It's time to put the myth to bed

Have you ever noticed how when you walk into the gym and you look over or up at the area where all the cardio equipment is that it’s packed with females? Then you take a look over at the free weights and it’s like a big testosterone laden sausage fest? Did you ever wonder why that is? When I first started working out, I asked myself the same question, so I decided to do some investigating to find out. What I came up with was the same answer, over, and over, and over, and over. “I don’t wanna get big and bulky like those bodybuilder chicks on you see on TV” was about the gist of it.

Now before I knew about the science behind bodybuilding and nutrition, I thought it made sense, I actually agreed with them. But once I started to educate myself, I realized how silly that urban gym legend really was.

Simply lifting a weight is not going to turn you into a she-hulk, there is A LOT more to it than that. In fact lifting weights will help you LOSE weight as well as making your curves, curvier.

What makes both men and women swell up like swollen behemoths (aside from steroid use) is what they eat.  Truth is, what happens with your body is more dependent on what you put into tour body than what you do with it. There’s a saying amongst the fitness community, “abs are made in the kitchen not the gym”.  Most fitness buffs, trainers, and physique competitors will tell you, it’s about 20% gym and 80% nutrition when it comes to making changes to your body.

In order to gain muscle mass like bodybuilders do, they have to consume massive amounts of calories in COMBINATION with intense exercise. They need to be in a caloric surplus at the end of each day in order for their body to have what it needs to build new muscle fibers.

If weight loss is the goal, the simplest way to explain it is to combine exercise, with a caloric deficit, meaning consuming fewer calories than you burn in a day.

Ladies, if you’re still not convinced then what would you say if I told you that resistance training (i.e. weight lifting) burns NINE TIMES MORE calories than cardio does?  Meaning you’re going to reach your weight loss goal faster if you incorporate weight lifting. Muscle even helps you burn more calories when you’re just sitting on your butt watching TV. This is because a pound of muscle burns 50 extra calories a day, even at rest. So by putting on 10 lbs. of lean muscle, you burn 500 more calories a day, that’s an entire meal’s worth! Tell me that’s not a convincing enough argument.

Why does resistance training burn so many more calories than cardio you ask? Well to answer this question, I’m going to have to piss off some of my creationist followers and refer to human evolution. Once we developed from tree dwelling, knuckle dragging ape folk and began walking upright, our bodies began to change and adapt to our new means of transportation. Since we couldn’t simply open the fridge or hit the nearest drive through to get food back then, we had to be very conservative about how we burned energy when getting from place to place. Our bodies began changing and becoming very efficient at using calories for energy when walking. This meant walking and running became easier for our upright, long legged bodies to do. Since then our anatomy hasn’t changed much in regards to calorie consumption when walking. So all those hours you’re spending on the treadmill are for naught because it’s like expecting a Prius to burn through a tank of gas like a Hummer. In short, we’re built to run, it’s easy, and if it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.

Now all you runners, don’t get upset, I’m not saying cardio doesn’t have its benefits. But in my, most trainers and all physique competitors opinions, the quickest way to a hot bod is through the weight room.

Now if you’re ugly, I’m sorry, weights won’t help you. But if you want killer legs, a tight butt, and toned arms, spend some time away from the treadmill and slang some iron ladies.

Make the rest of your life, the best of your life...

I was really excited to receive an email from my dad afew weeks ago asking me for advice about starring a healthier lifestyle, this is what he wrote:

"Pa, I really want to eat healthier and take some supplements, what do you suggest for this old diabetic guy?"

NOTE: "Pa" is a term of endeerment used commonly in spanish speaking families, I'm Puerto Rican so its not weird lol.

As you can see my father is diabetic, he has type II -- adult onset diabetes, which results typically from poor eating habits. My dad used to have a serious sweet tooth and it eventually caught up to him. Regardless, my dad was and is in what I consider to be incredible shape for a 55 year old, I mean the guy still has a 6 pack!. He is recently retired from the military s0 being fit for him is a way of life. To this day, he still wakes up each morning and does push ups and situps before going about his business.

My dad took notice of my enthusiasm for health and fitness afew years ago when he saw me for the first time after my initial weight loss but I dont think he really understood how vast my knowledge until after I replied to his email.  This is what I wrote:

"I'm really happy to hear that you want to start taking better care of yourself. Especially because I think you already do such a good job as it is. So we'll start with basic food principles then move on the supplements.

 Food:

1. Drink Only Water - this one is always the first thing I tell people. Granted, you're diabetic so you don’t drink a ton of sugary stuff, but a glass of soda can contain up to 350 calories, ALL from sugar. This also means stay away from most diet sodas and drinks as much as possible as well. While they contain no calories, the sweeteners that are used to flavor them are actually quite harmful to your liver, which is the command center for your metabolism. Again, as a diabetic you should have general knowledge of how your liver controls insulin response, which also has a huge effect on your body storing and creating fat. Lastly, shoot for 64 oz. a day (8, 8 ounce glasses or so) I carry a gallon jug around with me all day. Only drawback, you'll probably pee more lol.

 

2. If it's white, it aint right - What I mean by that is to eliminate the big 3 white starches from your diet: White Bread (or anything made with bleached flour), white potatoes, and white rice. Again the problem with all of these is your body's insulin response to these refined carbohydrates. They spike blood glucose levels which causes your body to store fat instead of using it for fuel.

Some good substitutes are:

Bread - anything with whole GRAIN, not whole wheat, that’s just a fancy way of saying "the same crap you've been eating". Rye and pumpernickel are both really good as well. Personally, I don’t each much bread at all, only for cheat meals, which I'll get into more later.

Potatoes - just substitute one potato for another, try sweet potatoes instead. They're really easy to make (you can even do it in the microwave).  and taste great with some cinnamon.  They're full of vitamins and are a great source of complex carbohydrates, the best kind.

Rice - Try brown rice, quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH), or barley. They all can be eaten the same way and are WAAAYYY better for you.

3. Eat fruits and/or vegetables at every meal - it's pretty self-explanatory and really easy to throw some in with any meal. I buy bags of frozen veggies, throw em in a big Tupperware container with a couple teaspoons of water, some herbs and spices and pop em in the microwave for a few minutes to steam, and couldn’t be easier. Fruits and veggies are important because they're loaded with all kinds of nutrients that help a variety of things and well, no one has ever gotten fat because they ate too much lettuce. Veggies have a really low caloric density, so you can eat more volume-wise and consume fewer calories than say, a cheese burger. What this means is you feel fuller, and stay fuller, helping avoid food cravings.

4. Cheaters DO win - allow you some freedom when it comes to diet. Every week I have 1 cheat meal where I eat and drink WHATEVER i want. It’s a great shock to your system and has been shown to rev up your metabolism after a week of calorie restriction. If you cheat once in a while, don’t feel bad. If you have an occasional craving, indulge it. It when you deny yourself too much that people fall off the wagon and give up because it's "too hard".

 

So now on to supplements, I'm going to give you a list of essentials, and then a list of optionals, it's up to you to decide on those.

 Supplements:

 Essentials:

1. Multivitamin - there is no arguing here, every person should take one. Regardless of age, sex, race, religion, etc...We simply don’t get enough nutrients that we need from the food we eat. Truthfully you would have to eat a truckload of fruits and vegetables every day in order to get everything you need; it's simply not physically possible. While not all multis are the same, they all serve generally the same purpose so you don’t have to get real expensive here. They make specialty vitamins for women, men, kids, older people, athletes etc... Based on what they're specific needs are and you can buy one if you want, but it's not needed.  I also don’t think you need to overload on vitamins all at once, so while the label will tell you to take 2 a day, with some brands I take 1 a day or one in the am and one at night before bed.

2. Whey Protein - If you're goal is to build, or even maintain muscle mass, protein is important. Early in the morning and post workout your muscles are STARVING for amino acids, whey protein is a quick dissolving source of them and is perfect to take at these times of the day. If you don’t feed your muscles, like anything else, they will die. Be careful of proteins with a lot of sugar, there are a lot of brands out there so take a look at the labels. Look for something with at least 20 grams of protein per serving (scoop) and less than 5 grams of sugar. My favorite is Dymatize Elite Gourmet Protein, it tastes awesome, but it can get pricey at times.

3. Fish Oil - These are a good source of healthy fats which can actually help your body shed fat, as well as omega-3 fatty acids which are good for brain health. They also have been shown to improve joint lubrication for those who have stiff joints or arthritis, I take 2 every morning, the only drawback is that with some, your burps taste like fish. With these, brand doesn’t matter much, try and find the cheapest ones you can get.

 

Optional:

1. Pre-workout supplement - this gives an energy boost and helps you power through workout. They usually contain caffeine for energy, creatine for muscle endurance, L-arganine (which makes your forehead tingle a bit when you take it, this is usually a sign for me that I'm ready to go), and certain amino acids, which again are the foundation for muscle building. I take one before every workout. So far my favorites have been Jack3d from USP Labs, C4 from cellucor, and my absolute favorite Assault from MusclePharm.

2. Glucosamine + Chondroitin - This is another joint helper. It helps maintain, and in some tests, rebuilt cartilage in the joints. This is especially important if you're older, do heavy lifting (squats, deadlifts etc...) or are an athlete or runner. It's also been shown to help maintain flexibility and strength in tendons. Brand here doesn’t matter again, I buy mine from Costco.

3.Testosterone Booster - Now I know what you're thinking and no, these are not steroids. The two most important hormones needed to build/maintain muscle mass are human growth hormone (HGH) and testosterone. Much of how much your body produces is based on genetics and lifestyle, but you can help it out. As we age, starting around 30, our bodies slow down production of testosterone because evolutionarily speaking; we are passed our prime reproductive age. The booster I recommend is actually an all herbal supplement called Tribulus. The kinds I have experience with are from the brands Raw Power and Now Foods. Both of which I bought off amazon for a lot cheaper than in store.

So that's it as far as beginner food principles and supplements is concerned. There is a ton more to learn but I don’t want to overwhelm you as this is enough by itself. The last tip I have for you is to shop around. Supplements are expensive but if you take advantage of sales, rewards club memberships and the internet you can save a ton of money. I never set foot inside a GNC unless it's Gold card week (the first 7 days of each month) where you save 20% on certain supps. Most of what I buy comes from amazon or bodybuilding.com. Also, check out company's Facebook pages and websites, I get tons of free samples all the time.

Hope that helps, if you have any questions, doesn’t hesitate to ask at any time. This is my passion and what I wanna do for a living so I always get a kick out of helping people improve their health.

 

Love you pop,

Rich Jr."

 

 

 

This tips are good for anyone looking to begin a journey towards a healther lifestyle so dont think that because you're not a 55 year old man, that you cant benefit from the information here.  Since sending this email my dad has begun supplementing with a daily Multi, and fish oil as well as swapping for healthier food choices. While normally it is the father who is proud of the son, this time I'm definintely proud of my pops.

Know it's never too late to make the rest of your life, the best of you life

Please allow me to reintroduce myself...

So I guess I should let you know what me and this blog are all about, as every superhero has a pretty sweet origin story with tragedy, inspiration, and eventually, triumph. Well chapters 1 and 2 are closed for me and I'm currently writing the third.

My upbringing wasnt much different than most kids from where I'm from, except for the fact that I went to Roeper, a school for gifted kids. With that came alot of pressure and expectations but rewards as well. My favorite reward unfortunately was food, and I was rewarded ALOT. As a kid, being fat is no big deal but once I got to highschool and girls and sports became my two main focuses, well let's just say this is where the "tragedy" part begins.

Like I said, I was always chubby as a kid, but I didnt reach my heaviest until highschool when I peaked at 283 pounds. Now I always had friends, I played 4 sports a year and lettered in all of them, but none of this mattered because none of the girls I liked, ever liked me back. Looking back on it now, it seems juvenile and stupid, but as a teenager, highschool is EVERYTHING. Not being able to get the girl I wanted or seeing her date one of my friends was like getting punched in the stomach, every day.

It didnt stop there though, because of my weight and constant rejection in highschool, I developed some serious self-confidence issues and carried it with me, like my weight, everywhere I went.

While i continued to be active after highschool, playing in multiple basketball and softball leagues, my weight never really changed. In fact, although I did lose weight after highschool, it was only because I stopped lifting weights so my body suffered quite a bit of atrophy.

Fast forward afew years, february 2008, 2 days after my birthday, I had to have an emergency appendectomy, with a follow up surgery a couple months later. I was basically bed-ridden for 3 months, gained a ton of weight and began to really HATE looking at myself.

One day I was just fed up, I immediately went out, joined planet fitness, and starting hitting the gym HARD. I ate chicken and brown rice every day and spend hours working out. 3 months later I was down 30 pounds and almost 10% body fat.

I spent hours a day on Google and YouTube looking for different workout routines, equipment reviews, and healthy recipes. It began as an interest, and soon became an obsession. I began missing social events to spend time at the gym, all of my money went to workout gear and supplements, even my conversations would start about other subjects and end being about health and fitness.

While this may seem like a bad thing, there were alot of benefits. My confidence level skyrocketed, I finally began gettin the attention from females that I had always wanted, even my grades in school went up. It was then I decided that this would become as much a part of my life as my own family.

So today, my passion hasnt changed at all. In fact, I've decided that once i graduate from college I'm going to get my certification in personal training and nutrition and hopefully someday own my own training facility.

I'm more confident than I've ever been, but also more critical. My body is still a work in progress and every day I attempt to make strides in my endless pursuit of perfection. Deep inside me, still lives that shy little fat kid with low self-esteem that loves food and sometimes eats just because. There are days where my past comes back to haunt me and I'm struck with a bout a low self esteem or attempt to eat my emotions but all in all I'm in a much better place.

Here's a picture to show you just how far I've come on my journey

2007-2012



Now it's not all rainbows and unicorns, eating healthy and working out isnt always easy. There are days where I just wanna plop down in front of the tv or xbox with a pizza, pop, and package of oreos and trust me, it's one hell of an internal struggle to keep myself from doing it. I get alot of grief from people around me too, I get stares when I show up to work or school with a gallon jug of water and a huge lunchbox, my friends get annoyed when I have to rearrange social plans because I have to hit the gym after work, and my mom gets mad when I dont eat the dinner she cooked because in her words I'm "on that diet thing".

Eating healthy is expensive too, its no wonder why there are so many fat broke people. you can go to McDonalds and spend a couple bucks for a quick meal, I spend nearly $100 a week just on food for myself; and that's not even counting supplements.

All that aside, I love the satisfaction that comes with being dead tired after a tough workout, I love the looks from the ladies, i love enjoying buying new clothes, and most importantly, I love not hating myself anymore and I wouldnt give that up for anything.