June - 2015

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Do you have metabolic damage? How to fix it

Contact me at stevemarteski@yahoo.com for complete information on restoring and repairing your metabolism. What is Metabolic Damage? Metabolic damage, or adaptive thermogenesis, is a condition in which the body undergoes a complex set of adaptations to an intense and/or prolonged caloric deficit. As a result of an extended restricted diet and usually in conjunction with increased workouts and cardio, essentially, the body enters a ‘starvation mode’ and attempts to conserve ev

Do you read the front or the back of the label?

Supplement users are typically divided into two groups. First, there is Customer “A”, those who buy the product based on marketing claims made on the front of the label or claims made in marketing propaganda for the product. These are the uninformed consumers who will buy a product simply because it makes an unsubstantiated, outrageous claim like “lose 4 inches off your waistline is just 2 weeks”. They tend to also take product recommendations to heart from other uninformed s

The secret code to staying shredded and full all year round

The normal dieting code for physique athletes is to adhere to a cycle of cutting for show prep followed by bulking in the off-season to fill in weak points and add extra muscle. Even those who don’t necessarily compete generally go through this process simply because it is very difficult to stay lean all year round. Further, staying extra lean for too long often comes at the expense of muscle mass. While bulking can be enjoyable as we can eat many of the foods we aren’t usual

Cheat Meals: To cheat…….. or not to cheat

Cheat meals are often the only excitement a contest dieter gets for a few months in a program of regimented monotony in days filled with timed bland meals and repetitive work outs. They are a great break from the dullness of the same boring, bland, restrictive day-to-day diet. This usually means eating copious amounts of non-diet foods (greasy or sugary junk foods). While it seems like this is nothing more than a mental escape from the doldrums of the diet, there are actually

Three MUSTS and three MUST NOTS to get jacked

Since the internet has infiltrated our lives over the past 25 years, information has become readily available in a way the world has never seen. Anything you want to know is a Google search away. While this is a terrific asset, it doesn’t solve all of our information needs. With the freedom to obtain information comes the freedom to share information, any information. As such, there has been a proliferation of editorialized articles, plagiarized pieces used out of context and

What to look for in Dietary Supplement Labels

Food and nutritional supplement labeling have been a cause for contention for centuries. The first American law intended to regulate food adulteration in 1880 was defeated in congress. Over the next 25 years over 100 bills were presented to congress and were all shot down. It wasn’t until the 1906 passing of the original Food and Drugs Act that there was any regulation of labeling and branding food and supplements. This first law, however, was weak, vague and easy to get arou

The Truth about Human Growth Hormone, Bodybuilding and Performance Enhancement

Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is a complex hormone that’s main function is to stimulate growth and regenerate cells. HGH is used medically to treat childhood growth disorders as well as growth hormone deficiency in adults. More recently, the use of growth hormone has become very popular for anti-aging in older adults as well as use in sports for its purported performance enhancing effects. Competitive bodybuilders and recreational lifters also use growth hormone for its profess

The stress response: How you can use it to break your plateau

Hormones are responsible for every process in the body. They are basically the instructions that tell the body how to operate, both body and mind. They are why some people seem to get tremendous results from the same thing that causes others to stagnate. You may train as hard as physically possible and eat perfectly, and take every supplement available but if you don’t have the right hormones telling your body to grow muscle and burn fat, you’ll only spin your wheels. Our hor

The downside of High Intensity Interval training

High Intensity Interval Training, or H.I.I.T., has been clinically proven to burn more fat than steady state cardio training. H.I.I.T. is superior in that the extremely high intensity bursts create an oxygen deficit in the body which triggers a spike in metabolism for many hours after training ceases as the body attempts to adjust for this increased demand on the system. This is call EPOC, or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. This means you can do cardio for less time

The Diuretic Myth: Why diuretics have no place in physique sports

Bodybuilding, figure, physique and bikini competitors alike continue to turn to medicinal diuretics for a hard dry look on stage. Medicinal diuretics remove water from the body at levels that override our natural homeostasis and can leave us in a state of severe dehydration, often with fatal consequences. What should have been a fly-by-night fad after they first made an appearance in the sport decades ago, unfortunately has turned in to a mainstay in competition prep, quite o

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Steve Marteski

Physique and Performance Research

Pragmatic and Practical Diet and training advice