Channel Dad Bryon Lape is finished with the container of Tune-Up BCAA/EAA with Hydration supplement from RevUp Nutrition. Now that he has taken the entire product, was it worth the cost? Did Tune-Up help with hydration? Is this product more a gimmick than something every weight lifter needs to buy?
There is a never ending quest for the best BCAA supplements on the market. Some do not believe that branched chain amino acids are necessary after a hard workout, while others swear by the boost they give. In a highly competitive world, every small edge is sought out.
Did you watch the live taste test review Channel Dad Bryon Lape published back in December 2019? No? Well here is the link. What do you think of his review?
There are some who do not believe supplements should exist. As Bryon Lape states in this supplement review, they are meant to come after proper nutrition and a weight lifting routine that supports your fitness goals. A Bryon Lape supplement review is meant to be see as information only and does not directly endorse any particular manufacture. Channel Dad Bryon Lape gives open and honest reviews for supplements and has paid for the product in question, unless specifically stated otherwise. Your continued support of the Bryon Lape supplement reviews is appreciated and welcomed. Share these videos on all your social media platforms.
Channel Dad Bryon Lape is not a personal trainer, but he is a bit of a gym rat. Rich Piana would not think him very strong and would probably make Channel Dad take all of the 5% supplements. In your local supermarket you will probably find C4. This is a run of the mill pre workout and can give good results. Is there a supplement you want Bryon Lape to review? Leave a comment.
More than one person has asked Bryon Lape to do a gym Vlog and he has not done so yet. He did blog about his various training routines on his website. Visit these articles for the ideas he has. Remember, he does have quite a bit of fitness knowledge, but he is not a licensed personal trainer nor a registered dietician. Walk with care.
Tight muscles and joints reduce mobility and stability. Being a reduced state may start to affect your fitness negatively. An article of the Muscle and Fitness website holds three Yoga moves to help you improve your fitness. Though targeted for women, the Yoga moves hold good for men as well. Channel Dad Bryon Lape reads the article and shows images of each move. The Yoga moves from Muscle and Fitness are Pigeon Pose, Downward Facing Dog, and Spinal Twist. These Yoga moves will help open your helps, strengthen your core, and give better stability to your back. Try them and open new areas in your fitness. There’s no need to do hot yoga to get the benefits for your fitness. But, if you want to do hot yoga, go for it.
Channel Dad Reads is an on-going series of videos of various articles of interest to Bryon Lape. Some are about pop culture, comic books, Star Wars, and superhero movies. Every Monday, a Captain Marvel oriented video is published. Marvel is keen to promote Brie Larson as the new leader of the MCU, so many articles are published each week and provide information to be shared. Other articles cover bettering your Life and increasing your Fitness levels. Channel Dad Reads is about finding the positive in all things and learning from mistakes, no matter who makes them. As it has been said, “Wisdom is learning from the experience of others.”
As men get older, their testosterone tends to drop. How much is dependent on the person, their genetics, their activity level, and their diet. Many factors go into reducing mail testosterone, but men can do something to raise their free testosterone. True Grit Test Booster is a supplement that helps support proper testosterone health. Channel Dad Bryon Lape gives a report on True Grit Test Booster supplement and how well it worked for him. Have you tried the True Grit Test Booster? Do you agree with Bryon Lape’s review of the supplement? Watch the video and leave you comments below.
For men, having proper testosterone levels is important to lose weight, build muscle, or bodybuilding. Doing weight training is only part of the equation. When men are younger, their testosterone levels are usually quite good, but getting older and losing testosterone can make bodybuilding motivation difficult.
First take care of your diet and have a training routine that is geared toward your fitness goals. You can build muscle and burn fat at the same time, be mindful of what you need and get the base correct first. Is your testosterone still too low? True Grit Test Booster may help increase your free testosterone. Try this supplement and decide for yourself if it is what you need.
True Grit Test Booster contains all natural ingredients. These are not synthetic commands and will not harm your natural bodybuilding objectives.
When lifting weights, getting the right amount of amino acids can help build the muscles you are training. One way to ensure the proper BCAAs are available is through a good quality supplement. Bryon Lape reviews MuscleTech Myobuild 4x BCAAs after he has completed the entire container. Did he find them to be worth the money? Time for the MuscleTech Myobuild 4x empty container review.
Start with good nutrition before adding supplements. After creatine and protein powder, a branched chain amino acids supplement may be what your body needs. Do not confuse MuscleTech with Nitro Tech.
In 2012, Kate Upton had her first cover on Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and the press started to hound her. While some were positive about Kate Upton’s body and shape, many were negative, some calling her fat. The negative comments tugged at Kate Upton’s insecurities and tarnished her body image. After the experience, Kate Upton didn’t want to wear a bikini in public for fear of the finger pointing and the creepy comments.
Now Kate Upton is 27 and a mom. Being positive about her curves and striving for fitness over thinness, Kate is making an impact with her #ShareStrong Instagram campaign. She believes curvy women need to be body positive and use fitness not as a way to get skinny, but to be healthy. Being a sexy model starts with attitude and belief in yourself. Nina Agdal also uses fitness to stay healthy, without being in the gym constantly.
Kate Upton joined the Skimm’d From The Couch hosts Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg to talk about her experiences as a model, being a mom, and reaching fitness to help with being healthy and curvy. Is Kate learning to use fitness and health as a way to find fulfillment?
The YouTube channel was finally starting to grow. Each week, the number of subscribers rose, as did the amount of increase. Nothing spectacular, but the growth was steady.
When the milestone of reach 2,500 subscribers was reached, a new trend started to develop with the video watches. Previously, the videos about pop culture, in particular Star Wars and Marvel Movies, had been the highest watched. This was in contrast to trends from several years ago when the supplement reviews were king. New subscribers were starting to watch the reviews again, with several reaching more views than the channel had subs. What was going on?
Around the 3,000 sub level, a contact came in from a marketing research firm. They wanted to chat about a test venture that would no doubt grow my channel. Surely this is spam and it was ignored. A few days later, a more convincing message was sent and contact was made. They had conducted an honesty survey using several channels and mine rated the highest. A six week experiment was in order to see how much potential there was in a channel that had various topics and was not trying to directly sell anything. This sounded great!
The first two weeks of the experiment was about getting the videos in order and tagging them properly. Several old videos had to go. They were too divisive or too old. Away they went. Others need to be updated for proper tagging. A few thumbnail tweaks here and there as well. Nice and proper. Good, what next?
A consistent schedule was created. Videos would go out three times a week. Sunday afternoons were good for a pop culture video. It could be a single topic or a summary. The experiment would derive which worked better. Tuesday morning at 9 was good for a supplement review or other fitness related video. Friday morning was primetime for a beer review. People were getting ready for the weekend on Friday and a good beer suggestion helped them prepare. There, now stick to this schedule, until it needs to be updated.
Now for the thumbnails. They are too boring. Each should be unique and yet have a familiarity. Each should convey enough insight to be interesting. A format was chosen for each video type. A formula was discovered. Care was taken in their creation. They looked sharp, but not too professional.
The videos themselves needed something that was missing: an air of caring, not one of a hobby. YouTube, after all, was a place of business and the videos need to reflect that. Don’t just throw together a video in minutes. Take some time to prepare and plan them. A consistent introduction was needed for each type. A proper and consistent expectation needed to be created in the mind of the viewer. They should be able to tell what type of video they were watching by the introduction alone. No more sloppy t-shirts, even in the gym. Look like you care. Look like you want to help them. Well, because, you want to do so. The viewer must get that message subconsciously in the first ten seconds. If not, they would be lost. Too often, and they would not return.
Over time, the videos took on the new ideas. By the fourth week, the channel growth was up to 200 new subscribers a week. This was not some drop in the bucket as had been when the Brie Larson/Captain Marvel video exploded. Views hit 1,000 for every video. Then 5,000. This was real growth and people showed their appreciation. The number of likes grew. Comments were left that reflected their desires. They communicated with one another. The first steps to a real YouTube community were being created. Finally! This is Awesome!
The channel was not the only thing to be growing. The marketing research firm was able to collect useful data from subscribers and viewers (surveys, advertisement reactions, social media sharing). This information could be sold or used to help their clients better their marketing efforts. They called and wanted a face to face. They had a new proposal.
It was with a bit of hesitance that a meeting was arranged in Upstate New York. Would the rights to the channel have to be sold or signed away? Would the income continue to grow?
No, on both accounts. Margaret wanted a more direct partnership: full-time consultant. The channel stays in the same hands, but direction and feedback would come from the firm to help it grow. Viewers would also be encouraged to take part in surveys and such to help gauge the value. The largest market was the fitness supplements industry, but it wasn’t the only one. Videos needed to be more often. There were brands interested in offering views discounts on new orders. A few apparel companies wanted to have their wears on display in workout videos. The best, though, was the request for not only interviews with the spokespeople for brands, but workout videos and appearances on their channels. LapeTV was becoming a bigger thing and it needed to grow, quickly.
A new video schedule was created. Sunday afternoons would now be “Conversations with Brainmuffin,” a new interview series like no other. All too often, the same questions are asked repeatedly and the personalities become quite tired of answering them. A new idea was to be tried, let them create their own list of questions, at least in part. What have they never been asked? Is there a question they would like to revise an answer for? New lines of thought? Why does no one ask these questions? A casual conversation was the goal, instead of some firing line style Q&A. Great!
Views about pop culture moved to three days a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Supplement reviews and taste tests, workout videos, and videos on correct exercise execution came out on Tuesday and Thursday. Beer reviews were still limited to Friday, but beer making would be added from time to time. Interviews with brewers would also be added to “Conversations with Brainmuffin,” but only once a month. Beer just isn’t paying the bills.
The return trip was overwhelming. The firm rented most of a floor in the Carew Tower in downtown Cincinnati as a place for conducting interviews and making the tasting videos. A kitchen area was created to allow for fitness cooking and beer making. An area of the floor was reinforced and a proper gym was created. Starting with local talent and fitness pros (personal trainers, rehabilitation specialists, sports coaches), workout and training routine videos were created. Often, the same people not only wanted to be on “Conversations with Brainmuffin,” but they also wanted to do supplement taste tests. Brands eventually allowed their local spokes person to bring new flavors and products by. The YouTube channel grew and so did the BitChute echo.
Helping with everything locally was Margaret’s trusty assistant, Elizabeth. Keeping everyone on schedule, in particular Brainmuffin himself, was a full-time job. After a month, Margaret knew she had to give up Elizabeth and let her run the operation. A new partnership was crafted: the making of a YouTube channel like none other.
Then, the first development happened. Arnold reached out for an interview in Columbus during the Classic.
With each flip of the calendar, ideas for training that once worked become less successful. It is the growing mind that constantly looks for new ideas to try. Some ideas are great. Others are left behind. Read any stereotypical body building magazine and the routines contained in them have you doing 12 and 15 rep sets and low rest periods. Read a strength training manual and the sets have much lower rep counts and longer rest periods. Why can’t both be used?
Without going into too much detail about fast and slow twitch muscles, the idea of doing a mixed training routine is not a new one nor is it without some merit. The pursuer of any such routine must be aware of two major compromises:
There will not be enough volume to fully inflate the muscle bellies
The weights will not be heavy enough to build full strength
Often such compromises are fine for those not going to compete on stage in a pose off nor a power lifting event. The idea with hybrid training is to take the best of strength training and high volume and put them together. Training routines are made to last 45 minutes to an hour. Strength is done first, hypertrophy volume next. Do not neglect the negative portion of a rep on any set. The negative portion is very important for building strength and hypertrophy.
Enough hand waving. What about a routine? Sure, soon enough. The split for a week is two days training, one day rest, then two more days training and another day of rest. If you are too worn out or want align it better for a week, take two days rest at the end of a cycle. Such a schedule make be as so: train Monday and Tuesday, rest of Wednesday, train Thursday and Friday, rest over the weekend.
First Day Session – Legs
Training of legs starts with squats in a 5×5 format, with pyramiding weights for each set. The idea is to finish each set and you should be quite tired by the end of the last rep. Fail to hit 5 reps on any set, reduce the weight and finish out. Use that weight for the subsequent sets.
High rep walking lunges and standing calf raises finish out the routine. It may seem simple and easy, but it isn’t. Do not be surprised when your quads are screaming for the next couple of days.
The Routine
Squats – Warm Up – 45 seconds rest
Bar only – 5 reps
30% 5 rep max – 5 reps
40% 5 rep max – 3 reps
60% 5 rep max – 2 reps
Squats – Work Sets – start with 75% of 5 rep max – add enough weight after each set to reach 5 rep max on last set. When all reps are done for all sets, add weight for each set the next time until a new 5 rep max is reached.
75% 5 rep max – 5 reps
85% 5 rep max – 5 reps
90% 5 rep max – 5 reps
95% 5 rep max – 5 reps
100% 5 rep max – 5 reps
Dumbbell Walking Lunge – use a weight heavy enough to tax for the whole set, but not too much you get off balance
20 reps – 4 sets – 90 seconds rest
Standing Calf Raises – same weight for each set. Vary the foot placement for inside, middle, and outside portions of the calf. Hit each part with 2 sets.
20 reps – 6 sets – 2 sets each for inside, middle, outside
Up next, chest and upper back. It will be time for push/pull super-sets. Be ready.
The shortened and delayed ski season we experienced this year did much to create havoc for my fitness. A few months before the season started, I switched from a strength based 5×5 varient (Mad Cow) to one more oriented to endurance. The plan was quite simple. Build strength and mass during the off season, then get the muscles ready to spend 8 hours on skis during a weekend shift. It seemed like a good idea, but it didn’t work.
Going into the switch, I had the momentum in my favor. My body fat percentage was hovering around 15% and showed signs of dropping lower. My abs were starting to make an appearance and my waist looked to stay under 34 inches. My one rep max on dead lift of 250 became my 3 rep. My squat wanted to stay above body weight and even 225s were recorded. Only my bench suffered a bit due to my left shoulder weakness. Goals were reached. Looked good.
Pushing heavy weights around is very different from pushing snow for hours. Sure, strength does help, but so does balance and finesse. Mark Rippetoe speaks on how it is easier to build endurance from strength than it is the other way around. Looking at the calendar and the goals I had reached, I decided it was time to switch. Workouts became more 4x oriented. I knew some strength would drop, the amount was one I did not realize.
Normally by mid-December, the ski season is well underway. This year, December closed and being open was not near. The first week in January saw a hand-full of runs open, but nothing upon which we could train. Not until the latter half of January did the hill get opened and ski training could really start. By this time, it had been over 8 weeks since my last heavy sessions. During a busy ski season, this isn’t a problem as long hours in boots and on the hill have made up for it. Not this year. This year, my fitness started to drop far too much. Pants became tighter and the wrong kind of weight showed up.
After the season was over, I tried returning to the Mad Cow 5×5 program, but my heart was not in it. Looking for a change, I decided on some German Volume Training. The first two weeks were good, but as time went on, my ability to meet the required schedule for the training sessions to be of their greatest value waned. GVT without the volume is missing the key component. Though the workouts were good, my charts remained flat and my body fat percentage was still going the wrong way.
Time for a change.
Today I decided to return to the Mad Cow 5×5 with a reset to workout A. The gym was crowded, so I started on the leg press to get warmed up and stretched. Once the rack became available, I started in on the squats. I made my way up to 170 x 5 on the final set and things felt tough, but good. During the rest period between squats and bench press, I decided to make another change: make this an actual leg workout.
Ok, why the double change?
One nice thing about the German Volume training routines is they are not too long. I really want to be out of the gym within 45 minutes most days and want good effectiveness. There is far too much to be done to spend two hours per session. So an idea came across my mind. Five heavy sets of squats. Five heavy sets of leg presses. Then five sets of 12 rep walking lunges. Surely that will work.
Time will tell what the results will be. Here is the routine:
Warm up and stretch
Squats
Warm up: 3 x 5, increasing slightly each set, 30 seconds rest
Medium heavy: 1 x 5, 85 seconds rest
Work: 5×5, heavy on each set, same weight, 85 seconds rest
Presses
1 x 5, heavier than light, consider it a warm up, 75 seconds rest
1 x 5, medium heavy, 75 seconds rest
5 x 5, heavy on each set, same weight, 75 seconds rest
Walking Lunge
5 x 12, as much as you can do, same weight every set, 65 seconds rest
Borrowing from the 5×5 and 4x ideals, do not neglect the negative, especially on the leg presses. Go for as much as 6 seconds on each rep. Do not increase the weight until all the sets can be performed with the same weight. Get your ego out of the way. Form counts.
Now to find companion routines for Wednesday and Friday. Time to break out of the rut. Time to break the frustration.
Extra twist: do the weight on the walking lunge unequal. Keeping your torso straight with unbalanced weight will also work your core.
There are three types of mindsets that can be found in the gym. The ones who exercise. The ones who workout. The ones who train. These are not individuals, they are motivation, goals, and style. They are a mindset that drives, controls, contributes to the individual. Some will see these are the same, but they are very different.
Gotta Exercise
Those entering the gym with a mindset to exercise are there against their will. Perhaps a doctor has told them to lose weight or get in shape for health. These individuals walk on the treadmill and talk or read. There is no focus on what they are doing.
Results?
Even when they exercise for years, there is little to no change. They may lose a few pounds, have slight improvements in their blood pressure, or a better endurance system, but overall nothing really happens and they may get fatter. Drugs will become a permanent part of their lives to control the health issues they have. Filled with processed wheat products and sugar, their diets also reflect their lack of commitment. Eventually they stop going to the gym, but keep paying because “one day” they will return.
Wanna Workout
When a bit more commitment and focus is applied to the Exercise Mindset it grows into Workout mode. These individuals come in two varieties: the Fearful and the Crazy.
It is an interesting consequence of the modern world that the Fearful Workout Mindset is dominated by women. Though it has been demonstrated for decades that it takes incredible genetics and drugs to get bulky, these women believe the myth and fear the free weights. They will do their cardio for a long time and then do some like work with weights. Depending on where they start, they will see some results then hit a plateau and stay there. Why? Because they are afraid of lifting heavy like they should. “Don’t want to be bulky.”
And the Crazy?
These are the men and women who flock into CrossFit and WOD/WOW. They will do cardio to warm up, stretch, and then start slinging weights around like they are toys. Injuries start the arrive when they really push through barriers. Their routines are either always in flux or are long and filled with everything. If 10 sets of curls are good, doing 20 sets must be better. Right broh?
The Workout crowd also have interesting diets. No carb. Low carb. No carbs after 6. All carbs for breakfast. Paleo. Veg. Whatever is popular this week. Read articles in four different magazines and combine them. The over analysis can become addictive. What are the goals? Hard to tell. Each week brings a new idea, challenge, goal, level, etc.
Must Train
The last mindset is the most intense and consuming. Every action is calculated to a particular goal. There is no waste or time for fooling around. Some will measure every meal; others will just listen to their needs. Routines come in a variety of flavors: low rep/long rest/heavy weight, high rep/short rest, 4x, pyramiding, 5×5, German Volume Training, speed reps, partial reps. It matters not what they use, they all get results.
The Training mindset keeps records of every routine, daily measurements of weight and body fat, and self reflection (sometimes quite literally in the mirror). Everything is reviewed to see if it is pushing toward the goal. Doesn’t matter if the goal is one rep max improvement, new personal record, bodybuilding, power lifting, reduced run distance time, jump higher or further, or fitting into a particular clothing size. The goals are as various as the individuals with the Mindset, but the drive is the same. It is not something they have to do. It is something they must do. Nothing else matters but reaching the goal.
One might conclude that the Training mindset would burn an individual out due to the intensity. A few do. A very few. The mindset to Train, to be Better, to reach Goals, to go Further, becomes a lifelong companion. Once a goal is reached, another is set. Some goals have urgency, while others are more long term. The Train mindset is all consuming, but it empowers the Individual to keep Succeeding, to keep Reaching, to keep Going. It is the best Mindset to have. It is the only Mindset to have.
Want to be Better? Want to have More? Want to do More? Want to Reach? Let the Training Mindset in.
Good Mornings with a barbell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Many a casual gym rats have looked at charts of back exercises and made the same remark about Good Mornings, “Those look like they hurt your back.” Wrong. They are great for the back when done properly.
The good morning exercise works the erector spinae muscles in the lower back, as well as, the hamstrings and the gluteus maximus. The exercise helps to strength the lower back and core. Have a weak squat? Hit a limit on your deadlift? The good morning can help strengthen both. Strengthening these muscles also helps with standing and seating posture. I’ve had lower back problems for several years and I do good mornings once a week. This exercise helps my back immensely.
But what about the bending?
When starting to do the good morning, it is important not to grab the Olympic bar, throw some plates on it, lift it off the rack, and bend over. It is best to get used to the movement with limited weight. Grad a light handle and put it on the spin of the scapula. A good place to hold the bar is in the same manner for a low bar squat. This will keep it off the spine when you bend over and from dropping down the back when you stand back upright. It is better to keep the weights light and do more reps than it is to try to move the world.
For safety’s sake, start with the bar in a squat rack with the pins at the same height you would for a low bar squat. Ensure the bar is centered, duck under it, and turn around. Squat down a bit and place the bar on the spine of the scapula. Hand placement is similar to the low bar squat, though it is not total necessary to point your elbows way back. Find a comfortable location.
Now stand up, lifting the bar off the pins, and step forward. There should be enough room in the rack to bend over without banging into any back supports. Keep your back slightly arched while bending and let your butt move backward similar to the squat. Having the knees slightly bent will also help keep the lower back in the proper position.
Once your back is parallel to the floor, push back up with the lower back and stand up straight. There is no need to hyper-extend at the top of the movement. Slowly lower back and do another rep. Down and back up is one rep and a good speed is 2 seconds each way. Going quickly on the positive side may make the weight hard to stop at the top. Slow, steady, and higher rep count will work the muscles adequately.
Now that the reps for your set are done, step back until both sides of the bar are firmly against the rack. Squat down slightly to re-rack the bar. If you have a workout partner, they can help guide you back properly. Walk about a bit and rest for 40 seconds.
