The Men's Health Blog

That was the question posed to me this morning by one of my fitness boot camp students. Below is the email I sent to the entire class in response to that very question. Let me know what you think!

Ahhh, the weekend.

At the end of this morning's workout I was asked a terrific question: "What do you recommend we do over the weekend?"

The answer is complex, to be sure, as there are a plethora of factors to be considered. But here is some general guidance to get you through the weekend.

1. EXERCISE

I recommend light cardio (i.e. 20-30 min jog) on Saturday, or partake in an activity which you enjoy. Maybe that means you organize a kickball game, or go for a bike ride. Ultimate frisbee with friends is a good time. Maybe flag football is your gig, a round of golf, or a pick-up game of half-pitch soccer. I like to surf Saturday mornings -- a great shoulder workout.

Whatever that looks like for you, just make sure you get out and do something on Saturday. This is a nice way to cap all the work you put in Mon-Fri.

Sunday is your recovery day. Go to church. Go to the beach. Relax by the pool. Do all of the above! But make sure you allow your body a day to recover.

2. SLEEP

We're all guilty of sleeping in. But getting no more than 8 hours of sleep will actually leave you more energized throughout the day. No matter what time you get to bed on Friday, set your alarm for + 8 hours.

Surfing and church get me up in the morning on weekends. Find what helps you get up, and make a habit of it.

3. NUTRITION

Too often we use weekends to throw all good nutritional sense to the wind. *DON'T DO IT* Stick to your nutritional goals -- ESPECIALLY over the weekend. Weekends can really transform the speed of your progress -- if you utilize them properly.

I use ABS DIET POWER as a guideline. Remember: eat a lot less a lot more often. Three small meals + three (healthy) snacks per day = the goal.

Oh, and drink plenty of water. Because you know what Monday morning brings...

Enjoy your weekend. See you Monday at 7!

A buddy of mine at work forwarded me this very interesting article on the effectiveness of vitamin supplements.

Ever since the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Linus Pauling first promoted “megadoses” of essential nutrients 40 years ago, Americans have been devoted to their vitamins. Today about half of all adults use some form of dietary supplement, at a cost of $23 billion a year.

But are vitamins worth it? In the past few years, several high-quality studies have failed to show that extra vitamins, at least in pill form, help prevent chronic disease or prolong life.

Continue reading...

I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on this.

I found this interesting article on bodybuilding.com, discussing techniques to look shredded in a mere five days.

Read it. Let me know what you think.

A buddy of mine on Facebook recently asked about muscle soreness after a workout:

I've heard some mixed feelings about muscle soreness equating to a good workout. Most trainers I've worked with say, "if you're not sore, you did it wrong", others say there's no relation other than your muscles not being used to that workout, and doesn't mean you didn't get a good one just because you're not sore.

This is a great line of questioning, and I thought I'd expound on the answer a bit.

The term used for this phenomenon is Delayed onset muscle soreness -- or DOMS. DOMS is basically muscle pain, soreness, or stiffness felt between 12 and 48 hours after a workout. Typically, DOMS is most noticeably experienced at the beginning of a new an workout routine, after a change in physical activities, or after a significant increase in the duration and/or intensity of activity.

Daunting as "Delayed onset muscle soreness" may sound to some, it's actually quite normal after an unusual exertion of muscle energy. Not to mention, DOMS is one component of an adaptation process your body goes through in a natural progression toward achieving greater strength and stamina. More simply, soreness is part of muscle recovery and a byproduct of hypertrophy.

So what do I think about the two scenarios posed in my friend's question? Well, if you've read my stuff in the past, you know that I have a theory of competing theories which basically states that the truth can probably be found somewhere in the middle.

While I believe you should always be modifying and progressing in your workouts to "surprise" your muscles, thus subjecting yourself to a somewhat constant state of soreness, changes in your routine shouldn't cause a degree of soreness that hinders future exercise.

Does that makes sense?

And while DOMS in and of itself isn't anything to worry about, there are quite a few things you can do to prevent, avoid all together, and/or shorten the duration of muscle soreness:

• Warm up thoroughly before activity and cool down completely afterward.
• Cool Down with gentle stretching after exercise.
• Follow the 10% Rule. When beginning a new activity start gradually and build up your time and intensity no more than ten percent per week.
• Know the 10 Tips for Safe Workouts.
• Follow the Spring Training Fitness Tips.
  
• Hire a personal trainer if you aren't sure how to start a workout program that is safe and effective.
• Start a new weight lifting routine with light weights and high reps (10-12) and gradually increase the amount you lift over several weeks.
• Avoid making sudden major changes in the type of exercise you do.
• Avoid making sudden major changes in the amount of time that you exercise.
  

Those should help you prevent soreness. But what about the aftermath? What should you do when you are indeed sore after working out?

Nothing that I have found has been proven effective in reducing delayed-onset muscle soreness. However, there are plenty of tips and tricks some folks recommend to get you through the following days.

• Wait. Soreness will go away in 3 to 7 days with no special treatment.
• Try an Ice Bath or Contrast Water Bath. Although no clear evidence proves they are effective, many pro athletes use them and claim they work to reduce soreness.
• Use active recovery techniques. This strategy does have some support in the research. Perform some easy low-impact aerobic exercise to increase blood flow. This may help diminish muscle soreness.
• Use the RICE method of treating injuries.
• Although research doesn't find gentle stretching reduces soreness, some people find it simply feels good.
• Gently massage the affected muscles. Some research has found that massage was effective in alleviating DOMS by approximately 30% and reducing swelling, but it had no effects on muscle function.
• Try using a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication (aspirin or ibuprofen) to reduce the soreness temporarily, though they won't actually speed healing.
• There is some evidence that performing Yoga may reduce DOMS.
• Avoid any vigorous activity that increases pain.
• Allow the soreness to subside thoroughly before performing any vigorous exercise.
• Don't forget to warm up completely before your next exercise session. There is some research that supports that a warm-up performed immediately prior to unaccustomed eccentric exercise produces small reductions in delayed-onset muscle soreness (but cool-down performed after exercise does not).
• ** If your pain persists longer than about 7 days or increases despite these measures, consult your physician.
• Learn something from the experience! Use prevention first.

So in conclusion, if you're not sore after a lifting weights, yeah, you probably need to push yourself a little harder. However, what's the point of being really sore if you're not able to workout for a few days as a result?

From instructing my first (5-week) fitness boot camp. I'm formulating my plan and aggregating the best exercises from a plethora of sources.

But I also want to hear from any of you who have participated in fitness boot camps. What were some of the most beneficial exercises you experienced?

That question was posed to me this morning at work this morning, and I thought the short answer would make a good post here at The Men's Health Blog -- especially since I haven't posted in awhile.

The whole process comes down to ATP.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a multifunctional nucleotide, and the initial fuel for muscle contractions. For short-duration explosive sports, such as sprinting, weight lifting and other anaerobic exercises, ATP is the energy system used. Creatine increases energy of muscles by increasing the amount of ATP.

More specifically, ATP provides energy by releasing a phospate molecule, at which point it becomes ADP (adenosine diphosphate). The energy produced during this process lasts only seconds. Once the energy is used, more ATP must be produced. This is where creatine phosphate, or also called phosphocreatine (the form that creatine is stored in the body), comes into play. It gives its phosphate to the ADP making another ATP. This ATP again, is used as energy for a few seconds and then the process repeats. This process is called ATP regeneration.

Stay with me now.

ATP regeneration keeps your body from relying on glycolysis, which is a process where lactic acid is built up during your workout. Reduced lactic acid allows you to workout longer and harder, thus maximizing every muscle’s workout, and allows you to gain more muscle, strength and size. Your ability to generate ATP depends on your supply of creatine.

So basically, the more creatine you have, the more ATP you'll be able to produce. You will eventually lose energy molecules, however, so no matter how much creatine you have in your body it won't do any good without the presence of the energy molecules. And the production of these energy molecules depends heavily on ribose.

Ribose is another post in and of itself.

Whether or not creatine is right for you, is up to you. No studies that I know have shown creatine to have any serious adverse side effects. As expected, however, some studies have shown creatine to cause gas, bloating, and diarreah when used in excess.

If done properly, creatine can provide more energy, endurance, strength, and weight gain.

But do your homework.

Well, it's been a bit crazy lately, but I'm finally posting again. I had a terrific Christmas in Arizona with some family. How was yours?

Remember my ideal Christmas wish list? Well, I think my family has been reading my blog.

Among my gifts were:

- Gucci by Gucci
- A one year subscription to Men's Health
- A Samsung digital camcorder
- And a scuba certification course of my choosing!

A terrific score, I'd have to say.

How'd you make out?