Fasting for Weight Loss?

A few years ago, if you mentioned fasting as a weight loss tool, people would look at you like you had a third eye. I have to admit that I was one of those people. Everything I have ever learned points to eating several small, well balanced meals throughout the day. After all, we need to keep the metabolism going. Correct? Stoke the fire. If you skip a meal, you will undoubtedly cannibalize your own hard earned muscle. This is what you read in all of the fitness magazines and what you hear from your personal trainer or dietitian. Also, there are numerous studies to support this prescription for healthy eating. As we all know, if you hear it enough, it must be true. Right?

Maybe not, suggests Brad Pilon, author of Eat Stop Eat. Brad is an interesting guy. After receiving his degree in nutrition, he went on to work in R&D for a major supplement company. A bit confused about the results of studies conducted while working in the supplement industry, Brad returned to school to start from the beginning and study what happens to the body when it has NO food. His book is simply a compilation of all of his scientific reviews conducted while in school. Brad's research was on ‘The Metabolic Effects of Short Periods of Fasting in Humans and its Potential Application in Weight Loss’. Also, he is no puny, unhealthy looking guy that appears to belong in a temple high in the Himalayans. Brad is a bodybuilder and power lifter. Muscle is as important to him as it is to you and me. Educated, a strong knowledge of the industry and concerned with how he looks and feels. All of these unique traits make his theories very compelling.

What exactly are those theories?

1. Intermittent Fasting (I.F.) once or twice a week for a 24 hour period will result in fat loss. Duh! That is 25-30% less calories providing you don't binge on the days when you eat normally.
2. I.F. will not result in muscle loss. Brad's studies support that taking just 24 hours off from eating will not have catabolic side effects for your muscles.
3. Your metabolism will not slow down after a 24 hr break from eating. Brad sites that people overestimate the thermal affect of food or TEF. These are the calories that you use to metabolize/digest food. He explains that it doesn't seem logical to eat 100 calories to burn 10. Also, his studies show that your resting metabolic rate does not get slower with short bouts of fasting.
4. I.F. has significant positive hormone responses (insulin, growth hormone). So much so that Brad explains that it is beneficial to fast even if you don't lose weight.
5. I.F. is an easy weight loss solution. No special foods or considerations. Literally, anyone can follow this plan. Just pick one or two 24 hours periods during the week and don't eat.

So what do I think? While it is not for everyone, I really think that this could be an effective fat loss tool for some people. Let's face it. It is pretty darn simple to follow. Like all new theories, we like to test the waters before suggesting any workout or nutrition strategy to our clients. As such, we have talked Nikki into trying Brad's plan for 1 month. Nikki will fast for two 24 hour periods for 30 days and we will see what happens. If Week 1 was any indication, Nikki should have no problem sustaining this plan for our trial period.

Who knows? Maybe in a few years, if we suggest I.F. for fat loss, people won't look at us like we have a third eye. A third nipple maybe, but not an eye.

Check out Eat Stop Eat

Rick Mayo

Crossfit--yes I've heard of it.

If you're in the health/fitness industry and you haven't heard of Crossfit, you must be living under a rock. A really big rock! As a matter of fact, I was speaking to my landlord (55 years old and has very limited training experience) on the phone and at the end of our conversation he said, "Hey, have you heard of Crossfit? My trainer is going to get certified through them. What do you think?" That is when you know that you have finally gone mainstream!

It's ironic that one would use the word mainstream because Crossfit began as anything but. It all began with some crazy intense workouts posted on their site for everyone to view/attempt (free BTW). They were viewed as extreme, out of the box and anti establishment. Cool! But, like every grass roots rock band that plays good music, it soon caught on and recently their popularity has exploded. There are affiliates all over the world and in nearly every city in the US.

What is it exactly? It's all in the name "Crossfit". Their philosophy is to develop a wide range of skills so that you can be prepared for anything your life or sport may throw at you. The results may not make you as strong as a power lifter, as fast as a sprinter, as agile as a gymnast or give you the endurance of a 10K runner, but if you place all of those skills into a hopper and pull one out, the Crossfit athlete will be pretty darn good at most of the activities listed. Here is a brief description from their site:

Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.

What do I think? I can say that what impresses me most about Crossfit is that they have done an outstanding job shifting the paradigm of fitness. Industry research supports that smaller clubs with strong a sense of community and personal concern for it's clients are the future. See this post for more on this topic. Curves did something similar a few years back. They were able to tap into a market segment that no one else had and were extremely successful in doing so. I'll probably get a little "feedback" for mentioning Curves and Crossfit in the same sentence but it is actually a compliment!

Is it for everyone? What program really is for everyone? Each person is unique physically and psychologically and as such so are their personal preferences. While Crossfit may not be the perfect fit for everyone, it is certainly a refreshing break from the standard "Globo Gym" culture.


Rick Mayo

Best Olympic Bodies

With the Olympics well under way, one thing is obvious. The best physiques belong to those athletes that perform activities that require mostly fast twitch muscle fiber. Events like sprinting, gymnastics and weight lifting produce the desired athletic build that so many of us aspire to have-just the right amount of muscle and very little body fat.

Endurance athletes, while certainly not overweight, are not always the healthiest looking bunch. On average the marathon runners actually have a little more body fat than the sprinters. Why? In a word, muscle. The same energy system used to develop speed and power for athletics is also used for weight training. This is obviously why we recommend weight training for all of our fat loss clients.
While most of us do not have 8 hours a day to dedicate to our training, you can still create a lean, athletic build by implementing weight training and cardio activity in your program. Let's not forget the most important factor in looking like these athletes- low body fat levels. Remember, we all look the same under our layer of fat. The difference is that due to very low levels of body fat, these athletes look fantastic. How do you control your body fat? I have only mentioned 1,000 times on this blog but it is worth repeating... nutrition, nutrition, nutrition! I don't care how much you train. You can always out eat your energy expenditure.

Add some intense weight training to your current activities, reduce your caloric intake and look like an Olympian (even if can't run 100m in 9.68!)




Rick Mayo

Boobie Boot Camp

Here is the link to a segment filmed at our facility and featured on CBS Better Mornings. We support recovering breast cancer survivors by offering free training and nutrition guidance. The class was great and the ladies were even better.

Click here for the video.

Rick Mayo

Britney is Back

That's right, Britney is looking like her old self again. According to her trainer, she was training up to 5 days a week but just not dialing in her nutrition.

Check out this blog post from Josh Hillis for pictures and details.

It's like we always tell our fat loss clients, "The 3 most important factors in determining your fat loss success are nutrition, nutrition and you guessed it!

Rick Mayo

Slack blogger

I have been a blog slacker over the last few weeks! Our facility has been crazy busy, which is a good thing (a brother's gotta eat).

When it gets really busy I actually get a better workout. Why? Because I squeeze my normal training into less time. Reducing your rest periods is a great way to increase your workout intensity and really make your weight training sessions a great conditioning session. Here is a very simple but effective workout that took me only 23 minutes to complete:

Warm-up

Pull ups 5 x 5 (weighted vest)
Overhead plate press 4 x 8 (3 plates)

Sandbag front squat 3 x 15 (80 lbs)
Kettlebell swings 3 x 15 (24 kg's)

Hanging leg raises 3 x 15
SB Planks 2 x 60 seconds

All super sets with little or no rest. Good fun!

Rick Mayo