DEPRESSION IS NOT A PROZAC DEFICIENCY!!

Mental illness has become an extremely profitable business in the United States.  Annual sales of anti-depressants keeps growing and growing.

In fact, major depression is expected to become the secondmost cause of disability worldwide by 2020.

Anxiety, panic, and depression steal from the experience of life and cast a dark cloud over everything.

Eating clean and exercising definitely help to fight both depression and anxiety, but sometimes you need a little bit extra to balance things out.

That’s where natural supplements come in.  Below is a list of nutrients that will help you take control:

1.  A low carbohydrate diet, with no grains or sugars.  (For more info on sugar check out these blog posts: Sugar Cravings Taking Over Your Brain and 99 Ways Sugar Is Poisoning You)

2.  Plenty of water.  A dehydrated brain doesn’t work right.

3.  B-complex supplementation.  The B vitamins all work together, if you’re missing just one, none of them work.

4.  Full-spectrum Sea Salts.  Sea salts are full of the trace minerals you need to keep yourself in balance.  I personally like to get a salt from a different area every time I need some more.  This week it might be Celtic salts, next week Himalayan salts.  Doing this helps me be sure that I’m getting a wide variety of trace minerals.

5.  Magnesium.  Try to get 600-800mg a day.  Magnesium glycinate is very easily absorbed by your body.  Since magnesium can be taken in through your skin, Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) baths or magnesium oils can be a good magnesium boost when you’re feeling down or overworked.

6.  Zinc.  Zinc can be rough on an empty stomach, so I take my zinc and magnesium right after breakfast.  If I’m feeling beat down from tough workouts or super-stressed, I take a second dose after dinner.

7.  L-tryptophan.  This amino acid is what people talk about in turkey dinners – it doesn’t make  you sleepy, don’t worry .  Typtophan is useful for fighting off both depression and anxiety and is a direct precursor to serotonin.

A good way to take tryptophan is 500mg on an empty stomach and note how you are feeling.  If you don’t improve your sense of general well-being within a half hour, take 500mg more, and continue.  When you start feeling better, that is your dose.  (Note: Do NOT take is you are also taking anti-depressants.  Talk to your doctor first)

8.  Theanine.  This amino acid is useful for combating anxiety paired with mind racing and physical tension.  Begin with a low amount on an empty stomach and find your personal prescription the same way you did with L-typtophan in #7.

Theanine can be found in black and green tea and is the precursor to the calming neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid.

Theanine shows positive effects on both serotoning and dopamine.  Small doses can raise your energy, while larger amounts are very relaxing.

More benefits include lowering high blood pressure (maybe through the calming effect) as well as being neuroprotective against alzheimer’s and dementia.

9.  Gamma-aminobutyric acid.  This is the neurotransmitter supported with theanine.  It can also be taken as a supplement itself.  It is used by naturopaths for issues with anxiety, physical tension, and racing thoughts.

10.  L-tyrosine.  This amino acid becomes norepinephrine and dopamine – both neurotransmitters linked to depression.

Figure out the dose the way you would with theanine or tryptophan.

Tyrosine is stimulating and so you shouldn’t take it if you have a problem responding to stress, it might set you off.  Also, since tyrosine is a precursor to melanin (skin pigment), so you shouldn’t take it if you have melanoma.

Don’t use tyrosine if anxiety is your problem, only for depression.

11.  Taurine.  Famous for being an ingredient in the energy drink Red Bull, tyrosine is good for fighting anxiety related problems.  It helps take care of nervousness without being sedating.

Taurine is an antioxidant, helps support bile functions, and helps take care of the electrical system in your brain and heart.

Work out your dosage the way you would with other amino acids (small amounts on an empty stomach).  Very high doses might have a diuretic effect (you’ll pee more), but aren’t toxic.

12.  DL-phenylalanine.  Another amino acid precursor to tyrosine, norepinephrine, dopamine, and endorphins.  Read about tyrosine above, DL-phenylalanine has the same warnings.

DL-phenylalanine is very helpful people with strong addictions towards pleasure seeking.  (Ever seek pleasure or comfort from foods?  Check out these posts: End Emotional Eating and Do You Use Food As A Reward?)

13.  Sunshine or Light Boxes.  I prefer sunshine

Using a light box for 15-30 minutes in the morning can shut down melatoning production during the day, which lessens fatigue and depression as well as raising serotonin levels.

Spend as much time outdoors as you can without burning to get the most you can out of “light nutrients.”

Oh, and don’t wear sunglasses when you walk on your lunch break.

14.  Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is another supplement I take daily.  Deficiencies in vitamin D can lead to not only depression and anxiety, but a whole host of other health problems.  (A lack of vitamin D has been shown to be a big cancer risk)

15.  Fish Oil/Omega 3s.  Fish oil helps you with EVERYTHING.  Depression, anxiety, weight loss, you name it, fish oil can help.

There you have it, 15 natural supplements to help fight depression and anxiety.

Long term, your best defense against both depression and anxiety are a healthy low-carb diet, exercise, and a strong social support network – your family and friends.

Welcome to another edition of study corner!  Today we’re going to look at a study from the Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research.

This study is titled… Effects of 4 weeks of traditional resistance training vs. superslow strength training on early phase adaptations in strength, flexibility, and aerobic capacity in college-aged women.

Aren’t you glad I read all these things for you? Just the title makes me want to fall asleep

So, why super-slow training?  Well, wanna-be fitness experts on the news have promoted slow-cadence lifting, and people believed it.  But what does the actual science say?

This study split college-aged women into 3 groups: No lifting, Slow Lifting, and “Regular” Lifting.

The No Lifting group didn’t make any changes during the study.  I’m sure they were very nice people, but let’s forget about them and forge onward.

Slow Lifting group trained for 35 minutes twice a week.  They used 50% of their one rep maximum (the amount of weight they could lift one time) and lifted 10 seconds up, 10 seconds down until they couldn’t do any more.

“Regular” Lifting group trained 25 minutes three times a week.  They used 80% 1RM and did 3 sets of 8 reps, with a 4 second contraction time for each rep.  This 4 second contraction is why I put quote marks around “regular.”  4 seconds is still very slow.

Both groups’ workouts consisted of 5 exercises: shoulder press, chest press, leg press, low row, and lat pull down.

At the end of the 4 week study, both groups had gained strength.  The super-slow group’s strength gains were so slight so as to be only “statistically significant.”  (Translation:  so little improvement you wouldn’t notice without having a degree in mathematics).

So only the regular speed training group made real improvements.

Conclusion: Slow speed resistance training is a waste of your time.

J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Nov;25(11):3006-13.
Effects of 4 weeks of traditional resistance training vs. superslow strength training on early phase adaptations in strength, flexibility, and aerobic capacity in college-aged women.
Kim E, Dear A, Ferguson SL, Seo D, Bemben MG.
Source
Neuromuscular Research Laboratory, Department of Health and Exercise Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA.

And here’s a link to the abstract if you want to see what it looks like: Slow Lifting vs Regular Lifting

This time of the year we can’t avoid Holiday parties and their evil twin “Alcohol”.

If you know me, you know that I am a big advocate of a balanced lifestyle. I preach moderation NOT restriction.

So without further ado, let’s talk a bit about our friend “alcohol”…

Alcohol And Fat Loss – What You Need To Know

One question that often presents itself to many dieters who are trying to shed their extra pounds is whether alcohol can be included in their nutrition plan.

Alcohol is something that most adults do like to indulge in from time to time – some more often than others

So what’s the real deal about alcohol and your progress? Is this something that you can make room for in your diet or is it something that you need to give the boot?

Alcohol And Calories

The very first thing that you need to take note of is how many calories are found in alcohol. Alcohol itself contains seven calories per gram, whereas both proteins and carbs contain just four. Fat comes in at the highest calorie value per gram at nine, which places alcohol right in the middle.

But what’s often worse is what the alcohol is mixed with. If you’re drinking your alcohol with high calorie or fat mixers such as cream, sodas, or sugary mixers you could easily end up with a drink that packs in well over 300 calories per serving.

If you take in three or four of these over the course of the night, it’s really going to add up.

Alcohol And Fat Metabolism

The second important thing that you need to note is the impact that alcohol consumption will have on your fat metabolism. The minute that you put alcohol into your body, all fat burning is going to come to a halt.

Your body views alcohol as a toxin and as such, as soon as it comes in, it’s going to do everything it can to rid itself of this alcohol. No further fat will be burned off until it’s out of your system.

Only then will you start burning up body fat again. So if you consume quite a bit of alcohol one night, you can expect to see your rate of fat loss drop off for a significant period of time.

Alcohol And Your Recovery

Finally, the last important thing to note about alcohol consumption is the impact it will have on your recovery rates.

In addition to putting the brakes on all fat burning taking place in the body, the second thing that alcohol is going to put the breaks on is protein synthesis.

This means that no further lean muscle tissue will be built up as long as that alcohol is in the body.

Again, you can imagine what this is going to do to your workout goals.

So as you can see, if you want to be truly successful with your fat loss and workout program, it’s best if you can forgo alcohol for the time being. One drink every now and then may not hurt all that much, but if you’re taking in any more than this, it will definitely hinder the progress that you see.

After I posted EAT LIKE THE MIGHTY THOR a few days ago, I received a few requests to see what Chris Hemsworth’s strength and conditioning program looked like.  Here it is…

The challenge was to take Chris from this:

To something more like this:

And to do it in only 3 months…

How did he do it?  Well, you’ve already seen how he ate to put on muscle, so here’s his 2 part workout plan:

Phase One: 8 Weeks Muscle Building

3 Sessions Per Week

Day 1: Chest and Back
Bench press
Bent-over row
Weighted Dip
Weighted Pull-up

Day 2: Legs
Hamstring Curl
Deadlift
Squats

Day 3: Arms
Close-grip Bench Press
Weighted Chin-up

The sets and reps went like this:

Week 1- 4 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Week 2- 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps
Week 3- 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps
Week 4- 4 sets of 4 to 6 reps

Weeks 5-8 the cycle was started over.

You can see there was nothing fancy about this workout, just basic compound movements and lots of intensity.

Most people who are looking to add muscle overly complicate things and do every exercise under the sun.  The “everything” approach actually breaks down muscle leading to no progress despite hours and hours in the gym.  Until you are very advanced it is better to pick a few big “bang-for-the-buck” exercises like the bench press and deadlift

It’s no secret to my friends that THE MIGHTY THOR is my hero

Chris Hemsworth, the actor who played Thor in the recent movie, had to build some serious muscle to fill out his armor:

Now, I don’t normally write about GAINING weight, but I’ve received a few questions from guys who want to put on a little muscle and the Chris Hemsworth nutrition example is a good starting guideline.

Breakfast:

4 eggs
Bowl of porridge
Piece of fruit

Morning Snack:

Handful of nuts and a piece of fruit

Lunch:

2 Chicken Breasts
Big Salad
1 serving of potato or rice

Afternoon Snack:

Handful of nuts, piece of fruit, can of tuna or 6 deli meat slices

Dinner:

Huge serving of steak or fish
Big Salad

Evening Snack:

Protein shake

If you look at the food choices, you can see that Chris ate following a nutrient timing plan: starchy carbs only early in the day.

This diet bulked Chris up so quickly he actually had to try and LOSE some muscle when they started filming because… he was too big for his costume!  Cool!

About the only thing I’d change about this eating plan would be to choose different sources of starchy carbs.

Oats, for instance, have a negative effect on blood sugar, digestion, and nutrient absorption.  Chris could have made an oatmeal replacement out of banana chips (recipe: http://www.paleo-project.com/paleo-recipes/breakfast/paleo-oat-free-oatmeal/), or added some healthy fats and made an “oatmeal” out of nuts, eggs, and almond milk (recipe: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/no-oat-oatmeal-its-no-atmeal/)

And instead of rice or a regular potato, you could switch to sweet potatoes or Okinawan Blue potatoes to increase the nutrients in your food and to put on muscle without putting on fat.

If you want to add some muscle, use Chris’s Thor diet to give you some ideas and then get cooking!

Why would you want to add more lean muscle?  Check out this post on Wold Fitness: Get Some Firmness On Your Frame

Oh man, the question “What bodypart does that work?” drives me bananas.

First off, “bodypart” is a word made up by the bodybuilding industry.

Seriously.  Here’s what happens when you search for it in Mirriam-Webster or Dictionary.com:

Focusing on “bodyparts” is pointless.  You hear people talking about biceps day, triceps day, shoulders day.  But you’ll never hear someone say “It’s flexor hallucis longus day!”  (Except me, and that’s because I’m a dork)

Besides bodypart being a fake word, what cheeses me off about “What does that work?” is if you’re worrying about what muscle you’re working, you’re probably not focusing on the important things… Like working freaking hard!

Look at this gymnast:

Do you think he asks his coach what muscle the pommel horse works?  Hell no!  He gets up there and busts ass to be awesome.

The key to getting results from your training program is this: Train MOVEMENTS, not MUSCLES.

There are 7 fundamental human movements.  These movements are the squat, bend/hinge, lunge, push, pull, twist, and gait/locomotion.

Take the lunge as an example.  You can perform thousands of different lunge variations.  The ValSlide Lunge works ankle mobility, foot strength, knee stability, hip extension, knee extension, hip stability, core strength, balance, proprioception, posture, metabolic conditioning, and much more.  Yet when someone asks “What bodypart does that work?” I sigh and say “Butt and Hamstrings.”

The best exercises for transforming your body won’t be done on a machine designed to isolate one muscle group.  You’ll raise your metabolism and build a tight body by focusing on those 7 fundamental human movements.

On the youtube page for the rocking chair video below, someone actually asked what muscles it develops!

Not to sound supercilious, but WHO CARES?  “Bodypart” training is geography, not physiology.

That take home message for today is: Stop worrying about what muscles each exercise work.  Instead, focus on working hard on variations of the 7 fundamental human movements and you will totally rock your body.

According to Wikipedia:

Anaerobic exercise is exercise intense enough to trigger anaerobic metabolism. It is used by athletes in non-endurance sports to promote strength, speed and power and by body builders to build muscle mass. Muscles energy systems trained using anaerobic exercise develop differently compared to aerobic exercise, leading to greater performance in short duration, high intensity activities, which last from mere seconds up to about 2 minutes. Any activity after about two minutes will have a large aerobic metabolic component.

A study from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Japan compared the effects of 6 weeks of traditional aerobics training to high intensity interval training.

The aerobic group exercised at 70% of their maximal aerobic uptake for 60 minutes 5 days a week during the study. At the end of 6 weeks the endurance group did not increase their anaerobic capacity and only increased their aerobic capacity slightly (from 53 to 58 ml/kg/min).

The interval training group also exercised 5 days a week during the 6 week trial. Their workouts consisted of 7-8 sets of 20 second sprints, followed by a 10 second recovery. After the 6 weeks, this group increased their aerobic capacity slightly MORE than the aerobics group (7ml/kg/min increase for the sprint group compared to 6ml/kg/min for the aerobics group). The interval training crew also increased their anaerobic capacity by 28%!

Let’s compare total exercise time for the two groups over the six week study:

Aerobics:
6 weeks x 5days/week x 60 minutes = 1800 minutes

Intervals:
6 weeks x 5 days/week x 4 minutes = 120 minutes

So… in less than one tenth the time, the interval group beat the aerobic group in both aerobic and anaerobic improvement!

Hooray science!

If you’re interested in checking out this study, here’s the citation:

Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1996 Oct;28(10):1327-30.
Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max.
Tabata I, Nishimura K, Kouzaki M, Hirai Y, Ogita F, Miyachi M, Yamamoto K.

And here’s a link to the abstract: Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max

“The more you cook, the better you look”

Learning how to make healthy meals tasty and interesting is one of the best things you can do for your physique and your health.

Today I want to share some of the recipes from here on Wold Fitness. (WARNING!  Not all of these recipes are pure paleo)

First, check out this post: Six Dumb Things You Do In Your Kitchen

You’ll get a breakdown of simple things you can do to improve your healthy eating

Now, on to the recipes!

Smoked Salmon Salad

Paleo Peach And Pecan Scramble

Beef And Pepper Kabobs

Grilled Salmon And Peach Salad

19 Primal Snacks

Apple Pie Scrambled Eggs

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Asian Turkey Burger

Bacon And Brussels Sprouts

Lentil Fruit Salad

Smoked Salmon Wrap

Hyper-Veggie Breakfast Scramble

One of my favorite paleo/primal eating books is: NeanderThin: Eat Like a Caveman to Achieve a Lean, Strong, Healthy Body by Ray Audette.

In Neanderthin you can find the Ten Commandments of Eating Like A Caveman.  They are…

Thou Shalt Eat:

• Meats and Fish
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Nuts and Seeds
• Berries

Thou Shalt Not Eat:

• Grains
• Beans
• Potatoes
• Dairy
• Sugar

If you want a few ideas of what to eat and what to avoid, I’m going to list a few options from each of the “commandments.”

Meat and Fish:

Beef, veal, lamb, pork, venison, chicken, turkey, ostrich, duck, pheasant, quail, rabbit, buffalo, moose, elk, seal, bear, squid, octopus, goose, oysters, clams, mussels, lobster, crayfish, hlibut, cod, salmon, eel, trout, bass, carp, sardines, tuna, whitefish, orange roughie, all other wild fish

Fruits:

Apples, cherries, pears, peaches, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, bananas, avocados, plums, olives, figs, dates, mangoes, kiwi, star fruit, pineapple, plums, pomegranates, passion fruit, peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines, tangelos, citrons, nectarines, papaya.

(Note: If you’re eating paleo-style to lose weight, minimize your fruit intake)

Vegetables:

Lettuce, cabbage, kohlrabi, kale, rhubarb, cauliflower, flowers, broccoli, asparagus, parsley, spinach, celery, carrots, onions, mushrooms, greens, tea leaves, radish, arugula, leek,endive, dandelion, brussels sprouts, artichoke, mint, basil, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, fennel, onions, garlic, shallots, bay leaves, cloves, saffron, and any other part of a plant that is edible raw.

(Here are some of my favorites: http://woldfitness.com/2011/06/8-salad-boosting-greens/)

Nuts and Seeds:

Almonds, walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, acorns, hickory, filberts, macadamia, flax, sesame, poppy, coriander, celery, anise, caraway, chervil, cumin, dill, fennel, mustard, and any others that are edible raw.

(Note: Peanuts and cashews aren’t on the list!)

Berries:

Grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, acai, boysenberries, strawberries, currants, and any others that are edible raw.

And now the FORBIDDEN FOODS, bwahahahaha!

Grains:

Corn, wheat, barley, rye, rice, oats, millet, and all products made from them.

(For more about the problems with wheat, check out:

Grains SUCK!

How To Make Paper Mache In Your Gut)

Beans:

All varieties of hard beans, lima beans, green beans, wax beans, peas, peanuts, chocolate, soy, fava beans, and all products made from them.

(More on soy: Soy, My Nipples, And Your Health)

Potatoes:

All varieties of potatoes and yams, beets, taro, cassava (tapioca), turnips, and all products made from them.

Dairy:

Milk, cheese, yogurt, whey, butter, and all products made from them.

Sugar:

Fructose, sucrose, maltose, dextrose, lactose, corn syrup, molasses, and all products made from them.

(For further reading: 99 Ways Sugar Is Poisoning You)

I hope these lists get you started thinking in some new directions next time you hit the grocery store or farmer’s market!

Neanderthin is out of print, but you might be able to find a copy on Amazon:

Push ups are a classic bootcamp exercise that strengthen and tone your upper body muscles.  But it can get BOOOOORRRRRIIINNNNGGGG doing the same old up-down pushup in your workouts.

By adding variety to your pushup training you will not only keep your bootcamp-style workouts more fun and interesting, you will help prevent injuries by working through different movements and ranges of motion.

Here are 10 Cool Push Up Variations for you to add to your workouts:

1.  Cool Pushup #1: Tiger Push Up

The Tiger Push Up is a combination plank and arm extension, great for your triceps and tummy muscles

2. Cool Pushup #2: Tripod Switch

The tripod switch is a very advanced arm training exercise (I mostly use these with mixed martial arts fighters who need to train explosive position changes)

3. Cool Pushup #3: Dive Bomber Pushup

This will really smoke your shoulder muscles

4. Cool Pushup #4: Reverse Push Up

Also called a bridging pushup, this is a motion almost never trained in traditional work out programs

5. Cool Pushup #5: Hand Lift Push Up

Keep a tight body on this one! By going all the way down and then lifting your hands, you are sure to have the same range of motion on every rep. I like to use this one for testing athletes, as it eliminates head-bobbing and half-bending reps and keeps assessment quality high

6. Cool Pushup #6: Reach Out Push Up

Want a core strength and shoulder stability challenge? Give these a shot

7. Cool Pushup #7: Forward Ellipse Pushup

One of my very favorites

8. Cool Pushup #8: Ring Triceps Extension

Not really a “push up”, but a great variation to add in for strengthening the back of your arms

9. Cool Pushup #9: Plank Walk Up

Most people only think of this as a core exercise, but it is a great workout for your pushup muscles as well

10. Cool Pushup #10: Threading Push Up

Another push up variation that takes you out of the traditional “up/down” of regular pushups

BONUS!  Pushup “Finisher” Exercise

In this finisher – use at the end of your workout! – you do as many pushups in a low position as you can, then move up to make it a little easier, push up to failure, move up a little, and repeat until you can’t move your arms. I only do a few pushups in each position in the video, as a full set of these can take over 3 minutes. (If you don’t have rings or a TRX, you can use your gym’s Smith Machine, just slide the bar up 2 inches for every set)

And of course, I like to finish every push up workout with some stretching: