fuel

Contrary to what you might hear

I started this blog back in 2014 to help educate people on fitness, health, and well being hence the name bfitsquared. My point being that it was never to be a blog on getting that beach body but instead on what you can do to live a healthy life. 2014 was also the year I became a certified personal trainer. Although for many years I researched fitness and health I thought it was time to become legit. My blogs at first focused on the physical, the workout side of health. I then thought about what could be my next goal. I decided to legitimize my passion for diet and how it affects us both in fitness and outside of fitness. After a lot of research, it only made sense to enroll in the online Cornell University certificate course on plant based nutrition. I thought it made sense that if I’m going to train people I should also have a solid understanding of how nutrition plays into performance. With over 20 experts (MDs, PhDs, RDs, RNs) and also having on the faculty Dr. T. Colin Campbell the co-author of the book The China Study it made sense to enroll in this course.

What

So, what is this post going to be about? It’s about how to help you to perform at your best. I want to take some time to talk about how our body performs from the basics of living (breathing, existing) to when we need to perform. How is it that our muscles contract, our breathing increases, and so on. What is it that facilitates these functions among others? Let’s look into the chemistry of fuel. I’m sure if you were to ask any of my students, ‘does Sensei ever say ‘It’s Science” you would get a resounding yes. I say that because it is science. When you break it down to the simplest form that is what it is. There’s this misconception about martial arts that it’s magic powder dust and old chants and when you become a black belt it’s all then magically bestowed upon you. Sorry to disappoint but it’s not. It’s actually science. But I digress. One of my goals here is that when you have finished reading this you will then understand scientifically why diets that restrict carbohydrates are not going to help you perform better. They actually do the opposite.

How

Alright, let’s get into it.

As I eluded to earlier, to do anything requires fuel. No matter how small it is, breathing, sleeping, etc. requires fuel. And ATP is the fuel for anything we do, anything. ATP is the energy currency of the body. Without ADP nothing happens, nothing.

Let’s get into this a little deeper. Our body uses 3 systems to form ATP:

- - - ATP-CP
    - Lactic Acid or Glycolytic Energy System
    - Aerobic or Oxidative Energy System

Let’s look at these in greater detail starting with ATP-CP. ATP-CP and glycolytic systems are both anaerobic systems meaning they do not use oxygen. Because of this, these systems are inefficient. These systems operate on a chemical reaction that does not use oxygen. The level of intensity is so high that there is not enough time for oxygen to get to the muscles. This also limits the duration of effort to a very short period when in these zones if you will.

So I’m going to break this down further. Of the two anaerobic systems, we then break it down to ATP-CP Phosphagen system. This provides fuel for up to 10 seconds at maximum intensity. Full out, 110 percent as they used to say. That’s it. A 10 whole seconds. If you have ever worked out with me when I’m running classes you know these 10 seconds well. So what about after 10 seconds? Let’s now look at the glycolytic system. This is the system that provides fuel from 10 seconds up to 2 minutes at maximum intensity. The glycolytic system uses reactions that cause the breakdown of carbohydrates in the form of glycogen stored in the muscle cells or glucose found in the blood (carbs, nothing but carbs). Because there isn’t any oxygen we are good for only up to 2 minutes and, we end up with a byproduct called lactic acid. Ahh, lactic acid, that chemical that causes muscles to feel like they are on fire!

As more glucose is metabolized more lactic acid is produced. Lactic acid gathers in the cells and begins to lower pH becoming more acidic and starts to slow contraction speed and strength. If the level of lactic acid becomes too high it can cause temporary muscle failure and no muscle contractions can occur. This is referred to as lactic acidosis. In other words, when intensity is high you are limited to approx. 2 minutes as you will be forced to stop due to failure. But it’s not all bad news. The muscle cells can be trained to improve this energy pathway resulting in muscle cells producing less lactic acid at the same intensity. That’s awesome news! This means we can exercise longer at the same intensity! This is where hard work pays off. Keep training at a highly intense level and ultimately you will then be able to perform at that high level much longer.

So, what then happens when we reach that threshold be it 2 minutes or a bit longer? We either cease to function or we slow down and that slowing down allows oxygen to come into play. Our intensity diminishes somewhat and we slip onto another process. Let’s now look at the 3rd process.

When sufficient oxygen is available for a given lower intensity of exercise an abundance of ATP is produced. This allows us to keep performing but, at a level lower than when we were in the anaerobic zone. Let’s now look at the 2 categories that fall under the aerobic or oxidative energy system.

The first is the aerobic glycolysis system. This provides fuel for beyond 2 minutes at a reduced effort. Again, glycogen or glucose is broken down for energy and because oxygen is present we don’t get the lactic acid problems like we did when in the anaerobic, or non-oxygen zone. With the continuous supply of oxygen, the muscle cells break down glucose to produce ATP. This chemical process is very efficient and produces large amounts of ATP. Because this process uses oxygen you are only limited in the amount of ATP created by how well your cardio system works. Have awesome cardio then you can produce ATP like nobodies business. Now, onto the next.

This is where fat comes into play. If you are doing something that is low on the intensity level your body will utilize fat as the product of choice to create ATP. Fatty acid oxidation is the process of creating ATP when the intensity level is low and there is enough oxygen for the chemical process to work. Fatty acid oxidation requires a large amount of oxygen but, it produces the most amount of ATP. Running a marathon, or some other event that has an extreme duration than the body will more likely be using fat and oxygen to create ATP.

Also, at rest, gardening, walking at a comfortable pace or any low intense activity will be utilizing fat for ATP. But, because energy demand is low the amount of fat needed is low. Remember, fatty acid oxidation produces the largest amount of ATP so less fat is needed to create the ATP needed when intensity is low. This is why the message of working out in the fat-burning zone a number of years ago didn’t do anyone good. Sure, work out in the fat-burning zone if you have 2 hours to kill every workout. Not many people have that amount of time 3 – 5 times a week.

Speaking of the fat-burning zone, let’s look into one more reason why working out intensely is beneficial to us. It’s called EPOC, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. EPOC is used for ATP replenishment, amongst other things, and resynthesis of a small portion of lactic acid to glycogen. But, most of the glycogen is restored from dietary carbohydrates. Yes, carbs. But what if you don’t eat carbs because you are on that Keto diet? I want you to think about that. Did you see any of the 3 processes our body uses to create energy, ATP, use protein as a fuel source? Did you see how these processes use carbs in the form of glucose and glycogen with respect to moderate and intense exercising? And if you think you’ll use fat for the fuel source then get ready to put aside at least 2 hours each time you work out to burn enough fat to make a difference. The more intense the workout the more time you are in EPOC. The reason there is EPOC is to get the body back to a level state. If your exertion during your workout was moderate to low, your body may only need several minutes to recover. But, if your workout was intense, a tough one, it may take up to 24 hours to get the body back to a steady-state due to a larger oxygen deficit. And during this 24 hour period, your resting metabolic rate is higher burning more calories at rest. It’s important for you to keep this in mind with respect to rest, recovery, and nutrition. The more you are on top of these things the better your body will recover.

Lastly, none of these systems are exclusive, all systems work together. But, the predominance of one system over the other depends on the intensity of the workout.

Why

Why is it we look at carbs as bad? It’s evident our body needs carbs, complex carbs for fuel. To quote someone I know, ‘It’s science!’. You cannot deny the scientific evidence on how our body creates fuel, ATP, to do the simplest things like exist!

Finally

I hope this helps you in your journey in becoming fitter, healthier, and basically enjoying life. Now, the next time someone espouses to you the benefit of the keto diet, refer them to this post. Then let them argue against science if they dare.

Yours in health,

Darryl

all the blood that I would bleed

It’s about embracing the pain

You’re tired of sucking wind either when working out or doing anything mildly strenuous. You want to be able to make it through a workout, push yourself hard, and make a quick, or quicker than normal recovery.

You need to work out your cardio respiratory system. Time to build the heart and lungs. It can be tough but the payoff is tremendous.

Benefits

Stated earlier, the benefits can be realized when doing normal day to day activities such as going up a couple flights of stairs, having to walk a longer than normal distance, or something unexpected such as having to push your vehicle out of the deep snow (hopefully you haven’t had to do this).

The benefit of having a strong cardio respiratory system will lead to quicker recovery when working out. What I mean is it will take less time for your heart rate to return to normal. So you can push yourself doing interval training and have your heart rate lower quicker as you get ready for your next intense interval. So instead of being out of breath, heart racing when you are getting ready for the next interval, you will feel stronger and ready to go. That’s a nice feeling.

Another benefit is an increase in performance. Why? I’ll explain what the cardio respiratory system does and I think you understand how performance will benefit.

The what

The cardiovascular and respiratory systems work together to deliver oxygen and nutrients to body tissue, such as muscle. It is also responsible for removing waste. Our respiratory system takes in oxygen providing it to our blood, and it removes carbon dioxide, the waste product. Our cardiovascular system is what moves the oxygenated blood to our tissues, delivering oxygen and removing carbon dioxide.

More oxygen will be delivered and more carbon dioxide will be removed as efficiency increases. One large influence on this is what is called stroke volume. Stroke volume is the amount of blood that can be pumped in one beat of our heart (specifically the left ventricle). The typical amount of blood that is pumped in one beat is 70 milliliters. As we become fitter the ventricle becomes larger and stronger, able to move more blood and contract with more force. When resting, our body required a specific amount of blood to be circulated. For someone who is fit, and has a larger than normal stroke volume, the heart does not have to work as hard to deliver the amount of blood needed.

When we are training the effect of having a larger stroke volume means more blood is pumped to our tissue than someone with a smaller stroke volume. I’ll try to explain it this way. You have two people filling a balloon with air, one with a pump that with each stroke delivered 1 litre of air, and the other person, the fit person, had a pump that delivered 2 litres of air with each stroke. The balloons are the same size, requiring 100 litres of air to fill it. The amount of strokes per minute are the same for both people, 20 strokes (think of heart rate, each person’s heart rate being 185 bpm’s when working out). The average person, who can only pump 1 litre per stroke requires 5 minutes to fill the balloon (20 strokes/minute x 1 litre = 20 litres per minute). The healthy person requires only 2.5 minutes to fill the balloon. The healthier person can move more air per stroke requiring less work overall. Apply this to the heart and it makes sense why someone with a larger stroke volume, a healthier cardio vascular system, can accomplish more work at the same heart rate than the person with the smaller stroke volume. Does that make sense? Maybe? If it doesn’t, or it seems convoluted, let me know.

The what

So what do we do to improve our cardio respiratory system? Cardio training. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you that you have to start running. Cardio training does not have to include running, or biking, or elliptical machines. Now you like me, right? I’m going to change that. With what I tell you next, you may end up hating me. I’m ok with that because I know you will benefit from what I’m going to tell you, and that is my goal. I’m doing this for you, not me.

If you follow my blog, have read some or most of the articles you probably know I’m a fan of intense workouts. Slow and easy is not for me. I’m not going to get into why because I have done that in other posts. What I’m going to do is layout some options you can use to help you become better, stronger.

Intervals: Interval training can be a number of things. Tabata is a good example of interval training. 20 seconds of full out work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 4 minutes total (or longer if you love pain). 60 seconds of 90% intensity followed by 30 seconds of 60% intensity work. Another example could be 90 seconds of 90% work followed by 30 seconds of 60% work. There are so many benefits to interval training. Better utilization of glucose (provides energy to our body), higher resting metabolism, growth in our stroke volume (yeah!), etc.

Intervals can vary quite a bit. From the 20 second work 10 second rest of tabata to 3 minutes work, 1 minute rest of another interval method. The work you do can be anything as long as you hit the targets. Jump squats, burpees, sprints, mountain climbers, clean and press, etc. If you want to run on a treadmill, go for it. It’s up to you.

Other options

Are there benefits to activities such as going for bike rides, quick walking, jogging or none interval activities? Sure. Different benefits but they are there. We can’t do interval training all the time because it is taxing to our body, and our body needs time to recover from these hard workouts. Throwing in a non-interval training activity is a great way to add variety to our workouts and there may also be other benefits realized. Some people when they run can turn their mind to a place that brings them peace and relaxation, and happiness. There’s a lot to be said about benefits of this. Peace of mind is a beautiful thing. Exercising should not be totally exclusive to one activity. That’s how we end up with imbalances and sometimes boredom.

It makes sense.

Add interval training to your workout. Start off easy, one session per week. Get out of your comfort zone and push yourself. Do this for a month and I know you will be pleased with the results. Kill it. Have no mercy when you train and you will ultimately be triumphant.

It may not feel that way, but trust me. You are awesome and you will kill it. You always do.

Yours in health,

Darryl

I want to

A bright light in the darkness of defeat.

Workouts have been awesome lately. You’ve be killing it, walking away feeling really great, tired but you know you’ll be able to do more later. But lately you’ve been struggling from almost the beginning. 2 minutes in feels like 60 minutes. It sucks. Why do you feel this way? You didn’t feel this way last week.

What’s different

As best as you know, nothing is different. You’re doing the things you have always done. There could be a number of reasons why you feel like you are lacking energy, or you actually are lacking energy. Have you been doing the same things that you have been doing when you don’t feel this way? Things such as getting enough rest, eating enough carbs before your workout. Fueling before a workout is very important, so much I wrote a post about it.

But, there could be other things going on, things I would like to write about.

What else

There is a lot of chemistry happening for our body to perform and perform well under harsh conditions. Our body requires vitamins, minerals (micro nutrients), carbs, water to create energy. I have excluded fat purposely because if you are burning fat for your main source of energy, you are not working that intensely. Let’s take a look at things that if we are lacking proper amounts of our performance goes drastically down, so much that we take notice.

Magnesium: Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body and is needed for breaking down glucose into energy. Not having enough magnesium will result in a higher heart rate and the need for more oxygen to work out.

If you feel you aren’t getting enough magnesium, be sure to consume more almonds, hazelnuts, or cashews. Also, you can increase your intake of whole grains.

Iron: Iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia which occurs when the body does not have enough iron. Your body needs iron to produce red blood cells which bring oxygen to the bodies tissues. Your muscles and tissues need oxygen to perform properly. If you aren’t getting enough iron it makes sense why you would be tired. You are also probably tired outside of any exercising that you do.

If you feel this is you, get your blood tested to see if you are deficient in iron.

Water: They say by the time we realize we are thirsty, we are already dehydrated. Water plays an important role in the chemical process of creating energy. If you feel you are not getting enough water, well, drink more water!

Vitamin B: B vitamins are responsible for the conversion of carbs into ATP, the currency of energy. They are needed. Plain and simple. Lacking in B vitamins will make it very difficult for your body to convert carbs into energy. So you might be getting the proper amount of carbs, rest and so on, but if you are lacking in B vitamins, more than likely you will end up lethargic.

Be sure to eat foods high in B vitamins to get what you need and supplement if necessary. Dark green vegetables, grains, lentils and nuts are all good sources.

Vitamin B12: Being deficient in B12 can also lead to a low red blood cell count, and we now know the detriments of that. No wonder you don’t have energy. In fact, for people who are constantly tired, doctors have prescribed B12 injections. If you feel you aren’t getting enough B12, or aren’t sure, have blood work done. An easy way to get more B12 is by supplementation. Stick with the pills that dissolve under the tongue for better results.

Lets look at other things that can impact our performance.

Thyroid: It could be possible that you have a low thyroid function issue. If you fatigue is an ongoing issue, have it checked out by your doctor.

Rest: Rest, sleep. Quality sleep. Hopefully you are getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night, and hopefully they are quality hours. If you find that you are having a really hard time getting out of bed when the alarms sounds, that you are constantly hitting the snooze to get more sleep, you aren’t getting enough quality sleep. Quality sleep. I qualify this with the word quality because just sleep isn’t enough. Your brain has to go into the proper state for your sleep to be adequate. Alcohol can be a contributing factor to not getting quality sleep even though you tend to sleep.

It’s really straight forward. Your body, and your mind need sleep. That’s it. It’s basic.

Carbohydrates: Hate me if you want to, but I don’t agree with high protein/low carb diets. Our bodies need complex carbs for energy. Carbs are what gives us glucose and glycogen which is converted to ATP the currency of energy for everything we do. If you are lacking in carbs your body will convert protein (sometimes existing muscle) into carbs through a chemical process, but it’s inefficient and why would you want your exiting muscle converted to carbs anyways? Doesn’t make sense, does it.

Sickness: It could be as simple as you are sick, fighting some bacteria or a virus. But, if a couple weeks pass and you are still lacking energy, see your doctor

Seek

If you are feeling this way, you feel your performance is not where it should be, and it’s been more than a couple of weeks, see your doctor. You will want to have blood work done to see if there are any vitamin or mineral deficiencies, if you have a thyroid issue or if your lack of energy needs medical attention.

Training and feeling like there is an additional 50 lbs on your shoulders, or an anchor tied to your body is not fun at all. We are supposed to be making gains, not feeling like we are moving backwards. It can be discouraging, even depressing. Take the steps necessary to see if any of the above is going on. Don’t delay it unnecessarily as you will only feel worse as time goes on.

Address this issue as soon as possible and get back out there, killing it like you do. You are a beast and need to get back on your feet as close to 100% as you can be.

Yours in health,

Darryl

…more frequent than to fail

Easy to understand time, that dark process.

It’s something I did today. Something I have been doing over the last 4 weeks. I know about this, I’ve known about this.

It’s really simple. But knowledge is fleeting and we are not aware of it, or pay it no attention. Time to make a change, time to take control.

Do as I say

I’m not the best when it comes to doing the things I should be doing. I know the things that need to be done but don’t always listen to myself, I don’t always listen to reason. As an example I’m one of those people who tell others that when they are injured they need to take care of the injury, rest, ice, compression and so on. I’m not the best at doing those things myself. I usually try to ignore the injury and continue in what I am doing. I know, not the smartest thing to do. But I have my reasons, or motivation.

I’m someone who enjoys the feeling of getting my ass kicked and finishing my workout drained, tired. Not really a good excuse is it. Not the best thing to do, but like I said, I don’t always follow my advice. I should.

Kill it

Fuel. We overlook the importance of how we fuel our body and when we fuel our body. Don’t! Let me lay it out to you. Do you want to feel like crap during your next workout, or do you want to feel like you can keep going, and going strong?

The latter, right? Why not? It feels awful when working out and you are drained, you don’t know how you will make it through the next 60 minutes, or half hour. Time to change that. Time to kill it.

Just like a car, a furnace, stove or anything that moves, we require fuel to perform. And optimally we want the best fuel there and ready to feed our muscles. How do we do that? A couple of things can be done.

2 hours

2 hours before you work out be sure to consume a meal high in complex carbs so your body’s fuel tank has some fuel in it to provide the necessary energy for your workout. But that’s not it. 20 minutes before you start your workout consume something high in carbs. You can try a pre workout energy mix, or something else like figs, dates, or dried cranberries. The idea is to get something sweet into your body, but also something beneficial. Don’t think you can down a soda or eat a brownie and get the same results. You won’t.

The testing

For the last 4 weeks I have been consuming a pre-work out drink to see if it’s something that works or just a waste of time. Should it work? Absolutely, the pre-work out drink provides the fuel my body, or our body needs for the workout. The workout has been a workout that goes for 90 minutes and I’ve been doing this workout for a few years now. I have a baseline to compare it too and so far the results have been good. I feel better during the workout, not so fatigued or drained. At the end of the workout I’m tired, but I’m not dead. Am I working just as hard? Yes.

That should be no surprise. The body requires fuel and if you don’t fuel it, it can’t perform to it’s best level.

Now this test of mine is in no sense all that scientific. No beakers have been harmed. But, it does go along with the principle that our bodies need fuel to perform and to perform well we need to have the right fuel at the right time.

Change

Try it. Try it with what works for you. It’s science, and you will feel the difference. I almost guarantee it.

Yours in health,

Darryl

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

A little death…

The mind can be powerful, and the mind can be weak. It can propel us to unimagined heights or it can make us feel like a loser. Sometimes the outcome, or how we feel, can be determined by what we do before a large event, or before an event that requires the mental strength.

Why

We have to take ourselves to that place where our mind will quit, or we will not be successful. We have to do this in order to grow. If we never take ourselves there, we end up becoming stagnant, or we end up plateauing. Taking ourselves there also gives us motivation. How many times have you surprised yourself by accomplishing more than you thought you would because you went pass that point your brain told you to stop. It felt really good, didn’t it. In fact, it felt great. You will never know what you can accomplish if you quit at that first moment the thought enters your mind, ‘this hurts, this feels uncomfortable, I want to stop’. We cannot go on living in our comfort zone. We are more than this. We need to grow. We need to be satisfied. We need to break out of that zone so we can grow, so we can become what we are supposed to be. If you don’t take that chance, you will always regret it. Won’t you?

Caution

Having said that, we need to be aware that that voice we hear, telling us to stop is not there for no reason. If we are pushing ourselves to the point that we could do physical damage to our body, the voice is there to get us to quit before we could do damage to our body, specifically our organs. If you have never run more than 3km’s, and decided to run a marathon at a time under 4 hours, it might be a good idea to listen to that voice. You haven’t prepared your body for this type of event and the voice telling you to quit is probably right.

Be prepared

So what can we do to minimize the impact of this voice and continue our workout, our event or whatever it is you are doing when your brain starts to question what it is you are doing.

Be prepared – I like to use the analogy of having an exam to write. I know with myself, I am much more nervous if I feel I’m not prepared, I didn’t study enough. If I have put in enough study time, I go into the exam feeling confident, and not as nervous (there’s always some nervousness, it is an exam). If you are competing in a big event such as a marathon, or tough mudder, try to include into your prep something that mimics what it is you are doing. For example, if your event is a marathon, be sure to include a distance run that is about 90% the length of the marathon. This way you will go in to the event confident knowing that you only have to run that 10% more than your longest run in training. You’ve eliminating the unknown which can lead to fear.

Nutrition – Make sure you are properly fueled. If you aren’t, you will exhaust yourself so much sooner, and this can lead to a drop in confidence and motivation leading to our friend the brain telling us to stop much sooner than you should be. Be sure to eat a couple of hours before your workout and try to have something high in carbs about 30 minutes before hand, something such as a banana or an orange. If your workout is intense, and lasts more than 60 minutes you may also want to replenish your glycogen stores by consuming something high in carbs such as dates, or figs. You can even try the gels that runners use. This will keep you going and lessen that voice telling you to quit and give in.

The zone – Time to stop thinking about yourself, about the pain, about the fatigue. Try to think of something, anything else besides the work you are doing. You should find that your mind gets focused on this instead of the workout. I’ll do this when I’m running, I’ll think about the workout I need to put together for class, or I’ll think about my next blog post. Before I know it, I’ve completed about half my run. If the mind is busy with other things, it won’t be focused on everything that comes with the workout.

Feedback – We do need to listen to our body when working out, we can’t totally ignore it. But, we need to listen to the important things. Finding yourself more tired than normal may be your body telling you that you need to consume some carbs. If you feel pain don’t ignore it! Pain during a workout is never a good thing. Typically that means you have injured yourself. Pain after a workout such as muscle pain is ok since this means you have been successful in creating micro tears in your muscle fiber which now need to be repaired. This is what leads to increased strength and muscle growth.

Do you want it

You desire it, but do you really want it? It would be great if we could just take a pill and just like that our cardio would be top notch, or we just added 10 lbs of muscle. Or would it be great? If you are someone who trains regularly, leaves your workout exhausted and sweaty, feel good about that because 70% of everyone else are doing nothing. Then there are those who do something but really will never see any gains because they never get out of their comfort zone.

I know you want it. I know this because you are hear reading this, reading my blog and I like to think I’m honest in what I say in my posts. If you keep coming back to read more, you are probably someone who wants to get the most they can out of life. Do it then. Don’t give in. You know what you want, go out there an grab onto it. You’ll embrace it with open arms knowing it’s right.

Yours in health,

Darryl

I go where my heart leads me…

The meat of the problem

I think whether you’re vegetarian or vegan you probably get a bad rap from people. Not everyone, but some people: ‘Are you getting enough protein?’, ‘are you combining food to get the full protein spectrum’, ‘how do you stand not eating bacon?’ etc. Sure, being a vegetarian or following a plant based diet requires you to be aware of the amount of protein you are consuming, but so does being a meat eater. And of course there is the myth that following a plant based diet requires you to mix protein to get the complete branch chain amino acids that our body does not produce (there are 9 of them), also known as protein complementing. Check out the following links to read further about protein complementing and how it has been proven false. Eat enough plants to meet your caloric requirement and you will get the amino acids you need.

Choices

So what if you follow a plant based diet, or are interested in moving towards a plant based diet. What foods are there that can provide the protein that we need? Let me provide you with a list of foods rich in protein that will allow you to pack on muscle and strength:

Hemp: Hemp hearts are a great source of protein, or you can also purchase hemp protein powder. 3 tablespoons contain 10 grams of protein and also contain omega 3 and omega 6 essential fatty acids.
Seitan: Holy high protein content! 21 grams per ½ cup! Seitan is a great source of protein and can be an alternative to tofu. You can bake, grill or even braise it.
Kelp, nori, spirulina: Packing 8 to 32 grams of protein per cup and rich in calcium, iron , iodine and potassium.
Avocado: 10 grams of protein in an awesome flavor packed green potato like treat. How can you not like avocados.
Peas: 9 grams per cup. Eat two cups and you probably have met a quarter of your protein requirement for the day.
Soy: 1 cup will get you 28 grams! Wow!
Lentils: 1 cup will get 18 grams. Throw the lentils into a chili and add black beans or kidney beans and you have a high protein meal.
Peanut butter: A staple for me. I probably eat about 4 tablespoons a day. Each tablespoon contains about 4 grams of protein.
Almonds: The same. A tablespoon will have about 4 grams.
Oatmeal: Believe it or not, 1 cup will have about 6 grams of protein.

It needs respect

Protein should not be overlooked. You need to be aware of how much you are consuming daily especially if you are active and looking to increase strength and muscle size. Of course consuming too much protein can be detrimental.

Don’t hesitate moving to a plant based diet if you are concerned if you will get enough protein. You will! Like any diet you need to be aware of what it is you are eating. That’s it. Know that there are a lot of options to get that protein. I have listed only 10 but there are so many more.

No regrets

As of January 2015, I have been following a plant based diet for about 8 months and would not switch back to eating products from an animal. I use the term products because I think farming has lost sight of farming food and now farm products. The dollar is the driver of how animals are farmed, and how animals are treated. I feel better both physically and mentally. And I feel better knowing I have contributed to lessening the harm that goes to animals being farmed and also lessening the negative impact to the environment.

In the words of a fighter I’m a fan of, ‘don’t be scared homie’. Make the move to a plant based diet knowing that you will get the protein you need.

Do it. Make a change. Be the change for a better earth.

Yours in health,

Darryl

risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you

There is magic in fighting battles beyond endurance.

It’s straight forward and simple. When our body runs out of fuel, it can no longer perform at the output we desire. Whether it’s 20 minutes into your workout, or 3 hours the body will slow down due to lack of fuel. You can’t control this, it will just happen. I know we have all been there. It’s defeating when it happens because you know you can do better, you did better your last workout.

How do we prevent this? In a previous post I covered fueling before your workout. If you haven’t read it, you might want to. It will help you in performing as best as you can for workouts that will last up to 60 minutes, or on the edge of 90 minutes. There are more workouts, events lasting longer than 60 minutes. It used to be that most long lasting workouts were marathons. But now we have boot camps, cross training classes, tuff mudders endurance events that are anywhere from 90 minutes to hours in duration.

You need to refuel during these events, with the right fuel to continue.

The science of it

ATP. Three letters that represent a chemical compound that is responsible for everything we do. Anything your body does is fueled by ATP.

For simplicity we can think of three different sources for our body to create ATP: Creatine Phosphate, carbohydrates, and fat. I’m not going to get into Creatine Phosphate since generally you won’t be in the intensity zone needed to use that as a source. And fat? Not going to talk about fat that much either. Carbohydrates is what this post is going to focus on.

Carbohydrates, or sugar, is what the body processes into glycogen and glucose. Glucose is what is in our blood to be used with oxygen to create ATP so we can function. Think of glycogen as the unused glucose. Glycogen gets stored in our liver and in our muscles. When the body needs glucose the glycogen is then converted to glucose. Our body can store only so much glycogen. If you have ever heard of someone ‘carbo loading’ the night before an event such as a marathon, that person was trying to fill up the glycogen fuel tank so they are heading into the event with a full fuel tank. Studies have shown that this carbo loading may not be all that effective or necessary. Your body can hold only so much glycogen, about 500 grams or 2000 calories worth. If you eat more food than needed, that extra amount of carbs gets turned into fat. Studies have also shown that a meal high in carbs a couple of hours before the event should satisfy the amount of carbs needed to top out your glycogen stores as long as you are not already overly depleted.

This 500 gram supply of glycogen can last for as much as 90 minutes when exercising at a low intensity level or up to 30 minutes when training at a high intensity level.

Is it starting to make sense why what we eat and when we eat is very important to how we perform? And there’s still more to cover!

We hit the 90 minute mark and have depleted our glycogen stores. Bone dry. Our body comes to a crashing halt, unable to move anymore without fuel. Well, not really. But things do happen that we really don’t want happening. Our body will be forced to slow down into a lower intensity level where we can use fat as a fuel. But we cannot use only fat as a fuel. Our body still craves glucose and will do anything to get it. You’re not going to like this part. It’s somewhat disconcerting and demoralizing. Your body will turn on you and metabolize muscle. Muscle that you have been working your butt off to build. Your body has turned against you and your gains that you made are starting to diminish. The body does what the body needs to do. The longer the event the more muscle lost to being converted to fuel.

There’s hope

Don’t worry, there’s hope. There are steps we can take to prevent this from happening and to be strong at the beginning, middle and end of the event.

You have probably already figured it out, what it is we need to do. We need to eat! We need to get carbs back into our system. So reach into your backpack and pull out a couple of donuts you have in there for this purpose. Might as well enjoy it, right? Alright, not really. There are better ways to get carbs into our system.

When do we do this? Do we do this after our glycogen stores are depleted? No. Let’s not get to that point. Let’s get those carbs back into our system before our performance is impacted. Ideally to not get impacted you will want to take a form of carbohydrates about every 30 minutes during exercise. And you will want to do this in a way that is easy. Forget the donut and lets use something easier and better.

Gels, sport drinks, fruit. These are some options. If you have a bit of a break during your event you might want to consume an orange, or banana, or maybe some dates. If you don’t have a break, or you want something easy to digest try a sports gel or a sports drink. Easy to take and easy to process. Remember, we are all different. The amount you need is probably different that the amount I would need. This comes under training smart. Try using varying amounts as you train and find the best combination. Maybe a gel pack to start then a couple of mouthfuls of a sports drink later. Or maybe a gel pack and a couple of mouthfuls of a sports drink to wash it down. You have to play with it. But at least you are taking something! That alone should help you. One warning though. Once you have found what works for you, the brand of sports gel, amount, etc. don’t go messing with that combination on the day of the event. It could be the worst thing you do. Just like a marathoner wouldn’t run the event in a brand new, never worn pair of shoes you never want to introduce anything new. You never know how your body, or digestive system will react. It very well could react negatively ending your event prematurely.

Finished, time to rest

You have finished your event, your workout. What you do know is important to how you will feel that day or the following day. Our glycogen stores are still depleted and we need to fill them back up. Don’t go for the protein shake yet. You will need some protein but that’s later. If you were to eat protein instead of carbs you may not have enough glucose and glycogen to create the energy to digest the food and once again your body will be eating itself. Try to refuel with a combination of 4 carbs to 1 protein. If your event was exceptionally long, you will want to continue to reload carbs up to 24 hours after the event.

Be the best

I probably sound redundant but I believe a good message deserves to be heard over and over. Train smart. I’ll give you an example. Years ago people would train and compete in events without drinking water and sometimes in extreme heat. You were a wimp if you drank water. You were told to ‘suck it up’. So what happened that you hardly ever see anyone training without water. Even the military, the bastion of this type of thinking is taking hydration seriously. What happened? People died! And people started to find out that people were dying due to dehydration.

You probably won’t die due to depleted glycogen stores but you could be causing short and long term damage. And you performance will suffer, and you will feel like crap. Really. Running out of glycogen is called ‘hitting the wall’, not ‘laying down in a nice soft bed’. That should tell you something.

I have another reason for you to do this. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to yourself to be as strong as you can and have an awesome experience doing it instead of it being disappointing. At least, I think you do.

Yours in health,

Darryl