The Health and Fitness ChannelJanuary, 2002 IssueYour Truth In Fitness Source
HOME GYM "HOW-TO"This month's newsletter highlights the 5 Points to consider before you buy equipment to equip your home gym. With chaotic work schedules and expensive gym memberships,
working out at home can be a great value and convenience. Many people
would like to set up home gyms, but the equipment choices, price differences,
and space considerations can boggle the mind. ACE, The American Council
on Exercise, recommends these five steps for making intelligent equipment
buying decisions (as well as my own 1. Identify your fitness needs: The equipment should suit your interests and fitness level. Your chosen activities should be enjoyable and yet challenging enough that you're able to progress to higher levels. For example, you should be able to increase the resistance, incline or duration of a given piece of equipment. Every home gym should include basic components for both aerobic training and strength training along with a mat for stretching and abdominal work. Aerobic training - jogging, stepping, or cycling, for example - burns fat, raises your HDL (good cholesterol) and strengthens the heart and lungs. Strength training uses free weights, elastic bands, or machines that resist your movement. It builds muscle, strengthens bones, boosts your metabolism, and can lower your LDL (bad cholesterol). Stretching keeps muscles and joints flexible and helps prevent injury and soreness. Although most of the time you'll separate your muscle building from your cardiovascular workouts, there are ways to combine both a strength and cardiovascular workout at the same time. With the German Workouts (as found in the Ultimate Results Manual) you can kill two birds with one stone. 2. Determine your budget: The number one rule here is that you get what you pay for. Keep in mind that high quality equipment that works reliably after several years of heavy use can't be manufactured cheaply. There are options available for every budget. For example, if a pricey $1,500 electric stair climber is out of your reach, you may be better off getting your cardio exercise by going outside and running or incorporating it into your weight training workout like the German Workout. This might be a wiser choice than spending $200 on a low-end manual stair climber that's almost guaranteed to break after a few months. In some cases, the price range on a particular piece of equipment can vary wildly. It's important to do your homework and find out what the going rate should be. If a piece of equipment is priced significantly lower than its competitors,
it could be for a variety of reasons including: manufactured overseas
rather than domestically, By the same token, if a piece of equipment is priced significantly higher than comparable models you need to ask why. Does it work demonstrably better than lower priced models? Does it offer better features? Is it likely to last longer? Is it likely to require less service? Is it easier and less costly to service? Keep in mind that it's possible to purchase used exercise equipment. If you go this route, you may be able to buy more equipment, or higher quality commercial equipment, and still stay within your budget. Try to buy from a reputable dealer and get a warranty in writing. Try doing a search on http://www.google.com for "used fitness equipment", or a similar search term. Use the "quotes" for a more accurate search result. If you're going the Max Fat Loss route (aka, the interval cardio workouts) then you must choose a machine where you can vary the speed levels almost instantaneously. Most treadmills I've used take too long for the speed to change when you punch the buttons. This is no good for the quick changes in speed you'll need when doing the interval cardio workouts. And to be honest with you, the old way of doing cardio is out the window.
Latest research shows interval cardio training not only provides much
greater fat loss benefits, but it only requires 1/4th or less the time.
Take into consideration the room usage, safety, traffic flow, aesthetics, desired equipment, and future expansion possibilities. Plan for at least as much open space as equipment space. Use the following guidelines to determine how much room Treadmills - 30 square feet 4. Examine the product: features, design, manufacture, safety, and serviceability: Your body should move in a manner that is correct and safe. The equipment should be adjustable, comfortable, easy to learn, and able to fit users of various sizes. Parts should be easily removed and replaced. The device should be space-efficient, and the components should be the highest quality in the price range. Think about the advertising claims. They should be backed up by solid research. Look for reviews by objective consumer publications. Again, doing a search on the Internet can provide you valuable clues into the different models of exercise equipment you're considering, whether it's a Bowflex, Nautilus, PowerBlock, Precor, or other brand. Moving parts should mesh well. Welds should be clean and smooth and the frame should be thick and sturdy. Check out the safety features. There shouldn't be any design flaws or weaknesses that increase the risk of injury. (For example skiers with skis that can move simultaneously in the same direction, or a machine with poor stability.) Look for features that enhance safety. For example, range-of-motion limiters
on strength machines; weight-stack guards or any guards that protect moving
parts; safety switches on treadmills. Price Recommendations: For my home gym I personally use PowerBlocks. With PowerBlocks I can perform all the exercises I normally do at the traditional gym I use at work. I just have to get creative with leg and back exercises (I'll give you some examples in a future issue). And I can adjust the dumbbells from 10 to 125 lbs each by a simple pin movement. Best of all they only take up a 2 x 3 foot footprint. I've had mine now for almost 2 years and I can vouch for their durability. Go to Power Blocks and check out the different weight options they have. Some of you may not need 125 dumbbells and would be wasting money if you purchased them. Also, a good, sturdy bench that inclines and optionally declines is a must have as well. The PowerBlocks company sells a bench that's relatively inexpensive. I have one at home as well as a more expensive model. I personally like the sturdier bench that costs a little more. The PowerBlock bench will probably work fine, but I prefer the kind of benches typically found in good gyms. I know I'm going to be doing this for a long time and want to purchase with quality and durability in mind. The bench I use is manufactured by the "Sport Strength" company. It's an adjustable bench with a contoured back to ergonomically fit you. Plus, it's virtually bullet-proof. You can see it here: Sport Strength adjustable bench Please understand I receive no compensation for these products I recommend. They are ones I use and can recommend to you. For best results please follow the "5 - Point" checklist above for your home gym purchases. Good Luck! MUSCLE UP BY TIMING YOUR MEALSHow you time your meals can dramatically affect the amount of lean muscle tissue you can build. Believe it! For years now it's been known that a post-exercise shake is "de-Rigueur" for stimulating the post-exercise muscle building process. And while it's true that eating specific ratios of proteins, carbs, and fats after your workout will accelerate your muscle building efforts there's now a better way. I began experimenting with this "pre-workout" technique about 1 year ago after speaking with doctors intimately familiar with human metabolism. These doctors explained how they recommended to their diabetic patients
to exercise shortly after eating. They found the increased blood sugar
levels following their meals were significantly reduced if they exercised
immediately after The reason was, exercise used up the glycogen (sugar) stores in the muscle
fairly rapidly. And in order to replenish it muscles would use the sugar
present in the bloodstream. So, by exercising immediately after eating
the demand by the working I knew, of course, that most diabetic patients have a condition called "insulin resistance." This means the body's cells become resistant, or closed, to the high circulating blood sugar that's looking for a home. In people with normal metabolisms the body's cells (consisting of muscle, liver, and fat cells) can accept sugar circulating in the bloodstream and deposit it to where it's needed most. This process is impaired in type II diabetics (who still produce insulin). It's like the cells of the body don't recognize the diabetic's high blood sugar levels and can't "open the door" and allow it in. Doctor's understand that exercise seems to allow a diabetic's cells to "re-open" and again begin accepting circulating blood sugar. As a result of this their blood sugar levels come down. I theorized if this worked in diabetic patients then it would also work in folks with normal metabolisms. HOW-TO'S OF HOW TO BUILD MORE MUSCLE You may be wondering why I would even want to use it for people who were not diabetics. Simple answer...to build more muscle. I'll explain. First, understand that a "hydrated cell" is a happy cell. What
this means is your muscle cells anabolic (muscle building) machinery starts
working if there is a net inflow of nutrients (sugars, or glycogen, along
with their cargo of amino acids). By eating and then exercising shortly after, you are providing key nutrients for your working muscles. Studies have shown that compared to a post-workout shake, a PRE-workout shake provides 342% greater glycogen (sugar) storage into your muscle cells. What this translates to in real-world results is better muscle growth...period! Here's another reason. Because your exercising muscles are creating a demand for the sugar they've used, you are less likely to store the circulating sugars as fat. Remember earlier how I said that blood-borne sugars can be stored in three different areas of the body (muscle, liver, and fat cells)? Well, because of the demand caused by working muscles you can actually take in a more 'sugary' meal prior to working out and it not be stored as fat (as would normally be the case). YOU MUST PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING The opposite of anabolism (muscle building) is catabolism (muscle wasting). Your body is in a continually fluctuating state between the two. The trick for continued muscle growth is to try and tip the scales more towards the anabolism side. Or, to minimize catabolism. The sheer act of working out is a catabolic activity. That's a given. However, there is a way to minimize these negative effects. And the way to do it is to eat before your workouts. Yet again another positive reason to eat prior to working out. RECIPE FOR MUSCLE GROWTH Now that I've convinced you to eat prior to working out you may be wondering
what's the best meal to eat. Your recipe for muscle growth should be an
easily digestible meal. And a shake with key and specific nutrients is
exactly what will 1) 0.4 to 0.8 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of bodyweight. (If max
fat loss is your goal the carbohydrate ratios should be towards the lowest
part of this range). 2) 0.2 to 0.4 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. The best type of protein to use is again, the fastest absorbing type, or whey/casein HYDROLYSATE. 3) 3-5 grams of Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA's). The addition of BCAA's during exercise is important because BCAA's decrease protein breakdown. 4) 5-10 grams of Glutamine. Glutamine also helps prevent protein breakdown. 5) 3-5 grams of Creatine. The latest studies show creatine may actually help trigger muscle growth. 6) Mixing all of these up in plenty of water is essential. Don't underestimate this subtle point. Absorption will be hindered if the concentration is too high. There is evidence to believe if these nutrients are delivered in too high of a concentration they may be wasted and not used. What you're shooting for is a 4-8% concentration. The studies show this ratio is ideal for porper digestion and hydration. Here's how to figure it out. Take the total grams of powder you are going to take and divide by 1000 (1 Liter) as a starting point. Adjust this amount until the result you get is between 4-8%. Here's an example you can use to help you figure out how much you need for your bodyweight: To make it easy for calculation purposes I'll use a 220 lb man. There
are 2.2 kilograms (kg) in 1 pound (lb). So, this 220 lb man is equal to
100 kg. Using the recommendations above for the individual nutrients would
provide: 40-80 grams of I'll choose 60 grams of carbohydrates, 30 grams of whey hydrolysate, 5 grams of creatine, 5 grams of Glutamine and 5 grams of BCAA's which equals 105 total grams of powder. 105 divided by 1,500 (1 1/2 Liters of water) equals a 7% solution, just about perfect. This is a lot of water but is important you take in this much for proper absorption. All of this is a little complicated I know, but once you do it once you'll know from then on how much of each to use. Trust me, the results are worth it. WHEN TO TAKE IT If you are under 10% bodyfat for men and 15% for women you should take in another of these meals AFTER your weight training workout as well. Also, the addition of 500-1000 mg of Vitamin C and 200-400 iu of Vitamin E will also help reduce your body's cortisol output and free radical damage as a result of the workout. EVERYONE should take this meal prior to your weight training workout. CONCLUSION Although there is science behind these recommendations I have to be honest in saying that the research is still ongoing. The data supporting the recommendations above may be implied by some as imcomplete. Those critics views I have to agree with. The research continues on the best ways of maximizing muscle growth through diet. And there are no long-term research results that will say with authority these recommendations are the best way to go...yet! In order to be absolutely certain you could wait for those results to come in. Then, when and if the claims are proven you could follow the recommendations. However, I caution you that research results takes time. In the meantime, real-world feedback and evidence continues to pile up in favor of these recommendations. Do you want to wait and potentially lose valuable time waiting for the recommendations to be validated? It's up to you. I recommend you do your own test and see if you don't achieve greater muscle growth on your own with these recommendations. FINAL RECOMMENDATION Although this may sound like a sneaky way to promote the products I sell, the Mass Maker, Mass Aminos, Muscle Mass BCAA's, Creatine, and L-Glutamine fit the bill for my recommended pre- and post-workout shake. Well...almost. Although the research used pure whey hydrolysates for the protein source, in practical terms this is very hard to do. For one thing pure hydrolysates taste incredible bad, not to mention they don't smell too good either (for those of you that have tried the pure hydrolysate Mass Aminos already you know what I mean about the smell). The Mass Maker has a blend of proteins of both short and fast acting form. I personally believe this is the way to go anyway although there is no research to support this, it's just my experience you have to go on here. However, when you combine it with the Mass Aminos you will be supplying additional whey hydrolysates the research says you should be taking. Please understand you could mix up the above ingredients on your own by buying and combining them together yourself. And you may even be able to save yourself a little bit of money buying them somewhere else. Just remember, you get what you pay for. I'll let you make that choice. But if you want to try the above products I've put together a special combination to make it easier for you. Normally the cost of the above 5 products which includes: 3-Mass Makers is $265. This would supply you with enough of each product to last you for 5 months assuming you weight train 3 days per week. However, I'm slashing the price for you by 20% which would bring the total price down to $212. Click on the following link to get to the special:
Harry Harry "Hank" Johnson Jr,
President Harry is the creator of the "Amazing Fat-Loss/Ultimate Results Program" - the most effective method ever developed for losing fat - It will help you lose fat quicker than anything else available today. If you follow Harry's instructions you will have a lean, muscular or sexy body (it's your choice) in 12 - 15 weeks or less -- guaranteed!
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