Newsletter: FAQ's (diet and lifting)

Salutations,
Even though I am in my “off-season,” we will not meet this weekend to lift. I will be busy preparing to fail my math final. Go me.

With that said, I’ve got some good content in this newsletter. I wrote an FAQ’s regarding everything and anything that people ask me. This is not the most comprehensive FAQ ever and I may expand upon it in the future. Obviously, if you have a question you want answered, ask me and I’ll try to answer it. Onto the show.

Q: If cavemen lived to be 30 and people today average to be 75, why should I eat and live like a caveman? (actual question I got from someone)

A: Before I answer your question, you should get a napkin and wipe the stupid off your face. Considering all the modern conveniences that civilization provides us, I would hope we have a longer life expectancy than a caveman. Earthquakes aren’t common, but Haiti is a chief example of the destruction Mother Nature can inflict even with modern technology. That’s all theoretical, so I’ll spit some statistics: in the Aché tribe (a modern hunter-gatherer tribe), 30-40% die before the age of 15 and the majority of that number before the age of 5. Now, I know I’m like really super duper good at math, but you can imagine that infant deaths will drag down the average life expectancy. The study also shows that the Aché have a 30% chance of living to age 60 all without the aid of civilization. Furthermore, these people aren’t dying from cancer, heart disease, or diabetes related illnesses (three of the top killers in America). If you gave them the conveniences of modern civilization, I’d imagine they live much longer than 30 years.

Q: I’m new to lifting and want to get big, but not as big as CJ Queenan. What should I do? (Real question. Not kidding.)

A: First, you need to make sure your technique is suitable in the lifts you’ll be doing. You can’t train if you’re hurt. Once your form is good, start lifting heavier weights in multi-joint exercises like pull-up variations, trap-bar deadlifts, bench variations, rows, single leg works, etc. Isolation exercises have their place, but are more suitable for intermediate and experienced lifters. When I say heavy, I mean 1-5 reps per set. No, you won’t get a sick pump.

Q: Won’t heavy lifting make me slow? Shouldn’t I just stick to explosive lifts?

A: This is a big myth that won’t die and people who believe it are limiting their potential. You can become slow if you overdo the heavy lifting. Like everything, moderation is critical. The right blend of maximum strength work and speed work is what you want, but most beginners should put more emphasis on maximum strength because they lack it so much. Why does this matter? Because maximum strength has a waterfall affect on power and endurance.

I’ll dissect the vertical jump in more detail than you care. In a two-foot vertical jump you have about .4 seconds to generate force into the ground (the time when you dip and explode). If you have a max in the back squat of 200 pounds, which is a slow movement, and can exert 60% of that in .4 seconds you can exert 120 pounds in your vertical jump. If you increase your back squat to 300 pounds, is your vertical going to improve? Yes. You can also improve the percent of your max which you exert with explosive lifts and plyometrics, but that’s another can of worms.

A real life example of how max strength can affect muscular endurance: someone came to me asking how to improve their strength. I told them to do weighted pull-ups. This person has done more bodyweight pull-ups than I can count. I wasn’t surprised when they mentioned to me weeks later that they were able to do more pull-ups than when they had done bodyweight pull-ups alone.

The moral of the story: build a base of maximum strength before focusing on power or muscular endurance. Even distance runners can benefit from lifting heavy weights.

Of course, I could have saved you a lot of time and showed you two videos of Brian Cushing or Georges St. Pierre training. Brian Cushing won defensive rookie of the year in the NFL and Georges St. Pierre is the top fighter in the UFC’s 170 pound weight class. To say I love them does not do my idol worship justice. They are the immaculate blend of strength and power. I’ll stop drooling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46veN24X6bk&feature=PlayList&p=30A32D382E1AAC47&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=39
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_6CSh1ESoA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPDVEWWP4KU – GSP is in the beginning

Q: Palmer, I’m still not convinced about this caveman diet because I haven’t seen the hard proof. Show me the money.

A: If you want the full article, read this. It’s pretty short and the graphs are easy to understand.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/08/ischemic-heart-attacks-disease-of.html

Most doctors have a hard time explaining this phenomenon: citizens of healthy societies that have low levels of today’s killers (cancer, heart disease, diabetes) move to the US and experience poor health. One study examined this phenomenon and the findings are mind-blowing. The number of heart attacks in Japanese-Americans and Caucasian Americans is roughly six times as high as that of Japanese living in Japan. The same trend is seen when comparing African Americans to Ugandans and Nigerians. With regard to the Ugandan rate of occurrence, they found one person that suffered a heart attack out of 4,000, which wasn’t even fatal.

“Africans in Africa and Japanese in Japan = low incidence of MI. Africans, Japanese and Caucasians in the US = high and similar incidence of MI. Genes only influence a person's susceptibility to MI when they live in an environment that promotes MI. Otherwise, genes are basically irrelevant. ” MI = heart attack

What could explain this? Maybe the Africans and the Japanese have the same diet? Nope, but they have common themes. Unlike the Standard American Diet (SAD), the African and Japanese consume a diet devoid of processed foods like vegetable oil, sugar, and wheat. They subsist on wholesome, “real” foods and don’t suffer from modern health maladies.

That’s the end of the FAQ section. Here’ a few links worth bookmarking:

http://robbwolf.com/ - He was the nutrition Guru for Crossfit and gives dietary advice to athletes and all other types.
http://paleohacks.com/ - A recently formed discussion for all things caveman. I recently asked a question concerning eliminating food cravings and it got 12 responses. I am awesome.

Buenos noches,
Palmer