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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:

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Filed Under: Muscle Building, Phi Life, Podcasts 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:

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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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Filed Under: health, Phi Life, Podcasts 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:

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

Phi-Life Series: The Real Story Behind Supplement Packaging

December 10, 2012 by

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Phi-Life Series: Super Hero Marketing

November 26, 2012 by

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

Today’s topic: The Danger of Super Hero Marketing

Do you think you can get as big as the Incredible Hulk? A lot of guys certainly believe they can even though they logically know it’s impossible.

So can you get as big as the Hulk?

Deep down we know we can’t get this big, but that certainly doesn’t prevent us from trying. This never ending journey of aiming to get as big as The Hulk includes steroid intake, falling for the myth of bulking and mega dosing supplements.

We have been exposed to Super Heroes our entire life. From a young boy reading  comic books to a grown-up watching the latest Super Hero movie.  Then finally,  once we begin to explore the world of  fitness we are introduced to the real Super Hero – bodybuilders.  These “Super Heroes” may not be able to fly, but their physique’s certainly reminds us of The Hulk.

This is where things start to head down hill for the “Average Joe.”

When we get into the fitness and bodybuilding community we (for some bizarre reason) wanna live like bodybuilders. We want the lifestyle of Mr. Olympia, so even though we are not him and never will be, we still live to train and eat…We’ve all been down that road. Which is completely contrary to what we now here at Adonis Lifestyle teach – Eat and train to live.

This is a dangerous path to be on, because suddenly it becomes your identity, you are the weird “fitness guy” who never goes out, doesn’t know how to have fun and often times isn’t even in such a great shape (shirt on big, shirt off average or fat).

Well, today we will look into this mindset and determine where it all began.  We will discuss what influences cartoon Super Heroes have and how they actually shape your your fitness goals and the perception of your own body.

Also in today’s podcast, John talks about his experience with a salesman trying to pitch the very supplements he developed!

You will also learn and discover:

  • What type of  environment the supplements stores create which always compel you to buy more supplements
  • The difference between “online” supplements store and supplements stores that are “brick and mortar”
  • There are only 3-4 important supplement ingredients that are used and sold… so why are there so many “other” supplements?
  • How people make billions by selling products that aren’t effective
  • Why people buy supplements even when there isn’t any scientific evidence it actually works
  • Whether you can actually look like guys in the fitness/bodybuilding magazines
  • What specific documentary movie you can watch to get a clearer picture about the fitness industry
  • Why supplements sell
  • Why guys wanna be larger than life
  • Why you continue to buy the  newest supplements even though the last one’s didn’t work
  • What is a “Pipe  Dream” vs.  what is actually attainable &  How this makes a world of difference in terms of marketing and driving sales
  • How supplements advertising works

Listen to the podcast here:

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Filed Under: body image, Muscle Building, Phi Life, Supplements Tagged With: , , , ,
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