“With the advice to only ‘drift’ your knees past your toes in the deep lunge (but only if you are “advanced”), I think that you should look at some of the stuff done by ‘The Knees Over Toes Guy’.”
Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss
Programming is an art form; there’s no doubt about it. A person who demonstrates sharp instincts, flexibility, and creativity in a finely-tuned program is a talented coach/trainer. Many of us coaches get bogged down in systems and software. Plugging exercise A here and exercise B in there can perhaps add convenience, but the art form gets lost.
The methods that worked like a charm 10 years ago are relics by today’s standards. Teaching methods and coaches are evolving, as are the cookie-cutter software programs. In many respects, the convenience of these programs is worth its weight in gold. But are we losing some of the magic when we do it this way?
Photo courtesy of Chris Holder
My Coaching History
I can’t speak for all coaches because I don’t know what they are up against. My story is a bit of an unusual one for a college strength coach. I paid my coaching dues in a unique way. I started at Eastern Kentucky University as an intern in the spring semester of 2000. Six weeks into my internship, my Head Strength Coach, Mike Kent, took the head job at the University of Louisville and had to leave. Because of the relative newness of his position at EKU, the administration was unprepared and asked me to fill in until a search could be conducted for Coach Kent’s replacement. I worked for three months alone, trying to keep an athletic department strength program afloat.
One of the most difficult tasks while filling in for him was programming the way he programmed. Get this: Kent wrote out every individual program by hand. Each team would have either one sheet or a series of sheets that would carry that team for a month or two. He created each plan in Excel, where the exercises would be built into the framework of the sheet. Then he would spend his weekend hand-programming loads for each athlete over the scope of the entire athletic department. One red pen, followed by hours and hours of work. Kent’s meticulous programming ensured every athlete got the level of individual attention that he felt they needed.
The Difference Between Sheets and White Boards
The coach-athlete relationship is an interesting one. When it comes to compliance, athletes are mandated to show up whether they like it or not, and they don’t have a say in their programming. If you are a private trainer or own a gym/box, your clients have more say. But one thing shines clear in all settings — the people training in your space want to feel like they are being given their due attention, not just as members of a group but as individuals.
There are only a few instances where using a whiteboard is acceptable in my facility. Most of the time, we use whiteboards when we are teaching. When we are trying to get techniques dialed in and where loads are not necessarily a priority, the first month or so is a great time to rely on a whiteboard. Again, in my situation, which is very specific, we will also keep a team on the whiteboard if the team members are not showing a level of dedication. Let’s face it, nobody on campus takes weight training as seriously as I do, and there are some teams who “go through the motions.” I advise my assistants to act accordingly. There’s no need to devote hours and hours of programming for a team that will not give an acceptable effort.
Sydra Productions/Shutterstock
Again, I understand that in a CrossFit box, most clientele can be transient and not as consistent as a college team that is required to show up. That makes the individuality piece more of a headache since you don’t know the next time your clients will show up. But nothing tells your clients you are all in with them, like handing them each a sheet with their name on it. It’s a simple gesture that speaks volumes about your commitment to their progress. Yes, it can be time-consuming, but it can also be a difference between a lackluster effort and a herculean one.
Computer Programming Vs. Hand Programming
I have never used a computer to run percentages for one of my programs. I have always done it by hand. And honestly, I have never used a set percentage to assign loads except for deciding loads for the beginning of a hypertrophy cycle based on a newly minted one-rep max. The method I use is one that Coach Kent taught me, and it’s based on that method’s natural evolution after 16 years of doing it that way.
Computer programming based on percentages, to me, makes some pretty bold assumptions for the duration of a training cycle. First off, if you use a linear method as I do, you probably write for eight to 12 weeks at a time. If I write a twelve-week hypertrophy/strength/power program for a football player, code the weeks with prescribed percentages, and then tap in a one-rep max to be our baseline for the percentages, I am asking the athletes to be perfect with their nutrition, their rest, their effort — at all times. And let’s face it, none of them are. It’s nearly impossible for a person to be that dialed-in all of the time.
Frame Stock Footage/Shutterstock
Hand programming gives me several advantages that a computer will never provide. First, even though I use what looks like an algebraic formula in my head to determine loads, I get the flexibility to adjust on the fly. You need that flexibility when Joe Blow rolls his ankle the Friday prior. Hand programming gives me an out when I realize that the whole team is about to bonk, and an impromptu deload week is what is needed. It allows me (or forces me, really) to get a complete read on each individual and holds my ass to the fire to stay engaged with each of my athletes. You can ask me at any time of a training cycle what the weight on so-and-so’s bench is on his second set, and 99 out of 100 times, I will know what’s going on.
How I Program
If you were to watch me program, this is what it would look like: I have a stack of sheets, and each one gets the signature “pause and think.” I have to look at the athlete’s name and quickly review and remember what this person did last week. Then the writing begins. I will program a sheet twice a week in some training phases, once for the first half, then once for the second. It keeps me as current as possible for each individual.
When it comes to coaching, I am selling an idea. I am selling a formula. I am asking my athletes to have complete faith in me as I make decisions for them. The way I operate gives my athletes complete freedom not to think. They come in, and their job is to be focused and present and, most importantly, ready to perform. I do all the thinking for them days earlier, so they can just come in and kick ass.
Hand programming is part of that. If I hand you a sheet of computer-printed numbers, it will excite you as much as combing your hair or putting mustard on your sandwich. But when I give you a sheet with my handwriting on it, you should see someone who is partnered with you. The handwriting tells the athletes I have taken the time to think about them every day of every week.
If you look at a human being, we shouldn’t be able to balance on our feet, let alone run and jump and dance and lift. Look at other bipeds and they have fail safes built in to prevent them from falling. Kangaroos have those enormous feet. Chickens have a super low center of gravity keeping them weighted down and stable. Apes, our closest relatives, can manage awkward bipedalism for a few strides but always default to all fours. Humans somehow walk around completely upright and manage to avoid falling over despite stacking our entire bodies on top of relatively small feet.
Well, mostly.
We’re always on the brink of falling over, of teetering to one side or the other. When we walk, we are doing controlled falling. When we jump, we must land. And we do fall, we do become misaligned. Our sense of balance is precarious and can fail. After all…
The leading cause for injury hospitalizations in the elderly is falling.
The leading cause for injuries in athletes is “landing funny.”
The leading cause for injuries in recreational strength trainees is “losing your balance and doing a lift all weird.”
Incredibly, humans have to learn to balance on their feet. Babies take about a year to learn how to walk. It’s a struggle.
In other words, balance is incredibly important at every stage of life. It’s precious but perilous. It’s not a sure thing. We can lose it, and that’s when things start to fall apart for us.
So, what are some simple balance drills you can practice to develop and maintain your sense of balance?
My friend and longtime colleague Brad Kearns is back with a fantastic video introducing some basic balance drills you can do if you’re young, old, experienced, or a beginner. Here it is:
Standing on one leg
This is very simple, but not necessarily easy.
Lift one foot off the ground and stand on the other.
Do it slowly and deliberately; really think about what you’re doing.
Be present in your body and feel the ground with your feet.
“Grab” the ground with your feet.
Be barefoot or in minimalist shoes like Vibram Fivefingers. The closer you are to a barefoot state, the better your results. Being barefoot allows you to activate all the supporting musculature necessary for a proper single leg balance. It also allows better proprioceptive awareness of your place in space and time, and gives the nerves in your foot (and thus your brain) full access to the information needed to establish strong balance pathways between brain and body.
After 30 seconds or so, or when you start wobbling and struggling, switch feet.
Standing on the ball of your foot
This is a variation on the last one. Once again, you’re standing on one foot but this time instead of using the entire foot you’re balancing on the ball of your foot.
Keep your heel slightly off the ground.
Don’t go up on your toes, but stay on the ball. It’s a fine line but an important distinction.
Keep a soft bend in the knee rather than a rigid knee.
When you start to wobble and struggle, switch feet.
Bent knee ball of feet balance
This is a “two leg” balance, but instead of standing with straight legs you will bend the knees.
Go up on the balls of your feet and bend your knees as if you’re getting ready to move quickly in any direction.
Really emphasize and “feel” and articulate the tendon running from the big toe up the front of your lower leg.
Great for fascial conditioning.
This is the “ready position” for athletics—on the balls of your feet, ready for action, ready to spring in either direction.
Balancing on unstable surfaces
Do the previous three drills (and the next two) only on an unstable surface: sand, foam pad, deep gravel. Pay attention to how your tissues feel compared to doing the drills on a stable surface.
Lunge balance
Get into a deep lunge position and hold.
Keep your knees aligned over your toes, and both feet-legs aligned with their respective hips. Straight lines.
Vertical shin, thighs parallel with ground.
For advanced conditioning of the fascia and knee joint, allow the knee to drift ahead of toes, but avoid any pain.
Arms over head—pinned against your ears—to really stretch your tissues out and make balance tougher.
This is a tough stretch that’s actually a secret isometric strength workout, too. Hold until you can’t.
High knee takeoff
Take a few steps and make like you’re going to do a high jump. Pause when your knee comes up toward your chest and hold that position.
Stand tall. Don’t slump over. Keep a straight line from ground to head.
Don’t arch your back. Straight, not arched.
Raise your knee as high as possible to really stretch the opposing hip flexors.
Make it to 30 seconds and switch. Go longer if 30 seconds is too easy.
General Tips for Balance Drills
It’s important not to overdo it. Just because a balance exercise “feels easy” or doesn’t involve heavy intense activity, you’re still stressing out your brain, and you still need to recover. Training is training.
Pay close attention to where in your body you’re feeling the strain from balance. Is it your lower legs? Calves? Ankles? Torso? Or maybe you feel it “in your head,” as if you an’t. Feel the feelings and settle into them. The simple act of feeling the parts of your body and settling into them is how your brain learns to better balance.
Note how you feel after. Your brain will be a bit fatigued because the brain is responsible for the bulk of your balancing.
Test and retest your performance in the gym and on the sports field. Are you faster? More stable? Stronger? Better at whatever skills you choose to perform? Balance plays into everything.
You might be tired. That’s fine. This is intense balancing that might tax you a bit, and that’s totally okay.
Do these drills 1-2 times a week, and do them consistently. If you keep this up for the rest of your life, you’ll be in great shape and far less likely to fall or get injured.
Today we have a special guest author, Primal Kitchen® cofounder Morgan Zanotti. She’s sharing her experience trying a personalized microbiome program, which includes eating scientific muffins, pricking herself with needles, and tracking her lifestyle, all for the goal of an optimized gut. Take it away, Morgan!
A few weeks ago, I had the chance to interview microbiome expert Dr. Tim Spector for the Primal Kitchen® Podcast. Dr. Tim founded Zoe, a microbiome program that personalizes an optimal eating pattern just for you using at-home testing, paired with information about your lifestyle and how you experience your day-to-day. The plan and app bring it all together to determine how your body responds to foods, and makes recommendations to help you live your best life.
When I do these interviews, my intention is to learn more about the person sitting across from me. But the truth is, I learned more than I ever wanted to know about myself after talking to Dr. Tim and going through the Zoe process!
As soon as Dr. Tim gave me the rundown of Zoe and what it does, I knew I had to give it a go. Here’s how it works.
The Zoe Process
First, I took a quiz, which covered the usual age range and gender questions, but also digs into details on how many plants I eat in a typical day, where my energy levels were, things like that. That information generates a rough idea of your inflammation profile, but that’s not enough to put you on a plan.
From there, you get into testing your actual biology. With at-home kits, you do a gut microbiome test, a blood fat test, and you wear a blood sugar sensor to see blood sugar response to certain foods. No lab visits— you do it all yourself and it’s pretty goof-proof.
I’ll admit, I was a little scared to apply the continuous blood sugar monitor on my arm, but it was easy to place, I barely felt it (seriously) and more importantly, it was easy to forget about once it was secured with medical tape.
Meanwhile, you’re eating “standardized test meals,” which are essentially gluten-free fancy science muffins. These contain specific macronutrients that you eat at specific times so that you can test how your body responds to certain foods and eating patterns over time.
The blood sugar data was especially interesting, because I could read it on my phone in real-time. And unlike pricking your finger, the continuous glucose monitor shows the full curve of your blood sugar response. If you rely on a finger prick you’re getting one piece of data at a specific time, but you really don’t get the full picture. Sometimes, my blood sugar responded before I was done eating!
I’ve done a lot of self-experiments historically where I’ve gone full keto (total 20g carbs/day), I’ve gone pescetarian for a few months while I was getting my yoga teaching certification, but this felt way more precise, informative and awesomely geeky.
How Did It Go?
After playing mad scientist for a few days, I found out some super useful information.
My blood sugar was better if I didn’t eat breakfast, so I seem to be much more insulin resistant in the morning. This is unusual, according to Dr. Tim, but he experiences the same thing.
Mark recommended I try intermittent fasting years ago and I’ve been more or less eating in a shortened time frame for a while now, so it’s nice to have confirmation that my metabolism likes it that way!
I also found that if I have steak, I can have ice cream for dessert and my blood sugar doesn’t budge. Sometimes I feel like I have to be strict, so it’s great to know that as long as I have a decent amount of protein and fat, an occasional sweet treat won’t shake things up too much especially if the treat is post-meal.
I’d also like to learn more about the effects of fat in the blood on health. My results say it’s not a concern for me, but the concept sparked my curiosity. Tim feels like the blood fat response is just as important (if not more important) than blood sugar, but that concept hasn’t really taken off in a meaningful way. We’re behind the science.
You Have Your Data. Then What?
Now that I have my data, I have a personalized plan, complete with an app and coaches for support. If you really want to make strides with your gut health, Zoe is a comprehensive ecosystem of information and education, and it’s just the right balance of guidelines with flexibility.
Today I’d like to share a letter I recently received from an MDA reader. After all these years, I am still blown away when I receive testimonials like Kelly’s. If I’m being totally honest, this one made me a little emotional. I hope you find it as uplifting and inspiring as I did!
Good Morning Mark,
I’m writing today to share my success story with you while expressing my deep gratitude. Your books, interviews and blogs have helped me to accomplish something I wasn’t quite sure was possible – losing 75 pounds during the premenopausal phase of my life. (Sorry if that is too much information, however I’ve read all of your articles on this life stage for women, so I know you get why it is relevant!)
Not only was I facing menopause, but I had rollercoaster-weighted my entire life. Back in April, I decided to change my eating habits. We were emerging from the COVID pandemic, and I was shocked to realize the weight I had gained would preclude me from fitting into my summer wardrobe.
About a decade earlier, I had followed a paleo diet suspecting I had hidradenitis suppurativa. I read The Hidden Plague by Tara Grant and adopted the paleo lifestyle for several months in order to identify the food trigger that was causing my leaky gut and, therefore, my skin condition. I was successful in my mission and also managed to lose 40 pounds in the process. While I have been able to prevent HS flare-ups ever since, I inevitably gained the weight back when I resumed eating processed foods. So, this time around, I started by googling paleo and found you in my online searches.
I bought your books, I subscribed to your blog, I followed you on Facebook. Two Meals a Day was life-changing for me as everything you talked about was science-based and just made sense. Avoiding processed foods, industrial seed oils, etc. coupled with IF has completely transformed me – mentally and physically. From April to August I lost 75 pounds going from a size 18/20W to a size 8.
Along the way, you were right by my side whether you knew it or not. I can remember meeting a friend at a Chinese restaurant, and while I was waiting in the parking lot for her to arrive, I googled “Mark Sisson Chinese food”. I wanted to know what you would order if you were me. The information I found was so supportive with the answer being there aren’t many great options but stop stressing about it because the stress is worse than the potential slip-up.
I did compliment your eating philosophy with exercise. Back in the 90s I fell in love with a cardio workout from Kathy Smith, so between that and her walking podcasts (JFW), I manage to work out daily. But sometimes I’ll remember your Primal philosophy of lifting some heavy things, or doing a quick sprint, walking barefoot, or holding in my abs while I drive, so you are with me then too. I watched your interview with Kathy Smith and was in my glory as I am so grateful to each of you.
Your flexible approach, constant support, encouragement and fact-based science broken down into layman’s terms will serve me well for years to come, so I just wanted to say “thank you.” Yes, it took determination and commitment on my end but you gave me the tools to be successful. For the first time in my life, after a battle with my weight for 40+ years, I say to myself: “I can totally live the rest of my life like this.” As you know, that will be key to keeping the weight off and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
What I haven’t mentioned yet is the sense of pride I feel because after studying your theories, I have become super intuitive. I know what to do, it is just second nature – almost automatic. Once you understand how our bodies were made to function from an ancestral standpoint, it all becomes super easy. I am now in tune to my circadian rhythms, I have a new appreciation for feeling the sun on my skin, I have no issues asking what type of oil restaurants use to prepare a meal, I make sure I get good sleep every night, etc. It feels good and my quality of life has skyrocketed. Because of you, I am armed with the information I need to make the correct lifestyle choices.
While I don’t share my story about metabolic flexibility with everyone, I do hope I can inspire others who may look at having to lose 80 pounds as an impossibility, or too big of a hill to climb. Or, the mom who is career-focused, has to run a household, prepare multiple meals for picky family members and can never seem to put herself first in order to make positive changes. Or, the premenopausal woman who has attempted to get healthy multiple times but it never seems to work. You see, I can relate to all of these people, I’m her….and I did it.
Thank you again for all you do.
-Kelly
Thank YOU, Kelly! Stories like yours keep me going.
If you’re on TikTok and you come across food and recipe videos from time to time, there’s no doubt you’ve seen Emily Mariko’s viral Salmon Rice recipe. Here at Mark’s Daily Apple, we swooned as hard as everyone else, but wanted a lower carb, grain-free option.
We got to work on making a Primal version, and we finally get to see what all the excitement is about. Well, it lives up to the hype, and it’s going into our weekly rotation. The best part is, if you keep salmon and cauliflower rice in the freezer, you’ll probably have the ingredients on hand to adapt the recipe according to what’s in your fridge.
Place the salmon portions in a glass dish. Combine the sesame oil and teriyaki sauce in a small bowl and pour the mixture all over the salmon.
Bake the salmon at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
Roast your cauliflower rice on a sheet pan until it is tender but not too browned.
When the salmon is fully cooked and has cooled for a little bit, shred it with two forks. Toss half of the salmon with the cauliflower rice and place it into two bowls. Place the rest of the salmon on top of the cauliflower.
Add your favorite toppings to the bowl. We used peeled carrot, sliced radishes, scallions, and sliced avocado. You could also use things like kimchi, cucumbers, pickled radishes or onions. Feel free to top with more of the no soy teriyaki or some coconut aminos.
In a small bowl, mix together the mayo with as much or as little sriracha sauce as you’d like. Drizzle the spicy mayo on top of the bowls.
Garnish with sesame seeds or seaweed seasoning and place some nori sheet pieces on the side and enjoy!
Tips
These bowls can be made with leftover salmon or other proteins like shredded chicken or steamed or sauteed shrimp. You can also put a fried egg on top.
Place the salmon portions in a glass dish. Combine the sesame oil and teriyaki sauce in a small bowl and pour the mixture all over the salmon. Bake the salmon at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
Roast your cauliflower rice on a sheet pan until it is tender but not too browned.
When the salmon is fully cooked and has cooled for a little bit, shred it with two forks. Toss half of the salmon with the cauliflower rice and place it into two bowls. Place the rest of the salmon on top of the cauliflower.
Add your favorite toppings to the bowl. We used peeled carrot, sliced radishes, scallions, and sliced avocado. You could also use things like kimchi, cucumbers, pickled radishes or onions. Feel free to top with more of the no soy teriyaki and/or some coconut aminos.
In a small bowl, mix together the mayo with as much or as little sriracha sauce as you’d like. Drizzle the spicy mayo on top of the bowls.
Garnish with sesame seeds or seaweed seasoning and place some nori sheet pieces on the side and enjoy!
Notes
These bowls can be made with leftover salmon or other proteins like shredded chicken or steamed/sauteed shrimp. You can also put a fried egg on top.
“Regarding growth issues. Males may need much more zinc to grow to their full potential. Eating zinc-rich foods like liver might not be enough. First there is type-II zinc deficiencies, which can be caused by something as insidious as delayed hypersensitivities to foods, or spores or mycotoxins in the air breathed while sleeping. Second, males who discover the joys of masturbation can lose zinc in ejaculate. Another observation by a colleague was that “catch-up growth” frequently occurred when a zinc insufficiency was corrected. One boy grew six inches in less than a year. So maybe a trial of zinc for a month would be worth it? Maybe medical monitoring of copper status during the month for optimizing safety?”
Hi everyone, this week Erin is back to answer more of your health and wellness questions. If you’re confused about carb intake, curious if you should really eat breakfast, or wondering how to stay on track during the holidays, read on for this week’s edition of Ask a Health Coach. Got a question for Erin? Post it in the comments below or over in the Mark’s Daily Apple Facebook group.
Melissa asked:
“I’ve been hearing a lot about carbs now being good for you, especially if you have adrenal issues. I thought carbs were supposed to be bad. What’s the straight answer?”
There’s nothing I love more than to rehash the old “good foods/bad foods” debate that diet culture continually smothers us with. Internet influencers try to demonize whole food groups and steer us in the all-or-nothing camp so often, it’s no wonder people are confused about what they should be eating.
The truth is, many foods, good and bad, contain carbohydrates (cookies, cakes, kale, carrots, green beans, bagels, beets…the list goes on). And when you consume those foods, your digestive system breaks the carbs down into glucose, aka sugar, which enters the bloodstream. As blood sugar levels rise, the hormone insulin is released, prompting your cells to absorb sugar from the blood. When blood sugar starts to get low, another hormone, called glucagon, takes that absorbed sugar and uses it for energy. Our bodies are seriously miraculous, aren’t they?
Managing Adrenal Fatigue with Food
The thinking behind recommending more carbs for those with adrenal issues, is that it can be more difficult for your body to metabolize protein and fat for energy. That being said, when you consume more carbohydrates than your body needs, or highly processed, sugary foods, your blood sugar rises higher and crashes lower (going beyond normal the insulin-glucagon response) and causes a spike in the stress hormone, cortisol. You’re inadvertently causing more stress in your body — not something you want to do if you’re trying to manage adrenal dysfunction.
Do this on a regular basis and you’ll be on a metabolic rollercoaster that makes your adrenals work even harder. Even conventional medicine agrees that processed foods and refined sugars increase cortisol and can lead to unhealthy crashes.1
The goal, really for everyone, is to keep your blood sugar stable. And the best way to do that is to eat nutrient dense foods at every meal. Notice I said “meal” and not “snack” since under-eating is another form of stress on the body. Focus on consuming protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, root veggies, and leafy greens.
As a parting thought, what if you forgot all the food rules for a minute and leaned into listening and trusting your body’s signals? No one knows your body better than you do.
Lee asked:
“I’ve been following Primal for a good part of a year and don’t think I can commit to staying on track during the holidays. We’re having a lot of family in town and I won’t be able to do all my usual shopping, meal prep, and workouts. How do I survive the holidays and not totally derail my progress?”
Sure, the holidays are a busy time of year. But honestly, when isn’t life busy? If it’s not the holidays, it’s the school year, or summer break, or you’re starting a new job or relationship or whatever.
I hear this with my health coaching clients all the time. When life gets busy, they decide they need to take a break on the “health stuff.” Instead of dialing it back, they do nothing. At all.
Think of your health like an adjustable dial. Can’t crank it all the way up to 10 right now because you’re hosting the holidays at your place? Great, how about a 7 or a 5? Heck, even a 2 is better than nothing. Maybe you can’t do all your usually shopping, meal prep, and workouts, but I bet you could:
Eat at least one healthy meal per day
Put a few veggies on your plate
Go for a walk
Eat some protein
Drink a glass of water
Go to bed early once or twice
Have a fresh piece of fruit
Do a 1-minute meditation
Breathe
The goal is to preserve the momentum you’ve got going so that if/when life does slow down, you can ramp it back up. It’s way easier to dial things up from a 2 than to completely abandon all the healthy habits you’ve established and start from scratch.
Also, remember that just like one healthy meal won’t make you fit, one unhealthy meal or missed workout won’t derail your progress. Some sort of consistency is your best bet. During the holidays and all year long.
Joon asked:
“I wake up in the morning with a growling stomach. I read in Mark’s book you’re supposed to wait until you’re hungry, yet it’s best to put off eating in the morning if you can. Should I eat? I feel like I might harm someone if I didn’t, lol.”
I’m going to make this really simple for you, Joon. If you’re hungry, eat. The first rule I teach my clients is “Always answer hunger with a meal.”(Please note: I’m not an IF coach)
I mean, how much easier does it get than that? You’ve been given the gift of recognizing your hunger cues — a gift a lot of folks out there would gladly take off your hands. Your body is telling you it’s hungry and all you have to do is respond by giving it food.
The Benefits of Eating Breakfast
Yes, there are benefits to fasting. But there are also benefits to eating in the morning, especially if you’re feeling hungry. Maybe you saw this study from University of Alabama at Birmingham about early time-restricted feeding (eTRF). Participants were put into two groups: one ate from 8am to 2pm; the other ate from 8am to 8pm. Both groups ate the same foods and same number of calories, but researchers found that the meal-timing strategy of the first group reduced swings in hunger and altered fat and carbohydrate burning patterns.
Or this study where 93 participants between the ages of 30 and 57 were put into two isocaloric weight loss groups: one had their largest meal of the day at breakfast; the other had their largest meal at dinner. Over the course of 12 weeks, the group who consumed the most calories at breakfast lost two and a half times more weight than those who had a light breakfast — or skipped it altogether. They also had significantly reduced fasting glucose, insulin, ghrelin, and triglyceride levels.
If your natural rhythm is to eat earlier in the day, there’s no reason to fight that. There’s no reason to white knuckle it through the first few (or several) hours, just because some people have success with that.
The Number One Rule of Hunger
Here’s what not to do when your stomach growls: ignore it. We’ve been programmed to believe that hunger is a sign of weakness — something we should push through. Or even better, that if we feel hungry, we’re actually thirsty and that we should go have a glass of water instead of sitting down for a meal.
If you’re hungry, eat. If you’re new to fasting, or recently switched from Standard American fare, you might start to notice a change over time and can push back your first meal if desired. But don’t feel compelled to exhibit great feats of willpower and ignore your hunger because you think you’re supposed to. That’s no way to live. #mytwocents
Got more questions? Ask ‘em below. Or check out the new myPrimalCoach where you can work 1-on-1 with your own health coach.
Sleep is the grand mystery of life. You get sleepy, you yawn, you lay your head down, and then you wake up. At some point, you drifted off to sleep and were unconscious, helpless, completely out of it for the better part of the night. Maybe faint glimmers of the moment before you fell asleep remain in your memory. If you remember your dreams, you’ve got those to fall back on—but they fade fast. No, for the most part we have no idea what happens when we sleep.
We do know what happens when we don’t. The list of maladies caused by and/or linked to sleep deprivation is long and exhausting.
What Happens When You Don’t Get Enough Sleep?
The best way to understand why sleep is so important is to learn what goes wrong when you don’t get enough it.
Alzheimer’s, dementia, and cognitive dysfunction
Insulin resistance and diabetes
Low testosterone
Junk food cravings
Fat gain
Premature aging
Poor immune function
Worsened stress resilience
Impaired antioxidant status
Poor performance and results in the gym
Cognitive dysfunction
Sleep is when the brain does its “house cleaning,” where it floods with cerebrospinal fluid to flush out toxins and damaged proteins through channels that widen during sleep.1 If you don’t get enough sleep, or you fail to reach the “deep sleep” phase of your normal sleep cycle, your brain can’t clear the damage. One night might not be a big deal, but weeks, months, and years of poor sleep where you fail to attain deep sleep will increase your chances of Alzheimer’s disease and general cognitive dysfunction.2
Insulin resistance and diabetes
One of the most reliable effects of a single night’s bad sleep is an increase in insulin resistance.3 It’s such a reliable effect that researchers are always looking for supplements, nutrients, and interventions to counter the insulin resistance induced by bad sleep. Part of this is caused by a reduced ability of the sleepy liver to process fat; if a sleepy liver can’t process fat as well, it will accumulate it and turn insulin resistant. 4
Low testosterone
A sneaky hack to get a doctor to sign off on TRT for younger guys is to sleep 4 hours a night for a month leading up to your test. Your testosterone will plummet and the doctor is more likely to sign off on hormone replacement. I don’t advise anyone try this, but the fact remains that poor sleep is a great way to lower your testosterone levels.
Junk food cravings
A single night of bad sleep causes people to find junk food more rewarding.5Patients on no sleep derived more pleasure from food, desired more food, and reported more hunger than patients who had slept. And that was just a single night. Just imagine the effects of days, weeks, or even years of chronic poor sleep.
Fat gain
Sleep restriction increases food intake, particularly snack intake. Moreover, it increases food intake without a concomitant increase in energy output. You eat more without moving more—and it happens spontaneously. Over time, an imbalanced energy intake/output will lead to body fat gain, particularly if you’re eating the kind of junk food that poor sleep compels most people to consume.6
Premature aging
The worse you sleep, the worse your skin ages. Sleep restriction is linked to an increase in facial aging and a decrease in skin barrier function.7 Since several studies indicate that the perceived “age of the face” is a better predictor of mortality risk than objective health markers, actual age, or cognitive function, sleep induced facial aging will reflect real mortality effects.8
Poor immune function
When you sleep poorly, you get sick more often. This is true in teens and in adults.910 In one paper, melatonin—the sleep hormone your body produces to prepare for bedtime—was one of the only supplements shown to be effective against COVID-19.11 That’s no coincidence.
Worsened stress resilience
We’ve all had a bad night’s sleep and then spent the following day trying to fend off stressors that’d usually bounce off us. When you haven’t slept much, you’re more likely to get into arguments with your spouse and kids, get angry while driving, and snap at co-workers (or total strangers). In short, you are less stress-resilient. That’s not just a subjective impression. Objective measurements of stress resilience suffer after sleep restriction.12
Impaired antioxidant status
A single night of sleep deprivation reduces levels of glutathione, the body’s premier antioxidant that we use to combat oxidative stress and metabolize and nullify toxins.13 If you’ve ever had a bad night’s sleep, the worst thing you can do is subject yourself to an oxidatively stressful event, like binge drinking.
Poor performance and results in the gym
If you don’t get enough sleep, everything involving physical training suffers. Your postural control and balance get worse, leaving you vulnerable to injury. Your actual performance suffers—you don’t run as fast or lift as much weight or have as much stamina. And your results aren’t as impressive. You don’t gain as much muscle or lose as much body fat.
What Are the Benefits of Good Sleep?
A good night’s sleep is the foundation for a healthy, happy, productive existence. Good sleep staves off many of the bad things listed above. And without good, regular sleep, we just go through life in a scattered daze, everything foggy, slightly confusing, and less enjoyable. We’re not really ourselves if we haven’t slept. We desperately need a good night’s sleep, every night.
But good sleep isn’t just about avoiding the negative effects of not sleeping. Sleep is an incredibly active time for our bodies and brains when we undergo all manner of growth and repair processes through a dynamic biochemical orchestration. Sleep is key, essential, absolutely downright necessary for our basic physiological operations.
For one, you wouldn’t be the person you are without sleep. I mean that literally, since sleep spurs the release of human growth hormone (HGH), an essential player in cellular regeneration (and fat burning).
A full night of sleep won’t just reduce the risk of brain degeneration, it will enhance your memory performance and creative problem solving skills the next day, not to mention make you a better person to be around by helping you see the positive in your interactions.
A good night’s sleep will further boost your athletic performance, including speed, accuracy, mood and overall energy.14 College athletes who sleep two extra hours per night have more accuracy and faster sprint times.
Good sleep means you dream, and dreams are the way your brain deals with issues your conscious self cannot or will not. That’s hard to pin down as “objectively beneficial,” as you can’t really measure a dream, but the fact that we do dream means it’s important—and we should create situations (sleep) that allow us to dream.
How to Get Great Sleep
Great sleep starts in the morning.
As soon as you’re awake, go outside and greet the sun. Get natural sunlight onto your body and into your eyes in order to “tell” your circadian clocks that the day has begun and you are awake. The more natural light you get in the daytime, the better you sleep at night.15
Stand barefoot on the earth. Grounding is controversial, but I think there’s something to it and studies suggest that connecting to the earth with your bare skin can improve subsequent sleep.
Get some physical activity. Sex, exercise, a little light movement, a barefoot walk outside (which is efficient because it’s both light and movement and connection to the earth). The point is to move your body to give your circadian clock the message that you’re ready to live the day.
If you eat breakfast, eat plenty of animal protein. You don’t have to eat breakfast, although some people find it really helps them get better sleep. But if you do, make sure you’re eating protein, as meat-rich breakfasts have been shown to improve sleep.16
Stop caffeine before noon. Caffeine taken after noon has the potential to impact your sleep.
Stop alcohol before 6 PM. The best thing for sleep is to not drink any alcohol at all, but if you’re going to drink, having your last one before 6 PM will reduce the chances of any sleep impairment.
Use blue blocking goggles after the sun goes down and/or eliminate the use of screens after dark. Blue light inhibits melatonin secretion and makes it much harder to get to sleep.
Take magnesium or apply magnesium oil to your body before bed. Magnesium is one of the most important minerals for optimal sleep and few people get enough in the diet.
Take collagen or drink bone broth before bed. The glycine in both improve sleep quality and really knock you out (in a good, healthy way).
Keep your room cool. 60-65 degrees is ideal. If you get hot in bed, stick a leg out from under the blanket.
If you want a more thorough treatment of my prescriptions for better sleep, read this post.
Are Naps Healthy?
A nap is a great way to recover from a poor night’s sleep. A nap taken after sleep deprivation is full of REM sleep, more so than the equivalent amount of regular nighttime sleep.17 Furthermore, there are many proven benefits to napping, particularly if you’ve been skipping sleep:
Napping has been shown to help stave off jet lag.18
A quick nap can be enough to overcome the negative effects of sleep deprivation on learning and memory.
A study in Greek adults found that an afternoon nap was associated with improved heart health and reduced cardiovascular events.
An afternoon nap improves post lunch “cognitive flexibility,” or the ability to multi-task.19
Napping reduces stress, particularly the stress caused by sleep restriction.20
Napping restores immune function impaired by sleep restriction.21
For a truly effective power nap, have a cup of coffee right before you lie down to sleep. You’ll wake up with the caffeine in full effect and stave off any sleep inertia.
How Much Sleep Do We Need?
It depends on several variables.
Genetics: Though seven to eight hours is optimal for most people, some genuinely require nine or ten hours. A few lucky ones among us hit our optimum with only six or so hours of shut eye. (These folks are honest to goodness mutants, as science has confirmed.)
Age: However, the majority of our sleep differentiation is determined by age. Babies, no surprises here, need the most (however patchy it is), while adults require the least. The notion that older adults need less sleep is actually hogwash. Although sleep patterns become more fragmented as we age, we still need the same good old average. Sleep still fosters critical hormonal secretion (like growth hormone) necessary for healthy aging. One study in particular linked solid sleep with higher levels of testosterone in older men.22
Children, however, are especially susceptible to the ravages of sleep deprivation. Sleep is essential for babies to learn and retain new information. Sleep deficits have been long been linked to an increased risk of ADHD, depression and behavioral problems in children.2324
Exercise: The more and harder you train, the more sleep you need—not only to reap the benefits of your training, but to recover from it. Anyone who demands more from their body will require more sleep.
In today’s world rife with responsibilities, early wake-ups, late night disasters, electronic temptations, notifications, work emails, blaring televisions, and glaring lights, sleep can feel like a luxury—or a burden. But sleep is one of the non-negotiables I talk about so much. If you can focus and nail your sleep, make it a sacred component of your lifestyle that you simply do not compromise on, you will reap untold benefits and avoid terrible maladies.
Good night.
Thanks for reading. Be sure to send along your thoughts. I’ll look forward to reading your comments!
For now classes are 6pm and 640pm at 2840 Wildwood st in the Boise Cloggers studio.
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Warrior Fit Testimonials
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The first day of Tabata, I wondered WHAT AM I DOING - I AM 56 !! Five weeks later I knew that it was what I needed. I learned that I could push myself well beyond my comfort zone and feel good later. I have a marked improvement in physical as well as emotional endurance. - Lyn C.
When I was first told about Tabata I was very excited from the word go, however that excitement stemmed from the fact that I had no clue what it meant. I missed the first week of class b/c I was traveling for work so when I came in during the 2nd week I had some making it up to do.
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Research of the Week
If you look at a human being, we shouldn’t be able to balance on our feet, let alone run and jump and dance and lift. Look at other bipeds and they have fail safes built in to prevent them from falling. Kangaroos have those enormous feet. Chickens have a super low center of gravity keeping them weighted down and stable. Apes, our closest relatives, can manage awkward bipedalism for a few strides but always default to all fours. Humans somehow walk around completely upright and manage to avoid falling over despite stacking our entire bodies on top of relatively small feet.
Today we have a special guest author, Primal Kitchen® cofounder Morgan Zanotti. She’s sharing her experience trying a personalized microbiome program, which includes eating scientific muffins, pricking herself with needles, and tracking her lifestyle, all for the goal of an optimized gut. Take it away, Morgan! 
Today I’d like to share a letter I recently received from an MDA reader. After all these years, I am still blown away when I receive testimonials like Kelly’s. If I’m being totally honest, this one made me a little emotional. I hope you find it as uplifting and inspiring as I did! 
I bought your books, I subscribed to your blog, I followed you on 
Thank you again for all you do.
If you’re on TikTok and you come across food and recipe videos from time to time, there’s no doubt you’ve seen Emily Mariko’s viral Salmon Rice recipe. Here at Mark’s Daily Apple, we swooned as hard as everyone else, but wanted a lower carb, grain-free option.
Directions
Bake the salmon at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
Total Time:
Yield:
Category:
Method:
Cuisine:
Hi everyone, this week Erin is back to answer more of your health and wellness questions. If you’re confused about carb intake, curious if you should really eat breakfast, or wondering how to stay on track during the holidays, read on for this week’s edition of Ask a Health Coach. Got a question for Erin? Post it in the comments below or over in the 
For now classes are 6pm and 640pm at 2840 Wildwood st in the Boise Cloggers studio.
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