“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.” – Psalm 73:26

Here are some of this week’s updates for members of Underground Fitness Revolution. Be sure to sign up for our Weekly Newsletter to get all the updates (fill in your name and email address in the box at the top right part of the web site).

Fitness Quote of the Week:
“If you don’t do what’s best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end.” – Julius Erving

Transformation Tip of the Week:
“To live an extraordinary life you must resist an ordinary approach” – Frank McKinney

For fat loss, this means NOT doing the same things as everyone else in the office (i.e. bringing in donuts, eating fast food, going to bed late and running late in the morning skipping breakfast). Instead, you need to plan, shop and prepare for your meals and stick to a workout schedule – be consistent and you’ll achieve extraordinary results.

And remember, if you want REALLY advanced results, you must take advanced measures like following your nutritional plan 90% of the time, not missing training sessions and getting additional exercise on off days. You can’t expect to coast to lose body fat and achieve your goals. So stay strong!

Achieving Your Goals:
Kekich Credo #73. Nothing wins more often than superior preparation.

For Fat Loss, You Must:

1. Plan, shop and prepare your meals.
2. Come up with two solutions for every obstacle in your life.
3. Use a structured, professionally-designed workout (like the workouts at Underground Fitness Revolution).
4. Get social support (stay away from “toxic” people).
5. Have a positive and determined mindset that you are going to DO this, not that you are going to “try” and do this.

Nutrition Tips of the Week:
1) Keep your healthiest foods at eye level. Whether in your pantry or refrigerator, what you see first is typically what you’re going to eat, especially at snack times. Don’t hide the fruits and veggies in a drawer. Keep them in front of your face, where they’ll be saying, “eat me!”

2) Mom was Right! Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, etc. contain very specific and unique phytonutrients such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) that help to fight against estrogenic compounds.

And by fighting against these belly-fat stimulating estrogenic chemicals, this is just one more step in helping you to win the battle against abdominal fat!

Like I said in the Underground Nutrition Guide, eat vegetables (and/or fruit) with every meal and snack (just don’t forget to also eat protein with each meal and snack as well).

Fitness Tip of the Week:
The strength, health and appearance benefits of training your core are numerous and basic. Let’s take a look at a more intense variation of a standard, though already-underutilized, core exercise — the elevated plank.

While the standard plank — when you flex your abs and low back to hold a straight line from your shoulder to your ankles — will train your core statically and without flexion or rotation, it’s an exercise that doesn’t lend itself to added resistance. Weighted vest planks aren’t quite the same.

The common suggestion to hold the basic position for longer time, anywhere from a minute to two minutes, isn’t an uncommon suggestion. Remember, in last week’s newsletter I mentioned that Dr. Stuart McGill recommends being able to hold a standard plank position for two minutes to reduce your chances of back problems.

However, a more challenging version is the elevated plank. With the elevated plank, you’re setting your feet up on a bench (box, chair, ball, etc.), which changes your body-weight distribution and forces the muscles to adapt in a new way. Plus, because the load is shifted slightly more toward your upper body, the shoulders and upper back are doing more work, which should carryover into some improved posture and upper back stability.

Try incorporating the elevated plank either into “off” day workouts, recovery weeks or as a more challenging version of a standard plank or plank walk-up during our training sessions. You can start with 3 sets of 15-second holds. Gradually increase each set by 5 seconds, until you’re up to 3 x 45-seconds. By then, there should be no doubts about your core strength.

Do You Suffer from “Regional” Fat Storage?
You know, “problem area” fat deposits like on your hips, butt, thighs, stomach, “love handles,” or the dreaded “man boobs?”

Although fat loss happens throughout the entire body, there are ways to target specific areas. The problem is that most people don’t understand the CAUSES of regional fat storage, and thus you haven’t been provided with a solution.

Fortunately, I DO know both – the causes AND the solutions.

Problem Area: “Love handles”
Hormone to Blame: Insulin
Solution Hormone: Growth Hormone (IGF-1)
How to Stimulate IGF-1 Release: Dynamic Training

Problem Area: Hips, butt, thighs and/or “man boobs”
Hormone to Blame: Estrogen
Solution Hormone: Testosterone
How to Stimulate Testosterone Release: Density Training

Problem Area: Belly/stomach
Hormone to Blame: Cortisol
Solution Hormone: Growth Hormone
How to Stimulate IGF-1 Release: Lactic Acid Training

The fact is, you can fight off “problem area” hormones by naturally producing more combative hormones via specific types of training and exercise.

And that’s essentially the foundation of our Underground Fitness Revolution workouts. We use metabolic resistance training, compound exercises and different types of training parameters to elicit the response necessary to help with your problem areas!

Just remember, your diet is the MOST important factor in the battle for fat loss. Follow your Underground Nutrition Guidelines 90% of the time and attack each training session with everything you got to get the results you want.

Latest Research Studies:

Study 1:
Researchers at Harvard Medical School studied 4,456 females for several years regarding their weight-control behaviors, including dietary approaches and physical activity.

During 4-years of follow-up, participants gained an average of 7.25lbs.

However, two things helped them gain less weight:

1. Exercising 5 days/week – (So stay active on your off days!)
2. Limiting portion sizes – (A simple tip here is to use smaller plates when eating.)

Researchers concluded that “physical activity is a necessary strategy for long-term weight control. Combining dietary weight-control approaches with physical activity is the most effective method for reducing weight gain.”

Reference: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 91, No. 1, 147-153, January 2010
Weight-control behaviors and subsequent weight change among adolescents and young adult females

Study 2:
In this study, researchers reviewed the diets of 664 participants aged between 18 and 55 years.

They found that people generally fell into 2 categories:

1. The Western Diet (refined grains, French fries, red meat, processed meats and regular soft drinks)
2. The Prudent Diet (eggs, fish, seafood, vegetables and non-hydrogenated fat)

The researchers found that subjects who ate the Western Diet had a larger BMI, heavier weight, bigger waist and a lot more fat. They were much more likely to be obese.

But people on the Prudent diet were the opposite.

Reference: International Journal of Obesity (2009) 33, 1419–1426.
Associations between dietary patterns and obesity phenotypes. A-M Paradis1,2,3, G Godin4, L Pérusse2,5 and M-C Vohl. Laval.

Listen, nutrition is pretty simple. In fact, it can all be summed up like this:

“Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants, berries, nuts and lean protein sources.”

Heck, eat ANYTHING but the Western diet. That is the diet of death.

Study 3:
Researchers studied 89,432 Europeans, aged 20–78 years, for six and a half years.

Results: Total fiber was inversely associated with subsequent weight and waist circumference change.

Reference: Am J Clin Nutr 91: 329-336, 2010.
Dietary fiber and subsequent changes in body weight and waist circumference in European men and women.

That means the more fiber you eat, the smaller your waist circumference and the lower your weight. It looks like fiber helped these folks keep off the fat.

Get plenty of fiber in your diet from a variety of veggies, fruits, beans and raw nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc.). Also, Prograde Lean contains 8 grams of fiber per serving while also giving you 35 grams of protein, 26 grams of carbs (including the 8 grams of fiber) and healthy fats all while helping to keep you full longer!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s updates. Get ready to hit it hard this week!

Dedicated to your health and fitness,

Nate

“I’ve perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.” – Proverbs 7:17

Okay, so President’s Day is long gone and the $15 off Prograde Protein is no longer in effect. But my partners over at Prograde Nutrition have another tasty treat for you.

Jayson Hunter has delivered yet again with his best recipe yet. He’s saved the best for last with his incredible Vanilla Cinnamon Pudding!

The recipe is right here: Vanilla Cinnamon Pudding

Dedicated to your health and fitness,

Nate

“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” – Galatians 1:10

Here are this week’s reminders and updates for members of Underground Fitness Revolution.

Fitness Quote of the Week:
“Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.” – Earl of Derby

Scheduling Reminder:
Please remember to schedule your sessions for our next phase of training (March 1 – 19). Have fun with your recovery workouts this week. This is a great time to participate in other activities you enjoy such as biking, playing games with your kids (tag, basketball, kickball, etc.) and just staying active and having a little fun while helping your body to recover.

We’ll hit it hard again beginning March 1. Be ready!

Body Blueprint Screening:
We are going to perform our Body Blue Print Screening (the Functional Movement Screen™) Monday! Be sure to arrive at 4pm, 5pm or 6pm for the screening. If you can’t make it today, please let me know another day this week that will work for you so we can make arrangements.

The Functional Movement Screen™ is not a workout. It’s a testing method to find weaknesses and imbalances. You will still want to train on your own Monday or three other days this week.

Goal Setting:
If you want to achieve your health and fitness goals, be sure to write them down. I want you to write down:

• 3 short-term goals
• 3 long-term goals

Once you write down these goals, put them on your bathroom mirror and review them every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to bed. Say them aloud and it will help program your mind to help you acheive them.

Also, consider setting PROCESS goals instead of just outcome goals. A process goal is “I will perform my Underground Fitness Revolution workouts 3 days per week” or “I will use a food log for 12 weeks.” And then if you meet your process goals, your outcome goals (i.e. you want to lose 10 pounds) will take care of themselves – and you’ll have better life-long habits!

And you should do this for not only your fitness goals but also other areas of your life including financial, relationships, etc.

Don’t Focus on Scale Weight:
You can’t judge your results by scale weight. Muscle weighs more than fat and it takes up 1/3 less space. This means that you could still weigh the same after training for a few weeks or even a few months because you may be gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time. Yet, you may notice that your clothes fit looser or you look different in the mirror. Also, your scale weight doesn’t reflect how much muscle or fat that you have. If you only focus on your weight, you may become frustrated with your progress and lose motivation.

Remember what I’ve said before: You MUST build strength and muscle in order to burn fat. Muscle is the ONLY thing that is metabolically active. You need muscle to increase your metabolism so you can burn more calories and more fat! If you don’t build muscle and gain strength, you will only end up a skinnier fat version of yourself. And no one wants to be thinner if you are still fat and flabby!

In order to gauge true progress, we HAVE to record circumferences so we know whether you’re improving or not. This is why we are tracking circumferences each month to judge your progress. In addition to circumferences, we take photos every three months and track your weight each month.

Nutrition Tip of the Week:
Drink water from a refillable water bottle rather than a cup or small water bottle. It may seem like a little thing, but simply switching to a 24-32 oz. refillable water bottle and refilling it 3-4 times (rather than having to refill an 8 oz. glass 10 times a day) can make a HUGE difference in how much water you drink.

Remember, you want to consume a MINIMUM of half your body weight in ounces each day. If you weigh 150lbs., you should drink at least 75 ounces of water each day. Your urine should be clear.

Also, gulps are better than sips to keep you hydrated (Men’s Fitness, pg 15, Nov. 2009). Gulping water engages the stomach’s stretch receptors and increases intragastric pressure, allowing your body to replenish its reserves faster, while lowering your risk of cramps!

Fitness Tip of the Week:
Can you do a plank for 2 minutes straight?

That is Dr. Stuart McGill’s recommendation for healthy people.

Dr. McGill, a low back pain expert, has found that abdominal endurance corresponds with less back pain, so he recommends you build up your plank endurance to 2 minutes.

If you CANNOT do that, you could be at greater risk of low back issues.

Latest Research Studies:

Study Number 1:
Reference: Br J Sports Med 2009

Testing: Dose-response relationship between physical activity and mental health

UK researchers wanted to see how important physical activity is for better mental health. They studied 19,842 men and women and found:

• Any form of daily physical activity was associated with a lower risk of psychological distress.
• The more activity you did, the greater the reduction in distress.
• And while low-intensity activities like housework and gardening helped, the best results were from sports.

So get vigorous physical activity with friends (like your friends at Underground Fitness Revolution during our workouts) and you’ll be happier and less stressed.

Study Number 2:
Drs. Tarnopolsky and Phillips from McMaster just published an interesting study.

Reference: Med Sci Sports Exerc.

Testing: Body Composition and Strength Changes in Women with Milk and Resistance Exercise. Josse AR, Tang JE, Tarnopolsky MA, Phillips SM.

20 young women were put into one of two groups:

1) Resistance training plus fat-free milk

2) Resistance training plus a carbohydrate drink

Both groups drank 16 oz. of their drink after a workout, and then another 16 oz. an hour later.

That’s right, the milk group drank a quart (32 oz.) of milk per day!

Total calories were about 400 extra per day for both groups, but the carbohydrate group didn’t have protein in their drink. Both drinks were flavored with vanilla to “mask” the identity of the drink.

No side effects reported.

The workout was intense, frequent and had a lot of volume. (That’s good and bad, as you’ll see.)

The girls trained with weights – on machines – 5 days/week for 12 weeks. (Researchers tend to use machines to avoid the learning curve required with barbell and dumbbell exercises.)

However, it’s likely the 5 days/week was too much volume, as 3 subjects reported overuse injury. But, in total they had a 92 percent training compliance.

Results:

Weight Gain:
Carbohydrate = 1.9 pounds
Milk = 1.1 pounds

Lean Mass Gain:
Carbohydrate = 2.4 pounds
Milk = 4.2 pounds

NOTE: Lean mass is not just muscle, but would be most of the measurement.

Fat Loss:
Carbohydrate = 0.67 pounds
Milk = 3.5 pounds of fat lost!!!

The milk group also got stronger in a few exercises.

The milk group gained lean mass and lost fat at the same time and got stronger.

The researchers concluded, “Heavy, whole-body resistance exercise with the consumption of milk versus carbohydrate in the early post-exercise period resulted in greater muscle mass accretion, strength gains, fat mass loss, and a possible reduction in bone turnover in women after 12 weeks.”

That’s why I recommend that you drink chocolate milk after a workout or a specially-formulated post-workout drink like Prograde Workout.

Study Number 3:
Caffeine research and three reasons why I don’t use it!

Reference: J Strength Cond Res. 2009.

Testing: Efficacy of Acute Caffeine Ingestion for Short-term High-Intensity Exercise Performance: A Systematic Review. Astorino TA, Roberson DW. Department of Kinesiology, CSU-San Marcos, San Marcos, California.

• The researchers did this review because past research has shown that, “caffeine typically increases endurance performance; however, efficacy of caffeine ingestion for short-term high-intensity exercise is equivocal.”
• They found that, “11 out of 17 studies revealed significant improvements in team sports exercise and power-based sports with caffeine ingestion, yet these effects were more common in elite athletes who do not regularly ingest caffeine.”
• “Six of 11 studies revealed significant benefits of caffeine for resistance training.”
• AND… “Some studies show decreased performance with caffeine ingestion when repeated.”

How you and your workouts respond to caffeine is individual. I’ve had great workouts with and without it. I’ve felt good and bad with it and without it. It’s really up to you if you want to use caffeine before your workouts to give you a boost. Also, I don’t have any faith in the claim that caffeine helps you lose fat – a proper diet and training is the key.

So what are my 3 reasons not to use it?

1. I get jittery and can’t sleep with it. I rarely ever use caffeine, but when I use a Spike Shooter or other caffeine boost prior to training, it keeps me up too late at night and when I do sleep, it’s very light and I feel unrested!
2. Dependency – Listen, you can almost “mentally cripple” a caffeine addict by taking away their caffeine. They get massive headaches, no energy, irritable, etc. I was talking to a friend who tried to cut out caffeine recently, and for 2-3 days she experienced the worst headaches and was unable to do anything - I don’t need that. No thanks!
3. I simply don’t need it. I have a lot of energy right now. I have really good workouts, great nutrition and good sleep patterns.

Sure, I might take some caffeine before a tough workout if I’m feeling like I have a lack of energy or if I’m more tired than usual, but I don’t need caffeine every day. In fact, I may only use caffeine once a month or less.

That’s all for this week’s updates! Get rested and ready to go for our next phase of training.

Dedicated to your health and fitness,

Nate

“Kind words are like honey — sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” – Proverbs 16:24

Whoa! I can’t wait to try this recipe. Jayson Hunter of Prograde Nutrition – of which I’m a proud partner – has done it again.

Check out this Peanut Butter Protein Bar Dessert recipe he just shared with me.

And remember, Prograde is also celebrating President’s Day this entire week by offering a $15 savings on any Prograde Protein purchases! Just click on the link above for all the juicy details on the sale.

Dedicated to your health and fitness,

Nate

PS – In case you missed it on Monday, here is a delicious Protein Ice Cream recipe from Jayson also.

“And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!” – Psalm 90:17

Here are this week’s reminders and updates for members of Underground Fitness Revolution.

Scheduling Reminder:
Please remember to schedule your sessions this week. This is week three of our current phase of training. This week is the hardest week during this phase. we want to go all out and use next week as your “active recovery” week to help you recover and prepare you for our next phase of training.

Fitness Quote of the Week:
“If you don’t do what’s best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end.” – Julius Erving

Body Blueprint Screening:
We are going to perform our Body Blue Print Screening (the Functional Movement Screen™) during our recovery week. I have it scheduled for Monday, February 22. It will be scheduled during our normal training hours. Ideally, I want everyone to come at the same time. Please confirm what time you can attend (4pm, 5pm or 6pm).

Success is Your Responsibility:
Your success is your responsibility.

That means you must set the rules from the start. Be consistent. Make your fat loss the priority of everyone around you. Don’t let “toxic” people get in the way of your goals.

And always look to surround yourself with positive social support from people who are going to help you no matter what.

Nutrition Tip of the Week:
According to the new Rodale book, “The New American Diet” (excerpted in Feb. 2010, Men’s Health magazine), there are a “Dirty Dozen” of fruits and veggies that should be organic.

Starting with the worst offenders, the dirty dozen are:

Peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots and pears.

On the other hand, here are the clean 15 (the fruits and veggies that contain the least pesticides and probably don’t need to be purchased in “organic” form):

Onion, avocado, corn, pineapple, mango, asparagus, peas, kiwi, cabbage, eggplant, pappayas, watermelon, broccoli, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

If you can’t afford to buy organic, then do your best to wash the “dirty dozen” foods before eating – or buy frozen versions.

Latest Research Studies:

Study Number 1:

We already know that a post-workout shake is important for recovery and muscle growth. However, new research has shown that protein taken prior to a training session may result in more muscle growth and fat loss. Here’s a recent study:

Researchers had 8 trained subjects (5 Men, 3 Women) perform a workout at 7am after consuming either 20 grams of whey protein or 20 grams of carbohydrates. The workout consisted of 9 exercises (4 sets of each at 75% of their one-repetition maximum – 1RM).

NOTE: (That’s a huge workout! 36 sets is a lot and more than I would recommend.)

Results: Both workouts boosted metabolism at 24 and 48 hours after training, however, at 24 hours, the increase in metabolism was greater in the protein-supplement experiment.

Reference: Med Science Sports Exerc. 2009 Dec 4. Timing Protein Intake Increases Energy Expenditure 24 Hours Post-Resistance Training. Hackney KJ, Bruenger AJ, Lemmer JT.

Comments: This could lead to increased muscle gain and fat loss. If you want to maximize your results, then you might want to consume protein before your workout (and a post-workout drink like chocolate milk immediately after).

Study Number 2:

Pairing exercises that work opposite muscles together is a great way to make your workout more effective and build more muscle. Canadian researchers decided to test this out, and here’s a recent study.

• 15 men performed an 8-week program.
• One group did all their pressing exercises and then all their pulling exercises. The other group alternated between presses and pulls – they called these complex sets (we usually call these supersets).
• Results: First, the complex sets resulted in cutting training time in half. Second, 1-rep max strength increased the most in the complex set group but peak power increased the most in the traditional training group.

Reference: Effects of agonist-antagonist complex resistance training on upper body strength and power development.

Bottom line: If nothing else, pairing supersets with non-competing exercises cuts your workout in half. And it might even make you stronger. Shorter and more effective workouts are one reason why our training sessions are set up the way they are.

Study Number 3:

Here’s one of my favorite interval training studies:

Reference: Journal of Strength Conds Res. Physiologic Effects of Directional Changes in Intermittent Exercise in Soccer Players. Dellal A, et al.

• Researchers from Africa, Europe and Asia teamed up on this one.
• Compared interval shuttle running against interval straight-line running in 10 elite men soccer players. Results showed that the shuttle running was more difficult.
• Researchers concluded, “The changes of direction induce an increase in the anaerobic metabolism solicitation and consequently create different responses compared with traditional interval straight-line running.”

This is not only interesting for soccer – you should have a lot of changes in direction for the best fat loss and conditioning results. Instead of straight-line sprints, you should be doing athletic movements and change of direction sprint drills. This is one reason why we use shuttle-type sprints with our training as you’ll see on Monday!

Study Number 4:

Last research study for today. This is in reference to training on your own or with supervision (i.e. fitness coach).

Reference: Supervised exercise versus non-supervised exercise for reducing weight in obese adults. Journal of Sports Med Phys. Fitness. 2009 Mar; 49(1):85-90.

• This research study looked at the effects of training with supervision/instruction (i.e. a qualified trainer) versus “advice.” There were two groups:
• Group one met a trainer twice a week for 4 months (as a group).
• Group two received basic advice to increase physical activity and access to a fully-equipped gym (any exercise they did was unsupervised).
• The group with supervision lost almost 10 pounds more over a 4-month period. (Total fat loss of 13.4lbs in the coached group – and only 3.7lbs in the advice-only group).

If you are serious about changing your body – hire a fitness coach. This is one benefit of training at Underground Fitness Revolution. You get expert fitness coaching to help you achieve your goals.

Now’s a great time to join. Our New Member Orientation and Grocery Store Tour is scheduled for Saturday, February 27. Our next phase of training begins March 1. Contact us today to get started!