Tuesday Jan 31/12

Interesting post from http://www.fitfordutyinc.com/

Quick Reference Guide to Carb Intake

Workout:

A. Sumo-Deadlift; Work up to a 5RM (max weight you can safely do 5 reps)

B1. Back Extension; 3 x 10 reps

B2. Max rep chinups (x3 sets)

C. 3-5x

• One hand Farmer Walk- foam jug or heavier (57st- back and forth b/t bay doors 2x, 58st- there and back length of hallway. Every turn you make switch hands)
• Max Rep Pushups
• 60s rest b/t rounds

* If your posture starts to go when doing the FW then finish the set and call it a day. This is intended to improve your strength in an advantageous position, not teach you bad carrying positions!

D. Cooldown/Stretch

Friday Jan 26/12

A. Back Squat; 3 sets of 5 reps- add 5-10# to last workout

(*If you are doing the program as I emailed it out you can do these but, if you are doing your workouts on just work days then do Sumo-Deadlifts and build to a heavy/max set of 5 reps.)

B1. Bench Press; 3 sets of 5 reps

- pick a heavyish wt. and stick with it for all 3 sets.

B2. While resting from BP do: One Arm DB Row; 3 sets of 10 reps

- Palm facing back, elbow out, shoulder pulled down toward back pocket- should feel it b/t shoulder blades

C. 3x

Max Knee Raise Hold @ just above 90 degrees- hands on bench

Max Rep Chinups (palms facing you)

60s rest

D. 30s on 30s off x 4-8 (per arm):

One Arm Farmer Walk- jug of foam or greater

- alternate arms for each 30s work period.

Monday Jan. 23/12

Workout:

A. Squat; 3 sets of 5 reps- after warming up choose 1 wt. and stick with it for all 3 sets, should be a bit tough but achievable for today. Can use Goblet squat, front squat etc. but Back squat is ideal.

B. Shoulder Press; 3 sets of 5 reps- same gig as above but only options are barbell (ideal) or dumbells.

C1. Lower Abs- Alternating leg lower; 3 sets for as long as you have quality movement- lay on back and put hand under low back (below bellybutton), crush hand with lower back while alternating raising your legs with knees bent at 90 deg. Once you feel the pressure lessen on your hands stop the set.... this will most likely happen pretty quick.

C2. While resting low abs:
Bar dips- 10-15 reps- use assistance or weight in order to make 10-15 reps a good burn.

D. KB Swings- As many sets as you can keep the pace and form of:
10 KB Swings; 10s rest
you choose the weight and don't change it once you start.

Get to sleep!

Here is an interesting article on the effects of sleep deprivation- effecting insulin resistance:

One Sleepless Night Can Induce Insulin Resistance in Healthy People

What is insulin resistance? Let's ask the nice people down at wikipedia:

Insulin resistance (IR) is a physiological condition where the natural hormone insulin becomes less effective at lowering blood sugars. The resulting increase in blood glucose may raise levels outside the normal range and cause adverse health effects, depending on dietary conditions. Certain cell types such as fat and muscle cells require insulin to absorb glucose. When these cells fail to respond adequately to circulating insulin, blood glucose levels rise. The liver helps regulate glucose levels by reducing its secretion of glucose in the presence of insulin. This normal reduction in the liver’s glucose production may not occur in people with insulin resistance

So, what does this have to do with us?

Ever notice how when you wake up after a night with a few calls that interrupted sleep or just when you had a bad sleep at home the tendency to drink coffee and each sugarry/starchy carbs goes up? In fact you may even crave them? Not too surprising right? Energy is low so I want to get a quick boost to get going.

Here is the problem- if you are sleep deprived to a certain degree and according to the above info now "more" insulin resistant when you eat those carbs your body has a hard time dealing with them- blood sugar goes up and insulin is unable to regulate glucose levels in the blood. NOT GOOD.

Why not good?

On the surface- you will get fat(ter)- particularily in the upper back and midsection (around the organs)

In the head- your ability to control appitite decreases- insulin is a huge player in appitite regulation

On the inside- cholesterol levels rise and triglycerides rise and so does the incedence of Type 2 Diabetes

Not sure about this? Google terms like "sleep deprivation insulin", "insulin resistance body fat", "insulin appitite regulation"

The approach-

Hard night?... or anytime really...

- keep carb choices as veggie as possible- as opposed to grains/fruit etc to help manage BGL

- If you're gonna work out, keep it fairly tame, this is a bad day to go smash yourself with a 40min CF killer

- GET TO BED, sure at work we don't have a choice about how much sleep we get but you do at home. Shut the TV off and hit the rack.

- the time for taking in those starchy carbs like sw. potato/rice etc. is right after that workout... but take it easy. You don't want to undo the good!

Tuesday Jan 10/11

So, how's it going now?

When getting started on a challenge, program, life change etc. some people can get frustrated about the process. Either it's too much work, results aren't instant or there is a deep down fear of not winning or doing what you set out to so reverting to old habits or not even adopting new ones tends to happen....then at the end of it all the change that was being sought never really materializes. Sometimes that actually looks like the person is intentionally railroading his/herself.

It may seem weird to you if you are one of these people that feels this way, but the thing is that it is really quite common.

Whether you're blocking your own shots, sincerely having a hard time doing it or making a good go of it I feel it is necessary to remind you:

IF YOU DON'T CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE DOING YOU WON'T GET THE CHANGE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.

Take it day to day and try to make at least one positive change per day- remember, it's QUALITY not quatity that makes the real differences.

It seems like food should be "common sense", but with the diet/nutirition scene trying to get rich it is hard to decipher what's what these days.

I know that some may think I'm a bit kooky on my thoughts on food, especially carbs. I think though that my viewpoint has a good basic underpinning.

Carbs- The less refined the better, if you can pick it and eat it.... well you're good to go.

Protien- Meat baby.... our best sources of protein either had a face or were intended to.

Fat- Well, this is probably my least understood area (and most people I think) but try to limit Omega 6, make sure to get wild meat regularily (or else get some omega 3) and whenever possible use coconut products. And saturated fat in your food will not kill you.

Carbs:

How do I focus on quality with carbs?

Here is a sample progression from what I feel is a less good choice to a more ideal choice (note all choices have an equal content of carbs - 10g)

1. 2 TBSP of Ketchup - 1/2 c of Salsa (brand dependant)

2. 1/2 slice of bread - 1/2 Apple - 3 c of broccoli

3. 1/5 c of rice - 1/3 Banana - 1/3 c of baked Sw. potato - 20 c raw spinach (3.5 c cooked)

.....

I know for me, if I am going to eat I want to eat a bunch and get full. Now to some degree I know I should teach myself to take it easy at times but the reality is that when you eat say 90% of your meals with only veggie type carbs then you are laughing. It is extremely hard to over-eat veggies.

So, are you wanting change? Well let's make some change in the quality department. Why starve when you can eat well and enjoy the benefits of all the added nutrition in the rainbow of veggies in the store??

For the rest of this week, work on breakfast and lunch. Take a look at what is getting put in front of you and make a decision to cause change-

TRADE UP FOR VEGGIES!

How's the workout dept. going? Here is something for you if you need it:

A1. Back Squat; 5,5,5; 2:00 rest

A2. While resting go and do as many chinups in one set as you can (no bands, if needed do 10-12 with feet on a bench)

B1. Bench Press; 5,5,5; 2:00 rest.

B2. While resting do One Arm DB Rows; 10,10, 10

C. Deadlift; work up to one heavy set of 5 reps.

Time left? Bike/Walk/Row at conversational pace for 5-10 mins.

Get a good stretch.

Saturday Jan. 7/12

How's the progress going??? Would be a good idea to birng your cash tomorrow with you to the holiday picking Battle Royal!

We're well into week one of the new year and that means that your your sights should be locked on your goal(s)... besides winning, do you have any specific goals? No matter how much someone can harp on you to eat right, train hard etc. it is really all misguided and pretty well useless without having clear direction of where you want to go. What I have found is that people typically have a hard time admitting to what their goals are or are unable to figure out what a good goal should be.

"Winning the contest" doesn't cut it. You need real, tangible goals so that you can use your results to see how close you are to achieving them, or how much you have exceeded them.

Looking at losing some body fat? I suspect this is on the list, but as a general rule of thumb the way I look at it is if you are a dud and your BF% is over 10% then you should be making this a priority and keeping it there until you are below that 10%. Sound crazy? Maybe, but it is realistic- for everyone. The timelines will vary from person to person and so will the training and nutrition protocols to get there. Good thing is- the earlier in the game it is the more generic the Rx is.

Generic Firefighter Rx for losing fat and gaining strength:

Food:
Protein- 1g of protien per lb of body weight.... do it. (1oz of lean meat = ~7g of Protein)
Carbs- Hit veggies as main source of carbs, for all meals and snacks (try to max out at like 100g of carb a day). You want results? Then do it first and ask questions later.
Fat- It's required, so eat it. No need to get crazy though- a bit at each feeding will do, preferrably from avacado/coconut/low omega 6 varieties.

Training:
Get strong. As your muscle mass goes up so does:
- metabolism
- testosterone
- insulin sensitivity
- ability to prevent injury
- stamina
- .....the size of your muscles.... this definitely equates to better before/after pics
*Basically BF goes down and muscle goes up= more healthy

The problems that come with the "cardio + starve" diet (as I see them):
- decreased muscle mass (note what an increase in muscle mass did for you)
- increased estrogen in your system.... no, that isn't very good
- increased rates of injury
- increased tendency for body to hoard body fat as fuel
*BF goes up or stays same and muscle goes down = less healthy, and less effective at kickin' a@# on the fire ground.

SO how do you get strong?

Learn to Squat and Deadlift- these are the money movements to get where you want to go.

Each workout you do,, I would start off by doing some squats- sets of 5 are a great place to start- build until they get tough then do 2 more sets at that wt.

Then, do a couple big upper body movement: Bench Press & One Arm DB Rows, or Pullups & Shoulder press- again sets of 5

Then, do some deadlifts (build to 3 mod. heavy reps that are perfect) or this is where you could add some sprint type intervals.

*Intervals- These should be high intensity and for short bouts. If you are going for more than 1.5-2 mins then pick up your nickers and go faster. Intensity is the key here. Keep em' breif and hard and you'll be laughing all the way to the bank!

Fight Club 2012: Post #1- Its not the size, but how you use it baby! (food that is!)

It’s shift 1 of the fitness challenge and like I said before I will be focusing more on food than workouts on the blog for a bit.... so here we go.

Best rule of thumb that I can think of is- It’s QUALITY not QUANTITY that should be the main concern. What I’ve found in my clients and in reading up on the topic is that when you base it around good quality* foods it is hard to eat too much (calorie wise) and you end up with loads of vitamins and minerals to help with the de-tox effect of burning extra fat.

As far as quantity goes, well there are a few peices that I will throw out there off the hop because they are pretty good accross the board for ppl working out looking to get better at stuff while dropping some fat:

Protein- Strive for 1g of Prot. per POUND OF CURRENT BODY WEIGHT a day. Do it.... Do it. This, I feel should be the priority for your meals. (One ounce of meat has about 7g of protein.

Carbs- Try to keep the carbs to say 50-150g a day, and primarily veggies. Doesn’t sound like much does it? Well I tell ya what, try and see if you can eat that much from just veggies in conjunction with eating your rx of protein for the day. If you are not interested in losing fat then let me know and we can tweak this for you.

Fat- a bit. No need to eat the costco tub of almonds each week, that just won’t work. Keep in moderation and don’t be scared of it.


* What do I mean by Qaulity?
I’m sure you can guess, but here is the reader’s digest version:

- The closer it is to picked or shot the better.
For protein sources typically if it had a face or was intended to (eggs) then it’s good to go- it will have complete protein sources with all the necessary amino acids that we need (that cannot be said for most if not all veggie sources). If losing body fat is one of your goals then I would also lose the protein powders, at least for a bit. I have tried this with ppl from time to time and it still isn’t as effective as good ol’ meat to get the trick done.
For your carb sources, if there is an ingredients list on it and it has more than 1 ingredient... ditch it. Processed foods carry many extra ingredients in them that typically are not great for us and are low in nutrient content. Also with the carb situation that even if there is only one ingredient in it (such as wheat flour, corn starch etc.) and it has been processed down and further increases the insulin effect on your body (not desirable when losing BF).
Fat should be “sprinkled”. At the end of the day calories do count for a bit but the main concern is getting good fats, in as much of a balance as possible. I like to think of it like this- If it is something like ground beef or a fatty peice of meat then don’t add fat to the meal, but if there is only really lean meat sources like chicken breast then why not add a bit of fat to the salad or nuts on the side?
Eat when you are hungry. This can be taken off track pretty easy but the thing is when you eat stick to having a meal and whenever that is have all three- Protein Fat and Carbs. We don’t need to eat 6 times a day, seriously. 3-4 good size meals are fine and typically serve life better as we aren’t in the kitchen as often.

I know this approach might be contrary to what some would want to hear but the reality is is that there are lots and lots of people improving their lives on account of this type of diet everywhere, I hope you will give it a shot and see how you do.

So, here’s the challenge for you. I want you to try this for AT LEAST the first 30 days of the challenge:
Eat meat (lots), veggies (lots), nuts and seeds ( a bit), a bit of fruit (the less the better)
Avoid like the plague: Grains (wheat, rice etc), Dairy (all types), and legumes (beans, soy, peanuts etc.)

This should do for now and get me a bunch of questions rolling. If this sounds like something that will kill you from the saturated fat I encourage you to go get your doc to do some tests right away so that you can compare afterward to see for yourself that this will help you move your markers in the right direction..... actually, even if you don’t care it would be good to do it anyway- it would be interesting to see, don’t you think?

Each shift I will putting more info up to deepen this conversation. If there is a particular area that you feel you want extra focus on then let me know and we’ll see what we can do.

HAPPY HUNTING!

I will also stop puttin g a workout up, but here is one to get you rolling:

A. Back Squat; Work up to a heavy set of 5 reps, then repeat this wt. for 2 more sets of 5. (can be goblet squats instead)

B. Chinups- 3x max reps (use assistance if unable to get at least 10 reps on first set, foot/feet on bench is preferred over using bands)

C. Practice the deadlift; work up to one heavy set of 5 reps (while keeping good form and happy back)

D. Get a good stretch, trouble areas first.