What Is Cardio?

Everyone says they do cardio, or is told to do cardio, so what is it? What most people do isn't cardio at all. It's distance training. They jog or run or do an elliptical, trying to go for as long and as far as they can. Trying to go longer or farther each time.

That's really a distance exercise, which does use cardio of course but true cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory exercises should increase your Vo2 max, decrease your recovery time, increase your muscle endurance threshold, increase the amount of oxygen in your blood, lactic acid treshold, etc.

To best do this, you need to do things short and intense. One is mindless, one has a goal. Never train mindlessly.

Weight And How You Look

Let's look at weight through the lens of higher logic. Now a lot of people (not everyone) only care about weight because of how they look. What they really want is to look better, and to do that they need to get smaller. Fine it is understood that lean and thin is attractive.

But like all things, there is a balance. Too far off on either side of the bell curve and you are at an unattractive extreme. There are many on either sides, very few right in the center.

So the initial idea was to look better because maybe the person is on the overweight side of the curve so they need to trim down. Or they just think thinner just looks better. It doesn't matter, the key point is, ultimately they care about looks. That's fine. Shallow but fine.

So how did that turn into your numbers on a scale? Of course weight is a good measuring tool but is not the only tool. I've seen skinny people in the gym who are so skinny, they look terrible. Pardon my language, but they look like shit. Somehow though they fixate on the idea that lower numbers on the scale means they will look better, so they go from bad to worse. They lose focus on the original goal, which is to look better.

So they look in the mirror, realize they don't look good, and fixate on weight again and its a vicious cycle for some that will make them just look worse and worse. If being really rail thin was what attractive was, I guess starving people in foreign countries are hot, or AIDs patients, or Cancer patients, or anyone who is on the verge of death is hot right?

Do you want to be super light or do you want to look good? Which is ultimately more important? Because they are not the same goal (though initially for some, one affects the other). If you look good, you look good. It doesn't matter the weight.

An analogy I could give is this, let's say you want to boil water. Boiling water is like perfection, the ideal body. So you know raising the temperature initially will bring that water to a boil. 212°F is the boiling point. So you raise the temp more and more and now you got boiling water, perfection, but you keep insisting on raising the temperature higher and longer because somehow more is better. When water boils, it boils, you can't have extra boiled water. All you will get then is more water evaporating. Soon left with no body. Same thing, soon you will not even have enough body for it to be hot. Ever notice temperature has always been the analogy for looks? Smoking, hot, etc. They work the same way.

Break The Repetition

Sometimes life seems very repetitive. You wake up and realize, you gotta do all the same things all over again. How do you break this cycle? Work out. It's the best way to break the repetition because there will ALWAYS be progress while you exercise.

The Trunk!

Is often the least emphasized part of the body. Now there is a counter trend, where people are wanting to work out their core, DVDs on core, ab work outs, machines for that area, etc. Before I start on a rant let me start from the beginning.

No matter what a person looks like, how big or small they are, when they are trying to tell me that even though they are out of shape, they are still strong, they always either show me their arms or their legs. You can take an ex-athlete who has gained weight and he or she will still say they are strong, and show you one of their limbs. No one. NO ONE out of shape tells you they are still pretty strong, and shows you their stomach. NO ONE.

Why is that? Because. Who. WHO doesn't have strong limbs? Sure maybe it's weaker than others or less developed but if you are out of shape, your limbs will still be the strongest part of you. If you had a strong trunk, you wouldn't be out of shape to begin with.

Why? Because you always use your limbs, because it is easy to use.

My favorite example is with a baby. A baby who is just born, can move their arms, their legs, can make a grip. Can they stand? No. Why? No posture, core, or trunk control. Can they even flip over? No.

Same with most adults, they are better at trunk control than a baby but not by much. Yeah you can flex your arms, but you've been able to grip and flex your arms since birth. That doesn't make you strong. What separates the weak from the strong is your trunk.

So what about those blasted ab and core work outs? It's like the opposite extreme. It tries to isolate your trunk into just the abdominals. And tries to do a separate work out just for that area. Which is also futile. When can you use the trunk without coordinating it with the rest of the body? You can work a strong trunk but unless you have legs to stand on, you can't stand.

So what am I suggesting? I avoid isolated movements. I avoid things that separates the body into regions. Effective exercises are ones that make you coordinate all your limbs together and connects them with your trunk, and forces you to stabilize and create strength, from the feet up to your trunk, though your arms, and that energy transfers to whatever weight you are holding in your hands. For example a kettlebell swing.

Core should be engaged in all work outs, if a work out doesn't need the core engaged, then it's a useless work out. Seated exercises are fine, but are used too much. Gyms are crammed with benches and seats, and chairs to work out on.

If gym owners were smarter and less of a meathead, they would clear more free space to do free range movements, get rid of so many stools and chairs and benches. And put the heaviest weights at the top of the rack where it is easy to grab and the lightest ones at the bottom where it won't kill your back to bend and grab them. Also dumbbells will be ordered with the heaviest closest, and the lightest farthest away from the training area. But that's just my thoughts on the matter.

An Experiment

I know a friend who lives out of state. She has put on about 6lbs over the holidays. Not a lot of weight but it's above her normal weight and being a small person to begin with, she wanted to lose that holiday weight. So since January she has been running every day and hitting the gym, taking their classes, etc. All the hard work she is now back to her original weight of 130. Which is a very healthy weight for someone 5'6. Now she has never been below 130 since maybe freshman year of high school. She is now 24. She has always wanted to get below 130 but has never been able to, she has gone well above 130 to past 140 and has worked to get herself down but the plateau has always been 130. So I told her, let's try an experiment. I tell you how to eat, how to work out, you run the experiment yourself, catalogue your results and let's check in every week. So here we go. I told her she will break 130 not even trying, not counting calories, working out less than she already does. It's not even that she's trying to lose weight, her body will just try to get as lean and as strong as possible. So let's see.

Track her progress: The Experiment, Day 1, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Day 30

Someone Who Gains Weight Easily

Actually has it lucky. If they were a caveman and food was scarce, they would be able to survive better and longer than someone who had a hard time gaining weight. They are able to live off of less food. That is a huge survival asset and very efficient. It's like having higher gas mileage. So it's not a bad thing, gaining weight easily, it means you can live off of less food. So knowing this, ask yourself do you really need that huge portion?

Hard Work And Discipline

Hard work and discipline don't always go hand in hand. Some people have just one. Most have none. People who come into the gym and work their butts off, work hard. People who can maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet, have discipline. A lot of times clients will work hard in the gym, but have no discipline outside of it. Some clients come in and try to just dial the work out in, but outside they are very disciplined with themselves.

Just because you have one doesn't mean you have the other, you must strive to have both.

Too Much Of A Good Thing

I had a client who trains like an animal. She is a beast. For some reason though the last few weeks she had been putting on weight. She was starting to question our work outs, thinking maybe it was making her put on weight or she was too used to working out. Waitaminute. Hold up. It is nearly impossible to get so used to working out that you can't make any more changes. Secondly no matter how you train, training can never, NEVER make you get bigger. Only food can. You can lift like a bodybuilder all you want, but if you don't eat like one you will never get big.

So I told her to write down what she ate for 2 days and bring it to me. She did, I took it home and studied it. There were a lot of foods I told her to eat more of, I also told her to eat less of other things. Instead here is what she did. Everything good that everyone told her to eat, she ate it. More protein, more fruits, more veggies, more yogurt, more nuts, more seeds, etc. She was just eating everything that she heard was good, and at the end of the day she was just eating too much. On top of that she also has a sweet tooth.

Just because something is good for you, doesn't mean you have to eat it all the time. It's like a pie chart, if you eat more of one thing, you have to eat less of something else. What she did was, she just made her pie chart bigger and ate the same amount of everything else and include all the new stuff she should also eat. Once this was figured out, the remedy was simple. But until she wrote it down, it was all a mystery.

That's why constant note taking, writing, weighing, analyzing is so important. Otherwise you can never have a controlled experiment.

Toxi-cola?

http://www.cspinet.org/new/201102161.html

Cheating

I always tell my clients, cheating is allowed. But usually how I mean it is, you should do everything so efficiently it should feel like your cheating. For example a move called the Kettlebell Swing. It's the idea of moving weight, not lifting weight. You have to use inertia and momentum as your allies. When done correctly you should be able to move a lot of weight, quite easily. It should feel like cheating.

Even with eating, once you figure out the right combinations of food and what foods are good and not good, it should also feel like cheating. That you can eat as much as you want and still not gain weight.

This brings me to the idea of having a cheat list. Meaning all the bad stuff you want to eat throughout the week, instead of saying "oh man I can't eat it." Just write it all down. Every craving you have. Then designate one day out of the week where you just binge on all the foods that you wanted on that list. Making sure you also get a good work out in that morning and you drink plenty of water and eat fiber as well. Why this is important is, then you won't feel like a crazy person never getting to eat what you want. Also you are doing controlled binges so your body is still used to that. And there is no way your body can absorb all that food in one day, so the damage is minimal.

I say, you want it? Instead of eating it, write it down. If after a week, you still want it, then have it. You will find though with a lot of things, after a week you realize you never really wanted it that bad. So it also breaks the habit of instant gratification.

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

This was a picture from The American Journal Of Orthopedic Surgery. The research was done in 1905. So the information has been out there for a long time. But like I've always said information stays at the top, with the athletes and does not trickle down to the regular person.

So what is wrong with this picture? The picture on the left is of a barefoot walker. On the right is someone who wears shoes daily. More often than not, modern people's feet look like the one on the right, not the left. Only in comparison can you see how different our feet look, from the way its supposed to look. And how much our feet look like shoes. I thought it would make more sense if shoes looked like feet. Not feet look like shoes. Sounds painful.

So the rise of all the foot problems, low back pains, knee issues, fallen arches, plantar fasciitis. etc. Not only that orthotics and special shoes. For some, their feet are so dysfunctional, they can no longer walk barefoot without pain. Nor balance without shoes. Now shoes have become their crutch and it will be a pain cycle where their feet just get worse and worse.

Power is generate from the feet up. Less contact with the ground your feet make, less power. Weaker your feet are, weaker you are. It's hard to develop even a strong core without strong ankles and shoulders.

Look at baby's feet. Then think of one day forcing those cute spread toes to look like the picture on the right?

There are options to correct your whole system from the ground up. Proper running and walking form. Walking barefoot around the house. Barefoot on grass and sand. There are even barefoot shoes or minimalist shoes. Now with those, especially if you've barely ever been barefoot except in bed, you need to work your way into them. Maybe an hour every other day. Slowly until your feet start to adapt to it's natural form. Then you can wear them all day.

In martial arts, if I wanted to break your foot or ankle with a lock, I would first force your toes together, make you step heavy on the ball of your feet, then put pressure on your heels. And if I keep going and keep putting pressure, you will never walk without a limp ever again. That is a brutal submission lock everyone is scared of. Now think about shoes! They do it, but in a milder form. Squeeze the toes, make you step heavy on the ball, and pressure on heels. Especially women's heels.

Romanticizing Food

Far too often, people romanticize food. They have this romantic relationship with food and it's considered funny and normal. Well it can be funny and cute but, if you think about it, talking about food as if it was a person or a lover is just not healthy. Last thing I do on earth will be to eat this. Food is my best friend. Man vs food or women vs food. Cupcakes are my boyfriend. Or I looooooove (insert dish name here). And they don't say it in a way, like I love my tennis shoes. It's like, I loooooove it, as if it literally made lover to them. Or they have more pictures on their Facebook or blog of food than themselves or family, or they talk about it more than their own wife or husband or children. On a pedestal higher than most other things in their lives. Does this sound like you or someone you know?

If you talked about anything else like that, whether it was drugs, feet, or chronic hand washing, it would be considered some kind of mental issue or a fetish. Food becomes this strange exception even though obesity and cardiovascular diseases will kill more people than drugs ever will. It always seems like something is lacking, if they need to love something or be loved that much, why from something inanimate? That energy could serve a better purpose. Is it a cry for help? I don't know. People far too often mistake pleasure with happiness. Inanimate things like cars, food, toys can bring you pleasure not happiness. Happiness starts from within.

It's such a loaded and complex idea. This romanticizing and fetishizing of food. It only sounds funny and cute like I said, because it sounds childlike. Because children can fall in love with inanimate things, imaginary things, or escape into something when their world doesn't provide what they need. It's often hard to prevent the cycle of overeating when eating isn't just about surviving, nourishment, or even taste, but about being and feeling loved. We are making it something it's not. Personifying it.

A healthy body often starts with a healthy mind. Food can sometimes just be a symptom of other things. A person who says, all they need is food sounds like a very lonely person.

My Oath

I am not your friend. I am not your therapist. I am not your dad. I am not even your biggest fan. I am your trainer. And over time you will find that is something just as important.

Portion Sizes

When you eat, make sure your portion sizes match the physical size you want to be. Meaning if you want to get bigger, eat more. Want to get smaller, eat less. As I mentioned before, gaining weight doesn't happen overnight. It's incremental. So a 300lb person trying to eat portions of a 140lb person would have a high failure rate and may shock your body in a negative way. So eating less also must be incremental. 300lb person wanting to lose weight should eat like a 280lb person. As they get smaller their body needs less food. And keep pecking and working their way down little bites at a time.

The Free Stuff At Restaurants

Before you even get your order, think about how much bread, chips, salsa, fries, sweet potatoes, or whatever they give you at some restaurants. And then think about how much you have just consumed before even getting your order.

Live Foods

Try to eat only foods that are alive. Or was recently alive

Breakfast

It truly is the most important meal of the day. It's the meal that your body will draw most of its energy throughout the day from because it is first. Try to eat within one hour of rising. Try to eat at the same time every day as to not confuse your body. Try to make it full of protein. A lot of people do not eat a balanced breakfast, and just eat carbs.

I know many people are not hungry when they rise. Still eat something. There have been plenty of times you have eaten when you were already full. Eating when you aren't really hungry is a lot easier. Fullness and hunger should be eliminated. Just graze and feel satisfied all day.

Juicing Craze

Before you dive head in, into the juicing craze...juicing is a form of processing as well. Especially when it eliminates so much of the pulp and skin.

Sumo Wrestlers

There is a reason why sumo wrestlers drink a special soup all the time to gain weight. They don't have to chew and it goes straight into fat.

Chew your food.

Lemon and Cinnamon

Are great additions to your diet. Not only do they regulate your blood sugar, they are great for digestive health, fight blood clotting, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

The Price Of Being Feeble

I have a cautionary tale to share. One of my good buddies recently lost his job. (You will soon see how the guys I grew up with turned me towards personal training.)

The reason for his firing? Too many sick days. You didn't know you could get fired for suck a thing did you? He's been at this job for years. Finally the total accumulation of his sick hours was too much, and the company was actually losing money keeping him on. So they decided to cut their losses.

He would be sick literally about twice a month. Not really sick. Just the sniffles. And sometimes he would get a real sickness, like the flu, and would be out for a week or so. Now imagine this consistently for years, after so many warnings they have to take action.

Before you feel sorry for the guy, you need to know his lifestyle. His main source of pleasure was an online game called World of Warcraft. He would play from the moment he got home from work, 'til 4AM and beyond. He needed to eat things that were convenient and that gave him energy. So he would drink Mountain Dew or some other soda, and gobble bowl after bowl of some sugary cereal.

The next day he would be so exhausted he would call in sick. And of course after a while his immune system would just fail. I don't know if he was actually sick with a cold, or his symptoms were just that of poor health and exhaustion, poor diet, lack of nutrition, and activity.

He was in a word feeble. And I guess in this new generation of adults in the work force, you actually can be too feeble to hold a job. In the last year he's also gained 100lbs.

Now going to a doctor, they would just tell him to watch what he's eating but overall he's okay. OKAY? Well there definition of health is basically this, if there is no sign of imminent death and you have no diseases, you are fine.

Their definition of health is based on mortality not on quality of life. Well my friend is proof that, that kind of criterion is sorely lacking. In a real health continuum, the levels would be: dying, sickly, well, fit. He would be sickly AKA feeble. The price of feebleness? High.

Will he change? Probably not. He's been this way ever since I've known him. But you can learn from his mistakes.

A Funny Conversation With A Non-Client

Over the weekend I had a very funny conversation with a friend of a friend. Now when I'm not training, I don't try to be everyone's trainer or Bible thump about fitness believe it or not. When I'm not working, I'm just me and I leave all that rhetoric for my blog or for the gym. And even if I am at the gym, I won't go over and correct someone's form unless they ask me to. I'm not one who is a Personal Trainer 24 hours a day. I just live my lifestyle. So with that said I had this conversation with this girl who had no idea I was a trainer nor did I ever bring it up.

GIRL

(proud of herself)

I ate so healthy today.

ME

Oh yeah? What did you have?

GIRL

I ate vegetables.

ME

Vegetables? I thought eating vegetables was just normal. Don't most people eat vegetables? It's like our most abundant food source.

GIRL

No. And this was raw. We had Soup Plantation.

ME

Soup Plantation is healthy? 

GIRL

Of course.

ME

So you had salad?

GIRL 

Yes. And I never eat vegetables.

ME

So what do you eat?

GIRL

I eat carbs a lot. I love carbs.

ME

But vegetables ARE a carb.

GIRL

No it's not. I eat stuff like pasta and potatoes.

ME

Potatoes are a vegetable.

GIRL

No it's not. People think that but it's not. It's something else.

ME

Well it's either a vegetable, fruit, fungus, or meat.

GIRL

It's none of those.

ME 

Well it is a root vegetable. A tuber. A very starchy vegetable but still a vegetable.

GIRL

It's not. I'm gonna Google it and prove you wrong.

ME

Unless you discover a whole new type of food, I don't see what else it could be.

GIRL

Woah you are like trying to be an encyclopedia. Let me look online and prove you wrong.

I never told her what I did and dropped it at that. I was pretty amused and shocked at the same time, people's ideas of food and the lack of education on it. The scariest part is she knows a little, and there are others who know even less. 

I know some people who refuse to eat any vegetable or fruit. They think they are highly picky and have a refined palette and vegetation just does not taste good. I tell them they are eating at a 1st grade eating level and have a gutter palette. If it was converted to reading, they would barely be literate.

Don't read or eat at a elementary school level.