Diet Fundamentals: Know Your Body (Part 1)

Well, we're getting closer to the goal of creating, understanding and sustaining a realistic meal plan with the goal of increasing lean muscle mass and and keeping body fat composition to a minimum. I've touched on several important calculations that are designed to give you a better understanding on how to tailor your body's unique nutritional requirements to suit your body composition. But one thing I have yet to mention is the importance of knowing your body type, and the specific demands that your body type will place on your diet and nutritional requirements.

Human Beings are born with a variety of different physical characteristics. Some are taller or shorter, lighter or darker, wider or narrower in the shoulders, longer and shorter in the leg; they have higher or lower natural levels of endurance, and so on. One popular method of categorising all these various body types recognises three fundamentally different physical types, called Somatotypes.

The Ectomorph

Characterised by a short upper body, long arms and legs, long and narrow feet and hands, and very little fat storage; narrowness in the chest and shoulders, with generally long, thin muscles.

The Mesomorph

Large chest and, long torso, solid muscle structure, and great strength.

The Endomorph

Soft musculature, round face, short neck, wide hips, and heavy fat storage.

Of course, no one is entirely one type but rather a combination of all three types. This system of classification recognises a total of eighty-eight sub-categories, which are arrived at by examining the level of dominance of each basic category on a scale of 1-7. For example, someone whose body characteristics were scored as ectomorphic (2), mesomorphic (6), and endomorphic (5) would be an endo-mesomorph - basically a well-muscled jock type but inclined to carry a lot of fat.

Although the fundamentals of bodybuilding training apply to all the somatotypes, individuals with different body types often respond very differently to training, and what works for one type may not necessarily work for another. Any body type can be developed by proper training and nutrition, but individuals with different body types will find it necessary to initially approach their training with different objectives, even though they may share the same long-term goals.

Understanding your own body type can save you a lot of time and frustration. An ectomorph who trains like an endomorph is likely to overtrain and not grow. The endomorph who thinks He is more mesomorphic will grow, but will always have trouble keeping His body fat down. Certain principles of training are the same for everybody. But how you organise your training and how to integrate it with diet and nutrition can be profoundly different depending on what kind of body type nature has given you.

Ectomorphic Training

The extreme ectomorph's first objective is gaining weight, preferably in the form of quality muscle mass. He will not have the strength and endurance for marathon training sessions, will find that muscle mass develops very slowly, and will often have to force himself to eat enough to ensure continued muscle growth. Therefore, the following recommendations are applied to ectomorphs:

1. Include plenty of power moves for a program that builds maximum mass. Your program should tend toward heavy weight and low reps (in the 6-8 rep range after proper warm-up).


2. Learn to train intensely and make every set count. That way, you can keep your workouts relatively short and still make substantial gains (perhaps 14-16 sets per major body part rather than 16-20). Make sure to get enough rest between sets and give yourself enough time to recuperate between workouts.


3. Pay careful attention to nutrition; take in more calories than you are accustomed to, and if necessary, use weight-gain and protein drinks to supplement your food intake.


4. Remember, you are trying to turn food energy into mass, so be careful not to burn up too much energy with excessive amounts of other activities such as aerobics, running, swimming and other sports. Some cardio exercise is both desirable and necessary for good health, but anyone who spends hours a day expending large amounts of physical energy outside the gym will have a lot more trouble building muscle while in the gym.

To be continued...

Diet Fundamentals: Energy (Part 2)

Continued from Diet Fundamentals: Energy (Part 1)...

At the end of last week's blog, I was talking about Lean Body Mass (LBM) - how to calculate it, it's importance to your training and why you should keep track of it to determine the progress of your exercise regime. One thing that I haven't yet mentioned is how to determine your body fat composition. As this is the crucial element to your LBM calculation, it's worth spending a little time on. Most people now understand that to have a healthier body is to have a leaner body, regardless of muscle-gain and fat-loss objectives.

There are a surprising number of methods to Body Composition Analysis (BCA). Many are entirely impractical for you or I to utilise on a day-to-day basis. However, below are two ways to help determine body fat percentage that are accessible to the average joe, and not Universal Soldiers:

Calipers (Anthropometry - Skinfold Measurements).

Using hand-held calipers that exert a standard pressure, the skinfold thickness is measured at various body locations (3-7 test sites are common). Then a calculation is used to derive a body fat percentage based on the sum of the measurements. The caliper method is based upon the assumption that the thickness of the subcutaneous fat (found just under the skin) reflects a constant proportion of the total body fat (contained in the body cavities, and that the sites selected for measurement represent the average thickness of the subcutaneous fat. Skinfold measurements are made by grasping the skin and underlying tissue, shaking it to exclude any muscle and pinching it between the jaws of the caliper. Duplicate readings are often made at each site to improve the accuracy and reproducibility of the measurements.

Generally speaking, skinfold measurements are easy to do, inexpensive and the method is portable. Overall, results can be very subjective as precision ultimately depends on the skill of the technician and the site measured. The quality of the calipers is also a factor; a constant specified pressure is required. Models available for home use have a tendency to be inaccurate compared to professional versions, and obese subjects prove a challenge, as it is difficult to pinch the skinfold correctly. Bottom line: easily accessible, more of an estimate than a measurement.

BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance)

The only method that is based on measuring something, not estimating anything, is Bio Impedance measuring. BIA is a way of measuring electrical signals as they pass through fat, lean mass, and water in the body. Through laboratory research, we know the actual impedance or conductivity of various tissues in the body, and we know that by measuring current between two electrodes and applying this information to complex proven scientific formulas, accurate body composition can be determined. The fact that the measurement is based on a reading of lean mass and not an estimate of fat mass, lends to a much more comprehensive testing method and results. The good news? BIA scales are becoming increasingly common in gyms and health clubs, although due to the repetitive wear on the equipment, the values should still be used as a guide line. (The last time I tried to measure my body fat percentage, I was at 16% yet I had visible veins in my abs!). Still, regardless if the value is true or not, the consistency in the measurement should still allow you to keep a fairly accurate track of your gains and losses.

Eating And Training

Many young bodybuilders ask for advice about what and when they should eat in relation to their training program. The muscles require an ample supply of blood during training, since a lot of the pump you experience is from blood swelling up your muscles. But if the digestive system is also using excess amount of blood to digest a big meal, there won't be enough to go around and your muscles will suffer for it. When you eat too heavily before training, you are setting up a conflict in the body, a demand for excess blood in too many places at once. This is why your parents were always righ when they told you not to go swimming soon after eating; a lack of adequate blood supply to the muscles used in swimming can lead to problems like severe cramps. Training with a full stomach can be a very unpleasnt experience. You feel bloated, sluggish, and slow, and a really hard setcan make you feel nauseated.

The body metabolises food at different rates. It takes from 2 to 6 hours for the stomach to empty its contents. Foods rich in carbohydrates digest frst, followed by protein foods; fatty foods are the last to leave. When you wake up in the morning and haven't eaten anything for 8 to 12 hours, your body is depleted of carbohydrates. Since carbs are needed to produce the glycogen the muscles need for intense contraction, it makes sense to eat a high-carbohydrate breakfast before going to the gym to train in the morning.

A light meal of fruit, fruit juice, or toast can be eaten before you train and will give you energy without slowing you down. Howver, a breakfast that includes eggs, meat or cheese - all high in protein and fats - will take longer to digest, so you would do better not to eat foods like these before you train.

It is not a good idea to eat a big meal immeadiately after a workout either. You put your body under great stress when you train and you need to give your system time to return to normal, for the blood to leave the muscles and the stress reaction to dimminish. A protein or protein/carb supplement drink after a workout supplies needed nutrition to satisfy the demands created by training in a form that is easy on your digestive system. Check out Explosive Nutrition's range of post-workout products. By the time you shower, get dressed and leave the gym your system will return to a more normal state and you can sit down to a nutritious balanced meal of 'real food'.

To be continued...

Diet Fundamentals: Water, Vitamins & Minerals

Water

Water, a major component of the body, is often overlooked as a vital nutrient. It acts as a means of transportation for the various chemicals in the body's system and is the medium in which the various biochemical reactions among the basic nutrients take place. The body is made up of 40-60% water. Muscle is composed of 72% water by weight, whereas fat weight is only 20-25% water. This means that diets or activities that result in excessive fluid loss have a significant effect on muscle size. Furthermore, without sufficient intake of water, you become dehydrated. Your body begins to retain water to protect itself, and much water is stored subcutaneously (below the skin), which smooths out muscular definition dramatically.

Retained water becomes contaminated because your kidneys can't filter out contaminants properly when you're dehydrated. The liver is then called upon to help process these waste products, which interferes with one of it's main functions, breaking down body fat. So without sufficient water in your body you're likely to end up water-logged, bloated, and obese - which is disastrous for an individual working for maximum muscle definition.

This also leads to problems with sodium. When you're dehydrated, sodium can't be adequately flushed from the body, causing further water retention, and any additional sodium ingested in your diet simply aggravates the problem. For anyone involved in intense exercise, the need for water is at least eight 12-ounce glasses per day. To save you doing the math, allow me:

96 ounces of water = 5 pints (or just under 3 liters)

Some bodybuilders drink even more than this, and I would suggest the above as a minimum. And remember that water in solution doesn't count - you need pure water, not juice, soft drinks, coffee, tea, or some other substitute.

Vitamins

Vitamins are organic substances that the body needs in minute amounts and that we ingest with our foods. Vitamins do not supply energy, nor do they contribute substantially to the mass of the body; rather, they act as catalysts - substances that help to trigger other reactions in the body. The two basic categories of vitamins are water-soluble and fat-soluble. Water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body, and any excess amounts are flushed away in your urine. Fat-soluble vitamins are dissolved and stored in the fatty tissues of the body. It is necessary to take in water-soluble vitamins on a daily basis, but fat-soluble vitamins can be ingested less often.

Water-Soluble Vitamins:

B1 (Thiamin), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic acid), B6 (Pyridoxine), B12 (Cyanocobalamin), Biotin, Folate (Folic acid), Vitamin C (Absorbic acid), Vitamin A (retinol)

Fat-Soluble Vitamins:

Vitamin A, D, E, K

Minerals

Minerals are inorganic substances that contain elements the body needs in relatively small amounts. There are 22 metallic elements in the body, which make up about 4% of total body weight. Minerals are found abundantly in the soil and water of the planet, and are eventually taken in by the root system of plants. We obtain minerals by eating the plants are the animals that eat the plants. If you eat a variety of meats and vegetables in your diet, you can usually depend on getting sufficient minerals. Minerals in the body play an important part in a variety of metabolic processes, and contribute to the synthesis of such chemical compounds as glycogen, protein and fats. Following is a basic guide to the most important minerals the body needs in substantial amounts

Calcium

Essential for strength of bones and teeth. Found in milk products; vegetables such as Kale, turnip greens, and mustard greens; tofu; and seafood such as sardines, clams and oysters. Lack of calcium can cause muscular cramping and, in the long-term, osteoporosis. RDA: 1200mg for males 11-24; 800mg for males 25+ (not to appear sexist)

Phosphorous

A component of every cell, including DNA, RNA and ATP. Found in whole-grain cereals, egg yolks, fish, milk, meat, poultry, legumes, nuts. Essential in the regulation of body pH. RDA: 1200mg for males 11-24; 800mg for males 25+

Magnesium

Present throughout the body, an activator of enzymes involving most processes in the body. Found in green vegetables, legumes, whole-grain cereals, nuts, meat, milk, chocolate. RDA: 400mg for males 15-18; 350mg for males 19+

Sodium

Regulates body fluid levels, involved in activating muscular contraction. Sodium is available in common table salt and in most foods except fruit, particularly in animal foods, seafood, milk and eggs. Excess sodium tends to increase water retention and is associated with elevated blood sugar levels. Lack of sodium can cause muscular weakness and cramping. Personally, I recommend taking in no additional sodium other than what is already found in your food. These days, the old saying "Ignorance is Bliss" has never been more true, but especially with sodium: ALWAYS READ THE FOOD LABEL - the nutritional information of many seemingly healthy foods and meals can reveal a deceptively high amount of sodium. Beware of sauces, soups and marinades in particular. RDA 1,100mg to 3,300mg.

Chlorine

A component of digestive fluids and functions in combination with sodium. Found in table salt, meat, seafood, eggs, milk. RDA: 1,700 to 5,100mg

Potassium

Involved in protein and carbohydrate metabolism, functions inside cell (in combination with sodium outside) to control fluid osmosis. Found in meat, milk, cereals, vegetables, fruits, legumes. Deficiency can result in muscular weakness. RDA: 1, 875mg to 5,625mg

Sulphur

Needed for synthesis of essential metabolites. Found in protein foods such as meat, seafood, milk, eggs, poultry, cheese, legumes. No RDA recommendation.

Other minerals are important to the body, but at levels of only a trace amount per day. These include: Iron, zinc, copper, Iodine, manganese, Fluoride, Molybdenum, Cobalt, Selenium, Chromium.