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Ask The Muscle Prof: 'How Should I Use Eccentric Training For Growth?'

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Q I’ve heard the eccentric phase of a lift is really important for growth. Should I slow the eccentric portion of the lift as much as possible to increase muscle mass and bust out of my plateau?

Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve been studying skeletal muscle growth. After decade or so, a PhD, and plenty of academic studies later, I can confidently say that scientists have still only scratched the surface as to what makes this elaborate process work. Conversely, they can’t say exactly what causes it to stop working, even though you are still training like you were when it was working.

Luckily, we learn more all the time. We know more than ever about the mechanisms which seem to be responsible for causing individuals to “plateau” when they were previously able to make gains so readily. Specifically, we’re pretty sure it has a lot to do with a type of cell in our body known as satellite cells.

These little growth bombs are ready and waiting in your body right now. I’m going to tell you how you can activate them through optimal eccentric loading, but also why it’s not a good idea to make the eccentric phase of your lifts longer than just a few seconds.

The Benefits of Eccentric Training

As many of you know, there are two active parts to a lift: the concentric (or lifting) phase, and the eccentric (or lowering) phase. Both phases trigger muscle growth, but sometimes they do it through different mechanisms; I discussed the four mechanisms in my Mass Class training article.

For example, when you lift the weight concentrically, you produce greater metabolic stress, which is why I advise people to emphasize the concentric when they are using certain styles of lifting such as blood flow restriction training.1

However, research has also shown that when you lengthen the muscle eccentrically, you can increase protein synthesis more than a concentric contraction.2 Why is this the case? For one, scientists have discovered in recent years that eccentric contractions release a chemical called phosphatidic acid, which encourages protein synthesis.3

There are two active parts to a lift: the concentric (or lifting) phase, and the eccentric (or lowering) phase.

My lab group recently conducted a study where we found that simply bathing muscle cells in phosphatidic acid made them increase in protein synthesis.4 To answer your next question: Yes, we also found that taking supplemental phosphatidic acid increased muscle growth.

But that chemical action is only one of the ways that eccentric training works. Another, as I mentioned earlier, is through the activation of satellite cells. These unique cells are located on the outside of muscles, and they respond to damage in their vicinity by transforming into immature muscle fibers. More specifically, they move to the damaged area and fuse to muscle, becoming a part of it.5

The result is increased muscle fiber size and the addition of the satellite cell’s nucleus to the muscle. The latter step is critical, because the nuclei in the muscle are primarily responsible for stimulating skeletal muscle protein synthesis and growth. The more nuclei you have, the greater your growth potential.

Sounds important, right? Sure enough, research has shown that individuals who plateau in their training can’t adequately activate satellite cells.6,7 To tap into this critical cell population for growth you have to maximize eccentric loading. So let’s get into how you can do that.

Find the Perfect Cadence

Research shows that faster speed eccentric contractions result in a release of more growth factors, more satellite cells, and greater protein synthesis than slow speed eccentric contractions.

Once people learn the growth power of eccentrics, their next step is often to slow the eccentric phase down as much as possible—sometimes 5 seconds or more—in hopes that it will lead to more growth. While this is logical, it actually doesn’t pan out.

Research shows that faster speed eccentric contractions result in a release of more growth factors, more satellite cells, and greater protein synthesis than slow speed eccentric contractions.8,9 Seems shocking but it’s true. Let me explain.

As many of you know, muscle tension occurs when the contractile proteins myosin and actin bind to each other or form what’s known as a “cross-bridge.” The more cross-bridges you utilize, the less tension any one cross-bridge will have to bear—and the lower the muscle damage will be.

The major downfall to slowing down your contractions to emphasize the eccentric contraction is that your body has more time to form cross-bridges. The result is less damage, lower protein synthesis and ultimately growth.

Thus, my advice is to control the eccentric contraction but not to slow it down much. If you are training arms, for example, take no more than 1-3 seconds to lower the weight.

How To Use Eccentric Overload

You may have heard that you’re stronger eccentrically than you can concentrically. It’s a great principle to know. So are you putting it into action?

When studies have tested lifters’ 1RM for concentric contractions and had them lift the same weight eccentrically, they found no differences in muscle growth between the contractions. Some studies indicated an advantage for the concentric contractions under these conditions!2,10

Thus, if you emphasize the eccentric contraction with the same weight you use for concentric contractions, you probably won’t see any added benefit over the concentric contraction. You have to go heavier!


Hamstring Curls

There are a number of ways to increase the eccentric load. The classic method is to use assisted negative reps, where you lift the weight yourself, and on the way down your partner presses down on the weight. A second way is to lift a weight with two limbs and lower it with one.

For example, if you’re doing hamstring curls with two legs on the way up, you can lower with only one leg.

Eccentric Training That Lives Up To The Hype

If all this talk about muscle damage has been enough to make you start feeling preemptive DOMS, you’re on the right track. This is advanced training material, and it’s not right for everybody. And even if it’s right for you, it’s not right all the time. So let’s recap and get your expectations in line.

  1. A major reason plateaus are reached is because individuals no longer are able to activate satellite cells. The inability to activate satellite cells appears to be activated through overloading the eccentric portion of the lift.

  2. In order to overload on the eccentric portion of the lift, use a controlled but relatively short eccentric phase of a lift, like 1-3 seconds maximum. Anything longer may hinder muscle damage and subsequent growth.

  3. Finally, assisted negative repetitions can optimize protein synthesis and muscle growth. However, it’s crucial that you periodize this method, because it will lead to substantial muscle damage. Utilize it no more than once per week for the body part that needs the most work.


References
  1. Yasuda T, et al. Effects of blood flow restricted low-intensity concentric or eccentric training on muscle size and strength. PLoS One. 2012;7(12):e52843.
  2. Eliasson J, et al. Maximal lengthening contractions increase p70 S6 kinase phosphorylation in human skeletal muscle in the absence of nutritional supply. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2006 Dec;291(6):E1197-205.
  3. O’Neil TK, et al. The role of phosphoinositide 3-kinase and phosphatidic acid in the regulation of mammalian target of rapamycin following eccentric contractions. J Physiol. 2009 Jul 15;587(Pt 14):3691-701.
  4. Joy JM, et al. Phosphatidic acid enhances mTOR signaling and resistance exercise induced hypertrophy. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2014 Jun 16;11:29.
  5. Rosenblatt JD, et al. Satellite cell activity is required for hypertrophy of overloaded adult rat muscle. Muscle Nerve. 1994 Jun;17(6):608-13.
  6. Bamman MM, et al. Cluster analysis tests the importance of myogenic gene expression during myofiber hypertrophy in humans. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2007 Jun;102(6):2232-9.
  7. Petrella JK, et al. Potent myofiber hypertrophy during resistance training in humans is associated with satellite cell-mediated myonuclear addition: a cluster analysis. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2008 Jun;104(6):1736-42.
  8. Moore DR, et al. Myofibrillar and collagen protein synthesis in human skeletal muscle in young men after maximal shortening and lengthening contractions. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2005 Jun;288(6):E1153-9.
  9. Shepstone TN, et al. Short-term high- vs. low-velocity isokinetic lengthening training results in greater hypertrophy of the elbow flexors in young men. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2005 May;98(5):1768-76.
  10. Mayhew TP, et al. Muscular adaptation to concentric and eccentric exercise at equal power levels. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1995 Jun;27(6):868-73.

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Ask The Muscle Prof: 'How Should I Use Eccentric Training For Growth?'


Your Brain On Magic Mushrooms Is Actually Similar To Dreaming, Brain Scan Study Shows

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Fruit bodies of the hallucinogenic mushroom Psilocybe semilanceata.

Fruit bodies of the hallucinogenic mushroom Psilocybe semilanceata.

LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists studying the effects of the psychedelic chemical in magic mushrooms have found the human brain displays a similar pattern of activity during dreams as it does during a mind-expanding drug trip.

Psychedelic drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms can profoundly alter the way we experience the world, but little is known about what physically happens in the brain.

In a study published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, researchers examined the brain effects of psilocybin, the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms, using data from brain scans of volunteers who had been injected with the drug.

“A good way to understand how the brain works is to perturb the system in a marked and novel way. Psychedelic drugs do precisely this and so are powerful tools for exploring what happens in the brain when consciousness is profoundly altered,” said Dr Enzo Tagliazucchi, who led the study at Germany’s Goethe University.

Magic mushrooms grow naturally around the world and have been widely used since ancient times for religious rites and also for recreation.

British researchers have been exploring the potential of psilocybin to alleviate severe forms of depression in people who don’t respond to other treatments, and obtained some positive results from early-stage experiments.

In the United States, scientists have seen positive results in trials using MDMA, a pure form of the party drug ecstasy, in treating post-traumatic stress disorder.

DREAM-LIKE STATE

People who use psychedelic drugs often describe “expanded consciousness”, including vivid imagination and dream-like states.

To explore the biological basis of these experiences, Tagliazucchi’s team analyzed brain imaging data from 15 volunteers who were given psilocybin intravenously while they lay in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner.

The volunteers were scanned under the influence of psilocybin and when they had been injected with a placebo, or dummy drug. The researchers looked at fluctuations in what is called the blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal, which tracks activity levels in the brain.

They found that with psilocybin, activity in the more primitive brain network linked to emotional thinking became more pronounced, with several parts of the network – such as the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex – active at the same time. This pattern is similar to when people are dreaming.

They also found that volunteers on psilocybin had more disjointed and uncoordinated activity in the brain network that is linked to high-level thinking, including self-consciousness.

“People often describe taking psilocybin as producing a dreamlike state and our findings have, for the first time, provided a physical representation for the experience in the brain,” said Robin Carhart-Harris of Imperial College London’s department of medicine, who also worked on the study.

“I was fascinated to see similarities between the pattern of brain activity in a psychedelic state and the pattern of brain activity during dream sleep, especially as both involve the primitive areas of the brain linked to emotions and memory.”

(Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Your Brain On Magic Mushrooms Is Actually Similar To Dreaming, Brain Scan Study Shows

The Human Brain Has An On-Off Switch For Consciousness, Scientists Say

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Turning off the mind could be as easy as flicking a switch.

That’s what doctors at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., inadvertently discovered while evaluating a 54-year-old woman with epilepsy. The researchers realized that by using electrodes to deliver tiny jolts of electricity to a particular region of the woman’s brain, they could control her consciousness almost as if they had an on-off switch.

While neurologists have in the past used electrodes to evaluate the function of various brain regions, this was the first time such a reaction had been observed.

Dr. Mohamad Koubeissi and his team observed the phenomenon while mapping electrodes implanted in the woman’s brain as part of an attempt to determine the origin of her seizures. They activated the electrodes one by one, sending a pulse of electricity to various brain areas. When they stimulated a sheet-like area of neurons called the claustrum, Koubeissi noticed something odd: rather than responding to commands, the woman was just staring blankly into space.

“The patient had a complete arrest of volitional behavior,” Koubeissi told The Huffington Post, adding that when they stopped stimulating the region, “she had absolutely no idea what had happened.”

To confirm that the patient had indeed lost consciousness rather than just temporarily losing her ability to talk and move, the team asked the patient to repeat a word and snap her fingers before the stimulation began. Each time the electrode was turned on, the team observed the same result — the woman slowly lost consciousness and became unable to recall what had just happened.

“Whatever we stimulated is a key component in the networks that constitute consciousness,” Koubeissi told HuffPost Science.

Koubeissi said he’d like to do more research on this brain region but acknowledged that that’s difficult to do because implanting electrodes into the brain solely for the purpose of research is out of the question unless a specific clinical trial has been approved.

Koubeissi said he hoped to do similar studies on other patients with epilepsy who have electrodes implanted near the claustrum. In the meantime, he’s using the knowledge he’s gained from the case study to investigate whether stimulation of the claustrum, or a neighboring region, reduces seizures in animals.

The research was published online and is scheduled for publication in the August 2014 issue of Epilepsy & Behavior.

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The Human Brain Has An On-Off Switch For Consciousness, Scientists Say

Muscle Mass Index Vs. BMI: Build Muscle To Live Longer

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If you have been searching for the fountain of youth, I have some good news: it’s been found! No, it’s not hidden in some Florida swamp, it’s actually somewhere between the dumbbells and the pull-up bar. Nope, I’m not kidding: The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has published some exciting new research that suggests older adults with more muscle mass are less likely to die prematurely than those with less muscle.3

These findings add to a growing pile of evidence that overall body composition is a better predictor of all-cause mortality than overall weight or body mass index (BMI).3 So what does this mean for my fellow meatheads? Muscle mass seems to be an important predictor of life expectancy, and maintaining lean muscle mass well beyond middle age can increase your life span!3

A Massive Study

Total body mass includes both fat and muscle. Each of these tissue types has a different effect on the metabolism, so researchers at UCLA tested the hypothesis that greater muscle mass—and the metabolic stimulus it provides—is associated with a lower mortality rate in older adults.1

Study subjects were measured using bioelectrical impedance. Because muscle and fat have different water content, electrical currents flow through them at different rates. Bioelectrical impedance is the measure of how much fat or muscle mass a person has based on the speed of those electrical currents.

“Muscle mass seems to be an important predictor of life expectancy, and maintaining lean muscle mass well beyond middle age can increase your life span!”

Based on the results, researchers calculated each subject’s muscle mass relative to his or her height. This value is called a muscle mass index, defined as muscle mass divided by height squared. In 1988-1994, 3,659 people—males over 55 and females over 65—were surveyed for their muscle mass index. In 2004, researchers determined how many individuals had died from natural causes and correlated it with their muscle mass index.3

The results were clear: People with more muscle mass were less likely to die of natural causes. Total mortality was significantly lower in the 25 percent of individuals with the greatest muscle mass index compared to the 25 percent of individuals with the lowest.1

The findings of this study are significant because they reveal a glaring issue in how the medical community measures health and longevity: BMI.

The BMI Lie

Traditional criteria for obesity and obesity-associated health risks are calculated using the body mass index (BMI). These guidelines are faulty and wildly inaccurate. BMI is calculated from a person’s height and weight, defined as mass in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. In no way does BMI calculate a person’s body fat directly.2

Imagine a man who is 5-foot-9 and weighs 260 pounds. At that height and weight, the man would have a BMI greater than 40, placing him in the third and most severe tier of obesity. What the BMI doesn’t tell you is that this man could be a professional bodybuilder on stage at the Olympia. He has low body fat and has a lean mass percentage bigger than you or I could even imagine. This BMI error doesn’t occur only in professional bodybuilders . Well-muscled people are often given higher BMIs and the subsequent “medical” diagnosis of being overweight or obese.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and health care organizations use BMI to assess individuals because it is inexpensive and easy to calculate,2 not because it is the most effective method to predict true body composition or health risks. Diagnosing a person as obese or overweight should come from the percentage of fat mass and muscle mass a person has. It’s a much more accurate and effective way to measure health risk.

What It All Means For You

This study demonstrates the importance of muscle mass in overall life expectancy and highlights the necessity to look beyond total body mass when assessing health.1 “In other words, the greater your muscle mass, the lower your risk of death,” says Dr. Arun Karlamangla, the study’s co-author. “Thus, rather than worrying about weight or body mass index, we should be trying to maximize and maintain muscle mass.”3

Building muscle mass is important in decreasing metabolic health risks.3 Therefore, adding some muscle and increasing your BMI by increasing your overall body weight could actually improve your health and decrease your risk of premature death.

“Building muscle mass is important in decreasing metabolic health risks.”

Considering the support of these findings, measurements of muscle mass relative to body height should be added to criteria health care professionals use to diagnose and treat patients.3 Dr. Preethi Srikanthan, lead researcher in the study, says, “So many studies on the mortality impact of obesity focus on BMI. Our study indicates that clinicians need to be focusing on ways to improve body composition, rather than on BMI alone.”3

The next time you step on the scale and worry about what the resulting number means to your health, think about the composition of your overall weight. If you don’t already know it, get your body fat percentage tested by a qualified trainer and, most importantly, start building more muscle!

REFERENCES

  1. American Journal of Medicine, The. Muscle Mass Index As a Predictor of Longevity in Older Adults. Volume 127, Issue 6, Pages 547–553, June 2014
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. About BMI for Adults. 9/13/2011. Web. Acessed 5/29/2014
  3. Rivero, Enrique. Older adults: Build muscle and you’ll live longer. UCLA Health Systems. 3/13/2014. Web. Accessed 5/29/2014



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Things To Do In Lincoln, Nebraska… And They’re Free

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln may be famous for Husker football, but Nebraska’s capital city also welcomes visitors with free attractions for history buffs and families on a budget.

Here are five free things to see and do in Lincoln.

THE NEBRASKA CAPITOL

Few places speak to Nebraska’s independent spirit as well as the state Capitol. Home to the nation’s only one-house, nonpartisan Legislature, the Capitol is famous for its unusual design: It was the first to break from the traditional, “federal dome” look that most state capitols adopted. The 400-foot (122-meter) tower stands high over the Plains, with an observation deck that offers sweeping views of Lincoln. It’s the second-tallest state capitol in the nation, behind Louisiana’s.

The Capitol was built in stages between 1922 and 1932, but the work was halted because of the Depression. Just this year, lawmakers approved $2.5 million to place a fountain in each of the Capitol’s four open-air courtyards — the final, unfinished feature envisioned by architect Bertram Goodhue. The project is set for completion by 2017, when Nebraska celebrates its 150th anniversary a state.

THE RAILYARD

Amid the restaurants and bars, Lincoln’s new entertainment district offers free entertainment for families and young professionals.

Admission is free for the district’s new, outdoor ice-skating rink that’s open during the winter months (there’s a fee to rent skates). In warmer seasons, the rink is converted into a public courtyard. Visitors can watch movies, television shows and sporting events on the Cube — a set of digital screens perched on a building over the courtyard. The larger, 35-by-15-foot (10-by-5-meter) screen faces the courtyard, while a second 14-by-15-foot (4-by-5-meter) screen faces Canopy Street.

The Railyard sits across the street from the new Pinnacle Bank Arena, in the city’s popular Haymarket District. The Haymarket also hosts a regular Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings, usually from May to mid-October. It’s all less than a mile from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s main campus and Memorial Stadium, where the Husker football team plays.

PIONEERS PARK NATURE CENTER

Bison, elk and white-tailed deer roam the grounds at the Pioneers Park Nature Center. The 668-acre (270-hectare) park in southwest Lincoln surrounds visitors with nature and a sense of life on the Plains: Eight miles (13 kilometers) of hiking trails weave through a mixture of prairie, woodlands, wetlands and streams. A wildlife preserve gives visitors the chance to see owls, wild turkeys, a bald eagle, and other animals.

The park also includes hands-on exhibits for children and a variety of gardens. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Fees are charged for birthday parties and special events.

NICHE MUSEUMS

Lincoln offers a surprising mix of free museums, exploring everything from roller skates to the history of Germans from Russia.

Consider the Frank H. Woods Telephone Museum, which appeared briefly in the 2008 movie, “Yes Man,” with Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel. The museum features more than 500 telephones and related items, in a collection that stretches back to the early 1900s.

Or swing by the National Museum of Roller Skating, which chronicles the history of skates from the 1800s to the modern roller derby. The American Historical Society of Germans from Russia provides a look into the lives of German settlers in the Russian empire and their descendants.

HOMESTEAD NATIONAL MONUMENT OF AMERICA

The Homestead National Monument of America pays tribute to the 1862 law that helped populate the western United States. Located near Beatrice, Nebraska, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Lincoln, the monument includes some of the first acres successfully claimed under the law. The site also offers a heritage center that explores the law’s impact on America, a tall grass prairie, a restored cabin from 1867 and the Freeman School, which provides a look at historic schools on the frontier.

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Things To Do In Lincoln, Nebraska… And They’re Free

McDonald’s CEO ‘Under Siege’ At Home And Abroad

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By Lisa Baertlein

Aug 3 (Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp CEO Don Thompson sure could use a break.

The head of the world’s biggest restaurant chain, who for much of his two years at the helm has been battling to spark sales growth in the United States and Europe, got battered by headline-grabbing bad news in late July.

In the final days of the month, its China business was hit with a food-safety scare involving a key supplier; the chain got ensnared in the West’s sanctions standoff with Russia; burger flippers at U.S. restaurants claimed an incremental win from the National Labor Relations Board in their fight to hold McDonald’s responsible for the actions of franchisees; and, a Texas jury slapped the company with a $27 million verdict. Add to all that its results showed second-quarter profit dropped more than expected.

“They’re under siege on three continents,” said Howard Penney, restaurant analyst at Hedgeye Risk Management, an investment research firm.

To be sure, the company’s famous name and the ubiquity of its restaurants worldwide help to fuel the media storm, said Penney: “McDonald’s is a pawn in many instances around the world. It’s an easy target.”

Such upheavals are not uncommon for McDonald’s and other global power houses, including Coca-Cola Co and Wal-Mart Stores Inc, experts said, though perhaps not quite so many in such a short period.

In a statement a McDonald’s spokeswoman said: “In the last few weeks, we’ve seen issues in various parts of the world which directly or indirectly affect our brand and others. We have 35,000 McDonald’s restaurants in 120 countries, and skilled professional communications teams in every area of the world.”

She said that dealing with a 24/7 news cycle around the world is par for the course, and the communications teams address such issues so that the company can keep its focus on serving customers.

Thompson was not made available for comment.

DEFAULT BRAND

Analysts and investors said the latest, largely external events appear to pose manageable risk to McDonald’s profits, but they are a headache at a time when the company is grappling with intense competition, shifting consumer tastes and service slow-downs stemming from the menu additions of everything from salads and wraps to lattes and smoothies aimed at broadening its audience and boosting sales.

Branding expert Robert Passikoff, said McDonald’s needs to find a way to stand out from the crowd.

“McDonald’s has reached the point where it’s become a default brand. It’s there. That’s it,” said Passikoff, president of Brand Keys.

Shares in McDonald’s are up less than 7 percent since Thompson took the helm on July 1, 2012, lagging the S&P 500’s gain of nearly 42 percent in that period.

Investors, analysts and franchisees are clamoring for the company to stop trying to be “all things to all people”. They want it to simplify its unwieldy menu and point to the success of rivals like Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc and In-N-Out Burger, which have won passionate fans by selling just a few items.

McDonald’s was caught up in the latest China food safety scare after a July 20 television expose showed workers allegedly mishandling meat at Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd, a factory owned by OSI Group LLC, a major supplier to the chain.

When the story broke, McDonald’s China business had been rebounding from the double whammy of a food safety scare and a bird flu outbreak that crushed sales in 2013.

McDonald’s roughly 2,000 restaurants in China suffered meat shortages after it ended its relationship with OSI China. Executives from the chain’s long-struggling Japanese unit, McDonald’s Holdings Co Ltd, who were forced to find alternate chicken McNugget supplies, said the scare sent sales down as much as 20 percent.

RUSSIA CONCERN

Seattle-based portfolio manager Bill Smead, whose firm Smead Capital Management holds nearly 516,000 shares in McDonald’s, took news of the China food scandal in stride.

“We assume that something is going to go amazingly haywire with companies in China,” said Smead, who added that he has ceased adding to McDonald’s holdings while the company works through its “tribulation” period.

About 15 percent of McDonald’s operating profit comes from the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa unit that includes China and Japan, said Bernstein Research analyst Sara Senatore.

The bigger concern, she said, are McDonald’s troubles in Russia, where the company has about 400 restaurants.

Against the backdrop of the political tussle over U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia because of Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine, Russia’s chief sanitary inspector Anna Popova on July 25 accused the company of violations “which put the product quality and safety of the entire McDonald’s chain in doubt.”

Europe contributes about 35 percent of McDonald’s operating profit. The company does not break out country-specific contributions, but Russia “up until recently had been one of the stronger markets for them in Europe,” Senatore said.

Meanwhile at home, the troubles also piled on.

McDonald’s workers’ union-backed fight for better wages and working conditions scored points when the general counsel for the U.S. National Labor Relations Board said in a letter made public on July 29 that McDonald’s, not just its franchisees, can be held liable in complaints that the company violated employee rights.

David Hess, associate professor of business law at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, said the NLRB attorney’s finding is just an early step in what is usually a long process.

As for the $27 million jury verdict awarded to family members of two teenagers who died following a beating in a McDonald’s restaurant in Texas, legal experts said that is expected to fail on appeal.

McDonald’s executives have promised to boost sales over the next 12 to 18 months by doing things like focusing on value, digital advertising and the quality of its food.

As for Thompson, Penney predicted that he will survive the current crises and gets more time to fix the longer-term problems, at least into 2015. “I don’t think he’s going anywhere. It’s too soon,” he said. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Jilian Mincer and Martin Howell)

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McDonald’s CEO ‘Under Siege’ At Home And Abroad

3 Fats That Can Help You Lose Weight

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Once deemed the ultimate health pariah, dietary fat has mercifully experienced a renaissance. Research continues to show that, without it, you have a fat chance (pun intended) of reaching optimal health. And for the physique-minded, there are some fats that appear to improve fitness and help obliterate that doughy stuff covering up your six-pack. These three groups of fats, which can be obtained in the grocery store and the supplement counter, are not to be taken lightly.

1 EPA and DHA

Ever since the original studies conducted on Greenland’s Inuit population showed that members of the ethnic group have historically healthy hearts despite a general dearth of fruits and vegetables in their diets, research has piled up demonstrating that the omega-3 fatty acids naturally present in fish oil—eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)—have a wide range of health benefits.*These include supporting heart, joint, brain, immune, and eye health. It’s thought that their superpowers largely stem from the ability to support a healthy inflammation response in the body.*

But these “phat” fats help gym rats in other ways, too. Studies conducted at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis) suggest that EPA and DHA have anabolic properties in that they encourage muscle protein synthesis.* Further, a 2014 study in the “Journal of Sports Science & Medicine” discovered that lifters who supplemented with these omega-3s experienced less muscle soreness in response to training.

Studies suggest that EPA and DHA have anabolic properties in that they encourage muscle protein synthesis.

Research also suggests that EPA and DHA can improve blood flow to muscles during exercise, which could bring about improvements in performance.* Through their role in supporting a healthy inflammation response and fending off insulin resistance, as well as altering the metabolism, higher levels of EPA and DHA have been linked to less body fat accumulation, thereby helping to improve your buff-to-blubber ratio.

Eat Up

Besides the whale blubber enjoyed by the Inuit, fish species with the most EPA and DHA include herring, rainbow trout, Arctic char, sablefish, anchovies, salmon, mackerel, and sardines. You can also find some of these fatty acids in grass-fed meats, organic milk, omega-3 enhanced eggs, and certain fortified foods.

Some plant foods such as walnuts, flax, hemp, canola oil, and chia contain omega-3 fat in the form of alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), which can be converted by the body to EPA and DHA, but science shows that this conversion is fairly low.

These foods can provide an added omega-3 boost and deliver many other body-friendly nutrients, but fish remains the most potent source of EPA and DHA.

Supplement Savvy

Few people eat enough fatty fish, making a fish oil supplement a good insurance policy for many fitness enthusiasts. When comparing supplements, don’t just look at the total fish oil content. Whether you choose a pill or liquid, find a product that contains at least 500 mg combined EPA and DHA on the nutrition facts panel. Taken once daily, this will give you the optimal amount of omega-3s. If you don’t like the fishy taste, opt for those with natural flavors like lemon or orange.

Fortunately, contamination isn’t a concern. Consumerlab.com, which conducts independent supplement testing, didn’t find significant amounts of mercury or other contaminants in a wide range of omega-3 supplements they put to the test.

2 Conjugated Linoleic Acid

Accumulating evidence suggests that conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), an omega-6 fatty acid, is proving to be an important ally in the battle of the bulge. Case in point: In a recent Spanish study, volunteers who consumed milk that was enhanced with 3 grams of CLA daily for six months experienced a greater drop in body fat mass and waist circumference than those who drank milk that was enriched with 3 grams of olive oil.*

CLA appears to take part in a multi-pronged attack on flab by reducing synthesis of fat cells, altering genes involved in fat accumulation and supporting insulin sensitivity.* CLA can also increase the rate at which you burn fat during exercise, which can have beneficial impacts on body composition and raise muscular endurance during workouts.

Accumulating evidence suggests that CLA, an omega-6 fatty acid, is proving to be an important ally in the battle of the bulge.

A recent investigation in the “Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research” found that supplementing with CLA may also boost your testosterone. The investigators reported that subjects who took 6 grams of CLA daily had higher levels of testosterone in response to resistance training than when they took a placebo. Since testosterone is a major anabolic hormone, this outcome suggests that CLA can help rev up muscular growth.*

What’s more, a 2014 study by the white coats at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln found that six weeks of CLA supplementation, when paired with regular exercise, was more effective at supporting healthy blood triglyceride levels than when exercise was paired with a placebo. This is not the only study to show that CLA can help you maintain heart health by improving blood fat numbers and supporting a healthy inflammation response in the body.*

Eat Up

The primary dietary sources of CLA are meat and dairy. Sadly, a major consequence of the industrialization of our food and the push toward lower-fat animal-based foods is that the amount of CLA found in milk and steak has diminished greatly in recent decades. You can fight back by splurging on pasture-raised dairy and meats.

Researchers at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom determined that milk from cows raised using organic methods that included pasture feeding had 60 percent more CLA than milk from conventionally reared cattle, which includes stuffing them with plenty of grain. Dairy sourced from sheep and goats—especially if the animals grazed on grass—has also been shown to deliver healthy amounts of CLA.

Supplement Savvy

Because of its scarcity in the modern food chain, supplementing with CLA is the best way to help give your physique a glance-worthy appearance. Try taking 1-3 grams of CLA twice daily with meals.

Keep in mind that it’ll likely take a few weeks before you witness any benefits. Among the types of CLA looked at in research, the cis-9, trans-11, cis-12, and trans-10 forms are the most intensively studied.

3 Medium-Chain Triglycerides

Who thought you could eat fat to burn fat? It may sound paradoxical, but some evidence suggests that medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) can enhance the body’s fat-burning potential and lead to improvements in body composition (ratio of fat to lean body mass).

Here’s an example: An “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” study that administered 4-5 teaspoons of medium-chain oil or olive oil daily to subjects for four months determined that those consuming MCTs lost more bodyweight and fat mass than those who consumed standard olive oil.

MCTs can enhance the body’s fat-burning potential and lead to improvements in body composition.

The unusual chemical structure of MCTs allows them to be absorbed from the digestive tract intact where they’re used for energy production in the liver, meaning it’s less likely they’ll be stored as body fat compared to other dietary fats.

MCTs appear to offer a two-pronged approach to fat loss: They’re minimally stored as adipose—body fat—and they contribute to elevated fat-burning metabolism. Research also indicates they may support insulin sensitivity, which can help keep the flab monster at bay.*

Eat Up

Butter, coconut oil, and red palm oil are going to be your primary dietary sources for MCTs. Both coconut oil and red palm oil can be used for cooking in place of other oils, such as for sauteing meats and baking.

Supplement Savvy

As a dietary supplement, take 1-2 tablespoons purified liquid MCT oil 2-3 times daily. It’s easy to blend MCT oil into protein shakes and even salad dressings.

It’s vital to remember, however, that no amount of MCT is going to make up for a lousy diet and turn a donkey into a racehorse. If you don’t eat clean overall, the chances of shedding the fat—supplementation or not—are poor.

Sources
  1. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/93/2/402.short
  2. http://www.jssm.org/research.php?id=jssm-13-151.xml
  3. http://www.resmedjournal.com/article/S0954-6111(10)00298-2/fulltext
  4. http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2012/06000/Effect_of_Conjugated_Linoleic_Acid_on_Testosterone.29.aspx
  5. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jsfa.3504/abstract
  6. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/87/3/621.abstract?sid=626a6f2d-e8a6-432c-baee-425db3e43fe0

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3 Fats That Can Help You Lose Weight

Make Twice The Gains With The Hodgetwins Workout!

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Keith and Kevin Hodge, better known as “the Hodgetwins” on their YouTube channel TwinMuscleWorkout, specialize in a unique brand of fitness advice that’s quickly turning the duo’s videos into cult classics, but not because they have big production values of fitness systems like P90X, or huge special effects budgets.

Think of them as the “Blair Witch Project” of the fitness world—original, street, and no-holds-barred. If you want someone to weigh in on just about any topic with unabashed honesty peppered with boundless profanity, then theirs is the most honest channel on the internet. It’s no-bullshit fitness advice that’s entertaining and rock-solid, but also includes more comments and stories about life in general.

The twins begin each broadcast by taking extreme pauses and making faces at the screen, which sets the mood for the antics that follow. Their charisma and wit is infectious, but the underpinning theme is an ambition to help people and promote the healthy lifestyle they so obviously live and breathe. But this path to success wasn’t the way people traditionally achieve it.

“We always say we took the long route into our careers in fitness and entertainment,” they explain. “In 2008, we uploaded our first video with absolutely no idea it would become the start of new careers for us. We had this dream of making people laugh while inspiring them to live healthier lives, but didn’t quite know how to achieve that and earn a living. One day at work, Keith had this idea that we should quit our jobs to do YouTube videos full time, and so we did.

“We had this dream of making people laugh while inspiring them to live healthier lives.”

“Our first channel was just a comedic commentary channel where we gave our views of current events, and it did well. Next came advice channels, at the urging of our new fans, but our fitness channel is really where it all took off for us. We were very interested in health, but we first had to answer our harshest critic, which at the time was the mirror.

“Neither of us liked how we looked or felt, and we knew we weren’t at our optimum health. We started working out to improve our own fitness levels, and took our viewers along for the ride. If someone had told us back then that we’d be doing this, we wouldn’t have believed them.”

It’s abundantly clear that the twins are now doing their dream job, with explosive career prospects on the horizon. They’re currently developing their own TV show, which has afforded them the opportunity to work with several comedians they’ve always admired.

They’ve also launched a clothing brand (officialhodgetwins.com), but their main ambition is to meet their fans in person—a testament to their charismatic personalities. But before you head to YouTube to get your fix of their videos, here is a behind-the-scenes look at their training, motivations and eating philosophies.

Routine Results

When it comes to building muscle, change gets gains. In fact, trying a new workout every 4-8 weeks and taking rest weeks is a time-honored practice among lifters. This periodized approach is the key to long-term exercise success and avoiding overtraining.

No matter how much you switch up your training, there’s often a program that works best for your particular body type. The Hodges’ physiques are no exception.

“No matter how much you switch up your training, there’s often a program that works best for your particular body type.”

“Working each body part twice per week using a rep range of 5-8 reps for compound movements, such as squats, deadlift and bench presses, and 8-12 reps for isolation exercises, such as concentration curls and triceps pushdowns, seems to be the formula we’ve had the most success with,” they explain. “Plus, we don’t train to failure.”

This notion might go against the mantra of yesteryear’s bodybuilders, but research is lending plenty of credence to it. A study in the “Journal of Applied Physiology” had one group of athletes train to failure and the other train to nonfailure. At the end of six weeks, there was no significant difference between the gains made by either group. Yep, that’s right: all that extra effort for no additional reward, so save your breath and listen to the Hodge wisdom.

This was actually echoed by further research at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, where it was discovered that lifting less weight more times is just as effective for building muscle as lifting with heavy weights. Plus you’re probably less likely to get injured.

Eating Smart

The Hodge twins often run cooking segments—diet has always formed a huge part of their broadcasts—answering questions from viewers and showcasing the best foods for building muscle. That said, some of the broadcasts have explained how to eat a post-workout meal at McDonalds—yep, we’ve all been there.

But despite the odd indulgence, their strategy is quite traditional while being unique. “We eat 120-140 grams of protein a day,” says Kevin. “I don’t get a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight because I weigh 206 pounds. That’s way too much protein because your colon and kidneys are getting a pounding. I eat 2,500 calories a day to get both stronger and bigger, because I know how my body runs.

“We eat 120-140 grams of protein a day. I don’t get a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight because I weigh 206 pounds. That’s way too much protein because your colon and kidneys are getting a pounding.”

“Find the calories you need to maintain growth, and then make sure you have enough protein. Some days it’s real easy to get carbs because they’re in everything, and in one meal you can consume all your fats for the day.

“There ain’t nothing wrong with tracking your nutrients, but we ain’t be doing all that. I eat what the fuck I want to eat wherever I want to eat: Taco Bell, KFC, Chilis—whatever.

“We eat well, as long as we’re getting all the calories. If you find your own way of eating that fits your lifestyle, you’ll make all kinds of gains. I count my calories and make sure I get my protein. You can’t do a bulking routine for the rest of your life or you’ll get heart disease—you need to find how much food you need to maintain.”

Though it might seem a little unconventional, their results do speak for themselves and they do offer a few golden rules for eating to look good.

  • Rule 1: Protein sources should be lean cuts of beef, chicken and eggs.
  • Rule 2: Ideal carb sources are rice, potatoes, legumes and vegetables.
  • Rule 3: Eat home-cooked meals and healthy choices from restaurants as well.
  • Rule 4: When reducing their weight, the twins eat 1,800-2,000 calories daily.
  • Rule 5: They restrict carbohydrates to 50 grams or less 2-3 days a week.
  • Rule 6: Eat up to 4-6 to six small meals per day.

Opinions That Matter

The fitness industry can be a fickle workplace and not without elements that can kick your blood pressure up a notch. “One of the things we don’t like about the fitness business is dealing with some of the egos where people think they are better than others because their fitness level may be better at the moment,” the twins explain. “It’s discouraging to people still trying to obtain their best personal fitness level.”

Getting started on your journey is far more important than posturing about how good you can or should be. In fact, research at Michigan State University found that athletes report more life-skill and character development when coaches place greater emphasis on self-improvement rather than winning alone.

“Getting started on your journey is far more important than posturing about how good you can or should be.”

So even though the Hodge twins have a tough-as-nails veneer, on the inside it’s clear they genuinely care about their supporters, and try to tailor things to each individual as much as possible.

“The one-size-fits-all mentality is another one of our pet hates,” they explain. “We are all different, and everyone’s body reacts differently to different exercises and nutrition, volume, and rep ranges. What may work for you may not work for someone else. We are very clear about that in our advice to people.

“Sometimes you have to try a number of different approaches or a combination of routines to reach your fitness goals.”

Though genetics is a fledgling science, it is beginning to answer why this phenomenon stops some people from maxing out their T-shirt sleeves no matter how many curls they do.

Some people respond very well to weight training, some respond a little, and others don’t respond at all, found research in “Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.” Using the same training program, the worst responders lost 2 percent of their muscle mass and didn’t gain any strength, while the best responders gained 59 percent more muscle and increased their strength by 250 percent. Those staggering differences beg the question: How likely are you to draw the genetic short straw?

Well, research in the “Journal of Applied Physiology” found 26 percent of people gained no brawn at all after a month-long weight-training program. However, that does not mean that a quarter of all lifters are destined to a lifetime of spaghetti arms. The nonresponders simply didn’t react to that kind of weight-training protocol, so take the twins’ advice, mix it up, and see what works best for you.

“The nonresponders simply didn’t react to that kind of weight-training protocol, so take the twins’ advice, mix it up, and see what works best for you.”

Living The Dream

Though the Hodges often project an air of anger, this is usually applied for comedic effect, because it’s abundantly clear they love what they do.

“Our fans not only inspire us, but they are also the real source of our credibility,” they explain. “We constantly receive before and after photos from our fans that show us exactly what impact we’ve had on helping them reach their fitness goals and optimum health.

“Behind the personas are two guys with some serious fitness chops.”

“It is life-changing for them, so it’s personal for us. It’s why we do what we do, the way we do it. We don’t sugarcoat anything, and give them the same advice we follow on our own fitness journeys.”

This is what separates the twins from other fitness channels—the personal touch and willingness to poke fun at themselves—but it’s not all jokes. Behind the personas are two guys with some serious fitness chops.

“We are both International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) certified personal trainers,” the twins say. “It was important to us both to become certified because we do take fitness seriously. We wanted to have access to the best information, and so we’re constantly doing research and updating our knowledge on what’s new in fitness and nutrition.”

While the twins don’t deliver information in textbook-boring drone fashion, you can still take their knowledge and advice very seriously.

Hodge Twins’ Exercise Routine

21s Technique: 7 reps of top half of ROM, 7 reps of bottom half ROM, and 7 reps full ROM

Rest Abs

Day off, then repeat the split.



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Make Twice The Gains With The Hodgetwins Workout!


Ask The Muscle Prof: What Training Technique Produces The Craziest Muscle Growth?

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Q What Training Technique Produces The Craziest Muscle Growth?

My entire adult life has been dedicated to finding the holy grail of muscle growth. I’ve read thousands of research papers and countless books on the topic, and I’ve spent over a decade slaving in the lab trying to scope out new techniques—and classic ones—that bodybuilders can add to their toolbox. So I can think of a few candidates off the top of my head.

But here’s a surprise: Out of all the papers I’ve read, the most extreme growth response was from a study I saw all the way back in high school. The author of that paper was Dr. Jose Antonio, a man who played a large part in inspiring me to pursue a career researching hypertrophy.

Through a unique approach to stretching, Dr. Antonio induced jaw-dropping levels of growth in animals, and my lab at the University of Tampa has recently striven to—you guessed it!—optimize this technique for bodybuilders.

Get ready to stretch both your mind and your muscles!

The swollest quail in the nest

When muscles grow, they do so through one of two mechanisms: either by making existing muscle fibers bigger, or through the addition of new muscle fibers.2 Dr. Antonio’s research was primarily centered on the second method, which is known as hyperplasia.1

While the first method of growth is more or less uniformly known and accepted by scientists, the second method has been more controversial. There are two proposed mechanisms through which individuals achieve hyperplasia, or add new muscle fibers. The first mechanism is when existing muscle fibers split. The second is when your body activates specialized cells known as satellite cells.2 The satellite cells then divide and combine to form new muscle fibers. Both of these methods require extreme mechanical stress and damage to induce hyperplasia.

Jake Wilson and his team of scentists at the University of Tampa are constantly striving to find the perfect formula for muscle growth.

In Dr. Antonio’s study, he subjected quail to an extreme, chronic stretching-overload protocol which involved hanging weights on their wings for 28 days. During the month-long study, he progressively added more weight. Incredibly, Dr. Antonio reported 318-percent increases in mass for the stretched muscles! This is far larger than anything else I’ve seen in the scientific literature. He then counted their individual muscle fibers and discovered that the technique had indeed drastically increased the number of muscle fibers in stretched muscles.

After reading this experiment, I immediately asked myself two questions:

  1. Can hyperplasia occur in humans?
  2. Can we modify Dr. Antonio’s protocol for bodybuilders?

Stretched to the Limit

Unfortunately, our ability to detect changes in muscle fibers in humans is quite difficult because we can’t count the number of fibers from pre- to post-training in an entire muscle group. Unlike an animal model where it is possible to count every single muscle fiber, you have to make assumptions from a small muscle sample in humans. However, indirect methods in humans still point toward hyperplasia.

One of the best studies on this topic to date was performed by Dr. Tesch and Dr. Larsson back in 1982.3 These scientists found that many of the muscle fibers in highly trained bodybuilders were the exact same size as recreationally trained physical-education students. The fact that the bodybuilders had much larger muscle mass indicated that many of their muscle fibers had been newly created.

So should you duct-tape some weight plates to your arms for the next month? I wouldn’t—although perhaps hanging some weights on your pet turkey might make for a bigger Thanksgiving meal. It is important to emphasize that the conditions in Dr. Antonio’s study were extreme, to say the least. Luckily, when looking at studies, there are other stretching models to follow.

Intermittent stretch overload is a technique that uses weights to stretch the muscle intensely, followed by two days of rest.

One is known as an intermittent stretch overload. This technique uses weights to stretch the muscle intensely, followed by two days of rest. Animal research has demonstrated that this type of approach can still results in up to 50-percent increases in muscle size when the weight is not progressed, and up to 225 percent when weight is progressively increased.4

Implementing this technique in humans

Until recently, no human studies had been performed to investigate muscle growth with intermittent stretching protocols. However, two new studies have shown that intense stretching—even without lifting weights—increased strength by greater than 20 percent in only 3-8 weeks.5,6 Because individuals weren’t actually lifting weights, an increase in strength strongly suggests—and other research supports—that the muscle must be enlarging, either by increasing fiber size or quantity.

Our lab recently tried to tie together all the existing research into a training protocol that bodybuilders could use right away. Our study, led by Jacob Rauch and Jeremy Silva, focused on individuals performing seated calf presses on the leg press.

The athletes began with a weight they could lift 12-15 times until failure. However, instead of resting between sets, they let the weight from the leg press stretch their calves for 30 seconds. They repeated this process three times, dropping the weight after each stretch.

After 5 weeks we found that the stretching group doubled the muscle gains of the non-stretching group! Here’s what we now believe to be the case:

  • The key to stretch-induced growth is to create both a large amount of mechanical tension and muscle damage.
  • The stretch placed upon a muscle fiber seems to be greatest after an individual has achieved significant cell swelling, or pump.

After this swelling has been increased, we believe that intermittent stretching would have its greatest chance to work.

Putting it to work for you

As you can imagine, stretching is a part of a normal lift. Specifically, exercises which place a muscle in its extreme range of motion—such as incline dumbbell curls for the biceps—increase mechanical strain, and thus, hypertrophy.7

However, based on the evidence above, it seems clear to us that some amount of weighted intermittent stretching is even more effective at increasing muscle growth, even in muscle groups as stubborn as the calves.


Calf Press On Leg Press Machine

But a quick warning: I guarantee that this will be one of the most challenging techniques you have ever implemented, and the pump will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced!

For this reason, it’s crucial that you only perform this technique with exercises where you can stretch the muscle without putting yourself at risk of injury. For example, don’t use dips to stretch your pecs, because your shoulders would be placed in a dangerous position. Instead, try something like lying dumbbell flyes, where you hold the weight in the stretched portion of the lift.

For a one-month specialization program, I suggest performing a variation on the routine below twice a week. Use a weight you can lift for 12-15 repetitions. When you reach failure, let the weight stretch your muscles. At this point, perform a dropset where you strip the weight down by 15 percent and go to failure again. Repeat this process 2-3 more times, and you’ll be—and feel—done.

Here’s how you could use it for specific body parts, and a full month-long specialization routine for the calves.

  • Biceps: Between sets of standing or incline seated dumbbell curls, let the weight pull you into controlled hyperextension at the shoulder, maximizing stretch and tension on the biceps.

  • Chest: Between sets of chest flyes, allow the weight to stretch your chest while maintaining a slight bend in the elbows.

  • Traps: Following a set a shrugs, allow the weight to keep you in a depressed position without letting the weight rest against your sides.

  • Hamstrings: Between sets of Romanian deadlifts, emphasize the bottom position. Extend your hips back as far as you can with your weight on your heels for maximum tension on the hamstrings. Keep the weight as close to your body as possible.

  • Quads: Between any quad exercise, perform the classic quad stretch. Sit on the backs of your heels and place your hands behind you. Depending on your level of flexibility, you can walk your hands back for increased stretch.

  • Back: After completing a set of pull-ups, fully extend your arms and hang. Keep your feet off the ground for maximal tension.

  • Triceps: Between sets of triceps rope extensions, let the rope pull you back into a stretched position.

Stretch to Grow Calf Specialization Protocol

Based on weights for an individual who can perform calf presses on the leg press machine with 300 pounds for 15 reps and calf raises with 100 pounds.

Week 1

  • Triple dropset
  • Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine
    15 reps with 300 lbs.
  • Stretch for 30 seconds using weight stack. Then go to failure at 250, 200, and 150 lbs, with 30-sec weighted stretches between each drop.

  • (After 48-72 hours of rest)

  • Standing Calf Raises Standing Calf Raises Calf Raise
    15 reps with 100 lbs.
  • Stretch for 30 seconds using the weight stack. Then go to failure at 85, 70, and 55 lbs, with 30-sec weighted stretches between each drop.

Weeks 2-4

Increase load by 3-5% on the initial lift, and add 5 seconds to the stretch if you want additional overload.


References
  1. Antonio, J. and W.J. Gonyea, Role of muscle fiber hypertrophy and hyperplasia in intermittently stretched avian muscle. Journal of applied physiology, 1993. 74(4): p. 1893-8.
  2. Antonio, J. and W.J. Gonyea, Progressive stretch overload of skeletal muscle results in hypertrophy before hyperplasia. Journal of applied physiology, 1993. 75(3): p. 1263-71.
  3. Tesch, P.A. and L. Larsson, Muscle hypertrophy in bodybuilders. European Journal of Applied Physiology & Occupational Physiology, 1982. 49(3): p. 301-6.
  4. Antonio, J. and W.J. Gonyea, Role of muscle fiber hypertrophy and hyperplasia in intermittently stretched avian muscle. J Appl Physiol (1985), 1993. 74(4): p. 1893-8.
  5. Worrell, T.W., T.L. Smith, and J. Winegardner, Effect of hamstring stretching on hamstring muscle performance. The Journal of orthopaedic and sports physical therapy, 1994. 20(3): p. 154-9.
  6. Handel, M., et al., Effects of contract-relax stretching training on muscle performance in athletes. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol, 1997. 76(5): p. 400-8.
  7. Child, R.B., J.M. Saxton, and A.E. Donnelly, Comparison of eccentric knee extensor muscle actions at two muscle lengths on indices of damage and angle-specific force production in humans. Journal of sports sciences, 1998. 16(4): p. 301-8.
  8. Silva, J.E., Rauch, J., Lowery, R.P.,…..and Wilson, J.M. (2014) Weighted Post-Set Stretching Increases Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy. National Strength and Conditioning Conference, Las Vegas Nevada.

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Ask The Muscle Prof: What Training Technique Produces The Craziest Muscle Growth?

The Benefits Of ZMA: More Than A Sleep Supplement

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ZMA is a combination of zinc monomethionine/asparate and magnesium aspartate plus vitamin B6. It’s strongly supported by clinical research to be an effective supplement for enhancing muscle recovery, boosting muscle size and strength, and even aiding fat loss.*

I’ve been recommending ZMA supplementation for many years. Yet because ZMA is just a mineral supplement—and other supplements like creatine and NO-boosters seem to promise more—few people feel the need to bother with ZMA. That’s unfortunate. If you’re someone who doesn’t feel that taking ZMA is critical for your results, you may change your mind after reading this article.

ZMA is not a testosterone booster. Yes, research shows that it may help athletes maintain higher testosterone levels during intense training periods, though it is not designed to boost levels of the primary muscle-building hormone. It’s simply the most effective way to supplement with two very critical minerals: zinc and magnesium.

Minerals Matter

Zinc is an essential mineral with antioxidant properties that stimulates the activity of many enzymes in the body. These enzymes are critical for numerous biochemical reactions. Zinc has been found to be critical for protein synthesis, the molecular mechanism that leads to muscle recovery and growth.

Numerous research studies have suggested that zinc and magnesium help enhance muscle size, muscle strength, and fat loss, not to mention overall health and well-being.*

Magnesium is also an essential mineral involved in numerous reactions in the body. It’s important for healthy function of the cardiovascular system, metabolic rate, and of course bone health.* Together, zinc and magnesium offer a wide assortment of physique and performance benefits.

In fact, numerous research studies have suggested that these two minerals help enhance muscle size, muscle strength, and fat loss, not to mention overall health and well-being.*

Anabolic Factors

Research suggests that ZMA has significant anabolic benefits. A study performed at Western Washington University (Bellingham) had NCAA football players take ZMA or a placebo every night during an eight-week spring training program. They reported that the athletes taking the ZMA supplement experienced more than a 30-percent increase in testosterone levels, and about a 5-percent increase in levels of the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).* Those taking a placebo had a 10-percent decrease in testosterone levels and a greater than 20-percent decrease in levels of IGF-1.

In addition to the improvements in their anabolic hormone levels, the ZMA-supplemented athletes made significantly greater gains in strength and power, and achieved better sleep quality, than a placebo group. Better sleep quality also helps to aid muscle recovery from tough workouts. These benefits occurred in the ZMA group despite the fact that the analyses of their diets found that the athletes were all consuming well over the recommended intake for zinc. In addition to the study performed by the Western Washington University researcher, several other studies have also found that zinc and magnesium offer potent anabolic properties.*

Better sleep quality also helps to aid muscle recovery from tough workouts.

A 2007 study from Selcuk University (Konya, Turkey) reported that four weeks of zinc supplementation in men increased testosterone levels at rest and after exercise.* The same researchers also found similar results for zinc supplementation on testosterone levels in a prior study with competitive wrestlers. Researchers from the USDA reported that zinc depletion decreased muscle endurance in subjects. This means that maintaining optimal zinc levels is critical for your ability to complete a number of reps with a given weight.

The same Western Washington University research team that did the ZMA research also discovered in an earlier study that when subjects supplemented with magnesium while following a 7-week leg training program, their leg strength increased by 20-percent more than those taking a placebo.*

Both zinc and magnesium are also suggested to blunt cortisol, a catabolic hormone. German researchers found that triathletes taking a magnesium supplement for four weeks maintained healthy cortisol levels at rest and after a triathlon, as compared to athletes taking a placebo.* And Brazilian researchers also reported that subjects supplementing with zinc maintained healthy cortisol balance.*

ZMA may also boost growth hormone (GH) levels, albeit indirectly. ZMA enhances sleep quality due to magnesium’s ability to normalize and extend stage 3 and stage 4 slow-wave sleep. This is critical, as deeper sleep can help to raise GH levels, which peak during the night.

Metabolic Muster

Zinc is also critical for maintaining thyroid hormone production. This is important for keeping your metabolic rate (the amount of calories you burn each day) and fat-burning capabilities up. Being low in zinc can limit thyroid hormone production, and compromised thyroid hormone function results in a lower metabolic rate, which makes it harder to drop body fat. Research confirms that when your diet is low in zinc, thyroid hormone levels fall and resting metabolic rate drops.

One study from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) found that subjects placed on a low-zinc diet had significantly lowered metabolic rates. When the subjects took 25 mg of zinc each day for 20 days, their metabolic rate jumped up to levels that were higher than even before they followed the low-zinc diet.* The Selcuk University studies also showed that four weeks of zinc supplementation increased thyroid hormone levels in male wrestlers and sedentary men.

It appears that zinc is not only critical for thyroid function, but also for maintaining levels of the hormone leptin. This hormone is also important for keeping your metabolic rate high as well as keeping hunger down. Being deficient in zinc has been shown to significantly lower leptin levels.


Support Immunity

It is well established that zinc is critical for immune function. Zinc affects multiple aspects of the immune system. Research from the Cleveland Clinic suggests that supplementing with zinc helps to support a strong immune system.

Zinc also functions as a powerful antioxidant. This mighty mineral activates an enzyme that may help support overall health and immune function.* Zinc’s powerful antioxidant properties can enhance not just your health but your post-workout recovery as well. Zinc’s immune-boosting effects can help to keep you healthy and in the gym.

Yes, You’re Deficient

Research has confirmed that athletes are often deficient in both zinc and magnesium. This is most likely due to several factors, such as zinc lost through sweat during training, increased use of zinc by the body for recovery and protein synthesis following training, and an increased loss of zinc through urine. There may also be dietary factors involved.

Refined sugars, as well as white-flour products such as white bread, can lower blood levels of zinc and magnesium.

Refined sugars, as well as white-flour products such as white bread, can lower blood levels of zinc and magnesium. Foods rich in calcium, such as dairy products, inhibit absorption of both zinc and magnesium by the small intestines. Copper, as well as foods rich in phytates (phosphorous compounds found in whole-grain breads, cereals, and legumes) also hinder the absorption of zinc by the small intestines. And alcohol decreases the absorption of zinc and magnesium, and increases their loss through urine.

Given that you likely are not adequately absorbing the zinc from your whole foods, and that you are losing large amounts of the zinc that you do absorb, you should seriously consider taking a ZMA supplement to maximize muscle mass and strength gains, as well as to drop body fat and support healthy immune function.

If you are using my Vita JYM multivitamin, it is critical that you use ZMA. I omitted zinc and magnesium from Vita JYM to prevent their competition with other nutrients, and to allow for the maximal uptake and utilization of zinc through ZMA.

Do’s and Don’ts

  • While taking a plain zinc and magnesium supplement together may provide you with adequate amounts of these important minerals and cost less than a ZMA supplement, I still suggest you spend the money on ZMA. The form of zinc and magnesium used in ZMA is a chelate known as zinc monomethionine/aspartate and magnesium aspartate.

    This form helps to minimize interference in the absorption of both these minerals. Furthermore, this form of ZMA provides zinc and magnesium aspartate in the proper dosage, while also serving up the proper amount of vitamin B6, which aids magnesium uptake and utilization by the body.

  • Specific dosages were found to produce positive effects in athletes’ hormone and strength levels. Men should look for ZMA supplements that provide 30 mg of zinc, 450 mg of magnesium, and 10-11 mg of B6; no more, no less. Women should take a 20 mg dose of zinc, 300 mg of magnesium, and 6-7 mg B6. Since a full dose of ZMA is usually 3 capsules, the dose for women can be achieved by taking 2 capsules. Also, be sure that it lists ZMA from SNAC Systems on the label. Anything else is not true ZMA.

  • Be aware that, with zinc, there can be too much of a good thing. Taking in too much zinc—upwards of 50 mg of absorbed zinc— can lead to negative effects on the immune system and metabolic rate, adversely impact muscle recovery and growth, and even reduce levels of HDL (good) cholesterol. It can also interfere with copper uptake. In other words, the effects will be the opposite of what’s intended in the first place.

  • What about magnesium? Taking more than 450 mg of it can actually interfere with optimal sleep.

  • One of the most important aspects of supplementing with ZMA is timing. I have always recommended taking it about 1 hour before bed and 1-2 hours after you eat. This will not only help to maximize its uptake and utilization, as clinical research confirms, but taking ZMA at this time of day will also enhance sleep quality.

  • It’s critical that you do not take ZMA with any food, particularly food rich in calcium, like dairy. Both zinc and magnesium are poorly absorbed when taken with food. Sometimes, it’s a two-way street. Calcium, for example, interferes with zinc uptake while zinc interferes with the absorption of amino acids. One way to enhance the uptake of ZMA is to take it with 5 mg of BioPerine, a black pepper extract that’s been found to enhance absorption.

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

References
  1. Brandão-Neto, J., et al. Zinc acutely and temporarily inhibits adrenal cortisol secretion in humans. A preliminary report. Biol Trace Elem Res. 1990 Jan;24(1):83-9.
  2. Brilla, L. R. and Conte, V. Effects of a Novel Zinc-Magnesium Formulation on Hormones and Strength. Journal of Exercise Physiology online. 3 (4): 2000.
  3. Brilla, L. R. and Haley, T. F. Effect of magnesium supplementation on strength training in humans. J Am Coll Nutr. 1992 Jun;11(3):326-9.
  4. Cinar, V., et al. Effects of magnesium supplementation on blood parameters of athletes at rest and after exercise. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2007 Mar;115(3):205-12.
  5. Cinar, V., et al. The effects of magnesium supplementation on thyroid hormones of sedentars and Tae-Kwon-Do sportsperson at resting and exhaustion. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2007 Oct;28(5):708-12.
  6. Cordova, A. and Navas, F. J. Effect of training on zinc metabolism — changes in serum and sweat zinc concentrations in sportsmen. Ann Nutr Metab 1998:42:274-82.
  7. Evans, G. W. and Johnson, E. C. Effect of iron, vitamin B-6 and picolinic acid on zinc absorption in the rat. J Nutr 1981:111: 68-75.
  8. Freake, H. C., et al. Actions and Interactions of Thyroid Hormone and Zinc Status in Growing Rats. J. Nutr. 131: 1135-1141, 2001.
  9. Golf, S. W., et al. On the significance of magnesium in extreme physical stress. Cardiovasc Drugs Ther 1998:12:197-202.
  10. Haralambie, G., et al. Serum zinc in athletes in training. Int J Sports Med. 1981 Aug;2 (3):135-8.
  11. Kilic, M., et al. Effect of fatiguing bicycle exercise on thyroid hormone and testosterone levels in sedentary males supplemented with oral zinc. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2007 Oct;28 (5):681-5.
  12. Kilic, M., et al. The effect of exhaustion exercise on thyroid hormones and testosterone levels of elite athletes receiving oral zinc. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2006 Feb-Apr;27(1-2):247-52.
  13. Kilic, M., et al. Effect of zinc supplementation on hematological parameters in athletes. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2004 Jul;100(1):31-8.
  14. Konig, D., et al. Zinc, iron, and magnesium status in athletes— influence on the regulation of exercise-induced stress and immune function. Exerc Immunol Rev 1998:4:2-21.
  15. Kwun, I. S., et al. Marginal zinc deficiency in rats decreases leptin expression independently of food intake and corticotrophin-releasing hormone in relation to food intake. Br J Nutr. 2007 98(3):485-9.
  16. Mahalanabis, D., et al. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of the efficacy of treatment with zinc or vitamin A in infants and young children with severe acute lower respiratory infection. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 79(3): 430-436, 2004.
  17. Mocchegiani, E., et al. Zinc, metallothioneins, and longevity—effect of zinc supplementation: zincage study. Ann NY Acad Sci. 2007 Nov;1119:129-46.
  18. Mossad, S. B. Effect of zincum gluconicum nasal gel on the duration and symptom severity of the common cold in otherwise healthy adults. QJM. 2003 Jan;96(1):35-43.
  19. Persigehl, M. Changes in the serum zinc concentration in different metabolic situations. Z Klin Chem Klin Biochem. 1974 Apr;12(4):171-5.
  20. Sazawal, S., et al. Zinc supplementation reduces the incidence of acute lower respiratory infections in infants and pre-school children: a double-blind, controlled trial. Pediatrics 102:1-5, 1998.
  21. Shankar, A.H., et al. Zinc and immune function: The biological basis of altered resistance to infection. Am J Clin Nutr 68: 447S-463S, 1998.
  22. Sprietsma, J. E. Modern diets and diseases: NO-zinc balance. Under Th1, zinc and nitrogen monoxide (NO) collectively protect against viruses, AIDS, autoimmunity, diabetes, allergies, asthma, infectious diseases, atherosclerosis and cancer. Medical Hypotheses(1999) 53(1): 6-16.
  23. Theberge, C. S. and Volpe, S. L. Effect of Zinc Depletion and Repletion on Resting Metabolic Rate and Zinc Status in Healthy Male and Female. New England American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, 2003.
  24. VanLoan, M. D., et al. The effects of zinc depletion on peak force and total work of knee and shoulder extensor and flexor muscles. Int J Sport Nutr 1999:9:125-135.
  25. Wada, L. and King, J. C. Effect of low zinc intakes on basal metabolic rate, thyroid hormones and protein utilization in adult men. J Nutr. 1986 Jun;116(6):1045-53.
  26. Wichnik, A., et al. Magnesium aspartate as a cardioprotective agent and adjuvant in tocolysis with betamimetics. Animal experiments on the kinetics and calcium antagonist action of orally administered magnesium aspartate with special reference simultaneous vitamin B administration. Z Geburtshilfe Perinatol 1982:186:326-34.


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The Benefits Of ZMA: More Than A Sleep Supplement

Project Mass: Jake Wilson's 14-Week Muscle-Building Trainer

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You go to the gym. You hit your split. You lift, rest, and repeat. You build muscle and gain strength, but as you become more advanced, eventually your progress slows—or completely stalls.

Designed by Jacob Wilson, PhD, CSCS, in conjunction with Dymatize athlete Lawrence Ballenger, Project Mass is an advanced, 14-week periodized resistance training program engineered to help you keep growing. Built on a combination of cutting-edge techniques and classic lifts, a precision nutrition plan, and a science-backed supplement stack, Project Mass will make plateaus a thing of the past.

Project Mass
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Project Mass Begins In

Throughout his research and education, Dr. Wilson has focused on how to optimize training and nutrition for maximum muscle growth. His lab at the University of Tampa is dedicated to bridging the gap between science and application. Designed to spur continued adaptation and combat plateaus, Project Mass is the distillation of his work.

The result of countless hours of experimentation and research, Project Mass is best suited for advanced lifters who have been training consistently for at least a few years. Beginner and intermediate lifters will also derive gains from the program, but they may want to have a few other Bodybuilding.com trainers under their belts.

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  • Detailed training, nutrition, and supplementation overviews to help you master the program

  • A 14-week training plan with strength, hypertrophy, and hypertrophy “shock” workouts

  • Cutting-edge training techniques, including blood-flow restriction (BFR), intraset stretching, and more

  • Example videos for each training technique, explained with equipment in Dr. Wilson’s lab

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  • A science-backed supplement stack to support muscle repair, recovery, and growth

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Dr. Jacob Wilson, Ph.D., CSCS*D is a professor and director of the skeletal muscle and sports nutrition laboratory at the University of Tampa.

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Project Mass: Jake Wilson's 14-Week Muscle-Building Trainer

Fit Team Member Of The Month: Nichiren Flowers

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Imagine being a star receiver, destined for an NFL roster. Then imagine the bewilderment as your body begins to mysteriously break down from the inside.

That breakdown for Nichiren Flowers went undiagnosed throughout his senior season at the University of Nevada, Reno. All he knew was that both his weight and his performance on the field were suffering. Then he got a diagnosis: Crohn’s disease, an autointoxication of the immune system.

But where those highlight reels ended, new dreams emerged. He came to Bodybuilding.com, became a personal trainer, and found a way to get back in the game.

Today, he is an athlete, father, scholar, musician, poet, and entrepreneur. He is the embodiment of the Bodybuilding.com mantra.

To change lives, he started with his own.

Q What is your position at Bodybuilding.com?

I’m a customer service representative, working with customers via phone, chat, and email, trying to create that life-changing experience to keep people coming back.

When I first started, I was overwhelmed with products and supplements. I had taken creatine and heard some things about protein. I was young and [laughs] taking test boosters.

“I feel like I’m ahead of the game now and well-informed about supplements. I can recommend a good supplement stack and diet plan for any type of person who calls in.”

Since then, I’ve grown into the position. I feel like I’m ahead of the game now and well-informed about supplements. I can recommend a good supplement stack and diet plan for any type of person who calls in.

You obviously have an athletic past, but what was your experience level with weight training prior to working here?

I had a great strength and conditioning coach in college, but it all started in high school. My freshman year, I was just in the gym because my friends were there. But going into my sophomore year, I started lifting. That’s when I started going to the 6 a.m. weights. Back then, I had the high school strength coach yelling, “You need to squat! Get lower!”

It wasn’t so much a focus on technique; I was just trying to lift as heavy as I could. I was left with a sore back and lingering injuries as a result of poor form. But at that age, you’re just happy to be a part of a team.

I definitely saw the results of the 6 a.m. weights. I was a skinny sophomore, but I put on weight, got a little bit faster, and saw my performance on the field increase. There was a big transition going from high school to college. I was never a fast runner before, never someone who emphasized speed. That was the next step in the progression of my physical attributes related to the game of football.

I got stronger and held the Nevada freshman clean record. But I was never too big on weights. I did just enough to get by and let my strength coach know I was in there. I’d show my face, mark down my weights, and make sure I was at least increasing in some way.

I wouldn’t say it hurt me, but it may have kept me from playing at a higher level.

Tell us about when everything changed, during your senior year.

I was on the Biletnikoff [award for the most outstanding wide receiver in the nation] watch list the year Larry Fitzgerald won it. But going into my senior year, I knew something wasn’t right with my body. It compromised my practice habits and created some conflicts with my coaches. My senior year, I didn’t get to live up to my expectations. I was sick.

I later found out I have Crohn’s disease. It was very debilitating. I lost a lot of weight, dropping at one point to 180 pounds. I wasn’t able to perform at a high level, and that took away from professional scouts looking at me. It hurt my chances of playing in the NFL, a dream I’d had since I was a kid.

When I look back at my diet and my stress levels, going about my day-to-day lifestyle, it all makes sense. I had a realization that I needed to make some changes as far as my eating, health in general, and sleeping habits. I was in college, so I was partying, drinking, and doing all the typical college stuff. You have to put things in perspective when something like that happens.

Still, that blow was hard on my ego. Coming from that moment to where I am now was a big step.

How do you manage your diet today?

I manage it really well. I haven’t cut meat out entirely. I still eat some chicken and other white meats. I’m allergic to fish, so I can’t eat that. I’ll eat a steak every once in a while, but slowly I’m cutting it all out.

I also switched my protein. I’m eating Raw Fusion now. I just ordered the MRM Elite Veggie Protein, and I like the way my body feels when I take it. I eat salads, fruits, and vegetables every day. I’m detoxing and cleansing.

Tell us about your first stint in the Arena League.

Before I started working at Bodybuilding.com at the end of 2011, I was playing with the San Jose SaberCats. I ended up with a terrible injury. I had to get PCL replacement and had a minor tear of my MCL and meniscus. A week after the surgery, I got a staph infection. I had a ton of atrophy, and it was debilitating, physically and emotionally.

Luckily, that’s when I got employed here at Bodybuilding.com! There’s an atmosphere here. It’s fitness, athletics, it’s all in the same boat. It sparked some interest for me. I became more interested in personal training. I was coaching football, just trying to stay around the game, stay present, and athletically-minded.

What was this summer like, playing in the arena league again? Was it exciting to get back out there and put on pads?

This summer was a great experience for me! I’M so thankful I was allowed to take a leave of absence from Bodybuilding.com and return to playing Arena Football. It was great to not only return to playing, but playing at a high level. I was able to make an impact in my first game back after not playing since 2011. Although my body felt like it was hit by a truck the day after my first game back, the passion and love for the game was still present.

My son was just born on June 22, 2014, a couple weeks after my most recent surgery. All these blessings come full circle. This summer, when I broke my collarbone, it allowed me to be close to him. Our relationship is so strong now. We’re inseparable. A lot of things happen for a reason, and I think I’m going in the right direction.

I’m playing now with the Bodybuilding.com flag football team. Compared to how I felt even just months ago playing arena football, I feel lighter, like I can move. All the things I’ve learned here—and on my own, since I got certified in personal training—have really helped me. I’ve applied it to my training philosophy and my diet. I’m getting somewhere pretty fast.

Is personal training something you want to do as a profession?

I train a few people here, and I coach at Mountain View High school [in Boise]. It’s an interest and a passion to help people reach fitness goals they never thought they could, or to help them obtain goals they have. That’s big.

Every person is capable of reaching some level of fitness. Everyone is different, and anything is possible. I’m looking to grow in the personal training field, and I’m also looking to take an online massage therapy course.

There’s a big market with trigger-point therapy and self-massage. I think it will really flourish.

Nichiren’s Training Regimen

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Fit Team Member Of The Month: Nichiren Flowers

Women in Business: Gloria Larson, President of Bentley University

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Gloria Larson is the president of Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., and launched the PreparedU Project in 2013. Before joining Bentley, Larson was an attorney, public policy expert and business leader.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
My career has evolved without a specific game plan in almost every way. Through a combination of hard work and serendipity, I’ve had the good fortune to work in federal and state government, the private sector and the non-profit world, and to have had invaluable experience across a variety of industry sectors. In addition, I’ve had the chance to participate in many highly gratifying local and global civic endeavors. It’s this unusual combination of career and life experience that has made me open minded to different perspectives, helped me to be a strong collaborator with a knack for problem solving, and sparked my interest in shaping public policy in important areas such as education, economic development and healthcare.

How has your previous employment experience aided your position at Bentley University?
As an attorney, first serving in increasingly responsible management roles in government, later as a partner in a large Boston law firm, and now the first female president of a major business university – all fields dominated by men – I have had an exhilarating career. As a lawyer charged with running large organizations, I’ve also faced classic gender challenges along the way. These varied experiences have given me the background and “nuts and bolts” skills needed to succeed at Bentley, while also fueling my interest in closing the gender gap – something that women clearly cannot do alone. Our economy is only at its best when every individual has an equal opportunity to participate and succeed at every level. I’m thrilled to have been given this significant platform – it enables me to make a real difference on this front.

What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Bentley University?
Segueing from the leadership roles I’ve previously held to that of a college president was not an easy or seamless transition. I made a lot of early mistakes. It’s a completely different environment, much more process-driven than others in which I have worked. It’s far less about calling the shots and more about enabling faculty and staff to be as good as they can be so that our students will be successful in their pursuits.

One of the biggest changes that took place just as I joined the university was changing our status from Bentley College to Bentley University. Much of the ground work had been completed to meet Massachusetts’ regulatory requirements to become a university, but winning over alumni and other stakeholders to accept both the new name and the larger national and international aspirations that accompanied the change was not easy. Many had sentimental attachments to the college and were concerned that becoming a global business university would change the nature and culture of the school. We needed to show them why and how our new name and bolder goals added value to the Bentley degree.

A major highlight for me has been the number of new programs created during my tenure by our faculty and staff that are focused on redefining a 21st century business education. For example, our graduate school developed a highly innovative new MBA program – a studio-based, 11-month, global degree that places special emphasis on honing students’ individual leadership styles and change-management skills, while working on diverse teams and across cultures. And I’m especially proud to have helped found the Center for Women and Business at Bentley, designed to advance shared leadership among women and men at all levels of the corporate world.

Why do you think female graduates are more prepared for success than their male counterparts?
This is an interesting question, as men are usually assumed to be better prepared for life-long career success, particularly when it comes to senior management roles. Recent research shows that this is based largely on general perception, rather than concrete evidence. That said, there are more women than ever entering the business world. A recent study on preparedness commissioned by Bentley found that women are seen as better suited to success when it comes to certain specific qualities, like organizational skills, as well as interpersonal and communication skills. While women may have an advantage in these areas and men in others, I believe that both genders have the ability to be equally prepared for the workforce and should be equally accepted at all levels.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?
Work/life balance is an elusive concept for most of us and I think one of the biggest mistakes we make is believing that we have to “have it all” — at the same time. That’s a lot of unnecessary pressure and it can ultimately lead to feelings of resentment or failure. It’s important to remember that you can, over time, do everything you set out to do. It doesn’t all have to happen simultaneously. Over many years my husband and I have figured out how to support each other in our various career, family and civic endeavors, prioritizing our activities differently at different times. I’ve found support from family and friends to be especially helpful. Of course, time management is crucial too, whether you’re balancing kids, or volunteer and community commitments, with a career. Equally important is that you make sure you reserve some time and relaxation for yourself. Having three Labrador retrievers has been a great outlet for me!

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
There still seems to be significant unconscious gender bias in the workplace and, unfortunately, progress in eliminating it has been slower than we all wish. According to McKinsey and Company, women now fill 53 percent of entry-level positions, yet only 28 percent are in senior management positions. Board membership numbers for women are even lower. I’ve served on several corporate boards and, in each case I’ve been one of just a few women in the room. As this gender gap persists, it causes too many women to doubt themselves and then hesitate in pursuing senior management positions – and a self-perpetuating cycle continues. We need buy-in from both male and female executives to bring about real lasting change.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Both mentors and sponsors can make a significant difference. Mentors can share advice and provide support, while sponsors are people in your organization who believe in you and are in a position to help you climb the organizational ladder. I would not have possessed the confidence to achieve success without strong mentor and sponsor support. The preparedness survey I cited earlier underscores the importance of mentorship programs and women-specific networking events to help women succeed in business. At the same time, recent research also shows that having someone in your company who can act as a sponsor, actually advocating for you in terms of career advancement, is especially effective for high potential women.

Very early in my career, I thrived with the support of a woman who held a presidential appointment at the Federal Trade Commission, someone who had already successfully broken through the glass ceiling in Washington in the early 1980’s, an especially tough, male-dominated arena. A Commissioner at the FTC, Patricia Bailey not only served as a role model, but was in a position to help me move up in my career – two vital ingredients in helping me get to the leadership position I hold today. When women get close to achieving leadership positions, they need someone they can turn to in order to reach that next step.

This is a recommendation I strongly suggest to business-minded millennials who fear the gender bias that awaits them: Look for mentors and sponsors who will not only offer advice and support your career ambitions, but will help you reach your goals. Surround yourself with professional, strong women – and men – who will encourage you to succeed.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
Arianna Huffington immediately comes to mind. She’s visionary, smart, successful and candid in her views, while also having a good sense of humor and strong interpersonal skills. She has urged all of us to get more sleep and to otherwise adopt a healthier lifestyle – great advice that I personally aspire to someday adopt! Growing up, my earliest role model was the fictional character Nancy Drew. She embodied everything I wanted to be: razor sharp and likeable, able to solve the thorniest of problems while always impeccably dressed in matching skirt and heels.

What do you want Bentley University, its students and staff to accomplish in the next year?
We launched our PreparedU initiative in 2013, and that will continue to be a main focus for this coming year. The University, its faculty, staff and students are committed to working together to bridge the gap between employers and higher education so we can better prepare our graduates for today’s complex and demanding workplace. The post-recession job market has been tough for recent college graduates and our surveys have shown that employers don’t believe most graduates are adequately prepared for the work world. While Bentley is fortunate as a business-focused university to have a high job and graduate school placement rate, our PreparedU Project has spurred a broader public conversation that highlights the career challenges that millennials face and also identifies solutions that all schools can adopt to better prepare them for success.

Credit:  

Women in Business: Gloria Larson, President of Bentley University

This Is Why Women Crave Chocolate, Men Want A Burger

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Men love meat and ladies love sweets. Right? These stereotypes are near-effortless to buy into, particularly in the U.S., where marketers have played them hard, and consumers have adopted them as their own preferences and truths.

The perception is as follows: Women are to subsist on salad (and chocolate, sometimes) and men are to fill their plates with meat and savory dishes.

Just take a glance at the chocolate advertisements below.

dove ghiradelli hersheys godiva

(From left to right: Frames from TV advertisements for Dove, Ghiradelli, Hershey and Godiva. Click on each individual photo to watch the commercial in full.)

In all four commercials, chocolate is branded as a sinful treat that women (thin, attractive women — but that’s a topic for another day) consume because they just can’t resist.

And here, four masculine meat commercials.

hungry man burger king weber mcdonalds

(From left to right: Frames from TV advertisements for Hungry Man, Burger King, Weber Grills and McDonald’s. Click on each individual photo to watch the commercial in full.)

In these ads, men are either behind the grill or eating meat products. In Burger King’s commercial, the Texas Double Whopper is advertised for strong men who can push cars over bridges and can’t subsist on “chick food” like quiche.

So, do women really enjoy chocolate more than men do? The answer’s a little complicated. Forty percent of women in the U.S. report chocolate cravings, while just 15 percent of men lust after it. And maybe unsurprisingly (depending on who you are), “half of the women [in the U.S.] who crave chocolate say they do so right around menstruation,” Dr. Julia Hormes, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at the University of Albany told The Huffington Post over the phone.

Chocolate and PMS are closely associated, which had Hormes wondering if menstruation causes the craving. Is it a biologically-instilled hankering? Are women deficient in certain nutrients in the days leading up to their period that lead them to desire chocolate? No. In a study she published in Appetite in 2011, “These biochemical, physiological hypotheses didn’t pan out.”

So then, why do women hunt down a brick of Godiva to survive cramps and bloating? “There’s a strong influence of culture,” Hormes said. The commercials above say it all. Chocolate is marketed as a way for women to deal with negative emotion (like, say, the stress and headaches that come with PMS), Hormes said. It is an “indulgence” because it is an exception to the rule — women who diet and subscribe to a certain ideal of beauty should only consume chocolate when they “need” it.

Only in America. In Spain, for example, women don’t report craving chocolate perimensturally nearly as much as women in the U.S. do. It’s not that Spanish women have a different make-up to their cycle, it’s really that tampon and chocolate ads aren’t aired during the same commercial break. In the U.S., it seems, there’s something so strongly feminine about chocolate that fewer men report wanting it. But, “Spanish men are almost as likely to crave chocolate as Spanish women.” In Egypt, neither men nor women really report craving chocolate; “They tend to crave savory foods,” Hormes said. Our conflicting relationship with chocolate is a culturally-manufactured one.

Men get the short end of the cultural-perception stick when it comes to vegetables and healthy eating (though this is evolving as health is increasingly a priority for Americans, as more than one-third of U.S. adults are obese). While meat is commonly associated with masculinity, there’s no striking biological evidence than men need more meat than women (just typically more calories and protein, due to their larger size). This misperception developed from a historical and evolutional account — men were hunters, women were gathers (but hey — they didn’t really pluck chocolate bars from the ground).

meat is for pussies

Women do dominate the greener eating space; just 41 percent of the 7.3 million Americans that are vegetarian are male, according to the Vegetarian Times. There’s this curious sub-trend sprouting among vegetarian and vegan men: The book, Meat Is For Pussies, is a how-to guide targeted men who want to get fit on a plant-based diet. It is not a subtle example of how some are trying to re-market the vegetarian space as masculine. In an NPR feature, “For These Vegans, Masculinity Means Protecting The Planet,” one male vegan, who also happens to be a triathlete, relents, “”Everyone always thinks vegans are weak, skinny, frail, pale.” He and his fellow vegan friends are interviewed about their vegan barbecue in Brooklyn, N.Y. In the feature, the group poses while flexing muscles, exposing tattoos and appearing generally “tough.” They’re almost Popeye-esque.

“We use food to make judgments about people all the time,” Hormes said. Humans naturally label people and things to make sense of the world, but maybe, when armed with more information, we can start moving toward a more gender-neutral view of the grocery store.

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This Is Why Women Crave Chocolate, Men Want A Burger

Mark Schlissel, University Of Michigan President, Laments How Athletics Often Trumps Academics

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University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel told a group of faculty Monday the school has admitted athletes who weren’t skilled enough to be students at the public institution, the Michigan Daily reports.

Speaking before the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, a faculty governance group, Schlissel lamented how too many football players were coming to the prestigious public university who weren’t academically ready to be in college.

“We admit students who aren’t as qualified, and it’s probably the kids that we admit that can’t honestly, even with lots of help, do the amount of work and the quality of work it takes to make progression from year to year,” Schlissel said. “These past two years have gotten better, but before that, the graduation rates were terrible, with football somewhere in the 50s and 60s when our total six-year rate at the university is somewhere near 90 percent. So that’s a challenge.”

Schlissel spoke for the first time since the university’s athletic director, Dave Brandon, was forced out from Michigan. Schlissel was also speaking in light of a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill report showing two decades of academic fraud, especially concentrated in that school’s football program, released in late October.

Schlissel suggested athletics at Michigan were trumping academics, and complained that no one is following the 20.5 hours per week limit set by the NCAA for how much time athletes can spend practicing in-session, according to the Detroit Free Press.

A CNN analysis earlier this year found most schools have between 7 and 18 percent of revenue sport athletes — football or basketball — who are reading at an elementary school level. CNN requested information from UM on the ACT or SAT scores of athletes playing football or basketball, or the number of specially admitted athletes, but the university said in May it did not have documents with that material.

“The incentives are really strong for them to be as successful on the field as possible, and some of those are in dollars and others are in performance,” Schlissel said. “If we had won Nobel Prizes this year, we wouldn’t have gotten as much attention as did our A.D. It’s sad but it’s really true.”

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Mark Schlissel, University Of Michigan President, Laments How Athletics Often Trumps Academics


Women in Business: Andrea Geller, SVP Marketing, OnDeck

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Andrea Gellert is the Senior Vice President of Marketing at OnDeck, where she brings more than 15 years of small business marketing and client service experience. Most recently, she was Vice President of Client Services and Operations at Group Commerce, a market-leading e-commerce platform for publishers. Previously, Andrea spent 15 years at American Express, holding leadership positions in both the OPEN small business and Merchant Services divisions. In her most recent position as Vice President of Marketing for OPEN, Andrea spearheaded initiatives that greatly improved the customer experience, as measured by net promoter score and retention rates, and created the company’s first small business recognition platform. Andrea graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
It’s so tempting in both large and small companies to want to tackle everything all at once, vs doubling down on the most important business drivers. As someone who has always liked pursuing a variety of interests in both my personal and professional life, learning how to focus and backburner ideas has been a real priority. Although it can be a challenge, I still encourage idea generation so there’s always a strong pipeline for the next advances in the business.

It’s funny, when I started to get leadership roles years ago, I was told that women apologize too much and men perceive that as weak because they never do. I think there’s a balance. I coach people (regardless of gender) that what’s most important is demonstrating accountability – accepting responsibility for your actions and moving forward is what shows the most business maturity.

How has your previous employment experience aided your position at OnDeck?
I’ve been focused on the small business financial services sector for the majority of my career. I joined American Express in what is now OPEN as a summer intern, then spent 15 years there, working my way up in marketing, strategy and account development functions across the OPEN and the Merchant Divisions. Being at a company which has a world class brand and customer experience has definitely informed my approach to marketing at OnDeck.

What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at OnDeck?
A major highlight was the re-launching of our OnDeck brand. We rolled out a new logo, our new tagline “We actually want to lend to small business”, a new visual identity and a new website geared towards our customer – the small business owner. We got incredibly positive feedback from all of our constituents, including employees, investors, and most importantly, customers. It was a great team effort.

In terms of challenges, we have this very ambitious mission to power every small business loan in the country. It’s an achievable goal but we’re still a young company with limited resources and only 24 hours in a day. Developing a brand takes time, especially with a non-viral product like ours (people generally don’t post pictures of their loan on Facebook or Twitter), and so our main challenge is getting all small businesses to know who we are.

What advice can you offer women who are looking for a career in marketing?
Focus on the customer: Marketing is all about showcasing how a product solves a customer need, so find one and go deep on understanding exactly who needs it and why. Spend time with your customers and prospects – they are the ones who will make money for your company and usually have tremendous insights that can help drive whatever part of the business you manage.

Get quantitative: In this day and age marketing is all about data, and so being strong analytically has gone from being important to critical. That means understanding how to structure and read marketing tests as well as how to evaluate and understand all of the components of your marketing channels and sales funnel. There are all kinds of marketing analytics courses out there if this is a development area for you.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?
I’ve always thought of the notion of work/life balance as a funny way to think about it – I think you’ve got one life and you have to decide how you are going to live it. I’m a wife, mother of two children, a career person and someone with my own personal interests – and I aim for fulfillment across all those areas. As a family we’ve made some decisions to help us stay involved – so we live in Manhattan where work, school and home are close by; and I have a very supportive husband who’s active in sharing household and parenting responsibilities.

It’s always been important to me that my place of work respects the flexibility that working parents need, so I’ve sought out companies like American Express and now OnDeck. One of the benefits of working in FinTech is that the offices are very tech-enabled – it’s easy to work from home if you have to, or check in via a variety of devices.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
Confidence. Over and over what I observe is that women are often far more capable than they give themselves credit for. So they hold back, which is not a great recipe for success in the modern workplace.

I think there is a lot of opportunity for women in the workplace. Women make up more than half of the professional workforce, and are more active on social media than men, but the tech industry is predominantly comprised of men. It’s very easy for a woman to feel like an outsider in the tech industry, but we are starting to stake our claim in the space, and it’s very exciting.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work at companies that don’t have preconceived norms of gender. American Express has a lot of women, especially in senior leadership positions. When I first started at OnDeck, I was the only senior woman at the company and in general there weren’t that many women here at all. But the team here has always been far more interested in how to solve problems and disrupt traditional financial services methods than what your gender is, which creates a tremendously stimulating environment. And since joining OnDeck, we’ve hired several women at all levels and are starting to close the gender gap.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Mentorship has helped me become a better leader. I’ve had the good fortune of having several great bosses who have taught me a lot about how to lead, both by their example and by their guidance. A great boss is someone who not only inspires you to be better but is also willing to point out your blind spots and help you more effectively manage around them.

We started a women’s group at OnDeck called Women@OnDeck with this in mind. We’re encouraging women of all levels at the company to get to know each other better, and for the more senior women to share their experiences and lessons learned to the younger, more junior women, in hopes that it will help them grow and succeed in the workplace.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
I had the fortunate opportunity to see Gloria Steinem speak at a women’s luncheon, and she said something that really stuck out to me. She gave an anecdote about someone asking who she’s going to pass the torch to, and her immediate response was “What a male oriented question! I’m not giving up my torch – I’m using my torch to light other womens’ torches.” That idea that it’s not a zero sum game, that we can all be successful, is something that Steinhem has always championed and has stayed relevant. And, I have to admit, who doesn’t want to be that fabulous at 80!

I’m also very impressed with Dr Maria Klawe, the President of Harvey Mudd College. 40% of computer science majors there are now women due to her efforts. And she’s done it by spending time understanding and addressing root cause issues. Simple things, like creating a special introductory computer science class for people with no prior coding experience, ensuring there are female instructors and the like have made the field far more accessible and so more women are entering it.

What do you want OnDeck to accomplish in the next year?
OnDeck’s vision is to transform how money flows to Main Street by leveraging our platform to enable all types of investors to make capital on demand a reality for small business owners. Think of how Priceline transformed travel, or Zillow has transformed home buying – we believe small business financing can be ongoing and friction-free.

We’re excited to continue to bring new products to market for our customers and really be a partner to small business throughout their entire lifecycle.

Read more:  

Women in Business: Andrea Geller, SVP Marketing, OnDeck

Capitalizing on Progress

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Dhruv Aggarwal analyzes the social ramifications of China’s tax revolution

In 2011, the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, responding to public opinion, raised the monthly income tax exemption threshold, the minimum level of income above which a person must pay income tax, from 2000 to 3500 RMB. The exemption threshold was 800 RMB a month in 1980.

The fact that while the tax exemption threshold has increased by over 300 percent, the income of the average Chinese person has shot up by a staggering 2700 percent over the same period is the truly remarkable phenomenon at the heart of China’s tax revolution. Many commentators have emphasized that increases in exemption limits indicate the Chinese government’s responsiveness to popular dissatisfaction with taxation. This view, however, ignores the fact that, with rapidly rising average incomes, more and more Chinese people fall into taxable categories. This flooding of the middle class has offset the increase in the tax exemption threshold.

The rise in general prosperity is no doubt a largely urban phenomenon. Most rural households are exempt from income tax, since their family members are agriculturalists. The rise in per capita income is also starker in the urban sector. McKinsey and Company predicted in 2013 that 75% of Chinese urban consumers would earn between 60 and 229 thousand yuan by 2022. In 2000, this number stood at 4%.

For this high-powered, mostly young demographic, a yearly income tax exemption level of 42,000 yuan is unlikely to mean much. The concentration of taxpayers in urban areas also allows the Communist party to focus on retaining its grip on power – with most rural inhabitants exempt, and urban consumers seeing an exponential rise in incomes, no section of the population could conceivably have major grievances against taxation.

All is not as it seems, however, with China’s taxation system. First, the collection and valuation of taxes itself is questionable. As with all data collected in China, the level and growth of income in the top tier of urban society is contested. Thomas Piketty, the French economist and author of Capital in the 21st Century, has written about China’s tax structure in comparison to that of other developing countries. According to him, the Chinese government needs to be more transparent in the way it releases its tax data. “In particular,” says Piketty, “the government should publish annual income tax statistics by income bracket and by region.”

Piketty’s reference to region is worth noting. Particularly prosperous urban regions, which are mostly found the east of the country, are home to increasingly affluent young taxpayers. Yet while these people are the new backbone of the country’s tax system, they also happen to be considered the greatest potential threat to one-party rule. With higher incomes translating to higher tax sums under China’s progressive tax system, these urban youngsters may start demanding more from the authorities than just ceaseless economic growth.

Throughout history, authoritarian regimes have faced their greatest tests in cosmopolitan metropolises, with their educated and wealthy young populations the most likely challengers to governmental authority. The protests of Tiananmen and the recent upheaval in Hong Kong suggest that the concentration of dissent can often be in the country’s most wealthiest cities and among its most aspirational youth. This “paradox of plenty” may be something that Chinese policymakers and tax authorities need to consider in the future.

The fact still remains that China has seen its income tax revenues skyrocket, accounting for 0.1% of GDP in 1986 and 2.5% in 2008. By 2015, this number is expected to further swell to 10% of China’s GDP. The country’s generous exemption limits have been offset by the wealth advancement of its citizens. By resisting the tendency displayed by other Asian countries like India to keep expanding its classes of “exempt” incomes, China has steadfastly increased its tax-to-GDP ratio. As it continues its transition from being a purely manufacturing-based economy to a consumption-based economy, China would do well to ensure that its tax code stays in touch with the changing socioeconomic profile of its citizenry.

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Dhruv Aggarwal is a junior at Yale University and an associate editor of the magazine. Contact him at dhruv.aggarwal@yale.edu.

This article also appears in China Hands.

Original link:  

Capitalizing on Progress

Learning to Remember

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Yifu Dong reviews Louisa Lim’s People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited.

If George Orwell were still alive, maybe he would have regretted naming his book 1984 instead of 1989. But as Orwell noted in 1984, the year would not have mattered, for no one in Oceania remembered the date anymore. Likewise, very few in China care to remember about the fateful date of June 4, 1989.

Yet, somehow, I learned. Having spent a year of elementary school in the US, I had come to learn more about the events of 1989 than most of my peers at home. I vividly recall watching a documentary film called “The Gate of Heavenly Peace,” borrowed from the Harvard-Yenching Library, at a lunch party with some Harvard graduate students from China. I, 11 at the time, watched with wide-eyed bewilderment as the scenes unfolded, while the older and wiser Harvard students seemed equally baffled. Later, in my American class, my teacher even asked me to explain the emblematic Tank Man photo to my class. But before leaving the US, my mother reminded me to forget about all the forbidden knowledge I had accidentally acquired and not to talk “nonsense” after returning home.

Last year, when the same Tank Man photo was shown to 100 students in four of Beijing’s elite colleges active in the 1989 student movement, only 15 of them identified it correctly. Holding this picture and conducting this survey was Louisa Lim, author of People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited. Lim, courageous and insightful, invites readers to revisit the events of 1989 in their own modern setting.

The first seven chapters of the book feature profiles of people who participated in or witnessed the events as well as young “amnesiacs” who are largely ignorant of the past. The last chapter, Chengdu, describes the often-neglected 1989 protests in the southwestern metropolis. Lim uses State Department cables and interviews with eyewitnesses to reconstruct a more complete picture of the events in Chengdu, calling to attention incidents outside of Beijing in the eventful spring of 1989. Scholars had already noted the nationwide nature of the unrest, though a complete volume encompassing the experiences of all parts of China has yet to be written.

The main goal of The People’s Republic of Amnesia is by no means a simple documentary of stories and profiles. Lim breaks free from the commonplace discussion of history and its possible alternatives. Instead, the author sees the events of 1989 as a historical turning point and a springboard for the analysis of still-developing repercussions of that momentous occasion. Along with profile interviews, Lim neatly stitches together well-known vignettes in the news and on the Internet to showcase the legacies of 1989 and analyze the problematic aspects of contemporary Chinese society.

Among these analyses, “amnesia” is the recurring theme. It is not only a symptom, but also, as Lim suggests, a survival mechanism for many Chinese. Lim captures the amnesia of typical Chinese people, especially the youth, such as the college students in the Tank Man survey. The forgetful youth featured in the book belong to the so-called “post-80’s generation” in China, the group perhaps most inclined to amnesia. Young people of the post-80’s generation usually have parents who were innocent advocates of the Cultural Revolution but were later sent to the countryside and deprived of formal education. A relatively oppressed generation, their parents understood all too well the dangers of politics and developed amnesic mechanisms themselves. In addition to their parents’ influence, the post-80’s generation grew up in an environment where political education tightened after 1989 and the Internet–perhaps the only possible source of free information in China–was still out of reach. Moreover, after graduating from college, many of them have to deal with cutthroat competition, possible unemployment, rising prices and a lack of financial support from their parents. Under such insecure circumstances, the post-80’s generation has adopted amnesia as a defensive response to avoid unnecessary troubles.

What Lim misses is the “post-90’s generation,” who grew up in a relatively more open environment with more access to free information. The outlook for them may be a bit more optimistic than Lim presents. In my high school, there were even students who commemorated the anniversary in early June by going to Tiananmen Square, dressed up in school uniforms and waving small Chinese flags. They also sent postcards of Tiananmen to teachers who had mentioned the truth about the events of 1989 in class, even if only for a brief moment. Many of my peers of the post-90’s generation are actively seeking out the truth, either out of curiosity or out of a sense of justice. Although this ray of hope is far from mainstream at the moment, it may prove significant in the future.

Despite the underrepresentation of the post-90’s generation, Lim explains in great detail why amnesia matters amid the predominant counterarguments that abound in the official narrative of the Communist Party, as well as in the minds of beneficiaries of the current system. One forceful counterargument is voiced by Eric X. Li, a Chinese venture capitalist who wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in February 2012 to argue the superiority of China’s current political system. Li does not seem to show the symptoms of amnesia; he directly confronts the sensitive topic of 1989: “The Chinese nation paid a heavy price for that violent event, but the alternatives would have been far worse.” Most people are psychologically inclined to unconsciously justify existing systems, but Li, as a beneficiary of the system, feels compelled to make his judgment explicit. Similarly, many Chinese people, even including a few of the 15 knowledgeable students who successfully identified the Tank Man photo in Lim’s survey, overtly support the current system. These people readily acknowledge that the country paid a heavy price, but given the progress China has made since 1989, it seems everything was all worth it.

Lim, however, contends that the price is too much to bear. All the success the regime achieved after this dramatic historical turning point, Lim argues, came at the cost of humanity, which matters most to Lim. Humanity can be discussed in the contexts of philosophy and ideology, but for Lim, humanity can be as simple as “Facts are facts. Right is right. Wrong is wrong.” Here, Lim quotes Tang Deying, an elderly woman who tried fighting for an explanation after losing her son in the Chengdu crackdown. Humanity is in peril in the minds of the young people Lim interviews. Humanity seems to persist in the quiet corners of Chinese society where Chen Guang, a soldier-turned-artist who participated in the “clearance” of the Square, and Bao Tong, a top Party official who was detained before the crackdown for his wrong political leanings, struggle with faith as well as despair.

Most people in the West take for granted Lim’s stance on humanity, but in the course of human history, humanity has always coexisted with its counter-ideologies. China’s current counter-ideology cannot be better said than Li’s summary: in China political rights are seen as “privileges to be negotiated based on the needs and conditions of the nation.” In other words, while the West believes that certain political rights are God-given and inalienable, Communist ideology asserts that individual rights can be sacrificed for greater good. Lim’s argument on humanity, though only discussed at the very end, illuminates the entire book and puts forward a firm response to the amnesic counter-ideology. Amid today’s trendy discussions over China’s economy and politics, one should never underestimate the profundity of People’s Republic of Amnesia.

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Yifu Dong is a sophomore at Yale University and an associate editor of the magazine. Contact him at yifu.dong@yale.edu.

This article also appears in China Hands.

Source article – 

Learning to Remember

The National Sadness of Sandy Hook

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It’s been almost two years since 20-year-old Adam Lanza walked into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and gunned down 20 children and six adults, before killing himself. It was one of the deadliest shootings in U.S. history–the worst ever in an elementary school. In the wake of this unthinkable tragedy, Americans were enveloped in a national sadness.

The murders took place on December 14th. Psychological theory and common wisdom both say that the intensity of our emotions surrounding Sandy Hook should have diminished by now. But is this true? A team of Columbia University psychological scientists, headed up by Bruce Dore and Kevin Ochsner, are questioning this belief. They are proposing an alternative idea about emotions and psychological distance–one that could have policy implications for the Newtown community and the country.

The fact is, the underlying mechanics of emotional decay are not well understood. One widely held hypothesis is that all emotions diminish at the same rate. That is, if remoteness affects emotional intensity, it should affect sadness and anger and anxiety and so forth, all at the same rate. But what if emotions are not all alike? What if time and distance make us think about tragic events differently–less concretely and more abstractly–and this mental construal affects different emotions differently?

That’s the idea that the Columbia scientists wanted to explore. They thought that over time, our thinking about Sandy Hook might shift from the grisly details to abstract questions, like: Why? In that case, they suspected, sadness might indeed diminish with time and distance, but other emotions–most notably anxiety–might not, and indeed might increase over time.

The scientists found a unique way to test this idea. They gathered Twitter postings–“tweets”–for nearly six months following the Sandy Hook tragedy. The tweets were all time-stamped, so they could analyze changes over time. They collected only tweets that mentioned either “Newtown” or “Sandy Hook”–and only tweets whose users identified their location. That’s because, according to the theory, both time and geographical distance shape our construal of events–and in turn the intensity of emotions.

They analyzed the content of the tweets in several ways. First, they looked at present-tense verbs and first-person pronouns–which were an indicator of the immediacy of events. They also analyzed emotion words in general, and sadness- and anxiety-related words in particular. Finally, they looked at any words that might indicate an interest in the horrific event’s causes. For all of these indicators, they tracked changes over six months’ time.

The findings supported their predictions. As the Sandy Hook shooting became more remote–both in time and distance–sadness words decreased. But as sadness diminished, anxiety showed the opposite pattern, increasing over time. What’s more, the jump in anxiety was associated with an increase in language suggesting a search for explanations and meaning in the tragedy.

The Twitter study was convincing, but the scientists wanted to double-check the results with a different kind of study. They recruited a group of adults, and divided them into two groups. Some were asked to write about why the Sandy Hook murders took place, while others wrote about the concrete details of the shooting. They then rated their feelings of sadness and anxiety and, finally, indicated whether or not they perceived ongoing risk for similar tragedies to occur.

As expected, and as reported in a forthcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science, focusing on abstract causes of the tragedy decreased sadness–but increased anxiety. So, while thinking about the Sandy Hook shooting evokes more sadness than anxiety in general, focusing on explanations leads to a shift in emotional tone from sadness to anxiety. Importantly, it appears that this emotional shift–especially the growing anxiety–is tied to people’s lingering worry that a similar tragedy might occur in the future.

The scientists conclude by citing a 2013 Gallup poll, which shows that a third of American parents fear for their child’s safety at school. That’s an 8 percent jump from 2012. Sadness and anxiety are very different emotions, and lead to different behaviors, so understanding their ebb and flow following a tragedy could lead to more effective interventions. It could also illuminate why citizens support legislation and policy initiatives to prevent more such tragedies in the future. Or, as in the case with Sandy Hook, why they don’t.

Follow Wray Herbert’s reporting on psychological science in The Huffington Post and on Twitter at @wrayherbert.

Taken from:

The National Sadness of Sandy Hook

Women in Business: Kristin Lemkau, Chief Marketing Officer, JPMorgan Chase

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Kristin Lemkau is the Chief Marketing Officer for JPMorgan Chase. She is responsible for brand, advertising, media, sponsorships, marketing and market research firmwide. She also leads communications for the Chase-branded businesses. She reports to Gordon Smith, CEO of Consumer & Community Banking, and is a member of the Consumer & Community Banking Leadership Team.

Prior to her role as CMO, she was Chief Communications Officer for Chase since and Deputy Head of Communications and head of Corporate Brand for JPMorgan Chase.

From 2005-2010, Kristin led Global Marketing & Communications for J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank, including media relations, internal communications, marketing, employer brand, events, and social responsibility. Before that, she ran Global Media Relations for the J.P. Morgan.

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan in 1998, she was director of Media Relations for AlliedSignal, the predecessor firm to Honeywell, Inc. She was previously director of Media Relations for Freeport-McMoRan in New Orleans. During her six-year career at Freeport, she was based in Madrid and Jakarta, where she built the company’s local communications offices.

Kristin graduated from Vanderbilt University. She is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit focused on preventing the causes of gun violence, and is a member of the Leadership Council for the Robin Hood Foundation. She is on the Board of the Association of National Advertisers.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
Big question and hard to say. I guess it comes down to having great parents and not being afraid to fail.

How has your previous employment experience aided your position at JPMorgan Chase?
I’ve been at the company a long time so I have a strong network of relationships, which in a large company helps a lot. I have a history and a high degree of trust with the CEOs who run businesses. I know that I am here to help them grow their businesses. They’re the client – I work for them. I hope that inoculates me against “CMO-itis.”

I’m actually not a traditionally marketer. I came up as a PR person, which I hope can be a strength. I am not married to the traditional ways to market and with marketing changing as quickly as it is around data and digital, I hope that helps me. And good PR is really about building credibility and telling the truth. That’s exactly what we are doing in building relationships with our customers.

What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at JPMorgan Chase?
Highlights have been too many to mention, but has to be around working with smart, terrific people. When you’re at work as long as we are, you need to be inspired by the people you’re with as much as the work itself. There have certainly been plenty of challenges. Those have probably been the sheer intensity of the work environment during certain cycles.

What does it mean to you to be included on Forbes’ Most Influential CMOs list?
I was surprised and thrilled. Many of the people on that list are people I have admired for years. So it means I have a lot to live up to!

What advice can you offer women who are seeking a career in finance?
It’s the same advice for men or women. Be a really good person and be really good at your job. I have a sign that hangs in my home office “if you work really hard and are kind, amazing things will happen.” Corny maybe, but true.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?
I have two young children, so every day can be a challenge. And I have never met anyone who has it completely figured out – whether they work or stay home – so once you know that, you can relax a bit. For me, I limit travel, I say no to almost everything I get invited to after work, and I never go more than two nights in a row without seeing my kids. Some days you get it right and some days you feel like a hot mess. You forgive yourself and carry on.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
Not taking enough risks. I can’t tell you how many women I know turn down opportunities. And usually it’s not because they don’t think they are capable; it’s because they don’t want to take on any more in what’s already an overloaded day. Mobility is really the only way to grow and to expand your career options-the Sheryl Sandberg jungle gym analogy. You just have to trust that thoughtful people have faith in you, do it and figure it out.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Sponsorship has made a huge difference to me. I don’t know whether mentorship works if the mentor doesn’t actually see how you work, but sponsors who know your work directly and can affect your career are critical. I’ve had no better sponsor than Gordon Smith, my boss today. I’m sure it sounds like I’m sucking up, but he’s taken big bets on me and then, more important, followed up by having the patience to let me fumble a few things in the early days. A good sponsor is someone who will take thoughtful risks giving you jobs or projects and then let you know they’ll underwrite your mistakes after you take it on.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
Mary Erdoes, CEO of JPMorgan Asset Management. She’s been an amazing business leader, sponsor and friend to me. When I came back from maternity leave in 2007 after having my first child, I was on the ledge wondering how I could do this. Mary rallied around me and actually threw a party at her house with women at JPM who had young children, AND she invited our kids. So while our kids were getting their faces painted and tearing up Mary’s house, we all connected about how we each made our lives work. Because in the end, “balance” is just a logistics challenge. After talking to those women, learning their systems and time management techniques, I realized I could do it. Mary is one in a billion.

What do you want JPMorgan Chase to accomplish in the next year?
Create stronger relationships with our customers. Banks haven’t traditionally established the kind of bond with their customers that other retailers have. Right now, Chase has the strongest customer satisfaction scores of large banks across most products. We have a chance to break through and establish the same kind of brand loyalty that other industries have, like Starbucks, Zappos, or the Container Store. There’s absolute no reason we shouldn’t. To quote Kevin Millar (or maybe it was Curt Schilling), “Why not us?”

Beyond that, I want to have fun.

See the original article here – 

Women in Business: Kristin Lemkau, Chief Marketing Officer, JPMorgan Chase

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