2008 October | Look At My Muscles
Oct 25

Putting on muscle is a pretty straight forward process. You lift heavy weight, take in lots of calories (proportionately high in protein) and you start to grow. The more effort and calories you put into the process, the greater the results. The problem is that in consuming all of these calories, you also end up putting on a good deal of fat. Many bodybuilders sculpt their bodies in cycles. During “gaining” cycles, they take in lots of calories and put on big muscles and then during “cutting” cycles they diet to lose the fat, usually in preparation for competition.

While I’m obviously not a professional, I usually try to lean out before the summer to have more of a ‘cut’ look for the beach, although I’ve never achieved those perfect abs that I dream of having one day. One thing I’ve tried that really sheds pounds quickly is the ECA stack. The ECA stack is a combination of ephedrine, caffeine and aspirin that together create a potent fat burner. Wikipedia has a good article explaining the chemistry behind the stack and recommended dosages. Ephedrine has been linked to heart problems and a few years ago, the FDA banned ephedrine from being sold on the market as a weight-loss drug. It is still legally available though, as long as it’s marketed as something other than a weight loss drug (usually as an asthma drug).

Heart concerns aside, the stack makes you very jittery. Ephedrine alone feels more potent than caffeine, and at the height of the stack, you can be taking up to 600mg of caffeine, which is equivalent to almost 8 redbulls. With all the extra energy, you have plenty to burn at the gym doing cardio, however I’ve found that I can’t lift the same heavy weight. I’m not sure if my lack of strength is directly related to the contents of the stack, or if I’m taking in less calories during a cut cycle and that affects it. In either case, being on the ECA stack feels strange and I’m usually glad when I cycle off of it.

While I’ve always lost weight very quickly with the stack, it seems to take just as much muscle as it does fat and I often end up just looking thin more than cut. It takes me about a month to get back up to my original lifting weight and I ususally gain the majority of fat (and water) that the stack took right back. I can’t really recommend the stack, I just thought I’d share my experiences with anyone who’s thinking about trying it. If you’re particularly overweight, I think it could be effective in bringing your overall size down, but with the heart concerns with the ephedrine it’s still probably not worth it. If you are considering taking the stack, make sure you read up as much as possible on it, there’s lots of information out there.

Oct 2

I often get asked how much time you should spend resting in between sets, and while what works for different individuals will vary, I’ll briefly talk about the science behind it to help guide you towards a rest period that works best for you and your goals.

I thought about writing this article a couple of weeks ago when Costin, an old gym buddy of mine came up to work out with me and my regular gym buddy, Eric. Costin and I and another friend used to work out together religiously. We spent a lot of time in between sets because there were three of us and to top it off, we’d do a lot of chatting and arguing. We’d probably spend about 3-5 minutes in between any given set. So when Costin was recently talking about 75 second rest periods, it sounded way too short to me, although later when i reflected on it, I realized that when Eric and I work out (while we still do a lot of chatting) we probably rest only about two minutes or less — and with Eric over the last six months, I’ve been making some really big gains in strength. This might just be circumstantial, but it’s definitely food for thought.

When you rest less than two minutes between sets, you are using something called the “lactic acid energy system”. This is a medium duration energy source and is the primary energy source used in most body building workouts. If you rest longer than three minutes between sets, you are using more of the “ATP-PC energy system”. This is the most powerful energy system for short bursts of exercise.  There isn’t a switch that turns off one of these systems and starts the next at the two or three minute mark. These systems overlap and work together to handle the workload.

Taking rests that last longer than two or three minutes will use more of the ATP-PC energy system, and allow your muscles to be almost completely replenished to lift another heavy set and max out the muscle. While this rest time will keep you moving big weight, there are other things to consider. By keeping rest periods under two minutes, the lactic acid energy system is not able to replenish the muscles as quickly, but by training with these shorter rest periods during the workout, there will be increased levels of growth hormone in the blood after the workout to promote muscle growth.

So your rest period depends on a few different things, most importantly what feels right to you and what you see the best results with. I think a two minute rest cycle is a good place to start and you can make adjustments either up or down from there. Other things to keep in mind are that smaller muscle groups take less time to recover than larger ones, and testosterone production drops off sharply after 45 minutes, so you want to keep you entire workout within that time frame.