Vanderbilt University has released a report this week that shook me up. The Headline Read, “GUT Microbiome differs among Ethnicities” which obviously sparked my attention but when I read into it more.. my thinking on bacteria flipped completely. It turns out that what I thought about boosting bacteria was naive and the scope of what I was trying to conceptualize is as big as the stars in the sky above us. But as we will discuss, the subsequent rabbit home I went down gave me extreme hope in the direction of Individualized medicine and our understanding of disease! Lets dive in.
The GUT microbiome is something I have studied for years now. The topics I have discussed on this blog have dealt with the spectrum of study from Cancer and bacteria to how you can get a bigger backsquat because you eat fermented foods. I thought I had read into all the science , but alas I was wrong…AGAIN. But this has opened the door to new science and some cool things that are available to us as humans and athletes at this very moment!
First, Lets talk probiotics. The Study by Vanderbilt University was conducted to see why certain disease processes effect different ethnic groups. The diseases they studied ranged from Coronary artery disease to IBS. GUT health is becoming more and more of a thing in the wider media narrative and therefore many preventative remedies are touted including Greek Yogurt and Probiotic Supplements. These bacteria filled solutions (or so we think) are made to boost the beneficial bacteria in your small intestine and improve your immune system and general health. The scientists at Vanderbilt studied these probiotics on multiple subjects from different ethnicities and found that ;
1. The bacteria amounts in over the Counter Probiotics are negligible. That means the ‘BILLIONS’ of bacteria that the capsules claim to be containing is really a bunch of bullshit. I had a feeling this is the case even that live bacteria live in food not capsules and over the counter solutions are rarely plausible.
2. The bacteria in the probiotics may not be what you ACTUALLY need! That is, a common bacteria like Bifidobacteria that is touted in most pills, is NOT what you may need to be putting in your body!. Nature knows best. We need balance and we all must understand that our different tastes in food and lifestyle is a direct result of our bacterial make up.
YOUR GUT IS WHO YOU ARE!
The Vanderbuilt Study identified 12 different bacteria, which are not usually the prominent ones listed on your bottles of Probiotics. They found that the contents of your GUT Bacteria and the amount of each varies widely depending on the make up of your ethnicity and geographical location.
The 12 bacteria featured in this research are:
Christensenellaceae
Clostridiales
Coriobacteriaceae
Dehalobacteriaceae
Odoribacter
Odoribacteriaceae
Peptococcaceae
RF39
Rikenellaceae
Veillonella
Verrucomicrobiaceae
Victivallaceae
Now, Before I lose you . let me tell you about a Frickin cool new technology that is available to YOU right now that can help you control your GUT bacteria (and by extension your health) through food . The Product is VIOME.com and it harnesses the power of your Bacteria by using Artificial Intelligence. The AI scans your microbiome and tells you which bacteria are expressing and how they are expressing. This is important and a big breakthrough for those of us that care deeply about a personalized approach to our health.
You will never get to your peak level of performance unless you understand what is going on with your Blood and Bacteria.
The VIOME test is 350$ and Even saw a Groupon for it for 299! That is a year of bacterial observation and testing which is pretty damn cool. With the service you get a personal meal plan that will tell you which foods to eat and in what frequency.
All this being said there is a way to capture the best bacteria and to have it work for you using daily habits. That is to follow these basic guidelines that science has corroborated many times over:
1. Eat Whole Foods.
2. Avoid Sugar.
3. Eat Fermented Foods At Each Meal.
4. Dont eat processed Grains.
5. Eat lots of left veggies.
6. Buy Organic.
This may be a lot to take in but I promise you that if you dig into this you will be rewarded and awakened. Stay vigilant and OWN your health. Keep it simple and love yourself. Ill be here to support you the entire way!
Love,
Eric
12/10 -12/14**This is week 7 of the Strength/ Exposure Cycle. We are nearing the end of the cycle and therefore we begin to test. I will say that I am going to bias testing to the sprint work because our strength progression will continue on for similar movement patterns for weeks to come. Sprint work on Tuesday have you dying with 5X 100m. It is important to note where the drop off occurs. Does it happen on the pavement or in your head first? One of my favorite benchmarks “Heartbreak Kid” is back, and we are focusing on the shorter duration conditioning this week which means that recovery is important. Look to your adaptogens like mushroom teas and such.
12/10
Baseline:
400m Run
3X
10 Barbell Good Mornings
10 Barbell Muscle Cleans
10 Barbell Behind the neck press
Lunge Flow: 7@ Each
Elbow To Instep + Reach
Hamstring Pulses
Samson Lunge + Reach
Hurdlers Stretch
Side Lunges
-Pigeon Stretch @ the end
Strength:
Deficit Deadlift
5-5-5-5-5
WOD;
3X 3:00 AMRAP
6 Deadlift
6 Hang Power Clean
6 Push Jerk
(135/95 for set 1, 155/115 for set 2, 185/125 for set 3)
12/11
Baseline:
Agility Warm Up @ 10m Each
High Knee Pull
Quad Pull
Squat 180 **stepping the leg high over hip, swing opposite leg to 180, squat
High Knees
Butt kickers
Marching High Kicks
Groiners
Straight leg shuffles
Fig 4 Drill
Lateral Shuffle
Carioca
Lateral Bounding
Sprint W/ Change of Direction
Sprint Primer:
Run 400 m at 80% and then rest 1:30 before beginning intervals
Sprint Work:
5X 100m Sprints
-Rest 3:00- Between efforts
Accessory Work:
4 Round Not For Time
1:00 Ring Plank Hold (W/ feet on box)
30 Cal Row
12 Turkish Get ups
12/12
Baseline:
3X
1:00 Single Under Jumps
12 Plate Squats
12 Plate Lunges
12 Jumping Pull Ups
Squat Flow: Kang Squat, Internal Rotation, Hip Bridge, Ankle Roll Outs, Boot Straps, PNF, Squat W/ T Spine Rotation
Tempo Back Squat Exposure #2
3X5
:02 Eccentric
:01 Pause
*go heavier than last week
WOD:
“Heartbreak Kid”
3X
10 Front Squats 185/135
20 Chest to Bar Pull Ups
50 Double Unders
*Compare to 7/2
12/13
Baseline;
-Spend 5 Mins Warming Up Ankles and calves
2X
50 Rope Skips
50 High Knee Rope Skips
50 Butt kicker Rope Skips
25 Single Leg Rope Skips
10 Side lunges
20 Air Squats
10 Squat Jump 180
WOD;
EMOM 21
A- 50 m Carioca Shuttle Run + Max Lateral Burpee Over Dumbbells
B- 50m Farmers/Waiters Carry W/ Dumbbells + Max DB Lunges
C-Rest
**Feel Free to Get Creative with awkward holds and carry with the dumbbells
12/14
15 Cal Bike
3X W/ PVC
5 @ Each
-PVC Pass Thru
-PVC Trunk Twist
-PVC Good Morning
-PVC Overhead Squat
-PVC Snatch Balance
-PVC Snatch
Snatch Complex:
5X @ Complex. Building Each Set.
1X Snatch Deadlift
1X Hang Snatch Below Knee
1X Snatch
1X Snatch Balance
WOD;
3 Rounds For Time
10 Bar Muscle Ups
30 Box Jumps 20/16”
10 Hang Power Snatch 115/75
30 Cal Bike
*scale to Jumping Muscle Ups
