Tag Archives: work out

Using exercise like the Hammer of Thor

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Happy Monday… we survived!

Where, oh where did we get the idea that exercise is a form of physical punishment, a real-life mulligan, a good-negating-bad choice, a means to self-worth, self-confidence, and self-love? And if we don’t exercise, do we not punish ourselves mentally with shame or through other physical reasoning such as diet restrictions or binges or vices? I’m certainly generalizing on behalf of a few, but I still think that a few involves… well… many.

Shit, I used to think or feel this way. I know a lot of my health-seeking peers share those thoughts or feelings, too… at least that’s the reality I peering-eye experience on my social networks; i.e. facebook prophecies, instagram progressions, twitter vents, and tumblr no-holds-barred’s. I experience people who hold exercise as the parting of the Red Sea to the healthy promise land. I experience people whom are publicly frustrated with themselves over poor diet choices. I experience people whom are up in a never-ending cycle of searching for themselves with external justification. I experience people whose achievements or success are based solely on hard-work, burning the wick at both ends, and pain.

I am aware that there is an extreme to this; one that is more in-touch with an inner peace as a means to reach outer satiety (as I have so novice-ly discovered along my journey). But not everyone is at that point, and there could be many drifting along in purgatory; searching for a quick-fix way out that could send them further down or a patiently-puzzle-pieced journey that may give rise to one of many epiphanies. I am not one to say who is right or wrong. I am no one to say my way or the highway. My point is to bring this constricted reality to light because it’s been on my subconscious radar for some time; that is, why does it have to be this way?

I do not have a black-and-white answer. What I have are some qualms. As long as work-out dvds exist, as long as diet-fads promoted by wolves looking to profit from sheep, as long as fitness buffs market an external body-image as the end and quick video clips of them exercising as the means, as long as specific advice is given to a world of individuals then this reality will continue to exist. There is, however, a growing awareness that health doesn’t mean pain, agony, stress, turmoil, punishment, or a daily kill-yourself. There is a growing awareness that health comes from within, from an awareness of one’s wants vs. needs, from an awareness that love and understanding precede permanent change (and not the yo-yo we may experience). There is a growing awareness of smarter, not harder to accomplish goals. There is a growing awareness that it’s ok to be less of an image and more of a path.

I am not bashing exercise. I think there is a time, a place, and an individualized need for exercise. I think that exercise has incredible benefits… when it is implemented properly. I think that people have built exercise up to be more of a reaction than action. I think that exercise went from a daily instinct to a daily grind. I think that if someone uses exercise for self-discipline, self-control, or self-confidence, I’d say there’s a lot more going on underneath it all that is in dire need to be addressed and not suppressed.

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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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Bikini season shmakini season

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Why does the thought of being scantily clad for three months out of the year suddenly spur us into a buckle-down-and-get-healthy mode?

Do the people that bust their asses for bikini season just leave it at that and the rest of the year they spend their days foraging for hibernation season?

Given we naturally store more body fat during the winter months to keep our body at a warm temperature, so why can’t that be taken into consideration as an adaptation mechanism/maintaining homeostasis and not a reason to punish ourselves [in the gym or kitchen]?

Why does bikini season have to last just for three months?

Why does bikini season have to be synonymous with ripped and shredded (when it could really mean malnourished, catabolic, chronically stressed, and hyperthyroid)?

Why does a fashion model-featured summer catalogue have to be the stereotyped basis for body comparison when a good majority of the featured are the complete opposite of healthy on the inside?

Why can’t we just make whole, well-rounded, considerate, and balanced decisions throughout the year and not put our bodies through a boot camp-esque hell just to “look good” in publicly accepted underwear?

If you’d like to discuss this perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

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Think of and use food as a supplement

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I think one of the biggest hurdles in encouraging people to eat healthy is that they lose their power to choose. Think about it: to choose what you’re going to eat, not going to eat, how much, how little, and how often is one of your only forms of control in this life. Yes, people choose to go on diets to “get healthy,” but they don’t necessarily choose the foods they’re eating or choose what falls within the diet’s guidelines. Diets suggest restriction and place limits or boundaries. They have no staying power because 1) they’re extreme and 2) they revoke our gosh-darn-god-given free right to choose! How many do you know someone who has gone “on a diet” and gone off in the not-so-distant future only to come back again… and then off… and on… and off? How many do you know someone who has gone Paleo or Low-Carb to see them really progress and then completely plateau, regress, or go sugar-crazy? And so the yo-yo saga continues.

I’m going to throw this out there: instead of completely changing your diet in the name of all-things-healthy, which usually ends up as all-things-the-hell-with-this-shit-I-want-some-damn-ice-cream, try viewing and using food as a supplement. I highlighted food because, in my experience, people will pop vitamins, toss back protein shakes, run miles upon miles, and guzzle bottles of water just so they can “balance” their I-eat-like-a-5-year-old diet and I-get-drunk-every-weekend lifestyle with an I’m-trying-to-be-somewhat-healthy-with-a-few-what-are-considered-to-be-healthy-choices approach and COMPLETELY NEGATE any possibility of simply choosing healthier food (now, the definition of healthier food is absolutely different for everyone so we won’t get into that). Food as a supplement involves exactly that – eating food – and it involves an awareness of a) what foods are healthy and b) what type, how much, and how often you need said healthy food in accordance to your lifestyle. For instance, the health-enthusiast word is rather programmed to drink a post work-out protein shake after every session to do all sorts of magically healthy things, but the main reason is to supplement energy, calories, and nutrients to an energy-calorie-and-nutrient-depleted body. Now, take this concept – to provide your body with the appropriate individualized ratio, quality, and timing of food to meet and/or replenish your unique energy demands – and transpose it to every day life!

Healthy eating doesn’t really have to be a daunting task or a complete lifestyle change as long as you are aware of the benefits it can provide compared to the choices and consequences which occur when “unhealthy eating” takes precedent. What seems to be the greatest hurdle, yet quite a simple “fix,” is actually eating any type of food to meet the demands and stress of the body and not necessarily eating poorly. The concept of supplementing food takes on a whole new dietary-approach because it gives a less-complex means to an all-encompassing end. Supplementing food provides your body with what it needs at the appropriate time and in the appropriate ratios through a cycle of experience, consequence, awareness, adaptation, preparation, and wisdom.

 

 

If you’d like to discuss this perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

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Sunday wrap up july 8th

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Miss any posts this week?

 

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Unhealthy symptoms and causes

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Originally, I started this post geared towards headache-prevention and my thoughts as to what could be its various causes. For some reason I always get the headache question from my friends – hey, I’ve had a headache all day and I don’t know why so I figured to ask you - and most of the time it just requires a small effort on their end to reflect, gain perspective, and put the pieces together themselves. Headaches (amongst other dis-eases) are always the symptom to a greater cause: they just don’t happen, there’s a reason why they occur and it’s good to pay attention because your body is trying to tell you something important. So, as I got more involved with writing I realized that my perspectives and suggestions are really geared towards all types of “symptoms” – headaches, stomach aches, sleeplessness, restless leg, fatigue, swelling, muscle spasms, constipation, weight gain, muscle loss, dizziness, fainting, brain fog, forgetfulness, etc. – and that a universal post would make more sense.

Of course, it’s better to take the steps to prevent symptoms before they occur (awareness, priorities, responsibility), but sometimes it takes the experience of discomfort to help put comfort into perspective and how it can be achieved. Below are a few simple thoughts as to what could be causing various “dis-eases”…

  • Hydration is usually my first thought: What/how much have you had to drink today/in the past few days? Were you dehydrated a few days ago and never caught up? How frequently do you urinate? What color was your urine? Dark yellow urine = dehydrated. Clear urine = over-hydration. Light yellow = hydrated. Do you consume Salt regularly or do you limit its intake? Dietary Salt can provide potassium and magnesium; all three are big factors in hydration and cellular function (add salt to drinks or food). Epsom Salt baths can also provide hydration through skin absorption (just make sure they’re not overwhelmingly hot and long because that situation can create a stress hormone reaction, encourage hypoglycemia and use up all stored sugar = light headed, dizzy, faintness, shaky hands, muscle atrophy, cortisol/adrenaline rush).
  • Nutrition is next: What/how much have you eaten today or in the past few days? Are you eating proper meals or just picking on things? I come across many people who don’t eat breakfast or will “forget” to eat dinner the previous night or may go a whole day without eating because they were “busy.” My thought: What fuel does the body to be busy, to operate, to expend and create energy? Food! Make time or get into the habit of putting it on your daily schedule. Yeah, it’s important to eat the right food, in the right ratio and at the right time but for energy’s sake just make sure that you’re providing yourself with some calories.
  • Sleep: How much have you slept in the past few days? Did you experience a restful night’s sleep or was it tossing, turning, and waking up intermittently? Ok, so sleeping is one thing, sleeping enough is another, sleeping at the right times is next, and sleeping well ties it all together. Hydration and nutrition affect sleeping patterns, too: dehydration or malnourishment (not enough caloric energy) can disrupt sleeping patterns because the body also needs energy to rest effectively. I’d like to see people take sleep more seriously and not just write it off as a lazy-man’s game.
  • Exercise: How much and how often do you exercise? Are you overtraining? Are you staying hydrated, nourished, and sleep enough (all energy input) to compliment your energy output? Exercise is a major stressor on the body – it breaks down muscle and depletes energy. Without a complimentary diet and lifestyle, exercise can be an extremely hindering activity in achieving health. 
  • Digestion: Are your bowel movements like clockwork? Do you go regularly (1-3x daily) and eliminate fully? Are they healthy BM’s? Do you experience bloating, gas, fatigue, or mood swings after eating certain foods? It is important to eat right. It is even more important that you are able to digest, utilize, and eliminate food properly. What good does food do if the body cannot even absorb it or if it becomes “stuck” within the intestinal tract? You are what you eat. You are what you digest and absorb. You are what you don’t eliminate. 
  • Posture: Do you sit up straight? Do you look down when you walk? Are you shoulders rounded? Is your spine straight? Does your neck align with your back to align with your pelvis? Do you wear restricting clothing that doesn’t allow for proper movement or circulation? Posture is important for all bodily functions: breathing, thinking, drinking, eating, digestion, eliminating, moving, and sleeping. Any sort of imbalance or “kink” can throw one or more things off and can cause the body to find other round-about ways to function.
  • Mental/Emotional Stressors: What’s on your mind lately? Do you have work, school, family, social, relationship, or self-image on your mind? Are you happy? The mind-body connection is real and it’s an important factor. Non-physical stress can very well lead to physical dis-ease.

So, those are some of my thoughts without going too in depth or in great detail as to what may be the “simple” causes to many of life’s unhealthy symptoms. Bring some awareness into your thoughts simply by taking perspective and reflecting on the symptoms to find the underlying cause. We all know why our body may be out of balance, in pain, tired, aching, or sore. It is a matter of looking within to find the answer from self.

The answer is within the question.

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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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Cortisol, Stress, and Blood Sugar

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Cortisol, Stress, and Blood Sugar

http://youtu.be/uLUU0b-VuD0

The video link above discusses Cortisol and its affects on a detailed hormonal level. If you don’t care about that sh-tuff then please read my take below…

Cortisol is a stress hormone. The body produces it via the Adrenal Glands that sit atop of the Kidneys – this is a normal bodily function. Without Cortisol, the body literally cannot handle excess daily stress and it can break down in various ways – muscular system, immune system, digsestive system, and so on. However, too much Cortisol will have the same deteriorating effects. The body releases Cortisol to increase the level of blood sugar. By doing so it provides the body with enough fuel to get through a stressful situation. The body needs sugar to survive – it is our primary fuel source. Now, I don’t mean sugar in the sense of straight up eating tablespoons of the white stuff – in order for the body to use any carbohydrate (starches, grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, etc.) they must be converted into simple sugars (vs. complex). Too much Cortisol or a constant environment that causes the release of Cortisol can deplete the body of all of its sugar stores, thus causing the body to eat its own muscle for energy, thus causing a down-regulation of metabolism and thyroid hormone release. Too little Cortisol can be caused by a constant need for Cortisol due to chronic stress. The body becomes fatigued from being fatigued and it simply cannot keep up anymore. These examples are an oversimplification of the process but I’m keeping it short so it’s easy to comprehend.

Types of Stress

Exercise is number one on my list. No matter how you look at exercise - it is a stress on the body. We’re designed to survive, but we’re also designed to have an ego – for example, when a person runs for an hour on the treadmill their body doesn’t know if they’re running from a lion or running to fit into their pants again. The reality is that too much exercise, too frequent exercise, and not enough rest/recovery/sleep/proper nutrition will cause an increase in Cortisol. The increase of this stress hormone can completely negate what you’re trying to accomplish – in times of excess stress the body will actually store belly fat and eat muscle to help it survive.

Keep exercise routines within 30-45 minutes. During exercise we release Cortisol and Testosterone. At around the 45 minute mark, Testosterone (the primary anabolic, muscle building, metabolism increasing hormone) drops off of the graph while Cortisol continues. Less is more!

Diet Stress. When you eat like shit it stresses your body. Actually, when you eat foods that don’t work WITH the body it can cause stress. For instance, people think whole grains are healthy but what about the constant inflammation that the gluten protein induces on the intestinal tract? It may be on a small scale but over time of every day consumption that stress can add up. Diet Stress is the largest daily stressor that one can influence on themselves.

Life Stress (family, relationship, money, work, school, etc). These occur on a daily basis and must be dealt with whether you like it or not. My question is: does your diet and exercise program provide your body with enough of the right fuel to cope with these daily stressors? Or do they add to it?

Sleep Stress How many of you can’t fall asleep at night, toss and turn, sleep less than 7/8 hours, or don’t sleep at all? Perhaps all of the other stressors in your life are affecting your sleep schedule which, in turn, increases the amount of stress that your body cannot already handle.

Chemical Stress Deodorant, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, detergent, fabric softener, household cleaner, air fresheners, candles, polluted air, dust, mold, that new car smell, and the list goes on. You body (specifically the liver, lungs, and skin) has to detoxify all of the topical, inhaled, and external stressors we influence on our body. Do you consider how much of a stress your chemical-filled deodorant is?

In conclusion, you want to decrease the amount of Cortisol your body produces by decreasing stressful situations. One must take the perspective of what truly stress them: what factors help and what factors hurt. And lastly, do not be afraid of carbohydrates and sugars – there are too many out there that are adopting low-carb diets that “work” at first but soon fall to the excess stress of depleting your main energy source.

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