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Is Tracking Stunting Your Nutritional Growth?

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In my last blog article, The Default Diet, I talked about (among other things) how large behavioral dissimilarities between offseason and prep can make transitions between the two more difficult. In this article, I want to discuss that in more detail, specifically as it relates to tracking your nutrition.

I have talked in depth about the potential pitfalls of nutrition tracking (this podcast episode is a good example), specifically how tracking can in some cases cause additional mental stress, in some cases may contribute to existing eating disorders, and inherently, is an external cue to guide eating, which can shift your focus and awareness away from internal cues (hunger, satiety) which can degrade your ability to “eat normally”or rather, auto regulate your energy intake and “naturally” control portion sizes. [Read more…]

The Default Diet

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If you listen to the 3DMJ podcast, you’ve probably heard me or one of the other coaches talk about how the offseason and contest prep should resemble one another a bit more closely over the course of your career as you develop “bodybuilder life skills”. If this doesn’t make sense initially, I can understand that. An immediate reaction might be to cock your head, and raise your eyebrow as you think, “hold on, in the offseason you should be in a surplus, gaining weight, higher in body fat, using more volume, and doing less or no cardio…that’s very dissimilar to contest prep.” Correct, that’s all true…but we don’t mean the quantitative variables, we mean the habits and lifestyle you develop, and the underlying structure.

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My 15 Year Old Son Takes Creatine – Exciting Evidence That Creatine Helps Combat Concussions!

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I’m sure some people who hear this are mortified. I remember having a debate with one of the football coaches last year regarding this subject. The conversation ranged from Creatine being unsafe to it being down right tainted.  Each subject that was presented to me I debated with evidence. I have a host of reasons why I encourage my son to take Creatine. The most important being that I am 100% confident that the use of Creatine is safe for him [1].

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My Reverse – Part 2

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PART 1

“I’m investing in my metabolism” I told myself, and I believed all of it would be worth it in the long run. At this point, I was eating about 3200 calories on average while weighing just 3-4lbs above my contest weight. Looking back, I would now go as far to say that at this point I looked better than I did during any point of my contest prep. I was eating 1,000 more calories than any leg of my diet, but really that was the only thing I had going for me. [Read more…]

Optimizing Your Digestive Health

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Whether you are gaining, maintaining, or cutting, having a digestive system which is functioning smoothly can be life-changing. No one wants to walk around bloated, sluggish, and “backed-up”. The challenge is, when things aren’t working properly and we’re feeling frustrated, it can be difficult to determine what the true cause of our digestive distress is. A few recent consultations on improving digestive functioning prompted the idea for an article on this topic. Over these next few paragraphs, my goal is to equip you with a variety of ideas and strategies that can help you improve your digestive functioning if, and when, you experience issues.*  [Read more…]

Another Tool for Nutrition Programming – Calculating Your “Activity Factor”

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I could be dating myself here, but about 10 years ago when I was a gym owner and spent a lot of time training general population clients, there was an accepted principle that to calculate a persons’ caloric requirement for weight loss you simply had to multiply their bodyweight in pounds by 10 (or 10kCals per pound.) [Read more…]

Behavioral Modifications For A Successful Recovery Diet

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I’ve written before about how one of the hallmarks of a great career-bodybuilder is the ability to voluntarily add body fat without much psychological stress.

To those who have never been stage lean, this seems absurd. But to those of us who have spent months or years in severe caloric deficits, it’s an easy trap to fall into. [Read more…]

Factors that Influence Human Eating Behavior

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When did eating get so complicated? I imagine the first humans reading the title of this article then bursting into howls of laugher saying, “You eat when you’re hungry and when there’s food available! Article done!” And while I wish it were always that simple, unfortunately, the motivation behind human eating behavior is more complex.

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Programming A “Lean Bulk” Without the Weight Gain

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A good percentage of athletes we work with want guidance on if they should work to gain, cut or maintain. I’ve dealt with that question 4 times this week alone. Athletes want our professional opinion of what exactly the focus of their programs should be geared toward. Probably the most important aspect of any program is that it has purpose. With that being said there is a great deal of context that should be taken into consideration, hence why we hold hour-long consultations. [Read more…]

A Logical Structure To Engraining Nutritional Habits

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Key Points

  • Quantitative guidelines for nutrition are helpful as they tell you what to do to optimize performance or body composition. But, food is a part of life and these guidelines don’t tell you how to change your lifestyle.
  • In sports that emphasize nutrition for aesthetic or performance goals, philosophical perspectives on healthy eating behaviors, social norms, and the so-called “dark side” can act as a wake-up call to those who become stuck in unhealthy relationships with food. However, philosophical pieces don’t often provide the structure to help athletes manage their nutrition in a healthy way that still results in goal achievement.
  • The following article serves to bridge this gap. It pays heed not only to the long term mental and physical health of the athlete by acknowledging the difficulties and potential harm that comes from seeking “optimal nutrition”, but, also provides a logical structure to allow action in a goal-oriented manner.

[Read more…]

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