#t-nation

[ritter-der-kelche]

“There are no secret programs. The key to getting results is focused hard work, day after day, and stick with it longer than anybody else!”

[chrisc-1966]

Put in the effort and seek the results, but don't get sucked into this politically correct movement. Here's why.

Politically correct, mainstream fitness advice is turning people into weak-minded babies. 

[foodyscienceytrainingthings]

Good article

[getrightwithmike]

Women like to say abs are made in the kitchen. Then why do so many struggle in that area? Here's where they're going wrong with their diets and how they can fix them for long-term leanness.

[getrightwithmike]

Heavy barbell training is the best way to build strength. And everything about sports performance gets better when you're stronger.

[progressiveresistance]

A couple of surprises in here, and backed up by some fairly solid-looking research.  

Bonus: blissfully free of the typical T-Nation “Hurr hurr muscles hurr hurr strong hurr hurr tits hurr hurr mirin but not gay at all I love tits!!1!1 buy our shit!!!” nonsense that infects their articles sometimes.

[liftkitty]

Omg this article is so fascinating to me... "I was addicted to heroin. I owed a bunch of money to some local Ukrainians, so I robbed a series of people at knifepoint in order to pay off the debt. One of the victims recognized me and later on I got pinned for the other robberies. I was sentenced to prison for ten years... While waiting in county jail, there was nothing to do but eat pork rinds and cupcakes and deal with the stress. I put on 30 pounds while awaiting sentencing. I wasn't too pleased with this, and knew that I'd eventually get some trailer visits from my wife, so I felt that I had to drastically improve my body. But it wasn't only that. I was now in a hostile, dangerous and altogether foreign world, and I was going to be there for ten years, so I joined the weightlifting cult immediately. I eventually devolved into a shallow creature that wore ever-tighter shirts and tried to keep his vascularity up, even in the jailhouse mess hall. It was easy to revel in muscle, and many men in prison do just that... This was American prison, so the calories aren't as much the problem as the quality of them and the lack of protein. You can basically fill yourself with simple carbs at every meal through the endless bread, rice, potatoes, and noodles that make up most of the meals. Complex carbs are harder to come by, so oatmeal, yams, and wheat bread are actually trafficked in. And the protein is the biggest problem. The soy protein that makes up a large component of the state-issued meals is terrible for you. And it tastes bad... So there's a whole underground economy in providing bodybuilders with whiting fillets and eggs and hamburger meat and hot dogs and meatballs and chicken legs from the warehouses. There is also commissary, in which tuna and mackerel are sold. The max I could spend on food was 50 bucks every two weeks, and most of it went to cans of fish. I can only imagine my mercury levels, but everyone did this. Jack Mack, which is the cheapest source of protein -- 72.5 grams in a can, for $1.09 -- brings up memories of bodybuilding to any ex-con...."

[getrightwithmike]

8 Rules for Fat Loss Training

by Andrew Heming 

Here's what you need to know...

•  If you're serious about stripping off body fat, you must make time for proper nutrition. If you don't have time for this, make time.

•  Too often people trying to lose body fat just use intense metabolic resistance training and HITT (high intensity interval training). With fat loss programs, you need to switch as needed to different strategies such as metabolic resistance training, strength training, bodybuilding, and strength plus conditioning.

•  When designing a weekly plan for your training, consider how different styles of training affect different systems and thus affect recovery. You need to allow for some "space" between different kinds of stressors such as nervous system stressors, joint stressors, spinal compression, and metabolic stressors.

•  When trying to burn fat, you should rotate between different types of alactate (without lactic acid) conditioning that consists of short, intense work and lactate (produces lactic acid as a byproduct) conditioning that consists of longer duration work.

Want to lose body fat quickly and keep it off? Stop following those mainstream fitness workouts designed for your granny. Real fat loss training should build calluses on your hands. Here are eight rules for effective fat loss training, plus a sample workout plan that puts them all into action.

8 Rules for Fat Loss Training

1. Prioritize Nutrition

Yes, this is a training article, but nutrition is the single most important thing for fat loss. If you're serious about stripping off body fat, you must make time for grocery shopping, cooking, meal prep, doing dishes, and keeping a food journal. If you don't have time for this, make time. Cut down on time wasters like social media, web surfing, playing on your cell phone, or TV.

If you truly have eliminated every possible time waster and are still pressed for time, train less to have the time to take care of your nutrition. That's right, train less! For example, in my fat loss programs, I have Tuesdays and Saturdays as shopping/meal prep days. You can still train on these days, but if you're truly pressed for time, sacrifice your training on these days to take care of your top priority for fat loss – your nutrition.

As far as what to eat, there's no rule that says you have to perfectly follow a particular diet. You probably already what foods are getting you into trouble. However, certain aspects of certain diets are worth emulating. For instance, you can take aspects of the paleo diet (natural, single-ingredient foods, meats, fish, whole eggs and vegetables) without unnecessarily restricting other foods that are not paleo but still support your training goals, like quality supplements such as fish oils, BCAA's, protein, peri-workout nutrition and some starchy carbs such as rice).

2. Pick Big, Hard Exercises

Regardless of your goals, effective training starts with picking the right exercises. The best exercises for fat loss are the best exercises for almost any goal. The big, hard compound movements are the ones you should be doing.

3. Get Stronger

While most people understand that getting stronger is important for building muscle and enhancing performance, its relevance for fat loss is often overlooked. When your goal is fat loss, you want to burn as much fuel as possible. To do this, you want your body to be as fuel inefficient as possible. One of the huge problems with cardio for fat loss is that the more you do, the better you get at it and thus the more fuel efficient you become. With resistance training the opposite is true. The better you get at strength training, the more weight you can lift and the more it takes out of you. Spending some of your training time getting stronger allows you to do all your other forms of training (e.g., metabolic resistance training, conditioning) at a higher/faster level and this makes them even more effective for getting rid of unwanted body fat.

4. Build Muscle

Virtually everyone trying to lose body fat should gain some muscle. Most people know this, but it bears repeating again and again. Even a few extra pounds of lean muscle means a lot more calories burned each day.

5. Jack Up Metabolism Post Training

Years ago exercise scientists told us to do long, slow cardio in order to burn fat. However, this answer was a response to the wrong question. Fat loss training isn't about what burns the most amount of fatduring a training session, it's about what burns the most amount of fat in a 24 hour period. Short, high-intensity exercise creates an oxygen debt (known in geekspeak as E.P.O.C., or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) and this results in a metabolic boost long after the training session is over.

6. Schedule Wisely

When designing a weekly plan for your training, consider how different styles of training affect different systems and thus affect recovery. For example:

Joint stressors: sprints, high impact jumps, heavy barbell training Spinal compression: heavy squats, deadlifts, farmer's walks. Nervous system stressors: speed/power training, heavy, low-rep training (especially >90% 1RM), training to failure Metabolic stressors: lactate work (i.e., doing things that last about 30 seconds to 3 minutes and produce a lot of lactic acid. Great for fat loss, but harder to recover from).

Allow for some "space" between different types of stressors. For example, if you stress something one day, do a lighter session or work a different type of stress the next day. The sample plan at the end will show you how to program this.

7. Rotate Strategies

As with any goal, following an effective program will only work for so long before you hit a plateau. Too often people trying to lose body fat just use intense metabolic resistance training and HITT (high intensity interval training). While these are excellent, they won't work forever. With fat loss programs, switch as needed to different strategies such as the following:

Metabolic resistance training: Use moderate weights for moderate reps while alternating upper/lower body exercises or doing whole body circuits.

Strength training: Use more traditional strength training methods to allow you to lift more weight when you return to metabolic resistance training.

Bodybuilding: Focus on building lean muscle to raise metabolic rate and doing brisk walking to burn a few extra calories.

Strength plus conditioning: Focus on getting stronger in the weight room and doing challenging forms of conditioning to boost EPOC (that after-burn effect).

The trick is to not only periodize your training, but to periodize your diet, too. When some people try a lower-volume strength training program, they find they gain fat. This isn't because of the training. Obviously, strength training doesn't cause fat gain. However, if you switch from higher volume training (think typical fat loss metabolic stuff) to a lower volume training (think powerlifting program) and don't drop down your carbs and total calories, you'll gain fat.

8. Get Outside

We're made to be outdoors. While it's not always practical to haul a whole barbell set outside or train at Muscle Beach, look to do something physical outside. Run sprints at the track, find a hill and do sprints, push a Prowler or pull a sled. Grab a sledgehammer and try to beat an old tire to a pulp. Also, consider bringing minimal equipment like kettlebells to a park and having an outdoor session. Or, do what I do, which is train with barbells in my basement gym and then do farmer's walks up and down the sidewalks of my neighborhood. Also, doing some other activities such as sports or outdoor recreation is great to not only burn a few extra calories, but also to have fun, reduce stress, and enjoy the benefits of the finely conditioned machine you're building in the gym.

[http://www.t-nation.com/training/8-rules-for-fat-loss-training]