Ingredients:

• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 1 small scoop of Kal Pure Stevia
• 6 oz unsweetened Vanill almond milk
• Handful of ice cubes

Directions:

• Mix All ingredients in a blender
• Transfer ingredients into a bowl Popsicle molds
• Place in a freezer for at least 1 hour if using a bowl or 2 hours if using Popsicle molds.
• Indicator if they are not easy to remove, you will need to freeze longer.

Bad knees and a bad lower back has kept people from training legs hard and heavy. How can you work out around this limitation?

Some people may disagree, but unless you have documented disk or neurological problems you’re trouble mite stem from not training hard enough. Remember all connective tissues ligaments tendons and cartilage get stronger just like muscles do when you work them. The simple fact is that as you age things start to hurt.  Get an expert to evaluate your injuries but be aware that when people assume they have a herniated disc it’s often a soft tissue injury relating to very small  intricate muscles that weave around the vertebrae. Which are easily strained.

https://feelfitastic.com/video/single-leg-machine-leg-extension

https://feelfitastic.com/video/single-leg-lying-machine-leg-curl

https://feelfitastic.com/video/single-leg-horizontal-machine-leg-press

https://feelfitastic.com/video/standing-dumbbell-lunge/

• Lastly take your time on each rep to ensure perfect form.

 

Although the causes of obesity are complex and multi factorial.  It is speculated that one reason obesity rates are rising around the world is a combination of increased energy intake (calories) due to expanding food portion sizes and reduction in overall daily physical activity. This article will help you better understand how portion sizes have increased over the past 20 years and how much physical activity you would need to do to expand the excess energy resulting from these larger portion sizes.

Lets skip the math and get to the point. Total excess energy for these two larger portion equals approximately 415 cal. How long do you need to walk each day to expend 415 cal?

For a typical 200lb person. They would need to walk approximately 104 minutes or about an 1hr and 45minutes to expend the excess energy consumed by eating the larger coffee and bagel. Remember this is only the excess energy, if she wants to burn it all she would have to walk even longer. For other ways to burn the calories see the chart to your right.

The fact is many people read food labels to determine the energy (calories) value of foods. It is less common to pay close attention to the actual serving size that corresponds to the caloric value.

Fitness Bull!@#$ Part 3: Science and Supplements

Well here we are: the conclusion to what I hope was a highly entertaining and informative series on Fitness Bull!@#$. It has been very fun to write but it is not over quite yet. I will conclude this series with the science of supplements. I will be providing statements made from a variety of supplement companies on how their products work and weather or the not the real science behind the statement is provided. We will look at the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

Let’s dive right in, shall we?

The Good (I use this word sparingly):

VPX NO Shotgun Pre-Workout

This product claims

VPX NO-Shotgun Pre-Workout Study: Effects of 28 days of resistance exercise and consuming a commercially available pre workout supplement, NO-Shotgun, on body composition, muscle strength and mass, markers of satellite cell activation, and clinical safety markers in males”

Here is the link to the study that VPX did in 2010 to prove this statement.

http://www.vpxsports.com/scientific-studies/university-studies/effects-of-28-days-resistance-exercise

Why is this good? A few reasons, first it was very easy to find all of their studies on all of their products. Go to the VPX website hit the “news” tab and click on scientific study/research.  All of the studies done on their products are all listed.  Click on any of them and the full report pops up. All the information you could ask for is right there at your fingertips. Now is this the best study ever done? No. The sample size is only 18 men; which, my friend, is an extremely small sample size to say this product will do this for everyone.  Also 28 days is a very short amount of time. If you are an untrained person you will see immediate results after 28 days of consistent exercise.  Think about it as if you didn’t work out for years and then out of nowhere started working out every day, for 28 days. No matter what supplement you took, you would see some kind of positive results. This product and company get a good rating because they at least provide you with some kind of science. Granted, it’s not that best, but it is more then they legally are required to do. So the good rating goes to VPX.

The Bad:

Muscle Meds Supplement Company

Why the bad rating? The lack of science! There is none, nadda, zilch on their website to show the science behind their claims. Two products have the chemical graph chart but that doesn’t prove anything, it’s just a chart. Every product has the same basic claims that you see in the magazines.  No mention of studies or results can be found.  So why is this not getting a downright ugly rating? It’s because they are not making any claims based on a study.  There is a lot of information on their products but nothing that reads “subjects who took this product gained, lost, increased etc.” That gives it a bad rating because they are not showing any science to prove that their products work but they are not listing any fake science either. So it’s a bad rating due to lack of science.

The downright ugly:

Muscle Tech

This is bad, just bad! Why you may be wondering? Let me tell you, here are Muscle Tech’s claims:

Um…what test subjects? Could we maybe get some more information please?

“MuscleTech – Real science. Real results! Unflinching commitment to science and research as a means to producing the best supplements in the world has been the backbone of the #1 Selling Bodybuilding Supplement Brand in America since the emergence of MuscleTech® supplements back in 1995.To continuously research, develop, patent, produce and market the most effective diet and sports supplements in the world. – Team MuscleTech mission statement”

You read that and maybe you think, “well Wild Will why are they the worst? This sounds pretty good.” Exactly it does sound good, too good. Just how good it is is posted all over their website. Do you know what is not posted to their website? Any actual science at all. They throw around the word “science” a lot but when it comes to actually finding any like we did with VPX there is none.  Here is an example for their Weight Loss pill Hydroxycut:

“Designed with a key weight loss ingredient, which has been shown to be effective in two scientific studies. Subjects taking the key ingredient (green coffee extract [C. canephora robusta]) lost 10.95 lbs. in 60 days with a low-calorie diet and 3.7 lbs. in an 8-week study with a calorie-reduced diet and moderate exercise. Most thermogenic formulas don’t have any scientific studies backing their key weight loss ingredients, let alone two.”

No link to the study is given. We know nothing of the who, what, when, why and how of these two studies. This is downright ugly. It is a great marketing tool for this company. They are hiding behind “science” without actually showing any real science.

So there you have it fitness friends. The Good, The Bad and The Downright Ugly of supplements and science. Click back a few blogs ago when I talked specifically about supplements and what they truly are and now try to incorporate them properly into your plan.

Supplement companies are a necessary evil. They provide us with the supplements that we need to live our fitness lifestyle; on the other hand they contribute to the biggest block of Fitness Bull!@#$.

To conclude this series I want you all to take away this final thought. You have one body and you have one life, who are you entrusting your health too? Who are you letting dictate what goes in your body and how you train it in the gym? Don’t just believe it because it looks or sounds good, research it. This is the only body you have don’t screw it up because you digested too much Fitness Bull!@#$.

Remember to follow me on Face Book.  Along with Instagram and Twitter @wildmanwill84

Fitness Bull!@#$ Part 2: Bro Science BRAH!

Bro Science is the predominant brand of reasoning in bodybuilding circles where the anecdotal reports of jacked up dudes are considered more credible than scientific research.

Here is Bro Science in action:

“Bro, you gotta slam 40-60 grams of waxy maize plus 20 grams of BCAA within 7 seconds of finishing your last set of squat rack curls. Otherwise, you’ll go straight catabolic.”

We all know that dude or group of dudes at the gym. Usually they are in cut off shirts, roided out of their minds. These Bros are not experts and they are not trainers. The only thing they are is clueless (but don’t tell them that). These Bros have listened to one too many supplement ads or that one dude at that the gym that is totally ripped!! Then they relay their current theory to message boards, fellow bros, and friends of friends. This misinformation then spreads from bro to bro and eventually people start to think it is fact. This is how we end up with crazy statements like the one above. These are the top 5 Bro Science “Facts”:

1)      Want to lose weight? Just do higher reps with lighter weight and plyometrics. Um, FALSE!

2)      You need to buy the whole line of supps to see any gains.  Again, FALSE!

3)      Your body can only absorb 20g of protein at a time. FALSE!

4)      Creatine needs to be cycled. FALSE!

5)      To see big gains only workout 1 body part a week. FALSE!

My point exactly.

As I discussed in Part 1, this industry is extremely unregulated. When you think about it Bro Science is nothing more than water cooler gossip for meat heads. There is no actual scientific testing performed and nothing is researched. Unsubstantiated theories are just repeated until people start to believe it because they have heard it so many times.

The best examples I can give you on Bro Science are (more…)

Organic mesquite powder is extracted from the seeds of the mesquite plant, which is found in the southwestern United States and parts of South America. Mesquite power is another superfood. If you smell the powder it is very misleading because when you taste it, it has a sweet, nutty, caramel flavor…VERY surprising!

Mesquite is high in protein & is gluten free. It’s a natural sweetener that is  low on the glycemic index plus a good source of fiber. It has high levels of calcium, which is important for maintaining healthy hair, skin, and bone strength. It also is a rich source of dietary potassium, which is essential for proper water balance and healthy heart functioning. Organic mesquite powder is a great source of zinc, which is essential for a healthy immune system. It is also a fantastic source of lysine, magnesium, iron, and dietary fiber.

(more…)

Green Drink

½ cup almond milk

2 cups spinach

1/2 frozen banana

½ cup frozen blueberries

1 T cacao powder

1 T mesquite powder

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 scoop protein powder

Nutritional Information per serving: Calories 304, Fat 4g, Protein 32g, Carbohydrates 35g

Fitness Bull!@#$ – Part 1

I was inspired to write about Fitness Bull!@# after seeing 5 different articles about Health and Fitness on Yahoo.com. I read all 5 articles, not a single one listed a reference or an accredited fitness journal; nor did they give any new information.  They all just rearranged current information with a new spin. Most of what I read was aimed at women, especially what exercises women should or should not be doing. What really made me laugh was how most of these articles discussed how to get that “sexy butt”, “better abs”, “sexy arms” and, yes, even “bigger boobs”. Apparently it’s only ok for women to think of themselves as sex objects when it relates to fitness. Can I get an AMEN from all the feminists out there?

Check out these Fitastic examples!

Now just when I thought I couldn’t get more angered at what I saw on the internet, I clicked on the TV.  Within a few minutes I saw a commercial for Dr. Oz with this quack stating “Fish is now bad for you. I’ll tell you why next week.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!

After doing some living room pushups to calm myself down, I knew I had to (more…)

Ditch the ready-made shakes which can be high in fat and empty calories.  Carefully use this “hour window” to feed your nutrient starved muscles with these power-packed foods to replenish energy and build muscle:

1. Protein – builds muscle by “repairing” torn fibers following a vigorous workout, protein is crucial.  Warning: protein shakes served at most gym smoothie bars can be packed with sugar and other “flavorful” ingredients; watch the peanut butter, typically low-grade and high-sugar.  Best to bring your own (put the powder in a shaker bottle), so you know the exact nutrients you’re consuming.

2. Avocado – packed with potassium, calcium, folic acid, copper and fiber.  Avocados are also a carotenoid-rich food which helps protect the body’s immune system, typically much lower following a workout (this is why it is essential to wash your hands following your gym visits).

3. Spinach – two-fold power, spinach is also an ideal pre-workout food as it boosts strength with phytoecdysteroids (a natural plant steroid); think Popeye. Spinach is ideal for post-workouts as these same plant steroids have been shown to increase muscle growth by a whopping 20%!

4. Salmon – sure tuna is good for you, too but the canned variety is up for debate.  Salmon is high in protein and omega-3s.  Opt for the wild variety.  Cook with olive oil, which has the highest levels of polyphenol phytonutrients.  Add red or cayenne pepper to boost your metabolism. (more…)