Michael Matthews's Blog, page 152
September 5, 2012
8 Healthy, Pre-Packaged Snacks Perfect for Losing Weight or Building Muscle
We all wish we could always have fresh, delicious, low-calorie foods within arm’s reach…but that’s just not the case. Packing fresh foods and transporting them around every day is a hassle, and especially so among those of us that travel quite a bit.
Therefore, I decided to put together a list of my 10 favorite pre-packaged snack foods…and all are under 150 calories, so you can decide how much to eat based on your weight goals.
100 calories, 18 g protein, 7 g carbs, 0 g fat
I’m pretty much obsessed with this stuff. Rich, creamy, delicious, and nearly 20 grams of protein and 0 grams of fat per serving. How do they do it? Magic, I tell you. Mix in some honey or agave and it tastes like dessert.
2. StarKist Ready-Made Albacore Tuna Salad Packet
90 calories, 10 g protein, 5 g carbs, 3.5 g fat
Tuna packets rock for quick, easy protein. You can mix it with all kinds of stuff to give taste. Here’s a simple recipe from The Shredded Chef that I particularly like:
Spicy Tuna:
Mix 6 ounces tuna with 1 tablespoon diced pickled jalapenos, 1 teaspoon hot sauce, 4 tablespoons diced tomatoes, 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper.
3. Stretch Island Fruit Co. Fruit Strips
45 calories, 0 g protein, 11 g carbs, 0 g fat
Carrying around fresh fruit isn’t always feasible, but all-natural fruit leathers are a great alternative. A couple of these is the same amount of carbs as a piece of fruit, and satisfies your sweet tooth.
120 calories, 1 g protein, 20 g carbs, 4 g fat (per serving)
Sweet potatoes are a tasty, healthy option for carbs, and I like this brand a lot. They’re all natural–no fake colors or flavors, no preservatives, no GMO ingredients, and no trans fats.
5. Bare Fruit Cinnamon Apple Chips
29 calories, 0 g protein, 8 g carbs, 0 g fat (per serving)
How is this for simple ingredients: organic apples, and organic cinnamon. And it’s delicious. Great on-the-go carb option.
6. Barney Butter Squeeze Packs
90 calories, 3 g protein, 4 g carbs, 7.5 g fat (for .6 oz packet)
If you haven’t experienced the heavenly taste of good almond butter…watch out–it’s addictive. Almond butter is one of my favorite snacks, period. It’s high in protein and fats and low in carbs, and it’s downright delicious. Highly recommended.
7. Eden Foods Brown Rice Crackers
120 calories, 3 g protein, 22 g carbs, 2 g fat
Brown rice crackers are the next best thing to eating the grain itself, and I like this brand. They don’t use any artificial ingredients or trans fats, and they’re quite tasty.
80 calories, 7 g protein, 0 g carbs, 6 g fat
I don’t eat much dairy, but these are a healthy, easy source of protein if you’re on the run.
Do you have any snacks you think I should add to the list? Let me know in the comments below!
Mike
August 10, 2012
More Long, Boring Cardio Isn’t the Only Way to Burn More Fat
Have you ever been in the following situation?
You feel like you’re giving 110% in the gym, you’re doing cardio, and you’re eating clean…but you’re still a bit soft in the middle. What gives?
Well, what many people don’t know about getting really lean is it is really nothing more than a slow accumulation of doing a bunch of little things right. If you do only some of them right, you probably won’t get there.
At its core, all effective weight loss methods do two–and only two–things:
1) They limit the amount of food you eat.
2) They increase the amount of calories and fat you burn.
#1 is simple enough (stick to your meal plan precisely), and #2 is a matter of speeding up your metabolic rate. In this article, I want to talk more about #2.
#1
Do HIIT Cardio
Studies such as those conducted by Laval University, East Tennessee State University, Baylor College of Medicine, and the University of New South Wales have shown that shorter, high-intensity cardio sessions result in greater fat loss over time than low-intensity sessions. Research has also shown that high-intensity training is more muscle-sparing than low-intensity cardio.
Therefore, I recommend doing HIIT for all cardio, and keeping your sessions 20-30 minutes long. Here’s how it works:
You start your workout with 2-3 minutes of low-intensity warmup.
You then go all-out, as fast as possible, for 30-60 seconds (if you’re new to HIIT, 30-second intervels will be plenty, but you want to try to work toward being able to do 60-second intervals).
You then slow it down to a low-intensity recovery period for the same period as your high-intensity interval. Again, if you’re new to HIIT, you may need to extend this rest period to 1.5-2 times as long as your high-intensity interval. If you’re still out of breath and your heart is racing, you’re not ready to hit the high-intensity again.
You repeat this cycle of all-out and recovery intervals for 20-30 minutes.
You do a 2-3 minute cool-down at a low intensity.
You can apply the HIIT style to any type of cardio that you would normally do. You can head outside and walk and sprint, or you can hop on the elliptical trainer or recumbent bike to get it done.
#2
Lift Heavy Weights
If you’re familiar with any of my work, you know I’m a big fan of lifting heavy weights. Well, among the many benefits of lifting heavy is the fact that it helps speed up fat loss.
A study published by Greek sports scientists found that men that trained with heavy weights (80-85% of their one-rep max, or “1RM”) increased their metabolic rates over the following three days, burning hundreds more calories than the men that trained with lighter weights (45-65% of their 1RM).
Another study showed that the increased energy expenditure after lifting heavy weights is mainly derived from burning fat (and researchers weren’t sure why).
So hit the weights and hit them hard if you want to jack up your metabolic rate and in turn, speed up your fat loss.
And if you want to score extra points, focus on compound lifts like squats and deadlifts, because these are the types that burn the most post-workout calories.
#3
Avoid Consecutive Days of Rest
Doing no exercise for two days in a row can slow your metabolic rate down.
Instead of training for 5 or 6 days straight and then taking two days of complete rest, train 3 or 4 days and then take a day off, followed by another 3 – 4 days of training.
#4
Split Up Your Weight Training and Cardio
Instead of lifting for an hour or so followed by 30 minutes of cardio, split them up. Lift in the mornings and do your cardio after work, or vice versa.
Not only will this rev up your metabolic rate twice per day, keeping it constantly elevated, it can help preserve muscle.
Researchers from RMIT University worked with well-trained athletes in 2009 and found that “combining resistance exercise and cardio in the same session may disrupt genes for anabolism.” In laymen’s terms, they found that combining endurance and resistance training sends “mixed signals” to the muscles. Cardio before the resistance training suppressed anabolic hormones such as IGF-1 and MGF, and cardio after resistance training increased muscle tissue breakdown.
Several other studies, such as those conducted by Children’s National Medical Center, the Waikato Institute of Technology, and the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland), came to same conclusions: training for both endurance and strength simultaneously impairs your gains on both fronts. Training purely for strength or purely for endurance in a workout is far superior.
Cardio before weightlifting also saps your energy and makes it much harder to follow tip #2.
#5
Eat Spicy Foods
Spices such as red pepper and cayenne can actually increase your metabolic rate and thus help with fat loss. They also go great with chicken and other lean meats, and veggies too, which makes them perfect for making cutting a bit more enjoyable.
#6
Don’t Drink Your Calories
Liquid calories are a disaster when you’re cutting.
They’re way too easy to consume when you don’t even have an appetite, they don’t fill you up when you do, and most are full of sugar, which keeps your insulin spiked (which in turn leads to more fat storage).
Instead of drinking juice, sodas, sugary teas or coffee drinks, etc., stick to water, plain tea (or sweeten it with a natural sweetener like stevia or Truvia), black coffee, or other no-calorie beverages.
Summary
If you’re planning on losing weight or are currently struggling with it, try incorporating each of the tips above. As long as your diet is in the right place, your body won’t be able to do anything but melt away the fat!
Have these fat loss strategies worked for you? Have any that you’d like to add? Let me know in the comments below!
6 Ways to Kick Your Metabolism and Fat Loss Into High Gear
Have you ever been in the following situation?
You feel like you’re giving 110% in the gym, you’re doing cardio, and you’re eating clean…but you’re still a bit soft in the middle. What gives?
Well, what many people don’t know about getting shredded is it is really nothing more than a slow accumulation of doing a bunch of little things right. If you do only some of them right, you probably won’t get there.
At its core, all effective weight loss methods do two–and only two–things:
1) They limit the amount of food you eat.
2) They increase the amount of calories you burn.
#1 is simple enough (stick to your meal plan precisely), and in this article, I want to share with you 6 tips on how to better accomplish #2.
#1
Do HIIT Cardio
Studies such as those conducted by Laval University, East Tennessee State University, Baylor College of Medicine, and the University of New South Wales have shown that shorter, high-intensity cardio sessions result in greater fat loss over time than low-intensity sessions. Research has also shown that high-intensity training is more muscle-sparing than low-intensity cardio.
Therefore, I recommend doing HIIT for all cardio, and keeping your sessions 20-30 minutes long. Here’s how it works:
You start your workout with 2-3 minutes of low-intensity warmup.
You then go all-out, as fast as possible, for 30-60 seconds (if you’re new to HIIT, 30-second intervels will be plenty, but you want to try to work toward being able to do 60-second intervals).
You then slow it down to a low-intensity recovery period for the same period as your high-intensity interval. Again, if you’re new to HIIT, you may need to extend this rest period to 1.5-2 times as long as your high-intensity interval. If you’re still out of breath and your heart is racing, you’re not ready to hit the high-intensity again.
You repeat this cycle of all-out and recovery intervals for 20-30 minutes.
You do a 2-3 minute cool-down at a low intensity.
You can apply the HIIT style to any type of cardio that you would normally do. You can head outside and walk and sprint, or you can hop on the elliptical trainer or recumbent bike to get it done.
#2
Lift Heavy Weights
If you’re familiar with any of my work, you know I’m a big fan of lifting heavy weights. Well, among the many benefits of lifting heavy is the fact that it helps speed up fat loss.
A study published by Greek sports scientists found that men that trained with heavy weights (80-85% of their one-rep max, or “1RM”) increased their metabolic rates over the following three days, burning hundreds more calories than the men that trained with lighter weights (45-65% of their 1RM).
Another study showed that the increased energy expenditure after lifting heavy weights is mainly derived from burning fat (researchers weren’t sure why).
So hit the weights and hit them hard if you want to jack up your metabolism and in turn, speed up your fat loss.
And if you want to score extra points, focus on compound lifts like squats and deadlifts, because these are the types that burn the most post-workout calories.
#3
Avoid Consecutive Days of Rest
Doing no exercise for two days in a row can slow your metabolic rate down.
Instead of training for 5 or 6 days straight and then taking two days of complete rest, train 3 or 4 days and then take a day off, followed by another 3 – 4 days of training.
#4
Split Up Your Weight Training and Cardio
Instead of lifting for an hour or so followed by 30 minutes of cardio, split them up. Lift in the mornings and do your cardio after work, or vice versa.
Not only will this rev up your metabolic rate twice per day, keeping it constantly elevated, it can help preserve muscle.
Researchers from RMIT University worked with well-trained athletes in 2009 and found that “combining resistance exercise and cardio in the same session may disrupt genes for anabolism.” In laymen’s terms, they found that combining endurance and resistance training sends “mixed signals” to the muscles. Cardio before the resistance training suppressed anabolic hormones such as IGF-1 and MGF, and cardio after resistance training increased muscle tissue breakdown.
Several other studies, such as those conducted by Children’s National Medical Center, the Waikato Institute of Technology, and the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland), came to same conclusions: training for both endurance and strength simultaneously impairs your gains on both fronts. Training purely for strength or purely for endurance in a workout is far superior.
Cardio before weightlifting also saps your energy and makes it much harder to train heavy, which in turn inhibits your muscle growth.
#5
Eat Spicy Foods
Spices such as red pepper and cayenne can actually increase your metabolic rate. They also go great with chicken and other lean meats, and veggies too, which makes them perfect for making cutting a bit more enjoyable.
#6
Don’t Drink Your Calories
Liquid calories are a disaster when you’re cutting.
They’re way too easy to consume when you don’t even have an appetite, they don’t fill you up when you do, and most are full of sugar, which keeps your insulin spiked (which in turn leads to more fat storage).
Instead of drinking juice, sodas, sugary teas or coffee drinks, etc., stick to water, plain tea (or sweeten it with a natural sweetener like stevia or Truvia), black coffee, or other no-calorie beverages.
Summary
If you’re planning on losing weight or are currently struggling with it, try incorporating each of the tips above. As long as your diet is in the right place, your body won’t be able to do anything but melt away the fat!
Have these strategies worked for you? Have any that you’d like to add? Let me know in the comments below!
7 Ways to Kick Your Metabolism and Fat Loss Into High Gear
Have you ever been in the following situation?
You feel like you’re giving 110% in the gym, you’re doing cardio, and you’re eating clean…but you’re still a bit soft in the middle. What gives?
Well, what many people don’t know about getting shredded is it is really nothing more than a slow accumulation of doing a bunch of little things right. If you do only some of them right, you probably won’t get there.
At its core, all effective weight loss methods do two–and only two–things:
1) They limit the amount of food you eat.
2) They increase the amount of calories you burn.
In this article, I want to share with you 7 tips on how to better accomplish #2.
Do HIIT Cardio
Long, low-intensity cardio sessions tend to negatively impact muscle growth and burn relatively few calories, thus rendering them ineffective in helping with fat loss.
Studies such as those conducted by Laval University, East Tennessee State University, Baylor College of Medicine, and Florida State University have shown that shorter, high-intensity sessions, however, not only cause less muscle breakdown than low-intensity, steady-state cardio, but they burn more calories and stimulate more fat loss.
Therefore, I recommend doing HIIT for all cardio, and keeping your sessions between 20 – 30 minutes long. Here’s how it works:
You start your workout with 2 – 3 minutes of low-intensity warm-up.
You then go all-out, as fast as possible, for 1 minute.
You then slow it down to a low-intensity recovery period for about 1 minute.
You repeat this cycle of all-out and recovery for 20 – 30 minutes.
You take the last 2 – 3 minutes to cool down at a low intensity.
You can apply the HIIT style to any type of cardio that you would normally do. You can head outside and walk and sprint, or you can hop on the elliptical trainer or recumbent bike to get it done.
Lift Heavy Weights
Research shows that training with heavy weight (weights that allow for 5 – 8 reps) increases your metabolic rate over the following two days, burning up to as many as 600 more calories than training with light weights (12+ reps).
Research also shows that training with weights in that range maximizes testosterone and GH production, which further accelerates fat loss and preserves muscle, too.
Avoid Consecutive Days of Rest
Doing no exercise for two days in a row can slow your metabolic rate down.
Instead of training for 5 or 6 days straight and then taking two days of complete rest, train 3 or 4 days and then take a day off, followed by another 3 – 4 days of training.
Split Up Your Weight Training and Cardio
Instead of lifting for an hour or so followed by a half hour of cardio, split them up. Lift in the mornings and do your cardio after work, or vice versa.
Not only will this rev up your metabolic rate twice per day, keeping it constantly elevated, it can help preserve muscle.
Researchers from RMIT University worked with well-trained athletes in 2009 and found that “combining resistance exercise and cardio in the same session may disrupt genes for anabolism.” In laymen’s terms, they found that combining endurance and resistance training sends “mixed signals” to the muscles.
Cardio before the resistance training suppressed anabolic hormones such as IGF-1 and MGF, and cardio after resistance training increased muscle tissue breakdown.
Separate to the study are two other factors to consider. Cardio before weightlifting saps your energy and makes it much harder to train heavy, and cardio after weightlifting further postpones your post-workout nutrition, which further accelerates catabolism.
Eat Spicy Foods
Spices such as red pepper and cayenne can actually increase your metabolic rate. They also go great with chicken and other lean meats, and veggies too, which makes them perfect for making cutting a bit more enjoyable.
Don’t Drink Your Calories
Liquid calories are a disaster when you’re cutting.
They’re way too easy to consume when you don’t even have an appetite, they don’t fill you up when you do, and most are full of sugar, which keeps your insulin spiked (which in turn leads to more fat storage).
Instead of drinking juice, sodas, sugary teas or coffee drinks, etc., stick to water, plain tea (or sweeten it with a natural sweetener like stevia or Truvia), black coffee, or other no-calorie beverages.
Don’t Eat Carbs at Night
There’s no scientific evidence that eating carbs at night or before bed will lead to gaining fat, but it can hinder fat loss. How?
The insulin created by the body to process and absorb carbs eaten stops the use of fat as an energy source. Your body naturally burns the most fat while sleeping, and so going to sleep with elevated insulin levels interferes with fat loss.
Related to this is the fact that studies have indicated that the production and processing of insulin interferes with the production and processing of growth hormone, which has powerful fat-burning properties. Your body naturally produces the vast majority of its growth hormone while sleeping, so again, if your body is flushed with insulin when you go to sleep, your growth hormone production will suffer, which in turn robs you of its fat-burning and muscle-building benefits.
So, as a general rule, when you’re cutting, don’t eat any carbs within 4 – 5 hours of bedtime. You should only consume lean proteins after dinner. I follow this rule when bulking too, not because I’m worried about fat burning (you don’t burn fat when bulking), but because I don’t want to stunt my growth hormone production.
Summary
If you’re planning on losing weight or are currently struggling with it, try incorporating each of the tips above. As long as your diet is in the right place, your body won’t be able to do anything but melt away the fat!
July 17, 2012
The Real Battle We Have to Win to Get Into Shape
“I’m going to really stick to this training program and diet and completely change my body!” thinks the wannabe athlete. “Oh man, I need to tweet about this before I forget.”
Twitter is loaded, 140 characters are carefully crafted, and the announcement is sent.
“I probably should write a quick blog post about it, too,” he or she thinks.
A few hours later, a few thousand words are posted, and a few minutes are spent basking.
“I can’t wait! I’m going to get so shredded. Wow. I should probably start looking how I’m going to revamp my wardrobe–”
“ENOUGH!” a voice booms.
The man snaps to attention.
“What?”
The reply is only three words.
Do.
The.
Work.
“What?”
“DO THE WORK.”
What is the Work, and What Isn’t
People share their health and fitness goals with me all the time. They have pretty spreadsheets, fancy workout plans, carefully cultivated motivation boards on Pinterest, and dreamy visions of turning heads at the beach and posing in underwear ads.
My reply is always the same.
“That sounds good. It looks like it’s time to do the work.”
This is usually followed by an awkward silence.
“Well…yeah…I’ve been reading a bit more to make sure I haven’t missed anything and I’ve picked up some really good tips. I also am meeting with a couple trainers to see if I want to get some professional help and I’m tweaking my one-year plan, which is looking really good. Here, let me show you–”
“No, I think you misunderstood me. It sounds like it’s time to do the real work. The hard work. The work that you don’t want to do.”
Another awkward silence.
They don’t get it. Or they don’t want to get it.
They aren’t doing the work, and they won’t succeed regardless of how busy they keep themselves with not doing it.
What’s going on? It’s simple. They’re getting whipped in the war against Resistance.
Resistance Hates the Work
Resistance is invisible, insidious, and impersonal.
It can’t be seen, but it’s in you right now, and it can be felt.
It will tell you anything to keep you from doing the work. It will lie, argue, bluster, seduce, and bully you to get its way.
It will say anything to strike a deal and then stab you in the back.
It doesn’t care who you are or what you want to do. It has no conscience.
What kinds of things does Resistance hate most?
Any creative artistic action. Any type of entrepreneurial venture. Any new diet or fitness regimen. Any method of spiritual advancement. Any type of education. Anything courageous.
In short, anything that requires us to forego immediate gratification in search of long-term growth or fulfillment.
Resistance hates doing the work, and it wants you to be just like him.
The Achilles Heel of Resistance
Resistance can be used to our advantage though. It can be defeated.
First, know that it will only fight that which is truly important in your life. It wants to kill your deepest purposes and desires, your true calling and gifts. Yes, kill them.
In this way, however, it shows you what work you must do–your very personal path to profound fulfillment, happiness, and success. It dares you to meet it in pitched battle.
When you do anything but the work, it sneers at you. It’s playing you like a marionette. You’re feeding it, making it stronger.
When you do the work, it shrieks in horror. “Anything but the work!” it cries.
It invades your mind and flashes shiny distractions. Television! Movies! Friends! ANYTHING BUT THE WORK!
Make no mistake. The fight against Resistance is a war to the death.
It will tell you you’re too weak to kill it. Too stupid. Too lazy.
But you’re not. Ironically, it depends on your obedience for its strength.
Defiantly do the work instead and it withers. Every bit of work done strikes at it.
Do enough work and its armor crumbles, its power fades, and all that’s left is a whispering ghost.
Do more work and it even stops whispering.
Creating Anything Meaningful is War
If you’re trying to create a healthy, strong, vital body, a business, a career, a relationship, or anything else in your life, you’re a warrior.
Your primary enemy is Resistance.
Fight the battle anew every day by doing the work, and who knows what you might achieve and how you might evolve.
Mike
P.S. What helps you get into the gym every day and do the work? How are you beating Resistance?
June 20, 2012
8 Signs of Overtraining That Most People Don’t Know
Overtraining is an insidious trap because it goes against our natural instincts.
In most endeavors in life, you can expect to receive rewards in proportion to what you give in time and effort.
Work more and harder in your career, and you’ll usually grow your business or wind up getting promotions and raises.
Spend more time with friends and family, and you’ll usually build stronger, more fulfilling relationships.
Practice longer and more diligently on your golf swing, and you’ll usually shave strokes off your game faster.
Training is a bit different, however. There’s a point where exerting more effort actually becomes counter-productive. Most people are aware of this concept, but they aren’t aware of how easy it is to overtrain, and how to spot it.
You see people overtraining all the time. The guys that spend 2+ hours working a single muscle group, doing set after set after set, are overtraining without realizing it, and don’t understand why they don’t get bigger or stronger despite their long, grueling workouts. The more effort they put into growing their chest, they figure, the more it will grow. That’s not how it works, though. Your body can only take so much before it becomes afflicted with what’s known as “overtraining.”
Overtraining is simply an imbalance between work and recovery. When you put too much stress on the body and don’t give it the proper amount of rest, various undesirable things happen. The common side effects cited clinically are a state of chronic fatigue, depression, and underperformance despite rest, but it’s not always that extreme or obvious. There are other, subtler signs of overtraining that you should know and watch for.
What follows is a list of signs that you may be overtraining. If you’re only experiencing one of the symptoms, it may not indicate overtraining. But if you’re experiencing several, chances are you need to take a rest week (5 – 7 days of no exercise or very light training has always handled it for me). Getting a proper amount of sleep is also a key part of preventing overtraining–7 – 8 hours per night is generally considered optimal–as is a proper diet that fully provides your body with everything it needs to repair itself.
Oh and if you’re wondering, the key to avoiding overtraining altogether is to properly plan your workouts and recovery periods.
1. You simply can’t finish a proper workout.
When your body is overtrained, you won’t be able to lift the weights you normally can, you won’t have the energy to do as many sprints, you won’t have the stamina to run your normal route, and so forth. Even though you’re hitting the gym each day, you’ll feel progressively weaker, slower, and more lethargic. I’ve had it so bad before that I couldn’t stop yawning in the gym and simply couldn’t push myself to do another set.
2. You’re getting fatter despite training hard.
When hormones are normal, losing fat is simply a matter of increasing energy output over caloric intake, but when you’re overtraining, this no longer holds true. Why? Because your hormones get thrown out of whack. Testosterone levels plunge and cortisol levels rise, which causes catabolism (the breakdown of muscle tissue), and increases insulin resistance and fat deposition. The end result? You train harder and watch your diet closely, but you get fatter.
3. You’re training hard every day of the week.
I’ve yet to meet someone not on drugs that can lift heavy, sprint hard, or engage in otherwise intense training every day of the week and still adequately recover. Unless you have Wolverine’s gift of regeneration, it’s absolutely vital that you take at least two days off weights per week, and at least one day of absolutely no exercise.
What I like to do is lift weights Mon – Fri and do cardio Sun – Weds. Saturday is a full rest day. You can intersperse your rest days throughout the week too, such as the following routine:
Day 1: Weights
Day 2: Weights & cardio
Day 3: Cardio only
Day 4: Weights & cardio
Day 5: Weights & cardio
Day 6: Weights
Day 7: Full rest
You can play with this however you want so long as you take two days off weights, and give yourself one day of no exercise whatsoever. If you want to give your metabolism a little boost, don’t take two full rest days in a row.
4. You’re restless at night and are having trouble sleeping.
If you do a lot of aerobic exercise and are overtrained, your sympathetic nervous system can remain excited at all times and you’ll feel restless and unable to focus, and your sleep will be disturbed and broken.
5. You feel overly fatigued and sluggish.
If you’re a weight lifter and are overtrained, your parasympathetic nervous system becomes overly stimulated, leading to a decrease in testosterone, an increase in cortisol, a crushing fatigue (mental and physical), and a stubborn tendency to hang onto body fat.
6. You have odd aches and pains in your joints, bones, or limbs.
This is one of the first things that I notice as I approach the point of overtraining. My shoulder will start to ache. Then my wrist. Then my knee. Then my forearm. It’ll usually take 8 – 10 consecutive weeks of intense training before these things turn on, and I just take a week off or “deload” for a week to let my body recover. They’re always gone by the end of the rest period.
(These things can also be signs of poor form, but that’s easy enough to diagnose. If you’re lifting heavy weights for the first time, you can also expect various aches like these right off the bat.)
7. You’re getting sick more often than usual.
You can throw a wrench in your immune system in many different ways. Increasing sugar can do it, as can a lack of vitamin D/sunlight, poor sleep habits, and even mental stress. But if you’re all good on these fronts and are getting inexplicable little coughs, sniffles, congestions, or headaches, you may be overtraining. Take a rest week and let your immune system build back up.
8. You feel drained and crappy after what normally would be a good workout.
The post-workout feeling of general well-being is one of my favorite things about training. The rush of endorphins just calms your entire body and mind and can last for hours. It’s great, isn’t it? Well, if it never comes, and if you feel irritable and uncomfortable after working out, you may be overtraining. Exercise should elevate your mood. If you’re feeling negative instead, it might be time to take a rest.
How about you? Have you experienced any tried and true signs of overtraining? Let me know in the comments below!
May 27, 2012
5 Ways to Break Through Weight Loss Plateaus
Fat was practically falling off your body just a few weeks ago, and now you’re wondering if your scale is broken because no matter what you do, your weight won’t budge.
What gives?
Why did your routine suddenly stop working, and what can you do to push through this weight loss plateau?
Understanding Weight Loss Vs. Fat Loss
“Weight loss” is a tricky little devil because it doesn’t differentiate between changes in fat, muscle, and water.
The goal, of course, is to lose maximum fat and minimum muscle, and to keep water retention at a healthy minimum. When you step on the scale and register a pound lighter than the day or week before, you probably assume that you’ve lost a pound of fat; if you weigh the same or more, you probably assume that you’ve lost no fat, or gained. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
Nothing swings weight up or down as easily as water retention, for example. If you eat a lot of sodium and carbs, and drink little water, you will retain quite a bit of water, giving you that puffy, smooth look. This can easily add 3–5 pounds in a day, which can be quite disturbing if you happen to hit the scale in this state. On the flip side, you eat little sodium and carbs and drink plenty of water, your body will flush water out, giving you a harder, more defined look, which might lead you to think that it was a great day of fat loss.
The unpredictability of water retention is one reason why I only weigh myself once per week, on the same day, in the morning, naked. Weighing yourself multiple times per week, or worse, per day, will quickly kill your confidence and mess with your head.
I also recommend that you choose a “weigh day” that doesn’t contain a cheat meal, as this can often add a pound or two of water that will come out by the end of the following day (my experience, at least).
What is a True Weight Loss Plateau?
A true weight loss plateau is a situation where you’re no longer losing fat.
I consider that I’ve hit a plateau if my weight hasn’t changed in two weeks. As I’m only going for one pound of actual fat loss per week, no change on the scale after one week of dieting isn’t necessarily a reason for concern–I could’ve lost that pound of fat but happen to be retaining a bit of water, or maybe my bowel movements weren’t as regular in the prior day or two. No change in weight after two weeks of dieting tells me that I’m definitely stuck.
Some Fat-Loss Facts to Keep in Mind
Before I cover how to break these plateaus, I want you to know a few things about losing fat.
1. Weight Loss Plateaus Are to Be Expected
Just about everyone experiences weight loss plateaus. If you have no idea what I’m talking about and are able to reach single-digit body fat percentages with complete ease, count yourself lucky. It’s very common for people to hit several plateaus on their journeys to a six pack because, well, the human body is just stubborn when it comes to shedding fat.
I’ve found that I can’t get below 9–10% body fat on diet alone (you can only reduce your calories so much, or you begin to eat up muscle)–I have to add in cardio if I want to continue losing. When I bulk, I usually end off around 14-15% body fat, and I can diet off the first 5% or so, but then I hit a plateau that only 3–4 days per week of cardio can cure (20–25 minutes per session). Then, the next plateau for me comes around 8%. If I want to go lower, I have to up my cardio to 4 days per week, for 30–40 minutes per session.
Everyone I’ve trained and otherwise helped has experienced the same phenomenon, but the thresholds vary. I’ve known a few rare people that can diet lower than 10% without adding cardio, but most people can’t break double-digit body fat percentages without a very strict diet and regular cardio routine.
2. The More You Lose, the Harder It Gets
The leaner you become, the longer it takes to lose fat healthily (the key, as you want to preserve as much muscle and strength as possible while losing fat). If you’re at 25% body fat, it’s very possible to lose 2–3 pounds of fat per week for the first several weeks. If you’re at 10% body fat and are making a run for single digits, however, 2-3 pounds of fat per week would be impossible without dangerous drugs.
For me, once I get below 12% or so, I’m very happy to see just one pound of fat loss per week, and I have to work for it.
3. Your Body Has a “Comfort Zone”
Although it might sound a bit broscientific, it’s the best way I can describe a phenomenon experienced by me and millions of other athletes around the world. The body seems to have a weight (and, accordingly, a body fat percentage) that it is most comfortable at. Your natural appetite tends to maintain this weight and if you eat less than this, you feel hungry. If you eat more than this, you feel quite full.
For some, this “comfort zone” is relatively fat, while others settle into a weight that is quite lean. For me, for example, I find that my body is most comfortable around 11% body fat (which would currently put me at about 200 lbs). I don’t have to watch my calories too closely and I can cheat several times per week, and I’ll just stay around 11%.
Now, maintaining a weight under this comfort zone requires constant work in the form of restricting calories and doing cardio. Getting fatter than this requires regular overeating, and if this continues for too long, the comfort zone creeps higher and higher.
5 Ways to Break Your Weight Loss Plateaus
Alright, now that you know the difference between weight loss plateaus and fat loss plateaus, here are three surefire ways to stoke your body’s furnace again to keep the fat coming off.
1. Re-Calculate Your Daily Caloric Target
Your metabolism slows down as you lose weight because your body doesn’t need to exert as much energy to maintain its now-slimmer physique.
If you don’t adjust your calories to account for this, you may hit a plateau. The easy way to avoid this is to re-calculate your daily caloric target after every 15 pounds of weight loss. As you’ll see, the target creeps lower and lower.
There are many formulas out there for determining how much you should eat to lose weight, but here’s a simple one based on the Katch McArdle:
1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight
1 gram of carbohydrate per pound of body weight
1 gram of fat per 5 pounds of body weight
That simple macronutrient formula will put you in a moderate caloric deficit and allow for steady, healthy weight loss. To turn it into calories, simply multiply the protein and carbs by 4, and the fats by 9.
2. Control the “Hidden Calories”
Most weight loss plateaus are caused by nothing more than “calorie creep”–that is, eating more calories than you think. This, combined with an ever-slowing metabolism, is a guaranteed formula for stagnation.
Calories can creep in from many places. Purposeless snacking, eating out at restaurants (they load calories into meals with butter, oil, sauces, etc.), overdoing it with condiments, and drinking alcohol are all common ways to add enough calories to stall your weight loss without making you feel like you’re completely “off your diet.”
The sad truth is a mere 200–300 calories too many per day can completely halt fat loss. To put this into perspective, that’s only a couple handfuls of nuts, a few tablespoons of fatty salad dressing, or a small bag of chips. Yup, fat loss is that finicky. It’s not very complicated, but it requires absolute precision.
So, to overcome the “calorie creep,” you simply have to know exactly what’s going into your body every day. You can keep a food journal, or you can do what I do: calculate what you need each day, break it down into daily meals, and eat the same thing every day, every meal. I don’t have the time or patience to work a bunch of variety into my diet, so I embrace the simplicity of choosing nutritious foods that I like, and eating them over and over.
3. Increase Your Cardio
If you know that your daily caloric target is good and you have absolutely no calorie creep, then you should increase your cardio.
You can add another day if possible (I don’t recommend more than 4 days per week if you’re also weight training), or add time to each day (I like to add 10 minutes to each session and see how my body responds).
The idea is to just tip the scales a little bit more in the direction of fat loss and observe the results. If the first round of extra cardio doesn’t do it, add more (another 10 minutes to each session, for instance), and you’ll get there.
Oh and do HIIT cardio, please.
4. Embrace the Cheat Meal
Yup, believe it or not, the cheat meal actually helps you lose fat.
How?
Well, first there’s the psychological boost, which keeps you happy and motivated, which ultimately makes sticking to your diet easier.
But there’s also a physiological boost.
Studies on overfeeding (the scientific term for binging on food) show that doing so can boost your metabolic rate by anywhere from 3–10%. While this sounds good, it actually doesn’t mean much when you consider that you would need to eat a anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand extra calories in a day to achieve this effect.
More important are the effects cheating has on a hormone called leptin, which regulates hunger, your metabolic rate, appetite, motivation, and libido, as well as serving other functions in your body.
When you’re in a caloric deficit and lose body fat, your leptin levels drop. This, in turn, causes your metabolic rate to slow down, your appetite to increase, your motivation to wane, and your mood to sour.
On the other hand, when you give your body more energy (calories) than it needs, leptin levels are boosted, which can then have positive effects on fat oxidation, thyroid activity, mood, and even testosterone levels.
So if it’s an increase in leptin levels that you really want, how do you best achieve it?
Eating carbohydrates is the most effective way. Second to that is eating protein (high-protein meals also raise your metabolic rate). Dietary fats aren’t very effective at increasing leptin levels, and alcohol actually inhibits it.
So, if your weight is stuck and you’re irritable and demotivated, a nice kick of leptin might be all you need to get the scales moving again.
Have a nice cheat meal full of protein and carbs, and enjoy the boost in your leptin levels. It can help your weight loss!
5. Lift Heavy Weights
If you’re familiar with any of my work, you know I’m a big fan of lifting heavy weights. Well, among the many benefits of lifting heavy is the fact that it helps speed up fat loss.
A study published by Greek sports scientists found that men that trained with heavy weights (80-85% of their one-rep max, or “1RM”) increased their metabolic rates over the following three days, burning hundreds more calories than the men that trained with lighter weights (45-65% of their 1RM).
So hit the weights and hit them hard if you want to jack up your metabolic rate and in turn, speed up your fat loss.
And if you want to score extra points, focus on compound lifts like squats and deadlifts, because these are the types that burn the most post-workout calories.
Summary
I hope you found this article helpful and remember that the journey to a lean, muscular body is a marathon, not a sprint.
Have you ever experienced a weight loss plateau? Were you able to break through? If so, what did you do? If not, did this article give you a better idea as to why? Let me know in the comments below!
How to Break Through Weight Loss Plateaus
Few things health & fitness related are more frustrating than watching your weight loss come to a grinding halt.
Fat was practically falling off your body just a few weeks ago, and now you’re wondering if your scale is broken because no matter what you do, your weight won’t budge. What gives? Why did the weight loss stop and what can you do to break through this plateau?
Understanding Weight Loss Vs. Fat Loss
“Weight loss” is a tricky little devil because it doesn’t differentiate between changes in fat, muscle, and water.
The goal, of course, is to lose maximum fat and minimum muscle, and to keep water retention at a healthy minimum. When you step on the scale and register a pound lighter than the day or week before, you probably assume that you’ve lost a pound of fat; if you weigh the same or more, you probably assume that you’ve lost no fat, or gained. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
Nothing swings weight up or down as easily as water retention, for example. If you eat a lot of sodium and carbs, and drink little water, you will retain quite a bit of water, giving you that puffy, smooth look. This can easily add 3 – 5 pounds in a day, which can be quite disturbing if you happen to hit the scale in this state. On the flip side, you eat little sodium and carbs and drink plenty of water, your body will flush water out, giving you a harder, more defined look, which might lead you to think that it was a great day of fat loss.
The unpredictability of water retention is one reason why I only weigh myself once per week, on the same day, in the morning, naked. Weighing yourself multiple times per week, or worse, per day, will quickly kill your confidence and mess with your head.
I also recommend that you choose a “weigh day” that doesn’t contain a cheat meal, as this can often add a pound or two of water that will come out by the end of the following day (my experience, at least).
What is a True Weight Loss Plateau?
A true weight loss plateau is a situation where you’re no longer losing fat.
I consider that I’ve hit a plateau if my weight hasn’t changed in three weeks. As I’m only going for one pound of actual fat loss per week, no change on the scale after one week of dieting isn’t necessarily a reason for concern–I could’ve lost that pound of fat but happen to be retaining a bit of water, or maybe my bowel movements weren’t as regular in the prior day or two. No change in weight after two weeks of dieting could be due to the same, but no change after three weeks tells me that I’m definitely stuck.
Some Fat-Loss Facts to Keep in Mind
Before I cover how to break these plateaus, I want you to know a few things about losing fat.
1. Weight Loss Plateaus Are to Be Expected
Just about everyone experiences weight loss plateaus. If you have no idea what I’m talking about and are able to reach single-digit body fat percentages with complete ease, count yourself lucky. It’s very common for people to hit several plateaus on their journeys to a six pack because, well, the human body is just stubborn when it comes to shedding fat.
I’ve found that I can’t get below 9 – 10% body fat on diet alone (you can only reduce your calories so much, or you begin to eat up muscle)–I have to add in cardio if I want to continue losing. When I bulk, I usually end off around 14-15% body fat, and I can diet off the first 5% or so, but then I hit a plateau that only 3 – 4 days per week of cardio can cure (20 – 25 minutes per session). Then, the next plateau for me comes around 8%. If I want to go lower, I have to up my cardio to 4 days per week, for 30 – 40 minutes per session. And I have to keep this routine to stay that lean.
Everyone I’ve trained and otherwise helped has experienced the same phenomenon, but the thresholds vary. I’ve known a few rare people that can diet lower than 10% without adding cardio, but most people can’t break double-digit body fat percentages without a very strict diet and regular cardio routine.
2. The More You Lose, the Harder It Gets
The leaner you become, the longer it takes to lose fat healthily (the key, as you want to preserve as much muscle and strength as possible while losing fat). If you’re at 25% body fat, it’s very possible to lose 2 – 3 pounds of fat per week for the first several weeks. If you’re at 10% body fat and are making a run for single digits, however, 2 – 3 pounds of fat per week would be impossible without dangerous drugs.
For me, once I get below 12% or so, I’m very happy to see just one pound of fat loss per week, and I have to work for it.
3. Your Body Has a “Comfort Zone”
Although it might sound a bit broscientific, it’s the best way I can describe a phenomenon experienced by me and millions of other athletes around the world. The body seems to have a weight (and, accordingly, a body fat percentage) that it is most comfortable at. Your natural appetite tends to maintain this weight and if you eat less than this, you feel hungry. If you eat more than this, you feel quite full.
For some, this “comfort zone” is relatively fat, while others settle into a weight that is quite lean. For me, for example, I find that my body is most comfortable around 11% body fat (which would currently put me at about 200 lbs). I don’t have to watch my calories too closely and I can cheat several times per week, and I’ll just stay around 11%.
Now, maintaining a weight under this comfort zone requires constant work in the form of restricting calories and doing cardio. Getting fatter than this requires regular overeating, and if this continues for too long, the comfort zone creeps higher and higher.
3 Ways to Break Your Weight Loss Plateaus
Alright, now that you know the difference between weight loss plateaus and fat loss plateaus, here are three surefire ways to stoke your body’s furnace again to keep the fat coming off.
1. Re-Calculate Your Daily Caloric Target
Your metabolism slows down as you lose weight because your body doesn’t need to exert as much energy to maintain its now-slimmer physique.
If you don’t adjust your calories to account for this, you may hit a plateau. The easy way to avoid this is to re-calculate your daily caloric target after every 15 pounds of weight loss. As you’ll see, the target creeps lower and lower.
(If you’d like to know how to properly calculate calories for losing fat, check out my book Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body.)
2. Control the “Hidden Calories”
Most weight loss plateaus are caused by nothing more than “calorie creep”–that is, eating more calories than you think. This, combined with an ever-slowing metabolism, is a guaranteed formula for stagnation.
Calories can creep in from many places. Purposeless snacking, eating out at restaurants (they load calories into meals with butter, oil, sauces, etc.), overdoing it with condiments, and drinking alcohol are all common ways to add enough calories to stall your weight loss without making you feel like you’re completely “off your diet.”
The sad truth is a mere 200 – 300 calories too many per day can completely halt fat loss. To put this into perspective, that’s only a couple handfuls of nuts, a few tablespoons of fatty salad dressing, or a small bag of chips. Yup, fat loss is that finicky. It’s not very complicated, but it requires absolute precision.
So, to overcome the “calorie creep,” you simply have to know exactly what’s going into your body every day. You can keep a food journal, or you can do what I do: calculate what you need each day, break it down into daily meals, and eat the same thing every day, every meal. I don’t have the time or patience to work a bunch of variety into my diet, so I embrace the simplicity of choosing nutritious foods that I like, and eating them over and over.
3. Increase Your Cardio
If you know that your daily caloric target is good and you have absolutely no calorie creep, then you should simply increase your cardio.
You can add another day if possible (I don’t recommend more than 4 days per week if you’re also weight training), or add time to each day (I like to add 10 minutes to each session and see how my body responds).
The idea is to just tip the scales a little bit more in the direction of fat loss and observe the results. If the first round of extra cardio doesn’t do it, add more (another 10 minutes to each session, for instance), and you’ll get there.
3 Other Weight Loss Tips Worth Sharing
There are two other factors that have definitely helped me burn fat, and I think they’ll help you too.
1. The Cheat Meal
Yup, believe it or not, the cheat meal actually helps you lose fat. Why? Because by “overloading” your metabolism once per week, it will actually speed up to meet the increased demands.
The key is that it’s a meal, however–not a day. As a general rule, I make my cheat meal about double the calories of what I would normally eat for that meal, and I will often make it a nice, big breakfast.
2. Naturally Increasing Your Testosterone
No hormone triggers fat loss like testosterone, so the higher you can naturally boost it, the better.
There are 9 safe, healthy ways to naturally boost your testosterone production. Check them out, put them to use, and I think you’ll be surprised at how effective they are.
3. Continue to Lift Heavy and Intensely
There are a few reason for this.
First, studies have shown that lifting heavy weights is the best type of exercise to stimulate growth hormone production, which directly leads to fat loss.
Second, lifting heavy preserves muscle mass and counteracts the catabolism that comes with calorie restriction.
Third, the increased calorie-burn and “afterburn” (calories burned after working out) of intense workouts can often be enough to keep the fat coming off.
Summary
I hope you found this article helpful and remember that the journey to a lean, muscular body is a marathon, not a sprint.
Have you ever experienced a weight loss plateau? Were you able to break through? If so, what did you do? If not, did this article give you a better idea as to why?
Mike
May 17, 2012
6 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Production
That’s why millions of guy take dangerous steroids, and millions more buy products that claim to be able to boost testosterone naturally (but do very little, in reality).
So, are there healthy, scientifically proven ways to increase your testosterone production without taking drugs or wasting ungodly amounts of money on fancy supplements? Absolutely.
There are six easy, healthy ways, actually. If you incorporate all into your daily routine, you can notice quite a difference.
#1
Eat the Right Vegetables
Research has shown that vegetables rich in a substance known as indole-3-carbinol, or “I3C,” can positively alter estrogen metabolism in men (in this study, 500 mg of I3C per day reduced “bad” estrogens by 50%). This, in turn, helps maintain optimal levels of testosterone.
I3C occurs naturally in cruciferous vegetables such as bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, rutabaga, and turnip.
If you can work 1–2 servings of these types of veggies into your daily meal plan, it can help your hormones.
#2
Eat More Meat
Protein from meat is particularly helpful when you’re weightlifting. Studies clearly show that meats increase testosterone levels and lead to increased levels of muscle mass.
One study had two groups of men, all comparable in health and build, follow a weightlifting program for twelve weeks. By the end of the program, all had progressed about equally in strength, but only the meat eaters enjoyed significant muscle growth and fat loss.
“Meat” doesn’t only mean red meat, by the way. Fish, chicken, turkey, pork, buffalo, and so on all qualify as “meat” in this sense, although studies have shown red meat to be the most anabolic.
I eat two servings of meat every day (lunch and dinner), and when I’m bulking, I eat at least four servings of red meat each week (95% lean, or lean cuts of meat like filet or NY strip). When I’m cutting, I do one to two servings of red meat per week.
#3
Eat Enough Healthy Fats
Fats are the densest energy sources available to your body. Each gram of fat contains over twice the calories of a gram of carbohydrate or protein.
Healthy fats, such as those found in meat, dairy, olive oil, avocados, flax seed oil, many nuts, and other foods, are actually an important component to overall health. Fats help your body absorb the other nutrients that you give it, nourish the nervous system, help maintain cell structures, regulate hormone levels, and more. Research has shown that men whose diets are rich in healthy fats have significantly higher testosterone levels than those whose diets are lacking in this regard.
It’s commonly believed that eating saturated fat, like the fats mainly in animal products such as meat, dairy products, and egg yolks., harms your health. Research is proving this claim to be untrue, however. In fact, recent research indicates the opposite may be true–that saturated fat may actually reduce your risk of heart disease.
The type of fat you want to avoid at all costs, however, is trans fat.
Trans fat is a scientifically modified form of saturated fat that has been engineered to give foods longer shelf lives. Many cheap, packaged foods are full of trans fat (such as run-of-the-mill popcorn, yogurt, and peanut butter), as are many frozen foods (such as frozen pizza, packaged pastries, cakes, etc.). Fried foods are often cooked in trans fat.
This type of fat is bad news, and eating too much of it has been associated with various kinds of disease and complications. It has no nutritional value for the body and thus should be avoided altogether.
#4
Chill Out, Man
This tip is pretty simple: reduce the stress in your life, and your testosterone levels will rise.
Your body reacts to stress by producing a hormone called “cortisol,” which is highly catabolic (leads to the breakdown of muscle and fat tissue), and which can interfere with testosterone production. Cortisol also increases the appetite and may promote the accumulation of belly fat, which can become a vicious cycle if daily stress levels are high.
So, try not to sweat the little annoyances so much, avoid overtraining, take some time for yourself every day to chill out, and avoid conflicts by trying to treat others the way you’d like to be treated, and you’ll not only be happier in life, but you’ll make better gains in the gym (which leads to even more happiness–cool!).
#5
Get Enough Sleep
Many people work long hours and cut down on their sleep to make extra time for themselves at night. While I totally understand this and have done it many times myself, it’s not a good habit to get into.
Research has shown that not sleeping enough reduces testosterone levels. In that study, young healthy men were restricted to 5 hours of sleep per night, and it decreased their daytime testosterone levels by 10% to 15%.
Studies have also shown that sleep restriction makes losing weight harder, and causes you to lose more muscle while in a caloric restriction.
So shoot for 7–9 hours of sleep per night (and that means asleep for that many hours—not getting into bed at midnight and waking up at seven).
Oh and don’t worry about the whole “before or after midnight” thing. There is no scientific evidence that sleep hours after midnight are less beneficial than those before midnight, or that you should get to bed before midnight for proper sleep.
#6
Have More Sex
As one would expect, having sex increases testosterone levels, so now you can tell your girl that it’s her duty to help preserve your health by putting out (hah).
Summary
These are six of the easiest, healthiest ways that you can increase your testosterone levels, and I recommend that you incorporate them all into your lifestyle. I did that a few years ago and have kept them in, and the differences in how I look and feel are night and day.
Do you already have some experience with any of these? Want to say anything else? Let me know in the comments below!
9 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Production
Boosting your testosterone levels is one of the easiest ways to get bigger, leaner, and stronger. That’s why millions of guy take dangerous steroids, and millions more buy products that claim to be able to boost testosterone naturally (but do very little, in reality).
So, are there healthy, scientifically proven ways to increase your testosterone production without taking drugs or wasting ungodly amounts of money on fancy supplements? Absolutely.
There are nine easy, healthy ways, actually. If you incorporate all into your daily routine, you’ll notice quite a difference.
1. Eat the Right Vegetables
Studies have shown that vegetables rich in a substance known as indole-3-carbinol, or “I3C,” convert “bad” estrogens (ones that shut down testosterone production) into “good” ones (which help maintain optimal levels of testosterone). In one study led by Jon Michnovicz, M.d., Ph.D, bad estrogens were cut in half when seven healthy men took 500 mg of I3C per day for a week. Furthermore, studies have shown that I3C is beneficial in the prevention and treatment of cancer.
I3C occurs naturally in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, collard greens, and kale. For optimal results, I recommend at least two servings per day of any of these cruciferous veggies.
2. Eat More Meat
Studies clearly show that meats increase testosterone levels, but scientists aren’t sure why. One study had two groups of men, all comparable in health and build, follow a weight lifting program for twelve weeks. By the end of the program, all had progressed about equally in strength, but only the meat eaters enjoyed significant muscle growth and fat loss.
“Meat” doesn’t only mean red meat, by the way. Fish, chicken, turkey, pork, buffalo, and so on all qualify as “meat” in this sense. I recommend that you stick to the lean varieties of meats as high levels of saturated fat just isn’t necessary in anyone’s diet. That means fish, lean cuts of beef (90% lean and up), fish, chicken, turkey, pork tenderloin, and so forth.
I eat two servings of meat every day (lunch and dinner), and when I’m bulking, I eat at least four servings of red meat each week (95% lean, or lean cuts of meat like filet or NY strip) as studies have shown it to be the most anabolic of the meats. When I’m cutting, I do one to two servings of red meat per week.
3. Eat Enough Healthy Fats
Fats are the most dense energy source available to your body. Each gram of fat contains over twice the calories of a gram of carbohydrate or protein. Healthy fats, such as those found in olive oil, avocados, flax seed oil, many nuts, and other foods, are actually an important component to overall health. Fats help your body absorb the other nutrients that you give it; they nourish the nervous system, help maintain cell structures, regulate hormone levels, and more. Research has shown that men whose diets are rich in healthy fats have significantly higher testosterone levels than those whose diets are lacking in this regard.
Certain fats are unhealthy, though, and can lead to disease and other health problems. These types of fats are called saturated fats and trans fats.
Saturated fats are a form of fat found mainly in animal products such as meat, dairy, and egg yolks. Some plant foods are also high in saturated fats, such as coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil. Eating too many saturated fats can negatively affect cholesterol levels, so they should be eaten in moderation.
Trans fats are scientifically modified saturated fats that have been engineered to give foods longer shelf lives. Many cheap, packaged foods are full of trans fats (such as run-of-the-mill popcorn, yogurt, and peanut butter) as are many frozen foods (such as frozen pizza, packaged pastries, cakes, etc.). And, fried foods are often fried in trans fats. These fats are bad news, and eating too much of them can lead to all kinds of disease and complications. They have no nutritional value for the body and thus should be avoided altogether.
Most people eat more fat than necessary (adding lots of unnecessary calories to their daily intake). When planning your diet, it should include a small amount of healthy fats every day (20 – 30% of your daily calories should come from healthy fats).
My favorite source of healthy fat is Udo’s Oil. I drink a couple tablespoons per day and I’m good to go.
4. Drink as Little Alcohol as Possible
This might be an unpopular tip, but I’d be remiss to exclude it because alcohol is basically a curse for us guys that work out. In fact, drinking alcohol is one of the most effective ways to halt muscle growth and fat loss. Why?
First, alcohol is very calorie dense, with between 25–100 calories per ounce, and it provides no nutritional value. To make matters worse, when alcohol is in the system, the body will burn it for energy over fat, stopping fat loss. I’ll repeat this point: If alcohol is in your system, your body will not burn fat for energy until the alcohol has been burned off. Studies have shown that this can take up to twelve hours.
The body also tends to store excess calories from alcohol as visceral fat, which is fat that encases your organs. That’s where the “beer belly” comes from. Visceral fat is harder to lose than subcutaneous fat, which is the fat in between your muscles and your skin.
Alcohol stimulates the appetite, which often leads to over-eating (and over-drinking). And what kinds of food do watering holes provide? Fatty, processed, junk like pizza, chicken wings, hamburgers, etc. I’m not done yet though. The case against alcohol is still building.
Studies show that alcohol suppresses testosterone production in the body, which leads to less muscle growth and more fat storage. It also inhibits protein synthesis–the process whereby the body builds tissues–causes dehydration, depletes your body of vitamins and minerals, and more.
As it all of that wasn’t enough to stay away from it, there’s more: alcohol impairs your strength and endurance. If you have just a few alcoholic beverages at night, your workout the next day will suffer. This effect can last up to 48 hours, which means that two nights of even mild to moderate drinking can ruin four training days that week.
If you can’t give up alcohol, I recommend that you pick one day per week (ideally one where you don’t train the following day) and limit yourself to two drinks. Don’t drink the sugary mixed drinks.
But the bottom line is that if you want to get the most from your hard work in the gym and discipline with your diet, stay away from alcohol altogether.
5. Chill Out, Man
This tip is pretty simple: reduce the stress in your life, and your testosterone levels will rise.
Your body reacts to stress by producing a hormone called “cortisol,” which is highly catabolic (leads to the breakdown of muscle and other issues), and which causes your testosterone levels to plummet. Research has shown that cortisol actually overpowers the enzymes responsible for triggering testosterone production. It also increases the appetite and promotes the accumulation of belly fat, which can become a vicious cycle if daily stress levels are high.
So, try not to sweat the little annoyances so much, avoid overtraining, take some time for yourself every day to chill out, and avoid conflicts by trying to treat others the way you’d like to be treated, and you’ll not only be happier in life, but you’ll make better gains in the gym (which leads to even more happiness–cool!).
6. Get Enough Sleep
Many people work long hours and cut down on their sleep to make extra time for themselves at night. While I totally understand this and have done it many times myself, it’s not a good habit to get into (and don’t think that you can just “make up” the lost sleep by sleeping in on the weekends—it takes more additional sleep than you might think to handle your “sleep debts”).
Not getting enough sleep has been scientifically linked to many health and performance problems, such as obesity, depression, memory loss, fatigue, and an inability to concentrate.
You see, when your body is asleep, it’s very busy repairing tissue and producing hormones (the majority of growth hormone is created during sleep). These functions are especially important to an athlete who is subjecting his or her body to increased levels of stress every day through exercise.
Scientific studies have shown that adults should sleep 7–9 hours per night (and that means asleep for that many hours—not getting into bed at midnight and waking up at seven) to maximize growth hormone and testosterone levels.
Oh and don’t worry about the whole “before or after midnight” thing. There is no scientific evidence that sleep hours after midnight are less beneficial than those before midnight, or that you should get to bed before midnight for proper sleep.
7. Have More Sex
Having sex leads to more muscle growth. How cool is that?
Studies have shown that even having an erection increases testosterone levels, so now you can tell your girl that it’s her duty to preserve your health by putting out (hah).
8. Lift Heavy Weights, and Do Compound Movements
Research has shown that lifting heavy weights is an incredibly effective way to increase testosterone production (and growth hormone too). A Finnish study (and others) found that using a weight that allows for only 5 – 6 reps (about 85% of your max weight) is optimal for achieving the maximum testosterone and growth hormone release.
The exercises you do also affect how much hormones are released. Studies have shown that doing “compound” exercises (those that train several muscle groups at once) such as the Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, or Barbell Row increase testosterone more than doing “isolation” exercises like the Dumbbell Curl, Tricep Pushdown, or Flyes. This is why you hear that squatting and deadlifting help you build everything–the increased testosterone and growth hormone affects the entire body.
9. Do Three Heavy Sets Per Exercise
Researchers at Penn State determined that this promotes greater increases in testosterone than just one or two sets. Rest at least 90 seconds in between sets so you can keep the weight heavy.
Summary
These are nine of the easiest, healthiest ways that you can increase your testosterone levels, and I recommend that you incorporate them all into your lifestyle. I did that a few years ago and have kept them in, and the differences in how I look and feel are night and day.
Do you already have some experience with any of these? Want to say anything else? Let me know in the comments below!
