The CrossFit Influence

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning fitness methodology that promotes broad and general overall physical fitness. It was created by former gymnast Greg Glassman. The basic idea behind CrossFit is to promote fitness for the whole body - rather than focusing on specific training. 

Why is CrossFit training relevant to me? First of all, I am too old to do the CrossFit exercises. They are just too intense. Secondly, CrossFit requires specific equipment that is not available in the general gyms (such as kettle bells, rings etc.)


But I am a big fan of their basic philosophy for body conditioning and nutrition. Here are some of their key values that I adhere to.


1. Keep the body guessing: The basic principle of CrossFit training is that you never let your body know what you are about to do to it. You get up each morning, log on to the CrossFit Website and find out what is the prescribed exercise for that day. The exercises are listed in cryptic codes such as Fran, Nasty Girls, etc. You need to do your homework to figure out what you actually need to do to complete these exercises. 


How does this benefit our body? Well, when you do random exercises, you never let your body get adjusted and the body needs to keep adjusting (i.e. get fitter) to keep up with these exercises. Imagine if you ran 5 kilometers every day. Initially, you will find excellent results as your body tries to cope with you running such a long distance. But after a while, your body will get conditioned to this run and you will see no further progress in your fitness. So you need to keep changing your routine and keep the body guessing to gain maximum results.


2. Focus on the whole body: CrossFit requires that you get proficient in ten different domains (cardiovascular and respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination and accuracy). This means you don't focus on weight-lifting or running or sprinting or gymnastics. You focus on ALL of them. 


How does this benefit our body? Since we are not focusing on specific type of exercises, we become generally fit in all areas. You will not get the body of Arnold nor will you look like those anemic Olympic runners but you will have a fit & trim body. You will not win any weight-lifting competition but you should be able to do quiet well. Similarly, you will not win any long-distance races, but you will surely be there in the top finishers. You see where this is going? If you objective is not to compete in events, then CrossFit is the best form of exercise for overall fitness.


3. Short Duration but Intense: Some of the CrossFit workouts can be completed in less than 5 minutes while some may require 20-30 minutes. That's all it takes and you are done for the day. While this may seem like a very easy thing to do, it is anything but. Spend 2 minutes watching this amazing clip (The guy is performing the "Fran" workout) to get an idea of how intense these exercises can get. Make sure you turn the volume all the way up!!

How does this benefit our body? The intensity of the exercises raises our metabolic rate through the roof and keeps it there long after our workout is completed. This is similar in principle to the HIIT workout that I wrote about earlier.

4. Nutrition: CrossFit diet recommends a 40:30:30 break-up of the 3 main macro-nutrients (40% Carbohydrates, 30% Proteins, and 30% Fat). These should come from garden vegetables (especially greens), lean meats, nuts and seeds, little starch and no sugar. That's about as simple as it gets. You can read more about CrossFit diet plan here.

How does this benefit our body? The recommended diet provides our body with the right balance of each macro-nutrient and ensures that our body has sufficient energy to complete the workouts and sufficient proteins to build back the damaged muscles.

Will I ever become a CrossFitter? Maybe.

The Chocolate Milk Diet

Can there really be something like a chocolate milk diet?

When I first read David Zinczenkos' article that popped in my inbox, I was a bit skeptical. After all, chocolate milk is something we associate with our kids lunch box. However, after reading the article, it made a lot of sense.

David proposes that the combination of Proteins, Calcium, Carbohydrates, fats and Vitamin D found in chocolate milk is just the ticket for good health, and a catalyst for weight loss. His proposal is to drink 3 packets of chocolate milk each day.

Three packets of 250ml (or 8 fluid ounces for those still living in the dark ages of the imperial system).

One packet in the morning, One packet just before workout and the last packet just after workout is the recommendation. Oh..and in case you thought you could just drink chocolate milk and lose weight, you were wrong. It needs to be combined with a workout session and a sensible diet.

As is usual for me, I trotted off to calorie counter database to check the nutritional data of chocolate milk to make my own judgement on the beneficial values of chocolate milk.

Nutritional Facts of Chocolate Milk.

Item	Per 250ml	Per 3x250ml
Calories	158	474
Proteins	8.1g	24.3g
Carbs	26.1g	78.3g
Fat	2.5g	7.5g

In addition to the main macro-nutrients listed above, chocolate milk is also rich in Calcium, and Vitamin D - both of which are good for our bones.

The 3 packets of chocolate milk taken as prescribed constitute a full meal (474 calories) with a good break-up between Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fat. The Carbohydrates in the milk is mostly sugar, but when you have just finished your workout, your body needs quick absorbing carbs to re-energize your body and the chocolate milk provides exactly that. In addition, the proteins in the milk start working on your damaged muscles repairing and rebuilding them.

I tried chocolate milk immediately after a hard workout. As the milk flows through your body, you can feel yourself getting re-energized. It has now become my staple drink after a workout. I still haven't started the 3-packets a day diet but I may soon start it.

It makes perfect sense and taste great too!.

Outdoor Running vs Treadmill: Which is Better?

Whenever I am in Goa (India), I take every opportunity I get to run outdoors. My house is near a long stretch of lovely beach - so running there is an exhilarating experience. The cool breeze against your face, meeting friends and strangers on the way, and something different to observe each time.

But I live in Kuwait. Kuwait is a desert and the weather outside is a constant reminder that we are living in a place where humans are not supposed to live. If it is not the sand storms or the dust, then it's the heat or the chilling cold. None of this is conducive to outdoor running so I am forced to run on a treadmill.

This made me stop and ponder whether one form of running is superior to the other. I have tried to summarize the advantages of each method of running.

ADVANTAGES OF OUTDOOR RUNNING OVER TREADMILL.

1. Running outdoors means you are running in a natural environment - the way we were designed to run (yes, as a species, we evolved through running/hunting/gathering. We are not designed to sit in an office for 8 hours). When running outdoors, you react to your surroundings and make split-second decisions based on the obstacles and distractions that you encounter. This type of interaction with the environment is good for our body. Even the wind makes us adapt our running style to handle the wind-resistance or wind-assistance.

2. Running outdoors is not monotonous. There is something different to observe each day. You can take different routes to make the run more interesting.

3. Running outdoors is healthier. It is always a good idea to get some fresh air in your lungs and running outdoors is a perfect opportunity to do that.

ADVANTAGES OF TREADMILL RUNNING OVER OUTDOOR RUNNING.

1. You are not at the mercy of the natural environment and you don't have to abort your running schedule because of rain, snow, hail, floods, dust or any other disruptions caused by Mother nature. You can set your running schedule and stick to it.

2. Running on a treadmill is safer for your joints as the treadmill is softer than the hard ground and absorbs some of the shock on the joints as you run.

3. You can run at a set pace without worrying about obstacles, or distractions and the treadmill provides useful feedback about your progress such as distance run, current pace, calories burned etc. This makes it easier to set a goal and try to achieve the goal.

4. Sometimes, the fresh air outside is overrated. In many places, it may actually be safer to run indoors.

So both methods of running have their advantages and disadvantages. In my opinion, one is not superior than the other. You choose one based on your circumstances and needs.

But choose........you must!!!.

The most important meal of the day.

Breakfast is called the most important meal of the day for a very good reason. Your body needs energy to fuel your day - and breakfast is the meal that should provide this energy.

A good breakfast should have a right combination of the three main macro-nutrients (carbs, proteins and fats), with the carbs playing a more important role in the early part of the day.

After experimenting with what works for me and what I like to eat, I have narrowed my breakfast choices to the following 3 options:

1. THE CARB-HEAVY BREAKFAST

This breakfast of mine centers around the "Old Fashioned Quaker Oats". I prefer the "Original" version of the oats over the quick-cooking version. I cook the oats in low-fat milk over a slow fire for around 10 minutes and throw in some raisins to add some extra fiber to the meal. The oats are topped up with chunks of 1 banana.

The nutritional data of this meal is as follows:

Item	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
Original Oats	200	4	38	8
Raisins	78	0.1	20.6	0.8
Low-Fat Milk	122	4.8	11.4	8.1
Banana	90	0.3	23.1	1.1
**TOTALS**	490	9.2	93.1	18

This is the breakfast that I have most of the time (3 to 4 times a week). The 490 calories constitute 25% of my daily calorie needs. The complex carbs from the Oats keeps me satiated most of the morning.

2. THE PROTEIN-HEAVY BREAKFAST

This breakfast centers around eggs. Scrambled eggs to be more exact. I mix 3 eggs in a dash of milk and cook them in a frying pan. Many people ask me if 3 eggs is a bit much. It depends on your dietary needs. You should always check with your dietitian. For me, I find 3 eggs is just right (300 calories with a solid 19.5g of protein). In order to balance the proteins with some carbs, I take 2 slices of whole wheat bread (23.2g carbs) and a glass of low-fat milk (11.4g carbs).

The nutritional data of this breakfast is as follows:

Item	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
3 Scrambled Eggs	299	22.7	3	19.5
Whole Wheat Bread	138	1.8	23.2	7.2
Low-Fat Milk	122	4.8	11.4	8.1
**TOTALS**	559	29.3	37.6	34.8

This is quite a filling breakfast. I usually have it only once or twice a week. The fat, though very high, is the good fat from the egg-yolks. Contrary to popular myth, scientific studies suggest that the fat from eggs (from the yolk) does not raise blood cholesterol levels, and that eggs are safe to consume whole. If you want to cut back on the fat, but still get the benefit of proteins from the eggs, a simple option would be to remove the egg yolk, which will make this breakfast a "high-protein", "moderate-carbs" and "negligible-fat" meal.

3. THE CHEAT BREAKFAST

We all need to indulge ourselves once in a while. For me, that means eating out once a week. On Saturdays, I usually go to the gym early in the morning. On the way back, I tend to visit McDonalds and pick up their Egg McMuffin breakfast for the whole family. The Egg McMuffic sandwich, by itself, is quite a healthy option. It's the hash brown that turns this healthy breakfast into a cheat breakfast.

I choose coffee instead of their canned juices, and end up with a reasonably healthy breakfast.

The nutritional data of this breakfast is as follows:

Item	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
Egg McMuffin	300	12	30	18
Hash Brown	150	9	15	1
Black Coffee (No Sugar)	2	0	0	0.3
**TOTALS**	452	21	45	19.3

The cheat breakfast does not appear to be that much of a "cheat meal" after all.

Of course, when it comes to breakfast, nothing beats the first option (Oats). Ever since I switched to this breakfast, I feel more alert and charged during the day. Nothing beats Oats. You just need to adapt your taste buds to its bland taste, which I guess, is difficult for most of us.

I'm loving' it - but should I?

As parents of two "always-hungry" children, McDonalds has literally become our second home. My wife always wishes that they would have some kind of loyalty program because we could have collected enough miles by now to enjoy a nice round-the-world ticket for two, and perhaps a second retirement home, by the time our children get over the craze of McDonalds.

Yes. We are aware that McDonalds food is not good for them. Eating this type of food on a regular basis is a sure-fire ticket towards obesity. Unfortunately for our children, we happen to be a working couple living in a country that lives on a fast-food culture. And neither of us are good at cooking.

But is their food really that bad? McDonalds now publishes the nutritional values of all their food items. I recently picked up a copy to see what to make of it. I have segregated the data between main items, salads, dressings, and side dishes; and I have sorted the items from the most calories to the least.

Main Items	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
Chicken Big Mac	593	32	47	29
Spicy McChicken	583	35	40	27
McArabia	566	30	50	24
McRoyale	540	31	38	30
McChicken	537	31	40	24
Qtr.Pounder w/Cheese	530	30	38	28
Big Mac	500	26	42	26
Veggie Burger	485	27	50	10
Fillet-O-Fish	470	26	45	15
Chicken Burger	317	14	33	14
6-pcs Nuggets	310	13	12	10
Cheeseburger	299	13	31	16
Beefburger	254	9	31	13

Salads	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
Chicken Ceasar Salad	157	4	5	26
Green Salad	118	8	4	8
Caesar Salad	56	3	3	5

Dressings	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
1000 Islands Dressing	205	17	13	1
Caesar Dressing	194	15	13	1
Light Vinaigrette	40	0	10	0

Side Orders	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
McFlurry Kit Kat	349	13	48	9
Sundae Hot Fudge	323	11	49	7
Sundae Caramel	319	7	59	6
McFlurry Oreo	296	10	43	8
Sundae Strawberry	259	6	46	6
Apple Pie	220	12	26	2
McFries Regular Size	210	10	26	3
Icecream Cone	150	4	23	4

The following items (though available at McDonalds) are not available on their nutrition sheet, so I pulled it off from the calorie counter database.

Drinks	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
Orange Juice	140	-	33	2
Coca Cola Classic(M)	210	-	58	-
Coca Cola Diet	1	-	-	-

They also have a Tuna salad that I eat regularly, but I can't find the nutrition information on it. But based on similar salads, I expect it to be 192 calories with 9g fat, 10g carbohydrates and 16g of protein.

So now we have all the nutritional information, what to make of it?

Well, first of all, not ALL of the food at McDonalds is bad. If you have:
   a. Chicken Caesar Salad  (157 calories). Throw the dressing away.
   b. Cheese Burger (299 calories)
   c. Diet Coke (1 Calorie)
You actually have a decent meal (457 calories) with a nice balance between Carbs (36 g or 25% of your daily allowance), Proteins (a healthy 26g) and Fat (17g or 25% of your daily allowance). A 25% portion of your daily needs makes perfect sense since it's one of your main meals.

The culprits are those where the food is fried (Chicken Big Mac, Spicy McChicken etc.) or where the food has a lot of mayonnaise and other dressings (most of the big burgers), and of course, the empty calories (fries, ice-creams and sodas).

So it is possible to eat healthy at McDonalds. It's just damn hard to do so.

Interval Running - The Asafa Powell Mix.

In my previous article on Interval Training, I mentioned the special music mixes created by Nike, using famous sports personalities. My favorite is Alberto Salazar, who is really passionate about his running and this passion is  easy to hear in the audio as he urges you to speed up or slow down till you complete the 45-minute interval sessions.

I had recently downloaded the Asafa Powell mix. This is a short 30-minute session with 4 intervals that decrease in time, but increase in tempo.

I decided to give this session a try by downloading the audio file from iTunes and then uploading the audio file on my iPhone 3GS.

I fired up the Nike+ application on the iPhone and started the 30-minute run. The 30-minute session is broken down into the following segments:

Activity	Time	Notes
Warm up Jogging	5 minutes	-
Run	4 minutes	Run at 65% of your maximum speed
Jog	4 minutes	Let your heartbeat slowly recover
Run	3 minutes	Run at 75% of your maximum speed
Jog	3 minutes	Let your heartbeat slowly recover
Run	2 minutes	Run at 85% of your maximum speed
Jog	2 minutes	Let your heartbeat slowly recover
Run	1 minutes	Run at 95% of your maximum speed
Cool down Jogging	5 minutes	-

The interesting thing about this workout is how the intensity of each workout gradually intensifies till you are running full-out sprint in the last 1 minute.

Since this is a short run, I decided to do the jog at a running pace, and really push myself during the 4 intervals.

I am pretty impressed with my results of this run. It is my personal best for 30-minutes, and I also managed to complete the 5K at a personal best of 23 minutes and 17 seconds.

I could have done a bit better but the treadmill started giving me problems in the last 2 intervals - where I felt it going a bit wobbly when I tried to crank up the speed to 15kph. I decided to play it safe and reduced the speed to 14.5kph.

I will focus on this training for a few weeks to see how it goes. The great thing about it is that the workout is fast and quick - and I am free to do other things; like splashing in the pool with my kids.

Resistance Training.

Workouts can be classified under 2 categories. The first are the cardiovascular workouts (also referred to as cardio or aerobic workouts). Cardio workouts involve working out your heart & lungs to deliver more oxygen to your muscles. Examples of Cardio workouts are walking, running, swimming etc.

The second type of workouts are the resistance workouts - which involve some form of pushing or pulling using your muscles.

Just because this blog is all about running, one must not think that running (or cardio workouts) is the only game in town. As with all things in life, we need a careful balance between cardio and resistance workouts.

Let's first see the some of the benefits of resistance workouts:

1. Increased fat burning: When you do resistance training, you build muscles. Muscles are like fat furnaces. The more muscles you build, the more fat you burn. That should be reason enough for most of us to start with a resistance training regimen.

2. Increased Metabolism: More muscles mean you increase your body's metabolic rate (i.e. the speed at which your body burns energy). So as long as you have some nice muscles in your body, you can eat more and not gain any weight, because all the energy that you consume will be used by the muscles. Increase metabolism also means that you are more alert and active.

3. Increased bone density: As we grow older, our bones become brittle and frail - which results in all kinds of problems (including arthritis and other bone and joint related diseases). Resistance workouts reverse this process by increasing bone density.

Clearly there are plenty of benefits for resistance workouts. In fact, "The Cario Free Diet" book goes so far as to claim that you only need resistance workouts to get a great body and you should avoid all forms of cardio-activity as it is merely a waste of time.

As I mentioned earlier, I am a firm believer in balance in life. I neither want to look like those anemic Ethiopian runners who can run a marathon race in 2 hours but look like they have not eaten in the last 3 years - nor do I want to look like those extreme bodybuilders who walk like Godzilla - and make just as much noise.

A good strategy for a long-term fitness is to alternate between cardio and resistance workouts. For example, you can do cardio workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and do resistance workouts on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Sunday being the rest day. The resistance workouts will build muscles while the cardio workouts will burn fat. End result: A fit and trim body.

What kind of resistance workouts should you do?

Well, it all depends on your age, physical condition and your ability to bear pain!!. The best thing is to consult a certified trainer who will gauge your condition and recommend the correct exercises. 

I do resistance workouts 3 times a week. I tend to focus on just one part of my body each day, so my schedule is something like this:

DAY 1: Chest and Biceps.

DAY 2: Back and Triceps.

DAY 3: Shoulder and Abs.

I try to include leg workouts now and then - but usually avoid them since they hamper my running. i.e. if I do strenuous leg workouts, I cannot run for the next 2 days. I know that eventually, I will have to do leg workouts on a regular basis, but for the moment, my preference is running over leg workouts.