The Protein Review

… Protein, Weight Loss and Training

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Will Your Muscles Shrink?

Mar 8

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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.

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Sadness Of Scams

Mar 2

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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.

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Focus Your Attention

Feb 24

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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 AttentionThink 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.

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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 EffectThe 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.

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5 Steps To A Healthy Brain

Feb 9

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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.

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Don’t Sit Down

Feb 7

Posted by Ty in Articles | 1 Comment

Came across an interesting study about the health impacts of sitting for long periods of time.  Even if you exercise regularly, long periods of sitting down can impact on your health.  Weird, isn’t it?

Here’s a link to the study

What they suggest is that we need to reduce or break-up prolonged sitting time with light intensity and moderate to vigorous intensity physical activities. They also suggest that perhaps we should break up our exercise time in order to achieve this.  So, instead of going to they gym for an hour and a half and doing nothing for the rest of the day, we should do 20 minutes of exercise 4 or 5 times during the day.

It sounds great in theory but the reality is that most of us have jobs or are running households and this just isn’t practical.  Maybe employers can lead they way and show more flexibility in the workplace????

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Fish Oil Benefits

Feb 1

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Fish Oil is a real health wonder and it seems like more and more info is being released about it every month. Recently I saw a report about how 6 grams a day was reducing arthritis in elderly people. In some cases fish oil was almost curing the arthritis.

With myself I used to get some mild eczema which was a result of the natural oils of the skin drying out. It causes a mild rash which can become quite irritating. Once I started taking fish oil my eczema is virtually cured. The fish oil has made a massive difference and I take 3 grams a day, every day of my life. Sometimes during winter I still get a little case of the eczema but it has never come back the way it used to. The fish oil has replentished the oils in my skin and has restored it’s natural balance.

Fish oil is derived from the tissues of oily fish. It is recommended for a healthy diet because it contains the omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). EPA and DHA are precursors to eicosanoids that reduce inflammation throughout the body.

Some experts believe that taking fish oil can help regulate cholesterol in the body, because fish oil has high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. On average, our national diet is very high in omega-6 acids from our large consumption of red meat and vegetarian products. We are still lacking in omega-3 fatty acids as we generally do not consume a high level of seafoods.

Fish Oil Affects Neuronal Growth

Studies conducted on prisoners in England showed a drop in assault rates where the inmates were fed seafoods high in omega-3 fatty acids. The higher consumption of these fatty acids corresponded with a drop in the assault rates compared with the prisoners that were not fed seafood.

Another Finnish study found that prisoners who were convicted of violence had lower levels of omega–3 fatty acids than prisoners convicted of nonviolent offences.

It’s Amazing What Fish Oil Can Do For Your Health and Your Body

It was suggested that these kinds of fatty acids are responsible for the neuronal growth of the frontal cortex of the brain which, it is further alleged, is the seat of personal behaviour.

Studies published in 2004 and 2009 have suggested that fish oil may reduce the risk of depression, and importantly, suicide risk. One such study took blood samples of 100 suicide-attempt patients and compared the blood samples to those of controls and found that levels of EPA were significantly lower in the washed red blood cells of the suicide-attempt patients.

Fish Oil Is Brain Food

These studies show that fish oil really is brain food. Fish oil is also great for the brain development in babies from gestation right through to early infancy.

Since 70% of brain development occurs while your baby is in the womb, what you eat in pregnancy is really important. Essential fatty acids such as DHA are vital for brain and eye development in babies, especially during the last three months of pregnancy and the first 18 months of life.

The best dietary sources of DHA include fatty fish like tuna and salmon, fish oil and liver. DHA is abundant in breastmilk, and one recent study even showed that mothers with high levels of DHA had babies with more regular sleep patterns. So be sure to eat plenty of DHA-rich foods while breastfeeding.

Fish Oil – Cures All

It’s amazing what fish oil can do for your health and your body. If you haven’t tried this stuff before, try it. If you have any skin problems or inflammation in the body… try fish oil. As far a doses go, try one capsule 3 times a day with food. That’s about 3 grams.

See how you feel after two weeks, I believe you will feel the difference.

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You ain’t THAT Special

Jan 29

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You are human

Your body works exactly the same way that mine does.  In terms of physiology… you are not unique.  Humans can be categorised into general groups and body types, but that’s where the differences end.

There has always been a myth that your exercise program needs to be tailored especially for you OR that you need to DISCOVER what works for you.  It appeals to us that we should have something especially for us.  We like to feel unique and special.

The reality is however:

  • There is a finite and predictable amount of muscle you can build based on your body type
  • Your metabolic rate is determined by your lean body mass and controlled within a tight range
  • You lose body fat by eating less calories than you burn (it’s the ONLY way)
  • Everyone’s body digests and reacts to food the same way (taking into account disease or allergies)

The original exercise sequences and programs developed over time by professional and olympic coaches still work. Physiologists already know that the way that our bodies build muscle and burn fat haven’t changed in thousands of years and you don’t need any newfangled, trendy way of making these processes happen.

You don’t need anything SPECIAL.  You need DISCIPLINE and COMMITMENT.  You need to stop following TRENDS and focus on the SIMPLE stuff that WORKS.

EAT LESS and TRAIN SMART

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On Protein

Jan 18

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Final thoughts on Protein

The Protein ReviewFor the purpose of building muscle mass I think the goal should be a general recommendation of 70-120 grams of protein per day, and this should be an average intake. As long as you average around 70-120 grams per day you could be lower on some days and slightly higher on others, but muscle growth will still occur.

There is no magic to the strict time period of 24 hours. We live our lives in 24 hour chunks out of convenience with the sun’s schedule, but we tend to assume our nutritional and metabolic needs work this way as well, but this isn’t the case. There is no reason to stress over the amount of protein you have eaten over a 24 hour period, some days you’ll be a bit higher, some days you’ll be a bit lower, it’s the average over weeks and months that matters not hours and days.

Finally, since the average protein intake in North America is roughly 90 grams per day the vast majority of us are already eating enough protein to support muscle growth. Therefore, we don’t need to obsess over our protein intake the way fitness magazines and nutrition experts suggest we should.

Based on all of this research it seems clear to me that there is a very good chance that you don’t need to change anything in your diet and can enjoy the foods you like knowing that you are not hindering your muscle growth.

You don’t need to worry about eating a certain proportion of your diet as protein, or use special protein sources every couple of hours. In fact, I would even argue that you do not have to think of foods as protein containing and non-protein containing foods. Eggs contain an average of 6 grams of protein and are largely considered to be a protein food. A piece of bread contains roughly 5 grams of protein and is NOT considered a protein food.

This type of obsessive compulsive eating and extreme focus on the individual nutrients contained within foods is simply not required in order to increase your muscle mass.

This post is an excerpt from the ebook written by Brad Pilon titled How Much Protein?

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Recommendations for How Much Protein

Jan 13

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My Best Recommendation

Probably the very best recommendations I can give you are to eat a variety of protein containing foods. As long as you are eating meals with a wide variety of foods you should be able to reach the 70-120 gram target very easily (the average intake in North America is already around 90 grams).

What I DO NOT Recommend

Please note that I have not given recommendations as a percentage of your daily calories or as a percentage of your body weight. This is because neither of these equations have ever made any sense to me.

Take for instance, the idea of eating 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. If a man weighs 180 pounds at 15% body fat when you exclude the weight of his fat he actually has 153 pounds of lean mass. If he eats 180 grams of protein, then he is actually eating 1.17 grams per pound lean body mass assuming your fat cells do not need any measurable amounts of protein. Now if over the next year or two this particular man happens to gain weight at a rate of 20 pounds per year (difficult, but not impossible to do) then after two years he would weigh 220 pounds. So now he should be eating 220 grams of protein per day by this logic.

But what if the weight he gained was entirely body fat? He would be 220 pounds with approx 30% body fat and would still have 153 pounds of LEAN mass. So now he is eating 1.43 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass.

It doesn’t make sense that his protein requirements increased by 40 grams per day if the only thing that changed was the amount of fat on his body. Another example of a confusing protein recommendation is eating a certain percentage of your calories as protein. If a person who eats 2000 calories follows the recommendation of eating 15% of their calories as protein this would mean they would eat 300 calories from protein, or about 75 grams of protein (each gram of protein contains approximately 4 calories).

Now if this same person starts to eat 4000 calories per day, and still follows the recommendation of eating 15% of calories from protein they are now eating 150 grams of protein per day. Again, I see no logical reason why doubling your calorie intake would cause a need for a doubling of protein intake.

How Much Protein by Brad Pilon

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