In A Nutshell

Back Online

2011-12-07T05:25:00.000-08:00

I have recently updated my website. My blog will now be on my site. Please click on the link to get to my blog. Thank you.

www.darylconant.com

tags: fitness, daryl conant, vince gironda, health, fat loss, weight loss, kennebunk, fitness nut, strength, nutrition,

Hello Fitness Nuts

2011-11-25T07:26:00.000-08:00

Hi,

I am trying a new way of doing my blog. I will be sending the blog entries via email to those who want to continue following my postings. The reason why I am doing this is because there have been many folks that have been taking my entries and putting them on their sites without any reference or citing to me. Though my entries are copyright protected, it is virtually impossible to stop people from cutting and pasting my posts into their site.

Having an email address will allow me to better track my postings and to help reduce pirating. Thank you!

Daryl Conant, M.Ed

tags: daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda, 3D- Sports and Conditioning.

BUFF DADDY: Bodybuilding For The Family Man

2011-10-24T03:09:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

JUST RELEASED: DARYL CONANT'S LATEST BOOK-- BUFF DADDY: NOW ON SALE!

Buff Daddy is a complete program for helping the family man stay in great physical condition while in the trenches of parenthood. Being a family man is an honor and takes total unselfish undying commitment. In order to have a successful marriage a couple must balance their lives in accordance to their families needs, while still taking care of themselves.

Raising a family is demanding and can wear you down physically and emotionally. One of the greatest things you can do for yourself and your family is to exercise. Exercise will help you keep up with the demands of parenthood and will keep you looking healthy and younger.

Buff Daddy is a must have for anyone man who wants to have a great looking physique. Buff Daddy is a complete body building program.

Here's What Is Inside:

• The 6-month Buff Daddy Bodybuilding Plan

• Over 80 exercises for getting Buff.

• Conant's 12 Steps To Becoming a Buff Daddy

• Buff Daddy Nutrition

• Time Efficient workouts

• Hotel Room Workouts for The Traveling Daddy

• Dealing with Sleep Deprivation
• Strategies for Keeping Muscle Mass During Stressful Times

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

tags: Buff Daddy, Daryl Conant, Diet EARTH, Human Cell, Nutrition, Bodybuilding

Nutrition for FAT LOSS DVD

2011-10-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

In this video I discuss;

* Why we shouldn't LOSE WEIGHT!

* How Food Is Metabolized in The Body

* The Thermogenic Effect

* The Frying Pan Analogy

* What is Body Composition

* What are Hunger Hormones and how are they regulated.

* The best FAT burning program on EARTH

* How To Eat, When To Eat, What To Eat, and Why We Need To Eat

* The Truth About Fat, Protein and Carbohydrates.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Introducing the Elite Series. The next level...

2011-10-12T04:27:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Vince Gironda developed some of the greatest bodybuilding programs of all time. His Masters and Pro Series are masterpieces. But Vince is no longer around to develop programs. I believe that if he were still alive he would have developed the next level of bodybuilding programs for his students to progress.

When I was a student of Vince's I couldn't get enough of this man. His knowledge was vast and I wanted to know everything. After hearing about his death (1997) I couldn't believe that this great wealth of knowledge was gone. I decided to carry the torch of his teachings and to continue his work. I realized that I had to progress in my training and had to continue to push my muscles to the next level. I successfully completed Vince's programs for years, however, I needed to change them up in order to see new results. Vince taught me to always continue to find ways to stimulate the muscle to get a response. Once you hit a plateau it is time to change things up.

Once you develop a great looking physique you have to incorporate new ways to keep the gains from melting away. That is why I decided to develop another bodybuilding series.

The ELITE SERIES is the next level for the advanced bodybuilder who wants to make GREAT GAINS and to HAVE FUN DOING IT. These programs are designed to provide a great pump and to help you get results quickly. You will enjoy the programs so much that you cannot wait to get into the gym each day to perform the exercises.

The ELITE SERIES is set up as a monthly personal training system, just like Vince had set up with his mail order program. HERE IS HOW IT WORKS!

The ELITE SERIES is a 12 month program. Each month you will receive a new program. Each program is unique in building muscle. The techniques that I have developed are revolutionary. I have experimented with with hundreds of rep and set counts and a variety of different exercise combinations. The programs that are in the ELITE SERIES are by far the most effective for developing muscle. No matter what your body type is, you will make gains.

Through years of studying physiology and kinesiology I incorporate the right amount of sets and reps. You will be doing methodics that your muscles aren't accustomed to. Shocking the system and constantly bypassing adaptation is the key to building muscle tissue. I teach you new ways to get stubborn muscle cells to respond.

Included in the program is a NUTRITIONAL PLAN and a SUPPLEMENT SCHEDULE. The same format Vince would incorporate in his programs. I use all of the current supplements from NSP (Natural Source Products-- the same company Vince used thirty years ago).

In addition to getting an exercise plan and nutritional plan, I provide educational material to help you understand the program better. You will learn more about how the muscles work so that you can have a greater knowledge of kinesiology and physiology.

Lastly, you get one month of constant feedback and my help. You can email me any questions you may have at anytime during the month. I suggest that you send in pictures of your physique so I can provide you with the right exercises to match your strength and weaknesses.

Recap:

THE ELITE SERIES INCLUDES:

1- Monthly Bodybuilding Program

1- Nutritional Plan

1- Supplement Plan

1- Instant Feedback and Support by Daryl

Cost: $ 25. Per Month

SPECIAL RATE UNTIL DECEMBER 1, 2011. $ 19. PER MONTH.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

The Proof is in the Programs

2011-10-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

This is me when I was 19 years old. I have been living the natural bodybuilding lifestyle for over twenty three years. I have taken what I have learned from my mentors Ron Kosloff and Vince Gironda and devised my own programs that work great.

I believe that it is all about putting together the right combination of nutrition and muscle building exercises.

I never resorted to taking steroids because I didn't think that there was much challenge in taking drugs. The drugs do all the work. I like the challenge of creating a physique within my own genetic limitations. I don't care about the ego crap. I am secure with my body and my strength and weaknesses.

The bodybuilding lifestyle is a way of life that only a small percentage of people follow and understand. When I started bodybuilding I was a teenager, my friends and family didn't know what it meant to bodybuild. I always had to defend my way of life. Even today when I show pictures of my physique to people who don't understand bodybuilding they don't know what to say. They don't understand the type of discipline and mental fortitude that is required to change the look of the body, not appreciating the hard work. They just make fun of it all.

I always felt that the human body is God's greatest creation and that we should respect and keep it healthy and clean (inside and out). I have a tremendous respect for our creator and I am thankful for all that we have been given. I feel privileged to be able to experience life on this Earth. I have never taken life on Earth for granted. I am honored to be here. To show my respect to the creator I have chosen to always take care of His greatest creation-- the human body.

It has been twenty-three years since the photo above was taken. So I figured it was time to do another photo shoot to see how my programs were working. The following pictures were taken last week September 27, 2011. I had just finished my 6 month Buff Daddy program. Here are the results.

BUFF DADDY: Bodybuilding For The Family Man COMING SOON!!!

Tags: daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda, Buff Daddy, nutrition, the human cell

inVINCEable The Video Series: NOW ON SALE

2011-09-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

The WAIT IS OVER!!!! The inVINCEable Video Series is
NOW AVAILABLE!!!!

I am very proud of this production and I know that Vince would have been proud of what I have done to preserve what he taught. This is by far the most elaborate collection of Vince's exercises performed on video.

SPECIAL DISCOUNT ($ 10.00 off) for those that have purchased inVINCEable the book. Please email me your name and the promotional code (personal training code) that was sent to you. I will refund your credit card the discount after you have made the purchase. Thank you!

To purchase go to the link provided or simply go to back to my home page.

(CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE)

(CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE)
Abs
Concemetric Crunch
Half sit-up
abdominal vacuum
bench knee tucks
frog sit-up
hip roll
mini trampoline
table/ bench crunch
stiff leg raise
abdominal
serratus dips
ab planche
weighted curl ups

Calfs
Smith machine calf raise
hack machine seated calf raise
hack machine calf raise
alternating calf raise
smith machine standing calf raise
dumbbell calf raise
seated calf raise
walk off alternating calf raise
donkey calf raise
one and a half smith machine

Hamstring Exercises
dumbbell hamstring curl
bicep femoris hack squat
prone hamstring curl low
prone hamstring curl high

Quadricep exercises
frog squat
dillinger squat
jefferson squat
cable adduction
smith machine frog squat
power leg extension
45 degree hack slide
the famous sissy squat
half lunges
front squat

(CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE)

Bicep exercises
pro bicep curl
standing two arm dumbbell curl
standing alternate dumbbell curl
bentover barbell curl
preacher stand dumbbell curl
preacher stand reverse side dumbbell curl
spider bench curl
high bench prone bicep curls
standing incline bicep curl
bicep pull ups
incline dumbbell curl
lat pulldown bicep curl
incline alternating dumbbell curl

Deltoids
seated 90 degree posterior raise
high bench laterals
seated lateral raise
kosloff lateral raise
dumbbell alternating press
dumbbell circle
dumbbell upright row
dumbbell side swing zorros
dumbbell press and negative lateral
scott shoulder press
barbell upright row
clean and press
military barbell press
smith front and back shoulder press
dip stand shoulder press
alternate front raise
dumbbell incline lateral raise
power posterior dumbbel raise

Forearms
off bench barbell wrist curl
hammer curl
squatting wrist curl
reverse body drag
reverse preacher forearm cul
zottman curl

Triceps
seated tricep overhead extension
one arm power extension
tricep bench dip
high bench tricep kickback
tricep pullover and press
pulley power pushdown
tricep elbows wide pushdown
narrow grip neck press
elbows wide pressdown

(CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE)

(CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE)

Back Exercises
45 degree row
low cable strap row
low prone row
mid cable strap row
strap alternating row
high cable row
short pulley row
raciing dive lat pulls
one arm cable row
seated lat pulldown
overhead pulldown
scapula rotation
daryl's speciall pulldown
alternating dumbbell bentover row
bentover row head on bench
high bench row
high bench dumbbell row
head on bench dumbbell row
hyperextension
long pulley row
low lying prone lat pull
mid cable bar row
wide grip pull ups
v-bar pull ups
medium grip chins

(CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE)

Chest Exercises
Decline dumbbell scoop
neck press on decline bench
incline dumbbell press
dumbbell flies on flat bench
incline dumbbell fly
neck press
the gironda dip
Fulcrum push up
pulley crossover
vince's ring chest fly
decline cable fly

tags: daryl conant, vince gironda, ron kosloff, human cell, inVINCEable video series

This is what I am talking about.

2011-09-23T04:04:00.000-07:00

This is what I am talking about. This is Steve Speyrer. He is a natural bodybuilder who has a great looking physique. He is what natural bodybuilding is all about, training hard, eating right, and building muscle within his own genetic capacity. He has never taken drugs and is a great guy. Good job Steve!

Introducing…Steve Speyrer

All Around Nice Guy!

One of the many good things about publishing Natural Champion online magazine is that we come in contact with so many genuinely nice people. One of the ‘nicest of the nice’ is the feature of this months Introducing… column – Steve Speyrer.

Though still a young man, Steve is a veteran of the Iron Game. Steve, who owns Classic Anatomy Gym in Leonville, Louisiana is a drug free bodybuilding and power lifting champion (check out the photo of Steve deadlifting 500 pounds at a bodyweight of 165 drug free, of course!), an author, fitness model and actor. He recently began publishing Classic Anatomy Magazine, a free online magazine devoted to bodybuilding, with emphasis on legendary bodybuilders of the past and drug free training.

Following are some comments in Steve’s own words from an on-line interview:

“I started bodybuilding in 1977. The sport was considered strange back then and anyone doing it was considered a “nut”!

It’s both great and sad in a way, that it became so popular years later.
Great because people experienced the benefits of it, and sad because we became part of pop culture fashion. Today working out is a norm.
Drugs ruined everything good, about the sport. If you take drugs and lie about it, people respect you. But, if you remain natural and admit it, people think that you don’t train hard enough.

That’s why it’s best to train for yourself.

My inspiration comes from the legendary bodybuilders from the past.
Vince Gironda, Dan Lurie, Steve Davis, Frank Zane, Anibal Lopez, Richard Baldwin, etc.

Times change and so do the fashions of the day. Physiques have a different standard. Bodybuilding for me is personal. And I like that, just fine.
I’m just glad to have won all of my competitions completely…. Drug-Free!

Today my trophies are full of dust and the memories of victory have faded, but I continue to enjoy good health…. Thank God!

I’ve just launched a new online bodybuilding publication www.ClassicAnatomyMagazine.com and am looking forward to working with other online magazines, writers, bodybuilders and advertisers.

Our sport has been destroyed by division and only through unity…. can it rebuild.”

When questioned about his training and nutrition, Steve offered the following one-liners:

I train for quality first and size second.

I've never been a massive type of bodybuilder, so I went for the look of Vince Gironda, Steve Davis and Frank Zane.

I've had many training injuries over the years and have learned to train around them.

I train each body part, every ten days. This seems to work best.

I use all methods and feel that change is the best stimulate.

I never become bored and try to improve myself.

I never compete with others, as everyone is genetically different.

Even my bodybuilding and powerlifting competitions were used as motivation, in order to reach a personal best.

The best diet for my metabolism seems to be the low carbohydrate approach.

I have no off-season and remain in top form at all times, while trying to make improvements.

Being your personal best is the ultimate goal. It's what you can do with you!

I mentioned at the beginning of this article that Steve Speyrer is among the ‘nicest of the nice’. Regardless of how busy he is, or what difficulties he may be encountering himself, he always has time to lend a helping hand or offer a word of encouragement to someone else in need - without a thought of anything in return.

This is Why Bodybuilding Has Turned Into a Joke

2011-09-22T03:35:00.001-07:00

This is a great example of how steroids influence bodybuilders. This guy (Phil Heath) is the 2011 Mr. Olympia winner. Just ten years ago he was a basketball player for a college team in Denver. He was 5' 9" 180 pounds. He was slender and lean, a typical basketball player build. Now he weighs over 250 pounds and has increased his muscle size beyond anything realistic that his DNA code was set up for. This is a total joke in my opinion. I watched him training on youtube and it is ridiculous. He doesn't do an exercise through a complete range of motion. It is like his body is filled up with water and hydrogen, which basically it is. In my opinion this is not bodybuilding, it is steroid-ing. The Mr. America, Mr. Universe, Mr. Olympia contests are a joke. These guys are so distorted and unnatural that it is a complete freak show. It isn't about how to train or how to work the muscles of the body, it is all about who comes up with the best combination of steroids. This is a great example of how a person can go from skinny to brawny with the use of the juice. Let's see what this guy looks like when he gets off his cocktail of anabolic steroids. This type of bodybuilding has no appeal to me. Taking steroids is easy anyone can do that. I challenge anyone to building a natural physique, going through the pain and struggles of keeping the muscle day in and day out without taking anything. A REAL bodybuilder is the one who can accept their limitations and train hard, eat right, and live through the pain without having to take a substance that does everything for you. The steroid user has ruined the sport of bodybuilding. The IFBB is just another silly gimmicky organization that sell sensationalism and hype, no different than the fake entertainment of the WWF (So called the world wrestling federation). Both organizations are for entertainment purpose and both focus in on the "awe factor." The freakier and dumb they look the more money they make. What a bunch of bafoons. I will stick with Steve Reeves, Vince Gironda, Don Howorth, and those guys that were the REAL classic bodybuilders. Forget about the current day clown show. This freaks would be lost without their drugs.

I am just thankful I had the opportunity to train under Vince Gironda's tutelage and to be an honest, hard working, natural-within my own genetics and DNA coding bodybuilder.

tags: mr. olympia 2011, daryl conant, vince gironda, ron kosloff, don howorth, phil heath

An Email I Received

2011-09-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

The following is an email question that I received the other day. I thought it was a good question so I decided to share with you all.

Hi Daryl,

I have been following your blog over the past months and enjoy your articles. I have a question for you. What would you recommend for someone who doesn't like to exercise. In fact, I hate to exercise and probably won't adhere to any type of program. I don't want to join a gym, or do anything at home. I have to lose weight and was wondering if there was another way of doing so without having to exercise? You are probably going to get all over me about not exercising, but I really don't want to exercise.

J.B.

Hi J.B.,

Thank you for the question. First off, you should be concerned with losing fat, not weight. Losing weight is dangerous and takes away too much muscle tissue. I want you to lose fat not muscle. No, I am not going to get on you about not exercising. There is really one way to lose body fat in the body, it must be metabolized via muscle tissue. It is all about nutrient manipulation. Nutrition is 85% the equation, exercise makes up the other 15%. Even though exercise is the best metabolic booster to the systems of the body, it is not necessary for changing body composition.

Whenever your body gains too much body fat there are different variables that could be a contributing factor, 1. hormone levels, 2. not eating enough vital nutrients, 3. eating too much.

Hormone Levels
The natural hormones of the body decrease during age and when muscle tissue is not being worked enough. Progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, growth hormone, luteinizing hormone, thyroxine are some of the major hormones that deplete as we age. When these hormones deplete there is usually an increase in fat storage. This is a natural aging process, however it can be slowed down if the systems of the body are still needing an increase in hormonal support. This is where exercise would come into play. I realize you don't like to exercise, but one of the greatest benefits of exercise is the slowing down of the aging process. When the muscles are stimulated and challenged through varying resistance, the anabolic hormones are increased to help support the function and recovery of the damaged tissue. When the tissue is not active or utilized beyond a sedentary level, the body will regulate the necessity of the anabolic hormones, in other words the body will reduce the amount of hormones secreted to accommodate to the low energy level. Folks that lead a sedentary life tend to age faster than those that exercise.

I would recommend that you have all of your hormone levels tested. That would provide answers to how much you are secreting.

Not Eating Enough Vital Nutrients
If your hormones are in the normal range and there is no significant change in the anabolic production. Then we have to look at how many nutrients you are taking in per day. The biggest mistake a person makes is thinking that if they eat less then they will lose body fat. This is not the case. It is important to know what your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is to establish a baseline of how many nutrients you should be taking in on a daily basis.

In my book "diet EARTH", I go into depth about vital nutrients and the importance of eating the right amount throughout the day. If you are interested in learning more about nutrition I recommend this book for you. You can get it on my website @ darylconant.com

The resting metabolic rate is the amount of energy that your vital organs and tissue of the body is working at per day. Think of the vital organs of the body as little engines. Each engine has a certain amount of energy (fuel) needed to operate. The vital nutrients are the fuel for the engines. The RMR determines how much fuel the engine needs. If we match the energy demand with external vital nutrients coming into the body, then the RMR will be satisfied. All the organs and tissue will be fed what they demand. When the systems are fed their required amount then there is not a deficit. When a deficit occurs this means that the vital organs are not be fed their necessary amount of vital nutrients. The result of insufficient nutrient intake results in a compromised system. An effect of a compromised system is fat gain and muscle loss.

The body loses muscle during times of insufficient nutrient intake because there is not enough dietary protein coming into the system. When this occurs the vital nutrient exchange suffers, the body will then recruit protein from its own skeletal muscle to feed the vital nutrient exchange system. When this occurs fat metabolism is decreased.

What you want to do is to increase the vital nutrient intake so that you don't go into a catabolic affect.
You need to know how much protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, low glycemic carbs, your body needs to take in on a daily basis.

Eating Too Much
This is common sense. Eating too much will force the body to store more fat. The interesting thing about overconsumption is that it is difficult to over consume protein but it is very easy to overconsume carbohydrates. Here is a trick to avoid over eating. Eat protein first, whether its chicken, beef, fish. You will most likely begin to get a full feeling after about 5-8 oz. of protein consumption. Then eat your vegetables. By the time the sugar gets into the system your hunger will be suppressed. If you eat carbs first you will have a tendency to over eat because the digestive system has an easier time with carbs and can process them faster than proteins and fats. This means that you can eat a lot of sugar without ever feeling full. This is why restaurants serve you bread before you eat. The sugar actually makes you hungrier, which means you will order more food. They would never give out free protein because you would be stuffed within minutes and wouldn't order any food.

Eating Poor Value Food
Eating poor value food is the same as eating nothing at all. The same physiological effects occur when you eat junk food. In addition, poor value food is loaded with cancer producing agents that will compromise your health.

By establishing a healthy nutrition plan that is loaded with the correct amount of timed released vital nutrients is key for burning fat.

If you are interested I offer online nutritional services. I would be more than happy to work with you. If you do decide to hire me to help you I would suggest that you write down everything you eat for 4 days and then email me that information. I will analyze your intake and design a nutritional plan for you that will help you start seeing results. Thank you for your question.

Daryl

tags: daryl conant, vince gironda, ron kosloff, nutrition, the cell

What Price Would You Pay

2011-09-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

What price would you pay for your health? If you were told by your doctor that you were on the road of dying if you continue to live the way you do, what price would you pay to get help? What price would you pay to lose the body fat around your abdominals that can cause cardiovascular disease? What price would you pay to reduce cancer? What price would you pay to reduce depression? What price would you pay to have a great looking physique? What price would you pay to feel "alive"? What price would you pay to sleep at night? What price would you pay to improve your lung capacity? What price would you pay to live a long enough life to see your grandchildren grow up? What price would you pay to get the secrets of training that only the guru's know? What price would you pay to recover from a heart attack? What price would you pay to reduce Type 2 Diabetes?

The Kettle Bell Swing

2011-09-16T03:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a great exercise for warming up the body before your regular workout. It incorporates a variety of muscles and works every joint in the body. Start by getting into a squat position, keeping the back neutral, hold the kettle bell slightly off the floor. Now thrust the kettle bell up in an explosive motion. Thrust the hips forward, contracting the glutes (butt) tight. Use a heavy kettle bell to really challenge yourself. Keep in mind that this exercise is designed to be fast and explosive.

tags: kettle bell swing, daryl conant, ron kosloff

Seated External Rotation

2011-09-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a good exercise for warming up the rotator cuff, especially before performing any type of pressing motion. Start by sitting at a bench that has a support, like a preacher bench. The arms (humerus) rests on the support bench. The shoulder chest junction should be 90 degrees. The elbow junction should be 90 degrees as well. Holding the dumbbell, go up and down keeping the arm at 90 degrees. You should do as many reps as you can until you feel a burn or fatigue in the rotator cuff.

Straight Arm Pulldown

2011-09-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a good exercise to perform for the back, serratus anterior, and rectus abdominus. Start by holding onto a straight bar, just about eye level. Keep your chest up and shoulders down, avoid forward flexion. Now pull the bar down, until the bar hits the upper quadricep area. It is very important that you don't allow the torso to flex forward. You will feel an isometric contraction in the abdominals as you pull the bar down with heavier weight.

This exercise is great for people who suffer from vertebral dysfunction in the lumbar region. There is no compressive forces present during this exercise. It is a good core strengthening exercise. It is also a great exercise to develop the serratus anterior muscle group. This the muscle that is the triangle that separates the pectorals and latissimus dorsi

Marketing Hype

2011-09-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months I have been working on developing a new website. I am not well versed in computer programming and have hired a company to develop a more interactive site.

I am excited for a new site. But here is my problem. I have had people tell me that in order to have people interested in my site I need to be more animated and commercialized. This goes against my philosophy and it is not me. I am not a used car sales man. I am not a hollywood actor. I am not a fitness model getting paid to look pretty. I am who I am, nothing fancy.

Once I was doing a video demonstrating a particular exercise and the person behind the camara said I needed to be more animated with high energy, because that is what sells. They said I need to be like the dude in the PX90 commercials. Well folks I have to say that is not me. If I have to be something that I am not then I don't want to do it. I did a quick video blog once discussing weight loss. I set up a camara and started taping. It was only meant to be a quick video on the myth of weight loss. The information I presented was what I wanted to put out. Unfortunately, a person commented saying that I wasn't animated enough for her and she clicked out of my site before finishing the video blog. She said that many people would be turned off by the quality of the video. I was giving away free information and wasn't selling anything. It was a spare of the moment idea I had and wanted to share it. Little did I know that it would get such reviews. bodybuilding bodybuildingbodybuildingbodybuilding

It seems like today that every product has an over the top in your face marketing scheme. And that if you don't have the same professional marketing scheme then you won't make an impact and no one will stay on your site or purchase your services. They tell me that it is all about sucking people into your site with some type of hook. In a way manipulating the person to believe that they just have to have your product or service. Playing on the societal phenomenon known as instant gratification buying.

I like to sell myself in the way that I am, honest and candid. I don't want to read from scripts or have a hollywood set with all the fancy bells and whistles. My passion is fitness and nutrition and I don't care about the hype. I guess I am much like Vince Gironda in that respect. He was the real deal and wasn't into all the hype and glamour of the commercialized franchised gyms. He wasn't on television jumping around and selling hype. He was the iron guru, who worked in the trenches of bodybuilding.

Unfortunately, our society strives for hype and high end marketing programs. The more sensational it is the better it must be. Call me old fashioned but I like providing an honest, worthwhile program that works. It might not be the prettiest or most glamourous but my methods work and that is all that counts.

I want people to know that I am just like them. The only difference is, is that I have a certain knowledge base and years of experience to pull from to help people get great results when changing their physique.

I will work with anyone, no matter what age, gender, body type. Everybody can benefit from fitness and eating right. My purpose is to direct people onto the right path to seeing results and feeling better, not to be a Hollywood actor.

tags: daryl conant, vince gironda, ron kosloff, cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell cell

One of The Greatest Benefits of Exercise

2011-09-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

There are a plethora of reasons why everyone should exercise, however I will be discussing one of the greatest benefits of exercise-- endorphin and enkephalin release.

Endorphins and enkephalins are both opiate like and are analgesic in nature. When the systems of the body are under the influence of stress, endorphins and enkephalins are released by the anterior pituitary gland and hypothalamus. High concentrations of endorphins and enkephalins in the blood help reduce the synaptic signals of pain receptors. By turning off the pain receptors the signals don't transmit to the brain, instead a feeling of euphoria develops. The euphoric feeling heightens a persons awareness. This is the feeling that is often associated during and after an intense exercise bout.

Essentially exercise is stress to the body. Once the regulatory system is compromised and the cells are experiencing an increase of activity beyond the normal threshold point, the anterior pituitary and hypothalamus begin to manufacture the body's natural pain relievers to help comfort the nerves. This analgesic system is necessary for human survival. It is believed that the analgesic agents are used to help assist the sympathetic nervous system to withstand greater amounts of stress that are typically beyond what a person can endure. This is why some people can be damaged and continue to press on. For example, a soldier in battle might be shot in the leg and doesn't even know it because of the rush of hormones and endorphins that are in their bloodstream. The hormones temporarily numb the nerves. It is one of the most sophisticated chemical reactions in the body.

The feeling of euphoria is addicting. People who exercise reap the benefits of the natural high from endorphin and enkephalin release. It is what keeps people coming back for more. Initially the first few moments of exercise are painful, but as the exercise session continues the pain relievers release. Even though this feeling is wonderful there is a down side. Many people who run often feel the runner's high. Endorphins and enkephalins are released as the intensity goes beyond threshold. The runner feels a sense of renewed energy and stamina as a result of the high concentration of the endogenous opioid peptides. Running can be a very destructive activity on the joints of the knee, ankle, and lower back if not performed correctly. Many people will run through physical pain bypassing the warning signs in order to get the high. The person becomes addicted to the opiate sensation regardless of the physical damage they are experiencing. Not all, but many runners are "running from the pain." Not only does it have to be physical. Emotional pain is another reason why people are addicted to running and/or exercise. Once the endorphins and enkephalins release the pain is masked. Exercise is a great stress release, but if performed incorrectly exercise can be damaging to the body.

Endorphins and Enkephalins are also released in other ways besides exercise.

* Sexual intercourse

* Hot spicy food

* Laughter

* Acupuncture

* Massage

Whenever there is a pain variable within the body, the body will release endorphins and enkephalins. Even though sex is a pleasurable experience, it is perceived by the nerves of the reproductive system as pain. Eating hot spicy food elicits a painful response to the taste buds. Laughter increases the sympathetic nervous system and activates the solar plexus of the body which will elicit a pain response. Acupuncture is the administration of sticking needles into various meridian points of the body. The puncture of the needle elicits the pain receptors in the skin, which will then cause a release of analgesics. Massage, if performed vigorously (sports massage, rolfing) will elicit a pain response activating pain relievers.

Endorphins and enkephalins also help boost immune functioning. Research has been done over the years to determine the validity of endorphins and enkephalins in the reduction of cancer producing cells. The studies reveal that their is a link between endorphin and enkephalin production and cancer cell reduction. Regular release of endorphin and enkephalins can help reduce alcohol and drug abuse cravings that many people suffer from. Endorphins and enkephalins activate the same neuronal sequence as mind altering drugs without the harmful side effects.

Get out there and get high- naturally! Release those endorphins and enkephalins.

tags: daryl conant, vince gironda, ron kosloff, endorphins, enkephalins.

Doing Pull UPs The Correct Way

2011-09-06T03:13:00.000-07:00

Start with the head down, chin on chest. Arms are fully extended. Next, pull up bringing your head as far back as possible, touch low sternum area to the bar. Your torso should be as parallel to the floor as you can get it.

NEVER activate hip flexion during the pull up. This is the biggest mistake I see guys make. When you activate the hip flexors you end up losing the latissimus dorsi contraction. You use chest and biceps instead of the lats-- this is not a pull up. YOU HAVE TO keep your glutes contracted eliminating the hip flexors from firing. Keep your feet back at all times during the pull up. When performed correctly you should feel a stretch in the quadriceps. The stretch confirms that the lats are in control and the hip flexors are not activated.

Hold peak contraction for about 1-2 seconds. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Our Greatest Protein Sources are Going Extinct

2011-09-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

We can't eat beef because they are injected with steroids and antibiotics.

We can't eat beef because the cows are eating corn feed.

We can't eat tuna because it is tainted with mercury.

We can't eat vegetables because they have been sprayed with pesticides.

We can't drink milk because it is homogenized and pasteurized.

We can't eat eggs because the chickens eat corn feed producing Omega-6 fats.

Folks there is something seriously wrong when we can't even eat the best sources of protein. Sure, you can eat organic protein sources, but you have to be wealthy to do so. The rest of us have to eat tainted, poisoned protein sources. That is bull#*&!!!

I would like to thank the FDA for destroying our food supply. The rich stay healthy the sick stay poor.

Keeping Up With The Muscle

2011-09-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

cellscellscellscellscellscellscellscellscellscellscellscellscellscells

Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in living organismsto maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories. Catabolism breaks down organic matter. Anabolism uses energy to construct components of cells such as proteins and nucleic acids.

We all have a certain metabolic rate that dictates our body composition. There are varying levels of metabolism ranging from slow to super fast. The speed of the metabolism does not necessarily dictate that a person will be lean of over fat. A person who is carrying more body fat than normal might have a very fast metabolism. And a person with a slow metabolism might be very lean. cellscellscellscells

The metabolic rate is determined by the need and efficiency of the internal organs to reproduce cells and breakdown food and metabolites. If a system is compromised for some reason due to an unhealthy circumstance then the vital organs are at risk of being deprived. This deprivation can slow down the metabolism causing a shift in body composition.

To ensure that you maintain a healthy metabolism and to keep the vital organs working optimally it is essential to exercise. Activating more muscle tissue will cause a boost in the active metabolism. The active metabolism is the amount of heat that is produced as a result of exercise. The greater the intensity, the greater the output. The goal is always to activate as much muscle tissue as possible to create a greater thermogenic effect. I discuss this process in greater detail in my book "diet EARTH." For this blog I will not go into that much detail. You just need to know that exercise is important for boosting the active metabolism. c

When you become an advanced weight trainer your muscles become more sensitive and are constantly in need of protein. This constant state of protein saturation is essential in building new muscle tissue. Unfortunately, there is a down side to increasing muscle tissue. The more muscle tissue you activate the more food you have to eat. To be able to keep the hard dense muscle that you have worked so hard for, you must constantly eat. In this day in age, unless you are independently wealthy, food is expensive. It costs a tremendous amount of money to feed the muscles. Meat, eggs, supplements, are expensive sources of protein, especially if you consume lots quantities during the week. vince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince gironda

That is the one thing I constantly battle with. I guess you could say I was blessed with a fast metabolism, but I would say that is a detriment. It would be great if I just wanted to be a long distance runner or a guy who just wanted to be lean and fit, but I love to build muscle. However, it costs a lot of money to maintain my muscle tissue. Some weeks when I have enough money I can by the food necessary to keep up with my training. But there are weeks when I don't have enough money to feed my muscles. During the sparse feeding cycles, my body goes into catabolism. I have been through catabolism so many times that I can actually feel my body starving. My muscles become stringy and small, my energy plummets, my hormone secretions weaken, my central nervous system becomes depressed, my appetite increases, sleep patterns shift, sex drive drops, joints ache, face appearance changes. It is almost the same affect as being anorexic. I absolutely hate it when the sparse feeding weeks occur. Those weeks are very difficult for me. There is nothing worse than seeing all of your hard earned gains quickly melt away. vince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince gironda

For many people weight loss and being skinny is a great thing. But for the bodybuilder losing muscle tissue is disastrous. When I lose muscle due to sparse eating it messes me up psychologically. To me bodybuilding is a job, and when I begin to lose my muscle tissue it threatens my livelihood. It sucks to have a fast metabolism and I can't keep up with feeding it. So I am constantly swimming against the tide. The more I train the further into catabolism I go. Someone asked me one time, "why don't you stop lifting weights to avoid catabolism? You wouldn't have to eat as much to maintain your body composition." Telling me to stop lifting weights is like telling Bono to stop singing. Weight training is my life. It becomes a part of you that you can't let go. So, rather than stop training I push on taking the good with the bad. I have learned how to adjust my training through the low feeding cycles. As much as I hate not being able to eat, I never give up hope that someday I will be able to eat enough food to get the muscle back. Catabolism sucks!!! I want to compete again but my feeding cycles are too inconsistent.

It is interesting that many people want to be rich so that they can go on trips abroad, or to buy fancy cars, boats, clothes, etc. I want to be wealthy so I can eat healthy organic nutrient dense food with never having to worry about starving. vince girondavince girondavince girondavince gironda

Metabolism is a process that only stops when we die. It is essential to feed the metabolism according to your activity level. The more you move the more you have to eat. The problem is that many people move and don't eat enough food to repair the damage.

tags: food, nutrients, daryl conant, ron kosloff, red sox. vince girondamuscle muscle muscle muscle muscle

InVINCEable Video Series: Exercises That Are Featured

2011-08-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

The InVINCEable Video Series is a couple weeks from being released. It took a long time for this project to be completed but it is well worth it. Video Creations from Kennebunk, Maine has done a great job dealing with the magnitude of footage. This was not an easy task. Video Creations and myself have put a tremendous amount of time and effort into this production. Anyone who thinks that putting a video of just about every exercise Vince taught is an easy thing to do, needs to think again. To have a professional quality video requires high end video camaras and equipment, and professional photographers and videographers. Once all the raw footage is taped, the producer and editors (Blake Baldwin, Lee Cote, Mary Tibbetts) must edit all the content to fit on a DVD. The software that was used in the making of the DVD's is not imovie, it is the same software used in Hollywood movie sets. We spared no expense in this production. I wanted to pay tribute to Vince and to produce a video that I could feel proud of. This project would not have been possible if it wasn't for the great folks at Video Creations. Thank you guys.

I hope that you will learn from these videos and incorporate these exercises into your training programs. They are unique and are the best exercises for developing a classic drug free physique.

Here are the exercises that are featured: This was a lot of work.

Abs
Concemetric Crunch
Half sit-up
abdominal vacuum
bench knee tucks
frog sit-up
hip roll
mini trampoline
table/ bench crunch
stiff leg raise
abdominal
serratus dips
ab planche
weighted curl ups

Back Exercises
45 degree row
low cable strap row
low prone row
mid cable strap row
strap alternating row
high cable row
short pulley row
raciing dive lat pulls
one arm cable row
seated lat pulldown
overhead pulldown
scapula rotation
daryl's speciall pulldown
alternating dumbbell bentover row
bentover row head on bench
high bench row
high bench dumbbell row
head on bench dumbbell row
hyperextension
long pulley row
low lying prone lat pull
mid cable bar row
wide grip pull ups
v-bar pull ups

Bicep exercises

pro bicep curl

standing two arm dumbbell curl

standing alternate dumbbell curl

bentover barbell curl

preacher stand dumbbell curl

preacher stand reverse side dumbbell curl

spider bench curl

high bench prone bicep curls

standing incline bicep curl

bicep pull ups

incline dumbbell curl

lat pulldown bicep curl

incline alternating dumbbell curl

Calfs
Smith machine calf raise
hack machine seated calf raise
hack machine calf raise
alternating calf raise
smith machine standing calf raise
dumbbell calf raise
seated calf raise
walk off alternating calf raise
donkey calf raise
one and a half smith machine

Chest Exercises

Decline dumbbell scoop

neck press on decline bench

incline dumbbell press

dumbbell flies on flat bench

incline dumbbell fly

neck press

the gironda dip

Fulcrum push up

pulley crossover

vince's ring chest fly

Deltoids

seated 90 degree posterior raise

high bench laterals

seated lateral raise

kosloff lateral raise

dumbbell alternating press

dumbbell circle

dumbbell upright row

dumbbell side swing zorros

dumbbell press and negative lateral

scott shoulder press

barbell upright row

clean and press

military barbell press

smith front and back shoulder press

dip stand shoulder press

alternate front raise

dumbbell incline lateral raise

power posterior dumbbel raise

Forearms
off bench barbell wrist curl
hammer curl
squatting wrist curl
reverse body drag
reverse preacher forearm cul
zottman curl

Hamstring Exercises
dumbbell hamstring curl
bicep femoris hack squat
prone hamstring curl low
prone hamstring curl high

Triceps

seated tricep overhead extension

one arm power extension

tricep bench dip

high bench tricep kickback

tricep pullover and press

pulley power pushdown

tricep elbows wide pushdown

narrow grip neck press

elbows wide pressdown

Quadricep exercises

frog squat

dillinger squat

jefferson squat

cable adduction

smith machine frog squat

power leg extension

45 degree hack slide

the famous sissy squat

half lunges

front squat

tags: Daryl Conant, Vince Gironda, Ron Kosloff, humna cell human cell human cell human cell

Overtraining

2011-08-22T03:47:00.000-07:00

I would say that a high percentage of folks who exercise are overtraining. It is important to keep the nervous system healthy and working efficiently. Performing too many reps, sets, and using an intensity greater than threshold repeatedly will result in poor synaptic transmission.

When the action potential fires from the nervous system to the muscle the muscle contracts. The more action potentials the weaker the synaptic transmission becomes. What this means is that the intensity of the stimulation to make the muscle contract becomes less. This is why during the normal lifting sequence we get fatigued on the last set and can't perform as many reps. The synaptic transmission has been depleted. So, if you continue to work the muscle and nervous system beyond the effective limit you will produce an overtraining effect.

You don't have to work a muscle at 100% intensity. This will cause a loss of anabolic hormone and cause cortisol to release. Working at 100% overstimulates the motor units. Whenever the motor units are overstimulated the natural secretion of anabolic hormone is not released. Our nervous system is very sensitive to any kind of external and internal stimulation. Working beyond threshold will weaken the nervous system.

I suggest that you use a weight that is 65-85% of your maximum. Workout with the higher end percentage at the beginning of the week, and the lower end percentage at the end of the week. The reason for this is because your nervous system will be able to handle the heavier load at the beginning of the week because you are coming off a rest from the weekend. As the week progresses the nervous system becomes weaker, due to physical and mental stress (from work, family, etc).

For some reason we were taught at an early age that more is better and that the heavier the weigh the better. But this is not true. The more is better philosophy will only hurt you in the long run. It is better to train smarter than to over train.

Bottom line: Your nervous system is very sensitive. It is the gateway to muscular contractions. When it becomes weak, muscle contractions become weak. Poor muscle contractions = no gains!

tags: Vince Gironda, Daryl Conant, Ron Kosloff, human cell, human cell human cell, human cell

Here is a Clip From An Earlier Video We Did In Canada

2011-08-21T09:36:00.001-07:00

Here is a Rare Video of My Mentor Vince: THE BEST VIDEO YET

2011-08-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPGL4kpzyO0&feature=feedu

Check it out folks!!

The Greatest Fallacies in American Nutrition and Fitness History

2011-08-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

Here are the greatest fallacies in American nutrition and fitness history. By Daryl Conant, M.ED CSCS

1. Red meat is bad for you. And we should all be eating chicken instead. or beans and rice.

2. Eggs are going to kill you.

3. Cholesterol is bad for you and we should all have the same cholesterol level.

4. Processed foods are good for you.

5. Drinking wine, coffee, eating dark chocolate are healthy for you and everyone should consume these three items.

6. "Weight loss" works.

7. Treadmills and other cardiovascular training machines are best for fat burning.

8. Weight training for women will make them muscle bound like a man.

9. Exercising more than 45 minutes is beneficial and makes a person more fit.

10. Calories is an accurate way of determining if the food should be consumed or not.

11. Banana's are a great source of potassium. And all people wanting to lose weight should eat bananas.

Here are my answers to these ridiculous fallacies.

1. Red meat is bad for you. I know the vegetarians and cardiologists that read this blog are going to become enraged when I say this, but I stand firm in my belief. TRUE ORGANIC RED MEAT is the second best source of protein that humans can consume. Our own muscle tissue is red meat. We must replenish our muscle tissue with a protein that is as close to our own makeup as possible. Red meat is the best assimilated protein for building muscle. There are a tremendous amount of nutrients in red meat. Red meat is a hormone precursor food.

Poultry (chicken, turkey, foul) is considered to be the healthy meat. Millions of Americans consume chicken every day. Poultry is a terrible protein for building muscle. It is a low hormone precursing food. Just because it is chicken doesn't mean that it is better for you than red meat. Real organic red meat is the best form of meat to eat.

Beans and rice are complimentary proteins that provide the correct ratio of amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. However, beans digest very slowly and are encased with a lot of fiber. By the time the protein is broken down, much of the value has been degraded. Due to the slow uptake beans are not a hormone precursing food. In addition beans are hard to digest for many people, which can result in digestive distress (gas, bloating). But beans and rice every once and a while is sufficient. Bean protein is good for the cardiovascular system more so than building skeletal muscle. Red meat is still the king for building muscle tissue.

2. Eggs are going to kill you. Anyone who knows me knows how ridiculous this idea is. Intelligent humans know that eating eggs won't kill you. Nor does eating eggs increase a persons bad cholesterol levels. This is physiology 101. In fact, eggs can help lower cholesterol levels. And eggs are considered the perfect food. Eggs are the best protein source available. Eggs are the best hormone precursing foods to consume.

The cholesterol in eggs helps to ignite the master hormone Pregnenolone. Pregnenolone is a derivative of cholesterol. This hormone can be synthesized into various hormones; progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, adlosterone, cortisol, Lutenizing hormone, etc. To help increase the production of pregnenolone, hormone precursing foods need to be established into the body.

When a person cuts out their cholesterol intake they are at risk of producing inadequate amounts of pregnenolone, therefore, resulting in dysfunction of the systems. Weight gain, depression, anxiety, muscle loss, psychological imbalances can all result from insufficient amounts of hormone precursing foods. Another great advantage of pregnenolone is its ability to boost the immune system reducing the inflammation factors within the body.

Eggs are EGG-CELLENT!!! Get cracking.

Note: Avoid eating eggs that are hard boiled, or over cooked. Never cook eggs in a microwave.

3. Cholesterol is bad for you and we should all have the same cholesterol level. As mentioned in #2, cholesterol is essential in the production of many hormones in the body. Doctors love to manipulate blood cholesterol levels with medications. Everyone who gets a physical has their blood cholesterol levels tested. Some people have high cholesterol levels while other might have low. If the cholesterol level is considered too high then the doctor will administer a statin type drug to block the production of cholesterol in the liver. But I feel that this doesn't solve the problem nor is it always the best approach. If I were to get my cholesterol tested it would most likely be high. This is because I bodybuild and am constantly tearing down muscle tissue. Naturally my cholesterol levels would be high to help in the repair of the tissue. Cholesterol is not the bad guy. In fact, cholesterol helps increase the anabolic properties necessary to increase lean body mass. However, I would probably be told by the doctor that I would have to take a drug to block the production of cholesterol. This would be disastrous for me because it would be going against what my body is capable of producing to help support my physiological make up. To say that all humans should have exactly the same blood cholesterol level seems strange to me.

Cholesterol is necessary for healthy functioning of the human body. If you really want to get nit picky then I would say stop eating refine, processed sugar. Sugar is the problem for blocking the coronary arteries-- not cholesterol. Sugar scratches the interior lining of the arteries, cholesterol is released to help patch up the scratches. The more sugar that is consumed the more cholesterol is produced, until eventually there is so much damage to the artery wall that the cholesterol builds up and occludes the artery. So when the surgeon opens up the person and sees that the artery is blocked by cholesterol they assume that the person's heart attack is a direct result of cholesterol, when in fact it was a result of eating too much sugar. The cholesterol was only trying to help repair the artery wall, but the person kept eating sugar causing damage to the artery. Cholesterol is not the bad guy, over consuming sugar is.

4. Processed foods are good for you. The number one contributor to obesity, cancer, and other ailments of the body is from the use of chemicals, pesticides, preservatives, anti-biotics, excocitoxins, nitrates, carcinogens, synthetic steroids, cement, food coloring. Processed food is what is destroying the health of humans. Our food supply is so tainted with cancer producing agents that I get angry thinking about it. The reason why we have processed food is because it is a cheap way of making food last, and helps satisfy population control.

The Earth is becoming depleted of its natural food sources because the human population is increasing in astronomical proportions. If we had to resort to only eating natural organic healthy farm raised food there wouldn't be enough food to keep up the the human population. This would cause disastrous results. So in order to satisfy the population processing food was developed. Now you can take a piece of corn and produce enough junk food to feed thousands of people. You can homogenize and pasteurize milk to last for months, as opposed to a week with raw milk. So you see that food processing, unfortunately, has become a necessary evil. The goal is to try and feed billions of people without losing the entire natural food supply. My guess is that the Earth's natural food source will be completely depleted within the next 100 years. Once this happens the only food supply will be from synthetic and processed foods.

Processed foods, over time will contribute to the death of the body. Eating small amounts of toxins over years will eventually produce ill effects that the immune system cannot defend. I had an older women (80years old) tell me that she eats junk food everyday and has been for years and doesn't have any health problems. I asked her how many medications she takes per day and she told me that she takes between 8-12 pills per day, for high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, depression etc. She was proud that she ate junk food but I told her that if it wasn't for the drugs then she would have died years ago.

Drugs are the regulator of processed food now and for the future. Drug companies are constantly making up new concoctions to combat the poisons that are in our food. The interesting thing is, is that most food companies are owned by drug companies hmmmmmmmm, makes you wonder doesn't it?

5. Drinking wine, coffee, eating dark chocolate are healthy for you and everyone should consume these three items.

This is garbage. People are so gullible in believing that eating dark chocolate, drinking coffee, and drinking alcohol is healthy. "But Daryl they are loaded with anti-oxidants and doctors recommend a little wine everyday." That is the argument I always get when I tell folks not to drink wine. Let me clear this up for you. There was a study in England a few years back that suggested a little red wine was good for reducing free radical production in the bloodstream. After this study was done doctors all over the world agreed that red wine in small amounts consumed daily is beneficial. Well there is truth to this, however, I don't like it. Yes! there is a small amount of anti-oxidants in the grapes that make up red wine. And having a little will be alright. But the amount of wine to be consumed is only a shot glass in size about 1 oz. of actual fluid. Most people consume way more than this per drink. Drinking too much alcohol causes a person to become poisoned (buzzed, drunk), which taxes the liver. Years of drinking will eventually cause more harm than good. There are way more anti-oxidants in broccoli than red wine. Eat broccoli everyday for all of you anti-oxidants needs and forget about the wine.

Another silly thing is eating dark chocolate to get your daily anti-oxidants. Dark chocolate, like wine, has some small amounts of anti-oxidants that are proven to help boost immunity. However, the amount of dark chocolate necessary to receive this benefit is the equivalence of 1-hersey kiss. Unfortunately, many people can't eat just a small piece, they have to consume a handful or more. Over consuming dark chocolate will cause digestion problems. And there is still sugar in the dark chocolate, so eating a ton will increase your blood sugar levels causing insulin to spike.

Coffee is considered to be a mood altering drink. It helps boost energy in those folks that are tired. The caffeine helps stimulate the sympathetic nervous system giving rise to increased energy. Unfortunately, this effect only lasts for a short duration. Once the caffeine clears the blood system, blood glucose levels are low. The person then resorts to another cup of caffeine to boost their energy again. This type of habitual cycle will cause the adrenal glands to get fried. Coffee also produces high levels of cortisol. Cortisol is directly linked to an increase in abdominal and visceral fat. Once the adrenal glands get fried the chances of losing abdominal fat is greatly reduced.

Though these substances mentioned are not the most evil things to consume, if consumed only in moderation and in small amounts. The problem is that most people over consume these addicting substances, and that is the problem.

6. "Weight loss" works. Weight loss does not work. It is incorrect to lose weight. The human body is not designed to lose weight. It is designed to burn fat. Losing weight is one of the biggest marketing schemes of all time. People associate losing weight with being young and fit. This is bogus. When you lose weight you lose vital tissue that the body needs to sustain healthy functioning. The end result a regain of the weight lost, in addition to having a higher fat percentage. The focus should be on fat loss not weight loss.

7. Treadmills and other cardiovascular training machines are best for fat burning. Cardio machines are only good for increasing the heart rate and improving the cardiorespiratory system of the body. Machines are overrated for fat burning and too many people depend on them for expecting magical results. It is better to do functional training exercises and circuit style weight training for improving cardiovascular system. 10-20 minutes of effective training is all you will need to improve your cardiovascular fitness. I am always amazed at places that have a bunch of cardio machines lined up row after row. You see all of these people running like gerbils on wheels for hours trying to get that super buff body. Their goal will never come true if they only use machines to burn fat. The problem is that the body will adapt to the intensity after a couple of weeks. The person becomes more fit at the intensity. Their heart rate, stroke volume and cardiac output improve reducing the stress on the heart and lung system. The muscles become more enduring and they burn less fat. In addition to machines not being the most effective way to burn fat, they are rather boring. I would much rather do fun circuit style training for improving cardiovascular function.

If I thought cardio machines were worth more for burning fat and increasing lean body mass I would have rows and rows of cardio machines in my gym. Resistance training is the most effective fat burner-- not cardio machines.

8. Weight training for women will make them muscle bound like a man. This is virtually impossible for most women. In fact, more women should be lifting weights more than men. Women, for the most part, have a lessor concentration of testosterone and growth hormone than men. These two anabolic hormones are essential for building lots of muscle. Women have more estrogen than men. Estrogen gives the women their feminine qualities. They tend to carry more natural body fat than men due to higher estrogen and progesterone levels. The woman's body is designed for child bearing. Their make up is much different than a males in terms of reproductive hormone regulation. In order for a woman to have muscles like a man they would have to have a higher concentration of testosterone and growth hormone than the average woman. It is not impossible for a woman to be muscle bound, but chances are that most women will never attain that much muscle mass. Age is also a factor. The older the woman gets and the closer to menopause they get it becomes much harder to put on large amounts of muscle mass.

Most women need to perform resistance training exercises for the health of their endocrine system, skeletal system, reproductive system, nervous system, muscular system. All of these systems will breakdown during the aging process. By using weights these systems will be working against a resistance and will become stronger, more enduring and have a greater functional capacity.

9. Exercising more than 45 minutes is beneficial and makes a person more fit exercising for more than 45 minutes is a waste of time. If you are not exhausted after 45 minutes then you are not working hard enough. Growth hormone levels begin to drop the moment you begin training. It continues to deplete at a fast rate during the workout. By 45 minutes growth hormone levels plummet. When growth hormone levels drop too low cortisol levels increase. Cortisol inhibits muscle cell receptors ceasing any further fat or sugar metabolism. In other words, you are wasting your time training and only increasing the risk of injury or catabolism.

10. Calories is an accurate way of determining if the food should be consumed or not . Calories are the biggest myth in nutritional history. Calories are only a measurement of heat. You can't eat calories. That is to say that you are eating a production of heat. Which is basically expired Co2. Because when the temperature of the tissue raises one degree celsius the hydrogen and oxygen combustion results in expiration. The end product is CO2 release. So how can a food that hasn't been heated up cause an increase in temperature be a true way of measuring the value of food-- it doesn't. The calorie idea is a made up phenomenon to provide people some way of classifying their food. "If it has fewer calories then it must be good for you."This is how people think regardless if the food has any nutrient value.

It is all about nutrient exchange and how nutrient dense a food is. One time I was doing a book signing and I was giving away free Raw Revolution bars at my table. This woman came up to the table and picked up a bar and said "oh, this has too many calories in it" and then put it back on the table. I asked her what she meant about the bar having too many calories. She said that it 100 calories was too much for her to eat. I then replied by saying, "did you know that calories are only a measurement of heat and there are so many nutrients in those bars that they make a great snack. She then asked me, "what are nutrients?" This is exactly my point. Most people know about "calories" but don't have a clue to what a nutrient is. This is the problem. The body craves nutrients and the more nutrient dense the food is the better it is for you. We should be reading the label for the nutrient content and the value of the nutrients-- not the silly calorie idea.

When you go to fill your car up with gasoline do you tell the person at the counter that you would like to fill up your car up with 100 horsepowers. Horsepower is a measurement of heat. "Hey Joe, how many horsepowers does your car consume?" "You need to cut down your horsepowers, your car is looking a little fat."

As you can see the calorie idea is ridiculous. It just doesn't make any sense to base the value of food on a imaginary phenomenon.

11. Banana's are a great source of potassium. And all people wanting to lose weight should eat bananas. Banana do have potassium, but they also have a very high concentration of sugar. Bananas are high glycemic. Meaning that they have a very fast sugar absorption rate. People that are really lean and fit can eat bananas without much concern. People that are sedentary and trying to lose body fat from eating bananas will only increase their body fat percentage. Bananas are a weight gaining food. The extra sugar will increase insulin production in the body. When the blood system is infiltrated with too much sugar, insulin is released to open up fat cells to store the extra blood sugar. And for the potassium, there is way more potassium in broccoli than there is in a banana. But most Americans are addicted to sugar and eating fast and quick foods. Bananas are easy to eat and go down easy because of the high sugar content. Avoid bananas if you are concerned with your fat percentage.

So, there you have it. My list of the greatest nutritional and fitness fallacies.
vince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince girondavince gironda

tags: daryl conant, vince gironda, ron kosloff, tiger woods, PGA Championship,

InVINCEable The Video Series

2011-08-10T12:00:00.001-07:00

Protein Suspension Factor

2011-08-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

This is something I have come up with to help describe what happens to protein when we exercise. Building muscle is not an easy thing to do. There are many variables that must be considered when building muscle; genetics, age, anabolic properties, muscle cell size and number, and protein suspension factors.

* Genetics: is the DNA coding of the cells that provide the information necessary for constructing the body and keeping the systems operating. If there is a code in the double helix that is written, chances are that code is not going to change. For example, if the code transcripts that a person will only have so many muscle fibers or will only produce so much anabolic hormones then that is what the person has to work with. Some folks have the gift of great genetics and some people have poor genetics.

* Age: This is common sense. The older we get the less protein we can suspend. The cells are fewer in number and the hormone concentration drops considerably. However, by avoiding age acquired dangerous habits (poor diet, smoking, alcohol, drugs) a person can reduce the aging effects.

* Anabolic Properties: We all have a central nervous system. Within the central nervous there are two subdivisions; the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system. The nervous system is the electrical transmitter source of the body. All tissue is stimulated by the nervous system. This excitability forces the cells to turn on and work. The electrical charges are influenced by hormones in the body. There are two major categories of hormones; anabolic and catabolic. The anabolic hormones are the ones that are responsible for providing growth and stimulation of cells. Catabolic hormones help to regulate cellular activity by turning off receptors. Everyone has a certain amount of both types of hormones. How much a person has is dependent on genetics and cellular activity.

* Cell Size and Number: We are born with a certain number of muscle cells and the size of those cells are also pre-configured. This is the unfortunate aspect of bodybuilding. A person can only build their muscles so big based on the number of the muscle cells they have. The only gains they can make is by building the size of the muscle cells. Guys that have a high concentration of fibers have the ability to build enormous muscles, while guys that have a low concentration of fibers can not build enormous muscles.

*Protein Suspension: In my book InVINCEable I introduced this concept-- protein suspension. This is something I have come up with to help discuss how muscle is transient. When we lift weights we are trying to influence an anabolic affect on the muscle. Making the muscles bigger is the goal. Weight training causes a temporary breakdown of the muscle cells. During the recovery phase the muscle is recovered and the protein reestablishes itself. After each training and recovery cycle a little protein is sustained, I call this protein suspension. The reason why I call it protein suspension is because that is really what is happening. We are forcing more work on the muscles, therefore more protein is needed to keep up with the cellular demand. It is as if the protein is suspended in the muscle. This is why we get bigger muscles. The protein demand is greater and absorption is higher. But the moment we stop training or stimulating the muscle with high intensity muscle cells shrink back to their original DNA make up-- muscle atrophy. We lost the protein suspension and the muscle no longer holds onto the added protein. The key to bodybuilding is trying to find ways to keep the protein suspended in the muscles to last longer than the DNA coding allows. We are constantly fighting our genetic make up.

I have noticed that I will be totally pumped up and feel that my muscles are full of protein one day and then a week later my muscles feel small and the protein concentration has dropped considerably. I have gone into a catabolic affect. Maintaining muscle tissue is not an easy thing to do. Anyone can weight train, but not everyone can maintain their gains for long periods of time. At some point the protein will deplete from the muscle and the muscle will shrink back into the original genetic code.

Some people have it easy and have a greater protein suspension than others. They are able to suspend protein for months, even years, without much loss. While the rest of us are unable to suspend protein for more than a couple days or weeks.

When I got into bodybuilding I never expected the difficulty it is to keep the muscle. I can notice changes with my physique almost on a daily basis. I know my body well enough to know when I am losing protein. I have to really be on my diet and supplement schedule to avoid catabolism. The key to it all is protein suspension. By mastering protein suspension you will be able train hard, recover and increase the net gain of muscle protein. There is a fine line between anabolism and catabolism.

tags: daryl conant, protein suspension, vince gironda, ron kosloff, muscle building.

The Day I Got Schooled in Golf By an 8 Year Old

2011-08-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

I was an over confident twenty-two year old who thought he was pretty good at golf. I could hit the ball well over three hundred yards (not always straight though) and felt good with having an 11 handicap. However, this would all change when I was asked to watch my nephew for the day. My sister Cheryl told me that, "One thing you can do with him is play golf. He likes to play golf. In fact, he can really play and hit the ball 200 yards." Now I was thinking to myself, there is no way this little 8 year old kid can hit the ball that far, let alone have any kind of consistency. I just felt like my sister was like every other proud parent who believes that their kid has some super power or are a phenom.

We have all heard the embellishments coming from parents all over the nation, " my kid can throw 80 miles an hour and he is only 5 years old", or "my kid is going to be a pro football player" or "my kid can dunk a basketball and he is only 6 years old." So, naturally I took my sisters accolades about my nephew with a grain of salt.

My nephew came down out to the car with his little bag of clubs and was well dressed. I have to admit he was such a cute little kid growing up with his blonde hair and smile. He was wearing a white polo shirt, plaid bermuda shorts and a fitted blue hat. I put our clubs in the car and headed off to The Wentworth Country Club in Jackson, NH.

It was a saturday morning and my nephew and I walked into the clubhouse only to be greeted with stiff old members looking at us like we didn't belong there. I asked if there was any tee times for a two some. The club pro said, "is he (pointing to my nephew) playing with you. Because we want to keep the play moving along." Being a little protective I told the ornery pro, "that my nephew and I would be keeping things moving and that if we cause any problems then we will get off the course." The pro and the other members viewed my nephew as a detriment to the other golfers on the course, thinking that he is just a little kid. Reluctantly, he let us play.

On the first tee, still feeling a little apprehensive about the little guys ability, I told him to hit off the women's tees. I figured that he really couldn't hit the ball like my sister said, hitting off the women's tee would have been a shorter distance to the hole for him. But my plan didn't work. He looked up at me and said, "why do I have to hit off the women's tees? I play from the men's tees." Oh great! I am thinking to myself. Now we are going to be holding people up and we will upset the members.

The little guy steps up to the ball and cracks it way right, into the thick rough behind a mound of dirt and tree. In my mind I am thinking to myself, here we go. Where was that 200 yard drive that my sister said he can do? I hit my ball into the fairway and we both moved on to the next shot. My nephew headed into rough with a club. I yelled across the fairway, "just take the ball out of the rough and put it into the fairway. You don't have to hit it out of that stuff." Then with a confident humble tone he replied, " No Uncle Daryl I don't have to, I can hit out the rough." Now I am thinking this is going to be a long, long day. Then suddenly the little dude swings and strikes the ball. The ball clears the tree and lands on the green four feet from the hole. I stood there in astonishment. Boy was that a lucky shot. We both made par and moved onto the next hole.

I drove my ball about three hundred yards to the left side of the green. My nephew hit it better on this drive, down to the right side of the fairway about 150 yards. I told him I would meet him on the green. I messed up my second shot and ended up making a bogey on the hole. I asked him what he made on the hole and said par. In disbelief I counted up his shots to confirm. Sure enough that little stinker made a par. I was thinking that is just a lucky couple of holes for him.

For the next few holes my game started to decline. I was quietly building up an intense anxiety inside thinking to myself-- I CAN'T LET THIS LITTLE GUY BEAT ME! I never led on showing my frustration. I continued to compliment my nephew on every shot he made and every par he racked up. He even made a couple of birdies.

By the ninth hole I was a complete wreck. My ego was being tested and I began hoping that the little guy would freaking mess up so that I could beat him on a hole. But it never happened. In fact, I got worse. This was my Master's and I was trying so hard to beat the little guy. He continued to walk down the fairway, Mr. Happy Go Lucky (did I already mention how freaking cute he was as a kid?) just hitting shot after shot with no worries or cares in the world. Me, on the other hand, was tense sweating profusely and developed a tremendous headache. No matter what I did I couldn't hit that damn ball.

We were on the seventeenth hole and along the right side of the fairway were houses. I figured I would give one more try, so I hit the heck out of the ball and it went clear into a house on the right side. It was at that point that my life would change. My nephew looked up to me and said very calmly and sincere, "YOU STINK AT GOLF UNCLE DARYL." I stood their blank. I felt like about as big as an ant at that point. I replied by saying, "YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, I DO." Then I followed up with asking a question. "So, what am I doing wrong." He told me, "well Uncle Daryl you are swinging too fast and your thumb is too far over. Slow your swing down." So here we were at the seventeenth hole and I was taking a lesson from my nephew who was only eight years old. I was humbled. He ended up shooting a 78 (7 over par), I shot a 87 (sucky over par). My sister was right he is a phenom.

Where are they now?
I continued to play golf and eventually focused only on one part of my game-- Driving. I got to a point where I could consistently hit the ball over 340 yards. I would end up competing in Long Drive contests around the New England area. I won a few matches and even made it to the regional finals-- the qualifier for the Nationals in Mesquitte. But soon kids and a business would end all that. So, now I play once or twice a year for fun.

My nephew on the other hand went on to become a NCAA golf star at Tennessee Tech. After college he played on the Hooters Tour, and Nationwide Tour. He qualified for the PGA Tour in 2011. And has been playing well on the PGA Tour. His Name is Scott Stallings and he just won the Greenbrier Classic this past weekend.

Congratulations! Scotty Robby

2011-08-01T02:54:00.001-07:00

2011-07-31T18:46:00.001-07:00

2011-07-31T18:43:00.001-07:00

2011-07-31T18:38:00.001-07:00

2011-07-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

My Nephew Scotty Stallings Wins at GREENBRIER 2011 PGA

2011-07-31T18:01:00.001-07:00

Coming Soon!!!

2011-07-30T03:58:00.000-07:00

Full Range

2011-07-29T04:54:00.000-07:00

One of the mistakes I see the young guns making in the weight room is that they don't go through a full range of motion when lifting. Not going through the full range of motion will set up for injury. This is because the muscle and tendons shorten and there is too much internal pressure in the joint capsule.

About a year ago I made a quick little youtube video of myself performing the Gironda Dip correctly. It was amazing the response I received. Many guys were slamming the exercise. One guy emailed me and told me to stop performing the exercise and to stop teaching it to anyone because it will ruin my shoulders. I have been performing the exercise for over 24 years and have never had a shoulder injury. I attribute it to full range of motion and muscle/tendon flexibility. If you have never performed a Gironda Dip and try for the first time without proper preparation then you are at a high risk of developing an injury. Your tendons will be tight and the joint capsule will be at risk of damage. You have to work into it.

It is important to perform all exercises through the full range of motion. You want to get as much activation from the crossbridges as possible. When you work through the full range of motion you are also performing a dynamic stretch to the muscle, improving your flexibility. You are at a greater risk of developing injury if you only perform partial movements.

What To Do???

2011-07-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

There are so many different programs online and in the media today than ever before. Before there was the internet, exercise programs and information was limited to books or guru's. I remember as a kid I didn't see many fitness magazines on the shelf, only two magazines were displayed; Muscle and Fitness and Flex Magazine. These were the two bodybuilding/fitness magazines that were popular. Bodybuilding was fading out among the population around the early 1990's. Those that still follow the basic principles of bodybuilding and continue to train with isolated and controlled movements are a rarity these days.

Boy! Have things changed. Now the magazine stands and internet is infiltrated with thousands of articles and thousands of "experts" sharing their knowledge among the masses. The exclusive, almost secret, lifestyle of the bodybuilder has been exploited and exposed a million times over. I used to like the idea of having to search out the Guru for help. Vince Gironda was the Iron Guru and when he would write an article guys would put their total focus on what Vince wrote. Vince would divulge a scrap of information that was so profound it left men and women craving for more. These little teases would force men to search out Vince to get more information. Those that had the information were part of an exclusive bodybuilding club. Only those that had contact with the "real secrets" of bodybuilding saw results. All the others were all searching for the answers and following the next great gimmick or trend.

Over the years I have seen all the gimmicks and trends. It always amazes me how people go from one trend to the next and never stick with anything-- P90X anyone? The one thing that is fact is that all the great physiques of the past (steve reeves, don howorth, vince gironda, reg park, charles atlas, frank zane, lou denghi, larry scott) looked great all through their life because they stuck to their philosophy and methodology. These guys never changed what worked. They were considered the masters of bodybuilding and taught millions. Yet, today bodybuilding has taken a backseat to the gimmicks and trends of a fitness industry constantly trying to come up with new ways to make money.

In order for the fitness industry to make money new ideas must be developed. It isn't easy to persuade a mass of people. However, people are like sheep. They follow whatever the current trend is. They have to have a feeling that they belong to something. They are not motivated or self directing unless there is a hype factor involved. The sheep mentality is believing in whatever everyone else does. In a way it is a way of achieving social approval or acceptance. When a new program is developed through good marketing, people are easily lured into believing that they will achieve magical results. They are taught that this new program will transform them in ways that they never have been before. The seller makes it seem like the consumer can't live without this new system. So naturally people buy into it and are sold. They will follow this "end all be all" program until the next great program comes along.

As a gym owner it has always been hard for me not to sell hype. When I opened my gym I had one goal in mind: to help people achieve their goals. I have a simple philosophy: DO WHAT WORKS... My methods and exercises work, bottom line. I remember when I was training and I would get these little nuggets of information from the greats of the muscle beach era, I would hold onto the information and never tell anyone. When I would go to the gym I would make incredible progress in a very short time. I broke away from the trendy exercise programs and used the new techniques that I learned. It was great because I would see my friends and other members in the gym doing all the trendy stuff and never seeing results. I loved knowing that I had these secrets to success.

Over the years I have never changed my philosophy or conformed to the sheeplike mentality. When I see a silly trend in fitness I try to run the other direction. I have always stuck to my training beliefs and teach them everyday. I realize that I could have made a lot more money if I sold out to the silly gimmicks and trends, but I would only be compromising my integrity. I believe in an honest workout. What worked for the greatest physiques in history 60 years ago still works today. Vince Gironda didn't do PX90 or Zumba to look the way he did.

Unfortunately, many people don't have the same passion I have when it comes to weight training. Most folks hate to weight train. This is too bad because the results a person can achieve through basic weight training techniques is unparalleled to any other training program. I can't sell discipline, it must come from within the individual.

No Patience!
People today seem to be in a rush and crave instant gratification. The idea of working for something or building up to new levels is unheard of. When a person doesn't see immediate results from weight training they quit or go to something else. These are the folks that don't make progress. They end up riding the perpetual gerbil wheel of trend fitness. Constantly spinning their wheels.

Why change what works!
Coca cola had a great formula in the 70's and 80's that made their drink taste so good for the masses. Then one day they took away the original formula and came up with some other formula. The population hated the new formula. So Coca Cola ended up going back to the original. No matter how many different gimmicks or trends come around the bottom line is, nothing beats the original. Weight training will always be the staple for body composition manipulation. Through all the gimmicks that I have witnessed over the years from,Jane Fonda's aerobics in the 70's, Step aerobics in the 80's, Tae Bo in the 90's, and in present day-- PX90, nothing will outlast or bypass true bodybuilding techniques for getting the best looking physique. I have always remained true to my philosophy and have stuck with it. When I write my blog entry 40 years from now I will still be writing about the techniques I use today-- because they work.

tags: Daryl conant, Vince Gironda, ron kosloff, diet earth, buff daddy

Back From Philly

2011-07-18T02:26:00.000-07:00

My son and I just got back from seeing one of the greatest U2 shows ever in Philly. I have been taking a little time off from blogging this summer but I am back and will resume writing this week. Thanks for checking in every now and again.

The Cost of Being Big

2011-07-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

Many guys who are on the quest for being huge must shell out a lot of cash each month to support their size. I weigh 185 pounds at 4% body fat. Just to maintain the amount of muscle I already have to spend a bit of money. I couldn't imagine being 200+ pounds at 4% body fat. That would mean that I would have to earn more money to purchase more food. That is one advantage of being a smaller person. Smaller bodybuilders weighing 100 pounds to 185 pounds don't have to buy as much food to maintain their size. They can get away with eating 100 to 200 grams of protein a day. Purchasing this much protein is not as bad as paying for 220-350 grams of protein a day. It gets more expensive the bigger the person gets. So if a 6' 5" 250 pound bodybuilder wants to maintain all of his muscle he has to spend an average of thirty to forty dollars a day to buy protein. Multiply that by 30 days and the cost of building muscle adds up. Protein sources cost more than carbohydrate sources. If you purchase all the best protein sources then you could be spending up to $ 80.00 a day. Bodybuilding is not a cheap sport. Building muscle and keeping it costs money. The moment you can't afford to supply the body with ample amounts of protein is the time that your hard earned gains melt away.

Bottom line: It costs a lot of $$$ to maintain muscle mass.

tags: daryl conant, Vince Gironda, Ron Kosloff, muscle mass, huge,

The Cure To Many, but not all, Cancers

2011-07-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

Cancercerous cells are prevalent in everybody. A healthy immune system helps ward off the cancerous cells from multiplying and mutating. When the immune system is compromised or is unable to defend against the cancerous cells, then a full on cancer attack develops. Over the past 30 plus years I have heard a tremendous amount about cancer research and fund raisers for cancer research. I estimate that a total of 40 trillion dollars has been raised for cancer research. Each year we all give our hard earned money to charities to help fight cancer. Unfortunately, I believe that most of the money goes into someone's pocket and not into research. The reason why I believe this is because cancer is still a big factor in the mortality rate of Americans. Researchers are looking in the wrong direction when it comes to cancer. The answer to why cancer is so prevalent is right under the researchers noses-- in their food. I strongly believe that one of the biggest contributors to the development of cancer is found in our food supply. You would be amazed at the findings that I have discovered on the chemicals, and agents that are in our food supply that all cause cancer. I get upset and angry at our current situation. It is becoming harder and harder to find good healthy nutrient dense, chemical free food.

When I go to the grocery store, I am amazed at all the hidden cancer producing agents that are in most of the food. When I tell people of my findings, most of the folks think I am crazy or over fixated about these agents found in the food. But as crazy as I may be about this, I am convinced that most of these agents are the number one contributor to poor health, disease and cancer in humans.

In my book "diet EARTH" I have mentioned many of the harmful chemicals that are already in our food supply that contribute to disease and cancer. You will be amazed at what is found in simple salad dressing. I feel that "diet EARTH" is a break through in discussing the problem that we are facing in this country with the natural food supply. I am outraged at the junk we are subjected to. To call that stuff food is ridiculous! There is so much garbage out there that many people eat every day that increases internal fat and they are not even aware of it. Many people who are over fat will never lose the fat because they continue to eat certain foods that contribute to fat storage. Some of these agents are found even in "health foods."

There are foods that actually contribute to breast cancer. This is because these foods increase estrogen levels beyond normal levels. Too much estrogen has been linked to breast cancer. There still needs to be more research in the foods that we are eating. I am concerned about our future. We are not too far away from having to depend solely on process food companies to get all of our food. It is a shame that we are all subjected to harmful chemicals in our food.

I don't know about you, but I can't afford to eat organic food all the time. When I was single I could eat organic food all the time. Now that I have a family and monthly bills, I can't afford to buy all organic food. When it isn't organic the food choices are quite limited. There really isn't much to eat if it isn't organic, because of all the chemicals that are in the non-organic food. It really bothers me to know that I can't go to a convenient store, restaurant, or a grocery store and buy food when I am hungry that is organic and healthy to eat. There is nothing in a convenient store that is good for you. It is 99% junk. The 1% is that is good is the purified water, other than that the rest is junk. When you go to a restaurant, unless you go to a fancy place that serves only organic food which will cost you an arm and a leg, most of the food is cheap, non-organic and filled with chemicals. This is because to make money in the restaurant business you must sell cheap food and lots of it to make a profit.

It appears that the majority of the country doesn't really care about this matter. People will just take medications when they have a health problem. They pay little attention to changing what they eat. So as long as the people don't really care, then there will never be a change. In fact, I believe that most people don't even know or care about the fact that our food supply is mostly processed and chemical ladened. They have been eating it for so long that they don't know any better.

It is even getting to a point where we won't be able to drink a clean glass of water. Even our water supply has been tampered with. Depending where you live in this country will determine how much regulation to the water has been done. Some towns are better than others, but the truth is that most towns all have to put chemicals in the water to regulate it. One guy told me that putting chemicals in the water to regulate the bacteria is healthy and provides healthy water. But I don't care, if it isn't 100% chemical free then it poses a health risk.

The bottom line is that it is becoming harder to find food that doesn't increase the risk of developing disease, cancer, or illness from eating it. Even if the chemically enhanced food doesn't cause illness or cancer, it can contribute to obesity. Obesity is a major problem among Americans. Obesity can result in a heart attack, cancer, or illness. It is all about nutrition. The more our natural food supply gets destroyed the worse our health becomes.

Please keep in mind that not all cancer related illness is directly related to food. There are other factors to be considered; hereditary, genetics, age, etc... But there are many cancers that are related to food that can be stopped if only food companies would remove these cancer producing agents from their products.

tags: food, nutrition, daryl conant, ron kosloff, diet EARTH, Vince Gironda

6 Breaths

2011-06-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a simple way to increase your intensity without changing much to the workout. After each set bend over, place your hands just above your knees and take 6 deep breaths through pursed lips. This will help you get enough oxygen back into the muscle for the next set. You never want to rest too long between sets because this will cause the blood to move out of the muscle. Once this happens you mine as well stop the training session, it is not going to do you any good to continue. During the exercise the blood is pumped into the muscle. The blood pump is important to increase the overall size of the muscle. However, if you perform too many sets, or take too long of a rest, the blood volume decreases within the muscle. In order to maximize the pump it is important to keep the blood in the muscle long enough to produce a positive effect. Taking 6 deep breaths in between sets will allow the oxygen to get into the muscle without the blood volume decreasing too dramatically.

Mr. Universe trick: Here is a simple trick to do to maximize your set count. Take a tape measure and measure the muscle being worked at the end of each set. When the measurement becomes smaller than the previous measurements that is when you will stop performing any more sets for that muscle. What has happened is the blood volume has decreased and the neural circuitry has become retarded. Continuing to work the muscle once the neural circuitry has become retarded is counterproductive.

Many guys will train the muscle, get the pump, and will continue to train the muscle only to notice that the muscle is cold and the appearance is smaller than previous sets. They didn't know when to stop training the muscle. It is important to know when to stop. You always want to leave the gym with a warm pumped up feeling in the muscle. If you leave with the muscle feeling cold or soft, then you just wasted time in the gym and made no reduced the possibility of making gains.

tags: Daryl Conant, Ron Kosloff, Vince Gironda, Mr. Universe

Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA)

2011-06-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

Branched chain amino acids have been a supplement staple for bodybuilders for many years. Why they are used so much is because of their anti-catabolic and energy producing effects. BCAA's consist of leucine, isoleucine, and valine. These three are known as essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are not produced in the body, therefore must be obtained by proper nutritional support. Non-essential amino acids are produced in the body. Supplementing with BCAA's will help ensure that the athlete is supplying the body with an adequate amount of essential amino acids. BCAA's differ than other amino acids in that they are metabolized in the muscle and not the liver like other amino acids are. BCAA's can produce a boost in energy during intense training. BCAA's can help improve blood plasma and serum markers, which help improve the recovery time of damaged tissue. During intense training leucine is easily depleted and contributes to tissue fatigue. Keeping BCAA's high in the bloodstream after an intense training session can significantly reduce the fatigue factor by keeping leucine levels high in the muscle. BCAA's are also used for fasting programs to help keep muscle tissue from wasting away. BCAA's are necessary for bodybuilders. There are many brands that are good. I prefer NSP's Branched Chain Amino Acids. I have used them for over twenty years and get the benefits I need from them.

It is important to remember that intense exercise breaks down muscle tissue. Proper nutrition and correct supplementation helps to re-establish the cell back to its proper form and function. If you don't eat correctly or use supplements, you could be doing more harm than good.

Tags: branched chain amino acids, daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda

daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince girondadaryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda

Training for Your Own Body Build

2011-06-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

Even though, as humans, we are created equal, we are not created equal in the weight room. I have figured out long ago that we must lift according to our own body build. There is a reason why a person looks they way they do. The answer lies within genetics. We basically get what we get when it comes to how much muscle we will have. According to our genetics and DNA we get only a certain amount of muscle cells. Fat cells can increase in number, but muscle cells cannot. Genetics also dictates on how big our muscle can get, how big our bone structure will be, the size of our organs, our metabolism, cellular replication. We basically get what we get.

We get what we get.
It is interesting to me how people treat themselves when it comes to their body. Many people will beat themselves up because of the way they look. We have no control over the genetic disposition of our body. I didn't choose to have the bone structure that I have, or to be the height I am, or the size that I am. I didn't get to choose my eye color, hair color, gender or hormone level. I didn't have anything to do with how my body is made. All I can do is work with what I have to improve my body to its greatest ability. We all have limits to what we can accomplish.

I am never going to have 24 inch arms or a 60 inch chest.
If the old belief about weight training was true then I would have 24 inch arms and a 60 inch chest. The old belief was that if you weight trained your muscles would get bigger and bigger and never stop growing. This is not true. We all have a stopping point. The muscles of the body can only get so big. Even the guys on steroids will eventually hit a stopping point. The body is designed to stay within a certain set point size. If we didn't have this regulatory system in place, then the body would keep growing, and growing, and growing.

Training For Your Own Build
If you are a person who has a tough time increasing the size of your muscles, you must look at your body build for the answer. There is a reason why you are skinny, muscular or overfat. If you are skinny (ectomorphic) it means that your body has a higher percentage of slow twitch muscle fibers than fast twitch fibers. Fast twitch fibers are non-oxidative, meaning that they don't require oxygen to contract. Fast twitch fibers expand when the intensity goes beyond the threshold. Slow twitch muscle fibers are oxidative, meaning they are saturated with myoglobin. Oxygen is readily available, making the muscle much more enduring. Though this is a great process for burning fat and sugar, it is not great for the person trying to increase the size of their muscles. Though there are ways to increase the size of the muscle for the skinny guy, the downside is that they might be able to have that dense thick muscular look that is often desired. These body types are better designed for running and functional training exercises.

If you have the body type that is muscular without having to really train, then you have a mesomorphic build. This type of body type is the most desirable for bodybuilding. This body type has an equal balance of fast twitch and slow twitch muscle. They have the ability to build bigger muscles and still have the ability to metabolize off fat.

The folks that seem to struggle the most with their fat weight is the endomorphs. The endomorphic body type are those that have a greater concentration of fast twitch muscle fibers and a lower percentage of slow twitch fibers. With a low percentage of slow twitch fibers fat metabolism is hindered. These people have to be very careful with how and what they eat. If they don't have the ability to metabolize fat effectively they will store a tremendous amount of fat.

How To Train For Your Body Type
Not every exercise program is designed for the every body type. Many bodybuilding programs are designed for mesomorphs. If you are an ectomorph and try to perform a mesomorphic program chances are you will be overtraining. If you are an endomorph trying to perform a mesomorphic program then you will continue to increase the size your fast twitch fibers.

Here are my recommendations for training different body types.

Ectomorphs:
* Perform 1-2 exercises per muscle group.
* Perform 1-5 sets
* Perform 2-6 reps only. Avoid activating slow twitch fibers.
* Duration: 20-30 minutes
* Eat foods that promote an anabolic effect to the muscle cells

Mesomorphs:
* Perform 1-4 exercises per muscle group
* Perform 1-10 sets
* Perform 2-15 reps
* Duration: 20-45 minutes
* Eat a variety of foods that promote an anabolic effect and oxidative effect.

Endomorphs:
* Perform 1-4 exercises per muscle group
* Perform 1-5 sets
* Perform 12-15 reps. Avoid activating fast twitch fibers.
* Duration: 20-45 minutes
* Eat foods that promote an oxidative effect.

The rule of thumb is: if you are not gaining size on the program that you are on, you must adjust your reps and sets to get a result. Sometimes rather the problem being within the exercise program itselt, it could just be that you need to change the sets and rep count. Once I was doing a program that called for 4 sets of 12 reps. It was designed to put on size. It was working for other guys in the gym, but not me. I decided to keep the same exercises but to change the rep and set count. I dropped it down to 2 sets at 6 reps. The results were much better. I began seeing an increase in size. I realized that I didn't need to workout as much to get a result. You have to adjust the program until you get the result you desire.

tags: daryl conant, vince girona, ron kosloff, body types, boston bruins, u.s. open

Belly Fat

2011-06-10T02:46:00.000-07:00

There are many health foods that contribute to bellyfat. Unfortunately, the general public is being misinformed. These particular foods are money makers for companies, but fat gainers for consumers. Sign up for a nutritional consultation and I will enlighten you on how to lose bellyfat. Nutritional consultation
$ 45.00 / half hour. You will learn how the body works, why healthy organs are key, which foods contribute to bellyfat and how to boost your metabolism to burn tons of fat.

If you are an online personal training client. The information is yours for free. Just email me to remind to send you the information. Thanks.

Now This is What I am Talking About. Proof that AGE doesn't matter.

2011-06-09T10:07:00.001-07:00

Thanks Scott for the link.

Tags: daryl conant, vince gironda, ron kosloff

vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince girondavince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda

Try This Trick To Break Out of Rut Part 2

2011-06-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

Try this to see greater gains in muscle size. Go super slow on the last set of the exercise.
vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda
Complete all the other sets with normal speed about 4 seconds on the eccentric and 4 on the concentric. On the last set go super slow. You will be amazed at how difficult it is to complete 5-6 reps doing it really, really slow. The weight will be greater to lift because there will be virtually no momentum. The heavy weight will force the muscle fibers to work much harder. When a muscle cell is under tremendous load it will grow bigger over time. The longer tension duration forces the cellular energy systems to withstand greater output, which will improve muscular endurance.
vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda
tags: daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda

vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda vince gironda

Sugar and Wrinkly Skin

2011-06-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

Aging is a natural process of human existence, as I have discussed in my book diet EARTH. I am often asked by members of my gym, "how can I reduce the skin sag and wrinkles?" I tell them that there are two three factors that they need to consider, 1. Eating too much sugar, 2. Not performing isolated weight training exercises, and 3. Avoid too much unprotected sun rays.

Sugar, as we all know by now, is overly consumed by most Americans. The over consumption of sugar causes an inflammatory effect on the skin. Too much sugar in the bloodstream has many poor side effects, one being a condition known as Advanced Glycation End Product ) or conveniently abbreviated as AGEs. What the process of AGEs is when protein molecules attach to extra sugar in the bloodstream, producing a harmful new molecule that attacks the skin collagen and elastin protein fibers. Collagen and elastin gives the skin its firmness and elasticity. Too much damage to collagen and elastin will result in the drying effect of the skin, leading to sagging and wrinkling. During the natural aging process these proteins are already reducing. Over consuming sugar will advance the aging process even faster.
vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda
Alcohol contains sugar. Consuming too much alcohol will produce AGEs and will cause premature aging, wrinkling, sagging skin, and discolored skin. Also, it is important to eliminate one special substance from the diet. This substance is known to produce AGEs more than any other substance. (To find out what this substance is you must email me at dconant2004@yahoo.com for the answer. Just write: "what is the substance." By eliminating this substance you can reduce the damage to the skin. This is why people who are addicted to alcohol look much older than they really are.

Eating lots of fruit and drinking sugary drinks will influence the production of AGEs. Limit your intake.
vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda
The next factor affecting the skin is not implementing enough isolated weight training exercises into the routine. Today's fitness programs are geared around functional training with little regards to isolated weight training exercises. Functional training, like those found in an outdoor bootcamp style class are fun and challenging but aren't the best for keeping the skin tight. Remember that the skin covers muscles. When a muscle contracts within its complete range the blood rushes to the area an pumps the muscle. When the pump is great enough the skin stretches. This stretching affect results in the breakdown of collagen and elastin which is then regenerated through a high protein diet and proper recovery. Doing exercises that don't emphasize one muscle group at a time will not produce the pumping affect that is necessary to promote the skin to tighten. If you look at a runner compared to a sprinter. The sprinter looks healthy, strong, their skin is tight and they don't have as many wrinkles. The runner looks gaunt, tired, aged, sagging skin. Sprinters are using all of their muscles in an explosive fashion which increases the blood volume to the extremities, producing almost the same effect as isolated weight training. The same is true for bodybuilders compared to cardiovascular only folks. The bodybuilder fall into the sprinter category and. the cardiovascular only group fall into the same category as the long distance runner.
vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda
Isolated weight training is the best way to keep the skin looking young and wrinkle free.

The last main factor of premature wrinkles and looking older is sun damage. Everyone knows about the dangers about the sun, so I won't go into detail. The suns rays breakdown the collagen and elastin drying out the skin.
vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda
Here are my REMEDIES for anti-wrinkling and aging.
vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MY REMEDIES, WHEN YOU EMAIL ME ASKING WHAT THE SUBSTANCE TO ELIMINATE IS, I WILL PROVIDE YOU THE ANSWER.

vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda
tags: daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda, skin, aging, wrinkling skin.

Brain Drain

2011-06-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

It is important to remember that the brain is connected to all the systems of the body. You can create a physiological reaction just by thinking about it. If a person is having a bad day, consumed with thoughts of unresolved issues, the neurons in the brain turn on, and depending on the stressor duration, will elicit a central nervous system response, causing a hormone depletion. Also, when the neurons are turned on for too long brain glucose depletes rapidly. During a stress response the limbic system becomes heightened. The Amygdala, which is responsible for controlling temperament and emotions, begins to warm up. Respiration rate and heart rate increase to help deliver more oxygen to the brain to try and help cool down the Amygdala. This cardiorespiratory process consumes blood sugar. When blood sugar levels drop skeletal muscle contractibility becomes weaker. Therefore, physical performance is hindered.
Vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince, gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda.
We have all experienced this type of depletive state while playing a sport or in an exercise training session. During a sport as the tension and pressure of the game mount and you are playing hard, anxiety could begin to set in and alter your performance. We have seen this many times in professional sports, especially golf. The more pressure the golfer has on him, making a putt worth 1 million dollars, or making the final drive on a playoff hole, the more anxiety they produce. When you watch a golfer on television they appear to be cool and collected. But in actuality many of those guys are going through an emotional roller coaster inside. What makes a golfer so successful is their ability to control their own physiology as the pressure mounts. Once the golfer succumbs to their fears and anxieties, their amygdala heats up and the physiological reaction develops. Hormones are secreted, blood sugar levels drop and blood is shunted from the extremities. The blood vessels constrict in the muscles, making them weaker. Performance is then affected. This also occurs to tennis players who are battling through an intense match. As the end of the match gets closer the player who is losing begins to get anxious about losing. If they don't control their emotions they will not be able to win the match. What makes one athlete excel more than another athlete is their ability to control their emotions during the event. Even though one athlete might have greater physical attributes doesn't mean that they are going to be powerful in the game. It all comes down to emotional control and physiological control.
Vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince, gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda.
There have been many times when I have been influenced by life's stressors. During stressful times I notice that if I am not totally focusing on the exercise I increase my chance of injury. One day I feel strong and have a great pump going on in the muscle, the next day I could be distracted and feel weak and unable to lift the same amount of weight. When this weakness occurs I realize that my thoughts are influencing my training. One time I didn't pay attention to the warning signs and I tried to perform a 500 pound squat, which I performed earlier in the week without a problem. As I was in the hole I thought of a bill that I forgot to pay. Just that single thought provoked a rapid stress reaction. My heart increased and I could feel a surge of norepinephrine secreting in my body which caused the blood to leave my extremities. I lost total focus on the lift and became weak. I could stand back up and I almost broke my back. Once the blood left the extremities, my rectus femoris muscles couldn't withstand the heavy weight, so the smaller muscles, Iliopsoas tried to help with the load. The iliopsoas is an inferior muscle group for lifting a tremendous amount of weight, needless to say, I strained both iliopsoas muscles, leaving me unable to stand up erectly. I learned a tough lesson.
Vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince, gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda.
Now when I am stressed out or don't feel that I am 100% focused on the exercise, I will lighten the load and try to control my physiology through breathing techniques.
Vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince, gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda.
The brain is a powerful system that controls everything the body does, it can change physiological conditions within the body in an instant. The key to success in sports is the ability to avoid brain drain as much as possible. Also, when you are training with weights it is important to stay focused and try keep the negative thoughts out. It is amazing how negative thinking can weaken the contraction of the muscle. Often times a person will begin to struggle on a set and the first thought that comes to mind is that this weight is too heavy and beginning to be a struggle, ultimately causing the person to return the weight to the bar.. When the negative thoughts come try to stay positive and push through the struggle, even if it is for one or two more reps.
Vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince, gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda.
The brain is the control center of the body. If you can learn to control the brain you will then be able to make getter gains. Focus on the task at hand and try to avoid getting bogged down with negative thoughts. Negative thoughts will weaken you.
Vince gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda, vince, gironda, vince gironda, vince gironda.
tags: daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda, miami heat, boston bruins

Fat Burning Foods

2011-05-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

To help metabolize fat from the body it is important to eat the right amount of essential fat. Here are some of the best fat burning foods.

* Eggs
* Olive Oil
* Flaxseed Oil
* Avocados
* Raw Milk / Cream
* Raw Cheese
* Fish
* Lean Meats
* Broccoli
* Green Leafy Vegetables
* Red / Green / Yellow Peppers

tags: fat metabolism, nutrition, daryl conant, vince gironda, ron kosloff, boston bruins, redsox

You Have To Love It

2011-05-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

To be successful at staying committed to exercise, you have to love it. People who dabble with fitness programs and feel that exercising is more drudgery than fun often times never see results. It takes passion and discipline to succeed in fitness.

Exercise needs to be an extension to your existence. Meaning that it becomes as important to you as eating. If you are only exercising to resolve some emotional shift in consciousness, then you are destined to fail. Exercising for the sole purpose of trying to "lose weight" is the wrong approach. Exercising to improve the overall functioning of the internal organs should be the main factor. Improving the internal organs will ultimately influence the improvement of entire body. A residual effect of healthy organs is fat loss. People gain fat because there is an imbalance within their systems. Once the problem is addressed and remedied then the body can begin to function properly and return to its original set point. However, how close to the set point you get also depends on how much inflammatory damage you have done within the systems of the body. The greater the inflammatory damage present can reduce the functions of the systems. A reduction in the output of the systems will limit how much hormone is released, how much muscle can be activated, and how much fat can burn metabolized. That is why it is essential to stay on a regular exercise program. Sticking to a regular habit will promote greater cellular output while reducing inflammatory damage. Eating the right foods at the right time throughout the day is also necessary to keep the systems operating effectively. When you have established a good habit with exercise and you are eating healthy, then the benefits are bountiful. Once you start seeing and feeling the results of your hard earned discipline, you will be hooked-- and you will love it.

You must find the motivational spark that will ignite your enthusiasm.

tags: daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda, tornados, red sox, bruins,

2011-05-23T17:57:00.001-07:00

"My understanding of scripture has been made simple by the person of Christ"
-- Bono, lead singer of U2

Best Not To Overtrain

2011-05-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

Overtraining is very common when it comes to exercise. We are taught that more is better. This is not true. If you perform too many reps and sets of an exercise the muscle cell will turn off. You could be feeling good and working through the sets, then all of a sudden the muscle group that you are working gets cold and loses the "pumped" feeling. Once this feeling occurs it is time to stop the exercise. What is happening is the blood is being cleared out by stress chemicals, forcing the muscle cells to shutdown. This is a way to protect the tissue from further damage. The motor units are overstimulated-- overtonis.

There is a fine line between proper training and overtraining. One big mistake is when an over zealot lifter keeps adding exercises, reps and sets to their routine. They might be feeling super energized on monday and add a lot more intensity to the routine. They end up working out for 2-3 hours. They continue this pattern throughout the week. By the end of the week they are rundown, exhausted and have trouble maintaining a pump. This will eventually result in a chronic fatigued state. The muscles will appear stringy and flat. Appetite will lessen and dysentery may develop.

It is important to know when to stop exercising when you achieve the pump. Do not continue lifting even if you feel like you could do a few more reps and sets. It is better to leave the gym pumped up and full of an endorphin rush.

tags: daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda, overtraining, diet EARTH, InVINCEable, Buff DADDY

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE.

2011-05-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE.

FOLKS ARE WE REALLY A FREE NATION???? I mean you have got to be kidding me. Here is the most absurd governmental bullshit I have ever read about natural food.

Rather than keeping the illegal aliens from crossing the borders, or stopping terrorists from blowing stuff up, or keeping the drunk drivers off the roads, or cutting down the drugs in this country, the feds are more concerned with stopping a hard working natural AMISH farm from delivering raw milk across the pennsylvania line. This is what America is turning into folks. It is an absolute shame. I predict that by the year 2020 our natural food sources will be gone forever and we will all be dependent on processed, mutated, preservative ridden, poisoned, chemically enhanced food. I am very upset about this.

The FDA allows poison factories (dunkin donuts, McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Arby's, Taco Bell, etc.) to sell their products to millions of Americans a year and this IS NOT A CRIME??? For the record more people (millions) have gotten sick, developed cancer, and have died from coronary heart disease from eating from fast food places. Only a hand full of people over the past 100 years have developed a bacterial related disease from drinking raw milk. Yet, the FDA approves the poisoning of food from food companies and fast food establishments, and that is o.k..

I wrote "diet EARTH" for this reason. The amount of poison that is in our food supply is amazing to me. I went to the grocery store the other day and I found only 30 foods that were consumable. Consumable meaning, without additives, preservatives, synthetic chemicals, bleach, enhanced color agents. I only came up with 30 foods. I imagine that these 30 foods will also be extinct in the near future as well.

Here is how it works folks.

The government controls food companies. The food companies have to put poisons in the food to make it last longer. The food needs to last longer because the government has to figure a way to feed the masses of an over populated country. An over populated country without enough food would be disastrous and would result in a third world situation. A third world condition would mean no money for the government. No money would mean America would be vulnerable to other countries.

To stop this from happening the government has to control the masses. Processed food is the best way to keep food lasting longer, regardless if it is valueless and makes people sick. But wait, the government is also in bed with the drug companies. Phew! I was worried that there wasn't anything that could be done with all the people getting sick and dying from the poisons that are in the food supply. Now the government can allow the administration of drugs to help save its people. That is just dandy! I feel better knowing that I can get sick from eating all the processed synthetic crap that the food companies are producing, and can take drugs to regulate my failing heart, lungs, brain, liver, kidneys, and digestive tract. That is awesome! I wish I could give the government a big hug and thank them for being so considerate for my health. I am so happy that we don't have to eat healthy, organic natural food ladened with active enzymes and useable nutrients anymore. I love eating fake, plastic food that has about as much nutrient value as the dog crap that is on the bottom of my shoe. Thank you Uncle Sam you rock!!!

I know many people don't really care about their health or the natural food supply, but I have a tremendous passion for fighting for our rights as human beings to be able to eat organic, raw natural food the way God intended. It is an absolute shame that our freaking government is killing its own people. Obesity in this country is the worst it has ever been. The FDA is more concerned about arresting an Amish man for delivering milk than trying to arrest all the bastards that are pumping Americans up with drugs and poisons. THAT IS AWESOME!!! Way to go FDA-- I raise up my dunkin donut synthetic fat filled coolatta to ya'. Yeehaw you son of bitch.

I want to thank Brian McBride for telling me about this article. Here is the article.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/28/feds-sting-amish-farmer-selling-raw-milk-locally/?page=1

Understanding Neuromuscular Efficiency

2011-05-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

When we weight train we are influencing the efficiency of the neuromuscular junction. The brain and muscles coordinate the synaptic transmission increasing the strength of the muscle fibers. Exercise type and intensity will determine the improvement of the neuromuscular junction, this is known as Neuromuscular Efficiency.

Neuromuscular efficiency improves by two cellular factors; muscle fiber recruitment and rate coding.

During continuous tension on the muscle signals are being transmitted via the efferent and afferent nerves. When the intensity is greater than the threshold the nerves recruit more fibers to help with the stimulus. Greater strength is achieved when more fibers are recruited.

The other factor improving neuromuscular efficiency is rate coding. Rate coding is the synchronization impulse speed from the brain to the muscle fibers. The faster the impulse the faster the muscle fibers can be activated or recruited to help with the stimulus. The more efficient that rate coding becomes the greater the muscle contraction.

Overall, the greater the neuromuscular efficiency the greater the strength. Whenever you start a new exercise program, neuromuscular efficiency is the first aspect that is developed and is responsible for the initial increase in strength.

Regular training will influence greater neuromuscular efficiency.

tags: neuromuscular efficiency, strength, daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda, boston bruins, tampa bay lightening, arnold schwarzenegger,

by: Daryl Conant, M.Ed CSCS

Milk

2011-05-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

Milk is a great source of protein, as long as it is organic, or even better raw. Raw milk is not pasteurized or homogenized. Raw milk contains all the essential amino acids that are necessary for proper cellular growth. The problem with raw milk is that it doesn't keep long, it spoils within a few days. This was the problem years ago. The population of America was growing vastly and the demand of milk was high. There wasn't enough milk being produced naturally to supply the people. Pasteurization and homogenization helped solve the spoiling issue of milk. A gallon of pasteurized / homogenized milk can last 4 to 6 weeks, almost three weeks longer than raw milk. Unfortunately, pasterurization and homogenization destroys the amino acid structure and can also alter the cholesterol structure. This is due to the heating process that kills all the bacteria through the pasteurization process. What is left is a substance that can be hard to digest. This is why some people have allergies to milk. They do not have the enzymes to break down the pasteurized milk. I used to have milk allergies. Once I changed over to raw milk my allergies went away.

The Milk Myth
Milk should not be consumed by humans after the age of 3, because milk is for baby cows. GIVE ME A BREAK FOLKS!!! This idea drives me nuts. This is some silly idea that a vegetarian group promoted years ago. Commercial milking of cows is not the most humane process, in fact it is down right upsetting. To protest against the cruelty of animals (cows) some groups came out and stated that we don't need to drink milk, and that it is only for baby cows. Though this concept is nice in the fact that it increases the awareness of how milk factories operate and are sometimes operating inhumanly, to say that milk is not a viable food for human consumption is FLAT OUT INCORRECT.

I am all about the humane practices and healthy organic way of living. I could tell you stories about the food industry that would make you never eat certain foods ever again. I will save that for another day. I want to discuss with you how the body works and why milk is healthy to consume.

The body is designed to breakdown fat, protein, carbohydrates (macro nutrients). These macro nutrients are then broken down into micro nutrients. During the process of eating, enzymes are activated in the saliva and begin to mix with the food. The food travels down the esophagus and blends with the body's enzymes to continue the breakdown of food. The stomach is designed to breakdown food into smaller units to be delivered to the intestines. The intestines breakdown the food further and the nutrients are filtered through the liver and enters the blood.

When you eat a particular food, as long at it is healthy and organic, the body will digest it with no problems. The body doesn't know where the food came from whether it came from a cow, a goat, a human, the ground, the sky. It makes no judgement of where the food came from. It only sees the molecular configuration of amino acids, fatty acids, cholesterol, carbohydrates and breaks them down accordingly. Protein is protein, fat is fat, sugar is sugar, the body is designed to break them compounds down. Baby cows don't need to consume milk after a certain age because they are herbivores, not carnivores. They eat grass and grains. Herbivores have a different digestive enzyme system than carnivores. Their digestive systems are designed to assimilate alkaline foods into proteins to build and repair cells. Carnivores digestive system works by balancing acidic and alkaline foods. Meat, dairy, fish, poultry, eggs, are acidic foods that are digested with the help of acidic enzymes. As long as we have this system within our make up we will be able to eat animal products with no problem. The human body is designed to eat animals. As crazy at it seems, the human digestive system is designed to consume an entire animal, except for the fur, bone, cartilage etc. But we have enough digestive enzymes to help digest just about any animal product.

The stomach houses hydrochloric acid. Hydrochloric acid is so acidic that can can eat away tissue. People who are stressed out all the time can develop acid reflux. Acid reflux is the leaking of the hydrochloric acid from the stomach and gets into the esophagus and begins to deteriorate the lining. Also, HCL is so powerful that if you were to put your hand down your throat and into your stomach the acid would begin to digest your own hand tissue. This is why we can eat animal meat. Animal meat consists of muscle and some times skin and cartilage (eating chicken off the bone). The stomach is able to breakdown muscle, skin and cartilage from animals with no problem. So if you were to stick your hand in your stomach, the body wouldn't know that it was your own hand, it would just break it down.

This is much like milk. The body doesn't care where the food came from, or whether it had eyes and was a living breathing animal, it just digests it and uses the nutrients from it to feed the body.

Eating healthy organic raw foods is the best for the body. Eating processed and mutated foods is what causes problems with health. Milk is not bad for you unless you consume pasteurized and homogenized milk. Then you take the chance of developing an allergy or disease. Many anti-milk drinkers protest that you will develop cancer from drinking milk. I can agree with this. It isn't the milk that causes the cancer it is the chemicals, preservatives and additives that does. So when someone who drinks milk develops prostate cancer, the anti-milk group goes up in arms stating that the milk caused the cancer and that it proves that humans shouldn't consume milk. But they are misinformed and need to know that it isn't the milk it is the processing of the milk that is the problem.

Skim Milk is better for you.

This is also a myth. Skim milk is the watery substance that is separated from milk. When milk is pumped out of the cow and settles in the bucket. The milk separates into different layers. Fat weighs less molecularly than sugar therefore it raises to the top. Whole milk contains more proteins, lactose (sugar) than cream and is heavier so it sits under cream. The less the protein and fat the more watery and heavier the molecular weight becomes. Skim milk is primarily made up of lactose. Lactose is the sugar in milk. Sugar molecules weigh more than fat and therefore sink to the bottom. So in essence skim milk is sugar water. There is not much protein and fat in skim milk. Fat must be present to stabilize protein. Take away fat and protein and you are left with skim milk. So in order to sell skim milk to the public, the milk companies add in protein and some additives to increase the protein content. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that the protein is a viable protein. Because protein and fat must co-exist in order to stabilize protein. Protein and sugars don't mix well. Also, milk companies will add in powdered milk products to make the skim milk look white. People won't drink a clear milk product, it has to be white to satisfy the visual perception. So additives are added to give color and to thicken up the skim milk to make it more sellable. Unfortunately, the additives and agents used are carcinogens and mutagenic. Which can result in ill effects such as; allergies, digestive disorders, cancers, coronary artery disease, if consumed in large amounts over time.

Like I always say, as long as man manipulates and breaks down the natural configurations of organic natural food, the human being will be subjected to illness and disease.

Milk is a great source of protein. Try to drink organic if you can. Better yet, drink raw if you can.

tags: milk, skim milk, daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda, boston bruins, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the maid, red sox, strength, muscle, bodybuilding,

diet EARTH

2011-05-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

If you want to learn more about nutrition, I recommend that you purchase my book diet EARTH. It helps answer some of the questions about cholesterol, calories, metabolism that other books don't mention. You can order diet EARTH on my website at www.darylconant.com

This Will Make You Smile

2011-05-16T02:23:00.001-07:00

L-Carnitine. A Great Fat Burner

2011-05-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

L-Carnitine is an essential amino acid for fat burning. Researchers have found that L-Carnitine actually acclerates the fat burning process in the liver and muscles. Without it, fat is unable to penetrate the walls of the miochndria of the muscle cells. L-Carnitine increases the rate of fat utilization for fuel. The best sources of L-Carnitine are found in red meat. Unfortunately, to get the required amount of L-Carnitine, meat must be consumed in high quantities.

Supplementing your diet with L-Carnitine is a great way to keep it high in your system and to help burn off fat.

Here is an analogy to demonstrate how L-Carnitine works. Imagine your blood stream is a river. Your body-fat cells are little people in boats floating down the river to reach their final destination. The Muscle Hotel, (muscle tissue-where fat will be burned as fuel for energy). But, when they arrive, they find the door too heavy to open. L-Carnitine is the doorman to the Muscle Hotel. It allows your body-fat to more easily enter (permeate) your muscle tissue to be burned as fuel energy.

The primary function of L-Carnitine is to facilitate the transport of fatty acids from the cell’s cytoplasm across the mitochondria membrane to the interior of the mitochondria where oxidation occurs (fat-burning process). Without L-Carnitine as a carrier, the fatty acids are unable to penetrate the membrane of the mitochondria. This will result in a decreased rate of fat utilization and energy. L-Carnitine also helps to remove by-products of fatty acid metabolism and other toxic compounds from within the cells.

If your goal is to burn fat, L-Carnitine is one supplement that is worth taking. I sell an L-Carnitine supplement that is in liquid form. You can put it in your water bottle with your water and drink during the workout. When muscle tissue is being worked it becomes depleted of amino acids. Keeping a good influx of L-Carnitine during the thermogenic process will help facilitate greater fat burning.

You can also pick up L-Carnitine at any vitamin store or health food store.

tags: L-Carnitine, Vince Gironda, Ron Kosloff, Daryl Conant, AMino Acids

One of the best Compounds Found in?

2011-05-11T04:27:00.000-07:00

There are so many great factors when it comes to nutrients. I classify nutrients into macro and micro categories. Macro nutrients are proteins, carbohydrates, fats. Micro nutrients are the derivatives of the macro nutrients. Amino acids, glucose, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Most people know about the macro nutrients but not the micro nutrients. I would like to discuss one key micro nutrient that is found in -- you guessed EGGS, poultry, dairy products, wheat germ oil, oats and avacados. The micro nutrient is L-glutamine.

L-Glutamine is an amino acid that is one of the most abundant amino acids in the body. The body can hold up to 100,000 mg of Glutamine. Every tissue in the body utilizes glutamine. It has been well established that amino acids produce energy in the body. Glutamine is a major source of energy for the body. There are high levels of glutamine in all the vital organs; the brain, skeletal muscle, intestinal walls, lungs, heart, kidneys and liver.

Where Glutamine comes from is food. Glutamine is a converted form of Glutamic acid. When glutamic acid breaks down by the enzymatic reaction of glutamine synthetase it forms a salt, which ends up becoming glutamine. In order to have the correct amount of Glutamine in the body it is important to have the proper enzymatic support. Glutamine Synthetase requires the presence of pyridoxal-5-phosphate (vitamin B6), manganese and derivatives from vitamins and minerals. A glutamine deficiency can arise if these compounds are not present in adequate amounts. Even if a person is taking in high levels of protein, they could still be deficient in Glutamine. Many people are deficient in Glutamine concentrations. This is because of poor dietary choices and lack of the vital external fat and protein. Eating the right foods that are rich in compounds necessary for Glutamine conversion is important. Eggs are one of the best sources.

Glutamine has an important role in the production of neurotransmitters of the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that control the function of the brain. Without neurotransmitters the brain is useless. There are three neurotransmitters that are essential for healthy brain function, Glutamine, Glutamate and GAGA. Glutamine is highly abundant in the cerebro-spinal fluid in the brain, more so than in the blood. The brain depends alot on Glutamine as an energy source. The reason for this is help the brain survive during times low glucose levels. If brain glucose levels drop too low, oxygen levels would drop as well, the brain would begin to die. Glutamine is used during times of low glucose levels to help keep the synthesis of oxygen active. Glucose and Glutamine are both energy sources of the brain. When there is an ample amount of these energy sources in the brain, concentration, mental alertness and clarity, mood, memory and intelligence are improved. It is believed that low levels of Glutamine in the brain is directly related to brain disorders and disease; i.e. Alzyheimers.

Glutamate is a stimulant type of neurotransmitter. GABA is the stimulant reducer, calming down the brain. These work in conjunction with Glutamine to support healthy brain function.

Helps Maintain Blood Sugar Levels

Glutamine helps support energy in the reduction of blood sugar in the bloodstream. It does this by suppressing the release of insulin. Insulin is an anabolic hormone that opens up cells allowing sugar to be absorbed. Too much insulin will ultimately deplete all blood sugar. This is a serious condition. In order to avoid this event, Glutamine is released to help turn off insulin production. It then activates glycogen receptors of the liver and muscle tissue. Glycogen is stored glucose. Glycogen is used to help stabilize the blood system with energy.

Another great benefit of Glutamine is its ability to be converted into glucose. There are amino acids in the body known as, glycogenic amino acids. Glycogenic amino acids can be converted into glucose when the body needs more energy. The process of glycogenic amino acid conversion is called, gluconeogenesis.

With high levels of Glutamine in the blood, the pancreas has to work less. Because of the inhibitory insulin factors that Glutamine presents. Glutamine helps support the health and function of the pancreas, pancreatic enzymes, and protein content.

The intestines also benefit from high levels of Glutamine. The bacteria located on the walls of the intestines consume a lot of Glutamine throughout the day. Low levels of Glutamine can result in digestive disorders. Glutamine is essential for the health and production of the mucosa of the intestinal lining. Glutamine helps maintain a good balance of bacteria in the intestines. If Glutamine is not available in the correct amount, the bad bacteria increases and can cause many problems in the intestines.
Glutamine can help remedy many of the effects of bad bacteria.

Muscle Tissue
When muscle tissue is broken down from either exercise or aging damage to the cellular machinery occurs. Glutamine helps in the support of repair and energy storage of the muscle cell. Glutamine's role in the muscle is to help regulate protein synthesis. It also helps with the storage capacity of muscle sugar (glycogen). When Glutamine levels are low muscle tissue cannot be repaired effectively, resulting in atrophy. Keeping a high level of Glutamine is also essential to help combat the effects of aging. Glutamine helps with the synthesis of Glutathione (an essential anti-oxidant) in the liver. Glutathione is a co-factor in the aging process.

Tags: Glutamine, Vince Gironda, Ron Kosloff, Daryl Conant, Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, muscle, bodybuilding, strength and conditioning.

Jonny Lang

2011-05-09T19:15:00.001-07:00

How Many Reps and Sets

2011-05-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

When performing an exercise it is important to understand how many reps and sets you need to do to achieve benefit. The idea of a set is to stimulate the neuromuscular pathways. In order to establish greater thresholds it is important to repeat the exercise (reps). The more you condition the neuromuscular pathway, the greater the response of the tissue will occur, while under a stressful (resistance) stimulus. What this means is that by performing the same movement over and over will create greater strength and endurance.

When someone who has never exercised before starts an exercise program it is important for them to establish a good sympathetic nervous system foundation. This is known as creating good tone. You might hear people in the gym say that they want to tone their muscles. The idea of toning is based on a sympathetic nervous system principle. It has nothing to do with how the muscle looks. Yet, people are confused by the term toning. They associate it with appearance. Saying " you look toned." This is a misinterpretation of what toning is.

What is meant by toning is the following. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is the primary excitatory factor in the stimulation of the body systems. When the person is aroused emotionally or physically the SNS responds. Hormones, sugar uptake, blood pressure all increase during a SNS response. The SNS is known as the "fight of flight" system. When stress is present we either flee the situation or stay and fight. Exercise is a form of physical stress. When the body begins to exercise the SNS gets turned on. Controlling the SNS is the idea for becoming fit.

Being de-conditioned, simply means that the systems of the body are not able to adapt to the stress that is being placed on the body fast enough. Therefore, the systems are compromised and cannot work synergistically. The result is abrupt fatigue, homoeostasis imbalance, poor recovery, damaged tissue, retarded synaptic transmission. The cells are unable to clear the toxins and debris quick enough, the vital mineral pumps are affected resulting in electrolyte imbalances. Metabolites in the blood system are affected in unfit people as opposed to fit people, as well. The micro systems of the cells are out of balance, which forces the macrosystems to work harder.

The de-conditioned person has a low stress tolerance. This is known as "poor tone", or "low tone." The SNS has a low stress threshold. Meaning that the person's neuromuscular system is significantly weak in response to a stimulus. The SNS reacts too quickly and forces the cascading effect of physiological disruption with the systems of the body. The end result is that the person has very limited adaptive control to handle the stress being presented. An example of this would be when a someone who has never exercised before steps on a treadmill for the first time. Since they have never increased their heart rate before, the SNS immediately takes notice. The person's SNS threshold is very low. Within 2 to 3 minutes the person's alarm state has increased. The systems are beginning to get challenged beyond what they are used to. The muscle cells, which haven't been activated in a long time, begin to develop too much hydrogen forming lactic acid at a fast rate. The lack of oxygen within the muscle cell prompts the cardiovascular system to work harder to try to pump oxygen into the bloodstream faster to get to the struggling muscle tissue. This inadvertently forces the heart to have to pump harder and faster.

Once the intensity becomes too much for the systems to contend with, stress hormones are released to help turn off the cells and to begin the steps to cycle the SNS down and to regain homeostasis. The person then begins to slow down their speed on the treadmill until they get back to a proper resting heart. For some people their heart rate and blood pressure will continue to remain high even after the treadmill has stopped. This is a clear indication that they are very de-conditioned and they have poor SNS tone.

In order to improve the tone of the SNS the person must slowly work up their threshold. The idea of exercise is to stimulate the body enough to stay one step ahead of a full blown SNS overload. Being fit is the ability of having great physiological balance and control when a stress is present. The more stress that is influenced the greater the physiological systems are at being able to adapt to the stimulus, that is the key for being fit.

The person must make small steps toward greater health. You wouldn't run a marathon if you never ran before, that would be disastrous and could kill you. The physical stress would be too much for the body to handle. However, by starting out working with the SNS threshold and building it up over a period of time, will allow a person to run a marathon without causing too much damage to the physiological system.

The same principle is true with resistance training. Which brings me to the original intent of this blog post. How many sets and reps should a person perform?

The answer lies within the physiological make up of the person. Non-activated muscle tissue has most likely atrophied over time. The "don't use you lose" idea is true when dealing with muscle tissue. The body responds to the level of activity that is being presented upon it. If the muscles are not being worked enough to get above threshold, then they will become lazy and will shrink. The cells of the body work in a conservation mode. They communicate with each other and will shut down certain cells when they are not necessarily being worked. Muscle tissue is an active and non-active tissue, meaning it can be used for times of intense exercise or it can be turned off during times of rest. When skeletal muscle tissue has been rested for a long time (sedentary living) then it atrophy occurs.

When a person begins to lift the weight the muscles begin to wake up. The SNS begins to take notice and synaptic transmission is set in motion. In a well conditioned person the first reps and sets are not great enough to elicit a strong response from the SNS. However, in a deconditioned person the threshold is low (poor tone) and SNS overload begins. If the person continues to do more sets they will most likely increase too much stress catecholamines into their bloodstream, which could result in a sick nauseating feeling. Some folks that have such low SNS control often times vomit. This is not a good thing.

It is important to slowly build up the amount of reps and sets in order to avoid SNS overload.

How many reps is necessary? The rep number depends on the SNS tone and what you are trying to achieve. Low reps will develop greater power and hypertrophy of the muscle fibers. Higher reps will increase the capalliary network in the muscle, therefore producing greater oxygen saturation. This is good for defnining muscle and increasing muscular endurance. How many reps depends on your goals.

How many sets are necessary? Again it depends on the SNS tone and the physical condition of the systems. For beginners 1-2 sets is optimal. For the more advanced 3-8 sets is optimal.

The idea of sets and reps is to challenge the neuromuscular system. The more advanced a person becomes the more output they can generate, therefore they must vary the set and rep scheme to get more stimulation out of the muscles and to increase the SNS threshold.

tags: reps and sets, daryl conant, vince gironda, ron kosloff, bodybuilding, nutrition, weight training, muscle, strength and conditioning

What ever happened to symmetry and looking good

2011-05-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

What ever happened to developing a body for good symmetry and overall appearance. Having a good looking physique where the abs are small, shoulders are broad, chest is well developed, arms are balanced and defined, legs full and balanced, diamond calfs, ripped abs, and the great looking V-taper of the back. I guess bodybuilding has lost its appeal to the masses. Today the young zealots are all into powerlifting and functional training. It is all about how much you can lift, how many chains you can put on your back for push-ups, how much can you squat, deadlift and bench. There is no consideration on how the body looks. You can have poor symmetry be thick around the waist, disproportionate legs and arms and be considered a God in the strength and conditioning world. It is the "I lift things up and put them down" mentality. I look at the sites of the so called "experts" of today and they are all the same. They all have tons of information on powerlifting and functional training but nothing much on bodybuilding. How many articles are going to be written on How To Do A deadlift, squat, or bench press correctly? Many of these experts are elitists that claim that they have discovered some new way to train and that if you don't subscribe to their methods than you are a worthless, naive, uneducated has-been.

But looking at some of these guys I don't see a body that I would like to have. The problem is that bodybuilding is not being taught in colleges, olympic lifting techniques, rehabilitation exercises and functional training techniques are. So when the young overzealous student graduates they become advocates of this type of training. They don't teach bodybuilding because they don't know how to body build. If it doesn't fall within their scope of education then they don't teach it.

It is too bad that pure bodybuilding is out of style. Anyone can power lift, but not everyone can bodybuild. Perhaps that is why so many young guys gravitate toward powerlifting because they don't have the genetics or the discipline to bodybuild.

Another reason for why young guys don't bodybuild anymore is because of instant gratification. Kids today are all about instant gratification. Computers, cell phones, ipods, etc. all provide instant stimulation. This is how the kids are designed nowadays. They don't have the patience or the discipline to make small gains. Powerlifting is all about instant gratification. Lifting a heavy weight 1-5 reps ignites the nervous system and releases hormones and endorphins. This is a stimulating feeling and easily obtained. The rush from the hormones is addicting. And this is what the young testosterone junkies want. They want to get an immediate response. How they look doesn't matter as much as the feeling they get from lifting heavy, heavy weight. Performing pure isolated bodybuilding movements would be too boring and sedate for these high energy ego maniacs.

I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn about bodybuilding at the beginning of my career, when it was still fashionable. Not only do I teach the mainstream weight training techniques that is being taught in schools, I can also teach pure bodybuilding. I have always enjoyed pure bodybuilding. The idea of deadlifting 600 pounds or squatting 700 pounds has no appeal to me. My joints hurt just thinking about it. To me it is all about an honest workout and symmetry. Perhaps if I was a professional football player making millions of dollars I would only power lift. But since I am not a paid professional athlete I realize that it is pointless for me to use such heavy weight to train. I like the idea of isolating each muscle group and defining them. At my age its about how I look and feel, not about how much I can bench. When I see a good looking physique I don't question how much the guy can lift, instead I ask the guy "how did you get your arms so defined." Once my athletic career was over, I realized that I didn't want to train for baseball anymore. I wanted to train to have a great looking body. That is why I will continue to teach true pure bodybuilding techniques, regardless if it is out of style and the young guys aren't interested in it anymore.

tags: daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda, nutrition, diet EARTH, bodybuilding,

The Special Announcement

2011-05-04T03:01:00.000-07:00

The special announcement is that I am excited to say that the inVINCEable video disc set finally finished. With the exception of a few changes to the graphics, it will be ready for sale within the next few weeks. It has been a very long process and I am pleased with the finished product. It has been a learning experience for both me and the production company (video creations). The project was bigger than both of us expected. I demonstrate over 70 exercises that Vince Gironda taught me. More exercises than any other video produced about Vince's exercises. It will be a great companion to my book InVINCEable.

I will keep you posted in the next few weeks to its actual release.

Daryl

Worthless Concepts

2011-05-04T02:55:00.000-07:00

I feel that the following are worthless concepts. Not only are they bogus, they are confusing for most people to understand. Yet, everyday we have to hear about them.

1. Calorie thinking.
2. Weight loss.
3. The no fat diet.
4. Performing only aerobic exercise (running, cycling, etc) to lose body fat.

tags: daryl conant, ron kosloff, vince gironda, osama bin laden, obama at ground zero, celtics, miami heat