SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

I have to admit: Unless you're injured and in rehab or belong to any other group of athletes where high mechanical loading is contraindicated or impractical, BFR is not exactly something you "have" to do, because everything else was worse. If you want to improve both strength and conditioning, there is usually no way to train accordingly, i.e. do "cardio" (aerobic training) at high(er) intensities and lift weight (enough to make gains). But is this actually true? What about HIIT , for example? Could that help increase both, VO2max and strength at the same time? How intense do you have to train and does adding cuffs and blood flow restriction have a value of its own? In their latest study, a group of Brazilian scientists tried to answer these and related questions. In short: de Oliveira et al. (2016) tested the VO2max and strength response to both, low intensity blood flow restricted training, high intensity interval training (HIT) and regular low intensi...

No, this is not the first time you read about "battling the rope" and how it could be an excellent form of fat burning and conditioning HIIT training. In my previous article "Want to Get Ripped & Strong? 'Battling the Rope' Could be THE Exercise to Do!" I've already discussed the proven long-term benefits of this intense conditioning exercise | learn more . Usually, I handpick the three best studies for overviews like this , but with the Journal of Strength and Conditioning  research, this is not always easy. With the September issue, only some studies are interesting, and there are no real "blockbuster" that would deserve an article on their own. Don't get me wrong. There's still interesting information, there but I guess what's most interesting is significantly more open to debate than usually. Accordingly, today's research update contains my very personal favorites from September 2015  issue of this journal. Well, m...

Looking for a pre-season training that's equally effective for men & women? If you have plenty of time, here you go... You will probably remember Sunday's SuppVersity article on the "Scientifically Designed Nutrition & Conditioning Plan" in the course of which the subject (remember: it was "only" a case study) lost significant amounts of lean body mass despite tons of protein in his diet? Well, if you have plenty of time, are willing to train in the AM, PM & evening and don't want to diet, here's an alternative that worked not in one, but in 34 subjects, in men and women and ... made the subjects faster, increased their endurance and did not cost them a single pound of lean muscle mass. Interested? Well, here are the details. Learn more about building muscle and strength at www.suppversity.com Tri- or Multi-Set Training for Body Recomp.? Alternating Squat & Blood Pressure - Productive? Pre-Exhaustion Exhausts Your ...

We all know and follow the fundamental rules of the marketplace, but when we are in the gym we tend to forget about profit maximization and the minimal investment, maximal returns principle. It is quite funny that our gyms are among the few places in our economy-driven society where people tend to forget about the fundamental rules of the marketplace. The way many of weekend-warriors and fitness junkies train is in fact the exact opposite of the all-governing principle of profiteering. In their desperate and in many cases misinformed efforts to maximize their muscle gains, fat loss or overall fitness, many of them fail to realize that the "optimal" training strategy is not the one that leads to suboptimal results at a maximal level of exhaustion. Think about the 2h cardio sessions in the non-existent fat burning zone, for example, or the two hour resistance training workout with 10 different exercises per body part. Even if you don't belong to this group of miserabl...

Image 1: One thing Adelfo shares with many other trainees of his caliber is his desire to be in contest shape 365, 24/7 - but let's face it, if he looked like on this picture (4-days out before Florida), now,  he would be in serious trouble. One of the most difficult decisions, when it comes to dieting is to determine the timepoint, when one cycle ends and another begins. It is simply not possible to build the superhuman physique, so many of us are striving for, without cycling your energy intake in one way or another. And what is true for the average physical culturist like you or me is all the more the case for such unique specimen like our common friend Adelfo Cerame, whose conditioning oscillates between "pretty impressive", "freaking awesome" and "simply jaw-dropping" - with the latter two being more appropriately than the former, as of late. And thus he is probably right to stick to his plan to gradually cut back on his food intake from now...

Image 1: Adelfo Cerame Jr, 2nd at the Wheelchair Nationals in West Palm Beach, Florida, doing his posing routine. For most of you it is not really news that other than his prep, the contest in Florida did not really work out the way, Adelfo (I and everyone else!) had imagined. Adelfo took 2nd, certainly a good placing, but... ah, I'll just let Adelfo tell you the whole story and leave it up to you to take a closer look at the pictures ( gallery 1 ,  gallery 2 ) and let me and our common friend know, which number you would have had written on the score card, if it had been your decision as a judge. Personally I feel like there are one, maybe two poses (both from the back, cf. image 6 ), where you could arguably have him second, that's it... and yes, I know that I am biased ;-) Back from Florida and more motivated than ever! Before I begin with my write-up on the contest-prep, the traveling and the events at the show, I want to give thanks to the Lord for blessing me wi...