Fit and 50

Exercise mistakes harming your joints (How To Fix Them) We all need exercise. Humans are designed to move, and it’s a lack of movement that often causes the joint problems we have. But if that’s the case, why is it, when we exercise, our joints become sore and achy? Today we’re going to look at the exercise mistakes we make and how they harm our joints. The first one is too much high-impact exercise, for example, running. It affects many joints, your knees, hips, low back and ankles. It could be a sport you like to play. Tennis and golf have repetitive high-impact movements that can cause an elbow injury or pain. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 I like to run, and it’s a great form of cardiovascular exercise. In addition to all the benefits cardio provides, like lowering our blood pressure, regulating blood sugar and maintaining a healthy body weight. Because its high impact, it strengthens our bones. If you enjoy running but find it hard on your joints, consider mixing up your cardio by alternating between running and cycling or swimming. This way, you keep progressing, giving your joints a break. To protect our joints, we need to strengthen the muscle around them as they act as shock absorbers taking the stress off them. If you’re not strength training, then this is mistake number 2. If you have problems with golfers or tennis elbow, you should be training your forearms, doing both weighted wrist curls and extension exercises. Use a lightweight for 1 to 3 sets of 15 to 20 repetitions. If you’ve just injured a joint or you’re in a lot of pain you should consult with a doctor or physiotherapist before starting any exercise program. Weight training can cause joint issues, if we just train our show muscles. Focusing too much on our pushing muscles like our chest and not enough on our pulling ones can cause upper cross syndrome, creating pain in our shoulders, neck and upper back. The solution is to add more pulling exercises with at least 2 pulling movements for each pushing. I recommend including chest-supported elbow out rows with the bench set at 30 degrees and face pulls. Both are very effective at strengthening our upper back muscles like the rhomboids and middle and lower traps. Another common imbalance is strong quads and weak hamstrings. These muscles cross over the knee and can cause knee, hip and low back pain. Squats are a great exercise, but in a study, I referenced in a recent video, the researchers found that squats built our quads, glutes and adductors but not our hamstrings. So if we’re doing nothing but squats for our legs, we run the risk of developing joint pain. We should work our hamstrings through both the hip and knee hinge using exercises like Romanian deadlifts and hamstring curls. According to the American Council on Exercise, our hamstrings should be at least 60 % as strong as our quads. The next mistake I see, is people don’t warm up their joints before exercise. It’s always a good policy to spend a few minutes warming up the body to get it ready for work. I do a general warm-up, either walking on a treadmill or doing high knees at a marching pace and a few no impact jacks. Then I’ll do mobility work to target the specific muscles and joints I’m working. For example, if I’m training my upper body, for my shoulders, I’ll do arm and shoulder circles. For cardio and weight training, if you’re just starting to exercise, you’ll want to start easy, keeping the sessions short and gradually adding time and intensity. Allowing at least one day in between sessions to recover. Sometimes we need to base our recovery on the rate our joints are recovering and not our muscles. Not taking enough time off between training sessions and continually trying to push through joint pain will lead to injury. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31230110/ https://www.strongerbyscience.com/squats-adductors/

Why You Should Never Skip Leg Day Over 50 (it starts at 30) It starts in our 30’s and gets even worse in our 40’s. When we think of leg day, we think of building muscle, but skipping legs negatively affects more than just muscle mass. It affects bone density, joint health, and even our mobility and stability. Inactive people get hit the worst losing between 3 to 8% of their muscle mass every 10 years after the age of 30. The best way to stop or reverse this trend is leg training. And I get it. Training legs is hard. I’m a runner, and I often used running as an excuse to get out of leg day. Over the last two years, I’ve gotten serious about my leg training and, especially over the last year; I’ve made noticeable progress. To get the most out of our leg training, we need to progressively work all the muscles of our leg, including quads, hamstrings, calves and I include glutes. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 Anytime you’re trying to build muscle, nutrition plays a role. If you’re leaner, you need to be in a slight calorie surplus. If you have a fair bit of weight to lose, you can be in a calorie deficit and still build muscle just don’t make the cut too extreme. Eating enough protein is essential if we expect to see leg gains. I like the recommendation of keeping our protein between 30 and 35% of our total calories. For those who prefer grams per pound, your intake should be over .72g per pound of goal bodyweight. We can start losing bone density as early as our 40s, which is a genuine concern. The leading cause of injury-related deaths over 65 is falling. Breaking a hip or femur is serious, especially as we get older. Three ways we can help prevent this is improving leg strength, bone density and balance. Resistance workouts are a great low-impact way to improve our bone density. The force of the muscle pulling on the bone is enough to stimulate bone growth. Heavy compound movements work the best. One study found after 24 wks using undulating periodization to vary the resistance between 68 and 95% of their one-rep max resulted in between, 2.7 to 7.7 percent increase in bone mineral density In this study, they used a wide variety of exercises that incorporated the whole body. For the legs, they used squats, stiff-legged deadlifts, and seated heel raise or calf raises. Unilateral leg training helps us not only build strength but improve balance. Starting with a split squat, gradually advancing the movement to a reverse lunge and then moving on to the Bulgarian split squat. Each step of the way, challenging and improving our balance. Leg training helps with knee pain by adding muscle around the joint, providing stability and working as a shock absorber reducing the impact on the knee. I looked at a review of 8 studies using older adults, including some with osteoarthritis, and it found strength training reduced pain by 35%. This doesn’t have to be extremely high intensity to reap the benefit either. One study they reviewed intended on using 80% of the test subjects one rep max. The participants found it too painful, so they reduced the intensity to 60% for 3 sets of 8 reps and compared this to another group that only used 10% of their max for 10 sets of 15 repetitions. Both groups reduced pain and improved function with no significant difference between them. One of insulin's jobs is to slow muscle breakdown. They did a study comparing muscle breakdown in the legs of a group of older people to that of younger ones. And found two things, one that insulin was less effective at reducing muscle breakdown in older adults and that blood flow to the legs was substantially reduced. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090911103807.htm https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/90/5/1343/4598139 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20647940/ https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2011/04000/Changes_in_Bone_Mineral_Density_in_Response_to_24.30.aspx https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3606891/

Anti Aging Supplements Do They Work? (Live Longer Stronger) Anti-aging means preventing or lessen the effects of aging. Now there is nothing out there that stops aging. Time will eventually get us all. We can live longer and stronger. What I mean by this is not just potentially adding years to our life, but improving our healthspan—adding quality years where we’re active and healthy with less time spent sick and dying. But the question is, what should we be focusing on to do this? Are there certain supplements that help us? Or should we be directing our efforts elsewhere to live this longer, stronger life? Let's start with vitamins. Lots of vitamins have been associated with anti-aging. Vitamin D, B 12, E, and C are a few examples, and if you are deficient in one of these, your health will benefit from correcting that deficiency. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 The best way to get these vitamins and all our nutrition are from whole foods. Any supplement is merely a backup. Let’s take a closer look at vitamin D. This is one that I take as a supplement, and it has health benefits like improving bone density and reducing the risk of cancer. All good reasons to take vitamin D, but does it improve longevity? They did a meta-analysis to determine just this, looking at 52 trials with 75 454 participants. So this was no small review. And what they found was vitamin D3 nor D2 was associated with a statistically significant reduction in all-cause mortality. It’s worth noting they found it reduced the risk of cancer death by 16% I’m not saying taking a vitamin D supplement isn’t beneficial, just that there’s no evidence it’ll increase our lifespan. What we want to see from a study or, better yet, a literature review or meta-analysis is that taking a specific substance or doing an activity will add, on average, this many years to our lives. We want it to be very definitive. That’s a lot to ask for but let’s keep looking. Resveratrol is found in red wine, and I like red wine, so I’m a fan of it already. It’s in the grapes that make the wine, as well as other berries and peanuts. It’s claimed that Resveratrol helps prevent neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and certain cancers, and it shows promise in a lot of these areas. The problem is that there aren’t many human studies, and animal studies often don’t translate to humans. So until there are more studies done with humans, there is no evidence to support it will extend our lives. So far, no supplements can claim to extend your life. But there’s one thing research has shown that can extend our lives on average 2.9 years for men and 3.9 years for women. This includes good quality life, adding between 1.2 and 3.1 more disability-free years. I got these stats from a literature review published in the Journal of Aging Research. They looked at all the studies on Life expectancy related to physical activity. The difference is that the effect on the body is so dramatic that it can be measured in years of additional life. And this positive effect can be compounded by eliminating other risk factors. For example, if you keep your body fat at a healthy level, don’t smoke, follow a good diet with moderate alcohol consumption and stay physically fit, you will live 12 years longer than if you were overweight, unfit and a smoker This review looked at only one study that included strength training, but I know from other studies I’ve looked at that there is a connection between longevity and having increased muscle mass. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31405892/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3395188/#:~:text=Results%20of%2013%20studies%20describing,by%200.4%20to%206.9%20years. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22039197/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18701734/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5630227/ https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(14)00138-7/fulltext

The best squats for amazing sex (Go Deeper) Today we’re going to look at how squats can improve our sex life and make it truly amazing. We’re going to cover different variations and how they improve blood flow to where we need it, to get harder, strengthen our pelvic floor, so we can last longer and increase our testosterone levels. Nothing gets your heart pumping like high rep squats. Anyone who has done a set of 20 plus repetitions knows it kicks your heart rate into high gear! And more importantly, it’s pumping blood into our lower body. We see from this picture that the blood flows to our legs from the aorta into the common iliac artery. Now, this is what we want to pay attention to. The offshoot of this artery is called the internal iliac artery. It’s a branch off of here that supplies our little chicken, turning it into a great big roster! If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 So how does this apply to squats? Well, off this iliac artery, blood is also supplied to the glutes, pelvic floor and adductor muscles. Those are the muscles of our inner thigh. When we do squats, we pump blood into these areas improving the flow to the entire region. This is only part of the benefit squats provide. They also strengthen these muscles. Which does more than improve our thrusting ability. A strong pelvic floor keeps us erect longer. To illustrate how squats strengthen our pelvic floor, I’ll reference a study done on children with incontinence. It found after a 4-month squat-based pelvic floor rehabilitation program, they had strengthened their pelvic floor to the point that 86% of them no longer had incontinence. Granted, we’re not children, but Biomechanically we’re built the same. How we squat makes a difference too. For example, a wide stance or sumo squat puts a greater emphasis on our adductors. Before starting any squat, we want to brace our core which means tightening our abdomen, low back and pelvic floor. Then once we’ve lowered down and we’re ready to drive out of the bottom position, focus on tightening up your butt and pelvic floor as you return to the starting position. To get the most out of these squats, use a weight that brings you close to failure between 10 to 15 repetitions. Another exercise that’s great for the adductors is a lateral lunge. This is an advanced variation that’s good for people who want to be able to move more athletically. It’s important you don’t overstep or lean too far to the side, as this will compromise your form. In a study published in 2019, they measured the leg muscle growth of the quads, hamstrings, glutes and adductors on two groups of untrained men before and after 10 weeks of squats, with one group doing a full range of motion and the other only doing half squats. What I want to look at is the growth of the glutes and adductor muscles, as they are the ones around the pelvic floor. It’s probably no surprise that the full range of motion squats built more muscle than the half squats, with a 6.2% increase in adductor muscle volume and a 6.7% increase in the glutes. When doing squats, we need to go deeper! One variation of the squat that allows me to do a full range of motion is the band sissy squat. I like using a band because the resistance curve complements the movement as you’re weaker at the beginning and stronger at the end, where the band provides the most resistance. Whenever you do a heavy compound movement like squats, you will get a spike in testosterone, but this isn’t what we are after we want a permanent increase in our resting T levels. To do this, we need to do regular resistance training, adding muscle to our legs and our whole bodies. This works exceptionally well for those who haven’t been training for a while or are new to lifting. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33133658/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31230110/ https://www.strongerbyscience.com/squats-adductors/

Does protein speed up aging? Muscle growth vs longevity (over 50 you need to know this) We train to be healthy, get fit, build muscle and strength. Ultimately this should allow us to live longer, but is the diet we need to support our hard training increasing our risk of premature aging and death? The 2014 study that brings this into question looked at two groups of people. One was between 50 and 65 the second group was 66 years of age and older. It was an extensive study of over 6,000 people. And what they found was that low protein diets reduced the risk of mortality in 50 to 65-year-olds. But the opposite was true with those over 65, in this group; low protein diets increased the risk of death. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 So what changed between the ages of 65 to 66 that they all of a sudden require a high protein diet? The researchers felt this might be because the additional protein helps to offset age-related weight loss. They also cited the possibility of protein sensitivity playing a role; as we get older, our ability to absorb protein diminishes. They talk about the hormone IGF 1 or insulin-like growth factor 1, but we’ll come back to that in a minute. One of the biggest flaws I found with this study is that they didn’t separate healthy and unhealthy people. Nor does it look at factors like activity and fitness level. These two elements clearly affect lifespan and mortality. One group in the first study that didn’t benefit from increased protein even over 65, who as a whole requires more protein, had diabetes. With diabetics, their hormones are not functioning properly—most notably insulin. Two of the best things people with diabetes can do to improve their insulin sensitivity is to lose excess body fat and build muscle. Increasing your protein intake can help with this, but it needs to be done along with a properly structured training and nutrition plan that puts you in a slight calorie deficit. Another hormone that needs to be functioning properly is IGF1 which turns on a growth pathway called mTOR. This puts the body into growth mode, allowing us to build new cells and, ultimately, muscle. When our bodies function correctly, the mTOR growth pathway gets turned on and off as needed. It goes wrong when it gets stuck in the on position—increasing our risk for things like cancer. Protein turns on mTOR and up-regulates IGF1. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering something else that turns on mTOR is exercise. Exercise, including resistance training, improves our health and odds for a long life. According to a meta-analysis done in 2011, both low and high levels of IGF1 are associated with increased mortality. So there’s a healthy range we want IGF1 to stay in. People with diabetes have more trouble with high levels of IGF1 because of another hormone, insulin, according to an article published in the journal of the national cancer institute. Chronically elevated insulin levels increase IGF1, which in turn can increase the risk of colorectal cancer. What we’re starting to see here is it isn’t protein that’s the problem. It’s an improperly functioning endocrine system. They state from a population and preventative perspective; it appears that modifying insulin levels by reducing obesity, changing diet, and increase in physical activity may be the most effective strategy for lowering levels of bioavailable IGF-I. https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/94/13/972/2519794 https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(14)00062-X?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS155041311400062X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/96/9/2912/2834729?login=false https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21778224/ https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(14)00138-7/fulltext

Eliminate Shoulder Pain Forever at Home (How I Fixed Mine) It’s nothing short of a Miracle. I fixed my shoulder impingement and eliminated the pain it caused. I’ve had some degree of shoulder pain for the last five years. Well, at least up until last year. I thought I’d have to live with it for the rest of my life. And I have you to the subscribers to thank. Some of you commented on a video I did a year ago that I should try hanging from a bar every day to fix my impingement. I was skeptical, but there were quite a few of you saying the same thing. So I gave it a try. Today I’ll go to go over not only what I did but what types of shoulder issues this fixes and when you shouldn’t be using this method of rehabilitation. I got my information from a book written by the originator of the therapy Doctor Kirsch, an orthopedic surgeon. In the book, he recommends a combination of passive hanging and weight training and claims it will relieve most shoulder pain issues. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 We’ll go into the weighted exercises, but first, let’s look at the conditions it helps. Even if your shoulders are in great shape, you should be doing this exercise to prevent injury and pain. In addition to prevention, it helps with Subacromial impingement syndrome, Rotator cuff injury and frozen shoulder. Impingement happens when the tendons that pass between the top of the upper arm or humerus and the tip of the shoulder or acromion get pinched, and these tendons rub on the bones, causing pain. Frozen shoulder is caused by inflammation of the shoulder capsule. Limiting the mobility of the joint. This brings us to the first limitation. If you can’t lift your arm parallel with the horizon, then you shouldn't hang from a bar as the damage could be bad enough that surgery is the only option. Dr. Kirsch also states people with unstable or dislocated shoulders, in very poor health or who have severe osteoporosis should also avoid hanging from a bar. And in all cases, if you have ongoing shoulder pain, you should see a doctor to get a proper diagnosis. Hanging does more than stretch the tendons and ligaments. There’s evidence that the acromial bone can bend and remodel when one hangs, providing more room. There’s a couple of things happening while we are hanging from a bar. One is we’re stretching the shoulder capsule, which relieves frozen shoulder. The other is stretching the shoulder blade restraints, which allow for full rotation and elevation. One of the things I noticed when I first started hanging was my shoulder blades stayed down I was really tight in my mid-back, and it took a few 30-second sessions before my shoulder blades relaxed enough to elevate and let my shoulders raise towards my ears. The way I progressed hanging is a little different than Dr. Kirsch recommends. I started hanging with palms facing forward like when you do a pull-up for 30 seconds every day, and it was only a matter of a few days before my shoulder started to feel better. Dr. Kirsch recommends hanging for shorter durations of 10 to 30 seconds and repeating it over 10 to 15 minutes. Depend on how strong you are, your body weight, or the level of discomfort it causes, you may not be able to put your full weight on the bar. In that case, you’ll want to keep your feet on the floor with your knees and hips bent to partially support your weight. The weight lifting is light, using between 1 to 8 lbs weights for high repetitions between 30 to 45. He recommends 3 exercises forward, lateral, and extension raises. Palms should be down in all three movements. He uses a very large range of motion on all exercises but states to avoid ranges that cause pain. For dumbbell shoulder extensions, you need to bend forward at the hips with knees bent. Don’t let your back round. Keep it flat and in a natural position. Then start with your palms forward and arms straight down, move your arms back and up For the required number of repetitions.

Best Exercises for amazing sex Great sex is more than just the physical aspect of the act. It's about an emotional connection with your partner and how pleasing them makes you feel. But if it isn’t working physically, you aren’t having any fun. So today, we’re going to start with basic exercises to improve performance and finish off with advanced-level moves that will take a pickle and turn it back into a full-sized cucumber. The key to having and maintaining your general at full salute is blood flow. We want good flow from the arteries into the penis. Then we need to restrict the flow from leaving through the veins. The better we do this, the longer and harder we’ll be able to last. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 Good blood flow starts with the heart, which is why aerobic exercise is so effective for improving function. This could be any form you enjoy. A 2018 systematic review found 160 minutes of weekly exercise for 6 months helped reduce erectile problems in men with ED caused by physical inactivity, obesity, hypertension, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases. Once we’ve got the flow in, we need to keep it there. And this is where strength training plays a role and, in particular, strengthening our pelvic floor muscles. These muscles are the ones that restrict the flow of blood out of our roster so we can keep it crowing until the wee hours of the morning. Kegels are a simple exercise that involves contracting our pelvic floor muscles that can be done anywhere. The best way to know you’re flexing the right muscles is next time you go pee, stop the flow midstream. That’s how you do a kegal. Once you have a feel for flexing those pelvic floor muscles, you can do it anywhere or anytime, not just when you’re peeing. The goal should be to Hold the contraction for 5 seconds then release it. Repeat this for 10 to 20 repetitions 3 to 4 times every day. Now that we have our main man working the way it should. We need to control our bodies in a way that makes us good lovers. First and foremost, we can’t be lying on our partner like a dead carcass. We need to support our body weight. A great exercise to help with this is the body saw plank. It’s done in the traditional plank position. Now I want you to brace your core. What I mean by this is to tighten up your abdominal muscles, low back, glutes, hips and pelvic floor. That’s right. I want you to do a Kegel while performing this exercise. What makes this exercise different than a plank is movement. Use your upper arms to move forward and back. The following exercise is the basic push-up. We need upper body strength to move from one position to the next comfortably. One of the things I like about this next exercise is it not only builds strength and power in all the right places, but it gets your heart rate up, improving blood flow right where we need it. And that’s kettlebell swings. It’s essential to maintain good posture on your upper body while doing his move. It’s a hip hinge exercise, so your hips go back as you lower down, swinging the weight. Ever wanted to pick your lover up and make things happen in a standing position? To do this, you need coordinated full-body strength and a great exercise to develop this is the dumbbell clean and press. You can get more range of motion by moving the dumbbells to the inside of your legs. This allows you to take a wider stance, letting you drop lower without compromising your backs alignment. You explode the weight up to your shoulders by driving your hips forward. And then dip down at the hips slightly to aid in pressing the weight up overhead. Combining all 4 of these exercises into a Circuit or Tabata workout to get double duty results, improving both your heart and skeletal muscle strength. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5960035/

Steve Reeves Workout Steve Reeves arguably has the most aesthetic physique of all time. He was born with a great bone structure, but the muscle he had to build, starting at 150 lbs and building himself up to 215 pounds, creating the Ultimate Natty Freak Physique. Today we’re going to take a look at how he did it. I recently read a book that contained his training diary, and we’re going to compare his training principles to what current research is saying about maximizing muscle growth. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE30 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 His journal contained 13 different workouts with one labelled strength recommending a rep range of 3 to 5. He mainly trained in the traditional 8 to 12 and sometimes went higher. Many of the exercises he chose in this strength workout aren’t what we would typically think of, but In this video, we’re focusing more on his training philosophies. If you’d like me to go over his exercise selection in the future, give this video a like and leave a comment to let me know. When we look at the body of research on rep ranges, we find there are benefits to training in variety of ranges. What’s most important is that we train close to failure. Steve agreed with this and would do each set with as heavy a weight as possible using a full range of motion. No part reps or cheat reps of any kind and considered failure when he could no longer do another repetition with good form. Nowadays, we call this technical failure. The pace of his reps was slow and deliberate, with a 2 second concentric and 3 seconds eccentric. The advantage of this for Steve was the slower pace allowed him to focus on form and use a lighter weight reducing the odds of injury. There’s a meta-analysis looking at 8 different studies on rep speed. They found muscle growth was similar whether you did a half a second repetition or went as slow as 8 seconds. Steve’s workout match’s up with this research. He would often use short rests of 30 to 60 seconds and pyramid the weight down, starting with the heaviest weight he could handle than going lighter with each following set of an exercise. Modern research is leaning toward longer rest times of at least 2 minutes on compound exercises and 60 to 90 seconds on isolation exercises. I’m sure the reason Steve had to pyramid his weights was that he wasn’t fully recovered yet from his last set. His goal was always to do more and add something every week, either another rep, set or exercise. He did full-body training 3 times a week which was very common in his day. His workouts were 2 to 4 hours long, having as many as 57 sets. Each body part had, on average, 3 different exercises, which he did for 3 sets. I say on average because, in some workouts, he’d emphasize one body part over another, and overall he prioritized back and biceps more than any other body parts. Research supports that for experienced lifters doing upwards of 20 sets per body part will bring about greater gains than doing less. But the study results have been mixed when it comes to volumes over 20. Clearly, for Steve, 27 to 30 weekly sets worked. Most of us would’t have time or energy to go past 20 sets. With long workouts, it’s tough to keep your energy levels up. Steve had an unusual exercise order that may have helped manage his energy better. We typically start with our heaviest lifts first while we have the most energy with exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press, and bent-over rows. Steve trained his delts first before moving on to chest and back. From what I’ve read, he did this to pre-exhaust them. He worked arms next which is less fatiguing and demanding on our central nervous system, before beginning his leg work that included calves and finished off with abs. https://journal.iusca.org/index.php/Journal/article/view/81/140 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271533635_Effect_of_Repetition_Duration_During_Resistance_Training_on_Muscle_Hypertrophy_A_Systematic_Review_and_Meta-Analysis

Not all protein is the same We need to be aware that protein foods are a package. No food is strictly 100% protein. And this is something we need to understand before we even start to worry about the amino acid profile or absorbability of a given protein To illustrate, I’m going to pick different 3 types of meat. We’ll talk about plant sources a bit later. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 A 100 gram serving of sirloin steak is about 244 calories with 27 grams of protein. Compared to the same size serving of chicken steak, which only has 165 calories and 31 grams of protein. The last one is Atlantic cod. A 100-gram serving is 82 calories with 18 grams of protein. This one is interesting because if you double the serving size, it matches chicken breast almost perfectly in total calories and protein content. All three of these foods have a protein digestibility score of 1 and are good protein sources. But they’re not the same. The most significant difference is the fat content, with cod having virtually no fat. Chicken breast is low in fat, having just 3.6 grams and only one gram of saturated fat. Sirloin steak has the highest fat content and the most calories. Almost half of the fats are saturated fats. So when we’re looking to balance our diet, swapping out a steak for a serving of chicken or 2 servings of cod will increase our daily protein total and lower overall calories consumed. There’s nothing wrong with eating steak, and we need some saturated fats in our diet, but as a whole, we tend to over-consume them. If vitamin B is a concern, both chicken and sirloin steak contain 30% of our daily requirements (based on a 2000cal) in a 100-gram serving. Red meats and processed meats often get lumped together, but these should be viewed as separate categories. The chemicals used in the curing process of meats are linked to serious health issues like cancer and heart disease. On top of this, during processing, some essential amino acids can react with other food components reducing their bioavailability. Berliner Sausage is made out of pork and beef. Both meats have a perfect score of 1 for protein digestibility. Once it’s made into sausage, that rating drops to .65, making it a low-quality protein. Suddenly that sirloin steak is looking pretty good. Let’s look at a couple of incomplete protein sources and see how they measure up. Kidney beans are an excellent non-meat source of protein with 24 grams in a 100-gram serving. It’s a little higher calorie than sirloin steak, but almost the same amount of protein, just 3 grams less. What kidney beans have an abundance of that the over 50 man needs is fibre with 25 grams per 100-gram serving. Men over 50 should be getting 30 grams of fiber every day, and this is something we can’t get from meat proteins. Kidney beans are an incomplete protein with a protein digestibility score of .89, better than the Berliner sausage. We can improve this rating overall by eating from a wide variety of non-meat protein foods. We see this when we use a protein quality calculator. The site 2000KCAL has one that shows the value of various food combinations. You don’t need to eat these foods at the same time. They just need to be part of your diet to benefit from them. Brown rice is a perfect match for red kidney beans. Rice is deficient in lysine and has lots of methionine. Kidney beans are just the opposite. Brown rice has a Protein digestibility rating of .63, but when you have them both in your diet, the combined rating goes up to .98, almost a perfect score. You get more than fibre and protein from non-meat sources. You also get vitamins and minerals that are needed for optional health, including some that you can’t get from meats. For example, kidney beans are high in magnesium and iron. https://www.2000kcal.cz/lang/en/static/protein_quality_and_combining_pdcaas.php

The right goals will get you jacked fast over 50 Goals are absolutely critical to getting jacked over 50. When you walk into the gym, you should have a goal in mind and working out to get jacked isn’t really a goal. It’s the result of choosing the right goals. Jack LaLanne said it best “To live right, you have to exercise, have goals and challenges. So today, we’ll look at some goals we can have to get jacked over 50. That’s both measurable and scalable. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 My goal is to build the Natty Freak Physique and to be honest, that’s as bad as going to the gym, with your only goal being to get jacked. Unless we find a way to make it measure-able, so let’s do that. As we talk about different goals, I will set some up for myself as targets to reach over the next year. Let’s start with the bench press. Now I work with dumbbells, so my numbers will be based on that. Currently, I do 12 repetitions with 75 lb dumbbells. This totals 150 lbs at a bodyweight of 152. I’m still pretty light from my shred. My goal weight is to be 163 lbs by the end of the year. To help me set a long-term goal. I chose a chart from The website ExRx.net These charts were compiled based on competitive weightlifting and powerlifting classifications used from the 1950s until today. They’re showing the average one rep Max for the different weight classes, and the closest to my weight is 148 lbs. to see where I fit, I need to estimate my one rep max. I do this by multiplying the weight I used, which is 150 lbs, by the number on my conversion chart that relates to the repetitions I did. This comes to 223.5, higher than the intermediate weight at 165 lbs, the closest weight to my goal of 163. So I made my goal is to hit the advanced number. I don’t have dumbbells over 95lbs, so I can’t do an actual one-rep max, and when your goal is hypertrophy or building muscle, you are better off using a higher range, like between 6 to 12 reps. To find out where this range is, we’ll go back to my one rep conversion chart to get an estimate. It works out to 11 reps with 90lbs dumbbells. That's a big jump, but ultimately I think it’s a good goal, and it breaks down into smaller goals of 11 repetitions at 80 and then 85lbs. To get there, I have to have a rep goal every workout. Currently, I’m doing 5 sets of dumbbell bench presses, and my goal is to add at least one repetition every workout. It doesn’t always happen, but I’ve been adding at least one every week, and I’m only two away from moving up to the 80 pounders. Next up is shoulder press. My shoulder is in the best shape it’s been in years. So, I’m cautiously optimistic that I can bring this lift up to par. This website has a chart for military press and I’m using it to set a long-term goal. I can do 12 reps of neutral grip shoulder press with 43-pound dumbbells, so to find my approximate one rep max, I times 86 pounds by 1.49, totaling just over 128 lbs. Just barely above what they say an intermediate lifter can do, weighing 148 lbs, as much as I would like to move up to the advanced level for a 165 lbs guy, I think it makes more sense to set a one repetition goal at 140 lbs right in between intermediate and advanced. When you convert this to the 12 rep goal, it works out to 48 lbs dumbbells. While my goal is to increase my body weight over the next year for many in the fit and 50 crew, they want to lose weight. Still, it makes sense to set lifting goals based on your weight goal, whether that weight is down or up. This website has good charts for squats and deadlifts that you can use to set goals. Strengthlevel.com is where I went to set my pull-up goal. This site compiles the data logged by users to come up with their totals. I like this site over, say, military.com because they give me a one rep weighted option. https://exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/BenchStandards https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/pull-ups/lb

Today we’re going to look at how to build the most muscle possible as a natural lifter. To do this, we’re looking at it in 2 different ways, one what muscles will grow the largest and two what muscles will make us look the biggest. Next, we’re going to split the body into upper and lower we carry a lot more muscle on our lower body and have the greatest potential to add size here. Everyone will be a bit different, but to illustrate what the largest muscles are on an untrained man, I’m using a picture from an article by Menno Henselmans. He is a well-known fitness trainer and researcher. When we look at the photo, we see quads are the biggest muscle group on the body, followed by glutes, and it might surprise some that calves are in third. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 So we need to build these if we are trying to get as big as possible. As far as show muscles go, the vastis medialis is seen when we wear shorts, and so are our calves. Glutes help support our low back when we lift heavy and are responsible for creating explosive power. One of my Natty Freak Physique rules is that we must perform as good as we look. Strong muscular glutes accomplish this by taking our performance to the next level. Some feel all we need is squats to get great glutes and quads. Squats are a good exercise, but depending on body mechanics, you may not be going low enough to target the glutes. They’re worked in the stretched position at the bottom of the squat. A couple of things you can do to get a deeper squat is to take a wide stance or you can elevate your heels. Glutes also need to be worked in the contracted position. Exercises that not only hit the glutes but include the hamstrings, the next largest muscle group after the calves. Like Romanian deadlifts, or cable pull-throughs. These exercises work the glutes and the hamstrings through the hip hinge. We also need to target the hamstrings from the knee hinge with a movement like hamstring curls. This leaves calves before we move to the upper body. Standing calf raises target the larger gastrocnemius muscle, and seat emphasizes the soleus. We need to work. Going back to our picture, we see that delts are the largest muscle group on the upper body, followed by the pecs and lats. Delts are super important when building the Natty Freak Physique. Once you obtain 3D delts, people will start to question whether you're even natural. Of the three heads on the shoulder, the rear one is most often lagging, and we need to maximize it to get that 3D look. It gets hit with all rowing movements, but particularly well when your elbows are out away from your body and more in line with your shoulders like when we do elbow out the chest supported row. Having the bench set at 30 degrees recruits the mid traps and rear delts, and when we move the bench to a steeper 45% angle, it brings more of the lateral delts into play. Shoulders are a great body part to superset. I would suggest supersetting a Neutral grip shoulder press for the anterior delts with a 45-degree elbow out row for the rear and lateral delts. The next largest muscle is the chest, and my favourite chest builder is the dumbbell bench press. You want to use compound movements as they’ll allow you to lift heavier and ultimately build more muscle. Lats are next. For complete development, you should work it with both horizontal and vertical pulling movements. Rows are a horizontal exercise, and pulling your elbow to your side while performing them it targets the lats also working the mid traps and rear delts to some degree. Pull-ups and lat pulldowns hit the back on the vertical plane, effectively working more than just the lats. The lower portion of the traps are targeted as well. To get more trap activation, let your scapula elevate in the bottom position, then pull it back and down as you begin your pull. Upper traps are an essential muscle when it comes to looking big and building that natty freak physique.

My Shredded Experience Compared to Alpha Destiny Getting shredded isn’t easy, and it's harder the first time. It does get easier and we’ll explore this today by comparing my recent shredded experience to Alex Leonidas’s from Alpha destiny. I’ll link his video where he talks about the side effects of getting shredded in the top comment so you can check it out for yourself. One of the things we’re going to see is a line where you go from losing weight and feeling better to losing weight and feeling worse. I realize most guys in the fit and 50 crew aren’t trying to get shredded, but a lot would like to get leaner. Some are shooting for under 20% body fat others would like to be around 15%. This video will help you out. So a couple of significant differences we need to address right away is how lean we got. I would say I’m around 10 to 10.5% body fat, whereas Alex dropped below 10%. He also had a lot more weight to lose, starting at 180 lbs and cutting all the way down to 146 losing an average of a pound and a half a week. He finished his cut around 9 percent body fat, So he must have been over 20% when he started. This is the biggest difference between the 2 of us. I haven’t been over 13% body fat since I turned 50. So I started at a much lower body fat setpoint. My body used to being lean where it would be a bit of a shock for Alex. I haven’t weighed over 180 since my 30s and the heaviest I weighed last year was just over 161. When I started my cut in March, I was 160 lbs and ended it the beginning of October, weighing 152. Then I went into maintenance, allowing my body to get used to the new body fat percentage. I lost a little over a pound a month. This made it, so I didn’t have to cut as much food and a more comfortable fat loss. You might want to lose fat faster, but I would encourage taking a break and going into maintenance for a while to let your body get used to the lower weight if you find cutting is getting too hard and you’re eating like a bird. Once your body is used to the new weight, it will develop a new set point, and you can continue your cut. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20101008/ Alex said it didn’t get tough for him until he dropped below 160 lbs. I think it would’ve been interesting to see if the rest of the cut would’ve went better if he had taken a break and gone into maintenance for a couple of months. This would let his body get used to the new fat percentage before losing the last 14 pounds. Alex had to cut down to 1500 calories to reach his goal, and the first time I ever got shredded, I damn near starved myself too. His experience of denial is relatable when I look back to my first cut, having to say no to the treat foods I like or meticulously calculating my calories to see how bad I had to starve myself to make room for a piece of chocolate. I don’t have to do this anymore. I started this cut at about 2500 calories a day. By the end, I was down to 2150. A lot more comfortable than Alex’s 1500. I eat pretty plain but only Monday to Friday, and this ends at dinner on Friday, which is still pretty healthy, but I have it with wine and dessert. I keep my calories lower during the week, around 1900 to 2000, giving me 800 or so extra for the weekend. Alex said he ate a ton of veggies and protein. Which helps with satiety, and of course, the extra protein helps preserve muscle mass during a cut. He talks about losing muscle but not much strength. He carry’s more muscle than I do. So you’d think he’d have a higher metabolism. Now we’re going to talk about the negatives, and I had a couple of side effects, even fixed one, so that’s worth talking about. Brain fog, low energy levels, unusually cold, and low blood pressure. This last one is something I suffered from. When I checked my blood pressure, it would show normal, but when I was working on my house reno, stripping baseboard or drywalling down low, and I’d stand up, I’d get that lightheaded feeling like I was going to pass out. Alex actually passed out once, and his blood pressure reading confirmed he had low blood pressure. Interestingly enough, some of the symptoms are lack of concentration or brain fog, fatigue or a lack of energy, cold, clammy, pale skin. Could that be defined as unusually cold? Alex’s symptoms may have all been related to low blood pressure. I was able to fix my feeling of passing out by increasing the number of carbs I was taking in. My result is an experiment of one so take it with a grain of salt. If you suffer from low blood pressure, you should see your doctor. Insomnia, Alex couldn’t fall asleep. I couldn’t stay asleep. I wake up every night and have to get up for a while and sit in my chair until sleep slowly comes back to me. It wasn’t until after watching Alex’s video that I realized this might be shred-related. But It will be interesting to see if my sleep gets better as my weight increases and I go back up over 12% body fat.

Build muscle faster according to science(steroid-free) Today we’re going to talk about the fastest way to build muscle according to the latest science and research. To do this, we’re going to look at a position paper released in 2021 by a group of leading hypertrophy researchers. They provide evidence-based guidelines that help us design our programs. Two people that you may know of that were involved in this paper are Brad Schoenfeld and Eric Helms. Let’s take a look and see how to design our programs. First, we’re going to look at training frequency. How many days of the week do you have available to train? Training frequency and volume are very closely related. They’ve found that increased training frequency does not build more muscle unless it increases training volume. Most studies look at volume as the number of sets done and in those terms. We need to be doing at least 10 sets per muscle group per week as a minimum. The upper end is less clear, with some studies showing 20 sets as a peak and others showing good results above this. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 Because of this, the experts don’t make an upper-end recommendation, but from my standpoint, 20 sets make sense as long as you can recover from this level of volume. We only have so much time to workout, so one of the ways we can manage volume is to prioritize the volume on our slower-growing muscle groups and use less volume on the groups that are responding well to training. They suggest periodizing volume starting at the lower end and slowly building up to a peak, with a brief overreaching phase. Where you push yourself just beyond what you can fully recover from, then take a break with active recovery to allow for super-compensation, giving you an increased level of muscle size. To tie this back to Frequency, They recommend limiting per session training to 10 sets for a muscle. Any greater volume should be done on a different day. If there’s anything in this video you’d like me to go over in greater detail, let me know in the comments, and I’ll make it happen. We’ll talk about load next because if you’re not using a heavy enough weight and training close to failure, it doesn’t matter how much volume you do. You’re not going to build muscle. Load is often defined as a percentage of one-rep max or a specific repetition goal like a 10 rep max. Muscle can be built with a wide variety of loads and rep ranges. The researchers state it’s advantageous to train with various loads and repetitions. Still, from a practical standpoint, it makes sense to spend the most time in a moderate range between 6 to 12 reps as it’s more time-efficient than high rep training and easier on the body than working with heavy low repetitions. For how close to failure we should train the researchers call this set endpoint. And the more experienced lifter you are, the more critical it is to train close to failure, even bringing some sets to muscular failure. For exercise selection, much of it is in agreement with a video I did recently on “how many different exercises should we do per muscle group.” A couple of notable things they mentioned is while we should vary our exercises, we should keep the ones with more complex movement patterns like squat, bench, and bent over rows constant in our programs and swap out less complex exercises like single joint and isolation movements to provide variety. They also recommend working the muscle using exercises that put them in the stretched position. Another thing I’m doing more of is supersets, partial repetitions, and to a lesser extent, drop-sets and rest pauses. While these techniques didn’t bring about better results than traditional training, they present a more time-efficient approach to increasing muscle hypertrophy and build the same amount of muscle in less time per training session as long as overall volume is the same. https://journal.iusca.org/index.php/Journal/article/view/81/140

Jacked Santa’s Transformation (From Jolly To Jacked) Next week Santa, on the 25th, finishes his work for the year and is going to turn over his executive duties to the head elf. So he can get into shape. We’re going to have some fun and look at how we’d get Santa into shape. We can use this information in our own workouts to devise a plan to get jacked in 2022! To get an idea of Santa’s stats, I went to a wiki web page called NORAD tracks Santa. Here they say he is 5’7” and weighs 260 lbs. That’s a lotta weight for that height. I would estimate his waist size to be somewhere between 50 and 55 inches. Way bigger than the average 50-year-old man’s, which is a little over 40 inches. Even in my Santa costume, my waist was between 43 and 44 inches. Typical exercises that you’d see in a Santa workout are battle ropes to simulate driving the reindeer, A sack lift to imitate throwing a bag of gifts over your shoulder and finally squat jumps so Santa can jump up onto a chimney. I have nothing against these exercises, but I would never prescribe them to beginners—especially someone who is 260 pounds. Just imagine how hard those squat jumps would be on the knees. If you're just starting, you’ll be better off with a regular squat to strengthen your legs. A Santa-size man might need to start with a chair squat, but most will be able to do some form of weighted squat. One of my favourites is the goblet squat. When you hold the dumbbell in front, it puts you in a more upright position which provides a greater emphasis on the quads and takes stress off the low back. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 The sack lift reminds me of a single dumbbell clean. I used to do a lot of dumbbell clean and presses in my circuits workouts. But with a newer lifter, the risk of doing them improperly by rounding your back when cleaning the weight or leaning too far forward is an injury waiting to happen. Better to break the movement up into 2 exercises first would be a Romanian deadlift to work our erector spine(spe-ni), glutes and hamstrings. This exercise involves moving your hips back as you lower the weight until you get a good stretch in your hamstrings, then thrust your hips forward as you raise your body. The second part would be the shoulder press Something to watch for here is if you can’t press straight up without leaning your body back. This means one of two things you’re either using too much weight, or you have a mobility issue that needs to be addressed. If it's a mobility problem, I recommend doing lateral and front raises for your delts until you work it out. We’ll talk about rear delts when we get to the back. Speaking of the back, when you’re doing battle ropes, it works the whole body to some extent, but the real focus is on the arms, delts and back. It’s a good conditioning exercise, but because of the ballistic nature of the movement, I wouldn’t prescribe it to a newer lifter until they’ve developed some strength and muscle control. I’d separate the conditioning work from the resistance training. For a bigger guy, activities like walking, swimming or cycling on a recumbent bike are less stressful on the joints and easier to recover from. A cable pulldown is an excellent exercise to work the lats until you are ready to do pull-ups. This exercise also hits the traps, especially the lower trap fibres. For a horizontal pull, you can keep the strain off the lower back by doing a bench supported row with a supinated grip keeping our arms close to our sides. To target our upper back, simply move your arms up and away from your body, switching your hand to a pronated grip. This hits your upper back, including traps, rear delts, and scapular muscles. I’d like to add in one more pushing movement for our chest, and that’s the dumbbell bench press. I like this exercise because we can adjust our hands to wherever we’re most comfortable, and if you’re a bigger guy doing an exercise like push-ups might not be practical.

The fit and 50 transformation story Today I'm going to share my story of how I got into shape and became Fit and 50 starting right back at the beginning, how this young stud turned into an overweight man in his 30’s, eventually striving to become fit at 45. It took 2 years of training to get shredded for the first time. I’ll Include how I gained the motivation to continue to train right up until now and what is driving me to keep training for the rest of my life. One of the questions I was asked when I said I was going to do this video, was, if I was athletic as a child? The answer is no. I was an active kid who liked to ride my bike, but I didn’t participate in any team sports If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 I came from a small school and did well in cross country running and some track and field events. I rummaged through some draws in the house and found the ribbons from those events. One of the first things I noticed was no first-place finishes. This is the same as now. When I run, I have a lot of second to fourth-place finishes. I was your typical skinny teen with no muscle mass to speak of, and this continued into my twenties. I found a couple of fun pictures from my graduation and first wedding. I wore a tux with tails at both events and, of course, a bow tie. My grad may have been the first time I ever wore one. Fast forward to 30, and we have the picture I usually post of me overweight and holding my son. I did lose weight after this by simply eating less food—no science to it or intelligent training. I just brought one less sandwich to work every day and drew an imaginary circle on my plate for dinner, and ate a portion that fit inside the circle. I managed to trim down to an acceptable dad bod that I maintained into my 40’s The truth is my motivation to start training was much deeper than the story that I’ve told in the past. The story I usually share is when my son was 16. His girlfriend broke up with him a started dating a jock. This made him want a six-pack. I saw this as an opportunity to spend more time together. So we got gym memberships and started to train. Deeper than this, I felt my life was passing me by. I was divorced and, like many guys, starting over, working to keep a good home for my children to live in. Of course, when you’re divorced, you don’t live in that home. I shared a basement suite and eventually got a single-bedroom apartment. When the kids came over, they slept in the living room. But I was missing out on so much. I was getting older, and there were so many things I wanted to see and do. I needed more time. The only way to accomplish this was to get into the best shape possible and live a longer and healthier life. This was the deeper motivation. The way I train has changed a lot. It started with a full-body workout a trainer at the gym set up for my son and me. Then, I started doing dumbbell circuits at home, which did a great job of developing my conditioning and was the beginning of my home workouts. One of the biggest mistakes I made was overdoing it. As I bought more weight, I would strength train 3 or four days a week while bodyweight training on my off days doing progressions working towards front levers and planches. A shoulder injury made me stop, and this is the first year since 2015 my shoulder has been pain-free. Thanks to hanging from a bar for a minute and a half every day. Early on, my diet was unbalanced lots of protein and veggies and little else. If I overate one day, I would try and make it all up the next day, fasting as long as possible. Balanced dieting is the best thing I have ever learned. While the focus is on whole food eating, no foods are off the list. If you overeat one day, you don’t have to reduce all those extra calories the next day. You can spread the reduction out over the next week without any ill effects. This year's project is to build a natural gym freak physique.

The one thing jacked guys over 50 do (Really?) When I saw this Men’s Health video, I knew I had to watch it. What do these stars think is the one thing jacked guys over 50 do? And you know the joke is going to be TRT. As a natural guy over 50, I know this isn’t the secret. But in Hollywood, it plays a definite role. They made 4 main suggestions, and we’ll look at them to see how they apply to us, the average guy over 50. What I’d like you to do after the video is let me know in the comments what you think was the one thing they were referring to that jacked guys over 50 do? Regarding training Frank Grillo recommends not slowing down but to start doing more. He trains 4 hours a day which is impractical for most of us. We wouldn’t get the best out of such a long workout or recover properly. If we don't recover, we won’t build muscle. Frank Grillo and I have similar physiques, and I’ve never trained 4 hours a day. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 I do agree with the general statement of doing more. If you’re not training, you need to start. Building muscle is all about progressive overload. This includes more than just adding weight to the bar. It’s increasing the number of repetitions, sets or even frequency of training. Bautista indicated he likes training every day and sometimes trains twice a day. Again most aren’t going to be able to do this. Still, when you look at different types of workout splits combined with cardio and mobility work, you can see how it would be possible to train every day, but it’s not necessary to get jacked over 50. Lenny Kravitz is easily the most chill on the list. He trains 5 or 6 days a week but says he spends less time working out now than when he was younger and focuses on training more efficiently. This is something guys over 50 want to do. To get the most out of your training, you need to have a plan and progress your workouts accordingly. All of his training isn’t intense either, as they show him paddleboarding for exercise. Pretty sure paddleboarding isn’t the one thing jacked guys over 50 do. In this video, the stars only talk about training one body part. That’s how important it is for guys over 50. Bautista loves squats, as does Christopher Meloni, an actor in the TV shows OZ and Law & Order, who they’ve subbed in for Frank Grillo. What’s the matter, Frank? Don’t you like training legs? By the way, Christopher says he trains 4 days a week. Which is how much I’m training right now. The goal for me is to get back up to 5 or 6 days a week sometime in February. Lenny Kravitz said he used to not like training legs, but now it’s a key part of his program as it should be for all over 50 men. Legs are one of the areas we lose muscle the fastest as we age. To offset this, we need to train them. There was a study done that found men with the most muscular legs also had the highest testosterone levels no matter what their age. Even more, motivation to train legs. Next up is cardio. Frank and Bautista like to do fight training. Bautista calls it the hardest thing he has ever done. And I think it would be fun and challenging to do. Bautista and Lenny both like cycling. Cycling has been shown to have less of a negative effect on building muscle than running, particularly on our legs. I have an issue with the following recommendation, and that’s to go plant-based. Lenny Kravitz is a vegan and Bautista only eats fish and eggs; otherwise, it’s all plant-based. Most guys do need to eat more veggies. And reducing the amount of red meat we consume can help us balance our saturated and unsaturated fats better. But when it comes to the bio-availability of protein for muscle growth, meats rank higher than any vegan sources making it harder to get jacked on a plant-based diet. I know some guys have done it, and it can be done, but it’s not easier. It’s harder. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27543675/

Typically I don't do ab wheel rollouts until I touch the floor. But I thought it would be a fun challenge to see how many I could do. I think I did alright for a 56-year-old man. When you’re stretched right out, the first part of the movement is more back and lat strength to push the arms down. You still need to keep your core and abs engaged to keep the pressure off the back. This is one of those exercises that I think a guy could end up doing 20 rep sets of. Let me know if you have ever tried to do a full range of motion rollout like this and how many reps you did, or post a video of you doing them and leave a link in the comments so I can check it out. Check out my channel here https://youtube.com/user/1Shark1bite

When we look in the mirror and decide we want to lose weight, what we’re actually saying is we want to get rid of excess body fat. But if it’s body fat we want to lose, why do we obsess with the scale? It’s the easiest metric to gauge whether we are losing weight or not. It just can’t tell us what kind of weight it is. Is it water? Fat? Or heaven forbid muscle mass? Doctors use BMI to assess health risk because it's easy. It’s not the best way to assess this as body fat percentage and distribution come into play. Health is the best reason we’d want to know our body fat percentage. So today, we’re going to look at 4 different ways to assess body fat at home, including one that just requires a measuring tape. The best way to figure out the accuracy of the different methods would be to compare them to a more expensive measuring device that’s known to be accurate, like a BOD POD or DEXA scan. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 I happened to find a study that compared the exact model of handheld fat loss monitor I own. To not only a BOD POD but to a 7 point skin fold analysis done by a skilled technician with callipers, a 5000.00 dollar Research grade bioelectric impedance analyzer and several other consumer-grade bioelectric devices. The study found that, on average, there was no significant difference between the more expensive testing methods and my handheld fat loss monitor. We’re going to do an experiment looking at 3 inexpensive ways to measure body fat at home and compare them to the hand monitor. First, let’s look at how the hand monitor works. It uses bioelectric impedance, sending a weak electrical current through the body. Because of this, if you have a pacemaker, you shouldn’t use this method. I check my body fat first thing in the morning after I go to the bathroom and weigh myself. I enter in my weight and the other information I’ve pre-programmed. It requires your height, age, sex and if you are an athlete or not. How you decide if you’re an athlete is by your training and how frequent, intense and long it is. I’ve played around with this setting, and it gives me virtually the same body fat percentage either way. You hold it out in front of you at approximately 90 degrees from your body, hit start and completely cover the silver electrodes on the handles with your hands. This morning it came to 10 percent. We want to take the weekly average and compare it to the previous weeks to assess progress. Now that we have the 10%, let’s see how it compares to the navy body fat calculator. For this method, we need a cloth measuring tape, and for men 2 measurements, we want our neck circumference. The other measurement is our waist, measured at the belly button. We put this into the calculator with our height and age. It comes to 11.1 percent body fat. So 1.1% different than my handheld. This isn’t bad, considering methods like the DEXA scan are within 1 to 2 percent. Next, we’ll look at some inexpensive callipers. There are 3 different ways you can use these callipers. I like the single site and the 3 site locations the best. In theory, the 7 site test is the best, but unless you’re experienced using callipers, it’s just more opportunities to miss measure. For the single site measurement, you find the top of your hip bone and come up about an inch, pinch the fat horizontally pulling it away from your body. The 3 point method works better if you have someone to help you. On men, It takes the fat measurements from the halfway point between your nipple and where your shoulder and chest come together by your armpit. The next measurement is to the right of the belly button, and the final one is halfway between the hip and the knee. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/246625447_Accuracy_of_Consumer_Grade_Bioelectrical_Impedance_Analysis_Devices_Compared_to_Air_Displacement_Plethysmography_2105

Protein mistakes you’re probably making (this is why you’re not reaching your goals) Protein is a powerful macronutrient that can help us reach our goals. If we want to lose weight, it aids us in reducing our food intake by improving satiety or feelings of satisfaction from a meal. It also helps to ensure the weight we lose is fat and not muscle. If our goal is to build muscle, protein provides the amino acids we need for new growth. There’s a limit to how much benefit we can get from protein and how much depends on our goal. The recommended daily intake for protein is .36 grams per pound of bodyweight or .8 grams per kilogram. This might be okay for a younger sedentary man, but this number doesn’t allow for goals like building muscle or losing weight. Nor does it recognize that as people get older, they lose protein sensitivity and require more protein to accomplish the same tasks as when they were younger. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 So mistake number one is not having the right amount of protein to reach your goal. Our protein needs are different depending on whether we’re focusing on losing weight or building muscle. They did a study looking at athletes, with the oldest being 40 and the youngest 18. They split them into 2 groups and put them in a 40% calorie deficit which is high, especially for athletes who are typically already lean. One group had 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight, and the other had 2.3 grams per kilogram or just over 1 gram per pound. This worked out to 35% of their calories. Athletes, are often around 6 to 13% body fat. After 2 weeks, they found the low protein group had lost twice the muscle the high protein group did. Leading the researchers to recommend a protein intake of 1 gram per pound or 35% of your daily calories for weight loss. If we’re as lean as the typical athlete, we’re probably not trying to lose weight. Still, having 30 to 35% of your daily calories being protein for weight loss is a good rule of thumb—leavings plenty of room for the other macronutrients we need. What if we’re lean enough and want to build muscle. Do we need more or less protein? They did a meta-analysis on 49 different studies that included 1863 participants determining that a protein intake greater than 1.6 grams per kilogram which converts to .73 grams per pound of body weight, didn’t build any more muscle. We need less protein when we’re building muscle than when we lose fat. This is because protein isn’t the preferred energy source for the body. It will use carbohydrates first, sparing our muscle mass and freeing up the protein we've eaten to be applied to new growth. If you’re overweight, you may be somewhat insulin resistant and not using carbs properly. Once you're lean, the body starts to function more efficiently, and carbohydrates become an essential part of your nutrition plan. Of course, I’m talking about whole food carb sources and not processed junk. You shouldn’t be in a calorie surplus to build muscle unless you’re already lean. Then you can use .73 grams of protein per pound of body weight as a guide. This works out to approximately 25% of our daily calories. As an over 50 man, I keep mine at 30% to help offset any anabolic resistance I might’ve developed. This brings up the next mistake people make. They only track protein intake. All the macronutrients play a role in not only good health but muscle growth. Carbs help reduce cortisol, a hormone that can cause muscle breakdown. Fats are important for good hormone function. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318368028_A_systematic_review_meta-analysis_and_meta-regression_of_the_effect_of_protein_supplementation_on_resistance_training-induced_gains_in_muscle_mass_and_strength_in_healthy_adults https://www.researchgate.net/publication/38114571_Increased_Protein_Intake_Reduces_Lean_Body_Mass_Loss_during_Weight_Loss_in_Athletes

Why you look like you don’t lift(Fix This) There are many different reasons why you train hard but don’t look like you lift, and one of them is perspective. For example, if you compare me to Chris Bumstead, the current Mr. Olympia in classic physique. He’s only been training a year longer but put him beside me, and I look like I don’t even lift. He said he added 10 pounds of muscle on his back alone last year. This doesn’t include the muscle he added to the rest of his body. I might have added 2 to my entire physique. You might be saying, why are you comparing yourself to Chris? He has superior genetics, maybe the best in the world, and he is enhanced. A natural lifter can’t compete. This is my point exactly. When you’re thinking, you look like you don’t even lift. Who are you comparing yourself to? A fitness YouTuber who you don’t even know if he’s natural or not? You should be comparing yourself to your last progress pictures. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 Now, if you’re actually taking progress pictures and month after month, nothing changes. Then we need to look a little deeper. First and foremost, you need to follow a training program and stick to it from beginning to end. You could do a simple one like stronglifts, or you could take one of the workouts I have on this channel and progress it as I explain in the videos. Infrequent training isn’t going to build a lot of muscle. When we’re working out, we have to train hard enough. The repetitions that build muscle are those last few before failure. A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research asked 160 healthy weight training men what their 10 rep max was on the bench press. They had them rep out to failure with this weight, on average, the men could do a total of 6 more reps than they said they could, falling short of the effective rep range to build muscle which starts 3 or 4 repetitions before failure. One way you can tell you are getting close to failure is by looking at your rep speed. The closer you get to failure, the longer it takes to do a repetition. Until the last slow, grinding rep that tells you you have no more left. As you become familiar with how slow your reps become, you’ll better predict when you’re in the effective rep range. Most programs have an assigned rep range, and once you get to the upper end, it’s time to increase the weight. There’s a risk that in our quest to lift heavier and heavier, we start to sacrifice form or are no longer doing a full range of motion. Poor form leads to injury, and Half reps lead to half the gains. You’re making progress, but you can’t see it because you're carrying too much body fat. When you’re lean, it’s a lot easier to see muscle growth. People often wonder if they should bulk or cut, my answer is if you’re under 15 percent body fat, it makes sense to be in a small calorie surplus. If you’re over 15, I recommend putting yourself into a slight calorie deficit until you are below 15 percent. Dirty bulking is killing your gains!! I don’t even like the term bulking. Getting fat does not build muscle. Most people use this as an excuse to eat too much and not even the right types of food. Being in a calorie surplus is different. You are strategically increasing the amount of food you are eating to minimize fat gain and maximize muscle growth. Make sure you’re taking in an adequate amount of protein, fats and carbs. As older guys, we’ve pretty much given up on our hard partying ways and have traded them for more responsibility and stress. When we’re young, we often stayed up too late and drank too much on the weekends. Now stress tends to keep us up, and a few drinks help us relax enough so we can go to sleep. Too little sleep with too much stress and alcohol will negatively affect our gains. We need to find ways to manage our stress better so we can get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night. https://europepmc.org/article/med/29112055

Men, Balance your hormones to lose weight (and keep your muscle) As we age, we start to gain weight, slowly storing more and more body fat. When this happens, our hormones begin to work against us, making it difficult, and sometimes it feels near impossible to lose the weight we’ve gained. Today we’re going to look at four different hormones that can cause us to store body fat and what we can do to bring them back into balance. Insulin is an important hormone. That helps our body break down food into energy. This comes primarily from carbohydrates. Some of this energy is used right away, and the rest is stored in our liver, muscles and fat tissue. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 It not only provides our muscles with the energy we need to train, improving performance, but it protects them from breakdown and staves off Sarcopenia. The problem with insulin starts with overeating and especially when we consume a lot of junk food and refined sugars, causing us to become insulin resistant. This can lead to obesity and metabolic syndrome. The first thing we need to do is stop eating the wrong types of foods, making the switch from processed to whole food eating, with a better balance of nutrition, reducing carbs and increasing protein and healthy fats. Protein foods can raise our insulin level short term, but they did a 5-year study looking at over 20,000 men between the ages of 50 and 64 and found those with the highest protein diets had a lower BMI and smaller waist size than those who consumed low protein meals. Don't take this to the extreme and go on an all-meat diet as that will create other problems. Instead, have protein at every meal, reduce the number of carbs and add in a whole food protein. Leptins job is to let the brain know you have enough body fat stored and are full, reducing your appetite. Leptin is made in the fat cells. So you would think the more body fat you have, the more Leptin you will have screaming at the brain, “enough eating already we’re full”, but unfortunately, just like with insulin, you can get leptin resistance, and the brain is no longer listening. Two things cause leptin resistance, that’s inflammation of the hypothalamus and chronically elevated insulin. Quality of food matters eliminating as many processed foods out of your diet as possible. Omega-3 fats like what is found in fatty fish and nuts reduces fasting insulin levels and inflammation. On the other end of the scale, we have the hunger hormone Ghrelin. This one becomes a non-impacted player in obese people. Typically when your stomach is empty, Ghrelin levels increase, telling your body it is time to eat. Once fed, these levels drop, signalling that you’ve had enough. In overweight people, Ghrelin levels start out lower than normal and barely change after a meal providing the body with no real signal. This is another hormone that is impaired by products containing added sugars and responses well to high protein meals. The studies I looked at had protein at 30% of your calories and fats at either 30 or 40%, with carbs making up the remainder of the calories consumed. Estrogen is another hormone that starts to be overproduced as we gain weight, especially if this weight gain is around our midsection. Visceral belly fat contains an enzyme called aromatase that converts testosterone into estrogen. Having enough fibre keeps estrogen levels in check, cruciferous vegetables contain phytochemicals that block estrogen production. Polyphenols can bind to estrogen and inhibit its actions. These are found in whole grains like oats, corn and rice. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26829184/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18491071/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11289032/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15181085/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15314628/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17023705/ https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/26/3/944 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081211081446.htm

The best 2 day full body dumbbell workout for mass For a workout to be called the best at adding muscle mass, first and foremost, it has to be progressive. That’s accomplished with this workout is by hitting or exceeding your target number of repetitions for each exercise over 4 sets, and once you can hit this same target in 3 sets, it’s time to increase the weight. More on this in a bit, but first, let’s get into the workout. It’s an A, B workout which gives you more variety and can be programmed in several different ways. If you only have 2 days a week to train, you’ll do each workout once during the week. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 If you’re training 3 days a week, you alternate them, so one week, you would do 2 A workouts with a B in the middle and the next, you would have 2 B’s with an A in the middle. The final way to train is every other day, which will have you completing 7 workouts in two weeks. The maximum number of workouts you can do and still recover from, adding 2 more workouts every 4 weeks than if you trained 3 times a week. I’m starting both days with legs working them when we have to most energy. For workout A, I’m using a heel elevated goblet squat, and in workout B, we have Bulgarian split squats. The reason I went with heel elevated is it increases our squat depth allowing us to work our quads in a fuller range of motion and target them where they are weakest. If you have trouble getting the dumbbell into position for a goblet squat, try setting it on top of a bench, then squat down and grab it. This works even better if you can set in on something slightly higher. With the Bulgarian split squat, if you're having trouble with balance, start doing them with your rear foot on something lower than a bench and keep your legs torso width apart. Once you're used to doing them this way, you can move your foot to bench height. Next, We have a back exercise on both days. I chose decline dumbbell pullovers because the decline position increases the range of motion, and I love the stretch I get in my lats in the bottom position. For the B workout, we have chest-supported neutral grip rows. We’re going to come back to this one when we talk about lateral delts. After our back, we have hamstrings with kickstand RDL’s and decline hamstring curls. The decline increases the range of motion for the hamstrings over using a flat bench. The biggest challenge with dumbbell hamstring curls is getting the dumbbell in position. I start with the dumbbell at the base of the bench and wrap each foot around the dumbbell crossing my toes to secure it. Then lay on the bench and begin my repetitions. Kickstand Romanian Deadlifts are a unilateral exercise that’s a better muscle builder than a single leg RDL because it’s more stable, allowing you to use a heavier weight. Chest is next with flat bench and reverse grip bench press. I’ve talked about these exercises quite a bit, so I’m not going to go over them again other than EMG studies have found the reverse grip bench activates the upper chest 25 to 30% more than the lower chest, which is why I chose it. Next, we have another exercise I’m using because of an EMG study. According to the results of an American Council on exercise study, the 45-degree incline row was the best for our lateral delts and the second-best for our rear delts. It’s done with our elbows out and away from our body. Unlike the neutral grip, chest supported rows which has our elbow tucked close to our body. This isn’t the only difference, as the bench should be set to 30 degrees for the neutral grip rows. It’s a great exercise that focuses on your back, including lats, traps, and rhomboids. Because you’re lying on the bench, you can’t cheat the movement, and it takes the strain off your low back and hamstrings. https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/prosource/september-2014/4972/dynamite-delts-ace-research-identifies-top-shoulder-exercises/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16095407/ https://www.strongerbyscience.com/how-to-bench/#What_about_the_reverse-grip_bench_press

How to build muscle without steroids over 50 Eugene Sandow, George Hackenschmidt, Bobby Pandour, and Jack Lalanne all built muscle without steroids, and you can too. I’m going to take this one step farther because you can do this over 50. Today we’re going to go over the 6 things you need to do to build muscle at any age. First, we’ll talk about training because no matter how perfect your nutrition is, if you don't train, you’re not going to build muscle. Of these old-school guys, Bobby Pandour was a Gymnast. Both Eugene Sandow and Jack Lalanne were proponents of lightweight training. Although they also performed incredible feats of strength, you don’t find out how strong you are without moving heavy things. So at some point, they had to train heavy. Finally, we have George Hackenschmidt, who believed in heavy weight training. But who’s right? Lightweights high reps, or heavyweight? Or bodyweight training? This is the wrong place to look. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 First, we need to establish a regular and progressive training program. Research has long established to build muscle. We need to train close to failure. It’s those last few reps before failure that build muscle regardless of the weight used or the number of repetitions done. Doing this just once or a few times isn’t going to build muscle. You need to train your whole body regularly at least 2 or three times a week, slowly increasing the amount of weight you are using, focusing on compound movements. The next 3 points all have to do with nutrition. First, eat enough protein. Protein provides the building blocks for muscle growth. If you don’t have enough of the amino acids that come from protein, your body isn’t going to be able to build muscle. I recommend 30 to 35% of your diet being protein. The old school rule of one gram per pound of bodyweight works better if you apply it to your fat-free mass, especially if you are overweight. Next, get lean. If you are overweight, prediabetic, or diabetic, you’ll benefit from losing excess body fat and the improved insulin sensitivity that comes along with it. Insulin isn’t the only hormone that works better at a lower body fat level, as both testosterone and growth hormone have been shown to increase as a man loses belly fat. If your testosterone is in the normal range, your going to be able to build muscle even if it’s at the lower end of normal. An improved hormone profile is a great reason to lose excess body fat. But it’s not the only reason. It’s a lot easier to build muscle in a calorie surplus, if you’re already overweight, adding in more calories only compounds the problem. The goal should be to get under 15% body fat. You could stop at a higher percentage, but I like under 15 because it's easier to see your progress when it isn’t hidden under a layer of fat. The leaner you are, the longer you can be in a calorie surplus, going as low as 10% is still quite safe. I’m losing body fat right now, so I can put myself into a slight calorie surplus for the next year. When I do enter into a surplus the goal will be to gain a pound a month. I accomplish this by adding a 100 calories a day into my meal plan and then assessing my weight every couple of weeks to see if I need to make any changes. At the very most, you’ll want to add no more than two pounds of weight to your frame a month, as most natural guys won’t build more than a pound of muscle a month and long time lifters will add even less. The goal is to minimize the amount of fat we are adding and maximize muscle growth. Protein isn’t the only macro that’s important. To maintain proper hormone function, we need a minimum of 20% of our calories coming from fats. There’s no reason to be scared of carbs, either. Once you’ve lost weight and your hormones are functioning correctly, carbohydrates not only provide us with the energy to train, but they are very anti-catabolic, preventing muscle breakdown. Shoot for at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night. Supplements are not necessary to build muscle, and your money is better to spend on real food. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00108.2009

Complete ab training explained Nothing represents a lean fit midsection like a six-pack. Training plays a crucial role in this, as does genetics and diet. Some things you can change and some things you can’t. Today we’ll be focusing on complete AB training with an emphasis on the rectus abdominis or six-pack. Not everyone has a six-pack or can have one. The number of blocks you have is genetically determined. I’ve been pretty lean but never truly had a six-pack. Your abs are one muscle, that runs from your ribs under your chest down towards your pelvis. The line down the middle of our abs is called the Linea Alba, and there are other tendinous lines running horizontally on our abs, and how many of these we have is genetically determined. Some people like Arnold Schwarzenegger only have 2 lines, and no matter how hard they train, they will never have a six-pack. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. Here is the link to FortisFight https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off you next purchase on all of their apparel. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 We’re just about to get to training our abs, but first, how lean do we need to be for our six-pack to show? This depends on body fat distribution, another genetic element and how thick our abdominals are. You need to be at least 15% body fat or leaner. To look at exercises for our rectus abdominis, I reviewed a few EMG studies and settled on a 2014 study done by The American Council on Exercise. They compared a series of exercises to the basic crunch to see which activated the abdominals the best. They looked at the upper and lower portion of the rectus abdominis, external obliques and the rectus femoris, a quad muscle that acts as a hip flexor. The top exercise was the decline bench curl up for both upper and lower activation. It was the second-best when it came to external obliques. The stability ball crunch came next and was a close 2nd. This isn’t an exercise I do, but one thing it does is it puts you in a position to use a full range of motion by allowing you to hyperextend your abdominals while supporting your back. Another exercise that allows you to do a full range of motion is a cable or band crunch. This movement doesn’t provide any back support, so make sure you flex your abs to keep your core engaged in the fully stretched position, or you could feel some discomfort in your lower back. Regarding the number one exercise, decline crunches, I would consider this an advanced move from the basic floor crunch with the slope of the bench increasing the resistance. This exercise also had very high hip flexor activation. The range of motion stops once you have fully curled up your midsection. Going any further only works your hip flexors. The third exercise on the list is the captain's chair, crunch. For upper ab activation, some lesser-known pieces of equipment ranked slightly better, but for lower abs, it was a solid third. It also had high rectus femoris activation. To ensure you are working your abs, you need to curl them as you raise your knees. We could apply this result to hanging knee or leg raises. The most significant difference being you’ll have a lot less stability when hanging and run the risk of using momentum to bring your knees up. The captain chair crunch was another exercise that highly activated the external obliques. From looking at the data, the more unstable an ab exercise is the harder the external obliques had to work. The exercise with the most instability and hit the obliques the hardest was the ab wheel rollout. The key to getting strong sculpted abs is the same as any other muscle. We need to overload it progressively. Starting with the basic crunch using bodyweight. Going slow and controlled, making sure you do a full range of motion. Once you have mastered this, you can hold your arms straight overhead to increase the resistance. For the next level, hold a dumbbell overhead. https://acewebcontent.azureedge.net/certifiednews/images/article/pdfs/ACE%20AbsStudy.pdf

Testosterone boosting workout that builds muscle (sets and reps included) Today we’re going to put together a testosterone boosting workout based on the results of a study. But first, we have to ask ourselves, what are we looking for? An immediate post-workout boost in testosterone? Or a permanent increase in our resting T levels? I looked at 3 different studies and decided on using the one that provided the most complete picture of the changes that happen in our bodies hormonally from 10 weeks of consistent exercise. Testing hormone levels pre and post-workout, but also comparing basal or resting levels to see if they improved. This is what we want to improve our hormone profile at rest, not just a temporary spike post-workout. I liked the program, and it’s different from anything I’ve presented on the channel. Although the results weren’t exactly what I expected and it’s an area that could use a lot more research. If you are interested in losing body fat and adding muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services. If you would like a set of Torrobands for yourself, here is my affiliate link so you can receive 50% off on your purchase https://sale.torroband.com/?affId=555B3E5D Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 20% off with code: LAURENCE20 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust. My Affiliate link to Lebert for their Equalizer bars and more; https://lebertfitness.com/?ref=FitAnd50 and use the discount code FITAND50 you will receive 20% off your purchase Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Fit-and-50-5... My Amazon page link; https://www.amazon.com/shop/fitand50 There are two groups in this study one had an average age of 30. We’ll call this the young group, with the oldest one being 35. The older group had an average age of 62, the youngest being 59. So a lot of us are somewhere in between these two groups. However, I’m quite a bit closer to the older group. These test subjects weren’t weight training previously but were all in good shape, being physically active doing recreational sports and jogging. They weren’t overweight, with the older group averaging 20% body fat, about 2% more than the young ones. They were already reasonably fit, healthy and didn’t suffer from low testosterone. This impacted the results, but before we get to that, let’s go over why you clicked on the video, the workout. It was a full-body periodized training program that was done 3 times a week. Monday, was a strength day using a weight that had them doing 3 to 5 reps to failure allowing two to three minutes between sets for recovery Wednesday, the sets were done using 8 to 10 reps again using a weight that brought them to failure in this range. The rest between sets was reduced to 1 minute. On Friday, the repetitions were performed explosively in the 6 to 8 range, using a lighter weight that would have brought them to failure between 12 and 15 reps with 1 to 2 minutes rest in between sets. The exercises used, starting with the compound movements, were squats, lat pulldowns, bench press, seated rows and military presses. For isolation exercises, they did leg extensions and curls, calf raises and arm curls. A nice mix of exercises here we can’t add much more, or the workouts will get too long. I’d probably take out the calf raises and add in a Triceps exercise. But anyone with weak calves would disagree with me, I’m sure. Now for the results. To test strength, they used a one rep squat max. Both groups gained strength, and the researchers considered the strength gains to be similar. They used an MRI to find the cross-sectional area of the thigh muscles to determine hypertrophy. I like that they are using leg muscle size as a determining factor because, in another study I read, they found that regardless of age, the more muscular a man's legs were, the higher his testosterone was. And this study gives us a look into what comes first the leg gains or higher testosterone. Both groups had muscle growth in their legs, with the younger group adding the most. To determine hormonal changes, they tested for both total and free testosterone. Free testosterone is what our body uses. In addition to T levels, they checked cortisol, growth hormone, lactate, ACTH, which is a hormone that stimulates production of cortisol, IGF-1 and an IGF-binding protein-3. Of all these tests, the two that changed the most and positively impacted the test subjects were free testosterone in the 30-year-old men and cortisol in the 60-year-old group. Total testosterone didn’t change in both groups, but the amount of useable testosterone or free T increased significantly in the 30-year-old group. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jappl.1999.87.3.982