A Few Words on Fasting
I used to be pretty active on Facebook but am more of a lurker than someone actually posting something, unless its funny or promotes positive vibes…or allows me to teach you something, like I am in this article.
A short while ago I was scrolling through my facebook feed seeing what people are talking about. It’s useful to me to generate ideas of what I want to write about, and I’m friends with a lot of people involved in the world of fitness, strength, personal training etc. And one thing is for certain is that the schools of thought can be polarizing. One thing that is very polarizing, is “fasting”
So while I was scrolling my facebook feed, I saw someone make the claim that and I’m paraphrasing here “the only thing that fasting does is burn up your muscle mass and kill your metabolism. Food is fuel.”
First on the burning up muscle and killing metabolism, someone forgot to tell Terry Crews.
Now let’s talk about the food is fuel. Yes it is, but not in the same way that gas is to a car. Think about it. Before gas is put into a car, it has to be refined and broken down to a form that the car can use. Food is like this, but it’s broken down by chewing it, mixing saliva with it before it’s broken down in your stomach and absorbed.
All of these steps take time, so what your body is actually running off of, isn’t what you just ate, its what you ate a while ago.
Now when your body doesn’t have any stored sugar to burn up (it’s preferred fuel source) it switches to burning up fat (which it had saved up just in case we needed it.) Those days when we needed to store up body fat are long gone unless you live in a 3rd world country or are living on the streets. It also throws in some of the bad cells in your body with that process Terry mentioned autophagy. I’ll explain that part a bit more in a different article.
The idea of fasting isn’t new, but it’s come around again as if it were new. When I explain that I fast, I get a lot of people telling me that my approach is wrong. I’ll just say this.
I’ve been doing this since 2009 (so about 9 years adherence)
I’ve been able to maintain near single digit body fat year round (not yo yo dieting).
All my biomarkers of health say I’m a-ok
I don’t feel lethargic, or have to worry about what I’m going to have for breakfast, or lunch or if it follows the rules of whatever diet I’m doing.
I don’t have to force myself to eat when I’m not hungry or pressed for time like getting to the studio by 6am.
I’m strong enough to bend steel…like Superman.
With all of those things, if I’m doing it “wrong” then baby I don’t want to be “right”. Now is fasting right for you? I don’t know but I encourage you to do your own research so you can make an informed decision.
Treadmills, yay or nay?
One of the things that my personal training clients have access to is me as a support system to give guidance, even when they aren’t in my studio. Knowing this and using me as a trusted resource one of my people asked if I recommend a treadmill for home use for his wife.
no treadmills here.
I don’t for a couple different reasons. For one thing people buy them with the best of intentions, but it often becomes something that people later label as “an expensive coatrack”. You see, standard gyms have a drop out rate of around 70% within 6 months the reasoning behind which is usually one of a handful of reasons.
Either people don’t know what to do (lack of guidance though I don’t think this applies to treadmill use since it’s pretty straightforward) are frustrated with a lack of progress (your body adapts to what you are doing, and in the case of a treadmill, the only real progression is to do it faster or if you have a fancy pants one increase the incline).
Another is the potential for injury. When I applied for insurance in my last facility, they had asked me if I had any treadmills and for good reason, they seem safe but there is inherent risk. Just check out this montage of treadmill fails.
And there are dozens more on youtube where that came from. And yeah, you can connect a safety strap to turn it off if you lose your footing, but let’s get real, nobody does that.
Another is a lack of consistency from a lack of accountability. Here’s how it happens, you start out on a program filled with vim and vigor, but life gets in the way and you start to fall off track. One skipped session becomes two, two becomes four and the next thing you know months and months have gone by and the only thing on your treadmills are your coats and shoes (hence the expensive coat-hanger bit.) In fact one of the biggest reasons people hire personal trainers in the first place is to simply have someone there waiting for them to keep them consistent on track. The treadmill doesn’t care if you use it or not, hence no social pressure keeping you consistent. Consistency is critical to success.
So what do I recommend instead? Well, for one thing and here’s my pitch, if you are looking for a personal trainer in Boonton Township or Mountain Lakes come take my trial membership.
If you aren’t and want to get healthy, then pick up a set of kettlebells and get a Strongfirst, RKC or FMS instructor to assess you and teach you the basics. There are so many things you can do with them, they take up very little space, train things that running can’t, don’t cost much and never break.
The swing is king. It trains cardiovascular conditioning, strength and is joint friendly when performed correctly.
Now let’s say you are the type that is self motivated and wants to specifically be a runner. That’s great, but running on a treadmill, and actual running though they seem the same in actuality aren’t. It has to do with you moving across a surface rather than the surface moving beneath you. That and it locks you into both a predetermined pace and predetermined stride length, neither of which are right for your body.
Solution for that is to simply get outside and run. What happens next is up to you.
Reflections from my Strongman act in Lake George, the foundation and the mindset
I’m writing this from a hotel room in Lake George before my strongman act combined with an inspirational speech tomorrow morning but won’t post this until I get home.
It was a crazy drive up here going through snow and freezing rain. Knowing that the drive was going to be treacherous my wife displayed her displeasure at me going. I told her I said I was going to be here and that’s all there is to it.
What does any of this have to do with strength, health and fitness? I’ll tell you 🙂
First, is the foundation. The future of your fitness and health is built upon the foundation that you set early on. That’s why in my system of training I analyze the way you move, because if we program on top of a faulty foundation, everything above it will also be faulty. In the case of me being a motivational speaker, one of the biggest fears that meeting planners have when they hire a speaker is whether or not they will show up in the first place. It’s important for my reputation early on that I’m a man of my word.
Second is about the mindset that leads to successful transformations. You see with the right mindset, a mindset that is committed to making it happen that’s where success is built. As a matter of fact, I turn people away if I don’t think they are committed to their own goals, simply because if you aren’t committed, there is nothing I can do to help you.
Tomorrow morning (today by the time this is posted) I have a group of teenagers that I am determined to inspire. I was not going to let neither a snowflake, nor a legion of them stop me. Do what it takes, it’s that simple.
If you need guidance from a personal trainer in Boonton Township or Mountain Lakes New Jersey who actually knows what they’re doing, and are committed to your own goals, I welcome you to test drive my training program.