The MuscleTalker - Issue 73 (May 2008)

Welcome Lord Monkcheese to the moderator team. Lord Monkcheese has been a popular member for a few years and will now help run the General forum and some of the training sections. Welcome to the team!

The new Weight Loss forum is proving popular with the non-bodybuilders who regularly use MT. Post your diet queries for fat loss, as well as in depth weight loss discussion topics including weight loss drugs, supplements and different types of diets.

New articles, interviews and reports in April:
- A Beginners Guide and
- As Simple as it Gets
are both excellent new articles aimed at beginners and can be found in our new articles sub-section Bodybuilding Beginners
- Supplements of Yesteryear - a review of supplements used in the past
- Eating Clean - What does it Mean? with tips and recipes

See our past articles through the Bodybuilding Articles link, which categorises all our main articles and past newsletters contributions.

MuscleTalk Training T-shirts!

*** Best wishes from James Collier and The MuscleTalk team! ***

See you at www.MuscleTalk.co.uk

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*** Negative Calories ***
By James Collier BSc (Hons) RNutr - MuscleTalk Co-Owner and Nutrition Consultant

The theory of negative calories is not a new one. Some very fibrous vegetables, like celery and lettuce, are very low calorie and it is claimed by some that the energy cost of actually chewing, digesting and then absorbing these foods, is higher than the actual amount of energy they provide. So, following this theory, the net result would actually be negative calories thus helping to lose weight.

However, this theory is flawed, and here's why. We all have the so called 'good' bacterial flora living in our gut, which live in symbiosis with us, i.e. we help them and they help us. The term dietary fibre refers to all the polysaccharides, i.e. complex carbohydrates, which humans are unable to digest as we do not have the correct enzymes to do so (the only natural polysaccharide we can digest is starch). Some of these gut bacteria living in our small intestine can actually digest and process some of the polysaccharide fibre into mono- and disaccharides (simple carb) which we are then able to absorb, metabolise and use for energy.

Obviously this is only a tiny amount of energy produced, but it is roughly equal to the amount of calories which we use in the digestion fibrous foods. So the cost of digesting celery and lettuce would be about equal to that which the gut flora produce from fibre foods, leaving the real energy value being the actual amount that it does provide in calories. Obviously this is an approximation as calorie counting has a huge variance anyway, and factors like how much you chew your food would be significant with these small values.

Not that I want to put you off your fibrous salad veg though! Far from it. I'm just explaining the flaws with the 'negative calorie' theory. Remember, there are huge health benefits from consuming veg like celery, especially as the calorie value is very low anyway and they are useful 'fill up' foods to stop you getting hungry and snacking. So enjoy your veg!

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*** Benching Four Plates a Side ***
By Steve Gardener aka MT Member Mobster of www.wheyconsortium.co.uk

Those of you paying very close attention to my training log will have seen my close grip bench press slowly but surely increase over the weeks and months I've been working on it. Several weeks ago we had one of those post workout natters wherein we decided there are not enough events late in the year, combining it with an excuse for a pint; we were invited down for a chance to break some personal bests (PBs). I set mine, after umming and ahhing, to the two hand pinch and the close grip bench press.

I started out doing a little background research on some of the 10 and 12 week 'improve your bench' type programs. Add a little peek at one of my Westside Barbell videos and some more tricks and tips of the trade and I thought I was ready. Well the whole 'work the percentages' thing did not work for me at all. 4-5 weeks of starting at 60% and increasing, etc was wasted. I quickly went back to my usual 'do what it takes to get 140kg' and the worked from there upwards.

The basic program I am currently following is split in two. A max weight session and a speed / groove session.

• Max weight
  20kg a side x 8 reps, 40kg a side x 8 reps, 60kg a side x 1 rep then work in proper steps to the max weight of the day. Once I am there I do 3 singles with it
• Speed / groove
  This session follows the exact same framework to the 140kg mark and then using about 15kg less than my all out max from the max weight session, I do 8 singles with it. The 'trick' if there is one is to bring the bar down slow and then, as fast as possible, press it back up. The combination of repeatedly using a sub maximal weight is where the groove part first comes in. Then you have practicing a perfect set up each (neural pattern reinforcement and or so-called learned response) and every time and then finally the fast pressing works different muscle fibre types than a slower moving bar.

  I've used this for some time and new ones as well as more recently a bunch of the tricks of the trade. Examples are:

• A lung full of air
  Anyone seeing me go for a max sees me stretching up to the bar and puffing loads of air into my lungs. This gives me a full feeling in the chest and has the added benefit of shortening, by an inch maybe, the distance to press.
• Perfect set up
  I follow the same set up: feet set, etc for each and every max set. You leave nothing to chance.
• Close grip (works for me - you will need to find your best spacing)
  Years of wider grip benching meant I used to get serious discomfort in my shoulders. A change to a narrower grip suited me so well I passed my old normal grip PB shortly after.
• Locking the shoulder blades in place
  I make sure they are nice and flat and feel solid on the bench pad. This is where you are pushing from as much as anywhere.
• Back work
  Rows, pullovers or indeed any upper back thickener helps with the push point (see above)
• Tricep work
  Obvious really, but thicker arms equals better benching.
• Feet properly anchored to the floor
  Newbies allow their feet to flutter all over the place when benching and while I will never be flexible enough to tuck my heels under me arse as some benchers now do I do make sure the shoes and my feet are solidly planted on the floor. This is the other place you push from after back.
• No suicide grip
  For mugs only. Indeed squeeze the bar like a mutha and you'll lift better!
• A good bench
  We have one which I do not like. Being long armed its uprights are too low for me to pick up from and so I much prefer to bench using our adjustable bench in our power rack. If you read up on the very best benches they are around 10-12 inches across, 4 feet long and solid and unmoving. Depending on where the bar comes down, or the groove, the position of the uprights is also important.
• Eyes under the bar, etc
  Either after hand off if spotted, or in the rack if lifting yourself you want the bar at eye level. It then comes down at a shallow angle to the lower part of the chest. Those using shirts exaggerate this even more as many shirts are built for this kind of lifting. Straight up and down is more bodybuilding style, the groove style is all power.
• Mind
  As always your desire, hunger and passion to hit the target are as important as any tip. The stuff that goes through my mind at 100mph just before a lift all help me do what I've set out for.

Well done to Steve for hitting the milestone of 180kg on the bench press!

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*** Food of the Month - Quark ***
By James Collier BSc (Hons) RNutr - MuscleTalk Co-Owner and Nutrition Consultant

Quark is also known as topfen or sometimes simply as 'white cheese'. It is a type of curd cheese made by letting lactic acid bacteria ferment milk. And yes, it is a great muscle building food becoming increasingly popular in bodybuilding diet plans. The reason why it is so good is that it is a very high protein food, with over 14g protein per 100g and as a typical portion size is 200-250g, you can see that quark easily provides sufficient protein for one meal or snack. The principle protein is the milk protein casein (about 80%), making it a great slow released protein source for your bedtime feed.

Quark originated from central Europe and the name is derived from German. It is soft, white and unaged making it spreadable and similar to cream cheese. The bacteria species mesophilic lactococcus are added to milk to make an acid culture to precipitate the proteins. Rennet is added to help the texture and most of the whey is removed. Traditionally, this is done by hanging the cheese in loosely woven cotton gauze and letting the whey drip off, which gives quark its distinctive shape of a wedge with rounded edges. However as quark is being more popular it is now being produced more commercially where the cheese is separated from whey in a centrifuge and later formed into blocks.

Quark is suitable for vegetarians and is also high in the minerals calcium and phosphate. Carbohydrate content is quite low at 5.3g per 100g and there is zero fat. Quark can be purchased from any good supermarket or health food shop, and as it is quite bland in itself, it is often flavoured with herbs and spices or fruit. It can be spread onto breads and biscuits, eaten with salads or as a side to a main meal, blended with other ingredients to make high protein smoothies or simply eaten with a spoon as a snack.

Quark is a great muscle food - give it a try!

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** Informed Bodybuilding Nutrition eBook by James Collier - the ULTIMATE nutrition bible for bodybuilding.
For more information click here:
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*** MT Powerlifting Totals Competition ***
By boar - MuscleTalk Pro-Member
See: www.muscletalk.co.uk/fb.aspx?m=1083082

Greetings MuscleTalkers!

April saw MT's favourite powerlifter Fatpete defend his BWLA 125kg+ M2 British title at Birmingham. By his own admission Pete did not have the best of days, but after failing his opening two squats he showed a level head under pressure and nailed the 3rd lift! Pete finished with 292.5/190/260 for a 742.5kg total; well done Fatpete!

The North West Counties Unequipped Powerlifting Championship was held the week after the British and Pro-member Dr.Rick popped his 'full meet' cherry with 175/150/220 for a 445kg total; Rick is said to have enjoyed his first outing and is already planning the next one for June! Keep up the good work Rick!

Long term MT wag and Pro-member DaKensta updated his totals in the MT powerlifting table with impressive lifts 200/150/230 = total 580kg @ 98.1kg! Awesome work mate, not far to 600kg! That's RAW too...

Keep the lifts coming and stay strong MTers.

Boar

** Also check out the Test your Mettle... What's your best? competition - open to all MuscleTalk members, just for fun so please join in!

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** IMPROVE YOUR GRIP with 'Grippers - Getting the most from your gripper'. The informative ebook from grip champion Steve Gardener tells you how to use your gripper more effectively to improve your performance in your sport:
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*** Recipe - Choc Peanut Cookies ***
By Nicole Bremner, Recipe Consultant and MT Moderator

Taken from Muscle Menus 2

** Ingredients
2 scoops chocolate protein powder
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ cup sugar substitute
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
½ cup double cream
2 eggs

** Method
Heat oven to 180°C. Grease a cookie tray. Combine all dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl combine peanut butter, cream and eggs until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Form cookies and place on tray. Cook for 7 minutes until lightly browned.

** Information
Makes 12 cookies. Per cookie: 118kcal, 8g protein, 2g carbs, 9g fat, 1g fibre.

More great bodybuilding recipes can be found in the eBooks 'Muscle Menus', 'Muscle Menus 2', 'Muscle Menus Vegetarian' and Muscle Menus Shakes, Bars and Smoothies

*** DVD Review - Dennis Wolf: The Beginning ***
Review by James Collier, MuscleTalk Co-Owner

Available here

Last year Dennis Wolf was the newest big name in pro bodybuilding, and this, his first DVD, was released. It's just not an enjoyable DVD and even Dennis' lovely physique cannot save it.

The film starts with Dennis talking in German, with English subtitles, but the subtitles are very poorly translated, and at times they do not make grammatical sense. However this part is a short introduction to Dennis and how he moved through his early competitive career to become an IFBB pro. The majority of the film is Dennis training, and it's simply him in the gym, discussing his training. It's really quite boring, though his in-between-sets posing is admirable; the guy is enormous!

There are also a couple of extras, some of Dennis posing, but with no music, due to copyright! So it's quite dull here too.

The film is made by a German company and certainly lacks the professionalism of a Mitsuru Okabe bodybuilding DVD. It's 140 mins long and only really for die hard bodybuilding or Wolf fans.

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