Peak Performance Fitness

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physiologists

The Risk of Fad Diets

As Exercise Physiologists, we are often asked, “What is the best way to lose weight?” But the answer does not always match up to the answer the client is looking for.  Everyone seems to be looking for the fastest ways to lose a lot of weight; which is why diets are so widely marketed.  The fact of the matter is, losing 9 pounds and 5 inches in 2 weeks under the guidance of a fad diet are unsafe, counterproductive and often unsustainable. This type of weight should often be under the supervision of a medical professional.  It is near impossible to lose 9 pounds in two weeks while also giving the body all the macronutrients it needs to perform at optimal levels.  Being in a medically supervised zone can make simple tasks difficult to focus on, increase catabolic reactions which can result in muscle breakdown and strains on different organs and the systems they are responsible for.  Unfortunately, the risk of losing muscle and possible organ failure is greater when following a “fad diet.”  If gaining muscle, increasing focus and drive all while losing weight are your goals, then you may want to consider meeting with an Exercise Physiologist to discuss simple calories in and calories out.

Each individual is unique in their own way.  Yes, you are unique not only by what people see on the outside but what’s happening inside your body, as well.  Each individual is equipped with their very own metabolic rate.  Your metabolic rate controls the temperature of your body; it controls the success and proficiency of your organs that aid in digestion, absorption, muscle building, muscle breakdown, cell growth, cell death etc.  This takes a great deal of energy to control, in fact your metabolic rate accounts for 60-75% of your daily caloric expenditure.  With a percentage like that and the responsibilities that your metabolism bears, it is of the utmost importance that you know how many calories specifically you need to feed the machine that is your metabolism.  You can easily calculate your metabolism through scientific equations available online, or perform the test if your gym or doctor’s office is equipped to perform an RMR test.  Once you feed the “machine” that is your metabolism, everything else is just extra calories that can be manipulated in order to achieve weight loss.

Your metabolism is extremely important as it is responsible for almost every major function in the human body.  If you under eat below your metabolism through certain fad diets, it can come back to harm you in the end (i.e. having a detrimental effect on many systems that the metabolism controls).  In the end, fad diets may even slow down your metabolism further making it harder to lose weight.  Eating just enough to feed your metabolism will keep you from gaining weight; then as you add in exercise and increase your physical activity, you will then see changes in your body weight and composition.

 

 

By Brandon Ayala, CSCS

Improving Game Speed & Performance

When working with athletes, speed and agility are training essentials, along with strength. However, it is common to mistake the difference between speed, agility and acceleration. The National Academy of Sport Medicine (NASM) refers to speed as the ability to move one’s body in one direction as fast as possible and acceleration is how quickly an individual can reach their top speed from a non-moving position. Agility is the ability to accelerate, decelerate, and quickly change directions while maintaining proper posture. It is incredibly important, when training athletes, to consider what planes of movement they will be using during the course of a game, tournament or outing. Increasing speed, agility and acceleration can be a daunting task for trainers, but understanding the difference between the 3 and knowing drills to supplement each aspect will allow athletes to reach new heights.

Speed is a quality, essential to most sports. Some sports are more reliant on it than others and sometimes, it can even determine the success of one athlete over another. But, how exactly do we train for speed?

Increasing speed initially revolves around the idea of “perfecting” running technique. Arm action drills can increase coordination between our upper and lower halves, while wall-drills teach the athlete to achieve triple extension. In tandem, these rudiments provide the base for producing the most power per step and ability to cycle when at top speed. Squats, heavy sled drags, and isometric/eccentric hamstring exercises, etc. attribute to muscular development in the groups essential to speed development. Increasing muscular development and being able to “shut-off” the muscles that are antagonistic when sprinting will result in a faster athlete. Lastly, it is necessary to get out and sprint, using proper technique. Filming or using apps like Hudl are great ways to critique and help identify breaks in form.

While speed sometimes steals the spotlight, agility can turn the tides for an athlete in most sports. Athletes are required to move laterally (side-to-side) in order to defend, make quick cuts to evade defenders, or sometimes full turn into a sprint to track down a ball. Whatever situation an athlete finds themselves in, being able to quickly perform any movement at any time will give them a competitive advantage. Training to improve agility has a similar pattern to training for speed. Agility is based around motor control and proper positioning of the body. Agility also heavily features deceleration, so being able to reposition the feet to create better angles for absorbing and then producing force will make a significant difference. The main strength component for agility is a strong core. Most movements will require the upper and lower halves of the body coordinating movements. Thus a strong core will allow for the ability to dynamically stabilize and distribute force within the body more effectively.

Athletes can have natural speed and strength, but even the fastest and strongest need to be able to control their movements as scenarios change game-to-game, play-to-play. Training should emphasize developing technique, gaining overall strength and putting practice into real scenarios. After all, as Mike Robertson says, “games are won in tight spaces.”

 

By Julian C. Lee

Be Efficient: Producing Power Inside and Outside of the Gym

In order to better understand what the word “power” describes in a sports or life setting, let’s take it back to high school physics.

Power = Work/Time OR (Force*Displacement)/Time OR = Force * Velocity

Power; typically measured in watts, quantifies how much force you apply over a distance, in an amount of time. Think of power as the rate at which you execute strength, or how hard/fast can you execute a movement. Walking Uphill= Less power than Running up the same hill. Easy Enough, Right?

“Whats the deal Matt, Why is this important? I came here to learn about getting fit, not to get a lesson in physics from a meathead with a nice haircut”

Well, the reason we get anywhere is because of power. Power is the ability to take our strength (force) and apply it to Movement at a rate of speed (See Equation).  Think walking down the stairs to catch the bus, throwing your coffee in the air when the neighbor’s cat scares you, chasing after the bus when you miss it because you spilled your coffee (but enough about my day, I digress). All of these actions are different measurements of power.

“Ah, I see where power fits into our lives, but I don’t play sports, how is power important to me?”

Not entirely! Yes, a softball player should be able to swing her bat hard, and a swimmer should be able to move quickly through the water, but all of these sports contain skills that we use in day to day life. Think throwing, jumping, running, twisting, changing direction, etc. Additional benefit to training power would be more applicable strength, improved athletic performance, joint resiliency, decreased fall risk, and improved cardiovascular health …(Don’t believe me? Try doing box jumps for 30 seconds, total soul crusher.)

“Onto the nitty gritty; how do I get better at this power thing?”

Reader, you’re in luck. Specificity states that in order to get better at something, we need to practice that thing. To become a more powerful everyday athlete, work in a power day or a few power focused moves into your current routines. Take a look back at our definition of power and we can see that it involves applying force quickly. Think jumps, tosses, slams, etc. A shoulder press translates to a med ball overhead toss, a box squat to a box jump, planking to heavy carries, and the list goes on. Talk with your exercise physiologist about incorporating power training specific to your goals and abilities!

 

-Matt Rhodes, M.S., EP-C

 

Tapering for Optimal Performance

After periods of intense training, the best performances in strength or endurance sports usually occur following an appropriate taper phase.  A taper is a progressive and non-linear reduction of a workload during training for a period of time prior to competition.  In other words, after weeks of routine training workouts, where the intensity or volume is strategically increased for a period of time, there is a large reduction in the training load in the week or two before a competition or event.  This tapering technique is designed to avoid injury, overtraining, psychological stressors and/or extreme fatigue prior to the event in order to achieve maximal performance.

There are multiple facets as to why a pre-event taper is vital to achieving the best performance possible.  Changes in the cardiovascular system include an increase in maximal oxygen uptake (measurement of endurance), and possible hematological changes including increased blood volume, hemoglobin (oxygen carrier within the blood), hematocrit (volume of red blood cells within the blood), reticulocytes (indicator of bone marrow activity), as well as, a reduced red cell distribution width.

Tapering also causes positive metabolic changes as well.  These changes include a reduced daily energy expenditure, reduced respiratory exchange ratio (recruiting fat more efficiently for fuel) and an increased peak blood lactate concentration (greater exertion and higher threshold for work performance).  Lastly, muscle glycogen concentrations increase and calcium retention mechanisms are triggered during a taper, allowing for optimal muscle contractions and a greater stored energy within the muscles (2).

According to a research study completed in 2014 at the Laboratory of Sport, Expertise and Performance, the most efficient taper strategy for maximizing performance gains was to perform a 2-week taper with an exponential reduction in training volume by 41%-60% without any modification of either training intensity or frequency (1).  In other words, reducing load or speed and reducing the amount of exercise sessions per week were found less effective than reducing the volume of each workout.  For example, a reduction in volume could be performing 1 set of an exercise when you normally do 2 or 3 sets.  Another important finding of this study is that a period of overtraining prior to initiating a taper has been found to be even more effective than just a tapering phase itself.  However, the degree of overtraining prior to the taper is crucial because too much performance supercompensation can lead to worsening performance.

When working with a coach, whether it is for running, strength training, or general sports conditioning, be sure to discuss the appropriate taper period for you. Programming a reduction in the volume of exercise may be beneficial to your performance in your race, game, or competition.

 

 

By Anthony Locast

 

  1. Aubry, Anaël, et al. “Functional overreaching: the key to peak performance during the taper.” Med Sci Sports Exerc46.9 (2014): 1769-1777.
  2. Mujika, Inigo, et al. “Physiological changes associated with the pre-event taper in athletes.” Sports Medicine34.13 (2004): 891-927.

 

 

 

How Much Exercise is Too Much? Avoiding Over Training

For many, exercise is a way of life.  A great exercise program can increase fat free mass, lower blood pressure, and stimulate cognitive function.  On the other hand, poor exercise selection can result in injury, over reaching and over training. Let’s start by defining over training (OT) and how you can select the right program to avoid OT.

OT is defined as excessive frequency, volume or intensity which can result in extreme fatigue, illness or injury (which is often due to lack of sufficient rest, recovery, and perhaps nutrient intake).  There are two types of OT: aerobic endurance and resistance training. The first type, aerobic endurance OT, results predominantly from an excessive volume overload related to cardiorespiratory exercises.  Such exercises may include running, walking, or cycling. Training within the appropriate heart rate zone is necessary to avoid OT and equipment like a heart rate monitor works great for those high intensity settings to avoid over training syndrome (OTS). For prevention of overtraining, an important component would be a properly planned periodization program. A periodization training model will strategically vary the specificity, intensity, and volume of prescribed exercises. The goal of this time of program is to maximize aerobic and strength gains while reducing the risk for injury and over training.

The second type of OT is resistance OT.  Resistance OT primarily results from excessive high-intensity overload or too many repetitions using heavy weights or too rapid a rate of progression. For prevention of OT, an important component would also be a properly planned periodization program. Working with an Exercise Physiologist is critical to help develop and progress said program appropriately. Different types of OT (aerobic, resistance) have been reported to have different signs and symptoms, although performance decrements are a key common aspect of both.

There is a high degree of variability between individuals with regard to developing OT. Training practices that cause some individuals to thrive may lead to over training in others.  It is critical to have sufficient rest between training days to facilitate the recovery process. The amount of rest, however, depends on the duration and intensity of the training program and should be individualized for each person.  Periods of high-volume or high-intensity training especially require sufficient recovery.

Brandon Ayala, CSCS

 

Source: www.nsca.com