THE DRAWBACKS OF CONVENTIONAL WEIGHT TRAINING SPLIT ROUTINES

By now you must have gotten a pretty good idea that I am a proponent of strength or weight or resistance training. Having been doing some form of resistance training since my 20’s I have always been drawn to lifting weights over, say, running on the treadmill (although at one point in my life I was addicted to running). But I have always stuck to conventional methods of training perpetuated by the bodybuilding community.  In the past few years, thanks partly to CrossFit, I got interested in the Olympic style of weight training or functional strength training and realized it was much more taxing on my system not only metabolically but also mentally. So how does functional strength training differ from the conventional exercises in the gym? Well for one you get much more work done per unit time doing, for example Olympic lifts, than perhaps a shoulder press or bench press. Let me clarify what I mean by that. The technical definition of work is the force times the distance moved (W=F*d), or the amount of weight you move times the distance it moves. So if you take the example of bench pressing 100lbs . The amount of work you do bench pressing this weight over a distance of 15 inches (20 inches if you have long arms) is 1500 force units (ignore the mixed up units for now). Now take the same weight moved in a Olympic snatch. The weight moves all the way from the ground to the top of your head over extended arms which would be about 6.5 ft (for an average 5.5 ft person). That would be 78 inches. So the amount of work done would be 7800 force units. So the work done is about 6 times more for the snatch vs the bench press. So basically I would have done the same amount of work in 1/6^th the time doing the snatch vs. doing the bench press. So instead of spending one hour in the gym I can get the same work done in 10 minutes. 

That’s just one part of it. The second and more important part is functional vs. specialized strength. Just to give you an example consider a guy in the gym that does countless sets of shoulder presses and bicep and tricep curls on the shiny machines and is ready for prime time on the beach with his impressive body but after he packs his suitcase to head out for a weekend trip to the beaches of Miami he throws his back out while putting that suitcase in the airplane’s overhead cabin and ends up in the hospital instead. Alright that example is a bit extreme but you get the drift. Basically his training methods are making him some impressive muscles but are not making his body any more ‘intelligent’ in the sense that his body is not able to put the strength to any real life functional use. This is the biggest gripe I have with the current system of training that’s perpetuated by the bodybuilding community that trains a body for mere aesthetics. The split routines that individually focus on every single muscle for maximum growth and size create a disconnected system of muscles that are very strong in their own little range of motion but cannot ‘work together’ to complete a functional task. It actually creates muscle imbalances and makes the body ‘dumber’, if you know what I mean. 

This is where the ‘intelligent’ part of functional training comes into play. Unlike conventional bodybuilding type isolation exercises that are muscular in nature, Olympic lifting for example, is neuromuscular. It not only trains the body but the mind as well. It teaches the muscles to work in coordination in order to complete the task of lifting the weight from the ground to overhead in one explosive movement. This requires training the mind & body as one single unit which is how the body functions in real life. Take for example lifting a heavy suitcase and putting it in the overhead cabin.  You have to first bend your knees pick up the object keeping a tight straight back and then be able to stand up and push it up over your head into the cabin. This requires all the muscles in your body, the legs, back, core, hips, arms and shoulders to work in tandem to complete the task. So when life’s challenges require your body to work as a single unit why train the body to work in disconnected pieces? After all the goal of any fitness program should be to make you healthier and fit to take on life’s real challenges and not just to look good on the beach. 

Don’t get me wrong, but I have a lot of respect for the sport of bodybuilding (if you consider it a sport) as it requires the utmost disciplined diet and training regimen and I certainly don’t mean that bodybuilders aren’t healthy (at least the ones that don’t dope) or strong. There is a place for isolation type exercises but only if you are recuperating from a specific injury and not if you are training for general fitness. So go run, swim, lift sand bags, kettlebells, play sports and get healthy and ready to take on life’s real challenges rather than spend 2 hrs everyday in the gym doing isolation curls and calf raises so you can look impressive in those sleeveless shirts and shorts.

MY KETTLEBELL, OLYMPIC LIFTING & PALEO JOURNEY

Finally after getting tired of carrying the extra gut around all day, I decided to do something about it. I have always been on and off some form of weight training so the choice of exercise program came naturally to me. But instead of the conventional gym exercises I choose to do some form of ballistic training using Kettlebells and Olympic lifting. Diet was based around conventional (pseudo) Paleo ingredients like meat, seafood, some dairy, nuts, beans, lentils, veggies and fruits.  I call it pseudo-Paleo because some of the ingredients like dairy, lentils and peanuts are not allowed in Paleo. My diet basically avoids all simple starches and almost all grains but allows the complex carbs from fruits and vegetables. Basically, a solid program of simple nutritional commonsense and ass busting workouts and no calorie restriction.  I call it the KOP (Kettlebells, Olympic lifting and Paleo) routine! Lets see where I get in 30 days. The journey begins….

Day 1: Jun 19’th (Sunday)

The first week is always the toughest in such a diet regimen. Basically getting your body off the insulin dependence is tough, but it gets used to the low insulin levels in a week or so. I had fruits, lentils, vegetables, quinoa, peanuts and milk. Since I am not counting calories (does that even work?) I am not sure of the number of calories I consumed but I wasn’t hungry after any meal, so enough calories but no exercise on day 1. Starting body weight 205 lbs.

Day 2: Jun 20'th (Monday)
After the morning fruit and protein shake, the day started with kettlebell swings, one hand snatches and one handed swings with a 26lb kettlebell. sounds light but 12 minutes of throwing them around had me panting for breath. By the end of the day I was starting to miss the carbs and felt like my energy level was sinking. That's quite normal as the body sees the withdrawal effects of simple starches and carbs. This should be gone by the end of the week and the energy levels will be back to normal again. Morning snack of banana and protein shake, post workout almonds (handful) another shake and an apple. Lunch was half a papaya and a handful of peanuts. Mid-afternoon snack of pistachios and coffee and dinner of quinoa, chicken and veggies. Plenty of calories throughout the day. Day 2 over and tomorrow is another day...

Day 3: Jun 21'st (Tuesday)
Feeling under the gun a little when I woke up. Decided to do some Olympic lifts in the morning. Same old morning snack of a banana and a protein shake and post workout apple and another shake. Lunch of salmon and quinoa. So far the day is going OK no cravings just some lack of energy. mid afternoon snack of marinated chicken and veggies and dinner of two butter pan-friend pancakes made of a few different lentils with peanut chutney. Workout was Olympic cleans. few sets of single rep max.

Day 4: Jun 22'nd (Wednesday)
Today was a light workout day. Just some kettlebell presses. Morning snack of apple and protein shake. Post workout was 3 eggs and butter omelet. Papaya with nuts for lunch. Mid after noon snack of coffee and cheese cubes with grapes and green apple slices and dinner of two butter pan-friend pancakes made of a few different lentils with peanut chutney. Overall I feel the energy level still low especially in the mid afternoon but its improving. Another day gone...:)

Day 5: June 23'rd (Thursday)
Today was a much better day in terms of energy level. I finally feel like I am weaning off the insulin dependance as I didn't miss the usual carbs and my energy level was high throughout the day even though I had a tough workout. I did Olympic snatches, Kettlebell renegade rows and kettlebell military presses. I had the usual fruit and protein shake in the morning. Three egg butter omelet post workout. Lunch of apple and nuts. mid-afternoon snack of pistachios and half an apple and coffee. Dinner of quinoa, lentils and veggies and a bed time glass of buttermilk.

Day 6: June 24'th (Friday)
Again a good day in terms of energy levels. Started off the morning with some squats and kettlebell swings. The same morning snack followed by 3 egg butter omelet and quinoa and veggies post workout. light lunch of and apple and few almonds. Mid afternoon snack of a protein shake and dinner of quinoa and pinto beans soup. Now there is no missing the simple carbs and the energy levels are great! Lets see what the weekend brings! With the parties and some eating out it will be tough to stick to my diet but lets see....

Day 7 and 8 (Sat and Sunday)
Two days of much needed rest. Pretty much the same diet routine in the morning minus the two protein drinks. Banana and nuts for breakfast, Bacon, eggs and quinoa for lunch. And I am proud to say I was able to resist all the goodies at a party like samosas, biryaani and daal makhni and just stick to salad and palak paneer (spinach and cottage cheese)...woohoo. That wasn't all, come Sunday there was pudding, kachoris, pooris and other delicacies made at home for another party and yet again I was able to resist the yummy food and stick to my quinoa, chicken, salmon, veggies and eggs. I would be lying if I said I wasn't tempted with all the good food around me all weekend, but it paid off keeping myself in check. I ended the week at a body weight of 202 lbs. That's 3 pounds off in the first week! Since my routine is pretty much going to be the same as week 1, I'll only update once a week going forward. Now on to week 2...

Week 2
Week 2 was just like week 1 only easier with the diet. I am must say I am getting addicted to kettlebells as I didn't do any Olympic lifting and not even my favorite squats. Did the kettlebell variations of Olympic snatches and cleans and jerks. In terms of diet ate a lot more fruits especially mangoes and watermelons (I know its high in sugar but they are the best in summer:)). Ended the week at a weight of 199 lbs. So that's another 3 lbs off. Finally broke under the 200 lb mark after a long time. Will post next week if something changes otherwise I'll post my progress after a month on this diet. Wish me luck...

Week 5
Have been on this program for 5 weeks now and having lost 11 lbs I am more gung ho than ever! Continuing the same diet regimen and believe it or not there is no more cravings for any kind of simple carb.  Got my first pair of professional competition kettlebells (44lbs) and love doing snatch and cleans with them. Built my 150lb sand bag from scratch and love doing shoulder cleans with it. Will continue this program till I achieve my ideal body weight around 180lbs. I am expecting that in the next two months I should be there. Will post and update after 2 months.

FROM PYRAMID TO PLATE: THE NEW USDA FOOD GUIDE

It’s no longer a pyramid! Yes, the new dietary guidelines that came out last week from USDA look more intuitive as they are arranged like a real plate. It’s called MyPlate! I consider it a big step forward for guiding people towards making healthy eating choices. The biggest difference between the old ‘pyramid’ and the new ‘plate’ is that while the old pyramid weighed heavily towards grains, making no distinction between whole and refined grains, the new plate places more importance on fruits and vegetables and recommends half the grain servings come from whole grains. It recommends filling half the plate with fruits and vegetables and the other half with grains and proteins. It recommends getting bulk of your protein from beans, nuts, soy products and lean cut meats and seafood. Instead of dessert it has a side serving of diary to meet the calcium requirements but it recommends that the diary be either non-fat or the low-fat kind. Calcium fortified soy milk is also considered part of the dairy group. 

So where did fat go? Although not obvious if you read into the food groups it does account for fat intake and further makes the distinction between vegetable oils and solid (saturated) fats. While it makes the recommendation to eat a certain amount of oils it lumps all solid fats and sugars into what it calls the ‘empty calories' group. This group, according to USDA, adds calories without any nutritional value.

So what’s my take on MyPlate? I think it’s a step in the right direction towards giving people healthier eating recommendations and should help curb the obesity epidemic to some extent. What I like best about MyPlate is the heavy bias on fruits and vegetables which I think is crucial to a healthy diet. And while they make a recommendation for eating more of healthy oils (poly-unsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats), what I don’t like about MyPlate is that there is no explicit recommendation on what percentage of the daily calorie requirement should come from fat. Moreover I don’t quite agree with lumping saturated fats like butter and coconut oil with simple sugars as empty calories.

THE LINK BETWEEN SALT AND HEART DISEASE

None! Yeah you heard it right, there is no link between salt intake and heart disease. There is certainly a link between high salt intake and high blood pressure (hypertension) but how that translates into a higher risk for heart disease is unclear at best.

Popular theories claim that a high salt intake causes, due to osmosis, the circulatory volume  to be higher in the blood vessels. This higher volume causes excessive pressure along the walls of the blood vessels causing them to thicken and as a result contrict the blood flow. Just as working the muscles hard in the gym causes them to enlarge in size the higher volume required to pump causes the heart to enlarge dangerously.  But if the muscle enlargement in response to stress analogy was true for blood vessels then the blood vessles should enlarge in response the the added stress and it should actually help with blood flow if anything. If the expansion of heart in response to pumping stress was dangerous, then running a marathon would, by the same token, increase the risk for heart disease because its a well known fact that running frequent marathons increases heart volume. The real danger with excessive salt intake is renal stress in response to excreting the excess salt. I call it a real danger because the excess filteration of salt in the kidneys causes a vascular disorder known as “hypertensive nephrosclerosis,” a major cause of kidney disease. 

So while eating excess salt is dangerous for other reasons it has little correlation with heart disease. An 8 year European study found no correlation between salt intake and the risk for heart disease. In fact they found the exact opposite, i.e., people with high salt intake are less likely to die of heart disease. So while I wouldn't advice excessive salt in diet, there is no reason to avoid this condiment and eat bland food.

ROLE OF DIETARY IRON

Iron is an essential micronutrient in our diet. It's part of hemoglobin in blood and serves the purpose of transporting oxygen to cells. It’s also an essential part of many proteins and enzymes that maintain good health and is also essential for regulation of cell growth and differentiation. A deficiency of iron limits the delivery of oxygen to the cells resulting in fatigue, low work efficiency and poor immunity. On the other hand excess amounts can lead to toxicity and in extreme cases, even death.

Dietary iron is present in two forms, heme and nonheme. As the name suggests heme iron is present in the form of hemoglobin and is more bio-available than the nonheme form. Animal sources of Iron like red meat, fish and poultry are rich in heme form of iron (sorry vegetarians, meat wins here again) while the vegetarian sources contain the nonheme form. The following table shows the common sources of dietary iron separated by heme and nonheme sources. Please note that even though the plant based sources of iron seem richer in absolute quantities, they are poorly absorbed in the body. Also most fortified cereal and juices in the market contain the nonheme type of iron.

Absorption of iron in the body depends on the available reserves of iron. If the body is running low on iron reserves the absorption is high and when the reserves are high the absorption is low to protect against toxic effects of excess iron. Also animal sources of iron are absorbed anywhere from 15-35% while the absorption from plant sources is in the 2-20% range. Also iron from animal sources is absorbed independent of other dietary components while absorption of iron from plant sources is dependent on other components in diet.  For example tannins (found in tea), calcium, polyphenols, and phytates (found in legumes and whole grains) can decrease absorption of nonheme iron. Some proteins found in soybeans also inhibit nonheme iron absorption.  Keeping an adequate level of iron in the body is important for vitality and overall health. So if you are feeling fatigued and out of breath doing daily chores and keep getting sick often then perhaps fortifying your daily iron intake is in order.

COLLAGEN: THE SECRET TO A RADIANT YOUTHFUL SKIN

So what is collagen? And why has it received such widespread attention lately?

Collagen is the most abundant protein found in the human body. It s a tough elastic protein that forms the connective tissue in our ligaments, tendons and skin. My main interest in collagen was after my rotator-cuff surgery when I was looking for ways to quickly heal my ligaments. So I started reading up on how I could naturally boost collagen production in my body. After some research I found three main ingredients that aid collagen production. I ordered the supplements online and put myself on what I call collagen therapy. I took the recommended dosage (on the packaging) and compared my activity milestones with the orthopedic surgeons recommended timeline. The ‘prescribed’ chart suggested that I would be able to perform normal over head activity after 6 months of surgery. Two weeks before the 6^th month anniversary of my surgery I was not only performing the overhead activities but was able to swim 4x50m laps in the pool. The prescribed chart suggested I would be able to start light exercises with dumbbells by 9 months after the surgery but on the 9^th month anniversary I was already benching about 95lbs. The average recovery time for a rotator cuff tear surgery is 51 weeks but by my 1 year anniversary I was already benching about 175lbs. 

So did the collagen therapy help me recover faster? Or was it a placebo effect? Or was it muscle memory? Well there is no sure way to find, is it? It wasn’t a controlled experiment to begin with since the recovery pathway without collagen therapy wasn’t explored for comparison. I thought I would still share my research with the readers since collagen not only builds healthy connective tissue in the tendons and ligaments but also gives our skin the much needed elasticity without which the skin would sag and form wrinkles. It is the foundation for a healthy and youthful looking skin and true beauty comes from the inside, as they say! With age the body’s natural collagen production capacity declines and hence it would benefit to naturally increase the production with diet and supplementation.  

So what are the special ingredients that promote collagen production in the body? They are (drum roll please!):

Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid): It’s one of the most powerful antioxidant and abundantly found in all citrus fruits, peppers and many other vegetables. Nobel laureate Linus Pauling (the only person to get two Nobel prizes in two different areas) postulated that vitamin C consumed in large doses (over 2000% RDA) can prevent plaque formation in the arteries and can prevent CHD but obviously the pharmaceutical industry wouldn’t like us to believe that the answer to plaque formation lies in something as simple as large doses of vitamin C. But that is a discussion for another day. For this article it will suffice to know that Vitamin C is also one of the most important building blocks of collagen. It is an essential micronutrient that is not synthesized in the body and must be ingested from external sources.

Lysine: It’s one of the essential amino acids and must also be ingested from external food sources. The vegetarian sources of protein lack this vital amino acid except Soy derivatives.  It’s abundant in animal sources of protein like dairy, meat and seafood. It’s also one of the key components in collagen.

Proline: It’s a non-essential amino acid that is produced in the body from L-Glutamine and Ornithine. Its most abundantly found in collagen and is also responsible for lowering arteriosclerosis. It also helps in speedy recovery of injuries because of its ability to form collagen in the presence of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and lysine. Supplementation is not needed in normal individuals but has been shown to be non toxic even in large supplement doses and is prescribed for individuals with arteriosclerosis, blood pressure and slow healing problems. 

Apart from these three ingredients a sufficient intake of antioxidants is also necessary to prevent oxidative damage (from free radicals) to several other amino-acid chains that are responsible for protein regeneration in skin and other connective tissue. Consuming sufficient quantities of fruits that are bright orange, yellow and red in color like oranges, apples, carrots etc will ensure ample supply of antioxidants in the body. Vitamin E is also a powerful antioxidant that is found in nuts and fish.  Retinol which is another form of animal vitamin A, is also found in fish oils and is essential for a healthy skin. 

So you see there is nothing special about these ingredients and they can be found all around you. If you already eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, nuts and fish and stay away from processed packaged foods (that increase free radical generation) you are already enjoying the benefits of healthy collagen production: a radiant youthful skin and good joint health. But if you lack any of these ingredients in your diet then they are readily available in supplement form. When buying these supplements, make sure they are pharmaceutical grade and GMP (good manufacturing practice) certified.

BEST WAYS TO BOOST METABOLISM

Here is an article from health.com about the best ways to boost your metabolism.

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20306911_12,00.html

The most noteworthy tips are:

1) Strength train with intensity to build muscle. Go HIIT!

2) Eat protein to preserve and build lean muscle mass (the best fat burner of all).

3) Eat protein for increased food thermogenesis preferably early in the morning.

4) Eat healthy fats. Healthy fats promote fat burning in the liver by recycling old fat.