Your Body Hates You

The above statement is one that I like to use often, and is one that I "stole" from Lyle McDonald.

I like to use it whenever someone asks me why it's a bad idea to not eat when trying to lose weight (more specifically fat). I can understand the rationale of some people who feel that the best way to lose weight is to just flat out not eat. It makes complete sense, really. I mean if someone has around 40 lbs of fat to lose, surely the body will just use the excess fat as fuel and burn it off faster than Britney Spears can totally bomb her big "comeback."

Thing is your body hates you and is waaaaaay smarter than you. When you reduce calories too low, the body doesn't realize that you're doing so in order to look good in a bathing suit. It views this drastic drop in caloric intake as you going into starvation mode, and it will do everything in its power to keep that from happening. How?

One word: Leptin

Leptin is a protein based hormone that is made in your fat cells (of all places) and one of its main jobs is to communicate information to your brain (via leptin receptors located on fat cells), such as how much body fat you have and how many calories you're currently taking in per day. The more body fat one has or the more calories he or she is taking in per day, the more leptin that is floating around in the body; and vice versa. It should be noted that caloric intake controls leptin levels a bit more than overall body fat levels.

To make a long (and very complicated) story short, when someone drastically reduces their caloric intake in an attempt to shed body fat, leptin levels can drop as much as 50% within 1-2 days. As a result, the body goes into "panic" mode and sends a signal to your brain that you're starving and will basically go into preservation mode telling your body to starting storing fat (rather than burning it off). Side note: your body will also start burning off muscle, which is the last thing you want it to do. This is why diets that call for a drastic reduction in calories or when someone basically doesn't eat in the hopes of shedding body fat doesn't work in the long run.

Obviously there are many other variables that I could (and should) elaborate on, but the resounding conclusion to take home is that you can not go against millions of years of human evolution and expect to come out the winner when following less than optimal protocols.

So what is one to do?

Well for starters, don't listen to anyone who wears sunglasses indoors. It's dumb and they should not be trusted. Secondly, take dieting breaks every few weeks and bring caloric levels back up to maintenance levels. Doing so will not only keep you sane, but will provide many physiological advantages as well (bringing leptin levels back up to normal). Thirdly, lift weights. What makes muscle, keeps muscle. Don't be lame and lift pink dumbbells for 20 reps or go out and run a marathon everyday (ever notice how those people still kind of look "skinny fat?"). Go to the gym, lift some heavy weights, scare people, and go home.

Q: Hey Tony, I've read your "The Rule of 90%" article and have started incorporating more lifts above 90% into my programming, however I am little perplexed as to when (or if) I should include any cardio during the week (ie: John Berardi's "G-Flux" approach). Do you have any thoughts?

A: First off, I'm glad you liked the article. I've said it before, and I will say it again: if one of your goals is to get strong, you NEED to include more lifts above 90% into your programming. Performing 5x5 will only take you so far. Many intermediate and advanced trainees miss the boat in this regard. For those not familiar with what I am talking about, read the article for crying out loud (wink).

As far as your question pertaining to cardio (I'm just going to assume you're referring to high intensity intervals); absolutely you can include it in your weekly schedule. The key is to just know how to control your CNS (Central Nervous System) intensive training. Training over 90% is pretty taxing on the CNS, as is going out and running sprints on a football field. The objective here is to try to "condense" your CNS intensive training so that you're not running yourself into the ground every week (pun intended).

I'm a firm advocate that most trainees should give themselves at least 1-2 days of complete rest per week. The problem is, most people will train everyday to some degree not realizing that they're stunting their progress from training too much (fatigue will always masks one's true fitness level). I'll give you an example from my own weekly breakdown.

Monday: Lower Body (DE Squat)
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday: AM: Sprints, PM: Upper Body (ME Bench)
Thursday: Lower Body (ME Squat/Deadlift)
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Upper Body (DE Bench)
Sunday: AM: Sprints

Rather than sprint on Tuesday, I just take that day off and perform a quick AM session on Wednesday because I know the sprints won't necessarily affect my upper body workout later that night. Ideally I should perform my other day of sprints on Friday, but I like to train with my girlfriend on Sundays and we go to the track together and run our sprints (awwwww).

On my OFF days, I still may do some light walking or extra mobility work in the gym, but I do NO CNS intensive training on those days.

If you're just looking to include a few easy sessions of steady state cardio in per week, I see no reason why you couldn't include a brief 15-20 minute "cardio session" after your upper body days.

They?

“They” say that performing fasted state cardio is the best way to shed fat. “They” also say that diets high(er) in protein are going to make your kidneys explode and that squats are bad for your knees . Who are they? I have no idea. Can you please point me in the direction of where “they” are so that I can have a little word with them (ie: drop kick them across the face).

I hate it when people refer to “they.” A past client of mine was adamant that training in the morning on an empty stomach was a sure fire way to burn off a ton of body fat. To quote him, “they said it was the best thing to do to get into shape.” Upon asking him who “they” were, he said, “my coaches back in college………..15 years ago.” Meanwhile this client was 40 lbs overweight, so his approach obviously worked really well for him (pssst: in case you didn’t catch on, I was being sarcastic just then).

Seriously who are “they”? I have an inkling that “they” are the registered dieticians and personal trainers who haven’t picked up a book in over ten years. “They” are also the hundreds of online gurus who have never trained one person in their lives, let alone be able to perform a deep squat without looking like their going to break their back. FYI: just because your post count is over 10,000 on four different forums, doesn’t make you an expert on anything except not having anything better to do; and yes, you're wrong.

Been Awhile

A lot has happened since I last blogged.

1. Went to Vegas (yes, I survived my first plane ride) and dropped $80 gambling. The girlfriend, however, won $800. Needless to say dinner was on her the last few nights we were there.

2. Lost 7 lbs in a week due to moving and getting into an accident while moving. Read: moving sucks donkey balls.

3. Been training a lot of athletes in the new facility, which has been a blast and has taken up the majority of my time obviously.

One of the cool things about the new facility is that we have been having a few people here and there stop by to observe and see how we operate. Last week I was discussing program design with one such person and he asked, "what are some of the main variables you take into consideration when designing a program for an athlete?"

Simple answer: decide what they should NOT be doing, and go from there. A great example would be baseball players. The vast majority do not need to be performing overhead movements, and we tend to exclude any overhead pressing (more specifically any BARBELL pressing) into their programming. We do allow pressing movements, but most entail the use of dumbbells, and with a neutral grip. Barbells lock "us" into a pronated grip, which promotes a bit more internal rotation of the glenohumeral joint. By having our baseball players stick to dumbbells or any bar which allows for a NEUTRAL grip, they're able to get a bit more external rotation, and thus "save" their shoulder.

Certainly there are a plethora of other variables that go into program design, but trying to figure out which movements a certain athlete or client shouldn't be doing will make the job much easier in the long run.