Friday, May 22, 2015

The Zone - The Space For Optimal Performance - PT 1

If you have been a fan of the NBA this year you have seen Stephan Curry of the Golden State Warriors have one of the most amazing seasons in recent NBA history. His outstanding play not only lifted the Warriors to the best record in the NBA, it earned him the NBA MVP award as well.
Curry is an outstanding player but on certain nights his play seems effortless. His ball handling skills and ability to make shots makes it seem like the game is in slow motion and the rim is 20 feet in diameter. In one game, Curry was so hot, he took a deep range game winning three point shot and while the ball was in the air he turned towards his bench with his arm in the air indicating victory.  Two seconds later the ball went through the net and the Warrior’s won!
What I just described for you is something that is not exclusive to the top professional athletes or even high ranking officials or business executives.  Steff Curry had found “The Zone.”   While most of us will never hit a game winning shot in the NBA, the good news is we can all experience “The Zone” in the things we choose to do including sports, work or other activities we participate in.
While we talked in recent weeks about The Zone diet being a healthy balance of protein, good fats and good carbohydrates that provides nutrition for optimal performance, the Zone I am referencing here is the ability to perform at your highest level in any activity you participate in. The Zone is a higher consciousness and intense level of engagement that allows for this optimal performance but unfortunately, most people that experience the Zone get there by accident.
Michael Lardon, M.D. has spent much of his professional life working with athletes and studying scientific research to better understand the Zone and what leads athletes and others the ability to experience the Zone in regular intervals.  Dr. Lardon has identified ten essential characteristics that the world’s greatest athletes possess that enable them to perform at optimal levels while allowing them to transcend distractions and everyday challenges that could potentially hinder their performance.
The research Dr. Lardon conducted UCSD and Scripps Research Institute suggested four characteristics that people experienced when they were in the Zone.  (1) Super concentration or complete mental absorption in a task; (2) the experience of time slowing down; (3) a sense of detachment from outside influences; and (4) a resulting super-normal performance.
Dr. Lardon continues to state that the Zone is less about human physiology, and more about human determination and will. Think about a time when you ran your best race or the project you were working on at your job seemed effortless and time flew by.  This is the Zone.
Next week I will discuss the ten elements Dr. Lardon identifies as necessary to help you experience the Zone more frequently to help you achieve optimal performance in your selected sport, work or other activity.  Until then, if you want to see the Zone in action, I recommend you catch a Warrior’s playoff game on television and watch how Stephan Curry masters the Zone!


HERE’S TO BEING FIT FOR LIFE! Chris is a Certified Personal Trainer, USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Group Exercise Instructor, exercise and endurance enthusiast.  He competes yearly in numerous running races, marathons, ultra-marathons, triathlons and other endurance events.  He is a member of the 2015 QT2 Systems Advanced Team.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Protein Power – Part 2

If you are an active person, fatigue and the recovery cycle play a critical role in how well you will perform. You need to have the energy and ability to push your body to achieve new levels of cardiac and muscle growth.  Conversely you also need to experience full recovery so you can repeat the process the next day. 
This is an intricate cycle that involves sleep, hydration, stretching and diet. While carbs and fats play an important part in your nutrition strategy, protein plays an equally important role and is the glue that holds the delicate balance of protein, carbs and fats together to provide you optimal nutrition.
Research has shown that eating more protein can support weight loss and prevent weight gain by boosting metabolism, increasing feelings of fullness and helping the body retain muscle while losing fat. However, many Americans are not consuming enough protein in a balanced way to achieve these effects and athletes are at particular risk.
University of Missouri researcher Heather Leidy and her colleagues conducted a review of the current scientific literature on protein consumption and found that a moderate increase in protein consumption at each meal, balanced throughout the day, can lead to significant improvements.
To help individuals integrate more protein into their diets, Leidy, an assistant professor in the MU Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, provides several recommendations based on her and others' research based:
"Breakfast, in general, provides benefits for appetite control and satiety, or feelings of fullness," Leidy said. "Eating a protein-rich breakfast containing about 30 grams of protein leads to even greater satiety throughout the day and can reduce unhealthy snacking by improving appetite control."
When looking at protein look for healthy protein like Greek yogurt and eggs and stay away from high saturate fat loaded protein found in sausage.
Leidy said individuals should aim for a diet that contains 1.2 -- 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. For example, a 150-pound woman who wants to lose weight or prevent weight gain should eat approximately 90-100 grams of protein a day. For endurance athletes that number can go as high as 3 grams per kilogram of body weight. This will help promote lean (muscle) body mass.
In keeping with the Zone diet concept pioneered by Dr. Barry Sears, balancing protein, fats and carbs at every meal is idea. "We want people to know that they don't have to consume impractical amounts of protein," Leidy said. "Although most Americans don't consume the amount of protein necessary to achieve benefits, such as increased feelings of fullness, the research suggests that individuals only need to add an additional 10-15 grams of high-quality protein, such as eggs, lean beef, pork or dairy, at breakfast and lunch to achieve the recommended amount."
Not all proteins are created equal. High-quality, or "complete," proteins found in animal-based foods such as beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products contain all the essential amino acids and are easily digestible. Most plant-based proteins found in vegetables and grains are considered lower quality, or "incomplete," proteins because they lack one or more essential amino acids and are less digestible.
Adding protein through “clean”, high quality protein powder like Designer Whey is also a good way to add valuable grams of protein.  Two scoops to a smoothly can add as much as 36 grams in one serving.  Be sure to look for protein powers that are low in sugar and the less ingredients they contain, it is more likely to be a quality and clean product.


HERE’S TO BEING FIT FOR LIFE! Chris is a Certified Personal Trainer, USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Group Exercise Instructor, exercise and endurance enthusiast.  He competes yearly in numerous running races, marathons, ultra-marathons, triathlons and other endurance events.  He is a member of the 2015 QT2 Systems Advanced Team.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Protein Power

You completed a hard workout with great intensity and duration and your body is tired and fatigued. You smile as you love the feeling of being tired and worn out that comes with a sense of accomplishment for crushing your workout!
You eat, rehydrate and enter the recovery phase so you can experience equally great workouts the rest of the week.  As the week goes on, you find your workouts being harder and harder to complete. Your body is tired; you aren’t sleeping well and what you were able to do on Monday with energy and enthusiasm takes a monumental effort to complete the same activity on Friday.
If you have ever experienced this feeling of soreness, fatigue and dead legs or arms? You are not alone. When preforming strenuous workouts several days a week, you should not feel like giving up and going back to bed. Some fatigue is good, but being on “empty” is something to be avoided.
As my Ironman training is ramping up in duration and intensity, I recently found myself having trouble “recovering” for future workouts.  My sleep patterns and duration were fine, my carbohydrate intake was correct and my fluid intake was more than enough to support my activity.  I was frustrated. I had performed this same series of workouts late last year without the same symptoms of fatigue and dead legs.
So what changed? First, I realized that I am much stronger now than I was in the fall and it is taking more effort to get my heart rate and power output up than it did in the fall. This is a good thing. Unfortunately, if you do not pay detailed attention to your sleep, nutrition and hydration, fatigue will creep in and make your life miserable.
The second conclusion I came to was the amount of protein I was ingesting to help with recovery and muscle growth. While my power out has nearly doubled on the bike and my run times are 30 seconds per mile faster as a results of increased strength and fitness, I had actually gone backwards regarding my protein intake. 
This was a huge mistake. I was not giving my body the proper balance of nutrition to provide a full recovery. While I was doing well with carbohydrate replacement, I was only refilling half the tank so to speak. With less than optimal protein intake, I was not able to get the full benefit from each workout.
Once I added back more protein, my workouts were more impactful as my body and mood responded accordingly.
Research has shown that eating more protein can support muscle growth, improved athletic performance and weight loss and can prevent weight gain by boosting metabolism, increasing feelings of fullness and helping the body retain muscle while losing fat.
Unfortunately, many Americans are not consuming enough protein in a balanced way to achieve these effects. Next week we will take a deeper dive into the importance protein plays in your diet and how it can aid the various aspects of your health you are trying to accomplish.

HERE’S TO BEING FIT FOR LIFE! Chris is a Certified Personal Trainer, USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Group Exercise Instructor, exercise and endurance enthusiast.  He competes yearly in numerous running races, marathons, ultra marathons, triathlons and other endurance events.  He is a member of the 2015 QT2 Systems Advanced Team.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Walt Disney Wold Marathon Weekend and IRONMAN Florida 70.3 - 2015

We were blessed to have an awesome time in Florida this year with PR's for all three of us in the Marathon, Half Marathon, Kids Race and IRONMAN 70.3!
We hope you enjoy our memories!
Chris and May

Friday, May 1, 2015

Heart Part Four - Staying Healthy

Silent inflammation is a major cause and concern for heart disease and other diseases such as diabetes, obesity, stroke, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, cancer and numerous others.  Silent inflammation is caused in part by a poor diet which drives an imbalance between bad or pro-inflammatory hormones and good hormones that fight inflammation.
Many research studies are consistently pointing to diet as key factor in inflammation and associated illness.  While a poor diet will ignite and accelerate the many health issues discussed in this series, the correct diet can be a healing and preventative agent for the body as well.
Dr. Kota Reddy, a noted Cardiologist in Houston states that his base plan for treating heart disease (among others) is though diet.  His philosophy is to eliminate or severely reduce your intake of bad fat (saturated animal fat and Omega 6 fats found in vegetable oils), sugars, starch, salt and caffeine.
Dr. Barry Sears has a similar strategy for fighting disease through diet. Dr. Sears’s strategy is to keep the body inflammation free or at minimal levels through a combination of a “balance diet” using good fats (Omega 3 fats, extra virgin Olive and Canola oils), lean proteins and complex carbs mainly from plan sources.  Dr. Sears also recommends a minimum of four grams of high grade fish oil (Nordic Naturals, Zone OmegaRx or prescription) daily.
One of the things I like best about Dr. Sears anti-inflammation approach through diet is that no foods are off limits. While arguably some foods are far better than others, he uses a “block” system for carbs, fats and proteins that allows you to build a balanced meal that will fight or keep inflammation at bay.  You can learn more about Dr. Sears’s research on inflammation at drsears.com.
While diet is important, here are some other strategies to remain heart healthy.
·         Visit your doctor and get a complete physical and blood work up.  This will serve as your base against which you can measure your progress. Follow your doctor’s instructions and stay on your medications.
·         Eat a healthy diet that is low in salt; low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol; and rich in fresh fruits and vegetables.  One of the best things you can do is reduce refined sugars, grains and starches. These drive insulin surges and turn sugar to fat.  Be wary of protein powders, bars and other foods such as Carnation Instant Breakfast that are labeled “healthy” as many of these are loaded with simple sugars and will spike your blood sugar that results in increased fat storage.
·         Take a brisk 10-minute walk, 3 times a day, 5 days a week.  Keep expanding your duration and number of exercise sessions as you get in better shape.
·         Exercise and diet will lower your blood pressure and cholesterol and will reduce your risk of dying of heart disease
·         Don’t smoke. If you smoke, quit as soon as possible. Visit www.cdc.gov/tobacco and www.smokefree.gov for tips on quitting.


HERE’S TO BEING FIT FOR LIFE! Chris is a Certified Personal Trainer, USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Group Exercise Instructor, exercise and endurance enthusiast.  He competes yearly in numerous running races, marathons, ultra marathons, triathlons and other endurance events.  He is a member of the 2015 QT2 Systems Advanced Team.