CategoriesUncategorized

“Luxury” Problems vs. Real Problems

I’m sitting here in my apartment – in Boston – and it’s currently 17 degrees outside.  Two days ago I was sitting on the beach reading a book in 80 degree weather in the Dominican Republic.

Lisa just left for work, and right before she shut the door we both kinda gave each other a bemused look as if to say “well, it was cool while it lasted.”

We kissed, said “I love you,” and in that instance……..we were both propelled back into reality.

I don’t think I have to tell everyone that our vacation was nothing short of amazing. In fact, for those who kept up with the blog last week in my “absence,” you know we had an amazing time, because 1) I told you (I did have access to some wifi, and Lisa was understanding enough to let me disappear for a few minutes here and there to check in and update the blog. It didn’t hurt I was able to bribe her with an endless array of cocktails), and 2) we took – and shared – and bunch of pictures.

Here we are at the Monkey Jungle/Zip Lining Adventure

I’ll refrain from the obvious “getting the monkey off my back” joke here.

There was plenty of pool and beach time

And of course, cocktails

Admittedly, I’m not a big drinker – I honestly can’t stand the taste of alcohol – but  hey: it was vacation, why the hell not.

Here’s me trying one of Lisa’s drinks

Annnnnnnnd, here’s my reaction

But as much as we enjoyed the scenery, weather, and food.  OMG the food! I’d say what made the trip exceptional was the people.  I know I mentioned this last week during one of my covert Lisa-has-a-cocktail-and-is-in-her-happy-place-so-I’m-going-to-snake-away-and-get-on-the-internet operations, but words can’t describe how friendly, appreciative, kind, and gracious the people of the DR were.

Throughout our week-long stay, both Lisa and I made note of how often we (as in she and I, as well as society) take things for granted, and how “we” allow ourselves to be inundated with our quote on quote 1st World or “luxury” problems.

The resorts and beaches are beautiful.  But I don’t think I have to sugar-coat anything or pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and not note that there’s a resounding amount of poverty in that area.

It’s hard not to take notice when it’s right there in front of you during the ride from the airport to the resort(s).  The windowless, dilapidated, houses, the lack of infrastructure, the kids running around with no shoes.  It’s all right there. Unflinching.

But even as Lisa and I noticed it and couldn’t possibly understand what it’s like to not have access to a mattress, clean tap water, or god-for-bid, a consistent wifi connection, the people were, almost resoundingly so…..happy!

Granted our perspective(s) may have been a bit skewed since we were on the resort 95% of the time, but it was uncanny how upbeat and enjoyable the locals were. Everyone smiled. Everyone, when asked how they were, responded with “excelente!”

Even the vendors on the beach – who, if you read the reviews on TripAdvisor, were the universal sole negative factor of the resort and were the worst things since a Kardashian wedding – were pretty freaking cool.

Here they were walking around the beach in god-awful hot weather, lugging around and trying to sell their necklaces, shirts, and carved goods to a bunch of rich, entitled tourists, and even they were smiling and seemingly having a good time.

I’m sure wearing my RedSox hat helped me to some degree – David Ortiz is a god down there – but even after politely saying “no thanks,” it wasn’t uncommon to end up engaged in some small talk about the RedSox or baseball in general, and it was uncanny to observe how upbeat and happy they all were.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t some MAJOR societal “red flags” and issues going down in the DR with regards to equality and basic human rights being met, but all things considered, from what I observed, they’re pretty happy.

And it comes back to this whole “luxury problems” comment I made earlier.

In recovery or 12-Step language, so long as you have your basic needs met – food, water, shelter, access to healthcare – then, and only then, do you really have to worry about addressing any “luxury” or 1st World problems you may have.

But be honest……..

How many problems in your life are ACTUAL problems?

Your iPhone breaks down.  Sure it sucks, and it’s a minor inconvenience, but is it the end of the world?  Will the Mayan Apocalypse begin if you can’t play Candy Crush for a day or two?

Probably not.

I can’t help but see some of these same parallels in the fitness world.

Many of our “fitness woes” can be considered luxury problems.

I’m taking some liberties and making some gross generalizations, but:

1. Men tend to be worried and place a lot of credence in having a six pack or biceps.

2. Women tend to get a in a tizzy if they don’t fit into a particular pant size or don’t weigh 110 lbs.

Neither of the above scenarios really say anything about one’s actual health or well-being.  It’s just, sadly, what society tells us is what’s “valuable.”

And it’s bullshit.

Worrying about weight, clothing size, six packs, whether or not your biceps look good in your latest selfie pic, or crushing your next WOD are all the fitness equivalent of LUXURY PROBLEMS.

Stephen King tells all aspiring writers to read The Elements of Style.  I’ve read it. Most of it is Klingon to me. But rule 17 in the chapter titled “Principles of Composition” is “Omit needless words.”

I’m still working on that rule (poop), but when you think about it, it’s a rule that parlays very well into other realms in lifeOh, too.  Especially the fitness realm.

In the same vain I’d like to tell everyone to “omit needless exercises.”

Squat, hinge, push, pull, carry, single leg work, and “some” direct core training is all you need.

Oh, and it probably wouldn’t hurt you to focus on getting STRONG. Focus on bar speed. Focus on QUALITY reps.  Eat your fucking vegetables! <—— Just tossing that last one in there.

Much like the example made earlier with basic needs, these are your basic fitness needs.

I wholeheartedly believe that if people placed more credence on these things, tried, to the best of their ability, to include all the movements in every workout, placed a premium on getting stronger, and made more of an effort to focus on performance based goals, they wouldn’t be worrying about pant sizes, or six packs, or what the scale says.

If guys spent more time working towards deadlifting 2x their bodyweight than performing 14 different bicep exercises in one training session, I’m willing to bet they’d actually have decent sized arms anyways.

If women spent more time working towards being able to perform at least one, strict, bodyweight chin-up than fiddling with those silly pink dumbbells to “tone” their arms, I’m willing to bet they’d be rocking that strapless dress sooner rather than later.

Quit focusing on the luxury problems.  Focus on the REAL problems.  The big rocks. That’s the path to (fitness) happiness.

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 3/21/14

Alas, it’s our last day of vacation here in the Dominican Republic and words can’t express what an amazing experience it has been. While I could easily sit here and wax poetic about the beaches, the water, and the scenery in general (it would all be deserved), what really made this trip special was the people.

The people here are some of the kindest, friendliest, and most giving people I have ever met.  Coming from Boston where it’s rare if anyone makes eye contact with you – let alone says hello – you’d be hard pressed to walk more than ten feet without someone smiling and saying “hola! here.

Even more to their credit, everyone…..and I mean EVERYONE (as far as the locals are concerned) is “muy excelente.”

No one complains about mundane or trivial things like the WiFi being too slow; or that there’s only two choices of salad and not three; or that there’s, literally, only one highway, and that people drive like maniacs!

It’s been refreshing to see people appreciate the simple things in life.  To smile. To not take themselves (or things) too seriously.  In short: I love it here, and look forward to coming back soon.

On a somewhat related note, I petted a monkey yesterday.

Um, yeah, get your mind out of the gutter, people!  Literally, I petted a monkey.

Since it was our last full day yesterday, Lisa and I took an excursion to the Monkey Jungle to hang out with the monkeys. For those of you who follow me on Facebook you can see more of the cuteness over there.  For those that don’t, you’re stuck with the picture above….;o)

We have a few hours left to hit up the buffet and to soak up some more vitamin D.  I’m out, and will see you all once I’m back in Boston.

Okay, so lets get to the stuff you should be reading.

Premium Workout Group Update

Things are still chugging along with my Premium Workout Group over on WeightTraining.com.  All the feedback I’ve received from all the participants has been great, and seemingly everyone is busting through a bunch of personal records and having a blast with their training.

As it happens, right before I left for vacation I sent in the latest program update (Month 3), and I already warned everyone that they should prepare themselves for a shit-load (just a shade under a shit-ton) of squatting.

All of this to lead into a killer fat-loss phase starting in May.

For those who have no idea what the heck I’m referring to, I’d suggest going HERE to be filled in on the deets.

Note #1: Even if you haven’t jumped in on the fun from the start, don’t worry…….you can join today, tomorrow, next week, or when the cows come home and you’ll have access to ALL the programs (as well as all the additional videos).  This is so that everyone can go at their own pace and not feel too overwhelmed.

Note #2: For those who have been keeping up with the blog this week – even in my absence – Jen Sinkler’s Lift Weights Faster product has been a ginormous hit.  Unfortunately, the price will go UP starting tonight (3/21) at MIDNIGHT.

So you only have a few more hours to take advantage of the sale price.  After that the price will nearly DOUBLE. Ouch!

If that wasn’t incentive enough, here’s another.  For everyone who purchases Lift Weights Faster and then sends me a copy of their receipt, I’ll send you a coupon for HALF-PRICE off the first month in my Premium Workout Group.

1.  Purchase Lift Weights Faster

2.  Send me a copy of your receipt with the email titled “Receipt for Lift Weights Faster” to [email protected]

3.  I’ll send back a coupon code for HALF-PRICE off the first month of membership in my Premium Workout Group.

4.  You’ll earn 15 points for Gryffindor.  It’s a win-win.

The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success – Megan McArdle

Knowing I was going to be spending a fair amount of time reading while on vacation, I picked up this book right before I left and dove in.

I’m a nerd when it comes to behavioral economics.  I don’t know why. I just am.  It’s like trying to explain The Force and midi-chlorians. They just……exist.

Anyhoo:  as the title suggest, this book is all about failing.  Not only failing, but why failing is good. What’s more, how we fail plays as much of a part in our success as anything else.  Drawing parallels from 9/11, the housing crash of 2008, the movie Titanic (and WaterWorld), as well as her own anecdotal life experiences, Megan McArdle makes a very strong case for why we should all strive to fail. And fail well.

1,200 Calories – Sophia Herbst

I don’t think I need to defend my stance on the topic of women and fitness and how the mainstream media vomits all over itself extolling a bunch of nonsense and gibberish.

I hate it.  And thankfully, a lot more people are starting to wake-up and understand the massive double-standard between what’s regurgitated towards women compared to men.

Men are told to be strong, yoked, and Alpha!

Women are told to tone.  And to eat 1200 calories.  It’s BS.  And this is probably one of the best “rant” pieces I have ever read.

If I could (non-creepily) hug the author, I totally would.

CategoriesExercise Technique Fat Loss

Nailed It: Ass-Kicking With Nothing But a Kettlebell

Note from TG:  Still on vacation.  Lisa dragged me zip-lining yesterday.  I almost destroyed the back of my pants.  But it ended up being so much fun!

That is all.  

Enjoy this awesome guest post by current Cressey Performance intern, James Cerbie (who happened to write THIS very popular article on push-ups a few weeks ago).

Enjoy!

Conditioning can be boring.  Like really boring.

Just think back to high school sports, or really any level for that matter, and reflect on how many times people had you run for the sake of running.

Ugghhh….

Unless you’re a long distance runner (I currently live with two and don’t know how they do it) this was probably about as much fun as repetitively banging your head against a wall.

This isn’t to say that running doesn’t have its place (because it does), but more to bring light to the fact that there are many ways to burn fat, get in shape and all that jazz.

Furthermore, we know from experience that high intensity work (think sprints, circuits, finishers etc) is more effective than slow, steady state cardio when it comes to burning fat, building muscle, increasing VO2 max, and improving GPP.

Enter the kettlebell:  one of the greatest and most versatile pieces of equipment of all time.  It, by itself, has the ability to take your conditioning and fitness to the next level, so let’s get started.

The Movements

For the sake of today’s discussion, these are the movements you will need to be familiar with:

1.  Russian Kettlebell Swing

There are primarily two types of kettlebell swings:  Russian and American.  In the Russian swing the bell will only reach eye level, while in the American swing the bell will go all the way overhead.

We will be concerning ourselves with the former because I think it’s more user friendly, teaches the hip hinge better, and gets more out of your glutes and hamstrings:

2.  Kettlebell Goblet Squat

3.  Kettlebell Squat Jump

4.  KB Goblet Walking Lunge

5.  1-Arm Kettlebell Push Press

6.  KB Snatch

Note from TG:  as simple cue I like to use on these is to pretend as if you’re performing a KB high-pull and then the bottom of the KB should face straight a head once it hits about nipple height.  From there just think about “punching” the ceiling with a quick, explosive jab.

Look at you!  It’s like you’r Thor!

7.  1-Arm KB Reverse Lunge

The Workouts

As I mentioned above, all you need for a kickass “cardio” session is a kettlebell and your imagination.  With both of those things you can burn fat, build lean mass and take over the world.

Here are 4 variations to get you started:

1.  100-300 swings

This is about as straight forward as you could ever ask for:  pick how many swings you want to do, grab a kettlebell, and start swinging until you finish all the reps.

Side note: I’d recommend checking out THIS piece by Dan John on the 10,000-swing challenge.  It just goes to show how effective high volume swings can be.

2.  Swing and Squat/Jump Ladder

Perform the following in descending order until you hit 1.

10  kettlebell swings

10  kettlebell goblet squats or kettlebell squat jumps

9  kettlebell swings

9  kettlebell goblet squats or kettlebell squat jumps

8  kettlebell swings

8  kettlebell goblet squats or kettlebell squat jumps

.

.

.

.

1 kettlebell swing

1 kettlebell goblet squat or kettlebell squat jump

I’d recommend sticking to the swing and squat combo if you only have access to one kettlebell because you’re realistically not going to be able to jump with a heavy kettlebell (unless you wanted to do bodyweight squat jumps).

If you have access to a lighter kettlebell, and enjoy having jello legs, then give the swing and jump combo a try.  You’ll swing a heavy bell and jump with a lighter one.

3.  Squat, Press, Lunge Circuit

Complete as many rounds as you can in 8-10 minutes of the following:

15 kettlebell goblet squats

10 1-arm kettlebell push press with right arm

10 1-arm kettlebell push press with left arm

16 (8/side) kettlebell goblet walking lunge

4.  Overhead Nightmare

This variation is only for more advanced personnel that can go overhead safely.  Give THIS article by Tony a read over if you have questions concerning whether or not you should go overhead.

Perform as many rounds as possible in 6 minutes of the following:

10 kettlebell snatch on right

10 1-arm kettlebell reverse lunge on right

10 kettlebell snatch on left

10 1-arm kettlebell reverse lunge on left

Rest 1.5 min

And then go for another 3 minutes.

Closing Thoughts

Hopefully this has given you some new exercises to play with and ideas on how to put together a conditioning session with nothing but a kettlebell.  There’s honestly an infinite number of possibilities you could throw together just using the 7 exercises I gave you.

In addition, I hope it helps those of you who have really tight schedules.

Just because you can’t go to the gym for an hour, or just because you have access to limited equipment doesn’t mean you can’t get in an awesome workout.

Anyways, thanks for your time and post any questions or comments you have below.

Note from TG:  On an aside, my good friend Jen Sinkler just released an awesome new product – Lift Weights Faster – that mirrors many of the same thoughts in this article.  Ie:  Traditional cardio is about as exciting as watching NASCAR.

In it you’ll find 130+ grab-n-go workouts that will not only improve your conditioning, but also help you burn fat, possibly build a little muscle,  move better, and possibly help you look better naked…….with the lights on…..;o)

Go HERE to check it out.

About the Author

James Cerbie, CSCS, Pn1, USAW, Crossfit Level 1

James Cerbie is a certified strength and conditioning specialist, Precision Nutrition level 1 certified, USA weighlifting sports performance coach, and Crossfit Level 1 certified.  He has been blessed to work with athletes from the middle school to professional level, powerlifters, olympic lifters, and Crossfit athletes alike.  At the end of the day, James gets no greater enjoyment than seeing people improve, succeed, and achieve their goals.  He’s the owner of Rebel Performance and currently works as a strength and conditioning intern at Cressey Performance.

Come hang out with James on Facebook, Twitter, or drop him a line at Rebel Performance.

CategoriesFat Loss Female Training

The Conditioning Conundrum: 4 Common Mistakes

Setting the scene:  Jen Sinkler, former USA Rugby player, former fitness editor of Experience Life Magazine, current “free-agent/entrepreneur” fitness junkie, and 100% fashionista was asked a follow-up question when being interviewed by a reporter. When explaining how she prefers to train and not ONCE uttering the words treadmill, elliptical, or Thigh Master, the reporter incredulously asked……“but what do you do for cardio???”

Jen’s now viral answer:  “I lift weights faster!”

I’ve known Jen for coming up on six years now, and outside of being one helluva editor and awesome human being, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s more immersed in “fitness” than her.  You name it, she’s done it.

Powerlifting, Strongman, CrossFit, kettlebells, Tough Mudders, taming Dragons…..she’s done it all.  While never being more than five feet away from some lip gloss.

Told ya:  100% fashionista.

Knowing I was going to be away on vacation this week (it’s 75 degrees at 7:30 AM as I type this. What, what!), and knowing that Jen’s first solo product – Lift Weights Faster – was launching while I was going t be away,  Jen was gracious enough to write a superb guest post for me on common conditioning mistakes that people make.

For those who like short and to the point here are the Cliff Notes:

Forgetting time is money – quick run down on intensity, volume and density…and how people neglect taking into the importance of density and their conditioning.

Not taking a systems approach – the importance of a $2 notebook for training, people throw it to the side during the conditioning, and leave progress on the table.

Workouts Can Be Like Having a Birthday Near Christmas – putting too much stress on an already stressed out body, whether it be from work, relationship, and other chronic stressors.

Variety the Smart Way – last but not lest, forgetting to add variety in different structures, time versus rep-based, and letting mental creep set in and loath the workout.

The Conditioning Conundrum:  4 Common Mistakes

Thanks to a rash of new research, the viral spread of info over the internet (“lift weights faster,” anyone?) and your own common sense stemming from the fact that you can get just as winded doing sets of heavy kettlebell swings as going for a run, the idea that cardio and strength work can be blended is generally more accepted than it used to be.

Thank god, because that elliptical shit is for the birds. (Unless you like it, then yadda yadda yadda, carry on.)

If you are here on this particular website, however, chances are you’ve already bought into the idea that resistance-training circuits are a viable alternative to traditional cardio pursuits (and that when it comes to both performance and body composition changes, they’re superior).

But as the pendulum inevitably swings toward favoritism of metabolic resistance training and everything that falls under that umbrella, some people will naturally either redline the extremes, or simply misinterpret what smart circuit training really is.

Here are four ways you may not be doing it quite right.

Mistake 1: Not Being Dense Enough

Regardless of the type of conditioning you’re doing, there are three variables always at play:

Intensity: This is the how many pounds you’re lifting, or how much resistance you’re using. In the context of exercise, for the sake of precision, it is not how hard you try. It’s just cold, hard weight on the bar (or otherwise in your hands).

Volume: This is the total number of repetitions you complete of a particular movement. Whether you’re talking about one set or your entire workout, volume is the number of repetitions you complete. (To calculate total volume, multiply reps by resistance used, or intensity.)

Density: This is the time it takes to complete a bout of work — essentially, how quickly you get the job done, whether “the job” refers to a set or your entire workout.  (You can calculate it by dividing volume by time.)

If you’ve been strength training for a while, you’re probably inherently familiar with the three and how they play out in your strength program and progress, whether you’re conscious of it or not. You know that if you do much of X (high-volume deadlifts?), you’re wiped out when you try to do Y (Yvette), for example, and by the same token, what leads you to better performance. If you can lift heavier than you did a few weeks ago, you have a working knowledge of these concepts.

As a fitness community, we share a lot of notes about volume and intensity, but the variable that doesn’t get enough love is density.

Outside of CrossFit, people don’t really talk about how quickly they finished their workouts or work sets, but I think, perhaps, that we should — especially when your goal is better conditioning.

Teach your body to crush a circuit, recover quickly and ask for more, and you’ll crack open a new metric by which to measure your progress, both in how you feel and also how you look, if you want to lean out.

Mistake 2: Not Tracking Your Workouts

McDonald’s is one of the most profitable businesses on the planet, not so much because their food is delicious and high quality, but because they’ve taken a systems approach to make everything easier. Easier to produce, easier to measure, easier to manage.

Every piece of that business has a process and system in place, and if you approach your strength and conditioning from the same angle, you, too will be able to more easily measure and produce progress.

Bar none the best piece of strength training equipment in the weight room is the two-dollar training journal you bring in with you. The amount of feedback you can provide yourself, along with the ability to troubleshoot stalled progress, is big. Big. Huge. (Why yes, I am quoting Pretty Woman!)

But time and again, I see people toss their journals by the wayside when it’s time to finish up with a quick circuit. And yet, there is much valuable info to be gleaned, even here.

Track your volume, density and intensity, here, too, and you can figure out new ways to PR. In fact, even in your circuits, try setting your mind to moving the needle on one of those factors every time you train.

Mistake 3: Going Overboard

My rule of thumb: Regardless of your fitness level, if it feels like too much, it probably is.

What may not look difficult on paper will play out very differently while you’re in the gym. A whole lot of plyometric exercise, heavy lifting and hard circuit training can take a toll after some time.

Stress hormones such as cortisol are by no means always the bad guy — in fact, they’re quite useful for saving the day, in whatever form that takes for you. Chronically elevated cortisol levels, however, are a different story, and we would do well to note that our bodies don’t differentiate between types of stress. Piling training stress on top of work stress, relationship stress and money stress on a long-term basis can lead to a pretty major crash and burn.

Research points to lifting weights at maximal velocity spiking cortisol levels when compared to lifting at a lower rep speed, so if you’re piling on elsewhere, it’s probably better to cool it on conditioning. One to two sessions a week is plenty, for many people.

Mistake 4: Joining the Circus

Humans are hardwired to seek novelty — we have a deep-seated tendency to constantly seek out new, different, shiny. It can be good thing, this neophilia, in that it helps us assess risks, to learn new skills, to become more capable.

But new is everywhere now, including the gym. In her book New: Understanding Our Need for Novelty and Change, Winifred Gallagher writes: “We already crunch four times more data — e-mail, tweets, searches, music, video, and traditional media — than we did just thirty years ago, and this deluge shows no signs of slackening. To thrive amid unprecedented amounts of novelty, we must shift from being mere seekers of the new to being connoisseurs of it.”

You know what that means? It means being selective about what is worth your time and what is not, not embracing variety simply for variety’s sake.

If your training time is limited, seek productivity in your conditioning sessions, exploring variations of skills you’re proficient in and finding ways to manipulate volume and work-to-rest ratios.

Changing a circuit of “three sets of 10 repetitions” to “three rounds of 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest” will evoke a different psychological response. New structure, new progress. Win-win.

The Total Package and Then Some A Lot

I get it — it’s easy to feel stagnant or overwhelmed by the prospect of putting together productive conditioning circuits. With that in mind, I compiled 130 grab-and-go workouts in my Lift Weights Faster product (including two guest workouts from Tony G.!).

Complete with a full exercise glossary that includes written descriptions and photographic demonstrations of approximately 225 exercises, from classic moves to more creative ones, I leveraged my background in magazine publishing to create a clear-cut, easy-to-use resource.

Every workout is organized by the equipment you have available and how much time you’ve got, including plenty of effective, hot-n-heavy options that last less than 10 minutes and also over 35 different workouts that require minimal equipment for when you’re traveling or outside the gym.

—–> Lift Weights Faster <—–

About the Author

Jen Sinkler (www.jensinkler.com), RKC, PCC, PM, USAW, is a longtime fitness journalist who writes for national magazines such as Women’s Health and Men’s Health. A former member of the U.S. national women’s rugby team, she currently trains clients at The Movement Minneapolis.

CategoriesMotivational personal training

Finding Your Niche as a Trainer or Coach

Not to rub it in or anything, but as I type these words I’m sitting poolside here in the Dominican Republic.

I’m on vacation!!!!

And while yes, I snaked away for a little bit to hop on the internet for a few minutes…….it’s all good, because Lisa is currently enjoying a cocktail…..;o)

We arrived here this past Saturday afternoon, and since then it’s been nothing but beach, pool, naps, and lots of delicious local delicacies (that is: if you consider an all-you-can-eat-ice-cream-buffet a delicacy.)  Holla!

It’s been an amazing trip so far. Every morning Lisa and I have been getting up early to move around a little – this morning it was sprints on the beach (the old men walking around in their Speedos were big fans of Lisa) – and the rest of our days are spent doing whatever the heck we want.  Hitting up the buffet, going for walks, reading on the beach or poolside, and people watching.  OMG – the people watching is EPIC.

Life is hard.

Nevertheless, I planned a head beforehand, and made sure I was still going to be able to provide some content while I was away.  Ie:  I bribed a few friends to fill in while I was away…..

Today I have a guest post Michael Anderson.

Enjoy!

I know that this post won’t apply to everyone who reads Tony’s blog, and that’s ok.

I know there are a TON of trainers and coaches (both new and seasoned) who read this blog for insight into training, exercise and maybe one of roughly seven million adorable picture of Dagny sleeping that Tony has saved on his computer.

Note from TG:  Well, since you asked……..

My topic today is going to be aimed at those new fitness professionals; I want to talk a little bit about how to “find your way” in this crazy world we call Fitness.

I found this industry a little bit late; I went back to school for Exercise and Health Science at 25 and just knew that I wanted to work with pro athletes.

I couldn’t see myself doing anything besides working with the Celtics and training Paul Pierce. Then, I moved on to thinking that the University setting was where I wanted to be; there’d be nothing cooler than being in a college weight room all day.

I’ve worked with athletes at every level (Olympic -> little kids) as well as every variety of general population client in multiple settings (even a gasp CrossFit gym), so I think I’ve developed some insights that will help you out.

Professional Sports

This is where everyone thinks they want to go, which is why it kind of sucks. You’ve got a thousand people applying for the same assistant strength coach job with a pro team, so they will take whoever is willing to work for the least amount of money.

 

If you’re actually able to get that job, you’re following whatever program the head coach is writing or you’re over-seeing the veterans while they do what they “know” is best for them after years of weight training.

Head coach jobs don’t open up very often, so you end up being an assistant or associate coach for a long time.

On the awesome side, you’re working with the best of the best. You get to see how elite athletes train and how they move on a daily basis. Watching this sort of thing gives you an amazing insight into what great movement looks like and what sort of training works with athletes of this caliber.

I’ve been consistently surprised at what athletes of this caliber are actually doing (right or wrong) in the weight room.

College Athletics

I spent a year at Boston University Strength and Conditioning, and loved it.

I got to be around high level athletes on a daily basis and worked with a really strong group of coaches. The athletes we had there didn’t have the entitled sense of “I’ve made it”, even the Olympians we had in the gym.

These are athletes who come in to work hard and understand what strength and conditioning can bring them.

You also have a ton of “touches” with athletes so you have space to experiment and see what works with different athletes at different times of the year; some of the coolest new research comes from college strength and conditioning.

The downside is the amount of red tape you deal with in the college setting (rules, regulations, sport coaches, sports med, blah blah) and the limited amount of time you actually end up seeing these athletes in the weight room.  Like pro sports, the money isn’t fantastic because everyone wants to work there, and the room for growth can be limited because people don’t vacate their jobs very often.

High School Sports

This can be a really cool position to hold, but tough to find.

There’s not a ton of money in most high schools, so you have to tailor your search. A lot of high schools don’t even have real weight rooms, so finding a job is tough. The ones that do, though, can be really rewarding and fun places to work.

My buddy went to a local private school with one of the best-equipped weight rooms anyone has ever seen, with a powerlifting team and a coach who uses the Westside Barbell system with fantastic success.

For most people this wouldn’t constitute a full-time job, but would make a great addition another coaching/training position. One of the downsides is that you get high school athletes and end up spending a lot of time teaching the basics over and over, and all the athletes end up leaving you before you get to see them at their best.

Private Facility

I currently work in a private training facility (THIS ONE) and it’s pretty cool.

We work primarily with post grad (prep year) and high school athletes and see a lot of regional kids after school.

Being in a private facility allows you to do whatever kind of training you want with the athletes and you don’t have to adhere to the rules/regulations of a college or a pro team. It also allows you to reach a broader range of people then you do in any other setting; you can get pro athletes, semi-pro, recreational, high school and just normal general population people all training together under one roof.

The downside, as the CP guys would attest to, is that it is a business at the end of the day.

You have to be sure enough that you’re as good as you say you are and then worry about where to get the clients from.

To open a private facility takes time, patience and money. Getting a job in one means you have to be really good. These places run off of their reputation and tend to hire very carefully. If you get to work at a good one, chances are high that you’ll get to see/work with some pretty high level athletes.

CrossFit Gym

Yeah, I’m including this too. Deal with it.

One of my best friends runs a CrossFit gym and I’ve coached some classes for him and loved it.

I wrote a blog post (HERE) on my own site about the direction that I feel CrossFit is headed.

While there are still very “CrossFit-y” gyms out there, there are quite a few headed in a much more traditional strength and conditioning direction.

Working in the right CrossFit gym is sort of a “best of both worlds” scenario: you get access to all of the fun toys that hardcore strength gyms have, but you get to work with gen pop clients that will be really grateful for the help you’re giving them.

When you’re doing this day in and day out for years, you come to really appreciate what it means to change someone’s life and have them be grateful for it. One of the other good things is that CF gyms tend to pay full-time coaches a little bit better than other gyms do.

The downside is that the market is so saturated that it’s tough to separate yourself from the herd; which is something I think will change soon. You also can’t stray too far from the CrossFit brand because that is what will bring people into the door in the first place. But if you know a CrossFit gym with good programming and coaches that you trust, it’s a pretty cool place to work.

Commercial Gyms

We have all done it.

Regular ol’ gyms are where you need to cut your teeth a little bit in this industry.

I personally learned a TON about myself, my style of training and how to get people to understand what they need to do to achieve their goals.

You can talk at someone till Tony pulls 600, but if you can’t make them understand then it’s not worth squat.

It can either suck or be awesome, depending on the gym that you’re in. It’s become more and more common to have big commercial gyms that have a room full of fun toys, but still have stairmasters and arc trainers out front.

In a facility like this, I could have a solid little career.

In a place where you’re not allowed to deadlift or make noise or have fun, it’s a little bit tougher.

At the end of the day, being in a place like this comes down to who your co-workers are and whom you’re training. I was lucky during my commercial gym career: I had some amazing co-workers and I trained some really fantastic people with whom I had great success. Don’t count out commercial gyms, there are some good ones out there.

Conclusion

There’s no perfect situation for anybody, that’s why we have all these options. In my humble opinion, I’d say that the most important factors you should consider when finding your place in this industry is your co-workers and clients.

Don’t ever catch yourself thinking that you’re “too good” to work with normal Joes or that it’s beneath you or you’ll spend a lot of time trying to get somewhere that you might not even like.

Have a great day and go lift some heavy shit!

Author’s Bio

I was an asshat and forgot to ask Mike to send his updated bio.  Until he does you can reach him with any questions, comments or notes of affection at [email protected]. You can also visit his website:  http://commercialgymtrainer.blogspot.com/

CategoriesUncategorized

Exercises You Should Be Doing: 3-Month Pose KB Pullover

I realized yesterday that it’s been F.O.R.E.V.E.R since I’ve done one of these.  Bad Tony!

Season 2 of House of Cards wasn’t out yet, the Seahawks hadn’t won the SuperBowl, and  “EggGate” hadn’t happened, which meant Justin Bieber’s general level of douchiness was a smidge lower than it is now.  But just a smidge.  That’s not a lot.

LOL – Bieber burn.

Suffice it to say it’s been a while, and since I’m roughly 48 hours from entering vacation mode – think of it as a grown up case of Senioritis – I figured I’d make this one short and to the point today.

3-Month Pose Kettlebell Pullover

Who Did I Steal It From:  I have no idea.  I know Mike Robertson has discussed this one before, as has some of the peeps over at the Postural Restoration Institute.

Oh, and this is one of Optimus Prime’s favs……;o)

What Does It Do: I know many people reading are wondering what the deal is, so lets address the elephant in the room first.  The exercise is called 3-Month Pose because, and I’m kinda speculating on this front, it represents the stage in human development where an infant will begin to place itself in said position (probably without the dumbbell) before learning to roll over.

While it seems rather goofy looking, this is an exercise that does provide a number of benefits.

1.  This is a fantastic exercise to train core stability – namely anti-extension – as well as simultaneously learn to “own” one’s breath.

2.  It also serves as a great exercise to work on and improve the length of the lats – which tend to get stiff/short in overhead athletes as well as the meathead population.

3.  And, of course, there’s a fair amount of pec recruitment.  Cause, you know, it’s ALL about the pecs!

Key Coaching Cues

I like to tell people to use the floor as feedback and to not allow their lower back to overarch (ie: it should stay flat against the floor the entire time).

Holding a kettlebell (a DB can be used too) straight above the body, inhale through the nose, taking a deep breath into your belly as well as focusing on more of a 360 degree expansion (breath into the floor) of the rib cage.

While the rib cage is going to expand, it’s important to not allow it to flare up/out too much.

From there you will exhale as you lower the KB/DB towards the ground. Keep it controlled – don’t rush!

Once you’re an inch or two from the floor, pause for a 2-3 second count, and remember to not allow your lower back to leave the floor.

Return back to the starting position, inhaling as you do so, and then repeat the process for the allotted repetitions.  I like to perform 2-3 sets of 8-10 repetitions.

And that’s it.  Try it today and let me know what you think.  It’s harder than it looks.

ALSO

As was the case earlier in the week, in anticipation of the release of her new project – Lift Weights Faster – my pal Jen Sinkler released another killer FREE video today which covers bodyweight training. In particular four exercise she feels should be part of every routine.

OMG – what are they?

Click HERE to find out

CategoriesNutrition

Understanding the Importance of Satiety

I guess some people took my comment that I don’t include nearly enough nutrition content on this site to heart.  The “Dynamic Duo” (Chris and Eric Martinez) are back, and with some quality information concerning the topic of satiety.

We’ve all been around someone who’s been “hangry” before.  You know… hungry and angry. And it’s not pleasant. Borderline dangerous if you ask me.

How can we combat this phenomena?  Read on to find out!

“In all pleasure there is satiety.” –George Hakewill

In all honesty how many of you can relate to the above quote?

We sure hope many of you are nodding your heads and saying yes. When you stop and think about it, isn’t life more enjoyable when you feel satiated and not hungry? Who wants to be that guy or gal with their stomach growling like there is a volcano about to erupt? We certainly do not; all you can really do when you hear hunger pangs like that is just look straight forward with your eyes widened like you saw a ghost.

We all should be aware that satiety means to feel satiated (aka feel full).

By accomplishing this feeling, one must actually eat throughout the day!

With how society works now there is quote on quote no time to eat right? We get it, life can be stressful, we are all on the go, we don’t have time to cook, we don’t know what to eat, etc.

These are just excuses at the end of the day. By not eating throughout the day you are just doing your entire body and brain a disservice. So, the question becomes, how long can you stand being hungry before you start eating again? Well, only you can really determine that.

Understanding Hunger and Satiety

Hunger is one of your body’s strongest and most beneficial stimuli, it helps ensure you consume enough calories for your needs. It also works against you when you’re trying to lose weight. You could easily lose weight just by eating less, but the less that you eat or the longer you postpone eating, the hungrier you become, and the longer it takes your hunger to subside once you do begin to eat. (1)

Typically the hungrier you are, the more likely it is that you’ll overeat, consuming extra calories that can quickly inhibit or reverse your weight loss progress.

As we mentioned earlier, the only way to end hunger and feel satiated is to eat. Yes eat, which is one of the most enjoyable things to do in life and pretty important from a human physiological stand point. With that said, our main point here is eat and cure those awful hunger pangs and give your body the nutrients it needs to operate and function properly throughout the day.

Are All Foods High in Satiation Levels?

Some foods are better than others for satisfying your hunger. A baked potato, for example, will most likely “fill you up” much more than a serving of candy that has the same number of calories.

We have often heard people claim that you have to cut potatoes out in order to lose weight. Funny thing is they never have any data or proven references to back up these narrow minded claims.

For example, Chris Voigt, head of Washington State Potato Commission, went on a 60 day potato only diet and lost 21 lbs while improving his blood lipid profile and reducing his fasting glucose levels. Still think you can’t lose weight while eating potatoes? Another study found that potatoes were far more satiating than all 38 common foods tested, including protein dominant foods. (2)

Some foods fill your stomach faster and/or remain in your stomach longer, and therefore do a better job of holding off hunger. For example, Higher GI carbs, which are fast digesting breakdown faster into the blood stream and store faster in your glycogen levels. As opposed to complex carbs that take longer to break down will keep your satiety levels much higher throughout the course of a day along with keeping your blood sugar levels stable.

In another study which was conducted by Suzanna Holt of the University of Sydney, fed human test subjects fixed calorie portions of 38 different foods, and then recorded the subject’s perceived hunger following each feeding.

The results of Holt’s study, like many similar studies, indicate that satiety is most strongly related to the weight of the food consumed. In other words, the foods that weigh the most satisfy our hunger best, regardless of the number of calories they contain.

However, higher amounts of certain nutrients, such as protein and dietary fiber, also appear to improve satiety. (3)

Can Satiety Be Predicted?

Sure it’s that popular hormone we call “Ghrelin” that many of us dislike.

All kidding aside, if there was a way of predicting satiety, we would be able to select foods that satisfied our hunger, but contained fewer calories. These foods would greatly improve our ability to create meals that were effective for weight loss. Some research studies have mentioned to consume foods with low caloric densities (foods that have the lowest total calories per gram). (4)

We feel caloric density alone is not a reliable predictor of satiety, and it overlooks many enjoyable foods that would make awesome additions to your diet. The last thing we would ever suggest is to cut out certain food groups or foods that people enjoy. This is a recipe for disaster, possible binge eating occurrences, eating disorders, and more.

The best way to predict satiety is to have foods that contain large amounts of water, dietary fiber, and are high and rich in protein. Whole foods such as complex carbs, veggies, fruits, quality fat sources, and lean meats do a better job of satisfying your hunger.

Best Food Options to Maximize Satiety Levels are?

This list of foods was adapted from Holt et al. (5) The foods are listed from most filling to least filling:

  • Potatoes, boiled
  • Ling Fish
  • Oatmeal/Porridge (<—- Tony’s personal fav!)
  • Oranges
  • Apples
  • Brown Pasta
  • Beef
  • Baked Beans
  • Grapes
  • Whole Wheat Bread
  • Popcorn
  • Eggs
  • Cheese
  • White Rice
  • Brown Rice
  • All-Bran

As you can see it is quite the variety and the list still continues, but we feel you get the idea of which foods are more filling than others.

Wrapping This All Up

As we mentioned earlier, isn’t life more enjoyable when you feel satiated and not hungry and deprived of food?

We hope this article cleared up some confusion about satiety and what foods are more satiating than others.

The bottom line here is pretty much trial and error. Experiment with different food sources and see what foods are more filling for you. Of course we are not saying to go out and splurge and try a bunch of chocolate or candy. We are simply saying do this experiment all while hitting your macronutrient ranges and micronutrients and enjoy life. If you are confused about macronutrients, we suggest you read this very informative article on FLEXIBLE DIETING.

Once you really figure out what food sources keep you full throughout the day, it is a thing of beauty because you are not always thinking about when your next meal is, you are less likely to pick at foods which will hinder weight loss progress, and depriving yourself from certain foods you want.

Oh yea, and you won’t be that person everyone can hear your stomach growling.

References:

1.)   Anderson, G.H., and Woodend, D., “Effect of glycemic carbohydrate on short-term satiety and food intake,” Nutr Rev 2003.

2.)   Voight, Chris., “20 potatoes a day,” 1995. http://20potatoesaday.com/

3.)   Holt, SH., Miller, JC., Petocz, P., Farmakalidis, E., “A Satiety index of common foods,” Eur J Clin Nutr 1995.

4.)   Porrini, M., “Effects of physical and chemical characteristics of food on specific and general satiety,” Phys Behav 1995.

5.)   Holt, SH., Miller, JC., Petocz, P., Farmakalidis, E., “A Satiety index of common foods,” Eur J Clin Nutr 1995. 

About the Authors

Chris and Eric Martinez, CISSN, CPT, BA, also known as the “Dynamic Duo” operate a world class personal training and online training business “Dynamic Duo Training,” They’re also fitness and nutrition writers, fitness models, and coaches that love helping people reach their goals. Their philosophy is “No excuses, only solutions.”

Visit them at:

Dynamic Duo Training

Blogsite

Twitter

YouTube Channel  

 

 

CategoriesStrength Training

4 Ways to Make Exercise Harder

For many, the whole point or notion of going to the gym is to see how “hard” they can make it. To test the waters, and to find out just how far they can push their body.

To answer the question: what exactly is my outer limit?

In some ways this mentality – leaving the gym swimming in a pool of your own sweat or coming thiiiiiis close to throwing up a lung – serves as a right of passage to achieve gym-hero status.

While a part of me wants to (and to some degree can) respect this sentimentality, making exercise harder for the sake of making it harder can be analogous to playing tag with a pair of scissors in your hands.

With rare exceptions, it’s generally not a good idea.

This isn’t to say that one shouldn’t strive to push him or herself in the gym by any stretch. On the contrary, it’s just to point out that most people would be better served to focus more on quality of movement over quantity of movement.  And, rarely (if ever) is it in someone’s best interests to implement harder, more advanced techniques and protocols like adding chains or bands or conjugate periodization or Olympic lifting 0r juggling chainsaws without first having mastered the basics.

I know, I know:  doing your push-ups correctly isn’t nearly as fun as slapping on some chains and bench pressing till you can’t feel the left side of your face.

But I don’t want to play Debbie Downer here.  I want people to work hard, and I want people to push themselves.

That said, here are some simple ways to make your exercises a bit more challenging.

1. Uh, Add More Weight

This is my Captain Obvious comment of the day, and seems self-explanatory.  I always chuckle a little bit whenever someone says, “Tony, “X” exercise is too easy.”

Add some weight Sherlock…..;o)

I say this one with a grain of salt, though.

One of my golden rules with my athletes and clients is to never sacrifice form/technique for more weight.

The more advanced or the more time under the barbell someone has the more leeway they get with this rule. But for 90-95% of people, 90-95% of the time, this rule always applies.

Stealing a line from Mike Robertson:  There’s no such thing as perfect technique.

Anyone who says their technique is perfect is an asshole.  Point blank.  I know some really strong dudes (and gals) who have been training themselves (as well as other people) for a very long time who are still constantly tinkering with their technique.

Using myself as an example, I feel my deadlift technique is pretty solid – but I would never say it’s perfect.

As Robertson notes in THIS article, think of technique as something that’s on a spectrum.

<——————————->

How’s that for fancy schmancy graphics!

In the middle is what I like to refer to as “eh.”

In this realm technique isn’t horrible, it doesn’t make me cringe, but it’s certainly not impeccable.

As we move further to the right, the categories range from “acceptable” to “I want to make a baby with you.”

Ie: I don’t really want to make a baby with you. Come on, don’t be so presumptuous. You’re a little high on yourself, huh?

All it means, is that, you know, your form is really, really good.  Like, reaaaaallly good.  

So uh, do you come here often? Whatchu doin?

As we move in the opposite direction, to the left, we see the spectrum shift from “unacceptable” to “please, no, make it stop, my eyes, my eyes!”

In this scenario the athlete or client isn’t lifting with acceptable technique – why?

According to Robertson it boils down to one of three things (or a combination there of):

1.  They can’t get into proper position or posture

2.  The coach doesn’t know good technique him or herself.

3.  The coach isn’t coaching or can’t get their athlete/client to reproduce good technique.

All of the above are valid, almost universal truths – and should be addressed.

However, I also feel that sometimes we try to get too cute and make things more complicated than they have to be.

While I’m all for people making a concerted effort to increase the weight they’re lifting, sometimes, the progression is to DECREASE THE WEIGHT.

This section is a bit of a conundrum, sorry.  In one breath I’m telling people to increase the weight; and a few paragraphs later I’m telling them to take it off.

A bit of “user discretion” is advised here.  Let technique be your litmus test.  By all means, go out of your way to consistently increase the weight on the bar; but not at the expense of routinely allowing technique to break down.

2. Increase ROM

Another “well, duh!” way to make an exercise harder is to increase the range of motion of said exercise. This serves as a nice segue into why I love box squatting for beginners so much.  While it helps to pattern the hip hinge and allows trainees to learn to “use” the hamstrings and glutes more, the biggest advantage in my eyes is that it forces people to be honest with themselves with regards to hitting proper depth.

It’s amazing how many 400+ lb squatters (internet max) are reduced to an uncanny dose of humbleness when forced to actually squat to an appropriate depth.

They soon realize that they can’t squat nearly as much weight, because it’s, well, it’s harder!

Increasing the distance and thus total work being done will have that affect.

Another example would be to take your standard reverse lunge and perform them from a deficit.

3. Use Offset Loading

One of my favorite – and unfortunately lesser utilized – strategies is to implement more offset loading into one’s programming.

This has several advantages:

1.  It highlights and thus forces people address any weaknesses or imbalances that may exist between one side of the body and the other, as well as variances between limbs.

2.  It increases total time under tension.  Performing 8-12 repetitions per limb essentially doubles the amount of time you’re under load.  It sucks!

3.  And most important of all, offset loading really forces people to address core weakness.

Performing a 1-Arm, 1-Legged (Offset) DB Romanian Deadlift is a lot more challenging on balance, body-awareness, and stability than one may think, as you have to pay much more attention to not tipping over.

The same principle can be applied to the upper body as well.  Try this:  perform a 1-arm (offset) dumbbell bench press.  Except here, take note of making sure to keep the contralateral side on the bench.

It’s a lot harder than you think!

4. Raise Center of Mass

This is one that my friend and colleague, Eric Cressey, highlighted in an article he wrote a few years back for T-Nation.

In short:  if you bring a person’s center of mass closer to the ground, it makes the exercise easier.  As Eric points out, “These guys all seek efficiency through stability, but in a resistance-training context where we’re attempting to get bigger and stronger (and improve our balance), we need to seek inefficiency through instability with our exercises by raising the center of gravity when appropriate.”

One of the easiest examples would be to take a standard Dumbbell Reverse Lunge and switch to something like a Barbell Reverse Lunge w/ Front Squat Grip.

By switching the weight from a lower center of mass (with the DBs at the side) to a higher center of mass (with a barbell up across the shoulders) you inherently make the exercise more challenging.

And That’s a Wrap

There are certainly numerous other ways to make exercise more challenging, but these were just a few to help you get started.

As it happens, if you’re looking for more top-notch progressions to make exercise more challenging or fun, in anticipation of the release of her brand new project, Lift Weights Faster, NEXT week, my good friend, Jen Sinkler, released THIS video today highlighting some doozies.

She’s a heckuva lot more good looking than myself, plus the video is FREE (with no obligations), so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

You’re welcome….;o)

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Nutrient Timing, Protein Isn’t Hitler, and Fitness Success

“Five more days, babe!”

“Five more days and we’ll be on our way to the airport.”

Those were the words uttered by Lisa no less than 47 seconds ago as I was sitting down to type these words. You can call it what it is:

1.  Me stalling before I get to the meat and potatoes of today’s post.

Or, more to the point….

2.  Just trying to rub it in a little bit that I’ll be going on vacation in a few short days. Sorry.

Needless to say, this week serves as a double-edged sword.  Sure, on one side, dangling like a carrot teasing me, there’s vacation, and its promise of balmy weather, crystal clear water, all-you-can-eat-buffets (first time at an all-inclusive resort), beach, and many, many, many naps.

But before all that happens, it’s a storm of clusterf***edness from now until then trying to sew up all loose ends on programs that need to be written, deadlines for articles that need to be met, and trying to avoid all the articles online about the horrible, terrifying, and sad Malaysian Airlines disaster from this past weekend.

As someone who’s already not a huge fan of flying – I’d rank it below having a bad case of the flu, but a shade above “talking about my feelings” –  these headlines aren’t doing me any favors.

Nonetheless, to start this week off here are some cool articles to check out.

Did I mention I’m going on vacation?*

Is Nutrient Timing Dead? – Brian St. Pierre

I thought this was a knowledge-bomb of an article by Brian. I distinctly remember picking up my copy of the classic text Nutrient Timing by Dr. John Ivy and thinking that it was the gospel.

It was borderline sacrilegious to delay or worse, skimp out on pounding your protein shake immediately after finishing your last set. If you did fall into this camp, you’d lose all your gainz!!!!

Well come to find out, we “may” have overblown the whole post-workout anabolic window teeny tiny bit, and meal frequency may not be as big of a deal as we all have been led to believe.

In the end, it comes down to doing what works best for YOU.  Not what some article tells you to do.

High-Protein Diets Linked to Cancer:  Should We Be Concerned? – Dr. Spencer Nadolsky

Answer: No!!!

I Got 99 Problems: But Getting My S*** Together Ain’t One – Luka Hocevar

I have a lot of respect for Luka.  My man griiiiiiiinds, and works his tail off.  And in the end, he’s been able to achieve a ton of success.

He’s not someone who talks a good game and then fails to walk the walk.  He’s IN IT.

I first met Luka back in 2007 when we first opened up Cressey Performance.  He came across the country to hang out with myself, Eric, and Pete for like a week to do nothing but hang out, pick our brains, train, and see what it took to start a small business from the ground up.

Fast forward to today and he’s arguably one of the most successful fitness entrepreneurs in North America. He’s built a very successful training facility in Seattle.  He’s a coach, an author, a businessman, a traveller.

Recently he was impetus behind one of the most anticipated events the industry has seen in years – the Change the Game event held on Las Vegas.

Nevertheless, I highly suggest checking his stuff out.  It’s heartfelt, it has passion, it doesn’t hold your hand, it’s real.

* = I’m going on vacation.

CategoriesNutrition

Recovering Your Metabolism: Do You Need to Increase Or Decrease Calories (Part II)

We’re going to dive right back into Lucas Serwinki’s article on metabolic damage.  For those who missed Part I you can play catch up HERE.

There was some great discussion and commentary with part one, and I suspect the second half will be no different.

Enjoy!

So, It’s the Carbs, Right?

I’ve actually been asked this exact sentence quite a few times and the answer is….sort of.  Or maybe.  Or it depends.  All terrible answers to someone who wants a yes or a no.

If you have significant weight to lose, as in obese and/or insulin resistant, then carbohydrates are not your friend at the moment.

But is it the chicken or the egg?

Did over-consuming carbohydrates get you to your current state or just over-consuming calories?  Science has actually found that obesity is more the culprit for insulin resistance rather than just carbohydrate consumption.  That means, being overweight can lead to having decreased insulin resistance, not the other way around.  Insulin resistance is ultimately an inflammation issue, and obesity causes LOTS of inflammation the way smoking, low-quality food and inactivity does.

So even if it was simply over eating total calories that got you into this predicament, you are ultimately faced with a decreased ability to tolerate carbohydrates, meaning they will most likely need to be reduced in order to restore metabolic function.

This is where it gets personal.

It is easy to say, “Drop the carbs, put your hands on your head and slowly face me”, when someone is slamming soda, cookies and chips.  In fact, I know someone who has lost nearly 100lbs just from switching from Coke to Diet Coke.  Now that’s a lot of soda and the poison is certainly in the dose.

Intervention

What about the person who just eats one piece of Ezekiel bread at breakfast and a potato at dinner?  Are they going to go ketogenic?  Is that realistic and attainable for 99% of the population? This is where we need to look at someone’s food journal and see the following, as an example

Breakfast:  One slice Ezekiel bread, one whole egg, one egg white

Lunch:  Salad with no dressing, apple, 3oz chicken, black coffee

Snack:  palmful of almonds

Dinner:  3oz ground beef,(85/15) baked potato, green beans, glass of wine.

In individual components, the food choices in this diet are good, but it is often the food combinations, heavier reliance on non-protein foods and low calories that are prevalent in so many of the individuals I see.

Many people still seem to think fruit is the best weight loss food, most likely because it is so light on calories.  There are almost always not enough vegetables and WAY too little protein.

This is a sample meal plan that is nearly identical to some of the diets I see when clients have me review their food journals.  Just for the sake of accuracy and for some visual representation, here is the calorie and macronutrient breakdown of the above foods, as taken from Nutrition Data.com.

Total Calories: 1177

Total Fat: 40.6 grams

Total Carbohydrates: 105 grams

Total Protein: 73 grams

Taken into context of Person B above (the leaner of the two above):

Basal Metabolic Rate 1561 calories

Daily Energy Expenditure from Exercise:  851 calories

Total Daily Calories Needed to Maintain Weight:  2420 calories

Again, simply crunching numbers, it would make logical sense that this person would be in a deficit of 1243 calories a day if they are exercising; but even a non-exercising individual would still be at 384 calorie a day deficit.

Now, don’t get me wrong, some people WILL lose weight this way and maybe they can ride it out long enough to make some progress, but we are really getting into the bottom end of calorie restriction here and it is not a fun place to be especially if you aren’t planning on doing some bodybuilding or figure competition.

Time and time again, though, this low calorie, low protein and commonly low-fat approach just doesn’t work, at least not for more than a few weeks.

Most of us aren’t super Type-A planners with ultra-adherence to life sweeping changes so I would not make all my recommendations at once.  In order though, I usually just try to get people to increase calories/protein in the following order, to make it mentally manageable and give the body time to adapt.

  1. Increase protein at breakfast
  2. Drink more water daily
  3. Increase protein to near 1g/lb bodyweight (adjust if they are very overweight)
  4. Replace starchy carbohydrates with more greens, cruciferous veggies and/or root veggies
  5. Increase fat as needed…..usually a tablespoon of oil or small palmful of nuts per meal
  6. Add in fish oil, minerals, multivitamin or specialty supplements only as needed, such as sleep aids, adaptogens etc.
  7. Introduce meal timing as needed depending on person.

This sequence isn’t a hard and fast rule, but if you give people about a week to adapt to each change, they end up systematically making all the necessary and  advantageous adaptations in what is a very simple and easy step by step process.

The reason I like increasing protein first only at breakfast is because people almost always instantly feel better (though that is a subjective term) and have better hunger management later in the day.

 

From there, they increase total water consumption, which can also result in a lot more energy and stress tolerance.

Once you are used to eating more protein at breakfast, it becomes a little more manageable to increase total protein because you have already experienced how great you feel on more protein at breakfast and it isn’t as scary to eat more total calories.

At this point, they have increased total daily calories and then we can start reducing them a bit just by switching starchy carbohydrates for cruciferous ones, which maintain fullness but at a lighter calorie load. 

If necessary, fat may, and often does, need to be increased for satiety and energy.  From there we may add in whatever small supplement change is needed to maximize overall health.  Meal timing may be discussed when a person is already relatively lean and following all the components above.

At the end of about a month, Person B may very well end up eating the following daily:

Total Calories: 1700

Total Fat: 92 grams

Total Carbohydrates: 75 grams

Total Protein:  135 grams

This person may even end up eating more than this on a daily basis, but it is a reasonable starting point, is actually way more food and fiber (from veggies) than before, doesn’t go too low with carbohydrates and is almost always more filling.

In fact, most people are surprised how much they are eating when following guidelines like this despite still being in a calorie deficit.  If this was a man, or just a larger person overall, you could easily expect the calories to be in the mid 2000s, which doesn’t feel like dieting at all…….which is the point.

My goal here would be to get someone to eat as many total daily calories possible while still losing or maintaining weight.  So, we may end up increasing someone’s portion sizes even a little more to find that spot where they are just below maintenance.

If we crept this person up to around 2000 calories a day and maintaining weight, then this is almost 900 calories more per day than they were eating before without gaining any bodyfat and having better energy, recovery and wiggle room to adjust diet as needed.

The reasoning for this ideal is that dropping calories too low results in significant decreases in total daily energy expenditure.  There is an adaptation that occurs when calories are dropped too low, too fast and acts as a protective mechanism to keep the body from burning too many total daily calories so as not to cut into necessary bodily functions.

One study in particular had subjects either reduce overall daily calories by

A. 25%,

B. Reduced to just below 1000 calories/day or

C. Reduced calories by only 12.5% but adding in weekly exercise.

With the very low calorie as well as the 25% reduction groups, there was a significant drop in total daily energy expenditure; 6% greater than would be expected even when factoring in fewer calories.  This means that the individual’s metabolisms had adapted to the sudden drop in calories by lowering the average amount of calories burned daily.

However, the group that only reduced calories by 12.5% but added in exercise actually saw a slight increase in total daily energy expenditure over baseline.  So, in addition to reducing calories enough to be burning bodyfat, the subjects still had an increase in total daily calories burned, furthering their fat loss.

In relation to Person B above, if we restored some metabolic function to get them eating 1700 calories a day and then decreased by 12.5% as in the study, and included exercise, they would STILL be eating more than they were at the onset.

Wrap-Up

There is quite a bit of research, number crunching and hypothesis to consider here.  However, studies back up the claims that low calories, low protein and inadequate hydration and nutrients really hinder your progress.  Furthermore, find me a person who wouldn’t want to heal their metabolism and improve their performance and fat loss by eating more and I’ll eat my size 13 shoe.

Getting healthy should always be the first goal.

If you had poor internal shoulder rotation and some impingement, you wouldn’t keep bench pressing to fix your shoulder, even if you wanted a bigger bench.

You’d need to take a step back, improve soft tissue quality, mobility and correct imbalances and then most often, performance improves after correcting these issues even without benching during the healing process.

No matter who you are, if you are at the point where your energy, performance and overall zeal for life has decreased I would encourage you to compare your dietary numbers to the recommendations above.  If you aren’t anywhere close to eating maintenance calories, protein or nutrients and feel and perform below expectations, then the answer may be taking some time away to get your metabolism back on track.

And yes, sometimes eating more is the answer.

Note from TG:  I think Lucas would agree that this is just the tip of the iceberg. For those interested if digging a little deeper into the rabbit hole on metabolic damage, I highly suggest checking out Leigh Peele’s Starve Mode.

References:

Bray, G., Smith, S., et al. Effect of Dietary Protein Content on Weight Gain, Energy Expenditure, and Body Composition During Overeating. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2012. 307(1), 47-60.

Barr, S., Wright, J. Postprandial Energy Expenditure in Whole-Food and Processed-Food Meals: Implications for Daily Energy Expenditure. Food and Nutrition Research. July 2010. 2(54), 144-150.

Astrup, A., Pedersen, S. Is a Protein Calorie Better for Weight Control? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2012. 95, 535-536.

Danforth, Elliot., Horton, Edward S, O’connell, Maureen, Burger, Albert G, Ingbar, Syden H., Braverman, Lewis and  Vagenakis, Apostolo G.  Dietary Induced Alterations in Thyroid Hormone Metabolism during Overnutrition.

American Diabetes Association, New York, 15-17 June 1975 (Diabetes. 24: 406).

http://www.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/894/Why_the_Calorie_Approach_to_Weight_Loss_Doesnt_Wor.aspx

Leanne M. Redman, Leonie K. Heilbronn, Corby K. Martin, Lilian de Jonge, Donald A.    Williamson, James   P. Delany,  Metabolic and Behavioral Compensations in Response to    Caloric Restriction: Implications for the Maintenance of Weight Loss Published: February 09, 2009 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004377

 Author’s Bio

Lucas Serwinski is a Strength and Conditioning coach and nutritional consultant for athletes and weekend warriors alike. Lucas holds a Bachelor’s in Strength and Conditioning from UCONN as well as an Associate’s in Culinary Arts from NECI,and is currently coaching at Bodylogy Fitness Studio, located in Hamden, CT.

Lucas has interned at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA, worked on low-carbohydrate research for fat loss and health,and  trained and competed in powerlifting.

He extensively studies the roles of digestion, sleep, nutritional habits and homeopathic medicine to help people of all walks achieve greater health. Lucas has also worked in multiple award-winning restaurants, including Arrow’s which was named 14th best restaurant in the country by Food magazine. Lucas incorporates knowledge and skill from cooking experience into creating a comprehensive plan for those he works with. Lucas has also worked as a social worked for years and takes mental and emotional considerations into each person’s plan and goals for success.  You can visit his blog HERE.