Double Dragon Nutrition

Playing the nutritional platform game and the battle of iifym and clean eating!

to track or not to track that is the question.

Ok you know me i think tracking macros is juuust great, its the closest we can get to ultimate control of our own physique.

but that doesn't mean it is for everyone and it doesn't mean i do it all the time.

Many will question you, "yo, you track macro's or you a clean eater?" - like its some religious cult.

Hey don't be married to your diet and don't be a zealot to one way!

use what works.

“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup.
When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”

water has principles but it also has flexibility.

there is always more than one way to skin a cat.

What is the most important factor when it comes to dietary success?

consistency!

not perfection, consistency.

being relatively close for as long as possible beats eating celebrity x's exact meal plan for a few days before boredom sets in.

So have a plan that follows principles and also has the ability to adapt to your circumstances and environment.

It prevents you from being tied to one approach - you are not a low carber, a tracker, a flexible dieter or a clean eater - you are whatever you need to be.

people naturally like to order things and put things in labelled boxes or pigean hole us into a category. Such as the Track your macros crowd or the non tracking clean eaters, and depending which side of the fence you talk to you will get a valid response as to why you should or shouldn't track or follow clean eating.

and as humans thats also natural - we like to belong, we like to debate (or argue) but we don't like our view being challenged or admitting we may be wrong and we also love to think we have found a quick fix.

Unfortunately, the fitness industry creates thousands of these scenarios and create arguments where there shouldn’t be any.

clean eating and tracking are litterally the same thing - they are 2 ends of the same continuum, they are related - by doing one or the other we both want the same thing.

guess what, if you’re a clean eater getting results you followed the exact basic physiological principles that iifym gives, you just did it with out measuring, so well done kiddo.

iifym does exactly the same as clean eating but with more accuracy and less guess work - and with this increased accuracy and reduced guesswork comes the freedom and flexibility to include way more foods than if you were just "eating clean".

which is the reason why i don't have 1 size fits all approach to follow these principles,

my ultimate goal is to help people increase their own level of competency and hopefully the ability to track their food intake with increasing accuracy for periods of time when this is most useful.

because tracking simply allows for greater accuracy and ease of coaching and management of lifestyle while hitting goals without guesswork.

But people are at different levels...

“its easier to fit the suit to the person, rather than fit the person to the suit"

That is the exact reason i have clients using all types of strategies, they may have the exact same goals but because of circumstance or lifestyle they may be at a different level on the dietary platform (see below).

just a like a platform game we have to find out what level you are currently on, and what you need to do progress to the next level.

here i present to you the levels of dietary tracking.

the goal is to get as much progress as possible out of each level and move onto the next. 

the good thing about this approach is that it isn't a linear progression, we can wave throughout these levels during a year to match our goals, lifestyle and circumstances.

Any one who comes in at a level 1 will make progress with the smallest changes, this level is the easiest but equally that persons level of skill isn't ready for level 11 yet.

i have some people who use level 11 for the majority of the year, some that hover between level 5 and 8, some that are moving into and practicing level 6, some on level 1 and some have moved from a level 11 back down to level 2 because that suits their current goals and situation.

so forget the either, or approach!

be like water.

there isn't a right answer, 

yes level 11 most optimally allows someone to accurately follow the principles.

but what is most optimal for you is the level you can adhere to the most consistently and create sustainability.

"sustainable beats optimal when optimal cannot be sustained"

when plan A doesn't work for us we need another, and this is where i apply the dietary platfom game!

• find what level you currently at
• get so good at that level it becomes habit
• practice working on the next level up

What level are you at right now?

a few factors determine where you sit on the level of the dietary tracking platform.

here's just a few;

1. knowledge and nutritional age - just like training experience (training age) your nutritional age plays a vital role in your ability to adhere or make nutritional changes - if you have been interested in health and fitness since leaving school, love to cook and eat healthy food your nutritional age and knowledge is well above that of someone who has only ever been overweight, doesn't enjoy excercise and only eats microwave meals.

the level of complexity needed and required to progress is vastly different for each person, where the person with no nutritional or exercise background must be taught the basics, they cannot be expected to hit a protein goal if they don't know what foods contain protein.

However the person with an interest in health and fitness may understand what foods contain protein, fats and carbs and may only need a nudge in the right direction in order to be able track.

2. Goals - this one helps you make an informed choice - your goal will tell you how accurate you need to get, whether you want to be that accurate is your choice.

- if your goal is a very lean photo shoot physique then accuracy is required, but if just want lose some excess weight or add some muscle you can get away with a lower level on the platform and hit your goals with a little less accuracy, its your choice.

3. mentality and psychology - motivation waxes and wains constantly - we have many many things that add complexity and varying levels of stress to our already busy lives - work, kids, study, friends and family etc then we add in more by including training and diet to the mix, all while the kids just want chicken nuggets!

we need to allow a certain level of flexibility within our adherence and tracking to match our motivation, without that flexibility we can move from a level 11 to a level minus 1 in one fell swoop, i'd much rather you move from a level 11 to a level 7 or 6 while you ride an increased period of stress or lack of motivation.

basically this  helps prevent the f**k it mentality -

you know when you have had too much on and cant cope with weighing and measuring.

rather than go "F**k it", eat whatever you want and fall off the preverbial wagon, instead adhere to the level that matches your motivation, you might only need to be there a week while things settle down or you may only need to make a slight tweak, when things calm down, you get your head in the game and move back up the levels again.

Basically this helps add a version of periodisation to your diet determined by what is best for your current situation, progress increases the further up the levels you go but by moving through the appropriate level for the appropriate time you can still maintain or progress rather than say "F**K it!"

next time ill cover each level in a little more detail - how to turn pro at each level and how to move to the next level.

until next time,

be good.

Dan

Ninja turtle arms.

"guns for show, bi's and tri's for a pro!"

Ah the tickets, the pyth's, the cannons, the swans aaand the list goes on

what am i talking tosh about

The Arms of course!

what follows is hopefully a wee bit of information to add to your science of shirtsleeve-stretcher-y.

lets increase the ammo in your arsenal.....Bring forth the cannons.

what do we need to do to stretch sleeves? - grow muscle, also known as hypertrophy.

But what do we know about muscle growth (hypertrophy)?

Hypertrophy occurs when the contractile elements (stuff that contracts, see image) enlarge and the extracellular matrix (other stuff) expands to support growth.

when we train, skeletal muscle is subjected to an overload,  it causes perturbations (damage) in myofibers (stuff that contracts) and the related extracellular matrix (other stuff that doesn't contract) 

The stimulus provided from training ultimately leads to an increase in the size and amounts of the myofibrillar contractile proteins actin and myosin (2 little things that contract), and the total number of sarcomeres. 

This increases the diameter of individual fibers and thereby results in an increase in overall muscle size.

check out Enrique below;

image courtesy of - http://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/572/flashcards/745572/jpg/picture31322835898277.jpg

and a little deeper we go....

Zatsiorsky  - science and practice of strength training

the figure above shows 2 types of hypertrophy

sarcoplasmic (other stuff) and myofibrillar (stuff that contracts)

1. Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy of muscle fibers; this is the growth of the non-contractile "other stuff", the fluid and protein between the myofibrills. 

this basically means while the actual cross-sectional area (overall size) of the muscle fibers increases, this doesn't come with an accompanying increase in muscle strength.

2. Myofibrillar Hypertrophy; this is where we increase muscle fiber size via gaining more myofibrils (stuff that contracts) and, at the same time, more actin and myosin filaments. Furthermore, contractile proteins are synthesized and filament density increases. This type of hypertrophy leads to increased ability to produce force.

although we will stimulate both types of hypertrophy we are obviously more interested in the myofibrillar kind that gives us an increase in strength.

How does the actual hypertrophy occur?

we know thanks to the recent research from guys like Brad schoenfeld and Bret contreras that hypertrophy occors via 3 main mechanisms.

1. Muscle damage - this will make sense, you can probably relate to the muscle damage and repair pathway because of how you feel the days following a tough or new session, usually 2 days later. the damage occurs when you apply an unfamiliar or new stimulus, like a change in your  training program or quite simply the addition of a new exercise, we also know that negatives or an increase of the eccentric phase of a lift adds to the tension and strain a muscle is subjected during a lift, this increases the magnitude of muscular damage. 
2. Mechanical tension - mechanical tension - makes logical sense too, as you perform your biceps curl with full range of course your muscles go through passive and active tension through the stretch and flex cycle, and a high magnitude of tension through out full ROM also creates the greatest muscle magnitude of damage, going through full range prolongs the tension thus increases the metabolic stress also, you see all these 3 mechanisms are interrelated.
3. Metabolic Stress - this is the one you may not be aware of directly, but you will know the feeling. Think about when you're nearing the end of a tough set of incline curls for example and the burning in your biceps begins intensifying as you fight to complete the set, upon release the pain subsides and you notice the pump in your arms as they feel twice the size. 

The burning sensation you probably know as lactic acid and the good old pump are two factors of metabolic stress. 

Basically while performing muscular contractions the blood is prevented from leaving as the veins are constricted or "occluded" adding to the intra workout pumps you experience, this occlusion of the veins that supply the muscle means that the supply of oxygen is also reduced known as hypoxia. These two factors contribute to the increase of metabolic byproducts that cannot be cleared and also leads to a further pump. 

how does the pump lead to hypertrophy?

As the metabolic byproducts and fluids build up the swelling increases and places more and more tension upon the muscles cell membranes, this is perceived as a threat to the structure of a cell, this threat signals what are known as satellite cells (muscle stem cells) and these are then "aroused" and become active when enough mechanical stimulus is placed upon the muscles, the satellite cells then provide the stimulus for repair and growth of new muscle tissue.

These factors all combine to aid in hypertrophy, 

looking at the 3 pathways above we can see that tension is very effective at damaging fibers as long as the muscle is stretched while being activated.

So high tension sets combined with full range of motion also produce high levels of metabolic stress, as the time under tension is prolonged and the veins are constricted preventing the escape of blood and metabolic by-products which induce an increased pump and stress intramuscularly.

OK so how do we go about putting those factors together to create an environment conducive to growth, if we put them together we end up with a systematic approach to programming that allows increases in strength, combined with creating high tension sets, and also sets that increase the time under that tension (TUT) to increase the metabolic stress.

We have to attack muscle growth from all the pathways, some argue to focus solely on getting stronger and some say you have to get the pump.

looking at the above its probably a wiser decision to include all pathways and training more like a hybrid of a bodybuilder and a Powerlifter.

so how do we create hypertrophy

1. create mechanical tension
2. create metabolic stress
3. create muscle damage
4. create the right environment

 Eat -  

hypertrophy occurs when protein synthesis exceeds breakdown. i don't think i need to tell you that you need to eat enough food and especially enough protein to make this a possibility.

Get busy getting strong - this is what the powerlifter brings to the table; progressive overload for the win, however you achieve that can be argued until the cows come home and leave again because they are bored of the discussion. 

Put simply, if you systematically focus efforts to get progressively stronger year on year and you will find it hard not to gain muscle, so in some way shape or form try periodizing your training (article coming shortly). 

Getting stronger is where a good portion of your focus needs to be. Focus on the big compound moves such as squats, deads, bench and chins etc with near full recovery and setting new records, this will provide most of your gains going forward. With regards to arm size/strength you won't go far wrong with heavy pressing and pulling moves like close and neutral grip chins, rows and heavy presses and and dips. 

But remember strength doesn't just increase via muscle size alone, we can increase strength without a subsequent increase in muscle via an increased ability to recruit the muscle we have via up-regulating the neural pathways and simply the skill of a specific lift. so as important as gaining strength is, its one part of the spectrum, we cant ignore high intensity techniques in the quest for hogan arms too.

Search for blood - 

 This is where the bodybuilders adds their flavor. Now the heavy stuff has been taken care of its time to get the pump and you know how important that is, as Arnold said "can you imagine how i am feeling".

This is where we work to failure, use higher rep sets and add intensification methods that increase total time under tension (TUT) to induce that skin splitting pump! The pump that draws herds of lads to the preacher bench on their weekly migration to club-flex in that overly tight new shirt come Friday night, but of course you have never done this though!.......

When searching for the pump use medium to high reps, drop sets, rest pause, super slow, pre exhaust, take your pick but focus on sqeeeezing hard through each rep, taking only short rest periods for some partial recovery, the heavy work took care of recruiting all available fibers now its time to fatigue them, so be sure to settle in, create as much of a pump and metabolic stress as you can with a dumbell or whatever equipment you choose to do the job. 

search for blood and embrace the burn!

Out angle 

Stretch and squeeze! by changing the angles we perform work at we can target both tension and the pump, for optimal coverage we need to hit the working muscles in both their stretched and shortened positions.

Stretch for tension;

We know full ROM is vital to create optimal tension, but we can take this a step further by changing the angles we work at,

to create the most muscle damage we need to create tension. This is achieved when the muscle is put through its greatest lengths under load, in terms of the biceps and triceps this basically means hitting them in a stretched position.

For the Biceps try -  DB inclined curls; this will ensure you place the most tension from your set onto the biceps in their most lengthened position.

To hit the triceps in their most stretched position requires you to get over head, so try overhead triceps extensions using the rope attachment to allow some movement and get most out the contraction. If you should happen to have a set of olympic rings or a trx you can also try overhead triceps fallouts to feel as if you have been kicked by a horse in the arms the following days.

Squeeze and pump;

we know how great the pump is for hypertrophy, so in addition to stretch based exercises we should also include moves that hit the muscles in the shortened or contracted position too;

this is easy try adding preacher or concentration curls, but also try different implements to curl with, bar, Db, KB or especially the cable.

and for the triceps try single arm cable push downs or kick backs to get as much pump as you can muster.

Strengthen the mind.

create a solid mind muscle connection.

  

The mind-to-muscle connection is scientifically referred to as neuromuscular communication, neuromuscular control, neuromuscular concentration, or neuromuscular innervation.

The concept involves increasing the focus on the working muscle by actively concentrating on the singular contractions of the targeted muscle. 

The power of the flex is a result of the output signal from your brain, commonly referred to as neural drive, another term (yes another) for the mind muscle connection. A strong connection gives you the ability to enhance the signal being sent and recieved for a stronger contraction, much like upgrading from a standard Internet cable to super fast fibre-optic broadband.

That signal travels down the spinal cord to the motor neuron that heads to the biceps where the electrical impulse sent by the brain reaches the space between the neuron and the muscles where that impulse triggers a release of chemicals known as neurotransmitters that attach to specific receptors in the muscle where a transfer of more chemicals triggers filaments within the muscle cells to attach and cause your muscles to contract.

Go ninja turtle on them 

It wasn't just pizza that got the turtles arms so jacked, they are reported to have used Kaatsu training also called occlusion training and Blood flow restriction training, This method not only helps you beat up shredder it is highly effective at inducing a pump and thus high levels of metabolic stress even though it uses lower loads and generates less muscular tension like with traditional methods.

results not typical.

what does KAATSU training involve? 

Bassically, Donatello got the boys to tie a cuff tighly around the arms near the shoulder  preventing the blood from leaving the working muscles, the key word is leaving the muscle not preventing blood getting to them. This causes the the blood to build up or pool within the muscle. 

and as we have spoken about, this pooling creates an increased amount of metabolic by-products to accumulate within the muscles that usually get flushed out and increases metabolic stress, this is thought to be the primary pathway via which occlusion training stimulates hypertrophy

But Im gonna leave that one one with you for now as its late , so ill dedicate a whole article to Occlusion or Kaatsu training for next time.

there you have it, hopefully that will help you create a gun session all by yourself or at least add something to your own training,

in my next one ill share one of my tried and tested arm sessions with you.

until then

Sayounara.