RPI

We're closed. Too smokey. Best wishes to all.

Calories matter.

Carbs, fat, DNA? Weight loss is finicky, new study shows CHICAGO (AP) — A precision nutrition approach to weight loss didn't hold up in a study testing low fat versus low carb depending on dieters' DNA profiles.

When you snooze, you lose.

It's almost time for the Winter Olympics, and I'm getting excited. The Summer Olympics is awesome, but most of those events seem like stuff you'd do at a really cool summer camp. Riding a horse, archery, playing some basketball- all a lot of fun. But those Winter Olympic events- I'm happy to just watch. Those people are nuts.

Recently I was watching some qualifying runs for the Men's Downhill Skiing. 70 miles per hour (or more!) down a steep, unforgiving mountain. That takes some stones. One of the color commentators mentioned that once a skier starts down the mountain, you can't make up time- you are at the mercy of gravity and the mountain. There is a perfect run, and then everything other than that is just losing time, and the person who is closest to perfect is the winner.

And that got me thinking about time management. Everybody gets 24 hours per day, so the more you waste, the less time you have.

And one of the biggest places people waste time is in the morning when they hit that "snooze" button. Snoozing is literally a waste of time. Your alarm has already gone off, so you're not really asleep anymore (i.e. you're not getting that important REM sleep that is necessary for all of your biological processes), but you're also not doing anything really useful. You're just laying there. And just like a downhill skier, you can't recover that time.

Those 10, 20, or yikes, 60 minutes (60!), could have been used to make a high-protein, nutritious breakfast. People that do that weigh less than everybody else. Is that because eating blunts morning cortisol? Perhaps. Is it because people who eat breakfast report feeling less hungry as the day goes on. Sure. Or is it because if you have the discipline to prepare and eat a nutritious breakfast, you probably have the discipline to not emotionally eat, go to the gym even when you're tired, or because their daily NEAT (non-exercise activity) is higher. It's probably a bit of all of the above.

Don't want to be a breakfast person? Fine. You could have left for work earlier so that you didn't have to stress out in traffic on the way there, or you could have gone for a walk or taken some quiet time to plan your day, whatever. Heck, just set your alarm later and get more real sleep. Instead, you just gave away your most valuable commodity- your time. The best tip I ever received for starting the morning off right is just to stand up. Alarm goes off, boom, feet on the ground. Even if you have to stand there for two minutes looking like an extra from a zombie movie. Stand up! Then go take a cold shower, turn on the news, or just go full Batman and start knocking out some push-ups. Just do something. Remember that, "an ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time."

Go for the NO!

If you have a job in sales (and hopefully everyone gets to try a job in sales at some point in his/her life), you know your job is to sell. But it is amazing how many people in sales leave money on the table by not "going for the no." You sold a bottle wine- great- but maybe you could have sold a case if you would have just asked for the sale. You sold a new car- wow!- but maybe you could have sold two. You shouldn't be a pushy jerk, and no SERIOUSLY means no, but you should always test your limits.

In a similar vein, it is amazing how many people (especially women) don't "go for the no" in the gym. A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research looked at exercise participants and weight selection. Without getting too technical (you're welcome), researchers put people in the study that were broken into two groups, exercisers whom had worked with a trainer or coach for at least six months, and exercisers that had never been trained/coached. They then had the exercisers choose weights that they considered to be a challenge and then the researchers compared those values to what the participants actually could lift. And guess what? Everybody self-selected weights that were too light. The untrained people chose weights that were about 30% of what they should have been lifting. NO WONDER YOU ARE GOING TO THE GYM AND NOT SEEING THE RESULT YOU WANT!

The trained people were much better (they chose weights about twice as heavy as the untrained), but sadly that's still only about 60%. On a side note, I'm confident my clients are closer to 90%, well above the intensity threshold, but with a safety buffer so that we aren't sending anybody to the orthopedist (cough, CROSSFIT, cough).

Just because you are lifting a weight doesn't mean you are strength training! You've got to have sufficient intensity. The benefits of strength training are too numerous to list, but if you want stronger bones, more muscle tone, better flexibility, improved body composition, etc, you have to meet at least the minimum standard, otherwise you are just going through the motions. And if you don't know how to challenge yourself safely- ask for help. If you push yourself [intelligently] you might actually end up a little bit strong!

Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they aren't behind you.

After a rough, physical game, a reporter once asked 49er great and NFL Hall of Famer, Steve Young, which opponent he played against that hit the hardest. Young replied with, "the unblocked guy." What he meant by that was that getting hit is always worse if you're not expecting it (his football career was ended because he sustained a concussion getting hit by an "unblocked guy").

The biggest diet killer for most people is the dietary equivalent of the "unblocked guy." It could be the "BLT's," those bites, licks, and tastes of food that can contribute a lot of calories to your diet, but are often quickly forgotten (except by your waistline) and never accurately tracked. It could be the late night snacking- I've had several people tell me that they have been getting up in the middle of the night, eating chips and guacamole, or chocolate, or other "snacks," and going back to bed (remember, if it's not in your house, you can't eat it!). It's hard to account for calories when you're half asleep, but those calories still count.

And it's not always your fault either. Food companies intentionally make serving sizes deceptive or confusing. I was recently eating an ice cream sandwich and I flipped over the package to read the nutrition label (something most people don't know how to do anyway) and the serving size was 2! Who is going to eat half an ice cream sandwich? Not me, and not anyone else. You might think you had one bagel for breakfast, but you actually had three servings of bagel.

And it isn't just limited to food. Your "glass of wine" with dinner turned out to just be a bottle of wine in a big glass, or you forgot you had three beers instead of two (plus you had that tequila chaser). Your coffee doesn't have any calories, but all of that cream and/or sugar you dumped in there sure does. And all of these calories keep adding up.

Remember, if you're not it a calorie deficit, then you're not going to lose any weight, and often times it is the calories that you forgot about (or didn't notice in the first place) that are responsible for your frustration. Are you paying attention?

Pay attention.

I recently saw a photo on Facebook of a friend of a friend who was lucky enough to have her picture taken with Sean Connery- you know, the original James Bond. Wow! She was apparently at some kind of celebrity awards gala, and she was able to have her picture taken with one of the most famous actors on the planet right there on the red carpet. He even complemented her and told her that she was beautiful enough to be a Bond Girl. Nice! People love complements, and she was obviously so proud to share the picture with all of her Facebook friends .

There was only one problem- it wasn't Sean Connery- it was just a creepy, old man who was a close enough facsimile to the original Mr. Bond that he could, judging by the photo, use his looks to sneak into an event and put his hands rather inappropriately on naive women. But that's sadly not the worst part of this story. The worst part was all of the people that "liked" the photo, and made comments like, "that's so cool!" or they had to share which Bond movie was their favorite (mine is Thunderball, if you care). Some people even "shared" the photo- hey look, I know someone who met someone famous!

Similarly, a few weeks ago, a study was published showing how sugar can be used to feed cancer cells. And the internet exploded with people talking about how it was proof that eating sugar is now linked to cancer. EXCEPT, that is not what the study showed. In fact a dietary link between sugar and cancer WASN'T EVEN THE THING THAT WAS STUDIED. People weren't part of the study, yeast cells were (and I'm pretty tolerant as to what constitutes a person, but yeast cells are not people, sorry). And the yeast cells didn't consume food but instead were given an isolated sugar molecule in a quantity that is not relevant to a human of any type. But if all you did was read the headline, you missed all of the important details. People did not pay attention, they just fed into their own personal biases, and created unnecessary fear. Don't do that.

As famous New York Yankee Yogi Berra once said, "you can observe a lot just by watching." So true, Yogi. So true.

We're excited to have partnered with Santa Rosa Therapeutic Bodyworks and Harmony Wren Quiett Yoga, to have put together a silent auction basket for this Sunday's "Blessing of the Animals" Humane Society fundraiser at St. Francis Winery, 2-5pm.

When you perform a plank/bridge, unlock your knees.

Seriously, why does almost no one do this exercise correctly?! "Ab" training, or the more appropriately named, "core" training has come a long way. It used to be common to measure abdominal strength by the number of situps a person could do. Kids did them in P.E. class, adults did them in the gym, and cadets did them in the police and military. Everybody did situps to build strong abdominals.

And then one day someone (probably Gary Gray, but realistically it was a non-American) took a step back and thought, "what if the way we have always done things has been wrong?" The primary function of your "core" is to stabilize your spine (i.e. the muscles of the core are designed and oriented to PREVENT excessive or dangerous movement in order to protect the spine (especially the lumbar spine). Situps don't do that. Situps don't have a stability component, which is why there are lots of people that can do lots of situps and can still have lots of lower back pain. Worse still, situps actually mostly use your hip flexors, not your abdominal/deep core muscles, so all of the strength/endurance isn't being created in the right place.

So along came the plank/bridge (BTW, I hate the term plank. When I think of a bridge, I think of two points of contact, because, well, you're connecting two places. When I think of a plank, I think of a pirate forcing you to walk it- one end of the plank is connected to the ship, and the other end just floats there, leading you to an untimely death. So, if your arms and legs are touching the ground, then that would seem to be two points of contact, would it not? So, they should be called bridges unless your feet are in the air. But I digress.)

And the bridge is simple, intelligent, and effective. Simple because you don't need any equipment, intelligent because it actually respects the function and design of the core- you have to stabilize your pelvis/spine, and effective because, when done correctly, people actually get stronger core muscles. What a great exercise! So then, why can't people do it correctly? (hint: bad teachers/ role models)

Correct technique cues:

-Your hips should be SLIGHTLY higher than everything else. Have you driven across a bridge before? Have you noticed it is higher in the middle? It is, because that creates an arch, and an arch is a load-bearing structure. If your lower back hurts performing a bridge, 99% of the time it is because your hips are TOO LOW.

-Your chin should be tucked in. Don't look up, and don't droop your head. Use your neck muscles to retract your head in-line with your body (your neck is part of your core, fyi).

-Flex your abs like you're about to get punched in the stomach AND squeeze your butt. This ensures the correct muscles are working as well as it ensures your pelvis has the correct positioning.

-UNLOCK YOUR KNEES. By far and away, the #1 mistake people make with bridges is to lock their knees. Why is that bad? Well, first, it's not great for your knee health. Knees don't like to be bent forward. Second, you are just cheating yourself. Locking the knees takes the stress off of the core, and just moves that stress to your knees. Wasn't the point to get a stronger core? I've met people that have bragged about holding a bridge for one, two, and even five minutes before. And then when I teach them the correct way, they last maybe 15 seconds. Maybe. And they always say the same thing, "...but I thought I had a strong core!" They didn't. They just cheated and locked their knees.

Tangentially, this is why I think it is a stupid idea to follow these fitness models. You might go, "hey look at that hot, blonde doing those abs exercises. Maybe if I do what she does, I'll look like her. And I just see a hot, blonde that can't do a bridge correctly. (I'm like that kid in the movie "The Sixth Sense," except everywhere I look, I see people with awful technique.) And don't get me with their nutrition advice. Just because you are hot, doesn't mean you know what you're doing.

Remember, "what if the way we have always done things has been wrong..."

For more tips check out our blog.
http://rpifitness.com/?page_id=261

The Rule of 10.

Take your current weight and multiply by 10. That number is ROUGHLY the amount of calories needed to keep you alive (your basal metabolic rate, or BMR). Younger men can multiply by 11, and most women need to multiply by 9 (or 8 if you are a real "Type A," neurotic, because chronically elevated Cortisol decreases metabolic rate) but everyone is going to be somewhere around 10. And it's just not a very big number.

So a 120 pound woman x 9 calories per pound = 1,080 calories per day to stay alive. Combine a low protein diet, no exercise, and very little daily physical movement, and that 120 pound woman isn't going to remain 120 pounds for long (which is why you don't see very many 120 pound women anymore- the average American woman is now about 165 pounds).

In the days of 900 calorie lattes and 2,000 to 3,000 calorie meals (looking at you, ), if you eat out frequently, you're basically screwed (FYI- now eat more meals out than they do at home). Unless you eat like a rabbit, 1,000 or even 2,000 calories per day can disappear pretty quickly, so your only hope is to move more. A lot more.

A recent study looked at how physically active Americans are and then compared that to other countries. And unsurprisingly, Americans don't move very much compared to the rest of the world. And we can't just blame technology- Hong Kong was the most active place, and it is very tech-laden (and full of stairs). In the United States, the average American teenager now moves as much as the average American in their 60's. And I would love to tell you we have a bunch of active seniors out there, but sadly that just isn't the case.

Worse still, at every single age range, except for the late 20's (when a lot of women are advancing their careers/ getting married/ having children) men are more active. And it's not close. Woman already have the deck stacked against them because they are smaller (which burns fewer calories), have less muscle mass (which burns fewer calories), have more complicated hormones (ugh), birth control (which screws with said hormones), and get marketed to death in various forms of media (creates temptation). Your only hope is to GET MOVING LADIES! Fewer paint nights, more dance parties. Less time spent complaining about your jerk boss at a restaurant happy hour, and more time spent complaining about your jerk boss while on a hike. Don't eat when you're feeling stressed- take a walk. MOVE.

Exercise is essential to good health, but even exercise by itself is not enough to offset how sedentary we are. Another recent study showed that the people that are the most sedentary have the greatest risk for early death, even if they exercised. You don't need to exercise every day, but you do have to move every day. Moving more is good for your mind, it is good for your body, and it is the easiest thing you can do for your health (plus, it's free).

For more tips check out our blog.
http://rpifitness.com/?page_id=261

Be authentic.

So much of health and fitness is a lie. Trainers with two weeks worth of experience give ridiculous advice to trusting clients. People omit tracking "bad" foods in their food logs. Fitness celebrities talk about "eating clean" and "training hard" but never mention that they have a medicine cabinet's worth of drugs in their bodies. Guys brag about lifting weights that they can really barely budge. And don't even get me started on all of those photoshopped models in the "health and fitness" magazines.

It's a disaster. It creates false and unreasonable expectations. It disenfranchises scores of people who are too intimidated to start. And worst, it gets people hurt and sets people up to fail.

Don't be part of the problem. Be authentic. Reducing the range of motion just so you can add more weight isn't the same thing as getting authentically stronger. Keeping a food log, but then excluding foods (and drinks!) that you think you should be ashamed of isn't going to actually help you. Stop looking for inspiration on Instagram and just try to be YOUR best self. As long as you are making an honest effort, you are good enough. Nobody can be perfect, but anyone can be authentic.

And the trainer thing...I can't even...( ).

For more tips check out our blog.
http://rpifitness.com/?page_id=261