This is such a frequently asked question when it comes to fitness. Nowadays everybody understands, in order to stay healthy, live a long life and actually enjoy it to your fullest we must stay on top of our health- that is our nutrition, blood pressure, body fat, all of that.

To keep our health in check and our heart strong, we have to implement resistance training and cardio into our weekly routine, we can even do them in the same day if you want to take it to the next level.... but if you were to do both in the same day, which should you do first to get the most benefit??

We answer that question in this podcast!

When we think about "detox" .... many think about their food intake. Some people's minds go everywhere- what do they have to cut out of their diet, things they should not eat, things they should, a specific drink they have to down, or maybe even some specific type of fasting. 

Why don't we take a step back and relax for a second. Tune into this episode, see what we have to say about detoxing and how to detox the PPTC way!

In this episode we break down step-by-step how to become the best athlete you possibly can be! From working out, to skills training, to nutrition!

Anybody who has ever been into their body or entered the world of fitness at all, has realized by now that they need to lift weights, and almost everybody (except for a few “meatheads”) have a solid understanding that you want to work out all parts of the body.   

The part that gets confusing for many people is what actually gives us the most progress towards our muscle gainz?! 

Is it heavy weights / low reps, or maybe low weight / high reps?!  Truth is, as with almost everything pertaining to fitness, the best bang for your buck is to actually mash it up all together. 

There is a sequence of steps throughout our workout that will include heavy, moderate, and light weight as well as high, moderate, and low reps!!  The first thing we want to do is kick off our workout the right way, doing some heavy weight lifting with a low rep range! 

We are looking to perform compound exercises in this rep range, exercises such as: squats, hang cleans, deadlifts, barbell bench press are all compound movements!  

After you complete your 3-4 sets of heavy weight lifting, we move on to moderate weights / moderate reps. In this rep range we will be doing isolated compound exercises such as dumbbell bench press and dumbbell lunges. On these we don’t want to go light with our weight, we want it just heavy that we can complete all of our reps but just barely! 

Coming up at the tail end of the workout, we are going to switch over to light weight / high reps. These will contain all isolate lifts like: bicep curls, tricep pushdown, lat pulldown, chest fly). These sets are for endurance and really burning out (which is one reason we do them at the end).  

Complete this sequence with a couple exercises for each weight/rep range and watch your results take off!!

1) Squats and Deadlifts in running sneakers... okay, or not okay? (1:10)

2) Tips for getting my bulk diet in check?! I do great the 1st week but start to fizzle out. What should I do? (3:38)

3) Is it okay to workout @6am without pre workout or a meal?! (5:46) 

4) If calorie deficit is the answer, why am I being told to reverse diet?! (8:26)

5) When I can't lift as much one week compared to the last, does that mean I lost muscle? (12:13)

6) Is there anything wrong with losing greater than 2 pounds per week? (14:30)

In this episode we break down the Daniel fast- a quick idea of what a fast is, and mainly what everyone wants to know.... can you make gains on this diet or any kind of diet like this?

Whey Protein Is by far one of the most popular products on the market as far as supplements go and has been for years! Anybody who trains hardcore or is very serious about their body is probably using, or at least has tried some form of whey protein. 

The problem with taking a protein powder is that there are a wide variety to choose from and plenty of difference between the types of whey protein available.  

In this video I go over three main types of whey protein: concentrate, isolate, hydrolyzed. I break them down, showing you the benefits and downsides of each type of protein. I want everybody to have a better understanding of what each type really is so they can use this information to determine which supplement is best for your training program and goals.  The more processed and refined the whey protein is the more concentrated and expensive the protein becomes. There are many subfractions in whey protein that are extremely important to your immune health, and those get stripped away more as you increase the level of processing.  

Whey Concentrate has great immune boosting benefits compared to Isolate and Hydrolysate, mainly because this is only the first stage of processing that protein goes through. That being said, this protein is high in lactose and contains other non-protein components such as carbs, sugars, and fats.  

Isolate protein has many different benefits because it contains at least 90% protein by weight. Unfortunately, the isolate protein loses some immune boosting effects from being processed…. Although This will be great for those who are touchy with their lactose tolerance because the isolate is not nearly as high lactose when compared to concentrate. Since isolate is in “stage 2” of the processing many subfractions will be taken out!  

Take what you learn from this podcast and use it to pick the best supplements that fit your training routine, fast track you to your goals, and are the best for your body!

Here are the questions we go over in this episode:

1) Are there any cons to creatine? (@ 1:12)

2) What are your thoughts on intermittent fasting? (@ 1:58)

3) Someone told me squats would ruin my knees. Is this true?! (@ 3:52)

4) Running on a treadmill vs. walking on an incline.... which is better? (@ 5:06)

5) Is it weird to fluctuate 7-8 lbs? I'm 135 on Monday, 127 on Wednesday, and 133 on Friday. Just trying to stay consistent (@ 6:48)

6) If you are under your calorie goals by 250-400 calories for the day, should you eat more even if you're not hungry? (@ 9:43)

Are carbohydrates good or bad? 

A common question amongst my clientele and the fitness community, as well as which diet is more efficient- with carbs, or depleting your carbs? 

Well if you enjoy your carbs and the foods they come from, you're in luck! There are a few times throughout the day you can intake some carbs without storing body fat.  

3 of the Top Times To Eat Carbs So You Don't Store fat:  

1. AM- your body needs that energy in the morning, and as soon as that food hits your system you will be up and running through your daily routine. Eating quality carbohydrates in the morning (like oats), with some protein will really kick start your day!  

2. Pre Workout- 1 hour prior to working out, fuel your body with some carbs to bring on some more energy for that grueling workout you're about to put yourself through. Not only that, but taking the carbs now will mean your workout can burn it off!  

3. Post Workout- it is extremely important to replenish your body with the correct fuel, especially right after the workout! Those depleted glycogen stores will be thanking you after intaking the carbs right after your workout!  

As you're making changes to your routine, diet, or fitness/ health in general, don't forget to be consistent, stay disciplined with your routine, and be patient!! If you stay dedicated and focused to your fitness goals, and real life goals for that matter, the sky is the limit!

Squats are such a great exercise to incorporate into your weight training. Unfortunately, many people feel they can't squat because it bothers their knees so much that doing just one set of squats will actually cause them some serious pain.   The thing is, a lot of these knee issues can actually be prevented in the initial part of the exercise!

Checkout how we breakdown the way squats can actually benefit your knees, not hurt them!