Tips and Tidbits-Parrillo Performance February, 2010

Training Tip of the Month:

Get Results with the Incline Leg Press: With the incline leg press, you can work various angles of your thigh by altering the position of your feet on the platform and by changing the point from where you push. If you place your feet high on the platform with a wide stance, the exercise emphasizes your glutes and hamstrings. If your foot placement is lower with a narrow stance, then emphasis shifts to your quads. How you press makes a big difference too. When training bodybuilders on the leg press, I ask them where they want to “burn” their legs. Give me a six inch region anywhere on their legs and I can instruct them on how to isolate that specific area. I place a 2 x 4 board against the leg press platform under the bodybuilder’s heels. Then I have him push with the heels. This isolates the outer thighs tremendously. Next, I remove the board and instruct the bodybuilder to push with the balls of the feet. This shifts the stress to the frontal quads.

Nutrition Tip of the Month:

The combination of foods you eat at each meal is critical for building mass and burning bodyfat. It’s one thing to select the right foods and yet another to know how to properly combine them to build metabolism. Each meal should include one lean protein source, one or two starchy carbs and one or two fibrous carbs. The protein and fiber slow the digestion of starchy carbohydrates, giving you consistent energy levels throughout the day. In the growth season, you need at least one gram of protein from a lean protein source, such as white chicken, turkey or fish, per pound of bodyweight. You should also obtain an additional .25 to .5 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight from carbohydrates. You can refer to the Parrillo Nutrition Manual for more detailed dietary guidelines.

Question: I’ve been hearing differing opinions on including deadlifts in my bodybuilding workouts. Is it a good training choice for bodybuilders?

Answer: Many bodybuilders avoid deadlifts because this exercise can thicken the waist. But often, you need to build your physique to a point beyond where you want to be. Then you can use isolation exercises to sculpt away thickness while still holding your size. So, for gaining that initial size and thickness, deadlifts are an excellent exercise.

As you begin the exercise, make sure your shoulders move up and back. Keep your back slightly arched. As you lift the barbell, drive your hips forward. As always, keep your muscles tight throughout the range of motion and use your opposing muscles to return to start. The same techniques apply to the sumo-style deadlifts, in which a very wide stance is used.

Breaking News-Fitness and Nutrition

^{Dietary Protein & Bone Health Revisited}

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists first compared high-meat protein diets with low-meat protein diets. Now, they’ve compared animal-protein diets with vegetable-protein diets. This “sequel” study rocks the foundation, again, of a commonly held belief that high-protein diets can be bad for bones. Nutritionists Zamzam (Fariba) Roughead and Janet Hunt, with colleagues, carefully controlled the diets of 13 healthy, postmenopausal women. Two seven-week experimental diets were provided to each of the volunteers. A two-week break was scheduled between each of the two diet phases.

Both diets provided 15% of energy–or daily caloric intake–from protein, a percentage that represents average U.S. consumption. One diet contained mostly meat protein, and the other substituted 25 grams of high-isoflavone soy protein for an equivalent amount of the meat protein provided daily. The remainder of each diet was mixed to represent typical daily intakes of calcium and other nutrients. The scientists measured biomarkers in blood and urine collected during each seven-week diet phase and found no indications of differences in calcium or bone metabolism after eating either diet. Moreover, the soy-protein-substituted diet did not change the absorption or excretion of calcium. Some scientists long have theorized that high-meat protein diets can leach calcium from bones. Others theorize that the phytate, a component of soy protein, can interrupt mineral absorption in general.

The study’s findings suggest that calcium absorption from these two important sources of dietary protein is similar.

- Rosalie Marion Bliss, Feb. 2005, Agricultural Research Service, USDA

Quick Tip of the Month:

Get an electric food steamer with multiple steamer baskets to steam your rice and vegetables at the same time. Electric steamers help vegetables retain their nutrients better than traditional boiling, and they also speed up the process with instant steam. Some models have programmable digital timers, so your vegetables are done just right.

Dominique’s Time Cruncher:

ÚRecipe database websites are a great way to search for quick meal ideas. Some have advanced recipe search features, like “Ingredients You Want” and “Ingredients You Don’t Want”. You can even add keywords to narrow down your recipe searches; use keywords like low-sodium, low-fat, baked, crockpot, slow cooker, etc.