So…I am now a rounding error away from 50. That’s, kinda wacky to contemplate, but here I am. I remember my parents at this age and they seemed OLD. The naïveté of youth blinded me to what real age and decrepitude would look like for my parents in a few more decades, but yea, they seemed OLD. Bad food, smoking and little exercise certainly took their toll. I must admit that reflecting back on that process in my parents and extrapolating forward with myself is not a pleasant experience. This is likely a good argument for pulling a bit of Zen perspective into things and just doing my best to remain in the present, and let the phantoms of both memory and future expectations flutter away. In a more concrete way of dealing with the uncertainties of getting older I’m hopeful that what I’m doing with regards to sleep, nutrition, training and lifestyle will put me on a very different path than my parents. Time will tell on that, but part of these yearly updates is an accountability process. Is what I’m doing “working?” And what does “working” mean in the context of more effective aging?
I want to be as active and engaged as I can, cognitively, emotionally, physically, for as long as possible. I want to see my girls grow up and hopefully get to know some grandkids. I want to be there for them and provide the support and grounding I would so love to have if my own parents were still alive. I have a lot of work that I’m passionate about in both the health and sustainability spheres. I may be delusional, but I think I can help to bring about change for the better and the only way I can do that is if I’m firing on all cylinders, or as many as I can keep going!
If you have followed these updates for the past six years you will not see a ton that is new, but at this point the insights come more slowly. Adjustments are generally not huge, but they do add up.
Training
Although I want to be generally strong, fit and mobile (while looking good enough naked that my wife still wants to sleep with me) the primary thing I’m training for is Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. This is a tough sport, both physically and emotionally. It’s not difficult to get hurt and for every good day of training where you feel like you are making progress, there are often weeks in which you wonder what the heck you are doing. I could likely make the case that for an exclusively longevity focussed program BJJ might not be as good as say masters track & field, but, for whatever reason, this martial art is about the most interesting physical (and mental) activity I have ever done. I am still focussing the bulk of my time on positional drilling in lieu of the 3-4 techniques, and then live rolling, which typifies all too many BJJ schools. I’m getting pretty close to my purple belt and what I’m finding is I need to have a specific game plan for my drilling and live rolling and then I need to critically assess what I need to improve in my performance. I’m still leaning heavily on what I get from Henry Akins Hidden Jiu-jitsu and it’s tough to describe how enlightening this material is. Henry’s approach is simple, direct and does not rely on attributes like strength, speed or huge amounts of cardio. If you have those attributes, that’s great, but when I think about this process from the perspective of effective aging, I do not want to build a game that relies on my 45 year old attributes. Why? Because I do not want to change everything I do when I’m 50. And 55. And 60. Do you see what the attribute based game looks like? A constant process of discovering your hard won technique no longer works. That seems depressing enough to really want to quit! I want to build a game that is orthopedically sound and that will not require constant re-jiggering to keep pace with aging. I use very few fabric based grips as the folks I see who rely on this type of training end up with seriously dysfunctional hands. Not interested in that. My gi and no-gi games are almost identical. Again, from that aging athlete perspective, do I want to learn 2 things or 20? I try to stick to general principles instead of a laundry list of techniques. I focus on the 20% of techniques that get us 90% of the return we want. I’ve focussed a lot on my defensive game such that I’m reasonably hard to put away now, so I’m just not that worried about being either submitted or in a dodgy situation. I can relax and wait instead of trying to force situations. When I do get into a situation in which I have control, I’m not spazzing out trying to immediately get a submission like a poodle that needs to pee. Whether you do jiujitsu or not I think there is a lot to learn from this approach. With good technique we get the most from our attributes instead of skating by on them.
So, what am I doing to support both jiujitsu and my general goals of remaining fit, strong and healthy? Not a lot has changed from previous updates, but I do have a few tweaks on the themes of low level cardio, mobility and strength work. I am still following the Gymnastics Bodies program and the recent upgrade in how the programming is rolled out has been a real boon for me. The material is broken into Upper body, Core, Lower body and has three days per week of a dedicated stretching program (Front Splits, Middle Splits, and and Back Bend (thoracic mobility)). I am able to do 90% of this material as movement breaks throughout my work day. This is both time efficient and keeps my body from rotting out from under me while I work. The GB program is fantastic for a number of reasons but one biggie for me is the inclusion of mobility work with the strength training. Your progression in the program is predicated on mastery in both strength AND mobility, so I get some great time efficiency and ROI from this program. In addition to the GB work I have two weight oriented training days that I drop in when and where it makes sense. Those days are structured like this:
Day 1
Vertical press/pull (DB press/chins for example)
Hip dominant movement (hip bridge or RDL)
Day 2
Horizontal Press/pull (DB bench, plyo-pushups/DB rows or ring rows)
Unilateral lower body movement (lunges to every angle imaginable tend to be my go-to’s)
I use a Bulgarian technique of sorts in that I work up to a “heavy” set of 3-5 reps, then do 3-5 sets at that weight. “Heavy” has a very specific caveat: the movement rate MUST remain fast, and by fast I mean the repetition is a second or less on the concentric phase, with very little emphasis on the eccentric phase. This is likely not a good plan for bodybuilding but for athleticism and anti-aging it has some serious merits. I’m dealing with a reasonably heavy load AND trying to move that weight as fast as possible. This should preferentially recruit the large motor units and type 2B fibers which are the things we lose first with aging. Although this is not likely the ideal way to gain the most amount of muscle, I have gained about 8lbs since this time last year due to consistency and slowly increasing loads. I am (for me) relatively strong in the gym currently and the overall carryover to grappling is good. Rolling with people 40-60lbs heavier than I am is no picnic, but I am rarely if ever just rolled up due to superior weight and strength. I think this is due to NOT relying on my strength (relying instead on the non-attribute game I mentioned previously) but when I do need some chutzpah in the form of strength or power, I generally have it. I’d say 50% of the time I get one of these weight oriented days and 50% of the time I get two strength days per week. I let my schedule, recovery and how I’m feeling dictate the frequency. This is a remarkably flexible way for me to train and each weight session is at best 20-30 min, so it’s not a huge time suck.
On the conditioning side I try to get in 2 days per week of MAF pace “cardio,” usually after my strength days. I know that may not be optimal from the perspective of sending conflicting signals to my system (strength vs endurance) but this is very low-intensity work and I’m not gunning to be an elite strength athlete, so the convenience is worth whatever potential interference I may get from this. I tend to get 3-4 days per week of jiujitsu training but if I have to miss a day I do try to get in a circuit session along the lines of a Fight Gone Bad (5 stations, 1 min of work at each station, 1 min rest after completing the 5 min of work) but I do NOT kill myself on this. The only time I train hard is in occasional rolling. If I’m going to see the White Buffalo in The Sky, it’s grappling, not doing circuits in my cold-as-hell garage. Occasionally I will do an interval session on either the rower or airdyne on a weekend day. I’ve spent the last two years mainly focussing on that low intensity cardio side and I have made good progress there, so I am adding in occasionally harder bouts to push that anaerobic capacity side of things. This strength and conditioning work has produced a decent engine that allows me to train consistently, go hard when I need to, and recover without too much drama, so long as I keep an eye on my total volume and intensity.
Chow
Ah, good ole protein, carbs fat! I am, as always, still fiddling with my food, but again, not anything monumentally different, just small tweaks. Back in October 2016 I had the good fortune of attending the KetoGains seminar in Las Vegas. It was fantastic. I learned a ton and have been tinkering with that material a lot. I need to do a thorough review of the seminar and what was presented but here is what I took away:
1-While fiddling with ketosis, I have historically not taken in nearly enough electrolytes, specifically sodium. I thought I was taking in enough, I was not.
2-Although I have not been able to successfully keto fuel things like BJJ or CrossFit, there were folks there who appear to be doing so, but sometimes with caveats. It would appear some of these folks use a targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) for folks who are really hammering the glycolytic activities. What this boils down to is generally eating ketogenic ratios, but immediately prior to a training session an individual will consume anywhere from 10g-50g of maltodextrin or glucose. The theory here is once one starts exercising there will be little if any insulin release and thus this should only briefly take one out of ketosis.
I played with all of this quite a bit and here is where I have settled out: My first meal is pretty low carb. Breakfast is usually at the end of a 16-17 hr fast as we tend to have dinner around 5pm and then I do not eat until 8 or 9am. It’s super easy, I’m NOT training in that fasting period, and if I get really hungry, I just eat earlier. No stress, no drama. I tend to train at noon, be that jiujitsu or weights, so a few minutes before training I have about 20g of carbs in the form of either maltodextrin or the Recover product from PureWOD which is made from sweet potato. After the training session I’ll have “lunch” and will have carbs based on the volume and intensity of my training. I’m in the 75-120g of carbs per day range depending on activity. I have felt REALLY GOOD doing this. And some recent self experimentation has given me some potential insights into how to tweak all of this to best effect.
I did a two week experiment wearing a Continuous Glucose Meter (CGM) and I should have some pretty amazing data from that tinkering. I’m still waiting to get all that information back (which will include gut microbiome testing and a machine learning algorithm which will try to predict what foods I do best with) but one thing I noticed for sure is dense carb sources (rice, potatoes, gluten free bread…even sweet potatoes) eaten at times other than post workout, can pretty easily bring my blood glucose into diabetic ranges. I’ve known this on a subjective level for more than 20 years. Certain carb sources and particularly undo amounts of the same, will make me feel like complete hell. Using this testing I had the ability to see my blood glucose in “real time” as it was measured once per minute and I could record how I felt at these various BG levels. At high blood glucose (above about 120ng/dl) I feel like mierda. Alpha, Omega, done. I had some questions about this on social media and a few folks asked if perhaps I have physiological insulin resistance due to eating lowish carb. That’s a good question but in an effort to avoid just that problem I ate an uncomfortable amount of carbs in the two weeks leading up to this gig. I reduced fat, upped carbs and felt like poo, so I don’t think physiological insulin resistance was a factor. I think i just do better on a bit lower carb level. All in all, I’ve found a pretty good sweet spot with regards to carb amount and timing. My cognition is good, both my high and low intensity efforts are motoring along and I just “feel good.” This may be both a profound insight and a huge “no duh” moment as this really boils down to:
1-Put the bulk of carbs in the pre and post workout periods.
2-Dose carbs appropriate to volume and intensity, while keeping total caloric load at a level that supports your goal, be that maintenance, leaning out or mass gain.
Holy Over Complication Bat Man! I do feel like a bit of an idiot as I’m (theoretically) an “expert” on this stuff and the whole “take carbs around training” is about as basic as one can get but I try to console myself with the notion that if I did not spin out on this topic I’d likely live a life of crime. So, I’ve got that going for me. This is perhaps a good place to talk about a change I have tinkered with that bridges the gap between food and lifestyle and that is a meal delivered program called The GOOD Kitchen that I started using during my book writing and have continued to this day. I have historically prided myself on either cooking all my own food or just “toughing” things out by eating a can of sardines and some nuts. Well…the demands of kids, wife, dog, goats, chickens, book writing, being on the board of directors of a medical clinic…it’s been like a noose slowly tightening. I often times find myself either out of time (I did not cook or there are no left overs for me to take to work) or out of motivation (am I REALLY going to eat another can of sardines!?) Some days you just don’t want a $#@*&%$ can of sardines. So, at my wife’s suggestion (as I was getting damn cranky about all of this) I ordered a set of meals and prepared myself to eat something between cardboard and a “Hungry Man Frozen Dinner.” fortunately, I was really, pleasantly surprised. The GOOD Kitchen meals are not only amazingly tasty, their protein is grass fed, finished and pastured, and the veggies are organic. I keep a few of these in the freezer at my office and if I don’t have leftovers available, I put one of these in a microwave (has not killed me yet) and I have something that is better in both flavor and quality than almost anything I could get from a restaurant.
Lifestyle
One niggling feature of my existence which has negatively impacted my life is a long running low back injury. I have a disk bulge in the L4-L5 region that, if improperly managed, can lay me out for days. So long as I stay up on my mobility and trunk-work, things are pretty good, but if I get “too busy” and sit too often, neglect my mobility, particularly my hip flexors, I am begging for problems. When I was wrapping up the editing for Wired To Eat I found myself in a situation in which I convinced myself I was “too busy” to stay on top of my mobility. A jiujitsu class got my back irritated. A sneeze (really) dropped me like I’d been tasered. A friend of mine here in Reno, Carolyn Dolan heard that I was laid up and offered to help. Carolyn is a DPT who is also certified in the Mckenzie Method of back assessment and rehab. I’ve tried just about everything from PRI to crystals and moonstones, so I was not overly optimistic about this whole process. Well, after a thorough movement screen Carolyn suggested a sequence of simple movements which provided almost immediate relief. It’s been a process, but so long as I stay on top of my symptoms, and really work on the exercises that help to (in theory) pull my bulging disk back into place, I do pretty damn well. Sitting too much can still be a problem. Working too much closed guard with 240lb guys can get me into trouble. But now I am paying much better attention to the low level symptoms and just staying religious about my corrective exercises. ALSO. If I am feeling a bit “fragile” I don’t roll, or if I do I pick my partners carefully and I work on things I know will not irritate my back. I’m hoping to get Carolyn on the podcast soon to delve into all of this, but I wanted to mention all this as I know many folks suffer from low back pain and the Mckenzie method might be a good option. It is also a bit of personal accountability putting this “out there” as I’m now on the hook to practice what I preach and not make excuses. There is rarely a compelling enough work deadline that justifies me neglecting my back and ending up in serious pain and disability for days on end. That is clearly NOT playing to my desire to live a functional, strong healthy life. As an additional piece of that accountability story here is a recent pic I did at the globo gym I go to:
There are bigger, stronger, leaner people everywhere I turn, but I’m pretty happy both with my performance and aesthetics. Circling back to my introduction, I do not FEEL old. I need to watch what I eat, mind how I train and not go overboard, but I am not aging like my parents did. Aging sucks, but I suspect there are much less pleasant ways to go about it relative to what I am experiencing.
Thank you for letting me indulge in a bit self accountability and I hope you find these updates helpful. If you have not heard yet, my second book, Wired To Eat is now available for pre-order wherever books are sold and will be released on March 21. Please keep me updated on YOUR progress and as always, I’m here to help if you have questions.
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Thanks Robb for the overview. I’ve been following you since taking one of your last crossfit seminars back in the day and this 61 year old blue belt really appreciates you sharing your approach on how to stay healthy and active on the mat and in life…Thanks -D
Awesome! Where are you training??
When you say “trunk work” what does that look like? Are we talking planks and stuff? Or are you getting all your core work from GB?? Also, given your L4/L5 disc issue, are you giving the Jefferson curls a wide birth or are they included in your GB practice
Mainly pulling from the GB moves, with a few supplements like banded good mornings. I really do need to get Carolyn on the podcast and talk about the mckenzie method stuff as it incorporates a lot of this flexion/extension work. So, i have been including the Jefferson Curls, but just loading VERY conservatively. But i do a significant amount of extension to balance that.
Things like the JC are interesting in that they help reduce muscle tightness, but they CAN occasionally get some of the disk symptoms going But if I sandwich the flexion, with that mckenzie method extension, I get the mobility AND I do not get any disk symptoms.
Looking great Robb! Being in my mid-20s, it’s incredibly inspiring (and a relieving) to know that you can still carry a high degree of performance well into 40s (and hopefully 50s, 60s, and beyond). Thank you for sharing these updates.
Question – during your CGM experiment, did you find any unexpected food culprits that spiked your blood sugar? Any idea why they may have had that effect?
Thanks man! And yes, there is hope for effective aging. As to the CGM, i would not say there were huge surprises…like i did not get wacky readings from lentils and hummus, whereas some folks do. It was pretty consistent with what the overall carb content was.
Robb what is your macro ratio and calories intake?
As i remember in past you have some gut issues, you still consume any probiotics or any other supplements for gut?
I eat a variety of fermented foods at just about every meal and take Prescriptassist pretty religiously. GI issues just seem to fluctuate. I’m really not sure on the macros, I will get a sense of that once i get my data back from my food logging and CGM use.
Robb,
Thanks for the update! All thought I’m only 3 years behind you, I can to the aging process compared to our parents. Physically I’m in better shape than my parents at this age but I still have room to improve. I recently returned from Iraq, whee I was able to dial in my training and eating habits. I was able to lean out, more than I’ve been in five years. Now that I’m transitioning back to home life I’m finding it difficult to stay on track. After reading your post has given my motivation to get back on track. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing Robb, picked up a few more nuggets from you. Its amazing how I’ve arrived at a very similar place as you. I’m 44, mobility has become a priority as the upside is much larger than lifting weights. I also do the GB series for many of the same reasons (4 months in). I started it for the stretch series but just kept adding stuff and really like the new progressions. I can get some of these workouts in even while I’m with the kids. I also still do 1-2 additional strength days but my main sports are soccer and obstacle racing so I do more MAF training with a sprinkling of HIIT. I’ve also made the round trip of adding back a few more carbs because of my activity level, probably 150g a day now (I’m 142lbs) but still LCHF. I also did testing to see which carbs had a lesser effect on my glucose response. I’ve settled mostly on potatoes and lentils for now. Waiting till the CGM’s get cheaper to really dive in. I feel great.
And lol at the sardines, I can so relate to that comment. Looking forward to the book.
I feel like a wimp…I mean, how much of a first world problem can one have, right?? But yea, some days…
Thanks Simmon! It’s like the convergent evolution of shark and dolphin! Same problems, similar solutions.
Great post as always. Curious as to whether you are implying that training in the fasted state is a bad idea? Not glycolitically demanding work but what about low level cardio or strength training?
Hey Holly! i think fasted training of all types CAN be ok, but it’s really situationally specific. I’d just recommend some caution, and to your point, weights sand low intensity cardio are likely best options.
Thanks for the great article, Robb. I always enjoy your writing and am excited for Wired To Eat. I am 35 in March, in grad school, have a full time job, a 21 month old boy, and a baby due on March 3rd. Amazing and exciting times, but not a lot of time for…well…anything. I’m able to get to the gym twice a week to lift for about 40 minutes and sprint either by playing basketball or going to a hill near my house once a week. I’m curious how you think that gym time could be best spent for aesthetic and longevity goals. Right now I’m trying to lift really heavy – failure after four or so reps, and I feel pretty strong, but I don’t know if that is the best use of that limited time.
Thanks for sharing, Robb.
I’m not too far behind you in age. I’ve been interspersing 3 x per week CrossFit classes with MAF runs 3 x per week. This seems to offer a decent balance of allowing me to recover from CF and keeping my aerobic base intact, albeit, I’m probably not going to see huge improvements in strength or endurance with this approach.
Anyway, how would you crack the nut of fueling/carbs if you were working out first thing in the morning?
Thanks again.
HMMM…that’s a good question. If the training is not high intensity, one could try doing ti fasted. If doing a CF WOD, perhaps 20g carbs and 10g protein (maltodextrin+ whey??) Then a real meal after training.
I love these “day in the life” kind of posts. It always fuels my imagination for how to change things up an tweak things some.
I really like your training approach – horizontal vs. vertical push/pull as well as lower body work. It’s a great new way for me to think about my lifitng.
On that, could you elaborate a little bit more on your training. Are you choosing both push/pull for a given direction & super-setting? Or just alternating workouts [horizontal pull today, horizontal push the next week, etc.].
I really like your approach and want to give it a go during my next 3-6 week phase. Overall, seems like a cousin to the 5×5 approach in terms of weight, reps, conc/ecc speed, etc.
Thanks!
Hey Mike! thanks for the kind words.
Yes, I “super set” the movements, but it’s not a frenetic pace. For example, I may hit a set of DB bench, then weighted chins, then the hip bridge. I’m not screwing around between sets, but I’m not tackling it like a CrossFit workout. I’ll work through each round, increasing weight till I hit my work level, get some sets across, then I’m done. I DO tend to drop in mobility work between the sets, so it’s pretty time efficient.
Thanks Robb. I’ve been reading and listening to you for years now. At 48, I feel it too; although you are way ahead in activity and discipline. I find too that adding some carbs to my diet has helped tremendously. At very low carb my adrenals about had a fit and anything more than a little and I just get fat, lazy and foggy.
Thanks for adding the external links and thanks for being what feels like my own personal scientist.
Thanks Tom!
Hi Robb,
Great post! Can you also give us an update on what supplements you are taking?
Thanks!
Mainly just prescriptassist for probiotics. That an the sleep remedy.
Robb,
Outstanding post! You’ve inspired me to go back to jiu jitsu after a few years off. The way you describe what you get out of it is exactly what I want from a martial arts practice. Thanks for sharing!
JJ
Right on! Keep me posted on your training.
Thanks for sharing! As a 45er with a manageable lower back, I thought I was reading my own year in review! My morning CF in our cold garage is more EMOMs than it used to be. Some of ‘the girls’ or a hero wod mixed in but definitely not Fran!
Carb choice and allowance matters more. Probably because of less trail running and more office sitting too.
More mobility, more activety with my boys (5 & 3), more incrimental adjustments…
Looking forward to the new book, and the info on the McKenzie Method!
NICE!! And glad you found some value in the article.
Thanks, Robb! Quick one: How did you determine you weren’t taking enough electrolytes / Sodium? Via tests, some experimentation, etc. Would love to test this out as well.
pretty unscientific BUT, I just upped the electrolytes (specifically sodium) and felt better immediately. Better energy, sleep etc. I played with this by not taking the electrolytes and see how things progressed. Inevitably, I started to feel like hell. check out the ketogains electrolytes FAQQ and you get a sense of how important this is. When i have Luis back on the podcast, Ill dig deep into this.
Makes sense!
I’m running some pretty unscientific experiments myself 🙂 Been having cycles of extreme dryness (e.g., I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t open my eyelids because my eyes are so dry + it hurts!) and other times I feel totally fine. The confusing part is that I haven’t seen a direct relation with the amount of Sodium I take. (Maybe it’s the salt to water ratio, maybe it’s something else…). I also supplement with potassium and magnesium.
In your case, what does “more sodium” mean? e.g., a pinch of salt in every glass of water?
On a different note, I’d love to hear a bit more about your GB experience. How do your “movement breaks” work? Are you taking a single workout (e.g., upper body) and doing the 3 movements (+mobility) in 3 chunks spread out during the day? What about warm ups?
You bout as fit as Greg Glassman!
That’s what i’m gunning for!
I am interested in your experience with the Low Carb/Keto diet. I have tried and could not get it to “fit”. Cutting out the carbs made me irritable and anxious. Not fun and athletic performance decreased.
For some reason or another, my body needs carbs. My experience mirrors yours: carbs pre and post workouts.
Thanks for the article! Looking forward to the book.
Jared- I generally feel great while ketotic. The only exception is highly intense training like brasilian jiujitsu. I DID find that increasing electrolytes, particularly sodium, was a critical feature to making the plan work. ALSO! It takes a few weeks to generally start feeling “normal.” Now, all that said, a KD may just not be the best fit for all people (not a surprising notion, right??) but there are a lot of ways to goof the process up that is not a limitation of the KD itself. Keep in mind that my carb amounts are pretty small: 100g total for the day and perhaps 20g pre-workout. Hope this helps!
Hey Robb! Man! You look LEAN!!! Single digit body fat?
I’m at about 10% and it doesn’t look that lean on me.
I’m the same age as you and am definitely trying to juggle the performance/health & longevity stuff.
Thanks for the candid and thoughtful piece!
I doubt it’s single digit…kkpossibly I guess, all abbs are “up” so might be 9-10%. thanks for the props amigo!
I loved this article. I started jiu jitsu 6 months ago at 42 years old. I’ve been struggling with keeping to keto ratios while training. When I’m “too much” keto with my diet I feel like I have nothing in the tank. One question: do you have an opinion on taking exogenous ketones like Keto O/S before jiu Jitsu Class?
Thank you!
For me personally it did not “fix” that problem. Running 75-120g of carbs daily did fix it. tinker and let me know what you cook up!
Thank you. That makes sense to me. On the 75-120 grams of carbs on jiu jitsu days are you spreading those evenly throughout the day or having most right before or after training?
Hey there robb. So stoked to have found out about your book and congrats on an awesome podcast w joe! Im a premed student and practicing acupuncturist whos become obsessed with functional med because of my pretty recent dx of sibo. I am gonna be a part of the functional medicine community, helping people by bridging eastern and western along with more scientific dx based treatments! Anyways, thats my goal. There are many different sibo(low fodmap) food lists! Any that you think are better? Ive been going with chris kresser’s list. I was thinking of doing the cgm with my low fodmap diet and see how that goes. What do u think? What’s interesting is that this sibo dx cames from being diagnosed with PCOS. So I want to help women with these issues which may be linked to sibo. So thank you for all you’re doing and keep doing it!
Hey Robb, you didn’t talk about nicotine gum this time around, do you still use it? Also, what are your thoughts on cycling it? Necessary? How long of a downtime needed if so?
From one Rob to another, thanks!
+1 on this question. Been experimenting myself for a year, and had some unpleasant side effects (sore throats).
Hi Robb! I’m 45 and just starting to play with a KD while training BJJ (and trying to drop about 20 lbs). I’m on the mats 3X/week on average but I train in the evening. I don’t like to have my evening meal before class so I usually have an orange and maybe some granola right before. My question- How should I eat post workout since I don’t get home until 8-9pm? Will eating that close to bedtime impact my weight loss goals? Thanks!
Hi Robb, have been eating paleo several years now and a fan of your books- thank you! Reading Wired to Eat and digging a bit more into keto. Hearing a lot about keto supplementation such as keto OS. What are your thoughts on these types of products? A friend sent me samples but haven’t tested my ketone levels to see if I even need it or if it would help regardless? Not needing to lose weight but am looking at this for overall optimal health… thank you for your valuable insights!
Thanks for the yearly updates. I’m about 10 years younger, but with some serious post concussion issues for 4 years now. Gained 35lbs from missing a lot of training and hitting the comfort food. This year your pic and story made me ashamed of how badly I slid into the dark side. I started adding long hikes and ruck walks into my training, as I can still get a walk in when my pcs prevents lifting. I’m getting lean fast and my aerobic performance has made hunting much more enjoyable. I have 10 more to lose to be at my goal, but my wife is damn happy and while I’ll never be competing in Crossfit again, I’m the fittest guy at work. I’m thinking long term health now, instead of my numbers on cffb.
Hey Robb. Just a note on the back pain. There is a lot of good information out there on mind-body approaches to back pain. One website that I have found very helpful is Jonathan Kuttner’s “Life After Pain”. Another is David Hanscom’s “Back in Control” book and program. The “Trigger Point Therapy Workbook” by Clair Davies is also amazing!
Thanks Earl! I’ve found that so long as I stay on top of my mobility, particularly hip flexors, I’m good to go.
Very much looking forward to reading any tweaks you’ve made in “Training at 46”
I’ve always discovered the same when trying to do any Martial Art with strict ketogenic macros.
Catch 22 is I still suffer from quite bad GI distress so striking the right balance is tough.