Honestly when it comes to health and weight loss, you probably know what you need to do. Are there really any true breakthroughs that will help you? Not really. Are you shocked when you hear to “eat less overall, eat healthier foods and exercise more”? Nah.

At some point most everyone has been lean and then maybe life took over, things became busy, emotions were more important, things happened….who knows. But that’s life….things are supposed to happen. Nothing stays the same, it never does. People come, people go. Relationships start, relationships end. People get jobs, people lose jobs.

We can all survive these things physically….and sometimes these small stressors are what help us to take control, adapt and move on in a more positive direction (remember the whole stress response system of the body and how it adapts better to small stressors? Like with intermittent fasting).

The real problem is when events/emotions of the past take over our lives on a more daily and consistent basis….that these acute events can turn into an emotional or mental downfall. The acute stressor that we should of moved on from now becomes chronic and ongoing, that is the most dangerous part. The mental battle is probably the most important one to master….because I’ll let the secret out, losing weight and eating healthy is really EASY….but doing it consistently while not allowing events around you and your emotional states to turns against you, is NOT.

Your mind can be our best friend….or your greatest enemy (and it’s the only true enemy you will ever have, as there are no evil forces outside of us making us do things). There may be influences in life good and bad, but we are still in full control and have a choice…..so choose to get that control back once and for all!

Realize You DO Have Control 100%!

This is Step 1.

You have full control over everything in your life such as…..if you put healthy or sugar-loaded foods in your mouth, if you make time for exercise or blow it off for another day, if you stay up late or go to bed early and get sleep, what you do for a living and how many hours you work, and most importantly…..what you think about yourself and the actions you take because of it.

Stop Blaming Yourself or Anyone Else!

Stop blaming anyone for anything....you'll go nowhere fast with that attitude.

I think most people really want to either blame someone or someone else. You can look in the mass media and it’s full of finger pointing. It must be the fast food industry making us fat….no wait it’s the high fat products….or it could be that TV/video games forcing us to sit down and not be outside playing in the fresh air.

In the end my response is going to be “Who Cares?”. Or a better question may be “Why do you need to have someone to blame? Just take responsibility for your actions and fix the problem!”

The blame game doesn’t help fix/solve the issue at hand. You can blame a fast food restaraunt if you like, but that doesn’t mean plenty of healthy lean people don’t drive it past daily and decide (personal choice) not to stop in. Heck I could walk into a McD’s if it’s the only option and still be able to eat a hamburger without the bun, no fries and water to drink. Chances are I am not going to get overweight on that diet!

What you need to do is understand our healthy choices, take 100% control and then make those choices. You can eat out all the time and pick something (or make something healthy) off the menu. You can take the bun off a burger. You don’t have to order a soda or milkshake. You can sub out veggies for fries with any meal. We do have a choice….no one is forcing us to do anything, even if the media loves to paint a picture that way. Making someone/thing else as the evil force in our lives for everything bad, takes the control away from you….and that loss of personal control can spell disaster.

What is even more scary is the amount at which we can blame ourselves! Why do we need to make ourselves the bad guy? Nothing good ever comes from it. So realize you are NOT to blame Why? Because you are not blaming anyone, remember? If you take an action, then whatever happens has happened. You can’t change it and blaming yourself will not change the outcome in the past. All you can do is move forward and take other actions.

Learn from the past, but then let go of it. Who cares if you used to weight 50lbs less or had a higher paying job, how does that really matter now? You have a choice, to either think anything is possible and move forward…or forever put your life on pause to live in the past and become part of it. The latter is not living.

Master the Simple Things…That is Real Long Term Results!

Eat right, make time for exercise, don’t worry about the little things, smile, enjoy being outdoors, help others……do that and what else is your life really missing? The biggest rewards come from the smallest things in life done on a daily basis.…which in turn are the most important ones to follow. No big secrets here, just most people focus on all the wrong things day after day. Such as:

• Best results hands down for anyone trying to lose weight….is a diet of real foods, avoiding processed carbs like breads/pastas, and enough protein. Will there be times you may eat something else? Sure of course…but you have to stay the course daily and stick with the basics. Diets DO NOT work!! Why? Because once people stop eating that way….there is no sense to take back control. Eat for a LIFESTYLE….one you can always go back to at any time.

• You have to be active every day…..make 30 min somewhere to go break a sweat doing something. You have the time….you just have to prioritize it.

• Stop stressing out about things that are trivial or out of your control. Let go of what you can not control or things of the past, focus on just what you can do now in your life.

• You need sleep. Turn off the tv, stop staying up late, it’s your choice afterall.

• Smile all the time…why not? Be happy….as a choice!

You Are NOT a Victim…..Ever!

Letting go of all your worries, doubts and fears....will allow you to be happy with who you are right now.

This goes with the “no one to blame” point. No one is doing anything to you. If you feel you are a victim, then you have lost control….and once you lose control it’s all downhill from there. Things happen in life, good and bad. You can’t control everything…and bad things will happen.

What defines us is how we respond and act in those situations.

You have the choice to brush it off, smile and keep going forward. Forget what just happened as it’s in the past and can’t be changed…..all that can be controlled is what action you take right now.

This is the one thing I can’t stand about modern medicine giving people a “disease” name. Did they really give anything to you? Are you stuck with it forever and ever? A disease is just a fancy name to a set of symptoms that medicine can classify so they know what treatment/drug to perscribe.

Get rid of the ownership! You may “experience” knee pain, but you don’t “own” arthritis. It is not part of you….because what happens when you clean up your diet and your experience of inflammation is no more? What do you own now? This feeling of helplessness and lack of control of one’s health is deadly….and must be overcome. Whatever you are experiencing in life, don’t be a victim of anything….things happen, accept it, and just move forward and improve your life as you see is the right way.

Excuses No Longer Exist in Your World

Period! No exceptions. Excuses are for people who don’t have control of their mental attitude. You are no longer that person! Whatever has happened, whatever the circumstances….accept that they are what they are and just move on with a new plan. When it comes to our health, fitness, success or happiness….if you leave room for excuses then you will not get where you want to go.

• Can’t get to a gym? – Go outside, do some pushups, run around, lunges, go to the playground and do some pullups, just get out and break a sweat everyday….no excuses. Make it happen every day.

• Eat out alot on the road? - Doesn’t mean you can eat everything on the menu. Make good choices of meats, veggies, or whatever you can create on your own.

• No Time? Too Busy? Work Long Hours? – Well that again is a choice, so you can either workout when you have the time, or make a way to work less (work smarter, find a new job, however you want to make it happen). You do have enough time in one day….actually too much time, the question comes down to how you spend that time. Choose to spend it on the things you enjoy or want to do, ignore the rest. Do some pushups under your desk or run the stairs at work if you must, but really sit down and examine where all your time goes….time to take back control of how you spend your time, as it is the most valuable thing you have to use in this life (and it is a limited resource)!

• No more self defeating words – When you hear yourself say these words, stop and slap your hand, as these are no longer allowed: “I can’t…”, “I don’t….”, “but….”. Replace them with positive action words like “I can…” and “I will….”. If you don’t think it will happen, then you will not take the steps to make it happen…….However, If you believe it will happen, then you will make it happen. You become what you think about!

Food is NOT Your Friend

Emotional eating is something most people may agree is an issue. So why is it emotional? You feel down….had a long day and food cures your feelings? How? Could it be the sugar rush? A childhood memory? What exactly is going on here? Well it could vary from person to person, but in the end the message is the same….food can do NOTHING for you. It won’t listen to you, it won’t help you focus on a positive outlook, it won’t change the past or future, it won’t solve or cure anything……all it can do it help or hurt your body! So stop thinking Ben and Jerry is a real person waiting to comfort you (unless you have their phone number and plan on calling them). Take the personality away from food, it’s not a real person.

Food is something your body needs, it’s fuel to keep your brain, heart, lungs and all cells working. Feed it all the wrong stuff and things may start working incorectly. Sugar is legal crack….it has addictive properties…yet is also has the most destructive properties. Would you give a hyperactive child more sugar?? Heck No. So not only are we going to try and get rid of these emotions in the first place…..we are also going to take away food as an escape. If you can’t do either of those things….then you are in for a long road of up and downs in both emotional state and weight loss/gain.

We need to stop the yo-yo and keep it steady and consistent. Food is just fuel for the body….or in some cases a destructive force. Nothing else. If you need a real friend, pick up the phone and call someone…..don’t pick up the spoon and eat till you are sick to your stomach, that solves nothing.

Don’t Put off Anything for Later/Tomorrow

Either you do something now or you don’t. Don’t tell yourself “I’ll do it later”. Unless you have it scheduled it won’t get done. We all know this. We have all done this whether it is paying bills, calling an old friend, doing our taxes, or working out.

So no more procrastination or putting off what you need to do right now. You can sit down and prioritize the top 3 things you need to do, but by the end of that day everything on your list has to be done! No exceptions…no excuses. As Nike says….”Just Do It!”

You Can’t Change the Past, So Live Right Now!

The journey is now...life is in the present moment only.

Fear, self doubt, depression…..where do they all live? In the past or future! Why? Because what do you really fear? Fear of failure? Fear of losing something/someone? Fear of something happening to you?

None of it has actually happened or may ever happen. Wasted Energy!

Self doubt, where is that coming from? The past. Maybe you think because something happened that you can’t do anything going forward. Do you see things as failures in the past? Well guess what….from now on there are no failures of anything in your life.

All you have is actions and results. If the results were not what you wanted then you learn and try again. Failure is when you give ownership to a result because of your action. You don’t own it! It’s not part of you! How many successful business men try things that don’t work out the way they want them to yet keep moving on in life trying more things? They all do if they are successful!

Depression is in the past too. Usually comes from thinking you are “missing something” in your life. Where does that perception come from? Someone breaks up with you? You gain some weight? Where? Only you have that answer. Another case of ownership….you “are not” depressed, you don’t “own it” for yourself, you are not identified by it. You can “feel” depressed but you can never actually “be” depressed.

Find what you think you are lacking and then realize you have everything you need to be happy right now, if you give up your past attachments. If you were hypnotized to only remember the last hour of your life….you would probably be the happiest person on Earth! So live in the present…..use the lessons from the past, they are not owned by or define who you are. Make the decision on just what you need to do right now. Laugh in the face of so called “failure”….because it doesn’t exist anymore and just means you are trying. Life without trying is not going to get you anywhere. Use the time you have left to explore and live life the way you want without ever living in the past.

There Is NO Quick Fix to Anything, Don’t Expect the Laws of Nature to Make an Exception

“3 min workouts” and “lose 50lbs in 1 hour” sells books, supplements and magazines….it’s not reality. Don’t expect any quick fix other than what you can do with a regiment of eating healthy and exercise. As far as losing weight, detoxing the body, and improving health….the body will only go one maximum speed, but some of us may be far from reaching that potential right now.

Now not to say that eating a certain way or increasing exercise may help get you closer to that one optimal speed, but anything that looks like a shortcut….is just marketing hype. The old saying has been around for a reason, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. You can make great progress in weight loss and health on a steady and consistent healthy eating and exercise regiment, don’t fall for the marketing hype of other people that just want to make a quick buck.

Anything is Possible, If YOU Believe it Can Happen!

The old saying is true, “The only limits in life are the ones you put on yourself”.

If you think you can, then you will. If you say you can’t, then you won’t. It’s that simple.

You become what you think about. So time for negative and self-defeating thoughts are done and gone. Remember, you don’t own them….you just experience them, and from now on you are going to choose not to think that way every again. You have the choice and control.

Wake Up! Be Aware of Every Present Moment, That is the Only Way to See What is Really Going on and Take Control!

Stop sleepwalking through life and "Wake Up"....otherwise you are just living in a dream world.

This is key for all progress in the mental battle. You have to “Wake Up” and be aware of what you are thinking in each present moment and see why. Most people are just mentally “Sleepwalking” through life “reacting” (not “acting”) to anything thrown in front of them.

Become a 3rd party observer of yourself. Step out of your body and watch it from a distance like you were on TV. Watch your actions, your thoughts….see what you are thinking and why. Once you see something as it truly is in life (an emotion, a negative feeling, stress and worry, fear and doubt, happiness and thrills, whatever you are experiencing), you can drop your attachment to it….it’s that easy.

Don’t attach your happiness to any person or thing either, because nothing lasts….and when that thing or person goes away, so does your perceived happiness. Enjoy people/things when you experience them….yet let them be unattached to you and walk away. You’ll never get the monkey off your back if don’t realize it is there in the first place.

Make your day a series of just being aware of the present moment. All day long…practice just being aware of what is really going on. The more you practice, the better you will get at it. Monks do it all day on a mountain top, just sitting in the present moment.

You can do it in your car (turn off the radio and just be present at driving, see there is no where to go but where you are now, stop being in such a rush), at work (see where you spend your time, are you reacting to phone and email or do you have a plan and get your work done on time), at home(what are you spending your time on, what are you thinking you need to do, are you just watching TV and being distracted so you don’t have to be present and aware?

Shut off the TV and just enjoy the moment), sitting on a park bench (nature always helps us get back to slowing down and appreciating the present moment. Look at a bird, a tree…they are in no rush, they don’t care what time it is, they don’t care about your work deadlines, they just do what they do one present moment at a time)….be present anywhere and everywhere you go!

They key is you have to do it. The goal is not to become the expert at it…the goal is just to apply and use it. Say to yourself “NOW”….as a reminder to just stop, sit back and watch what is really going on. Tell yourself that as much as you can especially in times that you are “feeling” (you don’t own it remember?) sad, depressed, happy, or just anytime. Examine all emotions and see what makes them tick at heart. Without action…nothing happens.

Keep it Simple, Stick to the Basics and Live the Journey Daily!

• Health and Weight loss is simple - Follow the basics of healthy eating and be active daily.

• You have 100% control - Now live your life the way you want to. If you don’t like something the way it is now, either do something to change it up or stop focusing on it. Take action or let it go.

• No more Excuses, No one left to Blame - Don’t look for someone to take the blame, there is no blame anymore. Don’t beat yourself up, you are not to blame for anything. Forget the past, and focus just on what you need to do right now!

• “Wake Up” and Live in the Moment - Don’t be asleep like most. Take action on purpose…just don’t react to anything that comes along. Take time to just live and experience life all around you. “Watch” yourself from a distance, and release your attachments. Be Free!

• All you have is actions and results – Failure or success is non-existent and doesn’t matter anymore. Just keep taking actions and moving forward in life on moment at a time. You will become whatever you focus on….so focus on making things happen.

• Enjoy the Journey – That is what life is.…and we only get one turn (as far as I know). Don’t live for regrets or be left to wonder “what if”. Make anything happen, dream big, try anything….if you think you can, you will!

Lastly, help others to “wake up” also in their own journey in life…..as that could be the greatest thing you could ever do for another person. That itself could also bring alot of meaning and happiness back to you.

Above photo by gabork

• Pushups are the best upper body workout designed….no machine can replace that…you don’t need any equipment and you can do them anywhere.
• It’s easy to become a certified trainer (as I have seen overweight people become certified)….it’s not easy to work as one full time (hence a high turnover rate in many clubs)
• Diet is 85% of where results come from…..for muscle and fat loss. Many don’t focus here enough.
• Working out too much doesn’t lead to good results….hence most people are still struggling after years of hard effort and little return.
• Most people do not lift heavy enough to make stronger muscles.
• It’s never too late to build muscle….and is more important as we grow older.
• The only real cure is prevention….don’t get sick in the first place otherwise you may be in for a long road back to health
• If you eat whole foods that have been around for 1000s of years, you probably don’t have to worry about counting calories
• Sugar is not our friend
• High Fructose Corn Syrup is making people fat and sick
• The biggest 2 threats to our health are inflammation (silent and chronic) and insulin resistance
• Our dependence on gyms to workout may be keeping people fat….as walking down a street and pushups in your home are free everyday…but people are not seeing it that way.
• If I had to pick one sport for a child to start with it would be gymnastics, the strength/speed/balance/body control they will learn can be applied to any sport down the road.
• I hate to jog….I love to run
• Never listen to any advertising telling you what is healthy….as they are just trying to sell you something
• There is no such thing as spot reduction…but there is a great business in selling that concept (Ab-reclining chair anyone?)
• The fittest people I know keep active daily doing what they enjoy
• Fitness and Muscle magazines never got me any real results
• Supplements were are waste of a lot of money for me
• The best performance enhancing thing I know of….is a cup of coffee 30min before a workout/playing sports.
• To build muscle, throw away your Whey protein and eat more steak and eggs
• More people are taking muscle building hormones than will ever admit to you
• The best way to lose weight for most is lower carbohydrate eating/cycling
• I was skipping breakfast long before I ever found out about intermittent fasting (IF)
• It’s a lot easier to stay fit and strong….once you get there
• Meat and Fat are my friends
• Muscle size does not tell a person’s real strength
• Muscle size is mostly glycogen and water
• Whole foods can never be replaced by a multi-vitamin
• Most people need some Fish Oil to control inflammation
• Many brain functions may be vastly improved with a diet of no sugar/higher fats (esp DHA from fish/fish oil)
• Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day
• Eating 6x a day provides no metabolic advantage for losing weight than 2-3x a day…it’s still about calories and blood sugar/insulin control
• Mainstream media is 5 years behind research studies….research studies are 10 years behind what people are already doing for health and results
• The eat low-fat advice was the biggest health disaster in the last 30 years
• The greatest learning experience was helping people with autoimmune/arthritis to get healthier…..I never got more appreciation for my own health and how important prevention really is.
• The saddest thing to see is someone crippled by a potentially preventable disease while they are young which keeps them from doing simple daily activities and on multiple medications
• I was 215 lbs in college and thought I was big and had muscles….now at a much leaner and defined 185lbs I know I was more fat than muscles back then
• I can still keep up with the 21 yr old hockey players…..I just am a little more sore the next day now….
• Mountain biking is fun….snapping off my derailer and making it a single speed is even more fun
• The smartest trainer I know does not have a website or best selling ebook….as he is too busy training real clients
• Apple Cider Vinegar is the only medicine I take if I feel sick
• I can go up and down up to 10lbs in a week depending on glycogen and water balance
• The first big amount of lbs you lose in the first week dieting is mostly water
• If you want to get better at running….you run…..at biking…you bike…….at a sport…you play that sport
• I know a professional athlete making millions and a star on his team…yet he can’t do a pullup…but he doesn’t need to
• There is no one right way for anything…..as 20 different ways can get you results…
• 80/20 rule is so true…..80% of your results come from just 20% of the exercises, 20% of the food in supermarkets, and spending 20% of your time working out.
• Results are just the simple yet important things done on a consistent basis
• Losing more than 2lbs a week is probably not all fat
• Gaining more than 2lbs a week is probably not all muscle
• All diets fail over the long run….but lifestyle changes last
• All diets books are saying the same thing in general…they just make a new way to present it
• Bill Phillips was a marketing genius
• There is nothing new in health and fitness…..just ideas that resurface that are long forgotten
• Fads are created to sell more specialized equipment/gear, lifting/throwing something heavy and running fast has been around for 100s of years and still works
• Want a strong “core”? Lift something heavy over your head and walk around trying to stabilize it…the motivation to not drop it on your head will work wonders
• There should be a law against selling any dumbbells less than 5lbs….or ones in neon colors
• If your trainer can not get you to lose weight, fire him/her. You are not paying for his/her company or excuses….go find someone who can deliver or knows how to get results
• Squatting to parallel will only give you weak hamstrings and lead to more knee issues….you should be able to go down like you were going to pick something off the ground….as that is the reason our bodies were designed to squat
• The best thing anyone can do for their health/results is to just try new things…see how their body adapts and responds…and learn how to take total control no matter life may throw at them in the future
• Blogging is more effort than I would ever imagine….but I enjoy sharing what I know
• If you like what I write…the best thing you can do is help spread the word…so others can start improving their health and fitness too

Well, I hit the big 3-0 last Tuesday, December 8th. That’s right…about 1/3 of the way through my life, give or take. It came and went pretty uneventfully, as I don’t tend to make much of a deal over birthdays. I went for some Mexican food and had some drinks and laughs with good friends.

So today is a little something different. I was thinking about some good lessons I’ve learned in life. We all have our own and here’s my version of 30 In 30. There won’t be any big time nutrition stuff or research in here, so if that’s what you’re looking for, skip this post. Otherwise, read on.

1. Discussing nutrition in social gatherings is akin to discussing politics or religion. People identify closely with their food.
2. Don’t neglect your health and fitness to pursue monetary success.
3. If you’re in a bad situation (be that job, relationship, or otherwise), first take steps to fix it. If it’s beyond repair, do whatever it takes to get out of it. Life is too short to be miserable.
4. Maintain a few close friendships. I’d rather have 2 or 3 close friends than 50 mere acquaintances.
5. On that note, relationships (with friends and significant others) come and go. People change and grow. Enjoy the time you have with people and let it go when the costs to maintain it outweigh the benefits. Practice non-attachment. Read “The Way To Love” by Anthony De Mello.
6. Apologize quickly. Forgive quickly.
7. Let it go. It’s probably not worth dwelling on.
8. Call your mom.
9. Don’t let anyone crap on your dreams…most people are offended if you want to follow a different path (even if you aren’t an asshole about it). And don’t be an asshole about other people’s dreams either.
10. You make your bed, you lie in it. I’m not talking about sleeping.
11. Live in the present. The past is done and you can’t control the future. Plan for the future. Aim for goals. But don’t miss the present while planning for whatever is next.
12. There are very few facts. Most “facts” are just individual interpretations.
13. You can’t get rich quick, short of robbing a bank or hitting the lottery. I don’t recommend robbing a bank and your odds of hitting the lottery are slim (0.00000000512%)…any number that close to zero might as well be zero. I suggest you just get to working hard.
14. Find a hobby you enjoy. Don’t worry about making money at it. Just have fun with it.
15. Music trumps a movie any day of the week. Rock, classical, jazz, rap, or techno. Doesn’t matter…music, hands down.
16. Don’t spend your life doing things you don’t enjoy. Sure, we all have to attend the occasional wedding or funeral, but if you find yourself being sucked into other people’s idea of fun constantly and it’s not yours, say no. Say it often.
17. Take 90 minutes to watch these two videos: Steve Jobs Commencement Address at Stanford and Randy Pausch’s last lecture. If you’ve seen them, watch them again.
18. Eat high-quality food. If you drink coffee or alcohol, drink high-quality alcohol, high-quality beer, and high-quality spirits.
19. If you’re depressed, there’s probably a reason other than chemical imbalances. Fix it.
20. Meat won’t kill you. Neither will butter. Donuts won’t help though.
21. Just because you get older doesn’t mean you have to age. Here I am, 30 years old, as fast as I was at 18 and stronger, fitter, and healthier than I’ve ever been. I don’t buy the nonsense about how it’s all going to catch up to me at 30 (or 35 or any other age). Things change as you get older: recovery takes longer, injuries are more detrimental, and you can’t abuse yourself like you could at 21. That doesn’t mean you have to turn into mush.
22. Never stop learning. Step outside your comfort zone as often as possible.
23. Set goals, re-evaluate on a regular basis. Spend most of your time doing things that progress you towards those goals.
24. You work for you, regardless of who your employer is. If the demands are unrealistic, remember that you work for you. On that note, use all of your vacation days. They are there for a reason. Don’t let yourself be guilted out of benefits.
25. Don’t concern yourself with other people’s vision of your success.
26. Your health is the most important thing you have. Stay healthy and you’ll be better in every area of your life. Don’t sacrifice health for materiality.
27. Before you give advice, listen. Listen some more. Keep listening.
28. Selfishness is a virtue. Be selfish – take care of yourself first.
29. A relationship or career can’t make you happy, but it can make you miserable.
30. I hate to be cliche and quote a movie, but Andy Dufresne might’ve said it best: “Get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’.” Stop feeling sorry for yourself…no one else does.

So there you have it, thirty things I’ve learned in the past thirty years. Okay, to be truthful, I learned most of them in the last 5 years. Who knows what I’ll come up with in another decade.

Today, I want to look at what I consider to be a couple of minor vices, provided their consumption is “moderate”. Moderate…how’s that for a word that has a million meanings? One person’s “moderation” is another person’s “excessive”. So today, we’ll look at two very common “drugs” used by the general populace, myself included, and try to figure out what is a “moderate” intake that won’t cause any health problems for most people.

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation. ~Author Unknown

Coffee smells like freshly ground heaven. ~Jessi Lane Adams

First things first, obviously there are many other sources of caffeine besides coffee, but tea has very little and you already know I can’t get with energy drinks. So for me (and most other healthy folks), my only real source of caffeine is coffee. Sure, I drink some green or white tea, but the overall caffeine content is low (we’ll discuss that further in a couple sections).

The Effects Of Caffeine

At its heart, caffeine is a stimulant. It causes an increase in three stress hormones: cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine. This basically causes a “fight or flight” response – elevated heart rate, increased blood pressure, decreased blood flow to the digestive tract, and a general energetic feeling.

Caffeine binds to adenosine receptors in the brain, decreasing the action of adenosine, as well as decreasing the release of GABA (Gamma-Amino Butyric Acid). When adenosine binds to receptors, it causes drowsiness. GABA inhibits nerve transmissions, so this decrease explains the jitters that comes with too much caffeine, as well as the extra energy boost you get from a normal amount of caffeine.

Caffeine also stimulates the secretion of stomach acid. Combine that with the effect of decreasing lower esophageal sphincter pressure and it could exacerbate acid reflux.

Further, caffeine increases urinary calcium and magnesium loss.

The results of this study indicate that renal conservation does not fully compensate for the effect of caffeine on calcium and magnesium excretion. Regular consumption of caffeine may contribute to the causation of osteoporosis by promoting depletion of these two important minerals.

As you can see, this little alkaloid causes a host of effects in the body. It has broad reach in terms of waking you up. Somewhere in the chain of effects, it stimulates the release of dopamine, a “feel good” hormone, making you generally more upbeat, along with being more awake.

Caffeine Metabolism

The body metabolizes caffeine into three substances:

1. Paraxanthine: promotes the release of glycerol and free fatty acids into the blood stream (which likely causes caffeine’s performance-enhancing effects)
2. Theobromine: dilates blood vessels and increases urine volume
3. Theophylline: smooths muscles of the bronchi

Just like every other substance, caffeine has a half-life, or the amount of time it takes the body to eliminate half of it. The half-life of caffeine…

…varies widely among individuals according to such factors as age, liver function, pregnancy, some concurrent medications, and the level of enzymes in the liver needed for caffeine metabolism. In healthy adults, caffeine’s half-life is approximately 3-4 hours. In women taking oral contraceptives this is increased to 5-10 hours, and in pregnant women the half-life is roughly 9-11 hours. Caffeine can accumulate in individuals with severe liver disease when its half-life can increase to 96 hours. In infants and young children, the half-life may be longer than in adults; half-life in a newborn baby may be as long as 30 hours. Other factors such as smoking can shorten caffeine’s half-life.

When it comes to “drugs,” it really doesn’t get much safer than caffeine. The effective dose is low (25-50mg) and the lethal dose is very high, between 150-200mg/kg of body weight. So unless you quaff 80-100 cups of the stuff in a short time frame, you’re not going to keel over. Of course, you could probably pull that off with concentrated caffeine pills, but you don’t need me to tell you it’s a bad idea.

How Much Caffeine Is In…

I mentioned that coffee is my only major source of caffeine (and also the main stimulant used worldwide). Let’s compare it to some other caffeine sources, just for grins. (Source: Energy Fiend)

• Drip Coffee – 145mg
• Single-shot Americano – 77mg
• Green Tea – 25mg
• White Tea – 15mg

So from that, you can see my point about tea. You’d have to drink 48oz of green tea to equal 8oz of coffee in terms of caffeine content.

How Much Caffeine Is Healthy?

Going back to that bit about cortisol, it’s interesting that the body adapts to morning caffeine consumption by reducing the cortisol effect, but it doesn’t adapt to afternoon coffee and cortisol release remains high.

In contrast, 5 days of caffeine intake at 300 mg/day and 600 mg/day abolished the cortisol response to the initial 9:00 AM caffeine dose, although cortisol levels were again elevated between 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM (p = .02 to .002) after the second caffeine dose taken at 1:00 PM. Cortisol levels declined to control levels during the evening sampling period.

My thinking after looking at all this is that being a non-user is healthier than being a user. I’d never really dug into all of the effects of caffeine other than “energy” and “diuretic,” so this was all pretty interesting. So here’s my take on it all:

• No more than 2 cups per day (that’s 6-8oz cups, not 12oz or larger mugs). Even better if you don’t drink it daily.
• Keep your caffeine consumption to the morning. When I have coffee, I’m usually done by 10am.
• Do not use caffeine to fuel an unhealthy, low-sleep lifestyle. This sets up a feedback loop of disrupted sleep, more caffeine to compensate, and even further sleep loss.
• Cycle on and off. I go caffeine-free for a couple weeks when I notice that I’m getting immune to the effects of my 2 cups.

Basically, I doubt a cup or two in the morning is going to do any real damage. In fact, timed properly, it may increase sports performance, especially for endurance type activities. If you’re downing a pot everyday, you’re probably excessively stressing your adrenals, keeping your body in a constant state of stress (which we know we don’t need more of in our modern lifestyle), and possibly causing other health issues, such as immune system suppression and vitamin/mineral depletion.

Obviously, if caffeine is affecting your sleep, you’re doing something wrong. And it goes without saying that sugar in your coffee is not doing you any favors either.

Coffee Alternatives

While searching for info for this article, I came across a coffee substitute that supposedly brews and tastes just like coffee. It’s called Teeccino. Anyone ever tried it? If so, what are your thoughts? I’m thinking of checking it out to see what it’s all about.

Teeccino Caffeine-free Herbal Coffee is a delicious blend of herbs, grains, fruits and nuts that are roasted and ground to brew and taste just like coffee.

I think part of the allure of coffee is the morning ritual of making it, smelling it, and drinking it. So perhaps this is a good caffeine-free alternative.

Decaffeinated coffee is another option, but I’m not sure about the process they use to take the caffeine out. I was looking at the Wikipedia page about the decaffeination process…some sound pretty benign, using just hot water or coffee oils. Others use chemical solvents. And I’m not sure how you figure out which method your favorite decaf uses, so I think I’ll either go with regular coffee or no coffee.

How Much Alcohol Is Healthy?

What prompted me to write about alcohol again? Two things actually…first, it’s the holidays and there are a lot of parties and a lot of opportunities to indulge. Second, I’ve seen some talk that all alcohol does is cause problems from some members of the fitness community. So let’s quickly take a look.

I’m not going to go real in-depth with alcohol here. I’ve touched on alcohol three times before, so here are those three articles if you want a bit more information:

• Does Booze Have A Place In A Healthy Diet?
• The Detriments Of Heavy Drinking
• More Information On Drinking

To summarize those three articles, alcohol is a substance that can damage your liver, cause short-term hypertension, decrease testosterone production, increase estrogen production, and cause vitamin deficiencies. But there’s a major caveat to that. You have to drink excessively to do that kind of damage.

Basically, there is a major difference between getting drunk and having a glass of wine with dinner. There’s a major difference between joining friends for a couple beers (and pizza perhaps?) and staying up till 4am taking Jagermeister shots and playing beer pong. And there’s even a major difference between throwing down once or twice a year (complete with waking up hating life and dragging through the next day) and going out like a frat boy every weekend.

Obviously, I don’t advise getting drunk, especially to the point of a hangover. But it happens, even to me. You get to hanging out with friends, things get a little loose, and the next day, you realize that you had about 3 too many. What I’m advising is exactly like what I advised with cheat meals…don’t do it all the time, and if it happens, get back on the wagon and don’t beat yourself up. If you’re hungover every Saturday or Sunday, you should probably re-examine your commitment to treating your body right though.

Don’t Forget The Holiday Survival Guide

The holiday season is upon us, starting Thursday (at least here in the States) with Thanksgiving. The holidays are a time filled with family, friends, and parties. You’ll likely be drinking more, eating worse (and more), and sleeping less. In the interest of not blowing all your hard work, while still enjoying your holidays and the time with relatives and friends you rarely see, check out our Holiday Survival Guide. Don’t let the holidays be a 6 week backwards slide.

My Caffeine And Alcohol Recommendations

As you can see, I don’t think that you need to 100% give up coffee or alcohol to be healthy. I enjoy both and am unlikely to go completely clean from either. If you stick with the a low intake of both and pay attention to how you feel after having them, there’s no reason that you have to be completely ascetic.

So here are a few additional tips:

• Don’t drink bad coffee. Skip the swill at work and find a local roaster. As with all other vices, make sure you really enjoy it. You’ll pay more, but it’ll taste much better. Better yet, get a good grinder and grind the beans from your local roaster at home just before you make the coffee. Good coffee for less money.
• On that note, don’t drink bad beer either. If you are a beer drinker, find good microbrews with some flavor instead of the watered-down brews so many are convinced is “beer”.
• Opt for wine or distilled spirits to avoid the gluten load of beer. When I drink, it’s typically a good bourbon like Woodford Reserve (hey, I’m from Kentucky…it’s in my blood), vodka (either an infused vodka with club soda or plain vodka with club soda and lime), or wine.
• Pay more, drink less. Just to reiterate once again…whether it’s alcohol, coffee, chocolate, ice cream, or any other treat, spend more on good stuff that is more flavorful and more satisfying. I’d rather have 1 glass of Woodford Reserve on the rocks than 3 shots of Jim Beam.

While there’s no need for either caffeine or alcohol, there’s also no drawback to a little caffeine or a drink or two sometimes if they tickle your fancy. If you don’t drink either, there’s no reason to start. If you drink one or both, keep it reasonable and you’ll be fine.

And if you’re running around telling people that the lone glass of great single malt scotch is going harm them, you’re a) talking nonsense and b) probably just trying to make yourself feel better about your ascetic lifestyle by showing how much “better” you are than others and how “pure” your “temple” is. Get over yourself.

How much caffeine do you drink? How much alcohol? Do you think either one has a place in a healthy lifestyle?

How much

Six healthy young men reported to the laboratory on 5 separate occasions to perform an intense bout of leg-based resistance exercise. After exercise, participants consumed, in a randomized order, drinks containing 0, 5, 10, 20, or 40g whole egg protein. Protein synthesis and whole-body leucine oxidation were measured over 4 h after exercise by a primed constant infusion of leucine.

APS increased in a dose-dependent manner and also reached a plateau at 20g ingested protein. Leucine oxidation was significantly increased after 20 and 40g protein were ingested.

Ingestion of 20 g intact protein is sufficient to maximally stimulate MPS and APS after resistance exercise. Phosphorylation of candidate signaling proteins was not enhanced with any dose of protein ingested, which suggested that the stimulation of MPS after resistance exercise may be related to amino acid availability. Finally, dietary protein consumed after exercise in excess of the rate at which it can be incorporated into tissue protein stimulates irreversible oxidation.

Source: Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin synthesis after resistance exercise in young men

and here’s another one

This study sought to compare changes in muscle protein synthesis and anabolic efficiency in response to a single moderate serving (113 g; 220 kcal; 30 g protein) or large serving (340 g; 660 kcal; 90 g protein) of 90% lean beef.

Mixed muscle fractional synthesis rate was calculated during a 3-hour postabsorptive period and for 5 hours after meal ingestion. A 113-g serving of lean beef increased muscle protein synthesis by approximately 50% in both young and older volunteers. Despite a threefold increase in protein and energy content, there was no further increase in protein synthesis after ingestion of 340 g lean beef in either age group. Ingestion of more than 30 g protein in a single meal does not further enhance the stimulation of muscle protein synthesis in young and elderly.

Source: A Moderate Serving of High-Quality Protein Maximally Stimulates Skeletal Muscle Protein Synthesis in Young and Elderly Subjects; Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Volume 109, Issue 9, Pages 1582-1586

So according to the research above we are seeing that muscle protein synthesis maxes out after a meal at 20-30 grams and anything in over will actually not help stimulate more muscle protein synthesis, but rather just increase excess oxidation (burn for energy).

More Protein Does Not Mean More Muscle

While protein is of course essential to building up muscle, that doesn’t necessarily mean that just eating more and more guarantees bigger muscles. So how much do we really need in the first place? Well here’s some numbers for you:

• The RDA (recommended dietary allowance) for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight of adults (or roughly 0.36 grams per lb of body weight). Or I have also seen advised that women need at least 46 grams of protein per day, and men need at least 56 grams of protein per day (to avoid deficiency).

• NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association) recommends that for active people ,endurance and strength training, a higher intake is advised at around 0.4-0.6 per lb of bodyweight (and up to 0.8g/lb bw for full time athletes).

*Note that most of these “body weights” for calculating protein are more based on “ideal” (or even “fat free”) weight.

These are interesting numbers and much lower than what you may hear out there. You can see that with more activity, then the recommended amount of protein will increase. What is also important to remember that the overall calorie intake is also increasing with activity level. So in essence, while the amount of protein may increase the % of protein per daily calories may actually be the same (or less). Just something to keep in mind, as calories also matter.

Intermittent Fasting and Protein Intake

Well if you look at the info above where only 20-30grams of protein are absorbed per meal, then what about many of us IF’ers who eat less number of but larger meals? Are we going to lose all our muscle when we fast and only eat 2-3x a day? Of course by now many who IF already know that is not true.

But it does call into question about “needing” 5-6 meals of 20-30grams of protein to maximize muscle protein synthesis. As much as every supplement company would love us all to believe that we need a 20gram whey protein shake every 2-3 hours (and fuel more supplement sales), in fact maybe the body works better when presented a randomized/stressed environment and not some set equally divided schedule day in and out.

Here’s a little outtake from Dr Eades on his blog comments (#2 to be precise) about protein turnover and IF that is very enlightening:

I don’t think IF would affect muscle mass much at all. If you go without food for a long period of time, say, several days, your metabolic system goes after your muscle mass to convert the protein stored there into the glucose you need to keep your blood glucose normal. This doesn’t happen in the short term. All the protein structures in the body draw from and add to the amino acid pool. When muscle breaks down the individual amino acids go into the pool from where they’re harvested by the system that converts them to glucose. When new muscle is made, the amino acids used to construct the muscle protein are drawn from the amino acid pool. One of the contributors to the AA pool is enzymes that are no longer needed and junk proteins that the body is cleansing from the cells. When one is fasting, one of the group of enzymes not really needed is the group of digestive enzymes that would otherwise be employed in digesting food. These enzymes break down and their amino acids enter the AA pool where the muscle can pick them up as needed. Also, during an IF, the body goes into ketosis. I posted a few months back on how ketosis stimulates the process of cellular cleansing by removing junk proteins from the cells. The amino acids from these proteins also enter the AA pool where they can be recycled by the muscle mass. So, even though new protein isn’t coming into the body minute by minute from the diet, there is plenty of substrate there in the AA pool to last until the next meal, which is, at most, only 24 hours away.

So by the looks of it, actually not eating all day long may help increase you ability to build more muscle on less dietary protein. By using IF and allowing the body to recycle old junk proteins (remember autophagy?) as well as enzymes, the demand for amino acids through diet could be less.

Protein Pulsing for Better Anabolic Responses?

Here’s another interesting outlook on how the body is actually able to use proteins in a larger meal vs several spread out ones.

After a controlled period, 15 elderly women (mean age: 68 y) were fed for 14 d either a pulse diet (n = 7), providing 80% of the daily protein intake at 1200, or a spread diet (n = 8), in which the same daily protein intake was spread over 4 meals. Both diets provided 1.7 g protein•kg fat-free mass (FFM). Protein accretion and daily protein turnover were determined by using the nitrogen balance method and the end product method (ammonia and urea) after an oral dose of glycine. Nitrogen balance was more positive with the pulse than with the spread diet. Protein turnover rates were also higher with the pulse than with the spread diet, mainly because of higher protein synthesis in the pulse group than in the spread group.

Source: Protein pulse feeding improves protein retention in elderly women; American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 69, No. 6, 1202-1208, June 1999

My favorite big meal of protein usually involves lots of juicy steak....what's yours?

So in this group it seems that when eating a “protein pulsing” style of having 80% of daily protein in one meal (and 20% later on), it actually increased nitrogen balance, protein turnover and protein synthesis…when compared to the equally spread out diet. In short…they became more anabolically responsive (for the muscle building nerds).

But to be fair, the same study was done on younger (mid 20s) women too, and this time the results were even between the pulse and spread diet. While there was no increases in the nitrogen balance or protein turnover/synthesis for the younger group, there was also no disadvantage from the pulsing pattern.

Lesson to be learned, eating protein in a pulsing style/larger meal (although through the studies up top would go against it) does not decrease the anabolic factors associated with muscle gain. In fact, as we get older and our anabolic sensitivities/responses start to decline (all downhill from 30 after all!), it may be more vital to use such strategies to help keep us more responsive (as the study for protein pulsing was initially done to try and help elderly people from losing muscle with age).

But Post Workout Protein Makes More Muscle … Right?

While eating protein is part of the building blocks for making more muscle, it is important to know that your body works in the long term and not minute by minute. With that in mind, how about the importance of the post workout shake (as we hear that eating right after a workout increases protein synthesis)? But that “microscience” ignores the overall bigger picture on whole body recovery that has us building muscle long after the “post workout” window. Here’s a study to help show that point:

Twenty healthy men were studied in the evening after consuming a standardized diet throughout the day. Subjects participated in a 2-h exercise session during which beverages containing both carbohydrate and a protein hydrolysate (C+P) or water only (W) were ingested.

During exercise, whole-body and muscle protein synthesis rates increased by 29 and 48% with protein and carbohydrate coingestion.

During subsequent overnight recovery, whole-body protein synthesis was 19% greater in the C+P group than in the W group. However, mean muscle protein synthesis rates during 9 h of overnight recovery did not differ between groups.

We conclude that, even in a fed state, protein and carbohydrate supplementation stimulates muscle protein synthesis during exercise. Ingestion of protein with carbohydrate during and immediately after exercise improves whole-body protein synthesis but does not further augment muscle protein synthesis rates during 9 h of subsequent overnight recovery.
Source: Coingestion of Carbohydrate and Protein Hydrolysate Stimulates Muscle Protein Synthesis during Exercise in Young Men, with No Further Increase during Subsequent Overnight Recovery; Journal of Nutrition, doi:10.3945/jn.108.092924

Confused? Well I’m going to let my buddy Brad Pilon and author of the new ebook “How Much Protein” answer that one:

What you are looking at is two different measurements of protein synthesis in the human body. “Whole body protein synthesis” is a measurement of the protein synthesis happening in your entire body. This includes things like your liver, heart, lungs, brain GI Track and your muscles. This measurement does not tell you WHICH part of your body the protein synthesis is happening in, just that it is happening. “Muscle protein synthesis” is specifically measuring the amount of protein synthesis that is happening IN your skeletal muscle.

So from the example you posted above, it is obvious that the post workout protein shake increased whole body protein synthesis, but did not increase skeletal muscle protein synthesis. Most likely this means that the extra protein increased protein synthesis in your liver and gastrointestinal tract, but had no measurable effect on your muscles.

So if the point of taking protein before, during, and after your workouts is to build muscle, then the research you quotes seems to say that there would be no additional muscle building effect.

You can skip all the money you spend on protein shakes/powder and just eat enough protein with real foods, as you don't need as much as you think you do.

When you have the right kind of recovery and still eat enough during the day, it seems the “hype” about the post workout window goes away. Honestly unless you are a hard training athlete who needs immediate glycogen replenishment to train again the next day, trying to intake protein (with carbs) during or right after a workout is not necessary.

If people are going to insist on something around workouts, then I would say only a small intake of BCAAs PRE-workout would be most the average person would need. Whether you eat or not immediately after a workout can be up to you, but I wouldn’t base it on some extra muscle building theory.

Higher Protein and Weight Loss

The other part of the equation when it comes to why you eat protein, is about your goals and how many calories you are intaking. Many people use the higher protein intakes when they are looking to lean out and minimize muscle loss. Protein being a harder macronutrient to convert to fat (than carbs or fat), makes it an easy choice to eat more of while keeping carbs/fat low.

Protein will also help you to feel fuller and less likely to overeat on any other macronutrient (fat/carbs). So even if you are intaking more than enough protein to maintain muscle, you are really doing it from another strategy that may include just trying to avoid excess calories and lean out.

Wrapping Up

• The amount of protein that you REALLY need to build muscle is lower than you think, but you still have to get in enough calories from some place.

• Most people using higher protein based diets are usually trying to lose weight and maintain muscle (by limiting calories from excess fat and carbs). As remember, calories matter when you are trying to lose weight.

• If your intake of carbs or fats is higher, then your need for protein (as a calorie source only) decreases. Also diets higher in carbs/fats tend to have more nitrogen sparing effect. The issue being making sure you are eating healthy (especially carbs) and not overdo it, as it could easily be stored as fat. This is why many just go the higher protein way, because of an easier route for body composition and they say “well I have to eat something…mine as well be more meat!”.

• The more active you are, the more protein you probably should intake. Most average active people only need about 0.6g/lb of lean body weight. On the high end I would say only need to go 0.8-1.0g/lb bw, but that does not guarantee extra muscle especially when you can up calories from fat/carbs.

• Using IF (intermittent fasting) is not going to make your muscle waste away, but will in fact actually utilize more internal sources for AA (amino acids) such as unused enzymes and junk proteins.

• Skip the protein shakes and eat real foods….as the additional vitamins, minerals, and essential fats also play a role in building more muscle (and burning fat too). This is also an advantage to knowing you need less protein than originally believed…because you can focus on quality of the source (pastured eggs, grass fed meats) rather than quantity. Which leads to more natural vitamins, minerals and essential fats (including less Omega 6s, more Omega 3s and even some others like CLA proven to help burn fat/build muscle).

• Unless you are needing immediate muscle glycogen replenishment for the next day of training (athletes), you don’t need that immediate post workout shake/meal.

• Bodybuilders telling you to eat 300+ grams protein a day and train 5x a week…..are only getting results due to the best genetics (much higher than average protein synthesis capabilities) the world has to offer…or a little help from anabolic hormones (steroids) to increase protein synthesis with that higher protein intake (and frequent workout schedule). The average person could not do much with that strategy (except just burnout).

• Seems that whether you eat in 2-3 bigger meals (and/or pulse 1 large meal), or 6 smaller meals…..it won’t matter for muscle building. In the long run, the results are the same as long as the total amount of protein is kept constant.

So there you go. Did it make you rethink how much protein you really need? I wish someone had this talk with me when I was around 16 because I could have saved $1000s over the next 10+ years from not buying all sorts of protein powders/shakes/bars. When it comes to muscle building, having enough protein matters of course….but the amount is smaller than most would think (especially when you can get enough calories in from carbs/fats and have adequate training + recovery).

More reading: If you want more studies to understand how much protein you really need, then I highly recommend Brad Pilon’s How Much Protein ebook, as it is one of the best straight forward and scientifically (and not bodybuilding hyped) based reads on protein out there.

Today, I want to touch on several related points, all going back to the main point of eating healthy, yet still being able to have a great social life and enjoy some of your “off limits” foods. So first I’m going to look at cheat meals and how to do them. Next, I’ll show you how I eat to not need to worry about scheduling cheat meals. Finally, I want to dig into the dietary OCD that too many people seem to have that keeps them from actually enjoying what they eat.

Cheat Meals

I’ll go ahead and tell you that I hate the term “cheat meal”. It implies that you’re doing something “bad” and since you’re being “bad,” you probably need to somehow punish yourself to make up for it. However, since it’s a common term, I’ll work with it. The way I see it, there are two basic ways to deal with cheat meals.

The First Way: Scheduled Cheat Meals

Some people go with the method of planning out their cheat meals. So every week or two, they’ll go out for pizza or beer and chicken wings or ice cream or whatever their particular poison happens to be. I think this is fine when you’re first starting out with shifting to a healthier way of eating because it gives you something to look forward to. It’s easier to stay on course during the week if you know that you can have whatever you’re craving on the weekends.

I also like this way in the beginning because the beginning is when the cravings hit the hardest. I think it helps people stay on course if they know they can give in a little once or twice a week.

But for a lifelong way of doing things, I think you should eventually move away from a strict eating schedule and go to a pattern of eating that lets you be flexible, eating right 90% of the time and still enjoying whatever life brings your way.

The Other Way: Flexible Eating – Eating In Chicago And Boston

Basically, I don’t schedule my cheat meals. I know that I’m going to go out to eat once or twice a week and it might entail some non-Paleo foods. And if I don’t go out to eat or if I go somewhere and end up eating Primally, then I just avoided cheating just because it was scheduled.

Vacation is one time when I know I’m not going to stick to 100% good eating. For one, there are too many good restaurants and two, without a kitchen in the room, it’s hard to stay strict. I look at vacation as a time to enjoy what other cities have to offer me.

For instance, I was in Chicago for a long weekend back in September. Here is a sampling of a few of my meals:

• Pizzeria Due: Real deep dish Chicago-style pizza and a couple beers
• Yolk: Omelet loaded with meat and cheese, side of fruit, pancakes with bananas and blackberries
• Goose Island Brewery: Pulled pork with rice, beans, and habanero-pineapple salsa. Two very strong and amazing beers.
• Rock’s in Lincoln Park (while watching Notre Dame lose to Michigan): Burger with pineapple, avocado, and teriyaki (and yes, I ate the bun) and sweet potato fries.
• The West Egg: Egg and chorizo scramble with sour cream and avocado, fried potatoes.

How exactly can I justify following a dinner of pizza and beer with a breakfast that includes pancakes and syrup, a couple more beers that night, a burger the next day (with a few more beers), and then fried potatoes with my final breakfast? Here is one tip I wish people would remember: it’s not the single data points, but the overall lifestyle that matters. I balanced my eating with 20-25 miles of walking over 4 days and only ate twice each day because I was busy seeing things and hanging out with friends, as well as not being exceptionally hungry due to eating big meals already, even if not completely “Primal”.

And I followed up my Chicago trip with a trip to Boston a couple weeks later. After the above list, you might be scared to see what I ate there. Here you go:

• Steak tips, eggs, and mustard-drenched potatoes
• Tons of baked, steamed, and boiled fresh seafood – lobster, mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops, salmon, tuna, scrod, and raw oysters
• Fish ‘n chips slathered in tartar sauce and malt vinegar and a Guinness at an Irish bar
• Cannolis from Mike’s Pastry
• Sufficient quantities of clam chowder

Feeling The Effects Of A Blow-out

And what were the after-effects of all of this? Nothing. No decrease in my performance. In fact, I came back and killed it in the gym and after the Chicago trip, I set a 1-mile PR (5:50). No increase in body fat. Nothing. So you see, you can “have your cake and eat it too,” so to speak. You can cut loose and enjoy some of the delicious foods available in other cities (or in your own) without worrying about whether every bite you take is Primal, Paleo, or Zone-conforming. As long as you keep your overall lifestyle healthy, you are free to go out and dig into some pancakes, pizza, and beer now and then.

I think a lot of people get way too worked up about “staying in the Zone” and “being Paleo” when they should really just focus on enjoying life. I know that the way I eat the other 90% of the time that I’m not vacationing allows me to cut loose and try some new things, have a few beers, eat pizza, and open my day with some of the best pancakes in Chicago with no concern of ill effects. In fact, I won’t even lie and say that I felt like crap from what I ate. I felt just fine.

Now I know that someone is misconstruing what I’m saying and probably thinking “How can he say that you should have a blow-out just because you’re on vacation?” Someone is probably also thinking that I’m casting aside my previous advice and saying that it’s okay to eat garbage because I didn’t see a performance decrease. Nope. Not at all. I know that if I did that all the time, I would feel it, I would see performance decreases and body fat increases.

The key here is that when I’m at home, my meals are as healthy as can be. I don’t make pancakes at home. I don’t make cannolis at home, nor would I go to a bakery in Louisville and get one because there are no “must eat cannolis” here. And I certainly don’t fry fish at home. It’s pretty much all meat and vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds…real food with some occasional sushi or Mexican food. And since I’m unfortunately not on vacation all that often, you can see how the percentages work out and why I don’t even have to give a second-thought to how I eat on vacation.

Is Your Diet Too Restrictive To Just Live?

I have actually seen people ask how they can eat Paleo or stay “in the Zone” at a baseball game. You can’t, short of smuggling your own food in. If you want to go to a baseball game and have a hot dog or nachos, do so. And deal with clean eating before and after. Or eat beforehand and just enjoy the company. Do you really want to count out 15 almonds when you should be just hanging out with your friends? Is that what life is about?

The ultimate goal should be that you are able to step off the wagon for a day or two, then jump right back on without punishing yourself or stressing out. If a friend drops in town and wants to go grab a drink, can you do that or is it not on your plan so you have to turn them down?

Dietary OCD: Orthorexia?

Okay, so it’s time for a quiz. When you looked at my vacation meals there, did you gasp that I ate pancakes or notice that even when I dug into a stack of refined flour and sugar, it came beside a plate full of meat, eggs, and fruit? Did you ask yourself, “how can he eat all those potatoes?” several times or did you notice that they all came with meat, eggs, and typically fruit or vegetables?

Don’t be obsessive-compulsive about your eating, my friends. I have literally seen questions like “do I need to count the carbs in two tablespoons of basil when calculating my Zone blocks?” Yes, you read that right. There are people that are concerned over the carb content of basil leaves. If basil leaves are wrecking your metabolism, you should probably see a doctor. I’m betting that an entire pound of basil leaves can contain no more than a few grams of carbs.

I’m reminded of people that argue over whether carrots or squash or bananas are “favorable” or “unfavorable”. Really? Our girl Melissa Urban derailed The Carrot Train To Crazytown a few months back and I couldn’t agree more. (It’s cool that you had better things to do than hang out when I was in Boston, Melissa. No, really…I’m only a little raw about it.)

Arguing about whether carrots, pineapple, sweet potatoes, and acorn squashes are “good” or “bad” is a serious Nuke The Fridge moment for anyone proposing healthy eating. It may be “healthy eating,” but it’s not a healthy relationship with food. Worrying about the carbs in your herbs and spices or whether something like a carrot or a squash, which I’m betting have not made anyone fat in the entire history of obesity, are good for you is taking navel gazing to a higher level.

It’s Really Not That Serious

So how you deal with cheat meals is up to you. I know that they’re going to happen, so I don’t go out of my way to schedule them. I eat clean 90% of the time so that the other 10% of the time, I can relax and do whatever. I can eat sushi without being concerned about the rice. I can dig into the chips and guacamole at a Mexican place before my plate-load of carnitas. I can have a drink or two while watching football with friends.

I don’t count blocks, calories, grams of carbs, or grams of fat. I simply eat real food most of the time and my performance and health are great. There’s really no reason to make eating such an obsessive-compulsive thing. I doubt the Okinawans, Inuit, or Kitavans ever measured a gram of their carbs or fat, yet they’re some of the healthiest cultures ever.

On the other hand, if I’m going to dig into something I wouldn’t normally eat, I go for the best of the best. I don’t eat pizza very often, but when I’m in Chicago, I’m going to get some good pizza since it’s pretty much the Pizza Mecca (sorry New Yorkers). You won’t find me at a pizza buffet eating a bunch of not very good pizza though. A Snickers bar does nothing for me, so I don’t eat them, but a nice fluffy stack of pancakes a few times a year sure hits the spot.

How do you handle cheat meals? Do you ever just cut loose and dig into something really processed and refined?

Oh and to all the ladies out there, don’t skip over this article…as these rules apply to you also for getting that sleek “toned” look you are going for (don’t worry about “bulking up”, it won’t happen)

The Secret To Get Bigger Muscles

I had a client I was consulting with recently who wanted to gain some more lean muscle (Yes I know all muscle is “lean”…but many “claim” to put on muscle, when it’s really more fat and water retention).

He worked out long and hard several times a week, did intervals after the workout and also other activity on the side trying to stay “fit”. But he wasn’t making any progress in putting on real muscle and leaning out at the same time.

I told him that the problem was “him”. He was getting in the way of “allowing” his body to build muscle and burn fat by not following the basic rules:

• Muscle Builds When You are NOT working out
• Workouts Break Down Muscle but Recovery Builds Them
• Hormones are Vital to Whether You Build (or Lose) Muscle
• Your Workouts and Recovery Should be Geared for Hormonal Responses

So instead of only trying to force down 5000 calories a day trying to gain muscle (and most people usually just end up fat and bulky looking), why not just do the simple things right in the first place?

Workout For The Right Reasons

We go workout to “hopefully” challenge our muscles to grow bigger. This involves enough stimulation through resistance/volume to signal muscle growth by the body. Included will be the signal of muscle building hormones such as Testosterone. We can also signal GH which is key in helping us recover and burn fat.

What happens when we overtrain? Well how about our Testosterone and GH levels can drop. How are we supposed to build muscle if those are in the gutter? Hit the weights some more? I think not.

"Stimulate and Don't Annihilate"...solid advice

As seen in this past article, the study done on people using Testosterone and not working out, vs people working out and not using Testosterone…ended up with the people using Test with no workouts gaining MORE muscle than those just working out! So hormones make the difference!

Workouts should be geared to have enough stimulus for hormonal muscle growth, without going overboard and suppressing them. As said once by (edit) Lee Haney, “Stimulate and don’t annihilate” when you go workout. Seems like good advice to me.

You Build (Or Not) Muscle 24/7

So we have gone to the gym to use some weights, stimulated our muscles and now what? Well as soon as you leave the gym you are now in “recovery” mode. This is where the real magic happens for building muscle (or is supposed to).

What you do for the rest of the day, night and into tomorrow…will determine if you are really going to build muscle. Simple enough right?

So why do so many people go back to the gym, workout the same muscles, go do some other intense cardio workout all in the name of being “fit”? More is not better in this case and is probably the reason that so many fail to see any real results year after year.

My advice to any average client that comes to me wanting more muscle is usually these simple recommendations (because I know what 95%+ of people’s problem is)

• Eat enough foods (without going extreme to make you fat in the process)
• Lift only 3x a week (45min max)
  
• Buy an XBox, Relax, Sleep and Walk as your fastest Speed
  

Anything else is NOT allowed. Unless you are some professional athlete who needs to train or go to practice, stop doing the same things over and over again when they were not getting any results in the first place! Your idea of being “fit” is probably making you worse off.

Continuing down that same road is just what we call “insanity”…doing the same things and expecting different results.

Post Workout “Intense Cardio” May Be Killing Your Gains

The biggest mistake I see with anyone is the inability to “stop” doing more and more fitness. Cardio/jogging junkies, gym addicts and the likes. This is also the case with the cardio after a workout.

We have all seen the studies about intervals and how they increase fat burning (or really how they increase the “fat releasing” hormones such as GH). But slapping on a 30min interval session after 30-40 minutes of intense lifting is not going to work out.

That additional cardio is not going to give you a bigger GH boost (more than what you already got from in the initial workout if intense enough) and will just suppress Testosterone levels from the workout (who needs those to build muscle right? Ummm…You do!).

If you workout the “right” way in the first place…you will get enough GH and Test from the workout. With an elevated GH you now have your “fat releasing” hormones telling the fat cells to empty out. So you don’t need more sprints…you just need a slow and steady pace to burn a bit of extra fat (without compromising your Test or muscle building).

Keep Cortisol In Check

Cortisol…we all know this hormone. Many call it a “stress” hormone but it is really a blood sugar hormone at heart. It readies your body for “fight or flight” by accessing more glucose from your liver and other sources…like breaking down muscle for amino acids.

Which has more muscle mass and looks more ripped...a sprinter or distance runner?

This is not something we want elevated after a workout in which we have already broken down muscle and want to go into “repair mode”. So doing some intense cardio that the body will see as a stress and need for more blood sugar, is not a smart idea.

Compiling workouts and intense cardio back to back will only elevate your cortisol levels and lead to no real muscle gains in the long run.

Most that have a high cortisol lifestyle also tend to lose muscle, gain fat (skinny fat look), look more bloated (lack of definition) and have more fat in the stubborn areas such as the stomach and hips. I see this problem with many cardio/jogger addicts.

Compare that to sprinters who workout by doing intense sprints (short…like 60-100meters) with plenty of rest in between and lots of walking around (or other short sprint athletes like pole vaulters as seen up top). They don’t jog. They do short explosions to boost the right hormones and then don’t compromise them with additional stress. This is why when you look at most they are ripped and have more muscle than say your average distance runner.

Blow Out Your Adrenals And You Are Done!

Most people don’t realize the importance of the adrenal glands until they are fatigued and things start going wrong. The adrenals are where you produce cortisol. While cortisol is a natural hormone (as you need it to get your butt awake in the morning), it can also be abused. When cortisol is released too much and too often (excess stress such as intense exercise, mental stress, caffeine), you are going to start wearing out your adrenals.

Adrenals are also responsible for producing DHEA, a precursor to testosterone (and estrogen). So while you are running around at full tilt all the time, you are killing the organ that will help you build muscle.

Signs Of Adrenal Fatigue

Here are some warning signs that you may be on the road to bigger issues. Adrenal fatigue is just the first bad step…it can be turned around, or you can keep going down that road to full adrenal exhaustion…your choice.

• excessive fatigue and exhaustion
• non-refreshing sleep (you get sufficient hours of sleep, but wake fatigued)
• overwhelmed by or unable to cope with stressors
• feeling rundown or overwhelmed
• craving salty and sweet foods
• you feel most energetic in the evening
• a feeling of not being restored after a full night’s sleep or having sleep disturbances
• low stamina, slow to recover from exercise
• slow to recover from injury, illness or stress
• difficulty concentrating, brain fog
• poor digestion
• low immune function
• food or environmental allergies
• premenstrual syndrome or difficulties that develop during menopause
• consistent low blood pressure
• extreme sensitivity to cold

If any of this sounds familiar above…then it may be time to rethink your lifestyle approach to trying to be “fit”.

Slow And Steady Wins The Race…

Going “balls to the wall” will leave you burned out, overtrained, injured and probably gaining more fat if you give up altogether.

If you want success in the long run whether it be with gaining muscle or losing weight (or both at the same time) you need to take it slow and steady. This means smart workouts, plenty of recovery, proper eating, plenty of rest and a lifestyle activity level that won’t overstress your body.

This biggest mistake people make nowadays is doing too much. More is not going to be better, especially if you are doing it with too much intensity and too often. Your body just doesn’t work that way and your hormones won’t respond optimally.

So while you can still go for an occasional run or bike ride, go play some sports…in general, along with lifting/resistance training, the smartest thing you can do…is alot of walking. Not only will this keep your stress hormones down from exercise, but also from a mental level as well.

Nothing calms the soul like a slow walk outside in nature (leave the Ipod at home, unless you want to listen to some relaxing music). Walking will help the body heal, recover from exercise, burn extra fat (with elevated GH levels from working out), keep inflammation under control and lead to a long and healthy life.

Related Muscle Building Articles

• The Single Best Muscle Building Exercise
• Muscle Building 101 – Master the Basics
• EDT – The Simplest Muscle Building Routine

What if there can be only one?

What if you could only pick one exercise, one to build the most muscle mass….one to stimulate the most hormonal responses….one to just master and progress with as the gains keep coming. So what would it be? The squat? Bench press? Tricep kickbacks? (I kid….I kid)

So let’s first define what it does take to increase muscle. How about exercises that do the following:

• Use the major prime movers (compound lifts for the big muscles)
• Stimulating those muscles with enough resistance (keeping reps lower and weights higher)
• Increasing the time under tension of work (greater ROM/slower reps)
• Maximum signaling of muscle building hormones (Testosterone, GH, IGF-1) and limiting the muscle breakdown ones (Cortisol)
• Progression over time with workout (add weight/reps/volume)
• Rest, nutrients and recovery (especially sleep)

So taking all those into account, we are looking for an exercise that uses the most (and biggest muscle), able to lift heavy, bigger ROM (more time under tension) and generates a positive muscle building hormonal response….sounds like that would be a winner!

The best exercise is….

I am going to send this one over the the strength and conditioning expert Charles Poloquin as he talked about his #1 exercise in an interview a couple years back

The snatch-grip deadlift, specifically a snatch deadlift on a four inch platform. The idea here is to get a large range of motion by standing on the platform and using the wide grip.

If you told me you were going to jail and only had a barbell and didn’t want to get raped in the showers and could only do one exercise to put mass and strength on, then I’d tell you to do the snatch deadlift on a platform.

This exercise alone makes people gain weight like crazy. Any time I have someone who needs to gain weight fast and doesn’t have a whole lot of time, I have them do snatch deadlifts. And with the snatch grip deadlift, straps are okay because you’ll be doing reps above three, but don’t use them until you get to your working weight.

If you think about it, this is the opposite of the sumo deadlift, which shortens the range of motion. Likewise, some powerlifters will lift in ballet shoes to shorten the ROM. What we want to do here is lengthen it. The snatch grip and platform will take care of that.

interview from tnation.com

How to perform: In the starting position, feet are shoulder width apart. Grip is wider than usual like done with a snatch lift, except that you can use standard or over-under hook style (above). Knees, chest and shoulders over bar and retracted shoulder blades. Lower back is always kept arched. Eyes forward (not down). Now with the upper body tight, start the lift with your legs/back and pull upward. You can go as fast as you like on the way up (explode depending on weight) and then use a slow and controlled movement on the way down to increase the time under tension. Repeat with 3-5 sets of 4-8 reps for optimal size gains (those numbers and sets can also be changed up of course depending on the weight used).

Make it harder: do while standing (just your feet, not the weights) on a 2-4″ elevated platform (talk about an evil exercise that will humble you).

Weights: Start light and progress up till you know your “working” weight for your sets. Charles mentions about using straps, and I suggest you avoid using it until you find your grip failing and want to continue with more sets (as a weak grip will not help to maximally stimulate all your other muscles)

Other Resources: For more info on how to perform deadlift properly check out these resources with a tutorial over at strong lifts on how to perform the deadlift and these videos by Mark Rippetoe (author of Starting Strength)

More bang for your effort

The great thing about the snatch grip deadlift is how it incorporates so many muscles/movements all in one exercise. Look at the benefits:

• 

  Use a small platform and feel all those muscles work even harder!

  Just as deep if not deeper than a squat (especially for those that don’t even get deep enough or have weaker hamstrings)

• Excellent stimulator of posterior chain (power and speed)

• Uses all the back muscles (erectors, lower, lats, traps)

• Increases grip strength

• Provides more ROM and time under tension (growth) than a standard squat or deadlift (especially if you get on a small platform as seen to the right)

• Can also do explosive versions (a full snatch movement – weight lifted overhead)

• Help attack those weaknesses and sticking points (which are usually in the low starting position) for other lifts, while also preventing muscle imbalances (especially the quad:ham ratio that could injure many)

All in all this exercise brings most everything to the table (except maybe more chest/shoulder/pressing strength). While most people may stick to a squat (or their limited movement version) or a less than optimal deadlift form….getting nice and low with the snatch grip DL will ensure full ROM, working/blasting through sticking points (that will carry to other movements) and the most “bang for your buck” in a full body movement.

Reminder that hormones DO matter

Here’s an additional thing to remember in your muscle building quest, about how important your hormones are. If you think it’s just about isolating muscles and drinking lots of protein shakes, you have been sadly mislead by mainstream media (and all the supplement companies). Hormones play a vital role in the building (and maintaining) of muscle.

Here’s a great example in a study in which groups of men ages 19-40 years old were given either 600mg testosterone or a placebo each week, and then those groups were also divided up into ones that did no exercise and those that trained 3x a week.  The results may surprise you:

The men treated with testosterone but no exercise had an increase of 3.2 kg in fat-free mass, and those in the placebo-plus-exercise group had an increase of 1.9 kg.

from: The Effects of Supraphysiologic Doses of Testosterone on Muscle Size and Strength in Normal Men; Shalender Bhasin, M.D., Thomas W. Storer, Ph.D.

The group that was sedentary and had testosterone had almost DOUBLE the lean mass gain than the placebo group that worked out! So still think it’s all about working out or are hormones a bit more important now?

Take home point….the snatch grip DL is going to be a great natural stimulator of testosterone, unlike those people on the machines isolating muscles all the time.

Burn Fat as Well!

If your goal is more weight loss than bulk, this exercise is also a great addition to ramp up those fat burning hormones. Yes women….don’t worry about bulking up and add this exercise into your workouts as well. Get the reps a little higher (8-10), keep the volume high (add a superset with another exercise), go explosive, slow and controlled on the way down, and enjoy that full body lactic burn that is increasing your GH output with every lift! (and we all know GH is a vital hormone in signaling the release of fat from storage).

Now go try it…and enjoy the pain, I mean results!

So there you have it….the one exercise I (and a little known guy named Charles Poloquin) recommend you add in to your workout programming. Whether you do it more often with varied reps and speed, or work it into an EDT based programming style…it’s all your choice. Of course there are other exercises you can add in after to hit the areas not covered or add in secondary exercises for muscles already used….but this is a true muscle builder.

When it comes to building muscle….know that there is so much more at play as well (hormones), so make sure your lifestyle (nutrition, stress, sleep) supports muscle building and doesn’t take away from your efforts. (If you want more details into all the hormones at play again, I suggest re-reading the muscle building 101 article here.)

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
- Lewis Carroll

“He who fails to plan, plans to fail”
- Proverb

One of the biggest problems I see with people and their workouts is that they don’t actually have a tangible goal. They want to workout X number of times per week for Y number of minutes. But what does that mean? Does that mean walking on a treadmill? Or doing an hour of various weightlifting exercises (and which ones at what intensity)? Cardio-kickboxing? Beating on a punching bag? Running 15 miles?

Or they have goals like running a half-marathon in under 2 hours or squatting their bodyweight. But they have no plan to get there. Their efforts are haphazard and completely random. Unfortunately, without a set of goals and a plan to reach those goals, you never know where you’re going to end up. You’ll likely float from one thing to the next, never making any major progress because you never planned.

It’s time to set some goals and create a plan to reach them.

Goals Must Be S.M.A.R.T.

So before you sit down and decide just what it is that you want to do, we need to know what makes a good goal. Goals should be:

• Specific – Do you know exactly what it is that you’re trying to do and why?
• Measurable – Is there a set of criteria you can use for measuring progress?
• Attainable – I lump this in with Realistic, but I’m sure there’s some Life Coach out there that can tell us what it really means.
• Realistic – Can you really and truly accomplish this goal? Stretch goals are good. Unrealistic or unmotivating goals are bad.
• Timely – A goal should have a timeframe. “I want to do X by Y.”

Your goals can be anything you want them to be. Below, I list five of my current performance goals. But yours could be “Lose 50 pounds,” “Get under 12% bodyfat,” “Bench press 350 pounds”… You get the point. As long as your goal represents something to you, it’s worthy.

Are My Goals S.M.A.R.T.?

Here are a few of my fitness and performance goals:

• Run 100m in under 11.2 seconds
• Run 400m in under 52 seconds
• Deadlift 2.5 times my bodyweight
• Back squat 2 times my bodyweight
• 50″ box jump

So do my goals fit the 5 criteria above? Let’s have a look:

• Are they specific? Yes. I know exactly what it is I am trying to accomplish. No wishy-washiness in my goals like “Run faster”.
• Are they measurable? Yes. If the clock doesn’t read 11.19 or less or if I fail to deadlift 462.5 pounds, I didn’t meet the goal.
• Are they attainable and realistic? Yes. I didn’t get crazy and set a goal of beating Usain Bolt or holding a World Record in the 400m. Those would be ridiculous goals. But based on where I was when I set these goals, they are perfectly attainable, while still being stretch goals (details below).
• Are they timely? Yes. Next June is my timeframe for hitting all of these goals.

Now I’m going to add a 6th measurement for goals. Are they consistent? By that, I mean, do my goals mesh with each other or are they in competition for the limited amount of effort I can devote to them? Notice that my goals are not to run a 4:30 mile and to run a 11.2 second 100m. Those goals are not complimentary. The former requires an enormous aerobic capacity while the latter requires incredible power-to-weight ratio and fast-twitch muscles, but little in the way of aerobic capacity.

On the other hand, strength through the posterior chain (measured via the deadlift and squat) and speed in the sprints and jumping power are all inter-connected. Each one should help the others or, at the least, not harm progress toward the others.

You Must Have A Plan To Reach Those Goals

What good would these very measurable, realistic, attainable goals do for me if I didn’t have a training plan in place to meet them? Does anyone think I’d ever run as fast as I want to if I went out one day and ran a few miles at whatever pace I was feeling and then went into the gym and did a few random weight lifts in whatever rep/weight scheme I was feeling at the time? Or what if my workout was composed entirely of randomly selected circuits?

Of course not! I know that every time I set foot on the track or in the gym, I have to have a plan for that day’s workout. Each and every time I train, I know what my objective is for the day. I’m working on speed, or acceleration, or speed-endurance, or general strength. Or maybe it’s an active recovery day. Or maybe it’s a complete 5-day rest in preparation for a big meet (I’m sure looking forward to that rest next week!). It’s all part of a plan that I have written down hopefully culminating in the achievement of the goals above.

You Must Write Your Plan Down

Where I am in the track season influences how far ahead I plan. I usually start with a solid 2-month plan in the pre-competitive phase of the season that I stick to regardless of what happens in any early season meets. After that, I start letting where I am dictate what I need to train. For instance, given my 100m time, I know that speed-endurance is my limiting factor in going faster in the 200m and 400m, so I’ve been targeting my training more to speed-endurance. Once I hit the off-season, I’ll shift back more to strength and raw speed work, then as I get closer to the season again, I’ll begin layering the speed-endurance on top of a faster top speed.

It doesn’t have to be a super meticulous plan either. But you do need some way of knowing what you’re focus is and when. Some form of planning and periodization is the name of the game.

Just because you write a plan down, however, doesn’t mean it’s set in stone. There are days I get to the track and, for whatever reason (poor sleep, poor eating, stressed by work or life), things just aren’t clicking. I may cut down on the training for the day or completely shift the focus of my training to something less intense that still has a purpose. For instance, maybe I planned to some heavy speed work, but I’m just not there that day. Maybe I’ll switch up and do an easy day of tempo running, then call it a day and regroup to get my focus back. As long as this doesn’t happen too often, it’s not a big deal.

You Must Measure Progress Regularly

If you aren’t measuring your progress in some way, how do you know when you’ve reached your goals or if your plan is even getting you there? I have regularly scheduled measurements for the first two, at least during the Master’s Track and Field season. Every 3-4 weeks, I show up to a track, put on my spikes, and get timed by a computer. There can be no question about where I stand.

I can tell you where I am in respect to my goals (11.29 100m and 53.36 400m) and that I am progressing towards them (one year ago, I was at 11.65 100m and 57.75 400m). When I set those goals, my 100m time was over 12 seconds and my 400m time was around 60 seconds, so the goals were not low bars to step over.

In the off-season, my measurements will switch to the strength-oriented goals and I know approximately where I sit with them right now as well. The box jump is one that I’ve failed at measuring. I haven’t had access to a stack of things to jump on that is that high (while being sturdy enough to give me a “warm and fuzzy” about jumping on them). But everything else has consistent measurements built into the training plan. This allows me to go back and tweak as necessary if I see that things aren’t progressing as they should be.

Are You Doing The Best For Yourself (And Those You Train)?

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because you’re completely wiped out after a workout, you’ve done something that’s taking you somewhere. Remember one thing: it’s very easy to make someone tired and leave them a sweaty mess on the ground. I could easily put a workout together that would do that to most anyone. The question is “does this workout have a purpose in my plan?” If the answer is yes, what is the purpose? Can you explain it to someone in terms that are S.M.A.R.T.?

If you’re a trainer, make sure you know what the goals of your clients are and then fit the training plan to their goals. One-size-fits-all doesn’t work. If the goal is just to be in shape, well, most anything will work. Just getting up off the couch and getting some decent activity will keep most people fairly lean and strong.

Running around in circuits might make you break a sweat and leave you gasping for air, but does it get you closer to where you want to be? Again, it kind of depends on where you want to be. If you just want to be in generally decent shape and lose some fat, getting your heart rate up and moving some weights on a regular basis will do it. (If your goal is general fat loss, check out our Fat Loss 101 course to understand the necessary components of your plan.) But if you actually have performance goals, you better know what they are and how you’re getting there.

Goals Are An Opportunity To Fail

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
- Thomas A. Edison

I think a lot of people hesitate to set goals because there’s one little bit of lingering doubt in the back of their minds that says: “What if I can’t do it?” Or perhaps worse: “You’re not good enough.” The reality is that when you set goals, you set yourself up for the opportunity to fail. But you also set yourself up for the opportunity to succeed big time!

Notice what I did above, by the way…I posted my goals very publicly. This page will be viewed several thousand times in the next few days. I am now setup for public failure if I don’t hit those goals. And it’s quite motivating.

Don’t be afraid to fail. You’ll learn far more by failing now and again than by always succeeding. Never failing means you never tried to stretch too far.

What are your fitness and performance goals? Do you have goals? How do you measure your progress towards them? Can you even measure progress towards them?

I love eggs. Scrambled, hard-boiled, over easy, deviled (check out Richard Nikoley’s deviled egg recipe)…it doesn’t matter. I’ll eat eggs pretty much any way you want to give them to me. Amongst the fitness crowd, they’re pretty much a staple because they are such cheap, delicious nutrition.

So today, let’s look at this little package of protein.

Understanding Egg Marketing Labels

“Free Range,” “Cage Free,” “Organic”…what does it all mean? Marketing labels are perhaps the most confusing part of this whole “eating healthy” game. So what do the various terms you see on the packages mean?

• Conventional (i.e., no special label) – Typically less than half a square foot of space per hen, giving not even enough room to spread their wings.
• Cage Free – As it says, the hens are able to move about inside a barn without being confined to cages. A better life, but not optimal as parts of beaks are often burned to prevent pecking at themselves and others (a sign of distress, by the way).
• Free Range – Implies chickens on lush green pastures. Actually is not a regulated term for eggs so this can be used by absolutely anyone. Really all that’s needed is a door to the outside that gives the chickens “access” to an outdoor area, whether they actually use it or not. This is a meaningless term.
• Organic – This means the hens were fed organic feed, whatever that feed consists of. I think it also means no animal by-products in the feed.
• Vegetarian – The hen is fed a vegetarian feed. I only mention this to point out that chickens are omnivores, not vegetarians, and will naturally eat bugs, grubs, etc. This term is used to imply “healthier” in our anti-meat culture.

As you can see, few of the terms on the egg carton actually mean a whole lot. Other than “organic” and “vegetarian,” it’s pretty useless. But there’s one more term that actually means what you want it to mean. “Pastured” means the chickens were raised on pasture, with access to the sun, grass, bugs, and possibly supplemented with grains and other feed.

So Which Eggs Are The Healthiest?

The USDA will tell you that all eggs are created equal, just as all vegetables, whether organic or not, are equal. Somehow the output from a chicken doesn’t depend on the inputs in the USDA’s world, which is frankly a ridiculous assumption. It’s like a chicken is a little computer program that always puts out the perfect solution, regardless of how much garbage you fed into the program. Too bad it’s not reality.

I was passed two articles from Mother Earth News regarding the nutrition of truly pastured eggs versus the eggs the USDA uses for its tests. Care to see what the results were?

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene
• 4 to 6 times as much vitamin D

But how exactly did they get these results?

These amazing results come from 14 flocks around the country that range freely on pasture or are housed in moveable pens that are rotated frequently to maximize access to fresh pasture and protect the birds from predators. We had six eggs from each of the 14 pastured flocks tested by an accredited laboratory in Portland, Ore.

So we have an egg that is altogether more nutritious when the animal is raised in a more natural environment and allowed to eat its natural diet. Imagine that! Too bad the USDA and the Egg Board are unwilling to admit it.

Mike and I talk a lot about reframing our mindset and I think this is another key time for that. I pointed out before that it’s not that a diet based on real foods prevents disease, rather it doesn’t cause disease like the diet of most people. A pastured egg from a chicken eating something very close to the primal version of a chicken diet is our baseline, not the conventional egg. It’s not that pastured eggs are packed with more vitamins. It’s that conventional eggs have less nutrition. It’s all about context.

If you’d like to read more about these studies, check out these articles:
Meet Real Free-Range Eggs
Eggciting News!

How Dangerous Are Raw Eggs?

The genesis for this article was a question I received about eating raw eggs and if it was dangerous. While I can’t decide for you if the risk is worth the reward, here is some information to help you make your decision on whether to cook your eggs or eat them raw.

Salmonella
According to most media reports, eating your eggs anything short of completely dried out and charred is tantamount to committing suicide. The little bug known as Salmonella might just take your life if you don’t thoroughly cook every bite of egg you take. This over-hyping from the media has ruined everything from Caesar dressing to the Whiskey Sour.

The reality is that there is a 1-in-20,000 to 1-in-30,000 chance that any given conventional egg will be contaminated with Salmonella. You have a 1-in-1,000 chance of dying of accidental drowning and a 1-in-6500 chance of dying from a slip and fall. And since few cases of Salmonella actually involve death, I think this is a pretty unimportant concern. Unfortunately, we don’t have statistics on pastured or organic eggs, but I’m betting it’s lower since healthy chickens and healthy conditions are less likely to harbor the Salmonella bacteria.

Avidin
Raw egg whites contain an enzyme called avidin that acts as an anti-nutrient to bind biotin in the yolk. Also known as vitamin B7, biotin is instrumental in cell growth and the metabolism of fatty acids and amino acids, as well as blood sugar maintenance. Just like with most vitamins, it’s a bad idea to reduce their availability to the body.

If you’re going to eat your eggs raw, I’d advise eating the yolk without the white. The yolk contains all of the nutrition anyway, while the white contains the avidin. In fact, Chris Masterjohn questions whether it’s advisable to consume any egg whites at all. As he points out, some avidin remains even after cooking.

My Take On Raw Eggs
So while I’m not advising you one way or the other, I will say that, while I don’t include raw eggs in my diet, I think the risks are overstated, though I’m not sure that the benefits are all that great either. Oxidation of the fats and cholesterol in the yolk seems to me to be the focus of most raw advocates, so I opt instead for cooking most of my eggs without exposing the yolk to the air. Over-easy and hardboiled are how 90% of my eggs are eaten. While there is heat exposure, there is no light or air exposure to begin the process of oxidation. I do occasionally throw together an omelet though, cooked over low-medium heat in healthy saturated fats that are protective against oxidation.

Finding The Incredible, Edible Egg

So knowing that pastured eggs are markedly more nutritious than conventional eggs, along with being more flavorful and safer, you have another reason to support your local farmers. Pastured eggs are more expensive, but they are also more nutritious. Check out your local farmer’s markets and buying clubs.

Of course, you could eat more conventional eggs to ensure that you get enough vitamins, but then you’re also changing the number of calories and macronutrient composition of your diet. The bottom line is to just focus on eating foods as nature intended them rather than using the sub-par foods that the USDA deems as the baseline. Your health will thank you.

Finally, here are some other egg posts looking at things not discussed in this post:

• Eggs vs. Egg Beaters
• Are Eggs Nature’s Statin?
• Wasting Good Egg Yolks

How many eggs do you eat each week and what’s your favorite way to eat them? Do you eat them raw? Why or why not?