The Formula for Weight Loss

As previously discussed, I have outlined how to go about gaining weight on a clean diet plan (aiming to put on 2+ lbs per-month). However not everyone is underweight, a lot of people are overweight or in some cases obese. This article will outline the safest way* for someone to lose weight without athletic performance and muscle mass being overly compromised.

The formula is exactly the same as before:  To establish how many calories you should be eating you first need to decide your ideal bodyweight – body fat. (200lbs at 10% would be 180lbs). You then have a base calorie requirement of 10calories per-lbs of lean bodyweight (180lbs for this example). You then need to set your daily requirements based on activity level (between 1 and 5 calories) to get your rest day (non-workout and non-recovery days) calorie requirements. On workout days you will add 4 calories per-lbs and on recovery days you will add 2 calories.

So for the man who wants to be 200lbs at 10% body fat who works at a construction site 5 days a week it is as follows:

200lbs – 10% = 180lbs

Rest Days: 180lbs * (10+5) = X

Workout Days: 180lbs * (10+5+4) = Y

Recovery Days: 180lbs * (10+5+2) = Z

You then have to factor in your nutritional requirements.

•  Protein should be between 1.5g (less active) to 2g (more active) per-lbs of bodyweight. (in this case the full 200lbs)
• 20-25% should be fat
• The remainder is carbohydrates.

The reason the formula doesn’t change (at the start) is simple, if you are 250lbs and wanting to be 180lbs you will drop weight with this formula because you will be eating less calories than before. This will work for anyone who has a high body fat percentage – men over 15% and women over 24%. Once you begin to drop to that percentage you need to slightly change the diet as well as how you do your re-feed and cheat meals.

Once you hit your low point (15% men/24% women) you then have to begin to reduce your carbohydrate intake without lowering proteins at all or fats too much (in my view.) The best way to do this is randomly throughout these days cut out carbs from a different meal. You should at most drop your calories by 500 (but never touch protein intake) but cycle this. The alternative is to slowly increase your activity, add a 15 minute bike ride in twice a day (to and from work if possible), swimming, walk instead of using the car, et cetera.

The key though to maintaining weight loss when on a calorie deficit this low is simple:

·         Re-Feeds should happen for 1-2 days roughly every 7 days.

·         Cheat meals should happen 2 or 3 times every 14 days.

As I have said before weight loss, bodybuilding and training to better your body is a slow process. It is a marathon and not a sprint.

*  In my opinion

N.B: In some cases people can take up to an additional 10 calories per-lbs of bodyweight due to their lifestyle, these people are the exception though and not the rule. An example of this is Michael Phels who burns around 1000 calories per-hour of training and thus has a much higher natural requirement. If you are a professional athlete or desire to, please e-mail me directly and I'll give you more bespoke advise.

The Formula for Weight Gain

There is a myth in the Bodybuilding Industry that if you want to get big you have to eat a ridiculous amount of calories (more often than not without any forethought into the micronutrient requirements other than protein) and once you put on a certain amount of weight you can just cut, drop all the body fat and be toned. You can, but unlike these pros you will most likely not be taking steroids, human growth hormones, ephedrine, et cetera. Furthermore your body does not like to binge and purge like this and there are several theories that the may be some long term side effects.

Very few people need to eat over 5000 calories. In fact very few people will need to hit 4000 calories. I’ll give my background, during my teenage years I dirty bulked (ate crap) and then cut (dropped the fat) – highest I got to was 180lbs and I felt like shit (energy would spike and crash, moods would be all over the place, et cetera). I ended up having to have 13 operations on my stomach and dropped to 120lbs – due to what is wrong with me I had to really look at my diet and if I wanted to continue to weight gain, within 12months I got to 170lbs and within 18months I got to 185lbs. I had none of the side effects.

To establish how many calories you should be eating you first need to decide your ideal bodyweight – body fat. (200lbs at 10% would be 180lbs). You then have a base calorie requirement of 10calories per-lbs of lean bodyweight (180lbs for this example). You then need to set your daily requirements based on activity level (between 1 and 5 calories) to get your rest day (non-workout and non-recovery days) calorie requirements. On workout days you will add 4 calories per-lbs and on recovery days you will add 2 calories.

So for the man who wants to be 200lbs at 10% body fat who works at a construction site 5 days a week it is as follows:

200lbs – 10% = 180lbs

Rest Days: 180lbs * (10+5) = X

Workout Days: 180lbs * (10+5+4) = Y

Recovery Days: 180lbs * (10+5+2) = Z

You then have to factor in your nutritional requirements.

·         Protein should be between 1.5g (less active) to 2g (more active) per-lbs of bodyweight. (in this case the full 200lbs)

·         20-25% should be fat

·         The remainder is carbohydrates.

Now remember:

·         1g of Protein is 4 Calories

·         1g of Carbohydrates is 4 Calories

·         1g of Fat is 9 Calories

The key to this diet is you aren’t limited to eating only what is included, this gives you the minimum daily requirement of calories. If you eat your daily requirement and still feeling hungry have some more than day.

We also have two key things:

1.       Cheat Days – once a fortnight eat what you want (don’t be a fool) but maintain your protein in take

2.       Cheat Meals – once a week add an additional meal that you don’t factor into your daily requirements, be it going out for dinner, et cetra.

If you follow this diet, eat smart, eat healthy and eat often you will slowly put on weight. Weight gain should never be a sprint but a marathon. Combine this with a solid routine where by you are also slowly increasing your weight training and stick with it and within 6 to 18months you will see life changing results.

N.B: In some cases people can take up to an additional 10 calories per-lbs of bodyweight due to their lifestyle, these people are the exception though and not the rule. An example of this is Michael Phels who burns around 1000 calories per-hour of training and thus has a much higher natural requirement. If you are a professional athlete or desire to, please e-mail me directly and I'll give you more bespoke advise.

Anatomy of the Chest & Important Exercises

For the purpose of this article, I am isolating the muscles found in the chest (Pectoralis major & minor) but will also be discussing the Anterior deltoid, Serratus anterior (muscles on the upper 8/9 ribs along the side of the chest.) This article however will not explain how to do a single exercise, but rather the exercises I feel are best suited to developing either:

·         Mass (increase in muscle size)

·         Strength (both explosive and overall strength)*

I can assume most people reading this blog are aware the chest is split up into two main muscles (those who are can skip this paragraph), the Pectoralis major is the larger (hence the name) of the two muscles. It is a thick almost fan shaped muscle that extends down from the clavicle (collar bone), across to the sternum (the hard middle part of your chest), and can go as low down as the 6^th rib in some people. The Pectoralis minor is a thinner triangular shaped muscle found beneath the Pectoralis major. It arises from the 4^th, 5^th or 6^th rib (depending on the person) up to the Coracoid process (part of your shoulders.) The Anterior deltoid is one of three major muscles in the shoulder that is involved in shoulder abduction (pushing) it originates from the Clavicle to the humerus (the upper arm). Finally the Serratus anterior (as outlined before) is the muscle on the upper ribs.

I’ll say this once and it is arguably the single most important part of the article – there is NO OTHER MUSCLE IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR CHEST. There is the Pectoralis major and the only way to create the illusion of a larger and fuller chest is to eat more and train harder, I have yet to see any scientific evidence to back up grips or exercises that’ll work the fabled inner chest more so than the exercises I will outline below.

Chest Exercises for Strength Training**

·         Barbell Bench Press – the Bench Press is seen as the King of gym moves (for some reason above the squat or deadlift) as it is a pure test of upper body strength, the reason it is key for strength training is its ability to incorporate a much heavier weight than Dumbbell, Seated or Cable Presses and thus recruit more muscle fibers. More muscle fibers used the more torn, the more muscle developed. (Incline, Flat or Decline)

·         Dips (lean forward slightly to incorporate the chest more than the triceps). This exercise allows you to both lift a large amount of weight (bodyweight) but forces your body to control that weight in a completely different dimension to Bench Pressing, the additional control will in turn help you build strength in associated lifts.

Chest Exercises for Mass Gain**

·         Barbell Bench Press – as outlined above this exercise allows you to control a heavier weight, thus you recruit more muscle fibers that then have to be repaired.

·         Dips – again as outlined before.

·         Dumbbell Bench Press – the different hand placements, angles and the fact you are recruiting the muscle differently with a dumbbell will allow muscle fibers not used in a Barbell Bench Press to be recruited.

·         Cable Flys – The reason I prefer these to dumbbells is simple, the cable keeps the weight consistently on the targeted muscle including on the negative aspect of the lift. People underestimate the importance of this when lifting weights.

Other Exercises of Note:

·         Pullovers (Dumbbell/Barbell)

·         Dumbbell Flys

·         Push-Ups

·         Pec-Deck Flys

·         Close Grip Bench Presses

As can be seen the most important exercises for both mass building and strength training are in fact the same.

Now we have looked at what exercises target the chest for both mass and strength we will look at a few key studies into the subject:

·         Barnett, et al (1995) conducted a study into the differences between Flat, Decline and Incline Bench Press (both Dumbbell and Barbell). The key points of note – for those struggling to develop the middle of the chest the Flat Barbell/Dumbbell was found to recruit more muscles of the sternocostal head (the middle) than the Incline and Decline. Furthermore a wide-grip was preferred to a narrow-grip but only marginally. The Incline press only preformed marginally better for the Clavicular head than the Seated Chest Press. Unfortunately a narrow grip was preferred to recruit this over a wider grip (possibly due to the synergy between the triceps brachii and the Clavicular head of the Pectoralis major).[1]

·         Elizabeth A. Welsh, et al (unsure of date) found in her study for the Exercise Science Program at the Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri, that the Barbell/Dumbbell Bench Press was superior to flys due to the fact they had significantly less relative time of activation on the muscles.[2]

As can be seen by the two studies (and read them if you disagree), the most significant lift for developing the Pectoralis major & minor is the Flat Barbell Bench Press, followed by the Incline then Decline. Dumbbells should be recruited to help isolate and bring in muscle fibers missed by the Barbell and to push through phases where you are having trouble increasing in strength/mass.

All other exercises should be done after the Barbell/Dumbbell press due to the fact it’ll weaken the overall lift and recruit less muscle fibers.

* For the purpose of this article I will not be discussing rep ranges, percentages of your one-rep-max, et cetera. Those will all be outlined in further blogs as this is designed to increase understanding of the muscles not weight lifting.

** This is by no means the definitive or wholeheartedly accurate list of exercises, but ones I myself feel are the most conductive to strength training.

[1] Barnett, et al (1995) - PDF

[2] Elizabeth A. Welsch, Michael Bird, and Jerry L. Mayhew, Exercise Science Program, Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri 63501

This is probably one of the most useful books on the subject of the chest; it lists almost every lift I have mentioned along with what lifts target which areas of the chest, the other muscles that will be brought into play. As well you will find pictures on how to make sure the form is correct, injury prevention and what to do if you do injure your chest.

I am only posting the link because at $12 it is worth getting, I paid almost 4times that when it came out.

Why BMI (Body Mass Index) is a flawed concept.

BMI or Body Mass Index is a guesstimate at roughly how much bodyfat an individual has based on their weight and height. It was invented sometime between 1830 & 1850 by Adolphe Quetelet, a mathematician who was lacking training and knowledge on the human body. In fact BMI was invented for the government of Belgium so that they could allocate resources to help curb an obesity problem.


When you exam the formula of BMI (which I have outlined below) you can notice the is no reason to square the height, he did it because otherwise the data wouldn't fit the formula. Furthermore it makes no allowance for bone density, muscle mass and fat. In fact the vast majority of professional athletes find themselves classified as overweight or sometimes obese.

The only reason BMI is used is because it is cheap and requires next to no training to use, every doctor can use the calculator and formula provided to them. It is much more expensive to train every doctor on how to workout bodyfat using calipers or other methods which are much more accurate.

For those interested in working out their BMI the formula is as follows:
BMI = [weight / (height x height)] x 703

6 Inch LCD Digital Caliper with Extra Battery and Case

The key to weight loss and keeping it off

One of the most common questions I see on the internet is “How can I lose weight?” Firstly this isn’t an accurate statement you don’t desire to lose weight if anything you should want to drop body fat. Secondly it isn’t a quick fix, if you want to make a change to your body you need to stick with it otherwise it is pointless.

Weight loss is easy:

1.       Change your eating habits so you are taking in fewer calories.

2.       Change your activity patterns so you are expending more calories

3.       Continue to do this until you reach your desired bodyweight

4.       Maintain for the rest of your life, if you go back to your old habits you will gain weight again.

Almost every book, website or seminar on diets & weight management revolves around the first 3 steps, The vast majority of these people however do not mention the fourth step because it isn’t a strong selling point (people like a quick fix) and it also impacts on sales (Yo-Yo Dieting feeds the industry).

Unfortunately weight loss is a lifelong choice, but for anyone who is physically unhealthy or overweight it is a choice they should make. You have one life, make the most of it and live it the healthiest way you can.

ZMA: Wonder supplement or hoax?

ZMA or Zinc monomethionine aspartate and Magnesium Aspartate, is a supplement that was created in the late 90’s by Victor Conte (the same Victor convicted in 2005 of money laundering and distributing steroids) for his company BALCO Laboratories.

However, before I go into detail on the research into ZMA, first we need to examine the importance of the vitamins and minerals which are being discussed. Zinc has been linked to slowing down the aging of cells [1] (including muscle cells) as well as decreasing the healing time from an injury [1].  Unfortunately in high amount zinc stops the absorption of copper and iron, furthermore in extreme cases zinc is poisonous [2].   

Magnesium however is one of the most important minerals in the human body, since the 1970’s magnesium has been linked to over 300 biological reactions in the body including the synthesis of fat, protein, and nucleic acids, neurological activity, muscular contraction and relaxation, cardiac activity and bone metabolism. For an athlete all of those processes are important, none more so than its role in both anaerobic and aerobic energy production, particularly in the metabolism of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the ‘energy currency’ of the body. (I will discuss ATP in another blog, however for those who take creatine works by increasing your ATP level.)

Vitamin B₆ plays a role in gluconeogenesis (stops blood glucose levels from dropping too low), further to this it is involved amino acid, glucose and lipid metabolism. If you do not have enough B₆  in your system your body will slow down the growth of muscle cells.

Now that we understand the important of these minerals and vitamins we can evaluate the two many studies into ZMA. The first study was conducted by SNAC Systems Inc (a company Victor Conte has equity in)[3], this study concluded that by taking these tablets the athletes had increased muscle strength. It is important to note that this study was never accepted and has not been peer reviewed. Since this study two further studies the first by Cytodyne[4] and a second[5] conducted by a group of German scientists (in 2006) found that the was no significant effects on total and free testosterone between the control group and test group.

Since these studies it is slowly becoming accepted that ZMA was not a wonder supplement as initially advertised. The reason why? Everyone involved in athletics, bodybuilding or who eats a healthy diet can easily get enough Zinc, Magnesium and Vitamin B₆. Those who don’t should go back to the drawing board and re-work their daily diet rather than wasting money on another supplement.

1 Milbury, Paul E.; Richer, Alice C. (2008), Understanding the Antioxidant Controversy: Scrutinizing the "fountain of Youth", Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 99, ISBN 0275993760

2 Fosmire, G. J. (1 February 1990). "Zinc toxicity". American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 51 (2): 225–227.

3 L. R. Brilla, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, and V. Conte, BALCO Laboratories, Burlingame, CA 94010. A Novel Zinc and Magnesium Formulation (ZMA®) Increases Anabolic Hormones and Strength in Athletes. Sports Medicine, Training and Rehabilitation Journal, November 1998 (in press).

4  http://www.jissn.com/content/1/2/12

5 http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v63/n1/abs/1602899a.html

Is Glutamine An Effective Supplement?

Glutamine is an amino acid; used in the synthesis of protein and thus supports the production of muscle, it also supports & regulates the immune system, it is an alternative fuel source for the brain and it also supports & regulates the dietary system.


So the short answer is yes, glutamine is useful in the production of muscle and thus bodybuilding in general.
However, the long answer is a lot more complex.


Glutamine is an easily attainable amino acid, especially for bodybuilders. It can be found in almost all major food sources that are also rich in protein for instance:

• Beef
• Chicken
• Fish
• Eggs
• Milk
• Dairy products
• Cabbage
• Beets
• Beans
  ...to name a few.

Now if there is an excess of glutamine in the body, it just goes to waste. It can't be stored for an extended period of time in the body, so if you are on a maintenance diet - not trying to lose or gain weight (muscle or fat) or you are bulking (putting on muscle/fat or just muscle) then you probably do not need to use glutamine supplements.


However, for those who are cutting (losing fat and attempting to maintain muscle) then glutamine is a fantastic supplement. One that should definitely be recommended to everyone.


In two studies conducted on glutamine by the Journal of Applied Physiology and The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research they found that taking glutamine as part of your normal diet did not increase; bench press strength, knee-extension torque or lean muscle mass when compared to controls taking a placebo. ^1,2
However, as outlined above the study was not conducted on people who were cutting. This of course explains why glutamine as a supplement was not useful. They had too much in their system already.


On a side note - studies have shown for endurance athletes, such as long distance runners or people who lead a very active life-style glutamine is a helpful substance. ³


In conclusion, Glutamine is a useful supplement but only for those who are in the process of lowering bodyfat through a restricted diet. If you are eating healthy, above your maintance calories and gaining weight you do not need to waste money on Glutamine.

1. Candow DG, Chilibeck PD, Burke DG, Davison KS, Smith-Palmer T. (2001) Effect of glutamine supplementation combined with resistance training in young adults, European Journal of Applied Physiology?
   
2. Antonio, J., Sanders, M., Kalman, D., Woodgate, D. and Street, C. (2002) The effects of high-dose glutamine ingestion on weightlifting performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 16, 157-160
   
3. Castell, L. and Newsholme, E. (1997) The effects of oral glutamine supplementation on athletes after prolonged, exhaustive exercise. Nutrition 13, 738-742