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Seven-time 212 Olympia champion James “Flex” Lewis hasn’t competed onstage since his final victory in 2018, but he waited until 2022 to announce his official retirement from the sport. While has no aspirations of competing again, the Welsh bodybuilder still looks the part, as he has documented on social media.
On Mar. 30, 2023, the 39-year-old father of two shared a physique update on Instagram and reported that he is weighing around 200 pounds. You can see how he looks in the post below, where he is performing a set of cable curls.
Lewis also revealed that he has lost over 60 pounds on the scale “naturally” since he called it a career, indicating he didn’t use performance enhancement drugs to achieve his recent results. He also clarified that he is now in the process of going through a personal transformation challenge. His stated goal is to add 10 to 15 pounds onto his frame, and he wants to be “healthy, athletic, and jacked.” He didn’t share a specific date or deadline for this new goal.
“I am about two weeks in, and things are starting to click,” said Lewis.
Lewis disclosed that he is doing cardio workouts seven days a week and training with weights two or three times weekly. He also revealed that he will document his progress and share updates along the way, asking his 2.2 million followers for input on what he should share during the process. Other details he shared in the post include a strict 4 a.m. wake-up, and four or five daily meals, with two of those meals composed of only protein and fats, no carbohydrates.
While he was an active competitor, Lewis was the most dominant non-heavyweight bodybuilder in the world during the 2010’s, remaining undefeated in competition for nearly his entire professional career. Alongside his longtime coach Neil Hill, he won the Olympia 212 title every year from 2012 to 2018 when he walked off the stage for the final time. Lewis also also won the inaugural Arnold Classic 212 title in 2014. He had announced intentions to compete in the Men’s Open Mr. Olympia contest in 2020 and 2021, but he never competed again.
Since his retirement, Lewis has focused on business ventures and family life. He currently resides in Las Vegas, NV and owns Dragon’s Lair Gym. He has also been active on both YouTube and with his podcast.
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Dmitri Skosyrskii is the winner of the 2023 Siberian Power Show (SPS). In the Russian strongman competition, showcasing some of the sport’s finest in the Eastern hemisphere, Skosyrskii successfully repeated as the champion. He is now a dominant three-time winner of the competition (2019, 2022-2023) that has only occurred since the year 2019. The only other winner in the SPS’s history is Georgia’s Konstantine Janashia in 2021. The contest, which also featured separate bodybuilding and powerlifting competitors, took place on Apr. 2, 2023, in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, and featured 11 competitors.
The runner-up to the 2023 SPS was David Shamey. Per Strongman Archives, the athlete improved upon two previous fifth-place finishes in the 2021 and 2022 iterations of the SPS. Rounding out the podium was Peiman Maheripourehir. The strongman does not often compete in full contests, usually electing to focus on his deadlift proficiency and the annual World Deadlift Championships (WDC). Nonetheless, a podium result is undoubtedly a quality placing for the veteran competitor.
To help build his victory, Skosyrskii won the Hercules Hold (40.97 seconds) and tied for first place with the Cyr Dumbbell (130 kilograms/286.6 pounds). The athlete did not finish in lower than fourth place in any of the events.
Here are the final standings from the 2023 Siberian Power Show:
2023 Siberian Power Show Results | Final Standings
Dmitrii Skosyrskii (Russia) — 58 points
David Shamey (Russia) — 48.5 points
Peiman Maheripourehir (Iran) — 46 points
Vladimir Bulgakov (Russia) — 38 points
Reza Gheitasi (Iran) — 36.5 points
Wesley Claborn (United States) — 31 points
Aurélien Le Jeune (France) — 29.5 points
Petr Bukhonov (Russia) — 28.5 points
Ramil Ramazanov (Russia) — 26 points
Valery Savin (Russia) — 25.5 points
Alexander Kuzmin (Russia) — 12.5 points
Skosyrskii’s victory is another cherry on top of a recent successful run. Per Strongman Archives, the athlete has won four of nine career contest appearances dating back to March 2019. He has only failed to qualify for the podium on one occasion, with a fourth-place result at the 2022 Forca Bruta.
In the context of the overall strongman sphere, the SPS might not carry the same status as other international competitions featuring some of the world’s most powerful athletes. That said, officially marking a competition dynasty of success is something Skosyrskii can, and likely will, bask in before he moves onto his next competitive endeavor.
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On Apr. 3, 2023, Chinedu Andrew Obiekea, aka “Andrew Jacked,” revealed in an Instagram post that he would compete at this summer’s 2023 Texas Pro. The bodybuilder is the contest’s defending champion in the Men’s Open division. The contest will feature eight separate competitive classes: the Open, 212, Women’s Physique, Figure, Classic Physique, Men’s Physique, Bikini, and Wellness. It will take place on Aug. 19, 2023, in Arlington, TX.
Jacked used his 2022 victory as a springboard to gain qualification into the 2022 Mr. Olympia contest. That performance was partly why a bodybuilding legend like four-time Arnold Classic (AC) champion Ken “Flex” Wheeler asserted Jacked was the next big thing. It appears Jacked will be using a similar path to live up to the hype in 2023.
With recent shifts to the 2023 Olympia qualification system — including the nixing of overall points standings from IFBB Pro League contests — anything less than a victory in Texas will force Jacked to find another avenue to qualify for the Olympia, set to take place Nov. 3-5. Not that this was a specific issue for Jacked in 2022, who was also triumphant in the 2022 Arnold Classic UK (ACUK). At the time of this article’s writing, it is unclear if Jacked will also feature in the 2023 edition of the ACUK.
As for Jacked’s recent exploits, he’s been keeping busy on stage.
After his Texas Pro and ACUK victories, Jacked would finish in eighth place at the 2022 Mr. Olympia. Such a result is nothing to sneeze at for a competitor in their debut at bodybuilding’s biggest competition. Jacked would follow that performance with a third-place finish at the 2023 AC. Only champion Samson Dauda and 2022 Olympia third-place finisher Nick Walker (AC runner-up) fared better.
In the aftermath of his AC performance, Jacked maintained that he “deserved” his result. He seemed to ultimately channel it as motivation for improved results all around in any contests he appears in during the year 2023. Plus, while a moral victory in the AC isn’t what Jacked was seeking, finishing ahead of other more established Men’s Open stars like two-time Mr. Olympia (2020, 2021) Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay (fourth place) and two-time 212 Olympia champion (2020, 2022) Shaun Clarida (fifth place), and two-time AC winner (2018, 2020) William Bonac (seventh place) is something he can hang his hat on.
In an ideal world for Jacked, such a finish in the standings would be a teaser of the electricity he brings to competitive stages in the coming months.
There’s still a lot of work to do before Jacked establishes himself as a household name in the bodybuilding sphere. He’s assuredly already got the attention of his talented peers. Winning a major contest like the Olympia could be the next part of his career journey. Successfully defending his Texas Pro title might be the first step.
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On Apr. 4, 2023, Michal “Križo” Križánek shared an Instagram photo of himself guest posing and showing off his current physique at the 2023 Top De Colmar contest, which took place on Apr. 1, 2023. Križo wrote in his post that he had a monstrous body weight of 137 kilograms (302 pounds). The contest took place in Colmar, France.
Križo’s latest major physique reveal comes on the heels of a productive 2022 as a competitor. It might even help him to build momentum on some early success in the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Pro League. Križo took a measured approach that quickly evolved into a seamless transition from the IFBB Elite Pro League.
In the summer of 2022, Križo announced his intentions to establish himself as a bona fide Men’s Open athlete under the Pro League’s jurisdiction. The bodybuilder officially became part of the National Physique Committee (NPC) and later earned his Pro Card by winning the 2022 Amateur Olympia Italy in October.
Only a few weeks later, Križo scored his first International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Pro League victory at the 2022 EVLS Prague Pro. That win would garner the competitor a spot in the 2022 Mr. Olympia, his debut at the prestigious contest. After a 12th-place finish, Križo is now assuredly coming for more.
After recent changes to the Olympia qualification system, Križo will have to win another IFBB Pro League contest to qualify for the 2023 Mr. Olympia in Orlando, FL. Only past winners and top-five finishers from the 2022 contest have automatic berths in this year’s competition. With the previous points-based system no longer in place, everyone else must earn their keep by winning a 2023 IFBB Pro League contest.
At the time of this article’s publication, Križo has not announced his upcoming competitive intentions.
Based on his Instagram posts, the athlete seems to be in the thick of his offseason training. His physique teasing and guest posing appear to merely be a preview of what might come when he does step onto a stage to compete again later this year.
In a sport like professional bodybuilding, dark horses can seemingly come out of nowhere at any given contest, let alone the flagship Olympia. At this moment in time, Križo would likely still be considered a dark horse. By the end of 2023, such a label might not do this massive competitor proper justice.
Featured image: @ifbb_pro_michalkrizokrizanek on Instagram
On Apr. 3, 2023, Lunsford posted a video to his YouTube channel where he works out with eight-time Mr. Olympia (1998-2005) Ronnie Coleman. The legend and Lunsford walk through a back and biceps workout together that could probably only be achieved by two bodybuilding superstars.
Before Lunsford and Coleman hit the gym, they spent much of a day together, doing things like getting breakfast at a diner and talking about the bodybuilding training process. Then, when it was time to get down to business, they wasted no time.
Here’s an overview of the back and biceps workout from Lunsford and Coleman. The routine took place at Coleman’s Signature Series gym. Note: The exact repetition and sets for each movement were undisclosed.
Deadlift
Lunsford and Coleman begin the session with a traditional deadlift. Given some of Coleman’s recent health issues, only Lunsford performed the movement, working in a few sets before the pair moved on.
Seated Cable Row
Lunsford and Coleman worked in some seated cable rows to center more on a horizontal training angle for the back muscles. The exercise is great for well-rounded back development if performed in a controlled fashion. Both Lunsford and Coleman powered through a few heavy sets while gradually increasing their weight.
Despite an apparent intensity, Coleman took the time to encourage Lunsford, perhaps giving him an appropriate description.
“Next up and coming Mr. Olympia is right here,” Coleman said of Lunsford as he worked out. “The future is here. You got the man in the house.”
Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
To close out the back-focused portion of their session, Lunsford and Coleman implemented a wide-grip lat pulldown. A staple back movement in many training routines, the latissimus dorsi is under the microscope here. The duo performed a traditional lat pulldown with a wider grip before shifting to a few sets of a behind-the-neck variation.
Lunsford emphasized that contraction and technique were vital on the lat pulldown.
“Even though it looks like we’re swaying a little bit, you’ve really gotta make sure that you’re staying engaged with the muscle and keeping that constant tension,” Lunsford said.
Single-Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curl
Lunsford and Coleman isolated their muscles with preacher curls in the first part of their biceps workout. The nature of the movement restricts an athlete’s positioning, forcing improved work on the biceps. This makes preacher curls a great way to reinforce the biceps brachii muscles.
After warming up, Lunsford and Coleman pushed themselves through a few working sets as they prepped for the final segment of their day in the gym together.
Seated Dumbbell Hammer Curl
To differentiate from the preacher curls, Lunsford and Coleman closed with some sets of the hammer curl variation. Hammer curls work the long head of the biceps muscles and the brachialis near the forearm. With their back and biceps sufficiently trained, Lunsford and Coleman put a neat bow on their mutual session.
After getting the opportunity to pick the brain of a living Olympia legend, Lunsford was appropriately grateful. It’s not necessarily often a current star even gets a chance at this kind of meeting of the minds.
“What a day, man! That was a lot of fun,” Lunsford exclaimed. “It just felt like we all clicked right away. Just everybody here, and especially me and Ronnie [Coleman] hanging out and having a good time, man!”
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In the world of fitness, lifting with a partial range of motion is often considered blasphemy. There’s been an ongoing war waged between coaches, lifters, and fitness gurus about proper exercise technique. For many, anything short of a full range of motion is ineffective and off limits.
Credit: Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock
But, as time and science have proven, strategically manipulating the range of motion can actually be very beneficial. (1) Partial reps can be useful for improving strength or size, allowing a seasoned lifter to push beyond muscular failure, overload the target muscle (or the nervous system), or even emphasize a specific portion of the range of motion to overcome sticking points.
If you’re a relatively experienced lifter ready to unlock new gains, here are some science-backed methods to implement this intensity-boosting technique.
Partial reps can be used either as a consistent training method or as an occasional intensity-boosting technique. As an intensity technique, they allow the lifter to push beyond failure by performing half-repetitions when you don’t have the strength necessary to keep using a full range of motion (ROM) anymore. This can be useful because, unlike forced reps, you don’t need a training partner and, unlike drop sets, you don’t need to reduce the weight you’re lifting.
The fatigue generated by reaching technical failure will ensure that the partial reps recruit all the involved motor units (neurons commanding the muscles) while providing muscular tension. (2) This can provide a fantastic hypertrophy stimulus as you increase metabolic stress and effective repetitions. (3)
Credit: Rido / Shutterstock
You can also train with more volume in a relatively short time, which can be a life saver when training time is limited. The drawback is that this technique, like many other intensity techniques, can generate a high level of fatigue and should be used sparingly and by relatively advanced lifters.
As a more frequent training method, partial reps consist of performing a specific section of the range of motion on all repetitions of a given exercise. It’s a powerful way to stimulate a muscle and trigger growth with single-joint (isolation) exercises, like seated barbell curls, or to improve strength in a multi-joint (compound) exercise, like squats, by using heavier than normal weight and stressing the nervous system into adapting.
How to Perform Partial Reps
To emphasize muscle growth, perform full range of motion, high-quality repetitions until you reach muscular failure or a predetermined number of repetitions. Immediately continue the set by performing half-range of motion repetitions to failure or, again, until a specific number of reps are completed.
To focus on strength, perform partial reps in the specific range of motion you need to target — either the sticking point presenting the biggest obstacle or your strongest position (typically near lockout) to overload the exercise.
This can be done either cutting the movement short under your own control or by using external supports such as pins or a box (in the cases of presses and squats, respectively). There are often specific exercise variations taking advantage of the partial range of motion, for instance, the floor press or rack deadlift.
The exact way to implement partial reps will depend on the exercise being performed, as the curve of resistance (where in the range of motion it is most challenging) differs between movements. Generally, you want to keep doing half-reps in the less challenging range of motion once you can’t do any more complete repetitions, otherwise you won’t be able to do much afterwards if you perform go to failure in a short ROM before performing a full ROM.
In any case, don’t change your exercise technique or shift the stress to another body part when doing partial reps — perform the same movement, simply with a shorter range of motion.
Emphasize the Contraction or the Stretch
With most exercises, you can do partials in either the stretched (lengthened) or contracted (shortened) position. Each option will have a slightly different effect and might not correlate with the moment arm of the exercise.
For example, compare the shortened position of the quadriceps during the back squat and the leg extension. The contracted position in both exercises is at the top of the movement, but it is a very easy part of the movement with the squat, while it is grueling to hold the top of the leg extension.
The majority of the time, emphasizing the lengthened portion of an exercise is superior for hypertrophy, so you might want to focus on pumping out partial reps closer to the stretched position for maximal muscle gains.
However, with some exercises like the preacher curl, the stretched position is also relatively more dangerous and more difficult phase of the exercise — you would not be able to do many partial reps, if any, and you would risk injuries. Focusing on the contracted position, on the other hand, can provide a nasty pump and vastly improve the mind-muscle connection.
Credit: OPEX Fitness / YouTube
For exercises that emphasize the shortened range — when you can easily feel a strong contraction in the target muscle, like your glutes during the hip thrust — do your partial reps in that same range.
For exercises that favor the lengthened range and feel most difficult in the stretched position, like the leg curl or pull-up, do your partials in the stretched position. It wouldn’t make much sense to do partials in the bottom of a hip thrust when there’s minimal tension on the target muscle. Instead, use partials to further emphasize the strong point of an exercise and really squeeze at the top.
Partial Reps vs. “Cheating”
Cheating during an exercise is when you change the technique of an exercise to make it easier, often to allow more weight or extra repetitions than you could do with strict form. It could be using body english and swinging your body or by cutting the range of motion short.
The term “cheating” is inherently negative because letting your ego take control at the sake of form will only increase joint stress, reduce progress, and potentially cause injuries. (4) Many gym veterans are familiar with seeing quarter-squats performed by someone with shaky knees just to put on more plates on the bar. But just like partial reps, cheating can also be beneficial in certain instances, if properly applied. (5)
Credit: Jacob Lund / Shutterstock
So, how are partial reps any different? Partials are executed to make the exercise harder, not easier, or they’re used strategically to target a specific range of motion. They are done not out of ego, but to better reach your muscle- or strength-building goals.
For instance, let’s get back to the quarter squat — it’s actually one of the best exercises to increase sprinting speed. (6) So, if you’re an athlete, it can be a great choice, but it won’t be as useful if you’re trying to grow your quads. Similarly, if you’re doing quarter squats because you just want to have 300 pounds on the bar no matter what the reps look like… that’s cheating.
Benefits of Partial Reps
Partial reps can be beneficial for size or strength, and help you bust through plateaus. The most efficient methods can differ slightly based on your goal, so here’s what to know before diving in.
More Muscle Gains
Partial reps are most often used for hypertrophy, as they are particularly efficient for putting on more muscle mass. Yes, you’re usually told to only perform an exercise with pristine form and a full range of motion, but the truth is never that simple with the human body. In fact, you can even grow muscle performing only partial repetitions. (7)
Muscles grow as an adaptation of mechanical tension, and this tension does not always equal with the range of motion. For instance, you could perform Romanian deadlifts and have your hamstrings fully stretched with the barbell at knee-level, while still being able to lower the weight farther. Most of the time, a full range of motion equals the muscle’s full functional range, but it’s not always the case depending on the body part and exercise.
The mechanisms of hypertrophy have proven that the range of motion is not the be-all, end-all. One particular study compared the lying leg curl and the seated leg curl. (8) Both exercises were done with a full ROM, but the seated leg curl was found to be more efficient for muscle growth because it put the muscle though a greater stretch.
Credit: Jasminko Ibrakovic / Shutterstock
Partials allow you to spend more time in the lengthened muscle position, which can trigger more hypertrophy. The physiological response of partial reps is even more important, generating more intramuscular hypoxia (oxygen-related stimuli within the muscle), as well as metabolites such as lactic acid, which have been theorized to promote hypertrophy. (9)
When used as an intensity-boosting technique to go beyond failure, partials might be especially valuable for more advanced lifters to create a robust stimulus for new muscle growth, or to get away with a relatively lower number of high-intensity sets which can help with overall program design.
Going beyond failure may increase testosterone and growth hormone levels, which can be invaluable for size and strength, but the technique can also lead to higher cortisol levels (the stress hormone), so recovery can be more difficult. (10) As such, use this technique more sparingly.
Finally, extending the set can help you recruit more muscle fibers for more size. (11) When you’re doing a moderate to heavy set, your body will require fast-twitch fiber muscles to move the load. The physiological effects vary whether you’re doing heavy sets of five or relatively lighter sets of ten. But, going beyond failure with partial reps will force all of the slow-twitch muscle fibers to be recruited and assist in the exercise. More muscle stimulated equals more gains.
Increasing Strength
When doing partial reps, you can lift more weight than using full ROM because you’re moving that weight across a shorter range of motion. This can be used as a direct neural stimulus to improve strength and gradually ease the body into lifting heavier weights in a full ROM. (12) It can be a great strategy to use in a strength-dedicated training phase.
Moreover, strength is a skill, and partials are amazing for learning it. For instance, a lifter could have a very strong barbell bench press but be much less impressive with squats. You can use this method to separate a complex movement into different steps or to focus on a specific portion of the lift you’re weaker in.
If you’re terrible at the lockout of the bench press, doing partials focusing in the end-range of the exercise, or using a specific exercise like the floor press which emphasizes the lockout position, will help to build your triceps and improve that end-range strength. You could even incorporate a progressive range of motion strategy — use partial reps and gradually increase the range of motion of an exercise week after week, until you master the movement and can perform a full ROM.
Credit: Daniel Krason / Shutterstock
This is also an excellent strategy for lifters lacking in the mobility department or those that are just learning a movement. Starting easy and building over time will improve the coordination, mobility, and confidence needed to properly perform the exercise. Finally, if you’ve suffered an injury and need to work around problematic joint pain, you can stick to the range of motion that doesn’t hurt while still benefitting from a training stimulus.
How to Program Partial Reps
As there are many different programming possibilities depending on your goals, here are the best strategies to maximize your progress using partial reps. You need to take into consideration the recovery cost of such techniques, and bear in mind that beginners should avoid these high-intensity strategies until they’re more experienced.
Exercise Selection
As an intensity-boosting technique, you should mainly stick to isolation (single-joint) exercises. When using compound exercises, the accumulated fatigue and risk of injury can be too high. There’s also the probability of altering technique, which will result in decreased motor control and a poor progression rate. The nature of the exercise and the curve of resistance can also make it hard to focus on the primary target muscles.
Lower body favorites for partial reps include leg extensions, leg curls, and calf raises. For upper body, consider curls, triceps cable extensions, the cable pullover, and lateral or bent-over raises. You can also consider any exercise where you feel you can safely go beyond failure without altering the technique and risking injury.
Credit: Tom Wang / Shutterstock
A case could be made for some relatively safer multi-joint exercises, for instance the hip thrust, lat pulldown, hack squat, or various machine rows. You should never try partial reps on an exercise that loads your spine like the squat or the deadlift unless you’re very experienced. Even in that case, the stimulus to fatigue ratio and potential risk of injury often won’t be worth it.
If you want to perform only partial reps without cranking up the intensity to the max, you can use this technique on virtually any exercise. But first make sure that you can correctly perform the exercise with a full range of motion and really understand the mechanics of the movement beforehand so, again, beginners should generally refrain from such work.
Partials as High Intensity Technique
This is the most brutal and fun use of partials — using them to extend a set after being fatigued from full ROM reps, to enhance the hypertrophy stimulus. Theoretically, you could do many, many partial reps in a set beyond failure, but the recovery cost would be through the roof. So, it’s best to never go beyond doubling your reps per set when using in partials.
A good rule of thumb, to strike a balance between intense training and acceptable recovery, would be to perform partials for half as many reps as the preceding full ROM. For instance, ten full range of motion reps followed by five, no more than ten, partial reps. As for the number of sets, you should only do these on the last set of an exercise for two to four total sets per session, otherwise your overall recovery and capacity to perform for the remaining workout could be severely compromised.
You could use this technique frequently during a short, “blitz” period to force growth, but generally respect 48 to 72 hours of rest between sessions when using intensity techniques to go beyond failure. As such, don’t use them in every session of the week issues.
Partials as a Training Method
This applies when you’re doing partials for all the repetitions of the set, or using a partial ROM exercise like the seated barbell curl or floor press, to overload the muscles and provide a new stimulus that will shock your body into growth.
Keep the load on the relatively heavier side of the hypertrophy range to really take advantage of the improved power output, and aim for two to four sets of six to 10 repetitions.
You can also use partials to really shock the muscle by using a heavy weight for high reps, two to three sets of 15 to 20 reps. This is a great method to use with muscles which you never or can’t usually use heavy weights, like a partial lateral raise to build up your side delts.
Finally, this can be an excellent and effective method for building strength. Avoid isolation exercises and either execute partial reps on a big basic exercise like an overhead press, or a multi-joint, partial-range exercise like the box squat. For absolute strength gains, three to five sets of one to five repetitions with ample rest works best. You can also bump up the reps a bit when focusing specifically on a weak muscle that’s preventing you from increasing your lift by using sets of five to eight.
Periodizing Partial Reps
Because partial reps can bear a heavy toll on your body’s recovery, you should use them sparingly and plan ahead for best results… or just throw them here and there for fun.
As an muscle-building intensity technique, they’re best used in a high-intensity training period of four to six weeks, followed by a relatively easier block of training to recover, compensate, and grow.
Another great way of introducing them would be to cycle the number of sets per session that use partials. For instance, the first week, use partial reps in one set per session. The next week, you increase this number to two sets, then three sets, followed by four sets, and finally a deload without any partials.
Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock
Finally, you can also use this method as a fun and stimulating method of progression, to increase your workload over subsequent sessions. For instance, on your last set of leg curls, you could do ten full reps followed by ten partials in the stretch position. Then, next session, bump up the number of partials to 15. Eventually, in the third session, increase it again to 20 partial reps. Then, reset the progression model with a slightly heavier weight.
If you’re using partial reps as a training method for strength or size, then it’s even more simple. It would be best to stick to a three to six-week block using partial reps before rotating to a less intense training block. Though, if you’re using them to bring up a lagging muscle group, you could use the technique for a longer period.
Partial Reps For Complete Gains
Often deemed as “improper form” or ego-driven, partial reps can be perfectly acceptable and highly efficient for promoting size and strength. The key is to program the technique with a specific purpose in mind. Set aside your range of motion-based prejudices and give partial reps a chance in your training. You won’t be disappointed.
References
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Willardson, Jeffrey M PhD, CSCS1; Norton, Layne2; Wilson, Gabriel MS, CSCS2. Training to Failure and Beyond in Mainstream Resistance Exercise Programs. Strength and Conditioning Journal 32(3):p 21-29, June 2010. | DOI: 10.1519/SSC.0b013e3181cc2a3a
Massey CD, Vincent J, Maneval M, Moore M, Johnson JT. An analysis of full range of motion vs. partial range of motion training in the development of strength in untrained men. J Strength Cond Res. 2004 Aug;18(3):518-21. doi: 10.1519/13263.1. PMID: 15320644.
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Biological systems are self-maintaining. They have to be. Your cells are little factories, performing tasks crucial to maintaining this thing we call life. And just like in factories, machinery (organelles) break down. Waste (metabolic byproducts) must be managed. Security teams need to be in place to keep intruders (bacteria and viruses) from disrupting operations.
For life to sustain itself, cells must perform this crucial work themselves. It’s not like we can send in microscopic maintenance workers, mechanics, and security details to handle the dirty work from the outside. Not really, not yet anyway. One of the most important types of biological maintenance is a process called autophagy.
Not that long ago, nobody except the most hard-core biohackers talked about autophagy. It has become a hot topic, though, as scientists have made considerable progress toward understanding the ins and outs of autophagy in the past few decades. Now, anyone with a passing interest in longevity or intermittent fasting tosses the word around in casual conversation.
But for all the popular interest in autophagy, I’m willing to bet that the average person doesn’t understand it all that well. They probably believe that autophagy is desirable, and they may know that intermittent fasting will net them more of it, but that’s about it. So today I’m going to answer some autophagy FAQs—what it is, how to induce it, and where you may need to be cautious.
What Is Autophagy?
Autophagy: the word comes from the Greek for “self-eating,” and that’s a very accurate description. There are several different types of autophagy. The one that we generally mean when we say “autophagy” involves organelles within the cell called lysosomes “eating”—or rather, using enzymes to degrade—parts of the cell that are damaged or malfunctioning.
The overarching goal of autophagy is to maintain homeostasis within the cell—to keep the factory running smoothly. It’s a type of cellular recycling process, allowing organelles, proteins, and other structures to be broken down and reused by the cell for energy or building new components. Lysosomes can also degrade pathogens that threaten the integrity of the cell.
What Activates Autophagy in the Cells?
Autophagy is operating all the time to manage the basic cellular housekeeping, but anything that threatens homeostasis in the cell will ramp it up. Oxygen deprivation (hypoxia), DNA damage, infection, or cellular damage due to factors like oxidative stress can all trigger a rise in autophagy. The trigger we talk about most is nutrient deprivation.
Your cells are exquisitely tuned in to how much energy is available. They have multiple systems in place to sense if energy supplies are adequate and to flag when they are low. When energy is abundant, autophagy operates in the background; but when your cells sense that energy is low, they go into conservation mode, and autophagy really kicks in. You can understand why this would be. In lean times, your cells must be more frugal, using what they already have on hand. Breaking down damaged proteins and organelles for firewood and parts to build new machines, so to speak, just makes sense.
Some of the signals that indicate low energy availability and dial up autophagy are low glucose, low insulin, low mTOR signaling, high AMPK, and high glucagon. Not coincidentally, these are the same biological markers that characterize a fasted metabolic state.
The reverse is also true, when glucose, insulin, and mTOR signaling are high, and AMPK and glucagon are low, autophagy is inhibited. (This, by the way, is why we say that protein intake breaks a fast. Because when you eat protein, especially the amino acid leucine, you activate the mTOR pathway and downregulate autophagy.)
What Roles Does It Play in the Body?
By maintaining homeostasis and preventing cell damage, autophagy contributes to the health of all your tissues and organs. Its specific effects depend somewhat on where the cells in question are located.
In the liver, autophagy kicks in during fasting to degrade proteins into amino acids that can be used for energy production, thus maintaining whole body energy levels even in the absence of incoming food.1
In the muscles, autophagy enables the building of strength and endurance when we exercise. Muscle damage is a hallmark of exercise and is crucial to the adaptation process, but without autophagy, muscles couldn’t recover from said damage.23
In the brain, autophagy helps clear out the waste and debris that would otherwise accumulate in neurons and lead to cognitive decline. Scientists are actively working on developing strategies to upregulate autophagy in the brain as a means to stave off and treat neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons—devastating conditions for which existing treatments have proven largely ineffective.4
So Autophagy Is Always Desirable, Right?
Not so fast. I see a lot of people out there undertaking extreme fasting regimens or other biohacking strategies in the name of maximizing autophagy. This seems ill-advised given that we don’t know if more autophagy is necessarily better. In fact, we know there are times when it is not.
There’s the fact that unchecked autophagy can increase existing cancer in some cases. There’s the fact that too much autophagy in the wrong place might be bad. There’s the fact that most things in nature follow the Goldilocks principle: too much is bad, and too little is bad. The “just right” amount is somewhere in the middle.
At this point, we simply don’t know what “optimal autophagy” looks like. We know it’s important, but scientists are still working to decipher when it’s good (most of the time, probably) and when, and under what circumstances, it becomes problematic.
When Does Autophagy Start? What Are the Signs That It’s Taking Place?
The biggest conundrum for those who are interested in optimizing autophagy is that we can’t really measure it. Scientists have identified various biomarkers that signal that autophagy is taking place, but they aren’t the kinds of things we can see in real time in a person walking around in a fasted state. There are no continuous autophagy monitors to slap on the backs of our arms that will tell us how much autophagy is happening in our cells—yet.
In lieu of that, probably the best proxies we have right now are metabolic markers that our bodies are in a fasted state—low glucose, low insulin, high ketones, high glucagon. But here we have the measurement problem again. With the exception of glucose, we can’t continuously monitor these variables. And even if we could—and I do expect that continuous ketone and insulin monitors are coming soon—we still don’t know what exactly we’re aiming for.
The bottom line is, we can only infer that autophagy is happening because we are subjecting our bodies, and hence our cells, to desirable, adaptive stressors. That’s about what we have to go on.
How to Induce Autophagy
I just got done telling you that we can’t monitor autophagy and that it’s not always good—but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to induce it. We do. We must. And the way we do it is by engaging in the types of behaviors that we talk about here all the time. Fasting and exercise—both high- and low-intensity—are two of the most prominent, but there are others. Anything that stresses the cell will likely induce autophagy.
What to Do with This Information
This can’t be underscored enough: Autophagy is a long game, a lifelong pursuit attained by regular doses of exercise and not overeating every time you sit down to a meal. Doing epic seven-day fasts every month, making sure you end every day with fully depleted liver glycogen, never going over 20 grams of carbs in a day—these strategies might be “effective,” but obsessively trying to hit some “perfect” level of constant autophagy isn’t the point and is likely to activate or trigger neurotic behavior.
Autophagy happens largely when you just live a healthy lifestyle.Be active. Go hard every now and then. Sleep deeply. Recover well. Don’t eat carbohydrates you don’t need. Reach ketosis sometimes. Don’t eat more food than you need.
Start with those basics. Once you have them nailed, and all caveats aside, I see the utility in doing a big “autophagy session” a few times a year. Here’s how mine looks:
Do a big training session incorporating strength training and sprints. Lots of intense bursts. This will trigger autophagy.
Fast for a couple days. This will push autophagy even further.
Stay busy throughout the fast. Take as many walks as possible. This will really ramp up the fat burning and get you quickly into ketosis, another autophagy trigger.
Drink coffee throughout the fast. Coffee is a nice boost to autophagy. Decaf is fine.
I know people are often skeptical of using “Grok logic,” but it’s likely that most human ancestors experienced similar perfect storms of deprivation-induced autophagy on occasion. They tracked an animal for a couple days and came up short. They nibbled on various stimulants plucked from the land along the way. They walked a ton, sprinted some, and lifted heavy things. And then they ate.
If you find yourself aging well, you’re on the right track. If you’re not progressing from insulin resistance to diabetes, if you’re maintaining and even building your muscle despite qualifying for the blue plate special, if you’re thinking clearly, I wouldn’t worry.
That’s it for today, folks. If you have any more questions about autophagy, leave them down below and I’ll try to get to all of them in future posts.
Blending blackberries and apples has a lower glycemic response than eating whole apples and blackberries, possibly due to the pulverized blackberry seeds.
“I increased my protein to at least 100 grams to sometimes up to 150 and I lift heavier weights now. I’m 68 and I’ve definitely increased my muscle mass. Most older women do not eat enough protein. I lifted weights for years with not much progress until I increased protein.“
Whey protein isolate is the gold standard of protein powders, and it’s the only one I take besides collagen, but it’s not the only one out there. There are reasons for branching out beyond whey into other types of protein powder. Maybe you’d like some variety once in awhile. Maybe you’re just curious about what else is out there, or perhaps you don’t want any animal protein at all. Whatever the reason, I figured I’d give you some info on some of the more popular types of protein powder, including whether or not they contribute meaningfully to our intake of essential amino acids.
Before we begin, let’s talk about how we can measure a protein’s usability.
The BV (biological value) is one way to measure a protein’s “usability.” Biological value testing measures the amount of nitrogen that appears in the urine and feces after eating it to determine how much was retained and utilized by the body. If very little nitrogen appears in the toilet after eating a given protein, that protein has a high BV. If a good amount appears in the toilet, that protein has a lower BV.
The higher the BV, the greater the proportion of available protein that can be synthesized by the body’s cells. Higher BVs usually indicate a greater amount of essential amino acids—those amino acids that the body cannot synthesize or convert on its own and must instead obtain from the diet—but it doesn’t measure them specifically.
Note, though, that biological value does not refer to the amount of protein in the powder; it only refers to the usability of the protein in the powder. A particular powder might be 60% protein, and the biological value would tell you exactly how much of that 60% is usable by the body. Different powders have different protein contents. Hemp protein, for example, is often about 50% protein, but it varies by the manufacturer. A quick glance at the nutrition facts should clue you in.
There’s also the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS), which is the method by which the World Health Organization and FDA evaluate protein value. It’s a newer model, and it’s based on the amino acid requirements of humans, specifically children, as well as digestibility and absorption. To determine the PDCAAS, they measure fecal nitrogen and track the amount of essential amino acids in each protein powder. Most promotional materials use the BV, but the PDCAAS is more accurate for what we care about. Whey protein isolate (both isolate and concentrate) has an optimum PDCAAS of 1.
A newer method of quantifying protein quality is the DIAAS, or Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score. This is similar to PDCAAS, but instead of measuring nitrogen in the feces, it measures nitrogen in the ileum after it has left the small intestine and before it descends into the large intestine. This is more accurate than measuring fecal protein, because fecal protein may be lower due to protein metabolism by gut bacteria. Measuring it in the ileum reflects only what the body has absorbed.
Whichever method you use to quantity protein quality—BV, PDCAAS, or DIAAS—animal proteins like whey outperform plant proteins. So as a good general guideline, it’s safe to assume that animal-based protein powders are going to be higher quality than plant-based protein powders. That said, let’s get into the specific powders ranked according to overall quality and usability.
The Top 9 Types of Protein Powder
1. Whey Protein Powder
BV: 104-159
DIAAS: 1.09-1.13
PDCAAS: 1.00
The gold standard against which everything else is compared. Whey defeats all. It’s rich in essential amino acids and has a host of benefits for immunity, muscle-building, performance, cognitive function, and overall robustness. Read more about whey for a discussion of its benefits.
2. Egg White Protein Powder
BV: 100
DIAAS: 1.13-1.16
PDCAAS: 1.00
Egg white protein powder is another highly bioavailable protein choice. In fact, it’s so bioavailable that it represents the BV against which all others are compared (that’s why whey can have a BV exceeding 100). All the amino acids are represented. If you’re concerned about oxidized cholesterol, stay away from whole egg protein powder. You may be able to get a hold of a minimally processed whole egg powder with very little oxidation, but you’ll probably end up spending a ton of money. Just eat actual eggs or stick with egg white powder instead.
3. Casein Protein Powder
BV: 77
DIAAS: 1.08-1.12
PDCAAS: 1.00
Derived from that other fraction of milk protein, casein protein powder doesn’t absorb as quickly as whey. It’s a complete protein with the full range of amino acids (including ample amounts of glutamine, which transports nitrogen to tissue), just like whey, but it may be problematic for people with casein intolerance. Those with dairy allergies should probably avoid it. Bodybuilders swear by casein; they dig it for the slow absorption rate and tend to take it before bedtime. One (industry funded) study found that casein was inferior to whey protein in terms of body composition and muscular strength outcomes, so I wouldn’t replace whey with casein just yet. There may be some benefit to taking both, since both casein and whey are a package deal in nature. Milk is certainly a popular post-workout recovery drink, and it contains both casein and whey.
4. Soy Protein
BV: 74
DIAAS: 0.91-1.00
PDCAAS: 1.00
Soy protein is actually one of the more complete plant proteins, and it can definitely fill in some nutritional gaps for people who don’t eat any animal products at all, but there are downsides. One big one is that soy protein supplementation has been shown to depress testosterone production in men.5
5. Potato Protein
BV: 70-75
DIAAS: 0.87-0.93
PDCAAS: 0.92-0.96
Potato protein is my favorite plant protein of all. The protein powder isn’t very economical or widely available, but potatoes have almost complete protein, about as good as soy without the negative effects on testosterone. If this becomes more common I’d recommend it to any vegan dieter.
30 grams of potato protein compares favorably to 30 grams of milk protein in resistance trained individuals looking to gain strength and size.6 Note, though, that 20 grams of milk protein will be more effective than 20 grams of potato protein. The lower the value of the protein, the more absolute protein you need to eat to get the same effect.
6. Pea Protein
BV: 65
DIAAS: 0.82-0.90
PDCAAS: 0.89-0.93
I’m generally down on vegetarian protein powders. In my experience, they just don’t work as well as the animal-based ones. We’re not meant to get all our protein from vegetable sources, and our absorption of vegetable-based protein isn’t as efficient, so you have to consume far more pea protein powder just to get enough—and this stuff can get pretty pricey. Furthermore, pea protein powder tends to be lower in protein by weight than animal-based protein powders. No protein powder is perfectly Primal, but pea protein powder is even less so. If egg and milk protein powders are off limits for whatever reason, though, give pea protein a shot.
Compared to whey’s huge effect, pea protein has an intermediate effect on post-workout muscle damage.7 And that was taking pea protein 3x a day. So it’s better than nothing, but still not as good as whey.
7. Wheat Protein
BV: 64
DIAAS: 0.25-0.42
PDCAAS: 0.25-0.45
If you refuse to use whey protein, egg protein, or casein, you have the option of eating pure wheat gluten. Of course, gluten activates zonulin, which regulates intestinal permeability and increases leaky gut in everyone who eats it.
8. Rice Protein
BV: 59
DIAAS: 0.47-0.64
PDCAAS: 0.47-0.70
Rice protein powder is created by isolating the protein from the brown rice grain. Rice is already one of the least offensive grains out there, so a smattering of rice-based amino acids will work okay. You’re not going to absorb or digest the rice protein with as much ease as with animal-based protein, but that’s fine.
There is a study where rice protein supplementation had similar effects on muscle strength and gains as whey supplementation, but it took a heroic dose to get there: almost 50 grams.8 You could get the same effect on muscle protein synthesis with just 20 grams of whey isolate or 30 grams of potato protein.
9. Hemp Protein
BV: 48-53
DIAAS: 0.46-0.51
PDCAAS: 0.46-0
Hemp is another option for vegetarians (or nutrition explorers). Like the other vegetarian protein powders, hemp is quite a bit lower in protein content than the animal protein-based powders (or even other vegetarian powders). It’s generally loaded with tons of fiber and a bit more fat than other powders, but fiber-free versions do exist. Again, not my first choice, and it’s fairly expensive, but hemp powder does taste relatively good and usually comes with some minerals like magnesium.
However, there are no published studies on hemp protein and muscle protein synthesis. The closest I could find was one where hemp protein lowered blood glucose compared to eating an equivalent dosage of carbs, which should come as no surprise.9
Choosing the Right Protein Powder for You
When selecting which protein powder is right for you it’s important to keep these three elements in mind.
Protein quality: Choose protein powders that hit high marks on all three measurements—BV, DIAAS, PDCAAS
Protein percentage by weight: Choose protein powders that have a high percentage of protein by weight. If 100 grams of whey powder contains 90 grams of protein and 100 grams of pea gluten soy rice protein powder contains 70 grams, the whey is far more concentrated in the stuff we actually care about—protein. You don’t want to eat a half cup of powder just to get 20 grams of protein.
Protein efficiency and economics: You’ll need about 30-50 grams of plant protein in a single sitting to get the same effect as 20 grams of whey isolate. That will get expensive, fast.
Do You Need Protein Powder?
Whey protein powder is proven to be the most effective. Protein powder in general can help athletes recover from training, and it doesn’t have to be dairy-based, if you’re sensitive. There’s nothing wrong with dabbling (or even throwing yourself into) in alternative protein powders, and in the case of casein and egg whites, you might even see added benefits by incorporating them into your whey regimen.
But that doesn’t mean you need protein powder.
Take your time and evaluate your diet. You may find that you don’t need powder supplements. I certainly don’t need any myself, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a big whey shake after an intense workout session from time to time, just for the anabolic effects as well as the convenience and taste. If you’re not getting enough protein, or you can’t find the time to cook every single meal, try some protein powder. Otherwise, eat a steak.
I hope you don’t mind if I share a personal story?
My teenage years were spent in Germany and Germany, I might add, has the best indoor and outdoor pools in the world. While in high school there in the 1980’s, every Friday, our last two periods were devoted to mandatory swimming where the instructor would teach us proper swimming techniques the first hour and allow for a free play after that. My passion for swimming was born and I have not stopped swimming since. I love it! Like you said, swimming is not just about cardio but also about strength training & has many, many cognitive benefits, too. I swim 4 times a week- 45 -60 minutes.
For now classes are 6pm and 640pm at 2840 Wildwood st in the Boise Cloggers studio.
Book your class NOW!
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Warrior Fit uses High Intensity Music to get ya Moooovin' So we can all "Get Our Sweat On"
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(@flex_lewis)
Biological systems are self-maintaining. They have to be. Your cells are little factories, performing tasks crucial to maintaining this thing we call life. And just like in factories, machinery (organelles) break down. Waste (metabolic byproducts) must be managed. Security teams need to be in place to keep intruders (bacteria and viruses) from disrupting operations. 
Whey protein isolate is the gold standard of protein powders, and it’s the only one I take besides collagen, but it’s not the only one out there. There are reasons for branching out beyond whey into other types of protein powder. Maybe you’d like some variety once in awhile. Maybe you’re just curious about what else is out there, or perhaps you don’t want any animal protein at all. Whatever the reason, I figured I’d give you some info on some of the more popular types of protein powder, including whether or not they contribute meaningfully to our intake of essential amino acids.
For now classes are 6pm and 640pm at 2840 Wildwood st in the Boise Cloggers studio.
Book your class NOW!
click this ==>
