Last week Nita taught the system we outline in the book to a Brigade of Army Soldiers.

I’ll be taking off for Iraq in a few weeks then will loop through Afghanistan too go snow boarding in the Hindu Kush with some of my cronies.

When I’m overseas I do what I can to keep training.  I spent some time filming news at a US military outpost in Laghman province that had a pretty good gym and was able to get some little workouts in before the daily grind of missions in the heat.

Most of the trip though I was living in safe houses and rundown hotels.  So did pushups, pullups, handstand push ups, etc.

I tried to eat as much meat as I could and found a small grocery in Kabul that had some whey protein.

Life/work got in the way, but I didn’t use it as an excuse to eat like a pig and not train.

I’ll be heading to Iraq in a few weeks to do some more filming so my priorities are strength, speed and stamina.

I will worry about appearance when I get back home for a few months this winter.

Then I went on trip to San Diego for work and a lot of fun and came back on June 14 super bloated.

Today I am back down to 207.

That is up 12 pounds in a few days and down 11 pounds in 6 days.

The gain was from a lot more carbs, salt and sugar than I normally eat.  The loss was from my normal eating plan and training that worked most of the water and bloat out of my system.

If I was more ambitious huckster I would use the pics as before and afters and say some pill did the magic.  But it was just regular weight lifting, some intervals and a basic diet of meat, eggs, fish, oats and whey.

Let me illustrate this with a common formula for determining resting metabolic rate.

RMR = 9.99(WEIGHT in Kilograms) + 6.25(HEIGHT in centimeters) - 4.92(AGE in years) + 166(GENDER)-161

If I were to plug in my specific data, the formula would look like this:

RMR = 9.99(94) + 6.25(177.8) - 4.92(36) + 166(1)-161

(*Note, men enter “1” for their gender, women enter “0”)

So if I calculate it out my RMR is 1,879 calories.

Ok.  Now, how on earth was this formula derived?

Most likely a group of researchers had a large group of test subjects come in to a lab.  In the lab they probably used a sealed chamber to measure oxygen exchange rates to determine metabolic rate.

Then they took the information about the test subjects—weight, height, age, gender—and started working on a formula that would prove accurate enough 68% of the time.  In other words, a formula that fit nicely with the bell curve distribution.

But as we see from the bell curve, people, even when near the middle of the curve, are still scattered all over.

The RMR formula above is accurate but not exact.  The formula could easily be off by 5% on me which would equal about 100 calories.  If I eat 100 more calories than I burn over the course of 35 days I will have gained a pound of fat.

This why the internet message boards are clogged with questions from people who are, by the formula, eating the correct amount of calories to lose fat or gain muscle, but are getting no results.

Each person is a little bit different and no bell curve derived formula can predict anything about them with precision.

(To see the folly of bell curves in action one only has to look at the meltdown of the financial industry which relied on bell curve distribution models to manage risk.  A bunch of really smart people using customized formulae still got it very wrong.)

To lose fat one needs to eat with precision and determine with precision the macro-nutrients and caloric intake that will allow them to lose fat.

To do that you need to conduct controlled experiments on yourself and track the results with precision.

In the Chapters covering Phase II of the Fit for Combat system, Nita and I explain that the best way to discover the eating plan that works best for you is to weigh and measure all your food to the gram then make gradual adjustments and track the results.

Over the course of a few months this will lead you to the eating plan that works specifically for you.

And rather than rely on a bell curve based formula to determine your metabolic rate, why not track the changes in your metabolism using a quantifiable number with a thermometer?  Yes, a simple digital thermometer.

Lets go back to the metabolic formula for a moment.

RMR = 9.99(WEIGHT in Kilograms) + 6.25(HEIGHT in centimeters) - 4.92(AGE in years) + 166(GENDER)-161

What are the constants and variables in this formula?  Your gender is a constant.  Your height, depending on your age is a constant.  The age changes once a year.  But your weight is a variable.

Your weight can change through a gain or loss of muscle and/or fat.  Moreover, the formula only asks for weight making no real distinction between lean tissue or fat.  But muscle is one of key factors in determining metabolic rate.

Researchers from Aberdeen University in Scotland found that 63% of the time, differences in metabolic rate between tested individuals were determined by muscle mass, 6% of the differences were determined by fat mass and 26% of the time they had no idea what caused the variations.

The results of the study, published in the November 2005 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, shed light on the flaws of the standard Resting Metabolic Rate formula.

A formula that does not account for muscle mass will be incorrect.  Even more important is the conclusion that 26% of the time, there are variables to metabolic rate that cannot be determined.

If you are relying on a generic formula to guide your eating plan, you could be very, very frustrated.

Another shortcoming of the formula is that it does not account for is your body’s reaction to caloric input, the Krebs cycle, and how it will adapt.

The body’s metabolism will adjust up and down to caloric input.  It does not speed up much with increased calorie consumption but definitely will slow down from calorie restriction.  When a person is dieting to lose fat, the metabolism will adapt to the lower calories creating a diet plateau.

Most people use a bathroom scale to determine whether they are gaining or losing weight, but even if you weigh yourself every day right after you wake up, there are still variables.

Body fat calipers to gauge fat thickness in millimeters are great to determine fat loss, but the daily changes are too small to make rapid diet adjustments to keep ahead of the Krebs cycle.

A thermometer though provides a daily reading that can be tracked to determine if the metabolism is slowing down or speeding up.

Keeping a thermometer on your nightstand and taking your temperature right after you wake up will give you a precise measurement to a tenth decimal of your metabolism.  No, it will not be able to tell you how many calories you should eat, but the trend will tell you if your metabolism is adjusting.  And the changes you can detect from the thermometer are detectable faster than with a scale or calipers.

With the scale and calipers, you only know the metabolism has adjusted when you level off or even worse, begin to gain.

A slight drop in waking body temperature over the course of a few days indicates a metabolic slow down way before the plateau is actually reached, allowing you to make adjustments and stay ahead of your metabolism.

The thermometer, when combined with a food scale to ensure precise eating, body fat calipers and a scale will keep you on track to adjust your eating specifically for you.

You could rely on formula, but they are often like the Body Mass Index calculations.  The BMI calculations say that despite my visible abs, I am obese.

You will have greater success if you ignore the bell curve derived formulas and focus on using quantifiable measurements to dial on what works specifically for you.

Workout advise and formulas derived for the “average” only work if you are among the small percentage of people who are precisely average.  In reality, only three percent or less of the population is precisely average.

For the other 97% of us, it is best to use measurements on ourselves and take the time to experiment to find what works specifically for us.

]]> http://blog.bodybuilding.com/JD_Johannes/2009/06/01/7481262/feed/ http://blog.bodybuilding.com/JD_Johannes/2009/05/31/weekly-report/ http://blog.bodybuilding.com/JD_Johannes/2009/05/31/weekly-report/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:17:56 +0000 JD_Johannes Training http://blog.bodybuilding.com/JD_Johannes/1969/12/31// No pic this week.  Slept late and had to get to the airport for a few days filming in the desert.

On Friday morning my weight was down to 205.6 Lbs.

Fat thickness at the illiac abdominal 6.2mm

Waist 89.5cm.

Of course I ate way to much traveling and working so today I’m holding water and ballooned up to 213 Lbs.

My fat thickness at the illiac abdominal went from 7 to 6.5 and my waist is down 1cm to 90cm.

Lean diameter of the upper arm is 138.8.  I am still nice and strong in the gym.

Everything is moving in the right direction.  After a little carb refeed this weekend the next adjustmet to the diet is replacing my current whey with a sugar free whey and cutting out a few more grams of oats.

Then I start zero carb cycles and longer ketosis runs.

No, I’m not doing a contest.  I just enjoy doing this in the summer and have 8 weeks before I head to work overseas.  So, why not look good at the pool for the next couple weeks?

Then I miscalculated my carb rotation last week.  My thought was the uptick in eating during the work in PHX would allow me to re-start at higher carb intake.  It didn’t work as planned.

This week I walked down to 17grams of intentional carbs.  Tomorrow I will have a refeed with 34grams carbs from oats and big leafy green salad.  I don’t even pretend that is a "cheat."  It is a controlled refeed.

Next week I will walk down to basically zero intentional carbs on Friday then decide if I want to reset and run through a four-week walk down, or jump into ketosis.

I got in a few good workouts with her and some of her personal training clients and closed out our most recent project–a book detailing Nita’s workout and nurtition plan.  I am a product of parts of the plan.

The book is not a "eat this" or "do this workout" as much as it is an explanation of the systematic approach used by an IFBB Pro like Nita to dial in what works for her.  The system can be used by anyone to dial in on what works for them.  There is no secret technique, just methodical application of the basic laws of physiology.

After watching her guide so many figure competitors through the process, it is really straight forward.  So straight forward a lot of people can’t believe it works.  The secret is, there is no secret.  Or, if there is a secret, it is precise tracking that allows you to determine with quantifiable data what works for you.  The only tools are a food scale, body fat calipers, cloth tape measure, a bathroom scale and a notebook.
Nita is planning on competing this year.  I’m pushing for the Europa in Dallas because it is a short drive down the road for me and I hate commercial air travel.

I planned ahead.  Brought a tub of whey and oats.  There was a grocery store a couple blocks away so I could get some meat.  The hotel had a little gym so I could get a little workout in.

That was the easy part.  I’m used to that.  When I fly I bring some shakers with whey powder in them in carry-on–just add water and I have a snack.  I just avoid carbs and sugars like usual.

What threw me off this trip was my connecting flight home was cancelled and I was stuck at a Holiday Inn Express.  So, I found a grocery store a mile away, hoofed down there, got some more whey and some deli meat and stayed pretty close to the eating plan.

Of course all the salty deli meat has me holding water like a camel, but salt takes care of itself.

After a 30 trip that should have been just 6 hours I felt pretty crappy, but went to the gym and got in a lift this afternoon.  And after a few normal meals I’m feeling almost all better.

On April 17th 2009, just a few days ago, I weighed 210 pounds and look like this.

Last year, I used to weigh myself at the gym in the afteroon on a balance scale.  But, the balance scale gone, so now I weigh myself with a digital bathroom scale in the morning.  The weight difference between morning and afternoon is about five pounds.

Does that mean in one year I have put on about 20 pounds of muscle?  Yes and no.  You have to understand how I got to 195 pounds in April of 2008 first, then the 20 pounds of “muscle” will make more sense.

I have spent the better part of the last four years running around Iraq and Afghanistan with a TV camera on my shoulder.

During that time I used an old fashioned power/mass workout combined with some easy distance running and a few sprints to stay in good enough shape to keep up Marines, Paratroopers and a few Spec Ops types.

I was strong and in good enough shape, but I was weighing 240+ pounds.

The best way to describe me was Heavy Duty.  I was the guy with 19 inch arms, a 55 inch chest and a 40 inch waist.  I could bench 365 for a triple and shoulder press 125 pound dumbbells.

But dragging all that weight around the war zones sucked.

When I got back from a long trip in the Summer of 2007, I decided to get the weight off.  I came up with what I thought was a good diet and cardio program and dove in.

But it didn’t accomplish anything.

I made another short hop to the war in the late Summer of 2007 and when I got back, I went to work editing a documentary trilogy about Iraq.

For a change of scenery, I moved into a small condo in Miami owned by a buddy of mine from Iraq whose family did some slum lording.

While in Miami I fell in with the wrong crowd–a crazy group of female bodybuilders.

I already knew how build size and strength, they taught me a knew level of intensity and how to really think about what I ate.

When I left Miami, I continued to dial in on my eating.  But after two months and 10 pounds of fat lost, I got stuck.

After a visit to my doctor and an edoncrinologist I discovered I am mildly hypo-thyroid and have a form of insulin resistence.  My body prefers to turn carbs and sugars into fat, with only a brief pit-stop in the muscles as glycogen.

So, I had to diet even harder.  It was months of low carb cycles, ketogenic cycles and way too much cardio.

But, by April of 2008 I was down to 195 pounds and relatively lean.

Then I went to Iraq again.

When I got back in the Summer of 2008, I worked the system to build myself back up, got on my base eating plan and changed my cardio.

My friends Nita Marquez and Glen & Lisa Krog had me start doing more sprints and only occasional distance running.  When I started doing sprints I got leaner and actually built up a bit of muscle and strength.

I dialed in my eating and training and went from this to this.

Then I went to Iraq again.

When I got home I spent a few months doing my system, which is detailed in my "Fit for Combat" training journal.  It is nothing fancy, but it works for me.

My good friend Sarah is getting ready for a figure show later this Summer, so I have been gradually reducing and rotating my carbs and losing a few pounds of fat.

The amount of muscle I have now is not new for me.  I had even more muscle when I was "Heavy Duty" or maybe I was just a little stronger.

I don’t think I put on 20 pounds of new muscle in a year.  I think I just restored some of the muscle that had been burned off during the long diet and excessive cardio.  Restoring is a lot different than building brand new.

My training system is very old fashioned.  I log all my workouts and try to get more reps or move more weight every week.

I measure my food to the gram.  The precision is very important.

I approach all this very systematically.  Everything is quantified and the variables are controlled.

Because I am not naturally lean or even naturally muscular, I have to dial in on what works for me making gradual adjustments and measuring their effectiveness.

Through this process I have learned there is no such thing as a one-size fits all program.  There are some physiological laws like overload and caloric underload and ketosis.

But beyond that it is tracking, precision eating and careful experimentation to find what works specifically for you.