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Phi-Life Series: Brad Pilon Competes in a Powerlifting Contest & Shares his Thoughts on Powerlifting Training

December 31, 2012 by

Today we bring you another podcast from our phi-life series.

Today’s topic: Should You Train Like a Powerlifter?

Is it beneficial to train like a powerlifter? Listen to the podcast below the article to find out.

If you have been listening to our uncensored podcasts you understand that the pictures of bodybuilders and fitness competitors in magazines are taken at the day of a competition and still require some post-production work after the shoot. Nevertheless, the look and conditioning they have for a show is an extreme look that may not resemble what they look like on a daily basis.

But have you ever given the same thought toward powerlifters? Do you find yourself comparing your bench numbers to their’s? Do you sometimes wonder if you should train like them; pausing during the bench press, performing deep squats and other  powerlifting feats?

The reported weights a powerlifter handles at a competition are also different compared to what they use during their regular workout.

This is something you may not have considered if you have never attended or competed in a powerlifting competition.

This is exactly why Brad Pilon has decided to give it a try. To turn things up a notch, he even fasted prior to the competition to prove his point that fasting won’t decrease your strength.

There is a difference between the conditioning and look you can regularly maintain  as opposed to preparing to step on a bodybuilding stage for competition. Likewise, it is apparent that there is also a difference between a regular workout and a competition-style lift.

In today’s podcast your hosts Brad Pilon and John Barban will discuss the difference between the lifts performed during a powerlifting competition and  daily training for strength and conditioning.

You will also learn and discover:

  • A story of a powerlifter who had to have a different gym membership for days he wanted to do direct arm training, because he would be laughed at by the “powerlifting community”
  • Whether you should you be training like a powerlifter
  • Is it worth it to enter a powerlifting contest
  • If there are dangers associated with the powerlifting culture
  • How will your strength be affected by your fasts
  • Is powerlifting simply about working out, then showing up and lifting as much as you can, or is there is more to it
  • What is gym strength and how it is different from competition strength
  • If there is a difference between a powerlifter’s and a bodybuilder’s muscle tissue’s
  • If training for aesthetics is something you should hide from others and be ashamed of
  • Brad Pilon‘s competition weight (the answer may surprise you) and his stats for the bench press and deadlift
  • Whether  or not powerlifters are a bunch of angry dudes or really nice and friendly guys

Listen to the podcast here:

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Filed Under: health, Phi Life, Podcasts Tagged With: , , , , ,

Phi-Life Series: Can Fasting and Training Add 20 Years or More to Your Life Span?

December 24, 2012 by

Today we bring you another podcast from our phi-life series.

Today’s topic: Life Extension

Life extension and anti aging products have become very popular in the last few years, a few of these products include: many types of health foods, supplements, workouts, drugs, and even special therapies.

One of the biggest claims actually comes from intermittent fasting when used as a tool for extending one’s life span, some say that it can add decades to your life.

The question is, can it really add that many years to your life? This is what John Barban and Brad Pilon will answer for you today.

What’s the secret to life extension?

Technically, there are only two ways we can approach the anti aging process. First, the obvious one is to create protocols around your diet, workouts, drugs and therapies and wait for the results.  However, the issue with this approach is that you need at least one generation to have valid data and more importantly you can’t tell people what to do for the rest of their lives. The only way this approach can work is to study mice, keep in mind that mice are very different from humans, so not everything that applies to mice will apply to us.

The second approach is to reverse engineer this process and to actually study the people that have lived the longest (over 100 years).

Strangely enough, there is very little they have in common. There is no single workout or diet you can copy and hope to live for as long as them.

There are a few common indicators such as:

  • Low Stress Levels
  • Activity (both mental and physical)
  • Low Bodyfat Percentage

Apart from these three things, each individual lived a different lifestyle. In other words, you can’t guarantee that a low carb diet or powerlifting type of training will help you to live to be a 100.

The even greater question to ask  is will lifestyle changes help you live longer or are you at mercy of your genetics and faith?

If so, what is the  best  approach to take?

This is what John and Brad will attempt to answer for you today in our podcast.

You will also learn and discover:

  • Is it even possible to study anti aging and have any measurable data?
  • Does modern science currently offer anything you could use to delay the aging process?
  • What is your best bet when it comes to living a greater QUANTITY and QUALITY form of life?
  • What’s the magical age that determines you will  have a good chance of living to be a 100?
  • What are some things you can control that will help you improve your life and live longer?
  • Can you make the aging process enjoyable?

Listen to the podcast here:

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Subscribe: Android | RSS

Filed Under: health, Phi Life, Podcasts Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Eat for “Flavor” & The 6 Step Recovery Method from Orthorexia

September 19, 2012 by

Here’s the second part of this month’s UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2 on Orthorexia.

Check out the first part here: The Side Effect of Modern Society and Even Scientists Can’t Escape

What we covered in the first part:

  • We’ve talked about how certain foods can completely mess up your personality and social identity
  • You learned why people in the fitness industry feel superiority over you because of their diet choices
  • You discovered why you should bother tracking and testing things related to nutrition and not just training
  • You learned about the connection between people suffering from orthorexia and drug addicts
  • You also discovered what’s really in the root of the search for healthy eating and if that goal is really achievable
  • You learned that orthorexia is a marketing driven eating disorder and that the food and fitness industry are making billions just from people getting fatter every year

Let Go of the Good Food/Bad Food Belief

You need to learn to let go of the good food, bad food belief and dump all the bad food lists. And instead start focusing on the foods that taste good, are filling and make you feel great.

It’s a mind shift and a whole different perception, especially if you have been exposed to the mainstream fitness media for the last couple of decades.

Ask yourself this question: ” What do I like to eat?” And eat exactly that!

A lot of people will be thinking that this statement means you can eat burgers and ice cream all day long. Well, that’s not true. Nobody can do go on a diet like that and that’s a pretty boring lifestyle to have.

There are lots of food choices, if chicken with broccoli and chocolate with ice cream are the only meals you know you are limiting yourself and preventing yourself from tasting some amazing foods that are also rich in nutrients.

Get a variety in your diet and start experimenting with different cuisines. Just ask yourself, what exotic meal you haven’t tried yet?

Believe it or not, there are other foods and meals outside the “healthy” recommended by fitness media and “unhealthy junk food” like chocolate or burgers. There are a lot of other options and they can be very tasty.

Today John Barban and Brad Pilon will show you how to switch  from good/bad thinking into “eating what I really like and what makes me feel good” and “what would be the best and most tasty option for me?“.

If you’ve heard the first podcast and you’ve read so far then you understand what’s the point of it, but you may still be unsure of the whole process, so before you listen to today’s episode where John and Brad discuss this in great detail, let’s look over the steps you can take to recover from Orthorexia and start eating for flavor:

  1. Realize that any health message is a marketing message
  2. Understand that you won’t cheat death, and especially not by choosing different foods
  3. Create new food lists, but assign them different meanings (e.g. rank them by flavor)
  4. Make a list of foods that makes you bloated or that you are allergic to
  5. Evaluate every food on those lists based on how much you enjoy it, how many calories it contains etc.
  6. [you will have to listen to the interview for this one :)]
There is a lot of choice outside the traditional healthy and unhealthy lists AKA good foods/bad foods. European and Asian cuisines are very rich in different flavors and tastes, just start experimenting. Today we are going to give you the permission to do that and explain you why it’s beneficial and how to go about it.

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Filed Under: Fat Loss, Food, health, Podcasts, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , ,

“Bodybuilding” vs “Fitness”

August 24, 2012 by

“Bodybuilding” is a word that may conjure up thoughts of drugs, the idea of taking things to an extreme level and being excessive in nature in general. All of this is basically true, and bodybuilding as an idea has never been anything but exactly what the word means “building your body”. It doesn’t mean ‘being healthy’ or ‘being fit’, it’s not about performance metrics, or ‘fair play’ or anything else. It’s just building a body, pure and simple.

We should all be doing some bodybuilding in our routine.

I think a degree of confusion enters the picture when people try to match bodybuilding with health. But ‘health’ is essentially a meaningless term unless you define it’s parameters and boundaries and what you actually mean when you say the word. Most people can’t really put their finger on what they mean when they say the word ‘health’ or ‘healthy’ and especially so when they try to link it to bodybuilding in some way.

The inherent disconnect between the words ‘bodybuilding’ and ‘health’ give rise to the need for another words…enter ‘fitness’.

“Fitness” has two well accepted uses/definitions.

1. The survivability/adaptability of genes or an organism within it’s environment that allows it to successfully reproduce.

2. The ability of the heart muscle to deliver large volumes of blood to working muscles over an extended period of time is referred to as ‘cardiovascular fitness’.

It seems to me that the word ‘fitness’ gets used to describe all manner of things related to exercise, diet, performance, sports, and bodybuilding to describe things that it cannot describe.

Is a distance runner ‘fit’ compared to a powerlifter? Or are they both ‘fit’ for their chosen sport?

When you think of the word ‘fit’ or ‘fitness’ you likely have a mental image of a specific bodyshape, a lifestyle, the physical abilities of this imagined person and what the are like.

You probably imagine someone who has relatively low bodyfat, is muscular but not too big, can run 5k in a decent time, can lift above average weights, doesn’t smoke, only drinks occasionally, and maintains what most would call a ‘clean’ diet.

No doubt this is essentially the image that the ‘diet and fitness’ industry is selling. The word ‘fitness’ ends up being taken to mean more than its true definition. It becomes an idea of an entire life and identity instead of the true definition of what it really means (see definition 2 above).

“Bodybuilding” on the other hand is a term that tells you exactly what it’s trying to describe “building a body”…this includes all the warts and not so noble ideas that might come with it including drugs, extremism, and the odd subculture that surrounds it. And in most cases, bodybuilders don’t mind at all as they’ve never set out be the most ‘fit’ person, or the most healthy person…all they ever wanted to do was build their body…and that is exactly what they’re doing.

I think we can borrow identity and ideas from both words. I like building my body, I also like the idea of building up some degree of cardiovascular fitness for whatever potential ‘health’ benefits it might have and general sense of vigor and well being it might help produce.

However I don’t care to be the biggest or the fittest, as these are never ending paths.

You should always be looking for a balance between building your body, and building up your level of cardiovascular fitness.

Finding the sweet spot that produces the body and performance you want given the time you are willing to spend should always be the goal.

 

John

 

Filed Under: health, Muscle Building Tagged With: , ,

The “Photo-Shoot Ready” Recipe: Four Key Ingredients Needed to Prepare your Contest Photo Submissions

August 10, 2012 by

The clock is ticking… The deadline for AT8 Contest Photo Submissions is rapidly approaching.

If you’re participating in the 12 week transformation contest, you’re putting the finishing touches on your “Final Look”.

If you’re in the 20 week transformation contest, you’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, stay the course.

For many contestants, this is the first workout program that you’ve followed consistently.  Thank you for your commitment to the Adonis Index Workout Systems and more importantly for your commitment to your own personal goals.

Win or lose, regardless of your contest placement, your transformation is a personal achievement and you should be very proud of your accomplishment.

All of your valiant efforts over this contest period stem from the synergistic combination of proper nutrition, strength training, and cardio.

One way to celebrate this achievement is by capturing some stunning images of your new & improved physique.

There are several tweaks or methods one can apply to enhance their overall appearance.

To keep things simple, yet effective I’ve chosen to focus on the top four ingredients of any “successful” fitness photo-shoot. So before you step in front of the camera, you can assure yourself that on command, you will be “Photo-Shoot Ready”.

The “Photo-Shoot” Ready Recipe: Four Key Ingredients to Prepare for your Contest Photo Submissions

 

1.    Conditioning: Shirt-On vs Shirt-Off? What’s the Difference?

 When it comes to conditioning, there are two different worlds we live in.

There is the “Shirt-On” world where most people reside and then there is the “Shirt-Off” world which is displayed on many a beach or magazine cover.

Neither world is bad but there are rules for living in both.

A person who has good conditioning will possess these three  features:  separation in the muscle groups, striations, and vascularity.  Unfortunately, in “Shirt-On” world it is is very difficult to tell the conditioning of a person because clothes cover the body.

A man who looks muscular “Shirt-On”  may not have the same conditioning as a man who  “Shirt-Off”  is ripped but not as impressive  in the same outfit.

In regards to this contest you will be judged by the rules & standards of  “Shirt-Off” world where conditioning is paramount.

As you’ve followed the AI programs, you have heard of the the term “Golden Ratio” or your body’s ideal  shoulder-to-waist (AI) ratio.  This transformation contest measures your starting and final AI-ratio to evaluate your progress over the 12 or 20 week period.

Nevertheless, here are a few suggestions to enhance your conditioning for your Contest Photos:

1. Mild Water Depletion: Sometimes your body retains water on the outer layer of your skin which can impact your conditioning. To help rid the body of excess water eat  foods such as asparagus and oatmeal or drink a low sugar green tea beverage 2-3 days prior to your photo-shoot for best results.

Additionally, take photos of yourself  in this state early in the morning as opposed to later in the day.

2. Fasted State: Intermittent fasting  has also been known to enhance conditioning.

Your skin is tighter  and muscle appear more defined as your body’s fat burning hormones are elevated.

To capture yourself  in the fasted state take photos first thing in the morning upon waking up.  If your following the “Eat Stop Eat” or the “The Reverse Taper Diet” regimen try planning your photo-shoot about 6-8 hours into your fasted state.

3. Carb-Loaded:  The “Carb-Loaded” state is the direct opposite  of being fasted.

However, they both create two very aesthetic looks which are ideal for a photo-shoot.  In the carb-loaded state you body resembles more of a full-muscular look which also helps to tighten your skin and improve vascularity.

To achieve the “carb-loaded” effect choose between one or two  of the following foods: honey (2 tablespoons), dark chocolate (4-6 squares), a peach (medium-size), or banana (medium-size) about 15-30 min prior to your photo-shoot and get your body pumped up with some simple exercises (i.e. push-ups, resistance band curls, etc.)

You still have a few days to experiment with what technique works best for you.  So take several photos in the various states and see which one’s turn out best.

2.    Posing: If you got it, make sure you show it…Properly!

Posing is the art of positioning your body in a specific way to present the best visual effect.

How you pose is very important.

In traditional bodybuilding competitions if a judge cannot see a certain part of your body they cannot judge it. Or even worse they will assume this area is under-developed.  We all have strengths and weaknesses in certain parts of our body.

Some muscles respond better to the training than others.

Posing is also a way to creatively display the parts of your body that are most flattering to your physique.

Practice, Practice, Practice! In front of a Mirror is preferred… Here is a “quick refresher” video of  the standard front, back and side shots that mimic your ‘before’ pictures and are required for the contest.

Remember “Pose Like the Pros!”

CLICK HERE TO WATCH POSING TUTORIAL VIDEO

3.    Tanning: The Icing or Glaze on the Cake

The use of tanners and oils will also  improve your final look.  It has been observed that the darker your skin, the more definition can be seen.

This is most evident in bodybuilding competitions when two competitors of different ethnic backgrounds appear equally dark but are of different skin tone.

You may already tan regularly but if you don’t, there are some “sun-less” alternatives to enhance definition  for example, body oils, spray tans, sunless tanners, etc.  It’s always best to begin with a moderate amount and increase from there.

Your Final Contest Photos are a composite of: Conditioning, Posing, Tanning, and Lighting. Capture your physique at its best!

4.    Photography & Lighting: Almost Live

Since this is an Online and not a “Live” competition your photos will be all the judges have to grade you on.

While a professional photo-shoot is not mandatory,  it’s very important to  select an area whether indoor or outdoor with ample amount of lighting.

If you decide to use extra lighting, the best results were achieved  from past contestants when the lighting was balanced on either side and were pointed upwards at a 45-degree angle.

A solid black or white backdrop is preferred for indoor photos to help eliminate distractions and keep the focus on your physique.

Feel free to be fun and creative in your outdoor poses.  The bottom line is  that you’ve worked hard on your physique and you want the camera to tell the “whole” story.

In conclusion, remember these Four Key Ingredients in order to become “Photo-Shoot Ready” on Command:

  1. Conditioning
  2. Posing
  3. Tanning
  4. Photography/Lighting

Very Respectfully,

Allen Elliott

Filed Under: body image, Contest, Goals, health, Identity, Sage Advice, Transformation Tagged With: , ,

The Truth About Dietary Fat: You Can’t Learn This From a Label

October 19, 2011 by

Dietary fat is one of the least understood macro nutrients but it’s also the one that many people are the most afraid of. Over the past 50 years researchers have learned a great deal about dietary fat but there are still just as many unanswered questions.

If you’ve done any casual health and fitness reading you’ve probably come to some of these conclusions:

Is this good or bad?

Saturated fat is bad

Trans fats are REALLY bad

Monounsaturated fats are good

Poly unsaturated fats are REALLY good

From there you’ve likely heard about fish oils, “omega” fats, and even the difference between Omega 6 and Omega 3 fats…if you’re really advanced in your understand of the Omega 3 fats you’ll also understand that there are different forms of “omega” fats and that only specific forms provide the purported health benefits of lowering cholesterol, raising HDL, and lowering triglycerides and LDL. You might even know what the specific essential fatty acids are that provide the health benefit that are basis of Omega 3 claims namely DHA (Docospentanoic Acid) and EPA (Eicosapentanoic acid).

Even if you understand all of this information, the real question is how do you go about eating food on a daily basis and how do you choose where the fat will appear in your diet. Do you treat food as food and simply eat a sensible a varied mixed diet, or do you treat your food like a drug that needs to be dosed, and specifically dose your fat based on it’s chemical composition?

Many people do the latter. We search for food items that a a specific contest of poly unsaturated fatty acids. We’ll choose olive oil over other forms of oil, butter over margarine, margarine over butter…neither? Fish Oil tablets, salmon for its fatty acid content, flax seed oil because it has ‘omega 3’s’, coconut oil or milk because it’s supposed to have good fat.

Do all of these considerations actually amount to any real benefit of it’s it much ado about nothing?

Developing a grounded view of food as food (and potentially medicine) but NOT as a drug is the key component to understanding what to do about dietary fat.

In today’s uncensored podcast, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about dietary fat and how to have clear view of how much mind space and plate space it should take up in your life and your diet.

John

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Filed Under: Food, health, Podcasts, Uncensored Podcasts S01 Tagged With: , , ,
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