In this podcast (download iPod compatible, 40MB), Dave Liepman demonstrates the strong man tire flip on his driveway. As we learned in his initial podcast, Dave has gone through quite an experience gathering training implements. Here we see that he has a 658 lb. tire with lots of wear and tear, including holes to let the rain drain out.

The tire flip is not just about brute strength. Dave notes the following factors:

• Grip is important. Dave demonstrates both three and four tread grips. If your grip gives out, you're done for.
• Leverage is important. As can be seen in the photo above, Dave uses his knee as part of the final thrust. The knee is well positioned for effective leverage.
• Surface is important. Dave makes the point that the tire tends to slide on sandy surfaces allowing you to get considerable distance without having to fully lift the tire.

In our next segment, we'll look at the keg carry.

In this podcast (download iPod compatible, 38MB), Dave Liepman gives us an introduction to how he performs in strong man events. This podcast kicks off a short series on the mechanics of performing in strong man competitions. We'll see Dave perform the tire flip and a keg carry in later episodes.

Dave has been performing in strong man competitions since he was 20 and saw an advertisement for one at the gym where he was working out. He then had a layoff of 7 years and decided to compete again when he saw that they had a weight class that fit his size (200 lbs. and under). When I asked him what initially piqued his interest, he mentioned how, growing up on a farm, he had always wanted to perform feats of strength.

For me, the key takeaway from this conversation was the amount of strategizing that goes into the strong man competition. As Dave points out, it's not just brute force. That will only get you so far. To lift really heavy weights, you have to understand your body's leverage points and how to capitalize on them. To get a good sense of how he can best use these leverage points, Dave attempts to train with the competition implements themselves (kegs, tires, etc.)

Additional Links

• This wikipedia article gives a good account of the World's Strongest Man Competitions. Of note, Iceland is the country with the most winners, notable given its small population of under one-half million.

In this podcast (download ipod compatible, 47MB), Troy Garver and I discuss something he calls the third law of thermodynamics in dieting. It's actually a contradiction because while you may believe that cutting calories (energy intake) will lead to weight loss, it frequently just does not. That's because the body is itself a dynamic system that tries to conserve energy as you cut intake.

After I mention to him what I like about the atkins diet: hunger remains after control and after induction energy is manageable if not bountiful, Troy mentions that "satiety" is one of the key factors he looks for when helping people manage their diets. He basically looks to give people foods from the groups they like but cleaned up, meaning without processed foods, and of course, reduced in calories.

We're going to switch topics in future podcasts. We have a strong man who is going to provide a couple of exercise analyses and some upcoming interviews with Paul Wright about his gym expansion plans.

Additional Links

• This site provides an interesting perspective on calorie needs and how they change with age and activity.

In this podcast (download ipod compatible, 53MB), Troy Garver and I (Bud) discuss the role that protein plays in the diet. We start off by noting that Troy did make his goal of fitting in the XL size shirt for his wedding, now almost two weeks ago. We then come to the topic of diet.

Protein helps prevent muscle loss while dieting

I've been following a low carb diet. Working out on low carbs is hard because carbs are your primary fuel source. When your body is deprived of carbs, it first turns toward protein as a fuel source and then towards fat. Since muscles are composed of protein, the first phase of weight loss for most people actually consists of muscle loss. If you maintain a high protein intake, it can help spare your muscles at the outset because it is easier to just convert the protein vs. destroying muscle tissue to get it. Protein is also a less efficient source of fuel than carbs, so you wind up getting less bang per protein gram of fuel than you do per gram of carbs. Eventually, your body moves primarily toward fat burning.

Protein helps with post-workout recovery

Protein consumption also helps with recovery after weight training by providing the body with the building blocks for muscle regeneration. It can also help to consume carbs at this time because because the resulting insulin spike helps nutrients cross the cell wall into the muscle.

Additional Links

• Mauro di Pasquale suggests that upping your insulin levels post workout without carbs leads to higher fat burning. The way to do this is with proteins.

In this podcast (download for ipod, 40MB), Troy Garver and I discuss the importance of goals in any fitness program. The goal should be tangible and have a time frame attached. We discuss my goal of losing 15 lbs. Well, what time frame should I do that in?

Troy also notes that restrictive diets and disciplined goal regimens are hard to maintain over time.

We then discuss Troy's goal of shrinking down to fit in an XL shirt by the time of his wedding this Saturday. Many revelations ensue. It turns out that Troy is given to eating massive quantities of kids' snacks. To lose weight, he's dropped those items from his diet and started to do cardio. As a former bodybuilder who likes to focus on weight training, this is quite the sacrifice. He also has not tried on the shirt since he and his fiance chose it. The wedding day will be the moment of truth. We'll hear how that went in a couple of weeks.

For the record, Troy is one of the most physically fit appearing people I know.  His desire to shrink down is based purely on fitting into a specific shirt on his wedding day.

Additional Links

• US Government guidelines on setting weight loss goals stress the BMI which accounts for both weight and height.  The problem with BMI is that it does not account for muscle.

Troy Garver makes a cameo appearance at the end of the video. I'll be using him as a sounding board. He's produced some interesting insights in the past and has agreed to contribute to this series.

In Troy's view it's been a fantastic year but one where they have faced some challenges. When I ask him to name one of those challenges, he mentions their shakes bar, which always seems to be busy. They are now using higher quality materials than when they started but still charging the same prices. They have also switched to frozen fruit, which is more readily available and easier to store. Given, the typical profit margin on beverages in the food industry, my guess is that they are probably still doing well. It's just not the profit center they want it to be.

Gold's Ann Arbor is now running at about 1750 members. A year ago, when I first spoke with Troy, he mentioned that they wanted somewhere around 2300 members while maintaining the customer experience. Now, he is putting more emphasis on the customer experience. When I ask whether the local economy is holding them down, Troy mentions that the economy's impact has been mixed and that they have picked up members from some failing gyms.

Next, Troy drops a big bombshell. He and Paul are looking to expand to a new location with 62,000 square feet (as confirmed by Paul a little later), close to four times the size of the current location. The new location will have a full size basketball court, a swimming pool, two handball courts, and three group exercise rooms. They should be signing a lease in the next two weeks.

I suspect we will do a series on design and construction of the facility.

Additional Links

• Cost of goods and labor typically account for 50 to 75% of non-alcoholic drink revenues. However, drinks with special ingredients, like the protein shakes at Gold's, can have much higher margins.

In this video analysis (Quicktime ipod compatible, 38MB; Google streaming flash video), we see Hua Jin Hong demonstrating Tai Chi. Tai Chi is a defensive martial art that many Chinese engage in as a sort of meditative practice. The demonstration takes place at Tianjin University of Commerce on the East Coast of China. Hua Jin Hong speaks in Chinese, and there is translation in the background.

As shown in the strip of pictures on the left, Tai Chi involves a set of precisely defined movements. Focus is on body positioning and precise execution. In the video, Jin Hong (in chinese names the surname is first and the given name second) deconstructs the sequence and explains the imagery practitioners might use to help them execute.

I decided to publish this video in Muscle Ventures because, as I have traveled in China, I've been struck by how much weight lifting and bodybuilding depend on cultural constructions. Much of bodybuilding is about creating a body image using precise nutrition control and various weight training regimens. In some ways, you might call it a philosophy built around consumption and power projection.

Tai Chi is very different in its underlying philosophy. It focuses much more on managing forces projected onto the person vs. seeking to project force. However, like bodybuilding, the notion of control is very important. One can't help but remark that during much of China's history since 1949, survival not consumption, has been the issue for much of the populace with average people sometimes resorting to foraging for food during lean times.

Additional Links

• Our bodybuilding posing series describes a level of concentration similar to that required to execute Tai Chi.

Troy, general manager of Gold's Gym in Ann Arbor had hinted to me that Gold's had a Chinese location, possibly in Beijing. Unfortunately, the only reference I could find for Gold's in China was about one going bankrupt in Shanghai. So, Powerhouse it was.

The video is short. I wanted to interview a manager, but the general manager was not available until afternoon. Frankly, I think videotaping the gym just blew the staff's mind. Things are different here. So, I wound up with just a short introductory piece where I give a brief show of the landscape and discuss where I think a place like Powerhouse fits into China. There are 9 locations, all in large cities. Tianjin, where we are headed, has three. Nine may sound like a lot, but Southeast Michigan has over 30 by itself. China has over 1300 times the population of Southeast Michigan.

I suspect the concept is slow to take off in China mainly because of cost. Basically, you have be rich here to afford Powerhouse. For less than the cost of a day pass at Powerhouse, I can take 6 people to dinner at a decent neighborhood restaurant. Further, I think the whole concept of the fitness lifestyle is foreign to people here. There's not a weight problem, and there's not a muscle aesthetic.

Additional Links

• Follow my travels in China here.

In short, Troy's conclusion is that puking during a workout is frequently a relief and that you can go on training afterwards. He bases this assertion on the analysis that during intense physical exercise, the body has to prioritize its blood flow. The main area that draws blood during the workout is the muscle group affected. Obviously, the brain also needs blood. However, the body places a lower priority on the digestive track during intense periods of physical activity. The easiest way to minimize this area's blood flow is to vomit out any food that may be in the process of digestion.

However, as I note in the links below, you need to consider why you may be vomiting before coming to this conclusion. Vomiting during a workout can be a a sign of a serious underlying problem. It's just that in the vast majority of cases it is not.

This analysis also raises a further reason that I might have found the initial stages of the mitochondrial regimen that Nancy and I started a few months ago difficult. During the supersets, we start with one muscle group and then immediately move to another. This change requires blood flow to move to a new muscle group while the original muscle group is still recovering. One further adaptation that might be occurring is that the number of red blood cells is increasing as more demands are placed on the vascular system to replenish different muscular groups.

Additional Links

• Ultra cyclists find vomiting during races to be a common issue. The consensus approach seems to be to slow down for a bit and slowly rebuild intensity. Bill Mayer's 24 hour races we reported on in a previous podcast series are an example of ultra cycling.
• In general, high intensity training in the weight room can lead to vomiting. One reason may be an over full stomach, but an alternative is low blood sugar. Strangely, in both cases, the explanation may be the same. The body is shutting down non-essential functions for the stress at hand.
• Recurrent nausea during training can be a sign of much more serious vascular problems like atrioventricular block.

In this podcast (Quicktime ipod compatible, 22MB; Google streaming flash video), Troy Garver and I begin a discussion of endurance training with a focus on the role of the mitochondria in supplying energy to muscles.  As shown in the second picture at left, Troy explains that the mitochondria are sub-cellular structures where chemical reactions that power muscle contractions take place.  High rep endurance training increases the number of mitochondria in muscle cells in order to continue supplying energy over longer periods of time.

I start the podcast by telling Troy that I am doing the high rep muscle definition workouts described in the book Serious Strength Training.  Several months ago, Nancy Arnold and I started with 30 reps per exercise and no supersets and have now progressed to 50 reps per exercise with four exercises grouped together in a superset.  According to Serious Strength Training, the goal of such high repetitions is to get the muscle's mitochondria to exhaust their normal ATP/CP and glycogen energy stores so that they burn fat, preferably near the muscle.

Howevever, as Troy notes, the body adapts.  In a normal person, mitochondria occupy about 25% of cell volume.  During mitochondrial training, the number of mitochondria can dramatically increase (for instance by 50 to 60% in 12 weeks).  Further, in high repetition, low weight mitochondrial training, only a portion of each muscle's fibres are recruited for each repetition.  Given these two facts, it takes longer and longer to exhaust the non-fat energy systems as you continue to perform mitochondrial workouts. 

As presented in Serious Strength Training, mitochondrial muscle definition training is oriented towards bodybuilders trying to drive body fat as low as possible so that they get that chiseled, striated look.  The tendency of the body to adapt to training stimulus means that bodybuilders have to constantly increase reps and intensity during muscle definition training to stay on track toward achieving their goals. 

One thing that has fascinated me in the periodization scheme that Nancy and I began a year ago is the extent to which the body is a changing, dynamic system.  What worked at the the start of a training regimen quickly loses its impact, so you must adapt your methods to continue pushing adaptation.

Additional Links

• The image of the mitochondrion was supplied by the Public Library of Science.
• This article discusses the time frames over which different energy sources are tapped over the duration of an exercise.  As the table clearly shows, if an exercise endures from four to 10 minutes, the primary energy supply for muscular activity switches to fatty acids.  I estimate that my supersets are taking from six to 10 minutes.
  

In this podcast (Quicktime ipod compatible, 35MB; Google streaming flash video), I work through a 1200 rep uppper body endurance (mitochondrial) training session.  Nancy and I (Bud) originally put together this series in the Fall to coincide with her diet phase for a competition she had planned for this month.  When she decided not to compete last January, we decided to complete the series anyhow.

As explained in Serious Strength Training, the mitochondria provide one of the muscle's energy systems.  They are the only place in the muscle where you can convert carbohydrate, fat, and oxygen into energy.  The more you increase the mitochondria in your muscle, the higher your workout capacity.  You tap the mitochondrial energy system when you go into high repetition endurance workouts, and we'll talk more about the exact mechanism in the next episode in this series. 

It's really quite an adaptation to go through.  Nancy and I started at 30 repetitions per exercise without combining any of the exercises into supersets.  Now, we are doing 50 reps per exercise and supersetting at least 4 exercises in a row before taking a minute's rest.

As I explain in the podcast, this particular mitochondrial workout is focused on the upper body with the exercises grouped into sets of four:

• First set of exercises (60 seconds rest at end of 4 exercises)
  • Hammerstrength decline chest press:  132 lbs. for 50 reps (I typically have to drop substantially as this goes on).
  • Hammerstrength hack squat calf raises: 180 lbs. for 50 reps (I drop a lot less on this one).
  • Dumbbell shrugs: 45 lbs. for 50 reps.
  • Inclined laterals: 12.5 lbs. for 50 reps.
• Second set of exercises (60 seconds rest at end of 4 exercises)
  • Hammerstrength seated calf raise: 130 lbs. for 50 reps.
  • Life Fitness preacher curl: 50 lbs. for 50 reps.
  • Life Fitness pec flyes: 70 lbs. for 50 reps.
  • Life Fitness military press: 40 lbs. for 50 reps (I typically have to substantially drop).

As you can see at the end of the workout, I'm pretty wiped out.  As I mentioned to Nancy when doing this kind of workout a year ago, it's like cardio with teeth.

Additional Links

• This article presents a good summary of exercise strategies for increasing your mitochondrial density and therefore workout capacity.
  

In this brief exercise analysis (Quicktime ipod compatible, 6MB, Google streaming flash video), Bryce Dettloff demonstrates the weighted triceps dip on a Life Fitness dip and chin machine at Gold's Gym, Ann Arbor.  As its name implies, this exercise targets the triceps brachii highlighted in the first photo at left.  Additionally, muscles in the upper back, chest, and shoulders play a synergistic role stabilizing and controlling the movement.  With 90 lbs. of plates in addition to his own 175, Bryce notes that the upper back plays a significant role in helping him control the exercise.

As shown at the start of the video, Bryce prepares for the exercise by putting on a dip belt and then attaching two forty five lbs. plates to it.  He then mounts the machine and starts with his triceps fully flexed.  He then descends to the point where his triceps is fully stretched as shown in the second picture at left.  In our discussion afterward, it's at this point that Bryce most notices the role of his back muscles in controlling the movement.

By comparing Bryce's posture with the grid in photos two through four, you can see that he keeps his torso fairly erect.  This posture keeps the main focus of the exercise on the triceps.  Were Bryce to incline his body forward, emphasis would be moved to the pectorals.

Once in the fully descended position, Bryce begins the positive movement by flexing his triceps.  The third picture on the right shows Bryce about half way through the movement.  Careful examination indicates that Bryces' shoulders have begun to roll forward.  This roll indicates that the anterior deltoid is potentially playing a role in the movement.

Finally, in the fourth photo, we see Bryce complete the movement.  His triceps are fully flexed and his arms are straight.  He has kept his back straight throughout the movement to support the 90 lbs. of weight hanging from his waist.  This extra weight places extra emphasis on the role of the back muscles in controlling the movement.

Note also in the fourth photo, that Bryce's shoulders are now fully forward.  The shoulder movement is natural and just indicates the important role of the shoulders in helping control the movement.  If you have trick shoulders like I do, this exercise may not be for you.  You can minimize strain on the shoulders by limiting the depth of your descent so that your upper arms do not move past parallel with the floor.

Additional Links

• This page provides high quality information on the muscles used in the weighted triceps dip.
• The remarkably named etricep, a site dedicated to developing large triceps, gives some good tips on avoiding shoulder injury in this exercise.  Avoid this exercise if you are prone to shoulder problems.
  
• Bryce is an advanced practitioner of the triceps dip.  Beginners should consider the assisted triceps dip that subtracts rather than adds to body weight.

Nancy and I started Muscle Ventures in February 2006 after we had been training together for a bit over a year. She was in the midst of dieting and preparing for a bodybuilding competition, and we were doing exercise analyses. We had started on my now suspended Michigan Muscle Boy blog and wanted to share the credit.

We didn't really kick into high gear though until April when we chronicled the last month of her competition preparation. If you look in that month, you'll see some things that are similar and some that are different from what had become our recent posting pattern. There was an intense focus on bodybuilding and many interviews with different players. It was a fun, focused, intense time. You might have thought the site was dedicated to bodybuilding competition. Since, we kept up the interviews but diversified the focus covering things like the gym business and the Michigan Mountain Biking Association.

Nancy's recent trip to Northern Kentucky was a continuation of that diversification. Unfortunately, we won't be able to continue that series at this time but may be able to complete it in the future. The last episode, which we won't show now, goes into her indecision on whether or not to compete in Kentucky. She liked the venue, but the show was long.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention how close Nancy and I became personally. All of this fitness blogging business started around the time of my mother's death, and Nancy was a tremendous support. I enjoyed working out with her immensely. She will be missed from this site and from our gym sessions together.

As I mention in the podcast, the site will continue. I have several ideas planned at Gold's Gym, Ann Arbor as well as other gyms in the Southeast Michigan area.

Additional Links

• We started the exercise analysis series on Michigan Muscle Boy with this gem.
• Here, I reviewed Nancy's hometown gym, the Outback, in Dexter.
• Nancy continues at NCAFitness, her business that we discussed in this series.