Post ?'s for David Here.

[Phil]

The man, The myth, well Dave Barr , is going to be available to answer questions for you fine folks. Dave as I'm sure many of you know has a background in science. He kind of a lab and gym rat in one. Some thing you may not know is Dave has a background in working with sprinters as well, and has done work with Nasa.

I'll let him tel the story he's much better versed in himself then I am But just wanted to start his out. Post your questions here and as Dave has time He's pick out some interesting questions and others he may save to address in other formats on the site.

Thanks

[Justin Negrete]

I have always admired Sprinters, i think they have the best physique.

How do you train to be a good sprinter without overtraining? I think of sprinting as being very demanding aerobically and aerobically.

So i suppose my question is. How to train to be a good sprinter without overtraining (running combined with weight training)

[David Barr]

Originally Posted by Justin Negrete

I have always admired Sprinters, i think they have the best physique.

How do you train to be a good sprinter without overtraining? I think of sprinting as being very demanding aerobically and aerobically.

So i suppose my question is. How to train to be a good sprinter without overtraining (running combined with weight training)

Great question Justin!
I'm glad I get to employ my experience as a speed coach for my first round!

The prevention of overtraining (OT) stems from three main factors:

1) Genetics (of course)

2) Diet -an inadequate diet will hinder recovery and predispose an athlete to OT. Conversely, an advanced diet/supplement program will greatly enhance one's recovery and make it very unlikely that they will OT.

3) Training Experience -the more advanced the athlete the greater the workload they are able to tolerate. Essentially, your body gets used to the high training demands.

Additionally, it is possible to progress in an area (or two) of work without overtaxing your body. This is because sprinting stresses different energy systems, as well as the nervous system and structural muscle. In other words, you don't train everything to improve all at once.

I could write a lot more on this Justin -it's a very insightful question.

[Justin Negrete]

Dave, in your opinion, whats the most important aspect when going for mass gain? training wise or diet wise.

[David Barr]

Originally Posted by Justin Negrete

Dave, in your opinion, whats the most important aspect when going for mass gain? training wise or diet wise.

Another key question Justin.

Let me put the answer to you this way: take two people, one who is cutting and one who is bulking.

1) How different would their training be?
2) How different would their diets be?

From this it should be clear that diet has the more disparate variables.

Now to answer your question, I'd say that Calories are the single biggest determinant of dietary success. Of course there's a lot more to it. So much that I would write a book on it (and in fact I have ).

Getting back to training, let me leave you with this thought. I've never seen anyone fail because they weren't training hard enough. It's always food intake.

[Skidmark46]

Hi -

I've been perusing your site and was reading the Top 10 Post Workout Myths a bit ago. In the FAQ section of the article it was stated (as an update) that

"Spiking insulin is neither required nor desirable for maximal muscle protein synthesis."

Would you be willing to elaborate on that statement? Nutrient timing systems seem to be built around the idea of needing to spike insulin for optimal nutrient transport into the cells, but I think that it would be great if that wasn't necessary, Is it because of the discovery that there is a 24-hour post-workout window for protein synthesis which would negate the need for a spike? Or that a rush of insulin is not required for the uptake of protein and there is some other mechanism at work accomplishing that?

Enjoyed your site and thanks for taking my question.

[David Barr]

Originally Posted by Skidmark46

"Spiking insulin is neither required nor desirable for maximal muscle protein synthesis."

Would you be willing to elaborate on that statement? Nutrient timing systems seem to be built around the idea of needing to spike insulin for optimal nutrient transport into the cells, but I think that it would be great if that wasn't necessary, Is it because of the discovery that there is a 24-hour post-workout window for protein synthesis which would negate the need for a spike? Or that a rush of insulin is not required for the uptake of protein and there is some other mechanism at work accomplishing that?

Enjoyed your site and thanks for taking my question.

Good question! We've been discussing this at length in the Nutrition section (under the "Glutamine" thread).

Original planning for the post-workout period was based on endurance training studies as well as those performed in fasted subjects. The latter is more specific to your question because in the fasted state we tend to "burn off" our proteins so they can't be used for growth/recovery.

From this it was shown that insulin will help protect the protein such that it can increase protein synthesis to a greater degree.


NOTE: The insulin didn't actually assist with uptake in the original study, it simply prevented the protein from being burned off.

Flash forward to today: this idea simply doesn't apply in a fed state.

Hope that helps!

[Justin Negrete]

Originally Posted by David Barr

Another key question Justin.

Let me put the answer to you this way: take two people, one who is cutting and one who is bulking.

1) How different would their training be?
2) How different would their diets be?

From this it should be clear that diet has the more disparate variables.

Now to answer your question, I'd say that Calories are the single biggest determinant of dietary success. Of course there's a lot more to it. So much that I would write a book on it (and in fact I have ).

Getting back to training, let me leave you with this thought. I've never seen anyone fail because they weren't training hard enough. It's always food intake.

Dave, are you still of the opinion that one who is trying to "delicately add lean mass" isn't getting optimal results from a mass gain stand point?

[David Barr]

Originally Posted by Justin Negrete

Dave, are you still of the opinion that one who is trying to "delicately add lean mass" isn't getting optimal results from a mass gain stand point?

Unfortunately yes, but there's a caveat (see below). The body just flourishes in a hyperCaloric environment, but fat cells usually do as well. Now it's possible to stick to low carb bulking, thereby minimizing fat gain, but this is usually far more difficult than using carbs.

That all said, any fat acquisition is unthinkable for many people, so they are forced to compromise their performance/muscle growth goals. BUT the negative impact of this compromise can be reduced if everything is done optimally (although this requires some advanced techniques).

[Justin Negrete]

Originally Posted by David Barr

Unfortunately yes, but there's a caveat (see below). The body just flourishes in a hyperCaloric environment, but fat cells usually do as well. Now it's possible to stick to low carb bulking, thereby minimizing fat gain, but this is usually far more difficult than using carbs.

That all said, any fat acquisition is unthinkable for many people, so they are forced to compromise their performance/muscle growth goals. BUT the negative impact of this compromise can be reduced if everything is done optimally (although this requires some advanced techniques).

It would seem as if a sensibly timed (ie carbs around workout, in morning, etc) and nutrient partitioning (P+C or P+F) would be the most optimal way to go, or even carb cycling (having low, moderate and higher days) while bulking. This would allow more carbs to really help with performance and keeping carbs lower on non workout days to minimize any fat gain. From my standpoint, i could honestly probably use a little more fat, so im not that worried about it as most folks would be. I would venture to guess most dont have my issue (skinny ecto morph whos never weighed more than 143lbs)