Alpha by René Eide Rasmussen

FITNESS MYTHS

BUSTED

UNDERSTANDING THE NEW BIG DIET;

INTERMITTENT FASTING A complete beginner’s guide!

INTERVIEW WITH ELITE FITNESS MODEL

DELICIOUS RECIPE;

COOKIE DOUGH PROTEIN BARS

#1 of 2015 January - March $8,50

STEVE COOK Get his workout program!

CONTENT CREATIVE EDITOR RENE EIDE RASMUSSEN reneeide.r@live.no WRITERS STEVE KAMB www.nerdfitness.com PAULINE NORDIN pauline@fighterdiet.com COVER DESIGN RENE EIDE RASMUSSEN reneeide.r@live.no PRINT PRINT HOUSE PAPER 160G MATTE UNCOATED ALPHA Moldegata 15 ,0445 Oslo # 90 15 84 69

4-5

Editor’s letter

6-13

Interview with Steve Cook

14-17

10 fitness myths busted

18-23

A guide to intermittent fasting

EDITOR’S LETTER Welcome to my first letter of 2015. Although outside the window is very wet and grey, I feel that Steve Cook combined with a colorful and playful new layout is a ray of new-year optimism. He’s the perfect poster boy for our current vibrant version of the magazine. He began, just like them, with a love of fitness and a determination to create his own interpretation of it. From this he has built an empire. And whether it’s sportswear, workout programs, fitness videos or motivational speaking, he has resolutely stuck to his aesthetic guns. I am particularly pleased that we have been able to put together a conclusive article on intermittent fasting in laymans terms, which is easy to understand. It sheds new and eye-opening light on this new, trendy diet.

René E. Rasmussen René E. Rasmussen Editor in chief

BUILD STRENGTH, POWER, SIZE AND CONTENTMENT WITH

STEVE COOK

INTERVIEW WITH STEVE COOK

PHOTO SOURCE: Trimmedandtoned.com

INTERVIEW WITH STEVE COOK

BIGGER, FASTER, STRONGER, HAPPIER Leading fitness model Steve Cook believes training should be done with a smile on your face. If you’re not enjoying yourself, you’re simply not doing it right!

If you’re into fitness then the name Steve Cook should resonate with you already. Pick up any respectable fitness magazine in the world today and it’s unlikely you find a copy without a picture of his smiling face and ripped torso stirring back up at you.

In 2013, he solidified his place as arguably the planet’s most sought-after fitness model. Steve Cook has the physique most fitness enthusiasts aspire toward, with a soaring international fan base, a list of blue-chip corporate sponsors, and more photo shoot requests than half of Hollywood.

But what makes Cook tick? What are the training philosophies of the professional fitness model and men’s physique bodybuilder? TRAIN traveled to his home town of Boise, Idaho, for a week of training with the fitness icon. We discovered an athlete who is only getting started with his athletic aspirations.

BODYBUILDING VS. CROSSFIT Cook doesn’t see his own fitness potential as a job, however, but more of a lifestyle. He doesn’t stereotype himself as a professional bodybuilder, rather as more of a full-time athlete, a guy who through commitment and training has provided himself with an opportunity to live his life the way he wants. Sure, it’s through conventional bodybuilding that he has found himself in the public eye. But Cook’s training regimen is so much more than pumping iron. e lives for new challenges, is determined to try anything at least once, and embraces all forms of exercise, including CrossFit. The strength and conditioning training phenom has stormed the planet in recent years, but along the way he noticed

THE BASICS

PERFORMANCE

Born in the middle of a family of seven children, Steve excelled at sports growing up. Cook was already in great shape after a childhood that was built around a training rewards system, like being able to watch TV after he’d finished his daily push-ups! He played football in college and eventually graduated with a degree in Integrated Studies (biology/psychology).

“I like to lift to be a better athlete and to live healthier, but yet I also like to lift to look better too . It should all just be about health. Whether you are a CrossFitter or a bodybuilder it should always just be about improving your life. And so if I can do both and have fun doing it, as well as make progress in looks and performance, then I’m a happy guy.”

Steve maintains that those early training memories, instilled into him from his father, are the key to staying in shape today. Cook insists that getting the basics right, no matter what your fitness level, offers the key to a healthier, fitter lifestyle, especially if your gym visits aren’t as frequent as you may wish.

So, does this mean we may even see him compete in CrossFit arena one day in the future? “I wouldn’t mind giving it a go,” Cook says. “I’m the type of guy who likes a new challenge. I’ve got my pro card and I’ve competed on the Olympia stage and while I’m not saying I am done doing that, I am also starting to look for something else to push my body.

“The basic stuff, like deadlifts, that works the back, core, legs and shoulders are essential. By sticking to those types of movements you’ll see the biggest results.”

INTERVIEW WITH STEVE COOK

THE PULL-UP

a divide between traditional bodybuilding practitioners and a generation of CrossFit devotees. However, Cook insists there’s plenty of space on the planet for both to not only coexist but even embrace one another’s core values. “There is a big issue between bodybuilders and CrossFitters, and I think there’s negativity on both sides,” Cook says. “CrossFit people say that bodybuilders don’t have functional muscle, while bodybuilders say that CrossFit is just a surefire way to get injured. But I don’t see why there has to be such disconnect.

“Obviously, there are bodybuilders out there who fit the stereotype of not being athletes, just concentrating on isolation movements that don’t really do anything in regard to functionality. At the same time, there are also CrossFitters who really don’t know the technique of the lifts they are doing. But stereotyping is dangerous. “For me, I train pretty instinctively now and I always like to try new things. So I will always incorporate movements like the clean, always try things like the muscle-up, on top of my bodybuilding exercises, like biceps curls or your bench press, things like that. I like doing both.

“If you concentrate on your progress and getting better from month to month then you will be satisfied. The minute you start comparing everyone else’s best features to your worst features you’re in trouble.”

THE FRONT SQUAT

PHOTOS: bodybuilding.com

INTERVIEW WITH STEVE COOK

GOAL SETTING

week or two out of the last few months actually at home in Boise, due to demands for his time. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Setting goals gives your life direction, and boosts your motivation and self- confidence. Learn how to set the right goals. “When you are a bodybuilder, and you’ve competed on the stage, it’s easy to become depressed after a competition because you look back and you know that you’re not going to look as good as you did on the stage. So now you’re back in the gym and what are you striving for, to get bigger and leaner for next time? “What I want to do is concentrate on other goals, so I’m not obsessed just with how my body looks. I really want to look at what my body can do, and that means improving all of my best lifts through the winter. It means improving my cardiovascular system too, and getting my mile time down or going swimming more.

MAKE IT FUN “Recently, I was over in Hawaii so I went surfing, ocean kayaking, I was running on the beach, standup paddle boarding. And this is on top of going the gym for 45 minutes every day too. And it’s all because I wanted to experience things I could only experience in Hawaii. “There’s no better way to start your day than doing

something active. And then you don’t have to worry about all the little details of what you are eating, because you’re being so active and burning off everything anyway. There’s no such thing as the wrong cardio, in my opinion. As long as you’re enjoying it, then that’s it.” And right now Steve is training with a smile on his face. He’s living out of a suitcase, and has spent only around a

“I was actually talking with my sister on the phone just the other day and complaining to here that I was travelling so much,” Steve says. “ But she’s a nurse back in Idaho where its five degrees and here’s me complaining while sitting in my shorts on a beach in Hawaii, so she helped me put things into perspective that’s for sure. Hotel rooms and airports are a drag, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” As for his conditioning? “Right now I’d like to incorporate a lot more strength movements into my training, and do CrossFit at least once or twice a week too,” Steve says. “Trying out more of the Olympic lifts and concentrating on getting stronger are really the main focus in the off-season.

“And by having more performance driven goals it keeps me from getting bored with my training, and that’s really something everyone can take from my own experiences. Nothing beats training with a smile on your face.”

“WHETHER YOU ARE A CROSSFITTER OR A BODYBUILDER IT SHOULD ALWAYS JUST BE ABOUT IMPROVING YOUR LIFE.”

Training happy is the key to keeping Cook interested. While he’ll happily play around with different exercises and programs in the gym, outside of it he’s even more adventurous. “I like trying new things for sure, and there’s no better opportunity to try new ways to work out than when you’re on the road,” Steve says. “Of course when I compete I want to be the best and I enjoy being good at something, but I also want to try everything and anything I can.There is no better feeling than taking something you’re not too good at and making it your strength.

INTERVIEW WITH STEVE COOK

“I’ll also do yoga, I go trail running, I enjoy getting out into nature especially. I enjoy getting out of the gym, opening my mind to new experiences and really living life. It’s actually as much a spiritual thing as anything else. What better way to work out than swimming in the ocean or surfing. I grew up in the mountains in Idaho so using my surroundings to stay in shape is too good an opportunity to miss.”

PHOTO SOURCE: bodybuilding.com

PHOTO: Pat Lee

INTERVIEW WITH STEVE COOK

TRAIN LIKE COOK

If you’re not Steve Cook’s identical twin, the biggest thing you can do to look the most like him is to follow his workout program. And maybe get a haircut.

DAY 1 - CHEST / ABS Bench press to neck 3 SETS OF 8-12 REPS

Hanging knee-up 4 SETS OF AMRAP

Incline dumbbell press 3 SETS OF 8-12 REPS

Reverse crunch 4 SETS OF AMRAP

Decline dumbbell flyes 3 SETS OF 10-14 REPS

Rope crunch 4 SETS OF AMRAP

Ball pushup 3 SETS TO FAILURE

Bicycle crunch 4 SETS OF AMRAP

DAY 4 - ARMS Cable curl 3 SETS OF 6-10 REPS

NOTES:

Skullcrushers 3 SETS OF 6-10 REPS

Reverse curl 4 SETS OF 21’S

Dumbbell concentrated curl 3 SETS OF 12 REPS

Overhead tricep extension 4 SETS OF 21’S

Ring dips 3 SETS OF 12 REPS

Repeat ab circuit from day 1

Do two and two exercises in a superset fashion. 21’s = 7 reps of top half of ROM (Range Of Motion), 7 reps of bottom half ROM, and 7 reps full ROM.

NOTES: All abdominal exercises are done in a circuit fashion, which means that you go from one to the next without a break until you have completed all four. AMRAP = As Many Reps As Possible

DAY 5 - LEGS NOTES:

Back squat 3 SETS OF 6-10 REPS

It is important to keep perfect form throughout these exercises. Especially the first three. On the last two, make sure to keep a slow tempo and get a good stretch and contraction.

Single leg deadlift 3 SETS OF 6-10 REPS Leg press 3 SETS OF 10-12 REPS

DAY 2 - BACK NOTES: Pull-ups 5 SETS TO FAILURE Dumbbell row 3 SETS OF 8-10 REPS

Revese fixed bar row 3 SETS TO FAILURE

Ball pushup 3 SETS TO FAILURE

Dumbbell pullovers 3 SETS TO FAILURE

PHOTO SOURCE: Efitek.blogspot.no

DAY 3 - SHOULDERS Reverse pec deck 3 SETS OF 8-10

Seated dumbbell press 3 SETS OF 8-10 REPS

Upright row 3 SETS OF 8-12 REPS

Cable one arm laterals 3 SETS OF 8-10 REPS

Shrugs 3 SETS OF 12 REPS

INTERVIEW WITH STEVE COOK

Leg extensions 3 SETS OF 10-12 REPS

The last two exercises is a superset. A superset is the same as a circuit, but with only two exercises.

Close grip pulldown 3 SETS OF 8-10 REPS

Power clean 3 SETS OF 5 REPS

Seated leg curl 3 SETS OF 10-12 REPS

NOTES: Jumping rope works great as cardio as well as a shoulder finisher.

Jump rope 5 MINUTES

“Training is hard work, and the obstacles you face can be painful, so the more pain you can tolerate, the farther you can go.” PHOTO: Steve Cook

INTERVIEW WITH STEVE COOK

TRAIN SMART

DO CRUNCHES TO GET A 6-PACK

25 FITNESS MYTHS BUSTED

FALSE. A flat belly comes from being lean. If you eat too much, your abs will remain trapped beneath a layer of body fat. Everybody is born with abdominal muscles. You just need to lose fat to make them pop.

It’s difficult to sort out the fact from the fiction. - Especially when the fiction sounds so good!

FALSE. When you start weight training, it’s natural to initially gain weight. Weight training stimulates the body to build lean muscle which will help to improve your metabolic rate. But this muscle also contains a large amount of water. It’s common to weigh more while your clothes fit looser. Muscle is denser and takes up less space than body fat. That’s why a smaller, more muscular person may weigh more than a bigger person with more fat.

IF YOU’RE HEAVY, YOU’RE FAT

YOU CAN’T BUILD MUSCLE WITH VEGGIES FALSE. To build muscle, you need three consistent elements: stimulus from exercise, calories, and nutrients to support muscle building and recovery. Vegetables are filled with slow-digesting carbs, minerals, and vitamins. They’re like grains, but with fewer calories. If you eat enough calories and sufficient, complete proteins, you’ll gain muscle. By eating vegetables as your carb source, you’ll be able to stay leaner, feel fuller, and be healthier while you build muscle. The only time this myth is actually real is when you fail to meet your caloric requirement. Without enough calories, you won’t build muscle. You also need food that gives you complete proteins.

PHOTO: Melissa Robertson (Flickr)

10 FITNESS MYTHS BUSTED

FALSE. Muscle is created by exposing your body to things that make it say, “Unless I get stronger and plump myself up, I will get killed!” When you stop training, you change the environment for your muscles. Suddenly, the need for them to hang around and be ready for battle will cease. Why keep something you don’t need? Without constant tension, your muscle mass will atrophy and you’ll burn fewer calories.

PHOTO: Steve Cook

IF YOU TAKE A LONG BREAK, YOUR MUSCLE WILL TURN TO FAT

Most likely however, your appetite will stay the same and you’ll suddenly find yourself eating way more calories than your body needs to maintain its weight. Muscle doesn’t literally turn into fat, but with a slower metabolic rate, you’ll accumulate more fat as your muscle size shrinks.

10 FITNESS MYTHS BUSTED

FALSE. Ripped is a subjective state. But if by “ripped” you mean “visible striations and ultra-low body fat,” you might have a hard time staying there, especially if you’re a woman. An unnaturally lean body will usually lack in testosterone and your sex drive and muscle building will suffer. That’s just the way it works.

IF YOU WANT TO LOSE FAT, AVOID FAT

YOU CAN BE RIPPED ALL YEAR ROUND

Most physique athletes are in great shape all the time, but they’re ultra-lean for only a couple months out of the year.

CARBS ARE BAD

FALSE. If you want to gain muscle, you’re going to need carbs. If you take them out completely, you’ll burn more body fat during training perhaps, but you can’t keep it up for long. Carbs are fuel for intense workouts, fats are not. Choose a macro plan that suits your athletic goals. If you’re an athlete, you’re going to need more than protein to make it through a game. On a more serious note, you need a minimum amount of carbs to ensure that your brain functions properly. The brain needs glucose to work. Your body can be ketonic and use fatty acids to fuel your muscles, but your brain can’t.

PHOTO: Cookbookman17 (Flickr)

YOU CAN EAT WHAT YOU WANT AS LONG AS YOU TRAIN HARD AND TAKE FAT BURNER PILLS

10 FITNESS MYTHS BUSTED

FALSE. To burn fat, you need to expend more calories than your body uses. Fat burners will increase your heart rate and aid in training performance, but it’s not a magic pill. You can’t hope to sit around and eat hamburgers all day and expect your fat burner to make you thinner. That’s just silly.

FALSE. Fats are necessary to maintain healthy hormone levels and make use of vitamins. Without it, you’ll create a terrible environment for muscle growth. Fats also help you regulate your appetite. A carb-and-protein-only diet can make any fat-loss or muscle-build goal almost impossible to reach.

FALSE. This is only true for people who don’t struggle with getting or staying lean. Alcohol inhibits fat burning while your liver is detoxifying you. Alcohol is also indirectly fattening because we all tend to eat the wrong things after we’ve been drinking.

ONE CHEAT DAY PER WEEK WON’T HARM YOU. EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY!

#10

FALSE. If you do that, you’ll shed unnecessary muscle mass. More muscle helps your metabolism stay high. It’s true that weight training doesn’t burn a ton of calories, but the more lean mass you carry, the higher your all-day energy expenditure will be. Muscles require fuel all the time. If you kill yourself doing cardio, your body will get rid of muscle mass and it will be hard to lose fat at all.

PHOTO: Lintmachine (Flickr)

IF YOU WANT TO LOSE FAT AND LOOK FIT, YOU SHOULD DO CARDIO.

10 FITNESS MYTHS BUSTED

THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO

WHAT IS INTERMITTENT FASTING?

INTERMITTENT FASTING

Intermittent fasting is not a diet, but rather a dieting pattern. In simpler terms: it’s making a conscious decision to skip certain meals. By fasting and then feasting on purpose, intermittent fasting means eating your calories during a specific window of the day, and choosing not to eat food during the rest.

“…But Tony the Tiger tells us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” This rule has become so commonplace throughout the health and fitness community that it’s readily accepted as fact:

After firmly being on “Team Breakfast” for 28 years of my life, I’ve skipped breakfast for the past three months and might never go back to eating it.

“Want to lose weight? Make sure you start off with a healthy breakfast, so you can get that metabolism firing first thing in the morning! Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.”

I want to share with you a concept about skipping breakfast (and other meals), and how your health will benefit as a result. Tony ain’t gonna be happy, but today we’re talking about intermittent fasting.

This is a topic that is very controversial, as it turns a LOT of conventional wisdom on its head. This is why this article is filled with more sources and citations than Jim Carrey’s glove compartment.

Now, there are a few different ways to take advantage of intermittent fasting: #1: Regularly eat during a specific time period. For example, only eating from noon-8 PM, essentially skipping breakfast. Some people only eat in a 6-hour window, or even a 4-hour window.

#2: Skip two meals one day, taking a full 24-hours off from eating. For example, eating on a normal schedule (finishing dinner at 8PM) and then not eating again until 8PM the following day.

of your fasted state, and hasn’t yet been replenished with a pre-workout meal), your body is forced to adapt and pull from the only source of energy available to it: the fat stored in your cells!

Now, you might be thinking: “okay, so by skipping a meal, I just eat less than normally overall, and thus I will lose weight, right?”. Well, that’s partly true.

Why does this work? Our bodies react to energy consumption with insulin production. Essentially, the more sensitive your body is to insulin, the more likely you’ll be to use the food you consume efficiently, which can help lead to weight loss and muscle creation.

Yes, by cutting out an entire meal, you are able to eat MORE food during your other meals and still consume a caloric deficit. However, as we already know that not all calories all created equal, the timing of meals can also influence how your body reacts.

HOW DOES INTERMITTENT FASTING WORK? With intermittent fasting, your body operates differently when “feasting” compared to when “fasting”:

And who can forget the classic:

When you eat a meal, your body spends a few hours processing that food, burning what it can from what you just consumed. Because it has all of this readily available, easy to burn energy in its blood stream (thanks to the food you ate), your body will choose to use that as energy rather than the fat you have stored.

“Want to lose more weight? Make sure you eat six small meals throughout the day so your metabolism stays operating at maximum capacity all day long”.

This is especially true if you just consumed carbohydrates/sugar, as your body prefers to burn sugar as energy before any other source.

There are even studies that show those that eat earlier in the day lose more weight than those who ate later in the day or skipped a meal.

During the “fasted state,” your body doesn’t have a recently consumed meal to use as energy, so it is more likely to pull from the fat stored in your body, rather than the glucose in your blood stream or glycogen in your muscles/liver.

So, eat breakfast to lose weight and obtain optimal health. Case closed…right? Maybe you’re not getting the whole story. As skeptics, what we need to ask: what if there’s science and research that promotes SKIPPING BREAKFAST (the horror! blasphemy!) for optimum efficiency, maximum muscle retention, and body fat loss?

Burning fat = win. The same goes for working out in a “fasted” state. Without a ready supply of glucose and glycogen to pull from (which has been depleted over the course

Your glycogen (a starch stored in your muscles and liver that your body can burn as fuel when necessary) is depleted during sleep (fasting), and will be depleted even further during training, which can further increase insulin sensitivity. This means that a meal immediately following your workout will be stored most efficiently: mostly as glycogen for muscle stores, burned as energy immediately to help with the recovery process, with minimal amounts stored as fat. Compare this to a regular day (no intermittent fasting). With insulin sensitivity at normal levels, the carbs and foods consumed will see full glycogen stores, enough glucose in the blood stream, and thus be more likely to get stored as fat. Not only that, but growth hormone is increased during fasted states (both during sleep and after a period of fasting). Combine this increased growth hormone secretion, the decrease in insulin production (and thus increase in insulin sensitivity), and you’re essentially priming your body for muscle growth and fat loss with intermittent fasting.

The less science-y version: Intermittent fasting can help teach your body to use the food it consumes more efficiently. For many different physiological reasons, fasting can help promote weight loss and muscle building when done properly.

PHOTO: Nana B Agyei (Flickr)

A GUIDE TO INTERMITTENT FASTING

BUT WHY DOES EVERY HEALTH BOOK SAY

“6 SMALL MEALS”? Whether you eat 2000 calories spread out throughout the day, or 2000 calories in a small window, your body will burn the same number of calories processing the food. So, the whole “keep your metabolism firing at optimum capacity by always eating” sounds good in principle, but reality tells a different story.

When you eat smaller meals, you’re less likely to overeat during your regular meals. I can definitely see some truth here, especially for people who struggle with portion control or don’t know how much food they should be eating.

Because it works. Although we know that not all calories are created equal, caloric restriction plays a central role in weight loss. When you fast (either for 16 hours per day, or 24 hours every few days), you are also making it easier to restrict your caloric intake over the course of the week. This will give your body a chance to lose weight as you’re simply just eating less calories than you were consuming before.

Yes, the initial transition from EATING ALL THE TIME, to intermittent fasting can be a bit of a jolt to the system. However, once you get through the transition, your body can quickly adapt and learn to function just as well only eating a few times a day:

However, once you educate yourself and take control of your eating, I would argue most people find that eating six times a day is very prohibitive and requires a lot of effort. Along with that, because you’re eating six small meals, I’d argue that you probably never feel “full,” and you might be MORE likely to eat extra calories during each snack.

WHY INTERMITTENT FASTING? to eat, you simply only have to stop to eat twice. Rather than having to do the dishes six times, you only have to do them twice. Rather than having to purchase six meals a day, you only need to purchase two.

This study explains that in participants after 48-hours of fasting, “cognitive performance, activity, sleep, and mood are not adversely affected in healthy humans by two days of calorie-deprivation.”

PHOTO: Collective Nouns (Flickr)

gain. This was already explained in the previous section with relevant sources, but intermittent fasting helps you create a double whammy for weight loss.

It turns out, quite a bit of it is mental.

Absolutely! In fact, I have been intermittent fasting for the past two years while building muscle, with minimal increase to my body fat percentage. I still eat the same number of calories I was consuming before, but instead of eating all damn day long, I condense all of my calorie consumption into an eight hour window.

I prefer this method to the bulk-and-cut technique for a few reasons: There’s far less of a crazy swing. If you are putting on 30 pounds and then cutting 25 to gain 5 lbs of muscle, your body is going through drastic swings of body mass. Your clothes will fit differently, you’ll have different levels of definition, and your body will wonder what the hell is going on. You’re consuming less food and thus spending less money. Rather than overeating to put on 1 pound of muscle and 4 pounds of fat in a week or two, you’re aiming to eat exactly enough to put on 1 pound of muscle without adding much fat on top of it. Yeah, it’s a delicate balance, but there’s far less swing involved. You are just slowly, steadily, and consistently building muscle and strength over many months.

16:00 - Work out with heavy strength training in a fasted state. 17:00 - Immediately consume 1/2 of my calories for the day (a regular whole-food meal, followed by a massive shake. 23:00 - Consume the second portion of my calories for the day in a big dinner. 00:00 to 16:00 the next day - Fast for 16 hours. I’m not kidding when I say this has revolutionized how I look at muscle building and fat loss. Ultimately, this method flies in the face of the typical “bulk and cut” techniques of overeating to build muscle (along with adding a lot of fat) before cutting calories to lose fat (along with some muscle) and settling down at a higher weight.

Once you retrain your body to NOT expect food all day every day (or first thing in the morning), these side-effects become less of an issue (thanks to a substance our bodies produce called Ghrelin). Think about it in caveman terms again. We certainly found ways to survive during periods of feast and famine, and that remains true today. It actually takes our bodies about 84 hours of fasting before our glucose levels are adversely affected. As we’re talking about small fasts (16-24 hour periods), this doesn’t concern us.

It requires less time (and potentially money). Rather than having to prepare or purchase three to six meals a day, you only need to prepare two meals. Instead of stopping what you’re doing six times a day PHOTO SOURCE: Moviecricket.com

A GUIDE TO INTERMITTENT FASTING

“So why do I feel grouchy when I’m not eating breakfast?” In this nerd’s humble opinion, a good portion of the grumpiness is a result of your eating habits. If you eat every three hours, your body will start to get hungry every three hours as it learns and becomes used to expecting (and receiving) food every three hours. If you eat breakfast every morning, your body is expecting to wake up and eat food.

Plus, Wolverine does it. It promotes stronger insulin sensitivity and increased growth hormone secretion, two keys for weight loss and muscle

Because it simplifies your day. Rather than having to prepare, pack, eat, and time your meals every 2-3 hours, you simply skip a meal or two and only worry about eating food in your eating window.

In my own experimentation, I have found very few negative side effects with Intermittent fasting.

The biggest issue I’ve found, and the biggest concern most people have, is that intermittent fasting will lead to lower energy, focus, and the “holy crap I am hungry” feeling during the fasting period. People are concerned that they will spend all morning being miserable because they haven’t consumed any food, and thus will be miserable at work and ineffective at whatever task it is they are working on.

There are a couple of reasons why diet books recommend six small meals: When you eat a normal meal, your body does have to burn extra calories just to process that meal. So, the theory is that if you eat all day long with small meals, your body is constantly burning extra calories and your metabolism is firing at optimal capacity, right? Well, that’s not true.

WHAT ARE THE CAN I BUILD DRAWBACKS? MUSCLE AND GAIN WEIGHT WHILE INTERMITTENT FASTING?

PHOTO: Aliva Pam (Flickr)

A GUIDE TO INTERMITTENT FASTING

QUESTIONS ABOUT INTERMITTENT FASTING Most people have a lot of questions regarding intermittent fasting, mostly because it’s so new and different. Here are some FAQs to ease your mind “Won’t I get really hungry?” As explained earlier, this is generally a result of the habits you have built for your body. If you are constantly eating or always eat the same time of day, your body can actually learn to prepare itself for food by beginning the process of insulin production and preparation for food. After a brief adjustment period, your body can adapt to the fact that it’s only eating a few times a day. Remember, your body’s physical and cognitive abilities aren’t diminished as a result of fasting. “Where will I get my energy for my workouts? Won’t I be exhausted and not be able to complete my workouts if fasting?” This was a major concern of mine as well. And for my first workout or two, it was very weird to not eat a heavy carb meal before training. However, after a few sessions, I learned that my body could certainly function (and even thrive) during my training sessions despite not eating a pre-workout meal.

That being said, I’m currently experimenting with a pre-workout BCAA supplement to see the effect it has on muscle creation. So far, so good, though I’m not sold on the necessity of the supplement yet. “I like the idea of fasted training, but I work a regular 9-5 and can’t train at 11AM. What am I supposed to do?” Martin from LeanGains lays out a few different options for you, depending on your training schedule. The best advice is to not freak out and overanalyze unless you are an elite athlete concerned with the absolute optimal performance at all time.

“If you’re just a normal guy or gal looking to drop a few pounds and get stronger, do the best you can.”

“Won’t fasting cause muscle loss?” Another big concern of mine, but it turns out, it was unfounded. We’ve been told by the supplement industry that we need to consume 30 g of protein every few hours, as that’s the most amount of protein our body can process at a time. Along with that, we’ve been told that if we don’t eat protein every few hours, our body’s muscle will start to break down to be burned as energy. Again, NOT TRUE! This study shows that our bodies are quite adept at preserving muscle even when fasting, and it turns out that protein absorption by our body can take place over many many many hours. Protein consumed in a shorter period of time has no difference on the body compared to protein spread throughout the day.

“What about my body going into starvation mode from not eating?” Now, the thought process here is that when we don’t feed ourselves, our bodies assume calories aren’t available and thus choose to store more calories than burning them, eliminating the benefits of weight loss with fasting. Fortunately, this is NOT true. As Martin from LeanGains so eloquently explains (as you can tell, he’s good at this stuff): “The earliest evidence for lowered metabolic rate in response to fasting occurred after 60 hours (-8% in resting metabolic rate). Other studies show metabolic rate is not impacted until 72-96 hours have passed. Seemingly paradoxical, metabolic rate is actually increased in short-term fasting. For some concrete numbers, studies have shown an increase of 3.6% – 10% after 36-48 hours (Mansell PI, et al, and Zauner C, et al). Epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenaline/noradrenaline) sharpens the mind and makes us want to move around. Desirable traits that encouraged us to seek for food, or for the hunter to kill his prey, increasing survival. At some point, after several days of no eating, this benefit would confer no benefit to survival and probably would have done more harm than good; instead, an adaptation that favored conservation of energy turned out to be advantageous.”

“This sounds crazy, I’m not gonna do it.” That’s cool. Are you losing body fat, building muscle, and getting a clean bill of health from your doctor? If you can say yes to those things, AWESOME. Keep doing what you’re doing, because it’s working.

As Mark’s Daily Apple states:

However, if what you’re doing ISN’T working, or you’re not getting the results you were hoping for, why not give it a chance? Hopefully the dozens of studies at least peak your curiosity. Self-experimentation is the best way to determine WHAT methods work for you.

“Fasted training can actually result in better metabolic adaptations, improved muscle protein synthesis, and a higher anabolic response to post-workout feeding (you’ll earn your meal and make more muscle out of it if you train on an empty stomach).”

PHOTO: leaingains.com

MARTIN BERKHAN

TO SUM IT ALL UP: Intermittent fasting can potentially have some very positive benefits for somebody trying to lose weight or gain lean body mass. Men and women will tend to have different results, just like each individual person will have different results. The ONLY way to find out is with self-experimentation. There are multiple ways to “do” intermittent fasting: Fast and feast regularly: Fast for a certain number of hours, then consume all calories within a certain number of hours. Eat normally, then fast 1-2x a week: Consume your normal meals every day, then pick one or two days a week where you fast for 24 hours. Eat your last meal Sunday night, and then don’t eat again until dinner the following day.

Remember: One of the rules of the rebellion is to question everything. If this seems like something you’d like to try, give it a shot. If it sounds crazy to you, ask yourself why you think it sounds crazy, and do your own research and experimentation before condoning/condemning it.

TEXT: Steve Kamb - nerdfitness.com “A Beginner’s Guide To Intermittent Fasting”

Fast occasionally: Probably the easiest method for the person who wants to do the least amount of work. Simply skip a meal whenever it’s convenient. On the road? Skip breakfast. Busy day at work? Skip lunch.

PHOTO: musclesbuild.blogspot.no

A GUIDE TO INTERMITTENT FASTING