CategoriesConditioning Motivational Nutrition Program Design

Look Like Jason Bourne

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of business/life/fitness writer and world-traveler extraordinaire, Anthony Yeung. The title says it all folks.  

Jason Bourne is the badass to end all badasses. He’s not a British playboy like James Bond and he’s not a billionaire-wunderkind like Bruce Wayne.

Instead, he’s just a gruff and simple man who beats the crap out of people by using desk stationery — a pen, a rolled up magazine, and a book.

In this article, I’ll crack the code of actually BECOMING Jason Bourne with a five-step plan. I can’t guarantee you’ll be able to leap across buildings or get multiple passports… but I can guarantee you’ll increase your rating on the “Jason Bourne Scale of Awesomeness” and have A LOT of fun while doing so.

Enjoy!

1) Build REAL Strength and Power

Jason Bourne’s one-punch KO is a testament to his brute strength.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ugKCJsNyBQ

 

And his overall badassery.

Fortunately, if you read Tony’s blog regularly, you already have all the information you need to get strong as hell. (The man is WAY smarter and stronger than me.)

But I’ll simply review the basics and share a few add-ons that could help take your fitness to Bourne-levels.

1) Focus On the Big Lifts and Get Strong as Hell.

Your workouts should center on things like heavy squats, deadlifts, bench presses, rows, pullups, overhead presses, and lunges — basically, any exercise that targets a lot of muscles and creates a massive stimulus for growth. Also, go heavy with fewer reps to build that foundation of absolute strength.

From there, build “old-school strength” by doing lots of weighted carries for core, grip, and stability work.

 

It might help you KO someone… or open a pack of shaving razors without scissors.

2) Once You Have a Solid Foundation of Basic Strength (alactic), Develop Your Lactic Capacity with Complexes.

Jason Bourne’s fight scenes take a lot longer than a set of three fronts squats.

That’s where complexes come in: You’ll race through sets of different exercises without any rest or even setting down the weight. It’ll hammer every muscle in your body and crank up your work capacity, all in 1 – 2 minutes.

Here’s a dumbbell complex:

  • Romanian Deadlift x 6
  • Bent-Over Row x 6
  • Reverse Lunge x 6 each side
  • Dumbbell High Pull x 6
  • Overhead Press x 6
  • Front Squat x 6
  • Plyo Pushups x 6

For the final set of pushups, toss the dumbbells aside and do them on the floor. Rest for a few minutes and repeat the complex.

3) Free Your Body

Jason Bourne is like an MMA and parkour athlete wrapped together in a dark overcoat. Thus, to fight every kind of villain imaginable, scale walls, and leap across buildings, you have to be mobile, agile, and spry.

If you can’t touch your toes, however, start there. Use mobility drills, PRI exercises, and self-myofascial therapy to improve your range of motion, release chronically tight and toned muscles, and get more limber.

 

Next, work in all planes of movement. While traditional strength exercises are usually in the sagittal plane or frontal plane, incorporate modalities that builds free-flowing strength, endurance, and power.

My favorite method is Animal Flow, which is just a series of crawling patterns on steroids. It’s great for conditioning, stability, and developing complex movement patterns. It’s also very humbling: one full minute of crawling patterns could kick your ass.

 

4) Develop Power and Speed

Jason Bourne has blazing speed and lightning quick reflexes. Thus, not only can he demonstrate absolute strength, but he can also demonstrate that strength faster than anyone else.

While Olympic lift variations are great for this, I prefer kettlebell swings, snatches, and cleans because (1) their learning curve is quicker, (2) they improve stability/mobility, and (3) they can be used in conditioning drills.

TG Layering the KB Swing #1

 

TG Layering the KB Swing #2

 

From there, feel free to add high-speed work like sprints. Just follow Charlie Francis’s suggestion to stay above 95% max-effort — anything less will be too slow to create the right adaptations.

2) Condition Like a Badass

So Jason Bourne is strong… got it.

But he’s also conditioned like a badass too.

If you struggle to run a few miles, then sprinting through buildings, jumping through windows, and fighting Desh will be damn near impossible.

Step One: Develop a Massive Aerobic Base.

Developing an aerobic foundation actually improves your performance in high-intensity efforts and helps you recover (1) between bouts of high-intensity exercise and (2) after hard workouts.

There are many different ways to build an aerobic base, but two easy places to start are with cardiac output training and high-intensity continuous training.

Cardiac Output is basically any modality that keeps you in the 120 – 150bpm zone for 30+ minutes. You could go for a jog, a bike ride, or even do a circuit of various bodyweight exercises.

[Note from TG: if there’s ONE thing I’ve done a complete 180 on in recent years, it’s my thoughts on aerobic training or “cardio.” We need it. Don’t be one of those stupid “it will steal your gainz” bro-science boneheads.

For more information on WHY it’s important and HOW to implement it read THIS, THIS and THIS.]

High-Intensity Continuous Training (HICT) is where you do one explosive rep of an exercise every 3 – 5 seconds for 5 – 7 minutes while staying in the aerobic zone. This way, you’ll target your fast-twitch muscle fibers without exhausting them and help them become more fatigue-resistant as the cells create more mitochondria.

 

Once you have a strong aerobic base, layer on the anaerobic stuff, which you can get from typical HIIT workouts.

3) Get Lean (If You Ain’t Already)

Unlike James Bond, Bourne doesn’t need a tuxedo to look like a badass; most of the time, he’s wearing a T-shirt you could get at Goodwill.

But you can’t do that if you’re rocking a “Dad Bod.” Fortunately, you don’t need to get shredded — even in the most recent film, he looks like he’s around 10 – 15% body fat.

To drop any stubborn body fat, figure out your caloric defei

Dial in your diet.

“IS JASON BOURNE GLUTEN-FREE… OR IS HE PALEO?!”

My guess is that, if you asked that question, he would give you a cold stare.

Eat whole foods. As a rule of thumb, don’t eat things that come out of a box or can.

Protein: Lean meats, fish, nuts, eggs, good protein powders, bacon (because, duh), etc.

Carbs: Veggies (pile on the veggies), rice, potatoes, quinoa, whole grains, fruits, etc.

Fats: Olive oil, coconut oil, real butter, nuts, avocados, fish oil, flax oil, etc.

4) Improve Your Stress Response

“I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs two hundred fifteen pounds and knows how to handle himself. I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab or the gray truck outside, and at this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.”

(Meanwhile, I barely remember MY license plate number.)

Bourne has RIDICULOUS awareness.

A lot of that comes from being a freak… but a lot of that also comes from eliminating your mind clutter and being completely in the present moment. It’s when we’re constantly worrying about the past, the future, or how our Fantasy Football team is doing, however, that we miss life’s little details.

Bourne can also handle A TON of stress without tapping into his “fight-or-flight” systems. (P.S. Building your aerobic system helps with this too. Woohoo!) I mean, sure, he had that car chase with Kirill, but SEE HOW FREAKIN’ CALM HE LOOKS:

 

Here’s how you’re going to increase your ability to tolerate stress without frying your sympathetic nervous system:

1. Meditate

Everyday, take a few minutes to relax, take a few deep breaths, and increase your awareness. I use the Headspace app, but feel free to explore the many different options and find something that works for you.

The key is that (1) you like it and (2) it helps you de-stress your mind.

2, Eustress Training

I learned about eustress training from the guys at Ethos Colorado and the concept is simple:

“Do as many reps of a big lift as you can without tipping into a stress response.”

For example, set up a deadlift with a weight that’s hard, but still something you can do smooth, fast, and calmly. (“No grunting, no death metal, and no belts?! What is this — Planet Fitness?!”)

Then do 40 sets of 1 rep and keep your heart rate under 150 bpm. The next time you workout, try to do more sets or do a slightly heavier weight each workout while still staying stress-free. Over time, you’ll increase the amount of volume you can handle without stress.

5) Simplify

“I’m gonna ask you some simple questions. You’re gonna tell me the truth, or I swear to God, I’m gonna kill ya.”

Jason Bourne is all about simplicity. Think about it:

His wardrobe is as diverse as Ned Flanders. He doesn’t shop at Ed Hardy and his dark, muted colors would make any New Yorker proud. His haircut is something you can get at a barber college for $5. (Unlike Bourne, however, I recommend you smile occasionally.)

 

“I’m so happy!”

This is an optional step, but I encourage you to take a look at your life and take note of the superfluous things you can do without.

Do you have shirts you only wear once a year? A shelf full of books you never read? A cable television package you never use? Boxes full of random crap that take up space in your garage?

Perhaps you can donate or get rid of them.

It seems small — and even unrelated — but it all goes a long way in freeing your mind and simplifying your lifestyle. Now your possessions won’t possess you.

The result?

Being able to focus on what’s truly important and being able to control your life.

Oh, and please cut off your man bun.

About the Author

 

CategoriesNutrition

The Day I Gave Up Chicken Meat. At Least Temporarily

“Motherfucking coffee“.

Email received from my wife Lisa on Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 at 10:28 AM

35273778 - two people talking while drinking coffee.

Copyright: imtmphoto / 123RF Stock Photo

That’s all it said. That’s all it needed to say. I knew Lisa was pissed. And was probably thiiiiis close to tossing her computer out the window.

I’ll be honest: when I read those two words I couldn’t help but chuckle. Of all the things to come back positive on her Pinnertest, we were both keeping our fingers crossed that coffee was going to be safe.

For one, Lisa loves coffee.1

And two, on my side of the fence (a non-coffee drinker), I bought her what’s equivalent to the Cadillac of Nespresso machines for Christmas a few years ago. If we come to find out coffee is on the “hit list,” does it just become an expensive paperweight, albeit one that makes delicious caffeinated beverages?

Alas, there it was, plain as day…coffee: a “Level 1” intolerance.

Lets Back Up a Bit

Without going into too many personal details, Lisa was having a conversation with a friend of ours (Eric Gahan of Iron Body Studios) last year on the topic of diet/nutrition and food intolerances. The two of them steered towards digestive and skin issues and how both believed some of the foods they ate may be playing a role in each.

The idea of food intolerances or elimination diets is nothing new in the industry. In fact, many books extolling the virtues of eliminating “this” (gluten, dairy) or “that” (meat, anything that’s delicious) have been written. And many “gurus” have been made (and made a lot of money) as a result.

41069134 - a gluten free breads on wood background

Copyright: xamnesiacx / 123RF Stock Photo

By and large, much of the dialogue you see in the mainstream media on food intolerance is sensationalistic and wishful thinking at best, and predatory at worst.

Many charlatans will prey on people’s fears on a particular food (0r category of food) and try to convince them that if they don’t eat or eliminate said food(s) they’ll lose weight2, get a six-pack, be able to deadlift a bulldozer, win the Boston Marathon, balance their checkbook, solve global warming, become a Navy SEAL, and/or have endless threesomes.

 

I’m a skeptic. And I’m right there eye-rolling with the best of them. Most of the time, anyways.

In fact, on the seemingly pseudoscience of it all I agree with much of what Mike Samuels had to say recently:

If you’ve been reading my messages for any time whatsoever, you’ll know my response to these will be – B.O.G.U.S.

On the whole, any tests you can buy off the Internet are kinda crappy.

BUT …

What I would say (and the point of this email) is that how you feel when you eat a certain food does matter. Bloated after a bagel? Maybe bread’s not your thing. Feel crappy following a big cheese-fest. Perhaps your guts don’t love dairy as much as you do.

It’s worth a try.

It doesn’t mean you have to ban anything, it just gives you the data to make an informed decision over what the best foods for you are.

Hard to argue with that.

However, sometimes people need a little nudge or some form of “expedited” information to help point them in the right direction. A starting point if you will.

And that’s where Eric and Lisa’s conversation from above led to her taking the Pinnertest.

The Pinner…What Now?

The Pinnertest:

Pinnertest Kit

From the website:

The Pinnertest makes use of the MicroARRAY – ELISA Method IgG (blood) test for determining permanent food intolerances.

It does NOT test for food allergies.

Food allergies can kill you.

Food intolerances, on the other hand, can lead to things such as indigestion, IBS, bloating, skin issues (acne), and even unexplained weight gain in rare cases.3

The latter – indigestion, skin issues – is what served as the impetus for Lisa taking the test. After listening to Eric speak about his experience and how the Pinnertest helped to “pin point” a few food(s) he never would have thought of as culprits, and after hearing all the success stories of many of his clients taking the test…she was in.

To remind you of the result:

“Motherfucking coffee.”

And there were other foods that popped up too, like green peppers for example. Which was amazing, because Lisa avoided green peppers since they always “disagreed” with her whenever she ate them.

She now had some proof to back up her inclinations.

Egg yolks were a +2

Coffee (at +1) was the biggest blow, however. There are varying “levels” of intolerance with the Pinnertest:

  • Level 1 (Low Reaction)
  • Level 2 (Moderate Reaction)
  • Level 3 (High Reaction)

Or, if I were in charge of naming them:

  • Aw, Man, This Kinda Sucks (Level 1)
  • No, Really, This Sucks Donkey Balls (Level 2)
  • Fuck (Level 3)

Per the recommendation of Pinnertest, Lisa omitted all of the above from her diet for three months. Even coffee. I don’t know how she did it, but she did. She was a champion, instead opting for lots and lots of tea (and long, mournful stares at the Nespresso machine).

Low and behold, friends and colleagues who hadn’t seen her for a few weeks started to comment on her skin and how much better it looked. She noticed the difference too. Stuff she had dealt with for much of her life had resolved.

After the three months was over she had her first shot of espresso. I wish I had filmed her reaction. It was on par with Frank the Tank from the movie Old School:

In the time since she’s experimented with varying degrees of coffee consumption and has figured out what’s “worth it” on her end. The Pinnertest helped make the decision making process and planning a little easier.

So, Tony, What’s the Deal With Chicken?

As you may have guessed after a bit of pressing from Lisa, I finally ended up taking the test myself.

Again, not to get too personal, I fart. I fart a lot.

Granted not nearly as much as when I was a bachelor living off of nothing but chicken breasts, Ramen noodles, and boxes of cereal…but, you know, I have my days…….;o)

In addition, I have been battling some dermatitis on my face for many years. Sporadically I’ll get red blotches and flaky skin on my face which, as you can imagine, makes the ladies go crazy.

Not!  (<— Sorry, Roman, for the exclamation point)

I still managed to snag this one, though:

Dinner at Lure

After some pining from Lisa (and the kindness of the people at Pinnertest to send me a complimentary kit), I was in too.

Here’s me watching the video of the How, What, and Why’s of the Pinnertest (FYI: It’s super easy):

Watching Pinnertest video

Here’s me signing the form:

Filling Out Pinnertest Form

Here’s me pricking my finger with a needle:

Pricking Finger

And here I am sending off my sample to get tested (and crossing my fingers that dairy was going to be safe. No cheese or ice-cream = rip shit city):

Sending Kit Off

Fast Forward Two Weeks…The Results

I got my results back (via email) two days ago. And as you probably guessed one of the foods that came back to avoid (a +2) was…chicken.

Chicken?

Yes, effing chicken.

What’s a meathead to do? Chicken is like, the thing, a food group in of itself. When it doubt eat chicken.

This is analogous to telling James Bond he’s intolerant to Vespers, or that E.T. is intolerant to Reese’s Pieces, or that a vegan is intolerant to, I don’t know, sawdust.

The rest of my results included:

+2 Reaction: chicken, shrimp, carrot.4
+1 Reaction: potato (<— dammit), grape.

[Thankfully things like dairy, red meat, wheat, and Adamantium were in the clear.]

I never would have guessed chicken (or any of the others for that matter), and as it happens the day I received my results I took this picture of my face. My beautiful, beautiful face:

Red Blotch

See those red blotches? They weren’t as profound the day prior. Guess what I had for dinner no less than twelve hours before?

Curry chicken.

Interesting.

So What Now?

I asked Georgie Fear, a Registered Dietitian I respect a ton and author of the book Lean Habits, to chime in. Here’s what she had to say:

CategoriesFat Loss Nutrition

5 Myths Killing Your Fat Loss Progress

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Boston-based strength coach and trainer, Ryan Wood. Ryan’s made a cameo appearance on this site in the past writing a two-part series on lessons he learned preparing for his first powerlifting meet. You can check those out HERE and HERE.

Switching gears, today he’s discussing lessons learned and myths he avoided in losing 25 lbs. and dropping down to 10% body fat. Like a boss.

28110314 - loosing weight, close up of muscular built man wearing too large jeans isolated on white background

Copyright: rangizzz / 123RF Stock Photo

5 Myths Killing Your Fat Loss Progress

Today I’m going to outline five fitness myths I avoided to lose 25lbs. (I previously wrote a post talking about seven things I learned dropping to 10% body fat which you can read HERE.)

Fitness myths run rampant, and, unfortunately, steer many people in the wrong direction. If fat loss is your goal then follow along closely as I discuss five of the most common fitness myths killing your fat loss progress.

Myth 1- You’ll Lose Strength

A lot of people fear losing strength when they begin a fat loss diet. Common belief says if you cut calories your strength has to suffer.

While you shouldn’t be too concerned about hitting one rep max personal records, you certainly don’t want to risk losing strength.

So what should you do?

The answer is carbohydrates. Too many people drastically cut carbs when beginning a fat loss diet. This usually results in quick weight loss but also a huge decrease in performance and strength. Carbs are your main energy source and fuel your training sessions. If you’d like to retain as much strength as possible while shedding excess body fat then keep your carbs in your diet for as long as possible.

I believe when fat loss is the primary goal you should train with higher volumes to help retain muscle mass as calories decrease.

Because of this, I suggest aiming to hit new 8-10 rep maxes

The higher volume training will help you preserve muscle, which when you transition back towards building strength, will be imperative for improving your top-end numbers.

Here’s me hitting some sumo deadlifts towards the END of my diet:

 

My best all-time sumo pull is 510lbs which was done at a powerlifting meet after months of prep and peaking.

It’s definitely possible to keep most of your strength, if not improving it slightly, albeit in different rep ranges.

Take home points:

  1. Keep carbs as high as possible to help fuel hard training sessions.
  2. Focus on improving 8-12 rep maxes, not maxing out.
  3. Keep the goal the goal. Don’t worry if you can’t hit your all time best at this exact moment in time. Focus on your fat loss goal if that’s your priority.

Myth 2- You Must Eat Clean And Avoid Certain Foods

The gurus say the only way to get leaner is to eat clean or only eat gluten free, organic, dairy free, or sugar-free .

This is what I think of when I hear ‘clean eating’:

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think eating whole foods the majority of the time is a great way to get leaner and in better shape. It’s what I do *most of the time.

But eating clean 100% of the time is not a requirement for fat loss. Nor is avoiding entire food groups or demonizing certain foods.

Why?

Because I love ice cream too much.

And burgers.

And ice cream. Oh, I said that already.

You can and certainly should be able to enjoy a treat every now and then while still reaching your fat loss goals.

I did it and you can, too.

You just have to be in a calorie deficit, which means you’re consuming fewer calories than you’re burning.

If you’ve got room to spare in the calorie department, enjoy an ice cream. Just make sure you’re still under your calorie allotment for the day.

Remember, calories are your number one fat loss priority. No amount of clean eating will help you get results if you’re consuming 1000 more calories than you should be.

Take home points:

  1. Create an energy deficit by taking away 250-500 calories from your baseline diet.
  2. Eat a balanced diet of whole foods but don’t fear or avoid certain foods because someone tells you to.
  3. Enjoy treats every now and then provided they fit into your calorie goals.

Myth 3- You Have to Diet For A Set Amount of Time

About a week and a half left on my 12-week diet I hit my goal weight and felt pretty good with my physique and the progress I had made.

So I ‘ended’ my diet.

what the what? GIF – wut tinafey 3orock GIFs in wut

Basically, I went from continuing to try to lose any more weight right into a maintenance phase.

You can set goals to diet for 8,10, or 12 weeks but that doesn’t mean you HAVE to diet the entire time.

If you hit your goals early, then by all means, stop the diet and move into a more sustainable diet.

You’re the only one that can determine if you’re happy with your progress and if you should stick out your diet for another couple weeks.

I’m not saying this to give you an excuse to end your diet a month early. I’m simply saying if you’ve put in 8 or 9 weeks and have hit your goal weight OR better yet, feel phenomenal with how you look, then stop your diet.

Dieting is not a sustainable part of fitness. It’s a somewhat brief period of time in the grand scheme of things to help you reach your goals.

Put in the work, be consistent, and end your diet early if you’re happy with where you’re at physically and mentally.

Take home points:

  1. You can end a diet early if you’re happy with where you’re currently at progress wise.
  2. Once you end your diet, slowly add calories back in to stabilize your weight and give yourself some diet ‘relief.’
  3. On the flip side, don’t extend your diet week after week because you aren’t at your final end goal. Sometimes it takes several 10 or 12 week periods to reach your goal. As a point of reference, my progress took about 7 months.

Myth 4- You Must Do Cardio to Lose Fat

I’m not a cardio hater, I promise.

But the truth is, cardio is not the magic to fat loss.

33301123 - sport, fitness, lifestyle, technology and people concept - men exercising on treadmill in gym

Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo

Better yet, it’s 100% not required to lose fat.

Can it help? Of course, it can.

But it’s definitely not something you have to do in order to trim up. As long as your diet is in order, you will lose fat doing pretty much anything. I prefer a heavy dose of resistance training combined with a calorie deficit.

Cardio is a tool that can be used to enhance progress but I wouldn’t rely on it as your only form of exercise if you can help it. Check out THIS piece where I discussed why I prefer lifting over cardio for fat loss.

Take home points:

  1. Cardio is not a requirement for fat loss. A calorie deficit is the number one most important. Period.
  2. If you like or enjoy cardio then include it in your programming. Try to have more lifting days than cardio if possible. This will help you retain more lean mass while losing body fat.
  3. Cardio is not magic. Don’t rely on it to make up for a poor diet.

Myth 5- You Shouldn’t Get Hungry If You’re Eating the Right Foods

Yea. I know. It’s crazy to think some people believe that eating the ‘right’ foods will keep them from getting hungry during a diet.

The truth is, if you aren’t getting hungrier the further you get into your diet, your results are probably pretty crappy. Hunger is a fact of dieting. Eating less (calorie wise) is required to lose body fat.

There are no magical foods that will alleviate your hunger when you’re 10 or 11 weeks into a fat loss diet. Sure you can increase food volume by consuming more low-calorie foods like dark green veggies, but hunger is real and very important.

It tells you whether or not you’re headed in the right direction. You should be experiencing hunger as you progress week to week in your diet. At the beginning of your diet, you might not be super hungry. However, every time you make an adjustment to your plan, you will feel hunger rumbling deep down inside your stomach.

Use this as feedback that progress is being made. Don’t get tricked into believing that you shouldn’t get hungry after losing 10, 15 or 20+ pounds. Anyone that says you won’t be hungry during your diet is completely crazy or has never dieted before.

Remember, you won’t starve. Being hungry is completely normal during a diet so try your best to embrace it.

Take home points:

  1. Hunger is a normal part of dieting
  2. While still controlling for calories, eating lower-calorie, volume-dense foods can help with hunger a little bit.
  3. Use hunger as feedback that you are making progress

Wrap Up

If you can avoid these five fitness myths you’ll likely be off to a good start. To help you set up your own fat loss diet, grab your free copy of ’10 Commandments of Fat Loss’ HERE.

Remember that progress, especially fat loss, takes time and lots of hard work. It won’t happen overnight that’s for damn sure.

About the Author

CategoriesNutrition

Even More Reasons Why Athletes Should Eat Carbs

Outside of being downright delicious, carbohydrates do serve an important role in day-to-day nutrition, and especially so with competitive athletes.

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of strength coach, Travis Hansen. If you happened to miss the first two installments of this article series, please check them out HERE and HERE.

Right now, I’m going to jump right into things and discuss five more final reasons why any team sport or explosive based athlete requires carbohydrates in order to optimize their performance and physique

#1-CENTRAL FATIGUE MANAGEMENT

This theory continues to be explored, and isn’t fully understood yet. When we train long and hard, levels of free Tryptophan (5-HT) begin to circulate in higher quantities throughout our bloodstream. Eventually Tryptophan crosses the blood-brain barrier where it’s converted into Serotonin.

Serotonin has been shown to elicit key symptoms of fatigue when there is still available peripheral energy sources available to our working muscles. Dr. Mark Davis published a very interesting article in a Sports Nutrition Journal back in the late 90’s which covered nearly every element of “The Central Fatigue Theory.” (1)

If you are a geek like me and want to know all of the ins and outs of this particular subject matter, then I would definitely give it a good look. I’m going to bypass some of the specifics and just give you what’s really important here.

The F-TRP/BCAA ratio becomes very significant. In order to gain access into the brain, Tryptophan needs a specific transporter that BCAA’s (Branched Chain Amino Acids) compete with. Thus, by increasing BCAA’s in the blood, one could simply assume that this would limit Tryptophan levels and subsequent fatigue. Unfortunately, BCAA’s don’t show much promise in this arena directly, and there are a number of factors that Davis discusses which help explain the dilemma that is beyond the scope of this article.

On the upside, carbohydrate feedings show a consistently strong impact on CNS fatigue suppression.

According to Davis, one way in which they do this is by limiting the release of FFA or free fatty acids into the bloodstream. When we train at high intensities, liver glycogen support for the muscles in our body can be reduced fairly quickly. As training continues, we begin to rely upon more fat for fuel.

Fats influence F-TRP and its binding with a protein called Albumin. In other words, if FFA’s are elevated due to a lack of carbs then they will naturally knock of Tryptophan from Albumin which will then allow the now unbound Trytophan to make its way to the brain and subsequently induce fatigue.

I should also note that the exact mechanism for why carbohydrates prevent fatigue is very controversial still, and one theory is that glucose is the preferential source of fuel for neural cells and they absolutely crave this particular energy source when it’s readily available.

#2-CORTISOL LEVELS

When it comes to maximizing your physique and overall athletic performance there is zero doubt that Cortisol is your body’s potential kryptonite!

Several pathways throughout the human body are to be disrupted when Cortisol is high and chronically elevated by consuming less carbohydrates combined with rigorous training protocols.

Thyroid conversion will be altered as well as nervous system activity. Direct protein synthesis is reduced, and last but not least, Insulin and Testosterone levels will take a substantial hit. And if you already read the previous two articles (see links in intro) then you can already appreciate just how much of a negative impact this can create.

#3-DE NOVO LIPOGENESIS

I’ve been excited to discuss this issue because I still get asked the question whether or not we really store carbs as fat very easily.

The answer is definitely no.

De Novo Lipogenesis is the production of fat from carbohydrates specifically. Again this all goes back to The First Law of Thermodynamics, or calories in vs. calories out. You can’t store more energy if you are taking in less energy.

Period.

I know I might be beyond beating a dead horse here, but some people still can’t accept this scientific law and blame everything else for weight gain or lack of success in losing fat/weight, especially carbs.

Come on.

According to the highly credible and world renown physiologist Lyle McDonald, De Novo Lipogenesis is quite difficult to come by to say the least. Under normal dietary conditions, where people aren’t severely obese, upwards of 700-900 grams of carbs per day for several days had to be ingested in order for De Novo to occur. (2) This is an absolutely INSANE amount of carbohydrates mind you.

And some of the reasons why it’s difficult to store carbs as fat is because of the glucose-ffa cycle. This cellular function just means that when we eat carbs we burn carbs, and vice versa. Moreover, there is roughly 500 grams or so of potential glycogen that can be stored in the muscle and liver which amounts to approximately 2000 calories.

Also, standard high intensity weight and athletic training causes these stores to naturally adapt and increase their storage potential even further making fat storage from carbohydrates even harder to come by. So as you can see from the evidence above, if you are a female or male athlete who wants to get leaner and improve your body composition, then by all means eat your carbs!

#4-SLEEP FUNCTION

According to the American Society for Clinical Nutrition, carbohydrates consumed prior to sleep can decrease the onset of actual sleep. (3)

A common sleep deficiency in research is initiation, so the carbs could be very helpful in this department if you are an athlete who needs to quickly recover and perform at a high level regularly.

Moreover, although the primary type of clients in which I work with aren’t bodybuilders or figure competitors, I have been fortunate enough to train quite a few over the years and consult several of them and prescribe and monitor their nutrition. A very consistent observation has been definitive improved sleep quality with adequate carbohydrate consumption with other influential factors held constant.

This observation is highly subjective, but if several of these athletes are benefiting from more carbs, then that is more than good enough for me as a coach who wants them to be at their best.

#5-LEPTIN PRODUCTION

I’m going to very quickly introduce or simply review this hormone and give you a very basic short course on the hormone.

Leptin is a peptide hormone that is primarily synthesized and released from our fat cells in the body. Leptin has specific receptors in the brain which help to regulate energy production, appetite, and weight management to name a few.

Basically, if calories, bodyfat levels, or carbs are too low then Leptin production is decreased and energy expenditure decreases, performance decreases, hunger goes through the roof, and we pack on lbs. Keep Leptin at normal levels by eating sufficient carbs and calories at a healthy weight/bodyfat level and the metabolism remains in harmony. Here are a few starter articles to get you properly acquainted with Leptin if you aren’t already:

Control Leptin and Control Your Leanness

Bodyweight Regulation: Leptin Part I

SCIENTIFIC REFERENCES:

#1-Davis, M. Carbohydrates, branched-chain amino acids, and endurance: The Central Fatigue Hypothesis. International Journal of Sports Nutrition, 5: 29-38, 1995.

#2-http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.html/

#3-http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/85/2/426.full

About the Author

Travis Hansen has been involved in the field of Human Performance Enhancement for nearly a decade. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Fitness and Wellness, and holds 3 different training certifications from the ISSA, NASM, and NCSF. He was the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Reno Bighorns of the NBADL for their 2010 season, and he is currently the Director of The Reno Speed School inside the South Reno Athletic Club. He has worked with hundreds of athletes from almost all sports, ranging from the youth to professional ranks. He is the author of the hot selling “Speed Encyclopedia,” and he is also the leading authority on speed development for the International Sports Sciences Association.

Categoriescoaching Nutrition

DON’T Put the Cookie Down

Oh, hello…I’m in Europe being all fancy pants.

Luckily, I lined up some excellent guest posts for you while I’m away. Here’s one from San Antonio based trainer, Jonathan Acosta.

“Put That Cookie Down!”

– Arnold

You hear that all the time from nutrition zealots. Shit, the legend himself, Arnold, said it and the interwebs even created a meme out of it.

But what if I told you rather than putting the cookie down……….Eat it!

Yes eat that cookie! Follow your dreams man!

No this isn’t the beginning of an Instagram supplement commercial.

Don’t worry I haven’t gone bat shit crazy….YET.

Listen: nutrition is one of my favorite topics. Fitness and nutrition is my profession. Im all for buckling down and getting your nutrition in check. You have a show or a competition you need to get ready for?

Cool, lets buckle down and get your nutrition in check.

I’m all for meal plans and strict adherence. My brother’s girlfriend likes to joke that we can eat the same thing day in and day out.

If you have an important goal or deadline, then hell yea I recommend a detailed plan and strict adherence…………….

But the reality is, most people don’t need that kind of strictness. At least not in the real world, or at the beginning of their journey.

A funny thing happened when I started training and working on people’s nutrition.

I would write a detailed plan out and by Week #2 it was out the door and back to old habits. Only my competitive clients would grit through it and last through the plan.

You see, this is the real world. And in the real world habits are king.

Most people juggle their jobs, families, kids, and everything in between. Just starting a workout plan alone is stressful enough.

Life happens and building better habits keeps you on point.

It’s not realistic to change your entire eating patterns to almost a robot like state and expect to hit your goals and stay like that forever.

Working on better eating habits works wonders.

Search Google for nutrition tips and what do you hear?

Cut out the sweets, eat chicken and broccoli, don’t drink alcohol. You name it.

You probably read that while rolling your eyes thinking duh we know all this.

Which brings me to my point.

All the above tips are practically common knowledge now. So why isn’t everyone rocking a six-pack or first in like to take part in a shirtless volleyball game at the beach???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmfd9etbXGE

 

The answer to that is two fold.

Habits and consistency.

Creating habits that ensure this whole “nutrition thing” is life long.

All while being consistent. Day in and day out.

That’s what its all about. That’s the real secret.

It’s not about what diet plan you follow. Or if you’re paleo, warrior diet, or intermittent fasting. It’s about finding something that WORKS FOR YOU AND YOUR WORLD.

Right now the cool thing to do is follow what these peeps on the grams of Insta are showing.

Meal prep consisting of nothing but chicken and broccoli – CHECK

Taking selfies with meals – CHECK

Repeating the steps above – CHECK

Get paid – CHECK

That last step is for the Instagram peeps.

That step for most folks looks more like this….

Realizing that this isn’t realistic and its boring. Throw the meals away, go back to old habits and eat what you used to eat.

I’m gonna pause right here. All of this depends on your goals and the amount of time you give yourself for your goals and its urgency.

If you have a wedding or something that is a necessity then yes by all means, bite the bullet and have a PROPER plan of attack and go for it.

If your goal is similar but isn’t as urgent then you’re better off not worrying to much about your short game.

Think about your end game.

  • In the grand scheme of things, what makes more sense? Following a strict diet for 2-3 weeks then “relapsing” and go to F-it mode for 1-2 weeks. Then starting all over again.

OR

  • Gradually working on habits and cutting back on a few things here and there until eventually we’ve completely changed our entire nutrition approach.

I first learned about habits through John Berardi and the crew over at Precision Nutrition. I’ll be completely honest and say that when I first read a few articles and saw how they approached things I was dumbfounded.

How were their clients getting crazy results and they weren’t even following a strict diet?

They didn’t even know their macros!

There is no way adding in a small habit here and there bi-weekly created all that change.

In my defense I was young and naïve. The older I got, and the more people I worked with, the more I started realizing that habits are the cornerstone of everything.

Turns out Berardi really hadn’t lost his marbles after all. (I dived right into the Precision Nutrition certification the moment it became available)

In reality, what seemed so simple was actually pretty ground breaking.

Sure you can give someone a diet plan and they may or may not follow it. But if you change someones habits, I mean really rewire them from the inside.

That’s when you start changing lives.

So what can you do TODAY to improve?

Here are some action habits I’ve used with clients:

1) Add in Two Protein Shakes a Day.

One of the first things I see in peoples nutrition habits is lack of protein. For the sedentary person that doesn’t workout, this isn’t a huge priority. But if you workout frequently then this habit will go a long way.

2) Cut back slightly on starchy carbs.

Lets say you eat four meals a day and normally 3-4 of those meals contain carbs. Then cut back slightly by replacing starchy carbs with veggies for 2 meals.

3) Take notes on how you feel after a meal

Although this doesn’t directly help your results, finding out what foods make you feel like crap and which ones make you feel energized goes a long way in helping you make better food choices.

4) Save the reward.

Save the rewards for the last meal of the day.

I don’t know about you but come evening time I’m starving!

No matter how many meals I’ve eaten I’m ravenous. So saving a reward treat for the evening helps curb whatever cravings I have. If you’ve got a sweet tooth than this works especially well for you.

The trick is to make sure the rest of the day is on point and aligned with our goals.

This means making sure your protein intake is good, you’re mindful of the starches, and you workout. If all things go right then a small reward wouldn’t be too harmful. Remember this is temporary while were weaning off per say.

Bonus:

Finding less goal harming treats is even better. Some of my go to’s are:

  • Cool whip (a small serving is super low)
  • Almond butter, protein powder, heavy whipping cream pudding
  • Proscuitto and mozzarella (don’t ask me why but a slice of each kills any sweet or salty cravings I have, maybe itll work for you)
  • Sugar free chocolates (Be mindful on these as some people cant handle the sugar substitutes well and have G.I. issues. Bloating sucks.)

Small habits that build up to amazing results. Nothing fancy. No drinking a protein shake made with fresh milk from a grass fed intermittent fasting cow who was born on the summer solstice.

Just practical habits that cater to you in the real world. Habits that dont require you to sacrifice your social life and over stress about everything else.

So get your habits in check and eat that cookie if you need it.

Until you level up and its time to PUT THE COOKIE DOWN!!!!!

(Please eat responsibly).

About the Author

Jonathan Acosta is the founder of Underground Performance Center and head trainer at Get Sexy San Antonio and is a certified personal trainer though both ISSA and the NCEP, as well asPrecision Nutrition Level I certified.

He likes lifting heavy things, reading books with big words in them, his steaks rare, funny stuff, writing stuff, hanging out with friends, and laughing.

CategoriesNutrition

5 More Scientific Reasons Athletes Should Eat Carbs

I’m in Europe traveling, speaking, and eating lots of cheese.

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of strength coach Travis Hansen. I don’t write nearly enough nutritional content for the site – if I do it’s always gluten free7 – so when Travis reached out to offer a sequel to a popular article he wrote for T-Nation I was happy to oblige.

Enjoy!

If you haven’t already be sure to visit part #1 of why athletes should eat carbs HERE, where I cover several often overlooked reasons why athletes need carbohydrates to look and perform to their peak potential.

Photo Credit: Bosque Village

Right now, I want to take some time and cover several more key reasons to further put this myth to rest once and for all!

1) Ghrelin Suppression

Ghrelin is a very intricate hormone of our endocrine system that is released primarily from our stomach cells.

Awww, ghrelin is so cute!

Once released into our bloodstream this hormone travels up to the brain where it binds to its specific receptor site.

There is extensive research on this hormone, but most notably is its role on increasing appetite.

Interestingly enough, once we ingest enough carbs ghrelin levels tend to scale down. This becomes significant since ghrelin also plays a negative role in metabolic rate and fat storage. (1)

2) Non-Essential Amino Acid Synthesis

When our body utilizes carbohydrates as energy some of the chemical by-products become necessary for production of the manufacturing of non-essential amino acids.

This becomes important since this particular sub-category of amino acids is involved in many metabolic pathways in the human body.

I analyzed several studies which indicated that non-essential amino acids did not provide any additional benefit to muscle growth outside of essential amino acid intake, however if you sit down and examine the role of each one you will come to find out that they play vital roles in various reactions in the body which will ultimately affect athletic performance and you would be foolish to limit their production by going low carb.

3) Testosterone Levels

I discussed the effects of Insulin briefly in the previous article and from that you could see just how valuable the hormone is for muscle growth and performance.

What’s more is the influence insulin production can have on our testosterone levels.

When we ingest and digest carbohydrates Insulin will prevent a hormone by the name of Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG) from attaching itself to Free Testosterone circulating through our bloodstream.

Moreover, I was able to locate an awesome study which examined the effects low carbohydrate diets had on Testosterone levels. (2)

In this particular study, researchers studied two groups of male athletes.

One group consumed moderate to high amounts of carbohydrates (60% of caloric intake), while the other group consumed low quantities of carbs (30% of caloric intake). After three consecutive days of high intensity training, blood samples were taken from each group, measuring each groups Testosterone to Cortisol Ratio.

The control group only showed a 3% decrease in T while the low carb group showed a pitiful 43% drop in T!

Keep in mind, the exercise protocol did not involve heavy weight training, so it would be interesting to see the effects of pre and post-percentage drops in each group with very high amounts of muscular damage induced from resistance training protocols.

4) Motor Control and Coordination

I absolutely love science as much as the next person, but I don’t think there is really any true need to provide any study on this one.

Bottom Line: our nervous system’s preferential source of fuel comes directly from carbohydrates in the form of glucose and if we deprive ourselves of carbs as athletes then it has to be manufactured from external and internal sources of body protein (aka muscle mass) with small amounts stemming from fat (glycerol).

Also consider the potential lag time in glucose production from non-carbohydrate sources that occurs since it’s not readily available in muscle stores as glycogen for glycolysis.

Most team sports rely on anaerobic glycolysis fueled by glucose and glycogen stores, and if there is a delay in providing these energy sources then exertion has to stall to some extent.

Aside from everything else I’ve shared with you up until this point, all you have to do is work with any strength or power athlete for a considerable amount of time while they are practicing a low carb diet strategy and you will inevitably recognize common deficiencies in movement (speed, quickness, strength, motivation, etc.) derived from fatigue, dehydration, and subsequent motor control deficits.

5) The X-Factor: Glycogen

In the first article, you saw the influence systemic hydration levels have on performance outcomes, and the high amounts of H2O that is to be stored in our glycogen stores. Any small decrease in hydration (2-3%) has been shown to lead to poorer performance and you absolutely risk this by depleting glycogen stores in your muscles and liver by consuming less carbs.

Furthermore, one of the common physiological adaptations that occurs in our muscles in response to strength and athletic training is an increased capacity for glycogen and thus water to meet the increased demands of the training stimulus so that we can perform better.

Moreover, there is good evidence that glycogen stores play a direct role in recovery and protein synthesis following intense training. (3), (4).

Increased cellular signaling is one potential way that glycogen can affect recovery and regeneration.

Lastly, if you are an athlete who is trying to get fancy and shed weight fast let me inform you of some things before you do so.

When glycogen stores become depleted within a day of strict low carb dieting there is an automatic up-regulation of specific enzymes which store more glycogen to help combat this approach.

With this there is an increase in glycogen stores above original baseline. This means that you are going to temporarily gain MORE weight in the form of increased water and stored carbs then if you had just stayed consistent in the first place.

What I am referring to here is the classic “carb loading” approach advocated and mastered by endurance athletes everywhere for decades now. And it absolutely works for this population, but definitely not in the context of efficient weight loss for athletes who still need to perform at a high level regularly.

If nothing else, why would the body adapt this way? Obviously we need the glycogen, especially if you are an explosive athlete.

Lastly, there is a decent amount of research that I found showing that sufficient glycogen or glucose replenishment may offset Central fatigue of the nervous system, and I will be sure to discuss this topic more in the final installment of this series…

Scientific References

#1-#6-http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/bodyweight-regulation-wrap-up-other-hormones.html/

#2-Lane AR, Duke JW, Hackney AC. Influence of dietary carbohydrate intake on the free testosterone: cortisol ratio responses to short-term intensive exercise training. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2010 Apr;108(6):1125-31.

#3-John, L. Regulation of muscle glycogen repletion, muscle protein synthesis and repair following exercise. J Sports Sci Med 3: 131-138, 2004.

#4-Howarth, KR. Effect of glycogen availability on human skeletal muscle protein turnover during exercise and recovery. J Appl Physiol 109: 431-438, 2010.

Author’s Bio

Travis Hansen has been involved in the field of Human Performance Enhancement for nearly a decade. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Fitness and Wellness, and holds 3 different training certifications from the ISSA, NASM, and NCSF. He was the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Reno Bighorns of the NBADL for their 2010 season, and he is currently the Director of The Reno Speed School inside the South Reno Athletic Club. He has worked with hundreds of athletes from almost all sports, ranging from the youth to professional ranks. He is the author of the hot selling “Speed Encyclopedia,” and he is also the leading authority on speed development for the International Sports Sciences Association.

Categoriescoaching Nutrition

Why Eating With Your Non-Dominant Hand Can Help With Weight Loss

Everyone has ran into a situation where they have had great intentions to eat healthy but somehow find themselves mindlessly reaching for a bag of chips or ice cream rather than the fruit or vegetables they had planned on eating.

By the time they realize what they are doing half the bag or carton is already gone!

Most people tend to underestimate how many food-related decisions they make every day.

That is to say: most of the food decisions we make happen automatically or without conscious intention (4). Behavior that occurs without conscious intention is descriptive of habit. The two important components of habit are repetition; the behaviors occur often, and context; the behavior occurs in the same environment.

Many people battle between their bad habits and their good intentions.

If the context or environment in which behaviors occur is not changed it is likely that bad habits will win out over good intentions more times than you would like.

Note From TG: Reminds me of the concept of the Elephant, Driver, and the Path8alluded to in Dan and Chip Heath’s awesome book, Switch: How to Change, When Change Is Hard.

There are many environmental contributions to behavior. However, for the purposes of this article the environment will constitute the where and how behaviors occur.

In a research study Neal and colleagues found that interrupting habits is as easy as switching the hand you eat with.

They found that individuals who scored high for habitually eating popcorn during a movie ate relatively the same regardless of if the popcorn was fresh or seven days old!

That is, they ate without thinking.

However, when high habit popcorn eaters were asked to eat with their non-dominant hand they ate considerably less when the popcorn was stale.

Participants ate slightly more than 40% of their bucket when they ate stale popcorn with their dominant hand whereas they ate slightly more than 20% of their stale popcorn when they switched to their dominant hand (1).

This small environmental disruption apparently brought behavior under intentional control and allowed high habit participants to follow their goals (to not eat a lot of popcorn that tasted like Styrofoam!).

Disrupting automatic eating may be as easy as moving unhealthy food out of sight9 (2) or changing the sequence of events that leads to automatic eating.

For example, picture that every day you come home from work and enter your home through the kitchen door.

Note From TG: Or, if you’re me, parachuting from an Apache helicopter onto the roof of the apartment complex. Same difference.

From there you open the fridge and stare at the leftover pizza slices from last night. A few minutes later you’re still standing in front of the fridge and are working on your third piece!

In this case the series of events as well as the location of the food could have been changed to help disrupt mindless eating10 (3). This individual could have done the following:

  1. Walk through the front door rather than the kitchen door to avoid temptation.

  2. Put the pizza in a less noticeable place such as the bottom shelf. Place healthy food at eye level so it is a more noticeable snack than the pizza.

  3. Rather than eat food in front of the fridge put one piece on a plate and bring it to the dinner table.

It is easy to imagine how these concepts could apply to different scenarios.

For example, you may drive home from work past a series of fast food restaurants. It has been a long day and you’re hungry now. Rather than mustering up the willpower to say no to four different restaurants find an alternative route home.

If you find yourself engaging in an unhealthy behavior think about the series of events that led up to the behavior.

Note: HERE’s some further reading on how to go about changing behaviors.

From there think of ways to interrupt this sequence of events or make the behavior more difficult to do. The environment is an important and overlooked contributor to habit. By modifying it you may be able to bring your actions under voluntary control and perform the healthy behaviors you would like to do!

Author’s Note

This article covered one important part of how personal trainers can help clients make healthier decisions. I believe that this information is just one important aspect of how trainers can provide better services for their clients.

Because of this passion I have put together a full day conference where great coaches and researchers will share their knowledge to help trainers provide a better service.

These speakers include Tony Gentilcore, Mark Fisher, Dr. Cassandra Forsythe, Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, and John Brand. The conference is Saturday April 2nd at SUNY Cortland. For more information you can go HERE.

CEUs will be available and the cost is only $20 for students and $60 for professionals.

Also, I totally don’t have bigger biceps than Tony.

References

  • Neal DT, Wood W, Labrecque JS, and Lally, P. How do habits guide behavior? Perceived and actual triggers of habits in daily life. J Exp Soc Psychol 48:492–98, 2011.
  • Wansink B, Painter JE, and Lee YK. (2006) The office candy dish: Proximity’s influence on estimated and actual consumption. Int J Obesity 30: 871-875.
  • Wansink, Brian.Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. Bantam Books, 2006.
  • Wansink B. and Sobal J. Mindless eating: The 200 daily food decisions we overlook. Environ Behav 39(1): 106-123, 2007.

 

 

CategoriesNutrition

Diet vs. Habit Based Nutritional Coaching

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Missouri based personal trainer, Stevan Freeborn. I don’t provide nearly enough nutritional content on this site, so it’s nice whenever I have the chance to have someone with more experience on topic shed some light.

Enjoy!

Restriction, Restriction, Restriction.

That’s the name of the game for most people when it comes to eating healthier.

Just about everyone has had that experience where they have bought the latest trending diet book, threw out everything in their pantry, restocked it with whatever buzzwords the expert author used (organic, gluten free GMO free, zombie proof) or claimed was “clean” or “healthy” and then proceeded to prepare a week’s worth of “healthy” and “clean” meals that will help you lose that excess belly fat you have been carrying around for the last couple years.

Note from TG: on the topic of GMO’s, I really like THIS article via Precision Nutrition.

But what follows this experience is never what we all hope for.

Usually it consists of several days filled with frustration, self deprivation, and envy followed by a quick and swift return to your old diet and grocery store list.

So the questions we need to be asking ourselves is why does this happen?

Why do we start off so motivated and excited to start something new, yet quickly lose our dedication to the cause? Why do we keep repeating this chain of events that always ends in a crash and burn scenario?

I think the answer lies in the approach we are taking in regard to how we are taught and teaching how to make food choices. I think if we can change the way we coach people to change their diet we can dramatically improve the outcomes for those people who want to eat better, fee better, and look better.

In my mind there are two different approaches for nutritional coaching and food choices.

One is habit-based and the other is diet-based. I will spend time later in this post explaining more about each concept, but it is important to remember that both are tools that can be used effectively with or by the right person in the right situation.

SPOILER ALERT: I think you are going to find that I personally have a huge biased towards one approach over the other because of my own personal experience and logical conclusion about its practicality.

Diet-Based Nutritional Coaching

This is the approach everyone has been using for the past 20 years. The experience I initially described to you is a product of this kind of approach.

Someone teaching or practicing a diet-based nutritional approach focuses on the things they can and cannot eat.

They create list of foods that are “good” or “clean” and a list of foods that are “bad” or “dirty” and make all food decisions based on where the foods fall on these master lists.

This approach can be done on a macroscopic scale looking at whole foods or it can be done on a microscopic scale looking at the macronutrients which make up the foods. Depending on which scale or combination of the two the foods that make up the lists can be greatly varied. Good examples of this approach are the popular ancestral diets (Paleo) and the “If It Fits Your Macros” approach.

Pros

This type of nutritional approach sets very clear and defined guidelines as to what should be consumed and what shouldn’t be consumed leaving no room for interpretation or time spend worrying over what food to pick.

It allows people to make comprehensive grocery lists and meal plans that gives them peace of mind that they are making healthy choices. It provides people with a system to categorize and label foods which as we all probably know by now is something the human brain loves to do.

Cons

On the flip side this approach often creates a restriction mindset (except if you are practicing a macronutrient based version).

It tells people they can’t eat any of their old foods and requests that people change their entire way of eating overnight.

It typically is centered more about what you are not supposed to eat than what you are supposed to eat. It requires incredible levels of organization, dedication, self discipline, and motivation to stick with it long enough to have this way of eating become a way of life. It places labels on foods such as “good” or “bad” and thus creates negative connotations toward foods and subsequently negative emotions when these foods are consumed.

Habit-Based Nutritional Coaching

This is the approach I prefer and have had great success with clients.

In this type of approach we are focusing on what exactly you are eating. We aren’t concerned with the minutia of where it was grown and how it was grown. Habit-based nutrition is about using what we know about human psychology to better leverage our efforts to change.

We focus on creating a singular habit which we perceive as super duper easy to do and than practicing that habit for two weeks becoming the master of whatever this habit makes us do.

Note from TG: I LOVE The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

The habit will be different for each person depending on where they struggle more with their diet and how far off they are from a complete and nutritious diet. Once someone has successfully mastered a habit for two weeks you simply add another habit which again we perceive to be super duper easy. This process continues in piece-wise fashion until we are eating a diet that supports the person’s overall health and specific performance goals.

Pros

This approach gives people action.

It focuses on what a person can do to eat better than what they can’t do. It applies the power of less, which means that by focusing on one change instead of several the likelihood of success significantly increases.

It provides direction, but allows the person to take ownership over the specific execution of the habit. It meets the person where they are at currently with their way of eating.

It focuses on creating lasting and sustainable change. It acknowledges the fact that the action of eating is rather complexed and is preceded by a crap ton of other behaviors all of which influence the likelihood of actually eating what you are suppose too.

It acknowledges the scientifically validated concept that self-discipline is a depleting resource and can’t be used endlessly. It is scalable to the person’s level of commitment and motivation meaning the habits can be made incredibly specific or broad with a lot of room for improvisation. Most importantly to me it eliminates the self deprivation attitude towards eating better.

Cons

Honestly from a personal and professional standpoint I really see no downsides with this approach other than it won’t sell a lot of books or allow for the development of niche food brands that can profit off of someone’s dietary restrictions.

*Cough, cough, cough* Food Babe.

Like I said I am biased towards one approach over the other I acknowledged that at the beginning of this discussion as well as the fact that both approaches can be used successfully with the right people in the right situation.

We have to see these differing approaches as tools and use them for the correct job. I think we have to stop trying to use one size fits all models for trying to improve our health and rather tailor the approach based on the individuals psychology.

For example, if I had a client who was 40 years old morbidly obese, recently been diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia, prescribed several different medications to treat all these health problems, and still had a family to take care of and look after…my approach would be to use a diet based approach.

Why?

First this client is probably highly motivated. He knows that if he can lose this weight he will be able to stop taking all these expensive medications he is buying every month and that he will be able to live long enough to take care of his family and see all his children become adults. Second he really doesn’t have the rest of his life to figure all this nutritional stuff out. He needs to lose weight now and the best way to do this is to create an energy deficit which will require coaching him on specifically what foods and how much of these foods he is allowed to consume.

Conversely, if I also had a 25 year old female who was 50 pounds overweight with no medical conditions or injuries and just wants to be able to walk around in a bikini and feel like a rockstar I will more than likely try to start her on a habit based approach.

In this case for two large reasons.

First this lady is young and she needs to develop a relationship with food that will contribute to long lasting and sustainable results both in her overall health, but also in the way her body appears. Second I have found that women practicing diet based approaches often develop some serious dysfunctional eating patterns specifically, being over restrictive on food intake and/or practicing binge-purge cycles.

You see the approach has to fit the clients situation not the other way around.

These are just a couple of examples of how you could decide on which approach is better than the other. You could also look specifically at each persons level of commitment and motivation in order to select an intervention that fits where that person currently stands in both areas. You could also ask the person or yourself how much success in the past have they had with dieting.

I hope this helps you find a way of approaching nutrition that best fits your needs or the needs of your clients and leads to increased success in the long run.

About the Author

Stevan Freeborn B.Sc. ACSM-CPT is a trainer from Joplin, MO. He trains clients both in person and online. When he isn’t, he enjoys picking up heavy things, crushing trail mix, and being a coffee snob. He would love it if you would connect with him on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and spend a few minutes getting inside his head at Freeborn Training Systems.

CategoriesNutrition rant

Fitness Consumer Choice: Why Pizza Hut Trumps Food Prep

I’m a nerd when it comes to the topic of behavioral economics.11

For those unaware of what it is (via Wikipedia):

“Behavioral economics and the related field, behavioral finance, study the effects of psychological, social, cognitive, and emotional factors on the economic decisions of individuals and institutions and the consequences for market prices, returns, and the resource allocation.”

For those who zoned out reading the above definition and need something a little more simplified, you can also think of behavioral economics as the following:

“Stuff Malcolm Gladwell writes about.”

So anyone who’s read his books The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and/or David & Goliath…has, more or less, inadvertently – or maybe not – brushed elbows with the topic.

And while many consider Gladwell the “big fish in the small pond” on the topic, there are many other prominent authors and books that enter the picture I’m a huge fan of:

– The Heath brothers (Chip and Dan), authors of Made to Stick, Switch, and Decisive.

– Dan Ariely, author of The Upside of Irrationality and Predictably Irrational.

– And maybe most popular of all, the book(s) which kind of popularized the genre, Freakonomics.

I find it all fascinating and wholeheartedly relevant to every day life. Taking a handful of snidbits from various books I’ve read in the past, how could any of the below scenarios not pique anyone’s interests?

– Does the chance of getting caught affect how likely we are to cheat?

– How do companies pave the way for dishonesty?

– Does religion improve our honesty?

– Why do some failures inspire breakthroughs and others breakdowns?

– Why can large bonuses make CEOs less productive?

– Why is revenge so important to us?

– Why does my wife get pissed if I don’t make the bed in the morning?

All are interesting quandaries, no?12

More germane to health and fitness, however, I find behavioral economics to be very insightful. I mean, how else to explain, despite knowing better, and contrary to what their goals may be, why someone would choose to hit up a Pizza Hut buffet after work rather than heading home and preparing a more nutritious meal?

What makes someone prefer to binge watch House of Cards over going to the gym? And then bitch and whine about how they never seem to see results?

Or, I don’t know…if someone’s a hardcore Paleo Nazi and they eat a “paleo brownie,” is it still Paleo? You know, cause Stevia (and brownies) weren’t necessarily part of a cave man’s diet back in the day.

As a fitness professional (I feel), having the ability to dig a little deeper and to peel back the psychological onion as to what prevents certain people from attaining certain fitness and health goals is important.

Because more often than not it’s much more than an “education/information” thing, in addition to it being much more than simply telling someone what or what not to do.

Lets take a passage from the book I’m currently reading, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, by Richard Thaler:

“To begin any discussion of mental accounting, it helps to understand the basic economic theory of the consumer. Recall from the discussion of the endowment effect that all economic decisions are made through the lens of opportunity costs. The cost of dinner and a movie tonight is not fully captured by the financial outlay – it also depends on the alternative uses of that time and money.

If you understand opportunity costs and you have a ticket to a game that you could sell for $1000, it does not matter hw much you paid for the ticket. The cost of going to the game is what you could do with that $1000. You should only go to the game if that is the best possible way to could use that money.

Is it better than one hundred movies at $10 each? Better than an upgrade to your shabby wardrobe? Better than saving the money for a rainy day or a sunny weekend?

This analysis is not limited to decisions that involve money. If you spend an afternoon reading a novel, then the opportunity cost is whatever else you might have done with that time.”

As Thaler notes, “thinking like that is a right and proper normative theory of consumer choice.”

Not to steal his thunder (I totally am), but I’d argue it serves as a right and proper normative theory of (fitness) consumer choice.

Opportunity Costs

Revisiting one of the examples above, there could be any number of reasons why someone would choose to walk into a Pizza Hut rather than head home to prepare a wholesome meal.

It’s certainly more convenient and less time intensive. But maybe they choose to do so because they literally have no pots and pans to cook with. Or any decent knives to perform said food prep.

Hell, maybe they’re like me and can’t use a microwave without exponentially increasing the risk of burning down their apartment by a factor of ten!

The opportunity cost tips in Pizza Hut’s favor because said individual has no resources in his or her’s corner to help set them up for success.

If you, as the fitness professional, do nothing but play the “tough love” card and talk down to your client as weak-minded, weak-willed, or any number of equally non-helpful epithets…are you really doing them a service?

Doing nothing more than telling them to suck it up and to stop going to Pizza Hut isn’t going to solve anything. You’re being lazy, and quite honestly kinda of a dick.

It bodes in your favor to take a step back and to better understand what fuels people’s behavior.

Just something to think about.

CategoriesNutrition

Glutton Free: No, That’s Not a Typo

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of San Antonio based personal trainer, Jonathan Acosta. Some of you may remember a previous post Jonathan wrote for this site – Carbohydrate Rotation Revamped – which was big hit.

Today he covers gluten. But not in a way that’s going to wave his uppity, yoga class going, Prius driving, Whole Foods shopping, I-made-these-delish-gluten-free-chocolate-peanut-butter-brownies-sprinkled -with-fat-free-fairy-dust-that-you-just-have-to-try finger at us.

He understands that Celiac Disease and gluten intolerance does exists, and that for some, avoiding gluten at all costs is kind of important.

However, he also recognizes that for most people, like 99% of us, gluten is not the evil stepchild it’s made out to be…and that there are other, more incendiary culprits in play when it comes to our growing waistlines.

In short: just a little tough love. Enjoy!

Glutton Free

Have you seen the movie This Is the End? You know the one with all the funny comedians and the end of the world.

If you haven’t, there’s a part in the beginning where Seth Rogan is explaining to Jay Baruchel about how he’s eating better and they can’t go to Carl’s Jr because he’s staying away from gluten. Jay then proceeds to make fun of him because of how ill informed he is of gluten and they end up at Carls Jr.

Why am I telling you this?

Because,

1 – EVERYONE needs to see that movie.

2 – Most people are ill informed about gluten and automatically assume they are allergic to gluten and think its clean eating. Even most docs are ill informed about it.

People going on a “health kick” assume that this is it. This is the magic piece they’ve been missing in order to reach their goals.

Eureka! Its gluten!

Im gonna go gluten free and get so (ripped, toned, sexy, insert any diet-related adjective here) because Dr. Oz said so.

The problem is most people don’t even know what gluten is. I really don’t want to go too in depth with gluten because its not the main topic of this post, and a simple google search can explain it better than I can.

 

In a nutshell a gluten is a protein that’s naturally found in wheat and other grains. Not every grain has it (quinoa and rice are the first two that come to mind).

People with Celiac disease are the main population that should be avoiding these as they cause a whole heap of health problems including low immune system, pain and bloating, fatigue ect. I’ll admit that some people who don’t have celiac disease can also benefit with removing gluten from their diet as well.

But those are few and far in between.

Note from TG: For those interested in reading more about gluten – what it is, what it isn’t, who should avoid it, what effects it may have, etc – I’d encourage you to read THIS article from Precision Nutrition.

Disclaimer: Im not a doctor nor do I pretend to be. But in my opinion, unless you have legit, genuine, and aggressive celiac disease, I see no need to be anal (A friend dared me $5 that I couldn’t use this word in a post, cha ching!) and go through the trouble of removing gluten from their diet.

Will it help a bit if you feel bloated and have some G.I. issues? Maybe. Will it help you get amazing fat loss or muscle building results? Not likely. You see gluten isn’t the really the culprit.

Even gluten free foods can be “bad”.

Contrary to popular belief many food items that are “gluten free” are still processed and refined.

Not to mention that gluten free doesn’t automatically mean healthy for you. Just the other day my wife and I were at a restaurant when I overheard the table next to us tell the waitress “let me get the gluten free pizza, I’m eating healthy and that’s the only gluten free item on the menu”.

I glanced at the menu and saw tons of lean protein and veggie options that would’ve been a better replacement for her goals.

Here’s the thing and my point of all this: Gluten isn’t the problem. The problem is it’s homonym. The problem is glutton.

Glutton – To over indulge, over eat, over drink, or too much wealth to the point of extravagance or waste.

Maybe we got it wrong. Maybe when the nutrition gods sent down the Seven Deadly Nutrition Sins we misinterpreted them.

Maybe we were like “What does that say? Gluten? Oh I get it, thou shall not eat gluten duh!”

I’m no expert, but maybe you shouldn’t be getting on a gluten free diet and get on a glutton free diet instead.

Maybe the real problem is the over indulging.

Food portions have become so crazy and well, disproportionate, that what was once considered one serving in any typical restaurant can now, technically, feed two (sometimes more) people.

Without realizing it, you’ve doubled your serving size every time you eat out. Pay attention to what you’re eating. Be mindful of the portion size you’re eating. You don’t have to eat like a baby bird, but you don’t have to eat like a gluttonous T-rex either.

This is why one of my favorite go to tips to revamp results with my clients is to have them weigh and measure their food.

I get it, its all the rage right now to revolt against weighing and measuring and counting macros and calories. It sucks, and it sucks the enjoyment out of eating food. But the truth is…even if you don’t weigh or measure food, your body does.

Here’s what I propose: For 99% of people, 99% of the time, including YOU, all you really need to do is pay more attention to what and how much you’re eating vs. if it has gluten.

What would be a better choice for your fat loss or muscle building goals? A steak, jasmine rice, and veggies? Or a gluten free pizza?

Yeah, yeah, yeah….calories in vs. calories out (and portion sizes) matter – so you technically could make a case for both – but lets cut through the BS and act like adults here.

Change gluten free to glutton free and watch things change.