Lets talk nutrition.

Let take a break from barbells today and talk about your nutrition.  Most people who read this blog are currently undergoing a "paleo challenge".  Meaning you have cut all processed sugars, grains, cereals, legumes, or anything else that falls into the high glycemic index category.  Lets talk a little bit about why we are doing this, why it is good for athletes, and most importantly what kind of foods you should be looking for while eating this type of diet.

What is our goal eating a Paleo Diet?

Apart from looking like Chan.

The whole purpose of the paleo diet is to start using fat as fuel for your body instead of glycogen.  At a certain point of not eating any calories that can be used as a quick cheap source of fuel for your body, your digestive system will need to find another efficient fuel source.  If you are eating foods that are low in sugar but high in fat, the body can start what is called Ketosis.  Basically a process of using fat for energy as opposed to glycogen.  This is the point that people start to see dramatic body fat reduction when eating this lifestyle.  Please note the process is slightly more complicated than my explanation above, but this is a weightlifting blog.  You know how to get to Wikipedia don't you?

So Paleo is good for fat loss, but is it good for athletes?  Spoiler alert. Yes.  

For strength athletes, a high protein, high fat, low carb diet does a couple of things for you.  Number 1 it consciously makes you think about how much protein you are taking in a day.  If you are lifting weights more than 3 x per week, I personally don't think you can get enough protein.   Protein should be in your thoughts most of the day.  Start getting into a hunter's mindset.  After finishing one meal, you need to start looking for your next.  

Number 2: you are lifting weights.... a lot.  When you are breaking down muscle fiber and myofascia it will cause inflammation.  Research these days is showing that a high glycemic diet contributes to inflammation.  Recovery now takes longer and you are sore and stiff for days.  You are now not the strongest athlete you can be.  Reducing inflammation should be your number 2 goal as a strength athlete right behind eating enough protein.  A paleo diet (while controversial) has numerous anecdotal claims to faster recovery and less "stiff" days after training.  (I personally haven't seen research pointing one way or another, but if elite athletes say it helps, I am inclined to listen)   

Finally for you endurance athletes there is a major bonus to burning fat vs glycogen for a long period of work.  Lets look at the math.  A normal athlete can store about 1500 calories worth of glycogen at a time vs 100,000 calories of fat at a time.  Fat is a very dense efficient energy source.  We should be taking advantage of it.  For much more endurance based detail see this guys blog.  He is much smarter than I

Eating Academy

So how should we be eating? Lots of protein.  Most important.  Lots of veggies, also very important (you do need some carbs and this is where we will be getting them from).  This next tip is where most people fail.  Lots of calories, and lots of fats.  Fats are now your fuels.  Eat them like you used to eat sugar.  There is lots of literature about why this isn't bad for your heart.  Start with Robb Wolf's "Paleo Solution".  Hopefully he can convince you in his 300 page book about why it isn't gonna hurt you.  If you need more proof simply go to your Dr. and have him do a full blood work up.  Then try paleo for 6 weeks and do another blood work up at the end.  Then you will see if a high fat high calorie diet is good or bad for you.  

Anyways, my advice while you are eating this particular diet is to not think of it as being on a diet.  Eat and eat a lot.  Make sure to use plenty of olive oil, coconut oil, butter, bacon (hell yes), fish or any other dense calorie rich fuel source.  Nobody will get strong eating only salads and berries.  Now go forth and eat an animal my friends.  Special bonus points if you killed and cleaned the animal yourself.  

Lets talk about lats.

So I am finally gonna talk a bit about the Olympic movements  (the snatch and C&J).  This after all was the point of me making a blog.  Today I would like to talk about the lats and their role in the bar path during both lifts.

Lets start with a good bar path. From the floor the bar will travel either straight up, or ever so slightly towards the shins. It will NOT go out and around the knees.  You must get the knees out of the way of the bar.  Once you are clear of the knees, you must bring the bar even further in towards your body.  This is often called sweeping the bar back.  I am often aiming towards my pockets (thanks Coach Burgener).  Once done correctly you are in position for the 2nd pull which is the explosive part of both lifts.  This is when you violently extend the hips driving off your heels trying to send the bar skyward.  I know this is vague sounding so lets look at video and then pictures.



Notice in the above video his bar path starts directly vertical, then as he clears the shins he is pulling the bar back into hips hips.  It is only a couple of inches but those inches translate into a made or a missed lift when you are talking about 352 lbs (in Ilya's case).

If Ilya Ilian is too fast for you here is a clean broken down frame by frame.  

Notice in the 1st frame the shins are over the bar in front of the lifter's toes.  As he pulls from the ground the knees are pushed back as the hips and shoulders rise at the same time.  Once clear of the knees, the lifter goes to vertical in an explosive manner.  Then the catch (which we can talk about at a later date).

So back to the original point.  Your lats.  

I hope your lats look like this guy's.

From the very beginning you should have the lats flexed.  If you have the lats flexed or "engaged" then as your weight shifts back onto your heels in the 1st pull, the bar will naturally want to sweep back over the middle of the foot.  The lats are made for pulling towards your body.  After doing one million CrossFit pull-ups, your lats should be very sore (or just like 10 regular pullups). So if they are engaged, they are pulling back toward your center of mass.

 Your goal is to have the path of the bar over the middle of the foot the entire time. When you snatch or clean heavy and have to "chase" the bar out front, I can almost guarantee you The problem is you are not sweeping the bar back toward your body during the 1st pull.  Remember, engage the lats, and aim for those pockets with the bar. 

And excellent exercise I myself just learned about is called the "Snatch lift off", and the "clean lift off".

The clean lift off is the same concept.  All you are doing is attempting to lift the weight off the ground to above the knee.  The goal however is to hit perfect positions at each point.  Weight of the heels, lats flexed.  If these two conditions aren't met, the bar will be hanging out there in space pulling you onto your toes making your lower back sore.  And nobody wants that.

Until next time, carpe ferrum my friends.

JT