How to spend a lazy Friday afternoon -

(A1) clean and press: worked-up from 135 x 5, to 225 x singles.  How many singles?  I have no clue; let’s just call call it “a hellovalot”.  For me, if I can clean the weight, it’s going overhead, so I keep going on these until my form degrades (or I begin missing) the clean.  The presses morphed into push-presses by the later, heavier sets.  I opted not to roll into jerks, and made sure to hit an extended negative on each descent out of the OHP.

then, 2 rounds of:

(B1) JRepped bodyweight dips — three zones to failure; low, medium, and high.

(B2)  ARX Fit dips x 5 hyper-reps

I’s not often that I “modality hop” to such an extent in the same workout, but it just seemed right in this instance.  And the Jrepped dips followed by an ARX Fit round of 5 hyper-repped dips was just friggin’ devastating.  Good stuff here, for sure.  The best of old school black-iron and bodyweight work, followed by a space-age technology “polisher”.  A perfect weave of time, tools, technique and temperament.

Time, tools, techniques, and temperament <=> Goals

And speaking of that “4-T weave”…

This is the great balance that every trainee — myself included — must strive to maintain.  On the one side — time, tools, techniques and temperament — and on the other, goals.  We simply can’t fool mother nature, nor can we influence Lady Justice’s accurate rendering of the scales.  Carrying this metaphor a bit further, we can say that Lady Justice is the ultimate arbiter of health vs performance.  If you tell me you want to become a high-performing athlete, but only have an hour a week to devote to training…well, you see where this is leading.

On the other hand, if someone tells me that they want to be as healthy as possible, have an hour a week they’re willing to devote to smartly programmed and pinpointed exercise, and are perfectly willing to jump on the Paleo/Primal lifestyle bandwagon, I can certainly help you; my available tools and broad technique savvy, coupled with the client’s time investment and temperament for change now balance with the stated goals.

In fact, at this spring’s PFX12 symposium, I will be unveiling the results — complete with before and after DEXA scans — for three individuals who I’m currently training at my Austin, Texas Efficient Exercise Rosedale location.  3 Individuals, 3 completely different life stories; 3 months to transform their lives.  How will it all play out?  Well, c’mon out to the epicenter of Physical Culture in March of this year to find out first hand.  And you won’t just be hearing me blabber-on about the results, as these three individuals will be anchoring a Journey of Transformation “mastermind panel” to answer your questions on just what it took for them to transform — the pain, the obstacles…and the joy, too — or, as Cornell West says in this clip from the documentary, The Examine Life, the “stank, stench and funk” of the experience.

As West says, “Philosophy must go to school not only with the poets, philosophy must go to school with the musicians” — awesome stuff.  And in the same sense, Strength and Conditioning must go to school with intuitive philosophy, and health must be made a bedfellow with epistemocracy.  Going back to the scales of justice metaphor, we need these things of equal weight to science to round-out the two realms, and to bring a completeness, a wholeness, to Ancestral Wellness paradigm.  Science alone won’t do the trick.  Art without an underpinning of science is just so much blather.  The path of moderation and balance isn’t sexy, but it’s essential for mastery.

Teaching Paleo with comedic flair

Myself, Meesus TTP and the rest of the PFX12 crew took in the Dan French show this weekend in Austin, and the “comedian PhD” had us laughing our collective asses off for a solid hour.  Think teaching the world about Paleo has to be a dry, serious endeavor?  Think again.  Dr. Dan is yet another reason why Austin is *the* epicenter of Physical Culture.  Where else but Austin would provide the crucible for the development and expression of such an act?  Check out the guy’s story — a comedian with a PhD in rhetoric (which is somehow just funny in and of  itself) who’s lost over 100 lbs on the Paleo diet.  Great story, and one hell of a hell of a comedic talent.  Make sure to check him out!  I’m quite sure (*wink, wink; nod, nod*) that the good doctor will make a guest appearance or two at this spring’s PFX12

If you happen to be out at the LA Fitness Expo this weekend, make sure you drop by and say “hey”.  Til then, adios!

In health, fitness and wellness -

Keith

I’ve written many times on the difficulty  (absurdity?) of attempting to distill artistic expertise into programs, templates, or step-by-step directives.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been asked by a client, following a workout, why I chose a certain movement, technique or modality at a particular time during their session.   And the answer, more often than not, comes forth haltingly, disjointed, with various pieces of the argument being loosely — if at all — triangulated.  I just “knew” what method to use and when to employ it.  Does that make me some kind of a guru?  Hardly; just someone who has spent a hell of a lot of time in the Strength and Conditioning game, and who apprenticed, beginning at a very young age, with some of the best and brightest in the field.  People to whom, when I asked my persistent ”whys”, stumbled over the same explanations.

This is not to say that one should dive willy-nilly into into training with no plan.  Every artist enters his domain — be it gym, kitchen, studio, what have you — with direction.  The true masters, though, consider direction as no more than a starting point, knowing when to — and allowing — intuition to override conscious decision making.  Bruce Lee’s famous “kick is just a kick” saying comes to mind:

“Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch, and a kick, just a kick.
After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick, no longer a kick.
Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick.”

David Eagleman‘s recent piece, The Mystery of Expertise, covers this subject beautifly, and I encourage each and every one of you to read it.  From sexing chickens to hitting a fastball to the friend/foe identification aircraft from sound alone, conscious thinking must not be allowed to impede intuition.

The Upcoming LA Fitness Expo -

I’ll be out in LA from the 27th through the 30th of this month for the LA Fitness Expo, and I’ll be speaking, Sunday, on the topic of Paleo for performance to a demographic who is, by-and-large, non-conversant in the hows-and-whys of the Ancestral Wellness movement.  I certainly hope to see some of my Paleo Cali peeps while I’m out there; if you happen to be at the expo, make sure you drop by and say “hey”.

I’ll also be “training the trainers” at our newest Efficient Exercise “urban box” while I’m in town.  Our downtown Los Angeles studio, located on the 36th floor of the Paul Hastings tower, features a predominance of  ARX Fit equipment in a small-footprint setting.  We feel that these strategically-placed, urban-oasises of fitness will appeal to those who are office-bound, yet desire the wellness benefits of what intelligent programming with ARX Fit equipment can offer.  All I can say is, I sure as hell wish I had this option available nearby when I was caught in the corporate world/wanna-be-fit quagmire.  Being a slave to the grind is a hell of a lot easier tolerate if a bad-ass, time-efficient fitness option is readily available.  So if you’re in downtown LA, here’s your at-work fitness — and sanity — saving opportunity.

Oh, and you can definitely bet I’ll be getting my hands on some fine,  Handsome coffee while I’m in town!  And head’s up Gjelina, the Efficient Exercise crew will be dropping in one evening for some of your fine eats —  and to celebrate a couple of birthdays.  Ought to be fun!

In health, fitness, and wellness -

Keith

Paul Jaminet, in his recent post My Theory of Obesity I: “The Fat Trap”, inches ever closer to uncovering the scientific whys behind what Physical Culturalists have long known as truth — that lean tissue acquisition/optimization via smartly programmed resistance training is absolutely essential for optimum and sustained fat loss, and (ergo) all-’round health and wellbeing.

The Paleo community, in my ever-so-humble opinion, has historically discounted the immense and positive contribution of smartly-programmed resistance training strategies to the total ancestral wellness/wellbeing equation.  In fact — and as much as I respect Gary Taubes’s contribution to the Paleo movement — I have to lay much of the blame for this oversight squarely at Gary’s feet, as his continued (implied, I suppose) assertion is that of exercise’s minor (if at all) contribution to sustained fat loss.  Now there are those in academia who brilliantly defend the role of exercise as being a major player in the ancestral wellness equation — Drs. Frank Booth and John Ivy, most prominently – however (and most unfortunately), their voices have not been made public to the extent that others  in the “diet cures all” camp have.  Even within a highly intelligent sub-group of people — the Paleo community, writ large — there yet remains a bias against the fact that maintaining great health (and a solid body composition) requires a good bit of tough physical labor.  If nothing makes sense except in the light of evolution,  then the fact that our species first-and-formost evolved under physically demanding circumstances ought to ring true.  We need to recognize that, just as we as a species are genetically driven toward the consumption of high-concentration carbohydrate sources, so too are we driven toward laziness/recuperation.  These, of course, were optimum strategies for coping in a harsh, stone-age environment; strategies that we now realize need to be mitigated vis-a-vis our modern society.  The opportunity to recuperate, along with highly-concentrated carbohydrate sources, were scarce things  in the environments in which we, as a species, “came of age”.

The punch line is this: true ancestral wellbeing results from the union of smart dietary and smart exercise decisions.  One without the other just will not produce anywhere near optimal results.

Changing lives for the better

Introducing my latest transformation project — Chris Scheppler, of Naturally Fit 360.com.  Chris has one hell of a background story — and a goal/future vision — that he will reveal through his series of video blog updates.  Make sure to check back frequently to follow Chris’s progress and to watch his story unfold.  Chris’s 3 month transformation unveiling will take place at none other than PFX12.  Hey, no pressure whatsoever — right, Chris!?

In health, fitness, and ancestral wellbeing -

Keith

The #PFX12 Symposium as it will be known in Twitterworld will be held in Austin, Texas March 14 – 17, 2012 during the transition time between interactive and music events during the legendary Austin event South by Southwest #SXSW

So far, we have a rock star line-up of confirmed speakers for the symposium — Robb Wolf, Chris Kresser, Dr. Jack Kruse, Mark Sisson Sarah Fragoso, Keith Norris, Diane San Filippo, John Welbourne, Dallas & Melissa Hartwig, Erwan LeCorre, Glen Cardoza, Sean Croxton, Amy Kubal, James Fitzgerald, Dr. Ron Rosedale, Dean Dwyer, Dr. William Davis, Dr, Lane Sebring, Dr. John Berardi PhD, Dr. Daniel Kalish, CJ Hunt,  David Lee Nall, Dr. Terry Wahls, Diana Rodgers, Michelle Tam, Julie & Charles Mayfield , Melissa Joulwan, Roger Dickerman, Marissa Pellegrino , Bill Staley & Hayley Mason and many more to be firmed up and announced.

This will be an incredible, not to be missed event, to be sure…with lots of opportunities for hands on involvement & interaction with attendees, as well as movement sessions. Cooking demos will be held throughout the symposium and lunch will be provided by yours truly & Caveman Cuisine on Thursday & Friday.

Exciting news that we’ve been working on for… it seems—EVER! Me & Keith are rolling out our new website Ancestral Momentum so this is my last post here on Eclectic Kitchen and you’ll start catching us both over at our new address…together, the idea is NEW & IMPROVED! A great new website with a lot of cool stuff, great features and all of our old posts will be found there, as well.  So let us know what you think when you get a chance to check our new site, any suggestions for new posts, feedback, anything you wanna know about, any questions you have about food, cooking, nutrition and fitness and you’ll definitely want to stay posted for all the updates on the Paleo f(x) Ancestral Momentum- Theory to Practice Symposium, too! 2012 is going to be an exciting year so catch on to the Momentum! Buckle your seat belts, it’s gonna be a crazy ride with us!

So, here we go!…fade in to Theory to Practice’s brand new venue — Ancestral Momentum.  This is a joint venture for Michelle (AKA, Meesus TTP) of Eclectic Kitchen/Caveman Cuisine and I; a chance for us to combine our love and knowledge of great food and great S & C programming, in one united “house” of Ancestral Wellbeing.  And please pardon the growing pains — we know there will be some! — as we get this puppy up and running at full speed.  We hope you find that it’ll be worth the wait

As I write this, it’s New Years eve, 2011.  Michelle and I, are home recovering from our extended (and long, long over-due) trip to Cabo, and are both beating back a nasty little Mexican bug we seem to have picked up in our waning hours south of the boarder.  Apparently, Mexican viruses — quite unlike their US counterparts — are impervious to copious amounts of good tequila.  Damn!…Who knew, right?  And I was under the impression that I was partaking in the ultimate of all preventative measures  Ahhh well…..

Beautiful place...nasty bug!

What I do know, however, is that a healthy lifestyle has (1) allowed us both to bounce back rather quickly from this harry little Mexican beast, and (2) kept us from falling as hard — and as low — as would otherwise have been the case if we lived less-than-stellar examples of Physical Culture.

Of course, when I say that I “know” that my usual good health prevents me from succumbing to the full-on onslaught from a virus/pathogen/etc., does that mean I have scientific backing to prove my point?  Hardly.  What it means is that I construct a reality based on what I consider to be good science, and via life experience as filtered through my n=1 intuitive interpretation.  I also give myself the freedom to redirect in light of new “evidence”, both scientific and intuitive.  Ego identification with an idea?  Why would any sane individual choose that route?  No amount of bias, money and/or prestige can force truth upon an idea.  For my part, I’d rather pursue truth than wealth, and let the chips fall where they may.  Of course, I realize that I have most certainly deluded myself here, due, in no small part, to my liberal arts-leaning education.  See the lead-in quote to this piece voiced, ostensibly, by Lord Taverne.  Touche

So that’s navigating life 101, once the sails are set and the ship is turned to — but what about getting that bad boy up and sea worthy to start with?  What about the motivation to change, and the ability to inspire that desire in yourself…or, in others?  Hell, what about the ability to realize that change is even possible?

Two different ends of the psychological spectrum -

In between 10 days worth of coaxing a lowered cortisol level while chillin’ on pristine, San Jose del Cabo beaches, and taking-in impromptu Sammy Hagar appearances at the Cabo Wabo, I was able to squeeze-in a bit of reading, some of which was related to the idea of (and foot-dragging resistance to) change.

The epitome of change, Sammy Hagar

First up was a book recommended to me by PFX12 chair, Kevin Cottrell — Alan Deutschman’s Change or Die.  Next up was a short ebook by Julien Smith, titled The Flinch.

I’d consider both of these books part of an addendum to Rebecca Costa’s masterful work, The Watchman’s Rattle.  And both are on opposite ends of the psychological spectrum.  Think of Change or Die as being the softer, gentler side of coaxing change, whereas The Flinch  espouses the essence of just frackin’  man-up and  do it already!  Both approaches, though, do boil down to harnessing the all-elusive entity known as willpower.

In teasing-out change, though, the real magic — just as in creating effective S & C programming, or the perfect Paleo meal — is to “know” what method (or combinations of methods) to use at any given time and under any given situation.  Science can’t help you much here; only intuition and experience can point the way.  Great coaches and motivators are artists who’s medium is the manipulation of these various methods to affect positive change in an individual or team of (erstwhile) individuals.

And speaking of intuition, make sure you put Thinking, Fast and Slow on your to-read list.  I’ve just started it, and I can’t put the damn thing down!

Easing back into things -

12 days of complete inactivity — this is the longest I’ve gone without some form of intense physical output since I broke my hand some 15 years ago.  Whether or not this was a smart thing to do (from a rejuvenation standpoint) remains to be seen.   My gut feeling is that this was way too long for me, and that 5 days off would have sufficed to recharge the batteries fully.  At any rate, my plan now is to ease back into things over this week, starting with a symbolic, January 1st, sunrise workout.  Nothing spectacular here, just getting back into the groove with 5 rounds of a barbell bear/weighted dip complex:

(A1) barbell bear x 8

(A2) weighted dips x 12

A sprint/muscle-up workout is on-tap for the 2nd, and from there I’ll just play it by ear.  By the end of the week I ought to be right back at the level at which I left off back on December 22nd.  That’s the plan as of today anyway.  We’ll see how this all plays out.  For all the fun I had in Cabo — and it *was* a fabulous time in a beautiful place in the world — I do know that it was good to get a barbell back in my hand again today!

In health…and fitness,

Keith

Yeesh, I probably still have the cassette somewhere, too...

The setting: a recent Friday, early evening, alone and between clients at Austin’s Efficient Exercise Rosedale studio.  Shuffled tracks from Van Halen’s late 70′s/early 80′s stuff (Van Halen II, Fair Warning, Women and Children First, Diver Down…) blasting from the stereo.  I’m 8 sets into a power clean — Russian leg curl combo workout, and my thumbs are now completely raw and hook-grip-numb.  My posterior chain is just about spent, and my quads — as a result of  an ever-lower catch depth — are fading fast.  Rep after rep; set after set.  To most, this would be the epitome of prolonged drudgery and yet to me, this is just some good damn quality time spent alone.  Hardcore iron meditation; in lieu of Gregorian chants, I’ve got the incessant wailing of David Lee Roth‘s voice over an Eddie Van Halen guitar.

It occurs to me that, save for my Addidas Adipure-shod feet, this could just as easily be my 17 year-old self “slaving away” at the Power House Gym, San Antonio, Texas, circa 1982.

What’s kept this love of Physical Culture alive for me for so long, I’m not really sure I can pinpoint.  I don’t think it’s any one thing though, but rather a patchwork of things.  I think most of us who have remained true to whatever manifestation of Physical Culture we define as our base (HIT, HIIT, Oly or Power lifting, bodybuilding, etc.) can relate to Henry Rollins‘s notion of the iron never lying.  When all else in the world my be completely and insanely bat-shit, an evening’s worth of 225 lb power clean repeats remains comfort food for my physical being.

In fact, the very things that defined my exercise base 35 years ago — cleans, dips, chins and sprints – still define my base today.   Sure, I utilize a myriadof different training modalities and exercises now, and my workouts run seamlessly, day-to-day, into my play and back again.  I’ve refined and compressed my training now, with the two-hour marathon sessions being few and far between.  I have access to, and frequently utilize, proprietary ARX Fit equipment — one of the most advanced exercise technologies to come along since the heady Nautilus days; an equipment technology that I know has, in fact, allowed me perform my base-of-preference movements at ever-higher levels — and yet there’s just something about a solid, well-executed, old-school clean, a gut-wrenching dip, the clanging of iron between your knees when grinding-out chins, or that earth-skimming feeling of an all-out sprint.

I’m sure nostalgia plays a big part in this, just as I’m sure I remember myself as being a better athlete than any of my coaches would attest to.  Maybe these are the little lies we tell ourselves to make it through this life, I dunno.   What I do know is that this type of lifting — and these particular movements — are not only good for my body, but good for my mental state of being as well.  In their essence, these are primal moves; the base of the Physical Culture pyramid — heave, press, pull…and haul friggin’ ass.  Follow-up one of these sessions with some wanton carnivory and, well, we’ve got two of the four Ancestral Wellness rails covered.  Eventually, we’ll get around to addressing community and spiritual life using the same Ancestral template.  Ancestral Wellness 3.0 and 4.0?  It’s just a matter of time before these issues will force themselves to the forefront, just as the first two phases have done.

~

A little something to contemplate.  Is Physical Culture an art, in the same way that music is an art?

I would argue that it is.  Check out this clip from Big Think, and let me know what you think.

There is a huge difference between training from a template, and training intuitively according to your n=1 circumstance.  A template can never adjust for your particular set of givens; time, tools, techniques and temperament are unique for each individual, and must be navigated accordingly.  To move toward Physical Culture mastery, you must break free of adhering to some one else’s notion of what ought to be done, and cut your own path.  You can always learn from what others do under their particular set of circumstances, but blindly copying is a mistake.

In health, fitness and Ancestral Wellness -

Keith

1 lb of Brussels Sprouts
6 – 8 slices of bacon
2 – 3 Shallots
1 Cup Chicken Stock (Duck Stock is better if you have it)
1/3 Cup (approximately) Balsamic Vinegar
Fresh Cracked Pepper & Sea Salt

First, slice a few shallots, thinly and then set them aside. Cut the top stem area away from each sprout & then slice them in two, place the halves in a colander. Remove any yellowed or dead leaves. Don’t toss good leaves that have fallen off, though, throw them in, too. After you have them all split, rinse them really good to get all the grit and dirt off of them but then shake out as much of the excess water as you can. (While I am preparing the sprouts, I render 6-8 slices of applewood smoked bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat. (Actually, I use a paella pan, it’s great for this!) Once the bacon is done & crisp, I pull it from the pan & place it on a few paper towels to drain.

Leave the bacon oil and renderings in the pan. Then looking at your sprouts you’ll want to be sure they will all get coated with the bacon oil, if you think there isn’t enough oil to do this, add a little olive oil or a combination of olive oil & butter – usually a tablespoon or two will do the trick. While the bacon oil is hot, leave the stove at the same setting, throw in the sliced shallots & allow them to caramelize for a minute or two. Then begin placing sprouts in the pan, cut side down. I place them all this way & cook for about 5 – 7 minutes to get them brown & crispy. If there’s too many to put them all face down, I toss the remaining ones on top & then after a few minutes, I try to work those down to the bottom and turn over the ones I put in first.

After they’ve browned, I’ll stir them all up to insure they are all coated with the bacon oil and coat them with a nice amount of fresh cracked pepper and sea salt. Then I turn the heat down to medium, add a cup of chicken stock but if I have it I’ll use duck stock from Kocurek Family Artisanal Charcuterie instead, cover the pan and let them simmer for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, take a fork & see if one of your largest halves is tender by sliding the fork in it. If it goes in easily, they’re ready. I take about a 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar & sprinkle it liberally over the sprouts. Then each person can tear up the bacon over their portion when serving or if you are serving them on a platter or in a bowl you can tear up the bacon into small pieces & sprinkle it over them…these sprouts with steak are just incredible!

Bon Appetit!

“Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves.” – Germaine Greer

I recently decided, in an on-going effort to better quantify an n=1 sweet-zone within my health vs performance continuum, to have an in-depth blood panel examined by Austin’s premier Ancestral Wellness savvy practitioners, the Merritt Wellness Center, and specifically by their resident nutritionist and bloodwork guru, Holly L’Italien. Holly’s grasp of bloodwork analysis from an Ancestral Wellness prospective is unsurpassed. She’s an as-yet undiscovered rockstar in the larger Paleo community, and yet another reason why Austin can tout itself as *the* epicenter of Physical Culture. As we’ll see in this ongoing series, she possesses a laser-sharp insight into the nature and inter-workings of what is an extremely complicated weave of genetic and epigenetic cause, effect and (at times, and at first glance, misleading) correlation.

So what, at a thirty-thousand-foot-view, did my bloodwork reveal? Well, it begins to tell the story of someone who’s pushing the friggin’ hairy-edge of the health vs performance continuum, that’s what. Big surprise, huh? I’ll turn this over to the resident expert for a more in-depth analysis in just a moment, but what we can see aligning here are indications of elevated cortisol beginning to jack with overall health-indicator parameters in some not-so healthy ways. What might this elevated cortisol result from? Well, for starters, how about a recently-turned 47 year-old who insists on training (and for the most part, living) as if he were still a bullet-proof, 20 year old collegiate football player. Add to that already-volatile mix, an exhilarating (though friggin’ taxing) 24/7 professional life, and a personal life that has endured every major stressor you can imagine — marriage, divorce, a high-stress prior gig (in Big Pharma, for God’s sake!), the raising of teenagers (four of ‘em!!), a complete, utter and drastic career change, moving cross-country, the buying and selling of homesteads in a beyond-shitty market, the passing of a daughter… and hey, those are just the biggies.

So did I do like any normal human being would, and take my foot off of the gas pedal during all of this? Yeah, right. Is moderation in my vocabulary, even now? Uhhhh, no. Hell, if anything, I just mash the pedal even more when I’m stressed, in some kind of manic (obsessive?), feed-forward loop. It’s my wolverine/honey badger nature to do just that. Red-lining workouts and/or pushing physical limits has always been what makes me feel most “alive”. So am I addicted to the adrenalin rush that being in the extreme produces? Yeah, probably so. And I have been ever since I was a kid, so I guess I can blame it on a genetic hard-wiring thing. But the question now is this: do I need to back off? And if so, where? And, maybe even more importantly, can I restructure things so as to satisfy my psyche, as well as my health?

So what follows is the give-and-take between Holly (italicized) and I; the hacking of Keith’s bloodwork. Feel free to join in the fray.

First up, let’s look at the hard numbers as reported by the blood-draw lab. The draw was completed following a 12-hour fast, and 24-hour exercise fast:

And now for some insightful analysis, here’s Holly:

In reviewing Keith’s bloodwork lab values, the two things that stand out are the BUN and Total Cholesterol (301 mg/dl) values.  In Keith’s case, the BUN (Blood Urea Nitogen, 25 mg/dl) and creatinine (1.25 mg/dl) are most likely elevated due to strenuous exercise.

Regarding cholesterol, the pattern that we are seeing here is indicative of Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH).  FH is a genetic lipid disorder that causes abnormal lipid values. There are five types of FH and they each require different management strategies. On Keith’s mother’s side there is a family history of heart disease, so this is something we will want to keep an eye on.

However, the ratio of HDL (66 mg/dl) to triglycerides (64 mg/dl) is good. Typically this means that if we took a look at the breakdown of Keith’s LDL (222 mg/dl) into the different sub-particles, we would likely find there are more of the good light fuffly kind, and few of the small dense kind that can signal a risk for heart disease. Keith’s c-reactive protein (.22 mg/L) looks great, which is another indicator that his relative risk for heart disease is low.

From a ‘wellness’ or functional perspective, functionally low protein (6.8 g/dl) and phosphorus (3.4 mg/dl) suggests low stomach acid affecting the ability to digest protein. Stomach acid will decrease in times of stress. Sodium (141 mmol/L) is elevated according to functional ranges. This, in conjunction with low LDH (69 IU/L) and high A1c (5.4), suggests there may be some adrenal fatigue wherein the adrenals are unable to keep up with changes in blood sugar.  Low calcium (8.7 mg/dl) is often an indicator of thyroid issues, and the low thyroxine (T4, 5.8 ug/dl) supports this.

His white blood cells are functionally low (4.7 x10E3/UL), which can also be indicative of chronic stress, or possibly a hidden infection.

So it’s important to see that all these things are inter-related: impaired adrenal function is often associated with impaired thyroid function. Both are affected by stress. Cholesterol can be elevated in the presence of a sluggish thyroid. Cholesterol can also elevate in adrenal stress in the body’s efforts to produce more cortisol to handle the stress. LDL cholesterol– the ‘bad’ cholesterol– is necessary for life and is the precursor to all the sex and stress hormones. And finally, stress and the resultant high cortisol can impact thyroid function.  So — in classic chicken-egg scenario drama — which happened first?

If we were just looking at the labs, we would have recommend following up with a more in depth thyroid panel which looks at the free (active) thyroid hormones T3 and T4. We would also want to see if there are thyroid antibodies present. We might also order a lipid phenotyping panel to see which of the five FH patterns Keith has. Finally, we might want to see a VAP panel to ascertain what Keith’s LDL is comprised of– more of the light fluffy, or a proliferation of the small dense?

However, it is said that the patient interview is 80% of the diagnosis. When we had a chance to sit down with Keith and learn a little bit about his lifestyle, we learned that he was working very long hours, and burning the candle at both ends. This is a significant cause of stress all by itself, made much worse because Keith often doesn’t eat anything until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. This is a huge stress on the body because the adrenal glands have been working hard all night producing cortisol to balance blood sugar during the sleeping hours. By forcing the adrenal glands to keep producing cortisol all day as well instead of eating is an additional burden that can only be sustain at the expense of other organ systems.

Keith says he is not hungry in the morning, which makes sense given the stress his body is under. In times of stress, your body goes into the ‘fight or flight’ mode, shutting down the ‘rest and digest’ systems. One of the results of this is low stomach acid, one of the symptoms of this is no appetite or even nausea in the morning. The functionally low protein and phosphorus on his blood test support a diagnosis of low stomach acid.

Given that stress and cortisol has such wide ranging impact, we elected not to pursue the thyroid and cholesterol panels at this time. Instead we’ll take a closer look at what is going on with Keith’s stress hormones with a salivary hormone test which require Keith to provide samples four times a day. This will show us not only the amount of stress hormones he is producing, but will also show us how his hormones are cycling (circadian rhythm).  Finally we’ve asked him to make some lifestyle changes to support adrenal health and take some of the stress of his system:

1) Eat breakfast!

2) Eat a little something every 2-3 hours before he gets hungry. Hunger is an indication that the blood sugar is already low and the adrenal glands are already forced into action to produce cortisol to bring the blood sugar up.

Then we will retest in about 3 months to see how dealing with this major stressor affects his labs. At that time we will also follow up with whatever tests necessary to feel confidant that Keith’s health is optimal.

~

So I’ve taken Holly’s advice and have begun eating a small, protein & fat-heavy breakfast in the morning.  I have to say that this small step does have me feeling better (in a “more energy” kind of way) during the day.  I am eating more often too, though maybe not at a frequency of every 2 – 3 hours — my client load and personal training schedule doesn’t normally allow for such — but I’d say that I’m now at about a 5x/day frequency, with maybe 2x prior to noon (remember, though, that I begin each day at approximately 4 AM), and 3x thereafter, with my last meal of the day (about 8 PM, most evenings) still being the largest.  Bedie-bye is usually not until about 10 PM.  I know a couple of more hours of sleep per night would go a long way toward keeping cortisol at bay but, realistically, that’s just not going to happen anytime soon.

This is a perfect example of n=1 manipulation of what many consider to be a Paleo/Primal lifestyle “given” — the daily 5 (ish)-hour, compressed, evening feeding window.  Of course it could certainly be argued that the 5-hour feeding window is the gold standard, and that I’m leaving behind a much healthier option to “cover” for my 90 mile-an-hour lifestyle and intense training regimen.   As an epistemocrat, I’ll weight these options, best I can, free of my own confirmation biases.

And I do have the salivary hormone test kit on hand, but haven’t yet drawn or submitted my samples.  Of course, these readings will now be skewed a bit from my original “blood-draw baseline”, since I have already implemented Holly’s two suggestions, and we’ll have to take that into consideration when the results are in.  So what’s keeping me from jumping right on this test?  Meh, I have to be caffeine free for the entire day.  If you know my proclivities toward a heavy daily joe intake, you can see right off where this is a bit of a problem Seriously though, I intend to get on this test in the very near future.

So that’s it, folks — let’s begin hacking this kids bloodwork.  Your ideas and/or comments are encouraged!

…and as you can see, I’ve already begun taking it easy

In health,
Keith

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”
- T.G. Dobzhansky

The basic concept of a Paleo-like diet is that our bodies are genetically best adapted to utilize the foods we evolved to eat, and that humans (and ergo, the human genome) evolved over a few million years as hunter-gatherers. Agriculture did not appear on the human landscape until between ten to fifty-thousand years ago. Although most reliable estimates place the appearance of agriculture at closer to the ten thousand year mark, even using the maximum fifty-thousand year estimate yields a similar outcome — not nearly enough time for our genotype to evolve sufficiently to cope with the introduction of these new, agriculturally-grown (read, grain) foodstuffs.

The most prevalent source of calories for our Paleolithic ancestors of 50,000 years ago would have been lean meat. The fatty parts would have been favored (as it offered more “bang for the buck”), however, since wild game is very lean, the average fat intake would have been relatively low. Our genes are cued to respond favorably to a much higher fat intakes, however.
Dairy, too, would not have been consumed until just a few hundred generations ago, when livestock was initially domesticated. Lactose intolerance is an extreme symptom of our genotype’s having not yet evolved to handle this novel food. I take an agnostic approach when it comes to dairy, though, as many people do tolerate it well, and (in the raw form at least) dairy does provides a multitude of healthful benefits.

Ultimately, the genes we inherited from our Paleolithic ancestors now determine what our optimum diet should consist of. These same genes — virtually identical to those of our ancestors harbored some 50,000 years ago — evolved according to the environment (including food varieties that were available to them) in which those ancient ancestors evolved. And although our ancestors did not eat just one single diet — but rather, ate various diets, depending on geography, ecologic niche, season and glaciations — these various diets did, however, share some of the following, universal characteristics:

The available carbohydrate sources were:

• Plants, leaves
• Roots and tubers
• Berries
• Fruits
• Nuts (could be considered a fat source as well)

The available protein and fat sources were:

• Wild animals of all sorts (including muscle tissue, fat, organs, brain and marrow). However, the total amount of fat, and the fatty-acid composition of that fat, was different than that found in modern domestic animals.
• Fowl
• Insects
• Fish and seafood
• Eggs

It can be argued, as well, that the carbohydrate content and load for the modern version of the fruits/berries (and to some extent, vegetables, as well) is much different that that available to our ancestors. This is a minor point of contention, though I do tend to agree. One can, however, avoid problems here by limiting the ingestion of these foods. The same can be said for opting to eat grass-fed meat when possible and where available. I am a realist, though, and will always opt for taking care of the major worries before attempting to fix the minor stuff. See my thoughts on the 80/20 rule, here.

- William James 

So I’ve decided to follow the look under the hood with a purview of how the ol’ chassis is holding up, and what better method to do so with than the gold standard body composition test, the DEXA scan.

The big selling point of this technology, of course, lay in it’s ability to accurately and non-invasively measure bone density, and as more and more folks succumb to the horrors of a SAD/non-Paleo-diet-induced osteoporosis, this provides the grain-chomping, brittle-boned (1) a vivid snapshot of their deteriorating scaffolding, and (2) a means by which to be shock-sold the Bisphosphonate class of wonder-drugs (Boniva, Flosamax, etc.).  It’s a beautiful, beautiful, 3-way partnership; feed ‘em crap, show ‘em the in-your-face results of eating said crap, then sell them a drug that enables them (in one respect, at least) to continue eating that crap.  Win-win…and – cha-ching! — WIN again!  ;)

Mostly seen as a side benefit of this technology — yet what those of us in the Physical Culture community would be most interested in — is the DEXA’s ability to accurately measure ALL the constituents of one’s body composition: fat, lean tissue and bone mass.  In other words, it’s the most accurate, all-encompassing picture of one’s body composition that can be had.

Now, as I have the great privilege of living in *the* epicenter of Physical Culture, Austin, Texas, I have ready access to the University of Texas run Fitness Institute of Texas, where Executive Director, Phil Stanforth, and Operations Director, Julie Drake, oversee a grade-A organization of fitness/performance-smart professionals.  In fact, we at Efficient Exercise are now in partnership with the fine folks at FIT, offering DEXA services to our clients at a much-reduced rate.  Not only do clients receive a full report of their scan results (the most of which, of my report, I’ve included below), but also a comprehensive explanation of the results from one of the astute FIT staff.

Note: for those of you making the trip to Austin this spring for what’s quickly shaping-up to be the Burning Man of the Paleo/Primal set, PFX12, we will have have a limited number of slots available to obtain your own DEXA Scan report and comprehensive explanation from the professionals at FIT.  We’ll update PFX12 website as the specifics of this service become available.  Check the PFX12 site for more details as they become available.

So without further ado, here we go.  Ain’t no Photoshoppin’ and/or airbrushin’ this stuff, folks!  And just a side note: airbrushed or not, LL does look mighty (surprisingly even?) hot, here  I dunno, maybe it’s the Marilyn thing…

…I digress…

Anyway, back to the subject at hand.  So below is a visual image of the raw data, produced from approximately 7-minutes worth of actual scan time.  Note the bit of scoliosis in the mid/low back.  Now, I haven’t thought of this one iota since my days of playing college ball, when the team chiropractor pointing out this condition to me.  I remember at the time asking if it was a problem, and his reply being “based on your performance, apparently not.”   My kinda doc.  The question in my mind now is, I wonder how much extra performance *could* be squeezed-out of being perfectly aligned.  I also wonder if this is a genetic thing, or something resultant of my daredevil (read:bone-headed), no-stranger-to-the-ER, youth.

And now, the pertinent portions of the full report.  I realize these are a little tough to read; gotta work within the limitations of the blogging platform, though.

Note the 17.2 % BF in the hips.  What the hell?  Lotta junk in the trunk appearantly, y’all

What would be interesting — and what I’d kill to have — are comparison data from my competitive days, where I was in the peak of my performance/fitness ability (health, of course, being another matter entirely), and played at between 220 and 225.  Aside from the extra amount of muscle I carried in my neck at that time (heh…think prototypical Neanderthal), I wonder what the rest of my composition would have looked like.  If I had to guess, I’d say that my BF% was a little higher, but not by much.

So this is quite interesting.  A 10.6% BF level without purposefully trying to be lean.  If anyone has seen me eat, they know that I do so with reckless abandon.  The key, of course, is the consumption of a Paleo diet — though I do enjoy the occasional corn tortilla, corn chips and salsa, and the much more frequent beer.  I also swill plenty of raw, unpasteurized dairy (usually reserved for post workout).  These are the n=1 tweaks that I’ve found work for me, though these few indiscretions usually have me exiled,  by Paleo dogmatists, to the nutritional equivalent of Lesbos; that’s the topic of another post though, I suppose.  At any rate, if I were a bodybuilder, a 10.6%, off-season BF would be pretty damn good — not far to go to get to stage condition — and a hell of a lot healthier than bloating up only to drop right back down again.

Oh, and one thing that I did not include from the report is that, at a BMI of 30.6, the World Health Organization considered me “obese”.   I suppose it’s time to whittle-down into the single-digit BF so as to rectify that!

~

So what, exactly is “healthy”?  And can “healthy” (as opposed to “performance”) even really be adequately defined?  None of us in this community is particularly satisfied (nor should we be) with the trite “absence of disease” definition, but damn if we don’t keep getting lead back to that point.  Health, of course, is a condition that is in continual flux, a condition defined not only by internal functioning and parameter measures, but also how those parameters react to epigenetic, cultural and societal influence.   Health is a distinct function apart from measures of “fitness” and/”performance”, and yet it is intimately tied to these measures as well.  A simple thought experiment:  how many victims of the 9/11 tragedy sported “perfect” blood labs and DEXA screens, yet perished due to a fitness base incapable of rising to the occasion? An extreme example, yes — and yet…well, it’s at least food for thought.

And with this thought in mind, checkout the fantastic post, Norm and normal: the social construction of health, by Dr. Ricky Fishman.  Good, thought-provoking stuff.

In health (and performance!),

Keith