but they most do so within a set of parameters. Trying to isolate just one area creates temporary gains at best in that area and at worst can cause injuries.

The alternative is compound exercises. Simply put, a compound exercise uses two or more muscles to complete a movement. A bench press, for example, uses the pectorals and triceps primarily, but it also activates the lats, forearms, traps, deltoids, and even the hamstrings, glutes, calves, and a few other muscles I haven't mentioned yet. You may doubt me, but some day you'll have to deal with a cramp in your hamstring when benching and then you'll know I spoke the truth – you just had to figure out the proper form to activate the available muscles in your body.

One important thing to point out in this discussion is using a Smith machine to squat, bench, overhead press, or anything else. Don't. Do. It. The Smith machine prevents assistance muscle work, which not only inhibits your muscle building / fat burning potential but it also considerably increases your risk of injury. The Smith Machine also increases the risk for repetitive motion injuries (similar to carpal tunnel). A Smith Machine turns a perfectly good complex exercise into pseudo-isolation exercise but for some strange reason people think it's safer for them. I don't get it.

For other exercises it's a no brainer. A deadlift uses damn near everything your body has, even the muscles in your forehead and cheeks. Don't believe me? Watch somebody — even yourself in the mirror — the next time you do a deadlift. Those facial express don't just happen on their own! Of course different compound exercises really target different areas but the important thing is that they use multiple muscles and joints, which helps make the body stronger, not just the muscle.

So what are the benefits to have a stronger body versus a stronger muscle? Happier joints, stronger tendons and ligaments, stronger bones, improved flexibility, and an ability to be functionally stronger. Of course the drawbacks are that doing compound exercises take a higher toll on the CNS and can leave you feeling wiped out a lot quicker. The results speak for themselves though.

Combining timing and style of exercising with the movements is where the real strategy of weight lifting comes in to play. Need better shoulders? Want to focus on more of an hourglass look? Want bigger legs? Trying to develop an ass worth kissing? Well read on my friends…

Shoulder or Military Presses – This exercise involves pushing a weight (or weights) in a vertical pressing motion. It can be done with a barbell, dumbbells, kettle bells, or even a couple of jugs of water or sand. I've also been known to use small children used as weights in this fashion. Come to think of it, I've used adult women in this regard too… moving right along. Another way of performing this exercise would be with the body perpendicular to the ground, in effect doing a push-up with the floor directly "above" your head.

What does it do for you? It causes growth in the shoulders and triceps primarily, then additionally into the traps, rhomboid, and pecs. Odds are you're going to get some activation out of your spinal erectors (the muscles running up and down beside your spine) glutes, quads, and hamstrings as well – especially if you're doing them standing. What's this mean? It works the shoulders and traps, as well as a stronger back.

Pull-Ups and Chin-Ups — This is a vertical pulling exercise. We all know what they are, even if most of us can't do them. Don't feel bad, ounce I was out of junior high school I couldn't do them either. At least not until I'd spent time using an alternative exercise – Lat Pulldowns. This is an exercise done on a cable machine where the bar is pulled from overhead down to your chest. Pull it in front of your head, not behind. This prevent shoulder impingement and it stops you from giving yourself a concussion in case your head is too far back. This overhead pulling exercise works the lats and biceps, as well as the abs and pecs. This particular exercise is notorious for helping people develop wider lats, and wider lats combined with good shoulders help give guys the tapered look and to give girls the hourglass figure.

Rowing exercises (cable, bentover, t-bar, dumbbell, Kroc, etc.) — This is known as a horizontal pulling movement. You'll get some shoulder action here too, but this hits the rhomboids, lats, biceps, and deltoids, as well as lower back, glutes, and even the legs. Consider the overall coverage the back muscles have and you're referring to some major landscape. That translates into major potential for calorie burning and growth. Even more importantly, without a strong back you don't have much chance of making anything else strong without ending up in a hospital bed.

Bench Press — This is perhaps the most famous and revered exercise in all of weight lifting. From the farcical NFL bench pressing test to a powerlifting bench only meet. Bench pressing comes in many angles and variations, but they all develop the pecs, lats, and triceps primarily. Inclined benching does a lot for the shoulders and declined benching increases the focus on the lats. It also utilizes the glutes, legs, spinal erectors, traps, and abs. Or, for the layman, doing this exercise will help build a bigger and stronger chest and arms.

Squat — The squat is underrated by most people, and not talked about enough by the people who know. It's a miserable exercise if you're not accustomed to it, and that's one of the reasons why it's so damn good to do! The squat works primarily on the quads, hamstrings, calves, spinal erectors, abs, rhomboids, and traps. It also uses everything else you're body has to offer it, potentially even including your first born child (yes, this exercise can be that difficult to do if you really load it up and dig deep). Squats are the reason so many Hollywood starlets have butts that you imagine could crack a walnut. Yeah, I went there. One thing that must be mentioned is a squat means dropping until your thighs are parallel to the ground or lower. Anything higher than that is a waste of your time, look it up in some peer reviewed research papers, not what your buddy told you.

In terms of muscle activation, there may only be one exercise that uses more of the body, and thus only one potential exercise that can burn more fat and build more LBM. And that exercise is…

The Deadlift — The squat is hard to do properly, now imagine it being harder. The bar doesn't end up a couple of feet of the ground, no, it starts and stops on the ground. What happens in between is the Herculean effort of which legends are made. I said it earlier, but it bears saying again: the deadlift will use every muscle your body has a few you didn't know you have. I have had my pecs cramp and calluses tear off my hands doing this exercise. All from a simple bar resting some 6 inches off the ground that has to be picked up until the knees are straight and shoulders are back, then lowered back down. This exercise puts hair on your chest, separates the men from the boys, and proves that a woman has a bigger set of balls than the men watching her muscle that bar up. The fat may as well be dripping off you if you go at these aggressively. Not to mention the world of good you will be doing to your back if you can do these with proper form.

But all of those? Those are for beginners. When you want a real challenge toss a few Olympic lifts into the mix. Some of these I don't even do – and that's because public gyms won't allow them or my common sense and lack of grace won't allow me to do them.

Power Clean – I'm linking to a YouTube video for this one both because it's hard to explain and because this chick is impressing me. This is like a deadlift only it's an explosive movement that activates even more of the upper body. I do these from time to time and enjoy them quite a bit. And by enjoy them I mean they make me hurt (in a good way) but the feelings of accomplishment are more than worth it! And for those seeking to be shocked and astonished, here's another youtube video. One word of advice though – never drop the weights when you're done with them (or while doing it!) My own power clean record I set in Utah last year at 255, I haven't tried them since but will be next month (I change exercises every month – but more on that in another post).

Clean and Jerk — This takes the power clean to a new level, more or less. The movements are a little different but by and large the point is taking a weight that's on the floor and ending with it directly overhead.

There are some other compound exercises – lots of them really, but they get into advanced lifting techniques. Hang cleans, Arnold curls / presses, reverse hypers, reverse woodchoppers, etc.. All great stuff focused on building muscle in multiple areas to strengthen joints, muscles, and entire regions. And most importantly, they build balance in those regions. Without balancing out your chest with your back (or horizontal pushing versus horizontal pulling) your growth will plateau. These exercises allow that and they allow for the specific goals to be most efficiently met, whether that be muscle / strength growth or fat loss.

Or think of it this way, if you can work out in 45 minutes and target the same amount of muscles to the same degree that you could in a three hour workout, which one are you going to be more likely to choose? With compound movements I target 3 – 4 exercises per workout and leave with the happy feeling of having won a match against a sumo wrestler. Two – Three times a week works for me, beginner and even intermediate trainees can get away with three – six times a week spent in the gym. Another reason to go at it and stick with it — you can get in better touch with your body in a way that doesn't require any hand lotion or tissues.

Jason's Website

Jason's Smashwords Page

New book out – available at no cost on Smashwords – Voices

Spinning the Wheels

Gyms have the highest membership rates in January. Why? Guilt. People are guilty of all that crap they've been eating since November (Thanksgiving then Christmas or whatever cultural holidays). But next year, damn it, they're going to take charge and make a difference! That's what the new year's resolution is all about!

Gym owners / managers love it. Especially if they can offer up a slightly discounted rate to lock somebody in for a 12 month deal. Then the new trainee shows up for a few sessions, or maybe a few weeks, before their schedule gets too busy and they stop making it in. Maybe next week, or next month – they still have the membership, so that's what matters. It makes them feel better and it makes the gym owner feel better. The best thing a place like a gym can do is charge people to use its services and facilities when they don't actually use them.

So why do they do that? Why get a gym membership and not go? For some people reading this they might turn a blind eye to it because they've done it themselves and secretly know their reason is not something worthy of accepting. Working out properly is hard work, after all. As if the rest of our lives wasn't difficult enough, why do we put ourselves through more torture if we don't need to?

And so the point of this is not to make fun of people who are wasting their money away. It's about trying to explain how various movements (think exercises, not bowels) work and what can be gained by doing them. Mix in some timing options and different levels of volume and intensity and hopefully people can start to see better results in a more timely manner. This is for those people who give up after a few frustrating weeks at the gym because they don't see the results from it.

First on timing. Timing is a simple concept, though it can refer to several aspects of lifting. I'm keeping it simple at this point and only referring to the rest period between exercises. More time spent resting means more recovery between exercises. More recovery time means a better performance and more muscle fiber and CNS (Central Nervous System, for those just joining us) activation. For training purposes rest periods should max out at five minutes. For an actual powerlifting meet a rest period between 5 and 10 minutes can be optimal. Maximizing rest time is for people trying to gain strength and muscle, not lose fat. Can you lose fat doing this? Yes, but that's a matter of diet more than exercise at this point.

Less recovery time, on the other hand, prevents the muscles from recovering between sets. They get fatigued more easily and cause the ticker in your chest to work harder trying to supply energy (blood / glucose) to the muscles. Using shorter rest periods really boosts fat loss. Minimizing rest periods causes a boost in growth hormone released, and growth hormone is wonderful at burning fat. It's not an overnight visible change, but what mechanic goes to work without taking all of their tools with them?

Now volume / intensity. When I refer to volume I'm talking to the amount of work being done. As in how many exercises per set. This is the amount of time you keep the muscles under tension and more is better, to a certain point. I have no opinion on this particular number but it was cited by a very successful training coach (Charles Poliquin, known for training Olympic medalists and professional sports teams). He recommend 40 seconds as time under tension. Not for each rep obviously, but amongst the entire set.

Intensity is how power is built. Naked force, driving that weight as hard as possible. There are two ways to do it, the one my experiences shows to be superior is in using heavy ass weights. Maximal or near-maximal loads. The alternative is explosive movements with lower weights, say 40% – 50% of the maximum amount you can lift. Exploding means you move that weight as fast as you possibly can. In theory you're still using the maximum amount of muscle fibers even though the weight is less. So why don't I lift like this anymore? Fast explosive movements don't feel safe to me. Maybe I'm not stretching enough or maybe I'm just getting too damn old. Whatever the case, I get worried when I push as much weight as I weigh so fast it leaves my hands (e.g. bench press). My joints don't feel safe when I suddenly explode like that and I've learned over the years to start listening to my body. Does that mean other people shouldn't do it either? No – it means other people shouldn't wreck their bodies like I have.

So with intensity you are pushing a lot of weight for you. It doesn't matter if your best bench is 100 pounds or 300 pounds – in either case the number you are lifting is the same – 90% to 100%. It took 415 pounds to tear my pectoral away from my arm in 2009. In 2004 I had a minor mid-muscle pec tear benching 185 pounds. The pounds on the bar isn't important, it's the percentage of how much you can do that matters.

What's also worth mentioning is that training for intensity requires less volume. If you're lifting 90% of your maximum load it's not possible to do a set of 8 reps. A rep, for the record, is one full range of motion on the exercise. Doing more than one without resting is called doing a set. And please, do the full range of motion. I get sick seeing people doing quarter squats and bench pressing only the upper 25% of the range.

So let's combine the two concepts now. Using high rest periods with volume training allows for repeated abuse of the endurance muscle fibers. These are the slow twitch fibers, known as type 1. I have read that with steady training geared towards slow twitch fiber training type 2 muscles fibers (the fast twitch ones) can convert to type 1. Type 1 fibers do not convert to type 2. This will increase muscle size and endurance, which in turn also increases metabolism and triggers more growth hormone release for fat burning. Great stuff! Strength? Yes, some, but this style of trying is geared much towards the amount of work capacity versus work performance (e.g. more reps versus more weight).

Using low rest periods and volume training is going to kick your ass. It will wipe you out and trigger maximal amounts of growth hormone release. Without resting your ability to increase muscle mass will be impeded, as will any hopes of getting stronger. If you do this on a calorie restricted diet give up any hopes of anything aside from burning fat and losing as little muscle as possible. The working out helps to retain it, but the breakdown and calorie restriction chips away at it. Using a beta blocker can help retain muscle mass even more, but that's for another time.

High rest with intensity training? That's the bomb for the average powerlifter. You're getting the best performance out of your muscles you can possibly get and pushing them to grow those type 2 muscle fibers. The type 1 fibers help out as well, don't think they're slacking. But when you hit the maximal training weights the type 2 fibers activate and give you the drive you need to get the weight up there. I've heard that type 2 fibers have more growth potential than type 1 fibers do, so activating them causes more growth and definitely more strength gain. Eating positive calories will cause growth (the good kind). Eating negative calories (under your maintenance amount) and you'll plateau, plain and simple. Oh sure, there's some potential for fat loss but it's pretty even with the potential for muscle loss. The only real gains you stand to make come from CNS improvement (that means training your nervous system to recruit more muscle fibers.

Low rest with intensity training? Kind of a bad idea. Intensity and fat loss generally don't get along together so well. Sure it's doable, it's just not very efficient and can easily lead to overtraining and injury. With that said sometimes it's hard to wait 2+ minutes between sets. I get bored easy and I think I usually use about 90 seconds. When I wait longer I do better, but I just can't seem to learn. So be smarter than me.

And now the really unfair part – I'm running out of time and I want to post this today so the section on movements (exercises) and what they can do for you will have to wait until (I hope) tomorrow.

Blah, blah, blah…

Jason's Website

Jason's Smashwords Page

New book out – available at no cost on Smashwords – Voices

The Fourth Leg of the Tripod

I recently mentioned a certain condition nearly all men have when waking up in the morning that we secretly (or not so secretly) wish our significant others would help us out with. Well, that particular tripod is not the one I'm referring to here. So why mention it at all? Because I like being controversial or at least a little shocking. I'm trying to make up for all the time I spent being quiet and shy while younger.

The real tripod I'm talking about is the training / nutrition / rest pyramid necessary to succeed. With those three in place progress and gains are possible. In fact, I challenge you to not succeed if you've got those dialed in!

So why complicate the process with a fourth variable? It's for people who want to go the extra mile. For beginners it's really unnecessary. At intermediate stage and beyond it can help make a difference. What follows will be a listing of some common supplements — the legal kind — and whether they are worth a damn or not. The supplement industry is in the billions of dollars, annually, so it's a hot topic and a lot of people are looking for magic to happen in a pill or powder. Problem is, if it's legal and available without prescription, the odds of it being overly effective are not that good.

Note that my list is not in order of efficacy , nor is it weighted with anything else than my experientally based opinion and what research I have read on it. And on the matter of research, I don't personally consider most message boards or end user reviews to be worth much unless the person speaking about it is A> an expert and field and B> does not have a tie to the product. Case in point, I have no tie-ins to any of these products.

Creatine – Any such list probably has to start here. Creatine monohydrate has been reviewed for dozens of years in various venues. It is not harmful to the kidneys and it does not cause any problems provided the user is intelligent enough to use it responsibly. Creatine usage also does not suppress natural creatine levels.

So what does Creatine do? It allows for extra fluid to be retained in muscle cells, which translates loosely into extra energy. Creatine usage has been documented to improve the amount of reps available to be worked in a set by 1 – 2. Not a huge gain by any means, but over time it can certainly add up! Creatine also passes the blood / brain barrier and there has been research indicating it can help memory and other cognitive functions.

My experience with creatine does not replicate that. I've definitely felt some effect in the past, but the last few times I tried it I got nothing out of it. My natural creatine levels are also very high, I've found out over the past few years. Prior to that my blood work did not show them as being as high. Maybe I used it enough to stock up permanently or maybe something else happened to cause me to generate / retain more – I'm not sure. Roughly 20% of the population does not respond to creatine – I am in that 20% but the odds are good (4:1) that you will get a minor boost out of it.

Last thoughts on creatine – many products recommend a loading phase where you take excessive amounts of the product for a month or so before dropping back to a maintenance phase. My experience shows this is unnecessary – but it helps the stores sell more product! Any excess creatine you take in over the amount you can process leaves your body via urine, so there's no point in trying to load up.

Arganine or NO2 – This stuff gets a thumbs down for me. This product increases the amount of nitrogen your blood and muscles can retain. That means that when a muscle is filled with blood (e.g. "the pump" obtained after working out) the muscle can look and feel bigger. Maybe it's useful on a stage when your strutting around in spandex, and maybe it might even cause that aforementioned morning wood to feel more like a steel girder (pure speculation on my part – I don't know if there's any research to support this), but when it comes to increasing workout potential every study shows it comes up as a bust versus a placebo.

But you know what, there can be something said to that placebo effect. I've read many accounts, some from people I personally know, who say that they feel stronger and that confidence carries over into the weight room. Lifting weights definitely has a mental component to it, so anything that helps the brain and attitude can help the body as well by proxy.

I have a bottle of the stuff in my bathroom, in fact. But my reasons for occasion use are different. When I am benching with my bench shirt on the tighter it is the better. Taking a dose of this stuff and then warming up can cause a good pump, so when the shirt is wrestled on it's even more snug than usual, although only barely so. Is that a real demonstrable effect? I don't know – but it feels like it is to me and that mental feeling helps me push bigger weights up.

So for regular use, no way. Occasional targeted use when it might give you a little extra oomph? Go for it. Just don't buy the super expensive junk that's out there. All you need is some cheap arganine pills. Look for arganine or AAKG at a vitamin store or shelf. Otherwise you're spending $60 or more for something that won't do very much for.

Protein Powder —There is no single supplement that will be as useful and helpful as a decent protein powder. I'm not going to debate the brands that are out there, but I will say go for whey protein and not soy. I have a personal vendetta against say, so my bias does not make me reputable for speaking out against it. Phytoestrogens and all that stuff. Plus the soy powders taste like crap, in my experience.

So what can you do with protein powder? Damn near anything. Mix it with some oatmeal for breakfast. Make a protein shake out of it. Use it in a pre or post workout shake. Make some protein bars with it. The options are endless, or so varies as to be appear so.

My example is that I start every morning with a protein shake on my way to work. I put two scoops of EAS protein powder (vanilla or chocolate) and 1 scoop of Gatorade powder (my current flavor is fruit punch) in a jug, add water, and drink it. Every time I tell somebody that the grimace and ask me what the heck is wrong with me. I say don't knock it until you've tried it – I genuinely like the taste of it, it reminds me of flavored tootsie rolls. Orange Gatorade and Vanilla protein powder tastes like a creamsicle.

That particular recipe is around 400 – 500 calories, just in a 24 – 30 ounce drink. There's a lot of carbs in it too (the dextrose in the Gatorade is a very simple sugar). That's intentional though – it gets into my blood stream quicker and wakes up the brain and the muscles in the morning faster since they are in a starved state from sleeping. I also drink one of these before, during, and after working out for the same reason.

To segue quickly, a study was conducted not too long ago about PWO (pre / post workout) shakes. Whether cutting, gaining, or maintaining it was found that they are basically a net zero caloric effect on a person as far as fat is concerned. For LBM it's a different story. They can help retain LBM when cutting by refeeding the muscles quickly to keep them from breaking down. For maintaining or gaining they also help promote muscle growth by doing the same thing. All in all, there's no reason to not have one. I've even gotten my wife to start drinking her own version of them (she buys premade ones) and she swears by them now too as giving her more energy in the gym and helping her stay focused.

The recipe I mentioned comes courtesy of a sports medicine doctor and a friend of mine, so I cannot claim to have invented it myself.

BCAA – Branched Chain Amino Acids are something I've never tried. Or at least not intentionally. No, that doesn't mean I may have gotten a contact buzz off of them at a party either. BCAAs are included in some various supplements, including protein powders and energy drinks. The thing about them is that they don't last long in the body, so you need to take them five or six times a day to really feel their full effect. The studies I've read on them also indicate they are effective and harmless. The reason I haven't gone there is because they are geared more towards endurance athletes. Runners, bicyclists, etc.. I'm more like a cheetah, great for an explosive burst of power then it's time to sit down and eat something meaty. Maybe curl up with Mrs. Cheetah and…okay, off topic there, sorry.

Glutamine — When I got into lifting seven or eight years ago this stuff was all over the place. I tried it, thinking it might help recovery. Turns out I couldn't find anything other than anecdotal evidence to support that. My own experience with it indicated that it didn't do much either. That made it easy for me to not spend money on it.

DHEA – DHEA is the only hormonal supplement I'll touch on, mostly because it's available without a prescription. I recommend against it unless you're a man over the age of 40. For women…it might be worth trying. My DHEA levels are pretty normal, so it didn't do anything for me when I tried it. I veered away after talking to a doctor who's regarded as an expert in the hormonal field for men (Dr. John Crisler). He told me and my wife during an appointment one time that DHEA converts to estradiol in men (estrogen) and in women it converts to testosterone. Now to his credit, I think he was oversimplifying it for us a bit, but that's what we came away with from the appointment. Men don't want more estrogen in their bodies, plain and simple. We need some otherwise our joints ache and we suffer all sorts of problems, but too much can lead to even worse problems (gynocomastia, prostate and other (even breast) cancers, etc.). Many women, in my humble opinion, could use a slight boost in testosterone. Not too much, mind you, otherwise you get into unwanted hair growth and other virilizing effects. I've witnessed a little T in women going a long ways in improving mood, fatigue, strength, and even libido.

And for those men who are afraid of having a strong and confident woman in their lives I say grow a pair! Or maybe they need to look at themselves and overcome their own limitations and shortcomings so they don't feel threatened by the hot chick hanging out with them.

That's it for the basic supplements I can think of. If I didn't mention it, it's because I haven't tried it or I consider it useless. Again, these are legal and safe things to use, just follow usage instructions on the packages for them (except for my suggestion on creatine loading). There are plenty of other supplements out there too and the odds are good I'll cover some of them as well. I'm speaking of some grey area stuff that is often available for a short period of time, then it becomes banned by the FDA. There's not enough reviews on these products out there, I think, and in some cases that's dangerous because they can have lasting effects on a people, especially younger people.

For a more exhaustive list of past and present compounds I strongly recommend checking out Will Brinks BodyBuilding Revealed eBook. In it he dedicates an entire section to these things and does a hell of a job explaining them.

And now it's my turn to post more obnoxious links again!

Jason's Website

Jason's Smashwords Page

New book out – available at no cost on Smashwords – Voices

Gas on the Fire

The fire, in this case, is your metabolism. The gas needed to fuel it is food. Throughout this blog and, indeed, my everyday life I used the words nutrition and diet. I do not mean diet as a temporary change of eating habits. I mean it as a shorter version of the phrase "dietary requirements." And if you're anything like I was you're about to discover there's a hell of a lot more to eating than just counting calories.

For the record this is more for beginners who want to take things to the next level or for intermediate and beyond trainees. It should also be noted that just using intelligent diet choices can also be used for fat loss without any exercise. I don't condone or recommend it, but I've seen it happen – with amazing success no less. On the flip side of the coin I've got a friend out in Utah who I punished several times a week in the gym who lost a lot of weight as well. He used a little bit of dietary control, but the majority of his progress was thanks to the heavy weights I kept making him lift. He had a lot of heart and dedication as well, something I don't see nearly enough of when people ask me for tips, suggestions, or outright help.

So what should you eat? It's been said in many other articles and blogs in print and on the Web: avoid the middle of the grocery store and stick to the outside aisles. Or to paraphrase Sylvester Stallone, "I don't eat anything unless it had a face." He's referring to protein, of course. Meat in particular. And at the very real risk of alienating some people here's this – if you're a vegetarian this article is not for you. Not only that, but I disapprove of your eating habits for many reasons, philosophical, nutritional, and evolutionary. Only the philosophical reasons are debatable, the other two are not. So read on if you like but I'd really prefer you either stopped being so ignorant and stubborn or just went away. I won't debate it either: the power of cognitive dissonance is too great for me to waste my time on.

Your basic item of food can be broken down into three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. One gram of protein is equal to 3.9 calories. One gram of carbohydrates is equal to 3.9 calories. One gram of fat is equal to 9 calories. Yikes! So that's why low fat was all the craze in the nineties. The problem is, a lot of the fats out there are actually good for you. Omega 3s in particular (predominant in fish), and even a moderate amount of saturated fat. Fats are what transports the minerals and vitamins throughout your body. The majority of the brain is made up of fat as well. Zero fat intake, after a little while, can cause a person to turn into fertilizer.

So what's the difference between protein and carbs, if they both are about 4 calories per gram? At the simplest level protein is 10% to 20% harder to digest than carbs are. That means it takes longer to digest and keeps you satiated a little longer. Protein also is loaded full of wonderful things for the body, amino acids, creatine, flavor, and other handy bits and pieces. Protein is what the body uses to repair tissue (muscle, bone, etc.) and grow new tissue. There have also been numerous studies that I'm too lazy to reference that have shown a diet high in protein is not dangerous or harmful to the kidneys (provided the person does not have a pre-existing renal condition).

So let's have meat for every meal, right? You can, and I have. Meat has fat in it, so you're in the clear there, plus you're chewing on plenty of good muscle food. The catch for most people is that with pure protein what goes in can have a hard time coming out. Aka not enough fiber. If you're still not getting it I'm saying too much time on a protein only diet (a few days for some people) and you won't be able to poop!

Carbs are tricky little things. Sugars are carbs, simple carbs in fact. They're called simple because they break down very easily and are quickly digested. Carbs of all sorts provide energy for the body in the form of glucose. Too much glucose and the body has no use for it, so it stores it in fat cells. The cells become swollen and before you know it, you can't see your belt anymore, let alone the struggle to tie your shoes. Simple carbs are worse because they also have a high glucemic index. What? The higher a glucemic index the more easily (and rapidly) a carb turns into glucose. High GI (Glucemic Index) numbers also trigger insulin releases faster.

Wait, insulin? WTF does that have to do with this? Well from a mile high view insulin is what tells the cells that there's fuel in the bloodstream and that they should start gobbling it up. Muscle cells can only handle so much before they pull the hose out of the tank. Fat cells just keep absorbing it and finally, when they become so swollen they can't take anymore, they divide and suck more in. Don't worry though, that only happens in people who are morbidly obese. Incidentally, did you happen to know that morbid obesity is defined as being more than 50% over your normal bodyweight (based on age, height, and weight). There are BMI numbers associated with that but I'm here to tell you any time you here the term BMI put your fingers in your ears and start chanting "Lalalalalala, I can't hear you." BMI is a faulty measurement system that has no use being used for anyone interested in exercising or being physically fit.

As a case in point my BMI is 32.1, which is considered morbidly obese. I'm a little soft in the belly right now thanks to a 3 week stint of no exercise (flu ripped through the family), but the calipers insist my bodyfat is under 12%. I'm a large mammal and a terror in any shop containing delicate or breakable objects, but I'm a long ways from being obese. BMI calculations can't take muscle mass into consideration, thus they are faulty for anybody who weight trains, does active manual labor, or is lucky enough to have the genetics pre-dispositioning them towards being strong.

Off topic again, sorry about that. So back to eating and eating right. A typical ratio of macronutrients people shoot for when they are trying to do things right is around 40% protein, 30% carbs, and 30% fat. For fat loss boost the protein and drop fat to around 20%, Don't drop carbs lower than 10% though. This is because there are plenty of good carbs that are needed. Fruits and vegetables though, avoid the starchy ones (white potatoes, etc.). Fruits and veggies have lots of important minerals and vitamins in them, as well as anti-oxidants, especially for darker fruits like red apples, blueberries, cherries, etc..

There are carbs that are good to eat as well. Complex carbs, such as whole grains. Avoid the white bread and anything made with processed flour (noodles, bread, batter, blah blah blah). Complex carbs have low GI values and break down / digest more slowly, providing a more steady stream of energy over the quick spike caused by sugars and simple carbs.

Okay, so this is a lot of math and it means reading the nutritional charts on the packages at the grocery store. Ugh. Yes it does, and once you stop bitching about not having time to do it, you'll realize you just don't want to have to deal with it. Well if you're taking this seriously then I've got news for you – not wanting to focus on the growing waistline, popping buttons, and more noticeable stretch marks is what got you where you are now. I'm talking from experience, I was at that point myself several years ago.

The most success I have ever had, and this is a success that other people I have worked with have echoed, came from keeping a food journal. Write down every single thing you put in your mouth. Well, everything that has a nutritional value associated with it. Anything you eat or drink – and most people have no idea how many calories they take in throughout the average day. Especially when soda and coffee laden with creamer and sugar is factored in. Or alcohol – alcohol is bad news for anybody trying to maintain a strict diet. Not only are there a lot of calories in it but it's damaging to the metabolism, slowing it down for a little while (roughly 12 – 24 hours). It inhibits muscle repair and growth and can cause dehydration as well. But before you think I'm a complete douche bag, keep in mind that moderation is the key to survival. I'm no big drinker but on occasion I'm not too proud to have a tasty beverage or two with friends.

So once you've written everything down for a few days if you're honest about it you should be amazed at what you've been eating. Now work out a plan to eat smarter and less – and split it into multiple meals throughout the day. I aim for five to six meals a day, each of them in the 400 — 500 calorie range. I'm maintaining my size presently, for fat loss I'd shoot for 200 — 300 calories per meal. If I were trying to gain I'd go for 500 — 600 per meal.

That's a lot of eating, why not just do three meals a day? Three meals allows you to get hungry between them. Real hungry, in many cases, and that means you're going to overeat. Every time you overeat you stretch out your stomach, which means you won't feel full the next time unless you eat the same amount or more. Also, the body can only process so many calories at a time. If you eat 1000 calories for dinner and you body can only use 400 of them, where do you think the rest of them are going to go? Yeah, right where you don't want them to. The saying a moment on the lips is a lifetime on the hips might not be so funny anymore.

So eating smaller amounts more frequently keeps your body primed to constantly digest and metabolize. It doesn't give it any breaks where it thinks it is starving and therefore any incoming calories should be stored as future fuel (e.g. fat). It doesn't try to break down muscle out of fear that the muscle is going to demand calories in the future that it needs for survival. Instead it feels comfortable that it has a steady stream of fuel keeping it going.

There are a lot of formulas out there for how many calories to eat based on size and weight and goals (maintenance, growth, or fat loss). I stopped paying attention to them a while ago. Oh, they're legitimate and based on a lot of research and peer reviewed studies. I just prefer keeping things simpler. I recommend for women they shoot for around 1400 – 1600 calories a day if they want to lose weight. For men 1800 – 2000. Why more for men? Because life ain't fair. Men have higher metabolisms and generally speaking we are bigger mammals than the smaller, softer, and much more appealing female of our species. It's not our fault though, it's our father's fault – he's the one who supplies the X or Y chromosome.

For maintenance I recommend women aim for 2000 — 2200, men 2400 — 2600. For gaining, tack on another 300 — 500 calories per day. And over time you find out what works best for you and it can be tweaked to a better number. The thing is you can eat more calories on six meals a day than you can on 3 – at least without detrimental effects to your body.

Lastly, these numbers I have experience with. I've witnessed in myself and in others what happens when those kinds of numbers are maintained. I've seen weight losses of 100 pounds or more in as little as six months. The key is not just in losing the weight though, it's in understanding that your lifestyle has to change to always keep these things in mind. Dropping from 300 to 200 pounds is awesome, but feeling satisfied with that and reverting to your old eating habits is going to bring it back on faster than ever. Instead modify your diet slowly until you find the maintenance level, then experiment with what you can and cannot eat safely, from a macronutrient level. It's called the scientific process and it's used because it works.

One last word on nutrition: water. Drink it, lots of it. Your body has to burn calories to process it but it has no calories to return to the body. It helps flush out all the crap stored in fat cells as the fat is released, moves other wastes and toxins through your system better, and keeps you properly hydrated. I personally shoot for 64 – 128 ounces a day. At 128 (a gallon), there's a lot of restroom trips being made. At 64 it's not so bad, but the more the better.

So what's next? I've covered the basics, it's time to get into details on working out. Exercise types, styles of working out, how to mix and match, and what it all means.

And hey, it's my blog so now it's time for me to throw out some random links in hopes anybody cares or, if not, at least it might serve to boost my standings in a search engine somewhere!

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New book out – available at no cost on Smashwords – Voices.

Everybody Likes Free Stuff

My much talked about – okay, at least I talked about it a few times – novella called Voices is available for your reading pleasure. It's free on Smashwords, or if you liked it and want to throw a little something my way feel free to do so. You can get it at this link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/49291.

Cover art by an old friend – Andy McClain. Helluva pic too:

Voices Cover Art