Maximizing Anabolic Effects through Peri-Workout Nutrition

Sourced from Strength Sensei

For quite some time there has been an on going debate in regards to the post exercise “anabolic window” that occurs post weight training.

For years, the theory was that within a certain period of time after training you had to get in your protein shake, lest you lose all your gains you stimulated during lifting.  If you’re well enough read on this subject, you will know it goes something like this…

– Lift weights

– Get in your protein shake and carbs in within 30 minutes post training or you lose out on anabolism

This has led countless numbers of lifters to be paranoid about downing a protein shake quickly post training, lest they lose their “gains”.  Or more effectively put, miss out on the post training window for setting up growth.

Now I want to preface this by stating there eventually became two factors here regarding this theory.

One was glycogen replenishment.  That you needed to take in carbs post training in order to replenish depleted glycogen stores from training.  The other factor was muscle protein synthesis (MPS), the removing or repairing damaged proteins and building new proteins that are replicas of the original.

This theory was widely accepted as truth for decades until some research was done over the years that showed so long as you had a meal within a few hours of training, you would be just fine, and that total protein intake over the course of the day mattered more than when you had protein intake.  That it made no difference if you had a shake immediately after training, or three hours later.

But is that really true?

Hard training creates damage at a cellular level.  This is the stimulus for growth.  But growth itself doesn’t happen until after training.  That’s when the repair process happens.  Post training, the rate of muscle protein synthesis has to be greater than the rate of muscle protein breakdown (MPB).  So if muscle protein balance (the weighing between synthesis and breakdown) is in the negative, anabolism/growth cannot occur.  To get this straight for you, when MPS is greater than MPB, growth will happen.  When they are the same, nothing happens.  When MPB is greater than MPS, you will lose muscle.

This is not debatable.  This is factual.

So where is the debate?

The debate from there became, how important is nutrition timing?

To answer this, we have to understand how to dramatically increase MPS, and decrease MPB in order to create the most anabolic environment possible to grow as fast as possible.

I’m going to try and cut through a lot of bullshit for you, and make this easy to understand, digest, and apply to your nutrition plan, so that you can take advantage of it.

So let’s get down to it.

Increasing MPS

According to pretty much all research, MPS spikes post training for up to 24 hours, then starts to return to baseline between 36 and 48 hours (depending on what study you look at).  But the fact is, if you haven’t eaten anything at all 36 hours after training you probably had bigger problems in your life than worrying about losing all your gains.  So we really don’t need to worry about stretching the timeline out that far.

The theory held by lots of folks in the scientific field are that, so long as you are getting ample amounts of protein within that time in the post workout window, you should be ok.  This is far more important for people who train fasted.  Something we will address later as well.

But on the surface, this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

So if I wait and eat 4 hours after a really brutal leg training session, it’s no different recovery wise than if I eat very shortly afterwards?  I’ve never ever thought that not eating, or waiting to eat, was just as good as eating when it came to building muscle.  It seems awfully contradictory.  Not only that, is training in a fasted state a good idea?  During a time when my muscles will be primed for nutrient uptake and partitioning (during training), I have no nutrition coming in?  So does eating before you train play an important role in increasing MPS?

Apparently, it does.

Pre-Peri-Post workout nutrition

For a while, intermittent fasting (IF) was a big diet fad.  I say fad because I see it as nothing more than another coming and going of something that isn’t backed up by either anecdotal evidence or scientific evidence in regards to building muscle mass.  I don’t know of a single massively muscled individual that got that way by doing IF.  I have seen lots of little bitty guys rave about how great it is for getting lean.  But this isn’t surprising.  You’re telling me if I don’t eat for long periods of time, I will get lean, but really small?

I agree.  That’s exactly what will happen.  You’ll go through both fat and lean muscle mass.

Not eating for long periods of time seems to run counter to what common sense should tell us about building muscle mass.  Remember, to build mass, we need a positive muscle protein balance so that we can grow (MPS > MPB).

And if anything, eating before you train appears to have a more significant effect on increasing MPS than training in a fasted state, and then eating afterwards.

An increased net uptake of EAAs translates to increased muscle protein synthesis. We found this to be the case, because a mixture of 6 g EAAs + 35 g glucose given immediately before exercise resulted in a greater stimulation of net muscle protein balance than when it was given either immediately or 1 h after exercise.

So we’ve set the stage for step one in regards to net protein balance.  Eat before you train.  How long before you train?

The research shows that doesn’t matter a whole lot, so long as you’ve had a meal within a few hours, and are not training fasted.  I personally don’t like to eat, then train immediately after.  I prefer a few hours in between.

In contrast, when I was in Australia with John Meadows, he liked to eat and train as soon as possible after that.  In fact he told me “the only time I will walk out on a training session is if I get hungry during it.”

So it’s mainly a personal preference.

What about during training?

It appears that intake of protein during training also helps to increase MPS, and further resist MPB.  If you are in a position where you cannot eat before training, then the uptake of amino acids during training appear to have a similar effect on MPS as eating before training.  However I personally advise to eat before training as all of the research shows time after time that it increases MPS even more so than eating afterwards.  Having amino acids during training does appear to prolong MPS, so to create the best possible environment for building lean tissue, make sure to do both.

That leaves us with what to do post workout.

Last year a very well done study showing that there was a significant increase in nitrogen retention when protein was consumed immediately post workout.

This was a very well done study, on both trained and untrained subjects.

http://www.jphysiolanthropol.com/content/33/1/24

This particular study left a lot of people who had claimed that timing didn’t matter, baffled.

To break it down so you don’t have to read the entire text…

• Two groups, one trained and untrained, were involved in the study.
• One group had a protein-carb shake immediately post workout, and one did not.
• Both groups had lunch at 1300 (2 hours post training).
• The group that did not have the post-workout shake, had the same shake 4 hours after lunch.
• The group of trained individuals had a significantly higher degree of nitrogen retention, than the group of untrained men in regards to having the post-workout shake.
• The group of trained men that had the shake immediately post workout, had a higher nitrogen balance than the group of trained men that had the shake four hours after training.

If you’re following all of that, then here is what it says.

If you’re a noob, then just get your protein in over the course of the day after training.

If you’re a trained, or advanced lifter, then getting your nutrition in immediately post workout does make a difference in achieving a higher nitrogen balance.  This is pretty much irrefutable.  Because the fact is, we don’t care about what works for noobs.  Anything works for noobs in regards to growing muscle mass.  It’s at the advanced stage of development where we see things like this start to matter.

This study pretty much debunks the theory that if you just get your protein in over the rest of the day, it’s all the same as getting it in within a shorter window post training.  But only for trained athletes.  This is where some of the other research fell flat on its face.  It used untrained individuals.  And as noted, anything will work for noobs.  So throw that out if you’re a highly qualified athlete, and pay attention to what these results showed for people with a real training history.  It DID make a difference.

Leucine

So as not to leave any stone unturned in regards to MPS, we must also cover the importance of Leucine and its role in this process.

Leucine it is the key, it appears, to turning making amino acids, and branch chain amino acids work.

A series of cellular studies has now clearly shown that leucine directly activates a critical compound in muscle called the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin). It turns out mTOR is like a molecular switch that turns on the machinery that manufactures muscle proteins and leucine is one of the major activators of mTOR. So leucine not only provides the building blocks for protein synthesis, it also plays a critical role in up-regulating the process. Even when an overabundance of amino acids are available to provide the building materials for new muscle, adding extra leucine augments protein synthesis rates further. The bottom line is that adding additional leucine to your diet is an effective strategy to maximize muscle anabolism after resistance exercise.

To add, from my buddy Jonathan Mike’s article on Leucine (because I thought this was an excellent article)
Declining leucine levels signal mTOR that there’s a lack of dietary protein present to synthesize new skeletal muscle protein, therefore disabling mTOR. Upon ingesting increased concentrations of leucine, the elevated amino acid then signals mTOR that sufficient dietary protein exists, and switches on overall protein synthesis. An important point to remember is an increase in mTOR activity (and all aspects of the pathway with which it belongs) results in an increase in protein-building and more growth!

It really is that simple: Flick the leucine switch and you start growing, assuming you’re training and eating enough to support anabolism.

So how much Leucine do you need?

If you’re using a quality protein shake before training then you should be ok.  However it doesn’t hurt to add Leucine to your pre-peri-post workout shakes/meals in order to have your bases covered.  My recommendation is to take in a total of around 10 grams of Leucine over the pre-peri-post workout period.  2.5 grams before you train, 2.5 grams during, and then 5 grams afterwards.

Decreasing MPB

Now that we’ve laid the groundwork for increasing MPS, the second part is how do we suppress MPB?  Remember, increasing MPS isn’t enough.  If MBS must exceed MPB to create an anabolic environment.  So now, let’s worry about how to decrease MPB.

The factors we talked about above were strictly for increasing MPS, but they actually don’t play a significant role in decreasing MPB.  So what does?

Insulin.

Insulin does very little in the way of helping to increase MPS.  However it is a major component in suppressing MPB.

Now the first thing that comes to mind when someone talks about spiking insulin is the ingestion of simple sugars or carbohydrates in order to achieve this state.  But the truth is, that’s not really a requirement.  If you are having whey as your post workout shake, it will raise insulin enough that the addition of carbohydrates will literally make no difference.  So ingesting whey protein post workout will spike insulin enough to suppress MPB, and your bases are now covered.

But there is another factor at play here as well.

Cortisol.

It has been shown that intake of carbohydrates as part of post workout nutrition can reduce cortisol after repeated days of heavy training.   An increase in cortisol when carbohydrate stores are low will indeed tap into fat stores for use as energy, but it will also tap into lean muscle tissue as well.  This is not the desired effect for someone trying to build as much lean tissue as possible.  So the fact is, we want to also suppress both cortisol and MPB post workout as much as possible.

When glycogen levels are low, then cortisol levels will rise post workout.  And this is where the importance of ingesting carbs post workout come into play.  However carbohydrate intake prior to training is also going to play a role in keeping post-training cortisol low as well.  So we’re back to the importance of not training in a fasted state again.  So all of this ties up very neatly together.

Putting it all together

As to not make this complicated, how would one situate this so as to take advantage of all the factors above?

1.  Eat 1-2 hours prior to training.  This can be a food meal or protein and carbohydrate mixture shake.  Supplement that with 2.5 grams of leucine.

2.  Use essential amino acids during training along with a simple sugar added.  Add in 2.5 grams of Leucine to this as well.

3.  If you are an advanced lifter, get in a protein/carbohydrate shake or a well balanced meal in less than an hour after training.  If you are a novice it’s not quite as important.  But I would suggest getting in a meal or protein shake within a two hour window post training anyways.  Not eating to build mass are words that don’t seem to go together.

Conclusion

Despite all of the evidence that shows nutrient timing to play a significant role in creating a more anabolic environment, there is still debate about just how important it is.

One could easily pick a great number of studies to refute any study that shows that nutrient timing is important.  So I will actually end with this…

One question I often ask myself in regards to if something is worth implementing into my training or nutritional paradigm is this…”what are the negatives it could bring?  And what are the positives?”

I literally cannot find a single negative associated with adhering to a sound nutrient timing plan.  I can find all sorts of positives, however.  To me, there appears to be enough research and anecdotal evidence to support using it to recover and grow at a more optimal rate than dismissing it, or saying it is irrelevant.  Once you get to an advanced level of development you’re going to have to turn over every rock in order to find the little things that make a difference in getting better, or dealing with stagnation.  If you haven’t been using these principles in your diet, then give them a try instead of debating about it all day.  Then, you will be able to answer for yourself how well it works or does not work.  And that is really the best way to know, instead of debating about it on the internet all day.

References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8563679
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11440894
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/2/525S.full
http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-107-protein-consumption-and-resistance-exercise-maximizing-anabolic-potential
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16705065
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/2/533S.full
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4008809/
http://www.nutritionexpress.com/article+index/protein/showarticle.aspx?id=807
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/supplemental-leucine-how-it-powers-muscle-growth.html
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/295/4/E731
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21131864
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9760352

3 Things You Need to Know About Protein

3 Things You Need to Know about Protein

By: Kia Khadem

Read Time: 4 Minutes

TL;DR- The RDA values are based on minimums, not for building muscle. There are serious benefits to higher protein intakes, especially as you age.

Fire up the barbecue, buy some meat and call your friends over. The topic of protein intake has been confusing people for too long and this is the end of it.

People all over the world just want to know: “What do I need to eat to live a long, high-quality life, and look good doing it?”

A Google search for “how much protein” brings up over 71 million results. Many with differing opinions. Some professionals try to make the case that we are consuming way too much protein. Some say high protein diets put us at risk of osteoporosis and loss of kidney function.

While all this information is well-intentioned, it is not well-informed. Research shows many health benefits with protein intakes higher than the current recommended daily allowance (RDA). So it’s time to set aside preconceived beliefs and set the facts straight.

1.    Recommended Daily Allowance vs. Individual Needs of Protein

A reason for the mass confusion is not understanding the dietary guidelines and how they apply to individual needs.  The RDA is set by The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institutes of Medicine to help guide dietary choices. You’ve probably seen the RDA shown as a percentage on food labels.

The RDA is the minimum level of intake required for health needed to avoid a deficiency.  It doesn’t account for your athletic or aesthetic goals. The current RDA for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of bodyweight .

2. Benefits of Higher Protein Intakes

In the last four years, six meta-analyses looked at high-protein diets and body composition. These studies showed greater weight loss, fat loss and maintenance of lean body mass (Phillips et al., 2016).

Combined with resistance training, a diet higher in protein is more effective at increasing lean mass and fat loss.

Longland et al. (2016) showed this by comparing a diet containing 2.4 g protein/kg of body weight to a diet containing 1.2 g protein/kg of body weight.

Higher protein intake also increases caloric expenditure and satiety. Johnston et al. (2002) showed this when they tested two groups of females. One group consumed a high protein diet equal to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Another group consumed the same number of calories but less protein as per the Food Guide Pyramid.  The higher protein group increased energy expenditure up to 90 calories in a 24 hour period.

But many people worry that eating more protein will lead to potential side-effects. Such as decreased kidney function and osteoporosis. It turns out these concerns are not factual.

A high protein diet doesn’t impact kidney function in individuals with healthy kidneys. In fact, the Institute of Medicine concluded, “the protein content of the diet is not responsible for the progressive decline in kidney function with age” (Phillips et al., 2016).

Another assumption is that high protein diets promote osteoporosis. It’s assumed that a high protein diet creates a high acid load that causes a gradual loss of calcium from the bone. That’s not supported by research either.

A meta-analysis by Fenton et al. (2011) concluded this is not supported by evidence and promotion of an alkaline diet to the public to prevent calcium loss is not justified. Higher protein intakes improve bone health and correlate with lower hip fractures when adequate calcium levels are present (Fenton et al., 2011).

3. Protein Needs Increase With Age

But let’s start to think beyond looking and feeling good right now. About how we want our lives to be 20, 30, even 30 years from now. The maintenance of a high-quality life as we age is our ability to stay independent. And that comes down to having enough strength to do basic daily tasks.

A major health challenge as we get older is the slow decline of muscle mass and strength. And low protein intake contributes to it (Phillips et al., 2006).

The strength and muscle mass you build right now goes into a savings account that you can draw from as you get older.

And things don’t get easier as we age. We need more exercise and more protein to get the same muscular adaptations as when we’re younger. Moore et al. (2015) showed older men are less sensitive to protein intake than younger men. They need a greater relative protein intake per meal to maximally stimulate protein synthesis in the muscle (31 grams vs. 19 grams).

Consuming a diet high in protein is one of the best ways to improve your body composition and stay strong as you age. If you’re healthy, a high protein diet will not have negative consequences.

But if you’re still worried, well, that means more protein for the rest of us.

References

Fenton, T.R., Tough, S.C., Lyon, A.W., Eliasziw, M., and Hanley, D.A.( 2011). Causal assessment of dietary acid load and bone disease: A systematic review & meta-analysis applying Hill’s epidemiologic criteria for causality. Nutrition Journal, 10: doi:10.1186/1475-2891-10-41.

Johnston, C. S., Day, C. S., & Swan, P. D. (2002). Postprandial thermogenesis is increased 100% on a high-protein, low-fat diet versus a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet in healthy, young women. Journal of the American College of Nutrition (1), 55-61. doi:10.1080/07315724.2002.10719194.

Longland, T. M., Oikawa, S. Y., Mitchell, C. J., Devries, M. C., & Phillips, S. M. (2016). Higher compared with lower dietary protein during an energy deficit combined with intense exercise promotes greater lean mass gain and fat mass loss: A randomized trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 103(3), 738-746. doi: 10.3945/​ajcn.115.119339.

Phillips, S. M., Chevalier, S., & Leidy, H. J. (2016). Protein “requirements” beyond the RDA: Implications for optimizing health 1. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 41(999), 1-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2015-0550

Chocolate Sweet Potato Brownies

Ingredients
500g Cooked Sweet Potato
4 Scoops Carnage Whey Choc Protein
4 tbsp Coconut Oil
2 tbsp Rice Malt Syrup
1 tbsp Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup Walnuts
1/4 Cup Dark choc chips

Combined ingredients and bake for 35min on 170 degree

Per Brownie
150 Cals
10g Carbs
6g Fat
15g Protein
2g Fibre

Nutrition Basics!

If you look back and examine the trends of health-conscious eating in the past 30 years, you will see that experts have changed their minds more than we care to keep track of on the topic of what we “should” be eating. We have been told to focus on healthy grains, to avoid fat, to focus on high protein, to eat like a caveman, and the list goes on.

Add this to the multitude of “experts” who stand behind specific philosophies like the Zone or the Ornish diet, it’s no wonder people have NO CLUE what to do or even where to start when it comes optimizing their diet. The question becomes what really constitutes an optimal diet and what kind of system can we create to design a frame-work of decision making?

Fundamentally speaking, food is energy and we use the calories in food in conjunction with vitamins and minerals as the co-factors. This balance must be maintained in the context of need, the more calories you consume, the more nutrients you need to help run the energy conversion process. Every cell in the body requires energy to power specific tasks such as detoxification, hormone and neurotransmitter synthesis, regeneration and repair, even digestion and waste removal all require energy to power their actions. This is why when it comes to sitting down to a meal, thinking about what you’re eating is such a profound aspect of your decision making process. To tailor a diet to each person’s individual need would take a consultation with a professional, and that’s also not the point of this article. Rather, I want to give you a guideline of how to best make decisions that optimize your health when it comes to deciding on what you should eat

  What will it do to my blood sugar?

I think this is a fundamental and priority-based decision, as most of the western world is slowly becoming a walking symbol for insulin resistance. You know my philosophy on carbohydrates when it comes to not only earning them, but also genetic and activity considerations. ANY carbohydrate will raise blood sugar and as a result insulin levels. The challenge is determining which ones make the most impact. Sugar is the biggest offender especially if it enters the blood stream as glucose which doesn’t need to be broken down by enzymes, so it’s absorbed immediately. Post training this is so not as issue for muscular individual, but if you are carrying a spare tire of any magnitude there is no physiological need for a blood sugar spike, its harming you under the surface! Starch can be in the same boat when it comes to offending blood sugar, sometimes worse if it’s in the form of gluten-containing, nutrient-depleted grains. Where does this leave us? The best choices are always based upon the following criteria:

Low starch vegetables has a high ratio of fiber and nutrients compared to the content of carbs present. Moderate starch vegetables like sweet potato, beets, or carrot are still reasonable but you have to watch the serving size. Low-sugar/low-fructose fruits have their place in a seasonal context. Avoiding fructose all together is likely a safe bet for most people. Lastly SOME gluten-free grains might be accepted for some people who have the genetic ability to process carbs, but grains often irritate the digestive system and piss off blood sugar control mechanisms. Other than around your training, it’s better to pick other options.

  Does it contain quality protein?

Many foods from both animal and plant origin contain protein, but not all protein is created equally. Protein from high quality animal food contains a better amino acid profile for building muscle as well as influencing nitrogen retention (maintaining an anabolic state) on account of the higher biological value of the protein. This is an area where meat consumption is superior as most forms of vegetable proteins are either accompanied with large quantities of carbohydrate or come in powder form if you want them isolated from what is in the rest of the food. Getting quality protein at each meal is important to not only stay anabolic, but to supply your body the amino acids needed to make enzymes, hormones, and structural components.

  What kind of dietary fat does it supply?

This point warrants a post in and of itself because fat has made a comeback in the health food sector, but it’s still by far the MOST misunderstood aspect of optimizing your diet. To give you the basics, there are 3 types of fats you should include in your diet; saturated, mono-unsaturated, and poly-unsaturated. Under all circumstances, avoid trans-fats! The ratios have been long debated as to how much of each you should consume, and there is probably not one absolute answer so here’s my take. If you are on a carb restricted diet make sure you include a decent amount of saturated and mono-unsaturated as they are good for energy metabolism, and saturated fat and cholesterol help maintain rigidity with cell structure. Poly-unsaturated should be included at lower quantities as they are sensitive to oxidation, but these have specialized roles to help optimize cell function, cognitive behavior, and inflammatory modulation. Avoid toxic omega 6 oils from commercial use and NEVER cook with poly-unsaturated fats. Fats are the best source of energy for human metabolism, help provide the raw materials for all sex hormones, and don’t influence blood sugar. It’s important to note that eating high carb and high fat at the same meal is not a good idea as insulin promotes fat storage in the wrong environment.

  What is the nutritional status?

With this description I am not referring to calories or macronutrient breakdown, I am referring to vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. These are the specific nutrients that run the machine tha is our body. All chemical reactions that take place in our bodies require vitamin co-factors, minerals are building blocks for structural components in our bodies, antioxidants and phytonutrients influence genetic expression while protecting us from excessive damage potential free radicals might create. They also have specific benefits under circumstantial conditions. For example, brassica vegetables help hormone metabolism in the body, turmeric and ginger help modulate inflammation processes, and specific bitter foods help optimize digestion processes. Look at a food with colourful pigment that was grow in mineral rich soil is always a great place to start.

  So where does all this leave us? It’s actually a simple criteria

• Start with a foundation of low starch, high fiber vegetables with different colours
• Add in quality proteins from wild or properly raised conditions
• Utilize high quality fats as a primary energy source and as a way to enhance nutrient absorption from other foods in the form of good oils
• Avoid any high starch or high sugar foods when not eating to fuel exercise

Consistency is key with diet, and the more time you take to research and consider your options, the better your decision making criteria will be. We are the sum of our choices up to this moment in our lives, so my question is how do you want your body to operate given what you feed it?

Posted By: Charles R Poliquin March 29, 2016

Fatigue Management and the Adaptive Process

Posted By: Paul Carter on Strength Sensei August 7, 2014

One of the most common, if not THE most common question you will read on the net, or get from lifters in regards to training is, “how long should I stay on this routine?”

That, or as soon as the lifter hits a bit of plateau he or she immediately begins contemplating that it’s time to make a change because “dem gainz” aren’t coming anymore.

Depending on the lifter, and what they have been doing, there may be some validation to this.

Training is a stress on the body, and if the stress levels are high enough the body then adapts by improving it’s ability to perform these functions. Depending on how it is stressed, it generally adapts by growing more muscle mass, or by getting stronger. Sometimes a little bit of both. At a very basic level, that’s what lifting causes the body to do.

If stress is too low, then there is no adaptive response.

If stress is too high, especially for an extended period, then overtraining/under-recovering happens.

When stress is optimal or efficient, and recovery factors are met, then we grow larger, stronger, or a bit of both.

Specificity plays a role here as well because the body will adapt to what it is you’re asking it to perform better at. If you want to get good at something, then do that particular thing. So adaptation works hand in hand with specificity in order to allow you to perform better.

Eventually there comes a point where the body adapts enough to the stress placed on it that it can perform efficiently at what you keep asking it to do. To give a representation of this….

Week 1 – Start a new routine – You get sore from the change in movements and change in set and rep schemes
Week 2 – You perform better than in week 1, soreness is still on coming, but not as bad as week 1
Week 3 – You perform much better than in week 2, soreness is minimal
Week 4 – You perform much better than in week 3, soreness is mostly nonexistent
Week 5 – You perform slightly better than in week 4, no soreness
Week 6 – You perform no better than in week 5, no soreness
Week 7 – You perform no better than in week 6 or perhaps worse in some movements, no soreness

This is just an example, and obviously doesn’t apply to everyone in every situation. But it is fairly typical. Especially if the program has no deviations in it from week to week, like waving intensity, or any movement/exercise variation.

As you can see in this example, the adaption curve tends to trend upwards around week 4, then trend downwards thereafter. Theoretically speaking in this example, week 6 complete adaptation has occurred and the body isn’t being stressed in a way it cannot handle or tolerate. From there the athlete tends to hit a plateau, or can even regress at times. My own personal theory is that the body can sometimes reduce performance ability to find a “set point” that it can maintain with minimal effort. That is the body actually being “efficient”.

The other factor is that, based on the structure of the program being ran, the athlete could start to experience overtraining at week 6 or 7. Here is why I think that’s a possibility.

Once the body is no longer trying to adapt to performance and has reached a “set point” then all that is happening in training is fatigue accumulation. In other words, you go to the gym and train the same way you’ve been training, so you’re still accumulating fatigue from the stress, but because the body has no new stress to adapt to there are no “gains” coming.

Think about this….and get frustrated.

So you go to the gym, bust your ass, and all you’re really doing is digging a deeper recovery hole but doing very little to bring forth new results from said training.

Let me stress this once again. Once you’ve reached adaptation in a routine or a series of movements, improvements in said performance will be minimal, yet stress from training stays the same or even possibly increases.

So basically, you’re just training to get tired at that point. Training progress will be minimal more than likely.

Variations in training to avoid stagnation

So does this mean that as soon as a plateau arrives that training has to be overhauled completely?

Not at all.

Years ago I remember reading about a Russian coach who simply changed out the shoes his athletes wore for squatting in order to force them to adapt to a “new stress”. Whether this story is myth or not, I don’t know, but I get the idea behind it. He didn’t overhaul movements and training on a large scale. He made a small change that caused the body to have to adapt to something new again.

Once you realize that improvements in training aren’t forthcoming, you can start with small and subtle changes to get things moving forward again. Here are some ideas you can implement in order to avoid becoming a “chronic routine changer”.

Change rep and set schemes – Lots of guys get stuck in a specific rep or set scheme and don’t vary them from week to week. If you’re that guy that has been stuck for weeks on end hitting X weight for Y reps, then switch that out for something difference.

For example, if you’ve been doing a back off set in the bench press for maximum reps, you can do something as simple as breaking that set down into three rest/pause sets. So if you’ve been hitting 225×20 reps and can’t get past 20, break that set into three sets so more work is done. Do 3 sets of 8, with only 30-45 seconds of rest between sets. Now you’re doing 24 reps, but broken down over 3 sets, with minimal rest between sets. It’s not the SAME as 1 set of 225×20, and that’s exactly the point. It’s a simple change, but one that can possibly get things moving again.

You can also have a rotation of set and rep schemes that you cycle through in training so that stagnation is limited. For example, if you had been doing 5 sets of 8 reps in the bench press @ 75% and had several weeks where your performance did not improve, you could make just a few changes to create new stress in training without overhauling everything.

Bench Press 
Week 1 – 5 sets of 8 @ 75%, 1 set of as many as possible @ 65%
Week 2 – 3 sets of 3 @ 85%, then 4 sets of 6 @ 80%
Week 3 – repeat

Change hand and foot positions – Another way to create new stress to adapt to in training is to simply change foot or grip positions in a movement. For squats you can bring your stance in or out slightly. For pressing movements, the same change is applicable. Move your grip in or out for a few weeks.

You don’t even have to change that for the entire workout. You can do something as simple as use the last few sets in a volume sequence dedicated to that change.

For example if you had been doing 8 sets of 5 in the squat with a low bar, and medium stance, you could switch the last 3 sets to using high bar with a narrow stance. For bench press or any other press, you could use a close grip variation of the movement for several sets.

Deload – Also to add, every 4-6 weeks before you make these changes, take a deload. A deload in between can enhance the adaptive process and make sure fatigue is managed over the long term. This way the fatigue accumulation slate is wiped clean AND a new adaptive stress is introduced right after. Because the body is such a marvelous thing, a deload alone may not do the trick if you resume training in the exact same way you had been before. The adaptive process will be much shorter than the first time around, and fatigue debt will be reached far earlier than before. So deload between “changes” so that you’re getting the best of both worlds.

Conclusion 

There are a myriad of ways you can change your training in order to further your progress without making a bunch of wholesale changes. If you’re a competitive strength athlete that actually has to perform particular movements for competition then it behooves you to keep those competitive lifts in your routine at all times. However, using variations of the movements as part of the training plan can and should be viable options throughout the year in order to avoid stagnation.

As mentioned before, a plateau is essentially when a place is reached in training where the body no longer has to adapt to the stress being supplied by your training, and fatigue accumulation is happening or cannot be overcome with recovery. You can’t get around accumulating fatigue in training, but you can make sure that your hard work and efforts are giving you a return on your energy investment in training.

Choc-Banana Protein Pancakes

Healthy Easter Treat!

Choc-Banana Protein Pancakes

2 scoops Carnage Chocolate Whey
2 tbsp Gluten Free flour
2 tbsp Almond Meal
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
2 Eggs
1 Banana mashed
4 tbsp Milk

Exercise Variety Is Making You Weak. Why Muscle Confusion Is Overrated!

One week you're squatting like a sane person – in the squat rack with a barbell on your back – and the next week, in the name of variety, you're squatting on a BOSU ball while juggling chainsaws, blindfolded. You know, to keep the body guessing, which is otherwise known as muscle confusion. Some variety is important to training, but most people don't need as much as they think they do.

Muscle Confusion is Misunderstood

Muscle confusion is one of those arbitrary words people like to keep in their back pocket to sound smart, akin to "corrective exercise" or "anterior knee pain." Ask ten different people their definition and you're bound to receive ten different answers. Muscle confusion is nothing more than the practice of changing things up in your training program every so often, including using different modes of activity and exercises.

Bodybuilders will incorporate different set/rep schemes or exercises to target specific muscles and even specific angles to achieve the look they're after. Powerlifters will rotate their main movements – squat, bench press, deadlift – on a weekly or biweekly basis to address a technique flaw or to otherwise lift as much weight as humanly possible in those three movements. CrossFitters will perform scoliosis for AMRAP (also called high-rep Olympic lifting) for, well, I don't know why. But they do it.

It's all good, but for 90% of people, 90% of the time, the best way to make progress and to ensure consistent gains is to do more work per session. This is especially prudent if the goal is to get stronger. If you did "x" amount of weight this week on a given exercise for a given number of sets/reps, the goal should be to do a little more work the next week. Tracking total tonnage from a session-to-session and week-to-week basis is always smart.

Program Hoppers and Bad CrossFit Boxes

While very important, there's more to consider than sets and reps. For instance, far too many people program hop. One week someone starts a 13-week Smolnov squat cycle (not coincidentally, maybe 5-10% of the people who start one actually finish), only to jump to a new program six days later that promises to add 17 inches to their biceps in two weeks.

There's never a shortage of bright, shiny objects to distract our attention. For beginner lifters especially, constant program and exercise hopping is a one-way ticket to Average Town. Marrying yourself to the idea of muscle confusion will rarely, if ever, allow you to truly master a movement.

Not to keep kicking CrossFit in the face, but outside of the high-level competitors it's uncommon to walk into a box and watch someone "own" an exercise. In other words, they don't bother to master a pull-up because kipping pull-ups are an option. Understandably, it's not the goal of CrossFit to master any one exercise, but they're herding people into thinking they need endless variety. The smartest CrossFit coaches have evolved beyond this.

Progressive Overload Is King

Muscle confusion and program hopping will never allow your central nervous system (CNS) to adapt to any one movement. Think about the massive learning curve that exists when introducing exercises like the squat and deadlift into someone's training repertoire. The curve exponentially increases when the Olympic lifts enter the equation. And the weeds grow even thicker once we start adding load, speed, and repetitions into the mix.

The truth is, progressive overload is king. Everyone should make an effort to increase load (increase sets or reps or both, or decrease rest intervals) – to do more work – each and every week. This is a fantastic approach and something many lifters often overlook in favor of the more sexy or unconventional answer.

It's not the lack of chains or bands or some lost Eastern Bloc Undulated Block Periodization scheme written in Elvish that's the reason you're not getting stronger or making progress, but a failure to do more work. Track total tonnage from a session-to-session and week-to-week basis. Do more work. Did you lift more total weight or not this week? All you need is a notebook, a pen, and simple math.

Own the Weight. Earn the Right to Add More.

These aren't always the factors we need to be most aware of, however. Let's use an example everyone can probably relate to. Have you ever crushed a certain weight on any exercise, only to feel like gravity increased tenfold when you added five or ten pounds? The weight doesn't want to budge. Or if it does, it's infinitely more challenging. What gives?

Simple. You haven't "earned" the right to increase the load yet. You haven't performed enough reps at "x" to increase to "y." Stick with the lower weight. Stay there. Own it. You're not hell spawn if you perform the same exercise with the same weight for multiple weeks in a row. Life will go on.

You'll make better progress in the long run. You'll grow more comfortable with the exercise. You'll learn it. You'll respect it. Moreover, by making your strength base wider with more sub-maximal volume (60-80% of 1RM), you'll attain a higher peak when you do eventually test your max numbers.

And this point doesn't just apply to beginners. Advanced lifters can reap some serious benefits as well. Working above those percentages – in the 85-95% of 1RM range – is important from a neural stimulation and adaptation standpoint for all levels of lifters.

However, the stronger one is, the more neurally taxing and draining things are going to be. What's more, the joints are going to take a beating when using loads that high for a long duration. So, for advanced trainees, sub-maximal training has a lot of validity.

Newbies and Advanced Lifters Need Less Variety

Neither beginners nor advanced athletes require a ton of variety in their training, especially when the goal is to get stronger. Beginners need to learn the basics: squat, hinge, lunge, push, pull, carry, etc. Advanced lifters need to own their competitive lifts and that's it. The stronger someone is, the less variety they require to maintain that strength. For advanced lifters, "variety" comes in the accessory work and is dictated by what their technique flaws are in their main lifts.

Examples of Accessory Work to Fix Problems

1 – Squat

• Technique Flaw: You fall forward in the hole.
• Accessory Movement: Give more attention to detail on the setup – upper back tightness and lat activation. Also, include more paused squats – more time in the range of motion that's troublesome.

2 - Bench Press

• Technique Flaw: Weak at lockout.
• Accessory Movement: Higher rep, close-grip bench press.

3 – Deadlift

• Technique Flaw: Weak off the floor.
• Accessory Movement: Stop bouncing the weight off the floor. Deadlift like a grown-ass man, and train your reps from a dead stop.

Ironically, intermediate lifters can be a little more Willy Wonka-ish and immerse ourselves in the crazy, zany world of variety. Still, most lifters don't need as much variety as they think they do. Simplicity is the key to progress.

by Tony Gentilcore Source T-Nation