Body by Science A RESEARCH-BASED PROGRAM FOR STRENGTH TRAINING, BODY BUILDING, AND COMPLETE FITNESS IN 12 MINUTES A WEEK DOUG MC GUFF, M.D., AND JOHN LITTLE Copyright © 2009 by Doug McGuff and Northern River Productions, Inc All rights reserved Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher ISBN: 978-0-07-159720-3 MHID: 0-07-159720-4 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-159717-3, MHID: 0-07-159717-4 All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps McGraw-Hill eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs To contact a representative please visit the Contact Us page at www.mhprofessional.com TERMS OF USE This is a copyrighted work and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc (“McGraw-Hill”) and its licensors reserve all rights in and to the work Use of this work is subject to these terms Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store and retrieve one copy of the work, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon, transmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense the work or any part of it without McGraw-Hill’s prior consent You may use the work for your own noncommercial and personal use; any other use of the work is strictly prohibited Your right to use the work may be terminated if you fail to comply with these terms THE WORK IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” McGRAW-HILL AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUDING ANY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE McGraw-Hill and its licensors not warrant or guarantee that the functions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be uninterrupted or error free Neither McGraw-Hill nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting therefrom McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise This book is dedicated to my wife, Wendy; my son, Eric; and my daughter, Madeline You are my inspiration to be strong and to live as long as possible —Doug McGuff, M.D To my wife, Terri; to our daughter, Taylor; and to our sons, Riley, Brandon, and Benjamin, who have made me realize just how precious the commodity of time is and why within the family (as opposed to the gym) is the most rewarding place to spend it This book is also dedicated to a new breed of trainee, who not only truly values his or her time but also demands reasons to justify any impingement of it—particularly while in the pursuit of activities as important as the enhancement of fitness and the maintenance of health —John Little Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Whom Can You Trust? CHAPTER Defining Health, Fitness, and Exercise CHAPTER Global Metabolic Conditioning CHAPTER The Dose-Response Relationship of Exercise CHAPTER The Big-Five Workout CHAPTER The Benefits of the Big-Five Workout CHAPTER Enhancing the Body’s Response to Exercise CHAPTER Tweaking the Exercise Stimulus CHAPTER The Genetic Factor CHAPTER The Science of Fat Loss CHAPTER 10 The Ideal Training Programs for Athletes CHAPTER 11 The Ideal Training Program for Seniors Notes: The Scientific Literature Supporting Body by Science Index Acknowledgments Special thanks go out to my coauthor, John Little I am honored that you brought me in on this project, and I am grateful for all of your work translating our phone conversations into a treatise on physical training To Ken Hutchins, thanks for devising the first protocol that raises intensity while lowering force Thanks also to the late Mike Mentzer, who provided a hero in a time without heroes, and to Terry Carter, who pioneered “time under load” and once-a-week training during the early days of Ultimate Exercise To the late Clay Brunson, thanks for bringing so much passion and a willingness to experiment to Ultimate Exercise To Greg Anderson, owner of Ideal Exercise, in Seattle: your insights during hours of discussion helped to shape this book To Drew Baye and Dr Ellington Darden, thanks for your excellent websites and writings To Ryan Hall, thanks for showing us the genetic reasons that one size does not fit all To Bo Railey, thanks for your business advice and for putting on excellent seminars To Ed Garbe, my manager at Ultimate Exercise, and instructor Sarah Cooper, thanks for your boundless energy and for keeping it all running Finally, thank you, Arthur Jones: the man who started it all and whose writings set the course for my life —Doug McGuff, M.D There are many people whom I would like to add to Doug’s list First in order would be Doug McGuff: your insights into global metabolic conditioning and the dose-response relationship of exercise are a work of genius and have advanced people’s understanding of the actual science of exercise immeasurably I also acknowledge the contributions of our medical illustrator, Tim Fedak, whose excellent renderings have allowed for a deeper understanding of muscular function and human metabolism and Gus Diamantopoulos for his charts and diagrams on the nature of the inroading process In addition, I must acknowledge all of the unheralded personal trainers who have been diligently applying their craft, keeping records, and seeking cause-and-effect relationships for decades They include expert trainers such as Fred Hahn, Ann Marie Anderson, Doug Holland, David Landau, Terri Little, Cary Howe, Blair Wilson, Chris Greenfield, Daniel Craig, David Wilson, and Jeremy Hymers, who, along with the names Doug cited, represent the absolute top tier of personal trainers on the planet I would also underscore Doug’s acknowledgment of my late friend Mike Mentzer and point out that it was Mike who was the first to thoroughly examine the benefits and necessity of issues such as reduced training volume and frequency on a large-scale basis and who drew many meaningful conclusions from his research that have deepened our understanding of the science of exercise —John Little Introduction Whom Can You Trust? How does an average person sift through today’s information overload of opinions on health, fitness, and exercise to find factual data in the pursuit of valid knowledge? After all, these fields are rife with varied sources of professed authority, folklore, and even outright deception How you know who can be trusted? THE PROBLEM WITH TESTIMONIALS The most common mistake that people make in this regard is believing other people For instance, a testimonial—whether it comes to you from a friend or blares out at you from a TV screen—is a poor criterion for determining truth A case in point is the experience of a writer for a popular fitness magazine who once wrote a facetious article about a “miracle supplement.” At the bottom of the page on which the article appeared, he had the magazine’s art department create a perforated square roughly the size of a postage stamp, next to which appeared the following recommendation: “For optimal muscle gains, cut out this little piece of paper and place it in a glass of water overnight It contains a special mix of amino acids that are released in water over several hours In the morning, remove the paper and place it on your tongue to allow the amino acids to enter your body.” He intended it as a joke, a last-minute bit of whimsy to fill a page where an advertisement had been withdrawn His intention, however, was not communicated very well to the readers, as, within days of the magazine’s hitting the stands, the publisher was inundated with requests for “more of that awesome paper.” Many readers honestly believed that placing it on their tongues as instructed made their muscles bigger and stronger This response is characteristic of the placebo effect, a demonstration of the power of suggestion, which impels people to buy all manner of things If one of your friends or relatives happened to number among those who believed in this “miracle supplement,” he or she likely would have told you how “great” this product was, and you—if you put stock in testimonials— would probably have tried it While that case was an inadvertent hoax, the credibility of testimonials that appear in advertisements—whether for arthritis-curing bracelets or weight-loss products—is suspect for many reasons For example, many before-and-after images in ads for diet products are faked; the “before” image is often actually the “after,” with the model having been instructed to gain fat for the “before” shot Other times, as with certain celebrityendorsed fitness products, the testimonials are paid for by the company selling the product, and the celebrity is endorsing the product because it’s a “gig,” not because of firsthand experience with its effectiveness STATISTICAL VARIATION (SEEING THE FOREST FROM THE TREES) Another potential detour on the road to truth is the nature of statistical variation and people’s tendency to misjudge through overgeneralization Often in the fitness world, someone who appears to have above-average physical characteristics or capabilities is assumed to be a legitimate authority The problem with granting authority to appearance is that a large part of an individual’s expression of such above-average physical characteristics and capabilities could simply be the result of wild variations across a statistical landscape For instance, if you look out over a canopy of trees, you will probably notice a lone tree or two rising up above the rest —and it’s completely within human nature to notice things that stand out in such a way In much the same manner, we take notice of individuals who possess superior physical capabilities, and when we do, there is a strong tendency to identify these people as sources of authority To make matters worse, many people who happen to possess such abnormal physical capabilities frequently misidentify themselves as sources of authority, taking credit for something that nature has, in essence, randomly dropped in their laps In other words, people are intellectually prepared to overlook the role of statistical variation in attributing authority 10 ... traditional cardio modalities, the advantage would have to fall to the latter group Gibala and associates in fact went back into the lab and performed another study that tested and examined changes in. .. body s ability to sustain this balance between the catabolic and anabolic states manifests in an ability to make adaptive adjustments, thereby allowing for survival Each and every day, your body. .. functioning were always pinned to activities that maintained an 14 appropriate balance between an anabolic (building up) state and a catabolic (breaking down) state For most of our ancestors, that catabolic