Guest Forum: Dr. John Berardi

Training Bodybuilding
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Dr. Berardi,

First, congratulations on throwing the Dr. in front of your name. I am still completing undergraduate work right now; the road from here to where you’re at now is astounding and commands respct - well done!! Also, your ME program has helped immensely in gaining lots of muscle with little bodyfat.

Now to my questions (I apologize in advance for these two questions being completely loaded):
Right now, I just started using Joe DeFranco’s “Westside for Skinny Bastards.” Mondays are Max-Effort Upper, Wednesdays are Max-Effort Lower, Fridays are Repetition-Upper, and Saturdays are Repetition-Lower (I added this second leg day following DeFranco’s recommendations). I am using your ME guidelines, getting 8 hours of sleep almost every night, and am currently supplementing with TRIBEX, ZMA, and a multi-vitamin. However, I play golf at a Division I school and we are starting our off-season conditioning program next week. Mondays and Fridays are circuit-training days that is more or less aerobic excercise with weights (30 seconds doing as many reps as fast as possible, then move to a different exercise and repeat the process). The only good thing about these days is the fact that we do push the sleds a little bit which does help increase my leg strength. Tuesdays and Thursdays are one of the following: running, stairwork, swimming, and basketball. Wednesday is the only day we’ll lift similarly to the Westside protocol and it is a leg day. Overall, upper body work for strength/hypertrophy is totally neglected. Even though I’ll incorporate the leg workout on Wednesday into my current program, I’d like to continue my two upper body lifts on Monday and Friday. Unfortunately, this means that I’ll have to train twice on Monday and Friday (not necessarily optimal, espeially when trying to put on some mass). I’ll train using the Westside protocol in the morning and participate in the circuit training at about 3:00 in the afternoon.

Sorry for all the background, but here are my questions:
-Is it okay to have two post-workout feedings on these days (i.e., Gatorade and Protein during, immediately after, a high GI carb and protein meal 45 minutes to an hour after, and a low GI carbs and protein meal two hours after the first whole-food meal) or will this be too many insulin spikes in one day?
-Is it okay if my fat intake is lower on these days than the other days of the week? I ask this because I am concerned about not adequately replinishing glycogen stores after two workouts and if I do indeed have two post-workout feedings, I’ll have to pull an all-nighter to get my fat intake in (and I do like to sleep.) My primary goal is to gain mass right now; I am not worried about a gaining a little extra fat because I’ll switch to a cutting diet in a couple of months.

My only suggestion with regards to future articles is that you discuss your own personal training philosophy a little more. I know that you’re one of the godfathers of nutrition (especially pre and post-workout), but I’m also interested in how you have integrated weight training with your amazing diet strategies to get into phenomenal shape.

I greatly appreciate any help you could offer and am really looking forward to your upcoming publications.

Thanks,
zed962

322

[quote]John M Berardi wrote:
tracer wrote:
Training with carpal tunnel syndrome:

Hi again. I have a female friend who enjoys weight training, but has carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of her errant youth spent as a professional masseuse.

Although her condition has stabilised, she tends not to perform any activity which involves holding a load in her hands which means no curls, presses or even squats or dead-lifts.

Can you make any suggestion as to the training techniques you would employ with such a person, esp. for upper body, as the “personal trainers” at her gym seem to reccomend a lot of leg-extensions and cardio.

Are things like powerballs and grip-mitts any use? I have also heard that fat-grips and reverse curls, as well as lat-pull-downs with a pronated grip can help.

Can she use wrist wraps to minimize the forearm loading and wrist pressure?
[/quote]

I would suggest finding a manual physical therapist with experience in neurodynamics. They should be able to assess exactly what is causing the problem and give her ways to correct. Then she probably will not have any problems doing any exercises in the gym. If you want more info. on neurodynamics, you can PM me or just reply to this message.

By the way, thanks for all the time you are spending with the forum Dr. Berardi.

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The road you were talking about looks like Darnell hill in Arizona.

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Dr Berardi , thanks for the explanation , I have a better understanding of the energy flux concept and how to applied it.

You recommended to do your bike protocol 2 x a week and that this could also be mix with GPP, I have a couple of question:
1)what will be the maximum sessions of GPP that you advice and if this GPP sessions will follow a more of a recovery protocol ?
2)when is the best time to do this sessions (bike) same day of strength sessions or off days?
3)And what do you think of using sprint swims, using the same work/rest ratio and intensity as per your bike protocol as an alternative to your bike session.

Thanks one more time for your help and patience.

325

The article was a protein roundtable in the Dec 2000 issue with you Lonnie Lowery and Cy Wilson - you mentioned having knowledge of a research protocol being designed to measure single sitting limits. Hope this helps if not what are your views.

326

[quote]Breakdown wrote:
John M Berardi wrote

Without a doubt - The best symptom of mercury toxicity - high levels of mercury as assessed in a mercury toxicity test done by your doc!

As far as fish - 3-4 times per week is probably cool.

Ouch! I eat 2 cans of salmon everyday to get my EPA/DHA. How much are these mercury tests? What do they involve? Do most doctors do them? Also from the perspective of a biology student, I’ve read that the beneficial properties of fish oils comes from the fatty acids replacing omega 6 type ones in biological membranes. Has anybody done a project to elucidate this mechanism? I’m looking for a project to do for my degree…

Also, what’s the max amount of grams of fructose you recommend in one serving? I’m think that I read you say 30g before but I can’t find it! I heard the other day that only a quarter of the carbs in bananas and some other fruits come from fructose - is the idea that eating 2 servings of fruit in one meal would provide too much fructose and lead to fat gain incorrect?

Cheers JB
Love your website… any chance of some roundtables in a bit - I’m working through the caffeine one now and then I’ve run out!

[/quote]

Hi JB - this post came out all in black first time so I think you missed it - I hate it when it does that!!

327

Hello again John,

I have to say this forum is a great source of info and I am sure I can speak for everybody in saying thanks for this.

I have another question for you in regards to carbohydrate intake and macro ratios.

It seems I get hung up on macro ratios or eating a specific number of grams of each. Is there a general rule of thumb that you use with respect to carb intake? For protein people quote at least 1 - 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Is there such a thing for carbs? How about fats? Currently I am going for a 40% Protein intake, 40% carb intake and 20% fat intake for my cutting diet. The reason I am asking is I am currently writing my next 12 weeks of meals in my spreadsheet. (and yes I am quite anal about this, I even weigh my lettuce - lol) I take all my meals and carefully weigh the ingredients packaging them nicely in little color coded containers for each day of the week…I really should get out more often…

Thanks again!
-Dave

328

Dr. JB,
I been playing with the idea of taking HGH just for cosmetic and recovery reason 1 or 2 iu a day.
What do you think of taking this right after my Surge to take advantage of the insulin spike and low blood sugar?
Will I have to modify the time for my second post workout meal?(I usually eat a P+C one hour after Surge).

Thanks.

329

[quote]Mufasa wrote:
Dr. J:

All those bike pics?

You got sort of a “Tom Cruise” thing going on there, Brother!

LOL!

Mufasa[/quote]

Ya know what??? I was looking over this and seen the pictures and see what you are talking about Mufasa… I started to hear “Highway to the Danger Zone” from Top Gun…

Here’s some lyrics… You can almost hear the song when you see that picture of John on the bike…

Revvin’ up your engine
Listen to her howlin’ roar
Metal under tension
Beggin’ you to touch and go

Highway to the Danger Zone
Ride into the Danger Zone

Alright… I’ll stop… Just thought that was funny… Don’t want to bust too much on the man who gives us all this awesome advice…

Seriously JB, thanks for doing this forum… Greatly appreciated…

LJ

330

Dr. John,
I know you and all the other T-Mag gurus like green tea. What are your thoughts on black tea. I know it has higher caffine content but I’ve read that it too has a good antioxident profile. Can you elaborate on this?
Thanks!

331

Dr. JB,

I saw you mentioned green powder? What is that? What is a green drink?

What do you think of hummus as a dip with whole wheat crackers or flax soy chips as opposed to the good old chips and dip? A side to a meal to replace like an apple or something? I know this is a slighty “out there question,” but I am curious.

Do you like crotch rockets more or harley type bikes? If so, why?

Excellent job on part 2 of “Its not about the Food” That specifically is beneficial to me since traveling with the team is horrible. The only thing is we are limited to only what the team provides for us for food and where we go.(have to eat together) Which is of course usually cheap and crap. I usually go through the Low Carb Grow! fairly quickly on the road. The one thing I was always pissed about was fruit and salads, because we don’t have access to it really. I always frantically look for oatmeal at the brunches and some fruit while slamming down 40 grams of Low Carb Grow! *With those veggies and fruit powder supplements I can now complete my goals, instead of saying, “Well we are traveling again there goes several perfect days.” I could simply take a roller cooler or have my stuff sent. I never thought I could do that. “I am thinking of that chocolate milk commercial where it goes through the mail to get shaken up”. LOL

Anyway, awesome tips dude!

-Ge T Lif T ed

332

Hi Dr. Berardi,

Protein question…

I know it is a bad idea to drastically cut protein intake after a long session of “high” intake because one’s body is used to the amount and will catabolize muscle to get what it wants.

What about drastically increasing intake? If I am a fat, lazy, slob that decides I want to get my life in order is it OK to immediately increase protein intake from 50 grams to 200 grams? Should there be any kind of gradual increase?

Thanks,
Jason

333

Dr. John,

I have a quick question concerning EFA mixtures. I like to make a flax oil/olive oil mix. I use a 2 parts flax: 1 part olive oil mix. does this provide a good ratio of the various omega fatty acids?

Thanks,

Crowbar

334

Dr. J,
You do man for doing this. We really appreciate it. My question is this. I will be doing Growth Surge Part 2 and 3, and eating Massive Eating. I will be on MAG-10, so I am curious as to how fast I can ramp up my caloric intake. i am currently on a 2500kcal diet, but using the Massive Eating Calculator I use about 4800kcal a day. I realize teh massive eating calculator is high, but still, I know I need to be around 6000kcal while on MAG-10. I have 2.5 weeks from now until I start my scycle, and was wondering if I should do like a 500kcal per week jump, or just once I start taking MAG-10 cycle just ramp it up to 6000kcal? During the 2 week off cycle, if i am using 6000kcal, about what percentage should i downgrade? 15% or so? I am really anxious, and hope I am not going to waste my money. I will be on HOT-ROX while doing both cycles. I hope this helps. I am ~193 lbs and ~13% bf.

Any info that isn’t obvious would be awesome.

P.S. i real every article you posted on your site, and still am curious, so yes, i have teh knowledge of your web site.

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Here’s another question I’ve been thinking about. With my current scheduel I run, and i take a post workout shake thats 2:2 for protein to carbs. And then I go to class then after that hour of class I go through my lifting routine, and take a 2:1 post workout shake. For running purposes is it best that I take the largest dose of my post workout shake after running or switch it with the one after my lifitng routine?

Also does taking one tylenol tablet or one pill of ibuprofin have any kind of bad effects before a training day or early in the morning based on if I have any given reason to take either?

Would taking extra pyruvate do anything to boost ATP or muscle recovery?

Are there any tricks for resting CNS due ot the stresses of, training(weights/running), and schoolwork?

336

Dr. Berardi,

First, thanks for taking the time for doing this.

Simple question: Cottage Cheese is not available in Spain. I won’t even get into the fun I had explaining it or trying to translate the name.

There is another cheese, made with just milk and a little salt, called Burgos cheese. It looks a little like cottage cheese, but imagine one curd as opposed to many, with no liquid. It’s molded to a shape too. P/C/F is about 8.3g/0g/11g per 100g, if I remember the label correctly. Would this be a suitable substitute for cottage cheese for standard training purposes?

Thanks.

Blurb from a tourist website re: the cheese -

The so-called Burgos cheese takes its name from the Castilian city where it is made. It is a fresh, soft, watery cheese made with sheep’s milk. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious cheeses from Castilla y Le?n, together with Villal?n. It has a cylindrical shape, with grooves channelled down its sides and grooves marked on its surface. It does not have rind and has a compact, white paste, milky white in colour. It smells of fresh milk with a slight hint of acidity and salt. It is sometimes allowed to mature.

337

Glad to see that you also drink green tea without worrying about flouride or possible (but not proven) estrogen risks. In addition to the antioxidant properties, do you think that green tea has potent fat-burning capabilities.
Also, I eat lots of low-carb tortillas, and sometimes the low-carb pasta. Should I be concerned about the amount of soy in these products? Also, would their high-fiber composition lessen the effects of my fish oil if taken with these meals.
Thanks.

338

[quote]ProjectX wrote:
Dr. Berardi,

I heard you speak about tissue turnover in an audio interview with Charles Staley. You were saying that, for example, the bones we will have in a few years aren’t the ones we have now, etc. That’s a very intriguing concept and I would like to know how to take advantage of that in my case.

I have had pretty bad chronic tendonitis in my forearms for about five years. I have gone to my family doctor, three chiropractors, two masseuses and spent a boatload of money on an ART specialist. All to no avail.

I have tried to fix my posture recently by following the Neanderthal Series workouts and it has helped my posture but the damage is already done in my forearms.

Since the tissues comprimising the collagen in my tendons years from now will not be the current tissues, how can I take advantage of tissue turnover to replace them with healthy tissues as opposed to ‘cloning’ the same damaged collagen over and over?

Thank in advance, I am a huge fan of your work.[/quote]

It’s a great question…The problem with your situation (without knowing any more than this post allows) is that inflammation isn’t necessarily going to be improved with turnover of the tissue. There’s some root cause of the inflammation and that’s not being addressed.

Here are some suggestions (perhaps you’re doing all of them - but thought Id make some suggestions anyway):

  1. Fish oil - at least 10g per day.

  2. Flax oil - 3 tablespoons per day.
    3)ART + manual therapy + accupuncture (I know you’ve tried some “alternative” modalities but therapists are like personal trainers - some suck, some are adequate, some are good, and some are magical). Fortunately I know quite a few magical ones. Problems that never abated in seeing therapist after therapist have gone away in a treatment or two with the right doc. And some docs are doing things that your average one has no idea about.

  3. Here’s a tip from my newsletter:

This week’s tip – Strategies for Healing Aching Joints:

Glucosamine and chondroiton are the 2 most commonly used supplements for
joint pain. But if you’re suffering from joint aches, don’t hang your pain
relief hopes on these two supplements alone. There are a number of other
strategies you can use to help fix up those aching knees and elbows.

First, balancing out your daily fat intake with a healthy combination of
omega 3 fatty acids will help manage inflammation and promote healing. Adding flax oil to salads or protein shakes is a start but you’d probably also be wise to supplement with a handful of fish oil capsules each day.

In addition, a combination of 60mg Vitamin C, 10g Hydrolyzed Collagen, and
300mg Calcium can accelerate healing and reduce symptoms of joint pain.

In the end, if you’ve got joint pain and are looking for relief, there are
natural, over the counter remedies that are effective and much safer than
the prescription anti-inflammatory drugs your doctor might otherwise
prescribe.

339

[quote]dude-dilly squat wrote:
John,

Now that you are college teacher will you have sex with your female students during the semester, or will you wait until after the semester is over?
[/quote]

It’s only ethical to wait :wink:

340

[quote]RIT Jared wrote:
I was wondering, if its not against your beliefs or anything, if you would be willing to post several days from your food log, just so we all get a real idea of what you are doing in terms of nutrient timing/quantity of food/etc.

Thanks!

RIT Jared[/quote]

Blasphemy - I don’t keep a food log!

I know Im being a teeze, but I describe why in my Tailor Made book.

Basically,I eat the same things day in and day out. So I post that meal plan on my fridge and follow it closely during the week. (I mix it up on weekends adding in a few good things that I want).

As far as posting my log - I don’t think I want to. Im not against sharing good info but since I don’t have any real physique goals right now (I go thru this in the how t-mag writers build their bodies article) Im not eating with muscle gain or fat loss in mind.

So by posting my menu, I fear people will either a) suggest I don’t follow the advice laid out in my articles - advice issued for specific goals or b) try to follow my plan when they do have a specific goal.