Tag Archives: Dan John

2 Simple Nutritional Guidelines You Should Follow

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This fall, I’m taking a couple of graduate courses at a local university. The courses are taught in a “blended” format, meaning half of the class meetings are online and the other half are in-person. The in-person classes are 3 hours, and the teacher usually gives a 10-15 minute break roughly halfway through class so that we can eat or at the very least, get up from our chairs.

Last week, one of my classes met for an in-person session. At just about the halfway point of the class, the teacher let us have our break. As some of my classmates began talking and as I rose to go to the bathroom, I happened to look to my left, where a girl was sitting quietly and eating. When I looked down at the table, I saw a yellowish, rectangular-shaped box in front of her. She was eating a Lunchables.

Yes, you read that correctly. Lunchables.

Three things immediately went through my head, in this exact order:

1. Really?

2. They still make those things?

3. Really?

I was definitely a bit taken aback by this, and in a mild state of disbelief that anyone around my age would eat a Lunchables or think it was a remotely healthy food choice. This feeling remained with me for a few days after class, and I began to think about, hypothetically, what I would say to this girl to help get her nutrition on the right track. I thought about what I felt was some of the best nutrition advice I’d ever gotten. I also thought about advice that would be relatively easy to institute immediately. What were a couple quick, dirty, general nutrition tips that I felt were very important?

After thinking it over for a while, here’s what I came up with:

1. Eat Like an Adult

I learned this tip from the King of Simplicity himself, Dan John, and I absolutely love it. Ask yourself this question before your next meal: “Is this something a 6 year-old would eat?” Or if you have kids, “Is this something my son or daughter would eat?” If the answer to one of those questions is yes, and the food item in question is something a child would have at snack-time or in his or her lunchbox, then it’s probably not something you should eat.

Toaster Strudels? Sorry, those are out.

Frosted Mini-Wheats? Sorry, out.

Cheese Puffs? Out.

Snack Packs? Nice try, Billy Madison.

Lunchables? Again, really?

Snack Pack!

If you’re ever in doubt about what’s on your plate, remember to ask yourself: “Is this something a kid would eat?” And if the answer is yes, you could probably make a more nutritious, mature choice.

2. Eat Real Food

I got this tip from food writer Michael Pollan. What is real food? Well, there are a few ways to determine whether a given food item is real:

  • If there are about 5 ingredients or less in the nutrition facts, or if the food simply has one ingredient, which is itself (i.e. “chicken” or “broccoli”), then most likely it’s real.
  • If there are any ingredients whose names you can’t pronounce, then most likely it’s not real.
  • If it’s man-made, it’s not real (the great Jack LaLanne once said, “If man made it, don’t eat it.”).
  • If it’s processed (almost anything in a box, i.e. cookies or “TV dinners”), it’s not real.

Interestingly, processed foods are typically the most calorically-dense, and the least nutrient-dense. Real food, on the other hand, is usually the most nutrient-dense, and the least calorically-dense. Aim to fill the majority of your diet with real, minimally-processed foods. Not only do these foods taste great, but they will help you feel better and look better, as well.

Oh, and just because it’s organic doesn’t mean it’s real or good for you!

My next in-person class is next week, and I’ll be waiting intently until then to see if this girl brings a Lunchables again. In the meantime, eat like an adult and eat real food!

Movement Days

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I think there needs to be a paradigm shift in gyms across America. For the general fitness population, we need to ask these questions a lot less:

“How much ya bench?”

“How long did you do the treadmill/stepmill/elliptical?”

“How many burpees can you do in 10 minutes?”

Instead, we should be asking this question a lot more:

“How well do you move?”

Hopefully you move better than the Beverly Hills Ninja

Instilling and optimizing proper movement should be the number one priority of any training program. No matter what your goals are, your progress and achievement will be limited by your movement. Whether you are a powerlifter, triathlete, or stay-at-home mom, you will not be as strong, as fast, or as good at performing everyday activities if you cannot display basic, fundamental movements.

Dynamic coach Matt Skeffington may have said it best in his Facebook status last week:

Quality movement rules all. Want to improve your strength, fitness, speed, body comp, etc? Start by moving better!

So what comprises “good movement” and how do you move better? Those are loaded questions and the answers can be highly individual, but with the general population, I think there are a few principles that are important to take into consideration.

A good place to start is with a few points from Mike Reinold’s “Reverse Posturing” theory:

  • Lengthen shortened muscles
  • Release postural trigger points
  • Inhibit overactive muscle groups
  • Activate inhibited muscle groups
  • Strengthen synergistic force couples
  • Normalize proper joint biomechanics and arthrokinematics of the joint and other joints within the “chain reaction”

Then combine that with Dan John’s 5 basic human movements:

  • Push
  • Pull
  • Squat
  • Hinge
  • Loaded Carry

That’s a pretty good foundation right there. Collectively, these principles will lead to better posture, more ideal joint centration, and an increased ability to take joints through a full range of motion. Furthermore, they will allow you to move better and perform the fundamental movements that are essential in sport and in life. Most important of all, you will feel better and be less likely to get injured.

A great way to institute all of this within the context of your strength and conditioning program is by including “movement days.” Movement days are best placed in between your strength training sessions and one or two a week will suffice. If you train Monday, Wednesday, Friday, depending on your schedule, you could put a couple movement days in on Tuesday and Thursday. Not only do these days give you a chance to prioritize and practice good movement (which you should be doing during all of your training sessions anyway), but they are a great way to promote blood flow to your muscles and enhance recovery.

The point of these sessions is not to go “all-out.” However, that doesn’t mean you get to take 5 minutes between sets. These workouts should be relatively short with appropriate rest periods, and be sure to go “nice and easy” throughout. To give you an idea of what one of these sessions might look like, here are a couple sample movement days for the general fitness client.

After foam rolling and a dynamic warm-up, perform the following workout:

Sample Movement Day #1

A1) TRX Inverted Row – 3×8

A2) Yoga Plex – 3×5/side

B1) Kettlebell Swing – 3×10

B2) Split-stance PVC Pec Mobilization – 3×8/side

C1) Band Pallof Press – 3×10/side

C2) Squat-to-Stand w/overhead reach – 3×5/side

D) Sled Push - 3×20 yards

Sample Movement Day #2

A1) TRX Y’s – 3×8

A2) Walking Spiderman w/hip lift and overhead reach – 3×5/side

B1) Dumbbell Goblet Squat – 3×10

B2) Modified Yoga Pushup – 3×6

C1) TRX Fallouts – 3×8

C2) Single-leg Hip Thrusts off bench – 3×10/side

D) Dumbbell Farmer Carry – 3×40 yards

What you choose to include in your movement days doesn’t necessarily have to be set in stone or planned in advance. It’s important that you take into consideration how you feel and let your body dictate what exactly will comprise your session on that given day. For example, simply foam rolling and going through a mobility circuit once or twice is a great idea. Running some hills at 60-70% intensity is awesome, too. The possibilities are endless, but make sure that your movement days always prioritize movement quality, address what you need (a.k.a. specifically what you need to improve), and that the intensity is kept relatively low(er).

Try instituting a movement day in between your regular training sessions throughout the week. If you do, and follow some of the guidelines I’ve outlined above, I’m confident that you’ll move better, feel better, and be more successful in achieving your goals.

How American Idol Sends the Wrong Message About Fitness

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What’s up with all these singing shows that are on TV these days? I don’t watch a lot of television, but it seems like every time I’ve turned on the TV in the past few months, one of these shows has been on (at the very least, I’ll see a commercial for one of them): American Idol, The Voice, X-Factor, The Sing-Off, and probably others that I don’t even know about. Now, as I’ve confessed on the blog before, I did fall prey to a few episodes of the first season of The Voice last summer. I admit that. In retrospect, I’m not very proud of it, but I will say that I did NOT watch a single episode of Season Two.

With all these singing competitions on the tube now, a slew of questions inevitably entered my mind. Why are so many Americans interested in singing, of all things, and why do we continually have to find America’s next singing sensation? Why can’t we search for America’s latest Chess sensation?

I’ve noticed that the “stars” these shows aim to find always seem to be pop singers, too. Why pop singers? Why couldn’t we look for the best new metal band? Why can’t we find the next Pantera? HA! Trick question; there will NEVER be another Pantera!

Alright, I think I’ve posed enough questions for now. And I do understand that Chess and heavy metal probably don’t appeal to the majority of people.

As I was contemplating all of these questions, I finally realized something. Before I reveal my thoughts, however, let me bring your attention to American Idol for just a second. American Idol, a show meant to find America’s next singing superstar, is currently in its eleventh season on TV. Let me repeat: eleventh season. That’s a lot of seasons, and there aren’t any signs it’s slowing down. From this I can draw one major conclusion: that we, as Americans, are obsessed with finding the latest and greatest thing. This is certainly true when it comes to pop singers, and unfortunately, it’s also true when it comes to fitness.

Too often, I see people seeking out the latest and greatest fitness craze. You know, the type of training that everyone and their cousin are doing right now or the system or piece of equipment that’s being advertised all over TV. The truth is, these things don’t last very long, and rarely pass the test of time. And with the entire buzz that surrounds the “hot” modes of training, sometimes we tend to lose sight of the basics, or “classics,” as I like to call them. One of those “classics” that immediately comes to mind is the lowly barbell.

These days, the barbell is getting a bad rap in certain fitness circles and is being used inappropriately in others. The barbell has been around for a long time and is a tried-and-true piece of equipment. It’s a very simple tool that, when used properly, can help you achieve many of your fitness goals. Want to get stronger and gain muscle? Enter the squat, bench press, and deadlift. Want to lose fat? Enter complexes and the famed 8 x 20:10 (8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest; widely referred to as “Tabatas” but not quite the same as the strict definition). All you need is a barbell and some weights and you can put together a fantastic training session.

Perhaps one of the best qualities of the barbell is that it’s a simple tool, and simplicity is a notion that I can’t emphasize enough. I know I’ve talked about it before and I’m sure I’ll talk about it again in the future. More times than not, the way to attain your fitness goals is very simple. Dan John talks about many of his strength training programs being “so simple, you won’t even do it.” The same is true here; many of the principles, methods, and exercises that are a key to fitness success are so simple, most people won’t even utilize them.

Don’t follow the fitness fads that may be getting attention in the popular media and don’t stray too far from the path of simplicity. Don’t let simplicity fool you; in fitness and in other areas of life, it is often the most simple, direct approach that works best. Unless you’re a contraindicated lifter, always revert back to the barbell in your strength and conditioning program and the simplicity it exudes. Coincidentally, as my buddy Greg Robins stated in his post yesterday, “Simple isn’t always flashy, but simple works.” So grab a barbell, throw some weight on, and get after it. And don’t watch American Idol.

Awful.