I’m a Convert: Infrequent Meals

There is an increasingly loud, increasingly powerful minority within the nutrition world that can now count me as one of it’s own: those who argue that the high meal frequency, eating-every-three-hours-or-your-muscles-will-literally-just-fall-right-off-the-bone-like-smoked-pork approach to nutrition is absolutely unnecessary and in no way provides any benefit to our body composition goals.  Yes, John Kiefer, Martin Berkhan, Lyle McDonald, and Alan Aragon, you guys along with my own personal experience, have allowed me to put away the Tupperware and not worry about “going catabolic.”

So how did this happen?  How did my 5+ years of 6 or more meals per day (I think there was a period there, and I am maybe a little ashamed to admit this, where I was eating 9-10 meals on some days!) suddenly change to a the current state of things: three large meals plus a snack before bed (AKA breakfast-lunch-dinner-dessert to the average person).  Well, life changed and my diet followed.

The only optimal diet for each of us is one that works within the context of our lives and what we are willing to put forth.  In my own case, in my office job, I enjoyed eating every few hours because it offered a great way to break up the monotony of slaving away at my desk all day.  I looked forward to the little breaks I could take to eat one of my meals.  In my case, eating often was preferred and ideal.

"Hey Bro, you got a spare chicken breast on you?"

However, when I left my office job this past winter and found myself with the flexibility to work in smaller blocks and move through my day with more freedom, I found that I didn’t really want to be stuck thinking about frequent feedings or bringing food with me when I was out and about.  It’s a release to have a meal needed in the middle of a four-hour date with an Excel spreadsheet.  It’s a hassle, an inconvenience, and a major buzz kill to have that same meal come in the middle of a four-hour surf session under the warm Hawaiian sun.  Thus, as I settled into the office-less life I had established for myself in Hawaii, I dove into learning the real deal on meal frequency.

It didn’t take me long to find enough evidence to dive right into changing my diet almost immediately.  In my opinion, the evidence in support of eating less frequently is overwhelming and convincing.  Any evidence that has been provided in support of eating frequently is scant and poorly interpreted.  It’s hard to believe these myths have been perpetuated for so long but I supposed they have reached a Gladwell-esque “Tipping Point” at which they will basically be taken as truth by the vast majority of the population.

This topic has been covered extensively by the geniuses I mentioned above, so rather than reiterate, check out the following, and if desired, the associated citations:

Logic Does Not Apply Part I: Meal Frequency by John Kiefer

Meal Frequency and Energy Balance by Lyle McDonald

As you can see, the foundation of frequent eatings rests upon some poorly designed studies and observational research.  It’s not exactly the hard fact we’ve all been lead to believe.

So I’ve showed you a few of the arguments and that’s all well and good.  But I know that you, my esteemed FF readers generally only care about whether or not something is going to help you pick up ever increasing amounts of heavy shit and look increasingly better whenever the clothes come off.  So what have my results been like since moving to a more traditional eating schedule?  It has been nearly three months and I am pleased to report that none, not a single one, of my muscles has fallen off.  Shocking.

On a serious note, my body composition has improved.  I’m up a few pounds and I am as lean, if not leaner, than I was when I started.  That’s pretty good.  I plan to gain a few more pounds and then cut the small amount of fat that I am carrying right now and I expect that after that I will look, far and away, the best I ever have.  On the strength front, my lifts initially suffered and my gym performance was down  as I adjusted to the new setup but after a couple of weeks everything bounced back in a very good way and I am now gaining strength at a nice, steady pace.  Now this is not to say that had I followed my old approach that my results would have been any different as having finally worked out a training and nutrition system that worked for me, I had been making good gains in my physique and strength for the last year.  But this is to say that at the very least, my results have not been any worse and my life has been MUCH, MUCH easier.  In my book, that’s a huge win.

The foundations of my philosophy towards nutrition is that the Adherence Principle is of the utmost importance.  It’s precisely the reason that I do an extensive interview and questionnaire process with every client: I need to know what their lifestyle is, how much they are willing to invest, and where their priorities lie in order for me to generate a diet for them that they will stick to.  A 80% effective setup that is adhered to 95% of the time is better than a 100% effective setup that is adhered to 50% of the time.  And believe me, adherence goes way up with this setup.  I thoroughly believe that although there are some issues with intermittent fasting from a body comp standpoint, it is generally very successful because it has a high rate of adherence.

Let’s be honest, eating 6 meals a day is hard.  It’s a hassle.  It requires a shit-ton of planning and preparation and causes a load of stress and anxiety.  It breaks up the meals to the point where they are often not satisfying (what a new experience: eating large, satiating meals).  And many times it’s not very practical.  We all have places to be and things to do any many times, those obligations will take us away from our perfectly planned meals every three hours. All of these things lead to many people simply refusing to change their habits or giving a shot and quickly failing as a result of the commitment required to eat several small meals per day.  Or they become obsessed and anxious about keeping a precisely timed diet.  That’s no way to live.  Food is meant to be enjoyed and savored and this brings me to my next point.

Eating is often a social event.  Along with sex, music, and art, its a piece of our humanity and culture that is best when shared with others.  I think being able to share a meal with other people is one of the best ways to relax and form strong relationships.  I’m happy I don’t have to deprive myself of that any longer.  Being on a schedule that most of the rest of the world follows when it comes to eating allows one the most opportunities to share the joy of food with others.

No more of this

So please, FFers, put down that shaker bottle and trash the Tupperwares!  Eating right is always going to require some effort, you will have to make smart food choices and eat in the proper amounts, but you shouldn’t have to count the seconds until your next meal for fear of slowing your metabolism or sacrificing you hard-earned muscle and hopefully this little post will convince you of that.

So how do you convert?

Well, first and foremost, you don’t have to convert if eating at a high frequency is working for you, you are happy with it, and you find it to be a way to eat that compliments your lifestyle.  If you do want to reduce how many times you are eating, the possibilities are pretty wide.  You could try an intermittent fasting setup.  You could do what I’ve done and simply combine the smaller meals into larger, more traditional breakfast-lunch-dinner arrangements.  You could even eat just twice per day.  The point is just that: it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day.  Pay some attention to your peri-workout nutrition and for the rest, just eat in a way that fits your life and sets you up for success.  There are many reasons that my “No-Hassle Diet” setups have been so successful for me and those that I have used them with and now, I have one more weapon of practicality to arm my clients with.  Later this year, I will be releasing my first product, which will be an extensive diet manual based around my No Hassle philosophies.  It will detail how to set up a meal plan that adheres to this low-frequency approach.

 

The Correct Way to Warm-Up: Part II

In Part I, we established the proper way to warm-up prior to each workout.

Today, I would like to quickly touch upon the second part of the warming up equation: what to do to warm-up for each particular exercise once you start your workout.

The warm-up for each lift you do should accomplish a couple of things:

  1. Prepare your nervous system for the movement by “greasing the groove” and putting your body through the motion at relatively untaxing weights.
  2. Acclimate your body to weights nearing the weight you will be working with so that you are prepared for your working sets.
  3. Warm-up your joints and put them through the range of motion that you will be working in.
  4. Accomplish all of the above without negatively effecting the performance on the subsequent working sets.

With that in mind, I have a general baseline warm-up that is the minimum that I go through for every exercise:

  • Warm-Up Set #1: 50% of 1st working set weight x 5 reps
  • Warm-Up Set #2: 75% of 1st working set weight x 3 reps
  • Warm-Up Set #3: 90% of 1st working set weight x 1 rep

I know what you are thinking: that’s not nearly enough warming-up! Well, as I said this is the baseline.  In general, I only use this warm-up scheme for exercises that come 2nd or beyond in the workout.

For my first exercise in the workout or for any exercises that are technically complex or that have not adequately been warmed-up by the preceding exercises, I will generally add warm-up sets.  So for example, if my first exercise of the day was a 300lb squat, my warm-up would likely look like this:

  • Bar Only x 5
  • 95lbs x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 150 x 5
  • 185 x 3
  • 225 x 3
  • 270 x 1

And further, here’s a bonus tip that you can use if you are a competitive lifter or even just someone who is interesting in improving their core barbell lifts:

Even if I am feeling adequately warmed-up, I really like to add extra warm-up sets for my Big 3 exercises as well because I am able to treat them as technique practice.  Because the weights are so manageable, I am able to focus 100% on set-up, technique, and mental cues to execute the lift perfectly once the weight gets heavy.  This is a great opportunity to work on technique without negatively impacting my work sets and without adding too much time to my weekly commitment.  And it pays huge dividends as this is the sort of “deliberate practice” that K. Anders Ericsson and his research team noted as being the key to achieving mastery in any given skill in their study “The Making of an Expert” which was published in the Harvard Business Review.

Finally, it should be noted that the more advanced you are and the more weight being used, the more sets you should include in your warm-ups.  And do not be dogmatic about this: if you feel you need more sets or more reps and that you aren’t quite ready for the working sets, warm-up until you are ready to get after it.

The Correct Way to Warm-Up: Part 1

I’ve been debating the best way to start this blog off and I had a million ideas, including a several-part article on all of my major philosophies but that’s will make a better “start here” section to help people easily familiarize themselves with my approach.  So I figured the best way to start the blog is to talk about the best way to start a workout, warming up.  Welcome to Ferrari Fit!

Stretch out.  Limber up.  This is the common prescription most people get for their warm-ups when they begin lifting weights. Unfortunately, its not the best method to go about for preparing to hit the weights.  In fact, research has shown that static stretching done prior to a lifting session can actually decrease strength output due to a reduction in the stretch reflex that assists us in the end range of each rep.  The truth is, a proper warm-up consists of three parts and the two most important, soft tissue work and dynamic mobility work, are rarer than a properly executed squat in the general training population (although those are pretty damn hard to find too!).

Without fail, when I first get to the gym, I spend 5-10 minutes doing some cardio in order to raise my core body temperature and lubricate my joints.  Then I go through my soft tissue progression using a foam roller and a lacrosse ball.  I finish it up with a handful of dynamic mobility exercises and then begin my workout.  I was first put on to this type of warming up when I was training with Eric Cressey and I haven’t looked back since.  As I mention in the Resources page, his book, Maximum Strength, outlines a couple of different warm-ups that are absolutely excellent and quite close to what I outline below.

As I mentioned above, the first thing to do is raise your body temperature a bit with a light cardio session of 5-10 minutes.  Any machine will do and if you walk, bike, skate, etc… to your gym, that will be sufficient.  Don’t overdo it here, this should be a very casual pace.

The next step is to run through a soft tissue progression.  I’ll put it bluntly, if you are not foam rolling (or using a “stick” or ball) on a regular basis, you are doing yourself a major disservice by allowing existing dysfunctions and postural flaws to persist and setting yourself up for more.  Don’t think you have any existing flaws? Run through the series below on the softest foam roller you can find and I’ll bet the pain you experience will convince you otherwise.  It is my personal opinion that soft tissue work is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can be doing in order to prevent an increased risk of an injury that could hamper your gym efforts for a long time. Read that statement again, and then please, commit yourself to putting in the extra few minutes of effort it will take you to do this prior to each workout.

The following video, again from Eric Cressey, is the exact series I have been using for nearly 4 years now and I credit it for not having any injuries in that time.  This is that important:

Quick Note: I generally do 10-15 “passes” over each area and then a little focused work on any knots and trigger points that I find.

Finally, you will run through a handful of dynamic mobility movements.  While you will never have to change the foam rolling progression given above, your movement work should be an ever changing part of your warm-up.  I generally switch up my movements every 4 weeks or so.  This makes sure that I am adequately addressing any issues that I am working on (or trying to prevent) in several different ways.  The following is what I did today and I think it is a well-balanced group of moves that you can easily steal for yourself.  Just remember to change it up occasionally!

Supine Bridges (1×12)

Quadruped Extension-Rotation (1×8 per side)

Wall Hip Mobilizations (1×8 per side)

Wall Ankle Mobilizations (1×8 per side)

Cradle Walk (1×8 per side)

Walking Spider Man w/ Overhead Reach (1×8 per side)

Squat-to-Stand (1×6)

Scapular Push-ups (1×10)

Scapular Wall Slides (1×8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k2kqyzz3Ug

And that’s it, we’re ready to crush some weight!  A quick 10-15 minutes to ensure that you put your best foot forward in the gym, to clear up and prevent any postural issues and movement dysfunctions, and to keep you injury-free.

I’ll be back soon with Part II, which will be a quick post about how to actually warm-up for each exercise in your workout.