protein

A BIG FAT DEBATE Nutrition experts are always having the same argument: Is fat loss just a matter of "calories in, calories out" or do other things have a bigger long-term impact, like how food quality and macronutrient choices affect our hormones, eating behaviors, and ultimately our body...

Was Rocky Right After All? Rocky Drinks Raw Eggs. Should You? I don’t remember a lot about the first Rocky movie. Sure, I have some vague recollections about Rocky’s pet turtles, Apollo Creed, and the scene in the ring where Rocky begs Mick to cut his swollen eyelid open so the blood can drain...

What do you get when you ask some of the world's top strength coaches and nutrition gurus to share their most powerful tips for dramatic physique changes? You get one hell of an article series! In this second installment of the "Top 10" series, it's Dr. Lowery's turn to bat. Read on as Lonnie...

Debunking the Biggest Untruths Damn You, Wilburn! Sometimes I wish Wilburn Olin Atwater hadn’t become a pioneer in the field of nutrition. I’d have been happier if he’d instead become a chimney sweep, corset maker, rag picker, or some other respectable late 19th-century profession. Atwater...

Remember when Chris Farley used to talk about living in that van? You know, the one down by the river? That's me, except it's not a van and it's not down by the river. But yeah, I basically live in my car. You see, I'm a trainer who goes to people's houses all day long to work them out, so...

THE PYRAMID, CORRECTED The USDA food pyramid should actually be inverted, minus the sugar aspect. Sugar is best avoided, but fat, vegetables, and protein should make up the bulk of your diet. Keep in mind, fat contains 9 calories per serving as opposed to 4 calories in both carbs and protein...

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW... Lawsuits are flying over mislabeled protein powders. Several supplement companies have been named in class action lawsuits for faulty labeling. Companies use "nitrogen spiking" to cut costs. When inexpensive and often low-quality amino acids are added to protein...

You don't have to stay ripped year around, but you absolutely can stay lean and pack on quality muscle by doing the following: Shoot for 1 to 1.25 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. Don't piss me off by asking if that's "grams per pound of lean body mass." No. It's grams per pound of...

Who has time to cook a few extra chicken breasts every few days? Who has time to make a big pot of rice or potatoes? Someone should invent a kitchen appliance where you just throw the meat and starches in overnight and BAM, cooked food for the week. That would be amazing. That's a zillion...

Here's a strategy: Think of the desserts that seem "off limits" on a diet, then make those same treats with ingredients that actually support your goals. Or think of the things people consider bland "diet food" and learn to make them taste good with seasonings, dips, or sauces that you whip up...

Help Yourself to Hypertrophy Is your main goal to build muscle? Then here’s what to do (and what not to do) to pack on the pounds. 1. Don’t Diet Every few years, there’s a resurgence in meal reduction diets. Their premise? The optimal way to gain muscle is to greatly reduce meal frequency...

Ahh, the lean bulking diet; say what you want about the merits of trying to add pounds of muscle without adding a single ounce of extra bodyfat, but as a nutritional consultant I can tell you one thing: some of these lean bulking diets are the most meticulous and repetitive things the world has...

Everyone's done it. You go to Costco to pick up some boneless chicken breasts and some toilet paper and you leave with a 72-pound wheel of cheese, 12 boxes of Nutter Butter cookies, a pallet of kitty litter, and a kayak. It's easy to get swept up in all that raw capitalism, but if you can keep...

Food Sequencing for Metabolic Health Food, Fat Loss, and Credibility There are many different ways to think about food and fat loss. Unfortunately, the view that calories are all that matter dominates most discussions. Anyone who says calories don’t matter for fat loss is either ignorant of...

THE REVOLUTION HAS COME, ARE YOU READY? The world of strength training is obviously full of contradiction and confusion. Just pick up any standard bodybuilding magazine and you'll see different people with drastically diverse views, all telling you that they have the one method to help you...

COLLAGEN: SKETCHY HISTORY, BUT HEALTHY STUFF Collagen has been a mainstay in the supplement business for a long time, only not in a particularly honest way. Protein or energy bar manufacturers often use collagen in the form of gelatin to add moisture and chewiness to their products. That's okay...

Take This, Forget About That Health Supplements: What to Take, What You Can Probably Skip When America wants nutrition advice, they generally defer to medical doctors. Why that is, I don’t know. Most medical schools only spend about 15 minutes teaching nutrition. As such, I’m always skeptical...

For fat loss, what's one of the biggest mistakes that even experienced lifters make? It's this: getting into a caloric deficit by using mostly caloric restriction. Wait, what? "Caloric deficit" and "calorie restriction" are kinda the same thing, right? Well, yes and no. Sure, the most...

The Bedtime Protein Shake We all kinda-sorta know that having a protein shake before going to bed is a good strategy to build muscle, but it’s still satisfying to read a scientific paper that says we’re not just right, but really right. It’s particularly satisfying when that paper is a big...

Beginners trying to lose body fat don't need to follow an advanced fat loss program in order to get results. If you're fat, you're fat, and following an advanced training program won't necessarily speed up the process. All you really need to do is move. The same can be said about newbie...