15-minute Blog: SMART High Intensity Training

I had my time on the high-intensity training wagon, preaching TABATA and telling my endurance buddies to stop wasting their time with their distance training.  And then I stepped back and saw the big picture: there's a time to do high intensity, a time for low intensity, and life is better when you do BOTH in moderation.

I jumped on the  High-Intensity wagon initially because of it's success for fat reduction and time efficiency.  The only downside to high intensity training is fatigue and discomfort.  I recently saw a forum thread entitled HIIT (high-intensity interval training) burns 9-times more fat than regular cardio.  This thread cited the infamous TABATA protocol of 7-8 bouts of 20 seconds of high intensity work followed by 10 seconds of recovery.  It blew my mind when I saw some of the subsequent forum posts suggesting the WORST modes of exercise for this protocol.

FACT: Most if not ALL the studies on  high intensity interval training and its dramatic rate of fat loss and cardiovascular gains were performed on ergometers A.K.A. STATIONARY BICYCLES.

• The TABATA protocol required one to push at 120% of their VO2 max. for 20 seconds at a time.  Remember that VO2max is the maximum work output one can do aerobically, and 120% of it means that one is going significantly anaerobic.  120% of one's VO2 max is pretty damn exhausting and the national caliber speed skaters in the original TABATA study were wiped out after the 20 minute protocol (includes warm-up and cool-down).  My point is that these people generated ridiculous amounts of fatigue to perform the protocol correctly and that the bicycle ergometers  allowed for high levels of fatigue without increased chance of injury.  There were idiots on the forum thread bragging about doing the protocol with heavy and technical lifts!  Try and do a technical or heavy lift (snatch, clean, deadlift, etc.) under tremendous fatigue and I guarantee form will suffer.  Try and push through such exercises with compromised form and the likelihood of injury goes through the roof!

The moral of this post is to be smart when selecting your mode of high intensity interval training.  Pick an exercise where the likelihood of injury remains low even if your form goes to shit.  I would recommend the stationary bike, the elliptical machine, a rower or any other exercise machine that allows one to bail out quickly, and that doesn't require a whole lot of technique.  Get fit, save time, but don't get hurt.

Happy Training,

DAVE

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My 4 reasons for going Ketogenic

My wife recently underwent some serious steroid therapy to keep her body from rejecting her newly transplanted kidney.  A side-effect of such therapy is the onset of diabetes; her blood sugar spiked to the mid-200's the other day.  Anyway, I wanted to find a way to decrease her carb consumption and blood sugar and found the ketogenic diet.  It's a diet that body builders and athletes have used for decades to promote the processing of bodyfat for energy.  From what I've seen so far, it's a diet significantly  low in carbs and likely unsustainable for me.  I'll go as far as to say that it's somewhat extreme.  BUT my goal is to adopt such a regimen to encourage my wife to do something similar but less drastic.
Before you guys start asking me if I'm going to go 'Paleo', the answer is NO.  If one does their homework, the author of the Paleo Diet book (published 2002) does not allow for dairy.   If I have butter on my asparagus, it's not Paleo.  The ketogenic diet has been around since the middle of the 20th century and has been used as effective means of controlling epilepsy.  It puts more weight on the macronutrient component than the popular Paleo diet that puts a heavy emphasis on the food source and quality.  One interesting fact is that the 'Paleo' diet was released in 2002, many years AFTER the SIMILAR Atkins diet (1972).  It's hilarious to see how the proponents of both Atkins and Paleo argue about how different their protocols are and whose is better.  I might also mention that the Atkins diet is NOT specifically ketogenic as its primary focus is carbohydrate restriction and not so much the establishment of a ketogenic metabolic state.  I'm just going to count my macros, drop my net carbs, and keep the foods that I do eat as whole and organic as possible.

The remaining reasons why I'm going ketogenic  include the following:

• I need to shed some fat to look sexy for the summer
• I need to shed some weight to increase my strength to weight ratio and improve athletic performance
• Reap the benefits of a gluten and HFCS free diet (as mentioned in Pearlmutter's Brain Maker book)

So WHAT IS a ketogenic diet?  It's a high fat, moderate protein, and very low carb diet that shifts the body into a state of ketosis; fat is metabolized as a primary source of energy in such a carbohydrate depleted state.  One typically consumes between 20 and 80 grams of carbohydrate per day. 

For a lifetime sugar burner like myself, this diet won't be easy so I might as well entertain the masses while I get my ass kicked!

Dave