January Q&A

We got some really good questions this month in our Q&A blog and we've put together some pretty good answers. This month we received questions about sumo deadlift vs. conventional, flexibility, measures of cardiovascular health, non-standard implement training, muscle gain, and olympic lifting.

On to the questions we had this month:

Irregular training implements versus standard training tools. Anecdotal evidence? Research?
There is a lot of anecdotal evidence to the power of non-standard training implements (slosh pipes, sandbags, ropes, suspension trainers, etc) but limited published research, mostly focused around suspension training. Both the anecdotal evidence and research point to the increased muscular effectiveness when using non-standard implements. I believe this occurs for several reasons.

Instability - whether it is the object or the person, a non-braced, non-stable object requires you as a lifter to make constant adjustments to remain balanced and move the object. Each adjustment effects not only the focused muscle, but also the core (not just the abs) and the small supporting muscles surrounding the joints.

Functional Applications - the objects we lift in our daily lives outside of the gym rarely, if ever, are balanced and come with a convenient handle to make lifting easy. Many objects we lift have strange grips, non-centered weight loads, and adjust as we move.

Dynamic Variable Resistance - The best example of this is a slosh pipe, a 6 - 8 foot PVC pipe partially filled with water. As you move, it moves and move fast. With DVR, the intensity of the exercise can be increased without increasing load based on where the load is placed, how it's held, and the movement being performed.

What this really means is the inclusion of non-standard training implements lends to greater levels of total-body strength because multiple muscle groups must be engaged simultaneously while training.

Is heart rate the best measure of Cardiovascular Health?
Cardiovascular health is a hot topic and everybody is looking for the best measure of cardiovascular health. There are numerous ways to measure our health; blood tests, VO2 max, resting and max heart rate, heart rate variability, etc. Given the number of easy to access tests, I do not believe heart rate alone is the best measure of cardiovascular health. Without fancy equipment, there are several measures, which when combined can provide a better picture of cardiovascular health.

Blood Pressure - high reading can show potential cardiovascular problems but also has potential for "normal" readings that are potentially dangerous due to calcification in arteries, diabetes, or those with Vitamin K deficiencies.

Body Temperature - lower body temperature relates to possible hypothyroidism, which can mean abnormal fat metabolism and result in cardiovascular disease. The lower the body temperature, the greater the chance of thyroid problems.

Resting Heart Rate - elevated heart rate is one of the most powerful indicators of cardiovascular disease in men that can be done easily at home, however, it is possible to have a lowered heart rate due to medications or to also have other cardiovascular indicatiors despite the low heart rate.

Heart Rate Recovery - In order to test HRR, you must reach 85% of your max heart rate (220-age) and then wait a minute and measure your heart rate. A recovery of under 12 bpm can indicate possible cardiovascular disease.

At the end, the best measure of cardiovascular health is a combination of tests performed by your doctor, but for at home screening, the four simple tests above are a good starting point for identifying potential cardiovascular issues.

Is there any science to the cardio recommendation of 20M sitting - 10M standing
I have actually never heard of this before, but it does make sense to me. The reason I believe this could be a good rule of thumb for cardio is the change in load between sitting and standing.

Consider a typical day, standing about for three hours is more tiring than sitting for three hours. During cardio, I believe the load caused by supporting one's bodyweight versus having the weight supported by a seat changes the intensity of the workout even if the speed of the activity remains the same

.In general, my heart rate and perceived effort is significantly lower when I use a seated cardio exercise (recumbant bike, hand bike, spin bike in the saddle, etc) versus a standing cardio (treadmill, stairmill, elliptical, spin bike out of the saddle) at the same RPM / intensity level. Without any research to back up my claims, I can only provide my experience.


Is it ok to do conventional deadlifts one day and sumo the next?
Yes, it's possible due to the different stresses to do them both back to back. You obviously will not want to go to max effort both days, but you can train them on consecutive training days. The conventional deadlift places a great deal of stress on the back and hamstrings becaue the hips tend to be further back and the torso more parallel to the floor. Because of the angle, the low back erectors will be greatly stressed. The sumo, with a much more upright posture will place less stress on the lower back and more of the stress on the quads. Both lifts will call upon the glutes and the hips, so the biggest factor to doing them back to back will be the intensity level.


Difference of conventional vs sumo in sports
The big difference in carryover will come from the muscles activated during the lifts and the speed at which the lift is performed. As mentioned earlier, conventional deadlift stresses the back and total body coordination more than a sumo deadlift. Another factor to consider is the starting foot and back position. In the sumo, the back is more upright and the feet are wider and more externally rotated than in a typical athletic stance. THe sumo deadlift is also a more quad dominant lift. When the quadriceps become too dominant, the athlete is more at risk for hamstring and knee injuries then a balanced athlete. By working a more traditional athletic stance in the conventional deadlift, which typically generates more speed, there is better carryover to core and leg strength with a greater training stimulus to the hamstrings and glutes in a position that would be seen in sport.

What is the effect of rapid deceleration on hypertrophy?
The short answer is yes, eccentrics can be used to produce hypertrophic growth in muscle if they are used sparingly and cautiously. If I were looking to add eccentrics into my training, I would choose two lifts per week to train eccentrically, and I would perform the eccentric every other week for no more than 50 total reps. That will allow me two eccentric days on a muscle each month and should alleviate having too much muscle damage.

The danger of rapid deceleration, similar to plyometrics, such as what occurs when landing a box drop, can produce an overload in the eccentric action of the muscles being used. Eccentric overload can build muscle when the motion is controlled but can damage tendons and joints when not controlled! Eccentrics can also fatigue the CNS if done too often. For these reasons, it is recommended that rapid eccentrics are only used by lifters at the intermediate stage or beyond.

Charles Poliquin posted this article about how to better use eccentric training to achieve better results. While I agree that the use of eccentrics can help build size and strength, I am cautious with the "rapid deceleration" part of the question. The eccentric motion is responsible for the majority of muscle damage (which can lead to hypertrophy) and rapid deceleration implies the sudden breaking of a load. As I discuss in the next question, rapid changes at maximum tension can lead to muscle strains.

Do hamstring curls cause injury in sprinters?
About 29% of injuries to sprinters are hamstring injuries. One of the main reasons for injury according to Conor Hughes (S&C Coach at the University at Albany) is the hamstring contains biarticulate muscle and that sprinting uses the hamstring to provide both acceleration and deceleration. If strength imbalances exist between the quads and hamstrings, the rapid change from eccentric to concentric could be to blame in hamstring injuries. Also, if the hamstrings are weak or are firing at the wrong time, they are more likely to strain at the terminal range of the eccentric motion. At maximal speed, several components of the hamstring (semimembranosus, semitendinosus, biceps femoris long head) are under under peak musculo-tendon force at around the same time just before impact of the front leg, which is where researchers speculate the majority of hamstring injuries occur.

Strength and Conditioning coaches implement a combination of exercises in an attempt to prevent hamstring injuries. Many focus on knee flexion, hip extension, and combined exercises where both occur. In many instances the movement is a form of hamstring curl, be it the Nordic Ham Curl, Val Slide Leg Curl, or a traditional leg curl. Unfortunately no single exercise can be attributed to the majority of hamstring injuries and no exercise is known to be the most effective in preventing hamstring injuries.

What's a good minimalist Oly program?
Like all programs, there needs to be a basic progression. I have had the best results with doing each olympic lift once per week, starting with 80% of my max and increasing the volume each week. In week 6, I increase all the weights by 5% and continue the program.

My basic Olympic lift program contains eight lifts:

Clean

Snatch

Hang Clean

Hang Snatch

Front Squat

High Bar Back Squat

Jerk

Behind the Neck Push Press



Depending on your training program, adding a few of these lifts to your training days will help develop speed and explosiveness. A sample program could be:

Monday:
hang snatch 3x3
snatch 6x2
front squat 3x8
Regular Deadlift Day

Tuesday:
BTN Push Press 8x3
Regular Shoulder Day

Wednesday:
Off

Thursday:
hang clean 3x3
clean 6x2
jerk 6x2
High Bar Back Squat 3x8
Regular Squat Day

Friday:
Off

Saturday:
Regular Bench Day

Each week, increase 1 rep of the snatch and clean until you reach 6x6 and then increase the weight by 5%. Increase the weight as possible on all other lifts. By the end of each cycle, you should be able to move significantly more than you could at the beginning.

Tightness / Loss of flexibility: Why does it come with age? Can diet help it? Supplements to help?
We all know that we lose bone and muscle mass as we age, but our connective tissue also becomes less elastic. The primary reason for the decrease in elasticity is the decrease of water in the tendons in ligaments. In addition, the cartilage and fluids that cushioned our joints has been eroded over years of use. Combined with the decreased muscle mass and the replacement of muscle tissue with more fibrous tissue and you get tightness and inflexibility. To date, the only supplements that have research showing their viability in maintaining flexibility are:

• Fish Oil
• Glucosamine / Chondroitin / MSM
• Cissus Quadrangularis

I personally take Glucosamine and Fish Oil every day for their ability to minimize inflammation and maintain cartilage.

By maintaining a healthy and balanced diet with fats and Vitamins B, C, and D, you can also promote healthy cells and elasticity in your body. And finally, maintaining activity and implementing a stretching routine can help delay the loss in flexbility.

What's best for muscle gain, Protein or Carbs?
There are two schools of thought on the carbs versus protein debate for muscle gain. We all can agree that building muscle requires caloric excess, and while one may be better than the other, the biggest factor is the excess calories. Unfortunately, studies on which is best are inconclusive leaving us with many different opinions of what is necessary and what isn't. From a pure gain standpoint, 2 g of carbs per pound of bodyweight and 1.0 - 1.5 g protein per pound. If you are looking to build muscle and lose fat, you will want to reduce the carbohydrates, but still maintain a high protein diet. As with everything health and fitness, it will depend greatly on your starting point and your individual body.

Hooray! Now what?

You finally did it. You prepped. You dieted. You trained your ass off. It took hours of prep, self-control, thousands of hours of work, and months of your life, but you did it. You finally reached your goal weight and now you come to the amazing question: "What next?" You just put in all that effort and now you have to decide on how to maintain the results.

It seems like a fairly easy concept, right? Finish the bulk or the cut and then just maintain your size, but let's be honest, we screw this up all the time. If we all got it right, the diet industry would be shut down in a matter of years...

Whether you are losing weight or trying to gain, your post-diet is just as important as your diet!

If you just finished your diet:

Coming back from a diet can be tricky because there are so many variations and more possibilities than I can ever address.  Some diets require lowering of calories, others, the elimination of macros, and some changing the time period when you eat. Since the ultimate goal at the end of your diet should be to establish a sustainable eating style that maintains your weight, the important principle must be achieving a maintenance level of eating that matches your level of activity.

The largest of these principles is the SLOW recovery to maintenance. Whether you ate low calorie, low carb, or fasted, the diet effected your body's metabolism and hormones. Depending on how long the diet period lasted could have tremendous impact on how long the road back to maintenance will take.

You may be asking yourself "Why can't I just go back to my regular eating?" Your body seeks homeostasis, with weight, fat levels, etc. Simply, as you reduce calories to lose weight, your body is smart enough to slow metabolism and adjust hormones to maintain the current levels. In short, the gradual recovery will allow your body to recover it's metabolic rate, readjust hormones, balance gut bacteria, and set you up for sustaining the weight you worked so hard to achieve.

So how do we perform a slow recovery? Time for everybody's favorite answer, "It depends."

I was eating at a small deficit, how do I get back to full portions?

The answer is patience. If you were on a low calorie diet, recovering is just a matter of increasing our calories weekly until we reach maintenance. This has become wildly popular under the name of "Reverse Dieting" and can be found in books, websites, and even web software. One of the best books for explaining the concept is Reverse Dieting by Sohee Lee and Layne Norton. Essentially, you increase your calories weekly or bi-weekly with the idea that you will improve your metabolism and hormone profile with little to no weight gain and you will be able to return to your maintenance level calories over a period of weeks. Nobody can give you an exact time-frame, but the longer you dieted, the longer it will take to recover.

I was eating a specialized diet, can I go back to normal?

If you were on a diet like VLC, Atkins, or some other elimination style diet, your re-introduction could come with some nasty side-effects. When you remove a food type, the bacterial composition in your gut changes. With those changes come changes in how we digest and how we absorb the nutrients. Sometimes it's as simple as having a "gassy" feeling, other times it leads to diarrhea, leaky gut, or possibly worse with full out allergic reactions.

On top of the gut health issues, a diet that restricts carbohydrates tends to have an initial loss of weight associated with lost water weight. There's a lot of science behind it, but when you cut carbohydrates from the diet, the initial weight lost is primarily water, so naturally, when you reintroduce carbohydrates, the body will retain some water. A lot of people aren't prepared to see the scale rise and automatically assume it's fat. This is where a little extra time researching your diet is a worth it.

Again, the solution is slowly reintroducing the removed macronutrient WITHOUT creating a large surplus of calories. (Remember, caloric deficit = losing weight, caloric surplus = gaining weight)

What about if I want to change "Eating Styles?"

Sometimes, our diet has us changing from eating three meals a day to a modified eating plan, five meals a day, or possibly intermittent fasting. Although changes like these are typically lasting and are a way of eating for life, some people want to return to their good old three squares a day plan. Essentially nothing changes macro-wise, but you will have to fight through feelings of either being full or starving and possibly a little upset stomach if you've been avoiding morning meals. The best suggestion I have is to continue with the same calories while transitioning back to the three meals per day and then gradually increase calories if needed.

What if I did something radical and possibly stupid to lose weight?

Yup, there are STUPID ways to lose weight that will work in the short term. I do not personally recommend any of them, but people have done things like extended juice fasts, major calorie cuts (like 1/2 their intake cut), or one of the many extremist fad diets. The inherent risk with any of these diets is their effect on our metabolism, our gut bacteria, and our hormone levels. While they may accomplish the short term goal, the consequences could be long term damage, and sometimes the rebound could result in more fat gained than lost.

Of course, people will still do these diets and there needs to be some way to help them recover. Again, I believe "Reverse Dieting" is one of the better options if the extreme diet was run for only a short period (less than two weeks), but the first thing I recommend after a prolonged extreme diet is talking to a physician and allowing them to run blood tests. At the point where hormone levels are outside of the "normal" range, a medical professional will have the safest protocol to attempt to return the hormones to normal. And despite the weight loss, the safest option may be to regain weight and diet back down the right way.

If You Just Finished Your Bulk

This is a far shorter answer. Eat less! Cut the total calories by cutting back on carbs and fats. Again, the key is slowly cutting back each week until you find your maintenance levels. The one macronutrient I recommend keeping high is your protein to keep supporting that new muscle. Unlike after a diet concludes, the conclusion of a bulk allows for a much easier return to maintenance.

The Keys

1. Be Patient
2. Make Slow increases or decreases in calories, radical changes can have bad effects
3. Weigh yourself each week and add or decrease total calories until maintenance
4. Keep protein high to support your muscles
5. If you're doing it right and something isn't right, SEE YOUR DOCTOR.

A little knowledge goes a long way. Now that you've reached your goals, take it slow, recover the metabolism the right way and maintain that body you worked so hard for.

Willpower is a Muscle

“I wish I had more willpower.” The sentence heard repeatedly around dessert tables at holiday parties. The same sentence muttered by the “this is the time” guy that wants to kick some bad habits. Let’s not forget the New Year’s Resolutionist, this is going to be the year, fitness chaser that can’t seem to stay on track with their diet or training. But why do we say we don’t have the willpower to overcome these obstacles? Maybe it’s time we actually looked at this mystical thing called willpower, why it fails us, and how we can overcome.

Bear with me for a minute and see if this situation seems familiar.

You enter into health and fitness for some motivational reason: you want to lose weight, the doctor says you need to or you’ll have xyz disease, you want to grow an ass that holds your pants up, you want to be able to run with your kids, etc. Whatever the reason, you entered into this crazy venture and you’re beastmode, going ham, dedicated, and committed to doing it. You got the magazines, the supplements, the training books, and you’re on your way. After a few weeks the progress slows, the enthusiasm dwindles and eventually, you’re finding that “other” things just keep popping up and stopping you from training.

Your friends and family don’t support you and encourage you, and you’re on the verge of quitting. You hear about this website called Fitocracy that supports people on their fitness journey and you join. You get re-energized and you’re back on track with all your props, badges, and duels. Somehow, you still have demons telling you to just quit because the the novelty wore off. You reach out to the community and ask for support, and they give it, some say train with friends, others to get a trainer, and inevitably, somebody will give you the same old line about “get a goal.” [Read about why having goals isn’t enough here] You’re now in a position to make a choice, with community support you lose a few, fail, or succeed, or you can just quit.
**Losing and failing aren’t always bad things. There’s an important difference between losing, failing, and quitting as David Allen points out in his article on EliteFTS**

Bear Bryant said “The first time you quit, it’s hard. The second time, it gets easier. The third time, you don’t even have to think about it. If you’re reading this in disbelief, that’s great that you are one of the lucky ones that hasn’t thought “why am I doing this?” or you’re just delusional. I’m willing to bet my Ben & Jerry’s that you’ve been down this path with something. I know I’ve been there a few times where I was chasing goals and kept falling short but because I didn’t give up, I’ve been able to make it.

Back to willpower. What is willpower? Many would agree it is the “thing” that allows us to make good choices or fails us when we make poor choices. Some believe it’s a force inside of us that allows us to hold on and defeat temptation and others refer to it simply as “self-control.” The APA defines willpower as the “ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals.” I define willpower as the muscle behind habit and the scapegoat behind our failures.

So how do we get better at defeating temptation and continuing the pursuit of our goals? We train our willpower, of course! When we want to conquer physical tasks, we train and use our muscles. When we face intelligence-related tasks, we study and we use our brain. It is the exact same thing when we want to change our lives, only we can’t see or feel the immediate impact of our efforts. We change our lives through building good habits and we build good habits through exercising willpower.

Some studies say 21 days builds a habit, others, 66, and I’m sure if I were to look long enough I’d find 20 other timeframes. The short of it is habits take time and every day until it becomes a habit takes willpower. We’ve all been there, to that place where we’re so tired and so stressed that we just don’t have the energy to fight anymore. While we can’t flip a switch and make ourselves strong enough to resist, we can take three small steps to help us in the battle.

The first step, and probably one of the most obvious and overlooked steps is to minimize the exposure to the trigger that brings out the bad habit and to emphasize the good habit. If the problem is eating junk food, then removing the junk food, avoiding the fast food restaurants, and rearranging the kitchen so healthy foods are easy to access and junk requires more effort is a starting point. If the goal is to work out more, start with 10 minutes and increase in small amounts each day until you reach 45 minutes, and then add a second day, and a third.

The second very important step is finding a balance in your life. Over-indulgence and over-restriction are both tremendously detrimental to willpower and good habits. We read it all the time now with IIFYM and Flexible Dieting. If I am too strict, I am exhausting my willpower at every turn and eventually will run off track and give in before I have trained a new habit. If I’m too loose, I will never change.

Finally, for those times when we just can’t do it on our own, have a support group and an accomplice that truly does have your best interest at heart. Some will turn to family, some to friends, and some to social networks like Fitocracy. In any case, having others there to talk to and offer strength when you feel weak will help you beat those evil temptations and strengthen your willpower. And after enough help and support, that willpower will become a habit and you will be able to focus on your next healthy habit.

To sum up the three keys for stronger willpower

1. Minimize exposure to trigger objects, maximize exposure to healthy triggers
2. Find balance in your life, being too extreme only makes it harder to succeed
3. Have an accomplice to keep you on track, there are support groups for everything

A few years back I saw this posted on a weightroom door and it spoke to me.

The Habit
I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.
Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me,
And I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.
I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.
Show me exactly how you want something done, and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of all great men.
And, alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine,
Plus, the intelligence of a man.
You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me.
Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet.
Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.
Who am I?

I am a HABIT! 

And with everything I write related to health and fitness, BE PATIENT! Nothing happens overnight, and with health and fitness it will take time, so take a deep breath, get out the calendar and celebrate the successes, no matter how small (no, I did not say to eat the cake) because the little celebrations are what keeps us going. 

And if you need some support, join Fitocracy and follow Erin and I (GottaLift and ErinEW6916) or send us an email at zstrengthfit@gmail.com

Cumulative Fatigue Factor and the need to De-load

Recently I’ve been hit with several questions regarding the use of de-loads and messages from people feeling burned out from training to reach their goal. The first thing I remind them of is that fitness is not a sprint. We all want fast results and fall victim to the thinking that more is better and will get us there faster. Sometimes, more is actually worse because we push too far and we can’t recover in time. As with any training endeavor proper rest and recovery will go a long way. This is where the concept of a “de-load” comes in and the idea of the cumulative fatigue factor.

What is a de-load? What does it do?

A de-load is a period of time in a workout program that allows for the body to recover. This doesn’t necessarily mean avoiding the gym, but it does mean lightening the workload by either lowering volume or intensity or both. Many de-loads are planned, and some are the result of life. There are several ways a de-load can be accomplished including low-intensity, moderate volume de-loads; do-nothing de-loads, bodyweight de-loads, and many other variations that have been used with great success. There are two ways de-loads are worked into a training program, planned or fixed interval, and floating or adaptive.

It is common to see planned de-loads in weight training programs. Jim Wendler’s many variations of 5/3/1, Brandon Lily’s Cube variations, and countless other training programs build them in every “X” weeks to allow for recovery. Other programs don’t specify a de-load, but will have you repeat or go backwards for a week if you fail to complete all of the training load. While there are arguments on both sides regarding the necessity of a de-load, I believe every well-written program incorporates a de-load in some way or another.

The de-load serves several purposes. It allows our muscles and connective tissue a chance to rest and recover. It allows our CNS to relax and if we can avoid stimulants (caffeine, pre-workouts, etc.) it gives our adrenals a chance to rest as well.

Our muscles are capable of recovering very quickly from training, which is the case with DOMS (even though DOMS can feel like it lasts forever). However, the connective tissue, the tendons and ligaments, have less blood-flow than muscle and don’t grow or recover as fast from strenuous training. The de-load allows the soft tissue and connective tissue a chance to heal and grow. In addition, training effects your nervous system and your hormones. Whether we’re training for a marathon, triathlon, competition, or just working through a challenging weight program, our body faces challenges in the nervous system and adrenal glands. While fatiguing the CNS and adrenals is less common, it is possible and can have a greater effect on training if it is reached.

Defining Cumulative Fatigue Factor

Many experienced lifters have heard of the RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) Scale and it has been around for some time in different varieties.  In a similar manner, I look at the CFF of a trainee on a week to week basis. While the RPE only considers the exercise being done, the CFF takes into account daily activities and the training day to reach a scale measure between 1 and 5. Since these are “feel” measures, we will each have variance between a 1, 2,3, etc. but they should be roughly the same.  

Here are my levels:

1.        Feel great, tons of energy all day
2.        Feel good, can tell I didn’t sleep well, but not tired
3.        Feel OK, little slow to get going, but still have energy
4.        Tired, slow to get going, feel like the day is dragging
5.        Exhausted, can’t get going, just want to sit and relax

I rate each day with a 1-5 paying special attention to how I feel before I train and on rest days. When I am fresh, my days rate as 3 or less, but as I begin to tire and accumulate fatigue, I will see more 4’s and an occasional 5. As a rule of thumb, when the weekly average is greater than 4, a de-load week should follow shortly thereafter. Keep in mind that fatigue doesn’t just have to come from training, but can be compounded by stress at home or in the office, lack of sleep, or poor nutrition.

Even with well thought out and executed rest and recovery protocols, it is possible to accumulate enough fatigue to necessitate a de-load.  Many times we are hesitant to take a de-load. We try to convince ourselves we aren’t tired, and in fact, we wake up and don’t feel tired at all, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t fatigued.

If you are self-evaluating, there are several signs you may be fatiguing and in need of a de-load.

Signs of cumulative fatigue:

1.        Exhaustion that lasts beyond 1 or 2 rest days
2.        You never feel warm / your joints ache / the weights feel heavier than usual
3.        Loss of interest in the training (assuming you normally love training)
4.        Increase in resting heart rate / slowed recovery time between sets
5.        Cranky / Nervous for no reason
6.        Your Pre-workout (assuming you use one) didn’t do anything

One day of these symptoms isn’t a reason to sound the de-load alarm, which is why the CFF uses a weekly average to consider whether our body and our performance can be benefit from a de-load. Yes, it is possible to push through and continue making progress, and most of us do exactly that. We push through until we’re at 5’s all the way across the board, but at some point, something has to give. I’m no exception because I have tried to push through for weeks at a time and instead of just needing one down week, I needed three because I was exhausted and got sick. Thankfully I didn’t get injured as well.

Do you need a de-load?

You’ve worked hard for six weeks, you feel strong, you’re seeing progress each week and you charge forward to week seven.  You feel energized but your body won’t cooperate. Your joints are stiff, the weights feel heavy, and you can tell something just feels off.  Maybe you’ve been sucking down pre-workouts and grinding ahead, but now, nothing. It could be an off week but more than likely, it’s a sign your cumulative fatigue is getting high.

Keeping in mind that fatigue doesn’t just have to come from training, but can be compounded by stress at home or in the office, lack of sleep, or poor nutrition will allow us to more accurately evaluate our CFF. As stated before, when the weekly average is greater than 4, it would be good to consider a de-load week.

There is much debate into the term “overtraining” and I am not going to enter the battle of “overtrained” versus “under-recovered” here as it is essentially a battle of semantics.  In either case, a change is necessitated by the decline in health and performance in order to recover and get back on track.

I need a de-load, now what?

You figured out you need to de-load, now you need to choose how. I’m a big proponent of going to train, but dropping the volume and intensity.  I believe in doing bodyweight accessory work and only training on the days I squat, bench, or deadlift. By lightening the load, lowering the number of reps, and taking an extra day off, we allow our body to get blood and nutrients to the parts of our body that need time to heal.

When we are talking about training and adapting for a de-load, intensity is how heavy the weight is or how fast the run is; heavier weight / faster run, higher intensity. Volume is simply the total amount of weight moved. My recommended drop in intensity is to between 40% and 60% of max. We are still doing the same motion, but the lighter weight / slower pace allows us to focus on technique, get blood into the muscles and connective tissue, and not stress the tissue further. By lowering the number of sets and reps or distance, we will tax our energy systems less, stay short of our fatigue limits, and allow our body a chance to recover. I prefer to train 5 sets of 5 on a de-load week.

In extreme cases of fatigue, it may be more beneficial to only perform bodyweight activity or avoid the gym altogether. It is important when choosing your de-load activity to not replace your high-stress training with another high-stress activity, like hiking 50 miles or mountain climbing all day. You took the de-load to recover, not to stress yourself out in different ways.

The Takeaway

Every day we accumulate fatigue in several ways. When we don’t get enough sleep, don’t drink enough fluids or get the right nutrition, have more stress than usual, etc., our body accumulates fatigue. When we fatigue, our body does the best it can to adapt, but the result is decreased performance and greater risk of getting ill or being injured. By using the CFF weekly, you will be able to better predict the need for de-loads and hopefully avoid costly setbacks to your training. 

Lose and Gain...At the Same Time?

One question is brought up at least 10 times a day on different fitness boards I read, “Can I gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?” Another version I see all the time which has the same answer is “Can I get stronger while cutting weight?” Some will say “absolutely” while others will scream bloody murder at the very idea. Unfortunately, it isn’t a simple yes or no answer. Like many fitness questions, the answer “it depends” is the answer. There are no simple solutions in fitness because everybody’s body reacts differently, but the more you know, the better your chances of finding success in obtaining your goals.

Let me first address the “gain muscle / lose fat” conundrum. A quick search of the internet returns no less than 42 million results. Unless you have experience weaving through the magic of fitness advertising, you’d wholly believe that everybody can gain muscle and lose fat at the exact same time or that nobody can do it. The internet makes the body seem capable of building muscle from the fat that is being burned. Some basic science tells us that our body needs a caloric deficit in order to lose weight and a caloric surplus in order to build muscle. In an ideal world, your body could use the stored fat as the energy source for building and maintaining muscle. Unfortunately, the fat we burn is not that source and our body doesn’t work that way. Human Physiology tells us that when we eat below maintenance levels, our body does not focus on making muscle [1]. The body will find energy, which can come from the fat we burn or the food we eat to maintain functions, but it does not make muscle from it. According to Dr. John Berardi, the body uses the energy from the days before for repair and growth and not the new nutrients with the exception of long duration exercise [2]. Seems like I just gave some solid reasons why it isn’t possible, but there are a few times when it is possible.

Given the resounding “no” that came from above, there are several cases where the answer is a resounding “yes.” In order to figure out how possible it is, and if is it worth the extreme effort, there are several questions that I consider.

• What is the training age of the client?
• What type of training has the client been doing to this point?
• What is the body composition of the client trying to make the change?
• How much weight is the client giving me to manipulate?
• What is the client's age?

As you can see, that simple “yes” or “no” just got more complicated. Each question and answer gives me an idea of the likelihood of success when trying to do accomplish two goals at the same time. The best chance of success comes from:

• A novice trainee
• Someone that was in a trained state and became detrained
• Someone with higher body fat or a lot of weight to lose
• Someone that is younger

There are many reasons these types of trainees are more likely to experience success, primarily it is the greater potential to build muscle. In contrast, more experienced trainees, trainees that are still in a trained state, people with lower body fat or weight, and older people have several factors against them. In my experience, if the elements are leading away from success, I would look for alternate routes.

If you fall into one of the magical categories, the answer is yes, it is possible and worth trying. One study found that a group of overweight novices lost 16+ pounds of fat and gained nearly 10 pounds of muscle during a 14-week training program [3]. Another study took 30 newer lifters and divided them into three groups of 10. One group did cardio, one did weights, and one did both. Despite the fact that the third group started out with an average body fat of just 12%, the men gained 7 pounds of muscle while losing almost 6 pounds of fat [4].  Finally, a study of trained then detrained and retrained individuals also showed promise that it is possible to lose fat and build muscle due to muscle memory [5]. Does this mean it is possible for everybody? No, it doesn’t, and as I have said many times, what works for one person may not work for any other person.

If you aren’t in one of the special categories that typically means you have less body fat / weight to manipulate, have more years of experience training, or have reached a limiting factor based on age, training, or diet. Without the use of pharmaceutical assistance, it is tremendously hard to do both at the same time. At this point and in most cases it is the wiser choice to attack one goal and then the other. Along with many other trainers, my preferred pattern is to lose fat in the first phase and then gain muscle in the second phase. I’m not going to break down cutting and bulking here as they are topics unto themselves. By losing the fat first through maintaining a high protein, caloric deficit and utilizing proper training, you will be able to spare a lot of your current muscle. Following the fat loss, it will be possible to gradually increase caloric intake to maintenance levels and above to allow for the growth of muscle tissue while minimizing fat gain. While this process may seemingly take longer, it is more reliable and better than spinning your wheels making no progress. This two-phase method will allow for much more control and the ability to manipulate and adjust if things aren’t going as planned.

Still want to try and lose fat while gaining muscle? Here are a few essential elements that need to happen in my successful experiences:

• Train HARD.
• Not just heavy, or cardio, but a mix of both. Train low rep, high intensity two days per week.  Train high intensity one day per week and long steady state one day per week. Every day needs a form of metabolic conditioning circuits.
• Increase protein intake and decrease the carbs.
• You’re trying to save and build muscle which needs protein. Approximately 1-1.2 g per pound should be good.
• Cycle your intakes on training and non-training days.
• This doesn’t mean splurge or starve, but eat slightly more or less based on the training style that day. Carb cycling is popular as is intermittent fasting and the paleo diet. Previous research also showed very low carb / high protein diets to be successful in muscle sparing as well. Be sure to research and fully understand this new eating style before diving in headfirst.

The “it’s possible” to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time verdict relies upon the right combination of circumstances, nutrition, and training protocols. The truth is that while possible under certain circumstances, it is not ideal or possible for most to easily achieve losing fat while gaining muscle and your time may be best spent tackling one goal at a time. If you are one of the few predictable cases where it is more likely and worth the time investment, I support pursuing fat loss while gaining muscle, however, for the many others where it is less than ideal, I urge you to consider all of the variables and options before making a decision. It is a choice you must make regarding the amount of effort and the time it will take to find what works best for you before finding success. From here, you have a starting point to continue educating yourself about your options or you can choose to reach out to a coach to help you accomplish your goals.

Sources:

1. Pasiakos SM, Vislocky LM, Carbone JW, Altieri N, Konopelski K, Freake HC, Anderson JM, Ferrando AA, Wolfe RR, Rodriguez NR. (2010). Acute energy deprivation affects skeletal muscle protein synthesis and associated intracellular signaling proteins in physically active adults. Journal of Nutrition, 140, 745-751
2. Berardi J, Andrews R, (2014). The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition, 2nd ED, 71
3. Wallace MB, Mills BD, Browning CL. (1997). Effects of cross training on markers of insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29, 1170-1175
4. Dolezal, B.A., & Potteiger, J.A. (1998). Concurrent resistance and endurance training influence basal metabolic rate in nondieting individuals. Journal of Applied Physiology, 85, 695-700
5. Staron RS, Leonardi MJ, Karapondo DL, Malicky ES, Falkel JE, Hagerman FC, Hikida RS. (1991). Strength and skeletal muscle adaptations in heavy-resistance-trained women after detraining and retraining. Journal of Applied Physiology, 70, 631-640