Happy New Year Everyone!!
I hope that 2014 is already treating you all well. coming up in the next month or so I'm excited to announce a new "Surviving the Blade" Self-protection seminar, a new "Self-Protection 101" seminar, a new "Eating for fat loss" seminar and more.
I'll keep you all posted.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
A good reason not to eat multiple meals a day:
Hey Fitness Friends,
Today we're going to open up a can of worms and talk about the top reason why you shouldn't be eating 4-6 meals a day. Now, I know, over the past few decades it's been the in vogue thing to recommend constant grazing. I've done it myself. In fact, back in my bodybuilding days I tried the grazing method for a long time and it never worked. I never had the energy that it promised, instead I felt sluggish all the time (hey, digestion takes up more energy than anything else that you can do, if you're constantly digesting things how can you have huge amounts of energy?). It never really leaned me out. And, it lead my to some very serious hypoglycemia problems. Then I spent close to a decade following Ori Hofmekler's once a day eating and I had the opposite effect. I competed as a professional athlete with great success, I was full of energy, I never got sick, I never was sluggish, I walked around at a 5-7 percent body fat without trying and more. Now a days I stick to eating 2-3 times a day and I'm stronger, fitter and healthier than ever.
With that in mind let's talk a little bit about multiple meal a day grazing.
First let's look at one of the main arguments for grazing all day. You'll often times hear advocates saying, "Horses graze all day and, in the wild, they are lean and free of extraneous fat." And that's true. But, the last time I checked humans weren't the same genus let alone species as horses. In fact, we're way different. You know what other animals graze all day long? Rhinos, Hippos and cows. And none of them will ever be described as lean. Along with that, predatory animals such as tigers, wolves, jaguars and cheetahs eat once a week and they are lean and fat free in the wild as well.
Second, you'll hear a lot of grazing advocates talking about how you don't want to skip a meal because it'll throw your metabolism down the shitter. Guess what? You have to fast for around 72 hours, that's three days, for you metabolism to start slowing down. In other words, if you only eat once or twice in a day, it's not going to screw up your metabolism.
So, where did the multiple meals a day method come about? Most humans throughout history have eaten between 1-3 times a day, so why did the multiple meals thing come up? The answer lies in the name, John Parillo. John was competing in both powerlifting and bodybuilding and he noticed that, even though they carried a little more body fat, the powerlifters he knew had more muscle, better quality muscle and where a shitton stronger than the bodybuilders that he knew. So he took the powerlifting method of constant eating and mixed in the theory of making sure that every calorie ingested was natural and clean, then threw some pharmaceutical help into the mix in an effort to help bodybuilders get as gigantic as they could. And, viola. All of the sudden bodybuilders that used to walk on stage at 220 pounds with a three percent body fat could now walk on stage at 265 pounds with a three percent body fat.
Now, if you're looking to get as huge as possible and are willing to use some drug help, go ahead, the multiple meal a day plan will probably give you some great results.
But, here is the biggest reason why I'm not a fan.
Now, I could go on and on about many reasons why I'm not a fan, but I'm just going to talk about one today. For that one reason we have to delve into how the body works.
When you eat a typical meal you'll send messages to your pancreas that it needs to start releasing insulin into the bloodstream. this insulin will shuttle nutrients from your food into the cells of your body. As insulin finishes it's job, your brain will send a message that your body needs blood sugar. Blood sugar is released and it finishes up insulin's job and wipes up any left over insulin. From there you'll hopefully have a few hours of no digestive activity, this allows your insulin and blood sugar receptors time to recharge, as well as the receptors for leptin, ghrelin, epinephrine and norepinephrine. This is how it's supposed to happen.
Now, when we load up on multiple meals this is what happens. You release more and more insulin into your blood system, wearing out your insulin receptors and leading to insulin resistance (which leads to tremendous body fat gains). This means that in order to get the same results later your boy will have to release even more insulin, which will continue to wear out the insulin receptors, causing you to have to release even more amounts insulin later to do the same job. This also means that your body has to release more blood sugar to do the same job as before, thus wearing down your blood sugar receptors. This leads to your blood becoming more syrup like, rather than water like, which can lead to stroke and heart attack. As your body releases more and more insulin and more and more blood sugar and continues to wear the respective receptors down this leads to body fat gain, hypoglycemia, heart disease and stroke.
Along with this, having blood sugar and insulin resistance, and fighting to keep them stable is known by a pretty well known name. That's right: diabetes.
This is one of the main reasons why the completely preventable forms of diabetes have skyrocketed in the past few decades. And it's also why you see a huge amount of non-obese people getting these forms of diabetes.
Constantly pumping up your insulin and blood sugar levels while wearing out their receptor sights is a huge health risk. Not to mention wearing out the adrenal receptors, the leptin receptors and the ghrelin receptors.
So, stick to eating 1-3 meals a day, make sure that they have some time in between them and I can guarantee that you'll feel better, perform better, look better, and be better. Now, go out and train smart, heavy and hard and create your greatness.
Yours in strength and health,
Brett
Today we're going to open up a can of worms and talk about the top reason why you shouldn't be eating 4-6 meals a day. Now, I know, over the past few decades it's been the in vogue thing to recommend constant grazing. I've done it myself. In fact, back in my bodybuilding days I tried the grazing method for a long time and it never worked. I never had the energy that it promised, instead I felt sluggish all the time (hey, digestion takes up more energy than anything else that you can do, if you're constantly digesting things how can you have huge amounts of energy?). It never really leaned me out. And, it lead my to some very serious hypoglycemia problems. Then I spent close to a decade following Ori Hofmekler's once a day eating and I had the opposite effect. I competed as a professional athlete with great success, I was full of energy, I never got sick, I never was sluggish, I walked around at a 5-7 percent body fat without trying and more. Now a days I stick to eating 2-3 times a day and I'm stronger, fitter and healthier than ever.
With that in mind let's talk a little bit about multiple meal a day grazing.
First let's look at one of the main arguments for grazing all day. You'll often times hear advocates saying, "Horses graze all day and, in the wild, they are lean and free of extraneous fat." And that's true. But, the last time I checked humans weren't the same genus let alone species as horses. In fact, we're way different. You know what other animals graze all day long? Rhinos, Hippos and cows. And none of them will ever be described as lean. Along with that, predatory animals such as tigers, wolves, jaguars and cheetahs eat once a week and they are lean and fat free in the wild as well.
Second, you'll hear a lot of grazing advocates talking about how you don't want to skip a meal because it'll throw your metabolism down the shitter. Guess what? You have to fast for around 72 hours, that's three days, for you metabolism to start slowing down. In other words, if you only eat once or twice in a day, it's not going to screw up your metabolism.
So, where did the multiple meals a day method come about? Most humans throughout history have eaten between 1-3 times a day, so why did the multiple meals thing come up? The answer lies in the name, John Parillo. John was competing in both powerlifting and bodybuilding and he noticed that, even though they carried a little more body fat, the powerlifters he knew had more muscle, better quality muscle and where a shitton stronger than the bodybuilders that he knew. So he took the powerlifting method of constant eating and mixed in the theory of making sure that every calorie ingested was natural and clean, then threw some pharmaceutical help into the mix in an effort to help bodybuilders get as gigantic as they could. And, viola. All of the sudden bodybuilders that used to walk on stage at 220 pounds with a three percent body fat could now walk on stage at 265 pounds with a three percent body fat.
Now, if you're looking to get as huge as possible and are willing to use some drug help, go ahead, the multiple meal a day plan will probably give you some great results.
But, here is the biggest reason why I'm not a fan.
Now, I could go on and on about many reasons why I'm not a fan, but I'm just going to talk about one today. For that one reason we have to delve into how the body works.
When you eat a typical meal you'll send messages to your pancreas that it needs to start releasing insulin into the bloodstream. this insulin will shuttle nutrients from your food into the cells of your body. As insulin finishes it's job, your brain will send a message that your body needs blood sugar. Blood sugar is released and it finishes up insulin's job and wipes up any left over insulin. From there you'll hopefully have a few hours of no digestive activity, this allows your insulin and blood sugar receptors time to recharge, as well as the receptors for leptin, ghrelin, epinephrine and norepinephrine. This is how it's supposed to happen.
Now, when we load up on multiple meals this is what happens. You release more and more insulin into your blood system, wearing out your insulin receptors and leading to insulin resistance (which leads to tremendous body fat gains). This means that in order to get the same results later your boy will have to release even more insulin, which will continue to wear out the insulin receptors, causing you to have to release even more amounts insulin later to do the same job. This also means that your body has to release more blood sugar to do the same job as before, thus wearing down your blood sugar receptors. This leads to your blood becoming more syrup like, rather than water like, which can lead to stroke and heart attack. As your body releases more and more insulin and more and more blood sugar and continues to wear the respective receptors down this leads to body fat gain, hypoglycemia, heart disease and stroke.
Along with this, having blood sugar and insulin resistance, and fighting to keep them stable is known by a pretty well known name. That's right: diabetes.
This is one of the main reasons why the completely preventable forms of diabetes have skyrocketed in the past few decades. And it's also why you see a huge amount of non-obese people getting these forms of diabetes.
Constantly pumping up your insulin and blood sugar levels while wearing out their receptor sights is a huge health risk. Not to mention wearing out the adrenal receptors, the leptin receptors and the ghrelin receptors.
So, stick to eating 1-3 meals a day, make sure that they have some time in between them and I can guarantee that you'll feel better, perform better, look better, and be better. Now, go out and train smart, heavy and hard and create your greatness.
Yours in strength and health,
Brett
Friday, December 6, 2013
Do you need steroids, supplements, fancy equipment, etc. to build an incredible body?
One of the questions that I get a lot is if someone needs to be on steroids, use a ton of supplements, have a bunch or equipment, have the latest "state of the art" training program or what ever, to build an incredible body. And the answer is a resounding NO!
Throughout history men and women have built incredible bodies with the crudest of equipment, no supplements, no steroids, and while using basic routines and plenty of hard work.
Don't believe me?
Here are some me of physical culture past that grew up and trained long before steroids, supplements, machines, etc.
The Immortal John Grimek:
George "The Russian Lion" Hackenshmidt:
Eugene Sandow:
Sig Klien:
Steve Reeves:
John Garan:
Masytek:
Alfred Moss:
The Great (and one legged) Alan Mead:
The Great Maxick:
Arthur Saxon:
And many more.....
These were all men from the pre-steroid, pre-supplement days who were hellasiously strong, incredible conditioned and very healthy athletes.
They built their bodies off of a steady diet of bodyweight training, heavy barbells, heavy dumbbells, heavy kettlebells and heavy clubs.
Now it's your turn. Go train smart, hard and heavy and create your greatness.
Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan
Friday, November 15, 2013
Upcoming Seminars
Hey Everyone,
Just wanted to share with you all the upcoming schedule of seminars. Feel free to contact me through facebook, email or in person to register for any or all of them. Each seminar is on special for only $20 a piece.
Saturday, December 7; 3-6pm:
Grappling and Ground Fighting for Self-Defense: Survival, Escapes and Submissions
This seminar is going to delve into th dangerous ground of grappling as it applies to self-defense. Here we're going to cover how to escape from bad positions where someone is trying to smash, rape, or maim you; how to survive and get back to your feet; and we'll cover a few high-percentage submissions involving locking the arms and legs or putting the person to sleep with a choke. No grappling experience is necessary.
Saturday, December 14th; 3-5pn:
Ultimate Flexibility
In this semiar we're going to look at and break the myths about stretching and flexibility and then look at how to train for life long, easy flexibility. Topics will include: ballistic stretching, passive stretching, the Golgi Tendon Reflex, How to control and master tension and relaxation; Pulse stretching, tensions stretching, dynamic stretching, loaded stretching, stretching for strength and performance, and more. If you are looking at getting to be the most mobile and flexible that you can, this seminar is for you.
Saturday, December 28th: 3-6pm:
Mastering the Kettlebell
With all of the different types of kettlebell training out there; Kettlebell Sport, Hardstyle, Hybrid, Tacital, Old-time Strongmannnn, Kettlebell Fitness, Renegade Style, etc: how do you know what type of training is correct for you needs and goals. Learn that here at this seminar. We'll be discussing a little bit about the ancient history of the k-bell, from ancient China to present day, what the different styles of lifting are and what they are both good and not good for, and then we'll work on mastering the most powerful lifts in th k-bell arsenal. Join us for this seminar to look at how to maximize your work with this wonderful tool.
Alright, I'm looking forward to working with you all at these seminars. Feel free to email me at either bolerobrett@aol.com or b_stepan@aol.com or hit me up on facebook to register. Talk with you later.
Yours in strength and health,
Brett
Just wanted to share with you all the upcoming schedule of seminars. Feel free to contact me through facebook, email or in person to register for any or all of them. Each seminar is on special for only $20 a piece.
Saturday, December 7; 3-6pm:
Grappling and Ground Fighting for Self-Defense: Survival, Escapes and Submissions
This seminar is going to delve into th dangerous ground of grappling as it applies to self-defense. Here we're going to cover how to escape from bad positions where someone is trying to smash, rape, or maim you; how to survive and get back to your feet; and we'll cover a few high-percentage submissions involving locking the arms and legs or putting the person to sleep with a choke. No grappling experience is necessary.
Saturday, December 14th; 3-5pn:
Ultimate Flexibility
In this semiar we're going to look at and break the myths about stretching and flexibility and then look at how to train for life long, easy flexibility. Topics will include: ballistic stretching, passive stretching, the Golgi Tendon Reflex, How to control and master tension and relaxation; Pulse stretching, tensions stretching, dynamic stretching, loaded stretching, stretching for strength and performance, and more. If you are looking at getting to be the most mobile and flexible that you can, this seminar is for you.
Saturday, December 28th: 3-6pm:
Mastering the Kettlebell
With all of the different types of kettlebell training out there; Kettlebell Sport, Hardstyle, Hybrid, Tacital, Old-time Strongmannnn, Kettlebell Fitness, Renegade Style, etc: how do you know what type of training is correct for you needs and goals. Learn that here at this seminar. We'll be discussing a little bit about the ancient history of the k-bell, from ancient China to present day, what the different styles of lifting are and what they are both good and not good for, and then we'll work on mastering the most powerful lifts in th k-bell arsenal. Join us for this seminar to look at how to maximize your work with this wonderful tool.
Alright, I'm looking forward to working with you all at these seminars. Feel free to email me at either bolerobrett@aol.com or b_stepan@aol.com or hit me up on facebook to register. Talk with you later.
Yours in strength and health,
Brett
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
A Quick Video
Just thought I'd post a quick little video today on the amazing gift of gratitude and how it can help you to reach your dreams, make more money, improve your love life, or whatever else your idea of success is:
Have an awesome on and remember to check out www.empowernetwork.com/bstepan
Yours in affluence,
Brett
Yours in affluence,
Brett
Thursday, October 31, 2013
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