Protein Supplement Review Report Card

Beyond The Basics

In This Bodybuilding Supplementation Article:
By The Muscle Nerd, Jeff Anderson

Find out if your protein supplement is:

• primed to build you more muscle
• or is it more likely to play you like a chump

Find out if your protein supplement:

• get's an "A+" on the Muscle Nerd Report Card of supplements
• or if it needs a tutor to make the grade

Find out:

• the EXACT time of day it is best to take your protein supplements to gain more mass

We all know that to build muscle, you need protein, right?

And unless you're stuffing gifted enough to stuff down 10 cans of tuna a day, chances are you've figured out that supplementing with protein shakes is an easy way to get in some great quality protein to build muscle.

But WHICH protein should you be taking?

With so many options, it's hard for the "Average Joe" to see through all the marketing smoke and mirrors and determine the best choice that will fit into their diet and meet their mass-building goals.

Well, look no further...class is in session and the "Muscle Nerd" has the podium!

Contact me here

In search of an Atlanta personal trainer?

If you are in search of an Atlanta personal trainer you may have a few questions and specifications in mind.

Take a quick look through the list to help you on your search for the Atlanta personal trainer that is for you.

Before you hire a personal trainer you should ask the following questions:

1. What are their qualifications/certification

• Just about any trainer in Atlanta is likely to have an impressive-looking diploma or certificate indicating that he or she is a personal trainer, do not be dazzled. Find out just what organization performed the certification you will soon find that some ar better than others, some are just weekend classes, so beware.
  

There are about 400 organizations in the U.S. that purport to certify personal fitness trainers. Of those 400 or so only a handful are considered legitimate. Certifications to consider come form the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), and the American Council on Exercise (ACE). The better organizations have specific requirements based on tested and practical knowledge, mandatory retesting at renewal periods, and continuing education. The ACSM has recently begun to require that its certified trainers have a formal educational degree in exercise science or a related field.

Be sure to read those acronyms closely. Some of the more dubious organizations select names that closely resemble the well-known and legitimate certifications.

Maybe the next most important consideration when selecting your personal trainer is whether you and your trainer are a good match. You and your trainer do not have to be the best of friends but do make sure it is someone you like.

It is a good idea to take your time in choosing a personal trainer. Make sure that you feel comfortable with him or her and that you're not afraid to ask questions. Because if there isn't a good rapport there, you're just not going to want to go back to the gym. Personal training should be a positive experience and possibly a lifetime habit. The personal trainer must fit your specific needs, goals, lifestyle, and limitations.

The American Council on Exercise, a certifying organization, suggests that by passing their certification a personal trainer will have a minimum level of proficiency and theoretical knowledge essential to screen and evaluate you, design a safe and effective exercise program, instruct you in the correct exercise techniques to avoid injury, and respond to the typical questions and problems that arise in a one-to-one setting.

Most certifications require continuing education credits which ensures that the personal trainer keeps current with the available body of knowledge.

Experience is an important aspect as well. Often experience and price go together, as experience increases you can expect the price to go up as well. Some will even say that experience is far more important than any certifications.

most important aspect in choosing a personal trainer

• goals

You must determine what they want out of personal training, that way you will get the most out of your training.

• For example, if the your goal is in improving sports performance, then a certified strength and conditioning specialist is the most appropriate person for the job.
  
• If your goal is to compete in a bodybuilding contest, perhaps having a bodybuilder as a personal trainer will provide you with the best results.
• If weight loss is your goal, find a personal trainer in Atlanta who also has a background in nutrition and weight loss. You may find that a weight loss boot camp may work for you as well.

You have to choose a personal trainer that can help you achieve your goal. Your personal trainer’s skills should match your needs. The first step there is to have a clear goal as to wht you want.

Where and how do you want to exercise?
In Atlanta there are a number of options as to locations:

• at home
• at a gym
• outside biking or out on the tennis court
• private studio
• outdoor boot camp
• train with a friend
  
• a group exercise class
• weight training
• cardiovascular training
• sports specific exercise
• or a combination

Personal training sessions can cost as little as $30 an hour to over $150 an hour. Some trainers will offer packages and discounts. It is a good idea for you to develop a budget for personal training and try to find someone who meets all of their criteria within that budget.

Finding a qualified personal fitness trainer can be difficult. Some people base more credence on educational background, some want a trainer they can be friends with, and some will base their decisions on how much the trainer costs. Whatever the end result, the process should still be the same.You will need to have a clear-cut idea of your personal exercise goals and should interview trainers like any other job interview.

Guidelines for Choosing a Personal Trainer

• Set your fitness/exercise goals before meeting with the trainer
• Determine if certification, education, specialization, or experience is most important
• Make a budget for personal training and know what your limit is
• Decide where you want to exercise and how you want to exercise
• Determine if you want to be alone or with a group
• Interview the trainer to determine philosophy, personality, and flexibility
• Rate the Trainer
  

To help the determine which Atlanta personal trainer is the best for you try this checklist. Rate each attribute on a scale of 1-4, with 4 being the best, and total each column. At a quick glance, this chart can give the client a comparison of trainers.

Trainer’s name:
Certifications:
Education:
Years of experience:
Personality:
Philosophy:
Rate:
Availability:
Flexibility:
Other:
Total:

For more information you can contact
Grounded Personal Training and Sports Performance

The Welch Experience To Train Atlanta's Biggest Loser

Atlanta's biggest loser Mom's edition will soon be here. To local Atlanta trainers will go head to head to help his team lose the most weight and eventually crown one mother they have personally trainer Atlanta's biggest loser.

This year you will notice a slight twist with one of the trainer involves. Sule Welch of The Welch Experience is a martial arts instructor in many different disciplines. He has put together a fitness program, Martial Fitness which is aimed at helping people get stronger and lose weight. Martial arts is not what one typical thinks of when thinking of weight loss. His unique Martial fitness program will get the contestants into shape without getting them to do endless hours of work on a cardio machine. It should be a fun new experience for people to get out of the gym or away from boot camps to have fun, burn fat , and get great results.

Good luck to all the biggest losers moms.

Contact me here

Grounded Personal Training and Sports Performance

Wanted to let people know of the new websites that we will be moving to

If you live in the Atlanta, GA in the Buckhead Midtown area and are looking for a personal trainer take a look at the new site: Grounded Personal Training In Atlanta

Weight loss and workout training tips and articles will be moving to the: Grounded Personal Training Blog

Carving Definition Into Every Inch Of Your Back

Training and Looking for a Personal Trainer In Atlanta

With Full-Range Pulldowns

While chins may be a better mass-builder, this version of the pulldown

works WAY better for bringing out eye-popping detail in your back.
And if you've ever had a hard time feeling your back working, THIS
exercise will fix that in an instant!

For me, it's rare that I do pulldowns, hins or weighted chins hit the back for targeting growth much better. But when I DO perform pulldowns, THIS is one my very favorite versions of it.

Believe me, if you have a hard time feeling your back working when you train it, this is the cure...your lats will be BURNING by the end of the set...heck, after just a couple of reps!

This exercise is a combination of a pulldown movement and a rowing movement - the two BASIC planes of movement for the lats. The trick here is that you're going to go from one directly into the other without releasing the tension in your lats. It's VERY tough but VERY effective.

The good thing is, you don't need to be super-strong to perform this exercise - even a total beginner can do it. Just adjust the weight to what you're able to use.

Basically, all you need is a pulldown machine. I prefer a close, underhand grip but you can do wide-grip as well. Use a weight that's lighter than you think you'll need for this one - about 1/2 to 2/3 of what you'd normally use for pulldowns (trust me on this - don't be a hero).

• Start the movement like a normal pulldown.

  

• Pull the bar down to your upper chest.

  

• Now the CRITICAL part...holding the bar IN PLACE IN SPACE, lean a ll the way back. You'll now be in a vertical rowing position.

  

• Now row the bar all the way down as far as you can.
  

  

• You're hitting a peak contraction on the lats TWICE in this exercise. It's quite an experience!
• Now come back up, bringing your body up and the bar up at the same time. The way down is a two-part movement but the way up is all at once.

Now do it again!

Believe me, you will get a REAL burn in your lats by the end of the first set of this one. It's one of my favorites for carving definition into the back.

This exercise can be found in my book "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of" - one of 53 unique and powerful exercises that will kick your butt out of any training plateau!

------------------

By: Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 17 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises. He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

Atlanta area personal fitness coach that comes to you.
Weight Loss In the Atlanta area?

Internationally Certified Strength Coach

Contact me here
jason@inthegym.info

The "Great" Nutrition Debates part 2

Contact me for private training In the Atlanta Area

The Top 6 Displacing Debates

Part 2

Article By:Dr John M Berardi, CSCS
This is part 2, for the rest of the article visit Part 1

4. Tap Water vs. Bottled Water

Speaking of beverage consumption, people are dehydrated because they drink too little water while drinking too many caffeinated, diuretic drinks (coffee, soda, and alcohol). Dehydration leads to all sorts of health problems for the inactive, not to mention the decrements in athletic performance seen in dehydrated athletes.

But rather than simply promoting the heck out of water consumption, experts will bicker on and on about tap water vs. bottled water. Sure, good quality bottled water is usually a better choice, but don’t be one of these people who stay away from tap water, forget to pick up their bottled water, and simply remain dehydrated.

What to do? Drink sufficient water first; worry about the source later. (Of course, you may want to avoid drinking out of puddles next to pig farms in Uganda.) Put a water filter on your tap or buy one of those filter jugs you store in your fridge and be done with it.

5. Glass vs. Plastic
And how about the bottles the water comes in? That’s right, the glass vs. plastic debate. Just the other day, I was recommending that a group of my athletes pick up some Tupperware so they could whip up all of their meals and shakes in the morning. It’s easy to make a good food choice during the day when you’ve got all your good food with you, pre-cooked, pre-wrapped, and ready to be eaten.

After the talk, one of the athletes came up to me and told me he avoids Tupperware altogether because of the potential leeching of xenoestrogens into his food. When I asked what he uses to store his food in, he told me he doesn’t even preplan his meals. He also told me he needed to lose fifteen pounds and that he was overweight because his nutrition sucked!

Buddy, I agree that glass containers may be marginally better than plastic, but for the love of God, pick up some plastic if it'll help you plan your meals! And this was a world-class athlete! You can imagine how the average guy fares!

What to do? Plan your meals in advance, storing them in woven baskets if necessary. Buy the best containers you can afford. If you can get the glass versions, great; if not, the generic plastic ones will do just fine.

6 . Free Range vs. Extremely Limited Range Meat
Most weightlifters eat lots of protein and that’s no mistake. One of the best ways to get all that protein is by eating a lot of protein and micronutrient-rich lean meat. Protein supplements are okay to supplement your diet, but real food should be your nutritional mainstay and there’s nothing better than good ol’ fashioned lean meat.

Since eating more protein can increase metabolic rate, improve your weight loss profile, increase protein turnover, accelerate exercise adaptation, and (when replacing dietary carbohydrate) decrease the chance of cardiovascular disease, it should be clear that most people would do well to increase their consumption of lean meat.

So imagine the dismay someone might experience when hearing that the experts are now bickering about the type of meat we consume. Many experts muddy the waters when discussing free range vs. grain fed meat, telling people that grain fed meat (the only kind you can find in many grocery stores in North America) is full of toxins, bad fats, and hormones.

Sure, free-range meat is probably a better choice, although there’s little proof the supposed toxins and hormones actually get passed on to us. But again, imagine you’re someone with a lifetime of eating habits that are less than optimal and you’re exposed to all this bickering about lean protein. What do you do? Well, when you’re afraid of the meat you have access to, you shy away from all types of lean meat and reach for another bagel. Bad choice!

What to do? Find the best meat you can by going around to various grocery shops and butchers. Owners of health food stores may also be able to help you locate the best stuff. But don’t be afraid to eat the meat you find in your grocery store — the reports of your impending death are greatly exaggerated.

These are just a few of the displacing debates gaining momentum in the nutrition world. Do your best to get past the marginalia, to get past the differences between all the new programs, and try to discover for yourself the basic principles all the successful programs seem to be built upon. Most importantly, when faced with a choice between two good options, one of which may be marginally better than the other, but both of which would be an improvement over what you're currently doing, just pick one and go with it. You can optimize later, as long as you make an improvement now.

There's no debating that.

SEE ALSO:
For more great training and nutrition wisdom, check out our complete system, Precision Nutrition. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want -- guaranteed.

And what's more, your online access allows you to talk exercise and nutrition 24/7 with thousands of fellow members and the Precision Nutrition coaches.

Atlanta area personal and group training.
Weight Loss and Performance Training In the Atlanta area?

Contact me here
jason@inthegym.info