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In This Issue

1. Front Squats Using The Sting Ray
2. 40/30/30 Diet Spreadsheet
3. Saving Time In The Gym
4. Supplement To Last Month's "Mixing Powerlifting With Bodybuilding" Article

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1. Front Squats Using The Sting Ray

Many of you have heard of the Manta Ray squat pad by Advanced Fitness, Inc. The Manta Ray is a great device for free squatting. It helps distribute the weight of the bar evenly across your back and shoulder area. For people with back pains or problems, the Manta Ray can make the difference between being able to do squats and not being able to do them. 

Advanced Fitness, Inc. also makes a product called the Sting Ray. The Sting Ray is a squat pad used for performing front squats. If you have ever tried front squats, you know the pains that it can induce. This is unfortunate because the front squat is a great exercise, placing much more stress on the quadriceps than the traditional squat. For myself, the bar always hurt my arms just below my shoulder muscle, where the bar would set. Also, I would use so much energy trying to keep the bar in place that I would have to quit long before my legs tired.

A few weeks ago, I purchased the Sting Ray because I wanted to get back to doing front squats. The Sting Ray comes as two pads (one for each arm) that are connected by a "string". The first thing I noticed is the material it's made of because I don't see any way that I could ruin it with normal use. The first time I used it, I knew that the device was worth every bit of money it cost me ($39.95 plus $4.95 shipping). First of all, there is no pain, the Sting Ray pads my arms completely. Second, you do not have to worry about keeping the bar in place. The pads have a groove in them where they snap onto the bar so it is held in place. Of course, you still have to hold your elbows up higher than shoulder level (to keep your body stable). The Sting Ray has allowed me to concentrate more on the exercise, receiving more benefit and strength from the front squat.

I would highly recommend you make this one of your bodybuilding purchases. I personally rank the Sting Ray up with my purchase of Arnold's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. It is extremely easy to use. Each pad is marked with "left" and "right" as well as arrows pointing forward. This ensures you use the device correctly every time, so there is never any messing around trying to figure out how to get the pad on correctly. If you do not currently squat because it causes you too much pain, you should seriously look at the Manta Ray.

For more information visit Advanced Fitness' website where you will find pictures of both squat pads. You will also see how to properly hold the bar for a front squat. 

...and, no, this is not an advertisement. I wrote this article simply because I bought the Sting Ray myself.

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2. 40/30/30 Diet Spreadsheet

Many of you have certainly heard of this very popular diet. The 40/30/30 diet is a very well balanced normal diet. By normal diet, I mean there is nothing extreme about it, such as cutting out all carbohydrates or changing your calories daily. The basis of the diet is that you consume 40% of your calories from carbohydrates, 30% from protein and 30% from fat (remember, that is calories, not grams). This diet was made most famous by Dr. Barry Sears who called it the "Zone Diet." It has held fast as a true diet that can really help people, not just the latest fad diet.

Recently I have read some material with references to the 40/30/30 diet, bringing it back to my mind. Having just developed my own "liveable diet" for the remainder of the summer, I was in the mindset to see other balanced diets for comparison. So I dug out a few books and looked at how the diet is figured. I soon realized that many people would not bother taking the time to figure this diet up for their own needs. The process involves figuring your daily protein needs, then converting that to calories. From that point you must figure your daily calories needed, then split that up among carbohydrates, protein and fat. Finally you must convert those figures from calories to grams to know exactly what to eat.

I decided to create a spreadsheet to figure the 40/30/30 diet easily for anyone. All you have to do is enter 3 numbers and you get your customized diet figures. The information you need is: total bodyweight, bodyfat percentage and the number of meals you eat per day. (If you do not know your bodyfat percentage, visit http://www.active.com/calculators/ to get a close estimate.) From these three pieces of information, you will receive the grams of carbohydrates, protein and fat you need to eat daily. Figures are also broken down for each meal you eat throughout the day.

One great thing about the 40/30/30 diet is the amount of information you can find about it. Dr. Barry Sears has multiple "Zone Diet" books which list foods friendly to the diet, helping take away some of the guess work. Also, you can just figure your own meals using a nutritional guide such as "The Complete Book of Food Counts." If you are looking for a balanced diet, I suggest you take a good look at the 40/30/30 diet.

Spreadsheet
Instructions
*Please be sure to download and read the doc file for instructions.

For more information, please visit zoneperfect.com.

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3. Saving Time In The Gym

Ah, yes. This is a topic that hits newsstands constantly. Usually I don't agree with the author's ideas of how or when it is necessary to save time in the gym. So I want to give you my own thoughts on the subject. Yes, there are days when you have little time to get in a workout. But let's face it, if it happens to you every week (or even every other week, depending on your situation), I think you need to reassess yourself. This could be good or bad. 

-Good: Am I overtraining? This could lead to less desire/motivation. Do I really like what I am doing? Maybe I enjoy weightlifting, but am I training for what I really want (bodybuilding, powerlifting, overall fitness)? 

-Bad: Would I rather be home eating potato chips? Maybe I am only doing this to tell my friends "I lift weights!" or to try to meet women. Suggestion: Figure it out and get out of mine own way before thou 45 lb. plate smacketh thy head. Hey, I try to be honest, if someone doesn't like lifting weights, I don't believe they should.

There are reasons to miss or have quick workouts. If your body is seriously drained of energy, there's no point in making it do more causing the recovery process to slow. But be serious here, I'm talking about being sick or having excessive physical work on top of what is your norm. I am not talking about being lazy and making excuses that you're tired because you were up playing Playstation2 all night.

The best way to make quick workouts is the use of supersets and/or drop sets. These will drop you in record time. Supersets are done by picking two or three exercises. Then do them in succession with no rest between. For example, pick bench press and lat pull downs. Do a set of bench press, when done move immediately to lat pull downs. Then rest 30-60 seconds and repeat. These are very handy when you need to work two or three muscle groups quickly.

Drop sets (sometimes called giant sets or running the rack) are just as fun. However these are performed on the same exercise. My favorite example would be dumbbell shoulder presses. Pick three different weights of dumbbells, I will use 90, 70 and 50 lbs. Start at the heaviest weight and go to failure. Set them down and immediately use the next lightest dumbbells and go to failure. Set them down and immediately use the lightest dumbbells to failure. The use of drop sets will generally allow you to work a muscle group in less sets, thus saving time.

Okay, but what if you really have limited time? Pick a compound exercise and do as many sets as time allows. Here is a list of what I would do:

Back = Deadlifts
Chest = Bench Press (Incline to include more shoulder work)
Shoulders = Cleans & Presses
Legs = Squats

So, if when you have a REAL reason to shorten your workout it's easy to do. You don't even have to sacrifice effort. Hint: These ideas also work great for when you hit a plateau in your training. Do all supersets and drop sets for a week, then return to normal training.

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4. Supplement To Last Month's "Mixing Powerlifting With Bodybuilding" Article

Last month's newsletter received a lot of great response. Since that newsletter, I have run across an article on the Testosterone website that takes the "powerlifting in bodybuilding" idea even further. The article, "The Top Nine Exercises for Functional Strength," is written by strength and conditioning coach John Davies. If you liked my article, you have to check this one out.

The Top Nine Exercises for Functional Strength

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Well, there you go. New equipment, new diet, new exercises. What more could you ask for? Someone to cook all the meals and load/unload the barbells, that would be nice...

Jon Miller

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DISCLAIMER:
The suggestions and opinions in this newsletter are based on my personal experiences. Obviously, not all diets, supplements or training routines work the same for everyone. The objective of this newsletter is to provide you with the knowledge that will help you find what works best for you. You should always check with your personal physician before starting any exercise programs. All of the companies, products and websites I suggested are also from my own findings only.