In and Out Workout by Robert Saladino MS, CSCS

Muscles get bigger while you rest and sleep, not in the gym. Current studies regarding resistance training suggest sessions lasting as long 3-4 hours per day, 5 - 6 days each week, provide no greater benefit compared to training 1-1.5 hours per day, 3 -4 days each week. I'm realizing more and more the benefit of short and brief workouts. The human body can only take so much punishment before it actually starts to regress. While the more is better principal is true for money it doesn't apply when discussing overall fitness levels. When we're under physical (intense workouts lasting more than one hour) or emotional stress our bodies consume glucose at an extremely high rate. To keep our blood sugar levels in a homeostasis state the catabolic stress hormone cortisol is released. This hormone causes gluconeogenesis (making glucose from non carbohydrate sources) to be performed on your muscles. It does this by breaking down muscle tissue and releasing amino acids into the blood stream. Once in the blood stream the amino acids are shuttled into the liver to synthesize glucose.

 This ensures that our brain gets a sufficient amount of glucose to keep functioning properly. While it's a pretty efficient system to keep us alive and thinking properly, it wreaks havoc on those muscles all of us need to burn calories.  So, unless you want to run the risk of losing some of your hard earned muscles, shorter workouts is usually a better choice. 

Again, it's important to keep in mind; the workouts need to be short (max 45 min) and intense (reaching muscle failure). These 2 concepts must go hand and hand to achieve maximal results.  When you push your muscles to muscle failure (can't perform another rep) lactate acid builds up in the body. This raises human growth hormone and testosterone naturally in the body. Both of these hormones are catalysts for muscle growth. I have been performing the following routine for the past 2 yrs and the results have been nothing short of remarkable:

Legs are always done on Tuesday and back on Thursday. Studies show these muscles contain the most fast twitch muscle fibers and need the most rest between sessions. Chest, shoulders and arms are always rotating through a 5-day rest cycle, appearing on Monday, Wednesday or Saturday schedules. Friday is always cardio and Sunday is a full rest day.  From the example displayed above, Chest was performed on Monday, following a 5-day rest for Chest; the next chest session will fall on Saturday. If you keep repeating the cycle, you will always have enough rest for your muscles to get stronger and bigger. The variety factor is also present as Monday, Wednesday and Saturday are never the same workout.

• The workouts should never go past 45 minutes, with 30 minutes being the ideal time frame.
• The exercises should be free weight type movements, which produce the greatest amount of muscle mass and burn the most calories. Some examples are; Dumbbell chest press, dead lifts, military presses, squats and dumbbell curls.
• 2 sets per exercise, 3-4 different exercises per body part
• 30 seconds rest between sets: anything longer and you might be recruiting the same muscle fibers over and over again. The short rest periods forces new muscle fibers to take over the workload while allowing the exhausted fibers to rest. Once rested the working fibers will get recalled again and again without any of the reserves being called into the play. The more muscle fibers that get recruited the more muscular development you will achieve.
• Reps should fall into the range of 8-12, lower reps build strength and power and higher reps produce muscle endurance and hypertrophy.

Again In and Out is the game, if you really want to increase the intensity try these golden oldies 

• Force Reps: perform a set to failure (can't do anymore) and then have someone help you just enough to perform additional 2-3 reps.
• Giant Sets: perform 3 sets of 3 different exercises for the same body part in a row without taking a rest.
• Rest and Pause: Perform 1 set to failure, decrease the weight by about 10 pounds, wait 10 seconds and perform another set, repeat for 5 total sets.
• Super Set: Perform 1 set of 1 exercise for 1 body part and then immediately perform 1 set for another body part, similar to the giant set, except you are involving 2 different body parts: for example bench press followed by the front pull downs.

This is not a body building routine, but to be honest, body builders know something about gaining muscle, that's what they get paid to do! Some of these concepts are in-fact from famous body builder routines.  Muscle is an active tissue that burns calories, makes you stronger and keeps you looking physically fit. Try In and Out Workout and you'll be on your way to a fitter you.       

Breaking Plateaus

Have you ever felt as if you have stopped making progress in your current exercise program? Whether it’s gaining muscle, losing weight or adding strength and power, everybody at some point or another has hit a brick wall in their training.

The answer is short and simple..... Anytime you present a new stimulus into your training, your body protects itself by adapting (advancing physiologically) to the current program. For example 30 minutes of cardio 3x a week may have led to a 5 pound decrease in bodyweight. Now you can't seem to lose anymore weight. The problem is adaption has occurred and your body has become more physically fit. You may need to increase the intensity or add more cardio days. Either way new stimulus means new training effect, which means your body feels the effective of the stimulus and displays improvement.  This is why when you first started working out; regardless of the program you made incredible gains.   

The trick is to always come up with different ways to break away from the norm and try something new.  The mind also adapts just like your body and it can experience staleness as well.  It’s not always the physical aspect of training but something as simple as going to a new gym or changing the time your workout and can be just the doctor ordered. There is a mind = muscle connection that gets you prepared for your grueling workout. If your mind is somewhere else(boredom) your muscles might want to tag along for the ride.  Try these plateau busters...

·        Increase the intensity: whether its lifting weights, cardio or sprinting, try to better yourself in every work-out. For example if you do 3 sets of 12 reps with  50 pound dumbbells why not try 3 sets of  12 reps  with 60 pound dumbbells, again your body will not be accustomed to the 60 pounds and will be forced to grow new muscle.   

·        Decrease the intensity: I realize this may seem counterproductive but plateaus may be based on going too hard for too long (burn-out syndrome),  try taking a step back and lower the intensity, your joints, tendons, ligaments, muscles and most of all your mind will thank you for it

·        Change the order of exercises: instead of always performing the bench press first in your chest routine try dumbbell flies first, followed by the bench press.  

·        Vary training modalities:  

1.      perform entire week of just machines

2.      perform only full body workouts 3 x week

3.      use body weight exercises for 2 weeks = pushups, dips, chin-ups and abs,

4.      use high reps(the ultimate ego punisher), nothing lower than 25 for 5 straight workouts.     

·        Change health clubs: this may seem less important than the others but nothing beats a new environment with new machines, weights, music and fresh faces. Again your mind will love the breakaway from the mundane scene day after day.

·        Change the time of your workouts: If you workout only in the morning, give the night-time slot a shot, again something as simple as this may be all you need to stimulate yourself.         

·        The following are some advanced techniques that some bodybuilders swear by

1.      Force Reps: perform a set to failure (can’t do anymore) and then have someone help you just enough to perform an additional 2-3 reps.

2.       Giant Sets: perform 3 sets of 3 different exercises for the same body part in a row without taking a rest.

3.      Rest and Pause: Perform 1 set to failure and then lower the weight by about 10 pounds, wait 10 seconds and perform another set, repeat for 5 total sets.

4.      Super Set: Perform 1 set of 1 exercise for 1 body part and then immediately perform 1 set for another body part, similar to the giant set, except you are involving 2 different body parts: for example bench press followed by the front pull downs.  

Try these gems out for size and new growth will be just around the corner!

Creatine is produced naturally in the body from the amino acids methionine, arginine, and glycine.  Methionine is an essential amino acid which means it needs to be ingested by dietary means. Arginine is conditionally essential and glycine is non essential. Large sources of methionine can be found in meat, fish and milk. Studies show that vegetarian diets display lower total muscle creatine content compared to diets which contain meat. This may result in non meat eaters having to supplement with creatine even more so than no vegetarians for the following reasons:

ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the power energy molecule responsible for all muscle contractions in the body especially high intensity short duration movements. Exercises lasting between 0-30 seconds are controlled by the phosphagen system which only runs on phosphocreatine. After 30 seconds the glycolysis system starts taking over. This involves the synthesis of ATP from glucose. Anything after 2 minutes and the oxidative system which runs on the breakdown of fats, carbohydrates and some protein takes over. Keep in mind as the intensity increases carbohydrates will become the main fuel source due to the fact that fats and protein can't burn fast enough to make enough ATP's.

Phosphocreatine donates one phosphate to the ADP (adenosine diphosphate) molecule turning it into ATP, which now can be used as energy in the system. Creatine is used to rephosphorylate (adds phosphates back) the phosphocreatine molecule so that it can keep adding phosphates to the ADP making it ATP. Hence it is believed the more creatine you have in the creatine pool the longer you will be able to exercise. It is also reported an increase in power and strength will follow with more available ATP molecules in the system.  

Here are the suggested loading and maintenance phases of creatine

Loading Phase: 0.14g per pound of bodyweight daily.

Maintenance Phase: 0.0136g per pound of bodyweight

3-5 grams daily is recommended to insure skeletal muscle saturation of creatine (Sports Supplements Encyclopedia, Dr. Antonio)     

Restore after working out...

Our body releases the hormone insulin in the presence of carbohydrates. Insulin will do one of two things: 1) shove the digested carbohydrate molecule into the muscle cell for latter use as energy. 2) It can cram the carb molecule into a fat cell. Option 1 is usually followed after a hard workout. Your muscles are highly sensitive towards glycogen 30 -45 minutes after exercise. You can take advantage of this by mixing protein, fast absorbing carbs and creatine all together, to make the ultimate muscle building cocktail. The protein will piggy back off the carbs along with the creatine and be shuttled into the muscle cells. The amino acids will rebuild damaged muscle tissue and the creatine will regenerate the creatine pool for ATP's later on.

Don't waste your money on those expensive creatine potions that claim an increased uptake of creatine. All they really do is add dextrose (sugar) to the creatine. You can do that yourself and save a ton of money.  

Mix in one scoop of whey with 8 -12 ounces of juice and 2-4 grams of any kind of creatine (I buy the cheapest whey and creatine I can get my hands on) and presto!

Does Creatine work?

It depends on what your definition of what work is?  There is an initial weight gain of 5-10 pounds during the loading phase. This is due to the muscle cells being engorged with water. Hence the muscles look fuller and bigger. After about 4-6 weeks studies do indicate an increase in maximal strength, body mass, and fat free mass greater than strength training alone (Becque et al. 2000). So yes, it does work, but you have to ask yourself the question.... is it worth the money? By all means we're not talking HGH or anabolic steroids here. Nothing compares to the illegal stuff which is dangerous and as already mentioned illegal. If you think gaining 5-10 pounds and increasing strength about 5-10% is a big enough gain to spend the mullah, than by all means try it.

What about Side Effects?

Creatine is the most widely touted sports supplement to ever grace the store shelves. There have been numerous short term studies done on creatine with nothing negative to report what so ever. Although it's critical to point out most studies have been short term, lasting only a number of weeks. Long term studies need to be addressed until then, cycle creatine using the alternative month method (one month on, one month off) just to be on the safe side.