- November 2008
- Volume 11
Inside this Issue
- Feature Article – Eat Intuitively this Holiday Season
- Exercise of the Month – Plyometric High Skip
- Sports Training and Technique – Phased Strength Training
Eat Intuitively this Holiday Season
'Tis the season of eating! Holiday socials, fruit cake, work potlucks, secret santa gifts, Christmas cookies, and family gatherings can all add calories to our diet and undermine wellness goals. The average American gains five pounds during the holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Years and most of these extra pounds aren't lost!
Maintain your weight during this celebratory time of year by becoming an intuitive eater. Evelyn Tribole, M.S., R.D. and Elyse Resch, M.S., R.D., F.A.D.A. show the way in their book "Intuitive Eating." Below is a synopsis of the 10 principles of the plan.
Principle 1: "Reject the Diet Mentality."
Intuitive eating is a new way of thinking, feeling, and being with food. In order to become an intuitive eater the diet mindset must be broken.
Dieting creates a vicious cycle: Desire to be thin - Dieting - Cravings and Reduced Self Control - Loss of Control and Overeating - Regain of Lost Weight - Desire to be Thin...
The "Intuitive Eating" program recommends the following steps to release you from endless dieting.
- Step 1: "Recognize and acknowledge the damage that dieting causes."
- Step 2: "Be aware of diet-mentality traits and thinking."
- Step 3: "Get rid of the dieter's tools."
Principle 2: "Honor Your Hunger."
Listen to the hunger signals from your body and eat when they appear. Waiting to eat until you are ravenous will only lead to bad choices and excess calories.
Some people tell me they do not feel hungry. To help develop these signals eat every 3-4 hours. Your body should respond to this regular feeding schedule and begin to expect it, providing hunger cues.
Principle 3: "Make Peace with Food."
"Call a truce; stop the food fight! Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. If you tell yourself you can't or shouldn't have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and, often binging."
Principle 4: "Challenge the Food Police."
Let go of the "good" and "bad" judgments you make about food. This is only perpetuating the diet rules and reinforcing the relationship between eating and guilt. Combat the food police with the following actions.
- 1: "Identify your distorted food, dieting, and eating thoughts and myths. Throw them out and replace them with the truth."
- 2: "Listen for the destructive voices which speak harmful thoughts."
- 3: "Develop helpful voices that can get you through hard times and make your eating relationship more comfortable."
- 4: "Watch out for negative self-talk based on [...] irrational beliefs and distorted thinking."
- 5: "Replace negative self-talk with positive self-talk based on rational thinking."
Principle 5: "Feel Your Fullness."
Use "The Fullness Discovery Scale": 0-empty; 2-ravenous; 3-Set; 4-Pangs; 5.5-Neutral; 6.5-Satisfied; 8-Full; 9-Stuffed; 10-Sick. Strive to stop eating when you reach satisfaction 6-7 on the scale. Make sure to check in with your body regularly during a meal to check your ranking.
Principle 6: "Discovery the Satisfaction Factor."
"The Japanese have the wisdom to promote pleasure as one of their goals of healthy eating. In our fury to be thin and healthy, we often overlook one of the most basic gifts of existence - the pleasure and satisfaction that can be found in the eating experience. When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting and conductive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content. By providing this experience for yourself, you will find that it takes much less food to decide you've had 'enough'."
Principle 7: "Cope with Your Emotions Without Using Food."
Often we eat not due to physical hunger but in response to an emotional trigger such as boredom and procrastination, bribery and reward, excitement, soothing, love, frustration and anger and rage, stress, anxiety, mild depression, and being connected with others. Next time you are eating not because of hunger ask yourself these questions.
- 1: "Am I biologically hungry?"
- 2: "What am I feeling?"
- 3: "What do I need?"
- 4: "Would you please...(asking for what you need)?"
Principle 8: "Respect Your Body."
The premises of body respect:
- 1: "My body deserves to be fed."
- 2: "My body deserves to be treated with dignity."
- 3: "My body deserves to be dressed comfortably and in a manner I am accustomed to."
- 4: "My body deserves to be touched affectionately and with respect."
- 5: "My body deserves to be comfortable."
Continuously depriving yourself of food, comparing your appearance to others, only noticing what you don't like about your body, and wearing tight, uncomfortable clothes is disrespecting your body and yourself.
Principle 9: "Exercise- Feel the Difference."
Instead of viewing exercise as punishment and something that must be done to lose weight focus on how exercise makes you feel - energized, improved outlook, less stressed, in control... Exercise is fun! It is one of the best ways you can take care of yourself. Changing your approach to exercise from a "should" to a "want" can improve your motivation and commitment.
Principle 10: "Honor Your Health – Gentle Nutrition."
"Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making your feel well. Remember you don't have to eat a prefect diet to be healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It's what you eat consistently over time that matters. Progress, not perfection, is what counts."
Plyometric High Skip
Although plyometric training is an effective way to build power it is not without risk and caution is advised. Pre-requisites for plyometric training are technique knowledge, ability to move fast, good balance, and adequate strength. Lower body plyometric training should be done on a shock absorbing surface with stable, supportive shoes.
Guidelines for designing a beginning lower body plyometric program.
Intensity: Keep intensity low initially, skipping is one of the lowest intensity exercises and one reason the high skip was chosen.
Frequency: 1-3 times per week on days when you do not perform strength training with your lower body.
Recovery: 2-4 days of recovery is recommended between sessions, I'd start with 4.
Volume: 80-100 contacts per session, no more than 40 high skips per side. Begin with 5 sets of 8 repetitions or 4 sets of 10 repetitions with complete recovery between each set.
Technique: Step forward on one leg, load by bending the knee, swing the same arm up while the non-jumping knee bends up close to the chest, extend the loaded leg fully to reach maximum vertical height. Jump is mostly vertical but will also travel horizontally. Land on the same leg and immediately step forward and high skip on the opposite leg.
Phased Strength Training
For warm weather athletes November typically marks the beginning of pre-season training and time in the weight room. In a previous issue of K-tips I outline strength training guidelines. You will notice that the table under "Load, Repetitions, Sets, and Rest Intervals" defined four specific goals for weight training - Max Strength, Power, Hypertrophy, and Endurance. To obtain the best results from your pre-season resistance training each of these phases should be included in your program.
Hypertrophy/Endurance Phase
The first 3-6 weeks are preparing your body for the more intense lifting that will come in the next phase. Establish the routine of exercises you will perform, keep the weights low, repetitions high 15-20, 2-4 sets, and 2-3 sessions per week.
Max Strength Phase
This is the most important phase of your strength training, when you will experience the most gains. Weight increases, repetitions decrease 3-6, sets can increase to 6, longer rest intervals are taken between sets, and sessions remain at 2-3 per week. This phase usually also lasts 3-6 weeks.
Power Phase
Depending on your sport the power phase can have an emphasis on strength and power development or endurance and power development. A strength/power program has low repetitions 2-5, high weight, and 3-5 sets. An endurance/power program has moderate repetitions 8-15, light weight, and 2-3 sets. Since power is the product of force and speed the important component of either program is a fast lifting speed. Length of the power phase is similar to the preceding phases.
Plyometrics
Plyometrics can be added during the Max Strength and Power phases of your program. Muscle force and power for quick, explosive movements has been shown to increase with this training. The basis of plyometric or jump training is to rapidly stretch the muscle, creating stored energy, which is immediately followed by a concentric (shortening) contraction. Mechanical and neurophysiological processes combine resulting in greater force and more power.
When designing a lifting program I find it easiest to start by looking ahead to the competitive season. Once the date and priority of the first race is established I work backwards and divide the strength training program into the phases. Each phase can be shortened, lengthened, or skipped entirely depending on the sport, athlete's skills and goals, and time constraints.
References: Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, Thomas R. Baechle and Roger W. Earle and The Mountain Bikers Training Bible, Joe Friel.