Truth About Fasted Cardio

The Truth About Fasted Cardio will be told this week, thanks to some new cardio research from Italy (of all places).

But first, I’m back from Tampa… There for Joel’s b-day, but tough to leave…hanging out with Joel Marion, Vince & Flavia Del Monte, and Roman Fitness Systems was fun and inspiring…can’t wait to train harder, serve you better with greater  workouts, and drive towards the TT Mission of helping 1 Million men and women transform their bodies and lives. All because of the energy and motivation from my friends.

Good times, good people.

Inspired by Vince and Flavia…here’s a photo of me and Flavia…taken by Vince…Vince and Flavia Del Monte are two of the most dedicated and inspirational people in the fitness industry today…now to be frank. I don’t agree with all of their training philosophies, but I’m getting a mental butt kicking by their perseverance.

Click here to listen to the call…

Let’s get started with…

Monday – April 11th

Transformation Tip of the Week – If you want something in life that you aren’t getting now, you have two choices: 1) Change your ways to behaviors that will move you to that goal. 2) Accept that nothing is going to change because you refuse to change…..It’s that simple. Stop dreaming and start doing.

Training Tips

I have a friend using Jim Wendler’s 5-3-1 program, and it’s working perfectly for him. If you want to get stronger, you need Jim’s book – and I know a lot of TT readers already have it, but keep spreading the word. Example from my client’s program that is using 5-3-1.

Week 1 – 3 sets of 5
– 5×75    5×80    5×85
– 185    200    215×5

Week 2 – 3 sets of 3
– 80×3    85×3    90×3
– 200×3    215×3    225×3

Week 3 – 1 set of 5, 1 set of 3, 1 set of 1
– 75×5    85×3    95×1
– 185×5    215×3    240

Deload
– 60×5    65×5    70×5

Also, you do a rep max in the final set…so in week 1, in set 3, if you can do more than 5 reps, go for it.

Great program, and I’ll interview Jim Wendler soon.

Tuesday –   Get 30 minutes of fun activity – now grab a Green Tea and do this week’s research review.

Reference:  Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2011 Feb;21(1):48-54. Exercising fasting or fed to enhance fat loss? Influence of food intake on respiratory ratio and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption after a bout of endurance training.

Researchers from Italy investigated the contrasting reports on whether training in a fasting condition can enhance weight loss by stimulating lipolytic activity.

Subjects were 8 healthy young men who performed early morning slow cardio (36 min of cardiovascular training on treadmill at 65% maximum heart rate) under 2 conditions:

1) Empty stomach
2) After eating

Eating increased both VO2 and RER significantly and 12 hours after the cardio, VO2 was still higher in the eating condition, although RER was significantly lower in the FED test, indicating greater lipid utilization.

The difference was still significant 24 hr after exercise.

The authors conclude that when moderate endurance exercise is done to lose body fat, fasting before exercise does not enhance lipid utilization; rather, physical activity after a light meal is advisable.

BOTTOM LINE:

The truth about fasted cardio is that you do NOT need it.

Use interval training/Turbulence Training instead.

Wednesday Workout Tip – Some tips on pull-ups and chinups from the April 2011 issue of Men’s Health magazine.

Pullup facts
•    Hits the hard to work infraspinitus
•    Squeeze shoulder blades down and back to work lower traps
•    Pull elbows to ribs to hit lats hard
Chins
•    Chest muscles help
•    96% biceps activation
•    Hold top for 2 seconds for biceps

Trainer Thursday – Do 30 minutes of fun activity…

Ran the Gauntlet today at the Powerhouse Gym in Tampa. This gym is addictive. It’s the workout version of all-you-can-eat-buffet. It’s massive, has platforms for heavy lifting, turf for speed drills, KB’s, TRX’s, and an outdoor Gauntlet area…which is where I did Sled drags + Sledgehammer tire smashes, tire flips + MMA dummy carries, and finished with prowler pushes. Great times. Now back to Toronto.

However…there was some bad training in this gym by others…including jumps on a bosu ball, but researchers in Spain discovered that performing total-body movements on an unstable surface doesn’t work your abs harder. In fact, when men did deadlifts on a bosu ball, their core muscles were LESS activated than when they stood on the floor. The reason? When you are unstable, you use less weight and your muscles don’t work as much. How does everyone not know this?

Facebook Friday – I’m doing a lot of QnA sessions over on Facebook at www.TurbulenceTrainingFanpage.com

Question: Craig I’d like to gain muscle but minimize the belly fat for the summer. I’m lean and thin? Any advice?

Answer: Ferruggia’s Muscle Gaining Secrets. You’re not going to get fat overnight, but you’ll stay skinny unless you suck it up and train and eat.

Question from Me: What’s the safe level of Ipod volume for your hearing?

Answer: At the gym this week, a woman’s Ipod was louder than the music from the gym’s stereo, so I looked up safe Ipod volume levels…here’s a study => http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2006/10/19/music-earphones.html ….. and here’s a tip from Apple on setting a MAX volume for your ipod => http://support.apple.com/kb/TA38403?viewlocale=en_US

Great question…please ask yours at: www.TurbulenceTrainingFanpage.com

Social Support Saturday –   30 minutes of fun activity…

“Let me tell you something about YOU. YOU can do anything you want. YOU are in control. YOU can achieve as much success as you want to. YOU can and will pick yourself up when life knocks you down. I BELIEVE IN YOU. Look …if you’re struggling, I’ve been there…and I can tell you first hand that it’ll get better if you keep on trying. I believe in you. Go for it.” – Frank Kern

Sunday – Plan, Shop & Prepare – 30 minutes activity and plan, shop, & prepare

Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2011 Feb;21(1):27-32. Effect of caffeine intake on pain perception during high-intensity exercise. Astorino TA, Terzi MN, Roberson DW, Burnett TR. Dept. of Kinesiology, California State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, CA, USA.

Researchers from California wanted to see what would happen when consumed caffeine and then did a hard workout.

15 active men did workouts of hard leg extensions and leg curls under these conditions:

A)    placebo
B)    2mg/kg (about 150mg = 2 red bull or 1 tall starbucks coffee)
C)    5mg/kg (350mg = 4 red bull or 1 vente starbucks)

no effect (p > .05) of caffeine on pain perception or RPE.

Various measures of muscle function were improved (p < .05) with a 5-mg/kg caffeine dose vs. the other treatments.

In the 5-mg/kg trial, it is plausible that subjects were able to perform better with similar levels of pain perception and exertion.

PERSONALLY…I can train harder with caffeine, and as a result sometimes have extreme muscle soreness…as I did this week after that strongman-style workout at Powerhouse. My forearms were sore for almost 5 days.

Next week!
•    Training Tips – How to avoid injury
•    Research Review – Supplement Research Study Rundown
•    Nutrition – A simple SWITCH to get people to eat better