SkylerTanner.com

(Photo: Koichi Kamoshida)

So not only does Japan get hyper-speed internet and all generations of the Skyline GTR, but they also have chocolate baths. I’m pissed.

Now, I’m a fan of a hot bath as much as the next guy. It’s to the point where I’ve answered phone calls in the bath that weren’t of the seedy nature, only to have my friends amused at the sloshing water. On top of being generally relaxing, I’ve always felt it helped me recover from a workout, especially if I took a cool shower shortly afterwards.

Turns out I was fooling myself.

A new study from the England Institute of Sport indicates that there is no improvement in recovery markers from contrast bathing:

CONCLUSION: No hierarchy of recovery effects was found. Neither contrast bathing nor compression acted to promote acute recovery from EIMD any more effectively than passive conditions…

However, and here’s what most people might notice…

…although contrast bathing may transiently attenuate postexercise soreness.

I’ve told my clients for years now that soreness isn’t an indicator of a good workout. I should have also been more clear that a lack of soreness doesn’t mean they’re fully recovered. Doesn’t matter; I’ll still bath…you know, for the hygiene and such.

What helps you recover from a hard workout?

For those who read my blog on the regular, you’ll note that I’ve mentioned my current variation of periodization or programming. My younger years had very little in the way of workout planning and, based on the dogma of the system I first learned, I didn’t feel it was needed. After reading the work of Clarence Bass, and Louie Simmons, I started incorperating their ideas into my own training with fantastic result. Read More…

(This rather awesome photo is from San Diego Serenade.)

Really though, it has all the big-handed awesomeness of a Foo Fighters video or The Science of Sleep without the oddball creep factor.

So everyone on the internet has read The 4 Hour Work Week and developed dreams of manufacturing something so that they can do something else in a foeign country somewhere else. One of the many points Mr. Ferris harps about as being critical is the 80/20 principle or Pareto’s Principle. Upon reading this, it reminded me of what I’ve said to my clients for a number of years regarding workout quality: there’s a rule of 5. Read More…

If I believed in astrology, I’d tell you that my planning and uniform eating is just my piscean need for structure and stability in some form or fashion in my life. I don’t believe such things and link it to my becoming mildly piggy when I was 20 and dieting down while competing in the “Body for Life” competition. My results weren’t too shabby, losing 25lbs and 5 inches from my waist. I’ve been hooked ever since. Read More…

I love food. I love cooking, talking about, and torturing my girlfriend stranded in Ecuador with discussions of the flavor profiles of said foods that I’ve been cooking. She’s amused enough to want to shiv me, but that must mean I’m really describing things in tasty detail. I recently got my hands on Gourmet Nutrition 2.0 from Dr. John Berardi and, while filled with roughly 100 tasty meals, it’s more than a cookbook.

Read More…

My adventures in Ecuador came with a few surprises, as any jaunt in a developing country should bring. However, I didn’t expect what I documented in my first vblog:

Fatigue was evident and I had to wait until the next day to venture to my second location: Vilcabamba. The few photos I was able to find could no do the town justice, so I took more video:

Much more rested and relaxed, thanks to a 45 minute massage (only 12 dollars!). The video itself can’t do the valley justice, but it’s a start.

The disappointing thing about the trip was the cuisine, or really the lack thereof. All of the good fruits and veggies grown nearby are cash crops and are exported. Same goes for coffee and cocoa, which leaves those of us in the country drinking instant coffee and eating lower quality crops. The veggies had to be overcooked to the point of mush so as to kill off any bacteria and, if you don’t count the street vendors, protein in sufficient qualities was hard to come by. I could never find any of the national delicacies like cuy, and the only steak I could get from from an Argentine steakhouse on my last night. The most readily available calories were all junk: ice cream, pastries, white, white, white…you get the idea. Intermittent fasting became my friend in the morning, and even though I was sure I might gain weight eating pure crap, I lost 3lbs in 10 days. In other words, Scott isn’t going to be writing about the traditional diet of Ecuador anytime soon.

Now, I thankfully never received any bouts of tourista and suffered zero indigestion. How did I do it?

1. Start using a Probiotic at least 2 weeks before your trip.

Many individuals are familiar with acidophilus and bifidus, but I like a product called Gut Health due to the low number of doses. Whichever you choose, start taking it at least 2 weeks before you leave.

2. Bring some fiber.

One of my clients, a self-proclaimed “traveling warhorse,” gave me this suggestion. I brought a sleeve of Fiber One and consumed a little every morning and a little before lunch on my first 5 days in Ecuador. It was something familiar and helped keep me regular in the face of low fiber food.

3. Digestive Enzymes are your friends.

I used digestive enzymes with every meal to try and ensure that all the crap was going to be broken down and digested properly. Good insurance no matter what.

Conclusion? The next time I go to Ecuador, it will be to board a plane that takes me to the Galapagos…that will be enough for me.

I don’t want to bore everyone to death just yet with my adventures in Ecuador, but expect an update (with videos!) about that later this week. I’ll also have some travel tips that would followed the “fitness” aspect of this blog.

As mentioned in a previous post, one of my goals on the year is to get my vertical leap to or above 36″. I did this in an effort to make haste slowly, as I can get a bit OCD about achieving goals and burn myself out rather fast. However, it seems that the box squats and mild plyo are doing their job, as this video shows:

My inexperience with macs has left a large video compressed and squished, but you get the idea. A rough estimate would have that 3/4 of the way up a backboard, but I’ll test again in 6ish weeks at the local community college’s gym, as they have a vertical jump board. For those counting at home, I’m 6′3″ hence my reach test to ensure that the basket was 10 feet high (I was a bit surprised myself).

Maybe I’ll get my vert over 40″, thus dispelling the “white-guys-with-long-legs-like-quarter-horses-can’t-jump” myth.

So later today I’m heading out of the country for the first time ever in my short life. I’ll be visiting the oft-mentioned girlfriend in Ecuador, where she has been teaching English as a volunteer with WorldTeach. I’ll come back with pictures and video but before I go I saw this study regarding the validity of the glycemic rating of food…rather, differentiating blood glucose and insulin response. This study tells the tale:

CONCLUSION: The lower GI of BC (bran Cereal) than of CF (corn flakes) was not due to a lower rate of appearance of glucose but instead to an earlier postprandial hyperinsulinemia and an earlier increase in the rate of disappearance of glucose, which attenuated the increase in the plasma glucose concentration.

In other words, the low GI bran flakes showed a HIGHER insulin response shortly after ingestion. This cleared the blood glucose faster. Again, higher initial insulin response = lower blood glucose response. This confuses a lot of people leading to some pretty wacky ideas.

Now I leave to live like a king for a week. Cheers!

I was training a client earlier this week using a static chin up for a finisher to her back workout when, in the midst of her agony, she exclaimed, “I DON’T LIKE BEING OFF THE GROUND!” This struck me, as the feelings that came from jumping were the basis for my becoming a trainer and what I’m returning to this year. Read More…

I’m always experimenting with foods and recipes. I eat mostly fresh foods in their natural packaging, or paleo if you’d like a use a catchy, esoteric label, biasing my caloric intake toward fats and protein most of the time. Tonight I made some almond meal pancakes that I ate while snacking on a green apple. A few minutes later, I ate a chicken breast I grilled up. While this is well and good, the fact that I ate all three macronutrients together, after 6pm no less, should have me packing on fat like mad. This isn’t the case and the theory that your body can only digest specific foods together, or that specific food combinations reduce fat storage and increase nutrient use, is nonsense. Read More…