Tag Archives: run

Is cardio healthy?

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Happy Monday people of earth,

I ran into a friend’s father at a fitness expo recently. Over the past year he has experienced his fair share of significant health obstacles and is in a much better place these days, but still “in recovery.” So, we got talking, caught up on life, jumped from one topic to another, and eventually breezed over on his current diet and exercise prescriptions from his physician. “[the doctor] wants me to do more cardio because of my age and what I’ve been through.” Hold the phone… doctors are STILL prescribing cardio to their patients as a HEALTHY form of exercise and a necessary path for surgery-recovery? I thought that whole 1980′s cardo-for-a-healthy-heart movement fizzled out by now? Obviously, by my inner dialogue you can tell that it really shocked me. I then gandered around the floor at everyone else who looked like they use cardio as a their go-to form of exercise, weight loss, and healthy living… and I was immediately put in my place that a majority of people still just don’t get it.

BURN FAT? LOSE WEIGHT? RUN. RUN. RUN. RUN. RUN. RUN. RUN… myself into the ground, develop dark circles under my eyes, lose a significant amount of the-highly-desired-highly-metabolic muscle weight, displace muscle with fat, down-regulate my thyroid (metabolism epicenter), severely decrease my metabolic rate and blood pressure and caloric demands (cool, I can eat less now!… ?), and invoke a stress hormone response that can promote fat storage, chronic pains, aches, sores, and possibly bowel, hormonal, fertility, libido, mental, or emotional dis-eases.

Yes, that can all be true. Yes, there are plenty-o-arguments that promote cardio as healthy. Yes, I am being a bit over-dramatic and pointing fingers at one thing when there always are many factors at play when it comes to being healthy. But this is a blog about distance/endurance running and that’s where my finger is pointed at right now.

Cardio burns muscle. I don’t care how you look at it. It will burn muscle for energy because distance running is a great energy demand and a body in distress will burn through sugar stores then convert proteins into sugars for energy; it will never touch fat stores because fat saves lives. Distance also kills the metabolic rate. Runners have to run almost every single day just to “stay in shape,” which also causes a greater stress hormone response and screws with ya if you happen to have a high-caloric meal because god-forbid if you eat a cheeseburger and fries. Long-distance runs do the complete opposite of what most exercising-folk are after… it increases fat storage, it burns muscle, it demands a higher workout frequency, and just degrades the body beyond what it can handle. “But, I feel great after long runs and I feel a rush of energy!” That is called adrenaline… and it’s sucking up your sugar stores and eating away on your muscle stores because your body doesn’t know if it’s running from a tiger or for sport and it’s doing what it is designed to do… keep you alive no matter what.

Google distance runner vs sprinter. Show me an athlete with a well-built, muscular physique that attributes it solely to distance running. Try to tell me that right-minded strength coaches or trainers don’t incorporate high-intensity, short-interval training in their program if they want a significant anabolic and metabolic muscle response for their clients. There is a time and place for cardio. I think it should be used sparingly as an endurance-building aspect of a training program and NEVER the foundation. I get the whole fad of distance running. I get that people lose [usually muscle] weight or turn their lives around because of the mentality-shift it provides. I just think there are much better, less-stressing, more positive, healthier ways to approach exercise… and in my friend’s father’s case… recovery.

If you’re a runner, here is the best advice I can provide if you really want to benefit your body from the inside-out: Run shorter distances and run them fast. The goal should not be to run further each week. The goal should be to run quicker each week because THAT incorporates fast-twitch muscle fibers, which “burn calories” or “burn fat” more efficiently; that is, it’s healthier, thyroid-supporting, and provides a longer rest period while still maintaining a higher metabolic rate! A marathon program has people increasing their distances EACH WEEK. If a weight lifter transposed that to a lifting program that would be utterly impossible to have that significant of a weight increase in such a short and quick time period… but people push their bodies with running and don’t realize how much damage their doing until it’s too late when they’re walking around with knee-braces, stress-fractures, poor sex-drives, shitty attitudes, flabby legs, and one hell of a fitness plateau.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

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Food shape: Get into shape using food!?

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Today’s post delves further on Tuesday’s post, Get healthy to lose weight or lose weight to get healthy?

Lately, I’ve been hearing and reading a lot about an over-consumption of calories to bring the body back into (or maintain) homeostasis/a high metabolic rate. The concept is rather overly-simple: eat… a lot… pretty much over-eating… focusing on carbohydrates as a larger portion of the calories because cells use sugar (specifically, glucose) as their main source of energy… and by doing that on a daily basis with consistency it can provide the body with the right energy environment to eventually produce the right living environment. Simple, yah?

An energy environment requires a Production/Production Capability Balance (thanks, Covey). Ability, efficiency, timing, execution, and consistency all play a role in the P/PC Balance. I know that I sound like a warehouse management course because that’s the point – it’s good to sometimes think of your body as a machine (or mechanism) that can very well break-down one not-so-distant day (or perhaps it already shows signs of dis-ease or is dis-eased) if you don’t provide it with the necessary fuels and tools (environment, energy) to get the job done time and time and time and time and time and time and time again (and not just a few times until it craps out on you). Production deals with the end result – the product, the end, a working body, a healthy body. Production Capability deals with the ability/platform to consistently produce desired results - the process, the means, fuel, maintenance, diet, hydration, sleep, etc.

So, Food Shape is like whipping your metabolic rate into working condition by putting it through a diet training camp. The idea is that a high metabolic rate, as a result from proper nutrition (energy environment), can translate into a highly-efficient living environment due to its ability to produce the right product at the right time with consistency. When I was in high school, my soccer team had 3 weeks of training camp to prepare us for the upcoming season. The goal of this camp was to a) weed out the scrappers, b) take those who were out-of-shape from zero to hero in a short time frame, c) develop a higher production capability environment through ability, efficiency, timing, execution and consistency, and d) set the standard for fitness, stamina, endurance and skill level (product) for the season-to-come. Take that training approach, transpose it to food/diet and you have the basics for getting into food shape.

Now, the questions are… Does this shit work? Doesn’t over-eating make you fat? How long do you over-eat? I thought carbohydrates make you fat? I thought sugar is bad for you? Are you mental?

It’s a perspective, an approach, and a pretty intuitive idea in my book. To me, it makes sense because of a two pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good reasons (and don’t worry, I’m a guinea pig so I’ll let ya know how it goes as time… goes).

  • Energy = Calories. The body needs energy to produce energy. Insufficient energy supplies (aka not eating enough calories on a daily basis just for the body’s pre-programed activities – breathing, moving, digesting, regulating body temp, eliminating, hormone producing, etc.) will cause the body to down-regulate and poorly operate. What happens to a battery-powered music-making toy if its batteries are on their last leg? It moves and makes music but it’s slow-moving and the music sounds like a Talk Boy.. but it still “works.” So, the body NEEDS energy to produce energy and in a consistent energy-deficient state, the metabolic rate will slow down and normal bodily functions no longer run at optimal speeds. Consistently put a set of new, premium batteries into your toy and it runs like new… like it should. Increased calories + increased carbohydrates = Increased metabolic rate. 
  • The body is made up of cells. Since the body is a system of systems and things can get complicated very easily due to cause and effect, think of the body on a cellular level and what helps or hinders cell health. Every single cell in the body primarily uses Glucose (SUGAR) for fuel and energy-production. Yes, cells not only use energy but they produce energy as well (muy importante!) When a cell is deprived of its go-to fuel, it must find other ways to become energized – this can be done by converting dietary or tissue-stored fats and proteins into sugars. This process actually uses 3x as much energy as cells use when running on Glucose, which means its a very inefficient and wasteful means of energy. Inefficient fuel causes the body to switch to survival mode, stress hormones are continuously released to make up for the lack of energy and inefficient energy conversion, and normal bodily functions (once again) are down-regulated and poorly operate due to the survival state. Give the body energy/calories/carbohydrates – give the body what it needs to survive, perform, run, and work normally.

Maybe I am mental, but I think it’s something to truly consider. Carbohydrates are certainly not the major epidemic that our modern medical society has made them out to be. In my book, they’re a major factor that can bring us out of daily dis-ease and chronic illness. However, the carbohydrate source, portion, timing, and the rest of the diet/lifestyle all play a factor, as well.

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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

12 totally awesome exercise tips!

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  1. Increase sugar consumption - Sugar (carbohydrate) is the body’s primary fuel source. To limit sugar is like limiting gas for your car. Unfortunately (yet fortunately), the body can find ways around limited sugar intake and will MacGuyver other means to produce energy, which usually result in cut homeostasis corners and hormone imbalances. Every single cell and every single bacterial organism in your body uses sugar as their go-to food. There are over 50 trillion cells in the human body and bacterial cells outnumber those cells 10 to 1. Say you were the Ruler of a village and you decided to completely cut off the people’s food supply… what do you think will happen? They’ll find ways to get by in the interim, but you better believe that those people will eventually revolt the hell out of you and bring you down to Chinatown. Sugar is rapidly consumed/used/converted/burned by the body in a state of stress (exercise, dietary, allergens, intolerances, emotional unhappiness, sleep patterns, etc.) and, with that in mind, sugar (and salt!) is extremely therapeutic for the Adrenal Glands (which produce/regulate the stress hormone Cortisol). So, without an ample supply (stored and consumed) of therapy the body becomes very susceptible to stress. Note that all sugars/carbohydrates are not created equal and they all do not assimilate in the body in the same manner.
  2. Increase salt consumption – Say you’re excessively dehydrated to the point where you have to go to the hospital. What do they hook you up to? A saline-solution IV a.k.a. a SALT DRIP. Salt is bad for us? Well, that depends on the type of salt, but, in-general, it’s an essential nutrient. A good-sourced Salt naturally contains potassium and magnesium; all-three-of-which are factors in hydration and cellular energy. Then there are commercial salts that commonly contain anti-caking agents, which can cause those funs things like high blood pressure, water retention, swelling, and other salt-related dis-eases.
  3. Limit water consumption - It’s very possible to dehydrate through over-hydration. I do believe it’s necessary to drink an individualized amount of fluids, but water isn’t really that nutritious… at least the average bottles that do not contain trace minerals are not nutritious (and can be antagonistic). Too much water can actually flush the body of essential nutrients. The cells can only hold so much water, nutrients, and waste. An over-saturated state will cause the cells to release some essentials and non-essentials. A good indicator of over-hydration (essentially dehydration) is clear pee because we all know that drinking dehydrating alcohol makes our pee clear. So, what do you drink? Sugar-based liquids such as Orange Juice or Coconut Water will do the trick as they contain sugar, potassium, and magnesium… add some salt and you’re good to go! DON’T FEAR SUGAR.
  4. Eat/drink before, during, and after a work out - I find it interesting that some people limit their nutrient/caloric intake around work outs (and even throughout the day) thinking that consuming calories will prevent the body from burning them or that calories will make them fat or that calories will negate any work out they just did. The body needs energy to produce energy and, just like in the first point, the body will cut corners to make things work in a nutrient/calorie-deficient state. Be sure to give yourself enough energy surrounding (especially after!!!) and during your work out. Don’t be afraid to consume calories because the body needs a means to burn them.
  5. Leave/end a work out with energy - What good will it do if you absolutely kill yourself in a work out? I’m being serious. The no pain, no gain feel the burn mentality is out-dated and defunct. Over-training is very detrimental to progress and all-things-homeostasis. Under-training, however, isn’t bad – in fact, it’s much more beneficial to under-train than to over-train. Exercise is a marathon, not a sprint. Take your time, pace yourself, keep it simple and to the point.
  6. Rest harder than you exercise - Sleeping and having an adequate amount of off-days are essential to a good nutrition and exercise program. The body rests, recovers, regenerates, and literally rebuilds itself at night. Cutting sleep and/or working out excessively (in my book: consecutive days without rest days in a week) will turn progress into regress and send stress hormones through the roof, thus completely negating anything “good” you are providing the body (i.e. weight gain, increased estrogen, cortisol, adrenaline, and serotonin, inflammation, anxiety, anger, irritability, mental fogginess, and the list really can go on for days). If you’re tired, listen to your body and rest… you’ll benefit much more than running on stress hormones.
  7. Stretch before and after - Most exercises encourage very contraction-specific movements and with all of that contracting there should be a balance of elongating. If you don’t like stretching around your work outs then set up designated stretch days that fall on your rest days.
  8. Take cold showers - Sounds wild but cold showers can actually increase anabolic hormones (testosterone, progesterone, pregnenolone, etc.). Guys will notice (aside from shrinkage) that whenever they go into a cold pool that they get “turned on” and girls can experience the same affect in their own right. From a chinese-medicine POV, cold provides the body with a dose of Yin energy (cool, calm, female) while exercise is predominantly a Yang energy (hot, fiery, male). It doesn’t have to be a long shower – just finish up your usual hot shower with a cold-as-cold-can-be-handled blast for 1-5 minutes.
  9. Change it up - The body is very adaptive. It’s smart. It learns repetition rather quickly, i.e. how to perform movements, resistance, and tension exercises so it can do them more efficiently and effectively the next time around. This adaptation happens about every 2-6 weeks, depending on the person and type of exercise. Learn how your body adapts and change it up accordingly to keep from hitting a progress plateau.
  10. Wear flat shoes - We’re really not meant to wear shoes. Shoes teach the body how not to walk, how not to balance itself, how to rely on external support rather than self-sufficiency. Try to find the flattest shoes you can that support your arch-height. Personally, I enjoy a pair of chuck taylors for weight lifting and running. I have a rather flat foot so they support my arch accordingly. There’s a lot of hype about the five-fingers. I’ve never tried them, but I hear great things once the body adjusts. I suggest that you do your own field research for yourself. As for shape-ups, air-pockets, ankle-support, or anything that’s extra-cushioned… no. Note: Foot or ankle issues are symptoms to a kinetic-chain cause (the cause could very well lie within the knees or hips, which produce a ripple effect if they are not balanced properly).
  11. Use exercise as a tool, not a foundation - I’m going to burn this off in the gym is not an efficient nor enjoyable way of living. Exercise is meant to compliment a healthy diet and lifestyle, not try to make up for it or, essentially, negate any choices that were made prior to or to reason a work out. Exercise as a foundation is an outward-in mentality – it’s thinking that a mental choice can be fixed with a physical choice. You live in your body, your body doesn’t live in you. Make choices accordingly and take some responsibility!
  12. Use nutrition as a foundation, not a tool - Nutrition is the true foundation for health. The body uses the nutrients its provided to make new blood cells, new skin cells, new tissue cells, new organs, new eyes, new chemical reactions, new hormones, etc. every single day. The body can definitely make chicken salad out of chicken shit and we intuitively know that (just gotta listen to that intuition!). Build and establish health within all inner realms (spiritually, mentally, emotionally) to reap its benefits on the outer (physically).

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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

The Gym: We’ve got a first timer over here!

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So, I took the plunge and signed myself up for a membership at LA Fitness. I was never really a gym guy because I enjoyed the challenge of MacGuyver-ing a work out where ever, whenever, with whomever and with whatever (as I’ve done plenty of times throughout my travels and home-stays). But, for my current goals, I want a few more resources at my disposal. After two days, here’s what I have observed…

  • A PERSONAL Trainer training clients while on a cell phone throughout the duration of the paid service. How very IMpersonal trainer of him.
  • The same Personal Trainer not even paying attention (looking, observing, or critiquing) to a different client doing walking lunges. What about their form? What if they are doing them incorrectly and slowly setting themselves up for an improper muscle recruitment pattern? What if they are not completely a full range of motion and are doing half reps which can incorporate less of the desired target area. The body will adapt to a situation – whether right or wrong – and it can learn how NOT to lunge (using the wrong muscles to move) if incorrect form is consistently used. 
  • Rows upon rows of exercise machines, which seem to consistently be occupied throughout the duration of my recent off-peak-hour visits. I can maaaaybe see the point of exercise machines in a rehabilitation situation to ease into muscle and nerve recruitment, but, in reality, these machines teach the body how NOT to stabilize, support itself, move, bend, twist, flex, rotate, extend, adduct, or abduct. Oh, you can do an assisted sit-up? Let me know how that goes when you’re trying to SIT-UP out of bed without a machine helping you. Sincerely, Condescending Wonka.
  • More rows – this time of treadmills, stair-masters, and ellipticals – all equipped with televisions, radios, and iPod charging capabilities, and also consistently occupied. I’m all for running (believe it or not). I’m all for getting up off your ass, moving, and creating a healthy blood flow – I just think there are better means, methods, and environments to do so. It’s a big world out there…
  • Five flat benches… FIVE. Hey, uhhhhhhh, how much ya bench? The last time I checked the bench press was the most bass-ackwards measurement of strength. It’s a pure isolation exercise of the lower and middle pectorals (chest), the front deltoids (shoulders), and the triceps. Five. The body is a system of systems – it prefers to work in unison and not isolation.
  • I overheard a gentleman in a cut-off shirt shout across the weight room so all brethren could hear, “I guess all of those shots in the ass are finally paying off.” He was referring that the amount of steroids he injected into his butt are making his balls shrink, his eyes sunken in with rage, and his muscles more cut than a turkey sandwich. I have no words.
  • I experienced a tall, muscular gentleman bench press near where I was exercising. I stood close by without his awareness incase he needed a spot for a possible weight he could not manage. He did some warm up sets at 145 pounds with ease. He jumped to 195 – Ok, he put up a decent amount of reps. Lastly, he attempted 215 pounds. More power to him, but he could not lower the bar to his chest to complete a “full rep” and the bar was lop-sided the whole time (favoring his stronger arm and not so much the other). Wants vs Needs. Ego vs Logic. Sprint vs Marathon. 
  • A couple were exercising together. The male seemed a bit more experienced based on his build and lingo while the woman looked equally experienced, but their conversation enlightened me that she was not well-versed in anything weight-related (I’m assumed she was a runner and was giving the gym a try out of persuasion). They were doing squats nearby off a rack. He was going on about how squats were a full-body exercise, that they burn a great amount of calories due to the multiple muscle recruitment, and (he was excited to say this part) that it would “torch that fat right off your butt!” I raised an eyebrow at this mindset. It made me wonder if they correlate exercise and high energy output directly (and possibly only) to fat burning. While this concept can hold true in the appropriate circumstances, it is certainly not the whole piece to the fat-burning puzzle. I wonder because I’ve come across a lot of people that believe in the concept that “to burn fat or lose weight, high-calorie-burning-exercising (or durations) are absolutely necessary.” I don’t fully believe in that mentality as there is a time and place for exercise in relation to fat-loss, but it seems to have become a health-staple-mindset. #Fwomp

Personal observations, assumptions, and over-analyzations aside…

Why?

jdperryhealth.com
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Question Monday: Lean Weight Gain

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Question: I was wondering if you could offer any advice on weight gain. I have a super-fast metabolism. I’ve gained a bunch of weight so far, and combined with working out am pretty happy with how I’m looking, but want to gain a bit more. I’ve been doing 3-4 meals a day and two protein shakes. The problem is I’ve seen to have plateaued. The answer is probably eating more foods with higher calories, but I was just wondering if you have any insight. Thanks!

Perspective:

Plateaus are tricky because they can occur from a wide variety of factors…

Your body gets used to the exercise routine

Change up your routine every 4-5 weeks. The body is made to adapt to any situation for its survival. You essentially have to throw some wrenches at your body every so often to break the routine.

Your body is not taking in more calories than it is putting out

People fear calories and often take in too less for what their body needs. 75% of our daily calories are used just to keep the lights on. The only way that we can function optimally is by taking in MORE calories than we assume. BUT! the TYPE OF CALORIES matter when it comes to actually benefitting from your diet. Focus on nutrient/calorie-dense calorie sources such as butter, coconut oil, olive oil, eggs, whole fat dairy, dark meats, root vegetables (potatoes), and fruits, followed by enough clean H20. 

You could be overtraining your body

Exercising more than 4-5 days a week is overtraining in my eyes. The body needs more rest than people usually provide it – less is so, so, so much more. Go hard in the gym for 10, 15, 20, or 30 minutes and rest even harder. Sleeping is crucial for optimal recovery and muscle building. I would also suggest to take 1-2 weeks off every 8-10 weeks of training to allow your body even more time to recover. It is much better to undertrain than to overtrain – tell your ego who’s the boss.

You could be doing too much cardio

I know that people love their cardio. I think it’s a load of crap and does more harm than good. Anything that involves long, low-impact, continuous-paced running is creating more stress than the body can handle – the workout alone overtrains the body. If you want to add cardio to your exercise routine then do sprint intervals because they work. 20 minutes, 2 times a week is all you need. 10 sets of 30 second sprints/60 second rests. If you’re a distance runner and are concerned about endurance – do these instead and watch how your distance times will improve.

Too much stress

Stress is a huge factor when it comes seeing results. Exercise, itself, is a huge stress on the body. Combine exercise with school stress, work stress, financial stress, relationship stress, sleep stress, diet stress, water stress, and you name it. Balance the stressors in your life to achieve the results that you need, not want.

Hope that helps provide some insight. If you’d like to talk in detail, hit me up jdperryhealth@gmail.com Thanks!

Running

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Marathon Runner vs Sprinter

Long Distance vs Short Distance

Slow, Steady Pace vs Quick, Fast Pace

Catabolic (muscle eating) vs Anabolic (muscle building)

Burns Muscle vs Burns Fat

Poor Muscle Tone vs Greek God(dess)

Raises Metabolism 6-15 Hours Post vs Raises Metabolism 36-72 Hours Post

Slow-Twitch Muscle Fibers (low metabolic response) vs Fast-Twitch Muscle Fibers (high metabolic response)

Higher Body-Fat Percentage vs Lower Body-Fat Percentage

Less Calories Burned in 30 Minutes vs More Calories Burned in 30 Minutes

Constant Pounding Pace Without Rest vs Short Rest Periods Allowing Full Recovery

Poor Recovery/Chronic Pain vs Efficient Recovery

Unhealthy vs Healthy

Don’t believe all the bullshit about distance and heart health vs Sprint.