Adonis Index Systems

Overtraining is something we often hear about in fitness magazines but rarely ever experience. Many of us will feel sore or exhausted after a workout, but are these feelings actually overtraining? In most cases what people think is overtraining is actually under conditioning. In other words, you're just not strong enough or have enough endurance for the workout you attempted. True overtraining is a state where you have completely pushed your body beyond it's limits and you break down physically and mentally. The feeling is similar to having the flu, and in fact you can get sick in a true state of overtraining. In today's audio lesson we'll discuss the difference between true over training and simply pushing too hard at a given workout. You'll learn what the real signs of over training are and how to know when you're really approaching it and when you're just sore from a good workout. John (Download Transcript: Are You Overtraining?)

Most guys who workout with weights will tell you that they're trying to 'build' muscle. On the surface this seems like a perfectly legitimate and normal claim, but the closer you look at the mechanism of muscle growth you'll see that we don't really 'build' muscle but rather we 'grow' or 'inflate' muscles. Muscles are always in a transient state. The size of a muscle is always dependent on the external stresses that are forced on it, and specifically exercise. After that there are some nutritional factors, genetic and drugs that can change the size of a muscle. In each case the size of the muscle is a transient state that can be predicted based on the genetic, nutritional, drug, and mechanical influences. In today's audio lesson we'll discuss what is really going on when we say we're trying to 'build' muscle. Hopefully we'll end up with a bit of a clearer image of what working out really does to our muscles. John (Download Transcription: "Muscle Growth")

Taking action to change your body (or any part of your life) requires you to take action today. The only way to consistently take action and build momentum is to think about what is happening here and now; that means thinking about WHAT IS and not worrying about WHAT IF. What IS thinking places your attention on the present moment and what needs to happen now to bring you closer to your goals. What IF thinking places your attention on a fabrication of a potential future that doesn't even exist and may never exists...this is wasted effort. If you want something to change then you have to start today, and that means thinking about what IS happening. The more 'what if' thinking you do the more easily you will fall for more diet and fitness scams. All this thinking does is empty your wallet and drain your confidence. In this weeks audio lesson we'll discuss the difference between 'what is' thinking and 'what if' thinking and how the diet and fitness industry uses 'what if' thinking scenarios to scare you into purchasing useless products to help you avoid a multitude of 'what if' scenarios that will never happen. John (What IS vs What IF transcription)

There is more diet and fitness information available today than there every has been, but that doesn't mean more people are actually getting into good shape than ever before. In fact the more 'information' you read about diet and fitness the less likely you are to actually take any action on it and start seeing any results. This is called "analysis paralysis". Getting caught up reading all the different marketing angles and claims about diet and fitness can quickly leave you in a paralyzed state with no idea what direction to go. The first step to changing your body (or making any real change in your life) is to take action, ANY action at all. The biggest hurdle is getting off of the sidelines and into the game. Once you've started to take action you will have a much better idea of where you next steps should be. In todays audio lesson we'll talk about: Why taking any action no matter how simple it is will produce far better results than trying to 'educate' yourself in any given field Why inaction produces more in action and how you can quickly become paralyzed. Why reading more and doing less is a recipe for failure. Why inaction leads to asking the wrong questions with lead you further away from the truth rather than closer. How taking positive action brings forth the right mindset and the a clearer vision of what is necessary to succeed. John (Action = "The Difference" Transcription)

The amount of muscle you can build is controlled by multiple factors, the two most important being your genetic starting point and your workout routine. Your age is the next most important factor. The specifics of your workout routine including the sets and reps and rest intervals play an important role in determining which routine will work best for you based on your current training status and your goals. Nutrition and supplementation plays a minor role in muscle building. Adequate calories and how much protein you eat daily are all that is typically needed to ensure maximum results from a muscle building program. In today's audio training lesson we'll discuss the major factors that contribute to your muscle building success. John (transcript: Insider Muscle Building)

Nutrition researchers are trying to determine what the best weight loss diet is, and in order to do this they must account for all the calories a person eats before they make any conclusions. This however is a bigger challenge than you might think. It has become apparent that people cannot accurately report how many calories they are eating on a regular basis. In fact chronic under-reporting of calories is one of the most common and pervasive issue in diet/health/fitness research. Whether it is due to embarrassment or lack of memory, people will simply get it wrong when they are asked to report how much they've eaten. This makes studying diet and weight loss almost impossible as there is no solid conclusions that we can make about dieting other than the fact that people won't admit what they've eaten. In this audio training session we'll discuss the issues with nutrition research and why the results are hard to measure. We'll also talk about the permission to be light, to wear a size medium shirt and the difference between shirt on big and shirt off big. (Download Transcription: "Problems Measuring Calories") [pdf] John

Working out with weights builds muscle mass, this we know for certain. The amount of muscle you can gain is what we don't know and it's very difficult to measure. Most supplements companies and fitness marketers will use a bodyweight claim to display increases in muscle mass. But is bodyweight is notoriously bad at predicting or displaying changes in muscle mass over the short term, and very limited over the long term as well. Many factors determine your bodyweight such as hydration status, the amount of time since your last meal, the amount of food mass in your stomach/intestines, fat mass. It's not uncommon for an average man to fluctuate between 5-7 pounds in a given day simply from food and liquid intake (and water and mass loss from sweating and just going to the bathroom to make a 'deposit') The large daily fluctuations your body can go through make it very difficult to detect much smaller changes in muscle mass. In other words, it's virtually impossible to measure a 3-4 pound gain in muscle over the course of a year or two if you daily bodyweight can change as much as 5-7 pounds (and thats assuming you don't gain or lose any fat mass at all). Unless you have access to a body composition lab (such as those found at a university) you'll only be left guessing at your muscle mass and change in muscle mass. For this reason I've developed a new muscle mass measurement tool that will allow you to determine your relative muscle mass. This tool will also allow you to track any changes in muscle mass (weather you gain or lose muscle). This is a new and more accurate predictor of muscle mass that corrects for fat mass, somatotype and changes in non-muscle lean mass...it's called the Muscle Index and it will be the new standard in muscle measurement. In todays podcast we discuss how the Muscle Index tool is built and why it's a better measurement than bodyweight or any other predictor of muscle mass. John (download transcript here)

The true stars of bodybuilding, pro and amateur sports and fitness competitions aren't the people, it's the drugs. Many top athletes, bodybuilders, fitness models and even celebrities are on some combination of various physique enhancing drugs. The following list is just an example of some of the drugs a typical bodybuilder might use to build muscle or reduce bodyfat. Oil based testosterone injectable Water based testosterone injectable Testosterone derivative tablets (dianabol, anadrol, anavar etc) Injectable testosterone derivatives (deca durabolin, winstrol, primobolan) Growth Hormone injection Insulin injection IGF-1 injection (insulin like growth factor) Oral clenbuterol tabs/liquid T3 (thyroid hormone) HCG (Human chorionic gonadotropin) Diuretics (oral and injectable) This is by no means a comprehensive list, but rather the most commonly used and popular ones. Bodybuilders are the extreme and set the stage for what the upper limit of use and abuse is. From there fitness/figure models, pro athletes and celebrities who use drugs will be using some lesser combination of the same drugs that bodybuilders use. This is the trickle down effect from the extreme. In todays podcast we discuss how pervasive drug use is in bodybuilding circles and how it's obscures our perception f what we think it an attainable ideal body shape, size and proportion. John P.S. For a good example of a steroid free bodybuilder vs a known steroid user check out this link: EUGEN SANDOW

When you first started working out you probably already had an image of the ideal body you were trying to build and it probably didn't look like a power lifter or a strongman. In fact it was probably a very specific looking body shape that involved powerful looking shoulders back and chest with a distinct taper to a tight waist. Most of us had a simple goal when we started working out, and that was simply to look better. Along the way we can easily get caught up in specific styles of training (athletic, functional, powerlifting, olympic style lifting etc) and lose sight of our original goal. Whether you understood it at the time or not you're first ideas of improving the look of your body probably revolved around improving your proportions and not just haphazardly trying to be bigger or thicker with no eye to the proportions. In this podcast we'll discuss how we all knew what we wanted when we first started working out (a better looking body) We'll also discuss how easy it is to get sidetracked and lose focus on why we started working out in the first place. Finally we remind you that size for the sake of size is no benefit aesthetically if it's not well proportioned. John

There are many factors that influence muscle growth including: Genetic predisposition Age Training Program Training Status (beginner vs advanced) Injuries Pain Tolerance Drug Use You'll notice that nutrition isn't one of the factors. Once you've hit your daily require of how much protein you need to gain muscle then there is little nutrition can do for muscle growth, but this fact is largely ignored by the supplement and bodybuilding community hence the 'eat to get big' mantra. In this podcast we'll discuss: What causes muscle growth The main drivers to muscle growth The misinterpretation of calories for muscle growth and the limited role nutrition plays. How to properly view muscle growth (balloons not bricks) John

Health and Fitness are poorly defined terms and can only really make sense when you apply your own personal definition. With that said there are general definitions that most people will accept as having at least something to do with both health and fitness. Health seems to have something to do with reducing risk of premature death and disease, namely having favorable blood markers for disease such as total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, HDL/LDL ratio, Triglycerides, glucose, insulin, blood pressure and heart rate. Beyond that, reduced stress and how you feel in general are probably the most important indicators of health. Fitness on the other hand seems to refer to movement and capacity to be active. So far there isn't one measurement that indicates health AND fitness, until now. I think the Adonis Index ratio might the one measurement that indicates both health and fitness. In recent years height to waist ratio has gained favor over BMI as a better indicator of health and disease risk for lifestyle disorders such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. But height to waist ratio doesn't say much about fitness. I think the addition of the shoulder measurement and thus the Adonis Index ratio is a more complete measurement of both health and fitness. Having and healthy and fit body is synonymous with having a body that other people will admire. In todays podcast we discuss: 1. What health means and how we measure it 2. What fitness means and how we measure it 3. What the look of a healthy body is 4. BMI vs Height to Waist Ratio vs Adonis Index Ratio as markers of health and fitness 5. A personal health perspective vs a global health perspective 6. What to do when you've made a big time change in your health and fitness John p.s. Here is the awesome thread in the forum that we talk about in the podcast (there are multiple pages, click through to the 2nd or 3rd page for the cool before and after's). p.p.s. (Brad edit) Something's up with the comments, I'll get them fixed today hopefully)

You most likely have multiple 'coaches' in your life that you refer to for diet/fitness advice, lifestyle advice, financial advice, career advice, academic advice and relationship advice. In some cases these could be friends and family who you trust, and in other cases they could be professionals that you follow/hire either online or in person. In the new digital world there are many people promoting themselves as coaches who may not be the right person for you to listen to. But how do you know the real coaches from the pretenders? In this podcast we discuss what makes up a good coach and how to tell if you're getting legitimate direction and coaching or if you're just being sold a story that does little more than separate you from your money while delivering limited results. John

The word "health" doesn't mean anything until you give it a definition. Your definition has to suit you and fit into your lifestyle. The diet, fitness and food industry try to sell their wares using 'health' as a claim. And if you don't have your working definition in place you could end up wasting a lot of time money and effort working towards someone else's definition of 'health'. Your workout and eating habits will only make sense once you've developed your own working definition of health. In this podcast we come up with a workable definition of health that seems to simplify the whole process of exercise and diet that also incorporates genetic fitness and physical attraction and the AI and VI ratios. John

The most important commodity in the new market isn't information, it's ATTENTION. Governments, private organizations, companies, friends, family and everyone in between are all vying for your attention. Your attention is the single most valuable thing you have and everybody wants it. Companies with a product to sell will pay millions of dollars to get just a few seconds of your attention during a television commercial, or a magazine ad etc... Politicians spend millions of dollars and travel the country coast to coast in order to get your attention to get your votes. Children throw fits and cry for attention. Friends and family will also compete for your attention. It's your most scare resource and the one of the most value to other people. Where you direct it will determine where your life goes. In this podcast we'll discuss how the new economy is the race to get and hold your attention and how you must control where you put your attention in order to line it up with your goals. John

Working out and dieting might be two of the only true experiments anyone will ever be involved in. This is interesting because you are both the experimenter and the subject. Most bodybuilders and fitness competitors have embraced the concept that their body is their ongoing experiment. They try new programs, chart their progress and make changes along the way. This isn't much different from how a real clinical trial would be performed. The only difference is that a real clinical trial ends within a few weeks or months. But your experiment with your body will last a lifetime so it's in your best interest to become a good scientist with your own body. In this podcast we'll discuss the concept of you being your own experiment of one. We'll talk about the difference between a prospective vs retrospective research and why you should do more of the former. We'll also discuss the concept of jumping in and getting your experiment going. In the spirit of this podcast I just did a mini experiment over the past 5 days and here are a few pics I took at the end of it. You can do whatever you want with your experiment. Just give something a try, track your progress, evaluate it, make adjustments and then get back to work. John