Ask Mike, February 2012

Staying Away From Red Meat

Submitted by mike on Mon, 02/27/2012 - 06:40

Q: I’m trying to stay away from red meat what can I eat instead of lean steak?

A: Virtually any lean animal protein is a perfectly good substitute for lean steak. There is absolutely nothing special in red meat compared to other sources of animal protein. In fact all any animal protein is as good as any other nutritionally, so if you are staying away from red meat or eggs or anything else you can always find a perfectly good replacement in other animal protein. The only possible exception is fatty fish which has large amounts of beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids which are rarely found in other foods. Aside from that, feel free to substitute any animal protein for any other.

If you read http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/nutrition I go in detail about roughly equivalent and substitute-able food groups. From that article, my examples of foods equivalent to lean red meat are ground turkey, salmon and other fatty fish, whole milk cottage cheese, and whole eggs. All of these foods have their calories coming roughly from half protein and half fat. Just pick the ones you like and find appropriate recipes for them!

Working Out, But No Results

Submitted by mike on Fri, 02/24/2012 - 08:52

Q: Hi there Mike, I was wondering if you have an answer or solution to my lack of success and results in the appearance of my body and in some cases i feel it has got worse since I started to workout. I'm 19 and have been working out for a year and a half but although i am going up weight( very slowly nevertheless) i see next to no difference in my body especially my bicep. I have tried so many routines and exercises but they all seem to deliver that desired burn with no visual end product. I am 6 ft 1 I haven’t weighted myself recently but I’m scrawny with my shoulders especially not being very broad at all, however i can put on weight if i don’t do any exercise which some feel is positive but i see as very negative. Since working out the only difference i have seen is more fat on my chest which are now looking more like man boobs than when i started. This is something i despise and i am now researching ways i can remove these but still gain muscle (not that i am at the moment anyway).

Juice Diet

Submitted by mike on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 15:31

Q: I got a question. Does the juicing diet really work? My friend told me it work's but I'm not sure if it's healthy for you.

A: Juice diet works in the sense that you will quickly lose weight. Juice diet does not work if you expect to keep that weight from coming back.

A juice diet is simply more or less starving yourself for a day or a week or even several weeks (depending on whose version of the diet you follow). On a typical juice diet you would be consuming under 1000 calories per day, which is too little for almost anybody. As the result you will lose some fat as your body replaces the missing calories by burning its fat reserves.

Office Exercises

Submitted by mike on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 14:12

Q: do you have any office exercises that target office malaise?

A: Sure, there many office exercises you can do throughout your workday. For some you don't even have to get up from your desk. They will help break up your work day a bit and give you an energy boost.

If you have the room, get up and do body-weight squat exercise -- one of the best all-around exercises. Of course, if you are wearing high heels or other footwear that's not exercise-friendly you'll want to take the shoes off before doing this exercise. And if your clothes restrict your range of motion you may have to only do a half-squat instead of a full one. 10-20 repetitions of these should get your blood flowing again!

Even if you are unable to get up to do any office exercises, you still have a few choices. One simple exercise is knee extension. Sit up straight in your office chair with both feet on the floor, then extend one leg out so it's parallel to the floor, hold it for a second or two, then return it back down. Then repeat the same exercise with the other leg. Continue alternating legs until you've done 10-20 repetitions with each.

Get Six Pack, Become 130 Lbs

Submitted by mike on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 09:16

Q: Hey Mike, I was wondering if you could answer this question. I'm 92LBS, 5"1, and I'm 13 years old (turning 14 soon.) I'm known as the scrawny type of person at my school and I've always done work outs and eaten a ton trying to change that, but I never see any results. When I turned 12 my Football coach let our team begin weight lifting and I would always bench, squat, and incline the least at 55lbs as my MAX.. That just kind of gives you an idea of my strength.

Fish Oil, Fructose, Glucose

Submitted by mike on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 09:12

Q: I read that fish oil can boost metabolism and aid in muscle repair.And is fructose more fattening than glucose?

A: Fish oil is definitely a great supplement if you don't get any omega-3 in your diet. For people who already get at least a gram or two of omega-3 in their daily diets from foods such as fish, walnuts, nuts, omega-3 fortified eggs, flax seed, etc the benefits on additional supplementation with fish oil will be minor, possibly unnoticeable. If you are not sure whether you get enough omega-3 already, then you could certainly give fish oil a try and see if it makes a difference. It won't hurt you to try it and it might turn out to be beneficial.

As far as fructose versus glucose... that's really not something you should worry about. Both are types of simple sugar and both carry the same amount of calories per gram (4 calories) when eaten. There is some evidence, namely its low glycemic index, that fructose may be preferable to glucose.

Full Body Or Split Routine

Submitted by mike on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 09:39

Q: Hey mike, there is a sort of heard divided opinions on whether you should be doing full body workout or a split routine to get routine. Can you help me out on this one??

A: Both are perfectly good approaches. Full body is probably slightly better for strength development, but both are perfectly fine. There is no single perfect routine. You should vary your training throughout the year. Spend a couple of months with full body, then a couple of months with split, etc. Variety gives best results and you might learn which approach seems to work better for you.

Too Much Muscle Or Fat

Submitted by mike on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 07:41

Q: Hey Mike, I recently read a question a woman asked about getting ride of muscle in her arms and legs because she felt like she had a "man's body". Part of your response did not seem accurate to me because you told her a good way to test whether what is making her look bulky is the fat OR muscle was to flex, and if she still feels fat around her arms and legs, then it's the fat that is making her look bulky and not muscle. I don't think that's even a close to accurate way to "test" whether she (or anyone else) really is bulky from muscle or bulky from fat.

Mike's Fitness