Change This One Variable to Immediately Improve Your Workouts

He’s on the last rep, and Jimmy’s face is bright red.  He’s pushing so hard, his cheeks are puffing outward, and he looks like he may explode at any moment.  “Breathe Jimmy, breathe!” he hears, but all he can focus on is moving the weight.  Breathing is the last of his priorities right now.    

Many people new to strength training tend to hold their breath as they approach maximal effort.  Breathing is typically an action regulated by the autonomic nervous system--it’s automatic.  In a light exercise, the breath automatically begins to speed up.  The body senses excess carbon dioxide and tries to get rid of it in exchange for oxygen, in turn speeding the breath and increasing the depth of it.  Yet in a state of emergency, somehow the natural tendency is to sometimes override the autonomic functions and to focus solely on the task at hand, in this case moving large amounts of weight.  

What Breathing Does for Your Health

What’s ironic is that this halt in breathing is actually detrimental to the success of the lift, and it is also a lost opportunity for some of the great health benefits from breathing properly.  In fact, one of the primary sources of the health benefits from yoga or meditation may be attributed to the practice of controlled breathing (1).

Another recent study (2) even showed that the immune system can be voluntarily controlled.  Two groups (one trained in a particular controlled breathing practice and one untrained) were given a toxic bacteria.  The trained group, who used meditation and breathing practices, experienced far less symptoms and recovered faster.  

Other Advantages of Breathing Properly

With the right type of breathing, we can increase our mindfulness, understanding the experience of lifting and learning how to cope for the future.  We can improve our focus, and give ourselves that extra push at the end of a set.  We can even influence our hormones, like epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol, which not only helps us during our lift, but triggers a stimulus for all kinds of adaptations after our high-intensity bout.  To put it simply, breathing is a crucial tool, especially in the middle of a strength-training session.  

Breathe Right for the Situation

Okay, so maybe we should put more focus on our breathing during a lift.  But then, naturally the question becomes, how should we be breathing?  Typically during heavy lifts, one is taught to breathe in on the eccentric motion (like lowering the bench press), and then breathe out as you push the weight back up (the concentric movement).  However, when we’re doing a super slow set as advised in the Platform program, this would require very long breaths in and out, and this becomes a bit impractical in such a high-intensity situation.  

With this in mind, the best approach is to breathe deep, with your diaphragm, and fast.  This becomes somewhat of a controlled hyperventilation, if you will.  Continuous breathing in this fashion increases the state of acute stress during our workout, which is one of the main sources for all the health benefits of exercise.  And in addition to all the other benefits already discussed, we can alleviate some of that pressure we’d be experiencing in holding our breath (no one wants a hernia).  

So focus on your breathing when you exercise, especially during a high-intensity workout.  And let us know how it goes!

In Excellent Health,

Garrett & Luc

Why Jogging May Be a Waste of Your Time

I wince when I hear how a person needs to "go on a run" so he or she can "burn off the dessert."  "Going on a run" for most translates to as much as an hour or so of slow jogging, either on a treadmill or around the local area. I can get behind the idea of being outdoors and getting the blood pumping, but the unrealized truth of the matter is that an hour of jogging burns less calories than the amount in a typical breakfast for most Americans.  And in fact, not only is low-intensity jogging not the best way to lose fat, but it's more likely to cause injury, impose muscle loss, and it's not even the best choice for heart health.  Whether your goal is to cut down some body fat, or live longer, long-distance is likely a waste of your time.

Running Causes Injuries

An epidemiological study on running injuries reports that runners are at between a 37% and 56% risk for having a running-related injury within a given year (1).  An earlier study of 3,000 recreational and competitive runners even showed runners are at a 60% risk of getting injured in general (2).  I know if someone told me I was at a 60% risk of getting injured if I were to partake in a given exercise, I'd probably take a pass.

Running consists of repeated impact loads to the muscles and joints throughout the body, ramping up inflammation, and generally leading to some kind of serious injury that makes any sort of exercise impossible for some time.  Often, serious runners are training multiple times a week, never really letting the related inflammation subside.  On top of that, chronic inflammation is agreed to be the most direct cause of aging and disease out there (see previous blog post!).

Muscle Breakdown

When exercising for long durations (as in low-intensity, long distance running), the energy stores in your muscles (glycogen) become depleted, and your body looks for energy anywhere it can find it. Unfortunately, this energy may come from places you don't want it to, like your own muscle.

For most people who are living on a carbohydrate (glucose) based metabolism, the body is even more likely to break down muscle into the preferred energy source, glucose.  

What’s also ironic is that it takes more calories to sustain muscle then it does fat cells, and so losing muscle actually slows down your metabolism and makes you burn less calories in a given day.  Additionally, the loss of muscle means decreased insulin sensitivity and a correspondingly increased susceptibility to metabolic diseases like diabetes.

And decreased muscle mass means even more likelihood of getting injured!  Sounds like a lose-lose-lose situation in these respects...  

Aerobic "Cardio" Exercise and Heart Health

But what about running for a healthy heart? Most people believe that aerobic exercise is the best exercise for a healthy heart and for health in general. But what does the term aerobic exercise actually imply?

Well it basically means you're only tapping your aerobic metabolism, and your intensity is not high enough to make your body access full metabolism in your muscle cells.

Think of electrical conduits that only need to get electricity to a small group of people (in this case energy to your muscles).  This would imply only a small group of generators are required to create the energy, and small inefficient power lines can be used just fine.  This is low-intensity exercise. However, what if this same electrical line is now required to fuel a huge city?  Suddenly a whole new system of delivering electrical power is required, along with a more robust and efficient delivery system as well (even if for a short time, like in high-intensity exercises).  

This is analogous to what happens in high intensity exercise, where aerobic metabolism and  anaerobic metabolism are tested to their full capacity.  In fact, the way glucose metabolism works is that glucose must go through anaerobic metabolism to get to the aerobic pathway in the muscle cells, so it’s not possible to only trigger aerobic metabolism without the other.  In a high intensity environment, the whole system is forced to work more efficiently, and your heart becomes better at delivering nutrient-rich blood to your muscle cells too!   

Conclusion

We cause adaptations when we can tap into the “fight or flight” response of our body.  We can do this effectively in high intensity exercises, but unfortunately many runners sink into a comfortable pace that they get used to, and this beneficial adaptation never comes.  Running can be beneficial with this concept in mind: our advice would be to try short intense sprints, with only a little recovery time in between, rather than long steady-paced runs.  Now let us know how much harder your heart’s working when you run in this fashion!

In Excellent Health,

Garrett & Luc

The #1 Reason You’re Not Getting Stronger

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that 20% of the inputs create 80% of the results.  This can be shown in everything from the places you go (you’ll visit 20% of all the places you go 80% of the time, i.e., work/home/grocery store); to the food you eat (you’ll eat 20% of all the food you like 80% of the time, i.e., consider your typical breakfast); to the people you hang out with (you’ll kick it with 20% of all your friends 80% of the time). And this is true for many other cases as well. Especially when it comes to exercise.

Take for instance strength training.  There are a myriad of different set schemes for strength training out there: progressive overload, supersets, drop sets, pyramid sets, 5x5--the list goes on and on and on.  Well, what if there was one way to get the most out of your strength training?  What if all these “sophisticated” set variations add complexity but don’t add results? If you look at the Pareto Principle, you might guess that only 20% of the different set schemes would give you 80% of your results.  Or even taking it a step further, only 20% of the sets would give you 80% of your results.  What if instead of doing five sets of five reps, you just did one set?  Or instead of three sets of twelve reps, you just did one set?  And what if you got the same strength increase from each?

Funny you should ask! The effectiveness of just a single set is exactly what has been proven time and time again.  In one such study that lasted 10 weeks, 1 set was proven to be just as statistically significant, i.e., effective, as 3 sets for hypertrophy (muscle size increase) and strength gain. In a separate study lasting 6 weeks, 1 set of a leg press done once per week was shown to be as effective as 1 set done twice per week.  Another study showed the same benefits of training once per week versus twice per week and three times per week.

But that’s not all folks.  A meta analysis that examined training durations of 4 weeks all the way up to 25 weeks showed that just a single set was all that was needed. In fact, the researchers even went out of their way to specifically state that “there is little scientific evidence, and no theoretical physiological basis, to suggest that a greater volume of exercise elicits greater increases in strength or hypertrophy.”  

So what are we really saying here? That all the different types of sets and different set schemes out there aren’t needed?  Well, if you’re looking to increase muscle strength and size then yes, that’s exactly what we’re saying.  The research has clearly shown that a single set is just as effective as three and is just as effective as five.  It’s also shown that you only need to do that single set once per week.  What that one set looks like in terms of weight, repetitions, duration, and intensity will be explored in a future post. Just know that there’s a minimum effective dose that exists--more does not necessarily equal better.

But you might be saying to yourself now “yeah, that’s fine, but I like working out and being in the gym.”  That’s awesome and we absolutely applaud you for that.  The effort and determination is there.  But doing too much in the gym may be the one reason you’re not getting stronger.  When you break down your muscle tissue with strength training, it takes a while for your body to heal itself, synthesize proteins, and build new muscle.  This process can take anywhere from a few days for slow fatiguing (commonly known as slow twitch) muscle fibers to a even several weeks for super fast (fast twitch) fatiguing muscle fibers.  

Lifting just once per week allows your body not only to repair your muscles, but make sure you come back stronger.  It’s easy to see now why people plateau in their strength numbers--they’re simply doing too much!  So with all that being said, the question now is are you going to lift less so you can lift more?

In Excellent Health,

Garrett & Luc