And what else is happening?

I figured it is time to give an update about the overall developments at Adlertraining. Even though we are in the midst of summer, fall season is approaching fast and several clients are competing.
First in line would be Vince, who is competing in a sprint triathlon in Connecticut on August 1st. We have been working hard to improve his swimming and tweaked the diet accordingly. Then there is Scott "Dr. Abs", who will compete in a natural bodybuilding in October. His diet and training are on track, i am sure he will do damage in the Masters class.
As for my self I plan on competing in September and November, hopefully 15 lbs heavier than last year with the same leanness.
Stay tuned!
Maik

Alcohol and bodybuilding, do they go together?

One of the topics that comes up quite a bit is alcohol consumption while training and dieting. So the question is: is it possible to drink and still achieve a lean physique?

The following is not intended to dissuade people from drinking recreationaly but to point out the short comings of alcohol for an athlete in training.

First of all, alcohol delivers quite a few  empty calories ( calories without nutrition) , almost twice as many as carbohydrates  ( glass of red wine 123 cal, beer 135 cal, cocktails up to 700 cal). The emotional inhibition  which comes with alcohol often leads to mindless eating while drinking, the famous late night pizza f. i., and all these calories  easily add up to weight gain. Furthermore, alcohol directly affects motivation thereby making it harder to stay on a diet. 

Alcohol also lowers testosterone thereby inhibits fat-burning, since a lower testosterone levels means a lower metabolic rate.

Performance is also affected for up to 48 h after the consumption of alcohol, so if you have a workout planned the next day it just wont be 100 %.

So if you are serious about losing weight it is best not to drink at all, since the one-glass-at-dinner approach very seldom works.

Train hard!

Maik

Jan '08 to July '08 or " but I am doing pretty good with my eating"

The  single biggest factor in the battle for a better body is nutrition. And yes, everyone knows about which foods to eat etc and yet , hardly anyone is in shape.How is this possible?  Lack of willpower for sure but also limited understanding of caloric intake.

First of all, you need to take responsibility for your physical appearance.  Energy CANNOT be created, so if you store more energy ( body fat) than you would like to, you are simply eating too much.

 For starters a food diary is an absolute necessity if you are serious about changing your physique. Write down everything you eat and drink for five days, then review it. Even ABC news did mention the advantages of such a food log today http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health?Fitness?story/id=5327486&page=1

 From there , you need to figure out the optimal caloric intake for you, which should allow you to drop 2 lbs per week on a constant basis. In order to do that, weigh all you foods and use websites like www.thecaloriecounter.com to figure out macro nutrients and caloric value. Success will be inevitable!

" But I can't do that" I hear quite often, when I make this suggestion. This goes back to point 1 : Take responsibility for the way you look"

for the non-believers. . . ., the picture above is a client who told me in February that he is doing"pretty well with his diet", since Mid-April he follows his diet to the T ( his partner also, I am not sure if he had a  choice...) and they both have achieved amazing results as evident.

So I urge anyone who is serious with his training to take the next step and learn as much as possible about diet and put this knowledge to good use.

Until next time

Maik