“Therapeutic Exercise: Foundations and Techniques” Reviewed
Posted on January 31st, 2012
Most bodybuilders would say that every one of their exercise sessions is ‘therapeutic’! It feels good to get into the gym, start sweating and distract yourself from either the day’s miseries or the day’s triumphs. However, this is not a book about how to use the gym to make yourself feel better about life. It is actually a textbook aimed at nursing, physical therapy and medical students, and despite this fact, it is one of the best sellers in the category of ‘Exercise and Fitness’ (where we find other classics like Strength Training Anatomy and the Big Book of Exercises). Today we look at the real reviews from a huge range of people on ‘Therapeutic Exercise: Foundations and Techniques’, to help you decide whether it’s a worthwhile addition to your library … or you’d be better off with another tub of pre-workout bodybuilding supplements instead!
What’s In It?
Therapeutic Exercise: Foundations and Techniques is an illustrated, quite technical book of guidelines for mobilisation for individuals with movement disorders. This could be anything from arthritis to a bodybuilding injury. It is aimed at the physical therapist, not the patients looking for information to help themselves.
Massive!
‘Therapeutic Exercise’ has over 700 pages of informative goodness. Hopefully you need only a small section of that in your time bodybuilding – if you need to rehabilitate your entire body, you might want to think about an alternate sport! Despite the fact that you will only need small sections, many reviewers using the book for self-help still felt it was incredibly worthwhile.
Evidence-Based
Because it is a textbook for physical therapy and health professionals, much care has been taken to ensure that EVERY piece of advice is evidence-based! Injury rehabilitation is too important to leave to bro-science, and even too important to trust a book that is published largely for profit rather than for education.
Pricey …
Compared to most of the bodybuilding books we review on this blog, ‘Therapeutic Exercise’ is PRICEY! Most of our reviewed titles cost $10 on Amazon – this one is $50. If you’re set on getting it, you may find the cheapest price through a students’ secondhand textbook sales forum like Textbook Exchange. Look into slightly older editions for a price reduction too, but remember that the older editions don’t have the graphical information that this current edition has.
Self-Help for Injured Bodybuilders
Obviously, it isn’t going to be applicable to all lifters, as it is entirely focused on movement “disorders”. However, even with limited medical knowledge you should be able to find what you need for self-help in this book, given its straightforward organisation and extensive illustration. Exercises are broken up per major muscle group, so if you know that you need to strengthen your rhomboids and sternomastoids following a delt injury, you can find what you need.
Overall, 100% of the book’s reviewers on Amazon were happy with it – a sterling track record! We actually hope that not too many of you out there need this book – but if you have an injury or a chronic musculoskeletal condition, it is highly recommended.
Tags: book review, book reviews, exercise, healing, injuries, Overtraining
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“I’m Melting!” Complete Guide to Fat Loss for Bodybuilders
Posted on January 31st, 2012
Fat loss is often thought of as a beginner problem. You’ll have to lose all the layers of jelly covering the working parts of your body before anybody can notice the work you’re doing, after all! However, fat loss is a problem which recurs periodically for bodybuilders. It is difficult to maintain a precise balance of calories in versus calories converted to muscle, after all. So today we check out advice from every corner of the bodybuilding knowledge base, so you can say “I’m melting, melting! Oh, what a great feeling!”.
The Fat Loss Triad
The fat loss triad is not a type of Asian mafia … it’s the simple, common sense strategies of:
- Diet
- Exercise
- Bodybuilding supplements … designed to ‘build’ a LEANER body!
Diet Guidelines: Fat Loss for Bodybuilders
If you’re aiming to get big muscles but lose fat, ‘calories in versus calories out’ isn’t the only factor you need to account for. When structuring your diet, remember the following advice.
High protein
As well as being the building block for muscle (which will then take more calories to maintain), proteins are broken down more slowly in the gut, allowing you to feel fuller for longer. When you do exercise, the body will burn fat rather than muscle.
Maintain your metabolism
Eating frequent small meals allows you to intake the same (or even fewer) calories while maintaining your metabolic set-point. If you drop your calorie intake or try to learn to live with hunger, your metabolic rate will drop to allow your body to conserve its resources for the emergency situation it thinks it is facing!
Small meals also allow you to take advantage of the thermic effect of food – it takes a set number of calories to digest your food.
Don’t spike your blood sugar
High GI foods cause a spike in blood sugar and a subsequent spike in insulin levels, which then causes weight gain (as many diabetics know). Insulin encourages movement of glucose into the cells … fat cells as well as nerve cells and other good things we need. Go for low GI carbs whenever possible.
Exercise Guidelines: Fat Loss for Bodybuilders
Don’t stop trying to build muscle while you’re losing fat; that is, don’t switch to an all-cardio routine to melt that flubber more quickly. Continuing with your weight training will also have fat loss benefits, since muscle burns more calories than other tissue types even when at rest.
In structuring your workout schedule, you should:
- Do your weights first, then cardio: This forces your muscles to utilise their glycogen stores for the anaerobic activity. Then switch to cardio – aerobic exercise is far more efficient at burning fat, and once your glycogen stores are gone all that cardio goodness will be melting away your love handles.
- Use compound movements: These encourage release of growth hormone from your body for muscle building. Favour exercises like bench presses, skull crushers, chins and barbell rows.
- Workout after a small meal: Don’t work out on an empty stomach – you risk injury and tell your metabolism to hang onto its fat stores. Eat a very small meal or just use your pre-workout supplement.
Bodybuilding Supplement Guidelines: Fat Loss for Bodybuilders
There are quite a few bodybuilding supplements designed for fat loss which have been extensively researched and really earned their place among the best. These include:
- L-carnitine
- Thermogenic fat burners
- Conjugated Linoleic acid(CLA)
- Carb blockers
Look for anabolic products that have some fat loss ingredients added into the mix, or simply stack any product designed for ‘cutting’ with your protein and workout boosters.
Tags: bodybuilders, bodybuilding, diet, exercise, fat loss
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10 Quick Tips for Bodybuilders on a Budget
Posted on January 27th, 2012
Bodybuilding is not exactly a cheap sport! When compared to other pastimes, GFH isn’t quite as expensive as skiing, motocross or Faberge egg and spoon races. Still, all that protein powder, steak, gym memberships, pre-workouts and tanning products can start to make a hole in your budget. However, there’s no need to give up what you love for the sake of saving cash. Today we check out 10 very handy tips for bodybuilders on a budget; strategies which even the financially comfortable among us can use to reduce the impact on the wallet.
- Buy bodybuilding supplements online
Online stores don’t have the overheads that physical stores do, enabling an entirely new pricing dynamic. Good bodybuilding supplements suppliers will offer just as much advice to their online customers as customers in physical stores can access. So there’s no reason to pay higher prices if you’re on a budget – re-order online. - Buy your own equipment
Dumbbells cost a few dollars. Swiss balls are usually around $20. You can often pick up second hand weights equipment from unmotivated home exercisers for less than half its new price. If you only use a limited amount of the gym equipment, it may be cheaper to purchase your own. - Use bodyweight exercises
For the vast majority of beginner and intermediate bodybuilders, there is a lot of value in bodyweight exercises. - Bulk food
Steak might be $32 a kilo when you buy two at a time, but when you got to a butcher and buy half the cow, it is a lot more cost effective! - Grow your own food!
Got a bit of space in your backyard? Put in a chicken coop and you’ve instantly got free, fresh eggs. Put in a vege patch and you’ll be able to feed the chooks and yourself, for nothing but the price of water. - Bulk bodybuilding supplements
Same goes for bodybuilding supplements – you’ll enjoy a significant per-serve saving when you buy 2kg of protein powder compared to 1kg. - Drink water
It’s the only liquid your body really needs … apart from protein shakes! It’s free, it has no carbohydrates or fat, and if you’re on a cutting cycle it will help suppress hunger pangs, for free. - Take a longer gym membership
Saving money often requires taking a longer-term view of your finances, and the same is true in bodybuilding! You’ve probably noticed that it doesn’t cost too much more for a yearly gym membership than for a 6-monthly pass … take the longer option and bodybuilding will be cheaper in the long run. - Invest in your safety and health
Yes, you’re doing it already, simply by bodybuilding! However, you should make sure that bodybuilding itself isn’t the cause of unexpected financial blowouts, by investing in the safety equipment such as grips, correct shoes, etc, paying attention to form and technique and not overtraining. Then you won’t need to pay medical costs or take time off work. - Choose your gym wisely
The biggest difference in your bodybuilding results comes not from the gym you pay a membership to, but the effort you put in while within its walls. Forget the ‘showoff’ factor of certain gyms, and don’t choose a gym just because it’s where all the hot girls go … pick your gym according to low membership fees.
Done all that? Still looking to save some cash? Look into earning a living from bodybuilding by becoming a personal trainer, entering competitions, etc.
Tags: bodybuilding, budget, cheap
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3 Ways to Stack Your Universal Animal Pak
Posted on January 27th, 2012
Universal’s Animal Pak has been an incredibly long-lived bodybuilding supplement. When science changes and knowledge shifts, the old popular supplements shift off the radar … but Animal Pak has been around for over 30 years, because it does such a good job of supporting such basic, essential functions for bodybuilders. There are very few bodybuilding supplements that you can’t stack Animal Pak with – however, there are a few with added vitamins which you shouldn’t take because of toxicity issues. Today we check out 3 ways you can stack your Animal Pak for awesome results!
The Overall Transformation Stack
This stack consists of a quattro of the most awesome bodybuilding supplements ever:
- USP Labs Pink Magic
- USP Labs OxyElite Pro
- USP Labs PowerFULL
- Universal Animal Pak
This stack gives you the testosterone boosting, vasodilating, hard-pumping intra- and post-workout benefits of Pink Magic. Hey, you’ve got to be hard to take a ‘pink’ bodybuilding supplement! PowerFULL is a growth hormone stimulator, helping to increase utilisation of glucose in skeletal muscle rather than adipose tissue, thereby catabolising your fat and anabolising your muscle fibres. OxyElite Pro is a fat burner at heart. This stack is for bodybuilders who have some experience with supplements, but are still at the beginning stages of their goals and looking to lose fat, build muscle, and generally get ripped.
Pink Magic and PowerFULL are the same formulations that have inspired literally hundreds of rave reviews across the net. OxyEliote Pro was recently reformulated for the Australian market, but knowing USP Labs, there will be nothing inferior about this new version of the product!
Cut-Focused Animal Pak Stack
Universal’s bodybuilding supplements are designed to work well together and not to overlap, so there are a couple of fantastic all-Universal stacks you can do. This one is focused on cutting away excess fat, with Animal Pak working silently at its core to help cleanse all the products of weight loss from your system.
- Animal Pak
- Animal Cuts
- Animal Nitro
You should be taking the Animal Pak with both breakfast and dinner. Animal Cuts is best taken between meals, so most people schedule the 2 packets between breakfast and lunch, and lunch and dinner. Your Animal Nitro is taken 30 minutes prior to and after your workout. Make sure you drink plenty of water with this bodybuilding supplement stack, and since you’re aiming to cut, you should be doing your weightlifting first (utilising your muscle’s glycogen stores), then doing your cardio which will start burning fat.
We don’t have a special twin-pack for this stack like we do for Animal Pak + Stak … but the individual prices are extremely competitive.
The Getting Big, Fast Stack
If you’re aim is simply size, size and more size, try this Animal Pak stack:
- Animal Pak
- Animal Stak
- Animal Nitro
Take 1 Animal Pak per day with a meal, plus one Animal Stak serving 30-45 minutes before training. Animal Nitro is a post-workout supplement, and if you feel that one serve is not doing the trick with recovery assistance, take a second one first thing in the morning also.
Remember, you can purchase your Animal Pak and Animal Stak in a twin pack form Nutrition Warehouse, and get a discount.
Tags: animal pak, stacking, stacks, universal
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Questions About Muscle Pharm Combat Powder Answered
Posted on January 23rd, 2012
If you’re looking at Muscle Pharm Combat Powder as your trusty sword for going into battle at the gym, you’ll want to know every inch of the bodybuilding supplement inside out! It’s a popular time release protein and Combat Powder has some added extras, which can complicate stacking protocols, etc. So today we go through some of the questions we are most frequently asked about Muscle Pharm Combat Powder.
Can Combat Powder Replace a Whey Protein Plus Casein?
We have quite a few customers taking a stack of Optimum Whey and Optimum Casein proteins. Sometimes these lifters wonder if Combat Powder can replace both of these protein types. In short, yes – Combat Powder is a timed release protein that includes both fast-acting (whey-type) and slow-acting (casein-type) proteins, all in the one product.
What’s the Best Combat Powder Flavour to Take With Water?
Combat Powder can be more agreeable with milk, but generally the ‘sweeter’ and ‘fattier’ flavours are the ones that taste better, and mix better, with plain water. Check out Cookies and Cream and Choc Peanut Butter if you’re cutting and want to mix your Combat with water. If you are having taste issues, put a couple of ice cubes in once you’ve mixed your shake.
Why is Combat Powder So High in Cholesterol?
Sometimes people aer concerned that there is 30% of the RDO for cholesterol in Muscle Pharm Combat Powder. A significant proportion of this is LDL (good cholesterol!) from the whey protein concentrate in the blend. You should also remember that unless your body is prone to high blood cholesterol levels, the amount of dietary cholesterol has little to do with blood levels. So, Combat away without fear of heart disease.
How Should I Mix My Combat Powder?
With vigorous shaking, the casein and egg protein ingredients in Combat Powder can cause a bit of foaminess in your blend. Yet without that vigorous shaking, the supplement can sometimes clump! If you have problems with mixability, try these tips:
- Add more water
- Use milk (or non fat milk if you’re cutting) instead
- Use a blender bottle specially designed for mixing protein shakes
- Use a blender (gold standard!)
Can I Use Combat Powder as a Recovery Product?
If recovery is your main focus (and muscle anabolism is less of a concern), you’ll be better off with a product other than Combat Powder. Combat Powder’s major ingredients are all proteins; the BCAAs and glutamine are the main recovery products in Combat Powder. Take these by themselves if all you really want is a faster and easier recovery!
Can I Use Combat Powder as a Meal Replacement?
Yes, you can. Most sustained release proteins can be used as a meal replacement, and Combat Powder will keep you full for a LONG time! However, you should eat slowly if you’ve been replacing meals with Combat Powder, to ensure you don’t fill yourself up too quickly.
What Time of Day Should I Take Combat Powder?
This is flexible since Combat Powder is a sustained release protein! We generally recommend you take it sometime between breakfast and mid-afternoon.
Tags: Bodybuilding Supplements, combat powder, muscle pharm, Supplement Reviews, supplement spotlight, supplements
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10 Easy Tips for a Smooth Supplement Shake Mix!
Posted on January 23rd, 2012
Clumping, foaming, layers of powder left on top that just won’t blend in … mixing problems can really ruin the experience of a good bodybuilding supplement. Poor texture turns what would have been a great taste into a horrible, gag-worthy experience. Add to that the fact that many shakes are designed to be activated in liquid, and you might not be getting the efficacy that you want from a badly mixed shake. So, here’s 8 easy tips for getting the right consistency out of your bodybuilding supplement shake!
- Use a Shaker Bottle
A high quality shaker bottle will have a leak-proof lid and a mixing ball, and may even be specially shaped inside to encourage turbulence in your mixture. Mixing up supplement shakes with a fork just doesn’t cut it! - Blend When Possible
If you can, use a blender to mix up your bodybuilding supplement shake. If your gym is relatively close to home, you may be able to blend and drink your pre- and post-workout supplements at home after blending them. - Try Milk
If your supplement has fats in it, the powder may be more soluble in milk (which contains fats) than it is in water. - Try Water
If your bodybuilding supplement doesn’t contain fats, though, water will probably break the powder down more effectively! - Try More Water
If you just can’t get those clumps to dissolve, it’s possible that you’ve got a saturated solution. Try adding some more water and see if it takes care of it. - Try Softer Water
Do you use rainwater at home? If you do, your water might be so hard that it doesn’t mix effectively. Try a water softener, or buy some distilled water from the supermarket specifically for your shakes. - Warm it up
Using warm water to mix your bodybuilding supplements with means that the water is effectively more ‘energised’, and better able to break down clumps. Same reason we wash our hands in warm water! If you’re like most people and hate the taste of warm milky protein shake, though, add a couple of ice cubes after you’ve mixed it and wait a minute. - Half-and-Half
Some bodybuilding supplements respond well to being blended with half the amount of liquid first, stirred and shaken, then having the rest of the liquid added. Make sure you add the liquid first! - Add the Water to the Powder
This is a chef’s trick for smooth consistencies if you’re mixing in a glass or open-topped cup with a fork. Add a small amount of water to all of the powder, then add a little more. Keep adding … and your shake should be more evenly mixed. - Add Oats
Especially good for post-workout bodybuilding supplements, add oats to your shake for both the extra carbs and the extra agitation it provides to your shake while mixing. - Deal With It
Unfortunately, protein powders are not like ice cream milkshakes. They do taste a bit powdery. They do clump a little bit. They do have quite a granular feeling on the tongue. If you’re new to supplements and the above don’t seem to fix your ‘problem’, you might simply need to readjust your expectations a little!
Some of this advice can seem a little contradictory because different shakes respond to different techniques. Try them all!
Tags: Bodybuilding Supplements, mixing, protein
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Holographic and Other Snake Oil Bracelets in Bodybuilding
Posted on January 20th, 2012
You would never have caught Serge Nubret, Jack LaLanne or Bernarr McFadden wearing JEWELLERY as a bodybuilding aid! But times have changed, haven’t they? Haven’t they?!
Yes, times certainly have changed, in both the bodybuilding scene and the world in general. However one thing remains the same – jewellery can no more help you win a bodybuilding contest than it can cure your arthritis or make you lose weight. Yet we see a lot of devotion to ionized, holographic and other bracelets in bodybuilding circles. The manufacturers have used some unique tricks to convince bodybuilders that they need these bracelets. Today we bust the myth of these holographic bracelets wide open. Don’t worry, you can save your cash for something that really will help your bodybuilding – like a tub of protein powder!
Bracelets for Bodybuilders – The Claims
Before the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission made one of the main manufacturers of holographic bracelets completely change their false marketing, they claimed that holographic bracelets could:
- Increase sporting ability
- By resonating with and responding to the body’s energy fields
How the Demonstrations Work
Have you ’seen holographic bracelets working’ with your own eyes? You may have seen a neat applied kinesiology trick … but not one that will translate to actual improved balance when you’ve got 100kgs of barbell resting on your traps.
In the demonstrations, when volunteers are wearing the bracelet, the sellers will be pushing slightly in towards their body and towards the centre of gravity. The difference is subtle – so that an audience will not notice and neither will the volunteer.
You can see a Youtube video of how holographic bracelet sellers can trick an audience and the volunteer into thinking that their balance, flexibility and power has been improved by searching for “Applied Kinesiology – How It’s Done” at Youtube.
Why Bodybuilders Think Holographic Bracelets Work
You and I both know that bodybuilding is as much of a mental sport as it is a physical one. If you don’t feel ‘on your game’, your performance in the gym drops sharply.
Holographic bracelets can provide a placebo, convincing you that you have extra strength and improved balance. That simple mental difference actually does have the power to give you improved strength and balance.
HOWEVER, it is critical to understand that the difference comes from within YOU. It is not a function of a shiny piece of metallic plastic inside a rubber bracelet! And is that really worth paying $60 for?
The ACCC and Retraction of Holographic Bracelet Claims
At the end of 2010, however, the ACCC required the Power Balance company to retract all of its marketing claims. The company subsequently put this statement up on its website:
“”In our advertising we stated that Power Balance wristbands improved your strength, balance and flexibility. We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974. If you feel you have been misled by our promotions, we wish to unreservedly apologize and offer a full refund”.
The US version of the website makes absolutely no claims about performance.
If you have purchased a holographic bracelet specifically from this company, you are still entitled to a full refund. However, if you purchased a cheaper knockoff on eBay, you are out of luck.
In the meantime, know that you CAN have the extra strength and power that holographic bracelet sellers say you can. Just as Dorothy learnt in the Wizard of Oz, the power is (and always was) within you!
Tags: balance, flexibility, holographic bracelets, science
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Boomerbuilding Guide: Part 4
Posted on January 20th, 2012
We’ve been through the overall approach to training, to diet and to fitness in general for bodybuilders. There is just one piece of the puzzle left for you to fit in – that is the bodybuilding supplements that are most needed by bodybuilders that are into or past middle age. Bodybuilding puts extraordinary demands on your body – and you need to respond to those demands with non-standard forms of nutrition. Today we check out the general supplement recommendations for any beginner bodybuilders, and then look at how to modify the supplementation regime as your body matures!
Essential Bodybuilding Supplements for Boomerbuilders
The 5 most important supplements for ANY bodybuilder are:
- Protein
- Creatine
- Fish oil
- Caffeine (or similar pre-workout energy boost)
- Multivitamins
Supplements which will be important for most over-50 bodybuilders in addition to the above include:
- Testosterone enhancing bodybuilding supplements (eg, tribulus terrestris)
- Glycerol
- Calcium and vitamin D
- Folic acid
Protein and Creatine: Feed Your Muscles
These are essential supplements for every bodybuilder, not just the over-50s. If you want to grow larger muscles, you need to provide the protein to build those muscles, and the creatine to facilitate energy conversion within those muscles.
Your diet should be very high protein, however protein is still needed as a bodybuilding supplement because your training will demand more protein than can be provided through diet alone. The same is true of creatine – diet provides enough for a standard amount of activity, but not for a sportsperson or bodybuilder.
Fish Oil: Support Recovery
The omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil have anti-inflammatory properties, and are being investigated for their role in supporting a variety of body functions. Remember, you can get your daily allowance of fish oil from real fish. Unlike protein and creatine which need supplementation, all the fish oil you need can be obtained from your diet.
Caffeine: Intensify Workouts
The Australian Institute of Sport recommends it to their athletes. Even if you don’t use it in the standard ephedrine-caffeine-aspirin (ECA) stack, caffeine will give you a fantastic pre-workout boost.
You can also choose proprietary pre-workout bodybuilding supplements, which may or may not contain caffeine, but produce similar effects.
Vitamins and minerals
A multivitamin is a good support for every bodybuilder, but older bodybuilders specifically need extra calcium and vitamin D, as well as extra folic acid.
Multivitamins support all the extra work your body is doing. For older bodybuilders, calcium and vitamin D are needed to maintain good bone density. Bone density naturally declines in middle age, and if your bones are fragile bodybuilding is especially dangerous. Folic acid supplements help to keep homocysteine levels in check; excess homocysteine is linked with high protein diets in middle age and also with heart attacks.
Hormone Support
One of the big reasons that the young guys in the gym seem to explode in size with little effort compared to older bodybuilders is hormone levels. Testosterone is a sort of magic bullet for bodybuilders, and if your body is not making enough there are now plenty of bodybuilding supplements that can enhance your levels without the horrible side effects of anabolic steroids.
Glycerol
This bodybuilding supplement supports hydration through intense workouts, pulling water from the extracellular fluid compartment into the muscles. In boomerbuilders, who are prone to dehydration, glycerol can be an essential part of your bodybuilding supplement stack.
Tags: baby boomers, Bodybuilding Supplements, creatine, pre workout, protein, recovery
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Building Without the Blues: 9 Ways for Bodybuilders to Avoid Depression
Posted on January 18th, 2012
Bodybuilding has a strange sort of unexpected, yet symbiotic relationship with depression. Bodybuilders are positive, goal oriented and driven towards achievement. Not the typical vision of depression … and yet, the search for perfection and control over what is inherently a very complex and unpredictable entity actually means there are many bodybuilders out there suffering with the middle-aged female disease. Want to avoid the rollercoaster of daily antidepressants and difficult relationships? If you are currently feeling good, here are some strategies to help you stay like that.
- Go train outside
Working, socialising and training indoors can all add up to a feeling of being trapped within four walls. Heading outside to train is symbolic of freedom … and that can be enough to help stabilise your mood and prevent a spiral into depression - Hit the bike, beach or pavement for cardio
Different hormones and chemical messengers are released within your body when you do cardiovascular exercise as opposed to resistance training. Cardio can support both heart AND brain health! - Cycle your bodybuilding supplements
Bodybuilding supplements often affect your mood as well as your physical performance, and chronically altered mood states can be a recipe for depression. Don’t take pre-workout boosters or testosterone boosters long-term – always cycle these bodybuilding supplements. - Go gently on the weight loss
Rapid weight loss can cause severe hormone fluctuations. Be patient and work towards dropping that extra flab overlying your abs through exercise rather than through dieting, a strategy less likely to cause you to crash emotionally as well as physically. - Talk to your parents
Do either of your parents suffer from depression? As a psychological and neurological disorder, depression can be passed own through both genetics and learned responses. If your parents are depressed, you should be especially proactive about - Talk about “IT”
Having been the victim of physical, emotional or sexual abuse in the past increases your chance of developing depression by many times. Grief does the same. Psychotherapy or counselling can help break the natural progression of abuse to depression. - Resolve conflicts before they get to the ‘big’ stage
It is far easier to resolve conflicts in your personal relationships while there is still plenty of good will in the relationship. Before you can work yourself into a rage, work at resolving your differences with people. If those differences are not resolvable … move on. - Go easy on the alcohol
Alcohol makes you feel good while you’re drinking it – but causes an inevitable crash which can promote depression once the afterglow has faded. You can drink – but avoid ‘getting drunk’ to help you avoid depression. - Embrace being human
Bodybuilders are often in search of perfection – and perfectionism can frequently lead to depression since you’re stuck with an inherently imperfect brain and body. While you’re still feeling good about yourself, it is time to embrace your imperfections as part of your charm!
Tags: bodybuilding, depression
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The Lab and Your Life: BioScience in November 2011
Posted on January 18th, 2012
Bodybuilders don’t much resemble the bespectacled, thin men in white coats that work in labs … but the two types of people work together and for each other, like it or not! You can waste a lot of time following the, ahem, “wisdom” of broscience that hangs like a miasma in the gym air. Or, you can educate yourself with what the real scientists know about the body … and make your training, diet and bodybuilding supplement decisions based on that! Today we explore what the lab has discovered relevant to bodybuilders lives in the last month of December 2011.
Skip the Snack to Cut Effectively
For women on a cutting cycle, researchers have found that those who snack between breakfast and lunch lose less weight on average than those who don’t indulge. Over a 12 month study, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre team found that snackers lost an average of 7% of their total body weight, and non-snackers lost an average of 11%. The phenomenon may have been due to the fact that mid-morning snakcing is a reflection of recreational eating habits – so you might not just need to cut out 1 snack, you need to pay attention to your entire attitude to food.
More Sleep + Less TV = Healthier Body Weight
The greater a child’s screen time (either television or computer), and the less they sleep, the more problems they are likely to have with maintaining a healthy body weight. The findings make good sense for adults, too – if you’re finding it hard to lose those jelly rolls over your abs and get the right amount of arm definition, you should check your screen and pillow time too!
Red Meat Bad, Oily Fish Good?
Spanish researchers recently found that high red meat consumption was linked with increased levels of heart disease, while high oily fish consumption was linked with lowered risk of developing diabetes.
However, the research is based on ‘usual’ consumption of red meat … replete with all its saturated fat. Don’t stress, steak is still an essential part of the bodybuilding diet – just trim those gooey edges!
The Nuttier You Are, the Happier You’ll Be
A study published in the Journal of Proteome Research has found that nut consumption can boost serotonin levels – improving nerve signal transmission, heart health and general mood. The study was specifically done on sufferers of metabolic syndrome. As long as you account for their massive calorie count, nuts have been found to have a huge range of health benefits in many other studies also.
Caffeine in Water Correlates With Poo Levels
If you get a buzz from drinking your tap water, don’t be glad that you can send less money on ECA-type bodybuilding supplements. Scientists have found that high levels of caffeine in water correlate strongly with contamination by human bodily fluids. Yuck. More worryingly, caffeine pollution is widespread throughout urban areas. You can either take probiotics for gut protection as part of your bodybuilding supplement regime, or install a water filter.
Tags: bodybuilding, diet, fitness, healthy, science
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