IIFYM – House of straw?

IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros) has become popular within the training world over the last few years. Although this type of eating has always existed within the fitness community, it was never formalised or given a specific name, but there have been many bodybuilders and athletes over the years that have eaten anything and only moderated amounts eaten, not food choices.

The diet has recently been popularised by a guy who is funded by the meat and dairy industry and also believes the latest World Health Organisation study linking cancer to processed meat (& probably red meat) is wrong (he also shows his complete misunderstanding of what that study actually says and what it is not saying...but that is another story I may write later as many people seem confused by the research).

What are ‘macros’?

Macros is short for the word ‘macronutrients ‘.  Macros are the amount if protein, carbohydrates and fats in food.  It does not take into account, vitamins, minerals, fibre, antioxidants or other nutrients in foods.

Let’s look at a few ways to put a diet together

For clarity let’s look at a few examples to make a point.  Suppose I wanted 30% protein, 30% fat and 40% carbs (don’t worry about those numbers, exchange them for your preferred ratios if you like).  Now I will offer a few scenarios and see which makes sense:

•             Scenario 1: Get protein powder, glucose powder and some fat.  I measure out the correct amounts of each of these macronutrients and have these throughout the day. My macros are spot of man!
•          Scenario 2: Eat completely processed foods.  I can eat whatever I like, but all the grains must be highly refined, all the food is highly processed (what we’d call ‘junk’ food).  However, I fit the macros so they fit my goals. Again, I end up fairly close to my goal (there may be a little variation as real foods means a little tweaking to fit exact goals...).
•         Scenario 3: Eat only what are generally accepted as healthy food.  You never deviate from this.  Weigh all food exactly and every meal is carefully measured.  You get close to your goal, you are hardcore!
•          Scenario 4: You eat mainly whole foods.  You aim at around 80% of your diet being what is considered healthy food, the other 20% you can go a little wild, have something you want that may not be ideal. You get close to your ideal intake, but there will be some small variations day to day.

Which of the above will be the best scenario for most people? Let’s look through the results of the scenarios above.

•       Scenario 1: This will get you closest to your planned macros intake.  Unfortunately, you will be losing out on fibre and many phytonutrients found only in whole plants. You may well lose fat, you could even look good eating like this over the short term.  Eventually though, nutrient deficiency and lack of fibre will lead to ill health, if  this is continued an early death will almost certainly follow. So, we know immediately that simply fitting a diet to your ‘macro needs’ are not enough to get all the nutrients you need to achieve a healthy condition, even if you can lose fat on this diet.
•      Scenario 2 : Processed food can make you lose weight.  Take a look at the Twinkie diet[i].  In this diet a professor lost 27lbs eating twinkies and other junk foods, but kept the calories lower than he needed to maintain his weight, so you can lose weight by simply cutting calories.  A lot of fad diets use the cutting out of certain foods or classes of macronutrients to make you eat less calories, so you lose weight, but in reality it is not usually the food or macronutrient itself that is the cause of the weight loss, but the lowering of calories.  So, if you cut carbohydrates or fat from your diet you lose weight, not because you cut that macronutrient out, but because you lowered your daily calorie intake. The issue with eating only processed food is again the lack of fibre and the lack of vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients in the foods you are eating.  You could lose fat, but you are setting yourself up for disease as you get older eating only processed food.
•      Scenario 3: In this scenario you are only ever eating what we call ‘healthy food’ (I will leave you to define healthy food).  This sort of eating should allow the body to get all the nutrients it needs.  There would be enough fibre, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals.  You will lose fat. In fact if you are dieting for a bodybuilding contest or to compete in a specific weight class you may need to do this sort of diet for a specified amount of time. However, if you follow this diet for prolonged periods of time several issues could develop. Foremost could be the development of the eating disorder like Orthorexia, this is not a recognised condition yet, but many of us in the fitness world have experience with this condition[ii].  Becoming obsessed all the time about only eating exact foods, in exact amounts, can lead to all sorts of problems and many people are left with the options of becoming super-obsessive about food or feeling failure as they fail to be 100% ‘clean’ with their diet.  This can cause mental stress and leads to issues like binge eating or other eating disorders.
•      Scenario 4: Is my preferred choice.  You generally eat healthy whole foods, but you allow yourself some leeway.  You are not super strict on exact calorie intake or food choices.  You can have potato if you can’t find rice.  After you have that salad you can allow yourself that small dessert. Allowing yourself the option to eat mainly healthy, but also giving yourself some permission to stray in moderation allows for cravings to be satisfied while also reaching very close to your ideal intake of calories.  Some days you may feel like being a little stricter, sometimes a little more slack, but generally hovering around the 80:20 with 80% being whole foods and 20% being other foods of your choice seems to be a happy medium where you can achieve your goals with very little stress.

Consider your situation and the options

I believe that ideally you do need a little control over what you eat.  The obesity epidemic in society suggests that some control is needed[iii]. However, just picking on one aspect (in this case your macro intake) and suggesting that this, and ONLY this, is the important factor suggests that a person is somewhat naive about the longer term effects of food on health and well being.  What is needed is balance.  You need to include control into your diet, but you must also allow some leeway to explore new foods and enjoy some variety in your diet.  If you aim at eating mainly whole foods, then allow yourself the option of a few foods that may not be especially healthy I believe you will achieve a better result than just focussing upon the exact intake of protein, carbohydrates and fats.

With IIFYM I consider it like this.  If I was to build my dream home, I employ the best construction workers and the best designers to create the perfect building for me.  Then I pull out a pile of straw and say “OK, build me that building using this”.  Just like the fairy story, no matter how well my designers design & my construction workers construct, the building will still fall down as soon as the big, bad wolf starts blowing it down!  Similarly, if you have a great, training programme, fantastic recovery & plan the ideal calorie and macro intake.  All this will mean nothing if you do not have all the other food factors in place, like phytonutrients, antioxidants, fibre and other factors that can only be found in whole foods. You will have built your own body from ‘straw’ and when it is stressed by hard training, disease, stress or aging it will fail you. Consider your food not just as fuel, consider your food as health.  One of the major factors in your long term health are the food choices you make, so consider including generous amounts of whole foods into your diet for the best results.

If you want more about how to plan your diet or more indepth looks into dietary ideas or planning, then let me know by posting below and I will start researching your question.

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[i]  http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/

[ii] https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/orthorexia-nervosa

[iii] James PT, et al. The obesity epidemic, metabolic syndrome and future prevention strategies. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology February 2004 vol. 11 no. 1 3-8. http://cpr.sagepub.com/content/11/1/3.short

Recovery isn’t upright

The chances are that if you were at school and doing sport; after the race when you are bent over & your breathe was heaving, do you remember the coach telling you to stand up straight and even to put your hands over your head.  These ideas were created to allow the diaphragm to be in the best position to allow quickest recovery.

Now suppose I told you that this is wrong.  Not only is it wrong but doing a HIIT cardio protocol you can lower the heart beat by over 20 beats per minute (BPM) MORE simply by putting your hands on your knees and bending forward slightly.  Would that be worth your time learning?

The study

This is the findings in a post-graduate thesis where they measured the recovery rates between standing upright, with hands over head & holding yourself in that well known bent over recovery position with your hands on your knees.

First let us address the issues stated by your old coach.  “Standing upright with hands over head opens the diaphragm to the maximum.” Says your coach.  “You aren’t compressing your lungs that way.”.  That is the common reasoning, but it appears that this actually incorrect.  You are not compressing your lungs by bending over as you are hip hinging in this position.  Bending forwards like this could actually increase your lung capacity slightly.  Also by using the arms as support for the upper body you lower the activity of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) & heighten the influence of the parasympathetic nervous system (rest & digest), this also aids recovery.

In this study they saw over 20BPM improvement in 3 minutes.  After 3 minutes you either had drop of 31BPM standing upright with hands overhead or 53BPM by hip hinging forward with hands on your knees.  That difference is a very significant difference if you are doing intervals or recovering between bouts of exertion.

So, to sum things up.  If you need to maximise recovery between sets or during a contest use the bent over, hands on knee posture & be ready to go again as soon as possible.

You can read the full thesis at http://cedar.wwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1329&context=wwuet

Even if you are not concerned about the speed of recovery; consider that the faster your heart rate returns to normal, the faster can begin to repair & the super-compensation the body needs to improve. So, whatever your goals learning these methods to maximise recovery will benefit you and optimise the results of any training you do.

Special thanks to Dave of Vegan Runners for the pictures of him after a race and Jemma for taking the pictures. If you are interested in getting involved in Vegan Runners email and I can pass you on the details.

A new option for foam rolling

This is an opinion piece.   As far as I know no one has studied this or even talked about it before.  I wish I could take credit for the idea, but it was my partner who first thought of this variation.

Most people know about SMR (Self Myofascial Release), or foam rolling.  You can do it before training, after training, or at other times.  I know there is still debate about what SMR actually does (it probably doesn’t ‘release’ fascia, at least not the way we think of it right now).  Let’s put that all to one side.  Even if we do not know the exact mechanism, we can agree that much of the research does point to it being beneficial.  From there we can move on to the second part of this.

Enter the bath

Many people find benefits for hot baths as a recovery aid.  Slipping into that steaming hot tub can be a fantastic feeling and time spent in the bath actually does seem to help.  For the longest time I have suggested employing self massage in a hot bath as a recovery aid.  Things like calves, knees, shoulders, arms and hips can all benefit for a bit of massage while you bathe.  However things like glutes, lower back & other areas are incredibly difficult to apply a decent pressure to yourself, so until recently I was at a loss about how to include these into a ‘bath time recovery programme’ (expect that new book soon – the bath-time recovery book - ha haa! ).

Enter the lacrosse ball

I’m guessing that if you have tried SMR for any length of time you have a lacrosse ball.  I suspect that the whole foam rolling boom probably saved the lacrosse ball industry.  I see them everywhere! Lacrosse balls are firm, rubber balls.  After you have rolled on a tennis ball for a while, you will soon find that a tennis ball feels too soft to really get into the knots and trigger points you are feeling as you roll.  A lacrosse ball is the next level of firmness.  It is rubber, so it has a little give, but it works much deeper into the tissue.

Like many of you, I use SMR at the start of a workout session (here’s a study that shows extended ROM, but no loss in power by foam rolling[i]). I actually foam roll, then do dynamic stretching, then begin the workout.  I get better sessions that way.

A match made in heaven

So, let’s put these two ideas together and see how that grabs you.  If you want to include a little extra recovery into a simple bath time activity.  First include some self massage.  This will mainly be feet legs, arms, hands & parts of the shoulder and chest. After that, put a lacrosse ball into the bath.  Do not worry, it will sink! Roll on the glutes & the lower back (avoid the spine itself). The weight you apply to the ball will be less due to buoyancy; however the hot water will increase the effectiveness of the rolling. An option could be that instead of using fingers to self massage, you could use the lacrosse ball on the legs & arm also. Just remember to keep both the ball and your own body under control while you roll out as you could slide under water (safety first people!). You can roll out as long as you like.  It could be anywhere from 5-15 minutes (or longer if you like).  The time really depends on how beat up you feel.  Give yourself more time if you feel especially banged-up.

That’s it really.  I am obviously not going to show you pictures of me naked rolling out in a bath (sorry folks).  However if you have any questions about how to either roll out or self massage I am a fully qualified masseur, so I am happy to put together something for you, just let me know below.  A lot of this will be individual as you may be tight, or have trigger points in specific areas so take the time to experiment a little.  Assuming you are a normal, healthy individual, then you cannot really do anything too bad just rolling on a lacrosse ball.  It could be very painful at first but that will ease as you adjust to the practice.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Be aware of the difference between trigger point pain & injury.  Never foam roll over muscle tears, bruising or other tissue damage. If you have any doubts then go and get checked out by a medical doctor.  If you are especially painful then you might want to seek out a qualified masseur or masseuse & get a proper sports massage, SMR is good, but not that good!

Hopefully this has given you few ideas and if you have unique ways to aid recovery why not add those below and we can start a conversation.

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[i] MacDonald GZ, et al. An Acute Bout of Self-Myofascial Release Increases Range of Motion Without a Subsequent Decrease in Muscle Activation or Force. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: March 2013 - Volume 27 - Issue 3 - p 812–821. http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2013/03000/An_Acute_Bout_of_Self_Myofascial_Release_Increases.34.aspx

 

Exercise with illness

I am not talking about mental illness, or other chronic physical issues.  We can cover those in later posts if you like, but in this case I am referring to colds, headaches & other issues.  It is usually obvious if you have a major illness that you cannot workout. That is not the issue I am addressing here, the main problem is borderline illness.  Should you lift weights with a cold?  Should you run that 10Km run with a cough?

Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules to illness, but there are a few guidelines.  Never train if you have a fever or are feeling dizzy. The body heats up when you exercise, if you already have a fever, then the added temperature rise could cause serious issues. If you are dizzy then the chances of injury are not worth the risk as you could fall, lose balance or drop a weight, fatigue will increase the chances of that happening.  Light cardio can actually help at the start of a cold, opening the airways & improving mucus flow (which sounds awful, but is actually a good thing).  Notice I said ‘light’ aerobic activity, a flat out 10Km run will depress the immune system & possibly cause more serious symptoms to develop, so the best plan is a light session.  That can be bodyweight resistance work, or light cardio work, no maximum output sessions.

Why did you get ill?

This can be for a number of reasons.  If you are under-conditioned your body is less able to fight off diseases.  Conversely, if you are over-conditioned your immune system can be depressed & so you can become ill more easily.  Times of high stress, dieting or hard workouts can also lead to an increased chance of illness.  Optimal health is achieved by modifying your training & lifestyle to what is happening in your life.  If stress is high, then backing off the training & focusing upon recovery may be the best option.  At times when stress is low pushing the training for a while might help build your body to its next level of development.

 Also every immune system has a ‘blueprint’ of diseases. If you have been exposed to the disease (or immunity was passed on by your mother), then you will fight off the disease very quickly, if however your body has to design a new defence from scratch to repel the invader, then you will often suffer more as the body battles an unknown attacker.

How long should you wait

There are no rules, but generally you can use this guide:

• 3 days for a sniffle
• 7 days for a full cold
• 2 weeks for flu

These are ballpark figures as your recovery depends on the bacteria or virus you catch, your bodies reaction to the disease, the health of your body when you get the disease, so if you are not recovered within those timeframes, take as long as you need (plus a few days of recuperation after the symptoms disappear).

If you get ill

If illness strikes the first thing to do is to honestly assess how bad the illness is.  After that, you need to consider outside factors like stress, work schedule etc.  If you decide to workout then go easier than you think, pick light bodyweight movements, easy cardio or similar.  Be extra careful with post-workout recovery & take in extra fluid.  Also be willing to modify workouts or even cancel them if symptoms increase.

The final decision

Everyone will get ill at some point. All of us have to choose whether to push through or rest when we come down with a disease.  Your ability to know your body & know which course to take can mean the difference between a few days off & being bedridden for a longer time.  Always tend towards rest if you have any doubts as rest rarely causes issues, but over-working can be achieved easily during times of illness.  Listen to your body & react honestly to what it is saying to you.  You have plenty of time to be a Kryptonian, trying to do that during illness will only set you back further.

Hopefully illness won’t visit you very often, but when it does be sure you treat it with respect & think about your actions carefully.