unsaturated fats
30 Day Paleo Challenge: Final Article
During March, I participated in a 30 day Paleo challenge. As you may have read in my previous posts, my experience was double sided. I did really enjoy some of the healthy changes I had to make, such as eating more fruit, vegetables, soup and nuts. This made a huge difference and got me more into a routine of eating these items, which are of course fantastic for your body and health. Please note I will not go into the details of the diet and what to do, this is purely about my experience and not intended to explain what you should be eating.
Other things, I wasn’t as much a fan of. So many things were cut out of my diet that it caused me to get very bored of certain foods. Also, dropping so much water weight (6lbs. at a certain point) wasn’t very fun. I was thirsty all the time and got dehydrated very quickly, not to mention I looked very deflated (since you retain more water when you eat more carbs).
During the challenge, I ran into a bigger problem though. Since my work requires me to stand, run, exercise and do many more things for long periods of time, my total exercise duration every week (with individual training as well) easily exceeds 15-18 hours of sports. Doing the Paleo diet caused my performance to go down. As I wrote in my previous article, I switched to Paleo for Athletes and reintroduced carbs to accommodate my high levels of exercise. This made a huge difference and got my performance levels back to their original levels (and went up since). This was more in line with how I normally cut weight and watch my food intake when cutting. It is a very manageable way of eating and fueling your body right. The right amount of carbs in the right times are hugely important, combine that with the health benefits of some Paleo ideas and you’re on the right track! Since starting on March 1st, I lost 10lbs, am close to my goal competition weight and did not compromise my performance or lean mass.
In my opinion, athletes need to eat more carbs than the Paleo diet can offer, that is why Dr. Cordain, who wrote the books on the Paleo diet, recommends athletes to make these adjustments.
Even though it was not ideal for me (which I knew beforehand but I considered this an experiment), the Paleo diet may work much better for others. Certain ideas of it make perfect sense and most importantly of all, it does not allow you to eat manipulated and processed foods, chemicals etc. These foods are a huge reason why so many individuals are unhealthy and obese. In my opinion, eating unprocessed foods is one of the most important changes you can make in a diet.
People need guidance. Perhaps that is why the Paleo diet is so popular and I am positive it works for many people. If you are looking to cut weight and you are not very active, it is likely to do just that for you. If you are very active, it may still work but I think there may be better ways. There are many articles and studies out there that tell you why to eat and why not to eat certain foods. Many foods have changed (the nutritional value) over the last 10,000 and even 50 years. However, for every pro study there is a con study. At the end, you need to do what works for you, using common sense.
You should strive to eat as healthy as possible, fuel your body and give it what it needs and don’t get frustrated along the way because if you do, you are likely to give up. Go ahead and cheat a bit every once and a while, just be smart and disciplined about it. If you need help or you plan on starting a new nutrition or training program, go to a professional and ask for advice and motivation, both for nutrition and training needs.
By Sander Vanacker, owner, head instructor and personal trainer of Define Defense Martial Arts & Personal Training.
Define Defense in Boulder, CO
- Modern Martial Arts
- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & MMA
- Self Defense Classes & Workshops
- Personal Training
- Cross Training / TRX Classes
1805 11th Street Suite B
Boulder, CO 80302
(720) 340 6254
Info@DefineDefense.com
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Switching to Paleo for Athletes!
Since my latest blog I’ve made quite a few changes in my 30 day Paleo experiment. I have also made a lot of progress!
In my second week of doing the Paleo diet, I found myself to be lacking energy to work out hard and also my performance went down. Especially with weight lifting, the difference was remarkable. Perhaps I didn’t eat enough of certain things or too many of others but whatever caused this, it was a problem. The fact that I teach martial arts and do personal training for a living has surely something to do with it. My body definitely needs more fuel than others since I am on my feet all day and I try to participate when teaching as much as possible. This easily adds up to 18 hours of training every week.
One more problem I had with the diet (which is a personal fault) is that I got bored of most foods. As mentioned before, if you are a picky eater it will become frustrating since you can’t eat certain things and you have to eat tons of others. This is of course a personal problem and most people are not as picky as myself (if in doubt, talk to my mom or wife about my eating pickiness!)
With these issues in mind, I decided to keep the general ideas of the Paleo diet but modifying it so I could again eat more carbs. Therefore, I switched to the Paleo for Athletes diet. This is a customized Paleo diet with the needs of athletes in mind. Our bodies need more energy and need quicker recovery. When training in and outside of classes as much as I do, I believe it is necessary. The first week I seemed to have no issues but after, I felt this was the right thing to do for me personally.
After the first week I dropped 7 lbs. As mentioned before, most of that was water weight, which I didn’t like. Once I started eating carbs again, I retained that water weight back (thankfully because I seemed very deflated!) Once retaining the water put to normal levels, I weighed 210.5 lbs. Since I switched to the Paleo for Athletes method, I dropped to 207 lbs. I feel great and energetic and feel like this is the best way for me to go Paleo. I can sustain my blood sugar levels, am not losing lean mass and am dropping the right weight. I’m looking forward to keep going on the Paleo for Athletes diet and continue to get leaner in my preparation for my triathlon races and Tough Mudder!
Again, this is my personal experience and does not reflect on anyone else and should not be considered nutritional advice.
By Sander Vanacker, owner, head instructor and personal trainer of Define Defense Martial Arts & Personal Training.
Define Defense in Boulder, CO
- Modern Martial Arts
- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & MMA
- Self Defense Classes & Workshops
- Personal Training
- Cross Training / TRX Classes
1805 11th Street Suite B
Boulder, CO 80302
(720) 340 6254
Info@DefineDefense.com
In my second week of doing the Paleo diet, I found myself to be lacking energy to work out hard and also my performance went down. Especially with weight lifting, the difference was remarkable. Perhaps I didn’t eat enough of certain things or too many of others but whatever caused this, it was a problem. The fact that I teach martial arts and do personal training for a living has surely something to do with it. My body definitely needs more fuel than others since I am on my feet all day and I try to participate when teaching as much as possible. This easily adds up to 18 hours of training every week.
One more problem I had with the diet (which is a personal fault) is that I got bored of most foods. As mentioned before, if you are a picky eater it will become frustrating since you can’t eat certain things and you have to eat tons of others. This is of course a personal problem and most people are not as picky as myself (if in doubt, talk to my mom or wife about my eating pickiness!)
With these issues in mind, I decided to keep the general ideas of the Paleo diet but modifying it so I could again eat more carbs. Therefore, I switched to the Paleo for Athletes diet. This is a customized Paleo diet with the needs of athletes in mind. Our bodies need more energy and need quicker recovery. When training in and outside of classes as much as I do, I believe it is necessary. The first week I seemed to have no issues but after, I felt this was the right thing to do for me personally.
After the first week I dropped 7 lbs. As mentioned before, most of that was water weight, which I didn’t like. Once I started eating carbs again, I retained that water weight back (thankfully because I seemed very deflated!) Once retaining the water put to normal levels, I weighed 210.5 lbs. Since I switched to the Paleo for Athletes method, I dropped to 207 lbs. I feel great and energetic and feel like this is the best way for me to go Paleo. I can sustain my blood sugar levels, am not losing lean mass and am dropping the right weight. I’m looking forward to keep going on the Paleo for Athletes diet and continue to get leaner in my preparation for my triathlon races and Tough Mudder!
Again, this is my personal experience and does not reflect on anyone else and should not be considered nutritional advice.
By Sander Vanacker, owner, head instructor and personal trainer of Define Defense Martial Arts & Personal Training.
Define Defense in Boulder, CO
- Modern Martial Arts
- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & MMA
- Self Defense Classes & Workshops
- Personal Training
- Cross Training / TRX Classes
1805 11th Street Suite B
Boulder, CO 80302
(720) 340 6254
Info@DefineDefense.com
30 Day Paleo Challenge: Day 7
07/03/12 14:07 Filed in: My experiences | Nutrition
Let’s start with the numbers: 7 lbs. in 7 days! I know, I was shocked too. However, keep in mind that a big part of this amount is water weight. Since I eat much less carbs, my body also retains less water. Fortunately, I still feel energetic and have no dips in my energy levels throughout the day. Also, after weight lifting my muscles seem to be recovering at the same pace as they did before the Paleo diet. This seems to demonstrate that my post training recovery is similar and this should prevent muscle atrophy (I hope)! I am keeping a close eye on feeling weak or lacking energy since that may be a concern (although there are no signs at all yet).
As I mentioned before, Saturdays are a pretty intense workout day for me. This is what I did last Saturday:
- Youth martial arts class (teaching and joining in the interactive games)
- 60 minutes of weight lifting (chest and shoulders)
- 30 minutes of a Modern Martial Arts class (Drew taught the rest of the class)
- 30 minutes of a Strength & Conditioning class (instructed the rest without joining)
- 1.5 hour Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, of which about 40 minutes rolling (grappling with your opponents)
As you can imagine, I was eating all day (to a point that my clients said: ‘Are you eating again??’) Nonetheless, I dropped a good amount of weight that day, mostly because I couldn’t keep up with my water intake vs loss.
Sunday and Monday I was mostly out of town, which did not make this diet any easier. Luckily, we were able to bring a lot of previously prepared foods and we had access to an empty fridge where we stayed. This made it more manageable but it was still not easy at all.
So far I have been able to keep up with the diet but it is definitely a challenge. This is not how I normally eat at all. I can imagine the Paleo diet is a slight change for many people but for me it’s pretty much a complete turnaround. The temptation is not a major issue right now, however the biggest problem is variety. This is why we’re exploring more options to cook the same foods, the problem is that I am a picky eater so I am forced to resort to the same foods pretty often. I have to say I am eating many different things but considering the amount of food I have to eat, it gets quite boring.
So far this week these have been my workouts:
Monday:
- 45 minutes weight lifting (chest and shoulders)
- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class (60 minutes)
- 30 minutes Strength & Conditioning
- Modern Martial Arts (60 minutes)
Tuesday:
- 30 minute run
- 45 minutes weight lifting (back)
- Modern Martial Arts (of which I joined 30 minutes)
Wednesday:
- 60 minutes weight lifting (upper back and shoulders)
- 60 minutes Strength & Conditioning
- 60 minutes Modern Martial Arts
I have not yet measure my body fat % but will most likely do tonight. I will keep you posted!
By Sander Vanacker, owner, head instructor and personal trainer of Define Defense Martial Arts & Personal Training.
Define Defense in Boulder, CO
- Modern Martial Arts
- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & MMA
- Self Defense Classes & Workshops
- Personal Training
- Cross Training / TRX Classes
1805 11th Street Suite B
Boulder, CO 80302
Goal Setting: The Next Phase in my Training
The first few years after cycling and doing weight training off and on, I gained a great amount of muscle mass. At this point in time, I weigh about 215lbs with a fat percentage of approx. 14% (up from 8% when cycling). The reason behind the higher fat percentage is less cardio (I was on the bike 18 hours/week) and a less strict diet since I was no longer competing until now.
It was very important for me to retain my full range of motion, flexibility and speed. Mass means nothing if you can't put it to good use after all, especially as a martial artist. This is why I always focussed on explosiveness, speed drills, stretching and giving martial arts training 100%. The right attitude means everything. You can train 6 hours/day but if you only give 50%, results will stay behind. I was also very fortunate to study in a great college (while cycling) and since one of my majors was Physical Education, we had about 12 hours of different sports every week. This absolutely made me a more complete and diverse athlete, challenging me in every way. I feel stronger than ever and haven’t compromised my speed, flexibility etc.
Next week, we are doing a workshop about the Paleo diet. I will do a 30 day Paleo diet challenge throughout March and expect this to be a great help in my training. It will also be a great experience as I really like the idea behind the Paleo diet. I will be posting blog articles, updates and videos about my upcoming training, progress and Paleo diet experience. Every week, I will show you what I am doing and what differences I notice by changing my routines.
Until then, my training will be stepped up a notch and the focus will be on 5-6 meals a day with unsaturated fats, complex carbs and protein in every meal. Drinking lots of water is vital and fruits, vegetables and lean meats will be my refuge. Stay tuned for more updates!
By Sander Vanacker, owner and head instructor of Define Defense Martial Arts & Personal Training.
Define Defense in Boulder, CO
- Modern Martial Arts
- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & MMA
- Self Defense Classes & Workshops
- Personal Training
- Cross Training / TRX Classes
1805 11th Street Suite B
Boulder, CO 80302
Getting in shape with Define Defense and Max Muscle Boulder
As you may know, Define Defense and Max Muscle Boulder have partnered up to provide our clients with special offers and benefits for them to reach their physical goals.
A few things our clients can benefit from:
Max Muscle does not only sell supplements and sports nutrition but can also help you with you nutrition planning. This is what the owner of Define Defense did in combination with his martial arts and circuit training. Underneath is what he experienced:
When I went to Max Muscle to start my nutrition plan, my goal was to get leaner without losing any muscle mass. Every year from fall to spring I tend to be less strict with my nutrition and go to a positive calorie diet. The reason I do this has multiple reasons such as wanting to gain mass, having a higher body fat % to prevent getting sick in the winter and giving myself a mental break. Since I naturally have a high metabolism and train many hours per week (12 to 18), I can eat a ton of food while keeping my body fat % in check. When I went into Max Muscle, we went over my daily routines/meals and it was clear that some changes had to happen if I wanted to get leaner. This was about the time of the year I wanted to shed my extra few percentages so I was ready to go for it!
Week 1:
After consulting with Craig (owner of Max Muscle Boulder), I was really motivated to make some changes. He gave me some great advice on how to (and why) keep my blood sugar levels steady and how to fuel my body right. At this point in time, I was training approx.. 18 hours per week so it was important to continue fueling the right way and giving my body enough carbs, unsaturated fats and protein while still cutting away from the total body fat %.
In combination with the nutrition planning, I worked out a training schedule at Define Defense to continue weight lifting and martial arts but also incorporate more interval/circuit training to cut more weight.
My initial measurements indicated that I had 8.4% body fat for a total lean mass of 187.78 lbs. and 17.22 lbs. of fat mass. My total weight was 205 lbs. Not that bad but not where I wanted to be. Please note, normal body fat percentages are 10-20% for men 20-40 years old and 20-30% for women 20-40 years old. This is perfectly normal and healthy! However I have been doing sports all my life and my goals are different than the average person. My number one priority is my health and if I ever would feel it has a negative impact on my body, I would reconsider my goals.
After the first week, in which I ate 5 to 6 times a day and in every meal, consumed carbs, protein and unsaturated fats, I weighed in at 205.75 lbs. Yes I did go up a bit but that didn’t matter to me since my body fat went down to 7.68% and my lean mass actually went up to 189.94 lbs.!
This showed me that even though I was eating a ton before and thought I consumed enough protein, I wasn’t. My body needed more protein and this new diet was giving it to me. I gained muscle while I was losing fat!
Week 2:
Week 2 was great, we made a few slight changes but my body was being very responsive and I felt fantastic! My energy levels were up and I never felt hungry or sluggish. At the end of week 2, my body fat went down to 6.74% while my lean mass stayed at the same level. This means that I lost 2.25 lbs. of fat mass while keeping my lean mass intact. My total weight was 203.5 lbs.
Week 3:
Week 3 was a little harder since I was travelling quite a bit and everyone knows how this can mess up your body. Nonetheless, I still stayed on track but my progress was less. I went down to 6.52% and gained 1.15 lbs. of lean mass.
Week 4:
At this point, following this plan seemed natural to me and extremely easy to do. Once you know your routine and the important basics behind it, you start doing things automatically, for example what to get in the grocery store or what to pack for your snack etc.
At the end of week 4, we reached my goal. I went down to 5.92% body fat and was a whole lot leaner than when we started. 2.48% to be exact and my starting point wasn’t all that high to start with. My final weight was 203.25 lbs. The lean mass was at 191.22 lbs., which went up 3.44 lbs. My fat mass was now only 12 lbs., which went down 5.22 lbs. This means I lost over 5 lbs. of fat mass while gaining 3.44 lbs. of muscle mass! This is exactly what I wanted to accomplish and the combination of paying attention to my dietary needs and responsible, well thought out training paid off!
I had a great experience with Max Muscle Boulder and think it would be beneficial for anyone to do. No matter if you want to lose weight, gain muscle or just be and feel healthier. Please remember you do not have to train 10 hours per week to make progress. Getting some nutrition advice and working out 4-5 times per week will go a long way and give you results! It is not always how much you train, it’s about how smart you train. That is why getting professional advice always gives you an advantage. We at Define Defense and Max Muscle Boulder are looking forward to assist you in your physical training and nutrition needs!
A few things our clients can benefit from:
- All Define Defense adult members receive a $75 gift card and a 15% discount for all products at Max Muscle
- Max Muscle customers can enjoy a 10% discount off services and programs at Define Defense
Max Muscle does not only sell supplements and sports nutrition but can also help you with you nutrition planning. This is what the owner of Define Defense did in combination with his martial arts and circuit training. Underneath is what he experienced:
When I went to Max Muscle to start my nutrition plan, my goal was to get leaner without losing any muscle mass. Every year from fall to spring I tend to be less strict with my nutrition and go to a positive calorie diet. The reason I do this has multiple reasons such as wanting to gain mass, having a higher body fat % to prevent getting sick in the winter and giving myself a mental break. Since I naturally have a high metabolism and train many hours per week (12 to 18), I can eat a ton of food while keeping my body fat % in check. When I went into Max Muscle, we went over my daily routines/meals and it was clear that some changes had to happen if I wanted to get leaner. This was about the time of the year I wanted to shed my extra few percentages so I was ready to go for it!
Week 1:
After consulting with Craig (owner of Max Muscle Boulder), I was really motivated to make some changes. He gave me some great advice on how to (and why) keep my blood sugar levels steady and how to fuel my body right. At this point in time, I was training approx.. 18 hours per week so it was important to continue fueling the right way and giving my body enough carbs, unsaturated fats and protein while still cutting away from the total body fat %.
In combination with the nutrition planning, I worked out a training schedule at Define Defense to continue weight lifting and martial arts but also incorporate more interval/circuit training to cut more weight.
My initial measurements indicated that I had 8.4% body fat for a total lean mass of 187.78 lbs. and 17.22 lbs. of fat mass. My total weight was 205 lbs. Not that bad but not where I wanted to be. Please note, normal body fat percentages are 10-20% for men 20-40 years old and 20-30% for women 20-40 years old. This is perfectly normal and healthy! However I have been doing sports all my life and my goals are different than the average person. My number one priority is my health and if I ever would feel it has a negative impact on my body, I would reconsider my goals.
After the first week, in which I ate 5 to 6 times a day and in every meal, consumed carbs, protein and unsaturated fats, I weighed in at 205.75 lbs. Yes I did go up a bit but that didn’t matter to me since my body fat went down to 7.68% and my lean mass actually went up to 189.94 lbs.!
This showed me that even though I was eating a ton before and thought I consumed enough protein, I wasn’t. My body needed more protein and this new diet was giving it to me. I gained muscle while I was losing fat!
Week 2:
Week 2 was great, we made a few slight changes but my body was being very responsive and I felt fantastic! My energy levels were up and I never felt hungry or sluggish. At the end of week 2, my body fat went down to 6.74% while my lean mass stayed at the same level. This means that I lost 2.25 lbs. of fat mass while keeping my lean mass intact. My total weight was 203.5 lbs.
Week 3:
Week 3 was a little harder since I was travelling quite a bit and everyone knows how this can mess up your body. Nonetheless, I still stayed on track but my progress was less. I went down to 6.52% and gained 1.15 lbs. of lean mass.
At this point, following this plan seemed natural to me and extremely easy to do. Once you know your routine and the important basics behind it, you start doing things automatically, for example what to get in the grocery store or what to pack for your snack etc.
At the end of week 4, we reached my goal. I went down to 5.92% body fat and was a whole lot leaner than when we started. 2.48% to be exact and my starting point wasn’t all that high to start with. My final weight was 203.25 lbs. The lean mass was at 191.22 lbs., which went up 3.44 lbs. My fat mass was now only 12 lbs., which went down 5.22 lbs. This means I lost over 5 lbs. of fat mass while gaining 3.44 lbs. of muscle mass! This is exactly what I wanted to accomplish and the combination of paying attention to my dietary needs and responsible, well thought out training paid off!
I had a great experience with Max Muscle Boulder and think it would be beneficial for anyone to do. No matter if you want to lose weight, gain muscle or just be and feel healthier. Please remember you do not have to train 10 hours per week to make progress. Getting some nutrition advice and working out 4-5 times per week will go a long way and give you results! It is not always how much you train, it’s about how smart you train. That is why getting professional advice always gives you an advantage. We at Define Defense and Max Muscle Boulder are looking forward to assist you in your physical training and nutrition needs!
Getting your body into an anabolic state
29/06/11 17:22 Filed in: Other | Fitness | My experiences | Nutrition | Strength & Conditioning | Personal Training
As discussed in a previous post, with health and fitness comes recovery. If you don’t pay attention to recovering and giving your body the time to heal, you will not just feel tired and unmotivated but the training you have put in will not pay off.
The trick is to find a healthy balance in training, proper nutrition and recovery. A big part of the latter will be sleep, which we have addressed in another article. Nutrition plays a big role as consuming (for example) 3,000 calories in junk food will be very different than spreading it over 6 meals a day with unsaturated fats, protein and complex carbs.
Training by itself will never give you the results you want, whether is is increasing endurance, losing weight, gain muscle etc. In my experience, I feel like nutrition plays a 60-80% role in achieving your goal, depending on what that is.
When you want to achieve a larger amount of muscle mass, you will need to get your body into an anabolic state. This means that your body will combine amino acids to construct polypeptide chains, which will build protein strands and finally muscle tissue.
Even if your goal is not to build muscle mass and are for example a cyclist, you will still want to keep that anabolic state when you want to improve your performance. If you train hard on the bike and do not achieve this anabolic state, your muscles will start breaking down which ultimately ends in performance loss and perhaps overtraining.
Please note: an anabolic state of mind does not automatically mean you will be gaining weight, it means that your body is in a position to build mass instead of breaking itself down (or staying neutral).
Now how do we reach this opportunistic situation? The first and main way is to prevent any catabolic processes to occur in your body. As you may know, catabolic is the opposite of anabolic and will break down larger molecules into smaller molecules. This may be breaking down muscle tissue, cells, membranes etc.
The big enemy of athletes is the cortisol hormone. As we have addressed this in a previous post, I will not be getting into its ‘evils’.
The second way is to train. When you train, especially short and intense resistance training, your body will release more growth hormone and testosterone. These are the prime anabolic hormones and they naturally occur in the body. When you overtrain, these hormone levels go down while cortisol goes up and you end up in a negative spiral unfortunately.
The third method is sleep. Sleep is so important for your mental and physical health and recovery so make sure to sleep enough. Rest is the prime anabolic time for your body to heal.
As mentioned, nutrition plays a vital role as well. As an athlete, no matter what level you are at, you need good quality food. Make sure you get enough protein as training damages the muscle tissue and this needs to heal. This muscle damage is not a bad thing, it actually makes your body make the muscle stronger than before. However, there needs to be a balance between training and recovery as it needs time to heal.
Carbohydrates are of extreme importance as well as they ‘fuel’ your body. When you have the option, choose complex carbs (whole wheat rice, pasta, bread etc.). Try to avoid simple carbs such as sugars, white bread etc. These will make your blood glycogen levels spike, which is unhealthy and should be prevented. There are times you do need simple carbs but more on that in another article.
Water water water! Drink tons of water. When training, you lose so much water that you need to substitute. Water has a direct effect on your health and performance so is is very important.
Finally, if your goal is to build muscle or improve the quality of your muscle, you need to have a positive calorie diet. This means your intake will exceed your needs. However, if your nutrition is right you will not be gaining fat.
The trick is to find a healthy balance in training, proper nutrition and recovery. A big part of the latter will be sleep, which we have addressed in another article. Nutrition plays a big role as consuming (for example) 3,000 calories in junk food will be very different than spreading it over 6 meals a day with unsaturated fats, protein and complex carbs.
Training by itself will never give you the results you want, whether is is increasing endurance, losing weight, gain muscle etc. In my experience, I feel like nutrition plays a 60-80% role in achieving your goal, depending on what that is.
Even if your goal is not to build muscle mass and are for example a cyclist, you will still want to keep that anabolic state when you want to improve your performance. If you train hard on the bike and do not achieve this anabolic state, your muscles will start breaking down which ultimately ends in performance loss and perhaps overtraining.
Please note: an anabolic state of mind does not automatically mean you will be gaining weight, it means that your body is in a position to build mass instead of breaking itself down (or staying neutral).
Now how do we reach this opportunistic situation? The first and main way is to prevent any catabolic processes to occur in your body. As you may know, catabolic is the opposite of anabolic and will break down larger molecules into smaller molecules. This may be breaking down muscle tissue, cells, membranes etc.
The big enemy of athletes is the cortisol hormone. As we have addressed this in a previous post, I will not be getting into its ‘evils’.
The second way is to train. When you train, especially short and intense resistance training, your body will release more growth hormone and testosterone. These are the prime anabolic hormones and they naturally occur in the body. When you overtrain, these hormone levels go down while cortisol goes up and you end up in a negative spiral unfortunately.
The third method is sleep. Sleep is so important for your mental and physical health and recovery so make sure to sleep enough. Rest is the prime anabolic time for your body to heal.
As mentioned, nutrition plays a vital role as well. As an athlete, no matter what level you are at, you need good quality food. Make sure you get enough protein as training damages the muscle tissue and this needs to heal. This muscle damage is not a bad thing, it actually makes your body make the muscle stronger than before. However, there needs to be a balance between training and recovery as it needs time to heal.
Carbohydrates are of extreme importance as well as they ‘fuel’ your body. When you have the option, choose complex carbs (whole wheat rice, pasta, bread etc.). Try to avoid simple carbs such as sugars, white bread etc. These will make your blood glycogen levels spike, which is unhealthy and should be prevented. There are times you do need simple carbs but more on that in another article.
Water water water! Drink tons of water. When training, you lose so much water that you need to substitute. Water has a direct effect on your health and performance so is is very important.
Finally, if your goal is to build muscle or improve the quality of your muscle, you need to have a positive calorie diet. This means your intake will exceed your needs. However, if your nutrition is right you will not be gaining fat.