(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.

So why a book on programming your weight training? Don’t you just have to keep lifting heavier and heavier weights until you achieve you strength goals? Yes and no, say Mark Rippetoe  and Lon Kilgore, who previously authored the rather good Starting Strength. There are a variety of programming guidebooks on the aerobic side of the street containing enough academic and real-world experience to take anyone of just about any fitness level to their aerobic goals. The anerobic world is often left with either an academic “pencil neck” with multiple tomes of research, or the grizzled coach who has multiple tomes worth of experience and never the two shall meet.

This book is only about the weight room alone. Programming methods range from a standard linear model to more complex models for advanced trainees. The progression of these methods is logical as an advanced or elite athlete will need more training complexity than the novice or intermediate. What isn’t discussed is conjugate periodization, undulating periodization, and other popular models.

After establishing background with regards to the research, the authors dive into their recommendations, noting that most people who train with weights will never need to go beyond the recommendations in their intermediate chapter; in fact, they say that 75% of trainees will never go beyond this level. Advanced and elite levels are reserved for pure strength atheletes training heavy 11 to 12 months out of the year.

Advanced level chapters make a point about training the aspects that have the longest maintainability (muscle size) furthest from an intended contest, as skill and metabolic work have the shortest maintainability and are trained closest to competition. Again, most people will never need to get here, but it’s an interesting point to be made.

The Good: Easy to read, full of practical information on how to program your training for gains. The fact that microloading is mentioned warms my heart.

The Bad: There could be full workout examples for intermediates (though I understand why they didn’t include this). Rumor is assistance exercises will be the topic of their next book, which must be why it’s absent here.

The Ugly: Nothing; they left gawdy graphics on the cutting room floor.

If you train with weights, buy this book. It’s that simple.

Question: What books do you feel are “elite” when it comes to improving your training?

(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.

No matter how well we plan, periodize, or prep our bodies will have high and low output days. As much as I wish this could be plotted, it doesn’t seem to be something we can do yet. However, in all of the years I’ve been a trainer, I’ve noticed that, on the balance, a pattern emerges in a series of 5 workouts:

1. 1 workout will be crap, where both mentally and physically things just bite the dirt.
2. 3 workouts will be “punch the clock” workouts, where you make a bit of progress on a few exercises while remaining stagnant on the rest. This can also realize in the form of you mentally feeling great but physically being behind and vice versa.
3. 1 workout will be stellar; the stars will align, zeus and olympus will bless you and you’ll have a fantastic workout. Everything goes up and you feel like you’ve got gas left in the tank when the mayhem is finished.

So you’re making huge progress in 20% of the sequence, all well and good, but more importantly is that some progress is being made 80% of the time. Bonus.

Note that this seems entirely independant of a person’s specific daily rhythm for training; from personal experience I’ve noticed no difference in the “rule” from training in the afternoon versus training in the morning.

What about you? Any odd training patterns you’ve seen emerge in your own life?

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.

Since Scott and Mark eat in a very similar paleo-dominant fashion, I wanted to show how someone who is less-strict might eat while still fulfilling their goals.

As you can see, I meet my fruit/veggie, essential fat, and fiber count with room to spare. While some might scoff at crispix and fiber one, insolong as my essentials are met and I stay under 25% carb intake, I’ll use whatever I like to fill the caloric void. I find it easy to lose fat and harder to gain muscle, so calories are essential to my growth. As Layne Norton would put it, “There are no ‘magic’ foods like so many people seem to think.” Also notice that I still come up *barely* short in a couple micronutrients and that’s remedied with a multi vitamin. Easy.

I’m also a big fan of the “90% rule,” which is to say I break my eating habits 10%, or ~ 4 meals, a week. Sometimes this is all on the same day, sometimes this is spread out, usually of the pizza, burger, and waffle variety. I’ll also have a beer with dinner 2 to 3 days a week; let’s say it’s for my health. I’ve lived the spartan life and, while it has worthwhile lessons, I do love pizza. Tasty, tasty pizza.

A big thanks to my readers…

Mostly for questions and comments I’ve received since starting the site. It’s nice to know that there are others who appreciate reading my ranting half as much as I enjoy typing the damn things.

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.

The original gourmet nutrition was an e-book that, upon being released for download, quickly made it to millions of hard drives via internet piracy. For the second book, Berardi opted for a real book that, simply, looks fantastic. As I noted, it’s more than just a cookbook, with Berardi explaining how the book should  be used in the context of a greater dietary ideal. In order for these meals to fit the “Gourmet Nutrition” title, they must:

1. Taste Great
2. Contain Lean, complete protein
3. Be Low in sugar and processed carbs
4. Prioritize healthy fats over bad fats
5. Control calorie intake and density
6. Include fresh, natural, additive-free ingredients wherever possible
7. Include carbs only if you deserve them

Seems pretty easy for those of us who have been “on the wagon” for years and fairly convincing for those just starting out. Recipes start with breakfast items (most more carby than I’d like; more on that later), later cover red meats, white meats, seafood, and ends with desserts, dressings, and condiments.

The interesting thing for most individuals is understanding that carbohydrate intake is best tolerated around exercise. Thus, this is spelled out by defining meals with less than 25% of total calories from carbs as “Anytime meals” and meals with more than 25% of their calories from carbs as “Post Workout Meals.” As I’ve noted in the past, studies indicate that maximization of recovery and growth occurs from the use of carbs and protein post-workout. While you might disagree with this, the notion of having carbs when you’ve earned them should be appealing.

In conclusion, I recommend this book even at the rather steep price of $50. To get an idea of the high production value, you can get a free dessert e-book that has the same type of photography found throughout Gourment nutrition 2.0.

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.

I started training at the age of 15, trying to add muscle mass so that I might play varsity basketball as a sophomore in high school. I was certified at the age of 16 I was Superslow Certified and since then have tried just about every training idea under the sun. Age and patience are allowing me to “put it all together” this year I’m attempting to achieve two complimentary goals:

1. Box Squat 400lbs for 1 rep.

2. Get my vertical leap over 36″.

I’ll be achieving these goals through a combination of powerlifting-influenced training and simple plyometric work. I train no more than 3 days a week, focusing on the “big compounds” of my world (box squat, sumo deadlift, floor press, chinup). Once I meet my planned work on those exercises, the rest of the workout is up to chaos, effectively following my idea of “evolutionary fitness.” This sounds esoteric, but I’ve attempted to combine aspects of the power law in a way that seems to be ignored by individuals like Art De Vany. Rather than escalate up the power law scale in a pyramid fashion, I prefer to employ Chaos Training. As long as I perform my core movements in a trackable fashion each workout, what I do in addition would depend on how I feel, what my motivation is like, what my stimulation is like, and if I have training partners available. Bodybuilders have referred to this as “training by feel,” hence my warning about myself sound esoteric.

During the end of my training push, I intentionally attempt to overreach, taking my volume and frequency way up for no more than a week. I’m attempting to create a critical state of change, maybe adding a little bit more muscle tissue that will manifest during my 2 weeks of rest. I’ll use all sorts of set variables and splinter techniques to really frag myself before resting. This is how Arthur Jones would train pros in the late 60’s and early 70’s, who were coming to him from traditional high volume approaches. The first thing he would do when they visited was to have them rest for a few days. This eating and resting allowed for that stimulated muscle to manifest itself. Rest is powerful stuff.

To give an idea of how I train, here’s what I did last week.

One of the main reasons for using the box squat is breaking the concentric/eccentric chain, forcing the strong muscles in the hips and hamstrings to generate power from a dead stop. Couple this with plyometric work and you’re going to create a lot of upward thrust.

Speaking of plyometrics, you can see I’m not doing as much as is often seen recommended. This is mostly because it’s quite taxing on the nervous system and little is needed to yield the result I’m after. Perhaps if I wasn’t training extensively in the squat and deadlift, I would do more. Like all of my training, I’ll only perform plyo work for 6 to 7 weeks before taking a 2 week break to allow full recovery of muscles and motivation. My protocol is adopted from the Science of Jumping program.

It’s consistently inconsistent, but the lifts are going up and I expect to reach by goals by the end of the year. To efficient training!

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.

The origins of the food combining theory, as far as I could find, comes from the book “Fit For Life.” The idea of food combining is twofold: one, our body has certain enzymes for digesting certain macronutrients and combining all the macros at the same time slows and impairs digestion, and two, if we raise free form fatty acids (ffa’s) and insulin together, we’ll merely store the fat since insulin is a storage hormone. This idea is one of the cornerstones of the low carb movement: lower insulin and you won’t store that fat floating around from the bacon or whatever greasy meat you’re abusing for the sake of being low carb. Only that’s wrong as well; let me start with the combinations.

Unless you ask a hardcore vegan, who might conveniently ignore these canines and incisors shoved in the front of our palate, anyone will tell you that we’re omnivores. Historically we ate anything we could get our hands on as our diet (which pretty well mauls the idea of only one paleo diet…that’s for another post). Feasting on a leg of game was as likely as crunching on some nuts with our berries. Hell, if we killed the game on top of some spinach that magically was under a magic apple and almond tree, we would have eaten all of it together. We’ve evolved to take nearly anything we shove down our necks and turn it into whatever we need, hence our title.

So what about the avoidance of raising insulin and ffa’s together, so that we avoid fat storage? Someone forgot to tell the talk show experts about a little protein known as Acylation Stimulating Protein (ASP). Produced in the adipocytes, ASP will trap ffa’s in a total absence of insulin. Lets pretend that beef doesn’t stimulate insulin like it actually does and you consume a big, fatty steak. Those calories will be stored by ASP, perhaps not as efficiently as your body would like, but it will get the job done turning ffa’s into triglycerides. Now imagine that same situation again, only this time understanding that beef will raise insulin. In the presence of insulin, ASP takes a backseat and lets the more efficient insulin do its job.

My previous examples referred to relatively lean individuals with good insulin sensitivity, so what about those who are obese or have poor insulin sensitivity (around and over 20% body fat with a visceral fat tendency will get the job done)? Well pity the poor fatty as impaired glucose and fatty acid uptake means that both ASP and insulin are acting in a synergistic manner to send those mixed meal calories on the fast train to fat city. ASP and insulin are elevated during a fast, especially for obese individuals, making fat loss a rather challenging proposition. If you minimize or eliminate one half of the equation, especially the most efficient half, you’re going to make your fat loss endeavors a lot easier.

So why have so many people lost weight with the idea of food combining? The most obvious answer is that eliminating an entire macronutrient from your meal can go a long way toward calorie control and this should be the main reason for such a scheme.

So what’s the take home message?

1. We’re omnivores and can digest just about anything we shove down our necks.

2.Your body is totally capable of storing calories in the absence of insulin, no matter what Gary Taubes might tell you.

3. Food combining for reasons of avoiding fats, carbs, and protein being digested together at the same time is misguided. If you’re eating as often as you should be you’ll still be digesting your last meal; there is an overlap.

4. Most foods are a macronutrient mix naturally, for example the nut.

5. Lowering your bodyfat to increase insulin sensitivity through a reduced calorie eating plan goes a long way toward increasing your tolerance of carbs.

To paraphrase a quote from my friend Dr. Doug McGuff: “Assuming you’re meeting your true nutritional needs of essential fats, essential proteins, fiber, vitamins and minerals, you could get get lean on a diet of skittles.” Good eating.