LDL: It Ain't All Bad

When considering cholesterol numbers, most people -- doctors included -- use a simple but flawed shorthand:

• High HDL: Good!
• High LDL: Bad!
• High total cholesterol: Bad!

When you get your blood cholesterol analyzed, these numbers are often all that come back from the lab. But we know that the reality’s not quite that simple. After all:

LDL cholesterol can no longer be identified as the single source of all heart trouble. Those pamphlets adorning your doctor's waiting room may portray LDL as a kind of lone gunman taking a bead on your heart, but they hide a basic fact of science: "Bad cholesterol" is at best a poor shorthand for four major types of independently behaving LDL, each with its own implications for heart disease. We ignore the distinctions at our peril.

In fact, some types of LDL are pretty innocuous, while other forms are dangerous. The big, fluffy LDL particles are generally benign -- they don’t affect heart health. But small, dense LDL particles are bad news, triggering the inflammation that causes cardiovascular disease. People typically have a mix of large, small, and medium-sized LDL particles, but you’re obviously better off if the bigger, fluffy stuff predominates.

And here’s the thing:

A diet high in saturated fat mainly boosts the numbers of large-LDL particles, while a low-fat diet high in carbohydrates propagates the smaller forms.

Sadly, “[t]he typical LDL test doesn't distinguish between large and small LDL particles -- it can't even spot the difference.” And as a result, even today, most doctors don’t concern themselves with this critical distinction, relying instead on total LDL numbers or total cholesterol numbers to indicate what course of medical action to take. But by lumping all the forms of LDL together, “[w]e may be medicating many people who have no clear need for medication, using drugs that don't target the right particles, and replacing foods that are benign with foods that are anything but.”

Thankfully, not too long ago, Ronald Krauss of Children’s Hospital of Oakland and his colleagues developed a device capable of distinguishing between and precisely measuring LDL and other lipoproteins to provide a much more accurate picture of cardiovascular health. Krauss and his partners have also identified the best predictors of cardiovascular disease. In order of most predictive to least, they are:

• High levels of small and medium-sized LDL particles combined with low HDL (pretty darn predictive of heart disease!)
• Low HDL levels (kinda/sorta predictive!)
• High total LDL levels (not very predictive!)

And utterly not predictive at all? Total cholesterol.

BUT: The test that Krauss developed isn't widely available. Most doctors are still going by the old standby measurements, and looking solely at total cholesterol, HDL, and LDL numbers. Ugh.

The upshot: If you’re like me -- a Paleo convert whose diet contains relatively large quantities of saturated fat and cholesterol -- you might get lab results that, on their face, look a little baffling:

• Total cholesterol: 261 mg/dL (Yikes -- that's super-high!)
• HDL: 100 mg/dL (But wait -- HDL is fantastic!)
• LDL: 97 mg/dL (Just barely within the range of “optimal,” right?)

I have no idea whether my LDL particles are large or small, but given my diet, I’m assuming the former. (Probably not a bad assumption, given that M and I eat almost exactly the same diet, and her LDL particle size was recently tested and confirmed as predominantly Type “A”: big and fluffy.) And my HDL is through the roof. I'm not at risk for cardiovascular disease.

But if you were to ask my doctor, he'd probably tell you another story based on my total cholesterol.

Science can sometimes be slow to progress, but we've got to get more sophisticated testing out there. Otherwise, the problem is that lowering your total cholesterol or LDL -- without knowing the type of LDL particles you have -- can cut both ways:

Just because you have less of the symptom (statin users take note) doesn't mean you'll have less of the disease. A drop in your total LDL cholesterol might mean nothing at all. A higher LDL cholesterol reading, for that matter, could simply mean you are a healthy person who has learned how to build an amazing sauce out of wine, garlic, shallots, butter, and heavy cream.

Or, if you’re M, a fantastic dish of sous vide pork chops seared in melted lard.

Mmm. Bears.

Award-winning food blogger Hank Shaw has some fascinating observations about dining on bear meat:

• "Bear regularly made its way to market before the sale of wild game was outlawed in the early 1900s, and it retained a place in the American palate right through the late 1950s... [T]he 1957 edition of the Gourmet Cookbook includes three recipes for bear. Gourmet magazine never catered to the redneck hunter crowd: Putting bear in their cookbook means it was a legitimate facet of haute cuisine."

• "It's worth noting that the only land animal that routinely hunts and eats humans isn't the lion, or the alligator, or the tiger: It's the polar bear."

• "[B]ears a) are omnivores like us, and b) look disturbingly like people when skinned. The American Indians put bears in a different spiritual place in part for this reason. Of all the things humans eat with any regularity, bears come closest to being us."

• [B]ear meat is insanely variable. Eat a bear that had been dining on berries and manzanita and you are in for a feast. Eat a bear that had gorged on salmon and it'll taste like low tide on a hot day. Ew."

• "My first impression is that bear looks like lamb. Very red, but far lighter than venison and darker than most pork. Closest match would be the darkest part of a high-quality pork shoulder. I put my nose up to the meat and inhaled. Surprisingly, there was no smell. Everything I'd heard about bear was that it was smelly."

• "In the kitchen, the most important thing you need to know about bear is that it is the single biggest vector for trichinosis in North America. No one gets trichinosis from domestic hogs anymore, but they sure do from wild boar, bear and, oddly, walrus." So don't eat raw bear, people.

• "First bite? Juicy, rich, earthy, and savory, with a twang of something that said, "I am not beef." Holly and I thought it reminded us of the wonderful yak meat momos we'd eaten at a Tibetan restaurant in Minnesota years ago. No strong odor, no off taste. This was some damn good bear."

And I thought the freshly-shot venison steaks in my freezer were exotic.

(Photo: Harry Brignull)

Paleo Enough?

I'm catching up on the past month or so of Robb Wolf's Paleo Solution podcasts, and was struck by a couple points he made in Episode 52 in response to a single question: Is taking BCAA supplements a violation of the Paleo diet's rules?

The question was from a listener who -- like me -- is following the "early morning fasted training" version of Martin Berkhan's LeanGains intermittent fasting protocol. Generally, when on the LeanGains program, one starts fasting after dinner and abstains from eating until lunchtime the next day. According to Berkhan, the fast is ideally broken "at noon or shortly thereafter," immediately after a workout.

Unfortunately, "[t]his poses a dilemma for those who can only train in the early morning hours." As Berkhan points out:

If you're training first thing in the morning and finish at 7 AM it would call for a feeding phase of 7 AM to 3 PM. That's just a bit too early for my liking. Could you still do it and start the fast in the middle of the day? Sure. But generally speaking, this would compromise diet adherence for most people.

Berkhan's proposed solution:

Most clients maintain their 8-hour feeding-window between 12-2 pm and 8-10 pm on all days. For those doing early morning fasted training, I have maintained that feeding window and added small feedings of BCAA pre- and post-workout.

Similar to fasted training, 10g BCAA is ingested pre-workout. However, instead of initiating the feeding phase immediately post-workout, which is the standard protocol for regular fasted training, another 10 g BCAA is ingested two hours after the first. A third dose may then be ingested depending on when the client prefers his feeding-window.

That's exactly what I've been doing on the days I exercise. Take this morning, for example. I woke up in a fasted state (having not eaten since 7 p.m. last night), changed into workout clothes, and gulped down 10 grams of BCAAs mixed with water before heading out to my 5 a.m. CrossFit class. An hour post-workout, I guzzled another 10 grams of BCAAs. And then another 10 grams two hours after that.

For a while, I used Vitamin Shoppe's generic brand of plain-jane BCAA powder, but it tasted like hell. So on Berkhan's recommendation, I bought a couple containers of Scivation's XTEND brand of BCAAs -- but the ingredients, which include "Red #1," "artificial flavors" and sucralose, are decidedly un-Paleo.

So what's the verdict, Mr. Wolf? Should I drink the stuff?

Robb's point of view: Chill the fuck out, people. (I'm paraphrasing slightly.) No, BCAA powder wasn't available to cavemen, and the chemicals in the stuff are in no way consistent with Paleo eating. But so what? According to Robb, the drawbacks of the small amount of BCCA supplementation recommended on the LeanGains plan are overshadowed by the need to maintain appropriate protein intake for muscle recovery and growth while on an intermittent fasting program. In other words: Go for it.

To drive home his point, Robb quoted an online commenter, John Ryan, who sagely wrote that "Paleo is a logical framework applied to modern humans -- not a historical reenactment."

Makes sense to me!

Paleo eating is supposed to make you healthier and stronger. The point isn't to slavishly replicate a caveman's actual diet just for the sake of being super-Paleo. Ancestral diets point us in the direction of better nutrition. It explains why we're not evolutionarily equipped to thrive on grains, legumes and dairy. It gives us clues as to why the Standard American Diet's emphasis on carbohydrate consumption is a very bad thing. But it shouldn't dictate every last morsel we stick into our mouths. Many of the foods I eat today weren't available to my prehistoric ancestors (unless they were regularly chowing on avocados, bacon, mac nuts and coconut flakes), but as long as they're not detracting from my health -- and I continue to look, feel and perform great -- who cares?

Of course, this means I probably ought to revisit my criticism of Mark Sisson's Primal Fuel for not being sufficiently "Paleo"...

(Photo: Stefan Kloo)

Monday's Workout

Back to work.

Strength Skill:

• Deadlifts (3 sets of 3, followed by 2 sets of 1)

I'm slowly creeping my way back up towards deadlifting 2X my bodyweight.

Metcon:

For time:

• 400 meter run
• 20 push-presses (RX'd is 115 pounds, but I used a 95 pound barbell)
• 20 toes-to-bar (I did 'em strict, but want to try the kipping version the next time around)
• 20 burpees
• 20 sumo deadlift high pulls (using the same 95 pound barbell)
• 400 meter run

Result: 11:13.

Before starting, my goal was to avoid taking any mid-set breaks -- especially during the push-presses (I hate cleaning the bar up off the ground). I failed spectacularly, taking one break during the push-presses, one during the toes-to-bars, three during the burpees, and two during the sumo deadlift high pulls. Still, in the end, I think that breaking everything up into mini-sets of 5 to 10 reps was definitely the way to go. I doubt I could have finished this workout otherwise. (Even launching right into burpees immediately after finishing a long set of toes-to-bars was crazy-difficult; it took a few reps before the feeling came back to my hands and forearms.) By taking a breather here and there, the wheels never came off, and I still had some gas at the end.

Besides, as my coach proclaimed: "If you don't need to break up your sets, you're not lifting enough weight."

(Photo: Amber Karnes)

A Very Paleo Bedtime Story

While cleaning the house, I found this book that my parents brought back from a trip to Asia as a gift for my kids. Either something's lost in translation, or children's stories in Hong Kong are just straight-up hardcore:

"In a hot summer day, there was a little thirsty lamb drinking water in the river."

"A wolf was passing by the river, too. He felt so happy when he saw the lamb."

"The wolf said to the lamb: 'I can't drink clean water because you make the river dirty. So I must kill you!'"

"The frightened lamb explained: 'Can't you drink clean water as you stay at the upper stream?'"

"The wolf replied angrily: 'I know you always spoke ill of me last year. So I must kill you!'"

"The little lamb argued: 'Mr. Wolf, I was not yet born last year!'"

"The wolf said impatiently: 'Your master and friends all want to kill me. Isn't it true?'"

"The little lamb still wanted to argue. But the fierce wolf had already pounced upon and ate him."

THE END.

The moral of the story: Lamb is super-tasty. (Though raw lamb's not my cup of tea. I prefer lamb kofta kebabs.)

Cleaning (Without a Barbell)

With two kids under the age of six running around, the clutter in our house was inevitable. But that doesn't mean I like it.

At 7 a.m., I woke up determined to clean up. If it's any indication of how messy our place has gotten, more than 15 hours of non-stop cleaning later, I'm not even halfway done straightening up our not-even-remotely-enormous house. And it ain't like I've been taking breaks (other than to hungrily devour the meals M whipped up); I haven't even showered or changed today. Seriously -- I'm still in the same pajamas I woke up in. And I'm getting kind of stinky.

My singular focus on de-crapifying our house also means I have nothing of interest to post about, unless you want to read about the seventeen humongous bags of useless old toys and clothes I've collected that are now sitting in our guest room, waiting for me to chuck 'em out.

Come back tomorrow -- if nothing else, I'll write about how sore I got from picking up Legos and Star Wars action figures all day.

You're Not Too Old for Intense Exercise

A fascinating read in this weekend's New York Times Magazine about aging and exercise:

[Muscle physiologist Tanja] Taivassalo first met [Olga] Kotelko at last year’s world outdoor masters track championships in Lahti, Finland, the pinnacle of the competitive season for older tracksters. Taivassalo went to watch her dad compete in the marathon. But she could hardly fail to notice the 91-year-old Canadian, bespandexed and elfin, who was knocking off world record after world record.

Amazing stuff. Intense exercise appears to be help Kotelko keep performing at a level that (much) younger peers can't.

Savannah High Apple Pie

What the hell is wrong with Paula Deen?

Sweet mother of God. I mean, it looks like an elephant crapped in a pie crust. And how do you even begin to slice this thing?

Friday's Workout

Before you head out in search of Black Friday deals (they're everywhere: Seasons 1-3 of Mad Men on Blu-Ray and DVD are ten bucks each today!), let's work off the food coma. Here's a nice, ass-kicking workout that 7 of us did in the freezing gym this morning.

Metcon:

"Daniel"



For time:

• 50 pull-ups
• 400 meter run
• 21 barbell thrusters (95 pound barbell)
• 800 meter run
• 21 barbell thrusters (95 pound barbell)
• 400 meter run
• 50 pull-ups

Result: 23:12. It was 32 degrees, and my hands were frozen, but this was insanely fun. Feels good to move around a bit.

Little Hercules

According to the New York Times, kids who train with weights won't damage their growth plates. They won't end up being shorter as a result, nor will they suffer "lack of testosterone" or experience "a variety of safety issues." In fact,

a major new review just published in Pediatrics, together with a growing body of other scientific reports, suggest that, in fact, weight training can be not only safe for young people, it can also be beneficial, even essential.

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to turn my kids into Giuliano Stroe.

(Source: New York Times)

Birds, Pigs, Cows & Shellfish

For Thanksgiving, I scarfed down a veritable menagerie of animal flesh: roast turkey, baked ham, prime rib, pork roast, stir-fried crab with ginger and scallion, broccoli roasted with bacon, and cauliflower "mashed potatoes."

No gravy, no stuffing, no dessert. Everything I put on my plate stayed Paleo -- just the way I like it.

Happy Turkey Day!

Got your gluttony pants on?

But seriously: Please don't eat this tonight. Or this. Or this. This might be okay, though.

Retail Therapy

Just in time for Black Friday, I've put up a link to my new Amazon shop (it's on the upper right of the page, see?), where readers can find a bunch of stuff that might be of interest -- from books on fitness and nutrition to equipment for exercise and cooking.

My online storefront ain't gonna make me rich, but it finally dawned on me that sending readers over to Amazon (and other vendors) without collecting a cut is, well, kind of dumb. It's like strolling past a dollar bill on the sidewalk without bothering to pick it up, right?

Don't worry -- I'll still keep this blog ad-free, and I won't stop recommending non-Amazon vendors and products. (For instance, I still think Rogue Fitness is the best place to buy CrossFit equipment like bumper plates and barbells. And Dragon Door remains my favorite source of high-quality kettlebells.)

Nonetheless, I suppose I can no longer say that I'm not trying to sell you anything. After all, I now have a financial incentive --  a whopping 4 to 6 percent kickback! -- to get you to buy stuff. So feel free to call me a sell-out. And once you've gotten it out of your system, go check out my shop and pick out something nice for yourself.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Holy crap, these were good.

M made 'em last night, and says they couldn't be simpler to make -- the Brussels sprouts and bacon are roasted together in the same pan in the oven. Recipe here.

Wednesday's Workout

The temperature was 32° F when our 5 a.m. class arrived, shivering. "Balmy!" our coach exclaimed as we shuffled into the unheated gym. He's obviously insane.

Strength Skill:

• Zercher Squats (2 sets of 5, 3 sets of 3)

Remember these? They're fun, but not easy. I'm familiar with the movement now, and can handily Z-squat significantly more than my own bodyweight (which I've kept at just under 140 pounds), but today, I maxed out with 175 pounds on the barbell -- 25 less than I managed less than 3 months ago.

I'm going to blame it on the cold weather.

Metcon:

AMRAP in 12 minutes:

• 6 barbell cleans (95 pounds -- RX'ed is 115, but I wasn't feeling it today)
• 12 pull-ups
• 24 double-unders

Result: In 12 minutes, I made it through 4 rounds plus an additional 6 cleans and 2 pull-ups.

The pull-ups were easy (despite the cold, cold bars) and the cleans went fine. But the double-unders were a major pain in the ass.

Double-unders aren't new to me, and I can usually fly through a dozen or so before getting tripped up. The first round of today's WOD was no different; I think I cranked out 12 in a row, paused, and then finished with another string of 12. Even my second round wasn't horrible, though I was definitely slowing. But by the time I got to the third round of double-unders, I was completely smoked. I had trouble getting through even two or three double-unders in a row without getting tangled in the jumprope, and my arms were like noodles.



Oddly enough, I recovered on my fourth round and managed to string a bunch of 'em together again: 12 in a row, 8 in a row, 4 in a row.

The weird thing? My legs weren't gassed from the double-unders. My arms were.

"For those people who can't do double-unders," our coach said, "they don't understand how taxing the movement is for your wrists and forearms as you whip the rope around. Do double-unders in a WOD with pull-ups, and your arms are going to be nice and toasty."

Well, I certainly wasn't still cold by the end of the workout.

(Photo: Jon Tunnell)

I Want to Be Chris Spealler Strong

Link Dump: Thanksgiving Edition

It's been a long time since I served up a bunch of links -- so here goes:

• Cooking with butter this Thanksgiving? Wondering if it’s Paleo-approved? The Whole 9 folks weigh in.

• We still eat butter, by the way. We get the grassfed stuff -- KerryGold – from Trader Joe’s. Also: organic ghee from Purity Farms.

• You know your pain-in-the-butt relatives are going to ask you over Thanksgiving dinner why you’re risking your health by eating saturated fats instead of lowfat items like bread and rice. Point them to this meta-analysis, which examined 21 studies involving more than a third of a million subjects. It concluded that there is no link between saturated fat intake and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

• These researchers also pointed out that replacing saturated fat in your diet with carbs causes the formation of small, dense LDL particles – bad news! Thus, “dietary efforts to improve the increasing burden of [cardiovascular disease] risk associated with atherogenic dyslipidemia should primarily emphasize the limitation of refined carbohydrate intakes and a reduction in excess adiposity."

• Really. Throw around terms like “atherogenic dyslipidemia” at the dinner table. It’ll shut everyone up.

• And if some crazy uncle asks, tell him that contrary to reports, saturated fat won't mess up your sperm count. (Especially if you’re female.)

• Do watch your sugar and carb intake, though. According to the Healthy Skeptic, “normal” fasting blood sugar isn’t what your doctor says it is.

• But frankly, “[y]our post-meal blood sugars and A1c levels are more important” than your fasting blood sugar level. So try not to eat a doughnut-stuffed turkey, brined in Dunkin’ Donuts coolattas and served with coffee gravy and mashed hash browns.

• Another question you might be asked between bites of ham by your God-fearing family and friends: How can a good Christian go Paleo? Jimmy Moore surveyed the big names in caveman eating -- take a look and see which answer resonates best with you. (My two cents? You’re not going to fry in hell for eating Paleo. There are other, much better reasons to cast you into eternal damnation, like the fact that you secretly watched that porn clip of Maren from P90X.)

Cavemen for Christ?

• Speaking of Jimmy, he recently posted an interview with Mat Lelonde, hero to all science-minded low-carb Paleo eaters. Listen to it here.

• Try to enjoy yourself this Thanksgiving, and don’t spend the long weekend severely restricting your caloric intake and exercising like a maniac. Really – it's not good for you.

• Finally, when you're ready to work off Thursday's dinner, check out this old but super-awesome interview with Starting Strength’s Mark Rippetoe about the best way to get in shape. It’s only ten minutes long, but it’s chock-full of great fitness advice, such as: “Learn how to squat. It works more muscles than any other exercise, it’s harder, it’s a longer range of motion, and it will make more difference in your appearance over a shorter period of time than any single thing you can do. You have to learn how to squat correctly. Correctly is below parallel.”

Listen to it here:

(Photo: Tammy Green)

Sharing is Caring

I've been blogging every day for well over a year now, chronicling my ongoing self-experimentation with different strategies for optimal health and fitness. My gateway drug was P90X, but my approaches to exercise and food have continued to change and evolve as I tinker around with everything from CrossFit to Paleo nutrition and intermittent fasting.

But what, may I ask, are you up to?

I know I'm not the only human guinea pig here. What's your workout routine look like? What type of nutritional approach have you adopted? What challenges are you facing? What motivates you? And what are you cooking/eating this Thursday?

Don't be shy -- enquiring perspiring minds want to know.

Stop With The Egg Whites

The New Yorker's food issue is out this week, and it features a lengthy piece about April Broomfield, the chef/owner of NYC's The Spotted Pig and The Breslin -- both of which are awesome for meat-lovin' Paleo eaters like me. Last month, M and I hit The Breslin for brunch, and ordered two full English breakfast plates, piled high with porky goodness, and with no beans or toast to spoil the fun.

We clearly did not do an adequate job of educating one of our brunch companions about the place, though. And as I mentioned in a previous post, he's not on the Paleo train. After scouring the menu in vain for something -- anything! -- that the USDA Food Pyramid and conventional dietary wisdom would smile upon, he asked our server whether the vegetable frittata could be made with egg whites. "No," she replied.

Of course, the server's intent wasn't to steer him towards better health. Chances are, she subscribes to the same beliefs that most people hold about the dangers of egg yolks and saturated fats and everything else on The Breslin's menu. I seriously doubt she's read Gary Taubes.

But you know who has? Director/producer/screenwriter/novelist Nora Ephron. She most certainly would not have asked for fucking egg whites.

Ephron was being interviewed by Michael Krazny on NPR's "Forum" this morning. I know next to nothing about Nora Ephron, other than that she wrote "When Harry Met Sally" or something, so I was only half-listening -- until Krazny gently chided her about her position on eggs and cholesterol. My ears perked up.

"Eating the cholesterol in eggs doesn't raise your blood cholesterol!" she countered. Krasny shot back that the Mayo Clinic says she's wrong. She stuck to her guns. And she happens to be right.

Here's what I dug up from an old HuffPo blog post of Ephron's on the subject:

[D]ietary cholesterol has nothing whatsoever to do with your cholesterol count. This is another thing I've known all my life, which is why you will not find me lying on my deathbed regretting not having eaten enough chopped liver. Let me explain this: you can eat all sorts of things that are high in dietary cholesterol (like lobster and cheese and eggs) and they have NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER on your cholesterol count. NONE. WHATSOEVER. DID YOU HEAR ME? I'm sorry to have to resort to capital letters, but what is wrong with you people?

Which brings me to the point of this piece: the egg-white omelette. I have friends who eat egg-white omelettes. Every time I'm forced to watch them eat egg-white omelettes, I feel bad for them. In the first place, egg-white omelettes are tasteless. In the second place, the people who eat them think they are doing something virtuous when they are instead merely misinformed. Sometimes I try to explain that what they're doing makes no sense, but they pay no attention to me because they have all been told to avoid dietary cholesterol by their doctors. 

According to yesterday's New York Times, the doctors are not deliberately misinforming their patients; instead, they're participants in something known as an informational cascade, which turns out to be a fabulous expression for something that everyone thinks must be true because so many reputable people say it is. In this case, of course, it's not an informational cascade but a misinformational cascade, and as a result, way too many people I know have been brainwashed into thinking that whole-egg omelettes are bad for you.

So this is my moment to say what's been in my heart for years: it's time to put a halt to the egg-white omelette.

Hear, hear.

David H. Freedman wrote in this month's Atlantic about how the health studies you hear about on the news are almost universally fraught with error and bias -- and then the information cascade takes over and we go flying off the cliff with all the other lemmings. So what happens when another study comes out and draws the opposite conclusion -- which, by the way, happens ALL THE TIME?

Too late. We're already in freefall -- and we didn't even get to enjoy the frittata with the awesomely delicious egg yolks.

Change Your Body, Change Your Life

Hmm.

(Photo: Your Pal Dave)

Monday's Workout

Here we go.

Strength Skill:

• Deadlifts (2 sets of 5, followed by 3 sets of 3)

There's nothing like a good set of deadlifts to start the morning. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to eke out a good set, though I managed a bunch of shitty ones. It appears that I've lost some capacity -- my max was a good 30 pounds less than my last go 'round. Pathetic.

Something tells me I need to get back on my Power to the People regimen.

Metcon:

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 7 minutes:

• 7 Plyo Box Jumps (24-inch box)
• 7 Burpees
• 7 Overhead Kettlebell Swings (using a 1.5-pood / 24 kg / 53 lb kettlebell)

This is more like it.

Box jumps are fun. The trick (for me, anyway) is to land on the box with knees slightly bent, and then kick your legs out straight to explode off the top of the box and backwards onto the floor. Land with knees bent, in a half-squat position, so that you're ready to power-jump back onto the box. If done correctly, you can string a ton of reps together by reducing (or even eliminating) the awkward pauses in between jumps.

The overhead kettlebell swings aren't too bad, either -- provided I don't try to kill myself with too much weight.

But burpees really are the king of all exercises: They're great for developing full-body strength and torching your metabolism -- plus, there's no equipment required (except a floor). Unlike a lot of folks, I love burpees. I love how the first few reps are always deceptively easy, and how they quickly grab you and throw you into a wall. Unlike exhausting moves involving heavy, loaded barbells, you're not in danger of dropping anything on your head or feet while doing burpees -- but you'll need a ton of willpower to keep going while maintaining proper form. I found myself lagging towards the end, and had to smack myself in the face (figuratively, not literally) to jump higher.

Result: In 7 minutes, I finished 5 rounds plus 16 reps. My goal: 7 rounds in 7 minutes.

A Little Something On The Side

Ever notice how weekend brunch places always load up your plate with cheap but filling grains? Even if all you're interested in eating is a hunk of steak with some eggs, or maybe a few slices of crisp bacon and plump sausages, the restaurant often insists on loading up its "specials" with a pound of hash-browned potatoes or a half-dozen slices of toast. If you're eating Paleo like me (or low-carb or Atkins or whatever), you don't touch the stuff, but you're charged for it.

Solution? Order a bunch of sides. You can pick exactly what you want. Plus, it's usually cheaper than ordering a pre-set breakfast combo (though not always -- make sure to check with the server if the prices of sides aren't printed on the menu.)

Example: I ate at a local brunch spot this morning with the kids, where an order of the restaurant's lamb sausage breakfast platter (lamb sausage, 2 eggs, hash browns and toast) will set you back $11. I chose instead to order a side of lamb sausage, a side of 2 eggs, and threw in a side of bacon to boot. Total cost of the three sides: $9.

Waste not, want not. And it was tasty -- especially with a generous drizzle of house-made hot sauce.

Kicking Ass, Bart Conner Style

Whew! It's a good thing that pre-modern villages in imaginary Third World countries have gymnastic pommel horses conveniently located in the middle of town squares.



I can't put in words how much I envy those who have mastered the ancient martial art of gymkata.

I Like to Read Stuff

There are a few newly-added sites on my blogroll, and if you haven’t yet checked ‘em out, you really should. Here’s why:

Free the Animal

• I long ago bookmarked Richard Nikoley’s site and have been a regular reader for a while now, but just realized today that I’d neglected to add him to my blogroll. Nikoley is – along with Robb Wolf, John Durant, Melissa McEwen, and a few others – one of the most prominent voices on the Paleo scene. Yes, he can come across as a little cranky at times, but he’s never, ever boring. Plus, he manages to keep his man-parts clean without soap or shampoo, which is kind of badass.

Fathead

• Tom Naughton is a comedian-slash-documentary filmmaker who released a movie called “Fathead” last year. The film is a parody/response to Super Size Me, pulling back the curtains on Morgan Spurlock’s slippery claims and debunking what common wisdom has pounded into our heads about good nutrition, dietary fat, and the causes of obesity. Naughton’s mission to debunk bad food science didn’t end with his documentary; on his blog, he continues to level a critical eye on all sorts of nutrition and food-related subjects. It’s a fun read.

Cholesterol and Health

• When M got her labs back last month, she discovered that her HDL – “good cholesterol” – was way up, but so was her LDL. Was this a problem? Nope. Nutrition PhD candidate Chris Masterjohn lays it all out on his website – an easy-to-read clearinghouse of information about the true nature of cholesterol. Masterjohn is another big name on in Paleo circles, and it’s easy to understand why. (Also check out Jimmy Moore's podcast interview with Masterjohn here.)

Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger.

• Raj over at HBFS is one of my new favorites. His writing is witty and insightful, and his experience mirrors mine: Couch potato to runner to P90X grad to CrossFitter and Paleo eater. I’m intensely jealous of Raj's ability to dig into the science behind nutrition and fitness. (For example, check out his Twinkie Diet takedown, which is infinitely better written and analyzed than my weak attempt.)

This Week in Paleo

• I’ve found Angelo Coppola’s podcasts to be a great way to quickly expand my knowledge about all things Paleo. He does a thorough job of mining the blogosphere for information about ancestral eating, and frankly, it’s nice to be able to tear myself away from the computer screen and just download Angelo's podcast and listen to him chat about his week’s Paleo-related discoveries. And I’m not just saying this because my site has been featured as a "Blog of the Week" on TWIP, either. Honest.

Nom Nom Paleo

• Nepotism be damned. Nom Nom Paleo is my better half's food blog, and she regularly posts all sorts of good, meaty stuff -- from full-blown (but simple) recipes to tips on staying Paleo when dining out. Plus, she cusses like a sailor. What's not to like?

Going forward, I’ll try to continue highlighting new sites that catch my eye – and please let me know if there are others I should check out. Happy Friday, folks.

(Image: inju)

Dry Yourself With Hairy Balls

Probably NSFW, unless images of (fake) hairy balls are commonplace in your workplace:



This reminds me of how gross gym towels (and gyms in general) can be. I still shudder at the memory of using the nasty rags at the local globo gym. Tip of the day: BYO towels, gym rats.

Friday's Workout

Three of us showed up to exercise in the dark this morning. Our coach is out of town, but he left us with instructions on what to do. After warming up with a half-mile run to a pitch-black neighborhood park, we did our homework:

And let me tell you: It takes forever to lunge across the length of that park.

Still: No lights, wet grass, chilly weather, morning rain -- all perfect for an outdoor workout with a senior officer in the Marines and a guy whose nickname in class is "The Terminator."

As you probably know by now, I love bodyweight workouts, so this one was right up my alley. The only part I found mildly uncomfortable: Doing sit-ups in the wet darkness, hoping that I didn't pick a spot sprinkled with dog shit.

Result: 12:27.

The Diseases of Civilization

I enjoyed this essay by Kevin Patterson in Maisonneuve, which lends support to Paleo/Primal approaches to nutrition, and also echoes points raised in Gary Taubes' "Good Calories, Bad Calories." (Taubes, by the way, has a new book out next month -- "Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It" -- his long-awaited follow-up for laymen that focuses less on the science of metabolic pathways and more on practical approaches to weight maintenance.)

The gist of Taubes' argument, which Patterson reinforces: Pre-agricultural societies -- even those that subsisted primarily on dietary fat -- didn't develop diseases of metabolic derangement like diabetes, obesity and cancer until they were introduced to all the crap (read: sugar, refined carbohydrates, etc.) offered by Western civilization.

[W]e talked about diabetes among the Pacific Islanders. I told him that the world’s highest prevalence was in Nauru, west of Samoa. Essentially one huge guano deposit, the island has been strip-mined until every vestige of the traditional fishing and taro economy vanished beneath seacans full of Spam, pornography, beer and television sets. Fifty percent of adults have frank diabetes. Among the oldest, an incredible 78 percent. This in a people who, prior to World War II, were lithe fishermen and farmers among whom the disease was unknown. Rule number one: don’t sell your island out from underneath your own feet.

The same process is underway across the Pacific, where the most acculturated islands have the highest rates of obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. In 2001 I worked in Saipan, which is American soil in the Northern Marianas. The indigenous Chamorro, numbering just over sixty-two thousand, were in an awful state. The dialysis population, all of whose kidneys had failed due to diabetes, was growing at 18 percent per year—doubling every three and half years. The miracle of compound interest would have half the population on dialysis within a generation or two. (The other half, presumably, would find thriving careers as nephrologists.) 

These are the same people Spaniards described as swimming through the ocean like seals to meet their ships, climbing aboard glistening and smiling. Here, and in narratives by other European Pacific explorers, we see a people defined by their incredible capacity for movement—in this instance, through the sea.

Not anymore.

(Image: Melissa Gruntkosky)

South Park Takes on Cooking Shows

Stan's dad decides to become a Food Network celebrity / cafeteria chef. Hilarity ensues.

Full episode here.

Ketogenic Diets for Epilepsy

I first came across this in Gary Taubes' "Good Calories, Bad Calories," but the New York Times Magazine has a pretty awesome write-up on the beneficial effects of a high-fat, super-low-carb ketogenic diet on sufferers of epilepsy.

Some might argue that unhealthful food is all we let Sam eat. His breakfast eggs are mixed with heavy cream and served with bacon. A typical lunch is full-fat Greek yogurt mixed with coconut oil. Dinner is hot dogs, bacon, macadamia nuts and cheese. We figure that in an average week, Sam consumes a quart and a third of heavy cream, nearly a stick and a half of butter, 13 teaspoons of coconut oil, 20 slices of bacon and 9 eggs. Sam’s diet is just shy of 90 percent fat. That is twice the fat content of a McDonald’s Happy Meal and about 25 percent more than the most fat-laden phase of the Atkins diet. It puts Sam at risk of developing kidney stones if he doesn’t drink enough. It is constipating, so he has to take daily stool softeners. And it lacks so many essential nutrients that if Sam didn’t take a multivitamin and a calcium-magnesium supplement every day, his growth would be stunted, his hair and teeth would fall out and his bones would become as brittle as an 80-year-old’s.

Evelyn, Sam’s twin sister Beatrice and I don’t eat this way. But Sam has epilepsy, and the food he eats is controlling most of his seizures (he used to have as many as 130 a day). The diet, which drastically reduces the amount of carbohydrates he takes in, tricks his body into a starvation state in which it burns fat, and not carbs, for fuel. Remarkably, and for reasons that are still unclear, this process -- called ketosis -- has an antiepileptic effect. He has been eating this way for almost two years.

(Source: New York Times Magazine)

Caffeine + Alcohol = Satan

Prompted by bug-eyed media reports about Four Loko-related hospitalizations (and deaths!) of college-aged drinkers, the FDA's about to ban caffeinated alcoholic drinks. In response, Four Loko's manufacturer has announced that it's preemptively removing the caffeine from its beverages.

But fear not. If you're the kind of person who can't abide the thought of starting the morning without the equivalent of three beers and three cups of coffee, you have options:

• Have three beers and three cups of coffee.

• If you need a stronger upper/downer combination, I have one word for you: Speedball.

• But cocaine and heroin don't come in exotic fruit flavors! The solution: Make your own homebrewed Four Loko with Crystal Light and grain alcohol! Or better yet, mix up a batch with Jolly Ranchers candies, caffeine tablets, a Monster Energy drink, Sprite, and malt liquor. (Bonus: Sprite kills cancer! Kind of. Okay, not really. At all.)

(Photo: Kyle James)

Of Course.

I mean, did you honestly expect Lady Gaga to do yoga dressed in Lululemon stuff? Please.

(Source: Buzzfeed)

Wednesday's Workout

Our gym is closed for the rest of the week. The owner/coach is out of town, but he left us with WODs to complete in his absence. So before dawn, a couple of us met in the parking lot of the gym, rubbing the sleep out of our eyes, ready to do our homework.

Warm-Up:

3 Rounds:

• 20 Jumping Jacks
• 20 Jump Squats
• 2 100-meter sprints, increasing speed.

Metcon:

For time:

• 1K Run
• Recover for 3 minutes
• 1K Run

Results: 3:49 for the first 1K run, 3:51 for the second.

My jaws, hands and stomach were all clenched from the morning chill, and even the jump squats and all that sprinting couldn't get me warm. My legs felt like lead. By the end of the workout, I was drained -- but I must admit that I got one hell of a workout. It didn't look like much on paper, but I now know not to turn my nose up at sprinting down dark roads in the early hours of the morning.

This WOD didn't take long. When it was over, I drove home, changed into my PJs, and crawled back under the covers. It was still dark. I don't think my icy hands had yet defrosted when I drifted off to sleep.

New Balance Minimus

Is it spring of 2011 yet? Because I want a pair of these.

CrossFit Gyms: Your Mileage May Vary

(Photo: Amber Karnes)

ACE -- the American Council on Exercise -- has a lengthy write-up and assessment of CrossFit on its website. According to the author, Fabio Comana:

The consensus from two dozen individuals with whom I spoke, ranging from consumers who have participated in CrossFit training to Level 2 CrossFit trainers, is much in line with my own personal observations and impressions after performing several CrossFit workouts over the past two years:

• You can achieve great results.
• You may quit because the programming is too difficult.
• You can get hurt.

And on the whole, I agree with these three points. (Sure, I have nits to pick, but others have already done a bang-up job of critiquing the piece.)
Since starting CrossFit in June, my athletic performance has continued to steadily improve. My strength, power, speed -- all have seen remarkable gains. I don't know if I've made myself clear, but I love this stuff.

But have there been times when I've considered throwing in the towel? Hell, yes. CrossFit is extremely challenging -- sometimes to the point where I'm not sure I can face the music. There are certain WODs or exercises that I can't wait to tear into (e.g., bodyweight-focused ones), but there are days when I show up to class to discover that the workout involves rowing 2000 meters or cranking out some insane number of snatches, and I just want to turn around and head home. (To be honest, though, it's not like I didn't have similar feelings about Insanity.) Thankfully, the good days outnumber the bad ones -- and the bad ones have helped push me to shore up my weaknesses.

As for injury, I haven't yet experienced any (aside from a few minor scrapes, bruises and ass-rashes). But as many detractors of CrossFit are quick to point out, CrossFit thrives on a "garage gym" culture of working out at home, without supervision or instruction -- other than what is gleaned from the CrossFit Journal and various YouTube videos. And even if you join a CrossFit affiliate, the quality of the training can be wildly inconsistent. As Comana writes:

During my most recent visit to a CrossFit facility, I specifically asked the trainer to take me through the basics and to show me how CrossFit accommodates novice exercisers. I was fortunate to work with Trish Davis, a very diligent coach who was cognizant of the needs of a beginning exerciser. Davis led me through a beginner workout with discussion on substitutions. I was impressed with her coaching cues and instruction, and her ability to demonstrate options and progressions. 

However, I question whether she represents the coaching norm because during that same visit I observed two individuals working with a different coach performing “thrusters” and I was less than impressed with their poor technique and lack of cueing by the coach. While Davis’ skills and proficiencies as a coach where very evident, the menu and intensity I followed was still aggressive to the point where any individual demonstrating some level of dyskinesis would have to compensate to accomplish most of the dynamic movement patterns (warm-up) and exercises. 

I respect the fact that the CrossFit business model operates on affiliate centers, which makes it a logistical challenge for headquarters to ensure the highest quality of education and coaching at all centers, but if a business plans to deliver such a service, then they must be accountable for due diligence and ensuring the delivery of high-quality training at every location.

(Photo: Dain Sandoval)

This isn't a new critique; many have pointed out affiliate owners need only attend a weekend certification and pass a straightforward test. When it comes to quality control, there ain't much -- aside from market forces. And plenty of affiliate owners have expressed similar concerns. As Robb Wolf -- author of "The Paleo Solution" and a former CrossFit affiliate owner himself -- has said (in the same blog post in which he described being abruptly fired as CrossFit's Nutrition Cert guru):

The CrossFit community has seen monumental growth. In many cities there are 4-8 affiliates within literally eyesight of one another. Disparities in training, business systems and culture have raised significant anxieties for affiliate owners. What if all the prospective clients in an area are “turned off” to CrossFit by poor training or injury? What if something happened in a gym with a similar name and you are confused with that affiliate? 

CrossFit HQ’s stance on this topic has been an analogy of Starbucks and the fact there are “multiple Starbucks on some city corners." Indeed there are, but this is a ridiculous comparison. Starbucks is a centrally owned business with solid, consistent business practices. CrossFit affiliates are unregulated and highly variable from location to location. Anxiety about the quality of a neighbor that essentially SHARES your name is valid on the part of the affiliate owner. The HQ position: “quality will win out” provides remarkably little solace for those affiliates who have neighbors who have driven down prices and possibly alienated clients with poor training.

I happen to be lucky: When I started CrossFit, I happened to stumble into an affiliate where workouts are done under close supervision by a trainer who has tons of previous experience as an Olympic lifting coach, kettlebell instructor and pro athlete. Lots of emphasis is placed on proper form and safe technique. And because I work out at 5 in the morning, there are typically fewer than five of us in class, which means we get a ton of individualized attention. When our movements deteriorate, we get called out. Loudly.

But I sometimes wonder: What if I'd joined one of the other half-dozen CrossFit boxes within spitting distance of my home? How can a beginner figure out which CrossFit gym to join?

I understand that not everyone has a choice of CrossFit gyms. Some folks live in areas with just one -- or many none -- to choose from. (If you're stuck with a bad gym or none at all, you can certainly still CrossFit by stocking up your home gym, but you'll want to be hyper-diligent about learning proper techniques and not overloading yourself with reps or weights until you doing everything perfectly. Definitely do some serious reading about O-lifting, for example, before attempting any kind of heavy lifting.) But in plenty of places -- especially in metro areas in North America -- you can't throw a rock without hitting a CrossFit box. And choosing which one to join isn't easy.

Ideally, CrossFit HQ would implement a consistent audit program to regularly assess the quality of trainers and gyms that fly the CrossFit flag -- and then publish the results for all to see. But until pigs start flying out of my ass, we'll have to settle for the following:

• Read reviews and ask around. Check online for reviews. Yelp is a decent place to start, but you can also post questions on the CrossFit discussion forums about gyms. Or just ask around, and you may very well run across someone at work or in your neighborhood who does CrossFit workouts at a local affiliate. Find out what they think about the gym, the coaches, the community, the class sizes, the equipment -- and most importantly, the quality of the instruction.

• Talk to the coaches -- in person. Visit a box, and ask a coach or trainer about the programming and their experience. Does the box just follow the main site's random workouts? Does it subscribe to a Maximum Effort Black Box Model? What do they think about periodization? Does the gym offer an "on-ramp" program or beginner's classes? What nutritional approaches do they recommend? Do the coaches have training experience prior to doing CrossFit? What certifications do they have? What experience do they have with O-lifting or plyometrics or mobility or rowing or kettlebells? How long have they been doing CrossFit? And frankly, do they appear to be fit and healthy? Or do they look a little, well, soft?

• Try a workout. Not a full WOD (unless you're already an experienced CrossFitter) -- a beginner's workout. The point isn't to get killed; it's to see how the coach guides you through the routine. Does he or she offer the level of encouragement and prodding that motivates you? Does the coach offer instruction on safety, technique and form? Do you find the instruction specific and detailed enough to implement on the fly, or is the coach just yelling: "GO FASTER! MORE INTENSITY!"? Do you want to work out with this person, or punch 'em in the face?

• Shop around. There's a guy in my class who did a trial week with each of three different boxes before signing up with ours. He was able to assess for himself the quality of the coaching, as well as the physical spaces in which classes were held. (Do they have enough equipment? Where do they run? Where do they do wall-balls?) Most boxes will offer a daily or weekly rate, and by shopping around, you'll have the benefit of gaining some firsthand knowledge about the way the gym is run before making a longer-term commitment. (Speaking of longer-term commitments, almost all CrossFit gyms offer pay-as-you-go, month-to-month deals. If you find one that requires the same sort of "registration fees" and long-term contracts that are found in globo gyms, I'd recommend hightailing it out of there.)

These recommendations are obviously not rocket science, but if you're confused about which of several local boxes to join, figuring out the answer isn't always easy. Sadly, without CrossFit HQ taking a more active role in ensuring consistent quality across coaches and boxes, some patience and shoe leather are still required.

But it's well worth the time and effort. I couldn't be happier with my box. (I take that back: If we did a little less rowing, I'd probably be a tiny bit happier.)

Monday's Workout

Vacation's over.

Nausea hit me in the middle of our flight home last night, and despite trying to sleep it off, I still had a churning gut when I woke up at 4 o'clock (2 a.m. Maui time!) to get ready for my CrossFit class. I debated whether to go -- I didn't want to puke (or worse) in the middle of a workout -- but in the end, I decided to suck it up and head on out. (I know, I know -- bad move. M just walked by, read what I wrote above, and told me I'm sick in the head.)

Thankfully, I didn't barf, shit my pants or pass out. I kind of wanted to, though, given the workout that awaited us this morning.

Time Trials:

• 400 meter run
• 500 meter row
• 50 pull-ups
• 50 push-ups
• 50 Abmat sit-ups
• 50 air squats

No strength skill practice today -- just straight-up racing against the clock. We took a few minutes to catch our breath between "events," but the point was to establish a benchmark time on each with which to measure future attempts. To do so, however, meant pushing ourselves to go as hard and fast as possible.

With a bad gut and not enough sleep, this did not sound pleasant. And it wasn't.

Results:

• 400 meter run: 1:25
• 500 meter row: 1:47.2
• 50 pull-ups: 3:25
• 50 push-ups: 1:02
• 50 Abmat sit-ups: 1:16
• 50 air squats: 0:52

The row was the event that really killed me (as usual). Despite having to row just 500 meters, going at a dead sprint meant I spent everything in my tank. Unfortunately, when the needle hit "empty," I still had another 200 meters to go. I was flat on my back afterwards, legs and arms twitching. My pull-ups (the next task at hand) suffered as a result.

Thankfully, I recovered enough for the final three bodyweight movements. They're in my wheelhouse, and quickly becoming my favorite CrossFit exercises. Plus: Unlike some boxes, we have mats in our gym, so I am pleased to report that I am ass-rash free.

Upon finishing my workout today, I came home, changed back into my pajamas, and went back to sleep. How could I not?

(Photo: William Warby)