Fitness Olympia Champ Whitney Jones' Tips to Staying Fit
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Ian Spanier / M+F Magazine
1. Don’t Be Afraid to Try StuffAsk Whitney Jones to list all the injuries in her life, and you will be listening for quite a while. “I’ve broken one ankle three times,” Jones begins. “I’ve broken the other four times. I’ve torn my rotator cuff twice. Had surgery on both knees. Broken both wrists multiple times. Broken both elbows, broken some ribs. Had four back injuries, six concussions, 14 surgeries...” And just how did she manage to rack up more wounds than a Hollywood stuntman. “Being fearless, honestly,” she says. “Just trying stuff.” Jones spent her childhood in the hot Arizona sun, trying to keep up with her two older brothers and performing any physical challenge they dared her to do. She also played sports. Like, all the sports: soccer, basketball, softball, track, swimming, diving, and volleyball. “I even tried to play football,” she says. “But my parents wouldn’t let me.” She was resourceful, too. To learn to do flips, she just placed a pool raft on the lawn and started flipping. (Note: Don’t try this at home.) “You’d eat it hard a lot of times,” Jones says. “That’s where some of the concussions came in.” In high school, Jones was naturally—the flier on her cheerleading squad. This meant more falls. “They’d throw me up in the air and then this girl was supposed to catch me, and she didn’t always catch me,” she says. “So that’s how I broke a lot of my bones.” Later, at Arizona State University, Jones performed on the dance team. This led to, you guessed, more injuries. But Jones has no regrets about any of this activity. The falls built character, she says, and instilled grit. “I learned to be pretty tough, pretty early,” Jones says. “I learned how to fight. I learned how to handle injuries and keep on kicking.” 2. Have the Courage to Switch CareersAfter college, Jones put her business communications degree from ASU to use at an advertising agency. She was making good money, but she was ultra-stressed, spending all day in an office, and not a happy camper. She was also skipping the gym, packing on weight, and feeling lazy. “I went from being active my whole life to work, work, work,” Jones says. “I decided,‘I don’t like this. I want to get back to being active.’” After the birth of her second child, which required a torturous three-month stretch of full bed rest, Jones put a fork in her advertising career and became a full-time personal trainer. She loved it so much, she ended up partnering with a friend and opening her own gym. Today, that gym, Pro Physiques, is the largest personal training facility in Arizona, complete with 20 coaches who train everyone from teens and older folks to pro athletes and amateur fitness competitors. But it didn’t stop there. Building on the success of Pro Physiques, Jones launched three other businesses: the Pros, an online training company; the Glute Pros, a gym equipment manufacturing company; and Fearless by Whitney Jones, a fitness and apparel line. Good move to quit the ad agency? We’d say so. [RELATED1] 3. Don’t Make ExcusesIn 2010, Jones entered a figure competition, but she was quickly enamored with another discipline: fitness. “That looked way more fun than just going onstage and doing quarter-turns,” she says. Jones quickly switched divisions and never looked back. A year later, she earned her IFBB Pro League pro card and started competing in the world’s top shows. The sport was a perfect match for her dance background and adventurous spirit, and she started posting top 10 finishes on the regular, whether it was the Vancouver Pro, the Arnold Classic Brazil, or the Olympia. Then her neck gave out during a practice before the 2017 Arnold Classic. An MRI revealed a bulging disk and nerve damage. In the summer of 2017, Jones underwent a two-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), which fused two vertebrae in her neck and stabilized them with a surgically implanted metal cage. Everyone figured this was the end of her fitness career. Everyone, that is, except Jones. On the morning of the surgery, she started a countdown clock of 276 days—the length of time until the 2018 Arnold Classic. When she awoke after surgery with full feeling in her right arm, it was all systems go. “That’s when I was like, game over, I’m 100 percent getting back on that stage,” recalls Jones. “Like, there’s no doubt in my mind.” Four weeks out, Jones was right on schedule. Her arms were weak, so she had designed a routine that featured lots of lower body, break-dancing-type moves. She was on the cusp of a comeback that nobody but Jones thought was possible, and that nobody in the sport had ever pulled off. Then, another setback: While practicing her routine, she tore her ACL and MCL. Doctors said surgery was the right move, but Jones ignored them and pushed ahead. She went back to the choreography drawing board, cooked up a one-legged routine, kept her injury a secret from the other competitors, and wore a full knee brace onstage at the Arnold. She won the division. Only afterward, when Arnold himself presented her with the trophy onstage, did she reveal that she had competed with a torn ACL. Six months later, Jones claimed first at the Olympia, becoming the first Olympia champ ever to be known as “Mom.” The key to the double win, says Jones, was to never succumb to excuses. “You never know what you’re capable of until you truly push beyond your level of comfort,” she says. 4. If You Love It, You’ll Find a WaySo how does Jones juggle a handful of thriving businesses, an international competition schedule, and being a single mom to two boys who never seem to slow down? “It requires sacrificing, there’s no question about it,” she says. “You’ve got to take some things off that aren’t necessities.” For example: a full night’s rest. Jones often rises at the crack of dawn to do her cardio, then helps her boys, Brody, 12, and Jake, 10, get ready for school. Then she heads to the gym and trains clients, then works out again, then picks up her boys from school or practice, and then does some bookkeeping or emailing late into the night. Another key: multitasking. At Jones’ sons’ baseball games, you’ll find her running laps around the field or performing burpees in a corner of the park. Likewise, when it’s time to design choreography for a routine, Jones focus-groups it with her sons. If they think a move is cool, she leaves it in; if they’re bored, she nixes it. “Every minute of the day I’m doing, like, two or three things at once,” says Jones. “But it doesn’t feel like work since I love it so much.” It’s all how you look at things, she says. She chooses to view her daily tasks as privileges, not chores. And she reminds herself that she’s fortunate to be healthy, to have two able-bodied boys, and to be running companies that she’s passionate about. Her advice: Look at the tasks in your life as things you get to do, rather than things you have to do. “I’m lucky that I get to travel the world and step onstage,” Jones says. “What if my kids weren’t healthy? What if I were injured with my arm still not functioning? If you can look at it with the right perspective, you’re able to balance it all. You really, really are.” Total-body Circuit“This high-intensity circuit hits all the major muscle groups, gets my heart pumping, and pushes me to an extreme, which helps me burn max calories,” says Jones. Complete three total rounds, resting three to five minutes between rounds. Exercises:
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Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz March 27, 2019 at 04:31PM
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The 4-Move Glute-Building Workout
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Chris Nicoll / M+F Magazine
Don’t be fooled by her beauty. Pro bikini competitor Raphaela Milagres can be very dangerous if the need arises. Of late, the 26-year-old has been practicing “the art of eight limbs,” Muay Thai, the devastating combat discipline that makes ample use of the fists, elbows, shins, and knees as weapons. Consider it an aggressive evolution of all her athletic pursuits growing up in Minas Gerais, Brazil, an array that included gymnastics, jazz dance, and ballet. Meanwhile, she’s been hard at work in the weight room since she was 16, developing the 5'4", 105-pound physique that has been helping her knock out the competition (figuratively, at least) on the bikini circuit. After winning her pro card at the 2013 Arnold Classic South America, she launched her own personal training business a year later and then made the decision to take a huge step in 2016. “I moved to Winter Garden, FL, to focus on my athletic career,” Milagres says. Stateside, she was much more available for opportunities in the fitness industry and could more readily travel for competition. The change of venue helped almost immediately, as 2018 proved to be a watershed year for Milagres in the IFBB Professional League. She collected two titles—the 2018 Governors Cup Pro and the 2018 Fit World Pro—as well as a runner-up medal at the 2018 Salt City Showdown, capping the year with an eighth-place finish at the Bikini Olympia in Las Vegas. Looking ahead, Milagres has a new goal set firmly in her sights: a top-five finish at the 2019 Bikini O. “I’m working on improvements to my physique, more muscle roundness and maturity,” she says. “I think I’m a hard worker, and I have great guidance from my coach, Kim Oddo. There are a lot of good girls with amazing potential in this sport—what makes the difference is the commitment and consistency to push yourself further.”
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Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz March 27, 2019 at 02:23PM
Interview: Miles Taylor Talks Living, Lifting, and Competing
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@smilestaylor / Instagram / The Loyal Brand
When avid photographer Miles Taylor stopped in to the NEVERsate Gym in Westminster, MD, to get some action shots, he didn't realize that his life would change. He already knew one of the trainers, Nicolai Myers, since grade school, and by the end of the visit, 99-pound Taylor put his camera down and picked up an atlas stone. The cerebral palsy (CP) he was born with—a condition that impacts movement, speech, and muscle tone—was replaced with new abilities for Taylor through lifting. Taylor, who has been lifting more than a year, quickly gained five pounds within the first 12 months, and earlier this year, the 24-year-old deadlifted more than double his body weight. Taylor broke his first personal record by lifting 200 pounds at NEVERsate, and recently surpassed this by deadlifting 205 pounds during a visit with Nike. Lifting has transformed his body, mind, and life. “I have CP, CP doesn’t have me,” reads Taylor’s Instagram page. Words he lives by, Taylor was always determined not to let cerebral palsy keep him down. Always active and competitive in sports, he still enjoys playing football. Myers remembered Taylor being everywhere when it came to sports during high school. “He was always involved from standing on the sidelines cheering everyone on, or he always had a team manager position with just about every sport that I could think of,” Myers said. “If there was a varsity sporting event, you were going to see Miles there on the sideline with the team being their biggest support system.” Never Say NeverStill, starting out in the gym was challenging for Taylor. In the beginning, he couldn’t lift or carry any weight without Myers supporting him or literally holding him up. Cerebraly Palsy impacts motor skills, making it difficult for individuals with the disability to control or coordinate their muscles. Taylor's condition has improved since he started lifting, and he now goes in to warm up on his own. “It’s helped me so much with my everyday life and being more confident,” said Taylor. “It improved my CP. It’s given me stability in how I walk, and with my daily tasks around the house.” Also transformative has been the support of the NEVERsate gym, owned by Brian Alsruhe (Maryland's Strongest Man title holder), who Taylor said has created an atmosphere of positivity with a true community feel. “Brian created this atmosphere where there’s no negativity,” said Miles. “We kick all negativity out. We’re all one, big family. We’re all very supportive of one another. It doesn’t matter how much you lift, it’s just automatic—you give 100 percent. I just love it.” Myers said that the angle of the gym is to be affordable to everyone. Alsruhe, who opened the NEVERsate five years ago, primarily keeps it running through online merchandise sales and personal training at the gym. "That’s how the gym runs…Brian’s vision never sways," Myers said. “It started little, [and] now we’ve almost doubled our footprint. We have everything from a 12-year-old girl to a 54-year-old guy, Miles, national champions, competitors—soccer moms not knowing anything about lifting and then six months later they’re entering their first strongman competition.” MilesTaylor.jpg
Photo and video: Chris Nicoll
Miles and MilesOutside of the gym, Taylor is keeping active with a collaboration with The Loyal Brand and their collection of sports and workout apparel. A portion of the proceeds go to the River Valley Ranch, where Taylor continues to serve as a summer counselor. He also spent the day with Arnold Schwarzengger during the recent Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, OH, where the seven-time Mr. Olympia called him onto the stage so he could deadlift 185 pounds in front of the packed house—a lift he hit with ease. Taylor's videos have gone viral, getting picked up by various outlets across the country, including his first record lift post earlier this year, which pulled in nearly 800,000 views on Instagram. His recent adventures didn't end with Arnold. Taylor, along with Myers and Alsruhe, were recently flown to Nike’s Beaveront, OR, headquarters to give feedback on the company’s Flyease shoe for athletes with disabilities. While there, Taylor popped into the Nike gym to break another personal record, deadlifting 205 pounds. Competition ReadyMyers said that a short-term goal is to get more competition experience under Taylor’s belt this year. “We’re taking training day by day, so it’s interesting for me as a coach to see his daily progress and to see his numbers climb,” said Myers. “So there’s really no set in stone goals. The sky’s the limit.” Taylor isn’t slowing down anytime soon and continues to give motivational talks—most recently in a college classroom at McDaniel College. “I educate on CP or disabilities in general, and how lifting has improved my life,” said Taylor. “I want to educate people and bring some awareness to what people are able to do.” His other passion, photography, is still a part of his life, and Taylor continues to shoot weddings, birthdays, and other events. But when it comes to lifting, he doesn’t have a specific personal record to beat next or goals in him. “I just want to get better and better and keep improving,” he said. “And as I improve, the numbers will go up.”
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Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz March 27, 2019 at 02:02PM
Tim Howard Talks Training, Diet, and His Tourette's Syndrome
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(L) Courtesy of the Colorado Rapids (R) Timothy Nwachukwu / Getty
Tim Howard has had a storied career in Major League Soccer. The 6'3" New Jersey native is the most capped goalkeeper of all time for the United States National Team, with 122 appearances between 2002 and 2017. He also set a record in the 2014 World Cup for most saves in a match. But with March 6 marking his 40th birthday, Howard announced on Twitter that this season would be his last. We talked with the goalkeeper to find out how he trains and eats to stay in top shape and how he’s managed his Tourette’s syndrome to become one of the most successful American soccer players ever. Fun Fact: As of this writing, Howard has logged 699 saves in MLS over the course of his entire career. [RELATED2] A Smart Approach“As a goalkeeper, power and agility are key focal points of my training,” Howard says. “I work with the team’s sport science and training staff, who make me a program that combines cardio, flexibility, stabilization, and strength and power.” Howard trains three days per week, with one day dedicated to recovery and two off days. Calculated GainsAs with his training, Howard takes a calculated approach to his diet. “I do three days of no carbs—eating six meals of protein and green vegetables only. Then I have two high-fat days with avocado and coconut oils. On the sixth day, I add a sweet potato to lunch and quinoa in meal No. 4,” he explains. Pregame, he munches on salmon, quinoa, and veggies, and postgame he has a protein shake and a steak dinner. What Makes Him TickAt age 10, Howard was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome (TS), a neurological disorder defined by having both motor and vocal tics. He’s used his platform to give back to the TS community—in 2001 he was named the MLS Humanitarian of the Year, and he received the first-ever Champion of Hope Award by the Tourette Syndrome Association in 2014. “TS is something I’ve thrived with and have never let it get me down,” Howard says. “I’ve made it one of my life’s missions to be a voice for those living with TS who feel too alone to stand up and speak for themselves.” [RELATED1] Directions: Be sure to warm up with five minutes of cardio followed by foam rolling and dynamic stretches before taking on this workout designed by Howard’s trainer, Chris Collins, M.S., NASM.
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Jenna Jameson Lost 80 Pounds Thanks to Keto and Sobriety
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8 Actresses Who Can Kick Your Ass
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Muscle Growth and Inflammation: How Much Is Too Much?
https://ift.tt/2UdLmct One of the most complex biological processes that human biology is privy to is inflammation. Given how important muscle is for our health, wellbeing, longevity, and quality of life, it’s impressive that inflammation was initially a background concern for people in the health, nutrition, and bodybuilding industry.
This is changing now, as many veteran athletes and coaches have begun to develop a holistic, fact-based understanding of their bodies, as well as of the underlying physiological processes that enable muscle growth. In the past, people even tried to “treat” it by taking anti-inflammatory medicine, but now we know better, as this can actually prevent the natural development of lean tissue.
The amount of available literature on the topic is enough to draw several important conclusions that will help you in your quest to attain your much-desired figure. Without a doubt, medical research has uncovered and tested enough of the inner-workings of inflammation to help coaches give sound advice to their clients.
However, particularly with veteran athletes, inflammation can become a source of concern. As you may already know, there are two types of inflammation, acute and chronic. The first is good, while the second is bad.1 It’s more than bad; it’s downright dangerous, but more on that later.
What most of us don’t know is what each of the two kinds of inflammation does to the body, how to tell the difference between them, as well as what to do to manage the first and prevent the second.
Inflammation Is Necessary for Muscle GrowthPain, redness, swelling, heat, and loss of function are the hallmarks of the inflammatory process. As an immune response, inflammation is supposed to protect us from hostile microorganisms, while enabling our body to heal and repair damaged tissue. First, let’s take a look at how this process is helping us stay in good shape.
Acute inflammation, the good kind, is generally short lived. It comes on in a flash and its first job is to destroy any foreign bodies. Once this is achieved, the antibodies switch gears and start carrying away any residue, while repairing damaged cells.
Depending on several factors, including the size and gravity of the lesion and whether the damage is purely physical or an immune response is also necessary, this beneficial cycle of cleansing and mending can take minutes, hours or, at most, several days. You’ve doubtless experienced this sort of inflammation when you accidentally cut yourself, bruised a part of your body, were stung by an insect, but also after a hard workout. For me, supersets trigger acute inflammation like nothing else does.
Three main processes occur in acute inflammation. These are increased blood flow, increased permeability, and the migration of neutrophils and macrophages. The amplified blood flow happens due to to the dilatation of the blood vessels, the smallest of which also become more permeable so as to allow blood fluid and vital proteins to move into the interstitial space. The latter, which is also referred to as the interstitial compartment, is like a bath where your tissue cells are permanently immersed. According to their needs, the cells can exchange water and nutrients with the space around them.
Together, the larger categories of neutrophils and macrophages represent the intervention team responsible for the protection and rejuvenation of the broken tissue. The squad arrives at the site of inflammation both through blood, as well as from fibers that are adjacent to the broken ones. This is the place where your body decides whether to enter an anabolic or catabolic state.
As a trainer, this is the part that has attracted my undivided attention, particularly from the point of view of what I can do to prevent the latter process and encourage the former. I’ve come to the conclusion that, in general, building muscle in a healthy, sustainable, and evidence-based way is the coaching of the future.
At a molecular level, it seems that anabolic signals during inflammation are activated by hormones such as insulin, IGF-1, human growth hormone, and various androgens,1 which tell the muscle to start using myosatellite cells (stem cells) in order to regenerate. The process is also referred to as myogenesis.
The field of molecular biology has focused a good deal of its research potential on reverting muscular dystrophy and combatting chronic muscle diseases by means of stem cell therapy. In addition, this is the reason why taking hormones helps build muscle mass very fast, as it drives your anabolic state in overdrive.
However, as I am sure you already know, the introduction of outside hormones for the sole purpose of building mass can have a serious and substantial health impact on human physiology.
Too Much Inflammation Is BadChronic inflammation, on the other hand, leads to muscle breakdown. Although it starts in the same way as its better half, instead of switching gears to regeneration and then gradually shutting down, it morphs into an enduring state.
Chronic inflammation, also called chronic systemic inflammation (SI) or low-grade inflammation, can persist for months and even years on end without an appropriate immune response to shut it down or when the source that triggered it in the first place is not dealt with appropriately. As a result, the white blood cells that flood the area (the neutrophils and macrophages we discussed earlier) eventually end up attacking good, friendly tissue.
Chronic inflammation was found to be a significant contributor to a variety of diseases,3 including asthma, sarcopenia, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, peptic ulcer, Crohn’s disease, some cancers, and many others.
In recent times, an increasing number of elderly people are trying to address sarcopenia, which is the loss of muscle mass, quality, and strength associated with aging, by paying more attention to their physical activity. We know that, for instance, physical activity can actually help the body manage inflammation better,4 whereas obesity, smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle tend to exacerbate it.
At the opposite end of the spectrum from IGF-1, which is the main regulator of muscle hypertrophy, we have myostatin. Also known as growth differentiation factor 8 (GDF-8), myostatin is a protein whose main role is to inhibit myogenesis. In humans, when someone is born with a defect in the myostatin-producing gene, their muscle mass is considerably bigger and stronger than that of their peers.5
Currently, there’s no research to indicate the long-term effect that myostatin inhibitors would have on healthy subjects or on people suffering from muscular dystrophy. However, several myostatin drugs are being developed, and one has been commercially available for at least three years. The fact that the latter has only four reviews does not inspire confidence to me, however.
A not-so-clinical observational study on recreational gym goers found that the group on the commercially available myostatin blocker did increase their lean mass as compared to the control group (almost three times more),6 but the authors acknowledged that the neural adaptation might have played a significant part in this result. They effectively did not keep track of a host of variables that apply to recreational training, and not accounting for the initial adaptation (newbie gains as we refer to them) was a big drawback of their research.
A more potent clinical trial performed on mice found enough evidence to suggest that the anabolic impact of myostatin inhibition can actually lead to more muscle damage in healthy subjects. Despite this, the adverse effects of myostatin inhibition in subjects that suffered from any form muscle dystrophy were not as great.6
This suggests that myostatin blockers will likely be recommended for those who suffer from muscle diseases that gradually weakens and breaks down their lean tissue. As is the case with hormones, messing with our physiology to such an extent without good reason is likely to have a bad outcome in the long run.
One interesting finding that I’ve come across is that creatine supplementation is actually a healthy, albeit not as effective (when compared to drugs that are designed for this purpose alone) way to decrease myostatin levels.7 Unlike myostatin blockers, creatine is not banned by WADA or other anti-doping agencies, which speaks volumes for its safety.
Stay Away from NSAIDs and Other Anti-InflammatoriesIbuprofen, naproxen, acetaminophen, and even aspirin can be lifesavers for professional bodybuilders and athletes alike. They don’t usually resort to them just for muscle soreness, but also for other big culprits like elbow, knee, or shoulder pain. In my experience with heavy lifters and veteran bodybuilders, these pains can be as common as a sneeze.
Some don’t mind giving up on a week’s worth of training, but most people would rather take a pill and get their work done. While this may be necessary in remote cases, research shows that NSAIDs (non-steroidal inflammatory drugs that include the ones I’ve previously mentioned) actually prevent muscle synthesis.8
The main purpose of NSAIDs is to reduce the production of inflammatory and pain-signaling cells. As you may have already surmised from knowing that inflammation is a double-edged sword, these drugs work to cancel out both the good and the bad.
Some studies of elderly populations showed that these OTC medications were beneficial towards preventing muscle loss. Luckily, however, the former study performed by the Karolinska Institutet also dealt with this hypothesis.
Their conclusion was that, in cases of chronic inflammation, NSAIDs will quite often prevent age-related muscle loss, since the latter mainly happens due to inflammation gone haywire. This will not be the case when chronic inflammation is not present, though. Some even take anti-inflams prior to exercise. Needless to say that this practice is very dangerous.
When chronic SI is not present, taking pills often means inhibiting the very means that will help you achieve lean tissue growth. NSAIDs are actually cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors. Some of them are quite long-lasting, with effects lingering for up to 12 hours from just one dose. The problem is that COX enzymes are conductive to muscle growth, so much so that administration of COX inhibitors is detrimental to myofiber rehabilitation even after atrophy.9
These recent findings have determined many physicians to re-examine patients’ post-intervention treatment. The fact is that, if you can work through the pain and the latter is not chronic, there’s a good chance that you should do so despite the discomfort.
More importantly for all of you athletes and go-getters, using these medications to train through the pain will worsen your condition.10
And you don’t even need to be a doctor to realize what’s going on—you take a pill and push to get through whatever it is that you’re doing, but the very drug you’re taking for a short-term benefit is stopping the process that’s supposed to heal the damaged tissue. At the end of the day, instead of being able to recover in a few days, the aggravated injury will bench you for a week or more.
Opiods (such as codeine, morphine, fentanyl, methadone, oxycodone, etc.), albeit unconnected to any of the drawbacks that are associated with lack of good inflammation, can be much worse. Excessive use of the latter is significantly linked to addiction, which tends to happen in 2 out of 3 cases, as was shown by a survey of over 600 former NFL players.11
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t risk my physical and mental health on 30% odds, not if I have anything to say in the decision at hand.
Treat Inflammation NaturallyBody pain, constant fatigue and insomnia, weight gain, frequent infections, and gastrointestinal problems such as acid reflux and diarrhoea are common signs of chronic inflammation. If you have these symptoms, it may be a good idea to undergo some blood tests to see if you can get a better picture of what’s going on.
Although there are no highly effective lab measures for chronic SI, there are two relatively inexpensive blood markers that will show some signs if this is the case. These are high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and fibrinogen. Another common examination you can perform is serum protein electrophoresis (SPE), which is still affordable.
You can try to detect specific pro-inflammatory cytokines, like IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha and IL-1bet, but these are not standardized and they won’t come cheap. Still, if you’re suffering from chronic inflammation, they might be worth it as the cytokines will give your more specific information about what’s causing the inflammation.
For me, the best part about inflammation is that it can be managed and reversed with diet and lifestyle changes. A meta-analysis of 40 case-controls, clinical trials, and cross-sectional studies has definitively confirmed that dietary patterns are intrinsically linked to inflammatory biomarkers.12
The foods that were found to elicit inflammation responses from our bodies are meat, dairy, eggs, alcohol, and processed, fried foods. Generally, it was those foods that had high amounts of sugar, fat, and salt that were positively associated with inflammation. On the other hand, diets that were rich in fruits and vegetables considerably reduced oxidative stress and low-grade inflammation markers.
The Mediterranean eating pattern, the DASH (dietary approach to stop hypertension) eating regime, as well as the whole-foods, plant based (WFPB) diet were the most successful at combating inflammation. This is a major reason why many athletes have switched to plant-based diets, as they were shown even by the most rigorous studies to significantly reduce systemic inflammation.13
There’s enough evidence to warrant each and every one of us to give the WFPB a try, as it has been linked to improved mood, overall health, training, recovery, and even athletic performance for a number of professional athletes.14
Do What’s Best for YouThroughout this article, we’ve uncovered some of the more complex aspects of inflammation and its crucial role in muscle building. We’ve seen how it helps to have it, how it can be detrimental to continue having it after a certain amount of time, as well as what you can do to deal with persistent, low-grade inflammation in a healthy and effective way.
An often exaggerated aspect of medicine is to treat symptomatically, an approach which continues to be prevalent in many medical systems. This means that, if something hurts, you’ll most likely take something to get you through the pain.
What we haven’t really been paying attention to and has been recently proven right is that some pain is instrumental towards proper healing. This is not to be confused with medical advice, although I do believe it is not only healthy, but necessary to question why we take certain medications in the same way I often question why we eat certain things because we think it helps with building lean tissue.
At the end of the day, it seems that some of the diet and lifestyle changes can go a long way towards dealing with the feared inflammation biomarkers, while enabling us to train better overall. Fitness via Breaking Muscle https://ift.tt/1GxgPEe March 27, 2019 at 09:24AM
6 Curls That Will Excite Your Basic Bicep Routine
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Pro Strongman Iron Biby Prepares to Beat The World Log Press Record
https://ift.tt/2HVzW6D On April 6, the biggest and strongest men on the planet will meet in Leeds, England, to compete in the World Log Lift Challenge—one of the most storied events in the sport of Strongman. Among the list of competitors are names you’re more familiar with like Brian Shaw and Larry Wheels, who scored himself an invite to this press-a-thon. But the two men who are really primed to beat the current world record of 228kg/502.5 pounds (held by four-time, World's Strongest Man Zydrunas Savickas) are West African native Cheick Ahmed al-Hassan Sanou (aka Iron Biby) and 33-year-old Englishman Graham Hicks. "If I'm absolutely honest, I can only see two guys who can get close to it," two-time Britain's Strongest Man winner, Laurence Shahlaei, said in a video on his YouTube channel Big Loz Official. "The favorite being Iron Biby...and obviously England's Graham Hicks. His shoulder power is increbile, plus he's technically superior on the log lifting. Iron Biby has more raw power but Hicksy is technically very good on the log as well as having crazy triceps and shoulder strength." The two competitors have been sharing their progress on Instagram leading up to the show. Biby is eight kilos ahead of Hicks with a 228-kilo press (shown above), but consider how easy the rep was for the Englishman (see below) and it's not impossible to imagine him pressing another eight to 10 kilos (or 18 to 22.5 pounds) overhead. And as Shahlaei alluded to earlier, the technique is a huge factor in executing a successful log press. Either way, this will be the closest any competitor has gotten to taking down Big Z's initial 228kg press from back in 2015, and we're pumped to see who walks away as the most prolific presser.
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Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz March 26, 2019 at 01:30PM
5 Key Workout Principles from Maxx Charles
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Per Bernal / M+F Magazine
Maxx Charles has fielded his fair share of critiques about his unorthodox training style. Yet no one can argue the results—a 5'11", 265-pound physique that has snagged a dozen top-five finishes since 2013. “There’s a purpose to my range of motion, the way I move a weight, and how I adjust an exercise,” says the Haitian native, who makes his home in Long Island, NY. “I used to train like everyone else and didn’t feel anything.” Nowadays, Charles is all about maximizing tension on the working muscle while minimizing joint stress. Here’s how. 1. Learn Your Range“People think I do half-reps, but a full range of motion is an individual thing. At the point my muscle is fully contracted, yours may not be. Find the range where the muscle is always engaged—you want to maintain control of the weight and feel each rep in the muscle, not your joints and ligaments.” 2. Adjust on the Fly“You need to be able to recognize when a move isn’t feeling quite right. In my last leg workout, I was having some lower-back discomfort during hack squats. So I adjusted the exercise to shift pressure from my back to my quads by placing my feet as low as I could on the platform.” 3. It’s not Just About Weight“On seated barbell presses, I can do 10 reps with 400 pounds, but a lot of the pressure will be on my elbows. If I drop to 300 pounds, I can do 20 to 30 reps with all the tension on the delts. I’d rather make the exercise harder instead of automatically going heavier.” 4. Turn Less Into More“When I squat, I’ll do one-minute holds in the bottom position, thighs just past parallel, and get two to three reps in a set. Start with five-second holds, then 10, 15, 20, 30, and 45 before trying 60.” 5. Get a Spot“At first, a new weight can feel awkward, but a spotter giving just the right amount of assistance helps you get comfortable and confident with it. Eventually you’ll be able to move that load without a spot; then add a little more and repeat the process.”
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Fitness via Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/2zjtGBz March 26, 2019 at 12:11PM |
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November 2020
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