RADICAL TRANSPARENCY WITH OUR OWN FITNESS
Prior to purchasing our own Bod Pod, Discover Strength regularly scheduled times for our clients to Bod Pod test at the University of Minnesota. My first assessment was almost nine years ago (September 2009) as a part of our first ever Body Comp Challenge. Since then, I have tested three or four additional times at the University of Minnesota and another 10 times since we purchased our own Bod Pod. I had averaged about one test per year... until recently.
Fast Food & Fat Loss; Can they go hand in hand?
Improving body composition, defined as the percentage of our body weight that is comprised of muscle versus fat, is a paramount goal for the clear majority of exercisers. Two primary interventions drive body composition improvement: 1. Strength training in order to increase lean muscle tissue; and 2. Nutrition intended to lose body fat (and support increased muscle tissue). With so much misinformation and wasted effort in our pursuit of improved body composition, I thought I would share a success story that illustrates an evidence-based, albeit unpopular approach to improving body composition.
The Most Intelligent, Effective, and Socially Unacceptable Approach to Improving Body Composition
Improving body composition, defined as the percentage of our body weight that is comprised of muscle versus fat, is a paramount goal for the clear majority of exercisers. Whether our pursuit is bolstered health and the prevention of chronic disease or improved aesthetic appearance, improving our body composition is a central part of the equation. With so much misinformation, confusion, and wasted effort in our quest of improved body composition, I thought I would share the ultimate success story that illustrates an evidence based, albeit unpopular approach to improving body composition.
Cardio doesn't do what we think (or hope) it does
It's the prevailing myth that so many fitness enthusiasts still cling to: Cardio will help me lose weight. For nearly 12 years, we at Discover Strength have worked at combatting this misnomer. I don't think we've been very effective. Not a day goes by where I don't hear clients mention that they need to increase their cardio to really start improving their body composition. In full disclosure, I love cardio. In fact, I have a bias toward cardio. I run marathons and I do cardio religiously five days per week. I'm almost rooting for cardio to be effective for weight loss. However, I'm also aware of what the research continually tells us:
Cardio doesn't do what we all think it does.
That is, cardio isn't effective for weight or fat loss. If we survey all the people on a treadmill, elliptical machine, in a spin class, or in a kickboxing class, and we ask them, "What's your objective?" 99% of the answers will be along the lines of, "To lose weight" or, "burn calories." Stated otherwise, we're all using cardio to help us lose weight; but cardio simply doesn't help people lose weight. What is cardio good for? As the name implies, cardio is great for improving cardiovascular fitness and function and potentially mitigating cardiovascular disease risk factors.
Cardio IS valuable, but not for the reasons most of us perform it.
The Most Up to Date, Evidence Based Advice on Nutrition for Adding Muscle and Losing Fat
A brand-new position stand was recently published by the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) titled: "ISSN Position Stand: Diets and Body Composition. The paper serves as a review of the current literature on how various diets and nutrition strategies impact body composition. The paper effectively cuts through the nutrition folklore that so many fitness enthusiasts are immersed in. Here are two of the major takeaways that we can take action on:
- Fat loss is achieved by creating a caloric deficit. The macronutrient (protein, fat, or carbohydrates) content of the food we eat is not the key for fat loss; how many calories we eat is the key. All different "diets" can result in improved body composition including Paleo, ketogenic, Atkins, Zone, Ornish, intermittent fasting and a host of other nutrition approaches. But make no mistake, the only reason these nutrition strategies result in weight loss is because calories have been reduced. Specifically, the authors are clear that reducing carbohydrate in our diet has never been shown to contribute to fat loss (when total calories are controlled). We need not be afraid of carbs; we should be afraid of an excess of calories.
- To maximize lean muscle tissue and body composition, the authors recommend increasing protein intake from the current RDA of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight to 1.6 grams per kilogram of bodyweight. However, there is no apparent muscle or strength building advantage to consuming more than 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight. What does this look like for a normal person looking to maximize strength and body composition? If I weigh 160 pounds (72 kilograms), this means I would need 115 grams of protein per day to maximize muscle tissue and strength. This is about 0.7 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. I don't need to consume this exact amount each day. Rather, I can aim for between 0.5 and 1.0 grams per day and average out around 0.7 grams per pound over the course of a week. For many people, this represents a significant increase in protein consumption. For others, this may actually encourage a reduction in protein intake. Many strength training enthusiasts have mistakenly touted more and more protein as the key to maximizing strength and muscle size but the research clearly does not support this.
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