Well the latest news on my quest for that Last 10 Pounds; they are moving us to Korea. Yep, another opportunity experience another country; to work and to workout. I was in Korea for an initial 3 weeks to commission the project we are working on. Then back to Japan for 3 weeks to pack up the apartment and get ready for the move, then back to Korea for the duration.
The hotel we are staying at is the Grand Hotel in Onyang-dong, Asan-si. It’s a pretty old hotel and the Koreans have a little different view of what quality accommodations are. In fact after staying there, I will never again bad mouth a Motel 6. However, the Grand does have a pretty good gym. The equipment is also old but very usable and unbelievably, the gym is uncrowned. Basically, the Grand Hotel gym is equipped like the Kakegawa Japan K-Fit gym; smith machine, bench rack, older cable machines and a couple of extra 20 Kg bars for dead lifts.
As far as my return to running, it has been a long period of foot recovery, June 4th through mid-September. I am running again, albeit short runs, but running just the same. This is my fourth week of every other day and two day in a row runs. Soon (next week), I will roll it up to daily with only 1 or 2 days off per week. Then just start slowly increasing the mileage and of course, the speed.
The foot feels pretty good, most of the time. Every now and then I do feel something going on but no sharp pain and no swelling. Maybe once I get settled in Korea, I’ll get another X-ray just to make sure.
As I mentioned in previous blogs, I had been using Fitnessblender.com and working whole body circuits on the mornings I didn’t run. The Fitnessblender.com workouts have served me well but I do not consider these a substitute for the benefits I get from running. It will be nice to get out there and sprint it out once again.
A Little Bit More on Isometrics…………..
Ever heard of the Ring of Fire? No, this isn’t that song from Johnny Cash; this is..….. dare I say……. Spot Reduction. The impossible dream; crunching your way to 6 pack ab’s. You doubt my statement? I say it’s true; I read it on the internet (LOL).
I was cruising through the web one Saturday morning and for fun did a Google search on ‘love handles’. Scanning through headings I notice the term ‘Ring of Fire’. I had to check this out. Larry Scott, a bodybuilder from the days before Arnold, came up with this wholly isometric process. Basically, you contract all of your mid-section muscles, one at a time, rotating around your torso, kinda’ like a hula hoop. The procedure;
- Hold each contraction at least 10 seconds.
- Contract your upper ab’s trying to pull your ribcage down to your hips; 3 reps.
- Contract your lower ab’s trying to pull your hips up to your ribcage; 3 reps.
- Contract the left side of your ab’s and partially engaging your oblique’s trying to pull your ribs and hips together; 3 reps.
- Contract your left oblique’s trying to pull your ribs and hips together; 3 reps.
- Contract your left lateral flexor (lumbar) partially engaging your erector spinae and try to pull your left shoulder blade and hips together; 3 reps.
- Contract your erector spinae and try to pull both shoulder blades to your hips; 3 reps.
- Contract your right lateral flexor (lumbar) partially engaging your erector spinae try to pull your right shoulder blade and hips together; 3 reps.
- Contract your right oblique’s trying to pull your ribs and hips together; 3 reps.
- Contract the right side of your ab’s partially engaging your oblique’s trying to pull your ribs and hips together; 3 reps.
- Repeat the process for 4 sets.
And when you’re done, if you contracted hard enough, you will feel pretty good lactic acid burn around your entire waist; hence the name, Ring of Fire. “I fell into a burning ring of fire, I went down, down, down and the flames went higher……….” Anyway, the thought is that if you complete this group of isometric exercises over an extended period of time, the fat from your love handles will just melt away. I not so sure about melting fat but it does leave your mid-section feeling nice and tight when you’re done. To me it’s the perfect shower routine. All I can say is Burn Baby, Burn.
And Yet Another Book Report……………..
Another item I ran across while cruising the internet, looking into ‘love handles’, was a book authored by Dr. Eric Berg, DC. In his book, The 7 principles of Fat Burning, Dr. Berg looks at several hormone based reasons why you can’t lose weight; excuse me, I mean can’t lose fat. He considers the first law of thermodynamics, e.g. the energy balance, secondary to hormonal balance. Some of his reasoning has merit, it flows along with a number of insights we learn from Lyle McDonald. And then again, some of his assumptions, like energy balance not contributing to fat loss, are just plain……………crap!
Dr. Berg identifies four basic hormonal imbalances; adrenal, liver, ovary and thyroid. He also provides key indicators (symptoms) of each condition; where you carry weight. For example, if you carry weight at your love handles through your lower tummy, you may have an adrenal fatigue issue or if you are heavy all over (fat equally distributed), it indicates a thyroid issue. Ovary types carry weight through the butt and thighs and liver types have a ‘pot’ belly. Once you fix these, you’re on a path toward fat loss; maybe.
Dr. Berg tries to correct all of his identified hormonal issues primarily through dietary and exercise prescriptions. If you eat correctly and do this type of exercise, it will force your body into a specific hormone response; a fat burning response. You will shed fat and live longer. On the dietary side, for all of the identified conditions, the good doctor has you cut two primary contributors to body fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates. These control insulin and fat metabolism. WOW!!! That’s an understatement. Isn’t this the same rhetoric we see with other wonder diets; South Beach, Atkins, Paleo, etc… Could the good doctor’s book just be a rebranding of the same old low carb diet? Maybe repackaged, just to get his name on the label?
And I also think his exercise prescriptions fall short. Number one, he is weak on prescribing exercise intensity. Whether aerobic or anaerobic, intensity is where it counts; Distance, Duration and Difficulty count. This is generally where people fail in whole body healing, lose the fat routines. They don’t want to put in the effort.
The ZERO intensity exercise prescription that the good doctor quotes for his adrenal fatigue (love handle) cure is in fact really off base. The doctor considers adrenal fatigue the result of an accumulation of stress from all sources. Exercise stress, mental stress, lack of sleep, too much coffee, poor diet, etc……… Basically he’s saying if you exercise harder than a slow stroll after you 200 calorie dinner, your cortisol levels will prevent you from losing fat, you’ll be in a defensive mode, a survival mode, e.g. you need your fat to survive and fight another day. I say ‘poppycock’; and if he is blowing smoke here, the other cures are sure to be misleading.
In previous blogs, I have been quoted as saying, “I am not a big believer in ‘overtraining’ for recreational or hobby exercise”. And I am not a big believer in general life stresses overly affecting your hormonal response. From exercise, you may be tired after several days, weeks or even months of exercise (an overreaching condition, maybe) but your capacity to recover improves as you continue a program. And even if you add stressors, like……life itself (my boss, my wife, my mortgage, my….., my……, my……), I do not think you could reach a level of adrenal fatigue that would make a ‘rat’s butt’ difference in fat lose. For god sake, you are not living in ‘Bengali’ or ‘Damascus’. If you’re reading this, chances are you are in your living room, feeling sorry for yourself because you can’t lose weight (fat) by just sitting on the sofa or maybe your mean boss told you to wear slacks instead of jeans or maybe……some other meaningless ‘I’m a victim’ dribble. No one is shooting at you, you are not spending months at a time in battlefield conditions and you are not stranded on a deserted island looking for insect larva as the basis for your only meal of the day. Get a life people. Western culture stress levels in modern society are a stroll in the park compared to what life was like 200 years ago, there is minimal stress in today’s society. And that stress is generally self-inflicted.
You need exercise intensity to build and tone muscle, and improve aesthetics. If you really think you have an adrenal fatigue condition, take three deep breaths, pull your naval to your spine and find your chi…….more often, e.g. or find another mechanism to de-stress. Just don’t blow off exercise; intense exercise. In fact, exercise may be your de-stressor. If you eat light (minimal calories) and piddle around with a daily 20 minute walks, you may lose some fat but I guarantee you will never be satisfied with the looks you attain. You will end up outside of that ‘normal’ envelope. And I’m pretty sure that would push you toward more unwanted ‘feeling sorry for yourself’ stress.
With that said, the book does provide a verity of good points as far as eating, water weight and electrolyte balance(s). It’s a book that you may want to read; then again, you may not. Just don’t get all stressed out over it.
So in conclusion, find your chi, read a book, take a nap ………..then go out for a run or go lift something heavy. Got to be relaxed when tackling that Last 10 Pounds.
MMJennings
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