Archive: Feb 2011

“I’m getting old.” “I can’t do the things I used to.” “I’m over the hill.” “I can’t train heavy anymore.” “I can’t keep up with the twenty somethings anymore.” “I’m starting to feel my age.” “I’m too old for that.” If you’re under the age of 40 and have been heard saying things like that you should be ashamed and embarrassed. Ray Lewis just finished another season as one of the absolute best defensive players in the NFL and doesn’t seem to have lost a step. He’s 36. So is Donald Driver who is still an outstanding wide receiver and… continue reading.

Today I have a quick interview I did with Shelby Starnes (pictured to the left) on the topic of carb cycling. JF: Shelby, most people would agree that carb consumption is necessary for muscle growth and optimal performance. So some people think, “Well, if that’s the case, why not just go high carbs all the time?” Can you briefly explain the benefits of high carbs and then why you can’t go high carb all the time? SS: A high carb intake will secrete a lot of insulin, which is a hormone that can… continue reading.

Now that we know how many carbs you need to consume each day let’s get into the exact carb cycling breakdown. The only thing that won’t really change on any of the days is protein. Protein should remain constant at right around one gram per pound of bodyweight per day on average. There’s really no need for most people to go much higher than this unless your carbs are extremely low. Then you might go as high as 1.5 grams per pound. But to keep things simple we’ll leave it at a gram per pound for everyone… continue reading.

The first time I experimented with carb cycling was some time back in the early 90’s, largely influenced by the work of Michael Zumpano and the late Dan Duchaine. I was blown away by how incredibly well this worked so I immediately enlisted a few more test subjects to try it out on. Again, the results were awesome. My brother, our friend Todd and I all got in the best shape we’d ever been in to date. After that I had some clients try it and the results were the same. Being like a lot of people I was in… continue reading.

If the deadlift is the best muscle building exercise on the planet why do many successful strength and conditioning coaches not use the movement with their athletes? The reason is simple; the deadlift takes too much out of you and is very hard to recover from. When you have an athlete who also needs to be implementing speed work, conditioning and sport specific drills on a regular basis you can’t afford to compromise his recovery ability to such an extreme level. A hard deadlift session will usually leave him slower, less explosive and with a general, overall feeling of fatigue… continue reading.

Remember the movie, Face Off, where someone removed Nicolas Cage’s face and switched it with John Travolta’s? Well, if you only knew me outside of the gym and then walked in when I was training you would probably swear that had to have happened. The guy who is almost always laughing, cracking jokes and quoting Seinfeld is long gone. I’m angry, laser focused and don’t really see the humor in much. Not because I’m not enjoying myself or because I want to be a dick to those around me, but because I’m very serious about my training and really enjoy… continue reading.