How do I do it?

I was thinking about the myriad of questions I get on “how” do I use my Isagenix nutritional products in my training for the purpose of building muscle. First, if I am to talk about how I use these systems for staying lean, healthy and muscular, then I probably should talk about “how” I first set the stage for being lean, healthy and muscular. If you have followed me long enough you probably have heard me say, exercise doesn’t build muscle, our diet and sleep build muscles, but exercise does “stimulate” muscles to become stronger, bigger and more coordinated. So what about exercise, if we are going to push the body to change, what are we using to drive that process? If we look at activities like boot camps, aerobic classes like Zumba, what we have mainly is “gross motor activities” which means our entire body is being subjected to the stress of exercise. Boot Camps may involve running, jumping (aka burpees) push-ups, and a variety of planking type exercises, so over all a good general workout. Zumba, though I have never tried it personally, would seem to be a great lower body and trunk workout, with a lesser emphasis on upper body. So can these activities build muscle? To a degree, yes, boot camps would probably be more apt provide the stress necessary to start creating muscle, but there would be an adaption curve not before too long and we would continue to improve our conditioning, lean out more perhaps, but not likely to continue to add lean muscle.

Aerobic classes like Zumba provide an element of cardio, coordination, and lower body stress that would improve tone, but not likely to create too much muscle (though a deconditioned person may see some increase in the short term). The challenge we face is that when people desire to get into shape, they often have a few regions of the body they wish to alter, lower body fat levels and increase muscle tone and size, and “gross motor activities” or full body training classes will probably not get us there. When I train myself, and my clients through my online program, I have a very specific intention when I set the reps, the sets and the flow of exercises. Targeted training that provides repetitive stress to a muscle (hamstring) or a series of muscles (back) is more likely to induce changes in tone and an increase in size than group training exercises. The body’s main goal is to make things easier by involving as many muscles as it can draw into the exercise, which diminishes the localized stress required to induce local changes in strength and size. The other consideration that is rarely a consideration for most, including most trainers, is that what is weak generally stays weak (inhibited) and what is currently strong and tight will become more so (facilitated), UNLESS you choose specific exercise that will target the weaker muscles and force them into play. For example, a lower back and hamstrings will often overpower a weak set of glutes, so you would need to slow down and focus on making sure your glutes are working. So you need to 1) be targeted in your approach to your exercise selection 2) be able to provide enough over load to adequately fatigue the muscle(s) so it is forced to adapt 3) and provide adequate recovery through sleep and diet.

 Let me talk about #3 for a minute. So a typical training session for me would have me move approx 90 to 100,000 lb of total weight per 45 to 60 minute session, (have you ever calculated your training volume, you should). To get ready for that type of training day 8 hours of sleep would be ideal (and I do not always get that, but I do strive for it) so my nervous system is rested and ready to go. I start my morning with an espresso and a glass of water and four Brain Boost (antioxidant formula for the brain) and two Product B (high powered antioxidant). My pre-workout meal is an Isalean Pro with two tbsp of coconut oil. I add the oil as I need the extra calories, my body goes through the energy quickly as well as I can also use the oil as a rapid source of fuel without any changes in my insulin levels. I use AMPED Power as well pre workout as it is a vasodilator, bring more blood to working muscles and rapidly shuttling away waste products. I use e-shots as well, but try and use the on back and leg days only as I don’t like getting used to using them or “needing” them to train, just a mental thing for me. During my workout I have my water bottle filled with AMPED Hydrate and AMPED Recover, so I have both support of my bodies electrolyte balance and amino acids that help keep my body blood sugar stable during my work out. Post training, generally within about 20 minutes, right after stretching, I have two scoops of Isapro (straight protein for muscle repair), I scoop of Ionix (for the homeostatic rebalancing) 2 scoops of greens (nutrient support for recovery and moderate glucose replenishment), and then about 45 minutes later I have an Isalean Pro, and then about two hours later I have a small meal that is approx. 50% fat, 30% to 40% protein and 20% to 10% carbohydrate. I normally have higher fat meals not for any other reason than my blood sugar drops quickly and a higher fat diet controls it (don’t go Keto on me here) My carbohydrates are generally non-starchy 80 to 90% of the time. I normally have two shakes with the added fat, a cup of mixed nuts, an avocado before dinner, and dinner is most often a huge salad with 9 oz of protein, and a good portion of fat as well. I don’t follow a ridged schedule as I don’t desire to be controlled by my diet, but I am very instinctive about how I eat. Lastly, about 7:00 pm I have a shake with 2 scoops of protein and greens and try to make that my last meal of the day, giving myself about 12 hours without food, putting myself into a partial fasting state nightly. Just for the record, I do use the Isagenix meal replacement bars frequently if I am out of the house, though I prefer the shakes, and I try and switch out my Isalean Pro shakes for the nondairy shakes and add Isapro to them to drive up the protein content. I do this as I found that due to the amount of dairy I consume my stomach be not happy with me if I don’t vary it up a bit. Because of the tremendous benefit I derived from using the Isagenix systems, I built it into my online training platform. When you find something as good as this, you run with it.

When I designed my online program, Factor 3, the goal was fill in the blanks for my clients with my background in orthopedic rehab so that we could manage all the necessary aspects of what it took to develop strength, size, and most importantly, reduce the risk of injury. If we use the illustration of a laborer and a journeyman carpenter, both work hard, put in the same hours in effort, but the laborer moves things around without any foresight of what the end result will be, just putting out effort without focus, and the carpenter has a specific task in mind, knows how to use the tools, and the end of each day accomplishes something “specifically” for their effort. Which one are you, the laborer or the carpenter? Considering the high failure rate, most are simply “laboring” in the gym, their classes, hoping that something good comes out on the other side. If you made it this far into my article, congratulations, you are one of the few who have the ability to focus long enough to figure things out. If you know what your objective is for your health and fitness, then find something (fitness modality) wherein you see people getting the results you want and there is enough support during your journey to keep you on track. At the end of the day, diet and nutrition can be complicated and daunting for the average consumer, so go with what makes sense to you and test it out. If it fits the bill and you are moving closer to your fitness goals, awesome, if not, change it (as long as you are doing the work) Remember, the most important project you can work on is you!