Find Thy Limiting Factor

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In the beginning of a training program, physical changes come quickly. Your body adapts at the fastest rate that you will ever see in the first six months of a training program. After that the rate of change begins to slow down as your body becomes accustomed to your new lifestyle. You can continue to improve for a long time, in the case of certain adaptations like aerobic capacity, for many years, but at some point you must become smarter about your training.

Once you have a foundation of consistency and adequate intensity, over time, progression will become more difficult. You must work on your limiting factor. You can get complicated in trying to determine what is holding you back, or you can do it the simple way: Figure out what you hate doing the most. Nine times out of ten, the thing that you hate doing the most is holding you back from further improvement.

You Squat Like a Girl...A Weak One!

So, using myself as a lab rat, I decided to see test that hypothesis. I run lots of miles weekly in order to train for ultra distance running events, but I also strength train as a form of cross training. I decided to test my strength levels on a few key lifts and compare them to other guys at my weight and level of training. I don't consider myself an advanced lifter, by any means, but I have been lifting weights seriously for several years and consider myself squarely in the middle of the "intermediate" category. To make a long story short, I fell pretty much in the intermediate category on all lifts...with one glaring exception, the squat. Now, I'm aware that lots of low-intensity running negatively effects leg strength so, it wasn't altogether a shock to see that when compared to other guys at my weight, I have the leg strength somewhere between the level of your grandmother and a 12 year old girl. And I should mention that I HATE SQUATS. Why? Because I suck at them, or at least I always thought I did. Now, my speculated squat suckage was confirmed.

For the last several months, I've forced myself to do squats at every strength session, with the goal of adding weight each time, even if only a little, and my strength has continued to increase. After 2 months of hard work, I think I'm approaching the leg strength level of a 14 year old girl. Woo Hoo! And the more I do them, the less I'm hating them.

While there isn't much carryover from the strength training to performance, or endurance, in my runs, I have noticed that my legs seem to handle the beating of the long runs a little better. Aches and pains in the smaller leg muscles, like the hip flexors and adductors, have all but disappeared. Coincidence? I really don't think so. Anecdotal evidence suggests that by strengthening the small muscles that oppose the strong running-related muscles, I've decreased the propensity for injury and decreased the discomfort on long runs. That translates indirectly into me running further which is definitely a goal.

The moral of the story is: Work on your weakest link, no matter how much you hate it.

OK, enough for today, I think I need to find some other exercise to hate.

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• Strength Training: What you need to know
• 20 Ways to Find Time to Exercise
• Periodization: The Secret to Becoming More "Toned"

Periodization: The Secret to Becoming More "Toned"

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My last post discussed the concept of using hard and easy days to maximize your fitness while also increasing your recovery and rest. To maximize long-term gains, measured in months and years, as opposed to days, you need to have a longer term plan for success and that plan should include the concept of periodization. Periodization is a fancy name for focusing on a specific physical adaptation for a short period of time, before changing to focus on another adaptation.

A common fitness goal is to become more "toned". Without using periodization, getting "toned" is an almost impossible goal. As my readers should now be aware, you can't "tone" a muscle. Muscles can only expand, contract, shrink, or grow. What is commonly referred to a "muscle tone" is actually a combination of muscle growth along with a decrease in body fat so that you can better see the muscle growth. The problem is that growing muscle and losing fat require opposite caloric environments. To grow muscle you need to consume more calories than you burn, but to lose fat, you must consume fewer calories than you burn. I'm no rocket scientist, but it seems to me that you can't be in a calorie deficit and a calorie surplus at the same time.

So how is it possible to achieve these seemingly opposite goals? By periodizing your training into segments where your goal alternates between muscle gain and fat loss, you can achieve both over the long term. The only difference between these opposing phases is the number of calories that you consume. During a muscle gain phase, consume a 300-400 calorie surplus while hitting the weights hard, and increase your protein intake a little. You should gain a pound every week or two and the additional weight gain should be mostly lean muscle.

Important points for a muscle gain phase are:

• Increase your calories to a 300-400 calorie per day deficit
• Increase your protein intake to around 1 gram/pound of body weight per day. This is higher than the RDA, but not by much. Make sure your body has enough protein to rebuild and repair muscle tissue.
• Excessive cardio will impair muscle gains. 10 miles of jogging per week probably won't make a difference...50 miles of jogging per week probably will make a difference.

Continue this for as long as you stand the additional weight gain. When you just can't stand to see yourself gain any more weight, switch to a fat loss phase, consume a 300-400 calorie deficit a day and hit the weights even harder. Now you've got to fight to maintain as much of your hard earned muscle as possible while losing fat.

Important points for a fat loss phase are:

• Decrease your calories to a 300-400 calorie per day deficit
• Decrease your processed carbs and focus on nutritionally dense foods
• Intensity in the gym = more muscle conserved
• Don't decrease your calories any more than suggested. Too strict a diet will cause you to lose your muscle gains
• Continue cardio during this phase, but too much and your body will consume those muscle gains. Calorie deficit should be mostly from dietary restriction.

Periodization may seem to be complicated. It isn't complex, but it does require some longer term planning on your part. And long term planning means that you might need to decide on a long term goal and a time frame to complete that goal. Oh, the horror! If you just want to lose a few pounds but would rather just put a toe in the water as opposed to jumping in and making that goal a reality, periodization may not be for you. If you have a fitness or weight loss goal and you have the commitment to plan for and make that goal a reality, periodization is a great tool to have in your toolbox.

Do you have long-term fitness goals, measured in months and years? Do you have any fitness goals?

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Variety, the Soul of Your Training Plan

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Variety in your workouts should be about more than just going into the gym and doing different exercises each day for the sake of "mixing it up". Don't confuse variety with not having a plan. Flitting from fad workout plan to fad workout plan every week is a surefire way to spend loads of time in the gym and get no results. In order to effectively measure progress, you must maintain some consistency in your workouts, but by introducing some variety, you will stay motivated and increase the effectiveness of your workouts.

Hard/Easy Days

Whether you are talking about cardio or strength training, you should be incorporating a variety of hard and easy days. Most people fall into the trap of exercising at a moderate level all of the time. By staying in the gray area between a hard workout and an easy workout, you never get the full benefits of having done a hard workout, nor do you get the recovery that an easy, active recovery day can provide. Always doing moderate intensity workouts compromises your potential.

I'm often asked by runners if running three miles three times a week is a "good" amount to run. Nine miles per week is a great amount of running to begin to get fit and lose weight, but there is a better way to run those nine miles to maximize the benefit. Instead of running three miles three days a week, 3-3-3, try running a week of 4-2-3 miles or 5-2-2 miles. You'll burn the same number of calories, but the "long run" days will increase your fitness beyond your current level of ability, while the shorter run days will allow your body to recover and still burn a few calories at the same time. After doing this for a few weeks, you will notice your fitness begin to increase and, as a side benefit, the short run days will seem like a piece of cake.

To incorporate this concept of hard and easy days into a strength training routine, pick one day a week to be your "hard" day, or your "easy" day, depending on how you train. If you normally lift weights in the 10 rep range, pick a few compound exercises, like squats, deadlifts, bench press, military press, dips, or chin-ups, and do 5 sets of 5 reps with heavier weights. If you normally lift with heavy weights in the 6 rep range or lower, switch to lower weights and do one day a week in the 10-12 rep range.

This concept of switching a routine around for better results is especially helpful for long-term gains. Mixing up your workouts during the week provides variety and can enhance recovery. The same process can be applied to your training program over longer periods of time. Every 4-6 weeks you should have a "down" week to allow deep recovery to take place. Runners should have a cut-back week where your weekly mileage is reduced to 50-60% of your normal mileage. Strength trainees should have a "deload" week every 4-6 weeks in which volume is cut by 50%. This rest and recovery week will allow your body time to rebuild and repair itself.

When returning back to your regular schedule, ease back into it. Think, two steps forward, one step back. By using this technique, you can extend the amount of time that you can continue to make gains in strength, speed, endurance, etc.

Do you vary the intensity level of your workouts? Or is every workout the same?

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Want to Lose Weight? Get Off of the Scale, Part II

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In Part 1 of this series I discussed using body fat percentage as a better indicator of progress than scale weight. Hopefully you've gotten a device to measure your body fat, now what? What is the best way to maximize fat loss and minimize muscle loss? Here is a four-pronged approach to maximizing fat loss.

Track your body fat percentage

The first step is to take your body fat percentage. This is the number that you want to see decrease. You should continue to use a scale to measure your weight, but remember, as your weight begins to go down, your body fat percentage should also go down. You are definitely doing something wrong if your weight is decreasing but your body fat is staying the same. That is an indicator that you are losing muscle mass...something that you do not want to do. Usually this is caused by one of two things. One, you are not eating enough food. If you drastically cut your calories to a level far below your maintenance level, you will lose weight, but your body will consume muscle mass to feed itself and your metabolism will drop through the floor. You do not want this to happen. Don't eat less food than a 500 to 750 calorie deficit per day. The second possible cause of losing muscle mass is that you are not strength training. It is as important to strength train as it is to do cardio while losing weight. It will slow down the rate of weight loss, but you will lose mostly fat, and you will be much more likely to keep it off. Stop making excuses and strength train!

Nutrition and Diet

In order to lose fat, you must eat fewer calories than you burn. There is no way around this fact. No magic pills will melt the fat away, nor are there any mythical foods that help your body burn more fat. All of that crap is the domain of TV infomercial fantasy. You must eat fewer calories than your body burns each day. You can do this either by dieting alone, increasing the amount of exercise that you do, or with a combination of both diet and exercise. The combination is the best choice, since you will get health benefits that come along with regular exercise, as well as the weight loss benefits and you will keep your metabolism from decreasing.

How do you know how many calories your body burns each day? Here is an online calorie calculator that uses the Harris-Benedict equation to estimate your daily calorie requirements. Plug in your information and the result is the number of calories that you must consume each day to maintain your current weight. To lose 1 pound per week, you must consume 500 calories per day fewer than that number. Understand that the daily calorie number is an approximation based on research and fancy-pants statistics. Your actual number of calories required each day may be lower or higher. If you think you are eating at a 500 calorie deficit and you are not losing weight, log your food intake for a week or so, ensuring that you are staying under your allotted calories. If you still haven't lost any weight you may need to lower your food intake by 100 or so calories per day and reevaluate after another week. Continue lowering calories until you begin losing weight or, if you are a female reach the 1200 calorie level, or if you are a male reach the 1500 calorie level. You should not consume fewer calories than this. If you are at these levels and still not losing weight, you need to include more cardio and strength training to increase your metabolism.

Keep looking for positive feedback that you are moving in the right direction. If you are...congratulations on figuring this thing out. Keep it up. If you are not making progress, then re-evaluate and make changes. Don't continue doing something that is not working. If you continue doing the things that don't work...they are not going to suddenly start working.

Exercise

I believe you must do some type of cardio to stick with a diet for the long term. The simple reason is that doing consistent, regular cardio of some type lets you eat more and still lose the weight. If I didn't exercise regularly, I would have a much harder time maintaining my weight, because, honestly, I love to eat. I'm not willing to deprive myself of eating the foods that I enjoy, so I compensate for that by exercising. So what exactly is "exercise"? Well, the CDC defines exercise as a repetitive activity that works up a sweat. Really, that's the official definition. Actually, I'm taking paraphrasing liberties, but you get the idea.

For a healthy heart, it is recommended that you do 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week. For weight loss, I'm sorry to say, it will probably take more. If you are doing moderate intensity exercise, 60 minutes for at least 5 days per week is an average for the participants in the National Weight Control Registry.

If you are pinched for time, then you should try intervals. Research has shown that by introducing bouts of higher intensity exercise into your exercise routine, you can get more fat-burning bang for your time spent buck. If you are interested in getting into the nitty-gritty details, search for HIIT or the Tabata protocol. If you could care less about the research, just warm up for 5 minutes, followed by alternating between an easy pace and a hard pace every 60-90 seconds. Do that for about 10 minutes, then cool down for another 5 minutes. There you have it. The short and sweet way to do interval training in only 20 minutes.

Strength Training

Strength training is the real secret to losing fat. You may lose weight without strength training, but focusing on fat loss is much more difficult without hitting the weights. I will admit that I don't really enjoy strength training, I'm just a wuss that way, but I do recognize that it plays an important part in injury prevention from all of the running I do and I like what it does for my body composition. So I force myself to do it. When I go to the gym I'm definitely looking for the greatest benefit in the shortest amount of time, so here are my rules for getting a good strength workout quickly:

• Stick to compound exercises - If you are pressed for time, this is the most important rule. A compound exercise is a movement that involves more than one joint. For example, a chin-up is a compound movement. Think about it. You bend at the elbow to pull yourself up, as well as at the shoulder. A chin-up is a great compound exercise that works your lats, upper back, and biceps. In contrast, an isolation exercise is a movement that involves only a single joint. The classic example is a bicep curl. You only bend at the elbow and the bicep is the only muscle used. Minimize the number of isolation exercises that you do in order to optimize your time spent in the gym. Here I've listed some of the best compound exercises that you can perform. If you have never heard of these movements and would like to see an example, go to ExRx.net, the best site I've ever seen for demonstrations of every conceivable strength training movement.

• Squats - the king of the compound exercises, well, maybe squats would have to fight it out with deadlifts, but it's really a great exercise.
• Deadlifts - Standard Deadlifts, Romanian Deadlifts
• Rowing movements - Bent Over Row, Cable Row, One-Armed Dumbbell Row
• Pull up variations - Chin ups, Pull-ups, Wide Grip Pull-up, use the Gravitron machine if you need to.
• Dips - Great chest and tricep exercise, use the Gravitron machine if you need to
• Shoulder presses - Military Press, Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• Chest Presses - Bench Press, Incline Bench Press, Decline Bench Press

• Use the proper amount of weight - Most people don't use enough weight when strength training. If you are using a weight that you can comfortably lift, using proper form, for 20 repetitions or more, you are using too little weight. Depending on your goal, you may want to use a variety of rep and weight ranges with the exercises. When I talk about a rep range, here is what I mean. If I say that you should lift in the 8 to 12 rep range, find a weight that you can lift between 8 and 12 times, but no more. When you reach the point that you can lift that weight 12 times, increase the weight. Here is a short list of rep ranges that are appropriate for different goals.

• Hypertrophy (Muscle growth) - 8 to 12 repetitions per set is the bread and butter of the bodybuilding world. If your goal is to get bigger muscles, start with weights in this range. And don't think that you're going to get "hyooge" just by lifting in this range. To gain muscle you must eat appropriately, as well.
• Hybrid Hypertrophy/Strength - 6 to 8 repetitions per set is a middle ground between focusing on hypertrophy and strength.
  
• Strength - 3 to 5 repetitions per set is the recommended repetition range for increasing strength. Beginners who want to focus on increasing strength should stick with the higher end of this rep range. I wouldn't recommend that a beginner lift any weights that are so heavy that they can only lift 3 times. If you are a beginner, try a 5 sets of 5 reps protocol for one or two of the big compound exercises and you'll get good strength benefits while lowering the risk of injury.
  
• Power - 1 to 3 repetitions per set is recommended for increasing power. This rep range is definitely not recommended for beginners. This range uses very heavy weights and without perfect form, close supervision, and a spotter, the risk of injury is very high.

• Be a stickler for proper form - this goes out to that guy in my gym who curls, in the squat rack, no less, with 135 pounds but never moves his elbows from the 90 degree position. He just moves the weight by rocking it up with his back. He's moving the weight, but his arms are not getting any bigger or stronger as a result of doing that movement. If you are going to take the time to do the work, make sure you get the proper benefit of each exercise. Lifting too much weight using bad form is not going to make you any stronger, more toned, or give you bigger muscles. Use good form!

• Change up your routine every 4 to 6 weeks - "Everything works, but nothing works forever." Don't change up your routine too much, or you won't be able to judge your progress, but every 4 to 6 weeks you should make minor changes to the exercises that you are doing. Try switching from barbells to dumbbells. Stand instead of sitting while doing shoulder presses. Change your grip from an overhand grip to an underhand grip. Switch to a narrow grip. Switch to a wider grip. Change to a variation of the same exercise. Change exercises altogether. The key to continued improvement is to look for small changes that will keep you interested and keep your body guessing. If you continue lifting the same weights, doing the same exercises, do you think that you will continue getting stronger as a result? You won't...your body will adapt and you will plateau. You've got to keep mixing it up.

• Mean business when you are in the gym - if you aren't spending hours and hours in the gym each week, then you must focus on getting to work when you are there. Minimize socializing, and if you are reading a magazine between sets, you're not working hard enough. You must compensate for less time in the gym with more intensity. Try to improve on your last workout every time you set foot in the gym. Aim for one more repetition, less rest time between sets, add a small amount weight to a movement, or perform a movement slower. These are all progression methods that will keep you on the road to improvement.

Losing fat and keeping it off is a difficult process. Make the changes necessary to your lifestyle and let time do the rest. This is not a get thin quick scheme to help you lose 10 pounds (of water weight) in 10 days, but if you follow these recommendations for 6 months you will see changes to your body that you never thought possible. Sticking with the program becomes much easier as you begin to see results and feel better. So what are you waiting for? No one can decide to do this for you.

If you exercise regularly, what motivates you to continue? If you don't, what keeps you from starting, or being as consistent as you would like?

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Strength Training: What you need to know.

Most people who want to be fitter or look better start by “going on a diet”. Some might even begin to do some cardio occasionally, but most people don’t strength train. As a result, many people don’t get the benefits that strength training provides.

Injury prevention

A balanced, strength training program can strengthen weak muscles and result in a stronger, more fit, physique. Notice I said a BALANCED program. That means strengthening all major muscle groups not just the "beach" muscles. A ripped six-pack with bulging biceps is nice, but not if you’re so weak that your 5 year old has to open the jar of peanut butter for you. Strength training is more than crunches, bench press, and bicep curls. Focus on strengthening weaker muscle groups to minimize injury potential.

Increase lean muscle mass = Increased metabolism = Decreased body fat

Every pound of muscle in your body burns approximately 30-50 calories per day. By adding more muscle, your resting metabolism will get higher allowing you to burn more body fat, even while at rest. Most people beginning a strength training program will gain weight…this is a good thing. The weight is mostly muscle which will increase your metabolism and begin to burn fat. Don't be discouraged by a 3 - 5 pound weight gain. Muscle takes up a lot less room than fat so even this small gain won't make you much bigger...and it's only temporary. Strength training is the number one thing that you can do to start making positive changes in your body composition. Everyone says they could stand to lose a few pounds, but make sure those pounds are fat, not metabolically active muscle. Hit those weights!

Increased bone density

Older adults and women of all ages are at a higher risk of osteoporosis. Any weight-bearing exercise decreases this risk and strength training is no exception. By stressing your bones, strength training reduces the risk of getting osteoporosis and lessens the impact if you already have it.

Increased strength

Stronger muscles allow you to go through your day with less fatigue and just plain makes daily activities seem easier.

Prevents muscle loss that leads to creeping weight gain

As we get older, it seems that is becomes more and more difficult to maintain a reasonable weight. Losing weight seems impossible. The reason is that as we age, we begin to lose muscle tissue due to inactivity, and this causes a slow, steady drop in metabolism. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. You don’t have to lift enormous weights to maintain muscle mass. Even a simple, easy to perform, strength program will do the trick.

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Six Fitness, Health, and Nutrition Myths Exposed

OK, it's time to separate fitness fact from fiction. Here are 6 common health and fitness-related misconceptions and the reasons that they are wrong.

Spot reduction

Myth: 1000 crunches/sit-ups a day will result in a flat stomach.
Reality Check: If you do 1000 crunches a day you will have a ripped set of abs underneath the same layer of fat that you've always had. The only way to reduce fat is to create a calorie deficit (see Energy Balance post) and crunches/sit-ups are a very poor way to burn calories. Unfortunately, you can't choose which fat is going to be burned...your genetics control that. If you want that six pack, you need to strength train your abs, as well as all other muscles, do cardio to burn calories, and watch your caloric intake. To begin to see definition in your abs, men require a body fat level of 8-10%, women require a body fat level of 12-14%. Wondering about your body fat %? Your friendly, neighborhood fitness coordinator can figure it out for you.

Fattening foods

Myth: Some foods are particularly fattening and turn directly into fat when eaten, i.e. cheese, butter, carbs, etc.
Reality Check: Excess calories are fattening. Bodyfat is your body's way of storing excess energy that it can't use upon consumption. If you stop eating excess calories, you'll stop storing fat. Furthermore, if you use more calories than you consume and your body will use up existing fat stores. So why the myth? High fat foods get a bad rap because foods high in fat tend to be high in calories. It's the calories that make you fat, not the fat itself. Thanks to Dr. Atkins, carbs are the new evil macronutrient. They have gotten a bad rap because so many of the foods that we eat are filled with highly processed, low nutritional value carbs, mostly made with white flour and sugar. These simple carbohydrates contain no nutrients so they satisfy our hunger for only a short time before we are hungry again. There is nothing wrong with bread or pasta, but whole wheat bread and pasta are definitely better, more nutritious choices.

Fat free foods

Myth: Fat-free, or reduced-fat foods are always best.
Reality Check: Ah, yes, the Snackwell Syndrome.
If the cookies are fat-free, then I can inhale an entire box of them, guilt-free. Again, it's the calories, not the fat. One Snackwell Fat Free Devils Food Cookie has 49 calories compared to an Oreo cookie which has 53 calories. It's a very small difference between the two...which would you rather have, the Snackwell or the Oreo? Always compare the calories on the Nutrition Label. If the fat-free or reduced-fat product contains at least 10% fewer calories, I'll consider it. I'll also look at the ingredients and check if the fat was replaced by loads of things I can't pronounce. If it contains all sorts of things I can't pronounce, I'll go with the regular product. If the ingredient list doesn't baffle me, I'll get the low fat product. A good example is low fat or nonfat dairy products. They are almost always a better choice than regular dairy. Since the fat in dairy comes from the cream and it is easy separable, nothing else is typically added back in its place.

Toned muscles

Myth: You need to exercise a certain way to get "toned" muscles, i.e. light weights with a high number of repetitions.
Reality Check: Muscles can contract, expand, grow or shrink. That's it. You can't do anything to specifically "shape" or "tone" a particular muscle, only make it bigger. Whatever the shape of the muscle you were born with, you're stuck with it. What people consider "toned" is actually a combination of larger muscles which are more visible due to a lower body fat level. If you want to get "toned", train in a way that maximizes muscle growth and lower your body fat level by doing moderately intense cardio while watching caloric intake. That means strength training with a load that you can complete 8-12 repetitions of any particular exercise with good form, but no more. Perform 3-5 sets of the exercise and when you can do 3-5 sets of 12, increase the load. Repeat forever.

Women and strength training

Myth: Strength training will make women incredibly muscular.
Reality Check: Mention strength training and women immediately visualize pictures of enormous female bodybuilders. Women do not naturally have the hormones necessary to grow enormous muscles. Besides, saying that you don't want to strength train because you might get that big is like saying you don't want to run because you might qualify for the Olympics in the 100 meter dash...as if it were that easy to get those muscles. Strength training provides many benefits for women of all ages including increasing metabolism and increasing bone density, among other things. Try it...I think you'll like the results.

Fat burning zone

Myth: You will burn more fat if you do lower intensity exercise...in the "fat burning zone".
Reality Check: Your body has several "fuels" to choose from as you go about your daily activities. The two main fuels are glycogen, a stored form of carbohydrates and the other is fat. Depending on the intensity of the activity, your body utilizes a "mix" of both fat and glycogen. Lower intensity activities burn a higher percentage of fat, while higher intensity activities favor the use of glycogen as fuel, thus the low intensity "fat-burning zone". The problem is that low intensity activities burn a much lower number of total calories than high intensity activities. Let’s say you go for a 30 minute walk. You might burn 100 calories, 75% or which would be fat for a total "fat" calorie expenditure of 75. Now let’s say you went for a 30 minute run. You would burn about 300 calories, 50% of which would be fat for a total "fat" calorie expenditure of 150...twice as much. So, is low intensity exercise bad? Of course not, but by incorporating bouts of higher intensity, you can burn even more calories and increase your fitness at a higher rate. Besides, exercising in any "zone" is better than sitting in front of the TV while two-fisting Cheez-Its. I like to call that level of intensity the Big Butt Creation Zone.

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