JitWit 
"I want to break 2/3 National records for the USAPL women's 114 class and maybe do a few figure contests while I'm at it!! I've got my bench up to 170, deadlift around 210 and squat about 185!!"
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Archive for January, 2008
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
<em />
Hi Jean,
You mentioned even sleep being an important factor in Christa’s regimen. Any articles you can link to explain the benefits or even consequences of its deficiency (I’m legend for sleeping only when dead tired). Thanks in advance JJ!
-azul
I hate sleep; I’m always eager to pop out of bed and start. Start anything: writing, making omelets, whatever. Though, sometimes, I wake up on a Saturday, get excited about wakefulness, and realize that it’s only 5:30am. I feel good enough to wake up and get going. But with only 6 hours of sleep, I convince myself to close my eyes, and think about anything relaxing that is not sleep. Then I usually wake up a couple of hours later. After 7.7 hours of sleep, I am really ready to start my day. But why all the fuss about sleep?
It’s important!
First, there is conclusive research that constant, inadequate sleep puts you at risk of obesity and diabetes. Specifically, sleep loss messes with 1) how your body uses glucose (sugar/carbs) and secretes insulin 2) increases appetite; and 3) decreases energy burned during a 24 hour period.
Don’t Mess with Insulin
Insulin resistance
Insulin resistance is a problem that starts to rear its ugly head in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes. Despite the fact that the body (pancreas) is still making and releasing insulin, a person still cannot get rid of the sugar in her blood fast enough. This lingering sugar is very harmful to blood vessels, nerves, and eyes; it’s also bad for the kidneys, since extra sugar is eliminated through the urine. As a result, your body has to make more and more insulin to get the glucose (sugar) out of your blood and into fat (usually) or muscle cells. Eventually, your pancreas says
“Screw it, I work hard to clean up the blood and my insulin doesn’t work anymore.”
In the advanced stages of diabetes, when your pancreas gives up, you have to start injecting insulin to use clean up carbs.
Listen up college students, shift-workers, and parents of small children, MANY studies show that a couple days of less than 4 hours of sleep per night reduces your insulin resistance (1). In essence, your body starts acting more like a diabetic’s body, and your pancreas has to work too hard. As a result, many researchers think that chronic loss of sleep may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome (which are both also linked to obesity and overweight).
Increased Desire to Eat High Carbohydrate Foods
In conjunction with insulin resistance, sleep loss also induces cravings for high-carb food (1,2). As such, the problem above is made worse because the pancreas has to secrete even more insulin to take care the gummy bear binge.
Increased Cortisol
Sleep deprivation also increases the stress hormone cortisol, which is associated with obesity, high blood sugar, and lowered immunity (disease-fighting ability). Furthermore, cortisol acts as a stimulus to BREAK DOWN MUSCLE, in order to raise the blood sugar.
The result of 2-3 restless nights is 1) greater intake of high-carb foods; 2) increased cortisol levels, which results in muscle destruction; and 3) a large spike in insulin to cope with excess blood sugar and insulin resistance. These hormonal imbalances, when you are feeling lethargic and snacky, can lead to significant weight gain.
I Can’t Eat Enough
Cortisol and insulin aren’t the only hormones affected by poor sleep. A number of hormones that directly influence appetite are also manipulated.
Lower Leptin
Scientists used to think that fat was an inert place to store extra energy. Now researchers recognize fat tissue as a powerful hormone-releasing organ that influences diet and activity behaviors. Leptin is a hormone secreted from the fat tissue itself. The more fat you have (extra energy in your body) the more leptin is secreted, generally. Leptin is a hormone that tells your body:
“You’re too fat, stop eating and burn more energy (Calories)”
As a result, appetite diminishes and the body naturally burns more calories, mostly through non-exercise activities (1,2).
But if a person doesn’t get enough sleep, leptin levels decrease. Low leptin levels tell the body that energy levels are low. As a result, appetite increases!
Increased Ghrelin
It is easy to think of ghrelin as a hormone that is exactly the opposite of leptin. Increased ghrelin tells your body:
“You are not getting enough energy; eat more and move less!”
As a result, you eat more and move less! As little as 2-3 days of sleep deprivation (4 hours per night) is sever enough to significantly increase the ghrelin in your blood. Combined, the ghrelin and leptin changes after a couple of days of crappy sleep is enough to make you overeat, no question. Research strongly supports this conclusion (1,2,3)!
Increased Time to Eat
Let’s say you’re the kind of person who likes to eat every 2-3 hours. And let’s also assume you’re sleep deprived. Your body is giving you signals that you don’t have enough energy and you are craving high-carb junk food. A sleep loss of 3-4 hours hours would translate into at least one extra meal of poor-quality food, combined with little motivation to move and burn off the extra Calories. In addition, both population and lab-based studies (3) show that people actually eat more, on average, the less they sleep!
Don’t Ask Me to Move; I’m Tired!
Low Leptin; Decreased Energy Expenditure
Low leptin and high ghrelin levels are shown to reduce Non-Exercise-Activity-Thermogenesis (NEAT) HUH? Well, NEAT is basically any movement you do that is not planned exercise. Most of the daily Calorie-burn is used to keep the body tickin’; NEAT is second and exercise is third. So if NEAT activities subside significantly, the result can be more detrimental than skipping the gym! For instance, when you are tired at 3:00pm, do you feel like playing with your little niece or getting up to go talk to a co-worker? It’s unlikely, and you’ve just given up some NEAT calorie-burn!
Lower Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH)
TSH is the hormone that stimulates, well, your thyroid, which then releases the thyroid hormones T3 and T4. These hormones are STRONGLY related to your metabolism. Sleep deprivation causes a lowering of TSH. In short, the thyroid gland will not be stimulated as much; T3 and T4 will not be fully made/released. Do not pass go; do not drop 20 lbs! Capisci?
Faster Metabolism in Second Half of Sleep
Ghrelin levels lower in the second half of sleep-night (2). Remember that lower ghrelin means less appetite and more movement! If you wake up too early, this ghrelin drop will not happen and you may wake up hungrier than you should be, in addition to all the other obesigenic fun already described. Furthermore, REM (dream) sleep is greater during the second half of the night. REM sleep is very important for a number of other reasons (long-term memory, etc), but you also burn more calories during REM that during the deeper sleep that predominated the earlier sleep cycles. So pass the 800 TC sheets and silence the cell phone!
Obesity Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a chronic sleep-disturbing condition where an afflicted person actually stops breathing repeatedly throughout the night. This condition is highly detrimental for a variety of reasons and really screws with all the hormones mentioned above. Obesity very strongly correlates with sleep apnea, which results in a positive feedback loop in the person with sleep apnea. For instance, a woman gains a lot of weight, is diagnosed with sleep apnea and never has quality sleep; her hormones go wild, and she becomes even more obese. Folks, this is just one more reason to eat your veggies!
Baby Fat
A really interesting study done by Gunderson et al (4) also shows that women who sleep less after giving birth (less than 5 hours a day as opposed to 7 or more hours) are more than twice as likely to retain an extra 13 pounds one year after giving birth! The women (over half of a large sample) who managed to collect at least 7 hours throughout the day and night were more likely to return to their pre-baby weights within a year.
Sleep All Day?
Interestingly enough, too much sleep is also associated with obesity and other chronic diseases (1)! So what’s perfect? It really depends. Everyone is different and some lucky people (though VERY few) only need 5-6 hours/night to be fully functional. For the rest of us, one study showed the lowest risk of disease and obesity at 7.7 hours/night (3). That means if you set aside 8 hours and have a quickie, err count sheep, then you should be good to go!
References
1. Knuston et al. The metabolic consequences of sleep deprivation. Sleep Medicine Review. 2007;11:163-78.
2. Tahen et al. Short Sleep Duration is Associated with Reduced Leptin, Elevated Ghrelin, and Increased Body Mass Index. Plos Medicine. 2004;1:e62.
3. Spiegel et al. Sleep loss: a novel risk factor for insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2005;99:2008-19.
4. Gunderson et al. Association of Few Hours of Sleep at 6 Months Postpartum with Substantial Weight Retention at 1 Year Postpartum. American Journal of Edidemiology. 2007; DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwm298
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Thursday, January 17th, 2008
Posted in Other
Thursday, January 17th, 2008
Posted in Other
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
So I came home from a long day, and there was a package for me on the counter.
Not a surprise, considering my latest ebay binge.
But my roommate was hovering, looking–
"I had to sign for it–"
"Yeah?" I mindlessly replied.
"Yeah, and the post guy gave me a little smirk as he walked away. Why does it have the wrong last name on it?"
I hadn’t let her in on too much of my past "I was adopted as an adult by my stepfather, so some of my accounts are still in my old name" I explained while opening the package on the kitchen counter.
She held her breath, and sighed when she saw a bright red bottle of creatine. "Look at the return address…"
I looked and read aloud "Fulfillment Services…HA! and you had to sign for it!"
Posted in Other
Saturday, January 12th, 2008
Victor Dean MS, CSCS
<em />Hey Jean,
I’m pretty much a hard-gainer. I’ve been lifting pretty intensively and (I think) followed a diet that should be fostering some real growth (3000+ calories on lifting days; 40/40/20; whey first thing in the morning and pre/post workout, etc.), but I just seem to have stalled at my current weight (mid 170’s). I put on about 5 pounds when I ramped up my diet, but can’t seem to push much higher. Any advice?
Very best regards, Mike
If the weight loss stalled, your diet is not giving you enough calories to foster growth, considering the activity you do! The most important part of building lean mass is eating extra calories. The extra calories should come from high quality protein, carbohydrates and fat, primarily before and after workouts. Note that a “bulking” diet is not a license to eat piles of wretched, processed junk-food! There are several points I would like to address. Also, since I am not a hard-gainer, I asked my friend Victor Dean, trainer (CSCS) and owner of Victor Dean Training, for his advice as well. His contribution follows my points and is written all bold.
If the weight loss stalled, your diet is not giving you enough calories to foster growth, considering the activity you do! The most important part of building lean mass is eating extra calories. The extra calories should come from protein, carbohydrates and fat, primarily before and after workouts. Note that a “bulking” diet is not a license to eat piles of wretched, processed junk-food! There are several points I would like to address. Also, since I am not a hard-gainer, I asked my friend , trainer (CSCS) and owner of , for his advice as well. His contribution follows my points and is written all bold.
1. Make sure that you are supplementing your workouts properly and giving your body important nutrition at the proper times.
The carbohydrates and protein surrounding workouts are essential. The supplements are recommended to maximize muscle size. I am only mentioning supplements that have unequivocal research to support their use!
Research supports the notion that meal timing around exercise increases the amount of lean mass gained. In one study, researchers supplemented two groups of men with the same supplement, except one group got the supplement immediately before and after resistance training; the other group received the supplement several hours before and after working out. The group that received the supplement immediately before and after the workout gained significantly more lean mass than the group that did not practice good nutrient timing.
Carbohydrates before after a weight-lifting workout:
I consume about 0.5 grams/kg of carbohydrates (roughly 25g for a small woman; 50g for a man) before a weight-lifting workout, and between 0.5-1.0g/kg after a workout (weight in kg is your weight in pounds divided by 2.2). A slow absorbing carbohydrate is appropriate before a workout; a good example is oats. A fast absorbing carb is good for after a workout, I eat dates. The dried fruits are absorbed even faster than regular table sugar and are a completely natural source of fast-absorbing carbohydrates.
Protein before and after a workout:
Generally, protein supplementation enhances lean mass gain during periods of resistance training– thousands of studies support this conclusion. A study conducted at Baylor University in young men showed a significant increase in muscle mass with about 40 grams of protein supplementation per day. Before a work-out, whey protein, casein protein or mixed protein sources (like whey and casein/egg and whey).
Supplement with 0.25 to 0.5 grams/kg of protein before your workout.
Creatine before you workout:
Numerous published studies show the benefits of creatine supplementation for increased lean mass and strength. One study, conducted at Baylor University, showed about twice as much lean mass gain for men taking creatine over the placebo group when completing the same resistance training program. In this study the men supplemented with 20 grams/day during a one week loading phase and 5 grams/day for the rest of the twelve week study for maintenance. If you choose to do a loading phase, be sure to split the creatine up into 4 or 5 doses throughout the day to minimize stomach upset.
Creatine monohydrate is the form of creatine that has been studied the most and has been proven effective in research; 500g should not cost more than $15. Furthermore, there is evidence that creatine is absorbed better with carbohydrates and protein. This means that you may take creatine with your pre-workout carbohydrate and protein meal.
BCAA before and after weight-lifting:
Consume about 0.05 g/kg of BCAA before and after workouts; at least half of your BCAA should come from the amino acid leucine. Leucine is special because it signals cells to “turn on” the genes that promote muscle growth. A pure BCAA powder is the most economical way to take this supplement; one rounded teaspoon is about 5 grams. A container containing 500g should cost you about $22-30 and last 1-2 months, depending on your weight. BCAAs have a bitter taste, however, so many people prefer to supplement in pill form.
If you do not own a copy of Dr. John Ivy’s Nutrient Timing, I would suggest buying it reading it, and following it.
2. Beware of cardio-overkill
The muscular adaptations that occur with weight training (increased muscle mass and strength) and the adaptations that occur with endurance training (smaller muscles that are more energy efficient—meaning they burn FEWER calories to do the same work) are directly contradictory. If you are logging several hours a week on the treadmill in an attempt to stay lean while gaining muscle, switch to a few 20-30 minute, high intensity interval workouts 3-4 times a week and skip the marathon training!
3. Include Power Days
High-intensity sessions that emphasize short rest periods and super-setting have a place in any program; however, you will not get maximal size or strength without maximal weight load. Your muscle, nerves, and hormone-secreting glands respond in a special way to the heaviest weight you can lift. A heavy workout approach may require longer rest periods and fewer reps (4-6) a couple of times per week.
4. Include enough overall dietary fat
For getting super-lean, you may need to take your fat down to 20% of total calories; however, if you are trying to gain weight, limiting fat is counter productive. When I asked Victor Dean, trainer and business-owner, about the hard gainer issue, he had this to say.
Victor’s response:
Mike’s situation is common; countless bodybuilders have difficulty gaining size. A number of possible solutions have been thrown at this problem, some with more success than others. One common method is to consume carbohydrates excessively and hope that muscles will swell in response to the extra glucose. This approach has some validity it its base– carbohydrates are used during heavy weight training and ample carbohydrates are used by the body to recover from workouts. However, loads of high-glycemic, processed carbohydrates immediately after a workout may be in excess of post-workout needs. Consequently, lifters relying simply on extra carbohydrate may gain primarily body fat from the extra carbohydrates.
There are a couple of problems with excessive carbohydrate consumption. First, muscle tissue can only absorb a limited amount of glucose in a given time period. Some experts estimate that the muscles require 50g glucose every 2 hrs for the average 200lb bodybuilder. I think that actual muscle needs vary largely, depending on the individual and his or her current state of nutrient demand, but let’s stick with the 50g glucose/hour number for now. If a bodybuilder throws in an additional 75-100g at a time, the additional carbohydrates overwhelming the muscle will be converted to fat and stored as such. Your body does this to clear the blood of excess sugar.
I am also concerned that your gaining diet is only 20% fat. Bodybuilders consuming diets chronically low in fat are susceptible to aches and pains that don’t go away; furthermore, strength and mass gains are limited and great pumps are MIA.
Once post-workout carbohydrate needs are satisfied, an effective approach is to add more fat. As long as carbohydrate intake is high enough to replace muscle glycogen stores and provide an anabolic insulin spike after a workout, the best way to fully recover and gain quality body mass is to slowly add more fats to your diet, specifically healthy mono and poly-unsaturated fats. The calorie-dense fats will give your body more fuel to run on, conserve carbohydrates consumed and liver glycogen, and they will provide you with the necessary energy to repair damaged tissues and produce key hormones, like testosterone. In fact, research shows that chronically low fat intake is directly associated with lower testosterone levels in men. A higher fat intake will yield better results for you, as well as a long and happy life for your joints and tendons.
To gain weight, you must eat more calories than your body can burn. That said, if you are not ravenous, it’s much easier to eat a handful of almonds than a huge plateful of pasta. So Mike will have an easier time gaining weight if he adds some fat to his meal plan. He should ensure he is getting in 40-50g of carbohydrates every couple hours but also add a serving of fat to each meal and see what happens! Examples of good, healthy fat sources are almonds, olive oil, natural peanut butter, flax oil, and fish oil. Fats with more omega-3’s (fish oil, walnuts, canola oil) have a beneficial impact on cholesterol and reduce inflammation; adding extra saturated or trans fats to a diet will contribute to heart disease and inflammation. Make sure the fat is increased gradually; even healthy fats will cause you to pack on fat pounds if overdone. Play with it a little and I’m sure you will be happy with the results.
Best of Luck!
Victor
Posted in Other
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
I have three suits up on ebay. All are in great condition and starting under $200!
Two Piece Suit:
A light blue two-piece made for a medium-height competitor (5′ 5″ or so)
One Piece Suits
Stunning CJ Blue One Piece for a short competitor
Another Classy Blue One Piece for a medium-height competitor
Posted in Other
Monday, January 7th, 2008
Though the task is tedious, writing down every little thing that passes through your lips is effective for weight loss- period. I have never personally been able to get into my best shape without doing it. There’s something about having to write “3 semi-stale peeps: 180 Calories/0 protein” that makes impulse eats far less appealing.
1. http://www.fitday.com
Though this site lacks fancy flash images and arbitrary food ranking systems, it is my favorite online diet tracker because it is simple to use and is not excessively loaded with distracting ads and banners.
Make fitday work for you:
1. Click on the link above and under the sign-in area on the right-hand side click “Get Your Free Account”
2. Type in the information as it pertains to you
3. You will directed to a page where you can start entering your food for that day: search for your daily foods in general terms
4. Do not skip a thing! That little piece of hard candy counts—so do those three pretzels. You will be shocked by how quickly it all adds up!
5. As you add foods throughout the day, pay attention to the percentages listed for you on the food page. If you are trying to loose weight, decide on an appropriate calorie level (the one fitday suggests will be too high) aim for: 25-35% protein, 15-25% fat, and 40-50% carbs.
2. http://www.calorieking.com
What to do when fitday doesn’t have your food? You can add a custom food using the information directly from a nutrition label or you may also go to calorieking and look it up. Calorieking has a much larger database, as well as several chain restaurant listings. It’s wild to just look at the nutrition in some things—search Panera Bread and see what you come up with. It will provide some motivation to start bringing lunch!
A frequent problem people have with writing food is portion underestimation! The only way to be certain about you dietary content is to weigh or measure it. Weighing with a digital food scale is the easiest method, since you can put your bowl on the scale and weigh the portion directly after zeroing. It should save you a couple-few loads of dishes!
So am I some kind of nutrition maniac who advocates weighing and journaling every nibble of food consumed for the rest of your life? Not really. Using this approach for a while (several months) will give you a realistic view of what a 1500 Calorie diet looks like. Trust me; it ain’t much. Once a person is used to the reality of 1 teaspoon of mayo (5g), eating an appropriate amount should become more automatic.
Posted in Other
Sunday, January 6th, 2008
No matter how dedicated you are to your workouts, there are clear benefits to dating fellow gym-rats. A regular exerciser respects herself enough to take care of her body and well-being, she will have a more toned body and be on a constant endorphin high—what’s not to love? When a fit gym chick catches your eye, avoid these five approaches, unless of course you enjoy looking like an ass.
5. Giving an off-beat compliment that may be taken the wrong way
e.g.
“Dude, her arms are bigger than yours!”
You’ve embarrassed your friend and have not scored any points with the lady of interest—don’t go there.
4. Interrupting the exercise itself in any way
Clearly, you should not interrupt anyone in the middle of a set; your approach will not be welcomed. If you want to talk to her before the workout is done, at least wait until the set is over. Better yet, catch her at the drinking fountain.
DO NOT under any circumstances trap a woman on a piece of cardio equipment. For those of us who take our cardio seriously, it is not fluff time where conversations are welcome. Furthermore, she will not appreciate that you have taken advantage of her immobile position.
3. Unsolicited advice
If she wanted to know, she would have asked. Further, you never know if the woman is highly educated in exercise and is doing a modified version of the exercise for a reason. A woman will not be grateful for your bestowing of expertise. Unless your approach is purely motivated by safety concerns, leave the instruction to the trainers.
2. Saying anything sexual, lewd or otherwise in poor taste
Pet names, sexual jokes, and blatant advances will only work for one kind of encounter. You are far more likely to piss a woman off than take her breath away. Rewire the connection running from your package to your mouth through your brain; you’ll have more success.
1. Touching of any kind
I once had a man come up to me in the middle of some cable bicep curls, grab my muscle, and make some inane comment. It was the worst gym advance of all time and also violated points 5, 4 and 2. It was a total bust. He made an impression, but only because I fantasized about ending his life for the following 2-3 hours.
Try this Instead
So what’s a poor love-struck gym fellow to do?
1. Stretching Mat
As long as she is not is the middle of an ab set, an introduction or well-timed joke on the stretching mat is a good way to initiate conversation. If she noticed you at all, has the time to chat, and is not exceedingly reserved, she will engage you.
2. Group Exercise Class
Men stand out in group exercise classes. If your lady of interest is taking one, join in if you can stomach it. You will have more ground to stand on, since 1) She has already noticed you; and 2) You have a common interest, sort of 
3. Ask for a spot
Not on a squat! If the weight is not too heavy, asking for a spot is an excellent way to initiate contact. She must be standing kind of close to you already, however. It is not cool to trek halfway across the gym past 50 other qualified people. Even if it’s a somewhat transparent approach, your request must appear reasonable and not be inconvenient given her workout.
If she is lifting heavy without help, offering a spot is fine too.
4. Give a genuine and well-timed compliment or, if you are funny, deliver a good joke.
The best compliment you can give will be exercise or performance-based. However, it should not be an improvement you’ve noticed over time. For instance, “great lift” after a max attempt is a perfect compliment. On the other hand, noticing that she reduced her mile time by a minute is creepy!
If can deliver a good joke, that’s a good way to stand out. I once had a guy ask me “So, when’s the next fight?”
“Fight?”
“You’re a boxer, right?”
It made me laugh, broke the ice, and gave him more material for the future. Note, however, that the NoNo 1 may be violated if you get a certain type of person, so be smart with the jokes!
5. Politely introduce yourself at a good time.
You can’t go wrong here. Again, if she is interested, she will respond favorably. If she has no interest, she’ll move on quickly!
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