The Fit Club

The Good Ole' Days

2008-03-04T05:51:00.000-08:00

photo by EmJay

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Just because you could eat anything you wanted in college and not gain weight doesn't mean you still can. Now I realize that a few of you have maintained a lifestyle that allows you to eat plenty, but if you are just starting an exercise program, even if it's the same one that coach had you doing back when you were a PAC 10 linebacker, you still need to watch what you are eating if you intend to lose weight.

Years of being sedentary will have several effects on your body that work against successful weight loss.

Lowered Metabolism - As we age, our metabolism tends to creep downward. Studies suggest that this effect is mostly avoidable by doing strength training, but most people don't strength train, and, as a result, experience age-related metabolic decline.
Lowered Intensity - Someone who is just beginning an exercise program won't be able to exercise with an intensity that is going to make quick changes. It takes time to build up the strength and endurance needed to really torch those calories.
Lowered Muscle Mass - Long-term couch potatoes tend to have very little muscle mass to begin with. This lack of muscle takes time to rebuild, and during that building phase, intensity will be quite low.

My point is this: Everyone should be doing a program of strength training and cardio work. If you enjoy spending hours running, then great, do that for your cardio. If you have only a limited amount of time, spend that time doing hard intervals. You'll get a far better fat-burning bang for your buck. But remember, even if you follow the advice of starting to exercise, results will be MUCH slower without also monitoring the calories that you are consuming. Nutrition is 80% of the weight loss battle. Strength training and cardio are the other 40% of the battle. :-)

Related Posts:

Designer Foods

2008-02-26T07:19:00.000-08:00

photo by peko-chan

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Life Water. Vitamin Water. Protein Water. Are any of these worth the two bucks a bottle that they commonly sell for? In my not-so-humble opinion, no, they are not. These are glorified soft drinks that, admittedly, do contain fewer calories, but they are still empty calories, and they still accumulate to put additional fat on your body. Water is still the best choice. No calorie diet drinks are still ok in moderation, but there are some recent studies that suggest that people who drink lots of diet drinks gain more weight than those who drink regular sugar-containing soda. Researchers hypothesize that people who drink lots of diet drinks are overcompensating by eating more food because they think that they are making healthier drink choices. This is known in scientific circles as the "I'll have a Big Mac, large fries, and a Diet Coke" syndrome.

The latest marketing trend is fortifying nutritionally bankrupt products with "vitamins and minerals" in order to introduce an aura of health. The epitome of this tactic is Diet Coke Plus. Diet Coke = bad! Diet Coke with vitamins and minerals = good! I can say with a high degree of confidence that most people reading this post are not deficient in the vitamins and minerals in Diet Coke Plus. And if you are, should you really be drinking Diet Coke to supplement your bad eating habits?

Another hot marketing trend is "whole grains". Everything with a single gram of wheat bran is claiming its piece of the whole grain market. Whole grain bread. Whole grain cereal. Whole grain cookies?! Again, do you really think that whole grain cookies are better for you than non-whole-grain cookies? Same high calories with maybe a gram more of fiber does not turn a chocolate chip cookie into a health food.

Don't outsource your health to the marketing department at Nabisco. As a consumer, you, and only you, are responsible for what you consume. Read those nutrition labels and make informed decisions about what you are eating.

Related Posts:

The Illusion of Being in the Game

2008-02-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

photo by bejan

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I had a conversation the other day, as I am wont to do, occasionally, and I mentioned that I was fascinated by people who continue to exercise for long periods of time, but so inconsistently that they really don't make any positive changes as a result. What motivates them to continue grinding away, basically fruitlessly?

Now let me stop for a moment and explain myself. I am definitely a proponent of exercising for greater health, but consistency is a requirement to achieve this benefit. Let's say that Suzy hates running...absolutely despises it. But she forces herself to do it occasionally, maybe once every week or two, because she reads that its the "right" thing to do to better her health and lose that nagging ten pounds. She has the best intentions of running the minimum 3 days a week for 30 minutes, but doesn't seem to be able to find that much time, or motivation. She does, however, continue this sporadic pattern for months, but she is secretly mystified, utterly flabbergasted that she hasn't lost any weight or gotten more toned as a result of her running. She does still harbor some hope that eventually, her activities will get her back into her skinny jeans, so she continues to grind away in vain.

What keeps Suzie doing this thing that she hates but produces no result? She is living the illusion of being in the game. In her mind, she has rationalized that the small amount of effort that she is putting in is enough, even though reality begs to differ. She thinks to herself, "Well, at least I'm doing something." Is that really better than doing nothing? Maybe for short-term ego self-preservation, but in the long-term it only results in a big let-down and unmet unrealistic expectations.

So, my advice is this: Stop spinning your wheels! If you are not getting the results that you are after, really sit down and evaluate how much effort you are putting into it. Stop making excuses and make a concrete plan to succeed.

100th Post Recap

2008-02-13T09:12:00.000-08:00

photo by creativity+

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Well, I was about to post today and I noticed that the next post, i.e. this one, was going to be my 100th post so I decided to do a recap of what I consider the best posts from the first 100.

Here goes:

The skinny on getting thin - I still think that most people forget that losing weight is a matter of calories in vs. calories out. There are still too many people who avoid certain foods because they are considered "fattening". This post details a good formula for determining how much a person should be able to eat and lose weight. It isn't perfect...everyone is an individual and you may need to adjust the number up or down to lose weight, and as you gain, or lose weight. I still think that having a set calorie per day goal is useful.

Want to lose weight? Get off of the scale! Part I - It really irks me that weight is the end-all be-all measure that people use to measure whether they are moving in the right direction. This post goes into detail why body fat percentage is a much better measure of "weight loss" than weight, itself. For long-term success, what you lose is more important than how much you lose, and weight alone, doesn't tell you anything about what you are losing.

The Slow, Steady March of Progress - Maybe it's just me and my wacked-out personality, but if I'm going to make something a goal, whether it's losing 10 pounds or running 100 miles, I feel that logging my progress and using it to plan for success is a small price to pay to getting there. This post discusses using a log to help you get there.

It's all about the shoes! - I'm definitely sold on the idea that different styles of running shoes can make or break running as a form of exercise for most people. I know for a fact that certain types of running shoes keep me from getting injured and other types result in an injury...every time. Read more about the different shoes for different gait types in this post.

Periodization: The Secret to Becoming More "Toned" - Everyone wants to be leaner and maybe put on a few pounds of muscle. Even if you don't realize that's what you want to do, if becoming more "toned" is your goal...then that's exactly what you want to do. The problem is that losing fat and gaining muscle is very difficult, except for beginners. This post details a strategy to do both.

Best Diet Ever Series - A series of short posts with small suggestions that folks can use to make positive changes to the way they eat. The focus is on losing weight, but also eating in a more healthy manner.

Some of these are golden oldies and were posted many moons ago. If you have been reading my posts, but have missed any of these, you have missed some of the best information that I've posted. Enjoy!

Portion Distortion

2008-02-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

photo by hometown invasion club

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More people are eating out at restaurants for many of their daily meals. As time has gone by, restaurants have been making portions much larger than they need to be. Now I don't know which came first, jumbo-sized meals, jumbo-sized appetites, or jumbo-size butts but either way, when you order a meal at a restaurant, you are likely to get a meal that would be more appropriately 2 or more servings. McDonald's sold meals in the 1950's that would be considered a kid's meal today.

I recently went to a highly rated local eatery and was stunned when my plate of food arrived. In hindsight, the portions were definitely on the large side, but the plate that it was served on was, without a doubt, the largest plate I have ever seen. Large plates make large portions seem normal-sized. Here are some guidelines for appropriate portion sizes for different items:

Lean protein (i.e. chicken, beef, pork, etc) - a piece the size of a deck of cards
Cheese - 1 oz. - volume equivalent to 4 dice, or a piece the size of your thumb
Carbohydrate (i.e. pasta, rice) - 1/2 cup - an amount the size of a tennis ball
Vegetables - 1 cup - an amount the size of baseball, but seriously no one gets enough veggies, eat all you want

Run, Forrest, Run! Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile Race Report

2008-02-11T08:13:00.000-08:00

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Well, I'm just going to cut to the chase here...I didn't finish the run. Don and I were able to go 77 miles, but then called it for a variety of reasons, namely the six-inch steps we were reduced to taking weren't going to get us across the finish line in the required 30 hours. So at the last aid station, prior to the start/finish area, we turned in our chips and got a ride back in. Bummer.

Prior week strata-ma-gizing

The weekend prior to the race was an easy run weekend with only a short jog on Saturday morning. Just enough of a run to keep us from stiffening up, but not so much as to use up much energy. The taper was in full effect. By this time, it's far too late to make any inroads into greater levels of fitness, and injuries simply CANNOT happen. Rest is the best thing that we could do, so that's precisely what we did. After our run, we went to breakfast to come up with a strategy for the race. We discussed paces, loop times, you know, boring crap like that. The plan was to go out in the first two loops at a pace that would get us across the finish line in 25 hours. We gave ourselves an additional 15 minutes per loop to do the course because pace, legs, and motivation will all degrade considerably as the race wears on...so we might as well plan for it. As we looked at the times, we felt like we wouldn't degrade as quickly as those paces indicated. We figured that by the end of the 2nd loop, into the 3rd loop, we would actually start to migrate into a pace that would get us in around 24 hours. Now 24 hours was the "big goal"; achievable, but tough. The prize for finishing the race is a belt buckle, but there is a better buckle for sub-24 hour finishers and we definitely wanted to try for a "good" buckle. After discussing paces and looking over gear lists we were ready...or as ready as we would ever be to take on the beast.

En Route

Travel to Houston was uneventful, except that the TSA took my damn toothpaste. What the hell? What, am I going to do with that? Minty, fresh, breath the crew into submission? Whatever. We arrived in Houston, picked up the rental car and drove the 1.5 hours to Huntsville. After a quick lunch, and checking into our hotel, we went to Huntsville State Park to pick up our packets, listen to the pre-race briefing, and partake of the traditional pasta dinner. At some point we stopped by a local Wal-Mart to get some Slim-Fast. And no, I'm not on a diet! Slim-Fast (Original, not Optima) has the perfect ratio of protein/carbs with very little fat to slow digestion, so it is a great fueling option while running these races. Ensure is also very popular, but I've found that the fat content in Ensure makes me feel like I've swallowed a brick for about 30 minutes to an hour after I drink it. For me, Slim Fast is the best option so that's what I drink. I also like the flavor and have been successful with drinking it even when my stomach starts to go south. Remember, the average 100 miler burns between 12,000 and 14,000 calories during one of these races, so eating/drinking as much as possible is essential. That is a week's worth of food for most people...in a single day! Obviously 7 days worth of food while running 100 miles is not an option, so liquid calories are essential. All in all, with all of the packing of drop bags and picking up assorted last-minute supplies, I think we were in bed by 7:00pm.

The Start

The race was to start at 6:00am, but the gates to the park were to open a little before 5:00am. We wanted to get a good parking spot and give ourselves plenty of time to get freaked out about the race, so we got to the park around 5:00am. We mulled around the park making last minute decisions about what to wear, not for fear of being a fashion nightmare, but to anticipate the weather changes. The temperature was a little on the cold side so we both opted for tights and warmer layers. Most chose to go out with shorts and more insulating top layers. With very little fanfare, the race director yelled, "Go!" at 6:00am and we were off.

Loop 1

Rocky is a race that consists of a 20 mile trail loop that is run 5 times. We were under the assumption that the trail was "flat", but it turned out to be quite hilly. There were no killer hills, but I wouldn't call the place "flat". The result of the hills was that our walk/run strategy was not going to work. Let me give you a little background. Almost no one can run the entire 100 miles. In any given race, you can count on one hand, and still have a few fingers left over, the number of people who are able to run the entire race. Everyone else must do some walking. If you are one of the ones who must do some walking (most fall into this category), this is where strategy plays a big part in a successful 100 miler. You must figure out how to best utilize your walking time to ensure that you can run as much of the race as possible. In training, we tried the "run until you can't run any more, then walk" strategy. That got us about 47 miles before we were DONE, and by done I mean "I'm not taking another freaking step" done. Obviously, not a recipe for 100 mile success. The key is to walk more up front so that you can preserve your ability to run until later in the race. We assumed that the course was flat, so we started with a timed walk/run. I didn't take long to notice that we were running up lots of the uphills and walking down the downhills. Other runners were like,

"You guys do realize that you are running up the hills and walking down the backside."
"Yeah, that's our strategy."
"Well, that IS a strategy. I just don't know if it's a good one."

At first I thought we were just being avant-garde, you know, thinking outside of the box. After about 10 miles, I realized we were just f-ing morons. So we stopped that crap, oh, about 10 miles too late. In the end I think that cost us a little energy and distance on the back end of the race. Loop one turned out to be pretty uneventful, except for Don taking a spectacular, somersaulting fall that almost resulted in him kicking a guy in the mouth. I would go through the details, but I just can't do it justice in writing. Ask me about it if you see me. That was the first of many for my buddy Don, but that one got a standing ovation for the dismount. We rolled back into the start/finish area, reloaded up on Gu, took in electrolytes, refilled bottles, and quickly got going for the second loop. Loop one was a little faster than we planned and maybe that cost us on the back end as well. I'm beginning to think that it didn't, but Don and I disagree about this point. I'll discuss my opinion in the Observations part of this article.

Loop 2

Again, Loop 2 wasn't very eventful. I think Don tripped a couple of times, but honestly, I lost track of exactly when each one took place. (You know, I love you Don, but in hindsight, it's kinda funny.) Every race has "that guy". You know, the guy who gets lost and has to bushwhack 10 miles to find his way back to the trail. Or the guy who falls off the bridge into the water. Well, for this race, Don was "that guy". Word got around that some guy had fallen eight times...EIGHT TIMES! As we would talk to people on the trail, they would go "Oh, you're THAT GUY, the one who's fallen down eight times." Don's like, "Yeah, that's me. I'm going for the record." Loop 2 wasn't too bad, I had a rough spot at the Farside aid station and just had to slow down but other than that, it was pretty much 40 miles down. We refilled everything at the start/finish and took off, again a little faster than our fastest predicted time.

Loop 3 - The beginning of the end

The beginning of loop 3 was probably one of the worst times in the race for me, at least up to this point. It was beginning to get dark and I left the start/finish without putting on a long-sleeved shirt. I felt warm, but when the sun went down, I was quickly cooling off. The temperature never got very low. I don't think it got below about 58 degrees, but I started to get VERY cold. Now I'm usually the warm one, and Don is usually wrapped up like an Eskimo to keep warm. I was forced to walk for long stretches, but I knew that when I got to the Dam Road aid station, I had warm clothes in my drop bag. That was a tough damn 8 miles for me. By the time we got to the aid station, I was shivering uncontrollably. I got my insulating layers on and grabbed a cup of coffee to warm up. I was shivering so badly, that I couldn't keep the cup still enough to drink. I took off walking, now with a few more layers on, to try to generate some heat. I was able to drink most of the coffee and warmed up considerably within the next 20 minutes or so. We were both doing much better as we went through the next couple of aid stations. We made the turnaround at Farside and headed back to the Dam Road aid station. My heel had been working on starting a blister and Don had one forming under the ball of his right foot. We stopped for a minute to patch things at the Dam Road. I was able to completely fix my heel, but Don already had a nasty blister, so I patched it up, but it was definitely going to hurt for the remainder of the race. We were still keeping up a decent pace on the dirt roads of the course, but it was now dark and Don couldn't see the roots in the trail very good. A couple of nasty spills later, and he simply couldn't continue to run and fall on the roots. So we walked. We walked and were able to maintain a pretty good pace for the 8 miles or so to complete the 3rd loop. We headed back into the start/finish to reload, and Don detoured into the medical tent to get his worsening blister properly patched up.

Loop 4 - The Death March

After Don got his blister taken care of in the medical tent, we took off, again walking because of the root-filled trail. Now the medic did an admiral job on the blister, but every so often, when he stepped just right, I could hear Don wince in pain. That blister was going to be an issue. One of the side effects of having a minor injury, like a blister, is that your body does imperceptible things to your stride and gait to protect it. Before we left the start/finish, Don put on a knee brace of mine to stabilize his left knee that was bothering him, probably the result of the compensation from the blister. So off we go into the darkness for the 4th loop. We are still walking at a decent pace because of the roots, but it didn't take long before all of the walking started to take a toll.

I just assumed that if we trained to run a large part of the race, if need be, we could transition to walking and still finish, albeit slower. Well, after walking for about 20 miles, I was starting to feel a whole lot differently about that theory. You see, we had not specifically trained to walk for long periods of time, but due to trail conditions, that's what we found ourselves doing. After 20 miles, I can't describe how much pain I was in. My legs literally stopped working and I was reduced to making 6-inch steps to keep moving. I think it took us 4 hours, at least, to cover the last 10 miles of the 4th loop. Now, I'm no rocket scientist, but my math skills tell me that's walking really slowly. After what seemed like days, we came into the second-to-last aid station and turned in our chips. The pace that we were moving was not going to allow us to finish the last loop before the 30 hour cutoff, so we decided to just drop. Bummer.

So I walk/hobble over to the aid station volunteer who was recording times and the following conversation ensues:

V: "What's your number?"
S: "122, but don't bother writing down my time. I'm dropping."
V: "Oh-kay. I'll mark you down. Just turn in your chip when you get back to the Lodge."

/Silence then crickets chirping in the background/

S: "Can you drive me to the Lodge?"
V: "Well, I guess I can, but it's really close. It's walking distance."
S: "Hold on there, Chachi. EXACTLY how far is it? Walking distance for YOU and walking distance for ME are a hell of a lot different right now!"
V: "Right. Well, I think it's about 1/2 mile."
S: "A half a mile! Dude, it'll take me an hour to hobble that far. There had better be an aid station between here and there so I can rest."
V: "Ok. My truck's just around the corner."

So we hobble over to his truck and he takes us back to the Lodge, where we turn in our chips. Bummer.

Observations

"Run your own race" - You see this on all of the ultra websites and now I know why it's gospel. Everyone experiences ups and downs during the course of these races. A group of people trying to run together will all experience the downs at different times. By running together, you slow down, even if you have the energy to run. Every person in the group ends up having a crappier race than if they were to run separately. It's just the nature of the game. A better alternative is to have a pacer. Run with someone who is there to support you as their primary goal. It's too physically, mentally, and emotionally draining to be concerned with anyone but yourself after 50-60 miles of running. I believe that our biggest strategic mistake was to run together. There is still no guarantee that either of us would/could have finished, but we both would have ran better races/more distance if we had run according to our own energy levels.

Blisters...bad...very bad - At around mile 45, we both started feeling blisters forming. Don had one cooking under the ball of right foot, I had one starting on the back of my right heel. We both made the stupid mistake of running through the Dam Road aid station without attending to the hot spots. When we came back into Dam Road, we stopped to evaluate the damage. Don had a blister roughly the size of two half dollars under the ball of his foot. Ouch! I got lucky...mine was still only a hot spot and hadn't formed a full blister. I patched up Don's foot the best I could, but his was going to hurt no matter what I did because of the location and size of the blister. A Compeed patch on my heel and I was pain-free (at least that one spot didn't hurt) for the remainder of the race. The moral of the story is this...the things needed to fix a blister weight next to nothing. You should carry them with you. If you feel a hotspot forming, STOP! Fix it immediately. The worst case scenario in getting a blister is that you will DNF the race as a result. Best case scenario is that you still finish the race, but suffer immensely for many hours as a result. Both of those are easily avoidable by taking care of your feet.

Pace up front - We took the first two loops a little faster than we anticipated. I don't think that was a bad thing, Don disagrees. I understand that you can't push hard at first or you won't have the energy on the back end of the race. I don't think we pushed too hard. We walked the uphills and jogged the downhills and flats at a pace that was comfortable through 50 miles. I felt like I still had the energy to keep up that pace when we started to walk. At 60 miles, I still felt good, but the wheels started fall off pretty quickly from there. I think that walking mile 50 to 60 started the process of using muscles that had not been trained and was our ultimate downfall. You would think that training to run most of the distance would mean that if forced to walk the distance, you could. This experience changed my mind about that. I don't think you can. After walking for 30 miles, we we completely debilitated, reduced to taking 6-inch steps. My legs, literally stopped working, and I don't think it was the distance per se, but the continuous walking, for which we hadn't trained. My opinion is that once you are reduced to walking, the timer starts. You only have a certain amount of time before things go bad, very bad. I believe you must have covered as much distance as possible when that occurs. I don't think you should tear up the beginning of the course, I just don't think you should intentionally take it very slowly. Now I know that people finish races doing exactly what I'm saying not to do. Again, you must run your own race. It works for them, but I don't think that it works for me.

Once you slow down, you won't ever speed up again - Degradation happens. There is no getting around it. You will need to slow down or walk more as the race wears on. I think you've got to fight this as much as possible. Once you slow down, your body adjusts to the new level of effort and it hurts just as bad to go slower as it did to go faster 30 minutes ago. You might as well fight the good fight as long as possible and get your butt as close to the finish line as you can, while you can still maintain a quicker pace.

Leave the Hubris at home - I went into this race thinking we had a decent shot at doing it in 24 hours. That's probably equivalent to a 3:40 to 3:45 marathon. An easy time if you have talent, a tough goal for a no-talent-having shmuck like me. I was far too cocky and it bit me on the ass. I was mentally unprepared for how taxing the race would be toward the end. Just like in my first marathon (unreasonable goal of 3:40; coincidence...I think not) the soul-crushing difficulty of the latter part of the race was unexpected, but it shouldn't have been. I feel like the experience of having run both the marathon and 100 had prepared me for the tough final part of the race. I'll definitely do better next time, simply by knowing what lies ahead.

Anticipate the need for warmer clothing - It was a rookie mistake to skip the long-sleeved shirt when the sun went down. I was able to make it to my drop bag and get another shirt, but exposure for that length of time removes your ability to thermo-regulate, even in moderate temperatures. Better to have it, be too warm, and then tie it around your waist, then to not have it. The long-term goal is to run the Leadville 100. A mistake like that at Leadville practically guarantees a DNF, where conditions are much more conducive to developing race-ending, possibly life-threatening, hypothermia.

Successes

Food Intake - I typically have problems eating during these races, but I consumed all sorts of stuff that I normally have issues with. I was eating sandwiches of all kinds, hell, I even ate a greasy, meatloaf burrito-thing (Sounds terrible, but at the time, AWESOME). Eating when you are feeling like total crap has the ability to lift you up. I ate more than anticipated, but I still think that I could have used more calories.

Hydration - I felt like I was drinking as much as I could. And by some miracle, I was able to consume calorie-containing drinks exclusively. I didn't think it was possible to drink Gatorade for 21 hours straight, but I never lost the taste for it. I even continued drinking it for days after the race when I had many more choices about what to consume. That was good because it provided hydration, electrolytes, as well as additional calories.

Injinji Socks - I just can't say enough about these damn socks. 77 miles and NOT A SINGLE BLISTER. Now I did have one forming on the back of my heel, but that wasn't caused by the socks. I had a rough spot on my shoe that caused it. $12 is a fortune to spend on a pair of socks, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what was spent to fly to the race, pay for hotel, rental car, etc. If you are going to play the game, use the right equipment. You can have my Injinjis when you pry them from my cold dead feet! (And if I'm not more careful with my clothing changes...that might be sooner than you think!)

Well, I'm not happy to have experienced my first DNF, but I'm trying to make the best of it by figuring out what happened and how I can keep it from happening again. I definitely feel like I'm much better prepared to be successful in the next one.

Related Posts:

Don't Limit Yourself

2008-01-30T08:29:00.000-08:00

photo by partsnpieces

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I've written for months in these posts about the actions that people can take to lose weight. The knowledge is out there and everyone understands what is necessary. So why are 66% of the population either overweight or obese? Why do so few people do the things that they know will result in losing weight? Some more common excuses...ahem...reasons:

"I don't have the time to ."
"I know what I need to do...I just don't want to do it." (Well, at least that one is honest!)
"I don't have the money for a gym membership." (Who says you need a gym membership to be healthy?)
"I don't have the energy to exercise."
"I'm not an 'exercise' person."

I hear these all the time, and I've already posted reasons why these are really just excuses, and most readers would agree. As I speak to more people, I'm beginning to understand that these are really different manifestations of something else...self-imposed limits.

Willpower is self-fulfilling. If you believe you are a machine with Zen-like discipline focused toward achieving your goal...you will be. If you believe you can only go so far, then you certainly won't achieve any goals greater than your self-imposed limitations.

The first step toward overcoming personal limits is to stop the negative self talk. If you are making progress toward living a healthy lifestyle, acknowledge it. Don't berate yourself for not doing more. Small steps add up over time and acknowledging your progress, no matter how small, is great motivation to continue.

Related Posts:

Soreness - Is it OK?

2008-01-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

photo by JustABigGeek

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Muscle soreness is common for people just starting out with an exercise program. The painful feeling that you get after a particularly hard exercise session is known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS and is the result of tiny muscle tears. These muscle tears cause localized pain and inflammation. This is a normal phenomenon and is short-lived. After a week or two the discomfort will subside as your body becomes acclimated to your new regimen. How do you know if you are suffering from DOMS or doing something that may lead to an injury? Here are some pointers:

Normal

Discomfort peaks 2 days after the exercise that caused it
Dull pain with "stiffness" in the effected area
Discomfort is reduced by performing the same exercise that caused it, but at a lower intensity level
May be tender to the touch

Possible Injury

Any movement overwhelmingly painful
Bruising not caused by impact (could be a serious muscle tear)
Sharp, piercing pain
Tearing sound
Pain that worsens each exercise session

If you suspect that you do have an injury, it is prudent to lay off of exercising until it heals, or see a doctor. It is better to take off a day or two in the early stages of an injury, then to continue to increase the injury and be forced to stop exercising for weeks as a result. Listen to your body...if you need to take off a day or two, then do it. Just don't use that as an excuse to not start up again.

Getting sore never goes away completely, but as you progress beyond the beginning stages of an exercise program, it changes in nature. The intensity of the discomfort lessens and you will get accustomed to it. That being said, even experienced exercisers occasionally overdo it and end up on the sidelines.

Related Posts:

Obesity: A Problem That is Getting Worse

2008-01-24T07:57:00.000-08:00

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A recent report from Harvard suggests that the obesity epidemic may be worse than originally thought. It seems that the statistics were generated from an epidemiological telephone survey asking people their height and weight. Really? The geniuses at Harvard have discovered that women tend to underestimate their weight and men tend to overestimate their height. I NEVER would have guessed that. The result is that more people are obese (>=30 BMI) than originally thought...up to 37% in some states, mostly states in the deep South. Where can some of the blame be placed?

More cheap calories available

People are consuming hundreds of calories per day more than Americans in previous generations. More money is spent eating out at restaurants, than is spent on groceries. Portion sizes are many multiples above and beyond what they should be. We simply eat more and we eat more calorie dense foods. It isn't some mystical change. When McDonald's started serving hamburgers and fries in 1955, the only sizes on the menu were regular hamburgers and small fries; what we would consider a "kid's meal" today.

Movement systematically engineered out of our lives

Since the majority of the population moved to the 'burbs, most walking has been eliminated from our daily lives. To walk even a block to go somewhere is considered strange. We drive everywhere. Few people choose to take the stairs as opposed to using an escalator or an elevator. The only way to get enough activity into your day is to set aside time to do it...or consciously choose to take stairs, park further away from stores, etc.

Over-reliance on processed foods

We've outsourced a large portion of our health to companies that exist to make money. I don't want to sound like I'm a conspiracy theorist, because I'm not, but food producers stand to make the most money by producing food using the least expensive, least healthy components, not by providing healthy food. It's not a conspiracy...it's good business. It just happens to benefit the companies more than you or I. These foods are higher in fat, calories, and highly refined carbohydrates than home cooked meals. By relying on these foods, you are eliminating healthy variety from meals and replacing with homogeneous components that originate in large part from only 2 plants...corn and soybeans.

Poor choices

Even with all of the above, consumers still have the responsibility to make better choices. No one forces the 60% of Americans who are overweight or obese to eat junk food and sit around and watch television.

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Quick Tips for Healthy Grocery Shopping

2008-01-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

photo by appaloosa

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Buy most of your food from the outer perimeter of the store

Most grocery stores have basic staple items around the perimeter of the store. Produce, dairy, meats, and bread can usually be found by avoiding the store aisles. The aisles house the things that most people should avoid...processed, boxed, and canned goods. The exception is frozen vegetables. They do tend to be located in the frozen food aisles. Pick up those frozen vegetables, but avoid the frozen pizzas, etc. What about canned vegetables, you ask? Of the three choices, fresh, frozen, or canned; canned should be at the bottom of the list. Canned vegetables tend to have lots of extra sodium added to them and they leach water-soluble vitamins and minerals into the water in the cans, which is typically thrown away. Stick with frozen or fresh vegetables.

Don't go shopping while you are hungry

This is a no-brainer. If you go to the grocery store while you are hungry, you are more likely to buy things that you don't need...and those extra items tend to fall into the junk category, i.e. high fat, high sugar items. By allowing yourself to get hungry, you will crave foods that provide a quick jolt of energy and the last place you want to be when that happens to you is in a grocery store with an "unlimited" supply of such foods for purchase.

Make a grocery list before you go...and stick to it!

I would even suggest you take it a step further and think about planning a few meals for the week. This will let you easily create a grocery list of items that you need, you will have a few of your meals planned and you will be less likely to get home and say to yourself, "I don't know what to cook tonight. I think I'll just hit the chinese buffet down the street." Stick to the list and you might even save a few dollars by avoiding the temptation to buy things that you don't really need.

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What Is Going To Be Different This Time?

2008-01-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

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You may have noticed that I haven't written anything about New Year's Resolutions. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of that annual ritual. People treat it more like cleaning the attic out once a year just so they can get back to piling up crap again. Most resolutions lack commitment and frankly, resolve.

At any given time, 20% of the population claims to be "on a diet". That number is even higher at the beginning of each year as new members flood the place in a rush to undo a year's worth of bad habits. If you have resolved to lose a few pounds this year, let me ask you this: What are you going to do differently this time? Is this the year that you are going to make lasting changes, or are you going to get back on the hamster wheel and spend an entire year "dieting" only to end up right where you started?

"Do or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda, the Great

Proximity Snacking

2008-01-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

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Believe it or not there have been actual studies that test whether having food close to you increases the chances that you will eat it. Um...DUH! In related news, smoking pot has been conclusively connected to getting high. Wow, that's profound! I can't believe tax dollars were spent on this, but since the money is already spent and the research is done, we might as well get some benefit from it. The study followed groups of secretaries who had candy dishes placed at different distances on their desk and on nearby shelves. The candy dishes that were physically located the closest to the workers got the most visits. I don't know that this is earth shattering news to anyone, but most people wouldn't think twice about taking a candy or two (or ten) during the course of a day.

So you think that a single Hershey's kiss each day doesn't matter? Well, one kiss contains approximately 26 calories. Over the course of one year, eating only one per day, will result in a weight gain of 1.9 pounds.

Get the jar of candy off of your desk!

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Fast Food 4-1-1: Chili's

2008-01-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

photo by ben+maggie

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While not technically a "fast food" restaurant, Chili's is very popular and has some whopping, high-calorie offerings that everyone should know about. So I'm going to take some artistic license and give my picks and pans from their menu.

	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)	Fiber(g)
McDonald's Big Mac	540	29	45	25	3

Worst Choices*
Awesome Blossom w/Seasoned Sauce**	2710	203	194	24	15
Texas Cheese Fries w/Jalapeno Ranch Dressing	2070	160	73	85	8
Caesar Salad w/Chicken and Caesar Dressing	1010	76	39	38	7
Country Fried Steak w/Sides	1890	107	148	99	7
Chicken Crispers	1880	130	133	67	8
Fajita Chicken Quesadilla	1830	95	151	86	12
Grilled Shrimp Alfredo Pasta w/Garlic Toast	1540	84	123	77	6
BBQ Ranch Burger w/Fries	1540	97	103	60	7

Best Choices
Guiltless Salmon***	480	14	31	54	10
Margarita Grilled Chicken****	690	18	81	48	9
Firecracker Tilapia	540	14	63	37	6
Pita - Chicken Fajita	450	17	35	43	3

* There are so many items on the menu with more than 1500 calories and with more than 100 g of fat per serving that I lost count. I've included a few items from several menu categories, i.e. Starters, Salads, Chicken, etc.

** According to Men's Health magazine, this is the worst appetizer in the ENTIRE COUNTRY from a nutritional standpoint. Yikes!

*** The Guiltless Grill items are all pretty good choices.

**** I'm biased about this one. It's my favorite thing on the menu.

I like Chili's as much as the next guy and there are some decent choices on the menu. But there are also some land mines lurking, as well.

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What to look for in a workout partner?

2008-01-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

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A workout partner can be a great motivating factor to continuing exercise. Whether you are a runner or workout in a gym, knowing that someone else will be there waiting for you can be a great motivator when you just can't seem to get moving.

Similar schedule - A good workout partner must be available to workout at your selected time. Always fighting to try and meet up for a workout is just another barrier to getting to the gym. It's far simpler to try to find someone whose schedule fits yours.

Reliability - It goes without saying that reliability is essential in a workout partner. Someone who misses more workouts than you won't exactly be a great motivator to get out the door.

Personality - The perfect workout partner for the mild-mannered cubicle dweller may not be the clown pants wearing, do rag loving, obscenity screaming muscle guy. Try to find someone who matches you workout style, whatever that may be...unless your workout style is 5 minutes of reading a magazine while sitting on the recumbant bike followed by a trip to Cold Stone Creamery to reward yourself. If that's the case, maybe you could use a few workouts with do rag guy.

Similar goals - It is easier to make progress if you have someone to workout with who is trying to achieve similar goals. A runner who lifts weights occasionally probably would not be a good workout partner for a powerlifter interested in deadlifting at his/her maximum capacity.

Similar fitness level - While not a necessity, similar fitness level will allow workout partners to push each other, but not overdo it.

Take my advice...if you find someone who meets all of these criteria, hang on to them for as long as you can. A great workout partner is priceless.

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Should You Workout While Sick?

2008-01-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

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Well, this is the time of year when everyone gets sick to some degree. While you won't get a cold from going out in the cold, you do have a much greater chance of catching one from your co-workers or children because more time is spent indoors during the colder months. If you do come down with a case of the sniffles, should you continue with your workout even though you feel lousy or just skip it until you feel better?

The usual advice given is this: If the symptoms are above the neck, i.e runny nose, sinus congestion, sore throat, etc., then it's OK to workout. If the symptoms are below the neck, i.e. chest congestion, stomach problems, fever, chills, then skip the workout and focus on getting better. With most minor respiratory illnesses (above the neck symptoms), exercise can actually relieve the symptoms if you can overcome the initial lousy feelings and do it. My suggestion is to do your usual workout even if you do it at a lower intensity.

Another thing to remember, for those who exercise at a gym or other public facility, is to consider other gym-goers. Even though your symptoms are minor, you may want to consider an alternative workout to avoid spreading your infection.

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Medical Research and the Media

2007-12-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

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"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."
-Albert Einstein

I admit to being a bit of a fitness and health dork, so I read up a lot about different studies that come up in the news. Just because some new groundbreaking study comes out, doesn't mean that the results are all that meaningful. With a little research, you can quickly find out more about how the study was performed, what population was it done on, etc. Most of the time the media picks a small, controversial nugget of information from the result while leaving out the explanation.

The scientific process takes time to ensure that results of an experiment are repeatable. This explains why there is so much conflicting information in the media. Research studies have shown that high saturated fat intake is linked to a greater incidence of cardiovascular disease¹, but other research shows that a diet high in saturated fat may diminish the risk of heart disease². Both statements could be accurately stated based on two research studies that came to opposing conclusions. Which one is correct? Both deal with very specific populations.

Reference 1 is the landmark study by Ancel Keys that pinpointed saturated fat as a major contributor to cardiovascular disease. There are many articles suggesting that Keys "cherry-picked" the data from his seven countries to fit his hypotheses. The original data was from 22 countries, but the other countries were left out of his paper because the data from those countries didn't fit nicely with his hypothesis that saturated fat led to cardiovascular disease. I picked it as an example because it is a perfect example of "research" not necessarily being infallible.

The research suggesting that saturated fat decreased the likelihood of heart disease was done on a population of postmenopausal women who had symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Do those results apply to a 20 year old endurance athlete? Maybe or maybe not. More research needs to be done to get to the bottom of those results, but media deadlines waits for no such clarification.

I'm simply saying that just because we have easy access to lots of medical information and a media that is willing to ~~subvert~~ "fast-track" the scientific process doesn't eliminate the need for consumers to do their own research. As always, consumer beware.

¹Keys A: "Seven Countries: A Multivariate Analysis of Death and Coronary Heart Disease." Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980.

²Dariush Mozaffarian, Eric B Rimm, and David M Herrington: "Dietary fats, carbohydrate, and progression of coronary atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women." AJCN 2004 80: 1175-1184.

Find Thy Limiting Factor

2007-12-17T09:28:00.000-08:00

photo by onelove69

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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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Dear Flabby

2007-12-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

photo by notmyown2k3

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Can cardio exercise kill you?

Is it possible? Yes, but it's very rare. I know Jim Fixx dropped dead while running, but it was a congenital heart defect...dammit! Actually, intense cardio is more likely to cause death because it exposes heart defects that may not be known. If you have concerns, schedule a treadmill stress test to determine if you have a heart issue that may cause problems with intense exercise. Many more people die each year from complications that could be avoided by doing cardio exercise (cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, etc.) than die from intense cardio.

Can you get fat eating salad?

Depends on what you put on it. Most vegetables are not very calorie dense and are okay, but watch out for the cheese and high calorie dressings. There is nothing magical about a salad that will make you lose weight if you load it with a cup of ranch dressing. And if you are going to wolf down 1000 calories, wouldn't you rather just eat a cheeseburger? If you hate salad and drown it in dressing to choke it down, you won't achieve your goal of losing weight. Deprivation doesn't equal weight loss. It is more sensible to cut down the portions of the foods that you like.

How many calories are in a tablespoon of honey?

About 64. Want to know how many calories are in almost any food, even some brand name foods? Try the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.

How many times a week should I go to the gym to lose weight?

Weight loss is not a function of how many times you go to the gym. Spending 40 hours a week in the gym won't result in weight loss if you eat enough to feed a small family. You must balance the calories that you eat with your activities. Burn more calories than you consume and you will lose weight.

I want to lose muscle!

That's a new one. Okay, here's how you do it...create as large a calorie deficit as you can, as quickly as possible. Starving yourself is a great way to make your body start using the protein in muscles for fuel.

1. Eat as little as humanly possible. Think less than 1000 calories per day. Try one of those crazy, cleanse diets or live on grapefruit juice for a week or two.
2. You won't have much energy for cardio, but do it anyway. That should help create a larger calorie deficit.
3. Stay away from strength training or weights of any type. Those things preserve muscle.

Do these three things and you'll drop weight quickly. A large portion of that weight loss will be muscle. Good luck on the road to puny-ville!

What is the shortest, easiest workout ever?
You're doing it now.

The Process of Progress

2007-12-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

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OK, let's get something straight, right now. Simply getting out there and doing the same thing, i.e. running the same speed/distance or lifting the same weights will not lead to improvement. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got! There is nothing wrong with lifting the same weights if maintenance is your goal, but don't spend the next two years lifting the exact same weights or running the same 3 mile loop and wonder why your squat or your 5k times haven't improved. The following three factors, in order, are essential for improvement.

Consistency Leads to Dedication

Consistency is the foundation on which a successful training program is built. The body requires a constant cycle of overreaching beyond your comfort level, followed by adequate rest and recovery to lead to supercompensation, i.e. your body becoming stronger, faster, etc. A good analogy is pushing someone on a swing. By consistently and repeatedly timing the small amount of force that is a single push, you can move the person much more than you could with only a single push. Randomly timing those nudges won't result in any significant movement. Focus first on consistency before mucking things up with complicated strategies to improve.

Intensity = Effort

If you are religious in your consistency to following a plan, next concentrate on intensity. Workouts must be done with the intensity necessary to force your body to adapt. Consistency may be the foundation, but without the proper intensity, you will never get off of the ground. Workouts should never be painful, but overreaching, or pushing a little beyond your current level of comfort, by definition will be uncomfortable. Your muscles may experience a burning feeling. Some soreness the next day may result. These effects are common if you are working out with the intensity needed to get stronger or faster. Again, if your goal is to maintain your current state of fitness, you don't need to cross the threshold into discomfort, but if your goal is to improve on your current level of fitness, you must push beyond your comfort zone.

Progression Requires Planning

Progression is at the top of the graph because it is not possible without the previous qualities. Consistency and intensity are required to make progress, but ironically, they don't guarantee it. Progression must be planned. If your goal is to run a half marathon and you can currently only run 3 miles, what steps must you take to increase the amount of distance that you can run? Running the same 3 mile loop will not magically result in the ability to run 13.1 miles on race day! You must slowly add to the distance that you can run increasing your maximum distance by small manageable amounts. If your goal is to get stronger, how can you expect to get stronger when you lift the exact same amount of weight for 6 weeks, or God forbid, 2 years. The answer: You can't!

By applying these to your workouts, given enough time, you can achieve your goals, whatever they may be. Never stop pushing!

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The Supplement Game

2007-12-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

photo by laura a

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In 2000, 17 billion dollars were spent on dietary supplements. The desire for a pill to solve all that ails us is pervasive in our culture. We want...no expect...some smart guy to provide the answer to all of our problems, for three small payments of only $19.99. To even begin to try to unravel all of the available supplements would be an monumental task. Instead, here are some supplements that seem to have a substantial amount of evidence that they can provide some benefit.

Multivitamin

The common view of multivitamins is that they are a good "insurance" policy against vitamin deficiencies. As long as they contain vitamin and mineral amounts near the Recommended Daily Allowance, you should be OK. Again, these should only serve as a supplement to a healthy diet. If you are eating the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, you shouldn't need a multivitamin. If it makes you feel better, then take them.

Individual Vitamins

If you choose to take additional amounts of individual vitamins, be aware that you can have too much of a good thing. Your body can rid itself of excess water soluble vitamins (most of them) through sweat and urination. Be wary of excessive amounts of fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K), though. Large doses of these vitamins, especially Vitamin A, can accumulate in your body and cause headaches, vomiting, liver damage, coma, even death.

Fish Oil (Mayo Clinic)

Many claims have been made about the benefits of taking fish oil supplements. As with anything, these benefits are dose dependant...and remember, it the amount of the actual Omega-3 fats that cause the effect. Read the label on your fish oil supplement to make sure that you are taking enough to make a difference. Just because each capsule contains 1 gram of fish oil, doesn't mean that each capsule contains 1 gram of EHA/DHA. Read those labels! Here are some that "make the grade" according to the Mayo Clinic, as well as the dose of EHA/DHA needed to reproduce the effect in parentheses:

Reduces blood triglyceride levels (2 - 4 g per day)
Reduces risk of heart attack in those who have already had a heart attack (1 g per day)
Small reduction in blood pressure (2 - 5 mmHG) (>3 g per day)

The link to the Mayo Clinic also lists many other purported benefits of taking fish oil and details the strength of the evidence supporting those effects. Many things are listed, but the evidence is scant or non-existent for all but the ones that I've listed.

Glucosamine/Chondrointin

Very popular supplements to help with joint pain. Both supplements have been individually shown to help with osteoarthritis pain, especially of the knee. Glucosamine Sulfate is a component of cartilage and Chondrointin Sulfate is made from cartilage, so the popular reasoning is that they help rebuild cartilage. There is no evidence suggesting that taking these supplements will rebuild deteriorating cartilage. The effects seem to be related to these compounds having an anti-inflammatory effect.

Yeah, but this horny goat weed/siberian ginseng has cured my arthritis/bunions/irritable bowel syndrome? How do you explain that smart guy?

Well, is it the horny goat weed or the placebo effect? Would a sugar pill have had the same effect? Clinical trials use double blind studies where neither the researcher or test subject are aware of who gets the real medication or a sugar pill. In these cases, 30-50% of test subjects who receive the sugar pill report feeling better. Very few herbs, medicines, vitamins, or dietary supplements can do better than this. Medicines that can't outperform a placebo are shelved, but dietary supplements are not required to meet the same scrutiny. I guess if you can afford the supplement, it seems to help, and does no harm, it's okay for you, but that doesn't make it a panacea for everyone with your ailment.

If you choose to take supplements, remember that supplements are just that...SUPPLEMENTS. No supplement can undo the effects of a poor diet.

Top Nine Ways to Get Fat...Stat!

2007-12-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

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Obesity...it's the new black. Thin is out! Fat...that's what it's about! A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University predict that by 2015, 75% of adults in the U.S. will be clinically overweight or obese. Don't be left behind in the, ahem, stampede, to keep up with the Joneses. Here are my top ten tips for livin' la vida grande:

Skip breakfast - Cultivate your appetite and hunger by not eating anything for breakfast. Have no fear, you will make it up, and then some later in the day.
Eat lightly throughout the day...then pile it on at night - To pack on some prodigious poundage, you must have the appetite to eat vast amounts of food. By eating lightly throughout the day you can be ravenously hungry to get in as many calories as possible in the evening. Cookies and ice cream calling your name? Well, answer that call!
Pass on the Protein - Protein consumes too many precious calories in the digestion process and keeps your metabolism high by repairing muscle tissue. Does that sound like a recipe for success in largeness?
Supplement with Soft drinks - How can you get more calories in without curbing your appetite and hasten your way to becoming a fabulous fatty? It almost brings a tear to my eye to think what a gift soft drinks are to the world. Work as many of them into your day as possible. Starbuck's froo-froo drinks are a wonderful addition, as well, especially those Christmas-y drinks like the Peppermint Mocha and Eggnog Latte. Hell, have two! It'll get you to your goal of becoming lusciously large that much quicker.
Strength training...NOT! - leave the protein and the strength training to the meat heads and gym bunnies. Ripped, hard bodies? That's so 1982! In 2015, ripples rock! Hard bodies? More like, hardly able to move your body. That's what I'm talkin' about. Don't lift weights...those things are heavy. Lift Twinkies instead!
Forget the Fiber - Fiber is filling...not good for the future, formidably fat-alicious.
Cardio, shmardio! - Burn calories? What, are you crazy? That's for the losers in the 25% minority.
Vanquish the Veggies - Vegetables are too low calorie and high fiber. Drink ketchup instead...wouldn't want to negatively effect your health.
Can you say "refined carbohydrates"? - Say it, yes? Spell it, maybe not? Either way, a key to larding up is to consume as much sugar, flour, and white rice as possible. Stick with these foods and maybe, just maybe, you will claim the coveted moniker, morbidly obese.

Would have done a top ten list, but this...sugar...rush...is...making...it...hard...to...focus.

Excuse me, but I've got two bags of Cheese Doodles with my name on them.

Picking the Perfect MP3 Player

2007-12-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

photo by oliver lavery

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Well, it's a fact, lots of people like to exercise with MP3 players. I have one, rarely use it on a run, but in the event that I find myself needing to workout in a gym, or need the distraction in a long race, it is an invaluable tool to mentally keep me going. There are lots of models available to choose from. Some of the basic features that you must consider:

Storage Space

All MP3 players have a certain amount of storage space to store songs. Using Apple's numbers (4 MB per song), you can get approximately 250 songs per GB of storage space on the device. Some models have small amounts of storage space and will need to be loaded frequently if you want to listen to new songs, but some models have space to store you entire music collection. I honestly don't think I could fill up anything more than 4 or 8 GB, much less a 160 GB IPod! Consider how much storage capacity you really need before you are seduced into buying a top-of-the-line model. The caveat to this is video. More and more of the new players are coming equipped with small video screens and the capability of playing videos and movies. If you get one of these models and want to store movies, then make sure you get one with plenty of storage space because movies really take up lots of space on the device.

Battery Type

Built-in Lithium Rechargeable

Pros: Very low on the hassle scale. Just plug the device into a computer and let it charge up.

Cons: What if you take your beloved MP3 player on a trip where you don't have access to a computer? You may need to buy an additional accessory to charge it up on the go. Another con is that those lithium batteries eventually begin to lose their charging ability and need to be replaced. You will need to send in your device to be "repaired" or try to replace it yourself.

Standard battery

Pros: Easy to replace the batteries, and they are available everywhere.

Cons: You will be replacing the battery very often, especially if it has an LCD screen. MP3 players tend to chew through batteries at a phenomenal rate. You can partially offset this disadvantage by using rechargeable batteries, which I recommend.

Accessory Availability

Without a doubt the Apple line of MP3 players has the most available accessories. It is the most popular MP3 player around and many companies are trying to sell products to users of the device. Everything from armbands and docking stations to...ahem...personal massage accessories. That might explain their popularity. Just make sure you investigate what accessories are available before you buy the device. You don't want to find out that you can't charge it up any other way than connecting to a computer once you've purchased it.

Music

Consider how you will be getting music to fill your player. All players will allow you to "rip" your CD and put the resulting MP3 files on the player. Other options include buying your music online, or paying for a music subscription service.

Ripping CDs

For those unfamiliar with the MP3 "lingo", ripping CDs means copying music from a CD to your computer in a form that can be placed on the player. All players will have some facility to do this, and you will be able to put any music that you currently own onto the player.

Buying Songs Online

The undisputed king of online song sales is iTunes. But there are others, such as Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, Rhapsody and many others that also sell music online. Make sure that your player works with the service from which you intend to purchase songs.

Music Subscription Service

Another option for acquiring music is through a subscription service, such as Rhapsody or Napster. These services generally charge a set monthly fee, and you can download as many songs as you like as long as you continue to pay for the service. This option has the most potential for snags with certain MP3 players. If you intend on using a subscription service, make sure that the player you purchase works with your chosen service.

Not-So-Healthy Health Foods

2007-11-29T08:48:00.000-08:00

photo by yuckbananas

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Excessively Sweetened Yogurt - The worst offenders here are the "fruit-on-the-bottom" style yogurts and the super sweetened, kid-friendly yogurts. If a cartoon character is on the box, beware of the sugar content. Fruit on the bottom yogurt is another example of taking a healthy food and turning it into something not healthy while still allowing people to rationalize to themselves that they have made a good choice. Don't fall for this trap.

Breakfast Cereals - The largest breakfast cereal makers are doing a great job of plastering the 100% Whole Grain label on all of their cereals, which is great, but don't be seduced into believing that makes Fruit Loops healthy. Consider the sugar content, as well. Flip over the box and look at the Nutrition Facts label. Glance at the grams of sugar and divide by 7. Each 7 grams of sugar is equivalent to 1 tablespoon of sugar. For example, Kelloggs Fruit Loops contain 1/4 cup of sugar. That's a heck of a lot of sugar for a 3/4 cup serving size!

Energy Bars - Need a "pick-me-up" when the afternoons doldrums hit? Walk on down to the nearest vending machine and grab a Power bar. Athletes eat them, why shouldn't you? Whatever! The fact is that the lack of energy you feel has nothing to do with a lack of energy. Even the leanest people out there have enough fat stored to run hundreds of miles. Do yourself a favor and start exercising. Get your body using those fat stores instead of growing them. And those energy bars, from a nutritional standpoint, differ very little from plain, old candy bars. If that's the case, which would you prefer, a sawdust textured power bar or a tasty candy bar?

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Cold Weather Running

2007-11-27T06:52:00.000-08:00

photo by ben lawson

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The leaves have almost completely fallen and the evenings are beginning to have a distinct, chilly bite to them. The mornings, well, they are downright frigid. So what's a runner to do to avoid having to resort to the forsaken "dreadmill" to get in those miles. Here are a few tips for keeping warm when the temperatures drop:

Layer up - You've heard it before and I'm telling you again...the best defense against the cold is to dress in layers. Layering clothing traps air between the layers that insulates you against the cold. Think that fluffy down coat is warm because the down is a good insulator. Wrong! It's the air trapped between the feathers that does the heavy lifting to keep you toasty. A second benefit of layering is that as you begin to generate heat from running, you can remove layers that are no longer necessary. The only thing worse than being cold on a run is sweating in your own personal sauna when it's freezing outside.
Beware the Wind - Remember that the air trapped around your body is the real insulator. Without a windproof jacket, that warm layer of insulating air surrounding your body is constantly stripped away leaving you chilled to the bone. Wind jackets vary dramatically in technical features, and in price, from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. The cheaper jackets will stop the wind as good as the more expensive jackets, but they will also trap moisture leading to the dreaded personal sauna effect. The pricier jackets tend to be made with fancy technical fabrics like Gore-Tex that keep wind and water out, but allow moisture to escape. Personally, I'm incredibly cheap and opt for a less expensive wind jacket that contains a marvelous, technological wonder that allows me to control the amount of moisture release based on conditions. It's called a zipper. The mid-priced jackets tend to be made with water and wind resistant materials and have multiple zipper vents that lets you adjust the amount of ventilation depending on current conditions. For those looking for a functional jacket that won't break the bank, I would suggest one of these mid-priced items.
Stay Away From Cotton - Cotton is the most common fabric used in clothing, but it is a terrible choice for athletic clothing. Cotton absorbs sweat and doesn't wick it away from your body. The sweat doesn't evaporate, the clothing sticks to you, then chafing ensues. Not good. There is a huge selection of shirts, socks, underwear, and pants, all made from moisture wicking technical fabrics available at your local sporting goods store. And it doesn't have to be expensive. Prices for this type of clothing have dropped dramatically in the last few years if you are willing to buy things that are not name brands. Don't expect to save a bundle buying things made by Nike or Under Armour.
Don't Forget To Hydrate - Even though you can't feel yourself sweating in the dry, winter air, you must continue to hydrate. Dehydration is as big a problem in winter because people forget to drink. The more dehydrated you become, the more you will be susceptible to the cold and to hypothermia. Drink, drink, drink.

Fast Food 4-1-1: Burger King

2007-11-21T08:35:00.000-08:00

photo by jwrb

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	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)	Fiber(g)
McDonalds Big Mac	540	29	45	25	3

Worst Choices*
Triple Whopper w/Cheese**	1230	82	52	71	3
BK Quad Stacker	1000	68	34	62	1
Double Whopper w/Cheese	990	64	52	52	3

Best Choices
Hamburger	290	12	30	15	1
Cheeseburger	330	16	31	17	1

Extras
King sized French Fries	600	33	69	6	6
Medium Chocolate OREO Sundae Shake	960	32	154	13	3

*All menu items are listed in their unadulterated form. You can cut down on fat and calories by leaving off the sauce, which is invariably mayo-based.

** Even w/o cheese, the aptly named triple whopper packs 1100 calories.

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