Tips for Getting Lean: Part 2

If you missed the first 21 Tips check out the May archives on the right.


22. "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." I have no idea who first said that but it's very true in the health and fitness industry. This applies to both nutrition and training. If you've been eating the same things and not getting leaner it should give you a pretty good indication you need to do something different.
23. Carb cycling works really well for fat loss. I'll go into this more in the future but carb cycling is very well researched via studies and real world practice. At a basic level you take in different amounts of carbs everyday dependent on your training volume/intensity/rest days etc.
24. The food pyramid sucks. It's really good at making people fatter.
25. Don't sit when you go to the gym. Seriously most of you sit all day, then go into the gym and do seated shoulder presses. seated bicep curls and seated lat pulldowns. Not saying there isn't a place for these movements but you need to move more.
26. Speaking of sitting all day, its terrible for your posture and structural balance. As a trainer I see tons of rounded shoulders, tight hips, lack of mobility in the thoracic spine etc. Fixing posture and muscle imbalance helps everything.
27. Pull more than you push. Everyone loves working the "mirror muscles". Why is Monday national bench press and bicep curl day at every gym in America? Strengthening your back and hamstrings/glutes and the rest of the posterior chain is more important. They are bigger muscles, ie. more calorie expenditure, better posture, increased metabolism etc.
28. All about EPOC. EPOC is Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption. Aka how elevated your metabolism is following a workout. Steady state cardio does not raise EPOC very much, resistance training done properly raises EPOC a lot. Sometimes up to 48+ hours after a workout.
29. Avoid trans fatty acids like the plague.
30. The commercials are lying to you, high fructose corn syrup is complete garbage.
31. Crunches are a waste of your time and potentially dangerous for your lumbar spine. Ab exercises that aren't a waste of time = squats, deadlifts, chinups, any overhead press, plank variations, turkish get ups, medicine ball throws, ab rollouts. Crunches will not spot reduce the fat covering your 6 pack, the only scientifically proven way to spot reduce is through nutrition and manipulation of hormones.
32. Eat more smaller meals(4-8 depending on size) rather than 2-3 bigger meals. This is well researched and it works.
33. Get off the treadmills, ellipticals etc and sprint outside if you have the option. Hill sprints are one of the best fat loss workouts you can do. Not to mention a treadmill essentially "turns off" your hamstrings and glutes because the belt pulls you through. This sets you up for a repetitive quad dominant exercise and a future visit to the knee Dr.
34. Work really hard until it's time to not work hard. This is true for strength athletes, weightlifters, distance athletes etc. You should be working really hard with whatever you do until its time to step back and allow your body some rest. I personally work hard for 3 weeks and then take a week to "deload" or cut back on my training volume or intensity. You can not go balls to the wall all the time without it negatively impacting performance and results. If you workout twice a week it's not a big deal, but if you train 4-5 times a week it's a big deal.
35. Eat breakfast. If you aren't doing this ignore everything else I wrote and start here.
36. Add a tip daily or weekly into your routine, don't overwhelm yourself at the start.

Fix your Gut!

In my last post "Tips for Getting Lean" I mentioned gut health being a major player in getting leaner. I'm gonna dive into that a bit more and talk about a test for your HCL(stomach acid) levels that I think everyone can benefit from. First and foremost it may seem like common sense but if you can't properly digest all your food and proteins it can have a negative impact on your health and body composition. I put this number one ahead of taking multi-vitamins, fish oils, vitamin D's and other things I suggest to pretty much everyone. If you don't have the proper stomach acid levels, analyzing macro nutrient percentages and what to eat and when becomes obsolete. A few of the PhD's I saw present mentioned this being one of the major under diagnosed problems in America.
What causes declines in HCL levels?
1. Age, 90% of people over 40 are thought to suffer from hypochlorhydria(low levels of acid)
2. Stress
3. Alcohol
4. Processed foods

Taking digestive enzymes with solid meals will also eliminate gas, belching, bloating, indigestion etc. So if you know anyone that suffers from these having them take the HCL test would be very helpful.

Another reason to keep your gut healthy is the fact that 90% of our serotonin is produced there. Serotonin is a brain neurotransmitter or "happy hormone" that antidepressant meds like Prozac work on. But since almost all of serotonin is produced in the gut and not the brain it makes sense that the healthier the gut the happier you will be. If you suffer from even a small bit of depression getting your gut healthier is the number one priority. You will never get better without it.

How to perform a HCL test.
http://us.cpoliquin.com/?Click=2682

If you follow that link and search for "Digest Force". Get the 90 capsule bottle, you'll need 28 for the test. The rest you would use after you determine your HCL levels. It's cheap, 24 bucks.
1. Take 1 capsule midway through a solid meal. Wait 10 minutes, if you feel a warm sensation(similar to a hot cup of tea in your stomach) you can stop the test. If not, take 2 in the middle of the following meal, same thing. If you feel nothing, take 3 the following meal, Do this until you reach 7 capsules(Do not exceed 7 capsules).
2. If for example you feel a warm sensation after 4 capsules, go back to 3 and continue with that until you feel the warmth and then drop to two etc. This will help to restore your natural HCL levels.
3. DO NOT DO THIS TEST IF YOU HAVE ULCERS, also only take the digestive help with solid meals. If you have a shake for breakfast do not take the digest force.
4. If you fail at 7 capsules you are hypochloridic. For the sake of keeping this post short, if this happens contact me directly. From my experience with people taking the test, a lot of people who didn't think they would have issues have benefited from digestive help.
5. As always if you are a skeptical or want to learn more, I suggest doing google searches. I want people to be educated on the benefits of digestive help or the potential harm of low HCL levels.
6. For clients I haven't given the test yet, I'm going to provide you with the digest force capsules so don't purchase it.
Gut health is top priority!