May - 2015

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Organic and Conventional foods; Is there really any difference besides price?

It is widely accepted that organically grown produce and meats are much “healthier” for you than are their conventionally grown and prepared counterparts. So much so, that many Americans are willing to pay sometimes up to five times as much for organic foods than for conventionally grown products. Organic foods are said to be far more nutritious as far as their vitamin and mineral content and also contain less contaminants than conventionally produced crops, meats and other p

Optimizing Inflammation: The unsung key to muscular growth and performance

Inflammation is how our body responds to any harmful stimuli. Be it a bump on your head, clogged sinuses from a cold, redness around a splinter, allergies, or even stress; all of these cause inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s way of healing and warding off illnesses, repairing wounds, eliminating toxins, repairing damaged muscle cells and much more. Without inflammation, wounds would never heal, a common cold would never go away and we would ultimately die. While inflam

Four vitamins critical bodybuilders

Proper nutrition is of particular importance for those trying to optimize their physique or be their best at any highly athletic sport. Intense exercise, cardio and weight training deplete a number of vital nutrients in the body at a much greater rate than that of a sedentary person, meaning that athletes and lifters have a greater need for many vitamins and nutrients. This is not just for health reasons, but anything less than optimal vitamin levels in the system will lead t

Managing Pain Tolerance: The Gateway to Better Workouts

The goal of every workout is to push ourselves past the breaking point. Push it to the point where physically, we are not capable of doing one more rep, one more set or spend one more minute running. This is the stimulus that then causes us to improve and grow. Much more often than not though, it is not our muscles that are the sticking point, but it is our minds that cause us to stop a set or end a workout as a result of the pain we are experiencing. Reaching full physical f

Meal timing : Pinpoint macronutrient timing to take your body to the next level

It has just recently been put forth by the scientific community that nutrient timing can play an even larger role in body composition than overall daily caloric intake. More than one study has now been published that has shown that by changing when we eat our protein, carbs and fats, we can shift the body from fat storage to fat loss, with no change at all in the actual foods nor the amounts eaten. This discovery comes on the heels of some recently conducted research regardin

Make your diet easier and more tolerable with L-Glutamine

L-Glutamine has long been a very popular supplement across the bodybuilding and fitness community, and for good reason. Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the blood and muscle, accounting for about 60% of all free amino acids in the system. L-Glutamine helps the body repair itself after training, minimizes catabolism, reduces muscle soreness, increases protein synthesis, and also supports the immune system and balances the body’s ph. Glutamine is what’s known as a c

L-Carnitine: The director of fat loss

L-Carnitine is an amino acid used by the body to transfer stored body fat for use as energy. Your body can produce its own L-Carnitine from Lysine and Methionine in adequate amounts in most situations, but not all. L-Carnitine is essentially a catalyst for mobilizing intercellular fat and transporting it to muscle tissue and mitochondria for use as energy. In other words, L-Carnitine is critical to burn body fat. In the absence of L-Carnitine, you would not be able to tap int

The BIG picture of building BIG muscle

Putting on an unusual amount of muscle takes an unusual amount of effort. While the basic strategies are the same for everyone, there are an unlimited amount of training programs and diets to choose from to get there. There are so many variables involved and so much information available, it becomes easy to lose sight of what is really important to the bottom line in your pursuit to building muscle. What becomes important is focusing your efforts on the correct initiatives an

Motivation is not out there: Look inside

“Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.” –Bruce Lee Bruce Lee mastered his art to a degree that he could throw grains of rice in the air and catch them mid-flight...with chop sticks, repetitively. Lee is the quintessential example of what can be accomplished with supreme motivation from mastery of your mental state. Lee’s

Intensity, Consistency, Progression: All you need to know about building muscle

So many new designer training programs have arisen in the past several years that it’s nearly impossible for the average lifter to determine what is best, and which they should be following. Every one of them is completely different but at the same time, exactly the same. What is meant by that? Well, some preach light weight, some heavy weight, some super sets, some straight sets, short rest/long rest, fast reps/slow reps, 3-a-week/6-a-week, 30 minute workouts/90 minute worko

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Steve Marteski

Physique and Performance Research

Pragmatic and Practical Diet and training advice