Comparing Carb/Protein/Fat-Based Diets & Optimizing Body Composition for Climbing

          The other day I had a friend, who is not a competitive athlete, ask me about some basic dieting principles.  I gave him a little speech about your diet needing to suit your lifestyle and the ends you want it to serve.  I gave the example of a bodybuilder being more akin to a high protein diet because they are concerned mostly with building mass and repairing their muscles.  Conversely, a marathon runner may wisely choose a high carbohydrate diet to fuel long and frequent training sessions.  I also stated that there were varying degrees of intensity or calculating a diet based on whether you are a competitive athlete, trying to get into shape for a backyard basketball league, or simply trim a couple modest inches off your waistline.  I'll come back to this story, but first, here is a breakdown of my recommendations based on my experience and what I have learned.  (Remember:  I am not a doctor, so consult one before beginning a diet or training program)

High Protein - This type of diet fits well for power lifters and bodybuilders.  Proteins serve primarily as a structural role in the body.  That is, they build and repair your body.  It makes sense then that people who are avid weight lifters want to repair their muscles after a heavy and harsh lifting session.  Bodybuilders and Powerlifters also want to pack on lean body mass, many of them will adopt a low (not absolute "no") carbohydrate, high protein, and moderate fat intake.  Fat also serves as a lubricant and repair mechanism for the body.

High Fat - The idea of a high fat / low carb diet is that your body will begin to burn fat as its primary energy source rather than carbohydrates.  Doing some thorough research online will give varying studies and research results attesting to whether or not the body can adapt to this for competitive athletics.  In my experience it can not.  While I was on a diet like this I was training BJJ about five times per week and I did not feel as though my body had the energy to make it through the workouts.  Simply put, my body needed energy and needed it fast.  Fats take  longer to break down into a usable energy source for the body.  Carbohydrates provide a more immediate source of fuel.  However, don't throw this diet out the window yet.  If you are inactive and have no interest in athletics, I think that this diet is very well suited for those who are not exercise gurus, but still want to manage their weight and body composition via diet control.

High Carb - Every bodybuilder and Atkins-lover reading this just gasped and "tut-tut"-ed me.  Well here's some news.  Muscles need oxygen to function, a lot of it.  More muscle mass means your body needs more oxygen to function.  You will not see hulking juggernauts competing in iron-man competitions nor a spindly marathon runner hauling around atlas stones.  Endurance athletes need a ton of fuel and do not need large amounts of muscle mass.  Endurance athletes need to make the most out of their cardiovascular ability and this often means making their bodies more economical in terms of oxygen consumption.  So, less muscle mass could actually improve performance for their specific sport.  I'll talk a bit more about this diet below...

          In order for me to truly consider this blog "open source" I need to be willing to step outside of my comfort zone.  My diets over the years have been very protein centered.  I have learned a great deal of my nutritional knowledge from bodybuilding websites.  I am willing to take a chance and a change of pace for the sake of learning.  My body is my case study.  I want to try something new to suit my newly-rediscovered passion for rock climbing.  Much like the marathon runner, for the rock climber access muscle mass can be almost as bad as access body fat.  Think about this, even if you're 250 lbs of ripped muscle checking in 7% body fat, that is still 250 lbs you have to haul up a 50 foot rock wall.  Talk about a waste of energy right?   We can see a similar example at the high level of BJJ also.  Most of your top BJJ competitors are not bulldozing behemoths, some are, but most are not.  A fundamental principle of BJJ is that efficient technique can overcome strength and size.  With all that said, I'm branching out to a high-carb diet as illustrated by Eric Horst's book "How to Climb a 5.12."  I am wiling to sacrifice beloved muscle mass in an experiment to potentially improve my sport (climbing and jiu jitsu) performance.
          I do have some initial concerns.  The protein content prescribed by Horst may not be enough to recover my body from jiu jitsu workouts that I will be continuing during my climbing training.  I am also cautious of the damage done to my joints on such a low fat diet, so some adaptations may be needed in the future.  In spite of all this, I'm still willing to give it a trial-run for at least a few weeks.  Back to the conversation I had with my friend, I was riding away on my bike and it dawned on me that I should really be practicing what I am preaching.
         Now, my competition days in BJJ are certainly not over.  It is just a matter of economics at the time being.  I talked about this in my last post.  I have always liked climbing, I am in a much more geographically fitting area for climbing, I am unemployed, BJJ competitions (let's face it) are expensive, and camping/climbing trips are cheap.

Degrees of Diets
          I mentioned that there are different degrees of diets earlier in the post.  I like to think in terms of these three categories:  Statistical, Procedural, and Sticky (examples below).  The Statistical Diet is best suited for the very serious dieter.  Many dieters will say that they "do not want to have to do all of that" for their diet.  The Statistical diet is very detailed in terms of calculations.  However, it is from this that the other degrees extend.  On the bright side, you only have to do it once.  The next, lighter, degree is the Procedural Diet.  The Procedural diet is simply a "cleaned up" version of the Statistical Diet.  We take the measurements (usually in grams) of the Statistical Diet and break them down to "general" measurements of servings.  Servings may mean different sizes to different people, but all that matters for these purposes is what YOU consider to be a serving.  The next version is a more expletive version of the Procedural Diet, what I call the Sticky Diet.  I dubbed the title because this is the version that gets STUCK to my refrigeration or somewhere I can reference it in the kitchen.  The Sticky Diet tells me how many servings of what to eat per day as well as any supplementation or additional rules such as "cheating policy."

Statistical Diet Example:

How to Climb a 5.12 by Eric Horst
Carb (65 %) Protein (15-20%) Fat (15-20%) *% daily calories

Men's Health Protein Requirement
> 56 g/day 0.45 - 0.77 g/lb

@ 160 lbs Protein (g) - 20% Calories Carb (g) - 65% Fat (g) - 15% *Horst 1
0.45 g/lb 72 1440 234 24
0.55 g/lb 88 1760 286 29.3
0.68 g/lb 108.8 2176 353.6 36.2
0.77 g/lb 123.2 2464 400.4 41
Protein (g) - 15% Calories Carb (g) - 65% Fat (g) - 20% *Horst 2
0.45 g/lb 72 1920 312 42.6
0.55 g/lb 88 2346.7 381.3 52.1
0.68 g/lb 108.8 2901.3 471.4 64.4
0.77 g/lb 123.2 3285.3 533.8 73
Protein (g) - 20% Calories Carb (g) - 60% Fat (g) - 20% *My Adapt. 50/20 principle
0.45 g/lb 72 1440 216 32
0.55 g/lb 88 1760 264 39.1
0.68 g/lb 108.8 2176 326.4 48.3
0.77 g/lb 123.2 2464 369.6 54.7
* Off of the top of my head I would guess that to sustain my current training schedule I needed between 2200 - 2400 calories per day.  The 50/20 principle referenced is a theory I have that when any one macronutrient concentration is greater than 50% or lower than 20% of caloric intake, it becomes difficult to practically consume nutrient ratios as prescribed.  These calculations were created based on the men's health magazine recommendation for protein intake.  This was the structural foundation for the calculations even though carbohydrates were the dominant nutrient.

Procedural Diet Example:

Protein 88g / 20g serving size = ~4 x 20g servings = 320 calories (14.25%)
Carbs 381.3g / 20g serving size = ~19 x 20g servings = 1520 calories (67.7%)
Fat 52.1g / 9g serving size = ~5 x 9g servings = 405 calories (18.04%)
Total Calories 2245 * w/in my 2200 - 2300 guesstimate


* We can see that the ratios are a bit off, but the actual consumption, that is, the literal intake of foods I consume, may differ or balance it out more closely to the prescription.  I'll do a couple days log in the future to check this.

Sticky Diet Example:

Protein 4 x 20g 1 x loose (from carb/fat sources)
3 x Meat (Poultry/Red), Whey, Fish
Carbs 19 x 20g 1 x 4 servings (5g/c ea) Vegetables
2 x 2 servings (20g/c ea) Fruit
3 x 20g loose (condiments, fat/protein sources)
4 x 40g Starchy Carbs (Cereal/Oatmeal/Pasta/Bread/Dairy)
5 x 20g Post-Workout (Sports Drink / Recovery Shake)  and Granola Bar
Fat 5 x 9g 3 x 9g from Meat Sources
2 x 9g Nuts/Nutbutter/Oil
Supplements
MetRX Natural Whey
Universal Animal Flex (joint guard) - twice per week

          I'll be starting this diet tomorrow and will keep you guys updated with statistical logs and subjective notes.  I do not have a set climbing competition or trip planned yet, but there are some tentative dates up in the air.  Right now, I'm just trying to build a solid climbing base just like I would in a boxing or BJJ training camp.  Everyone of my training camps, no matter where my game is at the time, begins with a rest period and followed by a "back-to-basics" phase to kick things off.  My temporary climbing goal is to ascend 1 mile of routes (110 on our UWG wall) in the next 8-10 weeks.  This would include the first four weeks of the training camp I am considering for a late January or early February climbing trip.  The base-building period would be followed one week completely off from climbing.  I'll also try to track my nutrient intake specifically for a week or so, just to see how closely my Sticky Diet resembles my Statistical and Procedural Diets; this is not a routine I'll adopt regularly, but just to verify my methods.
          On a closing note, I've got a good support group for both my BJJ and rock climbing circles.  I am really looking forward to branching out and taking new strides and sacrifices for the sake of learning.

Kudos,
Ausitn

Climb the ROCK and ROLL on the Mat!

          If those of you reading haven't figured out by now, my sport of choice is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  I have competed in many others, trained in others still, and even trained people in sports that I am not particularly interested in.  One of my underlying hobbies is the great outdoor recreation of Rock Climbing.  I have only been to an indoor rock gym less than a dozen times in my life, but since my first trip with the Boy Scouts when I was maybe a freshman in high school, I fell in love with the atmosphere, the thrill, and the challenge.  I have since tried to get back into the sport several times, but just couldn't make it work.  You won't find too many boulders or crags in the desolate corn and bean fields of central Illinois.  The southern tip of Illinois is a bit of a different story, but that is still a few hours' drive from where I was previously living.  In other words, too far for weekly training time.
          Part of this blog is to encourage "open source" athletics.  This is concept adopted from Bruce Lee's JKD principle that instructs us to "absorb what is useful and discard what is not."  Put into the context of this blog; I want to synergize all the aspects of nutrition and exercise that I have experimented with over the years.  I find Rock Climbing to be a fascinating sport in and of itself.  Unfortunately there is usually only enough "spare time" in one's life to be dedicated to a single primary hobby that captivates most of your interest.  For me that is fighting, specifically BJJ but also the occasional striking session.  However, cross training is an important part of any training program.  This is a way to stay active and productive in your training while reducing the chances of burning out at any particular phase; be it pre-competition camp, off season, or during a competitive hiatus.  I usually work specifically on BJJ four days per week.  I like to cross train, for time and convenience reasons, once or twice per week.  A single day of the week (this is just as important as training hard) is dedicated to active recovery which typically means for me about a half hour to and hour of yoga and meditation to relax and stretch out.  My cross training staple is Rock Climbing.  Do a few forum and Google searches on the similarities between BJJ and Rock Climbing and I bet you will be a little surprised :-)  This is now much more feasible for me as the school I am currently attending has an indoor climbing wall and even a climbing club/team!
          I'm really getting into this!  Some financial and time restraints have cut into my BJJ competition schedule.  Make no mistake, I'm a born competitor, always will be.  It's just in my nature to totally immerse myself in and obsess over anything that I feel is worth doing.  While I love BJJ there are two reasons that seem to inhibit us all from being more active in our recreational hobbies:  Time and Money.  Let me explain my situation a bit more.  I expect the best from myself when it comes to competition.  This means that I refuse to enter a competition if I do not feel I have or can train the way that I think will prepare me to bring my A-game.  A few months ago I relocated, not for BJJ but for school.  Thus, my main focus is school and I am leery of how much time in (and out) of the gym I can contribute to training when various projects/papers/homework and such can pop-up at a moment's notice.  Then there is the money.  I currently don't have a job, so "fun" expenditures like BJJ competitions (entry fees,  gas to get to the gym, travel costs for the competitions, etc...) are on a bare minimum.  You can go a lot further on a weekend climbing/camping/biking trip for $20 - $50 thank you can for BJJ.  Rest assured that you have not heard the last of my BJJ comp days, but they are just on an indefinite hiatus for the time being.  But like I said earlier, this blog is dedicated to a variety of athletics.  It is no longer merely "fighting and dieting."  It is an open source, multi-faceted, continuum of innovation, experimentation, and inspiration.

Tap more, learn faster, ROCK ON!

New Gym, Blue Belt Promotion, and other Training Notes

Finding a New Training Location:        
           This has been a very busy time of my life.  Beginning in August I moved from central Illinois to Northwest Georgia.  This of course meant that I would need to find a facility to continue training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts.  Now, this process isn't as simple as shopping around for the best prices and coaches.  There is a bit more to it than that.  In any sport where the participants take the activity to heart, their teammates are their family.  With that in mind, it is no easier to leave your family behind than it is to accept a newcomer into your current family.  Since the beginning of my BJJ and MMA career I had been training at Peoria Athletic Club in Peoria, IL under the Megaton/McVicker flag.  After relocating I am now training at Defkon One MMA in Villa Rica, GA under Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti's Alliance Team.  The transition has been smooth thus far.  I approached the new academy with respect, open arms, and open eyes.  I was not met with the hostility to my foreign face, though there was a bit of a "feeling out" period; but that can only be expected.  It certainly was not like I had been thrown in the shark tank with a slew of upper belts to rip me to shreds on the first day.  Sparring rounds with a variety of belts were more like dress-rehearsed competitions; a bit more tuned up than "friendly competitions" but not competition-grade aggression.
         Having said that, I have felt very welcomed to the Defkon One family, the "feeling out" period lasting about a week.  I have some great instructors and and enthusiastic teammates who are just as eager to learn as to help each other out.  Nothing can replace the memory of the first love, and I'm truly thankful for my family at Peoria Athletic Club for instilling in me this beautiful addiction we call "jits."  But life goes on and takes us in different directions.  Defkon One is my home for the next few years and its members are my friends and my family.  On the other hand I cannot say enough about the welcoming enthusiasm of the Defkon One team members and coaches.  This are not so different really, my family just got a little bigger is all.

Blue Belt Promotion:
         Yesterday, 9/7/12 I was tested for and awarded my Blue Belt by D.J. Farmer (who is black belt under Jacare) at the Alliance home academy in Atlanta, GA.  Again, I felt very welcomed by the entire Alliance team.  While there are some aspects of the "corporate industry" that I do not care so much for but those things procedural and come with a take it or leave it policy.  That is a minor sidetrack though. The team, all belts included, and environment of the facility was professional yet comfortable and it made for an enjoyable experience.  I am thankful for D.J.'s attitude going into the test (which consisted of myself and three of my other Defkon teammates) because while he corrected our errors, I never felt as if I was being grilled for something, rather it was more like a semi-private lesson.  The promotion of course also came with the traditional gauntlet "flogging."  :-D
          I have always thought that the irony of belt rankings are that when you're finally ready for a promotion you realize that the belt's are more or less a formality.  The color of the belt doesn't have any effect whatsoever on my skill level or the style of my game.  BUT it does come with a psychological aspect, a sense of recognition, and reprieve.  Many of my teammates, old and new, stated that I was a blue-belt-caliber player for a while.  However, there are no more questions left to ask, at least concerning that question.  I did not expect to be as excited as I was for the promotion, but it was an awesome feeling to have your hard work recognized and rewarded; especially in front of the large group of people at the academy that day.  I should note that all of my teammates who were tested also passed and received their blue belts.  Congratulations!


Training Notes:
          I have also recently made some changes to my training schedule.  The Alliance Team has published their belt requirements that will be used when testing for an belt promotion.  At first I did not like this approach.  I felt that it was too much of a conveyor belt process and that promotions should be more of an intuitive and based on class attendance, improvement, competition, and attitude.  If you happen to Google these requirements you will note (as I did not at first) that these things I mentioned are also taken into consideration when it comes to belt tests.
          What I do like bout the having these these requirements published is that they provide a syllabus for your training program.  I, now, like the idea of having a curriculum to organize my training time.  I like the idea of having a game plan for my training rather than just randomly picking things to work on when I should be "studying" what I am going to be tested on.  Interestingly enough, the first things I did after getting home from the promotion, I looked up the purple belt requirements.  Actually, that was second, the first thing I did was go to the local Chinese Buffet to celebrate! I copied the skills I had planned for the blue belt test onto a copy of the purple belt requirements and now have a ready-made schedule to follow on days that I train at home or when that academy is not having scheduled instructional class.   

My current training schedule looks something like this:
Monday - BJJ Class at Defkon One, followed by MMA Class
Tuesday - BJJ independent practice at Defkon One
Wednesday - Drill selected items from belt test at home (light)
Thursday - BJJ independent practice at Defkon One
Friday - Rock Climbing at UWG (active recovery)
Saturday - BJJ Sparring at Defkon One
Sunday - Yoga (active recovery)