Necessity is the mother of all invention (Exercise example)

       I recently finished the book The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It by Neal Bascomb. It is a book about Roger Banister, Wes Santee and John Landy's quest to be the first to break the 4 min mile marker. The book did a remarkable job covering each athletes chase to be the first sub 4 min miler. One aspect that struck me was the training. In 2023 these athletes would be sponsored by Nike, decked out in the latest gear, access to the best training known to man and dedicate their lives to achieving their best mile. in the 1950's these athletes were in college (or in Banister's case in medical school), running on cinder tracks and training more or less on their own. Santee had a coach and ran for the University of Kansas track team; however, the book did a wonderful job detailing his struggles with running on a team and being a part of collegiate athletics (that story is for another post). For the focus of this post, I'll cover the training methods of Bannister. Take in account for his busy schedule he devised a unique training method for that time period: Intervals.

         Interval training is a style of anaerobic training. Anaerobic is a style of training that does not use oxygen as fuel but ATP (energy currency) and glycolysis. Simply put glycolysis is the breakdown of carbohydrate by either stored in the muscle or glucose deliver via the Cori cycle. The Cori Cycle begins with the metabolization of glycolysis into Pyruvate. Through chemical reactions Pyruvate turns into lactate in the sarcoplasm of a cell or into the mitochondria (Krebs cycle) depending on the presence of oxygen. Since this post details anaerobic style training we are going to focus on the Cori Cycle. One of the more misunderstood results of the Cori Cycle is the formation of Latic Acid and the relationship to fatigue. Lactate or Latic acid is not the cause of fatigue. It is the increased presence of Hydrogen that increases the PH levels resulting in the disruption of glycolytic reactions, turnover rate of cells energy system and the Sliding Filament Theory in general. Why mention this deep science exercise science? How does this relate to running a sub 4 min mile? Two reasons, 1. In trained individuals Lactate Threshold begins at 70%-80% of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 Max). Meaning Bannister could run at a longer intensity than the normal person. 2. Your lactate threshold can be trained to be able to handle high levels of intensities for longer durations. Bannister was able to train at a higher intensity with less time. His demanding schedule created a small window of training and interval training was the best available method to running a sub 4 min mile.

      Mimicking Bannister's training style is broken down into two parts: Run hard then rest. In Bannisters example he ran quarter mile repeats with designated rest periods then ran another quarter mile. He ran at specific intervals due to his event. A longer distance race might require longer intervals (with longer rest periods). A two-mile event for example training would have 800m repeats at race pace or a pace that you are trying to hit for the 2 miles. For example, if I am trying to run a 14:00 two-mile time that would be 7 min a mile with a 800m split of 3:30. Since this is interval training 3:30 should be the ceiling in terms of pace. Anything sub 3:30 that I can maintain for several reps is ideal.        

    

Daily Nutrition Strategies

     Before getting into the meat and potatoes (see what I did there) of this post I should mention that I am not a Dietician. It is out of my scope of practice to design meal plans of the individual person. I have knowledge about food and an idea of what is healthy but cannot issue a meal plan. My scope of practice is Personal Training. Another disclaimer that I should mention is that there is no ideal diet. Diets (much like exercise) should be individualized. This is why you will see ranges within this post.

I hate the word diet. It implies restrictions. I prefer nutrition. Food is fuel. Certain foods elicit a certain response to training. With that said a normal average dude is going to eat differently than an athlete. An average person may be trying to lose weight or gain weight for health reasons. A lifter may be cutting or bulking. On a side note (insert soap box) ……why bulk? To me it is an excuse to eat shitty foods and rationalize it as “bulking”.  “I got to get my calories in so I got to eat five doughnuts” horrible logic.  I digress. 

A Strength/Speed or hybrid athlete is going to eat differently than a more aerobic exercises. This post is going to focus on the strength/speed type. I’ll use myself as an example. Currently, I am 190 pounds or roughly 86 kg.

In terms of carbohydrates, I should be eating 5-6g per day. That is a range of 430-516 grams per day. While that seems like a lot, keep in mind that carbs in grams add up quickly. A ½ cup of oatmeal is 28g, a banana is 19g. That's 47g for breakfast. Coupled with lunch, dinner and snacks carb goals are attainable. Carbs are essential for energy usage and to spare protein sources for energy. Protein wise I should shoot for at least 1.5g per body weight which equates to 129g. For reference: one scoop of protein powder is 20g and a 3 oz of chicken breast is 26 grams. In one meal I have a solid baseline of protein goals. Protein is used to sustain and build muscle. In terms of fat, fill in your caloric goals with fat. If it seems that I am glossing over fat as a macronutrient it is because I am. Focus should be on carbs and protein due to energy requirements of those two macronutrients. Fats do provide energy to the body (in fact for every 1 calorie they provide 9g of energy), however for this specific training. 

For water intake it is recommended to consume at least 3.7L of water every day. That is nearly a gallon of water. Water intake is one of the more variable aspects of fitness because it depends on so many factors. Weather plays a significant factor. Hot, Humid climates require more water due to sweating factors, time of exercise is another. Big difference is when I work out at 5am as opposed to noon. The goal is to not lose more than 2% of body weight sweating as that will detract from performance.

These are simply recommendations. If another nutrition strategy works for you and your able to perform well then "Send it"

          

The mind muscle connection explained

The human body is remarkable. The exercise induced by the body is mind blowing. Take resistance training for example. Something as simple as lifting weights triggers several systems of the body to work in compliance in order to lift weights. 

In no particular order the mind (neural system), muscular system (duh), ligaments and tissues, and hormonal (endocrine system) all play a factor.

For the neural system I’ll go with the adaptations that go along with lifting weights. The sliding filament theory is what makes the muscles move. This post focuses on the adaptation process. Three key words to know are recruitment, rate coding and synchronization. They are intertwined but for post purposes I’ll go over each one individually. Recruitment is the process of recruiting enough muscle fibers in order to lift the particular weight. If I am lifting 25 pounds, then my body recruits enough muscles to lift 25 pounds; if I lift 50 pounds then the body recruits more muscles. This is accomplished by motor units. Simply put a motor unit is an alpha motor neuron and the muscle fibers it innervates. A larger muscle such as the quadricep entails more motor units while a smaller muscle such as the eye may only have one. When a motor unit is activated all of the encompassing muscle fibers contract. This is called the all or nothing principle. The body systematically recruits type 1 muscle fibers then type 2 muscle fibers. In some extreme cases by well-trained athletes type 2 can be recruited first. This principle is called selective recruitment. It can also happen in Olympic lifts (power clean/snatch) or plyometric exercises. The heavier you lift the more motor units are activated. Additionally, compound lifts activate more motor units. Rate coding is how fast those muscles are recruited. A more trained individual recruits motor units faster and increases the firing rate of motor units. Synchronization of recruitment and rate coding is another adaptation of resistance training. Think about this if I am squatting, I want all of my leg muscles to synch up to in order to lift weights.

In order to elicit these neural adaptations, one must continuously lift weights at an increased weight. Stagnate lifting or lifting the same weight over and over may elicit some adaptations, but to further adapt the body more stress has to be applied.

How many sets, reps and rest should I do at the gym?

    I’m going to answer that question with another question. What is your goal? What do you want to get out of training? 

    

     Typically, resistance training is based around four outcomes: Strength, Power (Single and Multiple effort), Hypertrophy, and muscular endurance. If I want to train for strength I must train for strength. 

    

     Your training history dictates how quickly your body adapts to training. A newer lifter will see gains rather quickly due to several adaptations. One of those is neural. Ever hear about mind muscle connection? That is the adaption that you mind sends signals to the muscle to recruit enough muscle fibers to pick up the weight and how fast. The more weight you lift the more muscle fibers are involved in the lift. As you progress in training the muscles respond faster this leads to greater synchronization of muscle fibers. To break it down further the body recruits’ smaller type 1 fibers first then larger type 2 muscle fibers. When you lift all these fibers get bigger and thicker this is more well known as the All or nothing principle. Unless you’re a higher trained individual your body muscles are recruited this way. With continued training your muscles recruit at a faster rate (rate coding). 

    

    Another key aspect is figuring out your 1 Rep Max (1RM). One way is to keep piling on the weight until you can lift it one time. This can be time consuming and involves at least one spotter. I simpler way that involves less spotters are to estimate it through a chart. If I can lift 150 pounds 10 times, then my 1RM would be roughly be 200 pounds. Keep in mind this is an estimate, and it may differ if you choose to get your 1RM. Many apps have features to estimate your 1RM. Charts are well circulated across the web as well.

     Simply, put strength is the ability to move weight. As you would imagine lifting heavy would constitute strength. Strength is typically broken down into six or less repetitions with roughly 2-6 sets. This would be your 5x5 (five sets or five reps), 4x6 (four sets of 6 reps) training methods. Lifting at this method would involve at least 85% of your 1RM. In our above example taking that 200-pound 1RM multiply by .85 which comes out to 170 pounds. To train for strength, I am at least lifting 170 pounds for a maximum of 6 repetitions. As long as you’re in that window then you are training for strength. Lifting heavy requires more rest. This resting time allows your body to re-coup some of the ATP (energy currency) your body lost during training. 2-5 min is an appropriate rest time between sets. I am sure you have seen videos on social media making fun of this training with the lifter bring a pillow to the gym to take a nap between sets. This is an over embellishment. Your body needs that rest time to hit your desired rep range. An example would be 5x5 at 87% with 3 min rest time. 

    Power on the other hand is the ability to exert force quickly. Since the intent is to move weight quickly dropping the weight to 75%-90% of my one rep max is ideal. Think of it this way if I am lifting 190 pounds (using the above example) moving that amount of weight would be slower than if I dropped that weight down to 140 pounds. The smaller load allows me to lift it faster with ties back into the rate coding princible. This is a wider range of load because it breaks it down into a single effort or multiple efforts. Think of a shot putter in track and field for single effort. They only throw one time. Basketball or volleyball players would fall into the multiple effort power training. Single would be 80%-90% of your 1RM with a goal of 1 to 2 reps. Multiple efforts are typically broken down into 75%-85% of your 1RM with 3-5 repetitions. The high stress of these lifts also requires additional rest. A rest cycle of 2-5 min is appropriate for this type of training. 

    Hypertrophy training is like body building style of training. The goal is to build muscle. This is one of the more common methods of training. Again, this involves lighting the overall load and the reason is to be able to lift the weight more times in a set. Typical reps would include 6-12 reps with 3-6 sets at 67%-85% of your 1RM. It is inversely based. If I want to lift 80% of 1RM then ideally, I will lift the weight 8 times. Or if I want to lift 10 times (reps) then I would lift at 75% of 1RM. Rest cycles are 30 seconds to 90 seconds. 

     The last goal of training is muscular endurance or the ability to exert force over an extended amount of time. Long distance runners fall into this category. Lifting at 67% of 1 RM or less falls into this training with at least 12 repetitions. Since a lighter weight is used less rest is required. 30 seconds or less is recommended for the rest cycles.

Three principles of building a workout program

    Finding a new workout plan on the internet can be exhausting. Endless searching for the right workout only to find out that one week is free while you have to pay for the rest of the plan. I get it; folks have to make money too, but information should not be hoarded. Even with free resources such as YouTube or Instagram it can be hard to distinguish the overall plan. It's like watching a football game and the plays are randomized and do not flow into an overall system.

    By understanding overall themes of what goes into a plan can be greatly beneficial towards overall fitness goals. The overall theme of any plan starts with Specificity, Overload and Progression. These principles apply to resistance training, aerobic training, agility, whatever….same principles apply.

Specificity

Specificity is essentially working backwards when designing a program. What is the end result? What do I want at the end of the plan? Do I want to get bigger (hypertrophy)? Do I want to get faster at the mile? Do I want to run a marathon? Training has to reflect the end goal. Training in a specific manner will elicit a specific adaptation within the body. S.A.I.D. (Specific application to imposed demands) is a catchy acronym to remember when applying specificity to workouts.

Overload 

Overload is simply adding more intensity to a workout. This can be accomplished in several methods. One of the more simpler ways is to increase the weight in resistance training or run more miles in aerobic training. Another method is to increase the number of times per week to train. For example, if I am training two days a week I would increase that to three days a week. Increasing the number of sets or adding additional exercises are two other ways to manipulate the overload principle. Decreasing rest cycles is another way to change the intensity. All of the above are ways to use the overload principle. To avoid paralysis over analysis, pick one and use that. Changing multiple aspects of overload at once changes the end adaptation. 

Progression

While at first glance progression and overload seem like synonyms. While overload applies to specific changes within an individual workout;progression applies to the overall plan. If the goal is to learn how to power clean. I would first start with a hang clean then progress into a power clean.

What really happens when you get injured.

  If you are an active person you have undoubtedly been hurt at some point. As we get older (I’m 37 so I feel ya) our bodies do not move nor recover the same way as our younger selves did. Even myself have fallen victim to injuries. Typically, injuries fall into two categories: Macrotrauma and Microtrauma. 

Macrotrauma 

Macrotrauma is the specific, sudden episode of trauma to a part of the body. 

Severe trauma to bones lead to a contusion (bone bruise) or a fracture (closed, open, avulsed, incomplete are various classifications). If your a college football fan the past few weeks two bone fractures occurred in playoff caliper teams (Florida State and Michigan)

Joints on the other hand can either be dislocated (complete displacement of joint surface) or subluxation (partial displacement of joint surface). Examples would be a dislocated shoulder, finger, etc. These typically present with visible configuration or discoloration of the affected area.

Ligament trauma is classified into sprains which are further broken down into degrees of injury. A First degree sprain includes a partial tear with joint stability. Second degree sprains have partial tears with minor joint instability and a third degree sprain is a complete tear with full joint instability. One of the more common sprains is the ankle. Depending on the degree of sprains it can be a few days to a few weeks of recovery. 

Muscles can suffer from either a contusion (direct trauma to the muscle). Muscle contusion is visibly diagnosed by accumulation of blood and fluid to the affected area. A muscle strain has various degrees (much like ligaments). A first degree sprain is a partial tear of muscle fibers. The muscle itself is strong, but painful. A second degree encompasses partial tears of the muscle which are weak and painful. A third degree is a complete tear of the tissue coupled with weakness and painlessness.

Microtrauma  

Microtrauma is repeated, overuse of stress applied to the tissue. This typically comes from continuous training without proper rest. (ever try running on an injured leg? Keep going and your more than likely going to suffer through microtrauma. Read about David Goggins and how he broke his legs going through BUDS. That is more than likely stemming from continued overuse. Repeated stress to bones leads to stress fractures (ie Goggins going through training). Tendons suffer through tendonitis (inflammation of tendons). Untreated tendonitis may lead to chronic tendonitis.

Now that you understand injuries and how they happen. This is what happens to the body while you're injured. The body generally has three responses to injuries.

1. Inflammatory Response Phase

Inflammation is the initial reaction to injuries which is the red and swollen visuals that happen. This is due to the increased blood flow to the affected area. During this time part of the tissue dies and is removed by increased blood flow to the injured area. As you can imagine this is the aspect of injuries that causes the most pain.

2. Fibroblastic Repair Phase

Once inflammation ends the tissue goes through repair. (Think when construction workers lay new roads. They typically remove damaged parts of the road first then lay down new roads). The new “road” in your body is type three collagen tissue. Initially the body lays down new collagen randomly. Laying down new tissue is sensitive to injury due to incomplete direction and foundation.

3. Maturation-Remodeling Phase

During this phase the tissue becomes stronger. The type three collagen initially laid shifts to longitudinally position to the stressed area and became type one collagen. The type one is stronger and becomes thicker with time. This is the longest of the three phases as it typically lasts from months to years.

Depending on injury, age, and lifestyle define how well or how fast you react to tissue healing. The ultimate goal is to heal tissue and return to full function.