5 Must Have Superfoods.

While it is important to get a variety of different whole foods, there are certain ones that should be consumed often because of the high quality nutrients they have.  It is no secret that most people are deficient of certain nutrients.  When you look at the typical Western diet and have someone who is cutting calories in order to lose weight there is no question that certain things are missing from the diet that may cause health problems.  While a supplement is always an option, many people would prefer to get as much out of whole foods as they can.  With that in mind, here is a list of 5 foods that you should really try to make part of your weekly meal plans.

1.  Beets:

I really can't take the credit for this one.  Emily is a huge beets fan.  I didn't think I would enjoy them too much but no salad is complete with out a healthy serving of beets.  Beets contain nitrates which provide a plethora of benefits for your heart.  They can increase nitric oxide production in the body which can improve circulation and reduce blood pressure.  Some research shows drinking beet juice may even improve endurance performance and tolerance for high intensity exercise.  It is also a powerful fighter of inflammation.  Beets are even known as natures Viagra and may reduce issues with sexual dysfunctions.

2.  Walnuts: 

Here is another big favorite of mine. I love throwing them in salads (with beets), in my smoothies, in yogurt, or just as a snack on their own.  One of the biggest benefits of eating nuts, like walnuts, is the high quantity of Omega 3 Fatty Acids.  These are lacking in most american diets.  Omega 6 Fatty Acids are usually over consumed and not enough omega 3's are eaten.  They have a huge role with inflammation and heart health.  Speaking of heart health, recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition just founds that those who consume higher amounts of walnuts lower their risk significantly for all cause risk for deaths related to cardiovascular disease and cancer.  Nutrients in walnuts can actually increase the flexibility of your arteries.

3.  Blueberries:

Blueberries claim to fame is its powerful antioxidant capabilities.  Free radicals in the body can progress the development of aging, cancer, and other diseases.  Blueberries help neutralize these free radicals to prevent this damage from occurring.  Blueberries have also been shown to improve cognition in older adults and help fight against dementia.  They also can help strengthen your immune system with a healthy dose of Vitamin C.

4.  Greek Yogurt:

This is one of my go to snacks and/or desserts.  If you are craving those sweet foods after dinner try having greek yogurt instead of cake, pastries, and ice cream.  Actually one of my favorite snacks is simply combining #2-4 on this list.  There are many nutritional benefits of greek yogurt but the two main ones are high amounts of probiotics, which improve your gut health, and protein.  Most clients that we work with struggle to get the correct amount of protein in the diet.  Greek yogurt is usually are go to.  The way it is made results in higher amounts of protein than regular yogurt.  1 serving of Fage 2% Greek Yogurt contains 20g of protein.  The older you are the higher the protein you probably need.

5.  Spinach:

I basically could put any green leafy vegetable here, but I chose spinach since it is the most common.  And incredibly versatile.  You could easily fit spinach into every meal of the day, in an omelet for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and sautéed


as a side dish for dinner.  This powerful food is very high in magnesium, iron, and Vitamin K.  Numerous research shows the benefits of spinach in lowering blood pressure, reducing the risk of cancer, improving bone health, and managing diabetes.  Spinach can help reduce artery calcification and help with calcium absorption to improve bone health.

So there are 5 of our favorites.  Try adding more recipes that contain these five foods each week and you are on your way to better health.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Don't Burn Fat This Way

I'm sure I have blogged about this topic before, but it is something that just won't go away.  If you could only ask personal trainer one questions, what would it be?  There are many responses that might come up, but the overwhelming majority is, "How do I lose fat on my [insert body part here]?"

This is referred to as spot reducing.  While I'm sure there will be more research to be done on this topic, the direction that current researching is pointing is that you can't do this.  I know it sucks, but we need to accept it and move on.  If you don't believe me here are some examples:

1.  The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research published a study in 2011 that 6 weeks of abdominal training lead to know fat loss of the abdomen.  It did improve the muscular endurance of the abdominal muscles.

2.  In 1971 UC Irvine performed a study on tennis players.  If spot reduction worked we would see less fat in the dominant arm of tennis players versus their non dominant.  Again this was shown to be false.

3.  A more recent study in 2007 from the University of Connecticut had subjects only train one arm to see if fat loss occurred only at that site.  Again they found that fat loss was more general all over the body and not only in the one arm.

So as tempting as it is to get on the inner/outer thigh machines to burn thigh fat or doing a million sit ups to burn stomach fat, please don't.  You select exercises for two reasons mainly.  One to train that specific muscle or movement to gain strength, endurance, or power.  The second is to select exercises that burn a lot of calories in general.  Not just at a specific location.  I know it sounds crazy, but doing squats can help burn belly fat.

In the latest issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning research, I came across an interesting study.  Sometimes research is way behind current training practices, but it is great when it catches up.  Something that we have been doing for years is using total body, high intensity exercises to try and burn as many calories as possible versus overtraining one specific area trying to spot reduce.  This study found that a few nontraditional exercises that are becoming more popular today were better at burning calories than traditional exercises.

Since I'm sure you don't want to read the study, I put together a short video of the exercises used in the study.  If you have trained with us before these should look familiar.  If not, give them a try and see how you do.  Just follow the instructions in the video for sets and reps.

Have fun!

So in summary, to burn fat, pick higher intensity total body movements.  Get off the inner/outer thigh machines unless you specifically want to improve the strength of those muscles.


You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Pain + Stress = Weight Gain

Recently I suffered from a fairly serious injury in my pursuit to tryout for American Ninja Warrior.  I know the risks associated with some of these activities, but for me it is worth it.  Even so, I'm pretty bummed out that I have to back off from training for a bit due to the pain I am feeling.

So I figured I would turn my experience into a blog post since most people have suffered from chronic pain at some point in their life.  Whether it be from exercising too much or too hard, or possibly just from sitting at a desk all day, we tend to get pain that sticks around for a while.  But other than the pain we feel and the compensations that may develop, what other concerns are there?

Many of you are probably familiar with or at least heard of the hormone cortisol.  There are ads on with miracle products that can reduce your cortisol levels and burn unwanted belly fat.  Unfortunately these probably won't work.  I've never tried them so I can't say for certain but I would be willing to bet there is little to no effect from taking them.

Just in case you have never heard of cortisol or just aren't sure exactly what it does, here is a quick review.  When we experience stress in our life we will release hormones to react to the stressor placed on our body.   People will react to stress differently so depending on the person and the situation, different hormones will be released from one person to the next.  For example, if a person feels that they are in control of the stressor they may release norepinephrine (our fight hormone.)  If they feel out of control they may release epinephrine (our flight hormone.)  When the stress is prolonged or the individual feels defeated or helpless the end result is an increase in cortisol.

Cortisol has many functions in the body.  It takes protein from the body to be converted into energy during prolonged exercise or low carb diets, it moves fat from one area of the body to another, and it also regulates which type of substrate (fat, carbs, or protein) will be used for energy for the body.  The main reason most people have heard of cortisol is because cortisol can take fat from stores in the body and move it to the abdomen.  This is what you have heard in those commercials.  When cortisol increases there tends to be more fat storage in the stomach.

So where does pain come into all of this?  Well there are many forms of stress on the body.  Exercise is stress.  It can be good or bad stress depending on how it is implemented.  So yes how you exercise may make your stomach bigger.  Pain is another form of stress.  The body doesn't want to experience pain and it is trying to work hard to get rid of it.  When you have chronic pain you are essentially chronically stressed.  This means higher levels of cortisol.  There are numerous studies showing that those that are depress, in chronic neurological, or psychological pain have higher levels of cortisol.  When they receive treatment, they will experience a decrease in cortisol levels.

The bottom line is the body can react perfectly fine to stress but too much can lead to a lot of issues.  If you have chronic pain you really need to do something about it.  Just trying to push through may make it worse.  And you probably are making your fat loss goal harder and harder.  This doesn't mean you have to quit working out, but a solution should be found.  The underlying cause of the pain must be eliminated.

If you need help finding the cause of your pain so you can remove unwanted stress and break through your weight loss plateau please contact us.  We currently have openings on Friday mornings from 8-12pm to meet with one of our physical therapists.

Please call 858-755-5200 to schedule an appointment.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Components Of A Perfect Workout

Ok so there is probably no such thing as a perfect workout, but there are a few components that you should absolutely include in every routine.  When I design an exercise program, I simply follow a template.  The first step is to talk with a client to understand what their goals are and then assess them.  This gives me the necessary information to get started.

So how do you come up with your workout routine?  Do you just do a few random exercises you like at the gym, follow a program you found online or in a magazine, or maybe you don't workout at all.  Use this post to help organize an extremely effective routine.  I will even provide examples so you can start with this and modify as necessary.

Step 1:  Myofascial Release

First if you have stiff muscle tissue you won't be able to move properly.  You workout will be incredibly more effective if you start with a few minutes on a foam roller.  This will depend on where exactly you are tight, but it won't hurt to roll all over.  Here are a few common ones we use.

Calves
IT Band
Lats

Step 2:  Corrective Exercises

Once you worked on improve the quality of your muscle tissue you can start to perform exercises that may improve mobility or enhance your stability.  Again this is very specific to what your personal issues are but here are a few popular ones we use:

T Spine Rotation
Stride Stretch
Deep Squat Patterning

Step 3:  Core Exercises

Now that we improved movement we do our best to lock it in place with a few core stability exercises.  These are essentially exercises that attempt to make you keep a neutral spine while adding resistance or arm/leg movement.  Again here are some of our favorites:

Planks
Pallof Presses
Bird Dogs

Step 4:  Power Exercises

Power exercises are great for stimulating type II muscle fibers, increasing fat loss, and improving sport performance.  Some people feel that they don't knee this type of training, but I promise you everyone can benefit from it:

Stride Jumps
MB Slams-Please start with a nonbouncing ball first.

Step 5:  Resistance Training

Next the meat of the workout will contain the big movements with resistance.  Our two goals here are to improve lean muscle mass to rev up the metabolism and to burn calories.  Big movements are usually the best option here:

KB Goblet Squats
Push Ups
Walking Lunges
Inverted Rows

Step 6:  Energy Systems Development

This is just a fancy way of saying high intensity training to burn a ton of calories in a short time, improve conditioning, and increase metabolism over the next few hours.

Body Weight Complex

Step 7:  Recovery

Then finally you get to stretch and possibly foam roll again in a puddle of your own sweat.  Sounds amazing doesn't it?

Try putting these exercises together for one great workout.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Are You Carb Intolerant?

Carbs, Carbs, Carbs.   They are everywhere.  And if you listen to most people they are the reason you can't lose weight.  I have always been one to defend carbohydrates.  They are an amazing source of energy and provide many nutrients that our body needs.  I don't disagree that most people over-consume them though.  Personally I eat a lot of carbs.  At least 50% of my diet is made up of different types of carbs.  Why can I eat more carbs that you?  Well, there are probably a lot of reasons for this.  I may have more lean body mass and a higher metabolism, I may exercise more frequently and more intensely than you, or maybe I just eat them at a more appropriate time than you do.

There are probably many more reasons why some people eat carbs and have no problem maintaining a good weight and others just look at them and blow up.  Could it be a genetic issue?  Obviously genetics will always play an important role when looking at any diet.  The simple truth is that some nutritional plans would great for some and terrible for others.

A few recent studies have linked a gene that may result in a carb intolerance.  They are finding that those that are obese have less of an enzyme in your saliva that starts the digestion and breakdown of starch.  Those that have high amounts of this enzyme or gene that causes this tend to have a lower glycemic index for all carbs, tolerate glucose better, and tend to eat less.  Those that have a higher amount will have more issue with carbs.

If you think that you may be doomed with genes that cause obesity all is not lost though.   First you can see a doctor to find out if this is a problem.  Or you can just follow these simple rules when consuming carbs to be safe:

1. Eat slowly and chew thoroughly
2. Take a daily probiotic
3. Keep eating carbs but stick with fiber rich, nutrient dense ones like beans, legumes, unprocessed whole grains, and lots of fruits and veggies.

The bottom line is most people are looking for something to blame their weight gain or stalled weight loss on.  It is easy to just say that your genetics are screwing you.   There may be some truth to it.  But first look at the type and amount of carbs you eat throughout the day.  If that is not dialed in then it won't really matter what your genetics are.  Just follow the simple rules listed above if you think you may be carb intolerant.

Reference:  http://www.precisionnutrition.com/carbohydrate-tolerance-genes

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Simple Breathing Trick

We rarely think about it and most likely ignore it completely, but breathing is one of the most important parts of our exercise routine.  There are lots of techniques and theories on how to breath properly using your diaphragm and other deep core muscles.  While this is a discussion for another time, I wanted to share a simple trick to help improve your workouts.

How someone breathes tells you a lot about their situation.  Often in sports an athlete will look for his competitor to increase mouth and heavy chest breathing.  This is a sign of fatigue and the perfect time to strike.  Fast heavy breathing increases our sympathetic nervous system response (fight or flight response).  This is how we react to stress in our life, whether it be exercise or stress at work.  While at times it is important to increase this activity, other times we need to rest and recover.  If we are increasing respiration too often it can lead to reduced oxygen delivery, over training and excessive fatigue.

The trick is to control your breathing.  You can do this during your next cardio workout with cadence breathing.  Essentially just develop a rhythm in your breath.  For example, think about the last time you went on a run.  Most likely you can't even remember how you were breathing.  If you do, it was probably very quickly, via mouth breathing.  Next time you go on a run (or any cardio workout) try and time your breathing with your steps.  While everyone's stride is different try something like this.  If it doesn't work perfectly you can change the numbers to fit your style.  Try and take a deep inhale, through your nose only, for 3-4 foot contacts on the ground.  Then exhale through your mouth slowly for another 2-3 foot contacts.  Continue practicing this method.  You will notice you have better energy and more efficient running.   This will help you run further and faster.  All by just controlling your breathing.

It make takes some time to get use to it but be consistent.  I have been currently using this method to get ready for our Spartan run this weekend.  I am not a big fan of running but it is amazing how much easier it is when you have something to think about and distract you.  Give it a try and let me know how it works.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Random Nutrition Tips

I have probably stated this before, but I am pretty much a fitness nerd.  I can't read for pleasure anymore.  If I am going to read or listen to an audio book it has to be health related.  I do find pleasure in learning, but things change so often I need to do my best to stay on top of the latest research so I can provide the best service to my clients.

This week I was reading through the latest edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and came across a few good studies that I thought would be interesting for most people to hear about.  They aren't really related to each other, hence the title of this blog, Random Nutrition Tips.  While I would never put all my stock in just one study, it is worth interpreting the results and experiment on your own.
Here we go:

1.  Looking for a performance edge?

This study found that oral supplementation of Magnesium in elder women improved physical performance.  The main note that should be made here is that magnesium deficiency is associated with poor physical performance.  In this study those that had an intake below the RDA of magnesium, before the supplement, saw the best improvement.  This is probably true with 99% of the supplements out there.  If you are deficient in something you will see an improvement with supplements.  If you are not you probably won't.  So you can take the supplement, but really try and find foods high in the nutrients you are missing.  In this case try incorporating more dark leafy greens like spinach, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, brown rice, and avocados.

2.  Another reason to stop drinking soda.

Hopefully you are not drinking much soda for a variety of reasons.  But for postmenopausal women,

listen up closely.  This study found that for all types of sodas (regular, diet, caffeine free, non cola...) there is a significant increase risk of hip fractures.  There is already evidence that soda has a negative effect on bone health in children.  Looks like it may not be much better for adults either.

3.  Limit process read meat consumption.

There were actually two studies released in this issue on processed vs unprocessed red meat.  The first showed that those who consumed 5 or more servings a week had a 17% high rate of high blood pressure vs. those who consumed 1 or less.  There was no difference in blood pressure with those that consumed 5 or more or 1 or less of unprocessed red meet.

Also, those that consumed high amounts of processed red meet where associated with a shorter life span.  Consumption of non processed red meat was not associated with a shorter life span.

Unfortunately I was only to read the abstracts for these articles and can't be sure what they mean exactly by processed and unprocessed.  I'm assuming they mean organic, GMO, and grass fed beef though.

4.  Why you hit plateaus.

And finally, this last study looked at a possible reason why we hit early weight loss plateaus.  While I think there are a variety of reasons you would hit one, here is a good explanation.  Many people associated a plateau due to a slowed metabolism as a result of calorie reduction.  This can be true and may slow down weight loss for some.  According to this study, they found that a more likely cause is lower dietary adherence.  This just makes sense.  It is easy to stick with a diet when you first start and you usually see good results.  Then you slack and start to cheat, but expect the same results you were seeing before.  It just won't happen.

Well there are some random tips for you to work on.  Good luck and feel free to comment.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training