Popular dietary antics pervade our Nutritional Landscape. There are binges, fasting, liquid only, Vegan, you name it… someone is selling you on it. Maybe its commercialism or maybe its just us Humans always wanting to confuse the shit out of things and creating drama in our lives. To me, nutrition fads and social hashtags are ‘First World Problems’, created to dumb down aspects of our existence. BUT.. they could also be harming our health. While a good dose of entropy is beneficial for our health , the Cheat Day may be doing us more harm than good. Today Im going to dig into new research and lay out some not so new ideas as to why you should cut it out.
A little background on the Cheat Day before I proceed. Humans love gratification. We want medals for everything, and we LOVE recognition. Digging deep into this, (and I certainly could), you will find our lack of Self Love and Self Worth as a culprit but… I dont want to lose you today with the psychology of things. Cheat Days are scheduled lapses in ones dietary rigidness. If you are on the ancestral diet, keto diet, raw food diet, there are inherent restrictions which can be physically and mentally daunting. So someone at some time came up with an idea to put a bandaid on an emotional boo-boo. One day per week (usually) you get to splurge like a Persian King. Eat and drink and be merry before the work continues the next day. New science has come out which shows that you are physically hurting yourself and mentally setting yourself up for failure in future endeavors.
The Physical toll of Cheat Days.
The University of British Columbia released a study this week which exemplified the physical damage that cheat days are having on your circulatory system. The study took 9 males that were on the ketogenic diet, a diet that is popular with weight loss and diabetic management, and measured what a dose of 75g of glucose would do to their body. 75g of glucose is a standard Large soda. The researchers studied INFLAMMATORY markers which are a key indicator of cardiovascular disease. Diets like Keto, ancestral, paleo, whole food, all have one thing in common; the diets limit or remove processed sugar from daily energy consumption. This results in the body having GLUCOSE INTOLERANCE. When a cheat day is taken by someone on a restrictive diet, the bodies metabolism and hormonal balance is thrown out of whack! The researchers noticed that blood vessels were being damaged after only one dose of glucose! So, the rule is; be mindful that BALANCE is always something to consider when attempting to change your lifestyle. As well, restrictive diets are not sustainable in the long term for most people.
Cheat Days are Mental Failures.
Restrictive diets are very often used like an experimental, short term fix. Coaches, doctors usually recommend these types of diets with little support on how to integrate the elements into a lifestyle change which can be sustained for years and years. As many of you reading this will concede, restrictive dieting is used for 6-12 weeks and then stopped. Cheat days are not so subtle interludes during this time where the ‘old’ you is able to come out and fuck shit up!. By this I mean, eating and drinking with abandon. Mentally this is setting you up for failure and giving you the little taste of what life will be like once you have run the course on the diet. In NO other part of your life and lifestyle do you take cheat days. I, for instance, dont have one day per week where I DONT have to be a parent to my kids. Cheat days are the equivalent to a mental “fuck it all” day and that is never part of a warriors mantra. We consciously are moving forward every day as athletes and our nutrition needs to represent that.
I am proud of anyone who is taking a look at their nutrition and seeing room for improvement. This represents a heightened level of conscious living which has REAL physical benefits. You think deeper, You feel better… its all good.. We are lucky to live in a time where so much information is right at our fingertips. Finding balance in ones life and doing things for the right reasons are why I feel so strongly about this post. Your lifestyle needs to be 70% Love of oneself and 30% action. Nutritional choices and habit happen long before one opens their mouth to shove the food in!
Ditching the Cheat Day and honing in on a lifestyle balance has 3 parts. You should feel good with every meal. You eat for performance. You should eat to interact with the world BETTER. I know its possible, because i’ve sen it happen in my own life and the lives of athletes I coach. Move forward every day and I will be here for YOU through struggle and triumph. Your best days are coming.
In Love and Gratitude,
Eric
Programming notes 4/1-4/5 ** This is Gymnastic Strength Testing week so what better way to test your Vertical pull than with “Nicole”. This Benchmark will test capacity and muscular endurance. The interval work periods back off this week so expect more rest time and less of the anaerobic capacity work and more specific primal movement practice.
4/1
Baseline:
10 @ Each
-Arm Swing
-Banded Pass Thru
-Banded Pull Apart (Supine grip)
-Banded Pull Apart (Prone grip)
-Banded Trunk Twist
3X
100m Run
10m High Skip
10m Carioca
10m Butt Kickers
10m high Knees
10m Side Shuffle
1X
10X Kip Swing
10X Ring Row
10X Pull Up Negatives
WOD;
“Nicole”
20 Minute AMRAP
400m Run
Max Rep Pull Up
*Every time you drop off the bar, run 400m.
*Score is max reps pull up
*We will retest in 2 weeks
Cool Down:
-Lat band Mobilily
-Bully Stretch
-Scapula Distraction stretch
4/2
Baseline:
4X
50 High Knee Rope Skips
10 Banded Good Mornings
10 Banded Monster Walks
10 Single Leg Toe Touches
Hamstring Primer:
3X 8
-Deficit Romanian Deadlift 135/95
-Pendlay Row
Conditioning:
25-20-15-10-5 = Kettlebell Snatch 53/35
50-40-30-20-10 = Sit Ups
100-80-60-40-20 = Double Unders or High Knee skips
—Rest 5 Minutes—
EMOM 6
-8 X 1.5 x Bodyweight Deadlift
*Scale to 70% of max working load
4/3
Baseline:
5 Minutes of Assault bike
1X 10 @ Each
-Fire hydrants
-Hip Swivel Kicks
-Elbow To instep Lunges
-Bird Dogs
-Deadbug Contralateral Reach
-Tempo Wall Squats
Squat Flow: Squat Flow: Kang Squat, Internal Rotation, Ankle Roll Out, Bootstraps, PNF Stretch, Squat W/ T Spine Stretch
Lower Primal Strength Workout:
On a running clock,
25 Backsquats @ 80%
—Rest 5 Mins—
50 Kettlebell Front Rack Step ups
—Rest 5 Mins—
75 Bodyweight Jump Lunges
Cool Down:
Pigeon Stretch
Hamstring Distraction
4/4
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
Roll Out Upper back and Teres for 3 mins.
3X
:15 Ring Support Top
:15 Ring Support bottom
:15 rest
Run Conditioning:
3 Rounds of,
5X
1:00 Run-on Air Runner or track @ 75%
:20 Full Rest
—Rest 1:00 between Rounds—
Then straight into,
50 Strict Ring Dips
*every break perform 5 barbell Rows @ 115/75
*scale Ring Dips to Banded Dips
4/5
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
Clean and Jerk Warm Up:
7@ Each
-Clean Deadlift
-Clean High Pull
-Hang Clean + Strict Press
-High Hang Clean + Power Jerk
-Clean and Jerk (Pause At Shoulder)
Conditioning:
3X
30 Cal Bike
15 Clean and Jerk 155/105
9 Lateral Line Touches @ 10m
