Tailoring Workouts for the Seasons

I’m not sure about you, but I’ve seen many people that get stuck in a rut with their workouts. They do the same thing over and over, and don’t go back to re-evaluate both their goals and their routine.

Here in New England the seasons are very distinct, and therefore the activities associated with the seasons are different too. Eating habits can be different too.

In the winter, for example, I tend to eat slightly heavier foods and the main activity outside of the gym is snowboarding. Because of the extra calories, winter is an ideal time to concentrate on strength training. With that in mind, I ensure that my workouts target the big compound movements – barbell squats, bench press and deadlifts. I also use a workout log to ensure that I am progressing week over week. The only way to continue to grow muscle and strength is to continue to tax your system by increasing the weight lifted over time. Personally I don’t find snowboarding that taxing, so don’t do anything specific to core strength/flexibility or leg strength/flexibility.

Now that summer is rolling around, the diet is lighter and the activities change. This is the season for mountain biking, wakeboarding and strutting around on the beach. These require different capabilities. Wakeboarding benefits from upper body strength and core stability. Mountain biking benefits from explosive leg strength and stamina. Being on the beach benefits from reduced body fat and plenty of lean muscle.

Therefore my routine is now changing from purely strength based to a combination of strength, explosive strength and cardio activities.

While I haven’t completely decided on my routine, I know I will include the following

• Rowing Machine
• Treadmill, HIIT running
• Power Clean and Press
• Jump Squats
• Cable Woodchop
• Cable Side Press
• Renegade Rows
• Weighted Pullups/Chinups
• Bench Press

These will all contribute to explosive strength, lean mass/reduced body fat and increased core stability. Enjoy the summer!

Excuse me, There’s Food in My Chemicals!

My friend Dave Soucy just made another great post to his blog, with the simple message – stop trying to become thin, instead try to become healthy (and the thin will probably come along for the ride anyway)

Check out the article here.

Running

Today is National Running Day. Those that know me know that I hate running. With a vengeance. I hate running, and yet I still do it.

My personal feeling is that running is an inefficient way of losing weight, if used alone. Despite my hatred of running though, I still use it as part of my cutting routine and also occasionally compete just to prove I can. And as always, your workout routine is entirely dependent on your goals.

There are a few key reasons why people run, and it usually boils down to one of the following

• They are sadistic, and actually enjoy it for its own sake.
• They want to lose weight and assume running is the best way to achieve this.
• They want to become generally fitter and improve cardio-vascular health.

Running does have a number of advantages. It provides 25% more calorie burn than walking, and dramatically improves lung function, lowers blood pressure and reduces insulin sensitivity. Psychologically, running has been shown to have a positive effect on brain function and on mood.

It has a number of disadvantages though. Running has a high risk of injury, and places a lot of forces of various parts of the body, causing trauma on the leg joints and back and even the kidneys. Running outside also causes increased risk of the effects of sun exposure, as well as the inhalation of exhaust fumes from vehicles.

Running has been shown too to reduce muscle mass, which reduces your resting metabolic rate.

Steady State v. High Intensity Interval Training

Running for health and weight loss benefits opens up the argument to steady state against HIIT. I define steady state as running at a consistent rate for a specific period of time.

HIIT is defined as running at in increased level of intensity for a short burst followed by running at a maintenance level for another short burst, repeating for a specific period of time.

An example of HIIT might be a fast sprint across your yard, followed by a slow jog back, repeating as necessary. It has been shown to burn MUCH MORE body fat than steady state cardio and in less time. It also vastly improves lung function.

If you goal is weight or body fat loss I strongly recommend following HIIT principles in your cardio workout. This article lists some hard numbers on why.

Conclusion?

So is running worth it? Well its really up to you, but my opinion is that it is worth *adding* it to your exercise regime. Using running – or other cardiovascular exercise – in addition to a strength training regiment will optimize your fat loss and improve your fitness levels in a well rounded manner.

I continue to believe that strength/resistance training (preferably with free weights/cables/bands/body weight) is the absolute best way to lose weight and get into shape and is the only way to get that cut or toned look. Adding running or another cardiovascular activities (particularly HIIT) can help trim more body fat enhancing your look, while also improving lung capabilities.

Low Carb dieting with a cold

When I first started carbohydrate cycling, it was relatively straightforward. Until I got sick (unrelated to the diet change) with a cold.

I am generally against medication unless absolutely necessary, and would rather endure a level of pain and discomfort than start to rely on medicine. Regardless, sometimes a cold and the related coughing becomes too much to bear. The problem is that most liquid medicines contain an INSANE level of sugar.

My solution? Diabetics are very insulin sensitive and cannot afford sugar spikes. I decided to hunt down medication specific to diabetics, and low and behold I was able to find a few brands that carried a sugar free cough medicine.

Even if you don’t restrict carbs, I suggest that you go for the diabetic cough medicine for the following two reasons

• No empty calories to worry about
• A better taste and almost none of the aftertaste you get with sugar based variants.

What supplements do I take?

You get a copy of any fitness (particularly weight training) magazine and you are bombarded with different pre-workout supplements, post-workout supplements, anabolic stacks, nitrous oxide concoctions all “proven” to increase your workout/strength/growth potential.

The science behind a lot of these is sketchy to say the least, and they are often accompanied by pictures of famous lifters or body builders that “used” the product.

Personally, while they might add some benefit, the biggest thing that most of these do is empty your wallet. I prefer to take supplements of proven quality.

On top of a fairly balanced and clean diet (no processed foods), I supplement with the following products.

Whey/Casein Protein Powder

As both a lifter and having a mostly vegetarian diet I find it impractical to get all my protein needs fulfilled by food alone. Therefore I supplement with around 120g of protein a day.

Typically I have 60g of a whey/casein blend 30 minutes or so before a workout. Casein absorbs more slowly than whey and experimentally I found that this gives me a more consistent workout.

Post-workout I have about 60g of whey protein powder along with a protein rich meal. This provides a quick burst of protein to the repairing muscle which providing the slow release with the meal.

Creatine

Creatine is a natural compound that is already found in the body, and is used to produce the fuel that the body needs to do its thing. The problem is the the body stores a limited amount of this fuel (ATP). A great detailed explanation of creatine can be found on Musclehack.

I add about 5-10g of creatine to my pre-workout shake.

L-Glutamine

L-Glutamine is one of the essential amino acids. Glutamine is important in keeping the immune system in good shape, but intense strength workouts deplete the body of this amino acid. Therefore I take about 5g of L-Glutamine in my post workout shake to restore levels.

Caffeine

I don’t drink coffee, and therefore am fairly sensitive to caffeine. I find that a quick shot of espresso before a workout really increases the intensity.

Fish Oil

While I don’t take fish oil entirely for weight lifting purposes, it does have many health benefits. Use of fish oil results in lower triglycerides (stored body fat), lower blood pressure and healthier joints.

Sugary drinks make you fat – putting the point across

Thanks to my friend Rebecca for sending me this link.

There is a lot of evidence that shows that sugary, and particularly HFCS rich, drinks are one cause of health issues and excess body fat. The NYC Department of Health created a 30-second public service announcement that rather disgustingly illustrates the point.

Check out the link here or view the video below.

Will you look this good at 70+?

There are many excuses not to be in shape. “I don’t have time” or “I’m too old to work out seriously”.

The last one should be no excuse, and in my opinion getting older means there’s even more of a need to stay physically fit and strong. If you need inspiration check out this story that I came across yesterday.

Ernestine Shepherd looked in the mirror while wearing a bikini in her 50s and decided to do something about it. Now, at 73, she takes part in body building contests and looks absolutely incredible. She runs marathons and benches around 150lbs.

Read about Ernestine here. Inspirational.