Breakfast Of Champions Or Losers?

According to Dr. Eric Braverman, author of "The Edge Effect", the first thing you put in your mouth dictates your neurotransmitters all day. So basically, the first thing you eat sets the stage for the whole day.

Most people I talk to about nutrition, I either find out that they don't eat breakfast or they eat a horrible one. 

Have you ever eaten anything first thing in the morning and within 15 to 20 minutes felt like you should go back to bed? That's a tell-tale sign that you shouldn't be eating that.

The two neurotransmitters we want to raise with a good breakfast are dopamine and acetyl-choline. Considered brain speed and brain power. If you eat foods that raise them, you'll feel awake for starters, and damn good I might add.

This is why when I consult someone on nutrition, for whatever their reason may be (lose fat, build muscle, cut weight for a tournament etc.), I deal with breakfast first.

Here's a food log I just got from one of my athletes, which is way better than most peoples I might add.

Breakfast: 11 am

Oats N Honey Granola Bar

32 oz of water

Lunch: 4:30 pm

Chipotle Burrito Bowl (steak, corn, black beans, rice)

48 oz of water

Snack: 7:30 pm

Hamburger Patty, Side Salad w/ Vinaigrette Dressing

48 oz of water

Dinner: 10:30 pm

9 oz Fillet Mignon, Side Salad (no dressing), Steamed Broccoli

80 oz of water

According to his food log, he also took 2 teaspoons of fish oil before bed.

Like I said, this isn't that bad compared to what I usually see. EXCEPT FOR BREAKFAST.

Breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day. This will quick start your metabolism since it hasn't been doing much from sleeping eight hours (read this post on the importance of sleep).

Granola sucks for you. It's not a health food like the cereal and grain industry want you to believe. It's nothing more than processed and refined grains and sugar.

If possible, I like to start my day with red meat (my favorites are grass fed beef, bison, or ostrich patty with eggs or a handful of nuts. The patty is about half a pound, 4 whole eggs if I'm having them (don't throw out the yolk, it's the healthiest part of the egg) or if it's nuts I any of the following:

• cashews (my personal favorite)
• macadamia nuts
• brazil nuts
• walnuts
• almonds

Of course, there's tons more. The one I'm not a fan of is peanuts. There's to much used in everyday cooking which causes a peanut allergen for a lot of people.

And the last thing I have is a paleo greens drink (I tried to post the picture right next to this paragraph but apparently you can't so it's at the top. This is a product that is phenomenal for you made by Designs For Health. I'm not a great cook, usually pressed for time, and honestly don't like vegetables that much (at least when I make them). So I choose to drink them instead. You end up getting like four servings of organic vegetables with just a tablespoon in 8 to 10 ounces of water. And it tastes good to boot.

That's it. Changing just breakfast alone will make a huge difference for anyone either missing it completely, or eating crap like the food log above.

Training For The Naga (North American Grapplers Assoc)

With only five to six weeks out from the Naga and several people competing, we're forced to attempt to bring on the fastest adaptation possible. So we're doing sprints for 45 seconds, then resting 4 minutes.

Everyone was above average on conditioning so we switched the rest interval to 3 minutes. 

Again, we need to perform this twice a week for it to really work. Once is like taking one step forward, one step backward because to much rest took place between training sessions.

Every week we'll reduce the rest intervals by 15 seconds. This will bring about the adaptation we're seeking, which is removing waste by-products so you don't gas out on the mat.

Here's the video from the training session. It's a little boring, so I'll work on making these more entertaining.

As soon as the training session ends, we need to get out of the catabolic environment that the training put us in. Like I mentioned at the park, while training, stress hormones are rising and androgens are slowly lowering. We want to lower cortisol (the main stress hormone that's been raised) and replenish amino acids as quick as possible. The best way to do this is with a liquid meal (protein shake). Minimal digestion is required, so you replenish the amino acids and glucose / glycogen much faster than a solid meal.

If your body fat isn't below 10% (I can check this for you with skin fold measurements), you'll need about .66 grams times body weight along with glutamine. If you're under 10% body fat, insulin is your friend, so you'd get about a 2 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein.

We want to pick a protein powder that doesn't have artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, neotame, splenda. These are neuro-toxic and also bad for your liver. I like Designs For Health's Whey Cool or Jay Rob's. Designs For Health is kinda pricey, so for the tournament, I'll see about getting it for you a whole sale cost.

Stay posted for more videos and tips on training and nutrition.

MMA Fighter Cliff Oneal And His Rode To The Ultimate Fighter Show

Cliff is getting ready for try outs for the next season of "The Ultimate Fighter" show. Right now he's about four weeks out from the initial try out.

We had to see where he predominantly stores his body fat so I could put him on the right diet for him, and we had to see where he was in regards to conditioning so I had him do a death circuit.

4 sets of 12 reps (or best with chin ups) with 60 seconds rest between exercises and 90 seconds rest between circuits. We did

• Barbell Back Squats
  
• Neutral Grip Chins
  
• Dumbbell Reverse Lunge Off Podium
  
• Body Weight Dips
  

Check out the video!

Stay tuned for more great videos as well as Cliff's rode to the Ultimate Fighter Show!

Ask Coach Grayson

Q: I've been training for the past 6 months. I'm 5'9 220 lbs, 22% body fat and I'm 28yrs old. I train 5 days a week, and I can't seem to break through 220lbs (started at 257lbs). I've been stuck there for 3 weeks. I've been taking fat burners for a month and see no significant changes. I have mostly belly fat, no real problem areas except around the gut. My goal is to get between 185-195 lbs. and finally I'll admit my diet is soft, not bad just I'm not strict. So my question is:

What can I do to break through 220lbs and lose this embarrassing gut? It's obvious my diet and training aren't working, should I get off the fat burners, and if so what supplements do you recommend to obtain my goal. Any advice, tips and help is greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

Tom S.

Based off the info you've given me, I can tell you this much. 

• You're not carb tolerant or your body fat would have never got that high. 
  
• Since you're storing the majority of your fat around your mid section, you're more than likely eating foods that you have an intolerance to. Or you might just have adrenal problems from stress, or both.
  

1. You should be eating a paleolithic diet, which basically means, eat like a caveman. Anything a caveman could've eaten is fair game. So bread, pasta, cereal, anything in a box, are all out. When you grocery shopping, just shop the fringes / outer edges of the store. Where the produce (fruits and vegetables) and meat, poultry, and fish are. Anything that had a face (animal or fish) and any vegetable, especially green ones.
   
2. I wouldn't take any fat burners. Most of them are stimulants which can cause adrenal problems. Adrenal fatigue can bring on a host of other problems.
3. Try and eat every three hours so your blood sugar remains stable and your metabolism remains elevated. 
4. Stop eating about two hours before you go to bed so you have good sleep quality. Growth hormone is elevated while you sleep and that's one of the most important hormones for weight loss (fat loss). Also, get eight hours of sleep. Read this post on the importance of sleep quality.
5. As soon as you wake up, drink 24 ounces of water and then eat a dopamine dominant breakfast. Two of my favorites are meat and nuts (I like macadamia nuts, cashews, or walnuts) or meat and eggs (don't throw out the yolks, it's the best part of the egg and doesn't cause cholesterol problems like the grain industry wants you to believe).

As far as supplements go, here's where everyone should start.

• Fish oil: If you want to lose weight fast, take as many grams of fish oil as your body fat percentage. So if you're 22% body fat, take roughly 22 grams of fish oil a day in divided dosages. So if you ate five meals a day, that would be roughly 4 to 5 grams per meal.
• Take a quality multi-vitamin. I have my athletes take an Albion Mineral Chelated form. This assures absorption. Designs For Health makes a good one that Adem can get for you at Gracie Bara.
• Take a chelated form of zinc and magnesium. Since we don't know how deficient you are with zinc, I recommend getting a zinc in liquid form (often referred to as a zinc challenge test). Once you start tasting metal we'd reduce your dosage. With magnesium, take around 500 mg with dinner and another 500 mg right before bed. You'll sleep like a baby.

In the end it all comes down to this. Is your WHY big enough? If I asked YOU what your training goals were I you said what you told me above. I'd ask you why. Your reason or your WHY hasn't been important enough for you so far or your diet wouldn't be soft. You're going to have to be more strict. What got you from 257 down to 220 won't get you down from 220 to 185. There is no magic pill. In the end it's your discipline... your WHY.

I hope you take my advice, because I have never seen it not work if given 90% compliance. Notice not 100%, so there is some room for error.
 

How Good Is Your Sleep Quality?

How good would you say you sleep? Most people reply with “I sleep good”. The truth is most don’t. Did you know that roughly 70% of Americans suffer from a sleep disorder?

Here is an 8-point questionnaire to see how you rank.

1. Do you have trouble falling asleep at night?
   
2. Do you wake up with energy or do you want to hit the snooze button in the morning? 
   
3. Do you sleep less than 8 hours a night?
   
4. Do you wake up once or more during the night?
   
5. Do you sleep in a room with any light or noise?
   
6. Do you wake up feeling tired?
   
7. Do you wake up only to an alarm?
   
8. Do you use over the counter or prescription medications for sleep?
   

If you answered yes to two or more of these questions than you will need to address your sleep issues in order to maximize your energy, attitude, and results in the gym.

Sleep is the time that your body repairs and regenerates itself. Without quality sleep you will never achieve your full potential when it comes to a very low body fat percentage or becoming as strong as you could be. Research shows that even one night of little to no sleep can seriously impair your performance whether it is in the office, weight room, or in your sport. Having good sleep hygiene is essential for our overall health and well being. Here are two common problems that can affect your sleep negatively.

Oxidative Stress:
The oxygen that we breathe in helps our bodies convert food into energy. Unfortunately, this process also creates unstable oxygen molecules. These molecules cause damage to surrounding molecules and tissues and are called free radicals. Once these free radicals exceed our bodies’ antioxidant stores, oxidative stress occurs.

Some of the things that cause this are pollution, chemical exposure, poor food choices and stress. Since exercise is stress it is also included. Just taking any antioxidant is not the answer. This can actually cause more free radical damage. Knowing the right ones to take is the key.

Adrenal Fatigue/Burnout:
The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and aid or influence nearly every physiological process in our body.

Here's some of the functions that this gland plays:

• Aids insulin for proper glucose metabolism
  
• Regulates blood pressure
  
• Immune function
  
• Controls the anti-inflammatory hormones
  
• Plays a major role in sex hormones and eventually becomes the main source with age
  
• Fluid and electrolyte balance
  

One of the hormones the adrenal gland produces is cortisol. This hormone is supposed to have a descending curve, highest in the morning and lowest in the evening. Since it’s also secreted during times of stress it is also referred to as the “stress hormone”. The only time there should be high amounts present in the blood is while working out (since it is a product of how much energy you have) or during a “fight or flight” response because you’re in danger.

In today’s society, our bodies’ levels of this hormone fluctuate out of rhythm though. This can be due to stress from work, your spouse or children, a cold and even your diet. Every little stressor, if not managed properly, reduces normal adrenal function.

Here's a few signs of adrenal fatigue:

• Difficulty getting up in the morning
  
• Craving sugar or needing stimulants such as coffee to get you through the day
  
• Impaired cognitive performance
  
• Increased abdominal fat
  
• Light-headedness from standing too quickly
  
• Decreased sex drive
  
• Difficulty falling asleep at night
  

And finally, here are 10 suggestions on how to fix these problems.

1. Take magnesium in a true Albion mineral chelated form. Taking 500 mg with dinner will help lower cortisol and relax you. Take another 500 mg right before bed.
   
2. Eat vegetables at every meal. If you don’t like eating vegetables than drink them. Paleo Greens by Designs for Health is what we use at (GTS). This is the best greens product I have seen on the market but you must be a health practitioner to get it.
   
3. Take a quality multi vitamin that is a true Albion mineral chelate.
   
4. Take one tbsp of Celtic sea salt with an 8-ounce glass of water immediately upon waking up.
   
5. Eat breakfast as soon as you possibly can once you’ve woken up.
   
6. Stop eating within two hours before bed.
   
7. Drink plenty of water throughout the day. If you want to drink something else drink green tea.
   
8. Don’t go more than three hours without eating.
   
9. If possible, exercise earlier in the day.
   
10. Stay away from stimulants in pill or liquid form. If you’re a coffee drinker and you refuse to stop, limit it to one cup in the morning.
    

These issues discussed in this article can be quite complex. Although the suggestions made would help practically everyone if adopted, they’re still just suggestions. Depending on how fatigued or burned out you are, would determine a specific protocol.

There are seven stages of adrenal fatigue and cannot be properly diagnosed without be tested. The only true way of knowing what stage you’re in is by having an adrenal stress index (ASI) test done. They only cost around $100 and are well worth the investment. If you’re not interested in spending the money on the test, yet still have some of the symptoms, you can take certain natural herbs and adaptogens that won’t hurt you.

If you have any of these symptoms and would like to know how to fix them in greater detail, you can contact me at chris@chrisgrayson.net and I will be happy tell you what to do.

Ignorance, Error, And Immediate Interest

According to the Law of Unintended Consequences, almost every action generates at least one unintended consequence.

Robert K. Merton, a twentieth-century sociologist, identified five potential causes of unintended consequences:

• Ignorance
• Error
• Immediacy Of Interest
• Basic Values
• Self-defeating Prophecy

All five of these points can be attributed to exercise, and why you might not be getting the results you're striving for.

Ignorance:  The fact that you probably don't train people for a living, lack of knowledge, interpretation, or poor resources could result in negative outcomes.

I'll give you a great example.

People constantly tell me that they're going to run a marathon. Once I start asking questions about why they've decided this, I usually find out it's because they associate running with being fit. These people have been told that if they do aerobics, they will be fit, lean, and healthy.

This is flat-out not true and not going to happen. But here's what will:

1. They will lose some weight, but most of it will come from muscle.
   
2. They will slow down their metabolism and potentially damage it from losing to much muscle.
3. They will increase free radical damage from the oxidative stress associated with the long duration of training (especially if performed outside in the big city because of pollution).
4. They will increase the aging process because of number 3.

Error: Again, incorrect analysis of a problem often leads to negative outcomes, as does adopting habits or behavior that may have worked in the past but may not apply to the present.

As Albert Einstein observed, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."

What you've done with your training that got you where you're currently at, won't work forever. So if you're doing the same thing over and over again because you've been told it would work, and it's not, probably won't magically start working all of a sudden.

Immediacy of Interest: Acting for self-serving reasons or acting with the immediate payoff in mind rather than your long term interests, is a major problem with achieving your desired results. This is more of a willful ignorance than a true ignorance. I'm sure you've heard this before: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I personally think it might be better associated with stubbornness and stress.

Whether your negative unintended results come as a result of ignorance and error, or immediate interest, these unwanted outcomes cannot always be controlled or entirely avoided.

Knowledge, awareness, and experience can reduce these negative effects created by true ignorance, lack of experience, insufficient data / resources, and incorrect assumptions.

After training people for over a decade and making boat loads of mistakes myself, I can save you a lot of time, money, and energy.

"Chris has taken me to the next level by holding me accountable. He is so passionate about the personal programs that he develops that I feel I owe it to him as much as I do myself! No one will push you harder and no one has the combination of knowledge and experience that Chris Grayson possesses. He has taken my training to the level I have always wanted, but was unable to achieve by myself. Working smarter and more efficiently has actually cut the amount of time I was spending at the gym, and also cut out the boring cardio. Chris will get you the results you want, and allow you to reach goals you thought were unobtainable!”

Shane Rickman - Business Executive

Questioning Traditionalism: Doing The opposite To Get Results

Today was my first day back kickboxing at the Gracie Barra Academy.

I must admit, I didn't want to go. 

I knew the workout would be hard. I new I'd be a bit rusty since I haven't trained with a professional since the beginning of February, and to be honest, I'm a bit competitive and can be quite hard on myself if I don't do something as good as I think I should.

But I still went. And I felt great for it.

As you can see, getting to the gym (or in this case my training academy) can be the hardest part. Even for someone that does it for a living and is dopamine dominant.

So let me tell you what drives me crazy.

I see this guy that I have trained with before, doing a bunch of aerobic-based training on a treadmill and then he switches to an elliptical machine. He must of spent roughly 20 minutes on each piece. 

This drives me crazy because that is the one energy system (the oxidative system or just think aerobics) that really shouldn't be bothered with as far as training goes. Not for any grappling sport.

The grappling sports such as judo, jiu- jitsu, wrestling, and mixed martial arts to name a few.

These sports are anaerobic based not aerobic based. You won't get stronger, faster, or better at the sport by training the aerobic system (oxidative system). In fact, there's a good change you'll lose muscle, get weaker, and get slower.

So if this traditional method doesn't work and is completely irrelevant, then why are these athletes still doing it you should ask?

Because we tend to stick with what's expected and go with what we know-because it's safe, easy, and it's what everyone else is doing and telling us to do. We tend to do what's traditional, or a part of the sport, even if it's no longer effective.

Sometimes adopting a contrarian mindset (opposing or rejecting popular opinion; going against current practice) is your best strategy.  You have to use your intellect, your common sense.

Bruce Lee did just that when he developed Jeet Kune Do. Every other martial artist out there at the time said he was crazy and he didn't know what he was talking about. You can't go against tradition he was told.

And look at MMA today. You must say he's the grand father of the movement.

Now let me leave you with some quick advice after my long winded rant.

Stop doing slow steady state aerobics!

I don't care if it's on a treadmill, bike, elliptical, or jogging outside.

I don't care if you're not an MMA competitor, you're in a grappling sport, or if you're just trying to be healthy.

It won't work. It's the worst training method for fat loss and having a healthy heart has nothing to do with aerobics. It's the absence of disease.

If you want to lose body fat, become better at an anaerobic sport, and save yourself a lot of time... start doing interval training.

Here's one practical example for you. 

Let me say that again.

Here's just one practical example.

Sprint as fast as you can for 30 seconds.

Walk at a regular pace for 3 minutes.

Repeat 6 times.

Do this twice a week, and every week shave 15 seconds off your walking time.

So the next week would look like this.

Sprint as fast as you can for 30 seconds.

Walk at a regular pace for 2 minutes 45 seconds.

Repeat 6 times.

Do this for 6 weeks straight and at the end you'll be resting for only 90 seconds which is a 1:3 work to rest ratio.

You'll be leaner, more conditioned for your sport, and you'll probably put on some muscle.

Stay Focused,

Chris Grayson

Hypertrophy 101: What You Need To Know To Grow

“I've been training for 3 years, but my programs were nothing compared to the ones Chris put me on. My strength shot through the roof and I am the leanest I've ever been.  No doubt about it, Chris is one of the top strength coaches in the nation. Yeah, I said it, nation! Their was not one question that he couldn't give me a full explanation for. I gained more knowledge working with him then I would've got anywhere else!”
 
Jordan Crespi - Future Strength & Conditioning Coach
 
Q: One thing too, I'm gonna start doing some hypertrophy work. Should I keep the split the same and exercise choice...?

A: I don't remember your split completely, but from my memory you were doing upper / lower splits. If I'm correct, I would go to a 3 training rotation instead of a 2. For hypertrophy work, you need more volume per muscle group to cause a lot of trauma to the muscle or muscles being trained. In this case, getting really sore is the key.

I like this split a lot. It’s worked very well for me and everyone I’ve ever used it on.

Legs on one day
Chest and Back on one day
Shoulders and Arms on one day

Train each muscle group every fifth day. So if you trained legs on Monday, you wouldn't train them again until Saturday. 

Here's a good layout:

Monday: Legs
Wednesday: Chest & Back
Thursday: Shoulders & Arms
Friday: Off
Saturday: Legs
Sunday: Off
Monday: Chest & Back
Tuesday: Shoulders & Arms

You see the pattern.

Obviously, make sure you're picking exercises that give you the biggest ROI (Return ON Investment).

Do your isolated exercises after you've done your compound exercises and start each compound exercise with a lower rep range to take advantage on post tetanic facilitation (you recruit as many high thresh hold motor units as possible first with big weight, low reps).

Now hypertrophy them with reps in the best hypertrophy ranges. First 6-8 reps, then 8-12 reps. This way you're recruiting damn near every fiber type that can hypertrophy.

So for legs, it might look like this:

A:  Front Squats: 4 sets of 2,4,2,4  TEMPO 3010    Rest: 180 secs
Try to beat your first wave of 2,4 on your next wave of 2,4.

B1: Barbell Reverse Lunge: 3 sets of 6-8  TEMPO 2010 (OR CONTROLLED)  Rest: 90 secs
B2: Glute Ham Raise: 3 sets of 6-8  TEMPO 3010  Rest: 90 secs

C1: Barbell Step Up, Between Mid-Shin and Knee Level: 3 sets of 10-12 Tempo Controlled  Rest: 75 secs
C2: Dumbbell Romanian Dead Lift: 3 sets of 10-12  TEMPO: 3010  Rest: 75 secs

D1: Donkey Calf Raise: 3 sets of 8,10,12  TEMPO 2210  Rest: 10 secs
D2: Parillo Calf Squat: 3 sets of 10-12 TEMPO 1013  Rest: 75-90 secs

So we're knocking off several different fiber types with different rep ranges and tension times and changing angles. The more angles, rep ranges, TUT's (time under tension), and to a degree, volume, equals more damage to the muscles which equals more hypertrophy.

Write everything down so you can measure and track it (what gets measured, gets improved). Make an effort to go up in weight every workout. Once you’re not going up in weight or in reps with the same weight, you’ve adapted to the program so it needs to be changed for different stimulus.

Try to keep your workouts to no longer than an hour after you’ve done your warm-up. And make sure you’re pounding food. Literally eat like it’s your job.

Since you’re carb tolerant, I’d have a protein / carb shake immediately after your last set of your last exercise with a ratio around 1 : 2 protein to carb. And if you can afford it, take BCAA’s during your workout. I like Poliquin’s BCAA Supreme since they’re pills. You’ll need at least 20 grams though and 40 would be better.

Eat a large meal between 30-45 minutes after your shake, and then go on eating every two to three hours.

Let me know if you need any help.

Stay focused,

Chris Grayson

Back At Gracie Barra Chicago

I just moved back to Chicago on saturday and have been pretty busy. We had to move the GTS Performance facility to another location because of the city, so I decided to move back to one of the best cities in the U.S.

The one thing that will take some getting used to is not training in my own private gym. The last thing I want to do is go back to training in your typical membership gym filled with a bunch of useless equipment and people balancing on bosu balls and sitting on worthless over priced machines.

I'd rather train in the dungeon. Check out the video.

Master Your Time And Master Your Life

“Anything that is wasted effort represents wasted time. The best management of our time thus becomes inseparably linked with the best utilization of our efforts.”

Alec MacKenzie

I’m an avid reader and I love quotes. I was talking to a good friend tonight about inspiration. He told me he hasn’t been inspired lately. I have to admit, I get inspired pretty easy, but I didn’t used to be that way. I blame it on reading. What I’ve come to realize is that successful people read a lot, and then apply what they’ve read. This makes them more successful than the average, which aids in fueling more inspiration.

Now let me get to the point and why I picked this quote.

Everybody is pressed for time. Everybody doesn’t get everything done that they would like. There’s just not enough time in the day. So we need to focus on the most important thing that needs to get done and stay focused on our goals or objectives. Whatever it is you want to call it.

When it comes to training, how much time you can honestly commit to, should dictate what you should be doing to achieve your goals. So lets say your goals are to lower your body fat and build some muscle and you can only commit to exercising three times a week. What would be the best way to spend that time training to achieve this? What would be the biggest return on your investment. This is the question that you need to ask yourself.

Now comes the hard part…getting the answer.

With all the information out there today on exercise, how do you know who to listen to? More than likely, you don’t have the time to research this question to get the answers. So here’s my answer for you.

Outsource it.

That’s right. Get someone who studies exercise for a living to give you the answers.

I can hear you already. “But what trainer should I be listening to? There’s several at my gym where I work out.” Or something like that right?

You must have a good filter. Let me share mine with you.

1. Make sure they have to pay their bills by getting people into shape.
2. Make sure they’ve been doing it for a long time.
3. Make sure they’re still in academia so they continue to learn.
4. Make sure they have real world proof. Basically, look at their clients results and what they have to say about them.

Those are just a few of my criteria before I bother to even listen to someone talk to me about fitness.

So if someone asked me for credibility and used my rules, here’s how I’d stack up:

• I’ve been doing this for over 12 years now for a living. It’s my only job and I pay my bills.

• I get bored easily if I’m not learning (thank God this hasn’t happened to me yet).

• The reason it hasn’t happened is because I continue to dump my wallet back into my education. Last year I handed my accountant over $25,000 in receipts for books, DVDs, CDs, and seminars that I purchased or attended.

• I’m a research freak. I study the best people within my industry (something I’ve learned from successful people is success leaves clues).

• I have research and, more importantly, REAL WORLD proof on the best training to elicit the fastest results when it comes to fat loss, building muscle, and gaining strength (If your goals are training to entertain yourself and not results based, I’m not your guy. I’m a results guy, that’s all I care about).

But just like I said in the beginning of this email, successful people learn and then apply what they’ve learned.

That’s why I love my job. I’m here to put people in the amazing business, and it starts by taking action.

Stay focused,

Chris Grayson

Picking The Best Bang For Your Buck Exercises

Sometimes I guess I take for granted what I know about training and assume people that do train with weights (I don't know much about jogging since I think it sucks) should know more. After all, this is the information age. That's probably a big part of the problem though. To much garbage information out there.

When it comes to weight training, you need to pick the right exercises that are going to give you the biggest return on your investment. It really doesn't matter much if your goals are to build muscle, gain strength, or lose body fat. Take the right tool out of the tool box that will do the best job.

It drives me crazy when I see someone paying a personal trainer and the trainer has them sitting on machines attempting to isolate muscles with pathetic poundage due to poor leverage.

If you want results, and you want them fast, you need to utilize the big, compound exercises that require lots of muscles to perform the exercise.

For example:

Squats over leg extensions

Dips over tricep kickbacks

Barbell curls over concentration curls

Barbell or Dumbbell Bench Press over flyes

I could go on forever.

One thing that makes it easy is think of the amount of weight you can lift in each exercise. Most of the time, the amount of weight you can lift will be greater with the better lift.

Nobody should be married to the gym and if you're spending more than an hour there you're either socializing or need a little help with your training.

Like I mentioned in some older posts, training longer than one hour becomes counter-productive from a hormonal stand point. Cortisol, one of your body's stress hormones is SO elevated and your androgens have already declined to the point of no return.

Get in, hit it hard, and get out and start the recovery process... eating clean food with high nutritional value and get plenty of rest.

Now all we need to discuss is loading parameters. How many sets, reps, and rest to take.

I cover that in the next post.

Stay Focused,

Chris Grayson

http://www.fastresultsfitness.com

Structural Balance: How To Stay Aligned To Avoid Injury And Ugliness

One of the most important facets of program design is keeping your body balanced. Doing so will help prevent injuries, aid in your continuous improvement towards progress in the weight room, and keep you from having horrible posture, and therefore, an ugly, unbalanced body.

One of the simplest ways to go about doing this is to pair up your exercises with ones that are the exact opposite of other ones.

For example. If you're doing a flat barbell bench press, pair that up with a seated row.

You can take it one step further by using the same hand position as you used with the bench press. In this case, that would be a pronated grip. So the palms of your hands would be facing the floor.

Now, to make it easy, we'll use the same repetition range and number of sets as you did with the bench press.

So, if you do four sets of the barbell bench press with 6 to 8 reps, you would match that up on the seated pronated-grip row exactly the same. Four sets of 6 to 8 reps.

I'm keeping this very basic to make it as simple as possible.

If you did a pull up for 5 sets of 4 to 6 reps, you could match this up with the standing overhead barbell press for 5 sets of 4 to 6 reps.

If you did a standing barbell curl for 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps, you could match this up with lying dumbbell tricep extensions for 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps.

Are you starting to see the pattern here?

Most people I see at a regular gym (I say regular because it doesn't happen at my facility since I'm training or at least over looking the training here) or people that ask me questions about training, don't do this. These people typically do one exercise at a time, sit or stand there in between their sets doing nothing, and sometimes don't even bother thinking about the opposite motion or the opposite action of the particular joint/joints being used.

Here's another explain to illustrate what I mean:

• Flat Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets of 10 reps
  
• Rest: usually long enough to have a conversation with someone at their gym or stare for awhile at the other people training. Their rest is never timed, and therefore never measured.
  
• Another set of the flat barbell bench press.
  
• Repeat.
  

After the three sets they have planned, they usually move onto another chest exercise because that's what the body building magazine or one of their buddies told them to do.

Soon they start having the posture of a eighty year old woman with osteoporosis accompanied with shoulder pain whenever they bench press.

Why?

Because of poor structural balance between pushing and pulling muscles and the joints involved.

That's the quick and easy readers digest version.

Keep striving for improvement,

Chris Grayson

Overcoming Your Fear Or At Least Failing Forward

Nothing will always come easy to you. But just because of this, don't be afraid to fail. Just like anything else, the simple act of doing IT, even if you flat out suck at IT, will make you better at IT. 

It doesn't really matter what IT is.

John C. Maxwell, an amazing author and life coach, refers to this as failing forward.

This Video motivates the hell out of me and shows that even the best in the world have to fail forward.

What separates them from the rest of us is that they aren't afraid of the forward.

Are You Short On Time: Full Body Workouts Is Your Warranty

Don't let the title of this post deceive you. If you have all the time in the world to train, full body workouts might still be the best way for you to train.

One big mistake I see people making when it comes to working out, is splitting up their body parts and training like your typical body builder does. What works for a genetic lottery ticket winner on steroids won't work for the regular guy, with a real job, and who's not a walking pharmaceutical billboard.

When I first started training with weights, I also made this mistake. This was back when I was 13 years old. Long before the internet. The only resources I had then were, unfortunately, body building magazines.

Although they did motivate me to train my ass off (I wanted to be a mass monster back then), I made modest gains at best. I can recall being at the gym for over three hours doing every exercise I imaginable for one or two muscle groups. A workout back then looked something like this:

Leg Day:
4 sets of Squats
4 sets of Hack Squats
4 sets of Leg Presses
4 sets of Leg Extensions
4 sets of Lying Leg Curls
4 sets of Calves

This was performed after training shoulders the exact same way.

I could write a small book on why this is ridiculous but I'll save you the time by giving you just two reasons.

Cortisol and Recovery.

Training any longer than an hour is a waste of your time from a hormonal perspective. Cortisol, a stress hormone, gets elevated as you train (exercise is stress). So you want your workouts to be brief and intense. Get in and get out and start the recovery process.

Training the way I did in the above example, would take to long to recover, thus keeping you from making big gains. You'd be forced to rest those muscles to long, so they would start to atrophy or shrink. One step forward, one step backward = getting nowhere.

Full body workouts lasting no longer than an hour will keep the volume down, allowing you to recover faster so you can train again. Even though you're probably doing a lot less volume than you're used to; don't worry. By the end of the week the volume will be about the same.

Since we learn better by application, let me give you an example.

You train your legs every monday and you do 12 total sets for them.

You switch to full body workouts and pick one exercise for legs that gives you the biggest bang for your buck, and do four sets. You do this on monday, wednesday, and friday.

By the end of the week, you performed 12 total sets for legs. The same as doing all 12 sets in one day.

The difference is you don't destroy your legs from doing all the sets on just one day, they recover easily, allowing you to train them more often. They get bigger and stronger because of the law of repeated efforts. Just like learning a foreign language would require more exposure, so will getting bigger and stronger.

Here's the workout I did yesterday with my good friend Ben.

A1: Back Squats: 4 sets of 6 reps with a two-second pause in the bottom position (disadvantageous position)
A2: Dips: 4 sets of 6 reps with a three second eccentric
A3: Neutral Grip Pull-Ups: 4 sets of 6 reps with a 25 lb. weight vest on.

B: Prowler Push; Low End: 3 sets of 20 yards.

So the A's were performed in a circuit fashion, hence the numbers after the A. We rested the amount of time it took for each of us to do each set, which was roughly 30 seconds.



This took probably 40 minutes tops.

Stick To The Basics

“Creativity is over-rated. Most business success comes from doing boring, diligent work. From developing a system that produces consistent results and sticking to it.”

Ray Croc - Founder of McDonalds

Perhaps you’re wondering what this has to do with exercise, working out, training, or whatever it is that you call it. If you do it for a living like I do, it means everything.

I train a lot of athletes, especially young ones. Ranging anywhere from 10 years old all the up to the professional level. I often have parents say to me something like this, “We’ll have little Johnny try it out and see if he likes it.” I then explain to them that little Johnny might not like it…BUT DO YOU WANT HIM TO BECOME FASTER, STRONGER, AND BIGGER FOR HIS SPORT? That is the question they should be asking, not if he’ll like it.

I’m not in the entertainment business. If I was here for that I’d put on a clown suit and run around squirting water out of a flower on you or your kids. Maybe even kick you in the balls with an over-sized clown shoe (hey, I’d find it funny). I’m here to produce results in the fastest, yet safest way possible. I do this by picking the correct loading parameters, exercises, rest intervals, and frequency and it more often than not, involves your basic, complex exercises. These almost always produce the most bang for your buck. I say always because there’s always exceptions.

The majority of people I see training in gyms or talk to about training, confuse trendy with cutting edge. Perhaps they’re more entertained and have more fun balancing on a bosu ball or doing a bunch of unstable exercises thinking that it’s more “functional”. If you are just trying to have fun and this floats your boat, I ain’t mad at ya. But if you actually want results from your training, you’re wasting your time.

Here’s a few quick tips on how to design an effective results-based workout.

1. If you’re exercising with weights 3 times a week or less, do full body workouts.

2. Balance your body by training both sides of your joints.

3. Pick the exercises that are going to give you the biggest ROI (Return On Investment)

4. Choose the right loading parameters based off your goals.

5. Pick the correct rest intervals based off your goals.

6. Measure your workouts effectiveness by writing down what you do (keep a training log).

7. Make sure your workouts are progressive.

8. Stay laser focused on your goals.

One of my clients, and close friend, got caught up in training with all the fancy equipment at his gym. He started training with me and all I did was return him to the basics. The exercises that produce results. Here's what he had to say:

Before training with Chris:

250 lb bench press
305 lb dead lift
6 body weight pull-ups
305 lb squat
18% body fat

After training with Chris for four months:

285 lb bench press
425 lb dead lift
8 pull-ups with body weight plus 30 lbs hanging from me
360 lb squat
12% body fat

Enough said!”

Ryan Serge - Film Productions Assistant Manager


In the next post, I’ll go into detail on all 8 tips.

In the meantime, stay focused

Chris Grayson

Killer At Large

Protect yourself now before the killer gets you or a loved one.

THE REDNECK COMPLEX

For everybody that's ever asked me what the best exercise is to drop body fat, here it is. I must warn you however... it's costly.

Are you ready.... wait for it....

THE REDNECK COMPLEX



As you can see, it requires an over weight bulldog, and a two door garage.

You might want to read this twice. I said bulldog, not pitbull. if you use a pitbull, you're training a different energy system, unless you have some Xanex.

Interesting Study and Supplement Scamming Companies

Here's an interesting new study with surprising results in relation to how much protein produces an increase in muscle protein synthesis after lifting weights.

Eight men averaging 21 years old trained one leg with leg extensions and leg presses at two separate workouts. After the first workout they received one of two drinks that contained the same number of calories. The first drink contained 10 grams of whey protein and 21 grams of fructose, a sugar that doesn't elicit an immediate insulin release. The second drink consisted of fructose and maltodextrin, a simple carbohydrate that does spike insulin. The workouts were separated by two weeks to determine the effects of each of the drinks in isolation. Measurements of muscle protein synthesis revealed that the whey and fructose combo led to a twofold increase in muscle protein synthesis after exercise.

Tang, J.E., et al. (2007). Minimal whey protein with carbohydrate stimulates muscle protein synthesis following resistance exercise in trained young men. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 32:1132-1138

What's interesting about the study was that only 10 grams of protein was used for both drinks. That's about what you'd get from one egg. This would be considered a ridiculously low amount of protein to elicit an anabolic response. I also find it odd that a simple sugar such as fructose would produce more protein absorption than maltodextrin since it doesn't spike insulin.

Although studies don't always mean much to me for several reasons I won't go into, I do believe based off of research, personal experience, and yes, studies, that you don't need as much protein as the supplement companies would have you believe.

At our facility we use a product called Whey Cool. It's produced with minimal heat so that the protein isn't denatured, which allows the good enzymes that are immune-enhancing like lactofferin and immunoglobulins to remain intact. Because of this you don't need a ton of protein due to the fact that you'll absorb what you're taking. It's also void of any artificial sweeteners that are neuro-toxic such as aspartame and sucralose. It might not sound sexy but it works better than any of the bodybuilding brands out there that have no integrity and don't seem to know much about good nutrition. Unfortunately, you do have to be a health practitioner to get it.

The majority of the bodybuilding supplement companies market to the high school kid that is naive enough to believe that the guy on the bottle that is juiced to the gills on pharmaceuticals got that way because he drinks the protein shake he's on. Or better yet, this one's my favorite, the guys in the ads for these products wearing lab coats holding up beakers and claiming they just discovered some secret way to cryogenically freeze certain molecules thus making them more anabolic and swearing that it's the biggest muscle building breakthrough ever. Yeah...you said that last month when you were selling liquid piss from a frozen neanderthal that scientists discovered in the Himalayas.

Don't believe everything you read and know that most things that are heavily marketed don't work.

An Anabolic Primer

A few weeks ago my good friend Jeremy called me as I was walking into the Apple store for an appointment with one of their computer geeks (I love those guys). He was going on and on about how sick he was. He asked me if I was sick because apparently, everyone out in the Detroit area is. I responded with my usual comment, "Jeremy, I never get sick." The very next day I was sick as hell. That was roughly two weeks ago. I haven't been able to train and was starting to feel like a skinny fat man. I was finally able to get back at it today.

I needed to get a mind blowing pump in order to feel like a man again so I decided to do a hypertrophy workout or an anabolic primer if you will. Here's what I did:

A1: Donkey Calf Raise: 3 sets of 8-10 Rest:0
A2: Standing Calf Raise: 3 sets of 12-15 Rest:0
A3: Body Weight Calf Raise: 3 sets of 30 Rest:90 Secs (These are performed with a quick bounce and as fast as possible)
B: Clean Grip Dead Lifts: 3 sets of 10 Rest:120 Secs
C1: Flat Dbell Presses, Neutral Grip: 3 sets of 8 Rest:90 Secs
C2: Supinated Pulldowns: 3 sets of 8 Rest:90 Secs
D1: Low Pulley Fat Bar Reverse Curls: 3 sets of 6 Rest:90 Secs
D2: Lying Dbell Tricep Extensions: 3 sets of 8 Rest:90 Secs

I planned on starting with dead lifts, but both power racks were being used by guys doing barbell curls (typical for a commercial gym). So I had to do something, so figured I'd knock out some quick calf work. After all, summer is hopefully coming and you gotta have jacked calves if you're gonna wear shorts.

I finally feel alive again. Tomorrow I'll probably go back to splitting up lower and upper body workouts. I'll start with legs and do a moderate volume workout.

I'll keep you posted,

Chris Grayson

Show Me The Passion And Education And I'll Show You The Money

Q: I'm a personal trainer out in Arizona. I've been training people for 5 years and I'm starting to get really bored training average people and I'm considering advancing my knowledge so I can train athletes. I talked to another trainer who mentioned you and your blog/website because you are doing what I would like to do. My question is, there's several athletic facilities out where I live and many of them advocate completely different training philosophy's. Is there a way to know which one would be the best? I want to learn as much as I can and as fast as humanly possible.

A: I feel your pain. I had the same problem about four years ago. But there shouldn't be anything to consider. If you're bored and you want to train athletes then do it. Don't stand in your own way. Here's some things you must know.

First and foremost, to be great in this industry you must continue to learn, so reading a lot is paramount. This should be common sense, but to my surprise, most trainers I've come in contact with in my area don't do much of this. This tells me they don't have much passion for this industry and in my opinion, need to get out. Next, find a mentor. If you find out down the road that they aren't that knowledgeable, find another one. So if you take this job and find out it sucks, leave it. That should pretty much be a no brainer.

Another must on education is attending seminars. Last year at this time I lived in Chicago. I was an independent contractor at a gym in the downtown area. Perform Better had a 3 day seminar from Friday thru Sunday. I knew several trainers in the Chicago area and I saw none of them there. I asked a few of them why they didn't go and they told me they hadn't even heard of it. My jaw hit the floor. How in the hell could you not know one of the biggest personal training organizations in the United States.

This tax year I handed my account receipts totaling just over $25,000 on books, cd's, dvd's, and seminars. Over a third of my income. This year I'm opening my first private sports performance facility with my business partner and it's because I'm great at my job. Why? Because of passion, which equals education, which equals knowledge, which equals money. I'd like to state though that I don't do it for the money. I do it because I love it which makes the money come. If you're in it just to make money and not because you love it, you won't excel at it. Don't put the cart in front of the horse.

Here's a few things I would make sure of before hiring on to this performance facility you're looking into:

1. A structural balance assessment: If there not doing this then I'd question there education and therefore their passion. There's a lot of info out there on assessment or screening tests.
2. Collecting Data: Workouts must be progressive. Without this, the body has no reason to change since there's no adaptation required. Loading parameters must be written down and tracked to know when there no longer working. This is evident by math. If you're not getting stronger, you need to change your workout.
3. Soft tissue work and dynamic mobility drills: Bottom line, if there's any problems with fascial tissue and length tension relationships in muscles, the body won't function properly. Again, there's lots of info out there on this topic so there should be no excuses. Yet I still see people doing static stretches before lifting weights.
4. Energy System Development: Picking the right energy systems that are appropriate for the sport. For example, having a high school football player doing aerobic based training is wrong regardless of his position and you should be shot.