mrmusclepants’s BodyBlog

I’ve decided I want to compete in an amateur BB show this year but have no clue where to find contests in my area, rules, regulations, requirements, etc. I’ve passively followed the Pro shows over the last few years but have yet to actually see one in person. I’m curious if anybody out there that has competed could give me a crash course on how the whole thing works and if I have a chance in hell at even holding my own in a BB show, or if I should wait to compete until I pack on more weight, size, etc. I think I look ok with a shirt off, but I realize that a BB show is on a completely different level. So…
1) do I have a shot or would I just embarrass myself, and
2) where can I get complete info on the contest circuit?

Thanks for reading and thanks for any help you can provide.
-Brian

If you’re curious about why I ask nutrition questions all the time in people’s comment sections, it’s because I get bored easily, I love studying and teaching nutrition, and it’s way more fun than saying, "keep up the hard work" to the people’s pages I visit. NOW will you answer the questions?…  

I always hear people in the gym saying they don’t eat "processed foods" because they are "bad for you." Are frozen foods ALWAYS bad for you? Are potato chips ALWAYS bad for you? Is a Powerbar Protein ALWAYS bad for you?

"(gg) The term "processed food" means ANY food other than a raw agricultural commodity and includes any raw agricultural commodity that has been subject to processing, such as canning, cooking, freezing, dehydration, or milling." -FDA regulatory term index

So, the ONLY foods that are not technically a processed food are raw fruit or vegetables straight from the ground that have had nothing at all done to them besides harvesting and refrigeration at a temperature above freezing, or meats that have had NOTHING done besides cutting. Once the food becomes frozen, preserved or enhanced in any way it is technically processed. Processed foods include milk, ANYTHING pasteurized like OJ, grape juice, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc, ANYTHING frozen, ANYTHING canned, and ANY grain that has been milled and is not in raw form.

The most infuriating association with processed foods is sugar and whether it is "natural" or not. If you extracted then ingested 5 grams of fructose from an apple, and extracted and ingested and 5 grams of fructose from white table sugar(sucrose=glucose + fructose), your body only recognizes that you are eating fructose and CAN NOT differentiate the source of the fructose. Both 5 gram samples will cause the exact same physiological response within the body.

Unless you’re eating ONLY water and raw, COMPLETELY unmodified or preserved fruits, vegetables, or meats, you are eating processed foods. Don’t throw around terms of ignorance(not meant to sound mean, it just truly is ignorant to perpetuate a negative term without proper knowledge) unless you know exactly what terms you’re using and why.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to submit them. Thank you for reading.

-Brian

If you workout even once a week, chances are you want to increase muscle tone while decreasing bodyfat, right? Casein protein is the key to reaching those goals. Casein protein is the most unknown, unheard of, and least utilized weapon in someone’s fitness arsenal, yet it is the ONLY protein that does exactly what everyone that works out is searching for:maintaining muscle mass while decreasing bodyfat. Now a little info and background…

If you think you’ve never heard of casein protein, think again. Does the rhyme, "little miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey" ring any bells. Whey is obviously whey protein, but the "curds" are casein proteins that have coagulated, or formed a food clot.

Casein and whey are the two protein components that make up the much larger and synergistically more efficient milk protein. Whey is the liquid milk protein which makes up about 20% of total milk protein, while casein is the solid milk protein that accounts for the other 80%. When cheese manufacturers produce their products they separate and extract nearly all liquid whey protein(this is then sold to supplement companies or used in other "cheese product"), leaving only solid casein as the protein source in cheese. Interesting stuff, right?

Now pay very close attention and take it all in…

Everybody and their mother has HEARD of whey protein, but before you read this blog did you KNOW that whey was a liquid milk protein?  An even better question is, until you started reading this blog had you ever even HEARD of casein protein?… I didn’t think so. The fact that nobody has even HEARD of casein is an absolute shame, since it is undisputibly the best protein for maintaining muscle mass. Now to elaborate on why I said maintain instead of build.

Whey is great at BUILDING muscle, but what happens to that muscle once you’ve built it? Your body uses mainly carbohydrates and fat as it’s energy sources, but it also uses protein for energy. Granted it’s a very small proportion compared to carbs and fat, but why make your body breakdown the muscle you’ve worked so hard to build when you can give it another protein source to pull from instead?

Casein, like carbohydrates, is a muscle sparing nutrient. Casein has an extremely high molecular weight(it’s extremely compared to whey) and is sensitive to pH(acid/base scale) changes in the stomach, which causes it to clot when ingested by itself(like you’d do with a powdered supplement). This clot causes a much slower breakdown than whey, and can take anywhere from 2-8 hours depending on the dose, whereas a supplemental serving of whey typically takes less than an hour to be fully absorbed. This slow release of amino acids(the things that protein is made of) is the reason casein is so efficient at MAINTAINING muscle.
Casein is best taken before long periods when you won’t be eating like before work, school, bed, or before working out to ensure that your body will have a steady flow of proteins to maintain muscle mass.

There are only a few options for getting casein proteins from normal food sources, and since casein is a milk protein the only reasonable food options are milk containing products. Cottage cheese(notice all those little curds), cheese, and cow’s milk are pretty much your only choices. Be careful if you’re lactose intolerant since suddenly eating a whole bunch of dairy can cause some uh… discomfort, and be positive you are not allergic to milk protein(very low possibility). If you ARE lactose intolerant I suggest a supplemental source of casein, or getting some lactase tabs to aid lactose digestion and reduce gastro-discomfort, or discomfArt as I like to call it. Sorry, couldn’t resist. A positive note about supplemental casein for the lactose intolerant is that supplement companies usually take out nearly all lactose from their products because of the frequency of lactose intolerance.

Thanks for reading.

-Brian

I’ve always been the "little guy" my entire life and I’ve always hated my body. Everybody I work with is at least three inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than me.  It took me until I was about 16 to break 5′6", and at that time I only weighed about 110 pounds. Even when I dedicated 100% to bodybuilding all day, every day, I just didn’t have the genetic cooperation to ever pack on any significant weight at all. A few years ago I went all out for 2 full months to try and gain some weight and size. I was sleeping normal hours and getting plenty of rest every day,  taking in a MINIMUM daily intake of 6000 calories from lean proteins, mostly-unsaturated fat sources, complex carbs, fruits, and vegetables, while using whey protein and simple/high GI carbs immediately after workouts, supplementing with creatine, NO2, BCAA, Glutamine, Casein, Whey, weight gainers, testosterone boosters, multivitamins, ecdysterone, TONS of water, lifting 4-6 days a week with heavy, low-rep, mass building exercises with perfect form…. you name it. I started at 146 pounds and at the end of the 60 days I was only at 150Lbs. Within literally 7 days I was at 145Lbs and had BARELY increased my strength in any area. Anyway, the reason I decided to start that balls to the wall training program was because, as I stated before, I’ve always hated my body. Recently though, within the last 2-3 months anyway, I’ve really started to accept my body and feel truly comfortable with myself. Even when I started taking shirtless photos and all that crap a few years ago, I never really felt very confident that I actually had an OK body. I still realize that I am small and there are TONS of people out there my size with much better physiques, but for the first time ever I feel like I can look in the mirror with confidence at what I’ve done with the genetic cards I was dealt. I will continue to stick to my supplement, diet, and exercise regiments, but I’m in a place mentally now that I don’t feel driven or self-pressured to try and drastically change. I of course still have my goals and dreams of massive gains in weight and size , but they’ve now taken a back seat to my satisfaction of what I’ve already done to improve my physique. I’ll never be complacent with my body, but right now I definitely feel mostly-satisfied and proud of what I’ve been able to do. Don’t ever let anyone tell you your BB dreams or hopes are stupid or will never happen. If you’re truly passionate about something, stick to your guns and surround yourself in the world you hope to enter. Even the guy that truly dreamed of becoming a major league ball player, but maybe didn’t have the talent or genetics, still goes to a game now and then. (hope that makes sense. It does in my head but I don’t know how it’ll sound for you to read it). Thanks for reading and hopefully I’ll see you on the circuit some day.

-Brian

I was at SDSU today while there was a push up contest going on to promote the U.S. Army. The pushups were a little more difficult than normal because you had to use 2 parallel bars so that everybody’s hand placement was universal. The previous national record was 75 pushups. There was no time limit, and you were allowed to rest with your arms locked out as long as you didn’t bend your knees or drop your stomach down. A bunch of people did 40…50…60… until I finally went. I ended at 82 before my wrist gave out and I had to stop. A few turns later another kid tied me at 82 and we were going to have a tie-breaker, but I had to wait until the guy got back from his 50 minute class. So while he was gone they let me take my turn so he’d be ready to go when he got back. I started out feeling kinda tired but got to 50..60…100…150…200…250…300…all the way until I hit 313 pushups!!! I had a crowd cheering me on, the unit’s commander came out and presented me with a medal, I won an ipod shuffle, had everybody giving me high fives and handshakes…It was the best I’ve felt in a long time. I’m exhausted as all hell, but it was worth every second of it to push myself to my maximum potential and have such a huge group of support for simply exercising my body and will power.