Macro Nutrients: protein, carbs, fat, and FREE custom macro template!!

Today we're going to tackle macro nutrients.

For some, this is exciting, for some it's a hard eye roll, and for some it's just terrifying.

So, what we're going to to is break it down, explain it in pieces, make it simple, and then provide a free self-populating macro template for knowing what your protein, carb, and fat levels should be, as an athlete, regardless of your goal!

For starters, this is for everyday athletes.  What does that mean?  Well, for these purposes we'll call an athlete someone who works out 4-6 days a week, utilizes active recovery days, and has a generally responsible caloric breakdown.  The "everyday" part is that it is assuming someone who is not an athlete for a living.... your life doesn't literally revolve around fitness.

Protein:

Protein levels for everyday athletes can go between 1.2g/kgbw and 1.8g/kgbw (with no positive return above 1.8g/kgbw).  

On the low end, you may see protein suggestions as low as .8g/kgbw (or even lower) but this is for sedentary individuals, not athletes.

On the other end of the spectrum you may hear from your broscience sources that you need up to 2 grams per pound of bodyweight.... no..... just... no.  That number would be nearly impossible to hit no matter what means you employed and 100% impossible to hit while keeping your carbs and fats anywhere remotely close to where they should be.  Furthermore, there has been no scientific demonstration of benefit beyond 1.8grams/kg of bodyweight in protein consumption.

Carbs:

Carbs are.... complicated.  

But first things first, say it with me:  "carbs are our friends"

Again, carbs are a tale of two extremes.  On one hand, many will say that athletes need as much as 6 grams all the way up to 10 grams per kg of body weight.

Not only will most people be able to successfully perform at much lower levels (between 2.5g and 5g per kg of body weight), most will find these lower levels still provide enough glycogen stores for energy, performance, and recovery while maintaining current body weight on the scale.

On the other extreme (super popular right now...) is people suggesting sub-optimal carb levels in order to lose weight.  These plans suggest 65g a day on a regular basis, many opting for as low as 35g per day, some plans even lower.  Here's the thing....  most people can maintain a state of ketosis at 50g of carbs a day and almost everyone will be in a full state of ketosis at 35g per day.

With that in mind, regardless of body weight, 100g - 150g of carbs a day should be considered your bare minimum (this is your "floor") when not in an aggressive, short term cut phase (*note that a cut phase should be no longer then 12 weeks and shouldn't be entered into more often than every 6-9 months).  Furthermore, most people can completely fill their usable carb fuel tank with ~6g-7g per kg of body weight (~500g) - this is your "store".

Fat:

Fat can actually be ignored, for the most part.  As long as you are keeping your protein and carbs where they are supposed to be, your fat will typically fall in line.

That said, your fat intake will vary some, depending on your goals, but should always remain in the .5-1.5g/kgbw range.

For most athletes the sweet spot for fat intake during maintenance will be between 44g and 78g per day.

So, what now?

Everyone will need to play with the carbs and protein a bit to find their sweet spot and this will take a few weeks (you haven't "proven" yourself anything after one "bad" week.....).

Yes, you can check the scale, but remember what a poor overall representation of health weight really is.  

You are an athlete.  

Listen to your body.

How do you feel during the workout?

Did you have enough fuel in the tank to finish Strong?

Do you sleep well at night?

How is your DOMS the next day?

What about on day 2?

What is your mood like?  Are you hangry?

Do you feel like you are depriving or thriving?

Here are some general starting points based on your specialization:

For endurance athletes:  Your protein should be on the lower end of the spectrum (1.2g/kgbw)

and your carbs will be on the higher end (closer to your "store").

For Olympic lifters and power lifters:  Your protein will be the top end (1.8g/kgbw)

and your carbs will be at the lower end of mid-range (2.5g/kgbw).

For Crossfitters and HIIT:  Your protein will be nearer to the top end (1.8g/kgbw)

and your carbs will be fall somewhere in the midline (2.5g-5g/kgbw) depending on how many days a week you workout, how many wods you do per day, and at what level of intensity you operate.

For people wanting to actively Cut:  Move protein towards 1.5-1.8g/kgbw 

while moving carbs to 2g/kbbw and fat to .67g/kgbw.

If you plateau, you can adjust one step further while still maintaining these median ranges by taking carbs to your "floor" (100g a day) and fats down to .5g/kgbw.

The majority of athletes, regardless of your specialization, intensity, or frequency, can find a successful level of carbs between 2.5g and 4.5g per gram of body weight.

Example:  Maintenance levels for providing excellent energy for 6 days a week of HIIT, while transitioning body comp (dropping body fat and building lean muscle) could look like 

1.2g-1.8g/kgbw in protein, 2.5g-3.5g/kgbw in carbs, and .75g-1.3g/kgbw in fats.

Macro Levels:

Protein:  1.2, 1.5, or 1.8 grams per kilogram of body weight.

Carbs:  100 carbs per day, 2.0, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 5, 6, grams per kilogram of body weight.  As a general rule, male athletes will approach their "store" at about 6.25g/kgbw and female athletes at 7g/kgbw.

Fat:  .5, .67, .75, 1.0, 1.3, 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight.

Click HERE to get my self-populating template with full instructions (Excel).

All you have to do is click the 3rd tab at the bottom ("Macro Calculator") and enter your weight in Pounds and the spreadsheet will convert everything and give you all of your macros!

Renaissance Periodization : RP

So, in my last 2 posts I talked about my journey out of and then back into fitness and shared some initial before and after photos.

While I said my wife and I used RP  I wanted to share a few more specifics on why we chose RP, what it is, and what we used of theirs, specifically, as well as what we're doing now.

What is RP?

They're a company who is made up of a large board of PhDs, RDs, and current college professors, which is cool.  What's more cool is that they largely agree on everything (which is shocking) and the things they don't all agree on (alcohol consumption, for example) they're open about.  What's even cooler than that is that they are all Olympic lifters, power lifters, endurance athletes, and/or CrossFitters so they understand the needs of athletes and they are not here for your starvation diets (yay carbs!).

Who uses RP?

I mean, other than the super famous me and my wife.... you can go look through the "RP Transformations" group on instagram.  Oh, and they have a few no-name clients too, like Annie Thorisdottir and Rich Froning jr.

What do they offer?

They have nutrition templates as well as workout templates.
They have mass and cut programs, including plans for athletes, non athletes, vegan, gender specific, hypertrophy, etc. 
For nutrition they have a Standard Template, for serious athletes, which is macro counting
A new app that is macro calculating
Then they have what my wife and I used:  The Simplified Template

The simplified template is macro based, but RP has done all the macro counting for you and all you see is a list of foods from each category (protein, fruits and grains, veggies, and fats) and how many ounces (or tbsp) you are to each of each for each meal.  All the meals are the same so you don't have to think about which day it is, which type of meal, or calculate workout times or intensity.  It's.... simple.

For us, the Simple plan worked well for our cut, which is what we were using it for!  I lost 30 pounds in ~90 days and my wife (who weighed much, _much_ less than I did) lost 12 pounds.

It got us back down to fighting weight, got us exposed to thinking about how macros look, disciplined our food choices, and let us practice meal prep.

We are now nearly 7 weeks past completion of our RP simplified template cut and here we are
(the photo was taken on August 3rd, ~4 1/2 weeks post RP):

In the next blog I'll share what macros we are focusing on now, how you can incorporate that into your life, whether you are wanting to cut, mass, or maintain and whether you are a distance runner or a CrossFitter!

Stay tuned!

Transformation Tuesday: Coach Dodd edition, 2019

*Before and after photos at the bottom*

So, in my last blog I introduced my journey over the last few years....

The tale of the tape:
I come in at a towering 5' 6"
I didn't break 100 pounds until I was a freshman in high school.  I graduated high school at somewhere between 120 pounds and 130 pounds.  Yes.. yes... I know... a monster.  "Mammoth of a man" I think is the name you're looking for *flex* #bodybysoccer

Throughout my 20's I stayed between 140 and 165.
31-33 I stayed right at 180.
34 I hit 200 pounds for the first time.
At 36 I was a sloppy 205.

A few things to hear me out on:
1.  Weight alone is a terrible indicator
2.  I despise BMI.  It's stupid.  No, I do get it.  Yes, I still think it's 90% useless at best, detrimental more often.

I could be 205 if I was a powerlifter, CrossFit games athlete, body builder, etc.  But I wasn't... I was just an out of shape 205.  You can be cut up at what BMI says is "morbidly obese".  You can also be obese at that same weight.  The scale is not a good primary indicator of health.  It can be a tool, but just one small tool in a very large tool chest... full of tools... other tools.... better tools.

My wife:  over the last 25 years my wife has been a 4 1/2 foot tall 160 pound overweight adolescent, a competitive gymnast, an anorexic madly in love with "Ed" at 87 pounds (zero muscle mass, hair falling out in clumps, digestive issues, hiatal hernias, faint, etc), and she has birthed 2 children that included gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and emergency c-section.  She has tried every crash diet, fad diet, pill diet, starvation diet, and pay-for-pounds diet you have ever heard of.  All the bad ones, that is.  She has believed what most girls are taught:  All food is bad, carbs are bad, fat is bad, calories are bad, it's all bad, and the only way to lose weight is to starve your body to the point of misery. 

We both were fed up.  We both got "done" at the same time.  So, we tried what some good friends suggested.  A crazy program that we had never heard of:  Renaissance Periodization.  Crazy name, but we liked what we saw.  I'll do another post specifically about RP in the next few days (what it is, what it isn't, who it's for, why we chose it, what we thought, how we did it, tips and tricks, etc.), so look for that.  Also, I'll detail what we're doing now and how things are going!

In the meantime, here were our before and after photos (before photos taken the first day of our cut and the after photos taken on the last day of our cut, which was 7 weeks ago):

30 pounds down

12 pounds down

My weight loss numbers each week (notice the up and down)

"What's the Point?": 3 Deadly Words and A New Lease on Life

5 years.

That's how long it's been since I was actively taking care of myself, on a daily basis.

2 years.

That's how long I completely let myself go and allowed myself to fall into full on "screw it all" mode with my fitness.

If you've been a blog reader here and or have read my book  then you know I've had a _lot_ of knee surgeries over the years.  2 years ago I was hired to lead a conditioning and skills camp for a high school boy's soccer team.  Most of the time I'm hired to operate a "hell week" to run people off.... which I love ;)  During this week, while I was out of shape and had already let myself get too far out of bounds, I still had to play.  I. Can't. Help. It.  Much to my wife's chagrin.... but that's for another blog, lol

Anyway, there rolled a 50/50 ball and my foot met the ball at the exact same instant as one of the kid's foot met the ball.  Standard fare.  Only my knee cap slid out to the side of my leg and hung... it got stuck.  So, there I was, on the field, with my knee cap locked to the outside of my leg, decisively where it was _not_ supposed to be.  I grit my teeth, grabbed it with both hands, rolled hard one way while I pulled with hands the other, all while trying to relax the muscles (ha!), and I was able to pop it back into place (about 15 minutes later).  The physical damage sucked, it scrambles everything around when this happens and then "freezes" your quad as well.  The psychological damage is what I let take over, though.  I was done.  I told myself that was it.  I was washed up, I was old (I wasn't), and what I let ring in my ears over and over again was the death nail of "what's the point?"

What's the point?  What's the point of rehab if you're just going to do it again?  What's the point in getting your mileage back up if you're only going to get hurt again and have to start all over?  What's the point in pushing in the gym when you're going to inevitably have another surgery that will cause you to lose all your gains and go back to square one, again?  What's the point?  Those three words froze me in time.  It wasn't pretty.

I lost my engine, lost my gains, lost my drive, lost my fire, lost my desire to run, lost my push to workout, lost my ability to write this blog, and I gained about 30 pounds of pure body fat.  All from 3 little words.  My words, in my own head, my three deadly words: "What's the point?"

In my next blog I'm looking forward to detailing a bit of how I came out of that 3 word hole and where I am now (pics included...)

Don't give up.  It's worth it.  You will get hurt.  You will get injured.  You will have setbacks.  You will start over.  And, most importantly, you will have Life.

What should I wear for a SPARTAN / OCR race???

What do I need and what should I wear for a SPARTAN race???

In this article we will cover Head, shoulders, knees, and toes…. And everything else in-between (don't act like you weren't wondering....)!

If, somehow, you found yourself here but are still unsure, check out this Link that talks about what Spartan racing is all about!

For starters, congratulations!  The fact that you are looking at an article like this means that you are already on your way to becoming a SPARTAN!

What do I need to do/think about before I go?

1.  Surround yourself with a pack of people to support you, whether in training or on the course itself

2.  Bring confidence that you have trained and prepared and are excited - perform a quick "Spring cleaning" of your running form (especially for Beast distance).

3.  Make sure you've looked at some of the obstacles.  Remember that, while SPARTAN has several "core" obstacles that appear at almost all races, they love to throw in new and exciting challenges all the time.  The add new obstacles, tweak old ones, change the weight/height/distance/position, etc.  Even on race day, when you have arrived, you still wont know what all obstacles you'll face - and that's a big part of the fun!

What do I need to bring with me?

1.  Registration and waiver (already printed and signed)

2.  Photo ID (that you'll have to take with you to the registration tent).

3.  Bag (to throw said ID in) with towel and change of clothes - and a trash bag to put the clothes and shoes you just raced in inside for the ride home.

4.  Bring cash for the secure bag check (usually $5).

5.  For Sprint distance, most people will not need food, water, or packs of any kind.  For the Super distance you may want a hydration pack and protein bar

6.  For the Beast you will want to carry your own fluid, bring protein bars/chews/etc. and consider S-Caps

What should I wear?

1.  Pay attention to the weather!!!  

Check for temperature and check for rain/sleet/snow.  Plan accordingly!  Remember, whatever you're wearing (if you're racing in cold weather) you should be COLD when you're standing waiting to race.   If you are comfortable (temperature wise) before you start you will be sweating and miserable very soon!

2.  Just say "NO!" to cotton
Nothing on your body, anywhere, anywhere should be cotton!

3.  Head:

Spartan will provide a race headband with your race number on in.  In the heat this is a nice sweat band and in the cold it can be pulled over your ears.

4.  Ladies: Sports bra.  

We all know there are lots of different types of sports bras.... there are instagram photoshoot sports bras, there are slow-no-impact-don't-I-look-Cute sports bras, there are sports bras with underwire, there are sports bras with zippers.  Find a good, NO-COTTON, truoee compression fit, highly supportive (high impact), full coverage sports bra with no bells and whistles (no pockets, no zippers, no underwire).

5.  Shirt or no shirt?  

This is a question you will have to answer yourself, there will be always be men and women in both camps, regardless of temperature.  That said, here are a few things to consider:  a.  be COMPLETELY comfortable. If you are in anyway self conscious about not wearing a shirt (even though you shouldn't be), then wear a shirt!  You will be uncomfortable enough... lol.  If it's cold, going shirtless Can be better because you don't have anything that is wet and cold stuck to your body.  On the shirt side, remember that you will be crawling on the ground in dirt, gravel, sand, hay, and for many people (myself included) having a layer between your bare skin and all those irritants is very beneficial.  Be sure to remember, should you wear a shirt, refer back to rule number 2!  Think compression.

6.  Pants/shorts:  

My suggestion here is compression tights, for men or women.  3/4 length is fine, but full length is better (same reason as given for wearing a shirt in number 5).  Shorts are great as well, but make sure there is no cotton.  If you don't have to carry anything, try to find shorts with no pockets.  If you do not need to carry something (like an emergency inhaler in my case) try to find something with a zipper pocket.  I say this because you don't want pockets filling up with mud and dirt, making them uncomfortable and Heavy.

7.  Underwear:  

Men:  wear compression shorts as underwear if you are wearing shorts - or just wear the compression shorts As your shorts (with nothing underneath them And nothing on top of them).  If you are wearing compression tights, just wear compression tights, no underwear underneath.

Ladies:  no cotton, No Cotton, NO COTTON.  If you are wearing compression tights, just wear compression tights (the good thick ones... not the see through "yoga" ones) with nothing underneath.  If you are wearing compression shorts (probably best), just wear the compression shorts with nothing underneath.  If you want to wear regular running shorts, wear compression shorts underneath, as underwear, and then your running shorts over top.  If you are one who just absolutely can't stand the idea of not having underwear on (even though that's what compression shorts are supposed to be) then wear a basic, non-lacy, non-frilly, completely non-cotton thong.

8.  Calf sleeves?  

If you are wearing shorts (and not compression tights) then calf sleeves are an option.  Will they help?  Maybe.  They wont make you super human, they wont make you faster, they may help with cramping up during the race, they may help with DOMS, they will provide some level of skin protection (if you're not wearing tights) just among briers and such on the race course.

9.  Socks:

Sock choice is actually Very important.  Just ask anyone who didn't think about their sock choice until after the started the race!  What's rule number one in choosing socks?  See rule number 2 above!  Above that, you want socks that come up high enough to protect your achilles from rubbing (blisters) and I would strongly suggest toe socks .  Reason being, your feet will get wet and stay wet most of the race, regardless which race you run.  So, separating your toes helps tremendously with keeping your toes from rubbing (blisters).

10. Shoes:

 Shoe choice is also important.  You want shoes that will survive, first off, and you want shoes that you probably aren't going to cry about if they don't...

You want shoes with a relatively flat bottom (maximum surface area), shoes without cotton all over them (padding, etc.), you don't want waterproof shoes (as your feet will be completely submerged and when a waterproof shoe gets submerged it becomes a bucket), you want shoes with aggressive tread (lots and lots and lots of mud), you want shoes that are zero drop (or as close as you can get - nothing above 6mm, strong preference given to 0-4mm), you want shoes that fit well, and shoes that Will remain tied!  For me, there is NO shoe that even comes close to Altras - not even close.

* For All clothing, thinkcompression:  tight and form fitting. Reason being,  you don't want clothing catching on any obstacle, it will make everything harder, from going over walls to especially going underneath Barbwire.

*  Knee/ankle/etc Braces:

Obviously, one would prefer to not have to wear braces at all.  They aren't comfortable at long distance, cheap ones ride up and/or down, budget ones can soak up water, etc.  That said, sometimes you need to.  Most of the time I do (1/2 dozen knee surgeries over the years), this one I'm running next week I have to (blew out my knee, knocked my kneecap out of place, and tore my meniscus and haven't had it repaired yet).  For knee braces, the ONLY one I have found that I could genuinely run with at any race for any distance is the CEP RXOrtho+

-Also, if you are going to wear a brace of any kind, I would strongly suggest that you put it on first and then wear full length compression tights OVER the brace to help with all of the above issues (specifically: holding it in place comfortably).

Calling all SPARTAN DADS!

The Spartan race tribe have just released a father's day special with some pretty sweet deals:

If you use the code SPARTANDAD you will get 50% off gear in the Spartan Shop, plus you can get race entries for only $69, & 2 free digital books with any race purchase (Spartan Up! & Spartan Fit!).

Not only that, but send a pic of you and your little Spartan(s) do secondwindrunningcoach@gmail.com for a chance to win a FREE SPARTAN RACE!

Happy Father's Day - and #SpartanUp !

2017 Race season is here! Spartan season passes and new medals!

With December upon us, and only ~3 weeks left in 2016, it's time to start planning for next year!  

Luckily, Spartan has started listing their races really early - they've already got in the neighborhood of 75 races confirmed, listed, and ready to be registered for for 2017!

Spartan continues to be my favorite race series for the brand new beginner all the way through the professional because of how they innovate and lead.  Next year is already proving to be no different, adding more military runs, stadium runs, championship series, and more.  Additionally, crazy Joe is promising more new obstacles (and new course layouts). 

One of the BEST things Spartan is doing next year (3 things, actually) is the race passes.  Starting right now, you can register for any of their 3 season passes:

The Tri-fecta season pass, which gives you 3 race codes + some other goodies for $299.  To put this in perspective, the last tri-fecta I ran cost $431.

The Open-season pass, which is UNLIMITED open heat races for $649.

The Elite Season pass, which is unlimited races valid for All heats for $799.

The tri-fecta season pass is a no-brainer for Anyone going to race the trifecta.  As a matter of fact, it's actually good for any three races, so you could run 3 beasts for $299 if you want to (which would be a savings of close to $250).

Also, of course, one of the things I really like that Spartan does is the proverbial carrot-on-a-stick approach to their medals, constantly innovating their tiers and I really like how they now provide all new medals each year.  The coolest medal in my collection, currently, is last year's military base race medals.  That said.... check out what's coming - then go buy your tri-fecta pass!