3 Hole Podcast

The are tons of myths going around the fitness industry and I plan on tackling them one-by-one! 

In this video I am specifically talking about the anabolic window. This myth has been around for awhile and has lead many to believe that there is a time frame following your workout that you HAVE TO eat your post workout meal or the entire workout is a waste because your  body won't receive the nutritients it needs..... some say it's a 30 minute window, some say 60, some even go as far as saying 90.... but whose right??  

The truth is that it doesn't matter!! The only thing that is actually important to our muscle growth is the amount of calories in, as well as amount of protein... time frame is not an issue.   

That being said if you are a serious competitor (athlete, bodybuilder, powerlifter) your calorie and protein goals are probably different, meaning you might have to do a small pre and post workout meal. 

Either way, don't feel rushed to meet this made up "anabolic window", if you're staying on point with your nutrition and keeping up with consistent workouts, you will reach your goals!

When we are training for optimal muscle growth, there are two very strong signals that we want to send your body in order to maximize your bodies' response to rebuilding the muscle that is being used!  

TWO THINGS YOU SHOULD DO IN EVERY WORKOUT IF YOU WANT TO GROW MUSCLE:  

1) BREAK THEM DOWN- No, I'm not talking about actually creating a tear in your muscle; I'm talking about producing enough force to stress your muscle out, break it down, and create microfiber tears. When these microfibers are torn, your body's response is stimulated immediately with a need to rebuild them! *Note that these micro tears occur during the eccentric phase (when the muscle is lengthening).  To maximize micro tearing of the muscle fibers, lift heavy weights. Go as heavy as you can, with correct form and control. Should be around the 6-12 rep range and controlling the eccentric phase for 3-4 seconds.  

2)PUMP THEM UP- After we break our muscle fibers down, our goal is now to refill them with lactic acid and get that serious "pump". Instead of the eccentric phase, now we're focusing more on concentric (when the muscle shortens). Squeeze your muscle tight with every rep, concentrating the entire movement on just lifting with the exact muscle you want to target. Keep the muscle activated the entire movement and watch the blood flow pump up your muscle like a balloon.   To get the most pump out of your muscles here, you want to aim for a higher rep range (15-20 reps) and really focus on keeping the muscle contracted throughout the entire movement for the ultimate "burn"

Which is better?!

In this podcast we dive into just that.... which is actually better for you?! The traditional forms of cardio or HIIT?

There are three basic body types when it comes to human anatomy- ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph. 

As you can imagine, every body type has its very own unique characteristics that have both advantages and disadvantages.   

In order to get the most out of your workout, it is extremely important for us to understand our body types and the strengths and weaknesses we posses that way we can take action upon them.   

For example, if I was an ectomorph body type and I really wanted to beef up my frame and build muscle I would need to understand that my diet would have to be in a fairly large calorie surplus in order to "bulk" up. This is because a person who is an ectomorph has an extremely fast metabolism and easily drops body fat..... that being said, it is very hard for a smaller framed ectomorph skeleton to put on mass. 

But regardless of our body type, if we remain consistent with our nutrition and exercise, with plenty of lean protein and vegetables, it is very possible to get where we want to be!!

I hope this video helps anybody who is in question of whether they can do it or not.  

We cover a lot in this video, but here are a couple main points:  

1.) Even the most motivated and inspirational people can fall off the wagon whether it's with exercise, nutrition, or just a miscalculation with the numbers in your training or diet.   

2.) The best mind strategies you can use to help you re-focus and get back on track towards your main goal..... even if you have been out for weeks and feel like you've completely screwed up. Breathe. You haven't!  

3.) Understand that if you're staying consistent, its hard to completely screw up. No matter how big  the miscalculation or short "screw up", it won't overcome all those days, weeks months you have been working on bettering your health and your life.   

Moral of the story: Stop stressing yourself out over every single little detail. This fitness journey is supposed to be fun, make our lives more enjoyable along the way, and help us to achieve all-time happiness!

This podcast goes over the differences AND similarities between flexibility and mobility. They go hand in hand, and you will find out why when you dig into this podcast.

Here are the definitions of both:

Flexibility- The ability of a muscle / muscle groups to lengthen passively through a Range Of Motion.

Mobility- The ability of a joint to move actively through a Range Of Motion.

I hope this video helps anybody who is in question of whether they can do it or not.  

We cover a lot in this podcast, but here are a couple main points:  

1.) Even the most motivated and inspirational people can fall off the wagon whether it's with exercise, nutrition, or just a miscalculation with the numbers in your training or diet.   

2.) The best mind strategies you can use to help you re-focus and get back on track towards your main goal..... even if you have been out for weeks and feel like you've completely screwed up. Breathe. You haven't!  

3.) Understand that if you're staying consistent, its hard to completely screw up. No matter how big  the miscalculation or short "screw up", it won't overcome all those days, weeks months you have been working on bettering your health and your life.   

Moral of the story: Stop stressing yourself out over every single little detail. This fitness journey is supposed to be fun, make our lives more enjoyable along the way, and help us to achieve all-time happiness!

This podcast is for all the pregnant women out there! 

I know, it has to be super scary to do anything but sit and walk around on eggshells when you are literally holding a baby inside of you. Any mom's initial response is to take care of their baby.... but don't worry ladies, science has proven that it is completely okay, and even healthy to workout when you are pregnant - you can even lift weights. Of course it is advised you get a trainer to engineer the correct program and make sure you are not over exerting or hurting yourself, nonetheless it is very healthy for a pregnant momma to workout.

We even have a little guest appearance from my beautiful wife, Taylor. She goes into her experience as an avid lifter who became pregnant, what she's learned, and how she will do it better next time. Amazing advice and help for those who might be nervous going through their first pregnancy!

Weight DOES NOT equal Fat!  

Truth is losing weight is pretty easy! Your weight will fluctuate a lot throughout the day, even with a "perfect" day of eating. You can lose weight just by sweating, cutting out some carbs, cutting down on salt intake, and even peeing or pooping can make your weight dip below the norm.  

Focusing on your weight throughout this fitness journey is a great way to set yourself up for failure. 

Setting a "goal weight" and not allowing yourself to be happy until its completed will mess with your head and end up doing more harm then good.  

If you're goal is fat loss, you must deviate your attention from watching the scale and start to focus on the important things that will lead to fat loss. 

To obtain fat loss, we must be: in a calorie deficit, strength training at least 2-4x per week, and start consuming protein with every meal. Building up our muscles will allow for more calories to be burned at rest, therefore cutting more fat!  

Remember, this is a lifetime process, there is no rush. If you fall off track, don't go into freak out mode, it is NOT over..... just get right back on track!

First and foremost, you do NOT need to count calories in order to burn fat. It doesn't matter whether you count calories or not, but what does matter is that you need to be in a calorie deficit in order to lose fat. 

This means that you need to burn more calories throughout your day than you consume.   If you do decide to count, there is a bunch of different options to choose from. 

You can choose to intake the same amount of calories per day or mix it up to still add up to your weekly needs.   Here are 3 separate ways you can cycle your calories to ensure your body keeps burning fat:  

1.) Regular Calorie Deficit- Not a cycling method, in fact you take your caloric needs for the week, divide them by 7 and you have how many calories you should consume per day.  So let's say your maintenance calls for 2,200 calories per week, if you intake only 1,700/day, you will no doubt lose fat over time. It is a very simple method, leaving no room to really cheat on the normal diet, but also takes all the guess work out of it.  

2) Alternate Days- Calorie Deficit Alternate Days method is a cycling method that goes exactly as it sounds -  alternating higher calorie intake days, followed by lower calorie intake days. The weekly total, if you notice in the video, is the exact same as the regular deficit. The only difference is that you have the ability to break your diet a little more because on some days you will need to consume a higher amount of calories.  

3) The Weekend Lover Deficit This deficit method is used for those who want to really enjoy their weekends. Only thing is, you have to sacrifice your week a little more than usual- you eat relatively low calories Monday through Thursday, then turn around and go high cal during the weekend.   These are just a few different ways to structure your diet to make things  fit your schedule best so you can meet your caloric goals more consistently, and always be shredding that body fat. Another important thing to note- each method adds up to a weekly total of 11,900 calories and would result in the same amount of fat loss  

** KEY**  ~ Find out what works best for you!