Do You Love P90X ?
Order P90X MC2 on September 1, 2011 have it by X mas !!
Just go to my site Now
Coach XMIKE
Meet Shaun T
Check out the creator of the most Intense exercise videos in the world Insanity and Asylum ! Shaun T !!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
P90X MC2 Preorder Sep 1
Do You Love P90X ?
Order P90X MC2 on September 1, 2011 have it by X mas !!
Just go to my site Now
Coach XMIKE
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Day 57 Chest & Back
Phase 3 Okay I worked my butt off last night picking up sticks in the yard from the Hurricane, helping Patti order something on line, and then I got downstairs to continue my fourth round of P90x -Phase 3 , Chest & Back.
Last week we were on vacation in California and I did not get in the recovery workouts like I should have
Pushups were weak but I did pick it up on the second go round of the program.
Did a soliod set of Pullups with the120 pound bands and my Lattimus Dorsi were throbbing all night
Remember what Tony says push throught these push & pull; and do more pushups and reps than than your body feels comfortable with, but use good form!
Its those last reps that do the most for good muscle tone develop , size and strength, If you are a female, do 12-15 reps but the last three should be hard, if you are a guy, and want to build size; do 8-10 reps the last three should be hard, BUT keep good form!!
Here is a complete review of Chest & Back! Chest & Back review
Here is a complete Muscle System Diagram Diagram
What to do tonight RUN or PURE Cardio?
X Mike
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Customizing P90X, Part VII: Triathlon
Customizing P90X, Part VII: Triathlon
By Steve Edwards
Mixing P90X and triathlon training is not something that's an obvious fit. After all, triathletes have three sports to train for already. And beyond that, they're some of the most notorious overtrainers on the planet. But as you well know if you've read this series of articles, training hard doesn't necessarily mean you're training smart. So this week let's up your triathlon training IQ and get some X into the mix.
"You're all triathletes," said the keynote speaker, a famous cycling coach, to a large group of multisport athletes at a conference I was attending. "That means that 90 percent of you are overtrained right now." Triathletes, historically, are the consummate "if some is good, then an excessive amount is what I'm going to do" group of athletes. Steeped in obsessive lore, the most famous triathlon stories are usually about training instead of racing. And for those in the inner circle, it's even worse. Once asked by a reporter from a triathlon publication what he did for training, triathlon icon Scott Molina replied, "I'm not going to tell you, because you'll think I'm an idiot."
Triathletes: you gotta love 'em. At least I love 'em. But then again, I've been called stupid/obsessed/crazy (among other things) over my training endeavors for most of my life. And yet it's triathletes who, more than any other group, try my patience on the message boards. "Why," they'll ask, "can't I train for an Ironman and do P90X doubles in my spare time? All I was going to do was sleep anyway."
I mean, c'mon, we're talkin' about the sporting obsessed. Remember, the first triathlon wasn't the sprint or even the Olympic version of the race. It started with the Ironman and worked backward to more conventional distances. And along that line of devolution, let's take a look at how we can improve our triathlons by moving more of our training into our living room. P90X may seem like a big undertaking for that average person. I think you triathletes, however, are going to have to buy in to the "less is more" philosophy.
Why P90X?
Let's face it: though the X is primarily a performance-based program, most of us do it because we want to look better. As one college baseball player said to me, "To be honest, I'm happy with my sports training. I'm only doing X to look good on the beach." Yeah, well, Charles Atlas may be the guy you want around when the bully's kicking sand in your face, but you sure wouldn't want to haul all his bulk around Kona. Triathletes may want to look better, but the kind of muscles the Chest & Back workout develops is going to offset any strength gains by adding wind resistance to your aero position. For this reason, a serious triathlete needs to make some concessions in the P90X regimen.
The upside is that as I said before, most of you are overtrained. This means you'd get faster by running, riding, and swimming less than you currently are. And that's where the X comes in. By structuring your year periodizationally in a way that includes both strengthening your weak areas and recovering from your overused ones, you'll get faster by spending less time working out.
The perfect schedule
In part V of this series we discussed the off-season approach. It would benefit you to read the entire series, but if you're pressed for time make sure you at least read parts IV and V, which are about endurance and weight loss. If you've got a race approaching, there's no point in beginning P90X. It'll break you down and slow you down. In a perfect world, you should begin your training program soon after your final race of the previous season. In an imperfect one, at least schedule X as far out from your main objective as possible. As a gauge, there's no reason to start X if you've got a race approaching in less than three months' time. Hopefully you've got six months; nine is even better.
Foundation
P90X is the foundation phase for your sport-specific training. This is why you don't want to do it close to any important race. You may train right through early-season races, but you'll get no benefit from X training close to an event where speed is important to you.
Periodization
All triathletes are familiar with periodization. You don't all do it, of course, but you know that you should do speed work, aerobic work, and threshold work separately, then bring them together closer to your big race. Consider P90X to be the foundation plan for your foundation plan. It's where you'll strengthen your body and improve its capacity for improvement in all the areas detailed above.
Recovery
Oh, the "R" word! This is where we don't train, or at least don't train hard. No pain, no hallucinations, no glycogen-depleted hobbles home after an 8-hour training day. The horror. But you know you've got to do it sometime, or you'll become like one of those triathletes you know who've been on a plateau for the last 2 decades because they're more addicted to their morning 3-hour swims than they ever could be to coffee.
Here's where you'll want to place P90X in your schedule: at the season's end when you shouldn't be running, riding, or swimming anyway. Not only will it give you something new to focus on, but no matter how fit you are, it will blast your endurance-oriented cells into oblivion and leave you sore and tired enough to feel as though you've spent 20 hours each week on your bike.
Putting it all together
A full round of X, done during the off-season when you're resting from your sport-specific training, would be preferable. Then you'd begin doing maintenance X work, along with your specific training increased in volume and intensity.
You may want to alter the classic schedule or even do the lean schedule if you're a high-level competitor who's worried about muscular mass in a strength-to-weight-ratio sport. P90X won't get you huge, but the classic schedule will almost certainly add size to your upper-body muscles. Whether or not you'll find this a benefit is a call you'll have to make for yourself.
If you feel you need the overall body conditioning that P90X offers and are willing to sacrifice your race results for a while, you may want to put together a hybrid schedule that combines P90X with your current training. It's hard to write a schedule for everyone because there are hundreds of personal variables to consider. This is why so many athletes hire personal coaches.
Below is just one example of such a schedule. Yours should probably vary, but by using this template, you should be able to get an idea about how to make your own schedule. You could also consult my blog, where I create hybrid training schedules for myself all the time.
I would write a schedule like this for individuals who are fairly triathlon fit but have been doing too much sport-specific training and are pretty weak outside their sport-specific movements, causing their triathlon times to have hit a plateau.
Your actual multisport training should be planned by you or your coach. For P90X, I'm going to use a hybrid of the classic, lean, and doubles schedule.
Block 1 (Weeks 1 through 3)
Day 1: Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 2: Easy swim and Plyometrics
Day 3: Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper X
Day 4: Easy ride or run and Yoga X
Day 5: Legs & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 6: LSD (long, slow distance: ride, run, swim, or "brick" [combo] workout like bike/run, etc.)
Day 7: Rest or easy aerobic ride, run, or swim and/or X Stretch
Note: Your sports training should be easy technique training done in zones 1 and 2.
Recovery/Transition Week
Day 1: Core Synergistics
Day 2: Plyometrics
Day 3: Easy ride, run, or swim and Yoga X
Day 4: Legs & Back
Day 5: Core Synergistics
Day 6: LSD (long, slow distance: ride, run, swim, or brick/combo workout)
Day 7: Rest or easy aerobic ride, run, or swim and/or X Stretch
Note: Easy, again, is the key with your specific training. Your goal here is engram training: building neuromuscular coordination patterns.
Block 2 (Weeks 5 through 7)
Day 1: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps, Ab Ripper X, and easy run
Day 2: Swim drills and Plyometrics
Day 3: Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X, and easy run
Day 4: Easy ride or run and Yoga X
Day 5: Legs & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 6: LSD (long, slow distance: ride, run, swim or brick/combo workout)
Day 7: Rest or easy aerobic ride, run, or swim and/or X Stretch
Note: Here you can begin coached workouts. These should still not be full-on as your priority is still on your X training.
Recovery/Transition Week
Day 1: Core Synergistics
Day 2: Easy run and X Stretch
Day 3: Easy swim and Yoga X
Day 4: Easy ride and X Stretch
Day 5: Core Synergistics
Day 6: LSD (long, slow distance: ride, run, swim or brick/combo workout)
Day 7: Off
Note: This should feel like a true recovery week.
Block 3 (Weeks 9 and 11)
Day 1: Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X, and easy run or ride
Day 2: Plyometrics & easy swim
Day 3: Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X, and easy run or ride
Day 4: Yoga X
Day 5: Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X, and transition practice
Day 6: Hard brick/combo workout
Day 7: Rest and/or X Stretch
Block 4 (Weeks 10 and 12)
Day 1: Core Synergistics and coached workout
Day 2: Cardio X and coached workout
Day 3: Ab Ripper X and coached workout
Day 4: Yoga X and coached workout
Day 5: Legs & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 6: Coached workout
Day 7: Recovery ride, run, or swim and/or X Stretch
Note: There are too many variables to discuss your sport-specific training, so I'm leaving that to you and your coach. If you do race at any point in the schedule, alter it so you take at least a couple of easy days prior to the race. Racing always takes a lot out of you and you'll want to avoid overtraining at all cost. I think it was Paula Newby-Fraser who said that it's better to be 25% undertrained than 1% overtrained. If you want to run a schedule by us, check out the Message Boards.
Related Articles
"Part I: Customizing P90X for Specific Goals"
"Part II: Customizing P90X® for Skiing—How to Structure a Short Training Cycle"
"Part III: Gaining Mass with P90X"
"Part IV: Losing Weight with P90X"
"Part V: Endurance Athletes—Get Ripped in the Off-Season"
"Part VI: Customizing P90X—Running"
Questions about your workout program, diet, the latest newsletter, or anything wellness related? Chat with the overseer of Beachbody's fitness and diet development, who also serves as your Fitness Advisor on the Message Boards, Steve Edwards, on Monday, May 10th, at 7:00 PM ET, 4:00 PM PT. Go to the Beachbody Chat Room!
If you'd like to ask a question or comment on this newsletter article, click here to add a comment in the newsletter review section or you can email us at mailbag@beachbody.com.
Check out our Fitness Advisor's responses to your comments in Steve Edwards' Mailbag on the Message Boards. If you'd like to receive Steve Edwards' Mailbag by email, click here to subscribe to Steve's Health and Fitness Newsletter. And if you'd like to know more about Steve's views on fitness, nutrition, and outdoor sports, read his blog, The Straight Dope.
By Steve Edwards
Mixing P90X and triathlon training is not something that's an obvious fit. After all, triathletes have three sports to train for already. And beyond that, they're some of the most notorious overtrainers on the planet. But as you well know if you've read this series of articles, training hard doesn't necessarily mean you're training smart. So this week let's up your triathlon training IQ and get some X into the mix.
"You're all triathletes," said the keynote speaker, a famous cycling coach, to a large group of multisport athletes at a conference I was attending. "That means that 90 percent of you are overtrained right now." Triathletes, historically, are the consummate "if some is good, then an excessive amount is what I'm going to do" group of athletes. Steeped in obsessive lore, the most famous triathlon stories are usually about training instead of racing. And for those in the inner circle, it's even worse. Once asked by a reporter from a triathlon publication what he did for training, triathlon icon Scott Molina replied, "I'm not going to tell you, because you'll think I'm an idiot."
Triathletes: you gotta love 'em. At least I love 'em. But then again, I've been called stupid/obsessed/crazy (among other things) over my training endeavors for most of my life. And yet it's triathletes who, more than any other group, try my patience on the message boards. "Why," they'll ask, "can't I train for an Ironman and do P90X doubles in my spare time? All I was going to do was sleep anyway."
I mean, c'mon, we're talkin' about the sporting obsessed. Remember, the first triathlon wasn't the sprint or even the Olympic version of the race. It started with the Ironman and worked backward to more conventional distances. And along that line of devolution, let's take a look at how we can improve our triathlons by moving more of our training into our living room. P90X may seem like a big undertaking for that average person. I think you triathletes, however, are going to have to buy in to the "less is more" philosophy.
Why P90X?
Let's face it: though the X is primarily a performance-based program, most of us do it because we want to look better. As one college baseball player said to me, "To be honest, I'm happy with my sports training. I'm only doing X to look good on the beach." Yeah, well, Charles Atlas may be the guy you want around when the bully's kicking sand in your face, but you sure wouldn't want to haul all his bulk around Kona. Triathletes may want to look better, but the kind of muscles the Chest & Back workout develops is going to offset any strength gains by adding wind resistance to your aero position. For this reason, a serious triathlete needs to make some concessions in the P90X regimen.
The upside is that as I said before, most of you are overtrained. This means you'd get faster by running, riding, and swimming less than you currently are. And that's where the X comes in. By structuring your year periodizationally in a way that includes both strengthening your weak areas and recovering from your overused ones, you'll get faster by spending less time working out.The perfect schedule
In part V of this series we discussed the off-season approach. It would benefit you to read the entire series, but if you're pressed for time make sure you at least read parts IV and V, which are about endurance and weight loss. If you've got a race approaching, there's no point in beginning P90X. It'll break you down and slow you down. In a perfect world, you should begin your training program soon after your final race of the previous season. In an imperfect one, at least schedule X as far out from your main objective as possible. As a gauge, there's no reason to start X if you've got a race approaching in less than three months' time. Hopefully you've got six months; nine is even better.
FoundationP90X is the foundation phase for your sport-specific training. This is why you don't want to do it close to any important race. You may train right through early-season races, but you'll get no benefit from X training close to an event where speed is important to you.
Periodization
All triathletes are familiar with periodization. You don't all do it, of course, but you know that you should do speed work, aerobic work, and threshold work separately, then bring them together closer to your big race. Consider P90X to be the foundation plan for your foundation plan. It's where you'll strengthen your body and improve its capacity for improvement in all the areas detailed above.
Recovery
Oh, the "R" word! This is where we don't train, or at least don't train hard. No pain, no hallucinations, no glycogen-depleted hobbles home after an 8-hour training day. The horror. But you know you've got to do it sometime, or you'll become like one of those triathletes you know who've been on a plateau for the last 2 decades because they're more addicted to their morning 3-hour swims than they ever could be to coffee.
Here's where you'll want to place P90X in your schedule: at the season's end when you shouldn't be running, riding, or swimming anyway. Not only will it give you something new to focus on, but no matter how fit you are, it will blast your endurance-oriented cells into oblivion and leave you sore and tired enough to feel as though you've spent 20 hours each week on your bike.
Putting it all together
You may want to alter the classic schedule or even do the lean schedule if you're a high-level competitor who's worried about muscular mass in a strength-to-weight-ratio sport. P90X won't get you huge, but the classic schedule will almost certainly add size to your upper-body muscles. Whether or not you'll find this a benefit is a call you'll have to make for yourself.
If you feel you need the overall body conditioning that P90X offers and are willing to sacrifice your race results for a while, you may want to put together a hybrid schedule that combines P90X with your current training. It's hard to write a schedule for everyone because there are hundreds of personal variables to consider. This is why so many athletes hire personal coaches.
Below is just one example of such a schedule. Yours should probably vary, but by using this template, you should be able to get an idea about how to make your own schedule. You could also consult my blog, where I create hybrid training schedules for myself all the time.
I would write a schedule like this for individuals who are fairly triathlon fit but have been doing too much sport-specific training and are pretty weak outside their sport-specific movements, causing their triathlon times to have hit a plateau.
This schedule contains no racing, but you could work races into it. Your personal races should all be labeled A, B, or C. A races are priority races. None should be scheduled near this period. B races are where you'd like to do well but not necessarily peak. These are to be taken seriously and none should be here either. Around B races you should be doing more sport-specific training. The difference between B and A races is that you may schedule a B race during intense training while you would always taper and peak for an A race. This schedule will address your weaknesses and get your ready for a C race. This is a race you enter so you can work on things like transitions, race tactics, and scheduling, and so you can dust off your racing form. Slow times are to be expected.
Your actual multisport training should be planned by you or your coach. For P90X, I'm going to use a hybrid of the classic, lean, and doubles schedule.
Block 1 (Weeks 1 through 3)
Day 1: Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X Day 3: Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper X
Day 4: Easy ride or run and Yoga X
Day 5: Legs & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 6: LSD (long, slow distance: ride, run, swim, or "brick" [combo] workout like bike/run, etc.)
Day 7: Rest or easy aerobic ride, run, or swim and/or X Stretch
Note: Your sports training should be easy technique training done in zones 1 and 2.
Recovery/Transition Week
Day 1: Core Synergistics
Day 2: Plyometrics
Day 3: Easy ride, run, or swim and Yoga X
Day 4: Legs & Back
Day 5: Core Synergistics
Day 6: LSD (long, slow distance: ride, run, swim, or brick/combo workout)
Day 7: Rest or easy aerobic ride, run, or swim and/or X Stretch
Note: Easy, again, is the key with your specific training. Your goal here is engram training: building neuromuscular coordination patterns.
Block 2 (Weeks 5 through 7)
Day 1: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps, Ab Ripper X, and easy run
Day 2: Swim drills and Plyometrics
Day 3: Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X, and easy run
Day 4: Easy ride or run and Yoga X
Day 5: Legs & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 6: LSD (long, slow distance: ride, run, swim or brick/combo workout)
Day 7: Rest or easy aerobic ride, run, or swim and/or X Stretch
Note: Here you can begin coached workouts. These should still not be full-on as your priority is still on your X training.
Recovery/Transition Week
Day 1: Core Synergistics
Day 2: Easy run and X Stretch
Day 3: Easy swim and Yoga X
Day 4: Easy ride and X Stretch
Day 5: Core Synergistics
Day 6: LSD (long, slow distance: ride, run, swim or brick/combo workout)
Day 7: Off
Note: This should feel like a true recovery week.
Block 3 (Weeks 9 and 11)
Day 1: Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X, and easy run or ride
Day 2: Plyometrics & easy swim
Day 3: Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X, and easy run or ride
Day 4: Yoga X
Day 5: Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X, and transition practice
Day 6: Hard brick/combo workout
Day 7: Rest and/or X Stretch
Block 4 (Weeks 10 and 12)
Day 1: Core Synergistics and coached workout
Day 2: Cardio X and coached workout
Day 3: Ab Ripper X and coached workout
Day 4: Yoga X and coached workout
Day 5: Legs & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 6: Coached workout
Day 7: Recovery ride, run, or swim and/or X Stretch
Note: There are too many variables to discuss your sport-specific training, so I'm leaving that to you and your coach. If you do race at any point in the schedule, alter it so you take at least a couple of easy days prior to the race. Racing always takes a lot out of you and you'll want to avoid overtraining at all cost. I think it was Paula Newby-Fraser who said that it's better to be 25% undertrained than 1% overtrained. If you want to run a schedule by us, check out the Message Boards.
Related Articles
"Part I: Customizing P90X for Specific Goals"
"Part II: Customizing P90X® for Skiing—How to Structure a Short Training Cycle"
"Part III: Gaining Mass with P90X"
"Part IV: Losing Weight with P90X"
"Part V: Endurance Athletes—Get Ripped in the Off-Season"
"Part VI: Customizing P90X—Running"
Questions about your workout program, diet, the latest newsletter, or anything wellness related? Chat with the overseer of Beachbody's fitness and diet development, who also serves as your Fitness Advisor on the Message Boards, Steve Edwards, on Monday, May 10th, at 7:00 PM ET, 4:00 PM PT. Go to the Beachbody Chat Room!
If you'd like to ask a question or comment on this newsletter article, click here to add a comment in the newsletter review section or you can email us at mailbag@beachbody.com.
Check out our Fitness Advisor's responses to your comments in Steve Edwards' Mailbag on the Message Boards. If you'd like to receive Steve Edwards' Mailbag by email, click here to subscribe to Steve's Health and Fitness Newsletter. And if you'd like to know more about Steve's views on fitness, nutrition, and outdoor sports, read his blog, The Straight Dope.
day 37 P90x/Insanity/Running Hybrid
Been MIA sorry people, working hard at home and at the orifice(joke).
We took Trevor swimming Sat night at Hopkington state park , a guy was swimming in the open water in a wet suit, maybe I need to get back into swimming too!
Workouts have been good nice 5 k run on monday am , sticky and humid.
Last night I Did The Insanity Pure cardio warmup & stretch and then CST and cardio abs I was wupped last night!!
Is that another double & 1/2?
Lydia I use a foam roller to get Lactic acid and soreness out of all areas of the body, shoulders, neck, back ,hips, hammies and calves, they work great , I rolled Patti the other night,she said I bruised her and smashed her boobs but she felt great!
You can get the rollers at Dicks .
I walked three at lunch and I am still wet, and I plan to do Pylo x tonight!
be good all!
Mike
We took Trevor swimming Sat night at Hopkington state park , a guy was swimming in the open water in a wet suit, maybe I need to get back into swimming too!
Workouts have been good nice 5 k run on monday am , sticky and humid.
Last night I Did The Insanity Pure cardio warmup & stretch and then CST and cardio abs I was wupped last night!!
Is that another double & 1/2?
Lydia I use a foam roller to get Lactic acid and soreness out of all areas of the body, shoulders, neck, back ,hips, hammies and calves, they work great , I rolled Patti the other night,she said I bruised her and smashed her boobs but she felt great!
You can get the rollers at Dicks .
I walked three at lunch and I am still wet, and I plan to do Pylo x tonight!
be good all!
Mike
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Farmers Walk
Farmers Walk 
http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/farmers-walk
- There are various implements that can be used for the farmers walk. These can also be performed with heavy dumbbells or short bars if these implements aren't available. Begin by standing between the implements.
- After gripping the handles, lift them up by driving through your heels, keeping your back straight and your head up.
- Walk taking short, quick steps, and don't forget to breathe. Move for a given distance, typically 50-100 feet, as fast as possible.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/farmers-walk
Four Simple Ways to Increase Growth Hormone (Burn Fat, Build Muscle)
Four Simple Ways to Increase Growth Hormone (Burn Fat, Build Muscle)
Actor/power-lifter/wrestler Nathan Jones (from Troy)
- weaker bones
- poorer sleep quality
- increased body fat, especially in the abdominal area
- older looking skin
- less physical strength and slower recovery time
There are a number of simple behaviors that can radically alter our GH and IGF-1 levels. All of them are simple. At the same time, none of them are easy. All four will all cause slight amounts of discomfort for most people. Personally, I don’t always do all of them. But knowing what works, and doing those things at least part of the time, has helped me stay lean (29″ waist) and reasonably strong (I can do about 10 pullups), despite the fact that I only workout about twenty minutes a week, and most of my favorite activities are sedentary (making music, writing, reading, drinking wine and talking with friends, playing video games, etc.).
So here’s the list:
1) Eat Low Glycemic Meals
While low-carb diets aren’t ideal for everyone (especially endurance athletes), getting more fuel from fat can increase satiety and decrease overeating. Robb Wolf‘s approach is the paleolithic diet, a strict way of eating that excludes all grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, processed foods, and most sugars. Mark Sisson‘s “primal” diet is more flexible, and allows high-quality dairy products (if tolerated) and moderate amounts of wine, dark chocolate, and coffee. Tim Ferriss’s “slow carb” diet allows beans and a once-a-week anything goes “cheat day.” Other diet/weight-loss experts, like Anthony Colpo, are vehemently opposed to the low-carb approach, citing lower performance results for endurance athletes. Dan Pardi‘s approach is the most balanced and least dogmatic, taking personal preferences and “food values” into consideration.
What all these diet experts agree on is that a diet high in refined carbohydrates and simple sugars will wreak havoc with your hormonal system, preventing growth hormone release (due to constantly high circulating levels of both cortisol and insulin). In practice this means:
- greatly reduce or eliminate white bread, pasta, white rice, and other refined grains
- greatly reduce or eliminate simple sugar in all forms (corn syrup, white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, etc.)
- consume other high glycemic foods that may have some health benefits (dried fruit, fresh orange juice, low-fat milk, beer) only in small quantities (if at all)
2) Turn Off The Lights
Connections between the sleep/circadian rhythm hormone melatonin and growth-hormone release are just beginning to be understood. What is clear is that disrupted sleep patterns and sleep deprivation rapidly degrade health, and are associated with lower circulating levels of growth hormone.
I realize this blog post is one of about a thousand on the internet that tell the reader how to “naturally increase growth hormone.” Almost all of them include “get a good night’s sleep” on the list. But how, exactly, are we supposed to do that, especially if we have less-than-ideal levels of circulating growth hormone (which improves sleep quality)?
For me, a 30-day experiment in living without artificial light gave me some remarkable insights into the relationship between sleep and health. For my entire life I thought was a “natural night owl.” After the experiment, I realized that I was just someone who is sensitive to the effects of artificial light. If the lights are on, I don’t feel sleepy (even if my body and brain are exhausted, and I desperately need sleep). The same is true for most people; artificial light reduces the secretion of melatonin.
Losing body fat was an unexpected side effect of the sleep experiment — one I attribute to increased GH release (though is could also be related to reduced sugar cravings — sleep deprivation is closely linked to reduced insulin sensitivity).
I don’t want to give up artificial light entirely — it’s too convenient. But I now have better control over my own sleep patterns. If I want to get to sleep early, and sleep well, the lights (and the computer, and the TV) need to get turned off early.
3) Do Short, Fun, Intense Bouts of Exercise
If you want to be lean, strong, and mentally sharp, physical exercise isn’t optional. What is optional is the kind of exercise you do. You should do something you enjoy. If you hate running, don’t run. Same for lifting weights. You’ll never be able to keep it up if it feels like a grind.
Research in exercise physiology supports the idea that intensity is more important than duration, at least in terms of trigger positive hormonal reactions like growth hormone release, and positive adaptations (like getting stronger and gaining endurance). In practice this could mean doing short sprints instead of a long slow jog, or doing fewer repetitions with heavier weights (and lifting more slowly to increase difficulty).
4) Stop Eating for 16-24 Hours At Least Once A Week
Fasting induces growth hormone release; GH helps burn body fat to mobilize calories to prevent starvation.
Some bodybuilders fear missing meals. They worry that their bodies will instantly start consuming hard-earned muscle tissue for fuel. As Martin Berkhan explains on his leangains.com site, the beneficial (GH-release) effects of fasting kick in much sooner than protein catabolism.
Berkhan also enjoys dismantling other useless dietary myths by citing numerous carefully reviewed scientific studies. For example, there is no evidence that eating small, frequent meals has any benefits over eating large, infrequent ones, and there is even some evidence to the contrary, but people persist in this mode of eating as though it had some kind of virtue.
You might experience some discomfort the first few times you go without food for half a day or more, especially if you eat wheat and dairy products on a regular basis. These foods contain exorphins (peptides that mimic the effects of opioids on human physiology); withdrawal can be experienced as muscle aches, flu-like symptoms, and a sense of unease.
Taking relatively short bouts of “time off” from eating is generally called intermittent fasting. There are many different approaches, but the general idea is to not eat for 16 or more hours at least a few times a week, or even to restrict your eating window to 8 hours or less every day (this is Berkhan’s approach). Some people choose to fast 24 hours, one day a week.
Personally I have experimented with fasting until 2pm one day a week. I haven’t noticed any dramatic physical effects from my “dipping a toe in” approach, but the documented physiological effects intrigue me. I have noticed positive psychological effects; on fasting days I feel mentally clear and buoyant. I also have more time to get things done.
Edit: Just found this interesting article about food restriction and D2 dopamine receptors, in rats. Food restriction (such as intermittent fasting) may increase our ability to respond to rewards (and thus increase motivation).
Why Bother?
Why bother attempting to modulate your physiology? As impressive as he is, most of us don’t want to look like Nathan Jones (above). While I enjoy not having a spare tire, I think the main benefits of a more youthful hormonal profile are feeling more energetic and stronger. For the aspects of aging that are optional, I prefer to opt-out.
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