Monthly Archives: March 2012

What Steroids Really Do

Anabolic steroids are, unfortunately, used by many athletes and body builders to enhance their muscularity and strength. In professional sports their use is illegal. But they are legal in pro body building.

The drugs have come a long way since their beginning. No one knows for sure when athletes and specifically body builders began using them but there seems to be no debate that their use was fairly widespread in the 1960’s and onward. The body builders of yesteryear like Arnold, Lou, Zane and Franco couldn’t even stand on the stage with the ‘roided out monter’s of today let alone win a contest. Take a look at the top pic of a modern body builder and an old timer from the 1970’s Franco Colombu:

Franco is impressive, but he wouldn’t stand a chance in a contest of size and muscularity.

There are a few people who poo-poo their effect, stating that these drugs don’t do all that much for building size and strength and would have you believe that their training is what has made them into the montsters they are. Sure the drugs help they’ll say, but they are but a small boost to their hard work and gym ethic of these athletes. This of course is absurd.

Take a look at Gunter Schlierkamp back in the 1980’s.

And look at him today off the juice:

Just a bit different, no? He looks like a normal guy who lifts weights.

Here’s my arm in comparison:

fred pix II Aug 22 2009 003

So believe me when I say that anabolic steroids are the reason for the size of these body builders – just in case you were wondering. Not exactly the most informative blog of mine to date, but I felt it had to be said.

Childhood Obesity is Easily Solved

Mike after 8 months of low carb eating and 1-2 weekly strength sessions.

Thanks to Google’s key word search, I receive a half dozen interesting but frustrating articles on childhood obesity on a daily basis. Every single one of them says the same darn thing – eat less fat, eat whole grains, exercise more, blah blah blah. Drives me nuts!

Childhood obesity is easily solved. What I mean is, there is no mystery surrounding the solution if you are up on your reading on low carb diets. It’s just a matter of obeying science. If we (Michelle Obama this means you too!) would ignore the current weight loss dogma (low fat, whole grains, swapping soda for juice, etc.) and promote a low carbohydrate, real food eating plan instead, viola! No more obese people.

And for those of you who are about to stick their thumbs in their ears, wiggle their fingers and scream at me: “But Fred! What about all the people who eat lots of carbs like the Kitavans and aren’t fat! So there!” let me say this: I don’t give a hoot about them.

FACT: The only way you can become obese is by eating lots of carbs. If you don’t, you can’t, as in CAN’T.

As for exercise, lack of exercise hasn’t a thing to do with obesity. If this was understood, there would be a lot less pressure on obese kids as well. Do fat newborns move less in the womb? Are skinny, inactive kids sneaking in hours on the treadmill when no one is looking? C’mon.

I am so sick of the nonsense, if anyone’s library would like a free copy of my book Strong Kids Healthy Kids, I’ll ship it.

Are You Outsmarting Diabetes?

outsmart diab

Or, are you being outsmarted by those who profit heavily from those who are diabetic?

Why aren’t there pictures of meat and green leafy veggies on the cover?

Food for thought.

Will Too Much Red Meat Shorten Your Lifespan?

Heck no.

Zoe Harcombe dishes out the facts:

The raw data actually shows deaths rates falling with increased meat consumption up to the third or fourth quintile – and this is before all the other variables have been allowed for. This would suggest that meat consumption has a protective effect while weight, alcohol, calorie intake, lack of exercise and so on are all taking their toll.

‘Nuff said. Thanks Zoe for saving me a lot of time trying to respond to this nonsense. You did it better than I EVER could.

5 Minutes of Exercise a Week is Enough

I am now hearing in the wind that 30 minutes a week of exercise is too time consuming. I find this hard to believe but hey, some people have full time jobs, 47 kids, second jobs, pets, lawns, nails to polish, cigars to smoke, etc.

I’m here to tell ya’ll that a mere 5 minutes is enough. 5 minutes. 5. V. Five.

Here are the exercises you do:

Chest press or bench press or push ups
Squats or leg press
Pull downs or chin ups or one arm rows

That’s it. Each exercise should take you about 1-2 minutes to reach complete muscle fatigue. Each of the exercises can be seen in this video. In the video, the chest press is the 2nd exercise, the leg press is the 5th and the pull down is the 1st.

[vimeo 21469030 w=400 h=300]

Serious Strength Personal Training Studios from Serious Strength on Vimeo.

These three exercises will not win you a body building trophy, but they will indeed build muscle and strength in a big way. I’m not the only one talking about this either.

After you do these three, go home and eat a good protein rich meal. If you train at home, go eat a protein rich meal. Keep the carbs low and stick to veggies as much as you can.

No more excuses now.

And you don’t have to be in shape to get started you hockey-pucks! START to get in shape.

Peace.