Threw together some forum posts/replies to intermittent fasting related questions made in recent weeks, just to let you know that I'm still alive.

Had two clients competing this weekend, and they both placed very well, so keep your eyes peeled for the client update I'm going to put up later this week or next.


Questions & Answers

Breakfast

Question: "Do you think it is possible that breakfast is actually unhealthy for humans and we're not wired for it?

When I was in elementary and middle school I never had breakfast, I didn't have any instinct to eat at waking time. My siblings and parents ate their breakfast looking like zombies and after their breakfast they were even more lightheaded.

On the way to school I actually would begin to feel extremely good and concentrated. At school I never had problems following the lessons, taking notes, memorizing. I would skip recession eating as well. I have always noticed my classmates being less productive and more confused after their recession. I had high grades and school was easy for me.

Beginning high school I was pressured into having breakfast and eating something at recession. As I introduced breakfast in my nutrition I started to lose concentration in classroom, I was ravenously hungry at recession and my grades started to suffer. I was lightheaded the whole morning and couldn't memorize things well.

After almost one year I was feeling worse the whole day (failing to make a connection with the addition of breakfast) I was so sick at the idea of eating one day that I skipped breakfast, and that morning I felt again good and concentrated in classroom. I finally decided to remove breakfast realizing that my instinct knew better than my doctor. I found out a lot of students who skip breakfast (consciously) feel a lot better and are a lot more productive and concentrated.

I have talked with people who keep telling me that if they have breakfast, a ravenous hunger is triggered the whole day and they would never stop eating. Yet if they follow their body lack of hunger in the morning, they never develop that hunger. Except for people who adapted by making an habit out of it, I don't know anyone who naturally feel the need to eat at waking time. Most people, expecially middle school students, I talk to gets sick at the idea of eating in the morning."

...I have always been told that at waking time our blood sugar are low and we need to eat. " (original post shortened)

Answer: While I don't necessarily think eating breakfast is 'unhealthy', it is certainly not a meal pattern we would be wired for from an evolutionary perspective. But then again, humans are highly adaptable and I'm not arguing that we should be clinging to what our ancestors did.

I can relate to some of the other things you've written, namely less alertness from consuming breakfast (and getting hungrier during classes). Some of my clients report better grades and motivation upon omitting breakfast as well.

Blood sugar is maintained within a very narrow range even during fasting. It never falls low enough to cause problems with attributes related to mental alertness unless you have a metabolic disorder (i.e diabetes) or raise insulin through exogenous means.

This was recently demonstrated in a study* using a wide variety of tests during a 48 hr time period, showing no detrimental effect of fasting (vs maintenance level calorie intake).

The authors of that study closes with the following

"It should be noted that preservation of cognitive function during
periods of restricted availability of food is a highly adaptive
mechanism. If adult human brain function rapidly deteriorated as
a consequence of underfeeding, the ability to obtain food would
be significantly degraded, which from a survival or evolutionary
perspective would not be desirable."

So, there is certainly no need to consume food upon waking in order to function properly from a cognitive perspective. And for some, like me, breakfast consumption may even impair concentration and focus for the remainder of the day.

*Lieberman et al. A double-blind, placebo-controlled test of 2 d of calorie deprivation: effects on cognition, activity, sleep, and interstitial glucose concentrations. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Sep;88(3):667-76

*More on this at the end of this post*

Feeding window

Question: "What are your thoughts about changing your window daily or weekly depending, Martin?

For example. I had my eating window from 13 to 22 yesterday, so I started my new window at 14 today. Now I'm thinking to eat my cals to 18:00 and then eat tomorrow @ 10:00 again. Seems logical?"

Answer: I would not recommend switching it up just for the sake of randomness. There are benefits in keeping the feeding window fairly constant, such as adaptations concerning the hunger hormone ghrelin (which tend to rise at times you're normally accustomed to eating). Vary it for practicality's sake, if anything.

Cortisol and fasting

Question: "Does fasting raise cortisol?"

Answer: No. Cortisol is regulated in a diurnal fashion and studies show that various meal frequencies and short term fasting has very little influence over it. Recent studies found no significant change in the rhythm of cortisol secretion, regardless of meal patterns, nor after 22 hrs of fasting.

Periods of environmental light are more important than meal times/frequency in regulating this hormone. Cortisol secretion is always highest in the early morning and lowest between 2000 and 2400 h.

Ramadan fasting alters diurnal rhytm, but leads to a decrease in mean cortisol.

Prolonged fasting and/or starvation is another deal.

Hunger and adaptation

Question: "13 hours in to my first day of IF and OMG I am hungry."

Answer: The hunger hormone ghrelin adapts to your habitual meal pattern, meaning you tend to get hungry on the times you normally eat.

A few days of adaptation may be required. And this varies between individuals, as some people find fasting easy from the get go, while others require a few days for the transition to the new meal pattern to be complete (meaning the fasting will become more or less effortless).

Fasted workouts

Question:"I have done workouts on an empty stomach for over a half a year now and I think it's better on empty than eating a regular meal a few hours before it. Biologically we humans are programmed very well to train this way."

Answer: Yes, training on an empty stomach is not a big deal, had some fantastic fasted workouts myself, but like I've said countless times before pre-workout nutrition is almost as important as post-workout nutrition. This is verified by research.

Now, pre-workout nutrition doesn't necessarily mean a full meal, but based on everything we know having some whey or BCAA shortly prior to, or during, the workout would be a much wiser choice than going through it completely fasted.

"Clean" eating

Question: "Ive been reading through the forums. I thought you have to get the clean foods like egg whites,chicken, fish, vegtables oats, sweet potatoe in order to get to 6 or 7% body fat. Some you you say you eat mcdonalds and cookies and still get the leanest you ever got. How is this possible when you see bodybuilders and most nutritionist on the websites saying you have to eat clean for you to get results? "

Answer: I've gotten ripped eating ice cream and cereal 3x/week. Clean foods are beneficial in terms of providing satiety and not providing as much temptation as 'unclean' foods or whatever you wanna call them.

I do agree that the majority of foods eaten on a diet should be clean*, but it's not an all-or-nothing deal (even though a lot of bodybuilders make it out to be). Regularily including some unclean stuff, may help with diet adherance and protect against unplanned binges - and may ultimately help with diet maintenance in the long term.

* not interested in semantic analysis, everyone knows what I mean.

Breakfast again

(in reply to another question pertaining to the need of eating breakfast and studies on the topic)

There's been heaps of studies "showing" that breakfast is good and healthy. How? Well, they're correlational.

Example

Breakfast eaters weigh less, as seen in a studiy looking at the eating habits and BMI of 10k+ US adults*

Conclusion

Breakfast must be good for you

* = eating breakfast implies fairly regulated eating habits.

That is, people who don't eat breakfast are more likely to show dysregulated eating patters; average joe skipping breakfast sure as shit isn't thinking "I'm doing IF now". He's the type to grab a donut on the way to work, eat junk food for lunch and finish the day off with a big dinner and snack in front of the TV.

Now, I'm not against children and teens eating breakfast, or anyone else for that matter, but given what I just demonstrated above, it might give you a hint on what the claim that breakfast = good for studying/tests is based on.

For example, breakfast skipping children probably usually come from different socioeconomic backgrounds/households vs breakfast eating children.

It may very well be that breakfast eaters ---> perform better than breakfast skippers ---> because they come from a familiy where breakfast eating is enforced ---> this implies a supportive or "stable" family---> children from supportive/stable families perform better on school tests etc.

Just an example. I'm not familiar with the particular study your teacher refers to.

In adults however, it has been demonstrated that fasting does not impact negatively on various cognitive tests (as recently evidenced by a study that had participants fasting for 48 hrs).

Given that my post Low Carb Talibans caused such a stir, I thought it would be appropriate to link Lyle's latest article about low carb diets and the "metabolic advantage" Enjoy, folks.

If you consider buying any of Lyle's books, which you should, make sure you read my reviews.

Here's an interview I did with Adam Steer from Better is Better. Includes a book excerpt.

Other interviews, discussions and articles:

Interviewed by Leigh Peele

Intermittent Fasting Roundtable

Sure-Fire Fat Loss

Excerpt from Knowledge and Nonsense

---

There are only a handful of big names in the Intermittent Fasting game. As many of you will know, I'm a big fan of Brad Pilon and his Eat Stop Eat approach. But another name that continues to attract my attention is Martin Berkhan of Leangains. His approach is quite different to that of Brad, so I contacted him to see about getting an interview with him. To my great pleasure he agreed.

As you'll see, Martin's focus, like Brad's, is mainly on physique. However, the evidence supporting the health benefits of Intermittent Fasting just keeps piling up and I think that no matter what approach you take you'll reap the rewards of vitality and wellness.

Enjoy!


Adam: When asked to tell us a bit about his background and how he became interested in Intermittent Fasting, Martin was gracious enough to offer this excerpt from his upcoming book.

Martin:

"When I got into weight training and healthy eating, my goals were no different than most people’s; I wanted to get stronger and look better. I started out overweight and quite out of shape, the consequences of years of bad eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. Because I put in work at the gym and eagerly learned everything there was to know about nutrition (or so I believed at the time), I made decent improvements over the years to come. Most noticeably, I lost a lot of weight.

I did it all according to the rules of the game, or at least how I had read and been told I should be doing it. And I was a slave to many rules. These rules dictated that I had to eat small meals throughout the day, that I needed “fast” carbs and whey protein after workouts, and that I should cut out carbs in the evening. Everyone that has spent some time reading fitness magazines, or browsed around on some of the countless fitness/bodybuilding forums on the net, should know what I’m talking about. There are many rules to follow if you want to optimize your results. Or so we are told.

This escalated to a point where I would get obsessed with my diet and everything pertaining to it; when to eat, meeting the right amount of protein and carbs in my meal plan, and so on. Whenever something happened that would interfere with my meal plan, I would get anxious and my mood would take a turn for the worse. Social interactions became crippled and my diet would basically dictate my daily routine. Simply put, I was obsessed with food and meal timing.

It was draining on me, mentally and socially, but I persisted because I feared breaking the rules in any way would have detrimental effects; muscle loss, a slowed down metabolism, or something else born out of irrational thinking.

I dabbled in many different approaches; low fat, low carb, cyclical ketogenic diets, the Paleolithic diet and others, always looking for that magic diet that would be easy to integrate into my lifestyle and one that wouldn’t feel like a neverending diet. I was always envious of guys that managed to look muscular and ripped without much effort.

At one point, I reached a point of diminishing returns. I didn’t think the amount of effort I put in was remotely proportional to the results I got. I had basically been spinning my wheels for years. I didn’t like how my life had become so centered around my diet, and I was starting to get fed up with my own behavior. I couldn’t justify it any longer.

Enter intermittent fasting

The high meal frequency diet I followed for years, called for eating around the clock. I always got too fat, too fast, when trying to gain muscle. The frequent eating also made cutting a chore and very challenging; contrary to popular belief, frequent feedings seemed to trigger my appetite, rather than keeping it at bay. Yet I never questioned the method - I questioned my discipline for my poor results.

It wasn’t until after some experiments with a lower meal frequency that I began to question the methods I had used in the past. This lead me to explore the research surrounding the topic of meal frequency - reading the studies myself and not letting so-called gurus, magazine and supplement companies give me their skewed and biased interpretation. My findings will soon be presented, but suffice to say, I discovered that the diet I had been following for so many years was based on one big hoax, with no scientific foundation.

Gradually, I started to lean into a more relaxed approach, which also felt more natural to me; fasting throughout the morning and not eating my first meal until 1-2 pm. I would eat more later in the day, often enjoying my largest meal around 9-10 pm in the evenings after workouts. I was never fond of breakfast, but always hungry in the evening, so this approach fit me perfectly. At a later point, I would move the first meal to 4 pm and then feed until midnight.

Suddenly, everything started to come easier for me. I got into great shape (177 lbs at 6% body fat), with relative ease. I played around with the approach some more, and gained a good amount of muscle mass with little fat gain (202 lbs at 9% body fat). And finally, I achieved my peak condition (195 lbs at 6% body fat) by combining periods of fat loss with periods of muscle gain; what some people would refer to as body recomposition. I revamped my body completely in 18 months.

After embarking on the intermittent fasting regimen, I also became more productive, focused and had lots of energy during the day. Contrary to my initial concerns, hunger was almost never an issue during the fast. I felt great. My head was clear and I didn’t spend much time thinking, or obsessing, about when, or in what form, my next meal was going to arrive. Worrying about such things had been my default behavior for a good amount of time and it was a relief not having to spend any more mental energy on it.

I wanted to look better and get stronger, and do it in a manner that appealed to me. Intermittent fasting turned out to be the approach I had been looking for all these years."

So, now you know how it all started. As for my education, I have a bachelor’s degree in Medical Sciences and Education and my major is in Public Health Sciences. But most of the things I've learned about nutrition and weight training is purely self-taught.


Adam: You've developed your own unique approach to fasting. Can you tell us about the guidelines of your methods?

Martin: 8 hrs feeding, 16 hrs fasting. Fasting means abstaining from food, not from fluids. You may drink coffee, tea, diet coke, whatever you like, as long as no calories are ingested. Trace amounts are acceptable - such as a tiny splash of milk in your coffe or the 1-2 calories found in a diet coke.

So, you might be eating between 1-9 pm, for example. On workout days, you train in between those hours and eat the absolute majority of your daily calorie intake post-workout. I usually set it up with three meals, as that is what I have found most practical. Some of my clients prefer two or four meals, but most do three meals.

Calories and macronutrient intake is always cycled, being higher on training days and lower on rest days.

That's the gist of it.


Adam: From what I understand, you have a very unique and effective approach to nutrition timing around workouts. Can you share with us how you approach workout nutrition (pre / peri / post) and what principles lead you to your approach?

Martin: I like to keep pre-workout nutrition to a bare minimum. Enough to satisfy a psychological need, enough to support and enhance the training session. No more. The greatest amount of calories should be ingested post-workout. By providing calories when they are needed the most, and are more likely to be used for muscle anabolism and recovery, you will get an edge. The insulin sensitizing effects of intermittent fasting on muscle cells further enhances the effect. There's more to it, but I'll save that for now.

That's the kind of theory and thinking that I'm basing my method on. I should note that there isn't a lot of research that can be applied in this context. So, unlike gurus that claim to have found The Truth or a magic pill, I'll put in a disclaimer saying that I might be crazy.

For me, writing the book has been about finding theoretical/scientific support for a practical approach that has turned out to work very well and not the other way around. For me, my clients and for many others that tried it.


Adam: There has been great anticipation for your book and I'm very much looking forward to reading it. Can you tell us a little bit about it? Do you have a release date?

Martin: No, and I need to keep my mouth shut, because I keep failing the deadlines I set up for myself. When I said I was going to have it out during the first quarter of 09, I was really in the flow of things and it seemed realistic at the time being. Then I got distracted. Work kept piling up. Moved to another city. Etc. Anyway, it's done when it's done.


Adam: Is there anything else you would like readers to know?

Martin: Be careful who you listen to. There's a lot of clowns and conmen in this industry. Also, egg whites and peanut butter. Don't frown until you try it.


Adam: Where can people go to find out more about you and your methods?

Martin: My site www.leangains.com. Yes, I'm lousy at updating. I'll get better when the book release draws closer. Right now I'm just busy as all hell.

Haven't done client updates in a while, so here goes. See all client updates and testimonials on this site by clicking here and here.

John

John lost significant amounts of body fat and gained strength in 12 weeks.

John, before at 202 lbs

John, after 12 weeks at 184 lbs



"Its wierd, it almost looks like I have gotten bigger since doing this diet with you. Also, in the last few weeks, my arms and shoulders are veinier. I started the diet at 202 and I was benching 225 for sets of 6. At 182, I am doing 245 for sets of 5."

- John

Mary

Mary is a work in progress, as I'm prepping her for a competition in April. Here's a few teaser pics.

Mary before, at 149 lbs

Mary after three weeks, at 147 lbs



Mary after 4 weeks, at 146 lbs



Mary's doing a back specialization program, to better balance out her upper body with her lower body. She reports noticeable lat growth, which is awesome considering she's also lost fat.

Robert

Robert is another work in progress. So far, he's been doing great, showing rapid fat loss of 36 lbs in 10 week, while simultaneously gaining strength (no newbie gains).

Robert, before at 274 lbs

Robert, after 10 weeks at 238 lbs

Brad

56-year old Brad Reid, world record holder in the strict curl (242 lb class, 55-59) and the son of strongman legend Jack Reid, is a fan of Leangains and has been using my approach with great success. Brad is, without a doubt, my strongest client ever. He's currently training for a one arm chin.

Brad playing around with 225 lbs military presses.



On the one arm chin, I can't recall what I sent you but you may recall that my father, Jack Reid, was a cable pulling specialist and he held some records in one arm chinning. Robert L. Jones, in an article in 1939 Strength & Health, mentions him chinning with one arm while holding 50 lbs. in his non-chinning hand. He was about 190 to 200 lbs then at age 20.

- Brad, about his father.

I worked with Brad a while ago and recently touched base with him to hear how he's been doing since then.

"Well, I had become an avid reader of your blog and consulted with you for the "particulars" of a diet regimen to help me along. To me, this was money well-spent.

What I have found is that after coming a bit back off my low bodyweight mark and settling in at around mid 230s, that I was able to drop to 228 to 229 lbs. using the IF techniques you recommended over a matter of a few months. The secret for me to dieting is finding a routine where I eliminate the condition of getting "hungry" or famished between meals, and enter a sort of state of being where I just become "empty." Your IF regimen fits this criterion perfectly. Too, it meets the body's apparent requirement to go from states of being fully sated to slightly and temporarily deprived, but managing it in a manner where full satisfaction can be achieved in the eating window.

I enjoy your IF routine and more important, I can live with it permanently. Of what possible value can any strict diet discipline be to anyone if it can't be maintained, or if its side-effect is a feeling of starvation? These sorts of diets lead to failure and I don't want to waste my time on diet or training ideas I can't sustain."

- Brad

Heidi

Heidi made very good progress in just 4 weeks - check out the radical improvements in the lower back/glute area. Heidi also increased her strength slightly.

Heidi, back, before at 124 lbs

Heidi, back, after 4 weeks at 120 lbs




Heidi, side, before at 124 lbs



Heidi, side, after 4 weeks at 120 lbs




"I think the waist and backside is remarkable better. I like! I think the diet is great. I'm loosing fat almost without being any hungry, and I've got time to do other things then preparing five meals each day. In the beginning I thought it was a bit much food in each meal, but now it's fine! And I'm always looking forward to the dinner on training days. Mm, potatoes..... :) I have also learned to use vegetables as an own carb-source, according to pasta or rice that I always used before. This is something I will keep on doing, also when I'm done dieting. So that's a new and good experience for me! The training is also fine. I like that it's fairly quick training sessions, according to the West-side template I used before which took much more time. I think your services are good. You are giving good and quick feedbacks! :) "

- Heidi

Randy

50-year old Randy came to me with Chrons disease, which warranted a special diet setup with a minimum of starchy carb and a low carb intake in general. I put him on a high-fat diet, which turned out to work great, despite glycogen taxing Muay Thai sessions, and strength training on top of that. After 8 weeks with me, he was leaner, stronger and looked a helluva lot younger to boot.

Randy, before at 179 lbs

Randy, after 8 weeks at 167-169 lbs



I touched base with Randy to hear how he's been doing since (we worked together back in October-December).

"As far as diet, I am continuing the Leangains approach. This is actually very simple for me – I almost never have any cravings for food in the morning and I feel much better sleeping on an empty stomach than eating beforehand. I continue to work out hard with both strength training and muay thai and have lots of energy and feel strong."

- Randy

Chris

Got word from one of my old clients about his progress recently.



"The last pics I sent you were taken May 10th of last year. In those pics my waistline circumference measured 32 1/2"" (I think Chris was about 176-177 lbs in the above pic).

"In these new pics my waistline circumference is 32" even at a bodyweight of 178 lbs."



So he reduced his waist size while gaining weight, which indicates lean mass gains and fat loss. I was pleased to hear it. I should note Chris goals are more conditioning related, and not muscle gain per se.

"I began the IF "fat loss" protocol on January 1st, following a great deal of holiday gluttony... my waistline on the morning of that day was 33 1/4" (bodyweight 184 lbs). So I lost 6 pounds, an inch and 1/4 off my waistline in 30 days, and significant bodyfat in just 30 days. My LBM was monitored as per constant progression in my training (consistent strength gains in several lifts), training total body 3 days per week. Two of those sessions would be followed up with about 10 minutes of interval training (i.e., jump rope, sprints, etc.)

I'm very happy with the results. I'm taking a bit of a break from diet (as little as possible) since I will be traveling for a couple of days. But I plan to get back at it and continue another 4 week jaunt, hoping for another significant drop in bodyfat and increased conditioning before my 40th birthday hits this spring."

- Chris

Tom

While most people want to lose fat primarily, Tom came to me wanting to put on quality muscle, first and foremost. That turned out to be a great plan, and he actually lost body fat in the process.

While his body weight remained unchanged at 148 lbs, he made the following strength gains in only 4 weeks (no newbie gains).

Deadlift: 3 x 245 3 x 260
Incline Bench: 5 x 120 5 x 145
Chin-Ups: 12 x BW + 25 lbs. 8 x BW + 50 lbs.
Squats: 5 x 165 5 x 210
Dips: 12 x BW + 45 lbs. 10 x BW + 55 lbs.
Pendlay Row: 5 x 95 5 x 135
Incline Press: 5 x 80 5 x 105

Tom, before



Tom, after 4 weeks



"The first thing that I noticed about LeanGains was a dramatic increase in strength. I am not a huge guy and I am not necessarily really strong, but after starting the program, adding weight to the bar seemed a lot easier. My strength took off after about a week, and as long as I stayed on the program, I continued. For example, in 4 weeks, I doubled the weight that I was hanging around my waist for chin-ups and pull-ups, and my arms and lats started to grow as a result. I began to notice that my stamina improved, my muscles grew, and my body began leaning out very noticeably. I loved going from a 6 meal a day program to just 3 meals. I thought I would be starving because I ate 6 meals a day for years, but I felt satiated after meals. Meal preparation was simple and I actually enjoyed what I was eating, especially after workouts. During the fasting period, my mind was more focused and I couldn't wait to get into the gym, which kicked my motivation into overdrive. After just 4 weeks of LeanGains, I had someone comment on my physique and said I looked bigger and more ripped. I tried every program under the sun, and never heard that from anyone. I struggled in the gym for the past few years to get into shape and be healthy. After 4 weeks, Martin taught me more about how to feed my body and lift, than all the reading and researching I have done in the past few years. If you are hesitant to try using a nutritionist or another "bodybuilding program", I can assure you that LeanGains is anything but a risk or another "program". Martin has a wealth of knowledge and the program is tailored to each individual, unlike many other programs I tried. No matter what your goals are, LeanGains will get you there. I can not see ever using any other system again. I would recommend LeanGains to anyone who is ready to see results. After 4 weeks, I am sold for life. Thanks Martin!"

- Tom


(no pics available for the following)

Suleiman

"Hi Martin, I just wanted to give you an update, I am not one for poses but here are some raw numbers. Following your diet plan I was able to enter a competition at 166lb and deadlift 418 (2.5xbw). I have lifted more in the distant past but not at that weight.

I also came first equal in my category.

http://tacticalstrengthchallenge.com/results/20080913_International.html

scroll down to Men's Elite. I followed your diet to the letter but tweaked the training for the event.

Thanks again for your help."

- Suleiman

Jeff

"I've always been active and played a lot of sports, but family, work and a love for food caused me to gain 80 lbs over a four year time span. Been trying different diets throughout the years, but could never maintain them in the long run. With Martin's help I finally have some hope, having dropped 35 lbs in 8 weeks. I sleep better, look better, aint hungry and have plenty of energy. Just a better person overall, plain and simple"

- Jeff (285 to 250 lbs in 8 weeks)

Tanya

"Martin taught me that carbs aren't evil and that less sometimes can be more. I can feel my clothes getting looser and I'm improving my performance on the benchmark sessions - while training less than I ever recall doing! I love the Leangains diet, and I love not having to force myself to the gym five times a week anymore. Thanks for straightening me out, and showing me a sane way to train and eat, Martin"

- Tanya, devoted CrossFitter.

I subscribe to the idea, that the best diet is the one you can maintain in the long run.

For me personally, this entails intermittent fasting and a cyclic approach of higher/lower carbs, plenty of protein and low/moderate fat. My main focus lies on high quality foods, with nutritious and satiating properties, and not discrimination towards a particular macronutrient.

I don't believe there is any magic to be had when one is excluding fat or carbs from their diet. Both have their place. However, there are people that subscribe to a completely different set of opinions.

After watching the documentary Religulous
(melding of "religion" and "ridiculous) yesterday, it dawned upon me how much some religious fundamentalists have in common with certain nutritional fundamentalists. In recent years, I have seen the rise of one group in particular. I prefer to call them the low carb talibans.

When I am using the term 'fundamentalist' here, I am using it to characterize religious advocates that cling to a stubborn, entrenched position that defies reasoned argument or contradictory evidence - I am not talking about religious people in general, and I don't have anything against them.

1. Religious fundamentalists believe in supernatural beings. Low carb talibans believe you can get fat without a positive energy balance, if you eat carbs.

Similar to the anti-fat proponents 15-20 years ago, we now have one group of people blaming one particular macronutrient as the sole reason for why people are getting fatter.

2. Religious fundamentalists base their beliefs on faith, not empirical evidence. Low carb talibans believe that dietary fat is unimportant for the development of obesity; the most jaded lot believe that you can eat an unlimited amount of fat, without weight gain, as long as carbs are excluded from the diet.

The 'rationale' behind this claim, is that the body can’t store fat without insulin (it can). Carbs equals insulin, and that means ditching carbs must mean no fat storage (wrong). They conveniently ignore that

a) eating protein produce insulin
b) fat stores itself with tremendous efficiency without insulin, due to a nifty little thing called acylation-stimulating protein (ASP).

3. Religious fundamentalists believe that forces of evil hide amongst us, trying to lead us into temptation and wrongdoing. Low carb talibans belive that carbs and insulin are to blame for obesity.

We live in an obesogenic environment; we lead sedentary lives and we are surrounded by easily obtainable foods with high energy density. High carb, high fat foods which taste great, and are extremely easy to overconsume. That people gain weight in such a setting is no great mystery, yet the low carbs talibans likes to make it out to be. It is the carbs specifically that made you fat, not that peanut butter jar you went through watching tv last night. Yes, that seems to make sense.

4. Religious fundamentalists believe there is only one way, and all other faiths are heretic. Low carb talibans tries to push their beliefs on others and will seldom accept alternative views.

More than one time, I have seen the talibans make the most ludicrous claims about their approach, often not accepting the fact that some people actually function better on a higher carb approach, and that people involved in anaerobic sports actually need them to perform better.

5. Religious fundamentalists do not accept current ideas of the creation of earth or human evolution, rather they make up their own stories of how we came to be here. Low carb talibans make up their theories regarding human metabolism.

Here's a quick primer on how it works.

Dietary fat is stored easily as body fat without the presence of carbs or insulin.

Fat metabolism increase when fat intake is increased, but it is primarly dietary fats that are burned off, not fat stored in adipose tissue. For the latter to occur, energy balance needs to be negative. Energy can't just disappear and an excess is stored*

When carbs are consumed, metabolism switches to glucose dependence; that is, while carbs do not get converted to fat**, they do inhibit fat metabolism to a point where dietary fats are more readily stored.

One can say that overconsuming dietary fat leads to fat storage through a direct mechanism, while overconsuming carbs leads to fat storage through an indirect mechanism, through blunting of fat metabolism/lipolysis. Either way you cut it, the key point is that energy balance is the main determinant for fat storage, or fat loss.

* carbs can only be converted to fat by a process called de novo lipogenesis (DNL). This metabolic pathway is very ineffective in humans and in studies it only comes into play during massive carbohydrate overfeeding. How come people still got fat from eating all those low fat foods back when low fat was the craze? Well, the body has the ability to upregulate key enzymes involved in the DNL pathway, making carb to fat conversion more efficient. And this occurs on high carb/low fat diets. So, there is no tricking the body from gaining weight during caloric excess by excluding fat or carbs from the diet.

** metabolism does increase a bit when energy consumption is increased; just a few percentages, nothing drastic (called 'luxusconsumption' or adaptve thermogenesis by some scientists). Ironically, this effect is greatest when the extra energy is provided from carbs, not fat.

Why low carb really works

I have extensive experience with all forms of low carb/ketogenic diets. I’ve done them all, the traditional standard ketogenic diet, the cyclical and the targeted ketogenic diet. I've come to the following conclusions:

1. There is a mild hunger blunting effect on ketogenic diets, which may help intially. This has to be weighed against the deprived feeling you get from not consuming carbs and the decrease in performance during weight training. This can be partially amended by doing a cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) or a targeted ketogenic diet (TKD), where you either carb load through the weekend or consume carbs in conjunction with workouts.

2. Making the diet highly restrictive, in terms of completely cutting out one macronutrient, may help with adherance. It certainly takes away the hedonic aspect of eating.

Studies actually show that diets which allow ad libitum intake of protein and fat, usually leads to a spontaenous reduction of calorie intake. Cutting out carbs from the equation may be a sound approach for the average joe, who's idea of carbs are in the form of cereal and white bread. IME, you're less likely to binge on egg omelettes and ham, as opposed to chicken and pasta.

3. When people start eating low carb and lose weight, it is partially because they start eating more protein than on their past (failed) diet approaches. Protein leads to better satiety than any other macronutrient. There's also the issue of being forced to make sound food choices overall, such as increasing veggie intake to make up most of your carb intake in order to stay below the threshold (max 50 g carbs/day usually).

4. And of course, there is also the insulin sensitivity/resistance factor to consider. Some people do in fact feel better on ketogenic/low carb diets, for physiological, not behavioral, reasons. No energy dips, hunger pangs and so forth. ***

*** However, as I see it, people have a tendency to draw the conclusion that they need to follow a low carb approach without having visited the middle road. I've had some clients that were convinced they could only do well on low carbs - and it turned out they did just as well, if not better, when I incorporated veggies, fruit and berries as their main carb source. The middle road, with a minimum of refined carbs, is very workable for most people that label themselves as 'insulin resistant'.

Anyway, rant over.

For an unbiased guide to ketogenic diets, free from voodoo science and 'make believe' physiology, I urge you to check out The Ketogenic Diet, by Lyle McDonald. My review is here.

When it comes to training, I'm a minimalist.

I don't "attack the bi's from different angles". I do chins with an extra 100 lbs around my waist.

I don't spend any time "working the core". I never do ab work. I squat and do triple body weight deadlifts.

I don't "feel the burn". I give every set a 100% and only concern myself with adding an extra rep, or another 5 lbs, on the bar.

And most importantly, I don't go to the gym to have a nice and cozy time.

Sometimes people ask me things in between sets.

"Nice arms, man. How do you get that veiny look - do you go for the pump to really bring those cuts out? And what's the lowdown on preacher curls with a straight bar vs the EZ-bar?"

"I don't curl"

"Yeah right, c'mon..."

I then give them The Look. The Look let's them know I am dead serious and that the conversation is over.*

-------------------------------------------------------------

I think it was Iron Addict that once said

"The people that should not be touching a high volume/high frequency routine are usually the first people to do them"

That was true for me back in the days, wasting my time in the gym 5-6 times a week. While I did gain a bit the first few months, I certainly didn't get the same results as most of my buddies I trained with at the time.

Now, I am competitive by nature. I couldn't stand watching my friends outlift me. I figured if I can't beat them in the genetics department, I have to beat them on smarts. I needed to find a superior training routine or suffer humiliation every time I went training with them.

I started looking around online, and was lucky enough to come across a site called Cyberpump. Here, I found a very different perspective on weight training. Articles by Ken Leistner, Arthur Jones and others, talking about high intensity training and how people screw up by trying to emulate the genetic elite.

A minimalist approach, very different from what I had been doing up until then. I had my doubts of course, but I figured I didn't have have much to lose. And boy, did my gains take off.

Now, if I remember correctly, this is how my training routine looked back then.

A (day 1)

Bench press
1 set to failure
Immediately followed by pushups to failure
Followed by another set of bench (with a lot less weight)
Immediately followed by pushups to failure
and repeated one more round.
10 mins rest
Chins for 2-3 sets to failure

B (day 4)

Breathing Squats (20 reps)
Leg extensions, 1 set to failure

C (day 7)

Deadlifts (started at 20 reps here, added weight and decreased reps until I was working in the 3-5 rep range after several months).
10 min rest
Pullups for 2-3 sets to failure

And then days 8-10 were spent resting. And eating.

How much did I gain on such a routine? I remember that quite well. I started benching 135 for a few reps, ended up with 225 lbs after a few months. Squats went from about 200 lbs for 8-10 reps to 300 x 15-17 and deads from 175 x 6 to 380 x 3. Weights jumping op 5-10 lbs each session and often with a few extra reps to boot. It was amazing; like newbie gains multiplied by ten.

Was it a walk in the park and do I think everyone should be doing HIT from now on? No. The intensity used for each set was ridiculous. The sessions were painful and I dreaded them every single time. Was it productive? Yes, it was time extremely well spent. Since the training frequency was low, I made sure every session counted. It wasn't long before I outlifted my friends who were still in the gym 5-6x per week.

Since then, I've always taken a minimalist approach to training. Though I've added some lifts to my arsenal, my training routine is still quite spartan by any conventional standard; however, the few lifts I train, I give a 100%.

My point in writing this isn't to say that high intensity training is superior to any other form of sensible training ideology. There are other training approaches out there that I agree with; Starting Strength, 5x5, DC, RPT, and so forth. All of these put focus on principles that really makes the difference (hint: it's not about swiss balls or working different angles). HIT just happened to be the turning point for me, and has influended my view on training ever since.

The take away message here is twofold.

Part of it is a homage to abbreviated training routines, which I feel deserve more attention. You can go a long way just focusing on pressing, squatting, deadlifting and chinning. Throw in some calf and ab work if it makes you feel better.

Another part of it is encouraging change. If your training routine isn't working for you, ditch it and maybe start at the other end of the spectrum of whatever the hell you were doing before. You have nothing to lose.


*Ok, I made that up. I don't really give people The Look. The rest of it is true though.

According to this article, getting fit and leaner ranks 2nd and 3rd on a list of the most popular new year's resolutions people make.

So, as January comes around, the cardio machines, swiss balls and dumbbells gets the most attention they've had in a long time. It doesn't last of course, since people are lousy at maintaining new habits if they don't have strong incentives for it. Being healthy and fit is, sadly, not a strong enough incentive for people when they have to weigh it against the 'sacrifices' they have to make (such as spending an extra hour in the gym three times a week and *gasp* maybe even cut down on fast food a bit).

I've found that the average joe, meaning the ones that makes resolutions and fail to live up to them (and they are many), usually gives up on diet and training for two reasons.

One is motivation. People simply decide that they "don't have time", which in reality means that they rather prioritize other, easy, leisurely things instead of breaking a sweat.

"one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything"

Occam's razor. Training requires some effort and time investment and people shy away from it. It's not even a matter of knowing how to eat and train properly. By February or March, only a few % of the 'resolutionists' will still remain in the gym.

On the other hand of the spectrum are the people that go at it with guns a blazin' on Jan 1st, doing two hours of cardio a day along with weight training and a sub-1000 kcal diet to boot. They wan't results FAST and expect to go from slightly overweight to ripped in 4 weeks. They usually last 2 weeks, before they get burnt out and throw their resolutions out of the window. Unrealistic goal setting plays in here as well.

The experienced trainee fails in other ways

The reasons why experienced trainees fail to reach their strength and fitness goals are slightly different from the average joe.

Here's a few common mistakes in random order that I often see experienced trainees making.

1. Fearing change

Einstein defined insanity as doing the same things all over again and expecting a different result. A lot of the people I deal with have spun their wheels for years.

Experienced trainees tend to be resistant to change and afraid of trying new things.
Part of this is not rarely due to housing irrational beliefs, such as the high volume training junkie fearing his muscles will fall off if he reduces his training volume; a sound change if he has stalled with his default approach, yet he resists it due to an unsound belief system.

Another example being the carbophobic/chronic low carb dieter that sees his fat loss stall or strength plummet; introducing carb refeeds would be a good idea at this point, but he's afraid the carbs will do him more harm than good.

And so it goes.

Man is a creature of habit and many people short-change themselves due to their inherent belief systems, created by years of ingrained behaviors. Behaviors which may have helped them inititally, but now poses an obstacle for progress beyond that point.

So, ask yourself, are you repeating yesteryear's behaviors while expecting a different result?

2. Being impatient/doing stupid shit

This falls under why people screw up their diet and training in general. Even experienced trainees overestimate their capabilities and are simply too eager to get results, fast, once they get the itch for something. They overdiet and overtrain, even though they should know better.

There is often a disconnect about what you know about diet and training in theory, and how well you apply it on yourself in practise.

Hell, even I did some stuff last year that I wouldn't recommend any of my clients doing, such as training at a very high intensities during weeks I would have benefitted from backing off a bit. Part of me thought I was exempt from normal rules, but lo and behold I overtrained and even regressed in the very lift I sought out to improve on.

I am in no way unique in this regard.

A friend of mine, which is an excellent coach and competes himself, usually has someone else handling his pre-competition diet for him since he knows he'll overdiet and overtrain if he attempts it himself.

Another aquaintance of mine is a top CrossFit coach, yet has some of worst carbophobia I've encountered and often trains to a point where she burns out and gets sick.

Another one coaches figure athletes, and does so well, yet is extremely neurotic and insecure about her own diet.

I got lots of similar examples, but the key point here is that people tend to be more ruled by emotion rather than objective thinking when it comes to their own diet and training, regardless of actual experience level, and regardless of what they would advise others.

Being aware of this at an early stage could possibly help you to stay away from doing stupid shit. If you're planning a diet or training routine which you wouldn't have recommended to someone else, it's usually a damn bad idea in the first place.

3. Lack of knowledge...about the right things

This is among the most common mistakes made by people in general, in the beginner stage, but often well past that. It boils down to a lack of focus and perspective, as the trainee is putting a great amount of attention to minutae, while missing the big picture.

If you want a big bench press, it makes little sense to worry about the fructose content of your favourite cereal brand. Rather, you find a bench specialisation program and put your effort into understanding and applying it properly.

If you want to get lean, it makes little sense in dwelling about what heart rate you should do your cardio at. Rather, you go and find out what your daily energy expenditure is, and put your efforts into understanding how to track calorie intake.

If you want to gain muscle mass, it makes little sense in asking around whether oatmeal is superior to potatoes as a carb source. Rather, you make sure you are progressively lifting heavier weights in the gym, while eating enough to support muscle growth.

To summarize, don't short-change your progress in 2009 by clinging to old beliefs and old habits if they aren't getting you anywhere, don't do stupid stuff due to impatience, and make sure you master, and put focus on, the right things.