Testimonials
"Focus Food is just... wow. I can't explain how overwhelming they are and the energy and feeling I get is beastly. Can't believe it's 100% natural ingredients that make this up. Should've ordered six boxes in the first place. GREAT JOB!" (Chris T. - Scotland)
"Ideal Pump + Blue Gatorade = Glory. It tastes like a fruit roll-up that gets you jacked." (Evan D. - Virginia)
"Whats going on guys, just ordered some focus food and whey protein for PrimeTime World Headquarters. We are waiting on about 7 other packages from other people so I was a little surprised today when the GI Nutrition box was the first to arrive about 20 hours after we placed the order. Keep up the good work!" (Tyler L. - Massachusetts)
matt's blog
Caffeine or coffee for pre-workout supplementation?
Submitted by matt on Sun, 2011-09-18 17:05
By this day and age, I’m sure most people are aware of the benefits caffeine has on exercise performance. For those who aren’t, I suggest getting hold of some caffeine and taking 5-7mg/kg 30 minutes before you train. I have no doubt this will give you enough energy to have the best training sessions of your life. Along with being an ergogenic aid- helping fat loss, it also enhances your mood, reduces pain perception, post workout muscle soreness and keeps you training harder for longer. Those aware of the benefits tend to use coffee as their primary source however this is where the problem lies.
Coffee isn’t a bad choice of drink. From an individual stand point it has some great health benefits although in a pre-workout sense, it’s just not optimal. The main reason for this is the fact that coffee includes hundreds of other biologically active compounds, which cause different metabolic responses on the body compared to a straight form of caffeine, changing the effect caffeine in coffee has on pre-workout stimulation (1).
Certain components in coffee resist adenosine transport which thereby increases the adenosine concentrations, blocking the action of caffeine. This is due to the acidic nature of coffee. Acid lactones, key components of coffee, bind the human adenosine transporters which effectively inhibit caffeine from binding, limiting the signalling pathways and the effects attributed to caffeine (2). What this means is the increased endurance, reduced pain perception and ergogenic effects caffeine bring get diminished.
The solution to this problem is simple. Avoid coffee as your pre-workout source of caffeine. The best alternative is taking caffeine in its straight form by itself, or within a high quality pre-work supplement stack. G.I Nutrition makes this easy with Focus food and Ideal Pump. The combination of the two alone provide close to 300mg of caffeine which is perfect for an intense training session. The added ingredients in the two products such as tyrosine also aid in preventing that normal post workout crash that stimulants can cause. For more info on these two products, check out Dr. Tom Bilella’s video on pre-workout supplementation.
1. Farah, A., de Paulis, T., Moreira, D.P., Trugo, L.C., Martin, P.R. (2006) Chlorogenic acids and lactones in regular and water-decaffeinated arabica coffees. J. Agric. Food Chem, 54, 374-381
2. De Paulis, T., Schmidt, D.E., Bruchey, A.K., Kirby, M. T., McDonald, M.P., Commers, P. (2002) Dicinnamoylquinides in roasted coffee inhibit the human adenosine transporter. Eur. J. Pharmacol, 442, 215-223
G.I Training Tip of the Week
Submitted by matt on Tue, 2011-08-16 20:29
For optimal training performance, consume ‘caffeine’ in the form of caffeine and not coffee..
Keep checking back for more on this next week!
Top 5 Recommended Books
Submitted by matt on Mon, 2011-07-04 03:15
I’m an avid reader and one of the benefits to owning a tablet like the iPad is the storage capacity of hundreds of e-books. We're in the information age now and it's important to take advantage of the vast amounts of knowledge at our finger tips.
E-books seem to be the way of the future because you can access them anywhere with the right technology, however nothing will beat a good hardcover book. Below are my current top 5 reads that first come to mind from a range of areas, in both e-book and paper back format.
Make sure you leave a comment on your own personal picks at the bottom of this post so we can share the knowledge.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon HillBest book at jacking up the motivation to succeed. This book is based off the success principles used from hundreds of successful people including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie.
Biomechanics in sport by Valdimir M Zatsiorsky (e-book)
This book is a must have for anyone wanting and in-depth scientific view point of muscle mechanics, movement, and injury prevention. With over 30 chapters, it's one of those books great for referencing back to and a fantastic resource to add to your bookshelf.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey
I'm sure most people have heard about this book at some point of their life. It's one of those books that will help shape your life, increase productivity and probably make you a better person.
The Game by Neil Strauss
This book discusses the author’s journey and exploits into the world of seduction. Neil makes the change from writer, to pick-up artist and goes around Hollywood with a bunch of other guys seducing celebrities and living 'the dream life'. The only problem with this book is it will change how you view the opposite sex.
Westside Barbell Book of Methods by Louie Simmons (e-book)
99% of people that know anything about training will have heard the name Louie Simmons. This book discusses the conjugate system made famous at Westside barbell in great depth put together in classic Louie fashion. I recommend reading this book before incorporating any type of Westside principle into your training.
5 Over-rated aspects of strength training
Submitted by matt on Wed, 2011-06-22 23:08
I feel I need to address the following 5 aspects of training because I see way too many people over analyzing everything and putting their focus in the wrong direction. The following are in no particular order.
1) Supplements
Over the last few months I’ve seen and heard a lot of people taking various things like t-boosters, NO products, ‘muscle builders’, fat burners ect. This is the equivalent of pouring hard earned cash down the drain. If all this stuff is legal, then it’s probably not going to help you much. I’m not advocating the juice, but I do believe in the basics.
I firmly believe supplements should only fill in the blanks to a proper dietary plan, and if your diet is good then that only really leaves room for peri-workout supplements. This is where quality supplements such ideal Pump and Recovery come in. Products like these simplify the bullshit, and combine everything needed to reap maximum benefits, while leaving out all the fillers and crap that don't. Less money spent on supplements = more money spent on food = better results!
2) Kettle Bells
Kettle bells were cool in the 1800’s…until they brought out the barbell and dumbbell. Now days, I don’t really see why people are jumping on the kettle bell wagon when there are far superior ways at building strength. Don’t get me wrong, it can be a great tool when used at the right time but it’s definitely not a substitute for heavy pressing and pulling.
3) Dieting all year round
Unless you compete in a weight restricted sport, I believe it it’s important to manipulate your body weight at some stage during the year. This applies for both, bulking up and shredding the fat. Those that are too scared to lose their beloved six-pack are usually the same people that make zero gains and complain when they aren’t increasing their strength. Mass moves mass people! If you increase your weight, you will increase your strength.
4) Training programs
It’s not so much about how you train, but more importantly where you train! This concept came to me when I was half asleep in a classical conditioning lecture. Why do we talk? Why do we learn? Because we adapt to the stimulus that society imposes on us. If people are faced with a certain stimuli, they will rise up and adapt to it- It’s primitive. In a gym sense; it you surround yourself with people who are stronger, faster, and train harder than you, your only option is to rise up to their level! Westside Barbell is a classic example of this. Just read Dave Tate’s iron evolution article
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/iron_evolution_phase_4 and you will get an understanding of competition breeding results. This concept also brings me to my next point.
5) Exercise selection
Everyday ‘functional’ fitness gurus are trying to create new innovative ways to perform exercise and movement patterns. Some of them work...Some of them don’t. Exercise consistency is far more important than exercise selection. If you select a few good exercises and train consistently you will get results. There is a thousand ways to skin a cat but the strongest in the world do three things consistently: They squat, bench, and deadlift…Enough said.
Benching and Morning Motivation
Submitted by matt on Tue, 2011-04-26 16:57
Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of posts. Been buried under a bit of work lately. There will be some posts on the way but I thought I would wait until the new site’s up and running first. Today I thought I would give you a quick update on my training. The templates, as listed in my previous blogs remain the same. I’m still hitting 4 workouts, 3 times a week…and loving it. Every so often I will change the exercise up to keep things fresh, and I have no set number of reps to perform. I just go by feel….and auto-regulate.
