How Much Sleep Do We Need?

Turns out the answer to this seemingly simple question might be a little surprising. A study done by Daniel Kripke in 2002 compared death rates among more than one million American adults who reported their nightly average amount of sleep. According to the study, people who sleep between 6.5 and 7.5 hours per night live the longest. People who sleep 8 hours or more, or less than 6.5 hours, don't live quite as long. Even more interesting is the fact that sleeping 'short' - 5 hours or less - might be better than sleeping 8.5 hours or more. According to the article, this data has since been corroborated by similar studies in Europe and East Asia. For more details and the complete facts, take a look at this article via time.com: How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

High Rep Olympic Lifting: Does it Have a Place in Your Workouts?

The Olympic lifts have long been a fantastic way to build strength, explosive power, and improve overall athleticism. We typically see these lifts performed and trained at very low rep ranges - i.e. five and under. More and more, 'high-rep' Olympic lifting is making its way into 'mainstream' workout routines. But is high-rep Olympic lifting really a good idea?

CrossFit is one place where we see a lot of high-rep Olympic lifts, particularly in their 'met-con' workouts. Having done most of the CrossFit 'benchmark' WOD's myself, I can tell you that those which include high-rep O-lifts are very tough indeed. The metabolic demand of 'Elizabeth', for example - Squat Cleans at 135 pounds and Ring Dips for three sets of 21,15, and 9 reps of each, performed for time - is very high. In fact, the first time I did that particular workout - which takes less than ten minutes to complete, by the way - I found myself on the floor in the fetal position, parked in front of a giant fan, for about fifteen minutes afterwards. No joke.

However, having seen a lot of these workouts performed with half-hazard form - in person and on workout videos in various places around the Internet - has started to make me question the concept and programming goal a little. If your technique isn't on point, you're in trouble - everything gets amplified when you get fatigued.

The main case against high rep O-lifting is that as you fatigue, your form deteriorates and things get sloppy, highly increasing your injury risk. I think that for a lot of people, form isn't tight enough to perform high reps safely, especially in the context they are typically being done in.

If you have a resonable level of mastery of the lifts, high-rep training can be okay. The problem lies in the fact that as high-rep Olympic lifting gains popularity (i.e. CrossFit gains popularity), there's going to be a lot of people out there doing some sloppy and potentially harmful stuff.

Now, a perfect tool to perform high-repetition ballistic lifts with is the kettlebell. The kb clean and press, push press, snatch, etc. are arguably a lot easier to learn than the classical o-lifts, as well as safer - the load used is typically less, among other things. For a little more info on how to integrate kettlebells into your training program, here is a link to a post I wrote about the versatility of the kettlebell as a training tool.

I've personally been doing a huge volume of kb snatching using the MV02 protocol from Viking Warrior Conditioning by Kenneth Jay and have been seeing remarkable improvements in fitness and even body composition in just a three week period. You end up doing hundreds of kettlebell snatches in a workout, which you would have a really hard time doing safely with a barbell.

In summary, I think high-rep olympic lifting can be a tool for conditioning, for increasing metabolic demand, etc. during workouts, but must absolutely be approached with caution. Make sure your form is on point and you've trained the lifts and refined your technique outside of your high-rep workouts.

Thoughts?

P.S. I found a great article that goes into depth on high-rep O-lifting and how to train for and incorporate the Olympic lifts properly and safely into a CrossFit programming structure: Integrating the Olympic Lifts with CrossFit. Enjoy!

Tap Water vs Bottled Water: Stop Wasting Your Money!

I have a confession: I've been drinking bottled water for as long as I can remember. For those of you out there who are currently bottled water drinkers (and I'm willing to bet that most of you are), you have to admit: bottled water somehow seems cleaner and safer than tap water. I decided to research the topic a little for myself - the following is a summary of what I found. Guess what? You're probably wasting your money - and hurting the environment!

Bottled Water is Just as Safe

In this article from ABC News Health, they talk about how 20/20 took five national brands of bottled water and a sample of water from a drinking fountain in the middle of New York City. Samples were sent to a microbiologist to test for harmful bacteria (for more on this, see the video above). The outcome: no difference between any of the waters tested!

According to the same article, scientists have consistently ran tests for safety of tap water vs bottled water and have came up with similar results - they're largely the same. The United States has the safest tap water in the world.

It Comes From the Same Place

Another astonishing fact: 45% of bottled water comes from a municipal water source (source: webmd.com)! Almost half of the time, you're drinking tap water in a bottle! Pretty sad, considering that, on average, bottled water costs 500 times more than tap water.

It's Better for the Environment

Additionally, according to treehugger.com, the environmental impact of tap water is approximately one forth that of bottled water. Even of you drink bottled water for convenience, you should really be doing your part to save the environment and drink tap water.

Wow, I feel like I've been fooled for so long! I think I'm officially a convert - tap water seems to win hands down. Thoughts from any bottled (or tap) water drinkers out there?

Kettlebell Review: Apollo vs. Dragon Door

If you're riding your bike a couple of miles in to work every other day, you don't need to go out and drop ten grand on a time trial bike. Accordingly, when I first picked up a kettlebell about a year or so ago, although having several years of experience training others and myself, I didn't really know what I was doing. To be honest, I was mostly using them for two-handed swings during CrossFit WOD's (man those are some ugly-ass swings!). So any old kettlebell at that point did just fine. What I'm finding out - and as became apparent as I ramped up my high-rep snatch training in preparation for the RKC snatch test - is that the more advanced you get and the greater variety of kettlebell drills you are going to perform, the more that the quality of the tool you're using matters!

I used Apollo brand kb's almost exclusively to train for the RKC certification. The only training I really had with any other type of 'bells was at a gym where I took some training sessions from another RKC instructor in the area (very highly recommended when starting out, by the way).

The Apollos seemed fine, and honestly, because I was so used to training with them, I didn't really know any different. My experience with Dragon Door 'bells at the RKC weekend changed my mind. Leading up to the RKC weekend, I had been hitting my required 100 reps in the snatch test at just abouts five minutes on the dot during training. Amazingly, I hit 100 reps in four minutes flat during the official test! I think part of this was due to being fresh, having rested up a few days before the cert, and also could also have partially been attributed to plain old adrenaline, but I also believe it had something to do with the quality of the 'bells. The handles were much smoother and the kb's seemed better balanced. I also prefer the Dragon Door 'bell as it has a flat bottom instead of a rubber stopper on the bottom - but this is probably just personal preference.

I am in the process now of replacing all of my Apollos with Dragon Door brand kettlebells. I think they're worth the extra money for sure. I know there are also a lot of other brands out there as well - I'd love to hear about experiences any of you have had, good or bad. Hopefully, this review and my experience will help you with your kettlebell purchasing decision!

Ready to order some dragon door kettlebells for yourself? Click the banner below - prices have recently been dropped by 30%!



Interested in learning more about training with a Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified Instructor? In the Sacramento, CA area? Take a look at my training page at www.forestvancetraining.com.

The Top Five Components of a Sound Fitness Program

I think it's important to put our workouts in perspective every once in a while; it can at times be easy to lose sight of some basic fitness 'rules' that need to be in place to see progress on a consistent basis. For most things in life - whether it's work, your relationships, or your fitness program - most of your results come from a small amount of your efforts. It's the Paretto Principle or the 80/20 rule: 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. So let's apply this to your fitness program; here are (in my opinion) elements that get you the most 'bang for your buck', so to speak:

1. Eating properly

I realize this is a very broad statement :) The thing is, there are so many opinions floating around of what the 'right' way to eat should be. Eating right is at least 60-70% of the equation, though - no matter if your goal is to lose body fat, gain muscle, or both. I posted a while back about some basic diet tips if you'd like some specific guidelines.

2. Incorporating some kind of resistance training into your program

Again, a very general statement - but also very true! You need to include resistance training in your program in some form to significantly change your body composition. I realize training philosophies are going to vary a lot - and I'll be the first to say that there's no 'best' way to train to get results - in fact, I think that any well-designed training program will work for a while (until you adapt, which also means that anything will stop working after a while). I'll direct you to a simple training program I wrote a while back if you need a basic template: The Get In Shape for 2009 Workout


3. Train your heart

I hate using the term 'cardio' almost as much as I hate doing it :) There are so many ways to get your cardio in - it definitely doesn't have to include plugging away on the treadmill or elliptical at the gym. Plus, 'steady-state' cardio - low intensity, long duration - is very quickly falling out of favor. Intervals are the way to go for almost everyone - read my post on interval vs. steady state cardio for a more detailed explanation.

4. Be consistent and be intense

You have to work out regularly to get results! Here's a hypothetical situation: You decide it's time to really get serious about getting in shape. You hit the gym five or six times a week for a few weeks, and you're feeling better - you may or may not be making progress (likely because you're not following each of these five components). After about a month or so, you get bored, you get frustrated, life gets in the way - whatever the reason is, your enthusiasm fades and you end up working out once or twice a week for the following month, only to see the progress you've made over the last month slip away. This is just a hypothetical situation, of course; it's never happened to you, right? :)

Much better to work out four or five times a week for 30 to 45 minutes and be able to stick with the plan on an ongoing basis. In addition to being consistent, you also have to be reasonably intense. You don't have to run around the gym like a manic or start Crossfitting (wait for the video to load - it's well worth it) but you do need to work reasonably hard. Go to the gym with a purpose, get after it, and get out!

5. Pick exercise that you enjoy

Last but not least - you have to like what you're doing for exercise - like we just talked about, being consistent over the long run is one of the most important factors in determining your success. So if you don't like what you're doing - at least a little - you don't have a chance of sticking with it for long. Figure out what floats your boat - maybe it's going to the gym, maybe it's running outside, maybe it's swinging kettlebells - siimply get together a plan for yourself that's well thought out, exercise with a reasonable intensity, and get moving towards your goals!

Those are, in my mind, the top five components of a sound fitness program. What are your thoughts?

Would you like a little more guidance with your fitness program? Need some motivation in reaching your fitness goals? Please visit www.forestvancetraining.com to get involved in personal or group training with Forest Vance, M.S., C.P.T., RKC.

Recommended Nutritional Supplements: Best Fish Oils/ Essential Fatty Acids

So hopefully, you've taken my advice and considered adding a protein supplement into your daily routine (if you missed part one of the series on protein powders and meal replacements, you can catch it here). Next on the list of recommended nutritional supplements is one (unlike supplemental protein) that, in my opinion, almost everyone should be taking - EFA's, or essential fatty acids.

What are EFA's?

EFA's, or essential fatty acids, are fatty acids that cannot be made within the body from other compounds - and therefore are essential in the human diet. There are two families of EFA's: omega 3's and omega 6's.

What do they do?

EFA's support the cardiovascular, immune, reproductive, and nervous systems. They are responsible for a multitude of important functions within the body, including regulating body functions, fighting infection, and growth in children.

Why should I care?

Deficiency in EFA's in the diet, particularly omega 3's, is linked with a fair amount of serious health conditions, including heart attacks, cancer, depression, accelerated aging, and many more. Most Americans are deficient.

Where can I get them?

Avocado, walnuts, Brazil nuts, sesame seeds, soybean oil, olive oil, freshwater and shellfish are some excellent sources of EFA's. There are also some great supplements out there to make it a little more convenient for you to get your daily dose. I personally prefer going with an EFA supplement in liquid form - all you really need is one tablespoon per day of a supplement like The Total EFA - plus you get a lot more 'bang for your buck' than you do with capsules:





HFS The Total EFA With Pure Fish Oil, 8 Fl. Oz., Juicy Orange


Another option would be to go with something like the Labrada EFA Lean Gold, which comes in capsule form - perhaps a bit more expensive as far as actual quantity, but also a little more palatable - and honestly, if you can't stand the taste of the oil, you'll probably never take the supplement!





Labrada EFA Lean Gold, 180 Softgels


Either way, some sort of EFA supplement is something highly recommended to add into your daily routine. Adults need about 1.5 grams of both omega 3's and omega 6's in their diet every day. Do yourself a favor and use the above recommendations to incorporate EFA's into your daily supplement program!

The Keys to Doing Proper Push-Ups

I love push-ups! Seriously, the push-up is truly one of my favorite exercises of all time. It works a ton of major muscle groups, it's super 'functional' (if I dare use that word), you don't need anything but your own body weight to perform it ... the list of benefits could go on and on.

For starters, here is a short list of the muscles a push-up works:

Pecs
Shoulders
Triceps
Biceps
Abs
Quadriceps
Obliques
Glutes

It's a highly functional movement - there are many occasions in everyday life where one has to push themselves up off of the ground. It's also a very 'scaleable' exercise - one can start from the knees or with hands against the wall to make the exercise easier. Once you progress to a standard push-up and need an additional challenge, you can elevate your feet and even progress to the handstand push-up. Other variations include the push-up with rotation, push-up with hands on a medicine ball, push-up with hands or feet on a stability ball - this is just to name a few.

Here is a video showing what standard push-up form should look like:





The keys to doing a proper push-up are the following:

-Body stays in a nice strait line - no sticking the butt in the air or letting the hips sag; also the head and neck stay in line with the rest of the body
-Full range of motion - touch your body to the ground - this is the same if you're doing push-ups from the knees
-Everything stays nice and tight - glutes, abs, quads
-Slow tempo - about two seconds down and two seconds back up

Here is a great article for even more info on how to do a proper push-up from CrossFit.com. Now that you have the basics, start doing those push-ups!