The Vlog

I’m a numbers guy. I have my math degree and I actually enjoyed calculating how much calories I took in during my diet and bulk phases. I used those calculations to drop to 6.8% body fat and I used it to bulk up to about 205 pounds starting from 160. During my bulking phase, my body fat percentage increased significantly. I even looked a little overweight in my University ID photo. The problem? I ate crappy foods while bulking and of course I ate a lot of them. Sure I gained some muscle mass, but let’s just say that I wasn’t going topless at the beach anytime soon. My next biggest body change was dropping that fat off. This time, I took a different approach. I still counted my calories, but I focused on quality foods. The results? I went from 15% body fat to 6.8% body fat in about 3 months. Calculating quantity is a good idea, but focusing on higher-quality foods will give you superior results. What foods should you consume? Different protein sources like chicken, beef, seafood, fish, etc. Have good fat sources including fish oil, nuts, seeds, and olive oil. Lastly, have good carbohydrates like different varieties of fruits and vegetables. Here is another secret: no overweight or obese person eats like this and stays fat. Try it if you don’t believe me!

If you have back pain which isn’t too serious, you may want to consider exercise. While some people will go onto the back extension machine for 8-10 reps, this really doesn’t do much good. The first is building your back endurance. If your on a back extension with your legs parallel to the floor, your goal is to hold your whole body parallel to the floor for just over a minute. Of course if your legs are at a 45 degree angle to the floor, you should be holding a heavy weight (i.e. 45p) for one minute. If you do this, you will significantly lower your chance of developing back pain. The next best thing you can do is to slightly squeeze your abs for every exercise you do. Even if your breathing heavy, squeeze your abs! Lastly, perform all of your exercises (and any activity you do outside of exercise) with a straight back, do not round it or extend it (like they do in yoga). I’m not saying this is wrong to flex or extend your back, only that your back is best protected against stress while in a straight position. Again, develop endurance, squeeze your abs for every exercise, and keep that back straight for EVERY activity you do.

It is still quite popular in the mainstream press to hear high protein intakes are unsafe. What does the research say? According to researchers at the University of Connecticut who took a look at the reseach available, if you are a healthy person without kidney problems, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. To date, no studies confirm the “dangers to the kidneys” with high protein diets. In fact, they confirm the opposite, that our kidneys work just fine with higher protein diets. Of course, if you already have kidney problems, then carefully lowering your protein intake is absolutely beneficial.

The holy grail of the pharmaceutical industry is to get a drug which which produces dramatic health benefits with no side effects. Unfortunately, this has not been found. But there is one thing which possesses multiple powerful drug-like effects with no side effects. In fact, these effects are so powerful that no single drug can mimic them. The best thing is that it’s essentially free. What can this “magical” thing do? Lower bad cholestrol, raise good cholestrol, raise dopamine (or “feel good” neurotransmitter), reduce risk of certain cancers, lower blood pressure, reduces risk of osteoporosis, and others. What is it? It’s exercise. The most important thing is that you do it at least three times a week and you be consistent at it. Remember, exercise can be many things including dancing, martial arts, sex, rowing, rock climbing, ultimate frisbee, aerobic classes, playing with your kids, getting chased by the cops, etc. Make it fun and something you enjoy (but don’t get caught)!

Yesterday, I was told by a certain individual that aspartame had deletarious effects in a study which was ignored by the FDA. About 15 minutes later, this person was drinking a diet Root Beer which contained Aspartame. When I asked this gentleman about it, he just shrugged. I don’t get it. Why would a person talk about the dangers of something and then use it? I don’t know. A couple of months ago, I read an article about a a strength coach who was giving a presentation on the benefits of good carbs, no alcohol, and lean protein sources. Later ,the presenters went out to the local bar where this presenter proceeded to get drunk off his ass and eat like garbage. One of the problems with food and the fitness industry is that their is a huge difference between “knowing” and “acting.” I would say virtually every overweight adult in America knows how to lose weight, it’s just that they can’t do it. That’s where it’s time to step up both as an individual, an industry (fitness), and as a nation to combat this beast. For some, it is truly a battle to lose weight and I encourage you to keep searching for what works for you!

I used to eat like crap when I was sick. I would venture to say most people don’t eat very much if they’re sick and if they do they’ll have something like chicken noodle soup. Do you want to know which foods actually boost your immune system? Beef, vegetables, muschrooms, yogurt, turmeric, and garlic. You want to give your immune system as much of an advantage as possible and you want to recover faster too.

If there is one supplement which you actually should be taking, it is fish oil. No other supplement has so many applications for everyone. And I do mean everyone including athletes, recreational exercisers, elderly, children, couch potatoes, and the ill. It has been shown to improve weight loss, reduce cancer risk, reduce cardiovascular disease risk, reduce brain-related illnesses, and actually has so many other benefits, I don’t have time to go into them all. The cool thing is that all you have to do is pop a few fish oil caps per day. And you can get capsules which don’t have a fishy smell – just look for them. Many people including professionals in the medical community are advocating the FDA to recommend fish oils just like “vitamins.”

Recently, it’s been “faddish” to have a drink or two of alcohol a day. It’s purported that it decreases your risk of cardiovascular disease. Any other benefits? Alcohol certainly does possess lots of anti-oxidants. Surely it’s beneficial for my health if I’m having one drink a day, right? Well, if you want to significantly increase your odds of getting cancer, drink away. Specifically, it increases cancer of the rectum, breast, liver, pharynx, esophagus , larynx, and total cancer risk. A 2009 study entitled “Moderate Alcohol Intake and Cancer Incidence in Women” examined over 1 million middle-aged women and found a significant chance of cancer incidence with women even consuming 1 alcoholic beverage a day. But I’m safe if I’m drinking one glass of wine, right? No, it didn’t matter what type of alcohol the women consumed. Besides cancer, the idea that alcohol helps prevents cardio-vascular disease is still in question amongst the medical community. If you have any family history of cancer (and you probably do), I recommend you avoid alcohol all together or drink sparsely. And if your training for fat loss, don’t even think about it! But that’s another story.