Jordache vs. Levi's: Some Thoughts on Genes, Pt. II

So where the heck am I going with all this talk about calories, nutrition, and exercise? All of us require much different nutritional needs. What one athlete might require for their caloric intake might be quite different than another. For instance, when I came home last Friday after a particularly grueling swim workout, I scarfed down a pound of penne vodka. No kidding. One pound of pasta—yes, before cooking—with a rich sauce made from cream, vodka, and proscuitto. Now granted, I do not eat penne vodka all the time—although I could very easily subscribe to that diet—my dinner exceeded 2000 calories by the time it was all said and done. Two thousand calories—just for dinner. Perhaps some of you find this scorchingly obscene, or would like to take this opportunity to remind me that gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. However, I did not feel like I was overindulging, but rather, refueling after a long day at work and swim workout (I did not get home until nine p.m.) 

I believe a lot of factors contribute to our body composition as adults. After training with literally hundreds of athletes over the years, I have noticed some very interesting commonalities regarding the body composition of so called "leaner" athletes. I am not making any value judgements regarding being lean, much to the contrary. One of the fascinating things about endurance athletes is the age old adage: "You can't judge a book by it's cover." It is impossible to judge someone's cardiovascular fitness just by looking at them. All of us have probably had the experience of being involved in a race where someone passes us that we feel has absolutely no business doing so. How is this old/big/one-legged/short/giant/long-haired hippie passing me? The similarities that I see between leaner body composition athletes is that they have all incorporated a considerable amount of strength training in their routines. Some, from very early on in their lives. I am not sure what percentage of triathletes, half and full marathoners were endurance athletes at a young age, but I think that the growing popularity of both sports suggests that—especially in the case of triathlon—the sport appeals to competitive athletes from any sport, not just from athletes who ran cross-country, or swam competitively at an early age. Heck, even elite triathlete, and two-time Kona World Champion Craig Alexander was a soccer player in his youth, not a competitive runner (until later in life,) or swimmer. Having more muscle allows your body to lose weight in a couple of different ways:


1) Muscle burns more fat: In metabolic studies, extra muscle burns more energy than body fat at rest. The differences are minimal (a few tens of calories per pound of muscle increased with most people,) but over the course of weeks, and months, these calories add, or rather, negate calories that you have taken in.


2) The EPOC Effect—Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption: Studies have shown that another way of increasing your metabolism for several hours after a particularly long exercise is by engaging in exercise with intensities that are greater than 75% of your maximum heart rate. The bonus here is that you will continue to burn fat after your exercise has ceased. 


Of course, intensities are very important. The "fat burning" settings on treadmills and bikes  at gyms are essentially gimmicks. The general notion is that the body burns a greater percentage of fat at a slower pace. True, but you still burn a percentage of fat at higher intensities. Paul Rogers, registered personal trainer with Fitness Australia, member of the Nutrition Society of Australia, an accredited Heart Foundation Heartmoves instructor, an accredited diabetes trainer and qualified workplace trainer explains it this way:


"It all boils down to how much energy you expend in totality. For example, if you compare exercising at a slow rate that burns 60 percent fat and 40 percent glucose and a higher intensity or duration that burns only 30 percent fat and 70 percent glucose, you may still burn more fat at the higher intensity."

A typical example. Exercise (1) is the slower 60/40 mix and exercise (2) is the faster, 30/70 mix of fat and glucose fuel.

1) Walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes -- 180 calories used -- 108 calories of fat burned

2) Running on a treadmill for 30 minutes -- 400 calories used -- 120 calories of fat burned

Fat and glucose are the body’s two main energy sources. Fat you know well, glucose comes mainly from carbohydrate foods like rice and bread, pasta (which I quite possibly eat an inordinate amount of,) and potatoes and protein is supplied mainly by meat and beans and dairy products. The amino acid building blocks of protein foods can be converted to glucose in emergencies. Your body always burns a mix of fat and glucose except at very high intensities, and the ratio of the fat and glucose in 'the burn' varies with intensity and time of exercise. Of course, it is difficult for people who are coming from a completely sedentary lifestyle to jump right into a 30 minute run workout on a treadmill, but they are still expending calories while walking. And walking is a great start. Excuses are not. 

I have witnessed a couple of amazing transformations of so-called "genetically less fortunate" human beings—my cousin included—go from living completely sedentary lifestyles to an active and healthy way of living in a very short time. Just watch one season of The Biggest Loser. The transformations some of these people make is nothing short of miraculous. The people on that show are amazed that after generations of poor eating habits, and sedentary lifestyles, that a leaner, healthier version of themselves was hiding underneath all their fat. Maybe we can not change our genes, but we can sure do everything we can to make the most of what God has given us. For me, that is ALL that matters. If you are doing the most with what you have, excellent, BUT, don't let your understanding of hereditary traits limit what you can do. If that were the case, I never would have became a composer. My parents have about as much musical aptitude as a four year at his first violin lesson. Screeech! 

I think our perception is that if we have a larger frame, we can not be a particularly lean athlete. I do not subscribe to this point of view. To help me prove it, my cousin M. is coming up for part of his summer again to reach his goal weight of 185 pounds. I will post his pre and post-weight loss pictures. If you could have seen him before he took off the weight, you would have thought he was a future candidate for type-II diabetes and heart disease. Now, he has dropped his body fat by more than half, can run 8 miles over an extremely difficult course, and has increased his strength by more than double from where he started two years ago. Can you tell I am proud of him?

Okay, if you've only learned one thing from this post it is that I am big fan of increasing strength because of its many rewards: more muscle and a more athletic body shape, better balance and bone density and improved functionality across all facets of human movement. In my opinion, strength training should always be incorporated into endurance training—especially those of us above the age of thirty-five. 

Here's some very good news: your genes are not your destiny. In the first study of its kind conducted at the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and the University of California, San Francisco in collaboration with Dr. Peter Carroll, Dr. Mark Magbanua, Dr. Chris Haqq, and others,  research indicated that improved nutrition, stress management techniques, walking, and psychosocial support actually changed the expression of over 500 genes in men with early-stage prostate cancer.

By the way, if any of you need some extra motivation to get your asses in gear to get to the gym, eat better, or train smarter, please do not hesitate to let me know. I will be there to give you a kick in the right direction. After all, we are all in need of a good lil' kick in the pants from time to time. 

More soon. See you out there. Happy Training!

Jordache vs. Levi's: Some Thoughts on Genes, Pt. I

Apparently, I was blessed with some pretty decent genes. At least, I think my parents have bestowed upon me some satisfactory genetics. However, I did not always think so. Growing up, I had some serious concerns about whether I was in the shallow end of the gene pool. I was never particularly gifted athletically. Don't get me wrong, I was athletic. I played baseball throughout grade school, and I played football and ran track through high school. Not to mention, I have been lifting weights consistently since I was fourteen years old. However, I  never really excelled at any one sport. Luckily for me, triathlon does not require a lot of coordination. Now, try not to be offended hardcore triathlon junkies; I did not say triathlon was not a difficult sport to train for, and to perform at a high level. Much to the contrary. I am just indicating that when it comes to coordination, you roughly need that of a four year old to swim, bike, and run. Trying to hit a baseball square with a round ball and round bat is arguably one of those most difficult things in sport and requires a considerable amount of hand eye coordination.

I would argue that my genes are the Levi's 501 Denims of the jean world—no frills, efficient, dependable. Clever, right?  Genes...jeans. Get it?  The one glaringly obvious difference, of course, is that my genes were not manufactured in Malaysia, or India, but were the product of two average Italians. Wait, stick with me here, I am trying to make a point. More data is transfered through our genomic sequence than just coordination. The locatable region of our genomic sequence corresponds to specific units of inheritance: coordination, eye color, weight, height, etc. One look at my father, and I can immediately tell where I acquired my "clydesdale-like" cycling legs and abnormally springy, gigantic calves. My height—6"2—is another story. My father is only 5"8. My mother, the same—which is semi-tall for a woman—especially one who was born in 1938. Okay, I know what you're thinking—don't go there. You can lay off the all too frequented "milkman" theory. We did not have one. Our postman was a woman, and unless there was some other man that looks exactly like my father, we could pass for twins at the same age. The genetic marker I am most interested in these days is one that determines your propensity for weight gain or loss. 

Lately, a few of my friends have been talking to me about their struggles with weight, body mass index, and diet. I have to admit, I have never had a problem with my weight. Even at my heaviest—when I was strength training all the time—I was a mere two hundred and five pounds. I tried putting weight on my frame to be stronger in my mid to late twenties, and into my thirties, until someone asked me a pivotal question: 

Why?

"Why what?" I answered. "Why do you want to gain weight to be stronger? He then went through a list of arguments challenging my notion of putting on weight to gain strength: 

1) You do not play a competitive sport, nor do you have any desire to train to become a professional body builder. 

2) Strength to weight ratio is more important than pure strength. 

3) Eventually, the weight would come and I would have to work on staying lean and on my diet.

It was then that I decided to abandon the pure strength training exercises I was engaging in the gym in favor of incorporating some endurance training. The payoff with endurance training was that I could still continue to strength train, participate in races that would fuel my competitive nature, and reshape my body in the process. Little did I know then, that triathlon was about to become a way of life, rather than just a sport. 

When it comes to training for triathlons, pumping iron, or writing music, my belief is the same. I do not adhere to so called "expert" advice just because someone has a few letters next to their name. I look at where the advice is coming from. Heck, I have a few letters next to my name, but I am NO expert!  When I was strength training, I still wanted to look a certain way. I did not want to put on any weight that would make me stronger, but immediately go to my mid-section (where I have a tendency to store excess weight.) I look at the bodies of the people that are trying to coach me to become a stronger athlete, and their results. That is what determines—in my mind—how to gauge their advice. If an athlete in the gym is super strong, but built like a gorilla on steroids with a pot belly—whose diet consists of protein shakes, a chicken breast every hour, and a bag of broccoli they carry around the gym—you can talk to me until you are blue in the face, but I am not listening. Now, if a clydesdale triathlete is talking to me, but they can run like a jack russell terrier who has been given one too many shots of espresso, I want to know exactly how the hell they are training to make that body move so fast. If it works for a frame with more than a few extra pounds, I am listening. However—and I am at risk for going here—when it comes to nutrition, I generally take the advice of people who are lean. Does that mean that heavy athletes do not eat healthy? No. To the contrary. There are plenty of athletes who are lean and muscular, but eat like Sid Vicious and their performance suffers as a result. Then, their are larger-framed athletes who eat healthily. Very healthily, but eat a lot of healthy food. I know it sounds insensitive, but I know some of these people. I have been out with some of these friends who say they do not understand why they are putting on weight, or are not losing any weight. I recently went out for sushi with a friend who easily consumed at least twice the amount of food that I did. I had to wonder—although I did not ask—does she have any idea how much food she's consuming?

Then, I have friends that suffer inexplicably to try to lose weight. They seemingly do everything, by the book. The eat healthy, train hard, and count calories, but have trouble taking little, if any weight off. Is this purely because of genetic predisposition?  Here we go again... I am NO geneticist. For the record, I am neither a registered dietician, certified personal trainer, or NASA trained astronaut, but I could make some arguments against genetic predispositions for weight gain. I only need to look at my wife's family. It is no secret. I am not offending anyone here. She is the only one in her immediate family who is not obese. I know how hard she works to stay in shape though. As a dancer, she is always conscious about her weight and her food choices for her and our family. 

When I started to train for triathlons four years ago, I shaved twenty pounds off my frame in a matter of two and a half  months. My diet did not change. It has consisted of the holy trinity of Italian cooking for quite some time: tomato, garlic, and basil.  I eat a lot of carbohydrates. I am not sure when complex carbohydrates turned evil in the endurance community, but they are a staple of my diet. I am here to tell all of you that you can eat your pasta and still lose weight. It can be done. I do not deprive myself of too much. My family eats healthily 95% of the time, but I want to enjoy a cheeseburger and a beer, pizza, a chicken wing or two, a frothy chocolate milkshake, and all of those wonderful things that remind me that I am still alive without guilt. And I can, If I work my ass off! 

I also believe that our bodies let us know what we should be eating. Aren't there times when you just say to yourself "Wow, I could really go for some romaine lettuce with some shaved parmesan and olives." Perhaps I am just projecting right now. I think our bodies are pretty decent barometers for understanding what we should be eating. We should all listen to them more—even if they tell us to eat the occasional piece of chocolate cake. Note: I said occasional!

Okay, I have been extremely busy as of late writing music, so be patient for the second, brief installment of:

Jordache vs. Levi's: Some Thoughts on Genes, Pt. Deux

Also on the docket: Still writing and interviewing Jeff Henderson, famed race director of the Musselman Half, Portland Triathlon, and Watkins Glen Du about race entry fees. I will have some really interesting information to share!