The Art of Deloading, In The Gym and at Home

Deloading simply means to take it down a notch for a few days in order to let your body fully recuperate from the stresses you put on it at the gym. Without this downtime, the body and mind can become weakened from overuse. This can lead to plateaus and injury, and sap your motivation. Luckily, deloading is easy and feels good. The only problem is you have to remember to do it! While we all know we should keep close track of our workouts, not all of us (including me) hit the gym with notebook in hand. So if you belong in this group it may be easier for you to schedule your deloads on a recurring basis, such as the first or last week of every month.

Now that you have it scheduled... what are you gonna do on your deload week?
Here are some suggestions:

1. Most importantly, Earn Your Deload! Work hard on the weeks leading up to the deload week. You want to tax your body so that this time to recover takes place when it will benefit you. The point is to allow your body to fully adapt to the new stresses (higher intensity and weight loads) you have put on it. This can restore you to a baseline that is a level above where you previously were, and prepare you to reach new levels in your training. If you don't earn your deload, don't take it until you do. You don't want to defeat the purpose.

2. You have earned it, so enjoy it. Don't think of this week as downtime or regression. Instead use it to improve your form at lower weight loads, practice explosive lifts, and work accessory muscles that will help pull things together when you are back to full intensity. Give your mind a break by changing things up, and after a few days you will feel yourself dying to get back to your program.

3. Stretch it out! This is a great time to stretch. Do some yoga. Work on your balance. Use a foam roller to release any knots that you have building up. This should be part of your regular routine anyway, but I know its not as exciting and often gets left out (like a warm up and cool down). Eric Cressey of Cressey Performance compares stretching and soft tissue work to flossing. We all know we should do it and its good for us, but nobody really wants to. Also like flossing, it hurts if you haven't done it in a while. But, if you do it regularly, you are glad you did.

4. Keep in mind that deloading is also appropriate in everyday life. Take it one step further by taking it easy at home too. You work hard, take some time to relax. Treat yourself to a massage. Change things up a bit, get into a book you wouldn't normally read. Try to unplug a little, turn off the phone and the tv. These changes are good for you, will inspire new thought, and will will help your body to focus on rebuilding.

5. Eat right. Deloads are a great time to plan your meals for upcoming weeks. Find some new recipes. Nutrition is as important as exercise, so put some thought into it. Remember to give your body what it needs to support your efforts.

6. Get some sleep. You may not be as worn out at night, but doing a little stretching before bed and reading with the tv off usually puts me right out. Obviously sleep is huge for recovery and adaptation. Plus, it's sleep, what's not to like.

7. If you have vacation coming up, plan your deload for your vacation week. Work your butt off in the weeks leading up to it. Bonus, you'll be buff at the beach and you won't feel like crap if you slack a litte while you are there. Just do some bodyweight stuff (check out the earlier post on staying fit away from home), maybe a run in the morning... you're good to go.

Well, there ya go, there's no secret to the deload, at least for those of us who won't be competing in the olympics anytime soon. Ain't nothin to it but to do it.

BPA Risk Assessment

I've been seeing BPA-free labels a lot lately, which got me wondering what this chemical is and why so many products I buy need to be free from it. So I spent the last couple days looking around and I thought I would post what I found. Pretty interesting.

What is BPA?
Bisphenol A, or BPA, is a synthetic chemical used mainly in plastics and resins. It was first synthesized in 1891, and is made through the condensation of acetone and phenol. It was not used commercially until the early 1950's, when chemists discovered it was useful in making epoxy resins. These resins are used as protective coatings to line products like food cans. A few years later chemists found a way to obtain a higher grade, more pure BPA product, which could be made into a durable plastic called polycarbonate. Polycarbonate found use in electronics, car manufacturing, food and drink containers, CDs and DVDs, and a slew of other applications that called for a hard, clear plastic. More recently BPA has been used in products like dental sealants, orthodontic hardware, and thermal paper such as that used in retail receipts.

Basically anywhere you look you will find BPA. It is such a versatile product it has found its way into a large majority of the things we use on a daily basis. It is manufactured in huge amounts. The US had produced half a billion pounds by the late seventies, and global production is presently over six billion pounds per year. That makes it one of the top 50 products produced globally by the chemical industry.

What's wrong with BPA?
We have established that BPA is a very useful product, and since it has become so plentiful, it makes sense for the public to be aware of any hazards it may convey. It has been known sine the 1930's that BPA has estrogen mimicking properties. It has also been known for years that BPA can leech out of the products that contain it, especially when it is heated. Scientists at Stanford who were doing research involving estrogen discovered this when their results were repeatedly skewed by BPA leeching from flasks that were heated in their experimental methods.

How Does BPA Affect The Body?
Simply put, the human endocrine system is made up of glands that produce hormones. Hormones are chemical messengers that are stored in glands and released into the blood under certain conditions. Once released they find their target tissues via a receptor mechanism, much like a lock and key, and they relay a message. For example, vasopressin is a hormone that is stored in the pituitary gland. When the body becomes dehydrated, vasopressin is released into the blood, where it travels to the kidney and signals it to retain water. It has been well established through years of experimentation that BPA has an effect on the human endocrine system. It exerts it's effect by mimicking hormones that the body naturally produces(such as estrogen), effectively tricking tissues in the body into believing some hormone levels are higher than they actually are.

So how strong is this effect and does it cause enough disruption in the body to be of concern? This is where things become tricky. Much research has been done. But much of the research has been funded by either the chemical companies themselves, or other companies that stand to make a profit from the sale of BPA. Here is a quote from an article called "The Politics of Plastics", featured in the American Journal of Public Health, in November 2009.

Most alarmingly, they highlighted an apparent funding effect in the BPA research. Between 1997 and 2005, there were 115 studies on the effects of BPA at or below the safety standard, conducted by dozens of laboratories in the United States, Japan, and Europe. The reported effects of BPA included changes in fetal prostate and mammary gland development, disruption of chromosomal alignment in developing eggs in females, altered immune function, metabolic abnormalities, and changes in the brain and behavior. Of these 115 studies, 90% of those that were government funded reported some effects from exposures at or below the reference dose, whereas none of the 11 studies funded by (the chemical) industry reported any effects.

This kind of thing makes me skeptical, along with the fact that the two major studies that the government has used to determine safe levels of BPA were both funded by the American Plastics Council, and the Society of the Plastics Industry (according to the same journal article as above).

After I spent a couple days reviewing journals and trying to find reputable sources online here is what I believe to be the heart of the issue.

There is definitely evidence to show that BPA has endocrine disrupting capability in humans, and that BPA is leeched out of products containing it, often into our food. The extent to which BPA is harmful is up for debate, and there are widely differing views. BPA seems to have the most substantial effect during critical developmental periods in the human life cycle. During developmental times such as fetal growth, early postnatal development, puberty, and pregnancy, the body is dependent on hormones to help direct critical processes. At these times we are particularly susceptible to the deleterious effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals. That said I think the best approach, at least for me, is to limit exposure where possible without becoming a freakazoid about it. Here are some useful ways to limit BPA exposure.

If you have to have a reuseable plastic bottle, Look for BPA-free labels. Alternatively stainless steel is lighter than glass and safer than plastic.

Use glass as much as possible at home.

Avoid canned foods (especially tomatoes) when there are easy alternatives like fresh or frozen.
Acidity in the tomatoes greatly increases leeching from can liners.

Do your best to buy BPA free products for babies, such as bottles (which frequently are heated), plastic toys (which are often put in the mouth), or pacifiers (which are very often put in the mouth).

Try not to frequently use products labeled as plastic #7, which are usually hard and clear. I checked the water cooler at work we all use and yep, it was.

Plastic number 1 is BPA free, though I still recommend drastically reducing consumption from these bottles too, there are other chemicals in plastics that can leech out as well. Which I will try to cover in a future post.

I suppose that's all for now, please leave a comment if there is anything you would like to add !

Should I Eat Organic Produce?

     When I'm at the grocery, store the first place I find myself is the produce isle, where I always have this internal battle over whether or not to buy organic stuff.  Part of me thinks, "buy organic, its good for you and better for the environment".  But another part is always saying, "ahh that's a load of crap, it's more expensive and doesn't make a difference anyway."  So there I am wondering well, which is it?  I did a little digging, and decided it might make a good topic for today's post.
     First off, there are so many issues related to the whole organic food debate, I needed to narrow it down.  For me the thing that matters most is the impact it may have on the health of my family.  From that standpoint, the two main issues seem to be pesticide residues, and nutrient retention.
     What's so bad about pesticide?  The most commonly used pesticides work by affecting the nervous systems of insects. Unfortunately, they can also affect the human nervous system.  Pesticides can also cause cancer and endocrine malfunction.  It is thought that children may be particularly affected by consuming pesticides because of their higher metabolism, different eating habits, and developing organs.  For more info from the EPA on why not to chow down on insect killer,  click here  (ok, maybe that was a little strongly worded, but you get the point).  I think we can all agree we don't want to eat too much of the stuff.  The book "Anticancer" speaks of a theory of disease called the "the seed and the soil".  Basically this says that we create an environment in our bodies (the soil) that either is conducive or not to the development of disease (the seeds).  What we put in our bodies on a daily basis sets up the stage for the development of disease or a natural resistance to it.  This is a commonsense concept, but I think sometimes we get so busy with life we forget that we actually are what we eat.  That said, if we can adopt simple changes that affect what goes in our mouths every day, we can make a real difference in longevity. 
     A quick note on limiting exposure. When you are buying products that have a lot of edible surface area, such as leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, kale, and such), it is important to go organic.  These products are often sprayed with harsh pesticides, and owing to their large surfaces, will hold the most residue.  Also washing produce is a must, whether it be organic or not.  If you are eating pesticide treated produce, a wash designed to reduce residue is advisable.  You can make an inexpensive wash at home with white vinegar and a little salt (click here to see how).  Products with a skin that is not eaten or is easy to clean pose less of a risk.  These include onions, avocados, and the like.  For more info on pesticides and disease, see the following: Organophosphorous Pesticide Exposure of Urban and Suburban Preschool Children With Organic and Conventional Diets. This study measured pesticide in the urine of children, and showed that levels increased or decreased rapidly based on whether they ate conventional or organic products. Also see: Pesticides and Cancer.
     Enough about that for now, let's move on to nutrients.  According to the Mayo Clinic (click here), a recent study looked at the scientific literature over the last fifty years, and determined that there was a minimal nutritional difference between organic and conventionally grown produce.  Given that, I think the following formula presented by Mark Sisson, author of The Primal Blueprint, makes a lot of sense.  He says that your buying habits should go in this order:

Organic and Local > Conventional and Local > Organic and Remotely Grown > Conventional and Remotely Grown

There are a couple reasons for conventionally grown local food beating remotely grown organic food.  Local farmers are more likely to use kinder growing methods and less chemicals than large commercial farms, and you are more likely to get these products near the peak of their freshness.  Organic products grown far away are less likely to be fresh and nutrient rich after the long trip to your local store. 
     To sum it up, it seems that for the biggest health benefits you should try to eat the most nutrient rich food with the least pesticide residue.  Sounds straight forward, and it can be.  I realize that it will drive any of us crazy to stress over this stuff too much. So let's lay out a few simple rules to shop by that won't kill the budget and will make a healthy difference.

#1    If It Is Green, then Go Green!
          This includes bell peppers, lettuce, spinach, kale, and so on.

#2    Edible Skin, Organic Wins!
          This goes for things like eggplant, tomatoes, apples, grapes.

#3    Keep it Close to Home.
          If you can buy local, do.

While these three rules may not adhere to every study ever written, they are easy to remember when you are in the produce section, and they are a good start in the right direction toward eating healthy.   

Information for this post came from the following:  The Primal Blueprint, a book by Mark Sisson.  Anticancer, a book by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber.  The Mayo Clinic website.  The recipe for veggie wash was from thriftyfun.com.  The EPA website. 

Coming Soon... Why organic can be important when choosing meat and dairy.

Choosing a Whey Protein

Since I eat this stuff every day, and really had no idea how to choose between the many varieties, I thought I would do a little research.  Let me start by saying that I am no expert in whey, I only thought that I might save some other regular guys and gals like myself some time by relaying what I have found in a few hours research online.

First off, what is whey? Whey is a byproduct of the cheese making process.  Cheese is made from milk. Milk has two types of proteins, casein and whey.  In order to make cheese these two are separated as follows. Bacterial cultures are added to milk, this produces acidity and makes the milk more receptive to an enzyme that will be added next.  This enzyme, called rennin, converts one of the milk proteins (casein) into an insoluble form.  Since the casein is no longer soluble it condenses out into cheese blobs, called curd.  The liquid that is left is the whey.  So from milk, cultures, and enzymes we now have curds and whey! If you think that's exciting, I'm only getting started!  Oh yeah, and I will try to fight the urge to insert a picture of Little Miss Muffet... no promises. 

Ok, so now we can separate the whey, which is the liquid in the picture above.  But what is actually in it?  Well, the whey is composed of protein, lactose, fat and a variety of minerals.  The protein is made of smaller fragments called subfractions which each exhibit their own biological activity in the body.  Some may help with immunity, such as lactoferrin.  Others are thought to be beneficial in a multitude of ways, such as lowering blood pressure, improving performance, reducing cortisol levels, and so on.  I will not go into depth here because I don't want to bore anybody to death.  But, for those who want more on that, check out an article called "The Whey It Is" at brinkzone.com, its written well and the guy seems to know his stuff.
The next thing we will look at is how the whey is processed once it has been separated from the curds, and how these processes affect the quality of the protein product produced. Say that five times fast!

After separation, the whey is filtered.  The product of the first pass is called a concentrate, it can retain from about 30-80% protein, and still contains a fair amount of fat and lactose.  Though some concentrates have protein percentages on the low end, the ones used in supplements that you would buy in the store are normally 70 to 80%.  The product from the second filtration is called an isolate, and contains a higher percent of protein, about 90.  Isolates have virtually no fat or lactose, which can make them a good choice for those who are afflicted with a lactose intolerance.

So it seems that the isolate may be the way to go, based solely on protein concentration.  But there is another thing to consider.  Low temperatures and stable pH conditions should be maintained during the process or the protein may become severely denatured. If this occurs during the refining process, it can render the amino acids less digestible and generate potentially carcinogenic nitrogen compounds.

Two main processes are used to attain the supplements we see on the shelf today.  Ion exchange, and cross flow microfiltration.  Ion exchange does yield the highest protein content and a product essentially free of lactose.  But in the same way it reduces lactose, it in turn gets rid of most of the beneficial subfractions.  Also, the acids used in the ion exchange process can damage the protein and make it less valuable for digestion.  Cross flow microfiltration, on the other hand, involves lower temperatures and a more stable pH. This results in a higher quality product which retains high amounts of subfractions, and supplies a protein concentration that is not significantly lower than that of ion exchange.  You will see cross flow microfiltration products referred to as isolates based on concentration.  The only true down side I see to cross flow microfiltration is that is does leave some fat and lactose in the product.
Whew! That was a mouthful, but at least now I have some vague idea of what that magical white powder I've been eating is. Hope this was a useful read.  Let me reiterate that I am no expert, but I did try to find reliable sources and I'm certainly open to any useful comments anybody has.
This info came from www.brinkzone.com, www.whey-proteinguide.com, biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese_course, and wheyoflife.org

 Also, the best tasting protein I have found is Jay Robb, don't be scared of the dude on the package, it's good stuff.

Man Alive Begins!

     I thought for the new year I would start off this blog dedicated to staying (also worded getting) in shape, and eating healthy.  But I want to throw some other things in here and there... whatever happens to be on my mind at the time.  So please send me a note if you happen upon the site and find anything particularly interesting.