As much as I would love to give you a definitive answer to the question, I can’t. For as much as I have read and researched the subject, I haven’t been able to find any concrete conclusions (as with many similar topics). This is because no research can really be done where the test subjects are identical. Even if you are testing the same person, their body will change day to day, hour to hour so the amount of protein the body will be able to absorb will be different. For example, you will be able to absorb more protein right after a workout than if you have been sedentary. Luckily, we have been able to get it down to some general numbers that have shown to be pretty accurate.

There are some rules of thumb to follow that have been created that I generally recommend to people. For males, it is usually said that we can absorb around 40 grams at a time. As I said earlier, if you just finished a workout your body will have a higher demand for protein, as compared to you being sedentary. Your body weight and level of workout intensity will also play a role in protein absorption. If you are a serious lifter, you should aim to get around 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight, per day. So if you weight 170lbs, you should be getting 204 grams of protein per day into your system. Post-workout you need to get anywhere between 25-40 grams of a complete protein source. If you pass your upper limit for the amount of protein that can be absorbed, you will just pee the leftover amino acids out.

Females are usually in the 20-25 grams of protein range for the amount that they can absorb at once. They typically weight less than males and have less muscle mass, so not as much as required for females. Something that females especially need to pay attention to when raising their protein intake is their calcium intake. Your kidneys must expend calcium in order to digest protein, so a high protein diet will have you burning through more calcium than usual.

Supplements are a really tricky subject for a number of reason, one of which (caffeine) you addressed in your Tweet. There is definitely a huge mental aspect that comes with taking supplements and it is impossible to tell how much of a placebo effect occurs. A lot of people get excited because of a new supplement and that excitement alone may be enough to allow them to have a much better workout than before. Also, many of the supplements similar to N.O. Xplode have a ton of sugar and caffeine in them which will rev your body up no matter what. Having more energy means that you are lifting more intensely which will result in muscular gains.I have at least tried out just about every type of strength/size supplement and will say that some of them definitely work.  Than again I have taken some that have showed me no significant results at all.

The vast majority of supplements are never tested by a third party so the supplement companies can put just about any statements they want to on a label.  They are also not regulated by the FDA, so really they can get away with whatever they want. Since they don’t do third party testing you really cant say whether or not the claims are true and really if any of the ingredients really mean anything. Most supplements use what is called a “blend” which mixes a few different chemicals together. This is usually their “secret formula” and is the main ingredient in the supplement. The problem is that the blend can be 90% sugar and only 10% of whatever else they are claiming is in it.  So if you look at this label below, the main ingredient which accounts 18,000 mg is the “N.O. Xplod Proprietary Blend” and it doesn’t even tell you what is in that. Something that tips me right off the bat is how they try to deceive you into thinking it works by throwing a big number at you like 18,000 mg. Why can’t they just say 18 grams like it truly is? These are the kinds of things to look at when shopping around for supplements.

When it comes down to it I will advise you to do a few things. The first is to try some different supplements out for yourself and see which ones you like. The reason there are so many supplements out there is because some people swear by one brand while others swear by another. Since there is no real scientific data stating that one is supreme, we will never really know which brand is better. Another thing you need to do is realize that just about all of those supplements are pumping some not so great chemicals into your body. These supplements taste terrible naturally so they pump a lot of artificial flavors into them to make them taste better. Its your call on whether or not you mind putting those chemicals into you, just be aware of them.

There are a few brands that I like and will recommend, but it is strictly from my experience with them. The first is anything by BioTest. From a product development standpoint I think they have a lot of really smart guys working together to create these products. They get a little corny with the way they pump their products to you, but all in all I think they are one of the better companies. The other company is EAS. While they don’t have as many products as some other companies, they are one of the few that does third party testing. They are NSF certified which basically means that all of their products are approved for use with NFL athletes. In my personal experience with N.O. Xplode, I felt that it worked well but it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. When it comes down to it, nothing beats hard work.

This is a great question because I feel like millions of people have the same one. Losing weight and improving physique are two different things that go with each other hand in hand. You can lose weight and not have such a great physique, but in order to accomplish a great physique, you will likely need to lose weight. Either way there is really only one way to go about it. If you just simply do cardio, you will for sure lose weight but getting a nice physique will not necessarily come along with that. At the same time if you need to lose weight, weight training will not be the absolute best option for you. This is why I like to combine aspects of both into workouts, in order to accomplish the overall goal of leaning out and looking good.

You can do this in a number of ways, but there are a few different workouts systems that I like to use in order to accomplish the goal. They all involve different types of “metabolic training” which is the best way to lose weight and turn fat into muscle. My favorite system is something I made up called Cx3 (for lack of a better term). This stands for cardio, complex and core. You basically pick one type of cardio exercise, one type of complex (which I will explain in a minute) and one type of core exercise. You put the three exercises together and make a circuit out of it, going from one exercise to the next until you finish all three of them. For cardio, you should pick an exercise that will get your heart rate up really high in one minute or less. This can be running on a treadmill at an incline, jumping up and down or using my favorite tool, the Versa Climber. The important thing is just to get the heart rate up and keep it there for about 30 seconds before moving on. Then from there you will go right into a set of complex’s. Complex’s are a group of individual exercises strung together and done one right after the next. You might be thinking “Isn’t that circuit training?” and in a way it is, but there is one key element which is different. A complex must be done with either a barbell or dumbbells. During the complex circuit, you will never put down the bar or dumbbells in between each exercise. Every exercise should be done as quickly and aggressively as possible. So for example, I like to do a complex with an upright row, snatch, shoulder press, bent over row and another snatch. You will do 6-8 reps of each one moving from one to the next immediately, until all exercises are complete. This will sent your heart rate through the roof and get you a total body workout going on. The final stage is just picking your favorite core exercise and doing about 20 reps of that. Then you rest for amount of time as possible and repeat 2-6 times.

Examples of all the exercises that make up a Complex:

Upright Row

Snatch

Shoulder Press

Bent Row

This workout is highly effective because you are challenging yourself in both in cardiovascular and muscular standpoint, which will help you lose weight and exchange some fat for muscle. Another great thing is that the Cx3 workout is so intense and you are accomplishing so much at once that you can actually get a great workout in, in a lot less time.

When it comes down to it, the important thing is to get the heart rate up, challenge your muscles and take as little rest as possible. Doing so will allow you to accomplish your goals in a shorter amount of time.

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Great questions, I think a lot of people operate under that same assumption. The answer is yes and no depending on what you consider a fat belly. If you just want to be skinny than just don’t eat a ton and you really don’t have to workout. On the other hand if you want to actually have abs than you will need to incorporate some exercise. Either way exercise will make getting and keeping a flat belly easier because you will be burning more calories than if you don’t exercise.

Another issue here is what you consider to be the right foods. Everyone has a different idea of what foods are healthy and what foods aren’t. If you are not doing any exercise at all than you will need to make sure the foods you eat are actually the healthy type.

Sorry to not give you a definitive answer but the body is a crazy machine and a lot of questions about it can not be answered definitively. If you have any more questions on the subject please comment below and I’ll be glad to answer them.

This topic is up for a lot of debate, but I am a huge fan of nuts. The assortment you are eating is good because each one has different health properties that will benefit you. One thing I will say is to eat nuts that are most composed of monounsaturated fats. Those are the most heart healthy fats and your body can break them down easier.

One thing to keep in mind is that one gram of fat equals 9 calories, while one gram of carbohydrates or protein equals 4 calories. This is where you might get in trouble just because each gram of fat is double that of protein or carbs. This makes nuts typically higher in calories compared to the serving size, so it is easier to take down a bunch of calories even though you don’t feel like you ate a bunch.

Another positive to nuts is the amount of good carbs and protein that is in them. You are looking at a low carb snack with some fiber in it and a decent amount of protein. Considering that my diet is typically much higher in fat content than your average American, I am obviously a fan of the nutritional make up of nuts. Good amount of good fats, fiber and protein is always a plus.

Another topic that is up for a lot of debate, but a general rule of thumb is a gram per two pounds of body weight. So if you weight 120 pounds you should be getting around 60 grams of protein per day. For serious athletes and people who exercise a ton, it has been recommended to get around 1.2 grams per two pounds of body weight.

You also can break it down into percentages based on your diet. If you are following a 60/20/20 (carbs/protein/fat) diet which is typical for our culture than you can look at it in as a percentage. So if you are getting 1,500 calories per day and want to eat 20% protein, that would be 75 grams of protein per day.

One thing that is important especially for women is to make sure you are consuming more calcium if your protein intake increases. The more protein in your system, the more calcium your body requires.

I used the 5×5 as an example in that article because it is one of my favorite set/rep schemes for people. If you are a beginner lifter the 5×5 may not be great for you quite yet but as long as you have been lifting for about a year consistantly you should be alright. 5×5 is essentially doing 5 sets of 5 reps of a given exercise. I recommend doing this with your primary lifts (squat, bench, rows, pull ups, dead lifts, etc).

The idea is that you will still be getting in enough volume (overall reps) to get some muscle growth going but you will also be getting much stronger. Sticking with a lower rep count (such as 5) you will be able to recruit your larger muscle fibers and actually become much stronger. As I was saying in the article, you have to get a solid base of strength before you get into a high rep, hypertrophy phase.

You dont have to stick with the 5×5 but anything between 4-6 sets and 3-8 reps is a good range to stick with. The weight you use should be heavy and by the last rep of each set you should be able to move the weight with a little more than half the speed of your first rep. In other words, you shouldn’t be failing on the last rep but definitely struggling. This will build lasting muscle. Take a week off and you won’t have to worry about shrinking.

For me and a lot of my clients looking to increase calories, I always recommend two things. One is to start drinking some more protein shakes and the other is to take in more good fats. The protein shakes are a great way to increase calories without really filling yourself up or struggling to choke down a meal. Since you are Vegan I would recommend getting some hemp or brown rice protein. Soy protein is a popular choice for vegans but I am not a big fan of it. For one, vegans typically get an overload of soy in their diet in the first place. Hemp protein has all 21 amino acids including the 9 essential amino acids that are critical to get on a daily basis.

The idea of eating more fats will bring you more than two times the calories per gram, compared to carbs or protein. Every gram of fat yields 9 calories as opposed to 4 calories from carbs and protein. It is easy to get over 100 calories with a tablespoon of olive oil or a handful of nuts. These fats are crucial and healthy for you to eat, so if you are looking to increase calories in a healthy way fat is a good option.

There is a big difference from one carb to another, just the way there is a big difference from one fat to another. Fried foods are high in fat that is terrible for you but other foods like olive oil are high in fat and healthy for you. The same goes with carbs. Typically foods that are high in sugary carbs are the ones you want to avoid. The foods that are high in fibrous carbs are the ones that you want to ingest. Fiber does wonders for you heart, colon and metabolism. It actually helps regulate the rate at which foods get digested in your system. Since sugar is typically broken down extremely fast, make sure that you always have fiber if you are eating something high in sugar. If not you are liable to spike your blood sugar levels which will cause insulin to drive the broken down sugar to the fat cells. Here it is stored as fat. Anyone who is looking to keep their weight under control or look lean should pay close attention to how much and when they eat fat.

Jim, I honestly had never heard of the E.S.E diet before you mentioned it to me. With so many diets out there it is hard for me to keep up with every single one. I did a brief Google search about it and saw that it is basically based on fasting for two days per week. The reasoning here is that you will essentially not eat the typical 1,000-2,000 calories that you would  normally eat, causing you to lose weight. Right off the top of my head I see a ton of issues with this. The first is that you will slow down you metabolism. Not eating for an entire day puts your body in the “survival” mindset. Since you in essence will be starving yourself, your body freaks out and thinks that you are actually starving and can’t find food. This causes it to naturally slow the metabolism down and attempt to store whatever calories you have in the system for energy.

Another issue is what you do right after you come off of the fast. People that are starving tend to eat a huge meal when they finally get their hands on food. I don’t know about you, but if I didn’t eat for an entire day I would be crushing food the next day. All of the calories you have saved from the fasting day will be made up in the next day or two. That combined with a slowed metabolism can put you in a bad situation. On top of that your blood sugar levels will be so low from the fast that anything you eat will send those sky high, which will place the calories you just ate in an inopportune place (fat cells).

The third problem that I have is who wants to starve for a day? Your stomach will be pissed at you and your energy levels will be near zero by the end of the day. It is just not a sustainable diet and it really makes no sense to me. I am sure people have seen results from it but the question you need to ask yourself before getting into a diet like this is can you really handle it? I know I couldn’t.

I am a big fan of eating every few hours. It keeps me energized, happy, keeps my metabolism constantly working and my blood sugar levels regulated.

Thank you guys for all of your questions, they were great. If anyone has some thing to add, please leave a comment and we can further discuss.

Awesome question, a lot of my nutritional focus lately has actually been on sugar and the affects that it has on our bodies. When it comes down to it everything we put in our bodies gets broken into its simplest form. Most fruits and veggies are composed of a combination of fructose, sucrose (table sugar) and glucose. My point here is that the sucrose found in food such as a beet is the same as table sugar. The major difference is what else is in that beet. If you have 10g of straight table sugar, it is pretty much straight up sucrose, which will cause your blood sugar to raise dramatically. If you get 10g of sucrose from eating beets, your body will have a different reaction because of things such as fiber and protein which are found in a beet. One cup of beets has 4g of fiber and 9g of sugar. This fiber will help keep the blood sugar and insulin levels in check and slow down the digestion of the sugar in the beet. That is the major difference between the sugar in fruit and the difference in manufactured sweets such as cake.

I know that was a lot of nerdy science talk, but when it comes down to it you should not be weary of the amount of sugar in fruits or veggies. The fruits all have some fiber, which will help regulate the reaction the sugar has in the body. On top of that most fruits and veggies are still low in sugar. If you look at the beet it only has 9g of sugar for a whole cup. Compare that will a lot of other high sugar foods that aren’t fruits and vegetables and you are getting a lot more bang for your buck. Plus all of the other nutritional bonuses such as the vitamins and minerals are essential.

If you are really concerned, just back off of fruit as the evening hits. Most veggies are really low in sugar and high in fiber. Otherwise don’t worry about it, eat away.

Yoga is tricky because there are now so many different types of yoga that you can do. Some yoga is now meant to truly be a workout and make you leave feeling exhausted, while others are meant more for meditation and relaxation. Lifting four days per week and doing yoga on your days off is not a problem if you are taking the right class. I would recommend a regular beginner or intermediate Vinyasa class. This will help you stretch and the breathing techniques you focus on will help the muscles get oxygen and blood which is a major factor in recovery.

Go ahead and take a yoga class or two per week on top of your weight training and I don’t think you should see any problems. Yoga will be nothing but a benefit as long as you’re taking care of the other aspects such as hydration, good diet and sleep. Don’t get into doing any crazy yoga that is meant to be a hard workout such as power yoga. I don’t have a problem with them individually, but that combined with 4 days of lifting may be too much. Doing yoga on your days off should be a stretch and relaxation focus that leaves you feeling energized.

Love this question! Anyone who follows me on Twitter can likely tell that I am a big music fan. I actually have a workout playlist on my iPod that I listen to during workouts. My taste in music scatters all over the board so I go from indie rock, to hip-hop, to classic rock and a lot of other stuff that falls in between. The rock is usually bands such as The Black Keys, Dead Weather, Band of Skulls, Ghostland Observatory, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and Radio Moscow. I also jam to hip hop like Lupe Fiasco, J-Cole, Lil Wayne and Kid Cudi. I also like to give love to the oldies and thrown in some Hendrix, Zeppelin and The Police. As long as its up beat and has a good rhythm going on I’m happy. I never hear my music while I’m actually performing a set but it’s good to have to keep the energy going in between sets.

You might find this a little odd but my cardio sessions are now consumed with audiobooks. I never thought I would be able to listen to an audiobook during a workout but discovered lately that I can run for days when listening to them. I guess it takes my mind off the task at hand and just lets me think about what I am listening to. I am not a huge fan of cardio, so anything that takes my mind off of it makes me happy. I just finished a good audiobook about Google called “Inside Larry and Sergey’s Brain”. About to get into a giant audiobook by Ayn Rand called “Atlas Shrugged” I’m excited to get into it.

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Leave a response at the bottom of the article,

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Awesome question! I might just be saying that because this one is really easy for me to answer. Ultimately a (protein rich) shake is your best bet after a workout or run. The liquid form of the protein allows your body to digest it easily and put it to work for protein synthesis to occur. Your cells will be able to actively get to work on the amino acids, create protein and deliver it to the damaged muscles. Typically you only need around 30 grams of protein post-workout for a male and around 20 grams for a female.

Pound A Shake

A protein shake isn’t just about putting protein powder and water in a shaker bottle and slamming it down. If you can, you should put a few other ingredients to make it a great recovery shake. Depending on your goals there are a number of things you want to add into the shake. Your protein powder likely has pretty much just protein and around 5 grams of carbs at the max. The carbs are essential for getting a little insulin spike which will speed up the rate at which the protein gets to the muscles. So add some fruit to get some extra carbs. The fruit will also bring in some antioxidants which are beneficial in fighting some of the toxins that are in your system after a workout. Also, I like cinnamon in my shakes to help regulate insulin a little better and some natural nut butter, mostly for flavoring. If you want to lose weight, leave out the nut butter. If you are looking to gain a little weight, keep the nut butter and even throw in some coconut oil or olive oil.

Grab A Meal

Alright enough about the shakes. Some people can’t slam shakes down and like to eat something after a meal. The key is to get a solid protein source and a little bit of a fast acting carbohydrate. You can check the insulin chart at the bottom of this article to see what is fast acting. Stick to something that is rated in the 80 range. I used to give my athletes that wouldn’t drink shakes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so even that will work.

The great thing is that you have a little more leniency with what you eat after a workout. You body is primed to take the nutrients from the food and put them to work in a good way. That’s not the right to go eat whatever you want but if your faced with the situation, it’s better to eat something than not to eat at all. Just try to get some source of protein rich food in you within an hour after you workout, the sooner the better.

I hope that helped answer your question. Any more questions please comment at the bottom of this post.

The Good

Not being a vegetarian, it’s a little harder for me to answer this realistically because I am not faced with the same problem each day. But I think I can still come up with some good answers for you. The easiest route is to go buy some protein powder and start to get creative with it. If you are vegan and don’t want to buy whey protein, look for brown rice or hemp protein. Start to add a scoop to your yogurt, oatmeal or anything else that looks like it could use some protein powder. Also, drinking a shake or two a day with some nut butter, it will help raise the protein count.

Lentils are a crazy good source of protein (~18g per serving) and can be thrown in salads, soups, rice or eaten all alone. Also, almonds, cashews and other nuts are a really really good source as well. You can also use different beans in your meals to add not only protein but fiber too. If you start to make lentils, nuts and beans a part of your daily food intake, you will be alright.

The Bad

Obviously dairy is high in protein, but I am not a huge fan of it because most of it is from grain fed cows (see here for more info) . If you like dairy, than you can get some good protein sources and avoid high fat from yogurt, cottage cheese or skim milk.

I also am not a huge fan of the soybean so would keep soy or tofu consumption to a minimum. This may be a crazy theory, but I think in the next 10 or so years we are going to discover the health harms harm of our current soybeans. Around 90% of the soybeans today were grown using the same patented soybean. That soybean was engineered by scientist and is basically cloned a billion times over, giving us the exact same soybean every time we eat them. Patented food doesn’t seem right to me, so I choose to dodge them any chance I get. If you still choose to eat soy, tofu will net you a good amount of protein if you substitute a serving size of meat (around 3 oz) for a service size of tofu.

The main thing for a vegetarian or vegan it to remember to get a good serving of protein each time you eat. A meat eater can get 30-40 grams of protein out of one steak or chicken packed meal, you will have a hard time getting that much protein out of one meal. The answer to that is to make sure each meal has a protein rich food in it. Even though you will never be able to get much more than 20 grams of protein out of a meal, each meal will add up and allow you to meet you protein goals for the day.

Again, any questions or comments please submit below.

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I encourage any questions or comments, please:

Leave a response at the bottom of the article,

E-mail me personally at jfontana@shadowfit.com

or Tweet me @johnnyfontana on Twitter