Spend Less, Lose Weight!

Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? Sounds like a slogan for a late night infomercial selling magic powders guaranteed to help you lose weight for only 6 easy payments of $599.99 each doesn't it?

Well, read on - because I have a fool proof way to help you shed the pounds, whilst keeping some green in your pocket. Be forewarned that this is nothing but a strategy to help control caloric intake, so it's not rocket science. 

The Step-by-Step Guide to Losing Weight and Saving Money

1. Take a look at your grocery bill from last week - how much did you spend?

2. Assuming you are only buying for yourself, use this as a rough guide:

150lbs - spend no more that $55

175lbs -spend no more than $65-70

200lbs - spend no more than $70-75

3. Now, the next time you go to the grocery store, allow yourself to only spend that amount on food - do not go over. This amount doesn't include any supplements you might fancy. 

4. Now, in addition to monetary restrictions, you are allowed only to buy the following general items:

Lean meats

Lean dairy products

Colorful veggies

Fruits (especially berries)

Chocolate (as long as it's dark - 70% cocoa or higher should be adequate)

Tea (green tea preferred)

Bottled water

Beans and lentils

5. If you feel you are overweight, absolutely no starchy carbohydrates are allowed. That means no potatoes, pastas, breads, etc. If you are trying to put on weight, only complex carbohydrates are allowed. 

That's it. Simple isn't it? The concept here is simple - you can't eat what you don't have. Stop buying more than you need and your body will reflect this change; and you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll see a difference (2-3 weeks). This works best if you're following a sound exercise program that helps you keep muscle and burn fat. Soon as I have some time, I'll post up a couple of workouts that you can use to get you started. If you're in a hurry, there's plenty here to get the ball rolling so look at some past posts. For a lot of you, spending that amount of money may seem ridiculous as you're used to spending a lot more - but give it a shot and you won't be disappointed. After that, whether you decide to stick with this is upto you. For others, the prices I've listed above may even be too high, so you'll have to individualize it. 

Let me know how it goes.

The Interim Workouts

I haven't been able to start a proper program for a while because of my move, so I've been slapping some stuff together. To give you an idea..

#1.

Weighted pull ups - 6 sets x 3 reps

Rest ~90s

Circuit (4 sets):

Step ups 10 reps/side

BW Dips 20 reps

Swiss ball crunches 12

Reverse crunches 6

#2.

Back squat 3 sets x 5 reps

Pistol squat 3 sets x 8-10 reps

Alternating plank 60s

Rest 120s 

Unilateral flat DB press 3 sets x 10 reps

Diamond push ups 3 sets x 15 reps

Dynamic Side bridges 3 sets x 15 reps/side

#3.

Rowing ergometer Tabata

5 min warmup

20s hard

10s easy

Repeat 8 times

Rest 5 mins

Repeat again.

#4.

Box jumps

Depth jumps (focus on plantar flexion - or pushing off with my toes)

Jump lunges

#5.

HIIT sprints:

60m sprint

walk back to starting line

Repeat 8-10x

Few notes:

I lifted heavy; I omitted isolation work since my major focus was just to keep muscle; I threw in some speed work here and there lest I turn into a turtle; I kept it simple.

Interview with a Physiotherapist

Oops. You did it again. You've gone and scrapped that knee - that precious knee. You're sitting at the computer reading this post as you intermittently massage away at the throbbing pain. So the question is, who do you see about this? With all the people out there claiming they can kiss your pains away with pixie dust, who's the best man for this job?

Well for those of you thinking about physiotherapy, this one's for you. During my stint at Totum Life Science, I worked with Mary-Catherine Fraser Saxena, a sharp woman with two of the most adorable kids I've ever seen and a wily husband who moonlights as a chef. In any case, I had the idea to get her voice on Gymnazein, so I shot MC an email and here's what she had to say. 

So what's your name and what do you do again?

Mary-Catherine Saxena, and I'm a physiotherapist who works in an out-patient orthopedic setting.

Has physiotherapy been around since the Dark Ages?

Pretty much...it began in earnest after the WWI and WWII, helping soldiers recover from their injuries.  Throughout the 1950's and 60's, the universities taught a combined degree of physiotherapy and occupational therapy, and then you chose which vein you wanted to focus on in your practice.  Since the late 1960's or so, physiotherapy has been a bachelor degree.  More recently, programs are requesting a bachelor degree prior to admission, and then you graduate with a master's degree in physio.  In the US, more programs are shifting to a D.P.T. program, from which you come out with a doctorate in physical therapy.

Where were you educated? How long have you been practicing?

I did a four-year bachelor degree at the University of Ottawa, which is the only bilingual program in Canada.  I graduated in 1993.  In 2005, I completed a master's in Rehabilitation Science from the U of Toronto.  I have now been practicing for , gulp, 15 years!

How important would you say physiotherapy is in the larger framework of healthcare? Does it have ties with other healthcare professions/institutions?

The most visible part of the physiotherapy profession for the public at large are those of us working in out-patient clinical settings.  However, a large proportion of our profession continues to work in hospitals, in a variety of settings and varying levels of care.  You will find physios in tertiary care centers, assisting patients in the ICU with intubation and respiratory challenges.  In the neurological injury setting, physios play a large role in the post-stroke and post-spinal injury populations, from immmediate interventions to long-term rehabilitation.  As hospitals have downsized their out-patient clinics, therapists working in home care settings are creating an important bridge between the medical community and successful returns to independant living at home.

 

Physiotherapists work closely with physicians, surgeons, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and psychologists to complete a patient's healthcare team and successfully return that person to an independant, mobile life.  We are the exercise and mobility specialists.

How is it different from what a GP does? A chiropractor? An osteopath?

A medical doctor can order radiological exams, interpret blood test results, prescribe medication and refer on to other specialists.  They are not skilled at doing differential diagnoses for musculoskeletal exams. For example, they can diagnose an ankle sprain, but are unlikely to be able to know if the talus is sitting forward in relation to the tibia as a result of the sprain.

A chiropractor can also order radiological exams, however they can not prescribe meds or refer to medical specialists.  Chiropractic medicine has it's basis in the subluxation model, and tends to use manipulation as a common approach to many ailments.  This, however, is changing...

An osteopath is also skilled in spinal and peripheral manipulation, however they have a deep belief that many ailments are due to changes in the craniosacral rhythm due to fascial and dural restrictions. 

Now let's get to the juicy bit. For those of us who have no idea, what sorts of problems do you treat?

At Totum Life Science in downtown Toronto, we see a variety of acute, sub-acute and chronic musculoskeletal injuries.

I would estimate a third of my clients have neck/shoulder issues, another third have knee issues, and the rest is a mix of lumbopelvis, TMJ, ankle, wrist and elbow.  Of these, approximately 25% are post-operative, meaning they are recovering ligament repairs, fractures, or arthroscopic surgeries.

Are your treatments based on scientific evidence or do you place a special potato on patients' heads through which you funnel your healing energy?

I am a big believer in evidence-based practice.  In fact, my master's thesis was looking at the use of clinical practice guidelines for knee osteoarthritis by physiotherapists in Ontario.  However, the dilemma in physio is that the evidence for many of the things that we do isn't there.  This is where the concept of 'clinical reasoning' must take over.  It's important to take the evidence that is available and incorporate it into your clinical decision making, and where there is no evidence, to use reason your way through why something should  or shouldn't work.  No potatoes required.

What sorts of problems don't you treat?

Due to the funding structure, I don't treat injured workers or many MVA patients. 

On average, how many treatments does it take to see noticeable difference? What does this depend on?

Unfortunately, the answer to this is 'it depends'.  The acuity of the injury, a client's history, the degree of the injury, the compliance of the client to follow through on their exercises...I would say a client should note a positive change from their treatment within the first 2 treatments.  One of the keys to successful rehab is frequent re-assessment;  if the initial approach isn't working, then a re-assessment is required to ensure that nothing was missed on the initial assessment.

What would you say are signs of a great physiotherapist - so we know what to look for?

Brown hair, 5'8"...kidding!  Look for someone who takes the time to listen to your history and takes a detailed account of factors contributing to your injury.  Be wary of someone who hands you a pre-printed exercise sheet used for all neck/low back patients without modifications for your specific condition.  Look for someone who provides 30 minute treatment sessions - this will ensure enough time for re-assessment, hands-on treatment and exercise prescription/modification/demonstration, as applicable.

And finally, would you be kind enough to divulge your training secrets to us - tell us how you keep in such incredible shape?

Haha...My own training?  Run 2-3X/week, weight-training 2-3X/ week, lots of core/medicine ball work and a yoga class thrown in when time allows.  Eat when you're hungry, avoid meat unless it's organic and of the best quality, and have a little chocolate every day.

And listen to whatever advice Varun gives me :) [I told her to say that]

If you live in the Greater Toronto Area and would like to contact Mary-Catherine, you may view her professional profile here and contact the King Street location to book your initial consultation.

Totum Life Science is a boutique gym and sports medicine facility offering a variety of services including physiotherapy, chiropractic, therapeutic massage (RMT), and acupuncture. 

The Six Pack: Part II

In order to get at a more defined midsection, we have to understand what's going on in there. That is, how do the muscles work and what general movements are they responsible for? Once this puzzle is put together, the task at hand is simple - perform those movements!

Remember that the body operates in 3 planes - front and back, side to side, and rotational.

If we were to apply that to our upper body, there must be muscles in there responsible for moving our torsos in each of those directions. So a good core training program manages to hit all planes of movement, thereby leaving out none of the muscles that give us the power of Adonis over women. Now think about what you've been doing for the past 10 years - crunches. If you notice, crunches only work one of these three planes, leaving you weak in two others. Someone's been a bad, bad boy. 

But, I'd imagine a lot of you are wondering where your precious planks fit into this little scheme. After all, everyone (including the great Stuart McGill himself) touts the benefit of the all-powerful plank for low back health. Well, planks are a form of core exercise that requires you to stabilize yourself against a resistance - in this case gravity. Stabilization exercises are extremely important because it teaches you to fire several muscles in the body in order to prevent the spine from collapsing. Some of the most strenuous (and effective) core exercises require this ability.

Enough Talk - Gimme Some'n to Do!

To be honest, I'm always a bit hesitant to put up exercise routines for the general public. I have no way of knowing your injury status, so before you start this, it would be advisable to consult a physical therapist or chiropractor to make sure none of these exercises are going to hurt you. 

"Bah!" you say? Then at the very least, attempt the following exercises; if you're able to complete them with no problem, go ahead and give the core workout a shot.

Plank - 2 mins (place a small water bottle or pilates ball on the small of your back - if it rolls off, you've failed the exercise and must start again)

Side plank - 1 min on each side

Bird-dog - 8 per side (again, with a bottle or ball on the small of your back; focus on keeping the hips stable)

Core workout - A

Perform 3 sets in a circuit fashion

Unilateral Overhead Lunge - this is a regular lunge, with a twist; with one hand, hold a weight overhead as you lunge 10 meters (per leg)

Inch Worm - 10 repetitions; begin with feet together, fingers in front of the toes, and legs almost locked out; walk out with your hands, keeping them in front of you; walk the legs in to meet the hands and repeat

Side planks or Dynamic Side bends (perform with upper body supported on bench and lower body on the floor); 12-15 repetitions per side

Reverse crunch - 12-15 repetitions per sidealways keep the knees bent at around 90°; while lowering the legs, keep the lower back flat on the ground as long as possible; reverse the motion when the feet almost touch the ground, or you feel your lower back arch - whichever comes first

Rest 90s between circuits

Perform this in conjunction with your regular workout (before or after is up to you - long as you finish it!).

Core Workout - B

Two Handed swing - 1 min

Plank (place your elbows on a bosu/stability ball) - 1 min

Crunch with twist (bring elbow to opposite knee) - 1 min

Russian twists - 1 min

Rest 60-90s and repeat for 4 sets; perform in a circuit fashion with no/minimal rest between exercises.

Final Words

You'll want to alternate between A and B workouts, performing it everytime you go in for a regular workout. However, if your workout takes 2 hours (in which case, we have to talk), it wouldn't be appropriate for you to add this in. Best idea would be to take a few hours (6-8) off and come back to finish it off. 

Breathing is of utmost importance during these exercises. Generally, try to (forcefully) breathe out all the air from your lungs during the muscle-shortening phase of the exercise. This exaggerates the contraction and elevates the amount of tension produced over the course of the set. That would be a good thing. So try it out, and let me know how it goes.

Good night and good luck.

The Six-Pack: Part 1

One of the few things the male and female species seem to have in common is the need to forge that ever elusive, chiseled mid-section. A perfectly toned torso that makes your ex regret s/he ever left you for that multi-millionaire who saves Africa in his spare time. Yet when I look around the gym, I rarely see any exercises that truly impress me. For the past few years, all I've really seen are crunches, swiss ball crunches, sit ups, a few planks here and there, and finally some ridiculous bosu ball balancing nonsense.

So how do you train to tone the torso? What exercises do you use? What do you do differently from the rest of the flock to accelerate your progress?

Read on.

The Sit-Up
The traditional sit-up involves lying face up on the floor and drawing the chest up to the knees whilst keeping the feet on the ground (ideally); and on first glimpse this seems a perfectly appropriate exercise to train the rectus abdominis. But low back pain guru, Stuart McGill, put out a book a few years ago that explained the folly of the sit-up. Until this time, it was axiomatic that the sit-up stimulated the abdominals over any other muscle. Instead, it appeared that it was the hip flexors (iliacus and psoas) that seemed to perform the most work to move the subject from initial position to the...sit-upped...position.

Now, let's assume that you're quite motivated to get that six-pack and you're performing around 100-150 situps a day (on the low end I'm sure for a lot of people). Chronic contraction of a 'postural' muscle results in a shortened muscle. Let's compound this with the fact that most of you sit at a desk all day with your hips..you guessed it - flexed! Common sense will tell you that over time, you're going to get some serious problems in that area.

But McGill's argument wasn't even this. He said that during the sit-up, the hip flexors actually use the spine as leverage to heave the upper extremity into the upright position. I don't know much, but I know I don't want my spine used like that.

So the bottom line is this - the risk to benefit ratio for the sit-up exercise is high enough to scratch it from your arsenal. It doesn't target the muscles you want to and it actually hurts you at the same time.

In the next article, we'll go over exactly what you need to do and how you need to do it.

An Aside on Diet
For best results, follow healthy eating habits. If you have no idea what that might be, check out this article, or this site. No supplements are required, but a proper whey protein powder is optional.

Things I Know

I got the idea to write this article off another strength and conditioning site I frequent and thought it'd be interesting to whip up my own little list. 

Here goes (in no particular order)...

Change is growth

The best workout is the one you're not on. A beginner can continue to see improvement from the same workout for 2-3 months, but elite athletes require constant change to appropriately stimulate their bodies into improving. Once an exercise program begins to get easy, it's already too late and your body has adapted. Move on.

Size does not equal strength

Make up your mind now - if size is the most important thing to you and you really couldn't care less about how strong you are, then train to be big, not strong and vice versa. There is one Russian fellow named Vladimir Zatsiorsky who called getting big without getting strong non-functional hypertrophy. It just means that if you use certain exercise parameters, the body will respond by increasing the size of the components in muscle that don't contribute to strength (i.e. the non-contractile components). It totally explains how I can bench press a car and only weigh 150lbs. 

Diet is the Key to Fat Loss and Saving a Nation

I can't count the number of people who have come to me asking for a magic workout that will give them the perfect body. Then I ask them to tell me what they ate the past 3 days and I cringe through the utterances of 'cookie,' 'pizza,' 'burger,' 'pasta,' 'nutella.' and other unmentionables. I forgive them the nutella but berate them for the rest. There is nothing new to say - eat your small frequent meals; eat your protein and lots of it; eat your veggies and lots of them too; limit of take out starchy carbs. This information has been around for ages and it works. Then why on earth is fat loss such a mystery?? Stop spending your money on supplements and fix your awful eating habits. 

Now if the Americans weren't running around all hopped up on sugar and beer, maybe they'd stop killing each other and their classmates. 

Consistency is the Greatest Hurdle to Overcome

Starting an exercise program or a diet (or both) is easy. Being disciplined enough to remain consistent is the real problem. Once you deviate from the norm (as defined by your habits), your brain instinctively tries to convince you to go back to what you're used to by making up some pretty clever rationales - 

"Stop going to the gym - you're so vain" 

"Have the cake - just eat it. Life's short and you need to enjoy it" 

"Working out won't be safe after you smoke up - you should definitely skip that workout." 

"You only have 45 mins to workout - there's no way you'll get anything done in that time. Come back another day"

So before you seriously decide to commit yourself to a task - make the decision to turn your brain off. Don't let yourself convince you into giving up!

Compound Rules

Bench Press. Deadlift. Pull up. Squat. Enough said. 

Individualization is All-Important

So you've been reading this blog that tells you that the bench press is a terrific exercise. Now you feel like a schmuck for doing your machine presses for so long. So you load up the weight on the bar and away you go. Sure you have a strained anterior shoulder capsule and a damaged rotator cuff, but who cares - you need to bench press!

Always remember that what you read in books or especially on the internet is targeted towards the general population. You may or may not fit into that group - so following a workout that is individualized for your needs is paramount. A properly designed workout should accomplish a target goal and prevent injury. In fact, it can even reduce your susceptibility to certain injuries. Even if you're following a workout you pulled off the internet, for the first week, try out the exercises to see if you can perform them correctly. If not, make small changes to adapt them to your body. Finally, remember: if it hurts (not from effort), then don't do it. 

Feeling Sore? Do Something!

The soreness that is felt following a strenuous

 workout can be pretty debilitating sometimes; and most people tend to flop over on the couch and watch TV the entire weekend to cope. 

Bad move. 

When you're sore, it's best to engage in some very light activity such as a stroll around the block (or on the beach in my case), a light bike ride, or even household chores. This increases the blood flow to your muscles, which subsequently nourishes the tissue with lots of good stuff and removes the bad stuff. You might also try other recovery methods like foam rolling or massage.

Finally there's your nutrition. Following a resistance training workout, consuming a liquid supplement with 3:1 ratio of carbohydrate:protein has been shown to help with recovery and promote muscle growth. For you endurance trainers out there, a 4:1 ratio would be favorable. 

Timed Workouts Work for Fat Loss

They're brutal, but they work. Try picking 4 or 5 exercises and perform them for time. Here's an example

Bodyweight jump squats

Lat pulldown

Front plank

Push ups

Stability ball crunches

Perform each exercise for 30-90 seconds. After you finish all 4, relax for a couple of minutes and repeat for 3 sets. It won't take you very long, but you'll be knackered at the end of it. Combine this with a sound diet and some cardio - you'll be pleasantly surprised. Promise. 

I'd like to leave this an open discussion. If you've been training for awhile, and have something to share, please do.

To Kettlebell or Not to Kettlebell?

'Kettlebell' training as a form of exercise takes its origins from Russia and has been popularized in the west by one Pavel Tsatsouline. What makes it unique, besides the shape of the weight you're lifting, is the nature of the exercise. The western paradigm of exercising for strength really means that you divide the body into all its individual muscle groups, figure out what muscles are responsible for what types of motion, and finally perform those motions against resistance. In fact, this is the general idea behind bodybuilding. On the other hand, kettlebell exercise tends to place less emphasis on training muscle groups, focusing instead on movements.

Ok - so what's the difference and why do you care?

Imagine a bicep curl - you're standing (or sitting) with the weight in your hands as you raise it towards your shoulders. As you work to perform this exercise, there is relatively little contribution from your core to stabilize your body (especially in the seated position). This means that all your efforts are going into lifting the weight with your biceps muscle and the brachialis. Also, most of the activity in the muscle involves lengthening and shortening with minimal isometric contraction (i.e. where there is tension in the muscle but no change in its length).

Now compare this to the one handed kettlebell swing. 

If we had to breakdown the movements involved in this exercise and the muscles responsible for them, it might look something like this:

- extension of knees - quadriceps, iliotibial band

- extension of hips - gluteus maximus, hamstrings

- stabilization of upper body - transverse abdominis, internal/external obliques, abdominals, quadratus lumborum, intercostals, erector spinae muscles

- stabilization of shoulder joint - supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, teres minor, peri-scapular muscles

Simple math shows that a kettlebell swing seems to stress a lot more muscles than a biceps curl; and there is more isometric work being done per repetition as well. It seems that the body as a whole is being stressed to a greater extent with the kettlebell swing when compared to a biceps curl. This effect is true for several kettlebell exercises. 

What if I'm Interested in Fat Loss? Or Strength?

If fat loss is your only concern, you'll certainly have no problem training just with kettlebells. A lot of kettlebell movements take two seperate exercises and put them together. This increases the density of your training sessions, meaning you're doing more work per unit of time. Always a good thing! These curiously shaped weights also have a favorable effect on strength.  For instance, those of you familiar with the clean, the clean and jerk, and the snatch - you can perform these exercises (with one kettlebell or two) with considerable weight using kettlebells. I'd even argue that it's a good starting point before you move on to the real thing. 

The Bad News?

The disadvantage is that kettlebell training can be quite intense for the beginner. Many of the exercises involve coordinating some pretty complex movement patters so things can get tricky if you're not that athletic. Compound this with the reality of a heavy iron mass and you've got a recipe for potential injury. Following that train of thought, some exercises in the kettlebell arsenal are questionable so use your common sense - if it hurts (not from effort), don't do it! Now before all the top notch kettlebell instructors bombard my email with russian for "!*%# you," I will say that if you're instructed properly (i.e progressed through varying levels of difficulty at an appropriate pace for your fitness level), then the risk of injury is reduced.  Also, you're limited in the amount of weight you can lift, which means you're limited in how strong you get. Strength training exists under 6 reps. Most kettlebell routines rely on volume to make up for the limited amount of weight available to work with. While you'll certainly get a terrific workout, for the small niche of people that love hoisting big weights, relying on kettlebells as your only modality of training just won't cut it. 

The Last Word

Ideally, you want to mix things up as much as you can. If your training largely involves lifting big weights, try taking a break every month, drop the intensity and increase the volume a little with a kettlebell workout. On the other hand, if you've never strayed from kettlebells, introduce yourself to something new. In fact, you'll find yourself able to handle the novel stimulus well because of the foundation you've built for yourself with the kettlebells. At the end of the day, there will never be a single exercise or piece of equipment that will take you all the way. Change is all important. 

Untitled

My chiropractic college, the AECC, is working with the AC Milan in a research project that has potential to reduce the frequency of injuries in elite athletes by predicting and therefore preventing them. It's exciting for me to be part of an organization that works with such a high-calibre athletic team (though the chances that I'll actually work on the project are laughable). Anyway, I hope to put up an interview with the lead researcher in the next few months so stay tuned.  

Re:Muscle Wasting

This was a response to my post on the negative effects of long duration cardio on muscle.

"I disagree with your views on cardiovascular training - ie low level duration cardio is catabolic [to muscle]. I would say moderate level 60-80 percent on their max heart rate can be if you go past 1 hour and don't refuel properly. The problem with prescribing high intensity interval training as a fat loss strategy to non athletes is that they never approach anywhere near 85-95 percent on their max heart rate so they are probably working more in the moderate level and so not really progressing. Look at some different sports that have an endurance factor - soccer, basketball, 800 meter runners, 2000 meter rowers etc. You can't tell me these guys are burning muscle all the time. For me cardio should be an important aspect of every training plan - interval training does work for some people if they are fit. For the rest I would say high intensity interval training is a magic bullet - it's less time intensive and maybe easier mentally. I'm not saying everyone should be running like a marathoner but cardio for my moey still has a place in a weight loss program."

-Paul McQaude

Just to clarify, I would ballpark low intensity/long duration as around 55-75% of HRmax and >45 mins so I think we're in agreement there. I also agree that interval training should not be prescribed to de-conditioned people. So, if you've been generally sedentary your whole life and are looking to start an exercise program, interval training would not be an appropriate starting point. The reason is thus: although most people associate the aerobic system with supplying energy during long duration activity (and indeed this is its main function), the aerobic system plays a crucial role is facilitating recovery between bouts of maximal efforts. That means, the better shape your aerobic system is in, the better your performance on intervals and the like. For that reason, I always start new clients on a block of moderate intensity (75-85% HRmax) aerobic work if their fitness levels require it. 

Your choice of sports is interesting since they all involve the crucial component of speed. Isn't soccer is a great example of training intervals since much of the game involves bursts of energy followed by periods of recovery? Meanwhile, 800m runs and 2000m rowing events, both which I'd classify as high intensity, are incredibly taxing on the body's energy system since the athletes have to produce incredible amounts of force and sustain it for several minutes. So, one cannot compare a 2000m rowing event that lasts 6-7 minutes (all of which are gruelling) to a long distance events which lasts hours. 'Muscle wasting' occurs with the release of a hormone called cortisol and cortisol secretion increases with duration of activity. Although the stress of a 2000m row certainly releases some of this hormone, it is not enough to significantly impact on the muscle tissue. On the other hand, the ultra-long duration of, say, a triathlon gives the body ample amount of time to pump out this hormone. So you're right to say that these guys aren't burning muscle during their events. 

Finally, I'd argue that high intensity work is much harder on the CNS (i.e. mentally) since the neural drive to increase force output to the muscles is jacked every 90 seconds or so. With long duration activity, neural drive is low since force output is low. Is this good or bad? As always, the answer to that question depends on your goals and what you're training for. 

At the end of the day, there is no form of exercise that is wrong - only a wrong time to do it. 

My Gym is Better Than Yours

It's a fact. Sure you have the jazziest equipment, a personal trainer with the latest and greatest in fanny pack fashion, a masseuse, and perhaps even a Greek goddess to feed you grapes for that post-workout snack. Ok, I can't compete with that. But let me take you on a tour of my newest gym..

My bars where I can do some reverse push ups..

My starting line for a 60m sprint, which by the way is much more fun in the sand.

The showers..

My mat - so I can do my planks, sits ups, and other fun core work. There was a 'no shoes allowed' rule. Sheesh. 

And finally, the big screen HD television set. Flawless picture.

If you have the chance to take a workout outside, try it out. It's refreshing like no gym can ever be. Just don't take any pictures to try and show me up.

Fat Loss: Getting Started

The internet is chock full of miracle pills and secret workouts that really mystify this whole fat loss thing. When it comes down to it, fat loss is just a matter of expending more energy than you're taking in.

Or is it?

The first mistake most people make is focusing on weight instead of body composition. In a previous post, I talked about the hazards of long duration cardiovascular activity - specifically its effect on muscle. Since the 'shape,' 'tone,' 'definition,' or whatever you'd like to call it, comes from muscle, fat loss is more than just getting on the recumbent bicycle for 2 hours whilst chatting away on the celly. 

Aside from the aesthetic component, there is a direct correlation between an increase in lean body mass (i.e. muscle) and resting metabolism; and the higher your metabolism, the lower your body fat percentage. 

So what are the components of a good fat loss program? In order of importance:

1. An appropriate diet
2. Consistency
3. An initial pre-fat loss phase of muscle building if necessary
4. Whole body workouts to maximize caloric expenditure
5. Short and subjectively intense workouts to elevate metabolism in the post-workout stage
6. Involves a component of high intensity cardiovascular work

The goal of your fat loss workouts is not to burn 1o,ooo calories during the workout. Instead, you should be trying to shock your system into burning calories after the workout. This effect is referred to as EPOC (excess post exercise oxygen consumption). Imagine going about your day after a great AM session knowing that you're still burning fat! The only catch is you have to really work your ass off. Various studies have shown that EPOC is elevated 30 minutes to 24 hours following a workout.

Increase the time of your workout and EPOC rises linearly. Increase the intensity of your workout and EPOC rises exponentially. 

So let's cover each step.

Diet

I'd like to take this time to introduce you to John Berardi, PhD. He was actually one of my professors during the undergraduate days, but has been involved in this industry a very long time. He has a dietary system called Precision Nutrition that was initially developed by him for his elite athletes. A few years ago he put it out to the general population and it has quite the following. The system is based on the following dietary 'habits':

• Eat every 2-3 hours
• Eat lean protein with each meal
• Drink nothing above 0 calories 
• Consume healthy fats with each meal
• Consume vegetables or fruits with every meal
• Do not consume any carbohydrates from starchy sources (breads/pastas/potatoes/etc) unless you just worked out
  
• Eat only whole foods

A more thorough version of these rules may be accessed here.

While there may not be anything revolutionary about these rules, ask yourself how many items from that list you can admit to being consistent with. The idea is to make the change in your diet a lifestyle choice. Diets don't work because they're idiotic, unhealthy, dangerous at times, but most importantly - temporary. Personally, I don't see the sense in working hard to see your six-pack, then going back to eating junk and losing it all in a week. 

Stick to the list and you'll have the diet covered. 

Consistency

This just boils down to how badly you want it. As a trainer at Totum Life Science, I heard it all. But once in a while, I had the pleasure of working with individuals who had enough determination and desire to stick to the plan. Not once were they displeased with the results. I encourage you to do the same. 

The Pre-Fat Loss Stage: Building Muscle 

This program may be used for 6 weeks prior to starting a fat loss program. I'd recommend it to individuals who feel they need to improve their general strength and fitness before starting a fat loss program. For beginners, this program in itself will help with fat loss.

Day 1

Goblet squat - 3x8 (increase by 2 reps each week until 12 reps, then start at 8 reps again with increased weight)

Rest 60s

Plank - 3x30 seconds-60 seconds

Rest 60s

Stiff leg dumbbell deadlift - 3x8 (same progression as Goblet squat)

Rest 60s

Stability ball crunch - 3x12-15

Rest 60 seconds and repeat for total sets 

Then, perform 3x10 of the following (per side where applicable):

Lateral lunges

No rest

Hip bridge

Rest 75 seconds and repeat for total sets

Day 2

Dumbbell Bench Press (or push ups) - 3x8 (same progression as Goblet squat)

Rest 60s

Side planks - 3x15 seconds-45 seconds per side

Rest 60s

Pull ups - 3x8 (same progression as Goblet squat)

Rest 60s

External rotation - 3x12 per side

Rest 60 seconds and repeat for total sets

Perform 3x10 of the following:

Cable row - 3x10

No rest

Standing dumbbell shoulder press - 3x10

Rest 75 seconds and repeat for total sets

Alternate between Day 1 and Day 2 with minimum of 1 day rest between and a maximum of 2 days. Perform 3-4 total workouts per week.

The Fat Loss Workouts

Perform this for 3x/wk for 4 weeks, taking a week off the weight room in your 5th week (you can still be physically active, but no weights)

Perform each exercise with maximal effort:

• Sprint 50m (or hop on the treadmill for 2 mins at high intensity)
  
• Clap push ups (regular push ups are fine as well) - 20s
  
• 1 leg squats - 30s (match number with other leg)
  
• Close grip chin ups - 20s
  
• Standing double leg long jump - 6 reps
  

No/minimal rest between exercises; Rest 120 seconds before starting each new set

Week 1 - 3 sets

Week 2 - 4 sets

Week 3 - 2 sets

Week 4 - 5 sets

Week 5 - off

Be forewarned - this is not easy, so ease into it. Figure out your weights and abilities; modify exercises as needed. The idea is to make it hard, not impossible to do.

High Intensity Cardio

This is usually referred to as 'interval training' since you alternate between intervals of hard and easy. The following workout should be performed 2-3x/wk on non-weight training days. You may use stationary bikes, tracks, hills, steps (has to be long enough), rowing machines, or treadmills. Ellipticals are not allowed because they won't get your HR high enough.

Warm-up - 5 mins (longer if necessary with sprint work)

Easy 45s; Hard 15s

Repeat 5 times to start and increase by 1 (minimum) each week; once you reach 10, amend to Easy 40s; Hard 20s and start again

You should now have the tools to get started. Try it out.

The Basics, Part III: The Bench Press

If you're a guy, you probably love the bench press; and now you love it even more because it's included in one of the Basic Exercises, meaning there must be something important about it. The deadlift, front squat, and bench press aren't special just for the heck of it. These 'powerlifts' make the list because these are the movements you can lift the most weight on*. Lifting more weight stresses not only the muscular system, but the central nervous system as well. If strength is your goal, stressing the CNS is crucial to making gains since nerves must be in tip top shape to recruit the maximal number of muscle fibres. But let's assume that you couldn't care less about strength and just want to get jacked. Lifting a (moderately) heavier load can do that too since muscle gain begins with the mechanical overload of a muscle fibre. Tear it down and build it up - only bigger.

One note on the concept of 'heavy.' If you're a beginner and 100lbs constitutes heavy, then so be it. What's heavy for one person may not be so for the next - so don't go trying to prove yourself - it won't end well. 

In terms of fat loss, using these exercises or one of their variations as part of your workout is highly effective in boosting the intensity. A shorter duration, higher intensity workout is far superior to long monotonous bouts on the elliptical. If you doubt the verity of this claim, take a look at the bodies of athletes that compete in short duration, high intensity events. 100m sprint anyone?

Benefits of the Bench Press

• develops horizontal pushing ability
• develops triceps and anterior deltoids in addition to pectoral muscle group

Performing the Bench Press

• Place yourself so that eyes are underneath the bar
• Spread your feet wide and bring them as far back as you can keeping the heels on the floor; this gives you a stable base from which to work; arching the back is fine, but don't let the bum come off the bench
• Hold the bar slightly wider than shoulder width apart (be careful not to go too wide as it puts too much strain on your shoulder capsule at the bottom of the movement)
• Retract your shoulder blades (think about pinching a penny between your shoulder blades)
• Never let your shoulder blades relax from this position
• Lift the bar off the pins and begin by pulling, not lowering the bar to your chest (imagining a pulling motion activates the back muscles to a greater extent, which stabilizes your shoulder joint)
• When the bar reaches your chest, without bouncing it, push yourself away from the bar to raise back to the starting position

* You can lift less weight on the front squat than you can on the back squat; that's always why the former is a better choice - it forces you to check the ego.

I don't have a proper bench press picture to show you, so I'll leave you with this link.

Use it as a rough guide, making changes as needed based on above info. 

Oh my Threatened Masculinity!

In university, I wrote a paper on the origins of the male archetype in society. Since the value North American men placed on size has always intrigued me, I figured I'd get through the assignment with minimal boredom. Muddling through the research, I stumbled on an interesting theory that talked about a 'threatened masculinity' that has manifested over the last half-century. Long story short, North American men decided that having bigger muscles was the only way they had left to reassert dominance over women after WWII. During the war, with the brave men defending the country, the ever-scheming women entered into the workforce to replace the newly-vacant positions. As a result, women shared a new level of equality with men in the aftermath. Anyway, the researchers looked at Playgirl mags (explain that one to the librarian) from the past 10 years and measured the widths of their arms and chest. Big surprise - it increased pretty significantly. Equally interesting, the same trend was seen in the girth measurements of action figures. A GI JOE figure in 1980 was dwarfed by its successor 5 years later. 

Now if that's not enough to convince you, compare Hollywood stars Jimmy Stewart of yesteryear to Arnie or Stallone. 

I'd like to think that the men of today aren't that threatened by a powerful woman - but that's not entirely true is it. The alpha male still exists and he hates (or fears?) the dominant woman. Personally, I find an independent woman incredibly sexy, but I can empathize with the gorillas out there. 

To clarify my own reasons for lifting, I do it because I value the return I get on my investment. In a world where being lazy is far too easy, fashionable even, I actually like making things harder on myself. At the end of the day, you're a product of your choices and the experiences you have because of them. Maybe I'm just hoping this will help to make me something I can be proud of. 

Thoughts?

What's in Your Fridge?

Why fall into the cliché of being a student who can't cook...ok I'm no Jamie Oliver, but I enjoy cooking. And I value the importance of a healthy diet. Before coming over to the UK for a 4-year stint away from the parents and their culinary mastery, I had them show me a couple of dishes. 

Didn't quite turn out the same when I got here though. Must be the British water. 

Anyway, every week, I cook food in bulk and eat it over the course of the week. This saves me a lot of time and energy since I don't have to bother with it during the school week, unless I decide to whip up an omelette. For my grocery shopping, I've come up with a system. I know I want to be eating about 5 meals a day, meaning 35 meals per week. So here's my breakdown:

Chilli - 7 days/wk

Low fat yoghurt with natural peanut butter and chocolate protein powder - 7 days/wk

Berries and milk - 6 days/wk

Spinach and cheese omelette - 2 days/wk

Chicken breast with carrots or peppers - 6 days/wk

Breakfast shake (milk/cottage cheese/banana/peanut butter/bit of honey/protein powder) - 7 days/wk

Total tally comes out to 35 total meals. I figure out what ingredients I need for each meal and buy enough to last me the week. All this costs me about £25/wk. Every other week, I go down to the local fast food joint (of recent has been an amazing Indian place) and gorge down. Can't eat healthy all the time! Oh, and I love Nutella too. 

You are what you eat...so what's in your fridge?

My Bike Trip

A few days ago, I decided to visit gym at Bournemouth University...again. I actually tried going there last week, but got lost on the way and after 3 hours of muscle wasting, I decided to call it a day and head back home. I google-mapped my route and figured out where I took the wrong turn. Bloody Brits and their roundabouts. Throws me off everytime.  So I jumped on my bike and armed with a better sense of direction, I took off. I hoped I'd get a job out've this. They should hire me just for biking 30 minutes to get there.

Anyway, I stole this nifty little tool off my good friend Paul Mcquade.

It shows the route, but not the calories burned - about 8000 cals. I assume this takes into account gradient changes, but who knows. That will have to do as an estimation. 

An Aside on Muscle Wasting

Earlier, I referred to 'muscle wasting.' When you perform long duration, low intensity exercise, your body is under the constant stress of supplying energy for the body to use - so it turns to muscle for energy. Muscle is an expensive tissue to maintain so trying to bulk up and train for a marathon concurrently just won't work. 

If your goal is to put on muscle, reduce the duration of your cardiovascular work (which means you'll have to drastically increase the intensity) in order to prevent this 'muscle wasting.' Enter sprint training, interval training, HIIT, etc. 

If you absolutely have to go out and run a marathon every week, make sure you're consuming a good amount lean protein following the workout. The amino acids will then work in the body to replenish catabolized (broken down) muscle. The post workout stage is a perfect time to consume powdered proteins as they enter the bloodstream within minutes of injestion. 

By the way, they never hired me. 

The 2 Hannington Place Workout

Having moved to Bournemouth, UK from Toronto, Canada where I was spoiled rotten with a state of the art gym - I now find myself in a 200 sqft room with no equipment whatsoever. 4 walls and a floor. That's about it. But further exploration of the premises quickly revealed I had a staircase...and furniture! Surely these amenities cannot be wasted.

So here's what I did today..well this was after watching an episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (love that show).

Vertical jumps (ground to 6th stair) - 3x10 reps

Drop jumps - 3x10 reps

Jumping lunges (alternating) - 3x10 reps

What I did yesterday..

Elevated pushups 3x25

Kneeling shoulder press..with the coffee table 3x25

Reverse crunches 3x10-12

Crunches (max contraction at the top) 3x10-12

The Basics, Part II: The Deadlift

Yesterday, we covered the basics of the Front Squat. In Part II today, we're going to continue with the conventional deadlift. Just as for the squat, there are several variations of this exercise, but mastering this will be the first order of business for you. 

If you divide your body along the front (aka coronal) plane, you can essentially group muscles that work anteriorly (in the front) or posteriorly (in the back). The front squat, despite being an exercise that's meant to target the quadriceps anteriorly, also activates the spinal erectors posteriorly. Another reason why it's such a great pick. 

But to keep things simple, let the front squat act as our anterior exercise, while the deadlift serves as our posterior exercise.

Benefits of the Conventional Deadlift

• a compound exercise like the front squat
• activates the posterior chain of muscles (hamstrings, glutes, and spinal erectors)
• because of the location of the weight being movied, the subsequent stress on the spine to maintain a neutral position forces the 'core' to work..very hard
• develops joint coordination and overall strength
• excellent for 'toning' the low back, glutes, and hamstrings

Performing the Deadlift

• begin with a narrow stance - toes pointed forwards
• hold the bar using a pronated grip with elbows locked out throughout the motion
• at no point should you try and shrug the bar up - this is not an exercise for your shoulders
• keep the chest high (inflate the lungs) and tummy sucked in
• lower the bar along your legs (never break contact with your skin) and keep the weight in your heels throughout
• once the bar has been lowered to the knees, bend the knees and continue lowering till the weight plates touch the group lightly
• reverse the motion by thrusting the hips 'through' and forward
• squeeze the glutes at the top and try to get your head to touch the ceiling

This video is a pretty good example of a good conventional deadlift except for one thing - the position of the head. Remember, keeping your spine neutral is important when lifting any sort of weight - so the correct position of the head would be a neutral position with the chin down and eyes facing the floor. A lot of people employ this head position whether consciously, or just because of habit - but it just increases the risk of straining a muscle. 

Now get to it!

The Basics, Part I: The Front Squat

To many, the squat is an intimidating exercise. The notion of putting a weight on your back and moving with it is more than a little disconcerting. To make matters worse, it sometimes gets a bad reputation for allegedly contributing to bad knee joints and low back pain. In truth, as long as a squat is taught and performed correctly, it strengthens the ligaments and muscles crossing the knee joint. Then there's the incredible effect it has on your core (but you also need a strong core to perform a good squat in the first place), but that's an article for later. To begin, let visualize a perfect squat..

Surprised?

Don't be. This kiddo blows me out've the water too. See, babies start off close to the ground and as they grow and gain motor control over their limbs and core musculature, they are able to progress away from the ground and into a standing position. During this transition period, a lot of time is spent in the squat position, which explains why it looks so natural - because it is. Unfortunately, as we age, more time is spent at computers and on the couch. This tightens certain muscles, while weakening others, thereby compromising the ability to squat. That and we just plain forget. 

The Benefits of the Squat

• it's a compound exercise meaning it moves multiple joints and activates several large muscle groups in the body
• it's a functional exercise - there is good transfer between this exercise in a gym setting and actions in real life settings (e.g. picking up a box on moving day or jumping for a header during a football game)
• an excellent choice for building the quadriceps (muscles in the front of the thigh), glutes, and hamstrings (muscles at the back of the thigh)
• develops torso stability as well - the muscles of the upper body must stabilize the spine before the weight can be lifted safely)

Performing the Front Squat

• in the standing position, raise the arms in front of the body (like a zombie) with the fingertips on par with the nose
• assume a slightly wider-than-shoulder-width stance with toes pointed slightly outwards
• 'puff' up the chest by filling the lungs with air; suck the stomach in (pretend you're trying to fit into the world's tightest pair of jeans); keep the shoulders relaxed - do not hunch up
• keeping this upper body position, focus on pulling your hips into the ground
• IMPORTANT: minimize the forward movement of the shins; to help you with this, have someone hold a stick across your legs (4-5 inches away) just beneath the knees; touching the stick is fine, as long as you're not pushing it away
• lower yourself until your legs are parallel to the ground or as far as you can keeping your spine neutral (i.e. no bending of the spine)
• to return to the initial position, visualize trying to get your head to touch the ceiling; as you ascend, push the hips through and squeeze the glutes (imagine trying to hold a penny between your glutes!)

Incorporate this exercise into your program design and you'll boost the caloric expenditure of your workouts (great if fat loss is your goal), improve your core strength (if low back pain or improved core strength for sport is a concern for you), and even add muscle definition (if you just want the legs of Adonis).

*Note: there are several variations of the squat such as the back squat, Bulgarian squat, the pistol squat and others. These will be covered in later posts. For now, the front squat is an excellent introduction to these variations.