Fitocracy Blog

We’re back after a brief hiatus !  Nicolas Verhoeven (  ACSM CPT , Brody School of Medicine ) goes over vegan options for supplementing your protein.

Credit to Physionic Youtube , Physionic on Instagram, Physionic on Facebook

Almost 2018 so we’re winding it down with the one more science based video from  Nicolas Verhoeven (  ACSM CPT , Brody School of Medicine ) . This week, a popular misconception about fasting and fat loss.

Sources: https://www.physionic.org/meal-frequency-fat-loss

Sources: https://www.physionic.org/beta-alanine

Credit to Physionic Youtube , Physionic on Instagram, Physionic on Facebook

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 It’s Sunday so you know what that means! Nicolas Verhoeven (  ACSM CPT , Brody School of Medicine ) with another science based video; this week, detailing the hows an whys of B-alanine.

Sources: https://www.physionic.org/beta-alanine

Credit to Physionic Youtube , Physionic on Instagram, Physionic on Facebook

Swing by the Welcome to Fitocracy group and join up for one of December’s weekly challenges. We’re giving away random fitness themed prizes to 2 lucky winners each week.

Is there any truth to the long standing rumor that taking creatine will lead to hair loss?  Nicolas Verhoeven (  ACSM CPT , Brody School of Medicine ) takes a look at the science of what is really happening.

Sources: https://www.physionic.org/creatine-hair-loss

Credit to Physionic Youtube , Physionic on Instagram, Physionic on Facebook

To stretch or not to stretch: does stretching have any real carry over to high glycolytic training? When and what type? Luckily for us,  Nicolas Verhoeven (  ACSM CPT , Brody School of Medicine ) sifts through all the available info and breaks it down into a simple, science based explanation. 

Sources: https://www.physionic.org/impact-of-stretching-on-strength

Credit to Physionic Youtube , Physionic on Instagram, Physionic on Facebook

 This week’s Science Sunday update, courtesy of  Nicolas Verhoeven (  ACSM CPT , Brody School of Medicine ) , covers a lot of information on fat free mass, figuring your natural muscular limit, and body fat.

Sources: https://www.physionic.org/ffmi-the-muscular-limit

Credit to Physionic Youtube , Physionic on Instagram, Physionic on Facebook

Fito RX2_fitness posted a great guide that explains how to keep moving forward in your training.

A lot of the time, gym bro's, or women who simply want to get stronger end up in the neverending feedback look of plateau misery. That's cool, it happens to all mortal beings, which we all are. Hopefully. It's actually a lot more simple to progress almost constantly than you think, so here are a few methods to measure. 1) Adding weight to the bar This is really self-explanatory. If the weight isn't increasing, then you're not going to get stronger. Fact. Aim to make small increased, especially in the compound lifts, such as squats, bench press, deadlift, bent over rows, and shoulder press'. These will add up over time, meaning you'll get stronger and improve your body composition. 2) Working on technique Lifting weight becomes far easier when you're able to dial in your technique. Realising it's more than simply moving weight back and forth. Aim to move the weight in the full range of motion. Improving the entire movement and your overall strength. Also, stop giving a crap what others think about how much weight you can lift. Improve for yourself! 3) Adding more reps Another obvious one, I know, but often times people will aim for the same rep and weight targets, making zero progress. Progress is made through tracking your training and assessing feedback, such as this.

Great training advice this week, courtesy of fito coach Zstrength.

What are your expectations?

Your expectations could be the cause of your failures.

Hear me out on this. How many times have you had the expectation that everything would go perfectly as planned? How many times have you seen the cup as not just half full or even full, but overflowing?

If we define failure as not reaching our goal, it would not be a stretch to say it’s the same as not meeting your expectations.

Failure for most people is exactly that, not reaching an expectation, regardless of the progress towards the goal.

This isn’t a crazy thought I had one day. This is the result of working in “expectation management” for over a 15 years. Over that time, I’ve watched people achieve monumental strides and quit because it wasn’t fast enough or they couldn’t accept that they had other more pressing issues to deal with first.

Back to the question, what are your expectations?

Everybody wants the best possible results. They want the infomercial results. They want to be the person on a website that gets the amazing headline. The unfortunate part is that the fitness industry sells dreams. They’ve helped develop an unhealthy sense that everything can be accomplished and it should be quick and easy.

Even worse, people are surrounded by overly optimistic friends that tell them how easy it will be. I’m not talking about the ones that offer support when struggles arise, but the ones that pad the ego with the empty words of ignorance, showing “support” when they have no clue of what it takes to achieve.

The problem with bad expectations.

When someone chooses a task, a challenge, a goal; they come in with specific expectations whether they say them or not. Many times the expectations are part of the motivational factor that allows them to take on something challenging and potentially uncomfortable. When the result doesn’t meet the expectation, the motivation wanes.

The challenge is to manage expectations so that progress is considered success and not failure, even when it isn’t meeting expectations. The best way to explain this is with somebody looking to lose 30 lbs.

They get a plan, believing that if they do all the things outlined, they will meet their expectations and be that person that lost 30 lbs in 30 days. It’s generally easy to fall into this trap because somebody is doing it everywhere you look. Our reality is not their reality. We don’t know the foundation they’ve built. We don’t know their background. We don’t know if they are genetically predisposed or are taking combinations of drugs to achieve our goal. We really have no idea other than they finally accomplished what we want.

Yet we get upset when it isn’t as fast or it isn’t as much or isn’t as easy as we believe it should be.

What if the expectations were realistic?

This is the hard part, especially if you have little to no experience in the task we are taking on and the Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook celebs that have overrun the fitness industry aren’t helping us learn.

Realistic expectations means that we might fail or we might succeed, but the margins won’t be huge. There won’t be the cake walk or roadkill finish.

Developing the ability to have realistic expectations takes time and it takes the experience of getting it wrong over and over again. That means underestimating what we can achieve while other times we overestimate what is possible, each time honing the ability to make realistic predictions to set our expectations.

Time to Develop Appropriate Expectations

Learn Something

One of the most important parts to developing an appropriate expectation is not being ignorant. You can’t develop expectations for something for which you have no experience or knowledge. You have to have an idea of what you are trying to accomplish and what it takes. Want to lose weight? Learn something about how calories and exercise play a role in keeping the body healthy and functioning. Want to build muscle? Learn how your diet and the right exercise program works for that. Want to complete a triathlon? Learn how to eat and train for the three stages.

Start Low

Some will balk at the idea of setting expectations low, but earned confidence is worth more than egotistical failure. If you want to have the confidence to tackle higher expectations, you need to earn that confidence through success. If you want to set high expectations with the chance of success, you need the foundation of meeting or exceeding your expectations.

Build Up

Each time you exceed your expectations you can push a little higher. The strength and conditioning board used to have “DNFF” written on it. At first, I thought it was just about keeping athletes injury free, but it served a bigger purpose. By exceeding their own expectations, they gained confidence and they could expect bigger things.

Now that you’ve had success...

You do it again. And again. Each time you succeed, you build a little more momentum. More than that, you develop the knowledge that you can succeed and you pocket that for when you do stumble, because you will stumble when you challenge yourself. Prior success gives you a reason to believe you can do it.

Now go out and get doing!

Rest between sets: how much should I do? What is best for my training method?

For the answer,  Nicolas Verhoeven (  ACSM CPT , Brody School of Medicine ) takes a science based look at what the research says about interset rest based on the type of training you’re doing. 

Sources:  https://www.physionic.org/interset-rest-time

Credit to Physionic Youtube , Physionic on Instagram, Physionic on Facebook

Special thanks to fito -JenniferAnne- for this carb friendly sweet treat

Almond flour 1.5 cup

baking soda 1/2 tsp

monkfruit 1/8 cup

cinnamon 1 tsp

pinch of salt 

If you’ve spent any time reading online about weight loss, you’ve doubtlessly heard about intermittent fasting. Does it help? Is it malarkey?  Nicolas Verhoeven (  ACSM CPT , Brody School of Medicine ) explains what IF is, what it isn’t, and when it does and doesn’t work--all with the help of science.

Sources: https://www.physionic.org/meal-frequency-fat-loss

Credit to Physionic Youtube , Physionic on Instagram, Physionic on Facebook

Melatonin has gained a lot of hype as a natural and safe way to improve sleep; how does it work? Glad you asked!  Nicolas Verhoeven (  ACSM CPT , Brody School of Medicine ) throws in some informative trivia on the fascinating way melatonin effects your brain.

Sources: https://www.physionic.org/melatonin

Credit to Physionic Youtube , Physionic on Instagram, Physionic on Facebook

Fito emm7  posted this delicious, easy recipe (from her blog) It’s a protein perfect idea for some autumn weekend baking.

Ingredients 2 T. warm water 1 t. sugar 1 T. yeast 3 c. unbleached heritage-grain AP flour 1/2 c. unflavored whey protein powder, ~2 scant scoops, ~40g protein 1 t. salt 2 T. fresh rosemary, minced 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 T. extra-virgin olive oil 1 c. skim milk, warm 1-2 T. olive oil 15 slices uncured salame, chopped 1/2 large sweet onion, diced 1 cherry tomatoes, or chopped tomatoes 1/4 c. finely grated Asiago, Parmesan, or Romano cheese Directions In 2 T. of warm water, add the sugar & yeast and allow it to foam. In the meantime, combine flour, whey powder, salt, garlic, and rosemary, and mix. Add 2 T. olive oil and mix. Add the foaming yeast to the flour and mix in well. Add the warm milk and knead either in your mixer or by hand. Knead until it is a smooth ball that lifts off without sticking to the sides of the bowl. Cover and let it sit for a couple of hours -- either plastic or a damp towel. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Drizzle remaining olive oil in a 9x13" glass baking dish. Punch down the dough and toss it in the oil in the dish, using the dough to spread the oil to coat the dish, and spread the dough to fill the shape of the dish. Sprinkle each topping in a layer, finishing with the cheese. Let rest 20 minutes (keep covered if need be). Bake for 25-30 minutes, until you see that the crust is brown and the top is starting to brown lightly too. Nutrition Facts Servings 8.0 Amount Per Serving 

calories 216 % Daily Value *

Total Fat 7

Cholesterol 12 

Sodium 513

Potassium 134 

Total Carbohydrate 24 

Dietary Fiber 4

Sugars 4 g

If swole is your goal,  Nicolas Verhoeven (  ACSM CPT , Brody School of Medicine ) goes over some myths and misconceptions with weight and repetition needs for hypertrophy. 

Sources: https://www.physionic.org/lifting-intensity-muscle-hypertroph

Credit to Physionic Youtube , Physionic on Instagram, Physionic on Facebook