Calories

When the conversation turns to diet and nutrition one of the first things to untangle is the oversimplified question: "how many calories should I eat?"     

Let's clear the air and establish some definitions of the two basic elements here. (Definitions from Wikipedia.)

Calorie - "Food energy is the amount of energy obtained from food that is available through cellular respiration."

The technical term for this idea that calories in minus calories out equals body mass is the"1st Law of Thermodynamics" - "an expression of the principle of conservation of energy, states that energy can be transformed (changed from one form to another), but cannot be created or destroyed. It is usually formulated by saying that the change in the internal energy of a system is equal to the amount of heat supplied to the system, minus the amount of work done by the system on its surroundings."

According to mainstream nutritionists these two ideas are all you need to know about nutrition to come to the conclusion that if you eat more calories than you burn, you get fat.  If you reduce the calories in and increase the calories out, you get lean and sexy.  Oh if it were so simple. 

Let's break this down a bit.  Here are two links to similar posts about similar things.  The first is from Dr. Eades, whom I look to for lots of great information regarding diet and nutrition.  The second is one of his sources for his post.  It's written by Robert McLeod, a physicist (one who would know very well the complexities of our second concept definition, Thermodynamics.)

Dr. Eades post here. http://tinyurl.com/363ld8s
Dr. McLeod's post here: http://tinyurl.com/afled9

I would like to just re-post them on here, because quite honestly there is not much to add.  What I'm going to try and do is add my comments to the discussion.

So let's look at the basics again.  Calorie is the amount of energy obtained from food that's available through cellular respiration.  A good question to ask, What's "cellular respiration" then?  "Cellular respiration, also known as 'oxidative metabolism', is one of the key ways a cell gains useful energy. It is the set of the metabolic reactions and processes that take place in organisms' cells to convert biochemical energy from nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and then release waste products. The reactions involved in respiration are catabolic reactions that involve the oxidation of one molecule and the reduction of another."

Meaning, it's a set of chemical reactions that food goes through in order to be converted into useful forms, mostly in the form of ATP since that is the most efficient fuel source of our bodies.  

The 1st Law of Thermodynamics says; energy (calories are energy from food) can not be destroyed only moved.  This is where most nutritional experts get the idea that it's basically the same as calories in-calories out = body mass.  But even on this surface this oversimplified equation misses.  In this equation we have energy minus energy = mass.  hahahaha.  They don't even have the same units.  It would have to be energy minus energy = energy.  You can't just switch the units from energy to mass!  

Ok moving past that, if you have to, this equation does nothing to describe the process breaking down the food into useful energy for us to use.  We are summing up incredibly complex processes into simple arithmetic.  That's not even funny.   

Applying the 1st Law to living organisms is Proof by Tautology. Yes, 1 + 1 = 2, but this tells us absolutely nothing about the underlying mechanics. The 1st Law does not (I repeat N-O-T) tell us whether you store excess energy in the form of fat, or bleed it off into the atmosphere by dilating blood vessels next to the skin, sweating, etc. To do so would require an accounting of entropy. - Robert McLeod

Again, the mechanics of energy use.  He goes on to demonstrate that the mathematics to account for all of this would be very, very difficult and the simple arithmetic of calories in minus calories out, just doesn't cut it. 

Ok, I just can't resist anymore.  Here is a copy of a large chunk from Robert's post regarding the thermodynamic argument or the calories in calories out argument.  I'm going to add some italics here where I see fit.  

One of Taubes' chapters deals with the idea that energy balance in humans can be reduced to the First Law of Thermodynamics:

ΔE = E_in - E_out

I was somewhat confused to see this Surely the nutritional scientists did not not really believe this, right? I mean, any idiot undergraduate students knows that the 1st Law is only useful in a closed system, and humans live on the planet Earth, not in an insulated box. Right?

Enter a rebuttal by G. Bray in the journal Obesity Reviews. Bray is a to be a major obesity researcher and one of the 2nd tier villains in the book. Taubes relates a story of Bray excising a section of a British report on obesity, where Bray removed the material pertaining to the relationship between insulin and obesity. He clearly has editorial support to make his case. Bray is one of the second-tier villains in Taubes' book. Taubes has a footnote (p. 421), which suggests that Bray actively suppressed the carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis.

* According to Novin, when he wrote up his presentation for the conference proceedings Bray removed the last four pages, all of which were on the link between carbohydrates, insulin, hunger, and weight gain. "I couldn't believe he would make that kind of arbitrary decision," Novin said.

Unfortunately, to a physicist this energy balance hypothesis looks like a silly hand-waving exercise, not a serious argument. Frankly I was flabbergasted when I first read this article. This conservation of energy argument is on the same scientific level as the ridiculous "drink cold water to lose weight" idiocy. A human organism is:

1. Not in thermal equilibrium with their environment. Last time I checked I have a body temperature around 38 °C and spend most of my time in 21 °C rooms.
2. Capable of significant mass flows (e.g. respiration).
3. Capable of sequestering entropy (e.g. protein synthesis).

Is wearing a sweater fattening (by insulating you from your environment)? Here's a quote from the rebuttal,

Let me make my position very clear. Obesity is the result of a prolonged small positive energy surplus with fat storage as the result. An energy deficit produces weight loss and tips the balance in the opposite direction from overeating.

According Bray's thermodynamics argument, wearing sweaters makes you fat. This illustrates the greatest fallacy of trying to apply the 1st Law to a human: it makes the implication that living organisms consume kilocalories for the purpose of generating heat rather than perform useful work (italics original to author) (i.e. breathing, contracting cardio and skeletal muscle, generating nervous action pulses, etc.). In reality heat is the waste product of basal metabolism. The first law does not distinguish between different types of energy. Heat, work are all equal under the First Law of Thermodynamics.

 Let me try and make all of this more simple.  At the end of the day, calories in minus calories out can't be true, because of these two glaring facts:
1. It only applies to closed systems, of which the body and humans are not.  A closed system would mean our body temps would be the same as the environment around us.  Like the example of the room above, our body temperature would be the same as the room temp, which it is clearly not.  This is why Robert makes the mocking statement that according to the thermodynamics argument, wearing a sweater would make you increase your fat storage, because if you increase the heat of your body, in order to balance out the equation your body would store fat.  This is not the case which means that we are not a closed system and the calorie argument is garbage.   
2. The math is oversimplifying complex movements of heat and energy and does nothing to explain how the metabolic process actually works in real life. 

So why does it work for some people?

Any ideas?  See my next post for an attempt at a simplified explanation of the metabolic process and my own theory of why a reduction in calories will reduce body fat levels.

Unloaded

When was the last time you took a week off from your workouts?  I mean a planned week of recuperation, not the unexpected binge eating, drinking, vacation kind.  I bet if you did, you'd come back and the gym would still be there, you'd lift a little more, you'd feel better, and maybe even set a new PR.

In the last month, I've talked to a few people about this, and if you are paying attention, usually that's a good indicator to go with it.  So here goes.  The unloaded week.

The first person I talked to approached me and said, "I haven't hit a new PR in months."  To which I responded quickly and confidently, "take a week completely off of training, then try again."  This came a such a shock, there was an awkward moment of us staring at each other.  I'm more comfortable in these situations than most people so i just kept staring until they started to tell me about how much they LOVE CrossFit and could never take a week off.

"That's fine.  But until you rest, you probably wont progress or hit new PR's.  You're tired and you need to rest."  They didn't like that.  

I got this from Mike Mentzer; most people make the mistake of thinking in economic terms.  $1,000 is better then $1, so more workouts are better then less.  But fitness is NOT economics.  They have different rules, or as Mike and Ayn Rand would say, they have a different Identity.  Muscles have to act like muscles, and muscles need cycles of stimulation then recuperation to progress.

If you find yourself sleeping terrible, irritable, stagnating on your fitness progress, take an active rest week, go for a walk each night for 30 min. (that is your workout programming for the week, that's $39.99 please.  I'll invoice you.)  I promise the gym will still be there when you get back.  You will feel better, you will progress better, look better naked, 6 pack abs shooting through all because you took a week to recuperate.  Single best test to know if what you are doing is working or not...is it actually working?  I mean are you progressing?  If you're not, then your current method is not good, ditch it for what does work.  I'm telling you; workouts + rest/recovery = progress 

You're annual programming should look something like this: 4-6 weeks of hard workouts (I like to focus on a single attribute), then 1 week active rest (easy walks each night or unloaded bars).  Repeat.  Progress.  Remember; workouts + rest/recovery = progress.  They are both equally important to your progress.  Here is an interesting caveat to leave you with.  What takes more disciple, to walk into the gym and do your unloaded work and not get sucked up into the competition, or to keep going hard and seeing no progress?  Think you're tough?  Prove it.  Do the unloaded work with the rest of the gym racing each other, that's tough.

"you're looking big, what have you been doing?"

Recently, I seem to be hearing this from a lot of people and I thought I'd lay out what I do, and If anyone wants to know more detail about why I structure things this way, then you can contact me and I'd be happy to talk about it.

First and foremost I don't feel "big."  I have a bit of a self image thing that I'm smaller than I really am.  Right now I'm 6"1" 215# and about 15-18% body fat.  To give you an idea of my current strength; my max deadlift was 500# and back squat 380# according to the charts (meaning it's not an actual lift, just based on 14 reps at 115kg yesterday).  So to me, that's not really that big.  Then again, I'm comparing myself to guys like Dave Tate, Jim Wendler, Doug Young, etc.  Those guys are big, and strong. 

Secondly, it's hard for me to describe what I do in simple terms but I'll try.

My focus is on Endurance, Strength and Power.  In that order actually.  I thought my strength was most lacking, so that has been my focus for a while now.  Then I will switch gears to fix what ever is most lacking and so on.  I started doing 5x5 basic strength progressions, found the volume too high, then I started playing with incorporating a more "west-side barbell" style into the routine.  What's interesting about Westside, Dave Tate, et al, is it's all based on Soviet Dynamo Club training methods which I feel like I have a pretty good general understanding, so there were already elements in the training, but recently I read through Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program and instantly saw how I could incorporate it.  So I started doing Wendler's 5/3/1 program, or at least my variation of it.  So for 2 months at a time, I do 3x/week strength training and 3x/week Steady state endurance training.  Both are based on simple principles like progressively overloading and max efforts, then an unloaded week at the end of 7 weeks to recover before changing to 4 weeks of 3x/week Met-Con style, or CrossFit, or Mixed-Mode, or Power-endurance, or what ever you want to call it and 3x/week of MV02 endurance training.

That's pretty much it in the most simple terms.  2 months of 3x/week strength, 3x/week steady state; then 1 month 3x/week P/E, 3/week MVO2 training.

The details are quite complex though and even more complex is the why I do it this way.  To keep it short though; strength training goes like this (percentages are percentage of 1 rep max - the max weight I can lift for 1 rep, max reps means as many reps as possible to absolute failure, and maybe even try for a few more):
week 1 - 5x@65%, 3x@75%, max reps@85% (goal of 6+ reps)
week 2 - 5x@70%, 3x@80%, max reps@90% (goal of >4 reps)
week 3 - 5x@75%, 3x@85%, max reps@95% (goal of >2 reps)
week 4 - 5x@40%, 3x@50%, max reps@60% (goal of >16 reps)

Each week, I lift 3x/week.  So it looks like this:
Mon - Back squat, Press, Deadlift, Power Clean with 5 min. rest between each lift
Wed - Front Squat, Push Press, Weighted Chin, Snatch (5 min rests)
Fri - Overhead Squat, Weighted Dip, Jerk (5 min rest between)

The endurance training is simple enough too:
Steady state for 60-180 min at 70-80% Max HR.  Well, I'm building up to that.  Yeah, that's 3 hours!  WTF.  I don't need to go that far into the endurance training, so my goal is to build up to 90 min at 80% MHR.  There is all kinds of garbage out there about HR training, but it's possible to figure it out.  I like to look at Phil Mafatone's ideas for this piece and Mark Twight, although, I'm pretty sure it's based on Mafatone's work and Stephen Seiler's.  Although his progression suggestions are way beyond my capabilities so I have to adjust those.  I just don't adapt that fast to endurance training.

So there it is.  9 months out of the year, Strength/Endurance, 3 months; Power-Endurance/MV02.  I might change it up though, because the weight is starting to get heavy and it makes it hard to do all those lifts in the same session.  The volume is starting to get really high.  And I'm concerned that I'm trying to do too many lifts during the week.  I might kick it down to just Squat, Press, Deadlift, Power Clean for 1 month at 3x/week, then move to Front Squat, Push Press, Chin, Snatches for month 2 at 3x/week.

In the Power-Endurance phase my focus is on speed.  All weight on the bar is reduced to 60% max at most and emphasis is on speed.  High intensity Max V02 sessions or Tabata Protocol sessions running or rowing.  Mvo2 is trained in 30 second intervals with 30 seconds of rest building up to 60 min in duration.  Pure torture.  Tabata protocol is 20 seconds at 170% vo2 max followed by 10 sec of rest for 6-8 rounds.  Tabata might be worse in my opinion.  4 min. is all it takes to completely kick my ass, especially at 170% V02max pace.  Most people will just go "all out" for the 20/10 deal but they obviously didn't read Dr. Tabata's work.  It's very specific.  170% is not all out on the first few rounds.  Rounds 6-8 however, are horrible.  4 weeks of this 3x/week and by the end, my 2k row, 5k run what ever, will be significantly improved due to my O2 efficiency improvement.  Then the shitty part is, I test a new v02 max (and I like the concept 2 website calc based on my 2k row time for this), it's gone up, and now I have to do the tabata sets at a faster pace!  WTF?! Oh well.  Right now I'm working on tabata sets at 1:27/500m splits.  Not avg, just get there and hold on!   

At this writing, I'm too heavy to be a real competitor in CrossFit, but it's certainly a lot quicker to lose 10-15 lbs of fat, than to gain strength.  I figure if I can keep this up for another 2 years, I'll be ready to compete.  We will see.  Follow along as I make my way.

That's pretty much it.  I guess I just have the genes to get big pretty quick even though my intention is strength.  And like I said above, if you want to know why this vs other options out there, just ask.  Be prepared for a very, very long answer though.  :)    

Motivation

Everyday I come into the gym knowing what I need to do.  It’s as simple as looking at my logbook and seeing what needs to be done.  However, I do not always feel like doing the work outlined in my plan.  The question I have to ask myself is first, am I being lazy or do I really need to take the day off?  This is not an easy question to answer.  Most if not all of what goes on in this gym is like this question, simple, but not easy.  Once I have decided that I do in fact need to do the work, it’s a matter of getting motivated to put in the hard effort the workout requires.  If I walk in feeling unmotivated to do the work there are a few techniques I use to get motivated which is the point of this post.

My workouts are planned out in advance, usually about 1 month or so.  I get a little carried away sometimes and want to program out 2 or 3 or even 6 months in advance sometimes, but I have found this to be a waste of time.  Things change.  I change.  Sometimes I realize that I have spent too much time doing what I like to do and not enough time doing what I don’t like, or what is more important to meet my goals.  So 1 month in advance at most.  This monthly plan starts off with “rest” days.  Days I know that I’m going to be traveling, out of town, or just need the day off.  I usually like to pick Sunday as on off day for sure, and by the time the end of the week rolls around, Saturday is usually gonna need to be a rest day too.  So Monday thru Friday is where the work is going to be done.  I know that for me, 3 days “on” is about all I can handle before the quality takes a serious dive.  Day 3 is usually pretty rough to get done and requires some serious attention.  That day is usually the day that I’m trying to dig inside myself and find my motivation for being here. 

One of the first things I do, is to look at my goal board.  On this board I have a list of simple things that I can check off on my journey to elite fitness.  I guess it’s a given that I have an end goal and all the things on the board are a sign post along the road there.  I have in mind 4 levels of fitness.  Level 1, beginner.  Things like learning the lifts; high volume, lots of reps and practice.  I figure that this level lasts about 1-2 years and I kind of assume that based on my past I put in enough work to be considered a beginner.  Level 2; here we start talking about some standards.   I think of things in terms of Strength, Endurance (about 45 min. or so), Power-Endurance (less than 45 min.), and power (less than 30 sec. all out efforts).  Strength – basic barbell lifts, things like deadlift, squats, push press, etc.  Power-Endurance – a couple CrossFit workouts that I can measure like Helen, Eva, etc.  Endurance – simple stuff like 5k run, 10k run, 5k row, 60 min row, etc.  Power – Olympic lifts and broad jump; I might even consider a 400m run, or 100m freestyle swim a power event too.  I have set out time standards for each thing at level 1, 2, 3 and 4.  What’s interesting is level 4 ends up being about the beginning of true fitness and in the big scheme of things might even be considered “beginner” in “elite” fitness.  Things like 2x body weight deadlift, etc.  This is the beginning of training for serious athletes. 

So I look at my board.  I start imagining my future when I have met my goals.  More specifically I imagine what it will feel like.  The pride of being able to do 5k run in 19:00 and turn around and deadlift 2.5x body weight is powerful.  Or maybe it’s seeing your reflection in the mirror and 6% body fat.  How many stares will you get when you walk out on the beach?  I put myself in that future when I have already achieved these goals, but I like to do this for a specific time period or I might find myself just daydreaming for an hour.  Next, I change my clothes.  Sometimes I like to workout in jeans and barefoot, but on days like these, I need to put on the uniform.  There is sacredness to putting on the “workout clothes.”   There is a psychological association to working out and hard work when I put my special clothes on.  They are for this task and this task only.   On days like these, if I were to wear the same old stuff, my state might not change and I can’t afford that. 

After I’m changed, I’m still not totally motivated, but more than when I came in the door.  So the next thing I do, is to just start walking.  I walk about 400 meters or so, just to get moving, something.  Then I slowly start doing a little more, maybe skipping, maybe I start doing some of my mobility drills to loosen up a bit.  Depending on the day I might want fast music, other days I prefer sad music to find strong emotions, doesn’t really matter which it is, I just need to find a strong emotion.  Sometimes it’s pain, sometimes it’s happy. 

So here I am skipping in my gym, listening to sad music in my workout clothes feeling quite a bit more motivated and I look over my logbook to see just what’s in store.  Sometimes, if I’m by myself, I yell, if there are others, I stomp.  Yelling and stomping my feet can change my state real quick. 

Start to jog now.  Maybe do a couple sprints, feeling powerful.  Thinking strength and power…domination.  Intensity.  Let it grow inside.   

I start doing the warm-up, nice and easy, building the intensity in my mind until it’s time for war.  All out war.  No one, nothing will prevent me from stopping now.  I will burn this building to the ground and keep going!  Nothing will interrupt me.  Not my cell phone, no one. 

Motivation is a state.  States are connected to both the physical and the mental.  To change states you have to change one, the other, or, the best would be to change both.  Sometimes it’s too big a jump though and you have to go through apathy first to get to motivation.  So the first thing I do is change the mental, start thinking motivated thoughts, like what it’s going to feel like when I’m at my goals.  Then I change my physiology; my clothes and start moving around.  These all build on each other.  More and more motivated thoughts, more movement, and more intensity.  At the end, I’ve gone from apathetic to highly motivated in about 15 min or so. 

Another option is to have a ritual that you do.  Do a series of specific actions in a specific order so that at the end, you are ready for war.  When I was playing water polo, I set the national anthem as my trigger.  Before every game the anthem was played and when it went on…my mind made the switch; it was time to go to war.  Some times it still does.  You can set a trigger like that too.  Every time you are highly motivated give yourself a unique stimulus, something like pressing your index finger to your thumbs, or rubbing your hands in a certain way, or turning your hat backwards (who didn’t see Over the Top with Sly Stalone?).  Do this repeatedly and a very short time you will feel like Pavlov’s dog salivating every time I ring a bell, but hey, it worked for him and it can work for you too.     

Try it and see what happens.  You can always quit later.  ;)