weight

Red Table Round Table #1

Quick Tips

Good Saturday morning from the little Red Table in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Part of the fun of keeping a blog is being able to write whatever you want, whenever you want to write it.  It’s your own personal space to release thoughts and ideas on this massive beast we call the Internet.  That is a pretty cool thing.

I decided that I really wanted to develop a blog posting series where I could just discuss whatever topics happened to come to mind during that writing session.  

Basically, I am talking about just putting my fingers on the keyboard and having at it.  

Creatively, I think this will help me regurgitate some of the interactions, questions and experiences that I had from the previous week.  

A recap of sorts from the past week.

Here we go…

 

—> Fat loss isn’t an ongoing process, it ends eventually<—

The concept of losing fat has to end at some point.  You cannot forever be in “fat loss” mode with your training and your eating.  You have got to have some kind of end goal to attain.  Whether you choose a certain body fat % or a performance related goal, it doesn’t much matter to me.  Although I suppose that if you are partaking in a full-fledged fat loss program you should probably be measuring the amount of fat you lose.  Skin calipers are a simple and relatively effective way to do this, otherwise hydro-static weighing or a BodPod will give some fairly accurate numbers also.

I was talking with my girlfriend Amanda about the whole concept of fat loss.  I told her that in my experience, sometimes people end up taking the fat loss concept to the extreme.  They literally attempt to walk around with 0% body fat.  They engage in extreme eating habits (calorie restriction and the like) and sign up for extreme workouts.  It becomes just as addictive as eating sugar or smoking cigarettes.  

At some point, you have to realize that you are going to enter a maintenance phase.  You’ve reached  your goals and you’re content with your body figure and your physical abilities and now you’re in what we call:  Maintenance. 

Fat loss ends at some point and maintenance begins.  You decide when that happens.  

Fat loss is a war and it is a lot more mental than physical in my opinion.  Habits need to be broken and new habits need to be hardwired.  Mentally you’ve got to prepare yourself for fighting off your old self-talk.  You’ve also got to get your head in the right place to endure your training schedule.  Physically, the human body is incredibly resilient.  You can handle a lot more physical stress than you think.  (Just keep it manageable physical stress)

 

I often go back and forth between favoring two approaches fat loss, and I think both depend on the personality of the person.  

Here they are:

  • Aggressive training and eating for 4-6 weeks, followed by a tapering process.
  • A consistent, not overly aggressive effective training regimen paired with a smooth transition into concepts of clean eating.

 

The first bullet point is an approach that is my definition of a fat loss war.  It’s pedal to the metal. You go crazy in your training and you stay brutally strict with your diet.  You get results quickly and then you turn back the dial a bit and continue pushing on at an effective yet much more manageable pace with regard to training and nutrition.  

The second bullet point is an approach that is quite popular also.  This is the “lifestyle” approach.  I am sure you’ve heard that a million times… “It’s not a diet… it’s a lifestyle”.  Puke.  

Anyways, this approach is a gradual climb.  There is a lot of acclimation to this approach.  I enjoy this approach to losing fat because fat loss is inevitably going to happen if you are eating clean and training purposefully.  I love the research and the highly technical information that the experts put out, but they complicate topics in an effort to sell products.

Eat clean and drink water, learn how to lift weight using big movements, ramp up your cardiovascular training from aerobic to higher effort intervals, then move into a more cardio-strength style training regimen and you’re going to experience a reduction in overall bodyfat.  

Measure your fat loss progress on the cheap.  Use a snug fitting pair of jeans and a tighter fitting shirt to gauge your progress.  Remember, you’re after fat loss and lean tissue gain… not weight loss. (I lose up to 3-5lbs just from sleeping, it doesn’t tell me anything useful).

 —> Again, I encourage you all to set your sights a goal.  A goal is a target.  Once you have the target, set the timeline.  Once you have the timeline, you can assess what kind of effort is required to achieve that goal in that timeline.  It’s simple.  We over-complicate what should be simple.   

 

Cheers to keeping it simple…

 

KG

 

 

Dr. Oz… And Here Comes the BackLash

Quick Tips

I always perk up when I hear or see popular figures like Dr. Oz on television.

Why?

Because I know that he has won the hearts of so many television watching addicts that are in search of “the next great tip”.

Last night’s piece on NBC Sunday Night programming surely didn’t disappoint.

I have to admit that his advice last night was decent.  But it’s the same old song and dance for me and many others…

–  Eat more vegetables.

–  Stop eating processed junk.

–  Exercise moderately for no more than 30 min a day.

–  Include the walk into the Mall, place of work or grocery store as part of that 30 minutes.

Huh?  Re-read the last two points that he made about exercise.

Now, one might say, “Kyle, these are great points, anyone can start with this!”  You’re right and you’re also missing a much more important point.

You’re right in the fact that advocating people to just get up and move in some way shape or form is a really positive tip.  You should move whenever possible, no doubt about that.  Add a little bit more everyday and the accumulation will equate to big things.  You know the drill… take the stairs, park farther from the front door, take a short walk in the morning or after dinner.

But understand that this is the absolute bare minimum needed to get by.  These are recreational activities.  This is not “exercise” in my opinion.  Walking is a skill that an able-bodied human should be able to do for miles upon miles, not just for the minimum 50 yards from the car to the front door of the area shopping mall.

I have seen the studies showing the correlation between minimal amounts of moderately intense exercise (roughly 30 min per day) and its positive effect on life.  I get it.  I read it and I get it.

While this information is definitely interesting, how about we demand a little bit more from ourselves?  Walking for 30 minutes a day is great, but let’s get serious about changing or improving our physical abilities, trading unhealthy tissue for healthy tissue, increasing range of motion at important joints, etc.

Set some goals… Aim to run a 5K or a 10K.  Squat your bodyweight on the barbell.  Swing a kettlebell for 20-30 minutes.  Slam a medicine ball.  Go to war with some battling ropes or try to improve the maximum number of push ups or pull-ups that you can do in a 5 minute time-frame.

Become an athlete later in life, that’s something worth pursuing.

As I mention in my training book(s), we have become a nation afraid of work.  I am talking about legitimate physical labor.  The kind that fatigues your body quickly from effort, causes sweat pour down your face and eventually soak into your shirt.  The kind that causes your lungs to “burn” from a short and intense bout of conditioning.

We always seek the path of least resistance.  Our joints do it, our muscles do it and now our brains are doing it.  We crave what is easy.  We scour the internet, magazines and newspapers for the quickest possible route to health glory while enduring the least amount of physical agony.

Let me tell you something… resolving to dominate your training sessions, whether you are a beginner just learning or an advanced trainee seeking a new path, builds character that spills over into all other areas in your life.  If you can do it physically, you can do it mentally.

Back to the backlash…

I predict a massive backlash from Dr. Oz’s comments, even though I think that he is very intelligent and probably didn’t intend for his comments to be twisted the way that they inevitably will.

It was funny to listen to him talk.  He said that he has to choose his words so carefully when he talks about health concepts and strategies because:  “People will hear what they want to hear”.  I respect that comment.

What he is means is that people are always going to take his advice and twist it to fit their situation.  Some will use common sense and add his tips to the greater whole (exercise and nutrition), but most won’t.  They want the least painful quick fix.

If he says that raspberry ketones are a great supplement for helping to initiate weight-loss, consumers are going to be buying mass quantities of raspberry ketones and consuming at an alarming rate.  When no weight is lost because all that person did was over-dose on raspberry ketones, they render that intervention useless and ineffective.

I also respected his comments about NEVER endorsing a product.  That’s cool.  He said that anything on the shelves that mentions his name or shows his picture is a scam.  That particular company has chosen to use his fame as leverage to sell their product.

Beware of this.  The supplement industry is a billion dollar industry with so many horrible scams out there.  It is difficult to regulate the supplement industry and even more difficult to identify the supplements that are worth taking.  You’re spending your hard-earned cash on these products and most of them don’t work!  Ouch.

Anyways, prepare yourself for the backlash.  Don’t be afraid to push yourself into new realms of fitness.  I don’t care if you’re interested in kettlebell training, powerlifting or endurance-related activities.  Go after something and be WAY MORE THAN AVERAGE in doing so.

Make it happen this week, alright?  I will do the same.

 

Cheers on this Monday…

 

 

KG

Pressed for Time: When are Bicep Curls, Triceps Extensions and Deltoid Raise Acceptable?

Pure Fat Loss, Quick Tips

Ahhhhh, the “dessert” movements of the training world.

I will be blunt with this post.

Exercises like bicep curls, triceps extensions and deltoid raises provide very little bang for you buck.  I don’t care how many different angles, rep schemes and loading patterns you choose for a bicep curl, you are NEVER going to lean out by performing bicep curls alone.

I used to have a rule at the sports performance complex in Detroit, my athletes could do all of the curls, triceps, and shoulder work they wanted AFTER we finished taking care of business with our regularly scheduled program which consisted of:

–  Squats (one and two leg variations)

–  Hip dominant lifts (deadlifts, swings, etc)

–  Horizontal pressing (push ups, etc)

–  Vertical Pulling (Chin-Ups, etc)

–  Horizontal Pulling (Inverted Rows, etc)

–  Turkish Get-Ups

–  Energy System Development (aka: Anaerobic, aerobic, shuttle run conditioning)

 

The rule was simple.  You give me what I want, and I will let you go play around by the dumbbell rack and work all of the muscles that you think the girls love.

Most times, the guys were too tired to complete any “dessert” type movements like bicep curls, but occasionally they would find the energy to bang out a few reps/sets.

 

Does this rule apply to the general population seeking fat loss?

Hell yes it does.  I want you to change your view about training.  Bicep curls, triceps extensions and deltoid raises need to be considered “dessert”.  There is very little return on investment when performing these exercises.

 

Unless you are competing in a physique competition anytime soon, ditch them.

Replace them with total body movements, multi-joint movements that challenge your body as a single synergistic operating unit.

Run fast, lift heavy things from the floor, throw a medicine ball, work with a suspension trainer, use battling ropes, squat, push up, chin up, pull up, inverted row, push a heavy sled, pull a heavy sled, jump, run a long staircase, use a heart rate monitor to eliminate guesswork.

 

Image Credit: Core Performance

Do some of those things I just listed above, organized in a systematic way that prevents staleness, stagnation and keeps you progressing with weight, rest periods, exercise progression, mobility and flexibility, recovery until the next bout, etc…

Sooner than later you are going to see some results as a byproduct of your consistent development of strength, power and overall athleticism.

 

 

End timer…