Keep It Simple, Stupid

I'm all for keeping your nutrition plan simple and effective but, dude, seriously?

Corn is Not a Vegetable

... it's a grain.

So, in your quest to eat "5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday," keep in mind that corn doesn't count (and neither do potatoes).

It's a murky area, filled with unnecessary politics and false claims, but the long and short of it is that your physique goals and general nutrition will noticeably improve if you ignore the supermarket advertising and remember that corn is a grain.

For more reading with even more in-depth explanations (explained by two guys that are way smarter than me), take a few minutes to check out these articles:

Corn-Fed Blubber

Good Grains, Bad Grains

Q & A

Q: My 13-year old brother wants to start lifting weights with me. I've read before that this may not be such a good idea, since training with weights at such an age could impede normal growth and development. I don't know if this is true or a myth.

A: It's actually mostly a myth. Smart training, which centers around compound free weight exercises and avoids muscular failure, is absolutely fine.

The "stunting your growth" concept really only comes into question if we're talking about pushing the limits, in regards to reaching muscular failure or poor program design which would include a bunch of machine exercises. Mark Rippetoe also talked a bit about this when I spoke with him recently.

However, I still recommend beginning with a basic bodyweight-only plan to introduce the kiddo to consistent training. My standard recommendation/introduction is a full-body calisthenic workout, aiming for their age in reps on each set.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
Squat 2x13 (No weight, keep both feet flat on the floor.)

Push-up 2x13 (On your toes, go until the chest almost touches the floor.)

Lunge 2x13 (Alternate legs, 1 rep left/1 rep right.)

Chin-up 2x13 (Assisted, if needed)

Plank 2x15-count (Hold the top part of a push-up, on the toes/arms straight, keep the whole body straight. Count to 15.)

Squat thrust 2x13


You should supervise the workouts to make sure they use textbook-perfect technique on everything, and make sure they work within their limits (by avoiding muscular failure. Keep one rep "in the tank").

Once this routine is "easy," shoot me an e-mail and we can plan a free weight routine as the next step.

- Chris.

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Q: I currently weigh exactly 77kg (at 5'10") and I don't want to gain anymore weight, but I want to get even stronger. I have to stay in this weight class for my sport, so I was wondering if there's any different way I should be training?

A: Keep your set/rep total around 10-20 reps per exercise/movement pattern and you'll be fine. It's the volume, for the most part, that's going to flip your training stimulus from "strength" to "size". 5x3 is especially killer for strength-focused cycles.

Of course, calories are going to be very important to monitor. Maintain your current total calorie intake, and as long as you've got sufficient protein, carbs, and healthy fats, it should be relatively-easy to keep an eye on your bodyweight.

Send me another e-mail when your competition gets closer, and we can go over some more details.

- Chris.

Can You Run On Empty?

"Genuine strength should include not only momentary strength, as proved by the ability to lift a heavy weight once, but also the far more valuable kind of strength known as strength for endurance...

The man who can miss a night's rest or miss a meal or two without showing any ill effect or without losing any physical power is better entitled to be considered a strong man than the man who is only apparently strong, being possessed of momentary strength, which is, after all, a muscle test pure and simple."

- Arthur Saxon, The Development of Physical Power, written in 1905.


I found myself in an interesting situation the other weekend. I forgot to eat. That might not be uncommon for some people, I'll admit to later-than-ideal breakfasts once in a while, but it was interesting because I didn't forget because of a Guitar Hero marathon (Freebird!!), nope, instead I was doing some serious manual labor.

I rearranged everything in my girlfriend's garage. Picture your own garage for a second... now rotate all your "stuff" 90 degrees, onto an adjacent wall. That's basically what I did. Several fully stocked metal shelving units, lawn mowers, snow blowers, countless tools of all shapes and sizes, not to mention a ton (almost literally) of my exercise equipment.

It was some serious redecorating that took a little over five hours. The day went something like this:

10:00am - Woke-up after having almost 10 hours of sleep. (Hurray for lazy Saturdays).

10:30am - Ate 2 slices of whole wheat toast with peanut butter, and a protein shake with milk.

11:00am - Started cleaning garage.

12:30pm - Had 32 ounces of water.

2:15pm - Noticed a two-inch long spider crawling on my shoulder, screamed like a schoolgirl, and ran half a block down the street.

3:30pm - Finished moving "the big stuff" (shelves, camping equipment, sacks of lawn seed, etc.)

4:30pm - Finished sweeping dust and loose debris. Went inside, cooked ginormous chicken and pasta dinner that probably would've fed a family of five little people.

I wasn't drop-dead starving during the day, but I was kinda hungry and knew I had to do some serious eating to recover from what I just did (I ended up not being terribly sore, and still did some weight training the next day).

I probably could've stopped for a full lunch break, but it would've ended up as more of a hassle stopping, eating, digesting, and then getting back into the swing of it.

Anyway, I'm definitely not suggestion y'all try something similar, and the standard rule of "eat something every few hours" is still one of the most basic nutrition principles around, however, sometimes life gets in the way and it's dopey to try to deny that.

You just have to be as prepared as you can, and do your best to get the job done "without showing any ill effect or without losing any physical power." That's when you know for a fact that all your time in the gym is worth it.

3 Reasons Dara Torres is Awesome

Michael Phelps might be dominating the water like a man-shark, but the swimmer I'm most looking forward to is Dara Torres. I've got (at least) three reasons why.

#3) She's got a killer resume: She's the mother of a two-year old. Legend has it that she was breast-feeding her baby just minutes before winning a spot at this year's Olympic trials. She's also a "part-time" model, and was the first female athlete to be on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. And she's a (so far) 10-time Olympic medalist, which includes her silver medal just two days ago in the 4x100 relay.



#2) Dara has been trained by sports chiropractor, Master of Fitness Sciences, and owner of NY Strength, Dr. Jack Barnathan... the man I studied under with the International Sports Sciences Association. I know for a fact the Dr. Jack is awesome, which makes Dara awesome (and maybe, by association, me too? Okay, probably not.)



#1) Dara won her first Olympic gold medal in 1984, before some of her competitors in the '08 Olympics could even spell the word g-o-l-d. That's just incredibly awesome.



You can keep track of all the Olympic swimming results at the official NBC Olympic coverage site. Dara's 50 meter freestyle takes place this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Best of luck to her, and all the competitors.