The Myths About Abs

The Myths About Abs

Everyone wants to know the secret to abs. I see tons of friends and people in the gym doing thousands of crunches and crash diets in order to have a toned and aesthetic midsection. What exactly works? In this blog post I am going to cover a couple of myths that people have about having abs. 

Myth #1: Doing lots of crunches will be develop a defined midsection.

Doing 25000 crunches helps you lose 5lbs, effective?

Truth and what you should do: 

Crunches helps in developing your rectus abdonminis but they won't "spot reduce" fat in your midsection. What is hiding your abs from showing is that your abs are actually shy and hiding behind your abdominal fat so what you have to do strip off the layer of fat!! 

Myth #2: There is "one" killer ab exercise

Truth and what you should do:

There is no killer ab exericses at all. Planks, Leg Raises, Cable Crunches, Dragon flags are all great exercises. BUT. Having abs is a complete bodyfat game. For most people to see their abs, they will probably have to get to sub 10% bodyfat, those shredded individuals, even lower.

What you can do is to watch your diet and be in a caloric deficit to lose the fat all around your body. You can't out exercise a bad diet! Time to try 5 sets of STOP EATING.

Myth #3: Doing plenty of cardio helps in achieving a toned midsection

Truth and what you should do:

It's true that doing cardio burns calories and aid in creating the caloric deficit required for fat loss. However there are better ways to do it. Tons of cardio will eventually lead to fat loss together with muscle loss. This usually leads to the skinny fat situation. The amount of muscle you have on your body ultimate affects your body's metabolism (your ability to burn calories without doing anything).

What I recommend would be to start doing weight training, focusing on compound exercises. Compound exercises are extremely effective for a few reasons. 

1, They work mutiple muscles at the same time, bang for your buck and time efficient

2. They engage your core

3. Greater release of hormones

With more muscle, you body tends to burn more calories which enables you to be able to eat more and still lose fat, How awesome is that :D 

Myth #4: You can train and make your 4pack into a 6pack, a 6pack into 8packs.

Truth and what you should do:

The cold hard truth, you can't change how your abs look!!! Some people will be blessed with symmetrical 8 packs, also there will be people with crooked abs. Also, you can't train to make your 6 pack to be a 8 pack. It's impossible. Abs are purely genetic.

Me and my 4 crooked abs. But beats having nothing :p !

However, getting lean and toned midsection displays an individuals confidence, and having abs will still be better than none. So forget about the shape of your abs and start working on it! ABsolutely right! 

How To Determine How Much Macros You Require?

Perfect Macronutrient Ratio/Split? 

There is no perfect macronutrient split in my personal opinion. The following method that I am going to share is how I determine my macronutrient targets to be hit on a daily basis based on what I have learnt and what have worked for me. Influences to these information would be from my coach as well as individuals like Layne Norton, Alberto Nunez & Eric Helms.

Hopefully these information would be helpful for you and set you up onto the path of success. Cheers!

Step 1: Determine if you want to go on a Bulk or Cut.

Essentially bulking refers to eating on a caloric surplus and cutting requires to eating on a caloric deficit. 

Caloric Surplus = Calories Consumed > Calories Burnt

Caloric Deficit = Calories Burnt > Calories Consumed

Step 2: Determine your TDEE.

TDEE refers to Total Daily Energy Expenditure. To calculate your TDEE, I would recommend you use the calculator from http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ . 

Step 3: Select how aggressive you want to be on your cut or bulk.

After calculating your TDEE, you will be at this stage.

There will be options as to how aggressive you would want to be on your bulk/cut. But i would recommend being more conservative on it. As naturals, it would be more optimal to lean bulk and not put on excessive fats. Being conservative during your cut and having a higher caloric helps with maintaining energy levels and preserves more muscle mass. 

After selecting your desired approach. The calculator would show the Calories that you require  to achieve your goal. 

Step 4: Determine Protein Intake. 

Protein sources

A general rule of thumb would be to consume 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight. This equates to 2.2grams of protein per kg of bodyweight. However, on certain occasions I would recommend slightly more protein, especially during the cutting phase, for satiety reasons.

Step 5: Determine Fat Intake.

Carbohydrates sources

After determining your protein intake, you will have to determine your fat intake. Fat intake is recommended to fall between 20-30% of your total caloric intake. Personally 20% is the lowest I would recommend because fat is essential for hormonal regulation.

Step 6: Determine Carbohydrate Intake.

Fat Sources

This is the part that everyone is interested in ;) Who doesn't love to have more cake, brownies and sweet treats? Everyone love carbs <3 Of course I do not recommend eating unhealthy foods all the time like how #iifym (If it fit your macros) like how it's portrayed in social media. I always recommend and abide to the 80/20 rule. 80% whole foods, 20% processed foods. 

How much Carbohydrate would be the remaining calories left after deducting the calories from your protein and fat from your targeted caloric intake. 

Conclusion

So in just 6 simple steps, you would be able to set up your macros and eat towards your goals ! 

Muscle Balance

Why is Muscle Balance Important?

Muscle Balance is vital for to injury prevention. Whether you chose to train for bodybuilding, powerlifting, crossfit, perform calisthenics or training to peak in your sport, you need to focus on muscle balance. Optimal muscle balance enhances the function and length, and reduces the incidence of training related injuries.

"Athletes should always focus on injury prevention before focusing on performance enhancement" - Quoted by the world's famous physical preparation coach Ian King. 

Push Pull Ratios

I am sure many of you are familiar with the term ' Push Pull Ratios '. But however there are people do not truly understand about the entire concept. 

In Simple terms, when you do pushing movements you will have to do a pulling movement to negate the negative effects of the pushing movement. For every form of training there will definitely be the advantages to training it but however there will definitely be side effects which needs to be addressed. For example if you were to do plenty of pressing movements and neglect pulling movements, there will be higher chances of injuring your shoulder as compared to a person who does a larger amount of pulling movements. There optimal push pull ratios are required!

The general rule of thumb of push pull ratios is 1:1. However there are people who want to bulletproof their shoulders or perhaps train for their sport specificity, they perform up to 2:1 or 3;1 of pulling to pushing.

One simple way to calculate push pull ratios would be based on the total volume of the movements.

Volume = Weight lifted  X  Repetitions Performed  X  Number of Sets

So which part of the Push Pull Ratios do people get confused about?

Something that I have learnt from Ian King is that people assume a push is a push and a pull is a pull. However, they should factor in the planes of movement. 

The two main planes of movement will be Vertical &amp; Horizontal. So essentially it is optimal to be able to balance the Vertical Push with the Vertical Pull (Scapula Depressor) as well as to balance the Horizontal Push with the Horizontal Pull (Scapula Retractors). Please refer to the table below for a references of pushing and pulling movements. 

Examples of exercises in each category

Something interesting to take note of is also Strength Balance.  This concept is popularised by Canadian strength and conditioning coach Charles Poliquin. Refer to the image attached for upper body strength balance targets:

In Reference to Tnation.com

Ratios for Lower Body Training

For lower body movements, the main focus would be classified into Hip Dominant Movements &amp; Quad Dominant Movements. The easiest way to differentiate if the movement is a Hip Dominant or a Quad Dominant angle would be the torso angle during the movement. In general, when Quad Dominant movements are performed, torso angle would be more upright as opposed to the Hip Dominants movements where the torso would be at a angle of 45 degrees or lower. Refer to the picture below referenced from a youtuber "Omarisuf ". Do check out his youtube channel for more informative videos! 

Table done up by Omarisuf

Let me explain why squats and deadlifts are considered to be part of the grey area. Squats and deadlifts vary from individual to individual due to the leverages of their body. For example a person with a long torso and a short femur would be able to squat in a more unright position as compared to a person with a short torso and a long femur because he is likely to lean forward to achieve proper depth.

Also it depends on the variation of the movement that is performed. Squats can be done in a high bar position (more upright) or in the low bar position (leaned forward). Also the deadlift, it can be done like the conventional deadlift (High hip position, torso leaned forward), or it can be done like the sumo deadlift (low hip position, upright torso).

Strength Balance for lower body lifts can be referred to the table below: 

Reference from Tnation.com

Conclusion

To sum things up, proper programming is required for optimal muscle balance to achieve longevity in your sports/lifting career. I hope this article would help you to understand more about muscle balance. For any questions, feel free to drop me a DM on my instagram: Muscleintelligence. Peace out :) 

What is IIFYM/Flexible Dieting?

IIFYM and Flexible Dieting have been the talk of the town, in regards to whether it works and also the health benefits/implications associated with it. With the support of famous fitness icons with their instagram accounts such as DMJ3, MattOgus, NickCheadleFitness & TimbahWolf, many fitness enthusiasts started adopting IIFYM as their diet plan.s

 

What is IIFYM/Flexible Dieting (Portrayed)?

IIFYM is the short form of "If it fits your macros". Macro refers to the protein, carbohydrates and fats. So what IIFYM basically mean is that within your daily set caloric intake, let's put it at 200grams of protein, 300 grams of carbohydrates and 80 grams of fats (Often shown as 200p 300c 80f), you can eat WHATEVER YOU WANT as long as you hit your macros at the end of the day. This includes poptarts, non fat ice cream, waffles pancakes etc.... You get the idea!

Social Media have been promoting IIFYM as what I explained above telling everyone that " Yes you can lose weight by having fastfood everyday, you need not sacrifice your junk food during a cut! ". This stirred up an argument on IIFYM. 

With the same macros, can they be the same?

Does That Work?

Yes! Body Composition can be changed or altered by hitting your macros on a daily basis. The key to WEIGHT LOSS is a caloric deficit. As long as you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight! Simple enough??

Do note I am talking about weight loss but not fat loss. Weight can come from yes fat, but also water and muscles. So to to lose fat with minimal muscle loss, you have to hit a caloric deficit with a pre determined macro-nutrient split. ( on how to determine how much macros is it, I will explain in the next post :D ).

That meaning said, it is true that IIFYM works! IIFYM is optimal for changes in body composition but it does affects your health. It's possible to look really lean & aesthetic but at the same time being really unhealthy. Dozens of pop tarts a day may cause diabetes, constantly having fried chicken causes a build up blood cholesterol.

Flexible dieting does give results!

So What Do I Think IIFYM And Flexible Dieting Mean?

I prefer to call IIFYM Flexible Dieting. I typically follow the 80/20 rule, 80% clean and 20% dirty. So 80% of your diet will comprise of whole foods like poultry, beef, seafood, grains, vegetables, fruits etc. The 20% will be the foods that you crave for! All the fried and sugary foods. 

This is what I do on a daily basis by conducting flexible dieting (Please note that this is not proven to be the best way to do it but this is the way i like to do it). 

On a day to day basis, I cook my own meals and eat healthily. I pack my own meals to school and to work and everything is weighed, measured and accounted into my daily macros. That would be the 80% of my diet.

Meal Prep for school, work & eating home.

The 20% would be the occasions when I eat with either my friends or my family. Certainly at a social gathering you would not want to be eating out of your Tupperware and of course on a friday night out with your bros you wanna be enjoying your beer and have a good time with people around you! This way, you will see great progress in the gym without affecting on your quality of life. Do note that that being said, I am just an average gym goer who trains to look good and feel confident about myself. I am not by any means a hardcore bodybuilder who competes nor a personal trainer whose income purely depends on how they look.

Friday's night out with the boys!

Flexible dieting is great for amateurs and people like me, however it does not work for top level athletes. At the highest level of competition, everyone have the best genetics and sickest work ethnic. Having any food that causes inflammation or affects them from performing at the highest level are to be avoid. Let's just compare the Mr Olympias, everyone of them eats clean 100% and makes sure that they are at the top of the game! But if you are not at that level, Flexible Dieting is optimal for progress!

To look like this, you probably will need to eat really clean and also tons of Vitamin S :p

Conclusion

Don't be fooled by the Instagram of famous bodybuilders posting tons of waffles and pancakes for daily breakfast!  For example with the extreme low bodyfat levels, high muscularity and insane metabolic rate of Alberto Nunez from 3DMJ, 200 carbs for break might just be 30-40% off his daily carb intake because he eats like 500-700grams a day! For averafe gym goers like us, 200grams of carbs might already be close to the maximum amount of carbs that can be consumed.

I hope that through this post, any doubts of IIFYM/Flexible Dieting are all cleared up. If you have any questions, hit me up on the comments and i'll be happy to help!

What Supplements Do You Really Need?

What Supplements Do You Really Need?

Many people would often ask, " What supplements do I really need?". Why waste money on unnecessary supplements that are useless and just heavily marketed by celebrities just to convince you that you MUST have those supplements in order to see good progress.

So Firstly, What Are Supplements? 

As the name goes, supplements are essentially products that supplement your body of essential macro-nutrients and micro nutrients that you are unable to get in adequate amounts. That being said, supplements are not miracle pills that would make drastic changes to your body. People often say that supplements would produce tremendous results but no it does not! For health and aesthetics, working and nutrition from food consumed are the most important factors for progress. Supplements are then used to fill in the gaps of your diet for the nutrients that you are unable to get in your body with whole foods.

What Supplements Do You Really Need?

Personally in my opinion, supplements are really expensive and you should only take those that are essential. If you do have allowance in finances, why not and try out something different! But if you are like me, maybe a student or simply on a budget. Why not give these key essential supplements a try!

1) Multi-Vitamins

This is a no-brainer, The simplest way you can support detoxification is to get adequate levels of those basic nutrients in a multivitamin. If you do not have a balanced diet that includes fruits and vegetables, a multivitamin may be beneficial as nutritional insurance. Generally, people will benefit from taking supplemental magnesium, zinc, vitamin D, and B vitamins! Get your multi-vitamins now!!

*Also a tip, for women that are still in the reproductive phase, it is advisable to purchase multi-vitamins with higher levels of iron to make up for the monthly menstrual cycle!

2) Fish Oils

Fish oils to me feels like miracle pills! There are just so many benefits to consuming them that I don't see a reason why people are not taking them!! Fish oils are the most important supplement that helps individuals achieve a rapid physique transformation. In General, individuals are good taking between 3-6 grams of fish oils  (This refers to the EPA and DHA). Injured individuals are better off with higher dosages to clear the inflammation!

Benefits:

-Fish oils increase utilization of fat stores and decrease fat storage. The reason is because of the eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) & docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) contained in fish oils help maintain the flexibility of cell membranes and make the insulin receptors more sensitive to circulating the levels of insulin. Basically fish oils turn off the lipogenic genes and turn on carnitine enzymes!

- Fish Oils reduces morning stiffness and reduces inflammation in the body.

- EPA in Fish Oils help regulate blood supply to the brain, which helps to maintain focus in weight training.

- Fish Oils increase serotonin levels ( the happy neurotransmitter :D )

These are just some of the benefits associated with fish oils. Which I believe are good reasons for anyone to start taking fish oils. You can read the full article at the following link: http://www.davedraper.com/url/poliquin.php .

3) Magnesium

Magnesium is the mineral of insulin sensitivity. This refers to the human body's ability to restore glycogen and distribute nutrients where they need to go is the function of the magnesium stores. Adequate magnesium levels are essential for recovery after working out because this mineral helps with decreasing magnesium.

Magnesium helps to keep stress levels in check as well. If your magnesium levels are too low, you will be susceptible to  be very responsive to stress. Stress also causes muscle tightness, which is something to be avoided for maximum performance and injury prevention. That being said, a magnesium supplement is NOT A MUST, but it is recommended to individuals who face high stress in their daily life or that they often have tight muscles. 

4) Protein Powders

This have been a controversy for a long time. Does protein powder really work? Many people debate that we can still progress in the gym without a protein supplement. Yes that is true. But is it also true that a protein powder can aid in recovery from gym sessions and help in progression? Yes that is also true!

Firstly don't worry too much about where you are getting your protein from. Soy proteins, milk proteins, beef protein, whey protein and many more.... The first target would be to hit your daily protein intake. For starters a typical target would be 1gram per lb of body weight/for kilograms that would be 2.2 grams per kg of body weight.To reach your body composition goals as well as goals in the gym, you have to hit your daily protein intake. 

After you are able to hit your daily intake, then it is time to discuss about what source should the protein come from. Usually I would prefer to stick to whole foods. Beef, poultry, dairy, seafood and eggs are good choices. For vegetarians and vegans, legume & beans are also good quality sources. As for powders, I would suggest whey protein to be taken. Due to it's fast acting properties and sources it is favorable over the other protein powders. If whey protein can't be taken because the individual is vegan or maybe lactose intolerant, he/she can try out the soy protein, which also works as a good alternative for getting your in on a daily basis. 

Protein powders are not a must, but if you are a big dude who is 200 lbs and above, taking protein powders are definitely a good alternative as it is difficult to consume so much protein from whole foods and it would also be fairly expensive to do so.

Conclusion

For all individuals who take parts in sports or weight training, I definitely feel that multivitamins and fish oils are an essential supplement to be used for daily well-being and performance. As for magnesium supplements and protein powders, it would be good to have if you have the finances to sustain the purchase. Even without it, you are good to make great progress in the gym!




References:
German Body Comp Program by Charles Poliquin
Mass Made Simple by Dan John 
http://www.davedraper.com/url/poliquin.php .