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Alcohol and working out

Thank God its Friday. That's right, the weekend has begun, and for the average guy, what do we do on weekends? PARTY! And let's face it, despite what you tell your parents, what do parties center around: beer! In college, social lives pretty much revolve around alcohol. Just about everyone in college drinks, many go into college saying they won't, few uphold that promise.

As bodybuilders, our bodies are our lives. We eat right throughout the week, get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, stay as healthy as possible, and of course, workout. We put all these efforts into ourselves throughout the week, but on weekends we drink like fish and get shit faced. I used to drink heavily on party nights too, until a couple weeks ago when I realized just how much getting drunk was hurting my gains. I'm hoping that after you've read this article, for those of you that drink, you will see just how detrimental alcohol is to building muscle and hopefully cut down on drinking.

Alcohol is empty calories. It doesn't have any nutrients, but does have a caloric value of 7 calories per gram. In just one shot (1.5oz) of 80 proof vodka there's nearly 100 calories. For those of you trying to lose fat, forget it if you are drinking. Not only will the high calorie content of alcohol have a negative effect on your total calorie intake, but it also slows down your metabolism by disrupting the Kreb's cycle. Since the Kreb's cycle isn't working correctly, fats cannot be broken down. In short, your body is trying so hard to digest and metabolize the alcohol, that fat burning stops all together.

Alcohol consumption also hurts muscle growth. Not only due to hangovers lowering your workout intensity, but it actually lowers protein synthesis by 20%. Twenty percent! There are several reasons why it does this. For one, it dehydrates your muscle cells. As many know, hydrated and even over hydrated muscles (like when you take creatine) allows for a much higher anabolic environment. Because your cells aren't holding as much water, it becomes much harder to build muscle. The second reason why alcohol can severely hurt muscle growth is because it blocks the absorption of many important nutrients that are key to muscle contraction, relaxation and growth including calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and potassium.

OK, so above I lied, there's actually a third way that alcohol slows down protein synthesis, I just wanted to dedicate a big part of this article to it. For those of you that don't already know this, alcohol lowers testosterone and increases estrogen! Yes, you read that right. In one particular study, men's testosterone levels were measured before and after consumption of alcohol. At the most intoxicated state, testosterone levels had dropped to an average of 25% lower. It was also interesting to note, that when blood alcohol levels were the highest, testosterone was at its lowest. Alcohol has also been shown to cause a quicker aromatization of androgens into estrogens, which would explain why heavy drinkers often get gynecomastria (bitch tits) over a period of time. For those of you taking andro (and I'm sure you already know my views on andro) I would absolutely avoid alcohol since you already are in risk for gynecomastria with the high androgen levels in your blood. By drinking, you are further putting yourself in risk for aromatization. We should also note, that in a study done with rats, alcohol reduced Insulin like Growth Hormone-1 (IGF-1) by up to 42%. That's a huge drop in IGF-1.

One thing I found unusual due to the drop in testosterone while drinking is that most guys get really horny. Beyond getting beer goggles, why is it that drinking makes you horny? What I found out is that because alcohol lowers testosterone levels so significantly, the body is struggling to bring them back up by releasing LH, in very large quantities. What's also interesting to note is that LH is just as responsible for arousal as testosterone. Unfortunately though, alcohol reduces testosterone levels at the Leydig cell, not the pituitary, so the LH is ineffective in raising testosterone levels.

Rather than just spitting facts at you, I'd like to take the time to talk about how drinking has affected my lifting. Before coming to college I had drank maybe 3 or 4 times in my entire life. My diet was always perfect, every day of the week, even on weekends. On the first night of college how ever, I discovered just how tasty (and fun) beer was. After that I'd drink every weekend, never on the night before a workout, but none-the-less every weekend. My diet was decent during the week (well, the best I could do with college food), but on weekends I'd wake up late missing at least 2 meals, and often only get 3-4 meals in on those days. Because of the lack of protein, reduction in test levels on those drinking nights and the catabolism due to the alcohol my gains suffered. I went into college last year at about 185 lbs and came out around 205. After cutting up for the summer, I was a lean 195. Had I not drank every weekend, I think I could have added about 10 more pounds of mass.

This year I refuse to make the same mistake. As bodybuilders we are always learning. One thing I've learned is that alcohol does effect your gains, and in a negative way. This year I will stay sober. I still plan on drinking, but I'll limit myself to a beer an hour, and no more than 3 or 4 a night. I suggest those of you in college who are serious about improving your physiques do the same. Maybe once a month I'll allow myself to get trashed.

So what if it is that time of the month, where you hand the keys to someone else and get bombed? Here are some simple hints as how to keep as much muscle as possible from that week while still having fun:

1. Leave at least 2 liters of water by your bedside to drink when you get home before you go to bed. Not only will this prevent a hangover, but it will also help to hydrate your muscles.

2. Drink a protein shake or eat something dense in protein before climbing into bed as well (if you can still stand). This will help curb the catabolism occurring inside your body, not to mention you always need protein.

3. When you wake up the next morning and roll over, pray the girl next to you looks as good as she did last night. If not, shuttle her out of the room as quick as possible before your friends can find out and bust your balls.

4. 45 minutes to an hour before breakfast have a serving of ZMA and 5-10 grams of glutamine. The ZMA will naturally raise your testosterone levels that were lowered from your night of drinking, and the glutamine will help stop catabolism.

5. Eat a big breakfast filled with foods that are rich in protein, calcium, phosphorus and iron. Your body is craving these key nutrients since the alcohol diminished them the night before.

Let's face it, alcohol is fun, real fun. It makes fat girls attractive, gets ugly guys laid, gives the skinny, shy kid confidence to stand up and make a fool of himself, and helps uncoordinated, white guys like me dance. Unfortunately, it also reduces testosterone among all the other negative things mentioned earlier in this article. That doesn't mean you shouldn't have fun, don't be afraid to go out and have a good time. I've seen way too many bodybuilders who stay in on weekends. Go out, drink a few beers, have a good time, just keep it in moderation.

Wrestling Eye Candy

7 tips for mass and power

1. Eat Like a Bear

The only way you're going to move up to the top of the food chain is to eat like the top dog. In other words, to gain muscle, you need to stay in a state of energy excess. Eat everything that's not bolted down. Make sure you get at least a gram or two of protein for every pound of bodyweight and at least three to four grams of carbs. Eat quality fats like those found in flaxseed oil, olive oil, and natural peanut butter. And finally, cut out the off-season cardio, as this will only increase your calorie requirements.

2. Rely On Basic Movements

They're considered classics for a reason: they've withstood the test of time. Basic movements have cranked out more champions than you can count. You've got the bench, the squat and the dead lift. These should be a part of your arsenal. To these big three, you can add your basic barbell curls, military presses, and the like.

3. Be Tough As Nails When It Comes To Training

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got to train heavy to grow. That's right, but don't forget to train hard with high intensity. To make muscles explode, you got to annihilate them in the gym. You can train with poundage heavier than you can handle, but if you ignore proper form, you're going to miss the target muscles you're trying to hit. As a rule of thumb, train at 60-80% of your one rep max. Or, put on enough poundage where you can only crank out 6-10 reps per set at full intensity.

4. Stack More Than Just Plates

Probably the most overlooked aspect of bodybuilding is rest. Training in the gym tears down your muscles. Sleep is that time when your body rebuilds the damaged muscles. Without enough sleep, you'll never grow like you want. So make sure you stack enough Z's at night. You'll know what your body needs. As a guide, throw out your alarm clock. When you wake up on your own, you've slept enough.

5. Don't Over train

Over training can set you back months, even years. In terms of body parts, stick to training each body part only once a week. Like sleep, you need to make sure you give your muscles plenty of rest between each training session. In terms of sets, there's a baker's dozen and then there's a bodybuilder's dozen. For each body part, you should stick to twelve total sets. Again, pick a couple of basic movements, about three or four for each body part, and do three to four sets for each exercise. You're probably thinking this is going to be easy, but trust me, if you do the sets right, you're going to be in for a world of hurt. And if you're not, you’re not lifting hard enough. Finally, don't spend more than 90 minutes per training session. Anything more and you'll run the risk of over training.

6. Rest At Home, Not In the Gym

You should never rest for more than two minutes between sets. In 90-120 seconds, you have just enough time to catch your breath and hit that next set with maximum intensity. Rest beyond two minutes, and you run the risk of losing your pump. Once you lose the pump, forget about it. Your training is shot.

7. Consistency & Variation

Consistency means training when you're supposed to, not making lame excuses to watch TV or head to the bar. More than any other sport, bodybuilding requires a serious level of commitment and dedication. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. So when it's leg day, you do legs. Period. Take your training like a man. While you need to be consistent when it comes to training, you should also consider adding to variety to your routine when it becomes stagnant.

Mix up the order of your exercises. Change the grip here and there. Add a few drop sets for a change. The human body is highly adaptive. Keep it guessing.

Eye Candy

What to wear and what not to wear

So I was skimming through my latest issue of Instinct Magazine that just came in and came across an interesting story that got me thinking. The article was about Jack Mackenroth the guy who left Project Runway because of a MRSA infection. In the article was an Ask Jack section where he shares how to Rock the gymwear, Smell Real Purty, Go Out In Style, Shop Smart and Accessorize. It got me to thinking when I read the line "If you are over 30, you should never wear Abercrombie & Fitch unless you are trying to look like a tool." Why do we listen to what other people tell us to wear? If you are over 30 and you want to wear A&F then why cant you? I work for myself and I do some personal training so most days I'm wearing Adidas or Nike nylon gym pants. Along with that I may have on one of my under armour shirts or just a t-shirt or sleeveless shirt. I also have a lot of A&F in my closet and I'm over 30. I like to dress casual and that is who I am. I don't understand why we have to conform to what other people think we should be wearing just because they say so. If Jack wants to wear Prada, Hugo Boss or Armani than thats fine, but why cant I wear A&F or anything else for that matter. I think its more important to be yourself and wear what you want than to fake it and wear what you think others want to see you in. I want to hear what you think. Let me know how you feel about this.

Ed Hardy at JockBoyLocker.com

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Alpine Ski Training

These are the overload, specificity, individual differences and reversibility principles. Of these, the specificity principle is the one most frequently ignored by all levels of competitors across a wide spectrum of sports. Just to remind you, the specificity principle can be summarized as 'specific training elicits specific adaptations creating specific training effects'.

If it is possible to identify which of the body's energy systems is contributing to a particular type of sporting performance, then it is relatively easily to train specifically. With some sports, say the marathon or 100m running, this isn't a problem.

But with many others, it is not too easy to determine what percentage of the energy is being derived from which metabolic pathway. Alpine skiing is one such sport, and it may be for this reason that skiers so often ignore the specificity principle, especially in their off-snow training.

Is It An 'Explosive' Sport?

Alpine skiing consists of four disciplines. There are the 'technical' events of the slalom and giant slalom, and the 'speed' events of the downhill and super giant slalom. Many people think of alpine skiing as an anaerobic exercise because it appears to be an 'explosive' sport - with its very rapid movements and repeated maximal contractions.

However, alpine skiing is extremely deceptive, and biomechanical analysis has shown that it is not actually an explosive sport at all, although, confusingly, this does not mean it is not an anaerobic sport.

Alpine skiers have demonstrated great strength when performing isometric and slow muscle concentric contractions. When performing high-speed contractions, skiers have not done as well as power athletes such as sprinters and jumpers. This type of strength is probably a specific adaptation to skiing and not a result of off-snow weight training.

Given these findings, it is not surprising that muscle biopsies have shown that alpine skiers do not have a preponderance of fast-twitch fibers. Fast-twitch fibers produce more force than slow-twitch fibers when contracting at high velocities, although both type may produce the same isometric force. Another characteristic of fast-twitch fibers is that they fatigue rapidly.

Muscle-activity patterns in the slalom and giant slalom events have been found to be similar. Agonistic and antagonistic muscles frequently contract at the same time, a condition known as the 'quasistatic' component of skiing. It is likely that in the speed events where there are fewer turns executed over a longer period of time than in the technical events, the quasistatic component will be even greater.

Thus, given that skiing consists of a series of turns controlled by either very slow or isometric muscle contractions over a relatively long period of time (at least for an anaerobic exercise), it is not surprising that most skiers have more than 50 per cent slow-twitch fibers.

What this implies is that, even in the longer speed events, a greater contribution needs to come from anaerobic rather than aerobic mechanism. Quite simply, blood flow to the working muscle is compromised during static contractions and oxygen uptake is reduced. The fact that high results are achieved by the same skier in both speed and technical disciplines provides ample anecdotal evidence that similar physiological bases are required for all alpine skiing.

It's Not An Aerobic Sport

Recent research contradicts much of the older literature on alpine skiing, which claims that it demands a high aerobic as well as anaerobic power. One reason why older studies now appear flawed is that they often relied on recorded heart data to estimate the aerobic contribution. What they failed to consider was the influence of psychic factors.

For instance, you only have to stand at the top of a black run to experience an increase in heart rate, let alone ski down it!

Measurements show that elite skiers' aerobic power, though higher than in the general population, is not that impressive. Members of the Italian national ski team were found to have a mean maximal aerobic power of only 52.4 ml.kg-1.min-1.

Some alpine skiers do have moderately high VO2max figures but that is probably a result of their non-specific ski training rather than because it is a requirement of their sport. Perhaps more importantly, one study, which measured physiological changes following a totally specific three-month slalom training, found no significant change in aerobic power. However, anaerobic power improved significantly.

Why The Home-Based Brits Lose Out

Current thinking, then, indicates that all elite alpine skiers possess a very high anaerobic power and need only a moderate aerobic power. It has been calculated that 40 per cent of the energy in slalom and giant slalom skiing is derived aerobically, with 20 per cent coming from the ATP-PC system and 40 per cent from the lactic acid system. The speed events, given that they last longer, may have a greater contribution from the aerobic system, but this is only an assumption.

Confidently identifying the physiological requirements for the speed events is impossible, because of the scarcity of any published data. What is clear, however, is that the only way to train effectively for any of the alpine disciplines is to train as much as possible on snow - which rules out any chance of Britain producing a truly world-class skier unless he or she spends their lives abroad.

Earlier recommendations that running, cycling or other endurance sports are beneficial now seem out-of-date, even though many skiers, misguidedly, still follow such off-snow training habits.

It has been shown that specific slalom training has no significant effect on VO2max. Therefore, it seems clear that a general aerobic conditioning training program for alpine skiers is a waste of time and of no benefit to racing performance. The only possible benefit of training the aerobic system would be that a more efficient system may permit a more rapid diffusion of lactate into the blood, and so allow quicker recovery from repeated bouts of anaerobic exercise.

This is irrelevant provided sufficient recovery time is allowed between exercise bouts. Most skiers have ample opportunity to recover, simply because of the time it takes to get back up the mountain between runs.

If a skier insists that a weight-training program is beneficial, the weights should be slow concentric and eccentric movements, with the emphasis on the eccentric movements. However, the muscle activation patterns found in slalom skiing show that normal weight training will not replicate these movements, so the only training effect will be to become good at lifting weights, not skiing.

The message is clear: if you want to be a really top alpine skier, move to a mountainous country with lot of year-round snow.

Anton Antipov pictures

Here are some Anton Antipov pictures for you guys to enjoy. We love checking him out and Im sure you will too. If nothing else you can use these pics as inspiration for working out.

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Michael Phelps shows off his new Speedo

Speedo has introduced its LZR Racer just in time for the Olympics and can we say UGH!!! Why do they insist on covering up the hot male swimmer's body and making them look like they have no package down below. Speedo claims it has 10% less drag then their Fastskin they introduced before the last Olympic games. Want to get yourself one of these? Well Speedo is selling a basic one for non- Olympic swimmers for $550. Do you want to see Michael Phelps in one of these or a tiny little Speedo?