Understanding Exercise

The Science of Caloric Restriction and Weight Loss Nutrition

2013-08-18T22:57:00.000-07:00

The Science of Weight Loss: Part 1

There is a considerable amount of science: research, lab time, math, and trial and error that has brought us to where we are now in our current understanding of the science of weight loss. Research is always being conducted to further investigate how much of a role exercise has, compared to proper eating, compared to other things like genetics, lifestyle, environment, and so on.

(Since this is a lengthy post, I created a video-summary for you! Also, you should subscribe to my YouTube channel for more, upcoming videos. You should also like the video, and share it!)

First, we must address some definitions.

A Calorie.

What is a Calorie?

We see them counted on the back of our food labels, and we sometimes track our Calories when we watch what we eat. Perhaps you’ve seen that carbs and proteins have 4 of them per gram, and fats have 9 per gram- but what does that even mean?

A Calorie is a unit of energy- more precisely, it is a unit of heat energy. If I hold a match underneath 1 gram of water, to the effect that I raise that water by 1 degree Celsius, the amount of heat that I introduced was 1 Calorie’s worth. So if I eat 100 Calories worth of food, I’m consuming energy that my body can transfer in a process called bioenergetics to a useable and combustible heat energy that results in muscle contraction, and work. So, therefore, that same unit of energy is also associated with the amount of work, or exercise that our muscles generate.

Sort of.

Mathematically, 1 Calorie is equal to 1 Calorie, but the accuracy of that math changes when we change the environment of that Calorie. Calories are identified in devices known as bomb calorimeters, and it has long been identified that different sources of foods yield different amounts of Calories. A bomb calorimeter works by enclosing a piece of food in the device, surrounding the food by a set amount of water, igniting the food, and seeing how much it raises the temperature of the water. A bomb calorimeter is a closed system, or in other words, a constant and controlled environment. Mathematically, that’s great- but the human body is very much so an open system. Many processes, allergies, diseases, hormonal and other various reactions occur at the same time making 1 food item result in different amounts of heat for different people.

For example, if I have a friend who is lactose intolerant, then 1 cup of milk is going to yield a different amount of Calories for him than it would for me since I’m not lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is roughly defined by the absence of the enzyme lactase- without that enzyme, the carbohydrate molecule lactose cannot be broken down, and the body sees it as it does a fiber. If my friend is not breaking down the carbohydrates from milk, then he’s not getting the Calories from those carbohydrates either. You can imagine that slight allergies or metabolic diseases would influence the rate at which you break down foods, directly effecting the Calories we gain from food. You can also imagine how the Calories we gain from food might be a little different for everyone.

You may have heard that 1 lb of fat is equal to 3500 Calories. Since a calorie is unit of heat, it’s more accurate to say that 1 lb of fat can store 3500 Calories. Since our muscles can exercise and generate work in units of Calories, it’s perhaps safe to assume that if we exercise for 3500 Calories worth of work, then we would lose 1 lb. I’ve been working in the fitness industry long enough to know that that math does not always add up for everyone that way. Perhaps you’ve dieted, counted your calories, and you know that eliminating 3500 Calories worth of food over the course of a week frustratingly does not always result in 1 lb lost, like it should!

Let’s examine the value, or weight of a Calorie. Recently I was able to attend the NSCA’s national conference and sat in on a special interest group (SIG) on weight loss, nutrition, and metabolism, where the current guidelines were being discussed by a handful of brilliant scientists. These guys were comparing the current equations to estimate Caloric needs with what they’re finding in their labs, and to my surprise, a lot of the common methods of estimating Caloric needs were severely off, and very underestimated among athletes. The Harris-Benedict equation was underestimating Caloric needs among individuals who were regularly active, and it was recommended that athletes use the Cunningham equation for greater accuracy. Most of the common equations use the body's calculated surface area to quantify your size for Caloric consumption. Upon investigation (by the scientists as discussed at the NSCA SIG), accounting for fat-free mass is a more accurate predictor of Caloric needs that body surface area.

Highlighted clippings from the Cunningham article, representing the Cunningham equation for resting metabolic rate. A = age, and M = body mass in kilograms, and that's a division sign before the 73.2.

Since a lot of you may not have access to an exercise physiology, or a respiratory lab, you probably don’t have the equipment to interpret your actual Caloric needs, and depend on more practical measures like BMR equations, or apps that do them for you. If those equations are accurate within an acceptable range, then at best, you’re getting a ballpark number. In other words, No matter how hard you try to eat to the exact number of Calories that your equation or device says you should, you’re probably off by a bit.

But let’s just say that you did know the exact # of Calories that you needed to meet your Caloric needs per day and that you were 100% compliant to that. According to the idea that 1 lb is equal to 3500 Calories worth of energy, if you were to eat 1 medium sized banana every day of your life in addition to your exact Caloric needs, you would gain 105 Calories worth of energy per day, or 1 lb’s worth every 33 days. That translates into approximately 11 lbs every year. To put it further into perspective, From the time you graduate high school to the time you graduate from college, that’s enough to add approximately 50 lbs

Likewise, according to the hypothetical model of 1 lb = 3500 Calories, if you reduced a banana’s worth of Calories from your exact nutritional needs, you would lose 11 lbs per year.

Here’s why that sort of math doesn’t apply to everyone: People everywhere around the world, since the beginning of time, would be gaining 110 lbs or losing 110 lbs every 10 years of their life in addition to their normal weight development. According to the idea that 3500 Calories = 1 lb, people would be too morbidly obese or mortally underweight to live past their 20s. And that’s even assuming they know their exact Caloric needs and eat just that amount plus or minus a banana, which most people don’t and even if they tried, practically no one can without a lab because even the most accurate equations have a large range of error.

So the human body has some resilience to gaining and losing weight. It’s that resilience that makes the science of weight loss, such a science.

According to my notes from the NSCA 2013 national conference SIG on Weight Loss, Nutrition and Metabolism, 3 principles of weight loss were discussed:

Rate of weight loss should be slow

Athletes should consider losing 0.7 - 1.0% of their body mass per week

Do no reduce dietary protein when dieting
Perform resistance training during energy restriction (Caloric restriction)

When you lose a pound- how much of it is fat?

You would certainly hope that ALL of it is fat, but there are all sorts of other composites of that pound, in addition to the fat, including mostly muscle mass, water. But how much of each of those make up the pound you might lose?

Depending on how well you follow the above 3 principles, you can manipulate the distribution of what's in that pound to make it as much fat as possible that you lose. Since Caloric equations may be misleading, healthy eating guidelines and gram/kilogram-body-mass formulas are becoming increasingly useful. The main speaker from the NSCA SIG cited his own work, indicating that if dietary protein consumption was less that 1.5 g/kg-body-mass, then 61 - 70% of every pound you lose comes from lean body mass. To optimize fat loss during weight loss, new guidelines are being published by the NSCA indicating that 1.5 - 2.3 g of protein/kg (or 3 g protein/kg lean body mass) optimally helps to retains lean body mass. Furthermore, the previous weight loss guidelines encouraged males and females to reduce Calories by 500 - 1000 kCals/day and 250 - 500 kCals/day respectively, but that is being done away with and replaced by a unified percentage of restricting 20% of your total daily Caloric needs.

So let's put this all into perspective:

If you follow the Cunningham equation (which is described as the most accurate for active individuals), and you are 70 kg of lean body mass, and you need to consume approximately 2300 kCals/day to maintain weight. You would aim to consume between 160 - 210 g of protein per day, while calling it a day after consuming between 1800 - 1900 kCals. And while exercising regularly, you would be sure include resistance training exercises to avoid losing lean body mass in your weight loss, thus increasing the amount of fat lost in every pound you shed.

There are all sorts of diets out there. I'm not encouraging any particular one. My wife and I are mostly vegetarian, and I still find ways to consume high amounts of protein to meet the above guidelines, high amounts of carbohydrates to fuel my fitness, and low dietary fat.

The CrossFit handbook suggests distributing your macro-nutrients by consuming 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbohydrates, and encourages the Paleo-diet.

The American Cancer Society has published a lot of work on maintaining all dietary fats below 10% (check out this great podcast from the Huffines Institute from a cancer researcher about WHY fat should be below 10% to reduce the risk of cancer)

The American Diabetes Association also says fats should be low, and encourages a low (less than 15%) protein consumption (if you're diabetic, you have at-risk kidneys- this recommendation does not apply to non-diabetics).

There are so many supported ways to distribute your food and "eat healthy." My friend from middle school who's gone on to become a very accomplished dietitian, Lindsay Stenovec, MS, RDN, CLEC, supports the kind of diet that you can sustain- and I agree.

My personal recommendation is for you to investigate the diets that are out there- do incredible amounts of homework on them all, examine the health benefits, make sure you understand the health implications and compatibility of the diets with your current state, and consult a dietitian if you have questions beyond your scope of understanding. If it feels right, ask yourself if you can sustain it for the rest of your life- diets shouldn't be short-term eating habits, but should be a healthy way of life. I've provided some evidence-based approaches to help you understand weight loss, and weight loss nutrition, and hopefully this helps you to make the best decisions available, and promote a healthier life.

The Science of Weight Loss

2013-08-11T14:46:00.002-07:00

It's sickening how weight loss is inappropriately advertised.

Here's an example taken from The Fluidity Bar website:

"Did you know strength training - not cardio - is the key to losing weight? Fluidity's whole-body, weight-bearing movement increases your lean muscle mass, thereby increasing your metabolism. So you burn more calories - faster - than with cardio.
An exercise routine based solely on cardio will burn fat, but it will also decrease your lean muscle mass. Although you may lose weight, you are also losing muscle weight thereby lowering your metabolism which will increase your stored fat over time instead of reducing fat! Fluidity, on the other hand, increases your lean muscle mass thereby increasing your metabolism so you burn more fat and calories - even when you sleep. Furthermore, when you strength train, you make small tears in your muscle tissue. Your body's process of repairing these small tears creates muscle and expends calories; this process, known as the "Afterburn", is the reason you continue to burn calories for up to 48 hours after a Fluidity workout - compared to just two hours after a cardio workout."

(http://www.fluidity.com/burn-calories.php)

So many things are wrong about the above statement. Specifically:

Running does not lower your metabolism. There are numerous metabolic adaptations from any form of cardiovascular exercise.
Running does not increased stored fat over time. Aerobic metabolism (resistance training employs anaerobic metabolism for energy production, and running stresses aerobic metabolism to improve) is the only metabolic pathway that uses fats for energy production. The body adapts to an increase in aerobic exercise by making fat breakdown more efficient in preparation for better exercise performance in the future. There's just no way that the body of a runner would store more fat over time compared to a non-runner.
The relationship between body weight exercises and protein synthesis (the process to develop muscle) is low, compared to other forms of resisted exercise. Running is a body weight exercise too, by the way, it just uses body weight in different volumes. Protein synthesis does add a greater total Caloric expenditure to your day, but a body weight exercise is probably one of the least efficient methods of promoting protein synthesis out of most exercise options.
"Afterburn" is not the name for repairing damaged muscle tissue. The Caloric expenditure associated with repairing damaged muscle is more closely defined under EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption).
EPOC from a Fluidity workout is entirely doubtful to last 48 hours. The EPOC of resistance training depends on the intensity, volume, and the muscle groups impacted. In a review of the effect of exercise intensity, duration, and mode on EPOC by Bersheim & Bahr in 2003, published in the journal Sports Medicine, volume 33, issue 14, the authors compared 13 peer reviewed articles that examined EPOC from resistance training (all used way higher intensities than body weight) and the EPOC size and duration ranged from 15 minutes to 15 hours, impacting 5.5 to 51 extra Calories expended. It's possible that resistance training can cause an EPOC lasting 48 hours, but the possible limitations of the reviewed articles wouldn't or couldn't afford that long of a testing duration. I'd really like to see the study that the authors of the Fluidity website are citing when they say, "you continue to burn calories for up to 48 hours after a Fluidity workout - compared to just two hours after a cardio workout." I don't buy it.

Adipocytes - the yellow droplet is fat. Fat cells have nuclei,
secrete hormones, and do more than just serve as fat storage.

I walked into a supplement shop close to my home and I overheard the salesman helping a lady who was interested in buying weight loss supplements, and he was repeating to her a very scripted sales pitch on how the product works, which was inflated like the Fluidity quote above. I don't blame him since he was just repeating a script that he assumed was correct, and was doing what he felt was right to help this lady. But the problem is that misinformation is being leaked out of what appear to be trustworthy sources. This blog, for instance! Hopefully you consider me a trustworthy source, but how do you know? I've had the most frustrating debates with certified personal trainers about metabolism where they've been so stubborn even after I have presented the evidence from my own exercise physiology research and heard in reply, "...no, I'm pretty sure I'm right, and your data on 50 human subjects, and textbook references, and multiple peer-reviewed articles that back up your work are all coincidentally wrong."

So I'm writing this blog series, to be published over the next four weeks

The Science of Weight Loss

The Science of Caloric Restriction, and Weight Loss Nutrition (8/18)
The Biochemistry of Weight Loss (8/25)
What is Metabolism? (9/1)
The Exercise Physiology of Weight Loss (9/8)

You can expect evidence-based explanations on the subjects above to provide the most accurate understanding behind each topic. The references and evidence-based approach is how you can have the reassurance that this blog series will indeed be a trustworthy source amid all the product marketing and bias behind the science of weight loss.

Strength and Conditioning of Competitive Dance

2013-05-11T17:30:00.004-07:00

I created this video as a part of a strength and conditioning program that I'm working on for competitive dance, which is modeled after the Dance Alliance team from Brigham Young University - Idaho.

Optimal Stride Length

2013-05-08T19:23:00.003-07:00

Written by Trevor Bennion

Exercise Technique:
Optimal Stride Length for Sprinting and Endurance Running

According to Cissik (2005), maximum velocity is a function of stride frequency and stride length, but that’s only applicable during sprinting, or short distances. Cissik (2005) provides a formula for maximal stride length for men (2.5 to 2.7 * the leg length from the greater trochanter of the femur to the floor) and for women (2.3 to 2.5 * * the leg length from the greater trochanter of the femur to the floor), and gives an example of a male runner with a leg length of 36 inches, yielding an optimal stride length of 94.5 inches or 240.03 cm. The author suggests training between 60 – 105% of optimal stride length (144 cm to 252 cm, if we continue with the example math provided in the article).

Here’s why that’s inappropriate for endurance runners:

“On average, efficiency ranges between 20 and 25% for walking, running, and stationary cycling (McArdle, Katch, & Katch, 2010, p. 208).” Following that quote, in the same textbook, is an image, which I have attached to this post. It is an image from a foreign physiology journal (I tried to track down the article, but full access was unavailable and it is not in English … double strike out. The textbook reference will have to do). According to the research behind this graph, presented by McArdle, Katch, and Katch (2010), stride length plays an influential role in energy expenditure, and economy. For the exampled numbers above, running at 14 km/hr (~8.7 mph), a stride length of around 134 cm has the least amount of oxygen demands, best suited for endurance running. That means even the encouraged stride length by Cissik (2005) of 60% at 144 cm is too long of a stride for endurance athletes capable of a fast 14 km/hr pace.

I love my vibrams and my merrell running shoes. Minimalist running is the best form of running for me, because it helped me to overcome my shin splints and foot pronation by adopting a fore-foot strike in my running mechanics, since running heel-to-toe causes instability in the ankle joint (Squadrone & Gallozzi, 2011). Any shortening effect on my stride length, or any endurance runner’s stride length, is only advantageous because it’s only going to settle in the oxygen consumption sweet spot and improve running economy for long distance performance

Cissik, J. (2005). Means and methods of speed training: Part II. Strength and Conditioning Journal , 27 (1), 18 - 25.

McArdle, B., Katch, F., & Katch, V. (2010). Exercise physiology: Nutrition, energy, and human performance (7th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Squadrone, R., & Gallozzi, C. (2011). Effect of a five-toed minimal protection shoe on static and dynamic ankle position sense. Journal of Sports Medicine & Physical Fitness , 51 (3), 401 - 408.

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

2013-04-15T15:18:00.003-07:00

I assigned a homework project to my students to create a PSA on various diseases. Here is one group's excellent video to explain the lifestyle interventions necessary for overcoming chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Enjoy!

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

2013-04-15T15:17:00.001-07:00

Enjoy!

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Diabetes

2013-04-15T15:16:00.003-07:00

I assigned a homework project to my students to create a PSA on various diseases. Here is one group's excellent video to explain the lifestyle interventions necessary for overcoming diabetes.

Enjoy!

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Hypertension

2013-04-15T15:15:00.003-07:00

I assigned a homework project to my students to create a PSA on various diseases. Here is one group's excellent video to explain the lifestyle interventions necessary for overcoming hypertension

Enjoy!

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

2013-04-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

Enjoy!

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Dyslipidemia

2013-04-15T15:14:00.001-07:00

I assigned a homework project to my students to create a PSA on various diseases. Here is one group's excellent video to explain the lifestyle interventions necessary for overcoming dyslipidemia.

These guys crack me up! Enjoy!

Stress and Poor Eating Habits

2012-06-02T17:14:00.002-07:00

Psychology has always intrigued me. I admire it a lot and read about it often. I get excited when I learn something about psychology and see how it affects the motor skills, nervous system, and overall physical activity. Recently, I came across an interesting article. I was trying to find any research that linked stress and poor eating habits.

Sure enough, when we are stressed, we can create a dopamine response from eating that turns into a reward circuitry in our brain, leading to over-eating and eventual diabetes and metabolic syndrome (Sharma & Fulton, 2012). Furthermore, consumption of high-fat foods not only created a reward response, but also induced plasticity-related changes in the part of your brain that is one of the dopaminergic pathways in the brain that creates results of depression and anxiety. In other words, if a person is stressed and eats high-fat foods because it makes them feel better (dopamine response), they’re only creating more long term stress by inducing depression and anxiety. The study used mice as subjects, measuring hormone responses and brain activity in the limbic regions while providing high-fat and low-fat food interventions for 12 weeks.

The good news, in case you weren't aware: exercise is one of the best things you can do to reduce stress and delivers one of the strongest anti-stress responses in the body, second to sleeping. So even when you're super stressed, and the only thing you can think about is junk food- know that you and your body will be much happier if you put your running shoes on instead and vent your stress in the gym. I'll address exercise as a stress reducer soon enough and in much more detail in its own dedicated post.

Sharma, S., & Fulton, S. (2012). Diet-induced obesity promotes depressive-like behaviour that is associated with neural adaptations in brain reward circuitry. International Journal of Obesity , [Epub ahead of print].

The Effects of Dehydration on Exercise

2012-06-02T16:31:00.002-07:00

Thirst is a complicated physiological mechanism that is affected by many variables beyond hydration status. While physiological function and performance decrease during dehydration of 2% or greater of body weight (Kenney, Wilmore, & Costill, 2012), Dr. Dan Judelson has noticed that thirst doesn’t occur until after 2% body weight loss by fluid loss (NSCA, 2003). In other words, by the time you are thirsty, physiological alterations which have been shown to impede performance may already be in effect. If engaging in resistance training, dehydration up to 4.8% body mass loss has been shown to significantly alter the endocrine and metabolic internal environments before and after acute, intense resistance exercise (Judelson, et al., 2008). It was measured that resistance exercise stimulated less testosterone and a greater cortisol response in male subjects after an acute exercise session during hypohydration compared to euhydration.

This occurs because with reduced fluids in the body, blood plasma volume decreases, which reduces blood pressure and blood flow to muscles and skin (Kenney, Wilmore, & Costill, 2012). This affects muscle function and thermoregulation.

As summer approaches and ambient temperatures increase, it is important to remember the ACSM recommendation to drink enough fluids only to replace what was lost without excess, since drinking too much water can further dilute the lowered electrolyte balance from sweat. (American College of Sports Medicine, 2010).

American College of Sports Medicine. (2010). ACSM's Resource Manual for Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (6th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Judelson, D. A., Maresh, C. M., Yamamoto, L. M., Farrell, M. J., Armstrong, L. E., Kraemer, W. J., et al. (2008). Effect of hydration state on resistance exercise-induced endocrine markers of anabolism, catabolism, and metabolism. Journal of Applied Physiology , 105 (3), 816 - 824.

Kenney, W. L., Wilmore, J. H., & Costill, D. L. (2012). Physiology of sport and exercise. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

NSCA. (2003). NSCA Podcasts. Retrieved from www.nsca-lift.org: http://nsca-lift.org/podcast/Judelson_Dan_1108.mp3

Multivitamins

2012-03-31T12:26:00.003-07:00

I remember having a nutrition teacher who taught us that multivitamins were a marketing scam. She taught us that we can get all the vital nutrients by eating a well rounded diet, and that paying extra money for a multivitamin was not only a waste of money (some of them are agreeably pricey), but she stressed to us the potential danger of overloading on certain vitamins. It's true- you can overdose on vitamins and minerals. We had a whole unit of study dedicated to the signs and symptoms of vitamin consumption beyond the recommended upper limit.

I was convinced that multivitamins were bad.

I started seeing the different types of multivitamin variations (i.e., sport, 50+, just for men, just for women, etc.) as all the more of a marketing scam. According to my teacher, and according to my textbook, it all seemed to make so much sense!

Then... I started practicing in my field; working with individuals through physical activity and nutritional barriers, to help them reach their health and fitness goals.

It all came to me that it's only a very small population that actually eats according to the textbook. Furthermore, people have diseases, risk factors for disease, family history of diseases, and things that make their physiology unique, perhaps even despite a perfectly well rounded diet. I started looking into things a lot deeper and noticing how simple vitamin and mineral additions here and there were part of minimizing certain side effects of specific medications, preventing health problems down the line, and a good peace of mind for the days when our diets aren't exactly textbook.

My conclusion- multivitamins are good and should definitely be in your shelf.

I buy my multivitamin from Costco, because it's the only place that I've found locally to have their supplements USP (U.S. Pharmacopeia) certified. That's important because supplements aren't regulated by governing agencies like the FDA, so a lot of supplement companies aren't checked for purity, or for content. The USP, however, does check for content and purity, so I'm confident that what's actually on the label with the specified amounts is legitimate.

Do athletes need a special vitamin?

Not really. I think this is where my old nutrition teacher hit it right on the nose. It is often advertised that athletes, or those who engage in regular, vigorous exercise, need extra B vitamins.

Check this out:

This is a chart I made to show the function of vitamins and minerals.

If you look up at the B Vitamins, you see a lot of energy production stuff. That sounds nice. ...But let me clarify: B Vitamins don't give you energy. It's not a stimulant, like caffeine, or anything. B Vitamins serve as intermediates in energy production. In other words, they are the step by step chemicals in the process of converting carbs and fats into useable energy. If you are considerably low in B Vitamins, you will feel fatigued because the limiting factors in the energy to make your muscles contract are running on empty. Even then, the amount of B Vitamins in a standard multivitamin is more than plenty.

The only justification for a sports multivitamin is for the extra supplements mixed in. Sometimes they'll include amino acids, or other sports supplements, which may cost more money if you were to buy them separately.

I know I'm just scratching the surface on vitamins and minerals, but I think this is a pretty good summary. If you have any specific questions, send me a tweet or a fb message, or even a comment down below (I love comments) and I'll be sure to address your questions.

Functional Squat Depth: How Deep is Too Deep?

2012-03-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

The proper depth of a squat exercise for an individual requires a lot of physics. It is much more practical to go by “general rules” for squat depth, but to the issue of either pushing the joint to full range of motion, or limited range of motion at full strength, there is certainly a happy medium where both ends of the spectrum can be satisfied. That’s possible by virtue of the body’s amazing adaptability.

Hips parallel to knees. Is this too low of a squat?

At first I wanted to try the physics equations and have them presented in this discussion post. Using an assumed standard for knee joint stress capacity, I wanted to have the different joint angles and show the maximum amounts of resistance that can put to use in a squat exercise. Sorry to disappoint, but all that math got way too cumbersome and complicated, so it will have to be worked out at a later time. But the idea behind it is really the heart of this discussion. The ACSM (2010) says that when the knee joint goes past 90 degrees, the knee now endures 7.6 times the sheering forces. For the longest time I read that as a warning to never push beyond that joint angle. The true question is how intense of sheering forces can the knee joint endure safely? The NSCA (2008) has published that part of the endocrine responses to exercise can help rebuild cartilage and help heal synovial joints. That indicates the trainability of those joints.

In an article that is still ahead-of-print for the NSCA’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Moore, Drinkwater, and Bird (2012) took a look at various articles measuring squat depth and performance and measured for the first time the comparison of kinetic properties from a full range of motion squat to a partial range of motion squat. They found that the full range of motion squat (hips parallel to knees) at 5 rep max (RM) and 10RM, and partial range of motion squat (knees bent at 90 degree angle) at 5RM maximized work, velocity, power and force, while the partial range of motion squat at 10RM was not advantageous at any of the criteria. The authors of the article recommend full range of motion squats at a moderate to heavy load for the full and true benefits of the squat exercise. It should also be noted that 1RM of the full range of motion squats was on average about 120kg lighter than the 1RM of the partial range of motion squats, so the authors are not recommending using the same work load with more extreme joint angles.

Current research shows that for functional capacity
this type of deep squat is appropriate when done right.

The findings in this article support the idea of using the joint to a greater range of motion, and also support the idea of using the joint’s strength to its fullest capacity. It’s a relationship understood as when the squat depth increases, the strength capacity against the knee flexion reduces. As we push our athletes and clients to grow, while obeying the relationship between squat depth and strength, we’ll keep their knees safe and their functional capacity high.

ACSM (2010). ACSM’s certification review (3^rd ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

NSCA (2008). Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning (3^rd ed.). Champaign: Human Kinetics.

Moore, N., Drinkwater, E., Bird, S. (2012). Effects of changing from full range of motion to partial range of motion on squat kinetics. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Publish Ahead of Print, Jan 2012, 1-23

Running Better and Reducing Injuries

2012-03-08T10:28:00.001-07:00

It is getting beautiful outside. I'm pretty sure that the sunlit perfect conditions lately in what should be the frozen tundra of East Idaho might have a cataclysmic biblical reference, but for now, I'm getting my running shoes on and soaking it in.

Running causes a lot of people a lot of grief, unfortunately. Whether you're a minimalist runner, or you prefer the comfortable stride of a cushioned running shoe, here are some synopses of articles I've read that you may put to use to prevent injuries and enjoy a great running season!

Poor body mechanics, fatigue, muscle compensation, and multiple other factors in running lead towards repetitive forces on lower extremity bones and joints, which can accumulate to the point of causing stress fractures. Proper training, and conditioning can help to delay fatigue, but each stride may still be loading the bones and joints of the lower extremities with the same intensity of forces that may lead to injury. In a study measuring force impact of different stride lengths, it was found that a correlation to stride length and mileage was linked to stress fractures (Edwards, Taylor, Rudolphi, Gillette, & Derrick, 2009). This study determined that a 10% decrease in stride length can be universally applied to runners to significantly reduce the risk of tibial stress fractures.

This makes sense when considering Newton’s laws of motion. If I jump in the air, the force I use to lift my body up will be met equally with impact when I make contact with the ground again. If the stride is relatively long, then the forces to lift the body up and propel the body forward must be as great, which will be equally met when the body makes contact with the ground. If the stride is shorter, however, the forces to lift and move the body into forward motion will be relatively less (all depending on the difference in the stride distance), but will ultimately result in reduced impact forces.

Running injuries have been correlated to running economy (RE) (Edwards, Taylor, Rudolphi, Gillette, & Derrick, 2009). If you strength train, lose body fat percentage, and change your stride length, how much better will your RE get, and what other factors may be involved with its improvement? I came across an article that really seemed to deeply examine the factors of RE, and to briefly summarize the findings, there was no correlation to maximal strength in the leg press exercise to RE, but there was a correlation between RE and body fat percentage (R= 0.62), height (R = 0.61), and VO2max (R=0.93) (Storen, Helgerud, & Hoff, 2011). In addition to the aforementioned factors, stride length was shown to be the most practical application to improving RE. If a runner were to spend less energy to lift the body vertically in each stride, and shorten the horizontal distance before the body makes contact again with the ground, running economy will improve while maintaining running performance as seen in elite runners running 3,000 meters for time.

Having a shorter stride has been supported by Edwards et al (2009) to reduce the risk of tibial stress fractures. If we can train for greater RE, then we can delay fatigue and improve body mechanics, which will help to reduce running injuries.

Edwards, W. B., Taylor, D., Rudolphi, T., Gillette, J., & Derrick, T. (2009). Effects of stride length and running mileage on a probabilistic stress fracture model. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 41(12), 2177 - 2184.

Storen, O., Helgerud, J., & Hoff, J. (2011). Running stride peak forces inversely determine running economy in elite runners. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(1), 117 - 123.

Total Body Exercises

2012-01-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Single joint exercises certainly have their place in life. They are perfect during physical therapy, when a joint can only handle a lighter load or simple skills. For athletic performance, there may be a specific motion that you are trying to make more proficient, and training that single joint motion against resistance would then make sense.

For overall health, however, straying away from single joint exercises and implementing more multi-joint, large muscle group exercises is more effective. When resistance is applied over the whole body, or over large parts of it, you have a greater health-benefit-response working for you compared to isolating single muscle groups. Lets take The Snatch for instance. In the starting position, knees and ankle joints are bent, the hips are rotated into the lordotic position and the shoulders are rolled back, thus using all your vertebrae, and as the exercise commences, the elbow joint gets involved and about all these aforementioned joints are either flexed or extended against resistance! The bones in your body, the hormonal response to this one lift, metabolic adaptations, nervous responses and blood flow, and the muscles, are all phenomenally strengthened in comparison to the guys next to you who will only be doing bicep curls and tricep extensions that day.

This is a great picture, showing the different phases of The Snatch... however the beginning phase is not shown. This exercise begins with the bar on the ground and the body bent down over it. Also, this lady would need to stand at the end.

The Snatch is an extreme example. It is probably the most complicated skill in all of resistance training because there are so many phases to it, but its complexity is what makes it all the more beneficial and dynamic.

Applicable total body exercises that you can substitute into your training regimen today are:

The Squat

There are a lot of great variations (i.e., the front squat, as pictured above, back squat, overhead squat, step ups, and the limitless variations you can do while holding dumbbells in conjunction with the squat.

The Power Clean

Variations include the snatch, and the clean with a jerk press at the end.

Bent Over Row

Try this one with barbells or dumbbells. This one is the most simple skill of the total body exercises because the joints in motion are only the arms, while the legs remain static. Nonetheless, if you look at this guy in the picture, all his joints are either flexed or extended for proper execution. I recommend this one for both beginners and advance lifters.

Exercises that are a little less "total body", but still multi-join, large muscle group exercises include bench press, lat pull down, lunges, etc.

For more examples of great exercises with the step by step instructions on how to do them right, check out the National Strength and Conditioning Association's exercise video library.

Please let me know if you have any questions about today's post by leaving a comment below. If you have further questions about other fitness topics, you can reach me on Twitter.

Controlling Your Weight

2012-01-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, life is all about controlling your health. If you maintain the ability to control your health (as much as is within control) you live up to your potential to see your family grow up, help your neighbors move heavy furniture, lift groceries from your car to your highest cupboard, and enjoy all the activities that come your way.

A big step in controlling your health is in controlling your weight.

Recently, I got a request on facebook to address the topic of losing the fat that subtly creeps up on you. My buddy Nate says:

Nate, thank you for your question and interest. You bring up a really good question about what method is better for burning fat: aerobic or anaerobic exercise?

Since this is UnderstandingExercise, not only will we go over what's best, but we'll go deeper to find out why.

1. Workout Patterns Ideal for Burning Fat

The answer is to combine both aerobic and anaerobic exercise. So, in other words, lift your weights and do your cardio. I echo the recommendation of the ACSM to split your cardio into 2 separate sessions to optimize EPOC and Caloric expenditure.

When I work out with my clients, I have an admittedly atypical plan of attack. It sometimes even confounds my colleagues. I rarely tell my clients to exercise specific muscle groups. I almost never plan "Bicep and Tricep days" or "Chest and Back days" like most fitness professionals, or magazines suggest. I typically recommend total body, large muscle group, multi-joint exercises all the time. I avoid over-training syndrome in my clients my monitoring the intensity of exercises throughout the week rather than monitoring the muscle groups. Here's why: If you have a killer bicep workout and the health benefits of exercise are circulating through your blood, well... good for you. Unfortunately, the bicep is a relatively small muscle group when compared to the entire body and the health benefits will not carry the relative impact. If you apply the same intensity of a workout with total body exercises, then the health benefits circulating through your blood will be much more meaningful to the body in comparison. In my eyes, having Monday be an "arms day" and Tuesday be a "calves and abs day" seems like an uphill battle to see results for improving health. The only population I can see that type of fitness scheme being successful is for body builders who isolate and polish certain muscle groups.

Check out my Do You Lift Weights? blog post to read more about the aforementioned health benefits of lifting weights.

Recommendation:

Start with a nice, long dynamic warm-up
Run hard on the treadmill/elliptical/bike for up to 30 - 45 mins
Lift weights that apply stress to the entire body, strengthening large muscle groups over multiple joints

Intensity here can vary. If you're exercising like this everyday, then look into an undulated periodization scheme where one day is a high intensity day followed by a low intensity day and a moderate intensity day so you don't run the risk of over-training.

Run hard on the cardio equipment again for up to 30 - 45 mins
Cool down with some static stretching

2. Why are Both Strength Training and Cardiovascular Exercise the Ideal Combo for Weight Loss?

When I was working in the labs, conducting research on comparing Caloric expenditure for different abdominal exercise modalities, I always asked the participants how many Calories they thought they burned after doing as many sit ups as they could before hitting complete exhaustion. Amidst their huffing and puffing as the lab tech helps them remove their indirect calorimetry mask, they all guess that they burned upwards to 150, 200, or even 250 Calories. Some of them, after all, had maintained a constant tempo of sit ups for 3 minutes straight, and had worked really hard. I couldn't help but break the truth to them that all their hard work had only equaled about ... 12 kcals or so. Some of the participants had gotten up to around 15, or 17 kcals, but not much higher than that. It's true- resistance exercises do not burn many Calories! As a matter of fact, cardiovascular exercise improves blood flow, helps develop new capillaries, and increases the amount of mitochondria (the organelles, in which carbohydrates and fats are metabolized into energy), while resistance training actually decreases the density of mitochondria and capillaries!

....So from a weight loss perspective, why is resistance training even included? Why not just do cardio?

From a metabolism and weight loss stand point, it looks like resistance training is counter-intuitive. Yet we see guys who only lift weights and they have ultra low body fat percentage as if their metabolism is working overtime. Here's why:

While not enhancing the metabolism within the cell directly, long term resistance training has indirect effects that helps to burn fat and assist in the Caloric burn of cardio. In the text Essentials of Strength and Conditioning (3rd ed.) Dr. Kraemer discusses the hormonal responses in the body that are induced by exercise. For men, certain protocols will enhance testosterone (TST) concentrations, which really help to burn fat and develop muscle tone and strength. For women, certain protocols will enhance growth hormone (GH) concentrations, which will help with just about everything good in the body, including burning fat and carbohydrates more efficiently, developing more tone muscle, tightening the skin and improving collagen, and improving joint health.

Proper, and long term strength training helps to stimulate a hormonal response that helps to burn more fat and trim down. When combined with a great cardiovascular exercise program that will get you burning Calories immediately and developing a more efficient metabolism, you will begin to see amazing changes in your body composition and you'll be burning fat at a great pace!

Please let me know if you have any questions about today's post by leaving a comment below. If you have further questions about other fitness topics, you can reach me on Twitter.

Fat Burn: Exercising on an empty stomach

2011-12-12T11:48:00.002-07:00

Do you burn more fat when you exercise on an empty stomach?

People always ask me,
"What foods help me to burn more fat?"

...Then, after a moment of assessing the situation, I tell them the truth:

"Well, fat helps you to burn more fat."

I almost always get this, "come on!" or "tell me for real!" response. Then I go into substrate availability and substrate utilization and stuff.
...But that's me answering the question literally, and not answering the question based off the phrase "burn fat". The phrase "burn fat" most typically means "lose fat", or "lose weight", and for that- the science and application is a little different. Losing weight usually requires a well rounded, healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables, with a slight Calorie deficit, combined with regular exercise. But still, people want to know how to amplify this proven formula and make weight loss even better specifically for them.

One of the most common ways people execute amplifying their weight loss is by skipping breakfast before a workout.

Does this work? Is there merit to such an idea?

Scientifically, it actually makes sense
... but practically speaking- I'm not so sold

This is a topic, in which I consider myself an expert. A few years back, under the direction of my professor, mentor, and friend, Dr. Eli Lankford, some colleagues and I reviewed all the literature we could find (we read every word of over 70 peer reviewed articles on this topic) and sought out to discover the differences in fat metabolism across different fitness levels. We wrote our proposal, presented it to the institutional review board, recruited test subjects, and took our hypothesis into the lab. For a little over 3 months, my friends Carl, Oliver, and Jason, along with Dr. Lankford tested how people who are sedentary, moderately active, and very active all burn fat.

Here's the fact:

Your body uses more fat for energy when you exercise on an empty stomach (The Effects of Increasing Exercise Intensity on Muscle Fuel Utilization in Humans)

But here's why I'm not sold on the practicality of this method:

If you skip breakfast and exercise you're body will only be able to work at maybe 30 - 40% capacity by virtue of the lack of energy. If you take the fat burn from someone who skipped breakfast and compare it with someone who ate a healthy breakfast and is able to exercise at 100% capacity, who will ultimately burn more fat by the end of an hour workout? I believe that the person who is able to work harder will burn more fat.
Fat burn is not fat loss. Just because your body is liberating more fatty acids for energy doesn't mean you're burning more Calories. In the study that my colleagues and I conducted, the greatest Caloric burn was achieved when participants were burning almost pure carbohydrates.

I've asked 3 of my friends, and the industry's greatest professionals what they think, and here are their responses

Cassy Freeman, BS CPT

"From what I've experienced and seen from my clients and others, I feel fasting before morning cardio definitely speeds up the fat loss process. You go right to fat burning mode, so you end up burning more fat and doing less cardio, then those that eat carbs before cardio. I only suggest doing it this way if you can do cardio first thing in the morning. If you can't, wait at least 2-3 hours after eating to do you cardio session. It is also so important to do high intensity interval training or keep your heart rate in a fat burning zone. Yes, I do feel low on energy at first, but once I get into the cardio I'm fine. I suggest eating immediately after the cardio session, getting healthy carbs and protein into your system. This will give you faster results, but eating an apple or having a protein shake is great too, if you feel you need the energy boost. Your results might take a little longer, but if you maintain a clean diet you will get where you need to be. It's not that your skipping breakfast, just doing cardio before you eat breakfast. I still eat my 6 meals a day when training this way. I have experimented with both and feel that for my body this produces the quickest way to fat loss."

Ian West, CPT

"From a personal perspective I feel that a light meal, even something as simple as a protein shake and an apple is beneficial to getting my metablolism started. I have read many things over the years on the subject. It also seems to me that people with fast twitch muscle perform better as the day goes on. People with slow twitch muscle seem to be able to perform early in the day."

Lindsay Ek Stenovec, MS RD

"Recently, a study was published that showed greater fat loss when subjects exercised on an empty stomach. However, we have to teach clients to focus on their general health, not just weight/fat loss, which might not actually be the outcome anyways. Weight loss/fat loss do not always result in healthier individuals. Exercising on an empty stomach is not a sustainable behavior. The quality of exercise and the overall quality of life can potentially be compromised. I always focus on nourishment and fuel."

Also, everyone should check out my friend Lindsay's website at http://www.nutritioninstincts.com, and follow her for nutrition tips. She's one of the greatest dieticians I know!

Calories

2011-11-23T12:05:00.001-07:00

What is a Calorie?

Well, when the C is capitalized, it refers to a kilogram calorie, or a kilocalorie, which refers to the amount of heat energy produced to raise the temperature of 1 mg (1 mL) of water by 1 degree Celsius. A kilocalorie accurately defines the calorific value of food as a unit of measurement for energy transfer in the human body.

Phew! Kind of an intense definition.
Typically, when we think of Calories, we think of macronutrients (i.e., carbohydrates, protein, and fats). Caloric values of macronutrients are generally accepted as thus:

Fats = 9 kcals/g

Protein = 4 kcals/g

Carbs = 4 kcals/g

Alcohol = 7 kcals/g

...but how? so if you drop 1 gram of fat into 1 L of water, it goes up 9 degrees C?

No.

Here's how it works:

You use a device called a bomb calorimeter.

Put some food in as a sample and light it on fire. The reaction changes the temperature of the water and gives us the exact amount of energy needed to do so.

According to McArdle, Katch and Katch (2010), different sources of macronutrient yield different caloric values. For example, 1 gram of beef or pork fat yields 9.5 kcals of energy, while oxidizing 1 gram of butter liberates 9.27 kcals.

The average heat of combustion for a lipid is 9.4 kcal per gram. The average heat of combustion for a carbohydrate is 4.2 kcal per gram, and the average heat of combustion for a protein is 5.65 per gram.

The generally accepted values above are just rounded down versions of the actual averages.

But what's up with protein? How does 5.65 kcals/g turn into the generally accepted 4 kcals/g that we've come to know and love?

It's that blasted Nitrogen that cannot be oxidized in the human body. In the body, nitrogen atoms combine with hydrogen to form urea (NH2CONH2), which the kidneys excrete in the urine. Elimination of hydrogen in this manner represents a loss of approximately 19% of the protein molecule’s potential energy. This hydrogen loss reduces protein’s heat of combustion to approximately 4.6 kcal/g instead of 5.65 kcal/g released during oxidation in the bomb calorimeter.

Nutrient Timing

2011-11-16T07:31:00.001-07:00

The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), which is the leading organization in applied physiology and athletic performance, has published a page on their website for Nutrient Timing Frequently Asked Questions.

I encourage you all to check it out, and apply these principles into your workout regimen, and to visit their website for tips and current research at www.nsca-lift.org!

But you may be wondering at this point,

What is "nutrient timing"?

Nutrient timing is a pretty popular subject in current exercise physiology research. It studies how the body uses certain nutrients at different times of the day, and how that can be applied to improve your health, fitness or athletic performance.

In my opinion, the most common and popular application of nutrient timing is the protein drink immediately after a workout. Is there any merit to drinking a protein shake after a workout? Does it have universal benefits to men and women, or is it just for bulking up?

Jose Antonio, Ph.D, CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist), prepared a collection of research results indicating the usefulness and proper application of nutrient timing. Dr. Rick Kreider, the department of Health & Kinesiology at Texas A&M also supports nutrient timing and supplementation- hear what he has to say about it !

Conversely, Dr. James Fluckey, a protein researcher, has found in his labs that timing nutrients does not play a role, but nutrient availability is what's key. In other words, it doesn't matter if you drink your protein shake right after you workout, as long as the protein is there when your muscles need it. That means you can drink it in the morning, or before you exercise and as long as your body can use it, it will be all the same. Hear what he has to say by opening this link in a new tab. I imagine Dr. Fluckey's bold findings ruffle some feathers among the supplement industry and in typical strength training tradition.

So, we have a variety of well documented and supported opinions on nutrient timing. Considering all the evidence to support both sides of the debate, what do you think about nutrient timing?

Do you drink a protein shake after your workout, and why?
What do you notice in your own personal workouts, performance and results if you take, or don't take supplements?

Nutrition November!

2011-11-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

Nutrition November

Recently, my wife and I decided to adopt a more whole food, plant based diet. We've kept it up for about a month, but I have to admit- it's tough to make such a big change. After all, I'd say one of my strongest qualities in life is turning a cut of meat into a culinary cuisine with nothing more than my spice rack and trusty BBQ.

I'm serious about how much I used to BBQ. Here's a picture of me last winter, not letting anything get between me and a smoked rack of spare ribs that I dry aged, and created homemade rubs and mops specific to the cut of meat.

For the most part, I'd say we're:

70% Vegan
25 % Vegetarian
5% Carnivore

It's a refining process, really. Hopefully we can hit the 100% mark in terms of whole food, plant based foods. I'd say we're official once we take the brave step into celebrating major holidays with veggieburger and FriChik.

"Why?" You might ask,

for health!

I dedicate the month of November to discussing these kinds of things and to justify not only why I would sacrifice such tasty things like meat, dairy products, refined sugars, and unnecessary oils, but why you should too.

Understanding Breast Cancer pt. 2

2011-10-31T20:56:00.001-07:00

the metabolism of Breast Cancer

Before we start discussing the metabolism of breast cancer, it's important to understand it in more general terms. Please check out my blog post on metabolism as an awesome preface. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that means that not only do you need to be aware of the struggles and sweet sacrifices of those around who endure breast cancer, but you also need to know about your own personal risk and where your health lies.

The effects of cancer on metabolism are not fully understood. Cancer treatments, however, have much more clarification on changes to metabolic processes. The purpose of many cancer treatments is to stop the division of the cancerous cell by targeting the cell metabolism. In a very recent study, Lee et al. tracked the metabolic processes of a variety of breast cancer treatment options and found that a common mechanism was rendering adenosine monophosphate kinase (AMPK) inactive, which plays a key role in regulating the creation of mitochondria in the muscle and neuronal cells. This is important because metabolism occurs in the mitochondria! The cessation of formation of new mitochondria helps to understand the cancer patient’s deep fatigue, and understand the physiologic expectations during exercise.

Without new mitochondria within the muscle and neuronal cell, the adaptations to aerobic exercise are limited. In conjunction with fatigue-induced sedentary lifestyle, it is to be expected that an individual undergoing cancer treatment would experience initial deconditioning, and endure a low cardiovascular fitness for the duration of the treatment. In a lecture at the ACSM national research conference in 2010, Dr. Miriam Morely taught that cancer therapy reduces VO2 peaks to about 5 METs. For this reason, an individual undergoing cancer treatment would expect to reach lactate threshold sooner than if they were not undergoing that same treatment. Nonetheless, the absolute intensity may be reduced, but it may still qualify as moderate-high intensity relative to the cancer patient/survivor’s current cardiovascular fitness conditioning.

For breast cancer patients and survivors, exercise can be very supportive and coincide with treatment. Exercise can help manage, not only your health, but also the devastating side effects of cancer and its treatment.

Human Metabolism

2011-10-26T01:12:00.002-07:00

Metabolism is a great word. Everyone I talk to while working at the gym is always trying to improve theirs. We all seem to have a grasp about the importance of a good metabolism, but really...

What IS metabolism?

By definition, me·tab·o·lism is:

"the sum of the physical and chemical processes in an organism by which its material substance is produced,
maintained, and destroyed, and by which energyis made available."

In other words, metabolism is when your cells cause certain chemicals to break down, or build up to create a new chemical. Metabolism can be broken down (you see what I did there?) into 2 categories: catabolism and anabolism.

Catabolism - the break down of a chemical. For example, when your body breaks down a fat (aka lipids) through a process called lipolysis to yield energy.
Anabolism - the building up of a chemical. For example, when your body builds up a long chain of glucose molecules into a large chemical called glycogen, which can be stored in the muscle and liver to be used at a later time as instantly available energy.

How do you increase your metabolism?

McArdle, W., Katch, F., & Katch, V. (2010).
Exercise physiology: Nutrition, energy and
human performance (7th ed.). pp. 459

Metabolic processes are going to occur in the cell's mitochondria. You increase your body's metabolism by increasing the size and number of mitochondria.

When you engage in cardiovascular exercise at moderate-high and vigorous intensities, the stress of exercise increases the demand for more mitochondria. Hormones that repair that muscle will actually communicate to the nucleus of that cell to create more mitochondria in order to keep up with your exercise. When you have larger mitochondria, and more of them, you are able to put more carbs and fats to use and break them down to create more energy.

Cardiovascular exercise increases your metabolism by increasing the function of mitochondria.

Resistance training, on the other hand, will actually decrease the amount of mitochondria in the cell. Interestingly enough however, when you combine cardiovascular exercise with resistance training in a regular exercise program, your capacity to lose overall fat increases. This is accomplished because resistance training improves your ratio of lean mass to body fat, and the more lean mass you add to your body, the higher your basal metabolic rate increases.

Resistance training increases your basal metabolic rate by increasing the amount of lean muscle mass.

McArdle, W., Katch, F., & Katch, V. (2010).
Exercise physiology: Nutrition, energy and human performance (7th ed.). pp. 461

The more you exercise (cardiovascular exercise and resistance training), the demand for more energy in your body will go up. Your body will meet those energy demands by increasing its metabolism. The key is to work hard, and stress those energy demands!

ACS on Exercise

2011-10-17T09:04:00.003-07:00

Colleen Doyle is one of the world's top cancer researchers, and has contributed a lot to understanding the relationship between exercise and cancer.

I highly esteem her words. Check out this video and incorporate more exercise and healthy living into your life!

Understanding Breast Cancer pt. 1

2011-10-13T07:49:00.004-07:00

What exactly IS breast cancer?
How do people get breast cancer? How do you prevent breast cancer incidence?

As a certified specialist Cancer Exercise Trainer, it is literally my specialty to understand the depths and effects of cancer, and know its physiologic relationship to exercise. As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we will consider the devastating effects that cancer has on the body, and the good news associated with one of the few things you can physiologically control- exercise!

Cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cellular growth, and can effect a cell in one of two ways:

Cancer causes the cell to floor the gas pedal
Cancer causes the cell to not have a break pedal

Both result in uncontrolled growth. It's dangerous because it can destroy the body where it is localized, and spread to all other parts of the body. A common way for cancer to spread is through the lymphatic system. Breast cancer can be particularly dangerous because it is within very close proximity to one of the body's lymph nodes.

Breast cancer is a disease of accelerated cell growth in breast tissue. In receptor positive cancers, the hormone sensitive tissue can exacerbate uncontrolled cell growth when high amounts of estrogen are secreted in the body (American Cancer Society, 2011). The American Cancer Society provides a detailed overview, further defining breast cancer.

Who gets breast cancer?

Age is a factor in developing breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society's epidemiology statistics report, "ninety-five percent of new cases and 97% of breast cancer deaths occurred in women 40 years of age and older."
Sometimes, your body is genetically predisposed to develop cancer, but more than likely the cause is environmental. Only about 5-10% of breast cancer incidence is thought to be genetic.

Here's a graph, by the American Cancer Society showing where breast cancer is most commonly diagnosed, indicating its strong environmental factors:

What you can do to prevent breast cancer

You guessed it- exercise!
The National Cancer Institute states:

"Based on solid evidence, exercising strenuously for more than 4 hours per week is associated with reduced breast cancer risk.

Magnitude of Effect: Average RR reduction is 30% to 40%. The effect may be greatest for premenopausal women of normal or low body weight."

So many studies have been conducted that support exercise as effective means of reducing the risk of cancer, being extremely beneficial during treatment, and improving survivorship after treatment.

Out of the many articles out there, one titled "Nutrition and physical activity during and after cancer treatment: An American Cancer Society Guide for Informed Choices" is my favorite. It's very approachable and readable and not too science-heavy, but perfectly informative. It covers everything from great nutrition and fitness guidelines for prevention, current patients, and survivors. Here's the link to read it for free.

For further information, visit both the American Cancer Society's web page cancer.org and the National Cancer Institutes web page cancer.gov. They are wonderful web sites with tons of great resources.

As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, do your best to participate in, or donate to local cancer fund raisers and activities. Above all, do your best to take care of your health with proper nutrition and regular exercise.

Understanding Exercise

The Science of Caloric Restriction and Weight Loss Nutrition

The Science of Weight Loss: Part 1

According to my notes from the NSCA 2013 national conference SIG on Weight Loss, Nutrition and Metabolism, 3 principles of weight loss were discussed:

So let's put this all into perspective:

The Science of Weight Loss

It's sickening how weight loss is inappropriately advertised.

So many things are wrong about the above statement. Specifically:

So I'm writing this blog series, to be published over the next four weeks

The Science of Weight Loss

The Science of Caloric Restriction, and Weight Loss Nutrition (8/18)

The Biochemistry of Weight Loss (8/25)

What is Metabolism? (9/1)

The Exercise Physiology of Weight Loss (9/8)

Strength and Conditioning of Competitive Dance

Optimal Stride Length

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Diabetes

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Hypertension

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

Video: The Exercise Physiology of Dyslipidemia

Stress and Poor Eating Habits

The Effects of Dehydration on Exercise

Multivitamins

Functional Squat Depth: How Deep is Too Deep?

Running Better and Reducing Injuries

Total Body Exercises

Controlling Your Weight

Fat Burn: Exercising on an empty stomach

Calories

Nutrient Timing

Nutrition November!

Understanding Breast Cancer pt. 2

Human Metabolism

ACS on Exercise

Understanding Breast Cancer pt. 1