Cardio
Hi Todd, A couple of quesitons about cardio. What is the most effective cardio exercise? Eliptical? Treadmill? Combination? Do you suggest doing cardio before every workout or after and what is the difference? What is the best exercise to get rid of the "beer belly" or stomach fat? Ok, that is probably enough questions for now. Thank you for your advice! EA

All cardio is good, so mix it up a lot. If I'm gonna do 30 min. of cardio I break it always into 3 different exercises, usually the elliptical, then the Arc Trainer, then the Gauntlet/Step Mill. I love the Gauntlet, it is wicked cardio. Does your gym have one? Climb the Empire State Building (100 flights of stairs) a few times a week and you won't have a beer belly problem. :D Gauntlet/StepMill Cardio of any kind burns fat. If you are looking to burn off a beer belly always do your cardio training after your weights. You will burn fat faster this way. Train Hard, T

I remember they had one of those things at a gym I worked at. Good thing I was just cleaning it. lol I use my staris at home. My treadmill is my favorite though.

Thanks Todd. Of course we have those things at my gym. I work for the WHQ of the biggest sports and athletic company in the world, we have everything lol. So I tried your Gauntlet today, and damn, that burned bad. It didn't look very hard to me. I would always see people on them just sweating like crazy, I just figured they were in really bad shape lol. But I did it today and I have not sweat so much as I did on that machine. I did the 100 floors like you suggested in 17 minutes. Don't know if that is fast or slow but I am just kinda finding my comfort zone. But I must say, it was very difficult. Good things for those railings on the side lol.

Hey Eric, Yeah, I bet you have a pretty awesome gym out there. Sweet. The Gauntlet rocks. I love it. 100 floors in 17 mins.? You musta flew up the stairs. That would be difficult for sure. If you can do that you are in well above average shape. I remember that you have a soccer background too. Nice. Use it 2-3 times a week as part of your cardio work. Now you gotta hit the weights and build some muscle for summer. Train Hard, T

Eric: I trained Lats and Calves tonight then prepared myself for an assault on the Gauntlet. I started up the stairs at a pretty damn fast pace. You smoked me man, I climbed to the 82nd floor in 17 mins. You are in excellent shape, nice job. I was soaked through and dripping sweat. Musta been at 150+ BPM easily. Motivation. :wink: Keep training... T

Yeah it is a nice gym. And yes I have a soccer background as I have played for 22 years. I haven't played for about the last 5 months though. I haven been taking a break plus my gym is not cheap. Before I get some muscles for the summer, I need to get rid of my belly lol. Haha. What is a good drink to mix for a protein shake? Milk, Gatorade, etc? How many protein shakes do you recommend per day? I workout in the evenings, after work, so I usually have one after I get home. But would it be good to have one in the morning as well even though I am not working out until the evening? Just curious. Do you drink protein shakes on your days off from the gym as well? Also, I am seeing oatmeal on lots of peoples' "good diets". Why is this so healthy? I am guessing it is just plain oatmeal, non-flavored? Alright, that is enough questions for now. As you say, train hard (one thing I always remember working out with you a while back lol, was to always do one more rep if I could push it). EA

Haha...Nice motivation :)

I suggest you mix your protein drink with just water, most times. Use Gatorade or juice for your shake after your workout, you want those fast sugary hi-glycemic carbs in there. Honey is nice too in a shake after training. What type of protein powder are you using if you are allergic to whey? Soy? Oh, BTW I just read about a new whey prtein isolate drink that people who are lactose intolerant can use. But since you can drink milk I don't see why you'd have a problem with whey...? (See my reply in your other post.) You can use protein powder for any of your meals, the best times are for breakfast and after training. I almost always use whey for these two meals: for breakfast I mix it with oatmeal and add some fruit and yogurt. (I make breakfast in about 3 minutes.) After training I mix it with Gatorade and Glutamine. You can absolutely have protein shakes on days off from the gym. You are recovering these days. A protein shake and some fruit or nuts is a great convenient snack at work. Oatmeal: It is one of the Top 10 Power Foods. One of the best sources of fuel for the human body and is ridiculously cheap. $1.97 for 1 kilo of Quaker Quick Oats. Too many health benefits to list... I eat it every single day and suggest you do too. Obviously needs to be flavoured/added to. Mixes with protein powder, fruit, honey, yogurt, etc. for an awesome breakfast. (Skip the flavoured, pre-packaged oatmeal, it is expensive and full of sugar and junk.) T

I am using this stuff called Mega Protein. 1 gram carbohydrate. It is all Natural (I get it from a 100% organic store). 23 g of protein from soy, milk, egg and rice. Low fat, low cholesterol and sugar free. I don't really like the taste of it but I have also had worse. So it is ok. Do you have a suggestion of something that might be better? I am willing to give whey a try once again because it has been a long time since I used it. I will just buy it in a small portion to try out for a short time. What is Glutamine and what do you use it for? I probably sound like the biggest rookie on here lol. But that is what this forum is for right. I figured the flavored oatmeal was crap. How do you put all of those foods together with your protein mix? Do you use a blender? Something like this would be hard to do with work unless I made it before hand, brought it to work with me and stuck it in the fridge until I was ready for the protein shake. Will it stay good thoughout the day after being blended? A friend of mine at work said it would not stay good. That is why I ask. For the Gatorade or juice after the workout, include protein with that as well, or just the drink itself? I am definetely going to pick up some Oatmeal at Costco tomorrow after work. It is super cheap there and I can get a ton of it.

That Mega Protein sounds pretty good, but a whey isolate will be far superior. Most stores like GNC, VitaminShoppe, Nutrition House have free samples of whey powders. See if you can score a few to try. I'm gonna guess you won't have a problem with whey. Try an unflavoured brand, I use Natural, with no artificial sweetners. I will let you read about Glutamine here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/glutamine.html If you are training seriously hard, I recommend it. FYI: For supplements I recommend, a whey isolate protein powder, a multi-vitamin/mineral, extra chewable 500mg Vit. C, and Glutamine. That's about all you need. I take some extra minerals and digestive enzymes. No blender, I just put the oatmeal and scoop of whey protein in a bowl, mix, add hot water, stir, add frozen blueberries, (or fresh cut kiwi, orange, banana, strawberries, etc.) some nat. yogurt, a tbsp of flax meal, some Udo's Oil and mix it up. Fast and super nutritious breakfast. For protein shakes your buddy is right, don't pre-mix them. Put a scoop of whey in a shaker and add water when you want to drink it. Unless you are making a smoothie with fruit, etc. you don't need a blender. Just a shaker. Same thing after training, have your whey and Glutamine already in shaker, add the Gatorade and shake.

I will go out and pick up a couple of shakers this weekend. The problem is that the protein says to mix in blender. I have tried it without a blender before and all it does it chunk up and it tastes horrible. I will also look for a whey protein this weekend too.

Wal-Mart has the best shakers by Rubbermaid. $3 for package of 3. They have green, blue and purple pop tops. First and foremost experiment with some kinds of isolate whey protein. There are a zillion on the market in every flavour from strawberry daiquiri to chocolate truffle explosion. Give it another shot and ee if whey agrees with you. That protein you are using is not very high quality at all. All isolate whey will mix easily without a spoon or blender in a shaker. Train Hard, Eat Harder, T

Thanks for the advice. I am pretty much against shopping at Wal-mart unless I have to. I will check out Bed Bath and Beyond first and if I see it is too expensive there, then I will head to Wal-mart. I think I will try some sort of whey protein instead because I would like not having to use the blender everytime I want a protein drink. I will keep you posted and let you know what I find. We have a popular thread going on here....