My dad was gone.

On Friday night, I watched my father — my Superman — take his final breath. It was a moment of peace for a man at war for three years.

My dad was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer (glioblastoma) in 2020. Some doctors told him he had six months to live, at best. They gave him all the grim stats, told him how his body would shut down, and plotted a future hell on earth.

At 65 years old, my dad was given a death sentence. But a funny thing happened.

My dad heard all the negativity, and he chose not to listen. Instead of waiting for death, my dad leaned into optimism and got busy living.

He had brain surgery and did chemo and radiation. After treatments, he would lift weights or walk for miles. He adjusted his diet, and my mom became his personal chef, making everything from scratch. My dad was a man on a mission. And the prize he chased wasn’t just time. It was quality of life and making the most of every day.

Instead of preparing for the end, he traveled the world, climbed mountains and skied down them, swam in oceans, and even did acro-yoga (if you knew my dad, you’d know THAT man doesn’t do acro-yoga). None of these options were ever discussed in the cancer pamphlets.

For three years, death tapped my dad on the shoulder. But my dad gave the grim reaper the middle finger, trained harder, walked farther, and ate healthier.

He did the impossible by believing it was possible.

When cancer took away his ability to use his left arm, he trained his right arm to do more. Watching a 68-year-old man teach his non-dominant arm to use chopsticks is an art of pure determination.

When cancer took away vision in one eye and limited his field of vision in his other eye, he re-taught himself how to read.

And when cancer left him unable to walk or bathe himself, even though he hated his limitations, he asked for help because that was the bravest and strongest thing he could do.

I watched my dad suffer, and I never heard him complain. Not once.

When my grandfather — his father — died a few months ago at 95, I thought it might break him. And when his four brothers had to watch him struggle to walk and talk and told him it was unfair, my dad remained steadfast:

He insisted the cancer was not unfair. Saying so would mean that his entire life was unfair, and he loved his life. He just hated the disease and thought it was terrible. And his job wasn’t to curse his life but to make the most of it.

And for him, that meant a simple choice: either feel bad for yourself or do something to make your life the best you possibly can.

My dad got lucky. Sometimes people do everything right, and the disease still takes life far too fast. But with the time he had and the time he created, my dad didn’t think cancer would take him.

Even when he only had a week left, he would lie in his hospital bed and ask me how we would get him to football games in the fall. We both had season tickets to our beloved Colorado Buffaloes. They have been terrible for the past 15 years, but we still showed up to every game and stayed till the end. My dad was excited about the fall. Deion Sanders was bringing Prime Time to Boulder. He wanted to be there on September 9th to see the first victory on the path to the greatest turnaround in college football history.

Some people thought he was crazy for talking about attending football games while in hospice. To me, it was just part of his vision.

Arnold always talks about vision, and my dad also believed in it. And his vision didn’t include death. He envisioned himself in that stadium. And while he won’t make it, that vision helped him go farther than any doctor said he would.

None of you knew my dad. But he loved life so much that he was unwilling to see his sickness as anything other than another obstacle he would overcome.

In my last conversation, my dad told me something I’ll never forget.

He talked about finishing what I started — as a husband, as a father, as a friend, and in my work. We started Arnold’s Pump Club when his health started to rapidly decline. We didn’t discuss much about my work, but he told me he read every email and that I was doing something important.

In facing death, my dad believed the world needed more positivity. If there was anything he learned, it’s that optimism is the way.

He then asked me how many people we reach each day. I told him 500,000.

He then asked how many I wanted to reach. I told him 5 million.

And then he dropped the mic.

He said, “Adam, why put a limit on what you can do? Where would I be if I did that when I was diagnosed?”

Man. My dad didn’t always have many words, but the ones he had were damn good.

In the end, my dad made his vision a reality. He stayed optimistic, bet on himself, and appreciated each day as if his life depended on it.

After I watched my dad take his last breath, I told him I was proud of him. I kissed him on the forehead, and I said, one last time, it was good to see him.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Sentenced To Life appeared first on Born Fitness.

• 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
• 1 tbsp. chia seeds
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. Stevia or raw unfiltered honey
• ½ scoop protein powder**
• ¼ tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup egg whites
• 2 whole eggs, pasture-raised
• ¼ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 2 tbsp. maple syrup, grade B
• 4 slices turkey bacon, uncured & nitrate-free  
• 5 pitted dates, chopped  
• 1 tbsp. grass-fed butter

**We used Athletic Greens grass-fed whey isolate, vanilla

Directions

1. In a small saute pan on medium-high heat, cook bacon until crispy. Removed bacon from pan, crumble into small bits and set aside.
2. Add the dry ingredients—oats, chia, baking powder, Stevia, protein powder and cinnamon—in a blender or food processor. Pulse until smooth. Set aside
3. Whisk the eggs, egg whites & milk in a medium mixing bowl. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
4. Take a paper towel to wipe the pan clean, then add 1 tsp. butter to grease. On medium-heat heat, add ¼ pancake batter. Add ¼ chopped dates and crumbled bacon on top. When batter begins to bubble, it’s ready to flip.
5. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve with maple syrup and grass-fed butter. To cut down on the sugar, mix the maple syrup with equal parts water and 1 tbsp. butter. Heat in microwave for 15 seconds, stir and pour over pancakes. Enjoy immediately.

Nutritional Information & Macros

Dietary Information: Gluten Free

Macronutrients

• 387 calories
• 8.75g fat
• 40g carbs
• 37.2g protein

READ MORE: 

Banana Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Powder Pancakes

What is the Best Protein Powder? 

Good Protein Bars, Decoded

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post The Best Protein Pancake Recipe EVER: Bacon & Date Protein Pancakes appeared first on Born Fitness.

• ¼ cup low-sugar granola*
• 2 tbsp. crushed walnuts
• ⅔ cup plain or vanilla Greek or Skyr yogurt**
• ½ cup mixed berries
• 1 tsp. raw, unfiltered honey

*We used Purely Elizabeth’s Original Grain Gluten-Free Granola

**We used Siggi’s plain 4% yogurt.

Directions

• In a mason jar or serving bowl, add 1 tbsp. of granola & ½ tsp. of honey.
• Top with ⅓ cup yogurt.
• Then sprinkle 1 tbsp. of walnuts, ¼ cup berries and 1 tbsp. Granola.
• Layer once more with yogurt, walnuts, berries and granola, then drizzle with a little honey.

Nutritional Information & Macros

Dietary Information: Vegetarian, Gluten free (if gluten-free granola is used), Contains dairy & nuts

Macros per serving

• 620 calories
• 42g fat
• 43g carbs
• 27g protein

READ MORE: 

Cinnamon Apple Yogurt Parfait with Protein Granola

High Protein Lemon Berry Chia Yogurt 

Yogurt and Your Microbiome: The Surprising Ways Gut Health Affects Your Life

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post The Berry Nutty Yogurt Parfait appeared first on Born Fitness.

These chambers allow scientists to better understand diseases that affect the human body, including things like obesity and metabolic disorders. They also definitively answer the question that’s been debated for decades: calories do matter. And, they are the primary factor that influence whether you gain or lose weight. The question is whether a “calorie is a calorie” and more about understanding why all calories are not equal.

No scheduled trips to your nearest metabolic chamber? Don’t worry. We’ll help you make sense of what foods influence your metabolism and hunger, and how you can make food work for you. 

What Is A Calorie?

We often think of calories as something we eat, but, the truth is, a calorie is simply a unit of energy. More specifically, a calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree celsius. 

What does the temperature of water have to do with calories in your food? Well, scientists determine the amount of calories in a food using a technique we’re all guilty of in the kitchen: they burn it

This process is called bomb calorimetry. First, you place an ingredient in a sealed stainless steel container surrounded by water. Then, heat is applied to the food until it burns. This chemical reaction generates a ton of heat and slowly heats the surrounding water. Scientists then measure how high the temperature of the water rises to calculate the number of calories in the food. 

Although accurate, this process is slowly losing favor. Today, most calories listed by the USDA and FDA are calculated in a different way. Instead of burning the food, the total amount of calories are determined by adding up the calories provided by the individual components of the food. This means determining the amount of energy from the protein, carbohydrates, fat, and alcohol. 

This method works because the calories in a gram of protein, carbohydrates, fat, and alcohol remain constant. Each macronutrient has the following caloric values:

• 1 gram of protein = 4 calories 
• 1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories 
• 1 gram of fat = 9 calories 
• 1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories 

That’s how you add up the calories in your food. But, that’s not the entire story. As you’re about to find out, macronutrients are metabolized differently, which is why all calories are not equal. Some foods (like protein) burn more calories during digestion, and other foods (like the fiber in your carbs), affect hunger and appetite. 

Understanding how to balance your diet to give you the right amount of sanity – while not letting your hunger go wild – is the key to feeling in control of your diet. 

Why Calories Are Not Equal (And What It Means For Your Meals)

The confusion about calories is less about how many grams are in a particular food after it’s cooked or when it’s in a package, and more about how your body makes use of those calories once you eat and digest food. 

The human body is the greatest machine ever built. You need a certain number of calories to carry out every day functions like breathing, walking, and thinking. And because your very survival depends on calories, your body processes foods differently to help fuel all of your needs. 

To understand how you gain and lose weight, you need to think about energy balance, which is the old calories in vs. calories out debate. Although many things can impact energy balance, the type of calories you consume plays a large role. That’s why all calories aren’t equal.

Your daily metabolic rate is influenced by many things. The three main components are:

• Basal metabolic rate (BMR): This is the amount of energy your body needs to work. 
• Thermic effect of food (TEF): This is the amount of energy you burn when you eat.
• Exercise and activity: This is the calories you burn from movement and exercise. You can split this into different categories, such as NEAT (thins like moving around and fidgeting) and your traditional workouts. 

What most people don’t realize is that 65 to 80 percent of the calories you burn every day is from your basal metabolic rate. Physical activity and the foods you eat make up the remainder of your metabolism, but that doesn’t mean they’re insignificant.  

Protein, carbs, and fat are all metabolized differently. Eating 100 calories of protein is different than eating 100 calories of carbs because protein has a higher thermic effect of food (TEF).

When you eat protein, up to 30 percent of the calories can be burned. In the example above, if you ate 100 calories of protein, roughly 70 calories would hit your body because 30 calories would be burned as a result of the protein’s high TEF.

In other words, the greater the TEF, the more this will influence the “calories out” portion of the calories in minus calories out equation (because not all of those calories will end up in your body and stored). Comparatively, carbs have a TEF of just 5 to 10  percent, and fat is usually around 3 to 5 percent.

This is one reason why higher protein diets tend to be associated with weight loss and maintenance. But, it’s only part of the story. 

The Domino Effect of Eating More Protein

Protein also has a domino effect on hunger that makes it a great foundation for muscle gain and weight loss. 

When you eat protein you increase what’s called satiety. This means a protein-rich meal leaves you feeling fuller and desiring less food (i.e. eating fewer calories). 

It’s why high-calorie (some might consider them empty calories) options like fast food or ice cream can leave you feeling hungry just a few short hours later. It’s not just the calorie count of these foods. It’s that they don’t meet your body’s needs for hunger control, so you desire more food even when your calorie intake is high. These foods are fine to have once in a while, but they make it harder to stay full.  

A high-protein meal can boost the release of a hormone (ghrelin), which helps quiet your hunger and plays a role in determining how quickly your hunger returns after a meal. 

When you combine all of the benefits, it’s easy to see why eating more calories from dietary protein helps create a caloric deficit. Protein burns more calories (the higher TEF) and reduces the “calorie in” portion of the equation by affecting how much you’ll eat later in the day. 

Plus, giving your body the protein it needs to recover from strength training can help you build more muscle mass. 

Protein isn’t the only macronutrient that helps control your hunger. Fiber, which is found in carbohydrates, is also incredibly effective at increasing fullness without adding too many calories. Most fibrous foods have low energy density, which means you can eat a lot without taking in too many calories. 

Learning how to eat the foods that keep you full is a simple way to give you more flexibility. The goal with any diet isn’t too restrict – it’s to provide more freedom. 

If you focus on making at least half of your plate from proteins and fiber, you’re more likely to stay full and not overeat. 

That way, you still have the ability to eat other foods that aren’t as nutritious. For example, although 100 calories from chicken is different from 100 calories from a candy bar — we’re still talking about 100 calories. If the candy bar doesn’t lead to you eating 10 more candy bars, then worrying about those 100 calories is time and stress your mind and body doesn’t need.

It’s why effective diets, in general, can consist of 80 to 90 percent more nutritious foods (think vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, higher fiber carbs, and protein) and 10 to 20 percent of foods with fewer direct health benefits. That’s the type of balance that will deliver results and prevent burnout.

Read More

1. The Art And Science of Food That Fills You Up
2. How Food Becomes Belly Fat
3. Does Having More Muscle Really Increase Your Metabolism?

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Is A Calorie Really A Calorie? appeared first on Born Fitness.

But, willpower isn’t what is holding you back. After years of coaching people as a personal trainer, I’ve discovered that most people struggle to maintain their momentum because they ignore one simple rule.

It’s called The Goldilocks Rule.

It’s a riff off the old tale of Goldilocks and The Three Bears. And, while it might seem ridiculous, finding what’s just right for you is the secret to better health.

The Goldilocks Rule states that we experience peak motivation when working on tasks that provide the right level of resistance, challenge, and complication.

In other words: if you take on new tasks that are too easy or too hard, that’s when motivation, focus, and consistency fall apart.

Let’s say you haven’t exercised in years and want to get back into the gym this year. You’re motivated and excited. Nothing can stop you. So, you decide to try a 5-day, bodybuilder-style workout program designed for 12 weeks. On paper, it looks amazing. The weekly volume and total volume is enough to transform anyone. It has all the best exercises and it’s backed by all the latest exercise science research.

Here’s the issue: If you’re going from zero workouts to 5 days per week, the likelihood of success is low. It’s too big of a jump on every level. From the discipline to go 5 days a week, to the total amount of work (and stress) you’ll put on your body, it’s not practical or realistic.

Remember, with Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the focus was on finding a good fit. Picking the right program is the same. When you take on too much too soon, it’s easy to predict when you’ll miss a day or two. The missed days could frustrate you to quit the plan prematurely. Or, the dramatic jump from no workouts to lots of weekly volume increases the likelihood of injury, which can lessen your confidence.

And, that’s before we consider the squeeze this puts on your calendar. Let’s assume each workout is 60 minutes long. The move from 0 minutes of exercise to 300 minutes of exercise per week is ambitious and monumental.

You’re told you need to train a certain way to see changes. In reality, small jumps will still deliver changes, and — as you improve — you increase what you do. It’s cliche to tell people to enjoy the journey, but there’s a very real lesson in that wisdom. If you expect too much too soon, then you’ll rarely see the results you want.

How to Pick A Better Path

When motivation is high, you want to believe you can do anything (and you can). However, achieving your goals means creating a path that makes it more likely for you to succeed, not just diving head-first into a plan without considering your starting point.

When you don’t consider the path, the results usually don’t follow.

Here’s what typically happens: You might hit all of your sessions during the first week (or two) while motivation is high (assuming the soreness doesn’t crush you), but once reality catches up with you, that’s when consistency and willpower begin to fade and you lose momentum and drive.

You know what’s too common with “great” fitness programs? Overuse injury.

You know what’s frustrating with many workouts? Unrealistic timelines and expectations. 

You know what’s not needed to see results? Living in the gym or slaving over every meal. 

Time and time again, the best results come from small changes that you can repeat over-and-over again with as little stress as possible. 

If you’re trying to get back into the game  — and win — consistency is your competitive advantage. Even if your start might seem slow, it’s not.

To chart a better path, create a baseline of where you’re starting and where you want to finish. The baseline can include things like your fitness level, how many times you workout per week, and which meals are easy (and hard).

You don’t need a personal trainer to tell you what will work within your schedule. You know what’s doable to start. You need to create some friction and change, but it can’t be disruptive. In fact, the best personal trainers know that helping you change is less about exercise science and more about creating a plan that works for your life.

Here’s a pro tip that’s worth remembering any time you’re struggling: It’s important to differentiate and figure out what’s “just enough” rather than what’s ideal. “Just enough” meets you where you’re at and is doable. And when something is doable, you do it repeatedly, confidence grows, habits form, behaviors change, and you get better.

To make sure this year is different, let your action develop into results. Find a plan that sounds challenging but also that you’re 95% confident you can do without a doubt for the next 4 to 6 months.

Illustration: The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness

Better to achieve mastery and progress than to struggle, fail, and have to pick yourself up from ground zero. And if you’re crushing the plan, you can always increase the difficulty later.

This approach will help you accomplish small wins early and often, so you can keep pushing forward with confidence for the upcoming year.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Goldilocks Training: How to Maintain Momentum appeared first on Born Fitness.

But, maybe I was wrong.

The magic pill is recognizing the magic pills. And avoiding them.

When you see or hear any “expert” claiming to have identified a single problem that will solve all of your issues, that’s when you know the approach is wrong.

With so many people blaming everything from fat to carbs, hormones to toxins, inflammation and dairy, animal foods, and sugar — it becomes an easy threshold to separate the shortsighted from the beneficial. If you listened to them all, you wouldn’t be able to eat anything.

Weight loss, muscle gain, and general health are complicated. There are rules and habits that will get you there. But, there’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all.

Learn to see the magic pills (and avoid them) and you’ll have less stress and, hopefully, better health.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post The Magic Pill Is The Way appeared first on Born Fitness.

Looking down is what happens when you believe you’re a victim of life and circumstance. 

Looking up is a way to survive and thrive through difficult times; it requires courage, optimism, belief, and accountability. 

Looking down is a way to “create” worse situations and turn the illusion of bad luck into a reality. It feeds on negativity, excuses, doubt, and disbelief.

The way you look will influence where you go. 

Even though we don’t have much control over many things in life, focusing on what we do control — like looking up — can completely change the direction of your life. 

When you look up, the good becomes better, the bad becomes good, and the desperate becomes hopeful. 

You can’t put a value or measure the impact of perspective and mindset; but in the game of life, it is your most invaluable asset.

READ MORE

The Illusion Of Commitment

The Big 4

Move Boulders, Not Pebbles

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Look Up or Look Down appeared first on Born Fitness.

But, the most common question usually revolves around, “How much protein can I eat in one meal?”

Personally, I like this question because it’s practical. You want to eat and enjoy. That’s always my first rule for meals. But, for many people (including those in here), you’re also eating for some health goal. So the question makes sense because science makes it hard to understand, “How much?”

A lot of what you’ll see online suggests that you only “need” 20 to 30 grams per meal. That gets twisted into you can only “use” 20 to 30 grams of protein. So let’s clear that up: You can digest and eat much more than 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal. 

It’s true that somewhere around 30 grams you will maximize muscle protein synthesis (the process of using protein for building muscle), but that’s not the only reason to eat protein. And, if you eat more than 30 grams in a meal, there are many additional benefits to eating more beyond muscle protein synthesis. 

In order to read the rest of this article, become a Born Fitness+ member to gain access to exclusive articles, expert Q&As, a private community, weekly accountability, and much more.

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Need more info?  We break it all down here.

The post The Rabbit Hole: How Much Protein Per Meal? appeared first on Born Fitness.

For years, that meant thinking of resistance exercise in absolute terms. A workout wasn’t a success unless I could no longer move my muscles at the end of a session, even if I needed a spotter to save me from being crushed by a barbell (yeah, that happened). 

But, what if I told you that pushing your muscles to the point that they can’t lift a weight isn’t the point? 

Whether you’re trying to add muscle mass, improve a few muscle groups, or are just using resistance training to improve your overall health, the idea of seeking failure is misunderstood and misapplied, and a big reason why many people don’t see amazing results from their workouts.

There’s a big difference between breaking a muscle down so it can grow, and demolishing it to the point that it’s harder to recover. 

Muscle growth is directly connected to muscle fatigue. But, if you want to build stronger muscle fibers or add muscle mass, failure is best used sparingly.

In fact, in most cases, the best approach for both short- and long-term growth is about finding a way to push yourself hard, add reps, sets, and weights, without hitting that point where your muscles stop working. (And that’s separate from injuries, which are much more likely when training to failure.)

To help you understand how hard to push and the right intensity for your workouts, we turned to Jordan Syatt, owner of Syatt Fitness. In this post, he provides 5 different questions that you should consider to help you build a more effective approach to your workouts. -AB

Should You Train to Failure?

By Jordan Syatt

Think back to the first time you ever lifted weights. What did you do?

You probably walked up to a dumbbell rack, picked up the heaviest weight you could hold, and performed some exercise movement — heck, any exercise movement — to the best of your ability. Rep after rep after rep. And you did so until you could no longer move the weight. 

Then you rested, probably until you felt fresh again, and repeated the process. Sometimes, a little naivety and simplicity is a good thing.

But, that simplicity is also why so many people are frustrated by what they do in the gym. Beyond the exercises you perform and the frequency and volume of your workouts, most people don’t know how hard to push on any given set. 

They don’t know how to build muscle. And they don’t know how to build strength. What they do know how to do is perform exercises listed in their training session.

There’s an important distinction. The results you see from your time spent in the gym is a combination of many factors. For muscle growth, it’s a matter of muscular tension, metabolic stress, and muscular damage. There are many ways to manipulate those variables, but most people assume that pushing every set to the last rep where your muscles are aching is what needs to be done.

It’s the reason why “training to failure” is one of the most highly debated topics in the fitness industry and, truth be told, it’s extremely misunderstood.

I’ve spent enough time studying the topic to know that there’s no simple answer. Some people swear that taking every set to failure is the secret to success while others insist it’s a recipe for guaranteed injury and “overtraining.”

The answer, as most things in life, depends entirely on the individual as well as their needs, goals, and preferences.

If you’re going to commit to training sessions, you might as well make sure you’re personalizing those workouts as much as possible. 

So, before you take another set to muscle failure, here’s what you need to consider. 

Question 1: Is Training to Failure Necessary for Muscle Growth?

Research on training to failure is, unfortunately, scarce. Increasing muscle hypertrophy is often necessary for physique competitors and strength athletes to improve performance. Since training to failure “may activate a greater number of motor units” and potentially enhance muscle hypertrophy, training to failure is often warranted among these individuals.[2] 

Willardson et al. is perhaps the highest quality review of the literature pertaining to failure-based training. After examining the data, the authors concluded that training to failure is a valid method to use in order to enhance muscle hypertrophy, facilitate maximal strength gains, and break through plateaus.

However, it’s important to note that Willardson also stated “training to failure should not be performed repeatedly over long periods, due to the high potential for overtraining and overuse injuries. Therefore, the training status and the goals of the lifter should guide the decision-making process on this issue.”

Linnamo et al. found that training to failure resulted in a significantly greater increase in the secretion of growth hormone compared to non-failure based training. While this finding in no way, shape, or form proves that training to failure is better than other methods, it may lend credence to the success so many athletes, bodybuilders, and fitness enthusiasts have had with failure-based training.

There are other studies, but what really what matters is, how does this apply to you?

So let’s start there: You. After all, it’s your goals and training style that will play the biggest role in determining if and when you should push your body to failure. And that decision comes down to asking 5 questions.

Question 2: Are you Breaking the 90-Percent Max Rule?

Training intensity is perhaps the single most important factor in deciding whether or not training to failure is effective or even appropriate. Training intensity refers to the percentage of weight being lifted in relation to an individual’s 1-repetition maximum (1-RM).

In my opinion, training to failure at intensities at, or above 90 percent of your 1-RM should be avoided. 

Training to failure with such heavy weights will do very little (if anything) to enhance muscle hypertrophy and may actually hamper strength gains. If you’re going to hit absolute or complete failure, you don’t want to do it with the maximum amount of weight you can push, press, deadlift, or squat. 

Furthermore, training to failure with near maximal weights will almost inevitably result in a breakdown of technique, drastically increasing the likelihood of injury. Don’t get it twisted: weightlifting is a lifetime activity, but you need to be smart about the risks you take. 

Generally speaking, training to failure should be reserved for training percentages ranging from 50 percent to 85 percent of your 1-rep max. 

While I rarely prescribe training to failure at either of these end-ranges, I believe that they are appropriate guidelines to follow for a majority of intermediate and advanced trainees.

Keep in mind, though, training to failure at 50 percent of your 1-RM can take an inordinate amount of time to complete and may not be well suited for those with time restrictions. On the other hand, 85 percent of your 1-RM is still heavy weight and the use of a spotter is strongly encouraged.

Question 3: How Often Should You Train to Failure? (Check Your Training Age)

There are three major categories signifying the current “level” of a given trainee. I call this “the trainee continuum” and they are: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

An individual’s training status will determine what they need, and therefore someone who is a beginner might require unique methods of training that may substantially differ from someone who is at an intermediate or advanced stage.

For example, beginner trainees must, first and foremost, work on developing proper form and technique in compound movements such as the squat, bench press, deadlift, and chin-up.

Consequently, training beginners to absolute failure would likely do more harm than good as maintaining proper form becomes exceedingly difficult in a fatigued state. 

In other words, if you’re a beginner and haven’t been training for, at least, 2 years consistently, then you’re likely best off not pushing to muscle failure, even when you’re below 90 percent of your 1-RM.

What to do instead? You can try the “reps in reserve” (or RIR) method. RIR is great for beginners and also incredibly effective for advanced lifters. 

Instead of pushing towards complete failure, you want to push to a different level of fatigue. For example, you’ll set a goal rep range (say, 8 reps) and make sure you have 2 reps in reserve (2 RIR). This way, you’re able to work towards a level of intensity that challenges your muscles, but you’re purposely leaving a number of reps in the tank. 

It can take trial-and-error to figure out how many reps you truly have in reserve, but — when you do — it’s a great way to add reps, weight, and more sets, while mastering form, fatigue, and recovery. 

If you’re not a beginner, intermediate and advanced trainees can push to failure more often. If you’re following the 90-percent rule, and sticking between 60 to 85 percent of your 1-rep max, you can train to failure between 2-4 times per week. 

How do you know how often you should push? Glad you asked because that will depend on your goal and the exercises you perform. 

Question 4: What is Your Goal?

An individual’s desired goal will dictate numerous components of their program, not least of which includes whether or not they should train to muscular failure.

Take, for example, the differences between powerlifters and bodybuilders. Powerlifters are focused on maximal strength development (including training their nervous system to handle more weight). Consequently, they train at relatively high intensities of their 1-RM. Additionally, powerlifter’s place a distinct emphasis on full-body, compound movements, which require a great deal of skill to maintain proper form.

In bodybuilding, the goal is muscle growth and, as a result, train at comparatively lower intensities of their 1-RM because strength is not always the answer. What’s more, bodybuilders tend to emphasize smaller, isolation movements designed to target individual body parts, which require less skill to maintain proper technique.

Because of these different approaches and the types of exercises performed, bodybuilders are able to train to failure more frequently than powerlifters. 

It’s important to note, however, that many elite powerlifters also train to failure on a regular basis. In fact, as a world record powerlifter myself, I regularly utilize failure-based training within my programs. That being said, I rarely train to failure in big, compound movements and almost exclusively use intensities between 60 percent to 80 percent of my 1-RM.

Question 5: What Exercises Are You Performing?

The more skill required for a lift, the less frequently it should be performed to failure. Conversely, the less skill required to perform a lift the more acceptable it becomes to train to failure.

Snatches, for example, are arguably the single-most complex lift and training them to failure is dangerous. Simpler multi-joint movements, such as variations of the chin-up, bench press, and lunge, are suitable for failure-based training but should be performed with extreme caution. Same can be said for exercises like squats.

Finally, single-joint exercises, including bicep curls, triceps extensions, and calf raises, are the least complex of movements and are far more appropriate to train to failure.

Question 6: What is Your Mindset?

Failure occurs when an individual is unable to complete another full repetition. This tends to happen due to the onset of fatigue.

Fatigue, however, is a truly subjective term and is nearly impossible to quantify. Based on pain tolerance, willpower, and other psychological factors, what constitutes muscular failure for one individual may only be slight discomfort to someone else. As such, it’s difficult to know whether a given individual is training to true muscular failure or simply cutting the set short.

Furthermore, it’s important to note that while some individuals derive pleasure from training to failure, others do not and attempting to force them may, in fact, deter them from strength training. Understanding the psychology of your clients (or yourself) and how they respond to training is of the utmost importance to long-term program adherence.

While it’d be easy to make a blanket statement about training to failure, ultimately it depends on your answers to the questions above. Failure-based training is a valuable tool in your training arsenal when applied correctly. If it fits your goals, needs, and preferences then use it wisely and with caution

Stop Failing. Start Succeeding

At Born Fitness, we help you make sense of fitness and nutrition information. If you want to create a plan for your life, here’s how you can stop guessing and start living healthier.

READ MORE: 

3 Rules for Building Bigger Arms

Faster Fat Loss: How to Add Workout Finishers

How Low Should You Squat, Really?

Works Cited

[1] Aragon, Alan. “Training to Failure.” Alan Aragon Research Review. Alan Aragon, Mar 2009. Web. Web. 9 Mar. 2013.

[2] Schoenfeld, Brad. “The Mechanisms of Muscle Hypertrophy and Their Application to Resistance Training.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 24.10 (2010): 2857-2873. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20847704>.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Training to Failure: 5 Questions You Need to Answer appeared first on Born Fitness.

I thought I knew the answers to these questions, but when I formulated all of the products for Ladder, I quickly learned that there’s a dark side of the supplement industry that has nothing to do with illegal ingredients or dangerous products.

In many cases, the “good” supplements you take might not be giving your body what you think. That’s because different types of whey proteins might make a difference in absorption.

And, more importantly, the number of loopholes on supplement labeling makes it almost too easy for supplement companies to lie about what’s on the label.

In the last 10 years, research shows that health officials have issued almost 800 warnings to dietary supplements containing dangerous ingredients. And, in nearly every case (98%), the USDA found that the ingredients in question were nowhere on the label.

If you want to make sure the label you’re reading is accurate, make sure you’re taking a product that has a third-party certification. Good options include NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Sport, and BSCG.

If there’s no third-party certification, just know that means no one has validated that what is says on the label is actually in the product.

Beyond smoke and mirrors on your protein label, here’s what you need to know about choosing between different protein powders and how to find the best whey protein for your needs and hard-earned money.

What is Whey Protein?

Whey protein is considered the gold standard protein for a few simple reasons: it’s high in protein per serving, lower in carbs and fat, and is loaded with all of the essential amino acids and high levels of the BCAAs. And, its absorption is very high, meaning your body can put that protein to work to help with muscle growth and recovery.

That doesn’t mean whey is your only protein option or that others aren’t good substitutes. After all, whey is dairy-based. So, if you have a dairy allergy, it could be an issue. If you’re just lactose intolerant (as you’ll find out), some whey options might not cause any issue.

But, if you’re looking for a convenient, affordable way to add more protein to your diet, whey protein is one of the best options you’ll find.

How Is Whey Protein Made?

Whey comes from milk and is a byproduct of the cheese-making process. When you turn a gallon of milk into a block of cheese, you add enzymes to the liquid. This causes the liquid to separate into liquid and curds. The leftover liquid is pure protein, which becomes whey.

Understanding how whey is made will help you make sense of why there are different types of whey, such as whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate, and whey protein hydrolysate.

The more you process and filtrate the product, the more it makes little changes to the final version of the whey.

You’ll hear a lot of different benefits (and see that some proteins are more expensive), but most of it is just marketing hype.

Whey Protein Concentrate

Whey protein concentrate is the most basic form of whey protein. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, but there are regulations that mean whey protein concentrate can have a wide range of purity.

By law, being labeled as “concentrate” means that the product can be anywhere between 35 to 80 percent protein by weight.

This is a big deal if you’re worried about the amount of protein you’re using and absorbing. Put another way, if you scoop out 100 grams of protein powder, it can be called concentrate if anywhere between 35 and 80 grams of that scoop is protein.

That’s a pretty big range, which is why third-party certification is so important. If you don’t have someone validating the label accuracy and you see whey protein concentrate on the label, it’s harder to know exactly how much protein you’re really getting.

If the label is accurate, whey protein concentrate is a good option for most people because of its price and value.

But, it does have some limitations, if you need to consider smaller details like carbs, fats, and lactose in your protein.

If you want an idea of how whey concentrate is created, here’s a good visual: imagine liquid whey falling off a conveyor belt into a bucket. The liquid is filtered for impurities, dehydrated, turned into a powder, flavored, and there you go — delicious whey protein!

Because it’s such a simple process, whey concentrate tends to be the cheapest source of protein supplementation.

Whey Protein Isolate

Whey protein isolate, from a legal standpoint, provides a little more peace of mind about the purity of your protein. That’s because earning “whey protein isolate” on a label means that, unless your supplement provider is lying (which, unfortunately, does happen), means that your protein must be, at least, 90 percent protein by weight.

Going back to our 100-gram example, if you scoop out 100 grams of protein, then you will be getting a minimum of 90 grams of protein.

Many supplement companies tout that their isolates are more “pure.” They’ll use marketing tactics to brag about their filtration process, whether it’s ion exchange, cold-filtration, or microfiltration. All of these methods filter out different-sized particles to help you get a “clean” version of whey.

That’s not to say these don’t have different minor benefits (for example, most isolates have less than 1 percent lactose), but whey isolate is defined by protein by weight, not by filtration.

Because of the extra level of filtration and higher guarantee of protein by whey, whey protein isolate tends to have a higher price relative to concentrates. This is because whey protein isolate will have fewer carbs, almost no fat, and almost nonexistent levels of lactose. Additionally, whey protein isolate tends to have better solubility, which makes it easier to mix and creates a “smoother” drink.

Whey Protein Hydrolysate

Unlike concentrate and isolate, whey protein hydrolysate goes through a very different process.

Hydrolysate is a protein that is treated with enzymes and acids to reduce particle size and destroy “quaternary protein structures.” (That’s a mouthful, but it means removing bioactive immunoglobulins, which can help support immune function).

The origin of hydrolysis in dietary protein arose from a need to make baby formulas non-allergenic.

Research shows that whey protein hydrolysates are absorbed faster than isolates or concentrates. This is mostly due to no gastric digestion being needed for hydrolysates.

The hydrolysates also seem to increase muscle protein synthesis (MPS) quicker than other forms of protein. But, research suggests that it doesn’t necessarily result in more muscle.

That’s because total daily protein is more important for muscle gain than the speed of protein digestion. If you are focused on gaining muscle (or even losing fat), it’s more important to focus on how much protein you eat in a day than how quickly it’s absorbed. 

The speed of digestion does come with a few downsides. Whey hydrolysates tend to be more bitter because the amino acids proline and leucine are no longer being constrained in a protein structure, which means it hits your taste buds differently.

Whey protein hydrolysate is also the most expensive form of protein

What about Soy Protein?

Soy protein isn’t a variation of whey, but it’s oftentimes compared and criticized when compared to the popular dairy protein.

Most of the fear and concern are linked to phytoestrogens in soy protein. People worry that those phytoestrogens will decrease testosterone levels and not support muscle building.

But, if you decide to go the soy route (for whatever reason), the downsides are low. All soy sold in food products (except raw soy products such as edamame), including soy protein, are heat-treated before they are sold.

This heat treatment destroys select enzymes in the soy (such as trypsin), which prevents the digestion of protein in your stomach and small intestine.

Additionally, soy proteins are processed in two ways that are similar to whey.

If you’re creating a soy protein concentrate, manufacturers leech the protein with ethanol and neutralize the pH. This process removes most of the soy isoflavones, which are left floating in the ethanol and no longer in the soybean.

This is an important step because it means that soy concentrate supplements are incredibly low in soy isoflavones, and thus they are not really a concern.

As for soy isolate, the ethanol leeching is not mandatory (instead it is optional), so it’s possible that some soy isoflavones may be present.

As for the soy isoflavones themselves (let’s assume you do routinely consume them), they are not too much of a concern for male fertility and health. That doesn’t mean soy can’t have any hormonal impact. But, it does mean that you need to eat a lot of soy protein to potentially have any disruption of your hormonal levels, and it needs to be a soy protein isolate (which is less common).

For most people, having a soy protein shake per day wouldn’t come anywhere near the soy protein threshold, and, therefore, there’s not much need to worry if you choose soy as a whey protein alternative.

READ MORE: 

The Protein Guide: How Much Protein Do You Really Need? 

What is the Best Protein Powder?

The Curious Case of Why People Fear Protein

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post The Different Forms of Whey Protein And What’s Best For You appeared first on Born Fitness.