In Part 1 of this mini-series, I proposed that creating an algorithm can help you minimize confusion and help you to wade through the muck of needlessly complex training systems out there.  I proposed a general method of cataloging “valid” exercise systems based on emphasis on strength, progression, and recovery.  Part of why it’s difficult to generate specific questions on training systems is because the

Not so with nutrition.  The science isn’t crystal clear, but it certainly points you in a specific direction.  And so, instead of the general principles of the previous post, here is an algorithm for sound nutrition (arranged in 5 easy questions, for your convenience):

1) Does my diet emphasize real food? ‘Real food’ is easy to recognize but surprisingly difficult to describe.  It’s minimally processed.  It probably was alive at some point.  And chances are (although this isn’t always the case) a little light cooking is all the ‘processing’ you need in order to eat it.  A quick and dirty rule: If it comes in a box or brightly colored wrapper, it probably isn’t real food.  You could take every supplement available and still not obtain the complete spectrum of nutrition contained in whole foods (such as enzymes and yet to be discovered phytonutrients).  At the risk of sounding like a naive naturalist, it’s hard to improve upon what Mother Nature has already provided for us.

2) Does my diet deliver enough protein for my needs? There’s a great deal of needless controversy regarding what the optimal amount of protein you should eat in a day.  Despite what some authorities would tell you, there’s no danger of damaging your kidneys by eating too much protein, unless you’re diabetic and have already sustained kidney damage (and new research shows that this may not even be the case).  On the flip side, there seems to be no overt benefit in overconsuming protein either.  So let’s shoot down the middle with this one and say that if you’re exercising, then you should shoot for 0.7 to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (see the work of Jeff Volek and Peter Lemon for the hard science on this).

3) Does my diet limit grain consumption? Aside from being a concentrated source of carbohydrates (see #4), grain consumption is associated with a whole host of health problems.  By far the best reference on this is Loren Cordain’s exhaustive review of cereal grains (PDF file, opens in new window).  The Reader’s Digest version:  Grains inhibit nutrient absorption because they contain antinutrients, such as plant lectins and phytic acid.  They also are highly inflammation-causing.

4) Does my diet limit insulin? What’s the biggest factor in determining whether or not you’re burning fat?  Your insulin levels.  Chronic high levels of insulin (as in, say, someone who overconsumes carbohydrate) flip the metabolic switch in your cells from energy utilization to energy storage.  In other words, high insulin = what you eat is stored as fat.  And the converse is true as well – low insulin = more fat oxidation (read: fat burning) is taking place.  Not to mention that chronic high levels of insulin are associated with all sorts of unsavory disease processes, like high blood pressure and heart disease.  What can you do to prevent high insulin levels?  Minimize your intake of foods that significantly raise insulin – namely, carbohydrates.  The obvious ones:  Sugar, soda, bagels; and the non-obvious ones: Whole wheat bread, brown rice, tortillas.

5) Can I eat this? Let’s make one point clear: If you don’t like it, you ain’t gonna eat it.  My foster daughter doesn’t like pork and in the event of a zombie apocalypse she would rather starve to death than munch on Wilbur leftovers.  No matter how many times I harp upon the necessity of bioavailable vitamin B12, my sempai Andrius won’t be splitting a Ruth’s Chris porterhouse with me (he’s a vegetarian).  Simply put, to make dietary choices work for you, you’ve got to choose things you like (or can learn to enjoy).  The caveat:  If all you like are Jolly Ranchers and Fruit By The Foot, then change is a-gonna have to come to you.

I had an interesting exchange with a client earlier today.  Actually, “exchange” is too polite a term; let’s call it what it was – a full-on argument.  The fundamental disagreement: We spend too much time talking about the exercises and not enough time doing them.

What my client wanted to do was to bang out exercises, full speed ahead, without having fully mastered proper form on any of them.  She felt that unless she was “feeling it”, the exercise was failing to do her any good.  What she failed to understand was not only that she would derive more benefit from performing the exercises with proper technique, but that proper technique would minimize risk of injury.

Bad form (eventually) leads to injury.  Injury means you can’t exercise, or, at best, can exercise in a limited fashion.   And exercising in a limited fashion or not exercising at all is a great method of getting diddly-squat in the way of results.

I’ve already gone on too long with this, so let me get to the point:  Exercise compounds, just like mathematics.

What do I mean by that?

Can you teach someone algebra?  I mean, just algebra?  Not if they don’t understand basic arithmetic first.  To solve (5x-7)(4x+1) = ?, you’ve got to know how to multiply and divide.  And what those funny little ciphers “5″ and “1″ mean.

When you learn math, what you’re taught at your current level builds upon what you learned at previous levels.  And as we saw in the preceding intellectual exercise, there’s no way to circumvent this process (i.e., you can’t learn calculus without prior knowledge of fractions).   In other words, math skill is compounded over time.

So is exercise.  Not only do you develop more proficiency in exercise technique the more you perform an exercise (more practice = more skill), you stand to gain more from the exercise the longer you keep at it (just ask Bill Pearl – young, and older).

What lets you ultimately realize the massive gains from compound interest are the foundational years of socking money away.

We as human beings are, in general, terrible at looking at the long-term.  We prefer the giddy pleasure from short-term gains. (This is one of the main premises of The Black Swan, BTW.  Yes, I know I’m two years behind the curve).  However, we do so at the peril of our long-term benefit.

Take Home Lessons:

1) The workout you perform today is setting the stage for the results you’ll reap later, so pay attention.

2) You can jump your workout level from 0 to 60 if you so choose; many people do.  But do so at your own risk (of injury and of short-circuiting your future gains).

3) Learn how to properly perform exercises before you ‘take it to the next level’, please.  Pretty please.

If your weights aren’t getting heavier, then you’re not getting any stronger, your bones aren’t getting any denser, and your muscles aren’t growing.

Every missed workout is a missed opportunity to stimulate exercise benefits.

You accrue the benefits of exercise during the rest periods between workouts, not during the workouts.

And if you’re not eating in a manner in line with your fitness goals, you’re almost (almost) wasting your time.

The problem.

The cure:

Can you condense your health and fitness philosophy into 3 sentences or less?  Post it to comments.

Olympics time is a great time to point out the obvious, which is that world-class athletes make things look easy, even when things aren’t.  In fact, you could argue that the very definition of a world-class athlete is one who makes the impossible (or the incredible) look easy.

This makes sense if you understand sport.  Sport is an expression of human movement.  And more often than not, it’s not merely the effort you put into a movement – it’s the efficiency and biomechanical “sound-ness” of the athlete’s movement.  After all, there’s got to be a “best way” to propel yourself through the water.  There’s got to be a “most efficient method” to lift that weight over your head.

These movements are considered the fundamentals of that given sport.  What’s true is that every discipline, whether it be baking or judo, has certain fundamental theories, concepts, and executables at its core – and the top exponents of those disciplines are masters of the basics.  They’ve spent years and years at perfecting the basics, so that to a champion judoka, executing drop seoi nage is as natural as breathing.

Take a cue from the champs and focus on your basics:

• Proper nutrition.
• Progressive loading on the basic exercises.
• Adequate recovery.

Seth is so quotable:

“I discovered a lucky secret the hard way about thirty years ago: you can outlast the other guys if you try. If you stick at stuff that bores them, it accrues. Drip, drip, drip you win.”

My old training partner Gary used to sum it up similarly: “You get good by doing the boring s–t.”

Don’t clutter your routine or make your nutrition overly complex.  Just commit yourself to the basics, consistently, over time.

Over the next few posts, I’ll hash out a program template for a rank beginner, someone just looking to lose a little weight, feel better, and get healthier.  Then I’ll get to the skribit topics.  Promise.

“There’s not enough time in the day.”

“I’m too busy at work.”

“I’m exhausted at the end of the day.”

“My weekends are too hectic to plan and cook for the week.”

“I’m too out of shape to start lifting weights.”

I empathize with you (no, really; I do!). Life is hard. And all of these are real, valid reasons for not being able to achieve that ideal body.

But whatever your reason is, it’s not the real reason you haven’t done it.

The real reason is that you haven’t made achieving an exceptional physique a priority – a MUST.

There are certain things in your life that are non-negotiables – no matter how harried, how stressed, how strapped you are for time, these things get done.

Some examples include:

• Brushing your teeth every morning
• Bathing
• Spending time with your children

It’s important to note that none of these things are things you have to do everyday – you certainly could get by without bathing everyday (although it would be more noticeable with some of us than others) – but if you’re like most people, these activities are performed daily, without fail. You probably do them without conscious intention.

What’s most fascinating is what happens if, for some obscure reason, you miss a day (too rushed in the morning, so you forget to brush your teeth). The discomfort is more than just mental – you get a palpable, physical sense of unease. It’s almost as if your body misses the routine task.

The same must be true for your efforts in the gym and at each meal. How far would you get in your career if, upon awakening, you skipped out on work because you just didn’t feel like it? Exercise (particularly strength training) must be similarly non-negotiable.

You’ve got to make working out a habit. Eating right has to be done almost without conscious intention. Anecdotally, this rings true; most people, once they’ve adopted a more healthful style of eating, feel physically unwell upon eating junk food.

When you decide to make fitness and health a non-negotiable; if you give your intentions power by writing them down, scheduling workouts, visualizing your outcome, and setting goals, an interesting thing will happen.

Your workouts will be done. You will begin to eat more healthfully. You’ll make progress.

And you’ll end up stronger, fitter, and healthier.

1. Drink more water. Although a recent study suggested that drinking the standard “8 glasses” or 64 oz of water touted by experts is not necessary for health, forget about it. We’re dealing purely with fat loss; moreover, ways to maximize it. In my experience (and in the collective experience of other fitness professionals), I’ve found that there is a direct, inverse correlation between water consumption and fat loss – the more water a client drinks, the more fat they lose. Ellington Darden suggests that superhydration with chilled water may be effective in fat loss due to your body having to warm the water to body temperature in order to use it in your cells. The net effect: about a calorie burned per oz of water. Dr. Darden suggests that his recommendation of drinking a gallon of chilled water will burn about 130 calories.

2. Stop doing cardio… It’s widely recognized that performing cardio for fat loss is an exercise in futility. Try this simple experiment: Perform the cardio of your choice and go until you have burned 500 calories (FYI: Running 5 miles will burn roughly 500 calories). Next, get a Venti Cafe Mocha from Starbucks and drink it (It contains roughly 508 calories). Which was easier? Which was faster? It’s much simpler to watch your food choices throughout the day than to spend countless hours of your life burning “excess” calories from a poor diet.

3. …but if you must run around, perform intervals. Ok, so you’re eating perfectly. Or close enough to it. You lift weights (properly). But you are still not seeing any fat loss. Well, if you must add in activity to help burn fat, then perform intervals. Because high-intensity interval training is a heavy stimulus to the body, it causes a large metabolic effect. In plain English, your body has to struggle to perform the work required in an interval workout. The exertion effort causes your body’s engine to continue running at a higher rate, even hours after the work is done. Specifically, the fat oxidation in the 24 hour period post-workout is far greater than after a moderate cardio workout (where the fat oxidation post-workout is virtually nil). By performing intervals, you maximize fat burning during the other 23 hours of the day when you’re not working out.

4. Lift weights. Heavy ones. This is a must. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Performing weight training exercises will minimize loss of muscle tissue as your body gets rid of fat. Maximizing muscle also means that your metabolism will stay high, in that retained muscle goes to work burning fat for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is estimated that muscle contributes up to 70% of your metabolism, so the more muscle your have, the more calories (and fat) you’ll burn. So what does this best? Lifting very heavy things, multiple times. The increased calories you’ll burn from the actual lifting will help, but the increase in your metabolism post-exercise will contribute even more to total calorie burn.

5. Eliminate processed foods from your diet. This one should be plainly obvious. Processed foods contain hundreds of chemicals, tons of salt, and (more than likely) trans-fatty acids. In other words, substances that wreak havoc and cause damage to the cells of your body. Most processing strips the nutritional value from foods, eliminating many of the vitamins and minerals that naturally occur in foods. You need every last bit of nutrition from your food, particularly if you’re consuming less of it.

6. Eliminate starches and sugars from your diet. Carbohydrates have come under fire with the popularity of Atkins, South Beach, and other low-carb diets. There’s good reason these diets are so popular – they work without giving the dieter a sense of deprivation. By eliminating the substances that distrupt hormonal tone in your body (namely, starches and sugars), low (refined) carb diets maintain steady insulin levels and turn your body into a fat-burning machine. If that in and of itself is not intriguing, consider this: studies performed with low vs. high carbohydrate diets that contained the same number of calories all showed that subjects on the low carb regimens consistently lost more fat than their higher carb cohorts. Experts think that this occurs due to hormonal factors and the thermic effect of food; if you’re particularly science-minded, read about it here. I think Alwyn Cosgrove summed it up best: “If you’re looking to lose fat and you’re not eating a low-carbohydrate diet, you’re a fucking idiot.”

7. Take a yoga class. No, not because of yoga’s supposed health benefits or because of the extra calorie burn or any nonsense like that. Instead, do it because yoga relaxes you. It is well established that the stress hormone cortisol causes increased depositing of fat around the middle; ergo, anything we can do to reduce cortisol levels in the body is good for fat loss.

8. Don’t be scared of fat. What is the one thing that causes most low-carb diets to FAIL? Consuming too much protein? Too little fiber? Too few veggies? The biggest factor causing low-carb approaches to fail is not enough intake of fat. Here’s why: Your body normally runs on sugar (carbohydrates). Take away those carbs, and you need to introduce a different energy source. Yes, your body can convert protein to sugar for energy use, but you didn’t lift the weights and do the intervals just so you could break down your protein stores; you did it to burn fat. Your body needs dietary fat as an alternative energy source when carbohydrates are restriced. Once fat is introduced into the diet, not only do an individual’s energy levels rise, but their feeling of fullness (satiety) increases, resulting in fewer food cravings. Without fat, a low-carb diet becomes an unhealthy high-protein diet, which is not what low-carbohydrate experts (or myself) recommend. Read this website to see why fat is good for you, or check out Nina Planck’s book Real Food.

9. Get more rest. Remember that nasty cortisol? During waking hours your body produces more cortisol if you are sleep-deprived. Hey, I guess I should be the last one to talk, but get some rest. Most sleep experts agree that a range of between 7-9 hours a night is optimal.

10. Throw your scale out of the window… Most trainees I know are way too concerned with their scale weight. So concerned, in fact, that they may weigh themselves several times a day. This is an unhealthy obsession, both mentally and emotionally draining. Scale weight does not accurately reflect what’s going on. 120 lbs and 20% body fat is much, much different than 120 lbs and 5% body fat, but in both cases, the scale would tell the same story. Not a great tool at all.

11. …And use the other 6 indicators instead. The above being said, accountability is very important. How do you intend to measure your progress if you can’t weigh yourself? Use other, more telling indicators. Namely:

a) Body fat, using calipers or an inaccurate bio-impedance device
b) Measuring your waistline each morning
c) How your clothes fit
d) The “mirror” test
e) Waist-Hip Ratio
and, if you’re an athlete or professional,
f) Hydrostatic weighing or DEXA

Seriously, just by accessing how your clothes fit and measuring your waistline in the morning, one can just as accurately track progress as having a professional perform body fat testing. And you’ll be less inclined to measure your waistline several times a day.

12. Eat. Often. Why do bodybuilders do it? Why does Bill Phillips suggest it in Body For Life? Why does every trainer in America tell their clients to do it? Because it works and there are actual studies to back it up: Eating more frequent, smaller meals spaced evenly throughout the day helps exercisers lose more fat than eating fewer, larger meals, even if the calories consumed are exactly the same. Is it because of the Thermic Effect of Food? Or perhaps it’s due to lower and steadier insulin levels? Maybe it causes more ghrelin, leptin, and Peptide YY3-36 to be secreted, signaling satiety? How about something as simple as leaving too much time between meals increases hunger, causing you to overeat at meals? Whatever the cause, physiological or mental, do it, because it works. Unless you’re following the Warrior Diet or an Art DeVany approach (intermittent fasting) – but then again, if you are, you’re likely more well-informed than 95% of the persoanl trainers in America.

And I tip my hat to you.

Tonight in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class, I had the distinction of working with a complete newbie – not only had this guy never done Jiu Jitsu before, he had never even set foot in a martial arts class ever (he was a former wrestler, however). Faced with the prospect of having a complete novice as my training partner, I did what any honorable Brazilian Jiu Jitsu player would have done.

I wiped the floor with him a bit (couldn’t resist – ha ha), then taught him all the basics I could in an hour.

I taught this guy my “Old Reliable” guard pass and my “Old Reliable” side mount escape. We drilled these two moves practically the entire length of class (outside of warmups and cool-downs). I’m pretty certain that, although he didn’t have them down perfectly, he was able to pick up the important details of each move. If he continues to drill these two moves in the same manner we did, and he adds a single submission (say, an armbar) to his repetoire, I am convinced he will submit 80% of the students in Renzo’s white belt class.

I can say that with confidence, not because I’m an awesome teacher, but because at white belt level, most BJJ players are consumed with the need to “beat” the other guy, rather than to excel at the game of Jiu Jitsu. They resort to using strength and power, rather than to get pulped refining their technique. As a result, one who cultivates their techniques can simply neutralize an opponent’s aggressiveness and strength and walk all over them. If that newbie can get those 2 techniques ingrained in his body, and add a good submission to his skill set, because his fundamentals are sound, he will be a force to be reckoned with.

Which brings me to the point of this post: fundamentals are important. Fundamentals are the base from which you potentially excel, or from which you potentially fall. Build a weak base, and the overlying structure, no matter how well designed, is destined to fall. Build a strong base, and the overlying structure will never be toppled.

This applies to one’s training and one’s nutrition within the context of a fitness program. One should endeavor to build a strong base (read: powerful legs and strong core) before working on other aspects of fitness and conditioning (speed, skills, etc.). Without a sound nutritional base, one’s body cannot be expected to deliver optimal results, whether that be fat loss, sports performance, or pain-free living.

There is a reason why the powerlifts (bench press, squat, and deadlift) are at the core of most training programs out there.

The top performers in all sports are those individuals who have so mastered the fundamentals of their chosen sport that they make things look easy. The mark of the true master is that he makes the fundamentals look so natural, it seems anybody could do them.

Enough talk. Let’s all go out and rework our fundamentals. That makes doing those fancy black belt Jiu Jitsu moves that much easier to pull off.

Above: Literally, a “black belt” move – the triangle choke that allowed Eddie Bravo to tap out Royler Gracie (earning Bravo a black belt and the respect of Jiu Jitsu practitioners everywhere) was a “fundamental” move in his game (although he did set it up from Rubber Guard – most certainly not a “fundamental” setup/flow).