Nutrition:

There is a lot of controversy in the field of nutrition on what type of a diet you should have and what you should eat. Recently there has been a rise in many types of fad diets promoted by different gurus. You do not need to follow any of these diets to be healthy, but should be mindful of what you eat. There are a few basic principles to keep in mind when choosing what to eat. The keyword behind all these principles is balance.

I did 3 articles on the three main macronutrient types that you need to eat and several other articles looking into related topics. These articles summarize all the basic things that you should know about your diet and can help you in forming your own eating strategy. This strategy will depend heavily on what your goals are.

What are carbohydrates?
For most people, carbohydrates form the largest part of their diet. Their primary role is to deliver energy to the body. This energy is delivered primarily in the form of glucose, which is the basic fuel for the human body. It can come in its simple form, delivered as a simple sugar and thereby getting released into the bloodstream really quickly, or it can come in its more complex form, for example as a starch (chains of glucose branched together). This glucose is either used up by the body to fuel its functioning or it is stored as glycogen. Glycogen storage is rather limited however, and so excess glucose often gets stored as fat. Carbohydrates have recently become a bogeyman, and have replaced fats as supposedly the main culprit behind the obesity epidemic in the Western world. This has given rise to a number of low-carb diets such as Paleo or Atkins. However, these types of diets have often been criticized by different people, stating that they are based on bad premises and carbohydrates are not the bogeyman that it is often portrayed as.

Key Lessons: Carbohydrates are an essential part of the diet and should be eaten. The amount of carbohydrates and when they should be eaten depends on what your goals are (lose weight, gain weight) and your activity levels (for example long exercise and long-distance running). So if you are trying to gain weight, having a large number of carbohydrates in your diet may help you. Good sources of carbohydrates for someone trying to gain weight are brown rice and sweet potatoes. On the other hand, for someone trying to lose weight, you might try to cut down on the amount of carbohydrates. The strategy once again is different for active people. Carbohydrates are basically the fuel for the body and so for active people who do long and demanding exercise or activities (such as long distance running), they might need to also take in more carbohydrates, before, during and after exercise.

What is protein?
Proteins serve as the building blocks for your body. The amino acids that they contain are recomposed and then incorporated in many bodily structures, for example muscles are made of protein. That’s why if you want to build muscle, you need to ingest protein. Some of the amino acids that make up different types of proteins are called essential amino acids. This means that your body can’t manufacture them and needs to ingest them from the outside through food.

Key Lessons: As proteins are the building blocks of muscles, your diet needs to have a significant amount of protein in it, in order to be able to make muscles grow. You especially need to make sure to provide your body with the essential amino acids, because it can’t manufacture them by itself.

The different types of protein supplements
While the majority of the proteins you ingest should come in the form of normal foods, there are some supplements that can be used to supplement your protein intake. This is to make sure that you have enough protein in order to build muscle, especially after a workout. There are different types of protein supplements, for example egg protein or soy protein, however the most important protein supplements come from cow’s milk. The two main types are whey protein and casein protein. These are sold in powder form and can be mixed with milk or water to create a liquid which you can drink. Whey protein is absorbed by the body fast, while casein protein is absorbed slowly.

Key Lessons: Since whey protein is a fast absorbing protein, you should take it straight after working out. That way you supply your body with building blocks needed to build muscles. Casein protein is a slow absorbing protein and the best time to take it is before going to bed. That way it can release those amino acids during the night and help you grow bigger.

What is fat?
Fats are the third major macronutrient needed by your body. It is a much maligned nutrient, however it plays very vital roles in many bodily functions. Fats are very important, especially because of the fact that they contain some essential fatty acids, which your body cannot produce and which need to be obtained from the outside. Some very well-known fatty acids are omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Fats can be divided into saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Traditionally saturated fat has been considered an unhealthy fat, while unsaturated fat is considered healthy, but recently more and more people are stating that saturated fat should be an important part of your diet. There are some fats that are considered very unhealthy and those are trans-fats.

Key Lessons: Fats are an important part of any diet. They are especially important if you want to gain weight. They should compose around 20-30% of your diet. However don’t gobble down any type of fat. Try to eat “healthy” fats from natural sources such as fish oil or avocados. These are sources of essential fats and have positive benefits for your body and health.

The omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids imbalance in our diets
Omega-6 and omega-3 are a types of fatty acids, the building blocks of fats. They are both very important for our bodies and are considered essential. However due to the rise of the modern diet, there is a huge imbalance between the amount of omega-6 fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids. Sometimes the ratio is 10:1 or even 20:1 in favor of omega-6. This can have a lot of negative effects on our bodies. There is a bit of a controversy on how important this ratio is, with some arguing that it is very important and needs to be addressed, while others don’t give the ratio much importance. What everyone does agree on is the fact that omega-3 fatty acids are very important and need to be eaten. The main sources are seafood, fish and marine algae. You can also supplement it by taking fish oil supplements.

Key Lessons: You need to make sure to include a lot of omega-3 fatty acids in your diet in order to be more healthy. You should also cut down on eating too many processed foods.

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The articles on hydration and electrolytes are related, and the key message here that your body needs to keep a balance between fluids and electrolytes.

The importance of staying hydrated
Drinking water is one of the basic things that you need to do every day. Your body needs water in order to function. That’s why it is very important to stay hydrated and to keep constantly replenishing your fluids. This is especially important if you want to gain weight and muscle and generally if you do any type of exercise. When exercising, your body raises its temperature and so in order to cool down, it starts releasing sweat, which is primarily composed of fluids. So in this way your body is losing fluids fast and needs them to be replenished.

Key Lessons: Remember to take in fluids throughout the day, especially by drinking water. When you are exercising, your fluid intake should increase.

It’s got electrolytes!
Many bodily functions require electrolytes to function. Since electrolytes are electrically charged, they are used by the cells to maintain voltages and to carry electrical impulses. The carrying of electrical impulses is what is behind for example muscle contraction and also nerve impulses. Electrolytes are also important in the distribution of fluids throughout the body.

Electrolytes go hand in hand with hydration. The amount of water and electrolytes in the body needs to be in balance. If there is too much water and too little electrolytes, then problems will arise. If there are too many electrolytes and too little water, then other types of problems will arise.

Key Lessons: If your exercise is long and intense, then you should be replenishing your electrolytes (during and after the exercise). If your exercise is short and easy, then you do not really need to replenish electrolytes, as at this point you should concentrate only on staying hydrated. The standard to guide yourself by is that exercises that last longer than an hour require a replenishment of electrolytes, while those that last less do not. However a lot also depends on the intensity of the exercise and also whether you are training at altitude or not. Let your body guide you, if you are getting cramps, then it might be time to get some quality electrolytes in.

The official introduction of beer time!
This is a bit of a light hearted article on drinking beer. Here I introduce the concept of “beer time”. I noticed that every time I am on those elliptical sliding machines, I burn 150 calories every 15 minutes. The average beer is around 150 calories. So every time you spend 15 minutes on one of those machines, you burn the equivalent of just one beer! So think about that when you are going out boozing.

Key Lessons: When going out boozing, try to count the amount of beers you drink in beer time. Remember that beers are mostly empty calories and will only help you gain fat, especially in the belly. So for each beer you drink, you need to spend 15 minutes doing cardio on an elliptical sliding machine. Hopefully that will keep your boozing in check.

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Fitness:
The world of fitness is full of misconceptions and contradictions. It can get pretty confusing for a newbie, but even for more advanced lifters. There is so much contradicting information out there, that a person has a hard time making sense of it and applying it to their own routine.

One Size Does Not Fit All: What Fitness Advice To Follow
That’s why it is very important to look at all the advice that is given and try to determine how it applies to you. Each one of us is different and that’s why what works for one person might not always work for another person. However fitness advice is often given out as the “truth”. However if you look at some of the supposed truths more deeply, you can see that they are more akin to opinion than some scientific fact.

Key Lesson: Do not blindly follow any routine you find, but instead try to determine whether it will bring you closer to the goals you want to accomplish and fits your body and mindset.

Compound Exercises To Do If You Want To Gain Weight And Muscle
Compound exercises are a key to any bulking routine. If you want to gain weight and muscle, then your routine needs to be based around these types of exercises. Isolation exercises are not as efficient at recruiting all the different muscles that you have and stimulating your entire body to grow. Instead compound exercises recruit several muscles at once and are a more efficient way of growing your body. Some examples of compound exercises are squats and good mornings.

Key Lesson: In order to grow, you need to focus on exercises that recruit several muscles at once: compound exercises. However you need to pay a close attention to form, as improper form can lead to injuries.

Confused About Muscle Confusion?
The differences in viewpoints can be illustrated by looking at the concept of muscle confusion. This concept rubs a lot of fitness gurus the wrong way. They state that there is no such thing as muscle confusion and the only thing that matters is muscle overload, that is constantly lifting heavier weights. However on the other hand, there are some fitness gurus that have made muscle confusion the key part in their routines. There is nothing that proves or disproves this concept and so the discussions on whether it works are just shouting matches. Some people say that it works for them, while others state that they don’t want anything to do with the concept.

Key Lesson: Muscle confusion can work you, however it should be applied in the right context. A lot of people just go around the gym doing some random exercises without having any plan. So at the end they see very little progress. If you want to make progress with a routine based on muscle confusion, you need to be systematic about it. Muscle confusion also works better in certain contexts and goals. For example if you want to lose weight, then a routine based on muscle confusion is a good way to go. However for gaining weight, I would stick to a strict routine based around heavy compound exercises and progressive overload (lifting heavier and heavier weights).

Should You Lift Fast Or Slow?
Another controversial topic is the tempo or speed of a rep when lifting. Some people argue that you should lift slow, while others argue that you should do it fast. There are various arguments pro and con for each. However it seems that most people that argue for lifting fast have strength as their goal, while many of those arguing for lifting slow have size as their goal. However there is no consensus on what type of effects the speed of a rep has on your body.

Key Lesson: The speed of lifting is not a very important parameter. Try to experiment with different speeds and see what fits you best. For beginner lifters I would advise to start lifting slow, to learn proper form and keep the weights under control.

WTF Is Hypertrophy And Should You Care?
There are different types of hypertrophy and the one you are going for will determine the type of a routine and how many reps per set you should do. The two main types of hypertrophy are: sarcoplasmic and myofibrilar. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is more about the increase in size of the muscles, while myofibrilar hypertrophy is more about the increase in strength.

Key Lesson: If you want to go for strength you should do sets with reps in the 1-5 range, while if you want to go for size, you should do reps in the 6-12 range.

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