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Phi-Life Series: Muscle Building & The Anabolic Continuum

January 14, 2013 by

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

Phi-Life is a series of podcasts where John Barban and Brad Pilon discuss their ideas and concepts on the topics of muscle building, fat loss and health. In a nutshell they are just thinking out loud and recording it for your benefit.

Today’s topic: Muscle Building & The Anabolic Continuum

 

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Where are you in the Anabolic Continuum?

 

Muscle Building is one of the most elusive goals of  bodybuilders and gym-goers alike.  Furthermore, it has puzzled scientist’s in research studies who have been unable to effectively control and/or determine the results of a muscle-building research study.

When it comes to muscle building, it’s important to identify where an individual is in the Anabolic Continuum.

The Anabolic Continuum takes into account the several factors that determines your potential for muscle building. A few factors for example are: height, weight, age, and years of training experience.

Your ability to build muscle follows a very logical progression. Specifically, with your response to weight training.

Today John Barban and Brad Pilon will discuss further intricacies of the Anabolic Continuum, as well as provide some tips and suggestions to ensure you remain on track for your training and muscle building goals.

You will also learn and discover:

  • What are confounding variables and how they can impact a research study
  • The difference between responders and non-responders in research studies
  • How to predict your lean muscle mass
  • How to determine where you are on the anabolic continuum
  • Are you in the right place in your weight training life
  • Is there a specific way that you should be training
  • What are the knowns and unknowns when evaluating an individual for a research study

Listen to the podcast here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Android | RSS

Filed Under: Muscle Building, Phi Life, Podcasts Tagged With: , , ,

Nutrition & Training Triage: Optimal vs. Practical vs. Ideal

January 9, 2013 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic: Nutrition & Training Triage: Optimal vs. Practical vs. Ideal

 

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What is the Optimal approach for nutrition & training? What is Practical? What is Ideal?

When it comes to nutrition & training advice, how do you sort and prioritize what’s best for you?

 

The medical term known as triage, means the determination of priorities for action in an emergency. However, this word is from a french origin and is also defined as the “action of assorting according to quality.”

Both of these definitions are applicable to John Barban’s & Brad Pilon’s discussion on defining what is optimal, practical, or at best Ideal.

With the rise of obesity it’s safe to say that an emergency is on our hands when it comes to our health and we must take action.  But what nutrition & training advice should we follow to attain optimal results?

The ever growing amount of new supplements coming to market only makes this task more daunting. From nutritional strategies consisting of: macro/micro nutrients, slow/fast proteins, and the highly controversial thoughts on meal timing, a person could become easily overwhelmed.

Things aren’t much better on the training side of the house as we are faced with a myriad of factors to take into account. Ranging from: Workout Intensity, Volume, length of actual workouts, and the rest/recovery period.

Why all these things may be optimal, are they ideal or even practical?

Today’s podcast will strive to analyze the ever moving target  known as optimal and provide you with ideal advice to build muscle within your lifestyle.

 

Panel of judges

Each nutrition & training expert has their own opinion on what is optimal. Whose advice is right or you?

In today’s UNCENSORED training, you will also discover:

  • Who you really are comparing yourself to
  • How to prevent goal hi-jacking when someone else’s optimal advice is presented to you
  • How Drugs and Genetics skew the curve of optimal
  • How to debunk a fitness claim  giving optimal device
  • Where Top Level Strength & Conditioning coaches get their training advice from
  • How research papers and marketing claims justify their nutrition & training advice to appear optimal for the masses
  • If optimal nutrition & training actually exists and what that actually looks like
  • Whether Hollywood has an influence on what is considered optimum
  • How to manage your ideal training schedule
  • How to focus on your specific results

 

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Filed Under: body image, Goals, Muscle Building, Podcasts, Sage Advice, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

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:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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

Is Fasting Bad for You?

December 19, 2012 by

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic: Intermittent Fasting, Intermittent Feeding and Gender Differences

Could Fasting Actually be Bad for You?

What are the Benefits of Intermittent Fasting?

Could one benefit be a goal to achieve 0% BF?!

Of course not!  When incorporating fasting into your lifestyle you should know what to expect and understand why you are doing it.  Do you want to create room for extra weekend calories? Or use fasting as a tool to lose one additional  pound each week?

When our friend Eric tried fasting at about 7% body fat before his competition he could hardly push to the 24 hour mark and felt terrible. Was this a surprise? Not really.

If you are already ripped, you can’t expect to fast four times a week for 24 hours.  The less body fat you have the more your body will try to “protect it”.

This is something most people don’t realize and even major fitness articles are wrong when they state “Fasting doesn’t work” or  “Intermittent Fasting is Dead” and so on.

Truth be told, intermittent fasting has become quite popular in 2012.  As the trend follows with everything that receives a lot of attention and popularity, there is always some negative feedback attached as well.

Today, we will analyze a blog post from a woman who tried fasting and misunderstood the effects of dieting on her hormones and blamed fasting for being unhealthy. We will also cover her false conclusion of a famous mice study on fat loss and fasting.

John Barban and Brad Pilon will also show you the difference between intermittent fasting and intermittent feeding and explain which is more useful as a fat loss or bodyfat maintenance tool.

In today’s UNCENSORED training, you will also discover:

  • Different fasting protocols you can follow and how to determine which one will fit you the best
  • How to make (intermittent) fasting sustainable
  • Discover at what point you have to reduce the frequency and length of your fasts
  • How to optimise the whole process of dieting so you get the results, feel good, and don’t burn out
  • Learn whether there any “side effects” of dieting or  intermittent fasting/intermittent feeding
  • What steps to take when you read other blog posts about intermittent fasting and want to remain objective
  • How to take into account your limits when training, dieting and fasting
  • What fundamental questions to ask yourself when you reading an article/journal which quotes a research study
  • The second part of the  Eat Stop Eat lifestyle you can’t forget about
  • What the signals indicate you to stop fasting
  • The difference between intermittent fasting and intermittent feeding and when to use them

 

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Filed Under: Podcasts, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Phi-Life Series: The Untold Difference of Marketing Fitness Claims in North America

December 17, 2012 by

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

Today’s topic: Geographic Influence On Claims

If you take a look…You will begin to realize the many different forms of advertising that exist in the marketplace.

Did you know that advertising claims in the health and fitness industry are regulated differently in each country?

For example, in one country a product might claim to help you lose 10 pounds in 30 days, while in another country  that same product  will claim up to 20 pounds of weight loss!

This is true because from a marketing perspective, what might work in one country might not work in other. We actually find this happening quite often.

North America is a prime example.

You can have the same product for both the  U.S. and Canadian market. However, each country will have a completely different claim.

What the companies are able to get away with saying depends on their government’s regulations.  If you live in the U.S., you may be accustomed to hearing certain phrases such as, “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days” or “How to build 20 pounds of lean muscle in the next 4 months.”  These phrases are commonly found in TV ads and  fitness magazines. However, if you tried to marke the same product with this claim in Canada you might lose millions, because people simply wouldn’t believe it to be possible and nobody would buy.

The claims that you’re exposed to on a regular basis in your home country will have an effect on where your “BS radar” is set.

If you showed the U.S. ads to Canadians they would be very skeptical, however for U.S. viewers transformation from fat-average to fitness model in couple of months might not be that thrilling or impressive at all.

What’s even more interesting is how all the media channels tie-in to one another.

Ever thought to yourself, “If everyone keeps saying it, it must be true right?“.

That’s the very moment your judgement becomes clouded by media and your your skeptical eye begins to  diminish.

Today Brad Pilon and John Barban will discuss how claims on print media, video media and product packaging vary in different countries and why that affects your buying decisions.

You will also learn and discover:

  • The difference in what the government allows you to be exposed to and what you then believe is realistic to achieve
  • Why consistency in print, visual, website commercials matters and how it affects your judgement
  • How marketers used a false unsupported claim “U.S. Formula” to boost sales in North America
  • That you are more  of “a product of your own environment”  than you may think
  • That if you can predict the greatest possible claim people will accept, you will make a lot of money
  • If it’s possible to know which claims are true
  • Why the claims can be so different from country to country, but people have the same physiology

Listen to the podcast here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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