Machines vs. Free Weights

You have heard it before. Free weights are far superior to machines because they allow you to use your stabilizer muscles, improve your balance, and they are more hardcore too. But, does this mean that they are necessarily better than machines? In my opinion, they are not.

The Irreplaceables

Let me explain. There are certain free weight exercises that I believe cannot be replaced by machines to achieve the same result. This includes deadlifts and squats. There are no other excercises that will give you the same overall thickness as deadlifts. You can do lower back extensions or a lower back machine but they won't come anywhere close to thickneing up your back and improving your overall strength. Squats are a bit easier to replace than deadlifts since squat machines and leg presses do work your legs pretty well. However, nothing compares to free weight squats for overall leg development and strength.

The "Right" Machine

However, outside of these two exercises, I believe any exercise can be replaced by the right machine. What I mean by the right machine is a machine that you seem to connect well with. It might be tough to explain, but for whatever reason you just love the way a particular machine hits a particular muscle group. This is extremely individual. Everybody is built differently so there could be one machine that you love but your friend hates and a machine your friend loves but you hate.

If you find that machine that works well for you, then there is no reason not to do it. People get too caught up with doing certain free weight exercises because they are "supposed to." However, no matter how popular an exercise is and how important you think it might be for you to do, the fact remains that you just might not feel the exercise well. For example, if you continuously do barbell rows because you think you are supposed to but don't get a solid pump in your back when doing them, that exercise might not be right for you. There may be a t-bar row machine or cable row machine that you will feel much better in your back. If you find the right rowing machine, then that machine would be superior to the barbell row for this person. This applies to virtually every body part. Barbell curls are very uncomfortable for a lot of people but they continue to do them anyway because they are seen as a staple in bicep routines. There is nothing wrong with finding a machine replacement.

Who Cares About Stabilizers?

You always hear about the stabilizer muscles but most people don't even know what they are. Stabilizer muscles are mostly in reference to your core and ability to balance the weight. In my opinion, it is stupid to do an exercise for the sole reason of hitting your stabilizer muscles. You are probably training your core separately anyway and your core is still used when using machines. Ever feel your abs when doing tricep pushdowns?

It is true that a machine doesn't develop your balancing ability as well. If you use a bench machine for a few months and then switch to barbell bench, you will probably have difficulty balancing the weight. However, that balance will develop very quickly once you do start doing that exercise so I wouldn't worry about it.

Be Honest with Yourself

It's imperative to be honest with yourself. Machines are easier than free weights. You don't need to load plates on certain ones and it is less difficult mentally when you aren't responsible for stabilizing the weight. With that in mind, you need to make sure you are only choosing a machine because you actually feel that machine more than the free weight alternative and not because you are being lazy. If you aren't honest with yourself and are just being lazy then you are just cheating yourself.

My Chest Experience

I used to always choose free weights over machines no matter what. I knew that I felt certain machines more than free weights but I had always read that free weights are better so I continued to do them because I thought I was supposed to. Finally, I noticed my upper chest wasn't developing at all from doing barbell bench press and dumbbell bench press. I began doing an incline bench machine that I had always felt ten times more than barbells and dumbbells but was always too afraid to use since I thought it was inferior. After making the switch, my upper chest finally progressed. I was finally targeting it in a more efficient way for my body. For someone else, barbells and dumbbells may be better for chest development but for me, it wasn't.

Other Considerations

Safety is another important issue. Free weights can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. If you are uncomfortable doing an exercise, try a machine instead. Even if the machine isn't great, it is still better to work the muscle with a machine than hurt yourself and have to take time off.

If you are recovering from an injury, you may also want to go easy on the free weights to ease your body back into it. The last thing you want is to injure yourself again.

Conclusion

To sum up, machines are not bad. You can build a solid physique while using them. When choosing exercises, don't be caught up in doing what you think you are supposed to do but do what you feel the most. For most people, this will be a combination of both machines and free weights.

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Shocking the Muscle: Important or Not?

The importance of frequently switching up your routine in order to shock your muscles is often preached around the bodybuilding and fitness community. The idea is that your body will get used to doing the same thing over and over and therefore you must constantly change routines and exerercises in order to continue to make progress. Some people go as far as not doing the same workout twice in a row. However, I believe that people become so obsessed with "shocking" the muscle that they are actually doing more harm than good.

If it Ain't Broke, Don't Fix it

People get too caught up in switching up their routine just for the sake of switching it. If what you are doing is working, then there is no reason to switch routines. Additionally, gaining muscle takes time and it generally takes at least three months on a routine before you can even tell if it is working for you or not. You need to give it time before you make a judgement. Some people will follow a routine for a month, decide it's not working, and switch. This is a sure fire way to make sure you never find a routine that works.


Progressive Overload is the Real Shock for Growth

Some people don't take it to the extreme of revamping their entire routine every month. Instead, they follow relatively the same routine but every workout they feel the need to change up the exercises in order to "confuse" the muscles. This is unnecessary and if anything, more negative than positive.

The key to growing muscle as previously mentioned in other articles is progressive overload. Progressive overload means gradually increasing the stress placed on your body during your workouts over time either by increasing the amount of reps you can do with the same weight or increasing the amount of weight you can handle. If you benched 185 for 10 reps today and a year from now you do 225 pounds for 10 reps, you have grown and your chest will be bigger. You don't need to alternate barbell bench with dumbbell bench every week to continue growing. If you want to keep growing, you just need to do more than you did previously.

Switching Exercises

This doesn't mean that you should do the exact same routine every single week forever. The problem is that people change up exercises so often that they can't tell if they are getting stronger. If you don't do the same exercise for at least two weeks in a row, then there is no way to know if your strength improved from one week to the next. You need to give your body time to get used to a certain exercise and then continue to get stronger. If you are constantly switching, your body will never get used to the exercise and you won't give yourself a chance to get stronger. This will cause you to stall.

I recommend choosing at least one exercise per body part to do every workout for at least three months. You should use that exercise to try to improve your strength and do it first in your routine. The remaining exercises can be changed more often. The point of changing the other exercises isn't to "shock" the muscle but just to make your workout less boring. If you like doing the same exercises all the time then that is perfectly fine and won't cause you to progress any slower.

Change the Reps

Another thing you can do is vary your rep ranges. Your body might not care whether you are doing a cable fly or a pec deck but it does know if you are doing 6 reps or 15 reps. It's a good idea to incorporate different rep ranges in your routine to make sure you are utilizing every type of muscle fiber. You should stick to the 6-8 rep range for your first exercise that you are trying to improve your strength on but vary the remaining exercises. One week you can do 8-10 reps, another week you can do 12-15, and another week you can go heavy in the 3-5 range. If you neglect a certain rep range for too long, your body loses the ability to work in that rep range effectively.

Conclusion

To sum up, you do not need to change your routine and exercises to shock your muscles into growth. Progressive overload is the real key to growth and as long as you are adding weight to the bar, you will progress. It's a good idea to pick one exercise per body part to use as a strength gauge. You can switch up the remaining exercises however you would like. It's also a good idea to utilize different rep ranges to ensure you are using every type of muscle fiber.

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Should I Train to Failure?

We all know that to gain muscle, you need to lift with intensity. If you aren't pushing yourself in the gym then you can't expect to make progress. Progressive overload is the key factor in determining if your training will yield muscle gains. Progressive overload is just a fancy term for gradually increasing the stress placed on your body during your workouts over time either by increasing the amount of reps you can do with the same weight or increasing the amount of weight you can handle. Basically, if you bench 185 for 10 reps on January 1, 2011 and still bench 185 for 10 reps on January 1, 2012, you haven't made progress.

The question that remains is whether or not you must be training to failure to grow. So many professional bodybuilders preach that if you aren't training until absolute failure then you aren't working hard enough. They say that the last rep is the the only one that matters since it's the one that pushes you the most and recruits the most muscle fibers. Well, if professional body builders say training to failure is best, then it must be true, right?

Wrong!

It makes sense that if intensity is important, there is nothing more intense than pushing your body to the point where it physically can't do another rep. However, pushing your body like this every workout can do more harm than good. Not only does repeated failure increase your body's release of catabolic hormones such as cortisol, but it puts greater stress on the CNS which can lead to longer recovery times. Longer recovery times mean that you can't train effectively as often. You may think you are ready to train but your CNS is not. This will cause your progress to stagnate which goes against the goal of making continued progress for the long term.

You may be thinking that professional bodybuilders like Branch Warren and Dorian Yates train to failure and it has worked for them. The issue here is that they are using copious amounts of drugs which significantly helps their body recover faster. If you are natural, your body can't recover at nearly the same rate.

Think About It

Manual laborers such as construction workers often develop a decent amount of muscle just by working their job. Construction workers don't dig with a shovel until they physically can't keep digging. They don't swing an axe until their arms give out yet they still develop muscle. This is evidence that failure is not a necessity for growth. Instead, they perform these activities short of failure but for extended periods of time. This shows that multiple sets short of failure produces results.


Look at it this way. Let's say that right now,you know with 100% certainty that your 10 rep max on bench press is 185 pounds. You cannot do an 11th rep. A week later, you bench 185 again. After your 10th rep, you know with 100% certainty that you can do an 11th rep. What benefit is there to doing the 11th rep if you know for a fact that you can do it? Other than just proving to yourself you can do it, there is none. You have increased your strength by being able to do that 11th rep whether you physically perform it or not. If you do that extra rep, you will fatigue yourself and the rest of your workout will suffer. Instead, you can stop a rep or two shy of failure and then bang out another few sets with the same level of intensity. Once you hit one set to failure, it's impossible to finish your work out with the same level of intensity.


Let's look at one more example similar to manual laborers. Olympic lifters have very developed physiques yet they don't train to failure because it will alter their technique. Also, a lot of Olympic lifts don't have an eccentric portion which makes it almost impossible to reach failure. Despite Olympic lifters not reaching failure, they still grow which is just another piece of evidence that failure is not necessary for growth.

So What Does This Mean?

I'm not saying training to failure is bad and shouldn't be done. I'm just saying that training to failure isn't the secret formula that it's made out to be. Training to failure can and should still be done but not every set and not necessarily every work out. It's more effective to stop 1 or 2 reps short of failure for most sets. Then, either on your last set of your exercise or last set of your entire workout, you can hit failure. If you accidentally hit failure on your first set is that a big deal? No, of course not. The key point here is that training to failure isn't bad. It produces great results. It's just not required or recommended to do all the time in order to grow. Progressive overload is the real key to success and doesn't require reaching failure to be achieved.

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Cardio: A Necessary Evil

Most of us enjoy weight lifting but when it comes to cardio, we begin making excuses. Cardio is boring, monotonous, and worst of all, hard. However, it is still important to do cardio and with so many possible ways to do it, there really is no excuse to avoid it.

Why Do Cardio?

The main reason to do cardio is to be healthy. Although achieving a good physique is nice, if you don't have your health, it doesn't really matter. Cardio has a vast amount of health benefits. Most importantly, it keeps your heart healthy. If health isn't enough to motivate you, there are still plenty of reasons to do cardio. Some of these include improved sleep, increased metabolism, improved recovery, improved hormone profile, and reduced stress.

Types of Cardio

There are many different types of cardio. Not every form of cardio is right for every person. You need to find a method that you can safely do and most importantly, enjoy enough to continue doing in the future. Some are more effective than others.

Low Intensity: This type of cardio is when you keep your heart rate between 30-40% of your maximum heart rate. Since the intensity is low, you can do it for a longer duration. Anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes is recommended. Whenever you see someone walking on a treadmill, this is the type of cardio they are performing. If you do choose to walk on a treadmill, do not hold onto the machine! I can't count the amount of people I see everyday who crank the incline all the way up but then hold onto the machine. Sure the calories may tally up a bit quicker but by holding on, you are canceling out the incline and getting the same workout as if you walked on no incline and didn't hold on. You can perform low intensity cardio on any piece of cardio equipment or simply go for a walk outside.

This cardio is really more beneficial for someone who hasn't done cardio for a while and isn't in very good shape. It's a good way to get your body accustomed to some type of cardio exercise before you move onto something harder. However, many non beginners and professional bodybuilders do this type of cardio as well and in my opinion, it's because they are either lazy or misinformed. A common misconception out there is that low intensity cardio burns more fat than higher intensity cardio. It is true that low intensity cardio burns a higher proportion of fat during exercise than high intensity cardio. However, over a 24 hour period, the amount of fat burned is equal between both methods. Over a longer period of several weeks, low intensity cardio burns less fat. For this reason, I would only do low intensity cardio if you physically can't do anything else due to either low energy or poor endurance or you are too lazy to do anything harder.

Moderate Intensity: This type of cardio is performed by keeping your heart rate between about 50-70% of your maximum heart rate. This is obviously more intense than low intensity cardio and therefore the duration is shorter. Anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes is recommended. Jogging would be an example of this form of cardio but you could also use any piece of cardio equipment or even swim.

Moderate intensity cardio is superior to low intensity cardio because you can burn the same amount of calories as low intensity cardio but in about half the time. Additionally, by increasing your heart rate you will be able to increase your cardio vascular endurance a lot more than you could by walking. If time or endurance isn't an issue, then you will see similar results with either method.

High Intensity: This type of cardio is performed by keeping your heart rate between 80-85% of your maximum heart rate. Due to the intensity, you should only perform it for short durations of around 5 to 20 minutes. An example would be running.

High intensity cardio is good for someone who is training for a specific goal such as trying to improve speed for a sport. It's also good for someone who doesn't have the time or patience to do cardio for an extended period of time. It is also superior to both low intensity cardio and moderate intensity cardio for increasing cardiovascular endurance and lean mass. It also causes your body to burn more fat for a longer period of time after you are done exercising which will lead to more fat loss over time.

High Intensity Interval Training(HIIT): With this type of cardio, you switch off between low intensity and high intensity intervals. Real HIIT involves sprinting. That is, you go as fast as you possibly can for 10-20 seconds and then slow down for about a minute before repeating. If you are really sprinting, you shouldn't be able to keep up the pace for more than 20 seconds. However, it is difficult to go as fast as you possibly can if you are using a machine for HIIT. If this is the case, you can go as hard as the machine will let you for 30 seconds and then slow down for 30 seconds and keep repeating. You can play around with the intervals to find out what length of high and low intensity intervals you prefer. Some options for HIIT are sprints, car pushes, jumping rope or any piece of cardio equipment at the gym.

In my opinion, HIIT is the most superior form of cardio. It has the same benefits as high intensity cardio. That is, it is better than low and moderate intensity cardio for increasing cardiovascular endurance and lean mass and it also causes your body to burn fat for a longer period of time after you are done performing cardio which leads to more fat being burned long term. The only difference between HIIT and high intensity cardio is that HIIT may be less monotonous but both produce almost identical results.

Fun Activities: Not all cardio has to fall into a specific category. If any of the above options are just too unappealing to you, then try doing something that you actually enjoy. Play a game of basketball, ride a bike, go for a hike, swim, play volley ball, walk a dog, or jump rope. Do anything that will get your heart rate going. The point is that you will be having fun while getting the benefits of cardio. If you are trying to compete in a contest or lose a substantial amount of weight, you will probably need to pair a fun activity with one of the above methods for the best results but it's still a great start.

How Often?

This is highly dependent on the type of cardio you do and your goals. Low intensity cardio can be done more often than high intensity cardio. Additionally, if your goal is to lose 2 pounds per week you should probably do cardio more often than someone who isn't trying to lose any weight. You can do cardio 7 days per week if you want to but I would recommend 4 to 6 days for either low intensity or moderate intensity and 2 to 3 days for high intensity or HIIT.

How Long?

This is also dependent on both the type of cardio you are performing and your goals. Rather than look at the length of your cardio session in terms of time, I prefer to look at it in terms of calories burned. It doesn't matter if you do 20 minutes of moderate intensity cardio or 40 minutes of low intensity cardio if your total calories burned are the same. For HIIT or high intensity cardio, I would stick with somewhere between 5 and 20 minutes.

Supplements

Although supplements aren't necessary, there are some that can help improve your endurance and preserve muscle. Any BCAA product will do. I personally have found Controlled Labs Purple Wraath to make a difference in terms of endurance. Some other supplements than can help are Scivation Xtend
and AI Sports Nutrition RecoverPro . Simply take a serving of any of these about 10-15 minutes prior to cardio for the benefits.

When to do Cardio

One of the most common misconceptions regarding cardio is that fasted cardio is more effective for burning fat. This has been proven to be incorrect. In fact, you actually burn more fat by eating before you do cardio. Ideally, cardio and weight training should be separated by hours if not a day. A perfect situation would be to do cardio in the morning and train again at night or do cardio on off days. However, for most people, this doesn't fit their schedule. The next best option would be to perform cardio after your work out since you don't want it to hinder your work out by doing it before. The only time I would do cardio before your work out is if it's very low intensity.

Cardio and Bulking

Many people use bulking as an excuse to refrain from cardio but this is a mistake. It's important to keep your heart healthy no matter what your physique goals are. If health isn't enough to motivate you, then do it because it will aid in muscle recovery, help utilize nutrients, stimulate your appetite so you can eat more, and burn fat so that you make leaner gains. It will also keep you in cardiovascular shape so that when you decide to cut at a later time, your stamina will be somewhat decent. Cardio will not hinder your progress whatsoever. It will only help. Three cardio sessions aiming to burn 300 calories per week or a couple of HIIT sessions on your off days is sufficient.

Cardio and Muscle Loss

Another misconception is that cardio causes you to burn muscle. Although it's possible that excess cardio can cause some muscle loss, it's not exactly the cardio that is the culprit. Muscle loss is a result of the rate of weight loss. That is, you are more likely to burn muscle by losing 2 pounds per week than 1 pound per week and you are more likely to burn muscle by losing 3 pounds per week than 2 pounds per week. If you are losing weight at a slow pace, it doesn't really matter how much cardio you are doing. You won't lose anymore muscle than if you lost the same amount of weight without cardio. If you are bulking or even maintaining your weight, then you are at virtually no risk of losing muscle.

Conclusion

Summing up, cardio should be done by everyone no matter what your physique goals are due to the health benefits. There are various forms of cardio including low intensity, moderate intensity, high intensity,HIIT, and fun activities. The frequency and the length of your cardio sessions depends on the type of cardio you are doing and your goals. Ideally, your cardio sessions should be separated from your weight lifting sessions but if your schedule doesn't allow it, it's best to do your cardio after your work out. Bulking is no excuse not to do cardio as it has a number of benefits even if gaining weight is your goal. Additionally, cardio doesn't really burn muscle despite common belief.

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Fixing Uneven Arms

Naturally, everybody has one dominant arm over the other. If you are a righty, chances are you have gone your entire life doing everything with your right hand and as a result, your right arm will be stronger and probably bigger too. The good news is that there are some ways to even them out. The bad news is that it won't happen over night. As someone who once had his right arm 1.25 inches bigger than his left and now has his left arm slightly bigger than his right, I've learned a few things over the years to solve this problem. It's best to start trying to even them out now because the more uneven they get, the longer it will take to fix.

Ditch the Barbells

You always hear that barbells are a mass builder and they should be used as much as possible. It may be true that they are excellent for building strength on power movements but they are also the number one cause of uneven arms. Barbells allow your stronger arm to take over the movement and you may not even realize it. Switch to dumbbells for all of your bicep and tricep exercises to allow each arm to be worked more evenly. For example, instead of barbell curls and skull crushers, do dumbbell curls and dumbbell skull crushers.

Work Each Arm Separately

Building on the previous tip, not all exercises are done with a barbell but that doesn't mean your arms are being worked evenly. Exercises like machine preacher curls and tricep pushdowns don't use a barbell but still work both arms at the same time which means that one arm can dominate. For these exercises, you should work each arm separately to ensure that one arm isn't doing more work.

Weaker Arm First

When working your arms separately, it's important to start with your weaker arm first. This way, you know when to stop with your stronger arm so that you get an equal work out with each arm. The whole point of working your arms separately is to ensure you get an equal work out with each arm. If you do more with your stronger arm, you are defeating the purpose.

Work Each Arm Equally

This is probably the most important tip. Some people try doing extra sets with their weaker arm or do more weight and more reps. This isn't a good idea. You should use the same weight for the same reps and same sets or else you may end up over training one side and under training the other. Go with the weight that your weak arm can handle for the desired amount of reps and just do that with your strong arm too. Over time, they will even out.

Use Weaker Arm More

This may seem weird, but try to use your weaker arm for some more everyday activities. Open doors, carry groceries, drink water, eat meals, etc. with your weaker arm. It will help you become more comfortable using your weaker arm and over time will help you become more comfortable using it in the gym which will allow for better mind muscle connection.

Other Uneven Body Parts?

Arms aren't the only body part that can be uneven. Legs, chest, and even your lats can develop unevenly. These body parts are a bit tougher to even out because the best exercises for these body parts aren't possible to do with only one side at a time. For example, squats are the best exercises for legs but you can't do them one leg at a time. Pull ups are the best exercise for lats but you cant do one armed pull ups. In situations like these, I would recommend still doing your basic exercises like squats and pull ups but after that, do only exercises where you can hit each side separately and use the above tips. For example, after you do your squats, you can do dumbbell lunges or single leg leg presses. After pull ups you can do dumbbell rows or one arm cable rows. For an uneven chest, you can follow the above tips for the most part since dumbbell bench press can replace barbell bench press for the most part.

Conclusion

Summing up, uneven arms are a problem that a lot of people have and they can be evened out with time and patience. You should switch from barbells to dumbbells, work each arm separately, start with your weaker arm first, work each arm equally, and try using your weaker arm for some more everyday tasks. These tips can be applied to other uneven body parts too but it is a bit tougher since you don't want to skip out on the best exercises just to try to even out a body part.

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Intermittent Fasting

The main obstacle for the majority of people trying to reach their fitness goals is finding a diet plan that works for them. It's often very difficult to find a diet plan that fits both a person's lifestyle as well as their eating preferences. I already discussed one diet principle called If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) discussed here. Now, I'm going to discuss another diet that has been gaining a lot of popularity called intermittent fasting.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting isn't exactly a diet. It's more of a different way of eating. The way it works is you go a certain length of time without eating(fasting) and it is followed by a window of time where you consume all of your food for the day. The length of the fast as well as the frequency of the fast varies depending on which intermittent fasting plan you choose to follow.

Proposed Benefits

Studies have shown that intermittent fasting can:

-Reduce blood glucose and insulin
-Preserve muscle
-Decrease body fat
-Lower inflammation
-Lower blood pressure
-Reduce oxidative stress
-Increase protection against neuro-degenerative diseases
-Increase alertness
-Increase fatty acid oxidation
-Keep metabolism strong

Despite these possible benefits, my personal opinion is that none of these should be your main motive for choosing to follow intermittent fasting. The real benefit is the freedom it allows you with your eating. Rather than be focused on eating every few hours, you can completely forget about food for a large portion of the day. You can be more productive with your time by not wasting it preparing meals multiple times per day. It also allows more freedom when you go out for dinner with your friends and family because you have a greater amount of calories saved up.

Options

The is no one way to practice intermittent fasting. You can fast for as little as 16 hours or as much as 24 hours. You can fast everyday or you can do it only a couple of days per week. An important thing to keep in mind when reading about intermittent fasting is that not everyone following it weight trains. There are a lot of people who use it to lose weight and don't even work out. A person who lifts weights shouldn't follow the same method as someone who doesn't. I will go over a few different intermittent fasting options below but there is only one that I would actually do as a weight lifter.

24 Hour Fasts: This method is more geared for people trying to lose weight who don't necessarily participate in weight training. The fast is 24 hours followed by a very short feeding window where you eat just one meal. For example, you would eat your dinner at 7 pm and then not eat again until 7 pm the next day. This is better for people who don't weight train and have a slower metabolism. Their total calories for the day may only be around 1,600 which is very doable in one meal. I wouldn't recommend this for people who work out because with only one meal per day, you either have to train fasted or not have a post workout meal. Neither is optimal.

Every Other Day: With this method, you don't fast every day. It's similar to the 24 hour fast except you only do it a few days per week. For example, on Monday you could follow intermittent fasting and eat just one meal at 7 pm. On Tuesday you would eat normally and then on Wednesday you would fast again and only eat one meal at 7 pm. This is a slightly better option for weight lifters because you could set it up so that your fasts are on off days and your normal days are on training days. This will allow you to have pre and post workout nutrition on training days but reap some of the benefits of intermittent fasting on your off days.

Leangains Method (Reccomended): As a weight lifter, this is the option I would strongly reccomend if you choose to follow intermittent fasting. This is because it is the only method that structures your meals in a way to provide proper pre and post workout nutrition.

This option calls for a 16 hour fast and an 8 hour feeding window. In those 8 hours, you would typically have 3 meals which includes a pre workout meal, a post workout meal, and another meal after that. The largest meal of the day is your post workout meal.

Ideally, you should fast during the night when you are sleeping and continue your fast through the morning and break it in the early afternoon. This is because for most people, it's easier to skip eating in the morning when you aren't that hungry anyway and it allows you to go to bed full. By having your feeding later in the day, it gives you something to look forward to. It also allows your eating schedule to line up easily if you choose to go out for dinner. If you have your feeding early in the day, now you are fasting at night which blocks you from being able to enjoy a meal with friends and family. Keep that in mind if you choose to have your feeding early in the day.

There are a few options you have with the leangains method. You can have one pre workout meal, two pre workout meals, or train with no meals and only BCAAs. Here is a sample of each one.

One Pre Workout Meal: If you have a flexible working schedule, this method is the way to go. It allows you to train in the afternoon and fast in the morning.

12-1 PM: Pre-workout meal consisting of 20-25% of daily total calorie intake.
3-4 PM: Training
4-5 PM: Post-workout meal (largest meal).
8-9 PM: Last meal before the fast begins

Two Pre Workout Meals: This is a more appropriate method if you work a 9-5 job and can't eat your largest meal during the day and can't train in the afternoon.

12-1 PM: Pre workout meal one consisting of 20-25% of daily total calorie intake.
4-5 PM: Pre-workout meal two roughly equal to the first meal.
7-8 PM: Training
8-9 PM: Post-workout meal (largest meal).

Fasted (not recommended by me): This is for people who train very early in the morning but don't want their feeding to be too early in the day. You train only on BCAAs which still counts as part of your fast. Your feeding doesn't begin until you have your post workout meal. In my opinion, your training will suffer if you do this as well as your recovery. I wouldn't follow intermittent fasting if this is the only method that fits your schedule.

6 AM: 10 grams BCAAs
6-7 AM: Training.
8 AM: 10 grams BCAAs
10 AM: 10 grams BCAAs
12-1 PM: Post workout meal (largest meal of the day) begins 8 hour feeding window
8-9 PM: Last meal before the fast.

Here are a few key points to keep in mind if you choose to follow any of the leangains methods.

1) Hit Your Macros: Intermittent fasting doesn't mean you no longer have to hit specific macro nutrient goals. Your macros should be the same whether you follow this type of diet or not. Ideally, you should have most of your carbs pre and post workout and your last meal should have less.

2) Off Days: On days you don't train, your first meal of the day should be your largest meal rather than your second. As with any diet, it's usually a good idea to lower carbohydrates on your off days and raise fats a bit.

3) Diet Soda, Coffee, Sugar Free Gum: You are allowed to drink zero calorie drinks as well as chew sugar free gum during your fast.

4) Meal Frequency Doesn't Matter: Remember, the main benefit of this type of diet is the freedom it allows you with your eating. Although people generally eat three meals, you don't have to if you don't want to. The above samples are just examples. You can adjust the times and amount of meals however you would like.

5) Don't Drastically Alter Your Fasting and Feeding Windows: Your fasting and feeding windows should remain constant everyday . You can change it by a couple of hours but you shouldn't drastically switch it on a daily basis. The only exception would be if you get a new job or something comes up where you need to completely change your schedule. If that happens, change your fasting and feeding windows and then consistently follow it.


Best To Use When Bulking or Cutting?

Intermittent fasting can be used for both bulking and cutting but it is primarily geared for people who are trying to lose weight or maintain their weight. This is because when you are cutting, your calories are restricted which makes it a lot easier to eat all of your food in a smaller amount of time. It's also nice to eat larger meals that are satisfying rather than eat several small meals that don't fill you up. If you are bulking, it may be easier to spread your calories throughout the day. However, if eating all your calories in a smaller window is not an issue, go ahead and use intermittent fasting.

Conclusion

Intermittent fasting is a different approach to eating that some people may find easier to follow than the more traditional ways of eating. There are various health benefits associated with it but the main benefit is the freedom it allows you with your eating schedule. Although there are many possible methods of intermittent fasting, the leangains method is the only one that I would recommend for a weight lifter as it provides proper pre and post workout nutrition. It's important to remember that any of these methods can be tweaked to fit your schedule. You can fast 16 hours, 13 hours, 18 hours, 20 hours or whatever you choose. The whole point is that you are now free to eat without worrying about a meal schedule. If you are uncomfortably trying to fit one of these into your schedule then it is defeating the purpose.

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