If it is important to you, find the time. Time will never present itself in a neat, little, packaged circumstance. Do you constantly bail on training sessions when you are feeling tired, or sore, or uninspired? Find something to train for that means enough to you to push through those plateaus. Generic goals are easy to throw to the side because we do not tend to foster deep and meaningful connections with these things.

Here is a lesson from sushi chef Jiro Ono from the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi to help you get started on your journey:

Meet Jiro

Jiro, the documentary’s protagonist, is a life-long sushi chef from Japan whose tiny, unassuming, subway-stop restaurant managed to earn a three-star Michelin rating despite its deviations from the foodie world norm. His secret to success? Discipline, consistency, and passion. From the way he cooks his rice, to his knife cuts, to his delicate manner of shaping each piece of sushi, Jiro instills love and a drive for mastery into everything he does.

“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable,” is a phrase heard often in the gym. Jiro’s mentality is a compelling representation of this concept. For a man who is into old age and yet refuses to relinquish his self-efficacy, this is an enormously inspiring display of personal strength that anyone can learn something from.

He is notoriously hard on himself, as many great chefs are, but he never talks about himself in a self-depreciating way. Instead, he seems to have a calm acceptance of the fact that life, up until the point when it ends, offers endless opportunities for self-improvement. To take advantage of this, however, you can never be truly satisfied. In fact, dissatisfaction can be one of life’s key driving forces if you learn how to correctly harness its power.

The Fallacy of Perfection

Perfect, in the eyes of Jiro, is a useless concept. Perfect represents an end point where no other self-improvement can be achieved. How can this apply to you right now, in this moment? If you are anything like me, you have wasted far too much time searching for “perfect.”

“[D]issatisfaction can be one of life’s key driving forces if you learn how to correctly harness its power.”

Perfect can be represented by other words, such as “ideal” or “the right time,” but they all tie into the same self-limiting concept. Learn to let go of perfect. Learn to stop waiting for the ideal situation or the right time. Learn that all you truly have is this moment, right now. The last moment has already passed, and the next moment has not yet occurred. Focus on right now. Right now, in this moment, is the opportunity to change the moments that lay ahead. Nothing can ever change a previous moment, so discard them wholeheartedly. Perfect is a derivative of fear and desire. Better comes from confidence. Better comes from patience. Better comes from belief. When thinking in these terms, better is much better than perfect.

This is something that I am still working on in my own life. I often experience an ebb and flow of commitment to my own training and goals. When I do find a groove, however, I know I am there. I become completely immersed. I don’t skip sessions. I don’t make excuses. I am easier on myself when I am feeling tired, sore, and uninspired. In these cases, I do what I can and then leave to go own with the rest of my day – a “punch-the-clock” workout, as Dan John would say. No matter what, I get shit done, and not just with exercise. These feelings of focus and determination carry over to the rest of my life. I feel passionate, alive, powerful, and inspired to be a better person on a daily basis. It is during those times I truly feel unstoppable in what I might be able to achieve.

What Does Success Truly Mean?

Watching this movie was a profound reminder of what it means to be successful. Does Jiro seem proud of his Michelin rating and his restaurant’s legacy? Absolutely. His true sense of accomplishment, however, seems to lay in his unwavering commitment to his work and in his ability to pass this quality along to his sons. He cherishes his friendships above notoriety. By the end of the movie, it becomes clear that his simple, humble, and yet extraordinary restaurant is a direct reflection of who he is as a person.

The way Jiro has chosen to live his life is a beautiful representation of an axiom

he offers during the movie: “ultimate simplicity leads to purity.” Perhaps the best thing we can do for ourselves, especially during times of change or stress, is to whittle away the unessential, focus on the one thing that drives us to be better every day, discard any notions of perfection, and remain consistent day after day in our pursuit. I know I have certainly spent some time thinking about what this might mean to me, right now, in this moment.

You can stream the movie for free if you have an Amazon Prime account. I highly recommend that you find some time to watch it. It might help you become a little better today. If you don’t have time to watch it now, keep this lesson in mind: find what makes you feel passionate and fired up about training. Hold that sense of purpose close to your heart. Knowing your “why” behind anything you do is the key to sustainability throughout the ups and downs of life.

More Like This:

• Don’t Sweat the Technique: Finding Flow as an Athlete
• Take the Power Away From “I Can Only”
• Unexpected Lessons on Training and Happiness – From Wine
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 2 courtesy of CrossFit Empirical.

The post Let Go of Perfect: How to Find Consistency in Your Training appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

• “I can only lift fifteen pounds.”
• “I can only come to the gym twice a week.”
• “I can only run a quarter of a mile.”

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t like to hear “I can’t” either. It sucks. But at least when someone says, “I can’t,” I know where we stand. Fine, okay, you can’t. Whatever you say. Argument over.

What makes me want to kick every “I can only” straight in the balls is that it means even though you are making an effort to get better at something you still don’t believe in yourself.

That, my friends, is something that pisses me off to no end. I don’t like being pissed. Anger kills gains, sex drive, and rainbows. I love all of those things, especially rainbows.

So please, do me a favor: next time you feel the words “I can only” start to flap out of your lips, I want you to trap those words in your hands like a steamy winter breath, carry them to the bathroom, and place them in the toilet. I then want you to sit on the toilet, poop on your own words, and flush everything down because it is all just a bunch of your own shit.

Put “I can only” where it really belongs.

Learn to Appreciate Your Own Efforts

Seriously, whether you are my client are not, I never want you to demean your efforts with the words, “I can only.” Because once you have dipped your toes into the pool of “I am going to stop being scared and give something a try,” you need to own that shit.

Let’s use chin ups for an example. Maybe you are currently at a basic progression – ring rows, jumping hangs, or wherever you might be at this time. If you haven’t attempted a chin up in a while, then think about running. Maybe you currently max out after running for five minutes straight. Cool.

“Success takes work and effort. There is no such thing as luck. Luck is just the imaginary sum of work and effort.”

Does this mean you “can only” do ring rows and you “can only” run for five minutes? Hell no! It means, in the face of a largely unhealthy and sedentary society, that you are one of the brave few to turn off Chicago Fire, get off your couch, and go after a difficult physical challenge.

Believe me, I know this is hard to do – especially when they do those mega-cross-over episodes with Chicago P.D. and Law and Order. I mean, Mariska Hargitay? I can’t even.

Everyone Starts at the Beginning

So, yes, it is perfectly acceptable to periodically not be able to even, such as when this guy at Whole Foods decided to get in the ten-item express lane with twenty jugs of milk:

Sometimes it’s okay to admit defeat.

But it is never acceptable to dump on yourself for being a beginner by saying, “I can only.”

This may seem trite, but it is true: everyone was once a beginner. Mozart, Gretzky, Drake – everyone. Next time you get down on yourself because you are working on ring rows, picture someone who you admire totally messing up something basic.

When I try a new recipe, it helps me to think of the Pioneer Woman burning a pan of dinner rolls. Not because I want to relish in someone’s misfortune, but because it is an important reminder that no one is born a master of anything. Success takes work and effort. There is no such thing as luck. Luck is just the imaginary sum of work and effort.

Get Your Mind Right

This is why it totally drives me nuts when I see someone get down on themselves. I constantly come across people who go out on a limb to try and get a little better every day but are unable to see how awesome even just the simple act of trying can be.

Here are some ideas of how to shift your mentality when the toothless, peg-legged “I can only” fairy comes to visit:

“I can only lift fifteen pounds.”

What were you lifting before that? Ten? Five? Nothing? Then fifteen is an improvement, just as twenty will be. But for now, focus on how those fifteen pounds feel. Create good body tension. Focus on breathing. Maintain great form. Progress isn’t always a numerical value. Sometimes progress is made by making the same weight feel different.

“I can only come to the gym twice a week.”

Twice a week is great! Let’s just make sure your routine is directed and efficient with full-body compound movements while keeping the intensity up to develop your conditioning. When you find time to come more often, you can look forward to things such as challenging accessory exercises and skill-based development. For now, make the best with what you have. You can still make some great progress.

“I can only run quarter of a mile.”

Okay, cool! How does that quarter of a mile feel? Is your breath controlled or is it erratic? Are you taking good strides or are you just kind of trudging along? Work toward running a smooth quarter mile and then add a little bit more when it feels right. This will keep you injury-free while removing the miserable suck-factor out of running (which are generally the top two reasons people abandon their running goals).

“I can only do incline push ups.”

Nice job! A lot of people, especially women, think that novice bodyweight training means doing push ups from your knees. Incline push ups are an excellent progression for developing great carry-over core strength and for activating postural muscles that are a weak byproduct of our modern lifestyle. Even if you hover around a higher incline for a long time, trust me – everything happening to your body right now is good.

Everyone has to start somewhere.

Build a Pretty Sand Castle

I am not trying to be overly fluffy here. Self-talk – whether we are talking about the gym, careers, or everyday lives – plays a huge part in dictating our success. I cannot stress the value of a positive mentality enough. Why? Because life can get shitty sometimes.

“Self-talk – whether we are talking about the gym, careers, or everyday lives – plays a huge part in dictating our success.”

Things get unpredictable and stressful, and it can be easy to give up on yourself and your goals. I don’t want that to happen to you. I want you to be comfortable being a beginner when you are a beginner, and I also want you to be comfortable being stuck during the times when you are stuck.

Sometimes, to keep my mind right, I think about sand castles. With no water, there is no castle – just a pile of sand. Too much water and you get a heap of mud. Just the right amount of water, though, and you can build a beautiful palace adorned with the finest shells and seaweed.

Does that make sense? I have no idea. But at least it is something to think about the next time you get down on yourself when you are trying your best.

More Like This:

• Why Loving Your Body Is Not Enough
• The Fitness Existentialist: It Starts With You
• Unexpected Lessons on Training and Happiness – From Wine
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Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo courtesy of CrossFit Impulse.

The post Take the Power Away From “I Can Only” appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I love running, so when I was offered a chance to test and review a pair of new Swedish-designed Airia Ones, I was totally pumped. My current shoes have a hole in the toe, so this was going to be a big upgrade. Also, I have come to trust the Swedish and their principles of design. (Note: the shoes did not require assembly.)

Shoe Specifics

The Airia One is certainly unlike any other shoe that you will find on the market. The heel is round, which the company points out to be a feature that can accommodate a variety of strike patterns. The sole features different bumps and angles – “Newtonian angles,” as Airia puts it – that are meant to create an “energy flow” that translates into faster, more efficient running strides. “You will unleash the hidden power in your running step” is a phrase the company uses in their product marketing.

The rubber Vibram sole features an uneven heel drop when comparing the heel to the inside of the midfoot (6mm) and the heel to the outside of the midfoot (0mm), which is meant to play into the “flow of energy” design. The shoe is wrapped in a thin, bone white breathable mesh that makes them quite light overall. But buyer beware. As I will discuss later, this is one of the features that ultimately makes these shoes outdoor- and weather- unfriendly.

The first thing that stood out to me when starting to jog in the Ones was how odd they felt as compared to the minimal footwear I have become accustomed to over the past couple years. Also, you can’t walk in Ones. I mean, you can, but they aren’t well-suited for taking a morning stroll. The company advises consumers that the shoes are not suitable for casual wear because of a design that is meant to optimize a runner’s stride:

Uniquely designed irregular and sharply angled sole and upward-pointing toe harness the untapped power of the human body and doesn’t leak energy like other running shoes … Every tiny push into the ground is optimized to advance you through to the next running step[.]

Ultimately, what Airia sought to design was a performance-enhancing shoe that exists outside of the traditional running shoe paradigm, and they certainly accomplished the latter.

I Must Bare My Sole to the Readers

Before I go any further with this review, I must disclose something about myself: I have flat feet. My running mechanics are different than the average runner. I do spend a lot of time trying to develop better foot strength and proprioception along with hip and core stability, but my gait pattern, especially when fatigued, is less than ideal.

“I could see them being a potential middle ground between traditional running shoes and minimal shoes for someone who would be willing to experiment.”

Here is the thing, though – yes, running is a skill that can be developed to a certain point, but our ability to run well is predominately dictated by the structure of our bodies. Strength coach Mike Boyle mentions in Advances in Functional Training: “You can’t run to get a runner’s body. You have to have a runner’s body to survive running.” I am not built to run well, and honestly – I don’t. I just do it because I love it.

This is why I encourage you to look at any claim of “faster running” with a giant glass of incredulity. Are these “bad” shoes? No. Despite my teasing, there are some people out there who might really enjoy wearing the Ones. They are wide, the interior features a comfortable Ortho-lite sole, and they are much lighter than any other shoes I have tried (240 grams for a US men’s size nine). I could see them being a potential middle ground between traditional running shoes and minimal shoes for someone who would be willing to experiment.

But for me, and for any other person who has flat feet, or for any woman (or man) who has wider-than-average hips and naturally pronounced knee valgus, I strongly encourage you to steer away from these shoes. In general, shoes remove a major proprioceptive information center from our body. For many people, the wrong shoes can make everything worse (which is why I am vehemently anti-orthotics and pro-barefoot strength development).

“Ultimately, what Airia sought to design was a performance-enhancing shoe that exists outside of the traditional running shoe paradigm, and they certainly accomplished the latter.”

The inward-sloping design of the sole caused my ankles, tibias, and knees to collapse and rotate even more so than usual. I felt unstable and uncomfortable, especially when running on the varied terrain of the Baltimore harbor – bricks, docks, and cobblestones. I often had to stop out of fear that I might turn an ankle. A research aside: the product study by Airia using 100 runners was conducted on an indoor track.

My results? The Airia ones caused me to run slower. I wear a Fitbit Surge when I run. I generally aim for a total of two to four miles, and my average one-mile pace is between 9:00-10:00 per mile. Very average. With the Ones? During about nine total miles of running, my time dropped to a barely-jogging 12:00. After my fourth “run” in the Ones, I actually turned off my Taylor Swift playlist, walked back to my house (it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be) and put on my old shoes to finish my workout.

A Shoe Is Just a Shoe

Just like my Shaq Instapumps during the 1990s didn’t get me any closer to the NBA than my 5’3” female frame would allow, there is no shoe on the market that will make you a faster or more efficient runner. “Good” running is a combination of great genetics, core strength, hip stability, well-coordinated contralateral patterning, and, of course, excellent conditioning. Shoes don’t do that. Training does that (along with your parents).

“In general, shoes remove a major proprioceptive information center from our body. For many people, the wrong shoes can make everything worse (which is why I am vehemently anti-orthotics and pro-barefoot strength development).”

In the end, if you find yourself looking to equipment as a way to increase performance, I will encourage you to re-orient your mentality towards strength training and improving your posture, stability, and motor control. Spend some time barefoot to create a stronger foundation.

As far as the Airia Ones, all I can do is give them ye olde sideways thumb. I can neither approve nor disapprove, because you are the only one who can ultimately dictate what is comfortable. If you have an ideal runner’s body, if your feet already have a lot of miles on them – by all means, try the Ones. You might love how light they are.

Other than that, all I can do is advise you of this: a shoe is only a shoe. It takes a person to make an athlete.

Airia Ones are available on AiraRunning.com for $99.00.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

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The post Minimalist Running, With a Twist: The New Airia Ones appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Black moths survived through selection due to the convenient camouflage provided by pollution, whereas the lighter, speckled moths died off due to susceptibility to predators.

Pretty remarkable camo, I’d say.

Such a dramatic shift in the physical characteristics of a species had never before been observed and the story remains a common classroom model for the Darwinian dynamic of natural selection.

We often speak of natural selection in terms of other species, but we rarely speak of it in relation to our own human existence. Perhaps there is something inherently nefarious when considering a person as potentially expendable through biological change as a moth, but this does not mean we are unsusceptible to the same power of change that effects everything else in nature.

In fact, several studies over the past decade have analyzed the health problems that beleaguer our modern condition in just this way.

What Is Really Making Us Sick?

It is often more comfortable to blame external circumstances when it comes to the prevalence of so-called “lifestyle” diseases. We are overweight because of gluten, genetically modified crops, sugary beverages, and so forth. We have heart disease because of stress. We are weak and movement impaired from a lifetime of sitting.

In placing the blame on something external, it becomes something we can control. You can avoid eating processed grains, you can listen to soothing music and meditate, and you can buy the standing desk. We have entire industries dedicated to finding solutions for all of our problems.

“We have, at the core of the human species, become genetically maladapted for survival due to our increasingly sedentary, physically undemanding lives.”

But in a 2002 study published in the Journal of Physiology, a deeper root cause was explored in regards to the myriad health concerns we face today. Our main problem, it seems, is far more complex than any single nutritionist would be able to admonish in the pages of a bagel-abhorring book.

We have, at the core of the human species, become genetically maladapted for survival due to our increasingly sedentary, physically undemanding lives.

Nothing Comes Without a Price

The hallmarks of human achievement – innovation, exploration, technology, civilization – have all come with a price: the stability of the human genome. For everything we externally gain as a species, we pay a corresponding price with our health and bodies. Nature is the lender to whom we become further indebted, and the more we seek to borrow, the closer we get to our limit. Eventually, when nature comes to collect, who do we become?

Light moths in a forest of dark trees.

That is some heavy shit.

But sometimes you have to throw around some weight to get perspective. Have you ever been stuck on the same weight on the bar? Throw on five or ten pounds and try to lift that. Chances are you miss or bail, but hey, at least that same old weight doesn’t seem as heavy anymore.

“The hallmarks of human achievement – innovation, exploration, technology, civilization – have all come with a price: the stability of the human genome.”

We were not built to be linearly periodized. Aerobic exercise wasn’t a choice. There was no meal planning, “macros,” or gap-filling supplementation. Intermittent fasting was not a deliberate practice – it was a fact of life. You ate when there was food, and when there wasn’t food, there wasn’t food. There was no way to fulfill a craving. You couldn’t use the phone to order food for the family. You had to go find it, and sometimes it could take days. You didn’t call it “fasted anaerobic conditioning” when your first meal in a week was about to run away. You sprinted your ass off because you had to.

The True Disconnect With Our Ancient Selves

Much of what we obsess about when it comes to our modern lifestyles is myopic when it comes to the true disconnect we have with our Paleolithic selves. I promise you that eating a five-dollar bar made of pumpkin and nuts isn’t going to bring you any closer to ten thousand years ago.

For the hunter-gatherers, with whom we share over ninety percent of our current genome, there were no questions on how to become inspired for physical activity, or how to eat mindfully, or an appropriate rest period after an intense training session.

Physicality was life.

We stored nutrients based on intermittent periods of feast and famine. Our muscles were strong through the rigorous toils of everyday survival. There was no need to plan or motivate. We did because we had to. Because there was no other choice.

The Human Need For Control

As pointed out by Matt Perryman in Squat Every Day, Friedrich Nietzsche and Nassim Nicholas Taleb have written extensively about our obsessive human need to assert control in the face of inherently chaotic systems. As we see ourselves become sicker and weaker with each generation, our diet and exercise arguments seem that much more asinine in retrospect.

“There is something much more complex going on within our bodies than could ever be mitigated by our so-called modern medical panacea.”

We aren’t sick because of bread. We are sick because ten thousand years ago, through the process of natural selection, the hunter-gatherer genotype prevailed: genes suited for high levels of physical activity, periodic inaccessibility to proper nutrition, and low amounts of un-survival related bouts of stress.

A 2010 commentary by The Physician and Sports Medicine Journal observed:

“This discordance has left us genetically adapted for the rigors of life as hunter-gatherers despite the fact that we are inhabitants of a high technology, sedentary, overfed and emotionally stressed-out 21st century environment.”

We create more food, and we become more overweight. We want more, so we work more, and we move less. We bombard ourselves with technological stimuli and then wonder why we have become so unfocused and depressed.

What Is Best In Life?

Humans adapted to be flexible, strong, and aerobically fit – all to endure the harshest of conditions. Our modern condition (albeit with varying amounts of geographical and societal stress) represents nothing of the sort. We never would have survived among our ancestors. The way we live our lives has evolved faster than nature, and now our Paleolithic genes are being selected to die in our current environment.

This is not meant to be a dystopian view on life. These are just things to consider when we allow exercise and nutrition to become overly analytical. There is something much more complex going on within our bodies than could ever be mitigated by our so-called modern medical panacea.

What can we do, though, to maximize our bodies and lives within the time and space we occupy? The Physician and Sports Medicine Journal offered a few suggestions:

• Walk often
• Get stronger
• Sleep and rest frequently
• Have sex
• Exercise with friends
• Dance
• Occasionally run or sprint for the hell of it

Now that is a list I can get on board with.

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• Your Lifestyle Outside the Gym Can Prevent Metabolic Syndrome
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References:

1. O’Keefe, James H., Robert Vogel, Carl J. Lavie, and Loren Cordain. “Organic Fitness: Physical Activity Consistent with Our Hunter-Gatherer Heritage.” The Physician and Sports Medicine Journal 38, no. 4 (2010): 1-8. Accessed June 2, 2015

2. Booth, Frank W., Manu Chakravarthy, and Espen E. Spangenburg. “Exercise and Gene Expression: Physiological Regulation of the Human Genome through Physical Activity.” The Journal of Physiology 543, Part 2 (2002): 399-411. Accessed June 1, 2015. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2002.019265.

3. “Peppered Moth Evolution.” Wikipedia. Accessed June 2, 2015.

4. Perryman, Matt. “Squat Every Day.” Myosynthesis, 2013.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Darwinian Fitness: Don’t Become a Victim of Natural Selection appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Sometimes It’s Not a Good Fit

Let’s look at Dan, though. Dan is a forty-year-old accountant with no previous athletic experience. He presents with a lot of common movement compensations – hunched shoulders, knee collapse, and limited ankle mobility. Becoming a more skilled powerlifter is not one of his goals. He simply wants to get a little stronger, stay injury-free during his company’s spring softball season, and possibly lose some fat.

Dan begins working with a trainer who takes all of his workouts from Anabolic Planet and strongly believes that back squats cure everything from gait issues to posture to holes in the ozone layer. He insists on Dan learning the back squat – and four sessions in, Dan is in pain.

“Still, his trainer’s insistence convinces Dan that he should “suck it up” and “stop being such a pussy.””

Dan’s lower back is irritated, he is experiencing anterior knee pain, and even worse, he has been feeling too sore to play softball. Still, his trainer’s insistence convinces Dan that he should “suck it up” and “stop being such a pussy.” The injuries and fatigue pile up, his performance continues to decline, and cats around the world continue to be confused as to why humans speak about them in such pejorative terms.

So who is to blame for this training breakdown? Dan’s trainer? Dan, for listening to him? Anabolic Planet? Obama?

Put This in Your Terms

Let me ask you something – have you ever been in this position, whether working with a trainer or acting as your own coach? Do you train or have you trained through injury after injury due to a particular exercise? Have you ever gotten totally down on yourself because a popular exercise just doesn’t seem to fit for you while people around you are crushing huge numbers?

Let me ask you something else. Say you are in a relationship. Happy days have become so few and far between that you can’t even remember the last time you smiled at each other, let alone had sex. You simply grind through every day, miserable, wondering where things went wrong and why you continue to put each other through this. How long would you let this continue to go on?

How about this: One night, after a fight, you decide to go out by yourself and blow off some steam. At the bar, you find yourself in a conversation with someone you find attractive, and it flows like nothing you’ve felt in a long time. You are totally engrossed. You feel excited and energized, grab that person’s number, and head home knowing exactly what you need to do to feel happy again. You both just need to end things and finally move on.

Don’t Be Afraid to Make a Change

So, Dan finally gives the middle finger to his trainer after he almost throws his back out during the third inning of their Sunday double-header. He talks to someone on his team who used to play baseball in college, and his friend tells him that their old strength coach had them do a lot of deadlifting variations and single-leg squat work. Dan is intrigued, so he makes a workout date with his friend to learn more.

“The most important thing I have learned in my young career is this – be married to the principle of strength, but never to the exercises.”

The next week, Dan starts his new routine. After taking some time off from all that heavy squatting, doing kettlebell deadlifts and split squats feel fantastic. The placement of the weight and the stretch through his joints that he experiences through the movement are comfortable, but still challenging. After a few months of consistent training using similar exercises, Dan’s strength soars. He progresses from the kettlebell to barbells for his deadlifts, and he starts experimenting with goblet squats to a box.

The best part? Dan dominates on the softball field. His big throw home to steal a run away from those bastards at Wompwomp Financial becomes an office legend, and his coworker, Tiffany, tells him how fit and healthy he looks. Dan has never felt better.

Marry the Principle, Not the Method

Of course, this is all an imagined scenario, but I do not think it is remotely uncommon. I have been there as a trainee, I have done it as a trainer, and I see people struggle with it every day. The most important thing I have learned in my young career is this – be married to the principle of strength, but never to the exercises.

Think about it. If people were married to the principle of increasing strength rather than particular exercises, how many fewer injuries would we see? How many asinine Internet wars would be avoided? How much better would people feel, and how much more fun would exercise be?

If it is a priority to you, something like heavy back squats can be a longer-term goal, sure. But as my dad always tells me: “Futile is the man who spends his time pounding a square peg into a round hole.” Or as I like to say: “If something feels like shit, don’t do it.”

I don’t feel like this is a juvenile attitude to have, nor does it “make you a pussy.” Life is short and sometimes things just don’t fit. So, maybe it is best to work at something else until you have the pieces that do. And always be willing to ask, “What is the purpose?” Fit your training to you, not an idea.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote:

As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.

My point is not an implication against program-based training or any particular lift. In fact, at the gym where I work, there is a major focus on powerlifting where our coaches produce some pretty badass squatters.

But when the principle is strength gain, there are many methods. The trick is finding the one that feels best to you.

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Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photos 2 & 3 courtesy of CrossFit Empirical.

The post Are You In An Unhappy Marriage With Squatting? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The routine we followed, which ultimately led her to completing a pain-free race, is something I recommend for anyone with the goal of becoming a stronger, healthier runner.

Hip Stability and Body Awareness

There are a couple of things that impact many runners and the quality of their stride: hip stability and core strength. What is the biggest indicator of hip stability and core strength other than genetics? The amount of time we spend sitting in a chair. Something that a lot of us have in common is the amount of time we sit with a supported ass and back. No judgment passed – I am sitting on my couch right now as I type this. This is just something to take into consideration when assessing strength and movement.

As a result of this sitting, a lot of people have a noticeable lack of awareness as to where their bodies are in space. When watching runners in the city (because I am creepy like that), I see a lot of severe knee collapse (especially in women), flexed hips, clompy heel-striking, hunched necks, and rounded shoulders. All of these point to the same thing – blissful ignorance to a weak core and lack of hip stability.

“As a result of this sitting, a lot of people have a noticeable lack of awareness as to where their bodies are in space.”

When I started working with my client, we didn’t have a lot of time for rigid movement assessments. I am not FMS-certified, nor am I certain about the conclusions that the system tends to draw (I have both passed and failed separate components of the FMS when assessed by different people). What I did know is that we needed to focus on quality movement.

The Program

The first thing I tackled was teaching her a productive warm-up. Given our thirty-minute time cap for each training session, warming up together was not a productive option. We spent our first session going over the basics of rowing on the Concept2 RowErg as well as two basic glute-activation and hip-opening exercises.

Depending on how early she was for our session, my client would row at an easy pace for about five to ten minutes, and then follow that with a glute circuit of hip bridges and side clams. If these are too easy for you, use bands to increase the resistance.

After that, we focused on single-leg squat progressions. The goal wasn’t to get her doing pistols, even though I think a 65-year-old woman doing pistols in the park would be pretty badass. Rather, single-leg squat progressions were the perfect way to get her to think about hip and knee stability while keeping her core active and engaged.

We started with an elevated progression – about a 24” bench plus one of those 1990s step aerobics things – concentrating on keeping her chest open instead of rounding forward, leaning back, pushing the supporting knee out without letting it cave in, and avoiding letting the opposite hip cross in and over. Our first couple sessions left her with a lot of hip and glute soreness, and although soreness wasn’t ideal, I knew we were on the right track. By her last sessions before her race, we had progressed to single-leg squats parallel to the bench. Rock on.

As far as picking a movement to develop total body strength, I needed something as “bang for your buck” as the big lifts, but that was easily learnable and more forgiving to mobility issues than the barbell. Enter the trap bar – the ultimate piece of equipment for athletic development.

Trap bar “deadlifts” are a squat/deadlift hybrid with the emphasis depending on the movement of the individual. The important thing is that the trap bar safely loads the spine and hips. The person simply stands up with the weight and puts it back down. Perfect. If you have a problem with knee collapse (like me), put a band around your knees and actively push against it while lifting. This can help groove some good movement patterns.

Lastly, with runners especially, it is important to recognize the body as a big connected “X.” It isn’t just about arms and legs – it is about the core, which connects everything and facilitates the proper transmission of force throughout the body. A weak back means less than ideal force transmission while pounding the pavement, as does an unstable anterior core. This can lead to weak and/or tight hip extensors and all kinds of running-related ailments like runner’s knee, foot discomfort, and low back pain.

In training the core, it is important to divide and conquer both tension and dynamic stability. Planks are about creating tension and teaching your body how to hold itself together under load. When executed properly, planks can help teach you to be a better exerciser. With that in mind, since running is moving and planks happen on the ground, we should also incorporate drills that teach the runner to stabilize through movement.

The Plan

Given all of that, this is the workout I prescribe for a person who seeks to be a stronger runner. It should take you about 45 minutes to complete and you can repeat this routine two to three times a week in conjunction with your regular running schedule:

Warm Up

• 5-10 minutes easy-pace rowing (or similar)

Glute Circuit (3 times)

• 12 hip bridges
• 10 side clams (on each side)

Single-Leg Squat Progression

• 6×3 each leg

Trap Bar Deadlift

• 8 x empty bar plus 2-3 more warm-up sets
• 8×3 working sets (add 5lbs every three sessions or whatever feels right – just keep the progress moving)

Core Work (you can do these as a circuit or rest between)

• 10 x 3 TRX/ring/Jungle Gym rows
• Max tension RKC plank
• Side plank

• Bottoms-up kettlebell carry (focus on stride and stability over distance)
• Baby crawl (option to place 2.5lb plate on lumbar spine for stability)

Nothing to Lose

There you have it – a simple routine that will help you tackle mobility, strength, and stability that can help your performance when you hit the pavement (or track). Give this routine a try for a few months and see what happens. My guess is that you will find yourself to be a stronger and happier runner with a really, really nice ass.

You’ll also enjoy:

• Biomechanics, Gender, and Running Economy
• Running Shoes: What You Need to Know
• Running: The Exercise Equivalent of Vegetables

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post A Simple Plan for Stronger Running appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I started attending a wine class. We talk about viticulture and regional differences between wines, along with tasting a bunch of awesome stuff. In the middle of one of our lectures, I started to drift off and compare wine and training in my head while blind tasting an American chenin blanc. Here is what I came up with:

Wine and training are:

1. As serious as you want it to be.
2. Based on some key foundational concepts, but ultimately driven by personal preference.
3. Ultimately meant to bring happiness and enjoyment to our lives.

So how can my thoughts benefit you and your own routine? As our sommelier, Tim, always says before we dive in to our discussions – let’s taste.

It Ain’t That Serious

I haven’t always been fit. In fact, I was unhealthy and overweight for a long time. As an “exercise scientist,” I could sit here and write a pretty thorough article on why the elliptical machine is not an ideal way to spend your time in the gym. What my personal experience tells me, though, is that listening to the Pussycat Dolls while jamming on the Precor three times a week empowered me to make significant changes in my life. So yeah, you can definitely lose fat on the elliptical machine. Lots of people have.

Me: Before and After Precor and Pussycat Dolls

Similarly, I haven’t always cared about the specifics of wine. Sometimes, I still don’t. For example, my favorite wines are from the Chatâeuneuf-du-Pape in France. They are bold, scratchy, and leathery, especially depending on the vintage. You want to know something, though? I love cheap wine, too. Sometimes I just care to taste some warm grapes and don’t care about the nuances. If it is a beautiful night, and you have a bottle of something, then yes – I would love a glass, thank you.

A Story From the Gym

The concept of personal preference is becoming lost in our “here today, gone tomorrow” Internet meme culture, especially in fitness. Trainers are prone to “writing it for the likes” and our information is getting further and further away from practical application. Does Zumba build strength or stimulate the hormones and metabolic pathways that are most conducive to fat loss? No, not exactly. Here is a story, though:

I worked with a wonderful woman who was enthusiastic about getting started in the gym, but also nervous. She was middle-aged and in an obese condition, and it was her first time participating in traditional exercise. After brainstorming a plan to help her feel more comfortable, I said, “Let’s take the Tuesday Zumba class together.” Considering that I dance like Elaine in Seinfeld, I was hoping that our mutual struggle would put her at ease.

“Seeing someone motivate herself to let go of fear, be in the moment, and simply enjoy moving – it still makes me emotional as I type this.”

What did I find in that class? Support and community. Despite the punch in, punch out vibe at our commercial gym, the people who attended that class all seemed to know each other. The instructor was positive and enthusiastic, and I actually found the continual dancing to be challenging. Even though I was in good enough shape to be rowing some solid 500m splits at the time, I was covered in sweat by the end of the class.

In the last few minutes, the instructor rounded everyone up in a dance circle. There was no way in hell I was getting in the middle of that thing, because it would have looked like this:

But my client? She Zumba-ed right into that damn circle. It was one of the coolest things ever. Seeing someone motivate herself to let go of fear, be in the moment, and simply enjoy moving – it still makes me emotional as I type this.

The Best Education Is Experience

At the end of the day, things don’t always have to be so serious all the time. An article doesn’t have to link to thirteen scientific studies for it to be meaningful. In fact, the last time I clicked through to the citations in an article, almost all of them were either unrelated to the content or (even better) had conclusions that refuted the author’s claims.

Just like wine, there are basic facts that can elevate one concept over another. A Chatâeuneuf-du-Pape will always be more complex and nuanced than what you find on the shelf at a grocery store. Heavy volume squats will always be a more effective mode of body recomposition than a Spin class.

“Let’s take the Tuesday Zumba class together.” Considering that I dance like Elaine in Seinfeld, I was hoping that our mutual struggle would put her at ease.”

But the true meaning in these things is up to you. I know how it felt to finish my first 5K, so I will never, regardless of what I read, convince someone not to run. I have people ask me all the time where they can find the white zinfandel on our wine list, and even though I might laugh in my head, I try to help them find something they will love.

Why? Because a couple weeks ago, we were blind tasting some rosés, and here are my tasting notes for the two wines:

The whole class was pretty much in agreement on these wines – both good. The first wine was missing a little balance, but still delicious. I guessed it to be a rosé of pinot noir, possibly from California or Oregon, especially after wine number two turned out to be a rosé of gamay from France.

But when Tim took the foil off, what was it?

Beringer white zinfandel.

I guess I’m not so fancy after all.

Read more like this:

• Real Functional Fitness: CrossFit and the Battle Against Cancer
• The Female Guide to Getting Lean
• 3 Lessons We Can All Learn From the CrossFit Games
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 2 courtesy of Shannon Khoury.

The post Unexpected Lessons on Training and Happiness – From Wine appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I do think there is a perfect form of something, though. I believe there is a perfect way to form a strong fitness community. We see a lot of promises of “community” out there (CrossFit affiliates charge around £100.00 per month for it), but what does it actually take to build a strong foundation of people? What does the word “community” even mean in terms of health and fitness?

In my experience, if you aren’t paying attention to your surroundings, a community can be based on some pretty negative stuff, and ain’t nobody got any time for that.

The Idea of Community Versus Reality

During a strange period of my life when I suddenly became afflicted with a full-fledged CrossFit addiction, I joined a “community” of people who paid a car payment of a membership fee every month to cheer each other on while lifting quickly to dubstep music. We bonded over recipes of creations inspired by a mutual eschewing of refined carbohydrates. Personal bests were shared. Facebook group and (gluten-free) outings were regularly scheduled. Unsurprisingly, the conversations at these events generally revolved around gluten avoidance and PBs.

“People should never bond over negativity, whether it is aimed toward each other, avoidance of a particular macronutrient, or a mutual disdain for other forms of exercise.”

At CrossFit GlutenFree, I was selected as one of the “cool kids” and found myself added to an “ultra-secret” Facebook group that contained some pretty scathing background commentary about coaches and other members. As someone who has struggled enormously with weight and body image issues, this threw me into a spiral of shame. I developed some seriously disordered diet and exercise habits. It seemed to me that being a skinny-fat casual lifter was suddenly the worst thing on the planet I could ever be. I went along with some of the bullshit to fit in and to avoid being a target for their jokes. This is something I am still ashamed of to this day.

Meanwhile, outside of the Cool Kids Facebook Group (CKFG), I started to notice other glimpses of negativity: people constantly beating themselves up about their WOD times, criticism from coaches about people’s dietary choices, cliquey behavior at group events. One time, the Cool Kids actually got together to have a PB Fest in front of one of the nighttime classes with the pure intention of making other people feel like shit. Although I tried to be a positive person who got along with everyone (including the CKFG members), I eventually dropped out of the gym to do my own thing.

Note: I am not trying to sit here and journalistically waffle-stomp every CrossFit affiliate on the planet based on personal anecdotes or experience. Some of the most wonderfully inspiring people and coaches I have ever met are within the whiteboard walls of CrossFit GlutenFree.

What I am saying is, community should more than just getting a bunch of people in the same place paying for the same thing. People should never bond over negativity, whether it is aimed toward each other, avoidance of a particular macronutrient, or a mutual disdain for other forms of exercise.

Community Should Enhance Your Life

Here is the main issue I see with a lot of the ideas we have about fitness communities, especially CrossFit: training and diet is not a “lifestyle.” Training and diet is training and diet.

A lifestyle is that of the bartender I met in Steamboat, Colorado who spends half the year slinging slope-side drinks and the other half of the year working a cabana bar in Key West. A lifestyle is built around your own preferences, desires, and goals and should never be something that is preordained by a group. If you are forsaking the things most important to you to adhere to the expectations of a group, you are not in a community. You are in a cult.

“Here is the main issue I see with a lot of the ideas we have about fitness communities, especially CrossFit: training and diet is not a ‘lifestyle.’ Training and diet is training and diet.”

The current community I belong to is a bunch of people who meet a few times a week to lift weights based on some sort of periodization scheme (depending on the individual). We are short, tall, young, old, male, and female. We eat banana muffins, drink BCAAs or coffee for a pre-workout, and foam roll or do dynamic mobility or whatever else to warm up.

It is beautiful because together we share a simple goal – to get stronger. Whatever “strong” might mean to you, and whatever path you choose to get there, that’s all you. I have no idea what my coaches eat. Sometimes I see them lift, but I am not totally sure about their current goals and numbers. I just know they are patient, kind, and supportive. They can answer our questions when we have any, and they leave us alone when we don’t. We have all the resources we need to succeed, and all the room we need to grow.

A True Community

The owner of this gym, my mentor, just lost her sister to cancer. As soon as we all heard the news, a Facebook chat went up: what can we all do to help, when is the memorial, should we do anything at the gym? We don’t have a Facebook group and I barely talk to my gym-mates outside of the weight room. But when we all get together, the bond is stronger than anything else I have ever experienced.

To coaches and gym owners: when is the last time you truly examined the content of your community? I know you have a lot on your plate with memberships, programming, liability, bills, and everything else that goes into ownership. I understand if dealing with interpersonal issues and client psychology and all that jazz is outside of the emotional energy you are able to give after hammering through all the nitty-gritty.

“You can’t just take a bunch of membership contracts, pour gas on them, set them on fire, and pound your chest and yell to the sky ‘I HAVE MADE COMMUNITY.'”

But seriously, who is at your gym? Why are they there? Are there cliquey fractions within your community that might be threatening to undo all of the hard work you put into client acquisition and retention? Are your coaches dealing with members in a healthy way? Are the social events you plan awkward and forced, or do people seem to genuinely enjoy each other’s company? Do you even really need to have social events?

This Isn’t About CrossFit – It’s About People

I get it if all of this rubs anyone the wrong way, especially those who might be members of a CrossFit affiliate. My criticisms are not with CrossFit. Despite the jokes I might make, I think CrossFit is a great thing for a lot of people.

But community is something that needs to be built like a proper fire. You can’t just take a bunch of membership contracts, pour gas on them, set them on fire, and pound your chest and yell to the sky “I HAVE MADE COMMUNITY.” Start with the right ground for your facility, pick a reliable kindling of a strong common purpose, add the right people as wood, feed the fire when needed, let it ebb and flow naturally, and let it burn with positivity and torched goals.

I know that marshmallows aren’t gluten free, but sometimes it can be nice to just sit together and eat some s’mores, you know?

Related Articles:

• Dan John’s Guide to Building an Intentional Community
• When Community Goes Wrong: The Closed-Circle Effect
• Community-Based Fitness: Turning the Tide Toward Health
• What’s New on Breaking Muscle UK Today

Photos courtesy of CrossFit Empirical.

The post The Perfect Way to Form a Strong Fitness Community appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I do think there is a perfect form of something, though. I believe there is a perfect way to form a strong fitness community. We see a lot of promises of “community” out there (CrossFit affiliates charge around $189.00 per month for it), but what does it actually take to build a strong foundation of people? What does the word “community” even mean in terms of health and fitness?

In my experience, if you aren’t paying attention to your surroundings, a community can be based on some pretty negative stuff, and ain’t nobody got any time for that.

The Idea of Community Versus Reality

During a strange period of my life when I suddenly became afflicted with a full-fledged CrossFit addiction, I joined a “community” of people who paid a car payment of a membership fee every month to cheer each other on while lifting quickly to dubstep music. We bonded over recipes of creations inspired by a mutual eschewing of refined carbohydrates. Personal records were shared. Facebook group and (gluten-free) outings were regularly scheduled. Unsurprisingly, the conversations at these events generally revolved around gluten avoidance and PRs.

“People should never bond over negativity, whether it is aimed toward each other, avoidance of a particular macronutrient, or a mutual disdain for other forms of exercise.”

At CrossFit GlutenFree, I was selected as one of the “cool kids” and found myself added to an “ultra-secret” Facebook group that contained some pretty scathing background commentary about coaches and other members. As someone who has struggled enormously with weight and body image issues, this threw me into a spiral of shame. I developed some seriously disordered diet and exercise habits. It seemed to me that being a skinny-fat casual lifter was suddenly the worst thing on the planet I could ever be. I went along with some of the bullshit to fit in and to avoid being a target for their jokes. This is something I am still ashamed of to this day.

Meanwhile, outside of the Cool Kids Facebook Group (CKFG), I started to notice other glimpses of negativity: people constantly beating themselves up about their WOD times, criticism from coaches about people’s dietary choices, cliquey behavior at group events. One time, the Cool Kids actually got together to have a PR Fest in front of one of the nighttime classes with the pure intention of making other people feel like shit. Although I tried to be a positive person who got along with everyone (including the CKFG members), I eventually dropped out of the gym to do my own thing.

Note: I am not trying to sit here and journalistically waffle-stomp every CrossFit affiliate on the planet based on personal anecdotes or experience. Some of the most wonderfully inspiring people and coaches I have ever met are within the whiteboard walls of CrossFit GlutenFree.

What I am saying is, community should be more than just getting a bunch of people in the same place paying for the same thing. People should never bond over negativity, whether it is aimed toward each other, avoidance of a particular macronutrient, or a mutual disdain for other forms of exercise.

Community Should Enhance Your Life

Here is the main issue I see with a lot of the ideas we have about fitness communities, especially CrossFit: training and diet is not a “lifestyle.” Training and diet is training and diet.

A lifestyle is that of the bartender I met in Steamboat, Colorado who spends half the year slinging slope-side drinks and the other half of the year working a cabana bar in Key West. A lifestyle is built around your own preferences, desires, and goals and should never be something that is preordained by a group. If you are forsaking the things most important to you to adhere to the expectations of a group, you are not in a community. You are in a cult.

“Here is the main issue I see with a lot of the ideas we have about fitness communities, especially CrossFit: training and diet is not a ‘lifestyle.’ Training and diet is training and diet.”

The current community I belong to is a bunch of people who meet a few times a week to lift weights based on some sort of periodization scheme (depending on the individual). We are short, tall, young, old, male, and female. We eat banana muffins, drink BCAAs or coffee for a pre-workout, and foam roll or do dynamic mobility or whatever else to warm up.

It is beautiful because together we share a simple goal – to get stronger. Whatever “strong” might mean to you, and whatever path you choose to get there, that’s all you. I have no idea what my coaches eat. Sometimes I see them lift, but I am not totally sure about their current goals and numbers. I just know they are patient, kind, and supportive. They can answer our questions when we have any, and they leave us alone when we don’t. We have all the resources we need to succeed, and all the room we need to grow.

A True Community

The owner of this gym, my mentor, just lost her sister to cancer. As soon as we all heard the news, a Facebook chat went up: what can we all do to help, when is the memorial, should we do anything at the gym? We don’t have a Facebook group and I barely talk to my gym-mates outside of the weight room. But when we all get together, the bond is stronger than anything else I have ever experienced.

To coaches and gym owners: when is the last time you truly examined the content of your community? I know you have a lot on your plate with memberships, programming, liability, bills, and everything else that goes into ownership. I understand if dealing with interpersonal issues and client psychology and all that jazz is outside of the emotional energy you are able to give after hammering through all the nitty-gritty.

“You can’t just take a bunch of membership contracts, pour gas on them, set them on fire, and pound your chest and yell to the sky ‘I HAVE MADE COMMUNITY.'”

But seriously, who is at your gym? Why are they there? Are there cliquey fractions within your community that might be threatening to undo all of the hard work you put into client acquisition and retention? Are your coaches dealing with members in a healthy way? Are the social events you plan awkward and forced, or do people seem to genuinely enjoy each other’s company? Do you even really need to have social events?

This Isn’t About CrossFit – It’s About People

I get it if all of this rubs anyone the wrong way, especially those who might be members of a CrossFit affiliate. My criticisms are not with CrossFit. Despite the jokes I might make, I think CrossFit is a great thing for a lot of people.

But community is something that needs to be built like a proper fire. You can’t just take a bunch of membership contracts, pour gas on them, set them on fire, and pound your chest and yell to the sky “I HAVE MADE COMMUNITY.” Start with the right ground for your facility, pick a reliable kindling of a strong common purpose, add the right people as wood, feed the fire when needed, let it ebb and flow naturally, and let it burn with positivity and torched goals.

I know that marshmallows aren’t gluten free, but sometimes it can be nice to just sit together and eat some s’mores, you know?

Related Articles:

• Dan John’s Guide to Building an Intentional Community
• When Community Goes Wrong: The Closed-Circle Effect
• Community-Based Fitness: Turning the Tide Toward Health
• What’s New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of CrossFit Empirical.

The post How to Spot a Non-Toxic Fitness Community: It’s About People appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

When it comes to mixing the perfect workout supplementation cocktail, the principles are similar. Use the right balance of the right things and your pre-, post-, and intra- workout results can soar. Everyone is different, yes – but I have three supplement recommendations I believe can benefit each and every exerciser regardless of age, training level, or gender.

Food Comes First

Before we talk about supplements, I want to get this out of the way: if you are struggling with your nutrition, get that in order first. Seriously. Nothing will give you better results than putting quality food-based nutrients in your body.

I don’t care if you are a spiritual tree vegan or whether you ketonosize your paleos or whatever. Just eat real food more often than not. If you have to think hard about when was the last time you had some sort of plant or a protein that did not come from a canister, stop reading and reevaluate. I’ll still be here.

“Before we talk about supplements, I want to get this out of the way: if you are struggling with your nutrition, get that in order first. Seriously.”

Before you worry about supplements, always make sure you are eating a good amount of nutrient-dense foods, drinking enough water, and sleeping enough. Those things are the most important aspects of health, recovery and results.

The Big Three Supplements

So with the basic stuff aside, let’s talk about supplements. Beneath all of our dietary preferences, exercise routines, expensive yoga leggings, and Facebook profiles, we all pretty much represent the same mish-mash of human cellular organization.

With that in mind, here are my three recommended ingredients for your supplement cocktail.

Creatine

First, although creatine is an ergogenic aid, it is not a steroid. Creatine is an amino acid derivative and steroids are hormones. Although they may influence each other, they play two totally different roles in cellular metabolism.

Second, whether you have a penis, a vagina, or if you do not identify with either of those things, your body needs and uses creatine to think and move. It is a genderless supplement even if we are led to believe, through convention, that it is “something that guys take.”

RELATED: The Crash Course on Creatine

Creatine is found in meat and fish and is also manufactured in small amounts by our body. It is stored in a form that makes it readily available for energy uptake during our first and most intense bouts of movement (sprinting, snatching, jumping, kicking a soccer ball, getting up out of a chair). The body generally has a much higher concentration of stored creatine than ATP. Therefore, the more creatine the body has stored, the more ATP can be produced in a given movement.

“Beneath all of our dietary preferences, exercise routines, expensive yoga leggings, and Facebook profiles, we all pretty much represent the same mish-mash of human cellular organization.”

Now, there are obviously physiological limitations to everything. I am not suggesting that taking an infinite amount of creatine will give you the power to punch through a cement wall. What I am saying is that if you are a human, and you can benefit from more efficient energy production (which I think is everyone), then creatine is for you.

As far as dosing, there is a ton of conflicting advice as to when/how/when not/how much creatine to take. Start with a little bit – a couple grams or two per day. Allow some time for your body to beef up its creatine stores. If you haven’t noticed a change in your performance, try a little more. If you experience any sort of GI distress, use a little less. Don’t be afraid to experiment a little. Unless you take a brownie batch-sized amount every day, research shows that creatine is entirely harmless.

Fish Oil

I am sure you have heard you should take fish oil and that it prevents disease and knows three languages and all that, but do you know why it helps you? I could sit down right now and start research for an entire book on the benefits of fish oil, but I think we can keep it simple and focus on a very attractive benefit of this supplement: fish oil helps you burn fat.

“I think we can keep it simple and focus on a very attractive benefit of this supplement: fish oil helps you burn fat.”

Typing the words “helps you burn fat” makes me want to go wash my hands because it is probably the most overused phrase in fitness, but in this case, it is true. Fish oil is a source of omega-3 fatty acids, something that isn’t readily produced in our bodies.

READ MORE: Want to Get Strong and Lean? Take Fish Oil

In your cells, there are little garbage men called lysosomes and cleaning ladies called perioxisomes. Both function to make sure your cells remain unaffected by toxins and excessive growth. Specifically, perioxisomes aid in the breakdown of fatty acids. Omega-3s cause an increase in the amount of fatty acids that are catabolized during activity. In that case, you receive more bang-for-your-buck fat utilization not only when you exercise, but also when you are just sitting around. Yes, plz.

Just try and get a higher-grade fish oil if you have the funds available. Fish burps are the worst.

Branched Chain Amino Acids

BCAAs help with protein resynthesis and preventing muscle tissue breakdown. Here is the thing: we should ideally be getting all of our BCAAs from dietary protein. If you are anything like me, though, eating substantial meals before or after working out can make you a little queasy.

Furthermore, food needs time to be broken down into its constituent substrates. It can be difficult to figure out exactly when to eat around your workout. At the risk of sounding bro-sciencey, when it comes to feeling energetic for your workout and preventing excessive soreness, timing is everything.

TO CONSIDER: BCAAs: What They Are and Why to Take Them

To prevent excessive fatigue and muscle breakdown in your body during sport and exercise, you need to have something in your system before and/or after your workout. Furthermore, you need something your digestive system can tolerate. Not everyone can tolerate whey or other types of synthetic protein. Enter BCAAs!

BCAAs are easily and readily assimilated into your body and, if you find a good brand, can be quite tasty. Like Beyoncé, I’ve been drankin’ watermelon. You will be more energetic through your workout, you will recover faster, and there is little chance for an unpleasant GI interaction. In my book, these are all wins.

Putting It All Together

All of these supplements are well-documented and researched on PubMed. Check it out. It is interesting and also a great way to learn about your own body and how it works. I think they should have an Olympics for all of the physically fit rats that are being created in labs.

“To prevent excessive fatigue and muscle breakdown in your body during sport and exercise, you need to have something in your system before and/or after your workout.”

Overall, I encourage you to experiment with this combination of supplements along with adequate rest and hydration and a nutrient-dense diet. Experiment with what works best for you and enjoy the benefits of safe and effective supplementation.

References:

1. Berardi, PhD, John, and Ryan Andrews. “Cell Structure and Function.” In The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition. Precision Nutrition, 2014.

2. Brosnan, John, and Margaret Brosnan. “Branched-Chain Amino Acids: Enzyme and Substrate Regulation.” The Journal of Nutrition 136, no. 1 (2006): 207S-11S. Accessed December 1, 2014.

3. Hargreaves, Mark. “Exercise Physiology: Understanding the Athlete Within.” Class Lecture, July 1, 2014.

All photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post The Perfect Supplement Cocktail appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

It all certainly sounds legit and is based on sound, factual premises:

1. Fat oxidation happens at a faster rate when insulin is low.
2. Insulin levels are influenced by blood glucose, and blood glucose is lowest when we haven’t eaten in a while (especially in the morning).
3. Low-to-moderate intensity activity predominantly utilizes fatty acids as an energy substrate, especially during longer durations of activity (45-60 mins).

The Power of Bayesian Inference

Borrowing from all of this, if we want to maximize fat loss for ourselves or for our clients, an effective plan of attack would be to prescribe early morning fasted cardio for about 45 minutes to an hour at a time.

See what I did there? I took some science, coupled it with some of my own inferences about those processes and I came up with a theory.

READ: How to Read and Analyze Research Like a Pro

Say I have personally had success with this method, as well as with some of my clients. Now I am adding data on top of beliefs and probabilities. My inclination to believe the efficacy of this method grows stronger as my understanding of the science behind it is reinforced by my own experiences.

“Thermodynamics and digestion are things you can learn about for free on the Internet, but I guess that stuff is a lot less fun to talk about on your gym’s message boards.”

This is called a Bayesian inference. As humans, we do this all the time to assess and qualify data alongside our own experiences. It is an almost instinctual way to look at and assess the world around us.

Taking Fat Loss to the Lab

When nutrition experts Alan Aragon and Brad Schoenfeld recently teamed up with some colleagues to test the theory of fasted cardio in a lab setting, they sought to remove personal bias from the equation. Forget about what we might think is happening when we work out before breakfast. What is the true nature of a metabolic environment conducive to fat loss?

RELATED: Starvation Mode: How to Make the Fasted State Work for You

In a study for the Journal of the International Society of Sports Medicine, twenty young females, all healthy and with recent aerobic training experience (but not resistance training) were divided into two groups. All participants were prescribed the same calorie-restricted diet along with the same steady-state cardio routine. The only variable was that one group (FED) would be given a shake before performing cardio, while the other (FASTED) would wait to consume the shake post-workout.

The controls used in this study are important for two reasons:

1. Fat oxidation during activity is a training adaptation. An untrained person would have less efficient substrate utilization, which could potentially skew the data toward the realm of fasted cardio being ineffective.
2. The presence of lean muscle mass can have a big effect on fatty acid catabolism. If all of the subjects had high levels of lean muscle mass, the results could potentially read that fasted cardio is more effective than it might actually be.

These two elements help control for what could potentially be two very biased conclusions.

RELATED: First Rule: Do Not Talk About Intermittent Fasting

So what did Aragon and Schoenfeld’s team find? Everyone lost fat, but it had nothing to do with fasting or not fasting. Consistent with the First Law of Thermodynamics, shifting a person’s energy balance so that expenditure exceeds intake seems to be the most conducive environment for fat loss. It seems what the participants benefitted from the most was the presence of supervised dietary restriction and mandatory exercise.

Unsexy Conclusions Aren’t Necessarily Also Untrue

I know these are not the types of results we like to hear in this industry. Talking about the ins and outs of calories is unsexy compared to something as bright and ultra-sciencey-sounding as insulin-mitigated fat oxidation.

“Consistent with the First Law of Thermodynamics, shifting a person’s energy balance so that expenditure exceeds intake seems to be the most conducive environment for fat loss.”

We like to talk about super-ultra magical fat loss and grain-melted brains and whatever the hell else is in bookstores these days. Thermodynamics and digestion are things you can learn about for free on the Internet, but I guess that stuff is a lot less fun to talk about on your gym’s message boards.

RELATED: The 3 Pillars of Fat Loss

So what is my Bayesian inference from all of this? Anything you do, or that you do for your client, that causes a safe imbalance in intake and expenditure will precipitate in fat loss. Success in the methods you choose will be dependent upon adherence to the program and how conducive it is to that person’s lifestyle. That’s it.

Skip your cereal before you row in the morning, or don’t. Whatever you do, just try not to eat too much of whatever it is. Ain’t nobody got time for that much rowing.

References:

1. de Vos, Aart F. “A primer in Bayesian Inference.” preprint (2004).

2. Hargreaves, Mark. “Fuels for Exercise.” Exercise Physiology: Understanding the Athlete Within. The University of Melbourne. 2014.

3. Schoenfeld, Brad, et al. “Body composition changes associated with fasted versus non-fasted aerobic exercise.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 11.54 (2014). Accessed December 21, 2014. doi:10.1186/s12970-014-0054-7.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Debunking the Myth of Fasted Cardio appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The Best Minds of Fitness Destroyed by Facebook

Such anger and venom was spewed over something that, without any attention, probably would have gone almost completely unnoticed. I had heard of neither the publication nor the Produce Princess, until the proverbial inter-Ragnarok reached its apex and popped up on my screen.

This seemed counterproductive to the goals of those trying to argue against the Princess’s appearance on the cover. You took someone (me) who was blissfully unaware of such nonsense and made her (me), well, aware – beyond aware, in fact. The whole thing stayed at the top of my newsfeed for days.

Yes, there is a lot of fitness misinformation out there. It can be frustrating to see. I rarely go a week without being bombarded by requests to become part of some multi-level supplement-marketing scheme (NO, I DO NOT WANT TO SELL YOUR NUTRA-MONSTER SHAKES. I WANT TO TEACH PEOPLE TO MAKE A REAL, ACTUAL MEAL, THANK YOU).

I just ask you this, fitness: is arguing on the Internet what we really want to be spending our energy on? What is the cost-to-benefit ratio of participating in such an argument? Personally, I would rank it on the scale of trying to buy a Furby on Christmas Eve while fully aware that my child will grow tired of it by New Years.

If Allen Ginsberg liked to lift and had a Facebook, he would have written Howl beginning with “I’ve seen the best minds of fitness destroyed by Facebook, typing hysterical angry, dragging through the comment threads until dawn…”

You Are Going to Die

Today, however, I don’t want to talk about the Produce Princess or what she may or may not put in a shake. I want to talk about the fact that you are going to die.

How, when, and why is dependent upon a litany of social, biological, environmental, and physical factors that may or may not be related to each other or even within in our control. For example, you might get hit by a delivery truck full of CrossFit equipment (rowers that spit flames when you get your 500m split below 1:30). You might get shot by a vegan bank robber (it certainly can be expensive). A tree might fall on you, and then a tree might fall on that tree.

Suffice it to say that someday, somewhere, somehow you will die. It might even have something to do with diet and exercise (sort of).

With that in mind, I would like to share a mental exercise that I learned the other day from a podcast that I enjoy (The Jay Ferruggia Show), which gave me some perspective on who and what are important in life. It goes like this:

1. Imagine your own funeral. What day is it? What time of the year is it? Is it in your hometown? If not, where is it? Be detailed in your mental picture.
2. Now, in this setting, imagine: Who is there? How are they feeling? What is the tone of the occasion?
3. Now, among these people, who has decided to get up and say a few words about you?

Bam. There is your support system. That is your dream team. Think about it.

If someone doesn’t care enough about you to be there with you until the end, or if that person wouldn’t have something meaningful and substantial to say about you when the inevitable has happened, why the hell would you care what he or she thinks? Are these people on your deathbed A-Squad? Do they have your best intentions at heart? Do they really care about what works for you, what makes you feel happy, healthy, and fulfilled?

No! They are fighting on the Internet! Let them get focal dystonia from their angry keyboard hammering while you type a friendly e-mail to your local strength coach to schedule your first instructional squat session, because squats fix almost everything. Just please promise me that you won’t start fighting on the Internet about squats.

Get Real Support

I read a study the other day that flew in the face of theories regarding “food addiction.” One particular sentence stuck out to me as a salient message amidst the clamor of constant fear-mongering. I will reconstruct the quotation in free-form poetry to emphasize its message:

It is readily evident

that the complexity

of the factors

that shape individual eating

preclude an over-interpretation

of specific findings

including those . . .

of animal models.

Bongo roll.

In short, perhaps the operant conditioning of a mouse to select sugar over cocaine isn’t as related to our preference for Funfetti cake as we might be lead to believe. (And yes, I am thirty, and yes, my mom still makes me a cake with my name on it for my birthday. It is my cake and I want everyone to know it.)

In The Mind & The Brain by Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz, the intricacy of individual neural development is discussed right down to the quantum level. Neuroplasticity, which is basically your ability to upload new software to your brain throughout the course of your life, is almost completely dependent upon our given focus on new or present stimuli.

New stimuli create new paths, whereas present stimuli deepen the groove. If you already have a conflicted relationship with food, engaging with things such as inter-warfare will do nothing for you other than to further entrench the neural processes that lend themselves to things such as negative feelings, guilt, and compulsive eating. Trust me.

Is there something about nutrition you would like to learn? Are there some changes you would like to make in your lifestyle? Start by talking to your support squad. Seek out an unbiased professional. If that professional has a line of “x-free” products available for purchase because you just shouldn’t be eating “x,” immediately find someone else.

Think about how to start incorporating mindfulness into your life to stay in control when your habits might be getting the best of you. You might astonish yourself with what a few moments of concentrated breathing can do.

An aside: please, just don’t ask your personal trainer for nutritional advice. The chapters on nutrition in our textbooks are around ten pages long. With that in mind, a lot of trainers give nutritional advice from personal experience, so chances are a trainer knows a lot about what works for him, but not a lot about what might work for other people.

No, I don’t think you need to be on some NitrobolXplode Crea-Peptide pre-workout stack for an energetic training session. Maybe just a black coffee? Put it this way: if your trainer had the answer to perfect nutrition, do you think he would be working at a gym? No, he would be sailing around the world on his yacht named “Pumpkin Spice” while buying football teams from his iPhone 100 because he just solved obesity.

But I digress. Honestly, I have been that fighting Internet person before. Not too long ago, I made a pointed remark towards someone who posted something I found to be quite irritating. My remark elicited a predictably sharp response from that person, but I immediately made the decision to disengage. I apologized for the tone of my comment, reaffirmed my respect for her as a professional, and went on with my day. It was, at that moment, that I came to the realization of how wholly unimportant something like that is in the grand scheme of my life and my goals.

You Have What You Need

Working in a corporate, sales-driven gym environment, it gets drilled into your head that you need to be constantly utilizing social media. A lot of the online personal training resources out there drive at the same thing – how to get sales.

But, in truth, everything people need to be successful in health, fitness, and life lies within their own ability to mediate their habits and behavior. This is why some people have a lot of success building strength by doing nothing but squats. Why some people feel off-the-charts healthy from eating strict paleo. And curse me for me saying this, but even those damn shake plans can work for some people, too.

And there will always be the infuriating outlier. Like my colleague, who eats tacos and cheeseburgers every day and has abs like a turtle shell. No matter how much we argue, there will never be a be-all and end-all when it comes to exercise and nutrition.

You know what will always and forever be awesome, though? Turning off your computer, sitting on your porch on a fall day with a beverage of your choice, breathing, and letting yourself relax. Let the small-minded be the ones who fight. You have much more important things to do.

*No chemicals have been added to this blog post.

References:

1. Schwartz, Jeffrey, and Sharon Begley. The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. New York: Regan Books/HarperCollins Publ., 2002.

2. Hebebrand, Johannes, Ozugur Albayrak, and Roger Adan. “’Eating Addiction,’ Rather than ‘Food Addiction,’ Better Captures Addictive-like Eating Behavior.” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 2014.

Photo 1 courtesy of Experience Life.

Photos 2 and 3 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 4 courtesy of CrossFit Empirical.

The post You Are Going to Die, So Stop Wasting Time on Facebook appeared first on Breaking Muscle.