science – Beary Strong

What You Need To Know About Hydration

Everything you need to quench your thirst for knowledge.

If there is one thing that all the health and fitness professionals seem to agree upon, it is hydration. Usually you hear statments like “drinking water is important” and seemingly random recommendations like “drink 8-10 glasses of water a day”, but nobody explains why it is important and what happens if you don’t drink enough, what you should drink and if guidelines like “8-10 glasses of water” actually make sense for everybody. I wanted to know more, I wanted to jump into the murky waters of hydration and this is what I found. Enjoy!

What You Should Know About Science

Limitations and why science is still great.

Evidence-based fitness is a great achievement of the last decades. As we started our fitness journey it was all about what we read in the mainstream fitness media and what we heard from other people who were training. Personal trainers were not used to read scientific publications or science reviews neither. Now as a good online coach and/or personal trainer you are expected to do this. I love science, that’s why I’ve done the PT course by Menno Henselmans, but this approach also has its limitations. In the fitness and health media landscape you can find conflicting evidence on almost every subject and often science is behind what expereinced trainees and coaches already may intuitively know. In this article I’ll explain how science is conducted, how it is possible to find proof for potentially everything and why science is still great.

Training Volume

Finding the sweet spot for your training volume.

Recently training volume caused a lot of discussion in the evidence based fitness scene. People started fighting each other over the seemingly simple question: How much should I train? High volume zealots and low volume purists collided, leaving no definite answer behind. So let’s take a look at the data and figure out ourselves how much to do at the gym!

Protein: Myths and Reality

Everything you need to know about protein.

Whenever I get a new client and they are a few days “in”, eating a healthy diet and experiencing what it feels like having a significant dose of protein with every meal, sooner or later I will get this question: “But isn’t eating so much protein bad?” I’m not sure where this fear stems from, but I blame the crappy fitness and health industry. No, it isn’t bad for you, quite the opposite is the case, it is healthy! Let me explain why.

Strength Training For Women – Part II

Practical applications.

Welcome back to my Strength Training For Women series. This time we will take a closer look on how to apply the gender differences I discussed in Part I of this series. I am happy you came back to learn how to build muscles. It’s a great decision to get stronger, build up, improve and stop the mindset of “becoming less”: eating less, exercising in a less “manly” way, exhausting yourself less. Now it’s time to grow!

A Quick Guide To Supplements

Four science-based supplements to help almost everone.

Supplements are a hotly debated field: on one hand you have the supplement industry trying to sell as many of their products to unwary customers all over the world as they can. On the other hand you have people rejecting any form of supplementation, almost considering it “unnatural”, believing you just have to eat healthy to get everything you need. As with most things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Because of this, I want you to show which supplements I consider (almost) mandatory.

Strength Training For Women – Part 1

Scientific basics and clarifications.

In this part of my Strength Training For Women series, I will cover the scientific basics of muscle building for women, make some clarifications on the role of testosterone and discuss the main differences between men and women when it comes to strength improvements and muscle building. Why? Because I have enough of weak, frail women. I want women to be healthy and strong!

What Makes A Good Exercise?

Don’t get lost in the exercise jungle, make an informed decision.

If you step into a good gym, it is quite possible to get overwhelmed by countless possibilities to train. Different machines, barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, bodyweight exercises, there is much to choose from and you have to select an exercise for your training program. What makes a good exercise? What is “the best” exercise to grow your chest/booty/biceps? Read on to make an informed decision the next time you hit the gym!

The Hypertrophy Range Myth

Outdated but still usefull.

The idea of repetition ranges is pretty old, dating back at least to the ’50s. It’s the concept that training with certain weights and therefore repetitions elicits different adaptations like strength, muscle building and endurance. And on the first glance this makes perfect sense, as you get better at what you train. But if you followed the fitness industry for some time, you find conflicting ideas of what makes muscle grow the fastest. So grab a protein shake, put on the “Conan” soundtrack and let’s have a closer look.

What About Saturated Fats?

Picking cherries for science.

It’s hard for me to realise, but it’s 2018 and people are still afraid of saturated fat in their diet. But recently I had a “discussion” with a nutritionist and it showed me that recent efforts in debunking the myth of saturated fats increasing your blood cholesterol level and therefore killing you, were fruitless. Even worse, a discussion quickly turns into a religious battle, where any counterarguments are quickly turned aside with the accusation of “cherry-picking” studies, leaving me wondering if they even think about it if they are the ones cherry-picking. So, let’s take a closer look on this highly controversial topic and let the picking begin 😉 !