My Workout Split

A lot of people ask me "Mark?  what does your workout look like?"  Well I don't exactly have an easy answer to that.  I very my workouts constantly.  I haven't repeated a workout in years because I like to always have my muscles guessing, and I have seen really good growth from this strategy.  But for the past few months I have done the same body parts on the same day of the week.

A sample of what one of my weeks would look like this

Monday: Legs
Squats:  5x5
Romanian Dead Lift:  3x8
Lunges: 3x8
Leg extension:  4x10
Hamstring Curl:  4x12

Tuesday:  Chest
Dumbell Bench Press:  4x10
Incline Bench Press:  3x8
Incline Dumbell flyes: 4x8
Cable flyes:  3x8
Dumbell front raises:  2x20

Wednesday: Shoulders
Barbell Overhead Press: 5x5
Dumbell front raises: 3x10
Dumbell side raises: 3x10
Cable side raises: 2x12
Dips:  2x20 or to failure

Thursday: Back
Deadlift: 5x5
Hyperextensions: 3x8
Good Mornings:  2x10
Barbell row:  3x8
Lat Pulldown: 3x8

Friday: Arms  (Because you need good arms for when you go out on the weekends)
2x20: tricep pulldowns
3x8: skull crushers
3x5:  overhead extensions
3x8:  Barbell curls
2x10: Dumbell curls

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The 5 Biggest Eating Mistakes

I know that nearly all of us have the goal of building muscle, and losing fat.  While you all may kill it in the gym, that may be for only 1 hour a day.  The other 23 hours is what will really make or break your fitness goals, and that is why nutrition is so important.

1.  Not eating Before/ After your workout
Eating before and after a workout, is the most critical time.  The window that is 30 minutes before the workout and 2 hours after is the most anabolic period for building muscle.  When you eat before you will increase your energy in the gym.  In addition, eating after a workout, will provide your muscles with all the nutrients that you need to gain size, and adequately recover from a workout.

2.  Not being consistent
I know that this one is really obvious, but it needs to be said.  There are so many people (myself included) that just can't seem to keep their nutrition is check ALL of the time.  If you really wan't to see those results your nutrition really needs to be spot on.  If you want to cheat, you can consider adding 1 to 2 cheat meals per week.  These cheat meals would be 1 or 2 out of your 6 meals a day.  So that is like 1 out of 42ish meals which you should be eating per week.  If you can eat 40 meals consistently, then you cheat one that might be OK.  But, don't cheat too often, or you will see your results go away.

3.  Eating Too Much
Many people who are trying to gain mass fall into the habit of just eating everything in sight.  While this may cause you to gain size, the size will be anything but healthy.  You will have an increased risk for diseases.  In addition obesity is another health problem that you could put yourself at risk for.  If you are trying to gain weight it is best to eat around 600 or so calories more than you need.  So if your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is 3000 calories a day, bump it up to 3600 calories a day.  You can calculate your BMR by multiplying 15*Lean Body Mass.  While it may take a little longer to gain size, you will not get that unwanted bodyfat that comes as a result.

4.  Eating Too Little
Yes, I know I just said that eating too much is a problem, but eating too little is also a problem.  There are many people who are trying to gain size/lose weight who just don't eat the adequate numbers of calories needed.  It is important for those even trying to lose weight, that they need to eat enough to get all of the health benefits of food.  Also eating can help you avoid binge eating in the future.  In addition for guys trying to put on size, no matter how much work you do in the gym, if you don't eat enough there is no way that you will be able to pack on that muscle that you want.

5. Eating Too Much of One Type of Food
So many people think that you should have protein over any other food nutrient.  But that is a huge mistake.  It is critical to have enough carbs, proteins, and fats for ideal muscle growth.  While protein what muscles are made of, if you don't have enough carbs or fat, your body will not be able to continue its basic functions, and not having enough carbs or fat, can actually hinder your development.  A good ratio is try is to have 40% protein 40% Carbs and 20% fat.  You can adjust those ratios to fit to your nutritional needs.

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All Sources of Protein Are Not Created Equally

What nearly every diet has in common is that protein is one of the most essential things.  Protein is the building blocks of muscle.  In addition it takes more energy to digest protein than any other macronutrient, which is protein carbs and fat.

There are BV's (Biological value) of protein.  Whey protein is rated at 100, and now here are the rest of the proteins.

Whey-100
Whole Egg-99
Cow's Milk-91
Egg White (only)-91
Fish (various) - 83
Beef - 80
Casein -80
Chicken - 79
Soy - 74
Wheat Gluten - 64
Rice - 59
Wheat - 54
Beans - 49

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Ginkgo Memory Benefits

Ginko is a an herb that is ground up to make medicine.  While there are many benefits of ginko one of the most well known one's is its help in memory loss.  In addition it can help slow Alzheimer's disease and it can help sharpen the memory skills of younger people.

While Ginko has many memory benefits, its benefits may include aiding in PMS (Postmenstrual sydrome), improve distance vision with those with macular degeneration, improve color vision for patients with diabetes,  and it can act as an antidepressant.  In addition people use it for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), blood clots, heart disease, high cholesterol, "hardening" of the arteries, depression, and mountain sickness.  However these things have not yet proven to be effective from ginko.

Ginko benefits memory and helps the body by improving blood flow.  In addition ginko seems to help kill bad bacteria, which could be a cause of disease.  So in general if you are not taking ginko, you should consider it because it could help you really improve your health.

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Coenzyme Q-10 Benefits

Coenzyme Q-10 or Co Q-10 is a nutritional supplement with a lot of value.  It is really good for the heart, and it should be added to any person diet who either has a CO Q-10 deficiency or a Mitochondrial disorder, which is a inherited or acquired disorder that limits the energy production in the bodies cells.

However, even if you don't have these things, co q-10 can help the body with a whole bunch of other things.  In addition to helping mitochondrial disorders, co q-10 is effective in treating :

• Congestive heart failure (CHF), in combination with other medications.
• Decreasing the risk of additional heart problems in people who have had a recent heart attack (myocardial infarction).
• Huntington's disease.
• Preventing blood vessel complications caused by heart bypass surgery.
• High blood pressure (hypertension) in combination with other medications.
• Preventing migraine headache.
• Parkinson's disease. Some research shows that taking coenzyme Q-10 supplements might slow functional decline in people with early Parkinson's disease. But taking a coenzyme Q-10 supplement in people with mid-stage Parkinson's disease does not seem to improve symptoms.
• Improving the immune system of people with HIV/AIDS.
• Muscular dystrophy, an inherited disorder involving muscle wasting.

Co Q-10 has very few side effects that could include, loss of appetite or upset stomach.  But, it is pretty much a safe supplement, that can be given to children.  It is also relatively inexpensive, and can be found at most nutrition stores or some drug stores.  You should add co-q 10 to your supplement stack today!

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Valerian Roots Benefits, helping you get a good night sleep

Do you have trouble sleeping?  You don't want to take sleeping pills, and melatonin just doesn't seem to be working.  Try taking some valerian.  There are many valerian root benefits that can help you, but helping insomnia is its number one benefit.  However, you need to be slightly careful because some people experienced side effects such as headaches or uneasiness when they were on valerian.  But valerian root is an all natural supplement so you should not worry about taking it.

There also is thoughts that there are more valerian root benefits in addition to helping insomnia.  There is thoughts that it helps: depression, convulsions, mild tremors, epilepsy, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), muscle and joint pain, headache, stomach upset, menstrual pains, menopausal symptoms including hot flashes and anxiety, and many others.  However you should be careful, and not use it for these things, because all of these have not been proven.

In addition if you are using valerian for sleep, it may take as much as a month before you see sleeping results.  But, valerian could be used as more as a cure to insomnia instead of just a quick fix, because it acts like a sedative to the brain.  I would suggest that you try and see the valerian roots benefits for yourself.  It may just help you get that good night sleep that you have always wanted.

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How To Stick to Your New Year's Resolutions

Another year has passed and you probably are making the same new year's resolution again. Odds are you are just one of the statistics. There are more gym member sign-ups in January than any other month of the year. It is because of all of the people like you who want to start their life fresh. Now another sad fact is that most of these people will be gone and stop working out by March. If you don't want to be like them try these tips:

1. Start of Slow
The body doesn't do well with dramatic change. Odds are if you go from a couch potato from a gym-rat overnight, you won't be able to stick with your plans. However, if you just plan on showing up! to the gym (you don't have to work out), and then leave. Do that just 3 times a week. Then maybe the next week you could start working out for 10 minutes, then 20, then build up until you are working out your desired amount. This will help you slowly become acclimated to the gym, and you will be able to build up a habit of going, making you less likely to break it.



2. Eat 1 healthy meal per day
So the same logic goes for diet as it does for the gym. Even though diet is more important than working out in terms of weight-loss, we will start out even slower. Let's say you eat 5 meals per day (including snacks), try to eat just 1 healthy meal a day. So if you snack on chips during work, eat an apple. Do that just once a day for a month. Then the next month continue eating that apple in place of potato chips, but then if you have another snack after work when you go home, replace that snack with a piece of fruit. Then you can start working on your main meals. Before you know it, all your meals will be healthy, and you won't desire any of the bad food again.



3. It's Ok To Cheat
Now I'm not saying it's ok to completely ditch your diet all together, but after a couple of months of rigorous dieting, its ok to maybe have 1 or 2 cheat meals per week. These aren't meals where you completely binge, they are more like meals where instead of the apple you will have potato chips. In these meals you reward yourself but you don't go too over the edge, because it is easy to get back right where you started.

If you follow this advice you should have no problem sticking to your new year's resolutions, and hey maybe you will inspire someone else in the process.

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The Benefits of Cinnulin

Cinnamon is a ingredient that has been around for thousands of years with a great history.  For centuries it has been used primarily as a good healthy spice to put on foods, to add that little bit of sweetness without the sugar;  But now, cinnulin, the active ingredient is found to have many benefits.

There are many cinnulin benefits.  Cinnulin helps regulate blood glucose levels and helps suppress appetite.  This means that it is a great thing to take if you have type II diabetes.  In addition, if you are trying to shed those extra pounds and don't want to shed the extra pounds try taking a cinnulin pill.  They can be bought cheaply (usually below 15 dollars) at any drugstore.  But that is not all of the cinnulin benefits.

Cinnulin also helps to lower blood pressure and it packs the punch of a ton of antioxidants.  The result will be in a healthier heart, a better body composition, and you will have a harder time catching that cold.  So, the next time you are in the store, buy some cinnulin pf, and you won't regret all of the cinnulin benefits that you will feel.

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Vegetarian Bodybuilding

If you look at diet plans of bodybuilders, I would say that about 95% of them include things like grilled chicken, lean steak, and other types of meat.  While meat is the easiest way of getting in a high protein low carb meal, there are plenty of bodybuilders who have been vegetarians, and you can too.

You can get your protein from sources like eggs, nuts, soy products like tempeh, or the obvious protein powders. But if your vegan, you can use soy or pea protein powders.  Also when you are bodybuilding on a vegetarian diet it is important to consume an adequate number of calories.  Since fruits and vegetables have a high water and low calorie content, they are not the best for bulking.  You need to get creative if you want to eat enough good healthy food to gain weight.  Weight gainers are a great tool.  In addition peanut butter can be added to a lot of things to really give some extra calories.  It is also important to make sure that you are getting enough iron in your diet by eating spinach, lentils, edamame, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, etc,.  Also things like soyabeans and spinach will help you get in your required calcium to keep your bones strong.

So while it may be slightly more difficult to bodybuild on a a vegetarian diet, it is definitely possible, and it can actually be a much healthier diet than eating all of the meat that a normal bodybuilder would be.  So no meat no problem!

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Betaine-More Than Just Beet Juice

What is Betaine?
Betaine is a modified amino acid commonly known as trimethylclycine.  It's called betaine because it was originally isolated from beets.  However, it is also found (in greater amounts) in spinach and wheat germ.  Betaine is naturally found in the body from the breakdown of choline.

What it does
Betaine is great for promoting overall health.  It has been proven to reduce the risk of heart disease, it can fight depression, enhance liver health,  and aid joint recovery.  It has even shown to lower cholesterol, and reducte the risk of atherosclerosis.  While it is really great health wise it can also help you leaps and bounds in the gym.  A University of Connecticut study found a 25% greater increase in strength with a pre-workout with betaine, and a placebo.  There have also been studies done by the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, and the College of New Jersey that have confirmed these findings.  These findings seem to be validated because betaine supports the natural production of creatine in the body.    Another study by UConn found that it lowered lactate levels, and people who drank betaine in water were able to sprint 40 seconds longer.  It also seems that betaine is anabolic and supports the growth of muscles.

How to take it
Betaine can either be found naturally in vegetables such as spinach and beets.  It can also be purchased in supplement form.  It is recommended to have 1 to 2 grams of betaine per day.    But if you really want to maximize your results with betaine, you could take 1.5 to 2 grams twice per day with your meals.

So if you have not added betaine to your workout regime this might be just the motivation you need.

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