13 Jul
Bodybuilding

Great Back Exercises to build larger Lats

EN-129-M

STARTING POSITION

Sit on a lat machine, grasp the wide bar with a pronated grip (the palms facing forwards). The distance between the hands should be wider than the distance between shoulders.
MOVEMENT
Pull the bar down until it touches the upper part of the chest. The elbows face outwards. Hold the contraction and after a moment bring the arms back to the starting position.
GOAL
This exercise focuses on latissimus dorsi muscle and involves also the rear deltoid and the central part of the traps as secondary muscles. The exercise involves additional muscle such as the forearms and the biceps.
BREATHING
Breathe out polling down the bar and breathe in bringing the arms back to the starting position.

 

 

 

EN-192-M

STARTING POSITION
Stand up in front of the lat machine, grasp the bar slightly wider than the shoulders width, bent slightly the knees and bend your torso at the waist by around 45°, the grip slightly higher than the shoulders height.
MOVEMENT
Contract the latissimus dorsi pulling down the bar, from the extended arms starting position the elbows slightly bend bringing the bar until your navel. Bring the bar back slowly and in a controlled way, the arms are fully extended again and stop above the shoulders.The torso doesn’t move.
GOAL
The exercise involves the upper and sides part of the muscle. It is fit for the definition and the thickness of the latissimus dorsi, it contributes to create the “V” shape of the back
BREATHING
Breathe in starting the motion, breathe out during the pull until the bar reaches the navel and contract the abs during the breathing out.
TIPS
The exercise can be performed at the cable machine too, using the bar of the lat machine or any straight bar.
MISTAKES
Usign a machine that guides the motion you reduce the possibility to make mistakes. Hold the back fixed and flat throughout the performance, the contraction of the abs allows to stabilize the torso. The head is aligned with the backbone, do not move it forwards. The knees don’t move to avoid moving the back.

07 Jul
Bodybuilding, Nutrition, Weightloss

Meal Planning and Meal Prep

You know that you have to eat several times per day, so why is that that so many people leave their meal planning to the last minute and wonder why they can never follow a healthy nutrient-rich diet?

21 Days & Top 3 Tips

Here are my top three tips that everyone, including you, can start using today. Turning your old habits into new ones takes 21 days. Remember this magic number and try these tips. Mark the 21-day point on your calendar.
1 Cook Your Meals In Advance & Keep It Simple

Preparing your meals in advance ensures that you won’t be tempted to make a detour into a fast food establishment. If you want to have a gourmet meal for dinner every day, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment since gourmet eating may take more prep time than you have.

Plan ahead by cooking your meals every other day, providing you with enough food for the next two days. If you are really busy, keep Sundays and Wednesdays as your ‘chef’ days. I normally eat breakfast at home unless I am doing morning cardio and am not returning home right away.
Breakfast Suggestions

Keep your breakfast (meal #1) simple, with foods such as oatmeal, yogurt, eggs, cottage cheese and whole wheat toast with almond butter (or organic peanut butter).
peanut butter

Choose the foods that will equal a carbohydrate and protein. Healthy fats will also be included with the protein choice.
Meal 1: Sample Choices

Carbs Oatmeal
Protein Egg whites
Fats Two full eggs (fat comes from the yokes)

For your next meals, which should be spaced every 2.5 to 3 hours apart, choose foods such as:

chicken
turkey
yams/sweet potatoes
almonds
whole wheat pasta & breads
avocados (with a sprinkle of lemon juice)
brown rice sushi (yes, it’s out there!)
fish (salmon, tuna, snapper, orange roughy, tilapia, swordfish, halibut) and brown rice

Also remember your fibrous vegetables, such as:

broccoli
asparagus
spinach
green beans
brussel sprouts
peppers
cucumbers

Many of my suggestions are foods that are low in the glycemic index, though there are many other healthy choices such as raisins, peas, corns, carrots, and white potatoes. See a complete list of foods below.

For my meals #2, #3, and #4, I will plan ahead the night before by cooking a large amount of chicken in the oven. Simply spray some PAM® on a baking pan, lay out your chicken and sprinkle on any spices you like. Spices will be your best friends when it comes to making your meals enjoyable.

While my chicken is in the oven, I will cook a large amount of rice or sweet potatoes, and steam some green beans and/or broccoli.
Meals 2-4: Sample Choices.

Carbs: ½ cup rice and 1 cup of green beans
Protein: 1½ chicken breasts
Fat: Flax oil

If I am preparing for a show or photoshoot, I will leave the complex carbs out and feast on a massive salad featuring grilled chicken or fish, with fibrous carbohydrates and a delicious vinaigrette made from balsamic vinegar, flax oil, lemon juice, and a sprinkle of Splenda®. Sometimes I will add seasoning, too.
2 Divide Your Meals Into Portion Sizes

Get yourself plastic containers that are the correct size for your mini-meals on the go. If you are not sure what a portion size looks like, remember this:
Container Size Guide

1 oz. meat: size of a matchbox
3 oz. fish: size of a checkbook
1 oz. cheese: size of four dice
1 medium potato: size of a computer mouse
2 tbsp. peanut butter: size of a ping pong ball
1 cup pasta: size of a tennis ball
1 average bagel: size of a hockey puck
3 oz. meat: size of a deck of cards or bar of soap (the recommended portion for a meal)
8 oz. meat: size of a thin paperback book
eggs, cheese, chicken

Having your meals prepared ahead and stored in a cooler with you will triple your chances of achieving your fitness goals. Look at the amateur and pro competitors. Whether they are male or female, competing in fitness and figure or bodybuilding, all of them will plan their meals in advance.

If you are not at all hungry three hours after your last meal, you may have consumed too many calories. Try making your portion sizes a little smaller.
3 Always Have A Bottle Of Water With You

Some vital H2O facts:

Blood is 83% water
Muscles are 75% water
The brain is 74% water
Bone is 22% water

It may feel like a hassle at the start but having water with you will make a major difference in your life. Water is a necessity. Your body needs water to digest and absorb vitamins and nutrients. Water also detoxifies the liver and kidneys, and carries away waste from the bod, and makes digestion possible.

Fiber alone cannot aid proper digestive function. Feeling dehydrated? You may be, and not even know it! Without water, your blood is literally thicker, and your body has to work much harder to cause it to circulate.

As a result, your brain becomes less active, it’s hard to concentrate, your body feels fatigued, and you just tire out. Aim for a gallon a day. Before you know it, you will start to crave and love your water. Add lemon for a new taste you’ll come to enjoy.
This Is About You!

Are you worried that people are going to joke about your bringing your own food to work, or that you can’t have lunch with the rest of the gang? Remember your reasons for why you planning your meals ahead.

If your friends and work associates joke and have an issue about how you are eating they certainly have some issues of their own. Remember this: I will be with you every step of the way.

So mark down on your calendar that for the next 21 days you are going to plan your meals ahead. In three weeks, by creating healthy meals in advance you will have noticed not only that your clothes are fitting better but you are also saving time and money.
Recommended Food Sources

The following are sources of proteins, carbohydrates, fibrous vegetables, and fats.
Protein

The richest sources of protein are animal foods such as chicken, meat, fish, cheese and eggs. However, plant proteins are believed to be healthier because of their lower fat content.

Other sources of protein include:

Whole grains
Rice
Corn
Beans
Legumes
Oatmeal
Peas
Peanut butter

For vegetarians, vegans and/or those who do not eat meat, fish, eggs, or dairy products, it is important to eat a variety of these other foods in order to get enough protein.

Protein supplements are a fast and efficient way to gain all your high-protein diet needs, however when you have access to real foods choose them for their nutritional value.
Simple Carbohydrates

White and brown sugar
Fruit sugar
Corn syrup
Molasses
Honey
White flour
White bread
Candy & alcohol

These foods are usually high in calories and offer very little nutritional value.
Fats

Good fats include the ‘good’ vegetable oils, such as olive, canola, soy oil, flax, & Udo’s oil. Always use oil in place of all-animal fats and solid fats (such as shortening). Nuts, olives, seeds, and avocado are good sources of monounsaturated fat.

07 Jul
Bodybuilding, Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Weightloss

MY COACH RUINED ME…..

Here is a great Article written by John Gorman.

Let me preface this by saying, this is where some of you are going to get pissed at what I have to say and stop following some of the content I put out. This is who I am tho, 110% real and I say the things a lot of other people just wont say. If this offends you, realize something- it’s probably hitting home with you then. Most people that get pissed cant take an honest look at themselves in the mirror.

We have all heard the stories from competitors out there about how their coach “ruined them” and it’s been going on for years now. I’ll be honest, it’s a coaches worst nightmare to be called out somewhere on social media with someone claiming things like “my coach had me doing an insane amount of cardio, like 2-3 hours a day, to the point I just couldnt function” or “my coach had me eating under 1000 cals a day to get ready for my show, I cant believe he/she would do that to me!” or my favorite “my coach dieted me so hard that I blew up and gained fat rapidly after my show!”…..Ok, wait, I have an even better one. “My coach made me take DRUGS!!!!!” You may see where I am going with this, but first lets talk about coaches ruining people.

It’s def a very real thing out there, there are a shitload of coaches who have no idea what the fuck they are doing. All they know is low cals, high cardio, starve starve stave, cookie cutter diets for everyone. So, dont think for a minute coaches arent to blame for some of the plans they do with their clients and really playing hell on their hormones, metab, and overall health.

Let’s break down each of those things an athlete will say about their coach, and lets find out who is at fault here.

“My coach had me eating under 1000 cals a day to get ready for my show, I cant believe he/she would do that to me!” – The athlete hired the coach, the athlete ultimately decides if they are going to go that low in calories. If they athlete decides to go along with it, then it’s the athlete who is making the final decision.

“My coach dieted me so hard that I blew up and gained fat rapidly after my show!” – The athlete’s diet coach isnt putting that fucking cookie in their mouth. STOP IT.

“My coach made me take DRUGS!!!!!” This one really pisses me off. If the athlete is not fucking smart enough to decide if they are going to put a drug in their body or not, or if they are going to blame the coach, then they are a part of one of the things that’s wrong with the industry, hell even our nation- lack of taking personal responsibility for our OWN actions. The athlete’s coach is not in their house giving them drugs, forcing it on them at gun point.

Yes I know coaches need to be held accountable and that’s a whole other post/topic in and of itself. One thing I know is always true, coaches get way more credit (good or bad) than they deserve. When a client wins, they get too much credit. When they are out of shape, they get too much credit. When someone gains 30 lbs in a month after their show, it’s the coaches dieting approach that is to blame. While the coach is def tied to the outcome, the athlete is ALWAYS the one making the final decision and needs to take more responsibility instead of pushing it off onto others.

Anyone out there considering hiring a coach, do yourself a favor, research your potential coach before you make the actual commitment to work with them. KNOW what their business and what their approaches look like. If you dont do that up front as an athlete, everything you agree to do with that coach from that point forward is 110% up to you, making most of this your responsibility.

Article provided by John Gorman Fitness and Weight loss Coach

Team Gorman Facebook https://www.facebook.com/john.gorman.395
http://www.team-gorman.net/

 

07 Jul
Bodybuilding, Fitness, Health, Muscle Gain

RAPID POST DIET MUSCLE GAIN

This is a topic you rarely see someone go into detail about so I want to shed some light on what to expect after the diet is over. A lot of people believe in the “post show rebound” and the ability to put on muscle. You have some that say it’s Bro-science (that’s partly true but more on that in a minute), some say that the ability to gain muscle is extremely fast after the diet, and some that just don’t know for sure. Here’s the truth of it all and why there is a period of faster muscle gain after a diet is over.

For almost everyone out there reading, when you diet you are going to lose muscle. Just part of the process. When you come off the diet, it’s way easier to put that lost muscle back on. It’s not “new” muscle, it’s muscle that has been built prior to losing it, so the nuclei are already there and “muscle memory” happens making it appear that there is a post show muscle rebound. Just remember, it’s not NEW muscle, it’s regaining lost muscle at a very fast rate.

After the lost muscle is put back on, that’s when new nuclei have to be added and new muscle starts to be put on. This process takes much longer, esp as you get older. So after the short muscle re-gain period is over it’s back to normal time frames for muscle gain.

A lot of people that compete end up going apeshit after their show for a few weeks and pounding food left and right and they fill out their muscle glycogen stores and for a short period really look crazy. It looks like muscle gain is happening at an alarming rate. It doesn’t last long, and fat gain is happening as well. It’s just an achieved look and not tied to experiencing any sort of magical post diet muscle gain period.

If you look at hormones in the body after dieting, they are set up for FAT gain not muscle gain. Testosterone is low, thyroid hormone is low, leptin is low, ghrelin is high.

Take home point-
If anything this is the time to strive to maximize regaining lost muscle without a ton of fat gain. Even though lost muscle is going to come on faster after the diet there is only so much that will come on at once. Fat on the other hand, that will come on fast as hell and there is no set amount it’s limited to like muscle gain.

Article provided by John Gorman Fitness and Weight loss Coach

Team Gorman Facebook https://www.facebook.com/john.gorman.395
http://www.team-gorman.net/

13 May
Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Weightloss

Hitting macros per meal versus macros per day

Folks this isnt going to be the most popular thing to say but I gotta speak up. You may agree or disagree with me here to varying degrees, but I am going to speak through experience over the years with myself, and my clients.

I see so many people struggle with hitting their pro/carbs/fats (macros) that are just eating and logging the food they eat. Sigh….maybe it’s the old school way I learned but what happened to eating X amount of meals a day (however many work for your daily routine) and hitting macros per meal? Do I think there is an advantage for fat loss there? Minimal to none, but that’s not why I think more people should be trying to hit macro’s per MEAL instead of macros per DAY.

When you strive to hit your numbers per meal you will get much closer to your macros per day total than you will just randomly eating food and logging it into myfitnesspal or some other app. I have clients, friends, etc that say “I was under my carb intake today 30 grams” or “I went over my protein today by accident, sorry coach” and I find out they are just eating and logging their food and not trying to hit meals totals I give them. It seems these day’s with flexible dieting that people have abandoned the concept of planning meals out and are just more focused on hitting numbers at the end of the day. The only problem I have with that is when the problem comes up of being “off” your numbers. Especially protein, I mean if you are a guy eating 240 g of protein and you only eat like 15 g at one sitting and then 80 at another your missing out on the point of optimizing protein synthesis from that protein feeding. Balancing your meals with protein at least should be a minimum and there is plenty of data to support that. I give every single client a certain amount of pro/carbs/fats per meal to do 2 things- optimize protein synthesis from their protein at that meal, and to get them more accurately hitting their daily totals instead of trying to figure out how to make them all fit at the end of the day.

I hate to think this way, but it’s almost like people just dont want to plan anything out anymore. If you are a physique athlete, I suggest planning your meals for the day instead of just eating and logging. Sure people will say “but it works for me, I even get contest lean” and that’s fine, but if you are constantly juggling numbers and off that’s not ideal for you. Just plan your meals out for the day or days and put a bit more effort in and make sure your calories and macros are where they should be.

Article provided by John Gorman Fitness and Weightloss Coach

Team Gorman Facebook https://www.facebook.com/john.gorman.395
http://www.team-gorman.net/

13 May
Fitness, Weightloss

How many re feeds are best when dieting versus offseason

I get a ton of questions about refeeds wanting to know how to set them up, how much to have, and interesting enough here lately more questions over having multiple refeeds a week which I want to touch on today to help people understand it better. In most situations I believe people have it backwards. Here’s what I have learned over the years and use with most of my clients.

First lets talk about the primary goals of a refeed. They boost leptin (which boost metab), they refill glycogen to help fuel workouts and also help against muscle loss, and they can give a nice mental break from being at a deficit. Refeeds can either be eating back to maintenance cals, or slightly over to promote growth. When dieting I have seen better results getting my clients back to maintenance versus going over to promote growth.

Lets also talk about 2 very important topics that you wont see most people posting or talking about. 1. The difference in muscle loss when you are lean at the end of a diet and when you are in the first half of the diet is very different. This is HUGE to understand. The higher your body fat is, the harder it is to lose muscle. The leaner you are, the easier it is for your body to tap into muscle and burn it. Keep this in mind as I go. 2. Leptin is the hormone that helps boost metabolism, and it’s made in the fat cells- when you are higher body fat leptin levels are HIGH, as you diet and get leaner leptin levels LOWER. This is important to understand that as you get leaner you need to boost leptin MORE OFTEN to boost metabolism because you have less of it available.

When dieting, if someone has just straight calories across the board every day in a caloric deficit, their metab adapts to those calories because they are not giving their body a boost in leptin with a refeed. IMO the worst way to diet is to eat the same cals every day. Think about cookie cutter diets given out to all the same people. The best way to keep metab boosted and from adapting is to throw a higher calorie day back in, to maintenance cals for example. Maybe you are dieting on 225 carbs and your maintenance you started from was 300 carbs a month ago. Going back to 300 carbs would boost leptin/metab but not store as fat and set you behind. I have seen the refeeds work to help people hit new lows as well when they had just been on all days in a deficit.

Here’s the way I recommend starting people. When body fat and leptin is higher in the beginning of a diet 1 refeed day will work, or two smaller refeed days. (I actually am starting a lot more of my clients on 2 small refeeds a week these days, 2 higher cal days that are back to maintenance). Then as you get leaner and leaner you really need to make sure you have at least 2 refeeds a week. Why? As you diet and get leaner your metab will naturally slow, hitting a refeed every 3-4 days is going to help with metab not adapting to lower cals for 6 days for example. (note, some of you are going to have to do this to push through hard if you are a tad behind. I have a couple clients reading this right now saying MFer then why you only giving me 1 refeed a week and I am 3 weeks out!?) Remember the leaner you are, the less leptin your body makes so the more important it is to get more refeeds in.

Offseason should be the opposite, leptin will be higher because body fat levels are higher, you dont need to boost it so often. Once a week is enough. Also, now metab is humming and cals are up to maintenance or above ALL days of the week, having a refeed will lead to fat gain much easier. Refeeds less often as you are in the offseason are best.

Article provided by John Gorman Fitness and Weight loss Coach

Team Gorman Facebook https://www.facebook.com/john.gorman.395
http://www.team-gorman.net/