Having achieved a decisive victory over Matt Hughes, George St. Pierre is the new UFC welterweight champion. I am glad all of his hard training has paid off.

We (the afternoon class at Renzo Gracie’s Jiu Jitsu Academy) were party to a unique view of the fight, since our teacher, John Danaher, flew out to California to help St. Pierre prepare for his fight against Hughes. John was back in the Academy yesterday teaching class and sharing with us all the various aspects of the fight.

John was kind enough to break down the events of each round, St. Pierre’s striking strategy and rationale for using which tool at which specific time, and gave a breakdown of the gameplan for the fight. It was incredibly interesting to see familiar concepts from sports training and psychology applied in a real-life sporting event. Many of the concepts St. Pierre used were similar to those used by other pro-level athletes in their respective disciplines.

(Out of courtesy to John and St. Pierre, I’m afraid that’s as specific as I can get regarding the gameplan).

There’s no denying that both Hughes and St. Pierre are supremely conditioned athletes. However, what won the fight Saturday night was not a battle of attributes, but a matter of strategic preparation. Hughes, being the dynamo that he is, has one gameplan only: steamroll the competition; outpower and outgun the opponent. Well, earlier we caught a glimpse of what happens when you encounter an opponent skilled enough to neutralize the blitzkrieg - Hughes nearly lost to an out-of-shape BJ Penn in the previous UFC tournament. Contrast that with Hughes’ performance against a prepared fighter with a strategy to take advantage of Hughes’ limited gameplan.

One anecdote was particularly telling: John told us that during the break between rounds 1 and 2, Hughes asked Miletech (Pat Miletech, his coach) what he should do against St. Pierre, since “nothing was working.” Miletech was heard to have told Hughes, “Just keep trying.” Miletech is a top-notch coach, but he failed Hughes here; there’s no excuse not to have a Plan B. At least help your fighter out and try to improvise one on the spot based on your observations during the fight!

“Proper planning and execution yields powerful results.”

Hmm, sounds like something I’ve heard somewhere before…

Congratulations to St. Pierre on winning the championship, and good luck in the rematch.

My good friend and colleague Dr. Warden recently turned me on to Acai. Acai is a berry found only in the Amazon and has the distinction of having the highest concentration of antioxidants of any foodstuff on planet Earth. It has long been used by Brazilians in health food concoctions and drinks.

Being that I study Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I’ve known about and (on occasion) taken acai in juice form. It’s got an…interesting taste to it. It kind of tastes like blueberries and non-sweetened chocolate (anyone who’s eaten 70% cocoa or higher knows what I’m talking about), with a gritty-ish texture. All in all, it’s not bad. What’s great about it is its antioxidant power, as well as the fatty acids it contains. Although I don’t take it regularly, many of the black belts over at Renzo’s do (it helps that they have cases and cases of Sambazon in the fridge).

At any rate, if you do currently take or are thinking of taking acai, Dr. Warden is the man to call. He recently stumbled upon Mona Vie, which is a quality blend of different disease-fighting fruits, with acai as the base. Mosey on over to his site, Mona Vie, and take a look around.

And don’t say I didn’t warn you about the taste.

Yikes, I’m soooo behind on these postings…

So in case you haven’t heard, red wine (or, more accurately, a compound in grapes called resveratrol) will help you live a longer, active life, especially if you’re fat. Here’s the article:

Compund in Red Wine Boosts Health of Obese Mice.

Here are a few things about the study that were not reported in the article:

1) The study didn’t end. It’s ongoing, so that indicates that Sinclair and his research team may be back with more juicy findings in few months.

2) The study also looked at how “active” the lab mice were (does anyone have a picture of an athletic mouse?). All groups were periodically given a test of endurance - they were tested by seeing how much time they could balance on a wire suspended between two stands. Time was used as the measure of “mouse fitness.” Interestingly, the obese mice given resveratrol performed comparably to the “active, slim” mouse group, and far exceeded the time to fatigue of their obese, non-resveratrol supplemented peers. Even more interestingly, as the mice aged, the obese group given resveratrol did better and better, eventually matching the active group’s performance. This particular finding is probably the most exciting of all because, honestly, what good is living longer if your quality of life is terrible?

3) If you don’t feel like running the numbers, resveratrol extended the lives of the obese mice by 30-40%.

4) The most important point: the amount of resveratrol that the obese mice got? Roughly the equivalent of 100 glasses of wine a day (!!!). Considering the slight possibility of alcohol toxicity, I don’t think the “resveratrol cure” is upon us just yet.

Editorial time:

Much is made of the effects of compounds that are tested in these types of lab mouse trials. Not to say that these studies are useless, but there’s quite a stretch in saying that “Nitrates are bad for you because they are carcinogens” from “Nitrates caused carcinogenic effects in lab mice when they were fed the amount of nitrate that would be found with a consumption of 15 pounds of bologna daily.” I mean, seriously, I don’t know anyone who likes bologna that much. What’s to be done? Read the studies yourself and come to your own educated conclusions (or get some weirdo like myself who likes to read studies and research and get them to tell you what the deal is).

5) Dr. Sinclair says that the dosage of resveratrol that the obese mice consumed could definitely be put into pill form and sold OTC. But he warned that the effects of taking such a large dose in humans was unknown, and that there was also another “MYSTERY X” compound they were looking at in the same study that may also have been responsible for the health benefits. So don’t hold your breath for resveratrol pills just yet.

Maybe I should start drinking again.

24 hundredths of a second under your goal time - not bad for your first marathon! Hey, he did say he wanted to finish it in less than three hours…

For every million human beings, there is one naturally gifted athlete. For every million athletes, there is one Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan, or Tiger Woods. And for every million superstar-top-of-their-sport-hall-of-fame-legend athletes, there is one Bo Jackson or Jim Thorpe.

It’s one thing to excel at your sport. It’s another thing to be top level in more than one sport. (or as in Jim Thorpe’s case, every sport).

Lance Armstrong’s marathon performance illustrates this point perfectly. There is probably no human being alive on Earth that has greater aerobic capacity than Lance, so if he’s so conditioned, why did he have so much trouble with the marathon?

Answer: “Aerobic Conditioning” is activity specific.

Why did I put aerobic conditioning in quotes? Because people often tell me they want to “work on their cardio”, or that at least they “have good cardio.” Well, I’m not saying you can’t improve your general cardiovascular capacity. But the question is, “What for?” If one is looking for general health and well-being, well, just performing strength training and eating properly will do that; you don’t need to have super cardio for health purposes. If the reason is performance, then it depends on what it is that the person intends to do. I would condition a basketball player much differently than a soccer player - the “cardio” requirements of the two sports are completely different.

It’s called The Law of Specificity in sports science parlance. Essentially, if you run, then run. If you swim, then swim. If you run 100m sprints, don’t train for it by running 5 miles a day to “build up your cardio” and then “cross-train” by Rollerblading; get strong, do acceleration and starting drills, and most importantly, practice running 100m sprints (preferably faster and faster). Because conditioning is so specific, the idea of having a general “cardio” ability above a specific baseline level is incorrect. Otherwise, Lance Armstrong would not just be the world’s most dominant biker, he’d be the world’s most dominant runner, swimmer, skipper, and handstand walker as well (well, maybe not the last one).

Rarely, nature will produce a genetic wonder that can excel in multiple sports. They are few and far between, and they are rightfully legendary sports figures. Three names that immediately come to mind are: Jim Thorpe, Babe Didrikson, and Bo Jackson. These athletes managed to dominate more than one sport on a pro level because, somehow, their bodies are not limited the same way the rest of the human race (Lance, Michael, and Tiger included) is.

What was I talking about before? Oh yes - congrats to Lance. But - and I mean this with full respect, Mr. Armstrong - train a little harder next time. At least do some anterior tibalis work.

Above: This is what a man suffering from shin splints looks like. Photo by Tim Clary/Getty Images.

Here’s a repost of a riff I did for my friend and colleague Michael Collins over at MC Newsletters. Go over and take a look at his stuff.

From the 11/3/06 newsletter:

Following the Recipe:

Using Minestrone as the Key to Weight Loss

by Eugene Thong, CSCS

Last Saturday I found myself in the position of wanting to make some delicious food for my wife and me. Specifically, I got the hankering to prepare a dish I’d never made before and had no idea how to make: Minestrone.

Clutching a hastily downloaded recipe from www.foodtv.com in my hand, I went out to the store to get the ingredients I already didn’t have in my pantry, and upon my triumphant return home, prepared the soup, following the recipe pretty much step-by-step.

About 15 minutes later I was enjoying a bowl of passably good minestrone. My wife still prefers the minestrone at the Olive Garden, but that’s another story.

I live a very mundane life (or so it would appear).

So what does a bowl of minestrone have to do with fat loss (aside from it being a poor meal choice for that very purpose)?

Absolutely everything.

As is the case with so many things in life, the process, not the outcome, is the key.

You see, when I wanted to make a bowl of soup, I didn’t get the recipe only to completely ignore the procedure and sort of make things up as I went along. I didn’t toss chunks of top sirloin in there because I felt like it, nor did I stick in a pound of linguini instead of using tubini; I followed the recipe to a T.

I knew that I desired a specific outcome and I followed a plan that would allow me to achieve that outcome.

Again, you ask, what does this have to do with weight loss?

Are you following your weight loss “recipe”? Are you eating things you know you shouldn’t? Are you failing to give your workouts your all, or even skipping them altogether because you’re too busy, or they’re too hard, or, or…

I believe that too many people looking to lose body fat focus too much on the outcome and do not follow the process. In other words, they fail not because their plan was faulty, but because they failed to follow the actual plan. I’ve seen this happen time and time again with some of my own trainees. They ask me why they’re not losing weight and swear that they are doing everything I told them to.

EXCEPT that they didn’t drink enough water that day. Or all weekend. Or last week, either.

EXCEPT they decided to go out on a 5 mile run over the weekend “because they felt fat and wanted to burn a few extra calories.”

EXCEPT they only had 2 meals that day instead of 5. And one of them was sushi for lunch. “Besides, isn’t sushi rice not that bad for you because it doesn’t raise your blood sugar that much?”

“Riiight.”

Perhaps this is a farcical situation, but it illustrates my point well: Unless you follow a proven plan to a T, it is unreasonable to expect your desired outcome. Look folks, if you are given a plan, do yourselves and your trainers a favor: stick with it, to a T. We understand, no one is perfect – but strive for perfection. The closer you stick to a sound plan, the better and sooner your results will come.

Is there something that you aren’t doing in your fat loss program that you know you should?

Is there something you could do right now to aid in your fat loss (like schedule or execute a workout or drink a glass of water)?

Those of you who are executing everything perfectly, we apologize for this momentary interruption of your day. You may carry on as you were doing.

:E