Did you know CrossFit Impulse trainers participate in a formal self-education program? Periodically we all read the same book to advance our coaching skills, discuss what we learned as a group, and then move on to the next book.  Now those books are available at CFI for you to check out and read! In addition to the books below, we’ll periodically add new ones as we cover them in our education program. If you see something on the list below that you would like to check out, just let a trainer know. That trainer will take down your name, contact information and the name of the book.  After 30 days, return the book to any trainer and they will take you off the list. Athletes may only check out one book at a time, for 30 days at a time. This is just another perk to being a CFI athlete! So grab a book and expand your knowledge!

Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe and Kilgore

Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore

The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet by Robb Wolf

Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes and Coaches by Greg Everett

5/3/1: The Simplest and Most Effective Training System to Increase Raw Strength by Jim Wendler

The Zone: A Dietary Road Map by Dr. Barry Sears

Practical Programming for Strength Training by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore

Human Anatomy Coloring Book by I. Edward Alcamo, PH.D.

In addition to our trainer education materials, we also have:

Westside Barbell Book of Methods by Louie Simmons

Gymnastics by Dan Gutman

Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease by Gary Taubes

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

Code of Points, Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, 2009 by the International Gymnastics Federation

Code of Points, Men’s Artistic Gymnastics, 2009 by the International Gymnastics Federation

Have you ever been confused about what all the secret underground CrossFit lingo means? We know it can sometimes take a while to learn all the symbols and acronyms we use here at CFI (CrossFit Impulse), so we decided to compile a quick reference guide.

1)    AMRAP: As Many Rounds (or Reps) as Possible
2)    BS: Back Squat
3)    BW: Body Weight
4)    CFI: CrossFit Impulse
5)    CFIBS: CrossFit Irritable Bowel Syndrome
6)    CFT: CrossFit Total
7)    CF: CrossFit
8)    CFHQ: CrossFit Headquarters
9)    C&J: Clean and Jerk
10)    C2: Concept II Rower
11)    DL: Deadlift
12)    DNF: Did Not Finish
13)    EMOM: Every Minute on the Minute
14)    FS: Front Squat
15)    GHD: Glute Hamstring Developer
16)    GPP: General Physical Preparedness
17)    HC: Hang Clean
18)    HSPU: Hand Stand Push-up
19)    HSC: Hang Squat Clean
20)   KBS: Kettlebell Swings
21)    KTE or K2E: Knees to Elbows
22)    MetCon: Metabolic Conditioning
23)    MU: Muscle Up
24)    OHS: Overhead Squat
25)    PC: Power Clean
26)    Pd: Pood, Russian unit of measure for the weight of Kettlebells. (1 pood = 36.11 pounds)
27)    PR: Personal Record
28)    PP: Push Press
29)    PJ: Push Jerk
30)    PU: Pull-ups or Push-ups, depending on context
31)    PVC: Polyvinyl Chloride Pipe. White plastic pipes used for training, warmup, etc.
32)    Rep: Repetition. One performance of a movement.
33)    Rx’d: As prescribed; as written. WOD done without any scaling, movement, or rep alterations.
34)    RM: Rep Max or Repetition Maximum. Your 1RM is your max lift for one rep. Your 10 RM is the most you can lift 10 times.
35)    SC: Squat Clean
36)    SDHP: Sumo Deadlift High Pull
37)    Set: A group of repetitions performed sequentially. e.g. 3 sets of 10 reps, often seen as 3×10, means perform 10 reps, rest, 10 reps, rest, and then 10 final reps.
38)    SN: Snatch
39)    SQ: Squat
40)    Scale: Any deviation from the prescribed movements or loads. For example, Gold, Silver, and Bronze are some suggested scales for the movements in the prescribed workout.
41)    Tabata Interval: A workout of 8 intervals alternating 20 seconds of max rep work with 10 seconds of rest. Score is the lowest reps accumulated in any round.
42)     The “Girls”: A series of benchmark workouts created by CFHQ that are universally known among the CF community. Usually named after the original female CrossFitters.
43)     The “Heroes”: A Hero workout is a tribute workout in honor of a fallen service member (Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, Firefighter, Police officer) that died in the line of duty.
44)     TTB or T2B: Toes to Bar
45)    WOD: Workout of the Day
46)    # : Symbol for Pounds (lb)
47)    ” : Symbol for Inches (in)

She also completely understands all the reasons you can’t achieve what you want: your spouse, kids, job, lifestyle, wants, desires, nagging injuries, etc. She understands that if only one or two little things were different that you would achieve everything! Those things are outside your control anyway, and that’s not fair! So the Fitness Fairy helps you achieve what you want without having to make those difficult lifestyle choices and sacrifices. She understands that you want to be disciplined, but other things get in the way, and they’re not your fault. You shouldn’t be penalized for things that aren’t your fault, and the Fitness Fairy knows this. She understands and grants you results depending on your intentions and desires.

And she works on your diet too! She doesn’t expect you to be different from everyone else and not eat 35 chicken wings for time twice a week! She also knows that declining food that others bring into the office is extremely impolite, and the Fitness Fairy places a high value on politeness! So you can go ahead and snack on those fudge snickerdoodles without any worries about insulin response. Intentions are key. As long as you didn’t plan to eat badly when you awoke in the morning, the Fitness Fairy trims those extra calories. This way you can achieve all your goals without being any different from everyone else that achieves none of their goals.

But there’s a small problem: The Fitness Fairy doesn’t exist! However, you might be interested in a few other notable ladies: nature, physics, genetics, and physiology. And guess what, they are all cruel bitches. Each has her own set of rules that you have to play by—no exceptions. Unlike the Fitness Fairy, they don’t give a damn about your intentions. They don’t know your intentions, and they wouldn’t care if they did. They are all unfeeling, sociopathic sadists. However, unlike the Fitness Fairy, they can actually impact your fitness. Unfortunately, they reward you according to your actions, not intentions.  That’s all they care about: inputs and outputs.  And that’s the only thing that impacts your fitness: inputs and outputs.

Intentions and desires are irrelevant. Actions and results are the metrics by which we’re measured. There is no credit. No magic. No points. No game. Nobody to please, except yourself. There is only that which changes us and that which does not. If you want something, then go get it. Put in the required work and you will achieve it. But don’t think that intentions and desires will carry you even an inch towards it. Those are the tools of the Fitness Fairy, and she doesn’t exist. She never has. And if she did, I’d have killed her by now.

-Jeff

Fat is an absolutely essential part of a healthy diet, especially for an athlete at CrossFit Impulse. But all fats are not created equal. I’m going to break down the three different types of fat, give examples of each, and tell you the proper place of each in your CrossFit diet. Then we’re going to geek out a little and learn what makes different types of fat different.

First, let’s dig into the word “fat.” Depending on the context, “fat” can sometimes mean “adipose tissue,” the soft stuff that hangs onto your love handles and makes a ribeye tasty. It can also mean “fatty acids,” a group of chemicals that have the same basic structure. When you see the word “fat” in this article, it refers to fatty acids.

Saturated Fat

You know saturated fat from animal flesh, dairy products, and coconut. They’re usually solid at room temperature (think butter, coconut oil, and the gristle on the edge of your steak). How much saturated fat should you eat? Thirty years ago, anybody would answer that question: “As little as possible!” But now we know that’s not the full story. Contrary to what we’ve all been told, there is no widely-accepted scientific link between saturated fat and heart disease. Studies so far have never adequately controlled for other dietary and lifestyle factors. Current thinking on saturated fat by itself ranges from neutral to wildly beneficial. Saturated fat from animal products is packed full of nutrients like Vitamin A, D, K, and E. You shouldn’t get 100% of your fat intake from saturated fat, but you don’t need to be scared of saturated fat either—if, and that’s a big “if,” the rest of your diet is in check. That essentially means your carbs all come from fruits, vegetables, and sweet potatoes. One thing we do know for sure is that a diet high in saturated fat and simultaneously high in poor carbs like grains and sugars…well, that’s a recipe for an early grave.

Conclusion: If you eat a low-moderate carbohydrate diet and get most of your carbs from quality sources, then saturated fat can be an important part of your diet.

Monounsaturated Fat

This is the realm of olives, avocados, and nuts. About half the fat in animal flesh and egg yolk is monounsaturated as well. Monounsaturated fat is great because consuming monounsaturated fat raises your good cholesterol (HDL) and lowers your bad cholesterol (LDL). While science is still unsure about a lot of things related to cholesterol, this one is a slam dunk: Increasing your good cholesterol protects you from heart disease. See the connection? Eat monounsaturated fat– raise good cholesterol–protect yourself from heart disease. Dr. Loren Cordain, the driving intellectual force behind the Paleo Diet, has also stated that monounsaturated fat probably comprised the majority of our Paleolithic ancestors’ fat intake.

Conclusion: Monounsaturated fat is clearly a friend. Strive to make it the primary fat in your diet.

Polyunsaturated Fat

Polyunsaturated fat is like a child that is still thumb-sucking at the age of ten. It has some complex issues, and is very awkward to discuss. See, I can’t honestly say that you need to completely avoid polyunsaturated fat, which is my inclination. Many polyunsaturated fatty acids are essential to your health, including those in fish oil! But the majority of places you’re likely to encounter large quantities of polyunsaturated fat in the grocery store are bad news. These  exceedingly poor sources are  vegetable oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, margarine, soybean oil, Italian dressing, and others.  Let me be clear, you would do better to light up a turd and smoke it like a cigar than to eat those polyunsaturated fat sources.

Conclusion: If you’re eating quality fat sources like nuts and fatty fish, and supplementing with fish oil, then you’re going to get all the polyunsaturated fat your body needs. No need to seek out more. Avoid most sources of polyunsaturated fat at all costs. They are like people who back into parking spaces: suspicious, and not to be trusted.

Weird Science

Interested in exactly what makes one fat different from another? You don’t need to understand this section to make good food choices, but understanding certainly helps, so read on and explore the science of what you eat.

The basic structure that all fats share looks something like this:

A fatty acid

Yes, my illustration looks a little like sperm. Moving on… All fatty acids start with a particular type of acid on one end and then have a tail of Carbon atoms. This Carbon chain can be long or short. Each of these Carbon atoms is bonded to at least one Hydrogen atom. When all of the Carbon atoms are filled with all the possible Hydrogen atoms they can hold, this is known as a saturated fatty acid. The chain is “saturated” with hydrogen atoms. Makes sense, right?

A saturated fatty acid

It’s all those Hydrogen atoms that make saturated fat solid at room temperature. They also protect it from going rancid through oxidation. If all the available bonds are occupied by Hydrogen, then Oxygen from the air can’t get in and spoil it. That’s why a bowl of bacon grease solidifies, and can then be left on a counter and safely used for cooking days or even weeks later!

Sometimes we find a place in the Carbon chain that could hold another Hydrogen atom, but it’s not. In this case the fatty acid is not “saturated” with hydrogen atoms. It’s “unsaturated.”

A monounsaturated fatty acid

Specifically, if there’s only one place where it could hold more Hydrogen, this single instance makes it “monounsaturated.” If there’s multiple places where it could hold more Hydrogen then it’s “polyunsaturated.” Get it? Mono- for a single place and poly- for multiple places.

This lack of Hydrogen bonds makes it easier for monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat to go rancid. That’s why they are generally stored in the refrigerator after opening. These fats are more prone to oxidation than saturated fats. As you might guess, polyunsaturated fats are the most prone to rancidity. That’s why it’s smart to store your fish oil in the refrigerator. Cold temperatures slow down oxidation.

A polyunsaturated fatty acid

So now we have the three different types of fat: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. The difference between them is simply how many Hydrogen atoms are hanging on wherever a slot exists. It’s also these Hydrogen bonds that give fats their unique properties. Cool, huh?!?

And by the way, chemistry majors, I know that’s not the absolutely correct way to present that information. However, it’s a way that normal people might be able to understand. Deal with it.

Get rid of grains in your diet. You’ve probably heard your trainers at CrossFit Impulse talk about this topic hundreds of times. But do you know the nitty gritty details of what grains do to your body and why they are only one step up from eating poop?

First, when you see “grains,” that means wheat, rice, corn, barley, rye, oats, millet, or sorghum. Grains are killing you. Literally. Very slowly, from the inside out—but they are killing you. I’m going to tell you about the four major ways grains are killing you. It would take Mr. Wizard and Bill Nye the Science Guy combined to fully explain this, so I’m just going to hit the high points. But first, I want you to buckle down and put on your big girl panties. It’s going to get a little complex in a couple places, but you can understand this—I promise. I can barely remember where I park my car and I understand it, so there’s hope for anyone.

Frolicking in a field of grains is the healthiest possible use of that field.

1. Lectins

Many plants and animals have defense mechanisms so they don’t get eaten, trampled, or otherwise prevented from reproducing. Roses have thorns. A rhinoceros has a big mother’effin horn. Poison Ivy has chemicals that make you itch if you get too close. Grains have an Al-Qaeda like defense mechanism called lectins. Now many foods have lectins, but grains have nasty lectins that harm us. Here’s how.

Lectins are proteins that we can’t digest. We normally digest proteins into amino acids where they are absorbed by our intestines (our gut). Since we can’t digest lectins, they pass through the wall of our gut undigested as complete proteins. This damages the gut, inflames our bodies, and makes them unable to absorb many of the good proteins that we get from other foods. But that’s not all. The worst part is that our body’s immune system is at a high state of readiness around our gut. After all, the gut can be a nasty place. See what’s in the bowl after you take a dump? Thirty minutes ago, that was inside your body, and your body’s immune system had to fight off the bacteria and other microbes you might have been exposed to. Now, when lectins pass through the gut as a complete, undigested protein, our body mistakes them for foreign invaders and attacks with the immune system.

After repeated attacks from lectins (your daily bowl of Special K) your body gets smart and makes antibodies to automatically attack these nasty proteins. It builds immunity. The problem? Sometimes part of the lectin looks a lot like normal body tissue. You don’t want your immune system attacking your normal body tissue, but that’s exactly what can happen. Check out why: Lectins are proteins. Proteins are made of particular arrangements of amino acids, stacked just like Legos. Let’s take a look at a hypothetical lectin that has a little piece of it made from an arrangement of amino acids A, B, C, and D.

Lectin

Now let’s take a look at another protein in your body. As an example, we’ll use a protein in your Pancreas, but there are countless examples. This protein is much longer than the lectin, but it happens to have a little segment of amino acids with the same Lego pattern as the lectin.

A protein in your body that you would really like to keep

That particular lectin looks a lot like an important protein in your pancreas, and now your immune system attacks that protein in your pancreas, rendering your pancreas unable of producing insulin. This is Type 1 Diabetes. What if the lectin looks like myelin basic protein (MBP) in your brain? Multiple Sclerosis. An important kidney protein? Nephropathy. The list goes on. Grains turn your body’s immune system against you. This phenomenon is called auto-immune disease. It’s very real. We haven’t even made it to #2 and grains are already killing us—quite literally.

11 is for "Psoriasis" Best of luck!

So you’ve been eating grains all your life and you’re not dead yet, right? Why haven’t you been stricken with something described above? The human body is an incredibly resilient biological machine. That’s the only way we’ve been able to survive, not thrive, with grains for the last 10,000 years. After grains were introduced to humans, we lost an average of six inches in height. Do you think that’s coincidence, or that we’re trying to feed our bodies with material that we’re not genetically equipped to handle? But yes, you could go all your life eating grains and never get one of the many auto-immune diseases. In the end, you may be lucky. I suppose it depends on whether you’re a gambler. But remember, about 18 sides of that 20-sided die look pretty ugly.

2. Insulin Response

We’ve documented the importance of hormonal balance between insulin and glucagon in our article “The Zone Diet Explained.” Grain-based foods  cause huge, nasty insulin spikes, making it almost impossible to achieve hormonal balance. This means that as long as you eat grains you’re going to experience inflammation in your muscles, joints, and other tissues because you’re not in hormonal balance. Your body is also going to stay in fat storage mode instead of fat release mode, and you won’t be able to achieve the body composition you want.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, insulin is a hormone that promotes tissue growth. Do you know what we call uncontrolled tissue growth because a little piece of DNA gets damaged? Cancer. Yep, the medical community is finding high insulin levels linked to cancer.

3. Protease Inhibitors

In addition to those nasty lectins and elevated insulin response, grains find yet another way to pour gasoline on the fire. Protease inhibitors further block the digestion of proteins in your gut. That includes lectins, so they compound the lectin problem. But that also includes good proteins that you are getting from quality foods. Grains aren’t content to just stand in a corner and be anti-social. They’re going to piss in the punch bowl and ruin the party for everybody! So you are eating plenty of chicken breast, grass-fed beef, and lamb in addition to the grains in your diet? You’re not getting as much of those proteins as you think, because grains are blocking their absorption by your gut. Just eating something doesn’t mean you’ll absorb it and actually put it to use in your body. Grains are masters of that fact.

4. Phytates

Grains want to reproduce. You can’t blame them for that. All plants and animals down to the smallest virus are hard wired to reproduce. A whole grain contains all the pieces necessary for reproduction. The bran is the hard outer covering that protects the rest. The brown part of brown rice is the bran. The germ is the actual reproductive organ of the grain. The endosperm is a neat little package of starch and some protein that will feed the baby germ. And one thing the baby germ will need is trace amounts of nutrients like iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium. So the grain contains chemicals called phytates that help it collect these precious resources. The phytates bind to these metals saying, “They’re mine! All mine!” trying to save them for the germ. Unfortunately, their selfish behavior doesn’t stop once they’re in your gut. And guess what, you need those nutrients too! But if phytates are in the picture then your gut doesn’t stand a chance. The phytates bind to the nutrients first, and you aren’t able to absorb them! Once again, simply eating something does not guarantee it is absorbed. No zinc for you! Phytates and lectins are sometimes referred to as “anti-nutrients.”

Ladies and gentlemen, that’s the short course on why grains don’t fit into a healthy lifestyle. I know it hurts to find out that our beloved Bunny Bread is out to kill us, but it really is true. We didn’t grow up thinking that, did we? But why does that matter? My parents grew up when sexism was accepted. My grandparents grew up when racism and smoking was commonplace. My great, great grandparents might have thought that bleeding yourself with leaches would cure disease. They were all equally wrong, and equally comfortable with those ideas, because they were accepted as the status quo. The point is that facts and reality are completely irreverent of the ideas you grew up with or are comfortable with. If the facts about health point a certain way, I think we are obligated to ourselves and our loved ones to explore those facts regardless of how uncomfortable they might be.

So here’s my challenge to you: Eat grain-free for a month. But to reap the benefits, you have to be totally grain free. No flour tortillas on weekends. No yeast rolls at Logans. No eating toast at breakfast just because the rest of your family likes it and has seen you eat toast for 30 years. Totally grain free, for an entire month. A word of warning: You’re going to have a period of about two weeks where you will constantly feel tired and “foggy.” This is normal. It’s you getting off the crack, and it will pass by the end of the month, leaving you feeling great!. That’s right, if you truly go grain free for a month then you’ll be 5-10 lbs lighter, have more energy, and look better than you can ever remember. After that, if you want to go back to eating grains—do it. Because you won’t want to go back. You’ll be happy and energetic, full after meals, performing better at your workouts, and shopping for new clothes. Oh, and you’ll be less likely to die from one of the 3,000 diseases of affluence that were unknown to our ancestors that didn’t eat grains. Did I mention that part? Folks, if I’m lying, I’m dying. Try it. You won’t be sorry.

-Jeff

Sources:

The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf, Chapter 6. Published by Victory Belt Publishing, 2010

Do Dietary Lectins Cause Disease? by David L. J. Freed. Published by the British Medical Journal, 1999

Cereal Grains: Humanity’s Double Edged Sword by Loren Cordain. Published by the World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, 1999

Reflections on the Diet and Reinfarcation Trial by M.L. Burr. Published by European Heart Journal Supplements, 2001

Agrarian Diet and Diseases of Affluence– Do evolutionary novel dietary lectins cause leptin resistance? by Tommy Jonsson et. al. Published by BMC Endocrine Disorders, 2005

You’ve undoubtedly heard your trainers advise you to use proper breath control during heavy lifts. But what is “breath control” and how does it work? Well, I’m glad you asked! Let’s examine the details of why you should breathe properly during strength training and how to successfully implement it in your weightlifting workout.  The overall purpose of breath control is to stabilize your core and lumbar spine for both safety and efficiency.

Safety

It’s tough to hold a neutral spine while pulling a heavy deadlift.  But if we don’t then we will eventually let our lumbar spine fold into flexion under load and shoot an intervertebral disc out of our lower back and into the whiteboard. Breath control helps keep our spine safely extended.

Efficiency

Part of our training at CrossFit Impulse involves moving the heaviest loads possible. The spine transmits a lot of force throughout the body, so it’s advantageous to keep it as rigid as possible. Would it be easier to lift something with a rigid metal rod or a wet noodle? Breath control helps us make our spine closer to the rigid metal rod. But it’s also about your core—all the muscles that make up your abdomen and attach to your pelvis. Keeping our core rigid through breath control gives heavy loads less chance to break us over. Is it easier to support a load on an inflated air mattress or a deflated one? The inflated air mattress is a core using breath control.

Execution

Breath control means that before you perform a lift you take in the largest breath possible by primarily expanding your abdomen–not your chest. Sure, the chest will rise a little too, but we’re looking for the primary motion to be in your gut. At the same time you will contract your abs and try to push outward against them. Hold your breath and continue to hold this outward pressure on your abs. The feeling should be similar to bracing for a punch or trying to keep from crapping your pants. Hold this throughout the squat, press, deadlift, etc and then you can release.

Multiple Reps

For repeated reps of three, five, or more, after the first rep don’t allow all your breath to completely escape. This would allow the load to compress your core, and you would not be able to make your core fully rigid again without unloading yourself (racking or dropping the bar). Instead, use a technique called “topping off.” After you complete your first rep and are preparing for the next, quickly and shallowly exhale, and then inhale deeply and contract your abs again. By quickly I mean “as fast as you can!” By shallowly I mean, “don’t exhale a lot of breath–just a little.” Then proceed with the next rep.

Before the Lift

The best time to form a rigid spine and core is before it’s compressed by a load. Get your breath control before you pick up the bar. Then if you need to top off before your first rep, use the technique described above. For squats and presses I get under the bar and then tighten up and achieve breath control before I press upward to remove it from the rack. For deadlifts, cleans, snatches, or anything from the floor I achieve breath control before bending over to put my hands on the bar. Your core can be made more rigid by pressurizing it before you bend over.

The Mechanics

If you don’t care exactly why breath control works, then you can skip this part. However, you can never fully understand how to apply something until you understand how it works. The term for breath control used during weightlifting is actually diaphragmatic breathing combined with a valsalva maneuver. You inhale by contracting your diaphragm. This pushes the diaphragm downward, which creates pressure in your abdominal cavity because your guts are pressing outward against your muscles and skin. By contracting your abs you provide an even firmer surface that allows you to create even more pressure. This pressure makes your spine and core rigid, similar to how air pressure make a rubber tire rigid and able to support the weight of a car. That’s what it’s all about: creating a rigid spine and core. Rigidity means more safety and better transfer of force to the bar. Yes, proper breath control means heavier lifts!

Weight Lifting Belts

This technique of breath control is also what allows weight lifting belts to work. They further constrain your abdomen and give you something rigid and immobile to press outward against. This further increases intra-abdominal pressure and makes holding this pressure throughout the lift easier for the lifter. It also exposes why weight lifting belts that expand their area over the lower back completely miss the mark. The intent is not to pull on the lower back or pad it. The intent is to have a firm surface to press the abs against, and for that you need a belt that is the same width all the way across. If you are interested in a weight lifting belt for CrossFit then I suggest a 10mm thick leather belt such as the Inzer Forever. Inzer makes variants with a single prong buckle, double prong buckle, and lever. I use the lever version and really like it because I can very quickly cinch the belt for the lift and then very quickly release it for easier breathing when I’m done. All the while the belt stays around my waist. The 10mm thick variant is more than enough for most CrossFitters. Inzer also produces 13mm variants, but they are generally best for…ahem…larger and burlier powerlifters that have a lot of mass to constrain. For the sub-225 lb CrossFitter, a 10mm belt will provide plenty of rigidity and be more pliable for fast movements like snatches and cleans.

Whether to use a belt and how often is a contentious topic like politics and religion. Whenever the world’s best do something a particular way, it’s useful to take note. The world’s strongest powerlifters use weight lifting belts. Therefore, I have begun experimenting with one during heavy days to see if it helps increase my overall strength. However, using a belt 100% of the time would degrade core strength, something we are very interested in building. Therefore, I’m going to play the human guinea pig, use the belt judiciously, and make my own conclusion. It’s interesting to note that in one study (Bauer, Fry and Carter; 1999) weight belts were shown to increase the use of spinal erectors even though researchers hypothesized that spinal erector activity should decrease if the belt provided an advantage.

Breath control: learn it, practice it, use it…and become stronger!

Cholesterol. It’s a word that strikes fear in the heart of anyone who’s watched daytime television commercials. Countless foods and drugs promise to reduce it, but do you really know what it is or why you would want to reduce it? This article is a quick and dirty primer on cholesterol and how a diet that replicates that of our Paleolithic ancestors supports healthy cholesterol levels.

First, what is cholesterol? Cholesterol is necessary for human life. It facilitates a host of physiological processes in our nervous, endocrine, and digestive systems. It even facilitates the repair of cell membranes. The term “total cholesterol” actually refers to a lot of different chemicals that are used to shuttle cholesterol around the body. And total cholesterol, taken alone, is not very descriptive of your health. To really understand your body and how your diet affects it, we have to examine the components of total cholesterol.

But before we go there I want to dispel a common fallacy: Despite thousands of scientists and dieticians trying to find a connection, science has failed to establish a link between cholesterol in the food you eat and cholesterol in your blood. The classic example is shrimp. Shrimp contain high levels of cholesterol. However, when consumed appropriately they appear to improve your cholesterol numbers. So commercials that advertise their foods are low in cholesterol are selling you on an advantage that doesn’t exist. Furthermore, the foods that generally advertise this way (cereals and other refined grains) will probably take your cholesterol in the wrong direction. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t tragic. As you’ll see, the best way to ensure healthy cholesterol levels is to eat lean meat, fruits and vegetables, plenty of fat, and shun processed grains like bread, cereal, oats, wheat, corn, and barley. You can read more about eating this way here, and read more about general nutrition here.

Total Cholesterol

Total cholesterol is comprised of several metrics, the most important of which are high-density lipoproteins (HDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and triglycerides. Your total cholesterol is much less important than how it is comprised by these constituent parts. Total cholesterol tells you no more about your health than the final score in a football game tells you about the two teams that played. Sure, sometimes it turns out to be an accurate comparison, but most often a much larger story hides behind the numbers. I want you to focus more on the parts of total cholesterol than the whole.

HDL

HDL is generally referred to as “good cholesterol.” It moves fat from the extremities of the body back to the liver for processing. It also helps keep our arteries clean. With HDL, more is better. Less than 40 mg/dl puts you at risk for heart disease. Greater than 60 mg/dl substantially guards you against heart disease. Exercise and consuming adequate monounsaturated fat are two ways to raise HDL levels.

LDL

LDL distributes important materials from our organs to the rest of our body: the energy that fuels our muscles, fats, omega-3 fatty acids like those found in fish oil, and material for repairing cell membranes. LDL is generally referred to as “bad cholesterol.” However, LDL can be made of large, non-reactive Type A particles or small, dense Type B particles. The small Type B particles tend to get lodged in arteries and cause heart disease like atherosclerosis. Type A doesn’t appear to do this. Therefore, you should be more concerned with the type of particles comprising your LDL level than the measurement itself. The nasty Type B LDLs are caused by high insulin levels. What causes high insulin levels? An over-carbed diet full of processed grains. To get the right LDL particles we need to eat a relatively low-carb diet rich in fruits and vegetables like our hunter-gatherer ancestors, not Captain Crunch and Fritos like our obese cousins. That being said, healthy LDL levels are somewhere between 40-70 mg/dl.

Triglycerides

Triglycerides are an indicator of circulating blood fat. However, high triglycerides are not caused by high fat intake, but by excess insulin. Excess insulin and the resulting insulin resistance are a product of high glycemic carbohydrates, especially refined grains. That’s right, Type B LDL, triglycerides, and poor blood chemistry in general are caused by excess carbs, not red meat like you may have been told. Once again, we see the connection between eating healthy carbohydrates (fruits and vegetables) and having healthy blood chemistry. As a general rule, if your triglycerides are above 100, you’re probably headed for obesity, a heart attack, or both. You want to shoot for triglyceride levels between 30-50 mg/dl.

The Big Picture

HDL, LDL, and triglycerides are the primary constituents of total cholesterol. There’s more to the story, but those are the biggest players. As you can see, cholesterol is more complex than a single number to shoot for. Hopefully you can also see that some things you’ve been led to believe are crucial in maintaining your cholesterol (a low fat, high carb diet rich in whole grains) are actually helping dig your grave. Finally, don’t discount the fact that you may have a genetic roll of the dice that tweaks your cholesterol numbers outside the norm, despite a healthy diet. However, you’re probably not the genetic exception, so look to your dietary compliance before you deem yourself an outlier. While we don’t fully understand everything about cholesterol, we do understand that healthy cholesterol levels have everything to do with a diet that mimics our Paleolithic ancestors and absolutely nothing to do with Raisin Bran.

I don’t make new year’s resolutions. I don’t ever remember making them. But I don’t have a beef with the new year’s resolution itself. New year’s resolutions are just goals, and goals are awesome. Goals give you a purpose, guide your work, and mark milestones in your progress. A new year’s resolution is just a goal that happens to be made in a half-drunken stupor on December 31^st. Here’s where the system goes awry:

New year’s resolutions are goals for people that don’t set goals. To better understand, consider this analogy: I am not a dentist. If I suddenly resolve that I will begin extracting teeth with no knowledge of dentistry, then I’ll get the job done as best I can. Since I have no training or practice in the use of anesthetics or dental tools, I’ll likely use scotch and a brass hammer and punch set from Lowe’s. Sound ugly? So are the results of most new year’s resolutions.

Why would someone with no motivation, plan, or tools to improve himself 364 days of the year suddenly be able to perform an about face and achieve a challenging goal? It’s preposterous. That’s what a new year’s resolution does. It convinces people that through the power of everyone doing something all at once, which only works for summoning Captain Planet, they can achieve difficult goals with no plan, tools, or tolerance for the discomfort of change.

However, setting goals for the year is a wonderful and powerful exercise. If you want to take part in the social brouhaha of new year’s resolutions, then I advise the following:

1. Don’t shoot for the stars and hope to land on the moon. Hope is not a course of action. Shoot for the moon and land on the effin moon. That is to say, don’t set too ambitious a goal, but after you set it, hold yourself accountable. Set a goal that is difficult but achievable. We often overestimate our abilities, especially when it comes to physical training. If you’ve never run before, then resolving to run a 5k in less than 25 minutes might be too ambitious. How about resolving to run a 5k without stopping and without walking?

2. Decompose your goal into tangible parts. Do you want to lose weight? How much weight over how long? Do you want to become stronger? What’s a common task that gives you trouble that you would like to perform with ease? Do you want to change your behavior in some way? In what situations will you exhibit the different behavior? Phrase your goal in real-world terms that are measurable and have meaning to you.

3. Have a plan to achieve your goal, because your goal requires work. If your goal doesn’t require work then tape up your hands to protect your knuckles, punch yourself in the face, and go back to step one and set a better goal. How do you plan to accomplish the work? Do you have the information and facilities you’ll need? That doesn’t mean buying a $10,000 tool set to meet your goal of learning basic car maintenance, but you might need some tools, or some training. When will you work on your goal? If the answer is “whenever I get time” then go ahead and resume face-punching. You don’t have to create an hourly schedule, but if you don’t commit tangible time towards your goal, then it will be still-born. We all get 24 hours in a day–every single one of us. We all decide how to allocate those 24 hours, and every minute we allocate to something is taken from something else. It may be taken from something useless or something you enjoy, but the time you devote towards achieving your goal will be taken from something else. Recognize it, accept it, and plan for it.

4. Start executing now. This is another reason why new year’s resolutions are usually worthless: they ascribe mythical importance to beginning work towards your goal on January 1^st. Nobody who ever gave half a shit about achieving something decided to start next week. That doesn’t mean you have to start doing burpees in your living room or in your office right now, but you should devote yourself to your goal right now. Thinking about changing your diet? Change today. How can one be serious about changing his diet yet decide to continue eating according to his old lifestyle? That is a contradiction, and contradictions don’t exist. The answer is that if you continue putting down cheese coneys on December 21st in anticipation of changing your diet on January 1^st, then you don’t really plan on changing your diet on January 1st. No…not really…not deep down where it counts.

The point is that setting goals and working to achieve them is a messy and difficult process. While I enthusiastically encourage you to set and achieve goals, you can’t condense that process into a neat package with a bow that you unwrap at midnight with a glass of champagne and a kiss. It’s just not realistic, and achieving goals requires real things: planning, sacrifice, effort, and dedication.