WOD Blog

7/29 Myth Busting Monday

7/28/2024

We're having fun with sandbags today;)

Myth: Women Should Workout Fasted Just Like Men

Intermittent fasting and time restricted feeding are popular eating techniques to help folks lose weight and maintain body composition. However, these techniques have been studied on MEN and are not appropriate for active athletic women.
A common MYTH that always makes its way around the fitness space is that if you want to lose weight you should workout fasted. THIS IS NOT TRUE FOR WOMEN!
Women are not small men, affirms says Dr. Stacy Sims, and through her research she has discovered that fasted workouts are terrible for women. Our cortisol (stress hormone) increases, our nervous system gets de-regulated, and our sex hormones get totally asynchronous. All of these perturbations on our metabolism have lasting impacts on our health and body composition.
Dr. Sims was recently on the Huberman Lab podcast and dropped 2 incredible hours of information specifically on women and fitness. I will be sharing snippets of this podcast all this week. You can listen to the entire 2 hour episode here.
Since women shouldn't workout in a fasted state, Dr. Huberman asked Dr. Sims to share her nutrition prescription, including macros breakdown, for a pre-workout meal that will adequately fuel a workout. Her personal favorite is:
Double shot of Espresso
15 g of Protein Powder
Sweetened almond milk (or other carb rich liquid if your choice)
If your training day is cardio heavy, make sure you have at least 30g of carbs. An easy way to get this is with a banana which has about 27g of carbs and 100 calories.
It's important for women (more than it is for men) to eat a regular meal within 45 mins of her training session.

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A post shared by Andrew Huberman, Ph.D. (@hubermanlab)

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7/8 Myth Busting Monday

7/7/2024

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Humans are meant to carry things and today you will carry heavy things:)

The Myth of the Perfect Human Diet

There is no one size fits all perfect diet. The perfect diet is the one that gives you enough energy to do all of the things you want to, provides enough macro- and micro nutrients to keep you fully functioning, and enough calories so that you don't accumulate excess calories as body fat.
For the most part, humans are meant to eat real food. We are meant to chew, swallow and digest a variety of foods. While we may elect to drink some or our calories, the majority of our calories need to be masticated.
When I was attending the Masters Training camp at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) nutrition was front and center for all athletes. Resident athletes and campers get special classes on nutrition and supplementation and we are given plenty of educational materials on the value of real whole foods. Nutrition education and counseling at the OTC is a food first approach.
For the past 9.5 years I have been writing weekly about food and nutrition and I also take a food first approach. I endorse the CrossFit guidelines of eating meat, vegetables, nut & seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. You'll notice that this nutrition prescription is a food first approach. There's nothing about shakes, pills, bars, and other diet supplements.
However, within the context of food first, there are a variety of eating strategies. For example, you can be vegetarian, vegan, keto, paleo, Mediterranean, pescatarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, alcohol-free, locavore, etc. There are so many strategies because there is not one perfect human diet! Keto works for some, but it might not work for others. Some folks are just happy being vegan, whereas others might falter and fail.
There's not one perfect diet because we are all so different. Our gut biomes are different, our hormones are different, our food tolerances, food allergies, taste bud abundance, are all different. The perfect diet is the one you can stick with and that makes you feel and look good. The challenging part of finding what works best for you, is that you must do just that - find out what works. It involves a lot of experimentation and a realization that what worked for you when you were a teenager will not necessarily work for you in your 30s, and what worked in your 30s will probably need to change as you continue to age.
The best way to begin to find your perfect diet is to just take stock of what you're eating now. How do you feel eating this way? How do you look eating this way? If you don't feel and look good, something needs to change. Focus on food first, get rid of junk food and reduce overall processed carbohydrate and refined sugar intake. If you buy food in a box, bottle or can, these are probably processed foods. Try switching to processed food with less than 5 ingredients, and make sure all the ingredients are recognizable sources of food.
If you're still not sure where to start, start by cooking! Cooking your food is one of the best ways to get your nutrition dialed. Check out the Foodie Friday archives for a treasure trove of healthy and delicious recipes.

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6/17 Myth Busting Monday

6/16/2024

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Char has recovered so well from hip surgery

Myth: Crunches and Sit-Ups Are Important for a Strong Core

Did you see the New York Times article last Wednesday? It seems the myth of core exercises has finally hit mainstream. Thank goodness. I'm so tired of people talking about "core" work. Before we bust this myth today let's get clear on terminology.
You core is the trunk of your body. It's your entire torso, front AND BACK, minus your arms, legs, neck and head. You "core" includes all the muscles that attach to pelvis, hips, back, spine and your diaphragm. Yes, it includes the abdominal muscles, and it also includes obliques, intercostals and a whole bunch more. Your "core" is much more than your stomach muscles, and in fact, I argue that all the other muscles are WAY more important to a healthy, strong and mobile truck than your abs.
People who don't train like athletes, e.g. they don't row and run hard, jump rope, deadlift, squat, press, throw, do burpees and kettlebell swings, cleans and snatches often miss out on strengthening their trunk muscles. This is especially true for folks who use machines including ellipticals and treadmills. The machine removes any need for balance and stabilization. You, dear reader and TSCF gym member do not need to work your core specifically because you do it everyday you train with us. In fact, we prioritize core to extremity movements (many of which I just listed above) because they have the wonderful training adaptation of trunk stabilization and strengthening.
Core work became all the rage when people noticed they had back pain despite going to the gym. Oddly enough those elliptical "runs" and "back and bi" days did nothing to make the entire trunk strong. Reductionist training (reducing training to specific body parts) will lead to big gaps in athletic development. On another note, sitting for 4-8 hours a day will WRECK your back and eliminates the use of a large portion of you core. Thus your back pain persists despite the 3 hours a week you spend at the gym. It's those 20 hours per week you sit that you need to solve, not doing 100 crunches every day.
But I digress, did you know that in 2009 some exercise researchers slapped electrodes on the front and back of folks and had them do a high-intensity workout? Yep, and then they asked those folks to do some crunches and planks. Want to guess which workout activated the truck muscles more? The high-intensity workouts activated more truck muscles including those on the back! Crunches and sit-ups aren't going to help your back pain.
The New York Times article I referenced also said as much:) They also suggested including planks, farmers carries, lateral jumps, squats, deadlifts into your training session to ensure you developed a strong trunk. Strange, I think we did all of those things just last week at our gym.
If you have 18 minutes to spare in your busy day to listen to my favorite irreverent strength coach, Mark Rippetoe, discuss "core" stability, I think you'll be entertained and enlightened. Enjoy!

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5/20 Myth Busting Monday

5/19/2024

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Back squats are good for strength and for flexibility!

â€‹Myths About Strength Training for Women

I have explored the myth that lifting weights makes women bulky many times. I just wish this myth would die, but it won't. One of the many reasons for the persistence of this myth is the lack of representation of women in scientific research.
In a recent Whoop blog, 4 Strength Training Myths Debunked by Science, a data science review of existing athletic performance research shows a mere 6% focused on the female population. "This means that the best practices guiding our training are mostly made up rather than rooted in science. Not only is this keeping women from reaching their true potential, but it also puts them at real "but avoidable risks," stated Emily Capodilupo, WHOOP SVP of Data Science and Research in her related TED talk exploring research done using continuous vital sign monitoring from wearable devices to highlight the damage done by excluding women from exercise physiology research."
Whoop summarizes these myths and their truths below:

MYTH 1: STRENGTH TRAINING REDUCES FLEXIBILITY
It's a commonly held belief that weightlifting and other strength training exercises will cause muscle stiffness and reduce the overall range of motion, but research has found that this is untrue as long as the exercises are performed correctly.

In fact, strength training can notably improve joint stability, in turn enhancing your ability to move through full ranges of motion, and increasing overall critical flexibility. A study published in the International Journal of Exercise Science found that six months of resistance training was associated with improved flexibility in young men in areas like shoulder extension, knee flexion and elbow flexion. Another study found that strength training is just as effective as stretching for helping improve range of motion.

MYTH 2: STRENGTH TRAINING MAKES YOU BULKY
One of the top reasons individuals, and often women, choose not to include strength training in their fitness regimens is the belief that lifting weights and other types of strength training exercises will make you bulky.

Strength training simply cannot transform your body overnight. Growing stronger relies on so much more than just strength training, from genetics to adequate nutrition and caloric surplus to increasing the body's fat percentage, the proper hormonal balance, and more. If your goal is to build muscle mass and bulk up, your routine would likely focus on high volume, heavy weight, and hypertrophy.

On its own, strength training helps promote lean muscle mass and decrease body fat. The average individual who lifts weights 2-3 times a week will burn more calories than they consume, so they won't have to worry about this strength training myth. When performed on this smaller scale, the benefits of strength training include improvements in muscle strength and tone.

MYTH 3: IT'S NOT FOR EVERYONE
Another incorrect assumption is that women won't get the same benefits of strength training as men because women will not be able to gain muscle mass is untrue.

A meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of strength training on women and men found that at the onset of training, women can actually gain more muscle strength than men. In the long run, by practicing continued strength training exercises over time, the rates of muscular growth and increases in strength level out on average for men and women. Women can see just as much benefit from resistance training as men can, making strength training for women a valuable fitness strategy.

MYTH 4: STRENGTH TRAINING IS BEST FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Strength training is beneficial for people of all ages not just those in their 20s and 30s.

People of all ages better their health through strength training, and with proper form, the benefits of strength training for adults or even mature individuals is just as critical as for younger populations. Gains include improved overall fitness, endurance, strength, and cardiovascular health, as well as reduced risk of injury and flexibility. In fact, a recent review of 15 studies ranging from 2006-2020 highlighted that even in frail adults, frailty was notably reduced after 24 weeks of resistance training.

Strength training is an important addition to the fitness routines of older adults. After age 30, muscle mass declines by 3-5% every ten years. This decrease speeds up after age 60. Muscle weakness is another natural effect of aging. Research has found that strength and resistance training exercises can help counteract these effects and help older adults see improvements in their ability to perform everyday physical activities.

This type of physical activity also increases both their muscle strength and mass, improves bone density and reduces the risk of osteoporosis, and boosts metabolism too, helping adults stick to a healthier weight. Some studies also indicate resistance training may lower rates of depression in aging adults as well. There is also recent scientific evidence that long-term strength training can prevent a decline of muscle strength and mobility, as we age.

Do you have someone in your life that needs to get strong, fit and happy? Be sure to connect her with Coach Leslie. A referral is the best compliment you can give us:)

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