Why Food Choices Matter

Do Food Choices Matter?

April 13th, 2019

Theory: Two identical twins, one uses specific "bodybuilding" foods to get in shape, the other uses different foods to fit his/her macros.

So who gets in better shape?

I personally think twin one who uses specific foods gets in better shape and I'll explain why using a few different points that I find to be the main contributors.  

Disclaimer: I'm not saying macros don't work or that a person can't get shredded using them.  This is just the most extreme end of the spectrum.  

Food and hormone response: Different foods elicit different hormones when they are ingested.  I'll give an example.  When carbs are ingested, the hormone insulin is released from the pancreas to help lower your blood sugar.  Artificial sweeteners have been shown to also create an insulin response similar to when ingesting glucose.  Other foods like processed and or packaged foods can be high in pesticides and glyphosate which can effect how the thyroid works.  These are just a few examples of how food effects the hormones going on in our body.  Certain foods, things like the packages sugary treats you see have actually been shown to increase cravings by stimulating the feel good chemicals in our brain!  This can lead to a downward spiral of over consuming these foods in search for that feel good feeling again.  

Gut Microbiome: Our gut microbiome is basically all of the microorganisms that live inside our gut.  New science is finding our gut and brain are directly linked and few are even going as far as calling the gut the second brain.   Our gut microbiome is what effects our bodies ability to store nutrients.  It also effects our appetite and plays a huge role in weight management.  Since the microbiome is a collection of living organisms that means it can change, and it does!   It changes according to our environment and no I'm not just talking about the weather. That means the foods we ingest has a direct effect on this.  So much so that our body builds up what's called gut flora for specific foods.  Ever eaten something totally new to your body and not felt well afterwards?  This is because we haven't built up the healthy bacteria to handle that food yet.  Sticking to a few of the same food sources for a period of time allows our body to adjust its gut flora to that food so we're better able to digest and use it.  

GI Tract-Motility: The GI tract refers to everything used to consume food and get ride of it.  

Everyones GI empties at different rates due to many different factors.  This is referred to as motility or the foods ability to move or get around.  Fats and dairy are two examples of things that can slow down your digestive ability.  When food digestion starts to slow down that means our body isn't up-taking those nutrients properly.  Low motility in the gut means other meals will compound or "back up" into the system leaving them to be unabsorbed.  Rule of thumb: It's not about how much food you can eat, but about how well your body takes up those nutrients when ingested.  This is why gut health is an absolute priority when trying to get in shape. 

Not all macros are created equal: This one is a no brainer but commonly overlooked.  Let's use white rice and pop tarts for an example.  I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could make pop tarts fit my macros multiple times of the day.  Here's the issue with that, two pop tarts contain roughly 160mgs of sodium per 35 grams of carbs.  Where as white rice only has 2mgs per one cup which equal to about 40 grams of carbs.  If someone was trying to get into the best shape they possible could, say for a bodybuilding show things like sodium content matter.  Different types of carbs can be put into two different categories being high and low glycemic.  This is referring to the carbohydrates ability to break down.  High glycemic carbs have been shown to leave people at higher body fat levels and lower levels of muscularity compared to someone eating a more balanced diet with low glycemic carbs in their diet. *disclaimer: high glycemic foods do have their time and place* that's just talking very general to get my point across. 

Personal Experience: So this here is strictly theory and what I've found when I've done these things in the past.  This might be only true to my body, or it could be due to the fact that I was simply just in the calorie deficit longer. Regardless, what I've found is certain foods do make your skin appear thiner or make the muscles "pop" more.  I had been dieting for a while using lean protein sources like chicken, 99% ground turkey and egg whites.  After stalling for a few days and not seeing any progress I switched my protein sources to ONLY egg whites and white fish.  These two are virtually fat free!  

These protein sources digest stupid fast for me and left me feeling super hungry after.  My metabolism was on fire at this point so I was burning through everything.  Especially the egg whites since I'd only drink them.  I could eat an entire meal of 8 ounces of protein with some veggies and be ready to eat again within 45 minutes.  Only having 6 meals per day I had to space out those meals and savor each one.  So that meant the time in between meals I was literally just cranking through my body fat as fuel.  As a result of doing this I broke the plateau I was at and my skin seemed to be much thinner.  I personally think it has to do with how light those protein sources are which meant my body was able to move it easier throughout my GI. (see how important motility is!)

That's my .2 cents on the topic!
Let me know what side of the fence you're on!

-Justin

Intra Workout Nutrition

Intra Workout Nutrition

April 10th, 2019

So I get a lot of questions about what it is that I carry in that huge pink bottle I carry in the gym.   I always crack a joke and refer to it as my "secret sauce" *space jam reference*
Over the years I've added and dropped a few ingredients, I've substituted some for others, and I've tried all different kinds of combinations.  I'll list my current ingredients and why I use each one.  Keep in mind I don't always use an intra workout shake.  Smaller body parts like arms don't really require me to have one since I'm in and out of the gym and eating immediately post workout.

12 ounces water-for obvious reasons but I feel like a lot of people over look this one.  Not only am I trying to stay hydrated during training, but I'm also trying to HYPER-hydrate.  Your muscles are in such high demand for water and oxygen during training, so its important we give our body what it needs.  Better hydration=better pumps, and who doesn't want that?!  Another reason I use so much water during my training is to help dilute the ingredients in my shake.   The lower the molecular weight, the easier we can digest and uptake these nutrients.   This is in addition to any other liquids in the shake.
16 ounces grape juice- I've recently been using grape juice, but in the past I've used a combination of pomegranate and beet juice. That's a different story for a different day, let's just stick with the grape juice for now.
Why I chose grape juice? Well its a simple sugar which digests very well for me, its high in antioxidants, and its fairly carb dense.   8 ounces is roughly 40 grams of carbs.
I am a huge fan of carb powders such as Vitargo, waxy maize, or HBCD, I just use the juices as a preference.  Best suggestion is try a few, see how they sit with your body and go from there.  Always remember to dilute the powders as much as you can!
5-6 ounces pedialyte- I've also subsituted this for different electrolyte powders but pedialyte seems to always be my favorite.  I always use the unflavored since I'll be adding it to an already flavored drink.  We lose electrolytes in our sweat so I'm constantly trying to replenish them.  Not only do I have them in my intra workout shake, but I also drink them with meal 1, and my pre workout meal.  Having balanced electrolytes is crucial for muscular contractions, proper digestion, and hydration!
25-30 grams PeptoPro- PeptoPro is a predigested form of protein to be utilized during training.  During training we are creating muscle breakdown and damage, pepto pro and essential amino acids can immediately start the repair process as the breakdown is happening.  This helps keep us anabolic during training, and helps with the speed of recovery as well. Ideally I like to mix 30 grams of pepto pro with 15-20 grams of EAA's but lately I've just been doing the pepto pro.  No specific reason.  Combining the two during training ensures that we are getting complete forms of amino acids in their most broken down, bioavailable form.  Not everyone needs 20 grams of EAAs plus pepto pro, but you get the idea.
5-7 grams creatine monohydrate w/ glycerol- DUHHHH.  Everyone loves creatine!   It's the most studied supplement on the market and its dirt cheap.  Creatine can help add volume to the cells, which if we have proper hydration, and proper electrolytes, and a few other things, we have a recipe for a killer pump!   The added glycerol is a great thing to pair with creatine as it also helps add volume to the cell and helps with hydration!   Another super cheap supplement its a no brainer to have this one in your tool belt, I dose this the same I do with my creatine, 5-7 grams.   Nothing special about the 7 grams, that's just if I use a little more than a scoop lol.
1 gram arginine/1 gram norvaline/5 grams citrulline- These I add in as vasodilators or pump products. All of these things increase nitric oxide in the body.  You can add a few more ingredients if you'd like, but these are my main ones.   Few things to keep in mind, nitric oxide precousors can make your body produce more of whatever chronic sickness you have.  For me, when I take a lot of these products, I notice I get cold sores more often.  This is a virus that's already present in my body so with the use of these products, I'm increasing the number of bacteria produced. Just a heads up.
5-6 cranks pink himalayan salt- This salt is crucial for getting all the proper minerals in the body!  Having balanced minerals, just like electrolytes just makes for a better functioning body.   Having this in my intra and pre-workout drinks gives me wicked pumps.




Let me know what kind of things you guys use during your workout!   Also remember, quality of your ingredients matters! 

As always thanks for reading!




-Justin

Lagging Body Parts and My Approach

My approach to lagging body parts

April 5th, 2019

Everyone has a few, we all know what it is, and if you claim you don't have a weak body part, you're lying to yourself.    For me personally its my entire upper body.  From the waist down, things aren't terrible; I've grown a decent set of wheels so far.   But my upper body, more specifically my chest and shoulder area?  That's a total different story.   We all have different reasons as to why we have different lagging body parts weather that be from us not training that body part hard or often enough, maybe its a structural issue with your body not allowing certain muscles to grow correctly, could be a mind to muscle connection issue where you just don't really "feel" the target muscle contracting.   Whatever the case is, its important to recognize that we all have these issues and they are fixable with discipline and hard work (like anything in this sport).   Now with that being said, this post won't be telling you how to fix your structural issues, or your mind to muscle connection problems, instead what I've laid out here is my nutrition and drug approach to lagging body parts along with my opinion on why these things work.   

Disclaimer:

I hate to keep harping on this but I want to make things clear that this is just simply my opinion and what I've found works for me and other around me.  I am not saying this is the end all be all for lagging body parts!

Other Disclaimer:

This is assuming you know how to train properly, you have the right amount of training frequency, adequate rest, etc.  This is only half of the equation to bringing parts up!

Now that i've gotten that out of the way and somewhat covered my ass, I can start digging into my theories and approach.  

Recognizing you have a problem is always the first step.... I know you've heard that one before lol.

This is no different.  When deciding to be a bodybuilder, you need to have the eye.  What I mean by that is you need to be able to look at yourself and pick apart the weaknesses and the strengths.  You need to be able to say to yourself that you have a weak chest if that's the case.  Your body is only as good as your WEAKEST body part.  Remember that saying, it will be a common, on going theme in this blog.  

Once you have recognized your weak body part, you can now accept it as a challenge and move forward with building your physique.  

The most important variable-  Outside of proper training and training frequency**

I'd consider the most important variable nutrition leading up to and post training.  

The foods we choose to eat the night before, and leading up to our training directly effect our performance and energy output, as for the foods we choose to consume post workout; Those will aid in recovery and muscle building.  

Nutrition is king of all when it comes to this sport we already knew that.  But can proper nutrition timing take you over the top compared to the person next to you? I believe so.

I'll keep it simple and list my pre workout, intra, and post workout meals/protocols below.  

Pre workout-

2 scoops gatorade powder

3/4 cup cream of rice

1 tablespoon cashew butter

16 ounces egg whites

Before gym-

10ius insulin

driving to gym-

50 grams carb rice crispy

intra-

grape juice-32 ounces

gatorade powder-2 scoops

pepto pro-30 grams

creatine-6-7 grams

salt

post

2 scoops gatorade powder

3/4 cup cream of rice

16 ounces egg whites

10 ius insulin 

One thing that isn't added up there is the 30 units of long acting insulin I took this morning around 8:30am.

So one thing you'll notice is there isn't much change in my diet compared to other days.   I usually keep things the same and add very small variable on weak days.  Notice the extra gatorade powder, and the insulin.    These are small things I like to do to really help my body shuttle more nutrients to the area.  Insulin really helps me fill out and get a crazy pump.   My theory is if I have blood that's filled with high quality nutrients and I can deliver it to that area effectively then, I'm in business.  I'll continue with the same general idea for the reminder of that day.   All of my protein will be lean sources, fat free.  I'll shoot for 100-150 grams of carbs per meal and along with that I'll use 5-10 units of insulin whatever I feel is necessary for the meal.   During this time I'm keeping my dietary fat super low.  Simply because insulin has the tendency to store everything, so I don't want my dietary fat disposed of in adipose tissue.  Days like today I'm aiming for somewhere in the range of 700-1,000 grams of carbs.  

The second large variable I like to consider- 

Rest days.

When are you planning your rest days?  Your rest days should be full of purpose and have rhyme and reason as to why they are there.   

Two different ways to approach rest days, and I'll give my short opinion on each one . 

Day before lagging part-

this could be great for someone who plans to use their entire rest day to prepare for the training thats to come tomorrow.  That would mean resting all day as much as they could (naps, feet up etc) and eating around the clock.  I find that this is a great way to get a good "preload"of carbohydrates and calories into the body.  Both before and after have their pros and cons to them.

For this specific chest session today I was coming off a rest day feeling super fresh! I had also eaten fairly low carb yesterday in hopes to get a large response from today.

Day after lagging part-

This is my current favorite approach and I'll explain why.  

During training I like to push things pretty far and go as hard as I'm mentally able to that day.  Of course that varies, but generally I'd like to think I train fairly hard.  That's of course only in reference to myself because I do think the term "hard" is relative.  After training what I deem as a relatively hard session, my body is starving for calories and a lot of them.   Now of course we can all assume my energy expenditure was greater since I'm trying harder on these days to bring up the body part.  So with that being said, I use that to my advantage.   Post training my metabolism is usually extremely amped up and I'm ready to crush calories.   Those calories have one destination!  That destination is to go repair everything that I just tore down in the gym.  Now we all know our bodies don't repair muscles immediately and it usually takes a day or two for our body to fully recover.  With that being said, having an off day after training a weak body part allows the body to rest and use the calories consumed all day to repair and rebuild the weaker body part.  

That was my .2 cents on that topic.

Thanks for reading!

Have a good day!


Let me know what your approach is to weak body parts!

-Justin

Taking a "health" break

Taking a "health" break

April 4th, 2019

What's a health break? Am I sick? Why am I taking a break and what exactly am I taking a break of?  Find out on the next episode of dragon ball z.....HEADASSSSS.

So now that I've made one joke of the year; lets talk about the title and what I actually mean!

To answer the first few questions, no I'm not sick, nothing is wrong health wise!  In fact that's the reason for the break so I can continue to stay healthy and responsive.  What exactly am I taking a break of? Well let's not ignore the dark horse in the room, aka gear.  Yes its a part of our sport and its what we choose to do.  That being said, I personally believe it's important to keep things moving smoothly and to do so I find taking a few breaks throughout the year to come off everything completely to be best for the body and the receptors.  So only being 24, I have gotten by with coming off cold turkey before and my body responded fine.  HERES THE KICKER!  My diet and training was 100% spot on after I came off and I firmly believe that's how I was able to recover so quickly even though I had just done a full 6 months of competition prep.  There wasn't a specific reason that I came off cold turkey other than I wanted to know if my body could respond naturally being I was so young which at the time was 23 years old. I wouldn't necessarily say or recommend to do what I did and come off cold turkey like that, but I knew my diet and training was going to stay on point, so really I wasn't worried.  My age played a huge factor in the no worry part, I knew my body would bounce back.  

This time around things are a bit different and I have a very specific goal in mind.  With that being said no goal works unless you have a gameplan of which I do.  This time I plan to do the typical PCT which I'll talk about on another day, once I finish that short protocol I'll  come all the way off and do my best to detox my body for a few more weeks.  In my opinion this is the best thing I can do for my body before I go back onto a heavy pre contest cycle and put it through all that stress.   I'd really like to give my receptors a nice break from all the androgens, I plan to give my digestive tract a little bit of a break with all the carbohydrates, and I also plan to pull back on my training volume a little bit.  Disclaimer:  I won't do all this at once!  Last thing I want to do is pull back my food, supplements and training all at once.  That's how we lose everything we just spent our entire off season building.  

So what's the point of the break?

The point is to let my body rest, and recoup from the hard off season I just had. 

A stressed out body is an unresponsive body.  I really feel like I get the most out of things when my body is fresh and ready to rock and roll.   I'll also say the same for the mental part of the game, this upcoming break is going to do me well in the terms of unloading all the stress from constantly trying to live my life around the off season and making every second of my day anabolic (half kidding lol).

I'm looking forward to how my body will respond after this so I'm just going to keep that on my mind and and hope this break goes by quickly.

Thanks for reading! 

 Hope everyone has a great day!

-Justin 

Final Off Season Push

Final Offseason Push

April 3rd 2019

Well, here it is.  I've finally decided to do somewhat of a blog/journal entry/keep tabs on myself via the internet kinda thing.  Let's start off by talking about where I'm currently at and how things are going.  As of this week i've finally gained some decent weight and am somewhat happy with the way I look in the mirror.  Morning weight this morning was 207 which is what I went to bed at last night; so seeing that this morning made me happy.   Normally I'd wake up 4-5 pounds lighter than the night before. I wouldn't really say I'm eating a ton of food, but its a decent amount.  I haven't really followed any type of diet or anything for the last few months, just have been intuitively eating for most of the day.  Somethings I keep a staple like egg whites for meal one, cream of rice pre workout, lean protein post workout; but generally I've been eating whatever I want since October. Here's my current physique.

I've also listed my current diet below; let me know what you think about things!



meal 1
3/4 cup cream of rice
1 tablespoon cashew butter
1 tablespoon sugar free jam
16 ounce egg whites

meal 2
2 cup white rice
8 ounces 90/10 ground beef

meal 3(intra workout)
16 ounces grape juice
1 scoop  gatorade powder (60 grams carbs)
1 scoop creatine w glycerol(6ish grams)
1 scoop PeptoPro(30 grams predigested protein)
5 cranks pink sea salt
1 rice crispy (50 grams carbs)

meal 4(post workout)
3/4 cup cream of rice
1 tablespoon sugar free jam
16 ounce egg whites

Meal 5
Cheat meal (lucky emmas)
8 ounces lean chicken breast
1 large roll
2 pieces carrot cake

meal 6:
2 cups white rice
8 ounces 90/10 ground beef

meal 7
16 ounce egg whites
1 tablespoon cashew butter
1 piece carrot cake