How Should Your Fitness Goals Drive Your Nutrition?

The 90 Day Summer Challenge is underway! As I mentioned in an earlier post, JT of Entice and I are embarking on this thing together and have some slight differences in our goals for the 90 days. So how should your specific goals drive your nutrition?  That is a really good question! You see many people believe, and naturally so, that if they want to be fit they need to eat less and workout more. People also believe that all they really need to do is count calories and as long as they stay below their burn rate and as low as possible, they will loose weight.  Unfortunately this is not exactly true or the equation for success.

I spent years limiting food, counting calories, and doing a fairly large amount of cardio only to watch my body composition slowly and continuously erode. Blah Blah Blah, so what's the secret you ask.  Well before I get down to it, we need to figure out your goals.  This is the hard part because you really have to be really honest with yourself and that can be challenging.

Are you trying to get lean or are you trying to get mean?
Do you really want to gain muscle or loose fat?  Many people will say they want both, JT falls into this category.  If you are fairly fit, already working out, and eating well then choosing a hybrid is OK.  There is however a trade off in doing so. How you eat and workout for these two different trajectories can be a bit different and trying to balance both means a little inconsistency from day to day.

Getting Lean is the Goal
For someone that has not been Paleo or on the fitness band wagon for a while, their goal should probably be to get lean.  This is really a whole lot easier than you might think.  Part of the reason Paleo works is because the whole natural foods you are eating are nutrient dense giving your body the essentials it needs to regulate hormones, generate energy, and function as nature intended.  The following are a few extra guidelines that can help you ensure a successful challenge.

• Eat strict Paleo for the first 30 days and the whole 90 if you can, check out My Paleo Philosophy it will give you some good initial lanes in the road.
• Keep cheats to a minimum. If you are just starting out a couple cheats a week are just the thing to keep you from quitting but once you have the hang of things try to avoid cheat meals as much as possible. When I first started Paleo, a few cheats on the weekend translated into a full week pause on my progress.
• Don't eat too little or too much - Count your calories for a day or two to get an idea if you are in the general range for your sex and weight.  I have used caloriecount.about.com for this, it has tons of foods and is easy to get fairly accurate numbers. Don't go more than a couple hundred calories under your estimated burn rate. If you are under fed your body's stress response will cause you to store fat and feel sluggish.  If you are eating too much then bring your calories down to a reasonable level to start burning into the fat.  
• Watch the fruits and treats - Paleo is a carb agnostic diet but if you are new to Paleo you will likely be eating significantly less carbs. You will need to find foods to snack on and since your old snacks are off limits inevitably you will begin to explore the realm of Paleo treats. Just because it is Paleo does not mean that you can eat as much as you want. Don't eat 5 bananas a day. Don't eat 5 Lara bars a day or even 1. Be smart about the treats and avoid the "It's Paleo so I can eat as much as I want" syndrome that many fall into.
• Cardio Fueling - Cardio that is not overdone, along side weight lifting, and a strict Paleo diet can produce spectacular results.  However, if you are under fed then cardio sessions can cause additional unnecessary stress that can sabotage your progress.  Make sure you are eating enough and giving yourself adequate post workout nutrition if you are doing any significant cardio.
• Keep your fridge stocked - There is nothing worse than getting a week or two into Paleo and not having enough food.  This is a recipe for, order a pizza it's going to be a cheat day.  Get extra veggies, eggs, and high quality meat.  If you find yourself weak, fry a quick egg, or make a salad.

Getting Mean is the Goal
I have been Paleo for 9 months and during that time I have leaned out pretty substantially.  So the next 90 days for me is to get mean and add some muscle.

• Don't worry about body fat - If you really want to gain mass you will be gaining some fat on the way. If this makes you uncomfortable you should probably reconsider your goal.....I am beginning to reconsider my goal. 
• Eat more protein, be sure to get between 1 and 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight
• Spike insulin post workout and time your carbs to post workout and evening meals
• Eat more - Most people on Paleo especially those in their first month or two tend to under eat. Count your calories for a day or two and see where you're at.  I have used caloriecount.about.com for this, it has tons of foods and is easy to get fairly accurate numbers.  If you are going to gain muscle you have to take in some excess calories to build that muscle.
• Keep it clean and under control - While you are in the process of eating more be honest with yourself and don't let things get away from you.  If your lifting schedule is lax then dial back the calories a bit.  Just because you are eating more doesn't mean you should fill up on Paleo, or worse non-Paleo, treats.
• Cardio Fueling - If you are doing cardio in addition to lifting then you should limit the cardio as much as possible to avoid eating into your muscle gains. Be sure to up your carbs to cover those cardio sessions.
• Lift heavy - enough said lift heavy weights

Give me the Best of Both Worlds

If you are trying to gain muscle mass and lean out then you have your work cut out for you.  While there are a lot of similarities the primary difference in the two is how much to eat.  You will need to find a balance between ramping up calories for muscle gain and keeping calories in check for leaning out.  One can easily compromise the other. You will need to watch your food much more closely then if you were going one way or the other and timing your foods will be important.

A Few Must Do's for Everyone

• Take Pictures of yourself.  Pictures will give you the best indicator of your progress.  Try to wear the same thing and take the picture in the same location.  Take a side and front shot every week or two. You may not see changes during the first couple weeks but I bet you do after the first 30.
• Take Body Measurements.  A full set of body measurements are another great indicator of progress. Measurements can require a little interpretation since some may be increasing due to muscle gain while others may be decreasing.
• Don't worry about the Scale. If you have extra body fat you are likely to see significant drops on the scale but that won't be the case for everyone.  Some will lose slower and some will gain muscle quickly effecting the bottom line on the scale.  This is why the pictures and measurements are important, the three taken together will give you a good idea of what's going on.
• Get body fat measurements - Getting a body fat measurement at the start and end will give you something solid to measure your success.  Don't rely on your scales body fat function, they are terribly inaccurate. Try to find a bodpod in the area or someone that does caliper measurements. ACAC and  UVA's Exercise Physiology Lab have bodpods and will take your measurement for a fee.  The bodpod is great because it gives you a lot of additional information. UVA's Exercise Physiology Lab has additional services as well, check this post on my visit there.

If you are in good health and want to drop some fat or gain some muscle a Paleo program is a great way to get you there.  Paleo has not only worked for me and my family but now I have seen it work for many other people I know personally.  Don't forget to get a thumbs up from your doctor before making any major shift in your diet or fitness program and please don't hesitate to ask me any questions while you are on your way to tackling your goals!

Thanks!

Chuck

Developing the Training Plan for the St. Patty's Challenge

Developing the training plan for a lifestyle

Cville Fall Classic 10K 2013

I started running when I was pretty young and think I ran my first 5K when I was 11 years old. I ran track for a year and cross country for part of a season in high school before getting injured. I then ran to stay in shape on and off most of my adult life. As an adult I routinely found myself getting talked into 5Ks which would get me motivated to head out and run a little more. The goal was always to train for the distance to gain that minimal confidence I could finish without walking or worse. Eventually I ran a couple 10 milers and had the same distance focused approach.  After running a race I would generally reflect back on prior times and determine if I was in better or worse shape. If I had recently ran a few races I had an expectation I would be faster and if I hadn't I just hoped I hadn't lost too much ground. I developed expectations for myself without any plan for getting there and in many cases hitting the finish line meant a met the main goal and was done training for a while, maybe years. This was not a prescription for improving or maintaining my health.  

I talk about lifestyle a lot. If your training plan is too focused on a specific event, isn't something you can maintain before and after an event, or is so intense you run the risk of injury, then it is not going to stick and become part of your lifestyle. Training in these ways almost always results in falling off the wagon. 

One of the main purposes of my St. Patty’s Challenge is to aggresively7 document and find things that work for me and can become part of my family's and hopefully others lifestyles.  These things include how we cook, train, eat, etc and they have to be things my family can sustain so we keep up on that wagon. The following are the key things I have studied and considered when developing the my training plan.

What are the training goals?

Before mapping out any training plan the first question must be, “What are your goals?” Your goals can be a variety things.

• Are you trying to reach a distance, number of reps, or weight?

• Are you trying to hit a personal record for a particular race?
• Are you trying to maintain cardio for general health?
• Are you trying to reach your peak fitness level?
• Are you trying to beat your buddy (BIB 130) at the next race who keeps betting you by 30 seconds? (uh this one is all mine)

Your goals should ultimately drive how you train but without some thought and planning your results will not be optimal.  For me at this point my goal is optimal total performance and the last bullet up there on the list.

What is lactate threshold and why should you care?

Nothing that I am going to say here is new or revolutionary but when I learned what my lactate threshold was and got a little education on how to train based on it, several light bulbs all went off all at once.

Lactate threshold is the exercise intensity at which lactic acid starts to accumulate in the blood stream. Prior to reaching this threshold lactic acid levels stay fairly constant due to the body’s ability to metabolize the lactic acid. As exercise intensity increases lactate acid production increases and at some point exceeds the body’s ability to keep up. In many athletes the threshold occurs at a fairly specific level of exercise intensity followed by a very rapid build-up of lactic acid and in others the buildup occurs more slowly over a period of time. As this build-up occurs one’s ability to perform decreases rapidly. The lactate threshold is one of the best predictors of an individual’s performance. Understanding where your threshold is and the rate of increase of lactic acid at different exercise intensities can help you predict your peak performance over different spans of time and help shape an optimal training plan. An individual’s lactate threshold can be increased over time through an increase in training volume and by training above the threshold.

How can your lactate threshold shape your training?

If you are looking to maintain cardio vascular health it will likely be adequate to exercise at or slightly below your lactate threshold with consistent or slightly increasing volume. But that’s not very exciting. If your goal is to increase your distance for a race or personal goal, it will likely be adequate to exercise at or slightly below your lactate threshold with a continuously increasing volume of 10-20%. If you are looking to reach your peak performance, hit a new PR, significantly increase your speed or cardio vascular capacity then you need to incorporate training at levels well above your threshold.

What if I don’t know my lactate threshold?

While you may not know your lactate threshold or want to go through the test there are ways to get a good approximation. The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale and a heart rate monitor can be great tools and give you an idea of where you lactate threshold might be. 

Grab an RPE chart like the one on the right and head out for a run. Start off with an easy jog and slowly increase your pace. At regular intervals note your pace, heart rate, and your RPE. It may help to have someone with you to help record the measurements. When training below or at threshold you should be able to exert yourself for a significant period of time without any notable drop in performance and your RPE is likely to be around 11-12.  For high intensity training your RPE should be around 15-16. 

An individuals RPE should fairly consistently map to heart rate. With the measurements you took you can identify target heart rates for both low (11-12 RPE) and high (15-16 RPE) intensity training sessions. You will want to re-run the test every 6 months or so as your RPE, heart rate, and lactate thresholds will change over time.

Slow-Twitch vs. Fast-Twitch

As you exceed your threshold there is a transition from the use of slow-twitch muscles to fast-twitch muscles. Slow-twitch muscles are those used to do slow steady activity where fast-twitch are those used for more explosive activity. According to Dr. Weltman, of the UVA Exercise Physiology Lab, recent studies are indicating that fast-twitch muscle recovery times are around 72 hours while that of fatigued slow-twitch muscles is closer to 48 hours.  Keeping high intensity sessions for a particular muscle group or cardio 72 hours apart is likely to produce optimal recovery and forward momentum.

Increasing Volume

To avoid injury due to over training, increase the volume by no more than 10-20% per week. I have ignored this and spent months with a physical therapist as a result! It's also a good rule of thumb to take a few days off to stretch and roll if anything is not fully recovering.

Fueling, Back-Loading, and Protien

This is a subject of pretty wide debate and this is purely my opinion based on the various information I have and personal experience. Even on a fairly low carb diet like paleo you are most likely receiving plenty of carbs and fats to fuel you through low to mid intensity workouts of less than an hour. For those workouts that are of significant intensity or for duration close to or over an hour fueling and back-loading is a good idea.  Fuel before and during for long endurance activities, and back-load with carbs and protein.

The Training Guidelines Emerge

All of this information along with a desire to meet the lifestyle requirement led me to series of guidelines. This post has a bit of a cardio flavor but these concepts and guidelines can be applied to any type of training. 

1. Training for performance should include two high intensity workouts per week well above the lactate threshold, ideally at an RPE of 16.
2. Training can include as many short to medium volume at or under the lactate threshold as desired.
3. Do not exceed the weekly total volume by more than 10-20% week over week.
4. Endurance training sessions at or below threshold should be placed as far from high intensity sessions as possible.
5. Fuel before high intensity sessions with simple carbs
6. Fuel before and during endurance training sessions with simple carbs
7. Fuel after high intensity and endurance training sessions with simple carbs and protein
8. Have at least one full rest day per week or more if not recovering fully.
9. Training should be easily conducted wherever you find yourself.
10. Training sessions should be brief and focused as to ensure they get done.

With these guidelines I developed two primary plans.

• Performance Focus
• Two high intensity workouts per week
• One endurance training session placed at the furthest point between the high intensity session
• One rest day best after the endurance day
• Two days of low intensity training up to weekly volume limits 

• Maintenance Focus
• Five low intensity workouts per week
• Two rest days

Here is the weekly schedule I came up with.  I will be following the performance plan for the challenge unless I am injured or fatigued and will then follow the maintenance plan.  The performance plan brings together both cardio and resistance training intensities on similar days. One could certainly take these guidelines and apply them per muscle group and cardio allowing for low and high intensity training on a daily basis and effectively allowing one to train much more. I did not do this since I was aiming for something easy to follow both in terms of schedule and duration per day, that whole lifestyle thing.

So here goes nothing, let's see if this plan produces results you can see.

Thanks,

Chuck

The St. Patty's Challenge Baseline Stats

As promised, here are my baseline statistics. I highlighted some key measures I will be most interested in when I get tested again in about 6 months. I was pretty surprised by the 12.9% body fat and setting a goal of 10-12% body fat by Christmas or St Patty's is hardly a significant challenge. This also highlights the incredible inaccuracy of my home scale in measuring body fat.  My pace at lactate threshold was also a little surprising.  While I didn't really have any true expectations, after the fact, I would expect or hope to be in the middle 9s but was my threshold pace was a little under 11 minutes.  I will dedicate a few upcoming posts to fully explaining these stats and how I am using them to tailor my training plan.  

I am still considering what my new targets will be but for now I am hoping to achieve 8% body fat, any increase in lean body mass, and a lactate threshold pace of 9 minutes or less.  

In my next St Patty's Challenge post I will give you a glimpse into the nutrition and training plan I am developing based on prior plans and Dr. Weltman's feedback.  Please shoot me an email at chuck.brady@bradynutrition.com if you want to get an idea of what to expect from UVA's Exercise Physiology Lab or how you might use the results to optimize your training.  

Thanks again for your support and interest!

Weight	171.897
BP Systolic at Rest	130
BP Diastolic at Rest	70
Resting HR	82
Avg Sleep	7.5
Neck	14
Bicep	12.3
Forearm	11
Chest	37
Waist	34
Hips	40
Thigh	21.3
Calf	15.5
V02 Max	55.6 mL/kg/min
BP Systolic Peak	150
BP Diastolic Peak	80
Lactate Threshold Pace	0:10:54
Peak Pace	0:06:40
Lactate Threshold RPE	11
Peak RPE	18
Lactate Threshold HR	140
Peak HR	186
Body Fat	12.9%
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)	1794
Total Energy Expenditure (Active)	3122
Total Cholesterol	160
HDL	65
Triglyceride	55
VLDL	11
LDL	84

Christmas Challenge Becomes St. Patty's Challenge?

I spent two and a half hours at UVA's Exercise Physiology Lab and to be honest I have a lot of information to digest. First and foremost is the fact that after discussions of my results and the technology I was easily convinced that it would be best to wait for 6 months before returning for a second run of tests. I guess that means this is turning into more of a St. Patty's Challenge and honestly that goes a bit better with a name like Brady Nutrition and my known vices :-)

If you are familiar with the UVA medical center you know it pays to know where to park and were to not even try, especially at lunch time.  I remembered this after a few laps through some clogged full parking lots, just head straight to the parking garage!

I was greeted by Shannon Slovensky, an Exercise Physiology Researcher, and we headed back to the lab.  First stop was the Bodpod and a little paperwork.  Before I go any further, I have to add that Shannon was the first person that contacted me from the lab.  She was extremely responsive and helpful.  Shannon walked me through all the tests the lab conducts and helped me understand how each would meet my goals.  Shannon discussed some basics with me concerning the bodpod and handed me the first pair of bikini underwear I had or would ever experience.  I had three runs in the pod, each lasting less than a minute, and the last run involved me following some specific breathing instructions into a tube located in the pod.  The bodpod uses air displacement technology to develop the measurements and you can tell by pressure you can feel inside the tube, a bit like the first couple minutes being in a pressurized plane.

So now it was off to the larger lab area where the treadmill was located.  I had read all kinds of material on how blood might be collected and the nerves I had been carrying around all day were now at full peak.  See the truth is, I cannot handle needles at all.  Shannon informed me that the nurse would be up in a few minutes to put in a line, a line I thought sounded more invasive and needly than the finger pricks I read about online.  I think I was starting to turn flush and the nurse hadn't even arrived.  I ate up two Lara Bars and chugged some Brady Nutrition Endurance Drink to fuel up for the run.  The nurse arrived a few minutes later and got to work.  This is where Shannon really shined by encouraging me to go on about paleo and my training techniques.  This totally kept my mind off the line being placed in my hand.  

After about 5 minutes of watching my color completely return, Shannon got me up on the treadmill and attached a bunch of electrodes to my body.  Judy Weltman, the Excercise Phisyology Core Laboratory Manager, helped suit me up in what looked like a sweet mesh tanktop I wore back in 1985.  This mesh was to keep all the wires from flailing around while I was running.  Next it was time to strap on the Darth Vader mask.  Let me tell you this thing really limited my visibility which makes staying in a general area on the treadmill a little challenging.  

 Judy let me know how the test would be run and how and when she would pull each blood draw.  The test started at a 12 minute pace and increased by 1/2 mph every three minutes.  At each three minute mark Judy drew blood from my line to test my lactate levels and Shannon asked me how I felt on the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. The run went great and I felt very good for most of it. I lasted over 25 minutes and when I pulled the plug I was definitely spent.  

I cooled down a bit and then spent about 30 minutes discussing my results with Dr. Weltman.  He asked what my goals were, explained all the results, and gave me some solid recommendations based on my goals and results.  I also asked Dr. Weltman a number of questions concerning training and nutrition and he gave me very detailed and informative feedback.  It was a very valuable discussion for me and the development of my training and nutritional philosophies.  

I am going to post the details of my results and baseline measurements in my next blog entry after I have had some time to digest them and rethink my Christmas Challenge into a St. Patty's Challenge.  I would like to thank Shannon, Judy, and Dr. Weltman for the awesome experience.  I only wish I had gone months ago to have a baseline prior to my major lifestyle changes. I highly recommend their services especially if you are just beginning a serious lifestyle change or want to take your training to the next level. I look forward to my next visit, minus the needles. Go check them out on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/uvaexlab or shoot them an email at exlab@virginia.edu and let them know Chuck Brady sent you.

     

Christmas Challenge Baseline Tests are on the Way

Hey everybody, the Christmas Challenge is on.  I started recording everything I could yesterday and am headed to UVA's Exercise Physiology Lab today to get a Bodpod scan and VO2 Max test with lactate threshold.  This is going to be fun, if I understand correctly I will be run until I am just about throwing up and have blood taken several times along the way.  I will also get some time with the lab doctor to discuss my results and plan between now and Christmas.  I should be able to get all my baseline info up on the blog tonight. Wish me luck