Download a transcript of this episode
Topics:
- [2:00] BCAA Supplementation and Fat Loss
- [6:57] Ultra High Fat Diet
- [11:54] Methylglyoxal
- [15:42] Male Testosterone Drop After Having Child
- [20:41] General Flexibility
- [28:18] High Rep Olympic Lifting
- [50:41] Potts Disease
Questions:
1. BCAA Supplementation while going for fat loss
Trevor says:
Hi Robb and Greg,
I’ve been eating primal for the last year and doing powerlifting and some cardio at the gym. I was seeing good results until my sugar addiction caused me to backslide a little. I’m trying to get back on the wagon and my gym regimen is currently 2 days a week lifting and 2-4 days a week doing a combination of sprints and steady state cardio on the rowing machine.
I work out fasted first thing in the morning and I’ve started experimenting with BCAAs on my lifting days, 10 grams preworkout and 10 post. It usually takes me about 40 minutes to get home and prepare a meal after the workout (usually eggs and bacon).
So my question is, given that my goals are mainly fat loss with secondary goal of strength and muscle gain, are the BCAAs necessary or are they going to be a hindrance? I’ve heard that they are very insulinogenic. Will this affect my weight loss or otherwise negate the effects of fasted training? Thanks for your answer and keep up the good work.
2. Ultra High-fat Diet
Josh says:
Fellas,
How much dietary fat is too much? My dietary regimen (pure paleo, very low carb, moderate protein w/ periodic protein fasting) now find me consuming at least 70 and often up to 90% of total calories as fat.* I enjoy eating this way and look and feel great but am suddenly realizing now that I don’t find many, even in the high-fat paleo crowd, who are eating this much fat. What do you think? And do we know of any indigenous diet this high in fat?
3. methylglyoxal
Chris says:
Hi there.
I’ve been eating a Paleo diet for a little under a year now and have seen all the expected results you talk about. Haven’t felt this good in a decade.
My question is this. My wife saw this on the web and I didn’t have a good answer for her. It was from a review of Good Calories Bad Calories on Amazon.:
“There is recent research that shows extremely low carb (ketogenic) diets such as Dr Atkins increase methylglyoxal levels. Methylglyoxal is extremely reactive, and could cause much more rapid aging on a long-term ketogenic diet than on a glucose-based metabolism. So my take is that you shouldn’t be in ketosis by choice.”
What is your take on this? Do you know about any research like this?
4. emasculation for procreation
Chris says:
Hi Rob and Greg,
Love your work and enjoy listening to the great mix of knowledge and hilarity on your podcast
I’ve recently become a father and am aware that Rob is expecting the ‘wolf-cub’ any time now so thought this might be a topical question.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the study (http://www.pnas.org/content/108/39/16194) and news articles suggesting male testosterone drops following fatherhood. It’s proposed that this is an evolutionary trait to help males be more nurturing to their children and less likely to be chasing other T driven endeavours.
I can’t help but wonder though, is this an evolutionary trait or simply a function of less sleep and more stress associated with having a new little person to look after?
5. Flexibility
Sam says:
Hey guys. I’m a big fan of the podcast, been paleo since January 2011 (down 50lbs). My question is pretty straightforward: how important is general flexibility to being an all-around physical badass?
I generally strength train and play basketball three to four times a week, swim once in a while, and do lots of walking since I live a mile and a half from campus.
I realize that I probably don’t need to press my forehead to my knees in my pursuit of jumping high, squatting lots, and getting jacked overall, but is there a base level of flexibility I should be reaching for? Where can I go (other than MobilityWOD) for some guidance? Is yoga worth a look?
Thank you both for being such mature, intelligent hosts. I know that people will one day write folksongs in your honor.
6. High Rep Oly work (it’s not what you think, I swear)
Brian says:
Greg, thanks to you and Robb for all the great info and efforts. This is a novel, so I won’t be hurt if you edit at will. I just listened to your interview with Nick Horton, and had a question about your comments using high volume olympic lifting as conditioning.
I agree whole heartedly that there are safer, less technical ways to train metabolic conditioning than using olympic movements, have some ideas about effective uses and was wondering what you guys think.
I think some athletic populations, probably not weekend warrior fitness people, can find value in training the body to execute complex motor movements in a fatigued state. I also wonder at the value of using high-rep olympic movements to train repetitive, submaximal power production. Think sports like basketball and volleyball. Having a 1RM vertical jump of 42″ is good, but if you are down to 18″ at the end of the game, not so good.
I am not assuming or saying that the CrossFit WoD style programming will effectively train that dynamic either, just considering potential uses for high volume Olympic movements. This is also predicated on proper movement mechanics.
I got to spend some time in the military doing some sketchy stuff. The military training methodology is to take something dangerous and inject as many controls as possible to make it permissable in a training environment. Diving for example is inherently dangerous, but we can safely sit in the shallow end of the pool and learn to breathe, then the deep end to teach emergency responses, finally open water during the day, then open water night and low-vis dives. Yes you might die in the shallow end of the pool, but it is highly unlikely and relatively safe compared to diving inside an unstable sunken wreck.
I see high rep oly work in the same light. You have a balanced, predictible load in a contolled stable environment hopefully with a knowledgable, practiced coach watching your movement (shallow pool). Why not assume a small amount of relatively controlled risk in the gym if it reduces risk on the court/field/street (unstable wreck)? If I can’t maintain proper mechanics on the platform for 3 minutes, what does that say about my ability to maintain proper mechanics on my fortieth rebound attempt after running 5 miles, the average distance traveled in a basketball game?
Oly lifting has so much carry over to other athletic endeavors, that I can’t believe that using it in this light wouldn’t correspond to better athletes and less injuries. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to test it, but I suspect the rewards outweight the risks, especially when you mitigate those risks,
7. Potts disease
Kevin says:
I am a strength and conditioning coach and I just received a call from a mother of a female basketball player (sophomore). He daughter was diagnosed w/ Potts disease a few months ago. She plays for an AAU basketball team and she has been clearer to play. The mother however said the daughter get very lightheaded and she has lost a lot of weight (she was skinny to start with) She is supposed to drink 80 ounces of water a day and is apparently on several medications. My question to you is, how would you train someone with this disease. My plan is to do an assessment. I have an Omega Wave as well as Joels HRV monitor. She has apparently become very tight and weak (she was already weak to start with). Any advice and recommendation that I can pass on to this girl would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Your podcast is fantastic. thank you
Andrewpaleodoc says
Great podcast guys. I think the guy who asked the last question got the name of the illness that girl has slightly wrong – just reading between the lines, that is the fact she was told to drink a lot of water and gets light headed makes me think she has POTS (positional orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) rather than Pott’s disease.
POTS is form of autonomic dysfunction, more very unpleasant than dangerous. She would need to increase her vagal tone – using something like Heartmath and meditation. Paleo diet as standard
Exercise can be tricky as these people often are fine lying down with a heart rate of 80 but on standing it can go right up to 150 or so, leaving them weak and light headed (sometimes there is also a drop in blood pressure too) So good hydration and plenty of extra salt is helpful.
Will leave you guys to recommend exercises as really not my area 😉
Congrats on the baby Robb!
Robb Wolf says
THAT would change things! Perhaps that person can weigh in?
Martin says
Re: BCAA
pre and/or post-workout it is unlikely to be a problem. E.g. if you follow a ketogenic diet, BCAA will not kick you out of it. Whey can. Also, if you work out fasted, BCAA will help you sustain high intensity.
Martin says
For fasted training I use both BCAA and MCT.
Martin says
Re: very high-fat diet, performance and ketosis
Phinney and Volek’s latest book covers it in great detail. Peter Attia talks a lot about it. Rob, why don’t you invite them to the podcast?
I am on a high fat diet (staying ketogenic all the time, practically) and I do high-intensity bouldering, MTB and low-intensity distance running.
Even if my body does need some carbs, it produces it by itself from the protein I eat. As mentioned before, I take BCAA and MCT before workouts which probably helps.
Robb Wolf says
PEter would be great to have on, brilliant guy.
Martin says
Re: mobility
there are 2 books that give all the answers, ignore everything else:
“Stretching Scientifically: A Guide to Flexibility Training” by Thomas Kurz
and
“Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength” by Steven Low.
ChrisG says
I’ve read those dire methylglyoxal warnings before, and I always thought they never really passed the sniff test. Does it make sense that evolution would create a metabolic system that would start to self-destruct after a day or so of fasting?
Stephanie says
My friend who had a kid at 19 is now almost done. I’m 32 and I’m all like, dang, I’m not sure if I have the energy for that. Academia is the worst for females who want to reproduce.
Which begs the question, do you think the fertility vs age thing for women was different for paleo woman? You said females in your gym tend to be super fertile. It would be interesting to see a study on fertility vs age among traditional hunter gatherers, but there probably aren’t enough left for good statistics 🙁
I will give you a pass on the evolutionary psychology bit saying women are supposed to be less promiscuous based on evolution since you’re tired. I don’t think there is strong evidence either way, though it’s certainly not my field. It doesn’t seem inevitable (ex. both male and female Bonobos are horny sex fiends). Please don’t think I’m some femi-nazi or that I’m offended, I’m just sick of being told by society and evolutionary psychology that if I’m horny I’m not “feminine”.
Though I wouldn’t be surprised if promiscuity among females AND males goes up with testosterone levels…that would be a neat study!
Jen says
Stephanie, I don’t think promiscuity and sex drive are necessarily a measure of one another. It is quite possible that women tend to consider the suitability of mates more than men do for evolutionary biological reasons but have equally as much sex and are just as horny. I try to have as much as possible but only with the one guy, some guys try to have as much as possible with as many as possible but I probably get laid more than that guy does.
Nick says
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ3HOY27_10&feature=player_embedded Re:Q6
Jen says
There was a male athlete at the Australian regionals that snapped himself in half during the snatch wod.
Justin says
You guys often mention putting things in the “show notes,” but I’ve never been able to find them. Is there a link somewhere that I’m missing?
Linda S says
Congratz on the little she-wolf!
JK says
I have POTS and that is what it sounds like. AndrewPaleoDoc, do you have any insight into POTS? If so, do you have contact info? Thanks
'Mash says
Re the ‘Flexibility’ post, have a look at CST/TACFIT http://www.rmaxi.com/tacfit/ as the methodologies are very much about multiple degrees of freedom [heave, surge, sway, pitch, yaw, roll] which will compliment athletics in whatever form.
'Mash says
Hah! As I am posting this Robb just mentions Scott Sonnon.
Brian says
Just got back to the podcast, thanks for the response on High Rep oly. For what it’s worth, I have no worries about you guys being dicks. I come here for the honesty and getting the straight dope from angles I miss.
Highlights:
-Using other methods to induce fatigue prior to Olympic movements
-Recognizing that repeated jumping efforts are usually in small sets (honestly can’t believe I missed that.)
Already checking into Javorek. Thanks again.
amy C says
(Just getting caught up with the podcast a few months after the fact, so please pardon the late response.)
Robb, you have GOT to read “Sex at Dawn” and get your evolutionary anthropology straight regarding human mating habits. No excuses for bad/old science. Read it!
Nick says
@8:40 – Rob: “you’re gonna get some glucose production by hook or by crook and if you start doing it by gluconeogenesis I think that’s bad news.”
Why is gluconeogenesis bad news?