Backup Energy: Why Glucagon is Important

More material from my original research notes: Your body needs to maintain a supply of fuel, and glucagon is a crucial part of this system. Considering the ample access people have to quality food, at least in America with all of our supermarkets and restaurants, glucagon is seldom seen in high … [Read more...]

Another Hidden Secret: The Power of Leptin

More from my original research notes: Leptin’s story isn’t a long one, but it’s extremely important. The first thing you need to know is that its importance is typically ignored in most diet books—which is a completely wrongheaded omission, because Leptin is an extremely critical hormone in terms … [Read more...]

Yogurt is Not a Meal

By Jim Laird Life is nothing but a series of patterns. When you do the same thing every day for enough years, these patterns show themselves, and your sphere of influence begins to make more sense. In the fitness industry, this manifests itself in the mistakes you see people making, because few … [Read more...]

From Bookworm to Bikini: Week Nine

By Caroline Gick Last week was all about training. This week, I want to talk about my diet. I’m at the four-week mark—in terms of time remaining until my show—and my challenge over these next thirty days will be to lean out in certain areas while not getting too hard and vascular in others. To … [Read more...]

Kiefer Q&A: The Carb Nite Solution For Women

In response to a line of questioning we've been getting a lot from you lately, here's a Q&A segment with Kiefer addressing some common problems women run into within the first few months of starting The Carb Nite Solution: After my first ten-day cycle of the diet, I lost a significant amount of … [Read more...]

From Bookworm to Bikini: Week Eight

By Caroline Gick CAUTION: FITNESS BUZZWORD AHEAD. Balance. We see and hear this word everywhere. Most times, people use it to talk about obtaining and maintaining it in their lives. They want a healthy combination of work, family, training, and everything else that goes into a productive week. I’d … [Read more...]

Out of Balance: How to Think About Dieting

Last weekend, I sat on a rather interesting discussion panel at the Paleo F(x) conference in Austin, TX. As I listened to otherwise rational people, who were making otherwise sound recommendations, emphatically claiming that a “balanced diet” for health required 30 percent carbohydrates—mostly from … [Read more...]

Book Excerpt: Carb Back-Loading

Don’t Let Training Derail You Although this is a book about targeted performance nutrition, the outlined plan relies heavily upon training for its efficacy. I need, therefore, to discuss training—and what qualifies as acceptable. When it comes to Carb Back-Loading, not all training is created … [Read more...]

From Bookworm to Bikini: Week Seven

By Caroline Gick Last week was all about shit. I felt like shit, I looked like shit, and I didn’t want to do shit—unless we’re talking about beating the shit out of anyone who tried to motivate me with any positive, “can do” type of shit. I couldn’t even muster the energy to do that, though, so I … [Read more...]

From Bookworm to Bikini: Week Three

By Caroline Gick I use the Shockwave protocol because it lets me maintain and add muscle at the same time as I’m stripping off body fat. It’s the perfect plan for getting ready for competition. In fact, I’ve adopted Shockwave for my regular training, and not just for contest prep. What has … [Read more...]