Time Compressed training…Sag Man…Protein assimilation myths…Machines versus free weights…Mitochondria & cardio

Free Weights

Vic Steele,

I am a ‘house husband.’ I work from home and watch our two kids while my wife does the corporate thing and makes the real money. I put in a lot of long hours between transporting kids all over the place and working as an accountant.  My available training time is extremely limited. Realistically I can squeeze in no more than 30 minutes of training, four to five times a week.

Is it possible to build any muscle with super short lifting sessions? I work out at home and have constructed a really nice home gym. Exercise variety is not a problem. I have about every exercise machine and device known to man. Could you set me up an abbreviated workout schedule?

Ron, Denver

You can build a ton of muscle using super short sessions. I would rather see a man kick ass in an abbreviated half hour session than loaf for two hours, playing patty-cake in some fern bar spa/fitness club where the clients spend more time talking than training. Give me a short and sweet session using a rusty Olympic barbell and a pile of plates done in some musty basement, a cluttered garage or a roasting hot summer shed. Unless you are an elite lifter hoisting super heavy weights that require lots of warm-up sets, you can cram a ton of work into thirty minutes. The strong take longer to train: a really strong guy might squat 505 for 5-8 reps. He would need warm-up sets with say, 135, 225, 315, 405 and 465 before he would be ready to tackle his top squat set with 505. That takes a lot of time. It takes a lot less time for a normal guy to work up to say 225 for 5-8 squat reps.  Fewer warm-up sets means less training time. A man squatting or bench pressing 225 for 5-8 reps would likely only need one or two or three warm-up sets, perhaps only 135 and 185. Being weaker makes it possible to get through a lot of sets in a concentrated and compacted 30 minute session. The answer to your situation lies in using Time Compression tactics. Use Super sets, Tri-sets and Giant sets to make the most of your limited amount of training time.

Adopt a strategy that pairs up “non-conflicting” exercises, exercises that compliment one another. Weave complimentary exercises together and get done two or three times the amount of work in half the time. Why perform a single set of a single exercise – then sit around for three to five minutes, lounging about while waiting for the muscle(s) to recover? Instead why not fill those 2-3 minutes of recovery time with other exercises, complimentary exercises that attack muscles in entirely different regions of the body. Here are three excellent examples of well-structured super-set, tri-set and giant-set strategies…

• Single-set Squat
• Super-set
• Squat
• Leg curl
• Tri-set
• Squat
• Leg curl
• Overhead press
• Giant set
• Squat
• Leg curl
• Overhead press
• Arm curl
• Tricep extensions

Using the classical, single-set lifting protocol, the trainee performs a particular exercise then rests until recovered. Repeat the same exercise again and again, until the requisite number of sets is completed. Using the Time Compression strategy, additional exercises are performed in the rest periods between sets. The exercises are carefully selected (and sequenced) so as to not negatively affect one another. The thighs might be exhausted after a set of squats however performing a set of leg curls immediately after the exhausting squats is doable and will not interfere with the muscular recovery of the thighs. The Tri-set protocol would add in an additional set of (deltoid-attacking) overhead dumbbell presses. One exercise is followed immediately by the next. At the conclusion of the super/tri/giant set, the lifter rests until breathing normalizes. Perform 2-5 additional sequences. Using the Giant Set protocol, the athlete might roll from squats (thighs) to leg curls (thigh biceps) into overhead pressing (deltoids) before finishing the sequence with arm curls (biceps) and lying tricep extensions (triceps.) A Giant Set is comprised of 4 to 5 exercises, all sequenced in complimentary fashion. The trainee rolls from one exercise to the next without hesitation. Complimentary exercise selection ensures fatigue is avoided from one exercise to the next. Here is another Time Compression template….

• Single-set
• Bench press
• Super-set
• Bench
• Calf raise
• Tri-set
• Bench
• Calf raise
• Barbell row
• Giant set
• Bench
• Calf raise
• Barbell row
• Curls
• Lat downs

Use this approach to jam the maximum number of sets into the least amount of training time. John Parrillo would recommend 3-4 cycles. Make maximum use of the rest time taken between super-sets, tri-sets or giant sets and slip in some fascial stretching. Don’t rush between cycles. A serious trainee can cram a minimum of 15 to upwards of 30 sets into a single 30-minute workout session.

Iron Vic,

I have been extremely diligent in my Parrillo-style diet and training over the past three years and as a direct result I have lost 50 pounds of fat. I am 31 years old and have dropped my bodyweight from an unhealthy 270 pounds to a much better 220. I am on my way to eventually weighing 180 pounds.  My problem is a bit strange: I have lost weight so quickly that my skin is saggy. In the places where I have lost the most body fat I now have droopy pec skin and hanging tricep skin – is this common? Is it correctable? No beach for me until I get this loose skin thing straightened out. Am I ruined for life?

Sag Man, Parts Unknown

Not to worry Sag Man – assuming you are under age 50, your skin is elastic and resilient and will eventually shrink and tightly encase those newfound muscles. The longer you have been heavy, the longer it will take for the skin to shrink and retract. There is nothing you can do to accelerate the process, just do not get fat again and be patient. By-the-way: great job and kudos for reducing from 270 to 220. Losing the next 40 pounds is going to be a lot tougher than losing the first 50. I would strongly suggest you NOT fall into the trap of slashing calories in order to lose weight. Most obese folks make the tragic mistake of slashing calories. They cut too many calories too fast and shut down their metabolism; thereby causing the body to hang onto its precious body fat. When the human body senses starvation it will eat its own muscle tissue in order to feed itself and preserve precious fat reserves. Use Parrillo’s BodyStat technology to ensure weight loss is fat loss. The skin will snap back, but it might take some time.

Greetings Vic,

My name is Ted and I am getting conflicting advice regarding how much protein is optimal to consume at a single sitting. I am what you would call an intermediate trainee. I have been hitting the Parrillo System hard for a good long while. I have made great gains following Parrillo principles over the past two years. I’m 6-2 and weigh 230.  At the gym I have an old pro telling me that… ‘The body cannot process more than 30 grams of protein at any one time! Eat more than 30 grams of protein at any single meal and the excess is pissed, passed or turned into body fat.” He sounds so authoritative and sure of himself that I wanted to run it past you. If I am reading correctly, Parrillo recommends a LOT more protein than that!

Randy, Alton Bluff

I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that fitness Urban Legend! Let’s explode this old myth right away. The idea that “the human body can only digest – at most – 30 grams at a time” is ludicrous: it makes no allowances for size differences. So a 300 pound professional football player and a 100 pound female figure skater would have the identical protein assimilation capacities? Bull S—! The big man’s internal digestive plumbing will be 2-3 times larger in diameter than an athletic woman 1/3^rdhis size. This 30 grams per feeding myth ignores bodyweight: it also ignores differences in the metabolism. An athletic individual with a raging Basal Metabolic Rate (an elite Parrillo bodybuilder) will have a much higher food assimilation capacity than another individual (the same height and weight) with a sluggish metabolism. Parrillo-style bodybuilders have trained the body to be able to process massive amounts of food, quickly, efficiently and effectively. A person on a multiple-meal eating plan consumes upwards of 50 meals in a single seven day stretch: that’s a lot of digestive practice! A pro bodybuilder living on 5,000 calories per day, eating clean food, taking potent Parrillo supplements, will have a hell-of-a-lot more assimilation ability than a sedentary individual. Obese people have snail-like metabolisms and often live on less than 1,000 calories per day; starvation dieting destroys muscle. These obvious differences between the elite and the obese are ignored by the ‘one-size-fits-all’ crowd of experts. These guys pontificate with the greatest of ease, saying with great authority that “no one” can assimilate more than 30 grams of protein at any one time.” Politely I say – Poppycock!

Iron Man,

I wanted to know your opinion of resistance exercise machines. As an intermediate trainee I use a lot of machines in my workouts. I probably perform 70% of my workouts using the different exercise machines…the curl machine, pec dec, Smith Machine, shoulder press machine, bench and incline press machines, Hammer Strength, cable crossover, tricep pushdown…I use a lot of machines on a lot of exercises. Then I read where you say that free weights are way better and that exercises done on a machine are inferior. Am I wasting my time using machines? I thought I was getting some pretty good workouts!

Confused in Cincinnati

No need to freak out. Some machines are better than others and some machines are not machines at all. Free weights rule! As you push or pull a free weight, muscle stabilizers are forced to fire – something that doesn’t happen (often) when using exercise machines. Stabilizer muscles spring into action to keep a free weight within the technical confines of a particular lift. The true exercise machine eliminates the need for muscle stabilizers to fire. The machine has its resistance locked into a predetermined groove. There is no need for side-to-side stabilizers to fire during a bench press performed on a Smith Machine, or during a seated overhead press or a curl using a machine. Some machines are NOT machines at all. Cables allow the implement (the cable handle or handles) to move through space in whatever pathway the trainee chooses. So cable work is highly recommended. The bottom line is that you have the ratio of free weights to machines Bass-Ackwards: switch to 70% free weights and 30% machines. I hope that clears up the confusion.

Vic,

What is the reasoning behind Parrillo’s insistence that aerobics should be done intensely? I never really understood the rationale – I like to jog at a nice even pace for say five miles. If I understand correctly, this type of cardio is not nearly as effective as the more intense interval-type aerobic activities that John Parrillo recommends. Am I missing something? Do I need to sprint instead of jog?

Bob, Saint Louis

You should assuredly augment your jogging with a few weekly sessions of sprinting or other “stress aerobic” activities. All the enzymes responsible for fat burning are contained within the cellular mitochondria. Ergo the amount of fat you can burn is limited by the number of mitochondria you possess. Some folks are genetically blessed with loads of muscle mitochondria; others are born with barely any mitochondria at all. John Parrillo discovered in his research that new mitochondria can be constructed if a muscle is subjected to sustained cardio exercise that includes an element of resistance. The best way to build additional mitochondria within a muscle is to continually subject that muscle to a cardio protocol that involves muscular effort. If you perform cardio and glide along, which sounds like what you are doing – the stress inflicted on the working muscle is insufficient to cause the muscle to create additional mitochondria. On the other hand, if the type of cardio you select causes muscles to work really hard – as in sprinting, intense ball and racquet games, leaping, jumping or bounding – the working muscles can and will construct additional mitochondria. While sprinting repeatedly over a protracted period of time certainly will build additional muscle mitochondria in the calves, thighs, hamstrings and glutes – no growth will occur elsewhere on the body. I would strongly suggest you dedicate a day or two each week to cardio activities that require “huffing and puffing.” The more mitochondria a muscle possesses, the greater that muscle’s capacity is to burn body fat.  Let’s mix up the cardio: augment steady-state jogging with sprints and intense games that cause you to run and move
and exert.