Don't Crash Diet. Eat Mo' Food.

"Our ancestors did this", "our ancestors did that." 

Whoopdie freaking doo. Our ancestors pooped outside all the time, too (hehe that rhymed). How's that going for ya?

I can hardly handle all of the fads that our going around just because "our ancestors did it." Believe me, I understand that hunter gatherers exercised more, ate more nutrient-dense foods, and were leaner and just healthier all around. 

But what if I told you that their diet and exercise wasn't the big difference between them and western civilization. What if I told you that hunter gatherer groups have similar energy expenditure that you and I do?

Here comes the bomb.

They do.

Hunter gatherer groups aren't leaner and healthier because their burning so many more calories than we are, according to a recent study (1). 

Then What is it?

I'm sure that you've heard this several times over: Your body is smart. 

And it is.

It will adapt and change they way it does things based on the environment that you put it in. So how does that translate with the Hadza population that was studied?

The Hadza is one of the few remaining hunter gatherer populations left. Located in Tanzania, they forage for their food individually and sometimes cooperatively for a diet that consists mainly of honey, fruits, and occasional meat. Just like you'd think, they're on the move constantly during the day in order to gather and hunt. 

Since we've been taught that eating less and moving more is the ultimate key when it comes to burning calories and losing fat, it would be fair to think that these people are plowing through calories each day, right?

Interestingly enough, they're not. Why?

Their body is smart, and their metabolism and energy expenditure has adapted to the environment it has been placed in. Think about it. They don't eat much food - I'd be willing to guess 1000-1200 calories per day (and that's generous). On top of that, they're constantly moving around. Walking, running, jumping, walking, running, jumping. What does that combination tell the body? 

BE EXTREMELY EFFICIENT AT UTILIZING THE CALORIES GIVEN.

The body has no other choice. The body wants to survive and that's what it's always going to revert to. 

Survival.

All of that activity and minimal calorie intake is just telling their body to be reeeally good at utilizing the energy it's been given. So how does it do that?

By expending less energy. The less energy the body has to expend, the better.

What Does That Mean For Us?

Great question. Because we're not hunter gatherers, right? 

Right.

But our bodies work the same way. In fact, if you've been attempting to lose fat at some point in your life and you reach a plateau, I'm willing to bet that you reached a state where your body has become the most efficient it's ever been. 

Here's why. 

As I mentioned before, we've been taught that eating less and working out more is the ultimate, be-all end-all for fat loss. So, what do we do? We begin to control our portions, and we start exercising more. As a result, we lose some weight. 

But we want to lose more.

So what do you do? Eat even less, and workout even more. By this point, you've hit a plateau and you're doing all you can to beat it. Eating 1000 calories per day, ramping your cardio up to 1 hour per day before or after you lift weights. What have you done?

You've become the Western Hadza, my friend. 

Your body is now an efficiency machine, and fat loss is extremely difficult.

Reverse Dieting

Getting to this point of efficiency isn't a bad thing, unless your calories are super low, your cardio is hours long, and your life is absolutely miserable because of it. But since most people on a fat loss plateau feel this way, I'm going to speak through that lens. 

Reverse dieting is the answer to this problem.

It's exactly what it sounds like. Simply put, reverse dieting is a term used when slowly increasing calorie intake over a period of time. If your body is extremely good at using as little energy as possible in order to do the things it's being asked to do, we need to change that.

We want to make the body inefficient at doing the things we ask it to do. The word "inefficient" sounds like a negative thing, but it's not. We simply want your body to use more energy to operate. Whether you're training, resting, or performing NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) - which is fidgeting, doing chores, etc. - we want your body to need to use more energy for those tasks. Why?

Well, the more energy that is required for those tasks, the more food you will be able to eat without putting on weight. In this case I'm speaking of your RMR (resting metabolic rate). The higher that number gets, the easier it will be to lose fat. Say your initial RMR is 1500 kcal per day. You'd need to eat like a bird in order to lose fat. Now say you increased it to 2000 kcal per day. Which would you rather lose fat on. Dieting at 1300 kcal, or 1800 kcal? I'd choose 1800.

Mo' food baby, mo' food. 

So how do you increase your RMR to make sure your body is using more energy to perform? I'm sure you could've guessed it:

LIFT SOME HEAVY A$$ WEIGHTS (2).

It's simple, and you've heard this before: the more lean muscle tissue your body holds, the more calories you'll burn at rest. So make weight training a staple in your routine. 

"Good talk Adam, but how the heck do I start? What do I do from here?"

Great question, fake person in this article. Here are some simple steps on what I would do if I was in your shoes:

1. Figure out your daily maintenance caloric needs. You'll need to eat this many calories to maintain your weight. If you don't know your body fat percentage, get it tested. Because that plays a huge role in this number. 

2. Once you've found your maintenance number, begin tracking your food intake. If your maintenance number is HIGHER than what you normally eat, and you haven't lost weight in a while, slowly at carbohydrates and fat to your diet (2-5% increase in cals per week from carbs and fats) until you get there. 

3. Once you've been eating at your maintenance level, continue to increase your daily caloric intake each week. If you don't mind a little extra fat gain, bump your cals from carbs and fat by 6-10% each week. If you want to stay as lean as you possibly can, bump your cals from carbs and fat by 2-5% each week. Also, slowly take away your cardio sessions each week. Remember, we want the body burning max calories with the least amount of work. 

*Keep in mind, this is all assuming you're eating 1g of protein per pound of lean mass.*

4. Once you feel comfortable with your caloric intake or you feel like you wouldn't be comfortable eating more than that, begin decreasing your calorie intake SLOWLY each week from carbs and fats. I recommend 2-5% decrease in calories. 

5. Following that decrease, sprinkle in some cardio or take cals down a bit more. As you hit plateaus. Whatever you do, DO NOT decrease calories significantly in a short amount of time, or add a ton of cardio to your routine in a short amount of time. 

Takeaways

Your body is smart, and it will adapt. Don't continue to starve and run, run and starve. Slowly increase your caloric intake so you can set your body up to use energy like crazy. Build muscle and RMR (resting metabolic rate) with resistance training, and sprinkle in a slight decrease in cals or some cardio as needed, but NEVER overdo it. 

Thanks for reading!

References

1. Pontzer, H, et al. “Energy Expenditure and Activity among Hadza Hunter-Gatherers.”American Journal of Human Biology : the Official Journal of the Human Biology Council., U.S. National Library of Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25824106.

2. Pratley, R., et al. “Strength Training Increases Resting Metabolic Rate and Norepinephrine Levels in Healthy 50- to 65-Yr-Old Men.” Journal of Applied Physiology, American Physiological Society, 1 Jan. 1994, jap.physiology.org/content/76/1/133.

Adam is a fitness professional, Chipotle fanatic, and cookie enthusiast based in Fort Collins, CO. After hanging up the baseball cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. 

Adam is an ACE CPT and has years of experience in fat loss, muscle hypertrophy, and sports performance training.  

Do This to Significantly Improve Your Life

I don't care if you're a 40 year-old mom of three, or a 20 year-old kid just trying to impress the girl in your biology class, resistance training needs to be a priority in your training regimen. Whether you're trying to compete on stage or just look a little bit better naked, lifting weights is extremely important for many reasons.

Not only does lifting help to significantly improve your overall body composition, it also can help the functionality of your body, improve your bone strength, as well as improve the your metabolic rate and help you burn more calories at rest. But before I get into all of the benefits, let's go over the basics of lifting weights. 

Lifting Weights: The Basics

Understanding the many benefits on resistance training is good and well, but you first need to understand the different aspects of weight training and what they entail. Let's briefly discuss the some basic terminology just to make sure we're all on the same page.

Resistance Training: A form of exercise in which you move your limbs against resistance in order to improve muscular strength and endurance. The resistance comes in many forms like bodyweight, bands, weighted bars (dumbbells and barbells) as well as machines & pulleys.

Reps (or repetitions): The number of times you perform a specific exercise/movement.

Sets: The number of cycles of the repetitions that you finish. 

Hypertrophy Training: Hypertrophy in the fitness world means "muscle building". The actual definition is the growth of an organ or tissue due to an increase in cell size. Hypertrophy training is a type of training that is used to build lean muscle tissue. The most basic and common form of this type of training is typically 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps (note that this is NOT the only way you can build muscle. Building muscle takes the joined effort of a lot of different practices/habits in and out of the gym). 

Strength Training: A form of training designed to increase muscular strength. Typically 1-5 repetitions, usually 3-5 sets. This repetitions are not done to failure and each set has much more rest in between the next. 

1RM: This stands for your 1 rep max which is the most amount of weight you can move during an exercise for 1 repetition. 

These are the basic terms that I may use throughout this article, so feel free to scroll back up if you ever get lost!

Benefit #1: Significantly Improve Your Body Composition

Let's be honest, we're all just trying to look better naked, am I right? 

Glad we agree.

Now that we're all on the same page, let's get into the details with this one. Being lean and tight is going to be your best option when it comes to looking better naked whether you're a guy or girl. Doesn't matter your gender, no one is working hard in the gym to achieve an ultimate level of flab. The optimal way to create a lean, tight body is to make sure that you have a relatively low amount of body fat, and a high amount of lean muscle mass under your skin. The best way to achieve that is by lifting weights in a way that will force your muscle cells to grow. This is called hypertrophy training. Lifting weights for 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps has been shown to to increase lean muscle tissue (1). I need to clear something else up before I move on. 8-12 reps does NOT mean that you are only sticking to this range. 8-12 reps is simply a general range of repetitions that has been shown to increase muscle hypertrophy. There are many ways to enable our muscle cells to grow. 

Your body is extremely smart, and it will adapt to the environment and situations that you place it in. Take a minute and imagine a long distance runner. What do they look like to you? My guess would be very skinny. If not, you haven't watched the olympics enough. When's the last time you've seen a muscular distance runner? You haven't. This is true because that individual's body has been trained to be very efficient at running long distances.

Now, think of a sprinter. Much more muscular, right? That's because that person's body has been told that it needs to be good at powerful movements. 

It's all about what you're telling your body to do. If you train and tell your body that it needs to be good at moving weight, what's it going to do? It's going to increase the size of the muscle cells to move that weight easily.

Anyway, increasing your lean muscle mass and decreasing your body fat by performing resistance training will lead to a better body composition a.k.a a better looking body. And yes, I know what you're thinking ladies.

"Won't resistance training make me look like a guy?" No, testosterone will make you look like a guy, and you don't have enough of that so quit worrying. I'll tell you this, though: resistance training can most definitely get you that "toned" and "shaped" body that you've endlessly climbed towards on the stairmaster. 

Benefit #2: Improve the Functionality of Your Body

Not only are we trying to look better naked, but we're also trying to improve the longevity of our lives. There is no better way to work on this than by progressing in many different aspects of our health. When we think of resistance training the first thing that comes to mind is muscle growth and improvements in strength. I've got a surprise for you. Benefits to resistance training go much farther than your muscles. Weight training has been shown to have several health benefits that can improve not only the longevity of your life but the quality of your life as well (2). Some of these benefits are:

- Increased proprioception
- Increased movement control
- Improved cognitive abilities and self-esteem
- Improved bone density
- Decreased pain 

Ensuring that your body is performing at its best from gut health, to proprioception, to every-day strength is a great way to improve your quality of life. 

Remember, a lot of what we experience is a result of something within. 

Benefit #3: Improved Metabolic Rate

This is one of my favorite benefits, so I'm going to write another article speaking specifically on this topic. Stay tuned!

We have a big problem in the United States. It's an obsession with an "all or nothing" attitude. We place suffering on a pedestal. Why do you think that severe diets are still used even though they make people's lives miserable? Because people get praise for suffering and that makes them feel good. The same thing happens with training.

We place such a big emphasis on our workouts, what we're doing in the gym, how hard we're going, but don't think much about what's happening outside of the gym in order to lose fat and build muscle. 

An improved metabolic rate is one of the greatest reasons to lift weights. Resistance training has been shown to increase the amount of calories burned at rest. Why? Because the body needs to work harder when it has increased muscle mass. Here's something I want you to understand though (especially if you're a female). An increased metabolic rate does NOT come from an unbelievable increase in muscle mass. I'll give you an example. One of my clients came to me maintaining her weight at an average of 1700 calories each day. She weighed about 101 lbs at that point. She now weighs around 102-104 lbs and she maintains her weight at about 2300 calories. She has a little more muscle mass now, and her metabolism has transformed into this crazy calorie furnace. If she needed or wanted to lose body fat, she would be in such a great position to do so. Why? Think about it. She wouldn't need to do much additional work. Just dropping her calories a touch each week would do wonders. 

When it comes to fat loss, it's about priming the body to burn as many calories as possible with as little effort as possible. Why? Because that's sustainable. Imagine if you plateaued your fat loss while lifting, doing 1 hour of cardio, while eating 1000 calories. You seriously think you can happily maintain that for years to come?

Nope, didn't think so. 

If you wan't to be burning more calories throughout your day, using resistance training to increase your metabolic rate is essential. 

Takeaways

The takeaway from this article is simple. Lift weights. 

Programming plays a crucial role in weight training for progress. If you're interested in coaching, I'm taking on clients and have some openings available. Fill out an application here.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share this article with your friends. 

For more awesome info, follow and subscribe!

References

1. Thomas, Michael H., and Steve P. Burns. “Increasing Lean Mass and Strength: A Comparison of High Frequency Strength Training to Lower Frequency Strength Training.”International Journal of Exercise Science, Berkeley Electronic Press, 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4836564/.

2. Westcott, W L. “Resistance Training Is Medicine: Effects of Strength Training on Health.”Current Sports Medicine Reports., U.S. National Library of Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22777332.

About the Author

Adam is a fitness professional, Chipotle fanatic, and cookie enthusiast based in Fort Collins, CO. After hanging up the baseball cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. 

Adam is an ACE CPT and has years of experience in fat loss, muscle hypertrophy, and sports performance training.  

PROS & CONS: Your Guide to Online Coaching & Personal Training

Since I branched out to start Poehlmann Fitness, I've consistently been asked what online coaching is and how it works.

"Adam, what the heck do you do now? I know you're in fitness, but.."
"So are you like, a personal trainer? Or..."
"So do you train people over Skype? That's what online training is, correct? You watch them workout on the computer, right?"

Since Poehlmann Fitness hit its one year mark this summer, those questions come up a little less often, but I still want to break things down. The purpose of this article is twofold. I want to:

1. Provide you clarity and insight on the major differences between online coaching and personal training. 

2. Help you understand which option will be best for you whenever you decide you want to hire a coach/trainer. 

Before I get into the details, I want you to read the following sentence closely:

I am BOTH an online coach as well as a personal trainer. I LOVE both, and this article is written from an unbiased point of view.

This article is made purely to inform and educate you, so you can find the best fit for your health.

Anyway, into personal training we go. 

Personal training is something that most everyone is familiar with. It's been around since most of us can remember. Most of you may be familiar with the general process but we'll run through it anyway. Here's how it works:

You're part of a local gym, and you decide that there is something you'd like to accomplish. With most other things in life, you may not need major assistance from another individual to achieve your goal. However, this goal that relates to your health requires knowledge and experience from an individual who is well-immersed in things like health, fitness, nutrition, etc. 

You seek out a trainer/coach and the gym and hire this individual. You begin training with them for the most amount of sessions per week that you can afford, because you're paying for their time, and that's it. Depending on the trainer/coach, he/she may have you also sign up for other things like a training program to do on your own, nutrition coaching, wellness coaching, etc. 

At each session, you get undivided attention (if you've hired a great coach) as well as professional eyes on everything that you're doing. On the flipside, this means they have no clue what you're doing outside of those 1-on-1 sessions. 

Once you and the trainer/coach reach your goal and/or run out of sessions, you discuss and assess your time with each other thus far and move forward if needed and desired. 

This is a very general and brief description of the process. There are other details that can change the process, such as training styles, experience, personality, etc.
Most of which come from the coach/trainer you hire. 

Now that we have a refresher on personal training, let's go over online coaching. 

Online coaching is a whole different animal. To get as much detail in this brief description as possible, let's go back to the beginning of the process.

You've decided that there is something you want to learn or achieve in your fitness journey. Whether it's improving general health, building muscle, losing fat, whatever it is, you want to accomplish something. This something - similar to the goal with personal training - requires the advice and attention of someone who is well-versed in that field. 

You get on the computer, and do some research on all of the online coaches that you can possibly find. You contact a few and apply to be coached by them. After narrowing it down and making a decision, you move forward with that one specific coach. Depending on the coach's systems and business structure, you pay a fee of some sort. For the sake of this scenario we'll just say that it's $200/mo. for their services (FYI, coaches range from ~ $200-500/mo.).

Unlike personal training, there are more services included for the fee that you are paying. Some of these services are nutrition coaching, custom training programs, weekly check-ins, 24/7 messaging support, etc. 

An online coach is more so a health (fitness, nutrition, wellness included) coach rather than just a personal trainer with an online platform. 

Depending on how the coach's services work, you'll be set up with a training program with exercise video demos, a nutrition protocol, and a platform that this is in. Poehlmann Fitness clients are set up on an app called Trainerize. 

As you go through the process, you check in with the coach on a regular basis and update them on how things are going.

Am I right?

Once you reach your goal or your membership/subscription expires, you and your coach discuss thoughts on moving forward. 

That's a quick summary of what online coaching entails.

Now that we've gone over both personal training and online coaching, it's time to examine the pros and cons of each. In order to do this more specifically, I'll break things down into different categories. Those will be:

1. Coach/Trainer Selection
2. Cost
3. Value
4. Accountability

1. Coach/Trainer Selection

Personal Training

Pros: Quality in-person training sessions require a trainer that can communicate well, carry great conversation, and make you laugh/entertain you. After all, you're with them for an hour. How awkward would it be if no words were exchanged?
Most big box gyms that I know of do some sort of introductory/complimentary session with a trainer. This face-to-face contact is a great opportunity to see what their personality is like. 

Cons: Gyms only have so many personal trainers. There might be situations where you might have to pick the best of the worst in regards to personality match, etc. 

Online Coaching

Pros: Online coaching gives you access to any coach in the world. You can research your tail of to make sure you find the best coach for you. You can learn about their credentials, experience, testimonials, cost, services, etc. in just a few clicks.

Cons: Everyone can call themselves an online coach or personal trainer nowadays. It's really easy to see through the BS in person. It's a little more difficult to do that on the internet. Everyone can make themselves look like a different version of themselves on the world wide web. Here's some advice on that. Ask to do some sort of phone or skype/facetime consultation before moving forward that way you can ensure transparency between the both of you.

2. Cost

Personal Training

Pros: I honestly can't think of one. Personal training is pricey but there are cases in which it's well worth it. Continue reading and I'll explain.

Cons: In-person training in big box gyms can cost anywhere from $60-$100/hr. depending on the experience and demand of the trainer. Let's that means you can be paying $240-$400/mo. if you have one session per week, and as much as $720-1200/mo. if you have three sessions per week. 

Online Coaching

Pros: Online coaching is inexpensive when compared to in-person training. I'll explain more of this as we move along.

Cons: No cons here. 

3. Value

Personal Training

Pros: When comparing online coaching and in-person training in terms of value, a lot of people look down in-person training but I find there are a few really big pros. One of these pros is face-to-face contact. When the trainer is right there with you, he/she can see and should correct any thing they see in how you are performing on the gym floor. Whether that means correcting your rowing form, or reminding you to breathe properly while performing a squat, your trainer can see everything.
In-person training is great for athletes, too. There are so many intricate movements when it comes to sports performance, and an online coach simply isn't there to see that. For example, I train all of my athletes in person because the tiniest correction in their running form could mean seconds shaved off their 90-yard dash that they run for the scouts. 

Cons: The pros are great for in-person training in regards to attention to detail during performance, but that's all that in-person training offers. The fee that you pay is for the hour that you are with the trainer and nothing more. There are some cases in which the trainer may give you things to do at home, but if he/she does, it may not be as detailed and customized as a full program from an online coach. Remember, the trainer is only getting paid for the time you're with them, so they may not give as much attention to your "other" workouts. It's not because they don't care, it's because they need to put food on the table, and filling their schedule clients is how they do it. 

Online Coaching

Pros: The value of online coaching is tremendous. Unlike in-person training, there is much more included in the monthly subscription that you have with your coach. With most coaches and subscription plans, services include a fully customized training program that is tailored to fit your history, goals, current state of health, and lifestyle. Not only is the training plan fully customized, but most coaches also include nutrition coaching in their subscription along with weekly check-ins, 24/7 email access, as well as access to a support group of other clients. Online coaches can also play a big role in listening, giving advice, and allowing health and fitness to play a role in your life that consists of a ton of other priorities. Online coaches aren't life coaches by any means, but it's much more inclusive than just in-person training. 

Cons: The coach isn't there to see what you're doing in the gym in regards to your movement. Although they can offer you a ton of services to benefit your health and save you money, it's not a great option if you are new to exercise and need someone there to make sure your form is on point. 

4. Accountability

Personal Training

Pros: Since you have a commitment made with another individual, it's a lot harder to skip a training session. Your trainer is waiting for you, and that makes it way easier to show up. Not only that, but it's a lot harder to slack off when the person you've hired to get you into shape is hovering over you. 

Cons: They're only there with you for the hour that you've paid for. During the rest of their time, they're training other individuals.

Online Coaching

Pros: They key with online coaching is utilizing what you've paid for. If your membership includes weekly check-ins and email support, abuse it. You've hired them to be at your fingertips whenever you need. Have a question about fitness when you're out with your friends? Email them right then and there. That's the plus of online coaching. Although I have training sessions in-person, most of my time is spent coaching my clients online and there is a lot of time in my daily schedule dedicated to supporting them and answering their questions. If you're completely honest and transparent with what you're doing each day, the accountability can't be matched with online coaching. He/she can see your food intake from sugar consumed to the greens in your delicious kale smoothie (barf). They're also able to see what you did in the gym including weights, sets, reps, and more. 

Cons: If you're dishonest or just don't record in any of your activity, your coach will be stripped of their ability to keep you accountable so it's important that you're as transparent and diligent as you can possibly be. 

The Takeaway

There is a lot of good in both in-person training as well as online coaching. Question is, what's right for you? Here's what I can say about that in a few sentences:

If you are a just beginning to make physical activity a part of your life, in-person training may be best. That way your trainer can show you proper form and etiquette on the gym floor. In-person training may also be best if you are an athlete seeking to improve your speed and agility which can require complex drills and extreme attention to detail.

If you have experience working out, you're comfortable in a gym, and you're confident in your form, online coaching may be a great way for you to get tailored plans to improve your heath, fitness, and nutrition without completely sacrificing your lifestyle. And remember, if you're ever unsure about your form or have questions regarding your plans, you can send in videos or questions about the movement and your coach can help you through it. The use of technology is a huge plus. 

If you're still stuck and don't know which path to take, or you know exactly what you need and want to talk to a professional about getting started, feel free to contact me via email at adam@poehlmannfitness.com or send me a message on social media.

Thanks for reading!

Much love,
Adam