Research Rant; Maryland Personal Trainer

One of my biggest pet peeves is when a study is claimed to "prove" something.

As a personal trainer and simply as someone who is involved in the fitness industry, every time there is a new health-related research headline in the news, I am the first one to hear about it. The conversation usually goes something like this:

Person: "Did you see the new study that proved vitamins ruin your workout?"

Me: The only thing that it proved was that you don't know what you are talking about.. It is possible that large amounts anti-oxidants could interfere with the natural inflammation process, but we would need to see a lot more research before jumping to any conclusions.

When looking at research, people like to read the introduction and the results while skipping over the methods, which is often the most important part. Just take the study above. Subjects took 1 gram of vitamin C daily. Who takes 1 gram of vitamin C a day anyway? Most multi-vitamins only weigh 1 gram as it is.


But I digress. The more important thing here is the fact that studies do NOT prove anything! Things really do not get "proved" at all, especially when it issues pertaining to the human body. The human body is just too complex for absolutes.

Researchers perform studies which become evidence, a piece of the puzzle if you will. The best a scientific hypothesis can hope for is that when once enough pieces of evidence (or studies) are stacked up, it will become generally accepted. Take creatine for example. It is generally accepted that creatine supplementation increases maximum power and strength. However, there's no "proof" that it does so because everything does not work for everyone in the same way and there are plenty of research studies which were unable to show that creatine had any effect on strength and power.

I think the media is mostly to blame for perpetuating this phenomenon. Popular news services love to say a study "proved" something, like when it was proven that puppies' behavior is dependent upon the alignment of planets.

Upset with the current alignment of planets, no doubt.

I am not trying to downplay the importance of research by any means. Sometimes single studies do make landmark discoveries. Take the Boeing Back Pain study for example, where a few thousand employees were analyzed to determine back pain risks. The researchers found that people who did not like their jobs were more likely to have back pain... a lot more likely. This study greatly advanced our understanding of chronic pain - popularizing the notion that chronic pain issues go beyond anatomical cause and effect and in the end the brain puts all the pieces together to decide what hurts and what does not. What this study did not do was "prove that people who hate their jobs will have back pain".

Conclusion

Always take studies with a grain of salt - make sure you know the whole story before jumping to any conclusions. At the end of the day, one study never proves anything - it takes a lot of work from a lot of researches to make definitive conclusions about health and performance!

Eat Your Spinach!; Maryland Personal Trainer

Every piece of food we eat affects our body's acid-base balance. Aside from being loaded in antioxidants and fiber, green leafy vegetables are very alkaline. On the other hand, meat and grains tend to be acidic. As a society, we eat a lot more acidic food than alkaline food, which can have significant effects on health, body composition, and performance. For more information, this article does a great job explaining the science behind the acidity (or alkalinity) of food. The rest of this post is about how to get more spinach in your diet, as it is one of the most alkaline vegetables around. Here are two quick and easy ways for increasing your spinach consumption:

Spinach Salad:

One of the easiest ways to get more spinach in your diet is to use spinach leaves as salad. For a low-carb, protein packed meal, simply fill up a large bowl with spinach, add one can of tuna fish (or other meat), and top with a dressing suitable for your diet goals. Fat-free works when dieting (be careful not to get one with too many carbohydrates if you are watching those), and light ceasar mixed with olive oil (my favorite) works when strength and size are a top priority.

Blended Shake

If you have never tried this before, try not to be too quick to judge. Spinach virtually no taste when added to a blender. Also, it works with frozen spinach (which is unusable in salad and does not taste as good when cooked). This recipe is perfect if you meet any of the following criteria:

- You hate spinach
- You need to get in a meal on the go
- You do not mind getting strange looks
- You can't afford fresh spinach or it always spoils (frozen is much cheaper!)

Blend the following ingredients in the blender:

- 4 Cups Fresh Spinach (or ~1-1.5 cups frozen)
- 1 Cup Cottage Cheese (replace with protein powder if you are lactose intolerant or are restricting fat)
- 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
- 8 ice cubes
- 1 tablespoon of flax seed
- artifical sweetener, to taste

Tastes better than it looks!

This recipe is pretty versatile. I hate the taste of frozen spinach and cottage cheese, but with a little bit of peanut butter and splenda/stevia, anything tastes good. You would be surprised what you can sneak into a blender without it affecting the taste of the shake.

Conclusion

Popeye was right all along. Now you have no excuse for not eating your spinach!

The Deload Week - How Structured Rest Can Lead to Greater Gains

Resting Your Way to Better Results

Structured rest periods, affectionately known as a "deload" period (10$ to whoever can figure out where this word first appeared (serious)) are a necessity for any serious athlete. I really loathe the deload - I hate walking into the gym and using less weight for less reps, but it is a necessary evil. Everyone needs to manage training loads - whether they be team sport players (like football or lacrosse), weightlifters, powerlifters, bodybuilders or just fitness enthusiasts. Many top nutritionists even recommend structured breaks from dieting (I do too!). But before you take a week off from the gym and head to the buffet, it would be wise to take a look at the science first.

Deloading Theory

A popular theory about how training performance occurs is known as the Fitness-Fatigue model. In the figure below, a model of the fitness-fatigue theory is provided:

Adapted from Zatsiorsky & Kraemer (2006)

If you were not able to tell from my incredible Paint skills, the Fitness-Fatigue model essentially says that performance is the result of two factors - fitness and fatigue (not redundant at all right?). Basically, at any given time, your performance is the result of your "fitness" (which is increased via training), and your fatigue (which is also increased after training, but also by a host of other factors such as illness, stress, and sleep to name a few).

The idea is that after a workout, fitness and fatigue are both increased, but fatigue fades quicker than fitness. Essentially, this seems to be true, however, there is a catch. Generally, muscles recover from workout to workout pretty quickly. Muscles are highly vascular and receive lots of blood to help with this. However other body systems, which are necessary for high levels of performance, get fatigued and do not recover as quickly as the muscular system.

In this context, fatigue refers to all body systems. Connective tissue and the nervous system are also systems subject to fatigue. Connective tissue, like tendons and ligaments, can take a beating and may not recover fully from workout to workout. This is especially true if there is something besides working out that is acting as an irritant, such as poor or repetitive movement patterns. The endocrine system is easily overworked due to high levels of stress, whether that stress be from exercise, diet, or work! Additionally, the nerves that control the muscles simply can not go all out all the time, even if the muscles feel okay (as an example, try to max out on bench every day of the week - you may not get sore but your performance will suffer after a few days, if not sooner).

Practical Application

"A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle" - Kahlil Gibran

Now, the science lesson would be worthless without knowing how to apply it to your training. There are two questions you need to ask yourself (and answer) before planning out your deload:
1. How much fatigue am I really producing?

Here are some basic deloading guidelines to help you determine how much fatigue you are producing:

The more often you workout, the more often you will need to deload.

To put it bluntly, if you only workout twice a week, you probably will never need to deload. If you work out 3 or more times a week, as your training advances, you will need to implement some form of deload.

The more advanced you are, the more often you will need to deload.

The higher your level of fitness, the more damage you will be able to inflict on your nervous system, connective tissue, and endocrine system. As a general rule, beginners most likely do not need to deload until their training plateaus for the first time (unless other issues exist). Intermediate trainees can deload once every 6-10 weeks, and advanced trainees every 4 weeks.

The higher your workout intensity or volume, the more often you will need to deload.

High intensity exercise stresses out the nervous system over time. While it feels good to hit a personal record on a lift, try walking around afterwards. After a hard lift or three, you can create a lot of fatigue despite not doing that much work. This does not just apply to weight-training - hard interval training and plyometrics are also intense activity.

Using a lot of volume, typical of some bodybuilders and distance runners, is also very exhausting. The more volume you use, the more often you will need to deload as well.

Calorie restriction induces fatigue.

This one is the easiest for people to understand. When you eat less you get tired more easily! Keeping calories low for an extended period of time is a big stressor, particularly to the endocrine system. A week or 2 break (from dieting) is generally appropriate for people after 8-16 weeks of dieting (depending on the diet plan). With an approach like carb-cycling which changes macronutrient intake based on training day, breaks from dieting are not needed as often, if at all.

As far as training goes, when restricting calories, deloading may need to occur more often than usual.

Pain may indicate fatigue

If your shoulder hurts a bit when you bench press, it might be a good idea to deload on the bench press sooner than later, and additionally change the movement to something that is more comfortable, such as using dumbbells or a neutral grip.

2. How do I go about reducing the fatigue?

The most common deloading strategy is to simply cut volume across the board for one week by 40-50%. In the gym, that means cutting your total number of reps by 40-50%. This is generally my preferred strategy for intermediate lifters. Dropping the intensity is generally reserved for more advanced lifters and is usually not necessary for beginners.

You can also deload certain movements. For example, if you have a history of shoulder pain with overhead pressing, you might chose to not overhead press during your deload week.

As an aside, the "deload week" is just for convenience sake - if you are on a 5 day training split for example, a deload of 5 days is probably appropriate.

The deload week is a great time to include work on weak parts. Spend some extra time doing light intervals, corrective exercise, dynamic joint mobility, and just walking around and being active. There is no one size fits all deloading plan. The best way to go about it is to experiment with both approaches to figure out which works best for you. Here's a hypothetical example:

A beginner with a history of shoulder pain on the bench press that trains four times a week. His shoulder is "feels better now" but still irritates him on occasion:

For beginners I generally do not think deloading is necessary. However, due to the history of shoulder pain, I would recommend deloading the bench press every 4th week or so. For example, I would lay off of the bench press entirely for the 4th week without dropping intensity or volume at all for other movements, especially rows. With the extra time from not pressing, I would focus on 'rehabilitative' work like face pulls, scapular retractions, Ys, and dynamic joint mobility.

For a real-life example on how a deload workout fits into an overall program, you can check out my training log. I just posted my deload week up yesterday.

References

Zatsiorsky, V.M. & Kraemer, W.J. (2006). Science and Practice of Strength Training. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

R Phase Weekend #2; Maryland Personal Trainer

Just came back from the z-health R-Phase weekend #2 certification in Denver. I am officially R and I phase certified!


While we covered a lot of material over the 3 day course, the biggest impression I could not help but carry was how valuable it is to have someone look at your form. Even good movement patterns can degenerate over time. Injuries, stress, changes in load, and a host of other factors can all alter motor patterns. If left unchecked, these compensations will become the brain's preferred pathway for executing a certain movement, and that is no way to train. Practice makes permanent!

While there is no replacement for a good coach or trainer, a workout partner is a great start. If you do not have one now, make friends with someone at your gym. If you hate your gym, try looking on a local forum. Even if your friend does not follow your exact routine, being able to grab someone to check out your form, especially on more complex movements, is a great asset. Just make sure they know what they are looking for.

If you absolutely can not get a workout partner, video taping your form is another option. Digital cameras are cheap, and many cell phones have cameras on them. Just make sure you set up the angle of the camera right. For example, if you have a history of knee valgus (knees collapsing inward) during your squat, make sure the camera is directly in front of or behind you as you will not be able to clearly see knee valgus from a different angle.

While it is not quite the same as instant feedback, it is certainly a lot better than assuming your form is good. Watching how your form has changes from video to video can also promote motor learning. So, if you do not have a training partner, find one! And even if you are not very good at making friends, you can always buy a camera.

A Healthy Sweetener Alternative - Cocoa Powder; Maryland Personal Trainer

As a personal trainer, I'm often asked for healthy ways to sweeten foods. While I am no chef, one of my favorite things to add to my post workout smoothie is a bit of cocoa powder.

Cocoa powder has been studied a lot over the last decade. Recent research has shown that consumption of cocoa powder can reduce blood pressure, improve insulin sensitivity, and improve the capacity of blood vessels to dilate (1, 2, 3). Additionally, cocoa powder makes things taste like chocolate (no research needed)!


When buying cocoa powder, there are two options - raw and processed. Thanks to the increasing popularity of organic foods, the health-conscious consumer might leap for the raw cocoa. However, I do not think that this is a good idea for most people. Not everything is for humans to eat raw (like really bitter plants, which cocoa is), so your best bet when picking a cocoa powder is an organic but processed powder. Anecdotal evidence suggests raw cocoa powder results in some digestion problems for quite a few people.

However, processing can reduce the amount of compounds known as flavanols in cocoa powder. These compounds are associated with many of the positive benefits of cocoa. Food companies such as Mars have been working on new processing techniques for cocoa powder which do not remove or damage the flavanols. The Mars product line is not complete currently, but Acticoa claims to have a powder with a high flavanol content. Normally I would be quite skeptical of a "brand new processing technology that improves the healthiness of a food", but the early research has shown one of these high-tech cocoa powders to effectively lower blood pressure (2). However, I am sure these products are very expensive, for now I am okay with normal organic cocoa powder.

Since right after a hard workout is the best time to get some fast digesting carbohydrates and protein, I like to add sweetened cocoa powder to a shake of fruit, oatmeal, and whey protein. Sweetened cocoa powder (as long as it is not sweetened with high fructose corn syrup) is fine right after a workout (within 45 minutes or so) since a post-workout insulin spike is not a bad thing. Cocoa powder also has a very strong taste; usually a tablespoon of cocoa is enough for a 20 oz smoothie. Like all things, cocoa is best in moderation; flavanols may reduce blood pressure, but eating 20 candy bars will certainly raise it. With that said, next time you need a little bit more flavor in a smoothie, reach for some cocoa powder!


In other news, the Harford County Personal Training website should be up very soon!


References

1. Grassi D., et al. (2008). Blood pressure is reduced and insulin sensitivity increased in glucose-intolerant, hypertensive subjects after 15 days of consuming high-polyphenol dark chocolate. Journal of Nutrition, 138(9): 1671-6.

2. Cienfuegos-Jovellanos E, Quiñones Mdel M, Muguerza B, Moulay L, Miguel M, & Aleixandre A. (2009). Antihypertensive effect of a polyphenol-rich cocoa powder industrially processed to preserve the original flavonoids of the cocoa beans. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 57(14): 6156-62.

3. McCarty, M.F., Barroso-Aranda J., & Contreras, F. Potential complementarity of high-flavnol cocoa powder and spirulina for health protection. Medical Hypothesis, epublished ahead of print.

Tempo for Dummies; Harford County Personal Trainer

A lifting tempo refers to the speed of lifting a given load. Tempo can be used to increase the effectiveness and difficulty of many exercises. Unfortunately, most trainees ignore tempo or always use the same tempo. If you are currently not using tempo in your training, read on to find out how even a beginner can incorporate tempo into his or her training today for improved results!

Some Definitions

Before you get started on the rest of the article, we will have to get some definitions out of the way. Concentric contraction occurs when muscle contraction is paired with muscle shortening. This is the actual lifting of a weight against gravity. Eccentric contraction occurs when muscle contraction is paired with muscle lengthening. When lowering a weight, a muscle working eccentrically. Isometric contraction occurs when a muscle is contracting but there is no movement. This happens briefly (or longer if intentional) with every repetition when the weight changes directions. Every time you do a single repetition, all three types of muscle movement are involved.

Tempo Notation

The most common notation (how you write out tempo on a piece of paper) is a "A/B/C/D" format. "A" refers to the amount of time (in seconds) spent on the eccentric portion of the lift (lowering the weight), "B" refers to the amount of time spent paused at the bottom of the lift, "C" refers to the amount of time spent on the concentric portion of the lift (raising the weight against gravity), and "D" refers to the amount of time spent paused at the top. If an "X" in place of a number, it means "as fast as possible".

An example:

Pull-up - 3/0/X/1 tempo

To execute a pull-up with 3/0/X/1 tempo, you would lower yourself over a 3 second duration(the 3), have no pause at the bottom (the 0), explode to the top (X), and pause for 1 second at the top of the pull-up (the 1).

If you have read my training log at all, you may have noticed this notation next to several exercises.

Uses for Tempo

There are literally endless ways to use tempo in training. Since most muscle damage occurs during the eccentric portion of the lift, many bodybuilders routinely slow down the eccentric portion of the lift to increase muscle damage in hopes of spurring on more muscle growth (1). Additionally, time under tension (which is considered by some as an important variable in building muscle) can be increased by slowing down both concentric and eccentric portions of the lift. Furthermore, pauses can be used during repetitions to work through sticking points on certain lifts.

How to use Tempo in your Program

All this may sound pretty complicated, but it does not have to be! There are several ways which you can immediately use tempo in your workouts today.

1. Tempo can be used as a means of progression

By adding tempo to a lift, the difficulty of movement can be increased without the need for additional weight. This is great for people who are working out at home with limited equipment or people recovering from injury that can not tolerate excess loads. Here is an example:

Push-up

Even for relatively casual trainee, or a more serious female trainee, doing a push-up gets easy pretty quickly. However, the push-up is great for increasing shoulder stability and is an excellent way to work the pecs, triceps, and anterior deltoids. On top of that, when done properly, push-ups result in little strain on the shoulder. One way to make the movement more difficult is to add weight and bands. However, this is not always convenient or possible with a lack of a training partner. Additionally, some shoulders may not tolerate the increased load. Fortunately, the difficulty of a push-up can be increased without equipment by adding tempo.

If you can do 10 good push-ups, try using a 3/1/X/0 tempo. This would involve taking 3 seconds on the way down, a brief pause at the bottom (with the chest barely off the ground), exploding to the top, and repeating without rest. From week to week, rather than increasing the amount of reps, the length of the pause can be increased. A 5 second pause for 10-20 reps will be challenging for even the most fit individuals, especially if done towards the end of a workout. This can be a great way to get some blood flowing to the muscles after some sets of heavy pressing.


2. Tempo can be used to learn new lifts

Doing a bodyweight chin-up can be a daunting task for many female (or male) trainees. Accentuated eccentrics can be used to help speed up this learning process. Start by jumping up or getting assisted to the top of a chin-up bar. Now, lower yourself as slowly as possible to the bottom. Jump back up to the top and do this for several reps.

From workout to workout, add a rep to each set. Eventually, you can drop the reps down and increase the eccentric duration. For example:

Workout 1: 10 sets x 3, 2 second eccentric
Workout 2: 10 sets x 4, 2 second eccentric
Workout 3: 10 sets x 5, 2 second eccentric
Workout 4: 10 sets x 3, 3 second eccentric

Progress like this for 4-8 weeks. If done properly with enough frequency (at least twice per week), a normal chin-up should result (depending on base strength levels and bodyweight). This can also be used for learning to do a "guy" push-up, a pull-up, or any other challenging body-weight exercise.

3. Tempo can be used to enhance functional and prehabilitative exercises

This is one of my favorite uses for tempo. The term prehabilitative exercise is used to describe typical physical therapy exercises applied before injury takes place. After all, why wait to get injured to strengthen important stabilizers or mobilize stiff joints?

Functional exercise was originally intended to describe exercise with carryover to real life or sporting activities. Lately, the term "functional" has been applied to just about everything under the sun, despite lack of carryover. In this instance, I am referring to the former definition.

Many muscles typically targeted by rehabilitative exercise do not take into account the way the muscle functions in the gym or in every day activities. For example, the lower portion of the erector spinae musculature is not used to extend the back but rather to prevent the lumbar vertebrae from shearing forward (literally falling towards the ground when bending over) (2). For many lifts and every day activities, this generally involves isometric contraction, or very small concentric and eccentric contractions of the lumbar erector group. Additionally, high levels of endurance of the low back musculature has been shown to decrease injury risk, where differing levels of strength has not (3). In other words, people with high low back endurance were less likely to experience back pain and injury, but the raw strength of low back muscles has not been linked to injury prevention.

Therefore, an exercise using the lumbar erectors can be more functional (or have more carryover) if performed with a slow tempo.

So as an example, with the back extension, if you normally grab a weight and do a lot of fast reps, try leaving the weight behind, and adding a 2/0/2/0 tempo. Once you increase the repetitions to 15, slow the tempo down and drop the number of repetitions. At a point, you can even add in pauses at the top and bottom. So one month you might do 2/0/2/0, the next month 4/0/2/0, then 4/1/2/0, and finally 4/2/3/1.

The same thing can be done for the upper body. The external rotation is one of the most commonly prescribed exercises for shoulder pain. The infraspinatus and teres minor muscles, which are targeted by this exercise, often do not contract rapidly during gym lifts. For example, during the bench press, one of their main functions is to prevent the head of the humerus from over-rotating, as contraction of the pecs and lats results in internal rotation. Strengthening the external rotators of the humerus with varying tempos can increase their capacity to act as stabilizers, resulting in more force production during lifts which require these muscles to act as stabilizers (like the bench press).


*Side note: Using tempo for assistance exercise is not always ideal. For example, in a baseball pitcher, the external rotators must eccentrically contract at high speeds to slow down the pitching arm once the ball has been released. For this population, it is not be appropriate to always do upper body assistance work with a slow tempo.


Conclusion

By incorporating tempo into a training plan, a trainee can increase the intensity of exercise an exercise without adding weight, increase the variety of stimuli the body is exposed to, increase the functionality of certain exercises, and learn new exercises that were previously out of reach. With all these potential benefits, what are you waiting for?



References

1. Miles, M.P & Clarkson, P.M. (1994). Exercise-induced muscle pain, soreness, and cramps. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 34(3): 203-16.

2. McGill, S.M., & Norman, R.W. (1987) Effects of an anatomically detailed erector spinae model on L4/L5 disc compression and shear. Journal of Biomechanics, 20(6): 591.

3. Biering-Sorensen, F. (1984). Physical measurements as risk indicators for low-back trouble over a one-year period. Spine, 9: 106-119.