Thursday, August 16, 2012
Being Fat: It's an attidude? Review of Ryan Andrews's Drop the Fat Act and Start Living Lean
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What if being fat was not primarily about how much of we eat or how little we work out?
What if being fat were, first and foremost, an attitude? Not a physical state, but a state of mind? And what if being fat (or lean) is simply a direct consequence of those attitudes?
This idea - that fat is an attitude - is the premise of Ryan D. Andrews's new book, Drop the Fat Act and Start Living Lean: that being fat or being lean is very much first and foremost a state of mind, and those states will lead, inevitably to being fat or to being lean.
To make his case, Ryan looks at the perspectives of the Fat Eater, the Fat Exerciser and the Fat Life. He looks at, effectively, the approaches to living that people with Fat Attitudes (or "fattitudes" ) have around everything from meals (fattitude: skip breakie; make dinner the largest meal), food preparation (no time for it), processed foods (refined foods form a large part of the fat diet) calorie counting (fat people count calories), recovery (fat people don't get enough sleep), exercise (fat people are lazy). to approaches to life (fat folk focus on short term gains, and put themselves in fat-inducing situations).
Does this sound like a bit of tough love? Simply to use the term "fat people" seems rather strong, doesn't it? "Fat people are lazy" sounds down right abrupt. But that's what this book is about and what makes it so refreshing. Pulling very few punches to get real about the reality of fat-ness it cuts to the chase on the fattitudes that keep us being "fat people" living a fat act, rather than living lean - and being healthy and healthful.
The book, to be clear, is a wake up call to put the diet down and take a look at ourselves - not our diets - to assess whether leanness and health is really in our future. Do we need to drop the fat act to start living lean?
This is a fabulous book *because* it focuses not on the lean practices first but on the attitdues that keep us Fat, that keep us from DOING those lean practices like finding time to exercise, to prepare food, to get enough sleep, to think about others (yes, fattitudes are selfish).
The book is also an fun, fast read. Drop the Fat Act is something i have enjoyed reading in an evening myself and have had some rather profound "hmm" moments with it. I've also returned to it frequently to check up on a fattitude. The book is also something one can share easily - with love - with anyone we know who may be looking (possibly for the nth time) for a path of getting lean. It's certainly informed how i've been chatting with clients of late, putting copies into their hands.
This book is so atypical of other tomes around body comp change (losing weight/losing fat - whatever we call it) - if not the least because of its rather straight talking stype - but also because it cuts to the chase-ness about attitudes.
There are a bunch of great books on how to build better strategies towards eating. I've recommended the Four Day Win as an example. Some folks like the Beck Diet Solution - each of these get at building up new behaviours to succeed with food - and i really dig the four day win in particular. It's fun and effective - "your way to thinner peace" - that's a trip.
Where Ryan's book is delightfully different is that, based on clinical training as an RD, graduate
degrees in nutrition, work developing nutrition textbooks and coaching programs, and especially, practical experience with 1000's of clients, he summarizes this knowledge into a handful of well tested, inescapable general traits that mean "fat person."
Rather than focus on the individual (though in the book he does talk to "you") he says, basically, if you're fat it's because you've got these attitudes.
The great asset of the book, too, is it makes getting lean pretty simple: address the attitudes, and leanness is inevitable. Ryan gives the rationalizations for why having a fattitude is doomed to, well, a slow and painful death, and he also does have suggestions for getting to lean attidudes and what the lean life is like. But he's not trying to be a cognitive behavioural therapist: he's telling it like it is. Drop the fat act; start living lean.
He does have a great chapter on the Fit Life and Fit People ("surprise! fit people think like fit people") and he even has a plan that one can just plug and play: progressive additions. Yes, that's right: additions. One of the miracles of joy in Ryan's approach is that he ADDS stuff in rather than takes stuff away. For instance, in his plan he suggests in week one to just focus on ADDING more vegetables. Every week a little some more of something good is added. And it's grand.
To model the attitude of Ryan's book, let me just say this is a great book. Buy it; you will like it. You can read it right now on kindle and nook, or order a hard copy via your favorite supplier. And Ryan does walk the walk. One of his lean attitudes is around focusing on others rather than one's self. So please note, buying this book is not only good for you, it's good for others too: "50% of all author proceeds from the sales of my book are donated to hunger relief efforts and improving school lunch programs."
Because i just can't say enough good things about this wee most excellent book, i've asked Ryan if he'd tell me a little more about the inspiration for the book and what inspired this novel approach to Fat as and Act and Living Lean as an attitude. I'll be posting that interview soon. In the meantime, do yourself a favour, and grab a copy of Ryan Andrew's Drop the Fat Act and Start Living Lean. Let me know what you think.
Tweet Follow @begin2dig
What if being fat were, first and foremost, an attitude? Not a physical state, but a state of mind? And what if being fat (or lean) is simply a direct consequence of those attitudes?
This idea - that fat is an attitude - is the premise of Ryan D. Andrews's new book, Drop the Fat Act and Start Living Lean: that being fat or being lean is very much first and foremost a state of mind, and those states will lead, inevitably to being fat or to being lean. To make his case, Ryan looks at the perspectives of the Fat Eater, the Fat Exerciser and the Fat Life. He looks at, effectively, the approaches to living that people with Fat Attitudes (or "fattitudes" ) have around everything from meals (fattitude: skip breakie; make dinner the largest meal), food preparation (no time for it), processed foods (refined foods form a large part of the fat diet) calorie counting (fat people count calories), recovery (fat people don't get enough sleep), exercise (fat people are lazy). to approaches to life (fat folk focus on short term gains, and put themselves in fat-inducing situations).
Does this sound like a bit of tough love? Simply to use the term "fat people" seems rather strong, doesn't it? "Fat people are lazy" sounds down right abrupt. But that's what this book is about and what makes it so refreshing. Pulling very few punches to get real about the reality of fat-ness it cuts to the chase on the fattitudes that keep us being "fat people" living a fat act, rather than living lean - and being healthy and healthful.
The book, to be clear, is a wake up call to put the diet down and take a look at ourselves - not our diets - to assess whether leanness and health is really in our future. Do we need to drop the fat act to start living lean?
This is a fabulous book *because* it focuses not on the lean practices first but on the attitdues that keep us Fat, that keep us from DOING those lean practices like finding time to exercise, to prepare food, to get enough sleep, to think about others (yes, fattitudes are selfish).
The book is also an fun, fast read. Drop the Fat Act is something i have enjoyed reading in an evening myself and have had some rather profound "hmm" moments with it. I've also returned to it frequently to check up on a fattitude. The book is also something one can share easily - with love - with anyone we know who may be looking (possibly for the nth time) for a path of getting lean. It's certainly informed how i've been chatting with clients of late, putting copies into their hands.
This book is so atypical of other tomes around body comp change (losing weight/losing fat - whatever we call it) - if not the least because of its rather straight talking stype - but also because it cuts to the chase-ness about attitudes.
There are a bunch of great books on how to build better strategies towards eating. I've recommended the Four Day Win as an example. Some folks like the Beck Diet Solution - each of these get at building up new behaviours to succeed with food - and i really dig the four day win in particular. It's fun and effective - "your way to thinner peace" - that's a trip.
Where Ryan's book is delightfully different is that, based on clinical training as an RD, graduate
 |
| Ryan D. Andrews: Lean Attitude-inist |
Rather than focus on the individual (though in the book he does talk to "you") he says, basically, if you're fat it's because you've got these attitudes.
The great asset of the book, too, is it makes getting lean pretty simple: address the attitudes, and leanness is inevitable. Ryan gives the rationalizations for why having a fattitude is doomed to, well, a slow and painful death, and he also does have suggestions for getting to lean attidudes and what the lean life is like. But he's not trying to be a cognitive behavioural therapist: he's telling it like it is. Drop the fat act; start living lean.
He does have a great chapter on the Fit Life and Fit People ("surprise! fit people think like fit people") and he even has a plan that one can just plug and play: progressive additions. Yes, that's right: additions. One of the miracles of joy in Ryan's approach is that he ADDS stuff in rather than takes stuff away. For instance, in his plan he suggests in week one to just focus on ADDING more vegetables. Every week a little some more of something good is added. And it's grand.
To model the attitude of Ryan's book, let me just say this is a great book. Buy it; you will like it. You can read it right now on kindle and nook, or order a hard copy via your favorite supplier. And Ryan does walk the walk. One of his lean attitudes is around focusing on others rather than one's self. So please note, buying this book is not only good for you, it's good for others too: "50% of all author proceeds from the sales of my book are donated to hunger relief efforts and improving school lunch programs."
Because i just can't say enough good things about this wee most excellent book, i've asked Ryan if he'd tell me a little more about the inspiration for the book and what inspired this novel approach to Fat as and Act and Living Lean as an attitude. I'll be posting that interview soon. In the meantime, do yourself a favour, and grab a copy of Ryan Andrew's Drop the Fat Act and Start Living Lean. Let me know what you think.
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PDF
Monday, July 23, 2012
Getting leaner with Brown Fat, Thermogenisis and Chilli Sauce?
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Is hot sauce hot enough to burn fat? Maybe - if we have "active" brown fat.
A lot of us look for ways to boost fat burning or to stop fat from being created in the first place on our quest for getting lean and staying lean. Alpha lipoic acid from 800mg [1] to 1800mg a day [2], alpha lipoic acid with CoQ10 even [3] looks at interrupting fat creation. Then there's thermogenisis, getting some heat up in the system to burn fat mobilized for use as energy. There are a number of foods and supplements that seem to contribute to thermogenisis, and chilli sauce - or the stuff that makes chilli sauce - may be one of those. The degree to which it may work, however, seems correlated to how well we might burn fuel when we're cold.
I am thrilled to report that i was recently introduced to a beautiful hot sauce, made in mexico. It's called Chohula hot sauce - unlike stuff made with the habenaro peppers, this is made with piquin and arbol. The taste is flavourful, fruity - i love it. Apparently this is a pretty common brand in the US, but i'd never encountered it.
Let me say right up front i have nothing to do with this company. It's just great tasting. I've not had this experience with a hot sauce before. Awesome with eggs, with veggies, with black beans - well - everything. Awesome, flavourful kick that sustains the taste of the food longer. So personally, i think one eats less because of enjoying the mouthful of flavour more. mmm. And to think that this stuff improves fat burning? Wow. What could be better. Bring it on!
Not long after the work about the thermogenic effect of hot stuff came out, another study showed just about zero effect of the stuff [5]. What could possibly be going on? A more recent and interesting papers come out [6] to suggest that the reason for the different findings may be brown fat (touched on in b2d here), but not just any kind of brown fat: active brown fat.
Brown fat also gets going (literally, activated) when our fight or flight chemicals get going. And finally, recent rodent research suggests that play also has a role. Helen Kollias over at Precision Nutrition did a lovely overview of some cool mice research with BAT that showed that BAT gets active when mice had rich environments (here's the paper [10]). Take away, as Kollias puts it
Why might some people's brown fat be less thermogenically active than others? Not clear, though these experimenters seemed to see this non-response in about half their participant populations over repeated studies. Can we make our brown fat more effective? Don't know - but if we look at the happy mice story, maybe it would be useful to ask BAT participants about how much mental and physical stimulation they have?
Take Away: pepping up our food with hot sauce (or -boring - ingesting capsinoids) may be a way to improve thermogenic effect and so burn a bit more fat than without the hot stuff BUT remember - we're complex systems, so no single factor is a solution. We might be of the population whose brown fat isn't particularly thermogenically robust. What this difference *seems* to suggest when coupled with the enriched, engaged mice is that, diverse activities - social and physical and cognitive - does good things for us that simply AMPLIFY the effects of other factors, LIKE capsinoids. Perhaps heating up more than our food with interest, innovation, delight and movement - as well as good nutrition - all make us thermogenically zoomed up, leaner livers?
Is hot sauce hot enough to burn fat? Maybe - if we have "active" brown fat.A lot of us look for ways to boost fat burning or to stop fat from being created in the first place on our quest for getting lean and staying lean. Alpha lipoic acid from 800mg [1] to 1800mg a day [2], alpha lipoic acid with CoQ10 even [3] looks at interrupting fat creation. Then there's thermogenisis, getting some heat up in the system to burn fat mobilized for use as energy. There are a number of foods and supplements that seem to contribute to thermogenisis, and chilli sauce - or the stuff that makes chilli sauce - may be one of those. The degree to which it may work, however, seems correlated to how well we might burn fuel when we're cold.
Into the (Fat Burning) Fire - with Food
When we hear about thermogenisis in weight loss, we are looking for stuff that increases the fuel burn - that puts the furnace on a higher setting. In us, that means getting our base metabolic rate up. Intriguingly and ironically food itself is thermogenic, with protein being more thermogenic than carbs or fat. Exercise does this, too. There are also supplements that aid in fat mobilization and fat burning, common things like green tea, caffeine, fish oil, yohimbine.Hot Sauce Thermogenisis
According to research starting in about 2008, another member of the fat burning squad is supposed to be capsaicin - the hot part of chilli peppers [4]. Goody! something to add to food for flavour.I am thrilled to report that i was recently introduced to a beautiful hot sauce, made in mexico. It's called Chohula hot sauce - unlike stuff made with the habenaro peppers, this is made with piquin and arbol. The taste is flavourful, fruity - i love it. Apparently this is a pretty common brand in the US, but i'd never encountered it.
Let me say right up front i have nothing to do with this company. It's just great tasting. I've not had this experience with a hot sauce before. Awesome with eggs, with veggies, with black beans - well - everything. Awesome, flavourful kick that sustains the taste of the food longer. So personally, i think one eats less because of enjoying the mouthful of flavour more. mmm. And to think that this stuff improves fat burning? Wow. What could be better. Bring it on!
Hot Sauce Stirs Up with Active Brown Fat Only?
But one moment, fat burning and food fans: it's not so clear that capsaicin, or more particularly, capsinoids, the bits of capsaicin that give it its omph, actually have an unequivocal, universal thermogenic effect.Not long after the work about the thermogenic effect of hot stuff came out, another study showed just about zero effect of the stuff [5]. What could possibly be going on? A more recent and interesting papers come out [6] to suggest that the reason for the different findings may be brown fat (touched on in b2d here), but not just any kind of brown fat: active brown fat.
Brown Fat as Active Fat
Brown fat, or Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) is pretty cool: it uses fat to make heat. That means it burns (oxidises) fat [7], usually, to keep us warm. |
| Brown fat: rich in mitochondria - what cells use to oxidize, well, fat |
An enriched environment increases a specific protein in the brain (BDNF) that activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) that increases brown fat in visceral fat. The increase in brown fat means a higher metabolism with less visceral white fat.The mentally and physically stimulated mice had higher brown fat, less visceral white fat. They ate more and were leaner.
Active Fat
Guess what? Despite the wonderfulness of brown fat, some folks' brown fat isn't as thermogenic as other folks' [8]. How do we know? Well, researchers generally make people cold. Not super cold. We're talking 16-19 degrees C, depending on the study. Right now, in Seattle, it's 17 C outside, and i'm walking around in shorts and a long sleeve shirt. So cold? not much. Living in the UK, 19 verges on what we'd call a summer day. Seems that when made "cold," not everyone's brown fat shows that it's burning fuel (there are interesting tracers in a process called "fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET)" that can monitor BAT fuel burning).Why might some people's brown fat be less thermogenically active than others? Not clear, though these experimenters seemed to see this non-response in about half their participant populations over repeated studies. Can we make our brown fat more effective? Don't know - but if we look at the happy mice story, maybe it would be useful to ask BAT participants about how much mental and physical stimulation they have?
Back to Brown Fat and Hot Sauce
Anyway, turns out that the researchers who showed that some folks have active BAT and others do not also took a look at capsinoids and active/not active brown fat [9]. First, they checked who of the participants had active and non-active brown fat. Then, they gave the groups capsinoids and placebo. Big result:EE increased by 15.2 ± 2.6 kJ/h in 1 h in the BAT-positive group and by 1.7 ± 3.8 kJ/h in the BAT-negative group after oral ingestion of capsinoids (P < 0.01). Placebo ingestion produced no significant change in either group.So, folks with active brown fat get a significant thermogenic hit from the stuff in chillies. Cool.
Take Away: pepping up our food with hot sauce (or -boring - ingesting capsinoids) may be a way to improve thermogenic effect and so burn a bit more fat than without the hot stuff BUT remember - we're complex systems, so no single factor is a solution. We might be of the population whose brown fat isn't particularly thermogenically robust. What this difference *seems* to suggest when coupled with the enriched, engaged mice is that, diverse activities - social and physical and cognitive - does good things for us that simply AMPLIFY the effects of other factors, LIKE capsinoids. Perhaps heating up more than our food with interest, innovation, delight and movement - as well as good nutrition - all make us thermogenically zoomed up, leaner livers?
Related Articles
- Respect the fat: an overview of fat burning goodness
- Optimising Fat Burning on Non HIIT days
- Fat Tea: Like Guiness but Tea
- Fat don't make us Fat
Citations
- Carbonelli MG, Di Renzo L, Bigioni M, Di Daniele N, De Lorenzo A, & Fusco MA (2010). Alpha-lipoic acid supplementation: a tool for obesity therapy? Current pharmaceutical design, 16 (7), 840-6 PMID: 20388095
- Koh EH, Lee WJ, Lee SA, Kim EH, Cho EH, Jeong E, Kim DW, Kim MS, Park JY, Park KG, Lee HJ, Lee IK, Lim S, Jang HC, Lee KH, & Lee KU (2011). Effects of alpha-lipoic Acid on body weight in obese subjects. The American journal of medicine, 124 (1), 850-8 PMID: 21187189
- Wagner AE, Ernst IM, Birringer M, Sancak O, Barella L, & Rimbach G (2012). A Combination of Lipoic Acid Plus Coenzyme Q10 Induces PGC1α, a Master Switch of Energy Metabolism, Improves Stress Response, and Increases Cellular Glutathione Levels in Cultured C2C12 Skeletal Muscle Cells. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2012 PMID: 22655115
- Snitker S, Fujishima Y, Shen H, Ott S, Pi-Sunyer X, Furuhata Y, Sato H, & Takahashi M (2009). Effects of novel capsinoid treatment on fatness and energy metabolism in humans: possible pharmacogenetic implications. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 89 (1), 45-50 PMID: 19056576
- Galgani JE, Ryan DH, & Ravussin E (2010). Effect of capsinoids on energy metabolism in human subjects. The British journal of nutrition, 103 (1), 38-42 PMID: 19671203
- Yoneshiro T, Aita S, Kawai Y, Iwanaga T, & Saito M (2012). Nonpungent capsaicin analogs (capsinoids) increase energy expenditure through the activation of brown adipose tissue in humans. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 95 (4), 845-50 PMID: 22378725
- Ouellet V, Labbé SM, Blondin DP, Phoenix S, Guérin B, Haman F, Turcotte EE, Richard D, & Carpentier AC (2012). Brown adipose tissue oxidative metabolism contributes to energy expenditure during acute cold exposure in humans. The Journal of clinical investigation, 122 (2), 545-52 PMID: 22269323
- Yoneshiro T, Aita S, Matsushita M, Kameya T, Nakada K, Kawai Y, & Saito M (2011). Brown adipose tissue, whole-body energy expenditure, and thermogenesis in healthy adult men. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 19 (1), 13-6 PMID: 20448535
- Yoneshiro T, Aita S, Kawai Y, Iwanaga T, & Saito M (2012). Nonpungent capsaicin analogs (capsinoids) increase energy expenditure through the activation of brown adipose tissue in humans. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 95 (4), 845-50 PMID: 22378725
- Cao L, Choi EY, Liu X, Martin A, Wang C, Xu X, & During MJ (2011). White to brown fat phenotypic switch induced by genetic and environmental activation of a hypothalamic-adipocyte axis. Cell metabolism, 14 (3), 324-38 PMID: 21907139
Friday, May 25, 2012
no more excuses movement practice no. 1
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If you know folks who are potentially not moving because they feel they don't have any of the right stuff - not enough weights, not enough bands, not enough time - here's one thing that is geared as an all expertise level activity to load learn and move.
what do you think?
Unit A - what to do -movement- no equipment/excuses required
--------------------------
do these ankle drills
if there's pain, slow down or decrease range of motion but start moving the ankles
repeat
do tea cup both arms
repeat
sit down
stand up
repeat
forward roll,
side roll
repeat
both sides as soon as can do sore ankle side
walk
walk faster as ankle allows
walk
repeat many times
jump over something
jump back
jump to the side
jump to the other side
repeat
forward roll, both sides
side roll
repeat
lie down
stand up
lie down
stand up
backroll
repeat.
when ready:
jump over something
jump back
jump to the side
jump to the other side
repeat
lie down
roll to the side
stand up from the side
go down to the side
same on the other side
repeat
put one leg out
sit down on chair
keep leg out
stand up
switch legs
repeat
when ready
run to lightpost
walk back from light post
run to light post
walk back from light post
repeat
jab hook cross upper cut
repeat
run ro lightpost
walk back from lightpost
repeat
lying leg raises
----------------------------
REPEAT enough of UNIT A to fill 59mins
-------------------
then
shivasna
---------------(don't repeat)----------
WHAT TO DO UNIT B: food - do PN
REPEAT THROUGHOUT DAY
----------------
REPEAT UNITs A+B, 5.4 days / week Tweet Follow @begin2dig
what do you think?
Unit A - what to do -movement- no equipment/excuses required
--------------------------
do these ankle drills
if there's pain, slow down or decrease range of motion but start moving the ankles
repeat
do tea cup both arms
repeat
sit down
stand up
repeat
forward roll,
side roll
repeat
both sides as soon as can do sore ankle side
walk
walk faster as ankle allows
walk
repeat many times
jump over something
jump back
jump to the side
jump to the other side
repeat
forward roll, both sides
side roll
repeat
lie down
stand up
lie down
stand up
backroll
repeat.
when ready:
jump over something
jump back
jump to the side
jump to the other side
repeat
lie down
roll to the side
stand up from the side
go down to the side
same on the other side
repeat
put one leg out
sit down on chair
keep leg out
stand up
switch legs
repeat
when ready
run to lightpost
walk back from light post
run to light post
walk back from light post
repeat
jab hook cross upper cut
repeat
run ro lightpost
walk back from lightpost
repeat
lying leg raises
----------------------------
REPEAT enough of UNIT A to fill 59mins
-------------------
then
shivasna
---------------(don't repeat)----------
WHAT TO DO UNIT B: food - do PN
REPEAT THROUGHOUT DAY
----------------
REPEAT UNITs A+B, 5.4 days / week Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Less: Not considered Harmful - exploring "less" around food.
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One thing more; one thing less - that is a strategy we've been talking about here at b2d for the past two months: as a way to engage with behaviour change, we can change ourselves by exploring doing one thing more; one thing less - just one for a week a go.
In the last post under the subject of exploring "more" i talked about exploring more volume - i'm still doing it - much more to learn there about how my body is responding to that in terms of body composition.
Fascinating. Had a lovely chat with Georgie Fear and Roland Fisher, lean eating coaches from Precision Nutrition. Georgie holds an RD and Roland is a veteran body comp and strength coach. We'll come back to their expertise in this space anon. The main take away: working out both every day and with higher volume (and increasing load) is fine. More is more on many levels.
This time, we turn to less. And the topic here is LESS food.
With Intermittent Fasting being the New Black of dieting it may seem odd to talk about eating less. That's what dieting is so often about, is it not? Eating less? So how is less here good or different?
Two kinds of less here with food - one is yes, going without food for some period of time. One i find actually harder - is having less when actually eating - the oft cited eat till only 80% full. For me, it's easier to go binary: have something or have nothing. But to have something and then have less of it - when it's food! well that's really challenging.
Indeed, last year, when i was really focussing on exploring leanness, and was plateauing, it was in conversation with Ryan Andrews of Precision Nutrition where he said, sometimes, to really get to that next level of lean, we just need to eat less. That's pretty basic isn't it? THat's dieting. But you see i thought i was eating less. But i wasn't. SO i did. And at that point, combined with what else i was doing workout wise, less was very much more. That was my first experience with a new kind of less and getting to a new kind of lean. Not perfect, but good, interesting. Kinda awesome.
The particular less i'd like to explore here is the über Less - the fast.
Let me offer the ending first: the big take away from day long fasts is that we won't break.
Next, let us consider the fear/stress around fasting - that we've had nasty experiences when we've gone without food for any particularly unusual length of time.To that, the answer - at least for me and some of the folks i coach who have wanted to explore fasting - has been practice: making it possible to adapt to fasting. We'll go over this below, as well as why someone might want to explore this.
Getting Over the "Low Blood Sugar Means I Can't Fast" scenario: Assuming a healthy person - no diabetic issues for example (and even there fasting can happen but consult physician etc etc) In my experience working with folks who have such a response (and i've been there), is that (a) starchy carbs form too high a proportion of regular eating and thus (b) ratios of protein, veggies and healthy fats are chronically way too low. This seems to mean that the capacity Mike Nelson researches called "metabolic flexibility" seems less tuned in. We have fewer reps of dealing with a lower amounts of available glucose in our diets, and thus are not nearly as comfortable or efficient at converting fat (an abundant energy source) for brain fuel in particular. And so our bodies freak out, stress goes up, and we may feel like crap.
For folks who have a pretty good balance of protein, veggies/and fats with starchy carbs already, especially a more low carb, protein sparring approach to food, going without food for 16-24 hours is not a big deal. Really.
TWO WEEK SWITCH UP - If one wants to explore intermittent fasting and not crash, it may be a good idea to focus initially just on LESS starchy carbs in favour of more protein, fats and veggies for awhile before fasting. It's easy to test - what's your usual longest period without fuel? How do you feel? Try changing up the ratios for a couple weeks to more protein, fat and veggies, reduce the starchies except perhaps after a workout, and then try going for that fasting window - see how you feel hitting your typical pain point. Have you gone past it? you may feel hungry but is the headache edge there? If not, well, you're on track. Congratulations on a new effective Less. Lean Gains, by Martin Berkhan has made the 8 hour window for eating popular.
Something else that helps to improve metabolic flexibility in genearl and to become what John Beradi calls "a better fat burner" is to exercise. We'll not get into the reasons here, but suffice it to say, exercise of any kind that gets the heart rate up does wonders for improving metflex.
From being at a better metabolic flexibility point, it seems it can be easier to think about pushing out the fasting time to say eating in an 8 hour window. And when that feels safe, that practice can be a bridge to trying a 24 hour fast. From dinner to dinner say. Brad Pilon is really the go to guy on eating, stopping eating for a bit, then eating again. His Eat Stop Eat is in a fifth edition and well worth picking up.
One of Brad's caveats: in terms of fasting for weight loss/body comp, to do so for more than 24 hours hits diminishing returns. He's a once or twice a week guy - for one or two distinct fasts.
Each of the above changes is very much about progressive strategies in LESS
THere are many rifs on "fasts" and food allowable in fasts. Some folks, like the perfect health diet folks, think spinach and coconut oil in a bone broth is fine on a "fast." Brad Pilon makes a different metabolic argument, saying really, no food. If following john berardi's ideas - having bcaa's, creatine and greens at various points during a fast day is dandy. Me, i'd swap out bcaa's for eaa's (essential amino acids). The point is though, these are all explorations in less. And that doing LESS can be safe.
One of the big payoffs of a day long fast: it can help bust a plateau - so many things can tho, it's just one way to get the scale moving again. But perhaps more than that, a fast can be about hedonic control - getting when we're eating because we want to eat rather than because we need to eat.
Fasting can also be an interesting way to explore one's body - that one won't break - from not eating; that we can, indeed, thrive with less, and that seems a compelling, satisfying discovery. How bout you?
Related Articles
In the last post under the subject of exploring "more" i talked about exploring more volume - i'm still doing it - much more to learn there about how my body is responding to that in terms of body composition.Fascinating. Had a lovely chat with Georgie Fear and Roland Fisher, lean eating coaches from Precision Nutrition. Georgie holds an RD and Roland is a veteran body comp and strength coach. We'll come back to their expertise in this space anon. The main take away: working out both every day and with higher volume (and increasing load) is fine. More is more on many levels.
This time, we turn to less. And the topic here is LESS food.
With Intermittent Fasting being the New Black of dieting it may seem odd to talk about eating less. That's what dieting is so often about, is it not? Eating less? So how is less here good or different?
Two kinds of less here with food - one is yes, going without food for some period of time. One i find actually harder - is having less when actually eating - the oft cited eat till only 80% full. For me, it's easier to go binary: have something or have nothing. But to have something and then have less of it - when it's food! well that's really challenging.
Indeed, last year, when i was really focussing on exploring leanness, and was plateauing, it was in conversation with Ryan Andrews of Precision Nutrition where he said, sometimes, to really get to that next level of lean, we just need to eat less. That's pretty basic isn't it? THat's dieting. But you see i thought i was eating less. But i wasn't. SO i did. And at that point, combined with what else i was doing workout wise, less was very much more. That was my first experience with a new kind of less and getting to a new kind of lean. Not perfect, but good, interesting. Kinda awesome.
The particular less i'd like to explore here is the über Less - the fast.
Let me offer the ending first: the big take away from day long fasts is that we won't break.
Next, let us consider the fear/stress around fasting - that we've had nasty experiences when we've gone without food for any particularly unusual length of time.To that, the answer - at least for me and some of the folks i coach who have wanted to explore fasting - has been practice: making it possible to adapt to fasting. We'll go over this below, as well as why someone might want to explore this.
Fear of Fast?
Some of us are afraid to fast or go without food for more than a few hours, based on their experience with what is presumed to be "low blood sugar" - and yes roaring headaches from going without food can occur.Getting Over the "Low Blood Sugar Means I Can't Fast" scenario: Assuming a healthy person - no diabetic issues for example (and even there fasting can happen but consult physician etc etc) In my experience working with folks who have such a response (and i've been there), is that (a) starchy carbs form too high a proportion of regular eating and thus (b) ratios of protein, veggies and healthy fats are chronically way too low. This seems to mean that the capacity Mike Nelson researches called "metabolic flexibility" seems less tuned in. We have fewer reps of dealing with a lower amounts of available glucose in our diets, and thus are not nearly as comfortable or efficient at converting fat (an abundant energy source) for brain fuel in particular. And so our bodies freak out, stress goes up, and we may feel like crap.
For folks who have a pretty good balance of protein, veggies/and fats with starchy carbs already, especially a more low carb, protein sparring approach to food, going without food for 16-24 hours is not a big deal. Really.
TWO WEEK SWITCH UP - If one wants to explore intermittent fasting and not crash, it may be a good idea to focus initially just on LESS starchy carbs in favour of more protein, fats and veggies for awhile before fasting. It's easy to test - what's your usual longest period without fuel? How do you feel? Try changing up the ratios for a couple weeks to more protein, fat and veggies, reduce the starchies except perhaps after a workout, and then try going for that fasting window - see how you feel hitting your typical pain point. Have you gone past it? you may feel hungry but is the headache edge there? If not, well, you're on track. Congratulations on a new effective Less. Lean Gains, by Martin Berkhan has made the 8 hour window for eating popular.
 |
| IF poster boy Brad Pilon of Eat Stop Eat |
From being at a better metabolic flexibility point, it seems it can be easier to think about pushing out the fasting time to say eating in an 8 hour window. And when that feels safe, that practice can be a bridge to trying a 24 hour fast. From dinner to dinner say. Brad Pilon is really the go to guy on eating, stopping eating for a bit, then eating again. His Eat Stop Eat is in a fifth edition and well worth picking up.
One of Brad's caveats: in terms of fasting for weight loss/body comp, to do so for more than 24 hours hits diminishing returns. He's a once or twice a week guy - for one or two distinct fasts.
Each of the above changes is very much about progressive strategies in LESS
- - less starchy carbs (in favour of other foods being more - it may help as a guide to think of less foods in the yellow/beige/brown tones and more in the bright rich dark colour tones).
- - less hours in the day in which to eat
- - less actual food in 24 hours - privileging water, or other non-caloric intakes.
 |
| Lean Guy John Berardi before IF |
 | ||
| Lean-er Guy John Berardi after IF see the PN Intermittent Fasting Book |
WORKING OUT with LESS
Lonnie Lowery is a champ of fasted lower intensity cardio. For some of us it's a revelation that we can also wake up and work out hard, fasted. For good or ill, almost all my workouts for the past year have been fasted; more than 90% have been fasted for the past 6 months, whether cardio or strength or the usual mix of both. Now, for muscle growth, that may not be optimal - not sure - though i am getting stronger etc. BUT it's interesting to note that it's really really fine to work out without fuel and to fuel up later, and that i feel fine. SoWE CAN WORKOUT WITHOUT FOOD AND NOT BREAK
We just may need to work up to that.One of the big payoffs of a day long fast: it can help bust a plateau - so many things can tho, it's just one way to get the scale moving again. But perhaps more than that, a fast can be about hedonic control - getting when we're eating because we want to eat rather than because we need to eat.
UNBREAKABLE -
The biggest realization/experience for me in exploring IF: we don't break if we're hungry. Hunger can be a distraction, but it doesn't need to be dysfunctional. Indeed, i found keeping busy lets time pass pretty easily.Why bother with Fasting?
We don't need to fast. The benefits - physiologically - of fasting it seems can be well experienced by eating better, both for weight loss and for general health. so why bother exploring this particular less? It's perhaps an Uber Less, isn't it? But sometimes, if we don't have our "better eating" practice nailed, well, fasting can give us a boost. And that can help build practice, too.Fasting can also be an interesting way to explore one's body - that one won't break - from not eating; that we can, indeed, thrive with less, and that seems a compelling, satisfying discovery. How bout you?
Related Articles
- Why i still dig Precision Nutrition to learn about me and food
- Geeking out with a fitbit, withings scale and Other Stuff to get Lean
- Protein the Magnificent
- A little Kettlebell Snatch work (the Viking Way) to enhance fat loss
Sunday, April 15, 2012
When is MORE more? - exploring the value of more reps and more time in physical practice.
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A few weeks ago, i wrote about exploring change by committing to change one thing - by doing one thing more; one thing less.
Over the past month i've been exploring a change in my physical practice in the MORE category - something i haven't really done before across the board. VOLUME - getting in the reps.
For the past 6 -9 months i've been mainly doing workouts of the Easy Strength variety (written about here over three posts). In easy strength there's 3-5 movements with max of ten reps per movement, usually 5 sets of two reps. Surprisingly effective. So i kept up with that.
So why change to volume work? And by volume, for me we're only talking about 100 reps per movement in sets of ten reps (where 12 would be failure). The following explores the benefits of MORE'ing up
Rehab takes Reps. My right shoulder has been giving me a hard time since december. Right after a significant bout of easy strength, i went back to RTK (for example) and heck if i didn't push it and not listen and well, thar ya go. My rehab progress was feeling very slow and limited. I had an interesting chat with shiatsu instructor and z-health coach Noel Norwick. He spoke of his own rehab being around doing lots of reps - not adding real load to his particular rehab issue until he had 10k of perfect pain free reps. He spoke about the body rebuilding trust, and that taking reps. He also cautioned to balance all the pressing work with similar pulling work - something i had not consciously done before.
So, as part of my MORE change, i have two rehab sessions a week where i'm just pressing 1000 reps with a very light load using bands on one day, and then pulling for 1000 reps with bands on another. It takes about 90 mins to get through in sets of 1000. I now have 3k of pulls and presses. And my shoulder seems to be really liking this work. It is quieter at other times. It's very much a form focus. It's also an interesting discipline to focus that long on that practice.
Noel cautioned about not jumping into that amount of volume without building up to it. The idea here is to reduce a threat response from the body - to help it relax and love the movement pattern rather than flinch with it. Very interesting.
Reps and Hypertrophy and Endurance - A core part of strength training is to build up some mass. While how to build muscle is still a bit of a mystery, one thing seems consistent: it takes reps with meaningful load and without full recovery between sets. Many folks will recognise 100 reps in sets of ten with limited recovery as German Volume Training (here's one version). I'm not doing this at a gym with typical kit. I'm doing this work with bodyweight and kettlebells. Why? because that's what i have. And actually, it's what i like.
My focus is rehab and strength building with balance, and a question mark around mass.
I am likely one of the least muscular looking people you will come across, so i am always dubious about any focus on hypertrophy for me. But strength is strength, and practice is practice, and if some kind of mass comes out of this, well, i'm ok with that.
Also, as has been noted by anyone looking at their load/recovery ratios, there's a very fine line between hypertrophy training and endurance training. Both kinds of strength contribute to stamina. In most sports programs, hypertrophy and endurance are the base platforms for more focussed strength work or more focused athletic pursuits.
Right now, where i'm at with rehab, and my own bodyweight practice, MORE reps seems quite alright. As i am keen as weel just to build More.
Time. Many of us often see getting a work out in as quickly as possible as a plus. Over the past few months i've been refocusing on spending more time working out - a minimum of five hours a week.
There are a bunch of reasons for the five minimum, and keeping daily count of minutes spend focused on physical practice, but one of these is fundamentally that i have an otherwise pretty sedentary life. Being an academic is not about heavy lifting; using a standing desk is about as physically demanding as it gets - with lighter laptops even carrying a computer to work isn't the workout it used to be. So getting in as much movement as i can seems a good thing. Plugging away for 30 - 90 mins of effort per day seems a good commitment to myself. Tracking that, seems worthwhile. This focus right now on MORE reps certainly lends itself to getting in the time.
If i find that i'm finished a main workout before an hour is up, well, there's alway ab work - one can always get another ten sets of ten of something and at that point in a workout lying on my back feels pretty good. In the MORE focus, everything counts that can be counted. It's easy to find something to do that is still work, and appropriate for the energy i have remaining.
My first exploration of more was focusing on a variant of Kenneth Jay's beast protocol to develop my kettlebell press in particular. That effort became part of a series called "the perfect rep quest".
This most recent exploration of MORE in terms of overall reps, was also inspired by Kenneth Jay, this time from a conversation talking about hypertrophy as a foundation for strength, and looking at what he'd been doing as part of his workouts - and it came around to this version of german volume training.
Kenneth has some interesting ways to get into load for the press in particular (a personal bete noir) - his Perfecting the Press is well worth exploring.
The main things i'm looking for, tho, is strength/rehab changes.
As said, my shoulder is liking the mega reps of rehab day and seemingly the one arm push up work. In terms of strength my main adaptations so far are going from my pursuit of a one arm push up from knees-based one arm with the other arm/hand at my hip, to this same position for my 100 push ups from the full plank. Now that is fricking work to do ten sets of ten of those. Other stuff, like squats and rows it's speed and recovery. soon it will be moving up on load. so progress.
In terms of stamina, my 16kg snatch is feeling more relaxed. There, i'm doing ten / ten a side, then a pause. My goal there is to get to 100 going ten ten as effortlessly as 10/10 with the pause feels. Funny thing, the snatch feels really good on the shoulder. That's a surprise.
I'm also easily getting my time in for the workouts. For recovery between sets, for the past week and a bit, i'm doing eye work: reading charts at ten feet away as per this previous post. Speed is picking up there, too, it seems.
Weight One thing that is a bit of a surprise and that may mean i am putting on a bit of mass is that my weight has kinda stabilised up a bit, despite not really changing my diet. I'm not sure what to think about that. I've only been using the scale and a tape measure of late. Perhaps i'll pull out the callipers anon and really see what's what there.
Will that be sarcoplasmic or myofibrillar hypertrophy? You'll note i haven't spoken at all about hypertophy is mainly sarcroplasmic muscle and therefore useless because it's not increasing myofibrillar muscle tissue? Because a big part of me just wants to say "oh please - what a problem to have!" For one thing, we really can't get one type of muscle building without the other. Really - it seems the sarcoplasm will also increase even with "strength" focused work. Please consider the interview with Triple double beast presser Ken Froese. Trees. They are the circumference of mature hardwoods. A cross section of Ken's biceps would show good ratios of sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar tissue.
Dan John will talk in easy strength about hypertrophy as the Elephant in the Room when talking about strength, and yet how important it is as part of "building armour". Indeed, Dan has an interesting take on German Volume Training himself - by playing with set/rep schemes. Why? because getting some of the goodness of hypertrophy is a good thing. One might also find his "high rep squat" program for mass interesting
Tendon Time And just to make a key note about GVT, German Volume Training focuses on compound (multi-joint) lifts. *I* focus on multi-joint lifts. Whether i'm getting bigger or not, I am getting stronger. I am getting well-er in my shoulder (again), and so whatever may also be happening with my connective tissues could be a good thing.
Indeed, one of the things we need to note about connective tissue is that it SEEMS to grow slower than muscle. Perhaps that's why injury can happen - it's easy to muscle the reps; less easy to build the supporting tissue. Perhaps GVT type approaches let us have the side effect of tendon time. And that's a good thing, too.
Volume is OK
I seem to recall reading somewhere at some point that it's not good to spend more than 45 mins in the weight room. Have you ever seen that? I used to believe that. Right, light three groups of EDT for instance, for 45 and you're fried. check. And yup when i've done protocols like RTK, that are 45 mins long, yup, i feel cooked at that point too. RTK can be quite volume-ish, as well, with five ladders being 15 reps - for five sets - but i digress
The thing is - at leaset it seems to be - that it is also quite possible and reasonable to put time into working out for an hour; that one can workout for an hour every day, and still recover, and still gain changes we seek by picking the right stuff to do for that hour that challenges for adaptation and allows for recovery.
MENTAL GAME
This alls sounds so basic, doesn't it? Perhaps some of you are going there is nothing new here; this is how i train all the time. That's cool. Good for you. I suppose i'm coming from a place of oooo intervals are more beneficial than steady; heavier loads for fewer reps for strength etc. Yes sure, but maybe not always. Some times exploring the more endurance side of adaptation is rewarding. I'm finding it so right now. Can i do those last couple of sets? Do i have the *mental* game to bring to thirty more reps (my wall seems to be set 7). Every time i do, it's like, well, that was cool.
I'm not sure if there'll be a greater lessen than this, but just that MORE is possible; we won't break, done sanely, and it can take us in new ways to new places - like improving vision while improving strength.
Please let me know if you explore this one thing more of volume.
While this post has looked at change one thing to MORE, the next episode of this series will look at doing one thing LESS in the change one thing approach to performance and behaviour change, in particular the experience with eating less - less food, less frequently - and not breaking.
Related Posts
Over the past month i've been exploring a change in my physical practice in the MORE category - something i haven't really done before across the board. VOLUME - getting in the reps.
For the past 6 -9 months i've been mainly doing workouts of the Easy Strength variety (written about here over three posts). In easy strength there's 3-5 movements with max of ten reps per movement, usually 5 sets of two reps. Surprisingly effective. So i kept up with that.
So why change to volume work? And by volume, for me we're only talking about 100 reps per movement in sets of ten reps (where 12 would be failure). The following explores the benefits of MORE'ing up
 |
| More reps with intent - that's what quality is all about. |
Form Practice; Balance; Hypertrophy/Endurance; Time
To learn a move, we must practice the move. That practice takes reps. I've had good experience swapping high reps with a movement for practice one day a week, and then few, heavy reps in that movement another day of the week. I've also seen folks like Asha Wagner do very well on a consistent diet of high reps at middle loads.Rehab takes Reps. My right shoulder has been giving me a hard time since december. Right after a significant bout of easy strength, i went back to RTK (for example) and heck if i didn't push it and not listen and well, thar ya go. My rehab progress was feeling very slow and limited. I had an interesting chat with shiatsu instructor and z-health coach Noel Norwick. He spoke of his own rehab being around doing lots of reps - not adding real load to his particular rehab issue until he had 10k of perfect pain free reps. He spoke about the body rebuilding trust, and that taking reps. He also cautioned to balance all the pressing work with similar pulling work - something i had not consciously done before.
So, as part of my MORE change, i have two rehab sessions a week where i'm just pressing 1000 reps with a very light load using bands on one day, and then pulling for 1000 reps with bands on another. It takes about 90 mins to get through in sets of 1000. I now have 3k of pulls and presses. And my shoulder seems to be really liking this work. It is quieter at other times. It's very much a form focus. It's also an interesting discipline to focus that long on that practice.
Noel cautioned about not jumping into that amount of volume without building up to it. The idea here is to reduce a threat response from the body - to help it relax and love the movement pattern rather than flinch with it. Very interesting.
Reps and Hypertrophy and Endurance - A core part of strength training is to build up some mass. While how to build muscle is still a bit of a mystery, one thing seems consistent: it takes reps with meaningful load and without full recovery between sets. Many folks will recognise 100 reps in sets of ten with limited recovery as German Volume Training (here's one version). I'm not doing this at a gym with typical kit. I'm doing this work with bodyweight and kettlebells. Why? because that's what i have. And actually, it's what i like.
My focus is rehab and strength building with balance, and a question mark around mass.
I am likely one of the least muscular looking people you will come across, so i am always dubious about any focus on hypertrophy for me. But strength is strength, and practice is practice, and if some kind of mass comes out of this, well, i'm ok with that.
Also, as has been noted by anyone looking at their load/recovery ratios, there's a very fine line between hypertrophy training and endurance training. Both kinds of strength contribute to stamina. In most sports programs, hypertrophy and endurance are the base platforms for more focussed strength work or more focused athletic pursuits.
Right now, where i'm at with rehab, and my own bodyweight practice, MORE reps seems quite alright. As i am keen as weel just to build More.
Time. Many of us often see getting a work out in as quickly as possible as a plus. Over the past few months i've been refocusing on spending more time working out - a minimum of five hours a week.
There are a bunch of reasons for the five minimum, and keeping daily count of minutes spend focused on physical practice, but one of these is fundamentally that i have an otherwise pretty sedentary life. Being an academic is not about heavy lifting; using a standing desk is about as physically demanding as it gets - with lighter laptops even carrying a computer to work isn't the workout it used to be. So getting in as much movement as i can seems a good thing. Plugging away for 30 - 90 mins of effort per day seems a good commitment to myself. Tracking that, seems worthwhile. This focus right now on MORE reps certainly lends itself to getting in the time.
If i find that i'm finished a main workout before an hour is up, well, there's alway ab work - one can always get another ten sets of ten of something and at that point in a workout lying on my back feels pretty good. In the MORE focus, everything counts that can be counted. It's easy to find something to do that is still work, and appropriate for the energy i have remaining.
Conversation with Kenneth Jay
It's funny how things cycle.My first exploration of more was focusing on a variant of Kenneth Jay's beast protocol to develop my kettlebell press in particular. That effort became part of a series called "the perfect rep quest".This most recent exploration of MORE in terms of overall reps, was also inspired by Kenneth Jay, this time from a conversation talking about hypertrophy as a foundation for strength, and looking at what he'd been doing as part of his workouts - and it came around to this version of german volume training.
Kenneth has some interesting ways to get into load for the press in particular (a personal bete noir) - his Perfecting the Press is well worth exploring.
Take Aways
The two big take aways here for improvement are- - reps reps reps - the inescapable value of reps to learn more about the shape and form of a movement.
- - time spend with mid-challenging load does good things for what ails ya.
Effects
One of the supposed biggies of 10 by 10 for 100 GVT is hypertrophy, but i have so little to go by, i'm really not a fair sample. I've only been doing this a month and a bit and it does seem that my arms are a wee bit larger, and my butt is a wee bit smaller.The main things i'm looking for, tho, is strength/rehab changes.
As said, my shoulder is liking the mega reps of rehab day and seemingly the one arm push up work. In terms of strength my main adaptations so far are going from my pursuit of a one arm push up from knees-based one arm with the other arm/hand at my hip, to this same position for my 100 push ups from the full plank. Now that is fricking work to do ten sets of ten of those. Other stuff, like squats and rows it's speed and recovery. soon it will be moving up on load. so progress.
In terms of stamina, my 16kg snatch is feeling more relaxed. There, i'm doing ten / ten a side, then a pause. My goal there is to get to 100 going ten ten as effortlessly as 10/10 with the pause feels. Funny thing, the snatch feels really good on the shoulder. That's a surprise.
I'm also easily getting my time in for the workouts. For recovery between sets, for the past week and a bit, i'm doing eye work: reading charts at ten feet away as per this previous post. Speed is picking up there, too, it seems.
Weight One thing that is a bit of a surprise and that may mean i am putting on a bit of mass is that my weight has kinda stabilised up a bit, despite not really changing my diet. I'm not sure what to think about that. I've only been using the scale and a tape measure of late. Perhaps i'll pull out the callipers anon and really see what's what there.
Will that be sarcoplasmic or myofibrillar hypertrophy? You'll note i haven't spoken at all about hypertophy is mainly sarcroplasmic muscle and therefore useless because it's not increasing myofibrillar muscle tissue? Because a big part of me just wants to say "oh please - what a problem to have!" For one thing, we really can't get one type of muscle building without the other. Really - it seems the sarcoplasm will also increase even with "strength" focused work. Please consider the interview with Triple double beast presser Ken Froese. Trees. They are the circumference of mature hardwoods. A cross section of Ken's biceps would show good ratios of sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar tissue.
Dan John will talk in easy strength about hypertrophy as the Elephant in the Room when talking about strength, and yet how important it is as part of "building armour". Indeed, Dan has an interesting take on German Volume Training himself - by playing with set/rep schemes. Why? because getting some of the goodness of hypertrophy is a good thing. One might also find his "high rep squat" program for mass interesting
Tendon Time And just to make a key note about GVT, German Volume Training focuses on compound (multi-joint) lifts. *I* focus on multi-joint lifts. Whether i'm getting bigger or not, I am getting stronger. I am getting well-er in my shoulder (again), and so whatever may also be happening with my connective tissues could be a good thing.
Indeed, one of the things we need to note about connective tissue is that it SEEMS to grow slower than muscle. Perhaps that's why injury can happen - it's easy to muscle the reps; less easy to build the supporting tissue. Perhaps GVT type approaches let us have the side effect of tendon time. And that's a good thing, too.
Summary: Explore More; more can be good
For my latest one MORE thing, i've committed to exploring volume - if that means lesser loads but more of them, that's cool. If that means getting up a bit earlier for a longer workout, that seems to be cool, too. the best part right now is my shoulder seems to be liking this, and my very SLOW progress towards my one arm push up seems to be proceeding.Volume is OK
I seem to recall reading somewhere at some point that it's not good to spend more than 45 mins in the weight room. Have you ever seen that? I used to believe that. Right, light three groups of EDT for instance, for 45 and you're fried. check. And yup when i've done protocols like RTK, that are 45 mins long, yup, i feel cooked at that point too. RTK can be quite volume-ish, as well, with five ladders being 15 reps - for five sets - but i digress
The thing is - at leaset it seems to be - that it is also quite possible and reasonable to put time into working out for an hour; that one can workout for an hour every day, and still recover, and still gain changes we seek by picking the right stuff to do for that hour that challenges for adaptation and allows for recovery.
MENTAL GAME
This alls sounds so basic, doesn't it? Perhaps some of you are going there is nothing new here; this is how i train all the time. That's cool. Good for you. I suppose i'm coming from a place of oooo intervals are more beneficial than steady; heavier loads for fewer reps for strength etc. Yes sure, but maybe not always. Some times exploring the more endurance side of adaptation is rewarding. I'm finding it so right now. Can i do those last couple of sets? Do i have the *mental* game to bring to thirty more reps (my wall seems to be set 7). Every time i do, it's like, well, that was cool.
I'm not sure if there'll be a greater lessen than this, but just that MORE is possible; we won't break, done sanely, and it can take us in new ways to new places - like improving vision while improving strength.
Please let me know if you explore this one thing more of volume.
While this post has looked at change one thing to MORE, the next episode of this series will look at doing one thing LESS in the change one thing approach to performance and behaviour change, in particular the experience with eating less - less food, less frequently - and not breaking.
Related Posts
- the amazing engineering that is the shoulder
- Dan John, Interview: Strength Matters II
- Intervention - dan john overview
- Kenneth Jay, Viking Warrior Conditioning interview
- When a shoulder issue may be a wrist issue
- Letting go of goals
- Motivation - alternative perspective -it's a skill
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