Strength and Physique

Q:  Hey James, Need a second opinion on this: currently on my cardio days I do 20 minutes of barbell/dumbbell complex training and then 20 minutes of moderate intensity cardio (walking, elliptical, etc). Aim is conditioning and of course fat loss =)  I've been advised that on my cardio days I only need to take BCAA's and glutamine during my session as there is no need for it pre and post [supplementation], because I'm not really going through complete muscle breakdown during these sessions. Taking into account what my cardio session consists of, is this correct or should I be taking at least BCAA's pre and post also?  Thanks mate,  Basil   My Answer: I think you can go either way. The issue is cost. Taking all those pills can be quite expensive. So if you want to take a single dose of BCAA's and glutamine for cardio, then that's perfectly fine. I don't think it's going to make that much of a difference if you added the pre and post workout dosag

Are "muscle density" routines/training a scam? Isn't diet & cardio going to get you to a place where your muscle looks "hard and full, with paper-skin"? Or, is there actually some substance to the info out there? Thank you for your time. -Shane My Answer: Well I don't know what sort of training routines you're looking at, but different types of training can get your muscles more "dense." What do we mean by muscle density? Muscle density refers to how thick and hard the muscles look and feel. This is different from "training density," where you do more work per unit of time. Muscle density is developed through sarcomere hypertrophy. In other words, the muscle fibers grow by thickening in diameter. This is different from sarcoplasmic hypertrophy where your muscles grow from increased fluid retention. How do you develop sarcomere hypertrophy? Heavy weight and low reps. Anywhere from 3-8 reps, with a target rep range