Ok, so I don’t really think America is stupid. That title comes from a Huffington Post article that Tony Gentilcorelinked to yesterday. That article, for lack of a better word, was awesome.
In this article author Justin Stoneman points out how America has been fooled to eat crap and think it is good for us. He points out how a fat and unhealthy America is good for the food and pharmaceutical industry, and makes them billions.
I highly recommend you check this article out, as he has some excellent things to say. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
“Latest figures confirm the ridiculous: three out of four of you will be ‘overweight or obese’ by 2020. To gauge perspective: there are now more ‘fat’ people than ‘white’ people in America. Perhaps our bigots of the future will swing their hatred away from ‘race’ to the slim and healthy.
The shrinking minority are, indeed, the shrinking minority.”
This is a long one, but he just has so many excellent point.
“Americans (still) rule the world. They can stroll on the moon, influence global diplomacy, finance unstable countries around the world…yet they cannot keep their own people relatively healthy? Of course they could, if it were actually desired. Unfortunately, for the world’s most powerful companies, an unhealthy America is, perversely, a very profitable America.
If I own a sock company, I need people with feet to maintain my business. Similarly, if I own a diet company (total combined U.S. industry value: est. $45-$100 billion), I need fat people. Luckily for the diet industry, the even more powerful food industry (estimated value: astronomical — U.S. food-based retailing alone >$1,200 billion) make their main profits from cheap processed foods. Foods which make people fat.
The medical industry is similarly grateful — the unhealthy obese are as vital for their profit margins as oil is to the oil business. And we’ve seen what happens when the oil industry has their supply stream compromised.
So, if industries (with a combined net worth and power exceeding many actual countries), need a vital supply chain to survive, we can safely say that they will probably work out how to get it.
They need fat people. So what do they do?”
I should probably be careful with this next one since I am a member, but it is unfortunately true.
“The ADA (American Dietetic Association) has complete monopoly on dietary advice. To keep the bubble airtight, the full might of the law has even been implemented. Kim Jong-il would be proud of the attention to detail.
With that in mind, who precisely is ‘sponsoring’ the ADA and the nutritional advice you receive?
My friends, it is a beautiful army. Partners (recent and current — and their latest annual revenue figures):
Coca Cola (revenue $31.4 billion), GlaxoSmithKline (revenue $42.5 billion), Hershey’s (revenue $5.3 billion), Unilever (revenue $55.8 billion), Aramark (revenue: $12.3 billion). There are even some ‘premier sponsors’: Mars (revenue: $30 billion), PepsiCo (revenue $44.3 billion), Truvia sweetener (revenue of parent company Cargill: $116.6 billion), Kellogg’s ($12.7 billion).
ADA ‘sponsors’ have combined revenues of over $400 billion.”
Another simple piece of common sense.
“Your grandparents were raised in a generation aware that God’s supermarket was better than man’s. Saturated fat was a vital part of their diet. For them, obesity was not a common health problem. They were not suffering malnutrition in the fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K). Remarkably, you, dear Western reader, probably are.”
And finally…
“Your commercially sponsored weight loss advice is making you gain weight. It would be laughable, a comic irony, if the consequences were not so tragic. From diabetes to obesity to cancer to heart disease, the price being paid for corporate profit is in lives.”
I highly recommend you check out the entire piece, it is absolutely fantastic. He also provides an excellent graph showing exactly when the US obesity rates began to climb, and his reasons why. Fascinating stuff.
Recently a reader sent a me a link to an article and interview done by Wolf Blitzer with Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn about Bill Clinton. It was all about how Dr. Ornish and Dr. Esselstyn have inspired Bill Clinton to go on a plant-based diet where he has lost 24lbs and begun to reverse his heart disease. You can find out more about it right here.
This is Clinton’s back story, so clearly he needed to make some changes -
“In 2004 Clinton underwent quadruple bypass surgery, taking four veins from elsewhere in his body and using them to circumvent the four blocked arteries to his heart. In 2005, Clinton underwent more surgery, for scar tissue damage and fluid which had accumulated as a result of the 2004 surgery.
In February of 2010, Clinton’s bypass failed, with one of the four veins installed in the bypass having become 100% blocked. Surgeons installed two stents inside the clogged vein, in order to prop open the cholesterol-filled passage.”
I think there are a lot of great things said in the interview. They talk about how we need to focus on treating the disease, not treating the symptoms. Changing lifestyle factors and not focusing on drugs are two things they discuss and I agree with wholeheartedly.
Unfortunately there is a lot of false crap as well. Stating that foods like olive oil and meat and dairy (regardless of production methods) damage the body and cause heart disease is most definitely not shown in the literature. How is it that so many cultures and societies consumed large amounts of meat, or dairy or saturated fat and had little to no incidence of heart disease? How did these “damaging foods” not damage these people?
Here are my thoughts. Is it actually the fact that the former President is not eating meat that has reversed his heart disease, or is it that he is eating a ton more produce, has dropped down to a healthy bodyweight (a huge plus), is not consuming any man-made food products or edible food-like substances, and has changed many other lifestyle factors? I know where I stand.
Here is also what we know. There has never been a single documented hunter gatherer society that was vegetarian/vegan. Not one. Even if they ate mostly plants, they would still eat some animal products, because they were recognized as essential. How else would they get iron, zinc, and b-12?
To me the difference they made for Clinton is the removal of crappy man-made industrial food products. When making a drastic overhaul in diets it can be easy to point the finger at one thing for being the savior, but in reality many things have changed, and who really knows what actually produced the benefits. Is it the removal of meat and animal products (doubtful), the increase in produce (possibly) or the removal of edible food-like substances that we as a society consume in vast amounts (likely).
Now I am not saying that what they are doing isn’t working, what I am saying is that they, and the media, are oversimplifying (or purposely misinterpreting) what is actually providing the benefit.
When you improve someone’s diet, help them lose weight, decrease stress, quit smoking and increase exercise, how can you give all of the credit to the improved diet? That is what Dr. Esseltyn and Dr. Ornish do. While their system works, it is most definitely not only because they have put their patients on low-fat plant-based diets, it is because they have drastically improved many of the lifestyle factors that contribute to heart disease, as well as removing the industrial food products that actually are damaging.
I will lastly mention that this interview was posted on vegsource.com, a website solely dedicated to everything vegetarian. I perused it a bit and I am just blown away by the absolutely propaganda and false information on that site. Why is it so hard for people to believe that consuming a diet rich in nutrient-dense plant and animal foods is the ideal diet composition. If you are vegetarian or vegan, it is simply because you choose to do so, not because it is inherently healthier.
Today I will wrap up my series on how I train. One thing I want you all to keep in mind is that this is merely one program. While I generally stick to the theme/template I laid out here, this is not how I always train.
This style of training fits in really well with my current goals and chaotic schedule. If I could train more I would, but right now this works well for me.
This last day is a Total Body/Upper Body day. I label as such because sometimes it is only an upper day, it really all depends on timing. Though I have stated that my Upper Body day is Monday and my Lower Body day is Wednesday, it certainly does not always work out as such.
There are many weeks when I have to fit my training in on a Tues, Fri, Sat schedule. Unfortunately I may not know this until Friday! So, I improvise.
If I am able to get in a rest day between my Lower Body session and my Total Body session, then I do Total Body. If not, then I do Upper Body. While this means that I will often only train my lower body once per week, for now I am ok with that. I hammered my lower half for years, and in all honesty I really don’t need it to get any bigger.
Friday – Total Body/Upper Body
Pre Work: Foam Roll at home, Dynamic Warm-up at gym
A1. Alternating DB Incline Bench Press – 3×5/side
A2. 1-Arm DB Chest Supported Row – 3×8/side
B1. DB Bulgarian Split Squats or 1-Arm Push Press – 3×8/side
B2. Facepulls – 3×12-15
C1. Tricep Rope Pulldowns – 3×12-15
C2. Split Stance Cable Lifts – 3×8/side
D. corrective work of choice, or some curls, depends on the mood
So that’s it. That is training, BSP style. Any questions?
Last Wednesday I wrote about what a normal Upper Body day my look like for me. I noted how I am not a fan of volume, or lots of extra conditioning.
My Lower Body days are much the same mindset. These days I bang out a few quality sets and call it a day. I will note that I do spend quite a while warming up when I squat or deadlift. I will do roughly 5-6 warm up sets before I even start counting them as work sets.
This allows me to groove my pattern, bar speed and continue to warm up my joints and CNS. It makes a world of difference for me.
Wedneday – Lower Body Day
Pre Work: Foam Roll at home, Dynamic Warm-up at gym
A1. Back Squat – 2×3, 1×5-6
A2. Various Mobility – Wall Hip Flexor Mobilizations, No Money Drill – 3×8 (/side) of each
B1. Walking DB Lunges – 3×6-8/side
B2. Usually catching my breath, some various corrective work – Side Lying External Rotations – 3×12/side
C1. KB Swings – 3×20 (I only have a 35lber, but I am asking for a bigger one for Christmas)
C2. Turkish Get-Ups – 3×5/side
To be totally honest I don’t even always do that much volume. On days when I am feeling a little beat up or run down, I may just do 2 sets of lunges and 2 sets of swings. It is really based on how I feel.
To me the take home point is that your training does not have to be overly complicated, with crazy half-cocked exercises. Train hard (and smart) and eat real food and that will take care of so many things.
I will wrap this up with my Total Body/Upper Body day that finishes off my training week. If anybody has any questions or wants to see any more reasoning behind any of the program, just let me know!
Today is the 1-year anniversary for my wife and I, and we are heading up to beautiful Camden, ME for a little getaway. We are pretty much walking out the door as I type this, so I gotta go!
I will bring some kickass content back to the blog as soon as I get home.
As I talked about on Tuesday, Mike Boyle is releasing an incredible new system called BodyByBoyle Online, and it is live right now!
BodyByBoyle Online has been in development for almost a year, and trust me, it will be well worth the wait.
What is BodyByBoyle Online?
Simply put, it is everything you need to become a great athlete, trainer, or strength coach. Here is a quick breakdown of some of the incredible features at BBB Online.
1. An Extensive Program Database: BBB Online includes 12-months worth of programs at launch. Included are the same programs Mike Boyle uses with his elite athletes, rehab programs for the low back, hips, and shoulders, fat loss programs for beginner clients and more hardcore fat loss programs for those that want a challenge. Plus Two Months of programs will be added each month.
2. The Most Complete Exercise Video Library Ever Created: At launch BBB Online has over 280 exercise videos. EVERY movement and exercise that is used at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning has been filmed in HD and professionally edited. By everything, I mean, all of the warm-ups, stretches, speed work, agility drills, plyometrics, ballistics (medball) exercises, olympic lifts, and strength training exercises. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.
3. An Educational Database That Will Give You the Knowledge to Be The Best Athlete, Trainer, or Strength Coach Around: BBB Online includes a vast educational database. Included are full DVDs, Exclusive F.A.Q. videos with Mike on a wide range of subjects (plus more added each week), and videos of our entire staff meetings at MBSC. Some weeks you may get over 60 minutes of video just from the staff meeting. That is like a mini-seminar! And the guys at BBB Online will be taking requests, so if you want to hear Mike talk about (insert subject here), all you need to do is e-mail them and they will make it happen.
Those features are just the tip of the ice burg, the BBB Online membership also includes a revolutionary piece of software that will make training athletes and clients online as easy as a few clicks of the mouse.
The best part about BBB Online, is that you will be in heaven if you like to train hard using the most complete programs used by elite athletes, or if you are a trainer or a strength coach that wants the tools and the recipe that has made MBSC the #1 Gym in America. They are literally giving you the keys to Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, you can do whatever you wish with what is inside.
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I have had a few readers request to see what my training program looks like, so I have decided over the next few weeks to give you a glimpse of what it means to train BSP style.
There are a few things to keep in mind though when looking at my training. I have been training hard for about 10 years, and training well for about 5. I am pretty comfortable with my strength levels and aesthetics, so mainly I just train because I enjoy it and to be strong and healthy. I no longer plan my day around my gym sessions, nor do I spend an inordinate amount of time training. I get in, do my thing, and go home.
I also rotate exercises from month to month and sometimes week to week. I am not a fan of volume, as I find I respond best to relatively short and intense sessions, not 8 sets of 8 reps. Volume just makes me feel like crap.
You will also see I don’t do a ton of specific conditioning. I train at a fast enough pace to jack up my heart rate and sweat my butt off, as well as walking the dog several miles several days per week. I am also on my feet a ton at work.
Monday – Upper Body Day
Pre Work – Foam Roll at home, Dynamic Warm-up at gym
A1. Close Grip Bench Press – 2×3, 1×6-8
A2. Chinups – 2×3, 1×6-8
B1. Feet Elevated Band Resisted Pushups – 3×12
B2. Standing 1-Arm Cable Rows – 3×12/side
C1. BB Curls – 2×8
C2. Ab Wheel Iso Holds – 2x20s
D. 2 sets of corrective work of choice
Nothing too fancy on this day. I chose to do close grip bench this month because I haven’t done it in like a year, so it was a nice change of pace. I also threw in some bb curls because they are fun, and who doesn’t like doing a few sets of curls? Not an arms day mind you, just a few sets.
As you can see, not a ton of volume, and 6 exercises is usually my limit, with a little corrective stuff tossed in. Sometimes on days when I am really pressed for time, I will just do 4 compound exercises. I can bang out one of those days in 30 minutes even with the foam roll and warmup, so those are good to keep in your backpocket when pressed for time.
Later on this week or next week I will show what my Lower Body and Upper/Total Body training days look like. Please feel free to post any questions in the comments section!
Mike Boyle, one of the most renowned strength and conditioning coaches in the world, has made some interesting changes with how he conditions his athletes and clients at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning. It will be fascinating to see what result Mike’s athletes and clients reap from the modification.
This form of conditioning can also be implemented in a fat loss program, so if that is your goal (or that of your clients) give it a shot, it will provide a nice spark to your stale routine.
You can check out the video of Mike explaining the changes Right Here.
If you do consider yourself a serious athlete, lifter, strength coach, or trainer, you owe it to yourself to hear what the owner of the #1 Gym in America (By Men’s Health) has to say when it comes to performing better and getting your clients and athletes real results that will improve their conditioning, body composition, and performance.
Also keep an eye out this week as Mike is literally giving everyone the keys to Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning with BodyByBoyle Online.
I got a chance to preview this service (thanks to Kevin Larrabee), and I was absolutely blown away. From the training programs, to the exercise videos, to the educational content, it is simply the ultimate resource for strength and conditioning.
Stay tuned as BodyByBoyle Online is launching on October 6th at 7:00 am EST. There is a limited number of spots available so don’t miss out!
Again you can check the video for free Right Here.
Well today is the day of EC’s wedding, for which I will be suiting up and heading out in just a few short hours. It will be a blast to see a lot of old friends, watch Tony dance, check that, watch Eric dance (the man has about as many moves as me), and just have a good time.
As much as I love Anna and EC, I am not writing my 250th blog post solely on their wedding. Sorry Eric.
I figured I would make today a mixed bag of all kinds of things that I blog about often. The awesomeness of a food, a smoothie recipe, neat links from readers showcasing how great and how awful our food production is, you know, fun stuff.
To start things off though, I want to talk about my favorite subject, ME!
All kidding aside, for those of you who don’t read t-nation religiously I had a new article go up on Friday, called 10 Forgotten Muscle Building Foods, so check it out.
I have also gotten some tremendous feedback from people who bought the Show and Go Nutrition Guide, and I can’t thank you guys enough for letting me know your thoughts on my first product!
Awesomeness of Pears
To continue down this most random of days, today I wanted to talk about the glory of a seemingly forgotten fruit – pears! Pears are absolutely delicious, sweet and juicy. They are related to apples and have several thousand different colors and varieties, the most common in the US being the Bosc, Bartlett, Anjou, and Comice. They are all a good source of fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, and copper.
Copper is actually a vitally important substance as it is for the formation of superoxide dismutase, a powerful enzyme that eliminates superoxide radicals, which if not eliminated quickly can damage cell membranes. It has also been shown that a diet low in copper is associated with risk factors for colon cancer.
While you won’t find much support for this in the literature, health care practitioners often recommend pears as one of the first fruits for infants to consume, as it is hypoallergenic and less likely to produce an adverse response.
Reader Smoothie Recipe
A reader of the blog emailed me a recipe he created after reading my most recent t-nation article. He described it as thick and creamy with a slightly nutty edge and almost velvety mouthfeel.
1/2 – 3/4 cup water
1/2 cup coconut milk (sugar free)
1 large banana
1 scoop vanilla whey
3-4 ice cubes
Blend on high for 30-45 seconds and enjoy! I haven’t actually tried it yet myself, but it sure sounds delicious. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Our Terrible Food Production
A reader sent me this link to Gizmodo, about how disgusting the production of chicken nuggets is. Now according to the author chicken is turned into this picture below to make nuggets, which is just nasty.
What worse is he claims that “because it is crawling with bacteria, it will be washed in ammonia, soaked in it, actually. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color.”
Nasty. Now some of this is disputed by people in the comments section, and I can’t say I have ever witnessed chicken nuggets being made like this, butI have seen them be made from a pink liquid in the cafeteria in college so I truly do not doubt that this is wholly possible. Either way, does that look like something that you want to eat?
Our Excellent Food Production
Another reader sent me a link about 12 of America’s Best Local Farmer’s Markets. This was really neat, and one of the farmer’s markets it showcased was in Portland, Maine. That farmer’s market has been around since 1917, which just showcases how forward-thinking us Mainers (including EC) are.
There are so many people who tell me that they don’t have access to high-quality food, but examples like this show that it is out there, it just takes a little searching and some effort, as most of it is not going to be sold at your local Stop n’ Shop.
So that will do it for what I believe is the first ever post on a Sunday. It is now time to quickly mow the lawn and then get all done up for the wedding!
I was able to catch up on some blog reading this morning, and I came across some stuff that I thought you guys might like, so check them out.
I also wanted to quickly mention that Mike Boyle’s Functional Strength Coach 3.0is currently on sale for 25% off (a savings of $50!), which is a tremendous deal for those of you who didn’t pick one up the first time. Mike is a brilliant guy, and this is an awesome DVD set that encompasses everything Mike has learned in nearly 30 years of “in the trenches” experience at every level of sport and fitness.
2. A Health Guru Dies of Cancer – Jonny Bowden. Jonny discusses a very important question; if even some of the smartest and healthiest people on earth die far too early from diseases like cancer, is all this effort to be healthy worth it? I like his answer.
3. Potatoes and Human Health, Part 1 and Part 2 – Stephan Guyenet.Stephan delves into the cultivation of potatoes (quickly), their nutritional content, health benefits and traditional use in diets. He also discuss glycoalkoloid content. Hmmm my description doesn’t sound nearly as interesting as it really is, but definitely check them out.
Posted on September 28th, 2010 by Brian St. Pierre
Posted on October 19th, 2010 by Brian St. Pierre
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