------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
Doberman Dan Barks Bench Press Pyramiding Bites!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
By Daniel Gallapoo "Doberman Dan"
http://www.atozfitness.com/recommends/dobermandan.html

Sarah, CPT
Lewis, Publisher
www.articles.atozfitness.com
AtoZfitness.com Google's #1 fitness site.
www.atozfitness.com
Follow me on Twitter for updates from my blog....
http://www.twitter.com/atozfitness

If you have any questions, you can contact me sending an
e-mail to me at atozsupport@atozfitness.com .

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
A Double Dose of Metabolism Protection: Strategic Carbohydrate Cycling
---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
By Joel Marion
http://www.atozfitness.com/recommends/cheatyourwaythin.html

In last weeks update I talked to you about the most important hormone you probably never heard of – leptin. If you missed that update, do NOT pass go, do NOT collect $200 until you have read that article. It really is that important and I guarantee you’ll walk away from that article having learned a lot. Click-here if you missed it.

Without a doubt the most important thing you can do while attempting to drop body fat is to maintain high levels of leptin day in and day out.

With Cheat Your Way Thin, we accomplish this via two different means:

First, every so often we use strategically timed periods of overfeeding or “cheating” to restore leptin levels to baseline. These full-blown cheat sessions are almost magical when it comes to interrupting the starvation feedback loop, preventing your body from “turning against” your dietary efforts and putting the kibosh on fat loss.

In addition to strategic cheating, we also use strategic carbohydrate cycling throughout the week in order to safeguard against falls in leptin and other fat burning hormones even on “diet” days.

If you paid close attention to last weeks article, you remember that leptin and carbohydrate have VERY strong ties. I even shared a study in which leptin levels were maintained during an all out fast (no food whatsoever) by simply maintaining blood glucose and insulin via an IV drip. Wow.

When It Comes To Leptin, Carbohydrates Are King..

But, just like with cheating, you can’t just eat a boatload of carbs every day and expect fat to magically melt away. It’s all about strategy.

So here’s how we do it.

After a Cheat Day, when leptin is extremely high and the body is incredibly primed to burn fat, we go with a low-carb approach. By going low-carb here, we can fully take advantage of the fat burning environment that the Cheat Day created. The end result - total fat loss domination early in the week.

Unfortunately, you can’t get away with this forever as leptin will inevitably start to drop off in the face of a daily absence of carbohydrate.

So just as leptin begins to drop off mid-week, guess what we do? Yep, add more carbohydrates—the influx of blood glucose and insulin push leptin back up and communicate with the brain that everything is A-OK. Then, toward the end of the week once the body begins to adapt again, we up the carb ante once again.

In addition the Cheat Days, the weekly carbohydrate progress of low to moderate to high ensures that you never go a single day without a body primed for fat loss.

With regular dieting, come week two you’re metabolism is already beginning to suffer.

Do you see how strategic this is? Do you see why this works so well?

It’s everything “typical” dieting isn’t.

Oh, and here’s another benefit of carbohydrate cycling ==> extreme variety.

Diets for the most part are BORING. Same foods every day. Not so with Cheat Your Way Thin – the menu is literally ALWAYS changing (and that’s in addition to being able to eat whatever you want on Cheat Days). Have a steak in the beginning of the week, a large fruit salad mid-week, and then pasta toward week’s end. It’s ALL fair game. We limit nothing, and frankly, you don’t have to.

Oh, and did I mention just how huge all of this is psychologically?

Remember those feelings of guilt and failure I experienced when I first “cheated” back in 2003? Never again. Now when I cheat, it’s planned. And each time I do, I walk away knowing that I just accelerated my progress.

Frankly, it doesn’t get much better than knowing that you just used your favorite desert to speed along fat loss.

Anxiety? Nope. When cravings arise, there is major comfort in knowing that you’ll be able to enjoy that very food in just a few short days when your next cheat session rolls around.

Simply put, strategic cheating solves the dietary dilema by providing you with powerful metabolic benefits and perhaps even more powerful psychological ones.

Feelings of discouragement and decreased motivation? Definitely with other diets, but with Cheat Your Way Thin, you’ll actually be excited to step on the scale week after week to view the consistent, steady progress that regular, strategic cheating yields.

Are you ready to experience just how enjoyable dieting can be?

Here's to loving your diet (and the results) with with Cheat Your Way Thin

To your success,
Sarah, CPT
Lewis, Publisher
www.articles.atozfitness.com
AtoZfitness.com Google's #1 fitness site.
www.atozfitness.com
Follow me on Twitter for updates from my blog....
http://www.twitter.com/atozfitness

If you have any questions, you can contact me sending an
e-mail to me at atozsupport@atozfitness.com .

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
Plateaus of Weight Loss- Adaptive Thermogenesis + FREE Download.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
By Mike Roussell PhD(c)
http://www.atozfitness.com/recommends/warpspeedfatloss.html

Weight loss plateaus can be frustrating and detrimental to your fat loss if not dealt with swiftly and properly. Another way to look at weight loss plateaus is that they are actually your body settling in at a new body weight set point.

The set point theory is basically the idea that your body likes to be at a certain body weight and it will work to keep you there. Chances are you have experienced this in your own life. I'm talking about situations where you will gain or lose weight but inevitably after a couple weeks or months of trying to change you end up around the same body weight (I know for me 175lbs was a set point, in my own system for quite some time).

In order to break these body weight set points, it is important to understand the forces that you are working against (know thy enemy, right?). I'm talking about adaptive thermogenesis. Adaptive thermogenesis is the seemingly automatic reduction in energy expenditure that occurs when you diet. Many think that this is the driving force behind people's body weight set point.

This is important so I want to make sure I'm explaining it clear enough so here's an oversimplified example.

You are currently eating 2000 kcal per day. Your body is currently burning 2000 kcal per day. You decided that you need to lose weight so you cut 500 kcal from your diet. So in theory your body should now have to dig up another 500 kcal from body fat to fuel the calorie difference.

It doesn't work that way. Studies show that your body adjusts its energy output so that it can now function on only 1500 kcal per day. This is adaptive thermogenesis. It has been demonstrated that adaptive thermogenesis occurs with both severe and modest calorie cutting.

What is the driving force behind this? Here are some candidates are:

* Changes in body weight

* Changes in Leptin

* Changes in Insulin

* Changes in Thyroid Hormones

* Depletion of Fat Stores

Fortunately you can beat all of these, prevent adaptive thermogenesis, and keep the weight loss coming.

The answer?

Exercise combined with diet.

This seems to help - but not in all cases. We know from research and anecdotal evidence that not all exercise prescriptions work. What does work is intense metabolic resistance training.

If you are currently stuck at a weight loss plateau, you need to break your body's set point. To do this it is necessary to undergo a rigorous change in diet and training so that you can in essence shock your system.

Here's what to do next. Once you break though your sticking weight using Warp Speed Fat Loss (or which ever method you choose), maintenance is very important. Get 5-15lbs below your old body weight set point and maintain that weight. Many people lose their fire and drive after they have lost the weight but you need to stay focused so that you can reset your body's set point.

Maintain your new weight for 4 weeks (this is ideal - if you can't go that long at least do 2 weeks) before you start losing weight again. This step wise approach will help reset your system to your new body weight and help fight its urge to return to the old set point. The key is keeping your body weight long enough so that your body 'thinks' that is the new normal.

About the Author/More Info:
Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28 day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10,15, or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 day. To start losing weight fast visit
http://www.atozfitness.com/recommends/warpspeedfatloss.html .

Mike Roussell is a nutrition doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University. Mike's writings can be found in magazines such as Men's Health, Men's Fitness, and Testosterone Nation. Mike specializes in fat loss nutrition and diets for busy men and women who need to lose weight fast without it interfering with their lives. Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat to lose weight in record time.

Download this great free e-book.

Lewis & Sarah
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
  Is 6 meals a day still the way to go?
---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
By Mike Geary
http://truthaboutabs.atozfitness.com

The topic of the "6 meals a day for fat loss" has been touted by bodybuilding circles and personal trainers for years now as the best way to eat for fat loss compared to the traditional "3 square meals a day".

But is this 6-meal per day frequency the ONLY way to do it?  And is it really the most effective?

Well, the answer can go both ways. Let me give you my opinion on this...

First, let's look at what the recommended 6 meals/day instead of 3 really breaks down to calorically... On 3 meals/day, let's take the example of a normal person that might be eating 3,000 calories per day, but eating those calories in three 1,000-calorie meals (or more likely, two 1500-calorie meals for someone that skips breakfast).

This same daily caloric intake spread out over 6 smaller meals would be six meals at 500 calories each.  Keep in mind that this example daily caloric intake is just an example, and would be WAY too much for some people depending on body size and composition, age, and activity level.

The theory has always been (with overall daily calories being the same in both cases) that by spreading the daily calories out over 6 smaller meals per day instead of 3 large meals per day, this essentially helps to promote more steady blood sugar levels throughout the day instead of large spikes and dips seen with larger meals spaced out over longer periods of time.

It's also been theorized that more frequent meals evens out your protein digestion and amino acid availability throughout the day, so that there's less muscle catabolism compared to longer periods of time between meals.

Now here's my take on this...

I do still recommend 5-7 small meals per day for beginners or people that are just finally trying to get control over their diet. A lot of people that are used to eating 2-3 meals per day typically eat WAY too many calories in one sitting, and by eating smaller meals every 3 hours or so throughout the day, it helps them to finally get control over eating excessively large meals.

Think about this scenario... the average person at the office that eats lunch at noon, and then doesn't eat dinner until they get home at about 7pm that night. And they were so busy at work that they forgot to eat any small meal or snack mid afternoon.

With 7 hours between meals, they're so ravenous when they get home that they INHALE 2,000 calories before they've even given their brain a chance to register that they've eaten this much.

End result - eating WAY more daily calories than their caloric maintenance.

I will say that for people that already eat extremely healthy and control their calories each day, I don't think there's any magic bullet with 6 meals/day vs 4 meals, or 3 meals and a couple snacks, etc.

From personal experience with lots of my clients over the years, I've seen many people that struggled with their diet finally get control of things by "grazing" more throughout the day and eating the 5-7 meals/day. The important thing is that EVERY meal is kept small.

Personally, I've changed my eating habits to be so healthy over the years, that I find I can eat in almost any meal frequency and my body always seems to self-regulate appetite because of the high nutrient density of my diet these last few years.

Different methods will work differently for each individual. 

I've actually found in recent years that I seem to operate best by eating a fairly large breakfast of around 800 to 1000 calories, and then just grazing on small 200 to 300 calorie snacks every couple hours throughout the day. And then I like to eat a larger dinner of around 800-1000 calories.

The reason I seem to operate best on this breakdown is because I'm very active throughout the middle of the day most days with exercise, so I tend to not want large meals at this time, just lighter snacks.  However, at night, I like to eat the larger meal once again to help my body recover from my high levels of activity during the days (skiing, hiking, biking, weight training, etc).

Years ago, I preferred to eat the 6 meals a day at 500 calories each approximately (since my caloric maintenance is about 3000 cals/day).  Now, I prefer something more along these lines:

Meal 1:  800-1000 calories
Meal 2:  250 calories
Meal 3:  250 calories
Meal 4:  250 calories
Meal 5:  250 calories
Meal 6:  800-1000 calories

Keep in mind that spreading the calories out more evenly through the day may work better for you if you're not extremely active and you have a job that involves sitting at a desk most of the day.

A good example:

I had a co-worker years ago at my former corporate job that lost 30 lbs in about 2 months by simply changing his meal frequency.  He had previously been eating a carbohydrate-based breakfast, which left him ravaged by lunch time and he would overeat at lunch.  Then he would go all afternoon without eating and be ravaged by dinner and overeat at dinner.

His change...

He took my advice and started eating at least 1 source of satisfying protein and healthy fat at breakfast each day and reduced the carbs.  Then, around mid-morning, he would eat a combo of yogurt and cottage cheese that he had packed with him for the day.

Since he ate the mid-morning yogurt/cottage cheese meal, he was less hungry at lunch, and he would only eat a half of a sandwich instead of a whole sandwich, and he'd save the other half of the sandwich for mid-afternoon.

Then, when he came home for dinner at night, he wasn't starving like usual, and he would eat a much smaller dinner.

In reality, what he really did was inadvertently reduce his daily caloric intake by eating more frequent smaller meals each day because this would save him from the "binge" attacks, where he would eat monstrous lunches and dinners without even knowing how many calories he ate.

I hope this newsletter helped to give you some ideas... Remember, you won't know what meal frequency and meal sizes work best for you until you try different things and see how your body reacts.

Please feel free to forward this articles to any of your friends or family that may enjoy it.

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

CPT Sarah reviews Tom Venuto's The Body Fat Solution Hardcover Book

I am long overdue with this review folks; busy is really not strong enough a word to describe my days lately. Still I have something for you today, something which won’t earn me a dime in commission at all, you’re going to have to physically go to a book store and buy this one OTC (over the counter)

This entire week, I’ve been wondering how best to approach the write-up on this book for you. I’m not sure where this idea came from, maybe mo love of old Western movies? I suddenly had this image of a stage coach veering off course because it only had three horses pulling it rather than four.  (I think some used 6, but you see my point, balance!)

You see, you have a goal. Hopefully a tangible one with precise numbers and dates. You’ve purchased a workout and nutrition program (maybe even BFFM ?). You’ve made your plan and started out on your journey. You hold the reins of your team of horses (see stagecoach above), but somehow they keep pulling you off to the side …

That’s because you have one horse pulling alone in the front, your Goal horse, and two behind, Workout and Nutrition. You’re missing the fourth horse to pair up with Goal in order to bring balance and keep you going forward on the chosen path.

I want you to pull in to the first corral you see (aka bookstore). This is the place to purchase your second lead horse, Mindset! You’ll find him in the shape and form of Tom Venuto’s hardcover book The Body Fat Solution which was released in January (told you this is overdue!)

BFFM in January of 2006. I was able to master my subconscious and had really nice success with the program. However, at the time there was no support group in the form of Burn The Fat Inner Circle which is now available to members, and the underlying parts of my subconscious wasn’t strong enough to keep me on track once that initial goal was met. I slipped backwards and had to fight my way back again.

I know many of you have been or even are right now, in that same situation.on.

Tom’s new hardcover book takes care of the one thing no diet or exercise program does – sure, some have a chapter on mind set, one has an entire on-line audio program – but this is a tangible and entire book, dedicated to showing you why you stray and how not to!

Everything is covered, such as emotional eating, how to set powerful goals, attitude, myths and their debunking, nutrition, metabolism, training, social support, and … last but not least: maintaining your goal results!

Now that you have added Mindset to your team of horses, they are equally strong on both sides, pulling you straight for your goal. That doesn’t mean the ride won’t be bumpy or won’t have uphill struggles or even a deviation or two, but your team of four will get you right back on track without effort and take you to your destination.

The Body Fat Solution hard-cover book and a membership in the Burn the Fat Inner Circle, you’ll be well on your way to success in combating your bodyfat and related health issues; if you want to go all out, you can add Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle e-book as well (there’s an update in the works, most likely free to owners of the original version, so you might want to grab a copy now).

Tom Venuto was my first fat burning mentor, and to this day remains a person I turn to for advice. Ask your GPS where the nearest book store is if you’re not sure … grab that book! Or give it to someone you know could need it, it’s a great gift idea as well.

Sarah, CPT
www.trainwithsarah.com

Yours in fitness,
Sarah, CPT
Lewis, Publisher
www.articles.atozfitness.com
AtoZfitness.com Google's #1 fitness site.
www.atozfitness.com

A Shocking Protein Supplement Discovery!
By The Muscle Nerd, Jeff Anderson
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 

Yours in fitness,
Sarah, CPT
Lewis, Publisher
www.articles.atozfitness.com
AtoZfitness.com Google's #3 fitness site.
www.atozfitness.com

Conditioning and fat loss

----------------------------------------------------------------------
By Jason Ferruggia
http://www.atozfitness.com/recommends/musclegainingsecrets.html

Lately I have gotten a lot of questions about conditioning and what the specific guidelines of a conditioning workout should be. When discussing conditioning the first thing that needs to be asked is what is your primary training goal at the moment?

If it is to get huge and strong, then conditioning must be limited and can not interfere with your main workouts.

If you are training for a sport and need a mix of both strength and conditioning, that is another story.

And if you are just looking to get shredded that is a whole other scenario.

For athletes, which is how everyone in my gym trains, you will do power workouts MWF and conditioning 1-3 other days (usually two). Maybe Tues and Thurs or Thurs and Sat. Whatever. Depends exactly what is more of a weakness and what is a main priority, strength or conditioning.

When you are choosing this option, the conditioning workouts shouldn't interfere greatly with the strength days, but the fact is they will have some small negative impact. Unless you are just looking to become a big, fat, unathletic powerhouse, any conditioning will have some negative impact on strength and explosiveness. The key is to get the conditioning you need while limiting the negative impact. If your diet is perfect and you have great genetics you could become big, strong and explosive while doing absolutely no conditioning and remain quite lean. You won't have great conditioning, though. Which is fine if you're ok with that. Some sports, like shotput and hammer throwing,  don't require it. Most of us, however will need to do some sort of conditioning to stay lean and in shape.

In this case you don't want to do a lot of heavy sandbag work or bodyweight circuits that will interfere with your strength training. You don't want to get sore from your conditioning workouts. Also, if you are stressing the CNS on MWF, you should back off a bit on your other training days.

Conditioning days could make you very slow and sap your power in no time if you use the wrong loading parameters. The duration of each set, round or circuit you do should be fairly short with a short break in between. The best way to turn fast twitch fibres slow is to drown them in lactic acid for 20-30 minutes straight. Do that and watch your vertical jump (one of the best tests of power) and plummet in no time.

What you need to do is hit it hard for 20-30 seconds and then take a brief rest. You can do this for 15-30 minutes but it has to be done intermittently in interval style. Doing intervals on a bike are terrible for power athletes because the lactic acid build-up is too severe. If you wanted to you could sprint on the bike, hop off, rest for 10-30 seconds, then jump rope, rest, swing a sledgehammer, and then get back on the bike and repeat in that fashion for 15-30 minutes. But you can't just pump away on the bike non stop and not expect it to effect your explosive power output.

Also, remember that the human body is not designed for doing any sort of repetitive steady state exercise for any long duration. So you are better off mixing up your conditioning workouts and using a variety of drills.

As I said, for most athletes, I like to keep the duration of each drill rather short. But depending on the individual and the exercise, you could go up to 2-3 minutes per interval. For example, you could jump rope hard for 2-3 minutes straight and then take a minute break and continue on for 20-30 minutes. I find that jumping rope is a great way to improve your conditioning, foot speed, coordination, etc. without draining your power or making your sore and highly recommend it to everyone.

Now, if you are training strictly for fat loss, all bets are off and the rules basically go out the window. I wouldn't let your power drop off significantly but it's not your main focus at the time so don't obsess over it. You still need to get your strength work in but the rest of the time should be spent jacking your metabolism and burning calories.

Hopefully that clears up some of the confusion.

For more great training information check out http://www.atozfitness.com/recommends/musclegainingsecrets.html

Yours in fitness,
Sarah, CPT
Lewis, Publisher
www.articles.atozfitness.com
AtoZfitness.com Google's #3 fitness site.
www.atozfitness.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
Abs Mastery
---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
by Dr. Kareem F. Samhouri, CSCS, HFS
Doctor of Physical Therapy & Kinesiologist
http://www.atozfitness.com/recommends/abstrengthguide.html 

Mastering your abs is a process that tends to either take years or seems to come from childhood... at least until now.  Abs mastery comes down to three principles:

1.    Burn fat around your whole body

2.    Shock your system

3.    Momentary muscular failure (MMF)

Let’s take a closer look at each one of these principles.  But, before we do, it’s important that you understand that there will always be conflicting information out there regarding fitness, science, and any other evidence-based practice in the world.  There are many reasons for this, but, fundamentally, the main reason is because of flaws in the research process.  After years of education in understanding and interpreting research, I very often am able to find huge flaws in the methodology of research studies, thereby completely disqualifying the study and its outcomes.  Before you trust ‘what a study says,’ be sure you trust the author.

Burn fat around your whole body:

Spot reduction is a myth.  Sure, you can ‘tone’ muscle during an exercise program be causing it to inflame a bit and draw more blood to the area.  You see, that’s what the ‘pumped up’ feeling you get when working out is all about:  more blood in the muscle.  If you want to truly increase definition, you’ll need to lose fat from all of the places in your body you may never realize it exists.  For example, before you get six pack abs, you’ll lose fat from your:

•  Fingers

•  Toes

•  Wrists

•  Ankles

•  Cheeks

•  Lower legs

•  Forearms

•  ...then, and only then, will you begin to lose fat from the ‘trouble spots’

Knowing this, it kind of disqualifies all ab machines, ab rollers, and other ab devices, doesn’t it?  Sure, you can feel a great ‘burn,’ but that may never add up to anything when we are measuring results based upon six pack abs development.

Shock your system:

Shocking your system really comes down to one thing:  do something different every time you eat and every time you work out.  By constantly changing the demands placed upon your body, you are sure to get results.  Your body consistently seeks ‘homeostasis,’ or equilibrium, in order to function with the least energy use possible.  That’s your body’s job, so you’ll need a bit of creativity to stop this from happening.  I recommend that you constantly change:

•  Exercises in your workout program

•  Tempo in your workouts

•  Eating habits (allow cheat days, just to throw your system off)

•  Workout volume (some days do more than others)

•  Workout intensity (how much you put into a given exercise or circuit)

•  Joint angle or position

•  Muscles involved (preferably, unless lifting weights for size, work everything every time you workout)

Understanding how to properly ‘shock your system’ is the magic behind the results all of my clients get.  Understand this principle and six pack abs are yours to have.

Momentary muscular failure (MMF):

MMF is the ability for you to take a given exercise up to the point just before breaking form, thereby stimulating the maximal amount of muscular recruitment with a given exercise.  By maximally stimulating a muscle tissue, you are requiring that it undergo a repair process.  This repair process often takes up 72 hours, depending on which source you read, and forces your metabolism to be higher throughout.  Naturally, with increased metabolic demand comes more calories burned and less body fat. 

The repair process mentioned above is referred to as ‘Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption’ (EPOC for short) and is the most important aspect of any exercise program that is intended to be progressive in nature.  Without EPOC taking place, you are limited to the number of calories you can burn in the gym, rather than throughout the entire day (and days to follow.)  By keeping MMF and EPOC in mind, your six pack abs exercise program is sure to reap improved results.

All of this information may seem a bit overwhelming in the beginning, but, with time, you’ll see the results and better understand.  I recommend getting involved with an expert resource you can trust when it comes to six pack abs development.  Leave the science with the scientists, and just get moving for now.  You’ll be well on your way before you know it!

If you’d like a free trial of an incredibly effective ab strengthening program that only takes 10 minutes per day, please go to: http://www.atozfitness.com/recommends/abstrengthguide.html

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
The Creatine Grave Yard
---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 

The Creatine Grave Yard
By Will Brink © 2009

Looks like another “high tech” form of creatine has got one foot planted firmly in the creatine grave yard. What is the creatine graveyard? It’s where forms of creatine - other then monohydrate - go when either science has shown them inferior to monohydrate, and or it’s life cycle of hype has come to and end.

I refer specifically to creatine ethyl ester (CEE). As with the many “high tech” forms of creatine before it, all manner of claims were/are made about how superior it is to creatine monohydrate (CM). It always starts the same. First the company will invent a long list of negatives about CM such as “poorly absorbed” or “causes bloat” or “is not stable” and then goes onto claim their form of creatine has solved all those invented negatives. The problem is, the data already shows CM does not suffer from virtually any of the negatives they invent, nor do they show their form “cures” those negatives. Sellers of CCE for example claimed CEE was better absorbed and utilized vs. CM, and that has been shown to be nonsense. There have been several in vitro (test tube) studies pointing to the fact CEE is inferior to CM, but a recent study done in humans puts a final nail in the coffin as far as I am concerned. This study is titled “The effects of creatine ethyl ester supplementation combined with heavy resistance training on body composition, muscle performance, and serum and muscle creatine levels” The full study is public access and can be read here:

CEE Study

Warning, the abstract is confusing and not well written. If you read the full paper, it’s clearer. If you don’t have the time or interest to read it, the take home is: although all subjects in this study (CEE vs. CM vs. Placebo) experienced approximately the same effects; they all had improvements in bodycomp and got stronger. Why? Because they used untrained subjects in the study. Thus, a drawback of this study was due to using untrained people, they couldn’t differentiate between PL, CEE, and CM in terms of effects on bodycomp and strength within that time period as newbies always make fast progress in the beginning. No news there.

However, the study did achieve the essential point, which is it clearly showed the claims of CEE false: CEE had much higher creatinine levels and lower muscle creatine levels compared to CM in this study, thus, yet again, the claims by sellers of CEE that it’s superior to CM and that CM is “poorly absorbed” or “causes bloat,” or my favorite “CM is not stable,” etc are false. They also looked at changes in water compartments (CEE actually had a trend toward greater extra cellular water then CM BTW, so there goes that stupid “no bloat” claim for CEE…) and other issues claimed to make CEE superior, and it failed.

CEE is less stable then CM, increases creatinine to a much greater extent then CM, and is inferior for increasing muscle creatine levels to CM. This study is not perfect by any means, but when combined with what else exists, and the counter studies sellers of CEE offer (which is to say zero), well you don’t have to be a scientist to see the writing on the wall there…

CEE will be added to the creatine graveyard with a ton of others all claiming to be superior to CM which all started with big claims and now sit in the grave yard.

Two essential points about the grave yard before we get to that:

(1) Because they are in the grave yard does not mean they are worthless. Some forms, such as magnesium creatine chelate for example looked promising, but a head to head study with CM found it no better. Remember, another form does not have to show it’s the equal of CM, it has to show it’s superior to CM per its claims. Forms such as creatine pyruvate and many others on the list may be just as effective as CM, but not superior, so it comes down to cost. Others on the list have in fact been proven inferior to CM in studies, such as serum creatine, various liquid creatine versions, and now CEE. Serum creatine was all the rage a few years ago, and studies found not only was it inferior to CM in every respect, it contained virtually no creatine! Of course, there were still those on the various forums using ‘bro logic’ with “bro, I don’t care what the studies say, it works like da bomb for me!” posts, but I digress….Finally, other forms on the list simply lack any data at all to compare to CM. The companies selling these forms will routinely make claims of superiority with nadda for hard data to support them. Therefore, it’s impossible to really separate fact from fiction (i.e., marketing hype) to recommend them.

Me, I will use what has literally hundreds of studies to support its efficacy and safety over a form with zero data to support it’s claims of superiority over CM. Thus, they get put into the grave yard. Future studies may get them out of the graveyard, but I aint holding my breath…

(2) CM is not perfect. It’s not very soluble, and in about 30% of users, does not appear to work at all. At higher doses, generally above 3g-5g or so in a single dose, can cause stomach upset for some, among other small, but significant drawbacks for some users. Therefore, I am in favor of continued research into improved delivery technologies, improved forms of creatine, and so on. I’m all for it, but as they say, don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining. In God we trust, everyone else must show data. Hard data talks, BS walks.

I could randomly take two forms from the list below, say dicreatine malate and creatine ethyl carbonate ester and make dicreatine malate creatine ethyl carbonate*, but would it be superior to CM? Unknown as there would be no data. I could just invent a bunch of unproven claims like others do and sell the stuff… Do companies just invent a form of creatine for no other reason then it sound “high tech”? Hell, one company (BSN) is currently in court over one form they sell, called CEM3 or “Creatine Ethyl Ester Malate” which according to the charges “does not exist and is impossible to manufacture”! As I said, CM is not perfect and I am all for continued research into improved (vs. just different!) forms of creatine and or improved delivery technologies, but companies should do their due diligence on these products and stop with all the hype and CM bashing to sell unproven products.

So, without further delay, here is my current list for the creatine graveyard:

The Creatine Graveyard List:

Creatine ethyl ester (CEE)
creatine pyruvate
creatine taurinate
creatine ethyl ester malate
creatine ethyl carbonate ester
creatine gluconate
creatine malate
dicreatine malate
tricreatine malate
creatine citrate
tricreatine citrate
Kre-Alkalyn
creatine phosphate
creatine alpha-ketoglutarate
creatine-6,8-thioctic Acid-ketoisocaproic Acid Calcium (CREAKIC)
creatine pyroglutamate
“conjugated creatine” (Con-Cret)
magnesium creatine chelate
creatine anhydrous
dicreatine orotate
tricreatine orotate
creatine alpha-amino butyrate
creatine HMB
“titrated creatine”
“creatine serum”
“liquid creatine”

Also:
glycocyamine (precursor)
creatinol-o-phosphate (analog)

* = for the sake of an example. I have no idea if such a form is chemically possible, nor do I care.

Will Brink is the owner of the Brinkzone Blog. Will has over 15 years experience as a respected author, columnist and consultant, to the supplement, fitness, bodybuilding, and weight loss industry and has been extensively published. Will graduated from Harvard University with a concentration in the natural sciences, and is a consultant to major supplement, dairy, and pharmaceutical companies. His often ground breaking articles can be found in publications such as Lets Live, Muscle Media 2000, MuscleMag International, The Life Extension Magazine, Muscle n Fitness, Inside Karate, Exercise For Men Only, Body International, Power, Oxygen, Penthouse, Women’s World and The Townsend Letter For Doctors. Will is the author of the popular e-books, both acommpanied by private members forum access , Bodybuilding Revealeded & Fat Loss Revealed.

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
The Skinny On Fats
---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
by Jon Benson
http://myeveryotherdaydiet.com
———————————————————————
[ Editor's Note:  Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]

Let's get this one out in the open:

1. Fats do not make you gain bodyfat.

2. Fats do not put you on Heart Attack Row.

3. Fats are not the enemy.

We've been sold a bag of lies when it comes to fats.

Fats are essential for your body's hormone production, skin health, absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, and even burning bodyfat. Yep... you need fats to burn fat.!

Studies have been conducted to attempt to elevate cholesterol levels using high-fat diets. Most all of them have failed miserably -- in fact several "lowered" total cholesterol while raising the so-called "good" cholesterol (HDL).

That being said, you don't need the following...

1. A lot of fats in your diet. Fats still contain over twice the calories per gram as carbs and protein.

2. Any kind of "fake fats" -- margarine or processed oils of any kind are highly dangerous foods.

Here's my simple dietary fats solution:

1. Eat fats as they occur in nature, but eat at least 80% as they "actually" occur in nature -- meaning from grass-fed and free-range sources. The extra cost is worth it. It tastes better and your medical costs will well offset the few dollars more per pound you pay.

2. Cook with a combination of olive oil and coconut oil, but use both sparingly. If you are eating plenty of animal protein you do not need excessive fats... not because of 'danger' but because of needless calories. Not a good idea if you're wanting to keep your abs. But a bit of raw butter or olive oil can make bland veggies taste wonderful, so feel freee.

Also, omega 3-rich fats like olive oil and fish (and especially fish oil) help lower inflammation. That's the real culprit behind heart disease in most cases.

3. Avoid a lot of fats at night. The night-time meals should be high in lean protein (tuna, tofu, turkey breast) with very limited fats if you are wanting to really get lean. If you are just trying to shed bodyweight slowly, it's okay to have some fats at night.

Just do me a favor: If you are on the "Fats make you gain bodyfat and have heart attacks" bandwagon, jump off. We have consumed fat for countless thousands of years. Just consume it the way we always HAVE (naturally, not stuffed with hormones and cooked up in a lab) and you'll be fine.

If you want a diet-solution that actually uses dietary fats to help you take off the bodyfat, then use this one:

http://myeveryotherdaydiet.com  <--- Eat Fats, Burn Bodyfat!

It's a real-world plan that allows you to eat your favorite foods and still shed the bodyweight you want.

And yes -- that includes fats.

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover