The Protein Review

Will Your Muscles Shrink?

Mar 8

One of the so-called Rules Of Muscle Building is that if you don’t eat enough calories, or if you go on a “crash diet”, somehow all of your muscle mass will wither away, vanish or FALL OFF!

This myth is strong. You’ll find it in magazines, repeated by almost ALL personal trainers, fat loss experts and bodybuilders.

But Something Is Weird

I’ve been dieting pretty hard and have dropped about 10kg already, but my muscle remains??? I haven’t seen this muscle wasting myth happen to me. My strength levels have varied but my muscle measurements are roughly the same.

So, where is the dreaded catabolic death that we are supposed to be doomed to? There are days that I have fasted for 24 hours and all the other days I am eating low calorie. There are even times where I am only eating one meal for the entire day.

What happened to the horror story of all of my muscle disappearing?

Is it possible that the horrible effects of muscle wasting… ARE A MYTH?

Is it ALL just transient water?

When you “bulk” up you add more water to your frame, then you “diet” down, which pulls that water away. Thus giving you the artificial feeling of “gaining” more muscle than you have and “losing” that same muscle on the way down.

Do you think the muscle gaining and fat loss industry is using this effect to sell you products, services and programs based on claims from the EFFECTS of transient water?

It’s just a question… an interesting question for sure.

Tags: catabolic, muscle building, weightloss

Sadness Of Scams

Mar 2

Posted by Ty in Articles | 3 Comments

Ionized and Alkaline Water

I was talking to someone the other day and they were trying to tell me all about acidic and alkaline water. They believed acidic water is really bad for you and we should be drinking alkaline water. The believe the alkaline water will flush the toxins out of your system.

After a little research on Google it wasn’t hard to see this is a scam. There’s a chemistry site that explains the myth really well. Read Snake Oil On Tap

A Life Changing Reality

The person telling me this has recovered from cancer surgery. They have faced the reality of death and have come through the other side. I can’t imagine how scary it must be to face these health issues. I hope I never do.

After going through something like this… it must be life changing. I wonder what realisations you experience, I wonder how you question life and what your purpose is here. It causes some to resolve a determination to make changes in their lives.

The Sadness Of Scams

It’s sad when I see people get sucked into scams. These people are usually emotionally vulnerable and looking for hope. The scams have a message that plays on some truths and rings a bell in the mind of someone searching for an answer. If they believe they have “found” the answer they cling on, with great hope in their eyes… it can be heartbreaking when they discover it’s a scam.

What hurts even more is when they never discover the scam and continue for years, giving up their money and their dignity… all in the hope of the “answer”. The “answer” that never comes.

Tags: alkaline water, cancer surgery, health issues, Sadness Of Scams, scam, scams

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-28

Feb 28

Posted by Ty in Uncategorized | No Comments

Posted 'Is Protein Anabolic?' to blip.tv: http://blip.tv/file/3278818 #

Tags: the protein review, tweets

Is Protein Anabolic?

Feb 27

Posted by Ty in Podcasts/Vidcasts | No Comments

People just assume that protein must be anabolic… but is it?

Click to Play

Tags: is protein anabolic, protein, protein powder

Focus Your Attention

Feb 24

Posted by Ty in Articles | No Comments

Your most valuable asset isn’t your time, your money, or even your health… it’s your ATTENTION and where you choose to place it.

Focus Your Attention Think about this, if you’re trying to lose weight, but your attention is on everything ELSE besides figuring out the best way for you to eat less… you’ll never lose fat.

If you’re trying to build muscle, and your attention is on everything ELSE besides how to do more work in the gym… Then you won’t grow muscle.

If your attention is on a person that’s trying to get you to live the “fitness lifestyle” when your goal is to live the “family” lifestyle… then you’ll do neither.

Getting in better shape has nothing to do with ANY of the things that you see in the magazines and, in fact, most of these recommendations will only make you frustrated.

Do they work? Sure, for a person whose WHOLE LIFE revolves around “fitness stuff”.

But who REALLY lives like that unless IT’S THEIR JOB! (think about that)

So, simplify your life and focus your attention on what is relevant and what works. If you’re tired of reading about how you need to

eat (x) number of calories per day to grow muscle
or you need (x) amount of protein
or you need to MAXIMIZE whatever hormone to make your muscles huge

… then you need to simplify your life on focus on what counts.

You don’t have to live the “fitness lifestyle” to get an awesome body… I’ve realised that.

Tags: focus attention, health and fitness

Body of Rules

Feb 22

Posted by Ty in Articles, Reviews | 1 Comment

After my series of posts about fasting and weight loss you should have worked out the secret truth by now. There’s only ONE rule to dropping body fat:

“Figure out a way to CONSISTENTLY consume less calories than what you burn”

It’s the unbreakable rule of fat loss. You cannot side skirt it.

Did you know that muscle building has similar rules too?

Well, it does and it’s sad to say that all of the current focus on:

What’s better, kettlebells, dumbbells, or barbells?
Sets, reps, and rest intervals
Pre and post workout nutrition
Muscle building supplements
and more

… has most guys totally missing out on the ONLY rule of muscle building… and if you aren’t doing this, you won’t gain any muscle size.

“Each workout must be 100% EFFORT with a constant progression of the weight that you lift”

Once you get this, once you understand BOTH the #1 Rule Of Fat Loss AND the #1 Rule of Muscle Building, the pieces of the puzzle just fit together.

The Rules of Fat Loss and Muscle Building are SIMPLE…

… you just have to do it.

The Adonis Effect is one of the most simple and straight forward exercise programs that I have come across. It works and it’s easy… you just have to do it.

Apparently these guys are working on a Venus Effect program too. It’s intended to be just for women. Having said that, the Adonis Effect can be done by women too. My girlfriend is currently trying it out and she’s loving it. The transformation of her body is really satisfying for her, she’s really happy with it.

The whole program is designed to highlight the natural shape of you body without adding any extra bulk that you body can’t naturally handle. You don’t need to spend money on fancy supplements either. Just eat normal healthy food. That’s it… you just have to do it.

Tags: muscle building, The Adonis Effect, weightloss

Adonis Index – Gain 8lbs in 1 Hour!!

Feb 21

Posted by Ty in Podcasts/Vidcasts | 2 Comments

Well… not really. But it’s an interesting concept that Brad Pilon demonstrates. Brad shows that during a 1 hour workout he actually gains 8lbs of lean muscle mass…. apparently.

The Adonis Index

The guys from the Adonis Index are doing a teleseminar on Wednesday 24 February 2010. During the teleseminar Brad will reveal how he does it. I thought it might have been the water he was drinking during the workout, but I tried that at the gym just this morning. My bodyweight stayed exactly the same… maybe I didn’t drink enough? I can’t think what else could be causing the weight gain. Anyway we will find out in good time.

In the meantime you can check out the Adonis Index here.

Tags: Adonis Index, Brad Pilon, muscle building

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-14

Feb 14

Posted by Ty in Uncategorized | No Comments

put on a kilo with my diet blowout… have to get disciplined again #
aaaah, the weekend #

Tags: the protein review, tweets

5 Steps To A Healthy Brain

Feb 9

Posted by Ty in Articles | No Comments

Hey, I wanted to share some stuff about brain health…

Dose up on blueberries, green tea, nuts, salmon and tumeric – they are all fantastic for a healthy brain
Train your brain with puzzles, read widely and take up a new hobby – neurons that fire together wire together
Avoid cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. Too much TV is not good either – adequate sleep is vital
Socialise… join a club, go to the park, volunteer – human interaction is good for the brain
Chill out… chronic stress and anxiety is toxic to the brain – de-stress with exercise, meditation and positive vibes

The key to long term brain health is the same as any other exercise… Use It or Lose It.

Research in the field of alzheimer’s and dementia is increasingly pointing to the importance of having an active life, with lots of unique mental stimuli. Doing crosswords and puzzles activates parts of the brain but still leaves massive amounts of it unactivated. You still need to do other things that concentrate on the ability to listen carefully or that involve movement.

Having an active social life and keeping physically fit ensure strong blood flow to the brain’s tiny vessels and offers protection for the brain as you age. The brain needs physical activity which helps to maintain the cardiovascular flow, while exposure to different sorts of experiences is important because it allows different parts of the brain to be activated.

It’s a myth that we are born with a certain number of brain cells and do not generate new ones over our lifespan. Even though our brain cells die with age, the remaining cells can take over function and recent research also suggests we do grow new brain cells. Our brains love learning to manage new tasks, it stimulates the cells and allows the development to occur.

So, the secret to brain health is to keep learning how to do new things… along with eating a healthy diet, exercising and living life.

Tags: 5 steps to a healthy brain, antioxidants, exercise, health and fitness, wellbeing