clevelandfan99’s truth

Lately I have been reading about supplements and this one article by Ron Harris really caught my attention. In this article he states that there are, as most of you already know a ton of bogus ads on many supplements. And as I look at some reviews on these supplements that are out of the ordinary, many people do not find these to work very well. Now there could be more than one reason to this such as these particular individuals do not follow a specific nutrition plan or they work very casually in the gym or they just rely too much on the supplements.

Hence the definition of the word supplement and grab a dictionary. Diet and giving 110% in the gym should be thought of before supplements even enter an individual’s mind because supplements are meant to SUPPLEMENT a diet, not take the place of a diet.

Many supplements out there today are totally bogus and do not work at all. But there are supplements that do work and they work very well. Here are the five types of supplements you should have in your cabinet:

1. Glutamine: This is the most important supplement to have in my opinion. The best time to take this is right after your workout and directly before going to bed. 10mg a day of glutamine is good enough and glutamine lasts a long time, so it won’t blow your bank account.
2. Protein(Whey, Casein): Protein powder is always essential in the bodybuilding diet because protein helps repair the muscle fibers that are damaged during training. There are two main types of protein powders, whey and casein. Whey is good to take directly before and/or after a workout. Casein protein is good to take right after getting up or directly before going to bed. Glutamine powder can be mixed in with protein powder.
3. Creatine: is very good to take immediately after a workout because it helps supply energy to the muscles. It is also responsible for a gain in muscle mass which is the goal of any bodybuilder.
4. Multi-vitamins: Good to take in the morning just after breakfast. They consist of water and fat soluble vitamins and they are a good natural energy booster.
5. Fish oils: For those with joint problems, fish oils are essential in relieving some pain in the joints as well as potentially lowering the risk of CHD(coronary heart disease) as an added bonus.

Finally, after 2 months of reading a 550 page manual I am currently taking the exam that will enable my certification. That’s good news, as always, but then the fun part comes. The job, college, and trying to find a way to fit my diet and workout in all in one day. This is the bad news. But more good news; if I’m working in a gym or fitness studio, I’m around the atmosphere all afternoon. More bad news; I live in Steubenville, Ohio, where there is nothing around the area except for blue collar workers and drunken rednecks. Not a good area at all, if you pass through on vacation, don’t even stop by, just keep on driving because Pittsburgh is just off to the east. This is where I’ll probably end up working. Pittsburgh or some surrounding area like Robinson(I believe there is an LA Fitness) or Imperial(Some guy owns one up there). And then there is Bally Fitness, and I hear that they are always hiring. Steubenville consists of three gyms. Rocky Road, Origin (my gym), and Elite Bodies Fitness Center. I do have something waiting for me at the latter, but my source tells me it may be a year or a little less before something opens up. Sucks, but I’m not working a burger joint or some labor job. That’s not me. I belong in a gym either working out or instructing a workout or instructing an eating habit.

We lift, we work our asses off in the gym…..but we only get minor results. We look in the mirrors and feel like idiots because we are either too skinny, too large or we just can’t meet our goal. We then look through magazines hoping to find our problem in writing. Most of us eventually find that problem and, although we do exactly what the "program" written in pringt tells us to, we still get stuck at the same old place.

What the articles you read in some of these magazines don’t do is tell you the whole story. You have to search deep not only into actual books written by experts but you need to know what your body is accustomed to. No, lifting, working your ass off, and running yourself ragged on a treadmill isn’t always the answer. In fact, you may be doing that right. The fueling side to our body fortress is what we don’t take a hard enough look at. Unfortunately, the sport of bodybuilding contains 80 to 90 percent of it.

I’m studying to be a personal fitness trainer so I can have a somewhat decent job throughout college, and I came across something very interesting a few days ago. It’s what you eat, at certain times of the day is what counts. Remember, it’s what YOU eat! You don’t have to follow Jay Cutler’s diet to put on muscle. Jay Cutler needs to eat that much because his resting metabolic rate(your bodyweight X 10) is through the roof! In order to build a great looking, stage dominating body, here is what you need to calculate: Calories!

In order to find the amount of calories that you should eat, use the above equation for step one.

Step two you need to find out(estimate) how many calories you burn during your training session or for some of us, sessions. In a low intensity workout, an individual burns about 3-5 calories per minute(this doesn’t include rest between sets!) A moderate intensity level individual burns about 6-10 calories a minute and in a high intense workout, a person can burn 11-15 calories per minute. Some of your super intense gym rats can burn up to 16-20 calories per minute! My guess is that most of us are in the 6-10 or 11-15 range. I burn around 900 calories myself, and since my RMR(resting metabolic rate) is 1730, I need to eat at least 2630 calories.

Step three is to find the amount of calories you burn during leisurely activities. Sitting down even burns about 25 calories per hour, so I would begin there. Add another 100 to 300 onto 25 x however often you would sit or stand and that would equal(I will use 200): 3080 calories a day.

Step four is an optional step. Since I am on a hypertrophy phase, I will add 20% onto 3080. (This is a clean 30 percent, not a junk food feeding frenzy!)  I multiply and add and the grand total is 3,696 calories per day. Always approach this the way your body does. You don’t need to eat three dozen egg whites a day to look good.

I just got back from the gym, and let me tell you, my legs are still pumping after this one! This cutting stage isn’t easy and it is very demanding, especially the calorie cut. Today, I did legs, and it was something original, but challenging! This workout is going to hit all of your leg muscles; the quads, hamstrings, calves, and glutes. Before you begin, I suggest that you warm up for 10 to 15 minutes on the bike, because, trust me, your blood needs to pump! The workout goes:

Leg extension: 20-25 reps. Can’t get 20 to 25? Then drop set and run the rack until you get 20-25 reps, 25 on the last 2 sets.

Seated Leg Curl: 20-25 reps, but keep pyramiding up on this one until you MUST do a drop set. Keep dropping until you get 20-25 reps.

Lying leg curl: 15-20 reps, by now, your legs should be nearing it’s exhausting point, but don’t give in yet, squeeze out 20 reps on the last 2 sets.

Leg Press: Burn, Burn, Burn, keep going for 4 sets until you physically can’t get anymore on the excercise!

Calf Raise, seated or standing: Burnout for 3 sets and then you are done, but then curse me and tell me to burn in hell!

If your a powerlifter, don’t read this. I’m talking to bodybuilders of all sorts. Ever since I injured my left pectoral or shoulder tendon whatever the hell it was, I quit using barbells for about a month. Heck, I couldn’t even work chest for a month! What I discovered shortly afterward was that dumbbell bench and incline presses worked really well for me. I didn’t even do barbell bench presses for almost two months out of fear that I would re-injure the muscle I just hurt. When I did begin using barbell bench presses again, I found out that I could control dumbbells much better, and they were a bigger challenge. The last rep where you have to fight to keep your pecs in a flexed posistion at the top. And if you lift alone as I do most of the time, it’s also a big help as you less need a spotter. But something else I noticed. I can build better by working these muscles unlaterally. I felt a more intense pump during and at the end of my workouts, and my chest is still killing me two days after that very workout. I first got the idea a couple of years ago when Gustavo Badell had his chest workout featured in an Ironman Magazine. That one consisted of dumbbells. And I fully trust Gustavo, the man is huge! So try dumbbells for a couple of months, I guarantee you they work.

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