The Adler Blog

Being German, I felled compelled to write a piece on the 20th anniversary of this very historic moment. A lot has changed since then but some things still stand true. One of them is that the GDR was on the forefront of sports research. This tiny country of 17 million inhabitants has won as many olympic medals as the USA, which has about 250 million peolpe. So it is certainly worth looking into what was done on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
Since we are on SUC, I will focus on fat loss and how it was accomplished in the East. Their main method where so-called” metabolic workouts” which where essentially giant sets of weight lifting exercises, done on short or no rest at all. These workouts would take about 30-40 minutes and would send your metabolic rate into overdrive for another 12-24 hours while preserving your muscle mass. What about cardio? Ask me after you do one of the workouts. Cardio, on a side note, is one of the worst ways to lose fat but I will cover that in a separate article.
As an example for beginners it would be something like this
20 push ups
20 body weight squats
10 curls with dumbbells
30 rows with dumbbells
15 overhead presses
20 push ups
repeat for 3-4 sets

If you are a more advanced lifter, this might be for you
10 deadlifts (60 % of your regular weight)
8 overhead presses
20 crunches
20 pull ups
8 dead lifts
x4

You will find your heart rate going through the roof while your strenght increases, combined with a proper diet you will lean out fast.
Train hard
Scott and Maik

Well, it has been a bit quiet here, but I have been away celebrating
with my other half (of 16 years!) in Venice, Italy.
Enjoying amazing food, actual REST, mental rest, and yes, even several
high fat desserts!

Breaks are important.
Refueling- refreshing- resetting.
Everyone MUST take them occassionally.
Maik will have more to say and explain on this, the how and why, a bit
later.

For now- you see these baseline post vacation shots- and what I am
thinking!
So it’s time to get back into te groove of Shape Up!

Thanks and until next time. . .

Scott and Maik

This is a pretty hotly contested topic amongst dieters so I thought we should address it. There are a plethora of diet shakes flooding the market: Slim fast, Oprah’s new shake, Atkins shakes and the list goes on. Most of them contain some protein (often the cheap kind) a mix of vitamins and sugars, coloring agents, etc.
So do they work for weight loss? Not so well, I am afraid.
While protein shakes are a great asset for every athlete in order to make sure there is enough protein in his diet, they don’t work too well for weight loss purposes.
The reason is not only that the nutritional quality of most of these products is poor, but also that shakes do not satisfy your appetite for a long time. The vitamin mixes are unbalanced and they contain no fiber, which is the substance that will keep you satisfied and full during your diet.
Compared to foods like brown rice or chicken they take up very little stomach volume and are digested much quicker, meaning the athlete will suffer more hunger pangs.
The average American consumes about one third of his calories in liquid form, which is one of the reasons why the nation is facing an obesity epidemic (hello fruit smoothie!) Liquid calories are much easier to consume than whole foods, making it harder to keep track of your actual intake.
If you rely on shakes, you will simply never learn how to prepare foods in order to lose weight. A liquid crash diet will create weight loss, but it will be mostly muscle that is lost since your metabolism shuts down within days. As soon as the dieter goes on a more sustainable lifestyle, every calorie consumed will be stored as fat because his body assumes that a horrible famine has just passed and it wants to be prepared for the next one. This sets up the dreaded yo-yo effect and it is the single reason why 90+% of all dieters gain the weight back and then some. They simply destroyed their metabolisms with crash diets.
Also, whole foods require more digestive work than liquids do, so they use up energy and keep the metabolism elevated. Studies have shown that test subjects consume twelve to twenty percent more calories when they consumed a liquid food as opposed to eating a solid meal. Their hunger responses were also worse, even the day after the liquid meal.
Whole foods also provide a wide array of phytonutrients which simply can’t be duplicated as of yet. These nutrients will help to ensure optimal health and maximum fat loss. If you are very time-constricted and you simply have to use a shake, try to find some high-end whey protein and add some fats in the form of nuts or oil to it, which will increase satiety and slow down digestion. If you are on a very strict weight loss diet, just have some steamed vegetables with it—albeit not very tasty, the fiber will keep you full without adding any considerable calories.

Ok, now that everybody is reading the blog, on to today’s subject: the cheat meal. What is it, what does it do, should it be done?

A cheat meal is, by definition, a meal where the dieter steps away from his meal plan (in a controlled manner). This can be a helpful addition to any diet for several reasons. The first one is psychological; most people simply don’t look forward to eating the same foods for 16-20 weeks in a row. Bodybuilders and physique athletes have unbelievable will power, and even for them it is hard to follow through. Now, posing on a stage with 3% body fat is not the average person’s goal so, we need to find another motivational factor. A cheat meal once or twice a week, depending on how lean the person is, can help tremendously to break the monotony. It is also helpful to plan the cheat meal on the day of a Christmas party, wedding, or just a dinner out.

Most people stay so fixated on their diet and do everything so perfectly, that if they slip only once, they tend to give up altogether. A cheat meal makes it easier to get back on the wagon.

This is the mind aspect, but what about the body? Doesn’t a cheat meal destroy all my efforts? Well, it can but it can also be very helpful if used properly. Now, let me be very clear here. A single meal can absolutely set you back in your dieting efforts. The average American eats 3500 calories on Thanksgiving; that is one pound of fat.

But a properly planned cheat meal can actually make you leaner. How? Glad you asked. Once you start dieting, your body uses fats for energy and you keep getting leaner, right? Not quite. As you go along, your body realizes that you are in a (self-inflicted) famine and it starts to protect you.

Unfortunately, we haven’t evolved much from the Stone Age where every calorie mattered for survival. Your body will down-regulate your metabolism, lower your growth and thyroid hormone levels and start burning muscle mass. All this will set you up for an ungodly diet rebound (yo-yo effect).

So the way out is the cheat meal, which ideally is a high-carb, low fat dish such as whole wheat pasta with chicken or sushi to up-regulate your metabolism and put you in a better mood.

How often should you have a cheat meal? Women over 30% and men over 20 % body fat, once every 10 days. Numbers below that, once every seven days. If you are under 10% (male) or 18% (female) body fat, you can have a cheat meal every 5 days.

The leaner you are, the more often you get to cheat. Another reason to get lean!

Till next time,

Scott and Maik

Since Shape Up Club is a calorie tracking service, we thought it might be a good idea to talk about calories as such.

So is a calorie simply a calorie, regardless where it comes from?

On the surface, yes. A calorie measures the amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of one liter of water by one degree Celsius. The caloric balance does matter. If you eat too much of any food you will gain adipose tissue ( body fat).

So does it make a difference where the calories come from?

It does indeed, since a calorie derived from protein is having a much different effect on your body than a calorie taking in from carbohydrates

Consider the following: from 100 calories of protein, twenty-four to thirty calories are needed to digest the food; yet, carbohydrates use only seven calories and fats only use three calories. This is called the thermic effect of food (TEF) and you can see how it is helpful when dieting. The TEF is also raised if you eat every two to three hours since your body does more digestive work.

In addition, protein is a hunger suppressant and controls insulin much better than carbohydrates do. Protein also puts the body in an anabolic (muscle building) state and keeps your metabolism going.

Now you understand the meaning of protein, which comes from the Greek word proteas, which stands for “the one” or “the first”.

A successful diet comes also down to nutrient breakdown, which is essentially the manipulation of the macronutrients according to your goals.

A suitable nutrient breakdown is just as important as your caloric intake, and it will be the difference between a person achieving nothing and a person achieving amazing results. If you wish to lose weight, you must decrease the number of energy providing calories, which are either the fats or the carbohydrates but never reduce your protein.

The truth is that everyone is different and reacts in a different way to each macronutrient. I recommend starting with a basic 40% protein/40% carbohydrates/20% fats diet and check your results after four weeks. If it is not working you might be carbohydrate sensitive and higher protein/lower carbohydrate approach would be better for you.

Then there is satiety. In my opinion, the most successful diet is the one you can stick to. If carbohydrates help you curb your hunger best, try the Zone diet for instance. If you are like most people and consuming even a moderate amount of carbohydrates makes you ravenous (I’ve caught myself many times rifling through the fridge at night) you will be better off with a higher protein and fat approach since your insulin levels will be more even and you won’t be starving. Carbohydrates are very easy to eat and taste good, which is why most people overeat in them. This then leads to wild insulin swings, moodiness and fat storage as the end result. Try to replace some of your calories from carbohydrates with protein, chances are that you will see a big change in your physique in a short amount of time.

There is also a chance that certain foods simply don’t work for you, they might bloat you, make you feel sluggish (baked goods often have that effect). You will have to go through the list of foods that you consume regularly and eliminate them one by one in order to find the perfect combination for you.

Lastly, variety is key. The body becomes inefficient when it’s always fed the same foods, so make sure you rotate your sources for protein, carbohydrates, and fats often.

Till next time

Scott and Maik

When I started using Shape Up club under Maik’s guidance in early 2008, I had been training for about a year and a half with him, and we had decided to “get serious”. By “serious” we meant be focused, use discipline in BOTH my diet and workout regimen, and hope to take my physique to another level.
We succeeded, but it was not easy. Nor was every day smooth or without hiccups.
 
I have had a wonderful summer this year, and although I *somewhat* maintained my diet, I have now recommitted to it, and to my training regimen.
Allowing myself a break was really great for me on a number of levels, but I also slipped a bit . . .I look better than ever in many regards, but have a few areas I would like to improve upon . . this is where Shape Up Club really comes in handy.
 
As I began to reorganize and regroup entering this renewed phase, Maik and I realized that everyone has distractions and some setbacks, and our lives can be filled with business that makes the required daily focus on diet and excerise more difficult.
Therefore this week, we decided to list a few pointers that we feel outline more of the Basics for a successful program, as a follow-up to last week.
 
Part of beginning and evolving through a successful exercise and diet program involves taking the time and effort to:
1. Be Organized.

You have the tools! Take a few hours on your weekend to set up your favorite foods and a few of your standard “meals” on ShapeUp Club online and / or your iPhone. Realistically, you need to take control of your diet, so you also need a day or evening each week to devote to cooking. It will be time well spent.

 
2. Allow yourself the occassional flub, but then recommit to a better and more strict next meal or next day.

 
3. Know that encouragement of any kind, especially from a community, is very important. You can get that encouragement here at Shape Up Club on the online forums and by reading the blogs.

 
4. Finally, remember that encouragement must also come from within. You must give yourself a moment to dream about what you can be, and visualize it.  Be both a realist- for short term goals- but then also “dream big” for your longer range goals.

Many of you we know may be starting with less than ideal situations. Life can be tough. Curveballs come out of nowhere. Six months or a year of difficulties with bad eating habits, stressors you don’t expect, and in some cases disabilities or other issues can make it tough to make progress, but know that you CAN. 
 
You CAN, and you WILL. . . one day at a time.
 
So until next time . . .
 
Scott and Maik

One of our readers recently asked me about the best program for someone who has just joined the gym. This is a valid question, since it can be very overwhelming to be a newbie in the gym and be faced with a plethora of options in terms of equipment and exercise choices. On top of that, most gyms do not have qualified instructors. Most people end up doing 30+ sets on various machines without getting any real results.

Here is my advice: Keep It Simple, Stupid
Start by focusing on the main muscle groups. As a beginner, the most beneficial thing to do is train the whole body 2-3 times per week in a moderate set and repetition range. At Adler Training, we follow the “Legs/Push/Pull” model.

This is how it works: a solid leg exercise such as the squat will cover your lower body, a pushing exercise such as military press or incline bench takes care of shoulders, chest and triceps, and the pulling exercise (pull ups or rows) will focus on the back and biceps.

Do not worry about doing something extra for abs and lower back; they are already trained since they act as stabilizers for your body in each of the above exercises. What about curls? Glad you asked! For beginners, direct arm work is not necessary since you will be getting plenty of stimulation from the rows and presses.

Here are 2 beginner workouts along with a few pointers:
Rest one day in between.
Always focus on good form rather than weight; training with proper form will give you quicker gains than a sloppy execution (and keep you out of the hospital).
Make sure to write down all your weights, try to improve every week.
If you are unsure how to perform a certain exercise, either find a qualified trainer or check out http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.htm there you will find videos to almost all exercises.
These are only the work sets, I recommend doing 1-2 warm up sets before each exercise:
As for weight, always form over ego!
Workout A
3×10 leg press – feet positioned wide, shoulder width apart
3×12 lateral pull downs – grip slightly wider than shoulders, palms facing you. Always pull the weight, to the chest, NEVER behind the head!
3x 10 standing shoulder press with dumbbells

Workout B
3×12 dumbbell squats, feet positioned in a narrow stance
4×8 one arm dumbbell rows
3×10 incline bench press

There you have it, a simple and highly effective routine. After 6 weeks, add a 4th set if you feel comfortable.

Train hard
Scott and Maik

As anyone will tell you, preparing your own food is the most crucial step in order to get a lean physique. It all starts with cooking, but even before that, there is food shopping. Since you will always eat what you have at home, it is a must to buy the right things.

Unfortunately, the layout of the modern supermarkets makes it easier for you to run (and buy) the prepackaged foods that are high in sugar, fats, and salt. The way to avoid the supermarket trap is to make your pick in the outer aisles only, thus following a big U. If you shop in the exterior aisles only, you will find produce, vegetables, meat, dairy, eggs and such. These are the items that should make up for 90% of your diet. Lean meats, fish, eggs and dairy for protein and fat, vegetables for their fiber and vitamin content, followed by potatoes, oats, and rice for complex carbohydrates. Throw in some nuts or nut butters for unsaturated fatty acids and you have a winning formula.

Try your best to avoid the middle aisles that primarily display prepackaged and processed foods such as cookies, breads, sweets and frozen meals. Eating those items regularly will derail any attempt to get leaner or more muscular.

Another very simple rule is the one ingredient rule: if you look at a label and you find 24-letter words, chances are that the item is full of chemicals that you shouldn’t be eating in the first place. You should not need a degree in chemistry to understand what you are eating. Stick to foods that simply say: oats, chicken, salmon.

And lastly, never shop hungry! You are bound to crave, overbuy, and reach for junk foods.
So that’s it: follow the big U to your dream body!
Till next time,
Scott and Maik

I read a statistic the other day that 60% of all Americans are currently enrolled in a health club or a gym. Yet 60% are also overweight. What gives?
For once, most peoples eating habits are just plain horrible. Missed meals, too many carbohydrates, lack of protein and vitamins, alcohol, insufficient water intake etc. You as a ShapeUpClub user do have the necessary tools to avoid that particular pitfall
The other part of the equation are the workouts. I would go out on a limb here and say that 90% of all gym goers are wasting their time in the gym. Their workouts are not challenging to any degree, and the majority of the time is spent socializing (not that there is anything wrong with that AFTER the workout).
If you truly want to improve your body, you must challenge it during every workout. Set goals for every 4 and 8 weeks, and keep a log for your workouts. Just as you log your foods with ShapeUpCClub, log your sets and weights. IF you don’t improve after 6 weeks, something needs to change.
Keep it simple! Most people overcomplicate their workouts, getting worried about rep speed, over training etc. If you are a beginner, train you whole body three times a week and focus on squats, dead lifts, rows and presses. As a more advanced trainee, split it in upper and lower body.
Quality over quantity! Nobody can work hard for two hours, at some point the time in the gym becomes “garbage time”. When you reach that point, you are actually losing muscle. As you can see from the picture, Scott was done after 50 minutes.
Enjoy the journey! The path to a better body is very exciting and gratifying, make sure you take it all in.
Train hard
Maik and Scott

Congratulations, you made a decision towards a better body, got yourself enrolled into ShapeUp Club, as well as your local gym. You are highly motivated, counting calories, hitting the stepper 3 times per week, so the magic should happen, right?

Well, sort of. In the beginning, anyone will have success because you are adding exercise and a healthier diet to your life style. But after a few weeks, most people will also hit a plateau from where not much progress is made.

So, in other words: what is the most efficient way to get in shape? The answer might surprise you…total-body weight-workouts.

“Training with weights for fat loss?!!! That’s absurd, since cardio burns fat and weight training builds muscle!!!”

Not so fast – any form of training causes energy to be lost while performing the activity. Weight training and cardio burn approximately the same amount of calories per hour but weight training has one enormous advantage: it elevates your metabolism to the tune of approximately 200-500 calories (depending on your size) for another 24 to 48 hours after the session end. On the other hand, studies suggest that the calorie-burning effect of cardio stops the moment you step off the bike. In conclusion, if you perform 3 weight sessions a week, this will give you an extra 600-1,500 calories you drop. Not too shabby, right?
In addition, only weight training can truly reshape your body since cardio doesn’t build any muscle.
Here is my advice: as a beginner, you should pick one exercise for the legs (squats or leg press), one for the back (rows or pull ups) and one for the chest (bench or dips) and perform 4 sets of each. This would be a typical lay out for a beginner at Adler Training.
Make sure you increase the weights by 5% per week to continue challenging your body. As Arnold said:” If you lift weights like grandma, you will have muscle like grandma.”
Now, this statement probably should be revisited, since there are are some extremely fit and strong grand mothers out there, but you get the point: progression is key!
Yours in sport,
Scott and MaikLunges