Fasted Cardio For Faster Fat Loss - Fact or Fiction?

Fasted Cardio! I have heard many a personal trainer swear by this as a method of accelerating and maximising fat loss during periods of caloric deficit. In theory, when training after an overnight fast, low glycogen and insulin levels cause the body to shift away from using carbohydrates as energy, allowing greater mobilisation of stored fat for fuel.

Despite having a sound theoretical basis, there is little evidence investigating the loss of fat, over time, in a fasted compared with a 'fed' state, particularly during periods of caloric deficit. It was against this background that Brad Schoenfeld et al. (2014) conducted their research.

The Method (in a Nutshell):

The researchers recruited 20 young, healthy and non-obese females. Thereafter, they assigned 10 to a FASTED group, that performed exercise after an overnight fast, and 10 to a FED group, that exercised after consuming a meal. Participants performed:

• 1 hours steady-state cardio, 3 times a week

They were also provided with customised dietary plans to ensure that they were within a caloric deficit (500 calorie), required to log calories daily via MyFitnessPal and were provided with nutritional guidance to ensure they adhered to the protocol.

The Results:

If we break down the above table, we see a reduction in weight for both the FASTED and FED group, along with a drop in body fat %, waist circumference, and fat mass (kg). However, there were no significant differences in the rate of fat loss between the groups.

Key Take-Aways:

For the time-being, I would say that this novel study has 'busted' the claim that training fasted will accelerate the loss of fat during your 'summer shred' (at least for the general, healthy and non-obese population).

However, I would be highly curious to see the results of the study replicated with a larger sample size, to add further statistical power to the results, as well as for future research to broaden and build upon the question of whether fasted training produces accelerated results in physique athletes in the lead up to competition.

Until that study comes along, we can generally assume that the Average Joe and Jane are free to perform their cardio, whenever they please without fear of 'hindering' their fat loss results.

Reference:

B.J.Schoenfeld, et. al (2014) Body composition changes associated with fasted versus non-fasted aerobic exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nut, 11(1); 54.

Redefine 'The Pump' With Glycerol!

In the movie Pumping Iron (1977), Arnold Schwarzenegger famously compared 'the pump' to the satisfaction of sexual gratification. While he later acknowledged that this statement was made as part of the eccentric character he wished to portray on-screen, the term 'the pump' has remained, and it's physiological acquisition for trainees has become a well-targeted section of the supplement industry's marketing machine.

Whether it's Superpump 250, Amped or White Floor, the market has become inundated with 'breakthrough' energy / muscle pump inducing supplements. L-Arginine and Citrulline Malate have become favourites of the gym-rat.

However, one cheap and efficient supplement is often ignored by a large demographic of the fitness community, who believe N.O. products to be the gold standard of achieving a vascular and pumped look.

Glycerol:

Glycerol, though not as sexy as Arginine or Citrulline Malate is perhaps the single most effective ingredient I have ever had the fortune of stumbling across with regard to creating a more chiselled look during everyday training.

Glycerol or glycerine is a colourless and odourless liquid (or powder, depending on preference) substance that is used widely in the pharmaceutical and food industry. Due to it's sweet taste, it is often used as a sugar substitute in baking. As glycerol is a sugar alcohol, it is insulinogenic, so no need to fear on that front. However, each gram of glycerol contains 4 calories, making it the most calorically dense sugar alcohol.

Moreover, topical application of glycerol is highly effective as a moisturising agent to hydrate the skin.

Benefits:

The benefits of glycerol in relation to performance are several-fold:

• As an ergogenic for endurance athletes, hyper hydration with glycerol has been found to improve performance. In one study, loading with glycerol improved the performance times for cyclists by 5%, compared to the placebo group (Hitchins, et. al., 1999).
• Skin-tearing pumps and vascularity (OK, now this just sounds like an ad).

In terms of mechanism of action - glycerol helps the body hold on to water. It can also slow the removal of excess water from the body and draws water from tissue into the blood, imparting that sought-after cosmetic effect.

Points of Consideration:

Glycerol is on the WADA list of prohibited supplements since 2012. Thus, if you are a WADA controlled athlete, it only makes sense to avoid glycerol. The reason, you ask? Glycerol can increase blood volume, thereby acting as a 'masking agent' for other performance enhancing substances such as testosterone, etc.

Glycerol requires the ingestion of large quantities of water to work effectively, for both hyper hydration or 'the pump'.

In terms of specifics, an effective protocol for hyper-hydration comprises 1 - 1.5g / kg glycerol + 25 - 35 ml / kg of fluid. For an 80kg individual that means you would require no less than 80g of glycerol + 2 litres of water!

For me, I find that 1.5 tablespoons of glycerol in liquid form, coupled with 1 litre of water will bring about a salacious pump that will last at least as long as your workout. To make the substance more palatable, I would suggest mixing it into a nice cup of black coffee.

I recommend taking it 60 minutes prior to training, but for your early risers, 30 minutes will do in a tight spot. That magical pump might just be delayed a few sets into your routine.

Remember, you don't need to fork out on expensive products - you can easily pick up bottles of this stuff from your local pharmacy, cheap. For those a little more health-conscious, I would suggest to try to source the glycerine from a company who does not use GMO vegetable sources in production.


Reference:

S. Hitchings, D. T. Martin, L. Burke, K. Yates, K. Fallon, A. Hahn, & G. P. Dobson (1999). Glycerol hyperhydration improves cycle time trail performance in hot humid conditions. European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology, 80 (5), 494 - 501.

The (Underestimated) Caloric Cost of Anaerobic Exercise

For some readers, the findings of this article will come as no surprise. For others (particularly those that count caloric expenditure), this post may just be the cue that you needed to incorporate some anaerobic exercise into your regime without the guilt of feeling as though you weren't maximizing your energy output.

Traditional May Not Always Be Best

Traditionally, the energy expenditure of anaerobic exercise (a.k.a. weights, etc) has been calculated by measuring oxygen uptake during a trial. Critical thinking should lead us to the obvious that this method would drastically underestimate the effect that anaerobic (coming from the Greek word meaning 'no air') exercise has on participants in comparison with aerobic exercise.

A New Method?

I will grant the researchers originality points for their novel way of measuring energy expenditure in anaerobic exercise. Basically, oxygen uptake was assessed during recovery rather than activity. 

Now, readers should be aware that the reason that I don't like the idea of counting calories expended is due to the flaws in the measurement systems. The calorie counter on your treadmill won't give you accurate numbers, and even your heart-rate monitor can only provide a ball park. 

As such, I believe that real-world results are the gold standard for measuring calories burned. The weight-loss and health benefits achieved by those performing anaerobic or high-intensity interval exercise would, in my mind, support the notion that our current understanding of the extent to which these exercises tax the human body (energy-wise) is under-stated.

Figure 1. Energy expenditure due to bodyweight exercise based on oxygen uptake during exercise (traditional) and at rest (improved). Taken from SuppVersity

As you can see in the figure above - the researchers in this study found that traditional methods of calculating the energy-burning impact of anaerobic exercise was underestimating it's impact by nearly half.

Take-Away

What all of this hullabaloo would translate to in the real world is a typical 120 pound (54kg) woman burning not 150 calories (as shown below), but approx 300 calories in 30 minutes of weight training, which trumps the 259 calories burned by the same amount of jogging.

So next time you feel that going into the weights room for some resistance training would be a waste of calories, think again and make a decision that, long-standing real world results have shown us, will take you to the body of your dreams.

Reference:

Vezina, Jesse W., et al. (2014) An Examination of the Differences Between Two Methods of Estimating Energy Expenditure in Resistance Training Activities. Journal of strength and conditioning research/National Strength & Conditioning Association. Epub ahead of print.

PDCAAS - Not All Protein is Created Equal

Have you ever wondered which protein sources rank among the most useful in your aspirations to build a better body? Well, the 'Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score' (PDCAAS) can give us a reliable measure of exactly how useful various protein sources are for humans.

The formula, for those who are interested, is -

(mg of 'limiting amino acid' in 1g of test protein / mg of same amino acid in 1g of reference protein) x fecal true digestibility percentage.

Though the PDCAAS was originally designed to evaluate the ideal sources of protein for malnourished children, it is perhaps one of the most useful tools we have in this regard (for now).

Don't be scared by the decimal points, etc. Basically, we can convert this into a percentage score by multiplying the PDCAAS by 100%.

As such, we can see that casein (milk protein) and egg whites are perhaps most useful to the human body, while everything else begins to drop thereafter.

The Takeaway:

We can see from the PDCAAS that the most useful forms of protein come from animal products. Regardless of it's intended use, one of the most important points to take away from the PDCAAS is the superiority of certain sources of protein in comparison to others.

Though the human body does receive and utilise some portion of the protein found in vegetarian sources, these figures are indicative that vegans and vegetarians may want to be particularly careful in their selection of complementary protein sources, given the lack of certain amino acids in vegetarian foods.

For your convenience, perhaps the most common way to complement  a grain based mean (for a vegetarian / vegan), for example, is using nuts / seeds.

Grip Strength - Your Key to a Bigger Deadlift

Though the squat is often hailed as the 'king of exercises', I contend that the deadlift imparts just as many benefits for trainees, if not more, making it comparably useful as a powerhouse movement in one's training repertoire.

The deadlift strengthens the entire back and surrounding muscles, making it a god-send for both rehabilitation and prevention purposes; builds core strength, and is a significant calorie burner through it's simultaneous usage of multiple muscles in the body.

 

The Weakest Link

Unfortunately, for many, the limiting factor for a strong deadlift is grip strength. Assuming proper form and flexibility are established and maintained throughout a lifter's life cycle, grip is the remaining factor in the trifecta that can skyrocket your successes in many a movement.

The Soft Option

Many fitness enthusiasts, frustrated with their less-than-instantaneous progress, turn to lifting aids such as wrist wraps and lifting belts to barrel past such obvious weaknesses as grip strength and form. However, I would argue that an over reliance on these, sometimes beneficial, tools creates more problems in the long run than it fixes.

The Right Option

Fortunately, there are several practical ways in which grip can be improved, translating in a better deadlift that can continue to develop your physique  and strength to the maximum possible extent.

Hanging:

As simple as this sounds, hanging can be used to overcome weaknesses in grip. Just jump onto a pull up bar and allow the forces of gravity to take their toll. Aim for increasing your hanging time to 60 seconds before looking to move to more difficult progressions such as the one-arm hang.

Farmers Walks:

Another deceptively simple exercise. This involves picking up a pair of heavy dumbells and walking a length of distance while carrying them. Many of us will willingly carry 20 shopping bags in each hand following our weekly supermarket run, rather than make two trips to the car; as such, apply the same principles in the gym. As well as being a great grip builder, you will find that heavier weights will also impart a cardiovascular workout.

Plate Pinches:

Stack two plates together, with the smooth sides facing each other, and hold them between your thumb and remaining fingers (See below).

Programming

Like any body part, you want to ensure that you are not taxing your CNS with grip training to a great extent. When programming the above movements into your workouts, I would suggest dedicating one day a week (when grip-heavy exercises are not on the agenda) to grip training. Utilising a 5 reps of 5 sets method will ensure outstanding strength gains.

Alternatively, you can use the above exercises as supplemental movement at the end of a workout. For example, after your workout has finishes, get on the pull-up bar and perform 5 minutes of hangs before hitting the shower and your post workout meal!

Good luck!

Debunking 'Negative Calorie' Foods

 

 

Q: What do the above foods all have in common?

A: They are often touted as the poster children for 'negative calorie' foods.

Definition:

A negative calorie foods is a popular term used within the diet and fitspo blogosphere to describe foods which are believed to require more energy to digest than they provide. The theoretical net result is a caloric deficit which is oft hailed as a 'diet & weight loss secret'.

Debunking the Myth:

The idea of negative calorie foods sounds amazingly convenient - we can eat an unlimited amount of the above foods which will pave a guilt-free path to skinniness that we all desire. That ... plus, it sounds 'legit'.

Unfortunately, when we shine the light of evidence-based practice upon this assertion, the testable truth sounds somewhat less sexy than the miraculous claim.

To understand the fallacy of 'negative calorie' foods, we must first understand the thermic effect that food has within the body. The thermic effect of food is, essentially, the caloric 'cost' of digesting it. It is also the reason why negative calorie foods, by simple explanation, cannot burn more calories than they contain. If we examine the thermic effect of different nutrients we see that the magnitude depends on the composition of the food consumed:

Carbohydrates: 5 to 15% of energy consumed
Fat: 5 to 15% of energy consumed
Protein: 20 to 35% of energy consumed

To burn more calories than it contains, an item would be required to have a thermic effect of greater than 100%. Unfortunately, even proteins, which require the most energy to digest, only burn anywhere between 20 - 35% of the energy contained.

What about Bioactives, etc?

Though there is a possibility that there could be bioactive compounds in certain foods which increase metabolic rate, this would depend on ingestion of certain foods (e.g. grapefruit) and would not apply to all 'negative calorie' foods.

Your best bet would appear to be to pepper your food with chilli or MCT (e.g. coconut oil), which has been shown to increase diet induced thermogenesis by over 50%. But, even then, your negative calorie foods would fall short of their 100% target.

Bottom Line: Who Cares Anyway?

Assuming that a kilogram of fat requires a caloric deficit of 3,500 calories to burn, 10 calories of celery here (even if it were negative calorie), would not produce significant effects to any dieter's weight loss goals.This is especially so in our contemporary world, built so heavily around the instant gratification of desire.

A better strategy for any dieter would be to focus on appropriate macro-nutrient intake, particularly increasing protein to adequate amounts. This, in combination with the insulin sensitizing effects of a lower carb / high fat diet as well as high intensity training will produce measurable and visible effects that you can bank on.

Unfortunately, negative calorie foods are no 'magic bullet' for those seeking weight loss. However, they do tend to provide higher water and fiber content which can assist with improving satiety and controlling hunger. This, in itself, can be a benefit in the battle of the bulge.

Reference:

Clegg, M. E., Golsorkhi, M., & Henry, C. J. (2012). Combined MCT and chilli feeding increases diet induced thermogenesis in normal-weight humans. European Journal of Nutrition, 52(6), 1579-1585.

Shepphird, S. F. (2009). Question 74: 100 Questions and Answers about Anoerxia Nervosa. Jones & Bartlett, p. 171.

Plyometrics as a Prevention Strategy for Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a worldwide health problem that affects 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men, over 50. Data from the International Osteoporosis Foundation indicates that an osteoporotic fracture occurs every 3 seconds, resulting in 8.9 million fractures annually.

If you're not a post-menopausal woman or elderly man, you may be struggling to care about an issue that may not affect you for the foreseeable decades; however, in the case of osteoporosis (much as many things in life), it would seem that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

I would draw your attention to research which suggests that increasing bone mass during and after 'growth' may be an important strategy to ensure the outlook for your future is fifty and fit as a fiddle. Specifically, that increases of Bone Mineral Density of just 3 - 5% can reduce fracture risk by up to 30%. That's a 30% decrease in the likelihood that you will spend your twilight years in and out of hospitals for various replacements or worse - wheelchair bound and institutionalised in a nursing facility.

Plyometric Prevention Plan

In the study at hand, the researchers aimed to investigate the effects that 9 months of plyometric jump training would have on the Bone Mineral Content of adolescent girls (aged 14.6, give or take 6 months, and 22.7, give or take 14 months).

Exercise Protocol

Participants trained three times a week for 30 - 45 minutes. They began with progressive resistance exercises (squats, forward and side lunges, bench stepping and jumping on and off of a 20cm box).

They did about 2 sets, comprising 8 - 12 reps and the intensity was slowly taken from 5 - 15% of their bodyweight over a number of months. This means that a 55kg participant wore a nylon weighted vest weighing 2.75kg - 8.25kg.

The girls also did various plyometric exercises ranging from simple two footed jumps to stair jumping, bounding, and depth jumps from 12 to 24 inch boxes (see below).

Plyometric drills progressed from two sets, 10 reps of five to seven different exercises (100 - 140 jumps) to two to three sets,  2 - 20 reps of 12 - 20 exercises in the final months (360 - 1000 total jumps). While that number sounds extremely high, the researchers were careful to choose the exercises in such a way that the number of high intensity jumps was only between 40 - 100 in the final months.

Results

At the end of 9 months, the trends in bone mineral density observed in the participants led the researchers to suggest that plyometric jump training continued over a longer period may in adolescents may increase peak bone mass.

This could indeed be a novel way to help prevent the onset of osteoporosis in later years by instituting safe and effective behavioural changes in those of a younger age.

Not an adolescent? Fear not, it's never too late to start to reap the benefits of loading on bone mass. In my next blog, I will provide some good starting examples of exercises that can be both practical plyometric methods of inducing bone mineral density and uptake, as well as, fun ways to alter an otherwise boring training routine.


Reference:

Witzke, K. A., & Snow, C. M. (1999). Effects of plyometric jump training on bone mass in adolescent girls. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 0195-9131/00/3206-1051/0.