Tag Archives: bodybuilding

My Favorite Ab Workout

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Eric Johnson

Contributing Writer

 

My Favorite Ab Workout

 It’s safe to assume many of us are busting our humps in the gym to get six pack abs.  Abs, like any other muscles, require hard work and dedication.  You don’t exercise biceps for 10 minutes a week, and expect them to get stronger do you? You can’t approach abs that way either. However, you don’t want to over train abs, again being like other muscles they do require rest.  I like to train my core 3-4 times a week usually taking a day in between.  I focus on the 4 categories of torso movement: Flexion, Extension, Rotation, and Stabilization.  I focus on upper abs, lower abs, and obliques.  My ab workout looks something like this:

 

3X60 Sec Plank on a Exercise Ball

3×20 Reverse Crunches

3X25 V-Ups

3X20 Butterfly Legged Crunches

3X15 Leg Raises

3X30 Alternating Heel Touches

3X15 Oblique Crunches

You can Google any of these exercises if you are unfamiliar with them.

 

Eric Johnson is a NASM CPT and Team JBT Athlete

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/EJohnsonFitness

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ejohnsonfitness

 

 

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On competition day, what is the best thing to eat before the evening show?

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Roger Zarate

Contributing Writer

 

On competition day, what is the best thing to eat before the evening show?

Your diet the last few days before a show can be really important and can make all the difference! Throughout my experience with competitions, I have learned some great tricks and techniques to get your body to peak at the right time.

The shows that I compete in have two parts: Prejudging and a night show. The prejudging usually takes place in the morning and the awards show is in the evening. The evening show is pretty much judged already and is for the fans, which can be a lot of fun. The prejudging is what you really want to focus on, in regards to peaking correctly. This is the first time the judges see you and it is important to have a good first impression.

Because I like to do things naturally, I use an old school, basic method for tightening up and “peaking” for a competition. There are some great natural ways to get your body to peak on the day of the show. Through trial and error you will gain experience to knowing when your body will peak. I seriously do not recommend any diuretic usage. Diuretics will pull out all fluids from your muscles and can cause cardiac arrest and even death. I have witnessed a few incidents where this has happened to competitors. They were taken away in an ambulance, which is not worth the risk.

What I have been doing for years, and has always worked, is staying consistent with the diet throughout the months leading up to a show. For most competitors, the last week of their diet is low carbs, or maybe even no carbs depending if they did their dieting homework. The last three days before a competition, which I call “carb-up days”, I  begin to add carbs back into my diet, cut out all sodium, and keep my liquids to a minimum. This will cause your muscles to start getting that full belly look and will draw out any liquid you may have between your skin. Your body will draw it into the muscle giving you a dry hard look. For carbs, I recommend yams, brown rice, and no sodium granola. You can snack on these all three days. The hard part is keeping your liquids to a minimum and cutting out all sodium for the three days. If you have too much liquid or added sodium it will not work. (Had a friend wake up in the middle of the night because he couldn’t handle it any more and drank a gallon of water. He did not even place in the show the next day! For the carbs to work and dry you out your liquids need to be very low.

Get a good night sleep, every night, and stay calm. On the morning of the show I would have a good breakfast. I love a good steak! ( Eggs have natural sodium so I would skip the eggs ) And a multi-grain low sodium pancake tastes great. I would then pack some essential carbs for snacking before and throughout the show – a yam, granola, a couple of chocolate bars. Getting in any extra protein is really not that important, it’s all about the carbs at this point! Right before going onto stage I like to have chocolate bar. Chocolate is full of sugar which should bring out any vascularity. I also have used concentrated grape juice with honey which is packed full of sugar and will bring out those veins!

Between prejudging and the evening show I usually keep the fluids low and not go too crazy as far as eating, even though most of the competition has been judged.  A nice big steak and potato with all the dressings, as well as ice cream are a great reward for all the hard work you have just completed!

Sometimes competitors have not carbed up enough for the prejudging and come in looking better for the night show because they have been able to get more carbs into their body.  Experience is always a plus when it comes to peaking at the right time. It’s about knowing your body and what it takes to get it to peak for you at the right time. Too many carbs can cause you to”spill over” and smooth out and not enough carbs causes you to stay flat. Stress can also be a factor on peaking at the right time. Keep yourself calm and confident that you gave 100%. This is your day to shine and show off all your hard work!

 

 

Bodybuilding Accomplishments:

1986 – 1st -NPC Mr. Southern Cal ( Lightweight)
1989 – 1st -NPC Cal. Novice and Overall ( Lightweight)
1992 – 1st – NPC Mr. Orange County ( Lightweight)
1993 – 1st – NPC Mr. California ( Lightweight)
1994 – 2nd – NPC Mr. North American ( Lightweight)
1995 – 2nd – NPC Excalibur ( Middleweight)
1998 – 7th – NPC USA ( Middleweight)
1999 – 1st – Mr. Los Angeles ( Light Heavyweight)
2008 – 2nd – NPC Excalibur ( Masters Middleweight)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bodybuilding Recipe – Stuffed Green Peppers w/ Ground Turkey

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(All bodybuilding recipes contain 300 calories or more)

 Stuffed Green Peppers w/ Ground Turkey

 

Ingredients

3 Green Peppers, halved
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1/2lb Ground Turkey 93% lean
1 cans stewed tomatoes, no salt added
1 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese ( 50% light)
1 tsp chili powder
pepper

Directions

Cook brown rice according to directions on package.
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large skillet, sautee ground turkey, onion, and garlic ( use light cooking spray or a dash of olive oil), chili powder and pepper. Remove from heat and add stewed tomatoes and brown rice. Mix thoroughly.
Halve the green peppers and cook in boiling water for 3-4 minutes until slightly softened. Remove from water and place face down to drain.
Arrange pepper halves in large baking dish and fill with meat mixture. Sprinkle cheese on top of each half and bake in 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Servings: 2 (3 stuffed peppers per serving)

This meal contains 531 calories, 15.3 g of fat, 66.6 g of carbs, 9.9 g of fiber and 39.6 g of protein

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We All Workout Because We Want Results

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Eric Johnson

Contributing Writer

 

 We All Workout Because We Want Results

Results happen through hard work in and out of the gym.   The hardest part for most is putting in the proper workout in the gym and eating correctly.   I always tell my clients, “If it were easy, every body would do it.”  When it comes to dieting, there are a few important things.  The diet should have 3 main goals:

1) Spare as much muscle mass as possible

2) Lose as much fat as possible

3) Keep up the intensity in the weight room

Macronutrients should drive your diet.  Macronutrients refer to Proteins, Carbs, and Fats.  In simple terms, 1,000 calories of ice cream is not the same as 1,000 calories of chicken breasts.  To determine your macronutrients you can simply go online and search for a “Macronutrient Calculator”.   I generally like to aim for about 40%Protein, 30%Carbs, but most importantly my fats are always in a range 20-27%.    Now I know this doesn’t add up to 100% but it gives me more room for proteins and carbs.

Fat may be the most confusing part to some.  With this being said, a little information on why fat is important.  Fats are the body’s preferred source of stored energy and the most efficient molecule for the body to burn. They also promote hormone synthesis mainly in regards to testosterone.  Unfortunately, fats are also easily stored as adipose tissue (body fat), so there must be some type of compromise between ingesting enough fat for hormone maintenance and reducing fat intake enough to decrease body fat.  Hence, why the Fat macronutrient is always ranging from 20-27%.

Here is a list of some good fats:  Omega 3, Natural Peanut butter, Salmon, Avocado

 

Eric Johnson is a NASM CPT and Team JBT Athlete

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/EJohnsonFitness

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ejohnsonfitness

 

 

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How do you bring up lagging delts and calves?

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Roger Zarate

Contributing Writer

 

How do you bring up lagging delts and calves?

Personally, getting stubborn delts to grow involves doing basic HEAVY movements. I prefer front barbell presses, dumbbell presses and lots of drop sets with dumbbell laterals. If your delts aren’t screaming by the end of your workout, you aren’t going heavy enough. Start with a light warm up and then increase your weight with each set. With drop sets, you want to start as heavy as you can without sacrificing form. Continue the set until the point of exhaustion. For beginners, it’s nice to have a spotter helping you through the last few reps. Here’s an example for the dumbbell laterals raises: Start with 30 lbs – 10 reps, then drop down to 25 lbs ( 10 reps)  to 15 lbs (10 reps) and finish with 10 lbs for 10 reps.
Drop sets should be done without resting between weight changes.

For calves, I happen to believe it is mostly genetic, sorry. I have seen professional bodybuilders do everything they can to get their calves to grow but they still struggle with them.  For many bodybuilders, every body part they have is massive except for their calves. However, you can get them to grow to a certain degree.  Standing calf raises, donkey raises and calf presses on the leg machine build size. Rather than doing high reps with a weight you can easily handle, go extremely heavy with low reps.   Seated calf raises work great for some people. However, I personally love the leg press machine and focusing on one calf at a time. This always gets my calves burning.

Also remember your muscles have memory, so make sure you always alternate with different exercises when training to the same body part.

Give yourself 100% in the gym – you will love the rewards!

 

 

Bodybuilding Accomplishments:

1986 – 1st -NPC Mr. Southern Cal ( Lightweight)
1989 – 1st -NPC Cal. Novice and Overall ( Lightweight)
1992 – 1st – NPC Mr. Orange County ( Lightweight)
1993 – 1st – NPC Mr. California ( Lightweight)
1994 – 2nd – NPC Mr. North American ( Lightweight)
1995 – 2nd – NPC Excalibur ( Middleweight)
1998 – 7th – NPC USA ( Middleweight)
1999 – 1st – Mr. Los Angeles ( Light Heavyweight)
2008 – 2nd – NPC Excalibur ( Masters Middleweight)

 

 

 

 

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What is the Most Effective Cardio to Burn Fat?

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Eric Johnson

Contributing Writer

 What is the Most Effective Cardio to Burn Fat?

Everyone always wants to get rid of the stubborn fatty areas.  I’m often asked by clients and gym members, “what is the most effective cardio to burn fat? ” If you are like me, and the idea of cardio, treadmills, and elliptical make you cringe, then long periods of static state cardio are not ideal.  I recommend HIIT Training; High intensity interval training.  HIIT is incredibly beneficial for fat loss, HIIT results in EPOC, an after-burn effect which causes you to burn calories for hours after your workout is completed.  Generally HIIT is set up like this.  Run as fast as you can for 30 seconds, then walk (recover) for 30 seconds.  You can vary these times depending on how conditioned you are.  The normal ratio of Active: Recovery is 1:1.  These are some great general guidelines for HIIT Training.  Take this great information to the local track, gym, or even your favorite running trail.  However, remember this alone isn’t enough to take full advantage of your fitness goals, remember the 3 components to burning fat, Resistance Training, Cardio, and Diet.

 

Eric Johnson is a NASM CPT and Team JBT Athlete

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/EJohnsonFitness

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ejohnsonfitness

 

 

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Is it better to train a specific body part once or twice a week?

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Matt Karstetter

Contributing Writer

 

Is it better to train a specific body part once or twice a week?

This is one of those questions, like so many body building questions, that does not necessarily have a consistent answer one way or another and is most definitely going to be situation specific. What follows in this article will be examples, situations and my personal experiences that have relevance pertaining to the training protocol of the major muscle groups of the body and the frequency in which they should be trained.
In my opinion, and from what I have seen over the years, is that the most common practice is of the vast majority of guys in the gym is to train each body part twice a week. I myself do agree with this and it works well for me when implemented. I generally do this in my off-season training when I am trying to bring up or grow all of my muscle groups equally. Still almost everyone has one or two body parts that are lagging behind. For example, a guy might have great chest and biceps, but his delts, traps and hamstrings are less developed than the rest of the body. It is in this situation when you would want to steer away from the cookie cutter “each body part twice a week,” and gear more towards focused isolation of your problem areas.
Focused isolation is one technique that in time can result in greater overall symmetry. Basically this means that you need to identify your strengths and weaknesses and set up your training regimen to put in extra work on those weaknesses, while still putting forth adequate effort towards your strengths. My trainer currently has me focusing extra attention on the development of my upper/middle back, hamstrings, and capping of my shoulders. So to make these necessary changes we have added in extra delt work on my chest day, an extra day of dead lifts to further develop my hamstrings and additional upright, wide grip rows to my detail work later in the week for my upper/middle back. Don’t get me wrong having a “strength” or more developed body is not a bad thing, but if you have small calves, going to the gym and busting out 10 sets of preacher curls isn’t going to give you a more complete physique. Some body builders like Jason Huh or Trey Brewer have had such over powering legs that they have taken time off from training legs to bring up their upper body and at least for Jason Huh it has worked.

Training for conditioning

Getting ready for a show most bodybuilders will incorporate some lighter circuit training to help with separation, fat loss and reduction of subcutaneous water. In this case each major muscle group would most likely be trained more than twice a week. “Circuit training is a form of conditioning combining resistance training and high-intensity aerobics. It is designed to be easy to follow and target strength building as well as muscular endurance. An exercise “circuit” is one completion of all prescribed exercises in the program. When one circuit is complete, one begins the first exercise again for another circuit. Traditionally, the time between exercises in circuit training is short, often with rapid movement to the next exercise. (wikipedia.org)” Still some bodybuilder lose fat and subcutaneous water faster than others and most have problem areas that need more attention to get the desired conditioning and hard, dry look. Like many bodybuilders I have trouble losing subcutaneous water on the lower back and glutes and have yet to get my conditioning spot on. So I adjust my training and conditioning protocol to address these problem areas. I personally prefer to use the stair climber for cardio because it allows me to put a little more emphasis on the hamstring and glutes and helps target the areas in which I struggle.
Concluding, I want you to keep in mind that these are my opinions, experiences and theories. I am not a physician, dietician, Human Optimization Agent, or a Cosmetologist, but I live the life 24 hours a day and have gained and will continue to gain knowledge from doing so. Its equally important to remember that everyone’s body mechanics function differently and you as an individual are unique and your training should be as well to some extent. Ultimately it will be up to you and your trainer to determine what body type you are, Ectomorph, Endomorph or Mesomorph. Do you know which of the three body type categories you belong to? This will be discussed in my next article. Thanks For Reading!

 

Bodybuilding Accomplishments:

2007 – State of Kansas – Light Heavy Novice: 1st, Light Heavy Open: 3rd
2009 – Muscle Mayhem: Light Heavy 3rd
2010 – Midwest Iron Man Chicago: Heavy weight: 3rd
2011 – Muscle Mayhem : Heavy Weight: 3rd
2011- WBFF Central USA Championships: Heavy Weight: 1st (Pro Card Winner)

 

 

 

Bio:

Born in the small town McPherson, KS in 1983, Matt is the youngest of 4, with three older sisters. A strong work ethic was instilled in him at an early age and that has been his foundation to work towards achieving his goals and dreams ever since. Growing up, he played nearly every sport possible, but his favorite was baseball.

In 2002, he attended Kansas State University and graduated in 2007 with a degree in business. Since he was old enough to work, he did just that, and during his college years he framed houses and bar tended.

When he graduated, he took the National General Contractor exam, passed and started his own General Contracting and Land Development company in 2007. Initially, he built single family residential homes, but more recently has been getting into commercial and investment properties.

He missed playing ball in college, but he soon realized that it was the weights that he was truly in love with. He began competing in 2007, and now present day, motivation has never been higher. He turned Pro in the WBFF Central USA Championships in May of 2011 and has now set his sights on getting his IFBB Pro Card and has an intense 2012 season ahead of him.

 

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Testosterone is the king

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Testosterone is the king of hormones when it comes to size and strength. Athletes have know this for years.  In fact, the main reason for taking anabolic steroids is to elevate testosterone levels in the body. More testosterone = more mass, period. That being said, not all bodybuilders want to inject themselves. If you are this camp, there are several things you can do to increase testosterone levels naturally.

1) Perform compound movements such as the squat, bench press, deadlift, etc…. Particularly in the 4-6 rep range.

2) Eat the right foods. There are many “testosterone boosting” foods such as avocados, nuts, seeds, olives and olive oil, red meat, poultry, and oysters.  Also, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. These veggies have a compound called indoles that help lower certain estrogens.

3) Take a pre workout supplement, such as our Anabolic FX. This indirectly elevates testosterone by allowing you to push harder and heavier for longer.

4) Get plenty of sleep. Sleep is extremely important for proper brain function, muscle recovery and cell regeneration. When you’re asleep, your body releases large amounts of testosterone. However, lack of sleep and stress cause your body to produce a chemical called cortisol instead. Cortisol not only lowers testosterone production, but it can also contributes to fat gain.

 

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