Check out the new stuff

Hey everyone,

Check out the new guitar blog at www.brettsguitarworld.blogspot.com

A good reason not to eat multiple meals a day:

Hey Fitness Friends,

Today we're going to open up a can of worms and talk about the top reason why you shouldn't be eating 4-6 meals a day. Now, I know, over the past few decades it's been the in vogue thing to recommend constant grazing. I've done it myself. In fact, back in my bodybuilding days I tried the grazing method for a long time and it never worked. I never had the energy that it promised, instead I felt sluggish all the time (hey, digestion takes up more energy than anything else that you can do, if you're constantly digesting things how can you have huge amounts of energy?). It never really leaned me out. And, it lead my to some very serious hypoglycemia problems. Then I spent close to a decade following Ori Hofmekler's once a day eating and I had the opposite effect. I competed as a professional athlete with great success, I was full of energy, I never got sick, I never was sluggish, I walked around at a 5-7 percent body fat without trying and more. Now a days I stick to eating 2-3 times a day and I'm stronger, fitter and healthier than ever.

With that in mind let's talk a little bit about multiple meal a day grazing.

First let's look at one of the main arguments for grazing all day. You'll often times hear advocates saying, "Horses graze all day and, in the wild, they are lean and free of extraneous fat." And that's true. But, the last time I checked humans weren't the same genus let alone species as horses. In fact, we're way different. You know what other animals graze all day long? Rhinos, Hippos and cows. And none of them will ever be described as lean. Along with that, predatory animals such as tigers, wolves, jaguars and cheetahs eat once a week and they are lean and fat free in the wild as well.

Second, you'll hear a lot of grazing advocates talking about how you don't want to skip a meal because it'll throw your metabolism down the shitter. Guess what? You have to fast for around 72 hours, that's three days, for you metabolism to start slowing down. In other words, if you only eat once or twice in a day, it's not going to screw up your metabolism.

So, where did the multiple meals a day method come about? Most humans throughout history have eaten between 1-3 times a day, so why did the multiple meals thing come up? The answer lies in the name, John Parillo. John was competing in both powerlifting and bodybuilding and he noticed that, even though they carried a little more body fat, the powerlifters he knew had more muscle, better quality muscle and where a shitton stronger than the bodybuilders that he knew. So he took the powerlifting method of constant eating and mixed in the theory of making sure that every calorie ingested was natural and clean, then threw some pharmaceutical help into the mix in an effort to help bodybuilders get as gigantic as they could. And, viola. All of the sudden bodybuilders that used to walk on stage at 220 pounds with a three percent body fat could now walk on stage at 265 pounds with a three percent body fat.

Now, if you're looking to get as huge as possible and are willing to use some drug help, go ahead, the multiple meal a day plan will probably give you some great results.

But, here is the biggest reason why I'm not a fan.

Now, I could go on and on about many reasons why I'm not a fan, but I'm just going to talk about one today. For that one reason we have to delve into how the body works.

When you eat a typical meal you'll send messages to your pancreas that it needs to start releasing insulin into the bloodstream. this insulin will shuttle nutrients from your food into the cells of your body. As insulin finishes it's job, your brain will send a message that your body needs blood sugar. Blood sugar is released and it finishes up insulin's job and wipes up any left over insulin. From there you'll hopefully have a few hours of no digestive activity, this allows your insulin and blood sugar receptors time to recharge, as well as the receptors for leptin, ghrelin, epinephrine and norepinephrine. This is how it's supposed to happen.

Now, when we load up on multiple meals this is what happens. You release more and more insulin into your blood system, wearing out your insulin receptors and leading to insulin resistance (which leads to tremendous body fat gains). This means that in order to get the same results later your boy will have to release even more insulin, which will continue to wear out the insulin receptors, causing you to have to release even more amounts insulin later to do the same job. This also means that your body has to release more blood sugar to do the same job as before, thus wearing down your blood sugar receptors. This leads to your blood becoming more syrup like, rather than water like, which can lead to stroke and heart attack. As your body releases more and more insulin and more and more blood sugar and continues to wear the respective receptors down this leads to body fat gain, hypoglycemia, heart disease and stroke.

Along with this, having blood sugar and insulin resistance, and fighting to keep them stable is known by a pretty well known name. That's right: diabetes.

This is one of the main reasons why the completely preventable forms of diabetes have skyrocketed in the past few decades. And it's also why you see a huge amount of non-obese people getting these forms of diabetes.

Constantly pumping up your insulin and blood sugar levels while wearing out their receptor sights is a huge health risk. Not to mention wearing out the adrenal receptors, the leptin receptors and the ghrelin receptors.

So, stick to eating 1-3 meals a day, make sure that they have some time in between them and I can guarantee that you'll feel better, perform better, look better, and be better. Now, go out and train smart, heavy and hard and create your greatness.

Yours in strength and health,

Brett

Do You Need Steroids, Supplements, Fancy Equipment, etc. to Build An Incredible Body?

One of the questions that I get a lot is if someone needs to be on steroids, use a ton of supplements, have a bunch or equipment, have the latest "state of the art" training program or what ever, to build an incredible body. And the answer is a resounding NO!

Throughout history men and women have built incredible bodies with the crudest of equipment, no supplements, no steroids, and while using basic routines and plenty of hard work.

Don't believe me?

Here are some me of physical culture past that grew up and trained long before steroids, supplements, machines, etc.

The Immortal John Grimek:

George "The Russian Lion" Hackenshmidt:

Eugene Sandow:

Sig Klien:

Steve Reeves:

John Garan:

Masytek:

Alfred Moss:

The Great (and one legged) Alan Mead:

The Great Maxick:

Arthur Saxon:

 

 

 

 

Edward Aston:

And many more.....

These were all men from the pre-steroid, pre-supplement days who were hellasiously strong, incredible conditioned and very healthy athletes.

They built their bodies off of a steady diet of bodyweight training, heavy barbells, heavy dumbbells, heavy kettlebells and heavy clubs.

Now it's your turn. Go train smart, hard and heavy and create your greatness.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan

Upcoming Seminars

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to share with you all the upcoming schedule of seminars. Feel free to contact me through facebook, email or in person to register for any or all of them. Each seminar is on special for only $20 a piece.



Saturday, December 7; 3-6pm:

Grappling and Ground Fighting for Self-Defense: Survival, Escapes and Submissions

This seminar is going to delve into th dangerous ground of grappling as it applies to self-defense. Here we're going to cover how to escape from bad positions where someone is trying to smash, rape, or maim you; how to survive and get back to your feet; and we'll cover a few high-percentage submissions involving locking the arms and legs or putting the person to sleep with a choke. No grappling experience is necessary.



Saturday, December 14th; 3-5pn:

Ultimate Flexibility

In this semiar we're going to look at and break the myths about stretching and flexibility and then look at how to train for life long, easy flexibility. Topics will include: ballistic stretching, passive stretching, the Golgi Tendon Reflex, How to control and master tension and relaxation; Pulse stretching, tensions stretching, dynamic stretching, loaded stretching, stretching for strength and performance, and more. If you are looking at getting to be the most mobile and flexible that you can, this seminar is for you.



Saturday, December 28th: 3-6pm:

Mastering the Kettlebell

With all of the different types of kettlebell training out there; Kettlebell Sport, Hardstyle, Hybrid, Tacital, Old-time Strongmannnn, Kettlebell Fitness, Renegade Style, etc: how do you know what type of training is correct for you needs and goals. Learn that here at this seminar. We'll be discussing a little bit about the ancient history of the k-bell, from ancient China to present day, what the different styles of lifting are and what they are both good and not good for, and then we'll work on mastering the most powerful lifts in th k-bell arsenal. Join us for this seminar to look at how to maximize your work with this wonderful tool.

Alright, I'm looking forward to working with you all at these seminars. Feel free to email me at either bolerobrett@aol.com or b_stepan@aol.com or hit me up on facebook to register. Talk with you later.

Yours in strength and health,

Brett

10 reps of sit-ups with 300 pounds. Awesome ab and core training!

Here's a video showing 10 reps of sit-ups with 300 pounds. Talk about working the abs hard and creating a steel core:

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Have fun and be safe!

Brett

Some great variations to try

Hey Fitness Friends,

Today we're going to look at a couple of variations that you can use to add a little spice to you training. Here we go:

1-1-2 lifting:

1-1-2 lifting is great for movements like bent rows, bench press, floor press, overhead press, military press, push press, jerks, non-barbell cleans, non-barbell snatches, non-barbell high-pulls, etc. I wouldn't use it on lower body based movements like your squats and deadlifts, simply because the resistance as you switch between 1's and 2's wouldn't be enough to challenge you. But, on the other lifts mentioned, this is a great variation.

Lets' say you are going to bent row and you decide to use either kettlebells or dumbbells. Grab a pretty heavy weight in each hand and set your self up to perform a 2 handed bent row. Now, for the right arm only while keeping the left arm in the starting position (not touching the ground), then row the left, then row both arms at once, then row the right, row the left, row both arms, row the right, row the left, row both arms, row the right, row the left, row both arms, row the right, row the left, row both arms. There's a simple set of 10 reps. Even though there are 15 movements in this sequence, you've only performed 10 reps with each arm (5 reps on their own and 5 reps together).

This is a great way to train a number of these lifts as it forces you to move between uni-lateral and b-lateral movements, meaning your stabilizing muscles will get a sheet-ton or work, your primary and auxiliary muscles will work hard as heck, and your nervous system will also get a great amount of work.

Give it a try and I think you'll love it.

Various Position See-Sawing:

This is a wonderful method that will pre-fatigue your muscles, give you more time under tension during the movement and make you all around tougher.

Let's use the 2-dumbbell o 2-kettlebell overhead press as an example. For a normal see-saw variation you'd bring the bell up to your shoulders. You'd press your right arm to overhead lockout while keeping the left one at the shoulder rack position, lower the right arm down and then press with your left while keeping your right in the shoulder rack position. Makes sense, I hope.

For this variation though you're going to either snatch or jerk the bells to the top lockout position. From there you will lower your right to shoulder rack and then press it back to lockout while keeping your left in the overhead lockout position. when you're finished pressing the right to overhead lockout, you'll lower the left to shoulder rack position and then press it back to overhead lockout while keeping the right locked out over head.

This will require a great isometric lockout on the non-pressing arm, varies your movement between uni-lateral an bi-lateral movement, and will basically work the sheet out of you.

Again, give it a try and I think you'll love it.

Bottom Position Starts:

Anyone that's been reading these tips for a while knows that I love bottom position squatting and bottom position bench pressing. And here's why:

Both the squat and the bench press start from the top, locked out position. You then lower down to the bottom position, building up stored elastic energy and momentum. Once you hit the bottom position you drive up to the top lock out. The stored elastic energy and momentum that you build as you lower will help to give you a boost of power as you start to return to the top position.

When you start either of these two movements from the bottom position you take away this stored elastic energy and momentum. This makes the bottom position variations of these movements that much harder. How much harder, you may ask? I currently can squat over 500 pounds when I start from the top position, however my best bottom position squat is 335 pounds. That's quite a difference.

You may now be asking, if that's true, why on earth would i want to start from the bottom if I can use so much more weight starting from the top? Great question. Because forcing yourself to be strong from the weakest part of a movement is going to make you much stronger in the long run. Plus, when you start from the top of the movement, it's very easy to cheat by not using a full range of movement. Check out most people when they squat and you'll see a lot of 1/4 squats and 1/2 squats being passed off as "full range" movements. When you start from the bottom, you can't cheat, you're already at the bottom position.

How do I do these movements? Simple, for the squat simply set the safety pins in the power rack at the point where they'd catch the bar while you were in the bottom position (or the safety bars if you're using squat stands). Now, place the bar on the pins, load it up and get your self underneath it.

for the bench press, do them in the power rack and set the pins so the bar is just brushing your chest when it's resting on the pins. Load the bar up and get underneath it.

It should go without saying that either of these moves should only be used after you have good, solid technique in the lifts. If you don't have a good squat or bench, work on your technique more before doing them.

Alright, there are some great variations. Throw them into the mix and I think you'll love them. Now, go train smart, hard and heavy and create your greatness.

Yours in strength and health,

Brett

A little more on ab training

Today I thought I'd share one of the greatest abdominal training movements that I've ever found with you all. But first, let's talk a little bit about abdominal training for a second.

As you all should know by now, there is no such thing as upper abs, lower abs, etc. There's only one muscle there and it's called the rectis abdominus. If you want to see a great anatomy chart picture of it I did a post titled, "Abs, abs and more abs," or something like that a few posts ago, check it out and you can find a great picture showing the fact that there's only one muscle that makes up your abdominal wall. That being said, anything that you do to train that muscle will train the entire thing, from the bottom of your sternum to your pelvis. Especially if you do the move correctly.

And correctly is where we're going to begin.

It's funny. Many people now get that going in and hitting some hard and heavy squats or deadlifts for, let's say 6-10 sets of 1-5 reps, is a good thing. They get it. People are also starting to get that the same is true for bench presses, military presses, bent rows, etc. And that's awesome. So why then do people think that you need to hit your abdominal wall with 100's or even 1,000's of reps? Your rectis abdominus is no different than your quadriceps, your traps, your biceps, your delts, or any other muscle groups. If training those other muscles with heavy weights and low reps for multiple sets is effective, why wouldn't it be the same thing for your abs?

And the answer is obvious. It is the same thing for your abs. Your abs are going to respond the same way that any other muscle groups will. They'll develop more strength, more tone, more density, more stability. more fitness/conditioning and be better at their job.

I know some people might be saying, "But Brett, so and so does 3,000 reps every day and they have a six pack." Big deal, having a six pack has absolutely nothing to do with how fit, strong, stable and functional your abs are. You can head down to any ghetto and find a number of junkies that have six pack abs, but are they strong, fit and healthy? Nope! Check out pictures of the atrocities of Auschwitz or Datchow and you'll see plenty of innocent people that were dying, but many of them had six pack abs. Were they healthy, fit and strong? Nope!

Having a six pack is a cool thing, but everyone, whether you work out or not, will have one if you cut enough body fat off of your body. It doesn't mean that you have any strength, fitness or health.
Now, having truly strong and conditioned abs will help you out with every other aspect of your strength and fitness training. And the other aspects will help you develop truly strong and fit abs. For example: you cannot deadlift or squat a ton of weigh unless your core an your abs are insanely strong. And, by training your deadlifts and squats hard you'll develop some insanely strong abs. These big movements; which also include standing overhead presses, push presses, jerks, bent rows, cleans, snatches, high pulls, etc; will train your abs harder than almost any typical abdominal training movement. Hit these hard and you'll be on the road to truly strong and fit abs.

Also, properly training your abs with hard and heavy abdominal movements will not only create truly strong and fit abs, it'll also help you to put up more weight and perform better at the above mentioned big movements. It's a nice synergistic circle.

With that all being said, let's now talk about an incredible abdominal training movement. The sit-up. Now, before you stop reading and yell out, "Brett, the sit-up! Really?" hear me out. I know most people have been told that the sit-up is pointless and many have been told that it's dangerous. These statements aren't true by a long shot. It's all in how you perform the movement.

Do how do we go about performing a good sit-up?

Easy, lay with your back flat on the ground, your legs will be out with a slight bend in them and they'll be spread pretty wide (you'll see why in a second). Have a partner load a bunch of 45 pound weight plates (or 100 pounders, they'll do the job as well) onto your torso. When they've loaded you up with your working weight, wrap your arms around the plates tightly so they won't slide off of you. Have your partner hold your ankles down. Now perform a set of 1-6 reps of sit-ups. When you finish, have your partner unload the weight plates off of your torso. Rest for a little bit and repeat. Try adding weight as often as you can.

Personally, at the end of my training on Tuesday, I cranked out 4 sets of 5 reps with a 20 pound weight vest on and 4- 45 pound weight plates (a total of 200 pounds). Next Tuesday my goal is to hit 4 sets of 5 reps with 5- 45 pound plates on my torso (or 225 pounds).

Give them a try and I think you'll love the results. Also, when you're training your abs this way feel free to only train them directly once or twice a week. There's no need to train them everyday. After all, do you squat heavy every day, or deadlift heavy every day? Now, go out and train heavy, hard and smart and create your greatness.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Also remember to check out www.empowernetwork.com/bstepan for a great home based business.
 

Fit and healthy meals, my ass!

Having started up training people professionally some 19 years ago I've been around my share of fit and healthy people. I've trained numerous people that would fit into this category, been coached by many that also would, and been friends with many that also would. And I can honestly say, ain't none of them ever going to be eating a meal that you're typical restaurant would put on their "fit and healthy" menu.

And yes, I did purposely use bad grammar in that last sentence.

Let's look at they typical "fit and healthy" meal that you'd find at a typical restaurant: You'll find something like a 4 ounce chicken breast or 4 ounce lean cut of fish. This will sit on top of a rice pilaf. On the side you'll have a small amount of either fruit or veggies (usually broccoli). And you'll usually have some other source of grain or starch. The selling point that the menu tells you is: Low fat and 550 calories of less.

And this spit is supposed to be healthy.

Let's break it down for a second. Our hear alone needs 50 grams of protein a day in order to produce enough nitrous oxide to fuel it.  Small amounts of protein don't cut it if you want to actually be fit and healthy. You need large amounts on a daily basis. Also, dietary fats are very important to both fitness and health. You need them to optimize your hormones, optimize your immune system and your lymphatic system, slow your aging, absorb and utilize most vitamins, for brain fuel and much more.

Second, rice sucks! Grains and starches, for the most part suck! They spike insulin, force you to gain body fat, create auto-immune problems, create leaky gut disease, and have been linked to strokes, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and more.

While veggies and fruits are important, let's actually give people a real serving of them.

550 calories or less, huh. Every single truly fit person and healthy person that I know takes in between 3000 and 6000 calories a day. Why, because they're fit and healthy. They have muscle tissue, very little body fat, they're hormones are kicking booty, their metabolism is jacked through the sky and they train hard as hell! 550 calories isn't even a snack.

Now, I realize that these menu items aren't being put on there for the truly fit and healthy. I  realize that they're put on the menu for the obese, the out of shape and the unhealthy to make them believe that they're making a "better choice." But come on, at least make it a real fit and healthy choice.

What would I put on these menus as a fit and healthy choice.

I'd start with a 16 ounce steak. Loaded with protein, good fats, and tons of vitamins and minerals this would be a great start. It would also lead to a feeling of satiety for the eater, rather than a feeling of deprivation and starvation.

Then I'd add a mess of spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and red and yellow peppers. Why, because all of these are nutritional bad asses. Great forms of vitamins, minerals, fiber and phyto-nutrients.

Then I'd add in a glass of water and a cup of hot green tea.

For dessert I'd throw in a tasty protein shake from either Labrada nutrition or Carnivore.

This meal would load you up with tons of good protein, fats, fiber, vitamins, minerals, nutrients and phyto-nutrients. It would be tasty as hell. It would leave you feeling good and satisfied. And it would help to fuel both your training and your recovery.

Now, there's a truly fit and healthy meal.

Now, go train hard, heavy and smart.

Brett

Today I'm going to talk a little about one of the best things that you can do to start your physical transformation off on the right foot.

Over the years I've talked about the difference in physique between a marathon runner and a sprinter. But there's more here. Look at the physiques of the vast majority of kettlebell sport athletes, then look at the physiques of hybrid kettlebell lifters. Now, look at the physiques of the average person in the gym and then look at the average Olympic style weightlifter (not a competitor, but a hobbyist). What have you noticed?

Let's take a look. The average and vast majority of marathon runners have a pretty lousy looking physique. Rail thin arms and legs and soft and gushy bellies. The average and majority of kettlebell sport athletes have a very similar body type. The average person that just heads out to the gym with no guidance, or under the eye of a typical gym trainer, usually fairs no better in the physique department.

Yet, the average sprinter, the average hybrid kettlebell lifter, and the average Olympic lifting hobbyist are chiseled, strong and impressive.

Why is that?

Don't sprinters and marathon runners perform a similar activity? They both run, right. Don't kettlebell sport athletes and hybrid kettlebellers perform the k-bell long cycle, snatches and jerks? Don't both the average gym goer and the average Olympic lifting hobbyist both lift weights?

Why then is there such a different in the quality of their physiques?

One of the biggest differences is the speed of the movement that they use.

Sprinters, by definition are going all out, we're talking 95-100% o their maximum effort. Marathoners are jut trying to finish the race, and they plod along at moderate to slow paces to make sure that they have enough gas left to finish.

Kettlebell sport athletes pace themselves and move at moderate to slow paces. For instance, they'll set a pace for 12 snatches a minute for the 10 minute round. This way they make sure they have gas left in the tank to finish the 10 minutes. Kettlebell hybrid people try to bang out 300 snatches in the same time, no pacing, just 95-100% balls out speed.

The average gym goer will hit the machines and lift at a controlled cadence. Let's say two seconds for the concentric (lifting) phase, a pause at the top of the movement followed by a slow and controlled 4 second eccentric phase (lowering). Even the hobbyist in Olympic Lifting has to explode the weight from the ground to overhead as quickly as humanly possible, hitting that95-100% all out speed.
That's right, the speed that you exercise at will play a huge role in determining how much muscle you build, how much fat you burn and how much you stimulate your good hormones. I'm not talking about rushing through your warm-up and then having no control and sloppy technique. I'm talking about lifting with good form, but as fast and as explosive as possible.

Try it for yourself. Replace your run with sprint intervals. Grab your k-bell and hit your movements with as much speed as you can. Hit some hard barbell cleans, jerks, snatches, high pulls and clean and jerks. Keep it up for a few months and see the difference it makes in your body.

Now, go train smart, hard and heave and create your greatness.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

P.S. huge deals and awesome things happening at www.empowernetwork.com/almostasecretphp?Id=bstepan or check out www.empowernetwork.com/bstepan
 

Some Fun Variations For Your Training

I'm hoping by now that everyone reading has an understanding that the basic exercises are your most productive way to train. Training on a regimen of Squats, Deadlifts, Cleans, Snatches, Presses, and Rows will do far more for you than trying to load yourself up with spider curls, triceps kickbacks, lateral raises and the likes.

But, how can you add some variety to your training and still get the great results from the basics?

Great question.

Now, I love the barbell, and think that it's one of the greatest tools that one can employ, but these variations will not work with the bar.

Instead focus on heavy dumbbells, heavy kettlebells or heavy sandbags.

You'll need a pair of which ever tool that you're going to use.

Variation 1: The 1-1-2 method.

Let's say that you're going to perform some Bent Rows with two heavy kettlebells. You'd use the 1-1-2 method like this.

Row once with the left arm, once with the right arm, then row with both arms at the same time, then again row once with the left, once with the right, then once with both arms at the same time. This would equal 4 reps because you've performed 4 reps with each side. Keep it up in that fashion for however many reps you are working towards.

You'll get the unilateral and bilateral benefits of training with this method.

Variation 2: The Loaded 1-arm method.

Again, let's say you're going to perform some Bent Rows with two heavy kettlebells. This is how you'd use this method.

Start with both bells at the top of the movement, tucked up into your body rather than at arms length away. This gives you a nice isometric contraction and increases your time-under-tension.

Now, let one bell down to the arms length bottom position while keeping the other in the top position. Row the first bell and repeat on the other side.

Basically you are doing the reverse of a normal set of 1-arm alternating rows. Instead of keeping the non-working bell in the bottom position while you work the other bell, you are keeping the non-working bell in the top contracted position.

Both of these variations can be used with dumbbell, kettlebell, or sandbag presses or rows, as well as high pulls, snatches, cleans, clean and press/jerk, or many other great movements. Give them a try and I think you'll like it.

Now, go train hard.

Yours in strength,
Brett

P.S. check out www.empowernetwork.com/almostasecretphp?Id=bstepan for a great home money making opportunity.

Abs, Abs, and more about Abs

Ah, "six packs," "eight packs," "tight and toned," "flat and firm," or however else you want to talk about it; Abs have been the crowd favorite of muscles for a few decades now. Yet most people's way of training them sucks.

First, let's talk some science.

There is no such thing as upper abs and lower abs!

There's one muscle, The Rectus Abdominis, and it stretches from the bottom of your sternum to the top of your pelvis. As seen below.

Notice that there's only one muscle there, highlighted in red. There is no upper, mid, or lower part. Just one part.

The reason why it appears to have more than one muscle is because of the tendons that stretch across it and connect it to your body. These tendons make your six-pack or eight-pack, not separate muscles.

Why is this important?

Simple, really. Because if you truly are working your rectus abdominis, you don't need to do an exercise for the upper part and an exercise for the lower part. You only have one muscle to work.

You may feel "the burn" in the top portion or lower portion of the muscle, but that doesn't mean shit. What matters is that you're are forcing your muscles to generate force against a particular resistance.

Alright, I'm off of that soapbox.

Second thing about ab training is this: You won't carve your abs through exercise. Being able to see your abs is all about having a low body fat percentage. The lower your body fat, the more you'll see your abs.

Now, if you build up your rectus abdominis you'll see your abs at a higher body fat percentage than if you don't work them. But you need to get rid of the fat in order to see them.

Also, just because someone has visible abs doesn't mean that they're in shape, fit, strong or healthy. I've seen junkies at a methadone clinic that have eaten away enough of their body that their abs stand out in bold relief, but it doesn't mean that they're fit or healthy.

Third, your abs are just like any muscle group around. It's funny that people can see the point of doing heavy weight, low rep sets for benching, squatting, deadlifting, etc. But almost everyone feels the need to do ultra light, hugely high rep sets for their abs. Guess what? It doesn't work, if it did, everyone would be walking around with killer abs.

If you overload the rectus abdominis with, let's say, 5 sets of 5 reps of weighted sit-ups using 300 pounds, they'll develop incredibly well. Much better than if you sit in a boat pose and wag your arms up and down 100 times.

Don't believe me, check out Kirk's abs. He built them up doing 1,000+ squats and heavy ass deads, not hundreds of crunches. And he didn't even try for a ripped tummy, he trained for strength:

Yet, he's shredded.

So, what I'm trying to say in this post is this:

Stop trying to work your upper and lower abs, just hit a heavy and hard movement.

Stop trying to work your abs everyday, treat them like any other part of your body.

Stop hitting 1,000 reps for them, instead focus on heavy ass movements for lower reps. Strengthen those abs for damn sake.

Stop trying to

Do You Need Cardio To Burn Fat?

Dana Lynn Bailey Says No!

Since the1970's,  "aerobic" exercise and "cardio" training have been taught as the way to burn fat, but is it a true statement?

If you look at the science and real world results, the answer is a resounding, NO!

The first part of this error lies in believing that the body changes while you exercise, which is simply not true. You provide the body with a stimuli while you train. Then, while you recover your body uses that stimuli to create your adaptation. So, let's look at what cardio and aerobic work does.

The first part of your training is fueled by ATP (Adenosine triphosphate). Then, after you've burned through your ATP your glycogen stores kick in to fuel the next part of your workout. After that, once you've burned through both of those, body fat kicks in to fuel your work. And this is where the misconception starts.

To make the math easier let's say that it takes you 30 minutes to burn through your ATP and your glycogen. This means that if you exercise for 45 minutes, you've only touched your body fat for 15 minutes of fuel. Still with me? Good.

This is where most people think, "Holy Hell, if I train for 45 minutes and only burn 15 minutes of body fat I better train longer. I better do an hour of jogging/cycling/spinning so I can at least get 30 minutes of fat burning to happen. And this would be true if you're body changed while you were training. But it doesn't.

Your body trains while you recover.

So, let's say that you've spent the past few weeks doing an hour long spin class 5 days a week. What is the stimuli that you're body is adapting to?

Your body is saying, "shit, we're doing "cardio/aerobic" training five times a week for 60 minutes at a time. This means that I need to store at least 30 minutes worth of body fat so I'll have the energy to continue riding that damn bike.  Since I like to super-compensate though, I'll make sure to store enough body fat to fuel at least 60 minutes worth."

In other words, you actually are training your body to store body fat for fuel.

So, if you're training your body to store fat for fuel, are you burning body fat and getting lean>

No!

This is part of the reason why you'll see so many people that have lost a ton of weight that just look like smaller versions of their fatter selves. Because they are simply smaller versions of their fatter selves.

By embarking on the "cardio/aerobic" path you train your body to store fat for fuel while at the same time eating up your precious muscle tissue (not just your abs and pecs either, but the muscle from your heart and lungs as well), and you stop the production of good fat burning hormones such as Growth Hormone and Testosterone.

In other words, if you want to get lean and have your weight loss be from fat, ditch the "aerobics" and opt for strength training and sprinting.  You'll thank me when you see yourself in the mirror.

Yours in strength,

Brett Stepan

Also, if you're looking for some personal development, Law of attraction, self-empowerment info feel free to check out www.brettsliveyourdream.blogspot.com

Upcoming Seminars

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to let everyone know about some up and coming seminars. Of course, you're all invited to join in on the Friday night Self-protection Workshops that happen ever Friday night at 7pm. But, there's some other wonderful seminars coming up.

Saturday, October 19th:
The Super Abs Seminar:
This Seminar, starting at 3pm, will be focusing on how to really train to build incredible abdominal strength. I can guarantee that you don't know the material in this seminar, it'll be the first time that I've actually taught a lot of it. And, it's all stuff that you won't find in any book or magazine. This is the real deal on how to build incredible and super ab strength. Registration is only $50.

　
Saturday, October 26th:
Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling 101:
Join me to explore the wonderful grappling arts of Brazilian and Japanese Jiu-jitsu with a little Judo, Sambo, Submission Wrestling and Catch Wrestling thrown in. Looking for an incredible workout, a great sport to be a part of, an incredible and enjoyable martial art, and a great way to train without getting hurt. Look no further. We'll be going over the basics of these powerful and amazing arts as they apply to grappling and ground fighting. Registration is only $50.

Feel free to register with me at bolerobrett@aol.com or b_stepan@aol .com

Talk with you all soon.
Brett Stepan

Can You Create A Great Body With The Olympic Lifts?

One of my personal favorite methods of training is Olympic Weightlifting and it's variations. I'll admit it, I love to rip a heavy weight from the ground to overhead in one explosive, powerful and graceful movement like the Snatch. I also love to rip the bar from the floor to my shoulders and then powerfully drive it overhead like in the Clean and Jerk. And I love all of the overhead pressing, squatting, high pulling, snatch balancing and more that come with it. I personally find the Olympic lifting methods to be amazing for developing speed, power, explosiveness, flexibility, conditioning, strength and more. But, can you develop an amazing body through Olympic lifting?

I know when most people think of the strength sports they couldn't tell you the difference between Powerlifting, Olympic lifting and Strongman training; which is a shame. All three of them are amazing sports, and yes, all three of them are very different sports. Also, most people only envision the super heavy lifters that tend to carry a little more body fat, and they never realize that the lifters in the lower weight classes tend to be anatomy chart ripped.  Just take a look at the picture above to see what I mean.

And I know that there are a host of personal trainers that will say things like: "The lifts are too quick, there's not enough time under tension to gain muscle and get ripped." or, "There's no isolation movements so you can't develop great muscles with the O-lifts." or, "There's no muscle confusion, so you can't get a great body that way." or a host of other reasons why they don't believe that one can develop a great body with the O-lifts.

So, let's take a look at some bodies that have come out of the Olympic Weightlifting World:

Dmitri Klokov:

Lu XiaoJun:

Zoe Smith:

Marilou Dozois:

Cara Heads:

The Legendary Bill Starr:

The Legendary Dave Rigert:

My Man, the Immortal John Grimek:

Li Hongli:

As you can see, training hard and heavy with the quick lifts of Olympic Weightlifting and their variations can, without a doubt, lead to an amazing physique.

I think that the only real reasons why people tend to poo-poo them is because they are a little technical (although if you're training for fitness and health you don't need perfect technique) and they're hard. But, hard work is the only way to develop a great body.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan

A Little BMI Bashing

Ah, Body Mass Index (or BMI) the stupidest, most ridiculous thing in fitness just won't go away. It's funny how people started to realize that the old school Height/Weight chart was bullspit, so the medical field came up with BMI. To test your BMI you add you height in centimeters to your weight in kilograms and divide by two. If you're below a 25 you're supposedly healthy. If you're between a 25 and 29 you're supposedly overweight. And, if you're over 30 you are supposedly obese.

Hmmm, in the picture above where I'm doing the handstand on the park bench I am 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing around 195 pound with a 9 percent body fat. Yet according to BMI I'd have a rating of 30.5 meaning that I'd be Obese. I don't see it.

It's funny to me that people actually think that body fat is somehow calculated in their BMI. People wake up! It's not. It's simply taking the height and weight scale and putting in a little math.

In my post a while back about the stupidity of BMI I used some examples of people that would be overweight or obese according to the BMI and it included Dara Torres, Jessica Scofield, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett and more. Today I'm going to show you some more folks who would all be considered overweight or obese by the BMI standards:

For Example:

Dana Linn Bailey

Dwain Chambers:

Mandy Stafford:

Derek Poundstone:

Sara Backman:

Mariusz Pudzianowski:

Cara Heads:

Jamie Lewis:

As you can see, all of these people are very impressive physical specimens. Each one of them is insanely strong, in shape and pretty damn awesome. Also, each one of them would be considered fat or obese according to the Body Mass Index. Can we just get rid of that damn thing once and for all and have people realize that it's not how much you weight, it's what that weight is made up of.

If you're at a sub-10 percent body fat level I don't care if you have a 48 BMI, you're ripped and impressive. If you've got a BMI of 20 and you have a body fat percent of 38 percent, you have way too much body fat.

Stop worrying about your BMI, get in the gym and lift heavy and hard and develop a great body, not a skinny weak body.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

A-Rod, Performance Enhancing Drugs and more

As I start out this post I'll admit, I've never used any type of Performance Enhancing Drug (PED) nor do I have any desire to. That being said, however, I have no problem with someone that chooses too, and I'll tell you why.

It's sad in our society that someone like A-Rod, who has possibly used PEDs to enhance his performance at his particular sport, make his sport more entertaining, and deliver more of what the fans of his sport want is being crucified in the media and booed at the games; while LiLo, who abused narcotics like cocaine and alcohol for no reason other than to get high and escape reality, gets a standing ovation from the audience at her latest interview. WTF! I don't get it.

Why do we villainies athletes that make the choice to use PEDs to enhance their performance, yet we embrace celebrities who make the choice to use narcotics.

For example, when people think of the late Lyle Alzado, Andreas Munzer or Don "The Ripper" Ross they say things like, "yeah, they were cheaters." or, "they wouldn't have died if they didn't take the 'roids." or other things like that. Yet when Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson or Chris Farley overdose and pass on people consider it a "tragedy" and say that they were "taken too soon."

Anyone else see a huge double standard there?

How come Robert Downey, Jr. can fuck up, become an addict then clean up his act and be embraced and seen as someone that overcame their demons and be allowed to make a comeback (and I love Robert by the way, I think he's a fantastic actor and a cool dude); while Lance Armstrong has been suspended from his sport for life and has been erased from the record books? How come celebrities are allowed to clean up and make a come back, but athletes are banned and forever known as cheaters?

Speaking on the same subject, what would you call it if someone went in to a doctor's office and had them inject them with loads of hormones in order to elicit a specific outcome that may or may not happen? And that these injected hormones would cause them to grow extraneous facial hair, lose handfuls of hair while they shampooed, caused wild mood swings and many other side effects. Am I talking about the latest steroid scandal about the doctors that allegedly injected A-Rod and many others? No! I'm talking about infertility clinics.

Apparently if your goal is to have a baby you can do all the steroids that you want and do them legally. I've personally seen numerous women go to the infertility clinics and suffer from the same type of side effects that the steroid and PED taking athletes that I know suffer from. And more than half of those women didn't wind up with a baby. How come it's okay for them, but not okay for these athletes?

And don't get me wrong, one of my nieces was created this way and I love her to death and couldn't imagine not having her around. My point is simple, we crucify athletes that make the choice to mess with their hormones through the use of steroids, testosterone and growth hormone; but when a woman decides to follow the same route in order to possibly create a baby it's some how okay.

It's quite a double standard that we have here isn't it?

And trust me, most peoples' view on PEDs and 'roids is wrong. How often I hear people say, "oh yeah, he can hit the ball like that because of the 'roids." or, "I'd look like that too if I used the drugs he was using." or, "I'd be able to lift like that if I took drugs." or many other similar statements that basically equate to steroid and PED users being cheaters that are looking for the easy way out. Well, I have to say, every PED user and steroid user I've ever known were already the hardest working bad asses in the gym before they decided to juice up.

I can honestly say, every single one of them was working their ass off. Every one of them was already a star in their sport, the strongest and most fit person in the gym, and jacked beyond belief. They've all been the guys that are already working at the top of their potential and they chose to take the juice so they could work even harder.

Now, I know I can't say that every user is this way. But, from my experiences being around guys that were juicing, they were already incredible long before they injected themselves. So no, you wouldn't look like them, be as strong as them, or be able to play like them if you took their drugs.

I say we make them all legal. At least it would be interesting to find out how powerful these drugs really were. Let's see how much of a change they actually would make in sports. I know in MMA, almost every time I see a fighter get busted for PEDs or 'roids, it's the guys that just got his ass kicked. So, obviously it doesn't make you a better fighter. Let's make them all legal and see if all of the records will really be shattered and let's see just how much of an impact they'd have on the games.

I'd be willing to bet that the impact wouldn't be anywhere near as great as many people seem to think.

Of course, not being a user myself, this is all speculation on my part. Now, go train hard and heavy.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Strength Training or Endurance Training:

In a post a few years back I used the following picture to demonstrate the difference between the results of sprint training (which is a form of power and strength training) an marathon running (a form of endurance training). For those of you that don't want to go back through the archives, here it is again:

As you can see here there's quite a difference between the two athletes. One is a lean, jacked, powerful mother f-er while the other one looks like he just got released from Auschwitz.

When you see a comparison like this you can clearly see the results of either form of exercise. Steady-state "cardio" (or slow long-duration training) in the form of jogging, biking, swimming etc. eats up muscle tissue like it's going out of style. And not just your pecs, abs, and biceps, but also your heart (which is simply a muscle) and the muscles in and around your other organs. It also plays havoc and stops your body's production of growth hormone, testosterone, IGF-1, as well as compromises your immune system and accelerates the aging process while teaching your body to store body fat to fuel itself for those long swims, jogs, etc.

Sprint training and other forms of power and strength training (powerlifting, Olympic lifting, gymnastics training, strongman training, etc.) burn fat, build muscle (as well as bones and connective tissue), increase production of Growth hormone, testosterone, IGF-1, etc., strengthen  your immune system and slow down the aging process while teaching your body to burn body fat instead of storing it.

Need some more proof. How about comparing the bodies of World record marathon runner Paula Radcliff:

with that of World class Powerlifter Jessica Scofield:

Or even looking at a group of Kenyan marathoners:

Then checking out the body on sprinter Dwain Chambers:

I don't know about you but I'd much rather have the look and performance ability of all of our strength and power athletes over the endurance athletes any day.

Talk with you all later.

Yours in strength and heath,
Brett Stepan

A Very True Poem

“Down the road, in a gym far away
A young man was heard to say

“No matter what I do, my legs won’t grow!”

He tried leg extensions, leg curls, leg presses too
Trying to cheat, these sissy workouts he’d do!

 From the corner of the gym where the big guys train
Through a cloud of chalk and the midst of pain

 Where the big iron rides high, and threatens lives
Where the noise is made with big forty-fives

 A deep voice bellowed as he wrapped his knees
A very big man with legs like trees

 Laughing as he snatched another plate from the stack
Chalked his hands and monstrous back

 Said, “Boy, stop lying and don’t say you’ve forgotten!
Trouble with you is you ain’t been SQUATTIN’!”
- Jeff “MADDOG” Madden

Such True Advice, now go train hard, heavy and smart.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan