Funny thing is, most people who want to get big and bulky have a hard time doing so! People must think that lifting a few weights is going to make your muscles so huge they rip your sleeves off!

…

http://coachlevi.com/training/if-this-exercise-burns-fat-whats-with-my-belly-fat/

http://coachlevi.com/training/losing-weight-instead-of-gaining-muscle-mass/

…

Anyway, what is toning? The common perception of a toned body is where you can see your dense, defined muscles. A lean, muscular body. Just no bulging muscles.

Think Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in Fight Club.

In reality, toning is nothing more than losing body fat.

By slightly increasing the size of your muscles and decreasing the amount of fat hiding them, you get the toned look.

So you don’t actually “tone” the muscle. You just burn fat which allows you to see your muscles.

…

So if you want a toned body, simply “burn fat” which is exactly the same thing.

…

Rusty from Fitness Black Book describes toning as having a sharp, angular look to your muscles as opposed to big soft muscles. He says it’s a totally different look.

But I have to disagree. I don’t think there is actually a changing of shape to the muscles. I think it’s just that everyone has a different body.

Take MMA fighters for example. Look at all the ones with low body fat and ripped muscles. Every single body is different. Specifically, six pack abs. They’re all different. I don’t think that these guys can change the shape of their muscles to be more sharp, angular, peaked, or whatever.

…

I agree you can change the muscle, some are super hard and dense, and some are big and soft. I’ve noticed personally with strength training routines how my muscles can get stronger and feel tougher, while the one time I tried a routine that was geared toward muscle size, I ended up with bigger muscles, but they were soft and weak.

But I think there’s a definite genetic limit to how much you can change the appearance of the muscle, whether by manipulating the muscle or your body fat.

…

Nate Green shares the same point of view and he explains it nicely in his book, Built for Show.

You can make a muscle bigger or smaller, but you can’t “tone” it.

…

Here’s how to stay upright no matter what the road throws at you:

Roadkill

In most cases, you will spot the roadkill while it’s still far up the road, giving you time to change your line and safely ride around it. (You are always alert for potential road hazards, right??)

All you have to do is pick a line to the left or right of the roadkill and glide by without trouble. Just don’t look at the roadkill. Remember, always look where you want to go – don’t look at the obstacle you’re trying to avoid! (You might want to plug your nose, too.)

Can’t change lines? If you didn’t spot the roadkill in time, or you’re surrounded by traffic, you will have to hop over the roadkill!

To do this, stand up and crouch down like a spring. When you get to the roadkill, spring your body upwards and slightly pull the bike up into the air if you can. It is best to get both wheels over, but at least get your front wheel over. (If your back wheel hits, it may get some blood and guts on it, but if your front wheel hits, you could lose control and be roadkill yourself!)

Pot hole

Again, this is something you want to spot well in advance and ride around it (follow the same guidelines as avoiding roadkill.)

But if you can’t get around the pot hole, there are two ways to hit it…

The fast way:

Unweight your wheels, stand up, glide over it. Use legs and arms as shock absorbers when you land.

One, keep your speed high, and unweight your wheels, which allows you to stay above the pothole and land safely on the other side. Unweight and go straight up and speed carries you forward to the other side. Could do this in the drops or on bar tops.

The slow way:

Two, slow down quite a bit, but maintain enough speed to safely roll through. Lean back, unweighting front wheel, it will glide over. Then lean forward to take weight off the rear wheel. Use legs and arms as shock absorbers. Best done with hands on bar tops.

Either way, you’ll be standing up in the attack position.

Railroad Tracks

Railroad tracks pose a slightly different threat than typical obstacles since you can’t ride around them. You either ride over them or jump over them! (Both options can be dangerous, but very doable if you know how.)

Glide over:

Stay loose and glide over. Hit perpendicular. If the tracks are angled, then you need to angle yourself to hit them at 90 degrees. Watch for traffic, because this requires you to use the whole lane.

If they’re wet, be extra careful.

Hop over:

At high speeds, you can unweight over these just like you’d unweight over a huge pothole. For experienced riders only, because it’s a long ways. Otherwise roll over them lightly like you would roll over a pot hole.

Broken Glass

Rarely do I go for a ride and not encounter glass of some sort. Whether there is window glass scattered everywhere from a car crash or broken beer bottles lining the shoulder, glass is a common sight on the road.

As with roadkill, try your best to pick a line that takes you past the glass, rather than through it.

But if you have to ride through the glass, you can decrease your risk of a puncture. First off, try to ride through as little glass as possible. Second, glide through lightly with your pedals level, weight evenly distributed.

Once you’re through, (with gloves on) run your palm along the tire to dislodge any glass shards before they burrow their way down to the tube. It’s easier to do this if you are stopped, but experienced riders can do this while still riding. Just don’t let the tire pull your hand in between it and the frame or fork!

Metal Drainage Grates

Ride over in a straight line. Be extra careful in the wet – wet metal is slippery!

Just make sure you are riding perpendicular to the openings. If you are parallel, your narrow wheel could drop right in and you’ll go over the bars!

Wet Leaves

Ride over, stay loose. Attack position. Don’t try to turn, and don’t accelerate a lot. If you turn you might slide, and if you accelerate, your back wheel will probably spin.

…

how to be ready for anything? ride MTB and BMX in your spare time. Then you’ll have such good bike control that nothing can stop you.

And of course, practice crashing with proper technique!

[like to my practice crashing article]

…

Since I started working out, I’m losing weight instead of gaining it. Shouldn’t I be gaining muscle mass?

Since I started two months ago, I went from 156 to 147. I am getting more toned, but I’m not gaining muscle mass for some reason. Is that supposed to happen, or am I doing something wrong?

By the way, I eat a lot. It’s not like I don’t eat either.

Thanks,
Hardgainer Harvey

Hi Harvey,

Since I don’t know the exact details of your diet and training, I can’t say exactly what’s going on, but I can point out a couple main issues here when it comes to weight loss, diet, and muscle gain.

First, the initial weight loss and “toned” look.

As weird as it seems, this isn’t uncommon. Most people out there, especially if they’re new to working out, have high enough body fat that they will end up noticing the fat loss more than the muscle gain. And in most cases, you can lose fat faster than you can gain muscle.

From the information given, I would guess that you may have gained a little muscle mass, but lost a lot of fat along the way. That’s what leads to the “toned” look.

If you think about it, what is “toning” anyway? Getting toned is all about losing fat so that your muscles become more visible.

The toned look comes from a combination of losing fat and gaining muscle. Many people think they are “toning” their muscles when they workout, but that’s kind of a misleading statement. You can’t really change the look of the muscle. Getting “toned” is simply making the muscle bigger so it stands out more, or losing fat so that the muscle is less hidden.

Now, that is all just speculation. It’s entirely possible that you’re just losing weight (fat) and not gaining any muscle. That happens with beginners, because it takes years to really learn and understand your body and how it responds to food intake and workload in the gym.

Second, are you really eating enough?

I would bet that you aren’t eating enough to gain muscle (even if you think you are.) Think about it – you need to consume more calories than you burn in order to gain weight. If you are working out, you are burning more calories, so you have to eat more than normal to get that calorie surplus.

If you have lost nine pounds in two months, that’s a good sign that you will have to eat more in order to build muscle.

Third, are you working hard enough to gain muscle?

I like the saying, “building muscle is simple, but not easy.” What that means is that building muscle is a simple concept, but it takes a lot of hard work to actually accomplish it.

You may have a great program and work ethic, but it’s worth pointing out, gaining a lot of muscle takes seriously hard work in the gym. Not to mention the discipline to do every single workout in the first place!

Lastly, how do you know what to do?

The final step is constantly learning and striving for improvement (i.e. muscle gain.)

You should be keeping a training log and food journal to chart your progress. With a food journal, you can see what caloric intake you need in order to gain weight. (Basically you would slightly increase your food intake each week until you hit the point where you gain weight.)

With a training journal, you can chart your progress as well as analyze what types of training yield the best results.

As you improve at weight lifting and want to learn more about nutrition, you can look into more advanced topics such as intense training programs, nutrition plans, nutrient timing, intermittent fasting, and many others.

Here are a few resources that would be good for your current situation:

• “Build Muscle and Lose Fat Simultaneously?”
• BUILT FOR SHOW by Nate Green
• “How to Build Muscle”
• “How to Maintain Muscle While Losing Weight”

Good luck with your muscle gain!

TruBoost is claimed to “boost energy naturally” and “enhance mental clarity.” That’s nothing new. What sets this energy shot apart from the rest is that it contains no stimulants, no caffeine, is non-carbonated, and is free of artificial colors and flavors.

Health, Ingredients, and Nutrition Facts

To start with, let’s look at the “Proprietary Organic Blend.” TruBoost contains 1.4g of these herbs: Krishna Tulsi leaf and flower, Vana Tulsi leaf and flower, Rama Tulsi leaf and flower.

Apparently all those herbs are forms of “Holy Basil”, which is an interesting herb from India that may help relieve stress (read more from Dr. Weil.)

Then you have 500mg of Potassium D-glucarate and 125mg Sensoril (which is Ashwaganda Extract.) There are also some B vitamins in there, but just about 30% DV for each, which isn’t much compared to other energy drinks.

Finally, the other ingredients…

Other ingredients: Peach Juice (Water, Peach Juice Concentrate), Organic Agave Nectar, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid.

That makes for 6g sugar (peach juice and agave nectar are nearly pure sugar,) all in all giving you 30 calories. That’s quite a few calories for a healthy 4oz drink (compared to Ola Loa or something,) but not many if you compare it to other energy drinks or to juice.

Taste Test

TruBoost is a peach flavor according to the bottle.

The first time I tried it, my exact words were “this tastes like peach-flavored urine!” It was pretty bad and I did not enjoy finishing the 4oz.

However, a couple days later I reluctantly tried another bottle… and it was pretty good! Nothing special, but it was drinkable and actually tasted like peach that time.

The third time, I really enjoyed it! I’m not sure why, but the peach taste was just plain better the third time around. If I had had a 12oz can of this stuff, I would have gladly consumed the whole thing.

With the fourth bottle, it was the same thing – it was actually good.

Perhaps since I don’t regularly consume energy shots, I needed a couple warm-up sessions? Whatever it was, I wouldn’t hesitate to have a fifth bottle.

The Energy Boost

The first time I took this, I thought it may have given me a boost, but I was unsure. The second time I was thinking, “OK, I’m pretty sure this gave me a small energy boost.”

The third time I could finally tell for sure. I had one at roughly 6pm when I was getting tired from a long day of exercise and work. While I didn’t notice a kick, about 45 minutes later I started thinking, “hey, I feel pretty good.”

And I felt good and alert the rest of the evening. It was a good feeling – relaxed yet awake and alert. Much better than a jittery feeling! I was still able to get to sleep at 11pm.

But if you already have a tolerance to energy drinks or you’re really run down from a rough week, this might not be a big enough kick.

Overall it turned out to be a pretty good drink, and I only have one complaint – the bottle itself! The packaging sucks!

To start, you have to peel off the thick plastic covering, but that’s not so bad. The real problem is that “lift n pull” seal under the cap. I hate those things. Now, it’s one thing to take it off a 32oz bottle of something, but to remove it for one measly energy shot, it’s a huge pain in the ass.

It takes longer to remove the seal than it does to drink the drink!

My final verdict is…

At first I didn’t like this at all, but now I kind of like it. It provides a small but pleasant energy boost that sets it apart from other powerful energy drinks.

I would definitely get some more if it was cheap, but it’s not convenient to purchase and it’s probably like $3 per shot. So I don’t mind going without it since there are so many energy drink options out there.

Official website: Lifeforce.net

The worst part is, even if you practice shifting for years and get really good at the nuances of your bike, and you adjust the front derailleur perfectly, it still happens!

So what do you do?

You need to get yourself a chain catcher!

A “chain catcher” (or “chain watcher” as some say) will prevent the chain from dropping off the small ring and onto the frame. If the chain is about to slide off the small ring, it hits the chain catcher, which pushes the chain back onto the ring. This saves time, keeps your hands clean, lessens frame damage, and could very well salvage your chances of winning a race!

The chain catcher is actually a simple device. It is nothing more than a small piece of plastic or metal that clamps to your seat tube or front derailleur and rests beside the small chainring.

They are cheap, too, so you have no excuse not to use one!

In my research, I have found six options for chain catchers. Here they are…

Third Eye Chain Watcher

This is a small piece of nylon with a built-in metal clamp. It clamps to the seat tube, and the nylon piece keeps the chain on the ring. It should fit seat tubes of 1 1/8″ to 1 3/8″, even if they’re oval.

Link: www.3rd-eye.com

Deda Elementi Dog Fang

This looks similar to the Third Eye Chain Watcher, in that it is a small piece of nylon. It fits 28.6 mm (1 1/8″), 31.7 mm (1 1/4″) and 31.8 mm (1 3/8″) round seat tubes.

Link: www.dedaelementi.com

N-Gear Jump Stop

This is a stainless steel plate with a plastic clamp. It clamps to your seat tube and the plate is there to act as a chain guide. It fits round seat tubes with a standard outside diameter of 1″ (needs shim), 1-1/8″, 1-1/4″, or 1-3/8″.

Link: www.gvtc.com

JTek DropStop

The DropStop is slightly different in that it mounts on the bottom bracket rather than the seat tube. This solves the problem of seat tube size, although it requires more time for installation.

Link: www.jtekengineering.com

K-Edge

The K-Edge is the fanciest chain catcher out there. If you want a good one, this is the one to get. But you do have to shell out $45 or more for this luxury!

Link: www.acecosportgroup.com

There is also a good story at VeloNews featuring the K-Edge.

Or… Make your own!

If you want a top-quality chain catcher but don’t want to spend a whole lot, you can make your own. It’s possible to make your own chain catcher that looks and works nearly as well as the K-Edge, while costing less than $10.

All you really do is take a piece of metal and bend it just so, then attach it to your bike via the screw on your front derailleur braze-on.

For instructions and diagrams, check out the RoadBikeRider.com ebook “How to Make a Chain Catcher (And Never Worry About a Suicide Shift Again)” by John Marsh. (Buy here; see my review of the book here.) It’s under $4 for the book, and the materials cost under $2. That’s a great value!

(Or check this thread at RoadBikeReview for some interesting ideas for homemade chain catchers.)

Yes, even the pros use chain catchers!

If you look at the pros’ bikes, you’ll see many of them have custom-made chain catchers!

Alessandro Ballan’s Wilier: click here for picture.

Paolo Bettini’s Specialized: click here for story, here for picture.

There is also a story here and another picture.

Bradley Wiggins’ Felt (equipped with a K-Edge): click here for story.

Don’t wait until you scratch your carbon frame, get a chain catcher soon!

While I am not one to live off crazy energy drinks, I do try them on occasion, especially if I find one that looks relatively healthy. One I tried is called Awake Good Morning Energy, which is 100% juice plus some energy ingredients. It comes in an “orange tangerine” flavor.

Yes, since it is juice-based, it is very high in sugar. However, most of the sugar is naturally-occurring in the fruit juice, and there isn’t a ridiculously high amount of caffeine, taurine, or similar ingredients. That, plus the fact that I found it on sale at Big Lots for 50 cents per can, made it worth trying!

Health & Nutrition

With typical energy drinks, we’re just trying to find something that’s not too unhealthy. With Awake, it’s really just a mix of fruit juice concentrates plus a few other things, so it’s off to a good start.

Juices include apple, orange, tangerine, lemon, pineapple, and passion fruit.

Then you have:

Essentra – 125mg
Taurine – 100mg
Caffeine – 80mg
L-Carnitine L-Tartrate – 15mg

Caffeine will give you a mental boost, the two amino acids are claimed to give you energy and/or help you burn fat, and Essentra is supposed to alleviate stress, reduce fatigue, and improve mental clarity while restoring energy levels.

Here is what the Awake website says about Essentra:

Essentra® is a unique, patented vitalizing and rejuvenating extract derived from a natural botanical called Ashwagandha, a powerful adaptogen that provides restorative nutrition for enhanced mind and body performance. In addition to increasing stamina and overall energy throughout the day, it has been standardized to consistently shield the body against the negative effects of stress by balancing and harmonizing the body’s systems. It helps to reduce fatigue, improve immune system functions, sharpen focus and eliminate your energy “peaks and valleys.”

That adds up to 180 calories in a 12oz can. That’s a little high, and what really takes the cake is most of those calories are from sugar – there’s 50g sugar in the can! It’s all from the fruit juice, but still, that would lead to one crazy sugar rush!

To end on a positive note, this is no added sugar or sucralose!

Taste Test

I think the tangerine and pineapple are the most prominent flavors. Orange kind of blends with the tangerine, and I do taste the apple some, but those flavors are subdued whereas the pineapple and tangerine give it that bite.

On some sips I also notice a little sour note from the lemon juice. I think I could taste the passion fruit when I consciously looked for it, but since passion fruit isn’t a staple in my diet, I didn’t really notice the flavor above any others.

Awake has a juicier texture and sweeter, less tangy flavor than the Guru Juicy tangerine flavor.

Overall the taste is good. As for texture, it’s just like drinking a tropical fruit juice mix. You can’t tell there is anything else in there.

With no carbonation and no artificial sweeteners to leave a bad aftertaste, it’s all good. I could probably drink this every morning and still enjoy the taste (not that I’d make this sugary drink a daily occurrence.)

Energy Boost

I drank a can of Awake in the morning, around 8:45 AM. It gave me a little energy boost.

Not a crazy energy boost, and not jittery; plenty for me because I don’t drink much caffeine.

The boost lasted at least till the afternoon, at which point I had a rare cup of coffee and was awake till the wee hours of the morning! I think that was the coffee, but at least I can say this isn’t one of those energy drinks that lasts 15 minutes and then results in a big crash.

My final verdict is…

If you like tropical fruit juice, and you don’t mind getting 50 grams of sugar in a single drink, this could be for you.

It’s still 50g sugar hitting your body very quickly, though, so I wouldn’t make it a habit.

Official website: www.awake-energy.com

Or maybe you went to the big ring and the chain flew off the ring and onto your shoe?

Well, here is what you can do…

If your chain drops onto the bottom bracket shell:

If you are pedaling along, shift down to the small chainring, and immediately lose all resistance at the pedals, there’s a good chance that the chain dropped off onto the bottom bracket shell.

If this happens, the first thing you should do is relax! You don’t need to panic or screech to a halt, just roll along.

Begin pedaling easily, and gently shift the front derailleur up like you’re going back to the big ring. Typically this is enough to get the chain back onto the small ring and spinning smoothly. (You don’t want to actually shift the whole way back up to the big ring.)

However, if the chain bunches up, you have a bigger problem…

If your chain digs onto the bottom bracket shell (chainsuck):

If your attempts to shift the chain back onto the chainring fail, it’s probably because the chain got jammed into the bottom bracket shell. When this happens, the chain bunches up and completely jams. This is known as chainsuck.

When this happens, you should stop pedaling! You’ll need to slow to a stop, get off the bike, and lift the chain off the bottom bracket shell and onto the chainring. Sometimes you may need to physically pull the chain out, if it is jammed in there tightly.

If you don’t want to get your hands greasy, take a tire lever and use that to pry the chain free and drop it onto the chainring.

If your chain drops off the big ring onto your foot:

Finally, what do you do if the chain flys off the big ring and ends up hanging outside the crank arm? Or perhaps it ends up on your foot?!

In this case, you gently roll along and use a similar shifting technique, except that now you are shifting down toward the small ring. So you will pedal gently and shift down, hoping the chain comes back up and over to the big ring.

This actually happened to me in the inaugural Tour de Susquehanna. I shifted the chain right off onto my foot! I had to slow down quite a bit, but by some stroke of luck, I was able to unclip my foot and lift the chain slightly (with my foot,) then it shifted back into place!

It won’t always work that well, but it’s worth a shot.

Speaking of cadence, which one is efficient in mt biking – maintaining 90 rpm, or high torque and less rpm?

Thanks,
Mountain Matt

Hi Matt,

The short answer is, “it depends.”

As discussed in my proper cadence article, the proper cadence differs between riders, even when road biking. However, it is generally accepted that maintaining a steady cadence of 90rpm is most efficient on the road.

At the other end of the spectrum (mountain biking,) there are many situations that call for different cadences. When mountain biking, you can disregard virtually everything I said about proper cadence for road biking!

In general, a slower cadence in a higher gear will offer more stability when negotiated rough, technical terrain. Having that extra resistance will make it much easier to go up, over, and/or around obstacles without losing momentum.

Let’s say you’re on very rutted terrain. You want a real big gear and slow cadence to put your weight on your feet, easing the pain on your butt. (The harder of a gear you’re pushing, the less your butt rests on the saddle.)

For technical hill climbs, you definitely want more torque and a lower cadence. This allows you to push yourself over obstacles and begin pedaling again, without spinning out.

If you’re cruising down dirt roads, go ahead and spin 90 rpm if you want to relax. But even then, I don’t always spin that fast. It’s partly due to the longer crank arms on my mountain bike, but partly because the high cadence just doesn’t feel right on the rough stuff. (Even on a regular dirt road, I like that torque.)

However, one thing I’ve heard from some of the local pros that also ride singlespeeds, is that they have successfully used a “singlespeed-esque strategy” while racing on geared bikes. (If you’ve never been on a singlespeed, it typically works like this: you stand and grind on the hills, then spin real easy on the flats.)

So using this strategy on a geared bike means you get in a fairly big gear and push really hard on the climbs. Then when you’re on the flats, you spin relatively easily to recover. The goal is to save your energy for the tough stuff, while conserving energy where extra effort doesn’t yield that much difference in speed (i.e. going hard on a hill can really put a gap on your competition, while spinning moderately on the flats is almost as fast as pushing really hard on the flats.)

What it boils down is that, in most cases, you’ll have a better experience if you push a bigger gear on your mountain bike instead of spinning at 90rpm.

Step 1: Start in a standing position with feet close together, arms at your sides.

Step 2: Now, squat down and put the palms of your hands just outside and in front of your feet.

Step 3: Support yourself with your hands, then thrust your feet backward so that you are in the traditional “up” portion for a standard pushup.

Step 4: Do a full pushup and when you return to the up position, immediately jump your feet up to your hands.

Step 5: As soon as you reach the squat position, jump up! (Instead of standing up, you do a squat jump at the end.)

This is one “rep”.

Now you’re back to the standing position and can start another rep.

Burpees video:

[video coming soon]

See more exercise guides in The Bodyweight Exercise Collection.

I have been biking and doing triathlons for about 6 years now and i am just getting competitive. I have always just used some sidi shoe that a friend gave me but they are way past their time of replacement and i finally have the money to get a new pair of shoes!

Is there a difference in a “Road” shoe and a “triathlon” shoe? if so is it so much of a difference that i would need to get both?

I am racing competitively and im not slow by any means! I have won my last 5 or 6 road races on the bike and plan to do the upcoming half ironman in new orleans. I just need to know if i need to buy two different pairs of shoes for biking or is there one that can be used for both and does not sacrifice anything.

Keep in mind i need to be able to slip out of the shoe itself in a triathlon while still riding the bike (relatively fast and easy) so i think Velcro is the way to go.

Thanks,
Triathlon Tim

Hi Tim,

The main purpose of a triathlon shoe is to let you slip in and out quickly, even with wet feet.

Typically a triathlon shoe will use a single Velcro strap, and it will have a wide foot opening (sometimes referred to as “tongueless” design.) These features make it easy to get the shoe on and off quickly. Also, there is usually a nice seamless liner that makes the shoes comfortable to wear without socks (similar to how triathlon-oriented running shoes are made.)

With a road bike shoe, you’ll probably have two or three Velcro straps and/or a buckle closure. This is great for adjusting the shoes for the perfect fit, but it’s not a time saver. Cheaper shoes might even have laces, which take a long time to tie and untie.

What it really comes down to is that road shoes are designed for comfort and performance, while tri shoes are designed for quick transitions and performance (and for sockless comfort.)

A tri shoe will look like this.

In the end, you could get by with one or the other. With the tri shoe, the fit might not be perfectly dialed in, but it should be fine.

With the road shoe, it would probably be more comfortable and stable. It would be a bit slower for the transitions, but working with two Velcro straps instead of one doesn’t add that much extra transition time.

Where the road shoe’s secure fit would really shine is in the sprinting and attacking that takes place in most road races. (Whereas you’re keeping a steady pace, usually seated, during a tri.)

Sure, I’d prefer to have both shoes, but you don’t need to start out with both. If you’re racing Cat 1/2 or Pro on the road, you definitely want dedicated road shoes.

High up in triathlons? Get a tri-specific shoe.

If I was going with just one shoe, I’d get a good road shoe with two Velcro straps.