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How To Take Full Advantage Of Holiday Eating and Weight Gain 'Tis the season to stuff yourself full of food! Find out how to turn the tables and turn your holiday weight gain into holiday muscle gain.

You know you're going to do it. You know you want to do it. It's what makes the holidays the holidays. What is it? Eating piles of holiday food.

This article is not about how to minimize holiday weight gain. That topic has been addressed many times before and will no doubt be addressed many more times to come. What I'm talking about here is how to use your increased holiday eating to your advantage in your training.

For many trainers (myself included), it's just no fun being good at the buffet table all the time. It's very easy to take the joy out of the holidays by restricting yourself too much.

I propose something different. Rather than forcing yourself to eat plain potatoes and dry turkey when your whole family is sitting down to a big holiday dinner, join in. I'm going to tell you how to make it work for you, not against you.

#1 - Forgive yourself in advance

If you're the type who feels guilty when you eat foods that aren't the greatest for you, try to set that aside. This is going to be a positive, guilt-free experience.

#2 - Reduce your calories BEFORE your big meals

By reducing your caloric intake before the big meals, it's much more likely that your body will use those excess calories to rebuild depleted stores rather than add to the ones that are already there. Don't starve yourself or your body will panic and try to store everything it gets as fat - just reduce.

#3 - Do a hard, heavy workout as close to mealtime as you can

Immediately after a hard workout, your body is desperate for raw materials to rebuild with. This effect lasts for about 3 to 4 hours. During this time, your body is primed for muscle growth. By doing your workout just before a big holiday dinner, all that food is going to go towards helping your body rebuild and recover from the workout. Very little, if any, of the excess calories you eat will be stored as fat under these conditions.

#4 - Try to focus on foods with some nutritional value

Feel free to load your plate with turkey and mashed potatoes. These foods have a great deal of nutritional value to a trainer. Don't hold back on them.

#5 - Increase your training volume

What this basically means is do more sets for each muscle group. You may have to decrease your rest periods or perhaps increase the number of training sessions you do in order to increase the volume but doing more sets (at least temporarily) will give your metabolism a kick-start. It will be especially effective if you're doing a fairly low volume training program before switching. Your body will be desperate for food to rebuild with and a big holiday meal is just what the doctor ordered.

#6 - Don't go to sleep after you eat

I know it's going to be hard but you're better off not napping after a big holiday meal. If you sleep, your body is more likely to store excess calories as fat, not muscle. It will also slow your metabolism down and you'll digest your food a lot slower. Relax, but if you can help it, don't sleep right away.

#7 - Schedule another heavy workout for the day after a big holiday meal

After loading yourself up with carbs, fat and protein, your body is a nutrient-filled growth machine. Take advantage of your loading by doing another high-volume, heavy workout the day after.

#8 - Take all the leftovers people are willing to give you

Stick to the more nutritious foods when you do this, such as meat, potatoes and vegetables. It beats cooking big meals for yourself for the next three days.

#9 - If you bring home desserts, save them for post-workout meals

Like I mentioned before, your body is primed for growth after a workout. Most desserts are filled with sugar. After a workout, your body will suck up this sugar just like any other carb and not store it as fat. In fact, it will increase your insulin levels and help you store protein in your muscles!

Putting these tips to work won't necessarily mean you won't gain some fat over the holidays but they can certainly help to minimize fat gain and maximize your muscle mass gains. Putting your overeating to work for you may not be pretty but it can be very effective!

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Training to Maximize Your Muscle Fiber Types Your muscles are made of 2 different types of fibers. Find out what they are, what your personal fiber make-up is and how to train for maximum results.

Knowing your personal muscle fiber make-up can be an invaluable aid when it comes to properly targeting your training program. If you're working your muscles in the wrong way, you'll be cheating yourself out of hard-earned results.

Every muscle in your body is made up of a bundle of small fibers. In each bundle, you have two main types of fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. I will explain exactly what these are in a moment. The percentages of these different fiber types that your muscles are made of can help you determine exactly how you should train each particular muscle group in your body.

Slow Twitch: These are also known as Type I or red muscle fibers. They are responsible for long-duration, low intensity activity such as walking or any other aerobic activity.

Fast Twitch: These are known as Type 2 or white muscle fibers (divided further into A and B). They are responsible for short-duration, high intensity activity. Type 2B fibers are built for explosive, very short-duration activity such as Olympic lifts. Type 2A fibers are designed for short-to-moderate duration, moderate-to-high intensity work, as is seen in most weight training activities.

By looking at elite athletes in different sports, you can see extreme examples of each make-up of muscle fiber. At the slow twitch end is the endurance athlete, such as the marathon runner. These athletes can have up to 80% or more of slow twitch muscle fibers in their bodies, making them extremely efficient over long distances. At the fast twitch end is the sprinter. World-class sprinters can have up to 80% or more of fast twitch muscle fibers in their body, making them extremely fast, strong and powerful but with limited endurance.

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How to Find Your Muscle Fiber Type:

To find the predominant fiber type in a particular muscle in your body, we need to test the repetition limits of a muscle compared to its maximum strength. Keep in mind, these limits can be altered by your training and are, therefore, just rough estimates.

First, determine your one rep max (known as the 1 RM) for an isolation exercise for that muscle group, e.g. the dumbell curl. Find the weight you can only do one rep with. You want to use an isolation exercise because any exercise that uses any other muscle groups will skew the results.

Once you've figured out your one rep max, take a weight that is 80% of it (multiply your max weight by 0.8 to get this) and do as many reps as possible with it.

- If you can do only 4 to 7 reps with 80% of your 1 RM, you have mostly fast twitch fibers in that muscle. The reason you will only be able to do 4 to 7 reps with 80% of your 1 RM is that fast twitch muscle fibers are strong but don't have great endurance. You will be able to lift more weight but you be able to do as many reps with it.

- The ability to get approximately ten reps with 80% of your 1 RM is the typical fiber-type mix for a muscle. This works out to about a 50/50 split between fiber types.

- If you can do 12 to 15 or more reps with 80% of your 1 RM, your fiber make-up is probably mostly slow twitch fibers. Slow-twitch fibers are not as strong but have excellent endurance. This means you won't be able to lift quite as much but you'll be able to do a lot more reps with it.

Repeat this procedure for each muscle group you wish to determine a type for (it will vary from muscle to muscle). By knowing what type of muscle fibers you have, you can tailor your training towards developing them to their maximum potential.

Though there are always differences in individuals, there are some general similarities in fiber types in muscle groups from person to person.

For example, in most people, the outer, visible muscle of the calf (the gastrocnemius) is primarily made of slow twitch fibers while the soleus (which lies underneath the gastrocnemius) has a higher percentage of fast twitch fibers.

Two more examples of this similarity between people include the abdominals and the hamstrings. These two muscle groups are both generally made primarily of fast twitch fibers.

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How to Train Your Muscle Fiber Type:

When you're training with weights, your goal is to work as many muscle fibers as possible. Affecting more muscle fibers means greater gains in strength and muscle mass.

If your fibers in a particular muscle consist primarily of slow twitch fibers, in order to affect the greatest number of those muscle fibers, you'll need to train that muscle with higher reps, shorter rest periods and higher volume. This is because they take longer to fatigue, they recover quickly and they require more work to maximize growth.

Unfortunately, slow twitch muscle fibers are limited in their potential for growth so even if a muscle group is primarily slow twitch, you should definitely include some lower rep training to maximize the fast twitch fibers you've got in that muscle.

If you find you have a hard time gaining size in a particular muscle, it could be because it has a predominance of slow twitch muscle fibers. Higher reps (e.g. 12 to 15 reps), higher volume (more sets) and shorter rest periods (30 seconds to a minute between sets) can help you to maximize those muscles. This doesn't mean you should use light weight, though. You should still strive to use weights that are as heavy as possible that will cause you to reach failure in those higher rep ranges. If you don't use heavy weights, you won't give your muscles a reason to grow.

If your fibers in a particular muscle group consist primarily of fast twitch muscle fibers, you're one of the lucky ones. You'll have a much easier time building mass in that muscle - fast twitch muscle fibers have greater potential for size than slow twitch. The more fast twitch fibers you've got, the greater your ultimate muscle size can be. These muscles are most likely your strongest and quickest to develop.

To maximize your muscles with fast twitch fibers, you'll need to train with low to moderate reps (e.g. 4 to 8 reps), rest periods of around 1 to 2 minutes and a moderate training volume (too much volume will compromise recovery).

If your muscles have a fairly even mix of fibers, you can evenly divide your training between focusing on the lower-rep, fast twitch fiber training and the higher-rep, slow twitch fiber training. This will help you to develop all the fibers in your muscles, maximizing your ultimate development.

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Training your muscles according to their fiber type makes sense. It will help you to get better results from your training by allowing you to more specifically target your training according to the exact specifications of your muscles.

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Secret Training Tip #88 - Cable Pushdown Curls Get an instant increase in strength when you use this unique exercise to work your biceps and triceps at the same time in the same movement.

How is it possible to work both your biceps and triceps at the same time in the same movement? How can this possibly increase your strength instantly? The answer to this question is simple: Cable Pushdown Curls.

This particular exercise is done using cables but this training technique can also be done using free weights as well (there will be an example using free weights for those who don't have access to a cable set-up).

The Cable Pushdown Curl can technically be described as a contralateral antagonistic movement. In plain English, this means you're working the opposite muscles on the opposite arms at the same time - you'll be doing a bicep curl with your right arm and a pushdown with your left arm at the same time.

But how can this instantly increase your strength? The answer lies in your nervous system. When you activate the nerves in your biceps, due to the way your body's nervous system is hooked up, this excites the nerves in your opposing arm's triceps. It's not enough to cause them to move, but it's enough to "prime" them, for lack of a better word, increasing the energy they have available to fire. This extra nervous system energy results in a small but noticeable increase in strength.

If you do an exercise for your triceps at the same time as you do an exercise for your biceps of the opposing arm, you're going to be a little stronger in both of the movements. This means the ability to use more weight and/or get more reps with it.

I originally came across this contralateral-antagonistic training theory in the writings of world-renowned strength coach Charles Poliquin, who refers to this type of exercise as "Scap Jacks." He reported instant strength increases of up to 10% over what the muscle was normally capable of.

This exercise can also save you time in the gym by allowing you to work your biceps and triceps fully at the same time.

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How to do it:

To do this exercise, you will need one high/low pulley set up. This is normally found on a cable crossover pulley station. Attach one single cable handle to the bottom pulley and one single handle to the top pulley.

Figuring out how much weight to use on this exercise will require a little trial-and-error but start with a fairly light weight to get the idea of the movement first.

Facing the machine, grasp the lower handle and get into the start position for a cable bicep curl.

Now reach up with your other hand and grasp the high pulley. Get that handle into the start position of a one-arm pushdown. You should have tension on both your biceps and triceps at the start (meaning the weight stack should not be resting on anything).

Now comes the tricky part - do a curl with one arm as you do a pushdown with the other. It will feel very strange at first but do a few reps until you get the hang of it. The way the pulleys are set up allows you to get tension on both movements even though you're working in opposing directions.

When you've completed the set, switch the movements on your arms and go directly back into it. Your arms will be extremely pumped up by the time you're done.

Once you've got the hang of the movements, it's time to add some more weight to the exercise. As you add weight, you will reach a point where you are stronger in one exercise than you are in the other and one will have a tendency to take over. You can use this to your advantage by using your stronger muscle to spot your weaker muscle. This will extend the set, putting even more tension on both muscles, working them even harder.

You can also adapt this exercise to free weights if you don't have access to a cable set-up. To do this, simply do a dumbell curl in one hand and an overhead dumbell tricep extension with the other. You'll get all the same benefits as in the cable version.

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Give this exercise a try in your next arm workout. Not only is it an excellent way to give your strength a boost and throw some variety into your routine, it's a great timesaver as well.

To see pictures of this exercise in action, go to:

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue23-cable.htm

Want to learn more unique and powerful exercises like this one? Check out my eBook "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of" at:

http://www.thebestexercises.com

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Another of the Worst, Most Horrifying Workouts I've Ever Witnessed They made a "Friday the 13th" Part 2. This is another horror story that cried out for a sequel. Bad exercise form is one thing but this was a disaster.

If you've ever been to a gym on a regular basis, you've no doubt witnessed some pretty bad exercise form at work. In a previous story, I told you about "Dave," the guy who got shot out of the pec deck. You can read about him at:

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue13.htm

But this story isn't about Dave - it's about a lady I'll refer to as "Phyllis" (though a better name might have been "Hurricane Phyllis"). It was a cold, winter morning when I witnessed this lady's horrendous workout at a big name gym in Chicago and I'll never forget it.

I was sitting on the stationary bike, doing a warm-up when she walked in, stuffed into a pink spandex outfit 3 sizes too small, wearing glittery high heels and marinating in perfume.

She walked directly over to the treadmill and started it up. I had never seen anybody walk on the treadmill in high heels before so I figured this would be worth watching. I was not to be disappointed.

"Phyllis" was doing fine for the first minute so I went back to reading my magazine. Then I heard this huge "THUMP! Thumpthumpthumpitythumpthump..." I turned and looked and there she was, crawling on her hands and knees as fast as she could, desperately trying to slap the shut-off button every couple of steps!

I jumped off the bike and ran over and hit the shut-off button. She stopped but the treadmill, of course, kept going, rolling her right off the back end and flipping her over on her back. She flopped around like a big, pink, overturned and confused turtle for a minute. It was really, REALLY hard not to laugh. "Phyllis" was fine. She thanked me and walked off, like this had happened a million times before.

And this was only the warm-up...

I got back on the bike. I had a feeling this lady was going to be a lot more entertaining than reading.

She hobbled over to the pulldown machine, sat down then pulled the pin out and threw it on the floor. Not looking to bulk up, evidently. She took a grip on the bar wider than even a double-jointed orangutan could manage safely then started pull down behind her neck.

Now, this exercise is not good for your shoulders to begin with but she didn't stop the bar at just her neck. She continued pulling the bar down behind her back until the bar was all the way down at her waist! I had never seen anything like it. She had turned the exercise into a wide-grip, behind-the-back pushdown. It was like she was trying to scratch her entire back with the bar. It was a good thing she had hardly any weight on the machine.

Ten useless reps later, she was done. My rotator cuff was aching just watching it. But instead of standing up with the bar and setting the one measly plate down gently, she just let it go and let that single plate crash down like a thunder clap. The bar whipped around and smacked her in the side of the head. Luckily for her, it seemed she had so much hair spray on that the bar just kind of bounced off - no damage done.

Without a backward glance at the weight pin still lying in the middle of the floor, she walked over to the free weights. At this point, I just knew "Phyllis" and free weights were not going to be a good combination - kind of like filling a child up with sugar, overstimulating them with games and cake, blindfolding them, spinning them around, giving them a hard club then telling them to swing at a cardboard animal filled with candy hanging at crotch level. Definitely not a good combination.

She picked up the lightest dumbells on the rack (I think one of them may have actually been a plastic novelty pen shaped like a dumbell and not actually even a real dumbell).

She stepped back and started doing dumbell lateral raises. Let me tell you, an albatross had nothing on this lady. She was flapping her arms so big, if she'd have had feathers, she would've been halfway to Mexico by the time she finished her set.

But alas, her grip must have been failing (and it was a good thing she was standing close to a cement wall and not a person) because the next thing I knew, she lost her grip on one of the dumbells. It flew out of her hand and smashed into the wall with a huge CLANG then fell to the floor with and even bigger CLANG! She set the other dumbell down and walked away, not looking the slightest bit embarrassed.

I thought I had seen everything. WRONG! The best was yet to come and she had only been in the gym 10 minutes.

She walked over to the adduction machine (the one that works the inner thighs), sat down and began doing reps. She must have done at least 20 sets of that single exercise over the next 30 minutes. Not a particularly good way to do this exercise but not dangerous in and of itself. It seemed to me like the party was over. Wrong again.

Somebody had evidently put it in this lady's head (though it was equally surprising that it didn't come directly out the other side) that doing squats would be a good thing for her. She went over to the squat rack (the open one, not the enclosed power rack - that, of course, would have been way too safe) and set herself under the bar.

Now, even before doing 30 minutes of adductions, I doubt this lady would have been very stable on this exercise. She took one step back with just the bar on her back then took another step, and another and another and another. She had totally lost her balance and was falling backward with every step!

Before anybody could react, she was stuttering out of the squat rack and falling backwards towards a rack of dumbells. She crashed into the rack, lost her grip on the bar and dropped it behind the dumbell rack with a huge SMASH!

Then she stood up, checked her hair in the mirror, pulled spandex out of her unmentionables, and hobbled out the door. I looked over at the weight room supervisor, who was snickering quietly.

"Does she do that all the time?" I asked.

"No." he replied, leaning back in his chair. "Sometimes she has a bad day..."

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