What Determines Your Strength

Your strength is determined by the number of muscle fibers that you have and the ability to turn on all of those muscle fibers. So there are two ways to get stronger. You can increase the size of the muscle or you can get better at turning on the muscle that you already have. The way to increase the size of the muscle is to use weights that are challenging for 6-12 repetitions, and the way to increase your ability to turn on the muscle is by using weights that are challenging for 5 or fewer repetitions. Most people spend their time using repetitions between 6-12 trying to make the muscles bigger but there is a lot of benefit in lifting heavier so that you teach your body how to turn on all of its available muscle. Most people never reach their true potential when it comes to turning on all of their muscle fibers. Being able to turn on all of your muscle fibers is a function of your nervous system and the way to improve this ability is by challenging your body to lift heavier loads. One of the best ways to improve these two areas of strength is by alternating between periods where your focus is on lifting heavier loads and periods where you try for more repetitions. When you do this you build more muscle for a period and then you teach your body how to use that new muscle.

Coffee

Coffee consumption is a very controversial subject among many people knowledgable in nutrition. Is drinking coffee healthy? I would say that it is. I believe that success leaves clues and one thing that I have noticed is that many people who have lived into their 80's and 90's without any health problems drink quite a bit of black coffee. Last weekend I met a guy who was 82 years old with no health problems, and a full head of thick hair. He said that he drinks about 4-5 cups of black coffee per day. Another example I have seen is Arthur Devany who is 72 years old and looks like he is 50, he is about 195lbs with 10% body fat and no health problems. So is there something in coffee that is good for your health? Coffee is full of antioxidants, and there are also compounds in coffee that improve insulin sensitivity. Another reason why I believe black coffee is good is because it is very bitter and people who are addicted to sugar have a very hard time drinking black coffee. In Chinese medicine bitter flavors are associated with good liver and gall bladder health. If you regularly drink black coffee then you probably are not addicted to sugar and have normal insulin sensitivity, which is one of the keys to aging well.

How Does Nutrition Change Your Tissue

All Classes for today are as scheduled

Does your nutrition cause changes in your tissue? Yes, and I will provide a couple of examples. If you eat trans fat it will change the quality of your cell membranes causing them to become hard and less pliable. When I perform body fat measurements on clients I can tell if they have been eating trans fats because their tissue is extremely hard and sometimes I am not even able to pinch their tissue. Fish oil on the other hand, has the opposite effect. Fish oil improves the health of your cell membranes and makes taking body fat measurements much easier.

The other thing that causes changes in your tissue is sugar. Sugar causes inflammation in the body which causes changes in your soft tissue. Sugar is sticky and it binds to proteins in the body which accelerates the aging process. Excess sugar also causes people to become less flexible because of the binding that occurs.

Another other source of problems for many people is food sensitivities. Food sensitivities cause an inflammatory response in the body which changes the quality of your tissues. If you are having problems with chronic pain, adhesion's, or trigger points then I would suggest you try to eliminate all possible sources of allergens. The most common food sensitivities are wheat, soy, dairy, and eggs.

Having taken quite a few body fat measurements in the last couple of years I can tell you that the diet that you eat definitely changes how your tissue feels. It is very easy to tell just by taking skin fold measurements on someone if their tissue is healthy or not. Often times I have seen dramatic changes in clients tissue within in a couple of weeks of nothing but dietary changes.

Optimum Flexibility

How do we achieve optimum flexibility so that all of our joints can move through their full range of motion? This is a question that many people want to know. The answer lies in having proper structural balance. Stuctural balance means that you have equal levels of strength in opposing muscle groups. For example, the muscles in the front of the hip work as hip flexors and the glutes work as hip extensors on the opposite side of the pelvis. Thus, if your hip flexors are stronger than your glutes you will have poor range of motion in your hips because the stronger hip flexors will not allow the hip to move through its proper range of motion.

So how do we ensure proper structural balance? The first step is to use a well designed strength program that will provide either a balanced program if you are already balanced or a corrective program if you are imbalanced. In order to correct an imbalance you should try to lengthen or stretch the stronger side and strengthen the weaker or inhibited side. By having proper structural balance you will not only improve your flexibility and range of motion but you will also reduce your chances of injury and improve your levels of strength. Some common areas of structural imbalance are tight hip flexors with weak glutes, tight quads with weak hamstrings, and tight internal shoulder rotators with weak external rotators.

The Afterburn

If you have ever done a challenging workout then you probably know what I am talking about when I say "the afterburn." Following a tough weight lifting or interval workout your metabolism can often be elevated for up to 72 hours. This often causes people to feel hot later in the day or even the next day. The reason that you feel hot is because of EPOC.

EPOC(excess post exercise oxygen consumption) is what causes the afterburn and is one of the keys to burning body fat because it increases the number of calories that are burned throughout the rest of the day for up to 72 hours. Weight lifting and high intensity intervals are the way to increase EPOC because they put your body into oxygen debt. Workouts that are anaerobic cause a lack of oxygen in the body because the body is working faster than it can take in oxygen. This oxygen debt must eventuallly be paid off over time. In order to pay off this oxygen debt your body will work overtime(raise the metabolism), and this can cause the afterburn feeling.

Lower Your Toxic Load

People today are exposed to more toxins than you can imagine. Being toxic can wreak havoc on your fat loss. If your body is toxic and you do not provide the proper nutrients to the body then it can be extremely difficult to lose fat, as well as stay healthy. So what are some ways to lower the amount of toxins that you are exposed to? First of all, buy a water filter and possibly a shower filter. This will go a long way in lowering your toxic load. Another thing that you can do is to try and avoid plastics whenever possible and make sure to avoid microwaving plastics. Microwaving plastics causes your food to store all of the toxins in the plastics. Another important thing to consider is eating organic foods. Two of the most important foods to buy organic are butter and coffee. Butter and coffee contain more chemicals than any other substances we consume.

Structural Balance

How is your posture? One of the things that we emphasize in all of our workouts is structural balance. Structural balance is having proper balance in strength and flexibility throughout the body. There are many people today that have problems with their posture. The usual problems that I run across are shoulders that are rounded forward, forward head postures, tight hip flexors and quadriceps, weak external rotators of the shoulders, weak glutes, abs, and hamstrings. So what does all of this add up to? If your body is not in balance then you need to be careful with your exercise selection so that you are performing exercises that will not make your problems worse. Many people try to perform advanced exercises that their bodies may not be ready for. One of the keys to long term success with fitness training is staying injury free and the way to do that is to be properly balanced and use perfect technique.

Are You Covering All of Your Nutritional Needs

Does the average person get all the nutrients that they need from their diet. The answer is no, and there are several reasons why. The first thing we need to look at is what the average person needs to live optimally. The RDA for most nutrients is set at the minimum level that is necessary to avoid disease. I would not call this the optimal level. First of all the average person today eats a diet that is full of processed foods which contains little to no nutrition. Second, the food supply today is not as nutritious as it used to be. Our soils have become depleted and many studies have shown that the food today is not nearly as nutritious. The other factor to consider is that many of the foods that we eat today are anti-nutrients(they steal vitamins and minerals from your body). Some common anti-nutrients are grains, beans, soy, and coffee. All of these foods bind to minerals such as calcium and zinc and steal them from the body. So how do you defend yourself against a poor diet, depleted soil, and foods that rob your body of valuable nutrients? The first step would be to take a quality multi-vitamin. One tip you can use to find a good multi-vitamin is to look at the source of magnesium in the multi. If it is from magnesium oxide then it is not very absorbable and there is no use in taking a supplement if you are not going to absorb it. If a multi comes in a one a day formula then it most likely has magnesium oxide in it because if the company were to use a quality form of magnesium they wouldn't be able to make it in a one a day formula. Remember that with supplements you get what you pay for. There is no such thing as a cheap high quality supplement.

Great Abs are Built in the Kitchen

I came across a saying yesterday that "great abs are built in the kitchen," and I couldn't agree more with this statement. I can't tell you how many people have come to me wanting to know which exercise will pull the fat off of their stomach the fastest. The thing that will pull the fat off the fastest is proper nutrition. If your diet is not good then no workout program that you ever do will give you the results that you are looking for. The other thing that I know will help pull fat off of your stomach is good sleep. If you are having trouble sleeping then you are not going to be able to lose fat easily. Good sleep helps you burn fat.

What are you really addicted to?

Are people addicted to the caffeine in their coffee or the sugar. Many people load up their coffee with all kinds of stuff, especially sugar. I do not think that coffee is something that you need to give up but many people cannot drink it without having a bunch of sugar or artificial sweetener in it. Part of this is due to altered taste buds. If you eat a lot of sugar or artificial sweeteners then black coffee will taste very bitter to you. However as you get away from sugar and artificial sweeteners your tastes will change and things that did not used to be sweet will start to have a better flavor. Many people often complain that they cannot give up their coffee and I don't think that they should have to in the majority of cases, but the question usually arises as to whether they are addicted to the coffee or the junk they put in the coffee.

Stay on the Periphery

There is one easy way to make sure that the foods you buy at the grocery store are healthy. Stay on the periphery of the store. On the periphery of the store you will find all of the produce, meats, organic foods, eggs and dairy. It is when you go into the aisles that you get into trouble. In the aisles are all of the processed foods. Many of these foods are full of trans fats and high fructose corn syrup which are two ingredients that you should always avoid. About the only reason to go into the aisles is for some olive oil. Other than that, everything you need can be found on the periphery of the store. Next time you go shopping take a look into other peoples carts to see what many other people are buying. You will see that many people are buying what are supposed to be diet and health foods but they are really just buying processed junk.

Is Obesity a Nutrient Deficiency?

What if obesity is not only due to overconsumption of the wrong foods but the underconsumption of the right foods? Many people have put forth the theory that obesity is really caused by having a lack of nutrients. In today's society, most people eat a lot of junk food which has been stripped of all of its nutritional value. If you couple this with dieting and trying to cut down on the number of calories that you are eating, then you begin to create a situation where the body is receiving very little quality nutrition, but this is what most people try to do. This causes people to be lacking in many key nutrients which can affect body composition, hormonal function, and overall health. When the body is lacking nutrients it sends signals to cause cravings for certain foods, which can cause binges on junk food. Another example of a case when there is not enough nutrition, is when people become insulin resistant. The nutrients that they eat do not get into their cells, thus they continue to be hungry. So how do we fix obesity if it is really caused by nutrient deficiencies? We encourage people to eat more of the right foods which will help to provide the body with more nutrients. This not only works to provide the nutrients that are necessary for the body to function optimally but I have found that it is also much easier mentally to focus on what you should eat rather than what you should not eat. When you take foods away from people they tend to focus on them more. So if you are trying to lose weight the biggest mistake you can make is not eating enough of the right foods. This is a radical change in mindset for most people.

Yin vs Yang

One of the things that I like to study is Chinese medicine. I got interested in Chinese medicine through a massage therapist that I worked with and Charles Poliquin. In Chinese medicine yin and yang must be in balance in our lives. Yin and Yang can very easily be applied to both training and nutrition and it is often helpful to think of Yin and Yang for achieving maximum results.

Yin in our lives is represented by rest, relaxation, and night so things that cause the body to relax are yin producing. For example, sleep would be considered yin, and if you are overly tired or sluggish then you have excess yin and would need more yang. Yin foods would be mostly in the form of carbohydrates. So if you are trying to get ready for a workout or wakeup in the morning then carbs are probably not your best choice. However, if you are trying to go to bed then carbs will help. Carbs make you sleepy and are thus a yin food.

To balance out the yin our lives we must sufficient yang. Yang would be characterized by energy, movement, and daytime. For example, working out is a very yang activity. So in order to wake up in the morning and prepare for a workout you should increase your yang. Yang foods would be mostly protein foods, especially red meat and eggs. These are great foods for waking you up in the morning. Most people do not eat enough protein with breakfast and that is one of the reasons why they have such a hard time getting moving in the morning. One quesiton that I often get asked about is what people should eat before a workout. The answer is Yang foods, which are mostly protein. You want to be awake and have energy for your workouts so you should definitely have yang foods before your workout.

One of the keys to success with your workouts and nutrition is to have a proper balance of yin and yang in your life. If you are laking energy then do things that will increase your yang such as working out and eating more protein. An example of a condition that represents a lack of yang would be hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is when thyroid production slows down which slows down the metabolism and causes the individual to lack energy. Thyroid problems are considered to be excess yin in Chinese medicine. In the Biosignature program one of the key things to understand is that excess insulin(from too many carbs) will slow down thyroid production. Which makes sense because overconsumption of carbs will mean an excess of yin in the body. If you are having trouble winding down then try to do things that will increase your yin such as relaxation exercises, naps, extra sleep, and possibly some high fiber carbs. If these things do not help then there are also many supplements that can help to increase yin and yang. Just remember that to get the best results you must keep things in the proper balance.

Saturday Classses

We will now be having a class on Saturday's at 10am. The first class will be this weekend 1/10 at 10am.

Leaky Gut

Most people do not know what leaky gut is, and it is a very common problem today. Leaky gut is when the permeability of the intestinal barrier is compromised. When this barrier is compromised many things pass through the barrier and into the body that are not supposed to. Your digestive system is the only contact your body has with the outside world and as food passes through the digestive system the intestinal barrier allows some things to pass through and blocks others. When the lining of the gut is compromised many things are allowed to cross this barrier into the body that would normally be blocked. This can lead to many food sensitivities and digestive problems. Food sensitivities are not full blown food allergies but when foods that we are sensitive to are eaten the body reacts with a cortisol response. This cortisol reponse is created because substances are allowed to pass through the compromised gut lining that would not normally pass through. The body sees these substances as a stressor even though it is food. So how do we get leaky gut? Stress, poor diet, overuse of medications and stimulants are all causes. The way to fix the gut is to remove foods that we are sensitive to and to use a smart gut rebuilding protocol.