Strength Conditioning and Nutrition 101

There is an optimal bodyweight for every position and athlete. A great way to improve your performance on the field is by reducing your body fat and increasing your muscle mass, it does not stop at just improving performance, but also your general health. Having a consistent lower body while improving strength leads to a longer and healthier life. For all those looking to improve their performance and/or general health, here are some tips to help you lose that unwanted fat:



1. Consume foods and beverages that assist in fat burning:
Many foods have a thermogenic effect. In reality all foods have a thermogenic effect since it takes energy to break down food, but some foods have much higher thermogenic ability. Some of the best foods to get the thermogenic effect are protein rich foods. There have been many studies that have demonstrated that a diet high in protein increases the metabolic rate. To get the greatest benefit add lean protein into your diet at every meal examples such as:

• chicken breast
• turkey breast
• game meats (venison, elk, etc)
• bison, buffalo
• very lean red meat such as top round and lean sirloin (grass fed is especially nutritious)
• almost all types of fish
• shellfish and other seafood
• egg whites

When considering beverages it has been found that green tea and coffee play a small but significant role in increasing your metabolic rate for 24 hours. Green tea is particularly effective and having 3-4 cups of green tea is a great way of getting epigallo-catechin gallate (EGCG) which has been demonstrated as a fantastic thermogenic.

Adding hot peppers and curry can also assist in weight loss. It may not have as great an effect as protein and green tea but it has been found in studies that it increases the metabolic rate by approximately 21 calories over a 24 hour period.

2. Sleep for at least 8 hours:
Sleep plays an incredible role in fat loss. It has been found that sleep plays nearly no role in the amount of weight you lose, but a significant role in what kind of weight you lose. A study found that when dieters got adequate sleep, more than half the weight lost was from fat. When the dieters were acquiring less than adequate sleep, only a fourth of their weight loss was from fat. On top of this, when one does not acquire adequate sleep, they generally feel hungrier and have a reduced metabolic level due to the higher level of the hormone grehlin beying released. When people have an adequate amount of sleep, they release a greater amount of human growth hormone (HGH) which is a naturally occurring anabolic hormone that promotes muscle building and fat loss.

3. Strength training:
Weight training is the most effective form of training for body composition and health. By becoming stronger, one increases life expectancy. Further, weight training increases ones metabolic rate for 24-48 hours during the recovery time. Also, through hypertrophy (growth) of muscle tissue, one increases their resting metabolic rate. Weight training is fantastic for all age groups and increases in importance as one ages and loses muscle mass.
For more on this topic refer to my previous post 

4. Interval training in combination with strength training
High intensity training is an effective way of losing weight and improving anaerobic power. HIIT may not burn more calories during the training session, but over the following 24 hours it burns significantly more. On top of this, HIIT training preserves muscle mass, strength, and power output. On the other hand, continuous aerobic training reduces power, produces slower athletes, and requires more time. Which training form do you think is best for you? In my opinion HIIT is the clear winner.
For a more detailed look at HIIT training refer
Refer here for research on how to implement High intensity interval training into your workout 

5. Eat multiple meals a day: 
There has been a great deal of debate on this recently. However for the time being, I currently support the idea for eating a lot of small meals throughout the day. Eat 4 to 8 meals throughout the day. When you eat balanced meals (protein, fruits/vegetables, and essential fats) every two to three hours, in theory is supposed to help regulate your blood sugar and maintain a raised metabolic rate. Try spacing your meals out evenly. For example, if your calorie intake is 1800 a day; try having 6 300 cal complete meals a day.

6. Increase water ingestion: 

• Water acts as an appetite suppressant: by tricking the body into thinking it is not hungry. Therefore, it temporarily reduces hunger feelings assisting in not eating as much. 
• Are you truly hungry? Often people mistake the feeling of thirst for hunger. 
• Water is an essential part of ridding the body of wastes. By drinking water, the stomach and intestines digest food at a quicker rate than if the body doesn’t have enough water (however attempt to not drink while you are eating). The kidneys require that the body have optimal level of water to help eliminate all the wastes through urine. Thus, the suggestion for clear urination. When the body is having optimal levels of water the liver is more capable of removing fat.
• Water retention: When you drink adequate amounts of water on a regular basis, you retain less water

7. Vitamin D the miracle of sunshine:
Exercising outdoors in the sunlight boosts your vitamin D levels, this increases the amount of testosterone produced which helps in muscle growth and fat loss among significant more benefits associated with it.
For more information on Vitamin D and the impact in can have on athletic performance 

8. Nutrient dense:
Fat tissue is an amazing site for storing various toxins. It has been demonstrated in literature that in rapid fat loss there is an acute release of toxins into the blood stream. The craziest thing is a study was completed in the 90s that found toxins that had not been used since the 70s in commercial farming was being released in the blood. Basically, people had stored toxins in their body for over 20 years. When fat loss leads to an increase in toxins in your blood, (which is very good for long-term health) you need to combat the toxins that are then and there. Basically when dieting and for the general public, they don’t get enough vitamins and minerals, loaded with free-radical absorbing antioxidants, packed with a variety of base producing compounds that will neutralize your dietary acids, and rich with healthy bacteria to protect and detoxify your gut. For this reason, particularly during dieting, I would suggest adding the supplement greens into your diet and a multivitamin.